vnto the view of all sorts of people to moue theÌ„ by the conteÌ„plation therof to revereÌ„ce them In which times but especially before the warres dangeros waies people resorted not onely froÌ„ adjoyning places but also from farre as out of Hungary Germany France the Lowcontries in such â—n abundance that this semed not an obscure citie but rather an assembliâ— of manie provinces anâ— kingdomes together Refutation The inscription of this Epistle sheweâ— that these CanoÌ„s are of the same humâ—â— and complexion as the Scribes Phariâ— were in the time of Christ his Apostâ—â— who gloried in them-selves for being 〈◊〉 pillars of the church There is this difereâ— betweeÌ„ the swelling Titles whiâ—h the Scrâ—â— Pharises attributed to theÌ„selves to repâ—â—sent their dignity to the comoÌ„ people 〈◊〉 they were some what Ecclesiasticall in 〈◊〉 of these that the Canons of the Syâ—gogue of Awcon assume to themselve which are rather politique The preface of this Epistle demonsâ—teth that these new Scribes and Phariâ— would faine constraine the Christians our age to judaisme and obserue the customes of the ceremonial law long 〈◊〉 abolished by our Lord Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 hath purchased vs the freedome to assâ—â—ble our selues euery day in his name and worship him in all places after th' example of his Apostles and other Christians well instructed in the faith which accounted all dayes a like the one as the other and reprooued the Superstition of those which condemned their bretheren in the distinctioÌ„ of a holy-day of the new Moone or of the Sabbath Wherevnto S. Hierome having respect acknowledged euery day was alike and that Christ was crucified not onely vpon the day of the preparation or rise againe vpon the Sunday but ads that his resurrection is alwaies and that alwaies we may liue by the flesh of Christ. He addeth morover that after the decease of the Apostles some wise men instituted certaine daies for fasting and convocation to the intent that such as waited more vpon the worlde then vpon God who could not or at least would not assemble them-selves so much as one day in their lives to come offer vp vnto God the sacrifices of their praiers humane actions might watch pray vpon those daies if they would Whereby it appeareth painely that the observation of the Iudiciall feasts were not instituted by our Lord Iesus Christ or his Apostles but by the Doctors of the primitiue Church to expresse and record more clearely vnto the common sort of people the principal benefits of our Redeemer Iesus Christ and to accustome them to employ some extraordinarie dayes in meditating vpon them Wherevnto this testimonie of Socrates may serue as a sufficient proofe whereby he declareth that neither Christ nor his Apostles was of meaning to suspend their judgements touching Easter-day or any other feast nor instituted any lawes for them that they should bee kept nor yet denounced any condemnation against such as did not obserue them or did lay any cursse or penalty vpon them as the law of Moses vsually did but the marke whereat they aimed was to recommend to euery one that vertue and life which was pleasing to God And what an impudencie is it in these Canons of Awcon to appropriate their abuse vnto the feasts of the old Testament seing there is asmuch difference betweene their seventh yeeres Sabbath that of the Iewes as is betweene light and darknesseâ— For that of the Iewes was neither consecrated nor employed but onely to the glorie of God whereas that of the Canons of Awcon and their pilgrims is dedicated to the honour of the bones and raggs of mortall men Touching their pilgrimages vnto the reliques of the departed Saincts they are in noe wise grounded vpon any institution of our Lord neither from any example of the aue Iewes nor from the doctrine of the Apostles and first Doctours of the primitiue Church For Iesus Christ our Redeemer was so farr from commaunding his disciples to transport themselves from one place to another to adore the ashes of their predecessours that on the contrarie speaking vnto the Samaritanish woeman hee told her that the hower immediatly should come wheÌ„ strangers should not come any more vnto the temple of Ierusalem to worship God his Father but that the true worshippers should worship him in Spirit and truth at home in their owne Countrey As for the Iewes the true Children of Abraham as it cannot be proued by holy Scripture that God enjoyned them to goe into any forraine Countrey to visite the reliques of the Saincts departed so they never resorted any whether but where God onely was invocated in all puretie shuning all other places into which they had transferred the honour of God to his creatures â—ead and insensible following therein the â—ropher Hoseas exhortation Though thou playest the Harlot â— Israell at the least let not Iudah sinne come not ye vnto Gilgal neither goe 〈◊〉 vp to Beth-avan I acknowledg that some of the ancientâ— Fathers traveled to Ierusalem to beholdâ— the sepulchre of our Redeemer Iesus Christ and some other monuments of the Saincts departed but I add thereto that in the beginning they went not thither to worship their reliques but God onely neither had they any such foolish imagination as once to think that the grace of God was tyed more to one place then to an other but their onely desire was to consider the remarkeable signes of Christs redemption the place of his abode with his disciples Herevpon S. Hierom speaking of S. Hilarions journey to Ierusalem rebuketh such thought that any thing was waÌ„ting in the faith who had not seene Ierusalem and â—â—steemed others that had ben there moâ—â— holy then they which had not The kingdom of God saith he is among you The palâ—â— of God is as accessible in Britainie as in Ierusalem Anthony the Monkes of â—gipt saw not Ierusalem and yet notwithstandâ—â—â— found the gate open While S. HilarioÌ„ â—â—â—in Palestina he went and saw Ierusalem â—â—â—cause he would not dispise the holy places in suâ—â—â— a iourney neuerthelesse he remained there but for a day because it should not seeme he ment to shutt vp the Lorde into a certaine place From hence it followeth that these Canons of Awcon and their predecessors takes for an example the Iewish ceremonies and ancient customes which some Christians through a superstitious imitation introduced into the primitiue church by some of their hirelings onely to encrease their dishonest gaine but let vs proceed to the first parte of their Epistle wherby they shew the reasons where fore many superstitious men in times past haue visited the Reliques which are to bee seene in their Church The first parte of this Iesuiticall Epistle They perceived what great benefites God hath imparted to mortall men through those holy Reliques and how many sundry sorts of miracles haue bene wrought by them through a supernaturall force For not onely the wordes of the Saincts as
A DISPVTATION against the Adoration of the reliques of Saints departed WHEREIN NINE PALPAble abuses are discouvered committed by the popish Priests in tbe veneration thereof Together with The refutation of a Iesuiticall Epistle and an Index of the reliques vvhich euery seuenth yeere are shovvne at Avvcon in Germanie vnto the superstitious people and pilgrimes compiled by the Canons of S. Maries Church An. 1608. By Iohn Polyander Professour of Divinitie in the Vniversitie of Leyden in Holland translated by Henry Hexham out of French into English At Dordrecht Printed by George Walters Anno. 1611. TO THE TRVEly religious honorable Ladie The Ladie Vere spouse vnto my honorable Lord Sir Horace Vere knight Lord Gouvernour of his Maiesties cautionarie towne of Briell chiefe Commaunder vnder his Excellencie of the English forces in the seruice of the most illustrate Lordes the States of the Vnited Provinces MAdame it were in vaine for mee to seeke to embelish your christian graces by a dead letter Seeing they are most lively giue a farre greater lustre in your selfe where God hath planted them then can be expressed by the blunt vnlearned Pen of a Souldier But seeing God hath made them so transparent hath kindled in you so holy a flame of loue and zeale vnto the true onely worship of his name Me thinkes this plaine translation of mine not for any worth that is in me but for the subiects sake hath found out a fitt Patronesse whose person practize affordetth a reall confutation of that superstition which is here vnmasked And so much the more presuming vpon your Ladiships favour gentle acceptance in regard I dedicated this same Authours former refutation vpon the invocation of Saincts vnto my honorable Lord your husband so that now as God hath made you one I may make you both equally interressed in this one subiect though diversly handled striving for that honour which is due vnto his name These Popish iuglings cannot bee vnknowne to your Ladiship seeing the vnholy blood of Hales which did cleere thicken as the Pilgrims purse was light or heavie is of your owne house of so fresh remembrance whereby your honourable Auncestours did learne to detest such divelish cousenage as the burned bones of your most worthy Granfather did long agoe witnesse to all the worlde Moreover Madame there are also some abhomiations in this disputation which I know made my Authors pen to tremble in copying of them out and mine to quake in translating them others againe which may drawe from your Ladiship a chast smile and a modest blush but let the shame light vpon their heads who are the authors thereof the more they blaspheme and dishonour our blessed God Saviour the more let vs worship and honour him and learne as Bees to sucke honey from banefull weedes or as cunning Physicians to extract Antidotes from poyson since God turneth the very abhominations execrations of the wicked as exsamples for the good edification of his children Here with Madame as with the chiefe end of this labour I ende beseeching God to blesse my honourable Lord and you with all happinesse and ioy in this world and euerlasting felicity and blisse in the world to come From our Garnison of Dordrecht this 18. of October 1611. Your ladiship 's in all dutifull respect Henry Hexham To the Christian Reader WOrthie Reader for varietie sake to employ my idle time to some vse and to offer my mite vnto the Church of God that the graue and learned men of our nation may see that the Ministers of other reformed churches marche pouldron to pouldron with them vnto the Lords combate I haue vndertaken this translation free from ostentation onely my ambition is in tracing after the stepps of my Authour to haue one flurt at Antichrist and one push at the fall of the great whore of Babylon and so much the rather because mine eyes haue seene some of her fornicatioÌ„s which some others haue but heard But it may seeme strange to some that a souldier should vndertake such a taske as not appertaining to his profession as that man judges me a souldier so I entreat him to esteeme me a Christian and then both hee and I shal be consonant Wel then into whose handes soeuer this poore translation of mine shall come whoÌ„ God hath alreadie inlightened let vs sing an everlasting Halleluiah giue praise vnto that great God which hath translated vs out of the kingdome of darknesse into his merveilous light And if it fal into the haÌ„ds of anie that are infected with this deadly contagion I entreate them to reade it not to refute it for alas they are not able because it is grounded and bounded vpon within the sacred word of God and seconded by the opinioÌ„s of the most holy Fathers That were as if they should runne in vpon Gods two-edged sword That were as if a falling and a running ennemy beaten on all sides should turne backe vpoÌ„ a stand of charged pikes which are ready to receiue theÌ„ Therefore it were better for them to suffer it to graze vpoÌ„ their stonie hearts then to resist And for my part I will daylie praye vnto the Father of lights to illuminate and water their soules with the beames and streames of his Sunne of righteousnesse that as Eagles wee maye soare vp onely vnto him with the wings of our faith in whom alone is found the wel-spring of living waters and noewhere else As concerning the graue learned Authour of this litle treatise it were meere presumptioÌ„ in me to make an attestatioÌ„ of his worth wheÌ„ the noe lesse wise theÌ„ H. Lords of this state haue abundantly testified the same to all by resolving on him as the sittest they did know to re-establish the trueth by his publique profession at LeydeÌ„ This I will only day that if a few spare houres cold bring foorth this we may well expect and promisse our selves noe small fruit of those holy labours which shall hereafter bee vndertaken Thus I beseech God to accept of my weake performance and giue a blessing vnto this and them Thy loving Countrey-man H. Hexham To the most noble and vertuous Lord MONSIEVR ARNHOVLT DE GROENEVELT Lord of the Landes and Lordships of Fâ—llignies Godimont Ramegnies in Neufville lez Sorgnies c. And ancient Coronell vnto the most illustrate and mightie Lordes the States of the vnited Provinces MONSIEVR IT is more then two yeeres past since a marchant of this citie one of the members of our French Church came to shewe mee in my lodging two coppies of an Epistle published by the Canons of Awcon in Germanie touching the veneration due vnto their reliques which a friend of his a zealous lover of the trueth had sent him with expresse charge to present it vnto me in his behalf earnestly to request me to returne some answere vpon it Wherevnto considering that I could not so suddenly accomplish his desire because of my
other employements hee thought good not to limit mee any prefixed time but that I should vndertake finish this worke at my leisure This is the cause that I haue made noe great hast in composing this treatise which I haue distributed into three partes In the scope there of I haue followed the order the example of the ancient Prophets and Apostles as also their true Successours and Imitatours who haue all maintained with one common accord that God onely ought to be worshipped by his people will not haue this seruice giuen to anie other by the authentique and irreprehensible testimonies of holy Scripture the which God hath armed with an inviolable authoritie to the end that those which feare him might make noe scruple to receive it wholy and to giue full beliefe therevnto True it is that I haue annexed vnto it some attestations of the ancient Fathers not to approoue the foolish imagination of the Romanists but that the holy Scripture maye take more force credit seeing she hath receiued it alreadie frō God who is the authour thereof or that the trueth of it which is infalliable should depende vpon the advise and jugement of our ancestours predecessours which might erre but rather to shewe the Doctours of the Romane church who relye more vpon the authority of men then vpon Gods in the poincts which concerne our controversies that their condēnation is not onely found in the decrees of divine Law but also in the recordes of the pastours of the primitiue Church yea euen in theirs whome they choose for their Iudges and defendaunts I call the Epistle of these Canons Iesuiticall in the beginning of my disputation because after I had conferred it with Bellarmins booke the first tutour of these Iesuites vpon this subject I finde it is but a patching together of his argumēts whereby he sought to prooue the worshipping of the reliques of Saincts I meant not to vse in the resutation of their Epistle anie elegant speech or anie circumlocution and readiousnesse in wordes because the trueth without borrowing else where hath ornaments enough in her self and when shee is simple and in her naked robes shee taketh the more delight in such as fetts her foorth represents her before the view of al men in roundnesse and simplicitie Forasmuch then as wee cannot resist to much nor too often the heresies which daylie multiplie in this wicked worlde especially the foolish superstition of those which would attribute to the reliques of mortall man the honour belonging vnto the sole maiestie of the immortall God although that Calvin Chemnicius and some other excellent Divines haue taken penn in hand to oppose themselues against the first inventours and advancers of this Idolatrie yet I haue also thought it my duty to giue foorth this disputation against the new protecters of this superstition and in particular against the Canons of Awcō because it may be availeable to the Christiā church as S. Augustine saith that manie bookes be writtē vpon one subject prouided that they be made in diversity of stile but not in diuersity of beliefe seeing that by this meanes heretickes are the more convicted and on the otherside wee open the more passages for the Children of God to escape from the call and out of the snares of these fowlers offer them sundry sorts of counterpoysons to preserue their braines from the venoume of their Sophistrie As for the rest there are manie considerations which mooued mee to dedicate this treatise vnto you For I will not here speake of that holy zeale which made you expose your person and goods from your youth aswel in the defence of our iust cause at S Amands and in some other places adioyning therevnto wherein you bore the brunt of the first persecutiō as for the preseruation of our Churches here in these Vnited Provinces so long as it pleased the Lord of Hosts to maintain you in the gouvernement of the Towne of Sluce so long as your age would permit you to continew in that of Nemegen and to follow his Excellencie with your foote Regiment in manie feiges assaults admirable recouverings of manie Townes and fortes brought vnder the obedience of our Superiours in the face of our enemies Neither will I speake of that zeale and your other virtues which recommendes you among the gentlemen of our Common-weale and in perticular among vs for which I must acknowledge my self indebted to testifie the same publikly in the name of the members of our Church that for this respect we honor you and your like who loues true godlinesse with their hearts and seeke to worship with vs our onely God and heauenly Father in spirit and trueth Beside hauing knowne in sundrie sortes your singular fauour and beneuolence towardes mee and mine for which I feele my self obliged to present you with this small gift in acknowledgement thereof Wherevnto also your comendable resolution hath moued me in consecrating the rest of your aged daies in the lecture of ecclesiasticall bookes and your capacitie in iudging well of our disputations against the traditions of the papisticall Doctors and cheifly in this vpon the reliques of the Saincts departed For as in the daies of your ignorāce you haue seen the abuse of this superstition quickly after your conversion manifested vnto the worlde that you had it in abhominatiō so having as it were this smal treatise alreadie printed your heart I assure my self that yow will approue it and will finde that whatsoeuer I haue alledged therin is grounded vpon the experience of trueth the instruction of the Orthodoxe Fathers and the authoritie of the holy Scripture In confidence whereof I offer vnto you this memoriall as a token of the affection I beare to your L. beseeching the Lord who after the triall of a daūgerous prisō noe lesse couragious thē a long resistance against the allarmes pernicious enterprises of our adversaries hath at last trāsported you frō your gouvernmēt of the Citie of Nemegē in which our most illustrate LL. wold willingly haue held you still into this Citie of Dordrecht to liue here among vs for the more tranquility ease of your agednesse overworn weakened through the travels and wearisomenesse of the warres It will please him MONSIEVR To establish your heart in the assurance of his grace towards those which reverence him by the remembrance of so manie notable deliverances victories which he hath giuē in our time to our Churches to fortifie you with constancie to perseuer with vs in the sole invocation of his blessed name for the repose of your soule the advancemēt of his glory From my studie this 2. of Septem 1611. Your most humble servant and most affectionate brother in Christ our Souveraine Lord. Iohn Polyander The Second part of the fifth Psalme put into French meeter by Cl. M. 6 Ta fureurperd extermine Finalementious les menteurs Quant'aux meurtriers decepteurs Celui qui terre Ciel
of the primitiue Church were borne away with the torrent of this heathenish custome wherevnto the Emperour Constantine had opened the sluces passing beyond the boundes of Christian puretie simplicity yet the honour which they did about the graues bons of their Martyrs was in noe wise comparable nor so superstitious as that was of the Athenians and other pagans nor like to that which at this day is committed amongst the Idolaters of the Romane Church For let vs consider what S. Augustine saith thereof in his 8. booke of the cittye of God Wee neither saith hee build Temples nor make priesthood nor sacrifies nor any other diuine seruice as a religion to the Martyrs For they are not our Gods but their God is ours Truth it is that wee honour their memorie as the holy men of God Which haue fought valiantly for the truth euen vnto the death of their bodies to the end that true religion might bee knowne the false convicted What man is it amonge the faithfull that ever heard a preist say standing before an Altar built vppon the corps of Some Martyre to the honour and seruice of God Peter Paul or Cyprian I offer thee Sacrifice seing that in memorie of them wee offer vp vnto God who hath made them both men and martyrs hath conioyned them through a celestiall glorie vnto his angels that in the assembly of the people wee might giue thankes vnto the true God for their victories and by the remembrance of their crownes palmes might exhort others vnto the imitation of their vertues The funeralls then which the religious solemnize by the monumēts of the Martyrs are noe other-wise then ornaments of their memorialls noe sacrifices which they doe offer vnto the dead as vnto Gods These are S. Augustins wordes by which hee testifieth that notwith-standing the ouverture which the Christiās of his time made vnto this paganish superstition in solemnising the Martyrs feastes yet true pietie the right invocation of the name of God bore some sway and aucthority amonge them But if S. August and his fellow-souldiers could haue ben able to haue prevented the euils and mischiefs that this superstition drew after her taile they would then haue redoubled their forces and fell vppon her with all their might to haue hindred her from winning so many countryes in Christendome So then it is my duty to excuse them considering they opposed thēselfs against her both by word and writing To begin with S. Ambrose S. Augustin giues him this testimonie that hee did disswade his Mother and some other of his frendes from frequenting of those publique feasts which the Christians solemnized yeerely in praise of their Martyrs that for sundry reasons among others Quia illa quasi parentalia superstitioni Gentilium essent simillima that is to say because that theise funerall banquets and solemne feasts held in honour of their neerest kinred was almost like vnto the superstition of the Gentils As for S. Augustin himself he plainely cōdemns it in his eight booke of the Citie of God wherein hee doth not coulour it but saies that such as brought their victualls vnto the sepulchres of the Martyrs to solemnize there their feastes were not of the better sort of Christians The same authour returning an answere vnto the reproch which the Manicheans made against him to wit that those which vaunt themselues so much at the name of Christians worshipped notwithstanding the Tombes of Martyrs following therein the exsample of the Heathen saith Pick mee not out from among the Christian name those which neither know nor follow the vertue of their profession seeke me not out the troupes of ignorant men which are superstitious euen in the true religion and so much giuen ouer vnto their pleasures that they haue forgotten what they promised vnto God I know saith hee that there are many which adore the monuments pictures c. and among so great a multitude of people it is no wonder Cease then I pray you at last from slandering the Catholique Church in blaming the fashion of those which her self condemneth and hath evermore sought to correct as wicked childeren Also hee complaineth in his Epistle hee wrote vnto Ianuarius That they had overladē mens consciences with seruil burdens and addeth thereunto that the condition of the Iewes was more tollerable then that of the Christians because men had made them subject onely to the burdens of the Lawe but Christians vnto humane presumptiōs that is according to the opiniōs taken among them-selues obstinatly to maintaine them to prejudice the truth He confesseth likewise therein that the church of God being plāted amonge much chaffe daernell tolerated many things which neuer-the-lese her self did niether doc approue nor conceale Also hee plainely signifies in that Epistle that hee could not allowe of diuerse things which they had instituted in the Church of God ouer and besides the aunciēt custome of the fathers of the old Testament as if it were the observation of a Sacrement which yet not-with-standing he confesseth on th' other side hee durst not so freely reject for avoyding the scandall of some persons wherof some were holy and others seditious where vpon hee openeth his minde more clearely by the distinction which hee propoundes against Faustus saying One thing is that which wee support another that which wee are commaunded to teach another that which wee are commaunded to amend and constrayned to beare with vntill wee haue amended it If S. Augustin hauing conceaued some hope sought to cure his auditorie of this contagious maladie rather by gentlenesse then by seuerity Not-with-standing called them wicked Children superstitious euen in the true religion giuen ouer to their delights forgetfull of that which they had promissed to God and finally that they were not of the better sort of Christians would hee not crie out with greater vehemencie against the Idolaters of the Romish Church who scornefully and obstinately refuse the fit remedies which should purge them of their bad humours being laden with so many corruptiōs almost incurable would he not cry out louder and tell them that they are not of the better sort of Christians but of the wickedest would hee not call them with the Prophet Esaye a sinfull nation a people ladē with iniquitie a seede of the wicked corrupt childrē which haue forsaken the Lord and haue provoked the holy one of Israel to anger I could here produce many other testimonies to the like effect were not these sufficient to conuict all contradictours and to shewe the ignorant that S. Augustin his fellow labourers which liued foure hun dred yeeres after Christ perceiued noe sooner the bitter fruit of this dāgerous plant which Sathā the wicked spirit had brought from the Athenian Schole into their churches but they laboured with all their power to root it vp hew downe the braunches thereof From whence necessarely we may inferre that these Canons of Awcon which anone
is Propitiare nobis quaesumus Domine famulis tuis per horum sanctorum tuoruÌ„ N. N. atque aliorum qui in praesentirequiescunt Ecclesia merita gloriosa vt eorum pia intercessione ab omnibus semper protegamur adversis That is to say O Lord be fauourable vnto vs thy servants for the glorio us merits of these Saincts N. N. and of all others which rest here in this Church to the end that through their Godly intercession wee may evermore bee preserved in all our adversities I maintaine that this opinion is false that God heareth soner our Prayers neere vnto the reliques of the dead then else where because it is grounded on principles directly contrarie to the infallible instructions of holy Scripture where of the first is That Christians are permitted to invocate the departed Saincts and to honour religiously their reliques The second that the deceased Saincts know whatsoeuer is done vnder the Sunne and consequently vnderstand the Prayers of those which crie vnto them in this world The third that the Saincts after their departure should regard the seruice of such as salute kisse and honour their reliques by way of religion Fourthly that God hath instituted the pilgrimages which they obserue in the Romane Church and had rather be worshipped in a place wherein there is some reliques or memorials of the Saints theÌ„ where there is none Now inregard they haue not long agoe reimprinted at Sedan my refutation against the invocation of Saincts by which I haue represented vnto the reader the falshoode of the three first principles I will send the Reader vnto it But for the latter I will set downe before him that which S. Gregorie Nyssene iudgeth thereof in his Epistle against the pilgrims that went to Ierusalem to see the sepulchre of Christ and the most remarkeable memoriall of our Redeemer When the Lord saith Gregorie Nyssene calleth the blessed into the inheritance of the kingdome of Heaven he places not amonge the number of their workes which brings them thither the pilgrimage vnto Ierusalem neither maketh hee anie mention of such a worke amonge the number of the Blessed And why should men employ their time then in doing that which neither makes them happie nor is available vnto the Kingdome of Heauen Wherein cann that man advantage himself which should come into those parts as if more abundance of the holy Ghost were there and that his grace were more ample in that place If Grace were more abounding in Ierusalem then sinne would not bee so rife amonge those that inhabit there but at this present there is noe manner of wickednesse which is left vncommitted amonge them Let our exsample offend noe man but let rather our perswasion finde beliefe seing wee diswade them from that which wee haue seene with our eyes As for vs before and after wee came thither wee alwaies confessed that Christ is true God and our faith was neither impaired nor engmented therby This good I haue gathered by it that by the conference I haue had therof I must alwaies acknowledge that there is more sanctitie in vs which dwell fardest from it You then which feare God praise him at home in the places were you make your abode for the alteration of the place makes not God to come the neerer vnto you But wheresoeuer thou shall be he wil come vnto the if he finds the Lodging of thy soule readie to entertaine him But if the inward man bee laden with wicked thoughts thou shalt not receiue Christ though thou wert in Golgotha in mount olivers or in the tombe of his resurrection Perswade the Bretheren then that they goe on pilgrimage out of their Bodies vnto the Lord not out of Cappadocia into Palestina If that which was done there in the beginning did last still the holy Ghost dispensing his gifts in the likenesse of fire then would it behooue vs all to be present there where he maketh such distribution to all But if the Spirit bloweth where it pleaseth him those which haue beleeved there are made partakers of his diuine gift according to the proportion of their faith and not according to their pilgrimage vnto Ierusalem I could here likewise coppie out S. Chrisost admonition that to obtaine pardon for his sinnes he needed not to make any long iourneis into farre Countries neither to spend his mony Also that of S. Aug. that God commaunds vs not to goe into the East nor to saile into the West to seek out righteousnesse likewise that of S. Bernards that to finde the Lord it behooues vs not to passe the Seas and Alpes but that euerie man should goe vnto God within himself many other instructions of the true Doctours Fathers of the primitiue Church conformable to those of Christ his Apostle S. Paul that God wil bee worshipped by vs in al places in Spirit truth if I feared not to abuse the Readers patieÌ„ce and knew moreouer that our adversaires makes no account of the Doctrine of the Orthodoxe Fathers wheÌ„soeuer it refelleth their inventions is repugnant vnto the authority of their Pope whome they preferre as wee can proue by their writtings before a thousand Chrysostomes Augustins Bernards and Gregories The third abuse is that through the visiting of these reliques the hearts of superstitious men are moued to transferre that worship which is due onely vnto the liuing and incorruptible God to dead corruptible things For as in the time of S. Ierom S. Christostom S. Augustin the ChristiaÌ„s were adicted vnto this ceremonie of going to visite the sepulchres and monuments of the Martyrs and other holy men and to solemnize yeerely certaine solemne feastes in memorie of them So ever since their foolish Imitatours haue buylt Temples Altars in honor of their reliques lighted vp Candles about them and haue craued succour and help by their praiers not onely of God himself and his saincts but also from these dead an insensible things which neuer had any communion with humane life neither could in any wise vnderstand them nor neuer shal be capable of hauing participation in the knowledg of our God and of that eternall life which he hath promised vnto his children For confirmatioÌ„ whereof I wil not here speake of the Monkes which in time past worshipped the arme of S. Maurus nor of some other Idolaters which praied to the bones of their Saincts nor of those which adore our Sauiours crosse vnto this day onely for the present I will but reâ—ite the praier which the Monkes of the Abbey of Fons make ordinarily vnto the table-cloth vpon which according to their tradition they saie our Sauiour and Lord Iesus Christ hath celebrated the holy Sacrament with his disciples And those which the Monkes of Cahors sing vsually going in procession in honour of his kerchiefe and to the great dishonor of the person of our blessed Sauiour and onely mediator Iesus Christ. The Monkes of Fons esteeming more
with all his bones what an impudencie is it in those of Awcon and some Canons of other churches to say as it were in dispite of one another that every one of them haue in his owne church the bones and blood of this first Martyr of of Christs Concerning the Emperour Charles the great we confesse that the Historians of his time witnesse that he was buried at Awcon in Germany howbeit wee wonder much because they mingle the reliques of a politique man who was giuen to whoredome as the Apostate Iohn de Serres withnesseth in his InveÌ„torie with those of Christs the Vngin Maries and other holy personages which led a blamelesse life in this worlde Furthermore If the most holy place be at Rome in S. Iohn Laterans church and if the Byshope of Roome keepeth there-in Aarons rod and the Heauenly Manna doe not the Canons of Awcon deserue to bee controled in that they attribute the propriety of these reliques and call their shoppe furnished with all maner of false marchandize the most holy place of the Virgin Maries Temple For like as vnder the old Testament there was but one Tabernacle one Temple and consequently one most holy place vntil the first coming of Iesus Christ. So could it not represent vnto our Fathers but one Temple of the God-head of Christ which is his body one most holy place which is the Heauen into which this Souveraine and onely sacrificer hath tansported his body by his assention Now suppose that that should be false as it is not which the Apostle declareth in his Epistle to the Ebrewes to wit that the Tabernacle and Sanctuarie of the old Testament were but figures of the true Tabernacle and of the true holy places which are not made with meÌ„s hands but is the body of Christ the Kingdome of Heauen that these figures ought not to last but vntil the time of their corectioÌ„ accomplishmeÌ„t throgh the death passion of our Redeemer Iesus Christ yet notwithstanding to showe the correspondence between the shadowes the bodie which is founde in Christ the Doctors of the Romane church ought but to name vnto vs one Temple one most holy place heretofore figured vnto our Fathers first by the Tabernacle afterward by the Temple of Ierusalem in lieu of so many Temples most holy places which in these later daies they shewe to the poore ignorant people to learne them to Iudaisme and observe the Ceremonies abolishâ—d long since through he sacrifice of Christ Iesus condemned by the doctrine of his Apostles As for the rest either there is noe likelyhood of truth that the auncestors of these Canons of Awcon haue had and showne heretofore vnto the common people the true fore-skinne of Iesus Christ or that these canons their successours hauing received it from them haue not kept it so faithfully as the garments of our Sauiour Christ and the instrumeÌ„ts wherewith Pilates souldiers serued their turnes to crucifie him seeing that they dare not name his foreskinne in their Index nor place it in the ranck of his other reliques afore mentioned And that which they make vp their tale withall concerning S. Catherins Oyle and S. Leopards corps it is of the same coigning as their inventoire is of the bones of the ten thousand Martyrs which maye not be touched but onely seene vnder the altar of the Church at Rome called the Heauens Ladder and the eleuen thousand virgins whereof they of Coullen gathered vp more then a hundred carte loades For euery man of vnderstanding having regard to that which these churchmen of Awcon report of their S. Catherine and compare it with that which those of Rome say who maintaine they haue one of her fingers in the temple of the holy Ghost and in the temple dedicated vnto her the milke which gushed foorth of her necke when shee was beheaded the oyle which sprang foorth of her graue will finde as much fraude and deceit therein as in that which they recite of their Idol S. Christopher to wit that this Gyant hauing bene a theese in his youth at last forsooke that wicked course of life to doe a publique penaÌ„ce for his sinnes vn dertooke to carie such as was desiours to passe ouer a great water from one banck side to the other Now vpon this occasion Iesus being willing to try his faith obedience came presented himself with the rest as hee was readie to take them vp in the likenesse of a litle boy and talking with him prayed him to carie him ouer as hee did the others the which this theefe presently agreed vnto but after hee had sett him vpon his shoulders hee found him so heavie that being in the midst of the river he tould him that hee neuer had borne so heauie a burden and that hee should sinke vnder him if he did not presently ease him Now euer since they haue called Christofle or rather Christophorus that is Christ bearer from which fable euery man may gather that these fine Doctours feede their wreched disciples but with lies illusions where of I haue discovered a great number in these three litle Treatises with assurance that the vnpassionate Reader and louer of the trueth opening his eyes eares to see and heare them will not onely be mooued through this my advertisement to reiect them but also to assist me on his behalf to perswade these silly superstitious meÌ„ to take heede vnto the seruice of Idoles invented by these latter priests of Ball full of all deceit and to worship with vs our onely God and heavenly Father in spirit trueth FINIS Ier. 13. 17. 13. The deputation divided into three parts The secoÌ„d part Gen. 3. 19 Ios. 24. 32 2 Sam. 21 13. 14. 2 Kings 23. 17. Deut. 34. 6. Marc. 6. 29. Act. 8. 2. Iud. ver 5 Act. 2. 42 2 Pet. 1. 15. Origen Cont. Celsus lib. 5. 8 Tob. 12. 13. Ioh. 12. 3 Matt. 27. 57. Marc. 15. 42. Luk. 23. 50. Ioh. 19. 38. Athana in the life of S. Anthonie Eusebe lib. 4. 15. 5. 1. Prudent Rob. Bellarmin li. 2. de Eccl. trium c. 3 lib. 2. de purgat c. 19. Hierone in his dispute against Vigilantius Col. 2. 23 Rom. 14 23 He. 11. 6 1. Sam. 15. 22. The secoÌ„d part August 1. 8. ciuitat Dei c. 27 Aug. li. 6. de coÌ„fess cap. 2. August contra Faustus Lib. 20. cap. 21. Esa. 1. Tertul. in Apog cap. 6. The discouerie of nine seuerall abuses The first abuse Luc. 24. 5. 2 Cor. 5. 7. 16. Col. 3. 1. 2. Mat. 24. 23. 24. The decree of the Councell of Trent touching reliques Gregorie Nyssene Chrys. ad Philem. hom 1. August serm 3. de â—art Bernard serm 1. de adveÌ„t Ier. 4. 13. THE fourth abuse Augus de Labore Mon. c. 28. Socrates l. 7. c. 14. Eras. coll de pilgri Gregory Turonensis Calvin Theodorus Bela. Rodolphus Hospinian Cassander THE fifth abuse Ier. 17. 5. Deut. 18. 11. Ier. 12. 16. Act. 4. 12. Heb. 9. 12. Iam. 4. 12 August l de Vnit. Eccl. cap. 16. Psal. 91. 2 Thes. 2 Act. 10. 25. 26. The 7. abuse 1 Pet. 1. 18. 19. The 9. abuse Act 3. 21 Rom. 14. 5. Col 2. 16. Hier. in Com. ad Gal. 2. 4. Iohn 4. 23. Hosea 4. 15. Hom 8. â—d popul â—6 de virt vir 2 King 2 8. Dan. 3. 25. 2 King â— Exo. 14 Nom. 20 Act. 19. 12. Act. 10. 26. Act. 14. 14. 15. Epist ad Paulin Chris. Hom. 12 1. Cor. Chrys. Hom. 84 in Euang. Iohn Col. 4. 14. Act. 8. 2.