hâ— said he saw many Causes why the Clergâ— should be denied Wives but then he saw morâ— and greater Causes to allow them Wives again 10. WE receive and imbrace all the Canonical Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament and we give our gracious God most hearty Thanks that he hath set up this Light for us which we ever fix our Eyes upon lest by humane Fraud or the Snares of the Devil we should be seduced to Errors or Fables We own them to be the heavenly Voices by which God hath reveal'd and made known his Will to us in them only can the Mind of Man acquiesce in them all that is necessary for our Salvation is aboundantly and plainly contain'd as Origen St. Augustin St. Chrysostom and St. Cyrill have taught us They are the very Might and Power of God unto Salvation they are the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets upon which the Church of God is built they are the most certain and infallible Rule by which the Church may be reduced if She happen to stagger slip or err by which all Ecclesiastical Doctrines ought to be tried no Law no Tradition no Custom is to be received or continued if it be contrary to Scripture No tho St. Paul himself or an Angel from Heaven should come and teach otherwise 11. WE receive also and allow the Sacraments of the Church that is the sacred Signs and Ceremonies which Christ commanded us to use that he might by them represent to our eyes the Mysteries of our Salvation and most strongly confirm the Faith we have in his Blood and seal in our Hearts his Grace and we call them Figures Signs Types Antitypes Forms Seals Prints or Signets Similitudes Examples Images Remembrances and Memorials with Tertullian Origen St. Ambrose St. Augustin St. Jerom St. Chrysostom St. Basil and Dionysius and many other Catholick Fathers Nor do we doubt with them to call them a kind of visible Words the Signets of Righteousness and the Symbols of Grace and clearly affirm that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the Body and Blood of our Lord is truly exhibited to Believers that is the enlivening Flesh of the Son of God the Bread that comes from above the Nourishment of Immortality the Grace the Truth and the Life and that it is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ by the Participation of which we are quickned strengthened and fed to immortality and by which we are conjoyned united and incorporated with Christ that we may remain in him and he in us 12. WE acknowledge that there are two Sacraments properly so call'd Baptism and the Supper of the Lord for so many we see were delivered to us and consecrated by Christ and approved by St. Ambrose St. Augustin and the ancient Fathers 13. AND we say that Baptism is the Sacrament of the Remission of Sins and of that Washing which we have in the Blood of Christ and that none are to be denied that Sacrament who will profess the Faith of Christ no not the Infants of Christians because they are born in sin and belong to the People of God 14. WE say that the Eucharist is the Sacrament or visible Symbol of the Body and Blood of Christ in which the Death and Resurrection of Christ and what he did in his humane Body is in a manner represented to our eyes that we may give him thanks for his Death and our Deliverance by it and that by frequenting the Sacrament we may often renew the Remembrance of it and that by the Body and Blood of Christ we may be nourished into the Hope of the Resurrection and of eternal Life and that we may be assured that the Body and Blood of Christ hath the same effect in the feeding of our Souls which the Bread and Wine have in the repairing the Decays of our Bodies To this great and solemn Feast the People are to be invited that they may all communicate together and may publickly signifie and testifie both their Union and Society amongst themselves and that Hope which they have in Christ Jesus and therefore if there was any one heretofore before the private Mass was introduced who would be only a Spectator and yet would abstain from the Holy Communion the Bishops of Rome in the Primitive Times and the ancient Fathers would have excommunicated him as a wicked man and a Pagan Nor was there any Christian man in those times who communicated alone in the presence of others who were only Spectators So Calixtus long since decreed that when the Consecration was finished all should communicate if they would not be deprived of the Communion of the Church and be shut out of it for so saith he the Apostles ordained and the Holy Church of Rome holds And we say that both the Parts of the Sacrament ought to be given to all that come to the Holy Communion for so Christ commanded and the Apostles instituted throughout the World and all the ancient Fathers and Catholick Bishops so practised and if any one shall do otherwise saith Gelasius he commits Sacriledge and therefore our Adversaries who exploding and rejecting the Communion defend the private Mass and a multitude of Sacraments without the authority of the Word of God without any ancient Council without any Catholick Father without any Example of the Primitive Church and without Reason and this against the express Command of Christ and also against all Antiquity in so doing act wickedly and sacrilegiously 15. WE say that the Bread and Wine are the Holy and Heavenly Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ and that in them Christ himself the true Bread of eternal Life is so exhibited to us as present that we do by Faith truly take his Body and Blood and yet at the same time we speak not this so as if we thought the Nature of the Bread and Wine were totally changed and abolished as many in the last Ages have dreamt and as yet could never agree amongst themselves about this Dream For neither did Christ ever design that the Wheaten Bread should change its Nature and assume a new kind of Divinity but rather that it might change us and that as Theophylact saith we might be trans-elemented into his Body For what can be more perspicuous than what St. Ambrose saith on this occasion the Bread and Wine are what they were and yet are changed into another thing Or what Gelasius saith The Substance of the Bread and Nature of the Wine do not cease to be Or then what Theodoret after the Consecration the mystical Symbols do not cast off their own proper Nature for they remain in their former Substance and Figure and Species Or then what St. Augustin saith that which you see is Bread and a Cup as your Eyes inform you but that which your Faith desires to be instructed in is this the Bread is the Body of Christ and the Cup is his
ancient Councils and the Scriptures They have not O good God! they have not on their sides what they pretend to have they have neither Antiquity nor Universality nor the consent of either all times or all Nations And of this they are not ignorant themselves tho they craftily dissemble their Knowledge Yea at times they will not obscurely confess it and therefore sometimes they will alledge that the Sanctions of the ancient Councils and Fathers are such as may lawfully be changed for different Decrees say they will best suit the different State of the Church in different times And so they hide themselves under the name of the Church and by a wretched sham delude Mankind And in truth it is a great wonder that Men should be so blind as not to see these things or if they do see them so patient as to bear and indure them with that stupidity and unconcernment they seem to have 9. BUT tho they have abrogated the Canons of the ancient Councils as too old and overworn yet perhaps they have settled neâ— and more useful Rules in their place for they have the confidence to say that if Christ himself or his Apostles should arise from the Dead they could not administer the Affairs of the Church of God better or more piously than it is now administered by them Indeed they have put others in the place of the former but as Jeremias saith Chaff instead of Wheat or as Isaiah saith What God never required at their Hands for they have stopped up all the veins of Living Waters and have hewen for the People of God broken and polluted Cisterns being full of mud and dregs which neither have in them any pure Water nor can hold it if it were put into them They have torn from the People the Holy Communion the word of God from which all true Comfort could only be expected the true Worship of God the right use of the Sacraments and Prayers of the Church and they have given us to please our selves withall in the mean time of their own pure invention consecrated Salts Waters Oyls Spittle Palmes Bulls Jubiles Indulgences Crosses Censings and an infinite number of Ceremonies And as Plautus calls others of the like nature Ludos Ludificabiles Shews and Pageants that are very divertising and good for nothing else In these things they have made all Religion to consist and they have taught the People that by these things God is rightly appeased and that by these things Devils are put to flight and the Consciences of Men quieted and confirmed For these are the Paints and Perfumes of Christianity these are the grateful and acceptable things to the All-seeing God these are to be had in honour that Christ's and his Apostles Institutions may be taken away And as heretofore the wicked King Jeroboam when he had taken away the true Service of God and perswaded the People instead of it to accept the Golden Calves for fear they might change their minds and fall from him and return to the Temple of God at Jerusalem made a long Oration to them exhorting them to Constancy saying to them These are thy Gods O Israel thus did your God command you to worship him But it would be very grievous and troublesome for you to take so long a Journey and to go up every year to worship and adore God at Jerusalem Even so our Adversaries when they had once by their Traditions quash'd the Laws of God lest the People should afterwards open their Eyes and fall off from them and seek a better way of assuring their Salvation O how often have they exclaimed that this is the true Worship of God which he is pleased with and hath required of us and by which he will be appeased when he is angry and that it is grievous and troublesome to the People to have recourse to Christ and the Apostles and Fathers and to attend perpetually what they require of them Is this their way of bringing the People of God off from the weak Elements of the World from the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees and from humane Traditions Are the Commandments of Christ and his Apostles to be taken away that these goodly things may succeed them O most righteous Cause why should an old Doctrine which hath been approved for many Ages be antiquated and a new Form of Religion be brought into the Church of God! Ay but say they be it what it will nothing ought to be changed the minds of Men are wonderous well satisfied with these things the Church of Rome has so decreed and she cannot err for Sylvester Prierias saith That the Church of Rome is the Rule and Model of Truth and that the Holy Scriptures have received from her all their Faith and Authority The Doctrine saith he again of the Church of Rome is the infallible Rule of Faith from whence the Holy Scriptures have all their strength For Indulgences were not made known to us by the Authority of Scriptures but they were made known by the Authority of the Church and Popes of Rome which is greater than the Scriptures Pighius doth not fear to say that without the command of the Church of Rome we are not to believe the most clear place of Scripture Which is just as if one of those who cannot speak good and pure Latin and yet by use and custom has got the faculty readily and fluently to blunder on in the Lawyer 's Latin should therefore stand stoutly to it that all others are bound to speak it after the same manner that was many years since in use with Mammetrectus and the Catholicon which they still use in their Pleadings because by that means men might very easily be understood and their Humours might be gratified but on the other side that it were ridiculous to trouble the World now with a new way of speaking and to reduce into practice again the old Purity and Eloquence of the Latin Tongue used in the times of Cicero and Caesar 10. SO much are they indebted to the Ignorance and blindness of the former times that as one saith Many things are often had in great esteem because they were once dedicated to the Service of the Gods So now we see many things are magnified and applauded by them not because they judge them worthy of this Esteem but only because by Custom they were once received and thereby in a sort dedicated to the Service of God But they pretend that their Church cannot Err. I suppose they speak this in the same sense as the Lacedemonians were wont to say there was no such thing as Adultery in their Common-wealth when in truth they were all Adulterers and used an uncertain sort of Marriages and had their Wives in common Or as the Hungry Canonists now say of the Pope that he being Lord of all Benefices altho he sells Bishopricks Monasteries and Livings and suffers nothing to go from him without Money yet because he claims all
against King John another of our Princes the Bishops and Monks and some part of the Nobility and absolved all his Subjects from that Oath of Allegiance they had taken to him and at last by the highest Impiety not only deprived him of his Kingdom but his Life and they wounded Henry the VIII a most noble Prince with their Curses and Excommunications and stir'd up against him sometimes the Emperor and sometimes the King of France and as much as in them lay exposed our Kingdom to be a Prey and a Booty to them like a company of silly men as they were to think so great a Prince would be frighted with Vizors and Rattles or that so great a Kingdom could be devoured at one mouthful and as if all this had not been enough they would needs make England a tributary Province and yearly most unjustly exacted a considerable Revenue out of it so much has the Friendship of the City of Rome cost us Now if they extorted these great Advantages from us by Impostures and ill Arts there is no reason why we should not by good Methods and Laws recover them back again but if on the other side our Kings induced by an Opinion of their simulated Holiness in the darkness of those times freely bestowed these things on them upon the account of Religion there is now very good reason that our latter Kings having discovered the Error of their Ancestors should take them away again they being possess'd of the same Power with the former Kings for every Donation becomes void when it is no longer approved by the Will of the Giver but it can never seem a Will which is clouded and impeded by Error The Conclusion THUS I have acquainted thee my Reader that it is no new or strange thing to see the Christian Religion in these days upon its Restitution and Revival in the World entertain'd with Slanders and Reproaches for the same things happened to Christ himself and his Apostles And yet least thou shouldest be misled and imposed upon by these Clamors of our Adversaries we have represented to thee what the whole manner of our Religion is what we believe concerning God the Father concerning his only Son Jesus Christ and concerning the Holy Ghost what our Opinion is concerning the Church the Sacraments the Ministry the Holy Scriptures the Ceremonies of the Church and all the other parts of the Christian Religon We have declared also that we detest as pernicious to the Souls of Men and plagues all those Ancient Heresies that have been condemn'd by the old Councils and Holy Scriptures That we have reduced into practise again as much as we can possibly the Ecclesiastical Discipline which our Adversaries had much weakned and that we punish all Licentious Courses of Life and Debauchery in Manners by our ancient and established Laws and that with as much 〈◊〉 as is fit and possible That we pâ—â—serve all Kingdoms in the same State we found them without any Diminution or Mutation and preserve the Majesty of our Princes intire as much as we can possibly That we have departed from that Church which they had made a Den of Thieves in which they had left nothing sound or like a Church and which they themselves confessed to have erred in many things as Lot left Sodom or Abraham Chaldea not out of Contention but out of Obedience to God and have sought the certain way of Religion out of the sacred Scriptures which we know cannot deceive us and have return'd to the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles that is to the beginning and first Rise of the Church as to the proper Fountain 2. THAT we have not indeed expected the Authority or consent of the Council of Trent in which we saw nothing was manag'd well and regularly where all that entered took an Oath to one Man where the Ambassadors of our Princes were despised and ill treated where none of our Divines could be heard where Partiality and Ambition openly carried all things and according to the Practice of the Holy Fathers and the Customs of our own Ancestors we have reformed our Churches in a Provincial Synod and according to our Duty we have cast off the Yoke and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome who had no just Authority over us nor was like either Christ or St. Peter or the Apostles or indeed like a Bishop in any thing Lastly we do all agree amongst ourselves in all the Doctrines and Points of the Christian Religion and do with one Spirit and one Mouth worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. WHEREFORE O Christian and Pious Reader now thou feest the Reasons and Causes of the Reformation of Religion with us and of our Departure from them thou oughtest not to wonder that we should rather choose to obey our Saviour than Men. St. Paul hath admonished us that we should not be carried away with every Wind of false Doctrine and especially that we should mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple Their Impostures accordingly like Batts and Owls do now sometime since begin to flie and steal away before the rising Sun and cannot indure the Light of the Gospel and altho they were in some sense built and heaped almost up to Heaven yet they sink down into Ruins of their own accord For thou oughtest not to think that those things happened accidentally or by chance It was certainly the Will of God that in these times the Gospel of Jesus Christ should in defiance of all opposition be spread abroad in the World and therefore men being moved by the Word of God freely betook themselves to the Doctrine of Christ and as for us we sought neither Riches nor Pleasure nor case by this Change for our Adversaries abound in all these and we had a much larger Share of them whilst we continued with them 4. NOR do we decline Concord and Peace with Men neither but yet we will not continue in a State of War God that we might have Peace with Men. The Name of Peace saith St. Hilary is Pleasant but then Peace and Servitude are not the same thing for if according to their desire the Name of Christ should be supprest the Truth of the Gospel betrayed their wicked Errors be dissembled the Eyes of Christian Men be deluded and a plain and apparent Conspiracy be carried on against God himself this is not saith that great Man Peace but the conditions of a most base Slavery There is saith Nazianzen an unprofitable Peace and there is an useful sort of Discord for we must pursue Peace with Conditions as far as 〈◊〉 lawful and in us lyeth and unless these Limitations may attend it Christ himself came not to bring Peace into the World
is clear from all Histories and they themâ—elves cannot deny it that they are descendâ—â—d from Hagar yet as if they were the Children of Sarah the free Woman the Wife of Abraham they will needs for the Name and Race sake be call'd Saracens 21. SO the false Prophets in all times who â—pposed themselves to the true Prophets of God to Isaiah to Jeremias to Christ and â—is Apostles boasted of nothing so much as â—f the Name of the Church Nor did they so â—ercely persecute them and call them Doâ—erters and Apostles upon any other account 〈◊〉 much as because they departed from their Society and would not observe the Customs of their Ancestors And if we be obliged to submit to the Judgment of those Men who then governed the Church and will regard neither God nor his Word nor any thing else it cannot be denied but that the Apostles made Defection from the High Priests and Priests that is from the Catholicâ— Church and without and against theiâ— Wills innovated in many things which pertained to Religion and consequently werâ— rightly condemned according to the Lawâ— And so as they say Antaeus was to be lifteâ— by Hercules from the Earth his Mother beforâ— he could be conquered by him So our Aâ—â—versaries are to be lifted up from that Motheâ— of theirs the vain Pretence and Shadow 〈◊〉 the Church or else they will never yield 〈◊〉 the Word of God So as Jeremiah saith 〈◊〉 not so much boast that you have the Tempâ— of God with you that Conâ—idence is Vainâ—â— for these are saith he lying Words And thâ— Angel in the Apocalyps they say that they 〈◊〉 Jews but they are the Synagogue of Sathan Aâ— when the Pharisees boasted that they were 〈◊〉 the Stock and Blood of Abraham Chrâ—â— told them they were of the Devil their Fathâ—â— for you do not resemble Abraham your 〈◊〉 as if he should have said you are 〈◊〉 what you so much desire to be call'd 〈◊〉 impose upon the People by vain Titles anâ— abuse the Name of the Church to the Ruiâ— of the Church and therefore they ought 〈◊〉 the first place to prove this truly and plainâ— to us viz. that the Church of Rome as it 〈◊〉 now managed by them is the true and Oâ—â—thodox Church of God and that it agrees with the Primitive Church of Christ and his Apostles and of the Holy Fathers which Primitive Church we doubt not was the Catholick Church We indeed will readily grant that there is no cause why we should forsake their Society if we could once perswade our selves that Ignorance Error Superstition the Worship of Idols the Inventions of Men and they very often quite contrary to the Holy Scriptures did either please God or sufficiently promote our Salvation or if we could once believe that the Word of God were only written for some years and after that were to be abrogated or that the Words and Laws of God were intirely to be submitted to the Wills of Men so as whatever he saith or commandeth except the Bishop of Rome wills and commands the same too it were to be esteemed void and not spoken But in that we have departed from a Church whose Errors are attested and manifest and which has apparently departed from the Word of God and whereas we have not so much departed from her as from her Errors and that not turbulently and injuriously but quietly and modestly in all this we say we have done nothing contrary to Christ and his Apostles For the Church of God is not of that nature that it cannot possibly be darkned with any Spots or sometimes not need a Reformation for if it were so what need were there of all those Councils and great Meetings without which as Aegidius saith the Christian Faith cannot stand for saith he as often as Councils are intermitted so often is the Church left by Christ Or if there be no danger that the Church can take dammage what need is there of the insignificant as they have ordered the Matter Name of Bishops Why are they call'd Pastors if there be no Sheep that can go astray Why are they call'd Watch-men if there be no City that can be betrayed Why Pillars if there be nothing that can sink down into Ruine when not supported by them In the very beginning of the World the Church of God was begun and she was then instructed by a heavenly Word which God sent out of his own Mouth She was furnished with Ceremonies taught by thâ— Spirit of God by the Patriarchs and Prophets and so she was preserved and brought down to those times in which Christ shewed himself in the Flesh 22. BUT O immortal God! How ofteâ— was She in the mean time and how horrible darkned and diminished For where wâ—â— She when all Flesh had corrupted their waâ— upon the Earth Where was She when then was only eight Persons and not all those neither Chast and Pious whom God was pleaâ—ed to rescue out of a common Ruine and preserve alive in a general Destruction Wheâ— Elijah so bitterly and mournfully complain'd that he only was left of all the Earth whâ— did truly and rightly worship God Wheâ— Isaiah said the Silver of the People of God that is the Church was become Dross and the once Faithful City was become an Harlâ—â— and that in her from the Head to the Sole 〈◊〉 the Foot there was no soundness in her wholâ— Body or when Christ said that the House of God was by the Scribes and Pharisees turn'd into a Den of Thieves for the Church of Christ like a Corn-field if it be not ploughed and broken tilled and dressed instead of Wheat it will bring forth Thistles Darnel and Nettles And therefore God from time to time sent Prophets and Messengers and at last Christ himself to reduce the People into the right way and to restore the sinking Church to her former Strength and Beauty And now let no man say these things could only happen under the Law when the Church was under the Shadow and in her Infancy when Truth was covered with Figures and Ceremonies and nothing was yet brought to perfection when the Law was not written on the Hearts of Men but on Tables of Stone tho this Pretence is very ridiculous for there was then the same God the same Christ the same Spirit the same Doctrine the same Faith the same Hope the same Inheritance the same Covenant and the same efficacy in the Word of God And Eusebius faith that all the Faithful from Adam were indeed Christians tho they were not so call'd Let no man I say speak thus for St. Paul the Apostle found the same Errors and Defects under the Gospel in the highest Perfection and the greatest Light so that he was forced to write thus to the Galatians whom he had just before setled I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain and that you have to no purpose
tho we are silent they may be pleased to hear their own St. Bernard Those Bishops saith he to whom the Church of God is now committed are not Teachers but Seducers not Pastors but Impostors not Prelates but Pilates Thus St. Bernard wrote then of him that call'd himself the Great Pontiff and of the Bishops who then sate at the Helm He was no Heretick he was no Lutheran he never forsook their Church and yet he never stuck at calling those Bishops they then had Seducers Impostors Pilates And now when the People were openly seduced and Christians imposed upon and Pilate mounted the Tribunal and adjudged Christ and his Members to the Fire and Sword O good God! in what condition was the Church then And now of so many and such gross Errors what one Error have they reformed to this day yea what one Error have they at any time acknowledged and confessed 26. BUT now whereas they pretend to be in Possession of the whole Catholick Church and call us Hereticks because we do not agree with them Let us see what Mark that Church hath of the Church of God Nor is the Church of God very difficult to be found if you seriously and diligently seek for it for it is placed in an high and illustrious Place and built on the top of a Mountain and the Foundations of it are laid upon the Apostles and Prophets There saith St. Augustin let us seek the Church there let us try our Cause and in another place he saith the Church is to be shown cut of the sacred Scriptures and whatever Society cannot derive it self from them is not the Church And yet I know not whence it proceeds whether from Reverence or Conscience or a despair of Victory that these men always dread and shun the Word of God as much as a Thief does the Gallows and in truth it is no Wonder for as they say a Beetle is presently extinguished in Opobalsam altho it is a most fragrant Oyntment So they see their Cause is suffocated and ruined when ever it comes near the Scriptures which are a sort of deadly Poyson to it Therefore they accustom themselves to call the Holy Scriptures which our Saviour Jesus Christ did not only cite on all occasions but at the last sealed them with his Blood that they may drive the People from them as if they were dangerous and destructive with the greater facility these very Scriptures I say they call a cold uncertain unprofitable dumb killing dead Letter which seems to us to be the same thing as if they should wholly deny them to be the Word of God And besides all this they commonly add a no very proper Simile too They are say they a Nose of Wax and may be form'd and set all manner of ways and be made to serve all manner of Purposes Does the Pope not know that that these things are said by his Followers Does he not understand what kind of Patrons he has 27. LET the Pope then be pleased to hear how piously and how holily Hosius a certain Polander and a Bishop as he saith himself certainly an eloquent and not unlearned man and a sharp and violent defender of his Interest writes concerning the Scriptures I believe he will admire a pious man could possibly entertain such impious Thoughts or write so contemptuously of those very words which he knew proceeded from the Mouth of God and above all that he should seem to desire that it might not pass for his Sense alone but the common Opinion of the whole Popish Party We saith he have bid adieu to the Scriptures having seen so many not only different but contrary Interpretations given of them let us then rather hear God himself speak then apply our selves and trust our Salvation to those jejune Elements There is no need of being Skilful in the Law and Scriptures but of being taught by God That Labour is ill imployed that is bestowed on the Scriptures for the Scripture is a Creature and a poor kind of Element Thus far Hosius in his Book of the express Word of God in this place craftily under the Person of another Man tho he speaks the same thing in several other places in the same Book as his own Opinion without any disguise which is said with the same Spirit and Affection as the like things were heretofore by Montanus and Marcion who are reported frequently to have said when they contemptuously rejected the Holy Scriptures that they knew more and better things than either Christ or his Apostles ever knew What then shall I say on this Occasion O ye Pillars of Religion O ye Presidents of the Church of Christ is this the Reverence ye pay to the Word of God Do ye bid an Adieu to the Sacred Scriptures which St. Paul saith are divinely inspir'd which the Holy God hath illustrated by so many Miracles in which the certain Footsteps of Jesus Christ are imprinted which were cited as Testimonies by all the Holy Fathers by the Apostles by Christ himself the Son of God when occasion requir'd it do ye I say bid adieu to these as if they were not worthy of your regard that is do ye impose silence upon God who it is that speaks clearly to you in the Scriptures Or will you call that Word a poor and a dead Element by which only as St. Paul saith we are reconcil'd to God and which as the Prophet David saith is Holy and Pure and shall endure for ever Or will you say that all the Pains we spend in that which Christ commanded us to search diligently and to have ever in our Eye is lost and that Christ and the Apostles when they exhorted the People to a careful Perusal of the Scriptures that they might thereby abound in all Knowledge and Wisdom designed only to delude and abuse Men It is no wonder that these men despise us and our Writings who thus undervalue God himself and his Oracles but it was a most foolish Action to offer so great an Affront to the Word of God that they might do us a small mischief 28. AND now as if all this were too little they commit the Holy Scriptures to the Fire as the wicked King Jehojakim and as Antiochus and Maximinus two Heathen Persesecutors did calling them the Books of Hereticks and they seem altogether disposed to imitate Herod the Great in what he did for the establishing of his Power for he being an Idumaean of another Race and Blood then the Jews were and desiring to be thought a Jews that so he might the better settle that his Kingdom over them which he had obtained from Augustus Caesar he commanded all their Genealogies which they kept in their Publick Register and were carefully preserved from Abrahams times by which without any Error it was easie to find of which Tribe any person was descended to be burnt and abolished that there might be nothing to be found for the
future by which it might be proved he was of another Nation So these men pretending that all their Innovations were consigned to them by Christ and his Apostles and desiring they should be accordingly esteemed lest there should be any thing any where extant which might contradict these Dreams and Shams either burn or suppress the Scriptures and keep them from the People St. Chrysostom has written very well and appositely against such men as these Hereticks saith he shut the Gates of Truth for they know if they be kept open the Church will never be thought theris And Theophylact stiles the Word of God a Candle by the Light of which a Thief may be discovered And Tertullian saith the Scriptures convict the Frauds and Thefts of Hereticks For why else do they hide and suppress the Gospel which Christ commanded his Disciples to publish from the House top Why else do they indeavour to put that Candle under a Bushel which ought to be set in a Candlestick Why do they trust more to the Ignorance Blindness and Folly of the Multitude than to the Goodness of their Cause Do they think their Arts are not disclosed or that as if they had Gyges his Ring they can go undiscovered The World sees now with both Eyes what is so carefully locked up in the Cabinet of the Popes Breast this one Argument is sufficient to prove they do not act well and sincerely that Cause deserves to be suspected which declines a Scrutiny and hates the Light for as Christ saith he that doth Evil seeks Darkness and hates the Light but a mind conscious of what is good willingly comes forth that the Works which come from God may be seen but these Gentlemen are not so blind but they see what will become of their Kingdom if the Scriptures come once to be generally known and as it is said of old all the Idols of the Demons which before gave Oracles suddenly became dumb upon the appearance of Christ upon Earth so now will all their Arts at the approach of the Gospel sink down into Ruins and Rubbish for Antichrist is not to be deposed by any other thing than the Brightness of the coming of Christ 29. WE do not like them presently betake our selves to Fire and Sword but to the Scriptures nor do we assault them with force and Arms but with the Word of God By them as Tertullian saith we nourish our Faith by them we erect our Hope by them we establish our Confidence for we know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Power of God unto Salvation and that in it there is eternal life and as St. Paul admonisheth us we would refuse to hear an Angel of God that came from Heaven if he endeavoured to turn us away from any part of this Doctrine Yea as that most holy man Juastin Martyr said of himself we would not believe God himself if he should teach us another Gospel for whereas they make the Holy Scriptures like silent Masses dumb and useless and appeal rather to God himself speaking in the Church and in Councilâ— that is to their own better Senses and Opiâ—nions that is a very uncertain and dangerouâ— way of finding out Truth and in a sort Phaâ—natical and which was never approved bâ— the Holy Fathers St. Chrysostom saith indeedâ— that many boast of the Holy Spirit but if theâ— they speak what is their own they glory falsly 〈◊〉 what they have not for saith he as Christ denied that he spake from himself when he spake out of the Law and the Prophets so now if anâ—â—thing besides the Gospel is obtruded upon us undeâ— the Name of the Holy Ghost it is not to be believâ—ed for as Christ is the Completion of the Laâ— and the Prophets so the Spirit is the Completion 〈◊〉 the Gospel CHAP. V. Concerning the Answers and Objections out of the Fathers and Councils BUT though they have not the Scriptures on their side perhaps they will pretend they have the ancient Doctors and the Holy Fathers for that they have ever boasted that all Antiquity and the perpetual Consent of all times is for them and that all our Pretences are Novel and were never heard of till within the course of a very few years last past 2. NOW certainly there can nothing of more weight be said against Religion then that it is new We know not how this has come to pass but from the beginning of the World thus it hath ever been for whensoever God hath discovered and restored to Mankind the light of his Truth tho it is not only of the utmost Antiquity but older than time it self and eternal yet it ever seems to wicked men who hate it to be new and of no Antiquity That impious and bloody man Haman that he might bring the Jews into disfavour thus accused them to Assâ—erus Thou O King hast here in thy Dominions a certain People scattered abroad which observeth new Laws but is stubborn and rebellious against thy Laws St. Paul also when he began first to preach the Gospel to the Athenians was said to be a Setter forth of strange Gods that is of a new Religion and accordingly thus they bespeak him May we know what this new Doctrine whereof thou speakest is And Celsus when he wrote expresly against Christ and his Gospel that he might expose it to the scorn of men under the pretence of its Novelty writes thus What saith he has God after so many Ages now at last bethought himself Eusebius also is our Author that from the beginning the Christian Religion was in derision stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new and strange Religion and so our Adversaries condemn all our Doctrines as new and strange but then they desire that all their own without exception should be reputed most ancient just as the Magicians and Conjurers whose business is with the infernal Spirits that their abominable Art may be thought the more sublime and divine as being derived from great Patrons and Inventors and of a very ancient Original do commonly say that they have their Books and all their Rites and secret Mysteries from Athanasius Cyprian Moses Abel and Adam and from the Arch-Angel Raphael So our Enemies that their Religion too which they have not long since patch'd up for themselves may with the more â—ase be recommended to ignorant men and those that rarely consider what themselves or others do pretend that it came down to them just such as now it is from St. Augustin St. Hierom St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose from the Apostles and Christ for they very well know that there is nothing more popular and of greater esteem with men than those venerable Names But now what if those things they pretend are so new do indeed prove to be most ancient and what if on the other side almost all those things which they extol so very much upon the pretence of Antiquity when they are well and
diligently examined are in the end sound to be new and of a very late Original 3. IN truth the Laws and Ceremonies of the Jews altho accused by Haman as new could never be thought so by any man who did well and rightly consider the thing for they were written on most ancient Tables and Christ tho many thought he departed from Abraham and the ancient Fathers and brought in a new Religion in his own name yet answered truly if ye believed Moses ye would believe me also for my Doctrine is not so new for Moses a very ancient Author and of great esteem with you hath spoken of me and St. Paul saith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which many thought to be new that it had the most Ancient Testimony of the Law and the Prophets And our Doctrine which we may much better call the Catholick Doctrine of Christ is not so new but that it is commended to us by the Ancient of days the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in most ancient Monuments the Prophets and Gospels and the Writings of the Apostles and these cannot now seem new to any man but to him to whom the Faith of the Prophets the Gospel and Christ himself seems new But then as to their Religion if it be so ancient as they pretend why do they not prove it so from the Examples of the Primitive Church from the old Fathers and the antient Councils Why doth so antient a Cause lye desolate and without a Patron so very long Indeed they never want Fire and Swords but then as to the ancient Fathers and Councils there is with them a deep silence But it is the height of Absurdity and Folly to begin with those bloody and brutish Reasons if they could possibly have found out easier and milder Arguments 4. AND again if they do indeed intirely trust to Antiquity and do not dissemble any thing why did one John Clement an English man rend and burn some Leaves of Theodoret a most ancient Father and a Greek Bishop in the presence of several persons of good Worth and Credit believing that another Copy of that Book was no where to be found because this Father had perspicuously and clearly taught that the Nature of the Bread was not abolished in the Eucharist Why doth Albertus Pighius deny that the ancient Father St. Augustin had a true notion of original Sin Or of Matrimony in that he saith that a Marriage made after a Vow entered is a good Marriage and cannot be dissolved upon which occasion Pighius saith Augustin erred and made use of false Logick And why did they in a late Impression of Origen upon the Gospel of St. John omit the whole sixth Chapter in which it is probable or rather certain that Father has delivered many things contrary to their Opinions concerning the Eucharist choosing rather to deface and to mutilate this ancient Father than to suffer any thing to appear in the World which might contradict their Doctrine by printing the Book perfect Is their Rending Suppressing Maiming and Burning the Writings of the ancient Fathers an Argument of their Reliance on Antiquity 5. IT is worth the while to see how rarely these Gentlemen agree in matters of Religion with those antient Fathers of whose concurrence they boast so unmeasurably 1. The ancient Elibertin Council decreed that what was the Object of Worship should not be painted in Churches The old Father Epiphanius saith it is a hâ—rrible wickedness and an insufferable villany for any man to set up the Picture even of Christ in Christian Churches but they have filled all their Churches and every Corner of them with Pictures and Statues as as if there were no Religion without them 2. The ancient Fathers Origen and St. Chrysostom have exhorted the People to the diligent reading of the Scriptures that they would buy Books and discourse amongst themselves of holy things in their Families the Wives with their Husbands and the Parents with their Children but our adversaries condemn the Scriptures as dead Elements and drive the People from them as much as they can possibly 3. The ancient Fathers Cyprian Epiphanius and St. Jerome if any Person who had vowed to live a single Life did afterwards fall into impurity and could not overcome the Rages of his Concupiscence said it was better for him to marry and live chastly in a State of Matrimony and such a Marriage is by St. Augustine another ancient Father adjudged to be valid and good and that it ought not to be recalled or rescinded but they if a man has once bound himself by a Vow although he is afterwards burnt altho he Whores altho he lives never so lewdly and dissolutely yet they will never suffer him to marry or if he does perhaps marry they deny that it is a lawful Marriage and they â—each that it is much more holy to keep a Concubine or a Whore than to live in a state of Matrimony 4. St. Augustin an ancient Father complained of the excessive number of impertinent Ceremonies with which the Minds and Consciences of Men were even then oppressed they as if God regarded nothing else have since swelled the number of them to so immense a quantity that there is scarce any thing else left in their Churches 5. The same ancient Father denies it to be lawful for a Monk to live lazily in idleness and under the Shew and Pretence of Sanctity to live on what is anothers and the ancient Father Apollonius saith such a Monk is no better than a Thief But they have whole Flocks or Herds shall I call them of Monks who do nothing nor do they so much as pretend to any shew of Holiness and yet do not only live by the Labour of others but fare deliciously and luxuriously 6. An ancient Roman Council decreed that no man should be present at that Divine Service which was celebrated by a Priest which he knew kept a Concubine but they permit the Priests to keep Concubines for Money and by force compel men to be present at their Sacrilegious Services 7. The ancient Apostolical Canons command that Bishop to be deposed who shall exercise at the same time the Office of a Bishop and the Function of a Civil Magistrate but these men do and will exercise both or rather indeed totally neglect that which is most of all their Duty and yet there is no man to remove and punish them 8. The ancient Council of Gangra forbid any man to put such difference between a married and a single Priest as to esteem the one more Holy than the other upon that account but they put such a Difference that they think all the Holy Services which are performed by a pious and good man who hath a Wife are prophaned 9. The ancient Emperor Justinianus commanded all things in the Divine Service to be pronounced with an audible loud clear articulate Voice that the People
might thereby reap some benefit by it but they that the People may never understand them whisper their Divine Service not only in an obscure and low Tone but also in a strange and barbarous Tongue 10. The old Carthagenian Council forbad any thing besides the Canonical Scriptures to be read in the holy Assemblies of the Church but they read in their Churches what they themselves do not doubt to be meer Lyes and silly Fables And now if any man thinks these things are of no great consideration because they were decreed by Emperors and small Councils consisting of Bishops of less esteem and not in full Councils and therefore are more fond of the Authority and Names of Popes 11. Julius expresly forbad the Priest in the Celebration of the holy Communion to dip the Bread in the Calice but they contrary to this Decree do divide the Bread and dip it 12. Clemens the Pope saith it is not lawful for a Bishop to bear both the Spiritual and Civil Swords and saith he if thou wilt have both thou deceivest thy self and those that hear thee but now the Pope claims both and bears both and therefore the Wonder ought to seem the less if that hath followed which Clement foretold and he hath accordingly deceived himself and those which have heard him 13. Pope Leo saith it is not lawful to celebrate more than one Mass in one Day in one Church they say every day sometimes ten at others twenty and at other thirty and sometimes more in the same Church at the same time so that the miserable Spectator knows not which way to turn him 14. Gelasius the Pope saith that if any man divide the Sacrament and when he has received one part refuseth the other he doth act Wickedly and Sacrilegiously but they contrary to the Word of God and the Decree of this Pope command only one part of the Eucharist to be given to the People and by so doing have made their Priests guilty of Sacriledge 6. BUT now if they shall pretend that all these things are antiquated and worn out of use and so are in a sort dead and do not concern our times yet that men may see what Faith is to be given to these Men and with what Hope they call Councils let us consider in a few instances how well they observe those things which have been ordained of late years and which are fresh in Memory by Councils which they pretend were lawfully called and in which they themselves decreed those things I shall mention to be Religiously observed In the last Council of Trent not much above fourteen years since it was decreed by the common Vote of all Orders there present that two Benefices should not be committed at one time to the same Person Where is that Sanction now Is that so soon antiquated and dead too for they do frequently give not only two Benefices but sometimes also several Monasteries too and sometimes two three or four Bishopricks to one Man and he too sometimes not only unlearned and consequently thereby unfit for them but a Soldier In the same Council it was decreed that all Bishops ought to preach the Gospel but they never Preach nor ever come in a Pulpit nor do they think it in the least any part of their Duty What then is the meaning of all that shew of Antiquity Why do they glory so in the Names of the Fathers and of the ancient and modern Councils Why would they so fain seem to rely upon their Authority whom as occasion serve at their Pleasure they despise 7. BUT I have a great desire to have a little discourse with the Pope himself and to tell him some things to his Face Be pleased then O Holy Father who so often boastest of Antiquity and pretendest that all the Ancients are intirely addicted to thy Service to inform us which of all the ancient Fathers ever call'd your Holiness the chief Pontif or the Universal Bishop or the Head of the Church Which of them ever said that both the Swords were given to thee Which of them ever said that you have the Right and Authority to call Councils that the whole World was your Diocess Which of them ever said that all Bishops had received of your Fulness That all Power both iâ— Heaven and Earth was given to you That you could not be judged by Kings nor by the whole Clergy nor by all the Peopleâ— Which of them ever said that Kings and Emperors by the Command and will of Christ derived Authority from you Which of them ever affirmed with a Mathematical Exactnesâ— and Certainty that your Authority was preâ—cisely seventy seven times greater than that oâ— the greatest Kings Which of them ever saiâ— that you had a greater power than the otheâ— Patriarchs Which of them ever said you werâ— the Lord God or not a meer Man like otheâ— Mortals or stiled you a certain Hotch-potch a Mixture or Concrete of God and Manâ— which of them ever said that you were thâ— fountain of all Law that you had an Empireâ— and Dominion over Purgatory and that yoâ— might at your pleasure command the Angels of God Which of them ever said that you were King of Kings and Lord of Lords And now we are in we may inquire of a fow other things of the same Nature What one Man of all the ancient Bishops and Fathers ever taught you to say a private Mass whilst the People did nothing but look on or to lift the Eucharist above your Head in which you now place all your Religion or to curtail the Sacrament of Christ and contrary to his Institution and express Command to deprive the People of one half of it And that we may conclude what one of all the ancient Fathers taught you to dispence the Blood of Christ and the Merits of the Martyrs and to sell your Indulgences and all the Apartments and Lodgings of Purgatory like Commodities in the Market for Money They are wont often to celebrate their own wonderful secret Learning and their manifold and various Readings Now let your Partizans at last produce something of it if they can or let them at least shew they have read and do know more than or dinary for they have often made hideous Outcries amongst their Hearers that all the parts of their Religion are ancient and approved not only by the number but also by the Continuance and Consent of all Nations and Times 8. WELL then let them at least shew this their boasted Antiquity let them make it appear that what they so much extol is indeed of so vast an Extent let them prove that all Christian Nations have imbraced their Religion But alass as I said before they flee from their own Decrees and have already pluckt up those Canons which but a very few years since they made to last for ever Why then should we trust them in relation to what they pretend concerning the Fathers the
speaâ— their minds truly and freely they themselve cannot deny but that all things are purly and reverently administred and as far as we can possibly according to the Example and Manner of the ancient times Let them compare their Church and ours together and they will soon see that they have most basely departed from the Apostles and we have most justly and reasonably departed from them for we with Christ and the Apostles and Primitive Fathers give the intire and whole Eucharist to the People but they contrary to the Practice of all the Fathers and Apostles and of Christ himself divide that Sacrament with an high Sacrilege as Gelasius expresseth it and deprive the People of one half of it 2. We have recalled the Lords Supper to its first Institution and have made it common to as many as was possible that it might be as it is called a Communion But they contrary to the Institution of Christ of a Holy Communion have made it a private Mass and so we give the People the Lords Supper they entertain them with a vain Show 3. We affirm with the ancient Fathers that the Body of Christ is eaten by none but Holy and Faithful Men who are endowed with the Spirit of Christ but they say that the very Body of Christ may be truly and indeed or as they express it really and substantially eaten not only by impious and unbelieving Men but which is abominable to be spoken by Mice and Dogs 4. We pray so in our Churches that according to St. Paul's Admonition the People may know what is prayed and understandingly answer Amen to the common Prayers They like tinkling Brass pour out in the Church unknown and strange Words without Understanding Sense or Meaning and take all the care they can that the People may understand nothing 5. And that we may not mention all the differences because they are almost infinite we have turned the Holy Scriptures into all Languages and they will scarce allow them to be extant in any Tongue We invite the People to read and hear the Word of God they drive them away from it We desire the Cause in Controversie should be understood by all but they fly from Judgment We trust to Knowledge they to Ignorance We trust to the Light and they to Darkness We venerate as it is fit we should the Words of the Apostles and Prophets they burn them Lastly in the Cause of God we desire to stand or fall by the Judgment of God alone and they would stand only by their own Now therefore if they would consider all these things with a sedate and quiet mind well disposed to hear and learn they would not only approve our design who having left their Errors have applyed our selves to follow Christ and his Apostles but they would likewise fall off from themselves and certainly unite with us in our way CHAP. VI. Of the Great Value we have for Councils and of the little regard the Papists have for them BUT in the next place they pretend that it is altogether unlawful to attempt any of these things without the consent of a General Council because in that is lodged all the Power of the Church and Christ hath promised that there he will never fail to be present But as I said they have violated the Commandments of God the Decrees of the Apostles and almost all the Institutions and Doctrines of the Primitive Church without ever expecting any such Sacred Council 2. AND whereas they pretend that it is not Lawful for any Church to change any thing without a General Council who imposed these Laws upon us or from whence had they this Edict That King acted very ridiculously who when he was assured by an Oracle of the Will and Pleasure of Jupiter the Great Heathen God referred the thing again to Apollo that he might see whether he were of the same mind with his Father Jupiter But we should act much more imprudently if when we have heard God himself speaking to us in the Scriptures and thereby know his Will and Pleasure as if all this were nothing we should after all refer the thing to a Council which is nothing better than to try whether God and Man are both of one mind and whether Men will please to approve and enforce the Laws of God by their Authority For what shall not truth be truth except a Council is pleased to will and require it Or shall not God be God without their consent If Christ at the beginning would have acted thus and would neither have taught nor spoken any thing without the consent of the High Priests and if he had referred his whole Doctrine to Annas and Caiphas where had the Christian Faith been now Or who had ever heard of the Gospel And St. Peter whom the Pope mentions more frequently and with greater Elogies than he doth Jesus Christ himself confidently withstood the Sacred Council and replied it is better to obey God than Man And St. Paul when he had once throughly imbibed the Gospel and that neither from man nor by man but only by the Will of God deliberated not with Flesh and Blood nor did he refer the thing to his Kinsmen and Brethren but straight way went into Arabia that he might there publish the Divine Mysteries which he had learned of God himself 3. WE do not despise Councils nor the Meetings and Consultations of Bishops and learned Men nor have we done what we have done without Bishops and a Council the thing was debated along time in a full Assembly of the States But what we may expect from that Council which is now pretended to be held by Pope Pius the IV. in which men are with such facility condemn'd uncall'd unheard and unseen is not mighty difficult to conjecture When Nazianzen in his times saw men in these Meetings so blind and obstinate that they were wholly lead by their Affections and that they sought Victory more than Truth he confidently said that he never saw a good end put to any of the Councils What would he now say if he were living and understood their Transactions for then altho there was some Faction and Partiality yet Causes were heard and considered and manifest apparent Errors were taken away by their united Suffrages But our Adversaries will not so much as suffer the Cause to be freely debated nor will they suffer any one of the many Errors that are crept into the Church to be changed for they are wont frequently and impudently to boast that their Church cannot Err that there is not the least fault in it that nothing was to be yielded to us or that if any thing were granted it was to be at the Discretion of the Bishops and Abbots that they were the sole Moderators of Affairs and that they were the Church of God Aristotle saith that Bastards cannot make a Civil Society or State and they may consider whether they be any better
to me by Letters or by Messengers I will discover to man to his Damage I will be a Helper to defend the Papacy of the Church of Rome and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and to retain them against all men Of old when the Priests of Apollo Pythius spoke plainly in favour of Philip King of Macedonia there were some who facetiously said that Apollo began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Philippize And now we see plainly that nothing is decreed in the Council but by the Will and Consent of the Pope why may we not say that the Oracles of the Councils do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Papize that is speak nothing but what the Pope please Verres of old acted wisely of whom it is reported that being plainly guilty of many Crimes he would not commit his Reputation and Fame to any but confiding men of his own Flock and Party But yet the Pope is many degrees wiser for he will not have any Judges but such as he knows will not determine any thing against his Will because they have the same Interest he hath and esteem all things by the relation they have to their Pleasures and Bellies and yet if they would they could not do otherwise because they are bound to him by an Oath too indeed they place the Bible in the midst of the Council because they would seem not to act any thing against the Prescription thereof and yet they only look upon it at a good distance but never read one word of it in truth they bring with them a prejudicated Sentence and never attend what Christ saith or determine any thing but as it best pleaseth them 24. AND thus is all that Liberty which ought to be in all Consultations and especially in those which concern holy things and which doth best befit the holy Spirit and the Modesty of Christian Men wholly taken away St. Paul saith that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace but these men command him to be forthwith taken and hurried to Prison and burnt who shall but mutter any thing to the contrary as the cruel Death of the two holy and stout men John of Hus and Jerome of Prague is an excellent Witness against them which two men they murthered contrary to the publick Faith and were thereby false both to God and Man So the false Prophet Zedechias when he had made himself a pair of iron Horns smote Micaiah the Prophet of the Lord and said hath the Spirit of the Lord left me and come to thee thus having now excluded all others they reign in Councils alone and have the sole Right of Suffrages and so make and divulge such Laws as the Ephesians did of old Let no man said they who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiser than the rest presume to live here upon pain of Banishment and Transportation for these men will hear none of us About ten years since in the late Council at Trent the Ambassadors of the Princes of Germany and of the free Towns who came thither that they might be heard were excluded out of the Assembly and denied the Liberty of Speech for the Bishops and Abbots said they would suffer no free Debate of the Cause nor would they determine the Controversies by the Word of God and that those of our Side were not to be heard except they would recant which if they refused they were to expect no other terms in the Council but to be condem'd for Julius the III. in his Brief by which he call'd that Council publickly declared that if they did not change their Minds they should be condemned for Hereticks without ever hearing their Cause And Pius the IV. who hath now resolved to call again that Council hath by the prejudice of his own single Judgment commanded all those who have made defection from the Authority of the Church of Rome that is the greatest part of Christendom without ever seeing or hearing them to be taken and reputed Hereticks They are wont to say and that upon all occasions that all things are well and that they will not suffer the least part of their Doctrine and Religion to be altered Albertus Pighius saith that without the Command of the Church of Rome the most plain place of Scripture is not to be believed Now is this their way to restore the Church to her Integrity Is this their seeking Truth Is this the Liberty and Moderation which beâ—its a Council 25. AND altho these things are most unjust and most contrary to the Practice of the ancient Councils and the Usage of modest and good Men in their Deliberations yet it is much more unreasonable that whereas the whole World complains of the Ambition and Tyranny of the Pope of Rome and is perswaded that until he is reduced to a better Order all their Labours for the Reformation of the Church of God will be in vain and nothing will be done yet at last all things are referred to him alone as to the most equal Arbiter and Judge But O good God! to what Man I will not now say any of these things against him that he is an Enemy of the Truth an Ambitious Covetous Proud Man who is already become intolerable to his own But I say that it is the utmost pitch of Folly and Injustice to make him the sole Judge of all Religion who commands all his Dictates to be had in the self same Honour and Esteem as the Words of St. Peter are and saith that in case he should Mislead a thousand Souls and carry them with himself to Hell yet no man ought to reprehend him for it Who saith he can make Injustice to become Justice Whom Camotensis confesseth to have corrupted the Scriptures that he might have a Plenitude of Power And why should I use more words whom his own Companions and Ministers Joachimus Abbas Petrarcha Marsilius Patavinus Laurentius Valla and Hieronymus Savanarola have not obscurly hinted to be the Antichrist To the Judgment and Will I say of this one Man are all things submitted that this very Criminal may be both the Party accused and the Judge of his own very Case that this guilty man may sit aloft upon a Throne and his Accusers stand beneath whilst he gives Sentence for himself for Pope Julius had given us these just and reasonable Laws There is saith he no Council which is valid nor ever shall be unless supported by the Authority of the Church of Rome And Bonifacius the VIII saith that every Creature ought to be subject to the Church of Rome and that as they tender their Salvation And Pope Pascal useth this Expression as if any Councils had given Laws to the Church of Rome when in truth all the Councils have been held and received their Force from the Authority of the Church of Rome and in all their Statutes the Authority of the Pope of Rome is plainly and apparently excepted And another saith
Church thereby unspotted to this day though she has suffered very much for her Fidelity and Loyalty Augustus Steuchus Anto. de Rosellis De major obed solit De major obed Vnam Sanctam Clement 5. in Concil Viennensi Leo papa Zacharias Papa Clemens Papa 7. The same Clemens Sabellicus Coelestinus Papa Hildebrandus Papa Psal 91. 13. Chrysostomus 13. ad Rom. Gregorius saepe in epist Rom. 13. 2. Tertul. in Apolog. cap. 16. Tertul. in Apolog. cap. 7. 8 9. Idem cap. 39. Jerem. 7. 4. John 8. 39. Augustin Ep. 48. ad Vincentium Jeremiah 8. 4. Revel 2. 9. John 8. 44. In Lateran Concil sub â—â—lio 2 Kings 19. Isaiah 1. 22. Math. 21. 13. Lib. 1. c. 1. HsE Cap. 4. v. 11. V. 19. Math. 24. 15. 2 Thes 2. 4. 2 Tim. 4. 3. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Math. 24. 24. Contra Maxentium Epistola ad Mauricium lib. 4. Epist 32. Sermon 33. In libello de idiomate Linguarum Gerson Fratres Lugdunenses Adrian in Platina Pighius Gerson Ephesians 2. 20. De Vnitate Eccl. cap. 3. Ib. cap. 4. Our Saviour resigned up his Soul to his Father in the Words of David Luk. 23. 46. Psal 31. 5. Pighius in Hierarchia 2 Tim. 4. 16. 2 Cor. 5. 19. Psal 19. 8. Euseb lib. 1. c. 7. In opere imperfecto John 3. 20. 2 Thes 2. 8. Galat. 1. 8. Esther 3. 8. According tothe vulgar Latin Act. 17. 18. Origen contra Celsum John 5. 46. Caus 27. 9. 1. Nuptiarum bonum in controversiis This Book is every where to be had thus imperfect When this piece was written the design of a general Index Expurgatorius upon all the printed Fathers was not known which is an undeniable Argument under their own hands that the ancient Fathers are not in their Interest the first of these Indexes was found at the Sack of Cales in Spain Anno Domini 1596. many years after this Apology was published Cap. 3. Images Scripture Origines in Leviticum cap. 16. Chrysostom in Math. 1. Hom. 2. in Johan Hom. 3. Marriage Epist 11. lib. 1. cont Ap. Haerct 61. de virginitate servanda ad Demetriadem Ceremonies Monks Cap. 3. Concubines Magistracy Cap. 8. Married Priests * In Novellis Const it 23. and 146. Divine Service to be performed in an audible Voice Let those Clergy men of the Church of England consider this who read the Service so low that no man can hear it * Only the Canonical Scriptures to be read in Churches March 3d. 1547. Pluralities De Major Obed. Vnam Sanctam in Extravag Bonifac 8. Durand Concil Lat. sub Julio 2â— Distinct 9. Innocentii de major in obed solite in Extravag John 22. c. cum inter nonnullos in glossa finali in impressa Editione Parisiis 1503. Antonius de Posellis XXIII 28. I. 12. C. Plinius Plutarch XII 9. Mat. XX. 13. XIV 3. XLI 17. VIII 11. The Grecian Church 2 Cor. XIV Agesilaus Acts 4. 19. Gal. 1. 12. 16. In the fourth year of Pius the IV. Anno Christi 1563. in the sixth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was an end put to the Council of Trent which is so often mentioned by this Author Nazian ad Procopium Micah 3. 6. I. VI. 10. Math. 5. 13. Luke 14. 35. It was a common Proverb in the time of the Council of Trent that the Holy Ghost was sent from Rome to the Council in a Cloak-Bag which was spoken in derision of the Councils depending too much upon the Directions sent them very frequently from thence by Carriers as Father Paul acquaints us in his History of that Council and to this Proverb our Author in this place alludes The same Proverb is mentioned by the Bishop of Quinque Ecclesiae in a Leter printed in the end of the Council of Trent in English De electione electi potestate ca. significa Ad Evagrium Host ca. quanto Abas Panor de elect ca. Venerabilis Cornelius Episcopus in Concilio Tridentino Durandus Acts 15. 28. Hosius contra Brentium lib. 2. Theodorer lib. 1â—â— 2â— Tripart lib. 10. cap. 13. Euseb lib. 5. cap. 17. Soz. lib. 5. c. 15. XLIX 23. Exod. 12. Ioshua 1. 2 Chron. XIII 2 Chron. VI. 1 King VIII 2 Chr. XXIX 2 King XVIII 2 Chr. XVII 2 King XXIII 2 King X. Pius IV. In bulla sua ad Imperatorem Ferdinandum Hist Eccl lib. 1. cap. 5. Socrates Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 10. Act. 2. * The Author mentions in this place Hecatombae Solitaurilia Lectisternia and Supplications Heathen Rites that cannot be supposed to be easily understood by an English Reader and are not worth the while to expound them at length Hagg. II. 3 4 c. 1 Cor. 4. 3. Prov. 19. 21. In Psalm 126. In Prophet Nahum cap. 3. Eph. 5. 14. 1 Sam. 11. 2. John 8. 40. 44. 1 Peter 5. 1. He stiles himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is your Fellow Presbyter or Copriest which is not so plainly rendred in our English Version as it might be * I suppose by this Expression he means the several English Bishops who had been Protestants in the Reign of Edward the 6th and turning Papists a-again in the Reign of Queen Mary were ashamed to take a third turn now in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and so not only sliffly persisted now in Popery but were more clamorous against the Reformation than others were Heylin his Ecclesia Restaurata Anno primo Eliz. pag. 286. Henry the 2d John This Apology was pen'd before the Puritan Schism in in the Church of England broke out As Fuller informs us they first began to appear in 1563. which was the year after this Apology was written but it came not to an open Rupture till the year 1570. Fuller Rom. 16. 17. 18. Tit. 1. 12. Math. 21. 31. 29th of Nobemb 1560. So that this Letter was writ about August 1560. XXX I. according to the Septuagint version Chap. 8. v. 10. Psal 2. 2. Bound by Oath The Form of the Bishops Oath to the Pope 1 Cor. 14. 30. 1 Kings 22. 11. 1551. †In Corn. Agripp de Vanitate Scient 〈◊〉 14. 14. All Bishops equal Psal 2. 11.