High Priest of our profession Christ Iesus who was faithfull to him that hath appointed him euen as Moses was in all his house For this man is counted worthie of more glory then Moses in as much as hee which hath builded the house hath more honour then the house Now Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a seruant for a witnesse of the things which should be spoken after but Christ is as the sonnâ— ouer his owne house whose house wee are If seuerally wee sort our people or Ministers with theirs as the Apostles successors with Aarons the preheminence both wayes is ours Notwithstanding this excesse of our Ministers glory whether ordinary or extraordinary compared with the like of theirs is not so great as the preeminences of Christs flocke aboue the people of the Synagogue Yet must all excesse of in spirituall graces which the ordinary hearers of the Gospell haue the ordinary hearers of the law be subducted from that prerogatiue which wee that are Christs messengers haue in respect of Aarons successors ere we can take a right account of our own authority ouer our flock committed to vs in comparison of theirs ouer the ancient people Computatis computandis our soueraignety will proue lesse not greater as our aduersaries confusedly reckon without their host Their pretended glosses that all such places of Scripture as make for the authority of Moses chaire conclude á fortiori for Saint Peters because the New Testament is more glorious then the old are as if a man should argue thus The ancient Roman and moderne German are States farâ—e more noble then the Turkish or Moscouitish therefore the Romane Consuls had more absolute authority ouer the people or the present Emperour ouer the Princes and States of Germany then the Turke hath ouer his Bashawes or the Moscouit ouer his Vassals 3 The glory of a common weale or praise of gouernement consists in the ingenuitie or ciuill libertie not in the slauery or seruile condition of the gouerned or in their voluntary obsequiousnesse to wholesome lawes proportioned to common good not in their absolute subiection to the omnipotent will of an vnruly Tyrant subiect to no law but the law of sinne Our Sauiours authority ouer his Disciples was more soueraigne then is befitting any to vsurpe or challenge ouer his fellow seruants his kingdome more glorious after his resurrection then before yet a little before his suffering hee saith to his Disciples Yee are my friends if ye doe whatsoeuer I command you Henceforth call I you not seruants for the seruant knoweth not what his Master doth but I haue called you friends for all things that I haue heard of my Father haue I made knowne to you It is the very conceit of the base degenerate dissolute sottish later heathen Romane more delighted in such gaudy shewes as his luxurious Emperours made happily once or twice in their whole raigne then in the valour and vertue of his victorious free-born Ancestors that to this day swims in the Iesuites braine and makes him dreame the royalty of Christian Priest-hood or glory of the Gospell should consist wholly or chiefly in the magnificent pompe of one visible high Priest or Oecumenicall Bishoppe for garnishing of whose Court the whole Body of Christ besides must bee content to spend their liues goods or substances and as his occasion shall require to pawne their very soules as younglings will bee at any cost or paines they can deuise to decke vp a Lord of the Parish a victor in a Grammer schoole or as merry fellowes wil be ready to spend more then their incomes will defray to haue a gallant Lord of misrule of their owne making 4 But they demand Wherein doth the Pope aspire aboue the pitch of Moses throne He desires but to he reputed an infallible teacher and was not Moses such yet not such after the same maner He approued himselfe perpetually infallible because alwaies found most faithfull in all affaires belonging to God but had it beene possible for him to haue worshipped the golden Calfe to haue eaten the offerings of the dead or to haue ioyned himselfe to Baal-Peor The Leuites and such as claue vnto the Lord in these Apostasies would haue sought Gods will at more sanctified lips then his at least for that time were If then wee consider him not as he might haue been but as indeed hee proued the peoples obedience vnto him was de facto perpetuall and compleat yet but conditionally perpetuall but conditionally compleat or perpetually compleat vpon their sight and vndoubted experience of his extraordinary familiarity with God of his intire fidelity in all his seruice The Pope would bee proclaimed so absolutely infallible by irreuocable pattent or inheritance as no breach of Gods commandements no touch of disloyalty to Christ in actions might breede a forfeyture of his estate or estrange Christian consciences from yeelding obedience to him euery way as compleat and absolute as that which the people of God performed vnto Moses or Christians doe yet vnto their Sauiour Whence though we admit Moses infallibility and his to be the same yet the difference betweene the absolutenesse of their authority or the tenour or holds of this same infallibility would be such as is betweene a Tenant at will or one that enioyes a faire estate perhaps all his life time yet onely by continuance of his Lords good liking of his faithfull seruice a Freeholder that cannot by any act of fellony murther treason or the like forfeit his interest in as large possessions 5 Againe albeit the authority gotten or manner of holding it were the same yet the manner of getting it in Moses and the Pope is not alike The one profers no miracle for the purchase no signe from heauen no admirable skill in expounding Gods word his calling hee professeth to bee but ordinary and in this respect say his followers hee was to succeed Saint Peter Moses not such nor so affected his miracles were many and great the signes tokens of his especiall fauour with God almost infinite his calling extraordinarily extraordinary otherwise that obedience the people performed to him had beene no lesse then desperate Idolatry as the challenge of the like without like proofe euidence of such fauour with God is no better then blasphemie or Apostasie Hence saith S. Austen the people of Israel did belieue Moses lawes were from God after another maner then the Lacedemonians did Lycurgus lawes were from Apollo For when the Law which enioines the worshippe of one God was giuen vnto the people it did appeare as farre forth as the diuine prouidence did iudge suffâ—cient by strange signes and motions whereof the people themselues were spectators that the creature did performe seruice to the Creator for the giuing of that Law But wee must belieue as firmely as this people did Moses that all the Popes iniunctions are giuen by God himselfe without any other signe or testimonie then the Lacedemonians
deny the High Priest himselfe not misled by any witnesses but from Christs owne wordes which hee himselfe had heard pronounceth sentence against him And if this were not enough he proposed the matter to the rest of his associates What thinke yee and they answered and said Hee is worthy to die After all this they vrged the people to approue of this their sentence perswading them to aske Barrabas and to destroy Iesus And so strongly had they coniured the multitude by their pretended authority that they apprehend this their choice as a point of faith or good seruice to God and his Church For when Pilate laieth his blood vnto their charge All the people as the Text sayeth all such as relyed vpon the Scribes and Pharises or their high Priests answered and said His bloud be vpon vs and our children One of your say Papists could not haue been more throughly perswaded of your Churches authority nor more violently bent against Iohn Hus or any other of Christs Martyrs for the like reasons then this whole multitude was against Christ being condemned by the High-priest speaking ex Cathedra Here were 〈…〉 more solemnities obserued in this proceeding 〈…〉 require in the Pope speaking ex Cathedra Theirs 〈◊〉 publike assembly and sentence was giuen by ioint consent in 〈◊〉 story and in the morning you hold it sufficient for the Pope to giue his definitiue sentence alone without euidence of the fact it selfe whereunto hee ties mens faith as shall appeare by your owne confessions Nor do you limit him any time as well in the afternoone as in the forenoone as well for ought wee can gather when drinke is in and his wits out of his head as when he is sober For you hold it not necessary for him to vse any long deliberation But if it be his will to bind all Christians to belieue him the whole Church must belieue that he was herein directed chiefe by the holy Ghost for the Church is bound to heare their Pastor And if hee binde all men to belieue him then must all of necessity belieue that hee was infallibly assisted by the holy Ghost in shewing that which hee binds them to belieue for otherwise the whole Church might erre nay were bound to erre because it is bound to belieue the Pope These consequents are your own not mine as may in part appeare from what hath been already more fully from what shall bee said hereafter Besides the whole multitude of the Iewish people heard the Priestes and Elders vtter their opinions concerning Christ and his doctrine viua voce wee haue the Popes decrees but by heare say Either was this sentence pronounced ex Cathedra or else it will bee hard for you to proue that any sentence in your Church hath beene so pronounced or can bee although the Pope himselfe bee present in the Councell and bee an eye witnesse of all proceedings 8 Yet if any of you should here shufle as yee vsually doe at the last pinch and say Howsoeuer Valentia or some others of our learned but priuate spirites may define what it is to speake ex Cathedra yet wee know not whether our Church hath so defined it or no and therefore although these High-priests and Elders did obserue all the circumstances which these doctors require in a sentence giuen ex Cathedra yet for ought we know they might nay sure they did faile in some circumstance which we know not and did not indeed speak ex Cathedra albeit they seemed so to do wherefore this doth not conclude against the Popes infallible authority when he speakes ex Cathedra if any of you shall take this last hold as I cannot imagine any other left you we shall quickly beate you out of it For let it be granted for disputations sake that the Pope hath as yee suppose these Iewes had an infallible authority when he speakes ex Cathedra yet seeing it is a matter so hard to bee knowne euen by these that heare him whether hee obserue all circumstances required to the exercise and true vse of such infallible authority and whether her hee speake ex Cathedra or no when he may seeme to sundry so to speake it would be the onely safe course for all Christian Churches vtterly to renounce all obedience to him but vpon examination of his doctrine to stand continually vpon their guard lest vnder pretence of this his infallible authority when he speakes ex Cathedra hee may worke some such inestimable mischiefe vnto the Scriptures or Christes chosen here on earth as these High Priests did vnto Christ himselfe by his seeming to speake ex Cathedra when hee doth not If by abusing this his infallible authority he should either make away these Scriptures or animate the people to imbrue their hands in the bloud of Christs deerest Saints it is not his speaking ex Cathedra that can redeem their soules from hell nor restore Gods word againe for these are matters of an higher price then that they should bee purchased with two or three words of his Holinesse vnhallowed mouth 9 To conclude if this authority of your Church be but such as the ancient Church of the Iewes had you cannot expect any faithfull people should otherwise esteeme of your decrees then the faithfull in our Sauiours time were bound to esteeme of the Iewish High-Priests and Elders whom surely they did not take for Christs onely nor best friends If the Popes infallibility bee but such as these high Priests had you may bee as guilty of the bloud of Christs Saints as they were If you will challenge as indeed you doe greater authority then they had yee must of necessity renounce your principall arguments brought to proue it CHAP. VI. That Moses had no such absolute authority as is now ascribed vnto the Pope That the manner of his attaining to such as hee had excludes all besides our Sauiour from iust challenge of the like 1 WHether Moses were a Magistrate as the Papists thinke spirituall or as others meerely ciuill or whereunto vpon grounds in due places to be discussed I most incline actually neither and virtually both it will suffice for proofe of our conclusion that the Pope is no seruant of God but an aduersary in that hee exalts him selfe aboue Moses whom none besides the High Priest and sole Mediator of the new couenant was to equalise in soueraignety ouer Gods people Nor doth the excesse of glory ascribed vnto the new Testament in respect of the old argue greater authority in Christian then was in ordinary legall gouernours whether temporall or spirituall much lesse doth it inferre greater authority in any Christ onely excepted then Moses had 2 If we take Christs Church as consisting both of Priests and people it is a congregation farre more royall and glorious then the Synagogue so taken was If we compare our High-Priest or mediator of the new Couenant with theirs the Apostles comparison is fittest Consider the Apostle and
continuall faithfulnesse in that seruice whereunto they knew him appointed Albeit after all the mighty workes before-mentioned wrought in their presence they had beene bound thereunto the meanest handmaid in that multitude had infallible pledges plenty of his extraordinary calling lockt vp in her own vnerring senses But from the strange yet frequent manifestation of Moses power and fauour with God so great as none besides the great Prophet whom hee prefigured might challenge the like the Lord in his all â—acing wisdome tooke fiâ—te occasion to allure his people unto strict obseruance of what he afterwards solemnly enacted as also in theâ— to forwarne all future generations without expresse warrant of his word not absolutely to belieue any gouernour whomsoeuer in all though of â—ried skill and fidelity in many principal points of his seruice That passage of Scripture wherin the manner of this peoples stipulation is registred well deserues an exact 〈◊〉 of all especially of these circumstances How the Lord by rehearsall of his mighty workes forepassed extorts their promise to doe whatsoeuer should by Moses be commanded them yet will not accept it offered vntill hee haue made them eare-witnesses of his familiarity and communication with him First out of the Mount he called Moses vnto him to deliuer this solemn message vnto the house of Iacob Yee haue seene what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you vpon Eagles wings and haue brought you vnto mee Now therefore if you will heare my voice indeed and keepe my couenant then yee shall bee my chiefe â—easure aboue all people though all the earth be mine After Moses had reported vnto God this answere freely vttered with ioint consent of all the people solemnly assembled before their Elders All that the Lord commanded we will doe was the whole businesse betwixt God and them fully transacted by this Agent in their absence No hee is sent backe to sanctifie the people that they might expect Gods glorious appearance in Mount Sinai to ratifie what he had said vpon the returne of their answere Loâ— I come vnto thee in a thicke cloud that the people may heare whilst I talke with thee and that they may also belieue thee for euer They did not belieue that God had reuealed his word to Moses for the wonders hee had wrought but rather that his wonders were from God because they heard God speake to him yea to themselues For their principall and fundamentall lawes were vttered by God himselfe in their hearing as Moses expresseth These words to wit the Decalogue the Lord spake vnto all your multitude in the mount out of the midst of the fire the cloud and the darkenesse with a great voice and added no more And lest the words which they had heard might soone bee smoothered in fleshly hearts or quickly slide out of their brittle memories the Lord wrote them in two Tables of stone and at their â—ranscription not Moses onely but Aaron Nadab and Abihu with the seuenty Elders of Israel are made spectators of the diuine glory rauished with the sweetnesse of his presence They saw saieth the Text the God of Israel and vnder his feet as it were a worke of a Saphire stone and as the very heauen when it is cleare And vpon the Nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand also they saw God and did eate and drinke After these Tables through Moses anger at the peoples folly and impiety were broken God writes the same words againe and renewes his Couenant before all the people promising vndoubted experience of his diuine assistance 8 Doth Moses after all this call fire from heauen vpon all such as distrust his words Aaron and Miriam openly derogate from his authority which the Lord confirmes againe viua voce descending in the pillar of the cloud conuenting these detractors in the dore of the Tabernacle Wherefore were you not afraid to speake against my seruant euen against Moses Thus the Lord was very angry and departed leauing his marke vpon Miriam cured of her leprosie by Moses instant prayers No maruell if Korah Dathan and Abirams iudgements were so grieuous when their sinne against Moses after so many documents of his high calling could not but bee wilfull as their perseuerance in it after so many admonitions to desist most malitious and obstinate Yet was Moses further countenanced by the appearance of Gods glory vnto all the congregation and his authority further ratified by the strange and fearefull end of these chief malefactors foretold by him and by fire issuing from the Lord to consume their confederates in offering incense vngratefull to their God Tantae molis erat Iudaeam condere gentem So long and great a worke it was to edifie Israel in true faith but without any like miracle or prediction such as neuer saw him neuer heard good of him must belieue the Pope as well as Israel did their Law-giuer that could make the sea to grant him passage the cloudes send bread the windes bring flesh and the hard rocke yeeld drink sufficient for him and all his mighty hoast that could thus call the heauens as witnesses to condemne appoint the earth as executioner of his iudgements vpon the obstinate and rebellious yet after all this hee inflicts no such punishments vpon the doubtfull in faith as the Romish Church doth but rather as is euident out of the places before alleadged confirmes them by commemoration of these late cited and like experiments making Gods fauours past the surest pledges of his assistance in greatest difficulties that could beset them To conclude this people belieued Moses for Gods testimony of him wee may not belieue Gods word without the Popes testimony of it Hee must bee to God as Aaron was to Moses his mouth whereby hee onely speakes distinctly or intelligibly to his people CHAP. VII That the Churches authority was no part of the rule of faith vnto the people after Moses death That by experiments answerable to his precepts and predictions the faithfull without relying vpon the Priests infallible proposals were as certaine both of the diuine truth and true meaning of the law as their forefathers had beene that liued with Moses and saw his miracles 1 TO proceed vnto the ages following Moses How did they know Moses law either indeed to bee Gods word or the true sence and meaning of it being indefinitely knowne for such By tradition Yes By tradition onely No But how at all by tradition As by a ioint part of that rule on which they were finally to relie Rather it was a meane to bring them vnto the due consideration or right application of the written rule which Moses had left them So hard were their hearts with whom this great Law-giuer had first to deale that faith could not take roote in them vnlesse first wrought and subacted by extraordinary signes and wonders but once thus created in them
proue as principally whether their beliefe of the Churches authoritie can bee resolued into any diuine testimonie pag. 46. CHAP. VI. That neither our Sauiours Prayers for the not failing of Peters faith Luke 22. 32. nor his commending his sheepe vnto his feeding Iohn 21. 15. prooue any Supremacie in Peter ouer the Church from which the authoritie of the Pope can with probabilitie be deriued p. 49. CHAP. VII That Christ not S. Peter is the Rocke spoken of Matth. 16. 18. that the Iesuites Exposition of that place demonstrateth the Pope to be the great Antichrist pag. 64. In the marginall note parag 24. for That Romish faith is that faith reade that Romish faith is not that faith In the marginall note parag 31. for a paralile reade a paralell In the marginall note parag 3. for Plinius reade Pintus Parag. 22. for melang reade felang CHAP. VIII That the Romanists beliefe of the Churches in fallible authoritie cannot bee resolued into any testimonie better then humane whence the maine conclusion immediatly followes That the Romanist in obeying the Church-decrees without examination of them by Gods word preferre mans Lawes before Gods pag. 89. CHAP. IX In what sence the Iesuites may truely denie they beleeue the words of man better then the words of God In what sence againe our Writers truely charge them with this blasphemie pag. 99. SECTION III. CHAP. I. What restraint precepts for obedience vnto the Priests of the Law though seeming most vniuersall for their forme did necessarily admit How vniuersall Propositions of Scriptures are to be limited pag. 105. In the marginall note parag 3. for suscitaturus read sciscitaturus CHAP. II. The authoritie of the Sanhedrim not so vniuersal or absolute amongst the Iewes as the Papists make it but was to bee limited by the former Rules pag. 119. In the marginall note parag 2. for sarcedotem reade sacerdotem Margine parag 11. for Canala reade Cabala CHAP. III. That our Sauiours iniunction of obedience to the Scribes and Pharisees though most vniuersall for the forme is to be limited by the former rules that without open blasphemie it cannot be extended to countenance the Romish cause that by it we may limit other places brought by them for the Popes transcendent vniuersall authoritie pag. 128. In the marginall note parag 11. quae ad populi salutem fuit reade vt quae ad populi salutem sint CHAP. IIII. What it would disaduantage the Romish Church to denie the infallibilitie of the Synagogue pag. 139. Mar. par 3. inueniebant read inueniebantur negat read negatur CHAP. V. That iustly it may be presumed the Iewish Church neuer had any absolute infallibitie in proposing or determining Articles of faith because in our Sauiours time it did so grieuously erre in the fundamentall point of saluation pag. 142. Mar. par 2. darmauit read damnauit sunt enim read sicut enim CHAP. VI. That Moses had no such absolute authoritie as is now ascribed vnto the Pope That the manner of his attaining to such as he had excludes all besides our Sauiour from iust challenge of the like pag. 151. CHAP. VII That the Churches authoritie was no part of the rule of faith vnto the people after Moses death That by experiments answerable vnto the precepts and predictions the faithfull without relying vpon the Priests infallible proposalls were as certaine both of the diuine truth and true meaning of the law as their forefathers had beene that liued with Moses and saw his miracles pag. 159. CHAP. VIII That the societie or visible companie of Prophets had no such absolute authoritie as the Romish Church vsurpes pag. 169. CHAP. IX That the Church representatiue amongst the Iewes was for the most part the most corrupt iudge of matters belonging to God and the reason why it was so pag. 178. CHAP. X. That the Soueraigntie giuen by Iesuits to the Pope is greater then our Sauiours was pag. 186. CHAP. XI Confirming the truth deliuered in the former Chapter from the very Law giuen by Moses for discerning the great Prophet further exemplifying the vse and force of miracles for begetting faith The manner of trying prophesies Of the similitude betwixt Christ and Moses p. 197 In the marginall note par 19. for for sorcerie reade from sorcerie CHAP. XII That the method vsed by the great Prophet himselfe after his resurrection for planting faith was such as we teach The excesse of Antichrists exaltation aboue Christ The Diametrall opposition betwixt the spirit of God and the spirit of the Papacie pag. 221. CHAP. XIII That the authoritie attributed to the present Pope and the Romish rule of faith were altogether vnknowne vnto Saint Peter the opposition betwixt S. Peters and his pretended successors doctrine pag. 226. CHAP. XIIII That S. Paul submitted his doctrine to examination by the wordes before written That his doctrine disposition and practise were quite contrarie to the Romanists in this argument pag. 232. CHAP. XV. A briefe taste of our aduersaries blasphemous and Atheisticall assertions in this argument from some instances of two of their greatest Doctors Bellarmine and Valentian That if faith cannot be perfect without the solemne testification of that Church the raritie of such testifications will cause infidelitie pag. 239. SECTION IIII. Containing the third branch of Romish blasphemie or the last degree of great Antichrists exaltation vtterly ouerthrowing the whole foundation of Christian Religion preposterously inuerting both Law and Gospell to Gods dishonor and aduancement of Sathans Kingdome pag. 245. CHAP. I. The Iesuits vnwillingnesse to acknowledge the Churches proposall for the true cause of his faith of differences and agreements about the finall resolution of faith either amongst the aduersaries themselues or betwixt vs and them p. 245. CHAP. II. That the Churches proposall is the true immediate and prime cause of all absolute beliefe any Romanist can haue concerning any determinate diuine reuelation p. 249. CHAP. III. Discouering either the grosse ignorance or notorious craft of the Iesuit in denying his faith is finally resolued into the Churches veracitie or infallibilitie that possibly it cannot be resolued into any branch of the first truth pag. 256. Mar. par 3. faith reade the Romanists faith CHAP. IIII. What manner of causall-dependance Romish beliefe hath on the Church that the Romanist truly and properly beleeues the Church only not God or his Word pag. 268. CHAP. V. Declaring how the first maine ground of Romish faith leads directly vnto Atheisme the second vnto preposterous Heathenisme or Idolatrie pag. 277. Mar. par 12. efferunt reade afferunt CHAP. VI. Prouing the last assertion or generally the imputations laid vpon the Papacie by that authoritie the Iesuites expresly giue vnto the Pope in matters of particular fact as in the Canonizing of Saints pag. 294. CHAP. VII What danger by this blasphemous doctrine may accrew to Christian States that of all heresies blasphemies or idolatries which haue beene since the world beganne or can be imagined till Christ come to iudgment
elsewhere vpon carelesnesse rather then any intention of harme as I am perswaded by the Latine sacramentum Whether vpon set purpose of some more learned in that Councell presuming to gull the simple and illitterate by their cunning as Chemnitius probably thinkes or whether the mysterie of iniquitie as is more probable wrought vnawares in the braines of the ignorant which were the maior part and as some haue related did ouersway the learned vncapable of such impudency as should giue countenance to this ignominious decree partly from the equiuocation of the Latine dispensatores partly from the synominall signification which the vulgar hath made of mysterium and sacramentum the beetle-heads haue hammered out an interpretation of Saint Pauls words before cited so scurrilously contrarie to his meaning that the blacke Dogge which is said to haue appeared vnto Cardinall Crescentius might hee haue spoken in the Councell could scarce haue vttered it without blushing For the Apostle meant such dispensatores or Stewards as our Sauiour speakes of in the foure and twentieth of Saint Matthew such as should giue their fellow seruants their inst portions without purloyning such as daily expected their Masters returne to cal them vnto a strict account of their stewardship For so it is expressely added Moreouer or as much as belongs vnto our office it is required of Stewards that they be all sound faithfull Not to dispute of the Churches authoritie in disposing of Sacraments nor to exagitate the impietie of this decree be the one for the present supposed as great the other as little as they list to make it onely this I would demaund of any that is so himselfe whether he can imagine any men sober or in their right mindes would not assoone haue vrged that text The foole hath said in his heart there is no God for establishing Atheisme or Saint Peters checke vnto Simon Magus to prooue Simonie lawfull as deriue the Churches authoritie for detayning the least part of the word of life much lesse the cup of saluation from these wordes Let a man so thinke of vs as of the Ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God What secrets of the Gospell before hid but now to be published to all the World of which the same Apostle elsewhere had said Anccessitie is laid vpon me and wee vnto mee if I preach it not Of the vse or necessitie of the Lords cup not a word in this place not a syllable for the Lord had sent him not to administer this Sacrament but to preach the Gospell of which the Doctrine of the Lords Supper was a part indeed but where expressely and directly he deliuers that doth hee intimate by any circumstance that either it had beene was or might bee otherwise administred then according to the patterne prescribed by our Sauiour at the first institution Rather his often repetition of these coniunctiues This bread and this cuppe eating and drinking the bodie and bloud c. Argue he neuer thought the one should be receiued without the other that this prohibition of the cup was a particular branch of the Mysterie of iniquitie not to breake out till latter ages hid from his eyes that had seene the Mysterie it selfe begin to worke As often as yee shall eat this bread saith the Apostle and drinke this cup yee shew the Lords death till hee come Wherefore whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cuppe of the Lord vnworthily shall bee guiltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. For he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because hee discerneth not the Lords bodie Yet vnto the Trent Councell Saint Paul in the former place where hee had no such occasion as not speaking one word either of the Doctrine necessitie or vse of the Sacraments seemes to intimate and that not obscurely the Churches authoritie in dispensing them as the Trent Fathers haue done What then might euery Minister of Christ euerie distributer of Gods secrets haue vsed the like authoritie before the Church representatiue did at least by tacite consent approue the practise This place doubtlesse proues either altogether nothing or thus much for the Apostles wordes are indefinite for their litterall sence equally appliable to euerie faithfull Minister or priuate dispenser of such secrets not appropriate to the intire publique bodie Ecclesiastique or the capitall or Cardinall partes thereof Of the Corinthians to whom he wrote one said I am Pauls another I am Apollos the third I am of Cephas all boasting in the personal excellencies of their first Parents in Christ as the Papists now doe in Saint Peters and his successours Catholique Primacie To asswage these carnall humours in his children their Father that great Doctour of the Gentiles seekes more in this then in any other place of all his Epistles to debase himselfe and diminish others high esteeme either of his owne worth or of his calling Who is Paul then and who is Apollos but the Ministers by whom ye beleeued and as the Lord gaue to euerie man I haue planted Apollos watered but God gaue the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither hee that watereth but God that giueth the encrease And he that planteth and hee that watereth are one and euery man shall receiue his wages according to his labour For wee together are Gods labourers ye are Gods husbandrie and Gods building And after a serious incitement of master builders to fidelitie with the like admonition to Gods husbandrie or building not to reioyce in men he concludes as he had begun Let euery man esteeme vs such as I haue said Ministers of Christ and disposers of the mysteries of God Of whom were they so to esteeme Of Saint Paul himselfe and euery faithfull Minister Doth he then intimate here any such prerogatiue aboue the meanest of his brethren as the Romish Cleargie vsurpes ouer the whole Christian World any authoritie to prohibit either the dispensors of Gods mysteries from administring or men so carnally minded as were these to whom he wrote from communicating Christs bloud aswell as his bodie So the Trent Fathers thinke and as if for their wilfull deniall of the Lords cup vnto the people the Lord had giuen them the cup of giddinesse to cast them into a Babilonish slumber whilest they consulted about this decree and their Scribes through retchlessenesse had written what their rauing Masters in their sickly or drunken dreames had vttered wee finde in the same Decree another place of Saint Paul immediately annexed though as disproportionable to the former as it is placed in their discourse as a mans head to an horses necke both as vnsutable to their intended conclusion as a super addition of finnes or feathers would be to such a monstrous Hippocentaurique combination The place is Saint Pauls conclusion of that discourse
which it had in his time For the substance natiue quality or proportion of the Atheists and the moderne godlesse Romanists mockery that are the same onely the one is more rude and rough hewen the other more smoothly varnished with hipocrisie and ouerlaied with artificiall colours The blunt Atheist like a lewd debter that simply denies his bond imagines the Lord will neuer come to call him to an account The subtle Romanist like a crafty companion that acknowledgeth the debt but no set day of payment specified saue onely tomorrow hopes to driue off God almighty from day to day putting Christs comming as farre from him the next three yeeres to come as it was the last three past and so would hold on these hundred thousand yeeres if the world should stand so long because Antichrist who by professed enmity against Christ shall giue the world three yeeres warning according to the yeeres of an hireling of its dissolution if wee may belieue this mocker is not yet reuealed Nor euer shall bee to him vnto whom since the Patriarkes and Apostles died continue as they did from the beginning of the new creation mans redemption without any generall Apostasie or decay of Peters faith which remaines still as fresh and liuely as when he first confessed Christ Not the Iew more sottish in expecting his Messias then this hypocrite in deferring Antichrists comming And no maruell when that which first caused the Iew so grieuously to stumble and since retaines him in his vnbeliefe is made the onely ground of the Romane Catholikes faith Hell by approued experiment of the ones fall knew well the same charme would enchant the other both being equally tainted with a superstitious heathenish conceit that their teachers could not erre because they sit in the seates of such as were infallible in their life times And hence it is they are so blind and see it not bewitched and bewitching others with continuall reiterating that magicke spell of templum Domini the Church the Church words whose meaning they vnderstand no more then simple women doe waggish scholars medicines or charmes for the tooth ach Their ignorance though they may put vs in mind of another mockery they make of our Sauiours words 32 For where hee promised hell gates should neuer preuaile against his Church meaning against no true Christian soule espoused to him by an indissoluble knot of faith and euerlasting loue these mockers dispossesse the Christian world of this glorious hope by a double delusion first perswading it that the vniuersall Church militant may encampe in one mans brest vpon whom though hell shut her gates the simple such as they would make vs all must belieue the Church is safe because hee came not with them as an heretike For so in the second place though our Sauiour promiseth in termes as ample and maiesticall as can be deuised that not Hell gates that is no power or force of hell shall bee able to hold play with that Church whose safe conduct to his heauenly kingdome hee there vndertooke they make the meaning of his assurance to bee but this No heresie as if hell gates were furnished with no other munition shall euer make breach vpon the Romane Consistory or approach the Popes seat of dignity Thus to support the Popes supremacy they would make Christ so to shufle as if a Prince were it possible any Prince could bee so base should warrant his confederates safe conduct through his territories vpon as high tearmes as his soueraignery or supremacy would stretch vnto and yet challenged vpon the others miscarriage interpret his meaning to haue been but this I did warrant him he should not die of poyson administred by any Physition of mine in my dominions that no violence should bee offered him by theeues and robbers or other vnruly subiects I vndertooke not CHAP. VIII That the Romanists beliefe of the Churches infallible authority cannot be resolued into any testimony better then humane whence the 〈◊〉 conclusion immediately followes That the Romanist in obeying the Church-decrees without examination of them by Gods word prefer mans lawes before Gods 1 SEing it hath beene manifested as well by ostensiue proofe from Scriptures as by deduction to inconueniences most contrary to the analogy and preiudiciall to the main foundation of faith that Saint Peter was not the Church nor such an head as the Pope doth make himselfe of all the faithfull the principall point is cleare that the Romanists beliefe of such a transcendent absolute oecumenicall authoriry in the Church as might warrant our obedience to the former decrees cannot bee resoluedinto any diuine testimony or absolute promise of Christ in neither of which the Pope can haue any interest but onely by right deriued from S. Peter 2 To follow them a little in their schoole humor onely reckoning the speculatiue probabilities that can bee brought for them without computation of their blasphemies or other dangerous consequences wherewith their doctrine heretofore hath beene and must bee farther charged let vs trie what strength the other ioincts haue in themselues and see in the next place what proofe they can make their Popes are successors to such preheminences as Peter had Albeit euen this ioinct as all the rest of their religion is quite benummed and vtterly depriued of sence by the deadly blow lately giuen to the principall nerue whence life and motion must bee deriued to the whole body of their religion for if wee consider the intensiue perfection of that preheminence or estimation which Peter in respect of his fellowes had either with his Lord or with his flocke this was founded in a correspondent excesse of his loue his liuely faith and diligent feeding vnto no one of which good qualities the Popes professe themselues heires infallible Or if wee respect the extent or amplitude of S. Peters extraordinary soueraignety it was the same with Dauids kingdome or Christs owne pastorall charge and reached but from Dâ—n to Beershebah At the vtmost it and the circumcision had the same circumference Within which how great soeuer his authority was the Pope can haue no pretence to bee his successor therein For the edification of the people committed to him by our Sauiour was to bee finished before Ierusalems destruction since which time Israel hath beene perpetually scattered amongst the nations without a shepheard to gather them And when it shall please the Lord as it is probable it will to reduce them to his fold their Ruler shall bee of their own people strangers shall haue no more dominion ouer them 3 Had the Pope deriued his right from Saint Thomas Bartholomew or other Apostle which haue no writings extaÌ„t this might haue yeelded some surmises not so easie to bee disproued that Romish traditions did containe the summe at least of all these Apostles vnwritten doctrine if from Saint Paul the great Doctor of the Gentiles and first planter of faith amongst the Romans as much commended by him as any other of his children
to preiudice the truth of ours by raysing a suspition in the ignorant of our bad dealing as if wee taught the contrary 3 His second fortresse is that neither our Sauiour Christ nor his Apostles did euer taxe the Prelates or inferiour Priests by these names directly but alwayes vnder the name of Scribes and Pharises lest they might thereby seeme to reprehend the Priesthood or seat of authority And this they did that men might know honour and reuerence to bee due vnto the Prelacy or PriesthOod although the Priests or Prelates in their liues and persons were not so commendable The consequence is not amisse albeit his reason bee not so firme and the corollary which hee hence deduceth most malitious Hence saith hee wee are giuen to vnderstand that the heretikes of this age which vpon euery occasion inueigh against Bishops Priests especially the Pope doe but ill consent in manners with our Sauiour and his Apostles But did neither our Sauiour Christ nor his Apostles taxe the Priests Prelates by their proper names for that reason which Bellarmine brings Wee may suppose I trust without offence that Gods Prophets did not go beyond their commission in taxing the chiefe offences or offendors of their times that our Sauiour or his Apostles might vpon the like or greater occasions haue vsed the same forme of reprehension the Prophets did or other more personall The true reason why so they did not was because they had no such respect of persons or titles as Bellarmine dreames of but aimed chiefly at the fairest for such vsually gaue greatest countenance to foulest sins And who knowes not now in the Synagogues latter dayes the glorious titles of Scribes and Pharises had in a sort drowned the names of Priests as the reputation of Iesuites hath of late yeeres much eclipsed all other titles of inferiour ministers heretofore more famous in the Romish Church It was likewise the high esteeme of these two Saint like sects which seduced most silly soules throghout Iewry to follow traditions contrary to Gods lawes as the Iesuites late same hath drawne most of the blind Churches children which goe more by eare then eye sight to account villany piety and falshood subtlety As our Sauiour and his Apostles reprehended the Rabbies or Priestes in their times not vnder the names of Priestes and Leuites but vnder the glorious names of Scribes and Pharisies then reputed the onely guides of godlinesse so would they were they now on earth as wee in imitation of them taxe the Romish Clergy especially vnder the names of Iesuits or other more famous orders in that church But the Sect of Scribes and Pharises being not knowne in Malachies time nor any other order so glorious then as the order of Priests he tels them their owne in their proper names And now O yee Priests this commandement is for you So did Micah and Zephania and euery Prophet as their demerites gaue occasion 4 His third fortresse is that whatsoeuer Christ saith of Moses chaire must he conceiued to make more for Saint Peters and such as sate therin Why our Sauiours admonition should make more for the Popes authority within his owne territories then it did for the Scribes and Pharises or High Priests authority in the land of Iewry I see no reason that it may concerne the people liuing vnder the Pope and Clergy of Rome as much as it did the people of Iewry then subiect to the High Priest Scribes and Pharises I will not deny for such Iudges as they were the Popes of Rome in their seuerall generations may bee nay would God they were not Let vs see then what infallibility in giuing definitiue sentence Bellarmine can proue out of the fore-mentioned place The words are plaine Whatsoeuer they bid you doe that doe What all without any exception nay you doe the Papists wrong if you collect so Whatsoeuer they speake ex Cathedra Then the proposition though most vniuersall for the forme is restrained by our aduersaries themselues vnto such doctrines onely as they taught ex Cathedra And iustly seeing this restraint hath more apparent ground in the Text then any other Therefore it is said they sit in Moses seat they are infallible not alwaies because they somtimes sit but whiles they sit in Moses seat or giue sentence out of it what is it then to giue sentence out of Moses seat to pronounce sentence solemnly and vpon deliberation If vnto all their doctrines or definitiue sentences so prononnced men had beene bound in conscience to yeeld obedience the Pope as shall bee shewed anone had neuer sate in Peters chaire yea Peter himselfe had been in conscience bound to be an Apostata from Christ But what is the meaning of these words They sit in Moses seat all therefore whatsoeuer they bid you that obserue and doe That is all that Moses first said and they recite This is a strange interpretation indeed will the ignorant or illiterate Papist reply yet to omit many others of their owne a late Iesuites whole skill in expounding Scriptures saue onely where doting loue vnto their Church hath made him blind none of theirs few of our Church haue surpassed When hee commands to obserue and doe all that the Scribes Pharises say whilest they sit in Moses seat hee speakes not of theirs but of Moses his doctrine the meaning is as if hee had said whatsoeuer the law or Moses recited by the Scribes and Pharises shall say vnto you that obserue and doe but doe not yee according to their works This he takes to bee Saint Hilaries and Saint Hieroms exposition of the place If any man yet further demand why our Sauiour did not speake more plainely Whatsoeuer Moses saith obserue and doe rather then Whatsoeuer the Scribes and Pharises say obserue and doe Maldonat in the same place giues two reasons The first because our Sauiour did now purpose to taxe the Scribes and Pharises hypocrisie which hee had not taxed vnlesse hee had shewed that they taught otherwise then they liued The second that in this Chapter hee intended to reprehend the Scribes and Pharises sharpely and therefore it was expedient hee should first commend them for some things lest all his reproofes might seeme to proceed from passion or want of iudgement Thus farre Maldonat vnto whose answere wee may adioyne that our Sauiour Christ as Maldonat also wel hath noted did speake these words vnto such as had seene his miracles and heard his doctrine and yet could not bee his dayly auditors with his other Disciples but were to repaire to the Scribes and Pharises as vnto their ordinary teachers and instructers in the Law Here if wee consider the humor of rude and ignorant people for such may wee suppose most of his auditors were as yet it was very likely they would either be slow to heare or ready to distast any doctrine that should proceed from the Scribes and Pharises mouthes whom they had heard so much discommended by
Church and chosen be as we acknowledge it to bee infinite and euerlasting if these or the like arguments make any things for the infallibility of the present Romish they proue as much and as directly for the ancient Iewish Church For that was a visible company of men not of oxen and Asses and of them God had a care also Nay they were his owne peculiar people and without al controuersie the onely visible Church which hee had on earth Wherefore all the former arguments if they conclude any infallible authority in the present Romish Church they conclude much more for the like infallibility of the Iewish And by necessary consequence if I proue that the Church had no such authority my assertion stands sure That this infallible authority which the factors of the Romish Church doe challenge is greater then any visible Company of men had before our Sauiour time And by the same proofe shall the Romish Church bee debarred for euer of both the two former pleas either drawne from the authority of the Priests or from the best forme of gouernment CHAP. V. That iustly it may be presumed the Iewish Church neuer had any absolute infallibility in proposing or determining Articles of faith because in our Sauiours time it did so grieuously erre in the fundamentall point of saluation 1 FOr proofe of the Conclusion proposed that Ierusalem had no such absolute infallibility as Rome pleades for I tooke it for a long time as granted by all that if any such authority had beene established in the law it should not haue varied vntill the alteration of the priesthood For Gods couenant with Leui was in this sence euerlasting that it was to endure without interruption vntill his sacrifice was accomplished that was a Priest after a more excellent order His oblation of himselfe was the common bond to the law and Gospell the end of the one and the beginning of the other Nor did the legall rites or ceremonies themselues though these most obnoxious to corruption vanish by little and little as this sacrifice did approch neerer and neerer as darkenesse doth before the rising of the sunne rather that consummation wrought vpon the Crosse did swallow them vp at once as virility doth youth youth childhood childhood infancy Seeing then our aduersaries suppose this infallibility was annexed as a prerogatiue royall vnto the Priesthood they cannot imagine any tollerable reason why the one should expire before the other was quite abolished Hence it is that most of them hold the Scribes and Pharises in our Sauiours time were absolutely infallible in their Cathedrall consultations And I had iust reasons to presume Bellarmine had been of the same mind For besides his vrging that place without all sense or reason vnlesse grounded on this opinion They sit in Moses chaire All therfore whatsoeuer they bid you that obserue and do these other words of his seemed to imply thus much It cannot be shewed that the Sinagogue of the Iewes did faile in saith vntill Christs comming at what time it did not faile but rather become better by change By his speeches elsewhere I perceiued by the Synagogue thus changed hee meant the Church planted by Christ not the Consistory of the High-Priests and Elders not the Catholike representatiue Iewish Church For sayeth he as it is not necessary the Popes Vicar should bee inerrable when the Pope himselfe doth guid the Church and defend it from error so neither was it necessary that the Iewish high Priest should not erre when Christ the High-Priest of the whole Church was present and did gouerne his Church in person 2 This example were it true might illustrate though ill-fauoredly his assertion once supposed as possible but no way argues it to be probable Herein his similitude failes that the High Priests in our Sauiours time were Aarons lawfull successors their Priesthood as entire then as euer it was and they Deputies to none in this ranke or order That their Predecessors had such infallibility hee faine would proue Can he or any for him shew vs when or by what meanes it should determine whiles the Priesthood lasted To take away the Popes infallibility euen in this last age of the world were in thier construction to deny Christs promise made vnto Saint Peters chaire And was not the former like prerogatiue as inseparably annexed to Moses seat did our Sauiour before his Passeouer either by doctrine or practise derogate ought from any lawfull authority established on earth much lesse from that which God had expresly instituted The greatest prerogatiue the Scribes and Pharises Priests or Rulers euer had was that they were Aarons successors and possessed Moses place and this authority was neuer disanulled but rather ratified by our Sauiour after hee had vndertaken his ministeriall function They sit in Moses seat all therefore whatsoeuer they bid you that obserue and doe And elsewhere Goe and shew thy selfe vnto the Priest c. 3* Yet this Sophister would perswade vs that Isaiah and Daniel had foretold the expiration of this prerogatiue in latter times They both indeed foretell this peoples extraordinary generall blindnesse about the time of our Sauiours conuersation on earth But this directly proues what wee obiect not what Bellarmine should haue answered at least to vs who contend the Priests and Rulers of this people were not infallible in our Sauiours time nor doth Isaiah or Daniel or any Prophet of God say they were at any time such Let any Iesuite proue what easily hee may out of Isaiahs words cited by Bellarmine that the Iewish church representatiue was not infallible in our Sauiours time and from the same wee shall as clearely euince it palpably erroneous in Isaiahs owne dayes or immediately after For the selfe same words which the Euangelist saith were fulfilled in the vnbeleeuing Iewes that heard our Sauiours doctrine were literally and exactly veriâ—ied of their forefathers before the captiuity of Babylon as the Cardinall himselfe would hee take the paines to reade the whole Chapter and reuiue the place cited by him I know would not deny His wordes are these And hee said go and say vnto this people Yee shall heare indeed but yee shall not vnderstand yee shall plainely see and not perceiue Make the heart of this people sat make their eares heauy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and vnderstand with their hearts and conuert he heale them Then said I Lord how long And he answered vntill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be vtterly desolate and the Lord haue remoued men far away and there be a great desolation in the midst of land The truth of our assertion is so pregnant that Maldonat the most iudicious expositor amongst the Iesuites takes it as granted the words late cited were literally meant onely of that generation with whome the Prophet liued and brings this very Text as
there any thing too hard for me The Lord had stricken Iacob with the wound of an enemy and with a sharpe chastice meÌ„â— for the multitude of his iniquities wherefore hee cryed for his affliction and said My sorrow is incurable not considering who it was had done all this vnto him for because the Lord had killed they must belieue hee would make aliue againe Their present wounds inflicted contrary to the rules of politique defence where the best pledges of their future health beyond all hope of State-Surgeons And this is the very Sâ—ale of Ieremiahs assurance from the Lords own mouth Thus sayeth the Lord like as I haue brought all this great plague vpon this people so will I bring vpon them all the good I haue promised them And the fields shall be possessed in this land whereof ye say It is desolate without man or beast and shall be giuen into the hand of the Caldeans Men shall buy fields for siluer and make writings and seale them and take witnesses in the land of Beniamin and round about Ierusalem So absolute and all-sufficient was Moses law in particular actions much more in generall or doctrinall resolution that God himselfe for confirmation of his Prophets this distrustfull peoples faith in a point by humane estimate most incredible thought it sufficient to be a remembrance to the Law-giuer For the Lord here saith to Ieremiah concerning this particular Moses many generations before had vniuersally foretold Now when all these things shall come vpon thee either the blessing or the curse which I haue set before thee and thou shalt turne into thine hart among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driuen thee then the Lord thy God will cause thy Captiues to returne and haue compassion vpon thee and will returne to gather thee out of all the people where the Lord thy God had scattered thee Though thou wâ—rst cast vnto the vttermost part of heauen from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee and from thence will he take thee And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possesse it and he will shew thee fauour and will multiply thee aboue thy fathers By this rule of Moses according to the prediction of Ieremiah doth Nehemiah afterwards frame his prayers to God direct his enterprise for restauration of Ierusalem Wee haue grieuously sinned against thee and haue not kept the commandements nor the statutes nor the iudgements which thou commandest thy seruant Moses I beseech thee remember the word that thou commandest thy seruant Moses saying Ye will transgresse and I will scatter you abroad among the people But if yee turne vnto me and keepe my commandements and doe them though your scattering were to the vttermost part of the heauen yet will I gather you from thence and will bring you vnto the place that I haue chosen to place my Name there Now these are thy seruants and thy people c. O Lord I beseech thee let thine eare now hearken to the praier of thy seruants who desire to feare thy name and I pray thee cause thy seruant to prosper this day and giue him fauour in the presence of this man He saw the truth of Moses diuine predictioÌ„ confirmed by the Kings present grant of his petition speedy restauration of Ierusalem albeit a Prophet by profession had disswaded the enterprise as likely to proue dangerous to his person CHAP. VIII That the societie or visible Company of Prophets had no such absolute authority as the Romish Church vsurpes 1 DId the Records of antiquity afford vs any the least presumption to thinke that absolute beliefe or obedience might safely be tendered by inferiors as due to any visible Company of men without examination of their proposals by Moses writings since they were extant the society of Prophets in all respects the Romanists can pretend had the most probable title to this prerogatiue Their professioÌ„ or calling was publike and lawfull their distinction from all others eminent their persons and places of residence visible and knowne their promises for enioying the extraordinary presence or illuminations of Gods spirit peculiar many of them venerable for their integrity in ciuill dealings and sanctity of priuate life some of them endued with the gift of miracles In all these and many like considerations that fraternity or collegiate society might iustly haue pleaded all the priuiledges a publike spirit can grant to one sort of men before others For if the more or lesse expresse testimony of Gods word for extraordinary assistance of his spirit or the different measure of his illumination or manner of immediate teaching be that which makes som mens spirit more publike then their brethrens this difference was greater betweene the Priests or Prophets and people of old then since God spake vnto the world by his sonne yet what Prophet did once intimate the necessity of his proposall for notifying the truth of Scriptures What one did euer bewray the least desire to haue his interpretations of them vniuersally held authentique or his particular predictions absolutely assented vnto without further triall then his bare assertion without examination of them by Moses doctrine already establisâ—ed 2 Had they beene the infallible Church representatiue had their assertions though giuen by ioinct consent ex Cathedra or in the most solemne manner vsed in those times beene of such authority as the Romanist would perswade vs a Councell of their Prelates lawfully assembled is Gods people had stood bound to embrace whatsoeuer a maior part of that profession had resolued vpon but this inference though necessarily following the supposed premises the Iesuit I know dare not affirme lest Ahabs bloud vntimely shed by confidence in their infallibility cry out against him Yet Bellarmine too well knowing the liquorish temper of this present age for the most part acquainted with none but table-talke Diuinity to bee such as will swallow down any doctrine bee it neuer so idle prophane or poisonous so it bee sauced with pleasant conceit and merriment would put vs of with this iest That as in Saxonie one Catholiques verdict were to be taken bâ—fore sowre hundred Lutherans so should one of the Lords Prophets haue beene followed in those times before fiue hundred of Baals And Ahab no doubt had so done had not the Diuell taught his Diuines then as hee hath done Bellarmine and his fellowes since to take vniuersality as a sure note of the Church traditions and customes of the Elders for the rule of faith and which is the vndoubted Conclusion of such premisses to follow a multitude to any mischiefe So mightily did the opinion of a maior part being all men of the same profession sway with the superstitious people of those times that Ahabs Purseuant conceiued hope of seducing Micaiah whilst they were on the way together by intimating such censures of schisme of heresie of
peeuishnesse or priuacy of spirit as the false Catholike bestowes on vs likely to befall him if he should vary from the rest The best answere I thinke a Romane Catechisme could afford would be to repeat the conclusion which Bellarmine would haue maintained All the rest besides were Baals Prophets They were indeede in such a sence as Iesuites and all seducers are but not by publike profession or solemne subscription to his rites as may partly appeare by Iehosaphats continuing his resolution to goe vp to battell against Micaiahs counsell which questionlesse hee would rather haue died at home then done had hee knowne Michaiah onely to haue belonged vnto the Lord and all his aduersaries vnto Baal partly by that reuerent conceit which euen the chiefe of these seducers entertained at that time of Elias whose vtter disgrace Baals seruants would by all meanes haue sought for his late designes acted vpon their fellowes Yet as Iosephus records the chiefe argument vsed by Zidkiah to diminish Micaiahs credite with both Kings was an appearance of contradiction betwixt his and Eliahs prediction of Ahabs death the accomplishment of both being apprehended as impossible lesse credit as he vrged was to be giuen to Micaâ—ah because so impudent as openly to contradict so great a Prophet of the Lord as Elias at whose threatnings Ahab King of Israel trembled humbling himselfe with fasting cloathed in sackcloth And it is likely hee would so shortly after entertaine the professed seruants of Baal for his Councellors yet seeing the euent hath openly condemned them for seducers and none are left to plead their cause it is an easie matter for the Iesuite or others to say they were Baals Prophets by profession But were not most Priests and Prophets in Iudah Beniamin vsually such yes and as afterward shall appeare did band as strongly with as ioint consent against Ieremy and Ezechiel as these did against Michaiah The point wherein wee desire resolution is by what rule of Romish Catholique Diuinity truth in those times might haue beene discerned from falshood before Gods iudgements did light vpon the City and Temple Hee is more blind then the blindest Iew that euer breathed who cannot see how such as professed themselues Priests and Prophets of the Lord aswell in Iudah as in Israel did bewitch the people with the selfe same spels the Papists boasts of to this day as the best prop of his Catholike faith Yet such is the hypocrisie of these proud Pharises that they can say in their hearts Oh had wee liued in the dayes of Iezabel we would not haue beene her inquisitors against such Prophets as Elias and Micaiah were When as in truth Iezabels impietie towards them was clemency in respect of Romish cruelty against Gods Saints her witchcrafts but as veniall sins if wee compare them with Iesuiticall sorceries But of this error more directly in the Chapter following of their sorceries and impieties hereafter 3 Vnto our former demand whether the society of Prophets were the Church representatiue whether the people were bound without examination to belieue whatsoeuer was by a maior part or such of that profession as were in highest or most publike place determined What answere a learned Papist would giue I cannot tell Then this following better cannot be imagined on their behalfe That this supreme authority which they contend for was in the true Prophets onely that they albeit inspired with diuine illuminations and endued with such authority as the Iesuite makes the Popes humana diuinitas inspirala did notwithstanding permit their declarations for the hardnesse of this peoples heart to be tried by the euent or examined by the law not that they wanted lawfull power would they haue stood vpon their authority to exact beliefe without delay seeing readinesse to belieue the truth proposed is alwayes commended in the sacred Story And no doubt but the people did well in admitting the true Prophets doctrine before the false at the first proposal the sooner the better But were they therefore to belieue the true Prophets absolutely without examination Why should they then belieue one of that profession before another seeing seducers could propose their conceits with as great speed and peremptorinesse as the best Nor did reason onely disswade but the law of God also expresly forbid that people alwayes and in all causes to trust such as vpon triall had beene found to diuine aright of strange euents Yet grant wee must that hardnesse of heart made this people more backeward then otherwise they would haue beene to belieue truthes proposed that oftimes they required signes from their Prophet when obedience was instantly due from them to him that oftimes they sinned in not assenting immediately without interposition of time for triall or respite to resolue vpon what termes beliefe might be tendered Thus much wee may grant with this limitation if we consider them absolutely or so well disposed as they should and might haue beene not as the Prophets found them For in men inwardly ill affected or vnqualified for true faith credulity comes neere the nature of vice then vertue a disposition of disloyalty a degree of heresie or infidelity rather then a preparation to sincere obedience or any sure foundation of true and liuely faith Assent perchance men so affected may more readily then others would vnto sundry diuine truthes yet not truely not as they are diuine and consonant to the rule of goodnesse but by accident in as much as they in part consort with some one or other of their affections And the more forward men are vpon such grounds to belieue some generalities of Christian dueties the more prone they proue when opportunity tempts them to oppugne others more principall and more specially concerning their saluation For credulity if it spring not out of an honest disposition vniformally inning vnto goodnesse as such but from some vnbrideled humor or predominant naturall affection will alwayes sway more vnto some mischiefe then vnto any thing that is good Many belieued in Iesus saith Saint Iohn when they saw his miracles It pleased them well hee had turned water into wine that hee had giuen other proofes of his power in driuing buyers and sellers out of the Temple did minister hope vnto proud hearts hee might proue such a Messias as they expected as elsewhere vpon the like occasion they said This is of a truth the Prophet that should come into the world The ground of this their aptnesse to belieue thus much as is intimated in the words following was their inordinate desire of hauing an earthly King that might rule the nation with an yron rod. When Iesus therefore perceiued by their forwardnesse to professe the former truth that they would come and take him to make him a King he departed againe into a mountaine himselfe alone for the same cause no doubt which the Euangelist specifies in the former place But Iesus did not commit himself vnto them because he knew them all
ones dealing was I confesse most vnusual so was the others death yet a liuely document to cause all that should heare of it vntill the worlds end take heede of dispensing with the word of the Lord once made known vnto themselues vpon beliefe of more manifest reuelations or instructions by what meanes soeuer giuen to others either for recalling or restraining it Hence may the Reader discry aswell the height of our aduersaries folly as the depth of their impietie making their Churches authority which by their own acknowledgement cannot adde moe bookes to the number of the Canon already finished but onely iudge which are Canonicall which not farre greater then theirs was that did preach and write these very bookes which both wee and they acknowledge for Canonicall For the Prophets words were no rule of faith vntill examined and tried by the written word precedent or approued by the euent the Popes must be without triall examination or further approbation then his owne bare assertion CHAP. IX That the Church representatiue amongst the Iewes was for the most part the most corrupt Iudge of matters belonging to God and the reasons why it was so 1 BVt was the neglect of Moses law or this peoples inward corruption abounding for want of restraint by it the sole cause of their dulnesse in perceiuing or of their error in peruerting the things of Gods spirite This ouerflow of wickednesse serued as a tide to carry them but the continuall blasts of such vaine doctrine Templum Domini Templum Domini the Church the Church was like a boisterous wind to driue them headlong into those sands wherein they alwayes made shipwracke of faith and conscience The true Prophets neuer had greater opposites then the Priests and such as the Papists would haue to be the onely pillars yea the onely materiall parts of the Church representatiue Notwithstanding whom the Fathers had traduced for impostors or Sectaries and oftimes murdered as blasphemers of the Deity or turbulent members of the state the Children reuerenced as men of God and messengers of peace vnto the Church and common weale What was the reason of this diuersity in their iudgement or doth it argue more stedfast beliefe in posterity No but more experience of the euents foretolde oftimes not fulfilled vntill the Priests and other opposites either coaeuals or ancients to the Prophets were couered with confusion The childrens motiues to belieue particulars oppugned by their parents were greater and the impediments to withdraw their assent from them lesse That the children should thus brooke what their fathers most disliked in the Prophets is no more then wee may obserue in other Writers Few much reuerenecd in any faculty by posterity but had eager detractors in their flourishing dayes vicinity alwayes breeding enuy And euen of such as did not aemulate them for their skill nor would haue beene moued with enuy at their fame or glory they were not esteemed as they deserued being defrauded of due praise by such of the same profession as better pleased the predominant humor alwayes next in election to the lauish Magnificates of present times but vsually reiected by posterity when that particular humour euermore shorter liuth than the humorous beganne to change Thus in euery faculty haue those authors which most applied themselues to solidity of truth neglecting new-fangle trickes or flashes of extemporary wit endured in greatest request and best credit throughout all ages as meates strongest and most nourishing not most delicate are fittest for continuall diet What the Latine Poet said of his Poems euery Prophet might haue more truely applyed vnto his writinges Mox tibi si quis adhuc pretendat nubila liuor Occidet meriti post me referentur honores Though cloudes of enuy now may seeme thy splendent rayes to choake These with my ashes shall dissolue and vanish as their smoake VVhat whilest I breath sharpe censures blast when my leafe fals shall spring Thy fame must flourish as I fade graue honour forth shall bring It was a Methode most compendious for attaining such eternity of fame as the continuall succession of mortality can affoorde vs which is giuen by another Poet but in prose Dum viuas virtutem colas inuenias famam in Sepulchro Hee that hunts after vertue in his whole course of life shall bee sure to meete with fame after death but hardly sooner least of all could these Prophets bee much honoured in their owne Country whilest men of their owne profession carnally minded possessed the chiefe seates of dignity sometimes the best stay and pillars of faith in Gods Church most capable of that infallibility which their proud successors did more boast of Yet were euen these seducers alwayes willing to celebrate the memory of ancient prophets because the authority giuen to their sayings or reuerence shewed vnto their memory by the present people ouer whome they ruled did no way preiudice their owne dignity or estimation which rather increased by thus consorting with the multitude in their laudatoes of holy men deceased Thus from one and the same inordinate desire of honour and praise from men did contrary effects vsually spring in these masters of Israel The dead they reuerenced because they saw that acceptable vnto most likely to make way for their owne prayse amongst the people but feare lest the liuing Prophets should bee their coriuals in suites of glory whereunto their soules were wholly espoused did still exasperate and wher the malice of impatient mindes conscious of their own infirmities against their doctrine which could not be embraced but their estimation must be impaired their affections crossed their politique proiects dashed The higher in dignity the Priests and Rulers were the more it vexed them such poore men as the true Prophets for the most part were should take vpon them to direct the people Their obiections against those men of God their scurrilous taunts and bitter scoffes their odious 〈◊〉 forged to make way for bloudy persecutions are most liuely represented by the like practizes of the Romish Clergy continued almost as many yeares against the Albigeans Huâ—sites and generally against al whom they suspect to haue any familiarity with the spirit whose testimony against them is as authentique as euident onely ouerborne through Gods permission in the worlds sight by preiudice of priuatenesse Thus when poore Michatah would not say as the King would haue him the politique State-Prophet Zidkiah sonne of Chenaanah gaue him a blow on the cheeke to beate an answere out to this demand When went the Spirit of the Lord from mee to thee As many proud Prelates would in like case reply vpon his poore brother that should crosse his opinion specially in a matter belonging though but a farre off vnto the State Sirrha I am your better know your place before whom and in what matter you speake Nor did Zidkiah onely but 400. more no otherwise discernable for false Prophets then by such triall as wee contend for as
if they would haue bound the Almighty to haue followed most voices in bestowing victory perswade the King to goe vp against Ramath Gilead But my former assertion is fully ratified by Michaiahs reply to the others demand When went the c. Thou shalt see saith hee in that day when thou shalt goe from chamber to chamber to hide thee No question but such as were neuters before after they see his prophesie fulfilled in Ahabs ouerthrow did take Michaiah for a Prophet as true as Zedkiah was false 3 In like manner when Ieremy a poore Prophet and Priest of Anathoth had come vnto Ierusalem among the Prelates and prophesied the truth but truth offensiue to the State That all the euils which God had pronounced should be brought vpon that City and her townes Pashuâ— the sonne of Immer the Priest which was appointed gouernour in the house of the Lord intreats him worse then Zidkiah had done Michaiah Hee could haue flouted him with as good applause of his complices as the Inquisitors can a Protestant now You that can read State fortunes a farre off can you tell where you shall lodge your selfe this next night if you cannot take him for a better Prophet that can And by Pashurs Prophesie hee was to take vp his lodging in his way home in the Stockes that were in the high gate of Benâ—amin neare vnto the house of the Lord. whose desolation hee had threatned The like entertainement hee found againe at the whole multitudes hands but by the Priests and Prophets instigation Now when Ieremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speake vnto all the people then the Priests and the Prophets and all the people tooke him and said Thou shalt die the death Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying This house shall bee like Shiloh and this City shall bee desolate without an inhabitant As if the Church of God could possibly erre or the gates of hell preuaile against the splendor of it would the Romish Clergie adde should the Lord send a Prophet with such tidings vnto Rome And did they not learne this interpretation of Christs promise vnto his Church from the hypocriticall Iewes their predecessors which made the like comment in Ieremiahs time vpon Gods wordes as pregnant for the high-Priests succession as Saint Peters Come aud let vs imagine some deuise against Ieremiah for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet come and let vs smite him with the tongue and let vs not giue heed to any of his words Away with the heretique The manifestation of like affection in the Prelates towards Gods Prophets did embolden Shemaiah the Nehelemite to write from Babylon vnto Zephaniah the high Priest and his associates to this effect The Lord hath mad thee Priest for Iehoiada the Priest that yee should bee officers in the house of the Lord for euery man that raueth and maketh himself a Prophet to put him in prison and in the stocks Now therfore why hast not thou reproued Ieremiah of Anathoth which prophesied vnto you This captiuity is long built houses to dwell in and plant gardens and eate the fruites of them 4 But when Pashur found the Omen of that name which Ieremiah gaue him when hee and his mates proued indeed Magors Missabibs a terror to themselues and all about them when they saw with their eyes all the miseries there expressed then was Ieremiah held for a true Prophet especially by such as outliued the captiuity to see the truth of his prophesie for thier good as exactly fulfilled as this had heen for their harme whilest according to his prediction Shemaiah and his seed were rooted out from amongst Gods people happily replanted in their natiue soile For from the reasons set downe before posterity did alwayes better iudge of prophesies then the age wherein their Authors liued at the least the younger and meaner sort of that age which out-liued the euent vsually better digested their doctrine then the ancient or men of dignity that enuied them credite amongst the people yet were not such as lesse maligned them greater belieuers vniuersally as was said before but onely of some few particulars For if a new Prophet should haue risen amongst theÌ„ hee was almost as euill entreated by the present Clergy or others whose humors he contradicted This is euident by the Scribes and Pharises and the chiefe Rulers of the Iewish Church in our Sauiours time They builded the tombs of the Prophets garnished the sepulchres of the righteous and said as they verily thought If wee had been in the dayes of our fathers we would not haue beene partakers with them in the bloud of the Prophets yet made they the people of their owne time so mad as to be partakers with theÌ„ in the bloud of that great Prophet their long desired Messiah the onely Sauiour of the world Throughout the whole Story almost of the old Testament the truth proposed may appeare that the visible Church if it be taken in such a sence as the Romanists take it was the most corrupt Iudge either of the truth or true meaning of Gods word that the people seduced by their goodly shewes and glorious titles of Moses successors were still brought into the combination of bloud vntill they brought vpon themselues their posterity and the holy City All the righteous bloud that was shed vpon the earth from the bloud of Abel the righteous vntil the bloud of their Messiah 5 But though their cruelty and hypocrisie be so notoriously knowne as it euen seemes to point out the like in the moderne Romanist yet some honestly minded will perhaps demand how the people of those ages wherein the Prophets liued could possibly know the truth of their Prophesies seeing for the most part they saw a maior part of men in Ecclesiastique authority bent against them This happily may tempt vnseÌ„tled minds to thinke the Lord had determined his Prophets should haue Cassandraes fates neuer to bee belieued till remedy were past The peoples mistâ—king of their predictions was in a sort fatall yet not necessary but vpon supposition of former neglect God sent them Prophets for their good but their wickednesse turned his blessings into cursings their hypocrisie and folly made them so blind that they could not discerne the signes of the times vntill wofull experience the fooles onely Schoolemaster began to teach it them when their time for lore was ended A prudent man saith the wise-man seeth the plague and hideth himselfe but the foolish go on still and are punished But wherein doth that prudence consist which might haue preuented this plague surely in reading Gods law and continuall meditation thereon for this giues wisdom to the simple Men in this case should haue asked counsell of their own heart for there is no man more faithfull vnto thee then it for a
spirit which exempts the Pope from priuatenesse makes his authority oecumenical and infallible Whosoeuer then by participation of this spirit vnderstands the Prophesies eyther immediately or expounded by others whomsoeuer his conceit of them or their right interpretation is not priuate but authentique And Canus though a Papist expresly teacheth that the immediate ground or formall reason of ours and the Apostles beliefe must be the same both so immediately and infallibly depending vpon the testimony of the spirit as if the whole world beside should teach the contrary yet were euery Christian bound to sticke vnto that inward testimony which the spirit hath giuen him Though the Church or Pope should expound them to vs wee could not infallibly belieue his expositions but by that spirit by which hee is supposed to teach so belieuing wee could not infallibly teach others the same for it is the spirit onely that so teacheth all The inference then is as euident as strong that priuate in the forecited place is opposed to that which wants authority not vnto publike or coÌ„mon The Kings promise made to me in priuate is no priuate promise but will warrant mee if I come to pleade before his Maiesty albeit others make question whether I haue it or no. In this sense that interpretation of scriptures which the spirit affordes vs that are priuate men is not priuate but authentique though not for extent or publication of it vnto others yet for the perfection of our warrant in matters of saluation or concerning God For where the spirite is there is perfect liberty yea free accesse of pleading our cause against whomsoeuer before the Tribunall seate of iustice especially being wronged in matters of the life to come To this purpose saith our Apostle But hee that is spirituall discerneth all things yet hee himselfe is iudged of no man In those things wherein hee cannot be iudged by any hee is no priuate man but a Prince and Monarch for the freedome of his conscience But if any man falsly pretend this freedome to nurse contentions or to withdraw his necke from that yoke whereto hee is subject hee must answere before his supreme Iudge and his holy Angels for framing vnto himselfe a counterfeit licence without the assured warrant of his spirit And so shall they likewise that seeke to command mens consciences in those matters wherein the spirite hath set them free This is the height of iniquity that hath no temporall punishment in this life but must bee reserued as the obiect of fiercest wrath in that fearefull day the very Idea of Antichristianisme CHAP. XIIII That Saint Paul submitted his doctrine to examination by the Words before written That his doctrine disposition and practise were quite contrary to the Romanists in this argument 1 SAint Paul as well as other Apostles had the gift of miracles which amongst Barbarians or distressed soules destitute of other comfort likely to bee wonne to grace by wonders hee did not neglect to practise but sought not to enforce beliefe vpon the Iewes by fearefull signes or sudden destruction of the obstinate albeit hee had power to anathematize not onely in word but in deed euen to deliuer men aliue vnto Sathan When hee came to Thessalonica hee went as his maner was into the Synagogue three Sabboth daies disputed with his countrimen by the Scriptures opening and alleadging that Christ must haue suffered and risen againe from the dead and this is Iesus Christ whom I preach to you These Iewes had Moses and the Prophets and if they would not heare them neither would they belieue for any miracles which to haue wrought amongst such had been as the casting of pearles before swine What was the reason they did not belieue because the Scriptures which hee vrged were obscure but Saint Paul did open them Rather they saw the truth as Papists doe but would not see it They rightly belieued whatsoeuer God had said was most true that hee had said what Moses and the Prophetes wrote and yet Saint Paul taught nothing which they had not foretold But that was all one these Iewes had rather belieue Moses and the Prophets meant as the Scribes and Pharisees or other chiefe Rulers of their Synagogues taught then as Paul expounded them albeit his expositions would haue cleared themselues to such as without preiudice would haue examined them But the Beroeans were of a more ingenâ—ous disposition so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports they were not vassals to other mens interpretations or conceites but vsed their liberty to examine their truth They receiued the word with all readinesse and searched the Scriptures whether these things were so or no. If they beleeued in part before their practise confirms the truth of our assertion that they were not to belieue the infallibility of Paul but of his doctrine albeit they were well perswaded of his personall authority If they beleeued neither in part nor wholly before they see the truth of his doctrine confirmed by that scripture which they had formerly acknowledged their ingenuity herein likewise confirmes our doctrine and condemnes the Papists of insolent blasphemy for arrogating that authoritie vnto the Popes decrees which is onely due vnto Gods word already established 2 I would demand of any Papists whether the Beroeans did well or ill in examining Saint Pauls doctrine if ill why hath the spirit of God commended them if well why is it not lawfull and expedient for all true Christians to imitate them Vnlesse the Reader bite his lippe I will not promise for him hee shall not laugh at Bellarmines answere albeit I knew him for another Heraclitus or Crassus Agelastus who neuer laughed in all his life saue once when he saw an Asse feed on thistles Surely he must haue an Asses lippes that can taste and a swines belly that can digest this great Clerks Diuinity in this point I answere saith he albert Paul were an Apostle and could not preach false doctrine thus much notwithstanding was not euident to the Beroeans at the first nor were they bound forthwith to belieue vnlesse they had seene some miracles or other probable inducements to belieue Therefore when Paul proued Christ vnto them out of the Propheticall Oracles they did well to search the Scriptures whether those things were so If Saint Paul had thought miracles a more effectuall meanes then Scriptures for begetting faith in such as acknowledged Moses and the Prophets no doubt hee had vsed miracles rather then their authority Or if the Pope cannot expound the scriptures as effectually and perspicuously as S. Paul did why doth he not at the least work miracles are we bound absolutely to belieue him is he bound to doe neither of these without which the people of Beroea were not bound as Bellarmine acknowledgeth to belieue Saint Paul Wee are if his reason be worth beliefe Christians which know the Church cannot erre in explicating the doctrine of faith are bound to embrace
of faith Bellarmines prescription in this case is iust as if a Phisitian or Surgeon should seeke to ease the paine by ending of the Patients dayes Lest a man should sinne against his conscience this a Doctor aduiseth him to belieue the Church cannot teach amisse 14 To conclude then Hee that absolutely belieues the Pope as Christs Vicar generall in all things without examination of his decrees by Euangelicall precepts neither belieues Christ nor his Gospell no not when this pretended Vicar teacheth no otherwise then his Masters lawes prescribe For thus belieuing a diuine truth onely from this mans authority hee commits such Idolatry with him for the kind or essence as the Heathen did with Mercury their false Gods supposed messenger though so much more hainous in degree as his generall notion of the true God is better whose infinite goodnesse cannot entertaine an interpreter no better qualified then most Popes are did his wisdome stand in need of any But if when the Pope shall teach the doctrine of Diuels men absolutely belieue it to be Christs because his pretended Vicar commends it to them in thus beleeuing they commit such preposterous Idolatry as those of Calecut which adore the Deuill vpon conceit doubtlesse of some celestiall or diuine power in him as the absolute Papist doth not adore the Pope but vpon perswasion he is Christs Vicar and teaches as Christ would doe viua voce were hee again on earth And lesse it were to bee lamented did these Pseudo Catholiques professe their allegiance to Sathans incarnate Agent as to their supreme Lord by such solemne sacrifices onely as the inhabitants of Calicute performe to wicked spirits But this their blinde beliefe of whatsoeuer hee shall determine vpon a proude and foolish imagination he is Christs Vicar emboldens them to inuert the whole law of God and nature to glory in villany and triumph in mischiefe euen to seeke prayse and honour eternall from acts so foule and hideous as the light of nature would make the Calicutians or other Idolaters blush at thier very mention It is a sure token hee hath not yet learned the Alphabet of their religion that doubts whether Iesuiticall doctrine concerning this absolute beliefe extend not to all matters of fact And if out of simplicity rather then policy so they speake I cannot but much pitty their folly that would perswade vs it were not the fault of Romish Religion but of the men that professe it which hath inticed so many vnto such diuelish practises of late I would the Iesuite were but put to instance what kind of villany eyther hath beene already acted on earth or can yet possibly bee hatched in the region vnder the earth so hideous and vgly as would seeme deformed or odious to such as are wholly led by this blind faith if it should but please the Romish Clergy to giue a milde or fauourable censure of it No brat of hell but would seeme as beautifull to their eyes as young todes are to their dammes if their mother once commend the feature of it or acknowledge it for her darling Did not some of the Powder-plotte after Gods powerfull hand had ouertaken them and sentence of death had passed vpon them euen when the Executioner was ready to do his last office to them make a question whether their plot were sinnefull or no So modest were some of them and so obedient sonnes to the Church of Rome that they would not take vpon them to say eyther the one or other but referred the matter to their mothers determinations hereby testifying vnto the world that if the Church would say they would beleeue so great an offence against their Country were none against God One of them was so obstinate as to sollicite his fellow whilest both were drawne vpon one hurdle to the gallowes not to acknowledge it for any sinne Or if these must bee reputed but priuate men not well acquainted with their Churches tenents and therefore no fitte instances to disapproue her doctrine let the ingenuous Reader but peruse their best Writers answeres to the obiections vsually made against the Popes transcendent authority and hee shall easily perceiue how matters of fact are included in the beliefe of it how by it all power is giuen him in heauen and earth to peruert the vse and end of all lawes humane or diuine I will content my selfe for this present with some few instance out of Valentian CHAP. VI. Prouing the last assertion or generally the imputations hitherto laide vpon the Papacy by that authority the Iesuites expresly giue vnto the Pope in matters of particular fact as in the canonizing of Saints 1 HOw oft soeuer the Pope in defining questions of faith shall vse his authority that opinion which hee shall determine to bee a point of faith must bee receiued as a point of faith by all Christian people If you further demand howshall wee know when the Pope vseth this his absolute authority this Doctor in the same place thus resolues you It must bee belieued that he vseth this his authority as often as in controuersies of faith hee so determines for the one part that he will binde the whole Church to receiue his decision Lest stubborne spirits might take occasion to calumniate the Pope for taking or the Iesuites for attributing tyrannicall authority vnto him this Iesuite would haue you to vnderstand that the Pope may auouch some things which all men are not bound to hold as Gospell nay hee may erre though not when hee speakes ex Cathedra as head of the Church yet when hee speakes or writes as a priuate Doctor or expositor and onely sets down his owne opinion without binding others to thinke as hee doth Thus did Innocent the third and other Popes write diuers books which are not in euery part true and infallible as if they had proceeded from their Pontificiall authority Yea but what if this present Pope or any of his successors should binde all Christians to belieue that Pope Innocents bookes were in euery part infallibly true whether must wee in this case belieue Valentian or the Pope thus determining better If Valentian in the wordes immediately following deserue any credite wee must belieue the Pope better then himselfe yea hee himselfe must recant his censure of Pope Innocents works For so in the other part of his distinction hee addes Secundo potest Pontifex asserere The Pope againe may auouch something so as to bind the whole Church to receiue his opinion and that no man shall dare to perswade himselfe to the contrary And whatsoeuer hee shall thus auouch in any controuersie of Religion wee must assuredly belieue hee did auouch it without possibility of error and therefore by his Pontificiall authority His proofe is most consonant to his assertion I will not recite it in English lest the meere English Reader should suspect any able to vnderstand Latine could be possibly so ridiculous 2 These lauish prerogatiues of the
vniuersall If charged they be vnder paine of damnation secretly to worship this or that damned villaine it will be held a formall deniall of faith either not to performe what is enioyned or to bewray what they performe We may well suppose the Iesuites and others of their instruction haue more Saints in their priuate Kalenders then all the world knowes of Bellarmine grants the Pope may commend some vnder the title of Saints vnto a set Prouince or Diocesse though he enioyne not the whole Church so to esteeme or at least not so to entertayne them That Saints reputed not canonized may be priuately adored That in this case a generall custome may prescribe and breede iust presumption of the Popes tacit approbation though he giue no direct iniunction for the practize nor positiue signification of his consent For many were adored as Saints before the solemnitie of canonizing was in vse first practized as farre as this great Clerkes reading serues him by Pope Leo the third 3 Now as their proiects are of another mold and their meanes to effect them more desperate then heretofore so these intimations make it more then suspitious least secretly they crowne such of euery sort as haue beene best qualified for their purposes or haue aduentured farthest for the Churches dignitie with the titles of Saints to encourage others to like attempts And if turbulent or ambitious spirits greedie of same may bee fed with hopes of being eternized in Iesuiticall Kalendars if men male-contented with this present may haue sweet promises of euerlasting happinesse in the life to come vpon what mischiefes will they not aduenture when as the one sort is wearie of life the other curbed only with feare of present shame or disgrace after death otherwise readie to rush into any danger or auow most desperate outrages Albeit the parties proposed to be worshipped had been in their life times no so bad but rather incited to bold enterprises by their ardent zeale yet who would not desire to imitate the aduenturous actions of them whose memorie he adores And yet this longing desire of imitating such extraordinarie enterprises as others of noble spirits haue been thrust vpon by secret instinct is alwaies dangerous and in men not so well qualified as their Authors were preposterous For it will finde occasions of like practize when â—one is giuen vertue shall be the obiect of despite because in factious oppositions contempt of it may affoord matter of glorie Hatred and malice to Princes persons shall be accounted zeale and deuotion to the Church But if powder-plotters or publique Assasinats may be dignified with titles of Saints or proposed for imitation the Christian world may perceiue the height whereto this mischiefe may grow when it will be too late to controuse it It is an excellent caueat which old Gerson hath not impertinent to this purpose though intended by him especially for priuate vse Amongst other sophismes vsed by Satan to ensnare mens foules That Topicke of examples or similies affoords as many experiments of fallacies as there bee men whilest euery one seekes to imitate any one and professeth to frame his life by the example of such as either the Church doth Canonize or their Superiors Gouernors Doctors or men of same approue What doth the sonne say they but what he sees the father doe and yet these mates follow not the best but the worst Fathers at least that in them which is worst for them to follow by this example some of them stick not to say Paul commended himselfe Paul had visions in a trance and why may not God in these dayes worke the like effects in others Hence are prophecies faigned hence are admonitions by miracles hence are damned persons adored by the multitude witnesse the Legend yea and Vienna can beare witnesse of a dead dogs adoration Let the sacred Roman See therefore beware Let the Pope that sits therein beware vpon what grounds or motiues they canonize any 4 Rather let all Christian States beware least they giue such authoritie to either For if the danger were not alwayes imminent from their trayterous and bloud-thirstie mindes that professe this doctrine in any Kingdome yet from diuine Iustice the plagues vpon Prince and People that authorize or permit the profession of it will be one day publique and grieuous For better might they nurse all other kindes of inchantments or magicall practizes better might they giue harbour to all other heresies broched since the world beganne then suffer this Ocean of all mischiefes whether flowing from errours in manners or matters of doctrine to encroach vpon their coasts And here let not the Reader deceiue himselfe by imagining the holy Ghost had vsed a Metaphore rather then strict proprietie of speech when he called the whoore of Babylon a Witch or Inchantresse For the faith wherby the Romanist boasts he beleeues the Scriptures as elsewhere God willing shall be shewed is meerly magicall this doctrine we now dispute against the very Idea of infernall superstition or as they terme it vana obseruantia in respect of the essence and qualitie and for the extent of mischiefe whereto it leades as the maine Sea of sorcerie and all other kindes of magicall superstition as so many Brookes or Riuers For whence springs Sorcerie properly so called Either from expresse compact with euill spirits or from the solemne performance of certayne blinde ceremonies which are but sacrifices vnto infernall Powers whereby they gaine interest in the sacrificers soules in witnesse whereof they sometimes beare their markes in their bodies But if we looke into the mysterie of this iniquitie the Iesuites by subscribing vnto this doctrine of the Churches transcendent authoritie and taking the solemne oath of their order enter a couenant though not so expresse or immediate yet more firme and desperate then other Magicians vsually doe For they sweare and teach others to sweare absolute obedience to the Pope they thinke themselues bound and would binde others not to examine his decrees to esteeme of his pardons though destitute of al warrant from Gods word as highly as the Magicians doe of Charmes for which they can giue no reason either in arte or nature to offer vp their prayers and other religious worship vnto such as hee shall appoint them albeit for ought they know or as they iustly may suspect damned miscreants which is a more hellish sacrifice then any other Magicians vse And though Witches doe yet all sorts of Sorcerers enter not expresse couenant with the Prince of darkenesse And it is all one whether like Witches they giue their soules to him immediately or thus absolutely betroath them to his Proxy or principall Agent here on earth For as the Apostle instruct vs by thus worshipping the Beast they worship the Dragon his Master 5 Lastly in respect of this mouth of blasphemie Mahumetisme and Gentilisme are as a toy The ancient Heathen out of their inbred ignorance and want of externall meanes for right information