they are Gods Elect yet to speak precisely no mortal eye can infallibly discern them to be such since many times the Bristol-stone glitters as bright as the Diamond and Hypocrites make as fair outward shew as the real Saint The second sort therefore of the militant Church are Hypocrites and â—nâ—ound members who are not effectually called but disobey the truth whereof they make profession These distinctions being thus premised we proceed to acquaint you what we mean by a true Church of Christ and we shall do it in the very words of our mother the Church of England in the 19 th Article of her Faith The visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithfull men in the which the pure word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly Administred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of Necessity are requisite to the same So that here we see wherever the word of God is sincerely preach'd and heard and the Sacraments Administred according to Christs Institution there is a Church of God for those are the marks whereby the Church may be known So that the visible Church which is also Catholick or Vniversal under the Gospel not confined to one Nation as before under the Law consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true Religion And particular Churches which are members thereof are more or less pure according the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced Ordinances Administred and publick Worship perform'd more or less pure in them And not only the purest particular Churches under Heaven are subject both to mixture and Error but some may and have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagoges of Satan tho yet there shall to the end of the world be a Church on Earth to Worship God according to his will against whom the Gates of Hell shall not prevail Now whether the present Church of Râ—me be not one of these Apostatized Adulterous Churches against whom such a Divorce is sued out we shall proceed to Inquire as soon as we have told you what we mean by the Church of Rome And that is The whole Church of Rome as it is a Body consisting of one vissible head the Pope and of all Papists wheresoever Clergy and Laity professing themselves members of that Head and owning the Faith and Doctrine thereof This Body or Company I say is not in any sort to be accounted a true visible Church of Christ which I conceive will appear by diverse Arguments of which I shall give you one at present That Church which over throweth the main and proper cause of our Salvation is no true Church of Christ But the Church of Rome overthroweth the main and proper cause of our Salvation Therefore the Church of Rome is no true Church of Christ The Major I presume no man will deny and for the Assumption 't is notoriously evident for they have overthrown the principal and fundamental Article of Justification which is the Head and summ of all Religion they err in the Efficient Cause of our Justification which is the free Grace and favour of God which they deny building it upon mans merit of Congruity or works preparatory and dispository to Justification c. Coupling it with mans free-will They Err in the material cause Christ Obedience this they deny to be our Obedience or the matter of our Justification They Err in the Form of our Justification which it the Imputation of Christs Righteousness unto us They Err in the Instrumental cause to wit the Justifying Faith denying is to be a certain particular trust or Assurance in Gods mercy for the Pardon of our Sins They Err in the very Meritorious cause Christ our Redeemer several ways overthrowing all his Offices They Err also in the final cause of Justification being the free Gift of Eternal Life while they say the same is merited by the Condignaty They overthrow the very Fundamentals of Religion by denying the sufficiency of the Scriptures for the Rule of Faith and the necessity of its being known to Gods people They deny the right use of the Sacraments whilst they attribute unto them Grace ex opere operato and teach that their efficacy depends on the Intention of the Priest They deny the truth of Christs humane Body by their absurd whimsey of Transubstantiation and the vertue of His only and all alone sufficient Sacrifice by their propitiatory Masses c. So that 't is plain they have Corrupted or abandoned the main and proper Fundamentals of Salvation consequently has no Claim to the Title of a Church of Christ THE COURANT. Tory. HAVE you seen the famous Panegyrick the Sacrificâ— to the Rising-Sun Truem. No nor can guess what you mean But I have heard that amongst all sorts of Idolaters they were only a parcel of forlorn servile debauch'd effeminate Hen-hearted Chicken-soul'd Persians that worship'd the Sun rising And since you mention that word it puts me in mind what I read the other day in a Pamphlet Entituled A warning against the dangerous practises of Papists written by one Thomas Norton in good Queen Bess's days Anno 1586. Let it be well-weigh'd saith he what they mean to the Realm That under colour of Succeeding so far undermine the Head of our Country that they convey the countenance favour and supportation of a great corrupt number of such as may frame themselves any hope of Gain that way to persons that by such kindled Ambition may be the more hastily embolden'd This to do is to shew us a Sun rising to whose Worship they would fain draw us from our Sun declining as they suppose No no our Queen is our true Sun and whatever shining Thing they would set up in her time is no right Sun but an unlucky Comet And it is not yet Noon I trust with our Sun or if it be I hope yet God will lengthen the day to our Sun for his Honour-sake as he did to Joshua and rather have all good Subjects so to hope if the residue of that day may be so spent as Joshuah spent it and for which God did prolong it viz. To rid the World of God's Enemies Let it be considered what Hopes Anticipation and most dreadful Mischiefs which I fear and abhor to name the encouraging of such succeeding which is the work of Papists may minister where the only Person of our most dear and precious Soveraign standeth between them and their desired Effect the utter undoing of us all and specially where the power of Revenge may by possibility fall into their hands for whose sake it should be attempted It is no small mischief danger and appalling of our Faith and Courage when our Prince must be defended against those that by possibility may aspire to be our Princes themselves and to 〈◊〉 it upon good Subjects I dispute no Titles I have no reach beyond our Queen I can see nothing beyond our Queen 〈◊〉 a Chaos of Misery therefore I am
is not again affixed but the Evidence of saving Faith and Testament of the Gospel being written in his heart is now added to the Seal and so it becomes compleatly authentick as not being bound necessarily to outward means Nor do we here exclude Gods free Agency in Baptism who in the Party Baptized in that Heretical Church may if it please him work Grace finding his own Water and his own Words finding I say his own Seal he can add his Covenant of Grace unto it yet no Child there Baptized coming to the years of Discretion unless he Renounce the wicked Faith and Relinquish the Idolatrous practices of that Romish Church can have benefit by his Baptism but to him it is Penal and Pernicious as Augustine speaks And now I proceed to another Argument That the Church of Rome is not a Church of Christ Argument 7. That Church which hath not a lawful Ministry is not a true visible Church of Christ But the Church of Rome hath not a Lawful Ministry Ergo. I know this to many will seem a Paradox but 't is a certain Truth for if the Church of Rome hath not a Lawful Ordination how can it have a Lawful Ministry But it has no Lawful Ordination 1. In regard of the Efficient Cause either Remote as the Pope as Head whence all their Ministerial Power is deriv'd or immediate as the Ordainer on whose Intention their Gratia gratis data dependeth So that here is a Nullity in the very Foundation of the Papal Priest-hood It is deriv'd from the Pope as Head of the Clergy and Church a Title Anti-christian and Usurp'd and so their Ministry is Anti-christian And if the Pope being Antichrist and an Usurper and Consecrating Bishops by vertue of his Papal Supremacy as Christ's sole Vicar and Peter's Successor cannot convey any power of Order upon his Bishops and Clergy what lawful Ministry can we expect in that Apostolical Synagogue So that Calvin an Author whom for Honour's sake I mention in a lewd Age when thousands decry him that either for Learning and Piety are no ways comparable to Him was in the Right in his Book called The Method of Reforming the Church Nego sub toto Papatu unum esse verè Episcopum I deny that under the whole Popedom there is one truly a Bishop and what then shall we say of their Priests neither have they any Ministerial Grace because it depends according to their Belief upon their Ordainers Intention and not upon Christs Ordinance Grace and Promise But 2 ly They fail too in the Formal and Fixal Cause of Ordination They have quite altered and Corrupted the Form and so the End thereof adding a New Form which overthroweth the Old and imposeth a New End viz. making the whole Essence and use of their Ministry to consist in Priesthood that is in Sacrificing of an Idol and so turning the Office of a Minister of the Gospel into an Idol-Sacrificing Priest For in the Form of their Ordination set down in their Tridentine Catechism Part the Second after Imposition of Hands with the sign of the Cross on the Party that is to be Ordain'd The Chalice with Wine and the Paten with the Host is delivered into his hands with these Words Accipe potestatem offerendi Sacrificium Deo Missásque Celebrandi tam pro vivis quam pro defunctis c. Receive thou Power to Offer Sacrifice to God and to celebrate Masses as well for the Living as the Dead c. And this praecipua Sacerdotis functio existimanda est is to be esteemed the principal Office or Function of a Priest Ad Extremum verò c. In fine Imposing hands again he says Receive then the Holy Ghost Whose sins soever ye Remit c. Eique Coelestem illam c. And thus the Bishop giveth unto the Priest that Heavenly Power of Retaining and Forgiving of Sins which the Lord gave to his Disciples Thus the very words of their Ordination Now we know that this power of Remitting and Retaining of Sins the Church of Rome placeth not in the Dispensing and Preaching of the Word of God but in their Sacrament of Pennance Thus they have wholly perverted their Ordination both for the formal and final End Nor do they less fail in the Material Cause ignorant unqualified Persons being ordinarily made Priests and such as only are able to Mumble over the Mass and Matins But it may be Objected That in Popish Ordination there is a Power Confer'd to Preach the Word of God 'T is true they do use these words of our Blessed Saviour which the Church of England useth viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye Remit c. Which we do indeed understand of the dispensation of the Word and Sacraments But the Church of Rome otherwise meaning thereby the Priests power of Binding and Loosing in their Sacrament of Pennance And it is in vain for them to say That their Priests in their Ordination have any Power confer'd upon them to Preach the Word of God when their Practise is far otherwise Neither indeed is it lawful for them so to Preach the Word of God as it behoveth faithful Ministers of the Gospel viz. purely and soundly to the saving of Mens Souls For the pure and sound saving Doctrine of the Word of God is branded for Heresie in the Council of Trent Nor may their Bishops or Priests deliver the sense of it otherwise than according to those Canons and Decrees In a word See the Conc. Trid. Sess 14. Can. 3. Si quid dixerit c. If any one shall say That those words of our Lord and Saviour Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye Remit they are Remitted and whose sins you Retain they are Retained are not to be understood of the power of Remitting and Retaining sins in the Sacrament of Pennance but shall wrest them contrary to the Institution of the Sacrament to the authority of Preaching the Gospel Let him be Anathema Well therefore does the pious and judicious Calvin conclude Totum Sacordotium Papisticum non solum impia est vera Ministerii profanatio sed Execrabilis in Christum comumelia quisquis est sacerdos Papalis dâ—nec titulum illum abjecerit Christi Servus esse nequeat The whole Popish Priesthood is not only an impious Profanation of the true Ministry but an execrable Reproach against Christ So that whosoever is a Popish Priest until he renounce that Title he cannot be the Servant of Christ True Ordination is a sacred Institution of Christ whereby the Person Ordain'd is Invested with a Power to Preach the Word of God and to Administer the Holy Sacraments according to Christ's Ordinance But the Ordination used in the Church of Rome is not according to Christ's Institution to wit whereby the Person Ordained is Invested with a Power to Preach the Word of God and to Administer the Holy Sacraments according to Christ's Ordinance Therefore in the Church of Rome there is no true Ordination therefore no
cases of Clergy-cheats were the Gloss yet Interest was the Text for Polydere Virgil one of the Pope's own Publicans or Peter-pence Collectors is not shy to insinuate l. 8. c. 2. tho he refers them to a more ancient Original That the first Rise of them was for the maintenance of the Pope's Grandeur and that this Income was one of the fairest Flowers in the Triple Crown But when once the payment of them had continued some competent time it was politickly done upon any questioning of the Right to refer them to a Divine Original which was sure to satisfie such as used in those times to take the Pope's bare word for far greater matters Yet the payment of these with others so much impoverisht the Kingdom of England for we are willing to sum up all here that we have to say occasionally on this matter that notwithstanding such Allegation of Divine Right the ancient Kings of England made no scruple sometimes to forbid the payment of them as King Edward the Third once discharg'd the Pope's Nuncio from Collecting the first Fruits c. and many Prohibitions were granted against the Pope's Collectors on Complaints made by the aggriev'd Commons in Parliament as appears in my Lord Coke's Jurisdiction of Courts c. 14. and several Statutes where it is termed once an horrible Mischief and damnable Custom and another time 't is call'd a very Novelty see the Acts 2. H. 4. c. 1. and 1. R. 2. But so subtle was the Court of Rome that when sometimes the Kingdom complain'd of these Burthens and withall the Kings in Exigencies press'd for aids from their Subjects they would in a frolic of Bounty yield or assign the First-Fruits c. for a certain time a year or more to the King whereby they both inur'd the People to the payment and the Prince to the continuance of it But in the 26 th of Henry the Eighth they were given to the King and his Heirs and Successors for ever and in the 32 d of his Raign a particular Court was erected for recovering them which being dissolv'd in the first of Queen Mary the thing was reviv'd again by 1. Eliz. c. 4. but the Court not restored only the First-Fruits were order'd to be within the Rule and Adjustment of the Exchequer and a new Officer viz. A Remembrancer erected of the First-Fruits and Tenths of the Clergy who both taketh all Compositions for them and maketh out Process against such as make default in payment So that every Spiritual person must pay or secure by Bond his First-Fruits before his actual possession of his Benefices which Bond is of like force with a Statute-Staple The mode of Composition now is for the Parson with Sureties to enter into four Bonds each condition'd for payment of the fourth part of the First Fruits according to the rate of his Living as it was Taxed anno 26. H. 8. for that 's the Standard which is call'd being so much in the King's Books but yet with a deduction of Tenths the first Bond payable at half a years end the second at a Twelve months end the third at a year and half 's end and the last at the expiration of two years This we thought fit to add out of the Respect we have to the young Clergy that are hankering after Benefices to whom this Discourse at least whatever our other Writings through sinister Informations may be will probably prove not unacceptable The COURANT. Trueman Solus NOw shan't I see my old Correspondent Tory for he was drunk last night at the Queens Head with toping Confusions to the City Charter But no matter here 's Ben. Tooks Goblin Heraclitus will do as well He dashes through thick and thin and flings durt on as good Scarlet as any i' th City Alas poor fool Their Reputations Crystal none of the filth will stick but Reverts to your own face and will one day infallibly sink the pittifull and already Crazy Shipp 't is squirted from However by this the World may take notice what respect the Tories pay to Authority if their Magistrates don't humour them presently they 'l affront them to their faces Hiss Revile slander and Libel them Having been thus sawcy to his Superiors 't is no news if he snarl at the Courantier who he says is much unacquainted with Guinnies poor heart I 'm sorry for 't but the truth is he has no Faction nor party to Bribe or Encourage him nothing but God and the King Truth and a good Conscience to protect and support him and so long he sings as to the Guinnies Nec habeo nec Careo Nec Curo let Pimps and flatterers and L'Estranges boast their hundreds of Guinnies sent 'um from the Divel knows who He has enough in being Honest Yet sure the Milk and Butter and Cheese was the conceit of some Hunger-starv'd Curate of the Club that lives on small Tyths and is fain to make shift with such Commons when every Monday morning he Trudges from near Dartford to London Popish Nat still drudges on but of late more bare fac'd what abundance of little Tricks have his managers been trying to raise some pretence of slâ—r in Dr. Oatses Evidence but I know not whether with more malice or folly Is not yesterdays Sham a rare one Mr. Oats swore He was Informed Parson Elliot was Circumcised yet upon a Commssion of Inspection a nice business I le promise ye It appears Nat says that the man's twigg of Life has all its apurtenances well but does it follow that the Doctor might not be Informed otherwise Away you ridiculous Scoundrels I' th' next place Godfry's Murder O that 's a bone in some peoples throats must be represented uncertain prethee dear Nat tell us if thou darest in thy next the inquisitive Gentleman of Sarum's true name I 'le warrant he 's as good a Protestant as thy self And now Enter Observator who fiddles to the old Tune For in earnest the fellow has not Compos'd above one sheet bating his Translations these 20 years tho he has blurr'd ten thousand Ream of Paper He 's much troubled that Mrs. Joan should be questioned and to bring in the Chat tells two or three notorious Lies in a breath viz. That Care was Cited as he call it to Guild-Hall that Janeway desired Joan might be sent for c. which is all utterly false But above all where is Rogers Wit or Modesty to Revive a sluttish story little to the Credit of the Parties Concern'd But since you now twice together have Rak'd it up I tell thee Roger once for all that the debauch in the Church you mention was favourably told in Janeway's Mercury and there are better men than you or I that are or may be satisfied of the Truth on 't Nor was it first Publisht for any such base end as you maliciously suggest but only to the Intent that the Actors might be brought to just Punishment For not a few good Churchmen think those Swine deserv'd to
Sacrament of the Body of Christ saying that it ought to be Ministred in both kinds and that after the words of Consecration pronounc'd there still remaineth material Bread in the Sacrament 2. He doth Err as touching the Church for that he doth not allow and admit that the Church signifieth the Pope Cardinals Archbishops and Clergy but saith this signification was drawn from the Schoolmen 3. That he hath said That Tempral Princes and Lords may take away the Temporal possessions of the Church and Clergy without any offence 4. He teacheth that all Priests are of like power and therefore affirms That the reservations of the Popes Casualties the ordering of Bishops and the Consecration of the Priests were invented only for Covetousness 5. That he erreth concerning the Church forasmuch as through Contempt he doth not fear Excommunication 6. He erreth by holding That a Man being once Ordain'd a Priest or a Deacon cannot be forbidden from the Office of Preaching c. Upon these and other the like Articles the Council proceeded against him in his sickness and tho he often offer'd to defend his Cause yet they would neither allow him any Advocats nor permit him publickly to be heard And in their Ninth Session they declared Quod non obstantibus salvis Conductis Imperatoris Regum c. Possit per Judicem competentem de Haeretieâ pravitate inquiri That notwithstanding any safe Conduct granted by the Emperor or any Kings Inquisition many be made against any Man for Haeresy by a Competent Judge and process to be made according to Law To relate the whole proceedings would be too tedious how malicious and unjust his accusers were how stout and faithful to him were several Bohemian Noble Men representing his Innocence to the cruel Fathers but all in vain nothing but his Blood would satisfy and so they proceed to pass the following sentence upon him The most sacred General Council of Constance Congregated together and representing the Catholick Church for perpetual memory of the thing As truth doth witness that an evil Tree bringeth forth evil Fruit so it cometh to pass that the Man of most damnable memory John Wickliff through his pestiferous Doctrine not through Jesus Christ by the Gospel as the holy Fathers in times past have begotten faithful Children but contrary to the wholesome Faith as a venemous root hath begotten many wicked and pestilent Children whom he hath left behind him successors and followers of his perverse and accursed Doctrine against whom this Sacred Synod of Constance is forced to rise up as against Bastards and diligently with a Sharp-knife of Ecclesiastical Authority to cut up Errors out of the Lords field as most hurtful Brambles and Briars lest they should grow up to the destruction of others Forasmuch then as in the holy General Council lately celebrated at Rome it was decreed that the Doctrine of John Wickliff of most damnable memory should be Condemned and his Books burnt as Haeretical yet 〈◊〉 John Hus here personally present in this Sacred Council not the Diciple of Christ but of Wicliff an Arch Haeretick hath taught and affirmed the Articles of Wickliff which were Condenm'd by the Church of God Wherefore after diligent Deliberation and full Information this most Sacred Council declareth and determineth the Articles abovesaid which are sound in his Books wrot with his own hand and which he hath own'd not to be Catholick nor worthy to be taught but that many of them are erroneous some wicked other some to be offensive unto godly Ears many of them to be temerarious and seditious and the greater part of them to be Notoriously Haeretical and doth condemn all and every the Books which the said Hus hath wrot in what form or phrase soever they be or whether they be Translated by others and doth decree That they shall be publickly burnt in the presence of the Clergy and People c. And the said Synod doth pronounce the said John Hus an Haeretick and a Seducer and obstinate Person and such an one as doth not desire to return again to the Lapp of our holy Mother the Church neither to abjure the Errors and Heresies which he hath openly Preached and defended wherefore this most Sacred Council decreeth and declares That the said John Hus shall be deposed and degraded from his Priestly Orders and Dignity Since this sentence mentions Degrading it will not be amiss to consider the manner how that Ceremony is perform'd Which is thus The party to be degraded is attir'd in all his Priestly Vestments and holdeth in the one hand a Chalice filled with Wine mixed with Water and in the other a Guilt Paten with a Wafer Then kneeling down the Bishops Deputy taking from him these Trincats Charges him to say no more Mass for the Quick or the Dead Secondly scraping with a piece of Glass his fingers ends he Enjoyns him never to Hallow or Consecrate any thing and Thirdly rasing his shaven Crown and stripping 〈◊〉 of his Priestly Vestments he is Clothed in a Lay habit and delivered into the Power of the Secular Magistrate Thus was poor Hus serv'd and withal a Capp put on his head all painted over with Devils and this word Haerisiarcha or Ring leader of Hereticks inscribed thereon and so was burnt in the Month of July 1415. He behav'd himself at his Martyrdom with a wonderful Cheerfulness and seems to have had a Spirit of Prophecy for whereas Hus in the Bohemian Tongue signifies a Goose he told them You now roast a Goose but after a 100 years there shall a Swan rise up out of my Ashes which was fulfill'd in Luther who just 100 years after Hus's Death began to appear in opposition to the Pope Likewise during the time of this Council one Jerome a Learned Godly Man of the City of Prague hearing of the manyfold injuries done unto Hus voluntarily came to Constance with an intent to defend his Cause but not being able to procure any safe Conduct there was returning back again to his own Country but taken on the Road and brought bound into Constance and there by the Council Condemn'd and Burnt and his Ashes thrown into the River Rhyne as Hus's likewise had been so Industrious were the Romish Clergy to destroy all Memorials of these faithful Servants of God whose Names do yet survive all their impotent malice and remain Registred in the Book of Life in Heaven and pretious to all good Men on Earth What esteem the godly Nobles of that Age had of Mr. Hus may partly appear by a Letter of 54 Noble Men of Morauia under their Hands and Seals to the said Council THE COURANT. Tory. PRethee are Miracles ceas'd No no There 's a New Saint lately come over call'd Cess Process that does daily Wonders Dam Ignoramus is an Ass to her Tory. What kind of Feats does she Profess can she sham Godfryes Murder and Esquire Thin's and make the World believe That they both kill'd themselves or that it was done Justly
Saviour of his Sectaries as Parsons 2 d. of his 3 Conversions p. 250. relates from Walsingham or as Stow botches up the story The last words that he spake to Sir Tho. Erpingham Adjuring him that if he saw him Rise from Death to Life again the Third day he would procure that his sect might beat peace and quiet Now let any man read his papers and discourses in Fox savouring of such firm piety prudence and sobriety of mind and then judge how unlikely he was to be Guilty of such a phrensical Extravagance But possibly he might at his Execution say that though they so severely persecuted those Truths which he bore Testimony to and sought by all means to suppress and bury the same yet they would Rise again and his Doctrine be Reviv'd And from some such true words the Father of Lies and his Journy-men the Monks might take occasion to raise that wicked scandal And now having thus fairly represented Sir John Oldcastles Case to posterity we take leave of his Manes but that we may do it civily tho the prejudice of those times would afford him neither Tombstone nor Grave yet certainly we my be allow'd to offer an Extempore Epitaph to his Memory On Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham who suffer'd Decem. 1417. Rome's Old new fraud in Cobhams Fate we view The Hereticks must still be Traitors too All Popish Sham-plots are not hatch'd of late Long since their Int'rest Culli'd in the State For God and for the King the Prelates Cry'd But only meant their own Revenge and Pride Had the sly Meal Tub fadg'd or Irish Oathes Been Jury-proof old Churches hated Foe 's Ere now had been Old-Castled Hang'd and Burn'd And Loyalst Patriots into Rebells turn'd But Midwife Time at last brings Truth to Light For after Death each man receives his Right Then sleep brave Hero till last Judgments day Raising to Glory thy twice-martyr'd Clay Romes malice and thy Innocence display But here we may note that before the Execution of this noble-man viz. in the year 1414. his bitter Persecutor Tho Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury who originally caused his trouble and Condemn'd him for Haeresy and who in a synod had forbidden the Scriptures to be translated into or read in the English Tongue was taken away by a strange death His own Tongue being so swell'd that for many days he could swallow no sort of sustenance and so was starv'd to death A most remarkable Judgment that he who by his Canons forbad the Food to the Soul and had pronounc'd Sentence of Condemnation on many Innocents was now both famish't and struck Dumb together Thomas Gasconous in his Theological Dictionary thus plainly tells the story Tho. Aruudel Cant. Archiepiscopus sic Linguâ Percussus erat ut nec deglutire nec Loqui per aliquot dies ante mortem suam potuerit et sic tandem obiit Atque Multi tu nofieri putabant quia vâ—rbum Alligasset ne suo Tempore praedicatur Tho Arrundel Archb. of Canterbury was so smitten in his Tongue that he could neither swallow nor speak and so died which was thought by many to come upon him for that he restrain'd the word of God from being preached in his days The COURANT. A CHARM against ROGERISM Triceps est Cerberus tèr ego te Despuo Triplex est Eumenis tèr te ego Despuo Vomas dico vomas tèr vome Improbam Pectore purgato Rabiem ad Phlegetonta Remitte Enter Jesuit solus NOW shall I turn Heraclitus Ridens and split my sides with laughing to see how sweetly matters go on 'T is the hopefullest Spring I have known or read of above 100 years and all our Projects are blythe and blooming How kindly do our Councils work and cully in the hood-wink'd crowd the French Monarch our mighty Patron plays a Game at Tick-tack with his Holiness and the World stares and gapes as if they were at Sharps What if he clip the Wings of the duller Orders Let him go on and prosper Roma interim crescit Albae Ruinis No matter for those swarms of Drones our active Society if the Fools prove peevish and stubborn may beg their Lands Nor need we fear the gripes of his Talons since we have twisted our Interests inseparable with his for Campanella has shifted the Scene and 't is resolv'd in spite of Providence one Monarch and one Religion shall govern the Europaean World They are pitifully read in School craft that cannot modelize Divinity to each complexion of Affairs there lies a little spot on the Northwest corner of the Map that has cost us many a pangful Thought Father La-Chese long since undertook the Conversion of those Infidels and tho he met with some rubs despairs not in time to accomplish it If one Broad-side does not sink a Vessel another may the Needle 's in and the Thread must follow O Beata Maria into what Confusions have we put the Hereticks amongst themselves Well! let Whig and Tory scuffle 'till their Hearts ake whilst we tour aloft like the Vulture hovering over the Lion and Wild-boar in their Combatings as hoping to devour the Carcases of them both O the Church the Church the Church by Law establish'd There 's Musick enough in that very sound to supersede the office of the Organs But then not one in forty Dreams what those words signifie in our Dictionary Pshaw Pshaw you Dolt-heads Verity is Vnity there is but one Church in the World and that 's the Catholick and Catholick is Roman and there 's the Riddle unfolded But how is this Religion by Law establish'd We 'l make That out I 'le warrant you you shall have enough of Magna Charta Is there any prescription against the Church Shall any Laws prevail against St. Peter's Right Or indeed what power have Excommunicated Hereticks to make any Laws at all All such Provisions are still-born Ipso facto void as errant Felo's de se as we would make Sir Edmondbury Godfrey and holy Mother-Church unjustly disseiz'd may lawfully make a Re-entry Let 's first down with the Dissenters crush them maul 'um hang 'um if we can or ruine them at least and then their Church of England shall have Polypheme's courtesie O Bristol Bristol thou hast done gallantly I could not but snicker the other day to see a parcel of Wooden-shoe'd French Hereticks that had fled thither for shelter how sillily they look'd when they saw a parcel of English Calvinists dragg'd out of their Meeting and hurried to Gaol But we have a greater work in hand 't is a Protestant Plot must do our business and a Protestant Plot we 'l have if it cost us as much as we got by burning of London There are a fresh Cast of Beuk-blawers listed spick and span new ones never yet baulkt or blasted by an Ignoramus they only want a little Documentizing as to matter persons times and places for all the rest they remember right well I must away and Discipline them and if they prove
such incorrigible Bunglers as our Irish Rascals let 'um be damn'd blacker than Luther Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY April 21. 1682. Quae si cum sociis Stultus cupidúsque bibisset Sub dâ—mina Meritrice fuisset turpis excors Vixisset Canis Immundus vel amica Luto Sus. The Grand Question Whether the Church of Rome be in any kind to be esteem'd a Church of Christ entred into the Reasons why the same is here discuss'd The definition of the Church and how divided HAving deduc'd our History somewhat below the year 1400. and being Arriv'd at those times wherein our Ancestors in England first of all were brought to Capital sufferings for the purity of Religion and were to use the Apostles phrase Hebr. 12. 4. forced to resist unto Blood the wicked Impositions of the no less cruel than Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy It will be convenient if not necessary to inquire what opinion we ought to have of the Church of Rome in its present state A task we undertake not meerly for diverting the Reader tho sure variety in all other things delightfull will not here be offensive nor the intermixing Polemicks with History be censured since we find precedents of it in the best and most approved Authors But we do it for his satisfaction too that he may make the truer Judgment of those many Tragical Scenes all fill'd with fire and fagot Blood and horror Popish fury triumphant and Pious Innocence torn and mangled and Butcher'd with a thousand Barbarities For though to each Judicious peruser the very prospect of these Cruelties is enough to satisfy him that these are the Talons of the Vulture not the sweet Breathings of the Holy Dove practises of the Synagogue of Satan not of the Church of the meek and mercifull Jesus yet some hot and superficial Readers especially in this debaucht and unhappy Age may be apt to say Here 's a Clutter indeed with a parcell of Peevish Fellows what if they were burn't or hang'd out of the way whose fault was it why would they not conform and honestly come to Church if the Church of Rome be a true Church wherein a man may go to Heaven why did they trouble themselves and the world and make a Schism and disturb the Government you make a stir and call them Martyrs but for ought I know they were Follies Martyrs rather than Gods and I remember I have seen a Book Intituled Semper Iidem or a parallel betwixt the antient and modern Phanaticks Printed here at London with I think Authority I am sure publickly and without any trouble to the Bookseller Richard Lownds at the White Lyon in St. Pauls Churchyard 1661. which renders Oldcastle Bishop Latimer Woodman c. as errant Whiggs and Raskals as ever liv'd a sort of turbulent Hereticks that interrupted the Churches Tranquility and would needs be turning the world upside down though they knew neither why nor wherefore c. Suppose one should meet a Spark of this mettal and such frequently now adays at every Coffee-house you may meet with is it not fit my honest Country men should be ready provided to Confute his Folly and do right to those Glorious Worthies who did not sacrifice their Lives to a sullen Obstinacy or factious Freake but for the pure truths of God worth a million of Lives and departed from Rome because she was so far departed from God that if they had further accompanied her afterdivine Grace had open'd their eyes to see her Abominations they must necessarily have fallen into Eternal perdition To Demonstrate this therefore it will I think be not unworthy your while and presently too lest the Disease come upon us before the Medicine be provided and black darkness surround us e're every body be sufficiently Acquainted with it's Hellish Nature to consider the three points following viz. 1. Whether the present Church of Rome ought in any sort to be esteemed a true Church of Christ 2. Whether any person Living and Dying in the Communion of that Church and understanding her Doctrine and practises and joyning therein may ordinarily be saved 3. Whether any person as suppose a Protestant out of fear compliance c. may be present at Mass understanding the same without committing of grievous sin These Three particulars we shall endeavour in this and some following Sheets to discourse of with all plainness and Candor so far from any violation of Charity that we thereby only design a most necessary Caution to prevent poor missed souls from precipitating themselves into endless Ruin and Destruction As to the first Quaery touching the present Roman Churches being a Church of Christ two things are to be premised and explained 1. What we mean in this debate by Church of Christ 2. What we understand by the Church of Rome 1. The word Church taken in its full Latitude signifies the whole company of all those whom God by his word and spirit calls to the knowledge and profession of his truth and from its members being called forth and separated from the rest of the world that live in gross and avowed Atheism or Idolatry without the knowledg and acceptation of those supernatural verities the Incarnation and Crucifixian of the Son of God for the sins of men upon the terms held forth in the Gospel it is termed the Church in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evoco to call out or from The Church thus absolutely and simply considered in this Latitude is but one as the State and Company of the Kingdom of great Britain is but one since all and every one called to this Grace of how different estate qualities or condition soever belong one way or other to this Company but in this Church thus considered there are sundry differences and respects that is the persons called to the Faith of Christ are of diverse sorts for some part of the Church is already reduced from this mortal life and Crowned with that Glory whereunto they were called when here on Earth and thence stiled the Church Triumphant the other part is that which is successively abiding in this world which for that time is called the Church Militant because it lies as it were in the Camp always alarm'd and fighting against Hells Triple League the world the Flesh and the Divel under the Banner of our Lord the blessed Jesus and patiently waiting for the victory But amongst these latter there are again two sorts First such as are effectually called and these are the Elect only whom God not only calls but chuses by his free Grace inspiring them to obey that calling and to live Holily worthy of such their vocation and who shall infallibly be Saved in the life to come and this Company we call the Invisible Church because only God knows who are His and tho we see the men and by their fruits charitably hope
Intelligence O most Swinging Astonishing Confounding Incredible Blessed News I promise you Jesuit Is 't possible For Old Acquaintance sake let 's have 't Tory. I beg your Diversion Sir You that they say tell Lies so Dear must not expect to hear Truth Gratis But yet to save your longing I 'le give you a Tast Poor old Odiscalchi his Holiness is Dead as a Door-nail The Cardinals are shut up in the Conclave and now they are Canvasing Bribing Intriguing Tugging like mad for a new Infallible Noddle Jesuit That 's News indeed but preethee who 's like to carry 't Tory. Ay! that that I cannot forbear laughing to think how 't will vex thee and I 'le tell thee 't for no other Reason but because 't will make thee Hang thy self They 're going to chuse a Protestant Prince to be their Pope Jesuit Then I le be Hang'd ' Tory. Ay! ay! So thou hadst been long ago if th'adst had thy Deserts and so thou wilt at last whether that be so or no! but this is certain a Protestant Pope they 'l have The Flying Squadron are resolv'd on 't And Spain Germany and France for all the Interest you boast of there strike in with them What a blessed Reformation shall we have Jesuit Why then say I farewel Catholick Cause shaw shaw He 'le worm out the Catholick Faith and sapp the Church by degrees and in a while we shall have damn'd Conventicles held in the very Lateran Tory. No! no! There 's no fear of that neither for the Pope Presumptive though he is known to be a Protestant has promis'd a thousand times and vowed and sworn he 'le maintain the Roman Catholick Church as 't is Establisht by the Canons Jesuit Ay! there 's the Knavery on 't The Fallacy dost thou not smell the Raguery Tory. Not I I protest Father but to say truth I never had a very subtle Nose and yet I can at any time scent a Presbyterian Plot as far off as Vtopia Jesuit Why man by the Church as 't is Establisht by the Canons he means no doubt the Church as it ought to be Reform'd by the Canons of Scripture For can any Man be so Mad so Bewitcht as to think a Protestant will be true to the Catholick Interest Tory. Why not Sir As true I 'le warrant you as a Popish Successor will be to a Protestant Interest Jesuit Well! O my Conscience the Cardinals are a Pack of Knaves they betray the Catholick Cause I am confident most of them are Hereticks in their Hearts Tory. Why so why so good Sir They have Subscrib'd the Council of Trent They have taken all the Holy Tests and Canonical Oaths and given all the Security of their Catholicism that 's requir'd by Law of Holy Mother Church and why should we be so uncharitable as to Censure them for Hypocrites Jesuit Hang ' em hang ' em They 'r rotten at Core let 'em Swear their Guts out they that are so Zealous for a Protestant Pope may well be suspected to have an Hugonot in their Bellies Tory. Why now I 'me vext to hear one of your Order Father whose Society esteem themselves not only the most Learned and Politick but Men of the best Intelligence too talk so like a Ninny 'T is the mode all over the World since the last Comet and the Conjunction of Satura and Jupiter Have you not seen the News brought by a Post pidgeon to Scanderoon The Grand-Seignior is lately Dead too All Flesh is Grass Turk and Pope must come to 't and the Divan being Assembled because he left no Heirs of his Body Lawfully begotten nothing will satisfie them but they 'l Elect a Christian Prince to the Ottoman Empire Jesuit The Devil they will Tory. Nay never question the Truth on 't you shall see it shortly in Muddimans Letter and Infallible Natts Intelligence Jesuit Then hey go mad say I The World is going out of its Wits and the Vniverse becoming an Intire Bedlam What false to their own Religion the most Sacred of Ties betray their own Interest I 'le be Flead if there be one true Mussulman in the Divan if this you told me last be true Tory. Come come Fiat Justitia ruat Coelum Dost think all the World understands their true Interest Mankind are oft led by the Shadows and Fancies and Humours and Whims and a Thousand Capricio's I could tell thee of another as great a Wonder as all this comes to Jesuit Nay nay le ts have the bottom o' th Bag honest Tory Tory. What would you eat Sweet-meats with Shovels come come enough's as good as a Feast either at Souters or Pedlars-Hall what I have will keep cold and I 'le reserve it for another Collation Father Adieu Printed for Langley Curtis 1682 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY May 5. 1682. Omnia amisit qui veritatem amisit An Objection Answered touching Baptism The Church of Rome hath no true Ministry c. IN our last we urged That the Church of Rome does not practise the true Baptism of Christ whence an Objection may arise thus If the Church of Rome have not the true Baptism of Christ why then are not Papists when Converted to the true Faith of Christ Rebaptized How stands their former Baptism good To which I Reply in the words of the great Saint Augustine Contra Cresconium Lib. 1. C. 30. speaking of the External Form of Baptism used amongst Hereticks such Baptism is not to be Repeated but the Errour thereof Corrected And in his Seventh Book against the Donatists Chap. 40. He hath these Words The Divine Scriptures in many places do shew all these to be strangers from the Church who are not in the Rock and appertain not to the Members of the Dove and yet they Baptize and are Baptized and have Sine salute Sacramentum salutis without Salvation the Sacrament of Salvation And L. 5. chap. 17. Hereticks saith he have Lawful Baptism that is for the External Form but not Lawfully And so Bellarmine himself determines the Case Cum veniunt ad Ecclesiam Baptizati ab Haereticis agnoscendum est quod est Ecclesiae id est Baptisma corrigendus verò Error When those that are Baptized by Hereticks come to the Church the Church acknowledges what is her own that is the Baptism but the Errour is to be corrected The Sacraments operate effectually Non quia dicitur sed quia Creditur Not because the Words are uttered but because there is the Word of Faith purifying the heart as the Apostle speaks Act 15. And therefore the Church of Rome having deny'd the Faith of Righteousness and the Righteousness of Faith and the saving Doctrine of Baptism She hath consequently rendred Baptism to be of none Effect to her unto Salvation But yet still when any Papist is by the Grace of God and the Preaching of the Word and of saving Faith Converted to the true Church of God the Seal of Baptism
their Tenets and general avowed Practises of their pretended Church must needs render the condition of any Soul in that Communion very dangerous and hazardous 4. No man can come to God the Father but by Jesus Christ as our Lord testifieth of himself John 14. Who also sheweth That he is the way the truth and the life And by his holy Apostle 1 Tim. 2. teacheth us That there is no Mediator betwixt God and Man but the Man Christ Jesus But contrary hereunto the Papists vainly hope and imagine to come to God not only by Christ but also by the Virgin Mary by Angels and Saints They also seek out new ways and content not themselves with such as the infinite wisdom of our Lord prescribed unto us and do foolishly believe that the Pope by his Indulgences and every Hedg-Priest by mumbling over his Masses is able to redeem mens Souls 5. Whoever buildeth his Faith upon other foundation than the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets doth build upon the Sand and not upon such a firm foundation as will abide in the day of the Lord. But the Papists generally build their Faith upon the Popes Decretals upon unwritten and uncertain Traditions upon false pretended Miracles lying Legends and silly Fables do they not then build upon ruinous foundations and if so what is like to become of the Superstructure 6. By their own Canon Law Chapt. si papa dist 40. 't is affirm'd That the Pope may be remiss and negligent in his Office and silent in teaching and lead innumerable people with him into Hell Now if the Papists are to adhere to the Pope as their Head and to follow him how can they escape when he leadeth them into Hell So that if they know not or will not believe the Scriptures nor any other Arguments yet their own Decrees may teach them that following the Pope innumerable Papists run blindfold and headlong into Perdition 7. How is it possible that they should be saved who are Ignorant of the means of their Salvation who hold damnable Heresies repugnant to the Apostles Doctrine whose Faith is Faction and their Practises Idolatry Perjury Treasons Massacres and all kind of Abomination and this conniv'd at promoted excused justifyed nay commended and applauded by their Church as means to propagate the Gospel But all this is too true of the Papists at this day and therefore what Scripture grounds have we of hope unless they speedily repent and depart from these Abominations But if any man shall ask what then is become of all those that either now die or in times past are dead in places where Popery is or hath been professed We answer secret things belong to God we dare not pretend to sentence those that are gone but would caution such as survive Of those that held the foundation and lived good lives we hope well nor were several of the most destructive errors ever inforc'd upon the belief of men before the Conventicle of Trent and there may and no dobut are many amongst the Papists at this day who though conforming to them in outward Ceremonies yet hold not the errors of Popery positively but keep themselves to the old Apostolick Faith and of such persons Salvation we have no cause to despair God grant that the rest also may see their deformities and upon what a dreadful precipice they stand and revoke their errors and hearken to the call of God to come out of Babylon lest they are partakers of her plagues and joyn themselves with a sincere heart to the true Church of God and so be saved The COURANT. Tory. YOu see our Reverend guide disowns the Translation of The History of Calvinism Alas good pious man he declar'd it unfit to be turn'd into English Truem. Sure no more unfit than Pere Simon which is sold in Paul's Church yard as commonly as the Practice of Piety They were L'Estranges own Pupils that reported he was upon that Job but possibly he may have dropt the Design finding it smell too Rank or thought it unfit to be Englisht in wholesale That so he may more advantagiously retail the good Fathers notion in Observator's four times a Week Tory. But for all that He 's satisfied that John Calvin Introduced his Government and Discipline by a Rebellion Observ N. 139. Truem. Tho I have nothing to do with Calvin or his Discipline yet I must tell L'Estrange to his Beard though he wore a Sword three Inches longer than he does That in this particular He lies to use his own Phrase like a Kidnapper or any dying Jesuit For the Bishop of Geneva had quitted that City and the Form of Government was popular before ever Calvin came amongst them The judicious Hooker a Testimony more valuable than a million of Observators in the Preface to his Ecclesiastical Policy gives this account of that Affair At the coming of Calvin thither the Form of their Civil Regiment was popular as it continueth at this day neither King nor Duke nor Nobleman hath any Power or Authority over them but Officers chosen by the people yearly out of themselves to order all things with publick consent For spiritual Government they had no Laws at all agreed upon but did what the Pastors of their Souls by perswasion could win them unto Calvin being admitted one of their Preachers and a Divinity Reader amongst them considered how dangerous it was that the whole Estate of that Church should hang on so slender a thread as the liking of an Ignorant Multitude is if it have power to change whatsoever it listeth Wherefore taking unto him two of the other Ministers for more Countenance of the Action albeit all the rest were against it they moved and in the end perswaded with much ado the people to bind themselves by Solemn Oath First never to admit the Papacy again and Secondly to live in Obedience to such Orders concerning the exercise of their Religion and the former Ecclesiastical Government as those their true and faithful Ministers of Gods Word had agreeably to Scripture set down for that end and purpose Now prethee where 's the Treason or Rebellion in all this Tory. Come come have you observ'd Roger's Advertisement N. 138. What a damnable kindness he has for Dr. Oats If any man will be so kind and generous as out of an affection to the Protestant Religion c. to call Simson Tongue to a Legal account c. Roger L'Estrange out of a zeal to a publick good will furnish Authentick Papers and Materials c. What in the name of Nonsense is the meaning of all this Truem. Why first here is Roger honestly declares that is he not a man that has any affection to the Protestant Religion for if he had he might being so well furnisht with Tools and Materials call Tongue to an account himself without putting others upon it if it be a business that will as he pretends be a Service to the Protestant Religion But 2 ly There seems a greater
Brother Roger That he is a Protestant and never was at Mass in England you must understand him in his Life But the Devil cannot hide his Cloven Foot for p. 12. he puts us upon Petitioning His Majesty for Mercy to the Few Papists in England and to stop their Convictions upon their present prosecutions poor Lambs they are shrewdly hurt Yet some think more has been actually levyed on the Protestants at Bristol within a twelvemonth than on all the Papists in England these seven years and this he recommends as the only expedient to ease the poor French Protestants from the Persecution Now I should have thought that the Petition for a Cessation of Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters would be a more likely medium for that purpose for if we teaze our Protestant Brethren meerly on the Account of Non-conformity to our Ceremonies do we not justifie the French King in Harassing those that differ from his Establisht Church not only in Ceremonies but most material points of Doctrine too Tory. Well but he tells you that if we should be Bless'd with a Popish Successor yet 't is impossible he should establish Popery Truem. That 's the most errant sham in nature and some day or other when we meet I doubt not but to Demonstrate that in such a case which Heaven prevent the persecution on all forts of Protestants would be much more bloody and cruel than that in Queen Maries days and he that does not already apprehend why is only fit for Laâ—ine Prayers and drinking of Healths with an Huzza Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY June 23. 1682. Tu Portentorum locus es conformis eorum Cum Nilo portenta paris nutris Crocodilos Theodor. Ã Nyem L. 3. Ca. 41. ad Romam The Papal History after the Council of Constance prosecuted The loud complaints of Clemangis and other learned Godly men of the miserable corruptions of the Church in those Times The Life of Martin the V. His tricks to avoid a Reformation he dispenses with a man to Marry his own Sister THough we have made a long yet perhaps neither altogether useless nor unseasonable digression to give our Country-men a true Idea of the Church of Rome and what a necessity there is incumbent on all true Christians to abandon her Communion and not pollute their Souls by mixing with her damnable Idolatries and Superstitions We must remember to return and reassume the intermitted not neglected Thred of Papal History Which the Reader may remember we diverted from Numb the 8. concluding with the flagitious and detestable Life and justly deserv'd deposal of that most Holy Monster John the 23 d. â—lias the 24 th and that most scandalous tuâ—g for the uâ—erring Chair which for several years depended between him and Gregory and Benedict his two Competitors who being at last all three cashier'd by the Council of Constance In their stead was set up Otho Colonna by the name of Martin the 5 th The beginning of whose Popedome their best Chronologies assign to the Year of our Lord 1417. But before we proceed to the particular story of his Life it will be necessary for clearing some passages that we may meet with therein to take a brief review of the lamentable state and condition of the Church in general in and about those times which we find so sensibly described and bewail'd by several pious learned men of that Age that their complaints seem rather writ with Tears of Blood than Ink. Amongst these Clemangis Arch-Deacon of Bayeux in France for his courage and zeal to truth deserves to lead the Van His Book De Corrupto Ecclesiae Statu of the corrupt Estate of the Church as it was produced at the Council of Constance so it well deserves every studious Gentlemans Reading that would fully satisfy himself touching the horrid abominations of Rome I shall only select a few passages Having set forth by what steps and degrees the Church at one and the same time rose to her temporal height and spiritual declination and by what subtleties the Popes engrossed all Dominion and how greedily they and their Creatures the Cardinals hunted after gain he proceeds to their further Character thus They bear more patiently the loss of Ten thousand Souls than of Ten Groats nay they regard the ruin of Souls with no consideration or emotion of mind at all but for the least diminution of their own private pecuniary advantages they presently grow mad and furious The Study of Divinity and such as make Profession thereof are made a meer May-game and Laughing-stock even which is most monstrous to the Popes themselves who prefer their own Tradition far before the Commandments of God And now that worthy and excellent function of Preaching sometimes attributed to Pastors only is of that base account with them that they think it too mean a work for them to meddle with and that nothing is more unbecoming their dignity The same Author in his Epistle concerning the Study of Divinity tells us That in those days the Monasteries both of Monks and Nuns each Sex it seems was as bad as the other are become so many Brothel-Houses their Divinity meerly Scholastick and Chimerical the very same which St. Paul intended to describe by those words They dote about Questions and strife of words Their fruits are like those of the Lake of Sodom outwardly fair but inwardly smoak and filthy ashes Ecclesiastical Persons are generally the Successors rather of Simon Magus than Simon Peter No man hath Orders given him without silver or gold nor is any refus'd or debarr'd from the sacred function that brings mony be he never so wicked To such a prodigie of wantonness and debauchery are they grown that their people the better to defend their Wives chastity from the attempts of these Clergy-stallions will have no Priests except such as are known to keep Concubines The Legends of Saints are read instead of the holy Scriptures and the Saints brought into the place of God And in a Letter to a Student at Paris discoursing of the Council of Constance he assigns several reasons why no Reformation of the raigning abuses of the Church was to be expected thence For saith he these Carnal Sons of the Church do not only not regard spiritual things nor have any feeling of them themselves but they persecute those that are according to the Spirit as ever since the time of just Abel whom Carnal Cain murdered it hath been and will be to the worlds end These are they that for Temporal Commodities fly to the Church and yet living even worse than secular men they covet scrape and rob all they can desiring to bear Rule but not to serve glorying in their superiority oppressing their inferiours and rejoycing in their own pride and luxury They account gain godliness and are always ready to act or suffer any thing whatsoever for their temporalities how lewdly soever
but the Pope refus'd to Crown him unless he would first promise to Ratify the pretended donation of Constantine and also grant all those things de novo and swear forthwith to depart Italy All which Valla cannot mention without Indignation what saith he would be more absurd than to be crown'd Emperor and at the same time renounce Rome to be Crowned of him who he confesseth and as much as in him lieth maketh Lord of the Roman Empire And to Ratify a donation which if it be true leaveth to the Emperor nothing of the Empire which I think Children would not have done I shall not mention all the quarrels of this Pope the greatest part of whose times was spent in Wars and Bloodshed insomuch that the Romans not able to endure his Cruelties once drove him out of the City making him run away in the habit of a Monk and pelting him with durt and stones whence he retired to Florence and remained there some time but having by his friends again reduc'd Rome to his obedience he used greater severities than ever and notwithstanding he had so approv'd of the Council of Basil yet now will needs dissolve it and accordingly recalls Cardinal Julian his Legate from thence on the other side the Fathers of the Council by their Letters first intreat and afterwards admonish him to come thither himself or at least not to disturb the peace of the Church by offering to obstruct their proceedings but he persisting and appointing another Anti-Council at Ferrara they formally Cite Accuse Adjure suspend and at last depose him from the Popedome and in his room Elect Amades Duke of Savoy by the name of Felix the Fourth who before led an Hermits Life on the Banks of the Lake of Lausanna However Eugenius still swagger'd as Pope in Italy and having got together a Conventicle of Cardinals most of their own making and others in Ferraria in the year 1438. and next year by reason of the Pestilence removed to Florence John Palaeologus the Emperor of the East and several Bishops of the Greek Church upon a treaty that had been advanc'd for a Reconciliation between the two Churches resolved to have a personal Conference and being at Sea upon his Voyage for Italy Charles the 7 th King of France who sided with the Council of Basil sent forth a Fleet of Gallies into the Ionick Sea to meet him and acquaint him that the lawfull Council was held at Basil not at Florence and therefore to perswade him to Land in France whence he should be honourably Conducted to Basil But the Pope understanding this design by large Bribes Corrupts the Admiral of the French Gallies who willfully steering a wrong course misses the Emperour and so he Lands in Italy The presence of this Emperour and the noise of an Vnion like to be patcht up between the Two Churches added not a little lustre to the Popes Council yet the proceedings of the Council of Basil extreamly troubled him and against them he and his Council published several Bulls and writings wherein they blush not to affirm That it was so far from truth That he ought to obey general Councils that he then most merited when he contemn'd the Decrees of the Council and that this proposition The Council is above the Pope is Heretical although both then and ever since it was and has been held and affirmed by all the Universities of Christendome whence it will follow that whilst the Roman Church boasteth her self superior to all other Churches and the Roman Bishop above all other Bishops by this Decree of Eugenius the Bishop of Rome is made superior to and of higher Authority than the universal Church and consequently the pretended Infallibility of the Church should be derived not now to the Romish Church but to one only man which shews him evidently to be the Antichrist according to that Interpretation of St. Augustine de Civitate Dei Lib. 18. Cap. 2. That Antichrist should not not only sit in Templo Dei in the Temple of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Templum into the Temple As if he himself were the Temple it self and he alone the Church Besides by these Translations let the Christian Reader judge of that Infallibility of the Church represented in a Council since here he sees these Two Councils at one and the same time in one and the same question do decree things directly contrary But 't was not with Paper pellets and spiritual Thunders that this stouthearted Pope Attaqu'd the Council of Basil for a truce being concluded between the Kings of England and France whereby the Soldiers on each part were dismiss'd Eugenius subtlely Inveigles the Dauphin of France afterwards Lewis the 11 th who gathers up near 30000 of those disbanded Troops and marches towards Basil Colouring the Expedition with many remote pretences but indeed with a design to unroost the Fathers there and force them to break up But they were no sooner entered the Territories of Basil but the Cantons of Switzerland hastned to its succour and relief And 4000 Switzers with incredible Valour stood the Shock of all the great Army and continued the Battel all night scarce 150 of them escaping but thereby they put a stop to the enemies advance and preserv'd the City and Council The COURANT. Inter Serpentes et scorpiones Nemo securus Ingreditur St. Hierom. Tory. FOr all your Tatling Catholick Nat tho unhapily Cag'd since I saw you last yet defies the Wooden Ruff and the Whipping-post The good man avows to all the World He has done nothing to be asham'd of Truem. I told you then I should not meddle with the success of his present Adventures Nor will I dispute whether hebemore meritorious better be friended less Guilty or born under more indulgent Stars than his Sister Cellier 'T is certain their ends were the same though they pursued several means her story of Prances being Racks and his of Sir Edmondbery Godfrey's Killing himself being a like design to Sham that Murder from the Papists and load the Justice of the Nation with scandal But all I shall say is that he had long since a prior right and Title to the Pillory for if he be not belied this very Loyal Protestant was the Gentleman that besides some Cart-loads of bare fac'd Popery first Printed and Publisht a certain Libell the Reprinting of which from his Publique Copy after it had many days haunted the Town brought another to that Ignominious stand Tory. Prethee let Nat alone he 's safe enough and I think at this juncture your Faction have little cause to boast Truem. I know not what you mean by Faction for some Folks of late have got new Dictionaries and they call Religion Sedition the Nine and Thirty Articles Fanaticism drunken madness Loyalty horrid damming and swearing zeal for the Church Traiterous Papists good confiding subjects moderate Churchmen the worst sort of Whigs asserting liberty and property though in never so dutifull and legal away
acknowledge him the said Sigismund as King But before this Treaty was fully perfected Ziska dies Some say that he should bequeath his Skin to make a Drum of or that his followers should carry it about with them thinking thereby to fright their Enemies but this I conceive but a Fable and yet 't is little more than what our valiant King Edw. the 1 st did who on his Death-bed commanded that his Bones well boil'd from the flesh should in a fit Vessel be carried about by his Son 'till he had Conquer'd the Scots telling his Son that as long as he had his Fathers Bones with him none should overcome him This is certain that after his Death the Bohemians call'd themselves Orphans as having lost the common Father of their Country man nor will it be amiss to insert here his Epitaph written on his Tomb in the City of Tabor as we find it before the History of the Abbot of Vrsperge I John Ziska rest here in the skill of Military Affairs not inferiour to any of the Emperours or famous Captains of old A severe scourge of the pride and covetousness of Clergy-men and a most valiant Defender of my Country That which Appius Claudius being blind did for the Romans in well counselling and furious Camillus in valiantly exploiting the same have I done for my Bohemians I was never wanting to the good fortune of the war nor it to me I have foreseen though blind all advantages and opportunities of well doing and with Ensigns display'd have fought eleven times in the open Field ever victorious It seemed to me most fit and honourable to take in hand the most just cause of the miserable and hungry against the delicate fat and full-cram'd Priests and in this doing I have found the assistance of God giving a Blessing to my arms if their envy had not hindred it no doubt I should have merited to be numbred amongst the illustrious men nevertheless my Bones lye here in this sacred place without asking the Pope any leave and in spight of his Teeth John Ziska the Bohemian an Enemy of Priests that are covetous of dishonest gain but in a godly zeal After his death the Pope and Emperour thinking the Hussites much discouraged thereby as in truth they were sent several great Armies against them but still they were strangely discomfited for the Bohemians saith Monstrelet feared neither death nor torments their very Women took arms and fought and the dead Bodies of many of that Sex were found amongst the slain in several Battels Wherefore being not able to extirpate them by War they are invited to come in order to hearing their demands and giving them satisfaction to the Council of Basil Indeed most of the Bohemian Churches being sensible of the perfidious treachery used to Huss and Jerome at Constance were loth to send any Deputies thither but the Nobility over-rul'd the matter that some should be dispatcht to render a Reason for the Innovations in Religion laid to their charge Commissioners were therefore chosen and sent amongst whom the most eminent were John Rokizane of Prague and Nicholas Episcopius of the Taborens both famous Divines and of the Nobility Procopius the General of the Taborens and William Rastka Baron of Postupiez and others who being honourably conducted in their passage and courteously received at Basil They declared that at Constance they had been condemn'd unheard though they held nothing but according to the Scriptures and then exhibited the four Requests and Articles following desiring that the Council would grant them or allow them to defend them by Argument 1. That the use of the Cup may be restored to the people and that the Service of the Church might be in their own Tongue 2. That Clerks or Ministers might usurp no Authority in Seculars 3. That the word of God might be freely Preached without disturbance 4. That there may be publick punishment of publick offences These Articles being read the Popes Legate demanded if they had nothing else to propound because he had heard it reported that they affirmed that the Orders of Monks were from the Devil Procopius made answer from whence else I pray can they derive their original which was instituted neither by the Patriarchs nor Prophets neither by Christ nor his Apostles However a Conference was appointed and 40 days some say 50 the Disputation lasted and when the Bohemians could not be confuted by Arguments they were at last wheadled into a composition John Rokisane being himself corrupted with the hopes of an Arch-bishoprick seduced others of the Commissioners and so matters were subtilly carried that leave being given by the Council that they should enjoy the use of the Cup in other matters they were brought to consent These four Articles with some Explanations were afterwards named the Concord and Commissioners were sent into Bohemia from the Council and Emperour to declare that Realm was received again into the Bosome of the Church and a Diet being there Assembled on that occasion Rokisane very rhetorically explained and magnified the benefits of this agreement whereby so much War Bloodshed and Devastation as otherwise might have happen'd to the Kingdom was prevented and now he was pleased to mention the Pope and Cesar in other Language than heretofore when he was wont to stile the one the Whore and the other the Beast This Rokisane continued a pitiful Hypocrite long after and at last died uncomfortably Anno 1471. The craft of the Council in granting the Cup to the Bohemians provided in all other things they would submit was considerable for hereby they set at variance the Calixstines and the Taborites and consequently prevented all their further endeavours of Reformation and the pure professors of the Gospel henceforwards were as much hated and persecuted by those that enjoy'd the use of the Cup as by those that disown'd it It was no little grief to many especially of the zealous Taâ—orites to depart in this manner from the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ delivered to them by Huss and return again to the profession of the Church of Rome nor could they ever be wholly brought over to embrace it but the truth has remained still amongst them and great Persecutions have they suffered even to our times as by the History thereof brought down to the year 1632. and Printed at London Anno 1650. appears To return to the Council of Basil the other most material Decrees they made were 1. That no Actions Suits or Controversies should by Appeals be carried up to be decided in the Courts at Rome which were above four days distant from thence 2. A Regulation of the Cardinals that they should not be above 24 in number and to exclude the Popes Nephews and Kindred from that office 3. Against the payment of Annals or first fruits to the Pope 4. Against Priests keeping Concubines 5. They brought two new Holy-days into the Church viz. The Conception and the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary As long as
quâ sine maculâ peccato processisti c. Blessed be St. Anne thy mother of whom without spot or sin thou didst proceed c. Where are now the Dominicans who Preached the contrary Doctrine the most Holy most infallible Monster you see has concluded the point against them Next came Pius the 3 d in the year 1503. he was an Old decripite fellow and lived not above a month then upstarts that Hector Julius the second for before ever the Cardinals met he had made his Party by Bribes and fair promises and so without ever shutting the doors of the Consistory was declared Pope his first business was to Marry a Bastard Girle he had named Felix to one of the Vrsini and his next was to drive the French out of Italy he took Cesena and Forolivio from Caesar Borgia the Son of Pope Alexander the 6 th Expell'd the Family of Bentivogli with their Wives and Children out of Bononia Excommunicated the Venetians and gave their Lands to the first that could take them Interdicted Alphonso Duke of Ferrara and made open War against him because he took part with the French and went in person to the seige of Mirandula And passing once over the Bridge of Tyber with a naked sword in his hand he flung the Keys into the River which gave occasion to that Epigram Hic Gladius Pauli nos nunc defendit ab Hoste Quandoquidem Clavis nil suvat ista Petri. Since Peter's Keys with Foes can not prevail This sword of Paul to save us shall not fail And Monstrelet the Historian thus describes him He left the Chair of St. Peter and took upon him the Title of Mars the God of War displaying in the field his Triple Crown and spending his Nights in the Watch. What a goodly sight was it to see the Mitres Crosses and Crosier staves Flying up and down the Field sure no Divels could be there where Benedictions were sold so cheap Upon this Lewis of France and Maximilian the Emperour resolve to call a Council at Pisa and to summon this Pope thither as being notoriously scandalous incorrigible a Fomenter of Wars and altogether unfit for the Popedome and though the Pope used means to take off the Emperour yet Lewis persisted and caused certain Medals to be Coyned upon which was Inscribed these words Perdam Babylonem I will destroy Babylon and on some of them perdam Babylonis nomen I will destroy the Name of Babylon By which 't is evident he meant Rome so that the notion of its being Babylon is neither new nor set on foot by Protestants though 't is true his Holiness was herewith so much offended that by his Bull he took away from the French King the Title of Most Christian and offer'd the same to Henry the 8 th of England then one of the Popes white Boy 's on whom afterward was bestow'd that of defender of the Faith but God be thanked our Protestant Brittish Monarchs as they yet usually retain the one so they may justly when they shall think fit assume the other without being beholding to a raskally Divels Priest for either of them In opposition to the Council of Pisa Pope Julius sets up a Conventicle under that name in the Lateran at Rome who Excommunicate the other folks and damn all their proceedings but â—n the heat of their Carier Julius dies on whom those that knew him bestow'd these Epigrams Fraude capit totum Mercator Julius Orbem Vendit enim Caelos non habet Ipse tamen By fraud that Huckster Julius scrapes up pelf For Heaven he sells yet hath it not himself And again Genui tui Patrem Genitricem Graecia Partum Pontus unda dedit nunc Bonus esse potest Fallaces Ligures mendax est Grecia Ponto Nulla fides in te haec singula Jule tenes From Genua and Greece his Parents blood At Sea he had his Birth can he be good The Genoe's alway false Greeks Liars be Faithless the Sea all Julius meet in thee In a word the Popedome of Julius was so imperious and barbarous that the Cardinals were upon the point of â—â—â—ding the next that should sucâ—eed in that See to the good behaviour and prescribing certain Râ—les whereby â—e should Act but what a pretty Torisme is it to hedge in a Cuckow guide Infallibility and bound the perrogative of the Chair which according to modern Casuists is unliâ—iâ—table he dyed in the year 1513 in the 10 th year of his pontificate and the greatest Enology that Ouuphrius himself can bestow on him is that he was Bellicâ Gloriâ plusquam pontificem deceret Clarus More famous for war like Glory than became a Pope The next was John de Medicis a very pretty forward Child for he got to be an Archbishop almost before he had left his Go-Cart and at Thirteen years of age was made a Cardinal and at 37 arriv'd at the Popedome by the name of Leo the 1â— th On his Coronation day he spent an Hundred Thousand Dâ—â—â—tes and in one morning the Colledge of Cardinals câ—nsenting say our Author for fear not of free will he Created one and Thirty Cardinals amongst whom were two of his Nephews He continu'd the Council of Lateran conven'd by his Predecessor and extinguisht that of Pisa he exacted great summs of mony throughout all Europe by his Legates under pretence of making War against the Turks and his Prodigality causing continual want he used saith Guiccardine very licentiously the Authority of the Holy See and spread abroad throughout all the World without any difference of times and places most ample Indullgences not only to succour the Living but also to deliver the Souls of the departed out of the pains of Purgatory And it being notorious that such Indulgences were granted only to rook people of their mony there arose thereby many scandals especially in Germany where his Ministers for a very small price sold these braided Wares and in Taverns play'd away at Dice the power of delivering Souls out of Purgatory and the money thus raised he gave to his Sister Magdalene who appointed the Bishop of Arembauld her Commissary for that business which place he executed with exceeding great Covetousness and Extortion so that Preachers were not asham'd to publish in their Pulpits that at the sound of the mony as it was cast into their Bason the Souls skipp'd for joy amidst the flames and presently flew out of Purgatory and that whoever gave 10 Soulz might deliver thence what Soul he pleased but if there was but one farthing less they would do nothing These horrible abuseâ—s being thus daily without all shame committed it pleased God to raise up Martin Luther who first began to inveigh only against such exorbitant Indnlgences about the year 1516. but afterwards the Pope instead of Reformation sending forth his Thunderbolts against him he grew more wearily to scan the Doctrines of the Roman Church and so open'd a way for the Reformation which hence may properly bare date and therefore here as an happy and very proper period we shall give a Conclusion to this 4 th Volume SOLI GLORIA SOLA DEO The COURANT. Tory. THe truth is 't was a great disappointment and has utterly spoil'd the wit of an Health to Blewcap but are not your Whiggs at Chichester most abominable Varlets to Massacre our Reverend Father's Jades at this rate Truem. Yes indeed Nat Thomson and L'Estrange I see resolve to make Martyrs of the poor Beasts one of the Roman Emperours made his Horse Lord Mayor and an Ass you know tutor'd the Prophet why then may not an Episcopal Steed be Sainted We men of Kent I remember got long-tails by being uncivil to Bishop Beckets Nag and who knows what heavy Judgments may befall these Clowns of Sussex for such a damnable Plot against Old Roan or sorrell Ecclesiastick but the truth is all the whole story is a Ly the Phanaticks kill'd my Lord the Bishops Horses no more than they burnt London and yet Roger L'Estrange has charg'd them with both Tory. Well! let the Horses go to the Dogs oâ—ly as long unburied as the fellow did a few years ago but in the mean time what can you say touching the man that was slain there the other day Truem. There was a fellow fit for the Imployment that took upon him to be an Informer but staying too long after the Brandy bottle the Meeting it seems was broke up this loss of a Jobb and the Liquor together enrag'd him to that degree that he must needs break a worthy Gentleman's Windows whose Coachman going out to enquire the cause of that Burglary the Informer not only abus'd his Master with vile Language but assaulted the Coachman who in his own defence laid him in the Kennell but no sooner had he recover'd his Leggs but away he runs to the Man 's you wot on to make his sad Complaint how he had suffer'd by the Whigs for serving the Church Into the Celler he is carryed for a Cup of Benediction and Consolation and being Drunk before adds to the debauch and so good Night Now this accident is to be fill'd to the Dissenters account and you must needs believe that he dyed by means of the scuffle between him and the Coachman But pray tell us what makes Squire Hodge so desparately mad with the Parliaments and fall so foul on their priviledges at this juncture I hope we are not like to have one this Winter Tory. No no Hang 'um we all hate the very name the Popes Holiness himself would be as well pleas'd to hear of a General Council as we of a Parliament You see Roger aforesaid makes it Rebellion and half seas over to Forty one to expect an annual Parliament though there are a Brace or two of as fair laws for it as any in the Statute Book Truem. I never wonder to hear naughty Boys rail against Birch no doubt the Gentleman's Journey to Holland cost him Mony and he may be allow'd now to swagger don't you remember how the Collier huffâ— against the Mayor when he was got out of the Liberties Tory. Yes but his saying 'tother day that Rebellion always attended the Reformation was a little to broad I left a note last Night at Sam 's to caution him to more prudence for if he go on at this rate the people will conclude him a Papist though Prance should never make a word on 't Printed for Langley Curtis 1682.