he will Where the Apostle in expresse words opposeth refelleth this vnsauory doctrine teaching that the gift of prophecying or truly to interpret the holy Scripture is not giuen to all the faithfull but to some only in particular yea he presupposeth that one may haue the gift euen to worke miracles and yet may want the gift truly to interpret the word of God Therfore a man by his owne priuat spirit cannot righly interprete Scripture 2. Pet. 1.20 Knowing this first that no Prophesy of the Scripture is of any priuat interpretation for the Prophesy came not in old time in the margent or at any time by the will of man but holy men of God speake as they were moued by the holy Ghost Loc how clearly the Apostle taketh this faculty authority from a priuate and prophane man restrayning the same to a company and society of men and those also of some speciall note for their sanctity and holines assuring vs that they spake as they were moued by the holy Ghost 1. Iohn 4. Beloued belieue not euery spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God By which wordes we are taught that the spirits of others are to be examined whether they proceed from God or not but this Caueat cannot be vnderstood of the spirit of the whole Church sith then it would follow that there should be none left to try the said spirit of the Church euery particular man being included therin If then it be to be meant of priuate men as needes it must it followeth that a priuat spirit cānot be this Iudge sith it selfe is to vndergoe the iudgment and examination of some other ¶ The Fathers that affirme the same are S. Aug. epist 162. l. de Baptismo cap. 18. ad Epictetum S. Basil epist 78. S. Amb. epist 32. S. Leo epist 53. S. Hier. lib. cont Luciferianos Vincent Lyr. cont prophan heres nouitates Yea Martin Luther himselfe the Protestants great Grand-Father saith lib. de potest Papae We are not certaine of any priuat person whether he hath the reuelation of the Father or no but that the Church hath it we ought not to doubt VI. That S. Peters faith hath fayled COntrary to the expresse wordes of their owne Bible Luc. 22.31.32 Simon behould Sathan hath desired to haue you that he may sift you as wheate but I haue prayed for thee that thy faith fayle not Loe Sathan required to sift them all the Apostles but our Lord heere prayed for Peter only that his faith principally might not fayle Therfore S. Peters faith hath not failed Mat. 16.18 And I say vnto thee that thou art Peter and vpon this rock I will build my Church and the gats of hell shall not preuayle against it But had S. Peters faith fayled the gates of hell had long ago no doubt preuailed Mat. 23.2 The Scribes and the Pharisies sit in Moyses seat all therfore whatsoeuer they bid you obserue that obserue and do How could Christ bid the people of the old law do all whatsoeuer he should bid them by those that sate in Moyses Chaire if they could erre But God hath no lesse preserued the truth of Christian Religion in the chaire of S. Peter which is in the new Law answerable to that of Moyses in the old Therfore neither S. Peters Fayth nor Chayre hath fayled Iohn 11.49.51 speaking of Caiphas the High Priest saith And this be spake not of himselfe but being High Priest that yeare he prophesied that Iesus should die for that nation Lo how in this most wicked time of the Sinagogue the very Dregges and outcast of that disobedient people yet speaking forth of that Chaire which Christ had commanded to be heard and obeyed touching mattters of fayth they answere truly and their chiefe Bishops prophesy ¶ S. Leo ser 3. de assump sua affirmeth the same The danger was common to all the Apostles but our Lord tooke speciall care of Peter that the state of all the rest might be more sure if the Head were inuincible VII That the Church can erre and hath erred COntrary to the expresse wordes of their owne Bible Isa 59 21. As for me this is my Couenant vnto them saith the Lord. My spirit that is vpon thee and my wordes which I haue put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seede nor out of the mouth of thy seedes seed from hence forth and for euer Therfore the Church cannot erre Ioan. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall giue you another Comforter that he may abide with you for euer euen the spirit of truth But the Apostles themselues aboad not for euer therfore this is to be vnderstood of the perpetuall aboad of the spirit of Truch with their Successors Mat. 18.17 And if he neglect to heare the Church let him be vnto thee as an heathen man and a Publican Whence is clearly to be gathered that the Church in her Censure cannot erre Isa 35.8 And a high way shal be there and a way and it shall be called the way of Holines the vncleane shall not passe ouer it but it shall be for those the way faring men though fooles shall not erre ther in How far deceiued then are many simple soules who do affirme that the whole Church and all holy men that euer haue bene therein for these thousand yeares how wise soeuer haue all erred Ephes 5.27 That he might present it to himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle or any such thinge but that it should be holy and without blemish Note well these wordes without spot wrinkle any blemish and tell me now if it be possible that reading this thou canst euer belieue that she hath euer taught such horrible blasphemies abhominations as at this day she is charged with See more Iohn 16.13 Ephes 5.27 Isay 9.7 Ezech 37.26 Luc. 22.32 Mat. 23.3 1. Pet. 2.9 Iohn 17.17 1. Cor. 11.25 Psal 101.23.29 Ephes 2.10 Ihon 10.16 Acts. 4.32 Ephes 4.5.11 Luc. 10.16 Deut. 17.8 Ierem. 3.15 Malac. 2.7 Mat. 16.18 Acts. 15.28 2. Cor. 13.8 1. Tim. 3.15 ¶ The Fathers affirme the same expressely S. Aug. cont Crescon lib. 1. cap. 3. Also vpon the 1◠8. Psal the place beginneth Ne auferas de ore meo verbum veritatis vsquequaque S. Cypr. epist. 55. ad Cornel. num 3. S. Ireneus lib. 3. cap. 4. with many others VIII That the Church hath bene bidden and inuisible COntrary to the expresse wordes of their owne Bible Mat. 5.14.15 Yee are the light of the world a Citty that is set on a hill cannot be hid Neither do men light a candle and put it vnder a bushell but on a candlestick and it giueth light to all that are in the house But the Catholique Church is such a light such a candle and such a Citty built vpon Christ as vpon a mountaine therfore hath not nor cannot be hidden nor is inuisible Mat. 18.17 Tell the Church
Elias talking with them Therfore Saints deceased haue afterwards appeared to some on earth Matt. 27.52 And the graues were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues after his resurrection and went into the holy Citty and appeared vnto many c. 2. Mac. 15.12 Onias the High Priest after he was dead appeared to Iudas Machabaeus aliue The like did Samuel vnto Saul What shall we say then to those that will deny a truth to cleere For some such my selfe haue met withall See more Luc. Luc. 16.27.28 Ioan. 11.44 Luc. 7.15 23. Mat. 9.25 Marc. 5.42 ¶ See S. Bede l. 5. cap. 13. hist of England S. Gregory in his booke of Morals in sundry places XXXI That the Saints deceased know not what passeth heere on earth COntrary to the expresse words of their owne Bible Luc. 16. 29. Where Abraham knew that there were Moyses and the Prophets Books heere on earth which he himselfe had neuer seene when he was aliue as S. Aug. witnesseth lib. de cura pro mortuis cap. 14. Therefore the Saints deceased know what passeth here on earth Iohn 5.45 Doe not thinke that I wil accuse you to the Father there is one that accuseth you euen Moyses in whome we trust But how could Moyses dead two thousand yeares before accuse those that were then liuing if the Saints deceased know not what passeth heere on earth Like vnto this is that Reuel 12.10 And I heard a loud voyce saying in heauen c. The accuser of our brethren is cast downe which accuseth them before our God day and night Now she diuels cannot accuse men day and night before God but they must first know wherof who then will for shame deny that vnto Saints and Angels which must needes be granted to the very deuill 2. Kings 6.12 we 4. Kings O King Elisha the Prophet that is in Israel telleth the King the of Israel words that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber Hence I thus argue If the light of Prophecy could extend it selfe so far as to make knowne see and vnderstand things so secret yea euen to inward thoughts who can with reason deny that the light of glory can do the same in the soules of the blessed The like is proued out of many other places of holy Scripture as 2. Reg. 5.26 where the Prophet Elizeus being a far of saw all that passed betwixt Naaman and Giesi his seruant S. Paul was rapt into the third Heauen and saw that which was not to be tould to man 1. Cor. 12. S. Stephen saw from earth Christ sitting at the right hand of his Father Act. 7. The Rich-glutton saw from hell to heauen as Protestants confesse how then say they that the Saints cannot know or see from heauen to earth And without some reciprocall knowledge there could be no communion at all betweene the Saints in Heauen and the faythful on earth the which is an article of our creed which notwithstanding the continuall passage of soules thither doth conuince See more Matt. 19.28 Reuel 2.26 Luc. 22.30 Acts. 5.3.1 Kinges 28.14 Eccles 4.6.23 ¶ See Eusebius serm de Annunt S. Hier. in epitaph Paulae S. Maximus serm de S. Agnete XXXII That the Saints pray not for vs. COntrary to the expresse wordes of their owne Bible Reuelat 5.8 The foure and twenty Elders fell downe before the Lambe hauing euery one of them harpes and golden vialls full of odours which are the prayers of Saints Lo how among so many diuine and vnsearchable mysteries set downe in holy Writ without exposition it pleased God that the Apostle himselfe should cleerly open this point vnto vs saying which odours are the prayers of Saints that so our Aduersaries may haue no excuse of their errour Therfore the Saints pray for vs. 2. Machab. 15.14 Then Onias answered saying This is a louer of the brethren who prayeth much for the people and for the holy Citty to wit Ieremias the Prophet of God Ancient Origen hom 18. in Ioan. saith It appeareth that Saints departed from this life haue care of the people as it is writen in the actes of the Machabees many yeares after the death of Ieremy Ierem. 15.1 Though Moyses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be towards this people Hence S. Hierom. in his Commentaries and S. Greg. lib. 9. of his Moralls cap. 12. do gather that Moyses and Samuel after their death both could and did sometimes pray for the same people for otherwise it should be absurd to say Though Moyses and Samuel stood before me c. Baruch 3.4 O Lord almighty thou God of Israel heare now the prayers of the dead Israëlites we read of the dead of Israël And Theodoret paraphrasing vpon the Prophet Baruch interpreteth this place as Catholiques do Therfore the dead of Israel prayed for the liuing Reuel 2.26.27 And he that ouercommeth keepeth my works vnto the end to him will I giue power ouer the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron Since Iesus-Christ therfore imparteth his power vnto them vpon nations therfore they may with Iesus-Christ pray for those ouer whom they are thus established So S. Augustine expoundeth the same writing vpon the 2. Psalme We read also in the 16. of S. Luc. that the Rich-glutton in hell prayed for his brethren that were on earth If therefore the Saints in heauen pray not for vs their brethren on earth then we may say that greater is the Charity of the damned then of the saued But this were too absurd to say A conclusion which S. Aug. draweth from this very place ¶ See S Aug. serm 15. de verbis Apost S. Hilar. in Psalm 129. S. Damascen lib. 4. de fide cap. 16. with many others XXXIII That we ought not to beseech God to graunt our prayers in fauour of the Saints or their Merits nor do we receiue any benefit therby TWo wayes there are of praying by the mediation of the blessed Saints The one by beseeching God to grant our desires in fauour of them and their merits The other by expresly praying them to intercede and pray to God for vs. Both being impugned by our Reformers we will proue them our of their owne Bible The proofe of the first is contrary to the expresse words of their owne text Exod. 32.13 Remember Abraham Isaac and Israell thy seruants to whom thou swarest by thine owne selfe and saidst vnto them I will multiply your seed as the starres of heauen c. And our Lord repented we read was pacified of the euill which he thought to do vnto his people Loe how plainly Moyses prayed to God by the meditation of the holy Patriarches A forme of prayer so pleasing to him as hauing said a litle before that for their sinne of Idolatry he would consume them the memory of his holy Seruants being but laid before him he presently pardoned them Therfore we may beseech God to grant vs our prayers in fauour of them Theod.
by S. Aug. haeres 53. Mat. 17.21 Howbeit this kind of deuills goeth not out but by prayer and fasting Loe the great force of prayer and fasting able to expell the very deuill Therfore it causeth great spirituall good See more Ioel. 2.12 Mat. 6.16 Mat. 9.15.29 Toby 12.8 Luc. 2.37 Act. 14.22 2. Cor. 11.27 2. Cor. 6.5 Numb 30.14 1. Tim. 4.3 ¶ And the Fathers S. Ignat. ad Philip. S. Basil orat de Ieiunio S. Chrysost orat in sanct Lauacrum hom 1. in Gen. S. Amb. ser 4. S. Hier. in cap. 18. Isa and many others XLVI That Iesus-Christ descended not into hell nor deliuered thence the soules of the Fathers COntrary to the expresse words of their owne Bible 1. Ephes 4.8 When he ascended vpon high he led Captiuity captiue in their margent or a multitude of captiues and gaue gifts vnto men Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth These freed Captiues to be the soules of the glorified no man in his right wits will say Nor the soules of the damned for so the deuils should be brought againe into heauen therefore they were the soules of the Fathers which Christ deliuered out of Limbus Actes 2.27 Because thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption These very wordes S. Aug. applieth to the proofe of a third place and saith Who but an Infided will deny Christ to haue descended into Hell Epist 99. ad Euod 1. Pet. 3.18.19 Being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit by which also he went and preached vnto the spirits in prison Now to vnderstand by the word prison heauen there is no sense sith it is called the seate of God and not the prison of God To vnderstand it of the wicked Caluin himselfe opposeth this opinion and maintayneth that S. Peter speaketh of the good which were knowne from the dayes of Noe. Adde heerto that this doctrine destroyeth an article of our Creed Therefore Christ descended into hell Heb. 11.38.39.40 And these all hauing obtained a good testimony through faith receiued not the promise to wit of Heauen God hauing prouided some better thing for vs that they without vs should not be made perfect to wit in their perfect complete glory Whence it followeth necessarily that they must needes grant another place distinct as well from the Heauen of the saued as from the Hell of the damned wherin these holy soules were detayned Mat. 12.40 For as Ionas was three dayes and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be three dayes three nights in the hart of the earth But how I pray is this Figure fulfilled if Christ were not as many dayes and nightes in the heart of the earth as Ionas was who was not in the whales belly in body only but also in soule Whence it followeth that either Christs holy soule was three dayes and three nights in the hart of the earth as well as his body or that this place of Scripture is either false or vnfulfilled But this were most absurd to say Mat. 27.52.53 And the graues were opend and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues after his resurrection and went into the holy Citty and appeared vnto many Vnderstood by S. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch of Limbus Patrum writing to the Cittizens of Trallis thus Many arose with our Lord for the Scripture saith that many of the bodies that slept arose with our Lord. He descended alone but returned with a multitude Zachary 9.11 As for thee also by the bloud of thy Couenant I haue sent we read let forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherin is no water Both S. Hierome and S. Cyril vnderstand this pit to be meant of Limbus Patrum And with very great reason for how absurd were it to say that the damned haue their share in the bloud of the Couenant Or that they are let forth of their infernall pit Or that they may be said to be thy prisoners that is Christs but rather the prisoners of the diuell Yea where I pray to speake properly hath Christ had any prisoners at all which he hath let forth if not out of this place Therfore either Christ let forth prisoners our of Limbus Patrum or this place likewise as the former is either false or not yet fulfilled Like vnto this is that of 1. Samuel 2.6 The Lord killeth and maketh aliue he bringeth downe to the graue we read hell and bringeth vp we read back againe Loe how plaine and conforme the faith of that old Church was is to this of ours bringeth downe to hell and bringeth backe againe which hardly in any cleare sense can be auerred if Limbus Patrum be denyed As for the word Graue which they erroneously haue added insteed of Hell to diminish the force of so plaine a place why do they not aswell foist the same into their Creed insteed of Hell as heere they haue done and say Was crucified dead and buried he descended into the graue How absurd this is who doth not see See more Osee 6.3 Psal 16.10.2 Pet. 3.19 Zach. 9.11 Rō 10.6 Eccles 24.45 Ps 23.7 Genes 37.35 ¶ See also the Fathers that affirme the same S. Hier. in 4. ad Ephes S. Greg. lib. 13. Moral cap. 20. S. Aug. in Psal 37. v. 1. The place beginneth Futurū est enim XLVII That there is no Purgatory fire or other prison wher in sinnes may be satisfied for after this life COntrary to the expresse wordes of their owne Bible 1. Cor. 3.13.15 The fire shall try euery mans worke of what sort it is If any mans worke shal be burnt he shall suffer losse but he himselfe shall be saued yet so as by fire S. Augustine writing vpon the 37. Psalme and drawing these very wordes of the Apostle into his discourse sayth Because it is said he himselfe shall be safe that fire is therfore contemned Yea verily though safe by fire yet that fire shall be more grieuous then whatsoeuer a man can suffer in this life Thus he Therfore there is a Purgatory fire wherein sinnes may be satisfied for after his life Iohn 11.22 But I know that euen now whatsoeuer thou wilt aske of God God will giue it thee S. Martha the sister of S. Mary Magdalen belieued that our Lord whom then she held only for a holy man or Prophet and not for the Sonne of God could obtaine of God something profitable to her brother Lazarus who was deceased For hauing said Lord if thou hadst bene heere my brother had not bene dead she presently added But I know that euen now whatsoeuer thou wilt aske of God God will giue it thee Which speach she could neuer haue vsed in any good sense if she had not learned this doctrine of the Sinagogue who offered sacrifices almes and prayers for the departed and vnles she had
knowen and belieued that the dead might be holpen by the piety of the liuing as Cardinall Allen learnedly concludeth in his Treatise of Purgatory Actes 2.14 Whom God hath raised vp loosing the sorrowes of hell In which wordes two things are to be noted which clearly make for the proofe of Purgatory The one that in this place where Christ was there were certaine sorrowes and paines The other that some there were inflicted for sinne vpon whome he bestowed that gratious benefit as to discharge and loose them of those paines For as the Rhemes Testament very well noteth Christ was not in paines himselfe but loosed other men of their paines 1. Cor. 15.29 Otherwise what shall they doe that are baptized for the dead From this place an euident proofe is drawen touching the help which the soules departed our of this world may receiue by the Church on earth and consequently 〈◊〉 â—urgatory vnderstanding the paines and afflictions which voluntarily we doe inflict vpon our selues to exempt those that are therin for to baptize signifieth to afflict ones selfe to do penance to suffer death c. as is euident in S Luc. 12.30 But I haue baptisme to be baptized with and Marc. 10.38 Luc. 16.9 And I say vnto you Make to your selues friendes of the mammon of vnrighteousnes that when yee faile they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations S. Ambrose vpon this place and S. Aug. lib. 21. de Ciuit. cap. 27. say that it is to receiue succour after death according as the word faile inforceth Luc. 23.42 Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome S. Aug saith in his fifth Booke against Iulian about the middest that the good thiefe in this prayer presupposed that according to the eommon opinion soules might be holpen after death 2. Mac. 12.44.45 For if he had not hoped that they that were slaine should haue risen againe it had bene superfluous and vaine to pray for the dead And in the next verse he concludeth That it was an holy and good thought c. This place of holy Scripture is most cleare for prayer for the dead for had it not beene the continuall doctrine and practise of the Church to pray for the dead neither could Iudas Machabaeus who was himselfe a Priest haue euer thought of any such remedy as to gather twelue thousand drachmes of siluer to send to Hierusalem to haue prayers made for the reliefe of the soules slaine in the warrs neither would the multitude of people haue either contributed or the Priests of the Temple receiued the same had they thought as these men doe that it had bene superstition to pray for the departed or that there had byn no other place then the Hell of the damned or the Heauen of the saued See more 2. Tim. 1.18.1 Iohn 5 16. Isa 4 4. Isa 9.18 Acts 2.24 Matt. 3.11 Mat. 12.32 Mat. 5.26 Micheas 7.8 Psal 66.12 Tobie 4.18 Phil. 2.10 Zachary 9.11 ¶ As also the Fathers that affirme the same S. Amb. vpon the 1. Cor. 3. and serm 20. in Psal 118. S. Hier. lib. 2. cap. 13. aduers Iouin S. Greg. lib. 4. Dialog cap. 39. Origen hom 6. in cap. 15. Exod. with many others XLVIII That it is not lawfull to make or haue Images COntrary to the expresse words of their owne Bible Exod. 25.18 And thou shalt make two Cherubims of gold of beaten worke shalt thou make them in the two endes of the Mercy seate These grauen Angells were Images of the highest order of Angells one excepted which is in heauen and were made with faces of beautifull young men and commanded to be set vp by God himselfe in the Holy of Holyes which S. Hierome witnesseth the Iewes to haue worshipped epist ad Marcellam Therefore it is lawfull to make Images 1. Kings 6.35 And he carued thereon Cherubims and Palme-trees and open Flowers and couered them with gold fitted vpon the carued worke Hence is to be gathered that the precept of not making grauen Idolls doth nothing at all concerne Images that is to say the true representation of thinges meerly imaginary and not subsisting for as S. Paul sayth 1. Cor. 8. An Idoll is nothing So that the Idoll representeth that which is not the Image that which is a most remarkable difference Agayne seeing an Idol is that properly which being nothing as S. Paul sayth is represented to be something or that which represents the thing that is not if our Reformers belieue the Images of Christ crucified to be an Idoll they then belieue that Christ was neuer crucifyed for so it would follow necessarily that the Image of Christ crucifyed being an Idoll therfore christ was neuer crucified Heb. 9.1.5 Then verily the first Couenant had also ordinances of diuine seruice and a worldly sanctuary c. and ouer it the Cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seate Loe S. Paul calleth the images of the Cherubims which Salomon made an ordinance of diuine seruice which our Reformers call the making of Idols whome shall we sooner belieue Blessed S. Paul or a Reformed Brother To conclude an Image is of such diuine and naturall right that all vnderstanding imagination and sense as well interiour as exteriour is made by way of Images called species sensibiles insensibiles The body cannot be in light without its shadow the Moone and the Starres imprint their image in the water a man cannot looke in a glasse without making his Image Therefore eyther God and Nature it selfe doth breake this commandement as well as we or else it is absurd to say that we do breake it in making of Images See more 1. Kinges 7.36.42.44 Num 21.8 Mat. 22.20 Exod. 31.2 Exod. 33.30 where painting and engrauing of Images is so far from being counted Idolatry that it is proued to be a scieÌ„ce diuinely infused into Beseleel by God himselfe and so the inuention of good Images came first from God ¶ The Fathers that affirme the same are Tert. lib. 2. de pudicitia S. Greg. Naz. ep 49. ad Olymp. S. Basil orat in S. Barlaam S. Aug. lib. 1. de consens euang cap. 10. witnesseth that in his time Christ was to be seene painted in many places between S. Peter and S. Paul XLIX That it is not lawfull to worship Images nor to giue any honour to dead or insensible thinges COntrary to the expresse words of their owne Bible Exod. 3.5 And he said Draw not nigh hither put off the shoes from off thy feete for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground Loe how cleare a place is heere produced against our Reformers wherin an insensible Creature was commanded by God himselfe to be honoured for the refrayning to tread vpon it was the doing of honour to it Therfore all dead Images representing vnto vs a holy thing may be honoured Psal 99.5 Adore yee the footestoole of his feete Which place is spoken litterally of the Arke of the Testament according to that of 1. Chron. 28.2 I had in my hart to build a