plainely shewed against Tortus or rather counterfet Bellarmine that the Apostles Creede was set foorth whereto Iames the Apostle before his martyrdom had added the Article of Christ before the departure of the Apostles from Ierusalem and therefore before S. Peter came to Rome by the testimonie of Baronius himselfe Anno 44. and had concluded necessarily from thence that the Catholike faith was fully finished before the Apostolike See was begunne hence it is said there arose a doubt in that right honourable Calanders conscience a Papist but very moderate and honest not onely of the supremacie of Peter and of that depriuing power annexed to the supremacy but of all the whole Romish Catholike faith which he saw was contained in the popish not Apostolicall Nycene or Constantinopolitane Creede § 125 Therefore when those former learned men together with William Argentine came againe to visite him It is very well sayd Calander that you are met againe to discusse before vs a verie difficult controuersie of the popes new creede which Pius the fouth had formerly compiled Paul the 5. comanded it lately to be printed my good freind Argentine hath lately recited it and I hope by and by he will recite the same to you This being prescribed by the Church vtterly to reiect it I doe as yet to speake truely make a conscience and to admit it wholly vnlesse it bee ratified by the testimonies of the holy Scripture I cannot admit without scruple of conscience For I haue lately learned to giue attendance to the holy Scripture which holy S. Peter doth directly affirme to bee as a candle lightned in this life to vs wandring in darknesse 2. Pet. 1. Which holy Paul doth likewise make the foundation of the Church Ephes 2.20 1. Tim. 3.15 and yet I cannot depart rashly from the Catholike Church whereto I haue beene accustomed which the same S. Paul calles the piller and ground of truth by which there is a creede of faith set out for me So I hang doubtfull betweene the Scripture the Church which God hath giuen vnto vs as the Sunne and Moone the two great lights to giue vs light to life Then Patriott you say right Calander said he in the § 126 generall that as the Sunne and Moone so the Scripture and the Church as two lights shew light vnto vs The Scripture and Church compared to the Sun Moon but that you erre in the speciall as after it shall better appeare But the holy Scripture hath light in it selfe as the Sunne the Church is a light but borrowed from the Scripture as the Moone from the Sun these two I confesse are giuen vs of God to direct vs vnto eternall life But the Scripture directs vs with masterly authority the Church with her ministery for the holy Scripture is the wisdome of God in Christ inspired from aboue into holy men for the eternall saluation and perfection of the Church as the Apostle hath defined it God hath commended the Scripture to the Church The office of the Church as an heauenly charge that it may discerne expound keep and publish it to men the Scripture is therefore mens master but the Church is Gods minister Therefore the Apostle calles the truth the foundation of the Church and the Church the piller of truth as Salomon made his chariot to haue a golden axtree and pillers of siluer vnderstanding by the axetree the sound doctrin of the Messias by the pillers the faithfull teachers of the same § 127 It is a wicked thing therefore to detract from the maiestie of the holy Scripture and it is vniust to derogate from the ministery of the true Church for the Scripture is the truth of God The office of the Scripture and the Church is the house of God the truth is the golden foundation of this house and this house is the siluer piller of this truth that is cut out of the truth as out of the rocke as Chrysostome obserueth So if the Scripture be the base of the Church then the Church is the piller of the word as he spake very wittily Now reason teacheth that the foundation is not sustained by the house but the house by the foundation And religion concludes from thence that truth makes the Church not the Church the truth For the approbation of the truth is the working cause of the Church For before it do approue the written word of God it is but a company of Infidels and Idolaters after it hath approoued it it beginneth to be the familie of the faithful worshippers of God that is a Church Further although the Church by the Spirit doe discerne the true Scripture from the false yet the Scripture being once knowen and acknowledged as before it made so after it sheweth the Church For what more certain note can there be of shewing a thing then the working cause of the thing Againe what priuiledge soeuer the Church doth rightly challenge to it selfe it receiued from the Scripture as that which calleth the Church the piller of truth Therefore the truth of the Scripture is more ancient in time more perspicuous for the light and greater for authority then the Church which when it once receiueth her essence light and power from the Scripture then at last as a piller it vpholdeth with her ministery the truth in respect of men and reueales it to the inhabitants of the earth and it is that ground whereon men both may and ought to leane and rest Lawes vpon pillers so the Scriptures on the Church Whereupon the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine is said to bee the foundation of the Church the Church is the strength of doctrine not the foundation It is euident therfore that the Church is founded and sustained by the truth and that the truth is sustained and reuealed by the Church once founded as it were a watch-tower for trauellers to direct them into heauen The Heathens were wont to write their lawes in tables and hang them vp vpon pillers to bee read of the people The Apostle describing the Church compareth it to such a piller the vse wherof was to shew the Law when it selfe was not the Law So the true Orthodoxe and Catholike faith being written in the tables of the Scripture is fastned to the Church as it wereto a most beautifull piller as a most strong prop which resteth vpon it not with its owne but a borrowed strength Wherefore the Apostle in the second to the Ephesians defines the Church when in the second to Timothie hee describes it For there hee argueth from the causes heere from the effects in each place he vnderstandeth the Church of Ephesus that is a particular Church In the first place he teacheth what made that in the second what that did nor so much what it alway doth for of necessitie the foundation being taken away the Church must fall as it happened first to the Church of Ephesus and afterward to the Church
truth and power to be ouercome by errour and wickednesse Assuredly hee will neuer suffer it The Christians therefore haue no cause to feare the Pope hath no cause to insult For the Pope alone hath all the markes of Antichrist The Pope alone therefore is Antichrist CHAP. XLII The scope and conclusion of the whole worke I Haue finished the Glasse Paul the fift set before you to see your selfe before others to look on themselues wherein Antichrist is fully set downe as in preface Heere you may see contained his right and true marks the false being reiected and cast by Euery of them in seuerall and all of them ioyntly together doe prooue the Pope to be that great Antichrist Hence it followeth that Popery is Antichristianity What hee is and who he is appeares out of the preface What he doth and what he teacheth out of the Dialogue diuided into three bookes First comes vpon the stage Antichrist pragmaticall In the two other bookes Antichrist dogmaticall There he carries himselfe like a Rebell heere like a Sophister there he doth impaire the glory of the Empire heere the truth of the Gospell there hee doth vndermine the faithfulnesse of subiects heere the faith of Christians The first booke doth propound the rules and grounds of Christian fealty and obedience toward Kings against Christian rebellion shadowed ouer with a shew of Catholike religion The other two doe erect the foundation and pillers of Christian doctrine and faith against the Antichristian heresie compacted of twelue new articles of the faith brought into the forme of a creede by Pius the fourth whereupon I call it the Popes creede I doe solemnely professe that I am afaithfull seruant of Christ and the King I doe not take vpon me being the meanest and the least of all other to giue warning vnto Kings once already warned by the great King not therefore to bee warned of any but of Christ the King of Kings Let Iesus Christ therefore bee in our thoughts a while who although he be absent in body yet present in spirit hath an interest and being yea and a gouernment also in the spirits of all Christians and chriefly of all Princes his bountie is to be loued his maiesty is to be dreaded euen of Kings for as the powerfull gouernment of Kings is to be dreadfull to their owne subiects so the most powerfull gouernment of God is to bee dreadfull to Kings of God I say manifested in the flesh who being present with them in spirit seemeth thus to speake and complaine CHAP. XLIII THE PROSOPOPEY I AM not ignorant who am ignorant of nothing ô yee Christian Kings and Princes that the Byshop of Rome my Vicare as he calles himselfe my Aduersarie The Pope both an hereticke and traytor as he carries himselfe hath beene a Teacher of heresie in the Church and a Practiser of treason in the common-weale for these many yeares For euer since hee was made the vniuersall Byshop he hath done nothing else but corrupted my Gospell and peruerted your Empire And no maruell for out of the corruption of the Gospell doth follow the dissolution of the Empire For whereas I haue erected by the Gospell a twofould pillar of gouernment Authoritie in Magistrates and Allegeance in Subiects it is strange to see the Gospell peruerted in the mindes of men how each pillar of gouernment falles to the grounds The greatest fault whereof is in the Byshops treacherie and in your slothfulnesse that whereas I had submitted all Byshops vnder your power and iudgement you haue suffered one to fly out so farre aboue the rest that he dare not onely rebell against yours but against my Maiestie also That therefore the ancient dignitie of the Empire may be recouered being lost and for euer maintained being recouered my counsell to you is that the truth of the Gospell shaken and long weakened by the Popes tyrannie may at last be restored by your princely authoritie For what is more reasonable then that I should haue you defenders of my glory whom I haue appointed Ministers of my power And if it were in question heretofore whether that Byshoppe were that Antichrist He is so prophetically described by my beloued Disciples Iohn and Paul that now it is out of question seeing that euent hath laid open and made cleare the prophecie For all the partes of the prophecie are so plainely interpreted All notes of Antichrist agree with the Pope of the succession of the persons the nature and disposition of the King and kingdome the acts of the beast the impression of the Character the number of his name the scituation of his seate the time of his reuealing the cuppe of the whore the kind of his marchandise the fall of Babylon lastly the comming in and going out the birth and death of Antichrist the last answering the first and the middle answering both with such a consent and barmonie inferring things to be fulfilled by things that are fulfilled that I could not haue made it clearer if I had named the Byshop of Rome himselfe And Antichristianity is well defined by my Apostle to be not iniquitie but the mysterie of iniquitie For if Antichrist had appeared to you in his owne likenesse you needed not to haue beene so carefull about the businesse Now that hee doth insinuate himselfe with a counterfet holinesse and a dissembled sanctity how many millions of innocent men hath he cosoned and deceiued with his hidden mysticall wickednesse But let the visard be taken off from this hidden Antichrist then none can hereafter be deceiued but he that will wittingly and willingly be deceiued Beware therefore that the old trickes and stratagemes being laid open beguile you no more He faineth himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant and yet he hath altered my couenant Hee pretendes himselfe to be a Keeper of my will and testament and yet he hath not only raced and defaced my testament The Pope hath altered Christ his Testament and brought in a new but hath foysted in one of his owne He termes himselfe the foundation of the Church and chalengeth to him my peculiar title and yet hee doth with cunning deuises subuert and ouerthrow my Church He makes a shew of great zeale to my crosse and yet doth annihilate the power of the crosse The holy Scripture makes mention of Gods double gouernment the Legale and Euangelicall The legale which hath the condition of working annext vnto it do this and thou shalt liue Ierem. 31.31 Heb. 8.5 ad finem The Euangelicall requireth the condition of beleeuing Beleeue and thou shalt be saued But it requireth faith not as a worke but as an instrument whereby you may receiue the promises of the spirit therefore that is called a conditionall this a free conuenant Where there is no couenant there is no faith and where there is no faith there is no saluation Humane faith doth rest vpon an humane couenant heauenly faith vpon a heauenly couenant Heauenly faith is
and tell you must bee necessarily made against my Church for you are like to haue Christ himselfe against you in the field I know full well that lately at Rome as often before a cōuenticle of Priests haue bin gathered together by the Pope of Rome and Sathans command to deface and diminish my glory That they tooke counsell wherein the Popish Kings and Princes were in a league confederated among themselues against the Protestant Kings and Princes chiefely against IAMES the King of Great Britanny who concluded the Pope to be Antichrist and as hee rightly inferred Popish Kings and Princes were the members of Antichrist that the common cause were to be maintained by common forces that he sent in his Priests who might prouoke his sons as hee calles them to wage warre against my seruants The Kings therefore of the Reformed Religion haue more neede imposed by Antichrist to fulfill the prophesie and to fight Gods warre and vnite their forces and powers against that double horned Beast the Pope For I thinke that popish Kings haue learnt more wit at the last then to put in execution the bloody and cruell counsell of the Beast They know that the first Beast bore it not scot free whose ten hornes were sayd to bee crowned because it spilt the innocent blood of my seruants For the very same power of the Empire which did condemne mee being borne into the world the Prince of your saluation and fasten mee vpon the crosse the same did endeauour to ouerthrow the Primitiue Church with ten persecutions How I did reuenge the death of my Saints vpon the authors thereof how I did cut off some of the Emperors by mutuall fights how did I comsume the people with continuall plagues how I did deuoure the cities with floodes and earth-quakes how I strucke and dispersed whole armies with thundrings and lightnings cast from heauen their stories doe well declare As many creatures as I had so manie viols I had of my raging wrath which I powred out vpon mine and my seruants enemies But some of you will saie Those were Pagans that did kill and Christians that were killed wee are Catholikes which doe punish they are heretickes which are punished They are as certainly hereticks as you are Catholiks You Catholiks I wold you were Christians they be not words but deeds must make this good You carrie the name of Christ I confesse but you plaie the Pagans vnder the name of Christ Are they heretickes True as I am an hereticke that call all things to the rule of the Word But Antichrist doth alleadge Scripture also true as the Diuell did alleadge them misvnderstood Who as he enticed the Iewes to kill me shadowed out and promised in the Propheticall Scriptures to bee the Messias so he hath moued manie Catholikes in name in truth most hereticall heretickes the bond slaues of Antichrist to burne both my seruants and their books and they blot out as much as lay in them by their cunning and their power the faith and the Church whose quarrell I often reuenged with a high hand stretched from heauen I will giue you one notable example After that the Counsell of Constance had condemned to the fire those two my seruants Hu◠and Hierome the Pope sent two Erinnes into Germanie the Cardinall of Winchester and the Cardinall of Saint Angelo who when they had called backe Sigismund the Emperour from making warre against the Turkes they incited him to beare armes against the Bohemians the new professours of my Gospell and brought into the field three other great Germane Princes with all their forces will you heare the issue of their whole fight passage The Bohemians leuy an armie come into the fielde strike vp the alarum they had scarce come to handy gripes but the King and the Princes being stroke with a causlesse suddaine feare in their rage crying out to their souldiers to stand to it and fight did cowardly and beastly flie away fiue times they made inrodes into Bohemia and fiue times they were discomfited And so not long after three seuerall Popes the Authors of this tragedy and those two diuilish Cardinalls not without great shame and sorrow came to a fearefull end In all which occurrences hee that doth not behold the hand of God is blinde he that doth not feare it is wicked I passe ouer that inuincible Spanish Armado which being gathered together by the instigation of Priests was dispersed by the windes swallowed vp by the seas and brought to confusion by the hand of God What do you thinke that Gods hand is shortened or doe you thinke that God hath left off to defend his seruants Infinite be the examples of Gods power which God hath shewed both in former ages and often in this present age in the defence of the Church against her mightiest enemies Let thinges to come be taught by things past And if those former tyrants or those that followed had gone vnpunished for their wickednesse there had beene cause for Antichrist with all his faction to haue reioyced in their sinne there had beene some reason that the Kings of the earth had promised to themselues impunitie who had bestowed all their might in building vp and enlarging the Kingdome of the two horned beast Now that I haue first crackt and broken to peeces the ten crowned and bloody hornes and after haue scattered both by land and sea the smokie slaues of the second beast what at last shall become of Antichrist is declared in the sixt seale But what in the mean time may Antichrists souldiers hope for who being set on fire by these fire brandes did turne all their forces to do mischiefe I doe aduise you therefore yee popish Kings and Princes that ye depart out of Babylon as fast as you can then that being conuerted to me you make warre with vnited forces in the quarrell of the Church against Antichrist at least that you giue no eare to these Syrenes or Erinnes which will bring destruction both to your soules and bodies On my word the Byshoppe of Rome and the great Antichrist are termes conuertible The decree of God standes fast for euer that the Byshoppe shall be consumed by those Kings by whom he was adored You cannot serue mee and the Pope with whom peace being made by you see if it be not to be called peace rather then a compact of slauerie From whence if I cannot drawe the popish Kings and Princes I will for all that warne you yee Kings and Princes Protestants that you preferre a holy warre before a wicked league with the Pope and think those armes to be holy when there is no hope left but in armes And take heede that being deceiued with an opinion of a false peace you bee not on a suddaine brought to ruine I wish you may bee at peace with neighbour Kings and neighbour Kings with you but at no hand haue peace with the Romane Antichrist Why so it is wicked it is dangerous it cannot hold
haue best of all knowne Christs minde and to deliuer it most faithfully about the gouernment of the Church although they granted a primacie of order and difference to the Bishop of Rome yet they denyed him a supremacie of power and iurisdiction and according to the sixt Canon of the Nicene Councell hembde in the See of Rome into certaine limits wherein being included shee should not breake forth Yet for all that they brake ouer the bounds set downe both by God and Men. God that he might punish the contempt of the Gospell brought so grieuous a sluggishnes vpon the world and so generall an apostacie vpon the Church that the time it selfe laying vp and hiding all meanes of helpe did not only bring to light the bramble formerly hid in the ground but brought it abroad and set it aloft and placed it aboue all the Cedars of Libanus First aboue Bishops in Boniface the third after aboue Kings and Emperors in Gregorie the 7 whose wings being so often clipt by foure Councells Wormes Papta Brixis and Montze grew againe in the successors so farre that they flew at the last aboue Councells Till the three generall Councells of Pisa Constance and Basil Constant Con Sess 1. did not only displace Popes out of the Popedome but decreed that Councels were aboue the Popes For the Pisan Councell did cast two Popes Gregorie and Benett out of their seats and choose Alexander the fift And the Councell of Constance assembled by the summons of Iohn the 23. for refusing their tryall and for his abominable symonie and wicked life and manners depriued him of his Popedome Sess 10 12. Sess 4. 5. and after condemned Gregorie the twelfth not appearing and cut him of as a withered member and an incorrigible heretike and schismatike as they plainly termed him And that it may seeme not to haue dealt rashly This holy generall Synode say they lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost and representing the Church militant hath immediate power from Christ not from the Pope but from Christ whose power any whosoeuer of what estate and condition soeuer euen the Pope himselfe is bound to obey And farther declareth if the Pope do obstinately refuse to obey the statutes ordinances and iniunctions which either this holy Synode or any other hereafter generall Synode lawfully assembled either now haue or hereafter shall decree that he is to be constreyned to a condigne satisfaction and worthily to be punished and so Iohn the 23. being deposed and cast out it choose Martin the fift for Pope The Pope and the Councell did long contend about the maioritie and superioritie as they terme it but the Councell had the vpper hand Here comes to my minde a certaine tale not vnpleasant of the spawne of a frog which a Calfe had troden vpon in the absence of the Damme which Calfe when one escaping from the rest had described to the frogge his damme to bee a great beast how bigge I pray said shee and puffing out hir selfe thus bigge greater by the half said the young one Horaec Sermo 2 Saâ—y 2. what by so much said the Frog when shee had blowne vp hir-selfe more and more not if you breake your selfe said he can you be equall to it The Councell of Constance with her foote trode vpon two frogs though they would haue fled from tryall and declared it selfe to be greater and higher than the Pope though he sweld neuer so bigge The Councell had done well if it had not crusht in peeces two Doues and had not decreed that cuppe which Christ for diuers causes had commanded in his supper should bee giuen to the people for moe and more weighty causes as they say was to bee taken from them Which the Councell of Basill did restore afterward Sess 13. being assembled by Martin the fifts Bull and confirmed by the letters of Eugenius the 4. whom shee deposed and being ratified by the Bull of Nicholas the fift who succeeded Eugenius declared the decree of the Councell of Constance about the power of the generall Councell against the Pope to be a truth of the catholike faith Basil Con Sess 16. and adiudged him an heretike that did obstinately resist the two former truths Therefore let the Pope either submit himselfe vnder the generall Councell or by the iudgement of the generall Councell he must needs confesse himselfe to be an heretike Hence is all their griefe and their secret quarrell against the Scriptures and the former Synods and the latter also though they somwhat fauoured the Romish superstition because they did represse her ambition Till at the last two other Councells the Laterane and the Tridentine did lift vp the Pope not onely aboue all Councells but aboue all Scriptures that hee at his pleasure might put out the Crowes eyes as the Prouerbe is and as if hee were the 13 Apostle set forth a doctrine at his owne liking contrary to the Scripture After this sort after many ages and dangers the Pope got place aboue Bishops Kings Councels and Scriptures themselues So great a worke it was to build the Romish seate The very naked name whereof is opposed against all our encounters as it were Gorgons head Do we alledge the Fathers what maruell is it if when he perceiueth they stand against him hee reiects them in seuerall when hee contemnes them all in generall Do we alledge Councels The former are corrected by the later the better by the worse and the more by the fewer Do we alledge the Scriptures what good do we thereby when we haue a Sphinx at home who can lay open the Scripture as it were a riddle according to his owne sense and his best auaile Thus they reduce all things at the last to the mother the Church or rather to the father of the Church For they make the mother to be of the masculine gender and bring the most generall generall to one that is singular that is to the Pope for the time ruling With whose spirit that Synagogue being filled it seemeth closely to be offended with none of the Apostles more than with S. Paul by whose silence shee taks her selfe not only not to be assisted but to be hurt by his testimonie when as the merit of workes being abandoned hee concludeth the onely mercy of God in Christ being apprehended by faith to be mans iustice before God Which conclusion doth ouerthrow all Poperie as it shall afterward appeare It doth plague the Synagogue for it toucheth two things to the quicke the Bishops miter and the Monkes bellies for faith being placed in the only merits of Christ hath diminished the Indulgences the treasure of the Church and makes the offrings to images to be more rare and sparing So that the Synagogue doth sometime as well closely accuse S. Paul of heresie as Luther and Caluin I once heard two old popish Doctors one of them a Fryer Ieronimite in Portugall another a Iacobine in France say when they were prest with
Pauls authoritie one of them that S. Peter without doubt was a Catholike but Paul if he be not warily expounded seemes to smell of heresie Thother that places out of Paul by the testimonie of Peter were hard to be vnderstood and had need of a Romish Commentarie Peter I said made mention of the hardnes but not of the commentarie In whose Epistle say they whatsoeuer soundeth against the Romane faith therein wee do not attaine to the true sense that which the Rhemists haue obserued Rhem testam argument epist in gene For he in the first chapter say the Fryers did commend the faith of the Church of Rome whereto Cyprian denieth that vnfaithfulnes can haue accesse But in the 11. chapter I say Epist 50. he warned the same Church that if it departed from the bountifulnesse of God it should take heed lest as the Church of Israel was cut off so shee were not cut off also It may therefore be cut off be it spoken by Cyprians leaue For it is in act cut off when it is fallen from that foundation which is placed in the only mercy of Christ apprehended by faith That faith therefore of the Church which Paul the Apostle so much commended and taught by his writings is one and the faith of this Church which Paul the Pope hath left so deformed with his vnwritten traditions is another And yet shee glorieth much as I said that Paul is hir founder I had rather they would vse him as an author But she will neuer doe it Shee maketh more accompt of Pauls Bulls than Paules Epistles which the ancient Fathers did rightly tearme the key of the Scripture Which most of the popish sort do so feare that they cannot reconcile Paul and S. Iames together but oppose them one against thother The reconciling of Paul and James as if Iames the Apostle had concluded that a man is iustified by his workes before God not with faith alone against the Apostle Paul when as Paul doth not vnderstand the same faith and the same iustification which Iames doth For hee requireth faith placed in the heart this reiecteth faith bragged on in the tongue Hee requireth a liuely faith this reiecteth a dead faith Hee doth enforce a heauenly faith which layeth hold on the promise this casteth of a diuelish faith which doth onely acknowledge Christs historie without application hee doth commend and extoll fruitfull faith working by loue this doth rightly condemne a barraine faith voide of the duty of holinesse he doth set forth the iustification before God which Aquinas calleth the righteousnes of imputation Iames the iustification before men whom the same Aquinas calleth the righteousnesse of declaration Moses from whom either Apostle drew his testimonie doth expound ech and doth take vp the controuersie begun by the Aduersarie The imputation of righteousnesse whereof Moses maketh mention Gen 15.6 went thirty yeares before that worke for which they dreame that Abraham was iustified before God Which circumstance of time Paul most earnestly weighing concludeth that faith was imputed to Abraham to obtaine righteousnesse before God 15 yeares as Moses noteth before hee begat Isaac and other 15 yeares at the least before he would haue sacrificed him They know not well how to loose themselues out of this indissoluble knot whosoeuer thinke that righteousnes was imputed to Abraham before God because he killed his sonne who was not as yet borne when as the Holy Ghost doth pronounce him to be righteous which S. Iames himselfe v 23 seemeth to vnderstand as Oecumenius gathereth out of the place that Abraham was the image of iustification which is wrought by faith alone when it was imputed to him for righteousnesse ver 23. ver 21. that he beleeued and of that iustification also which is by workes when hee would haue offred his sonne Isaac vpon the Altar Therefore faith did make perfect the person of Abraham and the worke did iustifie the faith and declare ech to be perfect Is this a fight is this an opposition especially betweene two holy Apostles who writ their Epistles with the instinct of the same spirit But no one thing doth more neerly gaule the Synagogue then that Paul the Apostle by the direction of the spirit writ the commentarie of the mysterie Apoc 9. 2 Thess 2. 1 Tim 4.1 which S. Iohn afterward set forth of that great Antichrist whom hee maketh to be the falling starre i. an apostata from the faith or rather the prince of the apostacie as Paul expounds it Iohn calls him the Angell of the bottomlesse pit the key-keeper of hell the beast arising out of the earth and counterfeyting the lambe with two hornes and in his voyce resembling the Dragon Therefore in shew the Vicar of Christ in deed his aduersarie in ambition aboue Kings Gods emulus as Paul explaines it Iohn in order the 7. King of the Romane state Apoc 13. the reviued image of the former beast to be after reuealed within the Empire decayed as Paul doth interpret it Iohn sitting in the common place Lord of the seauen hill'd Citie in the speciall place in the temple of God A description of the Pope that is in the Church of God as Paul doth expound it for Kings thrones are called Bishops seates Therfore he is in office a Bishop in name Romane or Latine in his disposition a great hypocrite and a notable dissembler by his cunning an inchanter and bewitcher of soules by his worship an Idolater by his malitious practise a murtherer giuen ouer to sinne sold ouer to destruction as both of them define Water is no liker water than Antichrist to the Pope But S. Paul being not therewith content defineth Antichristianitie to be not iniquitie but the mysterie of iniquitie And doth after diuide it into three parts 1. Curious speculations 2. Absurd superstitions 3. Iewish ceremonies whereof it is wholy compounded which who so holdeth doth not hold the head as the Apostle speaketh I beseech thee Christian Reader tell me what is more like than old and new Antichristianitie What is become of them who deny that Poperie hath his beginning from the antient heresies which being of the same age with the Apostolike truth in many things as Tertullian saith was wounded with the Apostolike style as shall be made manifest in the discourse following I do therfore more disdaine than admire that the Apostle Paul doth so exceedingly displease the Romane synagogue who did foreshew that Poperie should be patcht together of Paganisme Idiotisme and Iudaisme A little Glasse of Christ and Christianitie BVt I purposing to set out all the force and nature of Antichrist and Antichristianitie in latine I thought good to set before it a liuely and short forme of Christ and Christianitie which the Apostle defineth to be the mysterie of godlines that the truth of the Gospell being brought into light out of the labyrinth as it were of discoursing might put to flight with her authoritie and countenance
many persons which when we affirme it must not be preiudiciall to those holy Bishops who for Christs sake spent their bloud at Rome vnder the Emperours but to the shame of their Successors who forsaking the rule of holy Scripture haue spilt the blood of other men For it is not Rome regenerated and suffering but degenerated and persecuting must be counted the seat of the Beast with many heads which notwithstanding is to be vnderstood that to the Beast there is but one only head at one time more successiuely whom God hath permitted The properties effects of Antichrist 1 To be like the Lambe in two hornes 2 To speake as a Dragon 3 To shew forth the power of the first Beast in his owne sight 4 To make the earth and the inhabitants thereof to worship the first Beast 5 To cure the deadly wound of the former Beast 6 To restore spirit and speech to the image of the first Beast 7 To kill such as will not worship the image of the Beast 8 To worke false wonders namely to make fire descend from heauen in the sight of men 9 To haue the name of the Beast and the name of a man and the number of his name which number is six hundred sixtie and six 10 To imprint the marke of the Beasts name vpon all either on the forhead or on the right hand 11 To forbid that none shall buy or sell without the marke of the Beast These be the true notes of the second Beast that is of Antichrist by your owne interpretations which notwithstanding are miserably detorted as afterward shall plainly appeare Now I take this as granted that these so weighty and admirable matters cannot be brougnt to passe by one singular Beast within the compasse of three yeeres and a halfe whereunto so many Beasts and so many ages are required Antichrist therefore is that ould-aged Animal not a simple but a compound beast for as many Marij were in one Caesar 2 Thess 2. v. 3.4 so there be many Antichrists in that Antichrist whom Paul termeth that man of sinne and that sonne of perdition They doe therefore but trifle and say nothing to purpose A comparison betweene the people of Rome and Antichrist who thinke that therefore he is called the man of sinne because he is a single man For as Florus did paint out all the people of Rome vnder the figure of one man to wit an infant 250 yeeres and 250 yeeres a young man a strong man other 250 and an ould man the last 250 yeeres the same people still gouerning successiuely in the same Citie with the same policies alwaies to the same end as one man aspiring to greatnesse till by the lazinesse of some of the Emperours it became decrepite and exceeding feeble So it doth seeme that the Apostles by the spirit of prophecie did describe many Bishops of Rome as one wretched man and one beast successiuely gouerning in that seuen-hilld Citie an infant in the Apostles time after closely growing vp in certaine of the ambitious Romane Bishops till it came to strength in Boniface the third and to the full age of a man and greater ripenesse in Gregorie the seuenth and others of his successors euer another man not another thing the same an infant the same a youth and a man differing not in minde but in age by the same meanes breathing and aspiring to greatnesse the same closely hidden and openly reuealed the same dominering and the same to be ouerthrowne and now at the last an ouer-worne and a decayed Antic so that he seemeth by his long lasting impietie to be vtterly consumed and brought to nothing The summe of all is this that Antichrist properly so termed is a succession or a kingdome contrary to the kingdome of Christ in profession a Vicar in presumption an Opposite in purpose an Aduersarie CHAP. V. Wherein is inquired what manner of one Antichrist is WE haue found out what Antichrist is now let vs search out what kinde a one hee is by that meanes we shall certainely know who it is Who that hee might not appeare vnto vs in his likenesse Satan hath abused the witts of certaine good men being ignorant of the euent of the prophecie who haue out of that first errour deuised a notable tale For first presupposing that Antichrist is but one single aduersarie hence they haue imagined The Popish description of Antichrist that he shall be by Nation and Religion a Iew of the tribe of Dan the Messias of the Iewes and that he shall sit in the Temple of Ierusalem being re-edified by himselfe that he shall raigne three yeeres and a halfe that he shall put to death three Kings and subdue seauen others and shall obteyne the Monarchie of the whole world that those two witnesses whom they thinke to be Enoch and Elias reserued aliue in some place all this while shall returne vpon the earth and fight with Antichrist and being slaine by him shall rise againe after three yeeres and a halfe and it shall come to passe that the Iewes being conuerted by that miracle shall kill Antichrist in Mount Oliuet and shall ioyne themselues with Christ who shall come to iudgement fiue and fortie daies after This tale certaine ancient writers haue deuised which they so vnconstantly report Bellarmine an A better of the former tale that it easily appeareth by the contradiction that it is but a lye All this false tale Bellarmine telleth as truth except that part concerning the Tribe of Dan. But let vs reiecting all fables Antichrist described out of the Scriptures and Fathers seeke after the truth of God written by the Apostles being now manifested by euent the best Interpreter of the prophesie and by the iudgements of the Fathers agreeing with the Scriptures Apoc. 9. 2. Thes 2. 1. Tim. 4.10 Saint Iohn doth call Antichrist a starre falne from heauen Paul an Apostata from the faith or rather the chiefe Captaine and Ring-leader of that generall Apostasie a Renegate from the Lord God as Augustine doth expound it August de ciuit Dei lib. 20. cap. 10. Greg. lib. 4. epist 38. That falling starre not Lucifer Esa 14. The King of pride with his prepared armie of Priests and therefore a Bishop as Gregorie the first thinketh But Bellarmine doth vnderstand that starre to be Lucifer according to that how art thou fallen from heauen O Lucifer And doth vrge the pretertense that Saint Iohn did not see the starre to fall hereafter but that it is fallen alreadie Neither doth hee marke that this his glosse is farre wide from the text 1. That Lucifers fall from heauen went long before the sound of the fift trumpet 2. Hee is ignorant of the phrase of the Prophets who when they foretell things to come for the certainty of them speake as if they were come already 3 Neither doth he obserue the sense of this Prophet who by the name of starres meaneth the Pastors of the
and that which is crooked as the Philosopher well said yet let vs yeeld so much to our Aduersaries either ignorance or obstinacie that as wee haue brought out the true and right notes of Antichrist out of the text of Scripture so wee may refute the false and fained proceeding out of the braine of man Bellarmine writes honestly that the opinions of the Fathers about Antichrist which cannot be prooued out of the Scriptures are not to be held as certaine truths or to bee beleeued as matter of faith I would hee would follow his owne rule we should sooner agree among our selues And he hath reiected some of their fables in this cause the Scripture being his guide but I thinke hee refused other mens deuises herein that with greater authoritie he might shew foorth his owne Some of them as false and absurd others as more probable but false for all that both of them he doth reiect Why so I pray Because they cannot be prooued out of the Scripture Who would not thinke that this man dealeth with vs in good sooth Of the generation of Antichrist 1 Antichrist is not as he saith borne of a Virgin 2 He is not the Deuill as Hypolitus thought 3 He is not a Deuill incarnate 4 He is not Nero brought to life againe These opinions saith he are absurde Others are more probable neither true 1 Antichrist is not a bastard as Damascen said 2 He is not of the Tribe of Dan as 12. Fathers do thinke and all Papists almost besides Bellarmine Do you not see Paul the 5. how your Bellarmine reiecteth twelue Fathers in this cause and giues his own side the slippe He denieth the old Tribe of Antichrist we looke he should deny his Countrey anone Hee denieth him to be of Dan by and by he will deny him to be a Iew. For as for the Tribe of Dan Bellarmine alloweth Hyeromes opinion Why This cannot saith hee be prooued out of the Scripture Although for the Tribe diuers Papists bring texts as probable as Bellarmine doth for the nation But those this plaine dealing man forsooth hath reiected Doe you not see how your men disagree in this matter that you may no more tell our men of their disagreements CHAP. XXVIII Of the Nation Religion Office and seat of ANTICHRIST BVT Antichrist saith he shall be by Nation a Iew by Religion circumcised and for a time a keeper of the Saboth by his office Messias for he shall especially come for the Iewes sake and shall be accepted of them for Messias and he shall sit at Ierusalem in the Temple of God reedified by himselfe A lyer must beare a memorie Messias of the Iewes saith he shall come not in his owne name but in Gods name So Bellarmine Bellarmines contradiction But Antichrist shall come not in Gods name but in his owne saith Bellarmine Antichrist therefore is not the Messias of the Iewes But he proueth out of two places of the Scripture that Antichrist is the Messias of the Iewes one if another shall come in his owne name saith Christ Ioh. 5. him you shall receiue Whereout of a compound supposition of an indefinite person if another hee doth inferre a simple proposition definitely that is that Antichrist absurdly nor well applied to the purpose Which sets downe that that Antichrist shall come a little before the end of the world Those Iewes therefore whom Christ spake to then aliue now dead could not receiue Antichrist for Messias Vnlesse peraduenture as he tells vs Enoch and Elias shall returne before the end who shall resist Antichrist A great absurdity so he imagines the Iewes that Christ spake to shall rise againe before the generall resurrection to receiue Antichrist But see how vntowardly the parts of this tale hangs together For he saith That Enoch and Elias should be killed of Antichrist and after three daies and a halfe liue againe and that it shall come to passe afterward that the Iewes being conuerted by that miracle shall kill their Messias in the mount oliue and shall returne to Christ who shall come 45. daies after Which dreame of his he refuteth in another place which he bringeth The Apostle saith that to them who receiue not the loue of the truth to their saluation God will send the working of error to beleeue lies and so to be iudged with the iudgement of condemnation 2. Thess 2.9 Wo be to those saith he who haue not receiued Christ The Iewes Although the Apostle saith not who receiued not the truth 1. Christ but who receiued not the loue of the truth as false Christians But how shall God punish those Iewes God shall send vpon them the working of error that they might beleeue a lye 1 Antichrist and should bee damned Therefore the Iewes shall receiue Antichrist for Messias But Bellarmine doth affirme that the Iewes shall bee conuerted by Enoch and Elias and therefore shall bee saued The Apostle speaketh of men reiecting Christ and therefore to be condemned he speakes not therefore of the Iewes But the Apostle saith that Antichrist is sent to them who would not receiue Christ which of the Iewes is true of the Christians false Yea he saith that he is sent to seduce those who haue not receiued the loue of truth which doth well agree with the Papists those false-christians Who although they receiue Christ The Papist receiue Christ but not the loue of Christ receiue not the loue of Christ But the Apostle speaketh of the time past Who haue not receiued the loue of truth not in the future Therefore he vnderstandeth the Iewes who before the Apostle wrote this refused to beleeue the preaching of Christ and his Apostles But the Apostle speaking of the sinne and punishment of Antichristians which presupposeth a sinne going before did expresse their sinne in the pretertense which is not to be referred to the time of the Epistle which Paul writ but to the time of the punishment which he enioyned But if the Iesuite doe vrge the pretertense so farre as if the Apostle should vnderstand that Antichrist should be receiued of them only who had reiected Christ before that time hee must hold that he must be receiued of them in the end of the world who were dead a thousand fiue hundred yeares before And is not this a worthy demonstration A popish absurdity whereby he proueth that Antichrist shall bee in Office the Messias of the Iewes to be receiued of them in the end of the world whence as one error begets another he concludeth that he is by nation a Iew by Religion circumcised c. I haue wonne it now that Antichrist is an Apostata-christian It followeth therefore that hee can by no meanes bee an Infidell Iew who as yet was not come to Christ I prooued that hee was an inward and hypocriticall enemy who denied Christ secretly indirectly It followeth then that the Iew no waies can be an outward and professed enemy who denieth Christ directly and plainely
the like destruction Apoc. 16. 17. c. This the seuenth Angell which powred out his viall into the aire doth notably set out There went a great voyce from heauen out of the throne saying It is finished And there were made lightnings and sounds and thunders and a mighty earth-quake such an one as was not since men inhabited the earth And the great city was diuided into three parts and the cities of the Heathen fell and great Babylon came into remembrance with God to giue vnto it the cup of the indignation of his wrath And euery Iland did flie away and the hils were not found and a great haile like talents fell downe from heauen vpon men and men did blaspheme God for that great plague of haile What maruell if when the Creator is offended all the creatures be likewise offended for as then the stars abiding in their order course did fight from heauen against Sisera for Deborrah so now the lightnings and thunders and wonderfull earth-quakes and the mighty talentary haile shall when God is angry fight for his Church against great Babylon And as then the victory at the waters of Megiddo so these now shall not bee attributed to the force of men but the powers of heauen So likewise in the 20 of Iohn when Sathan shall be loosed after a thousand yeeres by whom Gog and Magog shall bee mustered to battell the tents of the Saints and the beloued city shall bee besieged but hee addeth that fire shall issue out of heauen from God which shall consume the enemies In which place Iohn doth not vnderstand those enemies whom Ezechiel describeth the Seleucidae inhabitants of Syria and Asia the lesse For Gog doth signifie Asia the lesse deriuing the name from Giges their king Magog is Hierapolis the chiefe seat of Idolatry in Syria builded by the Scythians by them so called So that in Ezechiel Gog is taken for Asia the lesse and Magog for Syria now because the Seleucidae were the most outragious cruell enemies of the Iewes by whom after their captiuity and before the comming of the Messias they were to endure most greeuons afflictions therefore by a vsuall prouerbe among the Iewes the cruell enemies of the Church are called Gog and Magog The enemies of God called Gog Magog And why which Iohn did apply to the setting out of the enemies of the Christian Church whom Sathan in the latter dayes vnder the conduct of Antichrist should stirre vp to warre against the Saints Not therefore the same whom Ezechiel describes but the like called Gog and Magog consumed and deuoured by fire sent from God out of heauen that the conquest being got not by earthly but by heauenly powers might take away courage from the Antichristians and encrease it in the Saints In the meane time one of the seuen Angels chap. 17. had conference with Iohn saying Come and I will shew thee the condemnation of the great whore which sits vpon many waters that is people nations and tongues with whom the Kings of the earth haue committed fornication and the people haue beene drunke with the wine of her fornication who after they haue a long time fought on the beasts side a against the Lambe at last being conquered by the Lambe who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords shall ioyne their forces against the Beast The order in destroying of Antichrist and shall deuoure and consume by fire the Babylonish whore left naked forsaken of all men And marke in what order the victory shall proceede First Antichrist is consumed with the spirit of the Lords mouth that is with the ministery of the word but with the brightnesse of the Lords comming is cleane abolished So saith Paul so Iohn After the preaching of the eternall Gospell by the second Angell followeth the spirituall fall of Babylon denounced by the third Angell chap. 14. Babylon is falne Afterwards Gods decree of Antichrists ruine being published by the seuenth Angell his destruction followes shewed by one of the seuen Angels and the outward ouerthrow of Babylon procured by Princes That prophesie is fulfilled this is to bee fulfilled let that which is fulfilled win credit to that must be fulfilled There followeth at the last the last condemnation and euerlasting destruction of the whore chap. 18. proclaimed from heauen by another Angell Babylon that great city is falne is falne Antichrists Metropolitane seat is now become a dwelling place for Diuels An exhortation to come out of Babylon and a cage for euery vncleane spirit and euery vncleane bird There is ioyned by him an heauenly admonition to them who as yet abide in Babylon Come out of her my people lest as you bee partakers of her sinnes you likewise be partakers of her plagues Heere the Angell speaketh to all Papists cheefely to them that be simple and ingenuous that they be careful of their saluation if the words of God cannot mooue them let his deedes moue them if they will not hearken to men let them hearken to Angels if they feare not temporall punishments let them feare eternall let them come out of Babylon with all speede lest as they be found partners of her sinnes they be found partners likewise of her plagues which the Angell doth describe very liuely in the verses following While at the last the last Angell being of great strength tooke vp a stone as it were a mill stone and cast it into the sea saying with such force shall Babylon that great city bee cast and shall neuer be found againe Where the most bitter lamentations of her louers and the exceeding ioy and triumph of the Saints is described In which battell whereof the Angels prophesie there is no cause Comforts for Gods children in respect of the Captaines why the Antichristians should lift vp their mindes or Christians deceiue theirs For if wee looke vpon the captaines of either side on that side the Lambe on this Antichrist on that side the inuincible lion on this a silly beast shal fight If we look vpon the subsidiary souldiers on that side Souldiers most valiant Princes conuerted by Christ shall fight on this side with old doating Priests forsaken by Christ If we look for souldiers from heauen we shal haue the Angels fellow-souldiers in this battell whom we had fellow-witnesses of the Gospell So heauenly bands shall fight with earthly forces If we look for the authors of this war God on this side shal fight with the Diuell Authors powre and eternity with weaknesse and rottennesse If we looke to the causes of this warre the truth and the pure worship of that one euerliuing God Causes written religion sound faith heauenly magnanimity shall fight with deceipt with idolatry with superstition with perfidiousnesse and feare And if God doe suffer some of his souldiers to fall in the quarrell that they may rise againe and come to him will hee suffer his cause to be lost will he suffer his
the scepter the myter the crowne No maruell you say for then the Christian Byshops wanted temporall forces They might wel haue excommunicated and deposed Princes Ala contâ—exec Angli inst pa 167. if the Church had had power enough to resist As two great Masters of not building vp but of destroying diuinitie haue taught Alan and Bellarmine Bellar de Rom. Pont. lib. 5. cap. 7. So I beleeue the Apostle Paul when he saw the antient Christians to be few in number and weak in power § 58 taught them then not to resist the power How Paul vsed Princes belike he serued the time not the truth when he taught that subiects should be subiect to Nero for conscience sake For when they were encreased in number and power if wee beleeue these Cardinalls they should no more suffer as patient Martyrs but take vpon them like boasting souldiers For so they haue corrected the Apostles discipline with their worthy interpretation and put out the crowes eyes as the prouerbe is and haue wisely altered the rules of the holy Ghost which ought to be perpetuall and immutable to the practise of the Church as the case required But one thing I doubt much they cannot wipe away It is damnation to resist the power saith the Apostle Moses what is it then to lay violent handes vpon him Moses forbad that the people should not speake euill of their Gouernour would hee haue suffered Salomon if they could to resist him Salomon forbad that none should curse the king secretly in his conscience did hee grant by force to cast him off if they had might to do it Iudas Iudas the Apostle did stile them fitly Dreamers that spake ill of gouernment and despise such as bee in authoritie would he take these Cardinalls for holy Doctours who perswade the people to driue the king out of his kingdome if they can Let vs beleeue it if it be possible that Moses Salomon § 59 and Iudas the Apostle when they would haue the subiects tongues to bee tied vp they would leaue their hands to be loose Ieremy the Prophet exhorted the exiled Iewes that they should offer vp their prayers for the life of the King of Babylon Paul the Apostle did aduise the persecuted Christians to pray to God for the safety of Nero. Is it eredible that the Prophet and the Apostle for whom they would haue subiects praiers poured out that they would haue their blood to bee poured out vnlesse you thinke the Apostle was like to Charles the fift who commanded that publike prayers should bee made for the deliuerance of Clement the 7. whenas his owne legions kept him captiue I expect that the Cardinals doe thus expound the place of the Apostle to haue commanded them to haue prayed for Nero because they wanted force to resist which if they had got they might iustly haue gone from praying to violence and from orizons to weapons O warlike priests In the meane while what wrong do they offer to Peter and Peters successors who suffered death for Christ whom they insinuate not to haue wanted courage but power to resist And they make goodly Martyrs if when they died for the truth deliuered rebellious soules out of their afflicted bodies Tertul. in Apo. leget And I wonder that two so learned Cardinals were so ignorant of the historie to say that Christians might lawfully haue resisted if they had had strength when Tertullian doth alleage that they had power but might not lawfully resist Which if it may bee truely said of the second age after Christ how much more in the fourth fift and sixt age whenas Christians being graced by Princes and defended by lawes might professe the § 60 Catholike religion openly and freely It is an not able saying of Austen August in Ps 124. that the Christian souldiers did obey Iulian the Apostata their temporall Lord not because as these men dreame they wanted power to resist Christian souldiers obeyed Iulian. but for the Lord eternall For the souldiers in their warre against the Persians might easily haue surprised Iulian being farre from home Sâ—cra lib. 3. cap. 22. and succour But they were you will say Pagane souldiers Yea forsooth as Socrates tells vs the next day after Iulians death when Iouinian was chosen Emperour by them he refused that honor because he suspected the greater part of the armie to be heathenish all of them cryed out with one voice that they were Christians The Fathers writ against Iulian they fight not they vsed their pennes not their armes they strooke the Apostata with their arguments not with their weapons as they dealt afterward with Constantius and Valens hereticall Emperors But your Cardinals and Fathers do vndertake the § 61 businesse against Princes not with the penne but with the sword assoone as they bee denounced excommunicate for heresie and releasing their subiects from the Oath of allegeance tell them they may beare armes against them hauing beene sometimes their Princes and doe obtrude this as a principall head of Catholicke Religion making much for the saluation of their soules Although I haue lighted vpon some who before the sentence denounced by the Church hold that an hereticall Prince by right for the very act Caietane is to be remoued forcibly by the subiects But Caietane denieth that the subiects may be absolued before the sentence bee publickely denounced Very franckly that he will allow somewhat to an hereticall Prince But Alanus will haue all Heretickes not only after they be by name particularly denounced Alanus but by law and ipso facto as they say assoone as they beginne to appeare hereticall or be by law excommunicated should be put from their kingdomes For as Fame so Heresie Gathers strength by going forward Alanus is somewhat more earnest in the matter then Caietane who pronounceth that warre to be holy iust and honourable which subiects vndertake against their hereticall Prince and doth aduise the valiant Englishmen to take part with the enemie against the Queene But after our Cardinall had deliuered his opinion as Apollo from his three footed stoole Philop. 194. Philopater doth boldly affirme that it is an opinion certaine and of faith and vndoubtedly held of all the learned and agreeable to Apostolicall doctrine that euery Christian Prince if he flatly fall from the Catholicke religion and call others from the same to fall presently from all his power and dignitie by the force of Gods law and mans law and that before the sentence of the supreame Pastor and Iudge be denounced against him and that all manner of subiects are free from euery bond of Oath which they should by obedience haue performed to a lawfull Prince and that they may and ought if they haue power cast out from the gouernment of Christians such a man as an Apostata or Hereticke and a Renegate from Christ the Lord and an vtter enemie to the common weale § 62 There is an
no errors The Pope of Rome doth erre by the Papists iudgement Peter de Aliaco a Cardinall Adrianus Pope The three Legates of the Trent councel I wonder that Peter de Aliaco a very learned Cardinall granted that there were many things not only in manners but in faith had neede of reformation Why did Adrian the sixt ill touching the fountaine it selfe say that all mischiefe came from the cheife Byshoppe into the whole Church and promised reformation of all things by his Legate Cheregatus to the Germaines I wonder also why the three Legates in the Councell of Trent did apply that Prophesie of Ieremy to themselues and to the popish people This people haue committed two great euills They haue forsaken mee saith the Lord the fountaine of liuing water and haue digged to themselues cisternes that can hold no water And in the Councell it selfe Cornelius the Byshoppe of Bitont did openly acknowledge the Apostasie of the Church of Rome in the chiefe heades both of doctrine and life I would to God saith he that they had not falne wholy from religion to superstition from faith to infidelitie from Christ to Antichrist from God to Epicurisme saying out of a wicked heart and with an impure mouth There is no God Neither did any Shepheard or Pope care for these things For all of them sought their owne and not one of them all sought for those things that belong to Iesus Christ § 137 I wonder also why after that Councell many not onely priuate Doctours did plucke in peeces the decrees of that Councell as Sixtus Senensis Canus The councell of Trent reiected by their owne side Lindanus the Byshoppe Catharinus Pighius Ouander Ferus and many more but Pope Pius himselfe confest that the worshippe of the Church of Rome had much swarued by continuance of time from the ancient institution Therefore these reuerend Doctours Cardinalls and holy Byshoppes doe giue mee both cause and leaue greatly to doubt Neither doe I desire only that the chiefe Articles of immediate Reuelation be discust which I embrace with all faith and reuerence but these articles of the second sort which are supposed to be fetcht from the first and in truth doe altogether ouerthrow them For whereas by the aduice of Austen the simplicitie of beleeuing noâ— the quickenesse of vnderstanding is required not an humble desire of learning things necessarie but a curious desire to seeke after high mysteries is forbidden by him For the simplicitie of beleife Implicite faith blinde Idoll doth as well shut out brutish ignorance as presumptuous knowledge I can therefore no longer adore that blinde Idoll implicite faith whereby we are taught to receiue with all reuerence what the Church teacheth and to beleeue as the Church beleeueth though wee doe not well know what the Church beleeueth Bellarm de iustific lib. 1. cap. 7. Neither can I giue credit to Bellarmine saying that faith doth consist in the assent not in knowledge and may better be defined by ignorance then vnderstanding Whence our learned aduersaries do too truly conclude that as Cleargy poperie was before nothing else but a catechisme of treason so Laicke-popery was nothing else but meere idiotisme and as they worthily laugh at the fox-like craft of our Doctors so likewise the asse-headed ignorance of our schollers Such faith which the colliar had so commended by Staphilus A certaine colliar being at the poynt of death Apolâ—g Staphi pars 1. pag. 53. was tempted by the Diuell and demanded what faith he held the colliar answered I beleeue and die in the faith of the Church of Christ The Colliars faith And beeing againe demanded what was the faith of the Church answered as it § 138 were in a circle it is that faith that I holde and so the Diuell being vanquished by this answer fled away if we may beleeue Staphilus Therfore the faith of a Romish Catholike is the Colliars faith that is a circular faith I pray you Saturnine teach mee first before I giue my assent and write to that reuerend Bellarmine that hee will prouide that implicite faith which is nothing else but blinde and affected ignorance bee put out of the creede wherewith the grauity and wisdome of the Catholike religion is greatly defaced I haue learnt at last to distinguish between the fictions of mans braine and the doctrines of Christian faith the foundations wherof are not the opinions of men but the oracles of God and those which are committed to writing by the Prophets and Apostles by inspiration of God wherein all necessarie principles of faith and precepts of life are plentifully contained as I heare it affirmed by the fathers Let vs now come to the creed § 139 Wherein first I demand whether the supremacy of Peter with such things as depend thereon haue her foundation directly in the Scripture as the Cardinall writeth in Tortus For I hold no doctrin necessary to be beleeued vnlesse it bee founded on the Scripture as Pope Gregorie the first reacheth I am a bad Text-man and I reade the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles but seldome the reading whereof the Church hath forbidden to vs lay-men fearing lest by reading we should fall into heresies But I am both ashamed and repent of that my ignorance and negligence Yet I leaue not off to reuerence the fathers both olde and new whose sonne I professe my felfe to bee and not their seruant I account them for schollers in the Scripture not masters witnesses and interpreters thereof not arbitrators and iudges Neither am I so much mooued with their names as with their reasons I seeke not then what they bring out of themselues but what they prooue out of the Scripture in the cause of faith I will henceforth admit of no definition of the Church vnlesse it relie vpon a manifest testimonie of holy Scripture or at the least a necessarie conclusion drawen from thence I will not haue the matter ordered by bare authority but let thing with thing cause with cause and reason striue with reason neither am I led with the number of arguments but with the waight * Number doth oppresse the memory waight doth beget knowledge Neither am I delighted with circumstances I desire breuity And I will preferre one sound argument shortly and directly concluded out of the Scripture before all the quirkes of men brought for pompe and shew Neither will I suffer any of you to leape from this one poynt to another before I see this bee fully sifted and discussed among you Buckle vp your selfe therefore Saturnine to set the onset and confirme the supremacy of Peter and the succession of the Pope and that power which you say is annext to the supremacie out of the holy Scripture but that you may not swarue from the state of the question remember that you are to prooue the primacy not of order and distinction which is granted to Peter but the primacy of power and iurisdiction which is denied For
may be sayd of the secular tyrannicall power as of Tyberius and Nero which may be said of the Popish tyrannicall power as of Gregorie the 7. or Paul the 5. true in respect of the abuse But the ordination of the secular power is of God the abuse of the Diuell Therefore Pilates power which condemned Christ is not sayd to bee tolerated from aboue but giuen from aboue It was therefore a wicked power not a vsurped power as Austin thought wicked in respect of tyranny not vsurped in respect of the ordination but the power of this Prelate I may say this Pilate as Bernard spake it is not onely wicked but vsurped I conclude therfore out of the Apostles principle for the secular power against Bellarmine All power ordained is immediately from God by the witnesse of Paul All secular power whether it bee by the people by the Princes or by the King is a power ordained For reason which is a glimmering of the diuine light doth suggest that all societies must be subiect to one of these whether it bee simple or mixt for the good of common safety Therefore all secular power is immediatly from God § 171 But the title of the power is not diuine but humane therefore the secular Prince hath mediately power and gouernment to rule ouer these or those subiects Bellarmine in his answer to a booke entituled an answer of a Doctor of Diuity to an Epistle written to him by a reuerend freind of the monition of the censures from the Pope denounced against the Venetians either election comming betweene as the Emperour or succession as the Kings of France Spaine and England or grant as the free Princes as the Popes in their own Dominion for so he might haue sayd or by iust war as Godfrey heretofore c. Very ignorantly He doth not distinguish between the title of the power and the power it selfe The title is the condition without the which the power is not obtained to this or that King ouer those or these subiects The power is that authority and iurisdiction which God doth giue immediately to a Prince as Paul teacheth The Cardinall therfore vniesuited as I may so say did abuse that most renowned French King If any man said he should demand of the most Christian King by what right hee holdeth France or maketh Lawes hee shall not answer by the Law of God but by the title of hereditarie succession Yea truely the noble King might haue answered otherwise according to that wit wherewith hee was endued being demanded why he bare rule ouer his subiects or made lawes That hee did it not by the right of hereditarie succession but by the ordinance of that power which hee receiued immediately from God Inheritance doth not giue that power but it is a property necessarie in that man to whom God doth immediately giue that power That subiects may giue reuerence to their Kings not for blouds sake but for Gods sake Goe to and what if one should demand of Paul the fift by what right hee holdeth his Popedome he will answer as he is taught not by the title of mans election but by the Law forsooth of God Therfore the Popes power is by Gods Law as it seemeth although his election bee by the Cardinals Why then may not the Kings power be by the Law of God thogh his succession be from his ancestours for whose condition seemes to be like why should their iurisdiction be dislike The Cardinall therefore deales very vniustly who denieth that to the King which he granteth to the Pope § 172 But the malapert Cardinall did trie the patience of the most Christian King The cruell dealing of the Iesuites with the French King as another of his order a bloody nouist strucke out his tooth when he meant to cut his throat But now the Iesuites doe blesse the King but the King as oft as he cheweth his meate its maruell he doe not curse the Iesuites who while the controuersie depended about the expulsion of the Iesuites receiued a wound from Iohn Chastile and the bloud issued out of his mouth spake pleasantly as his vse was Now at the last the Iesuites being conuicted by my mouth must bee cast out That his friends may greeue that they were brought backe againe by that mouth as innocent and cleered who were the authours of so cruell a murther whose scholler did thrust that valiant King to the heart After the same manner Tom. 11. Baronius that testie olde man did entertaine the Catholike King Philip the second the Champion of their Church for with-holding Sicilie and Naples from the Church Whom will they spare if they spare not the Spaniard What may the Defender of the Faith expect of these fellowes who doe thus entertaine the Christian and Catholike Kings But although there be no truth yet there is some equitie in Bellarmine Bellarmines lewde dealing with all Princes Hee spareth no Princes not those of his owne side Hee holdeth that those who bee Catholike in faith if they beginne to be wicked are to be driuen by the cheife Pastour from the flocke and depriued of their kingdome as well as heretickes Those as giddie headed rammes that they hurt not with their hornes these as rauenous wolues that they deuoure not the flocke So scornfully doth this Braggadochian Cardinall terme the Excellencies and Maiesties of the Christian world The world doth not maruel that Preists be so sawcy but it wonders that Kings bee so patient that they will suffer Princely crownes to be tumbled vp and down by them as foot-bals and the prerogatiues of kingdomes to be so weakned diminished by schoole distinctions For this Cardinall like a bad archer doth strike his confederate next neighbour-kings while he doth directly leuell and aime but in vaine against Iames the King of Great Britaine whom God still defend from his treacherie But to the argument Hee denieth all secular Princes to haue any power immediately giuen from God to rule ouer subiects But it is well that hee doth affirme euen in the same § 173 chapter in as manie words that secular Princes haue power immediately from God to rule their subiects as they are superiors and he alleageth a good reason because the commandement of obedience is immediately from God and this is true For he cannot bee superiour and aboue other if he doe not rule neither can he be a subiect that is not bound to obey And yet againe in the end If secular Princes saith he haue no power immediately from God ouer the Laity much lesse ouer the Cleargie therefore ouer none Which hee granted before Is it so indeede will some say yea truely looke vpon the place Hee is both vnconstant vnlearned you shall see Bellarmine affirming and denying the same predicate of the same subiect and that in respect of the same and that in one and the same chapter Let this great Logician be packing who sends his aduersaries to turne ouer Aristotles