not onely the worshippers of Idols themselues but they that should entice or perswade any to Idolatry The execution of which Lawes wee see put in practice vpon the Israelites Gods owne people in the 32. of Exod. and 23. of Numbers Thirdly and lastly in respect of the nature of the sinne which is first a senslesse sinne full of folly contrary to the very light of reason and nature as both the Prophet Dauid and Esay at large proue And secondly a sinne full of impiety because they that worship an Idoll worship the Deuill as S. Paul affirmeth 1. Cor. 10. 20. And lastly a sinne most opposite to the glory of God and consequently sooner procuring the vengeance of God then any other for it is called in the Scripture spirituall fornâ—cation and adulterie because the Idolater forsaketh God and prostituteth himselfe to an Idoll and that in Gods presence And therefore as corporall fornication is the onely cause of diuorce betwixt man and wife so this sinne onely causeth God to diuorce himselfe from his Church and to take from her all her ornaments and Iewels that is his Word and Sacraments and to giue her ouer into the hands of her enemies Thus the greatnesse of this sinne of Idolatry is manifest and from thence I may conclude my first proposition that that Religion which maintayneth and commandeth this sinne so full of folly impiety and contrariety to God is worthy not onely to be suspected but euen abhorred and detested of all men 4. But let vs come to the examination of the second proposition to wit whether the Church of Rome bee guilty of this great sinne or no. The Romanists mainly denie it as they haue great reason for if their Religion bee proued to maintaine Idolatrie they know that it must needes fall to the ground and therefore they deuise all manner of shifts to deliuer themselues from this imputation But we on the other side confidently affirme it and that the world may see wee doe it not without great reason wee confirme our affirmation with this strong argument Whosoeuer ascribeth diuine honour to any creature is an Idolater but the Romanists ascribe diuine honour to many creatures therefore they are Idolaters and lest any should thinke this to bee the errour of priuate persons and not the heresie of their Religion I adde vnto the Minor that all the Romanists doe this from the very grounds of their faith and that in so doing they are warranted from their Religion it selfe 5. They deny both the Maior and Minor proposition in this argument and in denying them especially the Maior they giue iust cause of vehement suspition if not of plaine demonstration that they are guilty of the crime whereof wee accuse them for if a thiefe standing at the barre being accused of a robbery by the high way side should answere that to take money from a man by the high way side at Noone-day was not theft all men would thinke that hee was guilty of the robbery and so the Iurie would finde him then certainely the Romanists by denying this to be the true definition of Idolatry which is propounded in the first proposition bewray their owne guiltinesse and giue vs more cause to suspect them then we had before 6. But let vs heare their shifts they principally are two one of Bellarmine the other of Valentia two maine posts in the house of Popery Bellarmine would faine vndermine this proposition to giue to creatures diuine honour is Idolatry by a distinction betwixt an Idol and an Image affirming that an Image is the similitude of a thing that hath a true being but an Idol of a sained thing that indeed is not and therevpon he seemes to conclude that to ascribe diuine honour to some Images is not Idolatry because euery Image is not an Idoll In the proofe of this distinction he labours much and profits little for like the heedlesse fish hee leapes out of the Frying-pan into the fire and tyes the knot faster which he would seeme to vntie for first all the Idolatry of the Church of Rome consisteth not in worshipping of Images but in many other things as shall appeare in the Discourse following Secondly if to worship the Image of a true thing be not Idolatry then the Gentiles were not Idolaters in worshipping the Image of Iupiter and Mars and Diana and Romulus and Aesculapius and the Sunne because as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth all the Idols of the Gentiles were the statues of men And Saint Augustine also affirmeth That the Gentiles did worship those things which were in being but were not to bee worshipped and then the Israelites did not commit Idolatry in the Wildernesse when they adored the golden Calfe nor was that Calfe an Idoll contrary to the expresse Text of Scripture Acts 7. 41. because it was a representation of a true thing namely of the true Iehouah as it is euident Exodus 32. 5. Thirdly let it be graunted that an Idoll is onely the similitude of an imaginary and fained thing yet will not this acquite them of Idolatry seeing they worship in the Romish Church the Images of things which either neuer were or were not such as they are taken to bee as the Image of S. Katharine and Saint Christopher and Saint George and such others the truth whereof they are not able to proue by any approoued Historie Nay it is confessed that many are worshipped in the Church as Saints which are tormented in hell fire for their sinnes This shift therefore of Bellarmine to wipe off the blot of Idolatry is but a silly one and blurres them more then they were before 7. Gregory de Valentia labours to creepe out at another hole to wit not by a distinction but by addition for hee would adde vnto the definition of Idolatry these words sicut Deo as to God and so Idolatry should bee not a giuing of diuine honour to a creature but when it is so giuen to the creature as vnto God Wherein as he vnmannerly crosseth his fellow Iesuite in calling the Images of Christ Idols and saying that they are to bee worshipped latria with diuine honour the one whereof Bellarmine simply and absolutely denyeth and the other he alloweth but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respectiuely so likewise â—e crosseth reason Scripture Fathers and consequently all sound diuinity 8. For Reason If an adulteresse woman being taken in bâ—d with another man should excuse her selfe thus I am not guilty of adultery because though I lent the vse of my body to a stranger yet I did it not to him as vnto my husband would this excuse her no it would rather adde vnto her crime So the Romish harlot committing spirituall fornication with her Idols when shee goeth about to colour her crime with tâ—is vermillion I giue diuine honour indeed to Images but yet not as vnto God What doth shee else but adde carâ—all impudency vnto spirituall vnchastitie A filthy stopple
thereof 18. This is Bellarmines But to the first I answere That though the people ought to doe so that is adore vpon condition which notwithstanding is a thing neuer heard of before in any diuine worship and implieth necessity of danger yet because not one amongst a thousand doe so hauing neuer heard that distinction once named in their liues nor vnderstanding what it meaneth therefore they are for this neuer a whit freed from Idolatry To the second I answere that oftentimes the Priest hath neither actuall nor vertuall intention for what intent had the Monke Bernhardine that poysoned the hoast to the intent that he might poyson the Emperour Henry of Lucenburgh as he also did at the instigation of Robert King of Sicily What intent had that Priest that either did or would haue poysoned Pope Victor the second as witnesseth Baronius or those Priests that poysoned William Archbishop of Yorke for hee was poysoned at the Masse by the treason of his owne Chaplins both with that which was in the Chalice If the Priest bee an Athiest as many of the Popes themselues were what intention haue they of consecrating Christs body when they beleeue not that Christ hath a body or that there is a Christ now liuing in the heauens and sitting at the right hand of his Father to be present in the Sacrament or what intention can they haue to doe that which the Church doth when as they beleeue not that there is a Church but that all Religion is a fable and a matter of policy Here must needes be grosse and notable Idolatry by their owne confession for I argue Ex concessis that is out of their owne grounds So that we must iustly conclude notwithstanding all their distinctions and shifts that the Church of Rome in worshipping the consecrated hoast and that with such worship as is due vnto God is guilty of Artolatry that is of worshipping a piece of bread in stead of God then which what can be more Heathenish and palpable Idolatry 19. Secondly wee indite them of Idolatry for that they teach that Images are to bee worshipped with diuine worship and in their practice they giue vnto stockes and stones the honour which belongeth vnto God For this is their doctrine that the Images of the blessed Trinity and of Christ and of the Virgin Mary the mother of Christ and of other Saints are to be had and retained especially in Churches ijsque debitum honorem venerationem impertiandam and that due honour and worship is to be giuen vnto them they be the words of the Councill of Trent Now what that due honour and worship is that is a great question among them some thinke it is the same which appertaineth to the persons whom they represent as if it be the Image of God or Christ then it is to be worshipped latria that is with the highest degree of worship if of the Virgin Mary then with a little lower degree called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if of the Saints then with the lowest which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this is the tenet of many of their Rabbies as reporteth Vasques the Iesuite to wit Aquinas Caietane Bonauenture Alexander Coster and diuers others Others thinke that the Image is not to be worshipped at all but onely the Samplar before the Image Of this opinion were Durandus Alphonsus de Castro and some others but it is confuted by Catharine and vtterly reiected by Bellarmine A third sort were of opinion that Images ought to bee worshipped in themselues and properly with a lesse honour then the Samplar and therefore that no Image was to be worshipped with Latria Of this opinion were Peresius Catharinus Sanders Gabriel c. But the Councill of Trent which is their Church in the wordes of the decree and Bellarmine which is their chiefe champion doe manifestly incline to the first opinion for this is the summe of his propositions First that the Images of Christ the Saints are to be worshipped not onely by accident and improperly but euen by themselues and properly so that they doe limit the worship as they are Images and not onely as they stand in stead of their patternes Secondly that in truth and deed Images may be worshipped with the same kind of worship which belongeth vnto their patternes improperly and by accident and so with Latria in that condition Thirdly and lastly that though this be true yet especially in the pulpits and before the people it is not to be said that Images are to bee worshipped with this kind of worship but rather the contrary Heere is excellent diuinity the people must not bee taught the truth nay the contrary rather which is a lie and that in the pulpit beholde here a doctor of lies and that by his owne confession whilst he goeth about to maintaine Images which Habacuk calleth doctors of lies Hab. 2 18. 20. This is the summe of their doctrine Out of all which these three conclusions doe arise First that the blessed Trinity that sacred and incomprehensible deitie by their doctrine may be pictured on a wall and worshipped in or at an Image yea that such an Image ought at least improperly bee worshipped with the same worship that is due vnto God himself as whē they picture God the Father in the similitude of an old man God the Son in the likenes of a yong child God the holy Ghost in the likenesse of a Doue which the Scripture in the second Commandement condemneth as Idolatrie and that the intendment of that Commandement is not against the Images of false gods onely as the Romanists would haue it but also of the true Iehouah Moses the best expounder of himselfe teacheth most plainely Deut. 4. 16. when hee saith Take heed that you make not to your selues any grauen Image or representation of any figure for you saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire and the Prophet Esay confirming the same exposition saith To whom will you liken God or what similitude will yee set vp vnto him Esay 40. 18. as if he should say it is impossible to represent God by any likenesse or similitude If they reply that they worship not the Image but God in the Image I answer First that the very Image of God is an Idoll by this Commandement and therefore the erecting of it to a religious vse is Idolatry Secondly that it is false which they say that they worship not the Image but God in the Image for their doctrine is contrary as hath beene shewed and their practice is contrary as shall be declared hereafter Thirdly though it be true which they alledge yet the worshipping of God before an Image is Idolatry for when the children of Israel worshipped the two golden calues at Dan and Bethel they were not such calues to worship the outward calues but
at Saint Mary Maior and a third at Treuers the Cup wherein Iohn the Euangelist drunke the poyson after he was condemned by Domitian is both at Bononia and at Rome to be seene Saint Anne hath three bodies one at Apla another at Prouince and a third at Lyons and so her head is in three places at Treuers at Turen and at Thuring Lazarus the Brother of Marie is like wise a Gyant of three bodies one of them is at Massilia another at Angustodune and the third at Auelona 38. Iâ— would fill a volume if I should reckon vp all their strange relicks Let him that desireth to see more of them reade Caluins Tractate called Admonitio de Reliquijs where he shall finde a whole thraue of them I for this time end with three or foure braue ones for the nonce which are worthy neuer to be forgotten It is written of Dunstane the Abbot of Glastenbury that as he was hallowing a certaine Church he beheld the right thumbe of Editha then Abbesse of Wilton as shee was crossing and blessing her forhead and much delighting therein hee tooke it into his hand and said Neuer might this thumbe perish By vertue of which prayer of his after Edithaes death when all her body was turned into ashes that thumbe and another part of her body which it seemeth he had blessed too were found safe and sound and so became Reliques We read also of a certaine Monke who gaue out that he had brought from the East some of the sound of the Bels which hung in Salomons Temple and that he could shew among other Reliques some of the haires which fell from the Seraphicall Angell when hee came to imprint the fiue wounds of Christ in S. Frauncis body Yea some of them are not ashamed to shew to the Pilgrimes that goe to Ierusalem a three cornerd stone which they beare them in hand is that very stone whereof Dauid spake saying The stone which the builders refused is the head of the corner Lastly at Cour cheuerin neere vnto Blois is kept for a monument the breath of S. Ioseph which he breathed when he claue wood being a Carpenter at Burgos in Spaine is shewne a Crucifix whose nailes and beard are cut euery moneth they grow so fast and in these excrements they say is great vertue At Rome is to bee seene the fore-skinne of our Sauiour which was cut off at his circumcision and in Galicia as Pilgrimes report are preserued some of the feathers of certaine chickens which are of the race of that Cocke which crowed when Peter denied his Master And at S. Denis is to bee seene the Lanthorne which Iudas caried in his hand when he came to betray his Master with a number other such like These bee their goodly Reliques which they would haue men to worship with such great deuotion of all which or at least of most of them we may truly auouch that which Augustine saith of miracles that they are vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum That they are nothing but mere impostures and coozening deuices either of diuels or of auaricious Priests Friers and Monkes to nouzle the people in superstition and to line their owne purses with crownes 39. The bare narration of them is sufficient to bewray their falshood but much more the Logicall contrariety and naturall repugnancie that is among them which all the wit of man is not able to reconcile And last of all their nouelty for most of these Reliques was neuer heard of in this world for three hundred yeeres aftâ—r Christ so that it may iustly be wondred where they lay hid all that while and by what meanes they were found out at last or how they could continue so long If they say they were discouered by diuine reuelation as the bodies of Geruasius and Protasius to S. Ambrose of Stephen and Nichodemus to one Luâ—â—anus and the head of Iohn Baptist to two Monkes and the bones of Abacuk and Michaeas to a certaine Bishop and the body of S. Barnabe with the Gospell of S. Mathew vpon his brest I answere that though all these were true yet they were not reuealed to that end that they should be worshipped neither yet did the God of truth euer by his testimony bolster out such notorious lyes as are found in the Romish Reliques We may confidently therefore conclude that most abominable Idolatry is committed in the Church of Rome by the worshipping at least of false Reliques whereof there is such a swarme for the greatest part of their Reliques being counterfait the greatest part of the worship which is done vnto them must needes be Idolatry 40. The Iesuites to this obiection of ours giue two answeres one is Bellarmines who flatly denieth the Reliques in Churches to be counterfait because none are receiued but by the authority of the Bishop of Rome And as for the multiplicity of bodies hee saith that the parts of them are often found in diuers places and by a figure of speech are called by the name of the whole But the Iesuites answere by his leaue is idle and friuolous for first all these fore-named false Reliques are not caried about by priuate men but found in their Churches and therefore if authorized by the Popes holinesse the more shame for him and the more certainty for vs that he can erre like a sinfull man euen sitting in his chaire of doctrine And secondly though it were true which he saith concerning the bodies of Saints yet it cannot hold in other things as in Iohn Baptists finger and his shooe and the nailes of Christs crosse and the Virgin Maries milke and such like Therefore Vasques the Iesuite hath deuised another answere and that is Though the Reliques be vncertaine and false yet if they bee worshipped it is no sinne but a good worke Because as it is not the sinne of Idolatry saith hee to worship a beame of light vnder which the diuell lurketh when a man taketh it for Christ so if a man worship a false Relique supposing it to bee some true part of a Saint Merito suae deuotionis non caret He wanteth not the merit of his deuotion But this answere is not onely friuolous but impious for by the same reason the Iewes should be cleared from sinne when they crucified Christ because S. Paul saith they did it through zeale though not according to knowledge Rom. 19. 2. and the Gentiles when they put Christians to death because our Sauiour saith that in so dâ—ing they thought they did God good seruice Iohn 16. 2. but they both sinned notwithstanding most grieuously And their owne rule is that ignorantia non excusat à toto sed à tanto that is ignorance doth not excuse the whole fault committed but onely lessens the guilt of it I conclude therefore that notwithstanding all that can be said yet in the worshipping of Reliques is committed manifest and detestable Idolatry 41.
vpon the same though they bee now both made dumbe by their expurging Index speake asmuch for in them we fiude this proposition Anciently Priests were permitted to marry 41. For history to omit the Priests and Prophets of the old Testament Peter whose successours they claime to bee carryed a wife about with him in his preaching which was put to death at Antioch for consessing lesus Christ as witnes both Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius which writers do also affirme that Paul had a wise also and left her at Philippos a City of Macedonia that hee might with lesse cumbrance preach the Gospell abroad That Philip the Euange list was marryed Saint Luke testifyeth in the Acts of the Apostles for it is said there that he had foure daughters which were Prophetisses thus was it in the first age of the Church then afterward we read that Hilary a French Bishop was marryed and of Saint Basils Father that hee was a Bishop and in the state of marriage held that function and the like of Synesius the Bishop of Pâ—olomais and Athanasius reports that Bishops and Monks liued marryed and had children and Eusebius that in the Easterne Churches it was counted a yoke too heauy to bee borne to binde Church-men from marriage yea Gratian boldly affirmeth that except they will brand some of the Popes with bastardy and adultery they must confesse that Bishops were and might then bee marryed for Gregory the first was grand-child to Pope Felix the third and Alexander the sixt had two sonnes begotten of his owne body and Boniface Felix Gelasius and Agapetus were all sonnes of Bishops yea their owne Vicelius reckoneth vp a number both of Bishops and Priests that in the Primitiue Church were marryed In briefe though in all ages the Deuill by his instruments laboured to bring disgrace vpon Gods holy ordinance of marriage and by that meanes to make way to adulteries fornications and vnlawfull lusts and some learned and godly fathers were too lauish in commending virginity before marriage yet they were alwayes gainsaide by other some as learned godly as themselues whoÌ„ God stirred vp for the desence of his own ordinance neither was it euer propounded as a Law vntill Pope Siricius time who was the first that forbad and interdicted Priests to marry and afterwards Pope Nicholas the first or as some thinke the second about the yeere 867 did the like against whose proceedings Haldericus the Bishop of Ausbrough wrote that learned and pithy Epistle where of mention is made before and yet it was not vniuersally receiued vntill the time of Pope Calixtus about the yeere 1108. History is so cleare for this matter that it admitteth no iust exception and thus both by their owne confessions and by the light of history this doctrine is conuinced of nouelty 42. Another article of the Popes Creede is concerning Images to wit that God himselfe may bee represented by and worshipped before an Image and that the Images of Christ and the Saints are to be adored with the same worship which is due vnto their pâ—tternes or at least wise that they are to be worshipped in or at the Image This is the generall doctrine of that Idolatrous Church which that it hath no true warrant from antiquity is so cleare that none that is but meanely seene in ancient writers can doubt thereof For first in the Church of the Iewes it was vnlawfull either to make any Image of God beeing an inuisible and incomprehensible essence or to worship the Image of any other thing whatsoeuer this was the prescript of the second Commandement which was no ceremoniall Law As Azorius and Vasques two Iesuites haue not ashamed to auerre but morall and naturall as the grand Iesuite Bellarmine confesseth and may be further confirmed by the sentence of Varro alledged by Saint Augustine in his fourth book de Ciuitate who sayth that the Iewish nation worshipped God without any Image that they had no Image in the Temple ordained for worship Also Iosephus doth write that when Caius the Emperour would haue caused his statue to haue been set vp by Petroniâ—s to be worshipped in the Temple of Ierusalem the Iewes had rather expose themselues to present death then to admit that which was forbidden by the Law 43 Secondly in the age of Iesus Christ and the Apostles there was no precept nor example for the worshipping of Images nei her did they commend vnto the Lay people Images and Pictures as fittest bookes for their capacities but the word preached and committed to writing by which they should bee brought to saluation And when as they abolished the worship of Idols and brought in the worship of the true God wee doe not read that either they translated those Idolatrous statues to the worship of the true God or substituted other Images of God himselfe for of holy men to succeed in their roome but taught that God who is a Spirit ought to bee worshipped in Spirit and truth Now surely if it had beene so necessary as the Church of Rome maketh it our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles would neuer haue concealed it from them 44. Thirdly the age also after the Apostles was free from Images for amongst those Ecclesiasticall rites which are recorded to haue been vsed in the first 300. yeeres after Christ there is not so much as any mention made of Image-worship except it bee amongst those that were condemned for Heretikes as the followers of Simon Magus who worshipped his Image and of his harlot Selene and the Disciples of Basilides whom Irenaeus affirmeth to haue vsed Images and Inuocations and the Carpocratians and Gnosticks who burned incense to the Images of Christ and Paul Homer and Pithagoras c. as testifyeth Saint Augustine but the true Church of God condemned these and abhorred all such kind of worship and therefore amongst the accusations which the Heathen obiected to Christians in that age this was one that they professed a Religion without Images as witnesse both Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen the one whereof liued 200. yeeres after Christ and the other 240. which trueth their Cassander confesseth in direct words that at the first preaching of the Gospell there was no publike vse of Images in the Church 45. Fourthly in the next age of the Church after the three hundreth yeere that Images were not approued wee haue the witnesse of the Councill of Eliberis which decreed that no Image should bee made in the Church lest that should be adored which is painted on walles and of Ierome who affirmed that it was condemned of all ancient Fathers and of Origen who called that worship a foolish and adulterous profanation and of Epiphanius who finding a painted Image in a Church rent it downe and said that it was against the authority of the Scripture that any Image should bee in the Church and of Augustine who condemned the vse of them in Churches as vnlawfull and lastly
A RETRACTIVE FROM THE ROMISH RELIGION Contayning THIRTEENE FORCIBLE MOTIVES disswading from communion with the CHVRCH of ROME Wherein is demonstratiuely proued that the now Romish Religion so farre forth as it is Romish is not the true CATHOLIKE Religion of CHRIST but the seduction of ANTICHRIST By THO. BEARD Doctor in Diuinity and Preacher of Gods holy Word in the Towne of HVNTINGTON 2. Thess 2. 10. Because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued therefore God shall send them strong delusion to beleeue lies LONDON Printed by WILLIAM STANSBY and are to be sold by Henrie Fetherstone 1616. TO THE TRVELY VERTVOVS AND WORTHY KNIGHT SIR OLIVER CROMWEL T. B. wisheth encrease of grace and all happinesse SIR THERE bee many particular respects that mooue me to be bold to set your name in the frontispice of this work As first your sincere loue to true Religion and the Professors thereof Secondly your true detestation of the Romish Synagogue and the malignant influences of those wandring Planets that infect the aire of our Church and seeke by mining poysoning and other deuillish practices to turne our Jerusalem into Babel Thirdly for that your selfe with your religious Lady worthy children and brethren and great family haue beene a long time the principall auditors of my vnworthy ministery wherein many of these points haue been deliuered vpon occasion that you may see them here more fully discoursed and so be the better confirmed in the truth And lastly the particular obligations of loue and duty wherwith I am bound vnto you for many extraordinary fauours and kindnesses receiued These be the motiues that haue moued mee to select your selfe principally aboue all others to dedicate these motiues vnto For the which I desire no more patronage and protection then the truth of the seuerall points contayned therein doe deserue Let them stand vpon their owne legs or fall and perish I know they shall encounter with many bitter oppositions and sharpe aduersaries who will be ready to sift euery sentence and to find a knot in a bull-rush but my shelter is the buckler of truth and the brazen wal of a good conscience with which being armed I hope through Gods aide that I shall be as willing and able to entertayne the re-encounter if any assault be made as I was willing to giue this on-set I confesse that these are not the tithe of the arguments that might be produced against the Romish religion yet I doubt not but that euen these few may serue both to discouer the falshood thereof and to confirme and strengthen those that stagger and are weake in the truth the Lord accompanying these endeuours of his seruant with his blessing as I hope and pray that he would be pleased to do These motiues such as they are I willingly desire may be graced by your name hoping that your name shal no way be disgraced by them accept them therefore as tokens of my sincere loue to your selfe and zeale to the truth for which I desire no other requitall but an augmentation of your zeale to the same truth and a greater detestation of that Religion which already you abhor The Lord of his mercy encrease in you more and more all spirituall graces for your soules health and multiply his blessings temporall vpon your head and crowne you with glory and immortality eternall in the life to come Your worships most affectionate and deuoted THO. BEARD REVERENDIS DILECTISQVE IN CHRISTO FRATRIBVS Pijs ET FIDELIBVS Euangelij Ministris per omnem Britanniam constitutis gratia pax à DEO PATRE DOMINO nostro IESV CHRISTO NOn estis nescij fratres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Christo quanta nos Euangelij Ministros tùm verborum maledicentia tùm animorum odio insectentur Cleri Pontificij cohors colluuies vniuersa Sua in nos omnis generâ—â— tela quidem venenata confertim conijciunt famam nostram canino dente studio allatrant atque admordent quin ipsas adeo gulas nostras quidem eas nobis incisuri appâ—tunt si illorum in nos maleuolentiae par ad facinus potest as responderet nomen ipsum ministri perinde atque veteribus Iudaeis Samaritae illis itae putet foetet vt sine nausea indignatione illud ne nominare quidem possunt Huiuscemodi conuitijs contumelijs libricorum passim plaerique omnes referti onustique sunt Cuius si intestini inexplebilis odij rationes libeat perquirere quinque istas quas ordine percensebo praecâ—teris insigniores ex ijs principem hanc reperietis Quod Clerus hic Pontificius Monachorum cum primis fraterculorum locustae illae sunt in Apocalypsi commemoratae quae caudis similiter vt scorpiâ— cuâ—pidatis de infernalis putei fumo prodeuntes terminitam quinque mensium spatio homines excruciandi potestatem accepere Quâ— ex re fit vt vbi possunt quidem valent ibi ferro flammaque in nos grassentur vbi autem hoc illis non licet linguas calamos exacuant atque distringant consimili planè atque ille â—ngenio praediti de quo est apud Poetam Et si non aliquà nocuisset mortuus esset Haereticorum enim vt est scriptum ab Hieronymo hoc semper cacoâ—thes fuit vt conuicti de perfidia ad maledicta se conferant Sequitur hanc causam isthaec altera Quod luci cum tenebris nulla societas nullum commercium intercedat Ac nos quidem lucis Ministri sumus qui adomnes quibus non sponte oculi caecutiunt Euangelij claritatem quaqua versum diffundimus Illi contratenebrarum satellites sunt qui dum scripturarum lectione plarosque arcent prohibent dum fidem quam vocant implicitam nos Carbonariam tanquam apprimè salutarem maximeque necessariam praedicant commendant densissimis sane crassissimisque tenebris hominum animâ—â— circumfundunt Istis porro causis annumeranda est haec tertia quod nullum tam capitale odium solet esse atque quod religionis causa suscipitur tum nos religionis illiâ—â— praecones sumâ—â— quae illorum superstitioni vsque adeo aduersa est nulla vt ratione conuenire nalla conciliari arte inter sepossunt Ex quo id existit quod nec Turcas quidem Iudâ—â—s nec ipsos adeo Ethnicos quamuis Christiani nominis hostes infestissimos pariter vt Protestantes Euangelij Ministros detestentur Cuires indicio est illa quam Hispanicam appellant inquisitio testis etiam locuples Româ— ipsa in qua sub ipsius sane ore Pontificis Turcis Iudaeis tuta consuetudo atque periculo omni libera immunis negotiatio est siquem autem nostrae religionis vel leuissimè suspectum esse contingat â—um vel aperta vi vel occultis insiaijs ad internecionem vsque persequuntur Quid autem causae est quaeso quod tanta in nos solos immanitate furoreque
vero audent cum infimus poene ex nostris vnus comminus cum ijs manus conserere in arenam prouocare non reformidat vnde quid gregum ductores efficere possunt si annitantur par est illos reputare partim etiam quod Pontificiorum suae persuadendo religioni quamplurimos strenuam operam nauasse video Euangelicorum autem qui hoc idem scriptionis genus per certa argumentorum motuumve capita sunt sequuti paucissimos sane recordor ne dicam nulios Vestram igitur in tutelam fratres meas hasce ratiunculas accipite aequis animis atque oculis legite discutite Censuram vestram non recuso dum preces modo vestras amorem mihi non denegetis Hic Romanae religionis septem sacramenta Turpitudinem Impietatem Falsitatem Nouitatem Idololatriam Scripturarum vituperationem Ignorantiae defensionem licet contueri de quibus princeps Impuritas sequentium in rationum prima secunda in tertia autem quarta duodecima Impietas aperietur Nouitas quam nobis obiectant in eos ipsos totam per vndecimam regeretur Falsitas in octaua nona dilucebit Idolorum cultus in septima Scripturarum contemptio simul Ignorantiae defensio in quinta sexta decima patefient Frement frendebunt sat scio Iesuitae caeterique sacrificuli ac omissis forte rationum ipsarum ponderibus momentis hinc atque illinc vt eorum moris est aliquidpiam excerpent quod obtrectent arrodant sed ringantur per me quidem rumpantur invidia nihili illorum siue calumnias moror siue maledicta dum vos modo propitios mihi habeam quorum inprimis vereor reuereor iudicium Quos propterea oro obtestor vt siqua in re de veritatis scopo deflexerim comiter in viam me reducatis si minus ac debui fortiter prudenter hac in arena demicârim imbecillitati id meae condonetis praeuaricationi nequaquam tribuatis Ego certe hoc quantillumcunque est Deo nostro minime displiciturum confido quippe non ignarus seruulum qui duobus extalentis rem fecit Domino suo aeque ac illum alterum acceptum probatumque extitisse qui decem ex quinque lucrifecit Interim fratres mutui amoris vinculo nos inter nos complectamur vt quemadmodum contra sponsam Christi aduersarij nostri vt olim Pilatus Herodes contra Christum ipsum coniunctissimè conspirant consentiunt Sic nos pari voluntatum consensu eademque aut etiam maiore animorum conspiratione aduersus Antichristum illiusque astipulatorum â—ssectatorum omnium vires depugnemus Quod eò vt fortius foeliciusque fiat facessant à nobis precor derebus minutulis lites omnes discordiae quibus nimio plus iam diu assueuimus Reprimamus nunc demum ipsinos ne quam de sui temporis quibusdam Iraeneus habuit querimoniam quod proptermodicas quaslibet causas magnum gloriosum Christi corpus conscinderent quam etiam de suae aetatis consimilibus alijs Nazianzenus quod essent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eadem de nobis ni prouidemus iusta querela esse possit Quin Apostoli illud ad Corinthios de re exgenere indifferentium disserentis potius meminerimus Siquis videtur contentiosus esse nos eiusmodi consuetudinem non habemus neque Ecclesia Dei eiusdem aliud ad Galatas Si alij alios mordetis deuoratis videte ne vicissim alij ab alijs consumamini Deus pacis lucis ab Antichristi illiusque gregalium impetu insidijs vos omnes protegat defendat ac coelestem suam ad ciuitatem nouam Hierosolymam sartos tectos tandem perducat T. B Motiue I. THat Religion which in many points giueth liberty to sinne is not the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo c. Motiue II. That Religion which maintaynes by the grounds thereof things forbidden by all lawes both of God of Nature and of Man cannot be the true Religion bat such is the Religion of the Romane Church ergo Motiue III. That Religion which imitateth the Iewes in those things wherein ther are enemies to Christ cannot be the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo. Motiue IIII. That Religion which derogâ—teth from the glory of God in the worke of our Redemption and giueth part thereof vnto man cannot be the truth of God but such is the Popish Religion ergo Motiue V. That Religion deserueth to bee suspected which refuseth to bee tâ—yâ—d by the Scriptures as the perfect and alone rule of faith and will be iudged â—ryed by none but it selfe But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo Motiue VI. That Religion doth iustly deserue to be suspected which doth purâ—oâ—â—ly disgrace the sacred Scriâ—tures But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome â—â—go Motiue VII That Religion is to be abhorred which maintayneth commandeth and practiseth grosse anâ— palpable Idolatry but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome â—rgo c. Motiue VIII That Religion which implyeth manifold contradiction in it selfe and is contrary to it selfe in many things cannot bee the true Religion but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo c. Motiue IX That Religion whâ—se doctrines are in many points apparently opposite to the word of God and tâ—e doctrine of the Gospell cannot be the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo c. Motiue X. That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian saith cannot be the truth but this doth the Romish Religion ergo c. Motiue XI That Religion which was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time nor in the primitiue Church cannot â—e the truth but such is the Romish Religion in most points thereof therefore that cannot be the truth Motiue XII That Church which maintayneth it selfe and the Religion professed by it and seeketh to dâ—saduantage the Aduersaries by vnlawfull vniust and vngodly meanes cannot bee the true Church of God nor that Religion the truth of God by the grounds whereof they are warranted to act such deuillish practices but such is the practice of the Romish Church and therfore neither their Church nor their Religion can be of God Motiue XIII That Religion the doctrines whereof are more safe both in respect Gods glory Mans saluation and Christian charity is to be preferred before that which is not so safe but dangerous But the doctrine of the Protestants Religion is more safe in all those respects and of the Papists more dangerous ergo that is to be preferred before this and consequently this to be reiected THIRTEENE FORCIBLE MOTIVES DISSWADING FROM COMMVNION With the Church of ROME Whereby is demonstratiuely prooued that the now Romish Religion so farre forth as
it is Romish is not the true Catholique Religion of CHRIST but the seduction of Antichrist THE PREAMBLE THat which Ireneus an ancient and godly Father of the Church speaketh of all Heretickes that all the Helleborus in the world is not sufficient to purge them that they may vomit out their follie may truely be spoken of the Church of Rome and her adherents that it is a difficult matter if not almost impossible to reclaime her from her errors and to heale her wounds All the balme of Gilead will not do it nor all the spirituall phisicke that can be ministred for there are two sinnes which of all other are most hard to bee relinquished Whoredome and Drunkennesse the one because it is so familiar and naturall to the flesh the other because it breedeth by custome such an vnquenchable thirst in the stomacke as must euer anon be watered with both which spirituall diseases the Church of ROME is infected She is the Whore of Babylon with whome the Kings of the Earth haue committed fornication and who hath made drunke with the Wine of her fornications all the Inhabitants of the Earth In regard of the first Ieremie prophecied of her that though paines be taken to heale her yet shee could not be healed And in regard of the second Saint Paul prophecied that GOD would send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lies that all they might bee damned that receiued not the loue of the truth Notwithstanding though the hope bee as little of the reclaiming of most of them as of turning an Eunuch into a man or making a blacke Moore white yet I haue propounded in this discourse a strong potion compounded of ingredients which if they bee not past cure may purge and cleanse them of their disease and reduce them to the sanity of Christian Religion Which if their queasie stomackes shall eyther refuse to take or hauing taken shall vomit vp againe and not suffer them to worke vpon their consciences yet this benefit will arise that God shall be glorified the truth manifested and all that loue the truth confirmed and they also themselues that are so drowned in error that they will rather pull in others ouer head and eares vnto them and so drowne together then be drawne out of the myre by any helpe shall be conuinced in their consciences of their most grosse apostacie With this confidence towards Gods glorie and the good of his Church though with little hope of recouering them from their obdurate blindnesse I enter into my intended taske desiring the Lord to giue a blessing to these poore labours which I consecrate to my Lord and Master Iesus Christ whom I serue and the Church his Spouse of which I professe my selfe to bee one of the meanest members MOTIVE I. That Religion which in many points giueth libertie to sinne is not the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of ROME ergo c. THe first proposition is an vndoubted truth and needs no confirmation especially seeing S. Iames describeth true Religion by these attributes pure and vndefiled And S. Paul calleth it the mysterie of godlinesse and the doctrine according to godlinesse And herein consisteth an essentiall difference betwixt the true Religion and all false ones so that it must needs follow that that Religion which is essentially the cause and occasion of sinne and openeth a wide window to vngodlinesse cannot be the truth of God but must needs fetch it beginning from the deuill who is the author of all euill The Gospell indeede may by accident be the occasion of euill as S. Paul saith The law is the occasion of sinne for it stirs vp contention and strife and discouers the corruptions of Mans heart and by opposing against them as a damme against a streame makes them to swell and boyle and burst forth beyond the bounds howbeit here the cause is not in the Gospell or Lawe but in the corruption of mans heart which the more it is stirred the more it rageth and striueth to shew it selfe But neuer yet was the doctrine of godlinesse the cause of wickednesse nor the pure and vndefiled Religion of Christ Iesus an essentiall procurer and prouoker vnto sinne 3. This therefore being thus manifest all the question and difficultie remaineth in the second proposition to wit that the Religion of the Romish Church is such as openeth a gappe vnto sinne and giueth notorious libertie and scope to vngodlinesse and that not by way of accident or occasion but necessarily as the cause to the effect Qua data necessariò soquitur effectus as the Logicians speake and therefore being an â—npure and defiled Religion and the mysterie of iniquitie not the mysterie of godlinesse it cannot be that true Religion which Christ our Sauiour brought with him from heauen and left here vpon earth blamelesse and vnspotted like himselfe to be the way to lead vs vnto heauen where hee is 4. That the Romish Religion is a polluted and defiled Religion tending to libertie and loosenesse Let the indifferent Reader iudge by these few instances deriued out of the verie bowels of their Church and being articles of their faith and grounds of their Religion And first to beginne with their doctrine of dispensations whereby they teach that the Pope hath power to dispense with the word of God and with euery commandement of the Law and not onely with the Law but with the Gospell and Epistles of Paul to what horrible loosenesse and lewdnesse of life doth it tend for to omit that it containeth in it open blasphemie by their owne rule which is that In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior the inferiour may not dispense with the precept of the superiour by which the Pope dispensing with Gods lawe is not oneâ—y equalled but exalted aboue God what sinne is there bee it neuer so hainous which there is not libertie giuen to commit by this licencious doctrine 5. Incest But Pope Martin the first gaue a dispensation to one to marrie his owne sister and not his wiues sister only as some of the Romish crue would dawbe ouer this filthie wall because it is in Antoninus Cum quadam eius germana for Siluester Prieriâ— Bartholomeus Fumus and Angelus de Clauafio speake more plainely Cumsua germana that is with his owne naturall sister Another Pope dispensed with Henry the eight to marrie his sister in law and with Philip of Spaine to marrie his owne Niece and Clement the 7. licenced Petrus Aluaradus the Spaniard to marrie two sisters at once and no maruaile seeing it is the very doctrine of the Romish Church that the Pope can dispense in all the degrees of Consanguinitie and Affinitie saue onely with the Father and his daughter and with the Mother and her Son Sodometrie But Pope Sixtus the fourth licensed the Cardinall of Saint Lucie and his familie to vse freely that sinne not to bee named in the
that it was the Italian fashion to liue by robberie and to trample vnder focte all equity and religion And for the moderne times witnesse the common prouerbe An Englishman Italionate a deuill incarnate Rome is the Popes owne â—eate for it is the spirituall Babylon built vpon seuen hils and yet that is the sincke of Italy witnesse their owne Mantuan I pudor in villas c. Vrbs est iam tot a lupanar Depart honesty into Villages the Citie is wholly become a Stewes and Trauailors report it was neuer so euill as it is at this day witnesse their owne pasquill Roma vale vidi satis est vidisse reuertar Cum leno aut meretrix scurra cynaedus ero Now farewell Rome I haue thee seene it was enough to see I will returne when as I meane Bawde Pander Knaue to bee As if there were none but such at Rome 42. And this the best of them against their wils acknowledge when they confesse Rome to be mysticall Babylon for why is Rome so stiled in the Scripture but because it resembleth the Assyrian Babylon in pride idolatry filthinesse and especially in most cruell persecution of the Church of God and for the same cause it is called spirituall Sodome and Egypt Sodeme for pride and filthines Egypt for Idolatry and cruelty The Popes court is the Popes owne Sanctum Sanctorum if in reuerence to that holy place I may so say yet that is the sincke of the Citie Witnesse Catherina Senensis that holy woman whom Pope Pius the second canonized for a Saint who thus complained that in the Court of Rome where should bee a delicate Paradise of vertues she sound a stincke of hellish vices Concerning the whole state of the Romane Church both Laiâ—ty and Clergy heare what the iudgement of Durand was in his time Desperata est salus Romanae Ecclesiae c. The saluation of the Romane Church is desperate of which is verified the sayings of the Prophet Esay It shall be a bed of Dragons and of Petrus de Alliaco a Cardinall in his time Ad eum statum venit c. The Romane Church is come to that state that it is not worthy to be gouerned but by reprobates And of Platina himselfe the Popes owne Secretary Hac nostra aetate sayth he vitia cò crcuerunt c. In this our age vices are so increased that they seeme to haue scarce left vs any place in Gods mercy c. After the Councell of Trent which promised a reformation heare how a Bishop of their owne Espensaeus complaineth All hope saith he of reformation is taken away where vnder the Sunne is there greater licenciousnes clamour impurity I will not say madnesse and impudency then in this Citie such and so great as none can beleeue but he which hath seene it none can deny but he which hath not seene it I could heape vp many like testimonies for the clearing of this poynt but it is needlesse seeing that all that haue either gotten experimentall knowledge by their trauailes or speculatiue by their reading can will iustifie the truth of this position that in no place of the world more impiety atheisme impurity cruelty poysoning trechery all maner of villanie raigneth then in Italy the Popes owne dominions and in Rome vnder his Holinesse nose So that for shame but that the whore of Babylon and her adherents haue brazen foreheads they may cease to lay that imputation of loosnesse and wickednesse of life vpon vs and our Religion and assume the aspersion of it vnto themselues being farre more guilty and their religion directly tending thervnto by these six maine grounds which I haue in this first motiue propounded to the iudgement of euery indifferent Reader The Lord of his mercy open our eyes that we may discerne the truth and our hearts that we may loue it and embrace it MOTIVE II. That religion which maintaines by the grounds thereof things forbidden by all lawes both of God of Nature and of Man cannot be the true religion but such is the religion of the Romane Church Ergo. THe first proposition in this reason is vnquestionable and without controuersie for the law of God is one part of true religion as the Gospell is the other and therfore whatsoeuer contradicts this law is opposite vnto true religion and so cannot be true religion it selfe for truth is not opposite vnto truth but falshood and the lawe of nature is nothing but the law of God engrauen in the hearts of all men by the instinct of nature which Tullie calleth a lawe engendred not imposed borne with vs not laid vpon vs. And the positiue laws of men if they be good are nothing els but extracts out of the law of God characters of the law of nature That religion therefore that crosseth all these lawes by allowance of such things which are by them all condemned cannot in any wise be the true religion but must needs stand guilty of falshoode and errour Now that the Romish religion is such which is the second proposition in the reason that is my taske to proue and I hope I shall by inuincible arguments make good the same 1. And first what can bee more contrary to the lawes of God of Nature of Man then treason and rebellion against Princes for the lawe of God commandeth ciuill obedience to the Magistrate by the first precept of the second Table and our Sauiour in the Gospell biddeth to giue to Caesar those things that belong vnto Caesar and Saint Paul chargeth euery soule to be subiect to the higher powers because all power is of God euen tyrannicall power as our Sauiour confesseth to Pilate Thou hadst no power ouer mee except it was giuen thee from aboue where he acknowledgeth that Pilates power though he was a tyrant was of God and therefore submitteth himselfe vnto it As for the law of nature it requireth as much of all for as in the bodie naturall all the outward members and inward faculties are gouerned by reason residing in the head and in the body oiconomike all the familie is directed by the Father or Master thereof so in the body politique all the members of a Common-wealth must by natures decree be obedient to the King or gouernour whom to resist is to rebell against nature as it is against nature for the member to mutiny against the head or for children and seruants to be disobedient to their Fathers or Masters Neither are the lawes positiue any whit behinde for no offence by lawe is more seuerely punished then crimen laesae Maiestatis that is high treason against the Kings person or State and that not onely in this our Kingdome but in all others as is sufficiently knowen 2. Now that the Romish doctrine and religion is a supporter of treason and an animater of traytors against their Soueraignes I call to witnesse first their owne principles and secondly their
against thy selfe or of thy selfe but the equiuocatour doth both first against his Neighbonr when by a false suggestion he perswadeth him to beleeue an vntruth and of his neighbour when hee reporteth that of him which is vntrue and secondly of and against himselfe by confessing himselfe to be that which he is not or denying himselfe to be that which hee is Equiuocation then is a plaine breach of this Commandement and therefore a lye at the least The Prophet Ieremy interpreting this precept as the manner of the Prophets was giues it affirmatiuely thus Thou shalt sweare in truth c. And the Prophet Dauid saith that the righteous man speakes in truth Now what is it to sweare or speake in truth Azorius the Iesuite will tell vs that It is either for the confirmation of a truth or in a probable opinion of that to be true which we sweare or speake But the equiuocatours speach or oath is neither for the truth nor from the truth and therefore a lye if not grosse periury Againe the Prophet Dauid sets downe this as one note of a righteous man that he speakes the truth from his heart but the Equiuocatour either speaketh not the truth at all or at least speaketh not from the heart whereby he is euidently conuinced to be none of those that shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle or asend into his holy Mountaine Lastly when as Saint Paul was taxed by some false brethren to be carnally minded because promising to come to Corinthus he came not doth he excuse himselfe by equiuocation saying that he promised one thing and minded another no but he protesteth that he was minded as hee spake and that his word was not yea and nay but simply yea which proueth first that all our speach must be simple and plaine without equiuocation and secondly that such as abuse their speach in such sort are fleshly minded men full of lightnesse and vanity And thus we haue a full verdict of Philosophers Popish diuines Fathers and Scriptures and therefore why may not sentence bee pronounced and the equiuocator adiudged guilty both of lying and periury two sinnes which the law of God of Nature and Men haue alway condemned 12. Againe what more contrary to the lawe of God and man then adultery and fornication But the religion of the Church of Rome doth directly maintaine and allow both these by tolerating Stewes places of common whoredome open and knowne Strumpets prostituted to filthinesse and that not onely in all other places of the Popes Dominion but euen in Rome vnder his Holinesses owne nose and by his authentical approbation neither can this be imputed vnto them as a corruption in manners onely and not as an errour in doctrine for they not onely vphold these places and persons of infamy by their practice and winke at them by neglect of due execution of iustice but they are growne to that impudency that they allow maintaine and approue them by their doctrine as things necessary and commodious in a Common wealth and albeit they condemne them generally as sinnes yet they approue them againe as necessary and profitable as if there were any necessary profit or profitable necessity of sinnes which Saint Paul calleth the vnfruitfull workes of darknesse Ephes 5. 11. And thus with their owne mouthes they condemne themselues in that which they allow being Iudges of themselues and proclaimers of their owne shame 13. Their doctrine is this that a lesser euill is to bee permitted to the end that a greater may be auoyded and therefore brothel houses to be suffered lest all places should bee filled with filthy lusts and this their position they defend first by the testimonie of Saint Augustine in his Booke De Ordine secondly by deprauing and corrupting that place of Scripture where it is forbidden that there should bee any harlot in Israel thirdly by diuers reasons to wit if harlots were suffered to be free and at liberty without these Stewes they would sinne more licenciously and that by their first restraint to that one place they may be made ashamed and so at length conuerted and that knowne harlots are to be tolerated lest violence should be offered vnto honest Matrons and lastly they are not ashamed to reckon whoredome and fornication amongst those things which of their owne nature are not euill because the Apostles place it among things of that nature to wit bloud things strangled and things dedicated vnto Idols These bee their goodly reasons whereby they maintaine Stewes but no maruaile if they maintaine them seeing their holy Father the Pope is in some sort maintained by them The Romish harlots pay saith Agrippa vnto the Pope euery wecke a Iuly which is a certaine kind of Coyne for their liberty they prophane Gods word by a filthy Comment for take away say they harlots out of the Common-wealth and all places will abound with whoredomes whereas neuerthelesse the Common-wealths of Israel endured long without that stain where notwithstanding an harlot was not permitted It is recorded also that the harlots in Rome pay vnto the Pope a yearely pension which amounteth sometimes to thirtie thousand sometimes to fortie thousand Ducats Pope Paulus the third is said to haue had in his Tables the names of 45000. Curtezans which payd a monethly tribute vnto him And therefore not without great cause if gaine may be a sufficient cause did Pope Sixtus build a noble or famous Stewes at Rome as Agrippa witnesseth for seeing such large reuenewes arise to the holy Fathers purse by the meanes of strumpets why should they not be there maintained where not as Saint Paul saith godlinesse is gaine but gaine is godlinesse and all Religion is turned into lucre as Mantuan a Fryer Carmelite of their owne saith Ven alia nobis Templa sacerdotes altaria sacra coronae Ignis thura preces coelum est venalâ—â— Deusque With vs are all things to be bought and sold Priests Altars Temples Sacraments new and old Crownes Incense Prayers yea Heauen and God for gold Adde to these Whoredome Sodomitry and Incest and all manner of sinne and then there is a full square number But I would faine know how these holy Fathers can free themselues from the name and imputation of notorious bawdes seeing he is by all law esteemed a bawde that maintaineth harlots exposing them to the lust of others for gaine then which what can be more vilde and base 14. As touching the testimony of Saint Augustine and their other reasons I answere in a word first that when Saint Augustine wrote that Booke he was but Catecheumenus a nouice in Religion not well instructed in Christs Schoole and besides that it doth crosse the doctrine both of himselfe in other Books of more mature iudgement and also of the holy Scripture for he himselfe affirmeth elsewhere that the good which commeth of euil as a recompence must not be admitted and the Scripture condemneth to hell all
teaching for doctrines precepts of men 32. The Iewish Pharises would not conuerse with any of a different Religion especially the Samaritanes whose bread they thought it as vnlawfull to eate as to eate Swines flesh and for Christians they account it a sinne to keepe faith and promise with them to afford them any succour yea not to doe them any mischiefe that lyeth in their power and therefore in their prayers one part of their deuotion is most direfully to curse all those that professe Christian Religion The Romish Pharises doe likewise they damme all to hell that are not of their Religion they denie faith to bee kept with Heretikes they hate all that are not subiect to their Pope but aboue all the poore Protestant him they curse with Bell Booke and Candle and abhorre him more then a Iew or a Turke yea once a yeere ordinarily and in publike they curse vs to the pit of hell which I take it to be vpon euery good Friday They say that the Father may not nourish his owne childe if he be an Heretike nor the childe honour his Father nor the Prince defend his Subiect nor the Subiect obey his Prince all bonds of nature policy religion are pulled in pieces by these Romish Pharises 33. The Iewish Pharises vsed not to fast without a disfigured face nor giue an almes without a Trumpet nor seldome pray but in the corners of the streetes and high-wayes that they might bee seene of men all for shew nothing for substance And are not our Romish Pharises their equals in this Is not their religion all in ostentation doe they hide themselues when they fast and pray doe they not blow a trumpet before their deedes of charitie their hypocriticall abstinence from flesh on set dayes when as in the meane while they farse themselues with dainty fish and delicate iunkets their mumbling vp so many Aue Maries and Pater Nosters in the streetes and Market-places their crowâ—hing at euery Crosse and lastly their Almes-deeds extorted by feare either for penance of sinnes committed or in hope of meriting the kingdome of Heauen and imployed for the most part to the feeding of a multitude of idle Drones Monkes and Fryers fatted in a Cloyster like Bores in a stye doe proue this to be true which I haue said 34. The Iewish Pharises vnder colour of long prayers great deuotion deuoured widowes houses the Romish Pharises by the same pretext of holinesse sucke downe into their panches not the Cottage of some poore widdow but the rich and faire Patrimonies of seduced Gentlemen Noblemen and others the Iewish Pharises compassed sea and land to gaine a Proselite to their profession our Romish Pharises trauell all Countries labour by all possible means to winne soules to their religion and to reconcile men to the obedience of the Bishop of Rome and when they haue wrought their purpose as those so these make them two-fold more the children of hell then they were before 35. Lastly the Iewish Pharises like hypocrites made cleane the out-side of the cup and platter but within were full of bribery and excesse and therefore are compared by our Sauiour to whited Tombes which appeare beautifull without but within are full of all filthinesse So our Romish Pharises come to vs in sheepes clothing giuing a bright luster of holinesse and austerity in their externe behauiour but inwardly are rauening Wolues deuouring the flocke and haue their hearts fraught with all manner of villany as lying for aduantage equiuocation couetousnesse ambition vncleane lusts and other inordinate affections as the secular Priests boldly obiect against the Loyolian Sect and are taxed backe againe by them as guilty of the same crimes 36. This subiect might be enlarged by many more particulars but that I forbeare to stirre this sinke any further and weary the Reader and my selfe hauing a long iourney yet to trauaile This that hath beene spoken I suppose to be sufficient to prooue the truth of the proposition that the Romanists imitate the Iewes in those things wherein they are enemies vnto Christ both in respect of the legall Ceremonies which are vanished by the appearance of the Sunne of righteousnes and also in respect of their Thalmudieall traditions which were neuer found in Gods Booke but are the foppish dotages of their superstitious Rabbines And is it not strange that notwithstanding all this they should bragge themselues to be the onely Catholikes of the world and their Church the onely Noahs Arke out of the which there is no saluation Siâ—ia quà m similis turpissima bestia nobis Tam Rabbinorum â—â—bulis Romana cathedra Not liker is to Man the Ape a filthy Creature Then is the Romish Church vnto the Iewish feature MOTIVE IIII. That Religion which derogateth from the glory of God in the worke of our Redemption and giueth part thereof vnto man cannot be the truth of God but such is the Popish Religion Ergo. THe first proposition as it is infallibly true of it selfe so is it without all question and controuersie betwixt vs and the Romanists for both confesse that the end of true Religion is that God might be glorified and therefore whatsoeuer doth rebate from that end cannot possibly be the truth Especially seeing the Lord himselfe protesteth that he will not giue his glory to another Esay 48. 11. And Paul affirmeth that the end of all our actions should bee the glorie of God 1. Car. 10. 31. Therefore passing ouer the Maior with silence it is necessary that the Minor or second proposition bee strengthened and confirmed whereon the hinge of the Controuersie hangeth the whole pith substance of this fourth Argument doth consist which by the assistance of Gods good spirit whose ayde I humbly implore and of my Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus whose glory I now labour to maintaine I doubt not but to make so cleare as is the Sunne at Noone-day all cloudes mists and fogges being vtterly dispersed 2. That the Romish Religion doth derogate from the glory of God in the worke of our redemption may by foure maine and fundamentall doctrines of their Religion most euidently be demonstrated besides many other poynts of lesser consequence to wit their doctrines of Free-will of Iustification of merite and of satisfaction 3. For the doctrine of Free-will this is the generall determination of the Church of Rome that in the act of regeneration and conuersion mans will doth naturally cooperate with the grace of God and that it is not meerely of supernaturall grace that a sinner is regenerate but partly of naturall free-will and partly of grace whereas we on the contrary defend that the regeneration and conuersion of a sinner is wholly of the grace of God and that mans will in that great worke is meerely passiue and not actiue yea starke dead vntill it be excited and quickned by the grace of God This in briefe is the difference betwixt the Romanists and vs
In the act of iustification wee say that workes haue no roome because both they are imperfect and also are not done by our own strength but being once iustified we must needs repent and become new creatures walking not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit And this is the doctrine of our Church concerning Iustification 16. Now let vs heare what they say and then weigh both doctrines in the ballance of the sanctuary that wee may see which of them bringeth most glory to the merits of CHRIST and to the power of his satisfaction I will plainely and sincerely God willing set downe the summe of their doctrine First therefore they teach that there is a double iustification the first whereby a man ex iniusto fit iustus of an vniust and wicked man is made iust and good and of a sinner is made righteous the second wherby a man being iust is made more iust and doth encrease in iustice and sanctity according to that Reuel 22. 11. He that is iust let him be more iust Concerning the first iustification some of them affirme that it is the free gift of God and deserued by no precedent workes others that it is merited by congruity but not by condignity but of the second they say that it is gotten and merited by our workes But before both these they make certaine preparations and dispositions whereby a man by the power of his owne free-will stirred vp by grace doth make himselfe fit for iustification namely by the acts of faith feare hope loue repentance and the purpose of a new life all which a man must haue before hee receiue the first grace of iustification and for the obtaining whereof he needs not any grace internally infused but onely offered externally Whereupon they are bold to affirme that the act of Iustification doth emane and proceed Simul ab arbitrio à Deo Both from free-will and from God Now the causes of iustification the Councill of Trent maketh to be these the finall cause Gods glory and mans saluation the efficient Gods mercy the meritorious cause Christs merits the instrumentall the Sacrament of Baptisme but the formall cause which is the chiefest and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dat esse rei giueth being to the thing as the Logicians speake they make to be an inherent righteousnes wrought in vs and inspired into vs by the Spirit of God And this in briefe is the doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the iustification of a sinner 17. Wherein let vs obserue three maine and fundamentall differences betwixt their doctrine and ours in all which they raze the foundation and dedignifie the merits of Christ and the mercy of God to extoll the dignitie of man The first in their preparations wee hold that a man cannot any wayes dispose himselfe vnto grace but is wholly fitted and prepared by God and that those acts of preparation as they call them are not fore-runners of iustification but rather fruites and effects thereof they teach the contrary as I haue shewed The second difference is that the workes of a man iustified do not merit increase of grace which they terme the second iustification but as the beginning of grace is from gods mercy alone so the increase and augmentation thereof and perseuerance therein is onely to be ascribed to the worke of Gods spirit according to that of Saint Paul Phil. 1. 6. He that hath begunne this good worke in you will performe it vntill the day of Iesus Christ this we hold they the contrary The third difference is in the formall cause of our iustification which they maintaine to be an inherent righteousnes within vs euen the righteousnes of Sanctification We on the other side affirme that the formall cause of our iustification is the righteousnes of Christ Iesus not dwelling in vs nor proceeding from vs but imputed vnto vs by the mercy of God 18. Hauing thus layd open both our doctrines let vs examine and trye which of them giueth most glory vnto God and most exalts the merites of Christ for that must needs be the truth and which lifteth vp highest the proud nature of man for that must needs be falshood and errour especially seeing that Gods dignity and the dignity of man Christs merits and mans are as it were two skales of a ballance whâ—reof the one rising the other falls the one lifted vp the other is pressed downe First therefore touching the workes of preparation whether doe they more magnifie Gods mercie that say a man cannot prepare and dispose himselfe at all to grace but is wholly disposed and prepared by God or they that affirme that a man can prepare himselfe by his owne endeuour assisted outwardly with the grace of God the one makes Gods mercy the sole cause of iustification the other but the adiâ—vant and helping cause And whether doe they aduance most the dignity of man that say that a man can do nothing of himselfe for his owne iustification or they that say that a man can doe something to the preparation of himselfe to that great worke the one attributeth some dignity to man the other none at all we affirme the one part the Romanists the contrary and therefore our doctrine tends more to the debasing of mans worth and consequently to the exalting of Gods glory then theirs doth 19. True it is like Ferrimen that looke East and go West they with their great Grand-father Pelagius talke of grace when they meane nothing but nature and so deny indeede that which they affirme in word if the matter bee examined according to truth For Pelagius confessed a necessity of grace in all spirituall actions and yet was condemned for an enemy to grace by the Church of God because hee vnderstood not by grace the sanctifying worke of Gods spirit but an outward moouing and perswading power assisting mans free-will to the effecting of his owne saluation The very same is the doctrine of the Romanists as hath beene declared and therefore wee may iustly condemne them as enemies to the grace of God whatsoeuer they bragge and vaunt to the contrary 20. Secondly touching the second iustification which standeth as they say in the augmentation and encrease of our iustice let the most partiall Reader iudge whether tends most to the magnifying of Gods glory their doctrine which teacheth that wee merite the encrease of our iustice by our owne workes or ours which teacheth that both the seed and the growth both the roote and the fruite both the beginning and encrease of all righteousnesse is the worke of Gods spirit alone preuenting assisting and vpholding vs to the end and that these seuerall workes of grace are bestowed vpon vs not for any merites of our owne but simply and entirely for the merits of Christ Iesus I but they will say works doe not merit iustification because they are ours but because they are works of grace which grace floweth from the fountaine of
glory of God and the merits of Christ And therefore the conclusion must needs follow being built vpon an vnmooueable foundation that that Religion which maintaineth such doctrines is not the truth of Christ but the seduction of Antichrist MOTIVE V. That Religion deserueth to be suspected which refuseth to be tryed by the Scriptures as the perfect and alone rule of faith and will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo. THe first proposition in this Argument though it be most true and cannot without any shew of reason be contradicted yet that it may be without all doubt and exception it shall not be amisse to strengthen the same by sound and euident proofes deriued both out of Gods word and consent of ancient Fathers The Proposition consists of two parts first that it cannot be the true Religion which will not abide the alone tryall of the Scriptures Secondly that it will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe let vs consider of both these seuerally 2. And concerning the first if the Scripture be the fountaine of all true religion the foundation and basis of our faith the Canon and rule of all the doctrines of faith and the touch-stone to trye truth from falshood then to refuse to be iudged and tryed by the Scriptures alone is plainely to discouer that there is something in it which issued not from that fountain which is not built vpon that foundation which is so oblique and crooked that it dares not to be applyed to that rule and which is counterfeit and dares not abide the touchstone Now that the Scripture is such as I haue said let the Holy Ghost speaking in the Scripture beare witnesse Search the Scripture saith our Sauiour for in them you thinke to haue eternall life and they be they which testifie of me therefore the Scripture is the fountaine of all true religion for what is the Religion of Christians but the right knowledge of Christ Iesus This caused Saint Paul to say I desire to know nothing but Christ Iesus and him crucified Againe the Scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluation through faith in Christ Iesus and are profitable to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute and perfect to euery good worke Therefore the Scripture is the onely fountaine of true Religion for what is true Religion but spirituall wisedome and holy perfection the one in contemplation the other in action the one in knowledge the other in practice for these two ioyned together do make a man truly religious but the Scriptures afford both as it is cleare in that saying of S. Paul and may be confirmed by another like speech of Salomon who affirmeth that the commandements of God will make a man to vnderstand righteousnesse and iudgement and equity and euery good path Righteousnesse and iudgement pertaine to knowledge equity and euery good path belong to practice And for this cause Origen compareth the Scriptures to Iacobs Well from whence not onely Iacob and his sonnes that is the learned and the skilfull but his sheepe and cattell that is the simple and ignorant doe drinke that is deriue vnto themselues the waters of life and saluation and therefore where the knowledge of the Scriptures flourished not as among all the Heathen both Romanes Grecians and Barbarians before their conuersion there no true Religion shewed it selfe but their Religion was all false and deuillish for in stead of the true God they worshipped dumb creatures and mortall men yea deuils themselues as Lactantius sheweth All which proceeded from hence that they had not the word of God for their guide which is the onely fountaine and well-spring of true Religion 3. Againe as it is the fountaine from whence so it is the foundation vpon which our faith relieth whether wee take faith for the act of beleeuing or for the matter and obiect of our beliefe Ye are built saith S. Paul vpon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus himselfe being the chiefe corner stone By the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles is meant the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine as all Expositours that I haue read yea their owne Aquinas and Caietane with one consent auouch and to bee built vpon this foundation is to haue our faith to relye and depend vpon it onely as a house relyeth onely vpon the foundation and without a foundation cannot stand that therefore is no doctrine of faith that is vpholden by any other foundation neither hath that any good foundation which is not built vpon the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine they build vpon sand that build vpon humane traditions euery stormy puffe of winde will shake the house of that faith but they which heare the word of Christ and keepe it build vpon a rocke against which neither the raine flouds nor windes no not the gates of hell are able to preuaile because they are grounded vpon the rocke which rocke indeede is Christ to speake properly as not onely S. Peter confesseth 1. Pet. 2. 7. but euen Christ himselfe that is this rocke Math. 16. 18. when hee saith Vpon this rocke will I build my Church that is vpon this truth that Christ is the Sonne of God yet the word of Christ may also be called the rocke because it is as firme and durable as Christ himselfe And that wee may know that Gods word onely is the foundation of faith S. Paul telleth vs plainely that faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God If any of them say as they doe that the word of God is not onely that which is written in Scripture but that which is vnwritten deliuered by tradition let them shew as good reasons to proue their traditions to be the word of God as we doe to proue the Scripture and we will beleeue them but since they cannot let them beare with vs if we vnderstand the Apostles words as spoken onely touching the written word and the rather because we haue for the warrantize of our interpretation both S. Paul himselfe in the same Chapter verse 8. when he saith This is the word offaith which we preach Where hee sheweth what is that word which is the ground of our faith namely the word preached And S. Peter who hauing magnified the word of God with this commendation that it endureth for euer presently expoundeth himselfe of what word hee spake saying And this is that word which is preached amongst you That is the word of the Gospell which was not in part but wholy and fully as preached by mouth so committed to writing And thus S. Basil also interprets it for he saith Quicquid est vltra scripturas Whatsoeuer is out of the Scriptures diuinely inspired because it is not of faith is sinne for faith is by hearing and hearing by
the word of God Now from hence thus I reason If the word of God written be the onely ground of faith then that Religion which will not acknowledge it dependance onely vpon the word written is not to be beleeued but to be suspected as erronious but the word written is the onely ground of faith as hath beene proued therefore that Religion which disclaymeth it dependance only vpon the word deserues iustly not to be beleeued but to be suspected as erronious And in this regard the Romish Religion though it be in our Pater noster to wit vnder the last petition Deliuer vs from euill yet it should neuer come into our Creed to repose our faith and our saluation vpon it 4. Thirdly the Scripture as it is the fountaine and foundation of true Religion So it is the rule of faith and the touchstone of doctrines and the ballance of the Sanctuarie to weigh truth and falshood in that the one may be discerned from the other This the Prophet Esay teacheth when hee calleth vs to the Law and to the Testimonie saying that if any speake not according to that word there is no light in them From which place thus I reason that whereunto we must resort in all controuersies and doubts for resolution that is the rule of faith but such is the Scripture by the testimonie of the Prophet therefore the Scripture is the rule of faith In like manner we may conclude out of S. Peter who saith that We haue a more sure word of the Prophets whereunto wee must take heede as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place till the Day-starre arise in our hearts If the word of the Prophets was a sure direction to the Church of God before the Gospell was written then much more is the whole Scripture contayning the word of the Prophets and of the Apostles together but S. Peter affirmeth the first therefore the second must needs follow For this cause when one asked our Sauiour what hee might doe to bee saued hee referred him to the Scripture for his direction What is written how readest thou And so Abraham referreth the rich gluttons brethren to Moses and the Prophets and Christ telleth the Saduces that this was the cause of their errour because they knew not the Scriptures Out of all which Texts thus I argue If there were any other rule of faith besides the sacred Scripture our Sauiour and Saint Peter would neuer haue sent vs ouer to the Scripture alone but would haue poynted out vnto vs some other meanes but they send vs to the Scripture alone and therefore that alone is the rule and ballance of our faith 5. And this the very title and inscription of the Scripture doth intimate for why is it called Canonicall but because it containes the Canon that is the rule of faith and life The Fathers with one consent agree in this truth Saint Basil calls the Scripture Canonem recti normam veritatis The Canon of right and the rule of truth Chrysostome sayth that Assertio diuinarum legum c. The assertion of the law of God is a most exact Ballance Squire and Rule Saint Augustine calleth it Statera diuina Gods ballance or a diuine ballance these bee his words Non afferamus stateras dolosas Let vs not bring deceitfull ballances to weigh what we will and how we will saying This is heauie that is light but let vs bring that diuine ballance out of the holy Scriptures as it were out of the Lords treasurie and by it weigh all things or rather acknowledge them being weighed by the Lord. Tertullian giueth to the Scripture the same name so doth Gregory Nyssen and our Countriman venerable Bede to passe ouer all the rest as he is reported by Gratian in his decrees telleth vs in most plaine termes that In sacris literis vnica est credendi pariter viuendi regula praescripta The onely rule both of Faith and Life is prescribed vnto vs in the holy Scriptures Now if this be so as it is meere madnesse to affirme the contrary then that religion which doth refuse to be tryed by this rule and to be weighed in this ballance doth giue iust cause of suspition that it is but light stuffe and crooked ware 6. If a man should offer to his creditor a piece of gold for payment and should refuse to haue it either tryed by the touch-stone or weighed in the ballance he might iustly suspect that it was but either light or counterfeit so may any of good sense rightly suspect that religion to bee both light and counterfet which refuseth to be examined by the rule of Gods word especially which is the second branch of the first proposition if it not onely refuse to be tryed by the Scripture but also will admit no tryall nor Iudge but it selfe for as by reason wee conclude that such a man hath an euill cause in hand who in Westminster Hall refuseth to haue his matter tryed by the law and will admit no Iudge but his own opinion that man to be guilty which standing at the bar of iustice accused of some great crime denyeth to be tryed by the verdict of his Country according to the law so likewise the cause of Religion being called in question that must needs in any equall iudgement bee deemed vnsound and guilty which will not stand to the verdict and sentence of the Prophets and Apostles who are the Iury to trye all cases of conscience and of the Spirit of God speaking in the Scripture who is the onely Iudge to heare and determine all questions of doubt which may arise in matters of faith and will be censured and iudged by none but it selfe 7. Against this truth all the Romanists and especially the Iesuites and of the Iesuites chiefly Bellarmine conflict and fight with foote and horse sailes and oares tooth and naile and all they can doe for herein lyeth the very bloud and life of their Religion And if this bee wrung from them that the Scripture is the onely iudge and rule of faith Actum est de regno Pontificio The Romish kingdome goeth to wracke vtterly and therefore they mainely contend to proue first that the Scripture is not the Iudge of controuersies secondly that it is not properly the rule of faith and if it bee a Iudge it is a dumbe one that cannot speake and if it be a Rule it is a partiall and imperfect one not totall and absolute 8. These two positions Bellarmine laboureth to prooue by many sorts of Arguments first from testimonies of the Olde Testament secondly from testimonies of the New thirdly by the authority of Bishops and Emperours fourthly by the witnesse of the Fathers lastly by reason I passe ouer the foure first sorts of Arguments as being sufficiently answered by others and come to the last which are deriued from reason the slightnesse whereof doth plainely discouer the vanity of this their opinion
for to restraine a common good to a particular vse is an open wrong to the good it selfe which the more common it is the better it is and the lesse common the lesse good for bonum est sui diffusiuum good inclineth naturally to spreade it selfe and therfore the restriction thereof is violence and force offered to the nature of it and truth cannot abide to bee imprisoned but loueth liberty This is true in all naturall good and true things but much more in this supernaturall good and truth which as Origenâ— well noteth was not written for a few as Platoes Bookes were but for the people and multitude yea for the veriest Ideots and women and children as the Fathers affirme 20. And yet these presumptuous Romanists forbid the reading of the Scripture among the people one of them affirming That it was the deuils inuention to permit the people to reade the Bible Another That he knew certaine men to be possessed of the deuill because being but Husband-men they were able to discourse of the Scriptures All teaching that it is the ground of Heresie and that Lay men are no better then Hogs and Dogs and therefore these precious pearles not to be committed vnto them and that the Scripture to a Lay man is as a sword in a mad mans or a knife in a Childes hand Thus they practise to imprison the Scriptures within the Priests cells or Monkes cloysters which were giuen by God to be the light of the world and yet which is to be noted in Queene Maries bloudy and blinde daies such as could dispend a certaine summe of mony by the yeare might reade the Bible without any speciall dispensation as if heresie builded her nest rather in the brest of the poore man then of the rich or as if the rich were lesse carnall then the poore and thus these saucy fellowes handle the sacred Scripture at their pleasure being rightly to be branded with the name of Heretikes whom Epiphanius generally calleth Lucifugae because they cannot abide the light of the Scriptures but fly from them as Owles and Bats from the light 21. Another practice of theirs is against the sense of the Scripture as the two former were against the letter that neither the body nor the soule thereof might be left vnuiolated and this is in respect of the learned to bar them vp from controuling their errours as the other were in respect of the simple to keepe them from once looking into them Their policy in this is to interdict all senses and expositions of the Scripture saue such as agree with the Church of Rome and are allowed by the Pope of Rome this is the interdiction of the Councill of â—rent and is grounded vpon a false interpretation of that article of our faith I beleeue the Catholike Church for as Stapleton saith The literall sense of that article is that thou beleeuest whatsoeuer the Catholike Church holdeth and teacheth And Cardinall Hosius If any man haue the interpretation of the Church of Rome though he know not whether and how it agreeth with the words of the scripture notwithstanding he hath Ipsissimum verbum Dei Now by the Catholike Church they meane the Romane Church or rather the Romane Bishop as I haue shewed for as Siluester sayth The power of the Catholike Church remaineth onely in him And as Stapleton The foundation of our Religion is of necessity placed vpon the authority of this mans teaching and therfore one â—aith that the Pope may change â—he Gospell and giue to it according to place and time another sense Yea a blasphemous Cardiâ—all is bâ—ld to say That if a man did not beleeue that Christ is very God and Man and the Pâ—pe thought the same he should not be condemned This is a tricke pâ—ssing all other whereby they not onely make sure worke with the Scripture that it neuer doe them hurt but also fashion the sacred and diuine sense thereof vnto their fond and foolish fancies and make it speake not what the Holy Ghost intendeth but what they imagine Nay they are so impudent as to say That the Scripture is fitted to the time and variably vnderstood the sense thereof being one while this and another while that according as it pleaseth the Church to change her iudgement Can there be a greater disgrace to the Scripture then this is 22. Adde to these yet another deuice which is far worse then all the rest that is a grosse and palpable wringing and wresting out of the holy Scripture a sense contrary to the true intendment of the place fitting it strangely to their own purpose This is a practice of theirs so coÌ„mon as that their Books swarme with nothing so much as such fond and foolish interpretations and so ridiculous withall that it would make euen Heraclitus himselfe to laugh if he were aliue I wil here report some few of these strange wrested Expositions that the Reader may haue a taste of them and so iudge of the whole caske 23. And to beginne at the beginning of the Bible Genes 1. 16. It is written God created two great Lights the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night that is saith Innocentius the third one of their owne Popes And also Molina the Iesuite God ordained in the Firmament of the Catholike Church two dignities to wit the Pontificiall dignitie and the Regall But that to gouerne the day that is the Spiritualty and is the greater and this to rule the night that is the Carnalty and is the lesser so that how great difference is betwixt the Sunne and the Moone so great is there betwixt the Bishop of Rome and a King that is according to the Glosse vpon the same place seuen and fiftie times So in the 3. of Genesis whereas the words of the Text are plaine Hee shall breake thy head or tread vpon thy head which is the first and principall promise of the Messiah they contrary both to the Hebrew and Septuagint translate and expound it Ipsa She shall applying vnto the Virgin Mary that which properly belongeth vnto Christ euen the worke of our Redemption And this interpretation and translation of that place is approued by the Councill of Trent in approuing the vulgar Latine Bible for authenticall and by Bellarmine also who calleth it a great mysterie that in the Hebrew a verbe of the Masculine gender is ioyned with a Nowne of the foeminine to signifie that a woman should breake the serpents head but not by her selfe but by her sonne and is also so translated by our Doway Translatours in English 24. So againe that place in the Psalme Psal 91. 13. Thou shalt walke vpon the Aspe and the Cockatrice and shalt tread vpon the Lion and the Dragon Pope Alexander the third interpreted it of himselfe and the Emperour applying the promise made to Christ principally and in him to all the Elect vnto himselfe as Pope and
euer any man read more pittifull arguments the rest which â—ee vseth are all of the same stampe Ob. I but a Crucifix is like vnto Christ saith hee therefore it iâ—to bee worshipped with latria R. But the Virgin his Mother was more like to him and yet they giue not vnto her so high a worship Ob. I but the Fathers held the Crosse in great reuerence and the Image of the Crosse and worshipped them R. True they reuerenced them and held them in great estimation but yet there was no worship giuen vnto them vntill neere 400. yeeres after Christ About that time began this superstition for in Saint Ambrose time it was not crept in as appeareth by that testimony before alledged not in Arnobius time who plainely affirmeth that they did not worship Crosses Againe those Fathers that did adore them did not worship the Crosse or the Crucifix but him that hung vpon the Crosse as may appeare by Hieroms testimony concerning Paulae who saith that shee falling prostrate before the Crosse worshipped as if shee had seene the Lord there hanging before her by which it is playne that she worshipped not the Crosse but the Lord. And Ambrose also witnesseth the same when he calleth it an heathenish errour and the vanitie of wickedmen to worship the Crosse But the Romanists teach that the Crosse it selfe and the Crucifix are to be worshipped and that with the highest worship Ob. I but many and strange miracles haue beene wrought by the signe of the Crosse therefore it is to bee worshipped R. The argument is naught for if euery worker of miracles should be worshipped with diuine adoration then all the Apostles might challenge this honour vnto them So might Iannes and Iambres that resisted Moses Yea so might Antichrist himselfe for his comming is with lying signes and wonders lying not onely in respect of their substance which is sometimes counterfeit but also in respect of the end which is to seduce when the miracle for substance may bee true and this is both Saint Chrystostomes and Saint Augustines exposition of that place besides the myracles that were done at or before this signe were effected by the power of the faith and inuocation of Christ crucified and not by the bare signe of the Crosse as most of the Fathers confesse and all of them doe secretly insinuate And therefore the signing of themselues with the Crosse was a secret kinde of inuocation of Christ crucified as Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth And thus it followeth that those myracles which they talke of as the driuing away of Diuels and ouercomming mortall enemies and such like are not to be ascribed to the signe of the Crosse but to inuocation and prayer and faith in Christ crucified 80. Ob. I but the Apostle Paul saith God forbid that I should reioyce in any thing but inthe Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ and He tooke the handwriting that was against vs and nayled it on his Crosse and he set all things at peace through the bloud of his Crosse c. therefore it is to be worshipped R. The consequent of this arguments as good as the former for how can it follow that because the Crosse was the instrument of our redemption therefore it should be adored The weaknes of this sequell is before discouered Besides by the Crosse is vnderstood most commonly in the Scripture eyther the whole worke of Christs passion or afflictions and persecutions for Christs sake neyther of which especially the latter are to be adored with diuine adoration In a word there is nothing they can alledge that doth carry with it any shew of sound reason to hide the shame of their Church in this open Idolatrie and yet they labour tooth and nayle for it but they profite but a little 81. Wee confesse that there was a holy and commendable vse of the transcant signe of the Crosse in the primitiue Church to wit as a badge of Christian profession to signifie that they were not ashamed of their crucified God which the heathen and wicked Iewes vsed to cast in their teeth and so of the permanent Crosse erected in publike places to be as it were a trophee and monument of the exaltation of him that dyed on the Crosse But now Popery hath turned this laudable vse of the Crosse into Paganish abomination and hath giuen to it that honour which belonged to him that dyed vpon the Crosse and therefore wee most iustly accuse them of fouâ—e Idolatrie and finde them guilty without all controuersie and that not onely in thâ—s last enditement touching the Crosse but also in the foure former heads And therefore the conclusion is by necessary consequence most firme and true that seeing the Church of Rome is thus many wayes guiltie of Idolatry therefore it is to bee abandoned and forsaken and that religion which maintayneth this impiety worthily to be abhorred MOTIVE VIII That Religion which implyeth manifold contradiction in it selfe and is contrary to it selfe in many things cannot be the true Religion but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo c. 1. IT is an old saying and true Oportet mendacem esse memorem It behooueth a lyar to haue a good memory lest he crosse himselfe in his tale and so discouer his falshood This saying is verified in our Aduersaries the Romanists whose Religion being nothing else but a bundle of lyes and a hotch-potch of olde heresies crosseth it selfe in many substantiall poynts and thereby reuealeth the manifold errours and falsities that lurke in the bosome thereof That this is true the discourse ensuing thereof I hope shall make so manifest that they themselues shall not be able to gainfay it 2. The Maior proposition in this argument is of such euident verity that by no shew of reason it can possibly be contradicted considering that truth is alwayes and in euery part like to it selfe and agreeing consenting and conspiring with it selfe as a perfect body wherein there is such a sweet harmony of all the members that one is not contrary to another but all tend to one and the same end and vnite their forces together for the good of the whole for which cause the Orator defineth truth to bee that which is simple and syncere And the Poet saith that it seeketh no corners To which Saint Bernard alluding thus writeth Non amat veritas angulos non ei diuersoria placent in medio stat c. i. It loueth no corners by-wayes doe not please it it standeth in the miast And therefore the Ancients in their Hierogliphicks represented truth by the picture of the Sunne not onely in respect of the puritie and clarity of it but also in respect of the simplicitie and vnitie Duplicia enim multiplicia sunt veritati contraria i Duplicity and multiplicity are contrary to verity But falsity errour and lying is full of doubtings windings and contrarieties like a dreame in the night
the end whereof for the most part is neuer agreeable to the beginning And this is that which the Philosopher teacheth when he saith that Mendacium de seipso duplex est A lye is double of it selfe And as Chrysostome noteth Mendacia si non habent quem deciptant ipsa sibi mentiuntur Lyes if they haue not one to deceiue they deceiue and beguile themselues So that it must needes follow that that Religion which infoldeth in it selfe contradictions and contrarieties cannot be the truth but must of necessitie be lying and erronious 3. I therefore leaue the Maior thus cleared and come to the proofe of the Minor or second proposition which is that the Religion of the Church of Rome is replenished with many contradictions and is at variance and discord in it selfe and therefore cannot stand as our Sauiour concludeth of an house or a kingdom And to shew this to be true let vs first begin with the Sacrament in the doctrine whereof are enwrapped many absurd contradictions as for example 4. It is a ground and principle of their Religion and of ours and of the truth that Christ our Sauiour tooke verily and truely flesh of the Virgine Mary and had a true humane body like to vs in all things sinne onely excepted and therefore that this body of his had all the demensions and circumscriptions of a body and all the properties and qualities naturally belonging thereunto This ground of truth the Church of God hath euer defended against all Heretikes of former and latter times that impugned the same to wit the Marionites the Manichees and the Eutychians with diuers others that thought and taught erroniously concerning the humanity of Christ affirming that he had no true but a fantasticall body Now this error is in outward appearance condemned by the Church of Rome and adiudged as a damnable heresie But if we looke into other of their doctrines and necessary consequences that may be deriued therefrom we shall fiâ—de that they crosse their owne positions and hold in substance as much as the olde Heretikes did 5. For in their doctrine of the Sacrament they teach that Christ gaue his owne naturall body with his owne hands to his Apostles when he said This is my body by which it must needs follow that he both kept his body to himselfe sitting at the Table and also gaue it to his Apostles so that at this first Supper there were thirteene bodies of Christ for euery one by their doctrine had the true naturall body of Christ wholly communicated vnto him Now how is Christs bodie heere a true naturall body being in thirteene places at once From hence thus I reason A true naturall body is circumscribed and can be but in one place at once but by the Popish doctrine of transsubstantiation Christs body was in diuers places at once therefore it was no true naturall body And so the doctrine of Transubstantiation doÌ„th contradict and ouerthrow the doctrine of the truth of Christs humane nature and that not onely after it was glorifyed whereof peraduenture there might be some better shew of reason but euen whilst it was here vpon the earth subiect to all humane sinlesse infirmities yea to death it selfe And this conclusion is not ours but S. Augustines that is Take away from bodies saith he space of place and they will bee no where and because they will be no where therefore they will not be at all And againe in the same Epistle he saith speaking of Christ that â— We must take heed that we do not so build vp the Diuinitie of Christ a man that we take away the truth of his body But the Romanists destroy the truth of Christs humanitie by giuing vnto it an essentiall being and subsisting in many distant places at once and make it no body in truth by denying vnto it a certayne circumscription of one singular place at one time which â—s a necessary accâ—slarie to all quantitiue bodies 6. Bellarmine to salue this contradiction labours mainely stretching all the strings of his wit to the highest straine euen till they cracke againe but all his labour is not worth a rush euery childe may say that he doth but tryfle for first hee saith that Christs body is but in one place locally but in many places sacramentalâ—y Secondly that it is in the consecrated hoast definitiuè and not circumscriptiuè definitely and not circumscriptiuely Thirdly not satisfying himselfe with this euasion neither he saith that it is in the Sacrament Tanquam Deus est in loco As God is in a place that is by a supernaturall presence onely Lastly he flyeth to Gods omnipotency and disclayming all naturall respect saith it is a miracle so that in truth he knoweth not what to say one part of his speech thwarting and crossing another 7. For if the body of Christ bee in the Sacrament sacramentally onely then it is not either definitely as Angels and Spirits are said to be or diuinely as God is for sacramentally to be in a place is to bee there by way of relation and not by corporall existence as all know and so we say that Christs body is there present Againe if it be definitiuely then it cannot be a substantiall body subsisting of parts and members and quantitie as they say Christs body doth in the Sacrament because it is proper to Spirits and intellectuall essences to bee in a place after that manner and not to bodyes as their learned Aquinas telleth vs and if it bee there after the manner of Gods presence then it cannot bee there after the manner of a body vnlesse with the Anthropomorphites he will impiously ascribe a body vnto God And lastly touching Gods omnipotency and the miracle arising therefrom Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth that God cannot doe that which doth imply contradiction for that is to bee vnlike to himselfe and to deny himselfe but these things are contradictories a body with quantity that is with iust length bredth proportion sitting at the Table and at the same time the same body without length bredth or proportion hidden in the bread a body visible and yet the same inuisible at the same instant a body with position and situation of parts and yet the same without position and situation of parts included in euery crâ—mme of the hoast Yea lastly one body sitting at the Table with his Apostles speaking breathing spreading his hands and full of infirmitie the other in the stomacks of his Disciples neither speaking nor breathing nor stirring noâ— subiect to infirmitie Now compare the termes together Sitting and not sitting visible and inuisible with situation and without situation one and not one and all at the same instant and moment of time are grosse contradictions which as Bellarmine confesseth Almighty God himselfe cannot reconcile who by his omnipotent power is able to doe all things but this is nothing and therefore is rather to be accounted a defect of impotency then
be tormented restlessely in those burning flames which in their iudgement are equall for extremitie and anguish excepting onely continuance to the paines of Hell to be at rest and to sleepe in peace is Purgatorie become a Paradise and the skirts of Hell the suburbes of Heauen this is new strange Doctrine and yet this must needes bee if both their practice of praying for the dead in their Masse and their doctrine of the same in their bookes bee true 56. Concerning inuocation of Saints it is intangled with diuers absurd contrarieties for first if it bee true which the former Doctrine requires that wee must pray for the Saints which are in blisse that their glorie may bee increased then it is false that wee must pray vnto them For if they stand in need of our Praiers as they doe if by them their glorie is increased then they should pray vnto vs aswell as wee vnto them and if they stand in need of our helpe being in Heauen how can they helpe vs being on Earth if we be Mediatours for them how are they Mediatours for vs True it is that here below one man prayeth for another because they stand in need of one another but by another Doctrine which is also the truth the Saints enioy the sight and presence of God and therefore are most blessed for in him they enioy all sinnesse of ioy and glorie so that nothing can bee added to that happinesse which in their soules they enioy and therefore one of these two necessarily are false either we must not pray vnto them or we need not pray for them 57. Againe they a leage testimonies out of the olde Testament to prooue the inuocation of Saints as that Praier of Moses Remember O Lord Abraham Isaac and Iacob thy seruants and Ier. 25. If Moses and Samuel stand before mee my soule should not bee to this people and Gen. 48. 16. and Iob the 51. 2. Machabees 15. with diuers others and yet they teach that before Christ there was no Saint in Heauen but all in Lymbo Now if they were in Lymbo and could not help themselues vntil the Mediatour came how could they help others and if they did not enioy the presence of God themselues how could they be certified thereby as by a glasse of the necessities and Praiers of the liuing so that it must needes follow that either the Saints were not praied vnto or else if they were then they were in Heauen and not in Lymbo Especially seeing Bellarmine confesseth that the Saints in Lymbo did not ordinarily know the necessities of the liuing that being a prerogatiue of perfect blessednesse neyther tooke care of humane affaires nor were protectors of the Church as the Saints in Heauen are Bellarmine indeede seeing this absurditie acknowledgeth that for the reasons afore alleaged it was not a custome in the olde Testament to direct their Praiers purposely to the Saints but in their praiers to God to alleage the merits of the Saints but herein hee both crosseth himselfe and all his fellowes for if it be so why doth he and they produce testimonies out of the olde Testament to prooue their inuocation which is made directly vnto the Saints 58. Lastly they affirme that no Saints may bee worshipped publikely that is in the name of the Church vnlesse hee be canonized by the Pope for the auoiding of misprision and yet they confesse that none were canonized till 800. yeeres after Christ by Pope Leo the third and also that it is lawfull priuately to worship any of whose sanctity I haue an opinion now I would gladly know if this bee a way to auoide mistaking why was it forborne so long or why is it not vrged priuately aswell as publikely if canonization were necessary 800. yeeres after Christ to auoide mistaking then there was much mistaking before or else this remedy would not haue beene hatched and if it was necessary in the publicke seruice then is it much more in priuate deuotions seeing priuate men are more propense to false suppositions then a whole congregation is and so this new doctrine of canonization not onely condemneth the Idolatry offormer times in the inuocation of Saints but also openeth a wide doore to priuate superstition in that kind and so indeed crosseth and vndermineth it selfe for Bellarmine confesseth out of Sulpitius that the people did long celebrate one for a martyr who after appeared and tolde them that hee was damned and Alexander the third reprehendeth certaine men for giuing the honour of a martyr to one that dyed drunke and no doubt but many such Saints are in their Martyrologe at this day notwithstanding their canonization so that by canonizing they preuent mistaking by giuing liberty to priuate inuocation they giue occasion if not cause of mistaking then which what can be more contradictory 59. Againe when they barre all children that are vnbaptized out of Heauen and confine them to Limbo there to endure the punishment of losse for euer doe they not contradict another doctrine of theirs which teacheth that men dying without the baptisme of water if they haue baptismum flaminis vel sanguinis that is either suffer martyrdome for Christs sake or bee regenerated by his Spirit and so haue a desire to bee initiated by that Sacrament but are preuented by some meanes may notwithstanding goe to Heauen for if want of baptisme bee a sufficient cause to keepe from Heauen then it is so as well in men growne as in infants and if it bee not a sufficient cause to shut vp Heauen gates against men of yeeres then how can it be to yong infants especially seeing infants by their doctrine are equall to men in two things first that they may bee martyrs as well as they as the children whom Herod slew in Bethlâ—em are celebrated in their leiturgies and secondly that they may bee sanctified as well as they as Iohn Baptist was in his mothers wombe and in these two are precedent vnto them first that they are void of actuall transgressions with which men of yeeres are infinitely stayned and so neerer to Heauen then those and secondly though they haue no desire of baptisme in themselues yet they are deuoted thereunto both by the desire of their parents and by the purpose and intent of the Church And therefore all considerations being equall in the persons and the oddes remaining if there be any on the infants side it can bee no lesse then a direct contradiction that children vnbaptized cannot bee saued and men vnbaptized may bee saued for it implieth thus much in effect that the outward baptisme of water is necessary to saluation and yet the outward baptisme of water is not necessary to saluation 60. Againe concupiscence in the regenerate is denyed by them all to bee in it owne nature sinne and yet they all confesse that it is malum an euill and vitium a vice Is any thing naturally euill which is
Peters successor must be in the same case that is neither to erre personally nor iudicially or if he erre one way then also to bee subiect to error the other Lastly experience hath taught that Popes may erre euen as they are Popes and that iudicially yea and also haue beene condemned for Heretikes As Honorius the first whom three generall Councils condemned for a Meâ—othelâ—te And Iohn the two and twentieth who was constrained to recant his iudgement touching the soule by the Vniuersitie of Paris And Iohn the three and twentieth who was condemned for an Heretike by the Council of Constance for denying the immortality of the soule And diuers others who not onely in their priuate opinions but in their publike doctrines haue taught and maintained notorious errours 67. Another doctrine of theirs is that the Pope is the head of the Church and yet they denie not but sometimes the Pope is no true nor sound member of the Church how can hee be the head of the Church that is no sound member thereof nay no member at all not so much as the taile as the Iewish Rabbines call the Bishop of Rome in disdaine except their last distinction helpe them quatenus Papa and quatenus homo I know not how they will rid themselues out of this snare and yet that will not helpe them neither in this case for is it likely that Christ will make a reprobate the head of his Church and commit the cuâ—â—â—dy of the same to an Atheist an Heretike or an Epicure or a Necromancer or a monster of nature as all stories â—all Iohn 12. and as many of them haue beene Surely either as he is a Pope he is not the Churches head or as hee is a man hee must needs be a member of the same If they say that wee giue vnto a King the same title of head and gouernor of the Church who notwithstanding is often a tyrant and waster of the Church and a very reprobate I answere that in attributing these titles of dignity to Kings wee doe not positiuely set downe what euery one is for if hee bee a destroyer of the Church hee is not an vpholder of it but what euery one ought to bee in regard of his office but the Romanists absolutely set it downe that though the Pope be a wolfe wasting the flocke of Christ and though hee lead by his doctrine and example infinite soules with him to hell yet hee is still actually the head of the Church quatenus Papa and no man may say vnto him Why doe you so 68. Againe it was decreed by two Councils and those assembled authorized and confirmed by Popes themselues that the Councill was aboue the Pope and yet the Councill of Laterane vnder Pope Leo the tenth decreeth peremptorily that the Pope is aboue all Councils so also most of the moderne Romanists affirme Now if the decrees of Councils lawfully assembled and approoued by Popes bee the doctrines of the Church then here is one doctrine quite contrary to another one Councill opposite to another yea one Pope to another which is no new nor strange thing but ordinary in the Church of Rome As witnesse Pope Iohn the two and twentieth and Pope Nicholas about the question of our Sauiours manner of possessing earthly goods and Pope Celestine and Pope Innocent the third in the question of diuorce in the case of heresie and Pope Pelagius and Pope Gregory the first in the question of putting away the wiues of Subdeacons one of these crossing the other iudicially and one gain saying what the other defended And most notorious is that which diuers Chronologers testifie of Pope Stephen the sixt how hee decreed in a Councill that they who were ordained Bishops by Pope Forâ—â—sus his predecessour were not ordained lawfully because the man was wicked by whom they were ordained therfore he did vnordain them and reordaine them againe thus Stephen iudicially crossed Formâ—sus and hee againe was crossed and condemned by Pope Iohn the ninth euen for this fact and his new ordainings marched with new baptizings 69. Lastly they constantly maintaine that the Pope is not Antichrist and yet they affirme that hee is the Vicar of Christ heere on earth a flat contradiction for the word Antichrist signifieth not onely an enemie vnto Christ but also one that taketh vpon him the office and authority of Christ the prâ—position 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affording naturally and properly both significations as appeareth in these two wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opposite and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Proconsull in the first whereof it signifieth opposition and the second substitution Now then if the Pope bee Christs Vicar generall on earth then he is in the last sense Antichrist and beeing so in the last sense it is most likely that hee is also the same in the first because the Antichrist spoken of in the Scripture is described to be such a one as is not an open and outward but a couert and disguised enemie hauing two hornes like the Lambe that is counterfeting the humility and meeknesse of Christ and making a glorious profession of religion with a shew of counterfeit holinesse when notwithstanding hee speaketh lyes in hypocrisie and vttereth wordes like the dragon and is the greatest enemy to Christ Iesus and his Gospel that euer was so that in that hee is Christs Vicar hee is Antichrist by their owne confession in that sense and being so is probably Antichrist also in the other because the true Antichrist must bee both the one and the other And so for the conclusion of this point wee haue not onely the mystery of iniquity that is Antichristianisme in the manifold contradictions and oppositions thereof but euen Antichrist himselfe lurking in his den professing himselfe and his followers to bee the onely true Church of God and pretending himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant as Saint Ierome speaketh that is asmuch as to say the Vicar of Christ and without doubt as the sweet harmonie in Christian Religion and euery part thereof with it selfe is a pregnant argument of the infallible truth thereof so the miserable opposition and contrariety in the Religion of the Church of Rome and that most of the doctrines therein contained either with themselues or with other as I haue in part here shewed leauing a fuller demonstration thereof to some other that shal more deeply search into them doe euidently euince that it is the Religion of Antichrist and therefore not onely to be suspected but euen to bee abhorred of all them that loue the truth or that desire the saluation of their soules The IX MOTIVE That Religion whose doctrines are in many points apparently opposite to the word of God and the doctrine of the Gospell cannot bee the trueth but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo c. 1 IN the Chapter going before I haue shewed how the Romish Religion is contrary to it selfe
bare assertion without Scripture 29. As touching their crossing of it wee need fetch no other proofe then from the Councill of Trent which in expresse words denounceth Anathema to those that make this faith whereby wee beleeue the remission of our sinnes a necessary ingredient into true repentance and yet it propoundeth reconciliation and remission of sinnes to such as doe repent let all the world therefore know to the eternall shame of the Romish Religion that remission of sinnes and reconciliation by their doctrine may bee obtained by repentance without faith then which what can bee more opposite to the Gospell of Iesus Christ 30. If they reply that they make faith the foundation of repentance I answere why doe they then exclude it out of repentance is the foundation no part of the house yes it is the chiefest part either therefore it is not the foundation of repentance or els it is necessarily required to the essence of it one or the other must needs bee false but heere is the mystery of this iniquity by faith they meane nor a beliefe of the remission of our sinnes by the bloud of Christ which is the true Euangelicall faith but a generall perswasion of the truth of their Religion and a particular conceit that he which performeth the worke of penance in the three parts thereof shall thereby obtaine pardon of his sinnes and reconciliation with God 31. Secondly whereas hee sayth that wee doe not satisfie for the eternall but for the temporall punishments of our sinnes either heere in this life or in Purgatory hee speaketh nothing for the clearing of their doctrine from opposition to the Gospell for the Gospell teacheth that Christ our Redeemer hath made a full and perfect satisfaction for the sinnes of all the world yeelding a sufficient and worthy recompence and contentment to God for them and therefore they which say that wee must giue any manner of satisfaction our selues whether for the temporall or eternall punishment due vnto them doe euidently crosse the doctrine of the Gospell And this Aquinas one of their owne illumined Doctors doth in effect confesse when hee sayth that the passion of Christ was a sufficient and super abundant satisfaction for the sinne and guilt of punishment of mankind his passion was as it were a price or paiment by which we are freed from both these obligations to bring in then the foggy mist of humane satisfactions is to eclipse and darken the glory of Christs all-sufficient redemption 32. Thirdly whereas hee findeth fault with Chytraus for saying without proofe that auricular confession is not commanded of God and yet hee himselfe doth not proue it is we might driue out one naile with another and returne vpon him his owne answere but I reply further that diuers of his owne fellow Doctors haue auouched asmuch for Maldonate Erasmus the glosse in Gratian and Gratian himselfe and Rhenanus with diuers others are of the same minde as may appeare in the texts quoted in the margent whose wordes I forbeare to set downe because I shall haue occasion to handle the same in a more proper place one thing I cannot omit that the testimony of Rhenanus is so plaine that our aduersaries not able to giue answere sufficient vnto it haue by their peremptory authority said Deleatur let it bee blotted out as they deale also with Polidore Virgill in the like point and with all other that stand in their way 33. Lastly the redeeming of penance by the purse though Bellarmine shuffle it ouer neuer so cunningly yet is so palpable an abuse and so contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell that the very naming of it is a sufficient declaration of the foulnesse of that Religion which maketh a mart of sinne and setteth repentance which is the gift of God to sale for a little earthly drosse and exchangeth punishment due to the body and soule for a little pinching of the purse 34. The Gospell teacheth that marriage is permitted and set free for all men both Priests and people and that the prohibition of marriage and meats is a doctrine of Deuils But the Romish Religion forbids marriage to a great part of men to wit Priests and Monkes and commands to abstaine from certaine meates vpon certaine dayes 35. Bellarmine excepteth and saith by a distinction that when the Apostle sayth Marriage is honourable amongst all men hee meaneth not all in generall for then it should bee honorable betwixt the father and the daughter the brother and the sister but onely those that are lawfully ioyned together which they that are bound with a vow cannot bee 36. It is a strange fore-head but no maruaile seeing it is the fore-head of the whore of Babylon when the Scripture sayth Marriage is honorable amongst al men to exempt their Votaries from this honour as if they were not in the number of men but beasts and as the assertion is strange in impudency so the reason is more strange in folly for though the father may not marry the daughter nor the brother the sister without incest yet the father may marry and the daughter may marry and the brother and the sister also so that they take those that are not prohibited by the Law of God and nature Now let him shew that Gods Law forbiddeth Votaries to marry and then hee sayth something to the purpose but by his owne confession together with many of his pew-fellowes the prohibition of marriage is no diuine but humane ordinance and institution yea the Councill of Trent it selfe calleth it but an Ecclesiasticall Law and therefore not a Law of God but a decree of the Church 37. Adde to this impudency and folly his crossing of all antiquity for in the Councill of Nice Paphnutius alleadgeth this place of Scripture against those that went about to take away the vse of marriage from the Clergie and in the sixt generall Synode it is expressely applied to the same purpose And Ierome in defence of Charterius a married Bishop produceth the same text 38. As touching Chrysostomes speech to Theodorus the Monke alledged by Bellarmine though it seemeth a little to fauour them at the first view yet in another place he cleereth himselfe from that suspition for he saith plainely that Marriage is so honourable and precious that a man with it may ascend into the sacred Chaire of a Bishop What hath Bellarmine got now by Chrysostomes testimony Surely this If all that Chrysostome saith bee sound doctrine then it is an error in the Church of Rome to inhibite all that are consecrated by holy Orders from the vse of the marriage bed For by Chrysostome Bishops may marry Saint Augustines testimonies alledged by him in the one and twentieth Chapter are little to the purpose for in the first he saith plainely that the Church of God doth not forbid marriage but onely preferre virginitie before it as a greater good and in the second hee approoueth onely abstinence from
thinke it fit for vs to say so for humility sake but also that wee were so in truth and indeede Let Saint Bernard for an vpshot wipe away this distinction Wilt thou saith he say that Christ hath taught thee to say so for humility sake true indeed it was for humility but what against truth And thus none of these shifts and distinctions can deliuer this doctrine from opposition to the Gospell for it followeth ineuitably if the best be no better then vnprofitable seruants then none can worke such works whereby hee may not onely merite for himselfe eternall life but hauing a surplusage of redundant merits bestow some of them for the supplying of others wants 100. And thus wee haue a short view of the cleere and manifest oppositions that are betwixt the doctrines of the Gospell and the doctrines of the Church of Rome And we see with what subtill and intricate distinctions they labour to reconcile them together but truth is naked and needeth no such shiftings Both the one and the other therefore namely their direct opposition to the Gospell on the one side and their elaborate diflinctions to make good their cause on the other doth euidently euince the conclusion of this ninth demonstration that that Religion which is built vpon such desperate and dangerous principles cannot be the truth of Christ but the doctrine and Religion of Antichrist The X. MOTIVE That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian faith cannot be the truth but this doth the Romish Religion ergo c. 1. IN the first proposition of this Argument the Romanists hold the Wolfe by the eares not knowing whether it be better to graunt or to deny it for if they graunt it to bee true it will flye in their faces because they are guilty of the contents thereof and if they deny it it will bite them by the fingers for all men will condemne them of shamelesse impudency for denying so apparant a truth Therefore as the beast which Pliny calleth Amphisbaena so it stingeth both wayes But of two euils the lesser they must of necessitie deny it or else they must condemne their owne practice of impietie which sure they will not doe though for their labour they gaine to themselues that name which so frequently and imperiously they impute vnto vs Shamelesse Heretikes they speake it of vs in the spirit of malice but it shall be prooued of them by sound reason and that in this demonstration ensuing by Gods assistance 2. For the confirmation therefore of the first proposition a word or two though whatsoeuer can be spoken thereof is but to adde light vnto the Sunne First therefore the Scripture standeth foorth and condemneth ignorance so plainely that nothing can be more euident Salomon telleth vs That they which hate knowledge loue death And the Prophet Esay That the people were carryed into captiuitie because they had no knowledge And the Prophet Hosca That they were destroyed for lacke of knowledge Our Sauiour affirmeth that the cause of erring in the Sadduces was the ignorance of the Scripture And Saint Paul coupleth these two together in the Gentiles Darkned cogitations through ignorance and strangers from the life of God where he plainely sheweth that ignorance and destruction are inseparable companions as sanctified knowledge and saluation are And to omit infinite other passages of holy writ our Sauiour directly concludeth that he which knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall bee beaten with many stripes and he which knoweth it not and therefore doth it not shall be beaten too but with fewer stripes By which he giueth vs to know that though some kinde of ignorance may extenuate and lessen the fault yet none especially if it bee of matters which we are bound to know and may be attayned vnto doth excuse from all fault but is blame-worthy and punishable by Gods iustice 3. Thus speakes the holy Ghost in the Scripture and doubtles in reason it must needs be so for wherin doth a man differ from a beast but in reason and vnderstanding and wherein doth one man differ from another but in the enlightning of reason by diuine knowledge which is the matter subiect of true Religion Religion being nothing else but the knowledge and profession of the diuine truth the want whereof must needs be a subuerter and destroyer thereof A Physicion that is ignorant of the grounds of his Arte we account a Mountebanke and Imposter And what I pray you can they be lesse that professe ignorance and that in the most difficult Art of all other the Art of Christianitie Besides all confesse that ignorance is a defect and blemish of the soule and that the more knowledge a man hath the neerer he is vnto perfection because hee is the more like vnto God but the chiefe end of Religion is to purge away the blemishes to make vp the breaches of the soule to renue Gods Image defaced therin that so we may be made like vnto him euen perfect as he is perfect How can then true Religion teach ignorance which is such an enemy vnto perfectiō or how can that be true religion which nourisheth ignorance inioyneth it vnto most of her professors followers 4. Let the fathers bee Iudges of this cause Saint Augustine sayth in one place that Ignorance as a naughty mother bringeth forth two wicked daughters falshood and doubting And in another that the knowledge of God is the engine by which the structure of charity is built vp Saint Bernard sayth that both the knowledge of God and of a mans selfe is necessary to saluation For as out of the knowledge of a mans selfe commeth the feare of God and out of the knowledge of God the loue of him so on the contrary from the ignorance of a mans selfe commeth pride and from the ignorance of God desperation Saint Chrysostome sayth that knowledge goeth before the imbracing of Vertue because no man can faithfully desire that which hee knoweth not and euill vnknowne is not feared The like song sing all the rest of the Fathers whose testimonies I thinke needlesse to accumulate being so wel knowne to all men 5. And that they may bee vtterly without excuse heare what their owne Doctours affirme Aquinas confesseth that omnis ignorantia vincibilis est peccatum si sit eorum quae aliquis seire tenetur All vincible ignorance that is which may bee auoided is sinne if it bee of those things which a man is bound to know But such is the ignorance maintained in the Church of Rome not onely vincible but affected wilfull and voluntary Bellarmine also acknowledgeth that ignorance is a disease and wound of the soule brought in as a punishment of originall sinne And confesseth out of Saint Augustine that it is the cause of errour For Two euils are
doe so yet they must iudge of them no otherwise then by referring them to their ordinary Pastour which is the Pope to whose definitiue sentence they must yeeld full consent without further examination Nay he most shamefully affirmeth that if their ordinary Pastour teach a falshood and another that is not their Pastour teach the contrary truth yet the people ought to follow their Pastour erring rather then the other telling the truth And thus the poore people must rely al their knowledge vpon their Pastours and may not in any case examine and try their Spirits whether they be of God or no cleane contrary to the Precept of our Sauior Ioh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures And to the practice of the Bereans who examined Pauls doctrine by the Scriptures And to the counsell of Saint Iohn to all To try the Spirits Now who seeth not that this confirmeth and cherisheth the people in ignorance For if they may not dispute about any matter of faith themselues nor heare others that are learned so to doe nor examine the doctrine of their ordinary Pastours but beleeue whatsoeuer they teach bee it true or false what remaineth but that they should lye and tumble in ignorance and superstition seeing the ordinary meanes of getting knowledge and finding out the truth is taken from them For when they are bound to swallow downe all the doctrines on the one side and may not so much as heare or read the reasons of the other nor weigh them together in the Ballance of iudgement how is it possible that they should euer finde out the truth 22. Wee confesse with Saint Paul that the weake are not to bee admitted to controuersies of disputation But what disputations Mary about needlesse questions touching matters indifferent as meat and drinke and difference of dayes as the Apostle explaineth himselfe in the same Chapter Or foolish and vnlearned questions that ingender strife and are not profitable to edification But if the disputation bee concerning matters of saluation and disquisition of a necessary truth then are none to bee excluded either from reasoning or hearing For Saint Peter requireth of euery man that hee be able to giue an answere to euery one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in him And therefore to dispute for what is to dispute but to giue a reason And our Sauiour disputed with the Pharises and Sadduces in the audience of the people touching the resurrection and the greatest Commandement of the Law and his humane and diuine nature And so likewise did Saint Paul with the Grecians and with the Iewes conuincing them by arguments out of the Scripture That Iesus was the Christ and that there was no way to saluation but by saith in his Name From such disputations as these none was debarred but euery one was and is bound to seeke a firme resolution that hee bee not carried about with euery winde of doctrine True it is euery simple man and woman ought not presently to rush out into arguments of disputation nor too peremptorily to talke of deep mysteries in Religion for then it may bee said vnto them as Saint Basill is reported to haue answered the Emperors Cook Tuum est de pulmentis cogitare non diuina dogmata concoquere It is thy part to looke to thy sauces and dainty dishes and not to boyle in thy shallow wit heauenly mysteries And therefore they must as Saint Ierome speaketh not lacerare Scripturam teare in pieces the Scriptures by their ignorant interpretations and applications of it Nor docere antequam didicerunt Teach others before they haue learned themselues But like Pythagoras schollers keepe silence long till they be wel grounded in knowledge neuerthelesse all this while they must not be barred from hearing others discourse of these high matters nor from reading their arguments pro contra nor at length also when they are come to some perfection from arguing and reasoning with the aduersary For this is the high way to knowledge and vnderstanding the Lord hauing promised to all those that pray vnto him and doe his will whether they bee Priests or people the illumination of his Spirit and power to discerne of doctrines They that deny therefore this liberty vnto the people doe barre them out from all sound knowledge and imprison them in a gaole of ignorance blindnesse and superstition 23. Lastly their braue doctrine touching Implicite faith doth tend to the same end and bring forth the fame effect and that more effectually then any of the rest For thus they teach that it is not necessary for a Layman to know anymore by a distinct knowledge saue some few capitall heads of Religion as that there is one God and three persons That Christ is come in the flesh and redeemed vs from our sinnes and shall com againe to iudge the quicke and the dead c. As for the rest it is sufficient to giue assent vnto the Church and beleeue as it beleeueth though they know not what it beleeueth yea that they are not bound expresly to beleeue all the Articles of the Apostles Creed which is notwithstanding nothing els but a briefe summe and Epitome of Christian Religion and one of the principall grounds of the Catechisme And this is the Colliers faith spoken of before so much commended by many of their greatest Clarks Now how can this but nourish most groffe ignorance For when the people are perswaded that such a short scantling of knowledge is sufficient and that it is enough for their saluatioÌ„ if in a reuerence to the Church they beleeue as it beleeueth what reason haue they either to labour to get any further knowledge or to increase and grow vp in that which they haue attained vnto Surely in matters of Religion so great is the auersenesse of our nature that wee are all so farre from endeuouring to get more then is needfull that few seeke for so much And therefore they that bound our knowledge within so narrow limits cherish this corruption and by speaking pleasing things vnto it lull it asleepe in the bed of ignorance But in the meane time how contrary is this to the word of God let the world indge seeing the Apostle prayeth for the Colossians that they might bee fulfilled with the knowledge of Gods will in all wisedome and spirituall vnderstanding and that they might increase in the knowledge of God Whereas these fellowes would haue Gods people to bee empty of knowledge and in stead of growing to stand at a stay resting vpon the supposed knowledge of the Church And whereas the same Apostle saith vnto the Thessalonians I would not haue you ignorant brethren speaking in the same place of very high and deepe mysteries as the state of the dead the resurrection and ast iudgement they on the contrary say to their people Wâ—e would haue you ignorant brethren These things are so grosse and shamefull that if the Church of
euery man As the multitude of the Nineuites knew not their right hand from their left so this rabble know not the right hand of Religion from the left As for the maine points of the Catechisme how can they know them whereas they are ignorant of the grounds thereof For the Lords Prayer the ten Commandements and the Creede they rumble vp in the Latine tongue not vnderstanding one word what they speake They say Pater noster and Credo in Deum and yet they know not what Pater meaneth nor what Credo signifieth Yea for the most part they so mistearme the words thereof that their language is more like to the babling of Infants or rather the prattling of Parrats then the speech of men Neither is this ignorance onely to be found among the basest of the people which haue no teaching and education but euen amongst the better sort of them that are well borne and brought vp and after so strange and strong a fashion that by no meanes can they be withdrawne from this inueterate and continued custome of their Ancestors Hence springeth all that grosse superstition which is vsed of them as creeping to the Crosse falling downe before Images adoring and beautifying them with new-fashioned garments running a Pilgrimage to this Saint and that setting vp Tapers before their shrines wearing about their necks the beginning of the Gospell of Saint Iohn as a preseruatiue against the Diuell and the herbe Veruine being crossed and blessed against blasts the white Pater noster and the little Creede with an infinite number of such like superstitious vanities whereof there is neyther head nor foote Would any that are not plunged ouer head and eares in ignorance put any affiance in such trumperie and yet herein is all the Religion of the vulgar who repose euen the hope of their saluation in these things and thinke it a greater sinne to neglect or omit one of these Ceremonies then to breake any of the Commandements of God 28. Now let any man iudge whether this can be the true Religion which nourisheth this barbarous and monstrous ignorance and superstition amongst the people and whether that can be a good tree which bringeth forth such bitter and sowre fruits This is the conclusion which groweth out of the premises by necessary consequence The XI MOTIVE That Religion which was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time nor in the Primitiue Church cannot be the truth but such is the Romish Religion in most points thereof therefore that cannot be the truth 1. THe Romanists triumph in no one thing so much as in the antiquitie of their Church and Religion and therefore they cast euermore into our teeth that our Religion is but vp-start and our Church of yesterday euen since Luthers time being neuer extant in the world before But herein they play but the Sophisters for if they speake of true antiquitie we will ioyne issue with them in this point and doubt not but to prooue that theirs is the vp-start Church and their Religion the new Religion in those points wherein they differ from vs and that our faith and Religion was taught and professed by Christ himselfe and his Apostles and exercised and maintained in the pure and primitiue Age of the Church For the cleere manifestation of which point it is first to be obserued that there is a double antiquitie one primary another secundary Primary is that which was from the beginning though discontinued and interrupted by the corruption of times Secundary is that which indeede is aged and gray-headed but yet reacheth not to the spring head Thus our Sauiour Christ controlleth the law of Diuorce Mat. 19. 8. though it was aged and of long continuance euen two thousand yeeres old yet Nonsic fuit ab initio It was not so from the beginning where we see that Diuorce was old and full of yeeres and yet farre from true antiquitie for true antiquitie is that which is deriued ab initio from the beginning In regard of this it is truely said of Tertullian Verum quod primum falsum quod posterius That which is first is alwaies true and that which commeth later is false but in respect of the other it is also as truely spoken of Saint Augustine Estmos diabolicus vt per antiquitatis traducem commendetur fallacia It is a diuellish custome that error should be commended by the descent of antiquitie Secondly it is to be obserued that no antiquitie be it neuer so ancient and hoare-headed is to be reuerenced or regarded if it bee not grounded vpon the truth of the Scriptures and that which seemeth nouelty if it bring Scripture for it warrant is truely ancient and hath true certaine and vnresistable authoritie the reason is giuen by Aquinaâ— Because the Law of God proceedeth from the will of God and therefore may not be altered by custome proceeding from the will of man whence it is that no custome ought to preuaile against the Law of God To which purpose is that of Tertullian Heresies are to bee conuinced not so much by noueltis as by verity whatsoeuer sauours against the truth that shall bee heresie yea though neuer so ancient And of Cyprian If onely Christ is to bee heard wee ought not to regard what any before vs hath thought fit to bee done but what Christ who is before all hath first done for we must not follow the custome of man but the truth of God and in another place Custome without truth is nothing but antiquitie of error Vpon this ground also Clemens Alexandrinus in an Oration to the Gentiles who pretended antiquitie for their errors as the Romanists now doe saying that they and their Fathers before them were borne and bred in that Religion and therefore will not now giue it ouer saith Let vs flye custome as a rocke or the threates of Charybdis or the fabulous Syrenes for it choaketh a man it turneth from the truth it leadeth from life it is a snare a hellish gulfe an euill fanne c. And Saint Augustine Truth being knowne custome is not to be followed for our Sauiour did not say I am custome but I am truth Now vpon these grounds wee offer to ioyne issue with them First that they haue no true and primitiue antiquitie for their Religion and secondly though some of their opinions be of long continuance yet being not warrantable by Scriptures they ought not to preiudice by a conceit of nouelty that primitiue and Apostolicall truth which by corrupt time hath beene interrupted And this I hope to discourse so plainely in this Argument following that no indifferent reader that seemeth not forestalled with preiudice shall depart vnsatisfied 2. Concerning the first proposition I take it to bee of an vndeniable truth for without all question all truth was taught by the Apostles to the Primitiue Church and no part thereof was left vnreuealed for so Saint Paul saith in plaine tearmes to
the Elders of Ephesus I haue deliuered vnto you the whole counsaile of God Now if hee deliuered to them the whole counsaile of God then no part of his counsaile that concerned the mysterie of Christian Religion was vndeliuered Besides it is as certaine that that Church which next succeeded the Apostles was the most pure and absolute Church whether for doctrine or manners matter or forme that euer was in the world and therefore to degenerate from that must needes be to degenerate from the puritie and sanctity of Religion And againe it cannot bee denyed that though some heresies were broached euen in the Apostles times and were coetaneae Apostolorum as Tertullian noteth and though the primitiue age of the Church after the Apostles was most pestered with Heretikes yet euermore the truth preuailed both in regard of birthright and predominance And therefore they that will plead antiquitie must both prescribe from the Apostles time and must haue a good title also to hold by for these two things are necessarily required to a iust prescription as the Lawyers speake Bonus titulus A good title and Legittimum tempus A lawfull time A good title is that which is warranted by the diuine Law and a lawfull time is that which is fetcht from Christ Iesus and his Apostles both these concurring together are an inuincible argument of the truth The first proposition therefore must needes be infallibly true 3. And so I leaue it and come to the second proposition the truth whereof shall bee manifested in two poynts first in respect of the outward face and fashion of their Church and secondly in respect of the principall doctrines which are proper vnto them as they are the Romish Synagogue 3. For the first The outward face of the Church deuideth it selfe into three branches first into the persons that exercise preeminence and authoritie in it and secondly into the iurisdiction and authoritie exercised by those persons and thirdly into the outward ceremonies thereof In all these the Church of Rome is degenerate from the Primitiue and Apostolicall puritie 4. The principall persons of the Romish Hierarchie are these The Pope first as the ring-leader next the Cardinals his Counsellors of state then Archbishops and Bishops his assistants and lastly the shaueling Priests his vassals to which body may be added as excrements an infinite rabble of religious Orders as Monks Fryers and Heâ—mits with such like and of Fryers the Dominicanes the Franciscanes the Austinians the Ambrosians the Minorites the Gilbertines the Crossebearers the Cisterensians the Blacke the White the Gray the Bare-footed the Begging with a number more and to conclude the Iesuites which as they are the taile of all the rest for the time so they are the head of all the rest for vill nous conspiracies bloudy plots diuelâ—ish deuices and hellish practices Now of all thesâ— Bishops onely excepted wee finde not so much as any mention neither in the writing of the Apostles nor in the age next succeeding after them for though the name Pope Papa being a word of the Syracusan Language and signifying as much as Pater Father be of great antiquitie yet as a Iesuite of their owne confesseth with others it was a common name to all Bishops as appeareth both in Cyprian and Ruffinus till Gregory the seuenth in an assembly held at Rome decreed that onely the Bishops of Rome should bee called Popes But as touching Cardinals the matter is more grosse for the first birth and originall of that name can be deriued no higher then eyther from Gregory the firsts time or Pope Siluester or Marcellus or Pontianus by their owne confession and therefore some of them ingenuously acknowledge that the Order of Cardinals is not ex iure diuino by Gods ordinance though others no lesse foolishly then impudently would fixe their foundation vpon these words of the Scripture Domini sunt Cardines terrae The hinges or the pillars of the earth are the Lords Therefore Cardinals are of God which is as good a consequent as his that would prooue that Heretikes ought to be put to death by Scripture because Saint Paul said Haereticum hominem deuita c. as hath beene shewed before As for the name of Bishops wee deny not but it is found in Scripture and so Archbishop may also be warranted by the same authositie as signifying nothing else but a chiefe Bishop but how farre the Romish Archbishops and Bishops are degenerate from their office described by the Scripture all the world can witnesse for the Scripture Bishops were diligent Preachers these are idle Prelates they were persecuted these are persecutors they were humble persons these are proud Princes they were holy men seeking onely the aduancement of the Kingdome of Christ these are profane worldlings seeking their owne gaine and pompe and carnall honours all this is confessed of them and lamented by Espensaeus one of the same ranke who thus writeth It was no lesse a wonder in olde times saith he to be called a Bishop and not to preach then he is now as rare as a monster who is seen to performe that dutie and againe I know saith he some learned Bishops who standing vpon their Gentilitie forsooth and greatnesse hold it a matter of seruitude and basenesse to be exercised in preaching because their predecessors were not accustomed thereunto 5. As touching Priests in the new Testament phrase all Christians are called Priests and they whose office it is to dispose the mysteries of the Gospell Ministers and Elders and Pastors but now none may haue that name but their anoynted Shauelings who as they say create their Creator by fiue coniuring words and offer him vp vpon the altar as a Sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead For albeit the word Priest is deriued from presbyter which signifieth an Elder and in that sense might well be giuen to the Ministers of the new Testament yet because it is in common vse of speech taken for one appointed to sacrifice which in Latine is Sacerdos and in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And because the Ministers of the Gospell are not once named by these termes in the new Testament therefore they that in this signification terme the Ministers of the Gospell by the name of Priests degenerate from the true meaning of the Scripture but what should I speake of the name seeing the office of these Shauelings is so contrarie to that function which was practised by the Apostles and Disciples of Iesus Christ for the Apostles are neuer said to sacrifice Christ on the Altar as these Shauelings are pretended to doe Their office was to minister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not to sacrifice they receiued of the Lord and gaue vnto the people but these create a Sacrifice of themselues and then offer it vp to the Lord. Here then is a plaine declining of the Romish Priests from the true Ministers of the Primitiue Church both in name and office
as it appeareth Acts 16. but rather is to bee thought to bee the extraordinary gift of the holy Ghost as Saint Paul plainly insinuateth 2. Tim. 1. And secondly though it should bee sauing grace yet it is not promised to all others though it were then giuen to Timotheus neither were all that receiued holy orders partakers thereof for then Nicholas the Deacon should haue beene sanctified being an hypocrite Who seeth no◠then now weakely hee hath prooued this to bee a Sacrament out of holy Scriptures and this may seeme for a taste of the rest of his proofes which are most of them of the like nature 70. Againe the doctrine of Indulgences to wit that the Pope hath power out of the Churches treasury to grant relaxation from temporall punishment either heere or in Purgatory is so new an article that diuers of their own Doctors doe confesse that there is not any one testimony for proofe thereof either in Scriptures or in the writings of ancient Fathers but that the first that put them in practice in that manner as they are now vsed was Pope Boniface the eight anno 1300. neither could they bee any older then Purgatory being extracted from the flames thereof which hath beene already prooued to bee a meere nouell inuention so that the child cannot be old when as the Father is not gray-headed and that the matter may bee without contradiction reade Burchardus who liued about the yeare of our Lord 1020. And Gratian and Peter Lumbard that came after who all speake of satisfaction and penance and commutation and relaxation of penance but yet haue not a word of these Romish Indulgences whereas if they had beene then extant they would neuer haue passed them ouer in silence especially in the discoursing vpon these points whereupon they haue their necessary dependance 71. Last of all their doctrine touching merite of workes may bee branded with the same marke For first though the word merite bee often vsed by the Fathers yet ordinarily it is not taken in that sense which the Romanists vse it in as witnesse both Bellarmine and Viega and Stapleton and if they did not yet manifold examples out of their owne writings would prooue to be true Secondly the full streame of their doctrine doth make against the proud conceit of merite for they ascribe all to Gods mercy and Christs merits esteeming their owne best workings and sufferings vnworthy of the euerlasting and celestiall reward they neuer dreamt of that ambitious doctrine taught in the Church of Rome that our good workes are absolutely good and truely and properly meritorious and fully worthy of eternall life Let their books be viewed and nothing can bee more apparantly cleare then this is Thirdly the termes of congruity and condignity were deuised but of late dayes by the subtill Schoolemen who notwithstanding could not agree among themselues touching the true definition distinctiō of their own books by which it appeareth that it was not then any Catholike or vniuersall truth Lastly their owne Doctours terme the merite of congruity a new inuention and that other of condignity no Catholike nor ancient doctrine and the whole doctrine of meriting to haue beene first made an article of faith by the Councill of Trent all which laide together prooue it most clearely to bee of no great standing nor they of any vnderstanding that were the first forgers and deuisers thereof 72. Thus wee haue sixteene points wherein the new Romish Religion hath degenerated from all pure antiquity to which many more might bee added but these are sufficient to euince our conclusion which is this that seeing the Romish Church hath neither in matter nor forme substance nor accidents any sure ground either from Scripture or the doctrine of the Primitiue Church but is vtterly vnlike to it in many substantiall respects therefore it cannot bee the true Church of God but an harlot in her stead and their Religion not of God but of men and consequently that wee in declining from them and conforming our selues both in doctrine and manners to the Primitiue patterne are not fallen from the Church but to the Church and that theirs is the new Religion and not ours And thus wee see what all their bragges and clamours touching the antiquity of their Religion and the nouelty of ours come vnto seeing there is no one thing more pregnant to prooue the falshood of their Religion and the Apostacy and Antichristianity of their Church then this is And to conclude as wee would thinke him not well in his wits that hauing beene long sicke and after regained health should say that sicknes was more ancient then health whereas he should rather say that hee had recouered his old health that his new Inmate sicknesse was dispossessed of his lodging though it had kept it long so in all reason it is madnesse to thinke the reformation of the Church and reducing of Christian Religion to the ancient health to bee more nouell and new then the horrible sicknesse and apostacy wherewith it was long not onely infected but almost ouer-whelmed And this is iust our case with the Church of Rome but I leaue them to bee healed by the heauenly Phisitian himselfe Iesus Christ our Sauiour whose wholesome Physicke must cure them or nothing will MOTIVE XII ¶ That Church which maintaineth it selfe and the Religion professed by it and seeketh to disaduantage the aduersaries by vnlawfull vniust and vngodly meanes cannot bee the true Church of God nor that Religion the truth of God by the grounds whereof they are warranted to act such deuilish practices but such is the practice of the Romist Church and therfore neither their Church nor their Religion can be of God IT is a wonder to see what deuises sleights impostures and deuilish practices the Romanists haue and now at this day doe more then euer vse to vphold their rotten Religion to ensnare mens minds with the forlorne superstitiō their kingdome being ready to fall they care not with what props they vnder-shore it and the truth preuailing against them they care not with what engines though fetched from hell it selfe they vndermine it so that they may any wayes batter the walles or shake the foundation thereof My purpose is in this Chapter to discouer some of the Sathanicall practices of these subtle Enginers I meane the Iesuites and Priests and other rabble of Romish proctors It is not possible to reckon them vp all being so many and various such therefore God willing shall be heere discouered as are for villany most notorious for impudency most shamelesse and for certainty most perspicuous and by them let the Christian Reader that loueth the truth iudge of their Religion and Church what it is 2. The first proposition of this argument is grounded vpon three principles one of nature another of reason the third of Scripture nature teacheth that contraries are cured that is expelled by contraries as hot diseases by cold
medicines and cold by hot light by darkenesse and darkenesse by light Now trueth and falshood good and euill godlinesse and vngodlinesse are thus contrary and therefore naturally expelling each other they cannot bee meanes of each others preseruation that cannot then bee the trueth which secketh to with-hold it selfe by falshood nor true Religion which is a doctrine according to godlinesse which maintaineth it selfe by vniust vngodly and wicked practices this is natures voyce to which reason subscribeth when it concludeth that it is not onely improbable but impossible that Vertue should seeke for Vices helpe to fortifie it selfe withall or trueth for falshood to maintaine it seeing the chiefe essence of Vertue is to fly Vice and of Trueth to bee free from Falshood Plntarchs Morals Aristotles Ethicks Tullies Offices and all practiâ—ke of Philosophy auoucheth this to be true but if from nature and reason the hand-maides wee ascend to Religion the Mistris wee shall finde in Scripture this vndeniable maxime Euill is not to bee done that good may come of it and therefore they which shall doe so Saint Paul sayth Their damnation is iust whence it followeth that deuilish and mischieuous practices vndertaken for defence of Religion and warranted by the grounds thereof doe both argue a rotten Religion for like mother like daughter according to the Prouerbe and also prooue the professours and practicers thereof to bee lyable to the iust damnation alloted by the Spirit of God to such wicked persons there is no cuasion from this conclusion except they say that their practices are not euill which whether they bee or no the particulars of the second proposition shall propound to the iudgement of him that will with an indifferent eye looke vnto them and so I leaue this first proposition fortified with three strong rampiers of Nature Reason and Religion and come to the second wherein the pith and marrow of the argument consisteth 3. That the Church of Rome is guilty of such vngodly courses for the maintainance of it selfe and their Religion though miserable experience doth sufficiently prooue yet because whilst things are considered in grosse they hide much of their worth and weight therefore it shall not be a misse to display them in particular and to offer them by retaile to such as haue a minde to apprehend the true value of their counterfeit wares In these sixe particulars therefore to omit many other I arraigne them as guilty before God and men first of horrible treason secondly of cruell murther thirdly of damnable periury fourthly of grosse lying fift of impudent and malicious slaundering and lastly of apparent forgery and these be the propps and pillars of their Religion by these they labour to procure credit to themselues and disgrace to vs and with these weapons they fight against all that oppose themselues against their damned opinions 4. Touching their treasons periuries and cruelties they are sufficiently discouered in the first and second reasons before going to which I referre the Reader for his full satisfaction onely note that as their practices haue beene notorious in these kindes so they are deriued fundamentally from the grounds of their Religion notorious I say for who hath not heard of the soule treacheries and conspiracies practised by Popes and their Agents against Kings Emperours some they haue deposed some prisoned some murthered some expelled their kingdomes some betrayed into the hands of their enemies some persecuted and vndermined and that by treacherous plots and hellish deuices to omit all others and to confine my speach to our owne Countrey the pretended Spanish inuasion in the yeere 1588 by that great Armado compounded of 138 great ships addressed by the Popes instigation who blessed and Christened it with the name of an inuincible Nauie and way made by the Iesuites and Seminaries who like Pioners and secret spies indeauoured to vndermine the state to spie out all conueniences for the enemies and to prepare mens hearts and hands to giue assistance to them The Irish rebellion blowen by the bellowes of Rome animated by Doctour Saunders and other Priests sent to incourage the rebels against their lawfull Prince or as Coster the Iesuite confesseth to be helpers to them in matters of conscience and lastly the last horrible hellish neuer sufficiently to bee detested Powder-treason which if it had come to execution as it was neere to the point would haue beene enrolled for euer amongst the wonders of the world and now the wonder is that nature could afford such monsters to deuise such a villany or that any should bee so besoâ—ted as to approoue of that Religion which was the mother of such a monster This I say in which Romanists onely were actours Iesuites Plotters and the Pope the Abâ—tter for Catesby Percie Rookwood Winter Grant and the rest were ranke recusants Garnet alias Walley alias Roberts alias Darcie alias Farmaâ— alias Philips was euer any honest that had so many names Hall alias Oldcorne Tesmond alias Greeneway and others were professed Iesuites and Baynham was sent to Rome to giue notice to the Pope of this bloudy practice whereupon solemne prayers and supplications were made by his direction for the good successe thereof These I say doe witnesse sufficiently that treason is an ordinary practice amongst that generation for the maintenance of their Religion pompe and that they thinke it a lawfull and laudable act so to doe it being the common doctrine of the Iesuites and Canonists that if a King be excommunicate either ipso facto as he is if hee bee an Heretike by their doctrine or by denunciation from the Pope then his subiects are no further to obey him but to rebell against him yea depose and kill him if by any meanes they can and though they dispence with their allegiance during the necessity of time yet it is with this limitation quoad vntill they bee of sufficient power and haue fit opportunity to worke their purpose This pernicious doctrine flowed from the mouthes and pens of Sunancha Creswell alias Philopater mariana Lupus Tresham Bellarmine Emanuell Sa and almost all the rest of that treacherous generation 5. Againe their periuries are also so notorious that I need not to insist vpon them for who knoweth not that Canon of the Councill of Constance which decreeth that faith is not to bee held with Heretikes and that sentence of a Pope reported by Guicâ—ardine that the Church is not bound with oathes and that common doctrine of the Iesuites that a subiect is not tyed by his oath to obey his King excommunicated and who hath not read of Pope Eugenius with his Legate Iulian animating the King of Hungary to breake his league with Amurath the Turke and of Atto Archbishop of Mentz perfidiously against his oath betraying Albert Count of Franconia into the Emperour Lodowick the fourths hands and of Rodulph Duke of Sueuia instigated by the Pope to falsifie his oath of alleageance to Henry the Emperour and of Burghard Archbishop of
Sacrament is really changed into the body of Christ and the wine into his blood if this be true 12. Againe to proue their doctrine of concomitance that is that whole Christ is vnder both formes of the Sacrament Bellarmine produceth examples out of Surius Vincentius and Alexander Aleusis where miraculously out of the bread being broken blood plentifully flowed to the view of the beholders which if they were true as may very wel be doubted yet euince not that doctrine for those miracles might be wroght rather for the coÌ„uictioÌ„ of profane irreligious receiuers confirmation of Christian Religion against all enemies therof whether Infidels or Heretikes then for the proof of the reall presence or coÌ„comitance of both parts of the Sacrament vnder one signe but that they were not true wee haue iust cause to suspect seeing the eldest of those miracles are litle aboue a hundred yere old at what time true miracles were vtterly ceased in the Church falseones were foisted into their roomes as witnesseth Lyranus who sayth that the people in his time were notably deceiued by false miracles forged by Priests and their complices for gaine and Canus who affirmeth that writers in his time forged many things of purpose and suggested false miracles to pamper the peoples humor and to gaine credit to Religion and in that respect taxeth diuerse graue authors for their pronenesse in satisfying the peoples appetite and Agrippa who sayth that the writers of histories making godly lies did counterfeit Reliques frame miracles and deuise terrible fables let these goe then amongst the rest for at least suspected if not conuinced falshoods 13. Further for the proofe of their Canonization and inuocation of Saints it is a wonder to see how many wonders they haue deuised For to omit that which Cardinall Baronius reports as a truth out of Guillerinus and Vincentius touching Saint Fulbert that because he was a most deuout worshipper of the Virgin Mary therefore shee came vnto him in his sicknesse and gaue him her brests to sucke as also how shee came to Saint Bernard in his sicknesse to visit him accompanied with Saint Lawrence and Saint Benedict and to omit how Saint Dominick caused the Deuill to hold the Candle â—o him till it burnt his fingers which Canus brandes with the stampe of a ridiculous fable and how Saint Dunstone pulled the Deuill by the nose or by the lip as some other say with a paire of Pincers which beeing as ridiculous as the former yet is allowed by the Iesuit Delrio for truth to omit also how their Saint Francis had the fiue wounds of Christ printed in his flesh by an Angell with the nailes sticking therein and continually bleeding till his dying day that hee vsed to ride in the aire in a fiery chariot talking with Christ and Mary and Iohn and accompanied with innumerable Angels and that the birds would heare him preach with great deuotion and a wolfe was conuerted by him whom he called brother wolfe and ledde him about with him in his iourney as also to omit how Saint Denis had his head stroken off and after carried iâ— two miles in his hands the like to which is written of Iustinian the Monke Saint Othisa Saint Fulcian and Saint Victorice and how Saint Nicholas in his infancy lying in his cradle of himselfe faiâ—ed Wednesdayes and Frydayes and would not take suck and how Saint ` Patrick caused a stollen sheepe to bleat in the belly of him that had eaten it and how Saint Bede preached to the stones and they answered his prayer and said Amen venerable Bede 14. To omit I say all these and many more as beeing ordinary and common tales in euery mans mouth I will onely commend vnto the Readers admiration some few more rare and yet no whit lesse strange as for example a Parrate being like to bee surprized by a hauke flying ouer the shrine of Saint Thomas of Canterbury cryed miraculously Saint Thomas helpe moe and presently the hawke fell downe dead and the Parrat escaped so the famous Virgin of Lauretto when as a certaine man was on the ladder ready to bee hanged being accused falsely for purloyning his masters hawke assoone as hee did but thinke of her in his heart and desire her helpe the hawke came foorth with iâ—ngling in the aire and houering ouer his head and at last light vpon the gallowes and so freed the poore man from the halter Saint Christophers staffe beeing pitched into the ground began presently to beare leaues whereupon eight thousand men were conuerted to the faith of Christ A Nunne called Beatrix running away with her Paramour liued certaine yeeres in a publike brothel-house but because shee was a deuout worshipper of our Lady our Lady her selfe supplied her roome in the Nunnerie and was taken for Beatrix all the time of her absence Saint Christines tongue was cut out of her head and yet shâ—e spake notwithstanding and her brests beeing cut insteed of blood milke issued Saint Brice beeing accused to bee the father of a base childe caused the said child being but thirty dayes old to speake and confesse that Brice was not his father the same also is said to carry hote coales in his bosome without burning his flesh or clothes Saint Aidus espying eight wolues that were sore hungry gaue them eight lambes of meere compassion which afterwards by prayer bee obtained lafe and found out of the wolues bellies Saint Adrian beeing called vpon by a boy that was beaten the Masters hand was stayd in the aire so that hee could no more touch him 15. What should I tell you of Saint Patrick that droue with his staffe all the venemous beasts out of Ireland or of Saint Roch who beeing sicke of the pestilence in a wood was fed by a hound that brought him euery day bread from his masters table or of Saint Lupe or Low who shut vp the Deuil in a tankard all night that came to tempt him so that he howled and brayed most hideously and in the morning the holy man let him out or of Saint Dunston whose Harpe hanging on the wall sounded melodiously without touching this Antheme Gaudent in coelis animae sanctorum and of Saint Martin who beeing saying Masse a tongue of fire came and sate vpon him as it did vpon the Apostles or of Saint Germaine who comming to the sepulchre of one of his disciples beeing a good while dead asked him how hee fared and if he would no longer goe with him to whom the other answered and said that hee was well and that all things were to him soft and sweet and that hee would no more come hither or of Saint Barbara who turned the sheepe of a certaine sheepheard that bewraied her to her father that sought for her into locusts But if you would haue a lye with a latchet looke into the Legend of the Annunciation of our
high Priest of the world much like to King Alexanders Bucephalus which being bare would carry any groome quietly but when his trappings and furniture was on then hee would endure none but Alexander The writer of the life of Saint Bernard relateth a pretty wonder done by that holy man at the dedication of a Church when as the place was so filled with multitude of flies that the people could not enter into it without great annoyance Saint Bernard vsing no other meanes to destroy them said onely I excommunicate them and presently the next morning they were all found dead on the floore Doth this sauour of Saint Bernards holinesse or can any man bee so madde as to thinke that so holy a man would denounce excommunication ordained to separate from the Congregation open and sinfull men against poore silly flies sure hee hath no more wit then a flye that will beleeue this so that notwithstanding the ancient miracles recorded by the Fathers yet the Legendary Romish miracles are not freed from grosse and notorious falshood 27. Another practice of theirs to win credit to their Religion and disgrace to ours is slaundering and calumniating both our Religion and the professours thereof and that so grossely and falsely that their owne consciences could not chuse but say secretly vnto their tongues thou lyest when they were writing them in their bookes but they deale like theeues who to cleare themselues from suspition of robbery raise vp hue and cry against true men or like harlots that lay the imputation of dishonestie vpon sober matrones to the end that they themselues might bee thought chast and honest so beeing full of sores and blemishes themselues they seeke to couer their owne shame by discouering ours Which if it were in truth though their enuy was neuer the lesse yet their sinne was not so great but beeing notorious and outragious lyes they plainely show that they care not what they belch foorth so they staine vs with the filth thereof and that they haue learned that Maâ—chauillian rule audacter calumniari to slander boldly because though the wound bee healed yet a scarre remaineth 28. Their slanders are darted either against our persons or the gouernment of our Church or our doctrines let vs take a short view of all these and first for their personall slanders they slander all of vs in generall with the ignominious titles of solifidians nullifidians nudifidians Infidels worse then Turkes c. yea and say that wee haue no faith no Religion no Christ no God and what not that either malice can deuise or enuy and rage vtter These slanderous reproches are set abroach by rayling Parsons in his booke of the three conuersions and almost in all other of his discourses and by Mathew Kellison who was of a sudden start vp from spigget to the Pulpit a buttery diuine and by Wright another of the same stampe and by Reynolds and Bellarmine and Beran and Coster and all the brood of ranke mouthed Iesuites who as if they were all bitten with one madde dog raue alike against our Religion and the professours thereof but God bee praised with euill successe for their calumnies are so transparent that he that doth but meanly vnderstand the grounds of our Religion cannot but turne the lie vpon their heads 29. But let vs heare their reasons why we are all Infidels mary they propound two principall ones and those very strong as they thinke first they say that all learned Protestants are Infidels because they build their faith vpon their owne priuate exposition of Scripture and secondly that ignorant Protestants are Infidels because they rely their faith vpon their Ministers credit To the first I answere two things first that wee doe not interpret the Scripture by our own priuate iudgements but by the Scripture it selfe for some places are so plaine those principally that contain the grounds of Religion that they need no exposition as Saint Augustine witnesseth saying that quaedam in Scripturis c. There be some things in the Scripture so manifest that they require rather a hearer then an expounder and what those things are the same father declareth in another place where he sayth that in those things which are plainely set downe in Scripture are found all those points which containe faith and manners and those things which are obscure and hard in Scripture we do not expound by any forraine or priuate interpretation but by conferring them with other more plaine and perspicuous places and so except they say that the Scripture it selfe is of a priuate interpretation they cannot condemne vs of that crime Now that this is the best way of interpreting let the same Augustine informe vs who sayth That there is nothing contained in hard places of Scripture which is not to be found most plainely vttered in others and Chrysostome who affirmeth that the Scripture expoundeth it selfe and suffereth not the Reader to erre and Basill who telleth vs that those things which be doubtfull or seeme to be couertly spoken in some places of holy Scripture are expounded by other plaine places Of the same minde are the rest of the Fathers and so wee expound the Scripture no otherwise then all the ancient Fathers vsed to doe and then indeed it ought to be 30. I but wee follow not the iudgement of the Church say they which hath the onely key of interpretation committed vnto it if they meane by the Church the fathers we may iustify our selues by condemning them of the same fault they deale with them as the Iewes dealt with their wiues if they please their humors they hold vnto them but if they crosse or thwart them they sue out a bill of diuorce against them and put them away nothing is more common then this in all their writings and therefore it needs no instances to prooue it if they meane the Councils why by their owne teaching no Councill is of sufficient authority except it bee confirmed by the Pope nor any decree or interpretation to bee entertained without his approbation Therefore they must needs meane the Pope alone and if they doe so then we confesse that wee haue iust causes not to tye our faith to his girdle nor our vnderstanding to his braine seeing many of that ranke haue beene open Heretikes some notorious Atheists all men and therefore subiect to errour yea seeing the body of their Church is an Apostate harlot and the surmised head on earth that man of sinne the great Antichrist spoken of in the Scriptures If to vary from him then and his Babylon in our exposition of Scripture bee priuate interpretation wee confesse our selues guilty but in all other respects cleare and innocent 31. Secondly grant that wee doe in some points follow on our owne priuate exposition yet wee are not therefore Infidels for then most of the Fathers should bee infidels aswell as wee for there are few of them which haue not sometimes priuately vea and falsely
a sinner in the acting of his sin by his powerfull prouidence and not onely foreseeth but decreeth disposeth and determineth in his wisedome all the sinnes of men according to his will and by his secret working blindeth their minds and hardneth their hearts that they cannot repent This we confesse is our doctrine if it be rightly vnderstood for we teach that God doth not barely permit sinne to be done but decreeth before to permit it and in the act worketh by it and ordereth and disposeth it to his owne ends yet so that he neither approueth of it nor is in any respect the cause of the malignity thereof and herein we consent both with the ancient Fathers and with most of their owne Doctors 69. Touching the Fathers Saint Augustine shall be the mouâ—h of all the rest thus writeth he Sinne could not be done if God doth not suffer it and he doth not suffer it against but with his will and being good as he is he would neuer suffer any thing to be ill done but that being also Almightie he can do well of that which is euill And in the next Chapter God doth fulfill the good purposes of his owne by the euill purposes of euill men And in another place God doth worke in the hardening of the wicked not onely by his permission and patience but also by his power and action through his mightie prouidence but yet most wise and iust And in another place Who may not tremble at these iudgements where God doth worke in the hearts of wicked men whatsoeuer he will rendring to them notwithstanding according to their deserts And againe in another place As God is a most holy Creator of good natures so hee is a most righteous disposer of euill wills that whereas those euill wills doe ill vse good natures he on the other side may well vse the euill wills themselues Thus Augustine is our Patrone in this Doctrine and if we be Heretikes he is one too 70. But let vs heare their owne Doctours speake When God doth good and permitteth euill sayth Hugo his will appeareth seeing he willeth that which should be both which he doth and which he permitteth both his operation and his permission are his will God worketh many things sayth Pererius within him that is hardened by which he is made worse through his owne fault he stirreth vp diuers motions either of hope or feare lust or anger and sendeth in diuers doubtfull and perplexed imaginations by which he is pusht forth vnto euill A sinner saith Medina when he sinneth doth against the will and law of God in one case and in another not he doth indeed against his signified will but against the will of his good pleasure he doth not nor against his effectuall ordination No sinne falleth out besides the will and intention of God say Mayer Durand Aquinas and other God sayth Canus is the naturall cause of all motions yea euen in euill men but not the morall cause for he neither counselleth nor commandeth euill Lastly to conclude with two famous Iesuits Vega and Suarez the first sayth that though God doth not command counsell approue or reward sinne yet he doth will and worke it together with vs and the second that God worketh the act of sinne but not the malice thereof This is the very doctrine of Caluine and Martir and all Protestants so that if wee be guilty of this blasphemous consequence to make God the author of sinne they also must needs be in the same case but Saint Augustines distinction will cleere vs both When God deliuered his Sonne and Iudas his Master to be crucified why is God iust and man guilty sayth he but because though the thing was the same which they did yet the cause was not the same for which they did it or if this distinction will not suffice their owne Iesuites will helpe vs out In sinne there are two things to be considered sayth Vasques the act and defect the act is to be referred to God but not the defect in any case which ariseth from the corrupt will of man or the act and the malignity thereof as sayth another Iesuite or the materiall part of sinne which is called by the Schoolemen subiectum substratum the vnder-laide subiect and the formall which is the prauity and anomy of the action the one of these from God the other from man or lastly if none of these will serue the turne yet our owne distinction will acquire vs to wit that Almighty God doth so will decree mans sin not as it is sin but as it is his owne iust iudgement vpon sinners for their punishment and the demonstration of his iustice And thus our doctrine is free from the conception of this vile Monster their calumniation is as vnrighteous against vs as the dealing of God about the sins of men is most righteous and iust And thus those some what too harsh sayings I contesse of Luther Swinglius and Melancthon are to bee vnderstood and no otherwise that the treason of Iudas came from God aswell as the conuersion of Paul charity will construe the wordes according to the speakers intendement and not stretch their intendement to the strict tenter of euery word and syllable 71. Fourthly they accuse vs of blasphemy against the Sonne of God for denying as they say that hee is Deus ex Deo God of God against the doctrine of the Nicene Creed and this they call the Atheisme of Caluine and Beza a palpable slander for neither Caluine nor Beza did euer imagine much lesse vtter the same in that sense which they lay to their charges for let Bellarmine their sworne aduersarie speake for them Caluine and Beza teach sayth he that the Sonne is of himselfe in respect of his essence but not in respect of his person and they seeme to say that the essence of the Deity in Christ is not begotten but is of it selfe which opinion sayth he I see not why it may not be called Catholike Heere Bellarmine telleth vs truely what their opinion was and doth acknowledge it to be a true Catholike doctrine and yet in the same Chapter hee contemneth Caluine for his manner of speaking of it and of intolerable saucinesse for finding fault with the harshnes of the phrase vsed by the Nicene Councill God of God Light of light Marke I pray you his absurdity it is Catholike and yet it may not bee spoken it is true and yet it is to be blamed May not a Catholike doctrine bee spoken then or must the truth bee smothered This is such an inconsequence as neither reason nor Religion can any wayes beare withall and for his saucy dealing with the Nicene Councill all that euer he sayth is that it is durum dictum a hard phrase yet so that hee confesseth it may receiue a good and commodious interpretation if it be vnderstood in the concrete that Christ who is God is of the
they done it to gaine any thing thereby in disputation but onely to keepe the common people from infection whereas they spare none neither Fathers nor Councels nor moderne Writers and that not so much lest the common sort should bee infected as that the learned might be depriued of those weapons wherewith they might fight against them and wound their cause Seeing the case now so stands that hee which can muster vp together the greatest armie of Authours to fight vnder his colours is thought to haue the best cause their dealing then with vs is like that of the Philistims against the Israelites who despoyled them of all weapons and instruments of warre that they might dominiere ouer them with greater securitie but ours is not so towards them And therefore both in this and all the former respects it is a miserable vntruth and a desperate cuasion to say that wee are more guiltie of this crime then they are 107. Lastly whereas in his first answere hee pleadeth the lawfulnesse of the fact let vs heare his reasons to moue thereunto and in the interim remember that in prouing it to bee lawfull hee confesseth it to bee done But why is it lawfull Mary first because the Church being supreme Iudge on earth of all Controuersies touching faith and Religion hath authoritie to condemne Heretikes And therefore also the workes of Heretikes and if this then much more to correct and purge their Bookes if by that meanes shee can make them profitable for her vse and beneficiall to her children To which I answere two things First that it is not the Church that doth this but the sacred Inquisitors to wit certaine Cardinals and Lawyers deputed to that office who for the most part are so farre from being the Church that they are often no sound members thereof Iâ— it be said that they haue their authoritie from the Pope who is vertually the whole Church why doe they then speake so darkly and say the Church hath this authoritie when as they might in plaine termes say that the Pope hath it but that hereby they should display the feeblenesse of their cause and the fillinesse of this reason for thus it would stand Why is it lawful for Books to be purged because the Pope thinkes it lawful And must not he needs think so when the Authors crosse his triple crowne and speake against his state and dignitie Adde hereunto that it is a fallacie in reasoning when that is taken for granted which is in question For we deny their Synagogue to be the true Church and much more the Pope to bee the supreme Iudge and therefore till those things be proued the reason is of no effect 108. Secondly most of those things which are purged by them are so farre from being heresies or errours that they are the most of them sound doctrines of faith grounded vpon the authoritie of Gods sacred truth for they blot out many things in both olde and new Authours that they themselues dare not accuse to bee hereticall as that place in Saint Cyril before mentioned touching the power of faith which is no more in direct termes then that which is said in the Scripture Act. 15. 15. that faith purifieth the heart and that in the Basil Index of Chrysostome The Church is not built vpon a man but vpon faith and those propositions which are commanded by the Dutch Index to be wiped out of the Table of Robert Stephens Bible to wit that sinnes are remitted by beleeuing in Christ that he which beleeueth in Christ shall not die for euer that faith purifieth the heart that Christ is our righteousnes that no man is iust before God and that repentance is the gift of God with a number of like nature These they purge out of Stephens Index which notwithstanding are directly and in as many words recorded in the Booke of God and so it may iustly be thought that they are so farre from clenfing Bookes from the drosse and dregs of errour that they rather purge out the pure gold and cleare wine of truth and leaue nothing but dregs and drosse behind 109. His second reason is because nothing is more dangerous to infect true Christian hearts then bad Bookes Therefore it is not onely lawfull but needfull and behoouefull to the Church of God that such Bookes should bee purged and burned too if it bee so thought meete by the Church to the end that the sinceritie of one true faith and Religion might be preserued I answere all this is true which he saith but are they heresies which they purge no they are sound and orthodox opinions for the most part as hath beene proued in the answere to the former reason And doe they it to keepe Christian men from infection no their chiefe end and drift is to depriue their aduersaries of all authorities that make against them that so they might triumph in the antiquitie of their Religion and noueltie of ours which is one of their principall arguments which they vse though with euill successe for defence of their cause dealing herein as Holofernes did with the Israelites at the siege of Bethulia breaking the Conduits cutting the pipes and slopping the passages which might bring vs prouision of good and wholsome waters out of the cisternes of olde and new Writers this is their purpose and no other whatsoeuer they pretend for if they meant any good to Gods people for preuenting of infection they would haue purged their lying Legends of infinite fables their Canon Law of horrible blasphemies and their Schoolemen of many strange opinions Yea they would haue condemned the Bookes of Machiauel and of that Cardinall that wrote in commendation of the vnnaturall sinne of Sodomie and a number such like filthy and deuillish Writings which are printed and reprinted among them without controulement And againe is it vnitie in the true faith and religion that they seeke no it is conspiracie in falshood and consent in errour and not vnitie in the truth till the Romish Religion bee proued to bee the true Religion which can neuer be this reason is of no force to iustifie their proceedings Lastly is it Christian policy no it is deuilish subtletie and craftie forgerie for the case so stands betwixt them and vs as in a tryall of land betwixt partie and partie wherein hee that bringeth best euidence and witnesse carrieth the cause now if one partie either suborne false witnesses or corrupt true or forge euidences to his purpose or falsifie those that are extant all men will count him as a forger and his cause desperate and iudge him worthie the Pillorie so betwixt vs the question is who hath the right faith and the best title to the Church Our euidences are first and principally Gods Word then the writings and records of godly men in all ages now then they that shall purge pare raze blurr falsify or corrupt any of these must needs bee thought to bee subtle and craftie companions and not honest
foreheads 2. That the Religion of the Church of Rome is not so safe as ours may appeare by comparing our principall doctrines together and first to begin with the Sacrament That the bodie of Christ is truely really and effectually present in the Eucharist both they and we hold grounding vpon that text of Scripture this is my bodie but concerning the maner of this presence the Romanists hold that it is by transub stantiation we by a spirituall presence which notwithstanding is true and reall both in relation to the outward signes and to the faith of the Receiuer Now see the dangers that arise from their doctrine which are not incident to ours 2. First if there be not a corporall presence of Christ and a reall Transubstantiation as they suppose then this doctrine leadeth to horrible and grosse Idolatrie for they must needs worship a piece of bread in stead of Christ And this not onely if their doctrine bee false but being supposed to bee true in case hee that consecrateth be not truly a Priest or haue not an intention to consecrate as oftentimes it falleth out for in both these cases by the grounds of their owne Religion there is no change of substances and therefore as much danger of Idolatrie as eyther of a false Priest or of a true Priests false intention But in our doctrine there is no such danger and yet as true reall and powerfull an existence of Christs bodie in the Sacrament as with them if not more seeing the more spirituall a thing is the more powerfull it is according to the rules of reason for wee are not in danger to worship a creature in stead of the Creatour but wee worship the Creatour himselfe euen Iesus Christ our Redeemer who is there present after a spirituall manner and that as reuerently deuoutly and sincerely as they doe a piece of bread 3. Secondly by this doctrine our aduersaries incline to fauour the Capernaites who had a conceit of a corporall and fleshly eating of Christs bodie and giue iust cause to the Pagans to slander Christian Religion to bee a bloudy and cruell Religion Whereupon the Fathers to crosse the one and stop the mouth of the other taught that Christs speech in the sixt of Iohn was to be vnderstood spiritually and not carnally and that it was a figure and not a proper speech But our doctrine doth giue no such occasion eyther to the Heretikes on the one side or to the Pagans on the other neyther hath it any consanguinitie with the Capernaites and yet wee retaine as certaine and powerfull a participation of our Sauiours bodie and bloud as they doe I know they thinke to escape from this rocke by a distinction of visible and inuisible eating as if the Capernaites dreamed that Christ would haue his bodie to bee eaten visibly but they inuisibly that is say they spiritually which indeed is no cuasion for an inuisible eating is a true eating As when a blind man eateth or a seeing man in the darke and cannot therefore be called a spirituall eating but a corporall neyther doth this free them from approching neere to the Capernaites though they somewhat differ from them nor from giuing iust cause of offence to the Heathen from both which our doctrine giueth full and perfect securitie 4. Thirdly and lastly their doctrine of transubstantiation doth not onely countenance but confirme the ancient heresies of the Marcionites Valentinians and Eutychians that impugned the truth of Christs humane nature for they taught that he had not a true but a phantasticall bodie and what do our aduersaries but approue the same indeede though they seeme to detest it in word when they teach that his bodie is present in the Sacrament not by circumscription nor determination but by a spirituall and diuine presence quomodo Deus est in loco as God is in a place which is asmuch as to say that his bodie is not a true bodie but a spirituall bodie that is indeed a phantasticall bodie Againe the bread which they say is the bodie is not bread in truth but in shew after it is consecrated for there is nothing of bread but the mere accidents without a substance according to their doctrine and so it is in all reasonable construction no better then a phantasticall thing seeming to the outward sense to bee that which in truth it is not Why may not those Heretikes then reason from these doctrines thus If Christs bodie be a spirituall bodie in the Eucharist and the bread be phantasticall bread then why might not his bodie be so also when he was on the earth But the former is true by your doctrine O ye Romanists therefore why may not the latter which is our doctrine be also true But none of these Heretikes can haue any such aduantage from our doctrine which teacheth that Christ in respect of his humane nature is resident in the heauens circumscribed by place and that hee is present in the Sacrament by the efficacie of his inuisible and powerful grace after a spirituall manner as Saint Augustine speaketh and that both the bread remaineth bread after consecration and the bodie of Christ remaineth still a naturall bodie after the resurrection retaining still the former circumscription as Theodoret auoucheth this taketh away all aduantage from Heretikes which their doctrine doth manifestly giue vnto them For these causes Petrus de Alliaco the Cardinall doth confesse that from our doctrine no inconuenience doth seeme to ensue if it could be accorded with the Churches determination And Occham that it is subiect to lesse incommodities and lesse repugnant to holy Scripture Thus wee see that in this first doctrine touching the Eucharist there is more securitie and lesse danger in our doctrine and Religion then in theirs 5. I come to a second point which is touching the merits of works whereby the Romish Religion doth cast men into three eminent dangers which by our doctrine they are free from First of vaine glory for when a man is perswaded that there is a merit of condignitie in the worke which hee hath wrought how can he choose but reioyce therein and conceiue a vaine-glorious opinion of his owne worthinesse as the proud Pharise did when he bragged that he had fasted and prayed and payd his tithes seeing it is impossible but that the nature of man which is inclinable vnto vaine-glory and selfe-loue if it haue a conceit of any selfe-worthinesse should bee puffed vp with a certaine inward ioy and pride and therefore Chrysostome taketh it for wholesome counsel to say that wee bee vnprofitable seruants lest pride destroy our good workes 6. Secondly of obscuring and diminishing Gods glorie and Christs merits For where merit is there mercie is excluded and where something is ascribed to man for the obtaining of saluation there all is not ascribed vnto Christ and although they colour the blacke visage of this doctrine with a faire tincture to wit that all
iudgement because there must be by their doctrine aswell contrition in heart as confession in the mouth or else no pardon can follow but a Priest cannot discerne of the heart Nay further many if not most of their Romish shauelings are vnable to iudge of the nature and qualitie of sin much more of the quantitie and degrees thereof so consequently can neither impose a iust or proportionable satisfaction without which no releasement nor make the partie vnderstand the ease hee standeth in that hee may take vpon himselfe voluntarie penance or if need bee purchase indulgence from the Pope In all which respects it is danger to trust our soules vpon such a slipperie foundation but hee that confesseth to God his sinnes and expecteth pardon at his hand onely is sure that hee discerneth the secrets of the heart and that he shutteth and no man openeth and openeth and no man shutteth and therefore if hee absolue though all the World condemne hee is on a sure ground and if hee condemne though all the World acquite hee is in a miserable case In this doctrine there is no vncertainty but strong comfort to the penitent sinner and terrour of conscience to the obstinate and vnrepentant 30. If they say that the absolution of a Priest is certaine vnlesse there bee a barre in him that confesseth because our Sauiour saith Whosoeuers sinnes you remit they are remitted and whosoeuers sinnes yee retaine they are retained I answer that first de facto the Priest may erre but God cannot Secondly he cannot choose but erre in absoluing if the penitent doe erre in confessing which hee is verie likely to doe and thirdly that when God purposeth to absolute a sinner no barie can hinder the performance thereof yea hee infuseth grace into his soule to hate his sinne and power to forsake it Is it not better then to trust vnto God then to man and safer to confesse our sinnes to him that hath absolute power to pardon them then to a Priest whose pardon depends vpon the vncertaintie of a mans true confession These things be so cleare that no reasonable man can doubt of the truth of them 31. Lastly confession to God hath manifest and vndeniable grounds in holy Scripture but auricular Romish confession to a Priest is by the iudgement of their greatest Clarkes taken vp onely by a tradition of the Church and not by any authoritie of the olde and new Testament witnesse their Canon Law Panormitane Peresius Petrus Oxoniensis Bonauenture Medina Rhenanus Erasmus with many more and though the new Iesuites and Rhemists auouch the contrarie yet they but therein crosse their fellowes as learned and wise as themselues and yet are not able to alleadge any one direct proofe of their opinion Now is it not a safer practice to build vpon Scripture then tradition that is vpon God then man And to chuse that kind of confession which no man doubteth to be warranted from God rather then that which the Patrones thereof themselues are at variance from whom it commeth who that hath eyes seeth not which of these is rather to be chosen 32. Touching Purgatorie it breedeth diuers dangerous consequences as to their holy Pope first who taketh vpon him to haue plenarie power ouer all creatures especially ouer the soules in Purgatorie which the Canonists call peculium Papae the Popes peculiar for it proueth him eyther to bee a lying Prophet or a cruell Tyrant if hee haue full power ouer them why doth hee let so many thousand poore soules lye frying there without release His suffering them to continue in that cruell torment argueth him either to want power to relieue them or mercie to put that power in execution both which are vnbeseeming qualities for Christs Vicar If they reply against this as Antoninus doth and say that in respect of his absolute Iurisdiction he may absolue all that are in Purgatorie but if we regard the orderly execution thereof in that respect the Pope may not nor ought so to doe I say againe But why ought hee not if it bee in his power is it for feare to fill Heauen too soone with Saints but that would be a great blessing for then the consummation of all things would the sooner come or is it for feare lest the iustice of God should be fully satisfied by a proportionable punishment But the Popes indulgence can helpe that for hee hath in his Treasure-house such a surplussage of Saints merits that can serue to make good whatsoeuer is wanting in their behalfe and the Pope by their doctrine hath authoritie to dispence dispose of these merits at his discretion Or is it for feare lest purgatorie should bee emptied and so hee should lose one part of his Kingdome But our Sauiour contented himselfe with heauen and earth to be vnder him and his dominion and Saint Paul attributes to his regiment things vnder earth that is in hell and wil his Vicar needs haue a larger dominion then his Master But indeed this is the true reason For if hee should make a goale deliuerie out of this infernall prison then his chiefest sway were gone yea and his reuenue too It stands vpon him therefore not to bee pleased to deliuer any out of these paines vnlesse he bee well pleased for his paines and if hee bee so then the soules shall flye out of that place to heauen in whole troupes as they say they did at the Prayer of a certaine holy man c. In their leaden Legend this danger lighteth vpon the head of their head the Pope which according to their doctrine can by no meanes be auoided it were better then for him to forgoe his profit which ariseth by purgatorie then to vndergoe such foule discredit 33. Another dangerous consequence ariseth hencefrom to all the professors of Religion in generall that is a feareful presumption and securitie of sinning when they are perswaded that after this life they may be released from the paines of purgatorie by the prayers almesdeeds Masses and other meritorious workes of the liuing for who would bee afraid to sinne or carefull to make his saluation sure in this life with feare and trembling when hee beleeueth that by giuing a summe of monie at his death for Masses and dirges to be sung for his soule he shall be certainly deliuered out of purgatory This must needs cast men into manifest presumption if not of all sinnes yet of veniall sinnes and ordinarie offences which are to be purged by that fire as they teach Is not our doctrine more sound and safe that informeth vs that such as die in their sinnes sinke downe to the lowest Hell as hopelesse after death to bee relieued by anything that can bee done for their sakes by the liuing doth not this teach men betimes to bee wise and to finish vp the worke of their saluation before the night come and make their peace with God whilest they are here in the way of