and their sight is good enough in that their Teachers have eyes so one of their Authours a Laicos ad dogmata fidei quod attinet non proprijs sed praelatorum suorum oculis videre oportet In matters of faith the people ought not to see with their own eyes but the eyes of their Superiors They need not know what they pray for nor what they are to believe nor what they are to do 1. They need not know what they are to pray for or to whom or whether they pray or not all is muffled up in an unknown Language and they are to venture at they know not what nor how nor whither * Vid. Navar. de Orat. c. 10. n. 36. c. 18. n. 32. Spotsw Hist l. 2. p. 92. Molanus Theol. pract tr 3 c. 9. n. 6. No wonder if they direct the Lords prayer to Saints Male or Female and say our Father to the Virgin Mother and in like manner direct Ave-Marie's to Christ as if they took him to be a Woman or to be with Child and with himself too to be the fruit of his own Womh or to be his own Mother which the words so applyed signifie This ignorance is the dam of such Devotion such as is both horrid and blasphemous to the highest degree of horror And yet their great Clerks will countenance it The wisdom of their Church hath thought it fit that they should not be so wise as to understand what they do when they are serving God The Counsel of Trent â—ulminates a Curse against those who hold that the Masse ought to be celebrated in a known Tongue that is they curse those who approve not that mode of service which the Apostle condemns as (b) Omnis Sermo qui non intelligitur barbarus judicatur Jerom. in 1 Cor. 14. In Navar de horis Canon cap. 13. n. 4. They are directed to address themselves to God or the Virgin Mary thâ—… Grant O Lord or Lady what I ask though I know not what Barbarous 1 Cor. 14. such as is not fit for God or man they curse those who will not offer a blind Sacrifice or blindfold As if one under the Law ought not to have seen whether that which he offered were a Hogg or a Sheep whether he Sacrificed a Lamb or cut of a Doggs neck whether he presented an Oblation or offered Swines blood They think not only the people but even the Clergy unconcerned to know what they say when they speak unto God (c) Clerici aut laici qui Divinis intersuet si non intelligunt quae dicunt non peccant l. 2. c. 51. n. 12. p. 291. The Clergy saith Jacobus de Graffiis or the Laity when they are at Divine service if they understand not what they say they sin not It is so far from being their duty to serve God as Christians that they need not act as Men in his service If the words be but said though with no (d) Quid hoc sit intelligere debemus uti humana ratione non quasi avium voce cantemus Nam mâ—rulâ— psiâ—aci corvi picae hujusmodi voluâ—res saepe ab hominibus docentur sâ—narâ— quod nesciunt scienter auterâ— cantare non avi sed homini divina voluntate concessum est Augustin in ps 18. exposit secunda p. 103. t. 8. more understanding than Mag-pyes are taught to sound them it 's as reasonable service as their Church requires what God requires with them is no matter They expect not that any should understand their service but expert Divines as (a) Supra l. 10 q 5. art 5. Soto tells us Now it is a very small part of their Clergy that pretends to be Divines and a small part of those few that are expert therein it is an attainment which most of their Bishops fall short of their common Priests are sufficiently qualified with the art of reading nor need they be masters of that neither the Masse-book is almost taught to read it self For in the Missals established by Pius the 5th and recognized by Clement the Eighth every syllable is diversely marked whether it is to be sounded long or short What do we speak of Clergy or Priests it is not necessary for their Popes to be able to understand or to read their common prayers themselves spare not to divulge this It is manifest saith Alphonsus a Castro (*) Cum constet plures Papas adeo illiteratos esse ut Grammaticam penitus ignorent l. 1. adevrs Haeres cap. 4. Edit Paris 1534. That many Popes are so illiterate that they are utterly ignorant of the Grammar It seems he may be universal Pastour and the Teacher of the whole World who hath not learned his Grammar and the infallible Guide of all mortals who understands not his own language wherein the Articles of faith their Lawes Ceremonies and Church-service is delivered And is it not very much that two things so different as ignorance and infallibility should have the good hap to meet together in the same person Sect. 2. Secondly They need not know what they are to believe they tell us they are obliged under pain of Damnation to believe whatâ—oever the visible Church of Christ proposeth as revealed by Almighty God Now their Church proposeth for points of faith so revealed not only what they have in Scripture but what they have by Tradition or by the custome of the Church in former ages or by the consent of the Fathers or by the decrees of Councils or by the determination of Popes è Cathedra whereby points of faith become infinitely numerous beyond all account which the learned amongst them can give either to satisfie themselves or others Yet all must be believed and that under pain of damnation when as it is but a very small part of them that can be commonly known The Articles of the Creed called the Apostles are not the hundred part of those points that must be believed by all that will not be damned and yet they generally conclude that it is not necessary for the people to know all of those few Articles How to believe the rest and it may be five hundred times more which they know nothing of nor ever once came into their thoughts they must make what shift they can However they need not know all the Articles of the small Creed as the chief of them teach Not all saith Aquinas (a) Nec tamen necesse est cuilibet explicite credere omnes articulos fidei sed quantum sufficit ad dirigendum in ultimum finem dist 25. q. 2. art 1. vid. Sylvest v. fides but what is sufficient to direct to the last end Not all saith (b) Maxime ad illa quae sunt grossa ad capiendum sicut quod Christus natus est passus alia quae pertinent ad redemptionem vid. Sta. Clara probl 15. p. 94. Scotus but the grosse things as that Christ was born and suffered and
impijs tunc enim credere esset actus imprudentiae secundum D. Tho m. 22. q. 1. art 4. ad secundum idem ibid. vid plures in Jo. Sanc. d. 19. n. 3. 4. if the object of faith be not duely proposed if by slight reasons or by impious persons then it would he imprudence to believe or (u) Id. ibid. p. 95. if they do not doubt of their faith or if their Teachers be fallacious or erroneous or if the proposal (x) Aragon in 2. 2. q. 11. art 2. dub ult ibid. p. 01. be not enforced with reasons with holiness of life with the confutation of the contrary and with some wonders In short if they have not had sufficient instruction in this all agree And this alone will excuse a great part of their Church who for want of such instruction are acknowledged by themselves to be Infidells Thus Navarre delivers it (y) In universa Christiana republica circa haec tanta est socordia ut multos passim invenias nihil magis in particulari explicite de hisce rebus credere quam Ethnicum quendam Philosophum sola unius veri Dei naturali cognitione praeditum Cap. 11. n. 22. p. 142. In the whole Christian Commonwealth he means the Roman Church there is so great neglect as to this that ye may find many every where who believe no more of these things i. e. of Christ and the most necessary Articles of the Christian faith in particular and explicitely than some Heathen Philosophers who have only the natural knowledge of the one true God But if the precept could reach any through all these securities which we cannot easily imagine yet there is one way to clear them all of it so that they may live and dye Infidells without danger from any command requiring faith in Christ For he that hath not that express faith which is commanded in the Gospel but only what is requisite necessitate medij is living or dying if he be sorry for his negligence and purpose to amend which may be in their sense without true Repentance capable of absolution without any instruction from his Confessor (a) Imo in rigore non tenetur confessarius etiamsi sanus sit paenitens eum instruere ante absolutionem aummodo enim doleat de preterita negligentia proponat emendationem in futuâ—um capax est absolutionis sola fide explicita circa mysteria necessario credenda ex medio Fill. tr 28. n. 58. vid. Jo. Sanc. d. 9. n. 18. And by vertue of that he may live in a justified state or if he dye he passeth out of the World as a very good Christian though he believe in Christ no more than a Heathen Sect. 2. Pass we to their other sort of faith which they call explicite it is as they define it An actual assent to the particulars which the Church propounds as revealed by God This with them is justifying faith requisite in the learned and more intelligent amongst them As to the object of it if we view it well it looks untowardly for a thing by which a sinner is to be justified For it is prodigiously extended and takes in things uncertain false impossible impertinent and ridiculous as points that must certainly be believed unto justification For their Church propounds as things revealed by God and so objects of justifying faith not only what is delivered in Scripture but â—nwritten Traditions concerning matters of faith and manners and â—hese if they will be justified they must believe though they know â—ot what they are nor where to find them but in the Churches unerâ—ing fancy She propounds also the unanimous consent of the Fathers â—n several points and though this never was or is impossible to be â—nown yet it must be believed by those that mean to be justified She propounds the decrees of Councils to be believed as Divine truths b Omnia concilia post Chalcedonense potissimum instituta fuerunt non ut erueretur veritas sed ut roboraretur defenderetur atque augeretur semper ecclesiae Romanae potestas ecclesiasticorum libertas Aeneas Sylvius l. 2. de gest conc Basil when it is acknowledged that the design in Councils for many hundred years was not to discover truth but to promote the Roman greatness She propounds also the determinations of Popes these must be believed as infallible when ordinarily they were neither persons of common truth or honesty and we must be justified by believing the dictates of Atheists or (c) Canus loc Theol. l. 6. p. 243. 344. Hereticks of (d) Sylvest 2. Platin. Chron. Martini Poloni Hildeband Binno Cardin. Conjurers (e) Faex vitiorum Diabolus incarnatus Constan concil Sess 11. art 5. Benedict 9. vid. Baron an 1034. n 3. or incarnate Devils of vicious Beasts (f) Sunt qui scribunt hunc sceleratissimum hominem seu monstrum potius Platina viâ—a Joh. 13. and wicked Monsters For those who cry up â—is Holiness have adorned him also now and then with these other Sacred Titles I know not whether these things are more ridiculous or more horrid how ever letting them pass as they are let us take their faith at best and make it better than they will have it Suppose it rested in the Scriptures and had no thing for its object but Revelation such as is truly Divine yet even so they give such Report of it as will scarce suffer us to think that they can expect to be justified by it Considered in it self they (c) Dominic a Soto de natur grat lib. â—…◠7. d. 79. 81. count it not worthy the name of a vertue They (d) Concil Trident. Sess 6. c. 7 call it a dead idle thing and though they would have it to be an infused habit and the gift of God because the Scripture so calls that which is justifying faith indeed yet they say a (e) Scotus in 3. dist 23. air fide humana quam ipse appellat acquisitam hominem posse assentiri toti praedicationi Christianae Imo ita inquit credimus authoritate ecclesiae quam ipse putat humanam institutione parentum Cui sententiae adhuc explicatius subscribit Durandus q. 1. in 2. sent d. 28. Dicens fidem infusam non esse necessariam nisi uâ— facilius credamus Soto ibid. l. 2. c. 8. p. 81. mere humane quality acquired without any supernatural assistance may perform its proper act and office by actual assent to the whole Christian Doctrine They confess it is commonly found in the worst of men in perditissimis hominibus such as are neither acted nor possessed by the spirit of God such as live and dye in mortal wickedness (f) Bellarm. de Baptism l. 1. c. 14. and are damned for it Yea some of them confess that it is in the Devils This faith saith Cardinal (g) Fiâ—es haec non est ea tantum qua credimus Deum esse qua credimus vera esse
in Scotland (*) Hâ—st of Ch. of Scot. l. 2. p. 75. were accounted sufficiently qualified who it is said did think the New Testament to have been composed by Martin Luther The Priests even in Italy (k) Pudeat Italiae sacerdotes quos ne semel quidem legisse constat novam legem apud Thaboritas vix mulierculam invenias quae de novo veteri testamento respondere nescit Comment de dict fact Alsonsi regis liâ— 2. Apophtheg 17. if they had more notice of the Author yet scarce more acquaintance with the Contents of the New Testament they never read it and were much more ignorant thereof than the silly Women amongst the Thaborites as Aeneas Sylvius afterward Pope Pius 2. writes Knowledge of the Scriptures (m) Et non curent nescientes literas literas discere was not counted necessary for their Preachers either Regular or Secular The chief of their Regulars were the Franciscans and Dominicans In the rule of Fryar Francis approved by several Popes the Minorites one sort of Preaching Fryars are amongst other other vices to avoid learning if they were illiterate And those of the Dominicans (n) Illi rudes illiterati praedicabant urspergens in Cent. 13. Magd. Cap. 6. the other of Fryars Praedicant who were rude and illiterate did Preach notwithstanding As for their other Doctors (o) Si vero sacerdos est Doctor tenetur scire saltem rudimenta sidei Graff decis pars 2. l. 1. c. 11. n. 19. or Teachers that which they are bound to know is the rudiments of faith such as our Children who can scarce read will give an account of The Papacy had no Doctors or Divines more eminent than those of the Sorbon (p) Si illud apud Hieronymum aut in decretis legisse quid vero novum Testamentum esset ignorare Rob. Steph. Resp ad Censur Theol. Paris in Praefat. yet they seem little beholding to the Scripture for their Divinity Robert Stevens in the last age conversing with those Doctors would be asking in what part of the New Testament such or such a thing is written but had such answers returned They had read it in Jerom or the Decrees but what the New Testament was they knew not For a Confessor he is sufficiently qualified according to Aquinas Bonaventure and Albertus as Sylvester collects (q) Secundum istos sufficientem credo qui atâ—ente legit intellexit Defecerunt nisi sit aut naturaliter stultus aut praesumptuâ—sus ut non sciat dubitare vel nolit interrogare Sylv. sum v. Confessor 3. n. 2. vid. Tol. ibid. l. 3. c. 15. That which a Confessor is to know is which sins are mortal which venial Now this they cannot learn from Scripture as themselves go near to acknowledge Valent. Tom. 2. disp 6. q. 18. And so no need of Scripture for them vid. Angel sâ—m v. confess 4. n. 3. Sylvest ibid. if he have but read and understand not the Bible but Antoninus his Book entituled Defecerunt unless he be a mere natural or presumptuous fool And neither will doubt of any thing when he knows nothing nor enquire of others So that he may be a compleat Confessor and guide of consciences who knowes nothing of Scripture and little else if he have but the wit to discern his own ignorance and a will to learn of those that are wiser when he can meet with them Thus we see a Roman Priest is furnished for all points of the Office common or special without any acquaintance with the word of God As to Bishops they seem to agree that some knowledge of the Scripture is requisite in them and some venture to say a full and perfect knowledge of the old new Testament signified by their Mitres the two Horns whereof mystically demonstrate that they understand the two Testaments both alike And indeed since their Praelates Secular and Regular have honour power and plenty by the Papal contrivement and hopes of more and greater than other professions can offer their interest tyes them so fast to it that they may trust them if any with the sight of the word of God securely and not fear that any discovery of Popish corruptions through such a Medium will make any impressions on them to their prejudice or move them to believe or act any thing against that which is so much themselves there is no such danger in admitting these to some acquaintance with Scripture as others who have no expectations from Religion but for their Souls and Eternity Nevertheless their Rules which seem to make this knowledge necessary for Bishops are rather Counsels than precepts they are cautious and will not press this too much for conscience enlightned sometimes proves too hard for secular interest And their Praelates may be easily dispensed with if they be ignorant of Scripture or have little notice of it It 's one of Sylvesters and Angelus questions (r) Utrum peccet mortaliter Episcopus ignorans respon lendo in ordinatione sua cum interrogatur utrum sciat novum vetus Testamentum quod scit Resp secundum Rich. quod sic si est ita ignarus quod nesciat in generali mandata Dei articulos fidâ—i virtutes vitia eâ—iam sacramenta quoniam tunc mentitur perniciose Angel sum v. episc n. 26. Sylv. ibid. n. 5. whether an ignorant Bishop sin mortally if in his Ordination being asked whether he understand the whole Bible he should affirm he does this he so resolves after Richardus a Sancto victore If the Bishop be so ignorant that he knowes not in general the Commands of God the Articles of faith what are vertues vices and which the Sacraments then he so sins he lyes pernitiously Leaving us to judge that he doth not thus lye when he solemnly affirms that he hath as much knowledge of the old and new Testament as the Church of Rome requires in a Bishop if he do but know the Creed the Ten Commandements which are vertues and vices and which are Sacraments and have but some general perception of these They will not have the Bishops burthened with too much Scripture-learning since every Child they confirm should have no less than this This may pass for perfect knowledge of the Scripture and of an Episcopal pitch with those who count it no imperfection to be ignorant of that which they say (a) Iâ— indice lib. prohibit Regul 4. Pij 4. doth more hurt than good for so they are wont to blaspheme the Scriptures or the Holy Ghost whose inspiration they are The Bishop of Dunkeld (*) Putant peccatum esse si scripturas legerint in lege Domini meditabundos quasi garru os inutilesque contemnunt Espencaeus in 1. Tim. digress l. 2. c. 2. p. 180. in Tit. c. 1. p. 486. Edit Paris an 1619. thought he had enough of it when he said I thank God I have lived well these many years and never knew
either the old or new Testament I content me with my Portuis and Pontifical Hist of Ch. of Scotl. l. 2. p. 66. The Bishops in other Countreys thought themselves bound in conscience to be as ignorant of the Scriptures when they counted it a sin to read them Yea he that wants a sufficiency of this knowledge though so very little or nothing be sufficient may be dispensed with upon the account of some other quality As for example (b) Magnitudo Charitatis supplet imperfectum scientiae Sylvest sum v. Cleric 2. n. 1. Charity they say will make up want of knowledge in those who have not sufficient to make them capable of any place or dignity amongst them Yea they may be dispensed with though they have no better qualities than in Gerson's time when he tells us (c) Nullibi Episcopos bonos opere doctrina praeditos eligi sed homines carnales spiritualium ignaros Gerson declar defect Eccles there were none any where that were good or approveable for Doctrine or Practice but all chosen were both carnal persons and ignorant of spiritual things So he in the Fifteen age and about the same time Clemangis sayes there were scarce any advanced to the Pontifical dignity who had so much as superficially either read or heard or learnt the Scriptures or who had ever touched any thing of the Bible except the cover Quotusquisque hodie est ad Pontificale culmen evectus qui sacras vel perfunctorie literas legerit audierit dedicerit imo qui sacrum codicem nisi tegumento tenus unquam attigerit De corrupt Eccl. Statu In the age after wheâ—ein the Councel of Trent was held we have in Papyrius Masson de Episc Vrbis The Character of the Roman Praelates by Pasquil begging the next Cardinals Cap as being more capable thereof than the Bishops then created Si imbelle sum atque rude marmor Complures quoque episcopos creari Ipso me mage Saxeos videbis And the same age in the Council of Trent where as they boast was the flower of all the Roman Praelates in Europe (d) The Bishops amongst whom very few had knowledge in Theology Hist Counc Trent lib. 2. p. 179. It is not strange they had no skill therein For the Italian Praelates who carried all in that Council being many more than two to one neither studied nor read the Scriptures lest the word of God should seduce them from Popery nor was Divinity their study but the civil and Canon law as one of them inform'd Espencaeus Mâ—mini Episcopum Italum nobilem nec vero imperitum mihi dicere conterraneos suos a stâ—dio Theologico deterreri quodammodo abhorrere ne sic fiant haeretici quasi vero â—aereses ex scripturarum studio nascantur Quam igitur artem vestrates aio profitentur juris ait utriusque sed in primis Canonici in Tit. cap 1. p. 486. Dudithius an eminent Bishop in that convention calls the Praelats who prevailed there indoctos stolidos sed tamen impudentia audacia utiles Epist ad Max. 2. Yea the whole Sorbon determine that it is not requisite to inquire concerning those who sit in Council utrum sint docti utrum habeant scientiam sacrarum literarum In Juel Epist de Conc. Trid. Sect 22. Duarenus who writ while that Council was sitting lets us understand how ignorant all their Bishops then few only excepted were of the Scriptures not only in Italy but other Countreys Hoc seculo Episcopatus sacerdotia indoctissimis hominebus a religione alienis deferri solent Hodie Episcopi nostri paucis exceptis sacrarum literarum scientia caeteris ex populo longe inferiores sunt De sac Eccles. Minist Benef. lib. 1. cap. 11. in fin Some thought it strange that Five Cardinals and 48 Bishops should so easily define the most principal and important points of Religion never decided before Neither was their amongst these Praelates any one remarkable for learning some of them were Lawyers perhaps learned in that Profession but of little understanding in Religion few Divines but of less than ordinary sufficiency Hist of Council of Trent l. 2. p. 163. very few of the Bishops had knowledge in Theology as Father Paul tells us yet these only had decisive voices in that Council and all was concluded by plurality of their Votes when far the major part understood not the matters concluded so that the Articles of the Roman faith were Voted blindfold And yet all must be damned who believe not these points of faith when those who made them so were ignorant of them and knew not what they did when they decreed them Such is the Romane charity and knowledge so burning and shining are their best lights they will have all burned here and in Hell too for not believing that which the Council for the greater part of it understood not But sure the knowledge of the Pope must be transcendent especially as to the Scripture his place and office requires it being accounted head of the whole Church which ought to have good eyes and teacher of Christians as much or more than Peter was and Judge in all controversies which concern Religion and Interpreter of all difficulties in Scripture and a more lively Oracle of God than the Scripture it self in the things of God Yes say they (e) Papa debet habere longe majorem scientiam alijs cum sit praepositus curiae toti Christianae reipublicae Pro eo tamen sufficit praesumptio juris quod papa praesumitur habere omnia in scrinio pectoris Graff l. 1. c. 15. n. 3. the Pope ought to have farr more knowledge than any other being the President of the whole Christian Common wealth so de Graffijs But then he adds as to him the presumption of the Law is enough for all this and that presumes that all is in the Cabinet of the Popes breast as it may well be presumed that a skill beyond that of all Physitians is in a bold Mountebank (f) Licet de facto quandoque possit contingere contrarium cum memoria hominis sit labilis id ibid. Quum hoc tempore nullus sit Romae qui sacras literas didicerit qua fronte aliquis eorum docere andebit quod non didicerit Arnulph in Concil Rhem. although indeed what is quite contrary may prove true Accordingly the Pope may be all that they style him without the knowledge of a Novice in the Scripture without any such acquaintance with it as to pretend to the name of a Divine though acquaintance with it be expected from none but Divines and many that have the name have little or nothing of the thing The Popes think not themselves concerned at all to trouble their heads with Divinity (*) The study of the Laws the Canon Law especially is the nearest way breve compendium to the highest dignities in their Church even the Popedom it self scarce any thing being left for
of it as vain and frivolous and concludes they may be Worshipped as well when they are vermine as when they are Ashes (e) Recta intentione sincer a side possit quis in vermibus sanctum apprehendere venerari Ibid. cap. ult n. 113. 114. A man saith he may with right intention and sincere faith apprehend a Saint and Worship him in Worms If the question had been of the little Worms in the Ulcer of St. Harry of Denmark (f) Engl. Martyrol Jan. 16. for which he had such Saint-like love as when they crept out of his Knee to put them in again that they might be nourished where they were bred Or of the Lice of St. Francis (g) Canus Loc. Th. lib. 11. c. 6. for which he had such a holy tenderness it is Recorded as an argument of his holiness that when they were shaked off he gathered them up and put them in his Bosome I suppose Henricus himself could scarce have denyed but those Sacred Creepers having so near Relation to and being sanctified by such extraordinary contact of so great Saints might have been adored It cannot be denyed but they are lyable to grosse mistakes about the object of their Worship here and some of them acknowledge that the people herein are deluded with great and detestable (h) Ingentes detestandae imposturae patefierent Cassand Consult c. de reliquijs impostures What if the Tooth which they Worship for St. Christophers as bigg as a mans (*) L. vives in August de civit Dei l. 15. c. 9. Dens molaris pugno Major fist should prove the Tooth of a Beast or the Hair which they Worship as part of St. Petes Beard should be the excrement of some Malefactor or the shift which they Worship as the Virgin Maries should be the covering of some Harlot or the dust or the Vermine which they Worship as the remains of some Saints should have been in their original no more holy than a Bruit or a damned sinner as great mistakes as these about their Reliques the World has discovered and themselves have been convinced of Valla a person of great learning and eminency amongst them sayes plainly (i) Decem millia talium rerum Romae sunt De Constant donat There are ten thousand such things counterfeit Reliques in Rome it self And if the seat of infallibility be so well stored with cheats what shall we think of other places They say indeed they have the attestation of Visions Revelations Miracles to insure them but these they have and produce as well for those that are confessed to be counterfeits as for them which they take to be true So that they are proved beyond all question to be all alike the true ones as very counterfeits as any and the counterfeit as true as the best Now may they with safety venture to Worship them for all this Yes their Devotion is maintained to be not only safe but meritorious however they be deluded about the object of it They may worship at all adventure what they take to be a Relique though it be indeed no such thing and yet be so far from Idolatry or any sin that they deserve highly at Gods hand by so doing If (k) Si quis putans aliquam esse particulam sancti quae non est merito suae devotionis non caret Vasque ibid. cap. ult n 114. any man think sayes one that to be a Relique of a Saint which indeed is not so he is not frustrate of the merit of his Devotion Yea a man may merit by a mistaken belief though he should worship the Devil sayes another (l) Holcot infra So that they have not only a fair excuse but great incouragement to venture though they may happen to Worship the Devil himself and not only some limb of him instead of Christ or his Saints or their remains When the Lord declares Deut. 32. That his Wrath should burn to the bottome of Hell for that the Israelites Worshipped Devils instead of God they might if Baronius had been their Advocate have come off well enough with his Plea fides purgat facinus The Israelites believ'd as firmly as Roman-Catholicks only they were mistaken that they did not Worship Devils but that which was a proper object of Worship therefore they were so far from the bottom of Hell or any danger of it that hereby they might merit Heaven and Glory Let me add that the miscarriages in their Mass furnishes them with many Sacred Reliques and their orders about the disasters there create for them diverse objects of Worship and help them to many right Worshipful things of the vilest Vermine and that which is more loathsome If the body or blood of Christ so they will have it to be fall to the ground it must be lick'd up the ground is to be scraped and the scrapings reduced to ashes are to have place among the Reliques If the blood be spilt upon the Altar-cloathes those cloathes are to be washed and the Sacred wash is to be inshrined If a flye or a Spider fall into the blood it is to be taken out and burnt and the ashes put into the holy shrine But if the blood of Christ be poysoned it is to be kept in a clean vessel among the Reliques and so poyson becomes a very Worshipful thing If a Mouse or a Spider or a Worm eat the body of Christ I must desire pardon for mentioning such horrid things these Vermine in their ashes are to have the same preferment and be put into shrines for Reliques If a Priest or other person do vomit up the Host even that if no mans Stomach will serve him devoutly to lick it up being turned into ashes is to be honoured among the Reliques All these and more particulars are ordained and provided for in the Cautels of the Mass and thereby we see what order is taken by holy Church that dirty water the scrapings of the ground Venemous or loathsome Vermine yea the Vomit of a weak or gluttonous Stomach casting up that which they call Jesus Christ may be inshrined among the Reliques which they adore They tender Worship to all under the Altar promiscuously yea their very prayers are so directed thereto that you cannot discern whether it be more to the Reliques or the persons they relate to for example when they say (l) Pontific Roman Sect. de consecr Eccles O you that are seated under the Altar intercede ye to God for us For they may as well believe that these Reliques can intercede as that Christ or the glorified Saints are seated under their Altar Sect. 3. Some of them would have us believe that they give not Divine honour to Reliques but a sort of Religious Worship which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Scripture and secular Authors too (m) Secundum profanos Authores idem significant Bellarm. de sanct l. 1. c. 14. p. 1463. as is acknowledged make no