Reliques of St. Michael the Archangel and likewise at St. Julians of Toures They do shew at great St. Michaels which is so well haunted of Pilgrims his Sword which is like a Childs Dagger and his Buckler likewise which is as it were the boss of a Horse-bit That Angels should have Swords and Shields is so vain Note that all the wit the Pope and Clergy of Rome have can never defend themselves from the imputation of being most horrid Impostors in asserting but that the Sword should be like a Childs Dagger and the Shield or Buckler like the boss of a horse-bit none but knaves will say and none but fools will believe it Although we 〈◊〉 before that the head of St. John Baptist is in divers places yet they 〈◊〉 Amiens boast to have the visage of St. John And in the Mask which they shew there is the sign of the cut of a knise overthwart the eye which they say Herodias gave him But they of St. John of Angel deny it and shew the like part As concerning the rest of the Head from the crown to the forehead it was at Rhodes and is now at Malta as it is thought at the least they have made men believe that the Turk did render it them The hinder part is at St. John of Nemoures The Brain is at Noyon Besides all this they of St. John of Morein do not want some certain part of the Head His Jawes are seen at Besanson at St. John the great There is another part at St. John of Latians at Paris and at St. Floura in Auvergne They keep his Hair at St. Saviours in Spain the Brow and some of the Hair There is also a little thereof at Noyon which is shewn very authentickly There is also some part I know not of what place at St. Lukes As for St. John Baptists Arm they of Sene boast to have it which is repugnant to all ancient Histories Now as touching that finger wherewith St. John did point and shew our Lord Jesus Christ saying Ecce Agnus ille Dei c. Behold that Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world it is found to be in many and divers places There is one at Besanson in the Church of St. John the great another at Lions another at Bruges another at Florence another at St. John of Adventures near to Mascone One of St. John's Shoos is at the Charter-house of Pa is His Jacket is at Rome in the Church of St. John of Lateran where also as they say is the Altar whereon he prayed in the desert As if in those days they used to make Altars for every purpose and in every place It is a marvel that they make not the people believe also that he sung Mass In Avignon is the Sword wherewith he was beheaded At Aix is the Linuen Cloth that was spread under him when he was beheaded At Poicters they have the Jaw-bone and beard of St. Peter At Trier there are divers bones both of St. Peter and St. Paul At Argenton in Bury one of St. Paul's Shoulders At St. Saviours in Spain one of St. Peter's Slippers They of Poicters also brag that they have St. Peter's Slippers but those are wonderful trim and brave made of Satin and broidered with Gold as though he had been like to our Popish Bishops when they are dressed and decked like Puppets in their Pontificalibus When it is well known that Peter lived a very poor man as it evidently appeareth by these words which he spake to a certain man that was lame from his mothers womb Silver and gold saith he have I none such as I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk And are not these the words of St. James Hath not God chosen the poor of this world Saith not St. Paul of himself and of his fellow Apostles in this wise Even unto this time we hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted with fists and have no certain dwelling place and labour working with our own hands This Paragraph shews that their Reliques are of their own invention by the gayness of them Note which agrees not at all with the poor estate of the holy men they talk of St. Peter's Pontifical Chair with his Cope wherein he said Mass as the Papists fain are at Rome and kept as precious Reliques About the Altar whereon he said Mass there is great contention they of Rome affirm that they have it and they of Pise likewise say they have it But how the lying Papists strive among themselves for â—â—ye who knoweth not seeing that neither that monster the Mass nor yeâ—â—â—…tars were received into the Church of Christ many years after the death of St. Peter By this they pretend to justifie their own foolish Gayeties Note and therein be-lye the Primitive modesty and plainness of the Christian Religion The Sword also wherewith St. Peter cut off Malchus his ear is reserved and reverenced of the Papists in divers and sundry places The having one Sword in so many places Note is a reasonable ground to conclude they have it no where Saint Peter's Crosier is shewed at St. Stephens of Grees at Paris But they of Collen plainly affirm that they have it So likewise say they of Trier But it is truly to be thought that none of them all have it for in St. Peter's time there were no such baubles as the Popish Bishops use now-a-days neither Miter nor Crosier Cope nor Vestment Altar nor Altar-cloth Saint Bartholomew's skin is at Pisa and there kept for an holy and precious Relique notwithstanding in the Kingdom of Naples they plainly affirm that they have the whole Body of St. Bartholomew with skin and all And in St. Bartholomew's Church at Rome they stoutly maintain that he is there both body and skin and in no other place Poor St. Bartholomew is at Pisa and at Rome too what place next an Arm with the Walloon Jesuits at St. Omers and five Ribs at Leige in Germany and a Leg at Burgos and an Head at Villa Garsia Saint Mathias hath one Body at Padua Note here is a blessed in crease of St. Mathias another at Rome in the Church of St. Mary the greater and a third Body at Trier Besides this he hath a Head and an Arm at Rome and another Body at Salamanca in Spain and another at the Cathedral at St. Omers and another where Mr. Pope pleaseth Nay he hath any thing but Truth and true Religion but these have left Rome long since At Ortone the Body of Saint Thomas the Apostle is kept and taken for an holy Relique notwithstanding they of Trier say they have certain of his Bones and at Rome they boast to have his Arm and Head The Chalice out of which St. John the Evangelist drank the Poyson being condemned by Domitian the Roman Emperour is found in two places and taken for a great Relique One is at Rome in
in the English Seminary And how then can it be all at Rome And in the Reliquary of St. Ignatius-Colledg I have seen half a yard of Linnen which the Jesuits have and call it a piece of that Napkin that was laid upon Christs face and surely we may believe them Item That part of our Lord Jesus which was cut away when he was circumcised Skin That a little bit of skin cut off a Babes Yard when Eight days old should last and look like such 1500 or 1600 years none but the Father of lyes and his Children can be the countenancers of it And it is very unlikely it should be at Rome when as the Monks of the Order of St. Jerome near Vallidolyd in Spain pretend to have it also Item That Water and Blood which flowed out of Christs side when he hanged on the Cross Note that one drop of this was never saved A Tun would not hould all if this blood and water were in one place it is of such an encreasing quality And how can it be shewn 1600 year after If it were Who saved it and who required it to be kept and to whom was the keeping of it committed and why do the Fathers of the English Colledge at Vallidolyd challenge a Glass full of it containing at least half a Pint Item A large piece of Christs Cross with many other Reliques which are there shewed on Easter-day after Dinner That we are delivered from such intollerable cheats is a great mercy but to think the people well in their wits that believe such Lyes were to create another wonder But to conclude the pretenders to these things are doubtless the greatest deceivers in the world which will appear if we consider the circumstance of time And certainly we may expect to find the whole Cross in time if the Papists will but stand to their tackling in this case as they would seem to do in other cases that refer to Reliques Of the second Principal Church and of the Reliques contained in the same THE second Principal Church is at St. Peters in the Golden-Hill in which Church also are many Reliques When the Pope his Whores and Bastards otherwise wrapping it in clean linnen his Nephews and Neeces are there then I say there may be a jolly company of Reliques 1. Half the bodies of Peter and Paul The half part of the bodies of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul rest in the aforesaid Church under the high Altar And the other half lyeth at St. Pauls How incredible this is If the Publishers memory fails him not he see an Arm and a Leg of St. Paul in Valladolid that bodies thus divided should be shown 1600 years after makes me remember St. Pauls words 2 Thes 2.7 8 9 10 11 12 which I pray read But what have we to do with what St. Paul saith since St. Peters successor saith it Therefore let us not question it for the Pope is an excellent divider Also in the aforesaid Church rest the bodies of the Holy Apostles Simon and Jude Symon and Jude's bodies And Parnel and also the body of St. Parnel the Virgin who was the Daughter of St. Peter the Apostle Item The Head of St. Andrew the Apostle which is shewed in his Feast and on that day when it was brought and conveyed unto Rome This Head is shewn also in no less than Nine or Ten places in Spain and Flanders A wonderful multiplication and great sums of Money are received by the Clergy both Regular and Secular for the sight thereof Item Luke The Head of St. Luke the Evangelist The Head of St. Sebastian the Martyr James's Head the Head of St. James the bodies of the Saints Processus and Martinianus and many other bodies with divers Reliques of holy Martyrs Confessors and Virgins How James's Head who was 1600 years before slain by Herod at Jerusalem and the bodies of men slain so many thousands of Miles off should after so many hundreds of years be lodged in the City of Rome is credible by none but them that are as St. Paul saith given up to believe Lyes Item Vernicle or Face-cloath this is judged by the sober Papists themselves to be a cheat as the Author of Onus Ecclesiae saith The Vernicle or the holy Face-cloath of our Lord Jesus Christ remaineth in the aforesaid Church and is many times shewed in the Holy-week and on Ascension-day and the next Sunday both before and after the Feast of St. Anthony the Abbot At the shewing whereof the Romans that come unto it have 3000 years of pardon And they that dwell about Rome and come unto it have 6000 years of pardon But they that come unto it through Mountains Vallies and Hills they have 12000 years of Pardon and as many Lents and remission of the third part of all their sins This of Pardon of sins by going to see such sights is a damnable Lye and doth shamefully derogate from the merits of Christ and the promoters must be stark mad and in a far greater guilt than the fallen Angels For certainly it must be by faith in his blood and not by the sight of the Face-cloth that men must get pardon of sin but seeing the Pope hath said to the contrary let Papists believe the Pope and not Christ but I must believe Christ and not the Pope Item In the aforesaid Church is the chair in which St. Peter did sit when he was Bishop at Antioch and gallantly decked and trimmed Chair This chair at every Feast that is called Cathedra Sancti Petri is set before the Quire-door with great solemnity where all the people according to their devotion may come and touch it In stead of worshipping God and honouring him they worship and honour Reliques and instead of trusting in God through Christ they trust in old rotten rags and worm-eaten chairs But stay it is like it was an Iron chair Also in the same Church there is a pillar 12. Pillars upon the which our Lord Jesus was wont to lean both when he preached to the people and when he prayed unto his heavenly Father in the Temple of Solomon This pillar is of so great vertue and power that it driveth out Devils and maketh them whole that were before vexed with unclean spirits and it worketh daily many miracles This pillar with eleven more were brought from Jerusalem out of Solomons Temple for the garnishing and setting out of this aforesaid Church When Titus Vespasian burnt the Temple it 's unlikely these twelve pillars escaped and as unlikely that Devils should be driven out by them You may see that Church is not the pillar of Truth that upholds such lyes and such horrid Fanaticisms and Impostors Popes Priests and Papists I am amaz'd at one thing That the Pope had not the manners to Canonize Titus that great Hero for a Saint seeing he procured for holy Church such Devil-expelling Reliques for sure it is that no Saint
of years before turned to dust should be set up as Reliques of Saints And could Helen fetch them from the remote parts of India where she never was But I see every place must have some foppery or other to invite fools and to inrich Priests The holy and religious Monk St. Bernard after that he was canonized and made a Saint by Pope Alexander did so abound in working Miracles in the place where his body lay by reason thereof great confluence of people resorted to the Abby that the Abbot of the place forbad him to work any more miracles And blessed St. Bernard meekly and reverently obeyed Father Abbots commandment and so for ever he took his ease and wrought no more miracles This obedience was shewed St. Bernard being dead A man would stand amazed at the confidence these people have in telling of lyes yea contradictions but if true and consistent Note then doubtless the Abbot was an ill-natur'd fellow that he would hinder the good that cost him nothing And had St. Bernard been set at work by the liberal God he would not have been subject to a covetous Abbot that had so much of his meat and drink devoured by poor people But this sounds like the rest In a certain Monastery of St. Gabriel is a great stone that fell down from Heaven having in it the sign of the holy Cross and a very lively Image of Christ and written upon it with Golden Letters these words Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum This great stone as they say is a great precious Relique and worketh great Miracles in the great Monastry of great Saint Gabriel We may see what takes people off from holy Scripture Note from God from Christ they have laden all people and filled all places with such lyes cheats and hocus-pocus tricks that they have no room left in their hearts for truth Hugo the Monk at the desire of Monk William Abbot of Hirsangia sent unto him the hair of St. Peter which was received with great reverence and placed in the aforesaid Abby as a true precious Relique not without great honour daily done unto it They honour any thing but Christ and God Note Norbertus came unto Toline to seek Saints Reliques and after that he and his Company had given themselves to fasting and prayer certain days one of the number of the nine thousand Virgins appeared unto him and shewed him her name and the place where she lay The next day after the aforesaid Norbertus with his Company took her up with great reverence and solemnity and placed her very devoutly with many other Reliques in the Monastry Premonstratense Thus people when they have forsaken the living God Note seek dead stinking Carcases to adore and worship and sure if Lazarus stank in four days this Woman could not be sweet after many years but to make it a Miracle they must pretend a Vision In Norfolk there was a certain Monastry called Bromholm-Abbey in the which was an holy Cross brought thither by a certain Priest This Cross was so precious a Relique and of so great virtue that it raised up unto life thirty-nine dead persons restored to their sight nineteen blind men and wrought many other notable Miracles The people in Norfolk use to be more ingenuous than to be so cheated Note but when Priests have once made men blind they may lead them whither they list out of one error into another In Winfarthing a little Village in Norfolk there was a certain Sword called the Sword of Winfarthing This Sword was counted so precious a Relique and of so great virtue that there was a solemn Pilgrimage used unto it with large gifts and offerings with Vow-makings Crouchings and Kissings This Sword was visited and sought far and near for many and sundry purposes but specially for things that were lost and for Horses stollen or run astray It helped also greatly to shorten a married mans life if the Wife weary of her Husband would set a Candle before that Sword every Sunday for the space of one whole year no Sunday excepted for then all was in vain whatsoever was done before I have many times heard when I was a child of divers ancient men and women That this Sword was the Sword of a certain Thief which took Sanctuary in that Church-yard and afterward through the negligence of the Watchmen escaped and left his Sword behind him which being found and laid up in a certain old Chest was afterward through the subtilty of the Parson and the Clerk of the same Parish made a precious Relique full of virtue able to do much but especially to enrich the Box and to make fat the Parsons pouch I shall leave the Reader to weigh this Story Note and by putting both ends together he may see there is no end of the Romish cheats and the peoples folly In Thetford a Town in Norfolk there was a Parish-Church which is now destroyed called St. Audrice In this Church among other Reliques was the Smock of St. Audrice which was there kept as a great jewel and precious Relique The virtue of this Smock was mighty and manifold but especially in putting away the Tooth-ach and the swelling of the Throat so that the Patient were first of all shriven and heard Mass and did such Oblations as the Priest of the Church enjoyned All was governed by the Priest and the Priest by his covetousness Note of which there is no end In the Monastry of St. Edmundsbury besides many other almost innumerable Reliques there was one a modest singular and precious Relique called St. Edmunds Girdle The virtue of this Relique was That if any woman being with Child came devoutly on Pilgrimage to sweet St. Edmund and were girded about with that holy Relique by some Monk and so kneeling down before St. Edmund's shrine said certain Pater Nosters certain Ave Maries and a Creed in the Worship of God and of our Lady and sweet St. Edmund and paid the accustomed offering she should not perish of that Child but have good and lucky deliverance This was an easie medicine but like all the rest chargeable Note They wrought all their Miracles for money by which it appears they were none of Christs Disciples who as they received freely gave freely but Antichrists merchandize was always of more cost than value In the same Monastry there was also another holy Relique which was called the pardon bowl whosoever drunk of this Bowl in the Worship of God and St. Edmund he had 500 days of pardon toties quoties How some for cure some for pardon Note all were made to bring Grist to the Popes Mill. The Coat of St. John the Evangelist was so holy a Relique and of so great virtue that by touching thereof such as were diseased were cured the sick were made whole the blind were restored to their sight the Lepers were cleansed and Devils were cast out of men These are such incredible Stories that