wormes to be engendied if it be long kept and that both the kinds are corrupted but it is blasphemous to say that either Christs body and blood are corrupted or that wormes can issue and be engendred thereof to auoid this inconuenience they say they are engendred of the accidents or of the bread and wine returning againe For the engendring of wormes of meere accidents is absurd and for the returne of bread and wine they can bring foorth no words of scripture 29. Thomas Aquinas p. 3 q. 77. art 7. confesseth that Christs body is not broken in the Sacrament and gladlie would he shew how the accidents there may be broken but he traueileth with vanitie and bringeth foorth nothing but foolerie 30. Commonly Masse-Priests say that Christ at his last supper did eat himselfe and drinke his owne blood before it was shed matters that imply manifest contradiction and dissolue rules of reason 31. Now the spaniards will not denie but they are canibals and eaters of mens flesh that eate the same whether rosted broiled baked or otherwise dressed why then should not the Masse-priests be auoided as eaters of mans flesh and drinkers of mans blood as they say themselues albeit they eate Christs flesh and drinke his blood prepared vnder other formes 32. The fathers say that Christs bodie is meate for the soule and not to be eaten with the teeth but Nicholas the second will haue it torne with teeth as his words import c. ego Berengarius de consecrat dist 2. others will haue it swallowed into the belly 33. Christians abhorre to heare that Christs bodie should be eaten and his blood drunken of brute beastes but Papists teach and confesse both 34. Christ gaue his disciples the cuppe of the new testament the Pope and his complices sacrilegiously take the same from Gods people 35. Christ said take and cate the Masse-priests suffer them that haue them to gape and gaze and giue them often nothing to eate 36. Christians beleeue that they receiue the same Sacrament that Christs disciples receiued at his last supper but Thomas Aquinas 3. p. q. 81. art 3. saith the disciples receiued it passible and such as it then was but now no man can receiue his true body but he must receiue it as it is in heauen that is as it is glorified and impassible 37. They say that the eucharist is both a Sacrament and a sacrifice and for those two ends instituted but that implieth a plaine contradiction for as the sacrifice is offred to God so the Sacrament is ordeined and giuen to men 38. If poison after consecration be mingled in the Sacrament Thomas Aquinas 3. p. q. 83. art 6. will haue the same kept among Saints reliques but what Christian will rescrue poison for a relique 39. The Apostle saith Christ was once offred the Masse-priests say he is offred continually and that for quicke and dead a matter vnknowen to Christs Apostles 40. Our Sauiour instituted this Sacrament for a remembrance of his death and passion but the Masse-priests offer the Sacrifice of his bodie and blood for quicke dead for sicke for hole for sailers for trauellers in the honor of Sainte and Angels for peace and good successe in all things which bee matters neuer thought vpon in the institution of this Sacrament Finallie they haue no lesse strange false and contrary positions in their doctrine of matrimony order penance and extreme vnction which they make Sacraments but by this it may appeare sufficiently how litle they regard either the institution of Christ or the doctrine of the ancient catholicke church in the matter of Sacraments I shall also haue occasion otherwhere to touch these pointes particularlie CHAP. VIII That poperie is a mixture of old and new heresies IT were long to insist vpon euery article of Popish doctrine I will therefore rather in a generality shew the qualities proceedings and practises thereof running through the whole then dilate the absurdities and falsities of euery particular standing vpon euerie small point now then that I haue touched the grounds and certaine principall doctrines of Popery I haue thought good to shew that the rest is nothing but either old or later heresies They glory in their workes and hope to bee iustified by the law as may be gathered out of Bellarmines disputes de iustificatione and also out of diuers of their treatises of good workes the Iebusites of Collein censur fol. 22. say that all their life and saluation consisteth in the precepts of the law whose fulnesse is loue they doe also extoll the merits of their workes but the Apostle Rom. 2. taxeth them that glory in the law and Galat. 3. condemned those false Apostles that taught iustification by the law 2. They make Gods law void by their traditions of worshipping images maintaining publike stewes banks of vsury and such like practises the which is noted as an error in the scribes and pharisies reprobastis mandatum Dei saith our Sauiour Marc. 7. per seniorum vestrorum traditionem and as they had their Talmud so haue the Papists their decrees and decretales which they follow as the law of God 3. The Monks and Iebusites are also like to Pharisies dicebantur pharisaei saith Epiphanius haeres 16. ante Christum co quod separati essent ab alijs propter spontaneam superfluam religionem apud ipsos receptam the Pharisies were so called for that they were separated from others for voluntary and supersluous religion receiued by them they compassed also sea and land to make Proselytes and when they had won them they made them twise more the children of hell then they were themselues as our Sauiour Matth. 23. teacheth vs. so likewise for a spontaneous and superfluous shew of religion these irreligious Iebusites and Monkes do separate themselues from others and take great paines to winne Proselytes to the synagogue of Rome and in the end abuse many and make them much worse than themselues 4. In their supersophisticall exposition of the law and their often washings and affectate holinesse they imitate the scribes who for this cause by Epiphanius haeres 15. ante Christum are enrolled in the catalogue of heretickes 5. By their often washing in holy water the Papists hope to wash awaie sinnes as the Hemerobaptists among the Iewes which for this were reputed heretiks as Epiphanius sheweth haeres 17. ante Christum but there he telleth them that neither drops nor riuers of water nor the whole ocean can wash awaie sinnes 6. The Dositheans were reputed heretickes for their affectation of virginity and abstinence from mariage and punishing their bodies why then should not the like accompt be made of those Papists that runne into the same errors not sparing their bodies more than they did whom the Apostle Coloss 2. reprehendeth 7. Iohn the 23. was condemned in the councell of Constance for denying the immortality of the soule the like opinion as Zegedinus in spec pontif and others report had Alexander the sixth Leo
Rome before our times is not the church because no man can now see it They hold also that the true church may alwaies be seene and discerned but this being so how happeneth it that the Pagan Emperors in time past and the Turkes now doe neither see it nor discerne it for we may not thinke that if they knew the church they would hate it and persecute it They beare men in hand that the Pope desining out of his chaire cannot erre but it is as much as if they should say that a blinde man sitting in a chaire cannot do amisse in iudging colours or that the Pope should be more wise sitting in a chaire then standing in a pulpit or walking in a hal sitting at the table in his chaire and feeding daintily then disputing in schooles They call him Christes vicar yet our Sauiour did neither weare triple crowne nor thunder out his excommunications against Gods children nor persecute cut the throates of Christians By the right of S. Peter the Pope challengeth power to depose Princes and to translate kingdomes yet it is absurd to thinke that Peter had any such power They know that Peter was charged to feed Christs sheepe are they not then absurd fellowes that beleeue the Pope to be S. Peters successor that neuer feedeth nor teacheth but rather murdroth and massacreth Christians Peter was neuer borne vpon mens shoulders nor did he giue his feete to be kissed of his followers as a fauour nay when Cornelius fell downe at his feete he willed him to rise vp and would not suffer himselfe to be worshipped are they not then strange fellowes that beleeue the Pope to be S. Peters heire who is heaued on mens shoulders and requireth that Princes and all others should kisse his feete and worship him They permit publicke stewes and forbid honest wedlocke they dispence with adulterie and fornication very easily as appeareth by the chap. siclerici de iudicijs but depose and burne their priests and friers if they ioyne themselues in honest marriage with lawfull wiues are they not then absurd fellowes that make good euill and euill good Euery continued quantitie is in one place are they not then strange teachers that say Christes body is in many places at once and that it is in heauen and in earth and not in the middle place nor continued to it selfe Reason teacheth vs that accidents haue their being in a subiect but these fellowes against reason say they subsist in the Sacrament without a subiect The Aegyptians absteined from eating such creatures as they worshipped for God but the Masse-priests as men more senselesse then the barbarous heathen nations haue no sooner made their God but they deuoure him and heereof proceeded such a scandale that Auerroes for this onely cause pronounced the Romish religion to be the most foolish and absurd religion of all others Christes body in heauen they confesse is to be felt and seene how then commeth it to passe that this bodie being at the same time in the Sacrament as Papistes say is neither felt nor seene is not this notorious patcherie They confesse also that Christes body is of a iust length breadth and thicknesse are they not then absurd fellowes that beleeue that such a body can be conteined in a piece of an host no bigger then a counter and are they in their wits that teach that one host being consecrated Christes whole body is there and that the host being broken Christs body is also whole in euery peece thereof Are they not also impious and absurd fellowes that say that a dogge a hogge a mouse or a sparrow may cate vp the Sauiour of the world That the same man should be both a creature and a creator nay a creator of his owne Creator is an absurditie passing the boundes both of religion and reason and yet this is a peece of Popish diuinitie Innocentius lib. 4. de myst missae c. 19. sayth that dayly a creature is made the creator ita ergo quotidie creatura sit creator and in Stella Clericorum we finde these words Sacerdos est creator sui Creatoris that is a Priest is the creator of his creator Papistes also make Christians barbarous Canibales and eaters of mans flesh and drinkers of mans blood Nay when they eate his flesh they suppose they drinke his blood by a necessarie concomitance making Christians both to cate and drinke with one breath and in a certeine prouinciall constitution beginning ignorantia de summa Trinit the Masse-priests teach their followers neither to cate nor to drinke Christes body but to suppe it vp perfectly tritum modicè sorbere perfectè Christes blood hath redeemed vs and saued vs as holie Scriptures teach vs. but the papistes say that Christes bloud is really in the chalice after consecration in which notwithstanding we reade in stories that both Victor the third and William archbishop of Yorke that liued in the daies of Anastasius the 4. was poisoned In the Sacrament they confesse that wormes may be engendred and that the consecrated wine may be corrupted is it not then a most absurd peece of doctrine to hold that Christs body and bloud should be in the Sacrament where vermine is engendred and which is subiect to corruption Is it not also extreme folly to abandon Christ in whose name we are commanded to pray to the Father and to pray to God in the name of Saints which is no where commanded but rather forbidden as derogatory to Gods honour In the office of our Ladie at Matins in a certeine antiphona they say gaude Maria virgo cunctas haereses sola interemisti in toto mundo Resoice virgin Mary thou onely hast killed all heresies in the whole world but what more foolish then without warrant to ascribe this to the virgin Mary and to take this honour from almightie God They also say their Pater noster before stockes and stones but what is more absurd then to pray to those that cannot heare and to looke for helpe of them that cannot helpe themselues The Masse-priests in their praiers looking vpon a little woodden crucifixe say thou hast redeemed vs. thou hast reconciled vs to thy Father as Bellarmine lib. 2. de cultu sanct c. 23. confesseth may we then thinke that these are well in their wits that make a peece of wood or mettall their Sauiour and take this honour from the Sonne of God to giue it to a dumbe image In their breuiaries they pray thus to the crosse auge pijs iustitiam reisque dona veniam inerâ—ase iustice in the godly and grant pardon to sinners are they not very blockish then trow you that thus pray to a blocke and hope to finde pardon of a dumbe creature At Cahors in France they pray to Christs winding-sheete which they call sudarium saying holy sudary pray for vs and againe sudarium Christi liberet nos à peste morte tristi the winding sheet of Christ let it deliuer vs from the plague
commandement concerneth the sanctifying of the Sabbath but the Papists profane it by worshiping Idols and frequenting the idolatrous masse Iulius the second vpon the solemne day of Easter fought a bloudy battell with the French at Rauenna and the Duke of Guise vpon the sabbath massacred the Saints of God at Vassi and so little do they respect the Lords honour that they make more account of our ladies festiuals and of the daies of Francis Dominicke and Thomas Becket then of the Lords day The fifth commandement requireth obedience of children to parents and of subiects to princes yet Gregory the seuenth Paschall the second Alexander the third and diuers Popes by their decretales haue armed the sonne against the father and the subiect against his prince neither was the late league of the French rebels against Henry the third and Henry the fourth set forward and confirmed by other more then by the Pope the Popes of Rome stirred vp rebellion against Henry the eight in England and against Queene Elizabeth both in England and Ireland Allen and Parsons in their wicked libell against Queene Elizabeth directed to the nobilitie and people of England and Ireland endeuor by all meanes to perswade her subiects to rebellion and to laie violent hands vpon her Cardinall Como in his letters to Parry that came into England with a full resolution to murder the Queene doth promise in the Popes name not only indulgence and pardon for his sinnes but also reward on earth and merit in heauen The sixth commandement forbiddeth murder But Papists thinke they doe God good seruice when they murder true Christians from this fountaine haue proceeded all their cruell executions in England France Italy Germany Spaine and other countries Natalis Come in his history testifieth that in the massacre of France An. D. 1572. they murdred aboue sixty thousand of all sorts of persons their garments are died in the blood of innocentes nay they cruelly poison and murther those of their owne religion if they be opposite vnto them in faction Gregory the seuenth caused not only bloody warres to be stirred vp against the Emperor but tormented and murdred such as he pleased at Rome Alexander the sixth for euery word put men to death Iulius the second promised reward to him that could kill a Frenchman as Budaeus de Asse testifieth but as Lactantius saith massacring and piety cannot stand together longè diuersa sunt carni ficina pietas nec potest aut veritas cum vi aut iustitia cum crudelitate coniungi The seuenth commandement as it forbiddeth adultery fornication Iust and all vncleanenesse so it requireth purity of life and chaste and vndefiled behauior but among Papists adultery and fornication is reckened among lesser sinnes as appeareth by the Chapter si clerici de iudicijs the Pope permitteth whores in Rome and exacteth tribute of them as is notoriously knowen to the world the same is also testified by the glosse of the constitution prouinciall beginning with the word licet de concubin cleric remouendis by Agrippa de vanit scient c. de lenocinio by Sansonino lib. dei gouerni c. corte de Roma and diuers others of late in the castle of Wisbich among the Iebusites and Masse-priests one defended that whores were in Rome cum approbatione and with as good authority as any citizen or as the Pope of Romc the Popes and their complices disallow honest wedlocke of priests and yet allow or at the least winke at such as keepe concubines and whores Theodoric à Niem tract v. nemoris vnionis c. 33. sheweth that in Gascoigne Spaine Portugall and other countries it was lawfull for Popish Bishops and Priests to keepe concubines The commandement against theft as Canisius in his catechisme confesseth c. de decalogo forbiddeth also vsury simony rapine sacrilege and all vniust gaine yet vsury and simony yeeld no small reuenues to the Popes coffers the historie of Matthew Paris doth in euery kings reigne declare infinit pillages what by vsury what by simony committed in England by the Popes speaking of Gregory the ninth his factors he saith they vexed England by vsury per Caursinos vsurarios Angliam vexarunt he saith also how they held vsury for a little fault and simony for none vsuram pro paruo simoniam pro nullo inconueniente reputauit saith he speaking of the Popes agent Felin sheweth that without the rent of Symony the church of Rome would come to contempt in Rome of late times the Popes haue erected diuers banks of vsury called monti di pieta as appeareth in Onuphrius in the liues of Iulius the third Paul the fourth and Pius the fourth and there money was to be had for ten or twelue in the hundred and sometime for lesse Vrbane the sixth as Theodoric à Niem lib. 1. de schism c. 22. testifieth sold chalices crosses and images the same man doth make strange reports of the practises of Boniface the ninth to get money omnia benesicia vendidit si non potuit habere pecunias accepit porcos sues c. lib. 2. de schism c. 10. he sayth he solde all benefices and when he could not haue money he tooke pigs cattell and such wares the merchants of Babylon now take money for masses sacraments and indulgences and extort both from quicke and dead the secular Priests charge the Iebusites to be most cunning fellowes in extorting of money in Spaine they haue a rime shewing that they haue turned all Gods commandements into practises of gaine es el primero ganar dinero that is the first commandement is to get money all Gods commandements they haue turned into these two Todo para mi nada para vos all for me nought for you The ninth commandement doth directly forbid false witnesse and whatsoeuer is vnder that conteined as lying detraction and all leud speeches tending to the hurt or disgrace of our neighbour but the Papists as if lying slandering and bearing false witnesse had beene commanded so forge and falsifie scriptures fathers councels histories and all good authours as their expurgatory tables counterfeit decretall epistles and false allegations of bastard authours and others do testifie and shall more at large be declared hereafter their late books also are full of execrable lies and slanders against M. Wickliffe M. Husse Hierome of Prage Luther Caluin Zuinglius Melancthon and all the professors of truth the Pope he hireth men to speake lies slanders and his complices delight to heare them Allen and Parsons in their resolutions of cases of conscience teach their disciples how to dissemble lie and forsweare themselues cunningly the canonists and other the Popes parasites call him a god on the earth the head and spouse of the church and beare him in hand that he cannot erre Finally where the last law saith thou shalt not couet the conuenticle of Trent teacheth that concupiscence is no sinne the Papists hold also that it is lesse sinne for Friers Masse-priests to lust and
commit fornication in thought than to marry the Popes of Rome haue not onely coueted but also vsurped diuers parts of the Empire and thus hoping to be saued by the law the Papists not onely by their practise but also by their doctrine ouerthrow the law the Pope by his dispensations annulleth and frustrateth the law his complices more regard the Popes decretales than the eternall law of the liuing God This law of God they say may bee persectly performed by the assistance of Gods grace and as touching the substance of the action they hold that it may be performed without grace ex quo efficitur saith Bellarmine lib. 5. de lib. arbit c. 9. tot am Dei legem absque auxilio gratiae quoad substant iam actionis ab hominibus recte seruari posse in the same booke c. 2. hee saith that without any speciall helpe of God man may know veritatem moralem or the morall law with the circumstances thereof which is not onely contrary to scriptures declaring mans weakenesse and blindnesse but also ouerthroweth the necessity of Gods grace for if man without grace both knoweth the truth and is able according to the substance of the action to performe the law then is he not dead in trespasses and sinnes as the Apostle saith nor doe the Papists beleeue in Christ which saith without mee you can doe nothing doth it not then appeare that popery is false erroneous and repugnant to Gods law the ancient faith in the doctrine of the law CHAP. IIII. Of the damnable doctrine of Papists concerning faith and iustification THe Apostle teacheth vs that the iust shall liue by faith but the Papists doe so handle the doctrine of faith that the same cannot quicken any but is like rather to be the occasion of the fall and death of many first they teach that iustifying faith is nothing else but a firme assent to the word of God but if a firme assent to euery word of God do iustifie then are Christians iustified by beleeuing that there is a Diuell as well as beleeuing that there is a God and as well are they iustified by beleeuing the curses of the law as beleeuing that grace and mercy is offered them in Iesus Christ nay as well may the Diuels haue iustifying saith as faithfull Christians for they do giue their assent to the word of God and beleeue that hee is truth but these are most damnable doctrines Secondly they say that Christians are as well to beleeue the traditions of the church not written as the holy scriptures the doctors of Trent will haue both receiued with equall affection the authors of the censure of Colleinsol 91. teach Christians to beleeue not only such things as are reuealed in scriptures but also such points as are deliuered from hand to hand but if this be granted then will it follow that Christians are as wel to beleeue the Pope or the Church of Rome as God himselfe and that faith is built vpon mans word and not onely vpon the word of God and lastly that faith is built not only vpon vncertainties but also vpon falshood for such are the traditions of the church of Rome many are vncertaine and some very false and erroneous as is particularly shewed in diuers treatises against Romish traditions Thirdly they teach that faith is a gift and light by which a man being illustrated doth firmly assent adhere to those things which are reuealed by God and proposed to vs by the Church est Dei donum lumen saith Canisius Cathechismi c. 1. quo illustrat us homo firmiter assentitur atque adhaeret ijs quae vt credantur sunt diuinitus reuelata ab Ecclesiae nobis proposita now by the church they vnderstand the Pope and church of Rome but of this it followeth first that the Church of Rome hath no faith for how can a Church propose and teach matters to itselfe this doth vtterly destroy the nature of relations and therefore I thinke the learned Romanists will hardly confesse this to be true it followeth next that Christians are neither to beleeue in Christ nor to professe the articles of the faith vnlesse the Pope and Church of Rome propose them vnto vs. but this is most absurd and impious for we beleeue in God and not in the Pope nor in the Church adhering to him that these consequents are good it is euident because they no lesse require that the articles of faith be proposed to vs by the Church of Rome than that they be reuealed by God Fourthly as well doth Canisius require that Christians beleeue that the whole body of Christ be contained in the eucharist as Papists do hold it as the article of the Trinity the creation of the world and Christes incarnation for all these articles he ioineth together Catech. c. 1. § 4. but hee could not say worse if he meant to ouerthrow the whole Christian faith for the Popish real presence of Christs body bloud in the sacrament is contrary to Christs meaning to words of scriptures exposition of fathers the nature of sacraments and to humane reason and fense as at large is iustified in my bookes de missa against Bellarmine Fifthly they teach that the wicked and reprobate nay that the diuels of hell may haue true faith but our Sauiour Christ saith Iohn 3. that whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but haue euerlasting life so it followeth by the doctrine of Papists that the reprobate and the diuels of hell may be saued Sixthly they affirme that charity is the forme of faith but the Apostle teacheth vs that the iust doe liue by faith of which it followeth that faith hath a forme of it selfe whereby it quickneth vs. furthermore it is an absurd thing to make one vertue or habit the forme of another and if this were tolerable that one qualitie were the forme of another yet would it seeme farre more probable that faith should be the forme and life of charity and workes for that without faith it is not possible to please God than that charity should be the forme of faith which doth follow of faith Seuenthly the Iebusites of Collein fol. 122. teach that faith is onelie of generall propositions and hope of particulars so it followeth of their doctrine that no Christian ought to beleeue that he or any other particular person hath his sinnes forgiuen or is of the body of the church or shall be saued but if this were true then do not the Iebusites beleeue that themselues shall rise againe or appeare in iudgement further then can they not beleeue that Pope Clement or Leo or Paul is the head of the church or that they are to subiect themselues vnto him or that this particular Church of Rome is the true Church and such other particular propositions Eightly they teach that we are not iustified by the remission of sinnes or by imputation of Christs righteousnesse but the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. sheweth that Christ is made to
which they seeke greedily in Caluin but finde not 18. Certein Papists as the Master of the sentences sheweth lib. 3. dist 12. § 5. suppose that the sonne of God might haue assumed our nature in the sexe of a woman quidam arbitrantur saith he deum potuisse assumere hominem in foemineo sexu vt assumsit in virili and he doth not deny it but this inconuenience would haue followed that the sonne of God should haue been the daughter and not the sonne of man such absurdities are they which haue sounded in time past in Christian mens eares 19. Thomas Aquinas 3. q. 49. art 1. assigneth three means by which Christ hath wrought our saluation whereof the first is for that by his example he hath prouoked vs to charitie tribus modis saith he causauit nostram salutem primùm per moduÌ„ prouocationis ad charitatem but the scriptures shew that he is therefore called a Sauiour because he hath saued his people from their sinnes and if for this cause hee might be called a Sauiour then euerie one that prouoketh vs to charitie might be a Sauiour 20. Commonly they teach that Christ is only the meritorious cause of our iustification saluation and redemption and Kellison p. 261. assigneth this for a reason because he deserued grace for vs at Gods hands by which together with our cooperation wee may bee saued and redeemed but if he be the meritorious cause only of our iustâ—â—â—cation saluation and redemption then is he not properly our Sauiour and redeemer nor doth he iustifie vs. for not he that meriteth at our friends hands that wee should be ransomed out of the hands of our enemies but our friend that paieth our ransome is our redeemer so this blasphemous wretch denieth Christ to be properly our redeemer and Sauiour and next he maketh euery man his owne Sauiour and redeemer 21. Likewise the same surueior pag. 262. telleth his followers that Christ hath therefore freed vs from the tyranny of the diuell and captiuity of hel because he hath procured vs grace by the which when the diuell by him selfe or the world or the flesh prouoketh vs wee may resist mauger all the force of hell which is as much as if he should say that Christ hath not ouerthrowne or triumphed ouer our enemies but hath procured vs grace to ouerthrow the diuel and to triumph ouer him our selues that he is not the strong man that hath bound vp the Diuell that had vs in possession but that he hath made vs strong and able to binde the Diuell of the deliuerance from sinne and from the curse of the law by Christ he maketh no mention and if you aske him what he meaneth by grace he will tell you of charitie or a habit not distinct from charity such is the blasphemous doctrine of these impostors they ascribe the worke of their redemption immediatly to themselues and a farre off to Christ 22. He telleth vs further pag. 336. that Christes death was sufficient to haue redeemed the Deuils and damned also but this assertion supposeth a contradiction viz. that the same Persons may be both saued and damned it supposeth also that the Deuils and the damned may be saued which is an assertion direct contrary to the decree of God concerning their damnation would not then such impostors with their vaine supposals be chased from among Christians and placed among the damned crew of which he himselfe sometime talketh I doe the rather make mention of his contemptible fellow albeit he deserue no place among the learned because he gaue vs the first occasion to make this Surueie 22. Clement the sixth in the chapter vnigenitus extr com de poenit remiss doth apply these words from the sole of the foote vnto the head there is nothing whole vnto Christ as if Christ had nothing whole in him whereas the Prophet Isay c. 1. doth speake of the sinfull people of the Iewes for a little before he said ah finfull nation is not then this a proper comparison to match the immaculate lambe of God with an impure and finfull people and is not this a plaine abuse of scripture 23. The same man in the same place saith that the shedding of one drop of Christs blood would haue been sufficient for the redemption of all mankind his words are pro redemtione totius humani generis suffecisset but Kellison in his suruey pag. 256. goeth much further and saith that Christ with one teare or one word and not only with one drop of blood might haue redeemed vs. thus these impudent wretches euacuate the crosse of Christ and make his death superfluous which wee would the rather maruell at but that they are teachers of Antichrist and opposite to Christ and enemies of his crosse 24. For the most part they ioin the merites of Christ and his mother and other Saintes together and of them they make a treasure out of which the Pope may bestow indulgences to such as neede them or desire them but it is absurd to thinke that the Pope or any mortall man hath power to dispose or dispence Christes merites For he himselfe hath formerly disposed of them beside that it is a great disparagement to Christes merites either to supply them with the merits of Saints or to make Saints and mortall men redeemers and Sauiors and deliuerers from sinne 25. Bellarmine lib. 1. de indulgentijs affirmeth that Christ had superfluous merites as if Christ had not knowen how much was sufficient or left others to discerne of his merits better then he did himselfe 26. The scriptures teach vs that by the merits of Christs death only we haue remission of sinnes but Thomas Aquinas p. 3. q. 49. art 1. saith that by charity wee obteine remission of sinnes Caritate consequimur veniam peccatorum saith Aquinas 27. Of the virgin Mary most of them say that she was conceiued without originall sinne and of Hieremy and S. Iohn Baptist that they were sanctified in their mothers wombe of which it followeth that Christ is not the redeemer of all mankind for what needed they a redeemer that were not borne sinners nor subiect to the curse of the law 28. But nothing is more blasphemous then that they teach that dogs and hoggs mise and birds and other brute beastes doe eate the true bodie of Christ when they eat the Sacrament nay that such beasts doe eat their God but this is the opinion of Alexander Hales of Thomas Aquinas and the schoolemen best reputed of and the master of sentences holding the contrarie lib. 4. sent dist 13. is therefore censured now herein they passe the idolatrous gentiles for the Aegyptians did not eate those creatures which they adored as Gods these deuoure their God and Sauiour like bread 29. They say that Christs true body is in the sacrament and yet he hath neither flesh nor bone that can bee felt or seene there this therefore is not farre from the heresie of Valentinus and destroieth the verity of
the tenth Clement the seuenth and diuers other Popes this heresie therfore they seeme to borrow from the Sadduces or rather from the Epicures 8. Among the followers of Christ the first heretikes were the Capernaites that beleeued that Christs flesh was to be eaten and his bloud to be drunken really and that both were to be receiued into the mouth and swallowed downe into the belly the same notwithstanding is taught by Pope Nicolas c. ego Berengarius de consecrat dist 2. and generally is beleened among the Papists his words are sensualiter tractari and dentibus sidelium atteri as if Christs body were handled with hands sensually and torne with teeth of the faithfull grosly 9. With Simon Magus the Pope and his mates thinke it no sinne either to buie or to sel the gifts of the holy ghost thereof commeth the mart of Masses the portsale of indulgences the chaffering for benefices and all spirituall linings and dignities Mantuan Calamit lib. 3. saith they sell churches altars sacraments yea heauen and God himselfe the bishop of Chems onus eccles c. 23. saith that Priests did sell Christ more execrably than did Iudas Furthermore both Simon Magus and the Papists count it a small sin to vse common women Finally both the followers of Simon Magus and the Monks and Friers worship the images of their founders this Augustine de haeres c. 1. accompted heresy in Simon and his followers docebat detestandam turpitudinem indifferenter vtendi foeminis and againe imagines suam Helenes praebebat discipulis adorandas 10. Irenaeus lib. 1. aduersus haeres c. 23. reputeth the Basilidians heretikes in regard of their vse of images enchantments and diuers superstitious exorcizations What is this then but a sentence against the Papists that coniure water and salt and other creatures saying exorcizo te creaturasalis and exorcizo te creatura aquae and so foorth they doe also abuse the name of God in their exorcismes and yet make exorcists an order that order a Sacrament of the church lastly they doe follow Simon Magus in magicall inchantments and vse images most superstitiously to diuers purposes 11. Carpocrates also worshipped images and for that was put into the catalogue of heretikes by Ireney lib. 1. aduers haeres c. 24. Marcellina one of his followers adored the images of Iesu Paul Pythogoras and Homer colebat imagines Iesu Pauli Homeri Pythagorae adorando incensumque ponendo saith Augustine haeres c. 7. so likewise Papists adore and burne incense to the images of Saints yea somtime to the images of heretikes and no Saintes as for example to the images of George the dragon killer of Catherine of Papias and such like 12. The Carpocratians and Basilidians did conceale and hide the mysteries of their religion lest holy things should be cast to dogges as we read in Ireney lib. 1. c. 23. and Epiphanius in haeres 24. and 27. and what doe Papists doe they not likewise abuse the same wordes of casting holie things to dogges against Gods people to exclude them from talking of the mysteries of religion and reading scriptures 13. Epiphanius haeres 34. testifieth that the Marcosians did baptise in an vnknowen language and Ireney lib. 1. c. 18. sheweth that they anointed with Chrisme such as they baptized and that they had a kind of extreme vnction for the dead Epiphanius saith also that Marcus in the eucharist brought in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transubstantiation that his followers accounted themselues perfect in their steppes therefore the Papists tread vsing tongues in administring Sacraments not vnderstood of the vulgar sort greasing their sicke and them whom they baptize beleeuing transubstantiation and accounting Monkes and Friers in the state of perfection but as Ireney saith perfectus apud cos nemo nisi qui maxima mēdacia apud eos fructificat both old and new heretikes tell abominable lies and for proof alledge forged and apocryphall writings 14. The Papists consecrate euery yeere paschal lambes and obserue the Iewish Iubiley and in their massing sacrifice vse Iewish apparell and ceremonies as Durand confesseth Innocentius in c. per venerabilem qui filij sunt legitimi determineth that Deuteronomy is now to be obserued quod ibi decernitur in nouo testamento debet obseruari saith he if then the Nazarites were iustly condemned for heretikes for mingling Iewish ceremonies with Christian religion as Augustine de haeres c. 9. and Epiphanius in haeres 29. testifie then wee doe the Pope and his poleshorne flocke no wrong to call them heretikes both Papistes and Nazarites bragge much of their reuelations and miracles this is therefore another point of heresie wherein both concurre 15. The Heracleonites gaue their followers departing out of this life extreme vnction and murmured wordes in an vncouth language ouer them feruntur saith S. Augustine de haeres c. 16. suos morientes nouo modo quasi redimere id est per oleum balsamum aquam inuocationes quas Hebraicis verbis dicunt super capita eorum this is also in part testified by Epiphanius in haeres 36. this practise therefore is common to the Papists with them and both of them abuse the words of S. Iames c. 5. where he talketh of anointing the sicke and draw them to their purpose 16. The followers of Helzai and heretikes called Osseni as Epiphanius haeres 19. ante Christum tostifieth vsed to sweare by bread and salt and other creatures and worshipped the spittle and reliques of two of their sect the same Helzai taught his disciples also to pray in a tongue not vnderstood saying to them let no man aske the interpretation but only say these wordes and then followed certeine barbarous termes the Papists therefore swearing by bread and salt and other creatures and worshipping the ragges and excrements of their Saints and praying in Latine that is not vnderstood of the vulgar sort doe heerein rather imitate heretikes then true Christians or catholikes 17. Marcion extolled virginity A Marcione saith Epiphanius haers 42. virginitas praedicatur yet did he corrupt a mayden he gaue also women power to baptise as Damascene de haeres testifieth Irenaeus lib. 1. c. 30. saith that he Saturninus began first to teach abstinence from liuing creatures he taught also that by Christs descending into hell diuers mens soules were thence deliuered as Epiphanius witnesseth finally he separated mariages for religion so likewise Masse-priests and votaries praise virginity wallow in fornication allow women to baptise beleeue that eating of fruit roots is better than eating of flesh separate married couples entring by consent into monasteries and beleeue that not only the patriarkes were deliuered out of limbus patrum but that Traians Falconillaes soules and diuers others were by their saints fetched out of hell as for purgatory that is a part of hell it is the Popes inheritance and from thence they say he may deliuer whom and as many as he list 18. The Messalians beleeued that baptisme
Bishops of Rome or else he must know that whatsoeuer he fableth of his three supposed conuersions the same will make for the destruction of Popery and the ouerthrow of the cause which he mainteineth Secondly we are able to prooue that all these corruptions of doctrine superstitious deuises impieties blasphemies which we refuse haue beene receiued and established in the synagogue of Rome not onely since the Apostles times but also since the time of Eleutherius and Gregory the first the idolatrous worship of images was first confirmed by the second coūncell of Nice vnder the Empire of Irene and by little and little brought into the Westerne church being long oppugned by the bishops of France Germany and Britain That the images of the crosse and Trinity should be worshipped with latria was not allowed in that idolatrous councell but first taught by Thomas Aquinas and his followers and grounded not vpon Gods word but vpon this rule of Philosophy that the same motion is directed to the image and the thing imagined which rule by him is mistaken being meant of the species or representation of things in our vnderstanding and not of materiall images that come not within our vnderstanding The Popes authority began to be established first by the rebellion of Gregory the second and Gregory the third that caused Italy to reuolt from the Emperour vnder pretence of worship of images and afterward the same was confirmed by Gregory the seuenth and his successors that by force and violence ouerthrew the empire and made way by the diuisious of Christendome to the victories and conquests of the Turkes and Saracens Boniface the third obteined of Phocas that the church of Rome should be reputed head of other churches Boniface the 9. as Theodoric à Niem in his booke of schisme testifieth by fraude vsurped first the temporall gouernment ouer the Citie and territorie of Rome which before that belonged either to the emperor or to the citizens and thus by fraud and violence the Pope made himselfe great and by little and little exalted himselfe in the church and erected the kingdome of Antichrist The carnall eating and presence of Christs body in the sacrament was first decreed by Nicolas the second in the Chap. ego Berengarius dist 2. de consecrat for there we read first that Christs true body is handled with the hands of Priests broken and torne with the teeth of the faithfull his words prescribed to Berengarius are verum corpus sanguinem domini nostri Iesu Christi esse sensualiter non solum sacramentum sed in veritate manibus sacerdotum tractari frangi fidelium dentibus atteri Transubstantiation got reputation first by the decree of Innocent the 3. as we read in the chapter Firmiter de sum Trin. fid cath for there he decreeth that the bread is transubstantiate into the body and the wine into blood by the power of God but yet two inconueniences will heere fall out if we yeeld to his words for there he saith that Christ is both the priest and the sacrifice and that this transubstantiation is wrought by the power of God whereof the first ouerthroweth the priesthood of the polshorne priests of Baal the second doth take away the efficacie from these wordes hoc est enim corpus meum and hic est sanguis meus and ascribeth all to the power of God absolutely In the conuenticle of Constance we finde it first resolued that the accidents of bread and wine doe remaine without subiect and that the Pope is Christs immediate vicar and sess 13. that although Christ did institute the eucharist in bread and wine yet lay-men were onely to receine it vnder one kinde Auricular confession was established by Innocent the 3. in the chap. omnis vtriusque sexus de poenit remiss for before that it was free to confesse or not to confesse the doctrine of confession was enlarged by the canonistes and schoole-men In the conuenticle of Florence we reade that the forme of ordring masse-priestes of popish confirmation and extreme vnction and of other popish sacraments was then first setled by law there also Purgatorie and the Popes supremacy was first enacted by force of law Clement the 6. in the chapter vnigenitus extr de poenit remis did first deuise the treasure of indulgences Boniface the 8. and Sixtus the 4. ordred the Popish Iubiley That the Pope is aboue the Councel it was first decreed in the councel of Lateran vnder Leo the 10. who also begā first to thunder out his excommunications against M. Luther Finally the conuenticle of Trent gaue finall complement to the Popish doctrine of Traditions of the Latine vulgar translation of concupiscence of formal iustification by charitie and works of seuen sacraments of the sacrifice of the masse of purgatorie and indulgences of framing the images of God the Father and the holy Ghost and the rest of their heresies and abuses for what before the schoolemen had taught vainlie that began now by the decrees of the Pope and his complices to be established and held for law then also the missals breuiaries offices and other rituall bookes began to be confirmed by the Popes authoritie Thirdly it is an easie matter to prooue that the doctrine of S. Peter and of the times wherein Ioseph of Arimathaea Eleutherius and Gregory the first liued is direct contrarie in diuers points to popish religion S. Peter 1. ep 2. exhorted all Christians to submit themselues to kings and gouernors but the Pope commandeth subiects to rebell and take armes against princes and excommunicateth such as refuse so to doe as appeareth by the excommunication of Paul the 3. against king Henry the 8. and of Pius the fift against Queene Elizabeth both which are extant in Sanders his libell de schismate S. Peter 1. ep 1. would haue Christians to trust perfectly on gods grace the Papists teach their disciples to distrust gods grace and to doubt of their saluation and to trust rather in their owne works and merits he saith we are not redeemed with corruptible things but with Christes most precious blood these teach that men are redeemed after a sort by indulgences and by the satisfaction and merites of Saints to whom Bellarmine in his booke of indulgences doubteth not to giue the title of redeemers S. Peter exhorteth Christians to desire the sincere milke of Gods word that they may grow thereby the papistes barre men from hearing Gods word in tongues which they vnderstand and send them to beleeue the traditions of the church of Rome and the impure trash of the schoolemen and the Popes decretales he excludeth the lordship of Popes ouer Gods inheritance these false teachers enforce it he exhorteth vs to make our election sure these fellowes teach that Christians cannot be assured of their election or make it sure Ioseph of Arimathaea and the godly bishops that liued in his time and diuers hundred yeeres after him continued we doubt not in
of her image there to be idolatrous 14. They celebrate the feast of our Ladies conception and of the assumption of her body into heauen as appeareth by their missals and breuiaries but Catholickes drslike both as grounded vpon apocryphall fables and lying legends S. Bernard epist 174. speaking against the feast of her conception saith she needed no false honours 15. Catholickes neuer beleeued that Christ had a body inuisible impalpable and not comprehended in a place S. Augustine de essentia diuinitatis saith that Christ according to his humane nature is visible corporal and local but our aduersaries teach that his true body is in the sacrament where it is neither seene felt nor circumscribed in a place 16. They speake reuerentlie of Christs body and hold it blasphemy to say that the same may be cast into the fire or eaten of dogs or hogs or other brute beasts but the Papists doe not so much as goe about to cleare themselues of this blasphemy 17 They teach that Christ had a body like to ours in all things sin except the Papists beleeue that his body is really in the sacrament and conteined in the compasse of a consecrated host and that the same is inuisible and able to penetrat other solide bodies without the dissolution of their substance but such abodie no man euer yet had nor by nature can haue 18 They beleeue that euery body is continued to it self or as Logicians call it continua quanutas but Papists beleeue that Christs body is in heauen and earth and euery altar and yet not in the middle places whereby it followeth that Christs head in heauen is not continued to his feet being in a consecrated host in earth 19. Vigilius lib. 4. cont Eutych saith that Christs body being now in heauen is not on earth and that is the faith of Catholickes but the false and pretended catholickes beleeue that his body is both in heauen and earth and diuers distant places at one time 20. Catholickes beleeue that Christ only is our redeemer for so the Apostle teacheth vs Rom. 3.1 Cor. 1. and diuers other places but Bellarmine in his first booke of indulgences teacheth vs that saints and others may be called redeemers all his consorts also teach that the Pope by his indulgences redeemeth soules out of purgatorie 21. Catholickes acknowledge that Christ is our iustice for so the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. expresly saith they beleeue also that we are iustified by faith in him as we read Rom. 5. but Kellison in his suruey and his consorts teach that he is onely the meritorious cause of our iustification and that we are formally iustified and saued by our owne workes 22. Catholickes doubt not to make their election sure and being iustified by faith haue peace with God and are perswaded that nothing shall separate them from the loue of God for all this is Apostolike doctrine but Papists teach their followers to doubt of their election and of the grace of God towards them and depriue them both of peace of conscience and of all assurance of Gods grace 23. Catholickes beleeue that Christ was wounded for our transgressions and that he hath borne our infirmities and that by his stripes we are healed for so the Prophet Isay cap. 53. teacheth vs. but the pretended popish catholickes do lash themselues and hope by their owne stripes to heale their sinnes and to satisfie for them and without this satisfaction they beleeue that no man can obteine remission of sinnes 24. Catholickes euer spared their owne bodies but certaine heretickes and idolaters did vsually afflict their bodies and lash themselues before their idols in lashing of themselues therefore the Papists imitate the Priests of Baal and not true Catholickes 25. Catholickes beleeue that their sinnes are purged by the bloud of Christ as we read Hebr. 1. but Papists beleeue that their sinnes are purged in purgatory and by their owne satsifactions 26. The Greekes to this day neuer beleeued Purgatory neither doe any of the ancient fathers beleeue that after our sinnes are remitted Christians are to satisfie for temporall paines either in this life or in purgatory the doctrine therefore of purgatorie will neuer be proued Catholicke 27. The Apostles and ancient fathers neuer knew nor heard of the doctrine and treasure of the Popes indulgences this doctrine of Papists therefore is to bee abolished as not Catholicke 28. True Catholickes neuer beleeued that Christians were iustified by mariage the master of the sentences saith it is onely a remedy against sinne but Papists hold they are iustified by marriage aswell as by other Sacraments 29. The doctrine of the conuenticle of Florence concerning the forme of priesthood popish confirmation extreme vnction and their number of seuen sacraments cannot bee proued to be Catholicke 3. Bellarmine lib. 2. de effectu sacrament c. 3. and other his consorts affirme that Christians are instified by the sacraments ex opere operato or by their owne act and worke wrought whereby it followeth that they are iustified by greasing crossing and such like acts but this doctrine is not catholicke the Greekes to this day acknowledge no such doctrine nor is any such thing to bee found in ancient writers 31. The Greekes to this day renounce the Popes supremacy the ancient fathers neuer heard of a triple crowned Pope with a crossed slipper and a guard of Suitzers the doctrine therefore of the Popes generall vicarship taught by Bellarmine in his bookes de pontisice Rom. and by others is not Catholicke 32. Papists teach that some sinnes are done away by holy water and without repentance and that such sinnes deserue not death but the Apostle Galat. 3. sheweth him to be accursed that abideth not in all the words of the law to doe them and Rom. 6. saith that the wages of sinne is death this is also the faith of all Catholickes but of the efficacy of holie water to doe awaie sinnes true Catholickes say nothing 33. Papists offer the sacrifice of the masse pro redemptione animarum suarum for the redemption of their soules but Catholikes doe not hope for redemption but by the sacrifice of Christ once offered vpon the crosse 34. They make Christians eaters of mans flesh and drinkers of mans blood really and literally as their words in the chapter ego Berengarius dist 2. de consecrat do import but our Sauiour saith that the spirit quickeneth and Saint Augustine tract 25. in loan sheweth that Christs flesh is not to be receiued with our mouth or teeth vt quid paras dentem saith he why doest thou prepare thy teeth 35. They make their Priests creators of their creator as Innocentius in his bookes de myster missae stella Clericorum and Boner in his speech to the Priests in Queene Maries time in expresse words doe declare but Christians and Catholikes abhorre to heare Priests called creators or God to be made a creature 36. They make the Priest to intercede for Christs bodie and blood saying supra quae propitio
Popes regard them not one straw if they talke against their triple crowne two swords or glorious and pompous state as may appeare by the light accompt made of S. Bernardes bookes de consideratione ad Eugenium all of them if the Pope defineth otherwise reiect the fathers with great facility Bellarmme lib. 1. de verb. dei c. 3. declaring his opinion of the new testament departeth from the exposition of Chrysostome Theodoret and other fathers Generally in the accompt of the bookes of canonicall scriptures of the old testament they reiect the testimony of Hierome in prologo Galeato of Ruffine in the exposition of the Creede of the councell of Laodicea c. 59. of Athanasius in synopsi of Gregory Nazaanzen in his verses of Epiphanius lib. de ponderib mensuris and diuers other fathers and will haue the bookes of Tobiah Iudith Ecclesiasticus Wisdome and the Machabees to bee of equall authoritie with the law and the Gospell in despight of all the fathers Contrarie also to their opinion they preferre the old Latine vulgar translation of the bible before the Hebrew text of the old and the Greeke text of the new testament that is the standing puddles before the cleare fountaines of holie scriptures The fathers exhort Christians the Papists dehort them from reading and hearing scriptures read in tongues vnderstood Origen homil 2. in Isaiam wisheth that all Christians would performe that which our Sauiour Christ speaketh of searching scriptures Hierome writing vpon the Coloss c. 3. heere saith he it is shewed that lay-men ought to haue the word of Christ not only sufficiently but also abundantly and that they ought to teach and admonish one another Ghrysostome also in his 9. homily in 1. ad Corinth attend saith he as many of you as are secular persons and gouerne wife and children how the Apostle doth command you also to read the scriptures aboue all and that not lightlie and careleslie but with great diligence That the Pope should be aboue all councels it neuer entred into the fathers thought nay all of them haue recourse in matters of doubt concerning faith not to the decretales of Popes but to the determination of generall councels next after holy scriptures The bishop of Rome oftentimes consulted with learned fathers concerning the interpretation of scriptures and no learned bishop did in time past attribute more to the bishop of Rome then to other bishops the Papists therefore making the Pope that is often blind in matters of religion supreme interpreter of scriptures digresse from all the fathers and haue not so much seuce heerein as litle children that know that blinde-men cannot iudge of colours The conuenticle of Trent determining that traditions and holy scriptures are with equall affection to be receiued digresse from all the fathers that make not traditions but the scriptures to be canonicall and of sacred authority The Papists that say that scriptures are not authenticall to vs without the determination of the Pope and Romish church are of an opinion contrary to all the fathers who deriue their authoritie and credit from God and not from man Bellarmine lib. 3. de eccles c. 16. saith that Hierome Apollinaris and Hippolytus were deceiued in the exposition of the ninth chapter of Daniel concerning the times of Antichrist In his 2. booke de Purgatorio c. 1. he reiecteth the opinion of Ambrose Hilary Lactantius Hierome and Aleuinus that teach that as well good as bad neede to be purged In the number of 7. Sacraments the conuenticle of Trent departeth from the opinion of all the fathers for not one can be alledged that saith there are iust 7. Sacraments and neither more nor lesse Ambrose in his books de Sacramentis and de initiandis in myster mentioneth onely two so doth Iustine Martyr long before him in his 2. apology S. Augustine lib. 3. de doctr Christ c. 9. reckneth only the Sacrament of baptisme and of the body and blood of Christ where he talketh of sacraments he saith also Christ left but few and easie but Popish sacraments are many and hard to be performed The fathers no where mention spittle salt blowing light and such ceremonies as the Pope hath added to baptisme These words this is my body are expounded figuratiuely by Tertullian lib. 4. contr Marcion Origen in leuit Chrysostome homil 46. in Ioan. Augustine contra Adimantum and lib. 3. de doctr c. 16. in comment in psal 3. but the Papists in this exposition forsake all the fathers Gregory dial lib. 2. c. 43. willeth those to depart that communicate not si quis non communicet saith he det locum the Apostles canons doe excommunicate him that departeth before communion the same is also confirmed by the chap. si quis dist 2. de consecrat the Masse-priests therefore in the practise of their priuate Masses depart from the canons of the Apostles and all the fathers Innocentius the third lib. 4. de myster missae c. 6. thought that Christ consecrated without words others beleeue hee consecrated by praier the moderne Papists reiect both Bellarmine lib. 4. de eucharist c. 26. maketh the best proofe hee can for the communion vnder one kind but it appeareth by his silence that the fathers are all aduerse to him Gelasius in the chap. comperimus de consecrat dist 2. condemned those of sacriledge that receiuing one kind abstained from the cup. and Lyra in 1. Cor. 11. declareth that in the primitiue Church all Christians receiued both kinds The fathers speaking of the sacrifices of Christians call them sacrifices of praise and spirituall sacrifices and signifie that the eucharist is a commemoration of Christs only sacrifice on the crosse that is confirmed by the testimony of Iustin in dialog cum Tryph. of Tertullian lib. 4. contr Marcion of Eusebius lib. 1. de demonstr euangel of Cyprian aduers Iudaos c. 16. of Basil in Isaiae c. 1. and others this is proued partly by the same authours and by Chrysostome in Psal 95. in epist ad Hebr. homil 13. and Theodoret. in epist ad Heb. c. 8. 10. and by diuers others amplie cited by mee in my bookes de missa against Bellarmine all which doe shew that the Papists bringing an external and reall sacrifice of Christs body and bloud actually offered as they teach by euerie Masse-priest into the church are departed quite from the doctrine of the fathers Canus lib. 7. loc Theol. c. 1. confesseth that all the fathers which speake of the Virgin Maries conception teach that she was conceiued in originall sinne as Ambrose in Psal 118. ser 6. Augustine in Psal 34. Chrysostome Eusebius Emissenus Remigius and others yet most of the Popes proctors especiallie the Franciscans reiect these fathers The fathers with one confent teach that we are not to fast between Easter and Pentecost nor vpon Sundaies as Bellarmine de bon oper in part c. 23 consesseth yet doth he reiect their authority and all Papists doe contrarie Leo in epist ad Rusticum Narbonensem and
for it Ambrose Catharine tractat de imaginibus saith God prohibited images simply but that this prohibition was positiue others deny both images to be forbidden and the second commandement to be positiue Occham Maior and Richardus are of opinion that a sacrament cannot be defined Scotus in 4. dist 1. q. 2. holdeth that it may be defined imperfectly Ledesma in tract de sacrament in genere q. 1. art 2. saith it may properlie bee defined Finally to shew the contradictions of Papists we need to seeke no further than to Bellarmine who in euery controuersie bringeth in different opinions of men of his side Gardiner a pillar of popery did oftentimes contradict himselfe and his fellowes sometimes hee swore against the Popes supremacy sometime like a forsworne creature hee stood for it somtime he consented to the dissolution of monasteries as sinkes of Sodomy and all tibaldrie and villany sometime be spoke for them his booke entituled Marcus Constantius is full of contradictions M. Foxe hath scored vp great multitudes The contradictions of Robert Parsons in his book of three Conuersions I haue noted in my answeare to that treatise The whole masse also of Poperie doth consist of contrary pieces as I haue shewed in the contradictions of the doctrine of the Masse of purgatory of indulgences of the Pope and diuers other principall points and haue proued the same in treatises of that argument For example they say the Masse is an vnbloudy sacrifice and yet teach that euerie Priest doth really offer and drinke Christs bloud Sometime they say the sacrifice is but one sacrifice yet in the canon they say sacrifices in the plurall number Sometime they say the Priest only offereth this sacrifice but in the canoÌ„ they make the people to offer sacrifices In the canon they pray that Angels may carry Christs body vnto Gods high altar but all confesse that Christs body is in heauen before There also they make the Priest a mediatour for Christ. but where they speake soberly they make Christ a mediator both for the Priest and others In heauen they say Christ is visible and palpable on the altar they make him inuisible and impalpable They say the Masse is an externall sacrifice yet no man euer yet could see Christs body externally sacrificed In purgatorie they say soules suffer extreme paines but in the Masse they saie they slâ—epe in peace They teach that Christians may performe the law of God perfectly but they will not grant that they may liue without sinne which is all one Talking of auricular confession they make it necessarie but in the chap. Petrus doluit and lachrymae dist 1. de poenit they denie it The Pope calleth himselfe seruant of seruants yet doth he take vpon him as lord of lords Order they say is one sacrament yet they teach also that there are seuen Orders and euerie one of them a sacrament which is as much as if they should make one seuen and seuen one The Pope they saie is head of the Church but that is as much as if they should teach that their Church in the vacatio nis headlesse If then the catholicke faith be one and those that professe the faith agree in one then cannot popery be the true Catholicke faith that containeth so many contradictions CHAP. XXVII That popery is a most foolish and absurd religion AS the lawes of God are full of wisedome and giue vs a true vnderstanding so when man of his owne braine vndertaketh to adde vnto his commandements the same in proofe falleth out to be nothing but vanity and foolery the same wee sind verified in the additions of the superfluous religion of Papists for although it haue a shew of wisedome as the voluntarie worship of Angels had of which the Apostle Coloss 2. speaketh yet compared with the wisedome of God reuealed in the Gospell it is meere foolery For first what is more foolish then to forsake the liuing springs of holy scripture out of which do sally waters of life and to follow after the puddle streams of Romish traditions of scriptures we are assured that they are the word of God but no man can affirme that of Romish traditions or the Popes decretales that either professeth piety or loueth truth is it not then strange that any Christians should bee so foolish as to match the word of man with Gods word and where we haue a certaine rule to seeke for a broken vncertaine and crooked rule Againe it is most absurd not to beleeue the scriptures without the Popes warrant but to say that Christians are not to beleeue in God nor in Christ Iesus nor to receiue the rest of the articles of our Creed vnlesse the church of Rome doe deliuer them vnto vs is not only a peece of great foolery but also a very high streine of madnesse and yet this is the doctrine of Popery for Stapleton saith that the church must needes consigne the scriptures vnto vs and the authoritie of the church both he and others giue to the Pope likewise in their catechisme the Papists signifie that faith is of things onely proposed to vs by the church so that if the church propose not the articles of faith we are not to beleeue them if these men teach truth further this sheweth the Romish church to consist of a packe of infidels for if the same beleeued not without the authority of the church then did she beleeue nothing of Christ seeing the Papists acknowledge no other Church but that of Rome and no church can teach it selfe Finally this is as much as if they should say that the law of the Prince is not to be receiued vnlesse it be proposed by the crier or other such like officer The Masse-priests of Trent sess 4. most absurdly prefer the old Latin vulgar translation of the Bible before the originall text which is as much as if they should preferre S. Hierome and other interpreters before the Prophets and Apostles and the streames before the fountaines Generally they forbid scriptures to bee read publickely in vulgar tongues but they permit most fabulous legends to bee read publickely The holy scriptures they will not permit to bee read in vulgar tongues of the multitude without licence but they are content that any of their followers should reade the Popes decretales or the miracles of their god of paste or the history of our Lady of Loreto and other such lying legends without licence To say that the Pope is the head of the vniuersall church is meere foolery for grant that and it will follow that the Church is sometime without head as in the time of vacation of the papacy and sometime a monster with two or three heads as when two or three Popes reigne at once and sometime a mad Church as hauing a mad and franticke head The church they say albeit catholicke yet is alwaies visible but this being granted it followeth that vniuersall things may be the obiect of sense and that the church of
and that none taught in those countries beside S. Peter and such as he sent a lie directly repugnant to Scriptures which testifie that S. Paul preached in those countries being appointed by God thereto and not by man and refuted by diuers ancient histories and fathers who write that diuers others preached there beside S. Peters priests and messengers S. Augustine epist 162. sheweth that the Gospel came into Aphrike out of other countries then those that belonged to the church of Rome Gregory the 4. c. in praeceptis dist 12. saith that all bishops causes and the discussing of matters of religion belongeth to the See of Rome and that religion tooke her beginning from thence a matter apparantly false for religion began at Hierusalem and not at Rome and Councels in ancient time determined the differents in causes of Religion and not the bishop of Rome who was as well subiect to the decision of the general councell as other bishops Anacletus c. in nouo dist 21. saith that the rest of the Apostles made Peter their Prince which is contradicted by the Papistes themselues that deriue Peters authoritie from Christ. Nicolas dist 22. c. omnes telleth vs that Christ gaue to Peter the right of the kingdome both of heduen and earth but of this earthly kingdome belonging to Peter this is the first man that euer told newes Anacletus dist 22. c. sacrosancta affirmeth that both Peter and Paul were crowned with martyrdome in one day and at the some time but this leasing is refuted by Prudentius peri stephan Hymno 12. Arator in act Apost lib. 2. Augustine serm 18. de sanctis and others Innocent the 4. c. ad apostolicae de sent re iudicat affirmeth that Sicily is the speciall patrimony of Peter est speciale patrimonium Petri. but no where doe were reade where either Christ gaue or Peter claimed this patrimony Clement the fifth c. Romani Clem. de iureiurando most boldly and impudently writeth that Emperors hauing the crowne set vpon their heads sweare fealty to the Pope a matter certes which Bellarmine the Popes proctor would blush to affirme for albeit he would willingly gratifie the Pope whith any thing yet dare he not say that the Roman Empire is holden in fee of the Pope and thus the Popes runne on headlong heaping priuileges on Rome and building the tower of Babel by lies The same is also practised by Bellarmine as I haue shewed in diuers discourses written against him by Baromus as my speciall exceptions taken to his volumes fraught with lies and fables do declare by Parsons and Kellison as by my answeres to their bookes it may appeare Turrecremata lib. 3. sum c. 9. affirmeth that Helena and 3000. Iewes were conuerted to Christian religion in a councell at Rome vnder Siluester but other more true stories report that she was alwares a Christian and holpe to conuert her sonne Constantine Lib. 2. sum c. 300. he saith that Paul did some things which he afterward retracted quaedam fecit quae postea reuocauit The Emperor Henry the fourth by the Romanists is most vniustly standred as if he had prostituted his owne wife to his sonne and done other such like abominable actes matters merely deuised by the Popes agents Fridericke the 2. was a most noble Prince and greatly praised by the Cardinall of Cusa Aegidius Romanus and others yet was he most vniustly reuiled and standred by Gregory the 9. Innocent the 4. and their agents as it doth appeare by the testimony of Matthew Paris in Henrico 3. Capgraue telleth how a hundred and fifty of Ioseph of Arimathaea his company sailed out of France into great Britany vpon Iosephes shirt a small barge certes for so many passengers Antoninus hist part 3. reporteth how an innumerable troupe of the order of Dominske were seene in heauen couered vnder the blessed virgins gowne Stapleton in his prompruarie dominica 2. aduentus brocheth vs a barrell of lies first he saith that Sebastian a certeine musician was put in prison for demaunding liberty of conscience by the last Queene and that one Gifford was imprisoned by her likewise for the same cause after he had enterteined the Queene very bountifully at his house and that Shelley was committed for presenting a request in the behalfe of the papists matters meerely imagined and deuised by lying companions and foolishly reported by him the two first we cannot learne euer to haue beene committed the third was imprisoned for plaine treason The Papists accused the people of Zuricke for teaching that the virgine Mary had more sonnes then one and that Iames died for them as we may reade in Sleidan lib. hist. 4. and Bellarmine lib. 4. de iustific c. 1. saith we little regard good works and lib. 2. de amiss grat c. 1. he accuseth the Albrgians as they are called and Caluin for holding the error of the Manichecs which they alwaies renounced and detested In his boâ—ke de Matrimonio c. 2. he blusheth not to charge them whom he calleth Lutherans and Caluinists with holding that matrimonie is not of God a point expresly denied by them Finally it is an easie matter to shew that the foundation of Popery is laid vpon lies and that the charge which Papistes giue vpon their aduersaries is ordinarily enforced by most wicked imputations and standers CHAP. XLIIII That the cause of Popery is mainteined by fire and sword MVch are simple people abused by calumniations deuised against good men and hardly are Christians able to discerne falshood from truth and to iudge what is truely alledged what falsly vntill such time as matters be duly examined yet neither can trueth be vtterly suppressed nor do lies passe alwaies for good paiment Those therefore whom they cannot abuse with lies and false allegations the Pope and his complices seek cruelly to destroy with fire and sword The holy Ghost Apocalyps 17. sheweth vs that the purple whoore should be drunke with the blood of the saints and Apocalyp 13. that the 2. beast should kill such as would not worship the image of the beast that is that the Pope should persecute to the death such as would not submitte themselues to the kingdome of Antichrist in which the image of the Roman Empire was after a sort reuiued and this wee see verified by experience in the cruell gouernement of the Popes of Rome and their adherents Their lawes against all such as dissent from them in opinion concerning the sacraments are most rigorous they are degraded and deliuered ouer to the secular power to be burned as it appeareth by the law ad abolendam de haereticis nay they punish such as are suspected if they cannot cleere themselues with no lesse rigor then the rest all that communicat with them receiue them or succor them are in great danger such as giue them counsell are reputed infamous as is determined c. si aduersus de haereticis the goods of heretikes are adiudged confiscate neither are they punished only while they liue but also