SO we therefore because we are taken by them for mad-men and are traduced as if we were Hereticks and as if we had nothing to do with Christ nor with the Church of God have thought it not unreasonable or unprofitable to propound openly and freely the Faith in which we stand and all that Hope which we have in Christ Jesus that all may see what we think of every part of the Christian Religion and so determine with themselves whether that Faith which they must needs perceive to be consonant to the Words of Christ and the Writings of the Apostles and the Testimonies of the Catholick Fathers and which is confirmed by the Examples of many Ages be only the Rage of a sort of mad-men and a Combination or Conspiracy of Hereticks CHAP. II. Containing the Doctrine received in the Church of England WE believe that there is one certain Nature and Divine Power which we call GOD and that this is distinguished into three equal Persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost all of the same Power of the same Majesty of the same Eternity of the same Divinity and of the same Substance and altho' these three Persons are so distinguished that the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Holy Ghost or Father yet there is but one GOD and that this one God created Heaven and Earth and whatever is contain'd within the Circumference of the Heavens 2. WE believe that Jesus Christ the only Son of the eternal Father as it had been decreed before the beginning of all things when the fulness of time came took our Flesh and perfect Humane Nature of that blessed and pure Virgin that he might reveal to Men that hidden and secret Will of his Father which was conceal'd from all former Ages and Generations and that in this humane Body he might finish the Mystery of our Redemption and might nail to his Cross our Sins and the Obligation which lay against us 3. FOR we believe that for our sakes he died was buried descended into Hell and the third day by a Divine Power returned to Life and arose and after forty days in the sight of his Disciples ascended into Heaven that he might fill all things and that the very Body in which he was born in which he convers'd in which he was despised in which he had suffered most grievous Torments and a most direful Death in which he rose and now ascended to the right hand of his Father was placed above all Principalities and Power and every Name which is mentioned not only in this World but in that which is to come in Majesty and Glory And we believe that he doth now sit there and shall sit there till all things are fulfil'd and altho the Majesty and Divinity of Christ is diffused every where yet his Body as St. Augustine saith ought to be in one place we believe that tho Christ added Majesty to his Body yet he took not from it the Nature of a Body nor is Christ to be so asserted to be God that we should deny him to be Man and as the Martyr Vigilius said Christ left us as to his Humane Nature but he hath not left us in his Divine Nature and tho he is absent from us by the Form of a Servant yet he is ever with us by the Form of God 4. AND from thence we believe Christ shall return to exercise a general Judgment as well upon those he shall then find alive as upon all that are then dead 5. WE believe that the Holy Ghost who is the third Person in the Holy Trinity is true God not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding from both that is from the Father and the Son in a way neither known to Mortals nor possible to be expressed by them We believe that it is He who softens the Hardness of Mans Heart when he is received into their Hearts by the saving preaching of the Gospel or by any other way whatsoever that it is He who inlightens them and leads them to the Knowledge of God into all the ways of Truth into a perfect newness of Life and a perpetual hope of Salvation 6. WE believe that there is one Church of God and that not consin'd as it was heretofore to the Jewish People in one Angle or Kingdom but that it is Catholick and Universal and so diffused or spread over the Face of the whole Earth that there is no Nation which can justly complain that it is excluded and cannot be admitted into the Church and People of God that this Church is the Kingdom the Body and Spouse of Christ that Christ is the only Prince of this Kingdom that there is in the Church divers Orders of Ministers that there are some who are Deacons others who are Presbyters and others who are Bishops to whom the Instruction of the People and the Care and Management of Religion is committed And yet that there neither is nor is it possible there should be any one man who has the care of this whole Catholick Church for Christ is ever present with his Church and needs not a Vicar or sole and perfect Successor and that no mortal Man can in his mind contain all the Body of the Universal Church that is all the parts of the Earth much less can he reduce them into an exact Order and rightly and prudently administer its Affairs That the Apostles as St. Cyprian saith were all of equal Power and Authority and that all the rest were what St. Peter was that it was said to all alike Feed To all go ye into all the World To all teach ye the Gospel And that as St. Jerome saith All Bishops wheresoever they are setled whether it be at Rome or Eugubium at Constantinople or Rhegium they are of equal Worth and of the same Priesthood And as St. Cyprian saith there is but one Episcopacy and each of them hath a perfect and intire share of it And that according to the Judgment and Sentence of the Council of Nice the Bishop of Rome hath no more Authority in the Church of God than the other Patriarchs viz. the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch That the Bishop of Rome who now endeavours to draw all the Ecclesiastical Authority to himself alone if he doth not his Duty that is if he doth not administer the Sacraments if he doth not instruct the People Admonish and Teach he is not to be call'd a Bishop or indeed a Presbyter for as St. Augustin saith Bishop is the Name of a Work or Office and not a Title of Honour so that he who would usurp an unprofitable Preheminence in the Church is no Bishop But then that the Bishop of Rome or any other Person should be the Head of the whole Church or an universal Bishop is no more possible than that he should be the Bridegroom the Light the Salvation and the Life of the Church for these are the Priviledges and Titles of
receive them But if that Expression to thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven be to be understood as spoken to all the rest as well as to Peter why then should not all that was spoken as well what went before as what follows after tho spoken to St. Peter yet be common to all the Apostles There is saith Hillary one happy Rock of Faith which Peter confessed with his Mouth and again upon this Confession of Peter's is the Church built and not much after this Faith is the Foundation of the Church And after the same manner the other Fathers also Jerome Cyril and Bede say the Church is built not upon Peter but upon the Faith of Peter that is on Jesus Christ the Son of God whom Peter by an Heavenly instinct confessed Peter saith St. Augustin was so call'd from the Rock not the Rock from Peter nor did Christ say I will build my self upon thee but I will build thee upon me And Nicholas Liranus tho he is not always a good Author for you know in what Age he lived yet he rightly took this upon this Rock saith he that is upon Christ and therefore the Church cannot depend upon any man by reason of his Dignity and Ecclesiastical Power for many Popes have proved Apostates 28. IN what then is this Papal Authority placed In Teaching but they teach nothing in administring the Sacraments but they do not administer them in feeding but they feed none Now this is all the Power which Christ bestowed upon the Apostles Go ye said he into all the World and preach the Gospel c. hence forward ye shall be Fishers of Men and as the living Father sent me so I send you But as to these whither go they what do they teach what do they preach what do they fish for from whence go they or by whom are they sent their 's is nor Apostolick Authority but Pride and an intolerable Lordship usurped by Force and Tyranny None of us saith Cyprian calls himself Bishop of Bishops or compells his Partners to a necessitated Obedience by a Tyrannical Terror Seeing every Bishop may use his Liberty and Power according to his own Discretion as he cannot be judged by another so neither can he judge another And as the other Apostles saith he were the same which Peter was so all Bishops are endowed with this equal Partnership both of Honour and Power And St. Jerome saith greater is the Authority of the World than that of any City Why then do you produce to me the Custom of one City Why do you vindicate that Paucity from which this Pride arose against the Laws of the Church Where-ever a Bishop is setled whether at Rome or Eugubium whether at Constantinople or Rhegium he is of the same Worth and of the self same Priesthood the greatness of Riches and the Humility of Poverty makes not one Bishop superior or inferior to another And St. Gregory saith Peter was a principal Member in the Body John Andrew and James were the Heads of particular People and yet all of them are Members of the Church in one Head yea the Saints before the Law those under the Law and those under Grace and all those who make up the Body of our Lord the Church are to be accounted Members and no man ever yet desired to be call'd an UNIVERSAL 29. THIS is that Power which some men defend so stoutly in this Age so that whatever they think of the Popes Life or Religion yet they would have this Authority Sacred and untouched as if the Church of God could not be safe without it or as if without the Popes Will and Consent a Council could be no Council and that if the whole World should think contrary to what he doth it would be nothing And therefore when you see Sir that these things are thus ill managed you ought not to wonder that when nothing is now sincerely and truly acted in Councils our Men had rather stay at home than travail so far to no purpose to a Place where they are sure to lose their Labour and their Cause too 30. BUT Sir you say in the next place it is a Sin to change any thing in Religion without the Consent of the Pope and a Council Why Sir the very Popes themselves have changed almost the whole State of the Primitive Church without any Council and tho this is indeed a very specious and winning Proposition yet it is made a Cover and Defence for most foul Errors for they only seek to delay the Minds of Men with a tedious Expectation that by lingring and weariness they may take off their Edge and Keenness and so by degrees make them cast off all Hopes of a Reformation For what would they have the People of God be deceived err be deluded and involved in Error and in the Ignorance of God and be led into eternal Ruine and Destruction whilst the Pope calls a Council and the Abbots and Bishops meet debate settle things and then return home Is it not lawful for any of us to believe in Christ to prosess the Gospel to worship God rightly and truly to fly from Superstitions and Worship of Idols except these men please to give us leave In truth the state of the Church of God were very deplorable if in the midst of so many far spread gross blind foul apparent and manifest Errors so that our very Enemies themselves cannot deny them nothing could be done for her Relief without the Concourse of the whole World and a General Council or at least of such a Council as we cannot hope for with any certainty and the event of which if we now had it is much more uncertain When of old the Persians invaded Greece and began to destroy all before them and the Lacedemonians whose valour was then much famed amongst the Grecians and therefore it was but reasonable they should have been the first in the defence of their Country yet because they had an ancient Custom and a Superstitious conceit that had possessed them from the time of Lycurgus that it was ominous and unfortunate to begin a Martial Expedition at any other time than that of the full Moon therefore they sat still and suffered their Enemies to plunder and burn their Country whilst they were foolishly expecting that period of the Moon which was most opportune and fitting to begin their defence in But at last they bethought themselves and cried There is equal danger in the delay The safety of the Church is in danger the Devil like a ramping and a roaring Lyon goes about seeking whom he may devour simple men are easily drawn into the snare and tho they are very often touched with a Zeal for God yet out of Ignorance and Misperswasion they persecute the Son of God And as Nazianzen saith When they think they are in Arms for Christ they do really fight against him And the Bishops who ought in the first place to
Blood Or then that of Origen that Bread which is consecrated by the Word of God as to the Matter of it goes into the Belly and is cast out by the Draught Or then that of Christ himself who said not only after the Consecration but after the finishing of the Communion Luke 22. 18. I will drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine for it is certain the Fruit of the Vine is Wine and not Blood And yet when we speak thus we do not so depress the Esteem of the Supper of the Lord as to teach that it is a meer cold Ceremony and that nothing is done in it which many falsly report of us for we assert that Christ in his Sacraments doth exhibit himself truly present In Baptism that we may put him on In his Supper that we may eat him by Faith and in the Spirit and that by his Cross and Blood we may have Life Eternal and this we say is not slightly and coldly but really and truly done for although we do not touch Christ with our Teeth and Lips yet we hold and press him by Faith Mind and Spirit Nor is that Faith vain which imbraceth Christ nor that Participation cold which is perceived by the Mind Understanding and Spirit for so Christ himself is intirely offered and given to us in these Mysteries as much as is possible that we may truly know that we are Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone and that he dwells in us and we in him 16. AND therefore in the Celebration of these Mysteries before we come to receive the Holy Communion the People are fitly admonished to lift up their Hearts and that they should direct their Minds to Heaven for there he is by whom we are to be fed and live And St. Cyrill saith that in partaking of the Holy Mysteries all gross Imaginations are to be excluded And the Nicen Council as it is cited by some in Greek doth expresly forbid us to think only on the Bread and Wine that are set before us And St. Chrysostom Writes well We say that the Body of Christ is the Carcass and we are to be the Eagles that thereby we may learn to mount aloft if we will approach the Body of Christ for this is the Table of Eagles and not of Jayes And St. Cyprian This Bread is the Meat of the Soul and not of the Belly And St. Augustin How shall I lay hold on him who is absent how shall I reach my Hand into the Heavens and touch him who sits there Send thy Faith thither saith he and thou hast him sure 17. BUT then as to the Fairs and Sales of Masses and the carrying about and adoring the Bread and a number of such like Idolatrous and blasphemous Follies which none of them dare affirm to have been delivered to us by Christ of his Apostles our Church will not indure them and we justly blame the Bishops of Rome for presuming without any Command of God without any Authority of the Holy Fathers and without any Example not only to propose the Sacramental Bread to be adored by the People with a divine Worship but also to carry it about before them upon an ambling Nag where-ever they go as the Persian Kings did heretofore their sacred Fire and the Aegyptian their Image of Isis and so have turned the Sacraments of Christ into Pageantry and Pomp that in that very thing in which the Death of Christ was to be celebrated and inculcated and the Mysteries of our Redemption ought to be piously and reverently represented the Eyes of men should only be fed with a foolish shew and a piece of Ludicrous Livity And then whereas they say and sometimes perswade Fools that they can by their Masses distribute and apply to men who very often think of nothing less and never know what is then doing all the Merits of the Death of Christ this Pretencâ— I say is ridiculous heathenish and silly for it is our Faith which applies the Death and Cross of Christ to us and not the Action of a Priest the Faith of the Sacraments saith St. Augustin justifies and not the Sacrament And Origen saith He Christ is the Priest and the Propitiation and the Sacrifice and this Propitiation comes to every one by way of Faith and therefore agreeably hereunto we say that the Sacraments do not profit the Living without Faith and much less the Dead for as to what they pretend concerning their Purgatory tho that is no very late Invention yet it is nothing but a silly old wives Story St. Augustin sometimes saith there is such a place sometimes he doth not deny but there may be such a Place sometimes he doubts if there be and at other times he positively denies there is any such place at all and thinks that men out of humane kindness to the Dead are deceived in that point And yet from this one Error there has sprung such a Crop of small Priests that Masses being publickly and openly sold in every corner they have turn'd the Churches of God into meer Shops and deluded poor Mortals into a Belief that there was no Commodity more useful and certainly as to those small Levites these Masses were very advantagious 18. WE know that St. Augustin grieviously complain'd of the vast number of impertinent Ceremonies in his time and therefore we have cut off a great many of them because we know they were afflictive to the Consciences of Men and burthensome to the Church of God Yet we still retain and reâ—igiously use not only all those which we know were delivered to the Church by the Apostles but some others which we saw might be born without any inconvenience because as St. Paul commands we desire alâ—things in the Religious Assemblies should be done decently and in order but then as to alâ—those that were very superstitious or base or ridiculous or contrary to the Scriptures or did not seem to beâ—it sober men an infinite number of which are still to be found amongst Papists we have rejected all these I say without excepting any one of them because we would not have the Service of God any longer contaminated with such Fooleries 19. WE pray as it is fit we should in that Tongue our People do all understand that the People as St. Paul admonisheth may reap a common Advantage by the common Prayers as all the Holy Fathers and Catholick Bishops not only in the Old but in the New Testament also did ever pray and teach the People to pray least as St. Augustin saith We should like Parrots and other prating Birds seem to sound Words which we did not understand 20. WE have no Mediator and Intercessor by whom we approach to God the Father but Jesus Christ in whose name only all things are obtained But that which we see done in their Churches is base and heathenish not only because they have set up an infinite
against King John another of our Princes the Bishops and Monks and some part of the Nobility and absolved all his Subjects from that Oath of Allegiance they had taken to him and at last by the highest Impiety not only deprived him of his Kingdom but his Life and they wounded Henry the VIII a most noble Prince with their Curses and Excommunications and stir'd up against him sometimes the Emperor and sometimes the King of France and as much as in them lay exposed our Kingdom to be a Prey and a Booty to them like a company of silly men as they were to think so great a Prince would be frighted with Vizors and Rattles or that so great a Kingdom could be devoured at one mouthful and as if all this had not been enough they would needs make England a tributary Province and yearly most unjustly exacted a considerable Revenue out of it so much has the Friendship of the City of Rome cost us Now if they extorted these great Advantages from us by Impostures and ill Arts there is no reason why we should not by good Methods and Laws recover them back again but if on the other side our Kings induced by an Opinion of their simulated Holiness in the darkness of those times freely bestowed these things on them upon the account of Religion there is now very good reason that our latter Kings having discovered the Error of their Ancestors should take them away again they being possess'd of the same Power with the former Kings for every Donation becomes void when it is no longer approved by the Will of the Giver but it can never seem a Will which is clouded and impeded by Error The Conclusion THUS I have acquainted thee my Reader that it is no new or strange thing to see the Christian Religion in these days upon its Restitution and Revival in the World entertain'd with Slanders and Reproaches for the same things happened to Christ himself and his Apostles And yet least thou shouldest be misled and imposed upon by these Clamors of our Adversaries we have represented to thee what the whole manner of our Religion is what we believe concerning God the Father concerning his only Son Jesus Christ and concerning the Holy Ghost what our Opinion is concerning the Church the Sacraments the Ministry the Holy Scriptures the Ceremonies of the Church and all the other parts of the Christian Religon We have declared also that we detest as pernicious to the Souls of Men and plagues all those Ancient Heresies that have been condemn'd by the old Councils and Holy Scriptures That we have reduced into practise again as much as we can possibly the Ecclesiastical Discipline which our Adversaries had much weakned and that we punish all Licentious Courses of Life and Debauchery in Manners by our ancient and established Laws and that with as much 〈◊〉 as is fit and possible That we pâ—â—serve all Kingdoms in the same State we found them without any Diminution or Mutation and preserve the Majesty of our Princes intire as much as we can possibly That we have departed from that Church which they had made a Den of Thieves in which they had left nothing sound or like a Church and which they themselves confessed to have erred in many things as Lot left Sodom or Abraham Chaldea not out of Contention but out of Obedience to God and have sought the certain way of Religion out of the sacred Scriptures which we know cannot deceive us and have return'd to the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles that is to the beginning and first Rise of the Church as to the proper Fountain 2. THAT we have not indeed expected the Authority or consent of the Council of Trent in which we saw nothing was manag'd well and regularly where all that entered took an Oath to one Man where the Ambassadors of our Princes were despised and ill treated where none of our Divines could be heard where Partiality and Ambition openly carried all things and according to the Practice of the Holy Fathers and the Customs of our own Ancestors we have reformed our Churches in a Provincial Synod and according to our Duty we have cast off the Yoke and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome who had no just Authority over us nor was like either Christ or St. Peter or the Apostles or indeed like a Bishop in any thing Lastly we do all agree amongst ourselves in all the Doctrines and Points of the Christian Religion and do with one Spirit and one Mouth worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. WHEREFORE O Christian and Pious Reader now thou feest the Reasons and Causes of the Reformation of Religion with us and of our Departure from them thou oughtest not to wonder that we should rather choose to obey our Saviour than Men. St. Paul hath admonished us that we should not be carried away with every Wind of false Doctrine and especially that we should mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple Their Impostures accordingly like Batts and Owls do now sometime since begin to flie and steal away before the rising Sun and cannot indure the Light of the Gospel and altho they were in some sense built and heaped almost up to Heaven yet they sink down into Ruins of their own accord For thou oughtest not to think that those things happened accidentally or by chance It was certainly the Will of God that in these times the Gospel of Jesus Christ should in defiance of all opposition be spread abroad in the World and therefore men being moved by the Word of God freely betook themselves to the Doctrine of Christ and as for us we sought neither Riches nor Pleasure nor case by this Change for our Adversaries abound in all these and we had a much larger Share of them whilst we continued with them 4. NOR do we decline Concord and Peace with Men neither but yet we will not continue in a State of War God that we might have Peace with Men. The Name of Peace saith St. Hilary is Pleasant but then Peace and Servitude are not the same thing for if according to their desire the Name of Christ should be supprest the Truth of the Gospel betrayed their wicked Errors be dissembled the Eyes of Christian Men be deluded and a plain and apparent Conspiracy be carried on against God himself this is not saith that great Man Peace but the conditions of a most base Slavery There is saith Nazianzen an unprofitable Peace and there is an useful sort of Discord for we must pursue Peace with Conditions as far as 〈◊〉 lawful and in us lyeth and unless these Limitations may attend it Christ himself came not to bring Peace into the World
you what my Judgment is but as another saith as far as I know and may which I doubt not will give you an intire Satisfaction 3. WE wonder say you that no Ambassadors from England are come to the Council I beseech you Sir are the English the only Nation who have not come to the Council Have you Sir been at the Council your self Have you taken an exact Account Have you told them exactly by Poll Did you Sir see there all the other Nations come together from all Parts of the World except the English But Sir if you are so mightily in love with Wondering why did you not admire this too that neither any one of the three great Patriarchs of Constantinople Antioch nor Alexandria nor Presbyter John nor the Grecians Armenians Medes Persians Egyptians those of Barbary Ethiopia or the Indies did not come to the Council too for is there not many in those Nations who believe in Christ have they not Bishops are they not by Name and in reality Christians And Sir did Ambassadors come from all these Nations to the Council or will you rather say the Pope did not call them or that they are not bound by your Ecclesiastical Sanctions 4. BUT Sir we have much greater reason to wonder that when the Pope hath beforehand condemn'd us and publickly pronounc'd us excommunicated as Hereticks without ever hearing us make our Defence or alledging any thing against us he should afterwards call us to the Council for to condemn and punish men first and then to call them to Judgment is a very absurd way of Procedure a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cart before the Horses But Sir I would very gladly be inform'd if the Popes Intentions be to consult with us concerning Religion in this Council whom he has condemn'd for Hereticks as I said or if he intends we shall stand at the Bar and be obliged forthwith to change our Minds or be immediately condemn'd again one of these things is new or without Example and stiffly denied to those of our Perswasion by Pope Julius the third and the other is ridiculous if he thinks the English so silly as to come to the Council for no other purpose but to be accused and make their Defence as well as they can and before his Holiness especially who is long since accused himself not only by us but by his own party of many great Crimes 5. BUT Sir if England only seems so stubborn to you where are the Ambassadors of the King of Denmark the Princes of Germany and the King of Sweden of the Switzers of the Grisons of the Hanse Towns of the Realm of Scotland and of the Dukedom of Prussia and now when so many of the Christian Nations are absent from your Council it is a most foolish thing to speak of none but the English but why do I speak of them the Pope himself will not vouchsafe to come to his own Council and did you not wonder at this too for what Insolence is this for any one man at his Pleasure when he will to call together all the Christian Kings Princes and Bishops and to require them to yield Obedience to him in it and in the mean time not meet them there himself Sure I am when the Apostles call'd a Council at Jerusalem St. Peter the Apostle of whose Chair and Succession the Popes glory so infinitely would not be absent But I suppose the Pope Pius the 4th who now sits in that Chair remembers very well what betided John XXII that he had no good Fortune at his Appearance in the Council of Constance for he came thither a Pope but returned a Cardinal and therefore the Popes ever since have very wisely taken care of themselves and kept out of reach and at home and have stoutly withstood all Councils and free Debates for above forty years since when Dr. Martin Luther was assaulted with all manner of Curses and Thunderbolts by the Pope because he had begun to preach the Gospel and reform Religion by the Word of God and with all Humility begged that his Cause might be reserved to the Hearing and Determination of a General Council he could not be heard for Leo the X. saw very well if the thing had been refer'd to a Council that his own Concerns would be brought in danger and that he might hear what he would not 6. THE Name of a General Council sounds well if it be conven'd as it ought and Men would lay by their Passions and refer all things to the Word of God submitting to the Truth only but if Piety and Religion are openly oppress'd if Tyranny and Ambition are confirm'd if Factions Gluttony and Luxury are encouraged there can then be nothing thought of that is of worse Consequence to the Church of God And all this I have said upon a Supposition that there is such a Council somewhere as you mention and yet I heartily believe there is none at last but if indeed there be any where any Council at all it must be a very obscure private Council for tho we are at no very great distance from the Place yet we could never hear what Bishops were met nor what was done nor indeed whether any Bishops at all would meet And about twenty months since when this Council was first call'd by Pope Pius Ferdinandus the Emperor made answer that tho all other things were agreeable yet the Place the Pope had chosen did very much displease him for that tho Trent was a fine City yet it was not convenient for all the Nations and besides could not possibly entertain that great Number of Persons who did usually follow a general Council And almost the same Answer was generally given by all the Christian Princes and some of them answered much more sharply and therefore we thought all these fine Shews would together with the Council end in smoak 7. BUT I pray Sir who call'd this Council and assembled the World together you will say Pope Pius the IV. and why he rather than the Arch-bishop of Toledo by what Authority and Example of the Primitive Church and by what law hath he done this did Peter Linus Cletus or Clemens thus put the World in commotion by their Edicts this during the Integrity and Prosperity of the Roman Empire was a sole Prerogative of the Emperor but now that the Power of the Empire is diminished and that the several Kingdoms in Christendom have shared the Imperial Power amongst them this Power is devolved to all the Christian Kings and Princes Now Sir search all the Annals and gather together all the Memoirs of Antiquity and you shall find that all the ancient Councils as those of Nice Ephesus Chalcedon and Constantinople were call'd by the Emperors of Rome Constantinus Theodosius the First and Second and Martianus and not by the Popes of Rome 8. POPE Leo a Man sufficiently kind to himself and who did not in any thing neglect the Authority of his
hâ— said he saw many Causes why the Clergâ— should be denied Wives but then he saw morâ— and greater Causes to allow them Wives again 10. WE receive and imbrace all the Canonical Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament and we give our gracious God most hearty Thanks that he hath set up this Light for us which we ever fix our Eyes upon lest by humane Fraud or the Snares of the Devil we should be seduced to Errors or Fables We own them to be the heavenly Voices by which God hath reveal'd and made known his Will to us in them only can the Mind of Man acquiesce in them all that is necessary for our Salvation is aboundantly and plainly contain'd as Origen St. Augustin St. Chrysostom and St. Cyrill have taught us They are the very Might and Power of God unto Salvation they are the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets upon which the Church of God is built they are the most certain and infallible Rule by which the Church may be reduced if She happen to stagger slip or err by which all Ecclesiastical Doctrines ought to be tried no Law no Tradition no Custom is to be received or continued if it be contrary to Scripture No tho St. Paul himself or an Angel from Heaven should come and teach otherwise 11. WE receive also and allow the Sacraments of the Church that is the sacred Signs and Ceremonies which Christ commanded us to use that he might by them represent to our eyes the Mysteries of our Salvation and most strongly confirm the Faith we have in his Blood and seal in our Hearts his Grace and we call them Figures Signs Types Antitypes Forms Seals Prints or Signets Similitudes Examples Images Remembrances and Memorials with Tertullian Origen St. Ambrose St. Augustin St. Jerom St. Chrysostom St. Basil and Dionysius and many other Catholick Fathers Nor do we doubt with them to call them a kind of visible Words the Signets of Righteousness and the Symbols of Grace and clearly affirm that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the Body and Blood of our Lord is truly exhibited to Believers that is the enlivening Flesh of the Son of God the Bread that comes from above the Nourishment of Immortality the Grace the Truth and the Life and that it is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ by the Participation of which we are quickned strengthened and fed to immortality and by which we are conjoyned united and incorporated with Christ that we may remain in him and he in us 12. WE acknowledge that there are two Sacraments properly so call'd Baptism and the Supper of the Lord for so many we see were delivered to us and consecrated by Christ and approved by St. Ambrose St. Augustin and the ancient Fathers 13. AND we say that Baptism is the Sacrament of the Remission of Sins and of that Washing which we have in the Blood of Christ and that none are to be denied that Sacrament who will profess the Faith of Christ no not the Infants of Christians because they are born in sin and belong to the People of God 14. WE say that the Eucharist is the Sacrament or visible Symbol of the Body and Blood of Christ in which the Death and Resurrection of Christ and what he did in his humane Body is in a manner represented to our eyes that we may give him thanks for his Death and our Deliverance by it and that by frequenting the Sacrament we may often renew the Remembrance of it and that by the Body and Blood of Christ we may be nourished into the Hope of the Resurrection and of eternal Life and that we may be assured that the Body and Blood of Christ hath the same effect in the feeding of our Souls which the Bread and Wine have in the repairing the Decays of our Bodies To this great and solemn Feast the People are to be invited that they may all communicate together and may publickly signifie and testifie both their Union and Society amongst themselves and that Hope which they have in Christ Jesus and therefore if there was any one heretofore before the private Mass was introduced who would be only a Spectator and yet would abstain from the Holy Communion the Bishops of Rome in the Primitive Times and the ancient Fathers would have excommunicated him as a wicked man and a Pagan Nor was there any Christian man in those times who communicated alone in the presence of others who were only Spectators So Calixtus long since decreed that when the Consecration was finished all should communicate if they would not be deprived of the Communion of the Church and be shut out of it for so saith he the Apostles ordained and the Holy Church of Rome holds And we say that both the Parts of the Sacrament ought to be given to all that come to the Holy Communion for so Christ commanded and the Apostles instituted throughout the World and all the ancient Fathers and Catholick Bishops so practised and if any one shall do otherwise saith Gelasius he commits Sacriledge and therefore our Adversaries who exploding and rejecting the Communion defend the private Mass and a multitude of Sacraments without the authority of the Word of God without any ancient Council without any Catholick Father without any Example of the Primitive Church and without Reason and this against the express Command of Christ and also against all Antiquity in so doing act wickedly and sacrilegiously 15. WE say that the Bread and Wine are the Holy and Heavenly Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ and that in them Christ himself the true Bread of eternal Life is so exhibited to us as present that we do by Faith truly take his Body and Blood and yet at the same time we speak not this so as if we thought the Nature of the Bread and Wine were totally changed and abolished as many in the last Ages have dreamt and as yet could never agree amongst themselves about this Dream For neither did Christ ever design that the Wheaten Bread should change its Nature and assume a new kind of Divinity but rather that it might change us and that as Theophylact saith we might be trans-elemented into his Body For what can be more perspicuous than what St. Ambrose saith on this occasion the Bread and Wine are what they were and yet are changed into another thing Or what Gelasius saith The Substance of the Bread and Nature of the Wine do not cease to be Or then what Theodoret after the Consecration the mystical Symbols do not cast off their own proper Nature for they remain in their former Substance and Figure and Species Or then what St. Augustin saith that which you see is Bread and a Cup as your Eyes inform you but that which your Faith desires to be instructed in is this the Bread is the Body of Christ and the Cup is his
under Boniface the 8th when the Papal Power was at the highest about two hundred years before Huldericus Zuinglius began to preach the Gospel or indeed was born But from that time to this all things there have been in the greatest Tranquility and Quiet that was possible not only in relation to foreign Wars but intestine Commotions so that if it were a sin to deliver their Country from a foreign Dominion which oppressed them with great Insolence and Tyranny yet it is unjust and absurd to load the Reformation with the Crimes of others or them with those of their Fore-fathers 14. BUT O immortal God! Shall the Bishop of Rome accuse us of Treason Will he pretend to teach the People Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates Or has he any regard to Majesty Why then does he suffer himself to be call'd by his Flatterers the LORD OF LORDS which none of the ancient Bishops of Rome ever did as if he would have all Kings and Princes whoever they were and wheresoever be no better than his Vassals and Slaves Why does he boast that he is the KING OF KINGS and that he has the Right of commanding them as his Subjects Why does he force Emperors and Monarchs to swear Obedience to him Why does he boast that his own Majesty is seventy seven times greater than the Majesty of the Emperor and that forsooth because God made two great Lights in Heaven and because the Heavens and the Earth had not two several but one single Beginning Why have he and his Followers in that like the Anabaptists and Libertines shaken off the Yoke and exempted themselves from the Jurisdiction of all Civil Powers that they might with the greater liberty and security plague the World 15. WHY has he his Legats that is a crafty sort of Spies as it were in ambush in the Courts Councils and Chambers of all Kings Why doth he as his Interest requires set Princes at variance amongst themselves and at his pleasure fill the Earth with Seditions Why does he proscribe and take for an Heathen and Pagan whatever Prince withdraws himself from his Dominion and promise his Indulgences so freely if any man will by any means whatsoever assassinate his Enemys Doth he preserve Empires and Kingdoms or at all consult and desire the Publick Peace You ought O pious Reader to pardon us if these things seem a little more sharp and eager than becomes a Divine for so great is the Provocation so great and so impotent with all is the Ambition of the Popes that it cannot be expressed in other or milder Words For he had once the Insolence to say in a publick Council that all the Authority of all the Kings in the World depended upon him He out of Ambition and Desire to Rule distracted the Roman Empire and tore in pieces the Christian World he absolved the Italians and amongst them himself from the Oath wherein they were obliged to the Emperor of Greece with great perfidy and solicited his Subjects to revolt from him and call'd Charles Martell the Great out of France into Italy and after a new and till then unheard of manner made him Emperor He deposed Chilperick King of France an innocent Prince only because he did not like him and set up Pipin in his Place He would if he had been able have cast out Phillip the Fair another King of France and have adjudged the Kingdom of France to Albert King of the Romans He broke the Power of Florence tho his own Country which was then a most flourishing City and changing its free and peaceable State he delivered it up to the Lust of one man He made all Savoy to be torn in pieces by the Emperor Charles the 5th on the one side and Francis the First King of France on the other scarce leaving to the miserable Duke one City to shelter himself in 16. I am weary of Examples and indeed there is nothing more troublesome than to enumerate the great Actions of the Popes of Rome of this nature I pray of whose Party were they who poisoned the Emperor Henry the 7th in the Eucharist and they who did the same to Pope Victor in the holy Chalice Who exercised the same Art upon our King John of England in a common Table Cup whoever they were and of what Party soever this is certain they were neither Lutherans nor Zuinglians Who is it that at this day permits the greatest Kings and Monarchs to kiss his Feet Who is it that commands the Emperor to hold his Bridle and the King of France his Stirrup Who was it that cast Francis Dandalus Duke of Venice and King of Crete and Cyprus under his Table to gnaw the Bones with the Dogs who crowned Henry the 6th the Emperor at Rome not with his Hands but with his Feet and then with his Foot kicked his Crown off again adding that he had power to create Emperors and to depose them Who armed Henry the Son against Henry the 4th his Father and caused the Son to take his Father Prisoner and having shaven and treated him ignominiously to cast him into a Monastery where he pined away with Hunger and Sorrow who was it that trod insolently upon the Neck of the Emperor Frederick and as if this had not been a sufficient Affront subjoyned out of the Psalms of David Thou shalt walk upon the Asp and the Basilisk and shalt tread the Lion and the Dragon under thy Feet Where is there such another Example of despised and injured Majesty in all History except in Tamberlane the Scythian a fierce and a barbarous Prince and in Saphores King of Persia All these were Popes all of them Successors of St. Peter all most Holy Men whose Words were every one of them to be Gospel to us 17. IF we be guilty of Treason who reverence our Princes who submit to them in all things as far as the Scriptures will permit us what then are these Men who have not only done all these base things but have also extol'd them as generous Actions Do they thus teach the People to revere Magistrates or can they with any Modesty accuse us of being Seditious Men the Disturbers of the Publick Peace and Contemners of the Majesty of Princes For as for us none of us shake off the Yoke nor imbroil Kingdoms nor dispose of Empires nor do we reach Poison to our Kings nor put out our Feet to them to kiss nor do we insultingly tread upon their Necks No our Profession our Doctrine is this That every Soul whose ever it is whether it be a Monk or an Evangelist or a Prophet or an Apostle it ought to be subject to Kings and Magistrates and so the Pope himself except he affect to seem greater than the Evangelists Prophets and Apostles ought to acknowledge and call the Emperor his Lord as the ancient Popes in better times ever have done We publickly teach that
might thereby reap some benefit by it but they that the People may never understand them whisper their Divine Service not only in an obscure and low Tone but also in a strange and barbarous Tongue 10. The old Carthagenian Council forbad any thing besides the Canonical Scriptures to be read in the holy Assemblies of the Church but they read in their Churches what they themselves do not doubt to be meer Lyes and silly Fables And now if any man thinks these things are of no great consideration because they were decreed by Emperors and small Councils consisting of Bishops of less esteem and not in full Councils and therefore are more fond of the Authority and Names of Popes 11. Julius expresly forbad the Priest in the Celebration of the holy Communion to dip the Bread in the Calice but they contrary to this Decree do divide the Bread and dip it 12. Clemens the Pope saith it is not lawful for a Bishop to bear both the Spiritual and Civil Swords and saith he if thou wilt have both thou deceivest thy self and those that hear thee but now the Pope claims both and bears both and therefore the Wonder ought to seem the less if that hath followed which Clement foretold and he hath accordingly deceived himself and those which have heard him 13. Pope Leo saith it is not lawful to celebrate more than one Mass in one Day in one Church they say every day sometimes ten at others twenty and at other thirty and sometimes more in the same Church at the same time so that the miserable Spectator knows not which way to turn him 14. Gelasius the Pope saith that if any man divide the Sacrament and when he has received one part refuseth the other he doth act Wickedly and Sacrilegiously but they contrary to the Word of God and the Decree of this Pope command only one part of the Eucharist to be given to the People and by so doing have made their Priests guilty of Sacriledge 6. BUT now if they shall pretend that all these things are antiquated and worn out of use and so are in a sort dead and do not concern our times yet that men may see what Faith is to be given to these Men and with what Hope they call Councils let us consider in a few instances how well they observe those things which have been ordained of late years and which are fresh in Memory by Councils which they pretend were lawfully called and in which they themselves decreed those things I shall mention to be Religiously observed In the last Council of Trent not much above fourteen years since it was decreed by the common Vote of all Orders there present that two Benefices should not be committed at one time to the same Person Where is that Sanction now Is that so soon antiquated and dead too for they do frequently give not only two Benefices but sometimes also several Monasteries too and sometimes two three or four Bishopricks to one Man and he too sometimes not only unlearned and consequently thereby unfit for them but a Soldier In the same Council it was decreed that all Bishops ought to preach the Gospel but they never Preach nor ever come in a Pulpit nor do they think it in the least any part of their Duty What then is the meaning of all that shew of Antiquity Why do they glory so in the Names of the Fathers and of the ancient and modern Councils Why would they so fain seem to rely upon their Authority whom as occasion serve at their Pleasure they despise 7. BUT I have a great desire to have a little discourse with the Pope himself and to tell him some things to his Face Be pleased then O Holy Father who so often boastest of Antiquity and pretendest that all the Ancients are intirely addicted to thy Service to inform us which of all the ancient Fathers ever call'd your Holiness the chief Pontif or the Universal Bishop or the Head of the Church Which of them ever said that both the Swords were given to thee Which of them ever said that you have the Right and Authority to call Councils that the whole World was your Diocess Which of them ever said that all Bishops had received of your Fulness That all Power both iâ— Heaven and Earth was given to you That you could not be judged by Kings nor by the whole Clergy nor by all the Peopleâ— Which of them ever said that Kings and Emperors by the Command and will of Christ derived Authority from you Which of them ever affirmed with a Mathematical Exactnesâ— and Certainty that your Authority was preâ—cisely seventy seven times greater than that oâ— the greatest Kings Which of them ever saiâ— that you had a greater power than the otheâ— Patriarchs Which of them ever said you werâ— the Lord God or not a meer Man like otheâ— Mortals or stiled you a certain Hotch-potch a Mixture or Concrete of God and Manâ— which of them ever said that you were thâ— fountain of all Law that you had an Empireâ— and Dominion over Purgatory and that yoâ— might at your pleasure command the Angels of God Which of them ever said that you were King of Kings and Lord of Lords And now we are in we may inquire of a fow other things of the same Nature What one Man of all the ancient Bishops and Fathers ever taught you to say a private Mass whilst the People did nothing but look on or to lift the Eucharist above your Head in which you now place all your Religion or to curtail the Sacrament of Christ and contrary to his Institution and express Command to deprive the People of one half of it And that we may conclude what one of all the ancient Fathers taught you to dispence the Blood of Christ and the Merits of the Martyrs and to sell your Indulgences and all the Apartments and Lodgings of Purgatory like Commodities in the Market for Money They are wont often to celebrate their own wonderful secret Learning and their manifold and various Readings Now let your Partizans at last produce something of it if they can or let them at least shew they have read and do know more than or dinary for they have often made hideous Outcries amongst their Hearers that all the parts of their Religion are ancient and approved not only by the number but also by the Continuance and Consent of all Nations and Times 8. WELL then let them at least shew this their boasted Antiquity let them make it appear that what they so much extol is indeed of so vast an Extent let them prove that all Christian Nations have imbraced their Religion But alass as I said before they flee from their own Decrees and have already pluckt up those Canons which but a very few years since they made to last for ever Why then should we trust them in relation to what they pretend concerning the Fathers the
qualified for the making of a Church of God for certainly they are neither lawful Abbots nor genuine Bishops But suppose they are the Church suppose they are to be heard in Councils and that they have the sole Right of Voting yet in ancient time when the Church of God was well governed especially if it be compared with their Church as St. Cyprian acquaints us the Presbyters and Deacons and some part also of the Laity were then call'd to assist at the hearing of Ecclesiastical Causes 4. BUT what now if those Abbots and Bishops know nothing What if they know not what Religion is nor what they ought to believe of God What if the Law hath perished from the Priests and Counsel from the Elders What if as Micah saith the Night be unto them instead of a Vision and Darkness instead of a Divination What if as Isaiah saith the Watchmen of the City are all blind they are all ignorant and what if the Salt as Christ saith hath lost its Force and Savour and is become good for nothing not fit even to be cast upon the Dunghil for they defer all to the Pope who cannot err but then this in the first place is ridiculous that the Holy Ghost should be sent by a Carrier from the Holy Council to Rome that if any Doubt or Stop happens which he cannot expedite he may take better Instruction and Counsel from I know not what more learned Spirit for if it must come to this at last what need is there that so many Bishops should with such great Expence be called from very distant places at this time to Trent It had certainly been more prudent and much better a shorter and an easier way to have at first turn'd over all this Business to the Pope and have gone directly to the Oracle of his sacred Brâ—ast besides it is unjust to devolve our Cause from so many Bishops and Abbots to the Judgment of any one man and above all others to the Judgment of the Pope who is accused by us of many very great Crimes and though he hath not answered for his own Misdemeanors yet hath presum'd to condemn us before we were call'd and that without any Tryal Now do we invent all this or is it not now the manner of our late Councils Are not all things referr'd to the Pope by the Council so that as if nothing were done by so many Sentences and Subscriptions he alone may add diminish abrogate approve relax and restrain whatsoever he please Whose Words are these Why did the Bishops and Abbots in the end of the late Council at Trent put in these words as a part of their Decree Saving in in all things the Authority of the Apostolical See Or why did Pope Pascal write thus insolently of himself as if saith he any Councils could prescribe a Law to the Church of Rome when all Councils are held by the Authority of the Church of Rome and derive their Force from it too and whereas they do patiently in their Decrees except the Authority of the Pope of Rome If they will confirm and approve these things why are Councils call'd but if they are indeed repeal'd and abrogated why are they still left in their Books as if they were in force 5. WELL but suppose in the next place that the Pope tho one is above all Councils that is that he is a part greater than the whole has more Power yea and more Wisdom too than all his Party besides and that in spite of St Jeroms Judgment the Authority of this one City is greater than that of the whole World What if he has seen none of these things and has neither read the holy Scriptures nor the ancient Fathers nor so much as any of his own Councils What if like Pope Liberius of old he becomes an Arrian or like Pope John who lived not many years since thinks very leudly and wickedly of the Immortality of the Soul and of the Life to come or as Pope Zosimus heretofore corrupted the Council of Nice so he for the enlarging of his own Power should corrupt the other Councils and aver that those things were deliberated and constituted by the holy Fathers in them which were never so much as thought off and that as Camotensis saith the Popes do frequently he should offer Violence to the holy Scriptures that he may thereby possess himself of a Plenitude of Power What if he renounce the Christian Faith and becomes an Apostate as Lyranus saith many Popes have done What will the holy Spirit for all these things knock at the Cabbin of his Breast and obtrude such a Light upon him contrary to his Inclinations and against his Will that he shall not err though he would Or shall such a Pope as this be the Fountain of all Laws and all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge be notwithstanding found in him as in a Cabinet Or if these things be not in him can he nevertheless judge well and conveniently of things of this great weight Or if he be not qualified to judge of them does he yet desire that all these things should be refer'd to him alone What now if the Popes Advocates the Abbots and Bishops dissemble nothing but declare themselves openly to be the Enemies of the Gospel and will not see what they do see but wrest the Scriptures and knowingly and willingly deprave and adulterate the Word of God and do foully and impiously transfer to the Pope what is perspicuously and properly spoken of Christ and cannot be applied to any other Mortal What if they say the Pope is all and above all or that he can do all those things which Christ can do or that the Tribunal and Consistory of the Pope is the same with Christs or that the Pope is that Light which came into the World which Christ spake of himself only and that he that doth Evil hateth that Light and fleeth from it or that all other Bishops have received of his Fulness Or lastly what if they do without dissimulation or obscurity clearly and manifestly determine contrary to the Word of God Shall whatever they say nevertheless presently become Gospel Shall such as these be the Army God Will Christ be present with such Men Will the Spirit of God move upon their Tongues or may they say truly it seems good to the Holy Ghost and to us 6. Pâ—trus a Soto and his Voucher Hosius make no sâ—ruple to affirm that that very Council which condemn'd our Saviour to death had then the Spirit of Prophesie and Truth and the Holy Ghost with them and that what those High Priests said was not false or vain when they said 〈◊〉 have a Law and by that Law be ought to die that in this according to Hosius they gave a true Judgment and that their Decree was perfectly just by which Christ was adjudged worthy of Death It is a wonder in
OF old when the Athenians after they had beaten the Persians out of Greece began to rebuild their Walls which they themselves had levell'd with the Ground during the War And the Lacedemonians that they might still have the Athenians at their Mercy did severely prohibit them not to do it Themistocles the General of the Athenians promised that he would go to Lacedemon and deliberate with them about this Business and accordingly when he had began his Journey that he might gain time first he pretended a Sickness that he might stay a while by the way and when at last he got to Lacedemon he began one Delay after another one while the Articles did not please him another while he must consider of them a while now he must stay for his fellow Ambassadors without whom he could do nothing and soon after he must send Messengers to Athens to know their Pleasures and in the interim whilst he was spinning out the time the Athenians fortified their City that in case any Force were imployed against them they might be in a condition to repel it and just thus our Adversaries by gaining one day after another and pretending to refer all thins to a Council in the mean time build their own Walls whilst we sit still and expect I know not what Wonders from them and in the end when they have taken their Measures and put their Affairs out of danger then they will shut us out of doors and tell us that no Council can be held nor any thing else done 15. FOR it is worth the while to consider their Arts and Stratagems how often have Councils been call'd and yet have not met how often has a small flying Rumour defeated all their Preparations and other mens Expectations How often have the Purple Dons slipt home without doing any thing and adjourn'd the next Session to the ninth or tenth year How often has the Weather Provisions the Place or the Time not suited with their Humors For the Pope alone calls the Councils and dismisseth them when he will if any thing doth not please him or things begin to go cross to his Interest presently you hear his Valete Plaudite Clap your Hands and farewell A Council was call'd at Basil great numbers assembled from all Places many things were seriously debated Pope Eugenius is condemn'd as an Heretick and a Simonaical Prelate by all the Votes and Amideus Duke of Savoy substituted in his place Eugenius as he had reason takes this ill as a thing of bad example to Posterity his Power being very much above all Councils no Council can meet said he but by his Order nor determine any thing against his Will therefore it is a lewd thing to search into his Life in a Conventicle of Bishops So without delay he calls the Council first to Ferrara in Italy and then translates it to Florence What is the matter I pray did Pope Eugenius think the change of Air would produce a change in their Minds or that the Holy Ghost would give Answers more wisely in Italy than he had in Germany No he did not seek Christ in all his Changes but his own dear Interest he saw that in Germany Sigismund the Emperor was his Enemy and that his authority and the Favour he had there was too great and he thought that if these Fathers were transplanted from those cold Climates into Italy they might like trees removed become more mild and their Fruit more pleasant for O immortal God! that is not now any part of the Business of a Council to find out the Truth or suppress Falshood the only Business of Popes in Councils in these latter Ages has been the confirming the Roman Tyranny the promoting Wars the imbroiling the Christian Princes and engaging them one against another the Levying Mony sometimes for Expeditions into the Holy Land at other times for the building St. Peters Church sometimes for I know not what other Uses or rather Abuses which all tended to promote the Luxury and Lusts of a few ill men and these were the only Aims of all the late Councils for as for the Errors and Abuses as if there had been none nothing could ever be handled 16. Petrus Alliacensis complain'd much in the Council of Constance concerning the Avarice and Insolence of the Court of Rome But what did he gain by it What part of their Avarice or Insolence was ever restrain'd by the Authority of any Council and he moved too that the number of Holy Days and the Herds of lazy Monks might be diminished and another in a certain Work which is call'd the Tripartite and is put in the end of the Council of Laterane saith that the whole World is scandalized and speaks against the vast Multitude of begging Fryars and the Fathers in that Laterane Council say We command all men streightly for time to come not to invent any more new Religious Orders From these times to ours what has been done concerning Holy Days I know not but it is highly probable there hath been no diminution of them but the Order of Monks hath been infinitely encreased for the late Popes have added the Jesuits the Capuchins and the Theatins as if we had not had before a sufficient Swarm of Idle â—ellies John Gerson Chancellor of Paris offered to the Fathers of the Council of Constance a Catalogue of LXXV Abuses in the Church of Rome which he earnestly desired might be reformed but now of so great a number what one Abuse have they since reformed Johannes Picus Mirandula writes to Pope Leo that he would diminish the number of vain Ceremonies and curb the Luxury of the Priests After this a great number of Bishops met in the Laterane Council with a mighty expectation of the whole World but what one Ceremony did they cut off What one Priest did they punish for Luxury and Wickendess the Poet Mantuan complained by name of the Manners of the Church of Rome St. Bernard the Abbot wrote thus to Eugenius the Pope your Court sometimes receives good Men but it makes none the bad do there thrive the good are ruin'd And concerning the miserable state in which the Church then was he writes that from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot there is no soundness And again where is he that preacheth the acceptable year of the Lord they do not saith he in these times keep but corrupt the Spouse of Christ they do not keep but kill and devour the Lords Flock Pope Adrian the VI. when he sent his Legate into Germany did ingeniously and truly confess that the state of the whole Clergy was extreamly corrupt all we the Ecclesiastical Prelates saith he have declined every one into his way and there is not now one that doth good no not one Albertus Pighius confesseth that in the very Mass which they will have to be most sacred and in which they place the Center of all the Christian Religion there may be found Abuses and
to me by Letters or by Messengers I will discover to man to his Damage I will be a Helper to defend the Papacy of the Church of Rome and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and to retain them against all men Of old when the Priests of Apollo Pythius spoke plainly in favour of Philip King of Macedonia there were some who facetiously said that Apollo began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Philippize And now we see plainly that nothing is decreed in the Council but by the Will and Consent of the Pope why may we not say that the Oracles of the Councils do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Papize that is speak nothing but what the Pope please Verres of old acted wisely of whom it is reported that being plainly guilty of many Crimes he would not commit his Reputation and Fame to any but confiding men of his own Flock and Party But yet the Pope is many degrees wiser for he will not have any Judges but such as he knows will not determine any thing against his Will because they have the same Interest he hath and esteem all things by the relation they have to their Pleasures and Bellies and yet if they would they could not do otherwise because they are bound to him by an Oath too indeed they place the Bible in the midst of the Council because they would seem not to act any thing against the Prescription thereof and yet they only look upon it at a good distance but never read one word of it in truth they bring with them a prejudicated Sentence and never attend what Christ saith or determine any thing but as it best pleaseth them 24. AND thus is all that Liberty which ought to be in all Consultations and especially in those which concern holy things and which doth best befit the holy Spirit and the Modesty of Christian Men wholly taken away St. Paul saith that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace but these men command him to be forthwith taken and hurried to Prison and burnt who shall but mutter any thing to the contrary as the cruel Death of the two holy and stout men John of Hus and Jerome of Prague is an excellent Witness against them which two men they murthered contrary to the publick Faith and were thereby false both to God and Man So the false Prophet Zedechias when he had made himself a pair of iron Horns smote Micaiah the Prophet of the Lord and said hath the Spirit of the Lord left me and come to thee thus having now excluded all others they reign in Councils alone and have the sole Right of Suffrages and so make and divulge such Laws as the Ephesians did of old Let no man said they who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiser than the rest presume to live here upon pain of Banishment and Transportation for these men will hear none of us About ten years since in the late Council at Trent the Ambassadors of the Princes of Germany and of the free Towns who came thither that they might be heard were excluded out of the Assembly and denied the Liberty of Speech for the Bishops and Abbots said they would suffer no free Debate of the Cause nor would they determine the Controversies by the Word of God and that those of our Side were not to be heard except they would recant which if they refused they were to expect no other terms in the Council but to be condem'd for Julius the III. in his Brief by which he call'd that Council publickly declared that if they did not change their Minds they should be condemned for Hereticks without ever hearing their Cause And Pius the IV. who hath now resolved to call again that Council hath by the prejudice of his own single Judgment commanded all those who have made defection from the Authority of the Church of Rome that is the greatest part of Christendom without ever seeing or hearing them to be taken and reputed Hereticks They are wont to say and that upon all occasions that all things are well and that they will not suffer the least part of their Doctrine and Religion to be altered Albertus Pighius saith that without the Command of the Church of Rome the most plain place of Scripture is not to be believed Now is this their way to restore the Church to her Integrity Is this their seeking Truth Is this the Liberty and Moderation which beâ—its a Council 25. AND altho these things are most unjust and most contrary to the Practice of the ancient Councils and the Usage of modest and good Men in their Deliberations yet it is much more unreasonable that whereas the whole World complains of the Ambition and Tyranny of the Pope of Rome and is perswaded that until he is reduced to a better Order all their Labours for the Reformation of the Church of God will be in vain and nothing will be done yet at last all things are referred to him alone as to the most equal Arbiter and Judge But O good God! to what Man I will not now say any of these things against him that he is an Enemy of the Truth an Ambitious Covetous Proud Man who is already become intolerable to his own But I say that it is the utmost pitch of Folly and Injustice to make him the sole Judge of all Religion who commands all his Dictates to be had in the self same Honour and Esteem as the Words of St. Peter are and saith that in case he should Mislead a thousand Souls and carry them with himself to Hell yet no man ought to reprehend him for it Who saith he can make Injustice to become Justice Whom Camotensis confesseth to have corrupted the Scriptures that he might have a Plenitude of Power And why should I use more words whom his own Companions and Ministers Joachimus Abbas Petrarcha Marsilius Patavinus Laurentius Valla and Hieronymus Savanarola have not obscurly hinted to be the Antichrist To the Judgment and Will I say of this one Man are all things submitted that this very Criminal may be both the Party accused and the Judge of his own very Case that this guilty man may sit aloft upon a Throne and his Accusers stand beneath whilst he gives Sentence for himself for Pope Julius had given us these just and reasonable Laws There is saith he no Council which is valid nor ever shall be unless supported by the Authority of the Church of Rome And Bonifacius the VIII saith that every Creature ought to be subject to the Church of Rome and that as they tender their Salvation And Pope Pascal useth this Expression as if any Councils had given Laws to the Church of Rome when in truth all the Councils have been held and received their Force from the Authority of the Church of Rome and in all their Statutes the Authority of the Pope of Rome is plainly and apparently excepted And another saith
whatever the Pope approves or disapproves we ought also to approve or disapprove and what the Pope allows no other man may disallow And another Flatterer who has lost all Modesty saith that altho the whole World should contradict the Opinion of the Pope in any thing yet it seems but reasonable to stand to the Iudgment of the Pope And another no less impudently saith it would be a sort of Sacriledge to dispute concerning an Action of the Pope who tho he is not a good man is yet ever presumed to be such And another more impudently The Pope saith he hath a Heavenly Will and therefore in those things which he wills his Will is instead of a Reason to him nor is there any man who may say to him why dost then act thus And that I may pass by many other things which might be alledged here because they are without number and at length come to a Conclusion Pope Innocentius the IX more impudently than any other useth these words This Judge the Pope may neither be judged by the Emperor nor by Kings nor by the while Chrgy nor yet by all the people O immortal God! how little is wanting of the Pride of Luciser I will ascend above the North and I will be like the most highest If all these things are true and the Popes have not belyed the World what need is there of a Council or if they will hold a sincere and free Council let all these things be condemn'd as dishonest and insolent Lyes and let them not only be laid aside as to the court and use of them but be razed out of all Books that the sum of Affairs may never more be left to the Will and Lust of one man and he too for many most just causes suspected But now on the contrary the Popes say they cannot err and that the Word of God is to be regulated according to their Prescription and besides all this before they enter upon their Papal Dignity they take an Oath that they will maintain the Faith of many late Councils in which all things are most fearfully depraved and they promise most religiously that they will not change any thing and therefore what wonder is it that no good is done by Councils that Errors and Abuses are not taken away that the Ambassadors of Princes are to no purpose call'd together from such distant places out of all Lands and yet I hear that there are some good men at this time who not well considering what they say tho they condemn the Pride of the Pope and his Persian State and Magnificence and his Epicurean Contempt of all Religion yet they would preserve for all that his Authority safe and intire and tho sometimes they confess him to be Antichrist yet for all that as soon as he ascends that Chair they do not question but he is the universal Bishop and the Head of the universal Church of Christ and here they please themselves as if the Holy Ghost were necessarily fixed to the Pope Court in the Adrian Mole but there is a Proverb that the Place doth not sanctifie the Man but the Man the Place And St. Jerome as he is cited by them saith they are not the Children of the Saints who hold their Places but those who imitate their good Actions for otherwise as Christ said the Scribes and Pharisees sate in Moses his Chair and he commanded his Disciples to acknowledge and submit to their Authority so far as they answered out of the Word of God What saith St. Augustin hath Christ said more here than that the Voice of the Shepherd was heard out of the Mouth of a mercenary Servant for sitting in that Chair they teach the Law of God therefore God teacheth by them but if they will teach their own things do not hear them do not do them for St. Paul saith Antichrist the Man of Sin shall sit in the Holy Place and therefore St. Jerome doth well admonish us thou dost attend St. Peter but then consider Judas thou submitest to Stephen but cast an Eye towards Nicholas as the same time Church Dignity doth not make a Christian Thus St. Jerome and certainly it is said that Marcellinus the Pope did sacrifice to Idols Pope Liberius was an Arrian Pope John the XXII was a Heretick in the point of the immortality of the Soul Pope John the VIII was a Woman and in her Popedom by a lewd Lust committed Adultery and in a Procession in the midst of the Pomp before the Eyes of the Bishops and Cardinals she brought forth a Child and Liranus saith that many Roman Popes apostized from the Faith of Christ and therefore we must not trust too much to Places Successions and vain Titles of Dignity The impious Nero was descended from Metellus the Pious and Annas and Caiaphas succeeded to Aaron and an Idol hath often been put in the place of God 26. BUT Sir I beseech you what is that vast Power and Authority that they so very insolently boast of Or from whence had they it from Heaven or from Men Christ say they said to Peter upon this Rock will I build my Church in these words the Papal Power is confirm'd for the Church of Christ is placed upon Peter as upon its Foundation but Christ in these words gave nothing to St. Peter apart from the rest of the Apostles neither did he here make any mention of the Pope or City of Rome Christ is that Rock Christ is that Foundation No man saith St. Paul can lay another Foundation than that which is already laid which is Jesus Christ 27. And St. Augustin upon this Rock saith he I will build my Church by the Words upon this Rock saith he is understood the Confession made by Peter saying thou art Christ the Son of the living God for saith he it is not said thou art a Rock but thou art Peter but the Rock was Christ And St. Basil upon these words upon this Rock that is saith he upon this Faith I will build my Church And the most ancient Father Origen the Rock saith he is every Disciple of Christ after he hath drunk of the Spiritual Rock which follows and upon every such Rock is all the Churches Doctrine built Now Sir if you will suppose that the whole Church is built only upon Peter what will you say of John the Son of Thunder and all the rest of the Apostles Or shall we dare to say that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against Peter only but against the rest of the Apostles and Heads of the Church those Gates may prevail or rather is that Saying that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail to be understood of all and every one of them of whom it was spoken and so is that other Expression to be taken too upon this Rock will I build my Church And are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given only to Peter by Christ or was no other of the blessed Apostles to