a Synod of German and French Bishops at Francford who discussed the Acts pass'd at Nice and condemn'd them And the Acts of this Synod although they were diligently suppressed by the Popes arts yet Eginardus Hincmarus Aventinus Blondus Adon Aymonius and Regino famous Historians tell us That the Bishops of Francford condemn'd the Synod of Nice and commanded it should not be called a General Council and published a Book under the name of the Emperor confuting that unchristian Assembly and not long since this Book and the Acts of Francford were published by Bishop Tillius by which not only the infinite fraud of the Roman Doctors is discover'd but the worship of Images is declar'd against and condemned A while after this Ludovicus the son of Charlemain sent Claudius a famous Preacher to Taurinum in Italy where he preach'd against the worshipping of Images and wrote an excellent book to that purpose Against this book Jonas Bishop of Orleans after the death of Ludovicus and Claudius did write In which he yet durst not assert the worship of them but confuted it out of Origen whose words he thus cites Images are neither to be esteemed by inward affection nor worshipped with outward shew and out of Lactantius these Nothing is to be worshipped that is seen with mortal eyes Let us adore let us worship nothing but the name alone of our only Parent who is to be sought for in the Regions above not here below And to the same purpose he also alleges excellent words out of Fulgentius and S. Hierom and though he would have Images retain'd and therefore was angry at 〈◊〉 who caus'd them to be taken down yet he himself expresly affirms that they ought not to be worshipped and withall adds that though they kept the Images in their Churches for history and ornament yet that in France the worshipping of them was had in great detestation And though it is not to be denied but that in the sequel of Jonas his book he does something prevaricate in this question yet it is evident that in France this Doctrine was not accounted Catholick for almost nine hundred years after Christ and in Germany it was condemned for almost 1200 years as we find in 〈◊〉 WE are not unskill'd in the devices of the Roman Writers and with how much 〈◊〉 they would excuse this whole matter and palliate the crime imputed to them and elude the Scriptures expresly condemning this Superstition But we know also that the arts of Sophistry are not the ways of Salvation And therefore we exhort our people to follow the plain words of Scripture and the express Law of God in the second Commandment and add also the exhortation of S. John Little children keep your selves from Idols To conclude it is impossible but that it must be confessed that the worship of Images was a thing unknown to the primitive Church in the purest times of which they would not allow the making of them as amongst divers others appears in the Writings of Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian and Origen SECT IX Picturing God the Father and the Holy Trinity a scandalous practice in the Roman Church It is against the Doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church and of the wiser Heathens who had no Images or Pictures of their gods AS an Appendage to this we greatly reprove the custom of the Church of Rome in picturing God the Father and the most holy and undivided Trinity which besides that it ministers infinite scandal to all sober-minded men and gives the new Arrians in Polonia and Anti-Trinitarians great and ridiculous entertainment exposing that sacred Mystery to derision and scandalous contempt It is also which at present we have undertaken particularly to remark against the doctrine and practice of the primitive Catholick Church S. Clemens of Alexandria says that in the Discipline of Moses God was not to be represented in the shape of a Man or of any other thing and that Christians understood themselves to be bound by the same Law we find it expresly taught by Origen Tertullian Eusebius Athanasius S. Hierom S. Austin Theodoret Damascen and the Synod of Constantinople as it is reported in the 6. Action of the second Nicene Council And certainly if there were not a strange spirit of contradiction or superstition or deflexion from the Christian Rule greatly 〈◊〉 in the Church of Rome it were impossible that this practice should be so countenanc'd by them and defended so to no purpose with so much scandal and against the natural reason of mankind and the very Law of Nature it self For the Heathens were sufficiently by the light of Nature taught to abominate all Pictures or Images of God Sed nulla effigies simulacraque nulla Deorum Majestate locum sacro implevere timore They in their earliest ages had no Pictures no Images of their Gods Their Temples were filled with majesty and a sacred fear and the reason is given by Macrobius Antiquity made no Image viz. of God because the supreme God and the mind that is born of him that is his Son the eternal Word as it is beyond the Soul so it is above Nature and therefore it is not lawful that Figments should come thither 〈◊〉 Callistus relating the heresie of the Armenians and Jacobites says they made Images of the Father Son and Holy Ghost quod perquam ab sur dum est Nothing is more absurd than to make Pictures or Images of the Persons of the holy and adorable Trinity And yet they do this in the Church of Rome For in the windows of their Churches even 〈◊〉 Countrey-villages where the danger cannot be denied to be great and the scandal insupportable nay in their books of Devotion in their very Mass-books and breviaries in their Portuises and Manuals they picture the holy Trinity with three noses and four eyes and three faces in a knot to the great dishonour of God and scandal of Christianity it self We add no more for the case is too evidently bad but reprove the error with the words of their own Polydore Virgil Since the world began never was any thing more foolish than to picture God who is present every where SECT X. Setting up the Pope as universal Bishop an Innovation Among the Apostles the first Church-Governours no Prerogative of one over the rest a remarkable testimony of S. Cyprian to prove it Bishops succeeded the Apostles without Superiority of one over another by Christs Law The Pope has invaded their rights and diminished their power many ways Primitivs Fathers make every Bishop to have a share of power not from another Bishop but from Christ and are against one Bishops judging and forcing another Bishop to obedience Popes opposed when they interposed their authority in the affairs of other Churches THE last Instance of Innovations introduc'd in Doctrine and Practice by the Church of Rome that we shall represent is
as is to be seen in their Breviaries Missals Hours of our Lady Rosary of our Lady the Latany of our Lady called Litania Mariae the Speculum Rosariorum the Hymns of Saints Portuises and Manuals These only are the instances which amongst many others presently occur Two things only we shall add instead of many more that might be represented THE first is That in a Hymn which they from what reason or Etymology we know not neither are we 〈◊〉 call a Sequence the Council of Constance did invocate the Blessed Virgin in the same manner as Councils did use to invocate the Holy Ghost They call her the Mother of Grace the remedy to the miserable the fountain of mercy and the light of the Church Attributes proper to God and incommunicable they sing her praises and pray to her for graces they sing to her with the heart they call themselves her sons they declare her to be their health and comfort in all doubts and call on her for light from Heaven and trust in her for the destruction of Heresies and the repression of Schisms and for the lasting Confederations of peace THE other thing we tell of is That there is a Psalter of our Lady of great and antient account in the Church of Rome it hath been several times printed at Venice at Paris at Leipsich and the title is The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin compil'd by the Seraphical Doctor S. Bonaventure Bishop of Alba and Presbyter Cardinal of the Holy Church of Rome But of the Book it self the account is soon made for it is nothing but the Psalms of David an hundred and fifty in number are set down alter'd indeed to make as much of it as could be sense so reduc'd In which the name of Lord is left out and that of Lady put in so that whatever David said of God and Christ the same prayers and the same praises they say of the Blessed Virgin Mary and whether all that can be said without intolerable blasphemy we suppose needs not much disputation THE same things but in a less proportion and frequency they say to other Saints O Maria Magdalena Audi vot a laude plena Apud Christum chorum istum Clementer concilia Vt fons summae pietatis Quite lavit à peccatis Servos suos atque tuos Mundet dat â veniâ O Mary Magdalen hear our prayers which are full of praises and most clemently reconcile this company unto Christ That the Fountain of Supreme Piety who cleansed thee from thy sins giving pardon may cleanse us who are his servants and thine These things are too bad already we shall not aggravate them by any further Commentary but apply the premises NOw therefore we desire it may be considered That there are as the effects of Christs death for us three great products which are the rule and measure of our prayers and our confidence 1. Christs merits 2. His Satisfaction 3. His Intercession By these three we come boldly to the Throne of Grace and pray to God through Jesus Christ. But if we pray to God through the Saints too and rely upon their 1. Merit 2. Satisfaction 3. And Intercession Is it not plain that we make them equal with Christ in kind though not in degree For it is 〈◊〉 avowed and practis'd in the Church of Rome to rely upon the Saints Intercession and this intercession to be made valid by the Merits of the Saints We pray thee O S. Jude the Apostle that by thy Merits thou wouldst draw me from the custom of my sins and snatch me from the power of the Devil and advance me to the invisible powers and they say as much to others And for their Satisfactions the treasure of the Church for Indulgences is made up with them and the satisactions of Christ So that there is nothing remaining of the honour due to Christ our Redeemer and our Considence in him but the same in every kind is by the Church of Rome imputed to the Saints And therefore the very being and Oeconomy of Christianity is destroyed by these prayers and the people are not cannot be good Christians in these devotions and what hopes are laid up for them who repent to no purpose and pray with derogation to Christ's honour is a matter of deepest consideration And therefore we desire our charges not to be seduc'd by little tricks and artifices of useless and laborious distinctions and protestations against evidence of fact and with fear and trembling to consider what God said by the Prophet My people have done two great evils they have for saken me fortem vivum the strong and the living God fontem vivum so some copies read it the living fountain and have digged for themselves cisterns that is little phantastick helps that hold no water that give no refreshment or as S. Paul expresses it they worship and invocate the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the Creator so the word properly signifies and so it is us'd by the Apostle in other places And at least let us remember those excellent words of S. Austin Tutius jucundius loquar ad meum Jesum quam ad aliquem sanctorum spirituum Dei I can speak safer and more pleasantly or chearfully to my Lord Jesus than to any of the Saints and Spirits of God For that we have Commandment for this we have none for that we have example in Scriptures for this we have none there are many promises made to that but to this there is none at all and therefore we cannot in faith pray to them or at all rely upon them for helps WHICH Consideration is greatly heightned by that prostitution of Devotion usual in the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to every Upstart to every old and new Saint And although they have a story among themselves That it is ominous for a Pope to Canonize a Saint and he never survives it above a twelve-month as Pietre Mathieu observes in the instances of Clement the IV. and Adrian the VI. yet this hinders not but that they are tempted to do it frequently But concerning the thing it self the best we can say is what Christ said of the Samaritans They worship they know not what Such are S. Fingare S. Anthony of 〈◊〉 S. Christopher Charles Borromaeus Ignatius Loyola Xaverius and many others of whom Cardinal Bessarion complain'd that many of them were such persons whose life he could not approve and such concerning whom they knew nothing but from their Parties and by pretended Revelations made to particular and hypochondriacal persons It is a famous saying of S. Gregory That the bodies of many persons are worshipped on Earth whose souls are tormented in Hell and Augustinus gustinus Triumphus affirms That all who are canonized by the Pope cannot be said to be in Heaven And this matter is beyond dispute for Prateolus tells that Herman the Author of the Heresie of the Fratricelli was
certainly it gives confidence to many men to sin and to most men to neglect the greater and more effective parts of 〈◊〉 repentance WE shall not need to observe how Confession is made a Minister of State a Pick-lock of secrets a Spy upon families a Searcher of inclinations a Betraying to temptations for this is wholly by the sault of the Men and not of the Doctrine but even the Doctrine it self as it is handled in the Church of Rome is so far from bringing peace to the troubled Consciences that it intromits more scruples and cases than it can resolve FOR besides that it self is a question and they have made it dangerous by pretending that it is by Divine Right and Institution for so some of the Schoolmen teach and the Canonists say the contrary and that it is only of humane and positive Constitution and by this difference in so great a point have made the whole Oeconomy of their repentance which relies upon the supposed necessity of Confession to fail or to shake vehemently and at the best to be a foundation too uncertain to build the hopes of salvation on it besides all this we say Their Rules and Doctrines of Confession enjoyn some things that are of themselves dangerous and lead into temptation An instance of this is in that which is decreed in the Canons of Trent that the Penitent must not only confess every mortal sin which after diligent inquiry he remembers but even his very sinful thoughts in particular and his 〈◊〉 desires and every circumstance which changes the kind of the sin or as some add does notably increase it and how this can be safely done and who is sufficient for these things and who can tell his circumstances without tempting his Confessor or betraying and defaming another person which is forbidden and in what cases it may be done or in what cases omitted and whether the confession be 〈◊〉 upon infinite other considerations and whether it be to be repeated in whole or in part and how often and how much these things are so uncertain casual and contingent and so many cases are multiplied upon every one of these and these so disputed and argued by their greatest Doctors by Thomas and Scotus and all the Schoolmen and by the Casuists that as Beat us Rhenanus complains it was truly observed by the famous John Geilerius that according to their cases enquiries and conclusions it is impossible for any man to make a right Confession So that although the shame of private Confession be very tolerable and easie yet the cases and scruples which they have introduc'd are neither easie nor tolerable and though as it is now used there be but little in it to restrain sin yet there is very much danger of increasing it and of receiving no benefit by it SECT III. Penances in the Roman Church very ineffectual how they differ from the antient Canonical ones Indulgences will relieve him that thinks his enjoyned penances too severe What vast stores of Pardons that Church boasts of and upon what easie terms granted They serve themselves by them but do not serve God An account why so many thousand years of pardon need be granted A holy life seems only necessary for him that has neither friends nor money BUT then for Penances and Satisfactions of which they boast so much as being so great restraints to sin these as they are publickly handled are nothing but words and ineffective sounds For first if we consider what the Penances themselves are which are enjoyned they are reduced from the antient Canonical Penances to private and arbitrary from years to hours from great severity to gentleness and slattery from fasting and publick shame to the saying over their Beads from Cordial to ritual from smart to money from heartiness and earnest to pageantry and theatrical Images of Penance and if some Confessors happen to be severe there are ways enough to be eased For the Penitent may have leave to go to a gentler or he may get Commutations or he may get somebody else to do them for him and if his Penances be never so great or never so little yet it may be all supplied by Indulgences of which there are such store in the Lateran at Rome that as Pope Boniface said No man is able to number them yet he confirm'd them all IN the Church of Sancta Maria de Popolo there are for every day in the year two thousand and eight hundred years of pardon besides fourteen thousand and fourteen Carentanes which in one year amount to more than a Million all which are confirm'd by the Pope Paschal I. Boniface VIII and Gregory IX In the Church of S. Vitus and Modestus there are for every day in the year seven thousand years and seven thousand Carentanes of pardon and a pardon of a third part of all our sins besides and the price of all this is but praying before an Altar in that Church At the Sepulchre of Christ in Venice there is hung up a prayer of S. Augustine with an Indulgence of fourscore and two thousand years granted by Boniface the VIII who was of all the Popes the most bountiful of the Churches treasure and Benedict the XI to him that shall say it and that for every day toties quoties The Divine pardon of Sica gave a plenary Indulgence to every one that being confessed and communicated should pray there in the Franciscan Church of Sancta Maria de gli Angeli and this pardon is ab omni poena culpa The English of that we easily understand but the meaning of it we do not because they will not own that these Indulgences do profit any one whose guilt is not taken away by the Sacrament of Penance But this is not the only snare in which they have inextricably entangled themselves but be it as they please for this whatever it was it was since inlarged by Sixtus IV. and Sixtus V. to all that shall wear S. Francis's Cord. The saying a few Pater nosters and Ave's before a privileg'd Altar can in innumerable places procure vast portions of this Treasure and to deliver a soul out of Purgatory whom they list is promised to many upon easie terms even to the saying of their Beads over with an appendent Medal of the Pope's benediction Every Priest at his third or fourth Mass is as sure as may be to deliver the souls of his Parents And a thousand more such stories as these are to be seen every where and every day ONCE for all There was a book printed at Paris by Francis Regnault A. D. 1536. May 25. called The hours of the most blessed Virgin Mary according to the use of Sarum in which for the saying three short prayers written in Rome in a place called The Chapel of the holy Cross of seven Romans are promised fourscore and ten thousand years of pardon of deadly sin Now the meaning of these things is very plain By these
Nunquam CHRISTO Charior quam sub Cruce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Dissuasive FROM POPERY TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND Together with II. Additional Letters to Persons changed in their Religion I. The first written to a Gentlewoman newly seduced to the Church of Rome II. The second to a Person newly converted to the Church of England By JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down LONDON Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Amen-Corner MDCLXXXVI THE PREFACE TO THE READER WHen a Roman Gentleman had to please himself written a Book in Greek and presented it to Cato he desir'd him to pardon the faults of his Expressions since he wrote in Greek which was a Tongue in which he was not perfect Master Cato told him he had better then to have let it alone and written in Latin by how much it is better not to commit a fault than to make apologies For if the thing be good it needs not to be excus'd if it be not good a crude apologie will do nothing but confess the fault but never makes amends I therefore make this Address to all who will concern themselves in reading this Book not to ask their pardon for my 〈◊〉 in doing of it I know of none for if I had known them I would have mended them before the Publication and yet though I know not any I do not question but much fault will be found by too many I wish I have given them no cause for their so doing But I do not only mean it in the particular Periods where every man that is not a Son of the Church of England or Ireland will at least do as Apollonius did to the Apparition that affrighted his company on the Mountain Caucasus he will revile and persecute me with evil words but I mean it in the whole Design and men will reasonably or capriciously ask Why any more Controversies Why this over again Why against the Papists against whom so very many are already exasperated that they cry out 〈◊〉 of Persecution And why can they not be 〈◊〉 to enjoy their share of peace which hath returned in the hands of His Sacred Majesty at his blessed Restauration For as much of this as concerns my self I make no excuse but give my reasons and hope to 〈◊〉 this procedure with that modesty which David us'd to his angry brother saying What have I now done Is there not a cause The cause is this The Reverend Fathers my Lords the Bishops of Ireland in their circumspection and watchfulness over their Flocks having espied grievous Wolves to have entered in some with Sheeps-clothing and some without some secret enemies and some open at first endeavour'd to give check to those enemies which had put fire into the bed-straw and though God hath very much prosper'd their labours yet they have work enough to do and will have till God shall call them home to the land of peace and unity But it was soon remembred that when King James of blessed memory had discerned the spirits of the English Non-conformists and found them peevish and 〈◊〉 unreasonable and imperious not only unable to govern but as inconsistent with the Government as greedy to snatch at it for themselves resolved to take off their disguise and put a difference between Conscience and Faction and to bring them to the measures and rules of Laws and to this the Council and all wise men were consenting because by the King 's great wisdom and the conduct of the whole Conference and Inquiry men saw there was reason on the King's side and 〈◊〉 on all sides But the Gun-powder Treason breaking out a new Zeal was 〈◊〉 against the Papists and it shin'd so greatly that the Non-conformists escap'd by the light of it and quickly grew warm by the heat of that flame to which they added no small increase by their Declamations and other acts of insinuation insomuch that they being neglected multiply'd until they got power enough to do all those mischiefs which we have seen and felt This being remembred and spoken of it was soon observ'd that the Tables only were now turn'd and that now the publick zeal and watchfulness against those men and those persuasions which so lately have afflicted us might give to the Emissaries of the Church of Rome leisure and opportunity to grow into numbers and strength to debauch many Souls and to 〈◊〉 the safety and peace of the Kingdom In Ireland we saw too much of it done and found the mischief growing too fast and the most intolerable inconveniencies but too justly apprehended as near and imminent We had reason at least to cry Fire when it flamed through our very Roofs and to interpose with all care and diligence when Religion and the eternal Interest of Souls was at stake as knowing we should be greatly unfit to appear and account to the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls if we had suffer'd the enemies to sow tares in our fields we standing and looking on It was therefore consider'd how we might best serve God and rescue our charges from their danger and it was concluded presently to run to arms I mean to the weapons of our warfare to the armour of the Spirit to the works of our calling and to tell the people of their peril to warn them of the enemy and to lead them in the ways of truth and peace and holiness that if they would be admonished they might be safe if they would not they should be without excuse because they could not say but the Prophets have been amongst them But then it was next enquired who should minister in this affair and put in order all those things which they had to give in charge It was easie to chuse many but hard to chuse one there were many fit to succeed in the vacant Apostleship and though Barsabas the Just was by all the Church nam'd as a fit and worthy man yet the lot fell upon Matthias and that was my case it fell to me to be their Amanuensis when persons most worthy were more readily excus'd and in this my Lords the Bishops had reason that according to S. Paul's rule If there be judgments or controversies amongst us they should be imploy'd who are least esteem'd in the Church and upon this account I had nothing left me but Obedience though I confess that I found regret in the nature of the imployment for I love not to be as S. Paul calls it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disputers of this world For I suppose skill in Controversies as they are now us'd to be the worst part of Learning and time is the worst spent in them and men the least benefited by them that is when the Questions are curious and impertinent intricate and inexplicable not to make men better but to make a Sect. But when the Propositions disputed are of the foundation of Faith or lead to good life or naturally do good to single persons or publick societies then they
read Arabick of which the people know nothing But Christians never did so till they of Rome resolved to refuse to do benefit to the souls of the people in this instance or to bring them from intolerable ignorance SECT VIII Worship of Images What they call giving them due honour This worship first brought in by Hereticks Opposed by the first Fathers Epiphanius his zeal against it Forbidden by the Council of Eliberis First decreed by the second Council of Nice Condemned by the Synod of Frankford convened by Charles the Great under whose name a Book was published against that Nicene Synod and the worship of Images Against which the Primitive Christians were so prejudic'd that they would not allow Images to be made THE Church of Rome hath to very bad purposes introduc'd and impos'd upon Christendom the worship and veneration of Images kissing them pulling off their hats kneeling falling down and praying before them which they call giving them due honour and veneration What external honour and veneration that is which they call due is express'd by the instances now reckon'd which the Council of Trent in their Decree enumerate and establish What the inward honour and worship is which they intend to them is intimated in the same Decree By the Images they worship Christ and his Saints and therefore by these Images they pass that honour to Christ and his Saints which is their due that is as their Doctors explain it Latria or Divine worship to God and Christ. Hyperdulia or more than service to the Blessed Virgin Mary and service or doulia to other canoniz'd persons So that upon the whole the case is this Whatever worship they give to God and Christ and his Saints they give it first to the image and from the image they pass it unto Christ and Christ's servants And therefore we need not to enquire what actions they suppose to be fit or due For whatsoever is due to God to Christ or his Saints that worship they give to their respective Images all the same in external semblance and ministery as appears in all their great Churches and publick actions and processions and Temples and Festivals and endowments and censings and pilgrimages and prayers and vows made to them NOW besides that these things are so like Idolatry that they can no way be reasonably excused of which we shall in the next Chapter give some account besides that they are too like the religion of the Heathens and so plainly and frequently forbidden in the Old Testament and are so infinitely unlike the simple and wise the natural and holy the pure and the spiritual religion of the Gospel besides that they are so infinite a scandal to the Jews and Turks and reproach Christianity it self amongst all strangers that live in their communion and observe their rites besides that they cannot pretend to be lawful but with the laborious artifices of many Metaphysical notions and distinctions which the people who most need them do least understand and that therefore the people worship them without these distinctions and directly put confidence in them and that it is impossible that ignorant persons who in all Christian countreys make up the biggest number should do otherwise when otherwise they cannot understand it and besides that the thing it self with or without distinctions is a superstitious and forbidden an unlawful and unnatural worship of God who will not be worshipped by an Image we say that besides all this This whole Doctrine and practice is an innovation in the Christian Church not practis'd not endured in the primitive ages but expresly condemned by them and this is our present undertaking to evince THE first notice we find of Images brought into Christian Religion was by Simon Magus indeed that was very Antient but very heretical and abominable but that he brought some in to be worshipped we find in Theodoret and ‖ S. Austin S. Irenaeus tells That the Gnosticks or Carpocratians did make Images and said that the form of Christ as he was in the flesh was made by Pilate and these Images they worshipped as did the Gentiles These things they did but against these things the Christians did zealously and piously declare We have no Image in the world said S. Clemens of Alexandria It is apparently forbidden to us to exercise that deceitful art For it is written Thou shalt not make any similitude of any thing in Heaven above c. And Origen wrote a just Treatise against Celsus in which he not only affirms That Christians did not make or use Images in Religion but that they ought not and were by God forbidden to do so To the same purpose also Lactantius discourses to the Emperor and confutes the pretences and little answers of the Heathen in that manner that he leaves no pretence for Christians under another cover to introduce the like abomination We are not ignorant that those who were converted from Gentilism and those who lov'd to imitate the customs of the Roman Princes and people did soon introduce the Historical use of Images and according to the manner of the world did think it honourable to depict or make Images of those whom they had in great esteem and that this being done by an esteem relying on Religion did by the weakness of men and the importunity of the Tempter quickly pass into inconvenience and superstition yet even in the time of Julian the Emperor S. Cyril denies that the Christians did give veneration and worship to the Image even of the Cross it self which was one of the earliest temptations and S. Epiphanius it is a known story tells that when in the village of Bethel he saw a cloth picture as it were of Christ or some Saint in the Church against the Authority of Scripture He cut it in pieces and advis'd that some poor man should be buried in it affirming that such Pictures are against Religion and unworthy of the Church of Christ. The Epistle was translated into Latin by S. Hierome by which we may guess at his opinion in the question THE Council of Eliberis is very antient and of great fame in which it is expresly forbidden that what is worshipped should be depicted on the walls and that therefore Pictures ought not to be in Churches S. Austin complaining that he knew of many in the Church who were Worshippers of Pictures calls them Superstitious and adds that the Church condemns such customs and strives to correct them and S. Gregory writing to Serenus Bishop of Massilia says he would not have had him to break the Pictures and Images which were there set for an historical use but commends him for prohibiting any one to worship them and enjoyns him still to forbid it But Superstition by degrees creeping in the Worship of Images was decreed in the seventh Synod or the second Nicene But the decrees of this Synod being by Pope Adrian sent to Charles the Great he convocated
us to intercede and we shall prevail for others but that a wicked person who is under actual guilt and oblig'd himself to suffer all punishment can ease and take off the punishment due to others by any externally good work done ungratiously is a piece of new Divinity without colour of reason or religion Others in this are something less scandalous and affirm that though it be not necessary that when the Indulgence is granted the man should be in the state of grace yet it is necessary that at some time or other he should be at any time it seems it will serve For thus they turn Divinity and the care of souls into Mathematicks and Clock-work and dispute minutes and periods with God and are careful to tell their people how much liberty they may take and how far they may venture lest they should lose any thing of their sins pleasure which they can possibly enjoy and yet have hopes of being sav'd at last 3. BUT there is worse yet If a man willingly commits a sin in hope and expectation of a Jubilee and of the Indulgences afterwards to be granted he does not lose the Indulgence but shall receive it which is expresly affirm'd by Navar and Antonius Cordubensis and Bellarmine though he asks the question denies it not By which it is evident that the Roman Doctrines and Divinity teach contrary to God's way who is most of all angry with them that turn his grace into wantonness and sin that grace may abound 4. IF any man by reason of poverty cannot give the prescrib'd Alms he cannot receive the Indulgence Now since it is sufficiently known that in all or most of the Indulgences a clause is sure to be included that something be offered to the Church to the Altar to a Religious House c. The consequent of this will be soon seen that Indulgences are made for the rich and the Treasures of the Church are to be dispensed to them that have Treasures of their own for Habenti dabitur But then God help the poor for them Purgatory is prepar'd and they must burn For the rich it is pretended but the smell of fire will not pass upon them FROM these premises we suppose it but too evident that the Roman Doctors prevaricate in the whole Doctrine of Repentance which indeed in Christ Jesus is the whole Oeconomy of Justification and Salvation it is the hopes and staff of all the world the remedy of all evils past present and to come And if our physick be poison'd if our staff be broken if our hopes make us asham'd how shall we appear before Christ at his coming But we say that in all the parts of it their Doctrine is insinitely dangerous 1. Contrition is sufficient if it be but one little act and that in the very Article of Death and before that time it is not necessary by the Law of God nay it is indeed sufficient but it is also insufficient for without Confession in act or desire it suffices not And though it be thus insufficiently sufficient yet it is not necessary For Attrition is also sufficient if a Priest can be had and then any little grief proceeding out of the fear of Hell will do it if the Priest do but absolve 2. Confession might be made of excellent use and is so among the pious Children of the Church of England but by the Doctrines and Practices in the Church of Rome it is made not the remedy of sins by proper energy but the excuse the alleviation the considence the ritual external and sacramental remedy and serves instead of the labours of a holy and a regular life and yet is so intangled with innumerable and inextricable cases of conscience orders humane prescripts and great and little artifices that scruples are more increased than sins are lessened 3. FOR Satisfactions and Penances which if they were rightly order'd and made instrumental to kill the desires of sin or to punish the Criminal or were properly the fruits of repentance that is parts of a holy life good works done in charity and the habitual permanent grace of God were so prevailing as they do the work of God yet when they are taken away not only by the declension of primitive Discipline but by new Doctrines and Indulgences regular and offer'd Commutations for money and superstitious practices which are sins themselves and increase the numbers and weights of the account there is a great way made for the destruction of souls and the discountenancing the necessity of holy life but nothing for the advantage of holiness or the becoming like to God AND now at last for a Cover to this Dish we have thought fit to mind the World and to give caution to all that mean to live godly in Christ Jesus to what an insinite scandal and impiety this affair hath risen in the Church of Rome we mean in the instance of their Taxa Camerae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae the Tax of the Apostolical Chamber or Chancery a book publickly printed and expos'd to common sale of which their own Espencaeus gives this account That it is a book in which a man may learn more wickedness than in all the Summaries of vices published in the World And yet to them that will pay for it there is to many given a Licence to all an Absolution for the greatest and most horrid sins There is a price set down for his Absolution that hath kill'd his Father or his Mother Brother Sister or Wife or that hath lien with his Sister or his Mother We desire all good Christians to excuse us for naming such horrid things Nomina sunt ipso penè timenda sono But the Licences are printed at Paris in the year 1500. by Tossan Denis Pope Innocent the VIII either was Author or Inlarger of these Rules of this Chancery-tax and there are Glosses upon them in which the Scholiast himself who made them affirms that he must for that time conceal some things to avoid scandal But how far this impiety proceeded and how little regard there is in it to piety or the good of souls is visible by that which Augustinus de Ancona teaches That the Pope ought not to give Indulgences to them who have a desire of giving money but cannot as to them who actually give And whereas it may be objected that then poor mens souls are in a worse condition than the rich he answers That as to the remission of the punishment acquir'd by the Indulgence in such a case it is not inconvenient that the rich should be in a better condition than the poor For in that manner do they imitate God who is no respecter of persons SECT VI. Other Instances of dangerous Doctrines as That one man may satisfie for another That a habit of sin is not a sin distinct from those actions by which it was contracted Mischief of this doctrine shewed The distinction of Mortal and venial sins
Church which is but the private opinion of one or more yet because we are now speaking of the infinite danger of souls in that communion and the horrid Propositions by which their Disciples are conducted to the disparagement of good life it is sufficient to allege the publick and allowed sayings of their Doctors because these sayings are their Rule of living and because the particular Rules of Conscience use not to be decreed in Councils we must derive them from the places where they grow and where they are to be found BUT besides you will say That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors and what then Therefore it is not to be called the Doctrine of the Roman Church True we do not say It is an Article of their Faith but a rule of manners This is not indeed in any publick Decree but we say that although it be not yet neither is the contrary And if it be but a private opinion yet is it safe to follow it or is it not safe For that 's the question and therein is the danger If it be safe then this is their rule A private opinion of any one grave Doctor may be safely followed in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practice safe Who says so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or 〈◊〉 from their penitential chairs BUT upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practice Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it and then it is safe enough to do so AND upon this account who could find fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observ'd by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chastely that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married Wife and then shall find in the Pope's Law That a Priest is not to be removed for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawful especially since abstracting from the consideration of a man's being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so says Durandus Simple fornication of it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris says to believe simple fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not express These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practice safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement 8. in the Index of Prohibited books says That the Bible publish'd in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the Bible and Bellarmine says that it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say that this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the light of Gods Word and rely wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet says That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what be says if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawful for a man to expose his bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He says it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Judge unequal a man that cannot sell his wine at a due price may lawfully make his Measures less than is appointed or mingle water with his wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended wife before Marriage it is no sin or a light one nay quinetiam expedit si multum illa differatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of Marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their cradles may be made Priests is the
turn'd him over and given them leave to proceed This was verified in the Synod of Dalmatia held by the Legates of Pope Innocent the III. and is now in the Church of Rome pretended to be by Divine Right For it cannot be proved that Secular Princes are the Lawful Superiours and Judges of Clergy men unless it can be prov'd that the Sheep are better than the Shepherd or Sons than the Fathers or Temporals than Spirituals said Bellarmine And therefore it is a shame says he to see Princes contending with Bishops for precedency or for Lands For the truth is this whatever the custom be the Prince is the Bishops Subject not the Bishop the Princes For no man can serve two Masters the Pope is their own Superiour and therefore the Secular Prince cannot be So both Bellarmine and 〈◊〉 conclude this Doctrine out of Scripture AND although in this as in all things else when he finds it for the advantage of the Church the Pope can dispense and diverse Popes of Rome did give power to the Common-wealth of Venice to judge Clergy men and punish them for great offences yet how ill this was taken by Paulus V. at their hands and what stirs he made in Christendom concerning it the World was witness and it is to be read in the History of the Venetian Interdict and not without great difficulty defended by Marcus Antonius Perogrinus M. Antonius Othelius and Joachim Scaynus of Padua beside the Doctors of Venice NOW if it be considered how great a part of mankind in the Roman Communion are Clergy men and how great a portion of the Lands and Revenues in each Kingdom they have to pretend a Divine Right of Exemption of their Persons from Secular Judicatories and their Lands from Secular burthens and charges of the Common-wealth is to make Religion a very little friend to the Publick and causes that by how much there is more of Religion by so much there is the less of Piety and Publick Duty Princes have many times felt the evil and are always subject to it when so many thousand persons are in their Kingdoms and yet Subjects to a Foreign Power But we need not trouble our selves to reckon the evils consequent to this procedure themselves have own'd them even the very worst of things The Rebellion of a Clergy man against his Prince is not Treason because he is not his Princes Subject It is expresly taught by Emanuel Sà and because the French-men in zeal to their own King could not endure this Doctrine these words were left out of the Edition of Paris but still remain in the Editions of Antwerp and Collen But the thing is a general Rule That all Ecclesiastical persons are free from Secular Jurisdiction in causes Criminal whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and this Rule is so general that it admits no exception and so certain that it cannot be denied unless you will contradict the principles of Faith So Father Suarez And this is pretended to be allowed by Councils Sacred Canons and all the Doctors of Laws Humane and Divine for so Bellarmine affirms Against which since it is a matter of Faith and Doctrine which we now charge upon the Church of Rome as an Enemy to publick Government we shall think it sufficient to oppose against their Pretension the plain and easie words of S. Paul Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers Every Soul That is saith S. Chrysostom whether he be a Monk or an Evangelist a Prophet or an Apostle 〈◊〉 the like iniquity when it is extended to its utmost Commentary which the Commenters of the Church of Rome put upon it is the Divine Right of the Seal of Confession which they make so Sacred to serve such ends as they have chosen that it may not be broken up to save the lives of Princes or of the whole Republick saith Tolet No not to save all the World said Henriquez Not to save an Innocent not to keep the World from burning or Religion from perversion or all the Sacraments from demolition Indeed it is lawful saith Bellarmine if a Treason be known to a Priest in Confession and he may in general words give notice to a pious and Catholick Prince but not to a Heretick and that was acutely and prudently said by him said Father 〈◊〉 Father Binet is not so kind even to the Catholick Princes for he says that it is better that all the Kings of the World should perish than that the Seal of Confession should be so much as once broken and this is the Catholick Doctrine said Eudaemon Joannes in his Apology for Garnet and for it he also quotes Suarez But it is enough to have nam'd this How little care these men take of the lives of Princes and the Publick Interest which they so greatly undervalue to every 〈◊〉 fancy of their own is but too evident by these Doctrines SECT III. Their Doctrines enemies to the 〈◊〉 Powers and Lives of Princes The whole Order of Jesuits subject Princes to the Pope Whose power extends to Temporal punishments and depriving them of their Kingdoms The method of doing it and how they answer the precepts of obeying Kings Instances of putting the deposing power in execution Answer to the Objection that this is but the private opinion of some Doctors not the Doctrine of the Church A Conclusion exhorting all that desire to be saved to decline these horrid Doctrines THE last thing we shall remark for the instruction and caution of our Charges is not the least The Doctrines of the Church of Rome are great enemies to the Dignity and Security to the Powers and Lives of Princes And this we shall briefly prove by setting down the Doctrines themselves and their consequent practices AND here we observe That not only the whole Order of Jesuits is a great enemy to Monarchy by subjecting the Dignity of Princes to the Pope by making the Pope the Supreme Monarch of Christians but they also teach That it is a Catholick Doctrine the Doctrine of the Church THE Pope hath a Supreme power of disposing the Temporal things of all Christians in order to a Spiritual good saith Bellarmine And Becanus discourses of this very largely in his book of the English Controversie printed by Albin at Mentz 1612. But because this book was ordered to be purged Vna litura potest we shall not insist upon it but there is as bad which was never censur'd Bellarmine says that the Ecclesiastical Republick can command and compel the Temporal which is indeed its Subject to change the Administration and to depose Princes and to appoint others when it cannot otherwise defend the Spiritual good And Father Suarez says the same The power of the Pope extends it self to the coercion of Kings with Temporal punishments and depriving them of their Kingdoms when necessity requires nay this power is more necessary over Princes than
over Subjects The same also is taught by Santarel in his book of Heresie and Schism printed at Rome 1626. BUT the mischief of this Doctrine proceeds a little further CARDINAL Tolet affirms and our Countryman Father Bridgewater commends the saying That when a Prince is Excommunicate before the Denunciation the Subjects are not absolved from their Oath of Allegiance as Cajet an says well yet when it is denounced they are not only absolved from their Obedience but are bound not to obey unless the fear of death or loss of goods excuse them which was the case of the English Catholicks in the time of Henry the VIII And F. Creswel says it is the sentence of all Catholicks that Subjects are bound to expel Heretical Princes if they have strength enough and that to this they are tied by the Commandment of God the most strict tie of Conscience and the extreme danger of their souls Nay even before the sentence is declared though the Subjects are not bound to it yet lawfully they may deny obedience to an Heretical Prince said Gregory de Valentia IT were an endless labour to transcribe the horrible Doctrines which are preached in the Jesuits School to the shaking off the Regal Power of such Princes which are not of the Roman Communion The whole oeconomy of it is well describ'd by Bellarmine who affirms That it does not belong to Monks or other Ecclesiasticks to commit Murthers neither do the Popes use to proceed that way But their manner is first Fatherly to correct Princes then by Ecclesiastical Censures to deprive them of the Communion then to absolve their Subjects from the Oath of Allegeance and to deprive them of their Kingly Dignity And what then The Execution belongs to others This is the way of the Popes thus wisely and moderately to break Kings in pieces WE delight not to aggravate evil things We therefore forbear to set down those horrid things spoken by Sà Mariana Santarèl Carolus Scribanius and some others It is enough that Suarez says An Excommunicate King may with impunity be depos'd or kill'd by any one This is the case of Kings and Princes by the Sentence of the chiefest Roman Doctors And if it be objected that we are commanded to obey Kings not to speak evil of them not to curse them no not in our heart There is a way found out to answer these little things For though the Apostle commands that we should be subject to higher powers and obey Kings and all that are in Authority It is true you must and so you may well enough for all this for the Pope can make that he who is a King shall be no King and then you are disoblig'd so Bellarmine And if after all this there remains any 〈◊〉 of Conscience it ought to be remembred that though even after a Prince is excommunicated it should be of it self a sin to depose or kill the Prince yet if the Pope commands you it is no sin For if the Pope should err by commanding sin or forbidding vertues yet the Church were bound to believe that the vices were good and the vertues evil unless she would sin against her Conscience They are the very words of Bellarmine BUT they add more particulars of the same Bran. The Sons of an Heretical Father are made sui juris that is free from their Fathers power A Catholick Wife is not tied to pay her duty to an Heretical Husband and the Servants are not bound to do service to such Masters These are the Doctrines of their great Azorius and as for Kings he affirms they may be depos'd for Heresie But all this is only in the case of Heretical Princes But what for others EVEN the Roman Catholick Princes are not free from this danger All the World knows what the Pope did to King Chilperick of France He depos'd him and put Pipin in his place and did what he could to have put Albert King of the Romans in the Throne of Philip sirnamed the Fair. They were the Popes of Rome who arm'd the Son against the Father the Emperour Henry IV. and the Son fought against him took him prisoner shav'd him and thrust him into a Monastery where he died with grief and hunger We will not speak of the Emperour Frederick Henry the sixth Emperour the Duke of Savoy against whom he caused Charles the V. and Francis the I. of France to take Arms nor of Francis Dandalus Duke of Venice whom he bound with chains and fed him as Dogs are fed with bones and scraps under his Table Our own Henry the II. and King John were great Instances of what Princes in their case may expect from that Religion These were the piety of the Father of Christendom But these were the product of the Doctrine which Clement the V. vented in the Council of Vienna Omne jus Regum à se pendere The rights of all Kings depend upon the Pope And therefore 〈◊〉 their Catholick Princes are at their 〈◊〉 and they would if they durst use them 〈◊〉 If they do but favour Hereticks or Schismaticks receive them or defend them if the 〈◊〉 be perjur'd if he rashly break a League made with the See Apostolick 〈◊〉 he do not keep the peace promis'd to the Church if he be sacrilegious if he dissipate the goods of the Church the Pope may depose him said Azorius And 〈◊〉 says he may do it in case the Prince or Emperour be insufficient 〈◊〉 he be wicked if he be unprofitable if he does not defend the Church This is very much but yet there is something more this may be done if he impose new Gabels or Imposts upon his Subjects without the Pope's leave for if they do not pretend to this also why does the Pope in Bulla Coenae Dominici excommunicate all Princes that do it NOW if it be inquired by what Authority the Pope does these things It is answered That the Pope hath a Supreme and Absolute Authority both the Spiritual and the Temporal Power is in the Pope as Christ's Vicar said Azorius and Santarel The Church hath the right of a superiour Lord over the rights of Princes and their Temporalties and that by her Jurisdiction she disposes of Temporals ut de suo peculio as of her own proper goods said our Countreyman Weston Rector of the College at Doway Nay the Pope hath power in omnia per omnia super omnia in all things thorough all things and over all things and the sublimity and immensity of the Supreme Bishop is so great that no mortal man can comprehend it said Cassenaeus no man can express it no man can think it So that it is no wonder what Papirius Massonus said of Pope Boniface the VIII that he owned himself not only as the Lord of France but of all the World NOW we are sure it will be said That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors not the Doctrine
of the Church of Rome To this we reply 1. It is not the private opinion of a few but their publick Doctrine own'd and offer'd to be justified to all the World as appears in the preceding testimonies 2. It is the 〈◊〉 of all the Jesuit Order which is now the greatest and most glorious in the Church of Rome and the maintenance of it is the subject matter of their new Vow of obedience to the Pope that is to advance his Grandeur 3. Not only the Jesuits but all the Canonists in the Church of Rome contend earnestly for these Doctrines 4. This they do upon the Authority of the Decretals their own Law and the Decrees of Councils 5. Not only the Jesuits and Canonists but others also of great note amongst them earnestly contend sor these Doctrines particularly Cassenaeus Zodericus the Archbishop of Florence Petrus de Monte St. Thomas Aquinas Bozius Baronius and many others 6. Themselves tell us it is a matter of Faith F. Creswell says it is the sentence of all Catholicks and they that do not admit these Doctrines Father Rosweyd calls them half Christians Grinners barking Royalists and a new Sect of Catholicks and Eudaemon Joannes says That without question it is a Heresie in the judgment of all Catholicks Now in such things which are not in their Creeds and publick Confessions from whence should we know the Doctrines of their Church but from their chiefest and most leading Doctors who it is certain would fain have all the World believe it to be the Doctrine of their Church And therefore as it is certain that any Roman Catholick may with allowance be of this opinion so he will be esteemed the better and more zealous Catholick if he be and if it were not for fear of Princes who will not lose their Crowns for their foolish Doctrines there is no peradventure but it would be declared to be de fide a matter of faith as divers of them of late do not stick to say And of this the Pope gives but too much evidence since he will not take away the scandal which is so greatly given to all Christian Kings and Republicks by a publick and a just condemnation of it Nay it is worse than thus for Sixtus Quintus upon the XI of September A. D. 1589. in an Oration in a Conclave of Cardinals did solemnly commend the Monk that kill'd Henry the III. of France The Oration was printed at Paris by them that had rebell'd against that Prince and avouched for Authentick by Boucher Decreil and Ancelein And though some would fain have it thought to be none of his yet Bellarmine dares not deny it but makes for it a crude and a cold Apology NOW concerning this Article it will not be necessary to declare the Sentence of the Church of England and Ireland because it is notorious to all the World and is expresly oppos'd against this Roman Doctrine by Laws Articles Consessions Homilies the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy the Book of Christian Institution and the many excellent Writings of King James of Blessed Memory of our Bishops and other Learned persons against Bellarmine Parsons Eudaemon Johannes Creswel and others And nothing is more notorious than that the Church of England is most 〈◊〉 most zealous for the right of Kings and within these four and twenty years she hath had many Martyrs and very very many Confessors in this cause IT is true that the Church of Rome does recriminate in this point and charges some Calvinists and Presbyterians with Doctrines which indeed they borrowed from Rome 〈◊〉 their Arguments making use of their Expressions and pursuing their Principles But with them in this Article we have nothing to do but to reprove the men and condemn their Doctrine as we have done all along by private Writings and publick Instruments WE conclude these our reproofs with an Exhortation to our respective Charges to all that desire to be sav'd in the day of the Lord Jesus that they decline from these horrid Doctrines which in their birth are new in their growth are scandalous in their proper consequents are insinitely dangerous to their souls and hunt for their precious life But therefore it is highly 〈◊〉 that they also should perceive their own advantages and give God praise that they are immur'd from such infinite dangers by the 〈◊〉 Precepts and holy Faith taught and commanded in the Church of England and Ireland in which the Word of God is set before them as a Lantern to their feet and a light unto their eyes and the Sacraments are fully administred according to Christ's Institution and Repentance is preach'd according to the measures of the Gospel and Faith in Christ is propounded according to the rule of the Apostles and the measures of the Churches Apostolical and obedience to Kings is greatly and sacredly urg'd and the Authority and Order of Bishops is preserv'd against the usurpation of the Pope and the invasion of Schismaticks and Aerians new and old and Truth and Faith to all men is kept and preach'd to be necessary and inviolable and the Commandments are expounded with just severity and without scruples and holiness of life is urg'd upon all men as indispensably necessary to salvation and therefore without any allowances tricks and little artifices of escaping from it by easie and imperfect Doctrines and every thing is practis'd which is useful to the saving of our souls and Christ's Merits and Satisfaction are intirely relied upon for the pardon of our sins and the necessity of good works is universally taught and our prayers are holy unblameable edisying and understood they are according to the measures of the Word of God and the practice of all Saints In this Church the children are duly carefully and rightly baptiz'd and the baptiz'd in their due time are Confirm'd and the Confirm'd are Communicated and Penitents are absolv'd and the Impenitents punished and discouraged and Holy Marriage in all men is preferr'd before unclean Concubinate in any and Nothing is wanting that God and his Christ hath made necessary to salvation Behold we set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing Safety and Danger Choose which you will but remember that the Prophets who are among you have declar'd to you the way of salvation Now the Lord give you understanding in all things and reveal even this also unto you Amen THE END TWO LETTERS TO PERSONS Changed in their RELIGION The I. LETTER A Copy of the first Letter written to a Gentlewoman newly seduced to the Church of Rome M. B. I WAS desirous of an opportunity in London to have discoursed with you concerning something of nearest concernment to you but the multitude of my little affairs hindred me and have brought upon you this trouble to read a long Letter which yet I hope you will be more willing to do because it comes from one who hath a great respect to your person and
Church to day may be heretical at the next change or may betray her trust or obtrude new Articles in contradiction to the old or by new interpretations may clude antient truths or may change your Creed or may pretend to be the Spouse of Christ when she is idolatrous that is adulterous to God Your Religion is that which you must and therefore may competently understand You must live in it and grow in it and govern all the actions of your life by it and in all questions concerning the Church you are to chuse your Church by the Religion and therefore this ought first and last to be enquired after Whether the Roman Church be the Catholick Church must depend upon so many uncertain enquires is offered to be proved by so long so tedious a method hath in it so many intrigues and Labyrinths of Question and is like a long line so impossible to be perfectly strait and to have no declination in it when it is held by such a hand as yours that unless it be by material enquiries into the Articles of the Religion you can never hope to have just grounds of confidence In the mean time you can consider this if the Roman Church were the Catholick that is so as to exclude all that are not of her communion then the Greek Churches had as good turn Turks as remain damned Christians and all that are in the communion of all the other Patriarchal Churches in Christendom must also perish like Heathens which thing before any man can believe he must have put off all reason and all modesty and all charity And who can with any probability think that the Communion of Saints in the Creed is nothing but the Communion of Roman Subjects and the Article of the Catholick Church was made up to dispark the inclosures of Jerusalem but to turn them into the pale of Rome and the Church is as limited as ever it was save only that the Synagogue is translated to Rome which I think you will easily believe was a Proposition the Apostles understood not But though it be hard to trust to it it is also so hard to prove it that you shall never be able to understand the measures of that question and therefore your salvation can never depend upon it For no good or wise person can believe that God hath tied our Salvation to impossible measures or bound us to an Article that is not by us cognoscible or intends to have us conducted by that which we cannot understand and when you shall know that Learned men even of the Roman party are not agreed concerning the Catholick Church that is infallibly to guide you some saying that it is the virtual Church that is the Pope some that it is the representative Church that is a Council Some that it is the Pope and the Council the virtual Church and the representative Church together Some that neither of these nor both together are infallible but only the essential Church or the diffusive Church is the Catholick from whom we must at no hand dissent you will quickly find your self in a wood and uncertain whether you have more than a word in exchange for your soul when you are told you are in the Catholick Church But I will tell you what you may understand and see and feel something that your self can tell whether I say true or no concerning it You are now gone to a Church that protects it self by arts of subtilty and arms by violence and persecuting all that are not of their minds to a Church in which you are to be a Subject of the King so long as it pleases the Pope In which you may be absolved from your Vows made to God your Oaths to the King your Promises to Men your duty to your Parents in some cases A Church in which men pray to God and to Saints in the same Form of words in which they pray to God as you may see in the Offices of Saints and particularly of our Lady a Church in which men are taught by most of the principal Leaders to worship Images with the same worship with which they worship God and Christ or him or her whose Image it is and in which they usually picture God the Father and the holy Trinity to the great dishonour of that sacred mystery against the doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church against the express doctrine of Scripture against the honour of a Divine Attribute I mean the immensity and spirituality of the Divine Nature You are gone to a Church that pretends to be Infallible and yet is infinitely deceived in many particulars and yet endures no contradiction and is impatient her children should enquire into any thing the Priests obtrude You are gone from receiving the whole Sacrament to receive it but half from Christs Institution to a humane invention from Scripture to uncertain Traditions and from antient Traditions to new pretences from prayers which ye understood to prayers which ye understand not from confidence in God to rely upon creatures from intire dependence upon inward acts to a dangerous temptation of resting too much in outward ministeries in the external work of Sacraments and of Sacramentals you are gone from a Church whose worshipping is simple Christian and Apostolical to a Church where mens consciences are loaden with a burden of Ceremonies greater than that in the days of the Jewish Religion for the Ceremonial of the Church of Rome is a great Book in Folio greater I say than all the Ceremonies of the Jews contained in Leviticus c. You are gone from a Church where you were exhorted to read the Word of God the holy Scriptures from whence you found instruction institution comfort reproof a treasure of all excellencies to a Church that seals up that fountain from you and gives you drink by drops out of such Cisterns as they first make and then stain and then reach out and if it be told you that some men abuse Scripture it is true for if your Priests had not abused Scripture they could not thus have abused you but there is no necessity they should and you need not unless you list any more than you need to abuse the Sacraments or Decrees of the Church or the messages of your friend or the Letters you receive or the Laws of the Land all which are liable to be abused by evil persons but not by good people and modest understandings It is now become a part of your Religion to be ignorant to walk in blindness to believe the man that hears your Confessions to hear none but him not to hear God speaking but by him and so you are liable to be abused by him as he please without remedy You are gone from us where you were only taught to worship God through Jesus Christ and now you are taught to worship Saints and Angels with a worship at least dangerous and in some things proper to God for your Church worships the Virgin
our selves and our infinite distances from God but if love makes you speak speak on so shall your prayers be full of charity and devotion Nullus est amore superior ille te coget ad veniam qui me ad multiloquium Love makes God to be our friend and our approches more united and acceptable and therefore you may say to God the same love which made me speak will also move me to hear and pardon Love and devotion may enlarge your Letanies but nothing else can unless Authority does interpose 6. BE curious not to communicate but with the true Sons of the Church of England lest if you follow them that were amongst us but are gone out from us because they were not of us you be offended and tempted to impute their follies to the Church of England 7. TROUELE your self with no controversies willingly but how you may best please God by a strict and severe conversation 8. IF any Protestant live loosely remember that he dishonours an excellent Religion and that it may be no more laid upon the charge of our Church than the ill lives of most Christians may upon the whole Religion 9. LET no man or woman affright you with declamations and scaring words of Heretick and Damnation and Changeable for these words may be spoken against them that return to light as well as to those that go to darkness and that which men of all sides can say it can be of effect to no side upon its own strength or pretension THE END BOOKS written by J. Taylor D. D. Lord Bishop of Down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundays of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ in fol. the 7. Edit The Rule and Exercises of holy living and dying oct The Golden Grove or a Manual of daily Prayers sitted to the days of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness to which is added a Guide to the Penitent in 12. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in fol. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Supplement to the ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or course of Sermons for the whole year All that have been Preached and Published since the Restauration to which is adjoyned his Advice to the Clergy of his Diocese A Discourse of Confirmation in oct Several Chirurgical Treatises by Richard Wiseman Serjeant-Chirurgeon the Second Edition in fol. The Catholick doctrine of the Eucharist in all Ages in Answer to what Mr. Arnaud Doctor of the Sorborn alledges touching the Belief of the Greek Moscovite Armenian Jacobite Nestorian Coptic Maronite and other Eastern Churches in fol. XXII Sermons preached before His MAJESTY King CHARLES II. at Whitehal by H. Killigrew D. D. and published by the Reverend Dr. Patrick Quarto Winter-Evening Conserence in three parts between Neighbours The third part being newly printed in octavo Animadversions upon a book Intituled Fanaticism Fanatically imputed to the Catholick Church by Dr. Stilling fleet in Vindication of the Church of England by a person of Honour ALL Sold by R. Royston Book seller at the Angel in Amen-Corner 1 〈◊〉 6. 4. Phil. 2. 14. Contra 〈◊〉 De verae fide Moral reg 72. c. 1 reg 80. c. 22. Epist. Pasch. 2. De incarn Christi 〈◊〉 2. cap. de Origen error Lib. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. comperimus de consecr dist 2. in 1 Cor. 11. Eccl. 11. 6. De unit Eccles. c. 6. * Ecclesia ex sacris canonicis Scripturis 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 ex illis ostendi non potest Ecclesia non est S. Aug. de uni Eccles. c. 4. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiam ibi decernamus causam nostram * Lib. Candiscip Eccl. Angl. injunct Regin Elis. A. D. 1571 Can. de 〈◊〉 Dat. 3. Calen Mart. 〈◊〉 * Quod sit metrum regula ac scientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Ecclesia l. 2. c. 〈◊〉 ‖ Novum Symbolum condere solum ad Papam spectat quia est caput sidei Christiane cujus authoritate omnia quae ad fidem spectant 〈◊〉 roborantur q. 59. a. 1. art 2. sicut potest novum symbolum condere ita potest novos articulos supra alios multiplicare * Papa potest facere novos articulos fidei id est quod modo credi oporteat cum sic 〈◊〉 non oporteret In cap. cum Christus de 〈◊〉 n. 2. ‖ Papa potest inducere novum articulum 〈◊〉 In idem * Super 2. Decret de jurejur c. nimis n. 1. ‖ Apud Petrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. instit per. ca. 69. * Jobannes Clemens aliquot folia Theodoretilaceravit abjecit in focum in quibus contra transubstantiationem praeclare disseruit Et cum non it a pridem Originem excuderent totum illud caput sextum Jobannis quod commentabatur Origines omiserunt mutilum ediderunt librum propter candem causam * Sixtus Senensis epist. dedicat ad Pium Quin. laudat 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 verba Expurgari emaculari curasti omnium Catholicorum Scriptorum ac praecipuè veterum 〈◊〉 scripta Index expurgator Madr. 1612. in Indice libror expurgatorum pag. 39. Gal. 1. 8. Part. 2. act 6. c. 7. De potest Eccles. Concil 〈◊〉 De Concil author l 2. c. 17. S. 1. Sess. 21. c. 4. Part. 1. Sum. tit 10. c. 3. In art 18. 〈◊〉 * Intravit ut vulpes regnavit ut leo 〈◊〉 ut canis de eo 〈◊〉 dictum Tertul. 1. ad Martyr c. 1. S. Cyprian lib. 3. Ep. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. Concil Nicen. 1. can 12. Conc. 〈◊〉 c. 5. Concil Laodicen c. 2. S. Basil. in Ep. canonicis habentur in Nomocanone Photii can 73. * Communis opinio D. D. tan Theologorum quam Canonicorum quod sunt ex abundantia meritorum quae ultra mensuram demeritorum suorum sancti sustinuerunt Christi Sum. Angel v. Indulg 9. * Lib. 1. de indulgent c. 2. 3. * In 4. l sen. dist 19 q. 2. ‖ Ib dist 20 q. 3. Vbi supra In lib. 4. sent Verb. Indulgentia Vt quid non praevides tibi in die judicii quando nemo 〈◊〉 per alium excusari vel defendi sed unusquisque sufficiens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sibi ipsi Tho. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. de imit c. 24. * Homil. 1. in ep ad Philom ‖ Serm. de Martyrib Serm. 1. de Advent 〈◊〉 18. 22. * Neque ab iis quos sanas lente languor abscedit sed illico quem restituis ex integro convalescit quia consummatum est quod facis perfectum quod largiris S. Cyprian de coena Domini vel potius Arnoldus P. Gelasius de vincul anathem negat 〈◊〉 deberi 〈◊〉 si culpa corrigatur * 〈◊〉 gratiae finalis peccatum veniale in
full as bad as it is stated in the charge but they agree in the worst part of it viz. that though the Church calls upon sinners to repent on Holy days or at Easter yet that by the Law of God they are not tied to so much but only to repent in the danger or article of death This is the express Doctrine taught in the Church of Rome by their famous Navar and for this he quotes Pope Adrian and Cardinal Cajetan and finally affirms it to be the sense of all men The same also is taught by Reginaldus saying It is true and the opinion of all men that the time in which a sinner is bound by the commandment of God to be contrite for his sins is the imminent article of natural or violent death WE shall not need to aggravate this sad story by the addition of other words to the same purpose in a worse degree such as those words are of the same Reginaldus There is no precept that a sinner should not persevere in enmity against God There is no negative precept forbidding such a perseverance These are the words of this man but the proper and necessary consequent of that which they all teach and to which they must consent For since it is certain that he who hath sinn'd against God and his Conscience is in a state of enmity we say he therefore ought to repent presently because until he hath repented he is an enemy to God This they confess but they suppose it concludes nothing for though they consider and confess this yet they still saying a man is not bound by God's Law to repent till the article of death do consequently say the same thing that Reginaldus does and that a man is not bound to come out of that state of enmity till he be in those circumstances that it is very probable if he does not then come out he must stay in it for ever It is something worse than this yet that Sotus says even to resolve to defer our repentance and to refuse to repent for a certain time is but a venial sin But Medina says it is none at all IF it be replied to this that though God hath left it to a sinners liberty to repent when he please yet the Church hath been more severe than God hath been and ties a sinner to repent by collateral positive laws for having bound every one to confess at Easter consequently she hath tied every one to repent at Easter and so by her laws can lie in the sin without interruption but twelve Months or thereabouts yet there is a secret in this which nevertheless themselves have been pleased to discover for the ease of tender consciences viz. that the Church ordains but the means the exteriour solemnity of it and is satisfied if you obey her laws by a Ritual repentance but the holiness and the inward repentance which in charity we should have supposed to have been design'd by the law of Festivals Non est id quod per proeceptum de observatione Festorum injungitur is not that which is enjoyned by the Church in her law of Holy-days So that still sinners are left to the liberty which they say God gave even to satisfie our selves with all the remaining pleasures of that sin for a little while even during our short mortal life only we must be sure to repent at last WE shall not trouble our selves or our charges with confuting this impious Doctrine For it is evident that this gives countenance and too much warranty to a wicked life and that of it self is confutation enough and is that which we intended to represent IF it be answered that this is not the doctrine of their Church but of some private Doctors we must tell you that if by the Doctrine of their Church they mean such things only as are decreed in their Councils it is to be considered that but few things are determined in their Councils nothing but articles of belief and the practice of Sacraments relating to publick order and if they will not be reproved for any thing but what we prove to be false in the articles of their simple belief they take a liberty to say and to do what they list and to corrupt all the World by their rules of conscience But that this is also the Doctrie of their Church their own men tell us Communis omnium It is the Doctrine of all their men so they affirm as we have cited their own words above who also undertake to tell us in what sense their Church intends to tye sinners to actual repentance not as soon as the sin is committed but at certain seasons and then also to no more of it than the external and ritual part So that if their Church be injuriously charg'd themselves have done it not we And besides all this it is hard to suppose or expect that the innumerable cases of conscience which a whole Trade of Lawyers and Divines amongst them have made can be entred into the records of Councils and publick decrees In these cases we are to consider who teaches them Their Gravest Doctors in the face of the Sun under the intuition of Authority in the publick conduct of souls in their allowed Sermons in their books licens'd by a curious and inquisitive authority not passing from them but by warranty from several hands intrusted to examine them ne fides Ecclesioe aliquid detrimenti patioetur that nothing be publish'd but what is consonant to the Catholick faith And therefore these things cannot be esteem'd private opinions especially since if they be yet they are the private opinions of them all and that we understand to be publick enough and are so their Doctrine as what the Scribes and Pharisees taught their Disciples though the whole Church of the Jews had not pass'd it into a law So this is the Roman Doctrine though not the Roman law Which difference we desire may be observed in many of the following instances that this objection may no more interpose for an escape or an excuse But we shall have occasion again to speak to it upon new particulars BUT this though it be infinitely intolerable yet it is but the beginning of sorrows For the guides of Souls in the Roman Church have prevaricated in all the parts of Repentance most sadly and dangerously THE next things therefore that we shall remark are their Doctrines concerning Contrition which when it is genuine and true that is a true cordial sorrow for having sin'd against God a sorrow proceeding from the love of God and conversion to him and ending in a dereliction of all our sins and a walking in all righteousness both the Psalms and the Prophets the Old Testament and the New the Greek Fathers and the Latin have allowed as sufficient for the pardon of our sins through faith in Jesus Christ as our Writers have often prov'd in their Sermons and books of Conscience yet first
the Church of Rome does not allow it to be of any value unless it be joyn'd with a desire to confess their sins to a Priest saying that a man by contrition is not reconcil'd to God without their Sacramental or Ritual penance actual or votive and this is decreed by the Council of Trent which thing besides that it is against Scripture and the promises of the Gospel and not only teaches for Doctrine the Commandments of Men but evacuates the goodness of God by their Traditions and weakens and discourages the best repentance and prefers repentance towards men before that which the Scripture calls Repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. BUT the malignity of this Doctrine and its influence it hath on an evil life appears in the other corresponding part of this Docrine For as Contrition without their ritual and sacramental confession will not reconcile us to God so Attrition as they call it or contrition imperfect proceeding from fear of damnation together with their Sacrament will reconcile the sinner Contrition without it will not attrition with it will reconcile us and therefore by this doctrine which is expresly decreed at Trent there is no necessity of Contrition at all and attrition is as good to all intents and purposes of pardon and a little repentance will prevail as well as the greatest the imperfect as well as the perfect So Gulielmus de Rubeo explains this doctrine He that confesses his sins grieving but a little obtains remission of his sins by the Sacrament of Penance ministred to him by the Priest absolving him So that although God working Contrition in a penitent hath not done his work for him without the Priests absolution in desire at least yet if the Priest do his part he hath done the work for the penitent though God had not wrought that excellent grace of contrition in the penitent BUT for the contrition it self it is a good word but of no severity or affrightment by the Roman Doctrine One contrition one act of it though but little and remiss can blot out any even the greatest sin always understanding it in the sense of the Church that is in the Sacrament of Penance saith Cardinal Tolet. A certain little inward grief of mind is requir'd to the perfection of Repentance said Maldonat And to 〈◊〉 a grief in general for all our sins is sufficient but it is not necessary to grieve for any one sin more than another said Franciscus de Victoriâ The greatest sin and the smallest as to this are all alike and as for the Contrition it self any intention or degree whatsoever in any instant whatsoever is sufficient to obtain mercy and remission said the same Author NOW let this be added to the former and the sequel is this That if a man live a wicked life for threescore or fourscore years together yet if in the article of his death sooner than which God hath not commanded him to repent he be a little sorrowful for his sins then resolving for the present that he will do so no more and though this sorrow hath in it no love of God but only a fear of Hell and a hope that God will pardon him this if the Priest absolves him does instantly pass him into a state of salvation The Priest with two fingers and a thumb can do his work for him only he must be greatly dispos'd and prepar'd to receive it Greatly we say according to the sense of the Roman Church for he must be attrite or it were better if he were contrite one act of grief a little one and that not for one sin more than another and this at the end of a long wicked life at the time of our death will make all sure UPON these terms it is a wonder that all wicked men in the world are not Papists where they may live so merrily and die so securely and are out of all danger unless peradventure they die very suddenly which because so very few do the venture is esteem'd nothing and it is a thousand to one on the sinners side SECT II. Confession as used in the Roman Church a trifling business whereby few are frighted from sinning but more made confident and go on in sinning Confessing and sinning going in a round Their Rules and Doctrines of Confession enjoyn some things that are dangerous and lead into temptation WE know it will be said That the Roman Church enjoyns Confession and imposes Penances and these are a great restraint to sinners and gather up what was scattered before The reply is easie but it is very sad For 1. FOR Confession It is true to them who are not us'd to it as it is at the 〈◊〉 time and for that once it is as troublesom as for a bashful man to speak Orations in publick But where it is so perpetual and universal and done by companies and crouds at a solemn set time and when it may be done to any one besides the Parish-Priest to a Friar that begs or to a Monk in his Dorter done in the ear it may be to a person that hath done worse and therefore hath no awe upon me but what his Order imprints and his Vitiousness takes off when we see Women and Boys Princes and Prelates do the same every 〈◊〉 And as oftentimes they are never the better so they are not at all asham'd but men look upon it as a certain cure like pulling 〈◊〉 a mans clothes to go and wash in a river and make it by use and habit by considence and custom to be no certain pain and the women blush or smile weep or are unmov'd as it happens under their veil and the men under the boldness of their Sex When we see that men and women confess to day and sin to morrow and are not 〈◊〉 from their sin the more for it because they know the worst of it and have felt it often and believe to be eas'd by it certain it is that a little reason and a little observation will suffice to conclude that this practice of Confession hath in it no affrightment not so much as the horrour of the sin it self hath to the Conscience For they who commit sins confidently will with less regret it may be confess it in this manner where it is the fashion for every one to do it And when all the world observes how loosly the Italians Spaniards and French do live in their Carnivals giving to themselves all liberty and licence to do the vilest things at that time not only because they are for a while to take their leave of them but because they are as they suppose to be so soon eas'd of their crimes by Confession and the circular and never-failing hand of the Priest they will have no reason to admire the severity of Confession which as it 〈◊〉 most certainly intended as a deletory of sin and might do its first intention if it were equally manag'd so now