the vertue of natural causes false Miracles may seem to the weakness of men to be above the power of Creatures but are not so many of them are effected by natural means though in a secret and cunning way others of them are delusions of the Senses Satan cannot work the least Miracle by the power of his word No power of the Devil can raise the dead to life which is a work simply above the power of Creatures This Christ did with a word Mark 5.41 42. V. The ends for which Divine Miracles are wrought are always good chiefly for the promoting of Gods Glory and Mans Salvation So the Miracles wrought by the power of Christ tended to declare him to be the Son of God the Saviour of the World that men might receive him and believe in him to Salvation to prove and confirm the heavenly Doctrine of the Scripture to seal the truth of the Gospel to confirm the Minds of men in this assurance that the way of holy worship commanded in Scripture is appointed by the Lord himself by whose Almighty Power these Miracles are wrought but the lying wonders among the Papists wrought by the cunning and power of Satan are for evil and cursed ends like their Anthor to draw people from the truth to confirm them in Errours in Superstition praying for the dead and to the dead worshipping of Images establishing Monkish dreams of Purgatory and the like forgeries and absurdities Miracles are neither necessary nor perpetual in the Church If any bring in a new Doctrine it behoveth him to do Miracles But we of whom Miracles are demanded bring no new Doctrine Of the Gift of Prophecy THis the Papists hold also to be a perpetual mark whereby to know the Church for they say that the true Church of God wanteth not those which are endued with the spirit of Prophecy and they tell us that in every age there hath flourished some Prophet in their Church And for this they produce a few forged examples of Saint Bernard and Saint Francis a Popish Saint and the Founder of the superstitious Order of the Franciscans and of such others It is true there have lived some among them in their Church which in those days were counted Prophets and Prophetesses as Hildegardis anno 1146. likewise Bridget Catharine Senensis whom Bellarmine reckoneth up among others that wrought Miracles But concerning these a learned man answereth as the Jesuit doth for Sibilla a Prophetess among the Heathen that she prophecied as touching such matters as should fall out to the Church for a testimony of the Faith of the Christians and so to be counted herein a Prophetess of the Church rather than of the Heathen So if those three above-named were Prophetesses they were of our Church and not theirs for they prophecied of the decay of their Church and raising up of ours The Devil deluded many Popish Monks with strange Raptures and Visions though in their nature far different from those mentioned in the holy Scripture For Saint Paul in his Revelations was caught up into the third Heaven whereas most Monks with a contrary motion were carried into Hell and Purgatory and there saw apparitions of strange Torments Fuller in Vita Hildegaâ—d Also Saint Johus Revelation forbids all addition to the Bible under heavy penalties their Visions are commonly on purpose to piece out the holy Scripture and to establish such Superstitions as have no footing in Gods Word as a judicious Divine of ours hath well noted We read of a notable Popish Prophetess in King Henry the eighths daies Elizabeth Barton a Nun commonly called the holy Maid of Kent who being instructed by the Friers seigned as though she had many Revelations she prophecied that if the King proceeded in his Divorce then in question between him and Queen Catharine that he should not be King one year no not one month but he lived almost twenty years after that and this Prophetess worthily suffered for her demerits with all her accomplices Of Prosperity which the Papists make another Mark of the tâ—ue Church NOw see how unlike the condition of the false Church of Rome is to the condition of Saint Peter and the true Church of Christ Saint Peter reckoneth upon suffering persecution and death for the Gospel of Christ this he had from the mouth of Christ himself after his Resurrection and so we see that the Church of Christ is not exempted from the Cross by the Victory of Christ or by his Resurrection from the dead But wherein doth the Church of Rome which pretendeth it self to be Saint Peters Bishoprick and Diocess and its Bishop to be its Successor glory In a flourishing Church-Monarchy sufficient to make Kings Princes Emperours to wait at their Gates to hold the Popes Stirrup lead his Horse lay their Necks under his Feet kiss his Foot sufficient to depose Kings and Emperours sufficient to kill with Fire and Sword those that oppose their Decrees and Inventions though not convinced of any on Errour by the Word of God rightly understood And in this estate they bragg that their Church hath continued many hundred years without any interruption Could the true Church of Christ ever say so much in any age May not the Church say as Saint Paul of himself Bonds and imprisonment abide me poverty contempt from the world I am made a spectacle to Angels to the world and to men This true Kings Daughter is all glorious with in her Beauty consisteth in inward spiritual Graces not in Purple and Scarlet Gold and precious Stones The truth is the Popish Church glorieth in her shame and that which she boasteth of is a good argument to prove that she is not the true Church and Spouse of Christ who do talk so much of the Cross and make so much of the sign of the Cross as the Pope and his Followers But who do less bear the Cross of Christ than they they lay it upon others backs with great cruelty and violence even themselves that instead of being a suffering Church it is a persecuting Church instead of giving its Blood for the Truth it doth so outragiously spill the Blood of others that it should make any one that is not fearfully blinded to renounce it and to come out of her as an accursed Babylon a Cage of unclean Birds Are not the Popish cruelties registred as it were in Letters of Blood consult our Book of Martyrs what banishing excommunicating cursing imprisoning racking reviling drawing beheading hanging burning famishing tormenting divers ways sometimes of single persons sometimes of Towâ—â—… and Cities sometimes by the common Executioner sometimes by great Armies as may be instanced in the Waldenses and Albigenses somewhat more anciently of later times in Germany France Italy Spain England Scotland Ireland The scarlet-Whore seemeth as it were to have surfeited on the Blood of the Saints our Country hath been polluted with horrible Murthers until the Reign of King Henry the seventh for the space of three
confess and fleece them to purpose Lamentable was the woful blindness that was in those times reigning in the World when no man might buy or sell no man might live without danger of the Popes Curse but such as received the marke of the Beast in his hand or in his forehead It was death to profess the Truth of Christ and once to mutter against their Errours It was thought worthy to be punished with Fire and Faggot when any did but seek the saving knowledg of God though in a secret way to have a few leaves or Chapters of the New Testament in their own tongue which they could understand was held even a Capital offence against the Roman Catholique Church For whiles the Shepherds who had the charge of Souls became dumb-dogs not preaching or blind Watch-men not discovering danger to the souls of the people or preaching perverse things to lead men from the knowledg of Salvation lest any should against their wills get light from the Word by reading the Scriptures in private and be able to espie their false dealings they took a most devilish course to take away the Key of Knowledg as the Scribes and Pharisees did But they worse than these fore-Fathers of theirs did shut up the Word in an unknown tongue that the knowledg of Christ might be hidden from the people yea and they taught them their very Prayers in a strange Language Oh the impudence of Sin and Wickâ—dness when it hath gotten head and is some to the height Now here again we are to acknowledg the Lord's unspeakable goodness in restoring unto us the knowledg of his Truth and in a clear and admirable manner in despite of all the power and policy of the man of sin and his many Instruments who with fire and sword as well as with pen and paper laboured to maintain his Kingdom When Antichrist set his foul feet and laid his iron-yoke upon the tender neck of the Spouse of Christ enthralling the people of God to his Traditions enthroning himself in their Consciences it was not now the Sword of any Emperour nor the policy of any deep-headed Statist that restored her or ruined him but it was the breath of the Lords mouth in the Ministry of his Word which gave life to the Church again and blasted the glory of that Whore of Babylon according to that Epigram applied to Luther Lutherus decimum confecit strage leonem De clavâ noli quaerere penna fuit Insomuch that if the Popish Priests be not worse than the Egyptian Sorcerers how can they deny but this was the finger of God that in so short a time so great a light should shine throughout so many Nations and that so many men and women of all sorts and degrees rich poor noble mean learned unlearned should see so much into the mysteries of Salvation to which the world for a long time had been a stranger should rely wholly and onely upon Christ for Salvation and renounce all Considence in themselves or any other Creature or any device of man's brain should acknowledg the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for a full doctrine of Salvation and Godliness and despise all traditions of men which are not grounded upon it defying the Pope as Antichrist who for a long time had been honoured above God and whom none almost durst gainsay or once mutter against renouncing Will-worship Image-worship Invocation of Saints and the like Idolatrics and Spiritual Whoredoms wherewith the Whore of Babylon hath defiled the world This was the Lords doing and it is wonderful in our eyes Yea and in this Visitation the Lord did bestow greater means upon our Nation than upon many other There was no Nation in these parts of the world but they had some means even those that now cleave most close to the Pope as Spain and Italy But unto us especially the light of the Word hath been clearly manifested to teach us the knowledg of God in Christ and we have had the Martyrs fires burning clearly to confirm us in the same And this light have we now enjoyed for above an hundred years together without interruption Much honoured in the Lord I humbly Dedicate to you this ensuing Treatise Entitled The Anatomy of Popery The Roman Synagogue is not only spelunca latronum but lerna malorum a sink of Sin of Heresy of Idolatry Impiety Treachery Villany mare mortuum a dead Sea wherein spiritual Sodom and Gomorrha are not sunk but swim and flourish Yea how many Popish Emissaries are come from the See of Rome into this Nation like the Salmon into fresh Rivers to beget a new spawn and frie of Catholiques among us Now if we fasten the Anchor of our judgment upon the firm ground of Truth it will stand sure and steady against all contrary winds of doctrine When a certain Jester set on by others as it was thought in the presence of the King of Hungary spake to a noble man of Prague touching his Religion because he fancied not the Romish service but was addicted to Rochezana a follower of John Husse the Noble man gave him this answer If thou speakest of thy self thou art not the man thou Counterfeitest and so I will answer thee as I would a Wise man if by others setting on it is meet I satisfie them Hear me therefore Every man useth Church-Ceremonies agreeable to his Faith and offereth such sacrifices as he believes are acceptable with God It is not in our own power to believe what we will The mind of man conquered with powerful reasons willing or nilling is taken Captive I am sufficiently resolved of the Religion I follow if I follow thine I may deceive men but God that searcheth the heart I cannot deceive nor yet is it fit I should be like to thee one thing becometh a Jester and another thing a Noble man This you may take to your self saith he or report if you please to them that set you on work It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing as St. Paul saith Honoured Sirs The Lord establish you in the truth which is animi pabulum sponsa intellectus as Lactantius calleth it Truth is a Kings Guard Prov. 20. Hezekiah's Cordial in Sickness yea the blessed life is nothing else but gaudium de veritate as St. Augustine saith The Contents of this Treatise CHAP. I. OF their Errours in Doctrine pag. 1 XIX Errours concerning the Scriptures pag. 2 XXI Errours concerning God and Christ pag. 6 XXXIV Errours concerning Man c. pag. 10 VIII Errours concerning the Sacraments in General pag. 23 XI Errours concerning Baptism pag. 26 XXX Errours concerning the Lords Supper or Eucharist pag. 30 XIII Errours concerning the Mass Of many Ceremonies which go before the celebration of the Mass Of the Ceremonies which they use in the very action it self pag. 37 Of many Errours and Blasphemies in the Canon of the Mass as touching the Matter pag. 45 Of other Errours in the manner of celebrating
Altar after Consecration is not only the Sacrament but also the true Body of our Lord Jesus Christ And that not only the Sacrament but the Body of the Lord is sensually and in truth handled by the hands of the Priest broken and bruised by the teeth of the faithful In the year 1076. Pope Gregory the seventh called a Council to Rome where among many Articles these three Points were resolved and determined That there is no other name under Heaven but that of the Pope That no Book is Canonical without the Popes Authority That all Kings must kiss the Popes Feet The first point attributes unto the Pope that which is attributed unto Jesus Christ alone exclusively to all others Act. 4.12 The second declareth that the Gospels and the Books of the Prophets and Apostles are not to be received unless the Pope approve them by his authority The third attributeth unto the Pope an honour which Jesus Christ and his Apostles never asked or looked for but they have been subject to Emperours have paid them tribute and have appeared before their Judicial Seat neither did they ever give their Feet to any man to kiss In the year 1215. Pope Innocent the third assembled a Council at Rome in the Lateran Church where it was thus resolved If the Temporal Lord care not to satisfie within the year let it be made known to the Soveraign Prelate that from that time he declare his Subjects absolved from his subjection and expose his Country to be seized upon by Catholicks that they may extermine Hereticks In that decision of the Council there are sour pernicious errours as my Author observâ—th 1. The first is an usurpation of the Pope approved by the Council whereby he disposeth of the Temporals of Princes as if the disposition of them belonged to him and divesteth them of their Lands and Dominions without the authority of Gods Word and without any example of the antient Church 2. The second Errour is that it makes ecclesiastical censures which are spiritual corrections to become temporal punishments as if a Priest to lay a penance upon a sinner would cut his Purse or rob him of his Cloak or put him out of his house 3. The third Errour is that this Canon absolveth Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance which they have sworn to their natural Prince and teacheth them to be perfidious and dissoyal with a good Conscience though against the Word of God which saith Thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths Matt. 5.33 though it were to thine hurt Psal 15.4 And against the Rules and Examples of the Apostles who have commanded Christians to pay tribute and to be subject to Princes and higher Powers although Princes were Pagans and persecutors in those days Rom. 13.1 2. 1 Pet. 2.13.14 4. The fourth Errour is that in the same Council they preach murther and massacre and set on the people to extermine those whom they call Hereticks which is not only against the Law of God but against that of Nations for even Pagan Princes never permitted their Subjects to fall upon their fellow-citizens and massacre them As for recovering the holy Land at the end of that Council there is a Papal Bull but with approbation of the Council There a Commandment is made to all that belonged to the Croisado to meet in Sicily to begin that journey in July to perswade the people to undertake that voyage the Pope by the Councils autority speaks thus To all that will bear that labour in their own persons and at their charges we grant full remission of their sins of which they shall have contrition and repentance and in the Retribution of the Righteous we promise them in Paradise an Augmentation of eternal Salvation What was that Pope and what that Council that could promise to Souldiers a degree in Paradise above the common sort especially seeing the Pope and his Prelates were not themselves sure that they should never go into Hell But let us hear the rest But to them that will not go in that voyage in their own persons but only shall send fit men according to their means we give full remission of their sins Finally the same Bull with approbation of the Council denounceth to all that will refuse and not care for this Commandment that they shall answer him in the last day of Judgment before the terrible Judg. As if the Pope must then be an Assessour of the Judg or as if he must condemn sinners in the day of Judgment In the year of our Lord 1300. Pope Boniface the eighth instituted the Jubilee every hundredth year in which they that come to Rome for their great pardons should get full more full and most full remission of sins That liberality is fetched from the Churches Treasury wherein the Pope lays up the overplus of the satisfactions of Jesus Christ and the Saints of which Treasure the Pope is the Keeper and the Steward converting them into a payment saith the forementioned Author for those that visit the Roman Stations The following Popes being moved with a fatherly compassion to the people have brought the Jubilee first to every fiftieth year and then to every twentieth year It cannot be said what a Mass of Wealth that Jubilee brings to the Pope and to the Inhabitants of Rome by the Offerings and the Sojournings of Strangers that then flock to Rome from all parts The Satisfaction of Jesus Christ being sufficiâ—nt for the sins of the whole world it is an outrage offered to him when to his sufferings other satisfactions are added as that of Saints and Monks to satisfie the Justice of God for the pain due to our sins By this means they will have God to take two payments for one debt But their second payment is sufficient seeing no man can satisfie for the sins of another and we learn of the Apostle that every man shall bear his own burden Besides those Saints and Monks whose satisfactions the Pope will apply unto others were sinners and had need that Christ should satisfie for them so far they were from satisfying for others and for those for whom Christ hath fully satisfied I pass by the palpable Errour whereby it is pretended that the Saints have suffered more pains than their sins deserved since there is no man be he never so holy but stands in need that God forgive him his sins No man but deserveth eternal death if God deal with him according to the rigour of his Justice The same Pope Boniface the eighth attributeth to himself the Power over the Temporal and Spiritual of all the world which he proveth by Texts of Scripture rarely applied We are taught saith he by the words of the Gospel that unto the Power of the Church two Swords are belonging the Spiritual and the Temporal for the Apostles having said here be two Swords that is here in the Church the Lord did not answer the Apostles it is too much but it is enough Certainly he that