made of this Indiuiduall to wit Isaacke This consequence is drawne from the text it selfe and the Apostle who alledgeth it neither addeth therunto nor presupposeth therein any tradition But such a spirit as our Bishop is of Heb 11 19 findeth more taste in the tradition of S. Siluester that raised vp a dead Bull Or in that of S. Germaine that raised vp an asse a calfe which they of his house had eaten From the words that God saith to Abraham Gen. 15. Gen. 15. I reason thus He which hath God for his reward hath immortality and life eternall But Abraham hath God for his reward Therefore he hath immortalitie and life eternal Du Perron saith That some of ours vnderstand this reward of earthly and temporall things true but they exclude not heauenly and eternall vnlesse he forge himselfe a God without immortalitie and without eternitie His answeres and ordinarie manners of arguing are to snatch one part thereby to exclude the other as if hee should say God framed Adam a bodie therefore hee gaue him not a soule Let vs set him downe the argument in this sort Whosoeuer hath God for reward hath more than an earthly and temporall thing But Abraham hath God for reward therefore hee hath more than an earthly and temporall thing But since the Bishoppe of Eureux receiueth the exposition of Oecolampadius vpon this place who vnderstandeth as if God said vnto Abraham If I bee for thee who shall be against thee If I be thy buckler and thy protection who shall hurt thee Let him receiue also this argument Hee whom nothing can hurt is immortall otherwise death should hurt him yea breake this buckler which is God and vanquish this protector which is the same God Now nothing may hurt Abraham therefore he is immortall and all the calamities that hee suffered did not hurt him to speake properly But if death had abolished his bodie his soule both together without hope of restitution resurrection then should the promise of God haue beene found vaine and frustrate From the exclamation that Iacob maketh at the point of death I drawe this argument Gen 49. â— Whosoeuer waiteth for the saluation of God at the houre of his death when he is going out of this life thinketh not to die wholly and altogether but Iacob at the point of his death waiteth for the Saluation of God therefore he thought not to die wholly and altogether for it behooueth that some thing of him should remaine for to receiue this saluation And though it should be vnderstood of some succours for his posteritie yet it behooueth that hee which waiteth and hopeth for that be not wholly extinguished brought to nothing So in the vulgar translation which is authentick in the Church of Rome there is in the future tense I will waite for thy saluation O Lord. If Du Perron reply that his Sadducie holdeth not that translation for authenticall No more doe we that of his pretended Rabbi that he alledgeth vnto vs. 〈◊〉 14 〈◊〉 49 29. 〈◊〉 15.55 〈◊〉 8 17 From this speach to be gathered to his fathers or people many times repeated in this first booke of Moses I conclude that if those to whom Abraham Isaack Iacob be gathered be not at all Moses speaketh vnaptly and falsely But this consequent is false therefore also the antecedent is so too Out of the second booke of Moses called Exodus â—â—d 3 6 This book furnisheth vs in the first place with the argumeÌ„t wherewith our Sauiour Christ stopped the mouthes of the Saduces proouing vnto them the resurrection of the dead the forme of it is this They of whom God calleth himselfe the God are liuing Now God calleth himselfe the God of Abraham the God of Isaacke and the God of Iacob Therefore they are liuing And seeing that according to the body they are not yet raised vp from the dead that must needes bee one day though in respect of God to whom all things are present they bee already raised vp and therefore he calleth himselfe their God speaking of a thing which shall infallibly be done as if it were alreadie done The Bishop of Eureux cryeth as lowde as hee can that Iesus Christ cited this place onely for to prooue the immortalitie of the soule and that it belongeth not to the Resurrection of the bodie I say though hee presuppose the immortalitie of the soule yet hee meaneth it necessarily of the Resurrection of the dead because it is the question that the Sadduces proposed to our Sauiour which of the seuen brethren in the resurrection should haue the woman to wife who had beene maried to theÌ„ all one after another is there any tradition that maketh mariages between soules without their bodies such a mariage would be another maÌ„ner of mysterie than that is which the Romish tradition hath made a Sacrament Bellarmine himselfe saith our Lord being about to prooue the Resurrection to the Saduces alleadged this testimony of Scripture I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Iacob and addeth God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing whence his intention is to inferre The dead therefore rise againe Now although the Saduces denyed also the Immortality of the soule yet the Resurrection of the body seemed vnto them much more absurde And vpon this pointe was grounded the most formall dissention betweene them and the Pharises as appeareth by that which Saint Luke saith of theÌ„ Act. 23.6.7 Also the three Euangelists qualifie the Saduces by this marke as the most notable that they beleeued not the ResurrectioÌ„ And if our Sauiour Christ by the Resurrection of the dead meant only of the coÌ„tinuaÌ„ce of souls not of the ResurrectioÌ„ of the flesh besides that he had done nothing by his argumeÌ„t takeÌ„ out of Moses that a Heathen Philosopher by naturall reasons might not haue done It would follow that he had then graunted that the soule dyeth or at the least sleepeth till the day of Iudgment for this tearme resurrection or rising againe can not agree but to that which before is fallen as it fareth in the body by death And when it is attributed to the soule it is but by figure like as sinne is called the death of the soule in as much as it depriueth it of the spirituall life which is in God yet without abolishing her substance But our Bishopp attributeth this opinion to Christ for to conforme it with that of one of his preteÌ„ded vicars Pope Iohn the 22. who was constrayned by a King of France to retract it and to vnsay himselfe by sound of Trumpet as Gerson witnesseth Now let vs see the Spirit of astoniednesse which possesseth him in saying Though Saint Mathew should say in expresse tearmes that Christ alledgeth this Text against the Sadduces vpon the question of the Resurrection of the bodie what can hee necessarily inferre thereupon I answere if Iesus Christ alledged this text for the
so much as one word of Moses fall to ground Or that the knowledge of these distinctions and differences was not a thing so necessarie as the Bishoppe of Eureux would haue it If account is to bee made of this Epistle of Ignatius which wee holde supposed how commeth it to passe that so many high mysteries are so soone fallen to the ground and buried in the graue of forgetfulnesse as appeareth by the diuersity of opinions that the Greek and Latine Doctours haue vpon this question so that some of them deny flatly that the knowledge thereof can be attained to as being a thing exceeding both speech and vnderstanding Isid Pelus l. 2. ep 99. And what new reuelation hath beene shewed to Thomas Aquinas for to make these sharings and diuisions among the Angels when he disposeth angels for to gouerne particular men Archangels for the Prouinces Principalities for whole mankinde the Vertues for the celestiall bodies the Powers for to commaund wicked Spirits the Dominations for to haue care of the good Spirits Is it because he is called the Angelicall Doctour that hee was endowed with this Angelicall knowledge But why was the vniuersall Church depriued of it in the time of Saint Augustine and of so many other good Fathers What new Paracletus or comforter had reserued the manifestation of these secrets to the Schoolmen Now let vs see a little our Bishopps angelicall Logicke Saint Paul speaking of Angells nameth Principalities Powers Vertues Dominations Thrones therfore he setteth downe these distinctions by the orders degrees as did the Doctors of the Romish Church which doctrine the Iewes knew not before but by the tradition of the Sinagogue Eph 2.11.12 Col. 1.21 Againe S. Paul writing to the Ephesians Colossians who a little before had beene Heathen strangers from the coÌ„mon wealth of Israell and from the promises of the Testament being without Hope and without God in the world maketh mention of these names Therefore it was a doctrine vvhich was manifestly knowne vnto them and by consequent they knew it either by an absolute or subsidiarie Tradition Is it not happily from one of these twoe Traditions that Plato and Aristotle held also their Doctrine of the Genii and Intelligences â—ol 6 5. Gen. 2.1 He mocketh that I gather the creation of Angells from the place of Moses where he saith That the heauens and the earth were finished and all their hoste For that this hoste saith he signifieth nothing else in Moses but the Sun and the Moone with the Starres at least wise it can not be gathered by the litterall text of Moses his ArgumeÌ„t is this Deut. 4. Moses in a certaine place vnderstandeth by the army or hoste of heauen nothing else but the Sun and Moone with the starres Therfore he neuer meaneth any thing else by it throughout all his writings To omit that place of Genesis where the Angells that met Iacob at his returne from Mesopotamia Gen 32.2 are called the camp that is to say the Armie of God though Moses vse another tearme I will onely demauÌ„d him If this interpretatioÌ„ of the word hoste or army can not be had but by Tradition why the Cardinall Baronius â—nnal Eccles â—om 1. an Christ 60. who is farre nearer that spring than the Bishop of Eureux chooseth rather to take it out of the Scripture wheÌ„ speaking of the Idolatrie of the Iewes that worshiped the Angells and the starres which they thought to haue life note their goodly Platonicall not Propheticall Tradition he saith that Properly the scripture calleth Angells the Hoste of Heauen citing three places for this purpose whereof one is taken out of Moses himselfe Deut 17. I alleadged a place of Irenaeus that represseth the vaine curiositie of the Gnosticks who without any light of the Scripture rashly intrude theÌ„selues into matters that they haue not seene as the Apostle saith handling this pointe of Angells and condemning the superstition at this day crept into Tradition of seruing them religiously our Bishop exclaymeth thereupon what euening visions what dreames what imaginations and fantasies are these shewing that he hath his head so full of them that as Irenaeus saith of his Gnosticks all the Ellebore in the world would not suffice to purge him from it â—ib 2. c. 54. And it is no wonder if so many smoaky darke and subtill imaginations hinder him from seeing my conclusion which tendeth not in any fashion whatsoeuer to abolish the names and distinctions of Angells as he conceiteth but to shew first of all that Irenaeus prooued the creation of Angells by the scripture when he saith We will shew them by the scriptures that all these things as well visible as inuisible were created of God Also We forsake not Moses and the other Prophets Lib. 2. c 5 who preached the truth for to beleeue such as say nothing soundly but dote c. Whence is euident that he comprehendeth the writings of Moses vnder the Scriptures by which is shewed the creation of Angells Secondly to coÌ„demne the audacious boldnes of this pretended Dionysius Areopagita and the Schoolemen who presume to know all these mysteries vndertake to vnfold them and by vertue not of an Apostolicke Tradition but of a Maxime of naturall Philosophie determine that it is impossible that there be two Angells onely of one kinde and such is the Tradition of that prince of the Schoolemen Thomas Aquinas 1. P. qu. 5â— Ar. 4. So that we must haue many more names for them than the Tradition of the Synagogue or Saint Paul euer knew for to furnish specificall differences to so many Millions of these blessed Spirits which staÌ„d before the throne of the Lord for to execute his coÌ„maundements And wheÌ„ Irenaeus saith to the Gnosticks Let them declare vnto vs the nuÌ„ber of the Angells the order of the Archangells let them shew vnto vs the Sacraments of the thrones let them teach vs the diuersities of the Dominations Principalities powers and vertues But they can not so much as tell it There is no man that hath common sense L. 2. c. 47. but will conclude thence that Irenaeus propounded these things as most difficulte and secret since that in another place he proposeth the ouerflowing of Nilus Birds changing of countreys in springtime and in haruest the ebbing and flowing of the sea rayne snow thunder and other meteors as things hid from vs and of which saith he we may well babble but God onely who made them is true Let vs add a word or two of euill Spirits That the Serpent that spake to Eua was but an Instrument of a wicked spirit may be shewed a Sadducie by the effects which cannot proceede from a creeping thing nor from any other beast though it should go vpright like a rocke as the Serpent did before the seducing of Eue according to the ordinarie glose which conteyneth as well the literall expositions as the mysticall Traditions neyther needed Du Perron to
neuer tooke the liberty to ordaine any thing of his owne head not so much as in policie or ciuil gouernement He answereth that this is false obiecting vnto me the historie of Iethro will say that Moses practised the counsell that Iethro gaue him touching the establishmeÌ„t of Iudges ouer the people of Israell without any approbation from God which is one of the boldest falshoodes can bee made and such as hee is wont falsly to obiect vnto others For to conuince it do but see the text where the common latine translation saith If thou doe this thing thou shalt fulfil the commaundement of God Exod. 18 23 and the Hebrew If thou dost this thing and if God so commaund thee thou maist bee able to endure Now we grant that if we had alwaies such persons as the Apostles were or as Moses and the Prophets vnder the Lawe were for to instruct vs in euery point and not such as may leade millions of soules together into hell Dist 4â— si Papa as the Pope doth and may doe by vertue of his owne lawes We should not haue so much occasion to keepe our selues so strictly tyed to the Scripture though notwithstanding Act. 17 the first Christians examined the preaching of the Apostles by the Scripture of the old Testament by which themselues also prooued it though they had an immediate calling an infallible certainty and an incomparable authority but these gifts of God beeing but for a time for the beginnings and foundation of the Christian Church and we being aduertised by the Holy Ghost of the comming of wolues of false Prophets that shal rise vp in the middest of the Church We conclude that it is most necessary to keepe vs to their writings and that it is more dangerous to say Act. 20. â— 30. 1 Pet. 2. that they haue not written whatsoeuer is necessarie for vs than to say that they haue not taught all by word of mouth to euery particular Church for returning often to visite them that which they had not said at one time they might adde and supply it at another for which there would be no more any remedie after their death if wee found not in their writings that which is necessarie for our saluation And therefore though the points aboue prooued by Moses were not conteined in his writings yea though Moses had written nothing at all yet could not that any thing at all helpe the Bishop of Eureux his cause vnlesse hee shew first that the traditions of the Romish Church are naturally engrauen in the hearts of men as the immortalitie of the soule And secoÌ„dly that in al the Christian Church spread throughout all the nations of the world god had established the same form touching the oeconomie and gouernment and the dispensation of his mysteries as was established among this people only conducted by Moses afterwards taught by the Prophets extraordinarily raised vp immediately sent during the ordinary ministery of the Leuitical Priesthood And therfore since that the curate of euery particular Church that acknowledgeth the Pope 〈◊〉 ver 3 â— in the 〈◊〉 representeth the catholick Church as say the Doctours of the Romish Church it is to be beleeued that the grossest beast so that he beare the marke of the beast of Rome is holden in like estimation indued with the same gifts as was Moses Isaiah S. Paule For saith the B. of Eureux the Church is so assisted with the spirit of God according to the promises of Christ her spouse that whether it bee for grace or for interpretation of this word he neuer suffereth it to fal into errour And therupon he reproacheth me that I vnderstand not the meaning of this proposition The Church cannot err in matters of Saluation Let the Christian Reader iudge how I vnderstand it If we take this word Church for the vniuersall Church the bodie of Christ wherof part is tryuÌ„phant in heauen part stil militant on earth both being vnited to their head by the power of his spirit that proposition is most true If on the contrarie the Church be taken but for that part which is scattered on earth I say it is most false For that which is subiect to infirmitie to imperfection to errour and ignorance in euery one of his parts cannot make a whole which is perfect But there is not a man that sinneth not 〈◊〉 â—8 46. â—2 〈◊〉 13.9 â—4 7. saith Salomon and Saint Iames all of vs knowe but in part and Prophesie but in part Neither is there any one member which hath not neede to take euery day groweth according to the measure of the gift of Christ So that all the promises of the Spouse to the Church are to bee vnderstoode of that which hee daily worketh and encreaseth in his not of that which is alreadie perfected and finished And Du Perrons conclusion is no lesse false and vnapt than this GOD saith hee hath promised vs the beginning the progresse and the end therefore wee haue the end at the same instant as we haue the beginning The titles of perfection which are some times attributed to the children of GOD setteth before them rather the marke whereat they should ayme than any waies imprinteth in them an opinion of hauing already attained it So we cal a building a House thogh it be not yet finished If this perfection were wholly attained to there would remaine no more any thing to be builded and the power of God should not bee made perfect in our weaknes Iesus Christ washeth and cleanseth his Church euery day but it shall not be wholy cleane without spot or wrinkle till the day of the Lambes mariage when the Bridegrome shall bring his Spouse into his celestiall chamber Wee acknowledge the perpetuall assistance of Gods Spirit to his Church which is the soule of the Church and giueth spirituall life thereunto But life is one thing and perfect health without any infirmity is another thing It is one thing to haue a natural operation which is euer done after a fashion in which there is some necessitie an other thing to haue a-voluntarie operation which is done at discretion with liberty the holy Ghost assisteth the Church so far forth as to giue it life which is a thing wholy necessary for the accoÌ„plishmeÌ„t of the promises of her husband Christ for if the Spirit did in this sort faile the Church the Church would also faile Iesus Christ but this life this light of grace doth not abolish that of nature which is in euery meÌ„ber of the Church which maketh it often to faint to faile to fall though neuer vtterly to fall away The holy Ghost gouerneth it as well as reason gouerneth the will in man But as the will doth often swarue froÌ„ reason yet without loosing it wholy or altogither 1. Tim. 3.1 so the Church swarueth often from the spirit which notwithstanding doth not wholy forsake it for all that The Church remaineth also
most holy place And the same may be said of the golden Pot wherein was the Manna Aarons rod sith the solution of the Iesuite Ribera doth not satisfy him who no more than this Cardinall hath not recourse to Tradition Gen. â—0 12 2. Sam. 21 c. choosing rather to employ therein Grammer there being the like examples of Scripture in which the pronoune is referred to the antecedent farthest of than to apply thereto this plaister for all sores or to borrow the inuention of Caluin for to take away the contradiction which the same Cardinall saith to be most manifest betweene the place 1. King 8.9 which hath these expresse wordes Nothing was in the Arke saue the two tables of the law And this is taken in the sense that our Bishop will haue it And Bellarmine himselfe doth he not receiue the opinion of them that holde that the golden Pot and the rod were in some outward part of the Arke and not within the arke it selfe de verb. Deâ— Lib. 1. c â—7 The two last Instances taken out of the Epistle of S. Iude haue beene touched aboue let vs confirme here our opinion by the testimony of the same Cardinall Caietan who saith It can not bee knowne whence Saint Iude had the knowledge of this combat Comm. in epist Iud. that is to say betweene the Angell and the Diuell yet there be some that hold that it is taken out of the apocryphall bookes of the Hebrews who hath then reuealed it to our B. that the Apostle the Iewes held it vnwritten Tradition the apocrypha books of the Iewes the tradition which he pretendeth to be the true pure word of God is it all one To coÌ„clude from whence so euer this historie be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 3. c. 2 In câ—talog whether from the booke which Origen calleth the ascentioÌ„ of Moses of which S. Hierome also maketh mention or whether it be from the pretended Tradition what auaileth it against the perfection and sufficiencie of the doctrine conteyned in the Scripture How often haue we told him that we are at accord that all particular deeds and sayings â—â—hn 21.25 are not contayned in it neither can be â—â—l 1â—3 But from this historie saith he are drawne many excellent doctrines the beginning of this knowledge could not be humane and naturall but of necessity must take originall froÌ„ an expresse reuelation c. Say it be so to what purpose all this Is not our question whether there is any point of doctrine that should be deriued from any other beginning than from the Scripture Is it not whether the points of doctrine conteyned in the Scripture may be confirmed by some other proofes besides the Scriptures The Greekes reciting this historie say that the Archangell was employed in the Buriall of Moses â—ecum in â—ist Iud. that the Diuell opposed himselfe thereunto alleadging that Moses was his because of the manslaughter committed in the person of the Egyptian and that therefore he deserued not so honourable a buriall The doctrines which they draw from it are that the Apostle would teach by it 1. that men haue to render an accompt after this life 2 That there is one the same God both of the old and new Testament 3. That the Diuell riseth vp against the soules departed from the body and striueth to hinder their way to heauen but the good Angells assist them and resist the wicked Spirits 4 That we ought not to Iudge nor curse rashly 5. That honour should be yeelded to Superiours Now it were for our B. to deny that these doctrines are conteyned in the scripture and that the Iewes could not deriue them from any other beginning but from vnwritten Tradition and for to doe this he must race out an infinite number of places of the law and of the Prophets and by this meanes not onely he should iustify his blasphemies against the scripture but also the heresie of the Anabaptists in the point which concerneth the obedience due to Magistrates as elswhere he endeuoreth to do touching the point of baptisme of little children Now as these doctrines are more thaÌ„ sufficiently proued by the Scripture so the historie in question repugneth not any thing thereuÌ„to whether we take it as Oecumenius reciteth it or after the vulgar vnderstaÌ„ding namely that the deuill 2. Cor. â— whose enterprises wee are not ignorant of endeuoured to discouer the Sepulchre of Moses which God had expresly hid laying therein onely this body that it might be vnknowne to all and might not giue occasion to Idolatrie as it hapned among Christians when they began to vnbury to transport and to worship the reliques of Martyrs and sometimes the reliques of theeues and robbers It is therefore false that they which receiued this Historie as Saint Iude reciteth it Could not as he saith after our Maximus fol. 11â— excuse theÌ„selues of superstition in their beleife to giue credite to such â—arâ—â—ations which had been wholly fabulous full of deceits if they had come from any other then from the pure reuelation and word of God I say it is a meere deceite to say that wee condemne of superstition or deceit all that is not conteined in the holy Scripture as he saith we doe for we abase not the price and estimation of humane writings thogh we make theÌ„ not equal to the diuine we acknowledge the gifts of the authour of Truth eueÌ„ in them that haue alwayes remained vnder the tyranny of the father of lyes though more in them that haue been translated out of the power of darknes into the kingdom of light We consider both and examine them by the rule of the Scripture which is for this cause called Canon that which agreeth thereunto wee receiue with praise that which repugneth it wee reiect with leaue and accuse of superstition the beleefe that is giuen to such narrations which cannot haue place in the recitall of Saint Iude in as much as he is an Apostle hauing the spirit of the Lord in such a measure that hee neither deceiued himselfe nor any other in that which the said or wrote for to be inserted into the Canon of faith And if we receiue now some verses of certaine heathen Poets as the word of God since they were sanctified by the Apostle what reason were there to reiect this narration though it were taken foorth of an Apocrypha booke as the Fathers thought seeing that no newe doctrine can be drawn from it but that of the Scripture by it is confirmed It is a necessarie point to know that the Magistrate is ordained of God that we owe him honor and reuerence but know all the particular places reasons and testimonies that may serue to proue this point is not a thing necessary to know I shewed by the way what proffit the Church of Rome maketh of this tradition of S. Iude namely quite coÌ„trarie to that it containeth for
De moribâ— Eccl. Cathâ— c. 24. Hee confesseth that there are many Superstitious persons in the true Religion worshippers of Sepulchers and pictures But in another place he vnfoldeth his opinion vpon this matter saying that if wee pray well as we ought to doe we should say nothing else Ep. 121. â— Prob. but what is set downe in the Lords prayer And that whosoeuer saith that which cannot be referred to this EuaÌ„gelicall praier though his praier be not vnlawfull yet is it carnall which cannot choose but bee vnlawfull seeing that they who are regenerate by the Spirit ought onely to pray Spiritually To the place that the Bishop of Eureux produceth out of Theodoret what can be more fitly opposed Theodor. Ep ad col than that which the same Theodoret writeth on the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians where hee calleth worshipping of Angels heresie But if Angels which are ordeined of God for our guard which are the noblest creatures of all which alwayes stand before the Throne of God cannot be adored without heresie after the doctrine of Theodoret and the determination of the Councell of Laodicia shall we say he thought that the bones of dead men should bee worshipped what distinction so euer they make which the people vnderstand as little as the dead bones doe And if Baronius durst heere condemne Theodoret 〈◊〉 Eccl. â— ad an â—4 for that hee condemned as Heresie this superstitious worshipping of Angelles How much more shall it bee lawfull to condemne of Idolatrie and impietie them that so seeke and prease after this abhominable worshipping of bones and dead bodies For Saint Augustine in the place aboue alledged will not haue men serue nor adore the heauenly bodies for this onely reason that though they bee rightly preferred before all other bodies yet life is much better These heauenly bodies are not without miracles which God hath wrought in them and they doe bring more profit to men and do better declare the glorie of God than doth the dust and ashes of the dead what miracles soeuer be done there 〈◊〉 9.1 of which the true had none other end but to yeeld testimonie to the truth which the Martyrs had confessed for to conuert the Heathen therevnto and not turne away Christians from him that is the liuing God for to make them worship dead men for to withdraw the people from the visible Elements to the knowledge of saluation manifested in the Scriptures and not for to draw them to idolatries more then Hethenish which the Spirit of lies hath the cunning so well to nourish and set forward by an infinite number of false miracles and such as those were wherewith in times past he so well maintained the Heathen vnder his obedience Dialog Gazaei â— 5. Paâ—â—om 1 Here I summon him againe to tell vs on what Apostolike Tradition were and are grounded the Pirgrimages adorations and all those Ceremonies instituted a long time after the death of the Apostles What certaintie there is concerning the reliques which the people worship By what Registers shewed the succession of them that haue continued the keeping of them from father to sonne How by the warres and other publike calamities which haue lost abolished so many things there hath not beene lost so much as a comb of the virgin Marie a clout of the childhood of our Sauiour Christ ten thousand other such peeces No not vnder that horrible spoile and hauocke in the time of Dioclesian when al the Oratories and holy places of christians were burned and ruinate which serueth Baronius for an excuse and for an ordinary refuge when he would fain proue a thing by antiquity and can not And to come again to the historie in question there is found the verie dagger wherwith St. Michael fought with the Diuell from which Tradition the people learneth that it is not by faith nor by spirituall weapons Ephes 6. â— wherewith the Scripture armeth vs that wee must combat the Diuell but that one must haue a good sword and dagger for to resist him according to the Tradition of the Cibille who commanded Aeneas going into hell Virg. 6. Eâ— to hold his sword in his hand Tuque inuade viam vaginaque eripe ferrum That it is not in the worde and in the Sacraments that wee must seeke Christ with his spirituall graces but in some peece of wood which is said to be a peece of his crosse in some naile napkin towell or other relique Though Saint Paul say that he knoweth not Iesus according to the flesh 2. Cor. 5â— so farre is he off from making reckoning of these pretended Reliques The Scripture teacheth vs that God ordayned Death as a curse as the wages of sinne that deade bodyes bones and graues were polluted and did pollute euen the liuing by their touchings because they were as so many myrrors of this curse and of the corruption of humane nature in which the Image of God is so fowly disfigured Moreouer this same legall pollution taught the Israelites by figure that which the Apostles vnder the Gospell taught cleerely namely that wee should carefully keepe our selues from dead workes which are also called workes of the flesh and to maintaine our selues pure and holy the pretended tradition on the contrarie teacheth that there is no other puritie nor holines but in stirring kissing gilding adoring of dead bodies and wheras the lawe particularly forbad Priests to touch dead bodies 〈◊〉 22. there is no sort of people now adayes that so busie themselues in funerals and in handling of bones and reliques then the Priestes who feed vpon dead bodies like Rauens Vultures and in the meane while brag they were figured by the Leuitical Priests whom they care for as litle as for Iesus Christ when he saith Let the dead bury the dead vnlesse it bee that they obey him in this that being more dead than liuing they will haue no other affaires but with the dead hauing no hope of the true life and this is the reason why in their altars whereupon they sacrifice and crucifie as much as in them is Iesus Christ who is that life they must haue the bones and ashes of the dead to the end that as well they as their altars with which they liue might liuely represent vnto vs the possessed with vncleane spirites 〈◊〉 8. â—5 of whom the Gospel speaketh with the graues in which they dwelt Now we learne well ynough by the Scripture without the helpe of any tradition that the legall pollution that came by touching dead bodies is abolished by the Incarnation of our Sauiour Christ but that they should bee worshipped and adored with so much superstition and Idolatrie after this incarnation there is in it neither precept of it nor example though wee read in it the death and buriall of Saint Iohn Baptist of Saint Steuen and others on the contrary this distinction of reliques before and after the Incarnation is
repugnant to the Scripture and destroyeth it selfe First of all the holy persons which dyed in the faith of the Messias were freed as well from the curse of the law as they that are dead since the preaching of the Gospell and therefore God vouchsafed himselfe to burie the bodie of Moyses and the death of the saints were precious in his sight Deut. 3â— Psal 11â— Psal 34â— he kept all their bones not so much as one of them perished as Dauid sung of his time Moreouer the bones of Helizeus raysing vp a dead bodie 2. Kingâ— wrought one of the greatest mjracles that is and therefore his bodie wee should well beleeue to bee freed from the slauerie of Sathan whose slaue as then all humane nature was if we beleeue the Bishop of Eureux not knowing or fayning not to know that Iesus Christ is the same yesterday Heb 13â— Reuel 1â— 1. Pet. 2â— and to day That the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the worlde did alwayes wash and sanctifie the faithfull by his blood And the Ceremoniall pollusion might well be done away by this extraordinarie testimonie that God rendered to his Prophet after his death notwithstanding the inclination that this people had then to Idolatrie yet did they neuer abandon themselues to such brutishnesse as to worship bones and ashes onely the Egyptians were capable of this madnesse who for to heale themselues of the bytings of Serpents worshipped the Sepulchre of Ieremiah that was stoned to death in that Countrey an adoration worthie of them that worshipped all sortes of hearbes beastes fishes and monsters Secondly whereas according to the Doctours of the Romish Church the soules of the Fathers of the olde Testament went into Limbo which they say to be a place without paine They send the soules of the faythfull after the incarnation of Christ into Purgatorie there to suffer the verie same torments as are in Hell saue that they last not whence may bee inferred that the humane nature is more polluted now at this day then it was in olde time and that since the time that the blood of Iesus Christ was really shedde on the Crosse and all the mysterie of our redemption actually accomplished there is found therein lesse vertue and efficacie to purifie them than was before Thirdly I demaund why the Patriarkes since they were freed from that seruitude of Sathan are not called vppon in the Romish Church Or if all those that dyed before the incarnation of Christ haue remained the slaues of Sathan why did the Emperour Arcadius giue the same honour to the bones of Samuell Lector Niceph. â— 10. â—ont making them be transported from Iudea into Thrace as to an Apostle Why did no Bishop no not the Bishop of Rome oppose himself against that pollution â—p 2. Wherefore was there euen Bishops to beare the Shrine Why doth Saint Ambrose in the place cited by our Bishop alleadge sentences out of the olde Testament which speake of the care which God had of them that deceased in that time for to proue the worshipping of the Reliques of the Saints deceased vnder the new testament if the difference be so great between the one and the other Why doth S. Hierom confounde the Reliques of Saint Peter and Saint Paul with the bodie of Moyses â—ig 〈◊〉 Sanct. 3. To conclude why doth Bellarmine conclude by the myracle wrought by Helizeus that God would haue them bee worshipped What becommeth heere of the difference betweene the abhominable and polluted carions vessels of filthinesse and vncleanesse organs instruments of Sathan so du Perron calleth the bodies of the antient Saints 〈◊〉 20 p. 2. and betweene the darlings of Christ sweet smelling sacrifices seats vessels and future temples of the Godhead as he calleth them of the new testament which might suffice 〈◊〉 2. without adding Victorious ouer the diuel and hel by their martyrdom But Iesus Christ to whoÌ„ alone belongeth this glorie to haue vanquished the Diuell and Hell by his martyrdome must as well with him be spoyled of his title for to inuest therewith the bones of the dead as the Scripture of his perfection for to inuest therewith Tradition which in stead of a worde or two that the Scripture teacheth concerning the combate of the Angell against the diuel for the body of Moyses reciteth vnto vs very amply the combate of S. Denis Annal. Franc. 〈◊〉 of S. Dâ— and of some other Saints against the diuell for the soule of King Dagobert which they plucked from him for that this king had beene greatly deuoted to the said saint robbing others to enrich him Also it telleth vs the good turne Saint Laurence did to the Emperour Henrie how that after his death Albâ—r 〈◊〉 histor S. â— 1. c. 36â— the Angell Michael ballanced his merits against his sinnes the Diuell being readie to seaze on the soule as his owne because it was found too light by a graine of merrite the good Saint subtilly cast into the Scale where the merits were a golde Chalice note that our Bishops graines were not grained in those dayes for to make it weigh downe Yea it assureth vs by the mouth of a Pope that can not lie Greg. dâ— l. 3. c. 12. nor erre That sillie Priestes haue done as much or more wonders then the Scripture reciteth of the Archangel causing the soules of them that were alreadie dead and carryed away of Diuels to come againe yea employing in this Commission the Angels themselues as Sergeants to bring them backe againe and represent them And with such foppish tales of their Tradition as well absolute as subsidiarie one might make great volumes It sufficeth to note herein a word that all that which both the Traditions tell vs of Saint Michael is borrowed from the Fables which the heathen Poets haue fayned of their Mercurie whose wings sworde ballance for after Diodorus Mercurie is the inuenter of weights and measures and almost all his office it seemeth that the Priests Saint Michael hath inherited I said That the Popes gaue licence to themselues to tread vnder feete the greatest dignities of the earth of kings emperors which those against whoÌ„ S. Iude speaketh in his Epist neuer did to which he answeth that the Greekes interprete this word Dignities in this place not of secular dignities but of Ecclesiasticall and conferre this place with that of the thrid Epistle of S. Iohn where he complayneth of the insolencie of Diotrephes And therupon he addeth that it is for me to bethinke my selfe how to acquite me of this Article c. Oecumenius from whom he taketh his conjecture vnderstandeth by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dignities the old and new Testament 〈◊〉 3. â—5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which interpretation hee confirmeth by the place of Saint Paule where he saith If that which is abolished was full of glorie or dignitie how much more glorious or worthy is that which is permanent By this