Mass pag. 51 Of their manifold Errours concerning the Church How the Papists devise many notes whereby their Church is described pag. 53 Of Antiquity pag. 71 Of Universality pag. 76 Of Succession pag. 79 Of Unity pag. 80 Of the Power of working Miracles pag. 82 Of the Gift of Prophecy pag. 87 Of Prosperity pag. 89 XX Errours concerning the Members of the Church the Clergy and Laity pag. 97 XI Errours concerning justifying Faith pag. 102 XXX Errours concerning Repentance which they call Penance pag. 104 Five kinds of Indulgences a sixfold profit of them pag. 113 Of the Disposition required to be in those that receive Indulgences shewed in Six things pag. 116 How the Papists hold that Indulgences are profitable for the Dead shewed in Seven things pag. 117 XI Errours concerning Fasting pag. 119 Of their dispensing with Fasts pag. 123 XVII Errours concerning Oaths and Vows pag. 127 XII Errours concerning Marriage Of their divers Rites and Ceremonies in Marriage pag. 131 VII Errours touching Extream Unction Of the Rite and Ceremony used by the Priest therein pag. 135 VI Errours concerning their Sacrament of Order pag. 137 VII Errours concerning Confirmation Their manner of administring the Sacrament pag. 139 Of their Corruptions in Worship pag. 144 Of their Latin Service pag. 145 Of praying for the Dead pag. 148 Of the Canonizing of Saints and the manner of Canonization pag. 149 Of Invocation of Saints of the several persons that are invocated in their Litany pag. 152 Of their Distinction of the two kinds of Worship Latria and Dulia 155 Of Image-Worship of the manner of Worship they give to Images Of the manner of making and way of Consecration of Images 157 Of the Image of the Cross 160 Of Reliques XII errours and abuses noted in the Papists by Chemnitius with divers other things 163 Of the Vigils annexed to Festival-days 172 Of their Wax-Candles and Tapers 173 Of their Holy Water 175 Of their Pilgrimages 177 Of the Agreement between Paganism and Popery shewed in Three and Twenty particulars 181 Of the Papists imitating the Jews and Pharisees shewed in Ten particulars 205 How the Church of Rome now varieth from the old Church of Rome shewed in Twenty particulars and how the Doctrine of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is contrary to the Doctrine of the present Church of Rome THE ANATOMY OF POPERY CHAP. I. THat all men may take a full view of the Papacy and see how it hath encroached upon Heaven and Earth let us consider the Fraud that hath been used by the See of Rome by bringing in Corruptions in matter of Doctrine and Worship Popery is not a single Heresie like that of â—utyâ—hes Arius or Nestorius but a System of Heresies and a common sink of abominable Errours and therefore called Ἀπστασία a general revolt Their Errours about the Scripture are 1. Vid. Turnb Tetrag c. 2. That the Church doth regulate the Scripture and is not regulated by it so making the Church the Rule of Faith That the holy Scriptures are not the only and whole Rule of our Faith and Life in all matters necessary to Salvation 2. That the Church hath Authority to alter as well the things contained in holy Scripture as those that are delivered in the Church by Apostolical Tradition yea the Papists affirm that it is in the power of the Church to alter that which God commandeth in Scripture that is to make Commandements contrary to Gods Commandements And they are divided in the main viz. what this Church is which is the infallible Judg Bâ—xters Sate Religion whether it be the present Church or the former Church whether it be the Pope only at least in case of difference between him and his Council or whether it be a general Council although the Pope agree not as the French and Venetians say yea whether it be the Clergy only or the Laity also that are this Church 3. Bellarm. l. 3. c. 3. They also assert that it is lawful to allegorize Scripture both in the Old and New Testament 4. Ecchii Enchirid. loc de authorit Eccles Pigg l 1. de Hierarch â—ccl s That the Pope is the supreme Judg of all Controversies and that the Scripture hath no authority in respect of us but what is granted to it by the Church For adding some Books to the Scripture which were not from the beginning The Papists being bold upon the Decree of the Council of Trent will that among these the Books of Tobit Judeth Wisdom Ecclesiasticus the first and second of Macchabees should be Canonical likewise the Additions to Esther Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremiah and the Additions to Daniel these they call δευτεÏοκανονικοὶ Canonical in a second degree 5. Stapl. tâ—n l. 3 c. 36 That the Canon of Scripture is imperfect wanting many Divine Revelations therefore some Books have been received as Canonical at one time and not at another some some have been received as Canonical in some Churches not in other Vid. Downham 6. They prefer the Faith and Judgment of the Church of Rome which they say is the internal Scripture written by the hand of God in the heart of the Church before the holy Scripture 7. Bellarm. de verb. Dei l. 1. c. 2. That unwritten Traditions are to be equally believed and to have as great authority as the Scripture that Traditions which they call the unwritten Word are the Rule of Faith 8. They contend that the Customes and unwritten Opinions of the Church of Rome are most certain Apostolical Traditions 9. Blondel Dalaeus They number the Popes Decretal Epistles with the holy Scriptures when yet it is most cleerly proved by Blondel in a just Volume that abundance of them are forgeries and Dalaeus proves it particularly of the Clementines 10. Wide Downham Catal. They say it is Heresie for any to say that it is not altogether in the power of the Church or Pope to appoint Articles of Faith 11. That the Scripture is not sufficient for the refuting of all Heresies as if there were any Heresiebut what is against Scripture 12. Id ibid. That the Church is ancienter than the Scripture that is than the Word of God which is now written because it is ancienter than the writing of it as if it were not the same Word of God which was first delivered by voice that is now in writing 13. That it is not necessary nor convenient for the common People to read the Scriptures but rather dangerous and hurtful 14. That the translating of the Scriptures into vulgar Languages is the fountain of Heresies and they that do it deserve ill of Christian Religion 15. That the Hebrew Copy of the Old Testament the Greek of the New Testament is not authentical 16. Bâ—llaâ—me de verbo Dei l. 3. That the Scriptures are very obscure and hard to be understood even in things necessary 17. That it belongeth not to all the faithful to search into the meaning
denieth the temporal Sword to be in Saint Peters power doth not regard well the Word of the Lord who said Put up thy Sword into thy Scabbard And to prove that the Temporal of Princes is subject unto the Pope he alledgeth Jer. 1.10 See I have this day set thee over thee Nations and over Kingdoms And he will have that meant of the Ecclesiastical that is the Papal Power which he saith cannot be judged of by any because Saint Paul said The spiritual man judgeth of all things yet he himself is judged of no man Finally he concludes thus Whosoever then resisteth that Power ordained by God resisteth the Ordinance of God c. whereforewe declare say define and pronounce that it is of necessity to salvation to be subject to the Roman Prelate That venerable Pope hath found a proof of his Primacy in the first words of the Bible God in the beginning made heaven and earth These are Laws and Papal Ordinances pronounced with all the forms and inserted into the body of the Pontifical Decrees which to excuse from Errour one must want both conscience and common sense Anno 14.14 a Council was held at Constance to reform the Church in that Council three contending Popes were deposed of whom John the XXII was one for 71 Crimes among others for publickly denying the immortality of the Soul and maintaining that there was neither Paradise nor Hell To that Council J. Husse and Jerome of Prague were invited to defend their cause a safe conduct of the Emperour Sigismond was given them and Faith was sworn unto them that no harm should be done unto them But after some form of Disputation they were seized on and burnt alive And because the Emperour made a scruple to break his Faith the Council declared unto him that he was not bound to keep Faith with Hereticks for which purpose a Canon was made in this form This holy Council declareth that the safe conduct given to Hereticks or defamed for Heresie by the Emperour Kings and other secular Princes thinking thereby to turn them from their Errours with what Bond soever they be bound brings no prejudice to the Catholick Faith or to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Neither can put any hindrance but that it may be lawful for a competent and Ecclesiastical Judg notwithstanding the foresaid safe conduct to make inquisition of the Errours of such persons and duly to proceed against them as much as Justice shall require if they obstinately refuse to renounce their Errours although they be come to the place of Judgment trusting to that safe conduct declaring that he that made that promise remains not obliged by it after he hath done that which lieth in him The same Council in the fifteenth Session makes an enumeration of the Errours of John Husse The nineteenth Errour for which he is condemned is for saying that the Popes and the Bishops Pardons avail nothing That Council declareth that the Popes Pardons serve a sinner although God hath not pardoned him which is putting the Pope above God since he pardoneth those that have offended God without Gods pardon and since the Popes pardons are in force though God approve them not The same Council takes away from the people the Communion of the Cup. They add that although Jesus Christ did after Supper institute the Sacrament under the two kinds yet the custom of giving to the people one kind only which is the Bread must be held for a Law and those that say the contrary must be driven away as Hereticks and grievously punished by the Inquisitors of heretical perversity In the year 1423. Martin the fifth held a Council at Siena where the same Indulgence was granted to them that would fall upon the Hereticks as to them that go to defend the holy Land Thus Remission of sins and Salvation is proposed as a reward of cruelty and popular fury as if the Pope had said because thou art a murtherer and a wicked man thou shalt have eternal life In the year 1440. the Council of Florence assembled by the authority of Pope Eugenius the fourth defineth and declareth in the last Session that the Roman Church can add to the Symbol and that the Pope hath the primacy over the whole world In the end of the last Lateran Council you have a thundering Bull against Luther who then began to preach there thirty nine Heresies are reckoned the seventh whereof is that the best penitence of all is a new life which yet is a choice sentence of the spirit of God Rev. 2.4 The twenty sixth Heresie of Luther mentioned in that Bull is this assertion It is certain that it is not at all in the power of the Church Pope to make Articles of Faith If this be an Heresie we may expect other Articles of Faith from the Pope and Christian Religion is not yet perfected since other Articles of the Christian Faith may be added such as we know not and such as the Apostles have never taught either by Word or Writing At last the Council of Trent came which having begun in the year of our Lord 1545 lasted 18 years In the fourth Session it was decreed that unwritten Traditions must be received with the same affection of piety and reverence as the holy Scripture That is that the Invocation of Saints the Distinction of Meats the Adoration of Relicks the Honour yielded unto Images the Consecration of Agnus Dei's and of blessed Beads together with many other things must be received with the like Piety Faith and Reverence as the Law of God and the Doctrine of our Redemption in Christ Jesus contained in the holy Scriptures The same Council cannot be excused of Errour for pronouncing in Session the fifth that the Concupiscence forbidden in the Law is no sin The same Council cannot be excused of Errour for decreeing that the Latin vulgar Version of the Bible should be the only authentical thereby authorizing a thousand depravations of the true original Text which are Hebrew and Greek yet since the time of the Council of Trent several Popes have caused that vulgar Version to be revised and have altered many things in it Salmeron the Jesuite endeavoreth to excuse that Decree of the Council speaking thus The holy Synod would oblige us to embrace that Latin Edition and follow it in all things yet not absolutely but upon condition that it be cleansed and re-purged from the Vices and Errours which are crept into it The same Council of Trent hath devised a crafty by-way to prohibit the reading of Scripture unto the people and many Prelates and Doctors in that Council were named and appointed to make an Index or List of Books the reading whereof must be prohibited Now the very first of these prohibited Books is the holy Scripture of which they say in the fourth of those Rules they have set before that Index that the reading of the Bible in the Language of the Country being indifferently permitted brings more harm than benefit
confess and fleece them to purpose Lamentable was the woful blindness that was in those times reigning in the World when no man might buy or sell no man might live without danger of the Popes Curse but such as received the marke of the Beast in his hand or in his forehead It was death to profess the Truth of Christ and once to mutter against their Errours It was thought worthy to be punished with Fire and Faggot when any did but seek the saving knowledg of God though in a secret way to have a few leaves or Chapters of the New Testament in their own tongue which they could understand was held even a Capital offence against the Roman Catholique Church For whiles the Shepherds who had the charge of Souls became dumb-dogs not preaching or blind Watch-men not discovering danger to the souls of the people or preaching perverse things to lead men from the knowledg of Salvation lest any should against their wills get light from the Word by reading the Scriptures in private and be able to espie their false dealings they took a most devilish course to take away the Key of Knowledg as the Scribes and Pharisees did But they worse than these fore-Fathers of theirs did shut up the Word in an unknown tongue that the knowledg of Christ might be hidden from the people yea and they taught them their very Prayers in a strange Language Oh the impudence of Sin and Wickâ—dness when it hath gotten head and is some to the height Now here again we are to acknowledg the Lord's unspeakable goodness in restoring unto us the knowledg of his Truth and in a clear and admirable manner in despite of all the power and policy of the man of sin and his many Instruments who with fire and sword as well as with pen and paper laboured to maintain his Kingdom When Antichrist set his foul feet and laid his iron-yoke upon the tender neck of the Spouse of Christ enthralling the people of God to his Traditions enthroning himself in their Consciences it was not now the Sword of any Emperour nor the policy of any deep-headed Statist that restored her or ruined him but it was the breath of the Lords mouth in the Ministry of his Word which gave life to the Church again and blasted the glory of that Whore of Babylon according to that Epigram applied to Luther Lutherus decimum confecit strage leonem De clavâ noli quaerere penna fuit Insomuch that if the Popish Priests be not worse than the Egyptian Sorcerers how can they deny but this was the finger of God that in so short a time so great a light should shine throughout so many Nations and that so many men and women of all sorts and degrees rich poor noble mean learned unlearned should see so much into the mysteries of Salvation to which the world for a long time had been a stranger should rely wholly and onely upon Christ for Salvation and renounce all Considence in themselves or any other Creature or any device of man's brain should acknowledg the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for a full doctrine of Salvation and Godliness and despise all traditions of men which are not grounded upon it defying the Pope as Antichrist who for a long time had been honoured above God and whom none almost durst gainsay or once mutter against renouncing Will-worship Image-worship Invocation of Saints and the like Idolatrics and Spiritual Whoredoms wherewith the Whore of Babylon hath defiled the world This was the Lords doing and it is wonderful in our eyes Yea and in this Visitation the Lord did bestow greater means upon our Nation than upon many other There was no Nation in these parts of the world but they had some means even those that now cleave most close to the Pope as Spain and Italy But unto us especially the light of the Word hath been clearly manifested to teach us the knowledg of God in Christ and we have had the Martyrs fires burning clearly to confirm us in the same And this light have we now enjoyed for above an hundred years together without interruption Much honoured in the Lord I humbly Dedicate to you this ensuing Treatise Entitled The Anatomy of Popery The Roman Synagogue is not only spelunca latronum but lerna malorum a sink of Sin of Heresy of Idolatry Impiety Treachery Villany mare mortuum a dead Sea wherein spiritual Sodom and Gomorrha are not sunk but swim and flourish Yea how many Popish Emissaries are come from the See of Rome into this Nation like the Salmon into fresh Rivers to beget a new spawn and frie of Catholiques among us Now if we fasten the Anchor of our judgment upon the firm ground of Truth it will stand sure and steady against all contrary winds of doctrine When a certain Jester set on by others as it was thought in the presence of the King of Hungary spake to a noble man of Prague touching his Religion because he fancied not the Romish service but was addicted to Rochezana a follower of John Husse the Noble man gave him this answer If thou speakest of thy self thou art not the man thou Counterfeitest and so I will answer thee as I would a Wise man if by others setting on it is meet I satisfie them Hear me therefore Every man useth Church-Ceremonies agreeable to his Faith and offereth such sacrifices as he believes are acceptable with God It is not in our own power to believe what we will The mind of man conquered with powerful reasons willing or nilling is taken Captive I am sufficiently resolved of the Religion I follow if I follow thine I may deceive men but God that searcheth the heart I cannot deceive nor yet is it fit I should be like to thee one thing becometh a Jester and another thing a Noble man This you may take to your self saith he or report if you please to them that set you on work It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing as St. Paul saith Honoured Sirs The Lord establish you in the truth which is animi pabulum sponsa intellectus as Lactantius calleth it Truth is a Kings Guard Prov. 20. Hezekiah's Cordial in Sickness yea the blessed life is nothing else but gaudium de veritate as St. Augustine saith The Contents of this Treatise CHAP. I. OF their Errours in Doctrine pag. 1 XIX Errours concerning the Scriptures pag. 2 XXI Errours concerning God and Christ pag. 6 XXXIV Errours concerning Man c. pag. 10 VIII Errours concerning the Sacraments in General pag. 23 XI Errours concerning Baptism pag. 26 XXX Errours concerning the Lords Supper or Eucharist pag. 30 XIII Errours concerning the Mass Of many Ceremonies which go before the celebration of the Mass Of the Ceremonies which they use in the very action it self pag. 37 Of many Errours and Blasphemies in the Canon of the Mass as touching the Matter pag. 45 Of other Errours in the manner of celebrating
Idolatry while that they adore a piece of Bread with the worship of Latria which is only due to God It was decreed in the Council of Trent that the Eucharist should be adored with the highest degree of worship which is proper to God 23. In honour of this breaden God they celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi of the Body of Christ 24. Vide Bâ—yne Vind. at Frequent corporal apparitions of Christ in their Hostia's in form of a little Infant Lamb raw Flesh Blood are asserted in Popish Legends to evidence the truth of their Transubstantiation though meer Fables diabolical delusions or impious frauds of Popish Priests 25. The taking away the Cup was decreed in the Council of Constance yet after that the Council of Basil granted the use of the Cup to the Bohemians Bellarm. lib. 3. de Euchar. cap. 2. This taking away the Cup from the People may seem a small matter for it is done but once every year at which time the Sacrament is given to the People for in all the rest of the Masses which are continual and daily they deprive both the People and the Clergy that do not consecrate it of both kinds For in private Masses it is held forth to be seen by the People and Clergy and to be adored not to be received but only by the Priest that makes it who is as themselves speak the Maker of his Maker 26. They assert that the Body of the Lord cannot be rightly taken but of those that fast and that Christians ought to eat nothing before they communicate unless in a case of great necessity 27. They bind the people only once in a year to receive the Communion viz. at Easter-time and take it to be fully sufficient for them so to do Concil Trident. Sess 13. Can. 9. 27. Rhem. Annot. 1 Cor. 11 Sect. 16. The wicked say they do in the Sacrament eat the true Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood though they be infidels and ill livers 28. The Papists teach an Oral and Capernaitical Manducation of the Flesh of Christ for they say that the Body of Christ in the Eucharist is really and sensually touched broken and eaten 29. The Elements in the Sacrament being once consecrated whether they be received or not at that instant Tâ—ident â—â—oncil â—â—ss 13. â—â—n 47. but be reserved and kept in Boxes and Pixes and other vessels of the Church for days weeks months to be carried solemnly to those that are sick and to be applied to other uses are still they say the very Body and Blood of Christ 30. They give the Eucharist to Infants presently after Baptism Their Errours concerning the Mass 1. THere are diverse opinions among them concerning the Original of this Name Some say Hugo de S. Vict. it is called Missa the Mass quia oblatio preces ad Deum mittantur because Oblation and Prayers are sent to God others because an Angel is sent of God to be assistant at the Mass some of the Hebrew word Missath Deut. 16. Dr. Willet Cont. 13. which signifies an Oblation or Gift some ex missis donariis symbolis of the Gifts and offerings sent or put in before the Communion But what beginning soever it had they do now generally take the Mass for that solemn action whereby the Sacrament is made a Sacrifice and offered up to God for they have converted the Sacrament of the Eucharist by which God communicates Christ to us into a real Sacrifice in which they do offer up Christ to God 2. The Table they do convert into an Altar and the Administrator of the Sacrament into a Priest after the order of Melchisedeck whose Office it is to sacrifice Christ again and offer him to his Father 3. They say that this new sacrificing is required that Christs Body may begin to be an Oblation 4. That Christ did once offer up himself for us upon the Cross in the Mass often by the hands of the Priests 5. Christ say they at his last Supper did offer up his own Body and Blood in Sacrifice under the forms of Bread and Wine to God his Father and at the same instant made his Apostles and their Successors Priests to offer up his Body in the Sacrament In the Eucharist say they there is a true Sacrifice of the very Body and Blood of Christ offered up to God by the hands of the Priest in the forms of Bread and Wine 6. Every Mass-Priest offering Christ to God the Father prays God to accept of that Sacrifice and to command that it may be carried by the hands of an Angel unto the high Altar of God and therefore they make the Priest Mediator between God and Christ 7. The Priest in offering the Sacrifice to God for others is a Mediator between God and the Men for whom he celebrates the Mass 8. They have wrested the Mass from the end of a Communion to infinite other affairs and altogether from the purpose hence have arisen many kinds of Masses as 1. The Mass of the Crown of Thorns 2. The Mass of the three Nails Enchirid. Controv. by L. O. 3. The Mass of the Fore-skin of Christ 4. The Mass for Sea-faring men 5. The Mass for Travellers on horse-back or on foot 6. The Mass for Women great with child 7. The Mass for Women in travel of Child-birth 8. The Mass for Women that be barren 9. The Mass for those that be sick of a quartan or tertian Ague and others of the like sort 9. They assert that the Sacrifice of the Mass which they say is without Blood is truly propitiatory for the living and for the dead 10. They blasphemously affirm that it is a Sacrifice propitiatory that is available to obtain ex opere operato by the very work wrought remission and pardon of all their sins 11. They affirm that Mass may be said and offered for all the living yea for Pagans and Infidels for men absent as well as present that the Sacrifice of the Mass is available for the dead which are in Purgatory and that Mass may be rightly said in the remembrance and for the honour of Saints with Invocation of them also in the Prayers of the Church 12. They say it is not necessary that the Mass should be said or done in the vulgar or familiar speech but for the greater reverence to be kept in the Latin tongue they say it is more convenient and that the words of Consecration should not be uttered in a loud and audible but in a soft and low voice 13. Rhem. 1 Cor. 11 Sect. 18 Some ceremonies go before the celebration of the Mass and they are of such things as they have always in a readiness for that impious service Such are the Vestments and apparel of the Priest the Albe Chesil Stole Dalmatick with such other Altar Altar-Clothes Corporasses Pixes Paxes Dishes Platters Candlesticks Censers Water-pots all these and the like trumpery say they ought to be used
Priest and when the people do communicate the Wine they have not 21. Remember O Lord the Souls of thy Servants which rest in the sleep of peace and grant them a place of refreshing and rest Here they pray for the dead and the Praier also is contrary to it self for first he saith they rest in peace and yet afterward praieth for their refreshing Thus beginneth the fifth Praier of the Canon 22. Deliver us by the blessed intercession of the Virgin What then is become of Christs Mediation and Intercession who ever liveth to make Intercession for us Hebr. 7.25 23. Let this mingling together of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ be unto me salvation of Mind and Body Then is not Christs Blood shed upon the Cross the full sufficient and perfect Salvation of Mankind if there be another Salvation beside And if it be the very Body and Blood of Christ how can they be mingled together seeing the very Body and Blood of Christ cannot be divided 24. Grant me so worthily to take this Body and Blood that I may merit to receive forgiveness of sins O sinful man how canst thou merit to receive that which is Christs only gift 27. Let the Priest bow himself to the Host saying I worship thee I glorifie thee I praise thee What monstrous Idolatry is this thus to worship a piece of Bread 28. Let us worship the sign of the Cross What I pray you will not these Idolaters worship 29. Respect not my sins but the Faith of the Church By this reason one may be profited by anothers Faith which is contrary to the Scripture The just shall live by his Faith by his own and not anothers Rom. 1.17 I shall pass by diverse other Errours and come to the last 30. In the end of the Mass according to the use of Sarum there is annexed the from of blessing or consecrating the Paschal Lamb with this Praier Vouchsafe to sanctifie this Paschal Lamb that as many of thy people as do cat thereof may be replenished with all heavenly Benediction c. What gross Superstition is this that they should still retain the use of the Paschal Lamb which cannot be but to the great derogation of the true Paschal Lamb Christ Jesus that the Body being come the shadow should be still retained Other Errours in the manner of celebrating Mass 1. ALl is done and said in the Latin tongue not understood of the people and often not of the Priest himself which is not to edification 2. They use many irksome tedious and frivolous repetitions of the same words as Benedicamus Domino is sung ten several times together and Ite missa est is sung thirteen several times with long and tedious notes 3. The Priest is charged in the Rubrick to say divers Praiers privatim secretly to himself as that Praier Deliver us from all evil past present and to come c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lamb of God that takest away â—he sins of the world These and many other words must be pronounced secretly to himself contrary to Saint Paul who would have Praiers so said that they may be understood and thereunto Amen answered by the people 1 Cor. 14.16 4. The Priest is taught by the Rubeick to make thirty several Crosses at the least upon the Bread the Cup the Altar his Forehead but no such crossing is to be found in Christs Institution which they profess to follow 5. Their Gesture in saying of Mass is so changeable so ridiculous so affected that a man would think a Plaier were coming forth upon the Stage when the Priest addresseth himself to the Mass nay Rossius was not so full of action as the Massing-Priest is of gesture varying and changing it at least forty or fifty times during the celebration of the Mass Their Errours concerning the Church 5. THey assert that the Catholick Church is always visible Canis c. de fide symb art 18. and not seen only unto the members of the Church but notoriously known to the whole world neither do they mean any particular Church so to have been visible but the universal Catholick Church which they define to be a visible Congregation of all faithful men 2. Bellarm. lib. 3. de Eccles That the Catholick Church is no other than the Roman or that which the Roman Pope is over Bellarmine defining the Church makes this one part of the definition to be subject unto the Bishop of Romes Jurisdiction and therefore they conclude that they are out of the Church and no better than Hereticks that do not acknowledg the Pope to be their chief Pastor So they make the Roman Faith and Catholick to be all one 3. That the Catholick Church cannot possibly err not only in matters absolutely necessary to Salvation but not in any thing which it imposeth or commandeth whether it be contained in the Word of God or not yea that it cannot err in those things which beside the Word of God are commanded But because the Papists endeavour to invest the Popes and the Roman Church with an infallible Perfection Dr. Du Moulins Auswer to Card. Perron for King James it will be expedient to shew by invincible proofs that the Roman Church hath erred and doth err I shall therefore only produce the Errours approved by their Popes and Councils as the learned Doctor Du Moulin in his answer to Cardinal Du Perron hath set them down In the year of our Lord 787 a Council was assembled which the Roman Church approveth and reckoneth among the universal Councils there sate the Legates of Pope Adrian who wrote a Book purposely for the defence of that Council 1. In the seventh action that Council commandeth the Adoration of Images upon pain of Anathema in these words We hold that the Images of the glorious Angels and of all Saints must be adored and saluted but as for him that hath not the will so to do but staggereth and is doubtful about the adoration of the venerable Images this holy and venerable Synod doth anathematize him In the fourth Action of the same Synod these words are found Images are of equal worth with the Gospels and the venerable Cross And in the same place the Image is greater than the Word and the Praier In the fifth Action the Council declareth that Angels are corporal that there may be a ground for making Images of Angels The same Council to prove the Adoration of Images corrupteth the Scripture in diverse places In the year 869. a Council was held at Constantinople which our Adversaries call the eighth General Council The third Canon of that Council is in these words We decree that the sacred Image of Jesus Christ be adored with the same honour as the Book of the holy Gospels and the Figure of the precious Cross In the year of our Lord 1059. Pope Nicholas the second assembled a Council against Berengarius where it was declared that the Bread and Wine which is put upon the
These few Proofs drawn out of the most authentick Rules of the Roman Church will be a pattern more than sufficient to shew to any man that is not resolved to lose himself and that seeks instruction that the Roman Church can err 4. Our Adversaries do devise many Notes whereby their Church is descried Driedo and P. a Soto would have three Hosius four Sanders six Michael Medina ten Cunerus twelve Bellarmine fifteen Socolovius twenty Doctor Favour chap. 4. one the true and oldest Antiquity But there are seven principal which they do most stand upon Antiquity Vniversality Succession Vnity the Power of Miracles the Gift of Prophecy Prosperity Of Antiquity THe Papists make great brags of the long continuance of their Church yea that they can shew the descent of their Church from Adam but they must come short of our Saviour Christ and the Apostles times by five or six hundred years for the most of the Opinions which they now hold The Romanists adulterate Antiquity because it is a Pearl of greatest price but a skilful Lapidary can soon espy the Alchymy it seemeth Gold yet is but brandished Brass it seems a Ruby one of the Stones in Aarons rich array or a Foundation of New Jerusalem where is no counterfeit but it is only a polished Garnet it beareth resemblance of a Diamond but it is digged out of Saint Vincents Rock as good as a Saint Martins Chain So many things are offered by the Papists for Antiquity which upon trial prove meer Novelty worse Vanity a plain Nullity The Roman Church in this point is intolerable for she boasteth of Antiquity but will not suffer the truth of her Doctrine to be examined she will have us to judg of the Truth by Antiquity whereas we ought to judg of Antiquity by the Truth and by Conformity to the Word of God which is the first Antiquity Anno 420. Zosimus Bishop of Rome challenged a prerogative above other Churches that it might be lawful to make appeals from other Churches to that See and to set the better colour upon it he falsly alleadged a Decree of the Nicene Council but there was no such thing found there wherefore it was decreed in the Council of Carthage at that time that none should appeal to Rome Boniface the third purchased of the wicked Emperour Phocas the Title of Universal Bishop Transubstantiation was first concluded against Berengarius anno 1062. under Pope Leo the ninth but not publickly enacted before anno 1216. under Innocentius the third The Dominick Friers were brought in at the same time Auricular Confession was brought in the year before under the same Pope Telesphorus brought in their Lenton Fast Calixtus instituted the four Ember Fasts Hyginus brought in Chrism It is easie to shew by whom every piece of their blasphemous Mass hath been patched together Marriage was first prohibited by Pope Nicholas the second Alexander the second Gregory the seventh The Communion in one kind forged urged and decreed in the Council of Constance not much above two hundred years agone The Church of Rome boasteth of Antiquity and yet as one saith brings new things every day she makes a shew of some old patched Clothes to make the world believe that she comes from far as the Gibeonites did but let a man examine her Doctrine by pieces he shall find she comes not from very far and almost all is new It cannot be proved that the antient Church in many ages after the Apostles excluded the people from the Cup or kept them from reading the holy Scripture or made Pictures of the Trinity or yielded veneration to the Images of Saints or call'd the Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven or made mention of the Roman indulgences or of the power of the Pope to depose Kings and fetch Souls out of Purgatory c. In a word saith old Doctor Du Moulin as it is now another Doctrine so it is another Church because it is another Religion That true Antiquity is not of our Adversaries side 1. The Greek Church testifieth for the Grecians affirm that their Church is the Mother of the Roman Church and hath born the first prerogative in the orthodoxal verity The Syrians boast themselves to be the first Christians in the world because that St. Peter had his Seat seven year at Antioch before ever he went to Rome 2. The Eastern and Southern Churches do give the priority and priviledg of Antiquity unto the Church of Antioch before Rome Symmachus a Pagan Symmach writing to the Christian Emperours Valens Theodosius and Arcadius he desireth them to have a reverence for the Pagan Religion by reasonÌ„ of her Antiquity If saith he the length of time gives authority to Religion we must keep Faith to so many Ages and follow our Fathers who have so happily followed theirs Then he personates the old Pagan Rome thus speaking to the Emperours Good Princes Fathers of your Countrey respect my years unto which the pious Ceremonies have brought me permit me to use the Ceremonies of my Ancestors This Religion hath subjected the World unto my Laws these holy Services have beaten back Hannibal from the Wails and the Senones from the Capitol Have I been preserved unto this time that I should be rebuked in mine old age The Correction of old age comes too late and is injurious What could Ambrose and Prudentius answer who confuted that Epistle but that the Law of God is more antient than Numa Pompilius the Author of those Ceremonies and that all is new which is not from the beginning and that Errour cannot be authorized by the number of years Our Fathers received it of their Fathers August saith Cresconius sed errantes ab errantibus saith Saint Augustine Of Universality THe Papists say their Church is universal both in respect of time person and place it hath always been in the world and hath flourished in all Countries and Nations ergo it is the true Church That it is universal they first prove by the name of Catholick But if the name Catholick were an unchangeable mark or natural property of any real Church it should be of the Greek Church or Nation unto which the name of Catholick is prime and natural If the real property answering to this name had belonged to the Romish Church the Holy Ghost would have expressed it by a Roman Name and have called the Roman Church the Universal Church at least the Romanists should have called themselves Universals not Catholicks as the learned Doctor Jackson noteth It is easie to consider the vanity of this Assertion Jackâ—on de Eccl. that a Name should be an unseparable property proceeding of the nature of any reality But the Name of a Christian is a more honourable Title than the Name of Catholicks for this was used in the Apostles time Act. 11.26 and by the Apostles themselves allowed but it is not certain that the Name Catholick came from the Apostles Secondly they prove their Universality by the
a Dispensation Item a wilful Murtherer in which rank they are not placed that disclose an Heretick to the Inquisition for to put him to death nor those that carry wood for to burn him nor that man that gives a woman a Potion to drink for to kill a Child in her Womb as the same Jesuit there teacheth A married man is not admitted to any Order but he that whoreth or keeps at home a Concubine or more may be a Priest and perform the Functions belonging thereunto as Pope Innocent the third doth define in the Title de Bigamis And thereupon the Gloss of the Doctors addeth Whoredom hath more priviledge here than Chastity Vide the Jâ—usâ—â—s Morals yea a notorious Buggerer or Sodomite is not irregular or uncapable of holy Orders and may sing Mass as Navarrus teacheth who was the Popes Penitential and the most learned of all the Canonists 11. They hold that the Priests and all Spiritual persons ought to be rich because Saint Paul saith a Bishop must be given to Hospitality 12. That no Priest is to be deprived for Fornication 13. That Christians may be distinguished by divers Names and separated into various Professions of different Religions 14. That those Professions are the state of perfection 15. That publick exercises of Religion ought to be in an unknown Language 16. That private exercises are performed that way also in a more holy manner 17. That Kings enjoy their Kingdoms by the Popes favour 18. That the Pope hath right to give and take away and translate Kingdoms 19. That the Roman Church hath Cardinals for Sides-men to the Pope upon whom the universal Church is turned as upon hinges 20. That these are to be joined with the Pope in the Government of the universal Church and that those whether they be Bishops or Presbyters or Deacons are not only to be preferred before other Bishops Archbishops Primates Patriarchs but to be equalled even with Kings Their Errours concerning Justifying Faith 1. THat Faith hath its proper seat and place only in the understanding not in the heart and affection and that it is not an assurance or considence of the heart 2. That Faith is but a bare assent of the Mind without knowledg or understanding of that whereunto it assenteth That there is an implicit Faith which is the Faith of simple men who although they are not able to give good reason of their Belief yet it is enough for them to say they are Catholick-men and that they will live and die in that Faith which the Catholick Church doth teach Now this implicit Faith which they say is sufficient for common Catholicks is nothing else but to believe as the Church believeth though they know nothing themselves particularly 3. That it is not the property of Faith specially to apply to every Believer the Promises of God in Christ for this they boldly call presumption but generally to believe whatsoever is contained in Gods Word to be true 4. They affirm that an historical Faith a Faith of working Miracles and that Faith which justifieth are all one in substance That the Faith of Miracles differeth only from justifying Faith in an accidental quality of more fervour devotion and confident trust yea the Rhemists are more absurd that Faith say they which Saint James calls a dead Faith is notwithstanding a true Faith and the same which is called the Catholick Faith 5. That true justifying Faith may be separated from Love and other Christian vertues 6. That Faith doth not justifie as an Instrument in apprehending the Righteousness of Christ but as a proper and true cause it actually justifyeth by the dignity worthiness and meritorious work thereof 7. That Works are more principal than Faith in the matter of Justification 8. That we are said to be justified by Faith because Faith is the beginning only the foundation and root of Justification 9. That men are not justified by the only imputation of Christs Righteousness or by the Remission of sins or that we are not formally justified by the Righteousness of Christ 10. That our particular Salvation is not to be believed by Faith 11. That a man may fall away from the Faith which once truly he had and be altogether deprived of the state of Grace so that he may justly be counted among the Reprobates Their Errours concerning Repentance 1. THat Repentance which they call Penance is a Sacrament properly so called 2. That Repentance in the New-Testament is another thing from that Testament is another thing from that which it was in the old and also that in the New Testament which is after Baptism is another thing from that which is before 3. That these three are the true and proper parts of Penance Contrition Confession to the Priest and Satisfaction to God for our sins 4. Contrition which otherwise neither ought nor can be excluded from Repentance is required by our Adversaries not simply in Repentance but they teach that sins are blotted out and satisfied for by Contrition 5. They appoint a certain measure to Contrition and do teach that unless it be sufficient there is no Remission of sins granted 6. In reckoning the parts of Repentance they omit Faith and take away as it were the soul and life of true Repentance 7. That Repentance goeth before Justification by Faith and that it is a way rather unto Faith and Justification in the Remission of sins 8. That Contrition which is joined with an inward terrour of the Mind and proceedeth from the sight of our sins doth not appertain to the Law but to the Gospel 9. Some Papists affirm that in Contrition it is not necessary to have a formal that is a resolute and express purpose of newness of life but that this is always included in the detesting of sin which implicit or inclusive purpose is sufficient 10. They teach that Contrition ought to be perfect because it must proceed from the love of God which is the most perfect kind of love 11. They affirm that Contrition is a necessary means unto Justification and they make Contrition as a part of satisfaction for our sins so a cause of Justification and Remission of sins not only in disposing and preparing us thereunto but in that thereby we verily obtain and deserve Remission of our sins 12. Sâ— t li 4. 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 17. Contrition they say is not necessary for venial or small offences neither is a man bound thereunto Some think that a general Confession sufficeth for mortal sins which a man understandeth not 13. That there is a kind of Contrition that proceedeth only from the fear of punishment when a man leaveth to sin not for any love to God but only for fear of Hell 14. That it is necessary to Justification that sins all and every one as far as may be be confessed to the Priest as to a Judg. 15. That none can rightly seek for absolution at the Priests hands unless they confess particularly at least all their
when he was in Heaven he would help them by his Praiers And upon this rotten foundation they lay on loads of hay and stubble upon this Popish abuse and mis-construction of the holy Scripture they would build not only the Saints praying for us but also our praying to the Saints the former as being directly grounded upon this Text and the second as a consequent of the former Of their Distinction of the two kinds of Worship Latria and Dulia THat kind of Worship which is proper to God they say See The Bee-hive of the Romish Church ch 7. is fitly expressed by the Greek word λατÏεία The other word δουλεία is taken for all kind of Service both of God and men so that the Religious worship which is called λατÏεία is to be only given to God the other called δουλεια may be attributed to Angels and Saints saith Bellarmine The Papists say they make not Gods of Saints because they worship them with a lower degree of worship than is Latria or the worship proper to God viz. they worship the Saints with Dulia the Virgin Mary with Hypordulia a super-service The learned David Pareus to disprove this distinction between λατÏεία and δουλεία Pareus Dub. 9. in â— 2. ad Rom. hath taken pains to shew the use of these words in the Scriptures first that the worship of God is ofner signified by δυλεια than by λατÏεία The first is found 39 times so used in the Old Testament the other about 30 times as he hath summed and set down the places Secondly he sheweth that the word Latria is given to the Creatures as in ten several places it is found Thou shalt not do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any servile work Thirdly the worshipping of Images is forbidden under the term Latria 34 times in the Old Testament and more in the New Rom. 1.23 and 23 times under the other term Dulia There is but one kind of Religious worship and that due unto God and no Religious worship is to be given to any Creature no not that inferiour kind which they make less than the Divine This of the Papists is the same as was that of the Heathen who as Plato witnesseth did worship one God that is Jupiter for the chiefest God the rest they called lesser Gods and worshipped them with a lower degree of worship Of Image-worship 1. THe Papists assert that there is great difference between an Image and an Idol Ἐικων an Image say they is the true similitude of a thing á¼Î¹Î´Ï‰Î»Î¿Î½ doth represent that which is not as were the Idols of Venus Minerva c. But an Idol is that Image which is set up with an intent to be worshipped An Image is a general name as well to unlawful Pictures set up for Idolatry as lawful which have but a civil use 2. They affirm that it is lawful to express the Trinity by Pictures as God like an old man and with the World in his hand Christ as he walked upon the Earth the Holy Ghost in the likeness of a Dove the Angels with Wings and these Pictures say they are very meet and profitable to be set up in Churches 3. That Images are to be reverenced and worshipped say they so it be not with the Divine Honour due unto God 4. They affirm that Images may not only be set up in Churches but that they are no where better placed than there 5. As to the manner of Worship that is to be given to Images Bellarminâ— saith 1. That Images though they are not properly to be worshipped with Divine Honour neither is it safe so to teach in the hearing of the People yet improperly they may have the same worship which properly belongeth to the Saint whose Image it is 2. There is a Religious Worship properly due unto Images as they are considered in themselves and not only as they represent another thing After Images crept into the Church the Clergy receivâ—d great profit thereby for the advancemâ—nt of this new Doctrine new Saints were canonized new Holy-days appointed new Prayers and Services devised new Chappels erected and consecrated Pope Leo the fourth appointed sundry Holy days 6. Touching making of Images Image-makers before they made an Image were wont to go to the Priest and shrive themselves as clean as if they should then die and take penance and make some Vow of Fasting or Praying or Pilgrimage praying also to the Priest to pray for him that he might have Grace to make a fair and devout Image In the Pontifical the peculiar form of consecrating Images and Crosses doth shew the same They paint the Image of our Lady all in Gold Silver broidered Hair c. 7. Order was also taken how Images should be consecrated as first with Exorcism of Water and Salt then with Praier afterwards with censing kissing anointing and other Ceremonies When the Rood in Saint Pauls Church was erected Bishop Bonner being in his Robes with his Prebends about him the Rood was laid upon the Pavement Then the Bishop with others sung divers Praiers to the Rood that being done they forthwith anointed the Rood with Oil in divers places after the anointing they crept to the Rood kissed it then they took the said Rood weighed him up and set him in his place All the while this was doing the whole Quire sung Te Deum and they rung the Bells Of the Image of the Cross THe Papists say that the Wood of the Cross both the whole and every piece thereof is worthy of great Worship and Reverence They give Divine Worship to it they pray and burn Incense it is visited in Pilgrimages and honoured with Festival days as Inventio Crucis on May 3. and Exaltatio Crucis on Septemb. 14. In the Adoration of the Image of the Cross the errour is palpable for in the Roman Church upon Passion-Sunday they speak thus to the Image of the Wood of the Cross Crux ave spes unica c. I salute thee O Cross our only hope in this time of the Passion encrease righteousness to the Godly and give pardon to the Guilty thou hast been alone worthy to bear the price of the world And a little after Thou faithful Cross the only noble among Trees And in another Hymn Thou blessed Cross out of whose arms the price of the world did hang. Can any without great impiety speak unto Wood and call it our hope and ask of it encrease of Grace and remission of sins In the Missal of Sarum no less solemnity is used in carrying of the Cross than if Christ himself were present there is such curtfying kneeling kissing attendance of Priests bowing of the whole Quire until the chiefest Clerks proceed barefoot to the Adoration Then it is carried through the midst of the Quire and with great reverence laid upon the high Altar Then they sing Hymns and Praises unto it and adore it Crucem tuam adorâ—mus Domine thy Cross O Lord do we adore c. There were so many pieces of
corruptions about Relicks viz. a superstitious confidence in the worship of true Relicks and a sacrilegious forging of false Relicks triumphant Wood they speak not to God which is not Wood Or if men speak to any thing in honour of God they must always understand that which is spoken to it Richard the first King of England redeemed from the Turks in Palestine a Chest full of holy Reliques which they had gotten at the taking of Jerusalem so great as four men could scarce carry any away And though saith my Author some know no more than Esops Cock how to prize these Pearls let them learn the true value of them from the Roman Jewellers First they must carefully distinguish between publick and private Reliques In private ones some forgery may be suspected lest quid be put for quo which made Saint Augustine put in that wary Parenthesis Si tamen Martyrum if so be they be the Reliques of Martyrs But as for publick ones approved by the Pope and kept in Churches such no doubt as these of King Richards were Oh let no Christian be such an infidel saith my Author as to stagger at the truth thereof If any object that the Head of the same Saint is shewed at several places the whole answer is by a Synechdoche that a part is put for the whole As for the common exception against the Cross that so many several pieces thereof are shewn which put together would break the back of Simon of Cyrene to bear them it is answered saith he Distrahitur non diminuitur and like the Loaves in the Gospel it is miraculously multiplied in the dividing If all these fail Baronius hath a Rasor that shaveth all scruple clear away Baron annal Eâ—cl in an 1226. For saith he Quicquid sit fides purgat facinuâ— So that he that worshippeth the false Reliques of a true Saint God takes his good intention in good part though he adore the hand of Esau for the hand of Jacob. But enough of these fooleries Now as for those true Reliques or Remembrances of the Saints they are not those which the Papists do so magnifie and superstitiously reverence not their old shooes not pieces of bones and the like but their holy instructions and examples which should be had in remembrance for our furtherance in the way of Godliness after their death And as for the Bones of Saints and such kind of Reliques of them I shall conclude with the words of King James If I had any such saith he that I were assured were members of their Bodies I would honourably bury them and not give them the reward of condemned mens members Premonit p. 9. which are ordained to be deprived of burial but for worshipping them or Images I must account it Idolatry Of the Vigils and night-watches annexed to festival-dayes THe Papists were wont upon Saints Eeves to give themselves to fasting and watching But their night-vigils or watches they do not now so strictly observe because of the great abuses which did grow thereupon yet they have not altogether left them for they have their nocturns or mid night mattens and their prime hours in the Morning It is true the Christians in time of persecution had their antelucanos hymnos their early Songs and Hymns before day-light they met together to worship God before the Sun arose because they could not assemble together in safety in the day-time But that is no reason why the Church now should use Vigils or Nocturns seeing we now have free exercise of religion in the day-time saith Dr. Willet no more than St. Pauls example is to be urged that prayed by the Rivers side with the people and there preached unto them because in idolatrous Cities they could have no places of meeting that therefore we now ought to do the like having Churches and Oratories to assemble in How well they kept their Vigils may appear by that Decree of Innocentius Decret Greg. lib. 3. tit 41. ca. 9. we speak it with grief that certain not only inferiour Priests but Prelats spend the time in eating and drinking till midnight c. Of their Wax-Candles and Tapers THey have another superstitious custom to set up Wax-Candles and Taper-light before Images and upon the Altar to carry them about in procession and even at mid-day and high-noon And Bellarmine would authorize this custom by the continual burning of the Lamps day and night as he saith in the Tabernacle among the Jews But the Lamps among the Jews who abounded in Types and Ceremonies were lighted in the evening and so burned all night for those that kept the Watch in the Temple 2 Chron. 13.1 and in the morning again they were put out 1 Sam. 3.3 And St. Hierome upon those words Before the Lamp of God went out thus writeth Intelligi oportet antequam lux diurna fieret it must be understood before it was day when the Lamp was put out Tertullian speaks against this use of Gentilism in burning Candles by day Let them set up Lights daily which have no Light saith he the testimony or sign of Darkness well agreeth unto them This then having been taken up by the Heathen is worse to be liked of than if it had been a Jewish Ceremony for it is a less fault to play the Jews than the Heathen The ancient Eliberine Synod in Spain misliking the superstitious use of Candle-light by day decreed thus It seemeth good unto us that Candles should not be lighted in Church-yards by day Pope Zosymus ordained Beacons Reliques of Rome that the Paschal Taper should be hallowed on Easter even and set up in every Parish Church and also that a fire should be made in every Church on that day and hallowed Again that the Paschal should be lighted with the flame of that fire and all other Candles in the Church Of their Holy Water POpe Alexander the first they say ordained Water mingled with Salt to be hallowed and afterwards to be sprinkled upon the people to put away their sins and to make them pure and holy He also commanded that it should be kept in Churches and in Houses to chase away Devils and wicked Spirits not only out of houses where men dwell but also out of the hearts of the faithful as though Faith and the Devil could dwell together in one heart The words of Pope Alexanders Canon are these we bless the Water mingled with Salt for this purpose that all that be sprinkled therewith may be made holy and pure which thing we command all Priests likewise to do For saith he if the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkled made holy and cleansed the people from venial sins much more Water sprinkled with Salt and hallowed with holy Prayers doth sanctifie make holy and cleanse the people from venial sins And if the Salt being sprinkled by Elizeus the barrenness of the Water was healed how much more Salt being hallowed by Godly Prayers takes away the barrenness of such as appertain to man
any body came near it and and would have touched it And therefore they named it Vmbra because it was but a salse representation like unto the shadow of a Body They said that it did remain about the Graves and upon the Earth where it was to wander and to appear unto men So say the Papists though the Bodies of men may be corrupted in the Grave and brought into ashes so that they cannot come out of it before the day of the general Resurrection except it be by Miracle yet it is otherwise of the Souls for they be immortal and go not down into the Grave as the Bodies do therefore they may come again and appear unto men on earth and to converse with them But some of the Heathen have derided at these toys Cicero Tuscul quaest l. 1. Cicero where he makes mention of the Lake Avernus saith they will that these Images and Visions should speak which thing cannot be done without Tongue Mouth Throat without the force and shape or figure of Lungs and Ribs Chrysost de Lazarâ— Divite Chrysostom saith well ne quaeramus audire à mortuis quae multo clarissimè nos docent sacrae Scripturae let us not seek to hear those things from the dead which the holy Scriptures do teach us most plainly 6. Macrob. in somnscipio l. 2. Singing and Musick was also used in the Funerals of the Paynims of which Macrobius speaketh Pythagoras and Plato speak of the Musick and Harmony of the Heavens proceeding from the continual moving of the heavenly Sphears or Circles And Plato and they that held opinion with him that the Souls were immortal did think that they had their off-spring and original from Heaven and that they were come down from thence to inhabit and dwell in the Bodies of men whereupon Macrobius saith that it was established by the Laws and Statutes of many Countries that they should follow the dead unto their Graves with good Musick and Singing for the Paynims did believe that the Souls after they were separated from the Bodies did return to the original of the sweet Musick and Harmony that is into Heaven 7. Before Bells were invented the Pagans used Trumpets which they consecrated by washings and purifications and the day of that Ceremony was called Tubilustrium as Ovid tells us that is the purifying and hallowing of Trumpets And because they were wont to use them in Funerals they were wont to purifie and hallow them at the Feast of Minerva called Quinquatria and at a certain Feast of Vulcan as Festus Pompeius and Varro do testifie they did in a manner the like with them as the Pope who baptizeth Agnus Dei's and Bells also are baptized in the name of the sacred Trinity and they have a God-father and a God-mother that give them a Name Thus wickedly do they blaspheme the holy Institution and Ordinance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath ordained Baptism for a Seal of his faithful Congregation and People 8 The Pagans applied Reliques to women with Child they used to gird their Belly about with Rollers made before the Idols much like the women in the Abby of St. German at Paris girding themselves with the Girdle of S. Margaret 9. Many popish Monks place merit in going barefoot The superstitious had an holy-day in which they went barefoot which S. Jerome in his first book against Jovinian calleth Nudipedalia of which Juvenal speaketh Observant ubi festa mero pede Sabbata Regis Juvenal 10. The Papists are full of begging Friers Such there were among the Pagans among whom the Priests of the Syrians Goddess Ovid. Fâ—â—sti l. 4. and those of Cybâ—le went about begging from Town to Town bearing sacks where they put the Provision that was given them An exact description hereof you may find in the fourth book of Ovids Fasti and in the eighth book of the Milesia of Apulcius 11. The spittle used in Baptism by the Roman Church is derived from the Pagans who made use of spittle for a preservative and expiation as Persius saith 12. The Indians had Gardens of Herbs and sweet Trees with Roses and Flowers for the Altars and this is also the Church of Rome's custome and superstition to trim and deck their Saints and Altars with Garlands and Crowns of Roses and other Flowers The Pagans cloathed their Images as the Papists do The history of Dionysius the Tyrant is known who eased the Images of their golden heavy cloakes and gave them other cloaks of Cloath saying those of Cloath were both lighter warmer The Indians had 2000 Gods whose Images stood highest in the Temple upon the Altars They were made of stone in full proportion as bigg as a Giant They were covered with a lawn called Nacar they were beset with divers Pearls pretious Stones and pieces of Gold wrought like Birds Beasts Fishes Flowers adorned with Emeraulds Turquies Chalcedons and other little fine Stones so that when the Lawn was taken away the Images seemed very beautiful to behold So doth the Church of Rome deck and adorn their Idol-saints as the Heathens did their chiefest Gods called Vitzilopuchtli and Tezcatilipuca They cover their wooden and stony Statues of Saints and of the Virgin Mary with fine lawn-shirts and hide them with Curtains of cloth of Gold and enrich them with costly and pretious jewels and Diamonds not considering that they are the work of their own hands 13. In Mexico and without the great Temple and over against the principal door thereof a stones cast distant stood a Charnel house only of dead-mens heads Prisoners in War and sacrificed with the knife This Monument was made like unto a Theatre more large than broad wrought of lime and stone Gages Hist of the West-Indies with ascending steps in the Walls whereof was graffed between stone and stone a skull with the teeth outward At the feet and head of this Theatre were two Towers made only of Lime and Skulls the Teeth outward which having no other stuffe in the Wall seemed a strange sight So the Romish Church makes much of their dead mens skulls and rotten bones laying them up in their Church-yard under some arches made for that purpose in their Church-Walls 14. At the Consecration of an Heathenish Idol a certain vessel of water was blessed with many words and ceremonies and that water was preserved very religiously at the foot of the Altar for to consecrate the King when he should be crowned and also to bless any Captain General when he should be elected for the Wars with only giving him a draught of that water Justin Martyr saith that the Gentiles when they enter into their Temples do sprinkle themselves with water and then they go and offer sacrifice to their Gods And Hippocrates saith in going in we sprinkle our selves with this water to the end that we may be made clean from our sins And is not this practised in the Roman Church They had also among the Gentiles
a peculiar form of sanctifying it dipping therein as Athenaeus tells us a firebrand taken off from the Altar whereupon they offered their Sacrifices So likewise have they a peculiar manner of making this exorcising the salt first then the water and after that both of them being mixed together which being done both the Papists and the Gentiles do think that it purgeth away sins Of the Papists imitating the Jews and Pharisees in many things 1. THe Pharisees boasted of Moses's Chair as the Church of Rome doth of that of S. Peter and of an imaginary succession 2. The Pharisees were strict maintainers of Traditions and unwritten Word as the Papists are These were strict burdens they laid upon the people Matth. 15.4 They perswaded the people that these Traditions were as necessary as the Scriptures The Jewish Rabbines affirm that during the forty days that Moses was in the Mount Sinai to learn the Law Almighty God taught him in the day-time Sepher Thorah the Book of the Law and by night for want of Candle-light the Law not written or orales Traditiones oral Traditions which they call Simanim and the Thorah without this they say is imperfect And this as well as the Law written Chemnit haâ—mâ—n Eâ—aâ—g ca. 79. they say was delivered by God himself to Moses by Moses to Joshua by Joshua to the Elders of Israel by them to the Prophets from the Prophets to a great Council whose Register and chief Notary they say was Esdras the Scribe who as they affirm committed many of them to writing and gathered them into seventy two Books which they kept till their City and Temple was destroyed and themselves dispersed Afterwards one Rabbi Judas Ben-Simon an holy man as they say having saved that Book gathered the Sum of it into one Book whence afterwards all the Talmudists and Cabbalists took their ground The Papists borrow their esteem of unwritten vanities and traditions from the Jews they tell us they have many things by Tradition from the Apostles themselves who taught them viva voce when they bring never a word out of the Scriptures for the confirmation of them 3. The Scribes taught that children might neglect their duty to their Parents under pretence of a religious Corban that is that whosoever should be liberal toward their Treasury in the Temple and offer freely with this protestation that he meant it not only for his own good but also for his Parents should herein sufficiently discharge his duty to his Parents and owe them no other Service so that by this means it may seem they provided well for their own purses and exempted Children from those duties towards their Parents which the Commandment of God tyed them to perform So do the Papists allow Children to give their Means to Monasteries though their Parents starve for want of maintainance 4. The Jews boasted of the Temple of the Lord crying up the Temple of the Lord and in the meantime profaned it by an evil life Jer. 7. The carnal Jews were much affected with pomp in matters of Religion and many of them men of dissolute lives So it is among the Romanists in those Cities and Countries wherein is most wickedness of life there is also most cost in the Temples and most publick superstitious worshipping of God and the Saints What stately Churches Chappels and Cloisters are in Rome what Fastings what Processions what appearances of Devotion and yet on the other side what Whoredomes Sodomies and Profanations are committed in it so that it was the saying of a certain Frier that there were more Atheists in Rome than in any other City in the world But no where doth sin and wickedness so abound as in Mexico and yet no such people in the world toward the Church and Clergy who in their life-time strive to exceed one another in their gifts to the Cloisters Nuns and Friers some erecting Altars to their best devoted Saints worth many thousand Duckets others presenting Crowns of Gold to the Virgin Mary others Lamps others Gold-chains others building Cloisters at their own charge others repairing them others at their death leaving to them two or three thousand Duckets for an annual Stipend 5. The Jews boasted that their Prophets and Priests could not err saying Jerem. 18.18 The Law shall not err from the Priest and the Council from the antient This is also the boasting of the Church of Rome that the Pope as Pope cannot fall into errour and that the Church of Rome cannot err 6. The Pharisees used vain repetitions in Prayer after the manner of the Heathen thinking to be heard for their much speaking for which our Saviour taxeth them Mat. 6.7 repeating the same things over and over again not out of affection but out of affectation The same doth the Church of Rome repeating the same Prayers while they turn their Beads and binding themselves to a certain number of reiterated words The Pharisees preached Justification by the Works of the Law and the Jews were forestalled with that Doctrine which made S. Paul so careful to confute that Errour in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians establishing Justification by Faith without the Works of the Law In this the Papists agree with them teaching Justification by Works 8. Our Saviour taxeth the Scribes and Pharisees for their Hypocrisie They pretended great love to the antient Prophets Matt. 23.29 whom their fore-fathers had persecuted and slain and to shew this they used both words and actions They professed that if they had lived in the days of their fore-fathers they would not have joyned with them in their persecution and murther of the Prophets They bestowed cost in adorning the Sepulchres wherein they were entombed But now in the mean-time they hated to death and bitterly opposed Christ then living among them to whom all those Prophets bear witness Thus may you see in the Papists their bitter hatred against the Preachers of the Gospel together with their pretended love to the ancient Doctors their proud conceit of Merit with their glorious outward Performances their gross Idolatry covered under a shew of much reverence to the Saints 9. The Jews were most strict in matters of smallest moment they would pay Tythe of Mint Annis and Cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith Math. 23.23 So doth the Church of Rome exactly observe distinction of meats and amuse the people about a thousand petty Ceremonies of Candles Pilgrimages Crossings c. and let Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost stand by unsaluted yet therein doth the Kingdome of God consist Thus the superstitious Priests among the Jews made no scruple to hire a Traitor to suborn false Witnesses to Apprehend to Bind to Smite to Scourge to Blaspheme to Condemn the Innocent Lamb of God and to Crucifie the Lord of glory yet made great Conscience not to step over the Threshold into the Judgment-Hall of an Heathen-Judg lest forsooth they should be defiled
Altar after Consecration is not only the Sacrament but also the true Body of our Lord Jesus Christ And that not only the Sacrament but the Body of the Lord is sensually and in truth handled by the hands of the Priest broken and bruised by the teeth of the faithful In the year 1076. Pope Gregory the seventh called a Council to Rome where among many Articles these three Points were resolved and determined That there is no other name under Heaven but that of the Pope That no Book is Canonical without the Popes Authority That all Kings must kiss the Popes Feet The first point attributes unto the Pope that which is attributed unto Jesus Christ alone exclusively to all others Act. 4.12 The second declareth that the Gospels and the Books of the Prophets and Apostles are not to be received unless the Pope approve them by his authority The third attributeth unto the Pope an honour which Jesus Christ and his Apostles never asked or looked for but they have been subject to Emperours have paid them tribute and have appeared before their Judicial Seat neither did they ever give their Feet to any man to kiss In the year 1215. Pope Innocent the third assembled a Council at Rome in the Lateran Church where it was thus resolved If the Temporal Lord care not to satisfie within the year let it be made known to the Soveraign Prelate that from that time he declare his Subjects absolved from his subjection and expose his Country to be seized upon by Catholicks that they may extermine Hereticks In that decision of the Council there are sour pernicious errours as my Author observâ—th 1. The first is an usurpation of the Pope approved by the Council whereby he disposeth of the Temporals of Princes as if the disposition of them belonged to him and divesteth them of their Lands and Dominions without the authority of Gods Word and without any example of the antient Church 2. The second Errour is that it makes ecclesiastical censures which are spiritual corrections to become temporal punishments as if a Priest to lay a penance upon a sinner would cut his Purse or rob him of his Cloak or put him out of his house 3. The third Errour is that this Canon absolveth Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance which they have sworn to their natural Prince and teacheth them to be perfidious and dissoyal with a good Conscience though against the Word of God which saith Thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths Matt. 5.33 though it were to thine hurt Psal 15.4 And against the Rules and Examples of the Apostles who have commanded Christians to pay tribute and to be subject to Princes and higher Powers although Princes were Pagans and persecutors in those days Rom. 13.1 2. 1 Pet. 2.13.14 4. The fourth Errour is that in the same Council they preach murther and massacre and set on the people to extermine those whom they call Hereticks which is not only against the Law of God but against that of Nations for even Pagan Princes never permitted their Subjects to fall upon their fellow-citizens and massacre them As for recovering the holy Land at the end of that Council there is a Papal Bull but with approbation of the Council There a Commandment is made to all that belonged to the Croisado to meet in Sicily to begin that journey in July to perswade the people to undertake that voyage the Pope by the Councils autority speaks thus To all that will bear that labour in their own persons and at their charges we grant full remission of their sins of which they shall have contrition and repentance and in the Retribution of the Righteous we promise them in Paradise an Augmentation of eternal Salvation What was that Pope and what that Council that could promise to Souldiers a degree in Paradise above the common sort especially seeing the Pope and his Prelates were not themselves sure that they should never go into Hell But let us hear the rest But to them that will not go in that voyage in their own persons but only shall send fit men according to their means we give full remission of their sins Finally the same Bull with approbation of the Council denounceth to all that will refuse and not care for this Commandment that they shall answer him in the last day of Judgment before the terrible Judg. As if the Pope must then be an Assessour of the Judg or as if he must condemn sinners in the day of Judgment In the year of our Lord 1300. Pope Boniface the eighth instituted the Jubilee every hundredth year in which they that come to Rome for their great pardons should get full more full and most full remission of sins That liberality is fetched from the Churches Treasury wherein the Pope lays up the overplus of the satisfactions of Jesus Christ and the Saints of which Treasure the Pope is the Keeper and the Steward converting them into a payment saith the forementioned Author for those that visit the Roman Stations The following Popes being moved with a fatherly compassion to the people have brought the Jubilee first to every fiftieth year and then to every twentieth year It cannot be said what a Mass of Wealth that Jubilee brings to the Pope and to the Inhabitants of Rome by the Offerings and the Sojournings of Strangers that then flock to Rome from all parts The Satisfaction of Jesus Christ being sufficiâ—nt for the sins of the whole world it is an outrage offered to him when to his sufferings other satisfactions are added as that of Saints and Monks to satisfie the Justice of God for the pain due to our sins By this means they will have God to take two payments for one debt But their second payment is sufficient seeing no man can satisfie for the sins of another and we learn of the Apostle that every man shall bear his own burden Besides those Saints and Monks whose satisfactions the Pope will apply unto others were sinners and had need that Christ should satisfie for them so far they were from satisfying for others and for those for whom Christ hath fully satisfied I pass by the palpable Errour whereby it is pretended that the Saints have suffered more pains than their sins deserved since there is no man be he never so holy but stands in need that God forgive him his sins No man but deserveth eternal death if God deal with him according to the rigour of his Justice The same Pope Boniface the eighth attributeth to himself the Power over the Temporal and Spiritual of all the world which he proveth by Texts of Scripture rarely applied We are taught saith he by the words of the Gospel that unto the Power of the Church two Swords are belonging the Spiritual and the Temporal for the Apostles having said here be two Swords that is here in the Church the Lord did not answer the Apostles it is too much but it is enough Certainly he that