saith he but that hereafter if any Pope crosse their plotts and purposes the Iesuites will haue such a figge in store for his Holinesse as no Antidote-shall prevent or long preserue his life after it When I had read these things in the authours aboue named I concluded that Rome might be a part of the Catholick Church though a member corrupted with errours but it could not be the Catholique Therefore I did not much marvell when I saw diverse Romish Priests come openly to Paules Crosse in London and preach that the Mysterious working of Antichrist is now in Rome which caused them to come out of her as out of Babilon As you may see in Sheldon the Converts printed Sermon and in Higgens his first and second Sermon lately printed And yet saith Sheldon many Christians may be saved in Rome beleeving the true fundamentall points of Catholique faith and not partaking with her in her latter corrupted doctrine authorized and Printed at Rome which hath beene burnt by the Catholique Roman Authoritie in France which I take it are these Bellarmines bookes teaching that the Pope hath power disponendi omnium temporalia to dispose of the temporall things of all And no doubt but this doctrine might cause those poore deluded soules to enter into the Powder plott thinking the deede to be meritorious as appeared by the speech of Sir Everad Dighbie at his death An other may be Becanus his booke wherein he dispuring of King-killing concludeth in the affirmatiue in these wordes Nihilcertius nothing more certeine Suarez is an other who in his booke against King Iames saith That none can kill him but those whom the Pope shall appoynt To these may be added Mariana whose judgement in his booke is that it is the safest way to poyson him These bookes were burnt in France for teaching damnable and seditious doctrine even by the Roman Catholique authoritie and partie there I meane by such Catholiques as will persist in the true fundamentall poynts of Catholique faith not be deluded with their errors No though the Pope himselfe should decree them Much lesse will they forsake the Apostles Creed Extrau cap vnam SaÌ„ctam de maior et obed Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam I beleeue the Catholique Church Though Boniface the eight hath long since Decreed That it is alltogether necessary to to beleeue the Church of Rome See the grand impostor of the now Church of Rome put forth by the Bish of Covent Leech feild 1628. and to be subiect to the Roman Bishop Which thirteenth Article added by that Pope the wiser sort of Catholiques in France doe not beleeue but oppose with wordes writings Decrees and fire not boasting themselves to bee the onely Church inerrant as ROME doth but holding themselves to be a true member of the Catholique protesting against these corrupted doctrines of Rome innovated by the Iesuites as appeareth by the Priests bookes aboue recited of whom I give you here some taste as followeth some whereof I formerly mentioned Doct. Elye in his notes upon the Apologie pag. 9. in the preface saith thus They plunge themselues over head and eares in Ecclesiasticall affaires with such audacitie and obstinacie as that they haue turned all topsie turvie And in the Quodl page 321. We find it thus of the Iesuites doctrine Certeinely therin is nothing else but fallacie vpon fallacie error vpon errour one contradiction encountring another And in the booke called Declar. Mot. ac turb in Angl. pa. 29. a Iesuite mainteineth this most atheisticall and heathenish assertion that one who is not a Christian may be Pope of Rome And as it is in Anthony Copelies letter pag 67. an other Iesuite openly and for found doctrine maintayned it first to his Auditours in the Schoole and at this instant expressely in the Inquisition doth say Non est de fide credere hunc Romanum Pontificem esse Christi Vicarium It is not a matter of Faith to beleeue that this present Pope is Christs Vicar Also in the Quodl pag 31. Thus we reade To let passe their eronious Doctrine concerning their Generals infallibilitie of truth for deciding of matters Their absurd paradoxes of Aequivocation and ibid. pag 29. The Iesuites every way in Printed bookes in writings manuscripts and most of all in private conference have taught contrarie to the Roman Church And therefore saith Anthony Copely pag 40. It is no marvell if in fundamentall poynts of Catholique faith they oppose against the Angelicall Doctor and be therefore endited before his Holâ—nes at this present by the Dominicans in Spayne for Pelagians and sundrie other kindes of heretiques as also impostors by the Sorbonites of Paris and all other French Clergie as we credibly heare And Quodl pag 138. Never was there any Religious order that held such extravagant exorbitant irreguler opinions as they doe Doct. Bagshawes answer pag 20. saith thus Father Weston and Archer are charged by Doct. Norden for defending the stues to be as lawfull as the Pope himselfe as if they had as it seemeth a very league with hell against the truth These were not the first motiues which made me mistrust the Romish doctrine for by my bringing up I was so prejudicate in mine opinion as that I thought scorne to imagine that the true Catholique faith could infalliblie be received from any place but Rome In so much as when I heard of that most inhumane barbarous and damnable Powder plott conceived and attempted only by Romish Catholiques I was amazed to thinke that from Rome and from no other place in the world could be received the saving faith I then professed it to certeine famous Iesuites to whom I was then devoted that I thought to beleeue the Roman Catholique Church was as ridiculous as to say Christendom Kent or the vniversall particuler I was notwithstanding then easily satisfied herein when they told me that the meaning was not to make a particular Church to be vniversall but onely to intimate that no faith is truely Catholick but that faith which is taught in Rome as they sayd they were readie to justifie and that there was no more reason for vs to forsake the Church of Rome for the Powder plott then for the Apostles to have forsaken Christ for the fact of Iudas And thus I rested a while satisfied Widrintons Supplic to the Pope untill the oath of Allegiance came out Then went I to my sayd Father f Widrint ans to Fits Herb. and told him that diverse e Priestes defended that the King had made a lawfull oath to try the Romish which of them did adheare to the true Catholik faith of Rome and which to the innovated treasonable doctrines thereof And that d they further defended that those who refused to take this oath should not onely be hanged for traytors but loose also their soules eternally for wilfully denying their lawfull Allegiance Whereupon I asked him againe whether I might reade the sayd bookes to informe and satisfie my
Catholicke no Papist can be so impudent as to deny if hee will pull off the Popes spectacles clouded with the mist of the Iesuites thirteenth rule For as I shewed before the Protestants teach no doctrine in the affirmatiue but what the Papists hold at this day viz. the Apostles Creede and that according to the ancient Catholicke interpretation of the Nicen and Athanasian Creeds and the first foure generall Councels They deny indeed the Popish addition of 12 other articles made by Pope Pius quartus because the Papists cannot proue any one of them Catholicke and Apostolicke And because the Apostle said If wee Cal. 1.8 or an Angell from heauen teach otherwise let him be accursed Saint Augustine saith of the Apostles Creed He that beleeueth more beleeueth too much and he that beleeueth lesse beleeueth too little The famous learned Friar Padro Paulo of Venice in his History of the Councell of Trent which confirmed that Creed of Pius quartus discouereth how that Counsell was ouer-ruled by the faction of the Iesuites and that it was there a common by-word euen among the Papists themselues that that Councell was guided by the holy Ghost which came euery weeke from Rome in a Cloakebagge If we may not beleeue an Angell of light teaching otherwise then the Apostles Creed then blame not the Protestants protesting against the Papists late additions and corruptions but rather beleeue and follow them because they teach nothing but that which the Papists themselues cannot deny to bee the Catholicke faith And deny such a Councell such a Creed so new and so branded by the Papists owne best and most learned Priests Mine old acquaintance propoundeth to me yet another question viz. How good Christians could conuerse and communicate with such a Church so corrupted before Luther This is lately well answered by the Bishop of Exeter in his booke entituled The old Religion and well prosecuted by others who make it plaine that one may communicate as they did with the Papists as wee may communicate with the Diuell when he said Thou art Christ the Sonne of the euerliuing God Not because the Diuell spake it but because it is Gods truth and consequently ours So we may communicate in the truth with any in errour with none For example Some Priests were as vehemently earnest and zealous denyers of Romes corrupted doctrine before Luthers time as Master Burton and others now And many then resisted the Roman errors euen to death as the Wiclifians and other learned and religious Priests as the Histories of the seuerall times and ages doe testifie Others more cooley and aduisedly sought the Reformation as Erasmus Cassaender Petrus de Aliaco and others who communicated with Rome in her truthes and scorned her errours as appeareth by their bookes written to men and to Councels to reforme the Church euen so long before Luthers dayes as the Councell of Constance It may be obiected why then should the Reformers now protest a separation more then the said Reformers did before Luther This is sufficiently answered in the dispute between Mr Burton and his Antagonists where Master Burton though accounted an ouer-zealous Separatist from the Church of Rome confesseth that they were not bound then and yet are bound now since the Councell of Trent to separate Because that since by the Councell of Trent men are sub anathemate bound to beleeue as well the errours as the truthes of the Church of Rome and as well the new Creed of Pius quartus as the ancient Creed of the Apostles Before the Councell of Trent publication of these new Articles men would ordinarily say when this new teaching was discouered Let them pipe what they will wee will dance what wee list Meaning that they thought themselues safe if they beleeued the old Creed and left the new Romish And I say further in the words of a learned Diuine In his Treatise of the Catholicke Faith that though we could then communicate with such a Church without euident danger of damnation as they did then yet in as much as we cannot communicate with it now vpon any better termes then legall seruants or bondslaues do with their Masters we are bound in conscience and religious discretion when lawfull occasion is offered as now it is to vse our liberty to seeke our freedome rather then to liue in bondage according to the rule of the Apostle giuen to seruants 1 Cor. 7.20 21. c. Let euery man abide in the same Calling wherein he is called Art thou called being a seruant care not for it But if thou maist be made free vse it rather for he that is called in the Lord being a seruant is the Lords freeman Likewise also he that is called being free it Christs seruant Yee are bought with a price be yee not the seruants of men that is yeeld not that absolute obedience to men as the Iesuites teach which is due onely to God Padr Paul Defence of the State of Venice That obedience as the learned Venetian saith which God commands vs to performe to our Ecclesiasticall superiors is not a foolish or ridiculous subiection nor is the power of the Prelate an arbitrary iudgement but both the one and the other must be ruled by the Word of God according to the place Deut. 17. before cited Absolute obedience is due onely to God and whosoeuer supposeth any humane will to be infallible vttereth great blasphemy in ascribing that to the creature which is due onely to the Creator I once asked a learned Romish Priest within this seuen yeeres whether praying to Saints were a matter of Faith or not He answered that wee are not bound to pray to Saints So shall you finde many Romish Catholickes before Luthers dayes Respons ad apologiam Card. Bell. p. 9. and after the Councell of Lateran who would say at the Eleuation Adoro te si tu es Christus i.e. If thou be Christ I doe adore or worship thee So farre were the wiser sort of the Romish Catholickes then from beleeuing that Councels definition Thus you see how and why men did communicate without a separation then and why they may not now Likewise the Priest who answered me about praying to Saints told me that many things in Rome are taught inter piècredenda things to bee religiously beleeued As the Popes power to depose Princes which you see is denyed by Priests that daily say Masse to this day as well learned French as English who call it Nonam Catholicam fidem Iesuitarum The Iesuites new Catholicke Faith So that this late vp-sprung error in the Church of Rome wants not men visible in the same Church to teach truth and correct error as in all former ages some alwayes haue done So powerfull is God to defend his Church from errors euen by those that are members of that corrupt part of the Church according to that saying that there should be some Doctors some Pastors to teach the truth hee could haue
had become proficient in this doctrine Now it appeareth what this new doctrine hath done in matters of fact so it is also too manifest how it worketh upon faith and beleefe For hereby they are made carelesse what or how they doe beleeve For they must not search or know whether the Romish Church doth teach the Catholicke faith or no but they must beleeve it as it were by an Attorney because the Iesuites say so and tell them that Boniface hath decreed it and that they must give accompt for their soules So that the people neede take no further care Whereby many Romane Catholickes take their liberty to frequent tavernes and worse matters which I could name but that discretion and modesty doth restraine and yet thinke that upon the Satturday shrift they shall be cleared of all by the Priests absolution For so long as they beleeve as the Church of Rome beleeveth whether that beleefe be true or false they are confident that the Priest must give account for their soules And this is the new doctrine and holy obedience taught by the Iesuites But least any one should thinke that I slander them I will cite Peter Maffe a Priest of their Society in a booke by him written of the life of Ignatius with the approbation of their Generall Aquauiua lib. 3. cap. 7. Where hee calleth the aforesaid obedience Sapientem hanc sanctamque stultitiam caecae obedientiae This wise and holy folly of blinde obedience Hee that will may reade more hereof cap. 17. and 18. of the second booke of the Iesuites Catechisme printed 1602 by the united Priests of France and England as appeareth in the Epistle of the English Priests prefixed with this title The secular Priests Preface to the English Catholiques And that all may the more fully understand how unreasonable a thing this blinde obedience is I will here produce some passages out of the writings of that late famous Philosopher Charroun a Romish Priest and a Doctour of the Civill Law in Paris as I am informed of whom I have heard high commendations from Master Martin the Iesuite for his sanctity of life and for his learning who in his booke of wisedome lib. 2. cap. 2. hath divers passages of speciall use in this point as Sect. 1. To judge is to examine and weigh the reasons and counter-reasons on all parts the weight and merit of them and thereby worke out the truth And in the same page he teacheth That a man should holde himselfe alwayes ready to entertaine better if it appeare Yea not to be offended if another shall contest with him against that hee thinketh better if it appeare Yea not to be offended if another shall contest with him against that which he thinketh better but rather desire to heare what may be said And in the next page in the same sect But I see and perceive a sort of people glorious affirmative which would rule the world and command as it were with a rod and as others in former times have sworne to certaine principles and married themselves to certaine opinions so they would that all others should doe the like whereby they oppose themselves to this noble liberty of the Spirit And then in the next sect To judge of all is the property of a wise and spirituall man Spiritualis omnia dijudicat à nemine judicatur The spirituall man judgeth all things and is judged of none And is not this sutable to the Scriptures which are the unerring word of almighty God which saith Beleeve not every Spirit but try the Spirits Because many false Prophets are gone into the world 1 Ioh. 4.1 Search the Scriptures Ioh. 5 39. But to returne to the words of Master Charroune Thus it followeth The true office of a man his most proper and naturall exercise his worthiest profession is to judge Why is a man discoursing reasoning understanding Why hath he a spirit to build castles in the ayre to feed himselfe with fooleries and vanities as the greatest part of the world doth Quis unquam oculos tenebrarum causa habuit Why have men eyes but to see withall Doubtlesse to understand to judge of all things And therefore is he called the governor the superintendent the keeper of nature of the world of the workes of God To goe about to deprive him of this right is to make him no more a man but a beast And a little further he procedeth thus It is then strange that so many men who either are or make shew of understanding and sufficiency depriue themselves willingly of this right and authority So naturall so just and excellent who without the examining or judging of any thing receive and approove whatsoever is presented either because it hath a faire semblance or because it is in authority credit and practise Yea they thinke that it is not lawfull to examine or doubt of any thing in such sort doe they debase and degrade themselves They are forward in other things and glorious but in this they are fearefull and submisse though it doe justly appertaine unto them and with so much reason Seeing there are a thousand lyes for one truth a thousand opinions of one and the same thing and but one true why should not I examine with the instrument of reason which is the truer the more reasonable honest and profitable Goe to then the wise man shall judge of all nothing shall escape him which hee bringeth not to the barre and to the ballance It is to play the part of prophane men and beasts to suffer themselves to bee ledde like oxen What can a wise man have above a prophane if hee must have his spirit his minde his principall and heroicall part a slave It is an hard thing to bridle the libertie of the spirit and if a man would doe it it is the greatest tyranny that may be I can by no meanes beleeve that Captivare intellectum in re fidei to captivate the understanding in the matter of faith belongeth absolutely unto any but unto God alone and unto man conditionally viz. Cùm docuerint juxta legem when their doctrine is sutable unto Gods word But as you have seene how the learned Charoun doth condemne and confute that wicked doctrine of blinde obedience so I will also adde his censure upon the effects and practises which that Doctrine produceth For in the same booke cap. 5. sect 28. thus I reade What execrable wickednesse hath the zeale of religion brought forth Is there any other subject or occasion that hath yeelded the like Tantum Relligio potuit suadere malorum Quae peperit saepè scelerosa atque impia facta Religion workes so farre in evill men As wicked deedes it acteth now and then Not to love him yea to looke upon him with a wicked eye as upon a monster that beleeveth not as hee beleeveth To thinke to be polluted by speaking or conversing with him is one of the sweetest and most pleasing actions of these kinde of people