which is a shorter course that if any English Iesuite Seminarie or Iesuited papist will send me in print a direct answere to any one booke which I haue published against them and that vppon licence and securitie graunted he will appeare with an halter about his necke ready to receiue according to his deserts if hee faile in the defence of his answere and cause and for the performance thereof shall put downe his name in the printed Booke I promise herewith vnder my hand that if GOD graunt mee life and health I will fall downe vppon my knees before the most mightie learned wise and religious Monarch Iames the King of great Britaine and my most gracious Soueraigne humbly to intreate a free Charter and safe conduct or princely licence for the safe comming and safe departure of that Iesuite or Iesuited papist and also with another halter about my necke accordingly to meet encounter that mighty Goliah whosoeuer he be nothing doubting but that I shall preuaile in my humble suite to his most excellent Maiestie if any of our English papists shall be of courage to send me his answere in manner already specified If none of them dare this performe in the defence of poperie then doubtlesse may all silly papists be fully resolued that there is no truth on their side One foul-mouthed Swaggering Iesuite in his detection against M. Sutcliffe and M. Willet seemeth desirous of such an offer as I here doe make let him therefore or any other of his brethren prepare himselfe with the aduise and help of all the rest to accept the challenge and to fight the combat valiantly with mee I challenge them all ioyntly and euery one of them seuerally and I take God to witnesse that I am fully perswaded as I write and doe most heartily desire that this offer and challenge may bee accepted at the papists hands and accordingly performed as is already said Now to let passe this digression and to returne to the matter in hand I note out of the free graunt of this famous popish Byshop who was a learned man indeed these excellent and worthy Lessons First that the Greeke Church neuer beleeued popish grossely imagined purgatorie no not to the time of this popish Byshop who liued 1517. yeares after Christs glorious Ascension into Heauen Secondly that the Latin Church and Church of Rome did not beleeue the said purgatorie for many hundred years after S. Peters death whose Successor for all that the pope boasteth himselfe to be Thirdly that this imagined purgatorie was not beleeued of all the Latin Church at one and the same time but that it obtained credit Alas poore purgatorie by little and little Where note by the way gentle Reader that poperie crept into the Church by little and little and not all at one time This is a point of great importance which woundeth the papists euen at the heart Fourthly that purgatorie was not wholy and soundly knowne by the Scriptures but parlty by the Scriptures and partly by Reuelations Where I wish the Reader to marke well two things which I shall vnfold vnto him the one that by this popish doctrine of purgatorie Gods works are made vnperfect contrarie to the Doctrine of holy Moses who telleth vs that Dei perfecta sunt opera Englished thus Gods workes are perfect I proue this because as the Byshop auoucheth the Scriptures made purgatorie knowne to the Church of Rome but vnperfectly For doubtlesse if God made purgatorie knowne by the Scriptures then is purgatorie either made perfectly knowne by them or else Gods workes that is the holy Scriptures are vnperfect But I wil rather beleeue Moses the holy Prophet of God then my L. our Fisher though he be the popes cononized martyr The other that the Church hath no new reuelations touching matters of Faith For the most learned popish Schooleman their religious Fryer reuerend Byshop Melchior Canus hath these expresse wordes nec vllas in fide novas revelationes ecclesia habet Englished thus Neither hath the Church any new reuelations cōcerning matters of Faith Loe poperie is contemned by her owne deare doctors for M. Fisher saith plainly that purgatorie was not knowne at the first but after many 100 years by revelations Yet M. Canus his popish brother fellow byshop a man as learned as hee saith as plainly and more truely that the Church hath no new revelations in faith So then either purgatorie is no matter of Faith or else it came not by late revelations Let the papist answere what he can and wil he must needs here be caught by the heele Fiftly that pardons came not vp till purgatorie was found out the reason whereof is said to be this because the life of popish pardons resteth wholy in the life of popish purgatorie and consequently when the pope could get no saile for his pardons it was high time for his holinesse to inuent his purgatorie And therefore wisely saith his Byshop and our Fisher of Rochester that when the silly ignorant people were put in feare of the paines of popish purgatorie then began the popes pardons to florish and to bee of high esteeme as being thought able to preserue and defende their receiuers from the paine and flame of purgatorie fire Alas alas how hath the late Romish church bewitched vs. CHAP. XIIII Of the Popes double person COncerning the popes double person I haue written at large thereof in a peculiar treatise which is intituled the hunting of the Romish Foxe Now it shall suffice to say a little in that behalfe William Watson that popish traytour hath these words as the prudent Greeke appealed from Alexander furious to Alexander sober and Byshop Crostate from pope Adrian priuate to pope Adrian publique and as summus pontifix in cathedra Petri so may the seculars appeale from the pope as Clemens vnto his holinesse as Peter Thus writeth Watson and all the papists generally who are learned are of this opinion herein I say who are learned because the multitude and vulgar sort of papists being as blinde as beetles in popish affaires know not what the popes double person meaneth They are taught to beleeue as the pope beleeueth iumpe with the collier viz. the Church that is the pope belieueth so therefore doe I belieue so The truth of this question standeth thus that the pope or Byshop of Rome may erre personally speake erroneously preach erroneously write erroneously yet all this must be done as he is a priuate person onely This notwithstanding he can neuer erre say our papists when he defineth a matter of faith or manners iudicially and as hee is pope or a publique person so hold the papists generally of late dayes as the Iesuiticall Cardinall Bellermine the mouth of all papists telleth vs. These are his expresse wordes Multi canones docent pontificem non posse iudicari nisi inveniatur a fide deuius ergo potest deuiare a fide alioqui frustra essent illi canones
many Lordly titles and more then royall power ascribed to the Pope addeth these expresse words Sed glossatores iuris hoc dominium dederunt Papae cum ipsi essent pauperes rebus doctrina Englished thus But the Glossers and Interpreters of the Popes lawe gaue this dominion and these royall titles vnto the Pope themselues being blind Bayards and beggerly fellowes Thus writeth the Popes learned Doctour and religious Fryer by whose verdict it is most apparant to the world that pouertie and ignorance two gallant Romish courtiers were the beginning of al royall Pope-dom And no maruaile for by reason of their pouertie they flattered and sought to please the Pope and by reason of their ignorance they desperately published many things which they did not vnderstand The vsual practise of Papists in their Commentaries Bookes and Glosses hath bin such so intollerable in wresting the holy Scriptures as their owne deare brethren and great Doctors can not for shame denie or conceale the same Polidorus Virgilius a famous papist hath these words Non secus isti iurisconsulti aliquoties detorquent sacras literas quò volunt ac sutores sordidas solent dentibus extendere pelles Englished thus These popish Legists and Canonists doe now and then so wrest and writhe the holy Scriptures to that sense which themselues like best euen as Coblers do gnaw with their teeth and stretch out their filthy skinnes 1 Out of these words I obserue first that this Polidore was a great Papist himselfe and consequently that his testimonie must needes be of great force against the Papists Secondly that he speaketh not of the meanest and worst sort of Papists but euē of their best renowmed Doctors viz. of Hostiensis their grand and famous Doctor Thirdly that their mangling and wresting of the holy Scriptures is most intollerable that without the same they cannot possibly maintaine their wicked doctrine This is that which Doctor Fisher the late Byshoppe of Rochester hath freely confessed in his answere to the Articles of M. Luther which hee could not in truth withstand or gainesay These are his expresse wordes Contendentibus itaque nobiscum haereticis nos alio subsidio nostram oportet tueri causam quam scriptura sacrae Englished thus Therefore when Heretiques contend with vs we must defend our cause by other meanes then by the holy Scripture These are the very expresse wordes I neither adde any thing nor take any thing away of their owne famous popish byshop of their owne holy Saint of their glorious martyr a learned man in deed who laboured with might and maine for the popes vsurped soueraigntie and defended the same in the best manner he was able and to the vttermost of his skill And yet for all that hee hath boulted out vnawares against his will such is the force of trueth which must needs in time preuaile so much in plaine tearmes as is sufficient to ouerthrow all poperie for euer and to cause all people that haue any care of their saluation to renounce the pope his abominable doctrine to their liues end For our popish Byshoppe being put to his best trumpe telleth vs plainely and without all dissimulation his mouth being now opened by him who caused Balaams Asse to speake that they must not because forsooth they cannot defend and mantaine their poperie by the authoritie of the Scripture but by some other way and meanes Viz. by mans forged inuentions and popish vnwritten vanities which they terme the Churches Traditions Now gentle Reader how can any papist who is not giuen vp in Reprobum sensum for his iust deserts read such testimonies against poperie freely confessed and plainely published to the world and that by the pennes of most learned and renowned papists euen while they bestirre themselues busily to defend their pope and his popish doctrine for all that continue papists stil and be carryed away headlong into perdition beleeuing obeying that doctrine which as themselues confesse cannot be defended by the holy Scripture Me-thinkes they should bee ashamed to hold and beleeue that doctrine in defence whereof they can yeeld no better reason Alas alas how hath the late Romish Church seduced vs CHAP. III. Of kissing the Popes feet TOuching the kissing of the Popes feet the truth is this that some Christian kings and Emperours vppon a blinde zeale not grounded in knowledge did humble themselues to the Byshops of Rome and did yeeld vp their soueraigne rights vnto them and thereby opened the windowe to all Antichristian tyrannie For in short time after the Romish Byshoppes became so Lordly and insolent that they tooke roundly vpon them to despose the Emperours to translate their Empires to dispose at their owne pleasures of their royal scepters regalties Yea to be reuerenced honored and adored as Gods for that end must al faithfull Christians kisse the Popes feete Here for the better credite of mine assertion I will put downe the flat testimonie of their Saint Antoninus their religious Fryer who was sometime the Arch-byshop of Florence These are his expresse words Nulli ergo angelo commissa iurisdictio cura totius orbis sed papae totius mundi iurisdictio cura commissa est cum solum vt nomine mundi importatur terza sed etiam vt nomine mundi importatur caelum que super calum terram iurisdictione accepit Sequitur vnde papae recipit a fidelibus adorationes prostrationes oscula pedum quod non permisit angelus a Iohanne Euangelista sibi fieri Englished thus Therefore the iurisdiction and charge of the whole world is committed to none of the Angels but the iurisdiction and care of the whole world is committed to the Pope not onely as the name of the world doth import the earth but euen as it doth also signifie Heauen because hee hath receiued iurisdiction both ouer Heauen and Earth Wherefore the Pope receiueth of the faithfull adorations prostrations and the kissing of his feete which thing the Angel would not suffer Iohn the Euangelist to doe vnto him Thus writeth this popish Doctor For the better vnderstanding of whose discourse I note First that this Antoninus was not a bare papist but a man of great authoritie and high esteeme among the papists Viz. a canonized Saint a religious Fryer a Dominican and a most reuerend Arch-bishop and consequently that whatsoeuer he hath deliuered either touching the pope or poperie must needes bee of good credite and great force against the papists Secondly that the popes power and authoritie doth farre exceed the power of Angels Thirdly that the pope hath iurisdiction not onely ouer the earth but also ouer heauen it selfe Fourthly that by the reason of this exceeding and surpassing power the pope doth admit and receiue that homage which the Angel refused and prohibited S. Iohn to doe vnto him Alas alas how hath the late Romish Church deceiued vs CHAP. IIII. Of power ascribed to the pope The
case in most plaine termes and blushed no whit thereat These are his expresse wordes Nec me latet D. Thomam praeuia maxima deliberatione asserere Rom. pontificem non posse propria dispensatione continentiae solemne votum monachorum tollere paulo post oportet tamen primam opinionem defendere ne qua passim fiant evertantur omnino Englished thus Neither am I ignorant that Saint Thomas affirmeth after exceeding great deliberation that the Byshop of Rome can not by his owne proper dispensation take away from Monkes their solemne vowe of chastitie This notwithstanding the former opinion must bee defended least those things which are vsually done by the pope in euery place be ouerthrowne and turned vp side downe Thus writeth this famous papist Out of whose wordes I note many very profitable Lessons for the benefite of the thankfull Reader First that the papists can not agree concerning their popes authoritie this is a point of great consequence Secondly that great learned Papists among whom Aquinas is one whose Doctrine sundry Popes haue confirmed doe roundly controwle the Popes vsurped authoritie Thirdly that their opinion must perforce bee defended which agreeth with the Popes vsuall practise and dealing because otherwise all the popes doings would soone bee ouerthrowne and poperie it selfe turned vpside downe This is a memorable obseruation wherein my bare relation would neuer carry credite if the truth thereof proceeded not from the pen of a famous popish writer Fourthly that the Popes Doctrine and popish Religion is most miserable which must bee vnderpropped and maintained by such poore sillie and beggerly shifts Fiftly that the papists haue no cause to exclaime against Priestes Marriage seeing the pope dispenseth at his pleasure with his owne Monkes in that behalfe Sixtly that the Doctrine of Aquinas which sundry popes haue approued confuteth the popes Religion So then the popes doings must needes bee defended because otherwise poperie can not stand Alas alas how hath the late Romish Religion seduced vs CHAP. XIII Of popish false forged purgatorie COncerning this point of doctrine genle Reader whosoeuer shall marke attentiuely what I shall sincerely God willing deliuer euen from the pen of a famous popish writer M. Doctor Fisher late Byshop of Rochester about 22. Miles distant from London can not doubtlesse but haue beare and conceiue in euerlasting hatred alienation of minde and resolute detestation not onely against popish purgatorie but also against all the rest of late hatched popish doctrine These therefore are the expresse words of this famous popish writer Sed graecis ad hunc vsque diem non est creditum purgatorium esse Legat qui velit Graecorum veterum commentarios nullum quantum opinor aut quam rarissimum de purgatori◠sermonem inveniet Sed neque latini simul omnes at sensim huius rei veritatē conceperūt sequitur non absque maxima sancti spiritus dispensatione factum est quod post tot annorum curricula purgatorij fides indulgentiarum vsus ab orthodoxis generatim sit receptus quamdiu nulla fuerat de purgatorio cura nemo quaesiuit indulgentias Nam ex illo pendet omnis indulgentiarum existimatio si tollas purgatorium quorsum indulgentijs opus erit his n si nullum fuerit purgatoriū nihil indigebimus contemplantes igitur aliquandiu purgatorium incognitum fuisse deinde quibusdam pedetentim partim ex reuelationibus partim ex scripturis fuisse creditum atque ita tandem generatim eius fidem ab orthodoxa ecclesia fuisse receptissimam facillimè rationem aliquam indulgentiarum intelligimus quum itaque purgatorium tam serò cognitū ac receptum ecclesiae fuerit vniuersae quis iam de indulgentijs mirari potest quod in principio nascentis ecclesiae nullus fuerat carum vsus caeperunt igitur indulgentiae postquam ad purgatorij cruciatus aliquandiu trepidatum erat Englished thus The Greekes to this day doe not beleeue that there is a purgatorie Read who list the Commentaries of the auncient Gretians and hee shall finde either very seldome mention of purgatorie or none at all For neither did the Latin Church conceiue the truth of this matter at one and the same time but by leisure and by little and little Neither was it done without the great dispensation of the holy Ghost that after so many yeares Catholiques both beleeued there was a purgatorie and also receiued the popes pardons generally so long as there was no care of purgatorie no man sought for pardons For of it dependeth all that estimation and credite which is ascribed vnto pardons If thou take away purgatorie to what end shall pardons be needfull For if there be no purgatorie we shall haue no need of pardons Considering therefore how long purgatorie was vnknowne then that some beleeued it by little and little partly by revelations and partly by the Scriptures and so at the length the whole Church receiued it wee doe easily vnderstand the cause of pardons Since therefore purgatorie was so lately known and receiued of the vniuersall Church who can now admire that there was no vse of pardons in the Primitiue Church pardons therefore then began when the people being bewitched stoode in the feare of purgatorie-paine and torment These are the expresse words of this famous popish Byshoppe when hee writing against M. Luther did with might and maine to the vttermost of his power and hee was able to say write as much as any papist in the world defend the popes authoritie and his late hatched Romish Religion which the vulgar sort of people being pitifully seduced Alas alas that they will not hearken vnto the truth which the maister-papists are enforced to confesse doe zealously embrace humbly obey wonderfully admire and terme it but most falslie and ignorantly the old religion I would gladly doe thee good gentle Reader and take any paine to my selfe to profite thy soule perswade thy selfe that I deale faithfully with thee and that I doe in none of my bookes which I either haue written or shall by Gods permission write in time to come charge the papists with any thing but the meere truth For I doe assure thee that my proceeding in the discouery of popish superstiōs vanities enormities falshoods dissentions schismes crueltie tyrannie errours heresies blasphemies is such so sincere as vppon a saluo conducto as they terme it granted from any king Christian licence procured of my gracious dread souergaine I am will be most willing to repaire into any prouince in Christendom there to giue an account and to make tryall of the same This offer gentle Reader I made aboue ten yeares agoe when I published my booke of Motiues as the Reader may easily find in peruse thereof but to this day no papist euer durst accept the same or answere either that booke of Motiues or any other that I haue written I therefore here make the same offer againe and I adde thereunto
sequitur respondeo istos omnes canones loqui de errore pontificis personali non iudiciali Englished thus Many canons teach that the pope cannot be iudged vnlesse hee bee an Heretique therefore he may bee an Heretique otherwise those canons should be all in vaine I answere that all those canons speake of the personall not of the iudiciall error of the pope This is the clarkly resolution of our Iesuite and consequently of the Pope himselfe Vignerius a very learned and famous popish Fryer hath these expresse wordes Si dicatur summus pontifex errare potest in animo suo concipere aliquem articulum orthodoxae fidei contrarium etiam privatim proferre vt legitur de Anastasio secundo si ergo posset novum symbolum edere fides ecclesiae vnius hominis periculo subâ—aceret dicendum quod summus pontifex vt privata persona errare potest non tamen vt est summus pontifex ideo si vt privata persona symbolum edere tentaret non esset symbolum maxime vbi a vera fide deviaret Englished thus If any say that the pope may erre and conceiue in his heart any article contrarie to the Catholique Faith and also vtter the same priuately as we reade of pope Anastasius the second if therefore he could make a newe Creed the faith faith of the Church should be subiect to the hazard of one man wee answerre that the pope may erre as a priuate person but not as pope or the high Byshop Therefore if hee should make a Creede as a priuate man it should bee no Creede at all especially when hee swarued from the right Faith Thus writeth Vignerius beholde here gentle Reader vppon what rotten stuffe the papists would haue vs to builde and ground our Faith Wee must belieue that the Pope cannot erre and yet are wee sure that hee can erre and that he hath already erred in very deede We must likewise belieue that he cannot but teach the truth and yet must wee also belieue that he both can teach heresie and bee an Heretique himselfe We must yet further belieue as I haue proued else where that it is sacriledge to dispute of the popes power and all this notwithstanding wee must perforce both dispute of his power and straitly examine his doctrine as also knowe assuredly whether hee speaketh publiquely as a publique man or priuately as a priuate man and neuerthelesse when wee haue done all that possibly we can wee knowe no more what to thinke or say of his doctrine preaching or writing but with preaching popes now adayes doe not trouble men then when wee haue an Eele by the taile For when the pope shall tell mee that I must beleeue this and that if then he speake as a priuate man where is my faith it is no faith at all and why because forsooth the pope spake as a priuate man Ah syr here is both fast and loose here is legerdemain indeed For if wee charge the pope with heresie or errour answere will bee made with speede that hee spake or wrote personally as hee was a priuate man not iudicially as he was a publique man Truly this is a very lage prerogatiue which the papists ascribe vnto their pope and a very hard matter it is to gainsay or withstand the same Yet by the popes good fauour a verie famous and as learned a pope as euer was pope Adrianus by name doth constantly roundly controwle confute the same These are his expresse wordes as the zealous religious and learned papist Alphonsus de Castro reporteth and rehearseth them Sexta haeresis docet nullam animam ante diem iudicij esse beatam quum vt ait nulla anima ante illum diem videt deum huius haerefeos authores sunt Armeni eandem etiam tuentur Graeci post istos surrexit Iohannes 22. huius nominis pontifex Sed ne verbis meis aliquis in hac parte deroget verba Adriani papae referam qui in suo quarto sententiarum in calce cuiusdam quaestionis de sacramento confirmationis ita ait novissime fertur de Iohanne 22 quod publice docuit declaravit ab omnibus teneri mandavit quod animae purgatae ante finale iudicium non habent stolam quae est clara facialis visio dei vniversitatem Parisiensem ad hoc induxisse dicitur quod nemo in ea poterat gradum in theologia adipisci nisi primitus hunc errorem iurasset se defensurum perpetuo ei adhaesurum haec Adrianus Englished thus The sixt heresie teacheth that no soule is in eternall blisse before the day of Doome because as it saith no soule before that day seeth God the Armenians are the Authors of this heresie yet the Greekes hold the same After these rose vp pope Iohn the twelfth of that name But least any man distrust my wordes in this point I will rehearse the words of pope Adrian who in his fourth booke of sentences in the ende of a certaine question of the sacrament of confirmation saith thus last of all it is reported of pope Iohn the twelfth that he publiquely taught declared coÌ„manded all men to hold this opinion that the soules of the iust haue not the stole before the day of Doome whâ—ch is the cleare and faciall sight of God And it is said that he induced the Vniuersitie of Paris to this that no man should take any degree in the same but he that first did sweare to defend that errour to maintaine the same for euer Thus saith pope Adrian the most excellently learned Byshop that euer was at Rome and the famous religious Fryer Alphonsus a Castro doth constantly defend his Doctrine Out of whose words I note first that pope Adrian saith of Pope Iohn Docuit he taught Secondly he saith Publice publiquely Thirdly he saith Mandauit he commanded all to hold it Fourthly hee saith none could be made graduate in theologie saue onely he that held this opinion Fiftly hee saith euerie graduate did sweare to defend it for euer So then the pope may erre not onely personally as a priuate man but also iudicially as a publique person and pope of Rome and that euen by the flat testimonie of Adrianus who himselfe was also pope of Rome Alas alas how hath the late Romish church bewitched vs. CHAP. XV. Of popish generall councels THat generall popish councels in these our daies are as a nose of waxe flexible to the popes owne good liking the decrees therof as vncertaine as the wind and weather-cocke I haue proued at large else where by the testimonie of best approued popish writers Now I will onely touch in generall words the principall heades thereof referring the reader for the proof of this discourse vnto my booke of motiues First no popish councell is of any force power or authoritie vnlesse it be holden with the popes good liking as also in which place and at what time