THE VVoefull crie of Rome Containing a defiance to popery With Thomas Bells second challenge to all fauorites of that Romish faction Succinctly comprehending much variety of matter full of honest recreation and very profitable and expedient for all sorts of people but especially for all simply seduced Papists Goe out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receiue not of her plagues Apocal. 18.4 LONDON Printed by T.C. for William Welby and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Grayhound 1605. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber TO THE RIGHT HONOVRAble my very good Lord Thomas the Lord of Ellesmere Lord high Chauncellour of England SAint Paul that chosen Vessell of God Right Honourable made a base reckoning of all other things in the world in respect of the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. This knowledge was so deare to the Princely Prophet Dauid that he desired to be but a doore-keeper in Gods house rather then to dwel in the goodly Pallaces of great Parsonages esteeming one day better in Gods Church then a thousand otherwhere This knowledge yeelded so sweete a sauour in the nosethrels of holy Moses that he chose rather to be the childe of God then to be called the sonne of King Phoraohs daughter This knowledge was to the wisest King so precious that hee reputed it not onely the beginning of wisedome but euen the finall ende which he aymed at with the loue of which knowledge hee was so rauished Oh most excellent knowledge that hauing in his owne free election what hee would receiue at Gods hands hee desireth neither long life which the greater part of people thirst after nor riches which are the greatest ioyes of al couetous worldlings nor yet the death of his enemies which the dauncing Damosell preferred before a Kingdome but he humbly asked an vnderstanding heart that he might discerne between good and euil and iudge aright Gods people committed to his charge a most wise and holy request This petition pleased God so well that he gaue the King a wise and vnderstanding heart so that there was neuer any either before or after him comparable or like vnto him And no marueile that the true Children of God desire the true knowledge of God before all other things For as our Sauiour himselfe teacheth vs this knowledge is life eternall the ioy of all ioyes But my good Lord it may here bee demaunded how this most excellent knowledge can bee attained To which I answere euen by dilligent reading of the holy Scriptures For Saint Paul writing vnto Timothie commendeth his knowledge in the holy Scriptures which he had attained of a childe and he yeeldeth this reason therof because forsooth saith the Apostle the Scriptures are able to make him wise vnto saluation Is this possible is it so indeed euen so doubtlesse Gods Spirit cannot lye Howe then commeth it to passe that the late Byshops of Rome now Cat ' e'xochen called Popes doe this day suppresse the light of the Gospel and forbid the Lay-people to read the holy Scriptures in their vulgar language How chanceth it that none may read any Commentaries vpon the old and newe Testament nor any other bookes compiled for the furtherāce of mans knowledge in that behalfe vnlesse either the said bookes Commentaries be composed by professed papists or the readers being the Popes sworne vassals haue his dispensation and licence so to doe This my good Lord is the reason that cannot in truth be denied They that doe euill hate the light fearing that it should reproue their naughtie deedes And for this end is it that the Pope can not endure the manifestation of Gods word which is a lanterne vnto our feete a bright shining light vnto our soules directing vs the path-way to heauen For this light if the pope did not smoother it vnder the ashes and violently keepe it vnder a bushell would in short time so enlighten the hearts of all well disposed people that all the world would detest the Pope all popish superstition heresies and blasphemies and all his bloodie tyrannicall and plaine antichristian dealing In regard hereof most honourable Baron and most worthy zealous christian vpright and religious Magistrate because it is not enough for a Christian to know God himselfe but he must withall heartily wish and effectually procure so much as lyeth in him that others may also know and worship the euer-liuing God with him I haue employed my studie diligence care and industrie to deliuer a very compendious enchiridion to al simple seduced Papists to other thankfull Readers wherein they may behold as cleerely as the noone-day the original of popish falsly pretended Primacie the meanes by which the Byshops of Rome aspired thereunto the royall titles and power plaine diuine ascribed to the Popes the liues maners and conversation of Popes the rotten foundations vpon which and by which Poperie is builded and vnderpropped the originall and sundry grounds of Popish Purgatorie the vanitie and vncertaintie of Popish Succession the popish execrable Excommunications Superstitions Adorations and many other matters of great moment By the due and serious consideration whereof the indifferent Reader cannot but behold the abhomination of late Romish Religion and consequently loath detest and vtterly renounce the same for euer The worke such as it is I haue dedicated vnto your Honour for two speciall causes First to intimate to the world my inward conceiued comfort ioy and solace which either is or at least ought to bee common to my selfe with all other honest and true harted English Subiects of your Lordships most honorable zealous christian conscionable vpright painefull and religious care vigillancie holy constant indeuours vnder God and his most exellent Maiestie both for the indifferencie of iustice extended at al persons aswel to the poore as to the rich which is not the vsuall practise of many Magistrates alas for the pittie and also generally for the common good and peaceable gouernment of this Kingdome Secondly to giue at the least some smal signification of a thākfull minde where power is wanting for your Lordships most honourable yea vnspeakable fauours towards me from time to time euen such and so great as without which I could not this day breathe vppon earth much lesse make vse of my small talent Quod sentio quam sit exiguum for the common good of others The Almightie giue your Lordship many long ioyfull and happy yeares with much increase of vertue holy zeale and true honour in this life and with life eternall in the world to come Amen From my Studie this first of Aprill 1605. Your Lordships most humble and bounden T. Bell. Thomas Bels defiance to Poperie with a second challenge CHAP. I. Of the originall of Popish Primacie I Haue proued at large elsewhere how Poperie crept into the Curch by peece-meale and how she receiued her daily
many Lordly titles and more then royall power ascribed to the Pope addeth these expresse words Sed glossatores iuris hoc dominium dederunt Papae cum ipsi essent pauperes rebus doctrina Englished thus But the Glossers and Interpreters of the Popes lawe gaue this dominion and these royall titles vnto the Pope themselues being blind Bayards and beggerly fellowes Thus writeth the Popes learned Doctour and religious Fryer by whose verdict it is most apparant to the world that pouertie and ignorance two gallant Romish courtiers were the beginning of al royall Pope-dom And no maruaile for by reason of their pouertie they flattered and sought to please the Pope and by reason of their ignorance they desperately published many things which they did not vnderstand The vsual practise of Papists in their Commentaries Bookes and Glosses hath bin such so intollerable in wresting the holy Scriptures as their owne deare brethren and great Doctors can not for shame denie or conceale the same Polidorus Virgilius a famous papist hath these words Non secus isti iurisconsulti aliquoties detorquent sacras literas quò volunt ac sutores sordidas solent dentibus extendere pelles Englished thus These popish Legists and Canonists doe now and then so wrest and writhe the holy Scriptures to that sense which themselues like best euen as Coblers do gnaw with their teeth and stretch out their filthy skinnes 1 Out of these words I obserue first that this Polidore was a great Papist himselfe and consequently that his testimonie must needes be of great force against the Papists Secondly that he speaketh not of the meanest and worst sort of Papists but euē of their best renowmed Doctors viz. of Hostiensis their grand and famous Doctor Thirdly that their mangling and wresting of the holy Scriptures is most intollerable that without the same they cannot possibly maintaine their wicked doctrine This is that which Doctor Fisher the late Byshoppe of Rochester hath freely confessed in his answere to the Articles of M. Luther which hee could not in truth withstand or gainesay These are his expresse wordes Contendentibus itaque nobiscum haereticis nos alio subsidio nostram oportet tueri causam quam scriptura sacrae Englished thus Therefore when Heretiques contend with vs we must defend our cause by other meanes then by the holy Scripture These are the very expresse wordes I neither adde any thing nor take any thing away of their owne famous popish byshop of their owne holy Saint of their glorious martyr a learned man in deed who laboured with might and maine for the popes vsurped soueraigntie and defended the same in the best manner he was able and to the vttermost of his skill And yet for all that hee hath boulted out vnawares against his will such is the force of trueth which must needs in time preuaile so much in plaine tearmes as is sufficient to ouerthrow all poperie for euer and to cause all people that haue any care of their saluation to renounce the pope his abominable doctrine to their liues end For our popish Byshoppe being put to his best trumpe telleth vs plainely and without all dissimulation his mouth being now opened by him who caused Balaams Asse to speake that they must not because forsooth they cannot defend and mantaine their poperie by the authoritie of the Scripture but by some other way and meanes Viz. by mans forged inuentions and popish vnwritten vanities which they terme the Churches Traditions Now gentle Reader how can any papist who is not giuen vp in Reprobum sensum for his iust deserts read such testimonies against poperie freely confessed and plainely published to the world and that by the pennes of most learned and renowned papists euen while they bestirre themselues busily to defend their pope and his popish doctrine for all that continue papists stil and be carryed away headlong into perdition beleeuing obeying that doctrine which as themselues confesse cannot be defended by the holy Scripture Me-thinkes they should bee ashamed to hold and beleeue that doctrine in defence whereof they can yeeld no better reason Alas alas how hath the late Romish Church seduced vs CHAP. III. Of kissing the Popes feet TOuching the kissing of the Popes feet the truth is this that some Christian kings and Emperours vppon a blinde zeale not grounded in knowledge did humble themselues to the Byshops of Rome and did yeeld vp their soueraigne rights vnto them and thereby opened the windowe to all Antichristian tyrannie For in short time after the Romish Byshoppes became so Lordly and insolent that they tooke roundly vpon them to despose the Emperours to translate their Empires to dispose at their owne pleasures of their royal scepters regalties Yea to be reuerenced honored and adored as Gods for that end must al faithfull Christians kisse the Popes feete Here for the better credite of mine assertion I will put downe the flat testimonie of their Saint Antoninus their religious Fryer who was sometime the Arch-byshop of Florence These are his expresse words Nulli ergo angelo commissa iurisdictio cura totius orbis sed papae totius mundi iurisdictio cura commissa est cum solum vt nomine mundi importatur terza sed etiam vt nomine mundi importatur caelum que super calum terram iurisdictione accepit Sequitur vnde papae recipit a fidelibus adorationes prostrationes oscula pedum quod non permisit angelus a Iohanne Euangelista sibi fieri Englished thus Therefore the iurisdiction and charge of the whole world is committed to none of the Angels but the iurisdiction and care of the whole world is committed to the Pope not onely as the name of the world doth import the earth but euen as it doth also signifie Heauen because hee hath receiued iurisdiction both ouer Heauen and Earth Wherefore the Pope receiueth of the faithfull adorations prostrations and the kissing of his feete which thing the Angel would not suffer Iohn the Euangelist to doe vnto him Thus writeth this popish Doctor For the better vnderstanding of whose discourse I note First that this Antoninus was not a bare papist but a man of great authoritie and high esteeme among the papists Viz. a canonized Saint a religious Fryer a Dominican and a most reuerend Arch-bishop and consequently that whatsoeuer he hath deliuered either touching the pope or poperie must needes bee of good credite and great force against the papists Secondly that the popes power and authoritie doth farre exceed the power of Angels Thirdly that the pope hath iurisdiction not onely ouer the earth but also ouer heauen it selfe Fourthly that by the reason of this exceeding and surpassing power the pope doth admit and receiue that homage which the Angel refused and prohibited S. Iohn to doe vnto him Alas alas how hath the late Romish Church deceiued vs CHAP. IIII. Of power ascribed to the pope The
sequitur respondeo istos omnes canones loqui de errore pontificis personali non iudiciali Englished thus Many canons teach that the pope cannot be iudged vnlesse hee bee an Heretique therefore he may bee an Heretique otherwise those canons should be all in vaine I answere that all those canons speake of the personall not of the iudiciall error of the pope This is the clarkly resolution of our Iesuite and consequently of the Pope himselfe Vignerius a very learned and famous popish Fryer hath these expresse wordes Si dicatur summus pontifex errare potest in animo suo concipere aliquem articulum orthodoxae fidei contrarium etiam privatim proferre vt legitur de Anastasio secundo si ergo posset novum symbolum edere fides ecclesiae vnius hominis periculo subâ—aceret dicendum quod summus pontifex vt privata persona errare potest non tamen vt est summus pontifex ideo si vt privata persona symbolum edere tentaret non esset symbolum maxime vbi a vera fide deviaret Englished thus If any say that the pope may erre and conceiue in his heart any article contrarie to the Catholique Faith and also vtter the same priuately as we reade of pope Anastasius the second if therefore he could make a newe Creed the faith faith of the Church should be subiect to the hazard of one man wee answerre that the pope may erre as a priuate person but not as pope or the high Byshop Therefore if hee should make a Creede as a priuate man it should bee no Creede at all especially when hee swarued from the right Faith Thus writeth Vignerius beholde here gentle Reader vppon what rotten stuffe the papists would haue vs to builde and ground our Faith Wee must belieue that the Pope cannot erre and yet are wee sure that hee can erre and that he hath already erred in very deede We must likewise belieue that he cannot but teach the truth and yet must wee also belieue that he both can teach heresie and bee an Heretique himselfe We must yet further belieue as I haue proued else where that it is sacriledge to dispute of the popes power and all this notwithstanding wee must perforce both dispute of his power and straitly examine his doctrine as also knowe assuredly whether hee speaketh publiquely as a publique man or priuately as a priuate man and neuerthelesse when wee haue done all that possibly we can wee knowe no more what to thinke or say of his doctrine preaching or writing but with preaching popes now adayes doe not trouble men then when wee haue an Eele by the taile For when the pope shall tell mee that I must beleeue this and that if then he speake as a priuate man where is my faith it is no faith at all and why because forsooth the pope spake as a priuate man Ah syr here is both fast and loose here is legerdemain indeed For if wee charge the pope with heresie or errour answere will bee made with speede that hee spake or wrote personally as hee was a priuate man not iudicially as he was a publique man Truly this is a very lage prerogatiue which the papists ascribe vnto their pope and a very hard matter it is to gainsay or withstand the same Yet by the popes good fauour a verie famous and as learned a pope as euer was pope Adrianus by name doth constantly roundly controwle confute the same These are his expresse wordes as the zealous religious and learned papist Alphonsus de Castro reporteth and rehearseth them Sexta haeresis docet nullam animam ante diem iudicij esse beatam quum vt ait nulla anima ante illum diem videt deum huius haerefeos authores sunt Armeni eandem etiam tuentur Graeci post istos surrexit Iohannes 22. huius nominis pontifex Sed ne verbis meis aliquis in hac parte deroget verba Adriani papae referam qui in suo quarto sententiarum in calce cuiusdam quaestionis de sacramento confirmationis ita ait novissime fertur de Iohanne 22 quod publice docuit declaravit ab omnibus teneri mandavit quod animae purgatae ante finale iudicium non habent stolam quae est clara facialis visio dei vniversitatem Parisiensem ad hoc induxisse dicitur quod nemo in ea poterat gradum in theologia adipisci nisi primitus hunc errorem iurasset se defensurum perpetuo ei adhaesurum haec Adrianus Englished thus The sixt heresie teacheth that no soule is in eternall blisse before the day of Doome because as it saith no soule before that day seeth God the Armenians are the Authors of this heresie yet the Greekes hold the same After these rose vp pope Iohn the twelfth of that name But least any man distrust my wordes in this point I will rehearse the words of pope Adrian who in his fourth booke of sentences in the ende of a certaine question of the sacrament of confirmation saith thus last of all it is reported of pope Iohn the twelfth that he publiquely taught declared coÌ„manded all men to hold this opinion that the soules of the iust haue not the stole before the day of Doome whâ—ch is the cleare and faciall sight of God And it is said that he induced the Vniuersitie of Paris to this that no man should take any degree in the same but he that first did sweare to defend that errour to maintaine the same for euer Thus saith pope Adrian the most excellently learned Byshop that euer was at Rome and the famous religious Fryer Alphonsus a Castro doth constantly defend his Doctrine Out of whose words I note first that pope Adrian saith of Pope Iohn Docuit he taught Secondly he saith Publice publiquely Thirdly he saith Mandauit he commanded all to hold it Fourthly hee saith none could be made graduate in theologie saue onely he that held this opinion Fiftly hee saith euerie graduate did sweare to defend it for euer So then the pope may erre not onely personally as a priuate man but also iudicially as a publique person and pope of Rome and that euen by the flat testimonie of Adrianus who himselfe was also pope of Rome Alas alas how hath the late Romish church bewitched vs. CHAP. XV. Of popish generall councels THat generall popish councels in these our daies are as a nose of waxe flexible to the popes owne good liking the decrees therof as vncertaine as the wind and weather-cocke I haue proued at large else where by the testimonie of best approued popish writers Now I will onely touch in generall words the principall heades thereof referring the reader for the proof of this discourse vnto my booke of motiues First no popish councell is of any force power or authoritie vnlesse it be holden with the popes good liking as also in which place and at what time