A retractiue from the Romish religion contayning thirteene forcible motiues, disswading from the communion with the Church of Rome: wherein is demonstratiuely proued, that the now Romish religion (so farre forth as it is Romish) is not the true Catholike religion of Christ, but the seduction of Antichrist: by Tho. Beard ...

A retractiue from the Romish religion contayning thirteene forcible motiues, disswading from the communion with the Church of Rome: wherein is demonstratiuely proued, that the now Romish religion (so farre forth as it is Romish) is not the true Catholike religion of Christ, but the seduction of Antichrist: by Tho. Beard ...

Table of contents

Title page

TO THE TRVELY VERTVOVS, AND WORTHY KNIGHT, SIR OLIVER CROMWEL, T. B. wisheth encrease of grace and all happinesse.

REVERENDIS, DILECTISQVE IN CHRISTO FRATRIBVS, Pijs ET FIDELIBVS Euangelij Ministris, per omnem Britanniam constitutis, gratia, & pax à DEO PATRE, & DOMINO nostro IESV CHRISTO.

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THIRTEENE FORCIBLE MOTIVES, DISSWADING FROM COMMVNION With the Church of ROME.

THE PREAMBLE.

MOTIVE. I. That Religion which in many points giueth libertie to sinne, is not the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of ROME: ergo, &c.

MOTIVE. II. That religion, which maintaines by the grounds thereof things forbidden, by all lawes both of God, of Nature, and of Man, cannot be the true religion: but such is the religion of the Romane Church: Ergo.

MOTIVE. III. That Religion which imitateth the Iewes in those things wherin they are enemies to Christ, cannot bee the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome. Ergo.

MOTIVE. IIII. That Religion which derogateth from the glory of God in the worke of our Redemption, and giueth part thereof vnto man, cannot be the truth of God: but such is the Popish Religion: Ergo.

MOTIVE. V. That Religion deserueth to be suspected, which refuseth to be tryed by the Scriptures, as the perfect and alone rule of faith, and will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe: But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo.

MOTIVE. VI. That Religion doth iustly deserue to bee suspected, which doth purposely disgrace the sacred Scriptures: But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo, &c.

MOTIVE. VII. That Religion is to be abhorred, which maintaineth, commandeth, and practiseth grosse and palpable Idolatry; but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo, &c.

MOTIVE. VIII. That Religion which implyeth manifold contradiction in it selfe, and is contrary to it selfe in many things, cannot be the true Religion: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: ergo, &c.

The IX. MOTIVE. That Religion, whose doctrines are in many points apparently opposite to the word of God and the doctrine of the Gospell cannot bee the trueth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome, ergo &c.

The X. MOTIVE. That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people, and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian faith, cannot be the truth: but this doth the Romish Religion: ergo, &c.

The XI. MOTIVE. That Religion which was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time, nor in the Primitiue Church, cannot be the truth: but such is the Romish Religion in most points thereof: therefore that cannot be the truth.

MOTIVE XII. ¶ That Church which maintaineth it selfe, and the Religion professed by it, and seeketh to disaduantage the aduersaries by vnlawfull vniust, and vngodly meanes, cannot bee the true Church of God, nor that Religion the truth of God, by the grounds whereof they are warranted to act such deuilish practices: but such is the practice of the Romist Church, and therfore neither their Church, nor their Religion can be of God.

MOTIVE XIII. That Religion, the doctrines whereof are more safe both in respect Gods glorie, mans saluation, and Christian charitie, is to bee preferred before that which is not so safe, but dangerous: But the doctrine of the Protestants Religion is more safe in all those respects, and of the Papists more dangerous: ergo, that is to be preferred before this, and consequently this to bee reiected.

Conclusion.

To the Reader.

ERRATA.

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A RETRACTIVE FROM THE ROMISH RELIGION:

Contayning THIRTEENE FORCIBLE MOTIVES, disswading from communion with the CHVRCH of ROME:

Wherein is demonstratiuely proued, that the now Romish Religion (so farre forth as it is Romish) is not the true CATHOLIKE Religion of CHRIST, but the seduction of ANTICHRIST:

By THO. BEARD, Doctor in Diuinity, and Preacher of Gods holy Word in the Towne of HVNTINGTON.

2. Thess. 2. 10. Because they receiued not the loue of the truth, that they might be saued: therefore God shall send them strong delusion, to beleeue lies.

LONDON, Printed by WILLIAM STANSBY, and are to be sold by Henrie Fetherstone.

1616.

TO THE TRVELY VERTVOVS, AND WORTHY KNIGHT, SIR OLIVER CROMWEL, T. B. wisheth encrease of grace and all happinesse.

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SIR,

THERE bee many particular respects that mooue me to be bold, to set your name in the frontispice of this work: As first, your sincere loue to true Religion, and the Professors thereof: Secondly, your true detestation of the Romish Synagogue, and [Page] the malignant influences of those wandring Planets, that infect the aire of our Church, and seeke by mining, poysoning, and other deuillish practices, to turne our Jerusalem into Babel. Thirdly, for that your selfe, with your religious Lady, worthy children, and brethren, and great family, haue beene a long time the principall auditors of my vnworthy ministery, wherein many of these points haue been deliuered vpon occasion, that you may see them here more fully discoursed, and so be the better confirmed in the truth. And lastly, the particular obligations of loue and duty, wherwith I am bound vnto you for many extraordinary fauours and kindnesses receiued. These be the motiues, that haue moued mee to select your selfe principally aboue all others to dedicate these motiues vnto. For the which I desire no more patronage and protection, then the truth of the seuerall points contayned therein doe deserue. Let them stand vpon their owne legs, or fall and perish. I know, they shall encounter with many bitter oppositions, and sharpe aduersaries, who will be ready [Page] to sift euery sentence, and to find a knot in a bull-rush: but my shelter is the buckler of truth, and the brazen wal of a good conscience; with which being armed, I hope, through Gods aide, that I shall be as willing and able to entertayne the re-encounter, if any assault be made, as I was willing to giue this on-set: I confesse that these are not the tithe of the arguments, that might be produced against the Romish religion, yet I doubt not, but that euen these few may serue, both to discouer the falshood thereof, and to confirme and strengthen those that stagger, and are weake in the truth: the Lord accompanying these endeuours of his seruant with his blessing, as I hope, and pray that he would be pleased to do. These motiues, such as they are, I willingly desire may be graced by your name, hoping that your name shal no way be disgraced by them: accept them therefore, as tokens of my sincere loue to your selfe, and zeale to the truth, for which I desire no other requitall, but an augmentation of your zeale to the same truth, and a greater detestation of that Religion, which [Page] already you abhor. The Lord of his mercy encrease in you more and more all spirituall graces for your soules health, and multiply his blessings temporall vpon your head, and crowne you with glory, and immortality eternall in the life to come.

Your worships most affectionate and deuoted, THO. BEARD.

REVERENDIS, DILECTISQVE IN CHRISTO FRATRIBVS, Pijs ET FIDELIBVS Euangelij Ministris, per omnem Britanniam constitutis, gratia, & pax à DEO PATRE, & DOMINO nostro IESV CHRISTO.

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NOn estis nescij (fratres & [...] in Christo) quanta nos Euangelij Ministros, tùm verborum maledicentia, tùm animorum odio insectentur, Cleri Pontificij cohors & colluuies vniuersa. Sua in nos omnis gener [...] tela, & quidem venenata confertim conijciunt; famam nostram canino dente, & studio allatrant, at (que) admordent; quin & ipsas adeo gulas nostras, & quidem eas nobis incisuri, app [...]tunt, si illorum in nos maleuolentiae par ad facinus potest as responderet: nomen ipsum ministri, perinde at (que) veteribus Iudaeis Samaritae, illis itae putet & foetet, vt sine nausea, & indignatione, illud ne nominare quidem possunt. Huiuscemodi conuitijs & contumelijs libricorum passim & plaeri (que) omnes referti, onusti (que) sunt. Cuius si intestini & inexplebilis odij rationes libeat perquirere, quinque istas quas ordine percensebo praec [...]teris insigniores, & ex ijs principem hanc [Page] reperietis. Quod Clerus hic Pontificius, Monachorum cum primis & fraterculorum, locustae illae sunt in ApocalypsiApoc. 9. 3. commemoratae, quae caudis similiter vt scorpi [...] cu [...]pidatis, de infernalis putei fumo prodeuntes, terminitam quin (que) mensium spatio homines excruciandi potestatem accepere: Qu [...] ex re fit, vt vbi possunt quidem & valent, ibi ferro flamma (que) in nos grassentur: vbi autem hoc illis non licet, linguas & calamos exacuant at (que) distringant: consimili planè at (que) ille [...]ngenio praediti, de quo est apud Poetam,

‘Et si non aliquà nocuisset, mortuus esset.Virg. Eclog. 3.’

Haereticorum enim (vt est scriptum ab Hieronymo) hoc semper caco [...]thes fuit, vt conuicti de perfidia, ad maledicta se conferant. Sequitur hanc causam isthaec altera. Quod luci cum tenebris nulla societas, nullum commercium intercedat: Ac nos quidem lucis Ministri sumus, qui adomnes quibus non sponte oculi caecutiunt, Euangelij claritatem quaqua versum diffundimus. Illi contratenebrarum satellites sunt, qui dum scripturarum lectione plaros (que) arcent & prohibent, dum fidem quam vocant implicitam, nos Carbonariam, tanquam apprimè salutarem, maxime (que) necessariam praedicant, & commendant, densissimis sane crassissimis (que) tenebris hominum anim [...] circumfundunt. Istis porro causis annumeranda est haec tertia, quod nullum tam capitale odium solet esse, at (que) quod religionis causa suscipitur, tum nos religionis illi [...] praecones sum [...], quae illorum superstitioni vs (que) adeo aduersa est, nulla vt ratione conuenire, nalla conciliari arte inter sepossunt. Ex quo id existit, quod nec Turcas quidem & Iud [...]s, nec ipsos adeo Ethnicos, quamuis Christiani [Page] nominis hostes infestissimos pariter vt Protestantes, & Euangelij Ministros detestentur. Cuires indicio est illa, quam Hispanicam appellant, inquisitio; testis etiam locuples. Rom [...] ipsa, in qua sub ipsius sane ore Pontificis, Turcis & Iudaeis tuta consuetudo, at (que) periculo omni libera & immunis negotiatio est: siquem autem nostrae religionis vel leuissimè suspectum esse contingat, [...]um vel aperta vi, vel occultis insiaijs ad internecionem vs (que) persequuntur. Quid autem causae est, quaeso, quod tanta in nos solos immanitate furore (que) debacchentur? Hoc quidem certe: quod non tam ipsormn religioni, quam Christo ipsi, Turcae & Iudaei inimici infesti (que) sunt: nobis de illorum superstitione, de mundano fastu & splendore, de temporali & terrena potentia, quaeijs Christo ipso multò chariora poti [...]ra (que) sunt, certamen cum illis pugna (que) est. Iam tribus istis causis accedit qu [...]rta, quod percussis gregum arietibus, dissipari greges ipsos, & perire necessum sit: quod cum illi vehementissime desiderent, nec efficere tamen per nos possint, hinc illae scilicet lachrymae, hinc atrox in nos odium, hinc rabiosa libido commouetur. Quinta restat causa, quod (vt sunt sagaces) eos nos esse animaduertunt, qui non greges modo nostros ab illis integros & sinceros custodimus, verum arictinis cornibus, sacrarum videli [...]et scripturarum pr [...]dication [...], muros etiam Ieric [...]untinos demolimur, mancipia nimirum Papa▪ Babylonicae seruitutis iugo [...]ripimus, at (que) dolos eorum, & insidias, pariter vt errores detegimus: nihil vt [...]it miri, si quos iam vrgentis aut certe aduentantis ruinae suae authores, & effectores norunt esse, in eos acerbitatis suae virus, quantum maxime possunt, euomant & ebulliant. At (que) hae sane maliciae illius serpentinae, odij (que) insatiabilis, quo in nos surenter invehantur [Page] praecipuae causae sunt. Quid igitur? mutuum ne cum illis faciemus, quod eos remor deat? Non assentior: quin potius quò eorum in nos odium magis exar descit, eò amor vt in illos noster vehementius inflammetur, author sum, quò ardentes eorum in capita carbones sic congeramus, quibus vel incendantur ad charitatem, vel consumantur ad perniciem. An vero animos despondebimus, stationes (que) deseremus, ac ne offensioni ijs simus, militiae nostrae arma abijciemus? Hoc nimirum est, quod illi vel inprimis certe auent, & expetunt. At nos contra ex veneno eorum (iuxta Ambrosij consilium) Antidotum nobisAmbros. lib. 1. de poenit. c. 13. contra eos ipsos conficiamus, at (que) cò in pugna acriores simus maiori (que) alacritate contendamus. Caetera sane omnia, facultates, famam, liberos, vitam adeo ipsam diripiLuther.sinamus nobis & abripi, fidem autem, & veritatem eripi ne patiamur: maledicta sit haec omnis humilitas, hic quiuis pertinax, & superbus esse debet (vt optimè Lutherus.) Papae, quod scitis, Emissarij per agros, per vrbes errabundi discur sant, ac diuagantur, loca omnia, domos omnes, & angulos tanquam ranae Aegyptiacae penetrant, & perreptant, suis (que) coaxationibus afflant a [...] (que) inficiunt, Aridam (ad veterum Pharisaeorum morem) & Maria circumeunt, nec vllam lapidem mouere praeter mittunt, aut etiam intermittunt, Romanae vt Ecclesiae proselytos adiungant, & religionis suae terminos proferant & dilatent, & nos interim segnitie ignauia (que) torpescemus? vt iugulent homines surgent de nocte latrones: vt teipsum serues non expergisceris? Si versante iam in visceribus, ac ipsum poenè iugulum praensante at (que) premente hoste, securi agimus; quid hoc instituto aliud, a [...]t speremus aut consequamur, quàm vt veritatis, religionis, [Page] Christi, nostrae deni (que) ipsorum vitae at (que) animae, quibus hi lupi quàm dolis insidiantur, tam plenis faucibus inhiant, verissimi proditores habeamur. Ne (que) haec tamen eò à me dicuntur (fratres) quod suspecta sit mihi fides vestra, verùm vt spo [...]te, & quidem probè iam diu currentes, ad stadium contentiùs decurrendum incitem, & impellam: ne quis vestrum (quod Deus prohibeat) [...] ad extremum excidat, coronam (que) amittat. Fateor equidem (vt hic repugnent, & reclamitent Pontificij nostri) post restitutam apud nos Euangelij lucem, nunquam aut plura, aut illustriora lumina isthic effulsisse, & beatam propter hocipsum Angliam nostram, foelices item Academias, quae has nobis stellas accend [...]re, hanc (que) tam numerosam sobolem tum parturiere, tum peperere agnosco, & praedico. Atqui verendum tamen, ne (que) omnino negandum, non exiguum etiam segnium inertium (que) fucorum numerum, qui mel quidem comedunt, & liguriunt, fauos autem & praesepia, ne (que) curant, nec respiciunt, passim apud nos volitarem. Quos meminerint suadeo vocem illam Iudicis, quam aliquando certe audituri sunt, Redde rationem villicationis tuae. Vos autem (fratres) qui diutius in exercitu & procinctu stetistis, hortor & precor, forti vt animo & invicto, in inchoato iam praelio perseueret is, & cum, linguas vestras, tum calamos, contra Antichristianae militiae conatus omnes instruatis. Hac in messe desudemus omnes, suum quis (que) ad Sanctuarium reaedificandum siclum afferamus: quippe quorum omnium nemo tam tenui apparatu instructuve est, quin ad hoc conficiendum negotium conferre aliquantillum possit. Ego certe ex gregarijs militibus minimus, nedum vt me dignum deputem, qu [...] in triarijs numerer, qualium quamplurimi [Page] hoc in bello stipendia sub Christo merent, iter vobis praeiui, & viam quasi dealbaui; cui quamuis Poetae illud occini fortassis potest,

‘Non tu plus cernis, sed plus temerarius audes: Nec tibi plus cordis, sed minus oris inest.’

Nihil tamen hoc deterritus, vtrum (que) quadrantem meum in Ecclesiae Gazophilarium conieci: quo animo Deus vnus nouit, nec igitur homo praeiudicet. Tubicinis ego partes egi, qui impar ipse congressui, animos vestros excitare ad pugnam, at (que) accendere volui. Quod autem ad huius mei instituti rationem attinet, sic breui habete. Rationes hasDoctorem Barlowum intelligo Archidiaconum Wintoniensem, quem etiam honoris causa nomino. vniuersè primum à me informatas, doctissimi viri, eiusdem (que) mei amantissimi rogatus mihi expressit: quas cum illi probarentur (qua est iudicij maturitate) vt particulatim deinde, & sigillatim confirmarem, eiusdem hortatu adductus sum. Quò est effectum, vt in hanc, quam videtis, molem excreuerint. Quas cum à partu suffocare potius in animo haberem, quam in lucem edere, pervitit aliorum iudicium, & authoritas, vt evulgarem, praelogi committerem. Quorum quidem voluntati [...]ò id libentius annui & concessi; partim quòd nonnullam in spem veni, nonnihil ad Ecclesiam vtilitatis hinc esse peruenturum, cum quàm infirmis, quam (que) arenosis Romanae religionis structura (quam solam falsò Catholicam iactitant) nixa sit fundamentis, omnes, quivelint, vno quasi intuitu perspiciant: partim autem vt resciscant Pontificij, qui eruditionis,Bozius, lib. 12. de sig. Eccles. cap 12. Posse [...]. lib. 1. Biblioth. & doctrinae existimationem omnem Iesuitis suis arrogant, nobis derogant (sic enim Thrasones illi vbi (que) baubantur & deblaterant) non deesse Ecclesiae nostrae [Page] Ministros suos, qui eorum errores liquidò redarguere & possunt, & vero audent: cum infimus poene ex nostris vnus comminus cum ijs manus conserere, & in arenam prouocare non reformidat: vnde quid gregum ductores efficere possunt, si annitantur, par est illos reputare: partim etiam quod Pontificiorum suae persuadendo religioni quamplurimos strenuam operam nauasse video: Euangelicorum autem, qui hoc idem scriptionis genus per certa argumentorum motuumve capita sunt sequuti, paucissimos sane recordor, ne dicam nulios. Vestram igitur in tutelam (fratres) meas hasce ratiunculas accipite, aequis animis, at (que) oculis legite, & discutite. Censuram vestram non recuso, dum preces modo vestras, & amorem mihi non denegetis. Hic Romanae religionis septem sacramenta: Turpitudinem, Impietatem, Falsitatem, Nouitatem, Idololatriam, Scripturarum vituperationem, & Ignorantiae defensionem, licet contueri: de quibus princeps Impuritas sequentium in rationum prima & secunda; in tertia autem, quarta & duodecima Impietas aperietur: Nouitas, quam nobis obiectant, in eos ipsos totam per vndecimam regeretur: Falsitas in octaua & nona dilucebit: Idolorum cultus in septima: Scripturarum contemptio, simul & Ignorantiae defensio in quinta, sexta, & decima patefient. Frement & frendebunt (sat scio) Iesuitae, caeteri (que) sacrificuli, ac omissis forte rationum ipsarum ponderibus, & momentis, hinc at (que) illinc (vt eorum moris est) aliquidpiam excerpent, quod obtrectent, & arrodant: sed ringantur per me quidem, & rumpantur invidia: nihili illorum siue calumnias moror, siue maledicta, dum vos modo propitios mihi habeam, [Page] quorum inprimis vereor, & reuereor iudicium. Quos propterea oro & obtestor, vt siqua in re de veritatis scopo deflexerim, comiter in viam me reducatis: si minus ac debui fortiter & prudenter hac in arena demicârim, imbecillitati id meae condonetis, praeuaricationi nequaquam tribuatis. Ego certe hoc, quantillumcun (que) est, Deo nostro minime displiciturum confido, quippe non ignarus, seruulum qui duobus extalentis rem fecit, Domino suo, ae (que) ac illum alterum, acceptum, probatum (que) extitisse, qui decem ex quin (que) lucrifecit. Interim (fratres) mutui amoris vinculo nos inter nos complectamur: vt quemadmodum contra sponsam Christi aduersarij nostri (vt olim Pilatus & Herodes contra Christum ipsum) coniunctissimè conspirant & consentiunt: Sic nos pari voluntatum consensu, eadem (que) aut etiam maiore animorum conspiratione, aduersus Antichristum, illius (que) astipulatorum & [...]ssectatorum omnium vires depugnemus. Quod eò vt fortius, foelicius (que) fiat, facessant à nobis, precor, derebus minutulis lites omnes, & discordiae, quibus nimio plus iam diu assueuimus: Reprimamus nunc demum ipsinos, ne quam, de sui temporis quibusdam, Iraeneus habuit querimoniam,Iraen. cont. haeres. lib. 4. c. 62. quod proptermodicas & quaslibet causas, magnum & gloriosum Christi corpus conscinderent: quam etiam de suae aetatis consimilibus alijs Nazianzenus:Nazian. Apol. pag. 28. quod essent [...] eadem de nobis ni prouidemus iusta querela esse possit. Quin Apostoli illud ad Corinthios de re exgenere indifferentium disserentis potius meminerimus. Siquis videtur1. Cor. 2. 16.contentiosus esse, nos eiusmodi consuetudinem non habemus, neque Ecclesia Dei: & eiusdem [Page] aliud ad Galatas, Si alij alios mordetis & deuoratis,Gal. 5. 15.videte ne vicissim alij ab alijs consumamini. Deus pacis & lucis ab Antichristi illius (que) gregalium impetu, & insidijs vos omnes protegat, & defendat, ac coelestem suam ad ciuitatem, nouam Hierosolymam sartos tectos tandem perducat.

T. B▪

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Motiue I. THat Religion which in many points giueth liberty to sinne, is not the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: ergo, &c.

Motiue II. That Religion, which maintaynes by the grounds thereof things forbidden, by all lawes both of God, of Nature, and of Man, cannot be the true Religion: bat such is the Religion of the Romane Church: ergo.

Motiue III. That Religion which imitateth the Iewes in those things wherein ther are enemies to Christ, cannot be the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo.

Motiue IIII. That Religion which derog [...]teth from the glory of God in the worke of our Redemption, and giueth part thereof vnto man, cannot be the truth of God: but such is the Popish Religion: ergo.

Motiue V. That Religion deserueth to bee suspected, which refuseth to bee t [...]y [...]d by the Scriptures, as the perfect and alone rule of faith, and will be iudged & [...]ryed by none but it selfe: But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: ergo.

Motiue VI. That Religion doth iustly deserue to be suspected, which doth pur [...]o [...]ly disgrace the sacred Scri [...]tures: But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: [...]go. &.

Motiue VII. That Religion is to be abhorred, which maintayneth, commandeth, and practiseth grosse an [...] palpable Idolatry; but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome: [...]rgo, &c.

Motiue VIII. That Religion which implyeth manifold contradiction in it selfe, and is contrary to it selfe in many things, cannot bee the true Religion: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: ergo, &c.

Motiue IX. That Religion, wh [...]se doctrines are in many points apparently opposite to the word of God, and t [...]e doctrine of the Gospell, cannot be the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: ergo, &c.

Motiue X. That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people, and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian saith, cannot be the truth: but this doth the Romish Religion: ergo, &c.

Motiue XI. That Religion which was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time, nor in the primitiue Church, cannot [...]e the truth: but such is the Romish Religion in most points thereof: therefore that cannot be the truth.

Motiue XII. That Church which maintayneth it selfe, and the Religion professed by it, and seeketh to d [...]saduantage the Aduersaries by vnlawfull, vniust, and vngodly meanes, cannot bee the true Church of God, nor that Religion the truth of God, by the grounds whereof they are warranted to act such deuillish practices: but such is the practice of the Romish Church, and therfore neither their Church, nor their Religion can be of God.

Motiue XIII. That Religion, the doctrines whereof are more safe both in respect Gods glory, Mans saluation, and Christian charity, is to be preferred before that which is not so safe, but dangerous: But the doctrine of the Protestants Religion is more safe in all those respects, and of the Papists more dangerous: ergo, that is to be preferred before this, and consequently this to be reiected.

THIRTEENE FORCIBLE MOTIVES, DISSWADING FROM COMMVNION With the Church of ROME.

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Whereby is demonstratiuely prooued, that the now Romish Religion (so farre forth as it is Romish) is not the true Catholique Religion of CHRIST, but the seduction of Antichrist.

THE PREAMBLE.

THat which Ireneus (an ancientI. Iraeneus lib. [...] cap. 54. and godly Father of the Church) speaketh of all Heretickes, that all the Helleborus in the world is not sufficient to purge them, that they may vomit out their follie, may truely be spoken of the Church of Rome, and her adherents, that it is a difficult matter, if not almost impossible, to reclaime her from her errors, and to heale her wounds. All the balme of Gilead will not do it, nor all the spirituall phisicke that can be ministred; for there [Page] are two sinnes which of all other are most hard to bee relinquished, Whoredome, and Drunkennesse: the one, because it is so familiar and naturall to the flesh: the other, because it breedeth by custome such an vnquenchable thirst in the stomacke, as must euer anon be watered: with both which spirituall diseases, the Church of ROME is infected. She is the Whore of Babylon, with whome the Kings of the Earth haue committed fornication, and who hath made drunke with the Wine of her fornicationsReuel. 17. 12.all the Inhabitants of the Earth. In regard of the first, Ieremie prophecied of her, that though paines be taken Ierem. 51. 9. to heale her, yet shee could not be healed. And in regard of the second, Saint Paul prophecied, that GOD would send2. Thes. 2. 10. 11them strong delusion, that they should beleeue lies, that all they might bee damned that receiued not the loue of the truth. Notwithstanding, though the hope bee as little of the reclaiming of most of them, as of turning an Eunuch into a man, or making a blacke Moore white; yet I haue propounded in this discourse a strong potion compounded of ingredients; which if they bee not past cure, may purge and cleanse them of their disease, and reduce them to the sanity of Christian Religion. Which if their queasie stomackes shall eyther refuse to take, or hauing taken, shall vomit vp againe, and not suffer them to worke vpon their consciences: yet this benefit will arise, that God shall be glorified, the truth manifested, and all that loue the truth confirmed: and they also themselues, that are so drowned in error, that they will rather pull in others ouer head and eares vnto them, and so drowne together, then be drawne out of the myre by any helpe, shall be conuinced in their consciences of their most grosse apostacie. With this confidence towards Gods glorie, and the good of his Church, though with little hope of recouering them from their obdurate blindnesse; I enter into my intended taske, desiring the Lord to giue a blessing to these poore labours, which I consecrate to my Lord and Master Iesus Christ, whom I serue, and the Church his Spouse, of which I professe my selfe to bee one of the meanest members.

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MOTIVE. I. That Religion which in many points giueth libertie to sinne, is not the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of ROME: ergo, &c.

THe first proposition is an vndoubted truth, and2. MAIOR▪ Iames 1. 27. needs no confirmation, especially, seeing S. Iames describeth true Religion by these attributes, pure and vndefiled: And S. Paul 2. Tim. 3. 1. Tit. 1. 1. calleth it the mysterie of godlinesse, and the doctrine according to godlinesse. And herein consisteth an essentiall difference betwixt the true Religion and all false ones; so that it must needs follow, that, that Religion which is essentially the cause and occasion of sinne, and openeth a wide window to vngodlinesse, cannot be the truth of God, but must needs fetch it beginning from the deuill, who is the author of all euill. The Gospell indeede may by accidentRom. 7. 11. Matt. 10. 34. be the occasion of euill, as S. Paul saith, The law is the occasion of sinne, for it stirs vp contention and strife, and discouers the corruptions of Mans heart, and by opposing against them (as a damme against a streame) makes them to swell and boyle, and burst forth beyond the bounds: howbeit, here the cause is not in the Gospell, or Lawe; but in the corruption of mans heart, which, the more it is stirred, the more it rageth and striueth to shew it selfe. But neuer yet was the doctrine of godlinesse the cause of wickednesse, nor the pure and vndefiled Religion of Christ Iesus, an essentiall procurer and prouoker vnto sinne.

3. This therefore being thus manifest, all the question and difficultie remaineth in the second proposition; to wit, that the Religion of the Romish Church is such as openeth a gappe vnto sinne, and giueth notorious libertie and scope to vngodlinesse; and that not by way of accident or occasion, but necessarily as the cause to the effect, Qua data, necessariò soquitur effectus; as the Logicians speake: and therefore being an [...]npure and defiled Religion, and the mysterie of iniquitie, [Page] not the mysterie of godlinesse: it cannot be that true Religion which Christ our Sauiour brought with him from heauen, and left here vpon earth blamelesse and vnspotted like himselfe, to be the way to lead vs vnto heauen, where hee is.

4. That the Romish Religion is a polluted and defiled Religion,MINOR. tending to libertie and loosenesse. Let the indifferent Reader iudge by these few instances, deriued out of the verie bowels of their Church, and being articles of their faith, and grounds of their Religion. And first to beginne with theirI. Med. Christ. paraen. li. 7. ca. 17. Gratian part. 1. pag. 76. Panorm. extr. de diuort. c. fin. Felyn. de consist. cap. statut. can. 1. Anton. pa [...]. 3. tit. 22. cap. 6. doctrine of dispensations; whereby they teach that the Pope hath power to dispense with the word of God, and with euery commandement of the Law, and not onely with the Law, but with the Gospell and Epistles of Paul: to what horrible loosenesse and lewdnesse of life doth it tend? for to omit that it containeth in it open blasphemie by their owne rule, which is, that In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior, the inferiour may not dispense with the precept of the superiour, by which the Pope dispensing with Gods lawe, is not one [...]y equalled, but exalted aboue God; what sinne is there, bee it neuer so hainous, which there is not libertie giuen to commit by this licencious doctrine?

5. Incest? But Pope Martin the first gaue a dispensation to one to marrie his owne sister, and not his wiues sister only, as some of the Romish crue would dawbe ouer this filthie wall, because it is in Antoninus, Cum quadam eius germana: Antonin. part. Siluest. in verbo Papa. pag. 279. Bartho. fumus in verb. dispensat. Angel. de Claua. in verbo. papa. for Siluester Prieri [...], Bartholomeus Fumus, and Angelus de Clauafio, speake more plainely, Cumsua germana; that is, with his owne naturall sister. Another Pope dispensed with Henry the eight to marrie his sister in law: and with Philip of Spaine to marrie his owne Niece: and Clement the 7. licenced Petrus Aluaradus the Spaniard, to marrie two sisters at once: andFumus quo supra Caietan, in Leui. cap. 18. Nauarr. enchir. pag. 515. no maruaile, seeing it is the very doctrine of the Romish Church, that the Pope can dispense in all the degrees of Consanguinitie and Affinitie, saue onely with the Father and his daughter, and with the Mother and her Son. Sodometrie? But Pope Sixtus the fourth licensed the Cardinall of Saint Lucie, [Page] and his familie, to vse freely that sinne, not to bee named in the three hote moneths of the yeare. And Iohannes a Casa Archbishop of Beneuentum, and Legate to Pope Iulius the third, set forth a Booke in Italian Meeter, in commendation of this execrable sinne.

6. Adultery, and fornication? But they affirme and hold,Nauarr. Enchir, pag. 515. Caietan in Leu. cap. 18. that the Pope hath power to dispence with all manner of persons in the contract of Matrimonie, (the Father with his daughter, and the mother with her Sonne) onely excepted. And therefore Ʋladislaus King of Hungarie, and Ludouicus Rob. Gag. in Lud [...]uic. 12. the French King, by meanes of dispensation purchased from the Pope, put away their lawfull wiues, and married others. And for Fornication, the Popes Canon is famous, Hee that Mich. Ritus l. 2. Decret. dist. 34. cap. 4. hath not a wife, but for a wife, or instead of a wife, a Concubine, let him not for that be kept from the Communion. And Bellarmines doctrine confirmeth the same Canon of the Pope, and [...]el. de monach. li. 2. ca. 30. crosseth the Canon of Christ; for thus he writeth, that speech of the Apostle (they that cannot containe, let them marrie, for it is better to marrie then to burne) cannot bee rightly said of them that haue vowed, for both are naught, both to burne and to marrie; yea, it is worse of the two to marrie, whatsoeuer the Protestants say to the contrarie. This is the 75. Grauamen complainedCent. Grauam. grau. 75. of by the Germanes, that the Bishops and their Officials did tolerate Priests to haue Concubines, vnder the paiment of a certaine annuall rent of money. Which also Espens [...]s a learnedEspens. de conti. li. 2. cap. 7. & in Tit. 1. Bishop of their owne confesseth, and complayneth of both in his second Booke de Continentia, and in his Commentarie vpon Titus. Nay, that which is horrible to speake, and almost incredible to beleeue, the Germans in their 91. Grauamen cō plained, that not onely those Priests that had their whores, payd yearely rent for it, but euen those that were continent and would haue no Conenbines, must pay the rent; and then be it at their choyce whether they would haue a Concubine or no. And lest any should thinke that Priests onely were thus dispensed withall, and that their Concubines were in stead of wiues, though for the auoyding of scandall they might not haue that name: as if the name of a wife were more scandalous then the name [Page] of a Concubine (O height of impiety!) let all the world know, that not onely the Clergie, but also the Laity were in this case dispensed withall, as might be prooued by many examples, if need were. May not this Church than rightly be s [...]led The Whore of Babylon, which thus authoriseth whoredome in all degrees, and turneth a filthy sinne into a lawfull and warrantable act?

7. Periurie? But it is a prouerbe in the Popes Court, (asPet. Martyr loc. com. testifieth Peter Martyr) Quòd non est Regum & Magistratuum, sed Mercatorum stare iuramentis; It is not the part of Kings and Magistrates, but of Marchants, to stand to their oaths: And this is one of their renowned positions, The Pope may dispense with any oath, be it neuer so lawfull. Vpon which ground Azorius the Iesuite defendeth Pope Gregorie Azor. Inst [...]tut. mor. l. l. 5. c. 15. the twelfth, who in the time of a great schisme did openly and solemnly sweare, that if he were made Pope, he would giue it ouer againe: but being elected, he performed nothing lesse. And also the same Iesuite auoucheth, that other mens oaths Idem li 11. c. 9. may be dissolued by the Pope. And the glosse vpon the DecretalsGlossa ad Decret. li. 2. tit. 24. cap. 10. sayth, That a man is no further bound to the obseruation of any oath, then it shall like the Pope. And the reason is added, Quia in omni iurament o excipitur authoritas maioris, in euery oath the authority of a superiour must bee excepted; which superiour by their doctrine is the Pope. And for their practice herein, I appeale to Cardinall Iulian the Popes LegateBonfin. Decad. 3. lib. 6. in Hungarie, who not onely licenced, but perswaded Vladislaus the King to breake the league, and falsifie his oath madeAeneas Siluius com. in Europ. to Amurath the Turke, which was the cause not onely of his ouerthrow, but of the losse of a great part of that famous Kingdome; behold the fruits of these Romane Prophets. And to leape from a Cardinall to a Pope, I call to witnesse Clement the 7. who dispensed with Francis the French King, for his oath sworne to Charles the fift, at his deliuery out of prison. And lest any should thinke this to be a particular blot of one Pope; adde to him Gregorie the 7. who released Rodolph the King of Sue [...]ia from his oath of obedience to the Emperour Henrie the 4. and conferred the Empire vpon him. And Pope [Page] Zachary, Boniface the eight, and Benedict de la lune, who freed the French men from their oath of obedience, which they ought vnto their Kings. And lastly, Pius Quintus, who by his Bull of excommunication against our late famous Queene of blessed memory, discharged her subiects from their oath of allegeance, whereby many open rebellions were raised vp against the State, and secret treas [...]ns plotted against her sacred person.

8. Disobedience to Parents, Rebellion against lawfull Princes, and murdering of them also if they stand in their way?Bell. de monach. lib. 2. cap. 36. but the Pope can dispense with children, if they shall take vpon them the vow of single life, after fourteene yeares of age, and enter into a Sodomiticall Cloyster: and the Father hath nothing to doe with his childe being there once encloistered except he cannot liue without his helpe. And for Princes;I▪ [...]uita Gicar. if the Pope shall excommunicate a Prince, or suborne a wicked traytor to murder his Soueraigne, then is this rebellion and murther not onely a warrantable, but also a meritorious and an heroicall act. Witnesse at home the Irish rebellion, heartened forward by Doctor Saunders, by the Popes instigation: and abroad, the murther of Henry the third, the French King, by Iames Clement; which bloudy deed was after highly commended by the Pope in his consistoriall Oration to be seene in print. And of Henry the fourth, of late dayes by hellish Rauilliac, with many such like, which I could here produce, but that fitter occasion will be offered hereafter for their larger discouery.

9. These few particulars are sufficient to shew, what a gap is layd open to all loosnes by this Romish doctrine of dispensations; which, that it is not our malicious collection (as they affirme) but a necessary consequence: One of their owneFrancis [...]. V [...]ct. d potest. pap. & concil. Relect. [...]. pag. 139. learned Fryers confesseth as much, Vid [...]m [...] quotidie à Romana curia, &c. We see daily (sayth hee) so large, yea so dissolute dispensations come from the Court of ROME, that the world is not able to endure them; neither doe they tend onely to the scandall of the weake, but of those also that are strong. I omit here the Popes dispensing with the cure of soules; whereby hee [Page] plainely declareth, that though hee proudly stileth himselfe supremus pastor animarum, the chiefe shepheard of soules: yet he is maximus vastator animarum, the greatest hauocker of soules that is on the earth (the Deuill onely excepted) who goeth beyond him a little, I must needes confesse: for when he licenceth some of his Cardinals to enioy some 200. someNichol. Clenang. 300. Benefices, most of which they neuer saw nor knew, nor regarded how they were serued, or starued: what doth heeIoh. Gers. tom. [...]. de potest Eccles. consid. 10. but shew himselfe rather a Wolfe, than a Shepheard? This kind of dispensation Saint Bernard in his time calleth a dissipation. And Iohn Picas the famous Earle of M [...]randula, in anIoh. Pic. Miran. [...]rat. ad Leon. 10 Oration to Pope Leo the 10. complaineth of, as a notorious corruption in the Church in his dayes. Now then, to conclude the poynt, if to maintaine Incest, Sodometry, adultery, fornication, periury, disobedience to Parents, rebellion against Princes, and murther, be not to giue licence to most horrible and foule sinnes, l [...]t all men iudge, and then consider what that Religion is to be iudged of, which giueth either open or secret dispensation to all these.

10. This is the first Romish doctrine directly tending to2. liberty: A second, nothing inferiour to the former, is their doctrine of popish pardons and Indulgences: a doctrine indeed full of all licentiousnes, stuft with impiety, and letting the reynes loose to all manner of villany. For thus they teach, that the Pope being Christs Vicar heere on earth, hath the keyes of the kingdome of Heauen in custody, to admit in by Indulgence, or to shut out by excommunication as hee shall see cause: and that the merits of Martyrs (to wit) their workesBel. de Indulgen. lib. 1. ca. 2. of supererogation, which they haue more then they need for their owne saluation, which (mixt with the merites of Christ) they call the treasure of the Church, are to bee dispensed and disposed at his pleasure.

11. The limits and largenes of these pardons they stretchAquin. supl. in 3. par. q. 25. art. [...]. Bonif. apud Plat. in vita. so farre, that they make them of more force then the death and passion of Christ: for as they teach, Christs death freeth onely a culpa & aterna poena, that is, from the guilt of the fault and the eternall punishment due vnto it, but not a poena temporali, [Page] from the temporall punishment: but these popish pardons acquit and discharge both from the guilt, and from the punishment temporall and eternall, as some of them affirme, and they that mince it finest, from the guilt and temporall punishment: so that Christs passion commeth short of his VicarsƲeg. li. 13. c. 36. pardon, and the seruant can doe more then the Master by their Religion: for though the efficacie of these pardons dependeth vpon the merits of Christ; yet that is but in part,Tapper. expl. art. Louan. art. 6. for the Saints merits must be mixed with them, or else they alone make no good medicine, and the Pope must dispence them, or else they are of no value. Neither doe they firetch onely to those that are aliue, but to the dead also: And thatFu [...]men. brut. ex bul. Clem. 6. not onely in Purgatory, but in Hell. Out of both which places (say they) both the suburbs and the Citie, the Pope is able to deliuer whom he pleaseth, and place them in heauen, the seate of the blessed: this is the opinion of diuers of them. Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence auoucheth almost asAntonin. part. 3. Tit. 22. c. 5. §. 6. much (leauing out hell) for he saith that the Pope, in respect of his absolute iurisdiction, may absolue all that are in Purgatory, and empty the prison at once: (marke his reasons) for (sayth he) seeing Gregory by his prayer discharged Traiane from the paine of hell, which is infinite: Therfore much more may the Pope by communication of indulgences, absolue all that are in Purgatory, from that punishment which is but finite. And for asmuch as Christ may take away all paine, therefore the Pope also (who is his Ʋicar) may. These be the Archbishops goodly reasons, the one whereof is meere foolish and friuolous, the other blasphemous: but howsoeuer it be, yet thousands of ignorant persons haue receiued these as their Creed, and by them beene seduced to the vtter ruine and destruction of their soules.

12. And to that height of impudency are these pardonmongersOnuph. Pa [...]vi [...]. growne, that they stocke not to promise plenary remission of all sinnes, to all that either come on pilgrimage to Rome, or miscarry in their iourney, or that visite the holy places there, especially the 7. priuiledged Churches; promising to some 50. to some a 100. to some 3000. yeares of pardon. [Page] Yea, Boniface the eight granted, of his bountifull liberality, 82000. yeares pardon, for euery time saying a prayer of S. Augustine, printed in a Table at Venice, and that toties quoties. Iohn the 22. granted twentie yeres pardon to euery one that doth but bow his head at the naming of Iesus. Here is a notable pardon indeed: a man may in one day prouide for millions of ages, and not onely for himselfe, but to helpe his friends out of Purgatory. Besides all this, their holy Father the Pope vseth to consecrate and hallow an infinite number of Crucifixes, and Medailes, and Agnus Dei's, Holy graines or Beads, and such like trash, and send them abroad into the world, that whosoeuer weareth one of them about him, if he bee at the poynt of death, and say but in his heart the name Iesus, shall haue a plenary and full forgiuenesse of all his sins.

13. But what should I rake any deeper into this filthy puddle? I might spend much time and trauaile in deciphering the infinite and grosse absurdities of this monstrous doctrine,Recitare, est refutare. the very naming whereof is a sufficient confutation. I referre the Reader to others that haue amply discouered these secrets of the whore of Babylon. But to returne to the poynt, Is not this a doctrine (I pray you) of licentiousnesse? who would feare to sinne, when pardon may be obtayned at so low a rate? for bowing the head, saying ouer a short prayer, visiting a Church, creeping to a Crosse, wearing a Crucifixe, pardon may be purchased for sinnes, without number, and that for yeares without number. What is the height of liberty, if this be not? But yet they ascend higher, for there is a great Mart of all these Indulgences at Rome, there you may haue them at a very lowe price, rather then goe without, yea, cheaper than any other ware: and lest Rome should seeme too farre to fetch them thence, there are petty markets and faires of them in euery Country, and the Pedlers that carry about this trash, are the Priests and Iesuites. Leo the tenth sent T [...] [...]elius [...]alaeus in vita Leonis 10. about with his Pardons, offering to euery one for the payment of tenne shillings, and not a penny vnder, to set at liberty the soule of any one which they should name in Purgatory. And of late it is sayd, that the Iesuites brought into [Page] England, Agnus Dei's by thousands, which they sold at what rate they list to poore seduced Papists. Peroun the French Cardinall brought with him from Rome many such hallowed and holy things, as some say, by the sale thereof to helpe to defray his charges which he was at in that costly iourney.

14. What should I name vnto you their odious marchandize, and setting to sale of all manner of sinne, called taxa poenitentiaria Apostolica, whereby impunity is graunted to euery sinne, be it neuer so grieuous; so the party payeth according to the rate for his absolution, to wit, if he will be absolued from adultery or incest, it must cost him foure Turons: if from both together it must stand him in sixe Turons: if from wilfull murther (being in holy orders) hee must pay twelue Turons: being a Bishop or an Abbot fiftie Turons, twelueMuscul. com. loc. tit. minist. Ducats? &c. Thus there is no sinne so haynous, for which pardon may not be purchased for a small summe of money, as one of their owne Canonists could sing,Iohan. Monachu [...]

Si dederis marcas, & ijs impleueris arcas,

Culpa soluêris, qua (que) ligatus eris.

If thou with markes, wilt fill their arkes,

what ere thou doest commit

By word or deed, thou shalt be freed,

the Pope hath pardon'd it.

15. If this be not a doctrine of liberty, let all the world iudge. Who need care what sinne hee commit, when a pardon is but a money matter? Is it any maruaile now, if whores and theeues and notorious offenders turne Papists, seeing they may haue so easily a full and plenary remission of all their offences? And that which is yet a greater emboldening of men to sinne then all the rest; they oftentimes for money pardon a sinne before it be committed, as it is constantly reported of Parry, that he brought with him his pardon in his pocket for murdering the late Queene, intended by him. But I haue heard of some that haue beene hanged with their pardons [Page] about their necks, and so (it may be) was that bloudyminded Traytor. And this was it that emboldened the GermansChemnit. exam. de poeniteat. to robbe the Popes pardoner, because they had purchased of him before, a pardon for the next sinne they should commit, though it were a great one: now this was the next, and therfore iustly he could not find fault with them.

16 By this it is euident, to what loosenesse and lewdnesse of life this doctrine doth tend. Isti enim indulgentiarum buccinatores, Onus Eccles. ca. 15. fol. 26. omnimodam promit [...]unt securitatem, quaeparit negligentiam & negligentia offensam Dei, saith the Author of that Booke called Onus Ecclesiae; that is, these publishers of pardons do promise all manner of security, which breedeth negligence, and negligence the offence of God: for Culpam qui praeterit, inuitat nouam, conniuence at one fault is the hatching of a new. Who so will plainly see in one view the monstrous licentiousnesse of life that issueth from this puddle of Popish pardons, let him read the third grieuance of the German Nation, in the Booke of their Centum grauamina, exhibited to the Popes Legate at Noremberge, Anno 1522. in the latter end whereof are these wordes of iust complaint. By the sale and marchandize of this ware, not onely Germany is spoyled of money, but Christian godlinesse is extinguished, where, when euery one, according to the quantity of his payment, taketh vnto himselfe liberty to sinne: hence whoredome, incest adultery, periury, murther, theft, robbery, vsury, and a whole heape of mischiefes haue proceeded; for, what mischiefe will men be afraid to commit, when they be once perswaded that they haue obtained licence and impunitie to sinne, not onely in this life, but also after their death? Hitherto is the complaint of Germany, which also may bee the iust complaint of the whole world.

17 A third doctrine of the Papists (opening the gap to licentiousnes)3. is their auricular confession, and popish penance: I ioyne them together, because they goe together in their practice, and are both together members of one of their new deuised Sacraments. True it is, that in outward showe these carry a semblance of seuere discipline: but if we search into their bowels, we shall find them to be the greatest baytes that [Page] can be vnto dissolutenesse: For when they teach that the enumeration and reckoning vp of all a mans finnes in the yeare, of a Priest, once a yeare, obtaineth present absolution and pardon at the Priests hands, who is both Iudge in this cause, and Phisicion; and hath power to loofe and binde, and to open and shut, to wound and heale, by the key of powerCoster. enchir. committed to him: What is this, but to open a gappe to all wickednes? for when men are perswaded that there is so ready and easie a meanes to be rid of their sinne, what need they be so chary of committing it? Hence it is (as by lamentable experience it is found true) among those that are deuoted to this Religion, they sinne freely, that they may confesse and be absolued; and when they haue confessed they sinne againe, that they may confesse againe, making no conscience how they liue all the yeare, and what horrible sinnes they commit, being perswaded that at Easter, by the shriuing of a Priest, they are cleane absolued. Iust like a drunkard, that drinkes so long till hee vomite, and when his stomacke is disgorged, drinkes afresh, that he may vomite afresh: or like a glutton, that surfets all the yere long in all maner of intemperancy, & then in the spring takes phisick to purge out the naughty humors frō his stomake, & as soone as he is purged, fals again to his surfeting & ryot, in hope to be purged again in the spring.

18. This is the fruite of Popish shrift, commended so highly by them to be so soueraigne a medicine against sin; which, if it be so, why did not Christ and his Apostles vse it? were they not as carefull to preserue men from sinne, as the Pope and his shauelings are? or is the Pope and his Apostles wiser then Christ Iesus and his Disciples? why was it not vsed in the Primitiue and purer times of the Church? Rhenanus and Erasmus, Rhen. Annot. ad Tertul. de poenit. Eras. Annot. ad Hieron. de obitu Sabi [...]l. Chrysost. Homil. 22. ad popul. Antioch. two learned Papists, affirme plainely, that it was neither ordained by Christ, nor vsed by the ancient Church: and Chrysostome telleth vs, that God doth not enforce vs to come forth and disclose our sinnes to any man. He requireth no more (saith he) but that we speake to him alone, and to him alone confesse our faults. I, but the Popes iudgement is more diuine, and the times of Popery are more free from corruption (beleeue [Page] it who list) and therefore howsoeuer then, yet now it is found to be a soueraigne preseruatiue against sinne: as if they that feare not to offend in the presence of God, will blush to confesse their offences in the eare of a sinnefull Priest: or as if the law of God were of lesse force to keep men in awe, which they cannot escape, than the feare of a mortall man, whome they may deceiue.

19. But let them say what they will, and cloake their licentiousnesse with neuer so holie pretences, all that haue any iudgement to discerne colours, which the blinde Romanists cannot do, or any wisedome to trye the spirits and doctrines whether they be of God or no; know, that Romish shrift is nothing but a shift to diue into mens purses, and a tricke of policie to search into their purposes, that by that meanes they may enrich their owne coffers, and vphold their Antichristian Hierarchie: for by this deuice they vnderstand the secrets of state, and ciscouer mens affections in Religion, and so cunningly insinuate themselues into the managing of all affaires, both for preuention of preiudice to themselues, and vndermining their opposites: this is the policie of Romish shrift; and were this all, it were to be borne withall, if withall it did not open a wide doore of liberty to others, as I haue in part shewed; and were not a bawd of vncleanesse to the shriuers themselues. Heare what one of their own writers reuealeth concerning this last poynt. It is an ordinary practice (saith he)Aluar. pelag. & Planet. eccl. lia. art. 27. for Priests to commit execrable villany with women at shrift, rauishing wiues, and deflowring maids in the Church, and committing Sodomie with young men, &c. Cornelius Agrippa, another of their owne, hath left in writing for all posterity to remember, that Auricular confession is genus quoddam lenocinij, and heDe vanit. c. 64. referreth vs for proofe thereof vnto the Tripartite History: Nec desunt mihi (saith hee) si referre velim cognita recentia exempla. I need not to seeke for farre examples: for I could relate many fresh and well knowen, if I would. And then he concludes, that Priests and Friers, and Monkes, hauing, vnder pretence of Religion, free accesse vnto any woman many times, whose soules they should gaine to God, their bodies they sacrifice to the deuill. [Page] Thus is their owne filth cast in their faces by their owne fauorites, who by all likelihood would speake the best of their mother, and in no respect durst slander her, for feare of shame and punishment. Wee finde in the Tripartite History (to the which it may be Agrippa had relation) of the rape of a noble woman by a Deacon in the time of shrift; for the which cause Nectarius the Bishop of Constantinople, banished this secret confession out of his Church; as also, all the Bishops of the East did the like in theirs. This story is recorded by Socrates, Socrat. li. 5. ca. 9. Sozom. li. 7. c. 16. Tripart. l. 9. c. 35 Niceph. l. 12. c. 28 Andr. ort [...]o. exp. Baro. tom. 1. art. 56. [...]u. 28. Cost. ench. p. 387. Sozomene, and Nicephorus; neither is it denied by the Romanists themselues, though some of them condemne Nectarius for doing so: As Andradius and Baronius, the one calling it a most impudent fact: the other saying, that not a good spirit; but an euill spirit perswaded him there unto. And others seeke to elude ti, by saying the story is mistaken, and that Nectarius banished not confession it selfe, but the necessitie of confessing to one certaine Priest, which though it bee a vaine glosse which corrupts the text, as Chemnitius fully proueth: yet, notChem. exam. Tri. de confess. to stand vpon it, this is euident, that such a foule fact was committed in the time of shrift, and that thereupon this secret confession was either vtterly abrogated, or at least so restrained, that it was no more secret, for feare of such like enormities: and indeed graunt that Nectarius did euill in abolishing all kind of confession, as Socrates, and Sozomene charge him: and as wee also will not excuse him, for wee hold that there may be an holy & profitable vse of confession in the Church, for the searching of the wounds of sinnefull soules, and applying of fit counsell & comfort to distressed consciences; yet from thence we may deriue these three conclusions, first, that secret shrift was then thought not to bee ex iure diuino, but onely a tradition of the Church, for else it could not haue been abolished; secondly, that it was not thought necessarie for the remission of sinnes, as the Romanists teach; and thirdly, that it is a most dangerous occasion to vncleannes, which is the matter we haue in hand to proue.

20. If any here except, that these enormities proceed from the abuse, and not from the vse of shrift, and that they bee [Page] personall frailties, and not corruptions of doctrine. I answer; first, that the very vse thereof is so daungerous, especially to these ranke Votaries, that it is tenne to one but it euer degenerates into the abuse: for, wanting the lawfull remedy ordained by God, no maruaile if their lusts breake forth into lawlesse actions. Againe, what warrant can there be of GodsPanormitan. Peresi. Petrus Oxoni [...]n. blessing to sanctifie the vse of that, which is not an ordinance of God, but a meere humane inuention, as diuers of their owne Doctors haue confessed, and is most easie to bee prooued? And lastly, though there may bee a profitable vse of confession, as I haue said; yet this Auricular enumeration and Romish shrift cannot be lawfully vsed, because they make the very act thereof meritorious to saluation, and the absolution of the Priest an actuall and reall remitting of sinne; which opinion cannot but animate men to the committall of sinne, seeing they haue their remedy so ready at hand, to wit, after the vttering a fewe wordes, the mouth of the Priest to absolue them.

21. As for Contrition, which by their doctrine must goe before Confession, that makes the matter neuer a whit theRoffens. ep. art. 5. Maldon. in Sum. q. 16. art. 1. Suarez. tom. 4. desp. 4. Sect. 4. Tollet. lib. 3. de instruct. sacr. c. 5 more difficult, neither doth it any whit the more bridle from sinne: for, if the griefe be but small, yet is the penitent absolued (saith our Fisher:) and a Iesuite, a slender griefe is sufficient: and another Iesuite, The least degree of griefe is able to wipe away the highest degree of sinne. Surely this kind of contrition is so farre from brideling our corrupt nature from sinne, that it more incites and prickes it forward; for who would feare to sinne, if this be true, that the least griefe conceiued in heart, together with the discouering of it to the Priest, and the Priests formall absolution, is sufficient for the full pardon and remission thereof?

22. But peraduenture the last part of this Sacrament binds vp the two former in greater seuerity: let vs consider a little therefore of their penance and satisfaction. They condemne vs lowdly, and raile with open throat against vs, calling vs Libertines, and Epicures, for reiecting their penance and satisfactory paines after sinnes committed. But, who are the [Page] Libertines, they or vs? let any indifferent reader (all preiudice set apart) iudge. Are we Libertines for renouncing their popish penance? why, there is no doctrine that more notoriously tends to liberty then this: For first, what are those satisfactory workes which they enioyne poore penitents? Coster Cost. enchir. de p [...]nit. a Iesuite reduceth them to three heads, Prayer, Almes, and Fasting: to one of which three, all particulars in that kind may be referred; as to Prayer, they referre Masses, Dirges, and Trentals, visiting of holy places, pilgrimage, and such like: to Almes, building of Abbeys, and religious houses, giuing to Couents of Friers and Nuns: as for relieuing of the poore, that is the least poynt of their almes: to Fasting, sackcloth, ashes, watching, whipping, sleeping on the pauement, going barefoote, handy labour, and such like: If the first sort be imposed, for the most part it is nothing but the shuffling ouer of their Beads so many times a day, with so many Creeds, and so many Aues, though they vnderstand neuer a word they speake, or the saying of so many Masses, or going to visite the shrine of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, or of some other Saint: all which is so farre from pinching the soule, or taming the body for sinne, that as by Chaucers Canterbury tales may appeare, it deserueth rather to bee called a pastime than a penance. If Almes be enioyned by the Confessor to the poore penitent, then must an Abby be built, or some religious house to nourish a company of idle drones, good for nothing but fruges consumere; or suppose an high-way bee repayred, or a Church reedified, or an Hospitall erected, what terrour can this be from sinne, when the penalty may thus be discharged by the purse? As for their Fasting, watching, whiping, going barefoote, though it carry a shew of zeale in respect of not sparing the body, yet it is a plaine imitation of Baals Priests; and little profitable (as Saint Paul saith) to godlinesse, but ratherCol. 2. 23. 1. Tim. 4. 8. an incitation to loosenes. For when a man is perswaded and taught, that all his foule sins (committed the whole yere before) are vtterly blotted out, and done away, by fasting one meale euery Wednesday and Friday, and eating nothing but Fish during the holy time of Lent (except Iunckets, and [Page] sweet meates, and wine and Sugar, which they gorge themselues withall, and yet fast too) and bearing ashes on Ashwednesday, going woolward on Good-friday, or giuing himselfe halfe a dozen lashes on the back, or creeping to a crosse, and such like trumpery: I say, when a man is perswaded that this short paine is a sufficient satisfaction for the punishment of all his former sinne, (for so they teach) who would not returneC [...]ster. ench. de sacram. p [...]nit. pag. 400. againe to his vomit of wickednesse, seeing the pleasures (which he hopes to enioy by his sinnes) are farre longer and greater then the punishment wherewith he maketh satisfaction?

22. Secondly, to shew that all this great noyse of satisfactions is nothing but a meere May-game, and mockery; obserueSuar. tom. 4. disp. 50. Sect 5. Cost. d [...] Ind. &c. Aquin. S [...]plan 3. par. q. 25. art 1. Tol t. li. 6. de instruct sac. ca. 22. & 23. diligently their owne doctrine: Thus they teach, that all satisfactory punishments may be released by a pardon. Aquinas, their illumined Doctor, giueth this reason thereof, Christ might release the fault without any satisfaction, and so might Paul, ergo, so may the Pope: and this is one of their late definitions of a pardon. Indulgentia est remissio harum actionū quae sunt a Confessario iniunctae peccatori. It is the remitting of that penance which is enioyned a sinner by his Confessor. And therefore another Iesuite truely confesseth, that the Indulgences Val. li. de Indul. cap. 2. haue taken away all vse of seuere discipline out of the Church: haue they so, good Iesuite? Then thus it followeth; you let out satisfactions (which you so much extoll) and withall let in great liberty into the Church, not onely by opening the dore to pardons, but bewray your own absurdities. For what a ridiculous jest is this? he that hath offended, must do penāce after his confession, or else hee cannot be saued, and after his penance is assigned, get but a pardon, and then there needes no further satisfaction. And how is a pardon procured? why, for a little peece of money, omnia venalia Romae. The Pope hath his pardon. Pedlers in all Countries, thou needest not go farre for it, they will bring it home to thy dores, at least, if thou beest sat, and able to greaze them well. Pope Boniface the ninth sent out his Buls into diuers Countries, releasing [...]. de [...]. li. 1. [...]a. 68. for a certaine summe of money all offences whatsoeuer, without [Page] any penance. And Leo the tenth offered to free for ten shillingsBal. in vita Le [...] nis 10. any soule you would name, out of Purgatory; much more a mans owne soule, that it should neuer come thither: here is a doctrine indeede of seuerity, if any was among the Epicures: who will not say but this is a Censorious and strict Religion?

23. I, but some will say peraduenture, oh, it is an hard matter to pay tenne shillings for a pardon, this is the penance of the purse, which to a couetous rich man, or to a miserable poore man, is worse thē the penance of the carkeis. Why, but thou mayst haue it cheaper if thou wilt, and therefore indeed he is a foole which will part with a penny for the purchase ofNich. Sali. Antidot. animae. a pardon: say but deuoutly a little short prayer in the Primer, & thou shalt haue three thousand dayes pardon of mortall sinnes, and twenty thousand dayes of veniall, giuen byVide White pag. 255. Pope [...]ohn the twenty two. And if that Prayer bee too long, say fiue Pater-nosters before the Vernacle, and thou shalt haue tenne thousand dayes pardon graunted by the same Pope; and if so many Pater-nosters be too tedious, say but an Aue at the Eleuation, & thou shalt obtaine pardon for 20000. daies: or if thou dwellest neere Rome, doe but visite the Church of Saint Paul without the walls, & haue eight & forty thousand yeres of pardon. Who would stand vpon dayes, when he may haue thus many thousand yeares? If thou beest weake or sick, and not able to visite a Church; then doe but deuoutly worship the Crosse, or the nayles, whip, launce, heart or hands of Christ painted in thy chamber, and that shall bee a sufficientDor [...]nam: of Antichrist. D. White: the Way of the true Church. pag. 255. satisfaction for all thy sinnes. Here is stuffe with a witnesse! for can a man forbeare laughter to heare these May-games? and yet this is not the tenth part of these incredible absurdities. But I passe them ouer, being sufficiently discouered by others, to the shame of the Romish Religion. It sufficeth, that by this little it is euident, that satisfactions are so farre from restraining, that they rather remit the reines to all liberty and licentiousnesse.

24. Lastly, to conclude, if so be their imposed penance be at any time strict & seuere, it is when the Pope i [...] offended, not when God. Men may franckly sin against God, & no man will [Page] say vnto him, blacke is thine eye: or if vpon his shriuing they enioyne him penance, either it shall be so easie that it will not much trouble him to endure it, or if it be too hard, he may either redeeme it with his purse, or at least commute it into another kind. But if their Lord god the Pope be offended, (so the Canonists stile him) then not onely seuerity, but cruelty must be exercised, then the whip and the scourge, then the fire and the fagot: Et scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello: ThatHorace. which deserued but a flap with a ferula, must be chastised with a scourge. As on the contrary, if the offence was only against God, and not the Pope, then that which deserued to be seuerely corrected, must haue nothing but three flaps with a Fox-tayle; which is credibly reported by some Writers, to haue beene the penance of a Nunne, which was gotten withEthelr. Abbas de quod. mira. childe in her Cloyster. Albeit another Nunne at Watton in Yorkeshire, fared farre worse for her wantonnesse with a yong Monke of the same house: for being gotten with childe by him, she was first imprisoned, (saith the Story) and then beaten vnreasonably, and vnseasonably too, being great with childe: then the Monke that committed this trespasse being taken and stript, and bound fast to a stoole, a sharpe knife was put into the Nunnes hand, and shee was compelled by most cruell enforcement to take vengeance on those parts which had done her the mischiefe, and to eate them also, with many other filthy circumstances, which I shame to speake of; but in conclusion, to make vp the matter with a miracle, two midwiues were brought from heauen to Mistresse Nunne, by the ghost of Henry Murdach the Archbishop of Yorke, which discharged her of her childe without paine, and carryed it forth with them to heauen (with lie and all) so that it was neuer after seene. Is not this penance (thinke you) able to terrifie any one from committing the like sinne? or rather, might not this Nunne say as another of her sexe and profession said,Lumbard. Gratian. Comestor. after she had had three Bastards, which proued great Clarkes and learned men in the Church, that it was a happy scape which brought forth three such worthy bastards? so this might call her Sonne an happy Sonne, which was honoured [Page] with so great a miracle. But let the Popes lawes bee broken, or his triple Crowne touched, and he shall smoake for it that dares do this.

25. Their fourth doctrine tending (apparently, and by necessary consequence) to loosnesse, is their doctrine of vowed chastity, whereby they enioyne single life, and prohibite matrimony to certaine kinds of men and women; to wit, such as enter into holy orders, teaching and maintaining, that forPighius cont. 15. de caelibatu. Cost. enchir. cap. de caelib. prop. 9. Bell. li. 2. demon. cap. 30. such it is better to go to harlots then to marry: and that to go to a harlot now and then, is but a sinne of infirmitie (as Pighius calleth it) but to marry, is no better then a resolued, deliberate, or continuall incest, vtterly without all shame. What an occasion, or rather a cause, this point of Romish doctrine hath beene of horrible silthinesse and wickednesse of life, wofull experience, in all places where the Romish Religion beareth sway, manifestly declareth. For to omit that this doctrine is but an vpstart doctrine, in respect of true antiquity, brought in first by Pope Seritius three hundred and eighty yeares after Christ, who was the first that made any restraint of Priests marriages, as it is confessed by Polidore Virgill, thePolid. de Inuent. lib. 5. ca. 4. D. 82. plur. Clicto. de contin. Sacr. cap. 4. decree on the Canon law, and Clictoueus; and yet tooke not effect vntill the time of Gregory the seuenth called Hidlebrand, in the yeare one thousand seuentie and foure: as also, to omit that this doctrine is both contrary to the precepts of holy Scripture, and practice of holy men, both vnder the law, and vnder the Gospell: for vnder the lawe both Priests andEuseb. li. 4. c. 23. Athanas. epist. ad Dracon. Prophets were married; and vnder the Gospell, both Apostles and Disciples had their wiues, and after them Bishops and Prestbyters: and the doctrine of the Scripture is, Marriage Heb. 13. 4. 1. Cor. 7. 9. 1. Tim. 3. 2. Tit. 1. 6. is honourable among all men: and again, If they cannot abstaine, let them marrie, for it is better to marrie then to burne: Yea, and Saint Paul giueth order concerning the wiues and children of Bishops, which had beene needlesse, if they might haue none. And lastly, to omit that this prohibiting of marriage is called by Saint Paul one of the doctrines of deuils, euery1. Tim. 4. 13. one of which might be a sufficiēt argument, not only to euince the vnsoundnesse of this doctrine, but also to demonstrate [Page] how likely itmust needs be to occasionate sinne, comming not from God, and therfore not likely to haue his blessing to follow it; but from the deuill, and therfore most likely to serue for the aduancement of his kingdome. Notwithstanding, to omit all these, and to refer them to a fitter place, let vs weigh this matter in the ballance of reason, and wee shall easily find that a great breach is hereby made for mens vnruely and vntoward affections, to burst forth into horrible and damnable sinnes.

26. For first, the gift of Continency is no common, but a rare and singular gift, which God bestoweth not vpon all, but vpon some few: this proposition is prooued by that aphorisme of our Sauiour; All men cannot receaue this thing, saue Math. 19. 11. 12 they to whom it is giuen: and in the next verse, He that is able to receaue it, let him receaue it: Whereby he insinuateth, that who so euer taketh vpon him the vowe of chastity, not being able to performe the same, sinneth in so doing. It is proued also by Saint Paul in this conclusion, Euery man hath 1. Cor. [...]. 7. his proper gift of God, one this way, another that way: for speaking of the gift of continencie, he wisheth that all men were as he himselfe: but seeing they are not so, therefore he leaueth it free to marrie for such as haue not that gift. But the Romish Clergy, together with the infinite orders of religious Votaries, are not few but many, and those chosen promiscuously without any respect had, whether they be endowed with that gift or no: therefore, being vnable to containe, and forbidden to vse the lawfull remedy ordained by God, they must of necessity fall into lawlesse and vnordinate lusts: besides, seeing that euery man that will, be hee neuer so defamed for incontinency, and so by experience knowne to be voyde of that same excellent gift, may become a Votary, and on the contrary (our Sauiour saith) euery man cannot receaue this, what hope can there be of chastity among these men? Is the gift of chastitie indeed so common, that euery man may haue it that will? Is it so ordinary, that it is communicated to thousands of Priests, Monkes, Friars, and Nunnes? yea, to innumerable of that order in all places? [Page] why then, what meant Cassander, a learned diuine of theirCassand. Art. cap. 1. owne, to say, that the world was come to that passe, that a man could scarce find one of an hundred, that kept himselfe free from Eras. annot. [...] 1. Tim. 3. incontinency? And Erasmus, that the number of Monkes, and Priests, that liued in whoredome and incest, was innumerable: weigh the reason now in his iust termes, they that cannot containe, must needs burst forth, either into secret or open vncleannesse. But of infinite Romish votaries, few or none haue that gift to containe, therefore the rest must necessarily fall into either secret or open vncleannesse, let any man iudge now, whether this doctrine doth not directly tend vnto loosenesse.

27. If any alleadge that this gift of continency may bee obtained by fasting and prayer: I answere, two things. First, If it may be thus obtained, it is a signe that they vse but little the same holy exercises, seeing fewe among them doe attaine vnto it. Secondly, I answere, that continency is in the number of those gifts, which may be denyed to a man salua salute, without danger of his saluation, because it is not necessarie to saluation, nor common to all Gods children, but peculiar to some. Now the promise of our Sauiour, aske, and yee shall haue, is meant of things necessary to saluation, and not of particular and speciall gifts. Thus Paul prayed thrice, that the pricke in the flesh, the messenger of Sathan might be remoued 2. Cor. 12. from him: (and some say this was concupiscence) yet he was not heard in that which he prayed for, because hee might be saued without it, as it appeared in the answer giuen vnto him: my grace is sufficient for thee. And besides, what is it but a tēpting of God, to refuse the ordinary remedy which God hath ordained, which is marriage, and to flye to extraordinary meanes? as if a man should refuse all bodily sustenance on earth, in hope that God will feed him extraordinarily fromPsalm. 34. heauen at his deuout request, because he hath promised that those which feare him, shall want nothing, and whatsoeuer we aske in the name of Christ, shall be graunted. Let Saint Augustine determine this doubt, whose resolution is this concerning all things which men pray for, which are not necessary to [Page] saluation. Aliquando Deus iratus, dat quod petis, & Deus Aug. Ser. 53. de verb. Dom. &c. propitius negat quod petis. Sometimes God granteth in anger, and sometimes denyeth in mercie, that which thou desirest. And let Origens practice put it out of all doubt, who to auoid incontinencie, and to quench the fiery lusts of the flesh, offered violence to his own flesh, by cutting off those parts wherin concupiscence raigneth. If he had beene pers [...]aded, that by fasting and prayer he could haue obtained that gift from heauen, surely he would haue macerated his body with the one, and brawned his knees with the other, rather then to haue fallen to that desperate and vnnaturall remedy.

28. But to leaue this their vaine obiection, and to come a little neerer to the poynt, how can that doctrine choose but lead to loosenes, which crosseth not onely the ordinance of God, who was the first ordainer of Marriage, but also the instinctGenes. 3. of nature; for this was naturally instilled into all liuing Creatures, especially Man, at the first creation, that he should encrease and multiply: by vertue of which institution of nature,Genes. 1. a desire is engrafted in all the posterity of Adam, of the propagation of their kind, that they may (as it were) liue in their succession. And whereas Bellarmine obiecteth, that theseBell. de Cler. lib. 1. cap. 21. words (Encrease and multiply) containe not a precept, but an institution of nature, and a promise of fecundity, because the same words are vttered to other Creatures, which are not capable of precepts, and also because if it were a precept, it should bind all to encrease and multiply, and so imurie should be offered to Christ, to Marie, and other holie virgines. I answere, that a [...]beit one member of his reason is vnsound, to wit, that beasts are vncapable of precepts; for God spake to the Fish, and it cast vp Ionah on the dry land; which sheweth, that beasts in theirIonas 2. 10. kind vnderstand Gods precepts, and obey; yet we do not say that this is an absolute precept, binding all without exception to marriage, but onely a liberty granted to all that will, to marrie, that thereby mankind may be still propagated: and therefore they which take away this liberty from all ecclesiasticall persons, and monasticall Votaries, offer iniury to nature, and tyrannize ouer the bodies and soules of men. For, [Page] whence ariseth this necessary conclusion, that the vow of single life is repugnant to nature, and therefore none may take it vpon them, but those either in whome nature is defectiue, which our Sauiour saith were borne chaste from their mothers Mat. 19 12. Basil de vera virginitate. belly, or that are endowed with a supernaturall gift, as our blessed Sauiour, the blessed Virgin his mother, and other holy men and women: and so by consequent it followeth, because this gift is rare and extraordinary, that most of them (which by a rash vowe binde themselues from marriage) should fall into fornication and promiscuous lust. The course of nature in man-kind is like the source of a running streame, which by no dammes, nor artificiall barres can bee stopped, but it will runne either the naturall course in the channell, or some other by-passage, and that the more it is stopped, the more violently it rageth, except the fountaine and spring be dryed vp. So, except the fountaine of concupiscence in incontinent persons be dryed vp by a supernaturall and extraordinary worke, the more it is interrupted, the more outragiously it fometh. Therefore if the ordinary channell of marriage be dammed vp, it must needs burst ouer the bankes of lawfulnes, and spread it selfe ouer the pastures and medowes of adioyning neighbours. This is the very case of our Romish shauelings, being barred from marriage: they burst sorth like wilde Bulls into other mens grounds, and defile their beds by adultery, and fill their houses with bastardy.

29. If they challenge to themselues the supernaturall gift of continency, experience sheweth, that their challenge is vaine, for not one of an hundred of them liueth chastly: and besides, as God hath giuen that gift often to the heathen and reprobate, as Histories report, so very often, yea, most ordinarily doth he deny it to his own children: for ordinary grace doth not abolish, but sanctifie nature; so that this i [...] no gift of ordinary sauing grace, but a superordinary worke aboue grace, and that also many times without grace. If then it be not in the power of any to quench the instincts of nature, if [...]t be not a worke of ordinary grace to abolish nature, but it requireth extraordinary grace for the effecting thereof; if the course of [Page] nature be stopped one way, it will burst forth another: then we may by sound reason conclude, that the vowe of chastity and single life, and the prohibition of marriage in the Church of Rome doth open a wide gappe to all loose and licencious liuing.

30. Lastly, that all this is true, let the lamentable effects and fruits of this their doctrine stand vp for witnesse and vmp [...]ers in this matter; for, how shall a man better iudge of the goodnesse of the cause, then by the effects? a good [...]ree cannotMatth. 7. bring forth euill fruite, nor an euill tree good fruit; euery tree is knowne by his fruit: and albeit often that which is not the cause, is put for the cause, and by the accidentall failing of the medium, or instrument, the cause may misse of his proper effect: Yet, when the effects are not rare, but frequent, yea, infinite; and such as are so like, that they seeme (as it were) of one stampe, and (as it were) all egges of one bird: then it must needs follow, that parentem sequitur sua proles, like childe, like parent, such as the effect, such must the cause needs be. To beginne with Nicholas, one of the seuen Deacons, the prime Authour of the sect of the Nicholaitans condemned by Saint Iohn, Apoc. 2. Let Epiphanius tell vs whatEpiph. tom. 2. lib. 1. haeres. 2 [...]. his opinion was, and what fruites issued there-from. This Nicholas hauing a beautifull wife, when hee sawe others in admiration for their single life, that he might not seeme inferiour to them, vtterly renounced the company of his wife, and determined neuer to haue fellowship with her againe. But when hee was not able to represse any longer the flame of concupiscence, and being ashamed to returne to his wife, lest he should be condemned of inconstancy, he chose rather to giue ouer himselfe to all manner of vnlawfull lust, yea, to that which is against nature. And from hence sprang the sect of the Nicholaitans, whose chiefe opinion was this, that if so be they could abstaine from lawfull marriage, it was no sinne to defile themselues with any other filthy or vnlawfull copulation. Here wee may behold a perfect mappe of the Romish single life, with the fruits thereof. This happened in the first period of the primitiue Church.

[Page]31. Afterward in the Nicene Synode, when some went aboutSocr. li. 1. ca. 11▪ Soz. li. 1. ca 23. to prohibite marriage to the Clergy: Paphnutius a great learned Father of that assembly, gaine-said with great vehemency the proceeding of that decree; giuing this for one principall reason, that it would bee the cause of horrible impurity and obscaenity in the Ecclesiasticall order; which, to bee a true prophecie, the euent afterward hath manifestly declared. After this, about the sixe hundreth yeare of ourHuldericus Au▪ epistol. Lord, it is reported of Gregory the great, that when hee sawe the heads of more than sixe thousand infants taken out of a Fish-pond, he sighed, and confessed that the decree of single life in the Clergie, was the cause thereof; and therefore condemning that decree, he commended the Apostles counsell, that it was better to marrie, then to burne, and added this moreouer, that it was better to marrie, then to giue occasion to murder.

32. After this, in the yeare eight hundred and sixtie, Huldericus Hulder. August. epist. ad Nich. 1. Bishop of Augusta in Germany, in his Epistle to Pope Nicholas the first, most liuely describeth the filthy fruites of Popish single life, his words be these, Nullum tam graue facinus, &c. There is no so great offence, which is not to be admitted, to the end that a greater then that may bee auoyded. Notwithstanding, many flatterers desirous to please men, not God, vnder a false show of continency commit greater sinnes, to wit, they defile their Fathers wiues, they abhorre not the embracings of men and bruite beasts, though they be of the most holy order, they make no scruple to abuse other mens wiues: And when as certaine Bishops, and Archdeacons, are so giuen ouer to lust, that they cannot abstaine, neither from adulteries, nor incests, nor other filthy and vnnameable sinnes; yet they affirme, that the chaste marriages of Priests doe stincke in their nosthrils, and forbid, yea, constraine Clergie men to abstaine from them: saying, that it is more honest to be entangled with many whores in secret, then to be tyed to one wife in publique. But, woe be to you Pharisecs, which doe all to be seene of men. These be the expresse words of that reuerend Bishop: after he thus concludeth, Whilest the Clergie are constrained by Pharisaicall fury to giue ouer the lawfull fellowship [Page] of one wife, they are made fornicators, adulterers, and workers of other most filthy abominations, and that which with teares we behold, all of them rage in such wickednesse. Hence it is that the Church of God is so scandalized, and the Clergy so despised. Who seeth not by this testimony of this great learned man in the very heate and middest of Popery, what fruites this doctrine then brought forth?

33. After, in the yeare one thousand and eightie, when that brand of hell Hidlebrand, otherwise called Gregory the seuenth, sate in the Romane seate, who laboured earnestly to bring in that tyrannicall decree vpon the Clergie in Germanie: Auentinus thus writeth, Gratum hoc fuit scortatoribus, Auentinus. quibus, &c. This was acceptable to whoremongers, to whom now it was lawfull, in stead of one wife, to haue the fellowship of sixe hundred harlots. Hence many false Prophets tooke occasion by fables and miracles to cast mists ouer the truth, and by drawing places of Scripture to their purpose, to deceyue the people. In a word, when as very few did truely make warre with lust, and some did faine continency for gaine sake, the greatest part, vnder the honest name of chastitie, did commit whoredomes, incests, adulteries euery where without punishment: thus writeth Auentine touching those times.

34. After this, in the yeare 1102. in a Synode at London, where Anselme the Archbishop of Canterbury laboured with tooth and naile to interdict Priests of the vse of lawfull marriage, allowed before vnto them by King William; many opposed themselues against him, saying, it would be very dangerous, Ne dum mundicias viribus maiores appeterent, &c. L [...]st, while they desired greater purity then their strength was able to beare, they should fall into horrible vncleannes, to the great ignominy of Christian Religion. And when as notwithstanding Anselme had effected this prohibition, the next yeare after complaint was made vnto him, that in stead of marriage forbiddē, the horrible sin of Sodomie raigned ouer all England, and from the Clergie crept also into the Laity; which he endeuoured to restraine also, but all in vaine: for the ordinance of God being neglected, what can the wisdome and lawes of man doe good?

[Page]35. But were the latter ages any whit better reformed?Bernard. De conuers. ad Clericos cap. 29. peraduenture, in these sixe hundred yeares last past, the Popish Cleargie, were more holy and lesse licencious. Let Saint Bernard be iudge of his times; If (saith he) according to the Prophecie of Ezekiel, we should digge through the wall, that we might looke into Gods house, there will peraduenture appeare within the wall a filthy abomination; for after fornications succeede adulteries, after incests, the passions of ignominie and works of filthinesse are not wanting. I would to God that it neither behooued the Apostle to write these things, nor vs to relate them, that it might not be beleeued, that such abominable lust possessed the mind of man. Alas, the enemie of mankind hath besprinckled the body of the Church with the execrable ashes of Sodome, & that many of the very ministers therof: And in the end he thus concludes; Many (I say, not all) yet many (they can neither be hidden for multitude, neither do they seeke to be hidden for impudency) I say, many seeme to haue giuen libertie to the occasion of the flesh, ābstaining from the remedie of marriage, and bursting forth into all manner of wickednesse. Againe, the same Bernard in another place thus complaineth, Tolle de Ecclesia, &c. Take Ber. sup. cant. ser. 66. from the Church honourable marriage, and the bed vndefiled, and thou shalt fill it full of whoremongers, incestuous persons, bugg [...]rers, and all kind of vncleane ones. And a little before in the same Sermon he giueth the reason hereof, Omni immunditiae laxat habenas qui nuptias damnat: He that condemnes marriage, lets loose the reynes to all vncleannesse.

36. Robert Holket an English man, and a Dominican Frier,Holket sup. sap. lect. 173. that liued in the yeare of our Lord one thousand three hundred and fortie, thus complaineth of the corruption in the Clergie of his time, Sed proh dolor, &c. But alas, in these daies the saying of Iob is verified, Behold, they that serue the Lord, are not stable and constant, &c. For of the Priests some be Angels of Sathan by discord and contention, some Apostatious by pride, some bee filthy spirits by rioutousnesse and vncleannesse, and some Angels of the bottomles pit, by couetousnes; and a little after, Not a few of our moderne Priests doe serue the most vild and filthy God Priapus. Panormitane, a man of great fame in the Councell of [Page] Basill, after he had shewen the vowe of continencie not to bePanor. par. 3. de Cler. coniug. cap. cum olim. of the essence of Priest-hood, nor by the lawe of God, but a constitution of the Church, addeth these words: I beleeue that it were a wholesome ordinance for the good & saluation of soules, to leaue it to m [...]ns owne wils to marrie, or not, because experience doth show, that now a daies they doe not liue spiritually and vndefiledly, but that they are defiled by vnlawfull copulation, whereas they might liue chastly with their owne wiues.

37. I could adde vnto these testimonies the report of Iohn Gerson, touching his time: who complained that some Cloysters Gers. tom. 1. decl. defect. vir. Eccl. Lib. 1. fastor. of Nunnes were become Stewes of strumpets and whores. And of Mantuan a Carmelite Italian Frier, whose verses touching this poynt are sufficiently knowne.

Patrum vita fuit melior cum coniuge, quàm nunc

Nostra sit, exclusis thalamis & coniugis vsu.

The life of the Fathers was better being married, then ours to whom marriage is forbidden: and of Polidor Virgill, whoPolydor. Virg. de Inuent. li. 5. ca. 4. liued in King Henrie the Eights daies; whose censure is this, that this enforced chastity is so farre from excelling that marriage-chastity, that no crime hath brought more shame to the order of Priesthood, more euill to Religion, nor more griefe to all good men, then that blot of the filthinesse of Priests. But that I feare I haue too much offēded chaste eares already, with raking into this dunghill, I conclude with the report of Martin Luther, he saith, that he saw Cardinals at Rome, which were accounted holy for no other cause, but that they were content onely to commit fornication and adultery with women, and did not giue themselues to other vnnaturall lusts. Thus, as it were in a mappe, I haue described the filthy and abominable fruites that proceed from that Romish doctrine of vowed chastitie. Is it possible that the spring should be good, when the streams are thus corrupt?

38. The fift doctrine of Poperie (giuing manifest occasion5. of liberty to the professours thereof) is their doctrine of veniall sinnes. By which they teach, that many acts which are transgressions of the laws of God & men, yet are not properly [Page] sins, nor deserue the wrath of God, but of their nature are pardonable; and therfore he which committeth any such,Henr. Sum. mor. cap. 20. lib. 4. Tho. par. 3. q. 83. & 81. art. 3. Ouand. 4. d. 16. Pinwood. li. 3. de celeb. miss. Gregor. de Val. tom. 3. p. 1090. doth neither offer iniury to God, nor breake charity in respect of his neighbour, and so deserues not hell, nor is bound to be sorry for them, but that the knocking of the brest, going to Church, being sprinckled with holy water, or the Bishops blessing, or crossing ones selfe, or doing any worke of charity, though we neuer thinke actually of them, is a sufficient satisfaction for them. This is the doctrine not onely of the Schoolemen, but also of the finest, and refyning Iesuites, euen of Bellarmine himselfe, who thus distinguisheth veniallBellar. de omiss. grat. & stat. peccati lib. 1. ca. 3. sinnes, that some are veniall of their own nature and kind, to wit, such as haue for their obiect an euill and inordinate matter, but which is not repugnant to the law of God, and of our neighbour: others are veniall by the imperfection of the worke, which imperfection ariseth partly, ex surreptione, that is, by vnaduised falling into them, without full consent of will; and partly, ex paruitate materiae, by the smalnesse of the matter which is committed, as if a man should steale a halfe-peny, or some such trifle. This is the Cardinals doctrine, which (as neere as I could) I hau [...] word for word set downe. And that wee may more fully vnderstand their meaning, they affirme in very deede that they are no sinnes, but aequiuoce, that is so called, but not [...]o in truth; for the word peccatum, sinne, doth not vniuoce, a [...]ee [...]eniallBellar. de amiss. grat. & stat. peccat. lib. 1. cap. 12. 1. Ioh. 3. sinnes, as it doth to mortall; and therefore it is their generall opinion, that they are not against, but beside the lawe, that is in plaine words, not sinne: for euery sinne is a transgression of the law. Now, let the Readeriudge whether our doctrine, that all sinnes of their owne nature are mortall, and deserue condemnation, except they be repēted of, or heirs, that some are veniall, and binde not the offender to condemnation, doe more tend to liberty: whether we restraine more the people from sinning, that thus say vnto them, All your sinnes (though neuer so small) are of their owne nature damnable, except by faith in the bloud of Christ they be purged away, and by repentance, which is a fruite of faith sorrowed for, and laboured against: or they that say thus to them, A number of your [Page] ordinarie sinnes, are not damnable, you neede not faith in Christs bloud to purge them; nor repentance to bewaile them; nor care and endeuour to preuent them: who seeth not that our doctrine pulleth in, and theirs letteth out the reynes of libertie to our corrupt nature? for when a man beleeueth that he may do many things, which are in deed transgressions of Gods lawe, without offence to God, or hurt to his neighbour, or wounding of his owne conscience; and, that after he hath committed them, he needeth not greatly to repent of them, or to be sorry for them; but that they are done away by saying a Lords prayer, or hearing a Masse, or creeping to a Crosse, or receiuing a little Holy water; what neede he make any conscience of these so sleight trifles; nay, how can hee choose but neglect and make light account of them? This is one of the deuils subtile deuices or iuggling trickes which Saint Paul speaketh of, where with hee laboureth2. Cor. 2.11. to seduce simple soules, for either hee will aggrauate our sinnes to driue vs to desperation, or extenuate and excuse them to draw to presumption: the rocke and gulfe whereat many thousand soules suffer shipwracke. And this last the most dangerous, wherein the Papists shew themselues the deuils agents and factours, by this their doctrine of veniall sinnes: for what is this but to excuse sinne, and to extenuate it, and so to make men presume to commit those things which they esteeme of no greater moment?

39. The truth of this will more clearely appeare, if wee take a suruay a little of those particular sinnes, which they account as veniall. To sweare by the bloud of God, or wounds, or bodie of Christ, is no blasphemie (saith Cardinall Caietane) if it Caietan. in sum. pag. 49. be spoken in a brawle, or in some perturbation of mind, neither is it to be counted any more than a veniall sinne. Againe, formall cursing (saith Gregorie de Valentia) although in it owne kinde it Grego. de Val. tom 3. pa. 1090. be a mortall sinne; yet it may be onely a veniall, to wit, in respect either of the smalnesse of the matter, or the want of deliberation in the speaker: and hereby (saith he) Parents cursing their children with bitter words, and deuoting them to the deuill, may often M [...]l. tract. 2. ca 9 con. 1. pro. 5. be excused from mortall sinne. An officious lye, and a lye in sport, [Page] are but veniall sinnes (saith Molanus:) the same Authour affirmeth, that if any man steale some little thing, suppose an halfe peny, (as Bellarmine giueth instance) whereby no notable Bell de amiss. grat. & stat peccat. lib. 1. ca. 3. hurt is caused, this is to bee esteemed no mortall sinne. Againe, rash iudgement (though consent bee added thereto) is regularly but a veniall sinne: so also is the painting of the face (saith Molanus.)Molan ibidem. Cardinall Caietane reckoneth vp a number such like, as for example. page 18. Partiality in iudgement, and acception of person, if it be not pernitious. page 22. Flattery, when we praise one for veniall euils, and it be without any manifest hurt. page 25. Ambition, that is an inordinate desire of honour, if it be not for euill deeds, or immoderate. page 27. Arnogancie, whereby a man attributeth that to himselfe which is farre aboue him; if it be without preiudice of his neighbour. page 30. Craft, if it bee not ioyned with damage. page 30. Couetousnesse, as it is opposed to liberality, that is, an inordinate desire of money, and greedy keeping of it being gotten, because it is not against, but besides charity. pa. 99. & 101. Contempt of our neighbour and Superiour in small trifles. page 102. To contend in words against a known truth; if the opposite falshood be not pernitious. page 105. To rayle vpon our neighbour to his face, if it proceede from passion, or bee but a light reproach. page 110. Curiositie, if it bee naked, without some other euill ioyned with it. page 119. To mocke and scorne our neighbour; if in a small matter. page 131. Drunkennesse; if it be not full and compleat, to wit, if a man drinke till the house seeme to goe round, and yet is not depriued of reason; yea, if it bee of purpose and with full intention. page 317. For a childe not to reuerence his Parents; so that it be free from notorious iniurie and contempt. page 318. To deceiue; if in a small mater. page 322. Gluttony is then onely mortall, when a man makes the delight in eating the last end. page 340. Hypocrisie, to wit, thus farre forth, if a man faine himselfe to be good in some thing, when hee is not, or better then he is. page 354. Filthy speech is most vsuall, but veniall. page 369. To disdaine a mans neighbour, is commonly but a veniall sinne. page 401. To iudge rashly of our neighbour, is either veniall or mortall, according to the greatnes of the thing where of we giue iudgement. page 447. Idlenesse; if it haue no other mischiefe to accompany it. These, and a number such like are reckoned vp by that Author; to which I might adde many more out of other Romish [Page] writers, but these may suffice for our purpose, to demonstrate what liberty this doctrine giues to loosnesse. For hence men may be bold to sweare, to curse, to raile, to back-bite, to steale, to be drunke, to be idle, &c. & cloke all vnder this vaile, They are but veniall sinnes. Yea, and because the common people are not able to vnderstand their nice distinctions of, against, and beside charitie; surreption, and irruption; great and small dammage, &c. therefore often grosse and great sinnes creepe in vnder the name of venials; if this be not a doctrine of liberty, what is?

40. The sixt and last doctrine tending to loosnesse (the6. last, I meane, of those which I intend to propound in this Discourse, for there are many more that tend to the same end) is their doctrine of implicite and infolded faith; where by they teach, that if a man know some necessary poynts of Religion, as the doctrine of the God-head of the Trinitie, of Christs incarnation and Passion, &c. it is needlesse to busie himselfe about the rest by a particular or distinct knowledge: but it sufficeth to giue assent to the Church, and to beleeue as the Pastors beleeue. This implicite faith is the mother of ignorance, and this ignorance (say they is) the mother of deuotion: but what kind of deuotion I pray you? such as the mother is, such is the daughter, a blinde mother, andRom. 10. 2. Acts 3. 17. a blinde daughter: such a deuotion and zeale which the Iewes had, when they crucified Christ; or as Saint Paul Acts 22. 3. 4. had, when he persecuted the Church of Christ; or which the Gentiles had, when they thought they did God good seruiceIoh. 16. 2. by putting to death the primitiue Christians. Like Poliphemus, when his eye was bored out by Ʋlisses, dashed himselfe [...]ortull. against euery rocke: so doe these blinde Romanists, the eye of knowledge being bored out by this pernitious doctrine, dash themselues against the rocke of Heresie in matter of faith, and impietie in manners: for all errour in doctrine ariseth from ignorance of the Scriptures, You erre, not knowing Mat. 22. 19. the Scripture, and the power of God, saith our Sauiour: and erring in manners, proceedeth from the same fountaine; for if the hyding of Gods word in the heart, is a preseruatiue against [Page] sinne, as the Prophet Dauid auoucheth: then the ignorancePsal. 119. 11. of Gods word must needs be the cause of many errours and enormities in life. To this agreeth the opinion of Chrysostome; Scripturarum ignoratio haereses peperit: haec vitam corruptam Chrys. de Laz & Diuite, Hom. 3. inuexit, haec sursum ac deorsum omniamiscuit. The ignorance of Scripture hath bred heresies, brought in corruption of life, and turned all things vpside downe. And also of Saint Hierome, Hierom. who sayth plainely, Ama scientiā Scripturarum, & carnis vitia non amabis. Loue the knowledge of the Scriptures, and thoushalt not loue the vices of the flesh. Whereby hee giueth vs to vnderstand, that where there is no loue of knowledge,Ibid hom. 13. in 2. Cor. Greg. Niss. orat. de ijs qui adeunt Hierus. there must needs be the loue of vice: the reason is manifest, because the Scripture is a most exquisite rule and exact squire to try all our actions by, as Chrysostome calleth it, and a straight and inflexible rule, as Gregory Nissen termeth it. Now, if this rule, squire and ballance be hid from vs, how can we square our actions aright? how can wee giue them their iust poyse and weight? As the Carpenter that hath lost his rule and line, cannot but erre grosly in his worke: So the Christian that is depriued of this knowledge of Gods word, must needs runne into infinite foule and grosse enormities.

41. From this fountaine, conioyned with those which went before, springeth the monstrous corruption of manners in all places, wh [...] Popery raigneth: especially in Italie and Rome, vnder the Popes nose. They obiect to vs the great and horrible disorder and corruption which is among Protestants; but we on the other side, as we stand not to iustifie our selues in this kind, but rather be waile the prophanenesse of all estates in these dayes, euen vnder the Gospell; so we dare boldly say, that in the time of Popery heretofore, and in places where it now swayeth, their impiety and prophanenesse doth as farre exceed ours, as a great mountaine doth a little molehill. Of all Countries in the world, Italie is the Popes owne peculiar: and yet that is the very siacke of the world for sinne; witnesse Aencas Siluius, who liued almostAencas Sil. Com. in dicto & sacto Alphons. two hundred yeares since, who sayth, that it was the Italian fashion to liue by robberie, and to trample vnder focte all equity [Page] and religion. And for the moderne times, witnesse the common prouerbe. An Englishman Italionate, a deuill incarnate. Rome is the Popes owne [...]eate, for it is the spirituall Babylon, built vpon seuen hils, and yet that is the sincke of Italy, witnesse their owne Mantuan. I pudor in villas, &c. Mant. li. 2. Fast.

Vrbs est iam tot a lupanar.

Depart honesty into Villages, the Citie is wholly become a Stewes, and Trauailors report, it was neuer so euill as it is at this day; witnesse their owne pasquill.

Roma vale, vidi, satis est vidisse, reuertar,

Cum leno, aut meretrix, scurra, cynaedus ero.

Now farewell Rome, I haue thee seene; it was enough to see:

I will returne when as I meane, Bawde, Pander, Knaue to bee.

As if there were none but such at Rome.

42. And this the best of them (against their wils) acknowledge, when they confesse Rome to be mysticall Babylon: for why is Rome so stiled in the Scripture, but because it resembleth the Assyrian Babylon in pride, idolatry, filthinesse, and especially in most cruell persecution of the Church of God? and for the same cause it is called spirituall Sodome and Egypt: Sodeme, for pride and filthines, Egypt, for Idolatry and cruelty. The Popes court is the Popes owne Sanctum Sanctorum, if in reuerence to that holy place I may so say, yet that is the sincke of the Citie. Witnesse Catherina Senensis that holy woman, whom Pope Pius the second canonized for a Saint, who thus complained, that in the Court of Rome, where should bee A [...]o. [...]t. 3. [...]it. [...]3. cap. 14. a delicate Paradise of vertues, she sound a stincke of hellish vices. Concerning the whole state of the Romane Church, both Lai [...]ty and Clergy, heare what the iudgement of Durand Duran. de [...]oncil. [...]t. [...]7. was in his time; Desperata est salus Romanae Ecclesiae, &c. The saluation of the Romane Church is desperate; of which is verified the sayings of the Prophet Esay, (It shall be a bed of Dragons:)Card. All ac. de reform. Eccles. and of Petrus de Alliaco; a Cardinall in his time, Ad eum statum venit, &c. The Romane Church is come to that state, that it is not worthy to be gouerned but by reprobates. And of Platina himselfe, the Popes owne Secretary, Hac nostra aetate Platina d [...] vita M [...]. (sayth he) vitia cò crcuerunt, &c. In this our age vices are so [Page] increased, that they seeme to haue scarce left vs any place in Gods mercy, &c. After the Councell of Trent, which promised a reformation, heare how a Bishop of their owne, Espensaeus Epis. Espen. com. in tit. complaineth; All hope (saith he) of reformation is taken away: where vnder the Sunne is there greater licenciousnes, clamour, impurity, I will not say madnesse, and impudency, then in this Citie? such, and so great, as none can beleeue, but he which hath seene it; none can deny, but he which hath not seene it. I could heape vp many like testimonies for the clearing of this poynt, but it is needlesse, seeing that all that haue either gotten experimentall knowledge by their trauailes, or speculatiue by their reading, can & will iustifie the truth of this position, that in no place of the world, more impiety, atheisme, impurity, cruelty, poysoning trechery, & all maner of villanie raigneth, then in Italy the Popes owne dominions, and in Rome vnder his Holinesse nose. So that for shame (but that the whore of Babylon, and her adherents haue brazen foreheads) they may cease to lay that imputation of loosnesse and wickednesse of life vpon vs and our Religion, and assume the aspersion of it vnto themselues, being farre more guilty, and their religion directly tending thervnto, by these six maine grounds which I haue in this first motiue propounded to the iudgement of euery indifferent Reader: The Lord of his mercy open our eyes, that we may discerne the truth, and our hearts, that we may loue it, and embrace it.

MOTIVE. II. That religion, which maintaines by the grounds thereof things forbidden, by all lawes both of God, of Nature, and of Man, cannot be the true religion: but such is the religion of the Romane Church: Ergo.

THe first proposition in this reason is vnquestionable andMAIOR. without controuersie: for the law of God is one part of [Page] true religion, as the Gospell is the other: and therfore whatsoeuer contradicts this law, is opposite vnto true religion, and so cannot be true religion it selfe: for truth is not opposite vnto truth, but falshood: and the lawe of nature is nothing but the law of God, engrauen in the hearts of all men by the instinct of nature, which Tullie calleth a lawe engendred, notCic. pro Milon. Lex nota non data. imposed, borne with vs, not laid vpon vs. And the positiue laws of men, if they be good, are nothing els but extracts out of the law of God, & characters of the law of nature. That religion therefore that crosseth all these lawes by allowance of such things, which are by them all condemned, cannot in any wise be the true religion, but must needs stand guilty of falshoode and errour. Now, that the Romish religion is suchMINOR. (which is the second proposition in the reason) that is my taske to proue, and I hope I shall by inuincible arguments make good the same.

1. And first, what can bee more contrary to the lawes ofI. God, of Nature, of Man, then treason and rebellion against Princes? for the lawe of God commandeth ciuill obedience to the Magistrate, by the first precept of the second Table: and our Sauiour in the Gospell biddeth to giue to Caesar those Matth. 22. 2 [...]. things that belong vnto Caesar: and Saint Paul chargeth euery soule to be subiect to the higher powers, because all power is of God: Rom. 13. [...]. euen tyrannicall power, as our Sauiour confesseth to Pilate: Thou hadst no power ouer mee, except it was giuen thee from aboue: Ioh. 19. 11. where he acknowledgeth, that Pilates power (though he was a tyrant) was of God; and therefore submitteth himselfe vnto it. As for the law of nature, it requireth as much of all; for as in the bodie naturall, all the outward members and inward faculties are gouerned by reason, residing in the head, and in the body oiconomike, all the familie is directed by the Father or Master thereof: so in the body politique, all the members of a Common-wealth must by natures decree be obedient to the King or gouernour, whom to resist, is to rebell against nature, as it is against nature for the member to mutiny against the head; or for children and seruants to be disobedient to their Fathers or Masters: Neither are the [Page] lawes positiue any whit behinde: for no offence by lawe is more seuerely punished, then crimen laesae Maiestatis, that is, high treason against the Kings person or State: and that not onely in this our Kingdome, but in all others, as is sufficiently knowen.

2. Now, that the Romish doctrine and religion is a supporter of treason, and an animater of traytors against their Soueraignes; I call to witnesse, first, their owne principles, and secondly, their practice. Their principles are these: As Toll. Instr. Sacer. lib. 1. cap. 13. long as the Prince continueth excommunicate, the Subiect is freed from the oath of subiection: this is the Position of a Cardinall, whose authority was so great in the Church of Rome, that whatsoeuer he wrote, was allowed as sound and authenticall, without examination or supervizing. To him I adde aSimanc. Inst. lib. 23. Sect. 11. Bishop, whose writings, after supervision and examination, were approued as Catholique doctrine, and to containe in them nothing contrary to the receiued faith of the Romane Church: his Position is this, Assoone as a Christian King becomes hereticall, forthwith people are freed from their subiection. The condition in the first Position is, if the King be excommunicate: in the second, if he be hereticall; which though different in termes, yet in substance are all one, for euery heretique is excommunicate, quatenus apertè haereticus, in thatVal. Ies. tom. [...]. in Them. disp. 1. qu. 12. he is an open heretique, if not by name, yet in deed, and by right, and so Subiects may lawfully deny him obedience, saith another Iesuite: and what is an hereticke in their diuinity,Alph. de Cast. l. 1. de iust. punit. haer. cap. 10. I pray you? Marry, Whosoeuer maintaineth any doctrine expresly condemned by the Church of Rome, hee is to be accounted (say they) an obstinate hereticke. To these adde the sentence of another Cardinall, euen our owne Countriman Al- in his Apology for Stanlies treason, who ioyneth both these two conditions together as two twinnes. By reason (saith he)Cardinal Allen. of Queene Elizabeths excommunication and heresie, it was not onely lawfull for any of her Subiects, but euen they were bound in conscience, to depriue her of any strength, which lay in their power to doe, and to deliuer her Armies, Townes, or fortresses into her enemies hands, she no more being the right owner of them. But [Page] all this while we haue not the pillar of Popery, Bellarmine, it may be he is of another mind: heare therefore his resolution. Non licet Christianis tolerare, &c. It is not lawfull for Bell. de Rom. pōt. lib. 5 cap. 7. Christians to tolerate a King that is an infidell, or an heretike, if he endeuour to draw his Subiects to his heresie or infidelity. This is braue Bellarmines resolution of this case. Neither doth he barely set it downe, but laboureth to proue it by many arguments throughout that whole Chapter: indeed he pinneth it all vpon the Popes sleeue; he must pronounce the King to be an heretike, and they like sheepe must auoyde him as a wolfe; he must forbid them to obey, and they must forthwith fall to rebellion: that whole seuenth Chapter is worth the reading, if any desire to know the full and compleat doctrine of the Romish Church, concerning the poynt of rebellion and treason against Princes. And that this was the doctrine not of some few among them, but of all in generall: Let a Fryer ofSigebert. Chron. Anno 1088. their owne testifie about three hundred yeares since; Sigebert mencioning the Popes proceeding against Henry the Emperor, thus writeth; Be it spoken with the leaue of all good men, this nouelty, that I say not heresie, had not as yet sprung vp in the world, that Gods Priests should teach the people that they owe no subiection to euill Princes, and though they haue sworne allegeance to them, yet they owe them no fidelity, neither shall hee be accounted periur'd which thinketh against the King, yea, hee that obeyeth him shall be counted for excommunicate, and he that doth against him shall be absolued from the guilt of iniustice and periurie. Here we may behold the doctrine of that age, and withall, that by this Fryers iudgement concurring with vs, it is not onely nouelty, but a point of heresie to dissolue the bond of allegeāce, which Subiects owe vnto their Princes, vpon any pretence whatsoeuer.

3. But all these are but the opinions of priuate men, and not the decrees of the Church: heare therefore what the Church speaketh, by the pretended head thereof the Pope, who (as they affirme) cannot erre whilest he sits in the chaire of Peter, to determine matters of faith. Gregory the seuenth,Gratian. [...]. 15. q. 6. alias, Hildobrand, thus determineth, We by Apostolicall authority [Page] doe absolue all from their oaths which they haue giuen to persons excommunicate. And another Pope of later time, in his Bull against Queene Elizabeth, thus; We absolue all Subiects from Bulla Pij Quin. their faith they haue plight with Elizabeth their Queen. A third Pope Paulus Tertius did excommunicate Henry the Eight,Pet. Math. Cem. in bul. Pij Quin. King of England, and commanded his nobles to beare armes against him: and to make vp the full squadron of Popes, when as the Vniuersite of Salamanca determined, that all Catholiques which did not forsake the defence of the English, and follow the traytor One all in Ireland, did sinne mortally, and could not obtaine euerlasting life, except they should desist: Pope Xistus giueth this censure of their determination,Lib. de iusta abdic. Hen. 3. pa. 370. Those Diuines (saith he) haue done the parts of good Lawyers, Confessours, and Doctours. Many more testimonies to this effect might be accumulated, but these are sufficient (because wee shall haue occasion to speake hereof more at large hereafter) to all that are not either bewitched with the enchantments of the whore of Babylon, or blinded with preiudice, to shew how both in their principles and their practice, they maintaine treason and rebellion against Princes, contrary to the lawes of God, of nature, and of man.

4. A doctrine Cousin german vnto this, & of the same kind,2. though not of the same degree, is that their Position touching the dissoluing of all bonds of naturall and ciuill society: wherby they resolue, that no communion or fellowship is to bee held with heretiques, that is, with Protestants, by whatsoeuer bond of nature or ciuility they be obliged therevnto: and therefore the Father is bound to dis-inherite and cast off his Sonne, the Sonne to deny and disobey his Father, the wife is forbidden to render due beneuolence to her husband, the seruant is commanded to disobey his Master, the debter to deny payment to his Creditor, the Countriman to deny his owne Country, the kinsman to disclaime his kindred, if any of these be heretiques, that is, be Protestants. What a religion is this, that not only choaketh the breath of humane society, but euen stifleth the life of nature it selfe? Hee that desireth to see these things proued, let them reade Doctor Mortons [Page] first Booke of Romish positions and practices of rebellion, and also his reply vnto the moderate answere, where he shall find them largely and foundly discouered and confirmed.

5. Againe, by their doctrine of equiuocation, they teach and maintaine open and notorious lying and periury, such as the very heathen of stricter life and simpler iudgement abhor'd: their doctrine is this; A man (saith Tollet) is not alwaies Toll. li. 4. de Iust. Sacerd. ca. 21. bound to answere according to the meaning of the asker, but may sometimes vse equiuocation, and deceiue the hearer: this is lawfull (saith he) whē the Iudge requireth an oth against iustice, or when he is not a competent Iudge (as another speaketh:) as for example, if the Iudge demand, Hast thou done this? he may answere, I haue not (though he haue) with this secret meaning, to tell it thee, or at this time, or some such like things. And if an husband aske his wife whether shee be an adulteresse, she may answere no (though she be) with this mentall reseruation [to reueale it to him] and if a man be constrained to sweare that he will take a woman to his wife, he may doe it safely although he neuer meane it, with this close clause in his mind (if she shall after please him.) Thus farre Tollet.

6. Now of late dayes, one hath divulged a whole Treatise in defence of this monstrous doctrine; to the which Blackwell the Arch-priest hath giuē this solemne approbatiō, that it is a very godly, learned & Catholique Tractate, & worthy to be published in print, to the comfort of the afflicted, & instructiō of the godly. The author of this Tractate thus concludeth, If a Catholike or any other person shal be demanded vpon his oath before a Magistrate, whether a Priest be in such a place, he may (though hee know the contrary) securely in conscience answere, No, without periury, with a secret meaning reserued in his mind, namely, that he is not there, so as a man is bound to reueale him. Againe, if one shall aske me whether such a stranger lyeth in my house, I may answere, he lyeth not in my house (albeit he do) meaning Non mentitur: this last is verball equiuocation, the former is mentall reseruation, which are the two approued kindes of their equiuocating art.

7. If this filthy strumpet be not the mother of two foule [Page] daughters, Lying, and Periury: lying, if by a bare asseueration; periury, if ioyned with an othe: let all that haue but common sense and reason iudge, and let the Enquest that shall enquire into this matter be, first, heathen Philosophers; secondly, the Popish writers themselues; thirdly, the Fathers and Doctours of the Church; and fourthly, which is of greater moment then all the rest, the holy Scripture of God diuinely inspired, and cannot deceiue, nor be deceiued. Let vs heare the Philosophers verdict; A Lye, saith Tully, is a false Tullie. enunciation of words, with an intent to deceaue: and againe, he defines dolus malus, that is, deceit to be, when one thing is Cic. de offic. 3. pretended, another acted; this is a false action. So, in like manner a false diction, which is, a lye, must needs bee when one thing is spoken by the mouth, another vnderstood in the heart: therefore the ordinary Grammaticall notation of this word mentiri, to lye, is quasi contra mentemire, as it were to goe against the minde: and Aristotle sayth, that speech is ordained Arist. de interpr. for this cause, to signifie and expresse the secret conceptions of the mind: therfore when the mouth and the mind are at variance, then the law of nature is peruerted, and in stead of a naturall and true-borne childe Truth, a bastard, to wit, a lye is produced: But they which equiuocate, pretend one thing, and intend another; they speake one thing, & meane another; their heart and their tongue, like vntuned strings, are at iarre with themselues, and therefore by no meanes can they be excused from open and notorious lying.

8. Now, if an oath bee mixed, then a fouler monster isToll. de Sept. peccat. cap. 54. brought forth, euen Periury; for what is periurie, but according to their own diuinity, a lye made in an oath? and is not equiuocating, when the equiuocator is sworne to speake the truth, periury? Let Tully determine this doubt, if it bee a doubt, Not to sweare a falshood, is to bee forsworne, but not to Cic. de offic. 3. performe or make good that which thou hast sworne according to thine owne meaning, as customably it is conceiued by thy words, is periury: all the world cannot more directly cut the throat of all equiuocation then this doth.

9. But I leaue the Philosophers, and come to their owne [Page] Schoolemen. To lye (saith Lumbard) is when a man speaketh Lum. l. 3. dist. 38 any thing contrary to that which he thinketh in his mind. It is a lye (saith Aquinas) when a man will signifie another thing, then Aqui. 2. 2. q. 111. art. 1. Lum. l. 3. dist. 39 that which he thinketh in his mind. Againe, Lumbard. Whosocuer vseth craft or subtiltie in an oath, defileth his conscience with a double guilt, for he both taketh the name of God in vaine, and also deceiueth his neighbour. And Aquinas, their great Doctor, condemneth in expresse words this equiuocating tricke of theirs: If a Iudge (saith he) shall require any thing which he Aqui. 2. 2. 4. 69. art. 1. cannot by order of law, the party accused, (what, may he equiuocate?) No. he is not bound to answere (in deed) but either by appeale, or some other meanes, may deliuer himselfe; but in no case may be tell a lye, or vse falshood, or any kind of craft or deceit. This was then good diuinity: but now the Iesuites, our pretended resiners of Popery, haue coyned a new kind of diuinity; but like counterset slips, it will not abide the tryall. Heare what Scotus saith, another Schooleman, Dicere non feci, Scotus lib. 5. de inst. q. 6. art. 2. &c. To say I did not that, which I know I haue done, although I speake it with this reseruation (that I may signifie it to you) is not equiuocation, but a plaine lye. To conclude with Maldonate, Mald. Com. in Luc. vl [...]. v. 28. Quisquis fingendo, &c. Whosoeuer (saith he) by saining doth goe about to deceiue another, although he intend some other thing in his mind, without doubt, lyeth; for otherwise there would be no lye, which might not by this meanes be defended.

10. Thus we haue the verdict of diuers of their own Writers, touching this monstrous doctrine. Let vs heare now what the Fathers thinke of it, and let Saint Hierome speake first: None is a lyer (saith he) but he that thinks otherwise then Hieron. in 1. ad Corinth. ca. 4. he speaketh. Therfore the equiuocator is a lyar, for he thinketh otherwise then he speaketh: as when he affirmeth (I am no Priest) when he is one, he thinketh hee is that which he saith he is not. Is Saint Augustine of a contrary minde? no, hee agreeth with Hierome in this, though they iarred in some other things. He that speaketh (saith he) falsly against his conscience, Aug. li. contramend. cap. 5. doth properly lye, but so doth our equiuocator. And for Periury, This (saith Augustine) is the very forme of Periurie, Idem Serm. 28. de verbis Aposl. to thinke that to be false which thou dost sweare. Thus doth [Page] the equiuocatour, for when hee sweareth hee knoweth not a man, and yet knoweth him, doth hee not manifestly thinke that to be false which he sweareth? his mentall reseruation cannot saue him from the pillory; seeing, as Isidore saith, God Isi lor. de summo bono. li. 1. ca. 13. doth valew an oath not by the sense of the speaker, but according to the sense of him to whom the oath was made. Thus by the verdict of these three Fathers, their doctrine of equiuocation is guilty both of lying and periury.

11. And that I may leaue them without a starting hole, let them heare what the Iury of Life and Death saith, I meane the holy Prophets and Apostles, yea, what GOD the Iudge himselfe saith. Thou shalt not (saith he) Beare false witnesse against thy Neighbour: No, nor of thy neighbour: therfore much lesse against thy selfe, or of thy selfe: but the equiuocatour doth both: first, against his Neighbonr, when by a false suggestion he perswadeth him to beleeue an vntruth; and of his neighbour, when hee reporteth that of him which is vntrue: and secondly, of, and against himselfe, by confessing himselfe to be that which he is not, or denying himselfe to be that which hee is. Equiuocation then is a plaine breach of this Commandement, and therefore a lye at the least. The Prophet Ieremy interpreting this precept, as the manner of the Prophets was, giues it affirmatiuely thus, Thou shalt sweare in Ierem. 4. 1. Psal. 15. truth, &c. And the Prophet Dauid saith, that the righteous man speakes in truth. Now, what is it to sweare or speake in truth, Azorius the Iesuite will tell vs, that It is either for the confirmation Azor. li. 11. mor, cap. 2. of a truth, or in a probable opinion of that to be true which we sweare or speake. But the equiuocatours speach or oath is neither for the truth, nor from the truth, and therefore a lye, if not grosse periury. Againe, the Prophet Dauid sets downe this as one note of a righteous man, that he speakes the truth Psal. 15. [...]. from his heart: but the Equiuocatour either speaketh not the truth at all, or at least speaketh not from the heart, whereby he is euidently conuinced to be none of those that shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle, or asend into his holy Mountaine. Lastly, when as Saint Paul was taxed by some false brethren to be carnally minded, because promising to come to Corinthus, [Page] he came not, doth he excuse himselfe by equiuocation, saying, that he promised one thing and minded another? no, but he protesteth that he was minded as hee spake, and that his 2. Cor. 1. 13. word was not yea, and nay, but simply yea: which proueth, first, that all our speach must be simple and plaine, without equiuocation: and secondly, that such as abuse their speach in such sort, are fleshly minded men, full of lightnesse and vanity. And thus we haue a full verdict of Philosophers, Popish diuines, Fathers, and Scriptures: and therefore why may not sentence bee pronounced, and the equiuocator adiudged guilty both of lying and periury, two sinnes which the law of God, of Nature, and Men, haue alway condemned?

12. Againe, what more contrary to the lawe of God and4. man, then adultery and fornication? But the religion of the Church of Rome doth directly maintaine and allow both these, by tolerating Stewes, places of common whoredome, & open and knowne Strumpets prostituted to filthinesse, and that not onely in all other places of the Popes Dominion, but euen in Rome, vnder his Holinesses owne nose, and by his authentical approbation; neither can this be imputed vnto them as a corruption in manners onely, and not as an errour in doctrine: for they not onely vphold these places and persons of infamy by their practice, and winke at them by neglect of due execution of iustice, but they are growne to that impudency, that they allow, maintaine, and approue them by their doctrine, as things necessary and commodious in a Common wealth: and albeit they condemne them generally as sinnes, yet they approue them againe as necessary and profitable: as if there were any necessary profit, or profitable necessity of sinnes, which Saint Paul calleth the vnfruitfull workes of darknesse, Ephes. 5. 11. And thus with their owne mouthes they condemne themselues in that which they allow, being Iudges ofRom 14. 22. themselues, and proclaimers of their owne shame.

13. Their doctrine is this, that a lesser euill is to bee permitted, to the end that a greater may be auoyded, and therefore brothel houses to be suffered, lest all places should bee filled with filthy lusts: and this their position they defend; [Page] first, by the testimonie of Saint Augustine in his Booke De Ordine; secondly, by deprauing and corrupting that place of Scripture, where it is forbidden that there should bee anyDeut. 23. 17. harlot in Israel; thirdly, by diuers reasons, to wit, if harlots were suffered to be free and at liberty, without these Stewes, they would sinne more licenciously, and that by their first restraint to that one place, they may be made ashamed, and so at length conuerted, and that knowne harlots are to be tolerated, lest violence should be offered vnto honest Matrons; and lastly, they are not ashamed to reckon whoredome and fornication amongst those things which of their owne nature are not euill, because the Apostles place it among things of thatActs 15. 20. nature, to wit, bloud, things strangled, and things dedicated vnto Idols. These bee their goodly reasons whereby they maintaine Stewes; but no maruaile if they maintaine them, seeing their holy Father the Pope is in some sort maintained by them. The Romish harlots pay (saith Agrippa) vnto the Pope Agrippa de vanit. cap. 64. euery wecke a Iuly (which is a certaine kind of Coyne) for their liberty, they prophane Gods word by a filthy Comment: for take away (say they) harlots out of the Common-wealth, and all places will abound with whoredomes: whereas, neuerthelesse the Common-wealths of Israel endured long without that stain, where notwithstanding an harlot was not permitted. It is recorded also, that the harlots in Rome pay vnto the Pope a yearely pension, which amounteth sometimes to thirtie thousand, sometimes to fortie thousand Ducats. Pope Paulus the third is said to haue had in his Tables the names of 45000. Curtezans, which payd a monethly tribute vnto him. And therefore not without great cause (if gaine may be a sufficient cause) did Pope Sixtus build a noble or famous Stewes at Rome, as Agrippa Agrip. ibid. nobile lupanar Romae. witnesseth: for, seeing such large reuenewes arise to the holy Fathers purse, by the meanes of strumpets, why should they not be there maintained? where, not as Saint Paul saith, godlinesse is gaine, but gaine is godlinesse, and all Religion is turned into lucre, as Mantuan a Fryer Carmelite of their owne saith,

[Page]

Ven alia nobis

Mant. lib. 3.

Templa, sacerdotes, altaria, sacra, coronae,

Ignis, thura, preces, coelum est venal [...], Deusque.

With vs are all things to be bought and sold,

Priests, Altars, Temples, Sacraments new and old,

Crownes, Incense, Prayers, yea, Heauen and God for gold.

Adde to these Whoredome, Sodomitry, and Incest, and all manner of sinne, and then there is a full square number. But I would faine know how these holy Fathers can free themselues from the name and imputation of notorious bawdes; seeing he is by all law esteemed a bawde, that maintaineth harlots, exposing them to the lust of others for gaine, then which, what can be more vilde and base?

14. As touching the testimony of Saint Augustine, and their other reasons, I answere in a word; first, that when Saint Augustine wrote that Booke, he was but Catecheumenus, a nouice in Religion, not well instructed in Christs Schoole: and besides that, it doth crosse the doctrine both of himselfe in other Books of more mature iudgement, and also of the holy Scripture; for he himselfe affirmeth elsewhere, that the good which commeth of euil as a recompence, must not be admitted, and the Scripture condemneth to hell all those (marke, you Romanists) that say, Let vs doe euill, that good may come thereof, Rom. 3. 8. whose damnation is iust.

15. Their other reasons are vaine and idle: for what greater liberty can they desire, then to be authorized by the head of the Church, who cannot erre as they teach, and to follow their filthy lusts by letters Patents frō his vnholynesse? (for so here it iustly deserueth to be tituled.) And is this the way to reclaime & conuert them frō their filthines, to dwell in gorgious houses, to ride opēly in goodly chariots, to be apparelled like Princes, to haue attēding on them men clad in braue attire, with chaines of gold and costly ornaments, yea, to be maintained by the Pope, and often visited by his Holynesse and his great Cardinals? if this be the way to reclaime them, [Page] let all men of sound sense and reason iudge indifferently.

16. Lastly, whether it be a meanes to stoppe the course of lust, and to refraine whoredomes from spreading farre and wide: let vs against Augustine oppose Saint Basill, Basil. commen. in Psalm. who expounding these words of the Psalme: And hath not sit in the chaire of pestilence, saith, That whoredome stayeth not it selfe in one man, but inuadeth a whole Citie: for some one comming to an harlot, taketh to himselfe a fellow, and the same also seekth another fellow: and so, as a fire being kindled in a Citie, stayeth not in the burning one house or two, but spreadeth farre and wide, and draweth a great destruction with it: so this mischiefe being once kindled, rangeth ouer all the Citie. Oppose also to him Saint Ambrose, who writingAmbr. omment in Psal. 119. vpon the 119. Psalme, thus sayth; Who can nourish burning [...]ales in his bosome, and not bee burnt with them? So how can harlots be nourished in a Citie, and young men not bee corrupted with wheredome? Yea, oppose Tertullian also, whoTertul. de anim [...] affirmeth plainely, That all Brothel-houses are detestable before God. And lastly, Iustinian the Emperour, who in hisJustin. Authent. tit. de Lenouth. Authentikes, in the Title De Lenonibus, willeth that harlots should bee vtterly banished out of the Citie: and sorroweth, because hee saw Brothel-houses so nigh vnto the Churches of God. And indeed, if it were true, that it is a meane to restraine whoredome, why is it not then restrained at Rome, by that meanes? I am sure they haue their Stewes: And yet Mantuan doubteth not to affirme, that for all their Stewes confined into one place, Vrbs estiam tota lupanar: The whole Citie was become a Stewes. To conclude all in one briefe Sylogisme, That Religion which is contrary to the Religion of God, cannot bee of God, but of the Deuill; but the Romish Religion in this one poynt is contrary to the Religion of God; for the Scripture saith, There shall be no whore Deut. 23. 17. in Israel; the Romanists say, There must be whores in Israel, that is, in the Church, for the auoyding of a further mischiefe (then which what can be more contradictorie?) therefore the Romish religion cannot be of God, but of the diuell, I meane, in those poynts wherein it thus crosseth the truth of God.

[Page]17. But doe they stay at adultery and simple fornication?5. No, their religion maintaineth open and notorious incest, and such as the better sort of the heathen abominated; and this they doe by three doctrines: first, by that which giueth allowance, at least wise toleration to common Stewes and brothel-houses, for the auoyding of a further mischiefe, as I haue declared in the former Section: for Stewes cannot be tolerated, but incest also needs must not onely be occasioned, but euen after a sort approued; the reason is, because often it commeth to passe, that the Father and the Sonne, or two brethren and neere kindred are defiled with one and the same woman, and so vnnaturall and horrible incest, prohibited by the lawes of God and man, is commited. And albeit, oftentimes this is a thing secret and vnknowne vnto them: yet it doth not wash their consciences from the guilt of this foule crime, because they are bound to know in what degree she is vnto them, of whome they dare presume to haue carnall knowledge. And besides, the act it selfe being meerely vnlawfull, doth take away all excuse; together, with a secret suspition they should haue, if they be not wilfully ignorant, that such a thing might be. For if that rule of Saint Augustine beeAugust. de ciuit. lib. 15. good, Ʋitandum est licitum propter vicinitatem illiciti: that which is lawfull is often to be auoyded, for the contiguity and neerenesse it hath with that which is vnlawfull: how much more is this true, that a thing vnlawfull in it owne nature is to be prohibited and auoyded, not onely because it is vnlawfull; but much more if it bring with it apparāt feare of a greater mischiefe? Now that affinitie is contracted, and therefore incest committed, not onely by lawfull marriage, but also by vnlawfull copulation: I thinke no man doubteth, seeing that Saint Paul plainely affirmeth, That hee which cleaueth to an [...] Cor. 6. [...]6. harlot, is made one flesh with her. And their owne law sayth, that it skils not whether the kindred descendeth from the lawfull Digest. lot derit. [...]up [...]. leg. 54. marriages, or otherwise.

18. Their second doctrine maintaining Incest, is their opinion touching the Popes power in dispensations: for they hold, that hee being Christs Vicar on earth, may dispense in [Page] degrees expresly prohibited by Gods law, and so hath andOccasio L [...]cri. doth, if occasion be offered: by vertue of this dissipation, (so it may better be termed with Saint Bernard, then dispensation) the King of Spaine, and Charles the Arch. Duke of Austria, married each of them their sisters daughters. And Petrus Aluaradus married two sisters at once, and such like, as you may see more at large in the former demonstration. What is this, I pray you, but to allowe and authorize incest? when as they ascribe vnto their holy Father the Pope authority to dispense with it: for according to the old rule in Logike, Causa causae, est causa causati, which is, the cause of the cause, must needes bee also the cause of the effect: when as their doctrine therfore vpholds the Popes power to dispense, and this power to dispense, brings forth Incest, a bastardly brat; by consequēt their doctrine must necessarily stand guilty [...]f being the first moouer thereof.

19. The third doctrine by which this soule sinne is authorized, is the generall opinion of the Church, touching the extent of degrees of Consanguinity prohibited in marriage: for, albeit in former ages it was forbidden to marrie within the seuenth degree: yet in the Councill of Laterane, Concil. Later. cap. 10. that Pontificall constitution was abrogated and the prohibition of marriage restrained to the fourth degree inclusiuely: so, that beyond the fourth degree it might be lawfull for any to marry without exception. Which constitution is at this day held for Authenticall, and is of force in the Romane Church: now this doth giue manifest allowance vnto Incest. for whether the supputation be made after the rule of the Ciuill law by generations, or of the Canon law by persons: yet so [...]e cases cannot be cleared from Incest; for this is the rule of supputation by the Canon law, which is most fauourable to them; Quo gradu remotior distat à communi stipite, eodem etiam inter se distant. In what degree the person furth [...]st remoued is distant from the stock [...], in the same degree they are distant from one another. Now put the case after this manner.

[Page]ABRAHAM.

ISAAC.

IACOB.

IVDA.

PHARES.

ISCAH.

ISMAEL.

Here in this Scheme or figure, Iscah is by their own rule in the first degree from ISMAEL: and therefore by their doctrine, ISMAEL may marry ISCAH, which is most notable and apparent Incest: for brethren and sisters are but one flesh; and so Isaac and Ismael are both one flesh; as Iudah said of Ioseph, Frater noster est. caro nostra est: he is our brother and our flesh▪ And therefore Ismael is vnto all Isaacs posterity as it were their Father; and they vnto him in stead of Children: and so by consequent cannot marrie, not onely within the fourth degree, but euen vnto the thousand degree, if it were possi [...]le. For Adam, if hee were now aliue, could not find a woman in the whole world to marry lawfully withall, without committing Incest: neither is this a conceit of our own deuising, but the expresse rule of the word of God: for Leuit. 18. 12. 13. wee are forbidden to vncouer the shame of our Fathers sister, or of our Mothers sister: but all our predecessours in the right line are our fathers and mothers, though they he neuer so sarre remooued; and therefore to marry with their brothers or sisters, stands guilty of Incest by [...] law. For which cause also Iustinian decreeth, [...] 1. [...]t. [...]it. 10. that Amitam licet adoptiuam, &c. It is not lawfull to marrie our Fathers adopted sister, nor our Mothers adopted sister, because they are held in place of Parents: and the law in the DigestsDigest. deritu [...]. Leg. 17. is plaine and pertinent. Amitam quoque & materteram item magnam amitam. & materter am magnam, prohibemur vxorem ducere, quamisis amita magna, & ma [...]rter a magna quarto gradit sunt. We are forbidden to warry our Auxt either by Father or Mothers side: yea, our great Aunt, though she be in the fourth degree. Thus by all [...]awes the Popish doctrine, that it is lawfull for any to marry beyond the fourth degree, is a plaine maintenance and allowance of Incest.

[Page]20. Againe, who knoweth not but that theft is condemned by all lawes, except it be by the lawes of Platoes imaginaries Cōmon-wealth, or the Anabaptistical positions of some later heretikes, who would haue propriety of goods taken away, and a communitie of all things brought vp? but the Papists by their doctrine not onely tolerate some kind of theft, but euen maintaine and allowe it as lawfull: For, thus writeth Maldonate a learned Iesuite, and of great authoritie; Poore Mald. in Sum. q. 8. art. 3. men (saith he) doe not commit theft, when being pressed with extreame necessity, they take that which is another mans; because (marke his Anabaptisticall reason) the thing at such a time is not properly another mans, but common to the life of man being in danger, &c. And to prooue this, hee abuseth an excellent sentence of Saint Ambrose, who speaking of the communitieAmbrose. of charitie, and not of propriety, saith, Esurientis pauis est, quem [...] retines; nudorum vestimen [...]ū est, quod [...] recludis; miserorum paecunia est, quam tu in terram defodis. It is the poores bread which thou retainest, his garment which thou lockest vp, and his money which thou hy dest in the ground. But he speaketh, as any man may see, not to encourage the poore to lay hands vpon rich mens substance, but to stirre vp the rich to the workes of charitie: neither to excuse a poore man from theft, if he steale from the rich, but to accuse the rich of theft, if out of his wealth he do not powre forth to the necessitie of the poore. Neither is this the opinion of one Iesuite onely, but it is backed and barred by the approbation of another of no meane credite: For thus writeth Emanuel Sa: in his Aphorisines.Eman. Sa. aph. page [...]66. Ego, inquit, &c. I (saith he) am of the same mind with them, which thinke that it is lawfull for a poore man priuily to purloine from a richman, which is bound to helpe him and doth not. Here be two brethren in euill, concurring in the defence of one and the same sinne; for if to steale, be not an offence for a poore man, why doth the law say in generall, Thou shalt not steale? Let them shew the exception and exemption of the poore from the law; or let them confesse to their eternall shame, that they are maintainers of those that breake Gods law. Besides, if (as Saint Augustine, and all other learned Diuines confesse) [Page] it bee not lawfull to lye, though it bee to the sauing of our August. de mendac. ca. 13. liues: then it must needs follow, that it is not lawfull for a poore man to steale, though it be for the sauing of his life: for theft is a sinne that bringeth more damage with it, then an officious lye can doe, which is vttered not for hurt of another, but for the preseruation of our selues.

21. Besides these, Cardinall Tollet another Iesuite, a man of high dignity and authority in the Romane Church, approueth by his verdict another kind of theft, worse then those before specified; for he alloweth in some cases the vse of false ballances, and falsification of wares, his words are these. There Toll. desept. pec. [...]a. 49. pa. 744. is (saith he) a man that either by reason of vniust dealing of the Magistrate, or the malice of the buiers conspiring together to pull downe the price, or some other reasonable cause, cannot sell his wine at a iust price: when the case thus falleth out, then may this man either less [...]n his measure, or mingle water with his wines, and so sell it for pure wine, and require the full price, as if the measure were compleate: prouided that he doe not lye, which neuertheles if he doe, it is no pernitious lye, nor mortall, nor binding to restitution. In like manner, it is lawfull to sell other silke in stead of Granado silke, and Italian in stead of Greeke: and so after the same proportion all other wares. These bee the braue positions of that renowned Cardinall: wherein how apparently hee doth contradict the written word of God, let any indifferent vmpier iudge, by comparing this his doctrine with these sentences of the Scripture here ensuing. Diuers weights are an Prou. 20. 2 [...]. abomination to the Lord, and deceitfull ballances are not good. A true weight and a ballance are of the Lord, and all the weights of Prou. 16. 11. the bagge are his worke. Diuers weights and diuers measures, both Prou. 20. 20. Leu. 19. 35. 36. these are euen abomination to the Lord: yee shall not doe vniustly in iudgement, in line, in weight, or in measure; yee shall haue iust ballances, true weights, a true Ephah, and a true Hin. I am the Lord your God, &c. Thou shalt not haue in thy bagge two manner Deut 25. 13. 14 15. of weights, a great, and a small; neither shalt thou haue in thy house diuers measures, a great, and a small; but thou shalt haue a right and a iust weight, a perfect and a iust measure. Let no man oppresse or defraude his brother in any matter. How1. Thes. 4. 5. [Page] contradictory these plaine precepts and enunciatiue propositions of Gods word, are vnto the positions of the Cardinall, no man can but discerne that is not bewitched with the so [...] cerie of Iezabel: either therefore let him shew out of holy writ some exception from these generall rules, or let him acknowledge his Doctrine and Religion, to be the vpholder of most grosse and palpable theft.

22. If any man say that these be the opinions of priuate men, and not the doctrine of the Church: I answere, that this is a most friuolous conceit, for none of their bookes are admitted to the presse, before they be examined by certaine Censurers deputed to that purpose by the Church: and if any thing dislike them or seeme to sauour of heresie (as they call the trueth) presently it is either gelded out, or corrected at their pleasures. And that which goeth for currant, hath his allowance subnexed. That it containeth in it nothing contrary to the Catholike faith of the Church of Rome. These positions then of these Iesuites standing thus approued by the common consent of their Censurers, and priuiledged to be both printed and read of all men, as containing nothing contrary to wholesome doctrine, cannot be thought to be the vnaduised opinions of priuatemen, but euen the doctrine and religion of their Church.

23. Lastly, that I may conclude this second argument,7. they maintaine also the prophanation of the Sabboth, which the Lord hath enioyned to be sanctified with so great and vrgent a precept: Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabboth day. Adding [...] m [...]men [...]o before, and fencing it with so many reasons after, that it might not seeme a light matter, but a cōmandement of great consequence; yet these impudent preuaricators make it a matter of no moment, yea, giue liberty to the open breach and transgression of it. For thus writeth Cardinall Tollet. Homo tenetur, &c. A man (saith he) is bound Tollet. lib. 4. Instruct. 5. acc [...]t. 9. c. 24. vpon paine of a mortall sinne to sanctifie the Sabboth, but is not bound vnder the same paine to sanctifie it well. As if forsooth it could be sanctified at all, if it be not well sanctified: or as if the prophanation of the Sabboth were the sanctifying of it: [Page] for not to sanctifie it well, is nothing else but to prophane it: howbeit, if this were all the iniurie hee doth to Gods Sabboth, it might be borne withall: but the bold Cardinall taketh vpon him to breake in pieces the barres thereof, and to expose it being the Lords day, and therefore fit to bee employed onely in the Lords worke, to most vile and base offices; for thus hee writeth in the same booke. Licet iter facere, &c. It is lawfull to take a iourney on the feast day: (with this caueat, that diuine seruice be first heard.) It is lawfull to hunt, and doe such like things. It is lawfull for Iudges, especially rurall, to giue iudgement on the feast day: it is no sinne for a Barber to exercise his trade on the feast day for commodity, if he had no leasure to doe it at another time: they are excused also which sell flesh, kill beasts, and sell necessary victuals on holy dayes: And if the occasion of a great gayne would otherwise bee lost, as in fishing for Herring and Tunnes, which come not but vpon certaine dayes, it is lawfull to fish on the holy day. In publique solemnities it is lawfull to prepare the wayes, and to build for spectacles. This is the doctrine of that renowned Cardinall, whose writings are so approued of the Church of Rome, that whatsoeuer hee speaketh, is held for trueth. But here it may be answered, that he nameth not the Sabboth, but the festiuall or holy day: to which I answere: First, that the title of that Chapter is de Sabbath [...]: and therefore if he meaneth not that, hee swarueth from his purpose. Secondly, that the expresse words and drift of the whole Chapter demonstrates, that vnder the name of the festiuall or holy day, he includeth also the Sabboth. And thirdly, how could he giue instructions touching the cases of the Sabboth, if he intended not the Sabboth, seeing all his rules runne vnder this generall terme, on the festiuall or holy day? This therfore is but a mist to blinde mens eyes, that they might not see their impietie.

24. Can this Religion (thinke you) be of God, which in thus many points crosseth and trampleth vnder foote the law of God? Doth not the head of that congregation euidently shew himselfe to be [...], that outlaw, which S. Paul speaketh of, 2. Thess. 2. that is, such an one as opposeth himselfe [Page] to the law of God? Doe not the necke and shoulder which are supporters of that head, I meane, the Cardinals and Bishops, shew themselues to be of the same nature and disposition with it? and the whole body, which is quickned by the life of his doctrine, to be meerely Antichristian? He that seeth not this, is blinde, and cannot discerne a farre off; hee that seeth it and confesseth it not, is carelesse of his owne saluation. Let vs leaue them therefore, either to bee conuerted, which God graunt for Christ his sake, or to bee confounded, if they continue in their errours.

MOTIVE. III. That Religion which imitateth the Iewes in those things wherin they are enemies to Christ, cannot bee the truth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome. Ergo.

THe malice of the Iewes towards Christ our Sauiour, andMAIOR. his Church, from the beginning vnto this day, is so notorious, that the whole world is witnesse thereof. Saint Paul witnesseth of them, that they killed the Lord Iesus, and their 1. Thes. 2. 15. 16 owne Prophets, and persecuted the Apostles, and were contrary to all men, and forbad them to preach vnto the Gentiles that they might be saued, to fulfill their sinnes alwaies, and that the wrath of God was come vpon them to the vttermost. And as it was at that time, so euer since they haue not any whit remitted, but increased in their rancour; for still they crucifie vnto themselues the Lord of Life, though not in his person which is at the right hand of God; yet in his mēbers whō they persecute vnto death asmuch as in them lyeth, and in his Gospel, which they still pursue with a deadly hatred. Yea, so great is their malice, that many times they haue taken Christian children, vpon their preparation day to the Passouer, and nailed them vpon the Crosse, loaded them with reproaches and scornes, in disgrace of Christ, and miserably tormented them to death; [Page] as was done by the Iewes of Inmester, a Towne scituate betwixtSocrat. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 16. Chalchis and Antiochia, as witnesseth Socrates in his Ecclesiasticall History; and in Germany, at Fretulium; asJo. Finc. li. 3. Flores Histor. also in England, at Lincolne and Norwich, as our Chronicles testifie. Yea, it is recorded how the Iewes of Hungarie tooke a Carpenters Son that was a Christian, in despi [...] of Christ, whom they esteemed no better then the Soone of a Carpenter, and cut all the veines of his body, and suckt out his bloud with quils: and being apprehended, and tortured, they confessed that they could not bee without Christian bloud, for therewithall they anoynted their Priests. Yea, they haue often poysoned the springs, and by that meanes brought great plagues vpon Christian people; and set on fire Cities and Townes, to bring them to pouerty and misery. Can there be greater enemies to Christ then these are? for the poysoned arrowes of their malice are shut vp against him, who is in heauen beyond their reach, and therefore they fall downe vpon his members: but the venome of them lighteth vpon their owne heads, to their eternall confusion. Who would now imitate these wretches in any thing, especially in that wherein the cause of their enmity consisteth? can they be of God that doe this? or rather are they not the brood of that Serpent, that hath beene euer a profest enemy to the seed of the woman? This being so cleare and manifest, I leaue the first proposition without any other guard or defence, and come to the confirmation of the second, wherein the pith of the argument confisteth.

2. That the Religion of the Church of Rome is an apishMINOR. imitation of Iudaisine, and that in those things wherein it is most opposite to Christ, may appeare, if wee first consider wherin the opposition of the Iewish Religion consisteth, and then secondly compare the Romish with the same. The Iewes Religion is opposite to Christ in two respects principally: first, in retaining the old Ceremonies of Moses law, whichRom. 10. 4. Heb. 10. 1. were shadowes of things to come, and had their accomplishment in Christ: for that which Paul saith concerning Circumcisiou, is to be vnderstood of all other Ceremonies: They [Page] which entangle themselues with that yoke of bondage, vnder Gal. 4. 9. and 5 2. 4. those impotent and beggerly rudiments, are abolished from Christ, and Christ doth profit them nothing: And secondly, in deuising a multitude of strange and new superstitions, coyned in the mint of their Rabbinish conceits, contrary not onely to the Gospell of Iesus Christ, but euen to their owne law, which Deutorologies of theirs our Sauiour condemneth, Math. 15. 3. 6. when hee saith, that they transgressed the CommaundementMatth. 15. 3. 6. of God, & made it of no effect by their owne tradition. Both these wayes shew they their enmity to Christ and Christian Religion, and are thereby retained and encouraged in their errours.

3. Now compare the Romish Religion with these Rabbinisticall conceits in both respects, and it will appeare that one egge is not liker to another, nor milke to milke, then the Romish and Iewish superstition are to each other. And touchingI. the first, to begin with the multitude of their ceremonies: It is not vnknowne to any that know any thing in the booke of God, that the Church of the Iewes was loaden with a heauie burden of ceremonies. S. Paul saith, that it was so heauie, Acts 15. 10. that neither they nor their fathers were able to beare it, and therefore calleth the Ceremoniall law, a yoke of bondage, andGal. 5. 1. and 4. 31. those that were vnder that yoke, children of the bondwoman, and not of the free. And the reasons why God did impose vpon them such a number of Ceremonies, were iust and holy, to wit: first, because the Church was then in the infancy, and therefore needed to be vnder a Schoolemaster to instruct,Gal. 3. 24. and as it were catechize it vnto Christ, and therefore they were to be dealt withall, as children vse to be with the guilded leaues and faire pictures of externall rites, and to be fed with milke, being not able to digest strong meates. Secondly, because by them they were, as it were by visible representations informed, both touching some great benesit past and receiued, and touching the Messias to come and his Kingdome, as also concerning godly conuersation required in their owne life: for in the barke of euery legall ceremonie, these three vitall spirits were contained. And thirdly (as it is [Page] well obserued by S. Chrysostome) in regard of their infirmityChrysost. and weakenesse, who being lately come out of Egypt, and there defiled themselues with idolatrie and superstition, necessarily required sacrifices and ceremonies to be allowed vnto them, lest they should fall backe againe to their Egyptian corruption: wherefore Almighty God (saith he) so dealt with them, as a Physician dealeth with his sicke patient, who through the burning heat of his disease, requireth a cup of cold water, or else is ready to hang or kill himselfe; there the Physician being constrained by necessity, commands a viole of cold water prepared by himselfe, to be brought vnto him, but withall warnes him, that he drinke not but out of that Viole. So God granted sacrifices and ceremonies to the sickly Israelites, but so, that they should not vse any, but those which hee appointed for them, and that after the manner by him prescribed. And this to be so, hee proueth, because the law of ceremonies was not giuen, vntill the children of Israel had defiled themselues with the golden Calfe, for the making whereof they were so madde bent, as that they pulled off their Iewels, eare-rings, and rings from their bodies, and gaue them for the framing of that Idoll: and hee illustrateth the same in another place by another excellent similitude. If a man (saith hee) haue a wife prone to incontinencie, hee shutteth her vp in certaine places & chambers, setting about her a guard of seruants and attendants, to keepe her from straying abroad, and entertaining her louers. So God dealt with the Church of the Iewes, which he had married to himselfe in compassion and loue, seeing it prone to Idolatry and superstition, hee separated it from other Nations, and shut it vp within the bounds of the land of Canaan, and set about it a guard of Ceremonies and externall Rites, which should be as it were Tutors vnto it, vntill it were fully confirmed in faith and obedience. Thus farre Chrysostome. By all which wee see not onely, that the Church of the Iewes was loaded with a bundle of ceremonies, which were to endure till the comming of the Messias: but also the reasons why the Lord imposed that burden vpon them.

[Page]4. Now is the Church of Rome any whit behinde them in this? No verily, but farre before them: for if we shall compare Moses Leuiticus, with the Romish Missals, wee shall finde, that in number of ceremonies they farre exceede the Synagogue of the Iewes. The Iewes had but two great Sacraments: the Church of Rome haue seuen. The Iewes but one ordinary Altar: the Church of Rome tenne thousand, euen as many as Churches, and not onely so, but often diuers Altars in one Church. The Iewes offered many sacrifices, but the Church of Rome exceede them in the number of their Masses tenne to one. The Iewish Holy-dayes were few in comparison of the Romish, for they had but their Passeouer, Pentecost, feast of Tabernacles, of Trumpets, reconciliation, new Moones, Purim and dedication: but these haue their Holy-dayes for euery Saint, for the Crosse, Corpus Christi, All Saints, All Soules, and what not: insomuch that their friend Erasmus complaineth, that in Ieromes age there wereEras. in Mat. 11. few Holy-dayes besides the Lords day: but now, that there is neither end nor measure in the multitude of them. The Iewes obserued a few fasting dayes by Gods appointment, and others taken vp by their owne tradition, as the second and fift day of the weeke: but the Romish fasts exceede both in number and superstition: for besides two dayes in euery weeke, euery Saints Eue almost is a fasting day with them, besides their Lent fast continued whole sixe weekes without intermission, if to abstaine from flesh, and glut themselues with other viands, as nutritiue to the body, be to be termed a fast. The Iewes Priest-hood was distinguished but into two maine orders, Priests and Leuites, and these later assigned to some few distinct offices about the Temple: but the Romish Priest-hood is pestered with a swarme of the seuerall orders of Friars, Monkes, Anchorites, secular and regular Priests, that almost serue for nothing but to consume the fruits of the earth. The holy garments for the Leuiticall Priest-hood, were but few in number in comparison of the Romish vestments: for the high Priest of the Iewes had but sixe garments appointed to him; the Ephod, the brest-plate, the Robe, the [Page] linnen coate, the girdle, and the crowne; and for the inferiour Priests, but foure, linnen coats, bonnets, linnen breeches, and girdles: but the Romish haue sixe garments in token of perfection; and the Bishops nine, because there are (as they say)Bonau. ratio. Diui. offic. li. 3. c. 1. nine orders of Angels; in all fifteene, answerable to the fifteene degrees of vertues. What should I reckon vp their manifold crossings, kissings, kneelings, whisperings, washings, anoyntings, spittings, breathings, saltings, with an infinite number besides of vaine and strange obseruations which are vsed in their Church, which the Iewish Synagogue may not compare withall, either for multitude or strangenesse? And thus they are not onely equall to them, but farre exceed them in the number of their Ceremonies. And this is euenAgrip. de vanit. cap. 60. confessed by many of their fauourites: for Cornelius Agrippa saith, that Christians are now more oppressed with ceremonies, then the Iewes were in former times. And Polydore Ʋirgsll, thatPolyd. Virgil de inuent l [...]. 4. in prooemi [...]. a very wood of Iewish and heathenis [...] ceremonies pestered the Lords field. Yea, Saint Augustine complaineth of the same superstition in his time, when Antichristianisme was but in breeding, when he saith, that the Church was pressed contrary Aug. Epist. 119. cap. 19. to Christs mercifull institution, with such a seruile burden of Ceremonies, that the state of the Iewes vnder the law was m [...]re tolerable then the condition of Christians, seeing they were subiect onely to Gods ordinances, and not to humane presumptions as Christians are. But if he had liued at this time, and seene the fruitfull multiplication of them, in respect of his age, how would hee haue complained? And thus in respect of multitude of Ceremonies, the Romish Church is by many degrees before the Church of the Iewes.

5. To descend to particulars. The Iewes had their sacrificing Priests, whereof one was their chiefe Priest, and the other of an inferiour ranke. The Romanists, in an apish imitation, haue their sacrificing Priests too, the Pope their chiefe, and the vnder-shauelings his vassals: as if Aaron was a type of the Pope, and not of Christ; or as if all Christians wereHeb. 8. 6. & 9. 6. 11. 12. 1. Pet. 2. [...]. not Priests vnder the Gospell; both which are euident in the new Testament: but we no where find that the high Priest [Page] of Ierusalem was a type of the high Priest of Rome, or that theReuel. 1. 6. Ministers of the Gospell are sacrificing Priests. This latter isBel. de cultu sanctor. lib. 3. ca. 4. confessed by Bellarmine, who saith that the Christians of the Primitiue Church did purposely abstaine from the names of Temple and Priesthood, vntill the dayes of Tertullian, lest that they should seeme to haue retained some Iewish Ceremonies. Why then doe they now entertaine those names, whereof the purer times were ashamed? do they not shew thereby that they are degenerated from that primer purity, which they so much bragge of? And yet we doe not dislike the name of Priest, if it bee rightly taken, for such an one as ministreth in holy things betwixt God and the people, but that the Ministers of the Gospel should be sacrificing Priests, is Iewish; as also, that the man of Rome should be the Arch-priest on earth, whereas we haue but one high Priest, euen Christ our Sauiour, who hauing once offered himselfe a sacrifice for sinne, sitteth for euer at the right hand of God. And that we may plainely see that in their Hierarchie they imitate the Iewes, Bellarmine is a sufficient witnesse, who to proue that there ought to be a visible Monarch in the Church, alleageth that Aaron was not onely Bell de Roman. Pontif. li. 1. ca. 9. a type of Christ, but also of the Pope, because the sacrifices of the law did not onely represent the bloudy sacrifice of the Crosse, but also the vnbloudy sacrifice of the Masse. Which if it be true, then there can be but one high Priest in the Church of Christ, as there was but one in the Church of the Iewes: for the argument will stand thus in good moode and forme, being built vpon their owne ground. As the Church of the old Testament was gouerned, so ought the Church of the new: but the old was gouerned by one onely high Priest; therefore the new ought also to haue but one onely: for either he must shew that there were two high Priests in the Church of the Iewes, one subordinate vnto the other, or conuicted by his owne principle, he must acknowledge that there ought not to bee two in the Church of Christ, or at least confesse that this argument is lame, drawne from the imitation of the Iewish Hierachy: and then if it be not true which he affirmeth, what will be the sequell therof, but either ignorance in symbolizing those things [Page] which are no wise matches, or impiety in dethroning Christ from his office, and setting the Diademe vpon the Popes head; and so, that in their Romish Hierarchy they are the Iewes Apes, in that thing which most tendeth to the dishonor of Christ.

6. As they imitate the Iewish Priest-hood, so do they also their Altar and sacrifices: for they are not content with the name of the Lords Table, which name was vsed both by the1. Cor. 10. 21. Arnob. cont. gen. lib. 6. Cyril. Alex. cont. Iulian, l. 10. Chrys. in Psa. 95. Apostles and primitiue Church. For which cause (as testifieth Arnobius, Cyrill, and Chrysostome) they were challenged by the Pagans of impiety, nor yet to take the name of Altar and Sacrifice in an improper signification, as some of the later Fathers did, calling the Lords Table an Altar, because onAug. cont. Faust. lib. 20. ca. 18. & li. 3. de bapt. c. 19 it was represented the sacrifice of the Crosse, and the action in the Eucharist a sacrifice, because it was a commemoratiue representation of that sacrifice, as their writings plentifully testifie; but they will haue a very Altar in proper phrase of speach, and a true reall sacrifice, then which what can be more Iewish? especially, seeing all such Altars were abolished by the Crosse of Christ; and there remaineth but one Altar in the Church, Whereof they haue no power to eate which serue the Tabernacle, Rco. 13. 10. Theodoret. Oëcumen. Aquinas. Glossa ordin. in lacum. to wit, Christ, as all the Fathers expound the place, who is the onely true Altar and proper sacrifice of the new Testament: True Altar (I say) and proper Sacrifice, because the soule of euery iust man is called by them a metaphoricall Altar, and their prayers, good workes, almes-deeds, &c. spirituall sacrifices. And therefore Clemens Alexandrinus, and Origen, and Lactantius, writing against the Pagans, who obiected that Christians had no Altars nor sacrifices, and therefore no religion, answere, That a iust and holy soule is a right holy Altar, from which doe arise prayers as sweet incense, and vpon which are offered vp to God, iustice, patience, faith, innocencie, chastity, and such other v [...]rtues. And these are the onely Altars and Sacrifices now vpon earth; for our true Altar and sacrifice is in heauen.

7. Againe, the Iewes had lampes continually burning in the Tabernacle, and afterward in the Temple, which were [Page] types of Christ, who is the true light of the world, and of theIoh. 1. 9. Matth. 5. 14. Apostles and Ministers of the Gospell, who by their doctrine and preaching conuay this light from Christ the fountaine, as it were by Conduits and Pipes, to the illuminating of the whole world: Qui [...] in candelabro (saith Gregory) nisi Redemptor Gregor. in Ezech. [...]m. 6. humani gener is designatur? Who is figured out by the candlesticke, but the Redeemer of mankinde? Hastile candelabro (saith venerable Bede) ipse qui est caput Ecclesiae debet intelligi, By Beda. the shaft of the Candlesticke, must be vnderstood, hee that is the head of the Church. And the sixe branches issuing out of the body of the Candlesticke, what are they but the Apostles and Pastours of the Church (saith Marbachius) which asMarbach. branches issue from Christ, and make but one body with the shaft, to signifie that they must conspire in preaching Christ alone, and so vnited to each other by the bond of Concord? Yet the Church of Rome retaine also this ceremonie: for they haue multitude of Lampes and Candles in their Churches burning in the day time, as if they would declare to the world, that either they beleeue that Christ is not yet come, or else that they haue not the cleare Sunne-shine of the Gospell amongst them, but the dimme Candle-light of superstition. Now that this Iewish ceremonie is vsed amongst them, not onely experience sheweth in all places, and their great solemne Candlemasle, vpon the day of the purification of the blessed Virgin: but also the decree of their owne Popes, Gregory Gregor. in Decret. Pl [...]tin. in Sabinian. the first, and Sabinian his successour: the one of which appointed certaine Lands for the maintenance of Wax-candles and Lamps in Churches, and the other ordained, Ʋt accensae Lampades perpetuò in Ecclesys retinerentur: That burning Lampes should be alwayes kept in their Churches. And that theyDurand. in Ratic. lib. 1. cap. 1. fetch their pattern [...] from the Iewes, Durand plainly acknowledgeth, when he saith, That the Church is enlightned by Gods commandement. Whereupon it is read in Exodus, Charge the children of Israel, that they offer pure oyle of oliue, that the Lamps may burne continually in the Tabernacle. It is cleare then, that this is a Iewish imitation, at least, if they had not rather bee counted to be followers of the Gentiles, then of the Iewes: [Page] amongst whom also this custome was in vse, to haue lights and Lampes continually burning in their Idoll Temples: as witnesse both Tertullian, Lactantius, & Gregory Naezianzene, Tertul. in Apr. [...]a [...]. 35. Lactant. lib. 6. cap. 62. Nazianz. in Iulian. Orat. 2. 1. Cor. 10. 20. Iud. 1. 6. 1. Ioh. 1. 5. with diuers others. Lactantius saith plainly, That they set vp lights to their God, as if he dwelt in darknesse. And so they did, for their gods whom they worshipped, were deuils, who are reserued in the chaines of darknesse, vnto the Iudgement of the great day. But our God dwelleth in light inaccessible, and he is all light, and in him is no darknesse: what neede any light or Lamps be set vp before him then? If they say, that they haue the example of the primitiue Church for their warrant. I answere, that it is true indeede, as may appeare out of all Ecclesiasticall Histories, and the Epistles of Plinie the second, to Traiane, that they had the vse of Lamps in their assemblies: but this was in their night-meetings, which they were constrained to vse in the time of persecution, not daring to assemble together by day: as is testified both by Eusebius, [...]useb. de vita Constant. lib. 4. Epiphan▪ aduers. haeres. sub finem. Tertul. quo supra. Jerom. contra Vigilant. c. 3. Epiphanius, Tertullian, &c. but neuer in the day time, till Ieromes age, when this superstition began to grow vpon the Church. So that this custome is either Heathenish or Iewish, let them chuse whether: both which are equally disgracefull to the Church of Christ.

8. So likewise they fetch the vse of their hallowed water from the Iewes, if not from the Pagans, for the Iewes hadNumb. 10. their Holy-water made of the ashes of a red Cow, whereby were purged all legall vncleannesses: so haue the Romanists their Holy-water sprinkles, to purge and clense away all the impurities of the soule. This is plaine, not onely by their practice, but also by the decree falsly fathered vpon Pope Alexander the first: but indeede of some later Pope, whichDeconsecrat. D. 3. cap. aquam sale. thus speaketh: We blesse water mingled with salt, that all being sprinkled therewith, may be sanctified and purified, which wee enioyne all Priests to doe: for if the ashes of a Cow being sprinkled, did sanctifie and clense the people of the Iewes, then much more doth water mixed with salt, and consecrated by diuine prayers, sanctifie and clense Christian people. Which consequence how vaine and impious it is, who seeth not? Vaine, I say, for the [Page] Leuiticall Holy-water did onely clense from outward vncleannesses, but the Romish by their doctrine doth purge the soule from spirituall pollutions. Impious, for the Scripture saith, that it is the bloud of Christ that purgeth vs from all 1. Ioh. 1. 7. our sinnes, and not water mingled with salt: and it maketh the comparison not betwixt the ashes of an Heyser and Holywater,Heb. 9. 13. 14. water, but betwixt it and the bloud of Christ. This imitation then is both vaine and impious, if it bee of the Iewes: and more, if it be of the Gentiles: for what agreement hath the2. Cor. 6. 16. Iustin Martyr in Apolog. 1. Temple of God with Idols? And yet so it is also: for Iustine Martyr telleth vs, that the deuils, when they heard out of the Prophets of the spirituall washing that should be in the Kingdome of Christ, in an apish resemblance caused his worshippers to purge themselues by the sprinkling of hallowed water. And Theodoret, Theodoret hist. lib. 3. [...]. 14. 15. that Iulian the Apostate commanded their bread, flesh, fruits, and all other kind of victuals, to be purged (as he supposed) by holy-water: and that Ʋalentinian his Tribune, who succeeded him in the Empire, when Fortunes Priest sprinkled him with holy-water, strooke the Priest with his fist, saying, Thou hast not clensed, but defiled me. Hipocrates also the PhysicianHypocrates de morb [...] sacr [...]. doth witnesse the same, when he saith, that entring into their Temples, they were sprinkled, not that they might be defiled: but that if they had any sinne, they might be purged from it. Thus it plainely appeareth, that this was a Heathenish custome; which how it can agree with the Church of Christ, I know not; sure I am, that in the Primitiue Church there was no holy-water besides the water of Baptisme, that can be proued by any good authority; for the testimonies of Alexander the [...]el. de verbo Dei non scripto. lib. 4. cap. 3. [...]useb. de spiritu Sancto. cap. 27. Eras. in Basil. first, Clement and Basil alledged by Bellarmine, are all counterfeit, as partly the matter in them contayned, and partly the censure of Eusebius and Erasmus doe sufficiently proue, and might here bee demonstrated, if I thought it necessary: neither doth it agree with the nature of those times, to the which S. Iohn so lately before had left this doctrine, that the onely purgation of sinne was the bloud of Christ; and not holy-water consecrated by a Priest.

9. In like manner, their vse of Incense on their Altars to driue away deuils (as they say) doth sauour both of Iudaisme [Page] and of Paganisme. That the Iewes vsed to burne Incense inPolyd. Virgil, de Jnuent. li. 5. c. 1. Innocent. 3. de offic. Miss. lib. 2. cap. 17. Exod. 30. 1. Psal. 141. 2. Reuel. 8. 2. sacrifice to God, is no question, for they had their Altar of burnt Incense appoynted by God himselfe for that purpose: & this Altar (without question) was a type of Christ our Mediatour, and the incense of the prayers of the Saints, which are then acceptable vnto God, when they are offered vp in the name of Christ, who is the Altar that sanctifieth all our sacrifices. This is so euident, not only out of holy Scripture, but frō the full consent of all Writers old & new, that it is needles to stand to prooue it. And therefore offering of Incense being a shadow of things to come, why should it still remaine, seeing the Sunne of righteousnesse is risen in our Horizon, and hath [...]ispelled all shadowes by the glorious beames of his presence? As touching the Pagans, Polydore Virgil confesseth, that it was their custome to offer Incense to their Idols.Polyd. Virgil de Inuent. li. 5. c. 1. Theod. li. 3. c. 15. & 16. And Theodoret affirmeth, that when Iulian distributed gold amongst his Souldiers, hee commanded an Altar full of coales to bee set by him, and Frankincense to bee layd on a Table, to the end that euery one would recieue gold at his hand, should first cast Frankincense vpon the Altar: and this hee did to distinguish the Pagan from the Christian. By which it is euident (by the way) that at that time this was not in vse in the Church. This Iewish and Paganish custome then, how commeth it to passe, that it should now bee taken vp as a holy seruice of God? Are not all Iewish Ceremonies at an end by the cōming of the body which is Christ? And is it fit that Christians should learne to worship God frō the Gentiles, which were worshippers of deuils? These things are so dissonant to the nature of true Religion, that they admitArnob. l. 6. & li. 7. page 226. Euseb. in orat. ad Sancta. Coelum. no iust reconciliation. Sure it is, that the Primitiue Church neuer knew the vse therof, as appeareth both by that Example of Iulian before alleaged out of Theodoret, and also by testimonies of Arnobius, Eusebius, and Augustine: all which acknowledge that the Church in their time had no [...]n Psal. 49. & 50. such custome. We go [...] [...]into Arabia (saith Saint Augustine) to fetch Frankincense, God requireth of vs the sacrifice of praise. As for the auncient Leiturgies and Dionisius, that mention it in Gods seruice, wee care not for them, seeing all men either [Page] vehemently suspect them, or vtterly reiect them as counterfeit.

10. Againe, the Iewes had their holy oyle wherewith their Kings, Priests, and Prophets were anoynted, which was a type and figure of that spirituall vnction of grace, wherewithPsal. 45. 7. Iohn 3. 34. 1. Ioh. 2 27. Christ our head was anoynted aboue his fellowes, and all his members in a due proportion. The Church of Rome hath also reuiued this Ceremonie, and that after a farre more superstitious manner: for there was not halfe such a stirre at the making of the holy oyle of the Tabernacle, as there is at the consecrating of their holy Chrisme: it would euen prouokeGallas. the spleene to laughter, and the gall to bitternesse, to heare or behold the apish trickes that they vse at the making of their precious Chrisme: such muttering, such charming and enchanting, such blowing and breathing, such exorcising and coniuring the deuill, by the mitted Bishop first, and then twelue Priests in their order, before they come to Aue Sanctum Chrisma, All haile O holy Chrisme, as is wonderfull. What is this, I pray you, but a profest restoring of a Iewish Ceremony, and a plaine declaration that their Priests are rather Iewish than Christian? and that those graces of Gods spirit, which were figured by their holy oyle, are not to bee found in cheir Church, seeing they retaine so superstitiously the type thereof? If they say that Saint Iames mentioneth oyle to bee vsed at the visitation of the sicke, whereby they recouered health: I answer, first, that this was no such consecrated oyle as is in vse in the Church of Rome: and secondly, that it was applyed onely to the sicke that were in danger of death, not to young Infants that are new come into the world, at their baptisme: thirdly, that it was not an instrument of spirituall grace, but of corporall health: and lastly, that it lasted onely during the time that miracles liued in the Church, and dyed when they dyed: so that Saint Iames his oyle maketh nothing for the maintenance of the Romish Chrisme: and therefore I leaue it vnto them as a meere Iewish superstition.

11. Lastly doth not the high Priest of Rome imitate the high [Page] Priest of the Iewes in his Pontificall garments? are not their Fryers and Anchorites [...]p [...]sh counterfeiters of the Leuiticall Nazarites? doth not their Iubile both in name and nature represent the Iewish Iubile? no man that knoweth the one, and seeth the other, but will confesse this to be true: for Aaron wore a Crowne vpon his head, to signifie the Kingly power of Christ: the Bishop of Rome hath three Crownes, to signifie (forsooth) his threefold power in Heauen, Earth, and Purgatory. Or as Aretine iested, one for the flesh, another for the world, and the third for the deuill, and none for God. Aaron had a plate on his Crowne, wherin was engrauen Holinesse Auent. to the Lord. The Bishop of Rome vsed to weare a plate on his head, wherein was written the word Mysterie, as if he would professe himselfe to be the vpholder of that mystery of iniquitie spoken of by the Apostle. Aaron had his Ephod2. Thes. 2. 7. and Robe: the Bishop of Rome hath answerable therevnto his rich Pontificall attire, which in many resemblances is like vnto the same: yea, the Romanists doe plainely Iudaize in bringing in againe into the Priestly order such variety of garments, as the Pall, the Miter, the Crozier-staffe, the Albe, the Chimere, the gray Amice, the S [...]oale, with such like. Insomuch, that when their Bishops come forth to doe diuine seruice, a man would thinke that he saw Aaron addressed with his attire to sacrifice at the Altar.

12. As touching their Fryers and Anchorites, how like are they to the Nazarites of the Law: the Nazarites might not drinke wine nor strong drinke: no more may diuers of the religious shauelings by the rules of their order. They were tyed by a vowe which they might not breake without sinne: so are these at their first entrance into their Cloysters and Cels; and that so strictly, that they account it a greater sinne to violate that vow of voluntary Religion, then the vowe that they haue made to God in their baptisme: and therefore they hold it a lesse sinne to commit fornication, which they haue vowed against in baptisme; then to marrie, which they made vowe against when they tooke vpon them the religious order, as hath beene prooued in the former reason. [Page] They might not meddle with worldly affaires, during the time of their separation; no more may some of these Romish votaries, they may not so much as handle money (forsooth) with their bare hands; but with Gloues on, they will receiue as much as they can lay their clouches on: and euen whilst they thus seeme to contemne riches, they spread their nets to draw whole Townes and Countries into their possessions. Onely in this the Nazarites and they differ: they were true worshippers of God, and their order was Gods ordinance: these are monstrous hypocrites, hidden vnder the cloke of Religion, neither are their orders of God, but as Chaucer long agoe sung, The deuils excrements.

13. Lastly, for their Iubile ordained first by Boniface the eight, to bee euery hundreth yeere, after brought downe by Clement the sixt to euery fifty yeere: and after that by to euery three and thirtith yeere; and lastly, by to euery fiue & twentith yeere, where it resteth. What is it but a renouation of that Iewish ceremonie, which was instituted by God, to signifie that euerlasting happinesse and ioy, which was brought into the world by Christ our Sauiour? The Trumpetters whereof were first the Prophets, as Esay for example, who in the person ofEsay 61. 1. Christ proclaimed good tidings to the poore, healing to the broken hearted, liberty to the Captiues, and redemption to the Prisoners▪ the acceptable yeere of the Lord, &c. Secondly, the Angels who professed, that they brought glad tidings of great ioy that should bee to all people, at the birth of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. And lastly the Apostles, who when theyLuke 2. 10. 11. began to preach the Gospell, proclaimed this great Iubile to all the world that should beleeue in Christ, [...]o continue not a yeere, but for euer and euer. To imitate this ceremony then, what is it, but with the Iewes to expect the Messias to come in the flesh, and to disclaime the glad tydings of the Gospell, as a false message, deceiuing the world? This is so Iewish a superstition, as the very name, time, and vse, declare that nothing can be more.

14. Thus wee see, how in the imitation of the Leuiticall [Page] ceremonies, the Church of Rome goeth in equipage with the Synagogue of the Iewes: from whence may be deduced these two conclusions. First, that the light of the Gospell is either vtterly extinguished, or at least very dimly shining amongst them: for it is a true rule, the more shadow, the lesse light; and the more light, the lesse shadow: and therefore those Northerne people called by the Philosophers Amphisei [...], because their shadow goeth round about them in a circle, haue the Sunne so farre remote from them, that they are scarce refreshed with the beames thereof: but they which haue the Sunne perpendicularly ouer them, are Ascij, without shadow. And what is the night, but the darke shadow of the earth, and the day, but the remouing of that shadow by the comming of the Sunne? The Church of Rome then being thus enwrapped, and compassed about with the superstitious shadowes of Iewish ceremonies, plainly declareth, that either the Sunne is not risen amongst them, or that it is very farre off, euen in the skirts of their Horizon. Secondly, that their Church is not as they bragge of it, the onely Catholick Church, but rather the whore of Babilon, for her attire bewrayeth her condition: a chast Matrone is attired decently, but not garishly, but a strumpet like Iezabel, sets forth her selfe with garish deckings, and a painted face to allure louers vnto her: the Romish congregation then being thus adorned, not like a chast Matrone, but like a light Harlot, with the garish attire of Iewish ceremonies, all in pompe and ostentation, discouereth her selfe not to be the Spouse of Christ, but the strumpet of Antichrist. And so I conclude the first part of this argument, that seeing one piece of the Iewes enmitie to Christ, consisteth in retayning the Leuiticall ceremonies, which had their accomplishment in Christ: therefore to imitate them in this respect, is a plaine demonstration, that their Religion is not from Christ, but from Antichrist, his profest enemie.

15. The second point wherein they imitate the Iewes, is farre worse then the former: for it is in their Rabbinish and Cabalisticall traditions, which as they are most grosse corruptions of the law, so are they the foulest enemies to the Gospell [Page] of Iesus Christ that the world hath. I will not stand to reckon vp the foolish & ridiculous niceties of the brainsick Rabbines, wherewith the ignorant Iewes are at this day besotted, and which are as a veyle ouer their eyes, to hinder them from seeing the truth. I remit the Reader for these things to Buxdorfius, Buxdorf▪ Synag. Iudaic▪ Paul. Fag. Sixt. Senens. Bibliot. lib. 2. Galat. de Arcanis. Paulus Fagius, Sixtus Senensis, and Galatinus: my taske is to shew, how the Church of Rome imitateth them in many of these their absurd fancies, which will proue their Religion to be little better then theirs.

16 First, the Iewes hold, that Moses receiued two lawes of God in mount Sinai; the one written, and the other vnwritten: this latter they call their Cabala, and they say, that Moses by word of mouth commended it to Ioshua, and Ioshua to the Elders of Israel, and they to the Prophets, and they againe vnto the Masters of the great Synagogue vnder Esdras, from whom their wisemen called Cachamim successiuely receiued it, and in this they glory, calling it the ioy of their hearts, and the refreshing of their bones. This vnwritten Cabala, was at the first preserued onely in the hearts of their great Cachamim or learned Masters, and deliuered by them to the people by mouth onely: afterward it began by little and little to be commended to writing, and was at the first called Mischua, that is, the law repeated, after the Thalmud of Ierusalem: and lastly, the Thalmud of Babylon, which is the most sacred Scripture, by which the Iewes are gouerned and directed at this day, and which they preferre before the law written: for the law written (say they) can neither be vnderstood, nor expounded without the helpe of this, neither is perfect, vnlesse this bee added to it. Thus dote the Iewes vpon their Thalmud and Cabala.

17. And doe not the Romanists dote as much about their vnwritten traditions? heare and iudge: first, with them theyConcil. Trident▪ Bellarm. de [...]erbo. Coster Enchir. deuide the word of God into verbum [...] and [...], written and vnwritten: their vnwritten word is nothing but orall Traditions, deliuered (as they say) by Christ himselfe to his Apostles alone, and not to his common Disciples, because it contayned the high mysteries of the Kingdome of God, and [Page] by them conuayed to their successours, Bishops and Elders of the Church. Secondly, they affirme also with them, that these orall Traditions are of equall authority and necessity with the word written, yea, that the word written is of no authority at all, quoadnos, in respect of vs, except it bee authorized by the tradition of the Church. And thirdly, they teach that the word written is imperfect, vnlesse the vnwritten Cabala bee added vnto it, and that, not one alone, but both together make a perfect rule both for faith and manners. Doe they not now Iudaize in all these points? Yes, the Romish Apologers, to proue their doctrine of traditions, fetch an argument from the Iewes Cabala, as may bee seene in a late tractate, falsly called the Catholike Apologie: which is so much the more strange, because their own Sixtus Senensis professeth, that the Iewish Thalmud is fraught with innumerable Sixt. Senens. Biblioth. lib. 2. blasphemies against God and his Christ our Sauiour, and impieties against the law of Moses, besides other infinite fopperies. Is not this then a good patterne for them to imitate? and is it not a sound argument that is deduced from such premises? Surely their traditions which they build all their superstition vpon, thus symbolizing with the Iewish Cabala, can be of no better credit then it is: and what credit that hath, not onely their Senensis before, b [...]t Galatinus, another stout champion of theirs acknowledgeth, when he saith, that it is mere madnesse to approue all their vnwritten traditions, Galat. de arcan. v [...]rit. Cathol. l. 1. c. 7. which they bragge to haue beene deliuered in mount Sinai, and from thence orderly to haue descended to posterity. Now that which he speaketh of the Iewes Cabala, may as truly be affirmed of the Romish traditions: let them therefore goe arme in arme together, since they will needes haue it so, [...] ioynt enemies to Christian Religion.

18. Againe, the Iewes ascribe so much credit and faith to their Cachamim or illumined Doctors, that whatsoeuer they teach, be it right or wrong, they must not enquire into the truth thereof, but receiue it as an article of their Creed, and build their faith and saluation thereupon. Thus writeth one of their owne Rabbines, to wit, Rabbi Isaac, that died in Portugall, [Page] Anno 1493. Wee are bound (saith he) to giue no lesse Rabbi Isaac Abbu [...]ah. li. Menoras ha [...]aer▪ pa. 23. col. 1. credit to euery Rabbine in their sermons, and mysticall or allegoricall explications, then vnto the Law of Moses it selfe: and if there be found in their words any thing hyperbolicall, or contrary to nature and sence, we must ascribe the fault thereof to our owne defectiue vnderstanding, and not vnto their words. And the same is the doctrine of their Thalmud. Their speeches (saith it) are Thalmud. tract. de Sab. c. 2. p. 30. the speeches of the liuing God, neither doth one word of theirs fall to the ground in vaine: and therefore we are bound to beleeue all things whatsoeuer are written of them, or in their name, for it is the truth: neither must any man laugh at them, neither in his countenance, nor in his heart, for whosoeuer shall doe so, shall not escape punishment: and his punishment (they say) shall be this, that he shall be tormented in hell, in boyling excrements. AndLib. Brandspiegelium. in another Booke the Iewes are commanded to say, Amen, not onely to their Prayers, but also to all their Sermons and allē goricall expositions. Yea, if two Rabbines contend and contradict Thalmud. each other, yet they are bound to beleeue both of them, because the words both of the one and the other, are the words of the liuing God, though they vnderstand not each other. And in a word, so great is their madnesse, that they are not ashamedLuther in victo. contra Iud. 107. Rab. Solom. Ia [...]d. in cap. 17. Deut. vers. [...]1. Burd. synag. Iud. ca. 1. pa. 66. to say, That the words of their Rabbines are more to be regarded then the words of Moses law, and that if they teach that the right hand is the left, and the left the right, yet they are bound to beleeue them.

19. And is not the Church of Rome paralell to them in this case? I will not condemne them, but let their owne words be their Iudges. Thus write the Rhemists in their AnnotationsRhem. Annot. in Acts 17. 11. vpon Acts 17. 11. The hearers must not try and iudge whether their Teachers doctrine be true or no, neither may they reiect H [...]s. de expresso verbo Dei. Andrad. defend. Trid. lib. 2. Bell. de verbo Dei interpret. lib. 3. ca. 8. & 9. that which they find not in Scripture. The same is the tenent of Cardinall Hosius, Andradius, and all other of that stampe: Bellarmine affirmeth, that the people must beleeue what soeuer their Passors teach, except they broach somenew doctrine, which hath not beene heard of in the Church before: and if they do so, yet they must not Iudge of them, but referre them to the definitiue sentence of the Pope; to the which they must yeeld full consent [Page] without further examination. Yea, he impudently concludeth in another place, That if their ordinary Pastor teach falshood, Idem de Clericis lib. [...]. cap. 7. & another that is not their Pastor teach the contrary truth, yet the people ought to follow their Pastor erring, rather then the other, telling the truth. And another blasphemous Cardinall giueth a reason thereof; Because (saith he) if a man did not beleeue that Card. Sanct. Angel. ad leg. Bohē. Christ is very God and man, and the Pope thought the same, hee should not be condēned. For (saith a third Cardinal) the iudgement Io. de Tur [...]ecremat. sum. de Eccles. li. 2. ca. 26. of the Pope is the iudgement of God, and his sentence the sentence of God. As if the Iudgement and sentence of God could bee erronious, which the first Cardinall supposeth concerning the Pope: or as if the Popes sentence, being erronious, could be the sentence of God, as the second affirmeth. Obserue their blasphemous absurdities. Siluester Prierias concludeth thisSiluest. Prierias contra Luther. poynt, when hee sayth, That whosoeuer resteth not on the doctrine of the Romane Church, and Bishop of Rome, as the infallible rule of God, is an Heretike. And the Canonists sticke notR. Cupers de Eccles. to say, that the Pope is subiect to no law, but that his iudgement is in stead of law, and that his actions are not to bee enquiredExtrau. de translat. Episcop. & de praebend. into: neither may a man say vnto him, though hee lead thousand soules into hell with him; Sir, why doe you thus? and that it is not better then sacriledge to call in question the Popes fact, or to iudge of his actions. Thus an insallibility of iudgement, and an impossibility of erring is ascribed vnto the Bishop of Rome▪ so that whatsoeuer hee propoundeth, bee it right or wrong, must bee receiued vpon paine of damnation. Neither is it ascribed onely vnto him the worlds high Priest, but also to their Councills and inferiour Pastors, animated by his spirit, whose doctrine is to be heard, and not examined, Bell. vt supra. Nauar. [...]chir. in I. praecept. c. II as they teach. And therefore it is esteemed a great sin amongst them, for a man to make question of any doctrine brought vnto them by any Romish Iesuite, Fryer, or Priest: & when at any time they are conferred withall about their Religion, presently, not being able to answer, their refuge is to referre vs ouer to their Priests; of whose learning and iudgement they haue such a perswasion, that though Scripture and reason be against them; yet their opinions preuaile more with [Page] them, then either of these. So, that hence it is most euident, that as the Iewes are bound to beleeue all that their Cachamim teach, and not to stand to examine what it is that they teach: so the Romanists are bound by their Religion to entertaine into their Creed, whatsoeuer is taught them by their ordinary Pastours, without all enquirie and search into their doctrines, whether they bee true or false. And as this is one chiese cause of the Iewes obstinacie against Christian Religion: so is it also of that miserable superstition which raigneth in the Church of Rome: for if the people were but perswaded, that their learned Doctours might erre and deceiue, they would certainely suspect their doctrines, and try them by the touchstone of the holy Scriptures, and so at length might be reclaimed from their errours: thus they march together in this point also.

20. Againe, the Romanists are like vnto the Iewes in their doctrine and practice of praying for the dead: for they hold and teach, that prayer & sacrifice is to be offered for the dead, grounding their opinion partly vpon the example of Iudas Maccabeus, who as they affirme, procured sacrifice to bee2. Maccab. 12. 40. 41. 42. 43. offered by the Priests, for the dead that had trespassed by taking to themselues the idolatrous iewels of the Iamnites, and partly vpon the Thalmudical traditions of diuers of their ancient Rabbines: but they haue no ground nor warrant for the same in the word of God: for as concerning the bookes of the Maccabees, they themselues acknowledge that they are not Canonicall Scripture: and for the Scripture, we finde no such precept or example in the whole volume of the olde and new Testament: neither is it likely that God would haue omitted in the law that kinde of sacrifice for the soules of men, where he prescribeth sinne-offerings for bodily pollutions, and euery light trespasse, if he had thought it necessarie. That this is the opinion and practice of the Iewes, their practiceMinhagim pag. 12. Orach. [...]aij in Nu. 28. Brandspiegelium. at this day beareth witnesse: for they vse to say ouer the dead bodies a certaine prayer called Kaddish, by the vertue whereof (as they thinke) they are deliuered out of Purgatory; especially if it bee said by the sonne for his father, and if hee [Page] haue no sonne, by the whole Congregation on their Sabboth dayes. And that this also is the doctrine and vsage of the Church of Rome, besides their Bookes, their Masses for the quicke and the dead, their Diriges and Trentals doe sufficiently testifie: And that they fetch this custome from the Iewes, may appeare by two reasons: first, because one mayne argument of theirs, which they call a demonstration to proue the lawfulnesse hereof, is deriued from the example of the Iewes; as we may see both in Galatinus, Coccius, and our lateGalat. de secret. Cathol. fid. Coccius Thesaur. Cathol. fid. Apolog. Cathol. fid. Bredenbach. de diss. componend. English Apologists. And secondly, because as it is confessed by their owne Bredenbachius, it is not found in all the writings of the Apostles and Euangelists in the new Testament, and we may adde hereunto, neither in the olde, vnlesse by distorted and misalledged texts, which are not worth the answering: except onely that fore-named passage of the Maccabees, which notwithstanding is corrupted both by the Translatour, and also the Relatour Iason Cyreneus, as is vnanswerably proued by our famous Country-man, Doctour Reynolds: Reynold. de Idololat. l. 1. c. 5. sect. 8. & 9. the word (Dead) being cogged into the Text by some cunning Iuggler, which is not in the Originall, wherein lyeth the pith of the argument. And therefore it must needes follow, that the Romanists doe merely Iudaize herein. And for the Fathers which they alledge for the proofe of this article, let their owne Cassander giue satisfaction: who affirmeth,Cassand. consult. art. 24. that the ancient Church vsed prayers for the dead, either as thankfull congratulations for their present ioyes, or esse as restimonies of their hope, and desire of their future resurrection, and consummate blessednes both in their bodies and soules: and this hee proueth out of Cyprian, Augustine, Epiphanius, Chrysostome, and ancient Leiturgies.

21. Againe, they Iudaize in their doctrines of Limbus Patrum, and Purgatorie: for Purgatorie▪ it hath beene alreadie touched in the former section, and for Limbus Patrum, it isGalatin. Apolog. Cathol fid. Ecclesi▪ 24. 37. [...]tak contra D [...]. l. 8. p. 5 [...]7. co [...]sessed by our aduersaries themselues, that it is the tenent of the Iewish Rabbines, warranted (as they say) onely by a Text in Ecclefiasticus; which being both corrupted in the translation, as our worthy Champion Doctour Whitaker hath [Page] proued: and being also no part of Canonicall Scripture, doth plainely shew, that it is a mere Rabbinish conceit, hatched in their brainsick Thalmud, and not bred in holy writ. Yet our Romanists lay fast hold on the same opinion, without any other certaine ground to build it vpon. For as touching the places of Scripture collected by them, to proue this assertion, they are either so impertinent or distorted, that the meanest iudgement may easily discry their weaknesse: for either they are deriued from a word of an ambiguous signification, asBel. de Christi anima. l. 4. [...]. 10. [...] in the speach of Iacob, Gen. 37. 35. which signifieth sometimes the graue, and sometimes hell, by the confession of their great Bellarmine, or from a Parable, as that place in Luke 16. concerning Abrahams bosome, confessed by Maldonate Maldonat. in hunc locum. to be parabolicall, because bodies are not yet tormented in hell: but here is mention of a finger and a tongue: or from an allegorie, as is that place of Zacharie 9. 11. where is mention made of loosing Prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water, which both Salmeron and Bellarmine acknowledge to makeSalmer. in 1. Cor. 15. disp. 26. Bel. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 3. more for Purgatory then for Limbus, but in truth for neither: it signifying literally nothing else, but the deliuerance of the Israelites out of the Babylonish captiuity, and tipically the redemption of the Elect from the bondage of Sathan and hell, which they are liable vnto: or lastly, are merely impertinent, as those places, Heb. 11. 39. 4. 1. Reg. 28. 1. Pet. 3. 19: the first,Ribera coment. in hunc locum▪ whereof intendeth the consummate and perfect blessednesse of body and soule, which the Fathers had not attayned vnto. The second meaneth not the true Samuel, but the deuill in hisAugust. de octo Dulcit▪ quaestion. shape and likenesse: and the third is to bee referred, not to Christs d [...]scension into hell, but to the operation of his Diuinitie, which he exercised from the beginning of the world, preaching by the mouthes of iust men, as both S. Augustine Idem. Epistol. ad [...]umod [...]um. and Aquinas expound the place. How can any sound conclusion now be drawne from Texts that are either equiuocall,Aquin. part. 3. q. 52. art. adsecund. or allegoricall, or parabolicall, or impertinent, and all by their owne confessions? Therefore it must needes follow, that seeing this doctrine hath no sure foundation in Gods word, but is founded vpon the Iewes prophane Thalmud, that it [Page] is no better then a mere Rabbinish conceit.

22. Againe, they ioyne hands with the Iewes in their doctrines of Free-will, inuocation of Angels and Saints, and merite of good workes: all which the moderne Rabbines hold as articles of their Creed, deriuing them from their predecessours the Pharises that went before them. Petrus Galatinus thatGala. de Arno. Cathol. v [...]nt. lib. 6. ca. 6. Rabbinish Romanist, reckoneth vp a number of them that were all Patrons of Free-will, and not as it is set free by grace, (for so we hold that a man hath free-will to good) but euen by nature before grace, as the Romanists hold. And so also of Inuocation of Saints, some of them affirming that the pureFlau. Ioseph de Bell. Iud. lib. 3. cap. 14. Rabb. Abraham in Gen. 22. Li. praecat. Iuda. soules which heare them that pray vnto them, haue a place in heauen. Others, that the Iewes vsed to interpose in their prayers betwixt them and God, Isaac, as an intercessour. Others, that prayers are to be made to Angels, to open the gates of Paradise, and to appease Gods wrath. And lastly, the RomanistsApol. Cathol. themselues affirme, that when our Sauiour cryed out on the Crosse, Eli, Eli, &c. the Iewes would neuer haue supposed that he had called for Elias, had it not been an vsuall practice amongst them to call vpon the Saints departed. Lastly, touchingBuxduorf. synag. Iudaic. the merite of worke, the Iewes teach, that God once euery yere, to wit, in the moneth of September, at what time he created the world, calleth all mens liues to an account for the yeare past, and openeth three Bookes, one wherein are written the names of notorious sinners and Atheists, called The Booke of Death: another, in which are enrolled the names of iust and holy men, called The Booke of Life: and a third, for such as are in a meane betwixt both, neither exceeding bad, nor exceeding good, but of a mixt disposition, and these haue respite giuen them till the day of reconciliation to repent in, which is the tenth day of the same month; at which time if their good doth exceed their euill, then it goeth well with them; but if their euill exceed their good, then they are registred presently in the Booke of Death. And lest GOD should be deceiued, they say, that he holdes in his hand a ballance, into one skale whereof he puts their good workes, and into the other their euill deeds, that he may measure out his [Page] rewards according to the weight of the one or the other. How ridiculous a fable is this? Much like vnto the Poeticall fiction of Min [...]s, Aea [...]us, and Radamanthus, the three Iudges of hell, whome the Poets faine to sit there, weighing the soules of men, and giuing sentence vpon them according to their poyse and weight. By this it appeareth, that the foolish Rabbines maintained free-will, inuocated Saints and Angels, and esteemed their workes meritorious: All which are the very opinions of the Church of Rome, beleeued and practised of all the professours of that Religion: which is so much the more absurd, because they themselues confesse in speciall, concerning the doctrine of InuocationSuarez tom. 2. in 3. part. Thom. q. 52. art. 1. disp. 42 of Saints, that it was not taught vnto the people of the olde Testament for feare of Idolatry, nor at the first preaching of the Gospell, for feare it should seeme vnto them a hard and harsh doctrine: and in generall, that it is madnesse to relye our faith vpon the Iewish Thalmud, seeing the Thalmudicall Writers are full of impieties and blasphemies, and thereforeSixt. Senens. biblioth. Sac. lib. 2. § tradit. haue not onely been prohibited to be read, but also condemned to the fire by diuers of their owne Popes: all which notwithstanding, our Romish Rabbies fetch a demonstration for the maintenance of these doctrines, from the example and practice of the Iewes.

23. In like manner the Iewes had those that professed a monasticall and single life, which were called Essaeans, fromSigor. de repub. hebraic. l. 5. c. 11. the Greeke word [...] that is, Saints or holy men, as some suppose, because ( [...]orsooth) they tooke vpon them to be more holy then others; and therefore would not offer sacrifice with the people, because they thought them not so holy as themselues. And these, as Iosephus and Philo testifie, professed continency from marriage, community in goods, and abstinence from meats, not by any warrant out of Gods word, but onely by the authority of their vnwritten traditions. And doe not the Romanists imitate them in the same kind? What are their Monkish Votaries but Apes of the Iewish Essaeans? And what is their Monasticall profession▪ but a pretence of a state of rare holinesse and perfection? They [Page] vow chastitie in single life, and abhorre marriage as a state of pollution: they abstaine from meates, and professe voluntary pouerty, with a community of goods: and all this they do, that they may seeme more holy then others, and merite heauen by their holinesse, hauing withall answerable vnto them, nothing but tradition for their warrantize, without either sound precept or true example out of holy Scripture. For, grant that their Euangelicall Councils are such as they would haue them to be, and that vowes in Christianity are lawfull: yet it is certaine that the authority of Councils, and the lawfulnesse of vowes doe neither warrant nor allow their superstitious and idle monkery, nor the blasphemous opinion ofBell. de Monac. lib. 2. cap. 6. merite, which they ascribe vnto such voluntary deuotions, nor yet the necessity of irreuocation, though by the frailty of mans nature there be an impossibility of performance. And so both in substance and circumstance they want the authority of gods word to vphold them. Let then the Iewish Essaeans, and the Romish Monks, walke together, as in one path of superstition, so vnder one cloake of hypocrisie: for that which Sigonius affirmeth of the one, that they were by Nation, Sigon. de Repub. hebrai [...]. li. 5. c. 11 Iewes; and by manners hypocrites, we may truely confirme of the other, that they are Christians by profession, but hypocrites by conuersation. And as those Essaeans did farre degenerate from the ancient Nazarites and Rechabites, whome they pretended for their patterns: so these doe as farre and more from those ancient Monkes that liued in former ages of the Church, as is vnanswerably demonstrated by many of the learned Champions of our Church, especially DoctourD. Mort. protest. App li. 1. c. 2. 38. [...] way to the true Church. [...]g. 45 Mort [...]n, and Doctour White: to whome I referre the Reader for fuller resolution in this poynt.

24. The Iewish Rabbines also taught, that the damned soules in hell and Purgatory had some refreshing and rest vpon euery Sabboth day, assoone as a certaine prayer was chanted out by them with sweet melodie: and therefore, that on [...]. 14. euery Friday at night there is a great shout in hell for ioy of the ensuing Sabboth, and on their Sabboth day at night a dolefull crye for griefe of their returne to their paines. Thus [Page] the Rabbines doted: And do not our Romish Rabbines dote in like manner? They also teach, that the damned soules haue some refreshment and ease vpon the Sabboth day: as in theLegend. Sancti Brandonis. legend of S. Brandon it is written, how that holy Abbotfound Iudas the Traytour sitting vpon a stone in a certaine Island, and demanding of him what he was, and why heesate in that place: he answered, that vpon euery Saturday at noone, vntill after Euensong vpon Sunday, he was suffered to sit there out of the hellish torments, to be refreshed and comforted during the Sabboth: Now if Iudas found this fauour, must wee not thinke that all other obtaine the like?

25. The Iewish Rabbines deuise strange tales of walkingo ghosts, for the vpholding of the walls of Purgatorie, as that Rabbi Akiba should meet once in the way, a man with a heauie burden of stickes on his backe, who vpon examinationBuxdorf synag. Judaic. confessed, that hee was a Purgatorie Ghost, carrying such a bundle of stickes euery day to burne himselfe: and that the Rabbi finding out his sonne, taught him to say the prayer called Kaddisch, which was so effectuall, that in a dreame this ghost returned to the Rabbi, with thanks for his deliuery, and said, that hee was now in Gan Eden or Paradise, and no longer in Purgatory. This and such like tales they tell for their Purgatorie: wherein the Romanists may behold their face as it were in a glasse: for are not their Bookes and Legends full stuft with such trash? is not this article of their Religion maintayned by this argument? are not the mindes of the vulgar possessed with such fearefull fables? I will not stand to shew how full of falshood these narrations are, nor how contrary to the ancient doctrine of the chiefest Fathers, and Primitiue Church; (that shall bee discouered in a more proper place) onely I shew how poore Purgatorie, both with Iewes and Romanists, is vpholden by walking ghosts, or else it would fall to the ground.

26. The Iewish Rabbines teach their people, to confesse one to another their sins the day before their feast of reconciliation, which is the tenth day of the month Tisri or September and that in a secret place of the Synagogue; where each [Page] receiueth mutually at his fellowes hand with a lether belt 39. blowes, and at each blow the party beaten beates themselues on the brest, and saith one word of his confession, taken out of the 78. Psalme and 13. verse: then the striker lyeth down [...], and receiueth like penance at the hands of the former: this done, they runne home, and make merry with the Cocks and Hennes of reconciliation, supping largely because of the next dayes fast. Now doe not our Romanists imitate them in this May▪game of confession, and hypocriticall penance? They must also confesse their sinnes in secret, and receiue a short penance for their long sinnes, and that once a yeere principally: with a certaine perswasion of meriting thereby remission of their sinnes, and when they haue done, doe they not returne, like the dogge to the vomit, to their old courses? If a man shall obserue them well, and compare their practices together, hee shall easily perceiue, how both of them alike turne that seuere discipline of the Church which they bragge so much of, into a mere mockage and pastime.

27. The Iewish Rabbines looke for Elias the great Prophet, to come before their long expected Messias. And doc not our Romish Rabbines tell vs that Elias must come before the second comming of Christ? they are both alike in this erronious conceit, saue that the Romanists erre worse then the Iewes, for that they will haue Elias to bee the fore-runner of Christs second cōming, whereas the Iewes expect him, according to the prophecy of Malachy, together with our SauioursMalach 45. Matth. 11. 14. application thereof, before the first comming of their Messias.

28. The Iewish Rabbines imagined, that euery one had attending vpon him two Angels, one good and another bad, the one to protect and blesse him, if hee behaued himselfe deuoutly and reuerently in Gods scruice; the other to curse and afflict him, if hee found him failing in his duty. Our Romish Rabbines teach the fame doctrine, as if all the Angels were not ministring spirits, for the good of them which are heires of saluation: and as if a man had but one cuill spirit to tempt and [...]nn [...]y him, whereas in one man there were found a wholeL [...]ke [...] [...]. L [...]ke [...]. [...]. legion, and in one woman seuen deuils at once, as wee finde [Page] recorded in the historie of the Gospell.

29. The Iewish Rabbines taught that those shall be more seuerely punished, who should violate the precepts of their Scribes, then they that should transgresse the law of Moses: and doe not our Romish Rabbines affirme the same in effect, when they impose a greater punishment vpon the breach of one of their traditionall decrees, then if a man'breake the precepts of Gods law? as for example, if a man eate flesh in Lent, or after a vow marrie a wife, then if hee commit adulterie or breake the Sabboth?

30. The Iewish Rabbines perswade the silly people, that they are the onely Elect people of God, who easily can keepe not the Decalogue or tenne Commandements alone, but the whole law of Moses: and therefore that the law consisting of sixe hundred and thirteene Commandements, wherof three hundred, threescore and fiue are prohibitions, as many as are dayes in a yeere or veynes in a mans body, and two hundred, forty and eight commanding precepts, iust so many as a man hath members in his body; if euery member of a man doe euery day performe one of the precepts, and omit one of the things prohibited, the whole law of Moses may bee euery yeere, and so for euer fulfilled. Thus they vaunt of their owne strength to saue themselues, and therefore seeke not for a Sauiour without themselues. And what doe our Romish Rabbines but the same, when they affirme, that a man may in this state-of mortality, perfectly fulfill the whole law: yea, euen doe more then the law requireth, and so supererogate? what neede haue these of the death of Christ, to purge away their sinnes, when they can thus by the ayde of Gods grace (as they say) keepe all the Commandements, and so pay the vttermost debt of their obedience? Let them goe together then as enemies vnto Christ in this opinion also.

31. To conclude: the Iewish Pharises fasted twice a weeke: so doe our Romish ones, saue that they alter the order, but not the number of the dayes: for the Iewes fast the second and fift day of the weeke: the Romanists the fourth and sixt. The Iewish Pharises vsed in a blinde deuotion, to [Page] beate their heads against the walls, till bloud came, to vse thornes in their skirts to sting themselues, to lye on plankes, on stones and thornes, to drench themselues of [...]n colde water for the reseruing of their chasti [...]y: so doe ou Romish P [...]arises, they make a shew of whipping and scourging their owne carkasses, of going barefoote & woollward, of drenching themselues in colde water (as we read, that Fr ar Frauncis was wont to doe) and all (forsooth) both to tame the rebel'ion of their vnruly flesh, which will not be tamed by these means of their owne inuention, hauing left the ordinance of God, and by penance to make satisfaction for their former sinnes: but it will one day bee said vnto them, who required these things at your hands. In vaine ye worship (O ye hypocrites) teaching [...]say 29. 13. Math. 15. 8. for doctrines precepts of men.

32. The Iewish Pharises would not conuerse with any of a different Religion, especially the Samaritanes, whoseBuxdorf. Synop. Iudaic c. 11. bread they thought it as vnlawfull to eate, as to eate Swines flesh: and for Christians, they account it a sinne to keepe faith and promise with them, to afford them any succour: yea, not to doe them any mischiefe that lyeth in their power: and therefore in their prayers one part of their deuotion is, most direfully to curse all those that professe Christian Religion. The Romish Pharises doe likewise, they damme all to hell that are not of their Religion, they denie faith to bee kept with Heretikes, they hate all that are not subiect to their Pope, but aboue all, the poore Protestant: him they curse with Bell, Booke and Candle, and abhorre him more then a Iew or a Turke: yea, once a yeere ordinarily and in publike, they curse vs to the pit of hell, which I take it to be vpon euery good Friday. They say, that the Father may not nourish his owne childe, if he be an Heretike, nor the childe honour his Father, nor the Prince defend his Subiect, nor the Subiect obey his Prince: all bonds of nature, policy, religion, are pulled in pieces by these Romish Pharises.

33. The Iewish Pharises vsed not to fast without a disfigured face, nor giue an almes without a Trumpet, nor seldome pray, but in the corners of the streetes and high-wayes, [Page] that they might bee seene of men, all for shew, nothing for substance. And are not our Romish Pharises their equals in this? Is not their religion all in ostentation? doe they hide themselues when they fast and pray? doe they not blow a trumpet before their deedes of charitie? their hypocriticall abstinence from flesh on set dayes, when as in the meane while they farse themselues with dainty fish and delicate iunkets; their mumbling vp so many Aue Maries, and Pater Nosters, in the streetes and Market-places, their crow [...]hing at euery Crosse; and lastly, their Almes-deeds extorted by feare, either for penance of sinnes committed, or in hope of meriting the kingdome of Heauen, and imployed for the most part to the feeding of a multitude of idle Drones, Monkes and Fryers, fatted in a Cloyster, like Bores in a stye, doe proue this to be true which I haue said.

34. The Iewish Pharises vnder colour of long prayers & greatMat. 23. 14. deuotion, deuoured widowes houses: the Romish Pharises by the same pretext of holinesse, sucke downe into their panches not the Cottage of some poore widdow, but the rich and faire Patrimonies of seduced Gentlemen, Noblemen, and others: the Iewish Pharises compassed sea and land to gaineMat. 23. 15. a Proselite to their profession: our Romish Pharises trauell all Countries, & labour by all possible means to winne soules to their religion, and to reconcile men to the obedience of the Bishop of Rome; and when they haue wrought their purpose, as those, so these make them two-fold more the children of hell, then they were before.

35. Lastly, the Iewish Pharises like hypocrites made cleane the out-side of the cup and platter, but within were full of bribery and excesse; and therefore are compared by our Sauiour to whited Tombes, which appeare beautifull without, but within are full of all filthinesse. So, our Romish Pharises come to vs in sheepes clothing, giuing a bright luster of holinesse, and austerity in their externe behauiour; but inwardly are rauening Wolues, deuouring the flocke, and haue their hearts fraught with all manner of villany; as lying for aduantage, equiuocation, couetousnesse, ambition, vncleane lusts, and other [Page] inordinate affections, as the secular Priests boldly obiect against the Loyolian Sect, and are taxed backe againe byQuodlibet per totum. them as guilty of the same crimes.

36. This subiect might be enlarged by many more particulars,Conclus. but that I forbeare to stirre this sinke any further, and weary the Reader and my selfe, hauing a long iourney yet to trauaile. This that hath beene spoken, I suppose to be sufficient, to prooue the truth of the proposition, that the Romanists imitate the Iewes in those things wherein they are enemies vnto Christ, both in respect of the legall Ceremonies, which are vanished by the appearance of the Sunne of righteousnes; and also in respect of their Thalmudieall traditions, which were neuer found in Gods Booke, but are the foppish dotages of their superstitious Rabbines. And is it not strange, that notwithstanding all this, they should bragge themselues to be the onely Catholikes of the world, and their Church the onely Noahs Arke, out of the which there is no saluation?

Si [...]ia quàm similis turpissima bestia nobis,

Tam Rabbinorum [...]bulis Romana cathedra.

Not liker is to Man, the Ape, a filthy Creature,

Then is the Romish Church, vnto the Iewish feature.

MOTIVE. IIII. That Religion which derogateth from the glory of God in the worke of our Redemption, and giueth part thereof vnto man, cannot be the truth of God: but such is the Popish Religion: Ergo.

THe first proposition, as it is infallibly true of it selfe, soMAIOR. is it without all question and controuersie betwixt vs and the Romanists; for both confesse, that the end of true Religion is, that God might be glorified: and therefore whatsoeuer doth rebate from that end, cannot possibly be the truth: Especially, seeing the Lord himselfe protesteth, that [Page] he will not giue his glory to another, Esay 48. 11. And Paul affirmeth, that the end of all our actions should bee the glorie of God, 1. Car. 10. 31. Therefore passing ouer the Maior with silence, it is necessary that the Minor or second proposition bee strengthened and confirmed, whereon the hinge of the Controuersie hangeth, & the whole pith & substance of this fourth Argument doth consist; which by the assistance of Gods good spirit (whose ayde I humbly implore, and of my Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus, whose glory I now labour to maintaine) I doubt not but to make so cleare, as is the Sunne at Noone-day, all cloudes, mists, and fogges, being vtterly dispersed.

2. That the Romish Religion doth derogate from the gloryMINOR. of God in the worke of our redemption, may by foure maine and fundamentall doctrines of their Religion most euidently be demonstrated, (besides many other poynts of lesser consequence) to wit, their doctrines of Free-will, of Iustification, of merite, and of satisfaction.

3. For the doctrine of Free-will, this is the generall determinationI. of the Church of Rome, that in the act of regeneration and conuersion, mans will doth naturally cooperate with the grace of God, and that it is not meerely of supernaturall grace that a sinner is regenerate, but partly of naturall free-will, and partly of grace: whereas, we on the contrary defend, that the regeneration and conuersion of a sinner is wholly of the grace of God, and that mans will in that great worke is meerely passiue, and not actiue, yea, starke dead, vntill it be excited and quickned by the grace of God: This in briefe is the difference betwixt the Romanists and vs in this poynt. Now, here a double taske lyeth vpon mee; first, to proue this to bee their doctrine; and secondly, to shew how this doctrine tendeth to the empeachment of Gods glorie.

4. That this is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, let the Councill of Trent, which they call their Church representatiue, and which being approued by the Pope, cannot erre, as they affirme, be Iudge. Thus it decreeth, and bindeth the [Page] decree with a curse: Si quis dixerit, &c. (that is) If any man Concil. Trident. Sess. 6. c. 6. can. 4. shall say, that mans free-wil being mooued and stirred by God, doth nothing cooperate by assenting to God, moouing and calling it, whereby it may dispose and prepare it selfe to the obtaining of the grace of iustification, and that it cannot dissent if it will: but like a thing without life, is not at all actiue, but meerely passiue, Anathema sit. Let him be accursed. This Riddle of the Councill of Trent (for so most of the decrees thereof are rather to bee termed, then Canons of faith) is thus expounded by Andradius Andrad. Orthod. explicat. interpretation, who was present at the same Councill, and knew the meaning of those holy Fathers; to wit, that there is in euery man by nature a power and ability, Ad inchoandas & perficiendas spirituales actiones, (that is) To beginne and to effect spirituall actions; but that power and ability is so fettered with the chaines of sinne, that vnlesse grace come and helpe to set it free, it can doe nothing: as a man weighed downe with yron shooes, though he hath power in himselfe to go, yet cannot, except his yron shooes be put off: or as a bird caught in a snare, hath power to flie, yet cannot, except the snare be broken, &c. By these two similitudes, he illustrateth the sentence and meaning of the Councill: whereby it euidently appeareth, that this is the plaine doctrine of the Church of Rome, that of the regeneration and conuersion of a sinner, the spirit of God is not the sole cause, but that with the spirit Mans free-will doth concurre, and so both together make the ioynt efficient cause.

5. The later Romanists, and especially the Iesuites (to passe ouer the grosse positions of the former Schoolemen) do more plainely deliuer the meaning of their Church concerning this poynt. Let vs heare Bellarmine speake: Cooperamur Bel. li. 6. de grat. & li. arb. ca. 11. Deo, &c. We cooperate with God (saith he) not onely as our Aduersaries would haue after iustification, but euen in very iustification it selfe, and in the beginning of faith. And after he peremptorily concludeth; Non nisi cooperantibus nobis Deus salutem nostrum operatur [...], (that is) God doth not worke our saluation without our owne helpe, cooperating with him. We are beholding to Bellar. for setting down plainly our opinion. For this we hold, that after the first grace, wherin we are meerely [Page] passiue, we then begin to will and worke our owne saluation; but yet not of our selues, as from our selues, but onely of his grace, wherewith as we are preuented to beginne, so we must continually be accompanied that wee may perseuere: for if God withdrraw his grace neuer so little, we are [...]ure to sinke, as Peter did in the water: which is the very opinion of Saint Augustine, for in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium thus hee saith, Deus nolentempraenenit vt velit, volentem sequitur, ne Aug. Ench. ca. 32 frustravelit; (that is) God preuenteth a man being vnwilling, that he may will; and followeth him being willing, lest he should will in vaine. And of Saint Hierome, who thus speaketh Non Hier. ad C [...]esephont. sufficit mihi quod semel donauit, nisi semper donauerit, peto vt accipiam, & cum accepero, rursus peto, (that is) It is not sufficient for me that he hath giuen me (grace) once, vnlesse he doe alwaies giue; I pray that I may receiue, and when I haue receiued, I pray againe. And againe of Saint Augustine, Hominis non libera, Aug. cont. 2. epist. Pelag. lib. 3. ca. 7 sed Dei gratia liberata voluntas, (that is) Mans will is not free, but freed by the grace of God. And in another place, Eatenus libera, quantenus liberata, (that is) It is so farre-forth free, as it is freed, and no further.

6. But to proceed, Coster another Iesuite, is a little moreCost. Ench. de lib. Arbit. page 208. plaine and grosse, Liberum arbitrium, &c. Free-will (saith he) doth prepare it selfe to iustification, by the ayde of God, not yet inhabiting, but onely moouing and helping, not onely suffering, but also working and doing. And againe in the same place, Man being fallen into the darke pit of sinne, that he may be drawne out againe, doth not onely receiue and suffer, but coworketh with the grace of God, and prepareth himselfe by beleeuing, trusting, and vndertaking the duties of piety, vntill arising vp to the Sonne of Righteousnes, he be replenished with the diuine light of grace; as Ieremie, being baled out of the dungeon, helped those which pulled him out, by putting the cloutes and cordes vnder his armeholes. Salmeron, another Iesuite, is yet more palpable, Liberum Salmer. tom. 3. page 38. arbitrium non partem &c. Free will (saith hee) doth not worke one part, and the grace of God another; but to euery action is extended aswell free-will as grace. But Ecchius surpasseth all theEcchius Enchir. rest for plainenesse, for thus he writeth, The beginning of our [Page] saluation we haue from Gods mercy, but to yeeld to Gods wholesome inspiration is in our power, &c. Thus with an impudent forehead, they marry together Gods grace and mans will in the act of Regeneration, betwixt which, a diuorce was made by the fall of Adam, and so remaineth irreconciled, till we be engrafted into the second Adam by faith.

7. Hence it is, that the Councill of Trent is bold to affirme,Concil. Trident. Sess. 6. c. 4. that when equall grace is offered vnto two, that one is conuerted, and the other remaineth in his infidelity: the cause is in their wills, in that one entertaineth, the other reiecteth the grace that is offered: And to hold this (saith Molyn [...] another Iesuite)Molyn. disput. 12 is a matter of faith. And this is the doctrine of Thomas their great Clerke. It is in the power of our free-will (saith he) to hinder Aquin. cont. Gent. lib. 3. c. 159. Ruard. art. 7. Pro. 10. explicat. art. Louan. or not to hinder the receiuing of diuine grace. And another more fully and foully thus dareth to speake. If it be demanded why this man is conuerted and that man is not, the helpe of God being giuen alike to both, the reason is to be assigned to free-will, namely because the one would bee conuerted, and the other would not: And this also Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth. Gods motion Bel. de quot▪ et lib. arbit. lib. 6. cap. 15. (saith he) leaueth man altogether free to be conuerted, or not to be. Lastly, they doe not onely hold, that we haue a power in our wills, to moue towards our owne conuersion, and freely to will or nill the accepting of Gods grace offered, but also to perseuere to the end after grace receiued. This the IesuiteMolyn. disput. de lib. arbit. Molyna doth in expresse words set downe, when hee saith, That the perseuerance of men in good, dependeth vpon their owne free cooperation, and the dayly particular diuine helpe. And this is the common receiued doctrine of the Church of Rome.

8. Now out of all these their opinions, three materiall obseruations doe arise: first, that that Helena of theirs, the merit of congruity, though in word it be reiected by some of the finer Iesuites, yet in substance and in truth is still retayned: for, whereas the Schoolemen say grosly, that a man by doing what he is able by the power of his nature, doth of congruity merit effectuall grace, the Councill of Trent and the later Diuines choose rather to say, that hee doth dispose and prepare himselfe to grace, which indeede is in effect all one: for, to [Page] merit grace: and to dispose a mans selfe to grace, is in diuersity of words, but one and the same sense: and this Bellarmine ingenuouslyBel. de Iustif. lib. 5. cap. 22. confesseth, when he saith, that a man not yet reconciled, may by the workes of penance obtaine and deserue, ex congruo, of congruity, the grace of iustification. Thus they say and vnsay what they list, and gainesay each other, and indeede are in such a labyrinth, that they know not what to say: Secondly, that howsoeuer they magnifie the grace of God in word, and affirme nothing more frequently, then that without Gods grace, preuenting, assisting and following vs, we can doe nothing, yet in very deede they ascribe well-neere as much power to free-will, as to the grace of God: yea more, for they make the efficacie of the first grace, to depend vpon the free consent of our will, and make it as it were the Porter to let in, or shut out grace at it pleasure: which is one of the most presumptuous conceits, that euer was vttered by the mouth of man, and full of blasphemy. Thirdly and lastly, that this first grace which they say, doth work with free-will, in the first act of our new birth, and help & assist it, is not intrinsicall and inhabitant, but barely outward & prouocant. In respect whereof, Coster compareth grace to a staffe in a mans hand, which at his owne will he either vseth for his helpe, or throweth away; and to a friend, who finding a man in a deepe pit, perswadeth him by diuers reasons to be willing to be pulled out. And in expresse words the same Iesuite saith, that this grace is onely the impulsion and motion of the holy Ghost, being yet without, and standing knocking at the doore of our heart, not being as yet let in. And Bellarmine auoucheth the same, when hee saith, that it is but onely a perswading, which doth not determine the will, but inclineth it in manner of a propounding obiect. And thus vnder colour of the name of grace, they insinuate into mens soules the poyson of their doctrine, attributing in word all to grace, when indeede they meane nothing lesse.

9. These things being thus discouered, let vs now come to see, how by this doctrine the glory of God is defaced: which that it may more clearely appeare, two grounds are to be laid:Esay 48. 11. & 42. 8. the first whereof is, that God is so iealous of his glory, that he [Page] cannot endure any copartner or sharer with him therein. The second is, that in cases where grace & nature seeme to worke together, the godliest course is to magnifie the grace of God,1. Cor. 4. 7. and to debase the nature of man, yea, to ascribe all to grace, and nothing to nature, because this sauours of humility, whereas the contrary hath a manifest taste of pride. These grounds being setled in our mindes, let vs come to the examination of their doctrine. And I pray you, touching the first ground, doth not this doctrine of theirs make man to part stakes with God? In his glory, whereas our doctrine doth ascribe all the glory in solid, and whole to God onely: let any man iudge whether ascribe more glory vnto God, wee, that affirme that God is all in all to the effecting of our regeneration, or they that say, that our will doth cooperate with his grace, or else it can doe nothing: we that say, that we are starke dead to Godward, till God put life into vs by his spirit; or they that say, wee are but sicke and halfe dead, and are but onely helped and assisted by his spirit: wee that teach, that a man can no more prepare himselfe to his owne iustification, then a dead man to life, or they that teach; wee may by our naturall powers either merit of congruity, or prepare our selues to our iustification. Lastly, wee that ascribe the whole worke of our saluation to God onely, or they that attribute some part thereof to their owne free-will. If this bee not to derogate from Gods glory, what can be? for apparently they share the great and glorious worke of our regeneration betwixt God and man, grace and nature.

10. Would it not (thinke you) be a great impeachment to Gods glory, if in the worke of our creation any should teach that God alone did not create vs, but that we our selues were coadiutors with him: so in the worke of regeneration▪ which is a second creation to attribute part to Gods spirit, and part to free-will, is it not a great blemish to the glory of God? for, either it must be said, that God could not doe it of himselfe alone, or that he would not: If the first, then they blaspheme in derogating from his power: if the second, then they dote in saying, God is not willing to maintaine his owne glory, [Page] or that he is willing to impart it vnto others, contrary to his owne word and will reuealed in the Scripture, which way so euer they turne themselues, they fall into the pit of impiety▪ and make themselues guilty of high treason against the diuine Maiestie.

11. Againe, when our Sauiour raised vp Lazarus from the graue, where he lay stinking foure dayes, if it bee true which some write, that Lazarus life was stil remaining in him, and that his soule and body was not parted, and so our blessed Sauiour did but excite and stirre vp that life, which was as it were asleepe, and did not inspire into him a new life, and couple together his soule and body againe being deuided, is not the glory of this miracle mightily darkened and extenuated? This is our very case, wee say that a man is starke dead and buried in the graue of sinne, and till a new life of grace be inspired into his soule, he cannot moue the least haires bredth to heauen-ward▪ our aduersaries say, that he is not dead, but maymed and wounded like the man, that betwixt Iericho and Ierusalem fell among theeues; and therefore needes not to be reuiued, but onely to be healed and helped with the oyle and wine of grace powred into his wounds, he himselfe cooperating with his owne free will: who seeth not that by this doctrine of ours, God is more glorified, and by theirs more debased? for the lesse and easier the worke is, the lesse is also the glory of the worke-man, and the greater and harder the worke, the greater his glory: but it is a lesse worke to heale a man wounded, then to raise a man dead, and therefore lesse glory ascendeth vnto God by their doctrine, then by ours. But what doe I say lesse? when indeed to giue any part of the Creators glory to the creature, is vtterly to take all from the Creator: for hee will haue all or none, as Tertullian notablyTertul. aduers. haeres. obserueth, when he saith, That true faith requireth this in defending the true God, that whatsoeuer is his, we make it onely his, for so shall it bee accounted his, if it bee accounted onely his, by which rule, the faith of the Romane Church cannot bee the true faith.

12. And againe, according to the second ground, if to [Page] giue all the glory to God, and none to our selues, sauour of humility, but to deuide stakes betwixt God and our selues, hath a taste of pride: then it must needs follow, that God is more honoured by the one then by the other, because by humility God is honoured, and by pride dishonoured: and therefore the Apostle saith, that hee resisteth the proud, and giueth 1. Pet. 5. 5. grace to the humble: for what cause? but because the proud man seeketh his owne glory, whereas the humble deuesteth himselfe of all, and layeth it downe at the foote of God: the proud man reioyceth in himselfe, but the humble reioyceth in the Lord alone, according as it is written, Let 1. Cor. 1. 31. Ier. 9. 24. him that reioyceth, reioyce in the Lord. Now the Romanists that magnifie free-will, haue iust cause (their doctrine being presupposed to be true) to reioyce in themselues, which is an argument of pride: for, whereas our Sauiour saith, Without me Ioh. 15. 5. ye can doe nothing, they may say, Yes something, for wee can either admit or reiect thy grace by our owne power: and whereas the Apostle saith, Who hath separated thee, what hast 1. Cor. 4. 7. thou which thou hast not receiued? they may say, I haue separated my selfe in doing that which I was able, and so made my selfe fit for grace, and this power I haue not receiued from Gods speciall fauour, but from my owne free will. All which kinde of speeches, as they are full of pride and fleshly vanity, so they are stuffed with impiety and blasphemie, and manifestly tend to the dispoyling of the diuine Maiestie of that glory, which is onely due vnto him. And therefore I conclude with two notable sayings, one of S. Augustines, and another of Cassander, a learned Reconciliater of late time; Tutiores viuimus (saith the Father) si totum Deo damus, &c. August. de bono Perseuer. c. 6. that is, We liue more safely if we attribute all wholy to God, and not commit our selues partly to God, and partly to our selues. And this is the part of a godly minded man (saith the Reconciliater) to attribute nothing to themselues, but all to Gods grace: whence Cassand. consult. de lib. arbitr. it followeth, that how much so euer a man giueth to grace▪ yet in so doing, hee departeth not from pietie, though hee detract something from nature and freewill: but when any thing is taken from Gods grace, and giuen to nature, which belongeth to grace, that [Page] cannot be without eminent danger. So that by the confession both of this learned Romanist, and also of that reuerend Father, our doctrine in the poynt of free-will, is both more agreeable to piety, and respectiue to Gods glory, then theirs is; and therefore in reason to be preferred before it.

13. The next doctrine whereby the glorie of God is darkened,2. and the dignitie of Christs merites blemished, is their doctrine of Iustificatiō, which I ioyne next vnto Free-wil, because their sophistry & cunning in this great & maine pillar of Religion cannot well be discerned (they so palliate the matter with faire glosses & goodly words▪) except their opinion touching the power of Free-will be first apprehended. And here, before I enter into the bowels of this poynt, it is to be obserued, that most of them vaunt and bragge that they doe much more magnifie Christs merites by their doctrine of Iustification, then we doe: which, how true it is, the discourse following (I hope) shall so manifest, that euery indifferent man shall be able to say truely of them, as Saint Augustine said of the Donatists, These are the words of men, extolling the glory Aug. cont. lit. Petil. li. 2. ca. 84. of man, vnder the name of Christ, to the abasing of the glory of Christ himselfe.

14. The doctrine therfore of our Church touching the iustification of a sinner, is in effect thus much. That a sinner is iustified that is accepted into the fauour and loue of God, not by any thing in himselfe, or from himselfe, but by the perfect and vnspotted righteousnes of Christ Iesus, imputed vnto him by the meere mercy of God, through the couenant of grace, and apprehended on his behalfe by the hand of faith. The reason whereof is, because that which must satisfie Gods iustice, and reconcile a sinner vnto him, must haue these two properties; first, it must be of infinite weight and value, to counterpoyse with the rigour of Gods iustice: and secondly, it must be of sufficient ability to performefull and perfect obedience to the law of God; so that a perfect satisfaction bee made both in respect of the obedience which the law requireth, and also of the punishment that it inflicteth. Now, no righteousnesse of man is thus qualified, but is both imperfect and vnsufficient; [Page] no, not the righteousnes of Angels themselues, being, though excellent, yet [...]finite Creatures, sauing the righteousnes of Christ Iesus onely, who is both God and Man; and therefore his righteousnes onely, and none other, is that whereby a sinner must be iustified before God.

15. From this it appeareth, that when we say that a man is iustified by faith, our meaning is not, that faith is the cause of our iustification, but onely the instrument and hand to apprehend that righteousnes of Christ whereby we are iustified: & when we say, faith alone iust fieth; we meane that it alone is the instrument of our iustification, because it alone layeth hold vpon the righteousnes of Christ, and applyeth it to our selues: not that it is euer alone, but alwaies accompanyed with charity and patience, and zeale, and temperance, and other fruites of the spirit: for we hold, that the true iustifying faith is euer m [...]re grauida bonorū operū, as one of their own fauourites affirmeth, that is, full of good workes, and euerRoff. art. 1. aduers Luther. anon ready to bring them forth, as occasion serueth. Neither doe we deny, as some of them falsly slander vs (though manyStaplet. li. 9. de Iu [...]fic. ca. 7. Bell. lib. 4. de Iustific▪ cap. 1. of their chiefest Writers gaine-say their fellowes, and affoord vs that fauour to speake the truth of vs) but that euery one that is iustified must also be truely sanctified, and that saluation is not obtained by iustification alone, but by sanctification also: yet wee make sanctification and good workes not to be the causes, but the effects; nor the roote, but the fruit; nor the anticedents, but the necessary consequents and attendants of our Iustification. And as Bellarmine truely distinguishethBell▪ Ibid. to be necessary, Necessitate praesentiae, non efficientiae, by a necessity of presence, not of efficacie, as if they wrought our saluation. In a word, In the act of iustification, wee say that workes haue no roome, because both they are imperfect, and also are not done by our own strength; but being once iustified, we must needs repent, and become new creatures, walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And this is the doctrine of our Church concerning Iustification.

16. Now let vs heare what they say, and then weigh both doctrines in the ballance of the sanctuary, that wee [Page] may see which of them bringeth most glory to the merits of CHRIST, and to the power of his satisfaction. I will plainely and sincerely (God willing) set downe the summe of their doctrine. First therefore they teach, that there is a double iustification, the first whereby a man ex iniusto Cost. Ench. [...]ecā. disp. Theolog. fit iustus, of an vniust and wicked man is made iust and good, and of a sinner is made righteous; the second wherby a man being iust is made more iust, and doth encrease in iustice and sanctity, according to that Reuel. 22. 11. He thatReuel. 22. 11. is iust, let him be more iust. Concerning the first iustification, some of them affirme, that it is the free gift of God, and deserued by no precedent workes; others that it is merited by congruity, but not by condignity: but of the second, theyCens. Coloniens. pag. 140. 141. Becan. Ibid. say, that it is gotten and merited by our workes. But before both these, they make certaine preparations and dispositions, whereby a man by the power of his owne free-will stirred vpConcil. Trident. Sess. 6. cap. 6. Bel. lib. 1. de Iust. cap. 13. by grace, doth make himselfe fit for iustification, namely, by the acts of faith, feare, hope, loue, repentance, and the purpose of a new life; all which a man must haue before hee receiue the first grace of iustification: and for the obtaining whereof, he needs not any grace internally infused, but onely offered externally. Whereupon they are bold to affirme, that the act of Iustification doth emane and proceed, Simul Molina. disput. ab arbitrio & à Deo, Both from free-will, and from God. Now the causes of iustification, the Councill of Trent maketh to be these; the finall cause, Gods glory, and mans saluation; the efficient, Gods mercy; the meritorious cause, Christs merits; the instrumentall, the Sacrament of Baptisme; but the formall cause, which is the chiefest and [...], Dat esse rei, giueth being to the thing, as the Logicians speake, they make to be an inherent righteousnes wrought in vs, and inspired into vs by the Spirit of God. And this in briefe is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, touching the iustification of a sinner.

17. Wherein let vs obserue three maine and fundamentall differences, betwixt their doctrine and ours; in all which they raze the foundation, and dedignifie the merits of Christ, and [Page] the mercy of God, to extoll the dignitie of man. The first in their preparations, wee hold that a man cannot any wayes dispose himselfe vnto grace, but is wholly fitted and prepared by God; and that those acts of preparation (as they call them) are not fore-runners of iustification, but rather fruites and effects thereof, they teach the contrary, as I haue shewed. The second difference is, that the workes of a man iustified do not merit increase of grace, which they terme the second iustification: but as the beginning of grace is from gods mercy alone, so the increase and augmentation thereof and perseuerance therein, is onely to be ascribed to the worke of Gods spirit, according to that of Saint Paul, Phil. 1. 6. He that hath begunne Phil. 1. 6. this good worke in you, will performe it vntill the day of Iesus Christ: this we hold, they the contrary. The third difference is in the formall cause of our iustification, which they maintaine to be an inherent righteousnes within vs, euen the righteousnes of Sanctification. We on the other side affirme, that the formall cause of our iustification, is the righteousnes of Christ Iesus, not dwelling in vs, nor proceeding from vs, but imputed vnto vs by the mercy of God.

18. Hauing thus layd open both our doctrines, let vs examine and trye which of them giueth most glory vnto God, and most exalts the merites of Christ, for that must needs be the truth; and which lifteth vp highest the proud nature of man, for that must needs be falshood and errour: especially, seeing that Gods dignity, and the dignity of man; Christs merits and mans, are as it were, two skales of a ballance, wh [...]reof the one rising, the other falls, the one lifted vp, the other is pressed downe. First therefore, touching the workes of preparation, whether doe they more magnifie Gods mercie, that say a man cannot prepare and dispose himselfe at all to grace, but is wholly disposed and prepared by God; or they that affirme that a man can prepare himselfe by his owne endeuour, assisted outwardly with the grace of God? the one makes Gods mercy the sole cause of iustification, the other but the adi [...]vant and helping cause. And whether doe they aduance most the dignity of man, that say, that a man can do [Page] nothing of himselfe for his owne iustification, or they that say that a man can doe something to the preparation of himselfe to that great worke; the one attributeth some dignity to man, the other, none at all; we affirme the one part, the Romanists the contrary: and therefore our doctrine tends more to the debasing of mans worth, and consequently to the exalting of Gods glory, then theirs doth.

19. True it is, like Ferrimen, that looke East and go West, they with their great Grand-father Pelagius, talke of grace, when they meane nothing but nature, and so deny indeede that which they affirme in word, if the matter bee examined according to truth. For Pelagius confessed a necessity of graceAug. cont. Pelag. & Celest. lib. 1. cap. 31. 33. in all spirituall actions, and yet was condemned for an enemy to grace, by the Church of God, because hee vnderstood not by grace the sanctifying worke of Gods spirit, but an outward moouing and perswading power, assisting mans free-will to the effecting of his owne saluation. The very same is the doctrine of the Romanists, as hath beene declared, and therefore wee may iustly condemne them as enemies to the grace of God, whatsoeuer they bragge and vaunt to the contrary.

20. Secondly, touching the second iustification, which standeth, as they say, in the augmentation and encrease of our iustice: let the most partiall Reader iudge, whether tends most to the magnifying of Gods glory, their doctrine which teacheth that wee merite the encrease of our iustice by our owne workes: or ours, which teacheth, that both the seed and the growth, both the roote and the fruite, both the beginning and encrease of all righteousnesse, is the worke of Gods spirit alone, preuenting, assisting, and vpholding vs to the end; and that these seuerall workes of grace are bestowed vpon vs, not for any merites of our owne, but simply and entirely for the merits of Christ Iesus. I, but they will say, works doe not merit iustification, because they are ours, but because they are works of grace, which grace floweth from the fountaine of Christs merits, and so they attribute asmuch, or more, to grace and Christs merites, then wee doe. To which I answere, two things: first, if they held that these workes [Page] were merely from grace, they said something to the purpose, but affirming as they doe, that they are partly from grace, and partly from the power of free-will, as two ioynt causes, this their something is nothing, but a vizard to couer the vgly face of their errour. Secondly, let this be granted, that their doctrine is, that they proceede onely from grace, neuerthelesse being wrought in man, and acted by man, they must needes bee called, and be indeede in part mans workes, because man doth cooperate with grace; and therefore to make them meritorious absolutely of grace, must needes tend in part to the exalting of mans dignitie, and consequently in part to the impeachment of Gods. For, let an answere bee giuen to this question, by what meanes doth a man continue in iustice, and encrease in holinesse: Wee answere with Saint Paul, By the grace of God onely, who as hee hath begun that Phil. 1. 6. good worke in vs, so will performe it vntill the day of Iesus Christ: but the Romanists will answere, that this is done by the merit of our owne workes: which workes howsoeuer they mayBecan. disput. pag. 195. colour the matter, by saying, they are works of grace, and receiue power frō Christs merits, yet being the works of man also, by the power of his free-will, who seeth not, but that Gods glory is greatly blemished hereby, and mans worth extolled?

21. Thirdly, touching the forme of iustification, which of vs doth most honour to God? they which teach that it is an inherent righteousnesse habituated in vs, or wee that say, that it is Christs righteousnesse imputed vnto vs? wee attribute all vnto Christ, and nothing to our selues: they share the matter betwixt Christ and our selues: for this inherent righteousnesse, though it proceede from Gods spirit, as they say, and is a worke of grace, yet in three respects it may bee called our righteousnesse by their doctrine: first, in respect of the roote and spring of it, which is, as they affirme, partly grace and partly nature. Secondly, in respect of the subiect, which is the soule of man, which may bee also called the instrument by which it is effected; and that not a dead subiect or liuelesse instrument, as we say mans nature is, till it be liued and quickned by Gods spirit, but of it selfe liuing and quicke, [Page] and fit for so great a worke. Thirdly, In respect of the medium or meane, by which it is attained, which they hold is the merit of our owne workes, as I haue sufficiently discouered out of their owne bookes. Now then, if this inherent righteousnesse bee in part our owne, and not wholy Christs, but the righteousnesse imputed be wholy and entirely Christs, and not in any respect ours, saue that it is giuen vnto vs, and made ours by imputation; who can doubt but that this our doctrine is farre more auaileable for the aduancement of Christs glory, and debasing of mans excellencie, then theirs is? Adde herevnto, that it must needes be a dishonour to God, to say, that an vnperfect, a polluted and a stayned righteousnesse, such as the best of ours is, can satisfie the absolute and most exact iustice of God: but it is an extolling glory to Gods iustice, to say that it cannot be answered, but by the most perfect and absolute righteousnesse that euer was in the world; such as the righteousnesse of the Sonne of God is, who taking our flesh vpon him, performed in the same, all righteousnesse, that the strictest iustice of God required, for our sakes.

22. All which things layd together and diligently weighed, we may see what caused all the Saints of God, when theyEsay 64. 6. Dan. 9. 13. Psal. 143. 2. Rom. 7. 14. 19. 20. 1. Cor. [...] ▪ [...]. &c. came to pl [...]ad their causes, before the tribunal of Gods iudgement, to disclaime all their owne righteousnesse, and to lay fast hold vpon the righteousnes of Christ the Mediatour, and the mercies of God in him, who is the fountaine of all mercy; euen this, because they perceiued that by this deiecting and despoyling of themselues of all worthinesse, Gods glory was greatly magnified, as also when they examined their best workes by the rule of the law, their owne consciences told them, that they were not able to abide the trial, if they should bee weighed in the ballance of iustice, and not of mercy. Therefore this is the common voyce of all Gods Saints: Enter Psal. 143. 2. not into iudgement with thy seruant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall none that liueth be iustified: to which, in a sweet harmony accord all the Fathers. Who will glory concerning his righteousnesse Origen in Rom. cap. 3. (saith Origen) seeing he heareth God saying by his Prophet, All your righteousnesse is as a cloth of a menstruous woman, our perfection [Page] it selfe is not voyd of fault (saith Gregory) vnlesse the seuere Gregor. moral. l. 5. cap. 8. Iudge doe weigh it mercifully in the subtill scales of his iustice: Who so liueth here, howsoeuer iustly he liue. yet woe vnto him (saith S. Augustine) if God enter into iudgement with him: if our iustice Aug. in Psal. 42. Bernar. in fest. omnium Sanctor. ser. 1. Bel. de Iustific. lib. 5. cap. 7. be strictly iudged (saith S. Bernard) it will bee found vniust and scant. And this infallible truth wr [...]ng out of Bellarmine himselfe, though vnawares, this plaine confession: Tutissimum est in sola Dei misericordia conquiescere, &c. that is, it is the safest course to repose our confidence (what in our owne righteousnesse? no): in the sole mercy of God. Is it the safest course for mans saluation? so is it for the aduancement of Gods glory, for the one is subordinate to the other: who then that hath but common sense, will not chuse rather to repose the hope of his saluation on Gods mercy, then on his owne righteousnesse? at least-wise if hee regard either Gods glory, which all should, and that aboue all, or his owne soules health, which should be next to the other in our desires.

23. By this it may appeare, what a vaine bragge that is of some of them, who boast that they doe much more magnifie Christ and his merits then we doe, because wee make themD. Bishop cont. Refor. Catholic. (say they) so meane, as that they serue the turne onely to couer and hide sinne: whereas they contrariwise do so highly esteeme them, that they hold them able, both to purchase at Gods hand an inherent righteous [...]esse: and to giue it such force and value, that it can make a man iust before God, and worthy of the kingdome of heauen. In which braue vaunt, there lye lurking no l [...]sse then three grosse absurdities. First, they lay a false [...]mputa [...]ion vpon our doctrine, that wee should hold Christs merits to be so meane, as to serue onely to couer and hide sinne; whereas wee expresly teach, and that with one consent, that for the merits of Christ, not onely our sinnes are pardoned, but also that grace is inspired into our soules, and sanctification, and new obedience, and Christ is made vnto vs of God, wisedome, righteousnesse, sanctification, and redemption: 1. Cor. 1. 30. by which it appeareth, that we ascribe euen as much in this regard to Christs merits, as they do; and therefore this is a mere cauill and slander, hatcht by them to breed disgrace [Page] to our Religion. Next, they contradict themselues: for to say, that Christ giueth strength to our righteousnesse to purchase heauen, is to affi [...]me, that without our helpe, Christs righteousnesse was not of sufficient valew to make that purchase: and yet the same men say, that Christs righteousnesse was of infinite valew. Now if it were of infinite valew, then it made the full and perfect purchase it selfe: and if it made the full purchase, then he need not giue strength to our righteousnes to doe the same. Thus either the one or the other must needes be false, except we will haue a double purchase of one and the same thing, and a double satisfaction of the same debt, which is in no case agreeable to the iustice of God. Lastly, they shew their arrogancie, in that they scorne to receiue the kingdome of heauen, as an almes and free gift from God of his mere mercy towards them: but they will haue it like sturdy and proud companions, as a due vnto their deserts, or a recompence to their seruice: nay, they will not haue it fromBel. de purgat▪ lib. 1. cap. 14. Christs purchase alone, but they will bee ioyned purchasers with him, or else they will haue none of it: then which, what can be greater arrogancie? And thus by this vaine vaunt they fall into diuers palpable absurdities, and plainely discouer, that it cannot any way be auoyded, but that by their doctrine of iustification, they doe exalt the dignity of man, and pull downe the glory of Christ our Sauiour.

24. The third doctrine whereby they derogate from Gods3. glory, is their monster of merit, which I put in the next place, because it issueth from the two former, as the Progenitours thereof, the doctrine of iustification by inherent righteousnesse, being as it were the mother of it, and that of free-will the Grand-mother: and so it cannot be, the fountaine being poysoned, but that the waters streaming there-from, must needes be infected: and because malum crescit eundo, an euill groweth worse by propagation, and the daughter commonly exceedeth the mother in naughtinesse, therefore this doctrine is firre more blasphemous, then either of the former, and exceedeth them, both in derogating from Gods glory, and setting vp mans dignity against God. And the Proctors of the [Page] Romish Court, in no subiect doe more throat it out, then they doe in this, nor take more paines in any, as if their liuelyhood lay vpon it. And yet, if we draw neere vnto them, we shall easily perceiue, that all is but a vaine blast of words puffing vp the proud heart of man, and pulling downe the glory of Christ, as I hope I shall plainely and briefly manifest by the discourse following.

25. Their doctrine touching the merite of workes, is in briefe this, that there is such a dignity, excellency, and perfection in the workes of the Regenerate, that by the rule of iustice they doe not onely deserue temporall and spirituall blessings here in this world, but also eternall life and euerlasting blisse in the world to come. In which doctrine, these three poynts are to be considered: first, that they make the good workes of the faithfull absolutely and perfectly good,Bell▪ de iust. li. 4. cap. 16. able to stand out with the iustice of God, and answere the full rigour of the Law: secondly, they make them proportionable to the reward, for betwixt meritum and debitum, properly taken, as they doe, there is alwaies a Geometricall proportion: and thirdly, they place this meritorious dignitie in the worke done, as it is a worke, and that not passiuely, as it is wrought in vs by grace, but actiuely as it worketh by freewill, as hath beene shewed.

26. That all these things are thus, as I haue said, let vs heare themselues speaking in their owne words. The workes of the Bell. de Iust. li. 4. cap. 16. iust (saith Bellarmine) are simply and absolutely good. And in another place, They are so good and so perfect, that God were Idem lib. 5. cap. 16. & 17. vniust, if he should not reward them with eternall life: and, that not onely in respect of Gods promises, but euen in respect of the workes themselues. And to prooue this, hee produceth seuen strong reasons, as he thinketh, but indeed weake ones, if they be throughly examined. Andradius, the approoued interpretour and defender of the Councill of Trent, goeth further,And. Orthod. [...]xpl c. lib. 6. and saith, that the heauenly blessednes, which the Scripture calleth the reward of the iust, is not giuen them of God gratis, and freely, but is due to their workes, yea God hath set forth heauen to sale for our workes. Bellarmine also calleth good workes, Mercatura [Page] regni coelestis, the purchasing of Heauen. The Rhemists Rhem. Annot. 2. Tim. 4 8. Heb. 6. 10. are yet more insolent: Good workes (say they) are truely and properly meritorious, and fully worthy of euerlasting life, heauen is the due and iust stipend which God by his iustice oweth to the persons working by his grace, and that God should be vniust, if Ruard. Tapper in expli. art. Louan. tom. 2. art. 9. he rendred not heauen for the same. But Ruardus Tapper is yet more impudent, for he saith, God forbid that the iust should expect eternall life, as the poore man doth an almes, it is much more glorious that they should haue it as Conquerours and Triumphers, Greg. de Valen. tom. 3. disp. 7. q. 2 de Indulgent. as the prize due vnto their labours. Gregory de Ʋalentia goeth yet further, and saith, That the workes of the faithfull, beside their strength of meriting, haue also a power of satisfying for the punishment.

27. Touching the proportion of our workes, with the reward, Bellarmine saith, That in a good worke proceeding from Bell. de Iust. li. 5▪ cap. 17. grace, there is a certaine proportion and equality, to the reward of eternall life, and that not only in regard of the promise and acceptation, but euen of the worke it selfe. And this he proueth in the place quoted by many arguments, which are worthy to be read, that we may see the very pith and substance of their opinion, touching the merite of workes. True it is, Bellarmine doth not make this proportion an absolute equality betwixt the worke and the reward, according to the rule of commutatiue Idem li. 5. ca. 16. iustice, but onely by the rule of distributiue iustice, which hath respect not so much to the worke, as to the worthinesse of the person working. But herein he crosseth other his fellow Iesuites; For Suarez saith, That a supernaturall worke proceeding Suarez. tom. 1. in Thom. 3. d. 41. Sect. 3. Cost. Ench. ca. 7. from grace, within it selfe, and of it owne nature, hath a proportion and condignity with the reward, and a sufficient valew to be worth the same. And C [...]ster affirmeth, that the reward which God giueth to our workes, belongeth after a sort both to commutatiue and distributiue iustice, though the distributiue part of iustice, which requireth the dignity of the persons, doth more shine forth in it then the commutatiue, which considereth the equality of workes. And the Rhemists, That our workes of their Rhem. Annot. in 1. Cor. 3. 8. very nature deserue eternall life, the reward whereof is a thing equally and iustly answering to the lyne and weight of the worke, [Page] rather then a free gift. Yea, he crosseth himselfe, for in the seuenteenth chapter, he auoucheth that the proportion betwixt the worke and the reward, is ratione operis, in respect of the worke. Now I confesse that some of them affirme indeed, the reason of meriting of our workes, to arise partly from this that we are adopted the sonnes of God, and haue vnion with Christ, and so they are made meritorious by the dignity of the person which worketh them: and partly because they proceede from grace; and also, partly by reason of the promise which God hath made vnto them, whereby hee bindeth himselfe that he will reward them: but let all theseAndr. Orth. explicat. lib. 6. Caiet. 1. 2. q. 114. Bayus de merit. lib. 2. ca. 1. & 4. be granted (though all of them bee denyed by many of their owne Writers, who attribute merite to the worke, without relation either to the person, or to grace, or to the promise) yet it will not free their doctrine from palpable impiety, as the sequent discourse shall (I trust) make apparant. After that I haue in opposition to this doctrine set downe the summe of that which we hold touching the dignity of good workes. I omit to name their merit of cōgruity, because most of themselues are ashamed of it.

28. This is therefore that doctrine which our Church maintaineth concerning good workes: First, wee beleeue assuredly that good workes are necessary to saluation, but so, Vt via regni, non causae regnandi, as the way to the Kingdome,Bern. de grat. & lib. Arbitr. not causes of raigning, and as signes of our Election, and forerunners of our future happinesse, as Saint Bernard testifieth. This with one consent we all teach, and the Romanists that slander vs with the contrary assertion, cannot produce so much as one sentence out of any of our Writers, which being rightly vnderstood, doth import the contrary, as shall be hereafter fully proued. Secondly, wee hold, that as they are necessary in respect of vs, so they are acceptable and well pleasing to God, not for their own sakes, but for our faith-sake in Christ, in whome onely the Lord is well pleased, both towards himselfe and all his members. Thirdly, we beleeue that they are not onely thus acceptable and well pleasing in Gods sight, but also that the Lord will reward them assuredly both in this [Page] life with temporall blessings, and in the life to come with eternall happinesse; according to that of our Sauiour, Whosoeuer Mat. 10. 42. shall giue vnto one of those little ones to drinke a cup of cold water, in the name of a Disciple, he shall not lose his reward. But lastly, we constantly assure our selues, that this reward is not giuen of God for the merite or desert of the worke, but of the meere grace and mercy of God for the merits of Christ: according to that of Saint Bernard, The mercy of God is my merite: Ber. in Cā. ser. 61 Aug. de grat. & lib. arbit. cap. 9. and of Saint Augustine, God bringeth vs to eternall life, not for our merits, but for his owne mercy. For a reward is not onely taken for a due debt in Scripture, but also for a free gift, as may appeare by comparing Mat. 5. 46. with Luk. 6. 32.Mat. 5. 46. Luke 6. 32. In the one place wherof the Holy Ghost vseth the word [...], in the other [...], speaking of the one and the same thing. So that the summe of our doctrine is this in few words, wee renounce not good workes, but the merit of workes: and wee verily beleeue that Christ is the store-house of all merite, and that out of him there is no merite to be found in any, no not in the iustest that euer liued: and yet the merits of Christ, as his righteousnesse, are made ours by imputation; and in that sense onely we may bee said to merit and deserue eternall life. As for our best workes, though they bee wrought in vs by grace, yet passing through the corrupt channell of our defiled nature, they get themselues such a tincture and staine, as in regard of the corruption which cleaueth close vnto them, they can deserue nothing at Gods hand, if he should lay them to the rule of his iustice, and not weigh them in the ballance of his mercy. This is our doctrine: and that it is so, I appeale to Bellarmine himselfe, who confesseth, that by faith alone wee Bell. de iust. li. 4. cap. 1. doe not exclude other vertues, but the merit of them; and that we make good workes necessary to saluation, Necessitate praesentiae, non efficientiae, as he termeth it, By necessitie of their presence, not by necessitie of efficiencie. Let vs therefore now come to the examination of both these doctrines, and search which of them doth giue most glory to God, and honour to Christ our Sauiour in this maine pillar of our Redemption.

29. And first, doth not that doctrine tend manifestly to [Page] the embasing of Gods mercy, which teacheth men not to relie wholly vpon that for their saluation, but partly vpon their owne merits? Especially, seeing grace and workes, merit and mercy, cannot stand together, no more then light andRom. 1 [...]. 6. darknes, as the Apostle teacheth, If it be of grace, it is no more of workes, or else were grace no more grace; but if it be of workes, it is no more grace, or else were worke no more worke. So may we truely say, If saluation be of mercy, then it is not of merit, or else were mercy no more mercy; but if it be of merit, it is no more of mercy, or else were merit no more merit: and so by kindling the fire of merits, they vtterly dry vp the fountaine of mercy. And for that cause Saint Bernard maketh theQuo supra. mercy of God his onely merit. And Saint Augustine disclayming all merits, and laying clayme onely to Gods mercy, saith as before; God bringeth vs to eternall life, not for our merits, but for his owne mercie: And in another place, His promise Aug. in Psal. 88. is sure, not according to our merits, but according to his Chrysost. in Colos. hom. 2. mercy. And Chrysostome saith, That no man sheweth such conuersation of life, as that he may bee worthy of the Kingdome of heauen, but it is wholly the gift of God. In all these places merit is opposed vnto mercy, as things of their owne condition incompatible, and therefore one must needes exclude the other.Aug. cont. Pelag. & Celest. lib. 2. cap. 24. And sure in reason it must needs be so, for mercy is free, Grace is not grace in any sort, if it be not free in euery sort (sayth Augustine) but merit requireth the reward of debt: Mercies obiect is misery and vnworthinesse, but merit is dignity and worthinesse, and therefore cannot bee the obiect of mercy: Mercy reioyceth against iustice, but merit appealeth vnto iustice, and challengeth God of vniustice, if it bee not recompenced. Lastly, in mercy, God is the Agent, and sinfull Man the Patient; but in merit, righteous Man is the Agent, and God the Patient. And therefore, betwixt these two things, Merit and Mercy, there is such a disproportion and contrariety, that they cannot be reconciled together.

30. I but they say, our workes are not meritorious of themselues, but partly as they proceede from grace, and are wrought in vs by Gods Spirit, and so it is Gods mercy, that [Page] we are enabled to merit; and partly by vertue of Gods promise, whereby hee hath engaged himselfe to crowne those merits with glory, which he hath wrought in vs by grace: to which double obiection I returne this double answere. First, if all good workes issue from the roote of grace, as they doe indeede, then how can we merit thereby, seeing that which doth merit, must bee our owne, and not anothers, especially his of whom we looke to merit? (So saith Hilary) it is for him Hilar. de trinit. lib. 11. to merit, who himselfe is to himselfe the Author of getting his merit: and therfore if it be true which they affirme, that Gods grace is the onely fountaine of all good workes (as without doubt it is) it is so farre from following thence, that therefore our workes are meritorious, that it followeth by mere necessary consequence, that therefore they are not meritorious. And this conclusion is made by diuers of the ancient Fathers themselues, We haue nothing to reioyce or glory of (saith S. Cyprian)Cyprian ad Quir. lib. 3. c. 5. Bern. in annun. ser. 1. therefore nothing to merit, because we haue nothing of our owne: The merits of men are not such (saith S. Bernard) as that life eternall by right is owing for them (and why?) because all merits are the gifts of God; and so man is rather a debter to God for them, then God to man. And S. Augustine, Eternall life should Aug. epist. 105. be rendred as due vnto thee, if of thy selfe thou hadst the righteousnesse, to which it is due: but now of his fulnesse wee receiue not onely grace now to liue iustly in our labours to the end, but also grace for this grace, that afterward wee may liue in rest without rest. So then, if our good works arise only frō Gods grace, this maketh plaine against all merit, as they know well enough, and therfore (behold their fraud, and the mysterie of iniquity) though they shadow the matter with goodly words of grace and mercy, yet vpon free-will they hang the vertue and effect of this grace, and from that fountaine doe they deriue vnto man all this merit, which they talke so much of: and so howsoeuer they ascribe vnto Gods grace the cause of merit, yetBel. de Iustific. lib. 5. cap. 10. in very deede with them, it is free-will that maketh a worke meritorious.

31. Secondly, I answere, that when God doth promise to reward our workes with eternall life, eternall life is due to vs, [Page] but not for our workes sake, but for his promise sake: for many things are due by promise, which haue no reference to any desert. As if the King should promise one of his seruants a thousand pound of his mere liberality, for keeping a Hawke, he is bound to pay him so much: but is it from the seruants desert, or from the Kings bounty? So God promiseth eternall life to our workes, and by reason of his promise, wee may challenge it as our due, but yet it is not for our worke, but for his word sake, as Saint Augustine confesseth, when he saith: God is become a debter, not by receiuing Aug. de verbis Apostol. ser. 16. any thing from vs, but by promising what it pleased him: therfore a reward giuen by promise, is so far frō importing desert, that it rather ouerthroweth the very foundation thereof, by being a worke of mercy: as the same Augustine saith in another place: The promise is sure, not according to our merits, but according to his mercy. The doctrine of merit then vndermineth the mercy of God, which way so euer they turne themselues, whether to grace, as the cause of the worke, or to Gods promise, as the cause of the reward.

32. Againe, by this doctrine, not onely the mercy of God is darkened, but also the merits of Christ quite euacuated, and made of no force: for if Christs merits were sufficient, what neede there then any supply of our owne: if our owne merits be necessarily required, then Christs merits were not sufficient. If Christs merits were perfect, then mans merits cannot be added vnto them, for that is perfect, to which nothing can be added: but if mans merits must bee added to them, then it followeth, that Christs were not perfect; and so no merits at all: for this property is required in a merit, that it bee perfect: and so either they must denie the necessity of our meriting, or confesse the vnsufficiencie of Christ: either they must acknowledge Christs merits to be vnperfect, or ours to be vnnecessarie, yea none at all. I but (they will say) Christ did not onely merit the pardon of our sinnes, but also that our workes should be meritorious of life euerlasting: and by this (sat they) are Christs merits more magnified then by vs, because the greater the gift is, the greater is the glory of [Page] the giuer: so that our meriting doth not argue any want in his merits, but rather proue a greater efficacie to be in them: for to this end will hee haue vs to merit, partly that we may shew our selues like vnto him, and partly to traine vs vp in good workes by this spurre. All these are but shifts, and indeede mere cauils, for first, to say, that Christ did not alone merit for vs eternall life, but also grace, that so we might merit eternall life for our selues: what is it, but to make vs our owne Sauiours; for all our merits come from grace and freewill ioyned together, as hath beene shewne, and grace is nothing with them, except free-will concurre with it: for they teach, that we may receiue it if we will, and when we haue it, we may merit, if we will, eternall life, or else goe without it. What is this (I say) but to affirme, that a man is not saued by Christs merits, but that by the helpe of grace hee doth saue himselfe by his owne merits? and so they shoue Christ out of his office, and put themselues in his roome.

33. Secondly, I answere, that the efficacie of Christs merits, is greater in purchasing eternall life for vs by himselfe alone, then in giuing vs ablenesse to merit it for our selues; because it is a greater glory, and a token of greater power, to effect a thing immediatly without meanes, then by the mediation or vsurpation of any meanes whatsoeuer. In the former, all the honour is to the worker, in the later there must needes be some glory ascribed to the meanes, and some power attributed vnto them: and therefore to say, that Christ hath onely merited by himselfe without vs eternall life for vs, is to giue the entire and perfect glory vnto him, and none vnto our selues: and to affirme, that hee merited to make our workes meritorious, is to derogate from his glory, and to detract from the efficacie of his death and passion.

34. And here we may see the vanity of Bellarmines assertion, who to proue, that by this doctrine of theirs, they ascribeBel. Ibid. more efficacie to Christs merits then we doe, bringeth in this similitude, Sicut quòd Deus, &c. that is, As in that God vseth the Sunne to lighten the world, fire to heat it, ayre and raine to refresh it, is not an argument of weakenesse in God, that hee cannot [Page] doe all these things by himselfe without them, but rather of his omnipotencie, in that hee was not onely able to doe these things himselfe, but also to giue power to those creatures to doe them: so it is an argument of greater power in Christs merits, to giue strength to our workes to merit heauen, then if hee did it for vs without our workes. I, but by Bellarmines leaue (that I may speake with all humble reuerence to the diuine Maiestie) the power of God had beene more manifest, and his omnipotencie more conspicuous (I doe not say had beene greater) if he should doe these things immediatly by himselfe, then it is by the glasse of the creatures. As when the Lord came downe in person vpon mount Sinai, and gaue the children of Israel the law from his owne mouth, his glory was more famous and fearefull, then when hee sent it them after by the hand of Moses, though written with his owne finger, as the other was spoken with his owne mouth. And therefore it is said, Exod. 20. that the people were so astonished at Gods voyce, that they desired, that hee would speake no more vnto them in his owne person, but by his seruant Moses. Adde herevnto, that God in his wisedome ordayned those creatures to that end and purpose, and therefore we must not dispute (as Bellarmine doth) whether it should haue beene a greater token of his omnipotencie, if hee had, or if hee had not created them; but humbly submit our selues to his wisedome, knowing, that his thoughts are not like ours, nor his counsels like ours, Esay 5 [...]. 8. 9. but as the heauens are higher then the earth, so are his wayes higher than ours, and his thought aboue our thoughts: but for the merits of Christ, he hath reuealed in his word, that in them onely wee are to finde saluation: and therefore wee must beleeue, that he is most glorified by that doctrine, which teacheth vs to rely onely vpon them: and as for the power in them, to cause vs to merit, it is no where to be found in Scripture, and therefore not to be thought to be for the aduancement of his glory: besides, to say, that Christs honour is encreased by mans merit, is plaine blasphemie, for, who hath giuen any thing to God, Rom. 11. 25. He standeth not in neede of our good Rom. 11. 25. Psal. 16. 2. decdes, Psal. 16. 2. Indeede, we doe glorifie God by our good [Page] workes, but that is not by encreasing, but by publishing and proclaiming of his glory: but the Romanists say, that the glory of Christs merits is augmented by our merits, which must needes be a most blasphemous speech. In a word, seeing we doe not finde in Scripture, that Christ died to giue merit to our workes; but to purchase pardon to our sinnes, and obtaine life for vs; wee must bee content to thinke that this serueth most for his glorie, and that the contrarie is derogatory thereunto.

35. Lastly, where did we euer read, that wee must be like vnto Christ in meriting? we read, that wee must bee holy as he is holy, and humble and meeke as hee was humble and meeke, and patient as he was patient; to wit, in quality, not in quantity, in imitation, not in perfection: but to merit as he did, is no where to be found: nay, it is a thing impossible, for it is an infinite and omnipotent worke of righteousnesse, that can deserue any thing at the infinite iustice of the omnipotent God, and it must bee of infinite valew, that can purchase that infinite reward. And therefore it was necessarie, that he which should be our Redeemer, should also be God, because neither Angell nor Archangell, nor any creature else could performe a worke of that price, which might be sufficient to merit the kingdome of heauen. It is therefore a most grosse blasphemie, to say, that we must be like vnto Christ in the point of meriting: for it maketh euery man a Iesus, that is, a Sauiour and Redeemer to himselfe. Therefore to conclude, I say with S. Bernard, Let the glory remaine to the Lord vntouched, Bern. in Cant. ser. 13. he hath triumphed ouer the enemie alone, he hath freed the captiues alone, hee hath fought and conquered alone: and with S. Augustine, To whom we are endebted for that we are, to him we August. in Psal. 144. are endebted, that wee are iustified: let none attribute to God his being, and to himselfe his iustifying; for it is better which thou giuest to thy selfe, than that which thou giuest vnto God; thou giuest the lower thing vnto God, and the higher to thy selfe, giue all to him, praise him in all. This wee doe by our doctrine, and they the contrary: and therefore it is most manifest, that by this doctrine of theirs, mans glory is exalted, [Page] and Christs defaced, mans merits lifted vp, and Christs pulled downe, which cannot stand with the truth and sincerity of Christian Religion.

36. The fourth doctrine which tendeth directly to the dishonor4. of God, & the abasing of Christs glory in the worke of our redemption, is their paradox of humane satisfactions: by which they teach, that Christ by his death hath made satisfaction for the guilt of our sinnes, and the eternall punishment due vnto them, but wee our selues must satisfie the iustice of God, for the temporall punishment either in earth or in Purgatory: whereas we on the contrary teach and beleeue, that by Christs death and passion, a perfect and all-sufficient satisfaction is made to the iustice of God, for all the sinnes of men, and for all the punishment thereof, both eternall and temporall. As for our doings or sufferings, we acknowledge the one to be sabordinately required as fruites of our faith, and the other necessary to be sustained as meanes of our mortification. And touching offences against our brethren, we hold it necessary that we make satisfaction to such whom we haue wronged any wayes, either by confession, restitution, or punishment, as the case shall require; yea, wee acknowledge that a Canonicall or Ecclesiasticall satisfaction is to be made to the Church, or any part thereof, when as we haue giuen iust scandall and offence there vnto. But in all these wee denie, that there is any vertue or power to expiate our sinnes, or to make satisfaction to God for the punishment thereof, either temporall or eternall; that to do, is only proper and peculiar to the Crosse of Christ: for as the disobedience of the first Adam brought vpon vs not onely eternall punishments, but also temporall; so the obedience and merit of the second Adam, hath made satisfaction to God for both.

37. And herein we agree both with the holy Scripture in many expresse places, as 1. Iohn 2. 2. He is the propitiation for our sinnes. And Rom. 5. 18. For the eternall punishment of them: And Esay 53. 4. For the temporall; for there it is said, that he tooke vpon him our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. And with the holy Fathers; for Saint Augustine plainly affirmeth, [Page] That temporal afflictions before forgiuenes, are the punishments of Aug. de pe [...] mer. & remis. li. 2. ca. 34. Origen hom. 16. in Gen. Tert. Apol. c. 41. sin; but after forgiuenes are the fights & exercises of the iust. And Origen, That which is to the iust, the exercise of vertue, is to the vniust, the punishment of sin. And Tertullian, The plagues of the world are to one for punishment; to the other for admonition & aduertisement: and this is the very substance of our doctrine.

38. As for our aduersaries, they blush not to affirme, euenConc. Trid. ses. 4. sub. Iul. cap. 8. the Councill of Trent it selfe, that when God forgiueth a sinner, yet he forgiueth not all the punishment, but leaueth the party by his owne workes to satisfie till it bee washed away, and that the bloud of Christ doth not serue to acquite vs from the temporall punishment, Bell. de poeniten. lib. 4. cap. 6. but that we must acquite our selues, either by our owne works, as prayer, almes, & fasting, &c. or by our suffrings, either in this life, or in Purgatory. Yes, some of the chiefest of them areGreg. de Valent. tō. 4. disp. 7. q 14. bold to auouch, that the recōpence made by satisfaction, respecteth not only the temporall punishment, but some part of the offence also, and the wrath of God. And others say, That a sinner by the Caict. Soto. Suar. tom. 1. d. 4. l. 9. grace of God may satisfie for his sinne condignely, and equally, and by that satisfaction obtaine pardon. And that which is more then all the rest, some of them affirme without blushing, that Christ by his sacrifice on the Crosse satisfied onely for originall sinne, and not for actuall after Baptisme. Bellarmine indeed isBell. de missa. li. 2 cap. 2. ashamed of this doctrine, as he might well bee, but yet it is plainely maintained by Gregorie de Ʋalentia. And this in briefe is the dunghill of Popish satisfactions, from whence steame forth like vapours, their Purgatorie, and Pardons, and Penance, and much more such like trumpery.

39. But let vs leaue them to their manifold errours, and come to the examination of this one poynt, whether they or we bring more dishonour to the Crosse of Christ. And to the purpose, first, the very nature of satisfaction, which as they affirme, is the yeelding of a sufficient recompence to God for a trespasse committed, is inough to prooue that their doctrine tends to the singular impeachment of the Crosse of Christ: for if Christ hath made a full and perfect satisfaction vpon the Crosse, as without all doubt he did, he himselfe contesting in that his last speech, It is finished; then what neede any addition [Page] of humane satisfactions? If there be such a necessity of humane satisfactions, as they make, then Christs satisfaction must needs be imperfect, and so no satisfaction at all: for an imperfect satisfaction is no satisfaction, as the very word it selfe implyeth, importing a sufficient recompence to be made to the party offended: And if it be perfect, it must be full and absolute, that is, such as needeth nothing else to be added vnto it. But they require something to be added to Christs satisfaction; and therefore must needs hold that it is not a full, perfect, and absolute satisfaction: for it implyeth a manifest contradiction to affirme any thing to be a full and perfect cause of it selfe alone, and yet to adde another to it, as a ioynt cause to produce the same effect.

40. But they will answere, that mans satisfaction is not to supply the want of Christs, but to apply it vnto vs, and to fulfill his will and ordinance: for Christs satisfaction (say they)Cost. Ench. p. 395 Bish. contra Refor. Cathal. Bell. de poenit. li. 4. cap. 14. is of infinite value, and might aswell haue taken away the temporall punishment, as the eternall, but that God will haue it otherwise, for the mortifying of sinne in vs, and making vs conformable to Christ our head. This answere of theirs may seeme to carry a shew of sound reason, but in very deed it is but a shift, and a golden couer to blanch the vglinesse of their doctrine, for it were odious for them to say plainely, that Christs satisfaction stood in need of a supply, or was any wayes imperfect; and therefore they would not haue men to thinke so of them, though in truth they both thinke and speake so of Christ, when they a little forget what they are a doing, and by infallible consequence their doctrine concludeth no lesse: for plaine speech thus writeth Gabriel Biel, Though the passion of Biel. ca. 3. d. 19. art. 2. concl. 5. Christ be the principall merit, for which the grace of God, and the opening of heauen, and the glory thereof be giuen; yet it is neither the sole nor totall meritorious cause, but alwaies there concurreth some worke of him that receiueth the grace. And Miletus, Milet. li. Discuss. Christ indeed is the generall cause of our saluation, but yet particular causes are to be added to this, and so he is not the totall and whole cause. And Bellarmine himselfe by consequenceBel. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 14. confesseth as much, when he saith, that a righteous man hath [Page] right to the Kingdome of heauen by a two-fold title, one of the merits of Christ, another of his owne merits. These bee plaine speeches, and shew what their meaning is: so that howsoeuer they gloze ouer the matter with goodly words, yet it is nothing but poyson in a painted boxe, wherewith the ignorant may be infected, but the skilfull are able to discerne their fraud. And here obserue the contrariety of Bellarmines speech to another saying of S. Bernard to the same purpose. Christ Bernard. (saith Saint Bernard) hath a double right vnto the kingdome of heauen, one by inheritance, as he is the Sonne of God, another by purchase, as he bought it by his death, the first he keepeth to himselfe, this latter he imparts to his members. This by S. Bernards Diuinitie is all the right that a faithfull man hath to the kingdome of heauen, by Christs purchase: and vpon this onely doth that good man, and all other of Gods children relie: but Bellarmine giueth him another title, to wit, by purchase of his owne merits, which as it is a straine of his owne wit: so let him keepe it to himselfe, and make merry with it, for wee will haue nothing to doe with it.

41. As for that which they say, that our satisfactions serue not to supply the want, but to apply the efficacie of Christs vnto vs, is a more ridiculous and shifting deuice then the other: for first, how can that be, when as sinne is first pardoned, which is by the satisfaction of Christ? and then long after commeth our satisfaction, if not in this life, yet sure in Purgatorie. The applying of a thing, is a present act, arising betwixt the agent and the patient, therefore if our satisfaction doe apply Christs vnto our soules, then it followeth, that Christ hath not satisfied for our sinnes, till wee haue satisfied for the temporall punishment of them, which is flat contrarie to their owne principles. Secondly, that which applieth, hath relation to that which is applied, as to the obiect: but our satisfaction hath no relation to Christs satisfaction, as the obiect, but is onely referred to the temporall punishment, and to the iustice of God, as they affirme, therefore it cannot apply it vnto vs. And lastly, how dissonant is it vnto reason, that a satisfaction should apply a satisfaction, as if one medicine [Page] should apply another to the patient. It is the hand that applieth the medicine, and not another medicine: so it is faith that applieth Christs satisfaction vnto our sinnes, and not our satisfaction. Nay, except the merits of Christ be applied to our best works and sufferings, they cannot stand before Gods iustice, neither can they be meritorious, as they themselues confesse: so that it will follow by this doctrine, that our satisfactions are both the hand to apply Christs, and the thing to which it is applied. All which is most repugnant, not only to Religion, but euen to reason it selfe.

42. Lastly, when as Bellarmine affirmeth, that ad maiorem, Bel. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 10. &c. that is, for the greater glory of God who is satisfied, and the greater honour of man satisfying, it pleased Christ to ioyne his satisfaction to ours: He plainely discouereth the scope of their doctrine, to bee the aduancement of the dignity of man; whereunto indeede he ioyneth the glory of God (for else all men would cry fie vpon such a Religion:) but yet it both detracteth greatly from the glory of God, in ascribing some dignity vnto man, and peruerteth the true end of the Gospel, which is not the partial, but the entire honor & glory of God: For, as S. Paul saith, Gods power is most clearly seene in our weaknes, 1. Cor. 12. 9. Dan. 1. 7. and his righteousnes in the confession of our shame, & his glory in our basenes and vilenes, that no flesh might reioyce in his presence, but that he onely might be exalted at that day. But by this1. Cor. 1. 29. Romish doctrine, euery iust mā may reioyce in his own dignity, & may lift vp himselfe in the presence of God; as if he were the ioynt cause of his own saluation together with Christ, and that Christs satisfaction had beene nothing auaileable to him, except he had applied it to himselfe by his owne satisfaction.

43. Thus they deuide saluation, as it were party parpale betwixt Christ and man, and paralell them together. And whereas they say, that we must be like vnto Christ, as in meriting, so in satisfying; what doe they but intrude man into the fellowship of Christs office? for our imitation of Christ standeth in a conformity to his conuersation and life, and of those things onely which concerne his person, and are imitable, but not in being like vnto him in his office: and therefore [Page] when they say, that we must be like vnto Christ in satisfying, they make euery man that is saued, a Iesus and Sauiour to himselfe, because they make him to imitate him in those things, wherein consisteth his being our Christ. Then which, what can be more contrary to the honour of Christ?

44. These bee the foure principall poynts, whereby the glory of Gods mercy, and Christs merits, and the holy Ghosts grace is greatly defaced, and in stead thereof, mans nature and merits exalted. Besides these, there are diuers other doctrines of the Church of Rome, which bring forth the same fruit, some of which, I will onely name, and so conclude this th [...] argument. And first, by the doctrine of the Popes supremacie, they detract from the power of Christ, and consequently from his glory: for both they endow the Pope with those titles, which properly belong to Christ, as to be the Father Bel. de Concil. lib. 2. cap. 17. in Gods family, the vniuersall Pastor, the head of the Church, the husband and bridegroome of it: and all other names which are giuen to our Sauiour Christ in holy Scripture (whereby it is shewne, that he is aboue the Church:) and also they attribute the same power to the Pope, which belongeth properly to Christ, as to pardon sinne, to dispense with the law of God, to open and shut the gates of heauen, not ministerially, but absolutely and iudicially, to depose Kings, and to dispose of Kingdomes, and such like. Now, what a dishonour is this to him, in whose thigh is written this glorious title, The King of Kings? Hee must not be the onely head of the Church, but the Pope must be a ioynt head with him, nor hee the sole Gouernor, but the Pope must be his Vicar: nor the sole husband of the Church, but the Pope, in his absence, must be her husband in his roome. Could a mortall man endure this iniurie? And doe wee thinke that the Sonne of God will beare it? Either Christ is not able to gouerne alone, or not willing; they will not say not able, lest their blasphemy should be too too odious: and if they say, not willing: how can hee not be willing to maintaine his owne glory, or not bee vnwilling to be confederated with a sinfull Pope (for so often they are) in the disposition of his Kingdome? Let them make the best that [Page] they can of it: yet it appeareth, that Christs gouernment is diuided betwixt the Pope and him, and so must the glory also needs be diuided,

45. Secondly, by their doctrine of the Inuocation and Intercession of Saints, what doe they but diuide the office, and so the glory of the Mediatour-ship, betwixt Christ and them? for they teach that Christ is our Mediatour of Redemption, but the Saints Mediatours of Intercession, whereas we with the Scripture make Christ Iesus to be the onely and sole Mediatour both of Redemption and Intercession. Wee honour the Saints, but wee pray vnto God alone in the name of his Sonne; they adore the Saints, and make their prayers vnto them as well as vnto God: yea, more prayers do they powre out by numbers vnto them, then vnto God. What is to dishonour God and Christ, if this be not?

46. Thirdly, by their doctrine of traditions, they derogate greatly from the glory of Gods mercy towards his Church: for they hold that the written word is not sufficient for a Christian man to saluation, without the helpe of Ecclesiasticall traditions: whereby they plainely insinuate, that either God had not that care of his family the Church, as he might haue had, seeing hee left not for it a perfect and certaine rule for the gouernment thereof, but sent it ouer to vncertaine traditions; or that wisedome which all Law-giuers labour to attaine vnto, seeing hee could not at the first prouide for all future occasions; or that loue that he would not: one of these doth necessarily follow from their doctrine.

47. Lastly, by their doctrine of worshipping of Images, whereby they giue vnto stockes and stones part of that religious worship which is due vnto God. We teach that all religious worship is due vnto God alone. They on the contrary maintaine, that latria, that is, diuine worship is Gods due; but dulia, that is, seruice is to be giuen to Images. Yea, that the Crucifixe is to be worshipped with diuine worship, which is due onely to God. Who seeth not what manifest iniury they offer to Gods glory, by this superstitious worship of dumbe and dead Images?

[Page]48. And thus, omitting many other like poynts which might be inserted in this place, I hope that the Minor proposition is sufficiently demonstrated, that the Church of Rome doth by many doctrines derogate from the glory of God, and the merits of Christ. And therefore the conclusion must needs follow, being built vpon an vnmooueable foundation, that, that Religion which maintaineth such doctrines, is not the truth of Christ, but the seduction of Antichrist.

MOTIVE. V. That Religion deserueth to be suspected, which refuseth to be tryed by the Scriptures, as the perfect and alone rule of faith, and will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe: But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo.

THe first proposition in this Argument, though it be mostMAIOR. true, and cannot without any shew of reason be contradicted: yet that it may be without all doubt and exception, it shall not be amisse to strengthen the same by sound and euident proofes, deriued both out of Gods word, and consent of ancient Fathers. The Proposition consists of two parts, first, that it cannot be the true Religion, which will not abide the alone tryall of the Scriptures. Secondly, that it will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe; let vs consider of both these seuerally.

2. And concerning the first, if the Scripture be the fountaine of all true religion, the foundation and basis of our faith, the Canon and rule of all the doctrines of faith, and the touch-stone to trye truth from falshood, then to refuse to be iudged and tryed by the Scriptures alone, is, plainely to discouer that there is something in it which issued not from that fountain, which is not built vpon that foundation, which is so oblique and crooked, that it dares not to be applyed to that rule, and which is counterfeit, and dares not abide the touchstone. Now that the Scripture is such, as I haue said, let the Holy Ghost, speaking in the Scripture, beare witnesse, Search Ioh. 5. 39. [Page] the Scripture (saith our Sauiour) for in them you thinke to haue eternall life, and they be they which testifie of me: therefore the Scripture is the fountaine of all true religion: for, what is the Religion of Christians, but the right knowledge of Christ Iesus? This caused Saint Paul to say, I desire to know 1. Cor. 2. 2. nothing, but Christ Iesus, and him crucified. Againe, the Scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluation, through faith in 2. Tim. 3. 15. Christ Iesus: and are profitable to teach, to improue, to correct, and to instruct in righteousnesse, that the man of God may be absolute, and perfect to euery good worke. Therefore the Scripture is the onely fountaine of true Religion: for what is true Religion, but spirituall wisedome and holy perfection, the one in contemplation, the other in action, the one in knowledge, the other in practice: for these [...] two ioyned together, do make a man truly religious, but the Scriptures afford both, as it is cleare in that saying of S. Paul, and may be confirmed by another like speech of Salomon, who affirmeth, that the commandements Pro 2. 9. of God will make a man to vnderstand righteousnesse, and iudgement, and equity, and euery good path. Righteousnesse and iudgement pertaine to knowledge, equity, and euery good path belong to practice. And for this cause, Origen compareth the Scriptures to Iacobs Well, from whence not onely Iacob, Orig. in Mat. 4. and his sonnes, that is, the learned and the skilfull, but his sheepe and cattell, that is, the simple and ignorant doe drinke, that is, deriue vnto themselues the waters of life and saluation: and therefore where the knowledge of the Scriptures flourished not, as among all the Heathen, both Romanes, Grecians, and Barbarians before their conuersion, there no true Religion shewed it selfe, but their Religion was all false and deuillish: for, in stead of the true God, they worshipped dumb creatures, and mortall men: yea, deuils themselues, as Lactantius Lactant. de falsa Relig. sheweth. All which proceeded from hence, that they had not the word of God for their guide, which is the onely fountaine and well-spring of true Religion.

3. Againe, as it is the fountaine from whence, so it is the foundation vpon which our faith relieth, whether wee take faith for the act of beleeuing, or for the matter and obiect of [Page] our beliefe. Ye are built (saith S. Paul) vpon the foundation of Ephes. 2, 19. 20. the Prophets, and Apostles, Christ Iesus himselfe, being the chiefe corner stone. By the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, is meant the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine, as all Expositours that I haue read; yea, their owne Aquinas and Caietane, Aquin. Caietan. with one consent auouch: and to bee built vpon this foundation, is to haue our faith to relye and depend vpon it onely, as a house relyeth onely vpon the foundation, and without a foundation cannot stand: that therefore is no doctrine of faith, that is vpholden by any other foundation, neither hath that any good foundation, which is not built vpon the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine; they build vpon sand, that build vpon humane traditions, euery stormy puffe of winde will shake the house of that faith: but they which heare the word of Christ, and keepe it, build vpon a rocke, against Math. 7. 23. which, neither the raine, flouds, nor windes, no not the gates of hell are able to preuaile; because they are grounded vpon the rocke: which rocke indeede is Christ, to speake properly, as1. Pet. 2. 7. not onely S. Peter confesseth, 1. Pet. 2. 7. but euen Christ himselfe, that is this rocke: Math. 16. 18. when hee saith, Ʋpon Math. 16. 18. this rocke will I build my Church: that is vpon this truth, that Christ is the Sonne of God: yet the word of Christ may also be called the rocke, because it is as firme and durable as Christ himselfe. And that wee may know, that Gods word1. Pet. 1. 25. onely is the foundation of faith, S. Paul telleth vs plainely, that faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If anyRom. 10. 17. of them say (as they doe) that the word of God is not onely that which is written in Scripture, but that which is vnwritten, deliuered by tradition: let them shew as good reasons, to proue their traditions to be the word of God, as we doe to proue the Scripture, and we will beleeue them: but since they cannot, let them beare with vs, if we vnderstand the Apostles words, as spoken onely touching the written word, and the rather, because we haue for the warrantize of our interpretation, both S. Paul himselfe in the same Chapter, verse 8. when he saith, This is the word offaith which we preach. Where heeRom. 10. 8. sheweth what is that word, which is the ground of our faith, [Page] namely, the word preached. And S. Peter, who hauing magnified1. Pet. 1. 25. the word of God, with this commendation, that it endureth for euer, presently expoundeth himselfe of what word hee spake, saying, And this is that word which is preached amongst you: That is, the word of the Gospell, which was not in part, but wholy and fully, as preached by mouth, so committed to writing. And thus S. Basil also interprets it,Basil in [...]. for he saith, Quicquid est vltra scripturas: Whatsoeuer is out of the Scriptures diuinely inspired, because it is not of faith, is sinne: for faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now from hence thus I reason. If the word of God written, be the onely ground of faith, then that Religion which will not acknowledge it, dependance onely vpon the word written, is not to be beleeued, but to be suspected as erronious: but the word written is the onely ground of faith, as hath beene proued: therefore that Religion which disclaymeth it dependance only vpon the word, deserues iustly not to be beleeued, but to be suspected as erronious: And in this regard, the Romish Religion, though it be in our Pater noster, to wit, vnder the last petition, Deliuer vs from euill, yet it should neuer come into our Creed, to repose our faith and our saluation vpon it.

4. Thirdly, the Scripture, as it is the fountaine and foundation of true Religion: So it is the rule of faith, and the touchstone of doctrines, and the ballance of the Sanctuarie, to weigh truth and falshood in, that the one may be discerned from the other. This the Prophet Esay teacheth, when heeEsay 8. 20. calleth vs to the Law and to the Testimonie, saying, that if any speake not according to that word, there is no light in them. From which place thus I reason: that whereunto we must resort in all controuersies, and doubts for resolution, that is, the rule of faith: but such is the Scripture, by the testimonie of the Prophet: therefore the Scripture is the rule of faith. In like manner, we may conclude, out of S. Peter, who saith, that We 2. Pet. [...]. 19. haue a more sure word of the Prophets, whereunto wee must take heede, as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place, till the Daystarre arise in our hearts. If the word of the Prophets was a sure direction to the Church of God, before the Gospell was [Page] written; then much more is the whole Scripture, contayning the word of the Prophets and of the Apostles together; but S. Peter affirmeth the first, therefore the second must needs follow. For this cause when one asked our Sauiour, what hee might doe to bee saued, hee referred him to the Scripture for his direction, What is written, how readest thou? And so Abraham Luke 10. 26. referreth the rich gluttons brethren, to Moses, and Luke 16. 29. the Prophets: and Christ telleth the Saduces, that this was the cause of their errour, because they knew not the Scriptures. OutMath 22. 29. of all which Texts, thus I argue, If there were any other rule of faith, besides the sacred Scripture, our Sauiour, and Saint Peter would neuer haue sent vs ouer to the Scripture alone, but would haue poynted out vnto vs some other meanes: but they send vs to the Scripture alone: and therefore that alone is the rule and ballance of our faith.

5. And this the very title and inscription of the Scripture doth intimate: for why is it called Canonicall, but because it containes the Canon, that is, the rule of faith and life? The Fathers with one consent agree in this truth. Saint Basil callsBasil lib. 1. contr. Eunom. Chrysost. hom. 13 in 2. Coloss. Aug. de Baptist. contr. Donatist. lib. 2. cap. 6. the Scripture, Canonem recti, & normam veritatis, The Canon of right, and the rule of truth. Chrysostome sayth, that Assertio diuinarum legum, &c. The assertion of the law of God is a most exact Ballance, Squire, and Rule. Saint Augustine calleth it Statera diuina, Gods ballance, or a diuine ballance: these bee his words, Non afferamus stateras dolosas: Let vs not bring deceitfull ballances to weigh what we will and how we will, saying, This is heauie, that is light: but let vs bring that diuine ballance out of the holy Scriptures, as it were out of the Lords treasurie, and by it weigh all things, or rather acknowledge them, being Tertul. contra Hermog. Greg. Nyss. orat. deijs qui adeunt Hierosol. Grat. Decret. weighed by the Lord. Tertullian giueth to the Scripture the same name: so doth Gregory Nyssen: and our Countriman venerable Bede, to passe ouer all the rest, as he is reported by Gratian in his decrees, telleth vs in most plaine termes, that In sacris literis vnica est credendi, pariter & viuendi regula praescripta: The onely rule both of Faith, and Life, is prescribed vnto vs in the holy Scriptures. Now, if this be so, as it is meere madnesse to affirme the contrary, then that religion which [Page] doth refuse to be tryed by this rule, and to be weighed in this ballance, doth giue iust cause of suspition, that it is but light stuffe, and crooked ware.

6. If a man should offer to his creditor a piece of gold for payment, and should refuse to haue it either tryed by the touch-stone, or weighed in the ballance, he might iustly suspect that it was but either light, or counterfeit: so may any of good sense rightly suspect that religion to bee both light, and counterfet, which refuseth to be examined by the rule of Gods word, especially (which is the second branch of the first proposition) if it not onely refuse to be tryed by the Scripture, but also will admit no tryall, nor Iudge but it selfe: for as by reason wee conclude, that such a man hath an euill cause in hand, who in Westminster Hall refuseth to haue his matter tryed by the law, and will admit no Iudge, but his own opinion: & that man to be guilty, which standing at the bar of iustice, accused of some great crime, denyeth to be tryed by the verdict of his Country, according to the law: so likewise, the cause of Religion being called in question, that must needs in any equall iudgement bee deemed vnsound and guilty, which will not stand to the verdict and sentence of the Prophets and Apostles, who are the Iury to trye all cases of conscience: and of the Spirit of God speaking in the Scripture, who is the onely Iudge to heare and determine all questions of doubt which may arise in matters of faith, and will be censured and iudged by none but it selfe.

7. Against this truth, all the Romanists, and especially the Iesuites; and of the Iesuites, chiefly Bellarmine, conflict and fight with foote and horse, sailes and oares, tooth and naile, and all they can doe: for herein lyeth the very bloud and life of their Religion. And if this bee wrung from them, that the Scripture is the onely iudge and rule of faith, Actum est de regno Pontificio, The Romish kingdome goeth to wracke vtterly: and therefore they mainely contend to proue, first, that the Scripture is not the Iudge of controuersies; secondly, that it is not properly the rule of faith; and if it bee a Iudge, it is a dumbe one that cannot speake, and if it be a Rule, it is a partiall and [Page] imperfect one, not totall and absolute.

8. These two positions Bellarmine laboureth to prooue byBell. de verbo Dei interp. li. 3. many sorts of Arguments: first, from testimonies of the Olde Testament; secondly, from testimonies of the New; thirdly, by the authority of Bishops and Emperours; fourthly, by the witnesse of the Fathers; & lastly by reason. I passe ouer the foure first sorts of Arguments, as being sufficiently answered by others, and come to the last, which are deriued from reason, the slightnesse whereof doth plainely discouer the vanity of this their opinion. Now, to proue that the Scripture cannotBell. ibid. ca. 9. be the iudge of Controuersies, nor the Interpreter of it selfe, they vse three chiefe reasons: first, because it hath diuers senses: secondly, because it is not able to speake, but is mute and dumbe; and thirdly, because in euery well ordered Common-wealth, the Law and the Iudge are distinguished; and therefore, seeing the Scripture is the law, therefore it cannot be the Iudge.

9. I answere to the first, that it is not onely false, but impious to affirme, that the Scripture is as it were, A nose of wax flexible into many senses, as Melchior Canus affirmeth, or thatCan. loc. li. 3. c. 2. it may be dinersly expounded according to the occasion of the time, as Cardinall Cusanus auerreth: or that it is like a Delphian Cus. ep. 2. 3. 7. Tur. contra Sad. pag. 99. Sword, to be conuerted into many senses, as Turrian the Iesuite maketh it: for as of one body there is but one soule, so of one place of Scripture, there is but one true & sound sense, which is the soule and life of it, the words being but the flesh, and the skinne that couereth the same: and that true sense is that which the Spirit of God intendeth, and not that which euery priuate spirit collecteth and deduceth out of the same: as for the Tropologicall, Anagogicall, and Allegoricall senses, they are not distinct senses of the Scripture, but diuers collections and applications issuing out of one and the same sense: all which may bee intended by the Holy Ghost, vnder that one literall sense. For example, when an Allegory is deduced out of a place of Scripture, as Saint Paul, Gal. 4. 24.Gal. 4. 24. doth allegorize that History of Abrahams two Wiues, it is not a double interpretation of that History: but it is onely [Page] an Allegoricall application of it, to the illustrating of the matter which he had in hand: and so when by a tropologie a morall doctrine is deriued out of a text of Scripture, as our Sauiour doth, Math. 12. 41. 42. applying to the Iewes theMat. 12. 41. 42. repentance of the Niniuites, and the long iourney of the Queene of Saba to see, and heare Salomon; or when as by a type any thing in Scripture is mystically expounded otherwise then the literall sense doth beare: this is not a new sense, but an accommodation of the right sense to another purpose, which notwithstanding is intended by the spirit of God: and this is confessed by diuers of their owne side. Cornelius Agrippa Agrip. de vanit. cap. 100. Aquin. Sum. pri. par. 9. pri. par. 10 thus writeth, The Scripture hath but one simple and constant sense, in which alone, the truth is found. And Aquinas thus, It is the literall sense which the author of the Scripture intendeth, which is God: yet it is not inconuenient, if in one letter of the Scripture, according to the literall sense, there bee many senses.

10. But grant that there are diuers distinct senses of some few places of Scripture: to wit, one literall, and another spirituall, (for in the most there is not) yet there can be but one literall sense, as many of the Iesuites themselues confesse, andAcost. lib. 3. de Cor. Reuel. ca. 11. Medina. Rib. com. in hos. ca. 11. nu. 6. 7. Bell. de verbo Dei, li. 3. ca. 3. Veg. de Just. li. 9 cap. 44. Sal. com. in Heb. dis. 1. 7. Azor. Instit. mor. lib. 8. cap. 2. Sixt. Sen. Bibl. li. 3. pa. 140. Pol. Virg. de Inuent. li. 4. c. 9. from that onely, a forcible argument may be drawne, as Bellarmine acknowledgeth, and Ʋega another Iesuite: except the mysticall sense be explaned, and authorized by some other expresse place of Scripture, as Salmeron, Azorius, Sixtus Senensis, and Polidore Ʋirgil auouch, and proue the same by the testimonie of Augustine and Ierome. Now then, why should the multiplicity of senses barre the Scripture, from being the Iudge of controuersies, seeing no controuersie can effectually be decided by any other sense, but by the literall, which is euer one and the same: or by the mysticall, so farre forth as it is approued and declared by another Scripture, which then becomes the literall sense of that place, wherein it is expounded, though it was spiritually included in the barke of the former from whence it was deriued? This therefore is a most vaine and friuolous obiection.

11. To the second, that the Scripture is dumb, and therefore [Page] cannot bee the Iudge, because the Iudge of controuersies, must haue a deciding and determining voyce. I answere, that this is blasphemy against the sacred word of God: for if the Scripture bee an Epistle of the omnipotent God to his creature, as Gregory calleth it, what doth it but speake to them toGregor. mag. Epist. 40. whom it is sent? He that writes a letter to his friend, doth hee not speake vnto him? and hee that reades his friends letter, doth hee not vnderstand his meaning and intendment, because the letter doth not vtter a voyce, and he heareth not his friend himselfe? Doth not euery man know that there is a double word, verbum dictum, a word spoken, and verbum scriptum, a word written, the one being Imago cordis, the Image of the minde, the other Imago oris, the Image of the speech? True it is, the Scripture doth not speake, as man speaketh, but yet it speaketh as the Law vseth to speake: and God himselfe speaketh in the Scripture, to them that haue eares to heare him, and therefore in the Epistles to the Churches, which were all written, not spoken, it is said, Let him Reue. 2. & 3. that hath an eare, heare what the Spirit saith vnto the Churches; and is there any thing more common then these phrases, what saith the Scripture? doth not the Scripture say? Yea, and is not the Scripture called vi [...]us Dei sermo, the liuely word of God? Heb. 4. 12. Heb. 4. 12. how can it speake, if it bee dumbe; how can it giue life, if it be dead?

12. This manifest truth Stapleton striueth to elude by aStapl. lib. 1. cont. Whitak. c. 7. §. 9. witty, as he thinkes, but indeed a witlesse distinction, God (saith he) speaketh indeed by the Scripture, but hee speaketh not vnto vs by them: the Scripture is indeed the word of God: but the Church is the voyce of God. Which fond obiection our famousWhitak. contra Staplet. Country-man the scourge of Poperie, Doctor Whitaker thus wipeth away. If God speake in the Scripture, then hee doth it either with himselfe, or vnto some other, but not with himselfe, therefore to some other, and if to some other, to whom but vnto man? for hee neither speaketh to Angels nor Deuils, nor dumb creatures, therefore onely to man, as when he saith, Thou shalt not kill, or, Loue your enemies: there is no man so simple, but hee perceiueth that God speaketh vnto [Page] man. And therefore the Apostle saith, that whatsoeuer things Rom. 15. 4. are written aforetime, are written for our learning, that wee through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might haue hope: And so it is cleare, that God by the Scripture, not onely speaketh, but speaketh vnto vs, and so the Scripture is not onely the word of God, but the voyce of God: in it selfe, as it proceeded from God, the voyce of God; to vs, as we haue it by writing, the word of God, and the Epistle of the great King, to his poore subiects, whereby they are enformed of his will and pleasure, and directed in the wayes of saluation.

13. I, but when the question is about the sense of a Text, as of that, Math. 16. 19. To thee will I giue the keyes, &c. WhichMath. 16. 19. words they interpret, as spoken to Peter onely, and consequently to the Pope his successour: we to the rest of the Apostles, as well as to him. Where now doth the Scripture decide this doubt, and speake plainely which is the truest sense? Mary first, in the very place it selfe, by the due examination of the circumstances thereof, they euidently shew that our sense is the truest: for whereas the question is propounded to all the Apostles, verse 15. and all the Apostles held the same faith, that Iesus is the Sonne of God, verse 20. it must needes be, that Peter was but as the fore-man of the Quest, and answered not for himselfe only, but for them all: thereby shewing forth not any preeminence of authority aboue the rest, but a greater zeale and forwardnesse then the rest. And herevpon it followeth, that seeing this promise of the keyes is made, because of that faith and confession, therefore they all beleeuing and confessing the same, haue an interest to the promise as well as Peter. And this Anselmus in plaine tearmes affirmeth. It is to be noted (saith he) that this power was not giuen Anselm. in Mat. 16. alone to Peter: but as Peter answered one for all, so in Peter hee gaue this power to all.

14. Secondly, by the conference of another place, which is more plaine, to wit, Ioh. 20. 23. where is a gift and an endowmentIoh. 20. 23. of that power of the keyes, which before was promised: for to binde, and to loose, and to remit, and retayne sinnes, is all one in effect, as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth, [Page] and contain [...] the whole vertue of the keyes: now here theyBell. de Rom. Pont. li. 1. ca. 12. are all inuested with equall iurisdiction, the Holy Ghost is equally breathed vpon them all, and equall authority be queathed vnto them all by these words of the Commission, As my Father sent me, so I send you: which exposition is confirmedAug. de verbo Dei ser. 13. Cypr. de vnit. Eccles. Hierom. aduer. Iouin. l▪ 1. Theoph. in Mat. 16. Ansel. in Mat. 16 by the authority of most of the Fathers, as Augustine, Cyprian, Hierome, Theophilact, Anselme, &c. and thus the Scripture by a most liuely voyce determineth this doubt: and as of this, so of all other questions and interpretations, the Scripture onely must bee the Iudge, which by searching the originals, examination of circumstances, conference of other places, and consulting with the learned Fathers and Expo [...]itors, together with feruent prayer to God for inward illumination, will giue a most exact, and precise satisfaction to all controuersies, touching matters of [...]aith, necessarie to bee beleeued.

15. To the third reason, that the Scripture is the law, and therefore cannot be the Iudge: I answere, that though the Law and the Iudge be diuers distinct things, yet they are subordinate one vnto the other, and so may both ioyne in the concurrence of one cause: as when our Sauiour saith, Call no Mat. 23. 9. man Father vpon earth, for there is but one, your Father which is in heauen: his meaning is not to exclude earthly Fathers from their title, but to shew that God is the primer and principall Father, both in respect of time, order, and cause, and that the other are but subordinate vnto him: so in a Common-wealth the Iudge is subordinate vnto the law, and the law is the Iudges Iudge: and for that cause, as the Law is said to be a dumbe Magistrate, so the Magistrate is said to be a speaking Law: and so in truth the Law is the Iudge primarily, and principally, and the Magistrate is but the Minister of the law, and the Iudge subordinate. Now if this be so in a Common-wealth gouerned by humane Lawes, which are failing and imperfect in many things, being the ordinances of erring men, how much more may we deeme it to be so in the Church of God, whose Law-giuer is God himselfe, and the law the word of God? and therefore, though the Pastors [Page] and Ministers of the Church may interpret the Scriptures, yet they must be tyed to this rule, to doe it by the Scriptures, and to expound the law by the law: for shall not a temporall Iudge giue sentence out of his owne braine, but secundum leges & statuta, according to the lawes and statutes of the Realme? And shall any Pastour of the Church, be it the Pope himselfe, giue iudgement in any question out of his owne brest, without the direction of Gods word? This is to preferre humane lawes before Gods law: and to make the state of the Church farre inferiour to the state politike: and to haue a more certaine rule for the deciding of ciuill controuersies, then for the determining of questions of [...]aith: so that in a word, the Scripture is both the law and the interpreter of the Law, the Iudge, and the Iudgement.

16. Secondly, Bellarmine affirmeth and laboureth to proue [...]ll. de verbo Dei li. 4. ca. 12. that the proper and chiefe end of the Scripture was not to be the rule of faith, but that it might be commonitorium quoddam vtile, A certaine profitable commonitory, whereby the doctrine deliuered by word of mouth, might be conserued and nourished. And to this end and purpose, he vseth diuers reasons, as first, because it containes in it many things which are not necessary to faith, as all the Histories of the Olde Testament, and many of the New, and the salutations in the Epistles of the Apostles; all which were not therefore committed to writing, because they were necessary to be beleeued, but are therefore necessarily beleeued, because they are written. Secondly, because all things necessary to be beleeued are not contained in the Scripture, as by what meanes women vnder the law were clensed from originall sinne, wanting circumcision, and children that dyed before the eight day, and many Gentiles that were saued: againe, which are the books of Canonicall Scripture, and that these are Canonicall, and those are not: that the Virgin Marie was a perpetuall virgin, that the Passeouer is to be kept vpon the Sunday being the Lords day, and that children of beleeuing Parents are to bee baptized, and such like. Thirdly, because the Scripture is not one continued body, as a rule should bee, but containeth diuers workes, Histories, [Page] Sermons, Prophecies, Verses, and Epistles. These be his three reasons, by which the Iesuite would euince, that the Scripture is not giuen to this end, to be the rule of faith.

17. To all which I will answere briefly, and distinctly, and first in generall, secondly in particular: In generall, if the Scripture be not giuen to be the rule of faith, why is it called Canonicall? It is therefore called Canonicall, because it containes the Canon, that is, the rule of faith and life: this very inscription approued by all, doth refute Bellarmines fond cauillation. Againe, if the Scripture was not giuen to bee the rule, but onely a monitorie, why were there so many Bookes written, seeing fewer would haue serued for monition? The multiplicity of Bookes proueth, that they serue not onely to put vs in mind of our duty, but also as an exact rule to square our faith, and frame our life by. And lastly, if the Scripture was not giuen to be a rule, why doth he himselfe confesse afterward that it is indeed a rule, but not a total and entire rule, but a partiall and imperfect one? If it bee any waies a rule, then it was giuen by God, and written by the men of God, to that end to be the rule. And so Bellarmines goodly reasons hang together like a sicke mans dreame, the one part wherof ouerthroweth the other.

18. But to answere in particular to them seuerally: To the first, I say, that it is not farre from blasphemy to affirme, that there is any thing in holy Scripture that is vnnecessary; for though all things are not of equall necessity and profit, yet there is nothing in the whole Booke of God, from the beginning of Gen. to the end of the Reuel. but may haue most profitable and necessary vse in the Church of God, if not for the essentiall forme of faith, yet for the adorning and beautifying of it: and this may truely bee verified, euen of those things which he excepteth against, to wit, the Histories of the Olde and New Testament, and the salutations in the Epistles of the Apostles: out of all which, how many excellent doctrines may be deriued both for the confirmation of faith, and edification of manners! And therefore as in mans body, God by nature hath not disposed all parts to be alike necessary, but [Page] some haue no other vse but ornament and comelinesse: so hath Almighty God mingled the parts of holy Scripture in that manner, that some are as it were bones and sinews to our faith, some flesh and bloud, and some againe but exteriour beautie and fashion: yet as in nature nothing is made in vaine, so much lesse in Scripture is there any thing to be accounted superfluous and redundant: nay, in this diuine body, there are no excrements that may be cast out and separated, as it fareth in our earthly carkases, but all is entire, sound and perfect, as the Prophet Dauid teacheth, Psal. 19. 7. when heePsal. 19. 7. saith, that the Law of God is perfect, conuerting the soule: and our Sauiour, Math. 5. 18. when he auoucheth, that till heauen Math. 5. 18. and earth perish one iote or title of the Law shall not, &c.

19. To his second reason I answere three things: first, that it is entirely false, that the Scripture doth not contayne all things necessarily required to the Essence of faith; for if the Scripture be perfect, and giueth wisedome to the simple; if nothingPsal. 19. 7. Deut. 4. 2. Gal. 1. 8. may bee added to it, nor taken from it; if to teach any thing, besides the Scripture, deserueth the fearefull Anathema; if it be able to make the man of God perfect to euery good worke; 2. Tim. 3. 16. 17. Ioh. 5. 39. Ephes. 2. 19. 20. Rom. 15. 4. if in them onely wee may finde eternall life; if the Church of God be built vpon the foundation of the Prophets, and Apostles: and lastly, if our faith and hope doe arise from the Scriptures, then there is nothing necessary to saluation, but is fully and plenarily contained in them: but the first is true, as appeareth by all those testimonies before alledged, and therefore the latter must by necessary consequence be true also.

20. Secondly, I answere, that Bellarmine by that assertion crosseth the whole streame of the Fathers, for most of them affirme the flat contrary. Tertullian saith, that when we once beleeue Tertul. de praescript. the Gospell: Hoc prius credimus non esse quod vltra credere debemus: This we beleeue first, that there is nothing besides which we ought to beleeue. Iraeneus saith, that the Apostles committed Iraen [...]. haeres. lib. 3. c. 1. to writing the Gospell which they preached, Fundamentum & columnam fidei nostrae futurum, To be the foundation, and pillar of our faith. Basil saith, Quicquid extra diuinam scripturam Basil. Ethic. Reg. 80. est, cum ex fide non sit, peccatum est, Whatsoeuer is beside the holy [Page] Scripture, because it is not of faith, is sinne: Cyrill saith, that all Cyril. in Ioh. lib. 12. cap. 68. those things were written in holy Scripture, which the Writers thought sufficient, Tam ad mores quàm ad dogmata, As well touching conuersation, as doctrine. Augustine saith, that those August. in Iohan. tract. 49. things were chosen out to be written, Quae saluti credentium sufficere videbantur, Which seemed sufficient for the saluation of them that beleeue. And againe, he saith in another place, Whether Aug. contr. lit. Petil. l. 4. c. 6. concerning Christ, or concerning the Church of Christ, or concerning any thing that pertaineth to our faith or life: we will not say if we, but if an Angell from heauen shall preach vnto you, but what ye haue receiued in the Scriptures of the Law, and the Gospell, let him be accursed. Chrysostome saith, Si quis eorum: Chrysost. de sanct. et adoran. spir. Hier. in Mat. 23. If any of them who are said to haue the holy Ghost, doe speake any thing of him selfe, and not out of the Gospell, beleeue it not. Ierome speaking of an opinion touching the death of Zacharias, the father of Iohn Baptist, saith, Hoc quia ex Scripturis non habet authoritatem, This, because it hath not authority, out of the Scriptures is as easily contemned as approued. I supersede for breuity sake, the residue of the Fathers, who with full consent conspire in the same opinion: yea, not onely the Fathers, but many also of their owne most learned Authors: as Thomas Aquinas, Aquin. lec. 1. in 1. Tim. 6. Anton. sum part. 3. tit. 18. c. 3. §. 3 Durand. praefat. in Sent. Peres. de rat. con. lib. 2. c. 19. Cling. loc. lib. 3. cap. 19. p. 198. Antoninus, Durandus, Peresius, Clingius, and diuers others: by all which we may see how little reckoning Bellarmine maketh of the ancient Fathers: where they make for him, hee magnifieth and exalteth them to the skies, but when they are opposite to him, he reiecteth them as drosse, and the like account he maketh of his owne Doctors.

21. Lastly, I answere, that of those things which he affirmeth, not to be contayned in holy Scripture, and yet to be of necessity of beliefe, some of them are farre from either necessity or profit, as that of the meanes whereby women vnder the Law were purged from originall sinne: and how the Gentiles were partakers of the couenant, hauing not the Sacrament; and that Easter is to be celebrated vpon the Lords day: If these things be of that necessity of beliefe, which hee maketh them, how many thousand then haue sinned greatly, in being ignorant thereof? for at this day not the hundreth [Page] part of Christians euer heard these things once named, and yet by this ignorance they neither offended God, nor hindered their owne saluation. And what shall we thinke of Iraeneus, Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 25. Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 19. and other godly Bishops in the East, that held that Easter was not to bee celebrated euer vpon the Lords day? Againe, the other things nominated by him, as that the books of the sacred Bible, are the Canonicall Scripture, and the word of the liuing God: that the children of beleeuing parents are to be baptized: that Christ descended into hell, may easily be proued out of Scripture, either by expresse testimonie, or by necessarie consequence and deduction, which is all one; for, Perinde sunt [...]a quae ex Scripturis colliguntur, at (que) [...]a Nazian. de Theol. lib. 5. quae scribuntur, &c. saith Nazianzene.

22. Thirdly, being driuen by the power of truth, to acknowledge the Scripture to be a rule, he commeth in with a leaden distinction: to wit, that is not a totall, but a partiall rule, and that the word of God written, and not written (by [...] this last meaning traditions) is the totall and perfect rule. To this I answere in a word, that by this distinction, he plainely ouerturneth that which before hee had confessed: for if it bee the rule of faith, then it must needes be totall and perfect, if it be not totall and perfect, then is it not the rule: for a rule must be proportioned to the thing, whereunto it is applied. If then our faith be either longer and larger then the Scripture, then cannot the Scripture bee any wayes called the rule thereof. Besides, as Theophilact saith, Regula et amussis ne (que) appositionem Theophil in 3. cap. ad Philip. habet, ne (que) ablationem: A rule doth neither admit addition nor diminution: and that is the definition of a rule according to Varinus. Regula est mensura quae non fallit, quae (que) nullam vel Varinus. additionem vel detractionem admittit. A rule is (saith hee) a measure which deceiueth not, and which admitteth no addition nor detraction. Therefore if it be the rule of faith, either it is perfect, and absolute, or none at all: if it standeth in neede of traditions to supply it want, then why doth hee call it the rule, and why doe all the Fathers giue it the same name? and why hath it that inscription in the forehead, the Canonicall Scripture? Lastly, if God would giue vs a rule for our faith [Page] and life in the Scripture, then by the same reason hee would make that a perfect rule: for, shall any imperfect thing proceede from the authour of all perfection? When an imperfect creature is borne, wanting either limmes or forme, we ascribe it to a defect and errour in the particular nature, from whence the creature is deriued, or to the indisposition of the instrumentall causes, not to the generall nature which tendeth alwaies vnto perfection. How much more then ought this Iesuite be afraid to ascribe an imperfect creature, to the all-perfect Creatour? especially seeing it is the worke of his owne hands, without the intermingling of all second causes, and proceedeth immediately from his owne spirit, the Prophets and Apostles, being but as Baruch to Ieremie, writers and engrossers of that which the spirit did dictate vnto them? And therefore I may boldly and firmely conclude, that as the vncreated word of God, begotten of the Father before all time, is perfect God, and can neither receiue augmentation nor diminution: so the word of God, pronounced first by the mouth of the Prophets and Apostles, and after by them committed to writing▪ which is called the Scripture, is absolute and perfect, and can neither be encreased nor diminished, to make it more or lesse perfect, and so is the onely true sound and sacred Rule, whereby both our Faith and life is to be directed towards the Kingdome of Heauen.

23. And thus I hope, the first proposition remaineth soundMINOR. and firme, notwithstanding all that can be sayd to the contrary. Now I come to the confirmation of the assumption or second proposition, which is, that the Religion of the Church of Rome refuseth to be tryed and iudged by the Scriptures alone, and will be tried and iudged by none but it selfe: which if it be euicted, then the conclusion must necessarily follow, that therefore it is not onely to be suspected, but vtterly reiected and abhorred.

24. That this is so, though it hath already in the precedent discourse beene sufficiently demonstrated, yet that the matter may appeare more plaine, and their impudency may be more notorious, let vs search deeper into this wound, and discouer [Page] the filthinesse thereof from the very bottome: and first that they renounce the Scripture from being their Iudge, and then in the second place, that they admit of no other Iudge but themselues.

25. Concerning the first, let vs heare Bellarmine the Achilles of Rome, speake foremost, hee affirmeth in expresse words, that the Scripture is not the rule of faith, or if it be, that it is a partiall and imperfect rule, and vtterly insufficient of it selfe, without the helpe of Ecclesiasticall traditions. This assertion is well-neere the whole matter subiect of his third and fourthBell. de verbo Dei, li. 3. ca. 3. Bookes De verbo Dei, which he laboureth to strengthen by all meanes possible: Yea, in the third Chapter of his third Booke, he saith peremptorily, that the Pope with a Councill is the Iudge of the true sense of the Scripture, & all controuersies. Now, in setting vp the Pope or a Councill into the supreme throne of Iudgement, he must needes pull downe the Scripture, & the Spirit of God speaking therein from that throne, and despoyle it of that authority. But what need I draw this consequence from his words, seeing throughout that whole Chapter he doth almost nothing else but striue to proue that the Scripture is not the Iudge, & doth reproue the Protestāts for saying that all the iudgements of the Fathers, and all the decrees of Councils ought to be examined ad amussim Scripturarum, according to the rule of the Scriptures? Next vnto Bellarmine, commeth in Gregory de Ʋalentia, and hee mostGreg. de Val. li. 5 in Anal. c. 2. & 3 boldly auoucheth, that the Scripture is not a sufficient Iudge or rule of all controuersies of faith: and that the Scripture alone defineth nothing at all, no not obscurely of the chiefe questions of faith: and where it doth speake, it speaketh so obscurely, that it Hos. 10. 2. aduer. Brent. Proleg. doth not resolue, but rather increase the doubt. Cardinall Hosius is no whit lesse audacious, when he affirmeth, that the Scripture in it selfe is not the true and expresse word of God, which we ought to obey, vnlesse it bee expounded according to the sense and Sal. com. in. esist. Paul. in Gen. Tur. contr. Sade. Cost. Ench. de sum. Pontif. consent of the Catholike (that is in his opinion the Romane) Church. The Iesuites Salmeron, Turrian, and Coster, doe not onely barely affirme as much, but also confirme it by reason. The Scripture is dumbe (saith Salmeron) but the deciding voyce [Page] of a Iudge must be quicke. The Scripture is a dead letter (saith Turrian) and a thing without life (saith Coster) but a Iudge must be liuing, who may correct such as erre: therfore that Scripture cannot be the Iudge. It is as it were a Nose of wax (saith Melchior Canus) flexible into euery sense, and as it were, aCan. loc. li. 3. c. 2. Turri. vt supra. Delphian Sword, fit for all purposes (saith Turrian) therefore cannot be the Iudge. And therefore two other Iesuites, to wit, Tanner and Gretzer impudently conclude, that no heresie Coll. Ratisb. can be sufficiently refuted by Scripture alone, and that by no meanes it may be graunted, that either the holy Scripture, or the Holy Ghost speaking by the Scripture, should be the supreme and generall Iudge of Controuersies: and hee addes his reason, because the Scripture cannot dicere sententiam, giue sentence on one side, as a Iudge should doe. Nay, one Vitus Miletus (as Pelargus reporteth) is not ashamed to say, that weePelarg. Jesuit. read, that an Asse spoke in the Scripture, but that the Scripture it selfe euer spoke, we neuer read. And thus this fellow makes the Scripture it selfe to be more mute then Balaams Asse, and the holy Spirit lesse able to make that speake, then an Angell was to make an Asse to speake. Then which, what could be brayed out more like the beast he speaketh of?

26. But some may say, All these are but priuate mens opinions: we heare not all this while the determination of the Church. Let vs harken therefore to the voyce of the Church touching this poynt, that is, as they hold of the Councill, or rather Conuenticle of Romish Bishops, assembled together at Trent, which they call the Church representatiue. The second Canon of the second decree in thy fourth Session of thatConc. Trid. ses. 4. decret. 2. can. 2. Councill doth thus determine, Let no man trusting to his owne wisedome, dare to interpret the Scripture after his owne priuate sense, or contrary to that sense which our holy Mother the Church holdeth, or contrary to the vnanimous consent of the Fathers. The former part of this Canon is good and sound; for Saint Peter saith, that no Scripture is of priuate interpretation: 2. Pet. 1. 20. and therefore they which wrest the Scriptures to their owne senses, contrary to the intent and scope of them, are guilty of a grieuous sinne before God, and doe it to their owne destruction: [Page] for Optimus scripturae lector est, qui dictorum intellectum non attulerit, sed retulerit exscriptura, (saith Hil.) that is, He Hilar. de tri. l. 1. is the best reader of the Scripture, which doth not bring a sense to the Scripture, but draweth it out of the Scripture. Besides, the middle and end of the Canon is not to bee misliked, if they haue a fauourable interpretation; for the iudgement of the Fathers is greatly to be regarded, and the authority of the Church is to be held in especiall reuerence: but for all this, latet anguis in herba, vnder these faire pretences of words is couched a snake of foule errour: for first, they tye the gift of interpretation of Scripture, and of decision of controuersies, to the Chaire of Peter seated at Rome, and possessed by the Pope, Peters successour, as they call him, or to the Chaire of Bishops assembled together in a Councill, as in Noahs Arke: whereas Saint Paul saith plainely, speaking of the gift of interpretation, These things workethone and the same Spirit, distributing to 1. Cor. 12. 11. euery man seuerally, as he will. And in another place, that the spirituall man discerneth all things, and therefore the Scriptures.1. Cor. 2. 15. Now, by the spirituall man, the Apostle meaneth the man regenerate and sanctified by the Spirit, as it appeareth by that he opposeth him to the naturall man, in the verse going before: and so the gift of discerning and interpreting is not proper to the Chaire of Bishops.

27. Secondly, this Canon doth not onely giue vnto the Church, thus conceiued of them, the onely gift of interpretation, but also a Praetorian and vnexaminable authority in interpreting; so that all which they deliuer out of their Chaires, must bee receiued peremptorily without examining the grounds and reasons, for which they are mooued to be of that iudgement: which Tyrannicall vsurpation, is both contrary to the expresse precepts and principles of holy Scripture, and also to the doctrine and practice of all the ancient Fathers: for the scripture bids to try all things, & to hold that which is good. 1. Thes. 5. 21. And Paul refused not to haue his doctrine examined of theActs 17. 11. men of Ber [...]a, by the Scripture: & the same Apost. directeth vs how to behaue our selues at the time of prophecying, namely,1. Cor. 14. 29. that two or three Prophets speake, & the other iudge. All which [Page] places are flatopposite to that peremptory obtruding of interpretations vpon the Church, which the Canon speaketh of: &Aug. de doctrin. Christian. Orig. hom. 17. in Exod. Hil. de trin. li. 4. Basil de spir. Sa. cap. 1. Cyr. in Job. lib. 8. so are all the Fathers in generall; for in prescribing certaine rules to all men, both of vnderstanding and interpreting the Scriptures, they plainely shew that there is not this absolute authority, nor infallibility in any, to obtrude what interpretation soeuer, without contradiction or examination.

28. Lastly, the Canon in giuing this indefinite power of interpretation, and determination of doubts to the Church, without any relation had to the Scripture, doth vtterly iustle out the Scripture from being the Iudge. And so Andradius the interpretour of this Councill doth expound the intendmentAndrad. thereof, when he saith, that the iudgement of the Church is, Principium vltra quod non sit fas in inquisitione progredi, Aprinciple, beyond the which it is not lawfull to proceede in inquisition. By which he giueth to vnderstand, that our faith must relye wholly and solely vpon the iudgement of the Church, that is, the Pope and his Prelates, without enquirie at all into the word of God, whether that which they propound be consonant to the truth or no. As Erasmus in a certaine disputationEras. ex Chem. exam. pa. 66 against the Papists, confesseth, that their opinion hath not sure & certain testimonies of Scripture, but that the contrary opinion may be better & more clerely & strongly proued out of Gods word; notwithstanding (saith he) if the Church bid, I will beleeue it, for I will captiuate my vnderstanding to the obedience of the Church. And this indeed is the Babylonian seruitude of the church of Rome, wherby they fetter the souls of their followers to perpetual slauery, and lead thē blindfold vnder the veile of an implicite faith vnto perdition: for this is the first ground they lay in the hearts of all their generation, that they must not examine the doctrine of the Church, but take it at their hands as good coyne, though it be neuer so counterfeit, doctrina in Concilijs definit a custodiēda est, non examinanda, (saithBell de verbo Dei, li. 3. c. 10. Bellarmine) that doctrine which is defined in a Council, is to be kept, not examined: and ordinarius pastor Ecclesiae audiendus est, non iudicandus (saith Stapleton) an ordinary Pastor ofStap de doctrina prin. li. 1. ca. 5. the Church is to be heard, not iudged: thus we see, that the [Page] Scripture is thrust cleane out of dores, from hauing any right or title in the decision of questions of faith: not onely by priuate men, but euen by their Church it selfe.

29. Now here two things are to be obserued of vs, for the plainer enucleation and clearing of this poynt: first, that in making the Scripture Iudge, we doe not exclude the Church, nor any member of the Church from the office of iudging and discerning, onely we place them in their due order and ranke: for this is it we intend, that the Scripture is the highest and most absolute Iudge, from the sentence whereof there is no appeale to be made to any higher Court: and that the iudgement & determination of the Church, or of any member therof, is subordinate vnto that, and to be ruled and guided by that, and where it is agreeable vnto that, there to be receiued, where it swarueth from that, to be reiected. For as in the ciuill estate, the Iudges deputed to that office, haue no absolute authority in themselues, but are subiect vnto the lawe, and the Ministers thereof, and therefore must not speake what they list, but what the law directeth: so in the state Ecclesiasticall, they that are inferiour Iudges, are but the Ministers of the law of God, and must not vary from the rule thereof in any respect. And for this cause, as the Iewes were commandedDeut. 17. 10, 11 to obey the sentence and determination of the Priest in all controuersies, so the Priest was commanded to giue iudgement according to the law, and no otherwise: and albeit the Hebrew glosse vpon that Text teacheth, that if the Priest say that the right hand is the left, or the left is the right, his sentence is to be holden, (which is the plaine doctrine of the Church of Rome, Iudaizing in this as in many other things) yet Lyra Lyra on Deu. 17 writing vpon that Text saith, that the glosse is manifestly false, because the sentence of no man, of what authority soeuer, is to be holden, if it be contrary to the law of God: so we admit the Church to be Iudge, and euery priuate Christian also in his place, but we ascribe the chiefe power and authority of Iudging to the Scripture alone. The next place we allow vnto the Church, and the lowest vnto the particular members thereof: These last to be directed by the Church, but yet so [Page] farre as it bringeth it authority out of the Scriptures, and it to be limited by the bounds of the Scripture also: and if it iudge against the euidence thereof, not to bee heard nor beleeued. This is our opinion, that wee may not be mistaken: but our aduersaries aduance their Church vnto the highest place, and make the Scripture an inferiour vassall, and seruant vnto it, as I haue declared.

30. Secondly, note thereason that moueth them, thus to disclaime from the iudgement of the Scripture: it is because they know full well, that the maynest and chiefest poynts of their Religion, wherein they dissent from vs, haue no ground nor foundation in the Scripture, but would vanish like a morning aust, if the light of Gods word should but shine vpon them: as for instance, their doctrines of worshipping Images, of tasting dayes, of prayer for the dead, of Purgatorie, of shrift, of pardons, of the communion in one kinde, of single life, and of the priuate Masse, and such like: all which poynts and many other, their owne Writers contesse, cannot be sufficiently proued out of the Scripture. And therefore Andradius Andrad. Orthod. explic. lib. 2. doth fully and ingenuously acknowledge, that many poynts of their Religion would reele and stagger, if they were not supported by tradition: and Bellarmine himselfe saith, that itBel. de Euchar. lib. 3 cap. 23. How contrary is this to that of S. Augustine, out faith shuld reele and totter, if the authority of the Scripturestand not fast, Aug. de doct. Chris. lib. 1. cap. 23. may be doubted whether the great poynt of transubstantiation may be sufficiently enforced out of the words of the Text, Hoc est corpus meum: So that wee see now the reason why they will not be tried by the Scriptures, euen this, because if the Scripture bee Iudge, Popery must needes goe to wracke. This is ther fore a cunning and witty policie, or rather a grosse and palpable subtilty of theirs, whereby though they dazle the sight of the simple and ignorant, yet they cannot bleare the eyes of the vnderstanding and wise, from discerning into their fraud.

31. Hauing thus proued, that they reiect the Scripture, now I come to shew, that they allow of no other Iudges but themselues: for the proofe whereof, there needes no long discourse, seeing it is sufficiently apparent, by that which hath already beene deliuered, that they appeale from the sentence [Page] of the Scripture vnto the iudgement of the Church, and tye vnto the girdle thereof, the onely key of interpretation. Now by the Church, they intend first the Romish Synagogue, that is, all that whole bony which dependeth vpon the Pope for their head, and receiue as it were life, and nourishment by his influence: for (as Bristo saith) the Romane Bristo mot. 12. in marg. Rhem. Annot. in Rom. Church is the Catholike Church, and as the Rhemists, the Catholike and the Roman faith is all one. Secondly, by the Church, they meane more particularly a congregation of Romish Bishops and Prelates assembled together in a Councill, which they call the Church representatiue. And thirdly and principally,Aquin. 22. q. 11. art. Greg. de Valent. Anal. fid. p. 136. they intend by the Church, the Pope, who is the head of the Church, and contayneth in him virtually all the power and authority of the Church. The Church in the first sense, is not to be this Iudge (say they) nor yet in the second: which notwithstanding, is but an vpstart opinion, and but of the firstConcil. Constant. Ses. 4. 5. Basilsess. 2. head: for in the Councils of Constance and Basil, it was decreed, that the Pope should obey the Councill, and be ordered by it in all things pertayning to faith, and the reformation of the [...]: and many learned Romanists haue been of the same opinion, as Bellarmine confesseth: but now neitherBell. de concil. li. 2. cap. 14. may the Councill be Iudge: therefore take the Church in the third sense for the Pope, and then you haue the man that is the Church virtuall, and must be all in all, euen the only Iudge and Vmpier in all controuersies. The center in which all the lines, that is, opinions of Fathers, Councils, and Diuines must concurre and meete. The Epitome and abridgement of the whole Church, in whom alone remayneth the Silu. sum. verb. sides nu. 2. whole power of the Catholike Church. And thus from the Scripture, they call vs to the Church, from the Church to the Councils, and from them to the Pope, and there they pitch their line, as in the highest poynt of resolution.

32. That they thus vnderstand by the Church, the Pope, and that all iudgement is deuolued vnto him alone, heare them speake in their owne persons. Bellarmine saith, that the Pope without a Councill may define matters of faith, because being Bell. de Christo li. 2. cap. 28. the vniuersall▪ Pastor, and Teacher of the Church, he cannot [Page] erre, teaching out of the chaire: and that he is absolutely aboueIdem de concil. lib. 2. cap. 17. Idem cap. 18. the Councill, and that he may, as he is the chiefe Prince of the Church, retract the iudgement of the Councill, and not follow the greater part. And therefore, when hee affirmeth in another place, that the Pope with a Councill, is the Iudge ofIdem de Verbo Dei, li. 3. ca. 3. the true sense of the Scripture; he foysteth in the word Councill for a flourish, but indeede, hee meaneth the Pope alone: for if the Pope be aboue all Councils, and may establish or disanull their decrees at his pleasure, then is not hee with a Councill, but without a Councill the chiefe Iudge.

33. Gregory of Valence is more plaine By the Church (saithGreg. de Valent. disp. Theol. tom. 1 dis. 1. q. 1. p. 1. & Anal. fid. p. 136. he) we meane her head: that is to say, the Romane Bishop, in whom resideth the full authority of the Church: the Iesuite Coster, after he hath discarded the Scripture from being Iudge, because it is, Res sine anima & sensu, in varias pugnantes (que) sent entias Cost. Enchir. de sum. Pontif. distracta: A thing without life and sense, distracted into diuers and contrary opinions, saith, that Penes Ecclesiā Cathelicā est indicium veritatis, The iudgement of the truth is belonging to the Catholike Church, but because the whole Church cannot meete together in one place, without great inconueniences. Therefore God hath appoynted and nominated one man, to wit, the Pope, to whom he hath so tyed his presence and spirituall grace, that in question [...] of faith he doth neuer erre. Gretzer Colloq. Rat. Ses. 1 saith, that the generall; lawfull, and ordinarie Iudge of controuersies, is the Bishop of Rome, whether hee define any thing alone, or with a Generall Councill, this Iudge is always infallible. Staplet on saith, that the foundation of our Religion is placed of Staplet. praefat. princip. fid. doct. Iob. de Turr. li. 3. cap. 64. necessitie vpon the authority of this man [...] teaching, in whom wee heare God himselfe speaking. And another of them saith, Si to [...]us mundus sententiaret contra Papam, If the whole world should determine against the Pope, yet we must stand to his sentence. ToIn Sext. extrau. Ioh. 22. tit. 14. & dist. 19. in Canon. & gloss. conclude, the Canon Law saith, that it were heresie to thinke, that our Lord God the Pope might not decree as hee doth, yea, that his rescripts and decretall Epistles are not Canonicall Scripture.

34. Thus we see, the Pope is that which they meane by the Church: and he is the onely compendious Iudge: and therefore [Page] when they talke of the Church, it is but a vayne vaunt; for when all comes to all, they entend nothing by the Church, but their Lord God the Pope, as the Canonists call him: who is ens secundae intentionis compofitum ex Deo & homine, Extrau. in Ioh. 22. Ioh. Capist. de Pap. et Eccles. authorit. Abeing of the second intention, compounded of God and man, and quasi Deus in terris, &c. as it were a God vpon earth, greater then man; and lesse then God, hauing the fulnesse of power. Now by this that hath beene said, the truth of my second proposition doth euidently appeare; to wit, that the Romanists will allow no other Iudges in matter of controuersie, but themselues alone, and so giue iust cause to all that are not blinded with errour, at least to suspect their Religion, if not vtterly to abandon it, which is the conclusion necessarily following vpon these premises.

35. Which, that it is of most necessarie consequence, appeareth by this, because it is against all reason, that the same should be both the party and the Iudge: yea, in equity is it fit, that we should stand to his iudgement, whom we accuse to be a falsifier of the Scripture, and euen Antichrist himselfe? or that that Church should bee our Church, which wee affirme and proue to be an Apostate, and an harlot? seeing that a Iudge should be indifferent and vnpartiall, and not a party: as the Church and Pope of Rome is in all cases of controuersie depending betwixt them and vs; as for example in the controuersie of the Church, the question being which is the true Church. The Iudge to determine thereof, we say, is the Scripture: they cry, The Church, meaning their owne Church, as I haue shewed. Doe they not by their doctrine aduance themselues into the tribunall seate, and make their Church the Iudge, whether it bee the Church or no? so in the question touching the Popes Supremacy, who shall be Iudge whether this supreme power be in the Pope or no? Mary the Pope himselfe, for they admit no other Iudge. Sure he must needes gaine the cause, when hee is thus his owne Iudge. If this bee not a plaine terg [...]ue [...]s [...]tion, I know not what is: if this doth not bewray the weakenesse of their cause, let any indifferent man consider and giue sentence.

[Page]36. For as on ourside in the question of the Kings Supremacie, whether euery King in his owne dominion bee the supreme Gouernour of the Church vnder Christ or no: if wee should in this case admit no Iudge, but the King himselfe: Or in the question of our Church, whether wee be the true Church of Christ or no: if wee should refuse all other triall, saue that which ariseth from the iudgement of our owne Church, and the Bishops and Prelates thereof; would not all men laugh at our folly, and thinke our cause weake and desperate? So may all men thinke of the Romish Religion, that it be wrayeth manifest folly in the maintayners, and apparent weakenesse in the grounds thereof, in that it will not bee iudged but by itselfe, especially seeing it is the property of selfeloue, whereof no man liuing is freed, to make men blinde in their owne causes, and partiall on their owne sides. To conclude therefore, as the Lion in Esope, that challenged to himselfe the whole prey that was caught, and would not stand to the equall partition of his fellow-hunters, proued himselfe thereby to be a tyrant, and his title naught: so the Pope of Rome, and his Proctours, in refusing to be iudged by any saue themselues, and by that right clayming a title to the truth, discouereth both his tyrannie ouer the Church of God, and the holy Scriptures, and the badnesse of his weake cause; seeing truth like a chaste matrone, though it be slandered, yet is so bold and powerfull, that it feareth not to bee tried by those that are the greatest enemies thereof.

Spectatum admissirisum teneatis amici?

MOTIVE. VI. That Religion doth iustly deserue to bee suspected, which doth purposely disgrace the sacred Scriptures: But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo, &c.

OVr Aduersaries may fitly be likened to churlish and angrie Mastifes, whose property it is to rend with their teeth those that are vnarmed, and not able to resist: but if they meet with an armed man, that can keepe them off and [Page] entertaine them with sharpe blowes, then they wreak all their teene vpon the cudgell or weapon wherewith they are annoyed: so they seeing themselues well banged and beaten by our men at Armes, I meane, our Champions that defend the quarrell of our Church, with the staffe of the Scripture, and their hairy scalpes wounded with the stones fetcht out of Dauids scrip, fall a snarling and biting the staffe, and the stones which haue beene the instruments of their sorrow; whereas if they finde any without a staffe in his hand, or a stone in his sling, that is vnfurnished with Scripture to fight with them, ouer him they domineere, & take him captiue, and leade him to their denne for a prey. This their malice against the sacred Scripture, which is the only engine of their destruction, I hope by Gods fauourable assistance so to discouer in this Chapter, that they themselues shall euer bee reputed as blasphemers of the truth, and their religion as odious and abominable to all posterity.

2. The Maior or first proposition in this demonstration,MAIOR. though it bee of an vndoubted truth, yet for the greater illustratio: thereof, two poynts are to be considered: first, what this Scripture is, which is opposed against: and secondly, what they are to be esteemed which oppose themselues vnto the Scripture. The Scripture contained in the Olde and new Testament, is, in a word, the holy and sacred word of the eternall God: which to haue said of it, is an ascription of the greatest dignitie vnto it, as can bee deuised: for if it bee the holy and sacred word of the eternall God, then must it needs be perfect. excellent, pure, vpright, cleane, permanent, wife, sweet, and what else may be spoken for the setting forth of the excellency of a thing: all which attributes are giuen vnto it by the Prophet Dauid, in the 19. Psalme, and doe necessarilyPsal. 19. appertaine vnto it, being immediately deriued from that cleare and sole fountaine of all goodnesse and perfection: For howsoeuer the holy Prophets were the penne-men thereof; yet those were all and in euery parcell and particle inspired by the Holy Ghost, as Saint Peter informeth vs, when hee said, That no Prophecie in the Scripture is of any priuate 2. Pet. 1. 20. 21. motion, but that holy men of God spake as they were mooued [Page] by the holy Ghost. For as the heathen Oracles were conceiued, and vttered by the immediate instigation of the Deuill, who guided both the hearts and tongues of his Priests, to bee the instruments of his malice: So the Oracles of Christians, to wit, the holy Scriptures, proceeded from the sacred inspiration of Gods Spirit, mouing the hearts, and directing the pens of the Prophets & Apostles his Secretaries, to commit to writing that only which they receiued from God, both in respect of matter and manner. To this purpose is that notable saying of Hugo, In the holy Scripture, whatsoeuer is taught, is truth: Hugo de anima. whatsoeuer is commanded, is goodnesse: whatsoeuer is promised, is happinesse: And he addes the reason; Because God is truth, without deceit; goodnesse, without malice; and happinesse, without misery.

3. I need not stand to prooue this position, That the Scripture is the infallible word of the eternall God: it is a grounded truth, and a receiued principle of all that professe themselues to be Christians. And as Saint Basil saith, Like as of eueryBasil in Psa. 115 Science there are [...], vnquestionable Principles which are beleeued without further demonstration: so in the Science of Sciences, Theologie. This is one of those vnquestionable principles, that the Scripture is the word of God, and therefore of diuine both purity and authority. Adde hereunto, that if any should doubt thereof, the purity and perfection of the matter, the maiestie and the statelinesse of the stile, the power and efficacy ouer the conscience, the certaintie of Prophesies fulfilled in the duenesse of time, the strangenesse of the miracles, the antiquity of the writings before all other, the admirable prouidence of God in preseruing them from the teeth of time, and rage of Tyrants, the sweet harmony & consent of euery part with each other, the iudgements of God against the contemners therof, and lastly, the bloud of so many thousand Martyrs which hath beene shed in the defence thereof, doe sufficiently conuince and proue, that this Booke is the Booke of GOD, and euery line and title therein, the Word of God.

4. This being so, then secondly it must needs follow, that [Page] either to denie the Scripture to bee the Word of God, or to abuse it with vnreuerent termes and reproches, or any wayes to diminish the credit and authority thereof, is not onely plaine blasphemy, but also open and notorious Atheifme; and so in both high treason against the Maiestie of God: for, if it be treason to vse contumelious speeches against the Kings person, or either by word to reuile, or by deede to resist his decrees and proclamations: how much more doth that deserue the name of the highest treason, when the sacred word of God, which is a diuine Law, issuing from his owne mouth, is blasphemed, and the maiestie of God most clearely shining, therein abused? It is an olde and a true saying in ciuility, Qui contemnit legem, contemnit Regem: He that despiseth the Law, despiseth the law-giuer. So much more then in Diuinitie, hee that reprocheth the word of God, reprocheth God himselfe. How can they then bee lesse than Atheists, Blasphemours, and Traytours to God, that are guilty of all this iniurie to the holy Scripture?

5. Celsus, against whom Origen wrote, and Lucian, and Porphery, and Apelles, were Whelpes of this Litter; and therefore remaine to this day branded with the note of infamy: to these succeeded many others in after-ages (for the world hath neuer beene without such monsters, God permitting them for the further demonstration of his truth, and declaration of his iust iudgement in their deserued and strange destruction:) yea, that which is most strange, many of those that haue vaunted themselues for Christs Vicars here on earth, haue beene taynted with this infection, as Pope Leo the tenth, who (as Writers report) mocked at the promises and threats of theBalaeus. Scripture, and told Cardinall Bembus, that that fable of Christ had brought vnto him and his, great profit. Such another was Iohn the twelfth, who vsed to blaspheme God, and call vponCuit. prand. li. 6. [...]as [...]cul. tempor. Stella. Platina. the deuill at his dice: and Iulius the third, who asked why he should not bee as angry for the eating of a colde Peacock, as God was for the eating of an Apple? And Benedict the eight, alias the ninth, whose custome was in Woods and Mountaines, to sacrifice to the deuill: and diuers others, which for [Page] breuity sake I forbeare to name. Is it possible that such Athiests, and blasphemous wretches, and worshippers of deuils, should be chosen of Christ to be his Vicars here on earth, to whom hee might commit the gouernment of his Church? Will a mortall man commit the gouernment of his family, especially if he loueth his wife and children, to a knowne Ruffin and a notorious villaiue? Now Christ so loueth his family, his Church, that to purchase and redeeme it, hee gaue his owne pretious bloud, for a ransome for it: and will hee now ordaine in his roome such notorious Wolues, to bee the ministeriall heads and guides thereof? As for the rest of the Popish crue, both learned and vnlearned, though they bee, as I must needes confesse, for the most part, more infected with superstition, then with Atheisme, (albeit neuer did any Country more swarme with that generation, then doth Italy at this day) yet in blaspheming and debasing the holy Scripture, they cannot be farre from, not onely giuing-way, and opening a wide dore to that horrible sinne, but also from making an open profession thereof.

6. Thus we see both what the Scripture is, and also what they are that oppose against the Scripture: which two considerations serue much for the clearing of the first proposition. Now I come to the confirmation of the assumption or secondMINOR. proposition, which euery Romanist will denie in this argument, and therefore stands in neede of stronger fortification: the proposition is this, that the Religion of the Church of Rome doth purposely disgrace the holy Scriptures, and is at enmity with it: that is, that both by doctrine, practice, and bitter and blasphemous speeches, the holy Scripture is disgraced, defaced, and vilely slandered by the chiefe professours and maintayners of that Religion, yea, and by the grounds of the Religion it selfe. I will begin with their doctrine, and secondly come to their practice, and in the last place their slanderous and bitter speeches shall be discouered.

7. Amongst many of their doctrines, whereby they offer open iniurie and wrong to the sacred Scriptures, these foure are the most principall: First, that which hath beene at large [Page] discoursed in the former Chapter, touching the chiefe Iudge of controuersies: for, when as they disable the Scripture from that office, and exalt the Church, that is, the Pope, as I haue shewed, into the highest throne of iudgement, what doe they else but debase the Scripture, in subiecting it to the Popes wil, and making it a vassall to wayt vpon his pleasure, and giuing a greater certainty and infallibility to the determinations of his mouth, speaking out of his chayre, then vnto the infallible and certaine light of truth, shining in the Scriptures? This is open wrong to the Scriptures, and not onely to it, but also to the Spirit of God, the Author and Enditer thereof; for, they which set vp the Pope as an all-sufficient and most competent Iudge, and pull downe the Scripture as non-sufficient and incompetent, as the Romanists doe, doe they not aduance the one, and disgrace the other? as on the contrary, we which ascribe all con [...]petencie of right, and sufficiencie of power to the Scripture, and denie the same to the Pope, doe we not disgrace him, and aduance it? This is the difference in this poynt betwixt them and vs, and their Religion and ours: and that men may see how little estimation they haue of the Scripture compared with their Pope, though the Pope be a man vtterly vnlettered, & ignorant euen of the grounds of Grammar, much more of the grounds of Diuinitie, as someBaron. Glaber. Rodulph. Spondan. Annal. Eccl. s. an. 1033. Balaeus. of them were: though he be a childe of tenne yeeres of age, as Bennet the ninth, or a mad Lad not past eighteene yeeres old, as Iohn the twelfth; though he be an Atheist, as was Leo the tenth, or a Coniurer, as Iulius the third: Lastly, though hee were a man destayned with all manner of filthy and lewd conuersation, as a number of them were: yet his iudgementIf quatenus home, he goe to hell, what will his quatenus Papa doe him good? Baldus. must bee heard and preferred, because (forsooth) quatenus Papa, as he is Pope, he cannot erre, though quatenus homo, as he is a man, hee be an Heretike, or an Atheist, or a wicked wretch: or because Papa est doctor vtrius (que) legis authoritate, non scientia. The Pope is Doctour of both lawes in authority, and not in knowledge: And thus by their Religion, the holy and sacred Scripture must giue place, and bow the knee to an vnholy, sacrilegious, and ignorant Pope oftentimes, and acknowledge [Page] him as Iudge, and submit it selfe to his sentence and censure.

8. The second doctrine of theirs, whereby they disgrace and wrong the Scripture, is that touching the insufficiency and imperfection thereof: for they are not ashamed to say that the Scripture is imperfect and vnsufficient of it selfe, and that in it are not contained all things needfull to saluation, but that a great part. yea, the greatest part of true Religion, is grounded vpon tradition, without the which the Church of GOD could not bee sufficiently instructed, either in faith or manners: this is their goodly doctrine: whereas we on the other side hold and maintaine, that the Canonicall Scripture containeth in it sufficiently, plainely, and abundantly all doctrines necessary to be knowne, for the attainment of saluation,Iraen. li. 3. ca. 1. Orig. hom. 1. in Ier. com. in Rom. ca. 3. hom. 25. in Mat. Athan. con. Gen. & ido. & in syn. Basil de confes. fid. & Ep. 80. ad Eustath. Chryso. hom. 1. in Mat. hom. 3. in 2. Ep. ad Thes. &c. Cyr. li. 12. in Ioh. cap. 68. Tert. con. Hermo. Cypr. Epi. 74. ad Pomp. Aug. de doctrin. Christ. ca. 9. & li. 1. cont. lit. Petil. cap. 6. Hier. com. in Ep. ad tit. ca. 1. & com. in ca. 1. Hag. Bell. de verbo Del, l. 4. ca. 4. Terent. Eunuch-Whitaker. Chemnit. Morton. whether they be positions of faith, or directions for godlinesse: and that thereis no neede of any vnwritten traditions, for the suppliance of any want or defect which is found therein. And herein we haue not onely all the ancient Fathers of the primitiue and purer times of the Church our Abbetters, as Iraeneus, Origen, Athanasius, Basil, Chrysostome, Cyril, Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Hierome, as you may see in the places quoted in the Margent: but also the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures, plainely and directly affirming the same.

9. That this imputation of imperfection and insufficiency is layd by them vpon the Scripture, let vs heare themselues acting their owne parts: and first Bellarmine the Ringleader. He in his fourth Booke De verbo Dei, and fourth Chapter, sets downe this position, that the Scriptures without traditions are not simply necessary nor sufficient: and throughout that whole Chapter doth nothing else but labour to prooue the same by many arguments and reasons, as if hee were not content barely to affirme so high a blasphemy, but euen (as the Poet sayth) Cum ratione insanire, To be madde with reason: and so are all his reasons there vsed, in very deed mad reasons, which my purpose is not to spend time in confuting, (that being sufficiently performed by our great and learned Champions of [Page] the truth, which as yet remaine vnanswered: onely it is inough for my intent to discouer to all men his notable blasphemy against the holy Scriptures, which not onely in that place, but in many other, euidently and impudently sheweth it selfe.

10. Next vnto him comes in another great Iesuite, Gregorie Greg. de Valent. Anal. fid. l. 8. c. 6 de Ʋalentia, and he playeth his part, and sayth, That the most fittest way of deliuering the doctrine of faith to the Church, was this, not that all should bee committed to writing, but that some things should be deliuered viua voce, that is, by tradition. But Cardinall Hosius more plainly and boldly affirmeth, That Hosius confess. Petric. ca. 92. the greatest part of the Gospell is come to vs by tradition, and that very title of it is committed to writing: Yea, it is reported of him, that he should say, Melius actum fuisse cum Ecclesia, si nullum extaret scriptum Euangelium, That it had beene better for the Church, if there were no written Gospell extant. O blasphemy! and yet wisely spoken, if so be by the Church, hee meaneth the Church of Rome, as without doubt hee doth. But let vs heare another of the same stampe Eckius, I meaneEckius Enchir. cap. 4. that peremptory Bragadochio, he steps forth, and shoots his bolt in a moment, The Lutherans are dolts (sayth hee) which will haue nothing beleeued but that which is expresse Scripture, or can be prooued out of Scripture: for all things are not deliuered manifestly in the Scriptures, but very many are left to the determination of the Church. Coster another Stage-player of theirsCost. Ench. ca. 1. comes in, and diuides the word into three parts, to wit, That which God himselfe writ, as the tables of the Law; that which he commanded others to write, as the Olde and the New Testament; and that which he neither writ himselfe, nor rehearsed to others, but left it to themselues as traditions, the decrees of Popes, and Councils. And then he concludeth blasphemously, that many things of faith are wanting in the two former, neither would Christ haue his Church depend vpon them, but this latter is the best scripture, the Iudge of controuersies, the Expositor of the Bible, and that whereupon we must wholly depend. His words are these, Omnia fidei mysteria, ccaeera (que) credita & scitu necessaria, [...]n corde Ecclesiae sunt clarissimè exarata, in membranis tamen tam [Page] noui quam veteris Testaments multa defiderantur: that is, All the mysteries of faith, and other things necessary to bee beleeued and known, are most clearely engrauen in the heart of the Church, but in the leaues of the Olde and New Testament, many things are wanting. What can be more plaine? Yet Lindanus is more plaine, for he calleth Traditionem non scriptam, &c. The vnwritten Lindan panopl. lib. 2. cap. 5. tradition, that Homericall moly which preserueth the Christian faith against the inchantments of Heretikes, and the true touch-stone of true & false doctrine, and the A [...]acian buckler to be opposed to all Heretikes, and in conclusion, the very foundation of faith. To this fellow adioyne Melchior Canus as a cōpanion in blasphemy, who saith, That many things belong to Christian Canus loc. lib. 3. cap. 3. faith, which are contained in the Scripture, neither openly nor obscurely. To conclude all in one summe, without any further repetition of priuate mens opinions, wherein much time might be spent, the voyce of their whole Church represented in the Councill of Trent, is this, That traditions are to bee receaued, Concil. Triden. Sess. 4. pari pietate, with the same reuerence and affection, wherwith wee receiue the Scripture it selfe. Thus wee haue a view of the doctrine of the Church of Rome, touching the insufficiency of the holy Scripture, both in part and whole. Out of all which, these two impious conclusions doe necessarily arise: First, that traditions vnwritten are equall, if not superiour in dignity and authority to the written word of God: and secondly, that without the helpe of them, it is not able to bring vs either to a sauing faith in this life, or to the end of our faith in the life to come: then both which, what could be spoken more iniurious either to the Word it self, or to the Maiestie of that Spirit, from whom it proceeded? And that their blasphemy might be known [...]o all men, Bellarmine, more like a IulianBel. deverbo Dei, l. 4. c. 4. then a Christian, doth not onely affirme the Scripture to be vnsufficient and imperfect, but also not simply necessary, and to that end he maketh a good round discourse, and bringeth in long Leaden arguments, which indeed are not worth the answering, for they are meere sophisticall collusions, as any one of meane iudgement may easily discerne. Neuerthelesse, by this we may see, what an honourable opinion and affection [Page] these fellowes beare towards the Scripture, when as they dare to affirme that they are not simply necessary, but may bee wanting and remoued without any great hurt to the Church of God.

12. The third iniurious doctrine, whereby open disgrace3. is offered to the holy Scripture, is concerning the authority thereof, compared with the Church: for this they teach and hold, That the authority of the Scripture doth depend vpon the Church, and not the Church vpon the Scripture. And so by consequent, that the Scripture is inferiour to the Church, and not the Church to the Scripture: whereas we on the contrary affirme and defend, that the Church wholly dependeth both for authoritie and existency vpon the Scripture, and so is euery way inferiour to the Scripture, and not the Scripture vpon the Church.

13. This blasphemie of theirs may more euidently be discerned, if we obserue what they vnderstand by the Church, to wit, not the Primitiue Church, which was in the time and immediatelyCanus loc. lib. 2. cap. 8. Stapl. doct. princ. li. 9. c. 12. & 13. after the Apostles, but the succeeding and present Church: and that not the whole Catholicke Church, which is dispersed ouer the world, but the Church of Rome, which holdeth vpon the Pope as the Vicar of Christ: and in this Church, not the whole body, but the Pastours and Prelates assembled in a Councill: yea, and lastly, not the Councill neither, but the Pope, who is totus in toto, all in all, and in whome all the members meete, and resolue themselues as lines in the center, as is before declared. This is their Church: and to this Church of theirs they subiect the Scriptures, euen the word of God to the Pope of Rome, that is, God himselfe to a mortall sinnefull man. For as Nil [...] the Archbishop ofNilus de caus. d [...]ss. lib. 1. Thessalonica saith, To accuse the Scripture, is to accuse God, so to debase the Scripture, is to debase God.

14. That wee may see this to be true, and that wee lay no false imputation to their charge, heare them speake in their owne words, and let Bellarmine leade the Ring, If we take away Bell. de effect. sacram. li. 2. ca. 25. (saith he) the authoritie of the present Church, and of the Councill of Trent, then the whole Christian faith may bee called [Page] in question: for the truth of all ancient Councils, and of all poynts of Omnium Conciliorum, & dogmatū firmitas. faith depend vpon the authority of the present Church of Rome. Marke, he saith not vpon the authority of the Scripture, but of the present church of Rome; where he doth manifestly preferre the authority of the Church, before the Scripture, & not onely of the Church, but of the Church of Rome, as if there were no Church but that: and not the Church of Rome; as it was, in the purer and primer times, but the present Church corrupted, and depraued with infinite errours. Againe, in another place he concludeth, That the Scriptures doe depend vpon Bell. li. 4. de not. Eccles. ca. 2. the Church, and not the Church on the Scriptures: which position he confesseth in the same place, to haue beene in other places maintained by him. And yet elsewhere he disclaimethIdem de concil. author. li. 2. c. 12. this opinion as none of theirs, and calleth it a blasphemy: that it is his, I haue shewed already, though he be ashamed of it as he may well be, and therefore exore suo, by his owne iudgement, he, and all the rest are guilty of most grosse and intolerable blasphemie. But that you may see that it is the generall receiued doctrine of them all, for the most part; heare others as well as him, vttering their spleene against the Scriptures. Siluester Prierias saith, that Indulgences are warranted vnto Silu. Prier. cont. Luther. conclus. de potest. Papae. vs not by the authority of the Scripture, but by the authority of the Church, and Pope of Rome, which is greater. And againe, That the Scripture draweth it strength and authority from the Church and Bishop of Rome. Eckius saith, that the Scripture Eckius Ench. de author. Eccles. resp. 3. ad obiect. Haret. Pighius de Hier. Eccles. li. 1. ca. 2. was not authentical, but by the authority of the Church: and putteth this proposition among hereticall assertions, The authority of the Scripture is greater then the Church. Pighius also affirmeth the same, that all the authoritie of Scriptures doth necessarily depend vpon the authority of the Church: and calleth all that hold the contrary in scorne, Scriptuarij, that is, Scripturemen, or such as maintaine the Scripture. Cardinall Hosius goethHos. lib. 3. de auther. Scriptur. further, and commendeth a blasphemous speech of one Hermannus, as a godly saying, That the Scriptures are of no more force then Aesops Fables, without the testimonie of the Church: and addeth presently of his owne, that vnlesse the Churches authority did commend vnto vs the Canonicall Scripture, [Page] it should bee of little account with vs. The like is deliueredCoclaeus replicat. cont. Bul. c. 2. Canus. loc. l. 2. c. 8. Staplet. Doctrin. Princip. l. 9. c. 1. Andrad. defens. Trid. Concil. l. 3. Canis. catech. cap. 3. sect. 16. Bel. de Concil. lib. 2. cap. 12. Andrad. Staplet. by Coclaeus, by Canus, Stapleton, Andradius, Canisius, and generally all other of that side that handle that question.

15. Onely to palliate the matter, they bring in a distinction, to wit, that this dependance of the Scriptures authority vpon the Church is, quoad nos, in respect of vs, not qu [...]adse, in respect of it selfe, and declaratiuè, for declaration sake, not effectiuè, as the cause thereof: which distinction first implieth a contradiction, for the authority of a thing is quoad extra, in respect of others, not quoad intra, in respect of it selfe, that is, rather to be termed dignitie and excellencie, then authority: secondly, that being granted, yet it importeth a falshoode in them, and concludeth directly our purpose, for by it the last resolut on of our faith should not bee into the Scripture, but into the authority of the Church, which is contrary both to truth, and to their owne principles. For why doe they attributeMulbusin. Resp. ad Par [...]um, de cript. author. thes. 33. that infallible authority to the Church, but because the Scripture saith so, as they themselues acknowledge? And then to affirm that the Church is of greater authority in respect of vs, is sufficient to [...]uince, that in respect of vs, they preferre the Church before the Scripture. What is this, but to offer open iniury and disgrace to the holy Scripture, especially, seeing a Iesuite of their own is bold to say, that a man may mordicus tenere, and propugnare acerrimè▪ strongly hold, & stoutly Sacrob [...]sc def. Bell. par. 1. c. 6. maintaine a doctrine contrary to the word of God, and yet bee no Heretike, vnlesse the opposite to that opinion, be defined by the Church in his time?

16. The fourth and last doctrine whereby they offer iniurie4. to the Scripture, is this, That the Pope may dispense with the Law of God. This the Popes vassals do not onely affirme,Michael Medin. Christian. par [...]n. lib. 7. cap. 17. Abbas Panorm. extra. de diuort. cap. [...]in. Fel [...]. de constitut cap. statut. canon. but euen confirme and auouch. For thus they teach, Potestas in diuinas leges ordinariè in Romano Pontifice residet, Power ouer the lawes of God remaineth ordinarily in the Pope of Rome: and that the Pope may dispense against the Apostles, yea, against the new Testament vpon great cause, and also against all the precepts of the olde Testament. The reason whereby they confirme this braue doctrine, is this, that where the reason of the law faileth, [Page] there the Pope may dispense, but the reason of the law always faileth, where he iudgeth it to faile, (for speaking definitiuely, he cannot erre) therefore the Pope may dispense with the precepts of the Olde & New Testament, where, and when he list. Now, what can be more iniurious to the Scripture then this? for first, they set the Pope aboue the scriptures, because he that taketh vpon him to dispense with the law of another, challengeth to himselfe a greater authority then the other, according as their owne rule is, In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare Anton. par. 3. tit. 22. [...]. 6. inferior, The inferiour may not dispense with the commandement of the superiour. Secondly, they equall him to God himselfe, for whereas there is no exception nor exemption from the law of God: but this Nisi deus aliter voluerit, Except God otherwise appoynt, they instead thereof put in this exception, Nisi Papa aliter voluerit. And lastly, they make the law of God a maimed & an imperfect law, in that (as their diuinity is) it cannot giue sufficient direction to mans life, for practice of duties and auoyding of sinnes, in all cases, without the Poprs dispensation, and the interposition of his superwise authority.

17. From their iniurious doctrines, l [...]t vs come to their malicious practice against the Scripture, that both by their precepts and practice, their enmity to the Scriptures may fully appeare. First therefore, whereas the language wherein the Scriptures were originally written, is indeed the true Scriptures, because that is the immediate dialect of the holy Ghost, and the translations of it into other tongues, are no farther to bee regarded then as they agree with the originall; yet the Church of Rome, in the Councill of Trent, hath canonizedConc. Trident. Sess. 4. the vulgar Latine aboue the Hebrew and Greeke, and hath [...]n [...]oyned it onely to be vsed in all readings, disputations, sermons, and expositions, and not to be reiected vnder any pretence whatsoeuer, vpon paine of Anathema. Yea, Bellarmine, Bell. de verb [...] Dei, lib. 2. with the rest of that crue, accuse the Greeke and Hebrew, of many corruptions, and iustifie the vulgar Latine aboue them, as most free from corruptions: whereas notwithstanding, for one corruption which they would saine fasten vpon them, [Page] there are to be found twenty in this, and that by the confessionLind. de opt. gen. interp. lib. 3. of many learned of their owne side.

18. Besides, those corruptions which are supposed to be inM [...]lin. in 1. Tho. page 399. Poss. Bibl. select. lib. 3. ca. 6. the originals, are either none at all, as may easily be prooued, and is already sufficiently by our learned Diuines: or else such as are not of that weight to derogate from the perfection of the Scripture in things pertaining to faith and goodPoss. ibid. Sixt. Senen. Bibl. sanct li. 8. p. 318 manners; as Posseuine and Sixtus Senensis confesse, or at least are but errours of the Writers, which no Booke is free from, growing either from humane infirmity, or from the mistaking of the letters in the Greeke, and prickes in the Hebrew; which last is but a late inuention of the Massorites, and no essentiall part of the Text: whereas on the contrary, the errours which are extant i [...] the vulgar Latine, are many of them contrary to the grounds of faith: as that one for all, in the third of Genesis, where the Latine readeth, ipsa conteret caput tuum, she shall bruise thy head: which they apply vnto the Virgin Marie, being in the originall ipse his, and in the Septuag [...]nt [...], that is, Hee, vnderstanding Christ our Sauiour. Here wee see a fundamentall poynt of saith ouerthrowne, not onely in accommodating a Prophecy of Christ vnto the Virgin his mother, but also in ascribing vnto her the worke of our Redēption, signified by the bruising of the Serpents head. And as in this, so in many other places, which I willingly for breuitie sake [...]uerpasse. And yet for all this, by their doctrine and practice, their Latine Translation is onely authenticall. Yea, so impudent is a Bishop of theirs, that setting forth the Bible in diuers Languages, he placeth the vulgar Latine betwixt the Hebrew and the Greeke, as Christ betwixt two theeues, as blasphemousl [...] [...]. Bibl. [...]olo. he speaketh. This is therefore a notable iniuricus practice of theirs against the Scripture.

19. To which adde second, no wh [...]t inferiour to the former, [...]. which [...] their forbidding the Scripture to bee translated into the mother tongue of euery Nation, to the end that it may be to the common people as a Booke sealed vp, and that they might not reade, nor be exercised therein. This prohibition is both contrary to the practice of all the Saints of God, both [Page] vnder the Law and the Gospell, for it was their daily exercise to meditate vpon the Law of God continually, and to search the Scriptures, whether those things which they heard were so or no, and to the plaine precept of Christ, and the ApostlePsal. 1. [...]. Deut. 6. 7. 8. 9. & 17. 18. 19. Acts 17. 11. Iohn 5. 39. Col. 2. 16. Origen in Mat. [...] Nazian. hom. 4. dom. Epi [...]n. C [...]il contra Iul. lib. 7. Hier. in Psal. 86 Chryso. hom. 5. in Laz. & 9. in Epi. ad C [...]l. & 2. in Mat. & 10. in Iohn. Lactan. Inst. l. [...]. cap. 21. Isidor. li. 1. de sum. b [...]n. Fulgent. ser. de confess. Anselm. com. in Ephes. 6. August. de doct. Christ. li. 2. c [...]. 5. Origen vt supr [...]. Peres. de tradit. page 44. Thyrrae. de d [...]m. ca. 21. Thes. 257 Hosius de expres. verb [...] Dei. bidding vs to search the Scriptures, and to haue the word of God to dwell plentiously in vs: and to the doctrine of all the ancient Fathers, who with one consent exhort and perswade to the diligent reading of them, as may appeare by the places quoted in the margent: And beside, is most iniurious to the Scriptures themselues: for to restraine a common good to a particular vse, is an open wrong to the good it selfe, which the more common it is, the better it is, and the lesse common, the lesse good; for bonum est sui diffusiuum, good inclineth naturally to spreade it selfe, and therfore the restriction thereof is violence and force offered to the nature of it, and truth cannot abide to bee imprisoned, but loueth liberty. This is true in all naturall, good, and true things, but much more in this supernaturall good, and truth, which as Origen [...] well noteth, was not written for a few▪ as Platoes Bookes were, but for the people and multitude, yea, for the veriest Ideots, and women, and children, as the Fathers affirme.

20. And yet these presumptuous Romanists forbid the reading of the Scripture among the people; one of them affirming, That it was the deuils inuention to permit the people to reade the Bible: Another, That he knew certaine men to be possessed of the deuill, because being but Husband-men, they were able to discourse of the Scriptures: All teaching, that it is the ground of Heresie, and that Lay men are no better then Hogs and Dogs: and therefore these precious pearles not to be committed vnto them, and that the Scripture to a Lay man is as a sword in a mad mans, or a knife in a Childes hand. Thus they practise to imprison the Scriptures within the Priests cells, or Monkes cloysters, which were giuen by God, to be the light of the world: and yet (which is to be noted) in Queene Maries bloudy and blinde daies, such as could dispend a certaine summe of mony by the yeare, might reade the Bible, without any speciall dispensation; as if heresie builded [Page] her nest rather in the brest of the poore man, then of the rich, or, as if the rich were lesse carnall then the poore: and thus these saucy fellowes handle the sacred Scripture at their pleasure, being rightly to be branded with the name of Heretikes, whom Epiphanius generally calleth Lucifugae, because they cannot abide the light of the Scriptures, but fly from them as Owles and Bats from the light.

21. Another practice of theirs is against the sense of the Scripture, as the two former were against the letter, that neither the body nor the soule thereof might be left vnuiolated: and this is in respect of the learned, to bar them vp from controuling their errours, as the other were in respect of the simple, to keepe them from once looking into them. Their policy in this, is to interdict all senses and expositions of the Scripture, saue such as agree with the Church of Rome, and are allowed by the Pope of Rome: this is the interdiction of the Councill of [...]rent, and is grounded vpon a false interpretationConc. Trid. Sos. 4 of that article of our faith, I beleeue the Catholike Church: for, as Stapleton saith, The literall sense of that article is, that Stapl. des. Eccle. potast. aduers. Whit. li. 1. c. 9. Hosius de expresso verbo dei. thou beleeuest whatsoeuer the Catholike Church holdeth and teacheth. And Cardinall Hosius, If any man haue the interpretation of the Church of Rome, though he know not whether and how it agreeth with the words of the scripture, notwithstanding he hath Ipsissimum verbum Dei. Now, by the Catholike Church they meane the Romane Church, or rather the Romane Bishop, as I haue shewed: for as Siluester sayth, The power of the Catholike Sum. Syluest. verb. [...]ides, nu. 2. Staplet. prae [...]. Doctr. princ. fid. Church remaineth onely in him. And as Stapleton, The foundation of our Religion is of necessity placed vpon the authority of this mans teaching: and therfore one [...]aith, that the Pope may change [...]he Gospell, and giue to it according to place and time, Henri. mag. sa [...]r. [...]alat. adiegat. [...]. Cardia. S. Angeli ad legat. B [...]em. another sense: Yea, a blasphemous Cardi [...]all is b [...]ld to say, That if a man did not beleeue that Christ is very God and Man, and the P [...]pe thought the same, he should not be condemned. This is a tricke p [...]ssing all other, whereby they not onely make sure worke with the Scripture, that it neuer doe them hurt, but also fashion the sacred and diuine sense thereof, vnto their fond and foolish fancies, and make it speake, not what the [Page] Holy Ghost intendeth, but what they imagine. Nay, they areCusan. ep. 2. 3. 7. so impudent as to say, That the Scripture is fitted to the time, and variably vnderstood, the sense thereof being one while this, and another while that, according as it pleaseth the Church to change her iudgement. Can there be a greater disgrace to the Scripture then this is?

22. Adde to these yet another deuice which is far worse then4. all the rest, & that is a grosse and palpable wringing and wresting out of the holy Scripture, a sense contrary to the true intendment of the place, & fitting it strangely to their own purpose. This is a practice of theirs so cōmon, as that their Books swarme with nothing so much as such fond and foolish interpretations, and so ridiculous withall, that it would make euen Heraclitus himselfe to laugh, if he were aliue. I wil here report some few of these strange wrested Expositions, that the Reader may haue a taste of them, and so iudge of the whole caske.

23. And to beginne at the beginning of the Bible, Genes. 1. 16. It is written, God created two great Lights, the greater to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night: that is (saith Innocentius Innocent. 3. ad Const. Imper. cap. solit. de maior. Molin. tom. 1. de Iust. & iure. the third, one of their owne Popes: And also Molina the Iesuite, God ordained in the Firmament of the Catholike Church two dignities, to wit, the Pontificiall dignitie, and the Regall: But that to gouerne the day, that is, the Spiritualty, and is the greater: and this to rule the night, that is the Carnalty, and is the lesser; so that how great difference is betwixt the Sunne, and the Moone, so great is there betwixt the Bishop of Rome, and a King, that is, according to the Glosse vpon the same place, seuen and fiftie times. So in the 3.Gloss. in ca. solit. de maior. of Genesis, whereas the words of the Text are plaine, Hee shall breake thy head, or tread vpon thy head, which is the first and principall promise of the Messiah, they contrary both to the Hebrew, and Septuagint, translate and expound it, Ipsa, She shall: applying vnto the Virgin Mary, that which properly belongeth vnto Christ, euen the worke of our Redemption. And this interpretation and translation of that place is approued by the Councill of Trent, in approuing the vulgar LatineConc. Trident. Bellarm. Bible for authenticall: and by Bellarmine also, who calleth it [Page] a great mysterie, that in the Hebrew, a verbe of the Masculine gender, is ioyned with a Nowne of the foeminine; to signifie, that a woman should breake the serpents head, but not by her selfe, but by her sonne: and is also so translated by our Doway Translatours in English.

24. So againe, that place in the Psalme, Psal. 91. 13. Thou shalt walke vpon the Aspe and the Cockatrice, and shalt tread vpon the Lion and the Dragon: Pope Alexander the third interpreted it of himselfe, and the Emperour, applying the promiseNaucler. Gen. 40. made to Christ principally, and in him to all the Elect, vnto himselfe as Pope, and vnderstanding by the Aspe and Cockatrice, Lyon and Dragon, the Emperour Frederick, vpon whose necke hee set his foote, vsing those words, and all other Kings and Emperours: and to proue that he so vnderstood the place, when as the Emperor disdayning this pride, made answere, Not to thee, but to Peter: the holy Father treading on his necke, replied; Et mihi & Petro, Both to mee and to Peter. Which storie, though it bee branded by Baronius with the marke of a fable, yet it is auouched by a full Iurie of witnesses, and especially two, Gennadius the PatriarkeGennad. in cens. [...]rient. annot. in cap. 13. sect. 6. Girolam. Bardi. Ʋittor. Naual. impres. anno 1584. of Constantinople, and a Venetian Historian that liued about that time: which last onely differeth in the Popes alledging of the Text, for he makes the Pope, to say, not in the second person, thou: but ambulabo, I will walke vpon the Lion and the Adder. Againe, they interpret that place of Esay 49. 23. They shall worship towards the face of the earth, and licke the dust of thy feete, as a Prophecie of the Popes sublimitie. For, saith Turrian the Iesuite, Where is this verified, butTurrian. cont. Sadoel. pag. 14. in the kissing of the feete of the Bishop of Rome? and yet who knoweth not, that this is nothing else, but a manifest prediction of the glory of the Church, and the conuersion and subiection of Kings and Princes to the Religion of Christ? What a wresting of Scripture call you this? Are not these strange interpretations?

25. But yet heare them which are more strange and ridiculous: In the 28. of Esay, 16. verse wee read, Behold, I will I [...]y 28. 16. lay in Sion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure [Page] foundation. This all know, being taught by the interpretation of S. Peter, 1. Pet. 2. 6. is to be vnderstood of Christ only and1. Pet 2. 6. Bel. praefat. de Rom. Pontif. none other; yet Bellarmine vnderstands by this tried precious corner stone, not Christ, but Peter, that is, as he saith, Sedes Romana, The Roman Sea. Againe, we read, Iere. 26. 14. Behold, Ier. 26. 14. I am in your hands, doe with mee as you thinke good and right. This Text Bonauenture alledgeth, to proue, that Christ is inBonauent. in exposit. missae cap. 4 the Priests hands at the Masse, as a Prisoner, not to bee let goe, till he haue payd his ransome, that is, till he haue giuen remission of sinnes, contrary to the manifest sense of the place, Hosea 1. 11. We read, that the children of Iudah and Israel Hosea 1. 11. shall be gathered together, and appoint themselues one head, answerable to that, Ioh. 10. 16. There shall be one fold and one Ioh. 10. 16. Iob. de Par. de potest. Reg. & Pop. cap. 3. Bel. de Rom. Pon. lib. 1. cap. 9. shepheard, which places properly appertayning to Christ and his Church, are ordinarily and blasphemously alledged, to proue, that the Pope is the head of the Church. Againe, Cant. 5. 11. His head is as fine gold. And Cant. 7. 5. Thy head is like the mount Carmel. One of which is the speech of the Church to Christ, and the other of Christ to the Church: but Bellarmine Bel. ibid. interprets the first to be spoken Christ, and the second of the Pope. These be his words: The Bridegrome compareth the head of his Spouse to mount Carmel, because though the Pope be a great mountaine, yet he is nothing but earth, that is, a man: and the Bride compareth the Bridegromes head to the best gold, because the head of Christ is God.

26. But let vs come a little to the new Testament: are they any thing more shie and cautelous in this then in the olde? Heare and then iudge. Matth. 28. 18. our Sauiour saith to his Disciples, All power is giuen vnto me in heauen and earth. This in the booke of Ceremonies, is expounded ofLib. Ceremon. tit. 7. Concil. Later. sub Leon. Decim. Luk. 22. 38. the Pope; and also by Stephen the Archbishop of Patauy, in the Councill of Laterane, Luc. 22. 38. the Apostles say vnto Christ, Behold two swords: and he answered, It is sufficient. By this place of Scripture, Boniface the eighth challenged to himselfe both temporall and ecclesiasticall authority, because Christ said two swords were sufficient, and bade Peter not castBel de Rom. Pontif. l. 5. c. 7. away one of them, but put it vp into the sheath. This exposition [Page] flat contrary to the meaning of the Text, was not only deuised by a Pope, but also approued by Bellarmine, and Molina Molin. lib. 1. de [...]ure. tract. 2. dis. 29. Balb. lib. de coronat. the Iesuite, and Balbus with diuers others, though (I confesse) reiected by Stella, Maldonate, and Arias Montanus. But what are these to a Pope that cannot erre, and to such an Emminent Cardinall as Bellarmine is? So likewise, they expound that Text, Matth. 17. 24. Solue pro te & me, Pay for Math. 17. 24. thee and me: To signifie, that Christs family hath two heads, to wit, Christ and Peter, because they two onely payd, and that Peter was chiefe ouer the rest of the Apostles, because none of the rest payd: as if paying of tribute was a signe of preeminence, and not rather of subiection, as Iansenius expounds it. So Baronius alledgeth that of Act. 10. 13. Arise, Roffen. in Art. art. 25. Act. 10. 13. Bel. de Rom. Pont. lib. 1. cap. 19. Baron. Epist. ad Papam. Roffen. assert. Luther. confut. cap. 17. 1. Pet. 4. 8. Pro. 10. 12. Peter, kill and eate, to proue the Popes power to excommunicate the Venetians. Kill, that is, excommunicate, and eate, that is, bring them to the obedience of the Church of Rome. This is goodly stuffe indeede: sure they stand in neede of arguments to proue their cause, that are driuen to these silly shifts. So our Country-man Fisher, to proue iustification by workes, alledgeth that Text of S. Peter, 1. Pet. 4. 8. Loue couereth the multitude of sinnes, which he expounds thus, that loue expiateth and purgeth away the guilt of our sinnes in the sight of God, contrary to the direct sense of the holy Ghost, Pro. 10. 12.

27. It is a wonder to see, how both Bellarmine and all the Patrones of Purgatory wring and wrest the Scripture, to vnderprop the Popes Kitchin: The Scripture cannot name fire and purging, but presently there is Purgatory, as Esay Esay 4. 4 & 9. 18. Mal. 3. 3. Zachar. 9. 11. Phil. 2. 10. Apoc. 5. 3. 4. 4. and 9. 18. Mal. 3. 3. nor a lake where there is no water, but there is Purgatory, as Zachar. 9. 11. nor things vnder the earth, Phil. 2. 10. Apoc. 5. 3. but there is Purgatory: and yet they themselues confesse, that they know not whether it be vnder the earth or no, because the Church hath not yet defined where it is. And Bellarmine bringeth in eight diuersBel. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 6. opinions, touching the place of Purgatory: but two of their expositions touching Purgatory, I cannot ouerpasse, left I should depriue the Reader of matter of laughter in the midst [Page] of this serious discourse, and them of commendation of wit; for they are witty aboue measure: the one is, Mar. 13. 34.Mark 13. 34. where it is said in a Parable, that a certaine man going intoChemnit. exam. de Purga. p. 130 a strange Country, leaueth his house, and giueth authority to his seruants, and commandeth the Porter to watch. This man going into a strange Country, signifieth the soule (say they) which by death departeth out of this world: his leauing authority with his seruants, signifieth, that he commandeth his executors, to procure with his goods the prayers & suffrages of the Church, whereby he may be freed from Purgatory: hee commandeth the Porter to watch, that is, he giueth part of his goods to his Pastor, that he may diligently sacrifice for him by saying Masse. Who can doubt of Purgatory, that is thus authentically proued? The second place is in the 8. Psalme 7. Thou hast put all things Psal. 8. [...]. vnder his feete, fowles of the ayre, that is (say they) the Angels in heauen, beasts of the field, that is, the godly in this life, and fish of the Sea, that is, the soules in Purgatory. Here is a proofe of Purgatory worthy the noting.

28. And thus much for a taste of their false and foolish expositions; these being not the hundreth part of them, which are found in their writings. Let all men iudge now, whether these men deale well with the Scriptures or no, and whether they be friends or enemies to the sacred word of God, & the Spirit of God that animateth it, that dare thus wretchedly abuse it at their pleasures, and wring it like a nose of waxe, into any shape to make it serue their purpose. Erasmus placethEras. encom. Moriae. that Frier in the Ship of fooles, that being asked what Text he had in the Scripture, for the putting of Heretikes to death, produced that of S. Paul, Tit. 3. 10. Haereticum hominem Tit. 3. 10. post vnam aut alteram admonitionem deuita, that is in true construing, Shunne an Heretike after the first or second admonition: but he construed it thus, De vita supple tolle, that is, Kill an Heretike after, &c. This fellow by Erasmus opinion, was worthy of a Garland, or rather of a Cockscomb for his witty exposition: and so was he also, that being asked where hee found the Virgin Mary in the olde Testament, answered, In the first of Genesis, in this Text: Deus vocauit congregationem [Page] aquarum Maria. But I must not be so sawcy with Popes and Cardinalls. I iudge them not therefore, but leaue them to the iudgement of God.

29. Their last practice against the Scriptures, is their adding to and detracting from it at their pleasure, whatsoeuer either distasteth their Pallate, or may seeme to make for their profit: which notwithstanding hath a wo denounced against it. AndDeut. 4. 2. Reuel. 22. 18. Fel. de maior. & [...]ed. c. fin. this practice is grounded vpon a rule, Papa potest tollere ius diuinum ex parte, non in totum, The Pope may take away (say they) the lawe of God in part, but not in whole; and if hee may take away, then may he adde also: for the same reason is of both, and one is as lawfull as the other; for adding, marke their practice, the Councill of Trent, together with most of theCon [...]. Trid. Ses. 4. Popish Doctours, adde vnto the Canon of the Scripture, the Apocrypha Bookes of Iudith, Wisedome, Tobias, Ecclesiasticus, Bell. de verbo Dei, li. 1. ca. 10. Machabees, remainders of Ester, and Daniel: and curse all them that are not of the same minde: and yet the Iewes before Christ, who were the onely Church of God at that time, and Scriniarij Christianorum, as Tertullian callsTertullian. them, or depositarij & custodes eloquiorum Dei, as Tollet theTollet com. in Rom. 3. 2. Iesuite names them, that is, The keepers and treasurers of the holy Scriptures, and to whome were committed the Oracles of God, Rom. 3. 2. These Iewes, I say, neuer admitted of these Books as Canonical, and the Fathers for the most part, though they held them Bookes profitable for instruction of manners, yet dispunged them out of the Canon, as not of sufficient authority to proue any poynts of faith, as is confessed by Bellarmine Bell. de verbo Dei. li. 1. cap. 10. & 20. Canus lo. l. 2. c. 10 himselfe, in some sort, naming Epiphanius, Hilarius, Ruffinus, and Hierom, and by Melchior Canus, nominating besides the former, Melito, Origen, Damascene, Athanasius, accompanied with many other Diuines, as he saith: and besides, the Bookes themselues, by many pregnant proofes deriued out of their owne sides, doe be wray that they are not of the same spirit the Canonicall Scripture is of.Ioh. Bale in vita eius. Dist. 19. cap. in Canonicis Rubrie.

30. Againe, they adde to the Scriptures thei [...] Decretals and Traditions. Innocentius the third, commanded the Canon of the Masse to be held equall to the words of the Gospell, and [Page] it is in one of their Bookes, Inter Canonicas Scripturas decretales Epistolae connumerantur, (that is) The Decretall Epistles are numbred among these Canonicall Scriptures. As for Traditions, I haue shewed before, that it is a decree of the Councill of Trent, that they are to be receiued with as great affection of piety and reuerence, as the written Word of God. Againe, they adde vnto the Scripture, when they take vpon them to make new articles of faith, which haue no ground nor footing in the Scriptures: for vnto the twelue articles of the Apostles Creed, the Councill of Trent addeth twelue more, as may appeare in the Bull of Pius the fourth, in that publikeBull Pij 4. super form. Iuram. profes. fid. profession of the Orthodoxall faith, vniformely to be obserued and professed of all: And when they adde vnto the two Sacraments ordained by Christ, fiue other deuised in the forge of their owne braines: and those two also, they so sophisticate with their idle and braine-sicke Ceremonies, as the Eucharist with eleuation, adoration, circumgostation, and such like trumperie, and Baptisme with oyle, and spittle, and salt, and coniuring, and crossing, &c. that they make them rather Pageants to mooue gazing, then Sacraments for edifying: and thus most wrongfully they adde vnto the Scripture, euen what they themselues list.

31. As for their detracting and taking away, they shew themselues no lesse impudent, for they haue taken away the second Commandement, as appeareth in diuers of their Catechismes and Masse-bookes, because it cutteth the throat of their Idolatry wholly out of the Decalogue: and to make vp the number of tenne, they diuide the last Commandement into two, contrary to all reason and authority: Yea, so impudentVasq. li 2. disp. 4 ca. 4. nu. 83. & cap. 7. nu. 115. Azor. Inst. mora. part. 1. li. 9. ca. 6. Cathar. opusc. de Imagin. Con. Trid. Ses. 1; Catha. adu. Noua. Dogma. Caiet. pa. 1. & inde. are they, that two famous Iesuites, Ʋasques and Azorius doe boldy affirme, that this second precept which forbiddeth worshipping of Images, was not of the law of nature, but onely a positiue Ceremoniall and Temporall Iniunction, which was to cease in the time of the Gospell: and in the Eucharist, whereas Christ ordained the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud in two kindes, they notwithstanding depriue the people of the cup, and will haue it administred to them but in [Page] one kind: Yea, Cardinall Caietane, as Catharinus testifieth ofCatha. adu. Noua. Dogma. Caiet. pa. 1. & inde. him, cut off from the Scripture, the last Chapter of S. Marks Gospell, some parcels of Saint Luke, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of Iames, the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third of Iohn, and the Epistle of Iude: and yet this mans writings were not disallowed in the church, as containing any thing contrary to wholesome doctrine, and hee himselfe acknowledged to bee an incomparable Diuine, and the learnedst of all his age: and thus wee see both the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, against the Scripture.

32. To the which if we adde their open blasphemies and horrible reproches wherewith in plaine downe-right blowes they rent and teare in pieces, or at least-wise besmeare and defile these holy writings, then their malice against them will bee knowne to all men, and there will bee no vizard left to maske it withall. To conclude therefore, some of them call the Scripture a dumbe Iudge, some a dead Letter, and without Pigh. hiearch. l. 1 cap. 2. cont. 3. Sal. com. in epist. Turr. con. Sadeol. Cost. Enchir. de Sum. Pontif. Peres. de tradit. praefat. Cens col. pa. 112. & Pigh. cont. 3. Hosius de autho. Eccles. lib. 3. Bell. de ver [...]o Dei, lib. 4. ca. 4. Eckius Enchir. a Soule, others, dead Inke, others, a Nose of Waxe, to be wreathed this way, or that way: others say, that it is no better then Aesops Fables, without the authority of the Church: all of them ioyne in this, that it is not simply necessary, that it was written not to rule our faith, but to be ruled by it, and that Christ neuer commanded his Apostles to write any Scripture, and that it is subiect and inferiour to the Church: all these, and many other bitter and blasphemous speeches they belch out against the Scripture: whereby they plainely bewray their cankred hatred against the Scripture; and all because they finde it contrary to their humour, and an enemie to their Religion.

33. Thus the Minor proposition in this demonstration is, I hope, sufficiently prooued, to wit, that the Religion of the Church of Rome doth professedly disgrace the holy Scripture, as both by their doctrine, their practice, and their blasphemous speeches against it, doth manifestly appeare: and so the conclusion is of necessary and vndeniable consequence, that therefore it deserueth to be suspected and reiected of all [Page] those that professe themselues to be friends to the Scripture, and hope from it either consolation in this life, or saluation in the life to come.

MOTIVE. VII. That Religion is to be abhorred, which maintaineth, commandeth, and practiseth grosse and palpable Idolatry; but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome: Ergo, &c.

WHen I consider the fearefull Idolatry of the Church of Rome, which for that cause is called The Whore of Babylon, and The Mother of fornications, Reuel. 17. 1. 2. IReuel. 17. 1. 2. cannot choose but wonder, that any should be so bewitched with the sorceries of this Iezabel, or made drunke with the wine of her fornication, that they should take her marke vpon their forheads, and right hands, and ioyne with her in her abominations: and not rather come out of her with all speed, as they are admonished by the Angell, lest they bee partakers in her sinnes, and haue a share also with her in herReuel. 18. 4. plagues: but then againe, remembring that which S. Paul faith, that the comming of Antichrist should be in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse, and that God should send vpon2. Thes. 2. 10. 1 [...] them strong delusion to beleeue lies: I turne my wondering at their sottishnesse into the admiration at Gods Iustice and Truth: the one in punishing their contempt of his Gospell, with such a giddinesse of spirit: and the other in making good his owne word after such an euident and manifest manner, that there by it most clearely appeareth, that the Pope of Rome is that Man of sinne, and Sonne of perdition there spoken of, euen that Antichrist which exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God, and sitteth in the Temple of God, as if he were God. As this appeareth in many grosse errors which they hold, so in none more, then in the horrible idolatry practised and preached, & defended in this Antichristian Church; of which I may truely say, as Plutarch said of the heathen,Plutarch in vit▪ Romul. that they mingle heauen with earth, because they made Gods of [Page] men, & men of Gods: So these, whilst they giue diuine worship to earthly creatures, as the crosse & pictures of Christ, and to the Saints in heauen; or attribute earthly affections, to heauenly creatures, make a plaine mixture of heauen and earth, spoyling the Creatour of his honour, due vnto his Dietie, and adorning the creature therewith; and ascribing that vnto men, which is onely proper vnto God. That the Church of Rome is guilty of this impiety, I hope by Gods grace so to proue in this Motiue, that no Iesuite (though neuer so subtill) shall bee able with any shew of sound reason to hisse against.

2. The first proposition in this Argument, though it be ofMAIOR. so euident a truth, that it needeth no further demonstration, yet because S. Paul saith, that an Idoll is nothing in the world, and thereupon, some may peraduenture conclude, that Idolatrie is a matter of nothing, and a small and triuiall sinne: I will therefore very briefly shew the greatnesse and haynousnesse of this sinne, and how odious and abominable it is in the sight of God. As touching therefore that phrase of Saint Paul, An Idoll is nothing, it is not to bee vnderstood, either in respect of matter, for euery Idoll hath a materiall being,Exod. 32. 4. and subsisting, as the matter of the Calfe, which the Israelites made in the Wildernesse, was gold, and of the brazen serpent,2. Reg. 18. 4. which was abused also as an Idoll, was brasse, and of those Idols, which the Prophet Esay declameth so against, wereEsay 44. 10. Bel. de Imag. lib. 2. c. 5. Caiet▪ in loc. wood: nor yet in respect of forme, as Bellarmine and Caietane would haue it. As though the Apostle should meane thus, that an Idoll, though it hath matter, yet it hath no forme, that is to say, is the representation of such a thing as hath no being in nature: for many of the Idols of the Gentiles were of such things as truly were: but the Apostles meaning is, as Tertullian obserues, and many other, both of ancientTertul. de core. milit. cap. 7. and late Writers, that an Idoll is nothing in respect of that which it is intended to bee, that is, that it is no God, nor hath any part of the Diuinitie in it, which deserueth to bee worshipped: or that it is nothing in regard of efficacie and power, that is, as the Psalmist speaketh, is not able to doe either [Page] good or bad, to hurt, or to helpe; to saue, or to kill: and this interpretation is authorized by S. Augustine and S. Chrysostome, Chrysost. hom. 20. in Epist. 1. ad Corin. Aug. cont. Faust. Manich. l. 20. c. 5 the one saying thus, There are Idols indeede, but they can doe nothing, neither are they Gods: the other thus, Sunt Idola, sed ad salutem nihil sunt, There are Idols, but they auaile nothing to the attaynement of saluation: and it is also approued by many other Expositors, both ancient and moderne Protestants and Papists, and is most agreeable to the whole current of the Text. This then that S. Paul saith, That an Idoll is nothing, is both so farre from extenuating the sinne of Idolatrie, that it aggrauateth the same, and also so farre from clearing the Church of Rome from the guilt of that crime, that it rather layeth a greater stayne thereof vpon it.

3. As for the greatnesse of the sinne, it may appeare by three considerations; first, of the precept: for there is no one commandement of the Law so frequent in the whole Scripture, and so strictly vrged, and mounded and fenced about with so many reasons, as that is against Idolatrie: as we may see in the Decalogue. Secondly, in respect of the punishmentExod. 20. 2. 3. 4. denounced against, and inflicted vpon the committers thereof, to wit, not onely eternall death from the iustice of God, which is the wages of all sinne vnrepented of: butPsal. 97. 7. 1. Cor. 6. 9. Apoc. 21. 8. Exod. 22. 20. Deut. 17. 5 6. also temporall death from the iustice of man, as being vnworthy to breathe this common ayre, or to tread vpon the earth, that thus sinne against the Maiestie of God: and that not onely the worshippers of Idols themselues, but they that should entice or perswade any to Idolatry: The executionDeut. 13. 5. of which Lawes, wee see put in practice vpon the Israelites, Gods owne people, in the 32. of Exod. and 23. of Numbers. Thirdly and lastly, in respect of the nature of the sinne: which is first a senslesse sinne, full of folly, contrary to the very lightPsa. 115. 15. 16. Esay 44. 9. 19. of reason and nature, as both the Prophet Dauid and Esay at large proue. And secondly, a sinne, full of impiety, because they that worship an Idoll, worship the Deuill, as S. Paul affirmeth, 1. Cor. 10. 20. And lastly, a sinne most opposite to the1. Cor. 10. 20. glory of God, and consequently sooner procuring the vengeance [Page] of God, then any other; for it is called in the Scripture spirituall forn [...]cation and adulterie, because the IdolaterEsay 57. 7. 8. Ier. 3. 6. 7. Ezech. 16. 15. forsaketh God, and prostituteth himselfe to an Idoll, and that in Gods presence. And therefore as corporall fornication is the onely cause of diuorce betwixt man and wife: so this sinne onely causeth God to diuorce himselfe from his Church, and to take from her all her ornaments and Iewels, that is, his Word and Sacraments, and to giue her ouer into the hands of her enemies. Thus the greatnesse of this sinne of Idolatry, is manifest, and from thence I may conclude my first proposition, that that Religion which maintayneth and commandeth this sinne, so full of folly, impiety, and contrariety to God, is worthy not onely to be suspected, but euen abhorred, and detested of all men.

4. But let vs come to the examination of the second proposition,MINOR. to wit, whether the Church of Rome bee guilty of this great sinne or no. The Romanists mainly denie it, as they haue great reason: for if their Religion bee proued to maintaine Idolatrie, they know that it must needes fall to the ground: and therefore they deuise all manner of shifts, to deliuer themselues from this imputation. But we on the other side confidently affirme it, and that the world may see, wee doe it not without great reason, wee confirme our affirmation with this strong argument: Whosoeuer ascribeth diuine honour to any creature, is an Idolater: but the Romanists ascribe diuine honour to many creatures, therefore they are Idolaters: and lest any should thinke this to bee the errour of priuate persons, and not the heresie of their Religion, I adde vnto the Minor, that all the Romanists doe this from the very grounds of their faith, and that in so doing, they are warranted from their Religion it selfe.

5. They deny both the Maior and Minor proposition in this argument, and in denying them, especially the Maior, they giue iust cause of vehement suspition, if not of plaine demonstration, that they are guilty of the crime whereof wee accuse them: for if a thiefe standing at the barre, being accused of a robbery by the high way side should answere that [Page] to take money from a man by the high way side at Nooneday, was not theft, all men would thinke that hee was guilty of the robbery, and so the Iurie would finde him: then certainely the Romanists, by denying this to be the true definition of Idolatry, which is propounded in the first proposition, bewray their owne guiltinesse, and giue vs more cause to suspect them, then we had before.

6. But let vs heare their shifts: they principally are two, one of Bellarmine, the other of Ʋalentia, two maine posts in the house of Popery. Bellarmine would faine vndermine this proposition (to giue to creatures diuine honour, is Idolatry) by aBell. de Ecclestriumph. l. 2. c. 5. distinction betwixt an Idol and an Image, affirming that an Image is the similitude of a thing that hath a true being, but an Idol of a sained thing, that indeed is not: and therevpon he seemes to conclude, that to ascribe diuine honour to some Images, is not Idolatry, because euery Image is not an Idoll. In the proofe of this distinction he labours much, and profits little: for like the heedlesse fish, hee leapes out of the Frying-pan into the fire, and tyes the knot faster which he would seeme to vntie: for first, all the Idolatry of the Church of Rome consisteth not in worshipping of Images, but in many other things, as shall appeare in the Discourse following. Secondly, if to worship the Image of a true thing, be not Idolatry, then the Gentiles were not Idolaters in worshipping the Image of Iupiter, and Mars, and Diana, and Romulus, and Aesculapius, and the Sunne, because (as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth) all the Idols of the Gentiles were the statues of Ibid. cap. 8. Aug. cont. Faust. lib. 20. cap. 3. men. And Saint Augustine also affirmeth, That the Gentiles did worship those things which were in being, but were not to bee worshipped: and then the Israelites did not commit Idolatry in the Wildernesse, when they adored the golden Calfe, nor was that Calfe an Idoll, contrary to the expresse Text of Scripture, Acts 7. 41. because it was a representation of a trueActs 7. 41. Exod. 32. 5. thing, namely, of the true Iehouah, as it is euident, Exodus 32. 5. Thirdly, let it be graunted, that an Idoll is onely the similitude of an imaginary and fained thing; yet will not this acquite them of Idolatry, seeing they worship in the Romish [Page] Church, the Images of things which either neuer were, or were not such as they are taken to bee, as the Image of S. Katharine, and Saint Christopher, and Saint George, and such others: the truth whereof they are not able to proue by any approoued Historie: Nay it is confessed, that many are worshipped in the Church as Saints, which are tormented in hell fire for their sinnes. This shift therefore of Bellarmine, to wipe off the blot of Idolatry, is but a silly one, and blurres them more then they were before.

7. Gregory de Ʋalentia labours to creepe out at anotherGreg. de Valent. de Idol. li. 2. ca. 7. hole, to wit, not by a distinction, but by addition: for hee would adde vnto the definition of Idolatry these words, sicut Deo, as to God: and so Idolatry should bee not a giuing of diuine honour to a creature, but when it is so giuen to the creature, as vnto God. Wherein, as he vnmannerly crossethBell. de Eccl [...]s. triumph. li. 2 c. 5. his fellow Iesuite, in calling the Images of Christ, Idols, and saying, that they are to bee worshipped, latria, with diuine honour, the one whereof Bellarmine simply and absolutelyGreg. de Valent. quo supra, & li. 1. cap. 5. denyeth, and the other he alloweth, but [...], respectiuely; so likewise [...]e crosseth reason, Scripture, Fathers, and consequently all sound diuinity.

8. For Reason: If an adulteresse woman being taken in b [...]d with another man, should excuse her selfe thus, I am not guilty of adultery, because, though I lent the vse of my body to a stranger, yet I did it not to him as vnto my husband: would this excuse her? no, it would rather adde vnto her crime. So the Romish harlot, committing spirituall fornication with her Idols, when shee goeth about to colour her crime with t [...]is vermillion, I giue diuine honour indeed to Images, but yet not as vnto God. What doth shee else but adde car [...]all impudency vnto spirituall vnchastitie? A filthy stopple for a more filthy bottle. Besides, which is more vnreasonable, he maketh things to be of a contradictory opposition, which are one and the same in nature: for to giue diuine honour to the creature, is not Idolatry (saith hee) but to worship a creature as God, is Idolatry: whereas in verie [Page] truth, to giue diuine honour to a creature, is to worship that creature as God; and to worship a creature as God, is no more nor lesse, then to giue diuine honour vnto it, as any man of vulgar sense may easily discerne.

9. Scripture: for if none were Idolaters, but they which accounted the Idols which they worshipped, to be very Gods: then were not the Israelites Idolaters, when they adored the golden Calfe in the Wildernesse: nor the tenne Tribes, whenExod. 32. 1 Reg. 14. 1. Reg. 18. 19. they offered sacrifice to Ieroboams Calues at Dan, and Bethel: nor the Iewes, when they bowed the knee, and bu [...]nt Incense to the Image of Baal; for they did not esteeme these Images as very Gods, but in them the two former worshipped the true God, and the latter the God of the Sidonians, which was the same: and yet all these are condemned as Idolaters1. Cor. 10 7. 1 Reg. 4. 9. le [...]. 7. 9. in the Booke of God: nay, many of the Heathen themselues were to be freed from Idolatry; as the Athenians, who on that Altar which was dedicated to an vnknowne God, worshipped ignorantly the true God, which made the world,Acts 17. 23. Acts 19. 27. [...]. proae [...]. com. in Epist. ad Epocs. M [...]nut. Foelix in Octa [...]. F [...] us [...]n Act. cap. 17. Ca [...]et. n [...]. part. Tho. q. 25. art. 3. Ambras in [...]pist. ad Ephes. ca. 5. Aug. de Trinit. lib. 1. cap. 6. Aqui. in Epist. ad Ephes. c. 5. l [...]ct. 3. Tertul. in Luc. cap. 4. Cypr. ad Fortun. Greg. Niss orat. in laud. Basil. mag. Nazian. ora [...]. in Christ. Natiuit. and all things that are therein, as Saint Paul declareth, Acts 17. 23. and the Ephesians, who worshipping the great Goddesse Diana, did not ascribe diuine power to the Image, which was like vnto a great pillar full of dugs, but vnto nature represented by that Image, or rather God the nourisher and conseruer of nature, & of all things in nature▪ and the rest of the wiser rancke of the Gentiles, who as some of the Romish Writers themselues confesse, worshipped vnwittingly that same God, which was preached by the Apostles: and though they set before them diuers Images, yet their meaning was to worship in them the true God.

10. Fathers: for all of them with one consent define Idolatry to be nothing else, but the attributing of diuine honour to the Creatures, as Thomas Aquinas out of them all concludes, that this is Idolatry, quando honor soli Deo debitus, exhibetur creaturae, that is, when that honour which is onely due vnto God, is bestowed vpon a creature. Hee that would see the Fathers particular definitions hereof, let him reade the places quoted in the Margent, which for breuity sake I ouerpasse. [Page] And to conclude, to see how grosly this Iesuite doth erre from the scope of truth, and how vnaduisedly he brings in that fond addition (as vnto God) the Catechisme of theCatech. Trid. in explic. pr [...]cep. 2. Councill of Trent doth plainly affirme, that the Heathen set vp vnto God the Images of diuers creatures, & that the Israelites worshipped the true God in the golden Image of the Calfe. These are the two vaine eu [...]sions of these two great pillars, whose workes are approued by the censure of the Church, to bee wholly Orthodex, and to containe nothing contrary to the Catholike verity.

11. But enough of them: let vs leaue the two Cubs in their holes, and come to the hunting of the olde Foxe, the Idolatrous Church it selfe. That the Church of Rome attributes diuine honour to creatures, appeareth by this, because trust, and confidence, inuocation, vowes, sacrifice, adoration, all which are giuen by them vnto creatures, are all parts of diuine honour, and worship: For trust and confidence, the Prophet Ieremie so appropriateth it to the Lord,Ier. 17. 5, 7. that he denieth it to all other, Ier. 17. 5, 7. Cursed be hee that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arme, and withdraweth his heart from the Lord. And then he addeth: but, blessed bee the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: And S. Peter more plainely, 1. Pet. 5. 7. doth bid vs, to cast all our 1. Pet. 5. 7. care vpon God. Now if all confidence, and our trust, or care, is to be reposed in the Lord, then there is no part nor piece thereof to beeb stowed vpon any creature, and that as all, so onely it belongeth to the Lord. Christ himselfe teacheth, Math. 4. 10. interpreting that place of Deut. 6. 13. and 10. 20.Math. 4. 10. Deut 6. 13. & 10. 20. for whereas Moses saith, Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serue him. Christ the best Expositor of the Law that euer was, himselfe being the end, and perfection of the Law, doth thus alledge it, adding this word (onely) vnto the Text, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onely shalt thou serue: Whereby he euidently declareth, that all the parts of Gods worship are to bee restrained by this word onely, that is, that they so belong vnto the Lord, that it is sacriledge, if not Idolatry, to communicate them to any other, and so of [Page] inuocation, vowes, sacrifice, and adoration: the ScripturePsal. 50. 15. loel 2. 32. Rom. 10. 14. Esay 19. 21. Exod. 22. 20. Exod. 20. 5. Act. 10. 26. Apoc. 19. 10. Esay 42 5. Hier. Ezech. l. 4. c. 14. Basil. in Psal. 7. Aug. de vera Re [...] c. 53. Epiphan. haeres. 79. Ambros Rom. 1. doth ascribe them to God, as parts of his worship: and therefore by the same rule, onely to God, and none else: the reason hereof, is giuen by the Lord himselfe, Esai. 42. 5. I am the Lord (saith he) this is my name, and my glory will I not giue to any other; but his worship is his glory: therefore no part of this may be giuen to any other.

12. To this also, consent all the Fathers: Ierome saith, If we must put our confidence in any, let vs haue our affiance in God alone. And Basil, As it is meete to worship nothing beside God, so wee must fixe our hope in one God. Augustine thus. Saints are to be honoured for imitation, and not to be adored for Religion. Epiphanius thus. Let Mary bee honoured, but not adored: let the Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost bee adored. Lastly, Ambrose determines the poynt most effectually, thus. Is any so mad (saith hee) that will giue to the Earle the honour of the King? Yet these men (marke this, you idolatrous brood of Babylon) doe not thinke themselues guilty, who giue the honour of Gods name to a creature; and leauing the Lord, adore their fellow seruants, as though there were any thing more reserued for God. This is iust your case, and therefore by the iudgement of this good Father, you stand as guilty before Gods iudgement seat of Idolatry.

13. But all these are but generall considerations: let vs therefore see in particular, how these parts of Gods worship, are by the Religion of the Church of Rome, assigned vnto creatures, and to what creatures they are assigned, that the Strumpet of Babylon may haue no mantle to couer her vncleannesse. I might here begin with the Pope himselfe, and shew how hee is made an Idoll in the Church of Rome, and worshipped as God: yea, takes to himselfe the titles of God, and suffers himselfe to be called God, and receiueth adorations, prostrations, and kissing of the seete from all his followers:Aug. Stench. tom. 3. l. 2. de donat. Constant. Moscon de maiest. milit. Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 4. as is testified by their owne corrected Canon Law, and diuers of their learned Doctours: whereby hee doth plainely shew himselfe to be Antichrist, according to S. Pauls description. I might shew also how good workes, to wit, [Page] almse-deedes, pilgrimages, workes of supererogation, vowed chastity; voluntary pouerty, Monkish obedience, which they esteeme the chiefest good workes, are made Idols, in that they repose the confidence of their heart, and the hope of saluation in them through the power of meriting, which they ascribe vnto them: as also how they turne their Sacraments into Idols, by teaching, that they conferre grace, Ex opere B [...]l. de Sacram. l. b. 2. c. 1. operato, by the very worke done: and that effectiuely, actiuely, and immediatly, they produce in the heart, the grace of regeneration, and iustification, which is the proper and immediate worke of the Godhead: but I passe ouer these, & many other things, because they admit in shew some probable exception, though no sound confutation; and I insist in those things onely, in which euery Ideot, and almost Infant, may discerne most grosse and palpable Idolatry. And those are these fiue in number, the bread in the Sacrament, Images, Reliques, Angels and Saints departed. And lastly, the Crosse and Crucifix: of which in order.

14. The blessed Sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ, ordayned for a perpetuall remembrance of his death and passion; and for the strengthning, and nourishing of the soules of the faithfull, to eternall life, is transhaped by them into a most horrible Idoll. For this they teach and practise, that that very thing, which to all the senses, is but bread, being but lately moulded and knead by the Baker, is to be worshipped, and adored with diuine worship, [...]l. de Sacram. Euchar. l. 4. cap. 29. Coster En [...]. de Euchar. Rub [...]c. in Missal. Rom. because (forsooth) after consecration, it is the true and naturall body of Christ. And therefore at the Priests eleuation of the hoast, they all fall downe vpon their knees, and worship it with great deuotion, and expect from it forgiuenesse of their sinnes, and all manner of earthly and temporall blessings, and whosoeuer refuseth to doe this, is an Heretike.

15. Their Apologie is, that there is a reall and naturall presence of Christs body and bloud in the Sacrament, and therefore not the bread, but the body of Christ, into which the bread is transubstantiate, is worshipped of them, and so they thinke, to free themselues. To which I answere, that if [Page] that were certaine, then their defence was iust, and their practice godly, and we in calling them Idolaters, for this cause should bee slanderers of the truth: but seeing the contrary is rather certaine, to wit, that Christ is not corporally in the Sacrament, but in heauen: and that the bread remayneth still true bread, both for matter and forme after consecration: they cannot be excused from notorious Idolatry, in worshipping a piece of Bakers bread, in stead of Christ, the eternall Sonne of God: for to the outward senses, it beareth the shape, taste, figure, and colour of bread. This is certaine, and to the vnderstanding, in reason it is bread, because accidents cannot be without a substance: this is as certaine, and to faith it is bread, because the Word, which is the foundation of1. Cor. 10. & 11 saith, so calleth it, after the words of consecration, neither is there any Scripture to auouch the contrary, saue that which may well receiue our interpretation as well, yea, better then theirs, as the best learned amongst them confesse: for, Bellarmine B [...]l de Euchar. lib. 3. c. 23. confesseth, that it may iustly bee doubted, whether the Text (this is my body) be cleare inough to enforce transubstantiation. And Scotus and Cameracensis thinke our opinionSect. 4. d. 11. q. 3. tit. f. Cam [...]r. quaest. in 4. qu. 6. art. 2. tit. [...]. more agreeable to the words of institution: and thus they haue against them sense, and reason, and faith, and for them onely a doubtfull Exposition of two or three places of Scripture; and therefore three to one but they are guilty of Idolatry.

16. Besides, graunt that there is a reall transubstantiation of the bread and wine, into the body and blood of Christ: yet the accidents of bread and wine remaine vnchanged, and the forme and shape. Now, howsoeuer the learned may here distinguish their worship, from the outward accidents, to the inward substance; yet the common people are not able so to doe, but worship confusedly the outward accidents together with Christ contayned vnder them; and so in that respect, are Idolaters also: for accidents be creatures as well as substances: Yea, and Bellarmine also doth allow them so to d [...]e: for thus he writeth; Diuine worship doth appertaine to Bel. de Euchar. lib. 4. c. 29. the Symboles and signes of bread and wine, so farre forth as they are apprehended, as being vnited to Christ whom they containe. [Page] Euen as they that worshipped Christ vpon earth being clothed, did not worship him alone, but after a sort his garments also. Here is a braue straine of Diuinity, they worshipped Christ in his clothes, therfore they worshipped Christs clothes: So Christ is worshipped vnder the formes of bread and wine: therefore the formes of bread and wine must be worshipped. This is like the Asse, which bore vpon his backe the Image of Isis: and when men fell downe before the Image, he thought they worshipped him: but hee was corrected with a cudgell for his sawcinesse; and so are they worthy for their folly, that cannot distinguish betwixt a man and his garments, Christ and the signes of Christ, but promiscuously confound the worship of the one with the other. Rather therefore may we thus conclude: they which worshipped Christ on earth, did not worship his garments that he wore: therefore they which will worship Christ in the Sacrament, must not worship the outward Elements; and so it will follow, that as it had beene Idolatry in any to worship the garments of Christ: so it is in the Romanists, to worship the accidents of bread and wine.

17. Lastly, let it be supposed, that there is such a reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament; yet according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome, no man can be certaine when it is, because it depends vpon the intention of the Priest: forSum. Rosel. verb. Lu [...]har. 3. nu. 47 Fr. Quand. 4. [...]. 13. Pro. 6. thus they teach, if the Priest should say the words of consecration, without intention to consecrate the bread and wine, he should effect nothing: or if hee intend to consecrate but one hoast, and there chance to be two, or more, then nothing is consecrated at all: and so the intention of the Priest, being vncertaine to the people, there must needes be an vncertaine adoration: and the Priest oftentimes intending nothing lesse, then the matter it selfe which hee hath in hand, there must needes be certaine and vndoubted Idolatry: for if the bread and wine be not effectually consecrated, as they are not without the Priests intention, then Christ is not really present; and so nothing is worshipped, but the bare bread: for remedy hereof, they haue deuised two poore shifts: one, that the people must adore vpon a condition, to wit, if the due forme [Page] in consecrating bee obserued: the other, that an actuall intention is not necessarily required, but onely a vertuall, that is, when an actuall intention to consecrate, is not present at the very time of consecration, by reason of some vagation of the minde, yet it was present a little before, the operation is in vertue thereof.

18. This is Bellarmines. But to the first, I answere, That though the people ought to doe so, that is, adore vpon condition; which notwithstanding, is a thing neuer heard of before in any diuine worship, and implieth necessity of danger; yet because not one amongst a thousand doe so, hauing neuer heard that distinction once named in their liues, nor vnderstanding what it meaneth, therefore they are for this neuer a whit freed from Idolatry. To the second, I answere, that oftentimes the Priest hath neither actuall nor vertuall intention: for what intent had the Monke Bernhardine, that poysonedEgnat. the hoast, to the intent that he might poyson the Emperour Henry of Lucenburgh, as he also did at the instigation of Robert King of Sicily? What intent had that Priest, thatSpondan Annal. Eccles. an. 1055. Volateran. Houed [...]n. Math. Paris. either did, or would haue poysoned Pope Ʋictor the second, as witnesseth Baronius? or those Priests that poysoned William Archbishop of Yorke? for hee was poysoned at the Masse, by the treason of his owne Chaplins: both with that, which was in the Chalice. If the Priest bee an Athiest, as many of the Popes themselues were, what intention haue they of consecrating Christs body, when they beleeue not that Christ hath a body, or that there is a Christ now liuing in the heauens, and sitting at the right hand of his Father, to be present in the Sacrament? or what intention can they haue to doe that which the Church doth, when as they beleeue not, that there is a Church: but that all Religion is a fable, and a matter of policy? Here must needes be grosse and notable Idolatry, by their owne confession: for I argue, Ex concessis, that is, out of their owne grounds. So that we must iustly conclude, notwithstanding all their distinctions and shifts, that the Church of Rome, in worshipping the consecrated hoast, and that with such worship, as is due vnto God, is guilty of Artolatry, that [Page] is, of worshipping a piece of bread, in stead of God, then which, what can be more Heathenish and palpable Idolatry?

19. Secondly, wee indite them of Idolatry, for that they2. teach, that Images are to bee worshipped with diuine worship: and in their practice, they giue vnto stockes and stones the honour which belongeth vnto God. For this is their doctrine, that the Images of the blessed Trinity, and of Christ, and of the Virgin Mary the mother of Christ, and of other Saints, are to be had and retained, especially in Churches:Concil. Trid. decret. de Imag. ijsque debitum honorem & venerationem impertiandam, and that due honour and worship is to be giuen vnto them: they be the words of the Councill of Trent. Now, what that due honour and worship is, that is a great question among them: some thinke it is the same which appertaineth to the persons whom they represent; as if it be the Image of God or Christ: then it is to be worshipped, latria, that is, with the highest degree of worship: if of the Virgin Mary, then with a little lower degree called [...], if of the Saints, then with the lowest, which they call [...], and this is the tenet of many of their Rabbies (as reporteth Vasques the Iesuite) to wit, Aquinas, Ʋide Vasq. Iesuit. de adorat. Caietane, Bonauenture, Alexander, Coster, and diuers others. Others thinke, that the Image is not to be worshipped at all: but onely the Samplar before the Image. Of this opinion were Durandus, Alphonsus de Castro, and some others,Bel. d Imag. cap. 20. Durand. lib. 3. sent. d. 9. q. 2. Alphons. de Castro. verb. Imag. but it is confuted by Catharine, and vtterly reiected by Bellarmine. A third sort were of opinion, that Images ought to bee worshipped in themselues, and properly with a lesse honour then the Samplar: and therefore that no Image was to be worshipped with Latria. Of this opinion were Peresius, Catharinus, Sanders, Gabriel, &c. But the Councill of Trent, which is their Church, in the wordes of the decree, and Bellarmine Bel. de Imag. cap. 20. which is their chiefe champion, doe manifestly incline to the first opinion: for this is the summe of his propositions: First,Ibid. cap. 22. 23. 24. that the Images of Christ, & the Saints are to be worshipped, not onely by accident, and improperly, but euen by themselues, and properly: so that they doe limit the worship, as they are Images; and not onely as they stand in stead of their [Page] patternes. Secondly, that in truth and deed, Images may be worshipped with the same kind of worship which belongeth vnto their patternes, improperly, and by accident, and so with Latria in that condition. Thirdly, and lastly, that though this be true, yet especially in the pulpits, and before the people, it isP [...]aesertim in concione ad populum. not to be said that Images are to bee worshipped with this kind of worship, but rather the contrary. Heere is excellent diuinity: the people must not bee taught the truth, nay the contrary rather, which is a lie, and that in the pulpit: beholde here a doctor of lies, and that by his owne confession, whilst he goeth about to maintaine Images, which Habacuk calleth,Habac. 2. 18. doctors of lies. Hab. 2▪ 18.

20. This is the summe of their doctrine. Out of all which these three conclusions doe arise. First, that the blessed Trinity, that sacred and incomprehensible deitie, by their doctrine may be pictured on a wall, and worshipped in or at an Image; yea, that such an Image ought at least improperly bee worshipped with the same worship that is due vnto God himself: as whē they picture God the Father in the similitude of an old man, & God the Son in the likenes of a yong child, & God the holy Ghost in the likenesse of a Doue, which the Scripture in the second Commandement condemneth as Idolatrie: and that the intendment of that Commandement is not against the Images of false gods onely, as the Romanists would haue it, but also of the true Iehouah: Moses the best expounder of himselfe, teacheth most plainely, Deut. 4. 16. when hee saith,Deut. 4. 16. Take heed that you make not to your selues any grauen Image, or representation of any figure: for you saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire: and the Prophet Esay confirming the same exposition, saith, To whom will you liken God? or what similitude will yee set vp vnto him? Esay 40. 18. as if he should say, it is impossible to representEsay 40. 18. God by any likenesse or similitude. If they reply that they worship not the Image, but God in the Image, I answer, First, that the very Image of God is an Idoll by this Commandement: and therefore, the erecting of it to a religious vse, is Idolatry. Secondly, that it is false which they say, that they [Page] worship not the Image, but God in the Image: for their doctrine is contrary, as hath beene shewed, and their practice is contrary, as shall be declared hereafter. Thirdly, though it be true which they alledge, yet the worshipping of God before an Image, is Idolatry: for when the children of Israel worshipped the two golden calues at Dan and Bethel, they were not such calues, to worship the outward calues, but God in them: and therefore the worship of them is called, the feare of Iehouah: 1. Reg. 17. 28. and yet they are branded for Idolaters in that respect. The like I might say of the golden Calfe in the wildernesse, and of that Image which Micha erected. Fourthly, and lastly, that theIudg. 17. true God worshipped in or before an Image, is made an Idol, because (as Saint Augustine saith) they that worship God in any other sort then he hath appointed, worship not him, but that which Aug. de consens. Euangel. lib. 1. cap. 18. they had fayned, that is, an Idoll of their owne fancy: and therefore the Scripture saith, when the Iewes worshipped God in the golden Calfe, they turned God into the likenesse of a beastPsal. 106. 20. which eateth grasse.

21. The second conclusion to bee obserued, is, that by their doctrine the Images of Christ are to be adored with such worship, as is belonging vnto Christ himselfe, though improperly: and that this worship is to be bounded within the compasse of the Image, without relation to the Samplar. By which is euident: First, that by their owne confession they are Idolaters improperly: and secondly, that trust and confidence is to be put in such an Image, & vowes, and prayers, and sacrifices to be made vnto it: for all these are parts of diuine worship, which must be confined to the Image, and so they are not improperly, but properly Idolaters: and then by this we may see that the caueat inserted in the decree of the Councill of Trent, is but a meere sophistication: for whereas the decree saith, that Images must be so worshipped, that trust and confidence be not placed in them: in affirming that some ought to bee worshipped with Latria, they enioyne plainely, that men should repose their trust and confidence in them: and thus they bewray the fraud of the decree, and their owne secret impiety.

[Page]22. The third conclusion is that same Hyperdulia, or extraordinary reuerence, which they say is due to the Image of the blessed Virgin; and that Dulia, or common seruice, which they assigne to the Images of other Saints, is no lesse then Idolatry, let them extenuate the matter neuer so much by titles and distinctions; for it is religious worship: all which is dueReuel. 19. 10. and 22. 9. vnto God onely, Reuel. 19. 10. and 22. 9. The Angel would not suffer Iohn to performe any outward worship vnto him, nor so much as prostrate himselfe before him; but commanded him to worship God; and yet Iohn knew him to be but an Angel, and therefore meant not to giue him any thing but outward reuerence, yet he refused it vpon this ground, that all religious worship, both outward and inward, belongeth onely vnto God. So Mardochee the Iew refused to bow the knee to Haman the Agagite, because the honour which was giuen vnto him, was more then ciuill; for he was made a petty God: and therefore in the fragments of Hester, this reason is giuen by himselfe, I did it, because I would not preferre the honour of Hester 13. 14. a man, before the glory of God, and would not worship any but thee, my Lord: therefore, the bowing of the knee, or prostrating of the body after a religious manner, is due onely vnto God, and is part of diuine worship: to bow the knee, and prostrate the body after a ciuill manner, is lawfull to Kings and Princes, and others that are either exalted in gouernment, or endued with excellent gifts and graces of God; but to doe the same in a religious respect, is proper onely to God, because it presupposeth the knowing of the heart, an omni-presence, and an infinite power to helpe. And thus this same Hyperdulia and Dulia, wherewith they worship the Image of the Virgin, and other Saints, is open and plaine Idolatry: and the rather, because it is seldome or neuer seuered from Latria, that is, the inward worship of the soule, which, as they say, is onely due vnto God: as by their practice more plainely shall appeare.

23. Thus we see the morrow and mystery of their doctrine discouered: now let vs take a view of their practice. And first, what worship can bee more performed vnto God, then they [Page] giue vnto their Images? they kneele to them, they pray to them, they vow vowes to them, they offer offerings to them, they sweare by them, they prostrate their bodies before them: let Polydore Virgill, one of their owne sworne fauorites, who would not, we may presume, speake any thing too lauishly of his owne, but rather bee sparing in their disgrace, describe their manners. Men (saith hee) are growne to that madnesse, Polyd. Virgil. de Inuent. l. 6. c. 13. that this part of piety is little differing from flat impiety: for there are very many of the rude and ignorant, which worship the very Images of wood or stone, of marble, or brasse, or pictures painted vpon the walls, not as figures, but euen as if they had verily sense, and doe put more trust in them, then they doe in Christ, or other Saints, to whom they are dedicated. Thus doth this man describe the practice of their Idolatry; and much more might be found in him to that purpose, but that the Spanish Censours haue taken order by their Index Expurgatorius, that he shall not doe them much hurt. But if this mans testimony will not serue the turne, let vs heare another of the same ranke, a man of great learning and iudgement, Cornelius Cornel Agrippa de vanit. cap. 57. Agrippa, who thus complaineth: The corrupt manner, and false Religion of the Gentiles, hath infected our Religion, and hath brought into the Church Images and pictures, with many vaine ceremonies of externall pompe, none whereof was found amongst the first and true Christians. Hence wee began to bring into our Churches dumbe Images, and to place them vpon Gods Altars with great reuerence, and whither we account it vnlawfull for a man, the true Image of God, to ascend, thither we translate senselesse Images: to them we bow our heads, giue kisses, offer lights, hang vp gifts, apply myracles, & buy pardons of them. To conclude, to them we goe a pilgrimage, to them we make vowes, them we inwardly worship, and not only outwardly adore, neither can it be vttered how great superstition; that I may not say Idolatry, is nourished amongst the rude and ignorant people, in Images, the Priests winking thereat, and reaping thereby no small gaine to their purses. Adde vnto these Cassanders testimony, another learned man of an indifferent spirit. It is more manifest (saith he) then Cassand. consul [...]. de Imag. that it needeth any long explication, that the worship of Images [Page] hath too much preuailed, and that the affection, or rather superstition of the people, hath beene too much fauoured in this regard: so that Christians seeme to be nothing inferiour to Pagans, in the adoration, which they vsed to exhibite to their Idols, and in the vanity, which they shewed in making and adorning their Images. And a little after, he bringeth in a saying of Gabriel Biell, toGab. Bielin ean. lect. 49. this effect. The blockish errour of certaine men is so great, and they are so affected to Images, that they thinke that some diuine grace, or sanctity resideth in them, by which they are able to worke myracles, and giue health: and for that cause they worship them, to the end, they might obtaine some such benefit at their hands: and their simplicity is so great, that they worship with greater deuotion faire Images then foule, new then old, those that are adorned with gold and purple, then those that are naked and bare: yea, they make vowes, and binde themselues to goe a pilgrimage, now to this, now to that Church, in regard of certaine Images, supposing that greater vertues doe shine forth in one then another.

24. Thus doth this learned man, together with the two former, describe the miserable Idolatry of the Church of Rome, which is committed by the worshipping of Images. They were all three Romanists, and no doubt, but would speake of their owne fauourites as fauourably as they could; and therefore we may well imagine, that their impiety was farre more grosse, when it wrested out of their owne mouthes this plaine confession. But if a Protestant should speake, hee would tell another tale, and make them march in equipage with the Pagans in Idolatry, as Cassander after a sort confesseth; and that not without great reason: For first, theLactan. de fal. Relig. lib. 2. c. 20. Aug. in Psal. 113. con. 2. & in Psal. 96. Chrysost. hom. 18. in Epist. ad Ephes. Senec. q. nat, lib. [...]. cap. 45. Psal 115. Paynims, when they bowed to stockes & stones, pretended, that they worshipped not the Images, but them, after whose likenesse they were figured, as testifie Lactantius, Augustine, Chrysostome, and Seneca. Now the Romanists doe vse the very same excuse to cloke their Idolatry, that they worship not the Images properly, but God, Christ, Angels, Saints in them, and at them. Secondly, the Paynims Idols are described in the 115. Psalme, To haue eyes and not to see, eares and [Page] not to heare; [...]oses, and not to smell, &c. And finally, to haue no breath in their nostrils: but the Romish Images are in euery respect like vnto them: let them shew that their Images can heare, see, speake, smell, and goe, better then theirs, and then we will not say their Idols to be like to theirs.

25. Peraduenture they will instance in the Roode of Winchester, Polyd. Virgil. histor. lib. 7. which in the yeare of our Lord 1475. at a solemne Councill there holden about the marriage of Priests, spake in the behalfe of Dunstane against the poore Priests, or in theHenr. Hunting. lib. 6. Baron. tom. 40. ad annum. 975. §. 12. Image of our Lady, that bade Saint Bernard good morrow, when he came into the Church, as it is reported: or in that Image of Saint Nicholas at Chester, which vsed to mooue the hand to blesse the people: or in that Image of our Lady, neere to the Abby of Ramsey, which vsed to sweat when it was offered vnto; and happy was he that could get any of that sweet sweat into his handkercheife, for it was of soueraigne vse for many purposes and cures: But that they begunne to be halfe ashamed of such fables, especially, seeing Polidore Virgil, a man not meanely affected towards their Religion, censured the first to be a Legerdemaine of Dunstane to worke his purpose, and reported that diuers others vsed to doe the same at that day. And S. Bernard in a iesting answere discouered the second, when he answered, that it was against the Canons, for her Ladyship to speake in the Church being a woman. And the Bishop of Chester discredited the third, when he manifestedDownam de Antich. li. 1 c. 7. pa. 102. in the open Market place, that the Image was made with such a deuice, that at the pulling of a certaine string the hand would mooue vp and downe. And the last, euery olde man and woman in the Countrie could tell to bee but a iuggling tricke of a crafty Priest, first anoynting the Image without, and then heating it within (for it was hollow) with a chafingdish of coales, from whence grew out that soueraigne and excellent sweat.

26. Thirdly, the Paynim plants a tree, and after cuts it downe, and with one part thereof hee warmes himselfe, with another part he rosts his meate; and of the third hee makes himselfe a God, as the Prophet Esay saith, and when he hathEsay 44. 15. 16. [Page] done, he censeth that Image, and lighteth Tapers before i [...], and falls downe and worships it. They of the Romish Church doe the very same by their Images in euery respect. Four [...]hly, the Paynims say, that Images were Elements or Letters toAthan. orat. con. Gentes. know God by, and they vsed Images and other ceremonies to procure the presence of Angels, and celestiall powers: the Romanists say and doe the same; they say that Images are Lay-mens Bookes, and that their worship of them doth procure the fauour of those heauenly things whose representations they beare. Lastly, Paynims put their trust and affiance in their Idols: so doe the Romanists in their Images, as appeareth by the consecration of them, and their Prayers vnto them: thus they consecrate the Image of the blessed Virgin, Sanctifica, Deus, hanc formulam, &c. O God, sanctifie this forme In pontifical. of the blessed Virgin, that it may minister the succour of wholesome helpe to thy faithfull people, that hurtfull thunder and lightnings may be speedily auoyded, inundations of waters, commotion of warre, &c. may be suppressed. Againe, thus they consecrate the Image of Saint Iohn the Euangelist, Grant, that all which behold this Image with deuotion, and make their prayers before it, may be heard: for what necessity soeuer they pray, let this Image be a holy expulsion of deuils, an aduocation of Angels, a protection of the faithfull, &c. Why should not affiance bee placed in these Images that are thus qualified? But beare their prayers; To the Image of Ʋeronica they pray thus,

Haile, holy face, imprinted on a clont,

Chemnit. exam. Concil. Trident. de Imagin.

Purge vs from all sinne within and without;

And ioyne vs in the fellowship of the blessed rout.

Bring vs to that Country, O holy Picture,

Where we may see the face of Christ, which is most pure.

Be vnto vs a safe helpe, a sweet refreshing;

And comfort vs euermore with thy blessing:

That no force of enemie may vs annoy;

But that we may eternall rest enioy.

Before the famous Image of the Lady of Lauretto, menTursell. Iesuit. de virg. Laur. and women of all sorts fall downe and pray, when they are [Page] in any danger, or extremity: to her they go a pilgrimage, and assoone as they come neere to the Towne of Lauretto, and behold the place where the Image is, they fall downe and worship, and so they doe againe at the Temple dore, and after in the Temple they humble themselues in a most seruile and base manner: by all which it is euident, that they affie and trust in the Image: as that Falkoner did, who being vpon the gallows ready to be hanged, for suspition of conuaying away his Masters Hawke, by onely conceiuing a prayer in his heart, vnto this Ladie of Lauretto, the Hawke came gingling in the ayre, and light vpon the gallowes, and so the poore man escaped the halter. He that will reade the fiue Bookes of Turselline the Iesuite, concerning this Lady, shall easily perceiue that she is made a Goddesse amongst them, and worshipped with the very same worship which is due vnto God. And thus it is as cleare as the Sun, both by their doctrine and practice, that the Church of Rome by worshipping of Images, is guilty of heathenish and abominable Idolatry.

27. Concerning the Reliques of our Sauiour Christ and3. the Saints, whereof their Church hath infinite numbers, there is no lesse Idolatry committed to them, then was before vnto Images. For first, some of them confesse, that Reliquiae eodem Vasq. de adorat. li. 3. dis. 4. cap. 2. modo atque imagines sunt adorandae, Reliques are to bee worshipped after the same manner as Images. And therefore if there be Idolatrie in the one, it must also be needs in the other: for whether the worship be not to be restrained to the Image and Relique, but to be referred to the things whereof they are representations and parts, as the forenamed Iesuite thinkes, with some other: or whether it is to be confined to the matter of the Relique, and forme of the Image, without further relation, as Bonauenture, Aquinas, yea, and Bellarmine Bona. 3. d. 9. art. 1. q. 4. Aquin. in 3. d. 9. q. 1. art. 1. Bell. de Imag. li. 2 [...]a. 21. himselfe, with many other, seeme to auerre: yet it is Idolatry both waies, because in both, religious worship is giuen to the Creatures, in the one simply, in the other respectiuely, which indeed some what qualifieth the heate of the disease, but doth not at all cure the roote of it.

28. Secondly, others are of opinion, that there is greater [Page] cause of worshipping Reliques, then Images: for (say they) a man cannot worship an Image, but his thoughts must needs be caried vp to the contemplation of him whose Image it is, but reliquia solùm adorantur ratione contactus, quo sunt quodammodo Bona. Ibid. Aquin. Ibid. Marsil. in 3. q. 8. art. 2. Vasques de adora. lib. 3. dis. 4. c. 1 sanctificatae & consecratae: Reliques are to be worshipped, onely in respect of their touching of Christ, or the Saints, by which they are after a sort sanctified, and consecrated, and therefore they may be worshipped simply by themselues, by reason of that sanctification without Christ or the Saint, of whom they are said to be sanctified. Here the former qualification for Images is taken away from Reliques, and therefore the Idolatry is more grosse, yea, in regard of this contaction, some of them are not ashamed to say, that the very wormes of the bodies of the dead, Vasq. Ibid. l. 3. c. 8. nu. 114. are to be worshipped with a right intention, and with a sincere faith. Thirdly, not to stand vpon priuate opinions; the determination of their representatiue Church, the CouncillConcil. Trident. Decret. de Reliq. Sanctor. of Trent, doth proue the worshipping of Reliques to be Idolatry: for it doth not onely condemne those which refuse to giue worship and honour to them in any respect: but euen those also, which opis impetrandae causa, To obtaine helpe by them, doenot honour them. Now hence thus I reason: to put our trust and confidence in any creature, is Idolatry: but to seeke for helpe at the Reliques of Saints, is to repose trust and confidence in creatures; therefore by necessary consequence, the worship of Reliques is Idolatry, because thereby they seeke for helpe; and so the Church of Rome is by the sentence of their owne Councill, guilty of this foule sinne: and this Councill of theirs, is guilty before God and man, of protecting, maintaining, and authorizing the same: a farre greater guilt then the former; by how much, according to the rules of Law, the Author of a sinne is euer more guilty then the Actor.

21. Fourthly, their practice doth make this more euident: for as Cassander ingeniously confesseth, In these last times too Cassand. consult. de venerat. Reliquiar. much is attributed to the Reliques and memories of Saints, in so much as the better sort of men, and those that were most zealous, haue placed the summe, and substance, as it were, of Religion, in [Page] searching out such Reliques, adorning them with gold, and Iewels, and building temples and memorials for them; and the worser and wickeder sort haue reposed false confidence in the foolish and superfluous worshipping of them. Here we s [...]e the practice both of the better and the worser sort of people, that is, indeed, of all for the most part, in the worship of Reliques; the one esteeming it the chiefest part of Religion and piety; and the other relying wholly vpon it, as the onely meanes, for the purging away their sinnes, and so an occasion to harten them in the same, because they thinke, as long as they performe this dutie, they may sinne freely. If any man say, that the ignorance and misdoings of some, is not to bee imputed as an errour to the Church: I answer, that it is not some, but all generally, for the most part, that are thus affected: and therefore Cassander condemnes both good and bad, as guilty of this crime. But graunt, that many are otherwise minded; yet for all that, it cannot be denied, but the greater part are in this ranke: and that is inough to proue their Church Idolatrous, because, according to the Logicall axiome, euery denomination is to be taken from the greater part; neither is it a personall errour, but a dogmaticall position deriued from the grounds of their Religion, as from the Councill of Trent, which alloweth to worship them, Opis impetrandae causa, for to obta ne helpe of them, and from the rest of their great Diuines: Some of whom would haue them to bee worshipped with the same worship with Images, some with a greater reuerence then Images ob contactum: and they that mince it finest, with a religious reuerence, which they call adoration and veneration: in all which is that, in a sort, either openly or couertly allowed by their doctrine, which is practised by their people.

30. But let vs search a little further into their practice. The custome of the Church of Rome, is to take the bodies, ashes, or bones of Saints out of their graues, and to adorne them with gold, and siluer, silke, veluet, and such like, and to carry them about in publike processions, and supplications, and to shew them to the people, to be touched, kissed, gazed vpon, and adored as a singular and meritorious seruice [Page] to God: is not this Idolatry? They teach, that God doth tye his grace and vertue to those Reliques, whereof they are partakers, that adore them with due reuerence, and offer precious gifts vnto them: yea, they promise vnto such many indulgences, and Pardons for sinnes. Is not this Idolatry? Againe, they teach, that their prayers are better, and more effectuall, and acceptable vnto God, if they bee made before the Reliques of Saints, and therefore their practice is in times of necessity, to goe a pilgrimage to such places, where the most famous Reliques are; because they are perswaded, that their prayers shall bee there soonest heard of God: yea, they make men beleeue, that the Eucharist hath a great deale of holinesse added vnto it, if Reliques of Saints bee included within the Altar. Is not this Idolatry? They light vp candles, and set vp before them Tapers, which S. Ierome calleth Idolatriae Hieron. Epist. ad Ripar. insignia, the Ensignes of Idolatry, and cause them to burne, euen at noone day; and that as they say, in resemblance of the golden candlesticke, which alwayes burnt before the Arke, Exod. 2. 5. but indeede rather in imitation ofExod. 2. 5. the heathen, who vsed to burne Tapers before their Images, in the Temples of their Gods: and therefore, me thinkes, it isBaruch. 6. 18. Virgil. Aenead. 1 Bel. de reliquiis, Sanct. l. 2. c. 3. strange, that Bellarmine should make this an argument why Reliques are to be worshipped, because Tapers and Candles are set vp before them: wheras rather he should conclude, that Idolatry is cōmitted before them, because of this. Againe, in their solemne oathes, they touch not onely the Bible, but the Reliques of Saints, & so deuide the religion of an oath, which is a principall part of Gods worship, betwixt God and them, against which a plague is denounced by the Prophet Zephany, Zephan. 1. 5. Ier. 5. 7. Opus imperfect. in Math. [...]om. 12 Zephan. 1. 5. And it is also condemned by the Prophet Ieremie, Ier. 5. 7. And a reason is giuen of it in Chrysostomes 12. Homily vpon S. Mathew: at least if it be Chrysostomes; He that sweares by any thing beside God, deifies that thing, and thereby makes himselfe an Idolater. Is not this then Idolatry? Lastly, whereas in former times, where lesse superstition preuailed, they placed the Reliques of Saints vnder the Altar, as Ambrose Ambros. in Epist. ad Soror. witnesseth of the Reliques of Geruasins and Protasius. [Page] Ille (Christus videlicet) super altare, qui pro omnibus passus est, isti sub altari qui ipsius redempti sunt sanguine. Christ was vpon the Altar, who suffered for all, the Reliques of them vnder the Altar, who were redeemed with his bloud: yet nowCassand. consult. de Reliq. p. 162. (as Cassander well notes) contrary to the ancient custome, their practice is to place the bodies of Saints vpon the Altars, which place is only proper for the body of Christ. Is not this horrible Idolatry? And yet Bellarmine would hence proue,Bel. de Reliq lib. 2. c. 3. that they are to be worshipped, because they are placed vnder the Altar, because (forsooth) the Altar is to be worshipped: but what if the worshipping of the Altar be Idolatry too, as without question it is, if the Altar be a dead creature, and a heape of stones, or wood? This is to adde drunkennesse to thirst, and to couer a filthy wound, with a more filthy plaister: besides, the first bringers in of that custome, though they placed them vnder the Altar in a religious manner: yet neuer meant, that they should bee worshipped by those that approched vnto the Altar, or that they did conferre any sanctity to the Eucharist. Thus we haue a short view of their superstitious and Idolatrous practice in this point.

31. Fiftly and lastly, that they may be voyd of all excuse and pretext, an infinite number of their thus worshipped Reliques, are meere false and counterfait; not true members, parts, or remainders of any Saints, but fained impostures of couetous Priests, and often the members not of men, but of baser creatures. At this day (saith Cassander) when the world seemeth Cassand. Ibid. to be full of Reliques, it may bee feared, lest vpon diligent examination, most detestable frauds and impostures be found out, as it appeared sometime to S. Martin, who found a place honoured in the name of an holy Martyr, to be the Sepulcher not of a Martyr, but of a wicked Robber. This kinde of cousonage beganAug. de oper. monach. cap 28. Gregor. lib. 3. Epist. &c. to spring in Augustine and Gregories times: for the one complaineth of certaine Hypocrites, that caried about, and boasted of the members of Martyrs, si tamen Martyram, if so be they were Martyrs. And the other affirmeth, that certaine Greeke Monkes being found digging vp the dead bodies of men, in a certaine field of Rome, confessed that they meant to [Page] carrie their bones into Greece, as the Reliques of Saints.

32. But since Popery grew to perfection, this is also growne to such a height of impudencie; that it is a wonder to heare what strange Reliques are to bee seene in the world. S. Peter being buried whole in one place, to wit, at Rome inBaron. Annal. tom. 1. & 3. anno 69. & 324. Onuphr. de septem vrb. Eccles. Bel. de Eccles. triump. lib. 2. cap. 4. Onuphr. Ibid. the Vaticane, as Baronius writeth: yet is found halfe in another; to wit, in via Ostiensi, as Onuphrius testifieth: and for all this, a part of him is to be seene at Constantinople, as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth. Nay further, besides these three places, his head is reserued in a fourth, to wit, in the Laterane Church at Rome, by Onuphrius testimony. And besides this whole head, another piece of his head, in the Church of Saint Praxis; by the same Author: and in a fixt place, one of his iaw-bones, with his beard, is kept for a monument: this is at Poytiers in Fraunce, as witnesseth Caluine: his teeth areCaluin. admonit. de Reliquijs. not confined to his iawes; nor yet at one place, but to bee seene in many places; at Rome in the Church of S. Vincent, and Anastasius and the holy Crosse, and S. Sauiour, and S. Lawrence Onuphr. Ibid. Caluin. Ibid. without the walls: his braine is to be seene at Geneuah, at leastwise if a Pumice stone be his braine: for it is nothing else. Many of his bones are to be seene at Treuers, a piece of his shoulder at Rome in the Church of the holy Crosse, a toe in the Church of S. Praxis, and the ioynt of another in England, Eras. pereg. resig. ergo. at the Lady of Walsingham, as Erasmus testifieth; as it were of a Giants toe: these with many moe, be the Reliques of S. Peter: all which are held in great honour and worship of them. Now either S. Peter must bee a Monster, or many of these counterfait Reliques.

33. But S. Peter is not alone in this, for Christ himselfe is abused: three praepuces, or foreskinnes of his are showne,Caluin. de necessit. reformand. Eccles. and worshipped in three diuers places: so foureteene nailes, when as he felt but three; three coats, whereas hee had but one, and that without seame, for the which the souldiers cast losts: two titles that were set vpon the Crosse, foure poynts of the speare wherewith his side was pierced, fiue Linnen clothes, wherwith he was wrapped, and many such like trumperies. Nay, there is scarce a Saint that is any thing famous, [Page] to whom they do not faine two or three bodies. Saint Barbaries Luther. postil. in Euangel. fest. exalt. crucis. head is to be seene in so many places, that sure, she must needs haue beene a monster, if all those were true members. Saint Apollonia had so many teeth, being all soueraigne medicinesAbbas Amelm. Chemnit. exam. Concil. Trident. de Reliquijs. for the tooch-ache, that when King Edward labouring of that disease, sent through England, for all her teeth to be brought vnto him, two or three hogsheads could not hold them that were found out. It is reported and recorded of a certaine Relicke-monger that boasted, that hee carried about in a box some feathers of the holie Ghost. Now, another merry companion stealing away these feathers, foisted in, in their roome, certaine coales: The other not perceiuing the coozenage, the next day began to vaunt of his holy relickes, and to shew them to the people, which stood ready by to adore them with great reucrence: but when he opened his caske, he found nothing but coales: whereat, being nothing amazed, like a skilfull Artisan, he turned Cat in the pan, and told the people, that those coales were taken from vnder the Grediron of Saint Laurence, when he was broyled to death: thus any thing will serue their turnes for relickes, when need requireth: and so more then Aegyptian is the blindnesse of the Popish crue, that they beleeue all to bee true, and take all this trash for good ware.

33. There is almost nothing that our Sauiour touched, or that touched him, or that hee had any thing to doe withall, but is turned into a Relicke: as the Manger wherein hee was laid at his birth, is to be seene in Rome at Saint Mary Maior: the Linnen cloth wherein he was swadled, at Saint Paul: and another piece at Saint Sauiour in Spaine: his Cradle and the Shirt which his mother made for him, at the same place: the Pillar which he leaned vnto, when hee disputed with the Doctours, and the water-pot in which he turned water into wine, which are to be seene at diuers sundry places, to wit, at Rauenna, at Pisa, at Andegauum, and in Spaine at Saint Sauiours, the Table which he eate his last Supper on, at Saint Iohn Laterane, a piece of the bread at Saint Sauiours in Spaine, the Knife where with he killed the Passeouer, at Treuers, the Cup [Page] wherein he gaue the Sacrament of his bloud to bee drunke, at Saint Maries neere Lyons, which Cup also is to bee seene among the Heluians, in a certaine Monasterie of the Augustine Friers: so the dish wherein the Paschall Lambe was put, is visible at Rome, at Genua, and at Arles: so the to well wherwith he wiped his Apostles feet, is to be seene in Rome at S. Iohn Laterane, and yet the same is shewed at Aquae in Germanie, and at Saint Cornelius, with the marke of Iudas his foote imprinted in it: a piece of one of those loaues wherewith Christ miraculously fed the multitude in the desart, is yet extant at Rome, at Saint Maria Noua: and another piece at Saint Sauiours in Spaine.

34. What should I speake of the Crosse found out by Helena? whereof, as Histories report, she gaue one part to her Son Constantine, which was placed on a porphyrie pillar in Constantinople: and the other part enclosed in a siluer case, shee sent to the Bishop of Hierusalem to be kept. It is admirable to see, into how many pieces and patches it is now subdiuided: one man was able to beare it sixteene hundred yeares agoe: and now sixteene men (nay, if I said a hundred, it were not amisse) are scarce able to carry the fragments of it: yea, they would load a whole ship, and that of good burthen. The nailes, as I said before, which were but three, as all know, haue spawned eleuen more, and are become foureteene, where of two are to be seene at Rome, one at Saint Hellens, another at Saint Crosses, a third at Ʋenice, a fourth at Sene, a fift at Colne in Germanie at the three Maries, a sixt at Treuers, a seuenth at S. Dennis in France, an eight at S. Sacell, a ninth with the Carmelites, a tenth among the Biturigions, an eleuenth in an Abby, &c. his crowne of thornes is diuided into so many portions, that either it must needs be of huge bignesse, or else some of those fragments which are taken for parts of it, must needs be meere impostures: his seamelesse Coat hath begot diuers others; for one is to be seene at Argentolium, another at Treuers, a third the Turke hath with him. I should bee too long in this friuolous argument, if I should reckon vp all the reliques of our Sauiour Christ that are notoriously extant, [Page] and to all which, worship and adoration is performed.

35. As for the Virgin Maries relicks, they are also very many and notable; her haire and her milke are reserued in so many places, that neuer any woman gaue so much milke in all her time of bearing, as she did in that time that shee gaue sucke: her Smocke is had in great honour both at Carnutis, and also at Aquae in Germany, and is carried vpon the end of a pole to be worshipped; it is of that bignesse, that the blessed Virgin should seeme by it to haue been a woman of an incredible stature: which is the more to be wondred at, because Iosephs breeches, which are carried with the smocke in the same pompe, are so little, that they would fit a little boy or adwarfe: her Kerchiefes are to be seene, one at Treuers, another at Lisium in Italie: a little Crosse-cloth of hers is at Bononia, her girdle at Pratum, and another at Monferrat, her Slippers at Saint Saniacquery, her Shoo at Sanfloridum, her Combes, one at Rome, another at Ʋesontium, her marriage Ring is at Perusium (as if then mariage was made with Rings, as it is at this day) her Garments, or at least, pieces of them are to be seene at so many places, that the Virgin Maries wardrobe might compare (if all were hers) with the greatest Princesse in the world; foure pictures are to be seen of her, which Saint Luke himselfe drew.

36. What should I reckon vp the Relicks of other Saints, which are all of the same nature, though not number? Saint Michaels Sword and Buckler wherewith he ouercame the diuell, is a monument of great estimation, they are kept at great Saint Michaels in France, a place much frequented by Pilgrims. And what kind of things are they, thinke you? mary, the sword is like a Childes dagger that hee weareth at his back, and his Buckler like a little cupping-glasse: or like the bosse of a Bridle: fit weapons (without doubt) for an Archangell, and more fit for him to fight with the Diuell withall? What should I speake of the Relicks of Saint Iohn Baptist? breuity bids me passe them ouer: and yet I cannot chuse but relate one or two which are most famous: as that finger of his wherewith he poynted vnto Christ, when he said, Behold [Page] the Lambe of God: this finger is multiplied; for it is to be seene at Vesontium, and at Tholosse, and at Lyons, and among the Bituriges, and at Florence, and neere Matiscone. Behold a wonder, sixe fingers on a hand, or else one finger begetting fiue more, and so turned into sixe, both a like miraculous: one of his shooes is in Paris among the Carthusians, behold here another miracle, it was stolne away vpon a time, and another of a sodaine came in the roome thereof: sure, a shoo will neuer bee wanting, as long as there be Shoo-makers in Paris.

37. Such like are the relickes of the rest of the Saints, as of Peter, and Paul, and Iohn, and Iames, with the other Apostles, the Popish Churches are replenished with thē, and some of them are in diuers places at once, after a miraculous maner, as the Altar whereon Peter said Masse, is both to bee viewed at Rome, and at Pisa, his staffe is at Colne, and at Treuers. Andrew hath one bodie to be seene at Tholosse, and another at Melphis: Iames the lesser, and Philip, haue each of them two bodies, one of them at Tholosse, another at Rome: so also haue Simon and Iude: Bartholomew is to be seene at Naples: and yet for all that, his body is at Rome too, in a Church dedicated vnto him. Mathew hath three bodies, one at Patauium, another at Rome at Saint Mary Maior, and a third at Treuers: the Cup wherein Iohn the Euangelist drunke the poyson, after he was condemned by Domitian, is both at Bononia, and at Rome to be seene. Saint Anne hath three bodies, one at Apla, another at Prouince, and a third at Lyons: and so her head is in three places, at Treuers, at Turen, and at Thuring. Lazarus the Brother of Marie is like wise a Gyant of three bodies, one of them is at Massilia, another at Angustodune, and the third at Auelona.

38. I [...] would fill a volume, if I should reckon vp all their strange relicks. Let him that desireth to see more of them, reade Caluins Tractate, called Admonitio de Reliquijs, where he shall finde a whole thraue of them. I for this time end with three or foure braue ones for the nonce, which are worthy neuer to be forgotten. It is written of Dunstane the Abbot [Page] of Glastenbury, that as he was hallowing a certaine Church, he beheld the right thumbe of Editha, then Abbesse of Wilton, Guiliel. Malmsbur. lib. 2. de Pontif. Vincent. lib. 25. cap. 33. as shee was crossing and blessing her forhead, and much delighting therein, hee tooke it into his hand, and said, Neuer might this thumbe perish. By vertue of which prayer of his, after Edithaes death, when all her body was turned into ashes, that thumbe, and another part of her body, which it seemeth, he had blessed too, were found safe and sound, and so became Reliques. We read also of a certaine Monke, who gaue out,Verger. annot. in Catalog. haeret. an. 1559. fol. 17. that he had brought from the East some of the sound of the Bels, which hung in Salomons Temple, and that he could shew among other Reliques, some of the haires which fell from the Seraphicall Angell, when hee came to imprint the fiue wounds of Christ in S. Frauncis body. Yea, some of them are not ashamed to shew to the Pilgrimes that goe to Ierusalem, a three cornerd stone, which they beare them in hand, is that very stone, whereof Dauid spake, saying, The stoneBellon. obseruat. lib. 2. c. 85. which the builders refused, is the head of the corner. Lastly, at Cour cheuerin neere vnto Blois, is kept for a monument the breath of S. Ioseph, which he breathed, when he claue wood being a Carpenter: at Burgos in Spaine, is shewne a Crucifix, whose nailes and beard are cut euery moneth, they grow so fast, and in these excrements, they say, is great vertue. At Rome is to bee seene the fore-skinne of our Sauiour, which was cut off at his circumcision: and in Galicia (as Pilgrimes report) are preserued some of the feathers of certaine chickens, which are of the race of that Cocke, which crowed when Peter denied his Master. And at S. Denis, is to bee seene the Lanthorne which Iudas caried in his hand, when he came to betray his Master, with a number other such like. These bee their goodly Reliques which they would haue men to worship with such great deuotion: of all which, or at least, of most of them, we may truly auouch that which Augustine saith of miracles, that they are vel figmenta mendacium hominum, vel August, de vnitat. Eccles. portenta fallacium spirituum, That they are nothing but mere impostures, and coozening deuices, either of diuels or of auaricious Priests, Friers, and Monkes, to nouzle the people [Page] in superstition, and to line their owne purses with crownes.

39. The bare narration of them is sufficient to bewray their falshood, but much more the Logicall contrariety and naturall repugnancie that is among them, which all the wit of man is not able to reconcile. And last of all, their nouelty for most of these Reliques, was neuer heard of in this world for three hundred yeeres aft [...]r Christ; so that it may iustly be wondred where they lay hid all that while, and by what meanes they were found out at last, or how they could continue so long. If they say, they were discouered by diuine reuelation, as the bodies of Geruasius and Protasius, to S. Ambrose, Ambres. Epist. Aug. confess. lib. 9. cap. 7. Epist. Lucian. Beda de sex aetatibus. Zozomen. lib. 7. cap. vlt. of Stephen and Nichodemus, to one Lu [...]anus, and the head of Iohn Baptist to two Monkes, and the bones of Abacuk and Michaeas, to a certaine Bishop: and the body of S. Barnabe, with the Gospell of S. Mathew vpon his brest. I answere: that though all these were true, yet they were not reuealed to that end that they should be worshipped: neither yet did the God of truth euer by his testimony bolster out such notorious lyes as are found in the Romish Reliques. We may confidently therefore conclude, that most abominable Idolatry is committed in the Church of Rome, by the worshipping (at least) of false Reliques, whereof there is such a swarme: for the greatest part of their Reliques being counterfait, the greatest part of the worship which is done vnto them, must needes be Idolatry.

40. The Iesuites, to this obiection of ours, giue two answeres; one is Bellarmines, who flatly denieth the ReliquesBell. de Eccles. triumph. li. 2 c. 4 in Churches to be counterfait, because none are receiued but by the authority of the Bishop of Rome. And as for the multiplicity of bodies, hee saith, that the parts of them are often found in diuers places, and by a figure of speech, are called by the name of the whole. But the Iesuites answere, by his leaue, is idle and friuolous: for first, all these fore-named false Reliques are not caried about by priuate men, but found in their Churches; and therefore if authorized by the Popes holinesse, the more shame for him, and the more certainty for vs, that he can erre like a sinfull man, euen sitting in his chaire of doctrine. And [Page] secondly, though it were true which he saith, concerning the bodies of Saints, yet it cannot hold in other things, as in Iohn Baptists finger and his shooe, and the nailes of Christs crosse, and the Virgin Maries milke, and such like. Therefore Vasques Vasques de ador [...]t lib. 3. cap. 8. disp. 3. the Iesuite hath deuised another answere, and that is, Though the Reliques be vncertaine and false, yet if they bee worshipped, it is no sinne, but a good worke, Because, as it is not the sinne of Idolatry (saith hee) to worship a beame of light, vnder which the diuell lurketh, when a man taketh it for Christ: so if a man worship a false Relique, supposing it to bee some true part of a Saint, Merito suae deuotionis non caret, He wanteth not the merit of his deuotion. But this answere is not onely friuolous, but impious: for by the same reason the Iewes should be cleared from sinne, when they crucified Christ, because S. Paul saith, they did it through zeale, though not according to knowledge, Rom. 19. 2. and the Gentiles, whenRom. 19. 2. they put Christians to death, because our Sauiour saith, that in so d [...]ing, they thought they did God good seruice, Iohn Ioh 16. 2. 16. 2. but they both sinned notwithstanding most grieuously. And their owne rule is, that ignorantia non excusat à toto, sed à tanto, that is, ignorance doth not excuse the whole fault committed, but onely lessens the guilt of it. I conclude therefore, that notwithstanding all that can be said, yet in the worshipping of Reliques, is committed manifest and detestable Idolatry.

41. Neuerthelesse, we protest against the slanders of our aduersaries, that albeit wee abhorre all false and counterfait Reliques, and refuse to worship with adoration those that are true: yet for these last sort, when they are certainely knowne vnto vs, wee giue vnto them a due honour and reuerence: that is, wee confesse them to bee holy as the members of Christ, and Temples of the holy Ghost, if they bee the parts of Saints and Martyrs: wee say with S. Augustine, That their Aug. de ciuit. lib. 8. c. vlt. memories are to be celebrated to the end (not that they may be worshipped but) that thankes may be giuen to God for their victories, and we may be stirred vp to the imitation of their crownes, by calling vpon God to our helpe. We acknowledge with Cassander, [Page] that Vowes and Pilgrimages vnto places, famous forCassand. consult. de reliquijs. the Relickes of Martyrs, were in olde time profitable, Whilest that the memory of the Martyrs was yet fresh and certaine, and as long as God by vndoubted myracles did manifest, that their soules did liue, who were thought to bee dead: and whilest all these things were referred to this end, that the Christian faith which they by dying professed, might bee confirmed (as it were) by these signes. Yea, we affirme with Agrippa, that as Agrip. d [...] vanit. cap. 57. the abuse of Relicks is an execrable wickednesse; so the irreuerent contempt of true Relickes is a detestable herfie: onely the matters we speake against, are these corruptions: first, a superstitious confidence in the worship of true Relickes: secondly, a sacriligious forging of false ones: and thirdly and lastly, an immoderate expending our riches in adorning and guilding the bones and Relickes of dead men; when in the meane while we suffer the poore that liue, to famish for hunger, or to go naked for want of clothes. As the heads of Peter and Paul are inclosed in so much siluer as weigheth foureCom. l'ij 2. li. 8. thousand pounds, besides Iewels and precious stones, of inestimable price: And the golden Tombe of Thomas of Canterbury was couered with Diamonds, Vnions, and Carbuncles,Eras. coll. de per [...]g. Rel. ergo. the basest part of it was Gold. How much better might these treasures haue been imployed to the reliefe of the poore, and other charitable vses! This is all we finde fault withal; and this is inough to prooue them sensl [...]sse and blinde Idolaters, and their Church, which maintaineth all these things, an Idolatrous synagogue.

42. The fourth maine arme of Idolatry issuing out of the4. body of the Romish Church, and the roote of their religion is, their doctrine and practice touching the Inuocation of Saints and Angels. They maliciously slaunder vs, and say, that we are enemies to the Saints, and that we deny them all honour and reuerence, comparing vs therefore to the Caianian and Eun [...]ian Heretickes, for our wicked and sacrilegious contempt of the Saints of God, as they falsly affirme: but we returne this reproch vpon themselues, and confidently affirme, that they wrong the blessed Saints more in making [Page] them Idols, and giuing them more honour then is their due, then we doe in giuing them too little, if that were true that we did so: for what can be more iniurious to the honour of those blessed Creatures, who liue in the presence of God, and sing Haleluiah to him continually, with all honour, Reuel. 7. praise, and glory be ascribed to him that sitteth vpon the Throne, and to the Lambe for euermore: whose chiefe ioy and delight is to aduance the honour of the eternall God, then to haue any part of that honour due vnto him ascribed vnto them? they had rather be deuested of all theirs, then any iot of his glory should be diminished. More iniurious therefore are they to the Saints, if they giue them too much, and that in derogation from God, then we, if we giue them too little.

43. But wee deny that wee giue them too little; wee giue them their due honour and respect. For first, we giue God thankes for them, and for the benefits which God vouchafed by them to his Church; as the Church glorified God for the conuersion of Saint Paul, and Paul gaue God thankes for theGal. 1. 13. graces of the Thessalonians. Secondly, we highly extoll and1. Thes. 1. 2. commend the Saints departed, and magnifie the graces and gifts of God in them; wee account them blessed, as the Virgin Marie prophesied of her selfe, that all Nations should call her blessed: And wee keepe a perpetuall and a reuerend remembranceLuke 1. 48. of them, as our Sauiour promised to that Marie, that powred the boxe of precious oyntment vpon his head,Marke 14. 9. Prou. 10. 6. And Salomon confirmeth also to all the iust, that their memoriall should be blessed. And thirdly, we propound them as examples for imitation, that their vertues may bee as patternes for vs to imitate, and their falls as markes to make vs warie: and their conuersation as guides and directions for vs in the way to the heauenly Canaan. Thus much honour we willingly attribute vnto the Saints: but no further dare we goe, lest we derogate from the honour of God; and in so doing, not please or content, but vexe and grieue the blessed Saints, who cast downe their Crownes; that is, strippe themselues of all honour,Reuel. 4. 10. before the Throne of him that liueth for euer. But the Church of Rome are so lauish and prodigall in their honouring [Page] of them, that they despoyle God of his honour, and inuest them therewith, committing Idolatry vnto them. And this they doe three waies principally, first by outward adoration; secondly, by inuocation; and thirdly, by reposing their trust and confidence in their merites and mediation.

44. Touching outward adoration, which consisteth in these things principally, to wit, in bowing the knee, prostrating the body, dedicating Temples, consecrating Festiuall daies, and making vowes to the Saints departed; all whichBell de cultu Sanct. lib. 3. outward worship the Romish Church alloweth, and the Popish crue affoord vnto the Saints departed: it cannot by any meanes bee esteemed any whit lesse then a practice of Idolatry, seeing by their owne confession, it is more then a ciuill adoration, and being more then ciuill, it must needes be religious: for there are but two kinds of worship commanded by the law of God, the one enioyned in the first Table, namely, the diuine worship of God: and the other in the first commandement of the second Table, which is the honour wee ought to giue to our superiours. Now this worship of Saints must of necessity be one of these: but it is more then ciuill (say they) therefore it must needes bee a religious and diuine worship. For thus I reason, This worshipping of Saints is either an iniunction of the first Table, or of the second, or of neither: if they say, Of the first, then it is diuine and religious worship, for the first Table of the Law containeth vnder it onely diuine and religious duties, the obiect whereof is God himselfe, and none other, as the seuerall precepts thereof doe declare: if they say, Of the second, then it is meere ciuill and politike, for the second Table is onely a bond of ciuill duties: if they say, It is of neither, thē it must needs be a wil worship, deui [...]ed by their own braines, and not warranted by the word of God: which is also confessed by Eckius in his Enchiridion,Eckius Enchir. Concil. Trid. decret. de Inuocat. Sanctor. and insinuated by the Councill of Trent, when in setting downe that decree, it alleageth no Scripture; but onely the ancient custome of their Church, consent of Fathers, and decrees of Councels.

45. But to the poynt: I say, that seeing by the rule of [Page] Gods word, we find but two kinds of worship, one religious and diuine, contained in the first Table; the other ciuill and humane, inioyned in the second: If therefore the worship of Saints be not a meere ciuill worship, belonging to the second Table of the Law, then it must needes be religious, and pertaine to the fi [...]st and so consequently Idolatrous. This twofold worship and no more is approued by Saint Augustine, Aug. de ciuit. lib. 10. who by that distinction of [...], and [...], putteth difference betwixt the worship that must bee giuen to God, and that ciuill honour which is due vnto men: for by [...] ▪ hee mea [...]eth that kind of worship and honour, which wee may and must performe to those that excell either in place of authority, or in gifts and graces of God, which is meerely humane and ciuill, and by [...], that d [...]uine worship which the creature oweth vnto the Creatour onely: and that former is that which he alloweth onely to the Saints: and that in that acception of the word which is before specified, to wit, as it is a ciuill and humane worship, as appeareth more euidently by that which he affirmeth in another place, in these words,Aug. cont. Faust. li. 10. cap. 21. Colimus Martyres eo cultu dilectionis & societatis, quo & in hac vita coluntur Sancti Dei homines, sed illos tanto deuotiùs, quantò securiùs post incerta omnia superata. In which words it is plaine, that the kinde of the worship exhibited to Saints triumphant, and Saints militant, is all one, but the extension of it is greater to the one then the other, according to t [...]e proporti [...]n of gifts and graces, more apparent in one then the other.

46. But the Romish Doctours, and principally the Iesuites, adde a third kinde of worship, yea, a fourth to these two; albeit therein they neither agree with themselues, nor with their fellowes, as it commonly falleth out when men build vpon their owne fancies, (a rotten foundation) and not vpon the word of God, which is the ground of truth. For Bellarmine Bell. de Sanctor. beat. li. 1. ca. 12. saith, that there is a ciuill worship due vnto men, for some ciuill respect: and there is a religious worship due vnto Saints, in respect of their Sanctity and holinesse, which he calleth dulia; and a diuine worship proper onely vnto [Page] God, which he calleth latria: and that middle hee subdiuideth into two degrees; the first, he saith, is dulia, propriè dicta, so properly called, which agreeth to the Saints; and the second Hyperdulia, which belongeth onely to the humanity of Christ, and the blessed Virgin his Mother: and so hee maketh foure distinct kinds of worship, whereof two are without the compasse and reach of Gods Commandements, and therefore I know not where to place them, except in the diuels. The like doctrine is deliuered by Ʋasques another Iesuite,Vasq de ador. li. 1. ca. 2. dis. 5. Canis. Catechis. Bell. Ibid. lib. 1. cap. 14. Vasq. Ibid. lib. 1. cap. 1. dis. 6. and Canisius, and almost all the rest of that Iesuiticall ra [...]ble: but marke their harmony; Bellarmine saith, that this worship o [...] Saints is Cultus, and therefore an acte of Religion, though in a secondary respect. Ʋasques denyeth it flatly to be an act of Religion at all, but of s [...]me other vertue. Thomas Aquinas, Bonauenture, Gabriel, and Albertus, are of mind, as testifieth Ʋasques, that it is one and the same kind of worship wherewith wee honour men, aduanced in ciuill dignity, and the Saints; and that the difference is in the degrees of proportion, not in diuersity of kind. And in this they fully consent with vs, as also with Saint Augustine, and with the truth; but this is contradicted by Bellarmine, Vasques, and all the rabble of the Iesuites, as may appeare in the places before quoted.

47. Paluda nus makes three kindes of Hyperdulia, the first due to the humanity of Christ, for it selfe; the second, to thevasq. Ibid. blessed Virgin; & the third, to the rest of the Saints: but as for dulia, that he applyeth onely to that honour which we owe to all reasonable creatures, except the damned: but this is crossed by all the rest. Againe, Durandus (as Vasques reporteth) is of opinion, that the worship of Saints departed, and men, in ciuill dignity, proceedeth from one and the same vertue,Vasq. Ibid. and differeth onely in the act applyed vnto the degrees of excellency. But Bellarmine, Vasques, and all of that stampe, renounce vtterly that opinion, as I haue shewed. Lastly, Vasques that acute Iesuite, as they brag of him, affirmeth, that the worship of Saints is not an act of Religion: and yet in the same Chapter he calleth it cultus sacer & religiosus, A holy [Page] and religious worship; then which, what can be more contradictory? for if it be a religious worship, then must it needs be a worship of religion, and an act of religion; and if no worship of religion, then no religious worship: for coniugata (by the rule of Logicke) se inuicem ponunt & tollunt. And that which i [...] to bee noted aboue all the rest, hee is constrained to deuise a new speciall habite of vertue, to which this worshipVasq. Ies. Ibid. of Saints may be referred, neuer heard of before, neither in Morall Philosophy, nor yet in diuinity: and that without name, and so without nature and being, except in the Iesuites braine onely. Thus wee may see how errour, like Proteus, turneth it selfe into many shapes, and at last is strangled with it owne halter.

48. But that this outward adoration of Saints departed is Idolatrous, appeareth ouer and aboue that which hath beene said, by these reasons: first, because they ascribe vnto them a presence, not onely in one place, but in all places where they are worshipped: secondly, a power of hearing, seeing, and helping: and thirdly, an ability of knowing and seeing the heart: all which imply an infinite power, and such as is properly diuine. And therefore it is nothing but a vaine shift, when they say they giue diuine worship to God, and no more but a certaine kinde of seruice to the Saints, when in truth they giue that which is Gods to the Saints, besides touching, kneeling, and prostrating the body in a religious manner. Peter Acts 10. 26. refused to haue it done vnto him by Cornelius: and the Angell rebuked Iohn twice for offering it vnto him: if it hadReuel. 19. 22. beene lawfull, sure, they would not haue refused it; for neither did Cornelius take Peter to be a God, but for a holy man: nor Iohn, the Angell for the Creator, but for an excellent creature, as euidently appeareth in the Texts; and therefore they intended not to worship them as Gods: yet because the manner of their worship was more then befitting a creature, hauing in it a touch of diuine worship and religion, therfore it was reiected; the one saying, Stand vp, for I my selfe am a man; insinuating, that a man must not bee religiously adored: and the other, See thou doe it not, for I am thy fellow [Page] seruant, implying thereby, that Angels, and if Angels, then Saints are but our fellow-seruants, and therefore not to bee worshipped with any part of diuine and religious worship.

49. To the example of Peter, Bellarmine and Vasques Bell. de Sanctor. beat li. 1. ca. 14. Vosques de adorat. li. 1. dis. 5. c. 3 giue two answers, the one out of Hierom in his Booke against Vigilantius, that Cornelius was worthily corrected by Peter, because he thought some diuine thing to be in him aboue othermen: the other out of Chrysostome vpon this place, that it was no fault in Cornelius to exhibite, but modesty in Peter to refuse that honour which was due vnto him. Bellarmine is in different which of these two answers we take; and therefore without propounding his owne iudgement, leaues thē to our choyce. and yet the one of them ouer-turneth the other; for Hierom saith, it was a fault in Cornelius; Chrysostome, that it was no fault: Hierom, that Peter did well in reprouing Cornelius; Chrysostome, that he did not reprooue him at all, but of modesty refused the honour giuen to him. What reason had he to leaue these to our choyce, being thus contrary? It plainely sheweth, that he knew not what to answere. Therefore Ʋasques the Iesuite renounceth Hieroms answere vpon this ground, that Cornelius knew the true God, before Peter came vnto him, and therefore could not erre so grossely, as to ascribe any diuinity to a mortall man, and insists vpon Chrysostomes, that hee did it for modesty sake: but by as good warrant we may reiect Chrysostome, as he doth Hierom: especially, seeing our reason is as effectuall; for Peter giues this reason of his denyall, for I my selfe am a man: which must needs be the medium of a sillogisme, thus to be concluded: No religious worship is to be giuen to man; but I my selfe am a man, therefore thou doest euill to worship me. Here is not a strayning at courtesie for modesty sake, but a plaine renunciation of Cornelius his sact as vnlawfull: if it had been a tricke of modesty onely, he should rather haue said thus comparatiuely, I am not worthy of this honour from such a man as thou art, or such like: but in saying, I my selfe am but a man, he insinuateth, that Cornelius did more then he ought to do.

50. If they say, I but though you thus escape from Chrysostome, [Page] yet Hieroms interpretation will hold you fast: I answere, Besides Vasques reason whereby he reiecteth Hierom, that it maketh nothing against vs, but for vs rather, & against them, because Hierom seemeth to condemne as idolatrous, all such adoration of Saints, wherein any part or propertie of the diuine nature is attributed vnto them: but the Romanists in kneeling and prostrating their bodies to the Saints, ascribe the properties of God vnto them, to wit, either to be present in many places at once, o [...] to heare, being as farre remote from them as [...]ea [...]en is from earth, and to know the heart, and to haue power to helpe, &c. all which properly are proper vnto God.

51. To the example of Iohn and the Angell, the former two Iesuites oppose also a double answere: first, that the Angell did appeare vnto Iohn in that maiesty, that he might bee thought to be Christ himselfe: And therefore that Iohn was rebuked, not for the errour in his adoration, but for his errour in the person adored. This answere Vasques names onely, and then reiects as friuolous: But Bellarmine propounds it as good and authenticall. Which shall we beleeue in this case? Ma [...]y, sauing his reuerence, though hee be now a Cardinall, the plaine Iesuite is to be preferred before him, both because this answere is crossed and contradicted by the second; and also, because the Iesuite giues a reason of his reiection. And the Cardinall goeth to it by downe-right authority, as if, because he is their chiefe Rabbi, hee may say what hee list: his reason is, because Iohn did truely know him to be an Angell, and not God, and therefore that there was no errour in the person. Secondly, they answere, that the Angell would not now, as in time before, be worshipped of men, because now God was become man, and by his incarnation brought such dignity to the nature of man, that the very Angels should doe reuerence vnto it, not be adored and reuerenced by it; especially of Christs Apostles, and Princes of the Church. To which I answere, first, that by this allegation it must needes follow, that Angels are not now to bee adored in the Church of Christ, howsoeuer they were before; which is contrarie to [Page] their owne doctrine, and generall tenent of their religion.Bell. de Sanctor. be [...]t. li. 1 ca. 13. Vasques de adora. lib. 1. dis. 5. c. 3 And secondly, if not Angels, then much lesse the Saints, who at their highest, though they be made like, yet are farre inferiour to the Angels in excellency of graces, and gifts. And th [...]ly, the reason where with the Angell, after he had reproued Iohn, directeth him to the right obiect of religious worship, doth ouerthrow this exposition: for he saith, Worship God: he doth not say, Forbeare to worship me, because your nature is dignified by the incarnation of the Sonne of God: but forbeare, because I am not God; and all diuine and religious worship belongeth vnto him. And thus notwithstanding all that is yet said, all religious kneeling and prostrating the body to the Saints, is Idolatrous.

52. As for the dedicating Temples, consecrating Festiuall daies, making vowes to them, they are all within the same compasse, and that partly for the reasons before specified, being acts of a religious worship: but especially, because theBell. decult. Sanct. li. 3. c. 4. & lib. 3. ca 9. & cap. 16. Idem, Ibid. ca. 4. doctrine of their Church is, that these things are so properly directed vnto the Saints, that the end of their consecration is determined in them. And therefore Bellarmine reprooues their opinion, which say, that Temples cannot properly bee erected to any, but to God: and affirmeth, that they may be dedicated directly vnto Saints, and that vowes may bee made to them determinately; and so also Holy daies consecrated: which cannot be any lesse then plaine Idolatrie: seeing, as Saint Augustine saith, Cuiconuenit Templum, ei conuenit Aug. de ciuit. lib. 22 ca. 10. sacrificium, to whom a Temple, to him a Sacrifice belongeth. And seeing the Scripture in many places testifieth, that vowsNumb. 30. 3. Deut. 23. 21. Esay 19. 21. must onely be made to God; I am not ignorant of their cuasion, that they doe not dedicate Churches to Saints, as they are Temples; but as they are Basilicae, that is, stately buildings for memorials of the Saints: and that a Vow is made to God in signum gratitudinis [...]rga authorem, & primum principium omnium b [...]n [...]rum, as a signe of our thankfulnes to God the authour, and first cause of all good things: but to the Saints, as a signe of gratefulnesse towards our mediatours and Intercessours, by whose meanes wee receaue benefits from [Page] God. And that the honour of the holy day, though it immediately pertaineth to the Saints, yet mediately and secondarily it amounteth to God.

53. These be Bellarmines goodly, but scarce godly distinctions: for these, and such like as these are, hee vseth as engines to vndermine the truth, and as vizards to couer the face of vgly falshood. But they may well bee ouerthrowne with this one blast, that the holy Scripture neuer taught them, neither haue they any warrant from Gods Spirit: and therefore they are rather to be accounted forgeries of a frothy wit, then fruits of truth. But let vs examine them a little: A Church is dedicated to God as it is a Temple; and to a Saint, as it is a Basilica, Why then it seemeth, that either sometimes it is a Temple, and sometimes not a Temple, according to the fancie of those that approach vnto it: or else it is alwaies a Temple, and yet alwaies a Basilica too, and then the honour must be diuided betwixt God and the Saints: let them take which they will; the first is impiety, the second Idolatry. Againe, for Vowes, though we vow chiefly vnto God, and secondarily to the Saints; yet the same worship in nature is giuen to these as to him, onely it is not in the same degree: but Idolatry is to afford any part of Gods worship to a creature, as hath beene shewed. And lastly, touching feast daies; if they be immediately applied to the honour of the Saint, and in a mediate and secondarie respect to God, as his distinction importeth, then the creature is adored not onely with the like worship in nature, but with a higher degree then God himselfe. And thus the mist which he seeketh to cast ouer mens eyes, by the subtiltie of his distinctions, is quickly dispelled, assoone as the light of truth sheweth it selfe: and therefore as Ixion, imbracing a cloud, in stead of Iuno, beg at a monstrous off-spring: so, the entertaining of those cloudie distinctions, without deciphering them to the quicke, hath bred, and doth breed most of those monstrous errors in the Church of Rome. Thus we see, that this outward adoration is tainted with most grosse Idolatrie.

54. The second branch of their Idolatrie to the Saints, is, [Page] by Inuncation and Prayer directed vnto them. For, Prayer is a proper and peculiar part of Gods worship, and therefore not to be giuen to any other besides, without a plaine touch of Idolatry: for the commandement of God is in the OldePsal 5 [...]. Testament, Call [...] of [...] not vpon my [...] gels or my Saints, but vpon [...]nd t [...] be alone is [...] inuocated, the reason following declareth, [...]d I will deliuer thee: from whence ariseth this conclusion, he alone is to be inuocated by prayer, that is able to deliuer vs in the day of trouble: but God alone can doe that, therefore he alone is to be prayed vnto. Againe, it is the commandement of our Sauiour Christ in the New Testament to his whole Church, that it should thus pray, O, our Father, not, O, our mother, nor, O, our brother, nor, O, our sister, nor, O, our fellow-seruants, as the Popish Church prayeth: but, O, our Father. If there had been any necessity of praying to Saints, sure, our Sauiour would here haue prescribed it, where he setteth downe a perfect forme of prayer to be vsed in his Church for euer. Infinite be the places of Scripture [...]ending to this end; neither is there so much as one precept or example in the whole Booke of God, that either inioyneth or approueth Inuocation of Saints, as Cassander confesseth; albeit his inference therevponCassand. consult. art. 21. is absurd, that therefore it may be done, because, as there is no mandate nor example extant to warrant it, so there is no prohibition to interdict it: as if it were not necessarily required, that as all our actions, so our prayers should bee grounded vpon faith, without which it is not onely impossible Iames 1. 6. Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 14 23. Rom. 10. 17. to please God, but also, whatsoeuer we doe, is sinne; but saith is grounded vpon the word of God only, It commeth by hearing, saith the Apostle, and hearing by the word of God. How then can the Inuocation of Saints bee but vaine and vnprofitable; yea, impious and dangerous, seeing it is without saith, and so without all hope of Gods acceptance?

55. Suarez and Salmeron, two famous Iesuites, confesseSuar. in 3. Them. q 52. d [...]s. 42. see 1 Salmer. com. [...] 1 Tim. 2 dis. [...]. §. as much as Cassander: for the one saith, that we neuer reade that any directly prayed vnto the Saints departed, that they should pray for them: and the other, that the Inuocation of Saints is [Page] not expressed in the New Testament, because it would haue beene a harsh precept to the Iewes, and dangerous to the Gentiles. Thus, here are three, and those not of the meanest, that acknowledge the inuocation of Saints, not to bee found in Scripture. And yet Bellarmine and [...]ius, and Coster, and others [...] ashamed to [...]est di [...]laces of Scripture to prooue it: but with what impude [...]y of spirit, and euill successe, I shall not neede to shew, being sufficiently discouered by others, and the very fight of them being a sufficient refutation.

56. As for his reason which he braggeth to be vnanswerable, me thinkes, it halts of all foure: for, because we entreat Gods children here in this world to pray for vs, doth it thereforeBell. de Sanctor. beat. li. 1. ca. 19. follow that we must pray vnto them, being departed out of this world? By the same reason it may bee inforced, that we ought to giue almes vnto them, and entertaine them into our houses, and wash their feete, and comfort them, and aduise them, and preach vnto them: for all these duties of charity wee performe to Saints militant. If they say, Why, but they are remooued from vs, and also from their bodies; and therefore as they stand not in neede of our charity, so wee cannot extend it vnto them: The same answere cutteth the throte of this argument, they are so farre exalted aboue vs, and seuered from all commerce with our affaires, that though we vsed their prayers here on earth, yet it is in vaine to inuocate them in heauen, our prayers, as our deeds of charity, being not able to stretch so farre. This I take to be a sufficient solution to that vnsoluble argument: Albeit, we haue also another answere in readinesse, to wit, that there is not the same reason of the inuocation of Saints in heauen, as of the mutuall prayers of Gods children on earth, but a great difference; here we know one anothers necessities, there the Saints knowEsay 63. 16. 2. Reg. 22. 20. not our wants; here we are present with them whom we request to pray for vs; but we are not present with the Saints in heauen, nor they with vs; and therefore the one is a fruite of charity, but the other a practice of piety and religion: here one liuing man may request anothers helpe by word of [Page] mouth or letter: but inuocation of Saints is often performed by the secret desires of the heart, without the vtterance of any speech: here we stand as fellow members in our prayers, and make request for each other, not in our owne names, but in the name of Christ our Mediatour: but when men inuocate the Saints in heauen, they make them more then their fellowes, euen mediatours of intercession betweene them and God. Lastly, for mutuall praying for one another here, wee haue both an expresse commandement, and plaine examples in the word of God; but for praying to the Saints, wee haue neither commandement, nor example, nor promise in the whole Scripture.

57. But that I may leaue these things, and come to the poynt in hand, that Saints are made Idols by inuocation, may appeare by these reasons: First, because they ascribe vnto them an omnipotent power to know the heart, which is a peculiar property belonging vnto God onely, Ier. 17. 10.Ier. 17. 10. Secondly, an infinite presence in all places, and that at once: for when one prayeth to Saint Peter at Rome, another at Paris, another at London, another at Constantinople, and all at one instant, must not he needs be present in all those places, or else how can he heare their prayers? Thirdly, a diuine power to helpe and deliuer all those that call vpon them, and that not onely from outward calamities, but from inward sinnes and corruptions. Fourthly, a property belonging onely vnto God, namely, to bee beleeued in: for how shall they call vpon him in whom they haue not beleeued, saith S. Paul, Rom. 10. 14?Rom. 10. 14. And lastly, a diuine worship, which is sacrifice for prayer, is a spiritual sacrifice of Christians. Heb. 13. 13. which, as all know,Heb. 13. 13. Mal. 1. 11. 1. Tim 2. 8. Aug. de ciuit. li. 8 cap. 27. pertaineth onely vnto God. And as Saint Augustine well confesseth, when he saith, We doe not ordaine Priests, nor offer sacrifices to the Martyrs, because it is vnfit, vndue, and vnlawfull, and due onely to God alone: and againe in the same Chapter, because not they, but their God is our God.

58. Against these arguments our aduersaries make a shew of opposition (and but a shew) after this manner: First, that they doe not ascribe to the Saints an omnipotent power, or [Page] an infinite presence by inuocating them; for they say, Beatifica Bell. de Sanctor. beat. li. 1. ca. 20. visione, by that blessed vision of God, they doe behold all things which pertaine vnto them to know in him, tanquam Coster. Enchir. in speculo, as it were in a glasse. Secondly, that the Saints helpe, not as Authours, but as instruments and impetrators. Thirdly, that wee may beleeue in them, though not as in God, but as in our Patrons and Protectours. And that Bellarmine proueth by Hierome vpon the Epistle to Philemon, Philem. 1. 5. on these words, When I heare of thy loue and faith which thou hast towards the Lord Iesus, and towards all Saints. Lastly, that Prayer is an improper kind of sacrifice, so called by a figure of speech, and not so, being in it owne nature.

59. But all these are but meere shifts, which may in some sort blanch the foulenesse of this errour to the dim eyes of the ignorant; yet those that are quicke-sighted, can easily discerne their falshood: and therefore that I may a little discouer their iuggling, I answere to their obiections in order; to the first three things: First that t [...] is glasse, in which all things are said to be seene, is no where to be found in the Scripture, and therefore is a plaine forgerie of their owne braines: for we reade, Mat. 5. 8. That the pure in heart are therefore Mat 5. 8. blessed, because they shall see God. From whence it may be gathered, that Visio beatifica est beatitudo videntium: In the blessed sight of God consists the happinesse of the Saints: but that thereby they should behold, as it were in a glasse, all things which they would, is no where to be sound in the Scripture of God. Secondly, it is contrary to Scripture: for Reuel. 6. 9.Reuel. 6. 9. it is said, that the Saints vnder the Altar cry, How long, Lord, holy and true, wilt thou not reuenge our bloud! and Acts 2. 7. ItActs 2. 7. is not ( [...]aith our Sauiour-to his Apostles) in you to know the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in his owne power. And that this is meant not onely of the Saints in this life, but also in heauen, appeareth by that which Christ [...]aith, Mat. 24. 23. that the Angels know not the houre of the last Iudgement: & if not the Angels, much lesse the Saints: but all these things doe in some sort pertaine vnto thē as well as the prayers of the liuing: and yet it is plaine, that they see them [Page] not in that glasse. Thirdly, if that be certaine, that they see in this glasse the prayers and necessities of their suppliants; Why doth Coster and others affirme, that they attaine this knowledgeCoster Enchir. by the relation of Angels? and yet they assigne to euery man but one Angell: surely, that Angel is well employed in ascending and descending euery houre to carry newes to the Saints. And why doe others say, that the Saints are after a sort by a wonderfull celerity of their glorified nature in euery place? This is a wonderfull celerity indeed, if it were possible for them to be so; and yet be it as they would haue it, it cannot euince an audience of those prayers which are made at one and the same instant, in diuers and farre distant places. And lastly, why doe some others affirme, that they haue this knowledge not by the vision of God, but by ordinarie and continuall reuelation from God? If by vision, then not by reuelation: and if by reuelation, then not by vision. And thus, like men in the darke, they fight with one another, and whilest they forsake the light of the truth which shineth in the word of God, they fall into grieuous errours, hammered out of their owne fancies if they say it is no matter how they know our wants▪ but certaine it is that they doe know them: they take that for granted which is the question to be proued, & which by no sufficient argument they can euince.

60. To the second obiection I answere, that most ignorant persons esteeme the Saints, to whom they pray, as the very authours and giuers of those good things which they pray for, without any respect vnto God, saue that they thinke hee hath put them into their hands to bee distributed at their pleasure; and therefore they pray to one for their Horses, and to another for their Hogs, and to a third for their Kine, &c. Yea, not onely the simple sort doe this, but it is the doctrine of their Church, as may appeare by this rime in their authorized Seruice-Bookes, to the blessed Virgin.

In te pluit, inte fluit Deus suam gratiam:

Ergo tuanobis plu [...] gratiae clementiam:

Ad beati tui Nati transfer prasentiam,

Et cunctorum delictorum confer indulgentiam.

[Page] That is: God raines his grace abundantly on thee:

Of that thy grace let vs partakers bee:

Bring vs vnto the presence of thy Sonne,

And pardon all the sinnes which we haue done.

Here the Virgin Marie is not made the Impetrator, but the giuer of grace: and so are the rest of the Saints, as shall more fully appeare in the next Section.

61. To the third I answere, that to beleeue in a creature, is to deifie that creature. For as Augustine well obserueth,Aug. Tractat. in Iohn 54. Wee beleeue the Apostle, we doe not beleeue in the Apostle: and we beleeue the Church, and not in the Church: and thereforeIdem ser. de temp [...]r. 131. in the Apostles Creed, where we say, I beleeue in God; wee doe not say, I beleeue in the Catholicke Church, but I beleeue the Catholicke Church: whereby is plainely insinuated, that none but God is to be beleeued in, because to beleeue in a thing, is to put our trust and confidence in that thing. As for that place in the Epistle to Philemon, it maketh nothing for this purpose; for there the word Faith is referred to the Lord Iesus, and Loue to the Saints: neither ought Saint Hieromes authority more preiudicate vs in this interpretation, then it doth them in many such like, whom they reiect as they do the rest of the Fathers, at their pleasures: especially, seeing no man else besides himselfe is of that minde: at least wise, if he vnderstand by faith, to beleeue in the Saints, and not to beleeue them onely: the one whereof is proper to the Creator, the other to the creatures.

62. To the last I answere, that Prayer is properly one of the sacrifices of the New Testament; for here the sacrifices are not corporall, but spirituall, as may bee prooued in generall by that which our Sauiour saith, Iohn 4. God will be worshipped in Spirit, and truth. And in particular, by comparing Mal. 1. 11. with 1. Tim. 2. 8. for whereas Malachie prophecyingMal. 1. 11. 1. Tim. 2. 8. of the Kingdome of Christ, had said that Incense, and a cleane offering should be offered to God in euery place: Paul sheweth what is meant hereby, when he commandeth to lift vp pure hands vnto God in euery place. But suppose that it were improperly called a sacrifice, yet it looseth not the knot; for all [Page] kinde of sacrifices, both proper and improper, corporall and spirituall, are due onely vnto God: for to whome belongeth a Aug. de ciuit. li. 8 cap. vlt. Temple and Altar, to him belongeth a sacrifice, saith Saint Augustine: but no Temple or Altar, proper or improper, is to be built, or set vp to any but to God: and therfore no sacrifice is to be offered but to him.

63. Lastly, touching the authority of the Fathers, which are alleaged so frequently by Bellarmine, to prooue the Inuocation of Saints: and from which Cassander would draw this conclusion, That it was not credible that those holy men would admit any doctrine or custome, which they supposed to bee contrary to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine, or detract any thing from the glory of God, or the merit of Christ, when as they vnderwent so heauie conflicts for Christs sake. Here, (not to keepe the Reader in suspense, referring a fuller satisfaction to this argument to a more fit place) foure things are to bee noted; first, that for the space of two hundred yeares after Christ, the Intercession and Inuocation of Saints, were doctrines vnknowne vnto the Church: and therefore they alledge no Father within that compasse, saue Dionisius Areopagita: Dionis. Areopag. Eccles. Hier. c. 7. Cap. 7. Eccles. Hierarch: which booke, as diuers other that goe vnder that name, Illyricus hath proued to bee counterfeit by impregnable reasons. And Iraeneus, Lib. 5.Iraeneus cont. haeres. lib. 5. contra Haeres. who saith, that the Virgine Mary was made the Aduocate of the Virgine Eue: by which hee could not meane that Eue did pray vnto Mary here on earth, seeing Mary wasOrig. in Epist. ad Rom. lib. 2. & hom. 3. in Cant. Nazian, de laud. Gorgon. & Orat. 1. cont. Iulian. & Orat. de Basil. & epitap. patris. Hier. Epist. ad Nepotian. Aug. de cur [...] pro mort. cap. 16. & 13. & in Psal. 108. not then borne when Eue liued: nor that the Virgine Mary did pray for Eue whilst shee liued, because then shee her selfe was not: both which must needes be, if by this testimony the Inuocation of Saints should be proued.

64. Secondly, those Fathers that liued in the next two hundred yeares, speake of this matter very variously and doubtfully, as if it were a doctrine which they knew not what to say to, & were not fully resolued in. Thirdly, of those Fathers which he alleageth, though in some places they seeme to allow that custome which was then brought into the Church: yet in other places they disallow the same. Yea, and they are [Page] disapprooued also of others that liued in the same age. Thus true Athanasius condemneth Inuocation of Saints, Orat. 2. & 3. contra Arianos: and false Athanasius alloweth it, Sermon. in Euangel. de Sanctissima Deipara. Basil approueth it, but Nazianzene doubteth of it, and Epiphanius that liued also about that time, vtterly condemneth i [...]. Chrysostome in some places seemeth to allow of it; in others, he speaketh against it: and so doth Augustine, and the rest, as you may see at large prooued by Chemnitius in his examine of the Councill ofChemnit. exam. de Inuoc. Sanct. Trent. And that which is not to be forgotten, they alleage many false and counterfeit Bookes, vnder the name of the Fathers, as Dionysius Areopagita. Ecclesiast. Hierar. Athanas. Serm. de Sanctissima Deipara. Chrysost. hom. ad pop. 66. and many others of the like impression, as the same Chemnitius hath learnedly and vnanswerably prooued.

65. Lastly, those Fathers which doe defend this Inuocation, yet do not defend it as it is now practised in the Church of Rome: for first, the Fathers, if they did allow of this Inuocation, yet it was in their priuate deuotions, not in the publike Leiturgie of the Church: for it cannot bee prooued, that in any of the ancient Leiturgies this Inuocation was vsed, vntill Gregorie the firsts time (for as for that which was called Chrysostomes Masse, all know it is a bastard brat, and not a true Child of that good Father) but in the Church of Rome it is practised in their publicke seruice, and so is come from a matter of priuate deuotion, to a generall practice of Religion. Secondly, the Fathers, though they may seeme to haue prayed sometimes vnto the Saints, out of the heate of their deuotion; yet it was but now and then, and as it were, by the way, whereas their ordinary prayers and deuotions were directed vnto God: but in the Church of Rome the Saints are more prayed vnto, then God; he hath the least, and they the greatest share in their deuotion; witnesse the Letanie of the blessed Virgin Marie, and the Marie Psalter, and their Common practice. Thirdly, the Fathers, albeit they directed their prayers sometimes to the Saints, yet they reposed most confidence in their prayers to God, and in the mediation [Page] of Christ, as appeareth by that which Chrysostome saith; Ad Chrysost. hom. 12 in Math. Deum non ostiar [...]o, &c. We need no Porter, nor Mediator, nor Minister, to bring vs to God: say but, Miserere mei Deus, &c. And in another place hee saith, that when wee pray our selues to Idem hom. de prof. Euang. God, wee obtaine more, then when others pray for vs. But the superstitious Romanists thinke to speede better when they pray to the Saints, then when vnto God: And therefore they are not ashamed to say, that we must appeale from the CourtBernardine in marial. of Gods iustice, to the Court of his Mothers mercy. Fourthly, the Fathers did not so much as dreame of any merits of supererogation which should be in the Saints, and by them should be communicated vntovs: but all the interest and benefit which we haue to & in the merits of the Saints, in their iudgement, was, by vertue of the Communion of Saints: that as the members of one body enioy the strength and vigor that is in each other; so the members of Christ militant,Aug. in Psal. 130 receiue a certaine benefit from the gifts of God, bestowedCassand. consult. de Inuoc. Sanct. vpon the Saints triumphant, and doe as it were merite by their merits, because they are all members of one and the same mysticall body. But the Romanists hold, that the Saints doe supererogate, that is, hauing more merits then they need themselues, doe conferre some of their superabundance vpon their poore brethren that want. Fiftly, the Fathers, when they spake of praying to the Saints, did not speake positiuely, but tropically, and figuratiuely, by hyperbolicall, and Rhetoricall Apostophers, as may appeare plainely in the Orations of Nazianzen, and other of their writings: But the Romanists conclude positiuely, and doctrinally, without any Rhetoricall figures, or Hyperbolicall elocutions. Sixtly, as Cassander confesseth, when the Fathers said to the Saints, Orate pronobis, they meant, Vtinam oretis pro nobis, Would to God they would pray for vs; and so they were rather wishes, then prayers: But the Romanists admit no such extenuation, but flatly affirme, that wee ought directly to pray vnto them as our Patrons, Protectors, and Intercessors. And lastly, the Fathers relyed not vpon the intercession of Saints, except there were in themselues a care and conscience of a godly [Page] life: but in Popery, notorious, wicked, and vngodly persons, that neuer thinke vpon amendment of their liues, but perseuere in their sinnes without repentance: yet doe assure themselues to bee saued by the merits and intercession of the Saints. And thus, howsoeuer they make a shew of Fathers, to cloke their Idolatry withal; yet the Fathers, if they be rightly vnderstood, are as much different from them, as blacke is from white. And the Fathers might bee free from Idolatrie, when as they remaine guiltie.

66. The third and last way whereby they turne the blessed Saints into Idols, is by putting their trust and confidence in their merits and mediation: which kinde of spirituall worship is due only vnto the diuine Maiestie, as hath been shewed. The truth of which assertion may be proued, first, by their doctrine, & secondly, by the publike practice of their Church. Touching their doctrine, to omit the impious, impudent, and blasphemous opinions of their Monkes and Friers, who haue egregiously exceeded the bounds of all pietie in this point, left the Romanists should say, that they were but priuate mens conceits, and not the receiued doctrines of the Church; I will onely relate some few sentences out of their most publicke and athenticke writings.

67. And to begin with Peter Lumbard; he saith, that theLumbard lib. 4. dist. 45. Saints doe intercede for vs both by their merite, and by their affection: therefore we pray vnto them, that their merits may helpe vs, and that they would will our good; because, if they will it, God also will will it, and it shall be done. Thus hee makes Gods will to depend vpon theirs, and not theirs vpon Gods; and consequently, more trust to be reposed in them, then in God. Alexander Alensis, the most ancient of the Schoolemen,Alex. Alensis in 4. Sentent. q. 92. me [...]b. 1. art. 4. writeth, that the Saints are to bee prayed vnto for three causes: First, eyther for our pouerty in meriting, that where our merits faile; others may patronize vs: or for our pouertie in contemplation, that wee not being able to behold the highest light in it selfe, may behold the same in the Saints: or for our pouertie in louing, because the efficacie of prayer ariseth from deuotion: and for the most part, an imperfect man doth feele himselfe more [...]ffected [Page] towards the Saints, then towards God. Secondly, for the glory of the Saints, that whilst wee obtaine that which wee desire by their suffrages, wee may magnifie them. And thirdly, for the reuerence of God, that a sinner that dares not come vnto him in his owne person, may fly to the Saints, and implore their helps. Bonauenture affirmeth, that the Saints by their merits haue not Bonauent. in 4. sentent. D. 45. onely deserued happinesse and glory to themselues, but also by their merits of supererogation, haue power to helpe others that pray vnto them. And againe he saith, He that was before vnworthy, by praying to the Saints is made worthy. Aquinas giueth this reason for praying to the Saints; Quia vltima reducuntur Aquinas suple [...] ▪ 3 part. qu. 72. art. 2. in Deum per media: Because the extremes are reduced to God by the meanes, therfore Gods benefits are conuayed vnto vs by the meanes of the Saints. Biel saith, that we oughtGab. Biel. super Canon. to fly to the refuge of the Saints, that we may be saued by their merits and prayers: and he saith further, that God hath giuen halfe his Kingdome to the blessed Virgine, the Queene of heauen; as Assuerus promised to Queene Ester: and so retayning iustice to himselfe, he hath graunted mercy to her to be exercised. And vpon this ground, is that saying of Bernhardine, that weBernhardine in marial. Antonin. part. 4. tit. 15. must appeale from the Court of Gods iustice, to the Court of his Mothers mercy. But Antoninus, the Archbishop of Florence is more playne then them all: for hee telleth vs, That it must needs be, that to whomsoeuer the blessed Virgin turneth her eyes, they must be iustified and saued. And againe, that Christ is not only an Aduocate, but a Iudge: and therefore a sinner dareth not approch vnto him; but that God hath prouided vs of an Aduocatresse, which is sweet and milde, and in whom is no bitternesse. And againe, Mary is that Throne of grace, spoken of Heb. 4. 16. to whom we must approch with confidence, that we Heb. 4. 16. may obtayne mercy, and find grace, in the time of neede: Againe, he calleth the Virgin Mary, the gate of heauen, because whatsoeuer grace euer came out of heauen into the world, came out by her meanes: and whatsoeuer thing entreth into heauen, must enter by her: and so he calleth the other Saints, Portas coeli: The gates of heauen. Because by their prayers they carry vs intoSotus in confess. Cathol. heauen. Sotus saith, that the Saints are coadiutors, and [Page] cohelpers in the worke of our saluation. Many such-like blasphemousSotus in confess. Cathol. sayings might bee alledged out of their subtile Schoolemen, whereby it euidently appeareth, that in those dayes the poore ignorant Romanists were taught to repose the trust and confidence of their saluation, in the merits and mediation of the Saints; yea, and that more then in Christ: as that publike Picture which was extant in many of their Churches doth more fully prooue: when as Christ our Sauiour was painted like a sterne man casting darts, and the people flying for succour to the Virgine Mary, who interposed her selfe, and shewing her Sonne her brests, receiued his darts in her garment. If this bee not, besides Idolatrie, horrible and fearefull blasphemy, let all men iudge.

68. But what? is the doctrine of latter times any whit purer? no verily: for the Councill of Trent, that was called in pretence to this end, to reforme abuses in the Church, and to restore Religion to some puritie, doth approoue and confirmeConcil. Trident. Sess. 9. all these grosse opinions of the Schoole Diuines: for thus it decreeth; that it is good and profitable, humbly to inuocate the Saints, and to fly to their prayers and succour for the obtayning of blessing from God in Christ. And that wee may see the meaning of this Decree, the Romane Catechisme, whichCatechis. Roman. was made by the commaundement of the Bishop of Rome, doth more expressely affirme, that the Saints are therefore to be called vpon, because they pray continually for the saluation of men: and God bestoweth many benefits vpon vs for their merit and grace sake: and that they obtaine pardon for our sinnes, and reconcile vs into the fauour of God. And for the refining Iesuites, they haue not yet refined this errour: for, Coster writeth,Coster Enchir. that the Saints are to be inuocated, both that they may mediate our cause to God, and also, that themselues may helpe vs. Ʋiega, another Iesuite, saith, that they are as it were the dores, Viega in Apocal. by which an entrance is opened to vs vnto the most holy places in heauen. Osorius, another of the same stampe, affirmeth, thatOsorius [...]om. 3. co [...]ci [...]. pa. 6 [...]1. God giueth vs all good things by the intercession of the Saints. And lastly, to make vp the messe, Bellarmine himselfe, that isBell. de Sanctor. be [...]t. li. 1. ca. 20. more wary then all the rest, doth not blush to say, that Gods [Page] predestination is helped & supported by the prayers of the Saints, Bell. de Sanctor. beat. l. 1. c. 20. because God hath determined to vse their prayers for the effecting of mans saluation. Behold here a Map of the Romish doctrine. Who can now choose but account them Idolaters, when they thus teach the people, That all blessings descend vpon them by the meanes of the Saints; and so encourage them to repose their confidence in their merits?

69. But from their doctrine, let vs come to the practice of their Church, and we shall see this more cleerely: and heere some few examples shall serue for a taste; for to propound all in this kinde, would bee both tedious and needlesse. Thus therefore in their publike Seruice Bookes, Rosaries, and Breuiaries, they pray vnto the Saints:

To Saint Paul.

Vouchsafe to bring thy humble suppliants to heauen after the end of this life, to whom thou hast reuealed the light of truth.

To Saint Iames the greater.

Haile, ô singular safeguard of thy pilgrims, bountifully heare the prayers of thy seruants, helpe them that worship thee, and bring them to heauen.

To Saint Thomas thus:

Vouchsafe to establish vs, thy suppliants, in his faith, by handling of whō, thou deseruedst to acknowledge to be God.

To Saint Iohn.

Haile, ô holy Apostle of our Lord Iesus Christ, I intreat thee by his loue who chose thee out of the world, that thou wouldest deliuer me, thy vnworthy seruant, from all aduersitie, and from all impediments of body and soule, and receiuing my soule at the houre of death, wouldest bring me to life euerlasting.

To Saint George thus:

Hee saue vs from our sinnes, that wee may rest with the blessed in heauen.

Here Saint George is made a Sauiour, and that from sinne: and so either Christ is cleere put out of his office, or George ioyned with him in his office.

[Page]Againe, to Saint Erasmus.

Graunt, that by thy merits and prayers, we may ouercome all the snares of our enemies, and be freed from the pouerty of body and minde, and from eternall death.

To Saint Christopher.

O glorious Martyr, Christopher, bee mindefull of vs to God, and without delay, defend our body, sense and honor, thou that deseruedst to carry in thine armes ouer the Sea, the Flower of heauen, cause vs to auoid all wickednesse, and to loue God with all our hearts.

To Saint Cosmus and Damianus.

O most holy Physicians, who shine in heauen most cleerely by your merits, preserue vs both from bodily plague and disease▪ and also from the death of the soule, that we may liue in grace, vntill we enter into heauen.

To Francis the Fryer, thus:

O Francis, sunnes light, singular crucified Saint, &c. be [...] thou to vs the way of life, make satisfaction for vs alway, shew to Christ the marks of thy wounds.

This Frier Francis they make equall to Christ: and thereforePosseuine bibl. select. pag. 295. [...]oz de sig. eccles. tom. 2. pag. 200. they say, that Christ imprinted his fiue wounds vpon him, as if he also were to suffer for the world, and redeeme mankind, and that they were alike in all things: as those blasphemous Verses of two shamelesse Iesuites, Turselline and Bencius doeExue Francisc [...] [...]unica lacera (que) cu [...]ullo: qui Franciscus erat, iam tibi Christus crit. declare.

70. What should I trouble thee (gentle Reader) with any more of this trumpery? their Bookes are full of such-like prayers, if any please to read them: and that we may plainely see, that they put their trust and confidence in them, not onely the words doe sufficiently signifie, but also the liberallFrancisci exuvijs (si qua lice [...]) indue Christum▪ iam Franciscus crit, qui modo Christus erat. indulgences their Popes haue annexed to the deuout sayings of such Orisons: As Pope Sixtus hath promised eleuen thousand yeeres pardon to them that shall say a certaine prayer before the Image of the Virgine Mary, beginning thus; Aue sancta Mater Dei, &c. But to leaue the rest of the Saints, and to come to the blessed Virgine, whom with Epiphanius, we blesse and honour, but in [...] cas [...] worship: it is aEpiphan. lib. 3. [Page] wonder into what an abominable Idoll they haue translated, not her (for shee abhorres their impietie,) but the Idea and fancy of her, which they haue deuised in their owne braynes: for they call her the Queene of heauen, the Mother of mercy, the Gate of Paradise, the Life and hope of a sinner, the Light of the Church, the Lady of the world, the Aduocatresse and Mediatrix of mankinde: yea, they say, that the deathBernhardinmariale. and passion of Christ and the holy Virgine, was for the redemption of mankinde; and that she also must come betwixt God and vs for the remission of sinne; and that her Sonne Pet. Galatin. de arcan cathol. verit. pag. 515. and she redeemed the world with one heart: as Adam and Eue sold the world for one apple. And thus they ioyne the Virgine Mary with Christ in the office of our redemption, and so make her equall with him, which were somewhat tolerable, if they could stay there, but they climbe higher in impudency, and not onely match her with Christ, but set her aboue him: For they tell vs of a vision, How Christ preparing to iudge the world, there were two Ladders set, that reached to heauen: the one red, at the top whereof Christ sate; theSpec. exempl. d. 7. 11. 4. other white, at the top whereof the Virgine Mary sate: and when the Friers could not get vp by the red Ladder of Christ, but euermore fell downe, Saint Francis called them to the white Ladder of our Lady, and there they were receiued. And a late Iesuite hath set forth to the view of the world certaineCarolus Scriban. alias, clarus Benarscius. Verses, wherein he preferres the milke of our Lady, in many respects, before the bloud of Christ: yea, they subiect Christ, now raigning in the heauens, to his Mothers command: as it is sung in some of their Churches:Gab. Bi [...]l lect. 80. in Canon miss [...]. Cassand. consult. pag. 155.

O happy Virgine, that our sinnes dost purge,

E [...]treate thy Mother, and thy Sonne doe vrge;

Command him, though Redeemer that [...]e be,

By right of Motherhood, which is giuen to thee.

71. And this the Rosarie of the Virgine Mary doth more euidently manifest: for Dominicke, who was the first inuentor of it, ordayned that fiftie Ane Maries should be recited, and at euery tenth, one Pater noster, which together make a [Page] Rosarie: and for this purpose the same Dominicke framed fiue and fiftie Stones or Beades, and hung them together on a string, betwixt euery ten little ones, one great one, and called them Patriloquia, as it were prayers to the Father; which he might more properly haue called, Matriloquia, prayers to the Mother: for here are ten Aues, to each Pater noster. And this was the originall of praying vpon Beads. Now out of these Rosaries, sprung there Mary Psalters: for three Rosaries, to wit, an hundred and fifty Aue Maries, and fifteene Pater nosters, make one Mary Psalter, because, forsooth, the Psalter of Dauid consists of so many Psalmes: and to the fraternitie of this Psalter, and the sayers thereof, were giuen by diuers Popes, as Sixtus the fourth, and Innocent the eighth, threescore thousand yeeres of indulgence, and plenary remission both from the punishment and fault, one, in the time of life, and one in the houre of death. Is not heere, I pray you, the worship of the Virgine Mary exalted aboue the worship of Christ? who can doubt of it, seeing the proportion is ten to one, fifty to fiue, an hundred to ten, an hundred and fifty to fifteene? And no maruell, if it bee thus in their prayers, seeing it is as euill or worse in their deeds: for whereas wee haue one Church, or religious house, dedicated to Christ, we shall finde ten dedicated to Mary the Mother of Christ: and so the Mother is aduanced aboue the Sonne, and yet she but a woman of flesh and bloud, saued by her Sonne, and blessed by that faith which shee had in him, and hee the Sonne of God, as well as the Sonne of Man, the Sauiour and Redeemer of mankinde.

72. But the most horrible Idolatrie and blasphemy of all the rest, is to be found in another Mary Psalter of theirs, compiled (as they say) by Bonauenture, and authorised in theCassand. consult. pag. 155. Church of Rome: wherein they apply all the whole Psalter of Dauid, to the Virgine Mary; and wheresoeuer they finde the name, Dominus, Lord, they put in, Domina, Lady: as for example, in the third Psalme, for, Lord, how are my foes increast; they say, Lady, how are my foes increast! and in the sixt Psalme, for, O Lord, correct mee not in thy wrath; they say, [Page] O Lady, correct me not in thy wrath. And in the 31. Psalme, for, Blessed are they, O Lord, whose sinnes are forgiuen; they say, Blessed are they whose hearts loue thee, O Virgine Mary; for their sinnes shall be forgiuen them by thee: and so cleane through the Psalter. If any desire to see the gulfe and dunghill of Superstition and Idolatrie, practised in the Church of Rome, vnder the Inuocation of Saints, let him but read this one Psalter, which alone, if there were no other argument, is sufficient to conuince their whole Church of open and notorious Idolatrie: and that, Cassander himselfe confesseth in the place aboue quoted.

73. Thus they exalt the Virgine Mary aboue Christ, and equall her with God: yea, which is horrible to speake, and fearefull to be recorded, they place her aboue God himselfe: for they teach, that a man may appeale to the Virgine Mary, not onely from a Tyrant, and from the Diuell; but euen from God himselfe. This writeth Bernardine de Busto, about 120.Bernardine de Busto. marial. p. 3. ser. 3. pa. 96 Posseuine in Appar. sacr. Pet. Mathaeus com. sub constit. Pii. 2. pag. 20. yeeres since, and his booke was authorised by Pope Alexander the sixt, and yet remaines so farre from all disallowance, that it is approoued by Posseuine, as a learned and godly booke. Out of which it must needes follow (which I tremble to vtter) that by their doctrine, the Virgine Mary is greater then God; because euery appeale is from the lesser to the greater.

74. But no maruell, if they preferre Mary to Christ, that is, the Mother before the Sonne, seeing they doe as much to two Fryers, Francis and Dominicke. He that would see how Francis is matched and exalted aboue Christ, let him read the booke of his Conformities, and hee will bee astonished at their madnesse. Also, of Dominicke they write most strange things, and such, as Christ neuer did the like: as for example; Christ raysed but three dead (saith Antoninus:) but Dominicke Antonin. part. 3. tit. 23. c. 1. [...]. 3. raysed three at Rome, and forty that were drowned in a Riuer neere to Tholosse. Christ being made immortall after his resurrection, entred twice into the house, the dores being shut: but Dominicke, being a mortall man, entred into a Church in the night, the dores being shut, that he might [Page] not waken the brethren. Christ had all power committed vnto him in heauen and earth: and Dominicke did partake the same power with him; for the Angels serued him, the Elements obeyed him, & the Diuels trembled at him. Christ was the Lord absolutely, and by authority: but Dominicke principally, and by possession. Christ was laid at his birth in a Manger, and wrapped in clouts to keepe him from cold: but Dominicke being an infant, would often get out of his bed, and as if hee abhorred all delights of the flesh, lye vpon the bare ground. Christ neuer prayed, but hee was heard, if he would; except in the Garden, when hee prayed that the Cup might passe away from him, where praying according to his sensuall part, would not be heard according to reason: but Dominicke neuer desired any thing of God, but it was graunted vnto him. Christ being borne, a Starre appeared in the East, which directed the Wise-men to him, and foreshewed that he should be the light of the world: but Dominicke being borne, and ready to bee baptized, his Godmother saw a Starre in his forehead, foretelling a new light of the world. Lastly, Christ loued vs, and washed away our sinnes by his bloud: so did Dominicke; for hee whipt himselfe thrice euery day with an Iron chayne, and drew bloud each time out of his sides: once for his owne sinnes, which were very small; the second for those that were in Purgatory; and the third for those that liue in the world. Is not Dominicke heere in some things equalled, and in others preferred before our blessed Sauiour, Iesus Christ?

75. And thus to passe ouer all their false and counterfeit Saints, which eyther neuer were in rerum natura, or were not such as they make them: as Christopher, George, Catherine, Bel. de beat. Sanct. lib. 1. ca. 9. and such like. For it is a true saying of Augustine, or of some other; Multorum corpora honorantur in terris, quorum animae torquentur in inferno: The bodies of many are honoured on earth, whose soules are tormented in hell. And to omitCaict. tract. de concept. & Indulg. Bel. de eccles. triump. l. 1. c. 9. that the Pope may erre in the canonizing of Saints, it being grounded vpon false miracles: as Caietane acknowledgeth, and others; though Bellarmine be of another minde, [Page] and laboureth to prooue the contrary: but (God wot) with very shallow reasons, as any may discerne that will but read him. To omit (I say) all this, by that which hath beene sayd it is most cleere, that vnder the doctrine and practice of Inuocation of Saints in the Church of Rome, lyeth lurking most abominable Idolatry.

76. The last principall branch of Idolatry, maintayned and practised in the Church of Rome, is the adoration and worshipping of the Crosse. Now by the Crosse they vnderstand, eyther the true Crosse of Christ, together with any part or portion thereof; or the picture or image of that Crosse, whether it bee materiall and permanent, or transeunt and formall onely. Of both which this is the doctrine of the Church of Rome: that not onely that Crosse whereon Christ dyed, but euery picture and representation of it, whether grauen or paynted [...], or expressed in the ayre, with the hand and fingers, is to be kissed and adored. This is the positionVasques de Adora. l. 3. c. 2. Bel. de Imag. l. 3. c. 27. 28. 29. of Ʋasques the Iesuite; and hee saith, that it is the doctrine and faith of the Romane Church. And the same is auouched by Bellarmine, and confirmed by many arguments (weake ones, God wot) in three whole Chapters: wherein hee laboureth to prooue; first, that the Crosse it selfe: secondly, that the Image of the Crosse: and thirdly, that the signe of the Crosse, are all to be worshipped: and with what kind of worship? Aquinas resolues vs in that point, whē he affirmeth,Aquin. Sum. part. 3. art. 4. that the very Crosse of Christ, whereon he was crucified, is to bee worshipped with diuine worship: for two causes; both for the representation or resemblance it hath to Christ; as also, for that it touched the body of Christ: but the signe of the Crosse or Crucifix, is to be worshipped with latria, onely in the former respect. And this is still the doctrine of their Church: for neither is it taxed in their late editions for errour, nor contradicted by any other Romish Doctor. Yea, aChrys. a visitat. de verb. domini, tom. 4 l. 6. c. 7 late famous Papist, and a professor of Diuinitie, doth plainely confirme the fame: dedicating his booke to Pope Clement the eighth, for he saith in playne words, that they worship the Crosse with the same worship wherewith they adore Christ him▪ [Page] selfe: and that they pray vnto the Crosse, as vnto him that was crucified on it, and repose the hope of their saluation vpon it.

77. And this is the doctrine of the Romish Synagogue at this day; and their practice is correspondent thereunto: for they kneele vnto the Crosse, they kisse it, they creepe vnto it, they pray vnto it; yea, they repose the hope of their saluation in it: as appeareth in that forme of prayer vsed in their Masse booke:

All haile, ô Crosse, our onely hope; in this time of Lent, doe thou increase righteousnes in good men, and graunt pardon to sinners.

Now that this is heathenish Idolatrie, may appeare by these reasons: First, because outward religious adoration is giuen to a piece of wood, or brasse, or gold, or some other matter.Aug. in Faust. lib. 15. Secondly, because diuine worship, euen latria, which Augustine saith, is proper onely vnto God, is giuen to a creature: for such is the Crosse, at the best. Thirdly, because they pray vnto it, as vnto a liuing thing. Fourthly, because they repose the hope of their saluation in it. And lastly, because many, if not all of these Reliques, which are beleeued to bee fragments of Christs Crosse, are false and counterfeit; as hath beene shewed already. In all these respects the Crosse is made an Idoll, and the worshippers of it are no better then Idolaters.

78. Ob. I, but the Crosse touched Christ, and therefore it is to bee worshipped with diuine worship. R. So did the Manger wherein hee lay, being an infant; and the Graue wherein he was layd, being dead; and the Pillar whereunto he leaned, being whipped; and the Asse where on hee rode, being in his iourney to the City: yea, so did the wombe of the blessed Virgine his Mother, before hee was borne: and yet they will not say that any of these are to bee worshipped with latria. I am sure the Apostles cannot bee found to haue giuen any maner of religious worship to any of these things, much lesse diuine worship: though I deny not, but that the true Reliques of Christ, and those things that any waies pertayned vnto him, were reuerenced without doubt by his [Page] friends after his departure: and so farre we also willingly condescend vnto them; but that any religious worship was giuen vnto thē they can neuer prooue. Ob. I, but the Crosse was theBell. de Imag. lib. 2. cap. 27. instrument of Christs passion, and Mans redemption, and the Altar of that great Sacrifice, and the Ladder by which Christ ascended into heauen; therefore it is to bee worshipped. R. So was Iudas an instrument of Christs passion, and our redemption: as Saint Augustine teacheth, when he saith, thatAug. in Psal. 34. Iudas was elected by Christ, to the end, that by him hee might fulfill our redemption; and so was Pilate and Caiphas: yet these are not therefore to be worshipped, vnlesse wee will reuiue the old heresie of the Cai [...]nians and the Marrionites. And soAug. de baeres. cap. 18. Iraen. li. 1. ca. 29. was the Speare that let out his heart bloud, which was the price of our redemption; and yet they themselues doe not giue diuine worship vnto it for that cause, albeit they make an Idoll of it, as hath beene declared. Ob. I, but manyBell. de Imag. lib. 2. cap. 27. mysteries are signified by the Crosse: as first, Christian perfection, in the longitude, latitude, height, and profunditie of it: the profundity signifying faith; the height, hope; the latitude, charitie; and the longitude, perseuerance. Secondly, the effect of Christs passion: the highest peece of wood signifying, that heauen was opened, and God pacified: the lowest, that was fastned in the ground, that bel was emptied, and the Diuell conquered: the ouerthwart peece, that the whole world was redeemed, &c. Thirdly, the vniting of Iewes and Gentiles: the two armes of the Crosses vnder one title, representing the vnion of two people vnder one head. These, and diuers other mysteries are hidden vnder the Crosse, therefore it is to be worshipped with diuine worship. R. Suppose that all these mysteries were there to be cōceiued; yet to say, that therefore it is to be worshipped, is a silly reason, and scarce befitting the learning of Bellarmine: for by the same argument, all their Sacraments, and many other things, should be worshipped with diuine worship. Ob. I, but the Crosse was miraculously found out by Helena: and that not before Constantines time, when it might safely bee worshipped; and it was reuealed to bee the true Crosse, by euident [Page] miracles: therefore it is to be worshipped with diuine worship. R. Graunt all this to bee true, which notwithstanding may probably be questioned: yet that this doth not prooue that the Crosse is to bee worshipped, Helenes owne example doeth shew: for as Ambrose writeth, Shee worshipped Ambros de obitu Theodos. not the wood of the Crosse, but him that hung vpon the wood, because this (saith he) is a heathenish errour, &c. neither can they euer prooue that it was therefore reuealed, that it might be worshipped.

79. Did euer any man read more pittifull arguments? the rest which [...]ee vseth are all of the same stampe. Ob. I, but a Crucifix is like vnto Christ, saith hee, therefore it i [...]to beeBell. ibid. worshipped with latria. R. But the Virgin his Mother was more like to him, and yet they giue not vnto her so high a worship. Ob. I, but the Fathers held the Crosse in great reuerence, and the Image of the Crosse, and worshipped them. R. True, they reuerenced them, and held them in great estimation: but yet there was no worship giuen vnto them, vntill neere 400. yeeres after Christ. About that time began this superstition: for in Saint Ambrose time it was not crept in, as appeareth by that testimony before alledged: not in Arnobius time, who plainely affirmeth, that they did Arnob. lib. 8. not worship Crosses. Againe, those Fathers that did adore them, did not worship the Crosse or the Crucifix, but him that hung vpon the Crosse; as may appeare by Hieroms testimonyHierom in epit. Paulae. concerning Paulae, who saith, that shee falling prostrate before the Crosse, worshipped as if shee had seene the Lord there hanging before her: by which it is playne, that she worshipped not the Crosse, but the Lord. And Ambrose also witnessethAmbros. de obitu Theodos. the same, when he calleth it an heathenish errour, and the vanitie of wickedmen to worship the Crosse. But the Romanists teach, that the Crosse it selfe, and the Crucifix are to be worshipped, and that with the highest worship. Ob. I, but many and strange miracles haue beene wrought by the signe of the Crosse; therefore it is to bee worshipped. R. The argument is naught: for if euery worker of miracles should be worshipped with diuine adoration, then all the Apostles [Page] might challenge this honour vnto them. So might Iannes and Iambres that resisted Moses. Yea, so might Antichrist himselfe: for his comming is with lying signes and wonders: lying, not onely in respect of their substance, which is sometimes counterfeit: but also in respect of the end, which is to seduce, when the miracle for substance may bee true: and this is both Saint Chrystostomes and Saint Augustines expositionChrysost. in 2. thes. 2. Aug. de ciuit. lib. 20. c. 19. of that place: besides, the myracles that were done at or before this signe, were effected by the power of the faith and inuocation of Christ crucified; and not by the bare signe of the Crosse, as most of the Fathers confesse, and all ofAug. ser. 19. de▪ [...]and. Cyril. catechis. 13. Nazian. ad Nemes. Orig. cont. Cels. Euseb. hist. l. 8. c. 7. them doe secretly insinuate. And therefore the signing of themselues with the Crosse, was a secret kinde of inuocation of Christ crucified; as Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth. And thus it followeth, that those myracles which they talke of: as the driuing away of Diuels, and ouercomming mortall enemies, and such like, are not to be ascribed to the signe of the Crosse, but to inuocation, and prayer, and faith in Christ crucified.

80. Ob. I, but the Apostle Paul saith, God forbid that I Gal, 6. 14. should reioyce in any thing, but inthe Crosse of our Lord Iesus Gal. 2. 14. Christ: and, He tooke the handwriting that was against vs, and Gal. 2. 20. nayled it on his Crosse: and, he set all things at peace through the bloud of his Crosse, &c. therefore it is to be worshipped. R. The consequent of this arguments as good as the former; for how can it follow, that because the Crosse was the instrument of our redemption, therefore it should be adored? The weaknes of this sequell is before discouered. Besides, by the Crosse is vnderstood most commonly in the Scripture, eyther the whole worke of Christs passion, or afflictions and persecutions for Christs sake; neyther of which, especially the latter, are to be adored with diuine adoration. In a word, there is nothing they can alledge, that doth carry with it any shew of sound reason, to hide the shame of their Church in this open Idolatrie, and yet they labour tooth and nayle for it; but they profite but a little.

81. Wee confesse that there was a holy and commendable [Page] vse of the transcant signe of the Crosse in the primitiue Church: to wit, as a badge of Christian profession, to signifie that they were not ashamed of their crucified God, which the heathen and wicked Iewes vsed to cast in their teeth: and so of the permanent Crosse erected in publike places, to be as it were a trophee and monument of the exaltation of him that dyed on the Crosse. But now Popery hath turned this laudable vse of the Crosse into Paganish abomination; and hath giuen to it that honour which belonged to him that dyed vpon the Crosse: and therefore wee most iustly accuse them of fou [...]e Idolatrie, and finde them guilty without all controuersie, and that not onely in th [...]s last enditement, touching the Crosse, but also in the foure former heads. And therefore the conclusion is by necessary consequence most firme and true, that seeing the Church of Rome is thus many wayes guiltie of Idolatry, therefore it is to bee abandoned and forsaken, and that religion which maintayneth this impiety, worthily to be abhorred.

MOTIVE. VIII. That Religion which implyeth manifold contradiction in it selfe, and is contrary to it selfe in many things, cannot be the true Religion: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome: ergo, &c.

1. IT is an old saying and true, Oportet mendacem esse memorem: It behooueth a lyar to haue a good memory, lest he crosse himselfe in his tale, and so discouer his falshood. This saying is verified in our Aduersaries the Romanists, whose Religion, being nothing else but a bundle of lyes, and a hotch-potch of olde heresies, crosseth it selfe in many substantiall poynts, and thereby reuealeth the manifold errours and falsities that lurke in the bosome thereof. That this is true, the discourse ensuing thereof (I hope) shall make so manifest, that they themselues shall not be able to gainfay it.

[Page]2. The Maior proposition in this argument is of such euidentMAIOR. verity, that by no shew of reason it can possibly be contradicted; considering that truth is alwayes, and in euery part, like to it selfe, and agreeing, consenting, and conspiring with it selfe, as a perfect body, wherein there is such a sweet harmony of all the members. that one is not contrary to another, but all tend to one and the same end, and vnite their forces together, for the good of the whole: for which cause the Orator defineth truth to bee that which is simple and Cic. offic. lib. 1. Terent. Bernard. in ser. syncere. And the Poet saith, that it seeketh no corners. To which Saint Bernard alluding, thus writeth, Non amat veritas angulos, non ei diuersoria placent, in medio stat, &c. i. It loueth no corners, by-wayes doe not please it, it standeth in the miast. And therefore the Ancients in their Hierogliphicks represented truth by the picture of the Sunne, not onely inPierius valer. Hieroglyph. l. 44. pag. 430. respect of the puritie and clarity of it; but also in respect of the simplicitie and vnitie. Duplicia enim & multiplicia sunt veritati contraria; (i) Duplicity and multiplicity, are contrary to verity. But falsity, errour, and lying, is full of doubtings, windings, and contrarieties, like a dreame in the night, the end whereof, for the most part is neuer agreeable to the beginning. And this is that which the Philosopher teacheth,Aristotle. when he saith, that Mendacium de seipso duplex est; A lye is double of it selfe. And as Chrysostome noteth, Mendacia si Cprysost. super Mato. 21. non habent quem deciptant, ipsa sibi mentiuntur; Lyes, if they haue not one to deceiue, they deceiue and beguile themselues. So that it must needes follow, that that Religion which infoldeth in it selfe contradictions, and contrarieties, cannot be the truth, but must of necessitie be lying and erronious.

3. I therefore leaue the Maior thus cleared, and come toMINOR. the proofe of the Minor, or second proposition, which is, that the Religion of the Church of Rome is replenished with many contradictions, and is at variance and discord in it selfe, and therefore cannot stand: as our Sauiour concludeth of anMat. 12. house or a kingdom. And to shew this to be true, let vs first begin [Page] with the Sacrament: in the doctrine whereof are enwrapped many absurd contradictions; as for example.

4. It is a ground and principle of their Religion, and of1. Contrad. ours, and of the truth, that Christ our Sauiour tooke verily and truely, flesh of the Virgine Mary, and had a true humane body, like to vs in all things, sinne onely excepted: and therefore that this body of his had all the demensions and circumscriptions of a body, and all the properties and qualities naturally belonging thereunto. This ground of truth the Church of God hath euer defended against all Heretikes of former and latter times, that impugned the same: to wit, the Marionites, the Manichees, and the Eutychians, with diuers others, that thought, and taught erroniously concerning the humanity of Christ: affirming that he had no true, but a fantasticall body. Now this error is in outward appearance condemned by the Church of Rome, and adiudged as a damnable heresie. But if we looke into other of their doctrines, and necessary consequences that may be deriued therefrom, we shall fi [...]de, that they crosse their owne positions, and hold in substance as much as the olde Heretikes did.

5. For in their doctrine of the Sacrament they teach, that Christ gaue his owne naturall body with his owne hands toBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 19. Coster Enchirid. his Apostles, when he said, This is my body: by which it must needs follow, that he both kept his body to himselfe, sitting at the Table, and also gaue it to his Apostles: so that at this first Supper there were thirteene bodies of Christ; for euery one (by their doctrine) had the true naturall body of Christ wholly communicated vnto him. Now how is Christs bodie heere a true naturall body, being in thirteene places at once? From hence thus I reason: A true naturall body is circumscribed, and can be but in one place at once: but by the Popish doctrine of transsubstantiation, Christs body was in diuers places at once; therefore it was no true naturall body. And so the doctrine of Transubstantiation dōth contradict and ouerthrow the doctrine of the truth of Christs [Page] humane nature: and that, not onely after it was glorifyed, whereof, peraduenture, there might be some better shew of reason, but euen whilst it was here vpon the earth, subiect to all humane sinlesse infirmities, yea, to death it selfe. And this conclusion is not ours, but S. Augustines: that is, Take away Aug. Epist. [...]7. ad Dardan. from bodies (saith he) space of place, and they will bee no where, and because they will be no where, therefore they will not be at all. And againe, in the same Epistle he saith, speaking of Christ, that [...] We must take heed that we do not so build vp the Diuinitie of Christ a man, that we take away the truth of his body. But the Romanists destroy the truth of Christs humanitie, by giuing vnto it an essentiall being and subsisting in many distant places at once; and make it no body in truth, by denying vnto it a certayne circumscription of one singular place at one time, which [...]s a necessary acc [...]slarie to all quantitiue bodies.

6. Bellarmine, to salue this contradiction, labours mainely,Bell. de Euchar. lib. 3. c. 4. 5. stretching all the strings of his wit to the highest straine, euen till they cracke againe: but all his labour is not worth a rush: euery childe may say that he doth but tryfle; for first, hee saith that Christs body is but in one place locally, but in many places sacramental [...]y. Secondly, that it is in the consecrated hoast, definitiuè, and not circumscriptiuè; definitely, and not circumscriptiuely. Thirdly, (not satisfying himselfe with this euasion neither) he saith, that it is in the Sacrament, Tanquam Deus est in loco, As God is in a place: that is, by a supernaturall presence onely. Lastly, he flyeth to Gods omnipotency, and disclayming all naturall respect, saith, it is a miracle: so that (in truth) he knoweth not what to say, one part of his speech thwarting and crossing another.

7. For if the body of Christ bee in the Sacrament, sacramentally onely, then it is not, either definitely, as Angels and Spirits are said to be, or diuinely, as God is: for, sacramentally to be in a place, is to bee there by way of relation, and not by corporall existence, as all know; and so we say, that Christs body is there present. Againe, if it be definitiuely, then it cannot be a substantiall body, subsisting of parts, and members, and quantitie, as they say Christs body doth in the [Page] Sacrament: because it is proper to Spirits, and intellectuall essences, to bee in a place after that manner, and not to bodyes;Aquin. p. 1. q. 52. art. 2. as their learned Aquinas telleth vs: and if it bee there after the manner of Gods presence, then it cannot bee there after the manner of a body; vnlesse with the Anthropomorphites, he will impiously ascribe a body vnto God. And lastly, touching Gods omnipotency, and the miracle arising therefrom, Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth, that God cannotBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 2. doe that which doth imply contradiction; for that is to bee vnlike to himselfe, and to deny himselfe: but these things are contradictories, a body with quantity, that is, with iust length, bredth, proportion, sitting at the Table, and at the same time, the same body without length, bredth, or proportion, hidden in the bread; a body visible, and yet the same inuisible at the same instant: a body with position and situation of parts, and yet the same without position and situation of parts, included in euery cr [...]mme of the hoast. Yea, lastly, one body sitting at the Table with his Apostles, speaking, breathing, spreading his hands, and full of infirmitie: the other in the stomacks of his Disciples, neither speaking, nor breathing, nor stirring, no [...] subiect to infirmitie. Now compare the termes together: Sitting, and not sitting: visible, and inuisible: with situation, and without situation: one, and not one, and all at the same instant and moment of time, are grosse contradictions, which, as Bellarmine confesseth, Almighty God himselfe cannot reconcile, who by his omnipotent power is able to doe all things: but this is nothing, and therefore is rather to be accounted a defect of impotency then an effect of omnipotency: Dicitur enim Deus Aug. de ciuit. lib. 5. cap. 10. omnipotens faciendo quod vult, non patiendo quod non vult. i. For God is sayd to be omnipotent, by doing that which he will, not by suffering that which he will not.

8. From hence it must needes follow, that heere can bee no miracle; and that not onely because miracles are extraordinary works of God; and this change of substances is ordinary in euery Sacrament, as they say: and miracles are not contrary, but aboue or beside nature; but this is flat contrary, [Page] not onely to nature, but to God himselfe, the Authour and Creator of nature: and miracles are alwaies sensible, but this is insensible, and cannot bee discerned by any outward meanes: but also for that no miracle can imply contradiction in it selfe, as this must needes doe, if it were as they would haue it. For when Aarons Rodde was turned into a Serpent, it left to be a Rodde; and when it turned into a Rodde, it left to be a Serpent. And when the Water was turned into Wine, it left to bee Water, it was impossible that it should haue beene both Water and Wine at one time, in one and the same respect; or a Rodde and a Serpent at once. And so of all other miracles, there is not one to be found that enwrappethAug. detrinit. cap. 10. contradictions. Besides all which, Saint Augustine concludeth peremptorily, that Sacraments may haue honour, vt Religiosa: but not amazement vt admiranda, as miracles. And Thomas Aquinas more plainely saith, Ea quae contradictionem Aquin. p. 1. q. 25. art. 3. implioant, sub diuina potentia non continentur. i. Those things which imply contradiction, cannot fall vnder the power of God.

9. They reply, that they teach no more then Cyprian did, thirteeene hundred yeeres since, who said that Christ did Cyprian. ser. de coena dom. beare himselfe in his owne hands at the last Supper. I answere, that Cyprian in that place, & the rest of the Fathers elsewhere, did often vse hyperbolicall speeches, to extoll the dignity of the Sacrament, and to shew the certainty and efficacy of our communion with Christ, and of our spirituall eating of him: but they neuer meant so as the Romanists doe; that Christ bore his reall, naturall, substantiall body in his owne hands, and gaue it to his Apostles after a fleshly manner. For Cyprian Cyprian. epist. 202. ad Euodiū. expoundeth himselfe in another place, when hee saith, that Sacraments haue the names of those things which they signifie. And Saint Augustine more plainly saith, that Christ did beare himselfe in his owne hands after a sort. If it had beene really, and substantially, what neede hee haue added, after a sort? for this word, as they vse to speake in Schooles, is, Terminus diminutiuus, qui realitati vbique detrahit. A diminitiue terme, which detracteth from the realtie and true being of a thing. And [Page] this speech, Christ bore himselfe in his owne hands after a sort, is all one with that in another place, After a certaine manner the Sacrament of Christs body, is Christs body. So that it is playne, that when the Fathers said, Christ bore himselfe in his owne hands, they meant nothing, but that he bore in his hands the Sacrament of himselfe: and thus this first contradiction is irreconciliable. I come to a second, and that in the Sacrament, which is no lesse palpable.

10. It is a principle of their Religion, and of the truth2. Contrad. it selfe, that Christ after his resurrection ascended into heauen, and there filleth a place, and hath figure, forme, and disposition of parts, and is circumscribed within a certaine compasse, according to the nature of a body. This is Bellarmines Bell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 7. owne assertion, and it is consonant to sound doctrine, confirmed both by manifest Scripture, and vniforme consent of ancient Fathers: for Scripture, Christ is said to bee like vnto vs; and not barely like, but like in all things, that is, both in nature, and in the qualities and quantities of nature. And to put the matter out of doubt, onely one thing is exceptedPhil. 2. 7. Heb. 2. 17. Heb. 4. 25. wherin he is not like vnto vs, and that is Sinne, whereby he is absolutely left to bee like vnto vs in all other things. And lest any should thinke, that that was true onely whilst he was here vpon earth, the Apostle in the forenamed places applyeth it to him being in heauen: for hee saith, Wee haue not an High-priest which cannot be touched with our infirmities, and therefore let vs boldly goe vnto the throne of grace: where the Apostles argument were of no force, if he were like vnto vs here on earth, onely in the state of his humilitie, and not also now, being in heauen, in the state of glory: for sinfull man might thus reply, True, Christ was like our nature whilst he liued amongst vs; but now, being glorified, he hath put off our nature, and therefore we dare not presume to come vnto him. Yes, saith the Apostle, he is still like vnto vs, and hath not put off our nature, but the infirmities of our nature onely, which were the sequels of sinne, as we also shall doe when we shall be translated into heauen after the resurrection. And this Saint Luke more plainely auoucheth, when he [Page] saith, that after he had blessed them, he departed from them, and Luk. 24. 5. was carryed vp into heauen: and that whilst they beheld, he was taken vp by a cloude out of their sight. Where we see plainelyAct. 1. 9. a locall motion of Christ from earth to heauen: and therefore there must needs be of him a locall situation in the heauens. As also Saint Peter in expresse words doeth affirme, when he saith, that the heauens must containe or receiue him, Act. 3. 21. vntill the time of restauration of all things. Thus this doctrine is consonant to holy Scripture.

11. Now let vs see how it was entertayned by the ancient Fathers: thus they write. Athanasius: When Christ said, I Athanas. in disput. contra Arrian. goe to the Father, he spake of the humane nature which hee haed assumed: for it is the propertie of him to goe and come, who is circumscribed with certaine limits of places; and forsaking that place where it was, commeth to the place where it was not. Nazianzene Nazianz. ad Cledonium. saith, Wee professe one and the same Lord, passible in the flesh, impossible in his Godhead; circumscribed in body, vncircumscribed in deity; the same both earthly and heauenly, visible, and inuisible; comprehended in place, and not comprehended. Ibid. Againe, Christ as man is circumscribed, and contayned in place; Christ as God is vncircumscribed, and contayned within no place. Augustine saith, Christ, as man, according to his body, August. in Ioh. tract. 21. Cyril in Ioh. lib. 6. c. 14. Fulgent. ad Thrasimind. Vigil. contra Eutych. lib. 4. is in a place; but as God, filleth all places. Cyril saith, Though Christ hath taken from hence the presence of his body: yet in the maiestie of his deitie, hee is alwayes present. Fulgentius saith, One and the same Christ, a locall Man of a Woman his mother, who is the infinite God of God his Father. Ʋigilius the Martyr, Christ is in all places, according to the nature of his deitie: but is contayned in one place, according to the nature of his humanity. Damascene, The difference of natures in Christ is not taken away Damasc. apud. Euagrium lib. 2. histor. c. 4. Leo. in solemn. natiuit. ser. 1. by their vnion in one person: but the proprietie of each nature is kept safe. Leo, one of their Popes, Christ hath vnited both natures together by such a league, that neither glorification doth consume the inferiour nature, nor assumption doth diminish the superiour. To these I might adde many more, but these are sufficient to prooue, that this doctrine, touching the truth of Christs humanitie, now glorified in the heauens; that he hath [Page] retained our nature with all the proprieties, sinne onely and infirmities excepted, is concordant both with holy Scripture, and with the voited opinions of all reuerend antiquitie.

12. Now this doctrine is crossed and contradicted by that other doctrine of theirs, touching Transubstantiation, and the carnall and corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament, for this they teach, that the body of Christ is in the SacramentBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. c. 5. with the whole magnitude thereof, together with a true order and disposition of parts, flesh, bloud, and bone, as he was borne, liued, crucified, rose againe: and yet they say that the same body in the Eucharist, though it hath magnitude and extention, and disposition of parts agreeable to the forme of an humane body, neuerthelesse doth not fill a place, neither is to bee extended nor proportioned to the placeBell. Ibid. which it possesseth: here be pregnant and manifest contradictions, Christ hath one body, and yet many bodies: euen as many as there are consecrated hoasts in the world, that is, it may be a thousand bodies at once; and so his body is one, and not one at the same time. Againe, this body is in heauen in a place, and the same body at the same instant is on the Altar, without being compassed about with place: to be in heauen, and to be in earth at one instant, are contradictory propositions, being vnderstoode of finite substances, and not of that infinite essence which filleth all places: for they imply thus much, to be in heauen, and net to be in heauen; to be in earth, and not to be in earth, which be the rules of Logicke, and Reason the mother of Logicke, cannot be together true. Againe, at one moment of time to be aboue, and yet below, to bee remooued farre off, and yet bee neere adioyning, to come to one place, and yet not to depart from another, are so meerely opposite to each other, that they cannot be reconciled. And lastly, a body to haue forme, magnitude, extention, and disposition of parts, and yet not with these to fill a place, is as much as to say, it is a body, and yet not a bodie, it is in a place, and yet not in that very same place: these are contradictions so euident, that it is impossible for the wit of man to reconcile them.

[Page]13. Notwithstanding the aduocates of the Romish Synagogue labour might and maine in this taske, and by manyBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 3. arguments endeauour to reunite these oppositions: first, by Gods omnipotency: secondly, by the qualities of a glorified body: and thirdly, by arguments from the discourse of reason. From hence they thus argue, All things are possible to God, and therefore this is possible; neither is there any thing excepted from the omnipotency of God, saue these things, Quae facere non est facere, sed deficere (as Bellarmine speaketh) that is, which to doe, is not to doe, but to vndoe, and doe argue rather impotency then potency, of which sort (that one body should be in many places at once, is not, saith he) because it is not in expresse words excepted in Scripture, as to lye and to denye himselfe are. To this I answere, first, that albeit the Scripture doth not expresly except this from Gods omnipotency, to make one body to bee in two places at once, yet implyedly it doth, for it denyeth power or rather weaknesse to God to doe those things which imply contradiction:2. Cor. 1. 19. of which kinde this is, for one body to be in many places at once. And Bellarmine himselfe saith, that this is aBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 2. first principle in the light of nature, euery thing is, or is not, which being taken away, all knowledge faileth. Secondly, I answere, that the power of God is not so much to be considered as his will, nor what he can doe, but what he hath reucaled in his word, that hee will doe; for if wee argue from his power toTertul. aduers. Prax. cap. 10. the effect, Wee may deuise God (saith Tertullian) to doe any thing, because he could doe it. And therefore the same Authour saith, Dei posse, velle est, Dei nonposse, nolle. God can of stones raise vp Children vnto Abraham (saith Iohn Baptist.)Mat. 3. 9. Now if any should hence conclude, that any of Abrahams children were made of stones, in a proper speech, all would thinke him to haue no more wit then a stone. And to this accordeth Theodoret, when hee saith, That God can doe all Theod. Dial. 3. things which hee will, but God will not doe any of these things which are not agreeable to his nature. But for to make a body to be without quantity, and a quantity to be without dimension, and dimension without a place, that is as much to say, a [Page] body without a body, and quantity without quantity, and a place without a place, is contrary to Gods nature; and therefore cannot bee agreeable to his will, and so hath no correspondence with his power. And lastly, I answere, that it is no good reason to say, God can doe such a thing, therefore he doth it; but rather thus, God will doe such a thing, therefore he can doe it: and thus the Scripture teacheth vs to reason: Whatsoeuer pleased the Lord, that did hee in heauen and in Psal. 135. 6. earth, and not whatsoeuer hee could doe, but whatsouer it pleased him to do; and the Leper said to our Sauiour Christ, Master, if thou wilt, thou canst make me cleane: no [...], if thou canst, thou wilt; but if thou wilt, thou canst.

14. Secondly, whereas they obiect that Christs bodie after his glorification, is indued with more excellent qualities then any other naturall body, by reason of that super-excellent glory wherewith it is adorned aboue all others, and thereby as he came to his Apostles, the dores being shut, and rose out of his graue, notwithstanding the stone that lay vpō it; and appeared vnto Paul on earth, being at the same time in heauen: so he is in the Eucharist after a strange and miraculous manner, and yet is in heauen at the same time. I answereTheodoret. Dial. 2. p. 268. first with Theodoret, that Christs bodie is not changed by his glorification into another nature, but remaineth a true bodie, filled with diuine glory: And with Augustine, that Christ gaue Aug. ad Dardan. Epist. 57. vnto his flesh immortality, but tooke not away nature: and in another place, That though Christ had a spirituall body after Idem ad Consen. Epist. 146. his resurrection, yet it was a true bodie, because he said to his Disciples, Palpate & videte, feele and see; and as his body was then after his resurrection, so it is now being in the heauens. Secondly, that when hee came out of the graue, the Angell remoued the stone, with Hierome, and Iustine Martyr: Hierom. in Psal. 104. Iustin Martyr quaest. 117. Theodor. Dial. 2 Cyril Alex. in Io [...]. lib. 12. Cap. 53. and when he entred into the house, the dores being shut, that the dores and walls yeelded vnto him a passage, as vnto their Creator, with Theodoret, and Cyrill: and that when hee appeared vnto Paul going to Damascus, if it was in the aire, or on the earth (as it may be doubted) that then this body was not in heauen at the same instant: for farre bee it from vs so [Page] to pin vp our Lord in the Heauens, that he cannot be where he pleaseth. And this is Thomas Aquinas opinion in expresseAquin. Sum. q. 57. art. 6. ad 3. words, which Bellarmine as expresly contradicteth.

15. Thirdly, by discourse of reason hee thus laboureth to reconcile these contradictions, and thus disputeth: God beingBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. c. 3. but one simple and inuisible essence, is in infinite places at once, and he might create another world, and fill it with his presence, and be in two worlds at one instant: and the soule of man is wholy in euery part of the body, and God is able to conserue the soule in a part that is cut off from the body: therefore it implieth no contradiction to be in two places at once: againe, one place may containe two bodies, and yet be not two places, but one; as when Christ rose out of the graue, the Sepulchre being shut; therefore one body may be in two places at once, and yet not two bodies, but one. Lastly, there be many other mysteries of religion as strange and difficult to be conceiued as this, and yet are beleeued, therefore this also is to be beleeued as well as they.

16. A miserable cause sure that needeth such defences: the weakenesse of these reasons argueth the feeblenesse of the cause: for, who knoweth not, but that there is no similitude betweene the infinite God and a finite Creature, nor any proportion betwixt a Spirit and a body: and that à posse, ad esse, from may bee, to must bee, is no good consequence? Adde that one place cannot hold two bodies, nor euer did, except they were so vnited, that in respect of place they made but one: And lastly, that all those mysteries of Religion which he nameth, to wit, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Creation, and Annihilation, &c. haue their foundation in holy Scripture, and therefore are to be receiued as doct ines of truth, though transcending the spheare of nature and reason: but this strange mysterie of Transubstantiation hath no ground in Scripture, as he himselfe confesseth:Bell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 23. and therefore it is not to be beleeued as the other are, without better reasons then he bringeth for the defence thereof: but like lips, like lettuces; such as the cause is, such are the defences, both nought and weake, as any man may see that is not [Page] muffled with errour; and thus this second contradiction remaines irreconciliable.

17. A third contradiction is also in and about the Sacrament,3. Contrad. which is this, they teach that the matter in Sacrament is partly the outward Elements, and partly the thing signified and represented by them; and that betwixt these there is a certaine relation and similitude, as in Baptisme the outward signe which is water, and the thing signified, which is the bloud of Christ, make the matter of that Sacrament, or the outward wasting, by water, and the inward, by the Spirit, and the relation is; as the water washeth and purgeth away all filthinesse of the body, so Christs bloud purgeth away both the guilt and filth of sinne from the soule: and so in the Eucharist, the Elements of Bread and Wine, together with the bodie and bloud of Christ, are the matter of the Sacrament, andBell. de sacram. lib. 1. cap. 18. the relation is, as those elements doe feed, nourish, and strengthen, and cheare the bodie of man; so the body and bloud of Christ doe seed, nourish, and strengthen, and cheare the soule vnto eternall life: and as those elements must be eaten and digested, or else they nourish not: so Christ must also be eaten, and, as it were, digested, and after a sort conuerted into our substance, or else he is no food vnto our soules. This is the very doctrine of the Church of Rome, and it is agreeable to the truth, for Bellarmine thus speaketh, Species illae significant Bell. de Euchar. lib▪ 4. cap. 6. quidem cibum spiritualem, sed non sunt ipsae cibus spiritualis, that is, The signes in the Scrament signifie our spirituall foode, but they are not the spirituall foode it selfe. And in another place he saith, that signum in Sacramento reisignatae similitudinem Idem de Sacra. lib. 1. cap. 11. gerit, The signes in the Sacrament doe beare the similitude of the thing signified. And in the same Chapter hee sayth more plainely, that God would neuer haue ordained one thing to signifie another, vnlesse it had a certaine analogie or similitude with it. And herein he accordeth with the Master of sentences,Lumb. li. 4▪ dist. 1 who defines a Sacrament thus, To be a visible forme of an inuisible grace, bearing the Image of that grace. And with Hugo, Hugo lib. 1. part. 9. cap 2. who saith, That a Sacrament is a corporall or materiall element, propounded outwardly to the senses, by similitude representing, [Page] and by institution signifying, and by Sanctification containing some inuisible and spirituall grace. And that this relation is in eating and nourishing, Bellarmine in another place confesseth in direct words, when he saith, that That same outward Bell. de Euchar. lib. 4. cap. 6. eating in the Sacrament, doth signifie the inward eating and refreshing of the soule, but is not the cause thereof: and that that is so necessarie a condition, that without it we should not be partakers of that diuine nourishment. And to this agreeth Saint Augustine, who plainely affirmeth, that if Sacraments Aug. Epist. 23. ad Bonifac. had not a certaine similitude of those things whereof they are Sacraments, they were not Sacraments at all. And what this similitude is he declareth in another place, where hee saith, that We receaue visible meate in the Sacrament; but the Sacrament Idem in Iohan. tract. 26. is one thing, and the vertue of the Sacrament is another. And Thomas Aquinas giueth this as a reason why Bread and Wine are the fittest matter of this Sacrament, because men most commonly Aqui. pa. 3. q. 74. are nourished therewith: his words are these, As water is assumed in the Sacrament of Baptisme, to the vse of spirituall washing, because corporall washing is commonly made by water: so bread and wine wherewith most commonly men are nourished, are taken vp in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, to the vse of the spirituall eating. By which it followeth, that if water did not wash, it was no fit element for the Sacrament of Baptisme: so, if bread and wine doe not nourish, they are no fit signes for the Lords Supper: and for this cause our Sauiour at the institution of this Sacrament, gaue this commandement to his Disciples, that they should take and eate: and the Apostle1. Cor. 10. 21. 1. Cor. 11. 20. calleth it the Lords Supper, and the Lords Table.

18. This therefore is their own doctrine, and it is grounded vpon the truth. But listen a little how they contradict this by their miraculous monster Transubstantiation: for when they say that the substance of the bread and wine is vtterly changed into the body and bloud of Christ, and that onely the accidents remaine: I would faine know of them how these outward signes doe nourish the bodie: can the accidents of bread and wine nourish the substance of the bodie? mustSimile nutritur simili. there not be a similitude and proportion betwixt the nourishment [Page] and the thing nourished? but betwixt accidents and a substance there is no similitude nor proportion. Aristotle tellethAristot. de [...]nima. 2. vs as much, when he saith, that Foode doth nourish, as it is a substance, and not as an accident. Now if the outward signes doe not nourish the body, what analogie is there betwixt them and the things signified? or why were they ordayned to represent the spirituall refection of our soules by Christ, if they minister no corporall refection vnto our bodies? or how can they represent that where of they beare no similitude? for, as in Baptisme, if the nature and substance of the water were taken away, and onely accidents did remayne, so that it could not wash, nor clense the body, without doubt, it could be no fit signe to signifie the inward ablution of the soule, by the bloud of Christ. So they that take away the nature and substance of the Bread and Wine, and leau [...] bare accidents, make it, without all question, a dead and liuelesse Sacrament, not fit to represent so high a mystery.

19 Behold now the contradictions: first accidents without a substance, that is to say, accidents, and no accidents; for therefore they are called accidents, because they adhere, and are ioyned to a substance, in which they haue their subsistance, & vpon which they haue their dependance: so that, take away their substance, and they presently [...]urcease to beeArist. metaph. l [...]. 5. text. 35. accidents. For, Aristotle saith▪ Accidentis esse est in esse: The essence of an accident is to bee in a subiect. Secondly, two parts of the Sacraments, the visible elements, and the inuisible grace, & yet but one part of the same Sacrament: for the elements bee taken away, and accidents onely remayne; therefore two parts, and not two parts. Thirdly, the externall matter of the Sacrament is the outward elements: and yet there are no elements at all; and so elements, and no elements, matter, and no matter. Fourthly, the outward elements are signes of the inward grace, and the same by their doctrine being but accidents, are signes of the outward elements, which are signes of the inward grace: and so they are signes of the signes, rather then of the thing signified. Lastly, the outward feeding by bread & wine, represents the inward [Page] feeding, by the body and bloud of Christ: & yet there is no outward feeding by bread and wine, because there is no bread and wine, except they will make accidents to [...]eede a substance: which is against all reason: for the PhilosopherArist. de [...]ene [...]. lib. 2. saith, that Ex i [...]sdem nutrimur, ex quibus sumus, wee are nourished by the same things, of which we consist: but we do not consist of accidents, but of substances.

20. Out of this snare they seeke to ridde themselues by a double euasion; first, they say, that accidents may be without a subiect, though not naturally, yet by the supernaturall powerBell. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 24. of God. This is Bellarmines: and hee prooueth it by two instances; first, because Saint Basil affirmeth, that That light which was created the first day, was without a subiect: and secondly, because as the substance of Christs humanitie had no subsistance in it selfe, but in the word; so, though an accident naturally doth inhere in a subiect, yet supernaturally it may bee, and yet not inhere. To this I answere: first, that though Saint Basil be of that opinion, yet Saint Augustine isAu [...]. in Ger. ad Li [...]. lib. 1. ca. 3. not; for he thought it to be a spirituall and no naturall light. Nor Beda, Lyran [...]s, and the master of sentences, who supposedDamas. de [...]ide lib. 2. cap. 7. it to be a bright and lightsome cloude▪ which was carried about, and gaue light vnto the world. Nor Damascene, who supposed that this light proceeded from the element of fire, as an effect thereof. Nor yet the Fathers, who though they differed in their opinions touching this light, yet none of them were of Saint Basils mind, to thinke that it was an accident without a subiect. Now, why should we beleeue Saint Basil herein, more then S. Augustine, venerable Bede, Damascene, or the rest? This therefore is but one priuate mans opinion, crossed by many others, and so maketh little for his purpose.

21. Secondly, I answere, that though the humanitie of Christ had no subsistance in it selfe, yet by reason of the vnion with the God-head, it was sustained and vpholden by it: but there is no such vnion betwixt the accidents in the Sacraments, and the body and bloud of Christ, that the body and bloud of Christ should sustaine and vphold those accidents: and therefore they themselues say, that they are not sustained [Page] by the body of Christ, but by the extraordinary power of God; and so this instance maketh nothing for this purpose neither. Lastly, I answere, that we are not so much to consider what God can doe by his omnipotent power, as what he hath done heretofore, or what he hath said hee will doe hereafter: let them therefore shew, that accidents haue beene without a substance in times past, or that God hath said, hee will haue them so to be, and then wee will yeeld vnto them: but till then wee haue more reason to hold conclusions of nature not crossed by religion, then to relye vpon supernaturall imaginations.

22. The second euasion is by Aquinas, who affirmeth thatAquin. par. 3. q. 77. art. 6. supernaturally, the accidents of bread and wine may nourish, because they receaue miraculously the strength and vertue of a substance, and that they doe nourish he proueth, because by the same reason they may be turned into the substance of the body, by the which they are turned into ashes & wormes: and also because wee see by experience that the body is nourished by the signes in the Sacrament: to which a short answere will suffice: for first that there should be such a miraculous nourishing by accidents, hath no ground either in experience, or in Scripture. And secondly, he should rather conclude, because the body is nourished by outward elements, and they are often conuerted into ashes and wormes, therefore they are not bare accidents but substances, then that therefore bare accidents may nourish: for let the reader iudge whether concludes more reasonably, we, when we say the elements doe nourish the body: therefore they are bodily substances; or they that thus reason, the elements do nourish the bodie, therefore accidents without a substance may nourish: and thus the snare is not broken, neither are they escaped.

23. A fourth contradiction, and that about the Sacrament,4. Contrad. they hold that the wicked and reprobate receaue the body and bloud of Christ in the Sacrament, and yet reape no benefit thereby to their owne soules, but rather iudgement and damnation, as if the merits, grace, and vertue of Christ could be separated from his person: or as if a man could receaue [Page] life, and yet not liue, sanctification, and not be sanctified, righteousnes, and not be righteous, redemption, and not be redeemed: for all these is Christ made vnto vs, Life, Righteousnes, Sanctification, and Redemption, as the Scripture testifieth.1. Cor. 1. 30. Bellarmine spendeth one whole Chapter in this argument,Bell. de Euchar. lib. 1. cap. 13. to proue that the wicked receiue Christ in the Sacrament, and therevpon expresly affirmeth, that though they receiue him, yet they receiue not his iustifying grace, nor his merits, nor the fruit and effect of his death and passion together with him. Of the same mind is Aquinas, & the rest of theirAquin. 3. q. 80. art. 1. & 3. Diuines. Now this position is contrary both to Scripture, Fathers, and to their owne diuinity. To Scripture, for our Sauiour saith in expresse words, Whosoeuer eateth my flesh, and Ioh. 6. 54. 56. drinketh my bloud, hath eternall life, and I will raise him vp at the last day. And againe, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, dwelleth in me, and I in him. But say they, The wicked, yea, the reprobate, eate the very flesh, and drinke the very bloud of Christ. Therefore conclude that they haue eternall life, and dwell in Christ, and Christ in them: neither can they escape by saying, that the spirituall eating ofBell. de Euchar▪ lib. 1. cap. 6. Aquin. 3. p. q. [...]. art. 2. Christ by faith, and not the eating in the Sacrament is here vnderstood, seeing they doe all (for the most part) interpret this place of the Sacramentall eating and drinking: but more plaine (if it be possible) is that of S. Iohn, Ioh. 5. 12. He that hath the Sonne, hath life: and hee that hath not the Sonne of God, hath not life. From which place thus a man may reason, He that hath Christ, hath eternall life, but hee that receiueth Christ verily & truely, as all the wicked do in the Sacrament by their doctrine, hath Christ: therefore the very reprobate, euen Iudas himself, hath eternal life, & is saued: for either they must deny that they receiue Christ in the Sacrament; or else they must grant, being conuicted by these Scriptures, that together with him they receiue eternall life.

25. They reply to this two things, first, that the wicked receiue Christ onely Sacramentally, and not Spiritually, and therefore they haue no benefite by him: and secondly, because they receiue him vnworthily, therefore they receiue [Page] their owne iudgement and not saluation, not discerning the body and bloud of Christ. To which I answere, that though they receiue Sacramentally, and vnworthily, yet by their doctrine they receiue v [...]ry Christ: and so by these Scriptures it must needs follow, that they also receiue the fruite and effect of his death, which is life and saluation. Adde hereunto, that the termes here vsed are generall, both in respect of the persons that receiue, and also the manner of receiuing, without any such exception or distinction, as they deuise: and therfore I conclude, that it is as impossible to make a separation betwixt Christ and his sauing grace, as to separate the Sunne from light, fire from heate, or the soule from naturall life.

26. Thus this position is an opposition to Scripture, so it is also to the opinions of the Fathers. To giue a taste of some two or three, Origen saith, That Christ is that true meat, which Orig. in Mat. cap. 15. August. de Ciuit. lib. 21. c. 25. whosoeuer eateth shall liue for euer which no wicked man can eat. Augustine more effectually saith, Hee that is in the vnity of Christs body, that is, a member of Christ, he is truely said to eate Christs body, and drinke his bloud. Note, hee saith truely, to signifie that all other eate him falsly, that is in shew and not in substance. And in another place yet more plainely, Hee Idem in Sent. [...]ent. 339. which disagreeth from Christ, doth neither eate his flesh, nor drinke his bloud, though he take the Sacrament of so great a thing to his iudgement. Theodoret as plainely saith, That Christ is Theodor. in Psal. 32. Cyril. in Ioh. lib. 4. Basil. in. Psal. 3. meate for his owne sheepe onely, that is, his elect. And Cyrill that as many as eate his flesh, haue life in them being ioyned to him who is life it selfe. And Basill saith, that they which are fed with the foode of life, to wit, the bread that came downe from heauen, haue an inward mouth of the minde whereby they eate that spirituall food. Many more such like sayings might be heaped together to this purpose, which for breuity sake I passe ouer: all which are contrary to that Romish position, that the wicked eate and drinke the very body and bloud of Christ; which they must needs doe, if the bread and wine, after the words of consecration, be changed into the very body and bloud of Christ.

27. Lastly, it is contrary to their owne diuinity: for they [Page] hold, that the parts of this Sacrament, as of all others, are two, to wit, the matter and the forme: the forme in this SacramentBell de Sacram. lib. 1. cap. 18. is to the whole word of consecration, together with the sense thereof: the matter is the whole element, with the signification thereof. As for example, in the Eucharist, the matter is the species of Bread and wine, containing vnder them the body and bloud of Christ: and the forme is (for this is my bodie, this is my bloud.) Now, hence I thus reason. The wicked either receiue the whole Sacrament, or they receiue it not; if they do, then there is no difference betwixt the faithfull and them, for they receiue no more; and why should not they be saued then as well as they? if they do not, then either they receiue not Christ at all, because we are sure they receiue the outward Elements: and therfore if any thing be wanting, it must needs be the thing signified, or there are more parts then these two of the Sacrament. Againe thus if the wicked receiue Christ in the Sacrament, and yet not the vertue of Christ, then they receiue not the whole Sacrament, because the vertue of the Sacrament is in the Sacrament, as the vertue of euery thing is in the thing it selfe. And so it followeth, that the wicked in the Sacrament receiue Christ, and yet not Christ the whole Sacrament, and yet but a part of the Sacrament: and that there are but two parts of it, and yet more then two. Obserue (gentle Reader) these contradictions, and wonder.

28. Againe, Transubstantiation is contradicted both by the5. Contrad. doctrine of adoration of Images, and by the Canon of the Masse: by the doctrine of adoration of Images thus; they teach that diuine adoration is to be giuen to the pictures, of Christ, and God the Father, because they represent their most excellent and diuine persons, and yet they would haue the very body and bloud of Christ to be in the Sacrament transubstantiated, because some of the Fathers pretend [...]o say, that it is to be adored with diuine worship. Now, if it bee true that they say, that Images of God the Father, and of Christ our Sauiour, ought to be adored with diuine worship, because they represent their persons: then it must bee false, that therfeore [Page] the bodie and bloud of Christ are really and carnally in the Sacrament, because it is to be worshipped: for, why may not those mysteries of bread and wine instituted by Christ, to put vs in mind of his death and passion, bee, for such their effectuall representation, adored and worshipped with diuine worship, as well as Images and pictures for their representation, especially seeing they carrie a more exact resemblance and liuely signification of him then any picture can doe? Here is a plaine contradiction betwixt the proofe of their Transubstantiation, and their doctrine of adoration of Images, standing vpon these termes, An Image must be worshipped, because it representeth the person of Christ: but the Sacrament is not to bee worshipped, though it represents Christ more fully then any Image, except he be corporally and substantially present in it.

29. Secondly, it is crossed by the Canon of the Masse diuers6. Contrad. waies: First, by the praier that is vsed before the eleuation, where the Priest desireth God to behold the same sacrifice with a propitious and fauourable countenance, like as the sacrifices of Abel, Abraham, Melchizedech &c. If Christ were really offered by the Priest, hee need not pray that God would be propitious to that sacrifice, for in him hee is euer well pleased: neither can his sacrifice be possibly disrespected of God, being of infinite merite and price to satisfie the rigour of his Fathers iustice: it were therefore either horrible blasphemy in their Masse to equalize this absolute sacrifice of Christ, with the imperfect sacrifices of Abel, and Abraham, which stood in need of Gods mercifull acceptation: or it is false, that Christ is really sacrificed in the Masse: one of the two must needs be either blasphemy in the Canon of the Masse, or falshood in their doctrine of Transubstantiation.

30. Againe, by another prayer which is vsed in the consecration,7. Contrad. where the Priest prayeth, that God would command those things to be carried by the hands of the holy Angell vp to the high Altar, into the sight of the diuine Maiestie. Now by these words (those things haec) cannot bee vnderstood Christ, neither in Grammaticall construction, nor in any religious [Page] sense: for in true Grammaticall Latine, he should haue said, if he had ment Christ, either hunc, this; or hoc, viz. sacrifici [...] this sacrifice, and not haec, these things: for though the elements be two, yet by their own doctrine whole Christ is in each of them, and therefore cannot bee spoken of in the plurall number, as if he were either diuided in himselfe, or multiplied to more then himselfe: & in the construction of religion it can be no lesse then blasphemy to imagine, that an Angell must carry vp Christ into Heauen, and present him there vpon the high Altar to the diuine maiestie; for it implieth in him either inability, or vnwillingnesse to present himselfe: to say he is vnable, is to deny him to be God, and so Almighty: and to say he is vnwilling, is to deny him to bee our high Priest and Mediatour, to whose office it onely pertaineth to offer vp the sacrifices of the faithfull vnder the Gospell, as the Priest in the law of Moses might onely offer the sacrifices of the law, and enter into the most holy place, to make reconciliation for the people: so that it remaineth, that the composer of the Masse could not vnderstand by (haec) these things, Christ himselfe: but the elements Bread and Wine which are a representation and commemoration of that one all-sufficient sacrifice on the Crosse: and so either the Masse is erronious, or Transubstantiation a false doctrine; for if the Masse be true, then Transubstantiation is false; and if Transubstantiation be true, then the Masse is false.

31. Thirdly, it is crossed by their manifold crossings, vsed8. Contrad. by the Priest in the Masse: for, if Christ in person bee really present, as a complete sacrifice, what neede such signings or crossings by the earthly hands of a sinfull Priest? is hee sanctified by them? that were blasphemy to thinke. He needeth no sanctification, being the Holy of holies. Is the diuell driuen away by these meanes? that is a greater blasphemy to beleeue: for hee once conquered the diuell, in such sort, that he dareth neuer meddle with him any more. And yet the blasphemous Iesuites are not afraid to affirme, that the diuels may, and doe so come neere to their Sacrament, that theySuar [...]z. tom. 3. l. 55. sect. 1. can both carry it away, and abuse it also. Surely, if this bee [Page] true, then the diuels know, Christ is not there: for they durst not come so neere vnto him sacrificed on the Altar, by whose true sacrifice on the Crosse, they receiued such a deadly wound. Lastly, is God put in minde of his Sonnes sacrifice on the Crosse, by their crossings of him vpon the Altar? This is impudency to thinke: for Almighty God cannot forget the sacrifice of his owne Sonne; neyther can his Crosse bee any whit dignified by their crossings. Which way soeuer they turne them, here is eyther impietie in their Masse, or falsity in their doctrine of Transsubstantiation.

32. Thus much touching the contradictions in the Eucharist.9. Contrad. Now let vs see their concordance in other Articles of their Religion; and that with greater breuitie. And first in their Article of Iustification, therein there lurke foure maine contradictions: First, they say, that the first iustification, when Censur. Colon. pag. 140, 141. Becan. disput. pag. 199. Trident. Concil. sess. 6. cap. 6. Bell▪ de Iustif. lib. 1. cap. 13. Ibid cap. 17. a man of vniust and wicked, is made iust and good, is the free gift of God, and deserued by no precedent works▪ and yet they say againe, that a man doth prepare and make himselfe fit for this iustification by certayne acts of faith, Feare, Hope, Repentance, and the purpose of a new life. Yea, Bellarmine doth not sticke to say, that this faith iustifieth by way of merite, and deserueth forgiuenesse of sinnes after a certaine manner. And all of them [...]each, that those dispositions and preparations arise partly from grace, and partly from free-will, as two seuerall and deuided agents, and that it is in the power of mans will, eyther to accept that grace of God, or to refuse it: as hath beene at large discouered in the fourth Reason. Now heare the contradictions: If it bee meerely Gods free gift, then it is no wayes mans free-will: and if it bee any waies mans free-will to prepare himselfe, then it is not euery way Gods free gift▪ For it is not in this case, as in other externall donations: the King may giue a pardon freely, and yet the prisoner may haue power to receiue or to refuse the pardon, because the pardon is one thing, and the prisoners will on other: but in the iustification of a sinner, the gift it selfe is the very change of the minde, and the will, and the whole man: for it is (as they say) when a sinner is made righteous, and an vniust man is [Page] made iust: and so the will hath no power to reiect it, when God effectually giues it; nor power to accept it, till God alter and change it by his grace. And hence it followeth, that to say it is Gods free gift, and yet that we in part prepare our selues thereunto by our owne free-will, implyeth contradiction, as also this, to merite it, and yet to haue it freely giuen: if it be any wayes of merite, then it is not euery way free. Merite in the receiuer, and freenesse in the giuer, can in no respect stand together.

33. Another contradiction in this Article, is this; that they10. Contrad. say a man is iustified by his works; and yet for all that, he is iustified by grace too. Both these propositions they peremptorily defend, and take it in great scorne, that we charge them to be maintayners of works against grace: and call vs loud Lyers, in casting that imputation vpon them. But by their leaues, they maintaine either works against grace, or else they breathe hote and cold out of one mouth (which the Satyre could not endure) and speake contraries, let them choose whether: for the holy Ghost himselfe placeth these two, Works and Grace, in diametrall opposition; If it be of grace, it is no Rom. 11. 6. more of works, or else were grace no more grace: but if it bee of works, it is no more grace; or else were worke no more worke. Here we see a manifest opposition betwixt grace and works, so that one doth exclude the other, and this in our election: and therefore much more in our iustification, which is but an effect thereof: for election hath nothing to doe with our good works, according to our doctrine, nor with our euill, according to theirs: but iustification hath respect vnto our sinnes and euill deeds; and therefore much greater must bee the opposition in this then in that: & greater reason that here works should be excluded by grace, then in the other.

34 Bellarmines exception is, that the Apostle here excludethBell. de Iustis. lib. 1. cap. 21. onely the works that be of our selues without grace, before we be iustified: but as for those that come after, they are works of grace, and therefore be not excluded by grace, but may well stand together. To which I answere three things: First, that the Apostle hath no such distinction, but speaketh [Page] generally of all works; and therefore according to the olde rule, Vbi lex non distinguit: Where the law distinguisheth not, there we must not distinguish. To say therefore that it is both by grace and works, is to confront the Apostle, and to fasten vpon him a flat contradiction. Yea, it is to extinguish grace vtterly: for as it hath beene before alledged out of Augustine, grace is not grace in any respect, except it bee free in euery respect. Secondly, that the Apostle meaneth works after grace, and such as proceed from faith, as well as works of nature, appeareth by another like place; where works are also excluded, and opposed to the free gift of God, that is, toEphes. 2. 8. grace: and that the Apostle intendeth works of grace, appeareth by the reason following in the next verse (For we are his workmanship, created in Christ to good works.) Now in this last place, works of grace must needs be vnderstood, because he saith, we are created in Christ Iesus vnto them: and therefore the same also must necessarily bee meant in the former: vnlesse wee will say, that the Apostle, or rather the holy Ghost, disputes not ad idem. Lastly, I answere, that in Abrahams iustification, who was the Father of the faithfull, andRom. 4. 2. his iustification a patterne, how all his spirituall posteritie should be iustified, works of grace are excluded: for at that time, of which the Apostle there speaketh, Abraham was regenerate, as Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth: and yet his works are excluded: therefore works of grace are meant by the Apostle. I, but replyeth the same Cardinall, when the ApostleBell. Ibid. c. 19. saith, that Abraham was iustified by faith, and not by works, he excludeth those works which Abraham might doe without faith: for they which haue faith, yet doe not alwaies worke by faith: as when they sinne, or performe meere morall duties, without relation to God. But this is no better then a meere shift, without any ground of reason or truth: for if it bee true which the Scripture saith, that whatsoeuer is not of faith, is sinne; then those morall works, which hee mentioneth, being not of faith, are no better then sinnes, and so need not to bee excluded by the Apostle; for they exclude themselues. Besides, it is manifestly false, that a iust, [Page] and faithfull man, doth any worke, which is not sinne, wherein he hath not relation vnto God; if not in the particular act, yet in the generall purpose of his minde: for, euery morning he prayeth to God for the direction of all his wayes, and that all his works may be sanctified by his Spirit. And thus it appeareth, that in saying, wee are iustified by grace, and yet by works too, they speake contraries.

35. A third contradiction in this Article is about their11. Contrad. works of Preparation, which, they say, goe before the first iustification: these they call, vertuous dispositions, good qualities,Bell. de Iustif. l. 1. cap. 21. Bishop. contra Resor. Cathol. art. 35. good preparations, merits of congruitie; and that they haue a dignitie of worke in them: and yet they say agayne, that no good works goe before the first iustification: belike then they are both good, and not good, by their doctrine: and therefore thus I argue: If they be not good, why do they call them good? if they bee good, then it is vntrue, that no good works go before the first iustification of a sinner: either in the one, or in the other, they must needs erre; and in holding both, the one part of their doctrine crosseth the other.

36. Fourthly, they say, that faith alone doth not iustify:12. Contrad. Bell. de Iustif. lib. 1. cap. 13. Osor. Dom. 23. post Pentec. con. 2. Milet. contra Heshus. and yet, notwithstanding, they say, Fide Catholica Christiana eaque sola hominem iustificari, nulli vnquam negauerunt, nec [...]egant Pontificij. That no Papist euer hath, or doth deny, that a man is iustified by the Catholike Christian faith, and that alone. This is the assertion of Miletus, against Heshusius; and it is not condemned by any of the rest; but his booke approued as contayning nothing contrary to their Catholike Religion: and so it seemes to be one of their Catholike doctrines. And Bellarmine insinuates asmuch, though not in playneBell. Ibid. speech, yet by necessary consequence, when bee saith, that faith is the beginning, and first roote of iustification. Now if it be so, then as soone as a man hath faith, iustification is begun, and taketh roote in him, euen before he hath any other grace: and if it hath taken roote, then it is eyther whole iustification, or a peece thereof: but a peece it cannot be; for it is indiuisible; therefore, eyther whole or none. For grant there be degrees in iustification (as they say) which neuerthelesse [Page] they are neuer able to prooue: yet they bee degrees of persection, not of essence: as a man is a man as soone as hee is borne, though not a perfect man before hee come to complete age, stature, and strength. So their supposed iustification, is iustification in the roote, though not perfect and absolute, vntill it come to ripe age. I speake in their language, because I deliuer their owne doctrine. Now how can these two contraries bee reconciled? Faith alone doth not iustify, and yet faith alone doth iustify? If they say, that they speake of one kinde of faith, and we of another, they say nothing to the purpose: for euen that any faith alone should iustify, is contrary to their owne positions, who affirme, that the former cause of our iustification, is the inherent righteousnes ofBell. de Iustif. lib. 1. cap. 18. works: and not the righteousnes of Christ, apprehended by faith. And thus I leaue the Article of iustification at farre with it selfe, to be atoned by their best wits, if it be possible.

37. Let vs come to their doctrine of workes, and see how13. Contrad. that agreeth with it selfe: and here first they hold, that works done before faith and regeneration, are not good workes, but sinnes. This is proued by them out of Saint Augustine, whoAug. lib. 4. in Julian. cap. 3. affirmeth, that the workes of vnbeleeuers are sinnes: and if the workes of vnbeleeuers, then of all other wicked men which bee not regenerate; seeing, as the same Father else-where speaketh, Impij cogitant, non credunt, the wicked doe not beleeue, but thinke; they haue but a shadow of faith, without substance. It may be prooued also by that generall and infallible axiome of the holy Scripture, Whatsoeuer is not of faith, is sinne: but the workes of wicked men are all voyd of faith, and therefore are no better then sinnes in the sight of God, be they neuer so glorious and beautifull in the eyes of men. OrNazianz. orat. in sanct. Lauac. as Gregorie Nazianzene saith, As faith without workes is dead, so workes without faith are dead: and dead workes are sinnes, as appeares, Heb. 9. 41. Besides, Bellarmine confirmeth the same by reason, because they want a good intention to direct their workes to the glory of the true God, whome they are ignorant of. To which I adde another reason drawne from our Sauiours owne mouth, Mat. 7. Because an euill tree cannot bring [Page] forth good fruit: but euery man, til he be ingrafted into Christ, is no better then an euill tree, and therefore cannot doe a good worke.

38. This is their doctrine, and it is sound diuinitie: but see how they crosse it ouer the face with a contrary falshood; for the same men that teach this, notwithstanding affirme, that the workes of Infidels are good, suo genere, in their kind:Bell, de iustif. lib. 4. cap. 16. so they are good, and not good; sinnes, and yet good works: but this is in their kind, say they, that is, Morally, and not Theologically. I, but morall vertues in the vnregenerate are (by their owne principles) sinnes: how then can they be good any waies? Can sinne, which is a transgression of Gods law, and simply in it owne nature euill, be in any respect good, as it is sinne? But to take cleare away this scruple, another of them auoucheth, that they are not onely morally, but euen Theologically good; for he saith, that such works as are doneSalmer. Jesuit. tit. 15. pag. 41. by the light of nature onely, without grace, doe dispose and make a man in some sort fit to iustification, though it be longè & valdèremotè, remotely, and a farre off; for he that yeeldeth obedience to morall lawes, is thereby lesse vndisposed and repugnant to diuine grace. Now, how can sinnes dispose or prepare a man for iustification? is God delighted with sinnes? Either therefore they are not sinnes, or they doe not dispose to iustification, neither farre nor neere: or which is the present contradiction, they are sinnes and not sinnes, good and not good, at one time, and in one and the same respect. And to put the contradiction out of all question, the Councill of Trent in the seuenth Canon of the sixt Session, enacteth asConcil. Trident. Sess. 6. ca. 7. much, and denounceth Anathema to all that say the contrarie: the words are these, If any man shall say, that all the works which are done before iustification, by what meanes soeuer they are done, are truely sinnes, or deserue the hatred of God, let him be Anathema. And Andradius the interpretor of that Councill,Andradius. authorised by the Fathers of the same, doth more perspicuously explaine the meaning of that Canon, when hee saith, that men without faith, destitute of the spirit of regeneration may doe workes which are voyde of all filthinesse, free from all fault, [Page] and defiled with no sinne, and by which they may obtaine saluation: then which, what can be more contradictory to that which before was deliuered, that all the workes of Infidels and vnbeleeuers are sinnes, be they neuer so glistering with morall vertue? or more agreeable to the olde condemned errors of Iustine, Clemens, and Epiphanius, who affirmed that Socrates, and Her aclitus were Christians, because they liued according to the rule of reason: and that the Grecians were iustified by Philosophie: and that many were saued onely by the law of nature, without the lawe of Moses, or Gospell of Christ?

39. Againe, their doctrine of doubel merit, the one of14. Contrad. Congruity, the other of Condignity, as they terme them, is not onely contrary to the truth, but to it selfe. For this they teach, that the merit of congruity, which the Councill of Trent calleth the preparations and dispositions to iustification, is grounded vpon the dignity of the worke, and not vpon the promise of God: but the merit of condignity requireth both a dignity of the worke, and the promise of God to bee grounded vpon, or else it is no merit. This is Bellarmines Bell. de Iustif. lib. 1. cap. 21. plaine doctrine, and is consonant to the residue of their Doctours, both Schoole diuines, and others: for thus they define the merit of congruity, It is that by which the subiect is Compend. Theol. lib. 5. cap. 11. disposed, that it may receiue grace according to the reason of Gods iustice. Here is onely iustice required, and not any promise to the merit of congruity; though (I must confesse) Gabriel Biel Gabriel. 3. Sent. dist. 27. somewhat crosseth this definition, when [...]e saith, that when a man doth what in him lyeth, then God accepteth his worke, and powreth in grace, not by the due of Iustice, but of his liberalitie. And Aquinas, who affirmeth, that when a man vseth well the Aquinas. 2. 2 ae. q. 114. art. 2. Coster. Enchir. pag. 284. power of free-will, God worketh in him according to the excellencie of his mercy. But yet they all agree in this, that the merit of congruity is not grounded vpon any promise, as the merit of condignity is, but onely vpon the worthin [...]s of the worke done. Now here lurketh a flat contradiction, for by this it should follow, that the merit of congruity should bee more properly a merit then that of condignity. Which Bellarmine denyeth in the same Chapter, because this dependeth vpon it [Page] owne dignity, and hath no neede of a promise, as the other hath: and so should bee also more meritorious and excellent then the other; being neuerthelesse but a preparation and beginning to iustification, and the other the matter of iustification it selfe. And that a man that hath no grace dwelling in him▪ but onely outwardly mouing him, nor is yet iustified, should haue more power to deserue and merite, then he that is fulfilled with grace, and fully iustified. Thus error, like a Strumpet, bringeth foorth a monstrous brood of absurdities: but let vs proceede.

40. Their merite of condignitie bringeth foorth a like15. Contrad. monster; for they build it vpon two foundations, whereofBell. de Iustif. lib. 1. cap. 21. Coster. Enchir. pag. 284. &c. Aquin. 1. 2. q. 114. art. 6. Bell. de Iustif. lib. 5. cap. 14. Coster. Enchir. pag. 285. Bell. de Justif. lib. 5. cap. 17. one ouerwhelmeth the other: to wit, the dignity of the worke, and the promise of God: for what can be more contrary, then mercy and iustice? Now if it depend vpon the dignity of the worke, then it is a due of iustice: and so they call it, Meritum ex iustitia. A merite by iustice: but if it rely vpon the free promise of God (as they call it,) then it must needs be, Meritum ex misericordia. A merite by mercy: for Gods promise is a voluntary fruit of his mercy. They answer, that they may both well stand together: for, say they, God dealeth with vs, as we deale with our hyred labourers; we agree with them for a certayne price, for doing a peece of worke, and when they begin, we giue them an earnest penny; and when the worke is done, according to the couenant, we giue them their wages: So dealeth Almighty God with Christians; he first maketh a couenant with them, that for labouring in his Vineyard they Mat. 20. 2. shall haue a penny, that is, eternall life: then he giueth them the Ephes. 1. 13. earnest of his Spirit, to assure them thereof: and lastly, at the end, when they haue done their worke, hee payeth them their wages. Apoc▪ 22. 12. But by the Iesuites leaue, this similitude is lame of all foure: for first, when a man hyreth a labourer, and bargaineth with him for wages for his worke: this is a couenant of iustice, and no promise of mercy: and therefore if he performe this bargaine, hee is not therefore called mercifull, but iust: but Almighty God, as they themselues confesse, promiseth freely, and is bound to none: and therefore this must needs [Page] be a worke of mercy, and not of iustice. Secondly, there is a proportion betwixt the labourers worke and his hire: but betwixt the Kingdome of heauen, and our good works, there is no proportion, no more then betwixt a finite, and an i [...] finite thing: or a drop of a B [...]cket, and the huge Ocean. And third y a man standeth in need of his workman & his worke: but God hath no need of vs. And hence it must of necessitieIob. 35. 7. follow, that the labourers hire i [...] a debt of iustice: but a Christians hire is a reward of mercy. And so I conclude, that being of mercy, it cannot be of iustice too; or if it be of iustice, it cannot be of mercy t [...]o: f [...] what need [...] iustice, if it bee of mercy? and what need mercy, if [...] b [...] of iustice? And therefore if this merit [...] of condignitie be grounded vpon the worth and valour of he worke done (as they teach) [...] cannot bee grounded vpon the promise of God, as the [...] teach also; because the dignitie of the worke requires [...] as a d [...] by iustice, and the gracious promise of God imparts it, as a [...]eward of mercy.

41. Againe, in their merite of congruitie there is another16. Contrad. Bell de iustif. lib. 5. cap. 21. Co [...]c [...]. Trident. Sess 6. c. 13. [...]an. 4. contradiction: for they teach, that the who [...]e dignitie of the worke dependeth vpon grace; and therefore that it is not so much man that meriteth, as Gods grace in man. And yet the same affirme▪ that this grace doth not inhabitare: that is, awell in a man; but onely outwardly mooue and helpe him: and that it is in mans power, either to accept, or reiect the [...]s me Now how can the power of meriting issue from grace alone, and the whole dignitie of the worke depend vpon grace, when as that grace is not in vs, and when as our owne free will is the chiefe worker, being able of it selfe, either to vnlocke the dore, and let it in, or ba [...]re the doore, and shut it out? And besides, if the whole dignitie of the worke depend vponBell. Ibid. grace, why doth he call [...]t Meritum in [...]hoatum & imperfectū? A lame and vnperfect meri [...]e? I Gods grace [...]ame and imperfect? eyther therefore that grace dwelleth in vs, and is the chiese worker▪ or else it doth not wholly depend vpon grace. And againe, if it wholly proceede from grace, then it is not a lame and imperfect, but a complete & perfect merice. [Page] See, [...] beseech you, how falsehood needeth no other Engine but it selfe to ouerthrow it.

42. Lastly, concerning works, their doctrine is, that the17. Contrad. Concil. Trident Sess. 6. cap. 11. can. 25. Bell. de Iustif. lib. 4. cap. 10. good works of the regenerate are fully and absolutely iust, and perfectly good: and yet neuerthelesse, that they may grow in goodnesse, and are also mixed with many veniall sinnes. If they bee perfectly good, how can they grow in goodnesse? and if they increase in goodnesse, how are they perfectly good, seeing that onely is perfect, to which nothing can be added? If they say that this perfection is but begun, and not finished; why then also, they should say, that they are imperfectly perfect: or else, they pull downe with one hand, that which they build with the other. And againe, if they, most holy and iust men, haue their works intermixed with many veniall sins, for which they need to cry daily, Forgiue vs our trespasses, how can they either perfectly fulfill the law of God, or doe such works as may bee able to abide the censure of Gods iustice, seeing Saint Iames saith, that he that transgresseth one Commandement,Iam. 2. 10. is guiltie of the whole law, because he violateth the body of iustice, contained in the law? as he which hurteth the little toe, doth herein wrong the whole bodie. It is a contradiction therefore, to say, that the works of the regenerate are perfect, and yet are intermingled with many sinnes: and it is all one, as if a man should say, that his face is perfectly cleane, and yet hath many spots: or that the bodie is perfectly in health, and yet is pestred with many diseases.

43. And thus much of good works. Now, besides these,18. Contrad. there are certaine works in their Religion, which are more then good, and more perfect then perfection: these be their works of Supererogation, arising from three grounds: First,Bel. de Monach. lib. 2. cap. 6. 7. when the Saints in this life do more good works, then are necessarie for themselues to the attainment of saluation. And secondly, when they suffer more and greater punishments then are due vnto them for their sinnes. And thirdly, when they vndertake, no [...] onely works, commanded by the law of God▪ but also, such as are commended by the Euangelicall Councells: as, voluntary pouertie, abstayning from marriage, [Page] and regular obedience. These superabounding actions and passions of Gods Saints, are the works of supererogation, spoken of, and magnified so much in the Church of Rome: which both are the Churches Treasure, mingled with the superabounding merits of Christs passion; and are layd vp in a Treasury, the keyes whereof and dispensation is committed to the Pope of Rome, that hee, either by himselfe or his Factors, may dispence them at his pleasure: that is, to them that will buy the same for money: and also (as they say) are more excellent, and perfect, and meritorious of a greater reward. This blasphemous doctrine might easily be woūded to death by the Sword of the Spirit: for it is contrary to all Religion, & to the experience of euery mans owne conscience. But I leaue this to others, who haue, or shall meddle in this argument: my taske is to shew, how it contradicteth both it selfe, and other doctrines of their Religion.

44. It selfe, thus: They teach, that works of supererogation,Bell. Ibid. grounded vpon Euangelicall Counsels, are (as you haue heard) more excellent, perfect, and meritorious, then those which are done in obedience to the law of God: and that in three respects: First, comparing seuerall Counsels with seuerall Precepts which concerne the same matter: As, to sell all and giue to the poore, is a more excellent worke, then any commanded in that Precept, Thou shalt not steale. And the Counsell of Single life, is more perfect then the Precept, Thou shalt not commit Adultery. As if men could bee more perfect then God had commanuded, or then Christ himselfe was, whose righteousnes consisted in this, in being obedient to hisHeb. 10. 7. Psal. 103. 20. Fathers will. Or then the Angels, whose perfection consisteth in executing the Commandements of God. Or, as if the law of God was not a perfect rule of righteousnes. Secondly, comparing the state of men, obseruing Euangelicall Counsells, with the state of them that onely yeeld obedience to Precepts: as if a man could be in a higher and happier estate then they are, which loue God with all their heart; and their Neighbour as themselues: which is the summe of the Law. And thirdly, (marke this) comparing Counsells with any [Page] precept whatsoeuer, euen with that great Commaundement of the Law, Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart, Mat. 22. 37. 38. and with all thy strength. As if a man could loue God more then with all his heart, and with all his strength. Gods children labour for so much, let them take the more for their shares. Hence they conclude, that in respect of matter, the Precept is good; but the Counsels better: and in respect ofBell. de Mona h. lib. 2. cap. 7. the end, the fulfilling of Precepts hath a reward; but the execution of Counsels hath a greater reward. This is their plaine doctrine. And yet neuerthelesse the same men teach, that the perfection of a Christian man consisteth essentially, in the obseruation of Precepts: and instrumentally, in the obseruationBell. Ibid, c. 6. of Counsels. And secondly, that the Precepts of charitie are the ends whereunto Counsels are ordayned: and the works of Counsels are but the way and meanes for the betterAquin. 2. 2. q. 184. art. 3. Idem. Ibid. q. 189. Salmer. c. 7. pag. 37. keeping of the Precepts. Now to the purpose. How can works of supererogation bee more perfect then works of obedience? Counsels then Precepts? seeing perfection consisteth in the one instrumentally, and in the other essentially, and Precepts are the end of Counsels, and not Counsels of Precepts? Is an instrumentall perfection greater then an essentiall? or the meanes more perfect then the end? This is contrary to naturall reason: for Aristotle saith, Maius bonum Aristot. Rethor. lib. 1. cap. 7. est finis, quàm quod finis non est. The end is a greater good then that which is not the end: and the instrument is neuer so perfect as the essence of a thing.19. Contrad. Concil. Trident. Sess. 6. c. 11. can. 25. Bell. de Justif. lib. 4. cap. 10. Idem. de Grat. & lib. arbit. l 5. c. 30. Et de bon, operin partic. l. 1. c. 6. Iam 3. 2. [...]idem de grat. & lib. arbit l. 6. c. 10

45. Againe, it crosseth another of their doctrines thus: They teach, that though the law of God bee possible to bee kept by the regenerate, & the works of the faithfull be simply and absolutely iust: yet they are mixed with many veniall sinnes: and therefore there is none so iust, but that sinneth sometimes, and hath neede to vse that petition in the Lords Prayer daily, Forgiue vs our trespasses. According to that generall axiome of Sain: Iames, In many things wee sinne all. Yea, Bellarmine himselfe affirmeth, that the regenerate may fall into many deadly sinnes, and that hee cannot possibly auoyd veniall sinnes, Nisi priuilegio singulari: But by a singular [Page] priuiledge. Which priuiledge hee cannot instance to haue beene granted to any man liuing or dead, except Christ only, who was God & man. Obserue now the contradiction: (to omit that this necessitie of sinning doth ouerthrow the possibility of fulfilling the law, and doth imply an impossibilitie) how can these two extremes be reconciled? The regenerate cannot performe all they should do, & yet do performe more then they should do. They cannot auoyd veniall sins, and yet can supererogate. It is as much as to say, that a man is not able to pay his owne debts, but must aske pardon for them; & yet hath ability to pay another mans, far greater then his owne. Or, an Archer cannot by any means shoot home to the marke & yet with the same Bow & Arrowes, sent forth by the same strength of his arme, he can shoote farre beyond the marke. He that is tainted and stained with many veniall sinnes, in that respect, is not perfect: but hee that doeth supererogate, is more then perfect: For so they say, when they giue a higherBell. de Monach. lib. 2. cap. 2. degree of perfection to these works, then to the perfect obedience of the law. If they say, that veniall sinnes doe not hinder the perfection of good works: I answere, that neuerthelesse, they hinder the perfection of the worker: & if they stick fast to the worke it selfe, they hinder that also: as the least spot of inke blemisheth the whole face, and the lightest disease disableth the health of the whole body. Eyther therefore they must deny them to be sinnes, and so spots & defects in the soules of the regenerate: or they must confesse, that they are not so perfect as they should be. And how then can they be more perfect then they should be?

46. Further, they teach, that one degree of superero gating20. Contrad. Bell. de Monach. lib. 2. cap. 8. Salmer. tom. 5. tract. 5. Bell. de Monach. lib. 2. cap. 2. perfection, is the vow of Monasticall pouerty, renouncing all propriety in worldly goods, and holding in Common the vse of temporall things: and yet they say, that the state of Bishops, who possesse lands and goods, and enioy the propriety of them, is more perfect then the state of Monks; who depriue themselues thereof, because Bishops haue alreadie atchiued this perfection, and Monks are but in the way to it. From which ground a man may thus argue: If perfection [Page] consist in voluntary pouerty, which is an alienation of all proprietie of worldly goods; then Bshiops, possessing Lordships and reuenues, are not more perfect then Monks, that haue renounced all: and if Bishops, possessing, be more perfect then Monks, not possessing, then perfection consisteth not in the alienation of all proprietie of worldly goods. One or the other must needes bee false, except hee will place perfection in two contraries: to wit, possessing, and not possessing. And the rather may this absurditie appeare, because, aske them, why Monks are more perfect then other men? they will answere, because they remooue from them all impediments of their loue to God (in which ranke they place worldly wealth) and consecrate themselues wholly to Gods seruice. By which reason, Bishops cannot bee more perfect then either they or other men, because they retayne those impediments: and so by their doctrine, doe not wholly consecrate themselues to Gods seruice.

47. From their actions, let vs come to their passions: to21. Contrad. wit, their Satisfactions, or, as Melanchton calleth them, Satispassions, wherein there are as fat and foggie contradictions, as in the former. For, first they teach, that Christ hath made a perfect and full sufficient satisfaction for all the Elect; and thatConcil. Trident. Sess. 4. c. 8. Bell. de poenit. lib. 4. cap. 14. Coster. Enchir. pag. 395. his death was a sufficient price for the redemption and expiation of the sinnes of the whole world: and that his satisfaction was of infinite valew, &c. This they affirme in semblance of words, because, if they should not, all men would cry shame vpon their Religion. And yet, in truth, they ouerthrow the same by another crosse doctrine of our owne satisfactions: for the same men say, that Christ hath onely satisfied for the fault of our sinnes, and the eternall punishment due vnto them: but wee our selues must satisfie for the temporallConcil. Trident. Sess. 4. cap. 10. c. 12. & 13. Bell. de poenit. lib. 4. cap. 4. & 3. & 7. punishment, eyther here on earth, by necessary afflictions, or in Purgatory, by the indurance of those paynes which are there ordayned to purge men withall. Now what can be more contrary then these two propositions? Christ hath made a full satisfaction for vs; and yet we must also satisfie in part for our selues. If Christs satisfaction be full and perfect, then [Page] it hath payd the whole debt which we ought: but if we must pay part of the debt, then is not this satisfaction full and perfect. That the temporall punishment is a part of our debt, Bellarmine himselfe confesseth, writing vpon the fi [...]ft petitionBell. de bonis [...]per. in partic. [...]. [...]. cap. 6. of the Lords Prayer, where hee giueth this one reason, why sinnes are called debts: because he which breaketh the Law, is a debter, to vndergoe the punishment which the Law requireth. But the Law bindeth transgressors, not onely to eternall, but also to temporary and transitory punishments. As a Suretie therfore, that payeth for his friend, owing an hundred pound, fourescoreand ten, leauing the remainder to the debter himselfe to be satisfied, cannot be sayd, to haue made full satisfaction: So, if any part of our debt is to be payed by our selues, Christ, our all-sufficient Surety, cannot be sayd to haue made a full satisfaction. But they answere, that this our satisfactionConcil. Trident. [...]ess. 4. cap. 8. is wrought in vs by Christ; and is so in vs, that it is not of vs, but of Christ. And ag [...]i [...], that it is nothing but an instrumēt ordained by God, to apply Christs death vnto our selues,Bell. de poenit. [...]. 4. cap. 14. and so to expiate the punishment of our sinnes instrumentally, and not causally. To which I answere: First, that this inwrappeth another contradiction: for, if it bee Christs in vs, and not ours of our selues, then it must needs be the satisfaction it selfe, and not an instrument to apply it: for one and the same thing cannot bee both the instrument to apply, and the thing that is applyed. But of this see more in the fourth reason. And secondly, though it be from Christ, yet that is but in part; because, as they teach, it is not onely in euery mans power, eyther to admit, or to exclude the grace of God, and the efficacy of Christs merite, by his owne free-will: but also, for that it is wrought by our selues, and vpon our selues, cooperating with grace at least. And thus the knot of the contradiction remaineth still as fast tyed as euer it was.

48. Againe, they say, that our satisfactions, when they [...]2. Contrad. Bell. de poenit. lib. 4. cap. 1. are at the best, are imperfect, and no wayes proportionable to the iustice of God: for when we sinne, we offend him, who is an infinite God; and whatsoeuer we haue, it is but a small and finite thing: and therefore there must needes bee an imperfect [Page] compensation from vs to God, depending rather vpon his mercifull acceptation thē any proportionable satisfaction. This is their doctrine. And yet they teach also, that there isIdem de poenit. lib. 4. cap. 7. an equalitie and proportion betwixt Gods iustice, and our satisfactory works: and that they are in some sort of infinite valew, by reason of the infinite power of Gods Spirit dwelling in vs, from which they proceede. And thus by their doctrine they are perfect, and not perfect: infinite, and finite: haue equality and proportion, and yet haue no equality nor proportion to Gods iustice. Either therefore they are not of infinite valew, though they proceede from the Spirit: or if, because they doe proceede from the Spirit, therefore they are of infinite value, then they cannot bee imperfect. Let them choose which they will, they haue a Wolfe by the eares.

49. Further, they teach, that the passions of the Saints doe23. Contrad. Bell. de Indulg. lib. 1. cap. 2. not onely profite themselues, but also others, whether liuing or dead; not so much, by example, for their edification, as also, for their satisfaction, by redeeming them from temporall punishment. Which doctrine is not onely contrary toGreg. de Valent. de Indulg. c. 1. Saint Gregory, one of their owne Bishops, who taught that Christs sufferings are herein distinguished from the sufferingsGreg. Mag. of all others; because hee suffered without sinne, and all men suffered with sinne: but also to the receiued doctrine in their Church, which holdeth, that the righteousnes by imputation, whereby we say a man is iustified, is a meere fiction and Chimericall conceit. For a man (say they) cannot bee righteous by another mans righteousnes, nor wise by another mans wisedome: and so not iustified by Christs righteousnes imputed vnto him. Cannot a man be iustified by Christs righteousnes imputed? & can satisfaction be made by the passions of the Saints imputed? Is the death of Christ of lesse p [...]ice & force then the sufferings of the Saints? The righteousnes of Christ imputed, is a Monster in Religion; & yet the satisfaction of the Saints imputed, is with them a Catholike doctrine. And thus with one doctrine they establish imputation, and with the other, pull it downe againe. With one breath they condemne it, and with another they iustifie it.

[Page]50. Ioyne vnto Satisfactions, their bastard Purgatorie:24. Contrad. for out of this doctrine, That men must satisfie in themselues, and for themselues, for the temporall punishment of their sinnes, springeth Purgatory: because, when they haue not satisfied sufficiently in this life, then (as they teach) they must make vp that which is wanting in the life to come, in the fireBell. de Pur at. lib. 1. cap. 7. of Purgatory. This doctrine of Purgatory is directly opposite to their Sacrament of Extreme vnction: for there they teach, that by this Sacrament all the reliques of sinne are vtterly abolished and wiped away. Si quae delicta sint adbuc expianda abstergit (saith the Councell of Trent:) If any sinnes Concil Trident. Sess. 14. ca. 2. Bell. de extrem. vnct. lib. 1. cap. 8 remayne vnpurged, or to be satisfied for, this Sacrament wypeth them cleane away. And the Councell of Florence affirmeth, that the effect of this Sacrament is, Sanatia animae: The healing of the soule. And Bellarmine concludeth, that therefore the fiue Senses are anoynted, because they are, as it were, the fiue doores, by which sinnes enter in vnto the soule: to wit, that there might bee a generall purgation of all sinnes which remayne. This is their absolute doctrine: and yet the same men affirme, that Purgatory is ordayned to purge away theBell. de Pargat. lib. 1. cap. 7. reliques of sinnes, which in our life time wee haue not satisfied for: and that many sinnes sticke so fast and close vnto vs, that we carry them with vs out of this life, to bee purged in that purging fire. This is also their doctrine. Now I would aske of them, if all the reliques of sin be wyped away by this annoynting Sacrament, then what vse is there of Purgatory? and if the reliques of sinne bee to bee purged in Purgatory, then what vse of this Sacrament? Either therefore this fire doth dry vp the vertue of that sacramentall Oyle, or this sacramentall Oyle doth quench that fire. They will say, peraduenture, that eyther all are not anoynted with this Oyle [...] or that some that are anoynted, by their owne infidelity and impenitency, barre out the vertue thereof. Or, lastly, that the sinne being remitted, yet the temporall punishment due vnto it, is to bee payd in Purgatory. To which I reply: first, that it is against the rule of their owne Religion, that none that are anoynted with this Oyle, should goe to Purgatory: [Page] for then a very small number should goe to that place, seeing their Priests are so diligent, for their owne belly sake, that they seldome suffer any to passe away without this Pasport. Secondly, for them which barre out the efficacy of the Sacrament by their owne infidelity or impenitency, not that purging fire of the Suburbs, but the deuouring fire of Hell it selfe is prepared, as they themselues acknowledge. And thirdly, if there be not a purging away of some filthy staines of sinnes from the soule by that fire, but onely a satisfactory punishment, why do they call it a Purgatory? Nay, and why doeth Bellarmine thus define it to bee a place, wherein, as it Bell. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 1. & lib. 2. cap. 1. were in a Prison, after this life those soules are purged, which were not sufficiently purged in this life; to the end, that being so purged, they may enter into heauen, whither no polluted thing can haue admittance? And thus it remaynes a necessary conclusion, that either the reliques of sinne are not clensed away by Extreme vnction, and so that Sacrament is of no force: or, if they be, they are not then purged in Purgatory: and so that fire must needes be quenched.

51. But if this Oyle will not serue to extinguish Purgatorie,25. Contrad. because the fire burneth so hot: let vs adde vnto this the Popes Pardons, which will (at least) evacuate and empty it, that there shall be no fuell for that fire. For they teach, that a Pardon or Indulgence, is the remission of temporal punishment, due for actuall sinnes, out of the dispensation of the Churches Tollet. Instruct. Sacerdotum. lib. 6. cap. 21. Bell. de Indulg. lib. 1. Greg. de Valen. tom. 4. pag. 1846 Treasury. Thus doth Tollet define it, and Bellarmine, and Gregory de Valentia, adding onely, that it is by meanes of application, of the superabounding satisfaction of Christ and the Saints, made by him that hath authority there unto. Now none hath authority thereunto but the Pope onely, and such as are delegated by him to that purpose: for the keyes of this Treasury were committed to Peter, and his Vicar, saith Osorius, Osor. tom. 4. con. in publ. Iubil. another Iesuite: and from them is deriued to Cardinalls, Archbishops, Bishops, and other inferiour Clarkes. And the Pope by his iurisdiction, may absolue all that are in PurgatoryAntonin. part. 3. [...]it. 22. c. 5. [...]. 6. from the paine, and so empty Purgatory at once, saith Antoninus, the Archbishop of Florence: which if it be true, [Page] then either the Pope is vnmercifull, if he can, and will not: for who would suffer such a number of poore soules to bee so tormented, when with a word of his mouth he might release them? or, if hee would, and cannot, then their doctrine is false of his absolute Iurisdiction. Let them choose whether they will. But of this, more hereafter. Now to the purpose. Some of them hold, that the paynes of Purgatory hold but ten yeeres: some, an hundred: some, two hundred: they that stretch them farthest, yet say, that they must end at the day of Iudgement: because then, all must bee Sheepe or Goates, none betwixt both, of middle nature, as Beliarmine affirmeth. Well, then, if Purgatory dure no longer, then we shall not neede to feare it no more, then that fire which the Philosopher calls, Ignis fatuus. For let any man goe to Venice, and say but a prayer of Saint Augustine, printed in a table, and he shall haue 82000. yeeres pardon: that is longer then the world is like to endure by their owne confession, and therefore longer then needes. This indulgence was granted by Pope Boniface the eyghth. Or, if Venice be too farre a iourney, let him stay at home, and but nod the head at the Name of Iesus, and hee shall haue twenty yeeres pardon for euery time. I would nod twenty times a day if this were true, and that commeth to 7300. in the yeere. O how a man may disappoint this Purgatory, if he haue any wit in his head! This Indulgence came from Pope Iohn the two and twentieth. Or, if this be also too great a matter, let a man weare but an Agnus Dei about his necke, and thinke onely in his heart on the Name of Iesus at the houre of his death, and hee shall haue plenary forgiuenes of all his sinnes. And for them that are there already, they are helped out daily, or at least may bee, by the Suffrages and Masses of those that are aliue: and if any remaine there, the fault is in the Priests, that say not Masses fast enough: and the reason of that is, because they receiue not money fast enough: for there is the common Prouerbe most true, No penny, no pater noster. To conclude, [...]ser. tom. 5. pag. 859. in the yeere of Iubile a perfect and full p [...]rdou is graunted to all that desire the same, or on whom the Pope will bestow it: [Page] therefore the soules in Purgatory cannot be excluded. NowEmanuel. Sa. in Aphoris. Barrad. in concord. Euang. pag. 6 [...]1. if all these things stand true, then Purgatory must fall: for who would fall into Purgatory, that may thus easily preuent it? or who would suffer any of his friends soules and acquaintance to lye burning there one houre, when it is in his power thus to redeeme them? Either therefore the doctrine of Pardons is false and fayned, or else Purgatory is no better then a scarcrow.

52. Adde to these, that soules onely are tormented in Purgatory,26. Contrad. Bell. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 9. and not bodies: but bodies sinne as well as soules: and some sinnes are committed by the whole man, to wit, bodie and soule together: and therefore the body is not free from the relicks of sinnes, no more then the soule, especially from obligation vnto temporall punishment. How can then these relicks bee purged away in this fire, when as the one part of man, which standeth in neede of purging as well as the other, neuer commeth thither? Bellarmine sawe this contradiction well enough, and therefore labours to salue it by a false position, driuing out one nayle of error with another: to wit, That sinne is onely an act of free-will; Bell. Ibid. and therefore, after the dissolution of the body and soule by death, remayneth onely in the soule, and not in the dead body. But this is first false: for albeit properly it is the soule that sinneth, yet the body also sinneth, by being an instrument of the soule in sinning: and he himselfe saith, that some sinnes cannot bee committed but a toto composite, by the whole man. And if the bodie doe not sinne as well as the soule, I wonder why it is punished both in this life, with corporall diseases and plagues, and after death, with putrefaction and depriuation of life, and in the day of iudgement, with eternall torment in hell fire. Secondly, if it were so, that a dead carkasse had no relique of sinne in it, yet in that it was an instrument of sinne, it is lyable to temporall punishment, which is the chiefe ground of Purgatory, as hath beene shewed. And therefore I conclude, that either the body goeth to Purgatory as well as the soule; or else a full satisfaction is not made for the temporall punishment: or at least, that the fire of Purgatory is but an imaginary [Page] and witty conceit to keepe men in some awe, and to maintaine their owne pride and pompe.

53. Next vnto Purgatory, is Prayer for the dead, which27. Contrad. is both the mother and daughter of that fire; for as it is vpheld by Purgatory, a weake and imaginary foundation; so it vpholdeth Purgatory, a paper building: neuerthelesse it is ouerturned by it owne poyse and weight. For this theyBell. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 18. teach, That the prayers and suffrages of the liuing, doe nothing profite those that doe enioy blessednesse, as the Martyrs, and such like: according to that of Saint Augustine, August de verbis Apostol. ser. 7. Iniuriam facit martyri qui or at pro martyro: He doth wrong a Martyr, that prayes for a Martyr: nor the damned, whether they be in the lowest Hell, as reprobates, or in Lymbo, as vnbaptized Infants: but onely the soules in Purgatory. And yet notwithstanding, they both alledge the authorities of ancient Fathers, to prooue the prayer for the dead, who prayed for those whom they assured themselues to be in heauen: and also by their owne doctrine and practice declare, that they haue vsed to pray for the damned. As touching the Fathers, Nazianzene prayed for Cesarius, and Ambrose forNazian. in land. Cesarii. Ambro. de obitu Theod & Valent. in August. confes. lib. 9. c. 13. Theodosius, Valentinian and Saint Augustine for his mother. And in the ancient Leiturgies of the Church, prayers were made for Patriarks, Prophets, Martyrs, and the blessed Virgine Mary her selfe: yea, for the Popes also: as for Pope Leo for example; and yet they thought all these to be in the state of blessednesse, as it appeareth in the same places where these prayers are expressed: and therefore Cassander, theirCassand. consult. art. 24. Bell. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 18. iudicious reconciler, calleth those prayers, Testimonies of charitie towards the dead, congratulations of their present ioyes, and professions of their faith and hope, concerning the immortality of their soules, and resurrection of their bodies; not supplications for their releasement out of Purgatory, as our Romanists imagine. Now hence thus we reason: If the Fathers prayed for them who were in possession of blessednes, then their testimonies serue nothing for their purpose, who affirme, that soules in Purgatory are onely benefited by such prayers: and if soules in Purgatory bee onely benefited by such [Page] prayers, as they say, then they deale impertinently and deceitfully to bring in the testimony of the Fathers for maintenance of such prayers; in the one, bewraying the imbecillitie of their cause; in the other, the weaknesse of their iudgements, and in both crossing themselues in that which they would build vp, as the builders of Babel did. Neyther doth this onely bewray their fraude in misapplying the authorities of the Fathers: but also it implyeth a playne contradiction: for they teach, that though wee ought not to pray for the soules of the Saints that are in heauen, yet wee may pray for the resurrection and glorification of their bodies, which notwithstanding are not tormented in Purgatory, but asleepe in their graues. And so it followeth, that by their doctrine we may not pray at all for the Saints departed, and yet wee may pray for their bodies, which are the one halfe of them. And againe, we may not pray for any that are dead, except they be in Purgatory; and yet we may pray for the bodies of the dead, that are not in Purgatory, but in their graues.

54. If they reply as Bellarmine doth, that we may pray for28. Contrad. Bell. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 18. the Saints in Heauen, not for releas of any paine, but for increase of their glorie, either of their soules presently, or of their bodies futurely at the Resurrection: then (I say) they contradict themselues againe. For, how doe the Praiers of the liuing doe no good to any, but those that are in Purgatorie; whereas they are meanes to increase the glorie of their soules, and to procure the consummation of their bodies glorie also? As for their practice in praying for the damned, Damascene reporteth, that Gregorie the Pope absolued Traiane, Damas. in or at. de defunct. and a Martyr Falcenilla from the paines of hell: and also relateth out of the historie of Palladius, that Saint Maehary demanded of the dead skull of an Idolater, whether the Praiers of the liuing did good vnto them in Hell or not to whom the skull should answere, When thou offerest vp Praiers for the dead, we in the meane time feele some refreshing. The like wee read of Iudas, in the Legend of Saint Branden. Bellarmine indeed reiecteth this Tale of the skull as a Fable,Bell. Ibid. but yet he gain-saith not the deliuerie of Traiane, by the praiers [Page] of Gregorie. But Antoninus, the Archbishop of Florence, Antonin. part. 3. tit. 22. c. 5. §. 6. Aquia. in 4. dist. 45. art. 2. q. 2. approoueth the first as an authenticall Storie, so doth Aquinas the last, and frameth this answere thereunto: that the soules of the damned receiue no mitigation of their paine by the Praiers of the liuing; but onely a certaine vaine and deceitfull ioy: and the Schoole men deuise strange reasons, how this should be brought to passe, some saying that Traian, by the vertue of Gregories Praiers, returned to life, and did penance, and so obtained pardon, and glorie: others affirming that his soule was not simply absolued from the guilt of punishment, but that his paine was suspended vntill the day of Iudgement: others imagining, that his soule was not freed from Hell, but from the torments of Hell; so that he should remaine there, but should feele no paine: And lastly, Bernardine reiecting all these opinions, and concluding that Traian was not definitiuely condemned, but conditionally, to wit, the diuine Wisdome fore-seeing that Gregorie should pray for him, and therefore to haue deferred his damnatorie sentence. Thus they labour in by-paths that forsake the way of Truth, and wander they know not whither. But to the point, either that is false, that soules in Purgatorie are onely helped by the Praiers and Sacrifices of the liuing, or this, that by them the damned may be either released or refreshed.

55. Lastly, both the Doctrines of Purgatorie and Praier29. Contrad. for the dead, are directly crossed by their Canon of the Masse: for there those dead persons for whom Praier is made, are said to rest in Christ, and to sleepe the sleepe of peace: and yet here they say, that none are to be praied and sacrificed for, but those onely that are in Purgatorie. What, is there then any rest in Purgatorie? is to be tormented restlessely in those burning flames, which in their iudgement are equall for extremitie, and anguish (excepting onely continuance) to the paines of Hell, to be at rest, and to sleepe in peace? is Purgatorie become a Paradise? and the skirts of Hell the suburbes of Heauen? this is new & strange Doctrine: and yet this must needes bee, if both their practice of praying for the dead in their Masse, and their doctrine of the same in their bookes bee true.

[Page]56. Concerning inuocation of Saints, it is intangled with30. Contrad. diuers absurd contrarieties: for first if it bee true, which the former Doctrine requires, that wee must pray for the Saints which are in blisse, that their glorie may bee increased: thenBell. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 18. it is false that wee must pray vnto them. For if they stand in need of our Praiers, as they doe, if by them their glorie is increased, then they should pray vnto vs, aswell as wee vnto them: and if they stand in need of our helpe being in Heauen, how can they helpe vs being on Earth? if we be Mediatours for them, how are they Mediatours for vs? True it is, that here below one man prayeth for another, because they stand in need of one another: but by another Doctrine which is also the truth, the Saints enioy the sight and presence ofIdem de Sanct. beat. lib. 1. cap. 2. God, and therefore are most blessed, for in him they enioy all sinnesse of ioy and glorie; so that nothing can bee added to that happinesse, which in their soules they enioy: and therefore one of these two necessarily are false, either we must not pray vnto them, or we need not pray for them.

57. Againe, they a leage testimonies out of the olde Testament,31. Contrad. to prooue the inuocation of Saints, as that Praier of Moses, Remember, O Lord, Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, thy Bell. Ibid. lib. 1. cap. 19. Ecchius Enchir. cap. 14. 15. Coster. Enchir. cap. 14. seruants: and Ier. 25. If Moses and Samuel stand before mee, my soule should not bee to this people: and Gen. 48. 16. and Iob the 51. & 2. Machabees 15. with diuers others: and yet they teach, that before Christ, there was no Saint in Heauen, but all in Lymbo. Now, if they were in Lymbo, and could not help themselues, vntil the Mediatour came, how could they help others? and if they did not enioy the presence of God themselues, how could they be certified thereby, as by a glasse, of the necessities and Praiers of the liuing? so that it must needes follow, that either the Saints were not praied vnto, or else if they were, then they were in Heauen, and not in Lymbo. Especially, seeing Bellarmine confesseth, that the Saints in Lymbo Bell. Ibid. lib. 1. cap. 20. did not ordinarily know the necessities of the liuing: that being a prerogatiue of perfect blessednesse: neyther tooke care of humane affaires, nor were protectors of the Church, as the Saints in Heauen are. Bellarmine indeede, seeing this absurditie, [Page] acknowledgeth, that for the reasons afore alleaged, it was not a custome in the olde Testament to direct their Praiers purposely to the Saints; but in their praiers to God, to alleage the merits of the Saints: but herein hee both crosseth himselfe, and all his fellowes: for if it be so, why doth he and they produce testimonies out of the olde Testament, to prooue their inuocation which is made directly vnto the Saints?

58. Lastly, they affirme that no Saints may bee worshipped32. Contrad. publikely, that is, in the name of the Church, vnlesse hee be canonized by the Pope, for the auoiding of misprision:Bell. Ibid. c. [...]. & 10. and yet they confesse that none were canonized till 800. yeeres after Christ, by Pope Leo the third, and also that it is lawfull priuately to worship any of whose sanctity I haue an opinion: now I would gladly know, if this bee a way to auoide mistaking, why was it forborne so long? or why is it not vrged priuately aswell as publikely? if canonization were necessary 800. yeeres after Christ, to auoide mistaking, then there was much mistaking before, or else this remedy would not haue beene hatched: and if it was necessary in the publicke seruice, then is it much more in priuate deuotions, seeing priuate men are more propense to false suppositions, then a whole congregation is: and so this new doctrine of canonization, not onely condemneth the Idolatry offormer times, in the inuocation of Saints, but also openeth a wide doore to priuate superstition, in that kind: and so indeed crosseth and vndermineth it selfe: for Bellarmine confesseth out of Sulpitius, that the people did long celebrate one for a martyr, who after Bell. de Sanct. beat. lib. 1. cap. 7. appeared, and tolde them that hee was damned: and Alexander the third reprehendeth certaine men, for giuing the honour of a martyr, to one that dyed drunke: and no doubt but many such Saints are in their Martyrologe at this day, notwithstanding their canonization: so that by canonizing, they preuent mistaking, & by giuing liberty to priuate inuocation, they giue occasion, if not cause of mistaking: then which, what can be more contradictory?

59. Againe, when they barre all children that are vnbaptized,33. Contrad. out of Heauen, and confine them to Limbo, there to endure [Page] the punishment of losse for euer: doe they not contradict another doctrine of theirs, which teacheth, that men dying without the baptisme of water, if they haue baptismum flaminis, vel sanguinis, that is, either suffer martyrdome for Christs sake, or, bee regenerated by his Spirit, and so haue a desire to bee initiated by that Sacrament, but are preuented by some meanes, may notwithstanding goe to Heauen: for if want of baptisme bee a sufficient cause to keepe from Heauen, then it is so as well in men growne, as in infants: and if it bee not a sufficient cause, to shut vp Heauen gates against men of yeeres, then how can it be to yong infants? especially, seeing infants by their doctrine, are equall to men in two things: first, that they may bee martyrs, as well as they: as the children whom Herod slew in Bethl [...]em, are celebrated in their leiturgies: and secondly, that they may bee sanctified as well as they, as Iohn Baptist was in his mothers wombe: and in these two are precedent vnto them, first, that they are void of actuall transgressions, with which, men of yeeres are infinitely stayned, and so neerer to Heauen, then those: and secondly, though they haue no desire of baptisme in themselues, yet they are deuoted thereunto, both by the desire of their parents, and by the purpose and intent of the Church. And therefore, all considerations, being equall in the persons, and the oddes remaining, if there be any on the infants side, it can bee no lesse then a direct contradiction, that children vnbaptized cannot bee saued, and men vnbaptized may bee saued: for it implieth thus much in effect, that the outward baptisme of water is necessary to saluation, and yet the outward baptisme of water is not necessary to saluation.

60. Againe, concupiscence in the regenerate, is denyed34. Contrad. Bell. de amiss. grat. & stat. peccat. lib. 5. cap. 7. Concil. Trident. Sess. 5. by them all, to bee in it owne nature sinne, and yet they all confesse, that it is malum, an euill, and vitium, a vice. Is any thing naturally euill, which is not sinne? or a vice in Philosophy, that is not a sinne in diuinity? This is strange diuinity. The name of euill, we know, is vsed of annoyances, crosses, and afflictions; but these are naturall euils, and not morall: but to doe euill, can bee said of nothing, but sinne: and howsoeuer [Page] ti bee true, that vice is rather the habit, then the act of sinne: yet because it is the habit, is it therefore lesse sinfull then the act? noy, is it not more sinfull, seeing it groweth out of many actes, and is confirmed by custome, and almost turned to nature? In this therefore they are most contrary to themselues, when they grant concupiscence to bee of it owne nature an euill, and a vice, and yet not a sinne: for nothing is naturally euill, but that which swarueth from good: nor any thing vice, but that which is contrary to vertue. Now all morall good and vertue is within the compasse of the Law of God, and all morall euill and vice, a transgression of that Law; therefore, it cannot but follow, that concupiscence being a morall euill and vice, and therefore a transgression of the Law of God, should bee cleared from being sinne, of it owne nature, especially, seeing as Origen saith, This is the nature of Orig. in Rom. 7. sinne, if any thing bee done, which the Law forbiddeth: and Bede, Beda in 1. Ioh. Caesar. Dial. 3. apud Nanzianz. that all that swarueth from the rule of righteousnesse, & sinne: and Caesarius Gregory, Naianzens brother, that sinne is euery assay to resist, and euery resistance it selfe against vertue. And Saint Augustine, that therefore a thing is sinne, because it ought not to August. [...]e not. & grat. cap. 14. & contra Iulian. lib. 4. cap. 3. bee done, and that to doe any thing amisse, is to sinne: but euery moral leuill and vice is forbidden by the Law, swarueth from the rule of righteousnesse, is a resistance against vertue, and a thing that is done amisse, and ought not to bee done: therefore is also sinne in it owne nature. They haue no wayes to helpe themselues out of these briers, but by the distinction of properly and improperly, which they say, they fetch out of Saint Augustine, as if concupiscence in the regenerat should be sinne improperly, and not properly, by which the contradiction is not taken away: for they say, that it is not sinne at all in it owne nature, but onely euill: now; if it bee improperly sinne of it owne nature, then it is some way sinne: and so that proposition is false, that it is not sinne at all: and besides therefore it is said by that distinction in Saint Augustine, to be improperly sinne, because it is not come to so high a perfection, as other sinnes are, by being without consent of will: neuerthelesse, hee neuer meant, but that it was a transgression of [Page] the Law of God: and so a sinne in it owne nature: as may appeare by almost infinite places, in his bookes: as for instance one for all, Concupiscence (saith he) is not onely the punishment Aug. contra Julian. lib. 5. c. 3. of sinne, and cause of sinne, but euen sinne it selfe, because there is in it a rebellion against the Law of the minde: and therefore heeIdem de ci [...]itat. lib. 1. cap. 25. & contra Julian. lib. 6. cap. 7. & de Joh. tract. 41. & denupt. & concupisc. lib. 1. cap. 25. calleth it a concupiscentiall disobedience, which dwelleth in our dying members: and in other places, an euill quality, vitious desires, vnlawfull lusts, &c. Therefore Saint Augustine, when he called it [...]in improperly, neuer dreamt that is was not a transgression of the Law, but either that it was not so high a degree of sinne, as those which are done with consent of will: or that because the guilt of it is taken away by baptisme in the regenerate; as hee speaketh in another place, ConcupiscenceIdem contra Iulian. lib. 2. is not called sinne in such manner, as sinne maketh guilty, because the guilt thereof is released in the Sacrament of regeneration. And thus this distinction rightly vnderstood, standeth them in no stead, to keepe their doctrine from manifest contradiction.

61. This subiect might bee prosecuted in many more35. Contrad. points of their Religion, but I conclude with these two, Antichrist, and the Bishop of Rome, which I ioyne together in this discourse, because in truth they are all one: and though they differ in name, yet they agree in nature: one egge is not liker to another, nor milke liker to milke, then the Pope is to Antichrist. As touching Antichrist therefore thus they confesse, that by mysticall Babylon in the Reuelation, is meant `Rome, Bell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 13. Viega. sup. Apocal. 11. v. 12. Rhem. Annot. in Apocal. 17. 8. Ribera com. in Apocal. 14. and by and by with an other contrary blast, they puffe away that againe, and affirme, that Rome is not Babylon. The first is auouched in plaine termes, both by Bellarmine, and Viega, and Ribera, two other Iesuites, and the whole colledge of the Rhemists, and diuers others, conuicted by the euidence of truth: and the second is insinuated by a necessary consequence out of another position: for they say, that Ierusalem shall bee the seat of Antichrist: and in so saying, they inferre necessarily, that Ierusalem is mysticall Babylon, and not Rome, because the whore of Babylon is set foorth in the Scripture, to be the seat of Antichrist: and it must needs bee so, seeing shee is called [Page] the mother of all fornications, that is, of Superstition and Idolatry, of all Atheisme and heresie: and seeing shee maketh drunke the kings and inhabitants of the earth, with the golden cup of her fornication, and is died red, and made drunke with the bloud of the Saints, and of the martyrs of Iesus: And lastly, seeing Antichrist must bee one of the seuen heads, to wit, the last of the Romane beast, and the last King of the Romane Empire, though not called the Romane Emperour, asBell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 15. Bellarmine himselfe confesseth. All these things considered, and laide together, it must needs bee inferred by necessary consequence, that the whore of Babylon cannot choose but bee the seat of Antichrist; and if it bee so, then either Ierusalem is not the seat, where this man of sinne must raigne; or by Babylon is not meant Rome, but Ierusalem: let them choose which: one of these is apparantly false.

62. Againe, when by Babylon they vnderstand Rome, they36. Contrad. restraine it to heathenish Rome, vnder the persecuting Emperours; and say, that it is not meant of Rome Catholicke and Christian, but of Rome Ethnick and Heathenish. Now if Rome be Babylon, and Babylon the seat of Antichrist, as hath beeneBell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 13. proued out of their owne confession, how can Rome heathenish, vnder the Emperours, be it, when as they all agree, that Antichrist shall not come, vntill a little before the end of the world? That state of Rome, which they speake of, is past aboue a thousand yeeres since, and Antichrist is not yet come according to their doctrine. Necessarily therefore it followeth, that either Antichrist sate there then, and so is come long agoe; or else that Rome was not Babylon, whilst it was vnder the heathen Emperours, but is, or shall be after it hath receiued the Christian faith.

63. Againe, the Romane Empire must bee remoued before37. Contrad. the comming of this great enemie: this, all our aduersariesIdem l. 3. cap. 5. yeeld vnto: and most of the ancient fathers so interpret that place, When he that hindereth, shall be taken out of the [...]. Thes. 2. 8. way: and yet the state of the Romane Empire, vnder the Emperours, is made by them the whore of Babylon, and the seat of Antichrist: and so the Romane Empire by their doctrine, [Page] is both vtterly abolished before the raigne of Antichrist, and yet is not abolished at all.

63. Againe, they teach, that Enoch and Eli [...] must come38. Contrad. Bell. de Roman. Pontif. l. c. 6. & cap. 12. and preach against Antichrist, and at length conuert the Iewes: and yet they also affirme, that the Iewes shall receiue Antichrist for their Messias. If the Iewes shall receiue him for their Messias, how shall they bee conuerted by Enoch and Elias to the true Messias? And if they shall be conuerted, how doe they receiue him for their Messias? If they shall be conuerted before Antichrists comming, and then fall away from Christ; then this could not be done by Enoch and Elias, who, by their doctrine, must come in Antichrists time: and yet it seemeth by them, they must be called before; because Bellarmine confesseth, that Antichrist must be an Apostate, and the head of the Apostacy: but the Iewes cannot make an Apostacie before they be called. Againe, if they shall bee conuerted in Antichrists time, how shall Antichrist raigne three yeeres and an halfe, when all his Subiects shall be taken from him? And lastly, if they shall bee called after the destruction of Antichrist, as indeed they suppose, thē how can that be, seeingIbid. cap. 9. the destruction of Antichrist shal not be but immediately before the end of the world, euen fiue and fortie daies, and no more? Shall a whole Nation bee conuerted in so short a time, and being conuerted, continue no longer, to make profession and practice of their conuersion? Thus one absurditie being granted, a thousand follow.

64. Besides, they say, that Antichrist shall bee borne of the 39. Contrad. Ibid. cap. 12. Tribe of Da [...]: and yet the Iewes shall receiue him for their Messias. Whereas notwithstanding it is a manifest and confessed thing that the Iewes looke for their Messias out of the Tribe of Iuda, and not out of the Tribe of Dan. To stoppe which g [...]p, they are driuen to say, that indeed he shall truly rise out of the Tribe of Dan, but shal faine himselfe to be of the Tribe of Iudah, and of the familie of Dauid. As if the Iewes were so credulous to beleeue his report without proofe: or that they kept so sleight an account of their Genealogies, in which neuer any people were more scrupulous: or, as if a distinctiō of [Page] their Tribes remained to this day, their Genealogies being defaced so long since by Herod: and themselues scattered through all Countries of the world. Either therefore he must be of the Tribe of Iuda, in truth, more then by a counterfeit simulation; or else the Iewes will neuer receiue him.

65. Lastly, they teach, that Ierusalem is to bee the seat of40. Contrad. Antichrist, and the Iewes his peculiar Subiects: and yet they also confesse, that hee shall bee the last Emperour of Rome, though not called by that name; and therefore that the Romanes shall bee his Subiects. From whence I thus conclude; that if the Romane Empire bee the Dominion of Antichrist, then it is not likely that hee should bee the expected Messias of the Iewes, nor that Ierusalem should be his seat: for neuer any Romane Emperour kept his Imperiall residence in that Citie: and if the Iewes bee his Subiects, and Ierusalem the seat of his Kingdome, then it cannot bee that hee should be the last Emperour of Rome.

66. And thus much of Antichrist in generall. Now of the41. Contrad. Bishop of Rome in particular; who, if he be not, as we constantly beleeue, this very Antichrist; yet, (as Gregory their owne Pope confesseth) is his fore-runner, because hee claimeth to himselfe the title of Vniuersall Bishop. Concerning the Pope, their presumption is, that hee cannot erre in any case, in those things which pertaine to faith, nor yet which concerne manners, when he teacheth iudicially, and speaketh out of his Chaire: and yet they doe not deny, but that hee may bee an Heretike. This is confessed by most Popish Doctors:Boz. to [...]. 2. de [...]ig. eccles. l. 28. cap. vlt. Fran. Victor. Relect. 4. nu. 6. Occham. quaest. de Sum, Pontif. cap. 9. Bell. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 4. c. 6. as Bozius, who saith, that he may be an Heretike, yea, write, teach, and preach heresie. And Victoria, that in dispensing against the Decrees of Councils, and former Popes, he may erre and grieuously sinne. And Occham, that many things are contained in the decretals, which sauour of heresie. And it is so faintly denyed by Bellarmine, that his denyall is almost as good as a confession▪ for he saith, that it is probable, and may godlily be beleeued, that the Pope cannot be an Heretike. Hee doth not resolutely auouch it, but only coniecturally expend his opinion: but yet denieth not, but that hee may erre in [Page] some causes as a priuate man. And it is a Decree of their owne, that the Pope may bee found negligent of his owne and his brethrens saluation, and draw innumerable peopleD. 4. Si Papa. with him into hell. This grosse and manifest contradiction they labour to couer by a silly and ridiculous distinction: for thus they creepe betwixt the barke and the tree: The Pope may erre as hee is Man, but not as he is a Pope. Orthus, He may erre in his priuate opinions, but not è Cathedra, by way of definition. Or thus, Hee may erre when hee instructeth a particular Church: but he cannot when he purposeth to direct the Vniuersail Church. Or thus, Hee may erre in the premises, but not in the conclusion. But this is a senselesse and ridiculous shift. For first, if hee may write, teach, and preach, and decree heresie, as out of Occham and Bozius: and erre in his Dispensations, as out of Victoria, then he may erre iudicially, and è Cathedra; for these are iudiciall exercises of the Chaire. Secondly, if the Pope may be an Heretike, as he is a Man, and haue a sound saith, as he is a Pope; then as hee is a Man, hee may goe to hell, and as he is a Pope, to heauen: but both mu [...] goe to heauen or to hell together; therefore both of them either erre or not erre together: and if he erre in his owne priuate iudgement, how can hee but erre in his publike determinations, which are but fruits of his iudgement; especially, seeing the maine promise whereupon this infallibil [...]ie of the Popes Chaire is grounded, was made not onely to the Office, but also to the person of Peter? Luk. 22. 32. I haue prayed for thee that thy faith may not faile: as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth, and Augustine, Chrysostome, Bell. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 4. c. 3 Aug. de correp. & grat. cap. 8▪ Chrys. hom. 83. in Mat. Theophil. in cap. 22. bic. Theophilact, and others of the Fathers expound it as a personall priuiledge, without any mention of his Office: neuerthelesse, let it belong to his Office, if that will doe them any good: then I say, What reason is there, that the priuiledge of Peters person should not be deriued to the Pope, as well as his Office, seeing they cl [...]ime the latter by the same title, by which Peter had the former? and if Peters faith could not faile, neither in himselfe, nor in his Office, by vertue of that promise; then the Pope, if he be Peters successor, must be in [Page] the same case, that is, neither to erre personally nor iudicially: or if he erre one way, then also to bee subiect to error the other. Lastly, experience hath taught, that Popes may erre, euen as they are Popes, and that iudicially: yea, and also haue beene condemned for Heretikes: As Honorius the first, whom three generall Councils condemned for a Me [...]othel [...]te. And Iohn the two and twentieth, who was constrained to recant his iudgement touching the soule, by the Vniuersitie of Paris. And Iohn the three and twentieth, who was condemned for an Heretike, by the Council of Constance, Eras. annot. in 1. Cor. 7. for denying the immortality of the soule. And diuers others, who not onely in their priuate opinions, but in their publike doctrines, haue taught and maintained notorious errours.

67. Another doctrine of theirs is, that the Pope is the42. Contrad. head of the Church, and yet they denie not, but sometimes the Pope is no true nor sound member of the Church: how can hee be the head of the Church, that is no sound member thereof? nay, no member at all, not so much as the taile, as the Iewish Rabbines call the Bishop of Rome, in disdaine: except their last distinction helpe them, quatenus Papa, and quatenus homo, I know not how they will rid themselues out of this snare; and yet that will not helpe them, neither in this case: for is it likely, that Christ will make a reprobate, the head of his Church, and commit the cu [...]dy of the same to an Atheist, an Heretike, or an Epicure, or a Necromancer, or a monster of nature, as all stories [...]all Iohn 12. and as many of them haue beene? Surely either as he is a Pope, he is not the Churches head: or as hee is a man, hee must needs be a member of the same. If they say, that wee giue vnto a King the same title of head and gouernor of the Church, who notwithstanding is often a tyrant, and waster of the Church, and a very reprobate: I answere, that in attributing these titles of dignity to Kings, wee doe not positiuely set downe what euery one is: for if hee bee a destroyer of the Church, hee is not an vpholder of it; but what euery one ought to bee in regard of his office: but the Romanists absolutely set it downe, that [Page] though the Pope be a wolfe, wasting the flocke of Christ, and though hee lead by his doctrine and example, infinite soules with him to hell, yet hee is still actually the head of the Church, quatenus Papa, and no man may say vnto him, Why doe you so?

68. Againe, it was decreed by two Councils, and those43. Contrad. assembled, authorized, and confirmed by Popes themselues, that the Councill was aboue the Pope; and yet the CouncillConcil. Constant. & Basill. Bell. de Concil. lib. 2. cap. 17. of Laterane, vnder Pope Leo the tenth, decreeth peremptorily, that the Pope is aboue all Councils: & so also most of the moderne Romanists affirme. Now if the decrees of Councils lawfully assembled, and approoued by Popes, bee the doctrines of the Church, then here is one doctrine quite contrary to another, one Councill opposite to another, yea, one Pope to another: which is no new nor strange thing, but ordinary in the Church of Rome. As witnesse, Pope Iohn the two and twentieth, and Pope Nicholas, about the question of our Sauiours manner of possessing earthly goods: and Pope Celestine, and Pope Innocent the third, in the question of diuorce, in the case of heresie: and Pope Pelagius, and Pope Gregory the first, in the question of putting away the wiues of Subdeacons; one of these crossing the other iudicially, and one gain saying, what the other defended. And most notorious is that which diuers Chronologers testifie of Pope Stephen Sigebert. Polonus. Sigonius de reb. Ital. lib. 6. Lui [...]prand. ver. per Europ. gest▪ lib. 1. cap. 8. Concil. Reuen. anno Dom. 898. the sixt, how hee decreed in a Councill, that they who were ordained Bishops by Pope For [...]sus, his predecessour, were not ordained lawfully, because the man was wicked, by whom they were ordained; & therfore he did vnordain them, and reordaine them againe: thus Stephen iudicially crossed Form [...]sus, and hee againe was crossed and condemned by Pope Iohn the ninth, euen for this fact, and his new ordainings marched with new baptizings.

69. Lastly, they constantly maintaine, that the Pope is44. Contrad. not Antichrist; and yet they affirme that hee is the Vicar of Christ heere on earth: a flat contradiction: for the word Antichrist signifieth not onely an enemie vnto Christ, but also one that taketh vpon him the office and authority of Christ: [Page] the pr [...]position [...], affording naturally, and properly, both significations, as appeareth in these two wordes [...], an opposite, and [...], a Proconsull: in the first whereof it signifieth opposition, and the second substitution. Now then, if the Pope bee Christs Vicar generall on earth, then he is in the last sense Antichrist: and beeing so in the last sense, it is most likely that hee is also the same in the first: because the Antichrist spoken of in the Scripture, is described to be such a one as is not an open and outward, but a couert and disguised enemie, hauing two hornes like the Lambe, that is, counterfeting the humility and meeknesse of Christ, and making aApoc. 13. & 17. glorious profession of religion, with a shew of counterfeit holinesse, when notwithstanding hee speaketh lyes in hypocrisie, and vttereth wordes like the dragon, and is the greatest enemy to Christ Iesus and his Gospel that euer was: so that in that hee is Christs Vicar, hee is Antichrist, by their owne confession, in that sense, and being so, is probably Antichrist also in the other: because the true Antichrist must bee both the one and the other. And so for the conclusion of this point, wee haue not onely the mystery of iniquity, that is, Antichristianisme in the manifold contradictions and oppositions thereof, but euen Antichrist himselfe lurking in his den, professing himselfe and his followers to bee the onely true Church of God, and pretending himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant, as Saint Ierome speaketh, that is asmuch as to say, the Vicar of Christ: and without doubt, as the sweet harmonie in Christian Religion, and euery part thereof with it selfe, is a pregnant argument of the infallible truth thereof: so the miserable opposition and contrariety in the Religion of the Church of Rome, and that most of the doctrines therein contained, either with themselues, or with other, as I haue in part here shewed, leauing a fuller demonstration thereof to some other that shal more deeply search into them, doe euidently euince, that it is the Religion of Antichrist; and therefore not onely to be suspected, but euen to bee abhorred of all them that loue the truth, or that desire the saluation of their soules.

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The IX. MOTIVE. That Religion, whose doctrines are in many points apparently opposite to the word of God and the doctrine of the Gospell cannot bee the trueth: but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome, ergo &c.

1 IN the Chapter going before, I haue shewed how the Romish Religion is contrary to it selfe, that is, falshood to falshood: now in this, my taske is to demonstrate, how it crosseth the word of God, that is, falshood to truth; which being proued, I hope, no man which is not drunke with the poisonous cuppe of the whoore of Babylons fornication, will doubt of the vanity and falshood thereof. Now my purpose is not to enter into the lists of disputation, and confute their opinions by strength of argument, (that combate hath beene valiantly performed by many of our Champions:) onely my intent is, first to shew how their doctrines cōtradict the plain text of Gods word, and secondly, to wipe away their subtle and intricate distinctions, whereby they labour to make a reconciliation betwixt the word of God, and their opinions; which shall be my onely taske in this Chapter: for it is to bee noted, that there was neuer any generation so happie, or rather so miserable in distinctions, as the Romanists are: they maintain their kingdomes by distinctions, by them they blind the eyes of the simple, dazle the vnderstanding of the vnaduised, set a glose vpon their counterfeit ware, couer the deformity of their Apostate Church; and lastly, extinguish the truth, or at leastwise, so darken and obscure it, that it cannot shine so brightly as it would: but in seeking to extinguish the light of truth, they distinguish themselues from the trueth: and as Iacob by his party-coloured stickes, occasioned a brood of party-coloured sheepe and goates: so they, by their fond distinctions, bring foorth a party-coloured and counterfeit Religion: as I trust to lay open to the world, in this discourse following.

2. The maior or first proposition beeing without all controuersie▪ [Page] I passe ouer in silence, and come to the minor or secondMinor. proposition, which is, that the Religion of the Church of Rome in many doctrines is apparently opposite to the word of God.

3. The Gospell teacheth, that [...] one onely God is to bee1. Mat. 4. 10. Mat 6. 9. 1. Pet. 5. 7. Psal. 50. 15. Ier. 17. 5, 7. inuocated and worshipped, and that after that manner which he hath appointed in his word, and that all the confidence of our saluation is to bee placed in him alone: but the Romanists command not onely to inuocate God, but also Angels and Saints departed, and in time of danger to expect helpe and succour from them, and to repose our trust and confidence in them also.

4. Bellarmine distinguisheth and saith, that God alone indeedBell. de Roman. Pontif. l. 3. c. 23. is to be worshipped, and inuocated with that kinde of adoration, which is due onely vnto God: but yet the excellent creatures may bee honoured, and some of them inuocated, not as gods, but as such as are Gods friends, that is, with an inferiour kinde of worship.Answere. Aquin. p. 3. q. 25. art. 3. l. 4. Concil. Trident. Sess. 13. cap. 5. Gregor. de Valent. de Idolat. l. 2. cap. 7. Cerem. Rom. Eccles. l. 1. tit. 7. Aquin. 2. 2. q. 96. art. 4. & part 3. q. 25. art. 4. Pontif. Rom. part. 2. tit. de benedict. nou [...] crucis. [...]r [...]uiar. Rom. in hymn. ad beat. virgin. Apost. martyr. & in [...]ff [...]c. defunct. Biel. lect. 80. in expes. can. miss.

5. But these distinctions cannot extinguish the truth: for first they giue by name the highest worship that can bee, to wit, Latria, to the Image and reliques of Christ and the crosse, and to a piece of bread in the Sacrament, insomuch that Gregory de Valentia, a famous Iesuite, and Bellarmines compeere, is in this regard driuen to say, that some kinde of Idolatrie is lawfull. Secondly, if they should deny this, yet their doctrine and practice doth apparently proclaime asmuch: for when they say to their Agnus deis, It breaketh and quasheth all sinne as Christs bloud, doe they not equall them to Christ? when they place their hope and confidence in Saints and reliques, doe they not equall them to God? when they pray, that by the merit of a golden, siluer, or woodden crosse, they may be freed from sinne committed, doe they not equall it with our Sauiour that dyed on the crosse? when they desire at the Saints hands grace and glory, doe they not equall them to the God of grace, and glory? when they call the blessed Virgine the Queene of Heauen, and giue vnto her one halfe of Gods kingdome, euen the halfe of mercy, doe they not equall her [Page] to her maker? Lastly, when they offer sacrifice to reliques andMissal. Rom. tit. derit. seruand. in celebr. miss. Images, as namely, burne frankincense, set vp tapers, offer the calues of their lippes, doe they not equall them to God? for all these dueties are proper and peculiar parts of Gods seruice; and therefore in attributing them to creatures, they giue vnto them plainely that seruice and worship, which belongeth to God alone.

6. The Gospell teacheth, that remission of sinnes, and euerlasting2. Esay 63. 3. 1. Ioh. 1. 7. 1. Ioh. 2. 2. Act. 4. 14. Rhem. Col. 1. 24. Biel. 3. d. 19. art. 2. cond. 5. Bell. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 14. Bell. de Rom. Pont. l. b. 3. c. 23. life, is bestowed vpon vs freely, not for any works or merits sake of our owne, but for Iesus Christs sake, the only begotten Sonne of God, who was crucified for our sinnes, and rose againe for our iustification: But the Romanists teach, that wee are iustified and saued, not by Christs merits onely, but in part for Christs sake, and in part for our owne contrition, obedience, and good works.

7. Bellarmine answereth, that their doctrine is falsely charged, to say that sinners are iustified, partly for their owne works sake, and partly by Christ: for (saith hee) by a distinction there bee three kinde of works; one, of those that are performed by the strength of nature onely, without faith and the grace of God: another, of such as proceede from faith and grace, but not from a man fully iustified: and therefore are called works of Preparation; as Prayer, Almes, Fasting, Sorrow for sinne, and such like: and the third, of such which are done by a man iustified, and proceede from the Spirit of God dwelling in his heart, and sheading abroad charity in the same. Now concerning the first, hee acknowledgeth that we are not iustified by them, by the example of Abraham, Rom. 4. and therefore that they most impudently belye their doctrine, that fasten this opinion vpon them. As touching the second, he saith, that these works Preparatiue are not meritorious of reconciliation and iustification by condignity and iustice: yet in as much as they proceede from faith and grace, they merite after a sort; that is, obtaine remission of sinnes. The third sort of works hee boldly and confidently affirmeth, to merite not remission of sinnes, because that was obtayned before: but euerlasting glory and happinesse, and that truely and properly.

[Page]8. This Bellarminian distinction may be distinguished byAnswere. two essentiall qualities: first, Folly; secondly, Falsehood. Folly: for it maketh nothing to the taking away of the Antithesis before mentioned: for when as he confesseth, that the second kinde of works doe merite remission of sinnes after a sort, and the third eternall life absolutely, what doth [...]e but acknowledge that which wee charge them withall, and which himselfe reiected a little before as a slaunder? namely, that wee are iustified and saued partly by our owne merits, and partly by the merits of Christ: for the Gospell saith, We are saued by Christs merits alone: and he saith, We are saued by our owne merits also. And thus the folly and vanity of his distinction euidently appeareth.

9. The falsehood sheweth it selfe in two things: first, in that hee affirmeth, that they doe not teach, that works done before grace doe merite any thing at Gods hand: for though it be a Canon of the Councill of Trent, charged with an Anathema,Concil. Trident. [...]ess. 6. can. 1. If any man should say, that a man may bee iustified by his owne works, wrought by the power of nature, without the diuine helpe by Christ Iesus: and Bellarmine seemeth to affirme as much in this place. Yet Andradius, that famous Interpreter of that forenamed Councill, one of the most learned men of his age, and that knew well the mysteries of that Councill, doth tell vs, that by diuine helpe the Councill vnderstood not the grace of regeneration, and speciall worke of Gods sanctifying Spirit, but heroicall motions, stirred vp in the vnregenerate and vnbeleeuers: and that by this speciall helpe they might doe works void of all fault, and meritorious of saluation. And Bellarmine confesseth in other places,Bell. de Iustif. lib. 4. cap. 20. Salmer. t [...]. 5. pag. 41. Concil Trid. Sess 6. can. 7. that they are good, suogenere: that is, morally: and Salmeron the Iesuite, that they dispose and prepare a man for iustification: and the same Councill of Trent in the seuenth Canon following, doth curse them that shall say they are sinnes, or that they deserue the hatred of God. Now if these kinde of works be good in their kinde, and preparatiues to iustification, and not sinnes, nor deseruing the hatred of God, but such as whereby the Heathen were saued; then it is a probable [Page] falsehood in Bellarmine, when he saith by their doctrine, that these works doe not iustifie, nor helpe any thing to the iustification of a sinner.

10. Secondly, it is false also which he affirmeth, concerning the second kinde of works: to wit, of preparation, that though they proceede from faith and grace, yet they doe not iustifie: for Bellarmine in another place doth not stick toBell. de Iustif. lib. 1. cap. 13. Idem. cap. 17. say, that this faith iustifieth by way of merite, and deserueth forgiuenes of sinnes after a certaine manner: and here in this place, that these works proceeding from faith, doe merite after their manner, and obtaine remission of sinnes; which if it be true, then it must needes be false which he sayd before, That they make not our works to concurre with the merits of Christ, for the remission of sinnes, which is the point of opposition: and that which also he affirmeth here, That these works doe not iustifie, seeing remission of sinnes is of the verie essence of iustification: for none haue their sinnes forgiuen, but they are iustified; and none are iustified, but they haue their sinnes forgiuen: they concurre in one, if they bee not one and the same: And therefore if these works merite remission of sinnes, they must needs also merite iustification. And thus Bellarmines distinction doth no waies free their doctrine from opposition to the doctrine of the Gospell.

11. The Gospell teacheth, that hee which repenteth and3. Mark. 1. 15. Ephes. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. Heb. 10. 19, 22. Mat. 9. 3. Mat. 9. 22. Ioh. 16. 33. Rom. 8. 15. 1. Ioh. 3. 14. Chytraus. com in Reuel. cap. 9. heareth the promise, ought to beleeue it, and bee perswaded, that not only other mens sins, but euen his owne are pardoned for Christs sake, and that he doth please God, and is accepted of God, and in this faith ought to come vnto God by prayer. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that a man must alwaies doubt of the remission of his sins, and neuer be assured thereof; which doubting (as Chytraeus truely speaketh) is plainely repugnant to the nature of faith, and a meere heathenish doctrine.

12. Bellarmine answereth here not by a distinction, but by a negation, denying flatly that the Scripture teacheth any such doctrine, that a man may be assured of the remission of his sinnes, and his reconciliation with God: and this hee seemeth [Page] to prooue by two arguments; one, because it is contraryEccles. 9. to other plaine and manifest places of Scripture: another, because all Gods promises almost haue a condition annexed vnto them, which no man can iustly know whether hee hath fulfilled or no.

13. It is good for Bellarmine here to vse a plaine negation:Answere. for their doctrine is so manifest, that it will admit no distinction: the Councill of Trent hath put that out of all questionConcil. Trident. Sess. 6. cap. 9. and distinction. For it teacheth in expresse words, that no man ought to perswade and assure himselfe of the remission of his sinnes, and of his iustification; no though he be truly iustified, and his sinnes be truely and really pardoned. This doctrine is so euident, that Bellarmine could neither distinguish, as his custome is, nor yet deny it; and therefore hee freely confesseth it: and yet Gropper condemned it as an impious doctrine:Gropper. Catharin. assert. & Apolog. Domin. Sot [...]. Apol. cap. 2. and Catharinus, at the Councill of Trent, defended the contrary, that the childe of God, by the certainty of faith, knoweth himselfe to be in the state of grace. And so did also Dominicus a Sot [...], and diuers others of their owne stampe But there is great cause why the Church of Rome should maintaine this doctrine of doubting very peremptorily: for as Chemnitius Chemnit. exam. pars 1. pag. 183. well obserueth, all the Market of Romish superstitious wares is built vpon this foundation: for when as the conscience, being taught to doubt of solution, doth seeke for some true and sound comfort, and not finding the same in faith, through the merits of Christ, then it flyeth to it owne works, and heapeth vp together a bundle of superstitious obseruations, by which it hopeth to obtaine fauour at Gods hands: hence arise voluntary vowes, Pilgrimages, Inuocations of Saints, works of Supererogation, priuate Masses, sale of Pardons, and a number such like trash: and when as yet they could not finde any sound comfort in any of these, at last was Purgatory found out, and redemption of the soules of the dead out of that place of torment, by the suffrages and prayers of the liuing. Now the Romanists, fearing lest these profitable and gainefull wares, whereby an infinite tribute is brought into their coffers, should be bereft them, haue barred [Page] out of their Church this doctrine of certainty of saluation by faith, of which if mens consciences bee once perswaded, they will neuer repose any more confidence in those superstitious trumperies.

14. But we, with Luther, may boldly say, that so odiousLuther in Gen. cap. 41. and impious is this doctrine, that if there were no other error in the Romane Church but this, we had iust cause of separation from them: and with Chytraeus, that it is repugnant to the nature of faith, and a meere heathenish doctrine. For it doth not onely nourish mens infirmities, who are too much pro [...]e to doubting, but euen encourage them thereunto, and teach that we ought to doubt. But that we may come to the point, is not this indeede the doctrine of the Gospell, that wee should not doubt of our saluation? why then doth our Sauiour command all to repent, and beleeue the Gospell? ByMat. 1. 15. which he plainely teacheth, where true repentance goeth before, there beleefe in the Gospell, that is, assurance of forgiuenesse of sinnes by the bloud of Christ, doth follow: and that wee ought euery one to be thus assured, seeing this is a precept Euangelicall, which doth not onely giue charge of doing the thing commanded, as the Law doth; but also inspireth grace and power to effect it: as Saint Augustine wellAug. de Spiritis & liter. informeth vs, when he saith, The Law was giuen, that grace might bee sought; and grace was giuen, that the Law might bee fulfilled. Why doeth Saint Paul say, that the Spirit of GodRom. 8. 15. witnesseth vnto our spirits that wee are the sonnes of God? Neither is this witnesse of the Spirit a doubtfull and vncertaine certificate: for Saint Paul, in the words going before, calleth it, the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, and not the spirit of bondage, to feare any more. When therefore God doth shead abroad his Spirit into our hearts, crying, and making vs to cry, Abba, Father, in faithfull, not formall prayer, that is a certaine testimony to our spirits, that we are the sonnes of God. For as Saint Ierome Hierom. in Gal. cap. 4. well noteth, Wee neuer durst call God, our Father, but vpon conscience of the Spirit dwelling in vs. Neither doe we euer vpon this ground call God, our Father, but withall [Page] we are, or ought to be perswaded that we are his children.

15. Againe, why doth hee say in another place, that all they which beleeue the Gospell, are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise? Are Gods children sealed? and can they notEphes. 1. 13. see nor know the Seale? Is not this one vse of a seale, to confirme a couenant, assuring the certainty of the performance thereof to him to whom it is made? Yea, doth not Saint Iohn say, Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in vs; because Ioh. 4. 13. he hath giuen vs of his Spirit? And againe, doth not the holy Ghost so ascribe this knowledge of iustification and saluation on to a mans selfe, that he denyeth it to all others? To him that ouercommeth, I will giue a white stone, and in the stone a new Reuel. [...]. 17. name written, which no man knoweth sa [...] he that receiueth it. What is this white stone, but the absolution and remission of a sinner? what is the new name written in it, but the childe of God? This no man knoweth, but he that hath it; therefore he that hath it, knoweth it. What can be more plaine? And yet this is the exposition almost of all Diuines vpon that place. To omit all other testimonies, doth not the Scripture now teach this doctrine, touching the certainty of saluation?

16. I but, saith Bellarmine, all Gods promises, for the most part, are conditionall, and no man can certainely know whether he hath performed the condition; and therefore cannot assure himselfe of the promise. To which I answere, that albeit, in regard of our infirmitie, we are not able to fulfill the conditions required in Gods promises: yet wee are assured that we shall fulfill them, through him that strengthneth vs: and so, as the Apostle Paul said in one place, Wee can doe nothing, no, not so much as thinke a good thought. Yet in another2. Cor. 3. 5. place he saith, I can doe all things through Christ that strengthneth me. So may we say of our selues, We cannot doPhil. 4. 13. anything of our selues: yet in Christ Iesus wee can doe all things: By his might wee can keepe his Commandements; though not perfectly, yet so, as our defects are made vp by his perfection, and our endeuours accepted in his mediation: for his sake it is giuen vnto vs, not onely to beleeue in him, but also to suffer for him: and by his neuer-faylingPhil. 1. 29. [Page] grace, and euerlasting loue, we are assured that we shall perseuere vnto the end. And therefore Origen saith, that it is Phil. 1. 6. Orig. in Ierem. hom. 1. impossible that that which God hath once quickned should either by himselfe or any other be killed. Thus there is no condition required of the children of God; but they are assured that they can performe it, though not in full measure, and by their owne strength, yet in that measure which God will accept, and by the strength of his Spirit which dwelleth in them, and sanctifieth them to doe his will. And thus this third Antithesis is nothing empeached by Bellarmines cauill.

17. The Gospell telleth vs, that there is but one onely propitiatory4 Heb. 9. 25. 28. Heb. 10. 12. 14. Sacrifice in the world, which is Christ Iesus the Sauiour of the world, who offered vp himselfe once, and no more, for to take away the sinnes of his people. But theConcil. Trident. Sess. 6. cap. 2. can. 1. 2. 3. 4. Church of Rome teacheth, that euery Masse is a propitiatory Sacrifice for the quicke and the dead: and that euery Priest, as often as he saith Masse, doth offer vp Christ vnto God the Father, as a Sacrifice for sinne.

18. Bellarmine here distinguisheth againe, and saith, thatBell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. 6. 23. indeede there is but one onely propitiatory Sacrifice in the world, to wit, that which was once offered vpon the Crosse; but yet that one Sacrifice may be reiterated in mysterie by the same high Priest Christ Iesus, by the hands of a carnall Priest. And againe, he in another place distinguisheth this SacrificeIdem. de missa. lib. 1. cap. 25. into bloudy & vnbloudy, & saith, that there was but one bloudie Sacrifice of Christ, and that on the Altar of the Crosse: but there are many vnbloudy sacrifices of the same Christ in their dayly Masses. And lastly, that the sacrifice of the Masse is but an application of the Sacrifice of the Crosse vnto mens soules, for the actuall remission of sinnes purchased by Christ vpon the Crosse.

19. Here is much adoe to little purpose, three distinctions,Answere. and all not worth a rush: for all of them are mutually contrary to each others, and vaine, and friuolous in themselues: first, if the sacrifice of the Masse bee a repetition of the sacrifice of the crosse, then it is not an application of it: for it is one thing to reiterate, and another to apply: and therefore if the Priest [Page] doth reiterate it, then hee doth not apply it: and if hee doth apply it, then hee doth not reiterate: for to reiterate, is to doe againe that which was done before, and to apply, is to make vse of that which was done, but not to doe it againe. Beside, if the masse bee a repetition, and application of the sacrifice of the crosse, then how is it an vnbloudy sacrifice? can that bloudy sacrifice bee repeated and applied after an vnbloudy manner? that is asmuch as to say, it is a sacrifice, and yet not a sacrifice, especially no propitiatory sacrifice: seeing as the ApostleHeb. 10. speaketh, without the shedding of bloud, there is no remissiō of sinnes. Againe, if the masse be a repetition of that bloudy sacrifice of Christ on the crosse, then it is a repetition of Christs death, and a crucifying of him againe; for the sacrifice of Christ, and the death of Christ is all one: and if it bee so, then it must needs be bloudy aswell as that: for the repetition of a thing, is the doing of the same thing againe. And lastly, if it bee an application of it, then it cannot bee a repetition of it: nor indeed the same in specie with it; for the application of a thing, is not the thing it selfe in any reason: and thus these distinctions are at ciuill warre with each other: and indeed like deadly enemies doe cut each others throats.

20. But let one of their own learned masters, Peter Lumbard, Lumbard. lib. 4. o [...]st. 12. conclude this point for vs; who saith that Christ dying vpon the crosse, offered himselfe, & is sacrificed dayly in the Sacrament, because in this Sacrament there is a cōmemoration of that sacrifice of the crosse which was once offered: this he spake, conuicted by the truth. And the Councill of Trent also in another placeConcil. Trident. [...]ess. 22. v. cap. 1. doth almost, if not fully speake asmuch, when it sayth, that Iesus Christ left to his Church a sacrifice, by which that bloudy sacrifice which hee made vpon the crosse, might bee represented, and the memory thereof continued: which if it be true, then being conuicted by their owne consciences, and confessions, it remaines, that that doctrine which holdeth that the masse is a true, reall, propitiatory sacrifice, is opposite to the doctrine of the Gospell, which teacheth the contrary: and so this fourth Antithesis is safe and sound, for all that Bellarmine can say against it.

[Page]21. The Gospell teacheth, that both parts of the Sacrament are to bee ministred to all Christians; and of the cup it sayth expresly, Drinke ye all of this: but the Church of Rome hath decreed, that none should drinke of the cup, but theConcil. Trident. Sess. 5. cap. 1. & 3. Clergie, and that the people should content themselues with the other part of the Sacrament.

22. Bellarmine distinguisheth of the word (All) and saith,Bell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 3. c. 23. By it is not to be vnderstood all the faithfull, but the Apostles onely; which hee prooueth by Saint Marke, who sayth, that they dranke all of it, that is, all the Apostles which sate at table with our Sauiour Christ, and not all the Christians that beleeued in him.

23. But to his distinction, (not all Christians, but all Apostles)Answere. Cyprian. de c [...]na Domin. Basil. de baptis. Cyril. catechism. myst. [...]. Theodor. 1. Cor. 11. & 12. Theophil. 1. Cor. 11. Aug. in Job. tract. 26 Ambros. 1. Cor. 11. Chrysost. hom. 1 [...]. in 2. Cor. Hier. in 1. Cor. 11 Aquin. 1. Cor. 11 Durand. Ration. l. 4. cap. 55. Biel. in Can. lect. 52. Alphons contra haeres. l. 6. Lorichius de pub missa. G. ossa. Cassand. Consult. art. 22. I answere, that this is Bellarmines conceit, or rather deceit; and hee borrowed it of Andradius the famous expositer of the Councill of Trent: but it is a miserable glosse (woe bee to it) that so soully corrupts the text: first, the fathers vnderstood by the vniuersall All, all the faithfull; and that the Apostles heere in this great action, were not Pastors, but sheep, Christ himselfe the great shepheard, beeing the distributer and diuider of this Sacrament. I shall not need to repeat their words, they are so euident and ordinary. Let the margent direct the Reader to them, if they desire satisfaction in this point.

24. Secondly, many of their owne Doctors so interprete it, as Thomas Aquinas, Durand, Biel, Alphonsus de Castro, Lorichius, the author of the glosse, and diuers others. Cassanders testimony shall stand in stead of all the rest: he sayth plainly, that the Westerne Church beleeued for a thousand yeeres, that our Sauiour Christ gaue this Sacrament to his disciples, representing the persons of all the faithfull: and he addeth reasons, why the wine as well as the bread was to bee receiued; both for a more full representation of the passion of Christ▪ and signification of our full spirituall nourishment in Christ, and also the full and perfect redemption of our bodies and soules, by the body and soule of our Sauiour. This Cassander repeats to haue beene the opinion of the Latine & Greeke Church, for [Page] the space of a thousand yeeres. What an vpstart distinction then is this of Bellarmine, who notwithstanding ceaseth not to bragge that they haue all antiquity on their side?

25. Thirdly, wee haue Saint `Paul thus interpreting the words of his Lord and Master, who spake nothing but by the direction of the Spirit: for whereas our Sauiour sayth, Drinke yee all of it, Saint Paul sayth, Let a man examine himselfe,1. Cro. 11. and so let him eat of this bread, and drinke of this cup. But all must examine themselues before they come to the sacrament: therefore, all are enioyned to drinke of the Sacramentall cup: let vs chuse then whom wee will beleeue, whether Saint Paul or Bellarmine: for Saint Paul interprets this All one way, and Bellarmine cleane contrary.

26. Lastly, reason it selfe disapprooueth this exposition: for first I would aske him, whether that which our Sauiour commanded to bee done at his last Supper, were to bee done once and no more, or often, euen to the end of the world? If hee say once, and no more, the words will confute him which say, Doe this in remembrance of me: if often, then by All, he meant not the Apostles onely; for the Apostles liued not till the end of the world. Againe, if by All was intended the Priests onely, then not onely the people should bee excluded from the cup, but from the bread also: for if in these words, Drinke ye all of it, hee speaketh to Priests onely, then in these words, Eat ye all of it, hee speaketh to none but Priests: for they are both spoken to one and the same persons. And thus the people should haue no part of the Sacrament at all: for the same All that is in one, is in the other. And to conclude, if the Apostles stood heere in stead of Pastors or Priests, why did they not minister the Sacrament? It is the part of a Priest, as hee is a Priest, to minister the Sacrament to others, and when hee receiueth it himselfe, then hee standeth for a common Christian, and not for a Priest, for a sheepe, not for a shepheard. But they did not minister, but receiue; therefore they stood not here for Priests, but for the whole body of the faithfull. And thus this distinction being battered by the testimony [Page] of fathers, confession of their owne Doctors, authority of Saint Paul, and strength of reason, doth fall to the ground like Babel: and this fift Antithesis is nothing weakened by Bellarmines Sophistrie.

27. The Gospell teacheth, that true repentance, or conuersion6 Luk. 24. 47. Act. 26. 18. Mark. 1. 15. to God, is an earnest sorrow of heart for sinnes committed, and faith perswading that they are certainely remitted for Christs sake. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that contrition indeed is one of the parts of repentance: but they faine that it meriteth a remission of sinnes, and to it they adde auricular confession not commaunded by God, & satisfaction, or voluntary workes, by which they say, that the punishments of sinne are satisfied, & that these also may be redeemed by money and purse-penance. All which whole doctrine is very blasphemous against the merit of the Son of God, who onely made satisfaction for our sinnes.

28. Bellarmine heere from distinguishing, falleth to rayling, and accuseth vs of manifest lying and falshood, in laying that to our charge which wee are not guilty of: but whether is the lyar hee, or wee, let the Reader iudge. First therefore, that true repentance is not a bare sorrow of heart for sin, but such a sorrow, as is ioyned with, and ariseth from faith, appeareth by this, because contrition without faith, leads to desperation, and not to saluation, as the wofull examples of Cain, Esau, and Iudas declare: and therefore the Romanists themselues doe not exclude all manner of faith from repentance, but onely that faith which apprehendeth remission of sinnes by Christ, which speciall faith, whereby remission of sinnes is beleeued and obtained, is ioyned with repentance, Luke 24. 47. Act. 26. 18. This is our doctrine, and it is warranted by the holy Scripture: though it pleaseth Bellarmine to say, that it is a bare assertion, without Scripture.

29. As touching their crossing of it, wee need fetch no other proofe, then from the Councill of Trent, which in expresseConcil. Trident. Sess. 4. cap. 3. can. 4. words denounceth Anathema to those that make this faith, whereby wee beleeue the remission of our sinnes, a necessary ingredient into true repentance: and yet it propoundeth reconciliation and remission of sinnes to such as doe repent: [Page] let all the world therefore know, to the eternall shame of the Romish Religion, that remission of sinnes, and reconciliation, by their doctrine, may bee obtained by repentance, without faith, then which, what can bee more opposite to the Gospell of Iesus Christ?

30. If they reply that they make faith the foundation of repentance, I answere, why doe they then exclude it out of repentance? is the foundation no part of the house? yes, it is the chiefest part: either therefore it is not the foundation of repentance, or els it is necessarily required to the essence of it; one or the other must needs bee false: but heere is the mystery of this iniquity: by faith they meane nor a beliefe of the remission of our sinnes by the bloud of Christ, which is the true Euangelicall faith, but a generall perswasion of the truth of their Religion, and a particular conceit, that he which performeth the worke of penance, in the three parts thereof, shall thereby obtaine pardon of his sinnes, and reconciliation with God.

31. Secondly, whereas hee sayth, that wee doe not satisfie for the eternall, but for the temporall punishments of our sinnes, either heere in this life, or in Purgatory: hee speaketh nothing for the clearing of their doctrine from opposition to the Gospell▪ for the Gospell teacheth, that Christ our Redeemer hath made a full and perfect satisfaction for the sinnes ofIoh. 1. 29. 1. Ioh. 2. 2. all the world, yeelding a sufficient and worthy recompence and contentment to God for them: and therefore, they which say that wee must giue any manner of satisfaction our selues, whether for the temporall or eternall punishment due vnto them, doe euidently crosse the doctrine of the Gospell. AndAquin. part. 3. q. 48. art. 4. this Aquinas▪ one of their owne illumined Doctors, doth in effect confesse, when hee sayth, that the passion of Christ was a sufficient and super abundant satisfaction for the sinne and guilt of punishment of mankind, his passion was as it were a price or paiment, by which we are freed from both these obligations: to bring in then the foggy mist of humane satisfactions, is to eclipse and darken the glory of Christs all-sufficient redemption.

32. Thirdly, whereas hee findeth fault with Chytraus, for [Page] saying without proofe, that auricular confession is not commanded of God, and yet hee himselfe doth not proue it is; we might driue out one naile with another, and returne vpon him his owne answere: but I reply further, that diuers of his owne fellow Doctors haue auouched asmuch: for Maldonate, Maldon. Sum. q. 18. art. 4. Eras. epistol. de amabil. [...]cel [...]sconcord. Gloss. apud Grat. Decret. de poenitent. distinct. Rhenan. praefat. in [...]rg▪ Tertul▪ de poenit. Erasmus, the glosse in Gratian, and Gratian himselfe, and Rhenanus, with diuers others, are of the same minde, as may appeare in the texts quoted in the margent, whose wordes I forbeare to set downe, because I shall haue occasion to handle the same in a more proper place; one thing I cannot omit, that the testimony of Rhenanus is so plaine, that our aduersaries, not able to giue answere sufficient vnto it, haue by their peremptory authority said, Deleatur, let it bee blotted out: as they deale also with Polidore Virgill in the like point, and with all other that stand in their way.

33. Lastly, the redeeming of penance by the purse, though Bellarmine shuffle it ouer neuer so cunningly, yet is so palpable an abuse, and so contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell, that the very naming of it, is a sufficient declaration of the foulnesse of that Religion, which maketh a mart of sinne, and setteth repentance, which is the gift of God, to sale, for a little earthly drosse, and exchangeth punishment due to the body and soule, for a little pinching of the purse.

34. The Gospell teacheth, that marriage is permitted and7 Heb. 13. 4. 1. Tim. 4. 3. set free for all men, both Priests and people; and that the prohibition of marriage and meats is a doctrine of Deuils. But the Romish Religion forbids marriage to a great part of men, to wit, Priests and Monkes, and commands to abstaine from certaine meates, vpon certaine dayes.

35. Bellarmine excepteth, and saith by a distinction, thatBell. de Roman. Pontif. l. 3. c. 23 when the Apostle sayth, Marriage is honourable amongst all men, hee meaneth not all in generall, for then it should bee honorable betwixt the father and the daughter, the brother and the sister; but onely those that are lawfully ioyned together, which they that are bound with a vow, cannot bee.

36. It is a strange fore-head, (but no maruaile, seeing it [Page] is the fore-head of the whore of Babylon) when the Scripture sayth, Marriage is honorable amongst al men, to exempt their Votaries from this honour, as if they were not in the number of men, but beasts: and as the assertion is strange in impudency, so the reason is more strange in folly: for though the father may not marry the daughter, nor the brother the sister, without incest; yet the father may marry, and the daughter may marry, and the brother, and the sister also, so that they take those that are not prohibited by the Law of God, and nature. Now let him shew that Gods Law forbiddeth Votaries to marry, and then hee sayth something to the purpose: but by his owne confession, together with many of his pewfellowes, the prohibition of marriage is no diuine, but humaneCassand. consult. art. 23. [...]ell. de Cleric. lib. 1. cap. 19. Aquin. 2. 2 q. 88 art. 11. Gratian. cons 26 q. 2. Esponsae. in tit. c. 1. Concil. Trident. Sess. 24. Socrat. histor. lib. 12. cap. 8. Synod. sexta in Trullo. can. 13. Hierom. ad Oce [...]. epist. 83. c. 2. ordinance and institution: yea, the Councill of Trent it selfe calleth it but an Ecclesiasticall Law; and therefore not a Law of God, but a decree of the Church.

37. Adde to this impudency and folly, his crossing of all antiquity: for in the Councill of Nice, Paphnutius alleadgeth this place of Scripture, against those that went about to take away the vse of marriage from the Clergie; and in the sixt generall Synode, it is expressely applied to the same purpose. And Ierome, in defence of Charterius a married Bishop, produceth the same text.

38. As touching Chrysostomes speech to Theodorus the Monke, alledged by Bellarmine, though it seemeth a little to fauour them at the first view: yet in another place he cleereth himselfe from that suspition: for he saith plainely, that Marriage is so honourable and precious, that a man with it may ascend into the sacred Chaire of a Bishop. What hath Bellarmine got now by Chrysostomes testimony? Surely this: If all that Chrysostome saith, bee sound doctrine, then it is an error in the Church of Rome, to inhibite all that are consecrated by holy Orders, from the vse of the marriage bed: For byAug contra Faust. lib. 30. c. 6 Chrysostome, Bishops may marry. Saint Augustines testimonies, alledged by him in the one and twentieth Chapter, are little to the purpose: for in the first he saith plainely, that the Church of God doth not forbid marriage; but onely preferre [Page] virginitie before it, as a greater good: and in the second hee approoueth onely abstinence from meates, and that from all in generall; and that to this end, for the castigation and mortification of the body: and not eyther for merite sake, or that it is a thing vnlawfull, or that wee may glut our selues with some kinde, and may not so much as touch others, vpon paine of heresie, which is the doctrine of the Church of Rome. This is all that S. Augustines words import; which, as they doe not deliuer them from opposition to the Gospell, so they manifestly imply these two conclusions: first, that the Synagogue of Rome is not the Church of God, for it forbiddeth marriage to Priests, not as a lesser good, but as a thing simply euill. And secondly, that they maintaine in this their Church that doctrine, which of S. Paul is called, The doctrine of Diuels: for they forbid both Meates and Marriage at some times, and to some persons, as things sinfull and vnlawfull. And whereas the Fathers, almost in generall, say,Cyprian. lib. 1. cap. 11. Tertul. lib. de monogam. Coster. Enchir. cap. 17. that it is better for such as haue vowed continency, to marry, then to fall into the fire of lust; they conclude filthily, to their eternall disgrace, It is better for a Priest to play the whoremonger, and keepe a Concubine, then after his vow of continency to be coupled in wedlocke.

39. But Bellarmine couereth her nakednesse (whereof heBell. quo supra. is, as it seemeth, some what ashamed) with a figge leafe of a distinction: for he saith, that fornication is not simply better then marriage, but in respect that a man hath before entred into a vow, in which regard to marry after the vow, is a greater sinne then to commit fornication: and this hee proueth by an example from a married woman, whose husband is eyther continually absent or sicke, so that hee cannot performe the marriage debt vnto her. It is not sayd vnto her, It is better to marry then to burne; but shee ought to keepe her faith to her husband, and by fasting and prayer keepe vnder and tame the concupiscence of her nature: and therefore, saith hee, that precept or permission, Let him marry, is not spoken to all, but only to such as are free, and not if they be bound and haue giuen their faith vnto God.

[Page]39. To which I answere two things: First, I aske him, whether this vow which [...] talke of, be onely against marriage, or against all manner of incontinency? If they say that it is the vow of chastitie, and that it is against all manner of incontinency, then how can it bee that it should bee broken more by marriage, then by fornication, by hauing a wife, then by keeping a whore? and that to marry, in respect of the vow, should be a greater sinne, then to commit whoredome? especially, seeing marriage is Gods ordinance, and fornication, of the Diuels institution: that an honourable and holy estate, and this a filthy and vgly sinne. If they say that the vow is against marriage onely, then what a Religion is Popery, that teacheth her people to vow against marriage, and not against fornication? against wiues and husbands, but not against whores and varlets? Surely that Religion that maintaineth this, cannot be of God.

40. Secondly, to his example I answere: Marriage cannot be inioyned to her that is married already, albeit her husband bee eyther absent or impotent: for that is contrary to Gods ordinance, Mal. 2. 14. Mat. 19. 5. But the vow of single life is not Gods ordinauce, especially in so high a degree as marriage is: for at the most it is but a Council, whereas the other is a flat Precept to all that cannot containe: and besides, they that are married, may expect the blessing of God vpon them, vsing the meanes for their restraint in a godly manner, and begging continency at Gods hand; because they are in a calling ordayned by God: but they that are in a vow, who either enter rashly, or are thrust in against their wills, and contrary to Gods Commandement, not being able to abstaine, but proudly presume vpon their owne strength, how can they hope for Gods blessing vpon them, to strengthen them against the temptations of the flesh? And thus this example, together with the distinction it selfe, maketh no whit to the iustifying of their doctrine; but that it still remayneth in plaine contrariety and opposition to the Gospell of Iesus Christ.

41. The Gospell teacheth, that there is one true and solide8. [Page] foundation, vpon which the Church of God is built, [...] to wit,1. Cor. 3. 11. Act. 4. 11. 12. our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. But the Romish congregation cryeth out, that Peter, and the ordinary succession of Popes, and the Church of Rome, is the foundation of the whole Church, and that the Church is built vpon them, and not vpon Christ alone.

42. Bellarmine distinguisheth of foundations, and saith, that Christ is the primary and principall foundation of the Church: but that doth not hinder, but that there may be secundary foundations: and for proofe thereof he alledgeth, Ephes. 2. 20. where it is said, that we are built the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles: and, Apoc. 11. 14. where the twelue Apostles are made the twelue foundations of the Church.

43. To which I answere three things: First, that though it be true [...], that the Apostles bee the secundary foundations of the Church, layd vpon Christ the true Rocke and foundation, as twelue goodly stones, and that vpon them the Church is built, to wit, vpon Christ primarily and principally, and vpon them secundarily: yet it doth not take away the Antithesis of their doctrine to the Gospell: for they say, that Peter is the onely secundary foundation, and that hee, as the chiefest stone, is layd next vnto Christ; and the rest of the Apostles built immediately vpon him, and mediately by him vpon Christ. But those Scriptures say, that the twelue Apostles are twelue precious stones, laid one by one vpon Christ, and not one vpon another: and twelue foundations equally proportioned to each other, and not one placed vpon the top of another: and so it is true, that as the prerogatiue of the onely singular foundation belongeth to Christ, so the honour of being secundary foundations, is equally deuided among the twelue Apostles: and so Peter in this respect hath no greater prerogatiue then the rest. And therefore this distinction deliuers them not from the snare, seeing that it maketh all the twelue Apostles altogether ioynt-foundations of the Church: and they would haue Peter to bee the onely foundation next vnto Christ, vpon whom both the Church of [Page] God, and the Apostles themselues are built.

44. Secondly, I answere, that when the Apostles are saidAug. de verb. Dom. ser. 13. Greg. Nyssen. in testim. ex veter. testam. de trinit. contra Iudaeos. Cyril. de trin. l. 4. Chrys. in Mat. hom. 55. Ambr. in Ephes. cap. 2. Hilar. de trinit. lib. 2. Bell. praefat. controuers. de sum. Pont. Esay 28. 16. 1. Pet. 2. 6. 8. to be foundations of the Church, it is not meant of their persons, but of their doctrine, as witnesse almost all the Fathers: for concerning person, it is true which Saint Paul saith, No man can lay any other foundation beside that which is layd, Iesus Christ, 1. Cor. 3. 11. But the Romanists would not haue the doctrine of Peter, but the person of Peter to be this foundation: and for proofe thereof Bellarmine fetcheth this argument from the Prophet Esay, saying, Behold, I will lay in Sion a stone, a sure foundation: which is a playne and manifest Prophecie of Christ, and not of Peter, as the Apostle Peter himselfe expoundeth it: where, by the way, we may note the feareful outrage of these Romish Rabbies against the truth of God, and the God of truth, whilst, to the end they may aduance their Popes dignity by Peter, they wrest and peruert the Scriptures, and apply the Prophecies belonging to the Sonne of God, to his seruant Peter, and so make Peter himselfe, nay, the holy Ghost, a Lyar. It were not credible, that such blasphemous thoughts and words should nestle in the heart, and issue out of the mouth of any, but that the Apostle Saint Paul hath fore-told vs, that in the time of Antichrist, because men would not receiue the loue of the truth, that they 2. Thes. 2. 10. 11 might be saued: therefore God would send them strong delusions, that they should beleeue lyes, &c. But to the point: If Christs person be the onely true foundation of the Church, in whom all the building, being coupled together, groweth vnto anEphes. 2. 21. holy Temple in the Lord: and that not the persons, but the doctrine, and faith of the Apostles, are those secundary foundations which the Scripture speaketh of, as hath beene proued out of the Fathers: then the opposition is vndefeasible, namely, that there is but one person the foundation of our Church, which is our Lord and Sauiour, the Sonne of God, Christ Iesus; and yet that Peters person should be the foundation of the Church also together with Christ.

45. Thirdly, I answere, that both in truth, and also in proprietie of speech, there can bee but one foundation of [Page] one building: those stones that are layd next to the foundation, are not properly a secundary foundation, but the beginning of the building vpon the foundation: and for that cause, when Peter, and the rest of the Apostles are called twelue foundations, it cannot bee vnderstood, that they were any wayes properly foundations of the Church, either first or second: but that our Sauiour, who is the substance and subiect of their doctrine, is the onely true and singular foundation of the Church, and that there is none other besides him: for if, when it is said that we are built vpō the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, is meant the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, as must needes bee, because the Prophets are coupled together with the Apostles, which liued not in the Christian Church, and therefore could not be personall foundations of it, and Christ crucified is the substance of their doctrine: then it must needes follow, that the Apostles meaning is nothing else, but that we are built vpon Christ, whom the Prophets and the Apostles preached and beleeued in. And thus S. Hilary vnderstood it, and Saint Ambrose, and Anselmus, Hilar. de Trin. lib. 6. & lib. 2. Ambrose. Anselmus. who giuing the foundation of the Church to Peter, expoundeth it sometimes of his faith in Christ, and sometimes of Christ himselfe, in whom he beleeued. And thus doe also Salmeron the Iesuite, and Cardinall Caietane in their commentariesSalmeron. Caietane. vpon that place, and Peter Lumbard, together with the glosse vpon the place, interpret. And so this distinction of a primary and secundary foundation, hath no foundation in the word of God.

46. The Gospell teacheth, that no Apostle or Bishop, or other9. Luk. 22. 26. Ioh. 20. 22, 23. Mat. 18. 18. 1. Cor. 3. 4. 5. Minister of the Gospell, is superiour to another of the same ranke, or hath greater power and authority then another, in respect of their ministerie; but that all Ministers in their seuerall degrees, haue equall power of preaching the Gospell, administring the Sacraments, binding, and loosing: But the Bishop of Rome challengeth to himselfe a supreme power ouer all other Bishops, and ouer the whole Church, and braggeth that he hath by right, a title to both the swords, both spirituall and temporall, and that both iurisdictions doe [Page] originally pertaine to him, and from him are conueyed to others, &c.

47. Bellarmine heere first confesseth, and secondly distinguisheth: hee confesseth, that the Bishop of Rome hath a supreme power ouer all other Bishops and the whole Church: and denyeth that eyther those places here quoted, or any other doe prooue the contrary.

48. To which I answere: first, that whereas out of Luke 22. 26. and 1. Cor. 3. 4. he extracteth a disparity, and an inequality: I answere, that no man denyeth it; and therefore he fighteth with his owne shadow: hee should prooue not a bare superiority, which wee confesse, but a superiority in the same degree; as of one Bishop to another, and that in power, not in execution, wherein standeth the point of opposition.

49. Secondly, whereas he saith, that though the power of remitting and retayning finnes, and binding and loosing, was communicated to all the Apostles, yet Peter was ordayned chiefe Pastor ouer them all; because our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto him alone, Feede my sheepe: and, To thee will I giue the Keyes of the Kingdome of heauen: I answere, that in this hee crosseth both himselfe, the Fathers, and the truth: himselfe, for elsewhere hee confesseth, that the keyes, both of OrderBell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 1. c. 22. and Iurisdiction, were giuen to all the Apostles indifferently: and therefore it must needes follow, that Tibi dabo claues, was not spoken singularly, to Peter, but generally, to them all: for if Christ gaue the keyes to them all, as he confesseth, then without doubt he promised them to them all, or else his word and his deede should not accord together. And againe, hee acknowledgeth that all the Apostles had both power and commission to feede the sheepe of Christ, when (Mat. 28.) he bade them all, Goe, teach and baptize: and they all did put that commission in execution: therefore it must needes follow, that no singular power was giuen to Peter, when as Christ said vnto him, Feede my sheepe, vnlesse we will say, that the rest had not the same commission.

50. The Fathers: for Saint Cyprian saith plainely, that all Cyprian. de simplicit. praelat. the Apostles were the same with Peter, indued with equall fellowship [Page] both of honour and power, and that a primary was giuen vnto Hilar de Trin. lib. 6. Peter, that the Church might appeare to be one. Saint Hilary is of the same minde, You, O holy and blessed men (saith he) for the merit of your faith, haue receiued the keyes of the kingdome of heauen, and obtained a right to binde and loose in Heauen and earth. Saint Augustine saith, that if when Christ said, To thee Aug. in Iohan. tract. 50. will I giue the keyes of the kingdome of Heauen, he spake onely to Peter, then the Church hath not the power of the keyes: but if the Church hath it, then Peter receiuing the keyes, represented the Church. And lastly, Leo, one of their owne Popes, confessethLeo ser. 3. de vniuers. assump suae. asmuch, when hee affirmeth, that the strength of this power of the keyes, passed vnto all the Apostles, and the constitution of this decree vnto all the Princes of the Church.

51. Lastly, the truth: for when the Apostles stroue for superiority, Christ, who is truth it selfe, and would not haue concealed so necessary a trueth, if it had bene a truth, vpon so fit an occasion, neuer preferred Peter, but exhorteth all, and so Peter also, to equality and humility: yea, not onely so, but expressely forbad all king-like and monarchicall superiority amongst them; and not onely tyrannicall, as Bellarmine would haue it, as may euidently appeare by comparing Luk. 22. 26. with 1. Pet. 5. 3.

52. Thus hee confesseth their doctrine: next he commeth to distinguish of it, namely, that their Apostolicall power was equall in respect of the people, but yet not equall betweene themselues; in which respect Peter was not onely a common Pastour with his fellow Apostles, but extraordinarily pastor pastorū, a Pastour of the Pastours, that is, of the Apostles thē selues: this is his distinction: but it is idle and vaine, as may appeare by this reason: because, if he were the chiefe Pastour of the Apostles, then he either ordained them to their offices, or fed them with his doctrine, or gouerned them by his authority, or did some part of the office of a Pastour vnto them: but hee neither ordained them; for Christ himselfe did that:Ioh. 20. 21. Act. 2. 3. nor [...]ed them with doctrine; for they were all taught of God, and equally receiued the holy Ghost, which did lead them into all truth: nor gouerned them; for they sent him, hee did not [Page] send them, and called him to an account, he did not call them; and therefore was no wayes to be esteemed their Pastour and super-intendent, but their equall, and Co-Apostle.

53. And whereas hee defendeth the extrauagant of Pope Boniface (which is so rightly termed, for containing a most extrauagant doctrine from the truth) hee must needs defend this double iurisdiction by the speech of Peter to our Sauior, Ecce duo gladii, behold, heere are two swords, and his answere to the same, It is enough: with how absurd a collection it is, let his owne fellowes bee Iudges. Franciscus de Victoria, Stella, Maldonate, Arias Montanus, and Suares the Iesuite: All which, with many others, reiect this collection of theirs, as most absurd, and impertinent: I conclude, if Pope Boniface did extrauagate in that extrauagant, in the application of this place, why doe they hold, that the Pope cannot erre iudicially? If hee did not, whydoe so many learned men of his owne side contradict him? Either sure the Popes two swords are ru [...]ie, and cannot bee vnsheathed, or els hee would neuer suffer his authority to bee thus diminished, not onely by his enemies, but euen by those that fight vnder his owne banner. And thus this Antithesis also stands vnblemished, for all that is yet said to the contrary.

54. The Gospell teacheth, that there is but one Mediator10 1. Tim. 2. 5. 6. 1. Ioh. 2. 1. Ioh. 14. 13. Ioh. 14. 6. Heb. 9. 15. betwixt God and man, euen the God-man Iesus Christ, and that hee beeing the onely Propitiatour, is also the onely Mediatour. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that as many Saints as are in Heauen, so many Mediatours and Intercessours wee haue to God; and among the rest, the blessed Virgin, the mother of our Lord, whom they call their Aduocatresse, Deliueresse, Mediatresse, Sauiouresse, and Comfortresse.

55. Bellarmine seeketh to escape from this Contradiction,Bell. de Sanctor. beatit. l. 1. c. 20. by a threefold distinction: first hee sayth, that Christ indeed is the onely Mediatour of redemption, because hee onely made reconciliation betwixt God and vs, by paying the ransome for our sinnes; but neuerthelesse the Saints are Mediatours of intercession, by praying for vs. This he barely affirmeth, without any proofe; and therefore it seemeth he would haue vs take it vpon his word for current coyne, without any [Page] tryall: but wee haue learned out of Gods word, to try the spirits, and to weigh all such ware in the balance of the Sanctuary: and therefore finding by the Scripture, that Christ did not onely pay the ransome for our sinnes, but also, that hee maketh request for vs. and not finding in all the booke of God, that the Saints in Heauen either doe present our prayers vnto God, or make request for our particular necessities, wee haue iust cause to reiect this distinction, as too light ware, and as counterfeit coyne.

56. I but (sayth hee) the Saints triumphant pray for the Saints militant, therefore they are their Mediators. I answere, Though it be granted that they do pray for them in generall, which indeed is not denyed: and in particular, which can neuer be proued; yet the argument hath no good consequence, that therefore they should bee our Mediatours: for (as Bellarmine Ball. de Christ [...] Mediat. l. 5. c. 5. himselfe confesseth) A Mediatour must bee a middleman, differing from each party at variance, after some sort: but the Saints triumphant are not medi [...], betwixt God and vs, both because in presence they are alwayes with God, and neuer with vs, and also in semblance more like to God, then vnto vs, for they are perfectly happy, holy, and righteous, we beeing miserable, sinfull, and wicked: and in knowledge they are satisfied with heauenly obiects, and haue no participation with humane affaires: being therefore thus far remooued from vs, and so neere knit vnto God in all these, by his owne rule, they cannot any wayes bee our Mediatours, neither of redemption, nor intercession.

57. His second distinction is that Christ is called the onely Mediatour, because hee is the Mediatour, not onely in regard of his office, but also of his nature, for that hee is in the middest betwixt God and man, hee himselfe beeing God and man. To which I answere, that it is most true which hee sayth, but yet it is both contrary to that which hee himselfe hath deliuered elsewhere, and also ouerthroweth that which hee holdeth heere: for the first, he laboureth to proue in another place, that Christ is the Mediatour onely in respect of his humane nature, and here hee sayth, in respect of both natures: [Page] how can these bee reconciled? mary, by another distinction: It is one thing (sayth hee) to bee a Mediatour in respect of person, Bell. de Christo Mediat. l. 1. cap. 1. 3. 4. and another thing in respect of operation: in the first, Christ is the Mediatour by both natures in the second, by his humane nature onely. As if hee did not operate and worke the Mediation in the same respect that hee is Mediatour. I, but hee will say, the chiefe worke of our redemption was the death of Christ, but the God-head cannot dye: therfore, &c. I answere, Though Christ died as he was man, yet the person that died, was God and man: for (as Tolet his fellow Iesuite and CardinallTolet. comment. in Iob. 10. obserueth) Christ dyed not as other men, in whose power it is not, either to hold the soule in the body, or to recall it backe againe, being expelled: but Christ ioyned his soule and body together at his pleasure: as hee that holding a sword in one hand, and a scabbard in another, puls it out, or thrusts it in at his pleasure. By which it is plaine, that though Christ dyed in respect of his man-hood, yet the author of his death was his God-head, & so he is our Mediatour in both natures. Secondly, he ouerthroweth his own positiō, by this distinctiō: for first, if Christ bee the only Mediatour in respect of office and of nature; then the Saints are no wayes our Mediatours: for if they bee, they must bee one of these two wayes, vnlesse wee will say, that they doe that which belongs not vnto them, but like busy-bodies, are pragmaticall in anothers charge: which, farre bee it from vs to thinke of those blessed creatures; but both these wayes (he sayth) Christ is the onely Mediatour; therefore the Saints, by his owne conclusion, are no Mediatours at all.

58. His third distinction is, that therefore Christ is called the onely Mediatour, because hee prayeth for all, and none for him: but the Saints are such Mediatours, that they themselues stand in need of a Mediatour. I answere, that therefore they are no Mediatours at all: for if the Saints in Heauen stand in need of a Mediatour themselues, then it must necessarily follow, that they are not Mediatours at all: for they that are parties, cannot bee vmpiers. And this is that whichAug. contra [...]ar. l. 2. cap. 8. Saint Augustine plainely affirmeth (though Bellarmine laboureth [Page] to distort his words to another sense) when he sayth, He, for whom none intreateth, but hee intreateth for all, is the onely true Mediatour. And thus it is cleare, that the doctrine of the Church of Rome, touching the mediation of Saints, is directly contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell.

59. The Gospell teacheth, that Christ Iesus hath made aII 1. Ioh. 1. 7. 1. Ioh. 2. 2. Esay. 53. 45. full and perfect satisfaction for all our debts, and so is our full and perfect Redeemer: But the Church of Rome teacheth, that Christ hath satisfied but in part for our debts, to wit, neither for all our sinne, nor for all the punishment due vnto all our sinne, and so that he is not our full and perfect Redeemer.

60. This doctrine of the Gospell is so euidently propounded in holy Scripture, that our aduersaries themselues acknowledge it in generall to bee true: for Aquinas, where the Apostle sayth, I suffer all things for the Elects sake, that they may also obtaine the saluation which is in Christ Iesus, askethAqui in 2. Tim. 2. lect. 2. this question, What, was not the passion of Christ sufficient? and answereth to the same, Yes; as touching the working of saluation. And Bayus sayth, that there is but one satisfaction onely vnto God, and that of Christ: yea, Bellarmine himselfeBayus de Indulg. cap. vlt. Bell. de Purgat. lib. 9. cap. 10. acknowledgeth asmuch in generall; for hee affirmeth, that the merit of Christ is sufficient to take away all sinne and punishment: neither dare any of the rest for shame in plaine words deny the same: because, if they did, many manifest texts of Scripture would conuince them of impiety and heresie.

61. And that the other is the doctrine of the Church ofConcil. Trident. Sess. 4. sub Iuli [...] cap. [...]. Catechism. Rom. tract. de satisfact. Tapper. explicat. art. Lovan. art. 6 Vega lib. 13. cap. 36. Rome, the Councill of Trent will witnesse, which thus defineth: When God forgiueth a sinner, hee forgiueth not all the punishment, but leaneth the party by his owne workes to satisfie, till it bee washed away. Yea, they affirme not onely, that wee our selues must satisfie for the temporall punishment, but also for the relikes of sinne, and for the fault it selfe; yea, for that punishment that should bee suffered in hell, excepting the eternity: yea, so impious and shamelesse are some of them, whose bookes are notwithstanding authorized by the Church of Rome, that they affirme, that Christ dyed onely for originall [Page] sinne, and that the satisfaction of Christ deserueth not theAquin. tom. 17. Opus 58. Sacra. Altar. cap. 1. fol. 41. Col. 2. Tapper. tom. 1. art. 6. pag. 154. Biel. 3. Dist. 18. & 19. Scot. Durand. Biel. in Suares tom. 1. disp. 4. sect. 11. name of a satisfaction for our sinnes. Let the world iudge now, whether these positions of the Church of Rome bee not flat contrary of the Gospell of Iesus Christ: for the Gospell attributeth to Christ all sufficiencie of meriting and satisfaction: but these fellowes make him a Satisfier party parpale for the sinne, but not the punishment, & yet not for all our sinnes neither, but for a part of them: as for originall, & not actuall; or iffor actuall, yet for mortall onely, and not for veniall. And this is the Romish Religion, though palliated with the name of Catholicke, and hidden from the sight of the common people, vnder the vaile of an implicite faith: which, if they should but see, they could not chuse but abhorre.

62. For the healing of this wound, Bellarmine applyeth his wonted playster of a distinction. Christs satisfaction (saithBell. de Purgat. [...]. 1. cap. 10. he) is in vertue sufficient, but not in act efficient, except it bee applyed by our satisfaction: and therefore that there is but one onely actuall satisfaction, which is ours; which by the grace and efficacy of Christs satisfaction, taketh away the punishment of our sinne, and maketh a iust recompence to God for the same.

63. But this distinction first vndermineth it selfe: for if Christs bee a satisfaction, then it is an actuall satisfaction: if it bee not an actuall one, then it is none at all. Did not he actually dye, and rise againe? Did not hee actually by that death of his, satisfy Gods iustice for all the Elect? Doth not the strength and efficacy ofhis death stretch it selfe backward to Adam, and forward to the last beleeuing child of Adam vpon earth? If all this bee true, then it must needs bee intolerable blasphemy, to say, that actually there is no satisfaction, but our owne, and that Christs satisfaction which hee made for our sinnes, is indeed no satisfaction, except it bee by the meanes of ours, which must apply it, and as it were, giue efficacy vnto it.

64. Againe, the ground of his distinction is absurd: for where doth the Scripture make our satisfaction a meanes to [Page] apply Christs satisfaction vnto vs? It telleth vs of otherRom. 10. 17. 1. Cor. 10. 16. Gal. 2. 27. Ephes. 3. 17. meanes of application, to wit, outward, the Word and Sacraments: inward, faith in respect of vs, and the Spirit, in respect of God: but no where of this new-deuised meanes, which they talke of: and besides, how can our satisfactions apply Christs vnto vs, whereas they are both satisfaction, and that to God, and that for our sinnes? Nay, when as hee sayth, that our satisfaction doth include the satisfaction of Christ in it, and so both together make but one compound satisfaction: if they be of one natur [...] how can one apply the other? If they bee one in mixture, and composition, how is the one seuered from the other? These bee absurd inconsequences, and irreconciliable.

65. Lastly, if the strength & power of satisfying, which is in our sufferings, is wholly from the grace of God, & the vertueScot. Durand. Biel. in Suares [...]om. 1. diss. 4. sect. 11. Bell. de Purgat. lib. 1. cap. 10. of Christs satisfaction, why doe some of them hold, that a man by power of nature, without grace, may bee able to satify for Veniall sinnes, and expell them? nay, why doth Bellarmine say, that a righteous man hath right to Heauen, by a twofold title; one of the merits of Christ, by grace communicated vnto him; and another of his owne merits? By which, he plainely diuideth our merits from Christ, and ascribeth a satisfactory power to them, equall to the death of Christ it selfe, and that without the helpe of grace. Nay, why do they not say plainly, that Christ hath satisfied for vs, without any intermixing of our owne; but that their wisedome perceiued, that then Purgatory, Masses, Penance, Romish pardons, yea, and the Popes Kitchin it selfe, and the very marrow of all their Pompe, shall fall to the ground? And this indeed is the very ground of this blasphemous doctrine.

66. Doctour Bishop, misliking this distinction, as itBishops answere to Master Perkins reformed Catholike. seemeth, flyeth to another. In sinne (sayth hee) there are two things, the one is the turning away from God, whom wee offend: The other is, the turning to the thing, for the loue of which wee offend. Now, the turning away from GOD, both the sinne, and the eternall paine, [Page] due vnto it, are freely through Christ pardoned: but for the pleasure we tooke in sinne, wee our selues are to satisfie, and according to the greatnesse thereof, to doe penance. Thus dreameth Doctor Bishop: but let his owne fellow Doctor waken him, and he of greater credit then himselfe: Aquinas it is, who reiecteth thisAquin. suplem. q. 13. art. 1. distinction, as nothing worth, and giueth this reason of his reiecting, because satisfaction answereth not to sinne, but according as it is an offence to God, which it hath not of conuerting to other things, but of auerting and turning from God. And surely his reason is passing good: for to v [...] the Creatures, and to loue the Creatures, is not sinne: but to vse them disorderly, and to loue them immoderately: which disordered vse, & immoderate loue, is the very turning, and auersion from God: and therefore, to say, that wee satisfy not for our auersion from God, but for our conuersion to the creatures, is to say, either that wee satisfy for that which is no sinne, or els, that some part of sinne is not an auersion from God: both which, are equally absurd, and Doctor Bishop cannot giue a third: and therefore his distinction is a meere foppish dreame, without head or foote.

67. The Gospell teacheth, that there is giuen no other12 Act. [...] ▪ 12. name vnder Heauen, whereby wee must bee saued, but the name Iesus. But the Church of Rome propoundeth vnto vs other names to bee saued by, as, the Virgin Mary, the Saints, and Martyrs, yea, Francis, and Dominick, &c. For they make them Mediatours of intercession to God for vs: which office belongeth only vnto Christ, as hath been shewed; and they teach, that we are saued by their merits, aswell as by the merits of Christ; and that as there are diuers mansions in Heauen, so among the Saints there are diuers offices; some haue power ouer one thing, some ouer another, as Saint Peter against infidelity. Saint Agnes for Chastity. Saint Leonard for Horses. Saint Nicholas against ship-wracke. Saint Iames for Spaine. Saint Denis for France. Saint Marke for Venice, &c. Yea, they would make men beleeue, if a man, being otherwise a vyler sinner, dye in the habit of Saint Francis, or Saint Dominick, &c. must needes goe straight to heauen, [Page] without any more adoe: and that, as it may seeme, though he hath neyther faith nor repentance.

68. Lastly, they are not ashamed to say, that the death and passion of Christ, and of the holy Virgine together, wasGalat. de arcan. Catholic. verita [...]. Briget. Reuel. pag. 21. for the redemption of mankinde: and as Adam and Eue sold the world for one Apple; so Mary and her Sonne redeemed the world with one heart: and therefore as they called him Sauiour, so her Sauiouresse: as him Mediator, so her Mediatresse: as him the King of the Church, so her, the Queene. If this be not to repose the confidence of our saluation vpon other names, besides the Name of Iesus, let the world be iudge.

69. Yet for all this, they thinke to couer this their filthinesse by a distinction: for they say that they doe not flyeBell. de Sanct. beatit. l. 1. c. 17. to the Saints, as authors and giuers of good things; but as Impetrators and Intercessors. To which I answere▪ that to omit their doctrine which hath at large beene discouered before, the very forme of their prayers doth extinguish this distinction: for when they cry and say, O Saint Peter, haue mercy on me, Saue mee, Open mee the gate of heauen, Giue mee patience, Giue mee fortitude, &c. And to the blessed Virgine, O Mediatrix of God and men: ô Fountaine of mercy, Mother of grace, Hope of the desolate, Comforter of the desperate, &c. receiue this my humble petition, and giue me life euerlasting: And to Saint Paul, Vouchsafe to bring vs, whom thou hast caused to know the light of truth, after the end of this mortality, thither, where thou thy selfe art: Doe they not make them authors and giuers of these things? Yes, in word, (saith Bellarmine) but not in sense: for the meaning of theseBell. Ibid. petitions is, that by their prayers and merites they would obtaine of God these good things. But, alas, how should the common people vnderstand their meaning, seeing the sound of their words are so playne to the contrary? Againe, why doe they not propound their sense in playner termes, but leaue it thus inuolued vnder darke riddles, to the great offence of thousands? And lastly, how harsh an interpretation must this needs be in the eares of all men, Giue me euerlasting life, that is, Pray to God that he would giue mee it? If a man [Page] should speake so in his common talke, no man would vnderstand him otherwise then his words sound: how much lesse can these spirituall matters be otherwise vnderstood then they are spoken? Surely this shift is so filly, that if it might stand good, what might not a man speake, and yet excuse it sufficiently after this manner? And though the Councill of Trent seeme to graunt to the Saints the power onely of intercession, as Bellarmine also doth: yet the Romane Catechisme, setCatechis. Rom. foorth by the commandement of the Pope, and decree of the same Councill, doth cleerely and expressely attribute vnto the Saints the power of Mercy, Grace, and Donation of benefits. Whereby it appeareth, that this is not the opinion of some priuate men, but the receiued and approoued doctrine of the Church. And thus this distinction vanisheth before the truth, as snow against the Sunne.

70. The Gospell teacheth, that euery soule bee subiect to 13 Rom. 12. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13. the higher powers: and that we submit our selues vnto all maner of ordinance for the Lords sake, whether vnto King or vnto Gouernours, &c. And our Sauiour himselfe confesseth, thatIoh. 19. 11. Pilate had power euer him from God, when he faith, Thou couldest haue no power at all against me, except it were giuen thee from aboue. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that neyther the Pope himselfe, nor any of his Clergie, are subiect to the temporall power of Princes, eyther to be iudged of them, or punished by them, no not in cases of fact, when they are guilty of haynous crimes; as of Treason, Murther, Theft, &c.

71. This doctrine, though it bee contradicted by many learned Doctors of their owne side: as, Occham, Marsilius, Pataninus, Barclay a late French Lawyer, and others, yet is maintayned by their Popes and Cardinalls, Iesuites, and Canon Lawes, which are the very synewes of Popery, as not onely true, but necessary to saluation: and therefore we may well call it, The doctrine of their Church. For Popes: Iohn August. Triump. de potest. eccles. 4. 4. art. 1. the two and twentieth commaunded Augustinus Triumphus of Ancona, to write a Booke, wherein he maintaineth this position, That all the power of Emperours and Kings is subdeligate, in respect of the power of the Pope. And againe, that all secular power is to be restrayned, enlarged, and executed [Page] at the commaundement ofthe Pope. This is the assertion of that man, who was authorised first to write by Pope Iohn the two and twentieth, and after, his Booke was set foorth, by the priuiledge of Gregory the thirteenth. So that here we haue two Popes maintayning this doctrine. Clement the first was of the same minde, who affirmeth, that hee, andClement. lib. 2. de sentent. & re iudicat. can. 2. the rest of the Popes, had a soueraignity and superiority ouer the Empire: and vpon that ground he dissanulled all the Sentences and Processes made by Henry the seuenth Emperour. And so also was Boniface the eighth, who in that famous Canon,Extrauag. Com. lib. 1. de maior. & obedient. c. vnam Sanctam. Vnam sanctam, &c. directly affirmeth, that the Temporall authority must be subiect to the Spirituall: and that it is necessary to saluation, to beleeue that euery humane creature is subiect to the Pope of Rome. Now the rest of the Popes must needes be of the same minde, or else they should condemne these of error, and that speaking definitiuely, which is contrary to their Religion. And so indeede that they are, Bellarmine their Champion, in his late Booke against Barclay the Lawyer, doth manifestly declare, who most impudently maintayneth this position with all his wit against that learned man: as also in his last doting Apologie against our King, wherein, without doubt, he is authorised, and as it were tapped on the backe, and called, A good childe, by the Popes Holinesse himselfe.

72. Thus we see this doctrine maintayned by the Popes and their Lawes. Let vs see also what the Cardinalls and the Iesuites say vnto it. Cardinall Baronius, a notable clawer ofBaronius. the Popes, holdeth, that the Pope hath power directly ouer Princes, agreeing with Bozius and Triumphus: but Cardinall Bellarmine, with others on his side, quallifieth the matter, andBell. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 5. cap. 4 & 5. saith, that the Popes power ouer Princes in temporall matters, is not direct, but indirect, as depending vpon his spirituall power, and in order & relation vnto that. Let vs leaue theseGreg. de Ʋalen. tom. 3. Com. Tollet. in Ioh. cap. 21. two Cardinalls fighting about direct & indirect, and come to the other Iesuites. Gregory de Valentia saith, that the Pope is subiect to none; but that by a certaine hereditary right he is exempted from all humane jurisdiction. Tollet affirmeth, that there may bee in the Church many holier and learneder then [Page] the Pope, but none superior or equall vnto him in dignitie. Turrian the Iesuite saith, that Christ hath translated all hisTurrian. de Eccles. l. 1. c. 3. Kingdome on earth vpon the Pope, who beareth his person, and carryeth his Image. And lastly, all of them, like lines in a circle, meeting in a Center, ioyne in this, that the Pope hath power to depose Kings, to translate Kingdomes, and to conferre them vpon others, if it seeme to him necessary for the good of mens soules.

73. Thus we haue their doctrine concerning their Head, the Pope. Now let vs heare what they say touching the body that hangs vpon his head, their Clergie: Kings are not now any more Soueraignes ouer Clerks (faith Bellarmine,) and Bell. de Cleric. cap. 28. therefore Clerks are not bound to obey them by Gods law or mans, except it be in respect of directiue lawes. And Emanuel Sa. affirmeth,Emanuel. Sa. Aphoris. confes. verb. Cler. that a Clergie man cannot be a Traytor, though hee rebell, because he is no subiect. And it was long agoe the doctrine of the Fryers; continued by the Iesuites, that the King was not Lord ouer the Clergie; but that the Pope was their Lord: and therefore though a Clergie man had committed theft, murther, or treason, yet hee ought not to bee called in question, much lesse punished for it by a temporall Magistrate: butHoueden. Hen. 2 ought to be iudged by Ecclesiasticall Iudges, & in the Ecclesiasticall Court: and if hee were conuict, hee should lose his Orders, and so being excluded from Office & Benefice Ecclefiasticall: if after this he incurred the like fault, then might he be iudged at the pleasure of the King: yea, they goe so farre,Maynard de Priuiledg. eccles. art. 17. nu. 10. that if any offence were committed by diuers persons, amongst whom there were one Clergie man, none of the offenders were subiect to temporall iurisdiction. And thus we see, that neyther the Pope nor his Clergie will bee subiect to these higher Powers, to which the Gospell commaundeth all men to submit themselues.

74. How will they distinguish here? Mary, they haue two distinctions to helpe this doctrine out of the myre, and yet all too weake. First, they say, that when the Apostles, Paul and Peter, commanded euery soule to bee subiect, &c. they meane generally, that all subiects should obey their superiors, [Page] whether Spirituall or Temporall: and not that eueryBell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 2. c. 29. one should particularly bee subiect to the King or secular power: which interpretation is first flat contrary to the text: for both Paul and Peter mention expressely Kings and Princes, and such as haue the right of the sword: which they would neuer haue done, if Kings should haue beene subiect to Popes, and not Popes to Kings: for then they would haue instanced in Popes, and not in Kings: and though Christians were falsely accused of treason and rebellion to Princes, yet this could not be a sufficient reason to mooue the Apostles to conceale so necessary a truth, especially seeing they write to Christians and not to Infidels.

75. Secondly, it is contrary to reason: for if Peter, and so the Pope, his pretended successor, had beene in their iudgement superiors to Kings, then surely Peter himselfe, writing not onely to the people, but also to the Elders of the Church, as appeareth, 1. Pet. 5. 1. would neuer haue enioyned them all to the obedience of the Ciuill Magistrate, but would haue reserued some to his owne iurisdiction, and bidden them all, both Magistrate and people, to submit themselues vnto him, as the head of the Church: or if he for modestie might forbeare this imperiall iniunction; yet, without question, Paul (had he beene of that minde) would not haue sent euery soule to bee subiect to Kings, but would haue told them, that Kings and all should be subiect to Peter: but seeing that neither of them both doth it, neither here nor elsewhere; and it is, as they thinke, so necessary a thing to be beleeued of all men, it is most euident that they neuer meant it.

76. Thirdly, and lastly, whereas the Apostle Paul commaundeth euery soule to be subiect, wee may conclude, that if the Pope be a soule, or haue a soule (for some of them haue thought that a man had no more a soule then a beast) then he must be subiect. And this conclusion a learned man, that wasAeneas Siluius in gest. Concil. Basiliens. Chrysost. & Oecumen. in Rom. 13. 1. afterward a Pope himselfe, made, when he plainly confessed, that the Apostle did not except animam Papae, the Popes soule from this subiection. I omit heere S. Chrysostomes and Oecumenius exposition of the same place; both which affirme, that [Page] by euery soule, the Apostle included both Priests, Monks, and Apostles, and that this subiection was not contrary vntoAug. Confes. lib. 3. cap. [...]. Nazianz. in orat. ad subdit. & Imper. Gregor. lib. 2. indict. 11. c. 100. Bell. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 2. ca. 29. piety. And to this exposition subscribe most of the Fathers.

77. Secondly, they distinguish vpon that place of Iohn, where our Sauiour confesseth himselfe to be vnder the power of Pilate, to be iudged by him, and say, that eyther it is to bee vnderstood of a permissiue power graunted by God, without the which, no not sinnes can be committed: with Cyrill and Chrysostome: or, if of the power of iurisdiction, with Augustins and Bernard, that then Pilate had power ouer Christ, not simply, but by accident: to wit, as he was reputed to bee a priuate Iew, and so no more then a meere man: by which ignorance of the person, his power was iustified to be lawfull: as if a Ciuill Magistrate should condemne a Clerke in the habite of a Lay man, not knowing him to be a Clerke, he should be free from blame. To which I answere: First, that the power of the Emperour, though a heathen, was lawfull, and ordayned by God, as they themselues confesse▪ and as the Scriptures in many places prooue: but Pilates Mat. 22. power was from the Emperour, therefore it was a lawfull, & not a lawlesse power; and so not only by permission, but also by ordination. Secondly, if it were onely a power by permission, then Pilate had sinned in executing that power vpon Christ: but because of the mistaking of the person, therefore hee saith, he was free from fault: as a Ciuill Magistrate, that should iudge a Clerke, taking him for a Lay man. And so one part of his answere crosseth the other. Lastly, I answere, that though Pilate might erre in the person of Christ, yet Christ could not erre in the power of Pilate, who affirmeth of it plainely, that it was of God; and so it was indeede, in respect of the power it selfe, though the abuse of it, in the condemning of an Innocent, was a sinne: and so from the Diuell, and not from God.

78. The Gospell teacheth, that before regeneration wee14. Ephes. 2. 1. Rom. 6. 13. Luk. 15. 31. & 9. 60. are dead in sinne, and haue no more power to mooue in any worke of grace, then a dead carkasse hath in the works of [Page] nature: and therefore can neither will nor doe that which is good. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that a man vnregenerateConcil. Trident. Sess. 6. cap. 1. can. 6. Bell. de grat. & lib. arbit. cap. 10. Salmer. tom. 13. pag. 32. & 38. Coster. Enchirid. pag. 204. Ecchius, Enchir. Molyn. disp. 12. is not spiritually dead, but wounded, like the man that fell among theeues betwixt Ierico and Ierusalem: or, like a Prisoner with setters on his heeles: or, like a Bird entangled in a lime-bush: and therefore that there is remayning in him so much power, both in his will and vnderstanding, that being but helped a little by grace, hee can begin his conuersion, and so deserue a more plentifull grace of iustification. All this they affirme: then which, what can bee more contrary to the Gospell of Iesus Christ, which saith, that wee are starke dead in sinne, and are not able to thinke a good thought of our selues: but that all our sufficiency is in God, and that he worketh in vs both the will and the deed, &c?

79. Bellarmine heere likewise endeuoureth to escape byBell. de grat. & lib. arbit. l. 6. c. 13. a double distinction: First, he saith, that a sinner, because he is spiritually dead, cannot of himselfe, or by his owne power, recouer life, or prepare himselfe thereunto: but yet being preuented and helped by grace, he may cooperate with God that quickneth him: for that he doth not, as being dead, but as hauing a vitall vertue inspired into him by God.

80. For answere whereunto, let me propound vnto him this question, namely, Whether this spirituall life, which is the first degree of a sinners conuersion, bee inspired into him altogether by the Spirit of God, without the helpe of his owne will? or whether it ariseth partly from grace, and partly from his will. If he saith, Altogether from the Spirit, without the helpe of his will: then how doth the sinner cooperate with God in his first conuersion? If he say, Partly from grace, and partly from free-will: then how is the sinner dead, when yet he doth worke towards the obtayning of his owne life? Can a dead man cooperate at all, much more towards his owne life? I, but hee is preuented and excited to grace, and so doth worke: but then I would know, whether in that first exciting and stirring vp, hee doth worke with Gods Spirit? whether he be actiue in that first motion, or passiue onely? If actiue, then hee is not dead: if passiue, then the first [Page] degree of his conuersion and spirituall life is only from grace, without the coadiution of this free-will: for this excitation and stirring vp of his will, is the first sparke of spirituall life in a sinner; and this is that which S. Augustine affirmeth, saying,Aug. de grat. & lib. arbiter. c. 17. that God without vs worketh in vs to will, (that is the first sparke of life:) then worketh with vs, and helpeth vs when we doe will, (this is the second.) And againe, The will is first changed from Idem. cap. 20. Idem. Enchirid. cap. 32. euill to good, and helped when it is good. And againe, He prepareth the good will that is to be helped; and helpeth it when it is prepared. In all which passages, the first conuersion of a sinner is ascribed to God alone, and mans will is a dead thing that mooueth not: but the succeeding works are attributed ioyntly to God and vs. And this is the very doctrine of the Gospell: which Bellarmine plainely crosseth by his distinction, though subtilly hee seemeth to doe nothing lesse: for he saith plainely in another place, that in the act of our conuersion, Bell. de grat. & lib. arbit. lib. 6. cap. 15. & lib. 4. cap. 16. Alex. part. 3. m. 1. art. 2. ad. 1. will is truely free, and determineth it selfe, though God moue and apply it to the worke. And another compareth the will to an eye in a darkeplace, which though it see not, yet can see as soone as light commeth, because in it selfe it hath the faculty of seeing: then which, what can bee more contrary to the Gospell? the one affirming, that a sinner is dead before his regeneration: the other, that he is but halfe dead, and wounded, and hath some power, and therefore life in himselfe to grace and rghteousnes.

81. Bellarmine perceiuing the weaknes of this distinction, flyeth for succour to another: and that is, though a sinner be dead to grace, yet hee is aliue to nature; and so is not altogether dead: and that by the power of that naturall life, hee being helped by grace, can cooperate with God in his conuersion: and therefore that the similitude of a dead man doth not in euery respect agree vnto the vnregenerate; because a dead man hath no life in him at all; but a man vnregenerate hath notwithstanding the life of nature in him. But this is more absurd then the former: for, first it is plaine, that the vnregenerate are as dead in respect of grace, as a dead carkasse is in respect of nature: for they haue no more ability [Page] to the workes of grace, then a dead man to the workes of nature. A dead man hath no appetite or desire to naturall things: no more hath the vnregenerate to spirituall things. A dead man hath no vnderstanding of the things of this world: no more hath the vnregenerate of the things that are of God. A dead man cannot moue the members of the body, nor vse the naturall saculties of the soule: no more can the vnregenerate mooue one haire bredth to Heauen-ward, nor vse any graces of the Spirit. A dead man hath no sense, nor feeling, though hee bee neuer so sharply handled, seeth not, though the Sunne shineth neuer so bright, heareth not, though a trumpet be sounded in his eare: no more can the vnregenerat feele the wounds of Gods Lawes, heare the sound of the Gospell, nor see the cleare light of truth that shinethround about him. Lastly, in a dead man, there is a separation of the soule frō the body: so, in the vnregenerate, there is a separation of Gods Spirit from the soule, which is the soule of the soule. For this cause S. Aug. likened the vnregenerate man, to the ShunamitesAug. de verbis Apostol. ser. 11. sonne, beeing dead, whom the Prophet Elizeus raised from death, to life; and others, to Lazarus stinking in the graue, or, to the widowes sonne of Nai [...], lying dead; vpon the beare; or, to Iairus daughter, that was dead in the house: noting three degrees of sinnes, one more notorious then the other, yet all in the state of death, vntill Christ by his Spirit shall inspire life into them: and this is the perfect analogy and proportion, betwixt a dead man, and a sinner: and therefore Bellarmines exception is false, that they doe not agree in all things: for there is nothing, wherein they doe agree, not, if the comparison bee rightly proportioned.

82. Secondly, if they did disagree in other things, yet in this, wherein lyeth the life of the similitude, they must needs agree, that as a dead man hath nothing, whereby he can helpe himselfe, for the recouery of his life: so man spiritually dead, hath nothing in him, no faculty, or power of the soule, whereby he can any way further the obtaining of his cōuersiō. And this was Saint Augustines opinion, agreeable to the Gospell:Aug. de grat. & lib. arbit. cap. 5. for his words are plaine, concerning Pauls conuersion, that he [Page] was called from Heauen, and by that mighty and effectuall calling conuerted. Gratia Deisolaerat: It was onely the grace of God. And no otherwise did Iustine Martyr conceiueIustin. Martyr. Apolog. 2. thereof, when hee sayth, That as to haue beeing at the first, when wee are created, was not of our selues: so to choose and follow that which is pleasing to God, is (not by vs) but by his perswading, and mouing vs to the faith. In this therefore, which is the point of the question, the similitude holds most strongly, and so Bellarmines exception is nothing to the purpose.

83. Thirdly, and lastly, it is most absurd of all, which hee sayth, that because a sinner liueth naturally, therefore he moueth towards grace, more then a dead carkas to nature, which hath no life at all: for in respect of grace, it is all one to haue no life at all; and to haue no life of the Spirit. For nothing can worke aboue the compasse of it owne beeing. Naturall life cannot tranicend the Spheare of nature, nor any way moue to the Spheare of grace. For as Plants that liue the vegetatiue life, cannot arise to the sensitiue life, which is in beasts, nor they to the rationall, which is in men: So neither can these arise vp any whit to the life of the Spirit, which is in Gods Saints, till a new life bee inspired into them: which new life, as it is the conuersion of the soule to God, so it is the foundation of all spirituall actions, seeing life in euery kinde is the foundation of all the actions in that kind. For vntill there bee life in a plant, it doth not grow, vntill it bee in a beast, it doth not moue nor feele, vntill in a man, hee doth not thinke, speake, or remember; and so vntill this life of the Spirit bee in the soule, it cannot will, nor worke any thing that is good. Therefore I conclude, that though a sinner liue naturally, yet beeing dead to grace, that that life doth no more helpe to his conuersion, then the sensitiue life of a beast doth to the obtaining of reason, or the vegetatiue15 Ioh. 5. 39. Col. 3. 16. 1. Pet. 3. 15. 1. Ioh. 2. 12. 13. 14. Luk. 16. 19. life of a Plant to the obtaining of sense.

84. The Gospell teacheth, that all should read the Scriptures, for so our Sauiour chargeth; and his Apostles Paul and Peter, and Iohn, charge not Priests onely, but all others. And Abraham sendeth the rich Gluttons brethren to Moses, and [Page] the Prophets. And the Eunuch is not rebuked, but approuedActs. 8 28. Acts 17. 11. by Philip, for reading the Prophesie of Esay. And the Bereans are commended for examining Pauls doctrine by the Scripture: which should neuer haue beene, if it had not beene lawfull for them to doe it. This is the doctrine of the Gospell,Bell. de verbo Det. lib. 2. cap. 15 Azorius Instit. moral. l. 8. c. 26. Concil. Trident. Regul. 4. Iud. librer. Coster. Enchirid. most plaine and euident. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that all men must not read the Scripture, to wit, Laymen, except they bee permitted by their Ordinary, because pearles are not to bee cast amongst swine: nor a sword, or a knife put into a childes hand; nor occasion of errour offered to the ignorant, nor matter of offence to the weake: as also, because they are more obscure then can bee vnderstood of the Laicks, and common sort of people. Thus they paint ouer the foule wrinkled face of Iezabel, with false colours: but yet the contrariety is plaine. All ought to read the Scriptures: and some ought not to read the Scriptures. The one is the doctrine of Iesus Christ: The other, of the Pope and his Church.

85. But Bellarmine distinguisheth two wayes. First, that there is a double way of knowing the Scriptures; one by hearing, and another by reading. The first is commanded to all, and therefore necessary to be vsed of all. But this last is not commanded to any, but to the Clergie, and those whom they shall thinke fit to read them with profit, and without danger. But who seeth not, that when our Sauiour willeth to search the Scriptures, hee speaketh of reading? And when the Bereans examined Pauls sermon by the Scriptures, they did it by reading. And when Abraham remitteth Diues brethren to Moses, and the Prophets, hee sendeth them to reading. For Moses, and the Prophets were dead in their persons, and liued onely in their writings. And lastly, when the Apostles wrote their Epistles to the seuerall Churches, they wrote them to this end, that they might bee read of all. For so Saint Paul chargeth the Colossians, after they had read the Epistle, that they themselues would cause it also to bee read in the Church of the Laodiceans. Besides, if it bee a dangerous thing for the ignorant to read the Scriptures, for feare they should peruert the sense, & so fal into heresie, or impiety; then [Page] much more dangerous is the hearing of it, seeing there is no preaching so pure as the word it selfe; man euer mixing some dregs of his own corruption, with the pure wine of the word; nor any preacher so sincere, but he doth often erre: and so the hearer being debarred from trying his doctrine by the touchstone of the Scripture, must needs irrecouerably fall into errour.

86. Secondly, hee sayth that there are two kindes of Readers.Bell. quo supra. One that read with fruit and profit; others that read without fruit, yea rather with hurt. Now the Scripture may bee read of the first, but not of the second. But I would know of him againe, who hath that power to discerne betwixt these two. Doe they know the heart of a man? Or, can they prophecy of that which is to come? If they cannot doe these things, then they ought not to locke vp the Scriptures from any, vpon this surmise; but permit the vse of that which is good to all, and leaue the successe to God. Againe, because some peruert the Scripture to their damnation, shall therefore all bee forbidden to reape comfort by it? Because the theefe robs, and kils with his sword, shall not therefore an honest man vse one for his owne defence? Because the Spider sucks vp poyson out of the flowre, therefore shall not the Bee suck honey? This is to take away the vse of all good things. For as the Poet sayth, Nil prodest quod non laedere possit idem: NothingOuid. de trist. lib. 2. so profitable in the vse, but in the abuse may be hurtfull and nuisant.

87. Lastly, are the ignorant common people more subiectEspe.s. us com. in tit. c. 1. & 2. to erring and heresie, then the learned? Let Espensaeus, a learned Bishop of their owne, informe him to the contrary. I remember (sayth hee) that an Italian Bishop told me, that his countrey-men were scarred from reading the Scriptures, lest they should become heretikes: as if heresies did spring from the study of the Scriptures, and not rather from the neglect and ignorance of them. And if he will not beleeue him, let anotherAlphous. de cast. haeres. l. 1. cap. 13 Maldon. in Euangel. learned Roman si step out & tel him, that very few ignorāt persons were the authors of heresie: & another, that learned men, & indued with great wits, fall by their pride into heresie: so that he [Page] need not so much feare, lest heresie should build her nest in the bosome of the poore ignorant man, as lest like the Eagle shee should flye aloft, and set her selfe in the top of the high Cedars of the Church.

88. But what doe I stand to ouerthrow this vaine exception, since it is no better then a meere deception, confuted by the practice of their owne Church? for without difference, any that will pay for it, beeing neuer so ignorant, might haue a licence to read the Scriptures. And we had heere in England in Queene Maries dayes, a Romish indulgence, that hee thatCartwrights answere to the Preface of the Rhemes Testament. could dispend a certaine reuenue by the yeere, might read the Bible in English, as is reported by Master Cartwright, in his answere to the Preface of the Rhemes Testament. So that is as cleare as the day, that it is not the fruit and benefit that should come to the Reader, that they regarded, but the profit and gaine that should accrue to their owne purses: neither was the feare of erring the cause of their prohibition: but rather the feare of too much knowledge, lest thereby the grosse and foule abominations of their Church should bee discouered and so come to bee abhorred and detested.

89. The Gospell teacheth, that none can forgiue sins, but16 Esay 43. 25. luk. 5. 21. God: because sinne is a preuarication of Gods Law; and therefore none can remit it, but hee against whom it is committed. Vpon which ground venerable Bede writing vponBeda in Luk. 5. these words of the fift of Luke, Who can forgiue sinnes, but God? sayth, that the Pharises said truely therein: because no man can forgiue sinnes, saue God alone: who also forgiueth by them to whom hee hath committed the power of the keyes: and therefore Christ is proued to bee truely God by this, that hee can forgiue sinnes, as God: and it may be proued further to bee true, because our Sauiour himselfe approoueth of that speech of theirs, not shewing any manner of dislike thereunto. And therefore Saint Ambrose affirmeth plainely, that to Ambros. epist. 16. forgiue sinnes, is not common to any man with Christ. This is (sayth he) the onely office of Christ, who tooke away the sinne of the world. And Cyprian as directly; Onely the Lord can take Cyprian ser. de lapsis. pitty, and grant pardon to sinnes which are committed against him. [Page] But the Synagogue of Rome teacheth, that though this powerGregor. de Valent tom. 4. pag. 1876. Eman. S [...]. in Aphoris. T [...]et▪ lib. 6. [...] ▪ 21 bee originally and fundamentally in Christ, yet he hath committed the same to his Vicar the Pope; and from him it is deriued to Cardinals, Bishops, and infetiou [...] Priests, vnder the commission and authority of the keyes: and that not ministerially, and by way of declaration onely, which wee confesse: but absolutely, and iudicially, and as Christ himselfe; and that not onely to the liuing, but to the dead also, that are in Purgatory. For it is a rule without exception amongst them,Bell. de Purgat. l [...]. 2. cap. 16. Suarez▪ [...]om. 4. disp. 50. sect. 3. that all satisfactory punishments may bee released by a pardon. And it is as sure that a pardon for any manner of sinne may bee obtained for a price. And therefore there is a certaine rate set downe for all kinde of sinnes, as Murther, Incests,Aquin. Su [...]lem. in 3. part. q. 25. [...]rt. 1. Sodomy, Sacriledge, &c. And Aquinas thus reasoneth, If Christ might release the fault, without any satisfaction, then so may it be that the Pope. By which wee see, that according to their doctrine, the Pope hath asmuch power to forgiue sins, as Christ himselfe hath: which is the Scribes and Pharises liued and heard, they would cry out, O blasphemie. This is the expresse doctrine of the Church of Rome.

90. For the making good of this doctrine, they haue a double distinction, answerable to the double manner of remitting sin, vsed in their Church; one touching the absolution of a sinner, by the Priest, in their Sacrament of penance. The other, touching the Popes indulgence, out of the Sacramēt, groūded vpon the treasure of supererogatory works, which they say, is in the Church, and consequently, in the Popes dispensation. Concerning the first (they say) that Christ absolueth a sinner by his owne power; but the Priest, by the power of Christ, committed vnto him in that famous Legacy, Whose sinnes yee remit on earth, they are remitted in Heauen.

91. To which I answere two things. First, that heerein they [...]a [...]d [...] 4. [...]. 1 [...]. [...] ▪ cōtradict their ancient schoole. For Peter Lumbard, one of the masters of the schoole, doth plainly affirme, that such only are worthily absolued by the Church, who are absolued in Heauen: because by the error of man, it may so happen, that hee that seemeth to bee cast out of Gods family▪ bee still within; [Page] and he who may be thoght to remaine within, is notwithstanding cast ou [...]. And that therefore God absolueth differently from the Church; God by remitting the sinne, & purging the soule from the blemish thereof, and freeing it from eternall punishment; the Church by declaring who are absolued by God. By which not onely his opinion is manifest, that the Priest hath no absolute power of absoluing a sinner, but onely of declaring that hee is absolued, which is our doctrine: but also his reason is inuincible, that because the Priest may erre in his absolution; therefore hee hath no such absolute power committed vnto him. And that wee may not thinke that this Master of theirs is without schollers, the glosse of their decrees doth set down asmuch, when it sayth, Dimi [...]tantur, Distinct 23. cap. 2. gloss. id est, dimissa ostendantur: Let them bee forgiuen, that is, let them bee declared to bee forgiuen. Which, because it speakes too boldly; therefore their iudicious Censurers haue caused it either to bee blotted out, or compelled it to speakeIndex. expurg. Belg. edit. Greg. otherwise.

92. Secondly, I answere, that this doctrine is crossed by it selfe. For they do not professe any other absolution, but such as may be hindered by the party to by absolued, to wit, if by want of faith, or repentance, he put an inuisible bar to stop the power thereof. Now, if the sinner may hinder his own absolutiō, then the Priest hath no power to absolue him, except he be fitly disposed for the receiuing of it; & this disposition is meerly from God: and therefore in God is the onely power to absolue; and in the Priest, onely to declare who is absolued, and that conditionally, if h [...] be thus qualified, and haue no barre to hinder. For if the power of absoluing, or not absoluing, depend vpon the putting in, or taking away the barre of impenitency; then he onely can iudicially absolue a sinner, that can giue him repentance: but neyther the Pope, nor any mortall man is able to doe this, as the Scripture testifieth in many places: and therefore neyther Pope nor Priest can absolue a sinner any further then by a declaratiue sentence.

93. Lastly, it crosseth their owne practice: for they teach, that dead m [...]n, dying in excommunication, may be absolued: [Page] and they practise the same, to wit, as Bellarmine saith, whenBell▪ de Indulg. lib. 1. cap. 14. Toll [...]t. Instruct. sacerdot. l. 1. c. 16 it is discouered, that the partie was erroniously excommunicate: and, as Tollet saith, when he shewed manifest signes of contrition before his death: in which case their absolution can bee no more then a declaration that hee did repent, and that he is absolued before the tribunall [...] at of God.

94. And thus this first distinction wi [...]l hold no water. Let vs heare the second. Touching the Popes power to pardon out of the Sacrament, this it is: They say, that the Pope doth not by his pardon take vpon him, eyther to remit the guilt ofBell. Ibid. lib. 1. cap. 7. sinne, or the eternall punishment due vnto it: but onely the temporall punishment which it ought to sustaine, eyther here in this life, òr in Purgatory. But I answere, that h [...]e which can remit any part of the punishment due vnto sinne, can also remit the guilt it s [...]l [...]e: for guilt and punishment are vnseparable companions; insomuch, as in the Hebrew tongue, Sinne and Punishment are notified by one and the same word, to shew, that where the one is, there the other is also: and therefore he that can pardon the ore, may also release the other. Adde hereunto, that to pardon a sinne, is nothing else (as our common phrase of speech, together with reason, teacheth vs) but to remit the punishment thereof: as when the King, in the Court of Iustice, pardoneth a Malefactor, he releaseth him from the punishment which by the law he should suffer: so in the Court of Conscience, he that doth remit any part of the punishment due by Gods Law vnto a sinner, (as the Pope doth vndertake to doe) by the same labour doth remit so much of the guilt it selfe. And so this distinction filleth to the ground, being as feeble and brittle as the former.

95. Lastly, the Gospell teacheth, that when we haue done all that we can, yet we may say, that we are vnprofitable seruants, Luke 17. 10. But the Church of Rome teacheth, that [...]u [...] ▪ 17. 10. a man may doe more then he ought, and then the law requireth:Bell. de Monach. lib. 1. c. p. 13. Salmer tom. 7. p [...]g▪ 97. and so may say, and thinke himselfe to be, not onely a profitable, but more then a profitable seruant: for hee m [...]y (say they) supererogate: now hee doeth supererogate, who [Page] layeth out more then he receiued: as he that to the precepts of Christ, adioyneth the commaundements of the Church; and to the precepts of the law, the counsels of the Gospell.

96. Bellarmine answereth first out of Saint Ambrose, Bell. de Iust [...]f. lib. 5. cap. 5. that it is to bee vnderstood of vs whilst wee are in the state of nature, and not of grace: as if by nature we are vnprofitable, but by grace profitable: but our Sauiour speaketh this to his Disciples, who were now in the state of grace, and not of nature. And Saint Ambrose his meaning is nothing else but this, thatAmbros. i [...] Luk. lib. 8. cap. 1 [...]. our naturall imbecillity, though it be sanctified, yet it is not abolished by grace: and therefore that we, in regard thereof, are still bound to remember, that when we doe all we can, yet we are vnprofitable.

97. Secondly, he answereth, that we are vnprofitable indeede; but to God, not to our selues, which hee saith, is Beda's interpretation: but hee leaueth out that which followeth in Beda: for so farre is hee from building hereupon theBeda in Luc. cap. 17. merite of works, that he saith plainely, that by whose mercy we are preuented, that we may humbly serue him; by his gift wee are crowned to raigne with him. By which it is euident, that if wee b [...] profitable to our selues, it is because God accepteth our seruice, and in mercy rewardeth the same; not because we deserue any thing at his hands. To omit that the word Seruants hath relation to Masters, and not to themselues: and therfore in saying they are vnprofitable seruants, it must needs be vnderstood in respect of God, and not of themselues.

98. Thirdly, hee answereth out of Saint Augustine, that we are said to bee vnprofitable in respect of the couenant of the law: but in respct of the free couenant of grace, we may be profitable, and more then profitable. But this is Bellarmines fraudulent collection, and not Saint Augustines intention: for he saith onely, that we can require no reward for our labour, though Aug. ser. 3. de verb. Dom. we haue kept all the commandements, vnlesse God of his free grace had couenanted with vs to reward vs. He saith not that wee are made profitable by grace, eyther to God our Master, or to our selues. And therefore in another place he disclaimeth vtterly all profite and merite in our selues, when he saith, Lord, Aug. in Psal. 142. [Page] for thy Names sake quicken me, in thy righteousnes, not in mine; not because I haue deserued it, but because thou art mercifull. Thus this generation is not ashamed to wrest and wring the godly Fathers, to make them speake to their purpose.

99. Lastly, hee answereth out of Saint Chrysostome, that our Sauiour saith not, Yee are vnprofitable seruants; but bids them say so of themselues, to teach them humility, and to auoyd pride. But how doe this follow, that because Christ biddeth vs to say so, to auoyd pride, therefore we are not so? yea, rather therefore we are so: for would he bid vs to lye? Chrysostome himselfe in another place cleereth this doubt, whenChrysost. ad pop. Antioch. hom. 53 he saith, that all that euer wee doe, we doe vpon dutie: for which cause Christ sayd, When yee haue done all, say, yee are vnprofitable seruants: So that Chrysostome did not onely thinke it fit for vs to say so for humility sake, but also that wee were so in truth and indeede. Let Saint Bernard, for an vpshot, wipe awayBernard. de tripl. custod. this distinction: Wilt thou (saith he) say, that Christ hath taught thee to say so for humility sake? true, indeed it was for humility; but what, against truth? And thus none of these shifts and distinctions can deliuer this doctrine from opposition to the Gospell: for it followeth ineuitably, if the best be no better then vnprofitable seruants, then none can worke such works, whereby hee may not onely merite for himselfe eternall life, but hauing a surplusage of redundant merits, bestow some of them for the supplying of others wants.

100. And thus wee haue a short view of the cleere and manifest oppositions that are betwixt the doctrines of the Gospell, and the doctrines of the Church of Rome. And we see with what subtill and intricate distinctions, they labour to reconcile them together: but truth is naked, and needeth no such shiftings. Both the one and the other therefore, namely, their direct opposition to the Gospell on the one side, and their elaborate diflinctions, to make good their cause on the other, doth euidently euince the conclusion of this ninth demonstration, that that Religion, which is built vpon such desperate and dangerous principles, cannot be the truth of Christ, but the doctrine and Religion of Antichrist.

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The X. MOTIVE. That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people, and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian faith, cannot be the truth: but this doth the Romish Religion: ergo, &c.

1. IN the first proposition of this Argument, the RomanistsMaior. hold the Wolfe by the eares, not knowing whether it be better to graunt, or to deny it: for if they graunt it to bee true, it will flye in their faces, because they are guilty of the contents thereof: and if they deny it, it will bite them by the fingers: for all men will condemne them of shamelesse impudency, for denying so apparant a truth. Therefore as the beast, which Pliny calleth Amphisbaena, so it stingeth both wayes. But of two euils the lesser: they must of necessitie deny it, or else they must condemne their owne practice of impietie: which sure they will not doe, though for their labour they gaine to themselues that name, which so frequently and imperiously they impute vnto vs, Shamelesse Heretikes: they speake it of vs in the spirit of malice: but it shall be prooued of them by sound reason, and that in this demonstration ensuing, by Gods assistance.

2. For the confirmation therefore of the first proposition a word or two, though whatsoeuer can be spoken thereof, is but to adde light vnto the Sunne: First therefore the Scripture standeth foorth, and condemneth ignorance so plainely, that nothing can be more euident. Salomon telleth vs, That Pro. 8. 35. they which hate knowledge, loue death. And the Prophet Esay, Esay 5. 13. That the people were carryed into captiuitie, because they had no knowledge. And the Prophet Hosca, That they were destroyed Hosca 4. 6. for lacke of knowledge. Our Sauiour affirmeth, that the cause of erring in the Sadduces, was the ignorance of the Scripture. Mat. 22. 29. And Saint Paul coupleth these two together in the Gentiles, Darkned cogitations through ignorance, and strangers from the Ephes. 4. 18. life of God: where he plainely sheweth, that ignorance and destruction [Page] are inseparable companions, as sanctified knowledge and saluation are. And (to omit infinite other passages of holy writ) our Sauiour directly concludeth, that he which knoweth his Masters will, and doth it not, shall bee beaten with Ioh. 17. many stripes: and he which knoweth it not, and therefore doth it not, shall be beaten too, but with fewer stripes. By which he giueth vs to know, that though some kinde of ignorance may extenuate and lessen the fault; yet none, especially if it bee of matters which we are bound to know, and may be attayned vnto, doth excuse from all fault, but is blame-worthy and punishable by Gods iustice.

3. Thus speakes the holy Ghost in the Scripture, and doubtles in reason it must needs be so; for wherin doth a man differ from a beast, but in reason and vnderstanding? and wherein doth one man differ from another, but in the enlightning of reason by diuine knowledge, which is the matter subiect of true Religion? Religion being nothing else but the knowledge and profession of the diuine truth: the want whereof must needs be a subuerter and destroyer thereof. A Physicion that is ignorant of the grounds of his Arte, we account a Mountebanke and Imposter. And what, I pray you, can they be lesse, that professe ignorance, and that in the most difficult Art of all other, the Art of Christianitie? Besides, all confesse that ignorance is a defect and blemish of the soule, and that the more knowledge a man hath, the neerer he is vnto perfection, because hee is the more like vnto God: but the chiefe end of Religion is to purge away the blemishes, & to make vp the breaches of the soule, & to renue Gods Image defaced therin, that so we may be made like vnto him, euen perfect, as he is perfect. How can then true Religion teach ignorance, which is such an enemy vnto perfectiō? or how can that be true religion, which nourisheth ignorance, & inioyneth it vnto most of her professors & followers.

4. Let the fathers bee Iudges of this cause. Saint Augustine Aug. Epist. 119. sayth in one place, that Ignorance, as a naughty mother, bringeth forth two wicked daughters, falshood, and doubting. And in another, that the knowledge of God is the engine, by which the [Page] structure of charity is built vp. Saint Bernard sayth, that both Bernard. in Cantic. the knowledge of God, and of a mans selfe, is necessary to saluation. For as out of the knowledge of a mans selfe, commeth the feare of God, and out of the knowledge of God, the loue of him: so on the contrary, from the ignorance of a mans selfe, commeth Chrysost. in polit. lib. 3. pride, and from the ignorance of God desperation. Saint Chrysostome sayth, that knowledge goeth before the imbracing of Vertue, because no man can faithfully desire that, which hee knoweth not, and euill vnknowne, is not feared. The like song sing all the rest of the Fathers, whose testimonies I thinke needlesse to accumulate, being so wel knowne to all men.

5. And that they may bee vtterly without excuse, heareAquin. 12. q. 76. art 2. what their owne Doctours affirme. Aquinas confesseth, that omnis ignorantia vincibilis est peccatum, si sit eorum, quae aliquis seire tenetur. All vincible ignorance (that is, which may bee auoided) is sinne, if it bee of those things, which a man is bound to know. But such is the ignorance maintained in the Church of Rome, not onely vincible, but affected, wilfull and voluntary. Bellarmine also acknowledgeth, that ignorance is a Bell. de omiss. grat. & statu peccat. lib. 6. cap. 8. & 9. Aug. de lib. arbitr. lib. 3. cap. 18. disease and wound of the soule, brought in as a punishment of originall sinne: And confesseth out of Saint Augustine, that it is the cause of errour. For, Two euils are brought into the world, (sayth Saint Augustine) by originall sinne: ignorance, and difficulty; from which, two other fountaines of euils doe arise, to wit, error, & griefe. For ignorance bringeth forth error; and difficulty, griefe. And our Countrey-man Stapleton telleth vs plainely,Staplet. promp. moral. Dom. 6. post Pasch. text. 5. that Zelus sine scientia, est vehemens cursus in deui [...], in quo quantò curris velociùs, tantò a via aberras longiùs, & peccas absurdiùs. Zeale without knowledge, is a violent course in a wrong way, wherein the swifter wee runne, the further woe wander, and sinne the groslier. Thus they themselues write, and therefore I wonder how the same men should dare to allow that which in their own consciences they condemne; or nourish that in the people, which they confesse to bee a sinne, a wound, and disease of the soule, and the way to perdition. I know not how they will distinguish and shift off that sayingRom. 14. 32. of Saint Paul: Blessed is he that condemneth not himselfe, in [Page] that which hee alloweth: vnlesse it bee either by saying, that they condemne not ignorance in all, but onely in the Lay people: as if Lay people had not souls to saue aswel as Priests: Or that they allow of it, not simply in regard of it selfe, but in respect to a further good, to wit, the increase of deuotion: as if euill were to be done, that good might come thereof; which Saint Paul giueth a God forbid vnto, and sayth, that theirRom. 3. 8. damnation is iust, that are of that minde. I leaue therefore this first proposition, confirmed by Scripture, reason, Fathers, and their owne Doctours, and come to the second, wherein out of their owne grounds, they shall bee conuinced of this grosse impiety.

6. That the Romish Religion doth nourish and maintaineMinor. most grosse and barbarous ignorance amongst the people, and take from them the key of knowledge: First, their owne confessions: Secondly, their doctrines: And thirdly, the fruits and effects of both in the whole rabble of their multitude, Priests, and people shall euince. For their confession. The Rhemists doe plainely confesse, that knowledge in things wee Rhem. Annotat. in 1. Cor. 14. & Luk. 12. 11. pray for, is not required of Christians, but that ignorance is to bee preferred before it: and that ability to professe the particulars of our faith, is not necessary, no; when possibly we are to dye in the defence of the same faith. How contrary is this to that which Saint Peter teacheth, that eueryman be ready to giue an answere of the hope that is in him? Hosius saith, that to know nothing, is to know all things, and ignorance of most things, is best of all. Ioh. 17. 3. How contrary to that which our Sauiour teacheth, This is eternall life, to know thee, and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ? Hos. contra prolegom. Brent. l. 3 page 116. St [...]piyl. Apolog. part. 1. pag. 53. Pigh. Hierarch. lib. 1. cap. 5. Iacob de Graph. decis. part. 1. l. 1. cap. 26. nu. 34. Antonm. part. 1. tit. 5. cap. 2. § 1. The same Hosius, with Stephylus, and others, commends the Colliers faith to be the onely faith, whereby euery vnlearned man may trye the spirits, resist the Deuill, iudge of the right sense of Scriptures, and discerne true doctrine from false, &c. And what was the Colliers faith? Mary, being at the point of death, and tempted of the Deuill, answered, I beleeue and dye in the faith of Christs Church. Being againe demanded, what the faith of Christs Church was, answered, that faith that I hold. And thus hee beleeued as the Church beleeued, and the [Page] Church as he, and yet he neither knew what the Church, nor himselfe beleeued. This is a braue faith, and worthy to bee canonized to all posterity, for conquering the Deuill. But what if the Deuill departed from the Collier, not because hee was scarred with his bugbare faith, but because he perceiued him safe enough intangled in his snare, and so needed not to tempt him any more, being already sure enough his owne? Where was his faith then? Sure I am, it is farre vnlike to that faith which the Scripture speaketh of, which is often called by the name of knowledge, and not of ignorance, as Esay 53. 11. Iohn 17. 3.

7. Againe, another affirmeth plainely, to wit, Linwood Linwood in glos. in c. ignor. de sum. trinitat. their Lawyer, that for simpler people it is sufficient to beleeue the articles of the, faith implicuè: that is, confusedly, and infoldedly, and not distinctly, and plainely: as a bottome of yarne folded together, which lieth in a small compasse, and not raueled out at the length, that it may bee seene and discerned in euery part. And their Angelicall Doctour, Aquinas, compareth Aquin. 2. 2. q. 2. art. 6. Gods children to asses, and their teachers to oxen (because it is said in the first Chapter of Iob, that the oxen did plow, and the asses fed by them) & that it is sufficient for them in matters of faith to adhere vnto their superiours. And in the same place, hee concludeth, that a man is bound to know no more explicitely, but the Aritcles of the faith. As for all other doctrines of Religion conteined in Scripture, it is enough to beleeue them implicitely. And againe in another place hee sayth, thatIdem 2. 2. q. 82 art. 3 knowledge doth occasionally hinder deuotion, and therfore, that simple men and women, that are voyd of knowledge, are for the most part most inclined to deuotion. But I confesse, he speaketh this of such knowledge as is not sanct fied, but puffeth vp: how be it hee should then haue ascribed the impediment of deuotion, vnto the pride that accompanieth knowledge, and not to knowledge. Hence grew that notorious celebrated prouerbe of the Romish Synagogue, that Ignorance is the mother of deuotion. And it goeth for currant amongst them all, as yet vncontrolled. But how opposite is the very sound thereof, to that which holy Scripture teacheth, that ignorance is the [Page] mother of errour, and of folly, Prou. 7. 7. and of destruction, Mat. 22. 37. Hos. 2. 6. Thus wee haue their open confession: and what should follow, but their open condemnation?

8. But peraduenture the Iury requireth fuller euidence: let them list therefore to their doctrines: diuers whereof either directly maintaine ignorance, or at least by necessary consequence driue thereunto: and they are such, as are not the particular opinions of priuate men, but the approoued doctrines of their Church; so that a man cannot bee an entyre Romanist, but he must needes subscribe vnto them; and subscribing vnto them, must also needs confesse, that that monstrous ignorance which is in the Church of Rome, doth issue out of their corrupt fountaine. To come therefore vnto them.

9. The first doctrine that breedeth and nourisheth ignorance1. amongst them, is their locking vp the Scripture in an vnknowne tongue, that the common people, being ignorant of the learned tongues, may not be able to read them, much lesse to vnderstand them to their comfort: which that is so, hath beene partly declared already, and may further bee demonstrated: for Bellarmine affirmeth, that it is not necessary Bell. de verbo Dei. lib. 2. cap. 15 for the Scripture to be translated into our Mother tongue. And Azorius, another Iesuite, going a step further, saith, that it is Azor. Instit. moral. l. 8. c. 26. not expedient for the sacred volumes to be translated into Mother tongues, because thereby the vnitie of the faithfull should be detrimented, and diuers causes of errors and heresies would spring vp. And Salmeron, a third Iesuite, descending yet a stayreSalmer. com. in 1. Cor. 14. lower, saith, that the translation of the Scripture should be onely tillinguis, of three tongues, that is, Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine, in honour of the Trinitie. Or, as another saith, Because th [...]se three tongues were onely sanctified vpon the Crosse. Herevpon the Councill of Trent decreeth, the olde vulgar Latine Concil. Trident. Sess. 4. decret. 2. Translation of the Bible to be onely authenticall, and alone to bee vsed in all publike Lectures, Disputations, Preachings, and expositions. And though Pope Pius Quartus forbade onely (as Bellarmine saith) such to read the Scripture, as had not licenceBell. de verbo Dei. lib. 2. c. 15. thereunto giuen them by their Priest or Confessor, to wit, such as could receiue no damage, but profit by their reading: [Page] yet Pope Clement the eighth, as another Iesuite confesseth,Azor. Instit. moral. l. 8. c. 26. tooke away all faculty of giuing licence to any to read the Scripture, or to retaine with them the common Bibles, or any parts of the Old and New Testament in the Mother tongues: so that (as wofull experience hath taught) it was in times past in this Land, and is now in those places where the bloudie Inquisition is exercised, a sufficient marke of an Heretike, and cause of fire and faggot, to bee found with a translated Bible in their houses or hands.

10. This is their doctrine, which how it ingendreth and nourisheth ignorance, who seeth not? seeing first it locks vp the fountayne of knowledge, that few or none of the common sort can drinke of the waters thereof: cleane contrary to that famous saying of learned Origene, who comparethOrig. in Mat. 4. contra Celsum. the Scripture to Iacobs Well: where not onely Iacob and his Sonnes, that is, the Learned; but also the Cattell and the Sheepe, that is, the rude and the ignorant doe drinke and refresh themselues: but these men barre out the poore sheepe, and driue them away from the waters of life, to no other end, as it may be thought, but that they should pine away with thirst, and liue and dye in blindnesse and ignorance. For if all sound and true knowledge is to be found in holy Scripture, and therein is the whole counsell and will of God reuealed vnto vs, so farre foorth as it concerneth our saluation, it being the Epistle Greg. Epist. 84. of the great Iehouah to his poore Subiects, to enforme them of his will and pleasure, how should they possibly clime to this true and sauing knowledge, who are debarred from the place and meanes where it is to found and had, and not permitted to reade this Letter, or heare it read vnto them? contrary to that doctrine of Nazianzene, who saith, that all Christians Nazianz. hom. 4. Dom. Epiphan. ought to come to Church, and there read themselues, or if they be not able, heare others read vnto them the word of God.

11. If they reply, and say, that it is enough for them to know the Traditions of the Church: I answere, that if there were as certaine ground for their Traditions, to prooue them the word of God, as there is of the Scripture, then this allegation might carry some shew of reason: but the vncertainty, nouelty, [Page] mutability, and absurdity of many of them, doe plainely shew, that it is no safe course to repose the strength of our saluation vpon them, but rather to flye to that foundation which is immooueable. If they say, that the people must be content for their knowledge to depend vpon their Priests, and to draw it from their lippes, and so by that meanes may attayne a sufficient measure of instruction: I answere, that the Priests are for the most part as ignorant as the people, as shall be shewed afterward: and if any be furnished with gifts, yet they seldome teach the people; and when they doe, they preach, in stead of Gods word, their owne inuentions, idle tales, and meere tales, and fables: witnesse Cornelius Agrippa, Agrip. de vanit. cap. Theolog. Dante. canto. 29. and Dante their Poet, two no great enemies, but fast friends to Popish Religion. Now if a man should bee constrained to sup vp whatsoeuer euery sottish Priest, or idle Fryer, or craftie Iesuite doth belch foorth, without examining, doubtlesse hee should sucke downe much poyson, in stead of wholsome iuyce. If they say, that there is multiplicity of good Bookes written to this end, to instruct the people in the grounds of Religion, and to stirre them vp vnto godlines and deuotion: I answere, there is indeede a great number of such Bookes, which are so farre from gendring sound knowledge, that they are no better then baits of Antichrist, seruing to allure men, vnder shew of deuotion, vnto Idolatry, and Apostacie from God: for if they were sound and true, why should Gods Booke, which without all question is most sound, bee prohibited, and they admitted? Why is it not lawfull to examine them by that rule? and why should all Bookes else, which any thing make against their Religion, be suppressed? and by great penalties forbidden? Surely this sheweth, that all their Bookes of deuotion are but rotten stuffe, and meere hypocriticall deuices to deceiue the simple.

12. Lastly, if they say, that all our translations are false and erronious; and therefore that our Bibles are not the word of God: I answere, that indeede it is impossible to haue a Translation so exact & perfect, that no fault nor imperfection shuld be found therin: neuertheles, the chief faults in our translations [Page] are, for the most part, in respect of proprietie of words and phrases, which are nothing repugnant to holy doctrine or good life, and not in any materiall or substantiall poynt of faith: and those also are not frequent▪ but heere and there dispersed, which can no waies hinder the profite to be gathered by the rest of the Scripture: and if for some corruption in translations the Bible should not bee read, then none but the originall Hebrew and Greeke should bee in vse; for all translations are imperfect: yea, their so much extolled vulgar, authorized by the Councill of Trent, wherein the DiuinesFran. Luc. praefat. in annot. in bibl. Amand. Polan. in Didascal. pag. 4. of Louane obserued many errors: and Isidorus Clarius, a Spanish Monke, professed that hee found eight thousand fau'ts, though for his plaine dealing hee was plagued by the Inquisitors: and after that it was decreed authenticall by the Councill, (a thing worth the noting) yet it was corrected and castigated, by the authority and commaundement of sixe Popes successiuely. Nay, the Hebrew and Greeke copies themselues should not bee permitted; for euen they, if wee will beleeue the Romanists, are full of corruptions: but asBell▪ de verb [...] Dei. lib. 2. cap. 2. & 7. Greg. de Valent. analys. l. 18. c. 1. Pintus. com. in Dan. 7. & 13. Sacrab [...]s. Ies. in defen. decret. Con. T [...]i [...]. p. 1. c. 3▪ R [...]emens. annot▪ in praefat, in nou▪ testam. Bellarmine saith of the corruptions in the Hebrew text, so wee may truely of the imperfections in our translations, Non sunt tanti momenti, vt inijs qu [...] ad fidem & bonos mores pertinent, sacrae Scripturae integritas desideretur: that is, they are not of such moment, that they can hinder the integrity of the Scripture in those things which pertaine to faith & good manners.

13. Moreouer, besides all this, it is no maruell if they contend for their vulgar Latine Bible, that it should be onely authenticall, seeing many Romish errors are thereby maintained, which in the truth of ye [...] originall haue no colour of defence. And so this doctrine doth not onely vphold ignorance in the simple, but also herefie among the learned. As for example, to prooue the intercession and patronage of the Virgine Mary, they alledge that text of Genesis, falsely translated,Gen. 3. 15. Ipsa conteret caput Serpentis: She shall bruise the Serpents head: whereas the Hebrew truth hath most euidently, He, or It, meaning the Seede of the woman, and not Shee. Againe, to prooue their Masse Sacrifice, they alledge that of [Page] Gen. 14. 18. Melchizedek obtulit panem & vinum: erat enim Gen. 14. 18. Obtulit. Protulit. sacerdos: whereas in the Hebrew text is no word that signifieth, to offer: but to bring foorth; and the coniunction causall is also wanting. They extenuate originall sinne by the corrupt translation of that text, Gen. 8. 21. For whereas in theGen. 8. 21. originall it is, Figmentum cordis est tantum malum: The frame of the heart is onely euill: their translation hath, The cogitation of mans heart is prore vnto euill. To prooue their inuocation of Saints, they obiect that of Iobs, thus translated, Ad aliquem Sanctorum conuertere: which in the Hebrew isIob. 5. 1. not an affirmatiue proposition, but an Ironical Interrogation: thus: To which of the Saint▪ wilt thou turne? To proue that no man can be sure of the remission of his sinnes and saluation, they alledge that corrupted text, Eccles. 9. 1. Nescit homo Eccles. 9. 1. vtrum amore vel odio dignus sit: whereas in the originall, it is nothing but thus, No man knoweth loue or hatred, all things are before him. That their Church cannot erre, they labour to prooue by the promise of our Sauiour, Ioh. 14. 26. whereIoh. 14. 26. their translation thus speaketh, Spiritus sanctus suggeret vobis omnia quae [...]un (que) dixer [...] vobis: but in the originall it is, [...], quaecun (que) dixi vobis: Whatsoeuer I haue told you. That Matrimony is a Sacrament, they prooue by that place, Ephes. 5. 32. where their translation hath, a Sacrament, forEphes. 5. 32. a Mysterie. So for their Merite of works, they produce, Heb. 13. where, in their translation, the word Merite is vsed, whichHeb. 13. is not extant in the Greeke. So to prooue, that after Baptisme there remaine no Relikes of sinne, they vse that text, Heb. 9.Heb. 9. 28. 28. Christus semel oblatus est ad multorum exhaurienda peccata: now where all is drawne out, there nothing remaineth: and yet in the originall there is no such word. Lastly, the Councill of Trent it selfe, to prooue that the Church may dispense with the Sacraments, contrary to Christs institution, and alter them, abuseth that text, 1. Cor. 4. 1. where the [...]. Cor. 4. 1. Ministers are called, Dispensatores mysteriorum Dei: whereas the Greeke word, [...] importeth no such matter. Thus wee [...]ee great cause why they should stand vpon this vulgar Latine onely, because it affoords vnto them such pregnant [Page] proofes for the defence of their grosse errors. It defends them and their errors, therefore they haue reason to defend it. And thus by forbidding the Scriptures to bee read of the people, they multiply ignorance; and by allowing onely their Latine translation for authenticall, they hatch heresie.

14. Secondly, their doctrine which commandeth Prayers2. to be made publikely and priuately in an vnknowne tongue, tendeth to the same end: for though, touching priuate prayers, they agree not amongst themselues; some affirming, that the people ought not to say their Pater noster, A [...]e Maria, Ledes. Ies. lib. de qua lingua. scrip. leg. cap. 3. Rhem. in 1. Cor. 14. pag. 461. Salmer. com. in 1. Cor. 16. dis. 30. Azor. insti [...]. moral. l. 8. c. 26. Coster. Enchirid. cap. 19. and Mattens in any tongue but the Latine, because this hath beene the ancient custome of the Church, as they pretend. Others, that it is lawfull to pray in our natiue tongues: but yet if we doe pray in Latine, it is not vnfruitfull. Notwithstanding, their continuall practice sheweth their most approoued opinion: for among them all, you shall hardly finde one in an age that vseth any other but Latine prayers: but as for publike prayers in the Church, it is the doctrine of the Councill of Trent, armed with a curse, that no part of the Diuine Seruice and publike Leiturgie bee celebrated in aConcil. Trident. Sess. 22. c. 8. & 9. Bell. de verb. De [...]. lib. 2. cap. 16 knowne tongue. Now how can this but noozle the people in ignorance, when they are taught to babble out in their deuotions, like Parrats, without vnderstanding what they say? Surely this must needes bee a blinde deuotion, and an ignorantzeale, when the tongue shall pray, or rather prate, and the heart not vnderstand what it vttereth: for if true deuotion be a religious offering vp of the whole man, both body and soule, and euery facultie and part of both to God, by way of spirituall sacrifice; then certainely that cannot bee true deuotion, but blinde delusion, when the affection and the tongue shall bee lifted vp in prayer, and in the meane while the vnderstanding shall be idle, not knowing what the affection and tongue doth: seeing the proper worke of the intellectiue part of the soule is to know and vnderstand, which by this meanes it is depriued of. And this is that which both Aquinas, their Angelicall Doctor, purposely confesseth, and Rabbi Bellarmine also himselfe, though vnawares: for the [Page] one saith, that he which vnderstandeth not what he prayeth, is depriued Aquin. com. in 1. Cor. 14. Bell. de verb. Dei. lib. 2. cap. 16 of the fruit of his deuotion: and the other, that except the prayer be vnderstood, no consolation at all can be reaped thereby. Ignorance therefore must needes bee cherished by this doctrine, seeing the vnderstanding, which is the seat of knowledge, is muffled, and the best fruit that can arise hencefrom, is blinde zeale, and ignorant deuotion: by which theAct. 3. 17. Rom. 11. 2. Ioh. 16. 2. Iewes crucified Christ, & the Gentiles persecuted the Church of Christ, and taught, that in so doing, they did God good seruice: for deuotion without zeale, is like an Arrow shot out of a childs Bow, which falleth to the ground without doing hurt or good: and zeale without knowledge, is like a Shippe carryed with full winde and displayed Sailes, without a Pilot to sterne and guide it in the right course.

15. Thus for the maine doctrine. Now the accessarie attending vpon it, is more dangerous then the maine it selfe: for they are taught, not onely thus to pray, but that these prayers are meritorious of saluation; and that hee which saith a certaine number of them, shall haue thus many dayes, and thus many yeeres pardon: as 3000. dayes, for saying a short prayer in the Primer: ten thousand dayes for saying fiue Pater nosters before the Vernacle: twenty thousand dayes, for sayingNicol. Salic. Antidot. animae. Salisbur. primer. horae beatae Maria. Euang. Roman. a short prayer at the Leuation: yea, a hundred yeeres, for saying our Ladyes Psalter euery Saturday: yea, fiue hundred yeeres for saying a short prayer which Saint Gregory made; and a number such like, as hath beene before sufficiently discouered. Now if pardon of sinnes and saluation may be merited by mumbling vp euery day on their Beades these short and vncouth prayers, what need any seeke for further knowledge in the word of God? If these bee sufficient (as they make the people beleeue) then all further instruction must needs be thought vnnecessary: and so it cannot choose but follow, that a deluge of blindnesse and ignorance must needs ouerflow the world, as wofull experience hath taught to bee true in those places where the Romish Religion preuaileth.

16. Thirdly, they teach, that Images and Pictures are Lay mens Bookes, wherein they must read, and with the which [Page] they must content themselues, without searching at all into the Booke of God. This doctrine taught Gulielmus Peraldus Perald. Sum virtut. & vit. tom. 1. cap. 3. three hundred yeeres since, saue that hee ioyned the Scripture and Images together; for thus he writeth, As the Scriptures be the Bookes of the Clergie: so Images and the Scripture are the Bookes of Lay men: where hee equalleth a dumbe and dead Picture, to the speaking and liuely Scriptures: the worke of man, to the Word of God. But Loelius Zechius, aLoel. Zecchius Sum. mor. Theol. & cas. consc. t. 2. c. 90. art. 18. Feuardent. lib. hom. pag. 16. 17. hom. 2. learned and famous Diuine of latter time, goeth further, and saith, that Images are the onely Bookes for them that bee vnlearned, to draw them to faith and knowledge, and imitation of diuine matters. Yea, another Fryer, that liueth in Paris at this day, or at least, was aliue very lately, goeth yet a degree further, and affirmeth, that Lay men may more easily learne diuine mysteries by contemplation of Images, then out of the Booke of God: and all these are (as they stile them) most Catholike and holy Bookes. But what should I search further into these petty Disciples? whereas the grand Doctor himselfe hath this proposition in expresse words, Meliùs interdum docet pictura, Bell. de Imag. lib. 2. cap. 10. quàm scriptura: A Picture doth better instruct sometimes, then the Scripture.

16. This is their Doctrine. Now what fruits doth it bring foorth? Surely the best fruit is ignorance, a worse then that error, and the worst of all superstition and and idolatry: for howsoeuer, we deny not that there may be an historicall and ciuill vse of Pictures, either to put vs in minde of our absent friends, or to represent some obseruable history and notable deede done, or to stirre vs vp to the imitation of the vertues of Godly men and women: yet we constantly affirme, that to make them the Bookes of Lay men, either to be instructed by them alone, without the Booke of God, or to finde better and more perfect instruction in them then in it, is to inwrap the people in a cloude of foggie and mistie ignorance, and to hood-winke their eyes, that they should not see the bright shining light of truth: for where is all sound & sauing knowledge to bee found, but in the holy Scripture? whither doth our Sauiour Christ send his Disciples, but vnto them? he doth [Page] not say vnto them, Gaze vpon Pictures, for they be they that testifie of me: and, In them yee shall finde eternall life: but, Search the Scriptures, for, &c. And the Prophet Dauid, that it is the Law of God that giueth wisedome vnto the simple; and Psal. 19. 7. 8. that conuerteth the soule, and giueth light vnto the eyes: and not the Pictures of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, or of any of the Prophets. And therefore though a man may be instructed by a Picture, touching a thing done; yet most certaine it is, that more excellent, and more perfect instruction is gotten by the Scripture: for let an vnskilfull man returne neuer so often to the beholding of his Picture, it will alwaies represent the same thing vnto him; and if any scruple or doubt remaine in his minde, it can answere nothing for the explication thereof: whereas in holy Scripture, that which is obscure in one place, is explained in another; and that which in one Chapter we cannot conceiue, in the next following it may be is so cleerely set downe, that a childe may discerne it without erring: so that as a man may discouer his meaning by signes and becks, yet it is not so effectuall as if he vtter it by word of mouth: so Pictures may teach, but yet Scripture teacheth more fully and effectually. And therefore to tye the people to these dumbe Bookes, and discharge them from searching into the Booke of God, is to depriue them of the chiefest meanes of knowledge, and so to foster them in ignorance.

17. But yet this is not all. For besides that it occasioneth ignorance, an Image also is a teacher of lyes, as the ProphetHabak. 2. 18. Habakuk calleth it, and a mother, and a nurse of superstition, and Idolatry. For first, how many Pictures are there in their Churches, of Monsters, and miracles that neuer were? As of Saint George, killing the Dragon. Saint Christopher, carrying Christ vpon his shoulder, ouer the Ford. Saint Catherine tormented vpon the wheele, and disputing with the Philosopher. Saint Dunstane holding the Diuell by the nose, or lip, with a paire of Pincers. Saint Denis carrying his owne head in his hands, being strooke off. Saint Dominick burning the Deuils fingers with a Candle, which hee made him to hold, will [Page] he, nill hee. And an infinite number such like, which either neuer were extant in the world, or were not such, neither euer did worke such feates as are represented by their Pictures. Two Pictures I cannot passe ouer in silence, which I haue seen and obserued with my owne eyes: the one at the Church of Ramsey, in Huntington-shire, neere adioyning vnto that, quondam a famous and rich Abbay. In this Church, in the lowest window, in the right Ile, is a picture of a paire of Ballance, in one skole whereof is the Deuill, and in the other, a woman, and the woman is more sinfull then the Deuill, ouerweighing him euen to the ground. Behold, a Lay mans book, whereat wise men may wonder, fooles may laugh, and women may bee inraged, and euery one may read the folly and prophanenes of those times. Sure I am, heere is little instruction for the soules health. The other is in the Cloister window of the cathedrall Church of Peterborough, where is painted out at large the history of Christs passion. In one place whereof, our Sauiour Christ sitteth with his twelue Apostles, eating his last Passeouer: which because it was vpon the Thursday night before Easter, commonly called Maundey Thursday: therefore they picture before him in a dish, not a Lambe as the truth was, but because it was Lent, (O miserable blindnesse) three pickerels: so that now the Paschall Lambe is turned into a Paschall pickerell, and all forsooth, to nourish in the people, the superstition of the Lent fast. For if they should see Christ eating flesh in Lent, what an incouragement would this be (thought they) for the people to doe the like?

18. And thus Images may wel be called Laymens bookes. But what bookes, you see, euen such as teach lyes, and superstition, & no sound and true instruction. I could heere relate how that Saint Dunstane put life (by a trunke forsooth) into the Image of the Virgin Mary, and made her speake against the marriage of Priests, when that controuersie could no otherwise bee decided. And how the Image of the CrucifixeBez. de sig. lib. 14 cap 3. vsed to speake to Saint Francis, to the end, to giue authority to the order of his fraternity: and that vpon two Images in a Church at Venice, the one of Saint Dominick, the other of [Page] Saint Paul, were written these words: On Pauls: By this man Antonin. part. 3. tit. 23. c. 1. §. 1. you may come to Christ. On Dominicks: But by this man you may doe it easilier: because Pauls doctrine led but to faith, and the obseruation of the Commandements: but Dominicks taught the obseruation of Councils, which is the easier way. All this, and asmuch more might be produced to this purpose. But I conclude the point with the censure and confession of their owneGuliel. Miniat. Episcop. Ration. Diuin. Cassand. consult. pag. 176. Cassander, who out of the writings of William Bishop of Miniatum, concludeth with him, that as if officious lyes should bee added to the holy Scriptures, there would remaine no authority nor weight in them. So, no errour nor falshood should be tolerated in Images and Pictures in the Church, seeing that an errour not resisted, is receiued for a trueth. And in the same place, the same Cassander doth bewaile the abuse of Images in the Church of Rome, affirming that superstition was too much pampered thereby, & that Christians were nothing behind the Heathō, in the extreme vanity of framing, adorning, and worshipping of Images. Thus farre Cassander: out of which we may perceiue the chiefe lessons that are learned out of these Lay bookes, to wit, ignorance, superstition, and Idolatry. And therefore▪ no maruaile if all these vices raigne in the midst of their Church, as plentifully, as amongst the Heathen themselues.

19. Fourthly, they deliuer for sound doctrine, that whereas Saint Iohn sayth, that they which haue the anointing of the holy Ghost, know all things: Hee meaneth not, that euery one should haue all knowledge in himselfe personally, but that euery one that is of that happy society, to which Christ promisedRhemist. in Ioh. [...]. 20. and gaue the holy Ghost, is partaker of all other mens graces and gifts in the same holy Spirit to saluation. And thus whereas Saint Iohn meaneth, that euery true Christian, both by the outward preaching of the word, and by the inward vnction of the Spirit, hath a distinct knowledge of all things necessary to saluation: They say, that it is sufficient, if he be partaker of another mans knowledge, though he be empty & voyde himselfe. Then which, what can be a greater nourisher of ignorance, and quencher of knowledge? For if I may bee saued by anothers mans knowledge and faith; And if it bee not required that I should know al things necessary to saluation [Page] in my owne person, but may haue a share of another mans knowledge, what need I greatly seeke for knowledge my selfe? And why may I not repose the hope of my saluation vpon other men? And heereby wee may obserue their grosse absurdity, In the case of iustification they teach, that wee are not made righteous by the righteousnesse of Christ, imputed vnto vs, though hee bee the head of the body of the Church, and the Spirit that animateth it, proceedeth from him; and yet heere they say, that a man may be made wise and knowing, by the knowledge of other their fellow members in the same body, abiding in the vnity of Christs Church. What is this, but to aduance the members aboue the head, or at least, to forget themselues, not caring what they say, so that they maintaine the cause they haue in hand?

20. I, but Saint Augustine sayth, If thou loue vnity: for thee August. tract. in Ioh. 32. Idem in Psal. 130. also hath he, whosoeuer hath any thing in it: it is thine which I haue: it is mine which thou hast. And againe in another place hee sayth: When Peter wrought miracles, he wrought them for me, because I am in that body, in which Peter wrought them. In which body, though the eye seeth, and not the eare: and the eare heareth, and not the eye: yet the eye heareth in the eare, and the eare seeth in the eye, &c. Therefore, all the grace and knowledge that is in any other of Gods Saints, either liuing, or dead, is ours by participation: And so, that which was sufficient in them, for their saluation, is also enough for vs, for ours, though wee haue little, or none of our owne. Thus reason our Rhemists, in the place before quoted. But I answere first, with our reuerend, learned countrey-man, Doctor Fulk, that Saint Augustine vnderstandeth that place of Saint Iohn, of an actuall, and personall knowledge, inspired by the holy Ghost, concurring with the outward ministery of the Church, and not of any generall knowledge infused into the Church, to bee transfused, and dispersed among the members, by an imputatiue participation. Secondly, if a man may know by another mans knowledge, why may not a man bee righteous by anothers righteousnesse? And if the knowledge of our fellow members may bee imputed to vs, that wee thereby may bee saide to know, why may not the iustice of our head bee so [Page] imputed vnto vs, that thereby wee may bee made iust? These things are so paralell, that the one being granted, the other needs must follow. Thirdly, and lastly, that communion which is betwixt the members of a body, either naturall or mysticall, is not an actuall translation of gifts from one to another: but either a participation in the fruit of those gifts, or a generating of the like in others, by doctrine, example, exhortation, prayers, and such like meanes. And so wee may truely say, that euery one that is in the body of Christ, reapeth fruit and benefit, by all the graces and gifts that euer haue, or shall belong to any member thereof, though not for merit, yet for comfort, instruction, edification, and increase of grace. And againe, as one candle lighteth another, and one steele sharpeneth, and whetteth another: So wisedome and grace is deriued from one to another; either by naturall commerce of speech, or patterne of example. Thus much did Saint Augustine intend, and no more: and therefore, it neuer came into his minde to thinke, (as these idle braines would make him) that the knowledge which resided in the Saints of God, is actually in all Gods Children, or that they are partakers of their gifts and graces, to their saluation. For he that will be saued, must beleeue for himselfe, and know for himselfe, and liue godly for himselfe. If hee doe all these things by a proxy, hee must also goe to Heauen by a proxy, and not by himselfe. This doctrine therefore is a manifest breeder and maintainer of such grosse ignorance, as both Saint Augustine and all other holy men haue alwayes condemned for a sinne.

21. A fift doctrine from whence ignorance springeth and ariseth, is their prohibiting of Lay men to dispute, touching matters of faith, and that vnder paine of excommunication. This Nauarre propoundeth as the doctrine of theirNauar. Enchir. in 1. praecept. cap. 11. Aquin. 2. 2 q. 10 art. 7. [...]ell. de verb Dei Interpret l. 3. c 8 Church, neither is it contradicted by any other. Aquinas goeth further, and sayth, that it is vnlawfull to dispute of matters of faith, in the presence of those that are ignorant and simple. And Bellarmine taketh away from the people, all power of iudging of their Pastours doctrine, saying, that they must beleeue whatsoeuer they teach, except they broach some new doctrin, [Page] which hath not beene heard of in the Church before. And if they doe so, yet they must iudge of them no otherwise, then by referring them to their ordinary Pastour, which is the Pope, to whose definitiue sentence they must yeeld full consent, withoutIdem de Cleri. l. 1. cap. 7. further examination. Nay, he most shamefully affirmeth, that if their ordinary Pastour teach a falshood, and another that is not their Pastour, teach the contrary truth: yet the people ought to follow their Pastour erring, rather then the other telling the truth. And thus the poore people must rely al their knowledge vpon their Pastours, and may not in any case examine and try their Spirits, whether they be of God, or no, cleane contrary to the Precept of our Sauior, Ioh. 5. 39. Search Ioh. 5. 39 Act. 17 the Scriptures: And to the practice of the Bereans, who examined Pauls doctrine by the Scriptures: And to the counsell of Saint Iohn to all, To try the Spirits. Now, who seeth not thatIoh. 5. 1 this confirmeth, and cherisheth the people in ignorance? For if they may not dispute about any matter of faith themselues, nor heare others that are learned so to doe, nor examine the doctrine of their ordinary Pastours, but beleeue whatsoeuer they teach, bee it true, or false: what remaineth, but that they should lye, and tumble in ignorance, and superstition, seeing the ordinary meanes of getting knowledge, and finding out the truth, is taken from them? For when they are bound to swallow downe all the doctrines on the one side, and may not so much as heare, or read the reasons of the other, nor weigh them together in the Ballance of iudgement, how is it possible that they should euer finde out the truth?

22. Wee confesse with Saint Paul, that the weake are not to bee admitted to controuersies of disputation. But what disputations?Rom. 14. 1 Mary, about needlesse questions, touching matters indifferent, as meat and drinke, and difference of dayes, as the Apostle explaineth himselfe in the same Chapter: Or foolish, and vnlearned questions that ingender strife, and are not profitable 2. Tim. 2. 23 1. Tim. 1. 4 to edification. But if the disputation bee concerning matters of saluation, and disquisition of a necessary truth, then are none to bee excluded either from reasoning, or hearing. For [Page] Saint Peter requireth of euery man, that hee be able to giue an 1. Pet. 3. 15. answere to euery one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in him. And therefore to dispute: for what is to dispute, but to giue a reason? And our Sauiour disputed with the Pharises and Sadduces, in the audience of the people, touching the resurrection, and the greatest Commandement of the Law, and his humane, and diuine nature. And so likewise did Saint Paul with the Grecians and with the Iewes, conuincingMat. 22. 23. Act. 9. 29. Act. 17. 17. Act. 19. 8. 9. them by arguments out of the Scripture, That Iesus was the Christ, and that there was no way to saluation, but by saith in his Name. From such disputations as these, none was debarred; but euery one was, and is bound to seeke a firme resolution, that hee bee not carried about with euery winde of doctrine. True it is, euery simple man and woman ought not presently to rush out into arguments of disputation, nor too peremptorily to talke of deep mysteries in Religion: for then it may bee said vnto them, as Saint Basill is reported to haueTheodoret. bis [...]o. l. 4. c. 17. answered the Emperors Cook, Tuum est de pulmentis cogitare, non diuina dogmata concoquere: It is thy part to looke to thy sauces, and dainty dishes, and not to boyle (in thy shallow wit) heauenly mysteries. And therefore, they must, as Saint Ierome speaketh, not lacerare Scripturam, teare in pieces theHierom. in epist. ad Paulin. Scriptures, by their ignorant interpretations, and applications of it: Nor docere antequam didicerunt: Teach others, before they haue learned themselues: But like Pythagoras schollers, keepe silence long, till they be wel grounded in knowledge: neuerthelesse, all this while, they must not be barred from hearing others discourse of these high matters; nor from reading their arguments, pro & contra: nor at length also, when they are come to some perfection, from arguing, and reasoning with the aduersary: For this is the high way to knowledge and vnderstanding, the Lord hauing promised to all those that pray vnto him, and doe his will, whether they bee Priests, or people, the illumination of his Spirit, and power to discerne of doctrines. They that deny therefore this liberty vnto the people, doe barre them out from all sound knowledge, andIoh. 7. 17. & 16. 13. imprison them in a gaole of ignorance, blindnesse, and superstition.

[Page]23. Lastly, their braue doctrine, touching Implicite faith, doth tend to the same end, and bring forth the fame effect, and that more effectually then any of the rest. For thus they teach, that it is not necessary for a Layman, to know anymore, by Molan. tract. 3. c. 27. ant. 15. Bonauent. Durand. a distinct knowledge, saue some few capitall heads of Religion, as, that there is one God, and three persons. That Christ is come in the flesh, and redeemed vs from our sinnes, and shall com againe to iudge the quicke and the dead, &c. As for the rest, it is sufficient to giue assent vnto the Church, and beleeue as it beleeueth, though they know not what it beleeueth; yea, that they are not bound expresly to beleeue all the Articles of the Apostles Creed, which is notwithstanding nothing els but a briefe summe and Epitome of Christian Religion, and one of the principall grounds of the Catechisme. And this is the Colliers faith spoken of before, so much commended by many of their greatest Clarks. Now how can this but nourish most groffe ignorance? For when the people are perswaded that such a short scantling of knowledge is sufficient, and that it is enough for their saluatiō, if in a reuerence to the Church, they beleeue as it beleeueth: what reason haue they either to labour to get any further knowledge, or to increase and grow vp in that which they haue attained vnto? Surely, in matters of Religion, so great is the auersenesse of our nature, that wee are all so farre from endeuouring to get more then is needfull; that few seeke for so much. And therefore they that bound our knowledge within so narrow limits, cherish this corruption, and by speaking pleasing things vnto it, lull it asleepe in the bed of ignorance. But in the meane time, how contrary is this to the word of God, let the world indge, seeing the Apostle prayeth for the Colossians, that they might bee fulfilled Col. 1. 10. 11. with the knowledge of Gods will, in all wisedome, and spirituall vnderstanding: and that they might increase in the knowledge of God: Whereas these fellowes would haue Gods people to bee empty of knowledge, and in stead of growing, to stand at a stay, resting vpon the supposed knowledge of the Church. And whereas the same Apostle saith vnto the Thessalonians, I would not haue you ignorant, brethren, speaking in1. Thess. [...]. 13▪ [Page] the same place, of very high and deepe mysteries: as the state of the dead, the resurrection and ast iudgement: they on the contrary say to their people, W [...]e would haue you ignorant, brethren. These things are so grosse and shamefull, that if the Church of Rome were not the whore of Babylon, she would blush, that any such imputation should iustly be laid vnto her charge.

24. These bee the Romish doctrines, which directly, and naturally ingender, and maintaine ignorance: and therefore no maruaile, if a flood of ignorance doth ouer-flow the field of their Church, seeing it bursteth forth by so many spowts. Let vs take a view therefore a little of the effects and fruits of these doctrines, both in the Clergie, and the people. Touching the ignorance of the Romish Clergie, what it hath beene in former ages, and is yet at this day, though the Iesuites bragge neuer so much of their new learning, and labour to wipe away that staine from their faces, let their owne writers speake. Platina the Popes Secretary thus complaineth of the horriblePlatin. in vit. Marcelli. corruption and ignorance of the Priests in his dayes: Quanta sit auaritia Sacerdotum, &c. How great is the couetousnesse of Priests (sayth he) and especially of those that bee in chiefest authority! how great leachery, how great ambition and pompe, how great pride and idlenesse, how great ignorance both of themselues and Christian doctrine, how little Religion, &c! I need not declare, when they themselues doe so openly proclaime it, as though they sought praise thereby. This complaint hee maketh in the life of Marcellus the first, and the like in Denis the first: Boniface the fift: Stephen the third, and Gregory the fourth. The like complaint or worse, maketh one Bredenbachius, Deane of the Church of Mentz, in Germany, inBredenbach. in suae peregrin. hist. the time of Charles the fourth, and yeere of our Lord, 1370. The Law (saith he) is departed from Priests, Counsell from the Elders, Charity from Prelates, Religion from Monks, Discipline from Clerks, Learning from teachers, Study from Schollers, &c. and in the end he bursteth foorth into this exclamation, O times! ô manners! most trouble some and miserable times! reprobate and wicked manners both of Clergie and [Page] people! Mathew Paris saith, that in the time of William theMath. Paris. in Guliel. Conquest. Conqueror, Clerks were so vnlearned in England, that such that vnderstood their Grammar, were a wonderment to their fellowes. And for Italy, Espensaeus▪ a learned Bishop, faith, that Espens. com. in Tit. c. 1. & 2. it was told him by an Italian Bishop, that his Countrymen did not studie the Scriptures, but the Ciuill and Canon Lawes, because that was the shortest [...]ut to Bishopricks, Cardinalships, and highest dignities on earth. Touching Spaine, thus complainethAluar. Pelag. de planct. Eccles. lib. 2. art. 20. Aluarus Pelagius, that the Bishops there committed thousands of soules to some young Nephewes of theirs, to whom a man would bee loth to commit two peares to be kept. And for Germanie, let vs heare their owne complaint, that most vsually Bishops Centū grauam. gra. 47. aduanced to the Order of Priesthood, vnlearned Idiots, vnfit, vile, and ridiculous persons. The like might bee showne in all other Countries: but this is sufficient for a taste of the miserable ignorance of the Romish Clergie, deriued from their owne confession.

25. And therefore we neede not wonder, when we read of many Popes that were vtterly vnlearned, euen so farre, that they knew not the Grammar: as that Pope that said (as it is reported) Fiatur, in stead of Fiat: and being told, that it was false Latine; answered, that in spight of Priscian, and all Grammarians, it should be euer after canonized for true Latine. Or that Pope, to wit, Gregory the sixth, who beingLaziard. Epit. cap. 183. ignorant of Latine, was faine to haue another consecrated with him, to helpe to say Masse. Or that Pope, to wit, Zachary, that condemned Virgilius, a Bishop of Germany, forAuent. Annal. lib. 3. Platina. saying, there were Antipodes. Or Paul the second, that determined all them to bee Heretikes, that named the word Academy. Or, Bennet the ninth, who when hee was madeBar [...]. ann [...]. 1033 nu. 6. Glab. Rodulph. Pope, was a childe, about ten yeeres old: and therefore could not haue any great store of wisedome in him at those yeeres. And if Popes haue beene thus ignorant, which are the heads of the Church, no maruell if Cardinalls, which are the necke, and Archbishops and Bishops, which are the shoulders, and Priests and Fryers, which are but the armes and legges, bee voyd of all vnderstanding: for how can the members bee [Page] wise, if the head be a foole? And therefore when wee read, that Lois Marsilius, an Augustinian Fryer, being asked, what the two strops of the Bishops Miter signified? answered, that they represented, that the Bishop neuer vnderstood the Old nor the New Testament. We haue no cause to wonder at it: neyther when that we read, that a certain Priest was of this mind, that whatsoeuer was in print, was as true as the Gospell. Nor when we heare another of them fishing the Virgine Maries name out of the first Chapter of Genesis, where it is written, that God called the gathering together of the waters (Maria) &c. Nor another, that prooued our Sauiour Christ to take away the sinne of the world, because the word Iesus was written in Hebrew with the letter [...], Sin, in the midst. But what need I insist in particulars, seeing this was one of the rules of a whole Order, called the Franciscane, or Minorite Fryers [...] Nescientes non curent discere literas: Let not the ignorant regard to know letters. Of which rule they euer were most obseruant: from whence springs that elegant Epigramme.

Cauisti bene tu, ne te vlla occidere possit

Litera: nam nulla est litera not a tibi.

That is in English thus:

Preuented well thou hast the letter that doth kill:

For not a letter wilt thou learne, to stop this ill.

26. Now then let▪ their Bozius vpbrayd vnto vs the ignorance of all Arts, and bragge of their Iesuites learning aboue all others. And let their Posseuine, and Grester, and Tanner Boz de sig. eccles. lib. 12. c. 12. Posseu. biblioth. doe the same: yet they shall neuer shew a whole Order amongst vs, and that of Clergie men, that make a profession of Ignorance. As for the eminence of the Iesuites learning, whereof they bragge so much, we enuy it not vnto them, so that they will not make themselues the onely engrossers of learning, but suffer vs, poore men, to retayle some part with them, with whom we may boldly say, that for number and quality, we haue them that are euery way equall, if not superiour vnto them.

27. But to leaue their Clergie, and come to the multitude of their Lay people, which are they indeede amongst [Page] whom we may see the true fruit of these their doctrines. It is both strange and lamentable to behold the prodigious ignorance of most, both men and women, that liue vnder Popery, and haue receiued the marke of the Beast on their foreheads: for as the Priests teach, so the people follow, like a flocke of sheepe following their Belweather; the one commending ignorance, the other imbracing it with all their hearts. Some of their owne Writers affirme, that the Common people, for theVincent. de fine mundi. most part, amongst them, knew not the Articles of the faith: and if they▪ knew not the Articles of the faith, how can they giue a reason of them? which Saint Peter requireth of euery man. As the multitude of the Nineuites knew not their right hand from their left; so this rabble know not the right hand of Religion from the left. As for the maine points of the Catechisme, how can they know them, whereas they are ignorant of the grounds thereof? For the Lords Prayer, the ten Commandements, and the Creede, they rumble vp in the Latine tongue, not vnderstanding one word what they speake. They say Pater noster, and Credo in Deum, and yet they know not what Pater meaneth, nor what Credo signifieth. Yea, for the most part, they so mistearme the words thereof, that their language is more like to the babling of Infants, or rather the prattling of Parrats, then the speech of men. Neither is this ignorance onely to be found among the basest of the people, which haue no teaching and education, but euen amongst the better sort of them, that are well borne and brought vp: and after so strange and strong a fashion, that by no meanes can they be withdrawne from this inueterate and continued custome of their Ancestors. Hence springeth all that grosse superstition which is vsed of them: as, creeping to the Crosse, falling downe before Images, adoring and beautifying them with new-fashioned garments, running a Pilgrimage to this Saint and that, setting vp Tapers before their shrines, wearing about their necks the beginning of the Gospell of Saint Iohn, as a preseruatiue against the Diuell, and the herbe Veruine, being crossed and blessed, against blasts, the white Pater noster, and the little Creede, with an infinite number of [Page] such like superstitious vanities, whereof there is neyther head nor foote. Would any that are not plunged ouer head and eares in ignorance, put any affiance in such trumperie? and yet herein is all the Religion of the vulgar, who repose euen the hope of their saluation in these things, and thinke it a greater sinne to neglect or omit one of these Ceremonies, then to breake any of the Commandements of God.

28. Now let any man iudge whether this can be the true Religion, which nourisheth this barbarous and monstrous ignorance and superstition amongst the people: and whether that can be▪ a good tree, which bringeth forth such bitter and sowre fruits. This is the conclusion which groweth out of the premises, by necessary consequence.

The XI. MOTIVE. That Religion which was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time, nor in the Primitiue Church, cannot be the truth: but such is the Romish Religion in most points thereof: therefore that cannot be the truth.

1. THe Romanists triumph in no one thing so much, as in the antiquitie of their Church and Religion: and therefore they cast euermore into our teeth, that our Religion is but vp-start, and our Church of yesterday, euen since Luthers time, being neuer extant in the world before. But herein they play but the Sophisters: for if they speake of true antiquitie, we will ioyne issue with them in this point, and doubt not but to prooue that theirs is the vp-start Church, and their Religion the new Religion, in those points wherein they differ from vs: and that our faith and Religion was taught and professed by Christ himselfe, and his Apostles, and exercised and maintained in the pure and primitiue Age of the Church. For the cleere manifestation of which point, it is first to be obserued, that there is a double antiquitie; one primary, another secundary: Primary is that, which was from [Page] the beginning, though discontinued and interrupted by the corruption of times. Secundary is that, which indeede is aged and gray-headed, but yet reacheth not to the spring head. Thus our Sauiour Christ controlleth the law of Diuorce Mat. 19. 8. though it was aged and of long continuance, euen two thousand yeeres old; yet Nonsic fuit ab initio: It was not so from the beginning: where we see that Diuorce was old and full of yeeres, and yet farre from true antiquitie: for true antiquitie is that which is deriued ab initio, from the beginning. In regard of this, it is truely said of Tertullian, Ʋerum Tertull. quod primum, falsum quod posterius: That which is first, is alwaies true, and that which commeth later, is false: but in respect of the other, it is also as truely spoken of Saint Augustine, Estmos diabolicus, vt per antiquitatis traducem commendetur Aug. nou. & vet testa. quaest. 114 fallacia: It is a diuellish custome, that error should be commended by the descent of antiquitie. Secondly, it is to be obserued, that no antiquitie, be it neuer so ancient and hoare-headed, is to be reuerenced or regarded, if it bee not grounded vpon the truth of the Scriptures: and that which seemeth nouelty, if it bring Scripture for it warrant, is truely ancient, and hath true, certaine, and vnresistable authoritie: the reason is giuen by Aquina [...], Because the Law of God proceedeth Aquin. 2. part. quaest. 97. art. 3. from the will of God, and therefore may not be altered by custome proceeding from the will of man: whence it is, that no custome ought to preuaile against the Law of God. To which purpose is that of Tertullian, Heresies are to bee conuinced, not Tertull. lib. de [...]cland. virginib. so much by noueltis, as by verity: whatsoeuer sauours against the truth, that shall bee heresie; yea, though neuer so ancient. And of Cyprian, If onely Christ is to bee heard, wee ought not to Cyprian. lib. 2. Epist. 3. ad Caecilium. regard what any before vs hath thought fit to bee done; but what Christ, who is before all, hath first done: for we must not follow the custome of man, but the truth, of God: and in another place,Idem ad Pompeia. cont. Epist. Steph. Papae. Clem. Alex. orat. ad Gent. pag. 41. Custome without truth, is nothing but antiquitie of error. Vpon this ground also Clemens Alexandrinus, in an Oration to the Gentiles, (who pretended antiquitie for their errors, as the Romanists now doe, saying, that they, and their Fathers before them, were borne and bred in that Religion, and therefore [Page] will not now giue it ouer, saith, Let vs flye custome as a rocke, or the threates of Charybdis, or the fabulous Syrenes, for it Aug. de baptisme paruulorum. choaketh a man: it turneth from the truth, it leadeth from life, it is a snare, a hellish gulfe, an euill fanne, &c. And Saint Augustine, Truth being knowne, custome is not to be followed: for our Sauiour did not say, I am custome, but, I am truth. Now vpon these grounds wee offer to ioyne issue with them: First, that they haue no true and primitiue antiquitie for their Religion: and secondly, though some of their opinions be of long continuance, yet being not warrantable by Scriptures, they ought not to preiudice, by a conceit of nouelty, that primitiue and Apostolicall truth, which by corrupt time hath beene interrupted. And this I hope to discourse so plainely in this Argument following, that no indifferent reader, that seemeth not forestalled with preiudice, shall depart vnsatisfied.

2. Concerning the first proposition, I take it to bee of anMaior. 2. vndeniable truth: for, without all question, all truth was taught by the Apostles to the Primitiue Church, and no part thereof was left vnreuealed: for so Saint Paul saith in plaine tearmes to the Elders of Ephesus, I haue deliuered vnto you Act 20. the whole counsaile of God. Now if hee deliuered to them the whole counsaile of God, then no part of his counsaile, that concerned the mysterie of Christian Religion, was vndeliuered. Besides, it is as certaine that that Church, which next succeeded the Apostles, was the most pure and absolute Church, whether for doctrine, or manners, matter, or forme, that euer was in the world: and therefore to degenerate from that, must needes be, to degenerate from the puritie and sanctity of Religion. And againe, it cannot bee denyed, that though some heresies were broached, euen in the Apostles times, and were coetaneae Apostolorum, as Tertullian noteth:Tertull praescrip. and though the primitiue age of the Church, after the Apostles, was most pestered with Heretikes, yet euermore the truth preuailed, both in regard of birthright, and predominance. And therefore they that will plead antiquitie, must both prescribe from the Apostles time, and must haue a good title also to hold by: for these two things are necessarily required [Page] to a iust prescription, as the Lawyers speake, Bonus titulus: A good title: and, Legittimum tempus: A lawfull time. A good title is that which is warranted by the diuine Law: and a lawfull time is that which is fetcht from Christ Iesus and his Apostles: both these, concurring together, are an inuincible argument of the truth: The first proposition therefore must needes be infallibly true.

3. And so I leaue it, and come to the second proposition:Minor. the truth whereof shall bee manifested in two poynts: first, in respect of the outward face and fashion of their Church: and secondly, in respect of the principall doctrines, which are proper vnto them, as they are the Romish Synagogue.

3. For the first. The outward face of the Church deuideth it selfe into three branches: first, into the persons that exercise preeminence and authoritie in it: and secondly, into the iurisdiction and authoritie exercised by those persons: and thirdly, into the outward ceremonies thereof. In all these the Church of Rome is degenerate from the Primitiue and Apostolicall puritie.

4. The principall persons of the Romish Hierarchie are1. these. The Pope first, as the ring-leader: next, the Cardinals, his Counsellors of state: then Archbishops and Bishops, his assistants: and lastly, the shaueling Priests his vassals: to which body may be added, as excrements, an infinite rabble of religious Orders▪ as Monks, Fryers, and He [...]mits, with such like: and of Fryers, the Dominicanes, the Franciscanes, the Austinians, the Ambrosians, the Minorites, the Gilbertines, the Crossebearers, the Cisterensians, the Blacke, the White, the Gray, the Bare-footed, the Begging, with a number more: and to conclude, the Iesuites, which as they are the taile of all the rest for the time, so they are the head of all the rest for vill▪nous conspiracies, bloudy plots, diuel [...]ish deuices, and hellish practices. Now of all thes [...] (Bishops onely excepted) wee finde not so much as any mention, neither in the writing of the Apostles, nor in the age next succeeding after them: for though the name Pope, Papa, being a word of the Syracusan Language, and signifying as much as Pater, [Page] Father, be of great antiquitie, yet, as a Iesuite of their owneAzor. Iesuit. Institut. moral. p. [...] l. 5. c. vlt. Masson praef. in l. 6. de vitis Pontif. p. 271. confesseth, with others, it was a common name to all Bishops, as appeareth both in Cyprian and Ruffinus, till Gregory the seuenth, in an assembly held at Rome, decreed, that onely the Bishops of Rome should bee called Popes. But as touching Cardinals, the matter is more grosse: for the first birth and originall of that name can be deriued no higher, then eyther from Gregory the firsts time, or Pope Siluester, or Marcellus, Azor. Iesuit. Instit. moral. p. 2. l. 4. c. 1. Polid. Virgil. de inuent. rerum, l. 4. c. 270. or Pontianus, by their owne confession: and therefore some of them ingenuously acknowledge, that the Order of Cardinals is not ex iure diuino, by Gods ordinance, though others, no lesse foolishly, then impudently, would fixe their foundation vpon these words of the Scripture, Domini sunt Cardines terrae, The hinges or the pillars of the earth are the Lords. Therefore Cardinals are of God: which is as good a consequent, as his that would prooue, that Heretikes ought to be put to death by Scripture, because Saint Paul said, Haereticum hominem deuita, &c. as hath beene shewed before. As for the name of Bishops, wee deny not but it is found in Scripture, and so Archbishop may also be warranted by the same authositie, as signifying nothing else but a chiefe Bishop: but how farre the Romish Archbishops and Bishops are degenerate from their office, described by the Scripture, all the world can witnesse: for the Scripture Bishops were diligent Preachers, these are idle Prelates: they were persecuted, these are persecutors: they were humble persons, these are proud Princes: they were holy men, seeking onely the aduancement of the Kingdome of Christ, these are profane worldlings, seeking their owne gaine, and pompe, and carnall honours: all this is confessed of them, and lamented by Espensaeus, one of the same ranke, who thus writeth, It was no lesse a wonder in olde Espens. in 1. Tim. digres. l. 2. c. 2. times (saith he) to be called a Bishop, and not to preach, then he is now as rare as a monster, who is seen to performe that dutie: and againe, I know (saith he) some learned Bishops, who standing vpon their Gentilitie, forsooth, and greatnesse, hold it a matter of seruitude and basenesse, to be exercised in preaching, because their predecessors were not accustomed thereunto.

[Page]5. As touching Priests in the new Testament phrase, allPhil. 4 18. 1. Pet. 2. 5. Reu. 6. 8. 15. 10 Christians are called Priests: and they, whose office it is to dispose the mysteries of the Gospell, Ministers, and Elders, and Pastors: but now, none may haue that name, but their anoynted Shauelings, who (as they say) create their Creator, by fiue coniuring words, and offer him vp vpon the altar, as a Sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead. For albeit the word Priest is deriued from presbyter, which signifieth an Elder, and in that sense might well be giuen to the Ministers of the new Testament, yet, because it is in common vse of speech, taken for one appointed to sacrifice, which in Latine is Sacerdos, and in Greeke [...]: And because the Ministers of the Gospell are not once named by these termes in the new Testament, therefore they that in this signification terme the Ministers of the Gospell by the name of Priests, degenerate from the true meaning of the Scripture: but what should I speake of the name, seeing the office of these Shauelings is so contrarie to that function which was practised by the Apostles and Disciples of Iesus Christ? for the Apostles are neuer said to sacrifice Christ on the Altar, as these Shauelings are pretended to doe. Their office was to minister [...], but not to sacrifice; they receiued of the Lord, and gaue vnto the people: but these create a Sacrifice of themselues, and then offer it vp to the Lord. Here then is a plaine declining of the Romish Priests from the true Ministers of the Primitiue Church, both in name and office.

6. Lastly, concerning Monkes, Fryers and Hermites, they are names neuer heard of in the Apostles time, nor in the purer age of the Church. The first Hermite was one Anthony, who liued three hundred yeeres after Christ, who taught others that state of life, and learned it of none, as confessethBell. de Monach. lib. 2. cap. 5 Agrip. de vanit. scient. c. 62. Id. Ibidem. Bellarmine: Monkes had no being in the best times of the Church, sayth Agrippa; though Bellarmine is not ashamed to say, that the Apostles were the first Monks in Christianity; who notwithstanding liued not alone in cels, but went about the world preaching the Gospell, & some of them had wiues also, both which are contrarie to the Monkish profession, but [Page] Fryers are yet of a far later impressiō. The orders of Dominick & Francis sprung vp vnder Innocent the third, in the time of the Laterane Councill, about the yeere 1220. For when Pope Innocent would not be perswaded to confirme to Dominick his order of preaching Fryers, hee dreamed that the Church of Laterane was ready to fall, and that Dominick came in, and with his shoulders vnder-propped it. Vpon which dreame he presently sent for Dominick, and granted his petition: and sure not vaine was that dreame: for had not Fryers beene the vpholders and chiefe Pillars of the Popes Church, it had fallen longere this. The croutched Fryers, otherwise called the crosse-bearers, sprang vp about the same time for Pope Innocent, raising an army against the Albingenses, whom the Pope accounted for Heretikes, caused the souldiers to be signed with a crosse on their brest, whereupon they were called crosse-bearers, or croutched Fryers. All the other orders of Fryers, which amount, as some reckon them, to an hundreth at least, are most of them of later institution. And most true is the assertion of Wiclif, that Fryers were neuer knowne in the world, before the yeare 1200.

7. The Iesuites tooke their beginning about threescore and fifteene yeeres since: For in the yeare 1540. their order was first confirmed by Pope Paul the third, to Ignatius Loyola the lame souldier, the chiefe Father and Patriarch of that viperous brood, at the request and intercession of Cardinall Contarenus: so that they are not yet beyond the bounds of a mans age, and neuerthelesse they are growne to such maturity of craft and deceit, that all other orders are but nouices to them: they are the onely fellowes of the world for subtill practices, and daring enterprises, and now the chiefest props of the Papall sea: For Dominick was weary of bearing that burden, and for the ease of himselfe, suffered Loyola to put vnder his shoulder; and so now all the burden lyeth vpon him: let him hold vp stiffely therefore, or els all will goe to wracke.

8. But now to the purpose. Where were all these orders in the Apostles times, and in the Primitiue age of the Church? [Page] Then men reioyced to be called by the Name of Christ; now these fellowes glory to be called by the name of Dominick, or Francis; and as if Christians was too base a name for them, they will be called Iesuites, of Iesus they say the Sonne of God: but more truely of Bar-Iesus the Sorcerer, that withstoodActs 13. 6. the preaching of Paul, & was a peruerter of the straight wayes of the Lord: or of a French weapon called Gesu [...], wherewith these same bloudy Traitours vse to murther kings and Princes, if they withstand their purposes: whereupon is that elegant Epigram:

—A Gesis sunt indita nomina vobis,

Quae quia sacrilegi Reges torquetis in omnes

Inde sacrum nomen, sacrum sumpsistis & omen.

9. But to shut vp in one word all the villany of these monstrous late-borne orders of Fryers, let Aretine an Italian Poet describe them. Frate (sayth he) in Italian is a Fryer: euery letter of which word doth represent the nature of that generation: for Furfanto, a thiefe: Ribaldo, a filthy Ribald: Asino, an asse: Traditore, a Traitour, & Eretico, an Heretike: All together make the true and perfect definition of a Fryer: Or as Lincolniensis defineth him, A dead carcase risen out of his graue, wrapped in a winding sheet, and carryed among men by the Deuill. But my purpose is not to bring vpon the stage their filthy andClemang. de statu. eccles. pag. 47. 53. 56. Agrip. de vanit. c. 62. Polid. Virgil. de Inuent. l. 7. c. 5 Aluar. Pelag. de planct. l. 2. art. 2 & 73. 83 Paling. Leo. Virgo Sagit. Ariost. Orland. furioso. Cant. 14 stan. 65 2. abominable liues; hee that will see that, let him read Clemangis, in his booke of the state of the Church, which hee wrote about two hundreth yeeres since: And Cornelius Agrippa, of the vanity of Sciences: And Polidore Virgill, and Aluarus Pelagius, and Palingenius, with Ariosto an Italian Poet, &c. and he shall finde matter not onely of wonder and admiration, but also of griefe and lamentation, that the Church of God should bee so long pestered with such filthy dregges; but it is sufficient for this place to haue showne, that neither their name nor orders were once heard of in the Primitiue Church.

10. Thus much touching their persons. Now for the iurisdiction exercised by these persons, how not onely transcendent, but repugnant it hath beene, and is at this day, to that of [Page] the Apostles and Primitiue Church, their both Lordly titles, and tyrannous practice doth clearely demonstrate. For their titles, which of the Apostles either assumed to himselfe (which they might haue iustly done, if it had beene their due) or receiued from others these titles: Vniuersall Bishop, Head of the Church: High Priest of the world: Prince of Priests, and Christs Johan. à Capistr. de Papa, & eccles. authorit. Extrauag. in Ioh. 22. Rod. Cupers de eccles. pag. 61. nu. 52. Christop. Marel. in Concil. Later. Clement. in Prooem. in gloss. Vicar vpon earth, &c? But the Pope of Rome doth challenge to himselfe all these, yea, more then these, that he is, as it were a god vpon earth, hauing fulnesse of power, and yet more, aequè ac Christus Deus, A God aswell as Christ, a beeing of the second intention, compounded of God and man, and yet more, Deus vindictae, a God of reuenge, and another god vpon earth; and lastly, Stupor mundi, the wonderment of the world, neither God nor man, but a neuter betwixt both. Could such intolerable pride euer enter into the heart of a man? or could the tongue of any wight liuing dare to belch out such horrible blasphemies? Surely none but hee that is that man of sinne, who sitteth in the Temple of God, as God, and to whom is giuen a mouth to blaspheme the God of Heauen, and in whose fore-head is written this name of blasphemy, Deus sum, errare non possum: Auentin. lib. 7. I am God, I cannot erre. But to the point; Did euer Peter, whose successour the Pope claimeth to bee, challenge to himselfe any such titles? or did euer any of the other Apostles, or any Bishop in the Primitiue Church, for the space of three hundreth yeeres? Peter was so farre from this pride, that hee giueth charge to all Elders of the Church, that they should not behaue themselues as Lords ouer Gods heritage. And in1. Pet 5. 3. that very place hee equalleth himselfe to the rest, and the rest to himselfe, calling himselfe a fellow Elder: and in anotherActs. 1. 15. Acts. 2. 29. 2. Pet. 1. 10. Lorinus com. super Acta. pag. 62. place hee calleth all the Disciples his brethren; yea, all the Israelites his brethren, and all Christians his brethren: behold his humility. But the Pope acknowledgeth no brethren, but the Cardinals, Patriarkes, and Archbishops: Emperours and Kings are his children, and not his brethren; behold his pride: neither did the rest of the Apostles challenge to themselues any such titles of dignity. For they had learned of Christ their Lord and master, not to Lord it ouer others, but to humbleLuk. 22. 26. [Page] themselues, that they might bee exalted. And let them name but one Bishop of the Primitiue Church, that tooke vpon him any of these glorious titles, yea, of the Bishops of Rome themselues.

11. Wee deny not, but that some of the ancients haue yeelded vnto the Bishops of Rome great and honorable titles, but first this was in respect of their vertue, learning and integrity, and not in respect of any preeminence of iurisdiction. Secondly, wee find none of these titles which I speake of, attributed vnto them, but onely the Apostles successours, and Apostolicall Bishops, not heads of the Church, vniuersall Bishops, high Priests of the world, &c. which the later Popes haue vsurped. And thirdly, if at any time they were, yet the same titles of honour which were ascribed vnto them, weeBasil. epist. 55 Sidon. Apoll. in lib. 6. epist. 1 finde giuen to other Bishops, aswell as to the Bishop of Rome, as to Saint Ambrose by Saint Basill; and to one Lupus a Bishop in France, by Sidonius Apollinaris: And to Fontellus another Bishop in France, by the same man: To Basill by Nazianzene: To Athanasius, who is saluted by the name of high Bishop and chiefe Priest: And to Cyprian who was honoured with this stile, The Bishop of the whole world. Neither can it bee denyed, but these titles grew by little and little to be attributed to the Bishops of Rome, after the first three hundreth yeers of the Church, though they came not to perfection till the perfect reuelatiō of Antichrist, in the Apostolical sea: but this can neuer bee proued, that either in the Apostles times, or in two hundreth yeeres next succeeding after, euer any Bishop arrogated to himselfe, or any other ascribed vnto him any of these arrogant titles.

12. A sufficient argument whereof is this, that Bellarmine Bell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 2. c. 31. propounding this as his last reason to proue the principality of the Pope, draweth it from the great and famous titles which are attributed vnto him, and spending a whole Chapter in that purpose, alledgeth not one testimony older then Damasus the Bishop of Rome, who was elected to that sea in the yeere 369. Surely if he could haue found out more ancient proofes, he would haue after his manner stuffed the Chapter [Page] with them: but in that hee produceth none, it is euident that hee knew none, & indeed that there were none to be known▪ Nay, Gregory the great, one of their owne Popes, that liuedGregor. epi. l. 4 c. 32. & l. 6. c. 24. & l. 4. c. 34 36 sixe hundreth yeeres after Christ, not onely execrated the name of vniuersall Bishop, which Iohn the Bishop of Constantinople vsurped, calling it a name of blasphemy, and a proud and superstitious title, and him that vsurped it, a fore-runner of Antichrist; but also plainely auoucheth, that none of his predecessors vsed that prophane denomination: by which the proud times of Antichrist were marked out. Also Platina, Platina▪ Naucler▪ vol. 2 gen. 20 Cuspinian. Nauclerus, Cuspinian, with many other Historiographers, affirme, that Boniface the third, and Gregory the second, obtained of the Emperour Phocas, by great labour, the name of Head of the Church: A strange and tyrannical title, neuer publikely vsurped, before that time, in the Church of God; but now new created by Phocas, who hauing killed his LordPaulus Diaconus de gestis Longobard▪ c. 37 Mauritius, and his children, exercised a tyranny in the kingdome of the world, and begate this tyrannicall appellation in the kingdome of the Church. But of all other records of antiquity, most pregnant is the Canon of the Africane Council, to condemne the nouelty of these ambitious nominations: of which thus writeth our Roffensis. These are the words of the Councill: Let not any, no not the Romane, be called an vniuersall Rossen [...] ▪ in consult▪ Assort▪ Luther▪ ver [...]t▪ 8 Bishop. For that age (sayth he) which was neere to the Apostolicall times, studied modesty and humility; such a glorious title pleased not that Councill.

13. Wherefore concerning these great titles of honour, wee may conclude with our Sauiour Christ, that It was not so from the beginning: They are new and vpstart, in respect of true antiquity, ensignes of that pride and arrogancy, which reigned in the Prelates of the Church, in those latter times,Balt. Castill. lib. [...] ▪ [...]. and badges of Antichrists kingdome, where at Peter and Paul would blush for shame, if they were aliue, as it was merrily spoken by the Duke of Vrbanes Painter, when he had drawne their Pictures of a ruddy and high colour.

14. But leauing their titles, let vs take a short suruey of their practice: And first let it bee showne, that Peter, or Paul, [Page] or any the rest of the Apostles, or any Bishop of Rome, or of any other place, did euer take vpon them to depose Kings, and dispose of their kingdomes, and to translate them from one to another, and to absolue subiects from their oath of alleageance, and children from the bond of obedience to their parents, to dispense with the Law of God, to haue sole power of decision of controuersies, to challenge the right of appeales from all countreyes of Christendome: And lastly, to exercise not onely spirituall, but also temporall coactiue iurisdiction. But all this power hath beene in former times, and is at this day practised by the Bishop of Rome, and that with that rigour and vehemency, that it is a wonder that they doe not blush, so much to degenerat from those, whose successors they claime to be: But no maruaile; for els he should not shew himselfe to bee that Antichrist, except hee did aduance himselfe aboue all that is called God on earth: For this is a special marke of that man of sinne.

15. But let History, the light of time, make cleare thisNaucler. 2. generat. 39. Helmold. chron. Slauor. l. 1. c. 81. point. Pope Hadrian the fourth reprooued Frederick Barbarosse the Emperour, of insolency and arrogancy, in an Epistle written vnto him, for setting his owne name before his, and checked him also very bitterly, for holding his stirrup on the wrong side; and when hee came vnto him in the Church of Saint Marke in Venice, to bee absolued from his excommunication, commanded him to prostrate himselfe vpon the ground, and then set his foote on his necke, with these words, Super aspidem, &c. Thou shalt walke vpon the Aspe and Cocatrice, and shalt tread vpon the Lyon and Dragon. Did Peter euer doe the like? Gregory the seuenth caused Henry the [...]ourth, comming in all humility to submit himselfe vnto him, with his wife and childe, to dance attendance at his gate, bare-footed, and bare-headed, for the space of three dayes, ere hee would grant them any accesse vnto him. Did Peter euer doe the like? Celestine the third, being about to crown Henry the sixt Emperour, set the imperiall Diademe on his head (as some say) with his foote, and kicked it off with his foote againe. Did Peter euer doe the like [...] Innocent the second caused his [Page] owne Picture with the Emperours, to bee set vp in the Palace of Laterane, himselfe sitting in his Pontificall Throne, and the Emperour kneeling before him, and holding vp his hands vnto him, as vnto God. Did Peter euer doe the like? Gregory Naucler. vol. 2. generat. 25. the third deposed Leo, surnamed Iconomachus, for defacing Images set vp in Churches to bee worshipped. Pope Stephen deposed Childerick King of France, and set vp Pipin in his roome, for no haynous offence by him committed, but onely because hee was in his iudgement vnprofitable for the kingdome. Gregory the seuenth, called Hildebrand, would haue deposed Henry the fourth, and haue aduanced Rodolph DukeAuent. l. 5. Vesper. an. 1080 Naucler. gener. 37. of Sueuia into his throne, but that Gods iustice preuented his purpose, by bringing Rodolph to an vntimely end, and the Pope himselfe to a miserable and fearefull destruction: yet afterwards the same Henry was surprised by his owne sonne Henry the fift, at the inspiration of the succeeding Popes, and depriued, and imprisoned, and brought to his graue. Hadrian the fourth discharged the subiects of William King of Sicilia, of their oath and alleageance, because hee would not yeeld Apulia to the Pope, for inlarging of Saint Peters patrimony.Naucler. gener. 39. Alexander the fift excommunicated the Emperour Frederick, as also he had done his predecessour Hadrian, and thundred out great curses vpon him, and sent letters abroad to all Princes and people, to raise tumults against him, for punishing some dissolute persons of the Clergy, and claiming by warre, some rebellious Cities in Italy, as they pretended. Innocent Idem gener. 40. Cuspinian. vita Henrici & Philippi. the third excommunicated Philip, and raised vp Otho against him, seeking to dispossesse him of his kingdome: and after, when Otho was inuested with the Empyre, hee set vp Frederick the sonne of Henry the sixt against him, and deposed Otho. Honorius the third persecuted this Frederick, depriued him, and stirred vp his subiects against him, & absoluted them from their faith, oath and alleageance: And the like also did Gregory the ninth, and Celestine the fourth, and Innocent the fourth, against the same man. After the same manner was serued King Iohn of England, by the fore-named Innocent the fourth, because hee banished the Monks that had chosen Stephen [Page] Langton to bee Archbishop of Canterbury, contrary to his minde.

16. What should I reckon Raymundus Earle of Tholouse? Or Conrade the son of Frederick the second? Or Mamphred the bastard sonne of Frederick? Or Peter King of Arragon? Or Philip the faire, King of France? Or Henry the seuenth, who being persecuted by Clement the fift, was at last poysonedCuspinian. Nauclerus. in the Eucharist by a Iacobine Fryer, suborned to worke that feate? Or Lewes of Bauary, Charles the fourth, or Wenceslaus, or George King of Bohemia, or Iohn King of Na [...]arre, all which were grieuously persecuted, if not vtterly deposed by sundry Popes? And lastly our late Queene of famous memory, whose life was not once or twise, but often assaulted by the Popes instruments, and her kingdome, so farre as lay in the Popes power, taken from her▪ and translated to the Spanish faction? Did euer Peter doe the like?

17. But to descend from Kings to Bishop [...] the Pope doth challenge to himselfe the fulnesse of power ouer all other Bishops, & that the fountaine of iurisdiction, & the authority of the keyes is resident onely in his person, and that all other Bishops are subdelegate vnder him, and rece [...] their power from him, and that they ought to receiue their inuestitures from him alone. Did Peter euer doe the like? No: Hee esteemed all the rest of the Apostles his equals: and so our Sauiour Christ inioyned an equality and parity to be among the Apostles,Mat. 18. 1. Mark. 9. 35. Luk. 9. 46. Iren [...]us l. 5. Cyp. epist. 75. & 69. Hierom. epist. ad Euagrium. Hierom. ad Euag. tom 2. Cypr. de vnit. eccles. albeit they had a superiority ouer the seuenty disciples▪ and all Bishops are the vndoubted successors of the Apostles, witnesse Irenaeus, Cyprian and Hierome: and therefore must needs haue equall power of iurisdiction, as those from whom they receiued it were equall: this Saint Ierome auoucheth in direct termes, when hee sayth▪ Vbicunque fu [...]rit Episcopus, &c. Wheresoeuer he be Bishop, whether at Rome, or at Eugubium, &c. hee is of the same merit, and of the same Priesthood. And Saint Cyprian: Episcopatus vnus est, cuius à singulis pars in solidum tenetur. The Bishopricke is one, whereof euery Bishop hath a found and entyre part.

18. Againe, the Pope claimeth a Soueraignet [...]e ouer a [Page] Councell, and that not onely to call it at his pleasure, and to dissolue it againe when hee will; but also to allow and approue what he lusteth, and to disanull whatsoeuer is distastefull vnto his humorous palate: in which respect it is set downeR. Cupers de Eccles. p. 31. nu. 28 Iohan. de turrecrem. sum. lib. 3. cap. 64. as a ruled case amongst them; that, Although in a generall Councell, the vniuersall Church is represented, insomuch that nothing is greater then a Councell, notwithstanding, the Pope surpasseth the same in all manner authoritie; and therefore if the whole world should giue sentence against the Pope, yet the Popes sentence is to be stood vnto, and all other reiected: And the reasonIdem. li. 2. ca. 26 is giuen, because hee is of greater perfection then the whole bodie of the Church beside. Did euer Peter doe the like? In that Councell of the Apostles and Disciples in the eleuenth of the Acts, when as diuers Christians of the Circumcision contended against him for preaching, and baptizing Cornelius and his houshold at Cesarea, which were of the Gentiles, he did not arrogate this supereminencie to himselfe, that he was their chiefe, and head, and therefore ought not to be called to an account by them: [...] that they ought to subiect themselues to his power, as one that could not erre: no, he doth no such matter, but meekly rendreth a reckoning of his carriage in this businesse, and submitteth himselfe to their censure. So, Acts 15. when the Apostles, and Elders of the Church came together in a Councell to decide that great Controuerfie then mooued in the Church about Circumcision, Peter behaueth not himselfe as a Iudge, nor taketh vpon him any authoritie aboue the rest: but as one of the Apostles giueth his opinion, and the determination of the question is set downe not vnder his name onely, but in the name of the Apostles, Elders, and brethren, that were present; yea, Iames was president of that Councell, and not Peter, Gerson. tom. 4. in prop. vtilit. ad exter. Schism. Lyr. in Acts 15. Chrysost. in Acts hom. 33. if we will beleeue Gerson, and Lyran of their owne, and Chrysostome of the ancients.

19. Againe, the Pope taketh vpon him to exempt Clarks, though offending by Murder, Treason, Theft, Adulterie, or such like, from all temporall Courts of Princes, and punishment of the Laytie, except the Church proceed against [Page] them first, and make them no Clarkes. Thus, Pope Nicholas Epist. Nich▪ ad Michael. Imper. the first wrote to Michael the Emperour. Christian Emperors haue no right at all, to make any inquisition for Monkes, vnlesse it be in fauour to pittie them. Thus Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterburie, quarrelled with Henrie the Second, for this cause principally, as both Houeden, and Fabain report,Houeden. Hen. 2. Fab. par. 7. c. 237. for that the King went about to punish such of the Clergie, as were malefactors, by the temporall Lawes of the Land: which the Archbishop vtterly denyed to be lawfull. For this he said, that if a Clarke being within holy Orders, were accused of any crime, hee must bee iudged by Ecclesiasticall Iudges; and if he were conuict, he should lose his Orders, and so being excluded from Ecclesiasticall office and benefice, if after this he incurred the like fault, then might he be iudged at the pleasure of the King and his Officers. This was that proud Archbishops challenge against his Soueraigne▪ Henry the Second, for defence whereof, as also for other trayterous demeanors, being tumultuously killed, hee was canonized a Saint at Rome.

20. And that you may see that this practice of theirs is agreeable to their Doctrine, Bellarmine himselfe concludeth,Bellar. de Clericis cap. 28. That Kings are not Superiours vnto Clarkes, and therefore that they are not bound either by Gods, or mans Law to obey them; saue onely, in respect of Lawes directiue, and that the Imperiall Law ought in matters criminall to giue place to the Canon Law: which is as much as to say, that not the King, but the Pope is the Lord of the Clergie. Did Peter euer doe the like? No, he both in his owne person submitted himselfe to the temporall power, when he paid Tribute at his Masters Commandement, and when he vnder-went stripes and imprisonment for the Gospels s [...]ke, without making any such challenge ofMat. 17. 36. Act. 4. 3. Act. 5. 40. 1. Pet 2. 13. exemption: and also when he gaue in charge to all others, euen his fellow Elders, to submit themselues to Kings and Superiours for the Lords s [...]ke. Sure it is, that hee which payd a Tribute of monie, much more ought to pay a Tribute of obedience: and he which commanded others to obey, would not in any wise bee refractorie himselfe, lest that olde Prouerbe [Page] should be returned vpon him▪ Phisician, heale thy selfe: and lest his practice should looke one way, and his doctrine another, which was vnfit for any, much more for an Apostle.

21. Lastly, did euer Peter challenge to himselfe any such power and preeminence aboue the Scriptures, as to dispense with, the Law of GOD at his pleasure, and to take away and abrogate what hee list in the same? But the Pope taketh vpon him this also: for these be their owne positions: That the Pope may dispense with the Law of God, and Michael. Medina. Christian. paroenes▪ l. 7. c. 17 Grat. par. 1. p. 76 Abbas Panorm. extr. de diuortijs cap fin. Felin de constitut. cap. stat. Canon & de maio [...]t. & obedientia cap. fin. against the Apostle, and against the new Testament vpon a great caus [...], and that he may take away the Law of God in part▪ but not in whole. Yea, that hee can ex iniustitia facere iustitiam: turne sinne into righteousnesse: and de facto. Some of them haue dispenst with diuers Commandements of the Law, with Incest, with Murther, with Theft, with Treason, Adulterie, and such like; as hath beene before sufficiently declared, and may further be prooued, if it were not a thing both knowne and confessed. To shut vp the poynt: certaine it is, that Peter neuer exercised any such Iurisdiction, eyther in part or whole, as here is claimed by the Popes: and if hee had it▪ and did not shew it eyther by doctrine or practice, he was not so carefull of the Church of God as hee should bee, to hide from them so necessarie a truth: but if he had it not, then doe the Popes both vniustly deriue it from his chaire, and wrongfully vsurpe that which by no right belongeth vnto them. Now in that which I say Peter neuer did the like, let Paul and Iames and Iohn and all the rest of the Apostles, yea, the whole Primitiue Church be included within the same proposition, and it is as fully true as in that one particular: and therefore it must necessarily follow, that the Romish Iurisdiction hath no footing nor founding in the whole Primitiue Church, but is like a Monster borne out of time, deformed and misshapen in euery part thereof.

22. In the third place, if we cōsider the outward ceremonies3. now vsed in the Church of Rome, we shall yet more cleerely foe their declining from the Primitiue antiquitie; for a tasteBell. l. de verbo Dei, cap. [...]6. whereof, I instance first in their Latine Seruice, which Bellarmine himselfe confesseth, was not in vse in the Apostles [Page] times: and Lyranus goeth a step further, and sayth▪ that in theLyran. Com. in 1. Cor. 14. Primitiue Church and long after, all things in the Church were performed in the vulgar tongue: the same is acknowledged by Aquinas, and Caietan writing vpon the same place, and Cassander as learned and iudicious a Papist as their side affordeth;Cas. Leiturg. [...]8 & penult. yea, Platina himselfe pointeth out the very time when, and person by whom this was first commanded, to wit, by Vittalianus the first, about the yeere sixe hundred, threescore & ten. What need we more to euince the noueltie of this Ceremonie, seeing wee haue so many of their owne confessions? and no maruell, if they confesse it, seeing else they should haue contradicted most of the ancient Fathers, whose testimonies are so cleere in this point, that they admit no exception, as the places quoted doe manifestly declare.Origen. contra Celsum. lib. 8. Aug. Epist. 121. ad Probum. c. 9. Amb. com. in 1 Cor. 14. Chrysost. in eundem locum. Basil. in Psal. 28. Aug. expos. 2. in Psal. 18. Polydor. Virgil. l. 5. Inuent. c. 9 Speculum Rosar. Alan [...].

23. Secondly, I instance in their praying vpon beades: which came in, as Polidore Virgil affirmeth, in the yeere of our Lord, 1040. being the deuice of one Petrus a French Eremite; but the Rosarie was deuised by Fryer Dominick long after: that is, fiftie Aue Maries & fiue Pater nosters, for which purpose he framed fiue & fiftie stones▪ which were so hanged together on a string, that betwixt euery tenne small stones, one big one was interposed; & this he called a Patriloquie. Out of which, as yet a later inuention sprung, the Marie Psalter; for three Rosaries, that is, an hundred and fiftie Aue Maries, and 15. Pater nosters make a Psalter: because, forsooth, Dauids Psalmes were so many in number: these▪ are confessed nouelties, and therefore I neede not to insist any longer in them.

24. Thirdly, I vrge their festiuall dayes, which as they are full of superstition, so are they of nouell and late institution: as for example, the feast of the conception of the Virgin Marie, not that whereby shee conceiued Christ, but whereby she was conceiued by her Mother, and also the feast of her assumption, and of her visitation, and of her presentation: the first whereof their Iesuite Suarez confessethSuarez in Th [...]. par. 3 q. 27. art. 1. & 2. not to haue beene clearely knowne in the world fiue hundreth yeeres since, nor receiued by generall consent, till almost three hundreth yeeres after: so that by his confession [Page] it is not much aboue two hundreth yeeres old▪ and indeed it was publikely inioyned by Sistus quartus, Anno 1480. TheSixtus Senensis. Bibl. l. 2. [...]it. Mar [...]ae tran [...]it. Baron. annot. 48. nu. 9. second, their Sixtus Senensis confesseth, that it was not found among the Latine Fathers: and Baronius, that it is not confirmed either by Canonicall Scriptures, or by the writings of ancient Fathers: and in a constitution of the Council of Mentz, where it is named, this addition is with all sound in the bookes of Charolus Magnus. (Touching the assumption of Mary, wee leaue it to bee questioned.) Now this Councill was in the yeere 800. whereby it is euident, that all that time it was no publike ordination of the Church. The third was instituted by Ʋrbanus Sextus, which though Antoninus affirmeth, was neuer receiued nor kept, yet it was the inuention of a Pope, and that of no great antiquity. And indeed why should it not bee obserued, if the Pope cannot erre? or if it be not fit to bee obserued, how is it true, that the Pope erreth not in defining matters of Religion? The fourth was ordained by Paulus the second, anno 1466. as they themselues will not deny.

25. Besides these of the Virgin Mary, they haue many other festiuall dayes, of the same nature and stampe: as the feast of Corpus Christi, of the inuention of the Crosse, of the dedication of Churches, of All soules, and a number such like: all which are confessed nouelties; for in the Apostles times and Primitiue Church, during the space of foure hundred yeeres, none of these were once heard of. The feast of thePo [...]. Virg. l 6. In [...]t. c. 8. Crosse was Gregory the fourths inuention, anno 828. and Corpus Christi day was first ordained by Pope Vrbane the fourth,Bell. de Euchar. l. 4. c▪ vlt. about the yeere 1264. as confesseth Bellarmine himselfe▪ who of his Apostolicall power gaue spirituall wages and special pardon to all that should personally obserue the houres of this holy sol [...]mnity, as at Mattens an hundred dayes pardon, at Masse asmuch, and so at first and second Euen-song, at theLegend▪ a [...]r [...]a [...]or. Sacram. houres of prime, of tierce, of sixth, of noone, of complete, fourty dayes apiece: and thus in like manner for the whole weeke following.

26. The annuall sea [...]ts of dedication of Churches grew [Page] from a sinister imitation of Constantine the great, who becauseEuseb. de vita Constant. l. 14 hee kept a solemne day at the dedication of a certain Church, which hee had built, therefore it was receiued as a Law, (for Princes actions are the peoples directions) to solemnize euery yeere a holy day vpon the day of the dedication of their Church. And all Soules was the deuice of one Saint Odyll, who as they write, in Cicilia, in the Ile of Ʋulcane, heard the voyces & howlings of Deuils, which complained with great griefe, that the soules of them that were dead, were taken awayLegenda aurea. out of their hands by almes and prayers: whereupon this feast was ordained, wherein prayer should be made for al Soules. And as for this, so for the other, they deuised strange miracles to win credit vnto them: which plainely argueth their nouelty, in that they stood in need of miracles to confirme them: as for example, touching the inuention of the holy Crosse, they fable that it was first found in Paradise by Seth the son of Adam, to whom Michael the Angell gaue a branch of the forbidden tree, which hee planted vpon the graue of his Father Adam, which tree beeing after found by Salomon in mount Libanus, was translated vnto his house, and there beeing worshipped by the Queene of Saba, and foretold to bee the tree whereon the Sauiour of the world should bee hanged, and by which Ierusalem should bee destroyed, was therefore taken downe, and buried deepe in the ground by Salomon: in which place afterward the Iewes diging a pit for a poole to water their cattell, found this tree, from which such vertue arose to that poole, that the Angels descended to mooue the water, so that the first that bathed himselfe therein after the motion, was healed of his disease whatsoeuer it was as wee read Iohn 5. Now vpon this tree was Christ crucified, which being afterward buried againe in the earth, was found out by Queene Helene the mother of Constantine, through the discouery of one Iudas a Iew, who was conuerted to the Christian faith, by the sweet sauour that arose from the Crosse, and the quaking of the earth: and then that Crosse was discerned from the two other Crosses of the theeues, by restoring life to a dead corps, whereupon it was [Page] laide: and the Deuill cryed in the aire, that this Iudas had betrayed him as the other had done his Master Christ. By these strange miracles they dignisy that holy feast, and indeed shew it to bee nothing els but a meere fable: and forsooth, all this they fetch out of the Gospell of Nichodemus.

27. So, for the dedication of Churches, they tell vs this miracle, that when a Church of the Arrians was hal owed by Christian men, and the reliks of Saint Fabian, Saint Sebastian, & Saint Agathe brought into it, the people being assembled, heard suddenly the fearefull gronings & gruntings of an hog running vp and downe, inuisibly, and seeking a passage out of the Church, and for three nights together, [...]umblu [...]g in the roofe with an hideous noise; which (say they) was nothing but the banishing of the Deuill out of that Church, by the hallowing and dedicating of it. Who would not then obserue deuoutly this feast, seeing the benefit is so great, that commeth by the thing it selfe, whereof it is a memoriall? But let vs leaue these tables to their golden, or rather leaden Legend of lyes, as their owne Canus termeth it, and shut vp the point, that both these heere named, and a number such like festiuall dayes, more precisely honoured and obserued in the Romish Church, and with greater deuotion t [...]n Gods holy Sabbath it selfe, are new inuentions, as sprung vp from superstition, so ordained to maintain the same, and haue no ground either of true antiquity to countenance them, or holy Scripture to vphold them, but Iewish fables, Apocrypha writings, old wiues tales and forged miracles.

28. Fourthly, I requi [...]e satisfaction for their ceremonies vsed in both the Sacraments, as first in the Eucharist: their pompous circumgestation of it to bee seene, viewed and adored, which Cassander acknowledgeth to haue beene (Praeter Cassand. consult. art. 22. Fell de Euchar. l 4 c. vlt. [...]. V [...]g. de Inuent. l. 5. c. 9. Durant. de Kit. l 2. c. 27. veterem morem & m [...]ntem haud longo tempore inducta [...].) Beside the custome and meaning of antiquity, and brought in of late time. And Bellarmine also, to haue beene first ordained by Ʋrbanus the fourth: their mixture of water with the wine, and separation of leauen from the bread, came both in from Pope Alexander the seuenth, as witnesse both Polidore Virgill [Page] and Durantius. Yea, and Bonauenture doth confesse, thatBona. in 4. sent. dist. 2. part. 2. dub. 5. this practice of mixing of water cannot bee read of in all the Scriptures, nor found in the first institution of the Sacrament. Their not breaking the bread out of a loafe, but giuing it in small cakes, Salmeron the Iesuite acknowledgeth to be contrarySalmer. fel. in 1. Cor. 10. disp. 17. Suarez. tom. 3. disp. 73. sect. 2 Sal. ibid. disp. 1 [...] to the ancient practice of the Church. Their dipping the consecrated hoste in the cup, Suarez another Iesuite yeeldeth not to haue beene vsed by our Sauiour Christ, and therefore must needs bee an Innouation. Their putting the Sacrament not into the hands, but into the mouths of the communicants, the former Salmeron doth freely confesse to bee an action contrary to the first institution. Lastly, their various and ridiculous gestures, murmuring, dopping, staring, crossing, &c. with the strange garments vsed by the Priests, in the time of their administration. Six, of Priests in signe of perfection, because in sixe dayes God created Heauen and earth; nine for Bishops, in token that they are spirituall, like the nine orders of Angels: and fifteene for both, in token of the fifteene degrees of Vertues: No man can bee so simple, but must needs see that they were neuer vsed by Christ himselfe, or his Apostles, and therefore must of necessity be grosse and palpable Innouations.

29. From the Eucharist, let vs looke backe to the ceremonies of Baptisme: and first, to their baptizing of Bels, and of Gallies and Ships: secondly, exorcisme and exufflation: thirdly, anointing with oyle, and crossing; and fourthly, salting and spittling; & lastly, threefold Immersion, or dipping the Infant:Alphons. de cast. haeres. l. 3 all which are palpable nouelties so confessed by the Romanists themselues: neither can they euer shew that these ceremonies were either commanded by Christ, or practised by Iohn Baptist, or the Apostles: and though some of them, as the crosse and anointing are of great antiquity, and were then and may bee still lawfully vsed as things indifferent: yet in their Church, where such an opinion of necessity is laid vpon them, that Baptisme is not effectuall without them, they are meere Innouations, no wayes warranted by any antiquity.

[Page]30. Lastly, I propound as their feasting, so their fasting dayes, together with the manner of fasting vsed amongstAzor. Instit. moral. part. 1. l. 7 c. 12 Sozom. bistor. l. 7 c. 19 them: as first, the Lent fast of fourty dayes, which their Iesuite Azorius confesseth not to bee of diuine ordinance; and the variablenesse of the vse thereof doth prooue no lesse: some Churches continuing the same full sixe weeks, as the Illyrians, Lybians, Egypt and Palestina: some seuen weekes, as they of Constantinople, with the nations adioyning: some but three weekes, and those dispersed within the six or seuen, as occasion serued: some againe three weekes, immediatly going before Easter: and lastly, some two onely, as the followers of Montanus, all this is recorded by Sozomene in his History: by which it is euidently euinced, that this fast was no Apostolicall institution, nor yet any childe of true antiquity; for if it had, there could not haue beene any such variety in the obseruation thereof.

31. Secondly, their fast of 4. times, cōmonly called Ember weekes, was first deuised by Pope Calixtus, as would witnesPolid. Virg. Inuent. l. 6. c. 3 Platina in vita Calixti. fol. 27 Polidore Virgill, if he were not gelded by these strange bookpurgers: but though he be silent, yet their own Platina telleth asmuch. Thirdly, their tying of fasts to certaine set dayes, as the fourth and sixt day of the weeke, was not allowed in Saint Augustines time; for hee thus writeth against Vrbicus, thatAug. epist▪ 86 stroue for the Saturdayes fast: I read in deed that wee are commanded to fast, but which ought to bee the dayes of our fasting, I finde not prescribed in the Euangelicall or Apostolicall writings: nor in his scholler Primasius his age; for thus sayth he, TherePrimas. in Rom. 14 Socrat. l. 5. c. 22 is no Law set down concerning fasting, but as euery man can or will: nor in Socrates time, who liued about the yeere 440. for hee plainly testifieth, that the rites and obseruations of fasting, were by the Apostles left to euery mans free liberty and choyce.

32. Lastly, their manner of fasting, which is, twice to refresh their bodies on the fasting day at noone, by a small dinner, and at night by a short supper: Bellarmine himselfe confessethBell. de bonis oper. in particul. l. [...]. c. 2 to bee contrary to the ancient custome, which was, to eate but one meale on the fast day, and that a supper: and [Page] doth also giue diuers reasōs of this mutatiō: As first, that thogh it bee tolerated in their Church, yet it is not commanded: Secondly, that those customes which are not grounded vpon Gods word, may by ecclesiasticall Lawes bee varyed according to the diuersity of time & place: & thirdly, that when the ancients broke off their fast at the ninth houre, they vsed to dyne at the sixt, that is noone; and therefore when as many doe ordinarily dyne at the third houre, they may by like proportion breake off their fast at the sixt: these be Bellarmines reasons to maintaine this Innouation: whereby we may both behold what silly props hee hath to vphold his rotten cause, and also that by his owne confession this is a meere nouelty; and therefore he concludes, that notwithstanding these forenamed reasons, yet they doe better, who after the ancient custome eate nothing till the ninth houre, and in Lent till the euening. And thus wee see how in the principall ceremonies of their Church, they haue degenerate from the vsage and custome of all pure antiquity.

33. Thus much of the outward face of their Church: Now let vs examine a little their doctrines, wherein they differ from vs, which are the sinewes and nerues thereof: & here I might referre the Reader ouer vnto our learned and godly Countryman Doctour White, lately deceased, who in his high-way to the true Church, obiecteth eight points, wherein the moderne Church of Rome hath varyed from that which formerly was maintained: notwithstanding I will also a little touch vpon the same strings, adding somewhat more both in points and proofes, then is there deliuered▪ that the Reader may haue also heere some satisfaction concerning these matters.

34. First therefore it is an article of the Romish faith, thatConcil. Basil. sess. 36 Concil. Trid. sess. 5. & 6 Sixt. 4. c. cum praeexcelsa. Salmer. Iesuit. Com. in Rom. 5 Disp. 4 [...] the Virgin Mary, whom wee honour as a blessed woman, and the mother of our Lord, was conceiued and borne without the staine of originall sinne. This doctrine was decreed [...] an article of faith in the Councill of Basill, in the yeere 1431. and afterwards was approoued by the Councill of Trent, and by Pope Sixtus the fourth: yea, and all that take any degree in the profession of diuinity in the vniuersity of Paris, first, [Page] sweare that they will defend this prerogatiue of the Virgin Mary. Now that this is a nouelty, appeareth, first because it was not receiued as an article of faith, before the Councill of Basill: Secondly, because the Fathers generally, either vtterlyChrys. in Mat. hom. 45. & in Ioh. h [...]m. 20 Bernard. epist. 174 denie it to bee a truth, or at least doubt of it. Saint Chrysostome s [...]tly denyeth it. Saint Bernard calleth it in plaine termes, a nouelty. Caietane reckoneth fifteene fathers to haue beene of a contrary opinion, others two hundreth, others three hundreth, as witnesseth Salmeron the Iesuite; and lastly,Salm. Ies. com. in Rom. 5. disp. 51 Can. loc. l. 7. c. [...] & 3 Dom. Bannes. part. 1. in Tho. q 1. art 8. dub. 5 Turrecrem. de consec. d. 4. nu. 2 Salm. quosupra. Bell. de amiss. grat. & stat. pec. l. 4. c. 15 Canus peremptorily affirmeth, that all the Fathers contradicted it. And it is to be noted, that whereas Bellarmine produceth twelue Fathers for the proofe thereof, not one of them doe directly affirme it, except one or two. Thirdly, because the Elder Schoolemen with one consent disapprooued it, as Dominicus, Bannes, Turrecremata, Thomas Aquinas, Bonauenture and others, in so much that in this point they are driuen to this grosse shift That yonger diuines are more apprehensiue of truths, then were the more ancient Doctours. Bellarmine, I confesse, in this point accuseth vs of slendering their doctrine, because hee sayth it was neuer held in their Church as an article of saith, as wee say it is: but by his leaue, if it was the decree of one Councill, though not confirmed by the Pope, as he saith the Councill of Basill was not, and was allowed by another Councill confirmed by the Pope, to wit, the Councill of Trent, as an holy opinion, and agreeable to the Catholike faith, and approued by diuers Popes, as hee confesseth, and defended generally in their Church, not onely by doctrine, but by a solemne obseruation of a festiuall day in memoriall thereof: then surely it cannot bee lesse then an article of their faith: or if that terme mislike him, a generall Romish opinion, which is enough for our purpose.

35. Againe, it is another article of the Romish faith, that2. diuine seruice should bee in the Latin tongue: this to be contrary to all antiquity, I haue already declared a little before, and therefore I thinke it not needfull here to repeate it; onely this is to bee marked, that till the Pope of Rome began to shew himselfe to be Antichrist, that man of sinne, the mystery [Page] of whose name is the number 666. which according to Irenaeus coniecture is [...]. Till then (I say) this Latine seruice was not publikely receiued, but euer since; as if the Pope would discouer himselfe to bee that enemy, pointed at byConcil. Trid. sess. 22. c. 8. & 9 that Prophecy, hee will haue all the prayers of the Church to bee Latin, and hath fixed an Anathema vpon euery one that shall dare to affirme the contrary.

36. Againe, it is another doctrine of the Romish Religion,3. Index l. prohib. edit. a Concil. Trid. reg. 4. that the Lay people may not read the Scriptures, nor keepe them in their mother tongue: which to bee contrary to the ancient custome of the Church, three reasons demonstrate. First, their own confession; for Azorius the Iesuite confesseth,Azor. Ies. Instit. mor. p. 1. l. 8. c. 26 Bell. de verbo di. l. 2. c. 15 Azor. quo supra c. 28 Ledes. Ies. l. de diuin. scrip. c. 31 nu. 4 that the Scriptures in the Primitiue Church were to be published throughout all nations, and therefore were made common by the three most common and famous languages: and againe, Wee confesse (sayth he) that in Ierome and Chrysostomes times, the Lay people were exercised in reading the Scriptures, because they were written in those languages which they vnderstood. And Ledesima another Iesuite, that the Bible was translated into the Latine tongue presently after the Apostles times, and that to this end, that all might vnderstand the Scriptures. And Espensaeus sayth,Espens. com. in Tit. c. 2 that it is manifest by the Apostles doctrine, Col. 3. 16. and by the practice of the Church, that the publike vse of reading the Scriptures, was then permitted to the people. And further, that the Iewes instructed their children at fiue yeeres of age in the Scriptures, and therefore that Christians might bee ashamed to be carelesse therein: and this (hee sayth) was not onely his complaint, but the complaint of the ancient Fathers. And lastly, Cornelius Agrippa affirmeth, that it was a decree in the Nicene Councill, Agrippa de vanitate c. 100 that no Christian should be without a Bible. Thus we haue a quadron of their owne Doctors, acknowledging this to bee a nouelty.

37. Secondly, the generall consent of the Fathers demonstrate the same: for the Councill of Nice▪ as it is alledged before out of Agrippa decreed, that no Christian should be without a Bible: and Saint Augustine alloweth the vse of the ScripturesEder. O [...]conom▪ b. bl l. [...]. p. 52 to all, when hee sayth, that they are not so hard, but that [Page] euery one by his study and diligence, may attaine to so much knowledge in them, as shall further him in his saluation: and Chrysostome in many places exhorteth all, both men and women,Chrysost. hom. 3 de Laza [...]o, & 9 in epist. ad Colos. & hom. 2. in Mat. & 10. in Ioh. Hierom. in Nahum. c. 3 Idem in Psal. 86 learned and ignorant, yea very tradesmen to get Bibles, and to read them; for though they vnderstand not what they read, yet they gaine to themselues some sanctity by the reading of them. And Ierome perswadeth not onely men, but women, to fly to the mountaines of the Scriptures, saying, that though there be none to teach them. yet their indeuour shall bee accepted of God: and in another place hee sayth, that Plato wrote not to the people, but to a few, for scarse three vnderstand his workes: but Christ our Lord wrote by his Apostles, not to a few, Orig. in Mat. 4. & contra Celsum. but to the whole people. Origen compareth the Scripture to Iacobs Well, wherein drinke not onely Iacob and his children, that is, the learned; but the sheepe and oxen, that is, the rude and simple. Nazianzene affirmeth, that Christians ought to read theNazian. hom. 4 Dom. Epiphan. Scriptures, or if through ignorance they cannot, then they must giue eare to others. Many other testimonies I could alledge; but these are I thinke sufficient to shew, that in the age when these holy men liued, this doctrine was neuer hatcht, nor heard of, and therefore must needs bee an addle egge of a later layer.

38. Thirdly, & lastly, the manifold translations of the Bibles into sundry languages proueth the same; for to what end were they translated, if they might not bee read? This Saint Augustine Aug. de doctrin. Christ. l. 2. c. 5 affirmeth, when hee sayth, that the holy Scripture proceeding from one tongue, beeing through the diuers tongues of interpreters, farre and wide dispersed abroad, became knowne to the Gentiles to their saluation. And Theodoret as plainely. The Theod. l. 5. de corrig. Gentium affecti [...]us. Hebrew bookes were translated into all languages, which are at this day vsed in the world. Chrysostome is confessed to haue translated some parts of the Scriptures into the Armenian tongue: and Vlphias into the Gothicke; Charles the fift caused them to be translated into the French tongue: and Charles the great into the Germane: & Alfred, king of this Island, theGuliel. de Reg: Angliae. Psalter into the English tongue: and at this day the Moscouites, Armenians, Egyptians, & Ethiopians, haue their publike [Page] prayers and Scripture in their vulgar and knowne tongues. Now these ancient translations doe euidently proue this Romish doctrine to bee an Innouation.

39. Againe, it is another doctrine in the Romish faith, that4. Concil. Trid. scss. 24. Cassand. consult. art. 23. Turria Iesuit. de dogmat. charact. l. 2. [...]quin. 2. 2. q. 88 ar [...]. 2. Priests and Ministers of the Gospell ought not to marry, and that marriage is an inseparable impediment to holy orders: some of them most grosly affirming, that the vow of single life is so essentiall to Priesthood, euen by the Law of God, as that it is no more lawfull for any person to permit the Clergy to marry, then to license a man to steale. But they which speake more remissely, say, that though it bee a positiue Law; yet it is Apostolicall, and therefore ought to bee obserued in the Church, inuiolably; and the reason is giuen by Bellarmine; Bell. de Cler. l. 1. c. 18. & 19. Because great purity and sanctity is required in the office of sacrificing, but in the act of marriage, there is mixed a certain impurity and pollution, which though it be not sinne, yet it proceedeth from sinne, and maketh a man carnall, and so vnfit for diuine offices.

40. This is their doctrine, which to haue no ground inGratian. Caus. 26. q. 2. Can. Sa [...]. 5. true antiquity: first their own confessions beare witnesse: and secondly, the light of history. For their confessions: one of them sayth, that marriage of Priests is not prohibited, either by Legall, Euangelicall, or yet Apostolicall authority, but by Ecclesiasticall onely: another, that many hundreth yeeres after the Apostles, Espens. Com in Tit. c. 1. by reason of want of others, Priests were marryed: another, that if wee exclude the Church Lawes, and stand onely to that which wee haue from Christ, it cannot bee prooued by any reason or authority, that speaking absolutely, a Priest sinneth in Caietan. tom 1. tract. 27. Scot 4. d. 37. Polid Virg. Inuent. l. 5. c. 4. Coster. E [...]. pag. 317. Paypus. Index ex [...]u [...]g. col. [...]8. Epiphan. de [...]. [...]. res l. 1. marrying, or that holy order is an hinderance to marriage, either as it is an order, or as it is holy: others, that in the most ancient times of the Church, and after the Apostles deaths, Priests had their wiues. And lastly, their owne glosse and marginall obseruation vpon the same, (though they bee now both made dumbe by their expurging Index) speake asmuch: for in them we fiude this proposition: Anciently Priests were permitted to marry.

41. For history, to omit the Priests and Prophets of the [Page] old Testament: Peter, whose successours they claime to bee, carryed a wife about with him in his preaching, which was put to death at Antioch, for consessing lesus Christ, as witnes both Clemens Alexandrinus, and Eusebius: which writers doClem. Alexand. s [...]m. l 7. Eusch. eccl. hist. l. 3. c. 30. Acts 21. 9. also affirme that Paul had a wise also, and left her at Philippos, a City of Macedonia, that hee might with lesse cumbrance, preach the Gospell abroad. That Philip the Euange list was marryed, Saint Luke testifyeth in the Acts of the Apostles, for it is said there, that he had foure daughters which were Prophetisses: thus was it in the first age of the Church: then afterwardMantuan. Fast. l. 1. Nazianz. Mo. nod. Syn [...]s. epist. ad Luopt. & Nicepher. l. 14. c. 55. Athanas. cpist. ad Dracont. Eusch. l. 4. c. 23. Gratian. dist. 56 Rinius tom. 2. Concil. in vita Gregor. Papirius Masso. de Epis [...]. Rom. Platina. Vi [...]lius. we read, that Hilary a French Bishop was marryed: and of Saint Basils Father, that hee was a Bishop, and in the state of marriage held that function: and the like of Synesius the Bishop of P [...]olomais: and Athanasius reports that Bishops and Monks liued marryed, and had children: and Eusebius, that in the Easterne Churches it was counted a yoke too heauy to bee borne, to binde Church-men from marriage: yea Gratian boldly affirmeth, that except they will brand some of the Popes with bastardy, and adultery, they must confesse that Bishops were and might then bee marryed: for Gregory the first was grand-child to Pope Felix the third: and Alexander the sixt had two sonnes, begotten of his owne body: and Boniface, Felix, Gelasius, and Agapetus were all sonnes of Bishops: yea their owne Vicelius reckoneth vp a number both of Bishops and Priests, that in the Primitiue Church were marryed. In briefe, though in all ages the Deuill by his instruments laboured to bring disgrace vpon Gods holy ordinance of marriage, and by that meanes to make way to adulteries, fornications, and vnlawfull lusts; and some learned and godly fathers were too lauish in commending virginity before marriage; yet they were alwayes gainsaide by other some as learned & godly as themselues, whō God stirred vp for the desence of his own ordinance: neither was it euer propounded as a Law, vntill Pope Siricius time, who was the first that forbad, and interdicted Priests to marry; and afterwards Pope Nicholas the first, or as some thinke, the second, about the yeere 867, did the like; against whose proceedings Haldericus [Page] the Bishop of Ausbrough, wrote that learned and pithy Epistle, where of mention is made before: and yet it was not vniuersally receiued, vntill the time of Pope Calixtus, about the yeere 1108. History is so cleare for this matter, that it admitteth no iust exception: and thus both by their owne confessions, and by the light of history, this doctrine is conuinced of nouelty.

42. Another article of the Popes Creede is concerning Images,5. Concil. Trid. sess. 25. Bell, de Imag. l. 2 Azor. Instit. mor. Ʋasques. Ies. de adorat. lib. to wit, that God himselfe may bee represented by, and worshipped before an Image; and that the Images of Christ and the Saints are to be adored with the same worship which is due vnto their p [...]tternes: or at least wise that they are to be worshipped in or at the Image: This is the generall doctrine of that Idolatrous Church: which that it hath no true warrant from antiquity, is so cleare, that none that is but meanely seene in ancient writers, can doubt thereof. For first, in the Church of the Iewes it was vnlawfull either to make any Image of God, beeing an inuisible, and incomprehensible essence, or to worship the Image of any other thing whatsoeuer: this was the prescript of the second Commandement, which was no ceremoniall Law: As Azorius and Vasques, twoAzor. Inssit. mor. p. 1 l. 9. c. 6. Vasq. Ies. de ad. r. l. 2. d [...]st. 4. c. 4. Bell. de Imeg. l. 2. c. 7. Aug. de ciuit. l. 4 I [...]s [...]ph. A [...]tiq. l. 18. c. 2. Iesuites, haue not ashamed to auerre: but morall and naturall, as the grand Iesuite Bellarmine confesseth, and may be further confirmed by the sentence of Ʋarro, alledged by Saint Augustine in his fourth book de Ciuitate: who sayth, that the Iewish nation worshipped God without any Image, & that they had no Image in the Temple ordained for worship. Also Iosephus doth write, that when Caius the Emperour would haue caused his statue to haue been set vp by Petroni [...]s to be worshipped in the Temple of Ierusalem, the Iewes had rather expose themselues to present death, then to admit that which was forbidden by the Law.

43 Secondly, in the age of Iesus Christ, and the Apostles, there was no precept nor example for the worshipping of Images, nei. her did they commend vnto the Lay people Images and Pictures, as fittest bookes for their capacities, but the word preached and committed to writing, by which they [Page] should bee brought to saluation. And when as they abolished the worship of Idols, and brought in the worship of the true God, wee doe not read, that either they translated those Idolatrous statues to the worship of the true God, or substituted other Images of God himselfe, for of holy men to succeed in their roome; but taught that God who is a Spirit, ought to bee worshipped in Spirit and truth. Now surely if it had beene so necessary as the Church of Rome maketh it, our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles would neuer haue concealed it from them.

44. Thirdly, the age also after the Apostles, was free from Images: for amongst those Ecclesiasticall rites, which are recorded to haue been vsed in the first 300. yeeres after Christ, there is not so much as any mention made of Image-worship,Theodor. de haeres. l. 1. except it bee amongst those that were condemned for Heretikes: as the followers of Simon Magus, who worshipped his Image, and of his harlot Selene; and the Disciples of Basilides, whom Irenaeus affirmeth to haue vsed Images, andIren. l. 1. c. 23. Inuocations: and the Carpocratians, and Gnosticks, who burned incense to the Images of Christ and Paul, Homer and Pithagoras, &c. as testifyeth Saint Augustine: but the trueAug. de haeres. Church of God condemned these, and abhorred all such kind of worship; and therefore amongst the accusations which the Heathen obiected to Christians in that age, this was one, that they professed a Religion without Images, as witnesse both Clemens Alexandrinus, and Origen; the one whereof liuedClem. Alexand. strom. l 6. Origen. contra Celsum. 200. yeeres after Christ, and the other 240. which trueth their Cassander confesseth in direct words, that at the first preaching of the Gospell, there was no publike vse of Images in the Church.

45. Fourthly, in the next age of the Church, after the three hundreth yeere that Images were not approued, wee haue the witnesse of the Councill of Eliberis, which decreedConcil. El. ber. [...]n 38. solid. Virg. l. 6. [...]. 13. Origen. contra Celsum. l. 7. that no Image should bee made in the Church, lest that should be adored which is painted on walles: and of Ierome, who affirmed that it was condemned of all ancient Fathers: and of Origen, who called that worship, a foolish and adulterous profanation: and [Page] of Epiphanius, who finding a painted Image in a Church, rent it Epiphan. epist. ad Ioan. downe, and said that it was against the authority of the Scripture, that any Image should bee in the Church: and of Augustine, whoAug in Psal. 114 & epist. 119. [...] Cassand. consult. art. 21. condemned the vse of them in Churches as vnlawfull: and lastly, of Gregory their owne Pope, who allowing onely an historicall vse of them, forbad them to bee worshipped: as testifieth Agrippa. Indeed wee confesse that there was in theseAgrip. de vanit. c. 70. Primitiue times of the Church, an historicall vse of Images: as may appeare by that statue of our Sauiour at Cesarea, mentioned by Eusebius: and the Pictures of Peter and Paul in theEuseb. l 7. c. 14. same author: and of the good shepheard seeking the lost sheepe, painted vpon their Chalices, in Tertullian. But weeTertul. lib. de pudicitia. shall neuer finde in any good author, that either they were receiued into Churches, or worshipped in any religious manner.

46. Lastly, it is a knowne and confessed truth, that Images were neuer generally receiued & inioyned vpon the Church, vntill the second Nicene Council which was eight hundreth yeeres after Christ: and also that the decree of that Councill was abrogated by another Councill held at Frankeford, not long after; so that it is manifest, that the petigree of this bastard is of no great continuance, not fetched from the Primitiue Church, which is the thing we haue in hand to prooue, but springing vp in the more corrupt times, when superstition had darkned the light of true Religion, and almost banished it out of the world.

47. Another article of their Religion is, that the Pope hath6. a supremacy of power ouer all, euen Princes, not onely in spirituall matters, but euen in temporall: which to bee a late deuice, not warrantable by true antiquity, may be easily demonstrated. For vpon those words of Saint Paul, Let euery soule Chrysost. & Oecumen. in epist. ad Rom. c. 13. Aeneas Syluius in gest. concil. Basil. Espens. in tit. c. 3. bee subiect to the higher powers. Chrysostome and Occumenius write thus: That whether it bee a Priest, or a Monke, or an Apostle, hee must bee subiect to the ciuill Magistrate: for this subiection doth not ouerthrow piety: and if an Apostle, then the Pope: as Aeneas Siluius who was after a Pope himselfe, inferreth: yea Espensaeus goeth further, and sayth, that not onely Chrysostome, [Page] but Theodoret, Theophilact, and all the Greeke Doctours: and in the Latine Church, Saint Gregory, and Saint Bernard did from that place teach, that eueryl Apostle, and Prophet, and Priest, was commanded to acknowledge subiection vnto Emperours. Saint Ambrose sayth plainely, thatAmbros. orat in Auent. Aug. confess. l. 3. c. 8. the Church lands, and Church men themselues did pay tribute to the Emperour; and if tribute, then subiection: Saint Augustine sayth, that it is generale pactum societatis humanae, abedire Regibus suis: The generall couenant and bond of humane societie, to obey Kings. If the Pope then bee a man, by Saint Augustines Gregor. l. 2. Indict. 11. c. 100. rule, hee must bee subiect: yea Gregory the first himselfe auoucheth plainely, that power ouer all men is committed by GOD, Dominorum meorum pietati, to the piety of my Lords: where hee not onely subiecteth all, none excepted to the Imperiall power: but also calleth the Emperour his Lord: but now the Pope is the Emperours Lord, and not the EmperourBell. de Cleric. c. 28. the Popes, as Bellarmine speaketh without blushing, when he sayth, Non sunt ampliùs Reges Clericorum superiores, &c. Kings are not any longer superiours to Clerks: and therefore Clerks are not bound to obey them by Gods Law: and thus in generall, the Pope had not this supremacy, till Gregories time.

48. For particulars, one part of this supremacy is, that the Pope is absolutely aboue a Councill, which notwithstandingCusan. l. 2 concord. c. 17. was condemned by the Councils of Constance, and Basill. And as Cardinall Cusanus confesseth, was not acknowledged in the dayes of Saint Augustine: Pope Gregory, and other Fathers and Councils, which liued before the first six hundreth yeere. Another part is, that appeales should bee made to the Pope from all places, which the Councils of Chalcedon, Africke, Mileri, and Constantinople vtterly withstood and interdicted. A third is, that peculiar cases of conscience should bee reserued to the Popes consistory, which their owne Salmeran confessethSalmer. in 1. Pet. 5. disput. 8. to haue not beene vsed in the time of Cyprian, who liued two hundreth and fourty yeeres after Christ. A fourth is the claime of Inuestitures, which by consent of history wasMalms de gest. Reg. Angl. l. 3. brought in first by Pope Hildebrand, as witnesse Malmsbury, [Page] Nauclerus, Sigibert with others. A fift, authority to deposeNaucl. 2. geacr. 36. Sigebert, an. 774 Barclau [...] contra monarch. l. 6. c 26. Espens. in Tim. l. 2. Plat. Greg. 3. and molest Princes, which no Orthodoxall Father for the space of 1000. yeeres, taught or approoued, as sayth their owne Barclay; and the first Pope that practised this, was Hildebrand, surnamed Gregory the seuenth, as witnesseth Espensaeus; or at the highest Gregory the third, who attempted this rebellious practice against Les the Emperour, for defacing Images, as Platina confesleth. A sixt, a supereminent prerogatiue in calling Councils, and dissoluing the Acts thereof at hisCard. Cusan. concord. Cathol. l. 2. c. 25. Aenea. Sylu. de gest. Concil. Basil fol. 6. Fra. Victor. Relec. 4. pag. 182. Cusan. concord. Cathol. l. 2. c. 20. Cyp. lib. de vnit. eccles. Hieron. ad Euag. tom. 2. pleasure, both which are notorious nouelties: for the first eight generall Councils were called by Christian Emperours, and the decrees of Councils were of so sacred authority, that the better sort of Popes in the purer times, put great Religiō in changing them, or varying from them in any respect: witnes Aeneas Siluius, Victorine, and Cardinall Cusanus. Lastly, a seuenth, the fountaine of Episcopall Iurisdiction, challenged to reside in the Pope alone, and from him to bee imparted to other Bishops at his pleasure, which was a doctrine not known in Saint Cyprians time, nor in Saint Ieromes as hath beene shewed before. In a word there is no colour of antiquity for any part of this transcendent Iurisdiction, and yet the very soule and life of Popery consisteth therein.

49. Of the same stampe is their doctrine of receiuing the7. Sacrament vnder one kinde, and withholding the cup from the peoples this was first decreed by the Council of Constance, and afterward established by the Trent conuenticle, and hath euer since beene practised in the Church of Rome, vnder paine of excommunication. But that it is a grosse innouation, weeConcil. Constant. Sess. 13. Concil. Trid. Sess. 21. c. 2. Bell. de Eucher. l. 2 c. 24. & 28. Gerson contra haeres. com. sub vtraque spec. tom. 1. nu. 17. Lyran. in 1. Cor. 11. need no further testimony then of the two foresaid Councils, the one whereof sayth, that in the Primitiue Church both kinds were receiued, and that this custome of one kinde onely came afterward in: and the other striketh with anathema, all them that shall say that the Catholike Church hath not altered this custome vpon iust causes: by which words it confesseth, that there is an alteration of ancient custome; now what the causes were of this alteration, I will not here report, let the Reader behold them in Bellarmine, Gerson and Lyranus, and wonder [Page] that Christs ordinance, & the generall custome of the primitiue Church should be altered & annihiled vpō so sleight, friuolous and foolish grounds: adde vnto these Councils the wirnesse of their owne Cassander, who directly affirmeth, thatCassand. consult. art. 22. this custome of communicating vnder one kinde, inuaded not the Latin Church, vntill the yeere of our Lord, 1300. To the same purpose might bee alledged their owne ancient Lyturgies, the decrees of their owne Popes, and the generall doctrine of their schoole, and lastly, the consent of Fathers, all which doe most clearly proue this doctrine to be a nouelty, if not an heresie:Lyturg. Mar. pag. 62. Conslit. Clement. pag. 145. Their Lyturgies are plaine, that the cup was ministred to the people, and not appropriated to the Priests, as may be seene in them: Among their Popes Leo the first, Gelasius, Gregory the great, and Gregory the third, doe all directly conclude the same doctrine: yea the last of the foure commandeth, thatLeo sermon▪ quadrag 4. [...]. de consecrat. D. 2. C. compe [...]imus. Gregor. Dialog. l. 4. c. 5. 8. Gregor. 3. in cpist. ad Boniface. Durand. Ration. l. 4. c. 53. Biel. in Can. lect. 52. Caietan. in 3. part. Thom. q. 80 art. 12. q. 3. Thom. Aquin. p. 3. q. 80. art. 12. euen Lepers, if they bee Christians, which should not bee admitted to our owne Tables, yet should not bee barred from the participation of the body and blood of Christ. For schoolmen, Durand, Biell, Caietane, doe with one consent auouch, that all without exception, were to drinke of the cup; because God is no respecter of persons, and that this custome of communicating with both kindes, indured long in the Church. And whereas Thomas Aquinas sayth, that to auoid irreuerence it is wisely obserued in certaine Churches, that the blood should not be receiued of the people, but of the Priests onely. It is to bee marked, first, that hee sayth in certaine Churches, by which he confesseth, that it was not vniuersally receiued in his dayes: and secondly, that it is wisely obserued, by which hee insinuates, that before time it was not obserued, but indiscreetly neglected.

50. Lastly, for the Fathers, it would bee too tedious to recite all their testimonies, onely therefore I referre the Reader to the places quoted in the margent; or if he desire to behold at one view all their opinions, to Plesseis first booke, & tenth Chapter of the Masse, where he shall finde a whole catalogue of them: I will content my selfe with one onely saying of Chrysostome, in his eighteenth Homily, vpon the first to the [Page] Corinthians, hee thus writeth: Sometime there is no difference Chrysost. hom. 18 in 1. Cor. betwixt the Priest and the people, as to wit, at the receiuing of the sacred mysteries; for all are admitted to them alike: for though in the old Testament it was not lawfull for the people to eat of the same things with the Priests: yet the matter is otherwise now: for one body, and one cup is propounded vnto all. This doctrine therefore is an Innouation by the iudgement of all these.

51. Transubstantiation commeth in the next place, which8. though they labour tooth and naile to procue to bee of great antiquity; yet we haue the testimony of Scotus, of Tonstall, Scot. Script. Oxen. 4. d. 10. 4. and of Biell, who affirme that before the Councill of Lateran, 1. Tonstal. de verit. corp. & sang. pag. 46 Bi [...]l. Canon. lect. 41. Lumbard. l. 4. 9. distinct. 2. a. Bell. de Euchar. l. 3. c. 23. which was in the yeere 1215. Transubstantiation was no doctrine of faith, and that it was free for all men, till that time to follow their owne coniecture, as concerning the manner of of the presence. Lumbard also sayth, that he is not able to define what manner of conuersion is in the Sacrament: and Bellarmine himselfe confesseth, that the name transubstantiation, was first found out, and brought into the world by the Laterane Councill: though hee labour to proue that the thing it selfe was beleeued long before. And thus howsoeuer this bastard Babe was borne before, yet it is not denyed but that it was then Christened.

52. And how long before was it borne I pray you? Marry Bellarmine alledgeth two Councils, both held at Rome; one vnder Nicholas the second: the other vnder Gregory the seuenth: in both which Berengarius was constrained to abiure his heresie (as he calleth it) and to subscribe to this article, that the bread and wine after consecration, are changed into the very body and blood of Christ: but concerning the Councill, vnder Gregory the seuenth, wee haue iust causes to doubt whether there were any such or no: first, because the acts ofSurius. tom. concil. 3. Benno Card. in vita & gest. Hild [...]brandi. Bell. de Euchar. l. 2. c. 2. it are no where to bee sound; and secondly, because the same Pope Gregory is reported by Cardinall Benno, to haue doubted, whether the opinion of Berengarius, or of the Church of Rome were more sound: And for the other Councill vnder Nicholas the second, Bellarmine himselfe confesseth, that Berengarius was constrained onely to confesse the reall presence [Page] and not transubstantiation, and so indeed in both of them, not the manner of the presence, which is transubstantiation, but the realty thereof was in question: But let it be granted that it was decreed in these two Councils, yet the antiquity is not very great, for the eldest of them was but in the yeere, 1059.

53. As for the opiniō of the Church, from the firstage of it, vntill these times, thogh Bellarmine produceth many testimoniesSee Doctour Morton Protestant appeale, l. 2. c. 2. See Doctour white, pag. 347. of the Fathers, yet either they are counterfeit, or little to the purpose, or at least wise misapplied & vnderstood: whereas the testimonies of the same Fathers, & others produced by vs against this doctrine, are so plaine, direct and peremptory, that by no sound reason they can be auoided. I may not ouerburden the Reader with a repetition of them, they may finde thē els-where at large discoursed: so that thogh the iust time cannot bee assigned when this errour sprung in the Church: yet it is a nouell doctrine, borne since the purer times of the Gospell, and growing in stature and strength till the Laterane Councill, and then taking it name and full perfection.

54. Their priuate Masses may be ranked in the next place,9. I meane such priuate Masses, wherein the Priest alone doth participate the Sacrament without the people. This is a doctrine and practice in the Church of Rome, as may appeareConcil Trid. sess. 6. c. 6. can. 8. Bell. de inissa. l. 2. c. 9. both in the Councill of Trent, where it is approoued for Catholike and lawfull: and in Bellarmine, and others, which haue their mouthes full of arguments to defend the same: but I will not meddle with their arguments, onely my taske is to prooue it to bee a nouelty; which I may well doe by these three reasons: First, because it is contrary to our Sauiours first institution: Secondly, to the writing and practising of the Apostles: and thirdly, to the example of the Primitiue Church. That it is contrary to Christs first institution, it is euident, because Christ at his last Supper did not take the bread and wine alone, his Apostles beholding, and looking on, and consecrate them, and so eat and drinke them himselfe, but gaue both the Elements vnto them all, and bade them eat and [Page] drinke them in remembrance of him: this was the first institution of the Sacrament, which ought to be a patterne to the Church of God for euer. But Bellarmine sayth, that it was butBell. de missa. l. 2. c. 10. an affirmatiue precept of our Sauiour, & therefore did bind no further then the circumstance of time, place and person would permit; and that to communicate in the Sacrament, was no essentiall part thereof; and therefore might bee omitted vpon occasion. To which I answere, that though it bee false which hee sayth, touching communicating in the Sacrament, that it is no essentiall part thereof: for the contrary may be prooued both by Scripture, which calleth the whole Sacrament a Communion, 1. Cor. 10. and by analogy of the Passeouer in the Law, which was to bee eaten of all: & by the confession of their owne learned Schooleman Gabriel Piel, who sayth,Gabriel Biel. in Canon. lect. 26. tit. [...]. that the consecration in the Eucharist is ordained for the vse, which is, the eating of it, as vnto the next end after a sort: yet it is sufficient for our purpose, that he confesseth that it is a variation from the first institution, and therefore without question an Innouation.

55. Secondly, that it is contrary to the doctrine and practice of the Apostles, appeareth by this, because the Apostle Saint Paul sometimes calleth the ministration of the Sacrament, a breaking of bread, and that through housholds. By whichActs 2. 46. is necessarily insinuated a distribution and dispensation of it1. Cor. 10. 16. to others, besides the Priest: Sometimes the communion or communication of the body and blood of Christ. Yea the Apostle sayth plainly, that wee that are many, are one bread, and one body; because wee are partakers of one bread; but if it bee priuate, then there is no communion, neither are there many, and neither is the bread which is made of many graines of corne, nor the wine crushed out of many grapes, a representation of the mysticall body of Christ, (as all diuines confesse) aswell as of the naturall: if there bee no mysticall body, that is, no Congregation to participate. Lastly, Chrysostome writingBiel. ibidem. vpon 1. Cor. 11. sayth, that this was the fault which the Apostle blameth in the Corinthians, because they made that [Page] priuate which was the Lords: for the Supper of the Lord (sayth hee) ought to bee common.

56. Thirdly, what the example of the Primitiue Church was after the Apostles, the ancient Lyturgies then in vse doe declare: in none of which can wee finde any colour for this practice: which euidence caused iudicious Cassander to confesseCassand. consult. art. 24. that solitary Masses are most manifestly confuted by the ancient Greeke Lyturgies: and that which hee sayth of the Greeke, may bee iustly auerred of all the other ancient missals, that were in vse of the Church, and are extant in the writings of the Fathers, as Chrysostomes, Ambroses, Gregories, and such like: yea the Canon of the Romish masse it selfe is against this errour: for it is said there: As many of vs haue beene partakers: and Blesse O Lord these Sacraments to vs, which wee haue receiued. Now how can this bee said without mockage, when there is none present but the Priest.

57. But besides those Lyturgies, wee haue the plaine testimonies of ancient Fathers: one Chrysostome for breuities sakeChrysost. hom. 3. in Ephes. c. 1. shall stand insteed of all: hee thus propoundeth the custome of the Church in his time: The dayly oblation (sayth he) is made in vaine, when there is none to participate: and again, Whosoeuer is not partaker of the mysteries, stand by as a foolish and wicked man. This is flat contrary to the Romish practice, where the Priest masseth alone, & the people kneele, by knocking, their brests, and lifting vp their eyes to their breaden God: you see then there was no such custome in Chrysostomes time: and this further may bee confirmed by the tenth Canon of those that are called Apostolicall, which doth forbid any to be present, but such as doe communicate; saying, that they are disturbers of the order of the Church: the same Canon also isBell. de miss. l. 2. c. 10. Humbert. contra [...]b [...]l. Nica [...]. Monachi. Erasm. de concerd. Eccles. Cassand. consult. art. 24. repeated and confirmed in the Councill of Antioch, cap. 2. And in the Councill Nax [...]tense, it is said, that it is a ridiculous thing to murmure to the walles, that which should belong to the people. Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth, that it is a more perfect and lawfull Masse, where communicants are present, then where they are absent: & so doth Cardinal Humbertus and Walasred; all which laide together caused Erasmus and Cassander [Page] in expresse words to affirme this practice to bee a nouelty, not instituted by Christ, nor vsed either in the Apostles times, or in the Primitiue Church.

58. The next point may bee touching the sacrifice in the10 [...] Masse, for they teach, that there is offered vp by the Priest a true reall propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead: this is the direct doctrine of the Romish Church, canonized in the Councill of Trent: which doctrine how true it is, I willConcil. Trid. sess. 6. can. 3 [...] not dispute, onely I am to shew how new it is, which may appeare: first, in that throughout all the new Testament, where there is any mentiō made of the Lords supper, there is not one word spoken of a sacrifice: for neither doth our Sauiour himselfe say, that hee offered a sacrifice, when he first instituted it, neither doth Saint Paul call it by that name, when hee deliuers the full doctrine thereof to the Corinthians: neither doth Saint Luke affirme, that the Apostles offered a sacrifice, when they put it in practice; but onely that they broke bread from house to house: now if this had beene so essentiall a part of the Eucharist, as the Romanists make it, yea if it had beene any part at all, our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles, would neuer haue concealed it from the Church.

59. If they obiect, that though a sacrifice bee not mentioned, yet it was acted both because Melchizedek was a type of Christ, and he offered bread and wine, and also because these words, Hoc facite, Doe this: asmuch as Sacrificate, sacrifice: I answere, that neither did Melchizedek offer bread and wine; but brought it foorth onely to the refreshing of Abraham, and his fellowers; as the Chaldy Paraphrase, the Greeke interpretours. Iosephus, Cyprian, and Chrysostome doe interpret the place; and the words themselues in the originall, doe import: neither doth the verbe facere signifie to sacrifice in that place, seeing as euery schoole-boy knoweth, then it should bee construed with an Ablatiue, and not with an Accusatiue case, as heere it is: and this they themselues doe euidently prooue, when they cannot agree among themselues, in which action of the Sacrament consisteth the essence, and perfection of this sacrifice: whether in the eleuation, which [Page] Sotus thought to belong vnto it: or in the consecration, as Suares; or in the oblation, as Ecchius; or in the intinction, as Canus; or in the dispensation and distribution, as others; or in the consumption, as Bellarmine, and Ledesima: and so they know not where to fixe the center thereof, hauing indeed no footing in the whole circle of our Sauiours example.

60. And as for the word [...] vsed by Saint Luke, Acts 13. 2. it signifieth no more but Sacra administratio, the performance of holy duties, or the seruing of God in any sort of religiousOccumen. ln loc. Chrysost. ibid. h [...]. 37. S [...]us ibid. Ly [...]an. ibid. Dionys. Carth [...]s. ibid. Ca [...]etan. ibid. Suidas in Lexico worship, as the Fathers doe all interpret the place: and not to offer a sacrifice, as Erasmus translates it; or to say Masse, as our Rhemists would interpret it; for then the Angels should say Masse in Heauen, because they are said [...] Heb. 1. which some of them are not ashamed to say they doe: but I beleeue it all alike, as I doe that tale in their Legend of Bees, singing Masse in their Hyue about the hoste, put in by 2 woman, to make her swarmes to thriue. Againe, of the like nature is that fond conclusion of Genebrard, who because byGenebrard. in Lyturg. Apostol. c. 7. Leuit. 23. 16. the Leuitical Law God cōmanded Cakes of new corne to be offered vpō the day of Pentecost, which is there called, A new offering: therefore the Apostles sung the first Masse vpon that great day of Pentecost, Act. 2. and that Iames being Bishop of Hierusalem, was the chiefe actour therein. This is so grosse, that it needs no refutation; and it sheweth plainely the point I ayme at, that there is no colour for their Masse in the new Testament, seeing they are constrained to fetch it out of the old, especially by so ridiculous and strange a deduction.

61. Secondly, if wee consult with the primitiue and pure antiquity, wee shall neuer finde any iust testimony for the Romish propitiatory sacrifice, for the expiating, and purging away of sinnes: for albeit the Fathers doe often call this Sacrament a sacrifice, yet their meaning is not that it is a true, proper, and reall sacrifice, but onely either a commemoration, and representation of the sacrifice of Christ, finished on the Crosse, or an application, and obsignation of the same to the faithfull receiuers: which to bee their intendment, may [Page] be gathered, first, from their owne testimonies, which are so cleare and direct, that I shall not need, saue to referre the Reader to the places quoted in the margent. And secondly, byChrysost. hom 17 ad Heb [...]os. Theophilact. in 10. ad Heb [...]os. Aug. in lib. sent. prosper. Idem de side ad Petrum, c. 18. Idem de ciuit. l. 10. Lumbard. lib. 4. distinct. 12. Lumbard their prime Schooleman, and profest Epitomizer of the Fathers, especially of Saint Augustine, who sayth expresly, that that which is offered and consecrated by the Priest, is called a sacrifice and oblation, because it is a commemoration and representation of the true sacrifice, made vpon the altar of the Crosse. And thirdly, by their constant ascription to the sole sacrifice of Christ, the onely power of propitiation and satisfaction for sinnes: which if it be true, then when they call the Masse, A propitiatory sacrifice, they must of necessity vnderstand not a reall sacrifice, but onely a representation, and application of that onely true sacrifice on the Crosse, besides which there is no other externall and corporall sacrifice inLactant. epitom. diumor. I [...]t. the new Testament: as Lactantius plainely witnesseth, when hee sayth, that those things which are wrought by the fingers, or done without a man, are not true sacrifices.

62. Lastly, if it bee granted, that many of the ancients did speake of a proper and true sacrifice, yet the theatricall pageant of the Romish Masse cannot bee vnderstood by them, both because in the ancient description of the rites and orders of the Church, found in Iustine Martyr, Dionysius, Chrysostome, Durand. l. 4. c. 1. Walasred. de reb. eccles. c. 22. Platin. vita Sixti. 1. Rupert. de diuin. [...]ssic. l. 2. c. 2. Augustine, and others, no such histrionicall representation in ceremonies, gestures, words, and acts is to be seene; and also because the Romish Doctours themselues confesse, that the rites and ceremonies therein vsed, were not in the Apostles times, but crept in by little and little, and were patcht together at diuers times, and by diuers persons, as their fancies led them: now the sinewes of the Masse consisteth in these; and therefore, these beeing confessed nouelties, how is it likely that the thing it selfe should be of a different nature?

63. The fire of Romish Purgatory is a bird of the same11. feather, it was neither kindled in the Scriptures, neither is it found in ancient Councils, or in the writers of the Primitiue Church: nor yet in those that next succeeded the age therof. I vnderstand here Romish Purgatory, to wit, such as is taught [Page] & maintained in the Church of Rome at this day, as an articleGreg. Ʋalent. lib. de Purgat. Bell. de Purgat. l. 1. c. 3. Concil. Trid. Sess. sub Pio 4. of faith, and is thus described: A fire of hell adioyning to the place of the damned, wherein the soules of the faithfull departing in the guilt of veniall sinnes, or for the more full satisfaction of mortall sinnes already remitted, are tormented: which is nothing differing from the punishment of the damned, in respect of the extremity of the paine, but onely in respect of continuance of time: the confession of this Purgatory (sayth Bellarmine) is a part of the Catholike faith, and it is decreed by the Council of Trent, to the same purpose.

64. Concerning this Purgatory, if wee consult with the places of the scripture, alledged by them for the maintenance thereof, wee shall find them either friuolously, or falsly produced: for either they are allegories, which can affoord no strong conclusion in reasoning: or they are vtterly of another sense, except they bee wrung and stretched beyond their [...]ether, which to bee true may appeare; First, because none of them directly say, that there is a Purgatory: secondly, the consequence extracted from thē, is of so ambiguous an Interpretation, that if one interpreter conceiue them that way, two are of a contrary iudgment: thirdly, because they crosse one anotherIansen. concord. in locum. Suarez tom. 4. in Thom. disput. 45 Maldon. in loc. Perer. in Gen. 6. 13. in the Interpretation of them, as for example, Bellarmine obiects, Mat. 5. 25. which Iansenius interprets cleane in another sense, so Mat. 5. 22. produced by Bellarmine, is confuted by Suarez, and Maldonate, so 1. Cor. 3. 2. is not vnderstood of Purgatory, by Pererius, and so of all the rest: now how can an article of faith bee built out of these texts, when neither the words themselues doe plainly affirme it, nor by necessary consequence either in the opinion of Fathers, or ioynt iudgement of their owne Doctours, it can bee deduced from them: and thus there is no fewell for this fire to bee found in Scripture diuine.Nazian. in laud. Caesar. Ambros. de obitu Theodo [...]. & Valentinii. Aug. confess. l. 9. c. 13.

65. Touching Councils it is to be noted, first, that the ancientest Councill, which is alledged for the proofe hereof, is the third Councill of Carthage, which was about the yeere, 398. Secondly, the most of them speake not of Purgatory, but of prayer for the dead, which might bee done, and was done, [Page] without any conceit of Purgatory: for they prayed for them of whose present possession of Heauen, they doubted not, as hath beene shewed before. Thirdly, that the first Councils alledged to mention Purgatory, and decree it for a doctrineBell. de Purgat. l. 1. c. 5. of faith; were the Laterane vnder Innocent the third, the Flore [...]tine vnder Eugenius the fourth, and the Tridentine vnder Pius the fourth, in the yeere 1563. and this sheweth directly, and from their own confession, that it is an article of no great antiquity.

66. Lastly, concerning the Fathers it cannot bee denyed, but that many of them speake of a purging fire: but it is to be obserued in them, that they most of them, intended not theHeb. cap. 6. Romish Purgatory; but the fire of the day of Doome, as the testimonies of Basill, Ambrose, Hilary, Origen, Lactantius, and Ierome, all alledged by Bellarmine doe euince, if wee will either examine them, by the contexts of the places themselues, or giue credit to their owne Doctors, so expounding them; orƲide Doctour Morton Protestant appeale, l. 1. c. 2. pag. 17. to Bellarmine himselfe, who in diuers places crosseth himselfe, and yeeldeth asmuch as wee auouch: Besides it is to bee obserued, that many of the Fathers supposed that the Saints departed, did neither receiue reward nor punishment till the last day, but were kept in certaine hidden receptacles till that time: and therefore they could not dreame of Purgatory, which is an intermediall punishment, ending at the day of iudgement. Of this opinion were Irenaeus, Iustine Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius, Clements, & many others of the greatest ancients. Againe, it is to bee obserued, that Augustine, whom they challenge for the greatest patrone of this fire, yet defineth nothing determinately of it, but speaketh doubtingly, and problematically; and if he affirme it in some one place, he leaueth it in suspense in others, and vtterly denyeth it in a third: as for example, in his Enchiriden he speaketh10. Aug. Enchir. c. 69. Idem de verbis Apost. serm. 18. thus waueringly: Such a thing is not incredible to bee after this life, but whether it be or no, it may be doubted: and in a sermon hee seemeth vtterly to deny it, when hee sayth: There are two places, and there is not a third, we are ignorant of a third, yea we finde in the Scripture that there is none such. Againe, it [Page] is to bee obserued, that those Fathers which doe patronize this Purgatory, yet propound it not as an article of faith, but as a free opinion to bee receiued or contradicted, as men thought good, or saw reason; and these also were none of the most ancient: For Bellarmine climmeth no higher for it, then to Athanasius Basill, and Gregory Nazianzene: for as for Dyonisius, all knew him to bee a counterfeit; but those liued after the age of the Primitiue Church: as for those Fathers which liued in those purer times, there is not a sillable found in them for the defence thereof. Lastly, it is not to bee forgotten, that their owne Roffensis doth auerre, that whoseeuer [...] Rossens. art. 18. contra Luther. shall read the Greeke Fathers, shall finde none, or very rare mention of Purgatory; and that all the Latine Fathers, did not at the first apprehend it: and that it was not a long time vniuersally beleeued in the Church, but came in by little and little. These things laide together, doe demonstratiuely shew, that Romish Purgatory, was not an article of faith in the Primitiue Church, but a late deuice, brought in by a vaine feare, and false and lying apparitions, and maintained euer after by the smell of gaine and profit, which [...]accreweth thereby to the Popes purse, and for the maintenance of his pompe and pride, which otherwise would soone fall to the ground.

67. Lastly, to tye vp for breuities sake many points in one12. bundle, prayer for the dead, as it is vsed in the Church of Rome, hath no ground of antiquity: For though it cannot be denyed, but that it hath beene an ancient custome in the Church, and frequently vsed by the ancient Farthers, yet their manner of praying was not of that nature, as it is now in the Romish Synagogue: For first the Ancients prayed for those whom they were perswaded to bee already in blisse, as hath beene formerly declared: but the Romanists say, that suchBell. de Purgat. l. 2. c. 18. prayers are auaileable onely for soules tormented in the fire of Purgatory, and that wee may not pray either for the blessed, or the damned. Secondly, many of the Ancients suppose that all soules were reserued in a certaine secret place, from the presence of God, which they called Abrahams bosome, [Page] Paradise, the port of security, the outward court of Heauen, &c. And therefore could not pray for their deliuerance from Purgatory, as the Romanists doe. Thirdly, when the Ancients did pray for the Saints departed, they did it (as Bellarmine Ibidem. confesseth) not in regard of any misery wherein their soules were, but for the glorifying of their bodies in the day of the generall resurrection: but the Romish prayers are onely for those that are in paines, that they might bee deliuered. Lastly, the Ancients speake of the matter doubtfully; as SaintAug. de ciuitat. l. 21. c. 27. Augustine, with a peraduenture, and as of a laudable custome receiued in the Church, but not as a doctrine of absolute necessity: but the Romanists obtrude it as an article of faith, and call them Heretikes that deny the same: and therefore though in generall, prayer for the dead bee ancient, yet Romish prayer is an Innouation declining from antiquity, both in the obiect and subiect, manner and end.

68. So auricular confession is of like nature with the former:13. For we confesse that confession was ancient, but Auricular Romish confession is but a late vpstart, both in respect of the absolute necessity of it, which was brought in by Pope Innocent the third, beeing before accounted but onely profitable, and not necessary, as in the Councill of Cabilon: secondly,Synod. Cabilon. 2 c. 3 [...]. Maldonat. Sum. q. 20. art. 1. in respect of the priuatenesse; for Maldonate a Iesuite confesseth, that for a long time in the Primitine Church, there was none but publike confession: thirdly, in respect of the exact enumeration of all finnes, with the circumstances, which implyeth an impossibility: for their owne Rhenanus confesseth, thatRhenan. Argum. in Tertul. de p [...] nitent. this is a deuterosis, or late inuention of the Schoolemen: neither indeed can a patterne bee giuen of it in all antiquity: And lastly, in respect of the merite, which by the Church of Rome, i [...] ascribed to the very act done thereof, of which there is not the least mention in any of the Ancients: In a word what need wee seeke further, seeing wee haue the free confession of their Glosse vpon Gratian, who affirmeth, that this auriculaer confession is more truely saide to haue beene ordained by a tradition of the Church, then by any authority, either of the old or new Testament.

[Page]69. So the exact number of seuen Sacraments, which is an14. Bulla p [...]i quart. pro forma Iuramenti, annexed to the Councill of Trent. Concil. Trid. sess. 7. can. 1. Suarez Ies. tom: 3. disput. 12. sect. 1. Cassand. consult. art. 13. article of the Trentish Creede, fortifyed with the greatest curse against all that shall say, that there are either more or fewer, is indirectly confessed to bee a nouelty, by the Iesuite Suarez; for hee sayth, that the Council of Florence did but insinuate this truth, and the Councill of Trent did expressely define it, by which it is euident, that it was but an insinuation, in the Councill of Florence, and no article of faith, till the Councill of Trent, and therefore an Innouation: And directly by Cassander, who sayth, that vntill the dayes of Peter Lumbard, wee shall scarce finde any author, who set downe a certaine and definite number of Sacraments: and to put the matter out of doubt, it is confessed that this truth, (as they call it) is not found in the Scripture, but founded vpon Ecclesiasticall tradition:Suarez. quo supra. Bell. l. 2. c. 24. And although Bellarmine laboureth to prooue out of Scripture, them seuen, & none els to be properly Sacraments, yet it is with as euill successe, as Tyrabosco the Patriarke of Ʋenice, did extract the iust number of seuen, from the miracle of fiue loaues, and two fishes: For first his owne Pew-fellowesDurand. in 4. dist. 26. q 3. Bonauent. in 4. dist. 3. art. 2. Gregor. de Valent. de num sacram. ap. 3. Cassand. consult. art. 13. disclaime, some one, some another of them; as Durand: doth Matrimony to bee properly a Sacrament, because it hath not the vertue of conferring grace: and Bonauenture, extreame vnction to bee instituted by Christ: and Aleusis, and Hol [...]ot, did the like, touching confirmation, and also because his proofes are so friuolous oftentimes, that a recitation of them is a sufficient refutation: as for example, to prooue that there is a promise of sauing grace, in the conferring of orders, he alledgeth 1. Tim. 4. 14. and 2. Tim. 1. 6. where Timothy is charged and admonished, not to neglect, but to stir vp the grace that was in him, which was giuen to him by prophecy, with the imposition of hands of the Eldership. Here indeed is grace giuen to Timothy at his ordination: but first, it could not bee sauing grace, because hee was before that conuerted, and beleeued, as it appeareth, Acts 16. but rather is to bee thought to bee the extraordinary gift of the holy Ghost, as Saint Paul plainly insinuateth, 2. Tim. 1. And secondly, though it should bee sauing grace, yet it is not promised to all others, though it [Page] were then giuen to Timotheus, neither were all that receiued holy orders, partakers thereof: for then Nicholas the Deacon should haue beene sanctified being an hypocrite. Who seeth no [...] then now weakely hee hath prooued this to bee a Sacrament out of holy Scriptures; and this may seeme for a taste of the rest of his proofes, which are most of them of the like nature.

70. Againe, the doctrine of Indulgences, to wit, that the15. Pope hath power out of the Churches treasury, to grant relaxation from temporall punishment, either heere, or in Purgatory,Antonin part. 1. Sum [...]it. 10 c 3. Agrippa de vanuat c. 61. Roffens. in artic. 28. Luther. Caiet. tract. de Indulg. c. 1. Alphons. haeres. verbo Indulg. is so new an article, that diuers of their own Doctors, doe confesse, that there is not any one testimony for proofe thereof, either in Scriptures, or in the writings of ancient Fathers, but that the first that put them in practice in that manner, as they are now vsed, was Pope Boniface the eight, anno 1300. neither could they bee any older then Purgatory, being extracted from the flames thereof: which hath beene already prooued to bee a meere nouell inuention: so that the child cannot be old, when as the Father is not gray-headed; and that the matter may bee without contradiction; reade Burchardus, who liued about the yeare of our Lord, 1020. And Gratian, and Peter Lumbard that came after, who all speake of satisfaction and penance, and commutation, and relaxation of penance, but yet haue not a word of these Romish Indulgences: whereas if they had beene then extant, they would neuer haue passed them ouer in silence, especially in the discoursing vpon these points, whereupon they haue their necessary dependance.16. Viega de iustific. l. [...] ▪ c. 8. Bel. de liber. Arbit. l. 6. c. 5. Staplet. prompt: fer. 5. [...]o [...]. pa [...]s. Ambros. super Psal. 118. ser. 20 Aug. confess l. 9. c. 13. & in Psal. 142.

71. Last of all, their doctrine, touching merite of workes, may bee branded with the same marke. For first, though the word merite bee often vsed by the Fathers, yet ordinarily it is not taken in that sense, which the Romanists vse it in, as witnesse both Bellarmine, and Ʋiega, and Stapleton: and if they did not, yet manifold examples out of their owne writings, would prooue to be true: Secondly, the full streame of their doctrine doth make against the proud conceit of merite: for they ascribe all to Gods mercy, and Christs merits, esteeming [Page] their owne best workings and sufferings, vnworthy of the euerlastingCyprian martyr. Hieronym. etesiph. Gregor. l 1. hom. 11. super Ezech. Bernard. epist. 310. and celestiall reward: they neuer dreamt of that ambitious doctrine, taught in the Church of Rome, that our good workes are absolutely good, and truely, and properly meritorious, and fully worthy of eternall life. Let their books be viewed, and nothing can bee more apparantly cleare then this is. Thirdly, the termes of congruity, and condignity, were deuised but of late dayes, by the subtill Schoolemen, who notwithstanding could not agree among themselues, touching the true definition & distinctiō of their own books, by whichViega de meritis, q 7. pag. 816. Bell. de iustif. lib. 2. cap. 1. Waldensis sacramental. tit. 1. c. 7 it appeareth, that it was not then any Catholike or vniuersall truth. Lastly, their owne Doctours terme the merite of congruity, a new inuention, and that other of condignity, no Catholike nor ancient doctrine, and the whole doctrine of meriting, to haue beene first made an article of faith, by the Councill of Trent: all which laide together, prooue it most clearely to bee of no great standing, nor they of any vnderstanding that were the first forgers and deuisers thereof.

72. Thus wee haue sixteene points, wherein the new RomishConclusion. Religion hath degenerated from all pure antiquity, to which many more might bee added, but these are sufficient to euince our conclusion, which is this, that seeing the Romish Church hath neither in matter nor forme, substance nor accidents, any sure ground, either from Scripture, or the doctrine of the Primitiue Church; but is vtterly vnlike to it in many substantiall respects; therefore it cannot bee the true Church of God, but an harlot in her stead: and their Religion not of God, but of men; and consequently, that wee in declining from them, and conforming our selues, both in doctrine and manners, to the Primitiue patterne, are not fallen from the Church, but to the Church, and that theirs is the new Religion, and not ours. And thus wee see what all their bragges and clamours, touching the antiquity of their Religion, and the nouelty of ours come vnto; seeing there is no one thing more pregnant, to prooue the falshood of their Religion, and the Apostacy, and Antichristianity of their Church, then this is. And to conclude, as wee would thinke him not well in his [Page] wits, that hauing beene long sicke, and after regained health, should say, that sicknes was more ancient then health, whereas he should rather say, that hee had recouered his old health, & that his new Inmate sicknesse was dispossessed of his lodging, though it had kept it long; so in all reason it is madnesse to thinke the reformation of the Church, and reducing of Christian Religion to the ancient health to bee more nouell and new, then the horrible sicknesse and apostacy, wherewith it was long, not onely infected, but almost ouer-whelmed. And this is iust our case with the Church of Rome, but I leaue them to bee healed by the heauenly Phisitian himselfe, Iesus Christ our Sauiour, whose wholesome Physicke must cure them, or nothing will.

MOTIVE XII. ¶ That Church which maintaineth it selfe, and the Religion professed by it, and seeketh to disaduantage the aduersaries by vnlawfull vniust, and vngodly meanes, cannot bee the true Church of God, nor that Religion the truth of God, by the grounds whereof they are warranted to act such deuilish practices: but such is the practice of the Romist Church, and therfore neither their Church, nor their Religion can be of God.

IT is a wonder to see what deuises, sleights, impostures, and deuilish practices the Romanists haue, and now at this day doe more then euer vse, to vphold their rotten Religion, & to ensnare mens minds with the forlorne superstitiō, their kingdome being ready to fall, they care not with what props they vnder-shore it, and the truth preuailing against them, they care not with what engines, though fetched from hell it selfe, they vndermine it, so that they may any wayes batter the walles, or shake the foundation thereof. My purpose is in this Chapter to discouer some of the Sathanicall practices of these subtle Enginers, I meane, the Iesuites and Priests, and [Page] other rabble of Romish proctors: It is not possible to reckon them vp all, being so many and various: such therefore (God willing) shall be heere discouered, as are for villany most notorious, for impudency most shamelesse, and for certainty most perspicuous; and by them let the Christian Reader that loueth the truth, iudge of their Religion and Church, what it is.

2. The first proposition of this argument is grounded vponMaior. three principles▪ one of nature, another of reason, the third of Scripture: nature teacheth, that contraries are cured, that is, expelled by contraries, as hot diseases by cold medicines, and cold by hot, light by darkenesse, and darkenesse by light. Now trueth and falshood, good and euill, godlinesse, and vngodlinesse, are thus contrary; and therefore naturally expelling each other, they cannot bee meanes of each others preseruation: that cannot then bee the trueth, which secketh to with-hold it selfe by falshood, nor true Religion, which is a doctrine according to godlinesse, which maintaineth it selfe by vniust, vngodly and wicked practices: this is natures voyce, to which reason subscribeth, when it concludeth, that it is not onely improbable, but impossible that Vertue should seeke for Vices helpe, to fortifie it selfe withall; or trueth for falshood to maintaine it: seeing the chiefe essence of Vertue is to fly Vice, and of Trueth, to bee free from Falshood. Plntarchs Morals, Aristotles Ethicks, Tullies Offices, and all practi [...]ke of Philosophy auoucheth this to be true: but if from nature and reason▪ the hand-maides, wee ascend to Religion the Mistris, wee shall finde in Scripture this vndeniable maxime▪ Rom. 3. 8. Euill is not to bee done, that good may come of it: and therefore they which shall doe so, Saint Paul sayth, Their damnation is iust: whence it followeth, that deuilish and mischieuous practices, vndertaken for defence of Religion, and warranted by the grounds thereof, doe both argue a rotten Religion; (for like mother, like daughter, according to the Prouerbe:) and also prooue the professours and practicers thereof to bee lyable to the iust damnation, alloted by the Spirit of God to such wicked persons: there is no cuasion from this [Page] conclusion, except they say that their practices are not euill; which whether they bee or no, the particulars of the second proposition, shall propound to the iudgement of him that will with an indifferent eye looke vnto them, and so I leaue this first proposition, fortified with three strong rampiers of Nature, Reason, and Religion; and come to the second, wherein the pith and marrow of the argument consisteth.

3. That the Church of Rome is guilty of such vngodlyMinor. courses, for the maintainance of it selfe, and their Religion, though miserable experience doth sufficiently prooue, yet because whilst things are considered in grosse, they hide much of their worth and weight; therefore it shall not be a misse to display them in particular, and to offer them by retaile to such as haue a minde to apprehend the true value of their counterfeit wares. In these sixe particulars therefore (to omit many other) I arraigne them as guilty before God and men: first of horrible treason: secondly, of cruell murther: thirdly, of damnable periury: fourthly, of grosse lying: fift, of impudent and malicious slaundering: and lastly, of apparent forgery; and these be the propps and pillars of their Religion, by these they labour to procure credit to themselues, and disgrace to vs: and with these weapons they fight against all that oppose themselues against their damned opinions.

4. Touching their treasons, periuries, and cruelties, they are sufficiently discouered in the first and second reasons before going, to which I referre the Reader for his full satisfaction: onely note, that as their practices haue beene notorious in these kindes, so they are deriued fundamentally from the grounds of their Religion: notorious I say, for who hath not heard of the soule treacheries and conspiracies, practised by Popes, and their Agents against Kings, Emperours: some they haue deposed, some prisoned, some murthered▪ some expelled their kingdomes, some betrayed into the hands of their enemies, some persecuted and vndermined, and that by treacherous plots, and hellish deuices; to omit all others, and to confine my speach to our owne Countrey: the pretended Spanish inuasion, in the yeere 1588, by that great Armado▪ [Page] compounded of 138▪ great ships, addressed by the Popes instigation, who blessed and Christened it with the name of an inuincible Nauie; and way made by the Iesuites and Seminaries, who like Pioners and secret spies, indeauoured to vndermine the state, to spie out all conueniences for the enemies, and to prepare mens hearts and hands to giue assistance to them. The Irish rebellion blowen by the bellowes of Rome, animated by Doctour Saunders, and other Priests, sent toCoster. Apolog. part. 3. c. 9. incourage the rebels against their lawfull Prince: or as Coster the Iesuite confesseth, to be helpers to them in matters of conscience: and lastly, the last horrible hellish, neuer sufficiently to bee detested, Powder-treason, (which if it had come to execution, as it was neere to the point, would haue beene enrolled for euer amongst the wonders of the world: and now the wonder is that nature could afford such monsters, to deuise such a villany: or that any should bee so beso [...]ted▪ as to approoue of that Religion, which was the mother of such a monster. This I say, in which Romanists onely were actours: Iesuites Plotters, and the Pope the Ab [...]tter: (for Catesby, Percie, Rookwood, Winter, Grant, and the rest, were ranke recusants. Garnet, alias Walley, alias Roberts, alias Darcie, alias Farma [...], alias Philips: (was euer any honest, that had so many names) Hall, alias Oldcorne: Tesmond, alias Greeneway, and others, were professed Iesuites: and Baynham was sent to Rome, to giue notice to the Pope of this bloudy practice, whereupon solemne prayers and supplications were made by his direction▪ for the good successe thereof. These I say, doe witnesse sufficiently, that treason is an ordinary practice amongst that generation, for the maintenance of their Religion & pompe, and that they thinke it a lawfull and laudable act so to doe, it being the common doctrine of the Iesuites and Canonists, that if a King be excommunicate, either ipso facto, (as he is, if hee bee an Heretike by their doctrine) or by denunciation from the Pope, then his subiects are no further to obey him, but to rebell against him, yea depose and kill him, if by any meanes they can: and though they dispence with their allegiance, during the necessity of time, yet it is with this limitation, [Page] quoad, vntill they bee of sufficient power, and haue fit opportunity to worke their purpose. This pernicious doctrine flowed from the mouthes and pens of Sunancha, Creswell, alias Philopater mariana Lupus, Tresham, Bellarmine, Emanuell Sa; and almost all the rest of that treacherous generation.

5. Againe, their periuries are also so notorious, that I need2. not to insist vpon them: for who knoweth not that Canon of the Councill of Constance, which decreeth, that faith is not to bee held with Heretikes: and that sentence of a Pope reported by Guic [...]ardine, that the Church is not bound with oathes: and that common doctrine of the Iesuites, that a subiect is not tyed by his oath, to obey his King excommunicated: and who hath not read of Pope Eugenius, with his Legate Iulian, animating the King of Hungary to breake his league with Amurath the Turke, and of Atto Archbishop of Mentz, perfidiously against his oath, betraying Albert Count of Franconia, into the Emperour Lodowick the fourths hands: and of Rodulph, Duke of Sueuia, instigated by the Pope, to falsifie his oath of alleageance, to Henry the Emperour, and of Burghard, Archbishop of Magdeburge, released of his oath to his owne citizens, by Pope Iohn the 23. And of Sigismund the Emperour, who was constrained by the [...], to falsifie his oath, giuen to Iohn Husse, and Ierome of Prage, for their safe conduct to the Councill of Constance, and of Pope Zacharie: Boniface the sixt, and Benedict de la Lune, who vnbound the French men from their oath of obedience to their Kings▪ and of Gregory the seuenth, with other succeeding Popes, who did the like to the Germanes, in respect of diuers Emperours▪ and lastly of Pius Quintus, that excited the subiects of Queene Elizabeth, to the breach of their faith, and open rebellion: all which doth show, that they make no conscience of periury, so that they may maintaine thereby their Hierarchie and Religion, which to bee so, this one testimony will sufficiently beare witnesse out of the French Chronicles, when a league was made between Charles the ninth, and the Prince of Condy: the Iesuites (sayth the author) cryed out dayly in their sermons, that peace was not to bee made with Heretikes, and [Page] being made, was not to bee kept, that it was a godly thing to lay violent hands on those vnpure persons, &c.

6. Lastly, their murthering cruelty, exercised against all3. that stand in their way, is so notorious, that I need not toAuent. lib. 5. Abbas Vrsperg. stand vpon it: the examples of Henry the Emperour, marked out by Pope Hildebrand, to bee murthered by the tumbling down of a great stone vpon his head, in Saint Maries Church, though with euill successe; for the V [...]rlet himselfe that was suborned to doe this feat, tumbled downe headlong together with the stone, and so was crushed in pieces before the EmperourMath. Paris in Henr. 3. Pet. de vincis l. 2. epist. 10. & 20. Cuspinian. vita Freder. 2. came into the place. The poysoning of Frederick the second, by the secret practice of Innocent the fourth, and of Conrade by the meanes of the same Pope: and of Lewes of Bauary, by the appointment of Clement the sixt, and of Henry of Lucemburgh, by a Iacobine Fryer of Saint Dominicks order; and that (O horrible impiety) in the bread of the Sacrament, mixed with adamantine dust: and of Iohn of England, by a Monke of Swinestead Abbay: & of Henry the third of France, stabbed by a Iacobine Fryar: and of Henry the fourth, murthered by Rauillac, that Deuill in humane shape, who beeingCausabon epist. ad fronton. pag. 14. demaunded by the Iudges, why he committed that horrible act, answered without blushing▪ Because the King went about to aide the Protestant Princes of Germany, contrary to the Popes minde, whom hee did beleeue to be a God vpon earth: and of Parry, Lopez, Squire, with many other, which were suborned to murther our late Queene: and of Faulx, that was prepared with a match kindled at Rome, and a the euish Lanthorne to blow vp the Parliament house. These exanples I say, with many other, that might bee produced, doe euidently euince them, to make no conscience of shedding blood, and murther, for the maintenance and defence of their Religion.

7. Which that it may yet further appeare to be true, consider the infinite numbers of H [...]gonets, that is, Protestants, which haue been slaine in France alone, for refusing the marke of the beast. In the Low Countreyes, 36000. at least, are knowne to haue beene put to death by the Duke of Alba, for not yeelding in all things to the Romish Religion. The like [Page] persecution hath beene in other Countreyes, and is still at this day, where their bloody inquisition taketh place, by theƲergerius. Bal [...]us de actis Pontif. which in thirty yeeres (as ir is recorded by Authors of sufficient credit) a hundred and fifty thousand Christians were miserably murthered: and that which is to be noted, it rageth against none but Protestants, so that euen in Rome, a man may bee either Iew. Turke, or Infidell, or what els, and bee neuer questioned: but a Protestant, hee cannot be, but with danger of his life. What should I speake of the multitude of poore innocents, that were in this land of ours, adiudged to the stake, in the fiue yeeres raigne of Queene Mary. Smithfield, Colchester, Couentrie and Norwich, and almost all the other great townes, beare witnesse of this their cruelty, and the Innocent blood of these poore soules, doth stil cry for vengeance against them.

8. And yet all this is nothing to those horrible and outragious Massacres, whereby whole multitudes haue beene but▪ hered like sheepe in a slaughter house, witnesse that miserableHosiand. Cent. 13. l. 1. c. 4. Platina Innocent 3. slaughter made of the Albigenses, by Fryar Dominick and Simon Monfort, which going astray from the truth, (if all be true which is written of them) these butchers did not labor to reclaime by perswasions and gentle meanes, but oppressed them by armes at the first, and so sent them packing to hell without repentance: witnesse also that fearefull Powder treason intended, not executed, which if it had taken effect, such a massacre of men, and those of highest place and worth, had beene made as neuer yet the Sunne saw the like. And lastly, witnesse that dreadfull massacre in France, vnder Charles the ninth, when in one night were murthered at Paris many thousand Protestants, with the illustrious Admirall of France; and at Lions, and other places, within one month, as some say 40000. as others aboue 30000. The greatest and most grieuous perfecution in the Primitiue Church, is not to bee compared to this; for it is recorded, that vnder Dioclesian, 17000. were martyred in one month; but behold heere the number doubled, that we might certainly know and beleeue that the Pope is that true and great Antichrist, vnder whom, [Page] and by whose meanes the greatest persecution that euer befell the Church of God should happen.

9. Neither is there doctrine any whit dissonant from their practice: for thus Bellarmine deliuereth it in plaineBell. de Rom. Pontif. l. 5. c. 6. termes: as in a Christian, the Spirit is to rule, ouer the flesh, & to chastise it, and keepe it vnder, yea sometimes to vndergoe death it selfe, as in the Martyrs: so the spirituall power residing in the Church (that is in the Pope) is to bridle and restraine the temporall, by all meanes what soeuer, if it rebell against it: yea the Cardinall Como, in his letters to Parry the Traitour, animateth him to the murther of the good Queene, by his damned position, that it is meritorious to kill a King excommunicate: and some of them goe yet deeper into hell, and entitle it an heroicall act, that is, no ordinary meritorious worke; but suchIesuita Sicar. an extraordinary exploit, as none but men of a more then humane Spirit can performe; and for which an higher place in Heauen is reserued, then for common merits. Can this Religion now bee of God, that is thus maintained by treachery, periury and blood-shed? Is not this Church rather the purple coloured harlot, spoken of in the Reuelation, embrued and dyed red with the blood of the Saints, then the true Catholike Church of Christ? These things are so notorious, that I need not further enlarge them.

10. Leauing therefore these, I come to the three last wicked4. meanes, whereby they maintaine their Religion: vpon which if I insist somewhat longer, let the Reader beare with mee, for so the nature and nouelty of the matter requireth. Their next practice then to defend their Church and Religion is, by grosse and palpable lying and falshood; yea, so grosse and palpable, that any ciuill honest man would blush to be reputed the author of such fables, which they obtrude vpon silly people, as verities, necessary to bee beleeued, and which they like simple creatures giue faith vnto, asmuch as vnto the Gospell it selfe: and neither is the one or the other any maruaile, seeing Saint Paul prophesied long agoe, that on the one2. Thess. 2. 9. side Antichrist his comming should be according to the efficacy of Sathan, in all power, in lying signes and wonders: and on the [Page] other, that God would send vpon them that receiued not the loue 2. Thess. 2. 11. of the truth, strong delusion, that they should beleeue lyes: so that by this prophecy, one of the chiefest props of Antichrists kingdome, must bee lyes: and therefore the Church of Rome making no conscience thereof, sheweth it selfe to be no better then the Synagogue of Antichrist: If they say that they doe it to a good end, namely, to maintaine the truth: I answere with Iob: Nunquid Deus indiget mendacio vestro, vt pro illo loquamini dolos? Doth GOD stand in need of your lye, that youIob. 13. 9. should speake deceitfully for his cause? no, he will surely reprooue you for it: and with Saint Augustine: Cum humilitatis Aug. de verbis Apos [...]ol. causa mentiris, si non eras peccator, antequam mentireris, mentiendo efficieris quod euitaras: that is, If thou tellest a lye for humility sake, (or for the truths sake) if thou were not a sinner before, by lying thou art made that which thou didst auoid: what can bee more pithily spoken for the reproofe of these men, who by falshood, pretend to establish the truth, and by lying to vphold their Religion: and if neither the Scripture, nor this holy Father, are regarded by them; then let them heare the censure of the Heathen Cicero, whoCic. Offic. 3. concludeth, that in virum bonum non cadit mentiri emolumenti sui causa: It falleth not to a good man to lye, no notAntonin. parta. c. 8. tit. 2. Salmer in Rom. 5. disp. 52. Espencer. com. in tim. Dig. 1. Canus loc. l. 1. c. 6. for his owne profite sake: what are they then in his account, who make a common practice to lye for their aduantage? But lest I should bee thought to accuse them falsely, and in reproouing their lying, to fall into the same vice my selfe; let vs take a short view of some of their notorious vnt [...]uths, which are sparsed in their bookes. And heere to omit their lying Reuelations, lying priuiledges, false Canons, forged donations, counterfeit de▪ lying martyrologies, all which are stuffed with notorious falsities, and that by the confession of their owne Doctours: I will insist onely vpon their lying miracles, wherein they vaunt themselues as a marke of their Church, and wherewith they labour to vphold most of their erronious opinions.

11. And first touching their miraculous transubstantiatiō,1. [Page] and adoration of the Sacrament: not finding in Scripture sufficient proofe for it: it is strange to see how many monstrous miracles they haue deuised for to win credit thereunto. Bozius, Bozius de signis l. 14. c. 3. a man of great fame amongst them, telleth vs these three tales: first, that Anthony of Padua, caused his horse to kneele downe and worship the holy hoast, by which strange sight, a stout Heretike was conuerted to the true faith. And secondly, Saint Francis had a Cade Lambe, which vsed to goe to Masse, and would duely kneele downe at the eleuation, and adore. And thirdly, that a certaine deuout woman, to cure her Bees of the murren, and to make them fruitfull, put a consecrated hoast into the Hiue, which when after a time shee tooke vp, shee not onely found a miraculous increase, but saw also a strange wonder, the Bees had built a Chappell in the Hiue, with an Altar, and windowes, and doores, and a steeple with Bells, and had laid the hoast vpon the Altar, and with a heauenly noyse flew about it, and sung at their Canonicall houres, and kept watch by night, as Monkes vse to doe in their Cloisters. Who would not beleeue now but that the hoast is to be adored, if hee be not more senslesse then a horse, or a Bee, or a Cade Lambe? But if this be true, why are Mice so prophane, that they dare rend it with their teeth? And why doth not the Popes Hackney kneele downe, and doe reuerence vnto it, when hee carrieth it on his backe, accompanied with muletters, and horse-keepers, and Courtisans, and Cookes, with sumpter-horses, and all the baggage of the Court, as oft as hisIohan. Monluc. Mih. de Rel. ad Reg. Mat. Fulmen Bruturn. pag. 12. & 13. Holinesse is to trauell abroad; when hee himselfe followeth, moūted vpon a goodly white palfrey, accōpanied with Cardinals, Primates, Bishops, & Potentats? Is more honor to be giuen to Christs Vicar, then to Christ himselfe? Or was Anthonies horse more religious then all the Popes horses? yea then the Pope himselfe, and all his traine? And if the hoast bee so soueraigne a preseruatiue for Bees, why doe any good housewiues suffer their Bees to perish, seeing they may haue the hoast for God amercy, or at least wise for a very small price? In the booke of the conformities of Saint Francis, wee findeLib. conformit. Sancti Francis. this miracle: On a time Fryer Francis saying Masse, found a [Page] Spider in the Chalice, which hee would not for reuerence to the Sacrament cast out, but drunke it vp with the blood: afterward rubbing his thigh, and scratching where it itched, the Spider came whole out of his thigh, without any harme to either: O strange miracle; and yet not so strange as this, that Christs bloud in the Chalice, should poyson Pope Victor; except Francis a Fryer were more holy then Victor a Pope: or the blood in one Chalice, were of greater force then in the other: but peraduenture the Priest in the one, had no intention to turne the wine into blood, as the Priest in the other had: and then wee know there can be no conuersion: but no maruaile if this be true, seeing in the festiual of Corpus Christi day, we read as great a wonder as this: to wit, of a Priest, that hauing lost the hoast in a wood, as hee came to housell a woman that was sicke, and hauing whipt himselfe for his negligence, went backe to seeke his Lord God, and at last spying a pillar of fire, that reached from the earth to heauen, ran thereunto, and found Gods body at the foot of that pillar, and all the beasts of the forrest about it, kneeling on their foure knees, and adoring it with great deuotion, ex ept one blacke horse, which kneeled but on one knee, and that blacke horse (sayth the story) was a fiend of hell, who had turned himselfe into that shape, that men might steale him, and bee hanged, as many had beene. This as it was reported to bee done not far from Exbridge in Deuon-shire: so it was as solemnely read in the Church, and as verily beleeued, as any miracle that euer Christ wrought: who can doubt now, but that the bread in the Sacrament, is really changed into the body of Christ, and the wine into his blood, if this be true.

12. Againe, to proue their doctrine of concomitance, that2. is, that whole Christ is vnder both formes of the Sacrament:Bell. de Sacramento Euchar. l. 4. c. 14. Bellarmine produceth examples out of Surius: Ʋincentius, and Alexander Aleusis, where miraculously out of the bread being broken, blood plentifully flowed to the view of the beholders: which if they were true, as may very wel be doubted, yet euince not that doctrine: for those miracles might be wroght rather for the cōuictiō of profane & irreligious receiuers, [Page] & confirmation of Christian Religion, against all enemies therof, whether Infidels or Heretikes, then for the proof of the reall presence, or cōcomitance of both parts of the Sacrament, vnder one signe: but that they were not true, wee haue iust cause to suspect, seeing the eldest of those miracles are litle aboue a hundred yere old, at what time true miracles were vtterly ceased in the Church, & falseones were foisted into their roomes, as witnesseth Lyranus, who sayth, that the people in his Lyran. in Dan. 14. time were notably deceiued by false miracles, forged by Priests, and their complices for gaine: and Canus, who affirmeth, that writers in his time forged many things of purpose, and suggested Canus loc. l. 11. c. 6. false miracles, to pamper the peoples humor, and to gaine credit to Religion: and in that respect taxeth diuerse graue authors, for their pronenesse in satisfying the peoples appetite: and Agrippa, who sayth, that the writers of histories making godly lies, Agrip. de v. v [...]it. c. 97. did counterfeit Reliques, frame miracles, and deuise terrible fables: let these goe then amongst the rest, for at least suspected, if not conuinced falshoods.

13. Further for the proofe of their Canonization, and inuocation3. of Saints, it is a wonder to see how many wonders they haue deuised. For to omit that which Cardinall Baronius Baron. anno 1028. reports as a truth, out of Guillerinus, and Vincentius, touching Saint Fulbert, that because he was a most deuout worshipper of the Virgin Mary, therefore shee came vnto him in his sicknesse, and gaue him her brests to sucke: as also how shee came to Saint Bernard in his sicknesse, to visit him, accompaniedƲita Bernard. l. 1. c. 13. with Saint Lawrence, and Saint Benedict: and to omit how Saint Dominick caused the Deuill to hold the Candle [...]o him, till it burnt his fingers: which Canus brandes with theCanus loc. l. 11. c. 6. stampe of a ridiculous fable: and how Saint Dunstone pulled the Deuill by the nose, or by the lip (as some other say) with a paire of Pincers; which beeing as ridiculous as the former,Delrio disqu. magic. tom. 2. l. 4. c. 1. Antonia. 3. part. tit. 24. c. 2. Boz. de signis l. 15. c. 3. yet is allowed by the Iesuit Delrio for truth: to omit also how their Saint Francis had the fiue wounds of Christ printed in his flesh by an Angell, with the nailes sticking therein, and continually bleeding till his dying day: that hee vsed to ride in the aire, in a fiery chariot, talking with Christ, and [Page] Mary, and Iohn, and accompanied with innumerable Angels: and that the birds would heare him preach, with great deuotion: and a wolfe was conuerted by him, whom he called brother wolfe, and ledde him about with him in his iourney: asBreuiar. Rom [...] pii quimi. also to omit how Saint Denis had his head stroken off, and after carried i [...] two miles in his hands: the like to which is written of Iustinian the Monke. Saint Othisa, Saint Fulcian, English feast d [...] Sancto [...] chol. Legend. Anglic. fol. 261. Capgrau. leg. fol. 35. and Saint Ʋictorice: and how Saint Nicholas in his infancy, lying in his cradle, of himselfe fai [...]ed Wednesdayes and Frydayes, and would not take suck: and how Saint `Patrick caused a stollen sheepe to bleat in the belly of him that had eaten it: and how Saint Bede preached to the stones, and they answered his prayer, and said, Amen, venerable Bede.

14. To omit I say all these and many more, as beeing ordinary and common tales in euery mans mouth: I will onely commend vnto the Readers admiration, some few more rare, and yet no whit lesse strange: as for example, a Parrate being like to bee surprized by a hauke, flying ouer the shrine ofLegend. Thom. of Caunterb. Saint Thomas of Canterbury, cryed miraculously, Saint Thomas, helpe moe: and presently the hawke fell downe dead, and the Parrat escaped: so the famous Virgin of Lauretto, when as a certaine man was on the ladder, ready to bee hanged, being accused falsely for purloyning his masters hawke, assooneTursell Iesuit. l. 4. as hee did but thinke of her in his heart, and desire her helpe, the hawke came foorth with i [...]ngling in the aire, and houering ouer his head, and at last light vpon the gallowes, and soLegend. Sancti. Christopher. freed the poore man from the halter. Saint Christophers staffe beeing pitched into the ground, began presently to beare leaues, whereupon eight thousand men were conuerted to the faith of Christ. A Nunne called Beatrix, running away with her Paramour, liued certaine yeeres in a publike brothel-house;Caesarius Hester, bach. l. 7. c. 35. but because shee was a deuout worshipper of our Lady, our Lady her selfe supplied her roome in the Nunnerie, and was taken for Beatrix, all the time of her absence.Legend. Lombard. Saint Christines tongue was cut out of her head, and yet sh [...]e spake notwithstanding, and her brests beeing cut, insteed of blood, milke issued. Saint Brice beeing accused to bee the [Page] father of a base childe, caused the said child, being but thirty dayes old, to speake, and confesse that Brice was not his father: the same also is said to carry hote coales in his bosome, without burning his flesh or clothes. Saint Aidus espyingCapgraua. eight wolues that were sore hungry, gaue them eight lambes of meere compassion, which afterwards by prayer bee obtained lafe and found out of the wolues bellies. Saint Adrian beeing called vpon by a boy that was beaten, the Masters hand was stayd in the aire, so that hee could no more touch him.

15. What should I tell you of, Saint Patrick▪ that droueLegend▪ Iacob. de vorag. with his staffe, all the venemous beasts out of Ireland: or of Saint Roch, who beeing sicke of the pestilence in a wood, was fed by a hound, that brought him euery day bread from his masters table: or of Saint Lupe, or Low, who shut vp the Deuil in a tankard all night, that came to tempt him, so that he howled and brayed most hideously, and in the morning the holy man let him out: or of Saint Dunston, whose Harpe hanging on the wall, sounded melodiously, without touching, this Antheme, Gaudent in coelis animae sanctorum: and of Saint Martin, who beeing saying Masse, a tongue of fire came, and sate vpon him, as it did vpon the Apostles: or of Saint Germaine, who comming to the sepulchre of one of his disciples, beeing a good while dead, asked him how hee fared, and if he would no longer goe with him, to whom the other answered and said, that hee was well, and that all things were to him soft and sweet, and that hee would no more come hither: or of Saint Barbara, who turned the sheepe of a certaine sheepheard that bewraied her to her father that sought for her, into locusts? But if you would haue a lye with a latchet, looke into the Legend, of the Annunciation of our Lady, there you shall read of a certaine Knight, who betaking himselfe into an Abbey, was long learning the Aue Mary; and whereas he [...] could not get any further then the two first words of the Angelicall salutation, at last he dyed, and was buried, and vpon his graue sprung vp a right faire flowre deluce, in euery leafe whereof, was written in letters of gold, Aue Marie, and the root of [Page] this floure was found to issue out of the mouth of the sayd Knight, because as he had those words alwayes in his mouth, while he was aliue, so they grew out of his mouth being dead. Let all the Poets match this fable if they can, and yet Ouid commeth somewhat neere it in his two tales of Hiacynthus, and Aiaxboth, which were fabled to be turned into twoOuid. Metamor. l [...]. 10. & 13. flowers, with the two first letters of their names imprinted in them, and thus by strange and incredible fictions they maintaine the superstitious inuocation of Saints, the ordinary conclusion almost of their legends being this; then let vs pray to this worthy Saint and glorious Martyr, that he will pray to God for vs, that by his merits wee may haue pardon and forgiuenesse of our sinnes.

16. Againe, to perswade to the worshipping of relicks,4. they tell vs diuers such like tales: As that a yong man falling off his horse and breaking his neck, was brought to the graue of Saint Hyacinth the Polonian, and presently reuiued. And a Mayde, who had a yong Heifer dead by some misfortune,Scuerin. de vita▪ miracul. Sancti Hyacinth. lib. 1. ca. 19. & lib. 2. ca. 7. made supplication at the Tombe of this Saint, and when she returned home, a Butcher being fleying the Heifer, it first began to stirre the fleyed foot, and then to lift vp the head, and at last to rise vp as sound as euer it was. We reade in the french Chronicles taken out of Turpin a Popish Wr [...]ter, thatNichol. Gilles anno 645. king Dag [...]bert robbed other Saints of their relicks, to enrich the Temples of Saint Denis, Saint Rustick, and Saint Eleutherie, whereupon it came to passe that there arose great debate betweene the Saints, for those Saints which he had spoiled, as Saint Hilary, Saint Fremin, and others, ioyned themselues with the Deuils, and craued ayd of them to carry away the soule of the good king to hell: but he called to his help the other Saints which he had enriched, who resisted so valiantly the Deuils and the Saints wronged, that they tooke away from them his soule and carried it to Paradise. Who? which hath any spark of grace would not enrich the Temples, and relicks of these three Saints, seeing their power is so great to deliuer a man from the Deuill? But this next of Saint Fremin is full as strange; for the golden Legend reporteth, that [Page] after the Sunne had miraculously sent his beames through a stone wall vpon Saint Fremins graue, and thereupon they hadLegend. Inuent. of the body of Saint Fremin mortus. digged to finde out his body, there issued thence such a sweet smell, as they weened they had been in a Paradise: which odour spread it selfe not onely through the city of Aniens where the body lay, but also vnto diuers other cities, the sweetnes whereof as it mooued much people to bring their oblations to this glorious Saint, so it cured some a far off (as the Lord of Ba [...]gency) from their diseases: but when this body was taken vp and carried in the city of Aniens, strange wonders were wrought: for then the Elements mooued, (sayth the story) the Snow that was at that time great on the earth was turned into pouder and dust: and the Ice that hung on the trees became flowers and leaues, and the meadowes became greene: and the Sunne which by his course should goe low that day, ascended as high as it vseth to be on Saint Iohn Baptists day in Summer: and as men bare the body of this Saint, the trees enclined and worshipped it, and all manner of sicke persons what malady soeuer they had, receiued health, at the Inuention of the blessed body of Saint Fremin.

17. Another as strange a tale wee haue touching the relicksLegend Sancti Stephani. of Saint Stephen, and Saint Lawrence: for when as one of them was buried at Rome, the other at Constantinople (sayth the Legend) the Emperours daughter which was possessed with an euill Spirit, was brought to touch the relicks of Saint Stephen, but the Diuell within her cryed, that he could not be dispossessed, except the body of Saint Stephen was translated to Rome: whereupon meanes was made that Saint Stephens body should be carried to Rome, and in liew thereof, Saint Lawrence his body should bee brought to Constantinople. Now in the way as they were making this conueyance, the city of Capua gat the right arme of Stephen, and builded their Metropolitane Church in honour thereof: but when they were come to Rome, they would haue borne the body of Saint Stephen to the Church of Saint Peter ad Vincula, but they that bare it were not able to goe any further: and then the Deuill in the mayd cryed out, Ye trauaile for nought, for he [Page] shall not be heere, but with Lawrence his brother, therefore they bare the body thither, and then the mayd touching the body was presently made whole, and Saint Lawrence as reioycing at the comming of his brother, and smiling, turned himselfe into the other side of the Sepulchre, and made roome for him to lye in: and when the Greekes would haue taken vp the body of Saint Lawrence to carry it to Constantinople, they were stroken dead, till the Pope and his Clearks by their prayers reuiued them againe: who would not now worship the relicks of Saints, if such great myracles be wrought by them.

18. But to conclude this poynt, and not to trouble the reader with too much of this pedling stuffe: thus they labour to gaine worship to Images, honour to the Crosse, and Crucifix, and credit to Purgatory, and prayer for the dead, and countenance to popish single life, as of many hundred examples which might be produced, let these few suffice. Saint George being put into a frying pan full of boyling lead, made but the signe of the crosse, and he was therein refreshed as if he had bin in a bath. Saint Margaret was swallowed vp of the Diuell in the figure of a Dragon, but making the signe of the crosse in the Dragons belly, the Dragon burst, and out came Saint Margaret safe and sound. It is sayd also that she took the Diuel by the haire of the head, and beate him about the eares. Saint Goodreck with the signe of the crosse tamed Wolues and Serpents in such sort, that they lay with him by the fire side without offering any hurt. Saint Christopher being a Giant of twelue cubits in height, determined with himselfe to serue none but the greatest King in the world: and therefore being in seruice to a great King, he spied him crossing himselfe against the Diuell: wherefore perceiuing that he was afraid of the Diuell, he went to serue him as one greater then the former, and perceiuing that the Diuell auoyded the sight of a crosse, he asked him, why he did so? to whom the Diuell answered, that there was a man called Christ which was hanged on the Crosse, in feare of whom, as oft as he saw the signe of the Crosse he fled from it, for which cause [Page] Saint Christopher perceiuing that Christ was a greater King, renounced the Deuill, and betooke himselfe to the seruice of Christ, and was called Christopher, whereas before his name was Reprobus. He that would read a merry tale indeed, let him read the Legend of Saint Christopher: As for a fearefull tale, let him goe to Saint Brandons Legend: all the old wiues tales that euer were told in a chimney corner, are not to be compared to these two.

19. It is no newes amongst them for Images to speake, nod the head, shake the hand, sweat, and such like: or at least for some crafty Priest to worke these feates, to delude the people. The Image of the blessed Virgin Mary is sayd to haue spoken diuers times, to Saint Bernard, when she bad him good morrow, whereupon the good man should answere, that she broke the Canons of the Church, because it was forbidden that a woman should speake in the Church. To Saint Hyacinth, Scuerin. de vita & mirac. Sancti Hyacinth. lib. 1. cap. 13. who flying from the Tartarians, the Image thus cryed vpon him with a loud voyce, O my sonne Hiacinthus doest thou escape the hands of the Tartarians, and leauest me and my sonne to be cut in pieces, and trampled vnder feet: To whom Hiacinthus answering, O glorious Virgin, this thy Image is too heauy, how shall I he able to carry it? The Virgin replyed, Take it, for my sonne will lighten the burden. And to Alexius, who stayingLegen. Lombard. long in the Church-porch, the Image of our Lady spoke and bade the Sexten let him in. So the Crucifix is sayd to haue spoken to Thomas Aquinas, when he was praying before it inBreuior. Rom. in fest. Sancti Thom. de Aquin. lect. 5. etia vita eius. great deuotion, Thou hast written well of me Thomas, what reward therefore wilt thou haue. And to the Councill at Winchester gathered together about the question o [...] Priests mariages in these words, Take Dunstans wayes vnto you, for they are the best. Polidore Virgill, otherwise a strong Papist, yet smel [...] Polydor. Virgil. Histor. out this to be Dunstanes legerdemayne, and so may any other that hath not lost his senting: and thus we haue two talking Images, that the Heathen might not goe before them in this,Bell. de Sanct. beatit. lib. 2. cap. 13. who by Bellarmines confession out of Valerius Maximus, had two also that spoke, the one of Iuuo Moneta, at the taking of Veyes, which being asked in iest by a Souldier, whither she [Page] would goe to Rome, answered, that she would: the other of Fortune, who vttered these words, Yee haue rightly seene mee O nation, and rightly dedicated mee.

20. But that Images vsed to beck, and mooue their heads, and stir their hands, there are so many examples that it would be lost labour to stand vpon them, onely the image of SaintThis is knowen to be true by many of the inhabitants yet liuing. Nicholas at Westchester, may discouer the trick of all the rest, for at the burning of it in the Market-place of the city, there was discouered this trick of fast and loose, the Image was made with such a deuice, that if one standing behinde, did pull a certaine string which was in the back part thereof, it would mooue the hand, as if it blessed the people. The like may we thinke of that Roode of Poyters, which when William Longshampe Houeden. Bishop of Ely lay a dying, did piteously weepe and lament, so that the teares fell downe from his eyes, as it had been a floud of water, but no meruaile, for as they say, it was the accustomed vse of that Roode alwayes to mourne when a Bishop departed. A pretty story there is in one of the Legends of the Virgin Mary, of a woman who prayed deuoutly to that Image for the deliuering of her sonne out of prison, and when shee saw that her prayers preuailed nothing, shee tooke away from the Virgin her sonne out of her armes, and carryed it home, whereupon our Lady presently went to the prison and deliuered the womans sonne out of hold: then the woman (sayth the tale) brought backe the Virgin Maries sonne, and gaue it her againe, saying, O blessed Virgine now thou hast restored my sonne vnto mee, behold againe thy sonne vnto thee, and so both parties were well pleased.

21. For Purgatory, and prayer for the dead, there be infinite5. tales deuised, of all which we may giue the same censureAug. de vnitat. eccles. 16. which Saint Augustine doth of lying myracles, that they are vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum, either fictions of lying men, or wonders of deceitfullIob. Riuius de spect. & apparit. Andreas osci [...]d in coniecturis. Erasm. in epist. spirits, of the first kind was that reported by diuers authors of certaine Priests, that dwelling not far from the sea side, tooke a number of sea-crabs, and tyed vnto each of them light, and so put them vpon dead mens graues in the Churchyards, [Page] to make the poore country people beleeue that Spirits did walke: but in one place, the legerdemaine was deprehended, for the Carpenters and Masons comming the next day after all Soules night to worke, found among the timber and broken bricks some of the Crabs, with their candles on their backs extinguished, whereby the knauery of this miracle was discouered. Of the second kind it may be was that recorded by Saint Gregory in his Dialogues, (if that booke be his as is iustly doubted, for he telleth there a tale of a Beare which was commaunded to keepe the Hermite Florences sheepe, a thing not sauouring of Saint Gregories spirit, or if it did, then it argueth him to haue been too credulous of lying reports, (as he isCanus loc lib. 11. cap. 6. taxed by their own Canus) of a soule appearing vnto a Priest that bathed himselfe often in a water, & officiously pulling off his shoes, with an earnest desire to enioy his prayers and oblations for his deliuerance, which being performed, when he returned to the bath and found the soule no more there, hee concluded, that his prayers had deliuered him out of Purgatory.

22. In one of these two ranks are all the strange stories published by these Dialogues, Beda, Brigitta, Dionisius, Carthusianus, touching walking ghosts, for eyther they were iugling tricks of imposters to deceiue the simple, or deceits of deuils to delude the learned: and this may in no poynt more playnely be proued, then against Priests mariages, for the disgracing whereof, and aduancing single life aboue it, an Idoll at Winchester must speake as before hath been shewed. The Emperour Lewes the second must be tormented in Purgatory,Sigebert Vincent. because he would not regard the admonitions of Gabriell the Archangell against Priests mariages. Emma mother to Saint Edward King of this land, must goe bare-foot vpon nine burning plowshares of yron, to try her chastity, and Alwynes the Bishop of Winchester, with whom she was suspectedMalmesbury. Marian. Geot. Capgraue. to haue committed fleshly villany, but she was borne ouer them betwixt two Bishops, so that she needed not to hurt her feet. A yong Nunne being got with child by a yong Monke, two Midwiues must come from heauen, being sent [Page] by Henry Murdach, then lately Bishop of Yorke, and discharge her of her childe without paine, and take it from her, so that it was neuer seene more; & very likely, for a priuy or a fishpond might meet with it by the way, as it had done a number more in former & later times: A thousand such lies as these shall you find in their Legends, and martyrologies, and other bookes: insomuch, that Espensaens a learned Bishop of their owne, doth freely confesse, that no stable is so full of doung, as the Legends Espensaeus in 2. tim. 4. are full of fables; yea that very fictions are contained in their portesses: and Canus another learned writer, that the Pagan Histriographers Canus loc. lib. 11 c. 6. did more truely write the liues of Emperours, then the Christians did the liues of Saints: and that in the golden Legend, there are monsters for miracles, rather then true miracles: and that hee which wrote this booke, was a man of a brasen face, and a leaden heart.

23. Thus it is euident by the confession of many learned of their owne side, that these bee lying tales, coyned as holy Piae fraudes. Agrip. de vanit. c. 97. deceits, as some of them terme them, but more truely, as deuilish deuices, not to maintaine the truth, but errour: for how can that bee the truth which standeth in need of lying to maintaine it: Caietane a Cardinall, and a great learned diuineCaiet. opusc. de concept. Virg. c. 1. Antonin. part. 1. c. 8. tit. 2. sayth, that the credit of the Romish miracles dependeth vpon the report of men, who may deceiue others, and bee deceiued themselues: and Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence, calleth the visions of Bernard and Briget, touching the conception of the Virgin Mary, fantastick visions, and mens dreams: why should wee then beleeue them to bee true, when as they themselues beleeue them not.

24. If they obiect and say, why may not these miracles be as true as those which are reported by many of the ancient Fathers: and seeing famous miracles haue beene in all ages of the Church, why should these last ages bee suspected for falsity,Bel. de notis eccles. lib. 4. c. 14. more then the former? I answere first, that those Fathers themselues, which were reporters of such miracles, yet did repose no such confidence in them, as to build their faith vpon them, as the Romanists doe: for Saint Augustine sayth, Quisquis adhuc, &c. Whosoeuer yet seeketh aften wonders, that hee [Page] may beleeue, is himselfe a great wonder, who when the world beleeueth, Aug. de ciuit. lib. 22. c. 8. Idem tract. 13. in Iohan. doth not beleeue: and in another place: Contra istos mirabilirios, &c. Against these miracle-mongers, my God hath made mee wary, saying, there shall arise in the last dayes false Prophets, working signes and wonders, that they might lead into errour, if it Chrysost. bom. 29 in Math. were possible the very Elect. And Chrysostome, or whosoeuer els was the author of those learned homilies on Mathew, proueth that the true Church of Christ cannot bee discerned or knowen by signes or other meane, but onely by the Scripture: and that the working of miracles is more found among false Christians, Tertul. contra Marcum. lib. 3. c. 3. & depraescriptic. 44. Maldon. in Mat. 7. 22. then true: & Tertullian sayth plainly, that the Heretikes did raise the dead, cure maladies, & foretell things to come: the same is affirmed by Chrysostome, Ierome, Euthe [...]ius & Theophilact; as witnesseth Maldonate the Iesuite: by which it appeareth, that the Fathers thought miracles were not to bee regarded, except they were wrought for the confirmation of the truth: and that a miracle was to bee examined by the doctrine, not the doctrine by a miracle: and therefore, that they are not any proper and true markes of the Church, as the Romanists make them: nay that they are rather markes of Antichrist, and his Church, as both our Sauiour and Saint Paul plainely auouch;Mat. 24. 24. 2. Thess. 2. 9. 10 so that by this their great bragge of miracles, they giue vs this strong aduantage against them, that their Pope is Antichrist, and their Church Antichristian, which otherwise wee should want.

25. And secondly I answere, that they themselues reiect diuerse miracles of the fathers, as fantastick visions, and mensAntonin. part. 1. tit. 8. c. 2. dreames: so doth Antoninus call the vision of Bernard and Briget, in the question of the Virgin Maries conception: and Canus taxeth Gregory and Bede with this: that they missed the Canus loc. lib. 11. c. 6. pag. 658. louan. 1569. marke now and then, who wrote miracles, talked of and beleeued among the vulgar: that is, which they receiued by hearesay, and not by any eye-witnesse, or sound proofe: now why should wee be restrained from that liberty towards the rest, which they take towards Gregory and Bede: especially seeing many of their miracles are such, as no reasonable man would euer beleeue, and deserue rather the splene then the braine: [Page] as for example Saint Ierome reporteth this to bee one of Saint Anthonies miracles; how Anthonie trauailing in the wildernesse,Hierom. in vita Paul [...] ▪ to seeke out Paul, the Hermite met with a Centaure, (halfe a man, and halfe a horse) who spoke to him, and shewed him the way; and by and by when the Centaure was gone, meeteth him another Monster like a Satyre, with a hook nose, and hornes on his head, the lower part of his body like a goat, offering him a branch of palme: whom Anthony asking who he was, he answered; I am a mort all creature, an inhabitant of the wildernes, such an one as the Gentiles deluded with error, called a Satyre; and I am come as an Embassadour from my flocke, to beseech yon to pray to God for vs, whom wee know to bee come for the saluation of the world, whose sound is gone through the earth: if this bee true, that there are such monsters; or if they bee, that they beleeue in Christ, and so may bee saued: let vs beleue then all that euer the Poets haue written of Ixion, Polyphemus, Pan, Silenus, & other such like mōsters: Gregory Nissen Gregor. Nyssen. orat. de vita Thaumaturgi. writeth, touching Thammaturgus, that the Virgin Mary, and Saint Iohn camedown from heauē to him, & taught him his creed: which is as likely to bee true, as that which the Poets write of Apollo, that taght Aescul [...]pius the rules of Physick: or the Rabbines of the Angell Sanbasser, that was Adams Schoolmaster.

26. Saint Bernard, in the life of Malachias (if at least thatBernard. de vita Malachiae. booke bee Saint Bernards) telleth vs of Malchus the teacher of Malachias, how hee restored hearing to one that was deafe, and how the patient confessed, that when the holy man put his fingers into both his eares, hee felt as it were two pigges issuing out of them. Againe hee reporteth, that a certaine Prior of the Regular Friers, seing Malachie the Bishop to haue many seruants, but few horses, gaue vnto him the horse that hee rode on which beeing a restie iade, and setting hard, at the first the Bishop found him so, but ere hee had ridden farre, by a wonderfull change, hee prooued a very excellent and precious palfrey, ambling most sweetly: the like tale wee reade in the Dialogues ascribed to Gregory, of a horse, which a Noble-man lent to Pope Iohn, whichGregor. dialog. lib. 3. c. 2. beeing a very gentle, sober nagge, when as afterward [Page] the noble mans wife should bee set vpon him, hee pust and pranced, and stampt most strongly, disdaining that a woman should sit vpon his backe, which had carried the high Priest of the world: much like to King Alexanders Bucephalus, which being bare, would carry any groome quietly; but when his trappings and furniture was on, then hee would endure none but Alexander. The writer of the life of Saint Bernard, relateth a pretty wonder, done by that holy man at the dedication of a Church, when as the place was so filled with multitude of flies, that the people could not enter into it without great annoyance: Saint Bernard vsing no other meanes to destroy them, said onely, I excommunicate them; and presently the next morning they were all found dead on the floore. Doth this sauour of Saint Bernards holinesse: or can any man bee so madde as to thinke, that so holy a man would denounce excommunication, ordained to separate from the Congregation open and sinfull men, against poore silly flies: sure hee hath no more wit then a flye, that will beleeue this: so that notwithstanding the ancient miracles recorded by the Fathers, yet the Legendary Romish miracles are not freed from grosse and notorious falshood.

27. Another practice of theirs to win credit to their Religion,5. and disgrace to ours, is slaundering and calumniating both our Religion, and the professours thereof: and that so grossely and falsely, that their owne consciences could not chuse but say secretly vnto their tongues, thou lyest, when they were writing them in their bookes: but they deale like theeues, who to cleare themselues from suspition of robbery, raise vp hue, and cry against true men: or like harlots, that lay the imputation of dishonestie vpon sober matrones, to the end that they themselues might bee thought chast and honest: so beeing full of sores and blemishes themselues, they seeke to couer their owne shame, by discouering ours. Which if it were in truth, though their enuy was neuer the lesse, yet their sinne was not so great: but beeing notorious and outragious lyes, they plainely show that they care not what they belch foorth, so they staine vs with the filth thereof: and that [Page] they haue learned that Ma [...]chauillian rule, audacter calumniari, to slander boldly; because though the wound bee healed, yet a scarre remaineth.

28. Their slanders are darted either against our persons, orI. the gouernment of our Church, or our doctrines: let vs take a short view of all these: and first for their personall slanders; they slander all of vs in generall, with the ignominious titles of solifidians, nullifidians, nudifidians, Infidels, worse then Turkes, &c. yea and say that wee haue no faith, no Religion, no Christ, no God; and what not that either malice can deuise, or enuy and rage vtter? These slanderous reproches areParsons 3. convin. Kellison suruey. l. 4. Wright. art. 2. l 3. Reynold. Calui noturcisme. set abroach by rayling Parsons in his booke of the three conuersions, and almost in all other of his discourses; and by Mathew Kellison, who was of a sudden start vp from spigget to the Pulpit, a buttery diuine; and by Wright another of the same stampe; and by Reynolds, and Bellarmine, and Beran, and Coster, and all the brood of ranke mouthed Iesuites: who as if they were all bitten with one madde dog, raue alike against our Religion, and the professours thereof: but God bee praised, with euill successe; for their calumnies are so transparent, that he that doth but meanly vnderstand the grounds of our Religion cannot but turne the lie vpon their heads.

29. But let vs heare their reasons why we are all Infidels: mary they propound two principall ones, and those very strong, as they thinke: first they say that all learned Protestants are Infidels, because they build their faith vpon their owne priuate exposition of Scripture: and secondly, that ignorant Protestants are Infidels, because they rely their faith vpon their Ministers credit. To the first, I answere two things, first, that wee doe not interpret the Scripture by our own priuate iudgements, but by the Scripture it selfe: for some places are so plaine, & those principally that contain the grounds of Religion, that they need no exposition, as Saint Augustine Aug in Iohan. tract. 50. witnesseth, saying that quaedam in Scripturis, &c. There be some things in the Scripture so manifest, that they require rather a hearer then an expounder: and what those things are, the same father declareth in another place, where he sayth, that in those [Page] things which are plainely set downe in Scripture, are found all Idem de doct. Christ. l. 2. c. 9. those points which containe faith and manners: and those things which are obscure and hard in Scripture, we do not expound by any forraine or priuate interpretation, but by conferring them with other more plaine and perspicuous places: and so except they say that the Scripture it selfe is of a priuate interpretation, they cannot condemne vs of that crime. Now that this is the best way of interpreting, let the same Augustine informe vs, who sayth, That there is nothing contained in hard Idem Ibid. l. 2. c. 6. places of Scripture, which is not to be found most plainely vttered in others: and Chrysostome, who affirmeth, that the Scripture Chrysost. hom. 12 in Gen. Basil. quaest. compt. explic. q. 267. Hier. com. in Isay. c. 19. expoundeth it selfe, and suffereth not the Reader to erre: and Basill, who telleth vs, that those things which be doubtfull, or seeme to be couertly spoken, in some places of holy Scripture, are expounded by other plaine places. Of the same minde are the rest of the Fathers: and so wee expound the Scripture no otherwise then all the ancient Fathers vsed to doe, and then indeed it ought to be.

30. I, but wee follow not the iudgement of the Church, (say they) which hath the onely key of interpretation committed vnto it: if they meane by the Church the fathers, we may iustify our selues by condemning them of the same fault: they deale with them as the Iewes dealt with their wiues, if they please their humors they hold vnto them; but if they crosse or thwart them, they sue out a bill of diuorce against them, and put them away: nothing is more common then this in all their writings: and therefore it needs no instances to prooue it: if they meane the Councils; why, by their owne teaching, no Councill is of sufficient authority, except it bee confirmed by the Pope: nor any decree or interpretation to bee entertained without his approbation. Therefore they must needs meane the Pope alone, and if they doe so, then we confesse that wee haue iust causes not to tye our faith to his girdle, nor our vnderstanding to his braine: seeing many of that ranke haue beene open Heretikes, some notorious Atheists, all men and therefore subiect to errour: yea seeing the body of their Church is an Apostate harlot, and the surmised [Page] head on earth, that man of sinne, the great Antichrist, spoken of in the Scriptures. If to vary from him then, and his Babylon, in our exposition of Scripture, bee priuate interpretation, wee confesse our selues guilty, but in all other respects cleare and innocent.

31. Secondly, grant that wee doe in some points follow on our owne priuate exposition, yet wee are not therefore Infidels: for then most of the Fathers should bee infidels aswell as wee: for there are few of them which haue not sometimes priuately, vea and falsely expounded the Scriptures: as their owne Doctors confesse. Canus saying that they spake Canus loc. l. 7. c. 3. Posseu. biblioth. select. l. 12. c. 23. with a humane spirit, and erred sometimes in things which afterward haue appeared to appertaine to the faith: and Posseuine, that there are some things in the Fathers, wherein vnwitingly they dissented from the Church; either therefore they must tax them with infidelity aswell as vs, or cleare vs aswell as them, if al the force of the argument hang vpon this pin, that therefore wee are Infidels, because we priuatly expound the Scriptures.

32. To the second, viz. that all vnlearned Protestants are Infidels, because they rely their faith vpon the credit of the translatours, I answere three things; first, that they doe not rely their faith vpon the credit and fidelity of any translatour, but partly vpon the iudgement and authority of the Church, which receiueth such translations, and alloweth them, and is able to iudge of them: and partly and principally vpon the word translated, which containeth such holy and heauenly doctrine, as none that readeth, or heareth it, can chuse but acknowledge the Maiestie of Gods Spirit speaking in it.

33. Secondly, if our people are therefore Infidels, because they cannot examine the translations by the Hebrew and Greeke, and doe therefore rely their faith vpon the translatours credit: then Augustine was an infidell, who knew neither of these languages, but was as it is written of him, monoglossos: and then many godly Doctours and Fathers of the Church were Infidels, who for the most part were all ignorant of the Hebrew tongue, and some of them of the Greeke [Page] also: and lastly then all the godly Christians in the purer timesTheodor, de curation, Graecor. affection. lib. 5. who both read and heard the Scriptures translated into their mother tongues were infidels, for they all relyed their faith vpon the word translated, but not for the translators sake, who might erre in translating many places, but for the sound, holy, and heauenly doctrine therein contayned.

34. Thirdly, if this maketh men infidels to relye their faith vpon man; then the ignorant Romanists must needs be all infidels, whose implicite, Colliarlike faith is grounded onely vpon the Church: that is not onely vpon the Pope, who is in power the whole Church, but also vpon euery ordinary Pastor, be he Iesuite, or Priest, or Frier, or any other, whom they are (according to their diuinity) bound in conscience to beleeue whatsoeuer they teach, as hath been shewed: now this is to rely their faith vpon the fidelity and credit of man, and therfore the blame of infidelity falleth vpon them more iustly then vpon vs: and thus this accusation of theirs, that we haue no faith, no religion, no God, no Christ, but are plain Infidels, is a most notorious and open slander.

35. Thus generally they slander our religion, and the professors2. thereof, but not content therewith, they set vpon particular persons, and those that are most eminent in our Church, either in authority of place, or excellency of learning, that like Captaines march in the head of the ranks. For to omit their horrible raylings against Kings, Princes, Magistrates, Nobles, and men of high place, that any wayes opposed themselues to the Romish Monarchie, whose glorious vertues were so resplendent, that the mist of their slanders cannot darken the lustre thereof: Lord how they raue and rage against the ashes of Luther, Oecolampadius, Zwinglius, Caluin, Beza, and other worthie champions of our Church. O [...] Luther they write, that he was an Apostate Friar, that through enuy, pride, and ambition, fell from them, because the office of publishing Indulgences, was taken from theCochl [...]us in actis Lutheri. Monks of his order, and translated vnto the preaching Friers; and that he had conference with the Diuell about the priuateBell de notis eccles. l. 4. c. 13. Masse, and was taught by him that it was vnlawfull; and that [Page] in a disputation at [...]psia he vttered these blasphemous speeches, This cause was neither begun for God, nor shall be ended for God: and that his life was incestuous, and he himselfe aCampian. Rat. 5 notable wine-bibber, and his death infamous and fearefull, he going to bed merry and drunke, and being found the next morning dead, his body being black, and his tongue hanging forth as if he had been strangled; and that after his death his body so stanke that they could not endure to carry it to his graue, but threw it in a ditch: and that the Deulls departed from many that were possessed, and came to his sunerall.Thyrraeus Ies. d Daemon. part. 1 thes. 99. These and many other strange fictions they haue set vpon the stage, for the disgracing of the life, death, and memory of that blessed instrument of God.

36. For Caluin, they report, that he was branded on theReinold. Caluino [...]urcis. l. 2. p. 259. back by the Magistrate for his Sodomiticall and brutish lust; and that he dyed in despaire, calling vpon the Diuell, swearing, cursing, and blaspheming most miserably, being possessed with the lousie disease, and wormes so increasing in an impostume, or most stinking vicer about his priuy members, that none of the standers by could any longer indure his stinke. The like slander they lay vpon the life of Beza, whoIdem Ibid. they say in his youth was an effeminate, wanton, luxurious Poet, and deserued as much shame for his filthy life as Caluin had done. Zwinglius was slaine (say they) by Gods iust iudgement in the warre against the Catholicks. Oecolampadius dyed suddenly in the night: and Carolastadius was murthered by the Deuill.

37. Further they tell how Luther went about in vaine toCocl [...]aeus in actis Lutheri. Bell. de notis eccles. lib. 4. ca. 14. restore to life one Mesenus that was drowned, by whispering and murmuring in his eare; and how he would haue cast out the Deuill out of a certaine mayd, but was in danger to be slayne by him; and how Caluin compacted with one Bruleus Stap [...]yl. in Absolu [...]. resp [...]s. to fayne himselfe to be dead, that to shew the lawfulnesse of his extraordinary calling, he might miraculously rayse himB [...]ls [...]e. vita Caluini. cap. 13. to life againe, and that he prooued dead indeed, and deceiued his expectation, and made him a knowne impostor. Thus they belch forth their venome against these good men, that [Page] through their sides they might wound the Gospell and truth which they professed, but with what likelyhood of truth I pray you marke and iudge, and because matters of fact can be prooued by no other euidence but by witnesse, except God miraculously discouer them to the world, and witnesses also must be impartiall and without exception, or else their testimonie is of no moment, let vs therefore compare those that speake for them with these that are against them, and try whether deserue most credit.

38. Sleidan writeth of Luther, that his death was mostSleidan commen. lib 16. Lonicer. theat. histor. pag. 244. sweet and comfortable, full of heauenly prayers, and godly exhortations, at which were present the Earle of Mansfield, and other Noblemen, Iustus Ionas the Schoolemaister of his children, Michael Caeleus, Iohannes Aurifaber, and many more, who testified the same to be true: and Erasmus reportethEras. epist. li. 11. ep. 1. ad Card. Eborac. of his life, that it was approoued with great consent of all men, and that the integritie of his manners was such, that his very enemies could finde nothing in him that they might calumniate: which to be true, may appeare by this, that Fisher the Bishop of Rochester his profest aduersary writing against him, doth not in all his booke once tax him of misdemeanour, or of any notorious crime, which he would surely haue done, if any either iust cause, or light suspition had beene ministred vnto him.

39. Touching the life and death of Caluine, Beza whoReynold, Caluino turens. l. 2. c. 11. was his familiar friend, and dayly associate, affirmeth, that the one was full of holinesse and good works, and voyd of scandall: and the other full of peace to himselfe, and comfort to his friends and beholders. Nicholaus Gelasius writeth ofNichol. Gelas. in epist. praefix. com. Caluino in Esayam. his death, that he was at that time so farre from blaspheming and cursing, that the day before his death he called all the Ministers of the city together, and tooke his leaue of them with most holy and louing speaches, and the next day gaue ouer his life, dormienti similior quam morienti, more like to one that slept then that dyed.

40. Zwinglius was slaine indeed in the warre against Romanists, but that doth not proue either his life to haue beene [Page] vicious, or his doctrine erroneous, for then good Iosias should be condemned for an vngodly king, who was slaine in warre2. Chron. 35▪ by the Egyptians: and they must needs bring their owne Doctor Sanders into the same imputation, and that by greater reason, who was slaine in the Irish war, not onely against Protestants, but like a perfidious traitour against his owne countrey and Soueraigne. Oecolampadius whom they accuse to haue died suddenly in the night, albeit that kind of death hath and might befall Gods deare children, as it did that good Emperour Theodosius, of whose saluation, Saint Ambrose neuerthelesse maketh no doubt: yet Simon Gryneus who was present at his death, and Wolfangus Capito that liued at that time, report, that he lay sick sixteene dayes, and before his death exhorted all that were present to prayer and constancie, and after he had sung the fiftieth Psalme throughout, he gaue vp the ghost, with much assurance of Gods fauour. As for Carolostadius, though we haue no witnesses of his life and death extant in print (as far as I haue read) yet it is most likely that this report of his death commeth out of the same mint, seeing it issued out of the mouth of his sworne enemies, and those that hated him. Beza himselfe confesseth the errours of his youth, but they were whilst he was a Romish affected and vnconuerted, and yet no such great matters neither, as might vtterly blemish his good name, for they were not lasciuious acts, but wanton poems, the froth of youth: but let them touch him if they can after he became a Protestant, malice it selfe is not able to cast any durt of scandall vpon him.

41. Now compare our witnesses with theirs, theirs were enemies, ours friends: theirs led with malice, ours with loue: theirs absent, ours present: theirs report that which they had by hearesay (if they did not rather deuise then receiue) ours tell nothing but that whereof they were eye-witnesses: now iudge whether malice be not more prone to slander, then friendship to flatter; and whether an enemy is not euer more forward to defame, then a friend to maintaine credit; and whether is more likely to lye, a malitious foe in disgracing, [Page] or a louing friend in commending: and lastly whether deserueth better credit those that are absent, and fetch their report from other mens mouthes, or those that are present, and speake vpon their owne knowledge, and beholding. Surely the doubt may easily bee resolued, if we consider either thatPlautus. which the Poet sayth, &c. One eye witnesse is more worth then tenne eare witnesses, or that which their own Bellarmine sayth,Bell. de notis e [...]cl. l. 4 c. 14. Stultum est, &c. It is a foolish thing to beleeue those that are absent, rather then those that were present: or that which reason it selfe, grounded vpon Religion, telleth vs, that malice is more prone to lye and discredit an enemie, then loue and friendship is to defend a friend, seeing an euill affection in a wicked man is perfectly euill, but a good affection in any man is imperfectly good. These testimonies being thus weighed in an euen ballance, wee haue greater reason to beleeue Sleydan, Erasmus, Gelasius, Melanchton, Capito, Gryneus: then Cochlaeus, Surius. Bolsecas, or Schusselburgus, though not a Romanist, yet as great an enemy: or any of these rayling Rabsakehs, who cared not what they wroght against our persons, so that they might springle disgrace vpon our Religion thereby.

42. But wee, if wee would vrge this argument against them, and indeed as oft as wee doe it, wee produce not for witnesses their enemies, but their close friends, and profest fauourers of their Religion; as Polonus, Platina, Onuphrius, Lui [...]pr [...]ndus, [...]uclerus, Sigonius, Baronius, &c. all which doe report of their owne Popes, that many of them were such monsters of men, as the Sun neuer saw greater: neither Sardanapalus, nor N [...]ro, nor Heliogabalus, nor Scilla, nor Catiline, doe goe before many of them in cruelty, gluttony, luxury, and all manner of vices, insomuch as it grew into a Prouerbe, that hee which would represent the most compleat villaine that could be imagined, his next way were to make the picture of a Pope: now these are not our slanderings of them, as theirs are o [...] vs: but the constant reports of those that were sworne subjects to the Sea of Rome and therefore would haue rather with Shem, cast their cloakes vpon the naked filthinesse of their holy Fathers, then with Cham laughed at the same, had [Page] it not beene so notorious and famous, that it could not bee hidden.

43. To conclude, that not onely by probable coniecture, but by euident proofe their slanders may appeare: wee haue two notable arguments of the same; the first is that strange tale spread abroad in Italy, touching Luthers death, before heLonicer. theat. histor. pag. 246. was dead: how in his sicknesse hee desired the body of our Lord to bee communicated vnto him; and after when he saw his end approach, entreated that his body might bee laide on the Altar, and worshipped with diuine honours: and how at his buriall Almighty God raised a great noyse and tumult, and that the holy hoste hung in the aire, and in a thunder that his body was taken out of his graue, and nothing left but a stinke of brimstone, which had well nigh stifled all the standers by. This tale was published before Luthers death, and a copie thereof came into his owne hands, which he read with a glad heart, and detested the blasphemy therein contained. The likeBeza epist. ante Annot. iu nouum testam. slander was raised vp touching Beza his death, long before hee dyed, and came also into his hands, as may appeare in his Epistle before his annotations vpon the new Testament; by which wee may see what manner of reports they bee, which are deuised by these Romanists against vs; and ex vngue leonem, by this iudge of the rest. The second is the confession of that perfidious Apostate Bolsek, who (as it is reported) in a publike Synode with weeping eyes, acknowledged with what vniust and slanderous reproches he had loaden Caluine, and that all which hee had written of him to his disgrace, was false and vntrue: now what Bolseck did against Caluine, wee haue iust cause to thinke to hane beene the practice of the others, against the rest of the fore-named godly men, and all other of our profession, knowing that old Prouerbe to bee true, that though the wound of a mans good name be healed, yet a scarre will euer remaine. Let this suffice, touching their personall slaunders, though much more might bee added: for their malice in this kinde, is of an vnlimitable extent.

44. Secondly, they calumniate our gouernment, and that3. Sander. lib, de Schismat. which two notable false accusations: first, of vniustice, both [Page] in the substance of the Lawes, enacted against them, and secondly, of cruelty in the execution of the same▪ Lawes: but it is an easie matter to discouer their slanders, and to iustifie our state from both these imputations: for touching our Lawes; first of all they are of that nature, that except they will condemne all the statute Lawes that euer were made, either in this, or any other common wealth, they cannot condemne them of iniustice: they were not made in a corner, or deuised by the braine of any Licurgus, Solon, or Numa Pompilius, pretending the conference and counsell of some diuine power, to gaine authority vnto them; but by the whole state of the kingdome assembled in Parliament, the Lords spirituall and temporall, with the Commons, a select company, gathered out of the wisest, sagest, and discretest persons of the whole land: and that which is the happinesse of this kingdome aboue others, not rashly or suddenly, but after mature and graue deliberation: neither by the Prince alone, without his subiects, nor the subiects alone, without their Prince, but by both consenting, subscribing, ratifying, and approouing the same. Now doe they imagine any man to bee so simple, as vpon their bare word to condemne Lawes, thus made as vniust, and not rather to condemne them as vniust slanderers, and impudent sycophants, that thus rage against a whole state, vpon a priuat malitious spirit? especially seeing no Law bee it neuer so iust, doth please the humour of malefactors, that would gladly liue without Law, that their wickednesse might goe vnpunished: for the Law Iulia could not please adulterers, nor the Law Cornelia murtherers, nor the Law Reminia promooters: and yet these Lawes were neuer the worse for that such malefactors disliked them; but they rather the more desperate, for accusing the Lawes of iniustice: as if a theefe condemned of a robbery, should cry out that the Law was vniust, by which hee was condemned: so these fellowes being guilty of treason against the Prince and state, haue no wayes to cloake themselues, but with this out-cry, the Lawes are vniust; whereas they should rather keepe themselues [Page] innocent, and then the Lawes would neuer take no hold of them.

45. Secondly, if it bee true which Thomas Aquinas sayth, that then Lawes are said to bee iust; first, when they are made Aquin. 1. 2. q. 96 art. 24. for the common good: secondly, when they exceed not his power that maketh them; and thirdly, when they haue their due forme, to wit, when the burthens are imposed on the subiect, with a certaine equality of proportion in order to the common good: then our Lawes are iust and good Lawes; for they are made by full authority in Parliament, they tend to the conseruation of the Kings Maiesty, and whole Common-wealth in tranquillity and peace: and their penalties are so proportioned, that by the gentle punishment of some few, the whole state is preserued.

46. Thirdly, they themselues were occasioners at least, if not causers of those Lawes that were made against them: for the Bull of Pius Quintus, which came roaring into this land, in the tenth yeere of Queene Elizabeth, whereby the Queene was accursed, and deposed, and her subiects discharged of their obedience and oath, was the root of all this mischiefe: for it caused the first Lnw made, anno 13. Elizabeth, and not onely gaue occasion to it, but bred recusancy in ordinary Romanists, which vsed to come to Church before time, and sedition and rebellion in the Priests and Iesuites, and some eminent persons; yea and manifold bloudy practices, by treason against her Maiesties sacred person, and the state. These perilous effects procured other Lawes to be deuised, more seuere and strict then the former, against recusants, seditions books, Iesuites and Priests, that beeing borne Englishmen, should goe beyond sea, and take vpon them the Romish Priesthood, and so returne into these dominions to infect her loyal subiects with the poyson of their doctrine: and what were the causes, I pray you, since his Maiesties comming to the Crowne, of the reuiuing those former statutes, and enlarging them in some points; and of the new oath of Allegiance, which hath stirred vp so many pens to write both for it, and against it? were not the treasonable practices of many Romish [Page] male contented persons? sure it was high time to countermyne against them, by some Christian politike Lawes, when their malice was growen to that hight, that they cared not what mischiefe they wrought, so that they might worke their willes: by all which it is euident, that they may thanke themselues for those Lawes, and not our state, which were drawen vnto the making therof, with vnwilling minds, and more vnwillingly to their execution. So that as according to the old saying, Good Lawes spring out of euill manners; so from the fountaine of these fearefull treasons, horrible rebellions, and bloudy practices, sprung all these Lawes which they so calumniate.

47. Fourthly, the Lawes thus occasioned by their owne villany, doe not run vpon them with violence, but they desperatly runne vpon the point of the Lawes: for if they keepe themselues at home in quiet, they might enioy the liberty of their Conscience, without any danger from the Lawes, saue only a gentle mulct imposed vpon them, for refusing to communicate with vs in the seruice of our Church: and if like fugitiue children they should flee from their own naturall mother, vnto a step-dame in forraine Countreyes, and there receiue vpon them not onely the Character of Romish Priesthood, but also into them the poyson of treason, they might stay there still, without any coaction from the Lawes: for they were directed onely against such as beeing priested, returned into their countrey to practise treason, and to withdraw the peoples hearts from their obedience, and reconcile them to the Church of Rome. So that the Law is but like a naked sword, held foorth by the hand of the state for it own defence, which these desperate Priests run voluntarily vpon, and kill themselues: and therefore they themselues are guilty of selfe-murder, and not the Law of iniustice.

48. Fiftly, and lastly, this matter may be yet more euident, all men know that there was neuer any Law hitherto enacted in this kingdome, to put to death any Romanist for his Religion; except hee either passed ouer the Seas, and returned backe with the order of Priest-hood, his heart beeing full of [Page] treason, and his hands of violence, as was said before, or gaue entertainment to such traytours in his house a certaine time, that lurked for an opportunity to doe mischiefe, or moued seditions or rebellion in the State, let them name but one in these 57. yeares of our late Queens and now Kings regiment, that hath been punished with death meerely for his religion, and wee will confesse them not to be such malicious slanderers, albeit in truth to punish Idolaters, and such as perswade to an Apostacy from God, with death, is no vniust law, but euen grounded vpon the law of God it selfe, Deut. 13. 5. 8, 9. our lawes then are so farre from exceeding the bounds of iustice, that they rather offend in comming too short thereof, which indeed is the lesse offence of the two, because it approcheth neerer to the medium; and that our Law-giuers knew right well, which moued them to be rather too remisse, then too extreame.

49. Adde hereunto that all of them, both priests and people, that are absolute Papists, must needs nourish secret treason in their hearts, whatsoeuer they pretend in outward shew, for euery true Romanist is bound to obey the Iesuite or Priest, informing him vpon paine of damnation; and the Iesuite errant must obey the President resident of his Colledge, and be at his direction, and the Colledge Gouernour must obey his superiour of the order, and he fetcheth his influence from the Pope, so that if the Pope being the highest Spheare moue in a violent motion, and command to depose or kill the King, as Pius Quintus did our late Queene, then all the inferiour Spheares must be caried about with the same kind of agitation, and if they make either a trembling or retrograde motion, they are not fit Planets for the Romish Spheare, and thus in Queene Elizabeths time all the rabble of them, I meane both Priests and absolute lay Papists were traytors either in heart, or act, because the first mouer by his Bull moued that wayes, and so if they are not at this day by refusing the oath of allegiance, yet if the Pope should shoot out his thunderbolt, and actually excommunicate and depose our King, they must needs either renounce their allegiance, or their [Page] Romish faith, which bindeth them to this necessity; albeit most of their owne Doctors confesse that the King is excommunicatePanormit. capin homin. extra de iudicijs. Gregory de Valent. [...]om. [...]. in Thom. disp. 1. q. 12. Bunnes in 2. 2. q. 12. ipso facto, and then they need not exspect any personall denunciation of the sentence, but may and must if they see opportunity, without any further direction, rise vp in armes, and pull him out of his Throne, thus which way soeuer a man looke, he shall spy Treason in their religion, and iustice in our lawes.

50. Touching cruelty in persecution of them (which is the second crime whereof they accuse the gouernment of our state) it is so shamelesse an accusation, and so farre from shew of truth, that there is none that either dwell amongst vs, or that know the mild and gentle administration of this common-wealth, but will with one voyce and verdict condemne it for a notorious slander. But for further direction of them in this point, and for stopping of the mouthes of those malicious persons, that out of the rancour of their hearts towards vs haue vttered forth these vntruths, let these few obseruations be remarked, first, that neuer any of them hath bin put to death in this kingdome, but by forme of iustice and due proceeding according to the lawes, whereas the Protestants haue bin slaine by them partly by treason, and partly by massacres, and that in great multitudes, as is before declared.

51. Secondly, that such as haue thus by law been executed amongst vs were so handled, not for their religion, but either for treason or rebellion, or some other notable crime, which to be true, this one reason doth sufficiently prooue, because there was no law euer yet made in this land to punish Romish recusants by death, if they kept themselues within the limits of their religion, and did not flye either beyond sea, and there become Priests, or remayning at home, entertaine such persons into their houses, and mayntaine them against the State: whereas they on the other side haue committed to the edge of the sword, and the fury of the fire infinite Protestants onely for their religion, without any other crime or cause layd to their charge, as the six Articles in Henry the eights time, and the miserable burning of many poore soules in Queene Maries [Page] quinquenie, onely for denying to subscribe to the doctrine of Transubstantiation, doth apparently euince.

53. Thirdly, that in all Queene Elizabeths time by the space of 44. yeares and vpwards, there were executed in all not aboue 180. Priests, receiuers and harbourers of them: and since king Iames came to the Crowne of the latter sort not any, and of the former not much aboue a dozen, (I speake within compasse) except those Powder-villaines, who they themselues dare not for shame but confesse that they receiued a iust reward for their demerits, whereas in Queene Maryes fiue yeares raigne, neere vpon three hundred persons were cruelly put to death for religion, as the publicke actes and records of our Church do testifie. Fourthly, that all the punishment inflicted vpon our recusants, if they kept themselues peaceable and quiet from actuall treason, and entertainement of traytors, was, and is, but a pecuniary mu [...]ct, and that so gentle, that there is sufficiently left vnto them to mayntaine themselues and their families in good estate, except either they seeke to seduce others, or refuse to abiure the land, being conuicted and past hope of amendment, or denye toStatut. Elizab. anno 21. & 35. & Iacob. 4. take the oath of allegeance being offered vnto them: their goods are not confiscate, their bodyes not imprisoned, their persons not banished, their liues are not taken from them, onely a certaine portion of their lands and goods is forfeited, and that redeeme a number of them at a low and easie rate, what punishment could be more remisse, whereas when the sword was in their hands, as now vnder the bloudy Inquisition; not a small mulct, but a proscription; not goods, but liues; not restraint, and limitation, but imprisonment, bonds, and vtter ruine and destruction doth serue their turne.

54. Fiftly, that many of their Bishops and Priests haue not onely been freed from all seuere punishment, but also intreated after a kind and fauourable manner: to begin with the late Queenes raigne, of fourteene Bishops that withstood herVide Episcop. Elien. K [...]spons. ad Matheum▪ Tortum pag. 146. proceedings in matter of religion, and all of them refused to set the Crowne vpon her head, except Oglethorp the Bishop of Carbeil, nine liued at their liberty, without restraynt of [Page] their persons, vnlesse they account this a restraint, to be committed to the free custodie of their friends, as some of them were, and liued in great ease and abundance all their life, and dyed with age or sicknesse, as nature required, and not by any extremity of iustice shewed vnto them. Three of their owne accord forsooke the kingdome, not being inforced by any superiour command: and two, to wit, Watson of Lincolne, and Boner of London, were committed to prison, but so, that in their prisons they wanted nothing that either might serue for necessity or pleasure, liberty onely excepted; then after about the middle of her raigne, Hart and Bosgraue, and Rishton, and Norton, foure Iesuites, being in the hands of the State, and deseruing by the lawes to be punished, yet by denying that one vnconcluded article of the Popes omnipotent Supremacy in temporall matters, obtained of her Maiesty not onely life and freedome from punishment, but liberty and free power to dispose of themselues in any forreine countrey at their pleasures; and at the latter end of her mercifull reigne, the Castles of Wishbish and Fremingham, wherein diuers of their chiefest ring-leaders were in custody, do beare witnesse how mildely they were dealt withall, their life hauing been there more easie and pleasant, and their maintenance more plentifull then most of the Students and Ministers among vs in their best prosperity.

55. Neither hath our vertuous King since his rightfull possessing of the imperiall crowne of these vnited kingdomes, been any whit more sharp and seuere, but rather more gentle and remisse, vntil their hellish Powder-plot wrung from him, and the State some small addition to these former lawes, yet farre remote from all bloudy or cruell purpose against them. For to omit his Maiesties exceeding clemency extended to them all in the beginning of his raigne, pardoning some, aduancing others to dignities & offices in the common-wealth, releasing the fines and mulcts to all, and giuing by his Proclamation free liberty to all Iesuites and Seminary Priests, to be free from the penalty of the Lawes, so that they departed the kingdome within a certaine prescribed time; euen at this [Page] day, and euer since his Maiesties royall regiment, those Priests that haue been apprehended and might iustly be put to death by tenour of the lawes, yet haue and might be pardoned, if they would but renounce the Popes temporall soueraignetie, and receiue the oath of alleageance, as the example of Blackwell their Arch-priest, and of diuers besides doth testifie.

56. Thus gently are they handled with vs, and yet they complaine, whereas when they were armed with authority, all the Bishops and Ministers that refused to conforme themselues to their religion, presently either were apprehended, imprisoned, burned, and most cruelly and tyrannically vsed, or constrained to forsake the kingdome, and seeke reliefe and succour in forreine countries, there was no remedy nor releasement but either deny their faith, or dye, choose they which.

57. And for their dealing at this day, where the Inquisition preuaileth, is any one suffred to liue among them that is but once suspected to be of our religion? is not euery such a one either murdered in secret, or brought to the stake in publick? the miserable butchery that is made of poore Protestants by these tigres, is lamentable to speake, and almost incredible to be beleeued, and were it death onely it might be accounted a fauour, but to be stripped not onely of all a mans goods, but also of his apparell, and a poore Beadles threed-bare gowne to be put on his back, and to be releeued by almes, as famous Cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury was, to be almost starued with cold, and eaten with lice, as deuout Latimer was, to be kept in a close stinking filthy prison, hauing for his bed a little pad of straw, with a rotten couering, as worthie Hooper was, to be whipt, and scourged, and stockt, and pend vp in Little ease, as diuers were by bloudy Bonner: these cruelties were more cruell then death, and yet these were the mercies of those mercilesse tyrants; yea, they not onely raged against the liuing, but the dead also, for they caused the bones of Bucer and Fagius to be raked out of their graues, and to be burned for Heretikes: a practise many times vsed by Popes, and Romish Prelates, which notwithstanding the very Heathen [Page] abhorred: nay that which is both strange and ridiculous: one Iames Treuisam a Protestant, dying in the Parish of SaintAnno 1555. Lu [...] 3. Margaret, in Lothbery, and being buried in Moore-field, the same night his body was taken out of the graue, and his sheet taken from him, and left naked: and beeing againe buried, a fortnight after, the Summoner came to his graue, & summoned him to appeare at Paules before his ordinary, to answere such things as should bee laide to his charge, heere is malice mixed with folly and cruelty in the highest straine.

58. Now if it be a kinde of mercy to dispatch one quickly that must dye, what mercy is this in these men, that inflict so many deaths vpon poore Protestants, euen whilst they liue?Plutarch. and if as Plutarch sayth, Nemo nisi malus loculos mortuorum violabit; none but hee that is wicked will wrong the sepulchres of the dead: what wicked wretches are these, and cruell beasts, that spare not the dead bones, not feare to offer violence to our graues? and yet for all this they are not ashamed to accuse vs of persecuting them, and to call our handling of them, by the name of a most cruell and terrible persecution:Breue Pauli Quinti. anno 1606. Eccle. Anglican. [...]rophaea impre. Romae, cum priuileg. Gregor. 13 as Paulus Quintus doth in his first briefe to his falsenamed Catholikes, in the yeere 1606. yea they haue not blushed to write, and to publish in print, and so set foorth in Pictures, that many of them haue beene here in England, wrapped in Beares skinnes, and baited with dogges, some tyed to horse maungers, and fed with hay, others to haue their bowels gnawed out with dormice, included in bosons, with a number of such like horrible and fearfull kinds of torments, which the Sunne neuer yet beheld in this kingdome, nor euer shall behold, I trust.

59. Now then out of all these obseruations, drawen from the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme, and from the comparing of their dealing towards vs, with ours towards them, this conclusion doth necessarily arise, that theirs is the bloudy and persecuting malignant Church, and not ours▪ and that by their malicious imputing to vs that great crime, they prooue themselues to bee open and notorious slanderers, and so to persecute vs not onely with the sword, but also with their vemous [Page] tongues, which according to the Prophet Dauids speech are sharper then razours, and more virulent then the the sting of the Aspe, or poyson of the Cocatrice; I pray God amend them, and lay not this sinne to their charge.

60. The third obiect of their slauudering tongues, is our4. Religion it selfe, with the doctrines therein contained, where their practice is either to deriue sophisticall conclusions, from such points of doctrine, which we indeed held: or to say to our charges such doctrines as we neuer intended: and these false forged conclusions, they make show to extract out of our owne bookes: but it is either by mistaking the meaning of the Author, or by wilfull peruerting his wordes and sense: or at least by culling some incoherent sentences heere and there, that see me to make for their purpose, contrary to the whole scope and drift of the writer: or lastly, by blemishing our whole Religion by some sinister or exorbitant opinion, maintained by some one or other, vnaduised fellow, though it bee contrary to the whole current of all other writers on our side: as if for one mans errour wee were all flat Heretikes; or because one souldier playeth the dastard, therefore the whole army were cowards. These bee their tricks of Legerdemaine, by which they indeuour to disgrace our Religion, and to countenance their owne: but Ʋeritas magna est, & preualebit. I hope so to dispell and scatter these mists by the light of truth, that they shall vanish like smoake, and the truth bee more resplendent, like the Sunne comming out of a cloud.

61. To the purpose: first, they exclaime that our Religion1. Concil. Trid. Bell. de Iustif. l. 4. c. 1. Kellison. suruey. is an enemy to good workes, and that wee esteeme of them as not necessary to saluation; which damnable errour, some of them ascribe vnto vs, as our direct doctrine, others as a consequence of our doctrine, and our secret meaning: but that both are lying slanders, I appeal first to our doctrine it selfe, which is so cleare in this point, that no man can doubt thereof, but hee that is musled with malice: for this we hold, that though faith be alone in the worke of iustification,Grauida bonorum operum. yet that saith euer worketh through loue: and is great with [Page] good workes, as a woman with child, which it bringeth forth also when occasion serueth: and that if it bee disioyned from good workes, it is but a dead carkas of faith, yea the faith ofMelancthon. lib. de visit. Saxon. Chemnit. loc. cap. de oper. renat. Caluin. Instit. l. 1 c. 16. Polan. thes. de bonis operib. nu. 14. Luther. in Gen. c. 12. Deuils and hypocrites, and not of the elect. And this as it is the constant doctrine of all our diuines: so is it principally of Luther, whom our aduersaries accuse as the chiefest enemy to good workes: for thus hee writeth in one place touching the efficacy of faith: Faith is a liuely and powerfull thing, not an idle cogitation, swimming vpon the toppe of the heart: as a fowle vpon the water, but as water heated by fire, though it remaine water still, yet it is no more cold, but hote, and altogether changed: so faith doth frame and fashion in a man another mind, and other Idem Ibid. c. 22. senses, and altogether maketh him a new man. Again in another place he sayth, that the vertue of faith is to kill death, to damne hell, to be sinne to sinne, and a deuill to the deuill: that is, to be sins poison, and the Deuils confusion. Thus hee speaketh concerning the powerful efficacy of that true iustifying faith which wee rely our saluation vpon, and they condemne as a nulli-fidian portion. And touching good works, their necessity and excellency, heare how diuinely he writeth in one place: Out of the cause of iustification, no man can sufficiently commend good workes: in another, One good worke, proceeding from faith, done by a Christian, is more pretious then heauen or earth, the whole Idem tom. 4. fol. 109. world is not able to giue a sufficient reward for one goodworke: and in another place: It is as necessary, that godly teachers doe as Idem pag. 167. diligently vrge the doctrine of good workes, as the doctrine of faith, for the Deuill is an enemy to both: what can bee spoken more effectually for the extolling of the excellency of good w [...]rkes [...]: and yet these fellowes make Luther the greatest aduersarie to them.

62. Secondly, I appeale to themselues, many of the greatest Doctors, amongst whom doe cleare vs from that imputation: Maldonate. The Protestants doe say, that iustifying Maldon. com in Ioh. 3. 15. Viega de Iustif. l. 15. c. 5. Stapl. de Iustif. l. 9. c. 7. faith cannot bee without good workes: Viega. The Protestants affirme, that iustification & sanctification are so ioyned together, that they cannot be parted: Stapleton: All Protestants, none excepted, teach, that faith which iustifieth, is liuely working by charity, [Page] and other good workes. Lastly Bellarmine. The ProtestantsBell. de Iustif. l 4. c. [...]. &c. 15. & l. 3. c. 6. say, that faith cannot stand with euill workes; for hee that hath a purpose to sin, can conceiue no faith for the remission of his sin: and that faith alone doth iustifie: but yet is not alone: and that they exclude not the necessity, but onely the merite of good workes, nor the presence, but the efficacy to iustifie. Now then, with what face can they bolster out this slaunder against our doctrine, and accuse vs to be like the Simonian Heretike, who taught, that a man need not regard good workes: and Eunomians, who defended, that perseuerance in sinne, did not hinder saluation, so that wee beleeued. This is the first blasphemie against our Religion, wherein they doe not so much thwart vs, as crosse themselues: and that one may see yet more clearely, this to bee a malicious slaunder: hearken what Bellarmine Bell. de Iustif. l. 4. c. 4. sayth concerning Luthers opinion of Christian liberty: Luther seemeth (sayth he) to teach, that Christian liberty consisteth in this, that a godly conscience is free not from doing good workes, but from being accused or defended by them: & let Luther himself speake againe: By faith (sayth he) we are freed not from works, Luther. tom. [...]. pag. 472. but from opinion of workes, that is, from a foolish presumption of iustification, to bee obtained by workes: by all which we may easily iudge of the meaning of those sentences obiected: (Faith alone doth saue: and infidelity alone doth condemne: and where faith is, no sinne can hurt nor condemne:) that they are to be vnderstood, partly of sinnes before iustification, and partly of such sinnes after, as destroy not faith, nor raigne in the beleeuer, nor are perseuered in, but repented of, and laboured against, and thus our Religion is iustified by the very aduersaries thereof, from this great crime imputed vnto it.

63. Againe, they accuse vs as maintainers of this doctrine,2. Bell. de Iustif. l. 4. c. 1. Luther. in assert. art. 31. 32. 36. Calum Instit l. 3 c. 12. &. l. 4. c. 9. Melanct. loc. de peccat. that all the workes of iust men, are mortall sinnes, and of this they make, Luther, Calume, and Melancthon to be Patrones: but with what shamelesse impudency, let the world iudge. To begin with Caluine, these be his words: Dum sancti ductu Spiritus, &c. (i.) Whilst being holy▪ wee walke in the wayes of the Lord, yet least being forgetfull of our selues, wee should waxe proud, there remain reliques of imperfection, which may minister [Page] vnto vs, matter of humiliation: againe, the best worke that can be wrought by iust men, yet is besprinkled and corrupted with the impurity of the flesh, and hath as it were some dregs mixed with it: let the holy seruant of God chuse out of his whole life, that which he shall thinke to haue beene most excellent, let him well consider euery part thereof, hee shall without doubt finde in one place or other, something which sauours of the fleshes corruption, seeing our alacrity in well doing is neuer such as it ought to be, but our weakenes great in hindering the course: although we see that the blots, where with the Saints workes are stayned, are not obscure, yet grant that they are but very small workes, shall they not offend the eyes of God, before whom the starres themselues are not pure? we haue not one worke proceeding from the Saints, which if it be censured in it selfe, doth not deserue a iust reproofe..

64. In the other place obiected, hee writeth thus: Qui seriò tanquam sub conspectu Dei, &c. (i.) They which shall earnestly as in the sight of God, seeke the true rule of iustice, shall finde for certainty all the words of men, if they be censured by their owne dignity, to be nothing but pollution and filthines: and that which is commonly called righteousnesse, to be before God meere iniquity: that which is counted integrity, to be impurity, and that which is esteemed glory, to be ignominie. Let the Reader now iudge what notorious lyars these bee to fasten this opinion vpon Caluin, whose wordes I haue sincerely and fully set downe, that euery one may see their false dealing: for in what one place nameth hee mortall sinne? or what one word tendeth to that end? The worse termes he [...] giueth to good workes in the first place are these: That they are sprinkled with imperfection, mixed with the dregs of the slesh, stained with corruption: and in the second, that they are filthines, iniquity, pollution and ignominy: but how? first, if they bee examined by the strict rule of Gods iustice: secondly, if they bee compared to Gods righteousnesse: and thirdly, if they bee considered in their owne merite and worth without the merite of Christ, whereby both their staines and imperfections are couered, and an excellent dignity giuen vnto them.

65. And indeed what I pray you doth Caluine say herein, [Page] but that which the Fathers said before? I will propound two or three vnto you in stead of al the rest: Woe be to our righteousnesse (sayth Saint Augustine) if God remouing his mercy, should search into it: and againe, All our righteousnes standeth rather in the remission of our sinnes, then in any perfection of iustice. Our best righteousnes (sayth Saint Bernard) if it be any, is right perhaps, but not pure, vnlesse happily we thinke our selues better then our Fathers, who no lesse truely then humbly said, All our righteousnes is as a defiled cloth. The holy man Iob (sayth Saint Gregory) because he saw all the merite of our vertue to be in vice, if it be strictly iudged by the eternall Iudge, did rightly adde in; If I will contend with him, I shall not be able to answere him one of a thousand. Lastly, all beauty (sayth Arnobius) in Gods presence is but deformity, all righteousnes is but vnrighteousness, all strength but weakenes, all riches but beggery. These Fathers, with all the rest, say no lesse then Caluine, nor Caluine no more then they; and therefore they must either bee condemned with him, or bee iustified with them. Now if any man should say, that they affirmed, that our best works were deadly sinnes, all men would condemne him for a liar: so may we iustly say of our malicious aduersaries, in imputing that opinion to Caluine, which hee neuer meant, nor yet the words will beare, and also which in all his writings hee directly crosseth.

66. That which hath beene spoken concerning, Caluine, may bee applyed to the iustification of Luther and Melancthon: who are so farre from esteeming good workes, to bee mortall sinnes, that they extoll them hyperbolically, as hath beene already manifested. Luther indeed sayth thus: That a good worke, done after the best manner that can be, yet is a veniall sinne, according to the mercy of God, and a mortall sinne, according to the iustice of God: but what of this? doth he therefore say, that it is a mortall sinne, simply, as they would haue him? no, in no case: for first, hee calleth it a good worke, which hee would neuer haue done, if hee had iudged it no better then a sinne: secondly, hee sayth, that it is mortall, according to the iustice of God, and veniall by the mercy of [Page] God, which is the very same that all the Fathers affirmed before, intending by mortall, not that which is a high degree of sinne, but that which in it owne nature deserueth death. Thirdly, Luther himselfe sheweth what his intendment is in the article going before, where he sayth, that not the good worke it selfe, but the defect in the worke is truely sinne, because it is an omission of that precept, Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart. By all which it is cleare, that Luther doth not condemne a good worke, but the euil in the worke, and that though God doth in mercy pardon the euill for the goods sake, being a fruit of faith, so he might iustly condemne the good for the euill sake that cleaueth vnto it, being a fruit of originall sinne: so that Luther standeth cleare and innocent from this crime layd to his charge in all true iudgement, and they stand guilty of a most foule slander imputed vnto him by their malice.

67. Thirdly, they slaunder vs, that we slaunder God, by making him the author of sinne. This accusation, Bellarmine, Campion, Stapleton, Vasques, Feuardentius, and all the Iesuiticall rabble lay to our charge. And they accuse Caluine, Luther, Peter Martir, and all other Protestant-writers as guilty thereof, but vpon what ground, and with what shew of reason, let them declare vnto vs, for it passeth the reach of our capacities to finde out any such doctrine, either direct in plaine words, or indirect by logicall consequence in any of them; direct doctrine I am sure Caluine thus writeth: The cause of sinne is not to be sought out of mans will, out of which the roote of euill ariseth, and in the which sinne resideth. And in his Comment vpon the Epistle of Saint Iames, more plainely he affirmeth, that God is not the author of sinne, and that euils doe not proceed from any other roote, but from the euill concupiscence of euery mans owne heart. And this doctrine he iterateth againe and againe many score of times in his bookes. Peter Martyr in like maner is most direct against this blasphemousPet. Mart▪ com. in 2. Sam. 16. 22. doctrine, for thus he saith, That opinion of the Libertines which maketh God the author of sinne, is a most detestable opinion, then which, nothing can be imagined more wicked, nor a more compendious [Page] way to hell; And in the same place he concludeth, that though nothing in the world, no, not sinnes themselues come to passe besides Gods will and prouidence, yet he is not truly to be called the cause of sinne, but all that can be sayd, is that he is such a cause, which is tearmed by the Logicians, the remoouing or hindering cause, that is, not efficient, but deficient rather, which in truth is no cause at all. Luther is as direct: for he auoucheth this proposition in many places, God is not the author of sinne. Luther in Gen. [...]o. 32. 38. 109. And this same is the constant affirmation of all our Diuines. What a shamelesse forehead then haue our malicious aduersaries, that dare lay vnto our charge this blasphemy which we all detest and abhorre?

68. I but (say they) though in word you say so, yet by consequence from your doctrine it may be necessarily gathered, that you hold the contrary: for you all teach, that God concurreth with a sinner in the acting of his sin by his powerfull prouidence, and not onely foreseeth, but decreeth, disposeth, and determineth in his wisedome all the sinnes of men according to his will; and by his secret working blindeth their minds, and hardneth their hearts, that they cannot repent. This we confesse is our doctrine, if it be rightly vnderstood: for we teach, that God doth not barely permit sinne to be done, but decreeth before to permit it, and in the act worketh by it, and ordereth and disposeth it to his owne ends, yet so, that he neither approueth of it, nor is in any respect the cause of the malignity thereof; and herein we consent both with the ancient Fathers, and with most of their owne Doctors.

69. Touching the Fathers, Saint Augustine shall be theAug. Enchi. id. ad Laure [...]t. cap. 100 & 101. mou [...]h of all the rest: thus writeth he, Sinne could not be done, if God doth not suffer it, and he doth not suffer it against, but with his will, and being good as he is, he would neuer suffer any thing to be ill done, but that being also Almightie, he can do well of that which is euill. And in the next Chapter, God doth fulfill the good purposes of his owne by the euill purposes of euill men. Idem contra Iulian. lib. 5. cap. 3. And in another place▪ God doth worke in the hardening of the wicked, not onely by his permission and patience, but also by his [Page] power and action through his mightie prouidence, but yet most wise and iust. And in another place, Who may not tremble at Idem de grat. & lib. arbitr. ad Valent. cap. 20. these iudgements, where God doth worke in the hearts of wicked men whatsoeuer he will, rendring to them notwithstanding according to their deserts? And againe in another place, As God is Idem de corrept. & grat. cap. 14. a most holy Creator of good natures, so hee is a most righteous disposer of euill wills, that whereas those euill wills doe ill vse good natures, he on the other side may well vse the euill wills themselues. Thus Augustine is our Patrone in this Doctrine: and if we be Heretikes, he is one too.

70. But let vs heare their owne Doctours speake, When Hugo de Sancto victore, de sacr. l. 1. c. 12. part. 4. God doth good, and permitteth euill (sayth Hugo) his will appeareth, seeing he willeth that which should be, both which he doth, and which he permitteth, both his operation and his permission are his will. God worketh many things (sayth Pererius) within Perer. com. in. Gen. 18. disp. 8. him that is hardened, by which he is made worse through his owne fault: he stirreth vp diuers motions either of hope, or feare, lust, or anger, and sendeth in diuers doubtfull and perplexed imaginations, by which he is pusht forth vnto euill. A sinner (saith Medina) [...]artol. Medin in 1. 2. q. 93. ar. 6 when he sinneth, doth against the will and law of God in one case, and in another not: he doth indeed against his signified will, but against the will of his good pleasure he doth not, nor against his effectuall ordination. No sinne falleth out besides the will and intention of God (say Mayer, Durand, Aquinas, and other.) God Mayer 2. dist. 45. q. 1. Durand. 2. dist. 37. q. 1. Aquin. in Ro. 9. Canus loc. lib. 2. cap. 4. Vega lib. 2. c. 15. de expos. concil. Trident. Suarez de varijs opus. Theol. l. 4. disp. 1. §. 2. (sayth Canus) is the naturall cause of all motions, yea euen in euill men, but not the morall cause, for he neither counselleth nor commandeth euill. Lastly, to conclude with two famous Iesuits, Vega, and Suarez: the first sayth, that though God doth not command, counsell, approue, or reward sinne, yet he doth will and worke it together with vs: and the second, that God worketh the act of sinne, but not the malice thereof. This is the very doctrine of Caluine, and Martir, and all Protestants: so that if wee be guilty of this blasphemous consequence, to make God the author of sinne, they also must needs be in the same case: but Saint Augustines distinction will cleere vs both. When God deliuered his Sonne, and Iudas his Master to be crucified, Aug Epist. 48. ad Vincent. why is God iust, and man guilty (sayth he) but because [Page] though the thing was the same which they did, yet the cause was not the same, for which they did it: or if this distinction will not suffice, their owne Iesuites will helpe vs out: In sinne there are two things to be considered (sayth Ʋasques) the act and defect: Vasques in Thom. [...]. 2. q. 79. art. 2. cap▪ 5. the act is to be referred to God, but not the defect in any case, which ariseth from the corrupt will of man: or the act and the malignity thereof, (as sayth another Iesuite) or the materiall part of sinne, which is called by the Schoolemen, subiectum substratum, the vnder-laide subiect: and the formall, which is the prauity and anomy of the action; the one of these from God, the other from man: or lastly, if none of these will serue the turne, yet our owne distinction will acquire vs, to wit, that Almighty God doth so will & decree mans sin, not as it is sin, but as it is his owne iust iudgement vpon sinners, for their punishment, and the demonstration of his iustice. And thus our doctrine is free from the conception of this vile Monster, & their calumniation is as vnrighteous against vs, as the dealing of God about the sins of men, is most righteous and iust. And thus those some what too harsh sayings (I contesse) of Luther, Swinglius and Melancthon are to bee vnderstood, and no otherwise, that the treason of Iudas came from God, aswell as the conuersion of Paul: charity will construe the wordes according to the speakers intendement, and not stretch their intendement to the strict tenter of euery word and syllable.

71. Fourthly, they accuse vs of blasphemy against the4. Sonne of God, for denying (as they say) that hee is Deus ex Deo, God of God: against the doctrine of the Nicene Creed. and this they call the Atheisme of Caluine and Beza: a palpableCampian. Rat. [...]. Rbem. annot. in Iob. 1. Posseuin. de notis verb. Dei, l. 3 c. 74. Bell. de Christ [...] lib. c. 2. cap. [...]. slander: for neither Caluine nor Beza did euer imagine, much lesse vtter the same in that sense which they lay to their charges: for let Bellarmine their sworne aduersarie speake for them: Caluine and Beza teach (sayth he) that the Sonne is of himselfe in respect of his essence, but not in respect of his person, and they seeme to say, that the essence of the Deity in Christ, is not begotten, but is of it selfe: which opinion (sayth he) I see not why it may not be called Catholike. Heere Bellarmine telleth [Page] vs truely, what their opinion was, and doth acknowledge it to be a true Catholike doctrine: and yet in the same Chapter hee contemneth Caluine, for his manner of speaking of it, and of intolerable saucinesse, for finding fault with the harshnes of the phrase vsed by the Nicene Councill, God of God: Light of light. Marke (I pray you) his absurdity, it is Catholike, and yet it may not bee spoken: it is true, and yet it is to be blamed. May not a Catholike doctrine bee spoken then? or must the truth bee smothered? This is such an inconsequence, as neither reason nor Religion can any wayes beare withall: and for his saucy dealing with the Nicene Councill, all that euer he sayth is, that it is durum dictum, a hard phrase: yet so, that hee confesseth it may receiue a good and commodious interpretation, if it be vnderstood in the concrete, that Christ who is God, is of the Father that is God: the word being taken personally, and not in the abstract; as if the essence of the Deity of the Sonne should bee from the Father, which is entirely subsisting, in, of, and by it owne eternall, incomprehensible, and most glorious nature: and this without question was the true intendement of the Councill; for els it had not confuted, but fauoured the blasphemous heresie of Arrius, against whom it was assembled, which Caluine and Beza doe not any wayes crosse, but onely bring vnto it a fit and fauourable exposition. Thus we haue Bellarmine, Caluines and Bezaes patrone in this doctrine, though full ill against his will:Riber. com. in Heb. 1. Gregor. de Valent. de trinit. l. 1. c. 22. & l. 2. c. 17. and not onely him, but Ribera, and Gregory de Valentia, two other no meane Rabbies, both which doe conclude, that the Sonne as he is a person, is of another; but as he is a simple Ens, is not of another: and that the Essence doth not beget the Essence, but the Father the Son: so that either they are slanderers of the truth; or their Catholike doctrines may bee Atheisme and blasphemy.

72. Againe, they accuse Caluine of another blasphemy against5. Bell. in praefat. controu. de Christe. Posseuin. de notis diuini verbi, l. 3. p. 78. our Lord and Sauior Iesus Christ, to wit, that he should make him inferiour to his Father, in respect of his Deity. This is Arrlanisme indeed, as Bellarmine calleth it; or Atheisme, as Posseuine, if it were to bee found in Caluines diuinity, or any [Page] other: but it is as farre from him thus to thinke, as it is from their malice to speake the truth. This is all that Caluine affirmeth, that the Father is God, per excellentiam, that is, after a more excellent manner. And what errour I pray you is in this? doth hee not speake of the personall relation that is betwixt the Father and the Sonne, and not of the nature and essence of the God-head that is in both, of equall dignity and excellency? This is cleare both by the former article, wherein he sloutly auoucheth him to bee [...] God of himselfe, and not to receiue the essence of his Deity from his Father, and so not to be inferiour to his Father in that respect: and also by infinite places in his books, where he directly maketh the Son Iehouah, equall to the Father in dignity, excellency, eternity, and all other properties of the Deity: therefore he speaketh this in respect of the person of Christ, in which consideration the Father that begetteth, respected with the Sonne that is begotten, may truely bee said to haue a certaine priority of order, ānd to be God after a more excellent manner. Here is now neither Arrianisme, nor Atheisme, nor indeed any error in Caluines doctrine; but malicious lying and slaundering in in these Iesuites accusation.

73. Nay, that Caluine may bee cleared from all suspition of errour, and those fellowes condemned as notorious slaunderers:Tollet. com. in Ioh. 14. Tollet one of their owne fraternity affirmeth, that Athanasius, Basil, Nazianzene, Hilary and Origen, all strong maintainers of Christs diuinity, and profest enemies to Arrius heresie, interpret that place, Iohn 14. My Father is greater then I: in Caluines sense. Maldonate another Iesuite, in hisMaldonat. com. in Ioh. 14. commentary vpon Iohn, addeth to these, Epiphanius, Cyrillus, Leontius, Chrysostome, Theophilact, and Euthemius, as patrones of the same opinion: yea, and this last Iesuite himselfe subscribeth to their exposition: for he sayth, that the Father is greater then the Sonne, in that respect that hee is the Sonne: for the Name of the Father is more honorable then the Name of the Son: and the Schoolmen say asmuch as Caluine, when they ascribeErasm. in praefat. ad libro [...] Tertul. to the Father authority, and to the Sonne subauthority. What is this but to say, that the Father is God after a more excellent [Page] manner? Now then if this were neither Atheisme, nor Arrianisme, nor heresie in the Fathers, nor in their owne Doctors: why should it bee branded with those infamous titles in Caluine? I see no reason, but that malice is blinde, and that the hatred they bare to that good man, made them to say, and do they cared not what, so they might wound his credite thereby.

74. Luther is likewise traduced by them, as a denyer of the blessed Trinity: and that, because the word Trinity is said to dislike him, for which cause he dispunged out of the Germane Lyturgies, this sorme of prayer: Sancta Trinitas, vnus Deus, miserere nostri; a notorious calumniation: for Luther indeed blotteth out of the Germane prayers, a certain forme like vnto that obiected, but not so as he setteth it downe: for the word vsed in the Germane tongue, signifieth rather a triplicity, then a Trinity; which mooued Luther in a desire to maintaine the pure doctrine of the Trinity (as Iunius obserueth) to blot out that word, thinking it a dangerous matter, to vse such a word in so holy and high a mystery. By which practice he is so farre from impugning or denying that blessed principle, that he sheweth himselfe rather a zealous defender and maintainer thereof, and in a word, to discouer their falsity and his innocency. List how diuinely, and soundly, and orthodoxally he writeth else-where of that mystery: Vnitas Trinitatis Luther. tom. 1. pag. 572. est magis vna, &c. The vnity of the Trinity is more one, then the vnity of any creature, euen mathematically, neuertheles this vnity is a Trinity, or the diuinity of three distinct persons: that euery person is the whole diuinity, as if there were no other; and yet it is true that no person is the fole diuinity▪ as if there were Idem com. 4. pag. 370. no other. Againe, vpon the transfiguration of Christ, Mat. 17. hee thus commenteth: Heere the whole Trinity doth appeare to the confirmation of all the faithfull: Christ the Son in a glorious forme, God the Father by his voyce, declaring his Son to be God, and the holy Ghost in the bright cloud ouer-shadowing them. Againe, we beleeue (sayth he) that there is one God, the Father Idem tom. 1. in Gen. c. 1 [...]. pag. 165. begetting, the Sonne begotten, and the holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and Son: we determine such a plurality in God, which [Page] is of an vndiuided substāce, & an indiuisible vnity: again, the mystery Ibid. in cap. 3. pag 65. of the Trinity was discouered in the beginning of the world, after, vnderstood by the Prophets, and lastly, plainly reuealed by the Gospell, when our Saviour commandeth to baptize in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. A number of such like places might bee alledged out of his workes, wherein most constantly hee auoucheth that doctrine which our and his vnequall aduersaries accuse him to bee an enemy vnto. Let enuy it selfe now bee iudge, whether this bee not a slander, when as they both falsisy those sayings, out of which they would deriue their accusation, and conceale those which they knew to bee a iust defence and apologie for his innocency.

75. Againe they condemne Beza, and Martyr, and other6. Posseuine de notis verb. diuin. l. 3. c. cap. 8. Protestants for denying the omnipotency of God: and why? because forsooth they say, Quod facta vt infecta sint facere nequeat; Hee cannot make those things that bee done, to bee vndone. An absurd inference: for that assertion, that God can not make those things that bee done, to be vndone, doth not destroy, but build vp the omnipotency of God: seing as Bellarmine Bell. de Euchar. l. 1. c. 14. himselfe acknowledgeth, Facere contradictoria, non est efficere, sed deficere; to doe things contradictorie, is not to effect and doe, but to faile and vndoe: and therefore an argument of impotency, rather then of omnipotency: and for that cause Pererius another Iesuite auoucheth the same doctrinePerer. com. in Gen. 17. with vs in these words; God is said to be omnipotent, not onely because he can do whatsoeuer is contained in the world, but also because nothing is impossible vnto him, except that, which to be done implieth contradiction: what an impudent flander then is this, to say that wee deny Gods omnipotency, by affirming, that hee cannot make that to bee vndone, which is done? especially, seeing wee say further with Tertullian and SaintTertul. aduers. Prax. c. 10. Aug. de ciuit. l. 5. c. 10. Augustine, that therefore God cannot do it, because he will not do it: he cannot therefore deny himselfe, not make that to be vndone, which is done, because hee will not; and he will not, because it would rather be an argument of weakenes, then a power in him so to doe.

[Page]76. Againe, they challenge Caluine of denying the immortality of the soule. And why thinke you? Because they would make him to say, that the soules of the iust are kept in certaine secret receptacles, till the day of Iudgement, and doe not till then inioy the presence of God. Another palpable slander: for first Caluine doth not say so: secondly, if hee did, yet it doth not follow thereupon, that hee denyeth the immortality of the soule: for the first, let Caluine first speake for himselfe, and then let his aduersaries also speak for him. Touching the place where the soules of the iust remaine after death, he affirmeth plainely in diuers places, that they liue with God, and enioy the happy felicity of his kingdome, though Caluin. aduers. libertin. c. 22. & in Psychoparmibia, & com. in 2. Cor. 5. 8. their perfect happinesse is deferred, till the second comming of Christ, when their bodies and soules shalbe re-united, and made partakers of the same blessednes. This he testifieth not in one or two, but in many places: how therefore can they lay to his charge, that opinion, touching secret receptacles, where soules are reserued till the day of the resurrection?

77. Mary (sayth Bellarmine) in two respects: first, because he maketh Christ alone to haue entred into the Sanctuary Bell. de beatitud. Sanct. l. 2. c. 1. of heauen, and there to present the prayers of the people; resting in the vtter court, to God: & secondly, because he sayth, that the Saints departed are ioyned together with vs by faith: therefore (sayth Bellarmine) He must needs deny that they see God, seeing Idem lib. 1. c. 1. where faith is, there is not sight. But his conclusion in both is false, though the premises be true: for as the Atrium, or vtter Court of the Temple, to which Caluine alludeth, was a part of the Temple: so by proportion, the vtter Court of Heauen is a part of Heauen: witnesse their owne Ribera, expoundingRibera i [...] Exod. 28. that place of Exodus, whereunto Caluine alludeth: and therefore Caluine, if hee did say so, doth not banish the iust soules out of Heauen, but onely placeth Christ our high Priest, betwixt God and them. But what if hee speake onely of the Saints liuing, and not departed, and meane by the vtter Court, not any part of Heauen, but the Church militantCaluin. Instit. l. 3. c. 20. heere on earth? If this be true, what shamelesse slaunderers are these fellowes, to wring a sense out of Caluine, whereof [Page] there is no show in the words? let the place be consulted and viewed, and their malice and impudency will appeare most notorious.

78. Againe, that faith which hee speaketh of in the second place, is nothing else, but their stedfast beliefe and expectation of the resurrection of their bodies, which liueth in the faithfull soules separated from this mortality, vntill the full accomplishment of their happinesse, aswell as in the Saints militant: neither can I conceiue any absurdity in this, that the Saints departed should haue faith in this respect, seeing they must needs haue hope: which two Theologicall vertues are so perplexed together, that one cannot bee without the other: and therefore Clemens Alexandrinus calleth hope the blood of faith: and Saint Paul sayth, 1. Cor. 13. that faith and hope shall cease together, when charity shall suruiue and remaine. If then the Saints departed hope for the resurrection of their bodies, why may they not bee said also to beleeue it, and yet for all that be in heauen too?

79. Neither is the other place obiected out of Caluine byCaluin. Instit. l. 3. c. 25. §. 6. Bellarmine any whit repugnant to this doctrine; for though he sayth, that it is a foolish and rash part to dispute curiously, what the place is, that the Saints possesse in Heauen, and whether they inioy the full ioyes of heauen, or no: yet in the very same place hee affirmeth, that they are in the presence of Christ in Paradise, and that they onely expect the fruition of that promised glory, which their bodies also shalbe possessors of, at the comming of Christ.

80. Thus we haue heard Caluine speake for himselfe. Let vs now heare his enemies, speaking for him in this case, then which there cannot be a stronger argument of his innocency:Bell. de Christ [...]. l. 4. c. 15. and in this, two may stand for all. Bellarmine is the first, hee directly confesseth, that Caluine placed the soules of the Saints in heauen, euen before the comming of Christ; and to him subscribeth Fenardentius, another Iesuite, who affirmeth that thisFeuard. Theomach. l. 8. c. 8. was Caluines opinion, that the faithfull, when they should depart out of this world, doe behold God neere vnto them, and as it were set before their eyes. And thus Caluine is quit from this [Page] enditement by the witnesse of his profest aduersaries.

81. Secondly, let it be granted (which neuerthelesse can no wayes be prooued) that Caluine held this opinion, touching the residence of soules in some secret place; yet it doth not follow, that therefore he denyed the immortality of the soule. For then Origen, Iustine, Martyr, Tertullian, Irenaeus, Vasques tom. 1. in Thom. disp. 19 c. 1. nu. 1. Staplet. de author. Script. l. 1. c 2. Sixt. Senens. biblioth. l. 9. Lactantius, Victorinus, Chrysostome, Theodoret, Theophilact, Ambrose, Bernard, and diuers others of the ancient godly Fathers, should be enwrapped within the same errour, who all held that opinion touching soules departed, and yet were as farre from gain-saying, or once imagining any opposition to the soules immortality, as these backbiting Shemi [...]s are from charity and truth.

82. Another lowde and lewde slander of theirs against our Religion, is, that it maintaineth and warranteth rebellion and disobedience against lawfull Princes. Which if they could prooue, wee would confesse that our Religion was naught, seeing Gods word commandeth euery soule to be subiect Rom. 13. 1. to the higher powers: but yet not worse then theirs, which is, without all contradiction, guilty of this crime, which they impute vnto vs, as hath beene prooued: but let vs heare their proofes: they are of two sorts; first, from the doctrines of some of our learned writers; and secondly, from the practice of our professors: In the first kind they obiect Caluine, Beza, Luther, Knox, Buchanan, Goodman; yea and Munster also with his Anabaptists: all which let vs briefly examine, and begin with the last, and so goe backward.

83. Munster with his Anabaptists, maintained indeed such rebellious doctrines: but were they Protestants? or did euer any Protestant giue credit, coūtenance or allowāce vnto thē? No, Bellarmine himselfe confesseth the contrary, when hee sayth, that the opinion of the hereticall Anabaptists, was abhorred Bell. de Laicis l. 3. c. 2. not onely of Catholikes, but also of Caluine. Yea Caluine and Luther wrote each of them a booke against their impieties. It is impious wickednesse then for any to obiect to Protestants, the opinion of those rebellious and giddy Anabaptists.

[Page]84. Touchng Goodman, Knox and Buchanan, we ingeniously confesse, that the two last went too farre in diminishing the authority of Princes, and that the first was impious in animating subiects against their Soueraignes: but withall, wee giue them to know this, that they are condemned of all good men in this their rebellious assertion: and that by a publike Act of Parliament in Scotland, Buchanans books was calledAnno 1584. in, and censured as contrary to sound doctrine: and the like censure is giuen by all godly Protestants, against Knox, or any other that maintaine the like.

85. And now I would faine vnderstand of these fellowes, what are these three in comparison of the whole Church of Protestants, that they should blemish our Religion by their exorbitant opinions; and to the many hundred of Protestant writers, that abhorre all such doctrine, and clearely auouch the contrary. If it be a good plea in them, to say, that the opinion of some priuate men ought not to preiudice the Religion of the whole Church; then it may also by good right serue our turnes in the case of these three, seeing the rule of equity requireth vt feras legem quam fers, that euery one should bee subiect to that Law which hee himselfe maketh. In sum, here are with vs but three, that can be touched: but with them are multitudes, not onely of inferiour Priests and Iesuites, but of Cardinals and Popes, that are guilty of this crime: ours, are priuate men condemned by all others: with them, publike persons authorized by their places and chayres, and priuiledged from errour: with vs, writings of no authoritie: with them, Bulles, decrees, and bookes with priuiledge and publike allowance. Lastly, with vs, the whole streame of our Religion tendeth to the maintenance of obedience, and condemning of all treason and rebellion: but with them the very grounds of their Religion doe warrant and vphold the contrary, as is manifestly prooued heretofore.

86. Concerning Luther, Caluine and Beza, how farre they were from this pernicious doctrine, let their owne words and writings testify: Luther first: Gouernment (sayth he) is a certaine Luther tom. 5. in Gen. cap. 27. diuine vertue: and therefore God calleth all Magistrates [Page] gods, not for creation, but for administration and gouernment, which belongeth onely to God: therefore he that is a ruler, is as it were a god incarnate. Againe, in another place; We doe not flatter Idem tom. 3. in Gen. cap. 33. the Magistrates, when we stile them most gracious, and most mighty: but from the heart we reuerence their order, and their persons ordained to this office. And in another place; Though Idem tom. 1. in Gen. cap. 9. some thinke (sayth he) the gouernment of man ouer man to bee a tyrannous vsurpation; because all men are naturally of like condition: yet we that haue the word of God, must oppose the commandement and ordinance of God, who hath put a sword into the hand of the Magistrate, whom therefore the Apostle calleth Gods Ministers.

87. Caluine in diuers places deliuereth this doctrine: thatCaluin. Instit. lib. 4. cap. 20. not onely good and godly Kings are to be obeyed, but also wicked ones, because in them is stamped and ingrauen the image of diuine Maiestie: neyther can any one sentence be picked and culled out of all his bookes, yea, though it be strayned to the vttermost, and wrung till it bleed, that but sauoureth of rebellion: except that may, perhaps, which hee speaketh concerning an impious King, that riseth vp against God, and seeketh to rob him of his right: how such a one doth bereaue Idem com. in Dan. 6. 22. himselfe of his authoritie, and is rather to be spit at then obeyed. But this also being rightly vnderstood, maketh nothing to that purpose: for first, he doth not say that such an one is to be bereaued of his authoritie, but that he bereaueth himselfe: and secondly he meaneth, that hee is rather to bee spit at and defiled, then to be obeyed in that particular, wherein he commandeth any thing contrary to the dignitie and maiestie of God. What hurt now, I pray you, is in this doctrine? Or rather what sound truth is not in it? saue that there is a little harshnesse of phrase, which might haue beene well omitted: and yet this is all that the Romish aduersaries can charge Caluine withall.

88. Lastly, for Beza, if I should produce all his excellent sayings, whereby he doth maintaine the authority of Princes, and obedience of subiects: I should trouble the Reader too long: let this suffice, that his greatest enemies cannot obiect [Page] against him, any one thing tending to the impeachment of Royall authoritie, except they grossely bely him, which is no new thing with them; lyes and slanders being one of the chiefe props of their Kingdome. Thus our doctrine affordeth them no hold for this accusation.

89. Againe, they challenge Caluine for imputing vnto our Lord and Sauiour some staine of sinne; not by expresse words, but by consequence: because he said, that when in theBel. de Christo lib. 4. cap. 1. garden he prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cuppe passe from me, neuerthelesse, not as I will, but as thou wilt: hee corrected and revoked his prayer suddenly vttered: therefore (say they) he must be tainted with sinne, seeing he did something that might be corrected: the like crime they lay to the charge of Luther, and all other learned Protestants, for sayingIbid. that in Christs humane nature there was some ignorance residing, and that he grew vp, and increased in knowledge, and had not the full measure of knowledge at his birth, as they would haue it. We grant the premises to be true, to wit, that this is the doctrine of Caluine, Luther, and other learned Protestants: but neuerthelesse we say, that the conclusion is a malicious slander: for first, many of the fathers, yea most, were of the same opinion with vs: as also some of the popish Doctors themselues, that there was ignorance in Christ, and that his knowledge grew and increased together with his age, according to that of Saint Luke: Hee increased in wisedome Luk. 2. 52. and stature, and in fauour with God and men. And yet none of them did once imagine, that this was in him either a sinne or a fruit of sinne; grounding vpon that text of Scripture, Heb. 4. 15. that Christ was like vnto vs in all things, sinne onely excepted: nor euer was that errour imputed vnto them for that cause. Heare some of them speake in their owne words. Ambrose sayth thus. How Christ increased in wisdome Ambrose de Incar. cap. 7. the order of the words doth teach, his proceeding in age, is his proceeding in wisdome. And therefore Saint Luke sets his growth in age. First, that thou mightest know that it is spoken of him as he is man. And Chrysostome thus, The wisemen gaue Chrysest. in Mat. 2. hom. 2. honour not to his childhood, vnderstanding nothing, but to his diuinitie [Page] knowing all things: and Maldonate doth confesse, thatMaldon. com. in Mat. 24. Athanasius, Gregory, Nazianzene, Theodoret, Cyril, and the authour of the imperfect worke on Mathew, did al teach, that Christ as man, was ignorant of the day of Iudgement. Neyther do these fathers alleadged by Bellar. for the contrarie opinion, in truth deliuer any thing else, if they bee rightly vnderstood: for most of them, when they say, that our Sauiour was full of grace, knowledge and wisedome, from his verie conception, and that hee did not increase and grow therein as other men, they speake eyther of his person in the concret, or of his diuine nature apart, as their owne words alleadged by him doe clearely shew. And to this opinion Thomas Aquinas, their grand Schooleman and angellical Doctor, settethAquin. part. 3. q. 9. art. 4. his hand and seale. For thus hee writeth, Though I haue elsewhere written otherwise, yet it is to be said (sayth bee) that in Christ there was scientia acquisita: knowledge acquired or gotten, which is properly knowledge according to the measure of man: and that not onely in respect of the subiect receiuing, but also of the cause agent, &c.

90. Secondly, al ignorance is not sin by the doctrine of their own schoole. For that ignorāce which is called purae negationis of pure negation, doth not oppugne the state of innocencie, seeing that it was in Adā before his fal, and is now in the Angels in their perfection, & may be in any without the spot of sin: as witnesse Lumbard, Aquinas, Pererius & al their learnedPerer. com. in Gen. 6. disp. 4. Suarez. tom. 1. Thom. q. 9. art. 1. disp. 24. Doctors for the most part: yea their Iesuite Suarez telleth vs, it is not to be called ignorance at al. Because ignorance (sayth he) doth not signifie euery want of knowledge, but the priuatiō of that knowledge, which ought to be in a subiect according to the state of the nature thereof: as man is not to bee called ignorant, because he wanteth angellicall knowledge, so Christ was ignorant of none of these things; which was behoofefull for him to know, in respect of the dignitie of his person: so that of two kindes of ignorance, one, of pure negation; that is, when a man knoweth not some thing, which hee is not bound to know, and the other of wicked disposition, when a man is [...] of something which he ought to know. This last is [Page] a sinne, but not the first: and therefore to say that Christ was ignorant of some things in his humane nature, and that hee increased in knowledge, as in age, is not to impute vnto him any blot either of originall or actuall sinne.

91. For the other part of the obiection, wherewith Caluine is touched, concerning our Sauiours correcting of his owne speech, it is no other then that which Ierome before him many hundred yeeres vttered; and Origen also, two famous fathers of the Primitiue Church: the one affirming, that Christ returning to himselfe, auouched, that as he was the Hierome. Origen. tract. in Mat. Sonne of God, which hee had staggeringly spoken, as hee was a man: the other, that he recalled his desire, and as it were thinking better vpon it, said, Not as I will: yea they themselues acknowledge asmuch, for Bellarmine sayth, that when our Sauiour Bell. de Christ▪ lib. 4. cap. 5. prayed, Let this cup passe from me, but not as I will, but as thou wilt, it was asmuch as if he should haue said: Volo vt non fiat voluntate naturali quod voluntate deliberata volo vt fiat: I will that it may not come to passe, to wit, by my naturall will, which by my deliberate will, I desire may come to passe. Here is a plaine correction, as Caluine calleth it, or a returning to himselfe, as Hierome; or a reuocation of his natural desire by a more aduised desire, as Origen: the like interpretation is giuen by Iansenius, Pererius and Maldonate; all agreeing in t [...]is, that they admit of a correction and reuocation of his naturall, inferiour, humane wil, by his spirituall, superior, diuine will: and yet without all blemish and suspition of sin; this correction presuposing no corruption. So that either Caluine must be excused, or themselues must bee inwrapped within the folds of the same fault. But this is their rancour against that good man, and all other of our side, that which is orthodox in the Fathers, and themselues, is notwithstanding heresie in vs; because they looke vpon vs thorow the spectacle of malice, but vpon themselues with the eyes of selfe-loue.

92. And to cleere him altogether, and ridde him out of their hands, the most receiued doctrine both by Caluine andPerkins on the Creed. all our whole Church concerning this point is; that this was not in our Sauiour Christ, either a rebellion of the sensuall [Page] part of the soule against the rationall; as Per [...]rius maketh it, which is in the vnregenerate, nor of the flesh against the spirit, as Iansenius would haue it, which is in the regenerate, nor a repugnance of Christs will as he was a man, to his will as he was God, which Maldonate s [...]emeth to affirme: but onely the strife of two contrarie desires in the humane soule of Christ for dominion, both which notwithstanding were good and holy, though the one not so good as the other, and in that respect, this desire to auoid death, which was the lesse, might without any great offence, bee said to bee corrected, when it yeelded vnto that other which was more excellent.

92. Lastly (to omit a number more of their sslanders in this kind) they charge our Religion it selfe, to lead to loosenesse and sensualitie by diuers doctrines thereof: especially these foure, to wit, freewill, iustification by faith alone, perseuerance in grace; and impossibilitie to keepe the Commandements: but with what spirit of malice, let the indifferent Reader consult and iudge.

93. First, for our doctrine touching the inabilitie of freewill, doth it lead a man to loosenesse? nay, rather doth it not teach him to deny himselfe, and to seeke for all grace and goodnesse from God? humilitie and prayer are the fruits of this doctrine, and not loosnesse and libertie: and to make it cleare to any single eye: We teach that a man is onely voyde of freewill to grace before his regeneration, and that hee is passiue onely in the very act of regeneration: but after his will being quickned, and stirred vp by Gods spirit, he willeth and worketh forth together with the spirit of God, his owne saluation. Now, few or none there are, that are Christians, but presume, though falsely, that they are regenerate: and therefore this doctrine cannot giue libertie to any to sinne, but rather bindeth them fast to obedience; nay, doth not their doctrine rather open a gappe to libertie? For when they teach, that it is in a mans power either to accept or reiect the grace of God offered vnto him: What doth this but incourage men to deferre their repentance & conuersion, seeing it is in their power to accept it when they list?

[Page]94. Secondly, how can the doctrine of iustification by11. faith alone tend to loosenesse, seeing we teach, that faith is neuer seuered from good workes, nor iustification from sanctification, nor a right beliefe from an vpright life, as hath beene shewed, and that they which seuer and part those things which God hath coupled together, seuer themselues from the mercie of God, and merit of Iesus Christ? With what brow of brasse then can they call this a solifidian portion, and a doctrine of libertie? I, but manie take libertie hereby to lead a loose and wicked life, building vpon this ground, that they are iustified by faith alone, and so they neglect all good workes. True indeed, many such there are: but is it from our doctrine? is it not rather from their mistaking of it? So the Capernaites tooke offence at our Sauiour Christs heauenly doctrine, Ioh. 6. touching the spirituall eating of his flesh, and drinking his bloud: insomuch that many of them departed from him: was his doctrine therefore erronious? or were not they rather ignorant in misconstruing, & impious in peruerting the same? So is it with this mysterie of iustification, which is the verie doctrine of Iesus Christ: if any by mistaking it, or by taking vp one piece of it, and leauing another, doe animate themselues vnto sinne, is the doctrine to be blamed? and not they rather, that distort it to their owne shame and confusion? In a word, if this were a iust exception against this doctrine, then no doctrine either of their or ours, or the Gospell it selfe might bee freed from this challenge. For as there is no herbe so sweet and wholsome, but the Spider may sucke poyson out of it, aswell as the Bee hony: so there is no truth so sacred and holy, but an vngodly minde may peruert and make it an occasion of his impietie. Thus, the grace of God is turned into wantonnesse by many (as Saint Iude saith:) theIud. 1. 4. word of God is the sauour of death vnto death. Yea, Christ Iesus our blessed Lord and Sauiour is a falling, and a stone to 1. Pet. 2. 8. stumble at, and a rocke of offence: so the doctrine of Iustification by faith alone, may be an occasion of libertie and no otherwise: that is not properly, or by any effect issuing from itselfe, but accidentally, and by the malignitie of the obiect whereupon it worketh.

[Page]95. Thirdly, our doctrine of perseuerance, though rayling12. Wright sayth of it, that Epicurus himselfe could not haue found a better ground to plant his Epicurisme: nor Heliogabalus haue better patronized his sensualitie: nor Bacchus and Venus haue forged better reasons to inlarge their dominion: yet, to any single eye (for his eyes are double-sighted with malice, as Witches eyes are said to be) it is rather a strong bridle to restraine from sensuality and Epicurisme, and a bond to bind to obedience, then a provocation vnto sinne: for when men are perswaded that sincere faith, true charitie, and sauing grace cannot be lost, it will cause them to take heed how they fall away, lest they proue themselues to haue beene hypocrites before, and their faith and charitie not to haue beene true, but fained: for he that falleth from God whom he pretend: d to serue, to the Deuil by an actual Apostasie into sinne, plainly proueth that hee had neuer the seed of the spirit sowne in him, nor the habit of charitie in his soule: this is then a bridle to withhold men from sinne, and not a spurre to pricke them forward vnto it. And therefore whereas they say that men will thus reason: If I be the child o [...] God, I cannot fall away: therefore I will doe what I list. The contrarie is rather true, that euery child of GOD, yea, euery one that is perswaded that hee is the childe of GOD, will reason thus from the grounds of this doctrine: I will not doe what I list, neither will I giue my selfe ouer vnto sinne, lest I proue my selfe by my falling into sinne, not to be the child of God, but an hypocrite. Adde hereunto, that as we teach, that true faith and charitie cannot bee vtterly extinct in the elect: So also we teach, that this faith and charitie must bee nourished and preserued by the practice of all holy & Christian duties: and therefore they which neglect the conseruation of their faith, and charitie, and seek to extinguish them by the lusts of the flesh, it is a signe that they neuer had these graces in grafted in their soules. And what perswasion can be more effectual, I pray you, to stirre vp men vnto godlinesse, then this is?

96. So we may truly answere concerning the fourth doctrine13. obiected, namely, the impossibilitie of keeping Gods [Page] Commandements, which though it be true in some part, albeit, not as they slanderously impute vnto vs. For wee hold that the regenerate person is able in some measure to keepe Gods Commandements, though not to that perfection which the Law requireth, exacting of euery one of vs the loue of God with all our heart, soule and strength; yet this openeth not, but rather stoppeth the gap vnto fleshly libertie. For, is any man so madde as to say, I will giue ouer all care of keeping Gods Law, because I am not able fully and exactly to performe it? rather euery one that hath but a reasonable soule will thus determine, Because I am not able to performe perfect obedience to God, therefore I will indeuour to doe what I can, that my imperfections and wants may bee made vp by the perfect obedience of my Sauiour. All men will account him a wilfull wicked wretch, who being greatly indebted, because he is not able to discharge the whole summe, therfore will take no care to pay any part thereof, which he is able to doe, but lay all vpon his sureties backe: so we condemne him for a desperate and damnable person, that, because he is not able to satisfie the whole debt of Gods Commandements, therefore will not indeuour to pay as much as he can: besides, we teach withall, that though this perfection be not attained vnto in this life, yet there must be a continuall growth and increase in grace and goodnesse in all that belong to God, that at length, after this life ended, they may doff off the olde man, with the inabilities and corruptions thereof, and attaine to the highest degree of perfection in the life to come: the fruit of this doctrine then, is not sensuall libertie, but Christian humilitie, not a prouocation to sinne, but an incentiue, and spurre vnto godlinesse.

97. Thus I haue propounded vnto the view of the Christian Reader, a short Epitome of the great volume of their slanders, darted forth by them, both against our persons, our gouernment, and our Religion it selfe: all which indeed is but a taste and say of that, which might be spoken in this subiect, and which requireth an entire worke for the discouering of ther malice in this kinde: and surely, I thinke that labour [Page] might be well bestowed in searching this stinking puddie to the bottome, and discouering their malice, so to the beholding of all, that men might see their poyson, and beware of such Serpents: and high time it is to lay hand to this plough; for a double danger ariseth from this dealing of theirs. First, it confirmeth their owne followers in their hatred against the truth, and the professors thereof. For they are perswaded, that whatsoeuer is written or spoken by a Priest or Iesuite, is certainly true, it being allowed (as all their writings commonly are) by the authoritie of the Church, and the Censors and visiters appointed for that purpose, and therefore account it a deadly sinne once to call the credit thereof into question. And secondly it inueigleth and seduceth many vnsettled Protestants: Whilest reading such lying Pamphlets, they are either not able to discerne their falshood, or not carefull to examine the truth by contrarie euidences: to preuent both which dangers, it would be a worke much beneficiall to the Church of God, and profitable to the cause of Religion, if some zealous Protestant would vndertake this taske, in a ful iust volume to decipher their malice, and discouer their slanders to the ful: but I leaue that to the guidance of Gods wisedom, & proceed in my purposed discourse to the next point.

98. Their last trick is forgerie, for when neither by treacherie, nor cruelty, nor periurie, nor lying, nor slādering, they can worke their wils, but that their Religion groweth euery day more odious then others, at last as the most desperate practice of al [...]he rest, they fal to forging like Physicions, that seeing their patient in a desperate case, minister vnto him desperate medicines, that shall either ridde him of his disease, or of his life, and that quickly: such a medicine is this, which if it take not place to cure their sicke Religion, it will doubtlesse vtterly ruine and vndermine the foundation thereof, and depriue it of the vitall spirit. And this last wee haue rather cause to hope, then they the first: seeing it hath pleased God to reueale to the world the mischieuous mysteries of their Indices expurgatory: which whosoeuer shall but duly consider, must needs iudge their cause to lye a bleeding, and ready [Page] to giue vp the ghost, when they are driuen to such miserable shifts for the defence thereof.

99. The common Lawes, and ciuill Courts punish forgerers with slitting their noses, branding their foreheads, cutting off their eares, pillorie, imprisonment, and diuers other such like fearefull censures: the Ecclesiasticall Lawes are as seuere against such persons; and the very Heathen. Tully condemned Gabinius as a light and loose person, for infringing the credit of the publike Records of the Citie, and commendeth Metellus as a most holy and modest man, because when hee saw a name but blurred in the tables, he went to Lentulus Cicer. orat. pro Archia P [...]eta. the Pretor, and desired a reformation thereof, and a better care to be had in their custodie. By all which we may see how great and odious a crime forgerie is; and in what ranke they are to be reputed by all Lawes, that defile their consciences with so foule a sinne.

100. Of which, that the Church of Rome is guiltie, is so manifest, that none, that hath either read their Bookes of Controuersies with iudgement, or seene their three chiefe Iudices Expurgatorij, one of Rome, another of Spaine, the third of Antwerp, can make any question. And if any desire to be fully satisfied concerning their dealing in this kind, let them haue recourse to Doctor Iames his learned and laborious discourse, where he shal see this wound searched to tho quicke, and the corruption thereof discouered to the whole world, and so searched and discouered, that by all their wit and policy they shal neuer be able to hide the filthines thereof: notwithstanding, that the Reader that hath not that booke, may haue a little taste of their dealing, and assurance of the truth of this my proposition: I will offer vnto his view a few instances of their forgerie, and those so plaine and palpable, that by no colourable excuse they can be auoyded.

101. Forgerie is committed two wayes, first, by counterfeiting, secondly, by corrupting; counter [...]i [...]ing [...] Records, and corrupting true. Touching counterfeiting, take foure instances in s [...]eed of fourescore; and those out of Bellarmine Bell. de amiss. grat. lib. 6. cap. 2. onely: first, those [...]el [...]e Trea [...]is [...] intitled, [...] [...] [Page] Christi operibus, are resolutely censured by Bellarmine, to bee none of Cyprians, and yet, the same Bellarmine alleadgeth them ordinarily to proue many points of his Religion, vnder Cyprians name; as to proue the Virgin Marie to bee without sinne, and Baptisme to be necessarie to saluation, and that the Sacraments containe grace in them, and that there are more Sacraments then two, with diuers other points. Secondly, the Commentaries vpon Pauls Epistles ascribed vnto Saint Ambrose, Bell. de Christo l. 1. c. 10. & de Cleric. lib. 1. cap. 15. are censured by Bellarmine, peremptorily to bee counterfeit. And yet, the same Bellarmine produceth them to proue traditions, Peters supremacie, Limbus Patrum: that one may be holpen by anothers merit, and that Antichrist is a certaine man, and in a word, most questions controuerted. Thirdly, liber Hypognosticon, Bellarmine concludes, that it is none of Saint Augustines, yet hee alleadgeth it as Saint Augustines, Idem de miss. lib. 2. cap. 12. to proue Euangelicall Councels: so Liber ad Orosium is confessed by Bellarmine, to bee none of Saint Augustines, and yet hee is alleadged by him in another place, to proue the Booke of Ecclesiasticus authenticall. Lastly, the Commentaries vpon the Epistles that goe vnder the name of Saint Ierome, are iudged by Bellarmine to bee none of his, and yet he produceth testimonies out of them, to proue the necessitie of traditions, Peter to be the rocke of the Church, and that children may without their parents consents enter into a religious Order. And this is ordinarie, not onely in Bellarm but in all other of their writers, as you may see particularly and plainly discouered in Doctor Iames his Treatise, touching the corrupting of Scripture. Councels and Fathers, by the Prelates and pillars of the Church of Rome. By which wee may note: First, their conscience, in that they know them to be Bastards, and yet obtrude them as true borne. Secondly, their fraud, in that when they make little for them, or it may be against them, then they brand them with counterfeit: but when they speake on their behalfe, then they are as true as steele: and thus with a blunder of counterfeit Fathers, they dazle the eyes of the ignorant: but the wise will iudge discreetly, and learne to discerne the Lion by his paw.

[Page]102. Touching their corrupting of true Authors, I will vrge against them but foure examples as in the former: but those most famous, and three of them corrupted by their most famous Iesuite Bellarmine. The first is of Chrysostome, in his seuenteenth Homily vpon Genesis, where he readeth, Shee Bel. de verb. Dei, lib. 2. cap. 12. shall obserue thy head, and thou shalt obserue her heele: whereas, as Philip Montanus a learned and iudicious Diuine of their owne confesseth, in the originall tongue of Chrysostome it is read [...], he, and not [...] shee, which is also agreeable to the Hebrew and Greeke fountaines of the Bible. O, but because this reading in the translated Copie maketh for the worship of the Virgin Mary, therefore in our Iesuites diuinitie it must be preferred. The second is out of Chrysostome too, in his Sermon of Inuentius and Maximus, whom Bellarmine, to proueBell. de Relig. Sanct. l. 2. c. 3. that the relickes of Saints ought to be worshipped, bringeth in thus speaking, tumulos Martyrum adoremus, let vs worship the sepulchres of Martyrs: whereas indeede, the word in Chrysostome is adornemus: let vs adorne and garnish their sepulchres: as both the originall Greeke and the Latine translations, that are of any standing, doe read it. The third is of Cyril, who is not onely changed and altered, but plainly dismembered by them: for whereas hee writeth thus excellently concerning the power of faith: This faith which is the gift Cyril in Esay lib. 1. cap. 1. and grace of God, is sufficient to clense and purge, not onely them which find themselues somewhat ill, but also those which are verie Index Hispan. Gaspar Qui reg. pag. 62. dangerously diseased, &c. The Spanish Index hath censured him, and commanded these words to bee blotted out, with this peremptorie charge, Extextu deleantur illa verba. The fourth and last is of Cyprian in his Booke, De bono patientiae, Cyprian. de bono patientiae. Bell de Euchar. lib. 2. cap. 28. where, for gustatam Eucharistiam, they read, to maintaine the idolatrous circumgestation of the Eucharist, gestatam: contrarie to their owne copies: as on the contrarie, in Leo ser. 14. de passione, for gestemus, Bellarmine readeth gustemus: and thus they turne Cat in panne, as the Prouerbe saith, and with the Apothecaries art, put quid pro qu [...].

103. Thus they handle the Fathers, putting words into their mouths that they neuer spake nor meant, and that in no [Page] few places of their, writings. And as for later Writers, their Iudices Expurgatorij are sufficient testimonies of their purging, expunging, wiping out, and foysting in what they list into their Bookes: it is a profest, allowed and maintained practice of theirs, which at the first was kept in darknesse, as a worke of darknesse by secret conueyance: but after that by Gods prouidence it came to light, is now publikely defended as a thing not onely lawfull and commendable in it selfe, but also profitable for the Church of God, so that there needs no further proofe of their forgerie and falsification in this kind, seeing we haue confitentes aduersaries. Onely for a conclusion, let vs a little consider the reasons that are vsed by these good men, for the defence of this their dealing.

104. One May an English Priest out of Gretzer, & Posseuine, Grounds of the olde and new Religion. the author (as it is supposed) of the grounds of the old and new Religion, in the latter end of that Booke, taking vpon him to answere Master Crashaw, that laid to their charge the same crime that I now doe, answereth three wayes. First, that it is a practice both lawfull and commendable. Secondly, that if it be vnlawfull, we are more guiltie of it then they. And lastly, though they meddle with new Writers, yet the Fathers workes are sincere and free from all corruption.

105. To whom I reply briefly thus, that as touching his last answere which concerneth the Fathers, it is manifestly false, as I haue alreadie discouered in foure particulars, and is by Doctor Iames in his Booke in many more, and I doubt not but shall be more fully ere long made knowne to the world: and therefore, though that there was no rule prescribed by the Councell of Trent, for the purging of the Fathers; as of yonger Writers: Yet it followeth not but that they might doe it without rule, which also Gretzer the Iesuite perceiuingGretzer de iure & more prohib. lib. 2. c. 9. & 10. pag. 321. 328. to be true, seeketh to mend the matter by a fine distinction, by which indeed he matres it vtterly, and that is that the Fathers workes, as they are Fathers, need no purging, but being considered as Sonnes, their words may bee corrected and censured by the Church; or not as Fathers, but as Fathers-in-law; Non vt patres, sed vt vitrici. for when they feed the Church with sound and wholsome [Page] doctrine, they are Fathers: if otherwise, Fathers-in-law: thus by this fine distinction he granteth, that when a Father speaketh any thing which they account false doctrine, he may be corrected, or rather corrupted, for then they esteeme him not a Father but a sonne: nor a true Father, but a Father-in-law; so that it is apparently false, which our new Author affirmeth, that none of the Fathers are corrected by them.

106. Secondly, touching his middle answere, that if it be a fault, we are more guiltie thereof then they. I answere, that that is as false as the former, for let it bee granted, that some Bookes are corrected by some Protestants; yet first, they are the deeds of priuate persons, and not the acts of the Church, not at all approued, much lesse authorized by the Church, as theirs are: nay, all of sounder iudgement in our Church doe asmuch condemne that practice in our owne, as in any else. Secondly, such corruptions or corrections are not frequent with vs, but rare and seldome. I dare boldly say, for one place altered by vs in any Writer, there are twentie by them, as their owne expurging Iudices doe beare witnesse: and for this, I challenge any Iesuite, or Romish Priest whatsoeuer to the encounter. Thirdly, most of those Bookes which they lay to our charge, to haue beene corrupted by vs, as Augustines Meditations, Granadoes Meditations, The conuersion of a Sinner, The Christian Directorie, Osianders Enchiridion, with other more, are not corrected in the originall themselues, but in their translations into our Language, some things are left out, some added, some changed and altered, as the Translators thought good; whereas they corrupt the verie Texts and originall Copies of most Writers without difference. Fourthly, we seldome alter or change any Booke in the translation, but withall we eyther confesse in the beginning of the said Bookes, or professe in the publishing of the same, this correction or alteration: but they haue practised this in secret, by certaine Enquisitors appointed to that purpose, the mysterie of which art was long hid from the World, and had still lien in darknesse, had not the prouidence of God, for theIunius praefat. in▪ Indic. Belgia. good of the Church, first discouered the Belgicke Index by [Page] mere accident to that godly and bright starre of our Church, Iunius, who made it presently knowne to the world: and at this day few there are that vnderstand the mysteries of that art: so closely and cunningly doe they conuay their matters: as for the Books themselues they do seldome or neuer acknowledge their correction in the forefront and beginning of them as wee doe, but by all meanes labour to hide and conceale the same. Lastly, though some amongst vs, haue more rashly, then wisely, falsified some Writers of lesser note, in some few things: yet they haue not meddled with the Fathers nor Councels: neither haue they done it, to gaine any thing thereby in disputation, but onely to keepe the common people from infection: whereas they spare none, neither Fathers nor Councels, nor moderne Writers: and that, not so much lest the common sort should bee infected, as that the learned might be depriued of those weapons wherewith they might fight against them, and wound their cause. Seeing the case now so stands, that hee which can muster vp together the greatest armie of Authours, to fight vnder his colours, is thought to haue the best cause: their dealing then with vs, is like that of the Philistims against the Israelites, who despoyled them of all weapons and instruments of warre, that they might dominiere ouer them with greater securitie; but ours is not so towards them. And therefore, both in this, and all the former respects, it is a miserable vntruth and a desperate cuasion, to say, that wee are more guiltie of this crime then they are.

107. Lastly, whereas in his first answere, hee pleadeth the lawfulnesse of the fact, let vs heare his reasons to moue thereunto, and in the interim remember, that in prouing it to bee lawfull, hee confesseth it to bee done. But why is it lawfull? Mary, first, because the Church being supreme Iudge on earth, of all Controuersies touching faith and Religion, hath authoritie to condemne Heretikes. And therefore also, the workes of Heretikes: and if this, then much more to correct and purge their Bookes, if by that meanes shee can make them profitable for her vse, and beneficiall to her children. [Page] To which I answere two things▪ First, that it is not the Church that doth this, but the sacred Inquisitors, to wit, certaine Cardinals and Lawyers deputed to that office, who for the most part are so farre from being the Church, that they are often, no sound members thereof: I [...] it be said, that they haue their authoritie from the Pope, who is vertually the whole Church: why doe they then speake so darkly, and say the Church hath this authoritie, when as, they might in plaine termes say that the Pope hath it; but that hereby they should display the feeblenesse of their cause, and the fillinesse of this reason? for thus it would stand: Why, is it lawful for Books to be purged? because the Pope thinkes it lawful. And must not he needs think so▪ when the Authors crosse his triple crowne, and speake against his state and dignitie? Adde hereunto, that it is a fallacie in reasoning, when that is taken for granted, which is in question. For we deny their Synagogue to be the true Church: and much more the Pope to bee the supreme Iudge: and therefore till those things be proued, the reason is of no effect.

108. Secondly, most of those things which are purged by them, are so farre from being heresies or errours, that they are, the most of them, sound doctrines of faith, grounded vpon the authoritie of Gods sacred truth: for they blot out many things, in both olde and new Authours, that they themselues dare not accuse to bee hereticall: as that place in Saint Cyril before mentioned touching the power of faith, which is no more in direct termes, then that which is said in the Scripture, Act. 15. 15. that faith purifieth the heart: and that in the Basil Index of Chrysostome, The Church is not built vpon a man, Index Expurgat. Belgic. p. 300 impre [...]. Arg [...]t. but vpon faith: and those propositions which are commanded by the Dutch Index, to be wiped out of the Table of Robert Stephens Bible: to wit, that sinnes are remitted by beleeuing in Christ: that he which beleeueth in Christ, shall not die for euer; that faith purifieth the heart: that Christ is our righteousnes: that no man is iust before God, and that repentance is the gift of God: with a number of like nature. These they purge out of Stephens Index, which notwithstanding are directly, and in [Page] as many words recorded in the Booke of God: and so it may iustly be thought, that they are so farre from clenfing Bookes from the drosse and dregs of errour, that they rather purge out the pure gold and cleare wine of truth, and leaue nothing but dregs and drosse behind.

109. His second reason is, because nothing is more dangerous to infect true Christian hearts, then bad Bookes. Therefore it is not onely lawfull, but needfull and behoouefull to the Church of God, that such Bookes should bee purged, and burned too, if it bee so thought meete by the Church, to the end that the sinceritie of one true faith and Religion might be preserued. I answere, all this is true which he saith: but are they heresies which they purge? no, they are sound and orthodox opinions, for the most part, as hath beene proued in the answere to the former reason. And doe they it, to keepe Christian men from infection? no, their chiefe end and drift is, to depriue their aduersaries of all authorities that make against them, that so they might triumph in the antiquitie of their Religion, and noueltie of ours: which is one of their principall arguments which they vse (though with euill successe) for defence of their cause: dealing herein as Holofernes did with the Israelites, at the siege of Bethulia, breaking the Conduits, cutting the pipes, and slopping the passages, which might bring vs prouision of good and wholsome waters, out of the cisternes of olde and new Writers; this is their purpose and no other, whatsoeuer they pretend: for if they meant any good to Gods people for preuenting of infection, they would haue purged their lying Legends of infinite fables, their Canon Law of horrible blasphemies, and their Schoolemen of many strange opinions. Yea, they would haue condemned the Bookes of Machiauel, and of that Cardinall that wrote in commendation of the vnnaturall sinne of Sodomie, and a number such like filthy and deuillish Writings, which are printed and reprinted among them without controulement. And againe, is it vnitie in the true faith and religion that they seeke? no, it is conspiracie in falshood, and consent in errour: and not vnitie in the truth: till the Romish [Page] Religion bee proued to bee the true Religion (which can neuer be) this reason is of no force, to iustifie their proceedings. Lastly, is it Christian policy? no, it is deuilish subtletie, and craftie forgerie: for the case so stands betwixt them and vs, as in a tryall of land betwixt partie and partie: wherein hee that bringeth best euidence and witnesse, carrieth the cause: now, if one partie either suborne false witnesses, or corrupt true, or forge euidences to his purpose, or falsifie those that are extant, all men will count him as a forger, and his cause desperate, and iudge him worthie the Pillorie: so betwixt vs the question is, who hath the right faith, and the best title to the Church. Our euidences are first and principally Gods Word, then the writings and records of godly men in all ages: now then, they that shall purge, pare, raze, blurr, falsify or corrupt any of these, must needs bee thought to bee subtle and craftie companions, and not honest and plaindealing men. The case then thus standing, this practice of theirs cannot be termed Christian policy, but plaine subtlety, to giue it no worse a name.

110. His last reason is drawne from the practice of the Church of God in all ages, which hath alwaies forbidden the Bookes of Heretikes to be read, and condemned them to the fire: and to this purpose he produceth diuers fit and pertinent authorities: to which I answere, first, that he fighteth herein without an aduersarie: for we confesse, that this was a necessarie and commendable practice, to prohibit, condemne, burne and abolish all such Bookes as tend to the corrupting of the Christian faith, and also to preuent them in the birth, that they may not come to light: but yet for all that, this alloweth not their purging and paring of Bookes: for they cannot giue vs one example in all antiquitie of this dealing, except it bee drawne from Heretikes, whose practice it hathBel. de verb. Dei, lib. 2. cap. 7. Idem de Pont. lib. 4. cap. 11. Sixtus Senens. biblioth lib. 4. 5. pag. 262. beene to depraue the Scriptures themselues, and the Decrees of Councels, and the Bookes of ancient Fathers, as witnesseth Bellarmine in many places of his workes, and Sixtus Senensis, and almost all other of their side.

III. Secondly, the Fathers condemned onely the Bookes [Page] of Heretikes: but our holy Inquisitors condemne not onely those whom they call Heretikes, as Caluine, Luther, Beza, Melancthon; but mangle and purge the Fathers themselues, and their owne deare children, whom they dare not condemne for Heretikes, as this Author himselfe confesleth; those they chop and change, wri [...]he and wring, bend and bow as they list: which is so much the more intolerable, because being profest Romanists, they durst not vary from the receiued opinions of the Church of Rome, except mere conscience inwardly, and some forcible reason outwardly mooued them thereunto.

112. Thirdly, and lastly, the Fathers, when they condemned any Heretike, or hereticall Booke, did it openly to the view of the World, and not secretly in a corner, not ascribing vnto them other opinions then they held, eyther by adding vnto, or detracting from their writings: But our Romish correctors, like Owles, flye by moonshine, and so closely c [...]rtie their businesse, that they would haue none to discry them: yea, they denie and abiure this trade, I meane, in respect of the Fathers, and in a word, they make almost all Authours to speake what they list: for if any thing dislike them, deleatur, let it be wiped out, or at least mutetur, let it bee changed: or addatur, let something bee added vnto it, that may change the sense, and turne the sentence into a new m [...]ld▪ of all these their Iudices Expurgatorij afford plentifull examples: so that they can no wayes colour their forgerie and false dealing by the examples of the Fathers, or Primitiue Church. For this is a new tricke of legerdemaine of the Deuils owne inuention, found out in this latter age of the World, which hath beene verie fertile in strange deuices.

113. Now then to conclude, and to leaue this Priest with his vaine and idle reasons, to be fuller confuted of him whom it more neerely concerneth, and whose credit is touched by him: Hence two necessarie conclusions doe arise: one, that they are guiltie of forgerie and corrupting of Authours, by their owne confessions: and secondly, that they adde hereunto impudencie and shamelessenesse, which is alwayes the marke [Page] of an Heretike, and that first, in defending their owne vniustFrons Haereticorum, non est frons. and false dealing by reasons, as if their wits were able to maintaine that snow was blacke, and the Crow white: and secondly, in translating the crime from themselues vnto vs, without all shew of reason, not caring what they say, so they say something, for the honour of their mistresse, the whore of Babylon, and defence of her cause.

114. Now then, seeing it is manifest that they labour toConclusion. vphold their Religion, by these vniust, vngodly and deuillish practices, as treason, crueltie, periurie, lying, slandering and forging, this conclusion must needes bee of necessarie consequence; that therefore their Religion is not the truth of God, nor their Church the true Church of God. It is the iudgement of their owne learned Iesuites touching this last crime (thatPosseuine. wee may conuince them out of their owne mouthes) that forging of false Treatises, corrupting of true, changing of Scriptures, and altering of mens words contrarie to their meaning, be certaine notes of heresie: what can the Church of Rome be then lesse then hereticall, that not onely doth all this, but now at length professeth and maintaineth the doing thereof as lawful and profitable?

MOTIVE XIII. That Religion, the doctrines whereof are more safe both in respect Gods glorie, mans saluation, and Christian charitie, is to bee preferred before that which is not so safe, but dangerous: But the doctrine of the Protestants Religion is more safe in all those respects, and of the Papists more dangerous: ergo, that is to be preferred before this, and consequently this to bee reiected.

THe first proposition is so euident and cleare, that ourMaior. aduersaries themselues will not deny it, neither can it by any good reason bee excepted against: for as it is in bodily physicke, that medicine is alwayes preferred, which bringeth [Page] with it lesse danger to the life of the patient, and if it misse curing, cannot kill: so is it in the spirituall physicke of the soule, which is Religion: that doctrine deserueth best acceptance, which is most safe, and least dangerous for the soules health. And as desperate medicines, if they bee applyed by a skilfull Physicion, argue a desperate case in the patient, so desperate doctrines proue a desperate cause. Neyther will any wayfaring man, when two wayes are offered vnto him, the one whereof is full of manifold perils, and the end doubtfull, the other safe from dangers, and the end certainly good, not choose rather the safer and certainer way, and leaue the other: so men like Pilgrimes, trauelling towards the heauenly Canaan, the way of Poperie on the one side, and of Protestancie on the other being se [...] before them, if they bee well in their wits, will choose rather that way, which is both the safer in the passage, and the certainer in the end. There is no doubt then in this first proposition, and therefore let vs leaue it thus naked without further proofe, and come to the second, and examine whether our Religion, or the Romish is the safer, that all men may imbrace that which by euidence of demonstration shall appeare to be so, and resuse the contrarie: and here notwithstanding all the former pregnant arguments, whereby the falsitie of their Church and Religion is plainly discouered, wee put our selues againe vpon a lawfull tryall, and referre our cause to the iudgement, not of twelue men, but of the whole world; that if our euidence bee good, wee may obtaine the day, and the mouthes of our aduersaries may be stopped: if not, we may yeeld as conquered, to bee led in triumph by them to Rome, yea to the Popes owne palace to kisse his feet, and receiue his marke on our foreheads.

2. That the Religion of the Church of Rome is not so safeMinor. as ours, may appeare by comparing our principall doctrines together: and first to begin with the Sacrament. That the bodie of Christ is truely, really and effectually present in the Eucharist, both they and we hold, grounding vpon that text of Scripture (this is my bodie:) but concerning the maner of this presence, the Romanists hold, that it is by transub stantiation: [Page] we by a spirituall presence, which notwithstanding is true and reall, both in relation to the outward signes, and to the faith of the Receiuer. Now, see the dangers that arise from their doctrine, which are not incident to ours.

2. First, if there be not a corporall presence of Christ, and a reall Transubstantiation, as they suppose; then this doctrine leadeth to horrible and grosse Idolatrie: for they must needs worship a piece of bread, in stead of Christ. And this not onely, if their doctrine bee false, but being supposed to bee true, in case hee that consecrateth, be not truly a Priest, or haue not an intention to consecrate, as oftentimes it fallethGum [...] Angel. [...]. Eucharist. Bel. de Sacram [...]t. in Gen. cap. 27. out: for in both these cases, by the grounds of their owne. Religion, there is no change of substances; and therefore, as much danger of Idolatrie, as eyther of a false Priest, or of a true Priests false intention. But in our doctrine there is no such danger, and yet as true, reall and powerfull an existence of Christs bodie in the Sacrament, as with them, if not more: seeing the more spirituall a thing is▪ the more powerfull it is, according to the rules of reason: for wee are not in danger to worship a creature in stead of the Creatour: but wee worship the Creatour himselfe, euen Iesus Christ our Redeemer, who is there present after a spirituall manner, and that as reuerently, deuoutly and sincerely, as they doe a piece of bread.

3. Secondly, by this doctrine our aduersaries incline to fauour the Capernaites, who had a conceit of a corporall and fleshly eating of Christs bodie▪ and giue iust cause to the Pagans Theoph. in Ioh. 6 Aug. in Psal. 58. Gratian de consecrat. part. 3. dist. 2. to slander Christian Religion, to bee a bloudy and cruell Religion. Whereupon the Fathers, to crosse the one, and stop the mouth of the other, taught, that Christs speech in the sixt of Iohn, was to be vnderstood spiritually, and not carnally; and that it was a figure, and not a proper speech. But our doctrine doth giue no such occasion, eyther to the Heretikes on the one side, or to the Pagans on the other, neyther hath it any consanguinitie with the Capernaites; and yet wee retaine as certaine and powerfull a participation of our Sauiours bodie and bloud as they doe. I know, they thinke to escape from this rocke, by a distinction of visible and inuisible eating: [Page] as if the Capernaites dreamed that Christ would haue his bodie to bee eaten visibly, but they inuisibly, that is (say they) spiritually: which indeed is no cuasion, for an inuisible eating is a true eating. As when a blind man eateth, or a seeing man in the darke, and cannot therefore be called a spirituall eating, but a corporall: neyther doth this free them from approching neere to the Capernaites, though they somewhat differ from them, nor from giuing iust cause of offence to the Heathen; from both which our doctrine giueth full and perfect securitie.

4. Thirdly, and lastly, their doctrine of transubstantiation doth not onely countenance, but confirme the ancient heresies of the Marcionites, Ʋalentinians and Eutychians, that impugned the truth of Christs humane nature, for they taught that he had not a true, but a phantasticall bodie; and what do our aduersaries but approue the same indeede, though they seeme to detest it in word? when they teach that his bodie is present in the Sacrament, not by circumscription, nor determination, but by a spirituall and diuine presence, quomodo Bell. de Eucharist. lib. 3. cap. 4. Deus est in loco, as God is in a place, which is asmuch as to say, that his bodie is not a true bodie, but a spirituall bodie, that is, indeed a phantasticall bodie. Againe, the bread which they say is the bodie, is not bread in truth, but in shew, after it is consecrated: for there is nothing of bread, but the mere accidents without a substance, according to their doctrine; and so it is in all reasonable construction no better then a phantasticall thing, seeming to the outward sense, to bee that which in truth it is not. Why may not those Heretikes then reason from these doctrines thus? If Christs bodie be a spirituall bodie in the Eucharist, and the bread be phantasticall bread, then why might not his bodie be so also, when he was on the earth? But the former is true by your doctrine, O ye Romanists, therefore why may not the latter, which is our doctrine, be also true? But none of these Heretikes can haue any such aduantage from our doctrine, which teacheth that Christ, in respect of his humane nature, is resident in the heauens, circumscribed by place, and that hee is present in the [Page] Sacrament, by the efficacie of his inuisible, and powerful grace, after a spirituall manner, as Saint Augustine speaketh, and Aug. tract. 50. in Ioh. in v. 8. c. 12. that both the bread remaineth bread after consecration, and the bodie of Christ remaineth still a naturall bodie, after the resurrection, retaining still the former circumscription, as Theodoret Theodoret Dialog. 2. 105. auoucheth: this taketh away all aduantage from Heretikes, which their doctrine doth manifestly giue vnto them. For these causes Petrus de Alliaco the Cardinall doth confesse, that from our doctrine no inconuenience doth seeme to ensue: if it Pet de Alliaco 4 q. 6. act. 2 s. Occa. in centiloq. Theolog. could be accorded with the Churches determination. And Occham, that it is subiect to lesse incommodities, and lesse repugnant to holy Scripture. Thus wee see, that in this first doctrine touching the Eucharist, there is more securitie, and lesse danger in our doctrine and Religion, then in theirs.

5. I come to a second point, which is, touching the merits of works: whereby the Romish Religion doth cast men into three eminent dangers which by our doctrine they are free from. First, of vaine glory: for when a man is perswaded that there is a merit of condignitie, in the worke which hee hath wrought, how can he choose but reioyce therein, and conceiue a vaine-glorious opinion of his owne worthinesse: as the proud Pharise did, when he bragged that he had fasted and prayed, and payd his tithes? seeing it is impossible, but that the nature of man which is inclinable vnto vaine-glory, and selfe-loue: if it haue a conceit of any selfe-worthinesse, should bee puffed vp with a certaine inward ioy, and pride: and therefore Chrysostome taketh it for wholesome counsel, to say, that wee bee vnprofitable seruants, lest pride destroy our Chrys. in Luc. 17 good workes.

6. Secondly, of obscuring and diminishing Gods glorie and Christs merits. For where merit is, there mercie is excluded: and where something is ascribed to man for the obtaining of saluation, there all is not ascribed vnto Christ: and although they colour the blacke visage of this doctrine, with a faire tincture, to wit, that all our merits are from Gods mercie and grace, and that our good workes are dyed in [Page] Christs bloud, and thence receiue all their vertue, and rigor: yet it is but a false pretence: false, because they acknowledge some merits before grace, as those of congruitie, and such as issue from grace, yet in part, to be of nature aswel as of grace, as hath beene alreadie discouered: and a pretence, because, if they receiue all their vertue from Gods grace and Christs bloud, then they are not to be termed our merits, but Gods: neither can bee said to deserue any thing at Gods hand of a proper worthinesse, as they teach, they doe, but of Gods grace and mere mercie, which they disclaime: a false pretence then is this, and doth not free them from this danger of diminishing Gods glorie: and this also is confessed by S. Augustine, who sayth, that we liue more sasely, if we attribute Aug. de bone perseuerant. c. 6. all wholly to God, and dee not commit our selues partly to God, and partly to our selues: this the Romanists doe, they diuide stakes betwixt God and man, grace and nature, Christ and Adam.

7. Thirdly, of making the best vncertaine of their saluation: for as they teach, no man can bee certaine of his owne righteousnesse, nor of the goodnesse of his workes, by reason of the manifold defects that cleaue vnto their best deeds, and also in respect of the vnscrutable deceit of mans owne heart, which is hidden not onely frō the eies of other men, but euen from a mans owne selfe, and is knowne onely vnto God, as the Prophet Ieremie telleth vs, and also in respect of the strictIer. 17. 9. rule of Gods iustice, whereby they must bee examined. For which cause, the holy man Iob sayth of himselfe (accordingIob. 9. 2 [...] as it is in the vulgar Latine translation) I was afraid of all my workes. And Saint Augustine sayth, and affirmeth the same;Aug. de peccat. me [...] it. & remis. lib. 2. cap. 10. Greg. morall. lib. 9. cap. 1. That though Iob was a righteous man, yet he himselfe was afraid of himselfe. And Gregory speaketh to like effect, when hee sayth; That the holy man Iob, because he saw all the merit of our vertue to be faultie, if it be strictly iudged by him which iudgeth within, sayth rightly, If I will contend with him, I shall not bee able to answere one for a thousand. Now, that which befell righteous Iob, how can it but bee incident to all Gods children? So, that though they talke of meritorious workes in [Page] generall, yet no man can be sure that his workes in particular are such: and therefore no man, be he neuer so iust, can be sure of his saluation. I speake not here of that certaintie which is by faith, which they deny, but that assurance which is by hope, which they confesse: for a man cannot possibly hope that he shall by saued by his workes; when as he cannot possibly know, whether his best workes are such as deserue the fauour or disfauour of God. And if it is the propertie of all Gods children by the example of Iob to be afraid of their workes, then how can they repose any hope and confidence in them? now all this is so euident, that Bellarmine himselfe isBell. de Iustif. lib. 5. cap 7. driuen after his long disputes, and much adoe in strengthening their doctrine of inherent righteousnesse, and merit of workes, to confesse ingeniously, like a good honest man, (being as it were sorrie for all that hee had said) that because of the vncertaintie of their owne righteousnesse, and the perill of vaine glorie, the safest way is, to repose our whole trust and confidence in the onely mercie and goodnesse of God. But this wee teach men to doe, that flying from all vaine confidence in their owne merits, they may repose themselues onely on the mercy of GOD in Christ Iesus: and therefore ours is the safest way.

8. And if ours be the most safe, then theirs is most dangerous, which also S. Bernard in as plaine termes affirmeth, whenBernard in Psal. qui habitat. he sayth: Periculosa habitatio illorum, qui in meritis sperant, perculosa quia ruinosa: dangerous is the dwelling of those which trust in their owne merit, it is dangerous, because it is ruinous. Now, who that is wise, will not chuse to walke in the safest way, and refuse the dangerous? or to dwell in a strong and safe house, which will keepe out the wind and weather; and not bee ouerblowne with any tempest, rather then in a ruinous cottage, which euery blast is able to ouerturne?

9. The doctrine of Free will is of like nature: for is it not3. Concil. Trid. ses. 6. cap. 3. Bell. de grat. & li. arb. 5. l. 5. c. 29 Coster Enchirid. de lib. arbitr. dangerous (thinke you) to ascribe some power to mans own will for his conuersion? as the Church of Rome doth, when it teacheth, that it is in mans free choice to accept, [...]rr [...]iect Gods grace offered vnto him: and so eyther to be or not to be conuerted. [Page] And is it not a safer course to ascribe all to grace; and nothing at all to will? and to say with our Sauiour Christ, that without him we can doe nothing: and with Saint Paul, That wee Ioh. 15. 5. haue no sufficiencie in our selues, to thinke a good thought, as of 2. Cor. 3. 5. Philip. 2. 13. our selues. And againe, That it is God which worketh in vs both the will and the deed of his good pleasure. In the one, God hath all the glorie of the worke: in the other, man is equalled with God, will with grace, yea preferred before it, for they not onely teach, that grace and will are like two men carrying Bel. de grat. & lib. arbi. li. 4. c. 15 one stone, neyther of them adding any strength vnto the other, and both free when they will, to cast off the burthen: but also, that Gods grace and working dependeth vpon mans will, not mans will vpon Gods grace. For thus they are not ashamed to say, euen the best and most iudicious amongst them. Licet in codem Bel. ibid. prorsus momento temporis, & naturae Deus & volunt as operari incipiant, tamen Deus operetur, quia voluntas operatur, non contra: .i. Though the God of nature, and▪ freewill, beginne to worke together, at the same instant: yet God worketh, because the will worketh, not the will, because God. Now, is not this not onely to equall, but also to subiect Gods grace to mans will, and to make the creature more powerfull then the Creator? For by this doctrine, if a man himselfe bee willing, and giue admittance to grace, he may be saued; but if God bee neuer so willing to saue vs, if we our selues willnot entertaine his sauing grace, all his labour is vaine: and so mans will must needs be of greater power and efficacie, then Gods grace: which how dangerous, yea impious a thing it is to affirme, let all men iudge. I am sure Saint Augustine was of another mind, who sayth not as the Romanists, that it is left to our freeAug. de corrept. & grat. cap. 11. Idem de grat. & lib. arbitr. ca. 17. choice, either to vse, or to refuse the grace of Christ, that standeth at the doore of our heart, to bee let in or thrust out as we list: but it is (sayth he) by grace, not onely that we can doe what we will, but that we are willing to doe what wee can, and againe, He worketh in vs to will without our selues, but when we are willing, then he worketh together with vs.

10. But yet, this is not all the danger which ariseth from this doctrine, though euen this is of sufficient feare; to terrisie [Page] any godly man from imbracing it: but there is more perill in it then so: the maine danger of it is this, if it bee not pure Pelagianisme, as it may well bee thought, yet it marcheth on the verie edge of the banke, so that if the foot doe but slip, it is presently in the gulfe of that heresie: for what did Pelagius hold, which the Church of Rome, in this doctrine of freewill, doth not eyther directly maintaine or approch nere vnto? he extolled mans nature, as that a man without the name of Christ might bee saued by freewill: so doe they: for Andradius telleth vs from the Councel of Trent, that Heathen Philosophers hauing no knowledge of Christ, were Aug. denatur. & grat. cap. 39. Idem Epist. 107. Idem cont. Pelag. & Celestin. cap. 32. Andrad orthod. expli lib. 3. pag. 277. iustified onely by the law of nature. Hee taught that it was in mans free-will, to giue entertainment or repulse to Gods grace: so doe they. Hee affirmed that a man might prepare himselfe to grace by his owne naturals, without any speciall worke of the spirit: so do they. Hee, to cloake all with some colourable pretence, confessed, that notwithstanding all this, there was a necessitie of grace required to all good actions. For thus he sayd (as witnesseth Saint Augustine) We so prayse Aug ibid. nature, that we alwayes adde the helpe of the grace of God: so doe they: albeit they striue for the freedome of mans will: yet they dare not but speake of grace, and grant vnto it some office in a mans conuersion, and therefore labour to reconcile natures will, and Gods grace together: Which neuerthelesse in fine they are neuer able to do, but are driuen to confesse, that it passeth the capacitie and apprehension of mans wit and vnderstanding. Howbeit, both Pelagius and they vnderstandBel. de lib. arbit. lib. 4. cap. 15. Benius cap. 20. pag. 353. Aug. Epist. 100. Bell. de. grat. & lib. arbi. l. 6. c. 15. by this grace, nothing but a thing that is common both to the wicked, and the godly. This to bee the grace which Pelagius required, Saint Augustine testifieth, and no other to be that which our Romanists speake of, witnesse Bellarmine, who affirmeth that the first grace of a sinners conuersion, is but onely a perswading, which doth not determine the will, but inclineth it in manner of a propounding, obiect. And Coster, Coster Enchrid. de lib. arbitr. that calleth it not grace dwelling in the soule, but only an outward impulsion, or motion knocking at the doore of the soule, and not opening the dore it selfe: as the Scripture sayth, that God opened Act. 16. 16. [Page] the heart of Lydia, but perswading freewill to open: and so standing at the Porters reuersion, and like a poore man wayting his leasure: much like vnto the attending of Henrie the Emperour at the citie gate, three colde winters dayes barefoote, and barelegged, till it pleased the Pope to let him in. Thus humble grace must attend, till pride will be pleased to open the dore vnto it. I will not say, that in all this Papisme and Polagianisme are all one, but (that they may see how loth we are to wrong them in the least circumstāce) this is too too apparent that they incline by this doctrine verie nigh to the borders of it, and almost touch the skirts. Who then will not thinke it a dangerous doctrine? And what madde man will voluntarily come to a person infected with the pestilence, when hee may well passe by him in further distance? or walke in the verie brinke of a sleepe banke, where if hee doe but tread awry he falleth into the Sea: whereas hee may walke safely further off, without any feare or danger? our doctrine therefore touching freewill ascribing all vnto God, and nothing vnto man, and submitting the will of man to the grace of God, hath no affinitie but opposition and contrarietie to Pelagius heresie, is therefore the safer, and of euerie wiseman to be imbraced, rather then theirs, which leadeth vs apparently into all these dangers.

11. Their doctrine of satisfactions is also a most perplexed4. and dangerous doctrine, and giueth no securitie to the conscience of a penitent sinner. For first, what safetie is there in a mans owne satisfactorie workes, when as all the actions and passions of a Christian (bee hee as absolute and perfect a man as possibly may be) by reason of the manifold defects and imperfections, which cleaue vnto his best workes, are far short of that which they should be, and vtterly vnproportionably to Gods iustice? and this they themselues denie not: for the Rhemists grant, that euery man (bee hee neuer so iust) yet Rhem. in Mat. 6. 1 [...]. because he liueth not without veniall sinnes, may truly, and ought to say this Prayer, Forgiue vs our trespasses. But veniall sinnes are sinnes, and stand in need of pardon; and Gods iustice requireth such a satisfaction, as is in euerie respect perfect: [Page] therefore our owne workes being tainted and stained with such sinnes, cannot stand in proportion with it. Is it not a dangerous thing then to trust to our owne satisfactions: which by their owne confession are subiect to veniall sinnes? and is it not more safe to rely vpon his satisfactiō only which is free from all staine of the least sinne, and able to answere the strist iustice of God in euery respect?

12. Secondly, the satisfaction which Christ hath made, not onely admitteth no exception, but is of infinite merit and valew, to answere the infinite iustice of God: but the satisfactions of a mortall man admit many exceptions, and are, if they were perfect, of a finite and limitable nature: and therefore cannot bee proportioned to the infinite iustice of God: whether is it more safe then to trust to an infinite satisfaction, that is, without all exception, or to a finite which may many wayes be iustly excepted against? I know, their cuasion is, that indeed it doth require an infinite vertue, to satisfie for the euerlasting punishment of sinne: but the temporall punishment being limited, may bee satisfied for, by a temporall satisfaction: a mere collusion: for first, if a temporall paine, or finite action, can merit and purchase an euerlasting reward, as they teach, why should not the same redeeme from an euerlasting punishment? their confession in the one condemneth their assertion in the other: and because they deny that our merits of satisfaction can rel ease from hell, they must also of necessitie deny, or at least blush to auouch, that our merits of purchase are of sufficient valew to deserue heauen: hell and heauen being as of equall distance from man, so of equal merit or demerit to man. Secondly, satisfaction is not to be respected, to the quantitie of the temporall punishment inflicted, but to the iustice of him that inflicteth it: and so though the temporal punishment be equalled by the penance of a sinner: yet the iustice of God which is infinite, is not satisfied nor equalled, and therefore the greatest penance cannot be termed a satisfaction to God: but Christs satisfaction being infinite, equalleth the iustice of God. Who would not then rather choose this, to rely vpon for his saluation, then [Page] the other? Thomas Aquinas seeing this, ascribeth an infinitieAquin. supplem. q. 13. art. 1. [...]d. 1 to humane satisfactions, in respect that they are informed by grace: but therein hee crosseth both all his fellowes and their doctrine it selfe: for if they be infinite, then they must needes answere aswell for the eternall punishment as for the temporall, which they denie.

13. Thirdly, they themselues cannot agree about their satisfactions, as whether they bee by precept and commandements:Vide D. Morton Protestant appeale l. 2. cap. 15. §. 7. and Doctor [...]ite pag 249. way to the true Church. or only by counsell and perfection, and not commanded: whether the vertue of satisfying bee in the outward or inward act, or in both; whether they serue to take away the temporall punishment onely, or the gilt of the sinnes, or the punishment of hell excepting the eternitie: whether they be so necessarie, that there can bee no absolution without them, or that a sinner may be absolued by his contrition, and confession, without penal satisfaction: and lastly, whether the least satisfaction be sufficient for the greatest temporall punishment; or that a due proportion is to be obserued. All these intricate questions are exagitated in this doctrine: some holding one thing, some another, without any iust, and sure resolution: what a dangerous thing is it then to relye vpon these vncertainties, which they themselues are not able to bring into grounded principles? how much safer is it to repose our selues wholly vpon that blessed satisfaction of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ, in which neyther Romanist nor Protestant could euer find any ambiguitie or doubt; but that it is of absolute necessitie for mans saluation, of infinite efficacie to appease the wrath of God, and of proportionable dignitie to the iustice of God?

14. Lastly, after they haue with one hand stretched the worthinesse of their satisfactions to the highest straine: yet they pull them downe againe with the other, and make them of no force: for let the satisfaction bee what it will, yet the Popes pardon can dissolue the bonds thereof: for it is a ruled case in their Religion, that all satisfactorie punishment may bee Suarez. [...]om. 4. disp. [...]0. sect. 3. released by a pardon: and this pardon may bee obtained by saying not onely ouer certaine prayers, visiting certaine Churches, [Page] worshipping certaine relickes, and kneeling to certaine pictures, &c. but also by disbursing certaine monie out of their purses, that may come to the Popes purse and coffers. Behold now the greatest danger of this doctrine, thy satisfaction is released and made no satisfaction, and it is released by him of whom thou maist iustly doubt whether hee hathGerson. 2. par. de Indulgent. authoritie so to doe, and whether he may erre in doing it: & hee doth it de facto, not examining whether thou bee truly penitent or no: but whether thou hast payd thy penitentiall tax or no: and that which is worst of all, hee so granteth it, that it is alwayes reuocable, at his secret pleasure: so that satisfaction is made no satisfaction, by the Popes pardon: the Popes pardon is made no pardon, because it is bought with monie; (thy monie perish with thee, that thinkest this gift ofAct. 8. 20. the holy Ghost can bee obtained with monie:) and the mony is cast away: because the Pope may both erre in his pardoning, and also reuoke his pardon when he list, without giuing any notice of the cause vnto the partie: what securitie can a Christian conscience find in these vnsure principles? How much safer a course is it to rely vpon Christs satisfaction onely, which is a true satisfaction indeed: not disanulled by any act eyther of God or man: not pardoned but performed, not purchased by monie, but by faith which is more precious then 1. Pet. 17. gold: and lastly, not reuocable by any power in heauen or in earth, but standing firme as an euerlasting foundation, for the saluation of the elect?

15. Touching Antichrist, whether side doth more incline5. to take part with his Apostacie, and is in most danger to bee inthralled to his dominion, let any indifferent man iudge: for wheras it is granted by all, both Romanists and Protestants, yea, and Fathers also, that Antichrist should bee a Monarch clayming an vniuersall iurisdiction throughout the whole World, and should also challenge to himselfe an infallibilitie of iudgement: Protestants abhorring all such manner of subiection, and renouncing all such power in any creature, cannot possibly fall into the Antichristian gulfe. But Papists Bell. de Rom. Pontif lib. 1. c. 5. professing the Pope to be the sole Monarch of the Church, and [Page] his iudgement to bee of infallible truth in the defining of mattersC [...]er de Pontif. Salmer. in Epist. Paul. disp. 11. & 14. of faith, must needs bee in more danger to bee in Antichrists Kingdome: we cannot be slaues to Antichrist, because we admit no gouernment like vnto his in the Church, nor any such peremptorie power of not erring in the gouernment. But they professing a gouernment and a power in that gouernment, so agreeable to the state of Antichrist, may suspect themselues to bee fallen into that Apostacie, as they are indeed ouer head and eares. Our religion then is more secure in this respect: whereas theirs, by their owne principles, hath some affinitie and correspondence therewith: and Antichrist himselfe may be in their Church, but cannot by any probable coniecture be in ours.

16 Againe, for the Article of Inuocation of Saints, the6. Romanists that hold the affirmatiue, are in many respects subiect to many more and greater dangers then the Protestants which hold the negatiue: for first, if their doctrine bee not true, they manifestly detract from the glorie of the Creatour, and giue the same vnto his creatures. Whereas if our doctrine bee false, wee onely detract from the glorie of the creatures, and giue it vnto the Creatour. Now, by how much it is a greater sinne to doe iniurie to the Creatour, then to the creature, by so much the more dangerous is their doctrine, then ours: and as it is safer to ascribe that glory to God, which is due to man, then to man that, that is due to God; so is there more safetie in our doctrine then in theirs.

17. Secondly, in respect of charitie: if they erre in this opinion, then doe they turne the holy Saints of God into abominable Idols, and so offer that wrong vnto them, which, they being iealous of Gods glorie, of all things most detest: as the examples of Paul and Barnabas, and of Peter, and theAct 14. 15. Act 10. 26. Reuel. 19. 10. Angell declare: but if wee erre, wee onely being iealous that Gods glorie may not be communicated to any other, depriue them of a little worship, which wee thinke belongeth vnto God, and in the meane while esteeme them as blessed Saints, and honour them by praysing God for them, imitating their godly examples, and keeping an honourable remembrance [Page] of them in our Churches. Now in charity, whether is a greater wrong to the Saints, to turne them into Idols, that is, into deuils, or for zeale of Gods glorie, to take from them a little of their due honour?

18. Thirdly, in respect of conscience: if they doe sinne in this, it is the horrible and fearefull sinne of Idolatrie, which being spirituall adulterie, causeth a diuorce betweene God and his Church: and is, if not in malignitie aboue heresie, yet heresie in the highest degree: for it robbeth God, not onely of his glorie, but of his essence, and lifteth vp another into his throne: but our sinne, if it bee a sinne, is at the highest, euen in the reputation of their slander, but heresie, and that in the lowest degree, consisting in matter of circumstance touching the worship of the creature, and not in any fundamentall point of Religion, that concerneth the Deitie. Now, whether conscience should bee more afraid of this or of that, I thinke no man doubteth that hath a conscience.

19. Fourthly, we are sure that we cannot inuocate any but the true God: for our Prayers are made vnto the blessed Trinitie, and to none other. But they are in danger to pray vnto false Saints in stead of true, yea, vnto those that eyther neuer were in rerum natura, or that are in hell: for the being of many of their Saints, is grounded vpon their Legends and humane Stories:Sum. Rossel. [...]rt. in canonizat. which were subiect to lying & erronious deceit, & the sainting of many that are inrowled in that Kalēder, dependeth vpō the Popes canonization, which they themselues cannot deny but is subiect to errour; in so much that Caietane, a learned andCan. loc. li. 5 c. 5. Plati in Bonif 8. Cathar ad [...]ers. noua dogmat. Caiet. p. 127. famous Romanist, is reproued by Catharinus another of the same stampe, for calling in question the pretended miracles for the Virgin Maries conception, saying, That if one Saint be doubted of, the rest also may bee doubted of; and therefore, that no man can inuocate or worship them, without manifest perill of Idolatrie. Now many of their Saints may bee iustly doubted of, if not worthily reiected (Saint Augustines saying being notorious) that many that are tormented in hell with Bell. de Sanct. beat. lib. 1. cap. [...] the Deuill, are worshipped by men in earth. Therefore their inuocation must needs be dangerous.

[Page]20. Lastly, that God heareth our prayers, no man doubteth: but how the Saints heare them, whether by the declaration of Angels, or reuelation of God, or in the glasse of the Trinitie, they themselues are not able to determine; what wise man now will relye his faith vpon such vncertainties? and not choose rather to make his prayers to God, who, wee are assured, heareth them, and knoweth the heart, rather then to them of whose knowledge and presence wee haue iust cause to doubt.

21. The worship of Images and relickes doth plunge the practisers thereof, into many apparent dangers, which the refusers cannot fall into. As first in shew, at least they cannot but be iudged breakers of the second Commandement, which forbiddeth the worship of any Image, of whatsoeuer is in heauē, earth or Sea, that is, in the whole world: but they worship many and diuers Images, of all sorts: therefore in shew must needs be transgressors of the second Commandement. Neyther can they rid thēselues frō this crime, but by new deuised distinctions of latria and dulia, I doll and Image, the one being of Heathen gods, the other of Christian Saints. And in a word, some of them are driuen to say, that this Commandement was no part of the morall Law, but a mere ceremoniall Vasques de aderat. lib. 2. disp. 4. cap. 4. precept, pertaining onely to the Iewish Church, as hath beene shewne before: vpon what quicklands, and shelfes are they driuen, that cannot cleare themselues from Idolatrie, but by such desperate distinctions, which haue no foundation in the word of God? the Commandement prohibiteth all worship of any Image, yea, of the Creator himselfe, and all his creatures: they come with their niceties of distinctions, and would make vs beleeue, that not all worship, but that onely which is called latria, is forbidden: nor all Images, but the Idols of the Heathen; that is, of such things as neuer were: nor to all people, but the Iewes onely. I am sure, we in shew▪ at least, and (in verie deed,) in truth, doe giue more reuerence to this Commandement: for plainly and directly, without distinguishing, diminishing, altering, or any wayes wringing the precept, wee condemne all worship of all Images, in all [Page] people whatsoeuer, as impious and Idolatrous: so that wee are in no dapger of transgressing this Commandement, as they are, if their distinctions helpe them not out.

22. This danger is in respect of God, another followeth in respect of conscience. The Paynims worshipped stockes & stones, that is, dead and liuelesse things, as both the Prophet Esay, and the Prophet Dauid doe plainly auouch. Now, doeEsay 44. Psal. 115. not the Romanists the like? for let it bee granted, that their Images and those of the Heathen differ essentially, and that in truth: our Romanists worshippe not simply stockes and stones, but the things represented by them; yet this cannot bee denyed, but that in outward appearance, their worshippe hath great resemblance to that of the Heathen. For when they fall downe before the crosse, and say, All haile, O Crosse, our onely hope, &c. as it is in their Masse Booke, and, Thou onely art worthy to beare the ransome of the World: what doe they, but at least in shew worship a stocke and a liuelesse thing as the Paynims did? and when they say, they worshippe not the thing it selfe, but the thing represented by the Image, (as in the Crosse, Christ that was crucified on the Crosse,) what do they but excuse themselues by the same reason which the Panims did? for Seneca sayth, that by Iupiter standing in the Capitoll, Senec. quest. natur. l. 2. c. 45. with lightning in his hand, they vnderstood the preseruer and gouernour of all things: and Peresius a learned Papist affirmeth, that few or none among the Gentiles thought their Idols Peres [...]rad. part. 3. pag. 45. to be Gods: yea, Saint Paul himselfe telleth vs, that the Altar at Athens was dedicated to the same God that Paul preached, Acts 17. 23. though vnknowne vnto them. So that in the matter itselfe, and in the manner of excuse, they are (without all doubt) cousen-Germanes to the Paynims: and if they bee not in the gulfe of their Idolatrie, yet they confine verie neere vpon the Coasts thereof: whereas wee more wisely march aloofe, and are afraid to approch any whit neere vnto them. This I speake by way of supposition, if their Image-worship bee not the same with the Paynims: but if it be, (as it is indeed, as hath beene proued before) then with the heedlessefish, they are leaped out of the frying pan into the fire: they are not any longer in [Page] the danger, but in the mischiefe it selfe: let them choose which of these they will, one they must needs fall into.

23. Thirdly, if wee respect charitie, this doctrine is in danger to breake the cords thereof, by giuing a double offence, one to their owne silly ignorant seduced people: for they not being able to distinguish of their schoole distinctions, latria and dulia, proper and improper worship, nor to put a difference betwixt the Image and the samplar, which it representeth, and being warranted to fall downe before the Image, doe ordinarily fall into Idolatrous worship: which is so common and notorious a thing among the ruder sort, that Polidore Virgil, Cassander, and Agrippa, all profest patrones of Poly l. Virg. Inuent. li. 6. ca. 13. Cassand. consult. art. 21. Agrip. de vanit. cap. 57. Popish superstition doe say, that it is an ordinarie matter, A wonderful superstitiō that is nourished by Images, & so apparent, that it cannot be denied. Now if this were a scandall taken, and not giuen, they might in some sort bee excused: but it is eūidently, not onely occasioned, but caused, by reason that both the doctrine is inuolued with so many intricate questions and distinctions, that it is impossible for an ignorant person to discerne thereof, and also because the Image it selfe (as the Prophet Habacuck telleth vs) is a teacher of lyes. For which cause, as Polidore Ʋirgil reporteth, the Fathers, of all vices, Polyd. Virg. quo supra. condemned the worship of Images, for feare of Idolatrie; the most execrable vice of all. The second offence is to the vnconuerted Iewes, who are most zealous in this point of the Law against Images, insomuch (as Iosephus reports of them) theyIoseph. Antiquit. lib. 15. cap. 11. did hate the verie Images of men in their Heathenish Trophees, as being forbidden them by God. Now it is well concluded by a iudicious obseruer of the Westerne Religions, (andS. EDW. S. without doubt is a most true obseruation;) that there is no one thing, in outward respects, that doth ingender in the Iewes such a detestation of Christian Religion, and keepe them from being conuerted, as the worship of Images in the Church of Rome; for they, and that by good reason, may thus dispute, If this Religion of Christians were of God, then they would not oppose themselues to the expresse Commaundement of God in worshipping Images, which he hath so plainly [Page] forbidden: but they oppose themselues to Gods Commandement, and worship Images; therefore their Religion cannot bee of God. Hence it is, as the former learned Relator doth report, that at Rome, though all the Iewes in the Citie are constrained once a yeere to come to a Christian Church▪ and there heare a Sermon, for their pretended conuersion: yet when as a Fryer, before the beginning of his Sermon, holdeth vp a Crucifix, and prayeth vnto it, in their open sight, they are more alienated from the Christian faith by this odious spectacle, then all the reasons and arguments that he can vse, are able to perswade them to the same. Behold two dangerous and fearefull scandals which arise from this doctrine: one, to their owne weake ones, of which our Sauiour saith, that it were better for a man, that a milstone were hanged about his necke, and that hee were throwne into the Sea, then that hee should offend one of them: the other, to the obstinate Iewes, whose conuersion shall be so beneficiall to the whole world, as that Saint Paul calleth it life from the dead. Now our ReligionRom. 11. 15. is farre from giuing any such offence to one or other, either in this, or any other point thereof, if it bee not vtterly misconstrued and misconceiued.

24. Againe, in their worship of Relickes, there is no securitie8. at all, both in feare of Idolatrie, which may bee well committed to them, if they bee true, in giuing them a higher measure of adoration then they themselues allow of, which is easio to bee done by the ignorant multitude: and also in feare of worshipping false relickes, in stead of true, whereof there is no small number in the Church of Rome, as hath bin alreadie declared: and lasty, in feare of neglecting the true members of Christ, by a too sumptuous prodigalitie towards the bones of (I cannot tel what) dead men, or other creatures, as is most vsuall in their Church, and that in great excesse: in which respects, it is without question a more safe course, that all such Relickes were buried vnder the earth, with due honour of Christian sepulture, then that they should thus indanger both godly pietie & Christian charitie. And this is the conclusion of their Cassander, who sayth, that it is more safe, [Page] rather honourably to burie those corruptible relickes, and to draw the World to the worship of their spirituall relickes, which neither time can corrupt, nor fraud counterfeit.

25. Againe they hold and teach, that traditions are to bee9. Concil. Trid. Sess. 4. decret. do. Can. Canus loc. l. 3. c. 3 honoured, with equall affection and deuotion, as is due vnto the olde and new Testament: and that there are many things belonging to the doctrine and faith of Christianitie, which are neyther expressely nor obscurely contained in the Scriptures. And therefore, by their owne confession, they build many doctrines of their Religion vpon tradition onely, without Scripture, and acknowledge, that without tradition many of them would reele and totter. The Protestants hold the contrarie, and constantly affirme, that the Scripture is an all-sufficient directorie, and a most absolute and perfect rule for faith and manners: and therefore that wee ought not to relye our faith vpon any thing, but Scripture alone. Now let vs consider, and examine whether of these two doctrines are more safe for a man to repose his soule vpon. And that our doctrine is so, may appeare first by the nature of the question it selfe, which is controuerted betwixt them and vs: for the question is not, whether the Scripture bee the Word of God, or no: therein wee shake hands, as an vndoubted truth: but whether traditions bee the Word of God or no: the affirmatiue they hold, wee the negatiue, and that by great and strong grounds, which our aduersaries themselues cannot deny, but that they carrie great shew of reason and probabilitie. Now whether is the safer course, to relye our faith vpon those principles that are vnquestionably Gods Word: or vpon those that are controuerted, disputed, and called in question? Any man that goeth about to buy a purchase, will sooner venture vpon such a title which was neuer called in question, nor can indeed bee doubted of, then vpon a broken, disputable, and vndecided title: he will looke twice vpon his pennie, before he part with it, in such a case, lest caueat emptor proue him to bee of little discretion, and teach him to repent when it is too late. This is the case of euerie Christian; wee are to buy the truth, and Pro. 23. 23. not to sell it, as Salomon counselleth. Now who will not, that [Page] hath any graine of wisedome in his heart, rather lay out his monie, that is, his soule and conscience (which as Augustine calleth it, is numisma Dei, Godscoyne, because his Image is imprintedAug. in Psal. 65. therein) for the purchase of that truth, which is without all exception in the holy Scriptures, then for that which is said to be in traditions, but mixed with many doubts and ambiguities? It is a rule in Law, that abundans cautela non nocet: a man cannot be too warie in making sure his title to any thing whatsoeuer. How much more then should it preuaile in cases of conscience, where the damage is not of house and land, but of our soules, which to euery man ought to be more precious then the whole world? Here is an euident direction for our choice, if we eyther loue the truth, or our own soules which must liue by it.

26. Secondly, it may appeare by the perpetuall certaintie of the holy Scripture, and variable vncertaintie of vnwritten traditions: for the Scripture was euer the same since it was Scripture, and so shall continue to the end of the World, no man daring to alter or change it, to adde thereto or detract ought therfrom, for feare of the curse denounced against such presumption. But Traditions are, and haue beene euer most variable and vnconstant: some that haue beene held for Apostolical traditions, being vtterly abrogated and abolished: as threefold immersion, or thrice dipping in baptisme for significationCanus loc. l. 3. c. 5 Maldon. in Ioh. 6 Durant. de ritib. lib. 3. cap. 24. of the Trinitie: giuing the Eucharist to infants, which was vsed 600. yeeres in the Church: standing in publike Prayers at Easter and Pentecost, and such like: and some altered and changed, as deferring Baptisme vntill the feasts of Idem l. 1. c. 19. Easter and Pentecost, into baptizing vpon any occasion; fasting vpon Wednesdayes and Saturdayes, into Wednesdayes and Fridayes; Binius tom. 1. Concil. fol. 247. Benius Schol. in lib. 7. constit. Clem. cap. 24. and so many ancient constitutions dispensed withall by the pretended Apostolicall authoritie of the Church of Rome, as is confessed by them. And that this is an vncontroulable truth, that one famous example of the contention betwixt the East and West Churches, touching the obseruation of Easter, doth euince: for the one side pretended a tradition from Saint Iohn and Saint Philip: the other from Saint Peter and [Page] Saint Paul. Now if some traditions bee thus vncertaine, subiect to change, abrogating, dispensing, and abolishing, all must needs bee of the same nature: and if all bee of that nature, then there can be no securitie in conscience, to suspend our faith vpon them: the safest way therefore is, to relye vpon Scripture alone; the fulnesse whereof Tertullian adored, and ofTertul. contra Hermog. cap. 22. Hierom com. in tit. cap. 1. Aug. cont. liter. Petil. l. 3. c. 6. the authoritie whereof whatsoeuer was destitute, Ierome iudged to bee nothing but vaine babbling: and besides the which, whosoeuer teacheth any doctrine of faith, Saint Augustine pronounceth anathema against him.

27. Thirdly, and lastly, by the infallible truth which shineth in the Scriptures, as the Sunne in the firmament, wherein no errour euer was found, no spots or blemishes, as in the Moone of traditions: no deceit, nor misleading, vnlesse in sence peruerted, as by Heretikes to their owne destruction: but many traditions haue beene as erronious and deceitfull in themselues, so the causes of much errour in the Church: witnesse Papius, who (as Eusebius testifieth) broched many exorbitantEuseb. li. 3. c. 33. doctrines, vnder pretence of tradition from the Apostles, and drew manie Ecclesiasticall Doctours moued by his antiquitie (for he was Disciple to Iohn) into the errour of the Chiliasts; and all the ancient Heretikes almost: who flying from the Scriptures, did shelter themselues vnder the pretextWeston de triplic. hō. offic. l. 3. c. 22. eyther of philosophicall principles, fained gospels, or forged traditions: and hereof, many ancient traditions themselues giue pregnant euidence, as those alleadged by Clemens Alexandrinus, Clem. Strom. to wit, Iustification by philosophie, Repentance after death, Preaching the Gospell to the wicked in hell; which the Romanists themselues condemne: or that of Cyprian, touching anointing to bee vsed in Baptisme, and mixing wine with water, which Saint Augustine relected as erronious: or that ofAug. cont. Cresconium. Iraeneus contra haereses. Iraeneus, who saith, that it was a tradition, that Christ suffered at fiftie yeeres of age; which is disallowed by all sound authoritie, and conuinced of errour by the Scripture it selfe. Of this kind a number more might bee produced, if need required: but these are enough to inferre the conclusion, that traditions are not of that infallible truth as the holy Scripture is, [Page] but rather subiect to errour and falshood: and therefore it can bee no part of Christian wisedome, to repose our faith vpon them; for it is to build vpon a sandie foundation, which will deceiue the building, in time of need.

28. Auricular confession hath as little securitie in the practice10. of it, as any of the former doctrines: for first it implieth inpossibilitie of performance, by requiring a perfect enumeration of all particular sinnes, both secret, and open, and that vpon danger of damnation, the absolution being frustrate, if this condition bee not obserued. Now, because no man is able to performe this, therefore no mans conscience can be assured of the remission of his sinnes by that sacramentall medicine: whereas on the contrarie, hee that confesseth his knowne sinnes to God, and forsaketh them with a generall detestation of all other vnknowne, though many escape hisProu. 28. 13. remembrance, yet by Gods promise is sure to find mercie: which is the doctrine of the Protestants. This is possible and easie to be done. The other impossible, and improbable: and that many learned of their side haue ingeniously confessed, as Cassander, Rhenanus, with diuers others. And albeitCassand. consult. art. 11. pag. 82. Rhenan. argum. in Tertul. de poenit. Concil. Trid. sess. 14. cap. 5. Suar. tom. 4. disp. 22. the Fathers of the Trent Councell in shew seemed to qualifie the matter with this limitation, that other sinnes which do not come into the mind of the partie confessing, diligently thinking vpon them, are vnderstood as generally included in his confession: yet the Iesuite Suarez confesseth, that the Priest cannot remit any one sinne, except the penitent confesse all that hee ought to confesse: and Maldonate another Iesuite, that becauseMaldon. Sum. q. 10. art. 8. 3. the Priest can remit no sinnes but such as he heareth confessed, therefore hee that must remit all, must heare all. And it is plaine, that whatsoeuer the Councell spake, yet it meant no otherwise, by the reason which they giue for necessitie of confession: which is, that the penitent may bee iudged whether he hath sinned or no: and if hee haue, in what kind, and degree, to the end that proportionable penance may be ioyned to his offence: and therefore it is required, that not onely the act of sinne, but all the circumstances bee discouered. (Who, Suar. tom. 4. disput. 22. §. 1. what, to what end, how, by what helpes, where, when) which are [Page] the seuen circūstances attending vpon euery actiō. Now how can the Priest iudge of the nature, qualitie, & quantitie of the sin, except he know it with all the circumstances? & if he know it not, how can he enioyne a competent satisfaction? And if no satisfaction be enioyned, then no remission eyther of the sinne, or at least releasement from the temporall punishment thereof can bee obtained. What a snare are mens consciences brought into by this intricate doctrine? How much freer and securer a course is it to confesse necessarily to God alone, voluntarily to the Pastor, in cases of distresse of conscience, and want of instruction, and penally to the Church in publike, for satisfaction not of God, but of men, for some publike offence committed? This is the doctrine of Protestants; which as it is free from impossibilitie, so it is full of safetie.

29. Secondly, their doctrine leaueth the conscience in doubt, whether the sinne bee truly pardoned or no, by the absolution of the Priest: for the Priest being a man, is vnable to search into the heart of a sinner: and so consequently may erre in the vse of the key: for if the Confessor bee an Hypocrite, though he make a true relation of all his sinnes with all their circumstances, and be therefore absolued by the Priest: yet it is certaine, that such an one is not absolued in Heauen, but stands lyable to Gods iudgement: because there must be by their doctrine, aswell contrition in heart, as confession in the mouth, or else no pardon can follow: but a Priest cannot [...]4 [...]o [...]. discerne of the heart. Nay further, many, if not most of their Romish shauelings, are vnable to iudge of the nature and qualitie of sin, much more of the quantitie and degrees thereof; & so consequently can neither impose a iust or proportionable satisfaction, without which no releasement; nor make the partie vnderstand the ease hee standeth in: that hee may take vpon himselfe voluntarie penance: or if need bee, purchase indulgence from the Pope. In all which respects, it is danger to trust our soules vpon such a slipperie foundation: but hee that confesseth to God his sinnes, and expecteth pardon at his hand onely, is sure that hee discerneth the secrets of the heart, and that he shutteth, and no man openeth, and openeth, and Reuel. 3. 7. [Page] no man shutteth: and therefore if hee absolue, though all the World condemne, hee is on a sure ground: and if hee condemne, though all the World acquite, hee is in a miserable case. In this doctrine there is no vncertainty, but strong comfort to the penitent sinner, and terrour of conscience to the obstinate and vnrepentant.

30. If they say, that the absolution of a Priest is certaine, vnlesse there bee a barre in him that confesseth, because our Sauiour saith, Whosoeuers sinnes you remit, they are remitted, and whosoeuers sinnes yee retaine, they are retained. I answer, that first, de facto, the Priest may erre, but God cannot: Secondly, he cannot choose but erre in absoluing, if the penitent doe erre in confessing, which hee is verie likely to doe: and thirdly, that when God purposeth to absolute a sinner, no barie can hinder the performance thereof: yea, hee infuseth grace into his soule, to hate his sinne, and power to forsake it. Is it not better then to trust vnto God then to man, and safer to confesse our sinnes to him that hath absolute power to pardon them, then to a Priest whose pardon depends vpon the vncertaintie of a mans true confession? These things be so cleare, that no reasonable man can doubt of the truth of them.

31. Lastly, confession to God hath manifest and vndeniable grounds in holy Scripture; but auricular Romish confession to a Priest, is by the iudgement of their greatest Clarkes, taken vp onely by a tradition of the Church, and not by any authoritie of the olde and new Testament: witnesse their Canon Law, Panormitane, Peresius, Petrus Oxoniensis, Bonauenture, Canon de poenit. Panormit. sup. 5. de poenit. Peres. de traa [...]. part. 3. consid. 3. Cerāz in Sixt. 4. Ouand. 4. d. 16. pro. 2. Rhen. Annot. ad Tertul. de poenit. Medina, Rhenanus, Erasmus with many more: and though the new Iesuites, and Rhemists auouch the contrarie, yet they but therein crosse their fellowes, as learned and wise, as themselues, and yet are not able to alleadge any one direct proofe of their opinion. Now is it not a safer practice to build vpon Scripture then tradition, that is, vpon God then man? And to chuse that kind of confession which no man doubteth to be warranted from God, rather then that, which the Patrones thereof themselues are at variance from whom it commeth? [Page] who that hath eyes, seeth not which of these is rather to be chosen?

32. Touching Purgatorie, it breedeth diuers dangerous11. consequences, as to their holy Pope first, who taketh vpon him to haue plenarie power ouer all creatures, especially ouer the soules in Purgatorie, which the Canonists call peculium Papae, the Popes peculiar: for it proueth him eyther to bee a lying Prophet, or a cruell Tyrant: if hee haue full power ouer them, why doth hee let so many thousand poore soules lye frying there without release? His suffering them to continue in that cruell torment, argueth him either to want power to relieue them, or mercie to put that power in execution: both which are vnbeseeming qualities for Christs Vicar. If they reply against this (as Antoninus doth) and say, that in respectAnton. part. 3. tit. 22. cap. 5. §. 6. & 7. of his absolute Iurisdiction, he may absolue all that are in Purgatorie: but if we regard the orderly execution thereof, in that respect the Pope may not, nor ought so to doe: I say againe, But why ought hee not? if it bee in his power? is it for feare to fill Heauen too soone with Saints? but that would be a great blessing, for then the consummation of all things would the sooner come: or is it for feare lest the iustice of God should be fully satisfied by a proportionable punishment? But the Popes indulgence can helpe that, for hee hath in his Treasurehouse such a surplussage of Saints merits, that can serue to make good whatsoeuer is wanting in their behalfe: and the Pope by their doctrine hath authoritie to dispence & dispose of these merits, at his discretion. Or is it for feare lest purgatorie should bee emptied, and so hee should lose one part of his Kingdome? But our Sauiour contented himselfe with heauen and earth to be vnder him and his dominion; and SaintMat. 28. 19 Phil. 2. 10. Paul attributes to his regiment things vnder earth, that is, in hell: and wil his Vicar needs haue a larger dominion then his Master? But indeed this is the true reason. For if hee should make a goale deliuerie, out of this infernall prison: then his chiefest sway were gone, yea, and his reuenue too. It stands vpon him therefore not to bee pleased to deliuer any out of these paines, vnlesse he bee well pleased for his paines: and if [Page] hee bee so, then the soules shall flye out of that place to heauen in whole troupes, as they say they did, at the Prayer of a certaine holy man, &c. In their leaden Legend this dangerLegenda. lighteth vpon the head of their head, the Pope, which, according to their doctrine, can by no meanes be auoided: it were better then for him to forgoe his profit which ariseth by purgatorie, then to vndergoe such foule discredit.

33. Another dangerous consequence ariseth hencefrom, to all the professors of Religion in generall: that is, a feareful presumption and securitie of sinning, when they are perswaded, that after this life they may be released from the paines of purgatorie by the prayers, almesdeeds, Masses and other meritorious workes of the liuing: for who would bee afraid to sinne, or carefull to make his saluation sure in this life with feare and trembling, when hee beleeueth, that by giuing a summe of monie at his death for Masses and dirges to be sung for his soule, he shall be certainly deliuered out of purgatory? This must needs cast men into manifest presumption, if not of all sinnes, yet of veniall sinnes, and ordinarie offences, which are to be purged by that fire, as they teach. Is not our doctrine more sound and safe, that informeth vs, that such as die in their sinnes, sinke downe to the lowest Hell, as hopelesse after death to bee relieued by anything that can bee done for their sakes by the liuing? doth not this teach men betimes to bee wise? and to finish vp the worke of their saluation before the night come? and make their peace with God, whilest they are here in the way of grace, not deluding their soules with a fond expectation of other mens deuotions? Sure it is, that the opinion of purgatorie and prayer for the dead, must of necessitie nourish a presumption of veniall sinnes at the least, which our doctrine adiudgeth to hell, without repentance, aswell as any other: and because few are able to distinguish betwixt mortall and veniall sinnes, but iudge them veniall which are to Gods iudgement mortall, as their Iesuite Coster confesseth,Coster Enchirid. de side special. when hee sayth, that that may seeme a light offence vnto man, which is haynous in Gods sight: therefore it must needs also bee in danger to breed a secret presumption of mortall sinnes also. [Page] And so, whilest they haue a blind conceit of the suburbes, which is Purgatorie, they cast themselues into the Citie it selfe, which is hell.

34. Lastly, this may be demonstrated to the conscience of any, not preiudiced with a blind zeale to the Romish Church by this reason: for that neyther Purgatorie nor Prayer for the dead, can directly be proued out of Scripture, as hath bin proued before concerning Purgatory, and is apparent concerning prayer for the dead; there being neither precept nor promise, nor direct example in the whole volume of Gods Booke for the same, as is confessed by their owne Bredenbachius: andOslander li. Papa non Papae, c. 17. besides hauing no sound foundation in the consent of ancient Fathers, as hath beene also prooued: but being founded vpon vaine apparitions, and strange reuelations of soules departed, which many of the Fathers were of opinion could not bee, as testifieth Maldonate, one of their owne Iesuites: for feare, Maldon. com. in Luc. 16. lest vnder that colour we should be drawne to superstitions: and others thought, that Deuils did faine themselues to be the soules of dead men, as witnesseth Pererius another Iesuite: yea, andPerer de magia lib. 1. cap. 11. Salmer com. in Rom. [...]. disp. 52. some of their owne Doctours haue beene perswaded, that all apparitions about Churches, are eyther demoniacall or phantasticall: whereas on the contrarie, our doctrine of two places is direct in Scripture, and was neuer denied by any authoritie, either of olde or new Diuines: I meane possitiuely, that there is a Heauen and a Hell: wherefore, this wee may safely beleeue, and repose our soules vpon: but to entertaine the beliefe of the former is as dangerous to the conscience, as doubtfull to the vnderstanding: seeing hee that doubtingly vndertaketh any action, is condemned as a sinner, because hee Rom. 14. 23. doth it not in faith: Faiths obiect being Gods Word alone, and not the vncertaine coniectures of humane opinions, much lesse the vaine apparitions of dead ghosts.

35. Againe, their doctrine of the absolute necessitie of12. baptisme, excluding thereby infants from Heauen, and confining them to a Prison in the brimme of Hell, there to indure the euerlasting punishment of losse, is a dangerous doctrine, both in respect of pietie towards God, and charitie towards [Page] our neighbour, and certaintie to a mans conscience: and consequently our doctrine that holdeth the contrarie, is more safe, in all those respects. For touching pietie, it is a great imbasing to Gods mercie, and a detracting from the glorie of his grace, to thinke that Almightie God should in iustice cast away the infinite myriades of vnbaptized infants, or that his sauing grace is so tyed to the outward Sacrament, that he cannot, or at the least, will not saue any without it: the first of these is confessed by many of the learned Romanists Caiet. in 3. Thom. q. 68. art. 1. & 2. Biel in 4. Sent. dist. 4 q. 2. Gerson part. 2. p. 303. Bel. de baptis. lib. 1. cap. 4. themselues, to be, à Dei misericordia alienum, not agreeable to the mercie of God, which exceedeth not onely the deserts, but euen the hopes of men. The second is confirmed, by a due comparing of the olde couenant of the Law, with the new couenant of the Gospell: for if it be true, that children dying vnder the Law vncircumcised, were saued by the faith of their Parents (as Saint Bernard thinketh) yea, and is alsoBern. Epist. 77. ad. Hug [...]n. de S. Vict. agreeable to the tenure of the Scripture: for many children dyed in the Wildernesse without the Sacrament of Circumcision: it being omitted for those fortie yeeres by Gods own allowance: and Dauid hearing of the death of his childe, before hee had receiued the outward character of Circumcision, as may be gathered out of the Text. did solace himselfe with2. Sam. 12. this confidence, that the childe was saued. Then it must needs follow, if the same priuiledge be not granted to the children of Christian Parents, that the couenant of the Gospell is not so large, as the couenant of the Law: nor Gods mercie so bountifull to Christians, as to Iewes; nor the merits of Christ so effectuall after his comming in the flesh, as they were before: by all which the glorie of the Gospell and grace of Christ is much defaced, and the vnbounded Ocean of Gods mercie limited and stinted.

36. Touching charitie, is it not an vncharitable conceit, to despaire of the saluation of poore infants dying without Baptisme? and that, both towards the infants themselues, who though they are borne in originall sinne, yet are innocent from actuall transgressions: and towards the Parents, who being themselues within the couenant, hereby are depriued [Page] of that chiefe comfort of the couenant, which is, that God is not onely their God, but the God of their seed: and towardes the Church, that hereby is robbed of a great part of her children, and made vnable to present young infants to her Husband Christ Iesus. Children are little beholding to them for this doctrine, Parents lesse, and the Church, the mother of the faithfull least of all. And indeed so farre is it from charitie, that it is full of damnable crueltie.

37. Lastly, touching the perilous consequences that follow vpon this doctrine, I need name but these three, to wit, first, that it maketh God more mercifull to men of yeeres, then vnto tender infants: for they teach, that men of yeeres (as Valentinian the Emperour) may be saued, by the Baptisme of the Spirit, or by the Baptisme of bloud, which is Martyrdome, though they want the Baptisme of water: but infants, albeit they may haue the Spirit of sanctification, euen in the wombe, as Iohn Baptist had, and may be Martyrs according to Bell de baptis. l. 1 cap 6. Mat. 2. their opinion, as the children that Herod caused to be slaine, yet if they want the Sacrament of water, they adiudge them peremptorily to be banished from Gods presence for euer. Now then children and men being in the same predicament: either the one must be admitted to Gods fauour aswell as the other, or it must needs follow, that God is partial and more fauourable to the one then the other. If they say that men, though they haue not the act of Baptisme, yet they haue votum, a desire vnto it, which being intercepted by some sodaine accident, is supplied by inward grace: I answere with Bellarmine, thatBell. de baptis. l. 1 cap. 9. as another mans sinne was the cause of the damnation of infants, so other mens faith sufficeth them vnto baptisme. Why should then the desire of one man be of more efficacie to his saluation, then the desire and purpose of the Church for the saluation of infants? To this purpose their owne learned SchoolemanAquin. 3. part. q. 68. & 69. sayth, that the child before it bee baptized, is in some sort partaker of the Sacrament of Baptisme, euen by the faith of the Church, which hath vowed him thereunto. And Bonauenture, asCassand. de baptis. Infant. fol. 148. par. altera. hee is reported by Cassander, sayth, that infants are disposed vnto Baptisme, not according to any act of their owne, but according [Page] to the act of other: because the mercie of God imputeth to them as their owne will, the will of another. Insants therefore stand still in as good case in euery respect, as men of yeares, if not in better, both being vnbaptized, and the one dedicated to God by their owne desire, the other by the purpose & desire of the Church: and therefore, either these may bee saued aswell as they, or else God is not so mercifull to them, as to these: which is no lesse then impietie to thinke, and blasphemie to pronounce.

38. Another wicked consequence that followeth vpon this doctrine, is, that it maketh God the Father, the Sonne, and the holy Ghost, euen that blessed Trinitie, that is the fountaine of all truth and goodnesse, to be lyars and teachers of vntruth. For God the Father sayth to Abraham, I will bee Gen. 17. 7. thy God, and the God of thy seed. And that this is not to bee vnderstood of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh onely, to wit, the Iewes, but much more of his seed according to the Spirit, which are faithfull Christians, may appeare both by that which is in the verie same place, where it is calledGal 3. 14. an euerlasting couenant, and by Saint Pauls testimonie, who affirmeth that the blessing of Abraham was to come on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus, aswell as on the Iewes. God the Sonne sayth, Suffer little children to come vnto me, for of such Mat 19. 14. is the Kingdome of Heauen: plainly affirming that the Kingdome of Heauen is pertaining to little children, and not barred vp against any, as our Romanists teach it is, against such little ones as dye without baptisme. Our Sauiour saith without exception, that the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth vnto them: they, as it were to make him a lyar, bring in an exception and say, that except they bee baptized, not Heauen, but Lymbus belongeth vnto them. And the holy Ghost by the mouth of Saint Paul sayth, That the children of beleeuing 1. Cor. 7. 14. Parents are holy: the reason is, because the root is holy, and therefore the branch must needs be holy: and if children may be holy before they be baptized then by the same rule they may goe to Heauen before they be baptized: for as no man without holinesse can see God: so with holinesse none can be banished out of the sight [Page] of God. And thus this doctrine giueth the lye to euery person of the blessed Trinitie.

39. If they say, that it is our Sauiours doctrine, that except a man be borne againe of water and the holy Ghost, hee cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heauen, and therefore, all those generall promises are to bee restrained by this exception (if they bee baptized:) I answere out of Bellarmine, that God is not tyed to his Sacraments, but can saue them by Bell de Christo lib. 4 cap. vlt. Cassa [...]d. de baptisanfant. par altera fol. 128. 134. his especiall grace: as also witnesse diuers others of their learned Doctours. And therefore, whereas our Sauiour saith, Except a man be borne againe, &c. it must needs be vnderstood by another exception, to wit, of cases of necessitie, where Baptisme cannot be obtained, and is not contemned: for not the want, but the contempt of Baptisme is damnable.

40. The third and last inconuenience that ariseth from this doctrine, is, that it is the mother of diuers strange paradoxes and grosse absurdities, as not onely of Lay mens Baptisme, yea, of Pagans, and that in scorne, but also of changing the true element into lee, or broth, or puddle water, and that which is most strange, of baptizing the childe in the mothers wombe before it bee borne, or ripping vp the mothers belly, in case the child be in danger of death, &c. some of all which absurdities are held by them all, and all by some. Is it not then more safe to hold that opinion which is more respectiue to Gods glorie, agreeable to Christian charitie, and free from all these dangerous consequences?

41. To conclude, omitting many other of their doctrines,13. which might easily bee shewne to stand in the same case of dangerous tenure, and hath in part alreadie beene manifested; as their doctrine of set fasts, implicite faith, veniall sins, dispensations with others more: I propound for the last instance, that doctrine of doctrines, the verie groundcell of their ruinous Religion, touching the veritie, authoritie and singularitie of their Church, which they vaunt and bragge to be the onely true Catholike Church of Christ, and to haue a preeminence ouer the Scriptures, and without the which to be no possibilitie of saluation: that there is no safetie in these [Page] positions many reasons will euince, as first, if it should bee true, that out of the bounds of that Church, none could bee saued then those famous Churches of Asia, which were in Pope Ʋictors time, that opposed themselues against the predominance of the Church of Rome, were all damned, wherein flourished many holy Martyrs that gaue vp their liues for the testimonie of Iesus. Then Saint Cyprian and all the Bishops of Carthage, to the number of fourescore, that in a Councell at Carthage set themselues against Pope Stephen and his Councell, were damned: and Saint Cyprian must bee no longer a Martyr but a Schismaticke; and then S. Augustine with the whole Church of Africa and troupes of Martyrs and Confessors should not bee crowned with blisse, but tormented in hell, for they reiected the yoke of the Bishop of Romes authoritie, and would not admit that any should make appeales from them to Rome. This horrible and vncharitable inconuenience doth arise from that dismall doctrine, The Church of Rome is the onely Catholike Church, and out of it there is no hope of saluation: now that these holy and heauenly Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus Christ were out of it, appeareth by their most receiued definitions, of a Catholike and a Schismaticke: A Catholike (faith Bellarmine) is Bell. de Eccles. milit. lib. 3. ca. 2. he, that is subiect to the one Pastor the Pope, whereby hee mak [...]th the essentiall forme of a Catholike, to be his vnion and coniunction Tollet. instruct. Sacerdot. l. 1. ca. 19. with his head the Pope: and a Schismatike (sayth Tollet.) is hee that doth separate himselfe from the head of the Church and the Vicar of Christ. I assume but Cyprian, Augustine, and those other famous Bishops did not acknowledge any subiection to the Pope, but separated themselues from his dominion; therefore they were by their doctrine no Catholickes but Schismatickes, and consequently out of the Church, and so out of saluation: a damnable conclusion.

42. Secondly, they peremptorily auouch, that none of vs being not members of their Church, can bee saued: we on the contrarie charitably beleeue, that many of them that are ignorantly members of their Church, if they hold the foundation [Page] of Iesus Christ, and depend vpon his merits, not their owne, so that their ignorance be simple and vnaffected, may bee saued. And hereupon they conclude, that it is safer to bee of that Church, wherein by our owne confession, a man may be saued: then of that to which they denie all hope of saluation: but it is a conclusion made by confusion. For who seeth not, that that is more likely to be the true Church, which is animated with charitie, then that which is void of charitie? and that it is safer to harbour vnder her wings, that is charitably affected euen towards her enemies, then vnder her, that is so miscarried with enuie, that she committeth all to the pit of Hell, that are not of her fellowship and profession: especially, seeing Saint Paul chargeth the Thessalonians, that If 2. Thes. 3. 14. any man obey not the Gospell, they should note him with a letter and haue no companie with him, that hee may bee ashamed, yet 2. Thes. 3. 14. 15 they should not accout him as an enemie, but admonish him as a brother? If then it be safer to thinke charitably of those that are without, then vtterly to condemne them all: then it must be also safer to bee a member of our Church then of theirs. And to make the matter more cleare, Saint Augustine is flat ofAug. init. Epist. 162 Glorio. & [...]lensio, &c. our mind; to thinke more Christianlike of Heretikes (as they repute vs) then they doe: for writing against the Donatists, thus he sayth, They that defend their false doctrine without obstinate boldnesse, especially, if they be not such as haue beene authors of those errours, but either receiued them from their Parents, or were seduced by others, and doe carefully seeke the truth, being readie to be reformed, assoone as they shall see their errours: such men are not to be esteemed as Heretikes. Thus writeth Saint Augustine, whereby hee condemneth the practice of the Church of Rome, and iustifieth ours as more agreeable to the rule of charitie: and thus, that reason whereby the Iesuites seduce many ignorant persons, falleth to the ground, and maketh more against them, then for them.

43. Thirdly, if the Churches authoritie bee aboue the authoritie of the Scriptures, then are men to bee preferred before God, and that which is subiect to errour, before that which can neither erre nor deceiue: for the Church consists [Page] of men: but the Scripture is immediately from God, and the Church may erre, though not in fundamentall points: but the Scripture cannot erre, no not in the least titte: the truth of this allegation is grounded vpon those reasons. First, because euery particular Church may erre, as is confessed, and therefore the whole Chuchin generall may erre also: for such as is the nature of the parts, is the nature also of the whole. Secondly, Councels, which are their Church representatiue, haue erred, as is notoriously knowne to all, and confessed by Saint Augustine, who sayth, that the decrees of prouinciall Aug. de baptis. cont. Donatist. lib. 2 cap. 3. Councels are subiect to reprehension. Yea, former generall Councels may be corrected by them that follow, as the Councell of Arimine, by the Councell of Constantinople, the second of Ephesus, by the Councell of Chalcedon: the Councell of Carthage, by the first of Nice, and the second of Nice, by the Councell of Franckeford. Thirdly, the Pope, that is, the Head of the Church, hath erred; this is also confessed, therefore the bodie can claime no better priuiledge: but sayth the same Augustine, There is no doubt of the truth of any thing Idem ibid. which is contained in the Scripture. Therefore, who can doubt to place the resolution of their faith, as the safest course on the Scripture, rather then on the Church; especially, seeing no particular writer of the holy Scripture can be taxed with the least errour but many particular parts of the Church, whether we respect the imagined head, which is vertually the whole Church, in their estimation, or the chiefe members in grosse, as the Councels, or the deuided ioynts, as particular Congregations, may iustly be challenged, as tainted with diuers errours in doctrines of faith.

44. Lastly, the Church of Rome may be the whore of Babylon, and so the See of Antichrist, if not necessarily as wee auouch, yet coniecturally as no man can denie; because spirituall Babylon is said to bee a Citie situate vpon seuen hils, and not onely so, but that raigned ouer the Kings of the earth; both which notes directly agree to the Citie of Rome: but the Church of Protestants cannot by any likelihood bee that whore, seeing neither of those markes doe in any respect [Page] belong vnto it. Is it not safer then, to rest our selues in her bosome, which by al probabilitie is an honest Matrone, then in her armes, which is a suspected harlot? If Caesar would haue his wife to bee without suspition, then euerie Christian had need to looke to his faith, whereunto he is as it were married by the Spirit of God, & wherby he is married vnto Christ, that it be not onely sincere, but also free from all suspition or likelihood of errour.

45. Thus we see, in these few maine points of the Romish Religion, compared with our contrarie assertions, that it is a farre safer course, to bee a Protestant, then a Papist: let all indifferent persons iudge and discerne betwixt vs: and I pray God direct them by his Spirit to choose the truth.

46. There is one thing yet remaining, whereby this may14. further appeare, and so and end of this whole discourse: and that is, that there is no one point of doctrine wherein they differ from vs, but is contradicted by some of their owne learned Writers shaking hands with vs, and crossing their owne Pew-fellowes: whence from, ariseth not onely another strong argument of greater securitie in our Religion then in theirs, which hath the suffrages of the greatest enemies to vphold it, but also of vnresistable truth, which worketh so vpon the consciences of the aduersaries thereof, that it forceth them, will they, nill they, to acknowledge it, now and then, as the Deuill himselfe was constrained to confesse Christ Iesus to be the Sonne of God. I might write a whole Volume of this point alone: but I will propound here onely some few instances, and so shut vp this Treatise.

47. Protestants teach that a man is iustified by faith alone,1. whereby the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed vnto him: and not by the inherent or adherent righteousnesse of his owne workes: the same is confessed by Thomas Aquinas, Aquin. in Gal. 3. lect. 4. & in Rom 3. lect. 4. & in 1. Tim. 1. lect. 3. Pighius cont. Rat. spon. cont. 3. pag. 47. who sayth, that no man is iustified with God by his workes, but by the habit of faith infused: and againe, that there is in the workes of the Law, no hope of iustification, but by faith onely: and by Pighius, who holdeth, that there is in vs no inherent righteousnesse whereby wee may bee iustified, but that our iustification [Page] is by Christs righteousnesse imputed vnto vs: and by the Diuines of Collen, who affirme, That the righteousnesse of Antididag. C [...]l [...]. pag. 29. Christ imputed vnto vs, and apprehended by faith, is the principall cause of our iustification: and by Cassander, who approuethCassander consul. art. 4. de Iustif. of our doctrine of iustification by faith alone, and imputed righteousnesse, So that wee exclude not from this faith, repentance, amendment of life, new obedience, &c. Lastly, by Ferus Stapulensis, Peraldus, and diuers others, yea, almost all of them, when at the point of death they come to the point of try all, flye to this sacred anchor of Christs righteousnesse alone, renouncing all righteousnesse in themselues, as the famous example of Stephen Gardiner declareth, who lying on his death-bed, reposed himselfe on the righteousnesse of Christ only, for his saluation: and being told, that it was contrarie to his former resolution, answered, that though it was the truth, yet that gappe was not to bee opened to the people.

48. The Protestants hold, that our best workes are stayned2. with so many imperfections, that they cannot merit any thing at Gods hand, except it be hell fire and damnation; and that though God of his mercie reward good workes with eternall life, yet it is not for any condignity that is in them, but for Christs sake, into whom the partie working is ingrafted and made a member. Many learned Romanists are of the same opinion: Bellarmine sayth, that in regard of the vncertaintie Bel. de Iustif. lib. 5. cap. 7. Walden. tom. 3. de sacram. c. 7. Bell. de Iustif. lib. 2 cap. 2. Ferus in Mat. cap. 20. vers. 1. Greg. A iminēs. p. 1. d. 17. q. 1. art. 2. p. 89. Durand. q. 2. dist. 27. p. 200. of our owne righteousnesse, and danger of vaine glorie, the safest way is, to put our confidence in the sole mercie and goodnesse of God. Waldensis writeth, Hee is a sounder Diuine, a faithfuller Catholicke, and more agreeing to the Scriptures, that simply denieth merits, and sayth that the Kingdome of Heauen is from the mere grace and will of the giuer; not from any desert of the Receiuer. Of the same opinion was Albertus Pighius, as witnesseth Bellarmine. Ferus sayth, Whatsoeuer God giueth vs, is of grace, not of debt. If therefore thou desire to hold the grace and fauour of God, make no mention of thy merits. The same hold Gregorius Ariminensis, Durandus, Stella in Luc. c. 7 Stella, with many more, renouncing all the new Rhemish [Page] doctrine of merits of condignitie, taught by the Schoole, & fourbished ouer by the Councell of Trent, and refining Iesuites. All these being sworne subiects to the Church of Rome, yet being constrained by the conscience of the truth, doe as fully and perfectly maintaine our doctrine, as if they were the rankest Protestants in the World.

49. Protestants denie all free will to grace, before it bee3. quickned and liued by Gods Spirit. Many learned Romanists teach the same doctrine. Laurentius Ʋalla (as Bellarmine Bel. de grat. & lib. arbit. l. 4. c. 5. Lumbard. lib. 2. dist. 25. reports) wished that the name of free-will were vtterly taken away. The Master of Sentences auouched, that free-will, before grace repaire it, is pressed & ouercome with cōcupiscence, & hath weaknesse in euill, but no grace in good; and therefore cannot but Dom. Bannes 2. q. 24. sinne damnably. Dom. Bannes affirmeth, that it is false, and worse then false, that any man, without the speciall and supernaturall helpe of God, can be able to doe a supernaturall act. Ariminensis Ariminens. 2. d. 29. art. 2. Suarez de auxil. grat. lib. 3. c. 20. calleth the Romish doctrine of free-wil, Pelagianisme. The Iesuite Suarez sayth, that diuers Romanists say, that it is a rash and hereticall opinion to affirme, that when grace is equally offered to two, that one of them could be conuerted, and not the other. What could any Protestant say more?

50. Transubstantiation, circumgestation, and subtraction4. of the Cuppe, are denyed by many of their owne side, as well as by vs. Durand sayth, It is great rashnesse to thinke, the Durand. 4. d. 11. q. 1. bodie of Christ, by his diuine power, cannot bee in the Sacrament, vnlesse the bread be conuerted into it: and therefore that he holdeth the contrarie, onely for the Churches determination. So also sayth Scotus, There is no Scripture to enforce Transubstantiation, Scot. 4. d. 11. q. 3 Occam. in Ce [...] tiloq. theolog. except ye bring the Church of Romes exposition. Occham sayth, that that opinion, that the substance of the bread remaineth, is subiect to lesse inconueniences, and lesse repugnant to reason and holy Scripture. The custome of circumgestation of the hoast (sayth Cassander) may Cassand. consult. art. 22. be left with greater profit to the Church, if it bee wisely laid downe: both because it is but a new inuention, as also, because it seruethrather for pompous ostentation, then for any godly deuotion: and so (as Albertus Crantzius sayth) is contrary to Christs [Page] institution. Pope Gelasius (witnesse Gregorie of Ʋalintia)Greg. de Valent. lib. 2. de Idolat. cap. 5. Cassand. consult. art. 22. said, that the substance of the bread and wine in the Eucharist doe not lose their nature. Touching abstraction of the Cuppe, their learned Cassander acknowledgeth, that for the space of a thousand yeeres after Christ, the people communicated in both kindes: and that in Greece and Armenia they doe still: and the best Catholickes earnestly desire a reformation of this matter in the Church of Rome. And Durand their Schooleman,Durand. Ration. l. 4. c. 55. that the receiuing in one kind onely, is not a full sacrament all receiuing: for though that in the consecrated hoast Christs bloud bee contained, yet it is not there sacramentally, in that the bread signifieth the bodie, and not the bloud: and the wine the bloud, and not the bodie. Of the same mind were Alexander Albert, mag. in 4. Sent. dist. 8. art. 13. Alex. Alens. q. 5 [...] Biel in can. tect 52. Alensis, Albertus magnus, Biel, with others more: this last affirming, that in the Apostles times all did receiue the wine aswell as the bread, because God is no respecter of persons. The second, that it is of greater vse and profit to the faithfull: and the first, that it is a matter of greater merit. Thus all these Schoolemen5. Panor. super 5. de poenit. & remiss cap. omnes. Peres. de tradit, part. 3 consid. 3. Ouand. 4. dist. 16 pro. 2. Refert. Henric. Sum. p. 206. Rhenan, annot. ad Tertul. de poenitent. Erasm. annot. ad Hierom. de obitu Fabi [...]l. Caiet. in 3. Thom q. 80. art. 4. Grat. decret. de poenit. d. 5. cap. In poenit. Acosta lib. 6. de procurand. Ind [...]r sal. c. 16. doe protestantize in this point.

51. Auricular confession is denied by Protestants, to be necessarie for the remission of sinnes, and to bee commanded by God. The same is auerred by Panormitane, Peresius, Bonauenture, Medina, Rhenanus, Erasmus, Caietane, &c. all of them concluding with one voyce, that it is a doctrine deriued onely from a positiue Law of the Church, and not from the Law of God; yea, and the last that is named (to wit Cardinall Caietane) is bold to say, that it is so farre from being commanded, that euery one should be shriuen, before hee come to the Communion; that the contrarie is insinuated by the Apostle, where hee sayth, Let a mantry himselfe: And Gratian confesseth; that Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostome, Theophilact, and other Greeke Fathers thought, that secret confession was not necessarie. And lastly, Acosta, a famous Iesuite, auoucheth, that it would be well for the Indians, if the bond of confession might bee taken away, lest they should bee constrained to commit so many and so grieuous sacriledges.

[Page]52. So the Romish doctrine of satisfactions is vtterly condemned6. by Protestants; and not onely by them, but by many of their owne learned Doctours: for the Diuines of Louaine (as Bellarmine witnesseth of them) and others, did certainlyBell. de Indulg. lib. 1. cap. 4. defend, that the sufferings of Saints cannot bee true satisfactions, but that our punishments are remitted onely by the personall satisfaction of Christ. And Panormitane sayth, that a man may be inwardly so penitent and contrite, that he shall need no satisfaction at all, but may bee absolued presently without any penance doing. And another, that the treasure of Indulgences Vide Mortons Apol. lib. 2. cap. 12. p. 398. doth consist onely of the merits of Christ, and not of the satisfactions of Saints, because the merits of Christ are of infinite valew.

53. Protestants condemne the worship of Images, taught7. and practised in the Church of Rome, but they are not alone therein: but haue many Romanists for their abetters and companions. Cassander concludeth out of Saint Augustine, Cassand. consult. that there were no Images in all the Churches of his Diocesse. And Polydore Virgil writeth, that by the testimonie of Ierome Polyd. Virgil de Inuent. l. 6. c. 13. it appeareth, how in a manner all the ancient Fathers condemned the worship of Images for feare of Idolatrie: thus speaketh he in his vncorrupted editions, but in his later editions, his tongue is tyed by the Belgicke Index: others, as Holcot, Durand, Index Belgic. in Polyd. Ʋirgil. Holcot lec. 157. in Sapient. Durand. 3. d. 9. q. 2. Alphons. haeres. verb. adorat. Sixt. Senen. bibl. lib. 3 annot. 247. Abbas Vrsperg. anno 793. Rhegino an. 794 pag. 30. Concil. Mogunt. anno 1549. sub Sebast. c. 41. & 42. Alphonsus, flatly affirme, that no worship at all is due to an Image, neither is it lawfull to worship it: diuers Councels also decreed the same, as the ancient Councell of Eliberis propounded this onely remedie against Idolatrie, that no Images should bee painted in Churches: but this Councell was not Romish, for Poperie was then scarce in the Embrio: therefore of later time a mere Romish Councell, to wit, that of Franckford, consisting of many Romish Bishops and the Popes owne Legates, condemned all worship of Images: and a later yet, to wit, the Councell of Mentz, held in the yeere 1549. decreed, that the Image it selfe was not to bee worshipped: but that by the Image of Christ, men should bee stirred vp to adore Christ: which is contrarie to the new professed doctrine of the Church of Rome.

54. Many Romanists, as well as Protestants, reiect the intercession [Page] and inuocation of Saints, as an Article not found eyther in the olde or new Testament. In the olde Testament (sayth Salmeron) The Patriarchs vsed not to be inuocated, both Salmer com. in [...]om. 2. disp. 8. because they were not in perfect estate of blessednesse, and also, because there had beene then a danger of Idolatrie, to offer that honour vnto them. And for the new Testament, the same Iesuite confesseth, that this article is not expressed, because the I [...] ibid. disp. 1. Iewes would haue thought it an hard matter to inuocate Saints departed, and the Gentiles would haue taken occasion to haue thought, that the worship of new Gods had beene prescribed vnto them. Of the same opinion was Ecchius, who peremptorilyEcchius Enchir. Faber Stapul. praef. in Euang. affirmeth, that the inuocation of Saints departed, is not commanded in the holy Scripture. And Faber Stapulensis thus writeth, I would to God, that the forme of beleeuing might bee fetcht from the Primitiue Church, which consecrated so many Martyrs to Christ, and had no scope but Christ, nor imployed any worship to any, saue to the one Trinity alone.

55. That a Christian may bee certaine of his owne standing9. in present grace, and of his future saluation, is the doctrine of Protestants, denyed by the Church of Rome, and yet approued by many of her deare children: as for example: Euery one that beleeueth, seeth that he doth beleeue (sayth Dominicus Dom. Bannes in T [...]om. 2. 2. p. 359. Bannes) A Christian man, by the infallible certaintie of faith which cannot bee deceiued, certainly knoweth himselfe to haue a supernaturall faith (sayth Medina.) Some spirituall Medina 1. 2. q. 112. art. 5. men may be so certaine that they are in grace, that this their assurance shall be free from all feare and staggering (sayth Vega, reported by Gregory de Valentia. And touching assuranceGreg. de Valent. tom. 2. p. 957. Medina quo supra. Staplet. de Iusti. lib. 9. cap. 11. Dom. Bannes 22 q. 18. art. 4. of eternall life, the same Medina sayth, that hee would haue euery beleeuer certainly to hope that he shall obtaine eternall life. And of the same opinion are al the rest of them, saue that they will haue this certainty to be of hope, and not of faith: and so the difference is in words, and not in the thing; for they make it to be without doubting or wauering, firme and assured, aswell as we.

56. That concupiscence is a finne in the regenerate, is affirmed10. by Protestants; contrary to the receiued doctrine of [Page] the Church of Rome: & yet many Romanists themselues shake hands with the Protestants in this point: as Ribera a Iesuite,R [...]b [...]r com. in He [...]. 12. who writing vpon the twelfth of the Hebrewes sayth, that by sinne hanging fast vpon, is meant the concupiscence of the flesh against the holy Spirit, which the Apostle vseth often to call by the name of sinne: and Tanner, another Iesuite, acknowledgeingTanner exam. Hu [...]. Reucl. c. 13. §. sed quia. that concupiscence in the regenerate, is called sinne by the Scripture, sayth, that it is a great wickednesse, to traduce as blasphemous, the manner of speech, true in it selfe, and imitating the Scriptures: yea, and Stapleton calleth it a certaine iniquitie, Stap. de concupiscent. in Renat. lib. 3. cap. 2. Bel. de Iustif. l. 4. cap. 13. Cassand. confut. art. 2. and obliquity not onely against the dominion of the mind, but also against the Law of God. Now Bellarmine telleth vs, that whatsoeuer is contrarie to the Law of God, is mortall sinne. Cassander playeth the Protestant in direct termes in this point: for he sayth, that if we respect sinne as an iniquitie or disease, which must be resisted by the spirit, lest it burst forth into vnlawfull acts, concupiscence is not vnfitly called sinne: but if we respect it as an offence to God, and guiltinesse to which punishment and damnation is answering, it is not thus sinne in the regenerate.

57. Touching marriage of Priests, which the Church of Rome condemneth, as execrable, filthie and abominable; & we allow as holy and lawfull: we haue their owne Doctours11. on our side, and against their owne mother. Gratian sayth,Grat. Caus. 26. q. 2. Can. Sors. Espens. com. in Tit. cap. 1. Caiet. tom. 1. tract. 27. Pius 2. Epist. 321. & apud Plat. in eius vita. Panor. de Cler. coniu [...]. c. cii olim Cassand. consul. art. 23. Eras. annot. in 1. Tim. 3. p. 533. that marriage of Priests is not prohibited eyther by legall, or Euangelicall, or yet Apostolicall authoritie, but by Ecclesiasticall onely. Espenseus sayth, that for many hundred yeeres after the Apostles time, by reason of the want of others, Priests were married. Caietane affirmeth, that if wee stand onely to the tradition of Christ and his Apostles, it cannot appeare by any authoritie or reason, that holy order can be any hinderance to marriage, eyther as it is an order, or as it is holy. Pius the second, one of their owne Popes, affirmeth, that it is better for a Priest to marry, then to burne, though hee haue vowed the contrary: and that there be many reasons to forbid Priests marriage, but more to allow it. Panormitane, Cassander, Erasmus, doe all agree, that in regard of the monstrous and filthy effects that follow a [Page] vowed single life, it were better both for Gods glory, and the auoyding of scandall in the Church, that libertie of marrying were granted to all men. And Espenseus and Agrippa doe grieue andEspens. com. in Tit. c. 1. Agrip. de v [...]it. cap. 64. blush, to behold rather Concubines and Stewes to bee permitted to their Clergy, then lawfull wiues.

58. The Popes Primacie, or rather Supremacie in all affaires,12. and ouer all persons, challenging the iurisdiction of both swords, and authoritie of supreme Iudicatures in cases of controuersie, and interpretation of Scripture with an infallibilitie of Iudgement, is the verie foundation of Poperie: & yet the same is razed not onely by Protestants, but by many of their owne ranke, that are both by name and profession Papists. Concerning his temporall Iurisdiction, so stiffely maintained by Bellarmine and the Iesuits; our Wisbich PriestsLibel. Colleg. Wisbish in Resp. ad ordin. Iesuit. patron. gen. p. 15. Espens. cō. in Tit. 3. degres. 10. Tolos. de repub. l. 26. c. 7. & 10. Bell. de Rom. Pontif l. 5. c. 7. affirme, that this power was neuer giuen vnto Peter. Espens [...]us condemneth it in direct tearmes. Tolosanus confesseth, that for two hundred yeeres after Christ, it was neuer read, that Christians attempted any thing against their Emperours: and that this was not for want of strength (as Bellarmine would haue it: he sayth▪ that euen then they did not attempt any such thing, when in number and strength they might make their party good: but in this extolled their Religion aboue all other, by defending this most holy doctrine, That all men ought to obey the Magistrates. The notable and learned Treatises of Barclay a French man, Blackwell, Warberton, &c. our Countrey-men, all profest Romanists, doe peremptorily and plainely by many reasons confute the same. Touching his spirituall iurisdiction, though there bee fewe of them that gain-say that, yetGreg. mag. l. 4. Epist. 32. 3 [...]. 38. 39 Gregory the great, one of their owne Popes, may stand in stead of many, who, by many letters, both to the Emperour, and Bishop of Constantinople, sheweth, that no man ought to be an vniuersall Bishop ouer therest; calling that name in detestation, vaine, proud, prophane, blasphemous, mischieuous, Antichristian, against the commandements of God, and decrees of Councils; and peremptorily sayth, that he is a follower of Sathan, and a fore-runner of Antichrist, that assumeth it to himselfe.

[Page]59. And that the Pope is not the supreme Iudge in the Church, nor of infallible iudgement, but the Scripture only; many of them are of opinion aswell as we. Aquinas saith, that the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles is the rule of our Aquin. in 1. Tim. 6. lect. 1. Antonin. Sum. part. 3. tit. 18. c. 3. §. 3. Gerson. de Comun sub vtra. que specie. Clingius loc. lib. 3. c. 29. p. 292. Peresius. Bel. de verbo Dei, l. 1. c 2. Vict. relect. 4. num. 6. vnderstanding. Antoninus saith, that God hath spoken but once, and that in the holy Scripture, and that so plentifully, to meet with all temptations, and all cases that may fall out. Gerson saith, that the Scripture is the rule of our faith, which being well vnderstood, no authority of men is to be admitted against it. Gonradus Clingius saith, that the Scripture is the infallible rule of truth, yea the measure and Iudge of the truth. Peresius saith, that the authority of no Saint is of infallible truth, for that honour is due only to the Scripture. Yea, Bellarmine their Ring-leader confesseth the Scripture to be the most certaine, and most safe rule of faith. Franciscus Victoria saith, that the Pope, in dispensing against the Decrees, Councels, and former Popes, may erre and grieuously sinne. Alphonsus de Castro diueth deeper, and saith,Alphons. de Cast. l. 1. c. 4. aduers. haeres. Bozius tom. 2. de sig. Eccles. l. 28 c. vlt. Almayn. Qu. in Vesper. that euery man, yea the Pope, and that as he is Pope, and Pastor of the Church, may be deceiued. Bozius pierceth yet deeper, and saith, that the Pope may be an Heretike, yea write, teach, and preach heresie. And lastly, Almayne saith, that the power of not erring in the faith is not alway in the Pope. Are not all these now Protestants in this point? But for fuller satisfaction in this point, I referre the Reader to the reuerent and iudicious Deane of Winchester, Doctor Morton, with others, who haue largely and learnedly discouered this matter in their writings.

60. The like might bee shewne in all other points: these few instances therefore shall suffice for this time, to perswade that it is farre more safe to subscribe to the Religion of Protestants, then of Romanists: seeing we hold nothing, which many of their owne ranke and order doe not maintayne aswell as we; and what, I pray you, could mooue them thus to doe, being sworne subiects to the Church of Rome, but the euidence of truth, which shined so cleerely to their consciences, that they neither could, nor durst gaine-say the same?

[Page]

Conclusion.

NOw then, gentle Reader, these things being thus cleerly proued, viz, First, that the Religion of the Church of Rome giueth open libertie to sinne. Secondly, that it maintayneth by the grounds therof, things forbidden by all lawes, Diuine, Naturall, and Humane. Thirdly, that it imitateth the Iewes in those things, wherein they are enemies to Christ. Fourthly, that it derogateth from the glorie of Gods mercy, and efficacy of the merits of Christ, in the worke of our redemption. Fiftly, that it refuseth to bee tryed by the Scriptures, and will be iudged and tryed by none, but it selfe. Sixtly, that it is at defiance and profest enmitie with the sacred Scriptures. Seuenthly, that it maintayneth grosse and palpable Idolatrie. Eightly, that it is contrary to it selfe by manifest contradictions. Ninthly, that it is apparently opposite to the Gospell of Iesus Christ. Tenthly, that it nourisheth grosse and barbarous ignorance amongst the people. Eleuenthly, that it was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time, nor in the primitiue Church. Twelfthly, that it vpholdeth it selfe by vnlawfull, vniust and vngodly meanes: and lastly, that it is dangerous and vnsafe, both in respect of Gods glorie, mans conscience, and Christian charitie. I say, all these things being thus cleerely demonstrated; what remayneth, but that wee abhorre the same, as the Religion of the great Whore, and her Paramour Antichrist, who with their cup of fornications, and vaine pretext of Peters authoritie, haue besotted heretofore all Nations of the earth? and cleaue to the sinceritie of the Gospell, taught and professed in the Church of Protestants, which is free from all these imputations; for it neither giueth libertie to sinne, nor maintayneth any thing that is vnlawfull, nor imitateth the Iewes; ascribeth all the worke of our redemption to Gods mercy, and Christs merits onely, desireth to bee tryed and examined by the Scriptures; reuerenceth the fulnesse and perfection thereof; [Page] abhorreth all shew of Idolatrie, is not at enmity and opposition, but keepeth a sweet harmony with it selfe: doth not crosse the Gospell, not so much as in shew: condemneth and laboureth against ignorance; is agreeable to the doctrine of the Apostles, and primitiue Church; maintayneth it selfe by no vnlawfull meanes: and lastly, hath great safetie and securitie, in the profession thereof. Good Christians must bee like good Gold-smiths, who will not take a piece of gold of any mans word, but will trie it by the touch-stone, and weigh it in the ballance. The Truth is like gold: it behoueth all therefore, to trie it and weigh it, before they entertayne it into their soules, lest they receiue in stead of pure mettall, that which is counterfeit and light; trie therefore these two Religions, which of them hath the truth, and without partialitie or affection retayne the good, and reiect the counterfeit: remember that the truth of Christians (as Saint Augustine saith) is more Aug. Epist. ad Hieron. Ambros. in Ser. beautifull incomparably, then Helene of the Grecians: and that it alone (as Saint Ambrose saith) freeth; alone saueth; alone washeth: and therefore though it be hid in a deepe pit (as the Philosopher said) yet it is diligently to be digged for, of all them that desire the saluation of their soules. In a word, let not the darke mists of error and superstition blinde thine eyes, but open them wide to the beholding of the bright light of truth, that shineth round about thee, and know, that if the Gospell be hid, it is hid to them that perish, in whom the god of 2. Cor. 4. this world hath dazeled their mindes, that they should not see the light of the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ. I desire no more credit at thy hands, then the euidence of these reasons produced do require: and therefore if they be true, then yeeld assent vnto them for thine owne soules sake: if they be false, declare for my soules sake wherein the falshood lurketh, and I will be as ready to recant, as thou to refute. The Lord of his mercy anoint both our eyes with the eye-salue of his Spirit, that we may see the truth, and supply them with the oyle of his grace, that we may bow and bend vnto it, and strengthen vs with his diuine power, that wee may constantly professe and perseuere [Page] in the same to our liues ends: faxit Deus for his only begotten Sonne, and our only blessed Sauiour Iesus Christs sake, to whom b [...] all honour, power, maiestie, preeminence, and dominion, for euer and euer.

AMEN. Soli D [...] vnitrin [...] sit laus in sempiternum.

FINIS.

To the Reader.

[Page]

THus it happeneth▪ [...] Reader) by an ineuitable necessity, where the Author cannot be presen [...] I pray thee these faults escapes and couer [...] of charity: But if malice picke quarrell let it know, that there▪ is nothing▪ alledged, which in substance shall not bee iustified, though per aduenture it may faile in circumstance. Farewell.

ERRATA.

[...] twelue▪ [...] p. 10, l. 33. Torelius, r. rec [...]lius. p. 28. 35. or r. for. p. 41. l. 37. them, r. [...] r. conceptions. p. 44. l. 17. Scotus, r. Sotus. p. 48. l. 3. venalia, r. [...] 2. [...], r. [...]. p. 65. l. 7. cand [...]labro, r. candelabri. p. 71. l. 15. Gregory the eleuenth, [...] l. 17. Paul the second, r. Sixtus quartus. p. 78. l. 2. sound, r. found. p. 81. l. 3. [...] p. 88. l. 1 [...]. fabulis, r. tabulis. p. 90. l. 34. operaturo, r. operatur. p. 98. l. 2. [...] l. 16. m [...]e, r. more. p. 121. l. 12. third, r. fourth. p. 148. l. 20, Church, r. Iudge▪ [...] r. guided. p. 159. l. 31. scriptuarii, r. scripturarii. p. 167. l. 20, to be spoken Christ, r. to be [...] Chr [...]st. p. 183. l. 21. word, r. words. p. 192. l. 1. Moses, r. noses. p. 159. [...]. [...]2. contraction, r. contra [...]. p. [...]05. l. 12. Lusianus, r. L [...]cianus. p. 207. l. 34. Eunimian, r. Eunomian. p. 211. l. 24. Paludamus, r. [...] p. 221. l. 17. & 18. make a full point after fancies▪ and a comma after wants. p. 224. l. 9. exa [...], r. ex [...]men. p. 225. l. 26. Apostophers, r. Apostrophes. p. 226. l. 30. Alexander Alensis the r. Alex. Alensis one of the. l. 37. effected. r. affected. p. [...]37. l. 12. Carnians, r. Cainians. p. 238. l. 26. Paulae. r. Pau [...]. p. 242. l. 12. Marionites, r. Marcionites. p. 243. l. 9. that is, r. that, we must &c. p. 250. l. 28. pulpate, r. [...]. p. 252. l. 10. waiting, r. washing. p. 261. l. 2. sacrifizing, r. sacrific [...]. p. [...]. l. 12. former, r. forma [...]. p. [...]. [...]. [...]4. first. r. fi [...]t. [...]. 282. l. 2. martyro, r. martyros. p. 294. l. 6. monothebit, r. monothelit. p. 296. l. [...]. propos [...], r. praeposition. p. 298. l. 5. that first one, r. that one. p. 302. l. 18. Dominius, r. Dominicus. p. 314. l. [...]. ye [...] ▪ they. p. 315. l. 2. [...]lt the, r. built vpon the. l. 16. truely, r. true. p. 319. l. r. primary, r. primaci [...]. p. 320. [...]. 9. with, r. which. p. 335. l. 22. beare, r. beere. l. 23. sinnes, r. sinners. p. 353. l. 29. of your, r. of the. p. 354. l. 35. [...], r. [...]. p. 373. l. 13. decideth, r. diuideth. l. 28. Cisterēsians, r. Cistercēsians. p. 377. l. 7. [...]s [...]s, r. [...]esum. p. 380. l. 22. one, r. our. p. 384. l. 19. but, r. or. p. 392. l. 12. Mortanus, r. Montanus. p. 393. l 23 [...], r. for. p. 409. l. 17. put in, r. put it in. p. [...] 3 [...]. Enchiriden, r. [...]. p. [...]. l. 23. Hobrot, r. Holcott. p. 422. l. [...] Guimardine, r. [...] [...]. p. 427. l. 30. deuices, r. decrees. p. 434. l. 9. Bargency, r. Baugency. p. 447. l. [...]. Elipsia, r. Lypsia. p. 450. l. 2 [...]. Mauclerus, [...]. Nauclerus. p. 452. l. 30. Reminia, r. Remmia. p. 466. l. 12. goods, r. good. l. 26. some direct [...]. for direct. p. 478. l. 27. defiled, r. defyed. p. 486. l. 36. Iudices expurgatorii, r. Indices expurgatorii.

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A retractiue from the Romish religion contayning thirteene forcible motiues, disswading from the communion with the Church of Rome: wherein is demonstratiuely proued, that the now Romish religion (so farre forth as it is Romish) is not the true Catholike religion of Christ, but the seduction of Antichrist: by Tho. Beard ...

Beard, Thomas, d. 1632.

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1616

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2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

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A06106

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STC 1658

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ESTC S101599

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99837408

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99837408

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1727

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Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1370:08)

Source

— A retractiue from the Romish religion contayning thirteene forcible motiues, disswading from the communion with the Church of Rome: wherein is demonstratiuely proued, that the now Romish religion (so farre forth as it is Romish) is not the true Catholike religion of Christ, but the seduction of Antichrist: by Tho. Beard ..., Beard, Thomas, d. 1632..

Extent

[16], 543, [1] p.

Printed by William Stansby, and are to be sold by Henrie Fetherstone,. London :: 1616.. (A reissue, with cancel title page, of the edition with Stansby's name alone in the imprint.) (Reproduction of the original in the Union Theological Seminary (New York, N.Y.). Library.)

Creation

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