popular favour did attempt to excommunicate the Emperours Now their Rebellion was growne to some head and maturity About eight hundred yeares after Christ Pope Leo the third did create Charles the most potent Prince of Europe Emperour of the West yet with this politike and profitable proviso That the whole Romane Territory should be rendred to the possession of the Romane Bishop Finally in the eleventh Century Hildebrand commonly called Gregory 7. annexed the Temporall unto the Popes Spirituall Monarchy We need not therefore be dainty to propose our conclusion in their owne words Pontifices deficisse ab Imperatoribus Bell. de Imag. lib. 2. cap. 15. It is notorious that the Romane Bishops have falne away from the Romane Emperours Thus have the Popes performed the first Apostasie The second their Ecclesiasticall falling away from the Faith is yet more plaine This disputation were ended if S. Paul himselfe might be permitted to be the Moderator Here St. Paul doth say there shall be a falling away it is demanded what manner of falling away St. Paul himselfe doth answer in the latter times Espens in 1 Tim. 4. 1. Anselm in 1 Tim 41. some shall fall from the faith 1 Tim. 4. 1. But from what points of faith is the second enquiry S. Paul himselfe againe doth name those very points 1 Tim. 4. 3. They shall forbid to marrie and command to abstaine from meats Their Perertus doth assent to one of these Antichristus Perer. in Dan. cap 14. c. ut sertur ut plurimos decipiat simulabit castitatâ—m it is the common opinion that Antichrist may deceive the common people he shall therefore pretend Chastity And our Ignatius applyeth both and driveth the naile Ignâ—t ad Philadelph home to the head He shall call mariage pollutions or meats abominable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an one is possessed by the Apostaticall Serpent Now for one Thiefe to appeach another it doth not cleare the Accuser to be guiltlesse The Papists cannot excuse themselves by accusing Marcion and Montanus guilty of the same Apostasie But it is as cleare as the Sunne The Pope doth forbid meats and mariage Therefore The Pope is falne from the faith The Pope is falne from the faith Therefore The falling away is in him The falling away is Therefore Antichrist is come Finally for the figurative falling away the Pope is ipse Apostata Refuga the Head and Author of this falling from faith I omit infinit particulars and insist in three onely Adoration of Images against the second Commandement Invocation in an unknowne tongue contrary to the fourteenth Chapter of the first Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians and Mediation through and Salvation by the Virgin Mary I wonder there can be men so blinde that doe not see or rather that will not see how grossely they have fallen from the Primitive faith But yet more grossely have they fallen away in one point by the conclusion of two of their Councils Licet Christus instituerit Concil Constant Sess 13. Concil Trident. Sess 21. c. 1. c. Although Christ did institute the Sacrament to be administred in both kindes yet it seemed good to their Church to injoyne the administration thereof in one kinde and to pronounce an Anathema against any Christian who shall affirme it necessary to be received in both kindes as Christ himselfe did institute Concil Trident. Sess 21. Can. 1. and administer it Now that Church that doth professe they have falne from Christ in one point and doth practise palpable Apostasie in many we may call that Church Apostata the Head of this falling away To close up this point with that Iewell on Iuel in 2 Thess 2. 13. this place Their Church is increased in outward glory decreased in the inward truth they have the Chest lost the Treasure They were Bethel the House of God they are Bethaven the house of vanity O Roma a Roma quantum mutata vetustaes Nunc caput es sceleris quae caput Orbis eras How much is Rome altered from it selfe It was the prime Church for verity it is the prime Church for heresie It is Apostata the very head of this falling away Now concerning the Time when this falling away was I will absolve that point when I come to speak of the second part Antichrist revealed Here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will onely glaunce at that question About sixe hundred yeares after Christ it was performed by Mahomet openly and at the same time wrought by Rome cunningly and secretly It was begunne by all Heretickes preparatively from the very Apostles times The mystery of iniquity doth work already saith the Apostle verse 7. But it was brought to the height and perfection thereof about fifteene hundred yeares after Christ when the world was in quiet under Pope Leo the tenth Then onely a remnant of the Waldenses and Albingenses lived in the Alpes as also the Picards Hist Trent lib. 1. pag. 3. and followers of Iohn Hus called the Calistini or Subutraqui in Bohemia Being all but a few and ignorant simple men unfit for opposition To conclude Since first the Pope is falne from the Emperour politically possessing Rome the Metropolis of the Romane Empire Secondly since Popery is falne from the first Faith forbidding meats and mariage was S. Paul himselfe did foretell Thirdly since we see that the Papacy doth injoyne worship contrary to the Primitive Faith And that they themselves confesse That they have falne from Christs institution in one point I say therefore of this Apostasie as Gregory said of Iohn the Constantinopolitane Greg. lib. 4. Epist 38. Fidenter dico I am confident in this first conclusion Rex superbiae prope est Antichrist is come for the falling away hath been long since Hereunto will I annex the assoiling of one Quaere Whether this Apostasie hath beene totall and universall I answer No In S. Ambrose Ambr. Hexam lib. 4. c. 2. his phrase Ecclesia obuâ—â—brari potest offluere non potest Religion was Eclipsed not extinguished the Church was hidden not taken away Which truth will appeare from the consideration of the contents of the Scripture and froÌ„ the consideration of the Books of the Scripture First then how could the truth be conveied unto us without new Apostles Next how could the Scriptures be derived unto us since the Church is the Pillar of the Truth and the preserver of those Oracles And M. Cartwright Cartwright in 2 Thess 2. saith well on this place If we should say that the Church could full away or cease to bee one Isay 59. 21. word of the Prophet which calleth â—â— an everlasting people were enough to confute us Other arguments may be added From a Prophesie My words shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed for ever From a Precept Goe and teach even to the end of the world
delusion on the Christian Romanes who extinguish the light of grace Such as goe out of the way with the candle in their hand demerite to have the Candle put out and themselves to wander in unextricable darkenesse Since the Romanes Malvenda de Antich lib. 4. c. 4. doe bragge of themselves that Rome is the Arke to preserve Gods Oracles that in Rome the Gospell of Christ hath beene sealed with the blood of two Apostles seven and twenty Bishops and of three hundred thousand holy Martyrs Now that these Children of such fathers shall so degenerate and these Successours of such Predecessours shall so apostate that they transgresse the Commandements of God to observe the traditions of men that they advance the honor of their Church above their love to the Truth Is it not now Gods just judgment to cast them into the Armes of Antichrist and for this cause to send them strong delusion In a word you have the absolute accomplishment of this Prophecy Consider what the Church of Rome hath beene what it is and what Rom. 11. 33. it shall bee O altitudo Lord how unsearchable are thy judgments thy wayes past finding out To end but I must not end thus These judgements on them are for another end to cause Gods mercies unto us These things happened 1 Cor. 10. 11. to them for ensamples to admonish us upon whom the ends of world are come Wherefore Let our Church which standeth take heed that it doe not fall If the glorious Church of Rome did fall what may bee the fate of the Church of England which in old time was but an obscure part of that Body whereof the Romane Church was the most illustrious member Let us therefore consider and decline the cause of their obstinate Apostacy They did not love the Truth I would I could wipe away this blot from the face of our English people I feare I may pronounce that saying of Saint Augustine Aug. ep 121. concerning Africa Tanquam servus sciens voluntatem Domini sui non faciens multis vapulet The Church of England know their Masters Will but doe it not And therefore we deserve to bee beaten with many stripes and the Pope to gather the Rod. God may justly send on us strong delusion To which I may adde what Saint Augustine addeth in the same Epistle Attendunt quanta celeritate Evangelium praedicatur sed non attendunt quantá perversitate contemnitur that is we rejoyce because there is such plentifull preaching of the Word but wee doe not lament to behold the common contempt of the Word Require you an instance I neither flatter nor slander Clero Anglicano c. it is Campians scornefull exprobration The people of England saith hee love preaching but not their Preachers Gladly would I apprehend an Apology but the Truth must be confessed In England we have many Colossians the Word doth dwell plentiously amongst them Colos 3. 16. But very few Galatians who will give their eyes for their Pastors or that which they may spare somewhat better then their eyes And the ground of our reformed unkindnesse is the selfe-same of the Romish blindnesse custome Let not your Charity be offended at my Verity I suppose there be few Parishes through EnglaÌ„d but the Preacher if he be their Pastour and comformable then though his paines be never so great and his gaines never so small yet they thinke the phrase of Laban Genes 29. 26. will justifie their actions and Conscience in the sight of God and man Non est nostro loco consuetudinis it is our custome and it may not be broken Yet passe not your censure as if I did winch because I am galled as if a personall dislike did put mee into this passionate declamation No I thanke my God and my Parish too my Parish doth give me supplies for my labour in a poore Vicaridge But beloved this ought not to be done in Israel If men doe love the Treasure they cannot despise the Vessell although it bee earthen though their Pastours have their Personall infirmities And certainly this judgement of men shall not escape the judgements of GOD though they have custome to pleade for them I will not say with Saint Augustine Dabis impio Militi quod non dabis Sacerdoti that you take from your Preachers to treasure for souldiers I say not so the Bodie of Christendome hath bled enough already The Lord prevent future effusion for IESVS CHRIST his sake But I may tell you out of my Text Ideo mittet Deus operationem erroris for this cause God may send you strong delusion Those that will not bee perswaded by their English Preachers they may bee perverted by Popish Priests by strong delusions because indeed they doe not love the Truth It is the end of the Terme and may bee the end and Terme of our lives If I were like old Isaac Genes 27. 28. at my last end and to make my last Will and had but one Blessing to bequeath you my Beloved it should bee this blessing a blessed reciprocall affection betwixt the Pastors and people My heart could spend her last spirits in such a perswasion to leave this legacy of Love And blessed were I if I should so dye in the Lord For I should rest from my labour and that worke would follow me If it bee possible let the people and Pastours bee like Ionathan and David let them love one another as their owne soules If not so yet let them be like Abraham and Lot Let no strife bee amongst them for the Canaanites are in the Land the Papists will rejoyce and increase by our unkindnesse To stop their mouthes and to save our owne soules Let the Preachers feed the soules of the people and let the people feed the bodies of their Preachers both cheerefullie without grudging But I am a man not God I can speake to the eare not incline the heart that I must leave to the Lord. Only the Lord preserve us from a wicked custome and from all strong delusions SERMON XXIIII 2 THESS 2. 11. That they should beleeve a lye Popery supported by lyes The Primacy the Crosse â—opish lyes against the persons of Protestants Against Calvin Beza Luther B. King Q. Elizabeth Popish lyes against the profess on of Protestants Concerning the Sacraments our Government Preachers the Scriptures our Obedience to our King to our God Popish lyes concerning their Persecutions in England No Papist put to death for his Religion English Lawes against Papists THe verse containeth the passiue propertie or the punishment internall of those that imbrace Antichrist Wherein I have absolved two things I have shewed you an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one thing notable that they should bee seduced by strong delusion another admirable that they should bee so deluded as to beleeve a lye The admirable delusion is the subject of this Sermon Wherein two other things offer themselves to our admiration
Trent Laynez the Iesuites Generall delivered it for a generall conclusion that the Pope and Christ have the same Tribunall and the same Authority and the same assertion is avouched by Capistranus The first degree of Capistran so 124 correcting their disobedient is by way of Excommunication Concerning which this is the opinion of Withrington a moderate Papist in Withring◠of the Oath of Allegiance preface his Admonition to the Reader concerning the Oath of Allegtance The Church saith he hath power to impose a Temporall punishment by way of command if it bee necessary for his soules health not by way of coertion So that if hee will not obey the command of the Church imposing such a temporall punishment on him she can onely for our disobedience punish finally with spirituall punishments as by inflicting censures not by depriving our lands or lives This is the judgement of Withrington our learned and excepting his errours our honest Adversary He calleth himselfe a Romish Catholike I am sure his opinion in this point is Catholike but not Romish And I am perswaded if Rome did sway the Land where hee doth live he should feele the Romish fire for this Catholike opinion Howsoever the first punishment for disobedience is Excommunication But we esteeme this to be but brutum fulmen the Protestants reject the Popes Excommunications like Sampsons cords like a threed of tow which toucheth the fire What do they to such From such if they be in their power he taketh away their liberty they cannot buy and sell in safety as I feare some of our owne Merchants have found it Next hee raketh from them their lands forcing them to flie their native country as the poore French have felt in our dayes Then their lives as our wofull English could witnesse in Queene Maries reigne And finally he will take from them that which is dearer unto them then their lives their Names Thus did the Papists to Calvine whom they published to have died desperate when as many years he survived that presumptious calumny Yea hee will saevire in cineres punish their carkeises and command their bones to be raked out of their graves as he did to Paulus Fagius Neither shall Kings disobey the Pope uncorrected For he hath authoritie to take away their Scepters and lives also sayth Suarez in the sixt booke of his Apology But for that fatall Inquisition It is a correction like the fourth Beast in the seventh of Daniel and the seventh verse It is dreadfull and terrible devouring all but it hath no Name Although Gonsalvius hath in some sort discovered it yet I am perswaded that none living but the tormentours and the tormented can fully tell what the intralls are of that Bull of Phalaris it is the very embleme of Hell none returne from thence to tell the torments thereof And certainly whosoever is caught within the compasse of that engine of cruelty if he bee fortified with courage from Heaven in a rare measure hee may alter the Prayers of the old Leturgie they prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Save us by those unknowne torments these may pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Lord save us from those unknowne torments And thus doth this Tyrant both usurpe out strip the correcting power of a King The Pope as Christ doth rule in the Church of Christ in the phrase of my Text Antichrist as God sitteth in the Temple of God I adde briefly Me thinkes the Empire of Christ in his Church is most briefly and emphatically expressed by Christ himselfe Iohn 14. 6. Ego sum Via Veritas Vita that is saith Calvine I am the beginning the meanes and the end of saving knowledge Or as Saint Augustine Christ is Via sine errore the Way without errour Veritas sine falsitate the Truth without falshood Vita sine morte the Life without death Others interpret these words otherwise that Christ sheweth the meanes descryeth the things and giveth the end concerning eternall felicity All these doth the Pope usurp First that he is Via the Way that hee cannot erre a property of Christ never communicated but to some persons and at some times onely Secondly that he is Veritas the Truth His Councill of Trent commanded all credere to beleeve that and only that to be Truth which he taught And lastly he arrogateth himselfe to bee Vita to be the Life No salvation except a man bee a member of the Church say Christians not unlesse he be a member of the Pope say the Papists And therefore Bellarmine in his third Booke de Ecclesia and the second Chapter maketh the Pope to be an essentiall part in the definition of the Church So No Pope no Church and no salvation but in the Church and under the Pope Hence some beginne to thinke that the name of a Papist is more honourable than the name of a Catholike because the last doth imply a communion but with the Body but the first with the Head And how farre this Tyranny hath prevailed on the consciences of the blinded Papists you may perceive by this proverbe which they say is familiar in Italy I beleeve God and the Pope And thus doth hee dominiere in the highest nature The Pope as Christ doth rule in the Church of Christ that is Antichrist as God sitteth in the Temple of God Thus hath the Pope exalted himselfe Give me leave to exalt him one step higher and in the words of a Papist Qui desiderat Primatum interris inveniet confusionem in coelis that is He that will reigne as Christ on earth shall never reigne with Christ in heaven This is the period of the Popes primacy and this is the censure of Stella upon Luke 9. 48. Can notwithstanding all these premises any protest with Cupers that he is mancipium Romanae Ecclesiae that he is a professed Slave of the Church of Rome inthralling himselfe by a servile inflexible obedience in any case and against any person where a spirituall Soveraignty Tyranny doth command man and countermand God imposing injunctions uncontroulable exacting subjection unutterable or inflicting correction unsufferable ruling in the Church of Christ as Christ urging his owne Lawes with more severity than Christs Lawes I hope I know No servant of Christ will bee can be such a slave to Antichrist This truth have I delivered plainly painfully impartially even in the sight of a great God and of an innocent conscience I have done my duty I have delivered it For your duty to beleeve it I must leave that to him who is the Author and finisher of your faith Now the God of all truth give you all his holy Spirit that you may fulfill all his holy will SERMON X. 2 THESS 2. 3 4. Shewing himselfe that he is God Antichrist shall not call himselfe the true God The Pope doth shew himselfe to be God The Pope doth shew himselfe to be God plainly THis fourth verse containeth three properties of Antichrist
Church for Controversie writers Of Popish Perswasions Devotions Prayers and Discipline IN these two verses Antichrist is confirmed by two meanes by the meanes principall and instrumentall In the means principall I have observed two things his person and his potency The meanes instrumentall is twofold miracles and oracles For the Kingdome of Antichrist being both the corruption and the imitation of the Kingdome of Christ as therefore Christ did send forth his Apostles to publish the truth inabled two wayes both to doe miracles and to speak Oracles Lu. 9. 1 2. so Antichrist doth send forth his Apostles to propagate errour both by Miracles and Oracles Of the miracles ye have heard the last day that Antichrist shall confirme his false doctrine by miracles by signes and lying wonders Now I proceed to the next his Oracles that he shall perswade with men and prevaile on men with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse And with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse â— Consider briefly foure words in this short sentence First the connective particle And the sense runneth thus Antichrist shall perswade both by affecting the eye of the body with miracles also by infecting the eye of the soule the understanding w th stroÌ„g perswasioÌ„s even as the Oracles of God 2 Sam. 16. 23. His comming shall bee saith Paul with signes and lying wonders And with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse Secondly with deceiveablenesse Eudaemoâ— in Abbot lib. 2. sect 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which commeth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to their owne Etymologists that is the Way because Qui seducit à via deducit the deceiver doth draw the deceived out of the way that is Antichrist shall imploy many ringleaders wrongleaders who shall deceive and draw many out of the way of truth For the third word unrighteousnesse wee have opposed to another word v. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth and unrighteousnesse Vnrighteousnesse is therefore here taken for untruth or falshood and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceiveablenesse for the strong strange and cunning perswasion of that untruth to bee the very truth Fourthly because a particular enumeration of every severall fraud and fallacie would be tedious Saint Paul doth close up all with this terme of Vniversalitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Omni deceptione iniquitatis his comming shall be with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse As in Logicke we have the Topickes and Elenchs the first containing arguments drawne from right heads to confirme the truth the last fallacies to make falshood have the appearance of truth So in Theologicke in Divinitie wee have our faire arguments drawne from the evidence of plaine Scripture to convince and content the conscience of all learned and illiterate But the erroneous have fallacies and sophistrie to make their errour probable yea to appeare to be the very truth Of this this text doth speake that Antichrist doth prefer his Mystery of Iniquity with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse Of this I must speake that the Pope doth confirme his Errours with strong arguments but potent sophistrie A strong argument that Poperie is the Mystery of Iniquity I must beginne this Sermon as I did end the last In the Revel 13. 13. Antichrist shall cause fire to come from heaven in the sight of men that is he shall confirme men in his errours as effectually as if like Elias hee could cause fire to come down from heaven for the confirmation 1 Kings 18 38. thereof This powerfull perswasion is here termed the deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse whereby men are so deceived by Sophistry that they imbrace unrighteousnesse and untruth as confidently as if it were truth it selfe Now that the Pope doth this I make this appeare foure wayes Foure wayes doth Popery spread it selfe by perswasion and by practice They perswade both publikely and privately Their practice is the pretence either of Devotion or of Discipline which is a maine helpe if not a part thereof By these to use the words of Augusâ—od nensis tantis viribus laborant ne soli Dialog Honorij Augusâ—odiâ—ensis ad câ—lâ—em 2 Toâ—â— Biblioth Patrum ad Tartara venâ—ant their Learned labour not to goe alone to the Devill studying to accomplish that Prophecie of Saint Paul 2 Tim. 3. 13. there shall be deceivers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iugglers Imposters Inchanters who shall waxe worse and worse deceiving and being deceived These are foure mightie motives to the ignorant unstable and unregenerate especially to draw them to Popery and to sement them to the deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse Concerning the Papists power in perswading publikely we must consider three things the matter the manner and the men concurring in that point of perswasion The matter of their perswasion indeed the very materialls of their Babel consisteth in these foure particulars which are the corner foundations of Poperie They plead the Antiquity Vniversalitie Vnitie and Infallibility of their Romane Religion They pretend that it is from the beginning through the world and without either division or errour No meane motives to allure Proselytes First our Religion say our adversaries is perpetuated by an undivided line of a long succession Even from Peter the first unto Paul the last for many scores of Bishops and hundreds of yeares Where as yours say the Papists unto us is but an hundred yeâ—res old Luther was the Father of Reformers and therefore the Reformed must be a new upstart bastard Religion They say secondly our Religion is universall and Oecumenicall Beside Italy and whole Spaine besides France Germany England Polonia Bohemia Hungarie Graecia Syria Aethiopia and Egypt in all which many Catholickes doe abound Besides all these in the new world there are a world of Papists Eastward in India Westward in America Northward in Iapan and Southward in Brasil sine intermisâ—ione Haereticorum intire Papists not one Protestant Miratur orbis se factum Arianum the whole world is now under the Romane Bishop as in times past it was under the Romane Emperor The Romane ReligioÌ„ is spread through the world the Reformed Religion is couped up in a Corner onely in England and those Ilands in some few Cantons as it were Cantles of Christendome in Geneva and some part of Germany Hence they urge Are these Millions of Christians Hereticall and onely those few Heretikes Orthodoxall and of the true Religion Thirdly Omnes Catholici idem sentiunt nec Bellar. de Notis Ecclesiae lib. 4. cap. 10. aliter sentire possum saith Bellarmine cum omnes submittunt sensum suum sensui Vnius Summi Pontisicis that is All the Papists are of one opinion neither can they be of divers opinioÌ„s because they submit all their opinions unto one man his opinion unto the Pope But saith he Bellarm Ibid. the Lutherans are divided and subdivided into insinite factions fractions Now say they let the world judge whether Vnity be not the sister of Verity And therefore the Romish Religion must be the onely
peace Let us labour to have peace with our God to have peace with our Church to have peace with our neighbours and to have peace with our selves in our owne soules and Consciences This were a blessed Reconciliation Blessed are such Peace-makers Now the God of Peace grant that this blessed Peace may dwell in all this Kingdome in all this Citie in all this Congregation Even in all our Houses Soules and Friends From this time forth for Evermore Amen I will make the End of the ninth Chapter of Matthew to be the End of this Sermon and the end of this Terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We Ministers are Labourers Harvest-men Husbandmen I remember once when I stood hearing where you doe the learned Lecturer who stood speaking where I doe used this comparison That like the poore Countrey Husbandman now hee had sowen his Corne hee must home and labour for more I hope I may use the samephrase for I am sure I have the same cause and more also Wee are both Husbandmen but in a different degree Hee was a Seedsman and I a Thrasher The Seedsman when by filling the furrowes hee hath emptied his seed-code instantly hee goeth to the Tilths end and findes whole sackes of cleansed Corne which hee had prepared before-hand to furnish his Taske But the Thrasher must backe to his Barne and with many a tugging stroake labour out a supply to his want He was that Seedsman God be blessed he had brave store prepared before hand But I am that Thrasher as the Kentish phrase is a Tasker I must to my Taske to my Faile and take some paines for my seedcorne But if his huÌ„ble ability wil stoupe so low as to take up that lowly comparison and call himselfe a Thrasher then are we both Thrashers also but still in a different degree I have heard that in Africa they thrash with great facility beating out their Corne onely with the tread of a foot But we know that in England the Huske being more tough they force it out with the Flaile and with great paine and violence He was that Affricane Thrasher hee laboured for his corne but with admirable facility But I am an English man and must thrash it out with sweat and paines and notable difficulty I being then a Labourer like an Husbandman like a Thrasher as more than hee was I will be bold to speake as he did Now I have spent my store I am going to labour to provide more seed to shed into the fallow grounds of your hearts Now he that ministreth seed to the Sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sowne and increase the fruits of your righteousnesse Amen SERMON XIX 2 THESS 2. 9 10. The Doctrine of Devills The Doctrine of Devills The Church of Rome teacheth the Doctrine of Devills Popish forbidding Mariage Popish forbidding meats IN Iudges 14. 8. we read Sampson going from his fathers house hee slew a Lyon But post aliquot dies the text saith that after a few dayes he returning and turning aside to take a second view of his worke hee found favum mellis some honie in the carkasse of the Lyon Whereof he tooke and sed himselfe his Father and his Family So when I last left this place yee thought and indeed I thought that I had absolved this Text having spoken something of all the parts thereof But being to returne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have taken a second serious review thereof and therein have I sound favum mellis some honey some farther observations not altogether distastfull to an in â—ifferent attention Of this I have taken to feed my selfe and you my Fathers and Brethren and the family of the saithfull even this whole congregation And I pray and hope this Sermon to bee not onely like Sampsons Honey found at a second review but moreover like Ionathans Honey 1 Sam. 14. 29. Your eyes may bee inlight ened if you will taste but a little of this Honey Now to quick on your attention I have but one motive I shall set before your eyes the truth of the Lord Lord open all our eyes to see this truth for evermore Yee remember the Summe of this Text It is the fourth of the five points concerning Antichrist Antichrist confirmed Confirmed by two meanes the meanes Principall whose comming is after the working of Satan The meanes Instrumentall with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse The instrumentall meanes are of two sorts Miracles signes and lying wonders and Oracles in all power and deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse The principall meanes containeth two things his Person Satan and his Potencie after the working of Satan in all power The Principall meanes is the point on which I have fastned my Principall Review from whence I have framed this Syllogisme Those who teach the Doctrine of Devills mentioned 1 Tim. 4. 1. it is probable that they confirme Antichrist after the powerfull working of Satan as it is in this 2 Thes 2. 9. But the Church of Rome doth teach the doctrine of Devills mentioned 1 Tim. 4. 1. Therefore it is probable that the Church of Rome doth confirme Antichrist after the powerfull working of Satan as it is in this 2 Thes 2. 9. The Major or first proposition is avouched by the exact harmony betwixt the phrases in these two Scriptures here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the working of Satan there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Doctrine of Devills Here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 11. strong delusion there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seducing or deluding spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voces convertibiles phrases of the same signification concurring prophecy in this sense That Satan and his spirits shall set men on worke powerfully to perswade Antichristian errours here called the deceit of Satan or the doctrine of Devills But that the Church of Rome doth so this is the Minor which I must make good by my Sermon and discourse following Thus I discourse Those who forbid meats and mariage doe teach the doctrine of devills this is the Apostles Proposition 1 Tim. 4. 1 2. But the Church of Rome doth forbid meates and mariage this is the Protestants Assumption Ergo I would wish the Papists to deny the Conclusion Therefore the Church of Rome doth teach the doctrine of Devills Before I proceed I must cleare the way of two rubbes One whereof is cast in by the hand of Curiosity and Popery doth oppose the other impediment Those cavill against the Proposition these at the Exposition the one except against our Preachers the other against our Apostle both against God But with Gods grace I will vindicate both the truth and our selves against both of them Forbidding Meats and mariage The quirks of some curious braines quarrell at this Severity Are these slight inhibitioÌ„s say they so haynous crimes as to merit such a doome that the Doctrine should bee damned for Diabolicall and Antichristian and the Doctors for Hypocrits
most gratious Possible it is that salvation may breake through the Inquisition it selfe I have read of many Protestants eveÌ„ in Civil And I have heard a Romish Convert confesse that his Conversion was wrought in Rome it selfe So farre will I bee from condemning all that live under the Authority of Rome that I will rather hope that that may bee true of the Romanes which Saint Paul wrote to the Romanes 11. 4. That God hath reserued to himselfe many thousands who did never bow their knees to Baal Though the maine Bulke bee Chaffe yet who dare take Petilians part to bee Ventilabrum arâ—ae Dominicae and say there is no Wheat amongst it As some Philosophers say of the extracting of Gold out of other meâ—â—â—s Difficultas non insert impossibilitatem so say I in this cause though it bee difficult yet is it noâ— impossible that Christ should have some servants vnder Antichrist and that some Papists may be saved even at this day in Spaine and Italy Concerning Popish errors wee must consider their kindes and degrees The kinds of them are of two sorts some are Capitall such as contradict the Articles or hinder the meanes of Faith as Adoration of Images Invocation of Saints Iustification by workes inhibition of the Scriptures c. Other Popish errours are lesse principall which of their owne nature doe not destroy any Article of faith nor absolutely hinder our salvation as Pilgrimages Penance Vowes c. Next the degrees of them are threefold some doe command those Popish errours as the Pope and popish Councils some doe teach them as the Fryers and Iesuites others doe onely follow and beleeve them Answerable to which is that distinction of St. Aug. Haeretici credentes haereticis there are erronious Auâ— de utilitate credendi cap. 1. seducers and erronious seâ—uced Now if my charity could frame a mathematicall abstraction that there were a credulous Romish Catholike led with the name of Catholike and with the shew of Antiquity who with an innoceÌ„t though ignorant devotion should follow the Pope as those two hundred did Absolon 2 Sam. 15. 11. in their simplicity I should not despaire of their salvation But to speake of Papists as I feare most Papists are at this time and in this land A Trent-Iesuited Papist a compleate Papist refusing hating persecuting the truth offered Such are certainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that perish I know not how to excuse them and the Scripture sheweth no meanes how to save them Now followeth the durus sermo I come to that vnpleasing conclusion concerning the salvation our English Papists For the time I have shewed that of the old Papists wee have great hope that a great number were saved For the place I have shewed also that wee have some small hope that some small number may bee saved even in Spaine and Italy But for our time and our place we have hardly any hope that hardly any English Papish can bee saved My reasons are two drawne from the two former heads from the time when and the place where they live 1. In old time though the Papists held horrible errours yet they professed them at large without any precise particular and personall submission and subscription But now by the Counsell of Trent they are imposed as Articles of faith and they subscribe that they beleeve them and sweare that they will maintaine them This I take it is the marke of Antichrist And I feare all English Papists are such Papists 2. In the next place consider the Place Here they live where the trueth is taught and not by Authoritie as in Italy but by their owne voluntary refusall they are debarred from the sound thereof All Papists are Antichrâ—stian This is too much and yet it may bee not enough to pronounce them damned But our English Papists are Antichristian according to the two Characters of DaÌ„nation in my Text. First as it is in the 10 verse they do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they doe not receive the truth offered unto them they reject all instruction both publike by preaching and private by perswasion Secondly as it followeth in the twelfth verse they doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take delight to remaine in their ignorance and errours That I may conclude in the words of a Papist Haereticorum Steâ—art in 2 Thes 2. 10. qui obstinate nolunt veritatem inquirere ignoratio sit culpabâ—lis damnationi obnoxia quia sic affecta est ut si scire velâ—â—â— possent debentque that is the ignorance of Heretikes who doe obstinately refuse to seeke the trueth is culpable and damnable because it is of such a nature that if they would they might and ought to know the truth This is the best that I can say or hope of the best of our English Papists but of the most and worst I must say their estate is â—arre worse and of them my conclusion must bee more peremptory Our English Iesuited Papisis who are indeed almost all our English Papists these are the limmes of Antichrist in an high nature These hold the same haeresies with the former but farre more arrogantly and obstinately To use the words of one of their owne Iesuites Iungantur in unum dies cum nocte tenebrae Apologista c 3. pag. 119. Câ—saâ—b ad Front Duc pag 52. cum luce calidum cum frigido sanitas cum morbo vita cum morte erit tum spes aliqua posse in caput Iesuitae haeresin cadâ—re That is when it is possible for day and night light and darknesse cold and heat health and sicknesse life and death to bee united then will there be some hope that a Iesuite may be capable of heresie Can a greater unerring prerogative be assumed by an Apostle by an Angell yea by the trueth it selfe by Christ Iesus himselfe so arrogant and obstinate are the Iesuites in their hereticall assertions But here is not all to these damnable presumptuous Haeresies they adde as damned desperate positions of Moralitie As their breaking of faith with Haeretikes denying to sweare allegiance to their King avouching the Popes power to depose him absolving of Oathes and that devillish tricke of Equivocation paradoxes rasing the foundations and principles of Morality Christianity and Humanity And with these poysonous doctrines they infect their followers in all power through the working of sathan Watson Quod. 1. Art 7. To use the words of a Papist Some Romanists either of grosse ignorance or wilfull blinded affection haue said no lesse in effect then that though they knew they should bee damned for it yet would they for obedience sake doe whatsoever the Iesuites should command them This is limen inserni Their estate is damnable Hooker in Hab. pag. â—6 when as profound Hooker speaketh heresie is thus heretically maintained by men obstinately holding it against wholesome instruction Thus the truth doth extort froÌ„ me this peremptory conclusion I feare the estate of all English Papists But for a
Iesuited English Papist â—or all that I can conceive it is impossible to be saved From hence you may take a view of that inheritance which those purchase unto themselves who in these dayes of English Protestants turne to bee English Papists Nothing but this Thereby they become the Limmes of Antichrist Children to him who is the Sonne of Perdition seruants to him who is servus servorum the slave of the Devil the Devils Proselytes men sure to perish and of undoubted damnation But beloved I hope God hath provided better things for you If therefore you be inveagled as Demosthenes said when he was inticed to Lais that beautifull but common Strumpet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not buy repentance at too deare a rate So if the Whore of Babylon doth reach forth her Cup of Poyson unto you whether she pretend Commodity Affinity Preferment or promotion feare favour or vain-glory Let none of these glorious but vaine pretences prevaile with you Say you will not gain the world to lose our soules Yet these dangerous times are full of Satans snares But from haeresie and Poperie and from the Power of Satan and seducing Iesuites good Lord deliver us SERMON XXI 2 THESS 2. 10. Because they received not the love of the trueth that they might be saved Antichrist not a Iew. The Church of Rome doth vse the Scriptures for their owne turne The Ambition of the Church of Rome Consolation against Antichrist Five notes of such as love trueth HEre we may have the remembrance of the Psalmists saying Psal 101. 1. I will sing of iudgment and mercy And here wee have the resemblance of Sampsons Riddle Iudges 14. 14. Out of the Eater commeth meate Devouring judgment is contained in the Body of this discourse and nourishing Mercy in this â—ext the Part thereof For what judgment â—ore terrible can we conceive than this To consider either in generall that Antichrist doth so devillishly deceive millions of such as are men seeme Christians or in particular that even true Christians shall be so far deluded by the deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse that they shall not know him though indeed they doe not serue him The first is notorious in the Catholike Apostacy of the Roman Church and the second is too manifest in too many of the Reformed who will neither teach nor beleeue that Rome can bee Babylon But by distinguishing betwixt an Antichrist and the Antichrist they inferre their position that the Pope is no Antichrist But then what mercy is more comfortable then this that any Christian if a true Christian may conclude Though I am not able to dive into this deepe disputation pro con of Antichrist yet can I infallibly collect that whosoever Antichrist shall be whensoever Antichrist shall come and whatsoever Antichrist shall doe I shall not serve him For Antichrist shall deceive finally onely those who doe not receive the love of the truth But my soule telleth mee I doe receive the love of the truth Ergo My soule is assured that Antichrist shall not deceive me finally This clause containeth the cause that so many are captives unto Antichrist because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved A double cause being a double errour The errour of their minde and the errour of their end The first because they received not the love of the trueth the last because they did not receive it to the right end that they might be saved And therfore they are deceived by him who commeth in all power and deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse The first cause of so many Christians captivity Lessâ—â—s de Antic Dem 6. Bell. de Pâ—nâ—â—â—â— Rom. lib. 3. c. 12. unto Antichrist is Because they received not the love of the truth Lessius following Bellarmine and Bellarmine some of the Fathers doth expound this of the Iewes that the Iewes did refuse Christ therefore the Iewes shall receive Antichrist And to put a shew of probability on this reall impossibility Bellarmine disputeth from the Tense receperunt Saint Paul saith saith he those shall receive Antichrist who have not received the trueth that is Christ and these were the Iewes I borow my answere from our good Bishop Donnam de Antich part 2. ad Dem. 6. the best that ever put pen to paper in this point For his Argument he erreth in the Tense Saint Paul doth use the Aorist not the Praeterperfect Tense The sense whereof is not non receperunt they that did not receive but non receperint they that shall not receive the love of the truth For such is the signification of the Aorist Marc. 16 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui credidit baptizatus est hoc est qui crediderit baptizatus erit not hee that did beleeve was baptized but he that shall beleeve shal be baptized shal be saved So Ioh. 5. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 procedent according to the vulgar translation in resurrectionem qui bona fecerunt hoc est qui fecerint Christ saith there those who shall doe good workes shall enter into the Resurrection of life So here in the same Tense and sense also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that shall not receive the love of the trueth shall bee deceived by the deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse Saint Pauls words in this place being to bee referred not to the time of the Epistle hee wrote in but to the time of the Punishment hee wrote of But for the thing it selfe that Saint Paul here speaketh onely of the Iewes this conceit hath no colour of probability as it will appeare if wee consider these foure particulars The Phrase the Persons the Punishment and the purpose of Saint Paul in publishing of this prophecy 1. Take the word truth for the word Christ which is not the true sense thereof in this place and yet Saint Paul doth not say that those shall be deceived by Antichrist who doe not receive veritatem Christ as the Iewes did but who doe not receive Amorem veritatis the love of Christ which is not proper to the Iewes but to the false Christians 2. The Iewes refused to receive Christ 1600 yeeres since It must follow therfore that the Iewes received Antichrist so long also For the prophecie is of the same persons those who doe not receive the love of the trueth those very men are delivered into the power of Sathan 3. The punishment of Antichristians is damnation but Antichrist shall bee the accidentall cause of Salvation to the Iewes which shall come with Enoch and Elias to convert the Bell. de Pont. Rom. lib. 3. cap. 6. Iewes say the Papists The Iewes therefore are not those who are spoken of in the Text. 4. The purpose and maine drift of this prophecie is to proclaime to the world the Catholike cause of being captives unto Antichrist to be this Because meÌ„ do not receive the love of the trueth Whosoever doth not receive it shall be deceived and damned And
therefore I conceive neither reason nor authority why any man should make a particular of that which Saint Paul doth propose as a generall The conclusion therfore is plain and true The Apostle doth here describe the adhaerents of Antichrist non a natione sed conditione ipsorum Doun part 2. Dem. 6. not from their Region but from their Religion Antichrist shall prevaile on such as receive not the love of the trueth Now whether these men be Iewes or Christians it skilleth not Having cut off this cavill I come to the naturall exposition The Object of Antichrists prevailing power is here foretold to bee men who will not receive the love of the trueth Of the Truth I may distinguish as the Greekes doe of the Word there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veritas Christi Veritas Christus the truth written and the Trueth begotten the first Matth. 22. 16. thou teachest the way of GOD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in trueth the second Iohn 14. 16. I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth Christ did the former Doctrinally and he was the latter Essentiallie The Text speaketh of both but of the first properly and primarily it being most convenient thereunto For the fallacy is a deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse that is false doctrine Therefore the Apostasie is from the true Doctrine or the trueth taught us in the Gospell By the truth then here we are to understaÌ„d the Gospell The Gospell is termed the trueth for three causes from the infallibility use and efficacy thereof First each syllable is true and shall come to passe Math. 5. 18. Secondly it maketh a man true and absolute in the knowledge and practise of Holinesse 2 Tim. 3. 16. Thirdly the Gospell is veritas magna praevalebit the Gospell is that trueth which above all things beareth away the victory The Gospell is a true sword to cut downe all errour and transgression Heb. 4. 12. Marke moreover it is the obseruation of our blessed Bishop Iewell marke hee doth not say Because they receive not the trueth but because they receive not the Love of the trueth therfore God sendeth theÌ„ strong delusions Of which sinne and punishment wee have an example and withall a wonderfull resemblance of the Roman Church in the persons of Hophnie and Phineas 1 Sam. 2. It is said in the twelfth verse They knew not the Lord. Now that they did know the Lord and his Will it is evident first from their Vocation in the thirteenth verse they were Priests and therefore their Lips did preserve knowledge Secondly from their Information both by the people in the sixteenth verse and also by their Father who verse 24 said Nay my sonnes for this is no good report that I heare The meaning then is they did not love the Lord which is all one as if they had not knowne him Adde to these three other remarkeable observations First their Sinne Whoredome verse 22. Secondly the cause of their continuing therin they made themselves fat with the offerings of the people verse 24. And the punishment which was twofold They would not hearken because the Lord would slay them in the same verse The parallell whereof wee may perceive in the Papacy punctually in all particulars The Church of Rome cannot be said not to know God it appeareth from their Vocation they have a Priesthood and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Word Rom. 3. of God and learning labour and languages to peruse them Wee cannot say therefore They doe not know God but alas which is far worse They doe not love God To know him they have information sufficient from the Fathers most of their opinions have little some of their opions having no mention made of them in those ancient Writers from their owne fathers divers of the Bishops of Trent relenting but the Pope did controule them Finally they have had information from our Father I doubt not but God doth check the consciences of many of their learned that they see the trueth but doe not receive the love thereof Their sinne also is whoredome spirituall whoredome their See Babylon spirituall Babylon and the Mother of Fornication Their cause of continuing therein They make themselves fat with the offerings of the people they swimme in worldly wealth and honour The same Punishment they may feare shall feele Hophni Phineas did not hearken because the Lord would slay them And my Text telleth us that those who receive not the love of the trueth God will send theÌ„ strong delusion that they may be daÌ„ned Now that the Church of Rome doth not receive the love of the Gospell though they have the Gospell I thus demoÌ„strate it Because they use the Gospell either onely or principally for their owne turnes They have Gods Covenant in their mouths but hate to be reformed Quia superbi Ps 30. 16. 17. sunt nec noverunt Moysis sententiam sed amant suam non quia vera est sed quia sua est saith Saint Augustine They are surly and selfe-conceited and receive not the judgement of the Gospell but the judgement of the Church of Rome they love the Romish opinion not because it is the true opinioÌ„ but because it is the Romish opinion Those words of the men in Matth. 26. 73. St. Matth. to St. Peter may be aptly applyed to this purpose Certainly thou art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee Herein the Bishop of Rome is Saint Petâ—rs Successor Certainly they are those who use the Gospell to their owne turnes for their speech doth bewray them although they sweare and curse that they doe it not Thus they speake Docet spiritus sanctus omnes modo ordinato Suarez Apol. lib. 1. cap. 11. num 8. communem scilicet plebem per Doctores ipsos autem Doctores per Concilia maxime per Vicarium Christi The Holy Ghost saith Suarez doth teach all but in an ordinary maner to wit the common people by the Doctors and the Doctors themselves he doth teach by Councils but principally by the Vicar of Christ Pontifex potest Bell. de Pont. Rom. lib. 3. c. 14 moderari praecepta Apostolorum prout Ecclesiae expedicrit Bellarmine saith the Pope can moderate the Precepts of the Apostles as shall seeme expedient for the Church Scripturas recipio secundum sensum Ecclesiae it is the second Article of their second Creed established by their Councill of Trent that they receive the Scriptures indeed but as the Church shall expound them Their words are plaine enough containing a plaine injury against man and as plaine an indignitie against God First they and wee contend Who hath the trueth The Iudge Wee call for the Scriptures peradventure they will permit them But with this proviso Prout Ecclesiae expedierit prout Ecclesia exposuerit The Scripture shall be Iudge betwixt the Reformed and the Church of Rome But As the Church of Rome shall bee pleased to expound it Let any impartial man judge
sinewes of that assertioÌ„ The grand pseudochrist amongst the Iewes called himselfe Barchochab that is Filius Stellae or the Sonne of a Starre when as his right name was Barchozeba that is Filius mendacij or the Sonne of a lye So the grand Antichrist among the Christians calleth himselfe Stella a Starre which giveth Light to the whole World but in sooth hee is Filius mendacij it is a lye and they have a strong delusion who do beleeue it Thus they say the Church of Muscovia hath Malvenda lib. 5. cap. 16. renounced the Greeke Church and the Greeke Church hath renounced it selfe and both submitted themselves to the Pope as the Oecumenicall Patriarke in the yeare 1595 was the first surrender made to Pope Clement 8. Eudam de Antichristo lib. 3 Yea the mighty Church of Aethiopia was reconciled to the same Pope on the same condition saith Eudaemon another popish Tell-troath because a Cretian Nay their Dominicans Franciscans and Iesuites have reduced insinite Malvenda de Antiâ—hristo lib. 3 cap 26. people and provinces to the Romish Religion in both the East and West Indies saith Malvenda For the Greek and Mosco Church wee haue both Graecians and Muscovites which frequent our land and such a famous submission would not bee untold by them could not bee unknowne to us Indeed Aethiopia and the Indias Africa Asia and America are somewhat farre off and it is farre more ease for men to beleeve it than goe try it Howbeit wee have English Navigatours who are no novices in the new world also And this new christendome could not be concealed froÌ„ theÌ„ if these conversions and Submissions were as true as famous But I doubt that the stoutest favourer and favourite of the Romane Primacie wil but speake that phrase of St Paul 1 Cor. 11. 23. Quod accepi a Domino tradidi vobis they teach that to the Papists which they have heard from their Lord the Pope But none dare say with that other Apostle 1 Iohn 1. 1. Quod oculis nostris vidimus spectavimus that they themselves with their owne eyes have seene those converted countreys In truth they are mendacia decipientium Insipientium they are foolish lyes and those are not very wise who beleeve them These lying reporters have beene the true supporters of the Popes primacie but his shop of false forged lying writers have shaped out most classicall and authenticall instruments to that purpose both in spiritualls and temporalls I will grace this proofe with the testimonie of the glory of Ireland The Donative Vsserius de Ecclesiar Successione cap. 2. sect 29. saith hee of Constantine was forged by Iohn surnamed Digitorum whereby the Pope would perswade the world that that Emperour had bequeathed unto his predecessour Silvester not onely the Citie of Rome but also all the cities and provinces of Italie and of the West This is the first lye the great lye the second is like unto this to confirme the Popes power spirituall as that former did his temporall Out of the same forge proceeded the fiction of the Decretall Epistles which they pretend to have beene indited by the Primative Romane Bishops of the purer ages but first urged as authenticall in France by Riculsus Archbishop of Menz in the reigne of Charles the great Thus were these two great Popish points the Temporall and Spirituall Primacy established by two great lyes Both which the Donative of Constantine the Decretals of the Pope were compiled into one volume by that notorious lier who sâ—rowdeth his shameless Leasings under the name of Isodore yet out of him the Popes have sucked no small advantage for the supporting of his Primacie One Whelp out of which Kennell we have experienced here in England When the Chamber Ples Mist è Matth. Par. in Henr. 3. of Pope Innocent 4. at Lyons was by chance set on fire then was burned the same Charter whereby King Iohn had made England Tributary to the Pope whereupon the Pope sent secret Messengers into England who made every Bishop to subscribe to that lamentable Charter of that King Iohn namely as it is likely to supply the want of the Originall with a Copie thus made authenticall Such considence doe they place in their practising the phrase of this prophecie if they can make the world beleeve a lye They have another petty point of Popery which followeth this Pillar of the Papacy as a little Pinnace doth the Admirall of the Fleet. And both are borne on with the same Gaile a brave-winde of wonderfull lies This is the signe of the Crosse a profitable servant for the Church of Rome and therefore they must lye for their advantage At Meliapor men Gables and Elephants did Malven l. 3. c. 7. tugge at a huge Tree to no purpose all were not able to stirre it But Saint Thomas twining his Girdle onely to a twigge thereof drew it twelve furlongs Signo tantum Crucis Malv 5. 8. facto onely by making the signe of the Crosse Anno 1520. a Portugall ship in an Indian voyage in the night running mainly before the winde suddenly it stood still The amazed Mariners searching the cause with Candles they beheld an hideous Fish glued to the ship her body spread the length of the Keele or bottome of the ship the taile being wrapped about the Rudder and over the Decke shee put up her head as bigge as a Barrell When the Sailers thought that a Fiend of Hell had beene come to swallow them out steppeth an heavenly Priest Et signo Crucis delinita est Bellua that Monster was made tame onely with the signe of the Crosse And so the men sayled merrily to the place they were bound for More It is their doctrine that the signe Malven l. 6. c 8. of the Crosse is an Antidote against all Devils as Malvenda doth dispute at large and his conclusion is when Antichrist shall come Quo fugiendum est Christians must flye to the signe of the Crosse as to their onely City of refuge against all his sorceries These are Stories indeed meere stories Falsa sicta fucata omnia fictions to bolster up their factions A true testimony that God hath sent on that Church strong delusions that they beleeve such lyes Yea the Papists are so exquisite in that Art that whilest their religion is supported by lyes they would perswade the world that the Protestants are the notorious lyers and they had done it if onely one popish project had proceeded without discovery their Index expurgatorius For when wee alleage Romish Authors against their Romish errours in time to come no such places being extant in their new editions of their Bookes which wee had quoted and they rased they would have clamoured crimen falsi that wee had belyed them by false quotations when they have prevented us by their lying false Inquisition Thus they build up their Babel with boasting and bold untruths But Falsehood advanceth it selfe highest when it taketh
It may be this may be yet extenuated that such protestatioÌ„s were unadvised proceeding from an heated exasperatioÌ„ I insist certainly their beliefe of lyes is setled after solemne deliberation It is Dogmaticall not Personall the beliefe of lyes is the very rock of the Romane religion And observe the Text speaketh in the singular number a singular argument that their beliefe in a lie is the Corner-stone of the Romane Religion To declare this let Saint Paul define the property of a man Rom. 3. 4. Omnis homo mendax every man is a lyer Some men indeed at some time have beene inabled to utter the infallible truth as the Prophets and the Apostles but none at all times è Cathedra when they listed to define any thing What was once said by Nathan although a Prophet was afterward 2 Sam. 7. 3 5. gain-said by God and unsaid by himselfe Those therefore who shall beleeve all the definitions of any mortall man doe depend on a lyer and as the Text speaketh they doe beleeve a lye Which is performed and acknowledged by the Church of Rome Omnes submittunt sensum suum sensui unius Bellarmine saith All of the Bell. de Nâ—t Ecclesâ— 4. c. 10. Romane religion submit their judgement to the judgement of one man And this they doe by a double beliefe Explicite and Implicite First the Priests doe it learnedly and maintaine it by arguments then the people doe it obstinately and adhere to the Pope as to their Oracle by an implicite faith Now that both Priest and people should make a man a god and fasten their faith on the Pope that his words like Gods Word cannot erre Here is the compleat accomplishment of this Prophecie God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve a lye So deluded are their priests professing that the Pope cannot erre whereby they equall him unto God To use the phrase of our learned Countrey-man to give him that prerogative Mr Mountague Appealâ— part 2. c. 3. of not erring at all is to advance him into his makers seaâ—e It belongeth not to these ancients but to the ancient of dayes not to erre Nay the Popes themselves shame not to assume claime and publish this Divine prerogative forgetting their sedes stercoraria their close-stoole which Platina witnesseth is an item Platina in vit Ioh. 8. to them that though they be set in a high place yet they are men not God subiect to humane frailties whereof I conceive erring to be one Although I thinke they may as easilie restraine themselves from disburdening of nature in this chaire as from erring in that chaire yet do the Popes challenge that unerring ability three of them especially The first emblematically the second dogmatically and the third passionately First Anno 1099 Pope Paschal 2. was Platina in Pasch 2. girt with a girdle on which there hung seven keyes and seven seales to give all men to understand that he according to the sevenfold grace of the spirit of God had power in all churches over which he bare rule to open and shut to seale and unseale Secondly Ecclesia Romana nunquam errasse inventa est neque errabit in aeternum the Pope definitively did deliver it to the Turk et credat Iudaeus that the Pij 2. Epist ad Princip Turcar. Church of Rome never did nor ever shall erre Thirdly when as a Frier Minorite had proved Zinch Miscel de Eccles that the Pope might erre and might be corrected for his errour by this argument The Pope is either a brother or not if he be a brother he may erre and may be corrected for Christ saith Matt. 18. 15. If thy brother trespasse against thee tell him his fault If the Pope be no brother why doth he then pray Our Father which art in Heaven This Pope Paul 3. being wroth with the Frier even to excommunication an acute Courtier taught him to answer this argument Ne dicat Sanctitas tua Pater noster amplius let not your Holinesse ever say againe Our Father which art in Heaven and he shall never be able to prove you a brother and so his argument is easily answered Their Priests I say themselves and the High Priest himselfe are the patrons of beleeving a lye because they found their Faith on a man who is as every man a lyer It is probable that the Pope may erre and infallible that the Pope did erre But to avouch an errour or erring man to be the pillar of their Faith this I take it is a strong delusion and such do beleeve a lye Concerning the probability that the Pope may erre I will snew it both by Reason and by their owne confessions But first let their owne Suarez state the question Wee must distinguish betwixt Pontifex credens docens Suarez Apol. l. 1. cap. 6. nu 15 betwixt the Pope as he is a private person the Pope as he is Pope To the Pope as he is Pope belongeth those promises of Christ for so he is Petra the Rock on whose firmnesse the firmnesse of the Church doth depend in his kind And in this sense the protestants can shew nullum vestigium haeresis not any one iote of errour But considering the Pope in the first sense as a private person and beleever adhuc sub judice lis est it is yet an undecided controversie among the Romish Catholikes whether any Pope hath beene an Heretike indeed or onely supposed to be so In reason examine this and wee shall finde that one legge doth here tripp up another and therefore the distribution cannot goe current If the Pope may erre qua credens as he is a beleever it is probable that he may erre quà docâ—ns as he is a teacher For I cannot imagine how a man shold define that which he doth not beleve nor understaÌ„d surely the Rule which is crooked it selfe caÌ„not streighten other things Neither is it likely that God would commit the faith of the Church unto him who is not able to direct himselfe Thus have I throwne downe this halting distinction that wee may keepe it downe from rising to wrastle with the truth I will use the hand Dr. Beard of Antichrist part 2. cap. 9. sect 4. and helpe of our learned Collegiate The Pope may erre as a particular person and Doctour but not as Pope Who seeth not the absurditie and condition of this distinction For the Pope is alwaies a publike person and Doctour of the Church and not a particular So that these are contradictorie propositions to bee Pope and yet to be a private person And therefore if Catharinus had reason to mock at Caietane who writing of Herods sadnesse for the demand of Iohn Baptists Head distinguishing betwixt the King and Herod as if it were the King that was sad and not Herod For saith Catharine if the King was sad and Herod was King then by my Logick I must conclude that Herod was sad And if
the Pope may indeavour to destroy the Church I goe not then so farre as Bellarmine if I conclude It is probable that the Pope may erre Our Countryman Sanders commeth yet Sand. de Antich Demonstr 15. closer to the point It is saith hee so farre from being lawfull for the Pope to change the lawfull degrees of his predecessours in expounding the Articles of faith and principles of nature that if any Pope shall attempt to doe it publikely and to that purpose shal interpose the authority of the Apostolicall Sec for that very attempt he is to be censured to have fallen from his Apostolicall power tanquam deficiens a fide as a man who hath fallen from the faith and thereby become an Infidell cuâ— pertinaciter in errore suo and if he shall obstinately persist in his error he must be deposed from being Pope This man putteth it as a probable and possâ—ble case that the Pope may oppose the decrees of his predecessors interpose his Apostolicall power to confirme what is false fall from the faith become an Infidel persist in an errour yea and be deposed from his papacy This I hope will warrant my conclusion as probable that the Pope may erre Still there remaineth an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one undeniable testimony In their sacred treatise of their sacred Ceremonies it is solemnely pronounced Sacr. Cerem l. 1. Sect. 1. c. 4. that Romanus Pontifex canonice institutus fiat haereticus that is an absolute Pope may turne an absolute heretike and if the Pope may be an Heretike his Conclusion may bee hereticall Doubtlesse then verity is not in the Church of Rome as they brag victory was in the Empire of Rome They have not so clipped the Iuel Ap. pa. 163 wings thereof but that they still feare that truth may flie from them Now to build their faith an a man whom they themselves confesse may erre This appeareth to mee a strong delusion and that these men doe beleeve a lye To dispute ex ore from our adversaries confession is a strong argument but the argument which is drawne a facto from their action is yet stronger Therefore to strengthen this assertion I will propose infallible instances that the Popes have fallen actually from their infallibilitie Their Translations of the Scriptures are testimonies that the Pope hath erred Sâ—xtus 5. set out one and Clemens 8. revised it and set it out againe It must follow that the Edition of the second is superfluous or rather the Edition of the former Pope was erronious Ex ungue Leonem take a taste of such errours Genesis 3. 15. Ipsapro ipse She shall â—iblia saâ—ra Sixti 5. Pontif. Maximi bruise the Serpents Head for He shall bruise the Serpents head I thinke it is so translated by one Pope I am sure it is defended by many papists Malv de Ant. l. 8. c. 11. Iohn 21. 22. Sic volo eum manere donec venero So will I have him remaine till I come for If I will have him remaine till I come This is the traÌ„slation warranted by those two Popes Sixtus 5. and Clemens 8. May not I say that they lye who give the lye to our Saviour who saith plainely in the next verse That he said not that Iohn should tarry till he come Next I have law for what I say The Canonists Duar. de Benificijs praef say Totum jus Canonicum his voluminibus continetur All the Canon Law is comprised in these three volumes The first whereof was composed by Gratiane 400 years agoe which consisteth of Canons and Sentences collected out of the Fathers and is called the Decrees which is indeed a very profitable Treatise in eo tamen desiderent eruditi yet the learned complaine of some wants in it The second is set out by Pope Gregory 9. coÌ„taining divers Epistles of several Popes are called the Decretals in which there are many things much degenerating a prisca illa disciplina froÌ„ the primitive integrity The third is the Constitutions of Pope Boniface 8. which are reported to have beene rejected in France because they were inacted in hatred of Philip King of France and invented for the commodity of the Church of Rome Collect there being but three Volumes of the Canonicall constitutions and the first the Decrees are defective the second the Decretals degenerated from the Decrees and the third the Constitutions of Boniface 8. were passionate against the King of France and partiall for the Court of Rome This instance justifieth my inference The Pope hath erred de facto and therefore is not infallible Againe the solemne Decrees of the Popes Eras in 1 Cor. 7. pronounced judicialiter definitively have been directly contradictory as it is instanced in those of Iohn 22. of Nicholas of Innocent 3. Caelestine of Pelagius Gregory That learned Lord du Plessis recordeth another famous exaÌ„ple Pless Myst Progr 36. 897. Iohn the tenth solemnly in a synode at Ravenna of seventy foure Bishops demanding every mans opinion severally published his definitive sentence in these words The Synod celebrated by our predecessour Steven 6. in which the carkeise of Formosus the Pope is drawn out of the Sepulchre we utterly abrogate Here wee have a Synode and an Antisynode the Decrce of one Pope abrogated by another Pope and decree also The illation is evident A second Pless My. Pr. 55 famous example I will transcribe out of the same famous Authour About the yeare 1300. Peter Moron an Hermit being chosen Pope and called Clemens 5. was thus abused by Benedict that cunning Cardinall of Cajeta hee suborned divers who by a trunke privily conveyed it into his eare by night as if it had beene a warning from heaven Caelestine Caelestine demitte papatum si vis salvus sieri negotium est supra vires that is Caelestine Caelestine give over the papacy if thou meanest to be saved it is a burthen beyond thy strength The simple man thus deluded intended nothing but to resigne the papacy if this scruple could be removed that he might do it with a good CoÌ„science wherein Benedict gave him easie satisfaction and caused a Decretall to bee passed That the Pope might lawfully give over his charge And not long after this when himselfe had atchieved the papacy and was stiled Boniface 8. he digested another like decretall which we finde in Sexto Quod Papa papatui libere renunciare potest that the Pope might freely resigne the papacy although when Caelestine was dead he passed another that it was Scelus imexpiabile an unpardonable crime for the Pope to resigne the papacy Before we had Decree against Decree here Decretall against Decretall There a Pope abrogating the definitive sentence of another Pope here the same Pope abrogating his owne Both concurring in one conclusion these contradictions cannot issue from one and the same unerring infallibility Another instance is added by that solidly Dr Crakenth in Spalat c. 72. acute