ought we to celebrate the memory of our gracious Quéene that gaue libertie to all Christians to professe the truth that caused diuers assemblies of learned men and ratified the Christian faith by her authoritie CHAP. III. Of the true and sincere administration of the Sacraments of the Church restored in England OF the holy rites and sacraments of Christian religion we cannot speake without griefe of heart when we consider how shamefully they were abused mangled and corrupted by the synagogue of Antichrist Where Christ ordained onely two Sacraments to wit Baptisme where he said Teach all nations Matth. 28. baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost and the sacrament of his body and blood where he said Take eate this is my body and drinke ye all of this for this is the blood of the new testament and do this in remembrance of me that synagogue hath added fiue other sacraments giuing the same vertue to their extreme vnction and to mariage and orders concerning iustification that they giue to Baptisme the Lords supper Lib. sent 4. dist 2. The master of the Sentences rehearsing the seuē sacraments for the Lords supper putteth Panis benedictionem that is the blessing of the bread excluding the cup either from the Lords supper or from the number of sacraments He doth also differ from the rest in describing the vertue of the sacraments Ibidem Alia remedium contra peccatum praebent saith he gratiam adiutricem conferunt vt baptismus alia in remedium tantùm sunt vt coniugium aliae gratia virtute nos fulciunt vt eucharistia ordo That is some of the sacraments yeeld vs a remedy against sin and withall bestow on vs helpfull grace others are onely for remedy as mariage others do strengthen vs with grace and vertue as the eucharist and holy orders But Bellarmine lib. 2. de sacrament c. 12. doth shew that the common currant opinion now is otherwise and that all these sacraments do iustifie ex opere operato that is by vertue of the worke wrought As if all maried men and priests of Baal were iustified or as if iustification and grace came by greasing scraping crossing and such other ceremonies But neither are they able to iustifie this doctrine nor to shew either institution or promise of confirmation or extreme vnction or certaine signe of mariage or repentance or order or the other two new deuised sacraments Furthermore mariage repentance and priesthood were as well vsed in the time of the law as in the Gospell How then can these be sacraments of the Gospell They haue also altered corrupted and mangled Christ his institution concerning the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords supper In baptime they salt and coniure the water in which the party baptized is to be dipped They put salt into his mouth and touch his eares and nosthrils with spittle which is oft times very noisom They annoint him also on the head and giue him a candle in his hand and embroyle Christ his institution with diuers other ceremonies Finally to make water more effectuall they poure oyle into the font In the sacrament of the Lords supper instituted in bread and wine they leaue neither the substance of bread nor wine but say that the same is transsubstantiated into Christs body and blood and that either his body and blood or the accidents of bread and wine subsisting without their substance make the sacrament Secondly they hold that Christs body and bloud are conioyned without any distance to the accidents of bread and wine albeit they are not there either felt or seene Thirdly they haue turned the sacrament of our communion with Christ and of our mutuall coniunction one with another into a priuate action of one Priest that eateth and drinketh all alone vncharitably and very directly contrary to Christ his institution who ioyntly said Accipite manducate hoc est corpus meum and bibite ex hoc omnes Take eate this is my body and drinke ye all of this contrary to the practise of the auncient Church that neuer solemnized this action without distribution of the sacrament and contrary to the vse and reason of the sacrament For why should not the faithfull be made partakers of that sacrament which is a signe of their vnion both with Christ and among themselues Fourthly Christ and his Apostles administred the cup to as many as receiued the holy eucharist But they by a solemne decrée of priests at Constance take away the cup from all saue the priests that say Masse Fiftly Christ ordained that the sacrament of his body and bloud should be distributed and receiued in that action these fellowes kéepe the sacrament in a boxe and cary it about in solemne processions Sixthly they worship the sacrament and call it their Lord and God contrary to all rules of Christianity Seuenthly Christ appointed a holy sacrament and gaue not his body and bloud to be offered continually in the Masse as a sacrifice auaileable for quicke and dead as these good fellowes do beléeue Finally the Apostle sheweth that as oft as we celebrate this holy action we shew forth the Lords death vntill his comming againe But the Papists forbid this action to be celebrated in a vulgar tong which is commonly vnderstood of the people as much as in them lyeth hindring them from shewing forth the Lords death they hold also that he is already come and present in the sacrament But the Church of England doth religiously obserue Christ his institution and that doctrine which the Apostles haue deliuered vnto vs. The same admitteth no sacramēts but two that is Baptisme and the Lords supper In Baptisme we refuse the idle and superstitious ceremonies brought in lately by Papists That which the Apostle had receiued of Christ Iesus and deliuered to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 11. that we diligently obserue renouncing their nouelties heresies and blasphemies concerning the grosse carnal and corporall presence and eating and drinking of Christs body and bloud in the sacrament the late deuised transsubstantiation the blasphemous idole of the Masse the diuine worship of consecrated hostes the mangled communion vnder the forme of bread their celebration in a tongue not vnderstood of the communicants and all the rest of their abuses which without either authoritie of scriptures or allowance of the most auncient and sincere fathers they haue brought into the Church The sacraments therefore of the new Testament being pledges of Gods loue and seales of Gods graces whereby he worketh in vs we are not lightly to prize the true and sincere administration of them according to Christs holy institution nor to esteeme this a small benefite that the doctrine concerning the holy sacraments being reformed according to the canon of Gods word both the superstitious ceremonies in Baptisme and the idolatrous Masse with al abuses depending thereon were abrogated and remoued out of the Church and the celebration of Christs holy sacraments
Christ in heauen then to any one of our brethren militant on earth But therein he lyeth notoriously For commonly they call the virgine Mary mother of mercy and desire her to protect them and to do away their sinnes Likewise they pray to be saued by the blood of Thomas by the merites of other saints which I trow is more then they will giue to euery one of their brethren in earth Bellarmine saith that it is not lawful to ask glorie or grace Lib. 1. de sa◠beatit c. 17. or other meanes tending to blessednesse of saints as authors of Gods benefites But this is contradicted as well by the doctrine as by the practise of the Romish church Sotus in confess cath saith that saints in heauen are our coadiutors and fellow-workers in the worke of our saluation Saltzger writing vpon this argument affirmeth that we pray to saints for two benefites the first is to the end they may pray for vs the second is that either visibly or inuisibly they may bestow their helpe vpon vs. Clichtouey teacheth that saints haue seuerall graces to bestow on them that call vpon them Alexander Hales sayth Sanctos oramus vt mediatores per quos impetramus We call vpon saints as mediators by whom we obtaine Thomas sayth we receiue benefites from God by the meanes of saints Beneficia Dei sumimus mediantibus sanctis Antoninus part 3. sum Tit. 3. sayth that Gods benefites descend downe to vs by the mediation of Angels and holy soules And againe p. 4. Tit. 15. Maria ita aduocat interpellat vt Deum patrem placet conuersos in gloriam inducat Mary is so our aduocate and intercessor that she doth pacifie the Father and bring repentant sinners into glory Bernardine in his booke of Mary sayth that no grace commeth from heauen vnto the earth but by Mary and vnlesse the same passe by the hands of Mary for that all graces do enter into Mary and from her are cōmunicated to vs and for that she is the mediatrix of saluation of coniunction of intercession of communication Commonly they pray to the virgin Mary in this forme Giue vs peace protect me To S. George they addresse themselues saying this same let him saue vs from our sinnes that we may rest in heauen with blessed soules Hic nos saluet say they à peccatis vt in coelo cum beatis possimus quiescere And if they did only intercede for vs not bestow vpon vs the things we pray for why do some beg of S. Anthony the health of their swine and of S. Winnoc the good standing of their sheepe Why do they pray to S. Luis for their horses and to S. Nicolas for good passage at the sea Why do Painters call on S. Luke and Phisitions on Cosmas and Damianus and Shoo-makers on S. Crespin Finally why do they tell vs in their legends of the apparitions of diuers saints in time of warre pestilence and other sicknesses and working diuers feates For if they did onely intercede for vs then one saint might serue for al purposes and then should they onely appeare as suppliants to God and not as bestowers of graces and workers of wonders Finally then should we not say helpe me heale me defend me but pray to God that I may be holpen healed and defended Are not the Paists then in miserable state that forgetting for the most part their onely Mediator and Redéemer run to saints and Angels nay runne to such as are no saints nor euer were in the world as George that killed the Dragon Catherin the daughter of Costus Christopher that bore Christ and such like Are they not mad to pray vnto such as they know not whether they heare them or not And do not some say that they are euery where present to heare our praiers Others that they heare such prayers as God reuealeth vnto them Others that they sée all things in Gods face Others that they vnderstand by relation of Angels It cannot be denied For Bellarmine confesseth it lib. 1. de Beatitudine sanct ca. 20. and that which he affirmeth that saints do sée all in God from the first beginning of their blessed estate is most absurd For what is seeing to hearing Againe how can things temporarie be imprinted in the essence of God or can Saints sée some things and not all if they comprehend that which is in the incomprehensible essence of the Deity Most wretchedly also they do worship dumbe images knéeling vnto them kissing them and burning incense vnto them saying to the crosse O crux aue spes vnica auge pijs iustitiam reisque dona veniam All haile ô Crosse my only hope increase iustice in the godly and grant pardon to sinners And crying to the Crucifixe Thou hast redeemed vs Bellar de imagin c. 23. thou hast reconciled vs to thy Father and calling a blocke mother of mercie and saying before stockes and stones Our Father and Aue Maria and knocking their breasts and whipping themselues before Images as the idolatrous Priests did before their idols The Apostle when he laid before the Corinthians the miserable state they stood in while they were yet Gentils he vseth no other tearmes then these Ye know that ye were Gentiles and were caried away vnto dumbe Idols as ye were led Which is as much as if he should say You were miserable and blind when ye were caried away vnto dumbe Idols Why then may we not say the same to Papists They may percase deny the case to be like But in my challenge I haue by many arguments proued them to be grosse Idolaters haue clearely shewed that they haue no better excuse for their worship of Images then the idolatrous Gentiles had for their worship of idoles Are they not then likewise blind and miserable Thinking to thrust others out of their societie which they call the Church they haue flatly excluded themselues from the societie and communion of the Catholike Church For if their Church be a companie of men professing the same faith and participating the same Sacraments vnder the rule of lawfull pastors and especially of the Pope as Bellarmine saith lib. 2. de Eccl. milit cap. 2. then are they not the catholike Church For that Church was long before either Pope or Bishop of Rome Beside that false it is that either the Apostles or whole Apostolike Church was subiect to the Bishop of Rome or that Iohn the Euangelist that liued long after Peter was subiect to Linus Cletus or Clement in whose time he liued Finally false it is that God appointed the church to be gouerned by the Bishops of Rome there is nothing thereof in Scriptures The Fathers shew that the chiefe authoritie in externall matters was in generall Councels and Emperors And Bellarmines idle disputes concerning his Pope are long since ouerthrowne That they are not the true Church it appeareth also for that they heare not the voice of Christ but follow a stranger for that
they haue receiued diuers heresies and deuised new Sacraments relinquishing Christ his institution in the celebration of the Lords supper for that they haue other foundations of their religion then were laid by Christ or his Apostles for that they persecute true Christians murther them and massacre them and by all meanes persecute them and for diuers other reasons laid downe in mine answer to Bellarmines booke De Eccles militante If then it be not possible to be saued without the Church in what case are they that running after the Pope which is that Antichrist of which the Apostle speaketh 2. Thess 2. are run out of the Church And whither are they runne forsooth into the confusion of Babylon where the Pope Cardinals Masse priests De Eccles milit cap. 2. Friars make merchandize of mens soules Bellarmine saith that neither faith hope nor charitie nor other internall vertue is required that a man absolutely may be said to be a part of the Church but onely an externall profession of the faith and communion of the Sacraments Who then will not leaue that societie which for ought that we know may be a packe of Turkes and infidels without all vertue religion and honestie especially if they professe the Romish faith externally Further as they haue excluded themselues from the Church so they haue put themselues vnder the subiection of Antichrist that is the head of the malignant Church and to his Cardinals Masse-priests and Friars which rabblement are fitly resembled to the maister Cooke of hell his scalders the blacke-guard and all the scullerie of Satan Whatsoeuer the Pope decreeth that they receiue C. sic omâ—â—â— dist 19. Agatho the Pope hath told them in good earnest that all sanctions of the Apostolike see are to be receiued as if they were confirmed by the diuine voice of Peter Be the Pope neuer so vnlearned or foolish or peruerse yet if he say the word sitting on his close chaire it must stand His voice they take to be infallible his sentence is honoured like a diuine Oracle Likewise his Cardinals Masse priests and Friars albeit they be the false Prophets spoken of by S. Peter 2. Pet. 2. and diuersly detected by S. Iohn in his Reuelation to be limbs of Antichrist yet are they followed These leade and their simple hearers follow them the way that leadeth to destruction Their teachers bring to themselues swift damnation as the Apostle S. Peter saith and they cannot escape beléeuing their damnable heresies and running after them in their wicked wayes Pius Quintus that helhound that first barked against Queene Elizabeth our late Soueraign In Bulla contra Eliz. saith that Christ committed his Church to Peter alone vni soli But that is most false The Apostle Ephes 4. saith He gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and teachers Likewise Mat. 28. he said to all the Apostles Go and teach Beside that what doth the authoritie of Peter belong to the Pope S. Peter had neither such rubie Cardinals nor such a parti-coloured guard of Switzers nor such a hellish rabble of Masse-priests and Friars as the Pope hath Contrariwise he preached and suffered as the Pope doth not Others say that Masse-priests and Friars are the Apostles successors But we find them to be the locustes that as S. Iohn foretold came out of the bottomelesse pit mentioned Apocalyps 9. If they were the Apostles successors then would they teach the Apostles doctrine and not the Popes decretals scholasticall inuentions philosophicall subtilties and such fooleries Againe they would not lead their miserable disciples from Christ to Antichrist They haue also declined from the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles concerning the Sacraments Our Sauiour onely instituted two that properly deserue the name of Sacraments to wit Baptisme and the Eucharist as the writings of the Apostles beare witnesse The Fathers also confirme vnto vs two onely Sacraments of the new Testament Cyprian lib. 2. Epist 1. Tunc demum plane sanctificari esse silij Dei possunt si vtroque Sacramento nascantur Then may they be sanctified and made the sonnes of God saith he if they be regenerate by both the Sacraments Augustine de symb ad Catechum saith Haec sunt Ecclesiae gemina Sacramenta these are the two Sacraments of the Church Neither doth any Father name more Sacraments then two where he speaketh properly as may be proued by the testimonie of Iustines second Apologie of Tertullian lib. 1. 4. contr Marcion Of Clement recognit lib. 1. Of Ambrose lib. de Sacrament Of Cyril of Ierusalem in his catechisticall Sermons of Augustine lib. 3. de doctr Christ cap. 9 of Gregorie cap. multi secularium 1. q. 1. who although he name Baptisme Chrisme and the bodie and bloud of our Lord yet Chrisme was nothing but an addition to Baptisme De corp sang Christi Of Paschasius and others Sunt Sacramenta Christi saith Paschasius in Ecclesia catholica Baptismus corpus quoque Domini sanguis The Sacraments of Christ in the catholike Church are Baptisme and the bodie and bloud of our Lord. And so manifest a matter it is that Bessarion writing vpon the Sacrament confesseth that there are two Sacraments onely deliuered in the Gospell But the Papists haue added other fiue Sacraments vnto these two giuing like vertue vnto confirmation mariage order penance and extreame vnction as vnto Baptisme and the Lords Supper and teaching that Sacraments containe grace and iustifie the receiuer So that if we will beleeue them as well he is iustified that is confirmed maried ordered or annoynted as he that is baptised or made partaker of the Lords body and bloud Where Christ distributed the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud and gaue both the kinds to all communicants they seldome distribute the sacrament and take the cup from all but the priest In confirmation and extreame vnction they vse other signes and formes then euer Christ ordained They teach that Christians are able to satisfie for their sinnes and that the Pope by indulgences hath power to remit satisfaction and to do away the temporall punishment of sinne Are they not then most miserable that haue corrupted the sacraments and seales of Gods eternall testament and as it were broken the couenants betwixt God and vs and despised the pledges of his loue Of Christian faith they thinke so basely that they make it nothing but a bare assent to Gods word as well in fearing the threatnings of the law as beléeuing the promises of the Gospell teach that not only reprobate men but also the diuels also may haue true faith Bellarmine lib. de iustif 1. c. 15. speaking of the faith of wicked men and diuels sayth that both is true and right and catholike faith and comparable to S. Peters faith concerning the obiect Grace that maketh vs acceptable to God saith Bellarmine cannot really be distinguished from the habite of charitie Lib. 1. de gratia cap. 6. But if this
and released all clerkes from temporall Princes obedience Ad Scapulam Tertullian saith Christians honored the Emperour as the next man in honour to God and onely inferiour to God Colimus Imperatorem saith he sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit vt hominem a Deo secundum quicquid est à Deo consequutum solo Deo minorem Chrysostome sheweth that the Apostles wordes Rom. 13. concerne clerkes and religious men as well as lay men The same is also contrarie to the practise of the Church vnder the Law and vnder the Gospell and derogatorie to the Kings authoritie For both vnder the Law and when Emperors began to professe Christian religion they made lawes for the Church and reformed Ecclesiasticall abuses as both Scriptures and the lawes of the Code and Nouelles testifie Thirdly this authoritie is plainly vsurped by the Pope and his followers For vntill Gregorie the seuenth his time who by force and armes preuailed more then by reason we find that the clergie and Church was gouerned by Christian princes and their lawes Finally the same is disgracefull to Kings and burdensome to subiects and most vnreasonable Disgracefull it is to Kings to loose their royalties and to be made subiect to forreiners Burdensome it is to good subiects vpon whom the whole burden is laid and they exempted which are best able to beare The Germaines in their grieuances Grauam 28. shew that the charge of the warre against the Turke is laid wholy on lay-mens shoulders Finally it is no reason that those should liue vnder the Kings protection that neither pay him tribute nor acknowledge his authoritie But of the vnreasonablenesse of these incrochments we shall haue occasion to dispute elswhere Here it is sufficient to shew that the Popes vsurpations exactions and whole authoritie is preiudiciall to Kings vntollerable to their subiectes Be wise therefore O ye Kings of the earth and serue Christ Iesus but beware that in stead of Christ ye serue not Antichrist And you that are fréed by the preaching of the Gospell from the bondage of the Popes traditions and exactions take héed that you suffer not your selues to be entangled againe in his snares brought againe into bondage The Popes agents tell you of many goodly actions of the Pope and set out the beautie of traditions with faire words But they séeke nothing but to bring you into a snare and to make merchandise of your soules and to blind you so that you shall not be able to sée the miserie of those that liue vnder him or the trash of his false doctrine and traditions God graunt you therfore the spirit of wisedome and discretion that you may stand fast in the liberty of true Christians and neuer be entangled againe with the yoke of Popish bondage The third Booke of the answer to Robert Parsons his supernodical Warn-word containing a list of his lies falsities fooleries impieties and other enormous faults and abuses therein and elsewhere by him committed The Preface to the third Booke THus hauing ended our defence of Queene Elizabeths godly reformation and noted the miserable estate of Papists liuing vnder the Popes tyrannie and deformation it will be no hard matter for vs to dispatch the rest of the Warne-word being nothing else but a bundle of patcheries and fooleries patched together with a number of idle and vaine words scarce worth the reading or rūning ouer Wherin notwithstāding that I may proceed with more perspicuity I wil first examine the qualities of the author of this Warne-word and that so much the rather that you may forbeare to wonder at this warning peece or peeced Warne-word considering the qualitie of the warme fellow that made vs this braue peece of fire-worke Next I shall enter vpon the title and front of the booke and let you see how neither the portall corespondeth with the rest of his building nor the worke with the inscription and that the same doth well resemble a clome portall set beside a straw thatched house or a pig-stie set before Robert Parsons his putatiues fathers forge Thirdly his personall accusations and slaundrous imputations both against my selfe and others shall be answered The fourth place is due to his impieties which require a sharpe censure After that his ridiculous errors impudent falsifications vaine allegations grosse lies saucie rayling termes and clamorous outcries poore shifts and sottish answers lamentable begging of things in controuersie insolent brags and such like fooleries shall seuerally be scanned and reproued A man would percase wonder that a man in so idle a worke should runne into so many inconueniences and absurdities But this our aduersary is a beast and a grosse pecoran and no man How should we looke for other stuffe out of such a malicious heart Do men gather figs of thornes or grapes of briars As Hierome saith of Heluidius so I may say of Parsons Loquacitatem facundiam existimat maledicere omnibus bonae conscientiae signum arbitratur He supposeth babling to be eloquence and that railing vpon all men is a signe of a good conscience Let him therfore haue patience to haue his owne coxcombe pared and let him bark still like a helhound if he take pleasure in barking I doubt not but we shall so breake his dogs teeth that he shall hurt none by his biting But to cut off all preambles let vs now see if we can bring the iade Parsons from his gallop to his ambles CHAP. I. A legend of No saint but of Robert Parsons his life calculated in fauour of that swarme of traitors which euery yeare he sendeth out of his seditious Seminaries BEfore I enter into this discourse I do protest that I was drawne into it more then halfe against my will by the importunitie of Robert Parsons who first began this course and albeit without commission went about to make enquiry what I am what I did at Caliz what in Ireland and what in other places and to obiect whatsoeuer he thought might moue either suspicion of crime or occasion of ieast But séeing I am forced to defend my self I professe and proclaime it openly that I will spare neither Iebusite nor Masse priest nor Archpriest nor prouinciall Iebusite nor Pope nor Cardinall that shall come in question Howbeit let all the rest sleepe for this turne Now we will talke onely of Robert Parsons and see what reason he had to aske a reason of other mens actions that is so obnoxious to so many accusations himselfe Math. 7. Our Sauiour Christ calleth him hypocrite that espieth a mote in another mans eye hauing a beame in his owne eye Accusat in Vetr lib. 3. Qui sibi hoc sumpsit saith Tully vt corrigat mores aliorū ac peccata reprehendat quis huic ignoscat si qua in re ipse ab religione officij declinarit Whosoeuer arrogantly taketh vpō him to correct other mens manners and to reprehend their faults who will pardon him if in any thing he
Matth. and Gregory lib. 4. dialog c. 56. and other fathers do teach that it is not conuenient that al things which are handled in Church seruice praesertim in sacris mysterijs shold be vnderstood by all vnlearned people in their owne vulgar tongue A shamelesse lie most impudently auouched vpon the fathers credit by this bastardly frier For neither do they talke of vulgar languages nor seeke to exclude the people from vnderstanding of the tongue wherein God is serued Gregory and Chrysostome haue nothing to this purpose Fol. 66. a. citing Hieromes words he leaueth out these words vacua idolorum templa quatiuntur out of the midst of the sentence least the Reader should surmise he spoke against the temples of the Papists where euery corner is full of idols In his second encounter chap. 3. he corrupteth a place of Bede lib. 1. hist Angl. c. 1. by his wicked translation making him to say that the Latine tongue was then made common to English Britons Scots Picts and Latins when his meaning is that the knowledge of religion is made common to them by meditation of Scriptures in diuers tongs His words are these Haec in praesenti iuxta numerum librorum quibus lex diuina scripta est quinque gentium linguis Note that he saith they study diuinity in fiue tongues vnam candemque summae veritatis verae sublimitatis scientiam scrutatur consitetur Anglorum viz. Britonum Scotorum Pictorum Latinorum quae in meditatione scripturarum ceteris omnibus est facta commmunis He referreth the relatiue quae to the word Latinorum or to linguis which cannot be and not to summae veritatis and verae sublimitatis which both Latin construction and the sense wil admit The other cannot stand For we may not think that all the English Britons Picts and Scots vnderstood Latine Neither doth that make for the Romanists which in publike seruice continue the vse of the Latin tongue being now not vnderstood In his second encounter chap. 6. he doth produce not only counterfet homilies of Basil in 40. martyres and Chrysostome in adorat venerab caten S. Apostolorum principis Petri but also doth alledge them most falsly Basill prayeth not to the 40. martyrs nor Ambrose in c. 22. Luc. to Peter nor Hierome to Paula nor Augustine to Cyprian lib. 7. de baptism contra Donat. c. 1. as impudently Parsons auoweth Nor are the rhetorical spéeches of Nazianzen or Hierom or Chrysostome or others such blasphemous prayers as the Papists vse in their Missals and Breuiaries 2. encontr c. 6. he sayth that Ireney doth call Philip that baptised the Eunuch Act. 8. an Apostle But it is no Apostolicall practise to bely Ireney He must therefore either bring proofe or confesse that Ireney is wronged In the same place he would make vs beléeue that Tertullian lib. de praescript aduers haeret would exclude heretikes from triall by scriptures But he falsifieth the meaning of that father that dealeth against heretickes which neither allowed all scripture nor wold be tried by other scriptures then such as they had counterfeited themselues Ista haeresis sayth he non recipit quasdam scripturas si quas recipit adiectionibus detractionibus ad dispositionē instituti sui interuertit si recipit non recipit integras Séeing therfore Parsons like vnto these heretikes either corrupteth scriptures by false senses or else falsly alleageth auncient authors who will not henceforth detest him as a notorious falsary False expositions are as well repugnant to truth as the corrupting stile as saith Tertullian de praescript cōtra haeret Tantum veritati obstrepit adulter sensus quantum corruptor stilus It is a tricke of heretikes to vse matters of faith like to physitiōs that attemper themselues according to the diuersitie of mens affections altering them for their owne best commoditie Verbis fidei more medicorum sayth Basil epist 73. speaking of heretikes vtuntur pro commoditate aliter atque aliter sese ad affectionum rationem ac varietatem attemperantes And as sayth Irenaeus lib. 1. aduers haeret c. 1. They go about to fit the word of God to their idle fables Aptare volunt fabulis suis eloquia Dei What Parsons hath done herein the particulars aboue mentioned do testifie CHAP. VIII That Parsons his testimonies and allegations make for the most part against himselfe Cic. de Inuent lib. 1. AS it is a grosse fault in an Orator to vse such an exordium as may also be vsed by his aduersary or turned backe vpon himselfe so it is a fault to begin with a sentence that may as well fit our aduersaries as our selues But Robert Parsons litle regardeth this obseruation who fronteth his booke with this sentence of the Apostle Tit. 3. Flie an heretical man after one or two warnings knowing that such a one is subuerted and sinneth damnably against his own iudgement A testimonie that may fitly be applied to him For he is an hereticall man and hath bene often warned of his faults albeit we sée no amendment in him He sinneth also as may be guessed against his owne conscience allowing that which being in England somtimes he condemned and is vtterly subuerted and damned if God do not in his great mercie recall him If he denie himselfe to be an heretike let him shew how he can hold all the heresies of Papists which in auncient time haue bene condemned and yet be no heretike To vs he cannot apply these words seeing we hold nothing against the scriptures by which we are to iudge most certainely of the faith of the Catholike Church Neither doth Parsons alleage this place against vs impertinently but also falsly The words of the Apostle are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which emport thus much And sinneth being condemned by himselfe and not as Parsons translateth viz. And sinneth damnably against his owne iudgement Where this word damnably and iudgement is added to the Apostles sentence most falsly For euery heretike after once or twise admonition doth not sinne damnably against his owne iudgement as may appeare by the Popes their Cardinals and others that think they do well percase albeit noble and notorious heretikes But rather euery heretike doth by his leud opinions which he will not reforme seuer and diuide himselfe from the Church and as the Apostle saith sinneth being condemned by his owne act or by him selfe Likewise do the rest of his testimonies and authorities serue fitly against himselfe In the beginning of his answere fol. 1. he aymeth at the Apostles words 2. Tim. 2. Where he forbiddeth vs to contend about words which profit nothing but to peruert the hearers Robert Parsons turneth the Apostles words so as if he should say that contention of words tendeth to nothing but the subuersion of the hearers But the Apostle talketh of contention about words and not of contention of words and of the effect and not of tending to an end But to omit his error in translation I
Praescript aduers Haeret. disputeth against the heresies of the Valentinians and Marcionites drawing arguments from the Apostles preaching and tradition But that was because they denyed and corrupted Scriptures For no man can deny but that their heresies are clearely conuinced by Scriptures Quod sumus hoc sunt That we are that they are saith Tertullian speaking of Scriptures That is likewise the meaning of Vincentius Lirinensis de Haeres cap. 27. for that depost of which he talketh is nothing but the Christian faith contained in scriptures But if Parsons will prooue his rule of faith he must shew a faith grounded vpon tradition that is not deduced out of Scriptures Nay if he will not be contrarie to himselfe he must shew that not the Apostles tradition as he saith in his Warn-word 1. Encoun cap. 15. but the Catholike church is the rule of faith as he holdeth Ward-word Encontr pag. 6. He doth also obiect against vs diuers alterations of religion in England in king Henry the eight his raigne Warn-word Encontr c. 16. and in king Edwards dayes and then asketh by what authoritie our rule of faith was established But first he might as well haue spoken of the alteration made in Q. Maries dayes when the impieties of Popish religiō were established by act of Parliament Secondly the alterations in religion made in England of late time make no variation in the rule of faith that is alwayes one but in the application and vse of it Thirdly albeit by act of Parliament the articles of religion were confirmed wherein the canon of scriptures and the substance of our confession is set downe yet was that rather a declaration of our acceptance then a confirmation of the rule of faith that in it selfe is alwayes immoueable Our rule of faith therefore is certaine albeit not alwaies in one sort approued or receiued by men But the rule of Popish faith neither in it self nor in the approbatiō of Parliaments or Churches is certaine or immoueable Finally he asketh a question of Sir Francis in his Ward-word p. 5. how he knoweth his religion to be true And saith he hath only two meanes to guide himselfe in this case and that is either Scriptures or the preaching of our Ministers But this question as I haue shewed toucheth himselfe that busideth his faith vpon the Pope nearer then Sir Francis who groundeth himselfe his faith only vpon the holy Scriptures and is assured of his faith not by these two meanes onely but by diuers others For beside Scriptures he hath the help of the Sacraments of the Church of Gods spirit working within him of miracles recorded in scriptures of auncient Fathers of the practise of the Church of the consent of nations of the confession of the aduersaries of the suffering of Martyrs and testimonies of learned men and such like arguments In this question therefore Robert Parsons shewed himselfe to be a silly Frier and to haue had more malice then might In time past also we were as shéepe going astray and out of the vnion of the Catholike and Apostolike Church Diuers of our auncestors worshipped the crosse and the images of the Trinitie with diuine worship Some like bruite beasts fell downe before Idols crept to the crosse and kissed wood and stone Others worshipped Angels the blessed Virgin and Saints praying vnto them in all their necessities trusting in them saying Masses in their honour and offering incense and prayers to their pictures and images For so they were taught or rather mistaught by popish Priests The Romish synagogue in the very foundations of religion was departed from the Apostolike and Catholike Church The schoolemen brought their proofes out of the Popes Decretals and Aristotles Metaphysickes Est Petri sedes saith Bellarmine in Praefat. ante lib. de Pont. Rom. lapis probatus angularis pretiosus in fundamento fundatus The See of Peter is an approued corner stone precious and laid in the foundation The same man lib. 2. de Pont. Rom. cap. 31. calleth the Pope the foundation of the Church Sanders calleth him the Rocke Alij nunc à Christo saith Stapleton relect princip doctr in Praef. eorúmue doctrina praedicatio determinatio fundamenti apud me locū habebūt That is Others now beside Christ and their doctrine preaching and determination shall be esteemed of me as a foundation This he saith where he talketh of the foundation of religion and the Church But the catholike Church had no foundation beside Christ Iesus and his holy word and Gospell taught by the Prophets and Apostles The Apostle Gal. 1. denounced him accursed that taught any other Gospell then that which he had preached The holy Fathers proued the faith by holy Scriptures and not by popish Decretals and philosophicall Principles Concerning Christs bodie the Romanists taught that the same is both in heauen and in the Sacrament albeit we neither could see it there nor féele it But the scriptures teach vs that his bodie is both palpable and visible Luk. 24. Mar. vlt. and is now taken vp into heauen So likewise teach the Fathers Vigilius in his fourth booke against Eutyches speaking of Christs bodie When it was on earth saith he surely it was not in heauen and now because it is in heauen certainely it is not on earth They haue also brought in new doctrine concerning Purgatorie and indulgences and which is no more like to the auncient catholike faith then heresie and noueltie to Christian religion They teach that whosoeuer doth not satisfie in this life for the temporall punishment of mortall sinnes committed after baptisme and remitted concerning the guiltinesse must satisfie for the same in Purgatorie vnlesse it please the Pope by his indulgences to release him Of the tormentors of soules in Purgatorie and of the nature qualitie and effect of indulgences they talke idlely and vnlike to the schollers of Catholikes The Catholicke doctrine concerning the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords supper they haue quite changed in Baptisme adding salt spittle hallowed water exorcismes blowings annointings light and other strange ceremonies In the Lords supper taking away the cup from the communicants and not deliuering but hanging vp or carying about the Sacrament and worshipping it as God and finally beléeuing holding transubstantiation They haue also deuised other sacraments and taught that they containe grace and iustifie They were wont to kisse the Popes toe and to receiue his dunghill decretals worshipping Antichrist and intitling him Christs Vicar All which nouelties superstitions and heresies by her Maiesties godly reformation are abolished who hath restored the auncient Catholike and Apostolike faith which the Popes of Rome for the most part had altered suppressed She hath also by her authoritie brought vs to the vnitie of the Catholike faith and by good lawes confirmed true Christian religion Before our times there was no settlement in matters of Religion Durand denieth Diuinitie to be Scientia Thomas and Richard Middleton hold that it is Writing vpon the
Scriptures a most exact rule What néed then haue we of the additions of traditions not written if scriptures be a most exact rule Diabolici spiritus est saith Theophilus lib. 2. paschal aliquid extra scripturarum sacrarum authoritatem putare diuinum It is a signe of a diuellish spirit to thinke that any thing is diuine which is without the authoritie of holy scriptures What reason then hath Bellarmine to call traditions the word of God not written Hierome in his commentaries vpon the 23. of Mathew speaking of a certaine tradition Quod de scripturis authoritatem non habet eadem facilitate contemnitur qua probatur That which is not confirmed by authoritie of scriptures is with the same facilitie contemned that it is proued And writing vpon the first chap. of the prophet Aggey he saith That the sword of God doth strike all those things which men of their owne accord do find out and feine as it were Apostolicall traditions without the authoritie and testimony of scriptures Vbi de re obscurissima disputatur sayth Augustine lib. 2. de peccatorum merit remiss c. 36. non adiuuantibus diuinarum scripturarum certis clarisque documentis cohibere se debet humana praesumptio nihil faciens in alteram partem declinando Where we contend about some most obscure question there mans presumption ought to stay it selfe declining to neither side if the certaine and cleare documents of scripture helpe vs not The next ground of the late Romish faith is layd vpon the old latine vulgar translation Sess 4. For whosoeuer receiueth not the scriptures as they are contained in the old vulgar latine translation is pronounced accursed by the conuenticle of Trent Againe the same conuenticle purposing to declare what Latine edition or translation of scriptures is authenticall determineth that the old latin vulgar translation shall be authenticall so that no man vpon any pretence dare or may reiect it Vt nemo illam reijcere quouis praetextu audeat vel praesumaet Canus in his theologicall common places as he calleth them doubteth not to affirme that the Iewes haue corrupted the Hebrew text of the old testament and this diuers other papisticall writers haue also supposed The glosse vpon the chapter vt veterum dist 9. affirmeth plainely that both Iewes and Greekes haue corrupted the copies of scriptures in those tongues But the old vulgar Latine translation most Papists now hold to be sincere incorrupt and pure and allow as authenticall Bellarmine in his second booke De verbo Dei cap. 2. saith that albeit the scriptures in Hebrew be not altogether corrupted yet they are not sound and pure but haue certaine errors Likewise lib. 2. ca. 7. speaking of the Gréeke text of the new Testament he sayth that the same is not sound nor without errors and that it is not safe alwayes to correct the Latine by the Greeke But in the same booke cha 10. with all his force he endeuoreth to defend the old Latine translation as authenticall The which is not onely a plaine declaration of the weaknesse of the Romish faith that is built vpon so corrupt grounds but also of the absurd and vnreasonable procéeding of our aduersaries The prophet cryeth out against the Iewes that forsooke God the fountaine of liuing water Ier. ◠and digged to themselues pits or cisternes that could hold no water Is it not then admirable that any should be so blind as to forsake the originall textes of Scripture and to flie to the corrupt cisternes of the Latine vulgar translation Hilary vpon the 118. psalme sayth That he hath often admonished his hearers that the Latin translatiō could not yeeld satisfaction for their vnderstanding Frequenter admonuimus saith he non posse satisfactionem iutelligentiae ex latinitatis translatione praestari Lib. 2. de Spir. sanct c ◠Ambrose teacheth vs that where there is contention about the variation of Latine translations there the Greeke bookes are to be looked vpon Si quis de Latinorum codicum varietate contendit sayth he quorum aliquos perfidi falsauerunt Graecos inspiciat codices And in his booke De incarnat 6. 8. So haue we found sayth he in the Greeke text whose authoritie is greater Hierome in an Epistle to Sunia sayth that in the old testament we are to haue recourse to the Hebrew text In his preface in 4. Euang. he sheweth that there is great variety of Latine bookes and that in correcting of errors and finding the truth we are to returne to the Gréeke originals Si veritas est quaerenda saith he cur non ad Graecam originem reuertentes ea quae male ab interpretibus reddita vel addita vel mutata corrigimus Augustine also in his second booke De doctr Christ cap. 10. saith That to correct Latine copies we are to haue recourse to the Hebrew and Greeke bookes of Scripture Ad exemplaria Hebraea Graeca saith he à Latinis recurratur And in the same booke chap. 15. Latinis emendandis Graeci adhibeantur codices Latine bookes of Scripture are to be mended by the Greeke originals The aduersaries also themselues are ashamed sometimes to say that either the old Latine vulgar translation is to be preferred before the originall Text of Scripture or that the same is authenticall The Canonists glossing vpon the Chap. vt veterum dist 9. affirme that where the Copies varie the originall is to be exhibited and that Latine of the old Testament is to be corrected by the Hebrew and the Latine of the new Testament by the Greeke bookes Isidore Clarius Caietane Pagninus Forerius Oleastrius Erasmus and diuers others haue noted diuers faults in the old Latine vulgar translation Sixtus Senensis lib. 8. Biblioth sanct confesseth that diuers faults barbarismes solecismes and transpositions are found in the Latine translation And saith that the Church was moued by diuers iust causes to dissemble them Finally reason teacheth vs that the determination of the Romish Church that preferreth the Latin vulgar translation before the Hebrew and Gréeke text is most absurd For if the Latine bookes were to be preferred before the Hebrew and Greeke text or else to be estéemed authenticall then were we either to preferre or to giue like credit to Hierome and other authors that translated the old vulgar Latine bookes and to the holy Prophets and Apostles Againe transumpts and copies might by like reason be preferred before the originall instruments Thirdly the old Latine translation is proued false by diuers witnesses by comparing of places for that one edition of the old vulgar translation doth differ from another Non potest verum esse quod dissonat that cannot be true that is repugnant and contrarie to it selfe as Hierome saith in Praefat. in Iosuam in Praefat. in 4. Euang. But the edition of the vulgar translation set out by Clement the eighth doth much differ from that which Sixtus Quintus set out before Iosue 11.19 Clement readeth quae se traderet Sixtus readeth quite contrarie
had shed so much of others Henry the third was slaine by a Dominican or rather a demonicall Friar hauing bestowed great charge and labour in killing of Gods saints And so the line of Francis de Valois and his sons failed and the kingdom is translated into the house of Bourbon which they persecuted The Leaguers of France which mutined for the maintenance of poperie are now ruined and the Duke of Guise and the chiefe leaders of those rebels come all to vnhappie ends Neither had those Christians that either in the holy land or elsewhere fought vnder the Popes banners better successe for the most part Rodolphus who at the request of Gregorie the seuenth rebelled against the Emperor Henry was by him ouerthrowne and slaine in battell Neither did Mathildis the Popes paramour and her souldiers spéede much better Mathew Paris rehearseth diuers attempts by Christians In Willel 2. set on by the Pope against the Sarracens but for the most part vnhappy Walter Sansauior that first went against thē lost his armie in Bulgaria Peter the heremit was defeated with all his forces before Nice Godescalcus a Dutch priest also would néedes leade an armie against the Turkes but he was likewise ouerthrowne with all his companie Godfray of Bullein albeit he wanne Hierusalem yet he lost diuers hundred thousands in the aduenture and his posteritie did not long hold that which they had wonne In this seruice Lewis the ninth of France was taken prisoner first and afterward lost his life In the same did the noble Fredericke Barbarossa perish and infinite other Christians The French men blasphemed against God Ibid. seeing they had no better successe in the holy land as he saith De diuina conquerebantur ingratitudine qui labores suos deuotionis sinceritatem non respiciebat sed quasi in alienum populum tradi in manus hostiū patiebatur Finally al that tooke the Popes part against the Emperors Henry the third fourth and fift Fridericke the first and second and others had euill successe Considering the premises therefore it is much to be wondred that any princes should serue the Pope that is so notoriously declared to be Antichrist and that they shold take his marke in their hands and foreheades especially seeing the euill successe that others haue had in his seruice and the plagues that are threatened against those that take his marke vpon them Much also it is to be lamented that Christians should continue vnder the grieuous yoke either of the Pope or popish religion Rome in time past was mistresse of the world the Church of Christ there most famous for pietie throughout the world But now she serueth Antichrist most basely and is infamous for her impieties Baldus speaking of Italie saith that she is of all other countries the most miserable as wanting one to redresse her wrongs Olim prouinciarum domina nunc omnium miserrime Lewis the 9. in his pragmaticall sanction confesseth that the kingdome of France was miserably impouerished by the Popes exactions Molinaeus in his booke de paruis datis calleth the Popes exactions barbarous Iulian a Cardinall in an Epistle to Eugenius the fourth who deluded the Germaines demanding reformation of certaine abuses told the Pope plainely that the ruine of the Papacie was at hand if order were not taken presently to satisfie the people Finis pro certo est saith he securis ad radicem posita est The Germaines in a certaine méeting at Nuremberg told the Popes Legate Grauam German that the burdens imposed by the Pope were so grieuous that they neither could nor would beare them any longer Praedicta vrgentissima atque intolerabilia penitusque non ferenda onera diutius se nec perferre velle nec tolerare posse Among these grieuances they recken prohibitions of mariages and certaine meates at certaine times and to certaine persons contrarie to Gods law pillages by pretence of pardons vnder colour of going to warre against Turkes or building of Churches and such like reseruation of absolution in certaine case cousinage of stationarie Friars or limitors the multitude of Friars drawing causes to the Popes cognition appointing of delegate Iudges and defenders of mens right as they are called exemptions reseruations and prouisions of liuings Ecclesiastical priuiledges rules of the Popes chancerie commendaes immunities of Monkes Friars and priests from payments and punishments vniust excommunications and interdicts multitude of holidayes lāds coming into mortmayne encroching vpon lay mens lands and goods pensions and charges laid vpon benefices superfluities and superstitions in honoring of Saints and such like What resteth then séeing as Christians do sée the miseries of the people that liue vnder the yoke of the Popes kingdome and his adherents but that they séeke all lawfull meanes to be fréed from this tyrannie and to shake off the yoke of this Antichristian gouernment CHAP. VIII That no king liuing vnder the Pope and receiuing his doctrine can assure himselfe of his kingdome THat the yoke of Antichristian and popish gouernment is grieuous and intolerable to all Christians we haue made it apparent by diuers particulars But could any Christian indure it yet Christian Kings and Princes haue least reason to do it For as their place is higher then others so the dishonor that is offered to them and the hazard which they incurre is of farre greater consideration then if the same should be offered to priuate persons And yet no man runneth into greater hazard nor receiueth greater wrongs at the Popes hands and by means of his doctrine and gouernment then Christian Kings and princes For first they are in no assurance of their state and secondly they runne in daunger to lose their liues if they receiue the Popes authoritie and doctrine within their kingdomes Of which two we will speake seuerally and in order That they stand in no assurance of their states it may be proued first by the Popes doctrine and secondly by their practise Their doctrine is cleare both by the Popes decretals and by the common opinions of their principall Doctors Clement the fift in the Chapter beginning Romani de iureiurando declareth that the Romane Emperours take an oath of fealtie and subiection to the Pope Romani principes saith he orthodoxae fidei professores c. That is the Emperours of Rome professing the faith with feruour of faith and readie deuotion honoring the holy church of Rome whose head is Christ our Redeemer and the Bishop of Rome our redeemers Vicar haue not thought it an indignitie to submit their heades and to bind themselues by oath from whom they haue receiued not onely the approbation of their person assumed vnto the imperiall dignitie but also vnction consecration and the crowne of the Empire But if the Emperor receiue his Empire from the Pope then may he be deposed by the Pope And if he take an eath of fealtie and obedience to the Pope then is he forsworne if he obey not his sentences and censures as
to take away the crowne nor the life from a prince that beléeueth his lawes and yéeldeth to the Pope all that authoritie which he claimeth yet doth he lose halfe his reuenues authoritie and regall soueraigntie For first the Pope shareth the Kings reuenues claiming tenths first fruites subsidies confirmation and disposition of Ecclesiasticall liuings and infinite summes of money for pardons licences dispensations and all maner of rescripts Those which are acquainted with the Popes faculties and incrochments in former Kings dayes within this land and now in Spaine Italy and other popish countries know they are intelerable and no way inferior to the Kings reuenues Nay if a King néed a dispensation for an Ecclesiasticall matter he is forced to bargaine with the Pope and to buy it deare The absolution of King Iohn had like to haue cost him the Crowne of England Secondly not the King but the Pope is King of priests and ecclesiasticall persons Boniface the 8. in the chap. Clericis de immunit eccles in 6. doth excommunicate both Kings and others that impose taxes and subsidies vpon the Clergie He doth also lay the same censure vpon those clergie men that pay any subsidies to ciuill Magistrates which sheweth that he kept them for his owne selfe Alexander the fourth in the chap. Quia nonnulli de immunit ecclesian 6. exempteth the possessions and goods of clergy men from toll and custome Bellarmine in his treatise De exemptione clericorum cap. 1. setteth downe these propositions In causis Ecclesiasticis liberi sunt clerici iure diuino à secularium principum potestate That is In Ecclesiastical causes clerkes are free from the commaund of secular princes by the law of God And by ecclesiasticall causes he vnderstādeth all matters which concerne the church and which by hooke or crooke the Popes haue drawne to their owne cognition Againe he sayth Non possunt Clerici à Iudice seculari iudicari etiamsi leges ciuiles non seruent That is Clerks are not to be iudged of secular Iudges albeit they keep not his temporall lawes His third proposition is this Bona clericorum tam ecclesiastica quà m secularia libera sunt ac meritò esse debent à tributis principum secularium That is The goods of clerkes whether they belong to the Church or be temporal are free from tributes of princes and so ought to be He sayth also that secular princes in respect of clerkes are not soueraigne princes and that therefore clerkes are not bound to obey them Now how is the King absolute in his kingdome if he haue neither power ouer the persons of the clerks nor their goods Emanuel Sa in his aphorismes In verbo Clericus in his book first printed and alleaged by him that wrote the Franc discourse hath these words Clerici rebellio in regem non est crimen laesae maiestatis quia non est subditus regi The rebellion of a clerk against the King is no treason because he is not the kings subiect This is plaine dealing and sheweth that the king is no king of the Clergie where the Popes lawes beare sway But because these words be somewhat too plaine therefore in a later edition of these aphorismes set out at Venice they haue for their owne ease cut out the words albeit in effect Bellarmine and others teach so much Their practise also declareth that this is their meaning for Thomas Becket stoutly resisted Henry the second Mat Paris in Hen. 2. and his parliament enacting that clerkes offending against the kings lawes should answer before the kings Iustices Further he would not agree that clerkes lay-fée should come in trial before them Sixtus quartus did enterdite the state of Florence for that they had executed the Archbishop of Pisa notoriously taken in a conspiracie against the State Xistus quòd sacrato viro Archiepiscopo ita foede interfecto Cardinalem quoque captiuum fecissent Hieronymo instigante grauissimum Florentinis sacris omnibus interdictis bellū intulit saith Onuphrius That is Sixtus warred vpon the Florentines and enterdited them for that they had killed the Archbishop of Pisa being a priest and layd hands on a cardinall And yet he declareth they were actors in the conspiracie against Iulian and Laurence de Medicis that then ruled the State This was also the greatest quarrell of the Pope against Henry the third of France for that he caused the Cardinal of Guise to be killed being culpable of most enormous treasons against him Now what can Kings do against their subiects if they may not punish them offending in treason Thirdly the Popes do draw many temporall matters from the cognition of the King to themselues and their adherents Boniface the 8. c. quoniam de Immunitat Eccles in 6. doth excommunicate all those that do hinder matters to be brought frō triall of temporall iudges to Ecclesiasticall courts and namely those that will not suffer all contracts confirmed by oathes to be tried before Ecclesiasticall iudges By which meanes almost all causes were brought before them and the Kings iurisdiction almost stopped and suspended The Kings of England therfore to restraine these incrochmēts made the law of Praemunire putting them out of his protection that wold not be tried by his lawes Is it not strange then that Christian princes should suffer such companions to vsurpe their authoritie and not onely in causes Ecclesiasticall but also in temporall to beare them selues as iudges Finally they deny that Christian Princes haue power either to make Ecclesiasticall lawes or to reforme abuses in the Church or to gouerne the Church concerning externall matters All papists do so distinguish betwixt Ecclesiastical and politicke gouernement that they exclude temporall Princes from the gouernement of the Church and make them subiect to the Pope Bellarmine lib. 1. de Pontif. Rom. c. 7. determineth that temporall Princes are no gouernours of the Church If then Christian Princes loose part of their reuenues and part of their iurisdiction and are quite excluded both from the gouernement of the Church and also disposing of the persons and goods of Ecclesiasticall persons most apparent it is that such Princes as admit the Popes authoritie are either but halfe kings or else not so much loosing more then halfe their authoritie by the Popes incrochments How contrarie this is to the doctrine of the Apostles and ancient fathers we néede not here dispute S. Peter teacheth Christians to honour the King and Paule exhorteth euery soule to be subiect to the higher powers Now what greater dishonour can be offered to a King then to take away his authoritie And how are they subiect that pay the King nothing and claime exemption from his gouernement Our Sauiour willeth all to giue to Caesar that which is due to Caesar and Peter payed tribute to Caesar But his false successors pay no tribute to Caesar but take tribute of Caesar and challenge it as due to them selues Nay they haue against all right vsurped his imperiall citie of Rome
against the State and as if I had misliked all remisnesse pardon towards all papists If Parsons body were so māgled as he hath mangled and transformed my words we should not long be troubled with his wranglements In this sort he dealeth continually with vs. And so he dealeth also with other authors Fol. 14. b. The old Romane lawes sayth Parsons do giue generall authoritie to the body of the common wealth to punish particular offenders non è contra as Cicero signifieth in his booke De Legibus But he belyeth impudently the old Romane lawes and Cicero De Legibus For both of them do authorize particular Magistrates and officers and not the whole commonwealth to punish offenders Magistratus sayth Tully nec obedientem no xium ciuem multa vinculis De Legibus 3. verberibusque coercento So likewise do old lawes as in the titles de poenis and de publicis criminibus in the Pandects we may sée Further common wealths or states do make lawes and receiue not authoritie from lawes Finally it is an absurd thing to make the common wealth iudge or executioner of lawes For it that were so then should the hangman be the common wealth and contrariwise And by a good consequent if Parsons should play the hangman the commonwealth might ride vpon the gallowes The which is so great an inconuenience that rather then it should be granted it were better that the Iebusite were hanged vpon the gallowes Fol. 15. a. citing Augustine de ciuitate Dei lib. 18. cap. 51. and Cyprian lib. de vnit Eccles and Hieron in c. 8. Ezechielis in c. 11. Oseae in c. 11. Zachariae in c. 8. Danielis And Augustin enarrat in Psal 80. part 29. super lib. Iosuae cap. 27. he sayth that they out of the 13. of Deuteronomy proue that heretikes may and ought to be put to death which are the proper idolaters of the new Testament But in citing of these authors the man séemeth neither to haue eyes nor iudgement nor honestie For Augustine lib. 18. de ciuitate Dei c. 51. doth neither mention the 13. of Deuteronomie nor proue that heretikes are to be put to death The like may be answered to the testimonie of Augustine in Psal 80. of which ridiculously he citeth the 29. part Further we find no commentaries of Augustine vpon the booke of Iosue Cyprian in his book De vnitate Ecclesiae hath no such matter as Parsons supposeth Most falsly also doth he cite the places out of Hierome Fol. 15. a. in marg In the same place he citeth Augustine super lib. Iosuae ca. 27. and de vtilitate ieiunij cap. 8. Whereas he neither wrote commentaries vpon Iosue nor any 27. chapter is to be found in that booke Beside that the booke de vtilitate ieiunij is a bastard and of the qualitie of Parsons and none of saint Augustines Fol. 17. translating the law Cunctos populos Cod. de sum Trin. fid Cath. he cutteth out the words that containe the forme of faith professed by the Emperour and that part that sheweth that the iudgement and punishment of heretikes belonged to the ciuill Magistrate The first because it giueth power to ciuill Magistrates to publish formes of Christian faith The next because he imagineth that the iudgment and condemnation of heretikes belongeth onely to the popish hereticall Clergie Fol. 25. b. he affirmeth that Tertullian lib. de praescript aduers haeret sayth That it is impossible for two heretikes to agree in all points Let him therefore quote these words or else in this point we will note him for a falsarie Mentior sayth Tertullian speaking of certaine heretikes si non etiam à regulis suis variant inter se dum vnusquisque proinde suo arbitrio modulatur quae accepit quemadmodum de suo arbitrio ea composuit ille qui tradidit He sayth they vary among themselues from their owne rules and that euery one at his pleasure doth modulate and temper the things he receiued as he that deliuered them composed them at his pleasure But this wanteth much of Parsons words and meaning as he wanted much of sincere dealing Fol. 29 he affirmeth desperatly that the great commission for the Popes iurisdiction is contained in the 16. of Matthew in these words I will giue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen c. forging notoriously the Popes letters patents For neither is there any mention of the Pope or Bishop of Rome in these words nor doth our Sauiour speake of any keyes or power of binding and loosing that is not common to all Bishops which are the Apostles successors Furthermore general words wil not serue to cary halfe the Popes power Finally if we will beléeue Bellarmine lib. 1. de Pont. Rom. c. 10. here is nothing giuen to Peter but only promised to him Fol. 38. he alledgeth Pope Nicholas his Epistle and Constantines donation both notoriously and impudently being forged and by the forgeron or blackesmiths putatiue sonne erroniously interpreted Fol. 39. speaking of certaine words of Cusanus This sayth he of the change of Gods iudgement after the iudgement of the Church of the supreme Pastor is a commō saying of the auncient fathers vpon those words of Christ Whose sinnes you loose on earth c. A notorious lie For albeit he alleage thrée yet no one speaketh of the change of Gods iudgement or of the Pope or affirmeth that Gods iudgement changeth with the Church Beside that it is one thing to talke of binding and loosing and another to say that as the Church altereth the institution of the sacraments so God altereth his iudgement Would not this fellow then haue a garland of peacockes feathers for his notorious cogging and for his presumption in falsly alleaging and belying the Fathers Fol. 40. in the margent he sayth that Hilary in Math. 16. hath a worthy place for the Popes authoritie Yet can he not proue that Hilary in that place speaketh one word either for the Pope or of the Pope for he speaketh onely of Peter and his authority But what is that to the Pope that neither in doctrine nor life is like to Peter For this worthy place therefore thus falsly alleaged this worthlesse fellow is worthy to haue a paper clapped to his head for a falsary Fol. 62. b. he shameth not to affirme that Augustine lib. 17. de ciuitate Dei c. 20. sayth that Christ hath appointed his sacrifice of the Masse among Christians in place of the Iewish sacrifices whereas that father speaketh of Christs sacrifice vpon the crosse and not once mentioneth the Masse And so his words must needs be vnderstood For indeed his sacrifice vpon the crosse and not the Masse is the complement of the Leuiticall sacrifices as the Apostle declareth in his Epistle to the Hebrewes Fol. 63. a. he sayth that Dionysius de eccles hierarc c. 1. orig hom 5. in Num. Basilius lib. de Spiritu sancto c. 27. Chrysostome hom 24. in