there was neuer set out in Germany Switzerland nor among any of our enemies that bee fallen from vs any Booke that euer bred more scandall or did more hurt to the Romane Church And yet so farre is it from being supprest at Rome by our great States-men there as contrariwise the Licenses and impunities for these abominations are for the most part daily renewed and confirmed in the Commissions and faculties of those Nuncious or Legats that be sent from thence to vs who haue power not onely to legitimate all kinde of Bastards of neuer so damnable copulations and to giue leaue euen for Adulterers to marry but to dispence euen with Forgery Symony Periury Robbery Schisme Heresie and not onely to absolue them from the Sinne but to enable them to be capable of benefices dignities honours nay to absolue Murderers one book excepts not so much as the villaine that shall wilfully kill his owne Father or Mother Wife or Childe nay keepers of Whores violaters of Virgins Adulterers Incestuous euen in the neerest bloud nay sinnes against Nature and not to be named euen with beasts c. O Rome blush at these abominations and cease for shame to prostitute thy selfe thus in the sight of friends and enemies c. And thus writes not Luther nor Caluin those Arch-heretiques nor male-contented Erasmus for so they stile them nor any of ours but Espencaeus a Sorbonist a Papist and euery way their owne saue onely for his honesty Of whom not onely Thuanus Bechellius and other indifferent and moderate But euen Posseuine the Iesuite and Genebrard that rough and bitter Papist giues most honourable testimony And lest it might be obiected that this Espencaeus being a Frenchman spake partially as one infected with the old iealousie or emulation that hath bin betwixt France and Rome That therefore the indifferent Reader who desires to sway on no side but to be informed in the truth may see our faire dealing and sincere intention to doe right take another testimony touching this booke out of Guicciardine an Jtalian nay a Florentine euen the Country-man of that Pope in whose time this Booke was written A learned and iudicious Writer and one held on all sides as indifferent and free from passion or partiality as any Writer of these later ages whose words are as followeth Guicciard hist lib. 14. LEo Papa x. à natura ocio voluptatibus deditus tunc verò etiam ob nimiam Licentiam potentiamque supra modum à negotijs alienus musicis ac scurris totum diem audiendis immersus praeter decorū voluptatibus deditus à bellis penitus alienus esse debere videbatur huc accedebat quod cum in eius animo tanta magnificentia splendor inesset vt vel in quonis qui longissima successione à potentissimis Regibus oriundus esset summa admiratione digna fuisset Neque in sumptibus muneribusue dandis modum delectumue seruaret non modo breuissimo temporis spatio gazam ab Iulio cumulatam incredibili profusione exhauserat verum etiam cum ex ijs quae in curia expediuntur multisque nouis ad pecuniam emungendam excogitatis ingentem auri copiam cumulâsset adeo profuisse sumptus fecerat vt subinde nouas rationes quibus immanes illos sumptus quos non modo continenter faciebat verum etiam augebat sustinere posset excogitare cogeretur c. The same in English POpe Leo the x. beeing giuen by nature to ease and pleasure and much more by the great licentiousnesse that beares sway in the Papacy would trouble himselfe with no businesse but spend the whole day in musicke mirth sports and pastimes amongst witty fellowes and ieasters and beyond all decorum was drencht and drowned in voluptuousnesse And moreouer was of so stately a minde and carriage and so magnificent in all things as though hee had descended by many degrees from the greatest and most illustrious Kings of Europe Neyther kept hee any measure nor practized any discretion in his gifts and bounties so as in short time hee had not onely foolishly exhausted and shamefully wasted the great treasures his Predecessour Iulius left him but also gathered great summes by all the businesses expedited in the Court of Rome Nor contented with the old hee had them who dayly deuized him new trickes and wayes to bring in money Insomuch as in his time an incredible masse of Gold was gathered or rather scraped vp yet was all this too little for money came not in so fast as hee found vents and meanes to spend it so as to maintaine his charge and satisfie his new pleasures and occasions of expence which hee also daily deuised hee was euen forced still to excogitate and by fit instruments to finde out new wayes and meanes to bring in money into his alwayes filling and yet alwayes empty Coffers Now consider good Reader who these two witnesses were consider their Nations and Reliligion consider their places and professions and weigh well their words and then wee dare put this issue to tryall to a Iury of any indifferent men in the World whether this Booke be counterfeit by vs or rather the Popes owne brood euen the true and vndoubted childe if not of the Church yet of the Court of Rome And if eyther trauellers may be trusted or bookes beleeued that speake and write of the Pope and Court of Rome it so kindely shewes the House it came of as they cannot for shame deny it or so much as doubt it to bee their owne for neuer was Bastard more like the father than this resembles the manners disposition custome and complection of the Court of Rome And this good Reader is the first thing I desire to cleare to thy vnderstanding before thou take in hand the reading of this Booke Another matter whereof I would informe the Reader is touching the meaning of those offices or Courts at Rome which are so often mentioned in this Booke Namely the Chauncery the Chamber the Penitentiary and the Datary The Chauncery is the highest office in the Popes Court The Popes Vice-Chancellor and his Vice-chancellor is the first and immediate officer next himself and is called Vice-chancellor not Chācellor because by the Popes presumptuous Law God and hee haue but one and the same Consistory or Chancery whereof say they only the Pope himselfe is Chancellor And because they make him Gods Chancellor therefore the other is but his Vice-chancellor This office as it is of supreme authority so it is of mighty reuenewes but was of much more when England and other Nations were vnder the Popes command for his Writ for matters Ecclesiasticall went as familiarly into euery Nation as our Chancery of England sends into euery Shire Vnder him are many great officers vnder them an incredible number of inferiour officers who are all fed and maintayned by the multitude of suites and Suitors from all parts of the Popish world who come thither like foolish wandring Sheepe and
priuiledge of the Popes owne that is saith Rebuffus hee hath a power to send men to hell more then any other and himelfe with them Now for the reall practice of this enormous abuse he that reades the Canon Law and liues of the Popes and Cardinals can tell that Pope Leo was made a Cardinall at 14. yeeres old and many Cardinals and some Popes at the same age or younger and Rebuffus cites the whole Bull granted to one in his time Reb. Prax. benef lib. 1. See the whole Bull in the end of the Booke as a President for them that should seeke the like wherein Pope Iulius grants to a Noble mans sonne who therfore you know was well able to pay soundly for it one Benefice before he was 15. yeeres old and leaue to take another so soone as hee should bee twenty See good Reader what a Clergie the Romish Church affoords and maruell not if they bee such feeders and their sheepe so starued as they be and as we reade it bitterly complained of in some of their own bookes for if it be true in ciuil gouernment Eccles 10.16 Wo be to thee O Land where thy King is a child then much more may we say in the spirituall gouernment of the Church Wo to that Church where their Clergie are children and where boyes of 15 14 nay 10. yea 7. yeeres may for money be made capable of holy Orders and of the best Benefices in the Land CHAP. VIII LICENCES The Romish Text. A Licence to eate flesh butter egges and white meates in Lent and other fasting dayes or prohibited times is rated at 7. Grosses English Obseruations WHo knowes not that knowes what Popery is how highly the Popish Fasts are magnified their vertue and merit extolled and how it 's held a mortall sinne to breake those Fasts in the least degree and what horrible Heretickes we must be because wee hold not with them heerein And is now all this turned into smoke And is it all no more but a matter of 7. Grosses Parturiunt Montes How is the world abused with their Gulleries How is the supposed glory of the Carthusians for men and women the Order of Saint Clare eclipsed Wee silly fooles simply beleeued they meant as they spake and performed as they professed namely that they neuer tasted flesh But now we see our errour for seeing ten shillings and sixepence will procure them a Licence wee dare say many of them will not want it Againe the worlds eares are filled with their lewd and lowd noyses against vs of our carnality loosenesse and licentiousnesse in this kind But if Bookes and Trauellours say true more meales are fasted in England in a yeere then in the Iesuites Colledges in two And I beleeue they who try doe finde that a Licence heere to eate flesh for one yeere is not so easily had as at Rome for ones whole life if they pay the new Rates in the Exchequer CHAP. IX Licences for the Laity and first for Kings and Princes The Romish Text. A Licence or Faculty that a King or a Queene shal enioy such Indulgences as if they went to Rome will cost 200. Gross A Licence for a Queene to adopt a Child is rated at 4000. Gross That a King or a Prince may exact Contributions of the Clergie will cost 50. Gross If the Contribution arise to 100000. Florens then for the first 1000. 5. Gross And for euery other Floren 1. Gross That a King vpon Christmas day morning may cause a naked sword to bee borne before him as it is before the Pope 150. Gross That hee who preacheth before a King may giue an Indulgence to all that heare him 12. Grosses That a Noble-man may goe into a Monastery with a certaine number of followers 12. Grosses That hee may receiue the Sacraments or be buried in a Church interdicted 30. Grosses English Obseruations COnsidering the Romish State stands more by policy than by holinesse it would be a wonder to the wise how they durst thus encroach vpon the places and prerogatiues of Kings were it not that the Holy Ghost hath preuented it by telling vs that shee should make the Kings of the Earth drunke Reuel 18.3 and infatuated with her fornications But seeing shee is blinded and so shall be to her destruction for my part I much more wonder and hold it a deeper and more secret iudgement of God that some of the great Kings of the Earth should lye so long in their Lethargie and in this spirituall drunken slumber and doe not rather rowze vp themselues as ours of England haue done before them and say to themselues WHere are wee What doe wee Where haue wee beene What hath bewitched and blinded vs so long What makes vs sit still and suffer our selues to bee of their number of whom it is said Reuel 17.17 The Kings of the earth haue giuen their Kingdome to the Beast which wee would neuer haue done had not wee beene turned and transformed into beasts by the poysoned Cup of her abominatiōs Let vs at last see our selues know our owne and for feare and shame challenge and re-assume to our selues that Kingdome and power which God hath giuen vs and wee most basely haue giuen from vs to this Beast or at least suffered him closely and by degrees to vsurpe vpon vs and steale it away lest God who gaue it vs be iustly angry with vs for so little esteeming and so basely bestowing that power which hee so bountifully bestowed on vs and holding vs vnworthy as well of that wee haue as that wee gaue vp to the Beast of Rome doe iustly take it all from vs and hauing confounded vs together with him doe iustly giue it to such of his friends as will vse it to his glory and not bestow it vpon his enemies Thus me-thinkes I should heare the Kings of France and Spaine and some other Princes of Europe speake to themselues especially when they reade the seuenteenth eighteenth and nineteenth Chapters of the Reuelation Or if hee will not let them looke vpon the Scriptures yet when they reade that royall and friendly warning giuen them by the great KING of our Great-Brittaine in his learned and Princely Premonition At least when they doe but looke vpon this booke of the Popes which hee purposely wrote for their sakes and to ensnare them and prey vpon them as well as others How can they reade it but wonder at themselues that they should sit still and suffer such base bondage to be layd vpon their neckes For what a shame is it that a King shuld not cause a naked sword to be borne before him at his pleasure but hee must aske the Popes leaue pay for it also what his Popeship shall set downe Or that a childelesse King or Queene should not adopt one to themselues as they the Princes of their Bloud and States of their Kingdome shall thinke good without paying to the Pope so great a matter for the licence As
Indulgences which is Whether they profit the Soules in Purgatory hee raiseth sixe Questions of which the fourth saith hee is the most difficult of all namely Whether if they doe releiue them is it of Iustice or onely of Gods mercy Wherein hee saith there bee two opinions one iust contrary to another and produceth great Authors for them both and hauing argued them at large at last coÌ„ming to determine the Question satisfie the Reader heere is his resolution in these very wordes Bellarm. lib. â— cap. 14. Of these two opinions J dare reproue neither for the former seemes very godly the latter very reasonable Is not here a learned determination and well beseeming a Doctor of the Chayre and a resolution of a most difficult Question fit to proceed from a Reader of Romish Diuinity Marke good Reader these three passages and iudge whether the good man was not confounded and amazed when hee wrote this Booke and dïned so deep into this troubled Ocean of Indulgences In a word when a iudicious Reader hath aduisedly gone ouer that Booke and obserued how the Romish Doctors disagree in euery point of Doctrine touching Indulgences hee will then bee of his minde that said Bellarmine in that Booke had rais'd vp more Spirits then he and many Iesuits to helpe him shall euer be able to coniure downe againe But leauing them wandering in the wildernesse and wallowing in the Sea of their miserable vncertainties I will goe forward somthing further to informe my Countrey-men in the vanity inualidity and impiety of Romish Indulgences And first obserue good Reader that they make fiue sorts of Indulgences The first is when certaine dayes or yeeres of Indulgences are granted The second is the Jndulgence of a Lent which they sometime call a Quarantaine The third is when a man hath an Indulgence for a halfe or a third or a fourth part of his sinnes The fourth is called a Plenary The fifth is called a plenary a more plenary and a most plenary in forme of a Iubilee To shape out and describe the true natures of these fiue and to set down true and reall differences betwixt them it 's both sport and pitty to see how Bellarmine sweats and struggles and yet when hee hath done hee is so farre from satisfying the Reader as he may see hee satisfieth not himselfe Obserue againe how strangely Indulgences are granted for vpon the very same cause saith hee sometime larger and sometime lesser Jndulgences are giuen and sometime the largest euen a Plenary vpon a most slight and little occasion as for example When the Pope giues a Plenary to all persons present at the dores of Saint Peters in the Vatican when he giues his solemne Blessing vpon Easter day Now doubtlesse heere is a great reward for a little seruice or else Indulgences are toyes not worth taking vp Moreouer the Iesuit cannot deny but that Soto a late learned Spaniard and famous Gerson before him to couer the Popes shame were content to beleeue that the huge Indulgences of 10. and 20000. yeeres were neuer indeed granted by the Pope but forged by those base fellowes that follow those Suits called his Quaestores or Quaestuarii and in his owne conscience it seemes hee could be of the same opinion yet that he also may cry with the greater company Great is Diana of the Romanes hee will not giue way to these two more honest then himselfe but refusing them straines his wit to proue that the Popes themselues not onely doe but with good reason may grant Jndulgences for 10. and 20000. yeeres Nay so farre is hee besotted with the loue or inated with feare of offending this Romish Strumpet as hee will needs defend these foule exorbitances although he cannot but confesse that the eldest and holiest Popes of all gaue no Indulgences at all Veteres parcissimos fuisse in Indulgentiis conferendis notissimum est Bellar. l b. 1. cap. 12. and those of the after-Ages and middle time since Christ granted them very rarely and for very little time as Paschalis the second gaue but one Indulgence and that was but for forty dayes and Sergius the second was held very bountifull who granted one for three yeeres And in the more corrupt and audacious dayes of Innocent the third hee himselfe confesseth that his Predecessors did not extend their Jndulgences aboue the space of forty dayes or one yeere at most therefore hee himselfe as bold and busie as hee was would reach no further And after him Nicolas the fourth though he gaue diuers to the new Church of Saint Praxede in Rome yet exceeded he not in any of them the foresaid compasse of one yeere or 40. daies What meanes this man to make knowne these things and yet to defend them that doe the contrary for what is it to approue these but to reproue the other And seeing the Iesuite defends the granting of Indulgences for 10. 15. and 20000. yeeres wee now desire some of those zealous Romish Catholickes whose either deuotion or curiosity carries them to the Jubilee that seeing Bellarmine is dead The Booke is intituled Horoe beatâ—ssimae Virginis Mariae ad legitimum Sarisburiensis Ecclesiae ritam cum 15. orationibus beatae Brigittae ac multis alias orationibus pulcherriâ—is Indulgentiis c. Parisiis 1529. they would inquire of their holy Fathers and Confessors whether they may not as well beleeue that they shall as well inioy the Jndulgence of 32000. yeeres for creeping vp the 32. steps of Pilats staires which they say are now in Rome and are the same by which Christ was carried to his tryall and farther whether they may not as well beleeue that Prayer-Booke which a little before the reformation of Religion was printed for them by the Popes authority in Latine and English wherein it is affirmed of a little short Prayer there set downe that Our holy Father Sixtus the fourth Pope hath granted to all them that deuoutly say this Prayer before the Image of our Lady the summe of eleuen thousand yeeres of Pardon Then followes the Prayer which is scarce halfe eleuen lines in length and therfore doubtlesse is very well worth saying seeing euery halfe line is paid with 1000. yeeres of pardon And the same Booke affirmes of another Prayer thus Our holy Father Pope Iohn the 22. hath granted to all them that deuoutly say this Prayer after the eleuation 3000. dayes of Pardon for deadly sinnes This Pope though more sparing for the time yet is hee more bountifull for the matter seeing his Pardon extends euen to deadly sinnes And of another Prayer Our holy Father Pope Boniface the 6. hath granted to all them that say deuoutly this Prayer at large betweene the eleuation of our Lord and the three Agnus Dei's tenne thousand yeeres of pardon And touching an Image of Christ on the Crosse that Booke saith To all them that before this Image of pitty deuoutly say 5. Pater nosters 5. Aues and one Credo pitteously beholding these armes of
Christs passion are granted 32755. yeeres of pardon And lest any should thinke this too little seeing there bee many prayers put in one it is said Pope Sixtus the fourth hath doubled this aforesaid Pardon which amounts to 65410. And of another Prayer the Booke saith that Pope Iohn at the request of the Queene of England granted to all them that deuoutly say this Prayer before the Image of our Lord crucified as many dayes of pardon as there were wounds in the body of our Lord in the time of his bitter Passion which were 5465. And in another place thus of the Aue Maria Our holy Father Pope Sixtus the fourth at the instance of Queene Elizabeth wife to Henry the 7. granted out of the spirituall treasure of holy Church that who so shall say at the 3. tollings of the Aue-Bell 3. Aue Maria's that is at sixe a clocke in the morning three and at noone three and at sixe a clocke at night three shall haue for euery Aue 860. dayes of pardon which amounts in one day to about 8000. daies and in a yeere to diuers hundreths of thousands of yeeres And the Booke saith That this grant of the Popes was strengthened and augmented by the two Metropolitans of England and nine Bishops with them At which we maruell not for certainly our Bishops might as well confirme it as he grant it and to as good purpose adde more as he gaue so much And of another Prayer the Booke saith This Prayer ye shall say in the worship of all the blessed members of Christ deuoutly and yee shall haue 300. daies of pardon for euery Salue Now there be 13. Salue's in that Prayer And of another Prayer containing 5. short petitions the Booke saith These 5. Petitions and Prayers made Saint Gregory and hath granted vnto all them that deuoutly say these 5. Prayers with 5. Pater nosters 5. Aue Maria's and a Credo 500. yeeres of pardon And of another Prayer the same Booke saith This Prayer is made by our holy Father Pope Iohn the 22. and hee hath granted to all them that deuoutly say it beholding the glorious visage of our Lord 10000. dayes of pardon and they that cannot say this Prayer for it is in Latine let them say 5. Pater nosters 5. Aue's and 5. Credo's And of another short Prayer little longer then an Aue Thus Alexander the 6. Pope of Rome hath granted to all them that say this Prayer deuoutly in the worship of Saint Anna and our Lady her Sonne Jesus 10000. yeeres of pardon for deadly sinnes and 20. for veniall totiens quotiens And of another Prayer to bee said as one goes thorow a Church-yard the same Booke saith Iohannes Papa 12. concessit omnibus dicentibus orationem sequentem transeundo per Cemilerium to◠antes Indulgentiarum quot fuerunt ibi corpora inhumata à constitutione ipsius Cemiterij Pope Iohn the 12. granted to all that shall say the Prayer following as they passe by any Churchyard as many yeeres of Indulgences as there haue beene bodies there buried since the Consecration of the said Churchyard And no matter though this Iohn the 12. was a most wicked monstrous man as all Stories testifie for no doubt he had for all that as good power to grant these Indulgences as any other of his fellowes And to draw to an end of these endlesse Indulgences take one more good Reader which is an endlesse one indeed namely one that holds hundreds and thousands of yeeres nothing but giues a whole million at once for my part I should not hold my selfe worthy of beliefe in so transcendent a relation if the Booke it selfe and the very words were not extant to all the worlds view for I am sure the Booke was once as common amongst the Papists as is now the office of our Lady and if their later policies haue supprest it it will but redound the more to their shame for it is yet faire and perfect to be seene Ibid. fol. 73. Sacellum sanctae Crucis septem Romanorum The very words are these These 3. Prayers bee written in the Chappell of the holy Crosse in Rome otherwise called the Chappell of the holy Crosse of the 7. Romanes who that deuoutly say them they shall obtaine X.C.M. yeeres of pardon for deadly sinnes Marke good Reader ten hundred thousand yeeres granted by our holy Father John 22. Pope of Rome See you Romish Children the bounty of your great Father you that beleeue this wee maruell not that many goe so fast but that any of you can be kept from going to Rome to enioy the embracements of so bountifull and tender a Father that hath his hundreds and thousand nay a million of yeers ready at hand for them that follow him and whose Exchequer is not like other Kings sometime open and sometime shut sometime full and sometime empty but euer open and neuer empty being Treasurer of such a treasure as is neuer spent Neither stayes his bounty heere but because hee knowes that some are not onely vnlettred and cannot read but dull of vnderstanding and vnfit to learne therefore out of his tender compassion to his Children he hath deuised meanes to helpe their infirmities and supply their defects to which end hee hath deuised and appointed certaine holy Pictures to the very sight and contemplation wherof he hath granted as much grace as to the saying of the forenamed Prayer As namely to one Picture of the Crucifixe in that Booke and to the beholding of the same are annexed no fewer then many thousand yeeres of Pardon the words themselues are these Who that deuoutly beholdeth this Armes of the Lord Iesu Christ Ibid. fol. 75. shall obtaine sixe thousand yeeres of pardon of our holy Father Saint Peters first Pope of Rome and of 30. other Popes of the Church of Rome successors after him And our holy Father Pope John the 22. hath granted vnto all them very contrite and truly confessed that say these deuout Prayers following in commemoration of the bitter Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ three thousand yeeres of pardon for deadly sinnes and other three thousand for veniall sinnes and say first a Pater noster and Aue Maria. Surely heere is an Indulgence cheape enough 6000. yeeres only beholding deuoutly the Picture of a Crucifixe Verily all the Hereticks and Huguenots in the world cannot bragge of such bounties in their Churches Nor are these Jndulgences onely giuen which as they say free them onely from Penance inioyned but they haue others which free them also from their sins and purchase them pardon and remission of them For example the same Booke tels vs that to the saying of 3. Prayers there specified the Pope granted remission of all sinne the words are these Fol. 70. Our holy Father Pope Jnnocentius the 3. hath granted to all them that say these 3. Prayers following deuoutly remission of all their sinnes confessed and contrite Fol. 69. And of another Prayer the
tue epitilatu victi fugentur fauente Domino nostro Iesu Christo Ibid. fol. 96. Versus Sancti Bernardi but sure they might better call them Versus Diaboli for howsoeuer to vs they bee of the holy Ghosts inspiring and Dauids penning yet to them they be of the Diuels choosing and commending Well let them thus learne both their Doctrines and deuotions from the Diuell wee for our parts enuy them not it sufficeth vs to bee of the number of those the Prophet speakes of They shall be all taught of God Moreouer this is that Booke wherein Saints and Angels are not entreated to pray for them to God but there are Prayers directed to them with these Titles A Prayer to Saint Gabriel a Prayer to S. Raphael c. and the same things are therein cal'd for of them which Christians doe of God take one Example I beseech thee thou excellent Prince Gabriel thou valiant Champion rise vp in my defence against the wicked be on my side against my enemies and all that worke iniquity discouer their crafty plots confound their power that all who oppose me may be put to slight by thy assistance with the fauour of our Lord Jesu Christ There is also a Prayer to thy proper Angell and another to the 1000. Virgins another to all both Hee-Saints and Shee-Saints and there is also a Prayer or else two that are farre more excellent then the Lords Prayer I am not willing to bee trusted in so strange a report let the Reader Iudge by the words themselues Ibid. fol. 55. This Prayer was shewed to Saint Bernard by the messenger of God saying that as gold is the most precious of all other mettle so exceedeth this Prayer all other Prayers and who that deuoutly saith it shall haue a singular reward of our blessed Lady and her sweet Sonne Iesus Then followes a Prayer to the Virgin Mary which thus begins Aue Maria Ancilla Trinitatis c. and though it bee a long Prayer yet is it all to that blessed creature the holy Virgin and not one word to God Lo heere is a Prayer to a Creature more excellent then any to God and a Prayer made by a man as farre more precious then the Lords Prayer as gold is then lead You may do well to tell your Confessors or if you will the grand Penitentiary at Rome that wee poore condemned Heretickes of England aske them vpon their consciences what kind of Diuinity and deuotion this is for our parts wee would account him a Blasphemer that should say so amongst vs. There is also another Prayer of which this strange report is made in that Booke Ibid fol. 50. This Prayer shewed our Lady to a deuout person saying that this golden Prayer is the most sweetest and acceptablest to mee and in her appearing shee had this salutation and Prayer written with Letters of gold in her brest Then followes a Prayer to the same holy Virgin beginning thus Aue Rosa siue Spinis c. Here is another piece of rare Diuinity and Deuotion that the holy Virgin should recommend a Prayer made by a man and to her selfe alone as more excellent in it selfe and acceptable to her then the Psalmes that were dictated by the holy Ghost and all the Prayers made to God himselfe Lastly in this Booke there is a Prayer where God is made Mediator to a Creature nay to a silly VVoman S. Sithe euen such a one as wee are not sure whether she euer was or no The words are so strange as it 's pitty but they should bee knowne For first they pray to her to prepare the glory of Heauen for them which she hath merited Aue Sitha famula Sancta Iesu Christi para nobis gloriam quam tu meruisâ—i Our Bibles teach vs that God the Father prepared the glory of Heauen and Christ Iesus purchased it for vs But here is Romish Catholike Diuinity which teacheth vs we may haue them both another way for S. Sithe both prepares it payes for it Then followes such a Prayer as all the Lutherans and Caluinists cannot shew the like for thus goe the words O God who didst honor the blessed Virgin Sithe Deus qui beatam Sitham Virginem famulam tuam in ipsius vita multis miraculis decorasti te suppliciter exoramus vt omnes qui in tuo nomine ab ea postulant auxilium eius obtentu apud te sibi sentiant opportunum per Christum Dominum Taeter noster Jbid. fol. 26. thy seruant with many miracles in her life we humbly beseech thee that all those who in thy name doe seeke helpe of her may by her meanes finde it seasonably to themselues from thee by Christ Christian Religion teacheth vs to pray to God in the name of Christ but heere is a Religion teacheth to pray to Saint Sithe in the name of God Iudge good Reader if heere God be not made a Mediator to a Creature Thus haue I giuen you yee Romish Catholikes a full taste of the dainties laid vp for you in this Booke If these bee all lyes falshoods and fooleries then see with what food your fore-fathers were fed and learne what to iudge of those Popes Pastors Teachers and Confessors that thus gaue them Scorpions in stead of Bread and see how foulely the Romane Church erred which for many ages allowed this Book by publike authority But if these be true then see what a braue thing it is to be a Papist who vpon such easie condition can purchase such Pardons procure such Jndulgences to himselfe to others both for body and soule both for this life and for Purgatory both for the penalty and for sinne it selfe nay for deliuerance not onely from Purgatory but from Hell No maruell verily if so many beleeuing this doe become Papists and certainly wee were worse then Heretickes and worthy to bee damned deeper in Hell then Julian and Judas if wee beleeuing this did not presently turne Romane Catholicks And all this thus presupposed wee must needs confesse these prices for these Indulgences very cheape if they were much dearer for suppose they haue the power of giuing these Indulgences but a few yeeres nay but one and pay 20. 40. if it were 100. Grosses for the same no great matter nay a very good Bargain and a quick Market seeing it's likely enough so much and more may bee gathered in againe in one weeke as will pay for the whole yeeres rent And whereas many amongst vs out of ignorance of these Romish secrets and some out of charitable construction beleeued not they euer allowed such Indulgences for so many thousands of yeeres and for remission of all or halfe or a part of a mans sinnes now comes the Pope in this Book satisfies vs to the full that such Merchandises are common in the Romish Market and that the Popes Exchange is neuer empty of them And so indulgent and fauourable a Father is the Pope as he will not
A MITTIMVS TO THE IVBILE AT ROME OR THE RATES OF THE Popes CVSTOME-HOVSE Sent To the POPE as a New-yeeres-gift from ENGLAND this Yeere of IVBILE 1625. And faithfully published out of the old Latine Copie with Obseruations vpon the Romish Text By WILLIAM CRASHAVV Batchelor of Diuinity and Pastor at White-Chappell LONDON Printed by G. P. for Iohn White and are to be sold at his Shop at the Signe of the Holy-Lambe in Little-Brittaine neere Aldersgate-Street MDCXXV TO THE ENGLISH READER whether Protestant or Papist be he a true Catholique or a Romane An Aduertisement to helpe his Vnderstanding in the reading of this strange Booke I Hope the learned will giue me leaue to informe the lesse skilfull Readers such especially as haue beene vnacquainted in the Popes proceedings and Romish Markets in some particulars wherein otherwise they can hardly satisfie themselues Obiect As first it will be obiected by them that maintaine their owne Religion or rather Romish faction by such tricks that all this is but counterfeit and falsly fathered vpon them to their disgrace Answere But heereto I answer First the Originall Booke in Latine out of which this is taken and translated is their owne and none of ours and printed amongst themselues at Paris more then an hundreth yeeres agoe being first made and printed at Rome in the dayes of Pope Leo the Tenth and the Booke it selfe remaines in a publique Library ready euer to bee shewed for the iustification of our sincere dealing heerein and the satisfaction of all such as shall make doubt thereof This euidence is true and dare abide the Test yet for further cleering of the truth take one more against which the very enemies shall not except Know therfore good Reader that howsoeuer this vngodly Booke past currant and relisht well enough in Rome and Italy yet when it came into France it tasted not so well but contrariwise was so harsh and vnpleasant nay so loathsome and odious to them who had any sense of sin or sparks of Gods feare in them as though they were otherwise Papists yet they cryed shame vpon this Booke and vpon the Makers and Patrons of it Amongst whom Claudius Espencaeus a Doctor of Sorbone one of the most learned of that time noble by his blood but more by his Learning and good life a Bishop before hee dyed and designed also to be a Cardinall but as one writes hee was too good as John de la Casa was too bad Thnanus Hist Lib. 16. ad An. 1555. and so both of them mist the red Hat Espencaeus I say was both so honest and so hardy as not onely publikely in the Pulpit but euen in priuate to reproue this shamelesse Strumpet by laying open to the worlds view the vilenesse villany of this Booke whose very words because they speake home to the Point and containe a most excellent and irrefragable euidence for the truth the true Church and worthy to be kept as a neuer-dying witnesse against the Whore of Babylon and her spirituall abominations I hold well worthy to bee heere inserted the rather seeing since the Iesuites preuailed to abuse the World those worthy Commentaries of Espencaeus that formerly were so frequent in learned mens hands are now so sought and snatcht vp euery where and burnt by those wily Inquisitors as they are now very hard to come by Thus then speakes this Popish yet honest Bishop in his learned Commentaries vpon Titus hauing cryed out vpon the horrible abuses reigning in the Court of Rome especially the setting to sale of all sorts of Sins hee proceedeth and saith Ipsa Verba Espencaei FIcta sint haec Ci. Espenc Commentan Lit. Cap 1. Digress 1. in odium Romanae sedis ab haereticis iactata si non quod ait conqueritur ille velut prostat in quaestu pro Meretrice sedet liber palam ac publicè hic impressus hodieque vt olim venalis Taxa Camerae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae inscriptus in quo plus scelerum discas licèt quà m in omnibus omnium vitiorum Sūmistis Summarijs Et plurimis quidem licentia omnibus autem Absolutio ompturientibus proposita parco nominibus nam quod ait nescio quis Nomina sunt ipso pene timenda sono Mirum hoc tempore hoc Schismate non suppressum tot tamque foedorum tamque horrendorum scelerum velut Iudicem adeo infamem vt non putem in Germania Heluetia vbicunque à Romana sede defectum est opus prostare maiore huius scandalo adeo tamen non supprimitur ab Ecclesiae Romanae fauissoribus vt tantorum ac talium facinorum licentiae ac impunitates in facultatibus Legatorum illine tunc venientium bona ex parte innouentur atque confirmentur aduersus si Deo placet quaecunque fatalia restituendo ac etiam quoscunque Spurios Manseres Bastardos ex quocunque illicito coitu c. Cum his qui se per adulterium polluerint vt connubere possint Periuros Simoniacos Falsarios item Raptores Vsurarios Schismoticos Hereticos sed ad cor reuersos non absoluendi tantùm sed ad ordines honores dignitates beneficia quaecunque quotcūque qualicunque dispensandi homicidasquoque sed casuales seu inuoluntarios nam nec voluntarios quidem excepit Taxa superior Presbytericidas Patricidas Matricidas Fratriecidas Sororicidas Vxoricidas Infanticidas Venisicas Jneantatrices Concubinarios Adulteros Incestos cum Affimbus aut Consanguineis denique contra naturam cum Brutis c. Habeat iam Roma pudorem tam nullius frontis criminum omne genus Catalogum prostituere desinat c. The Words of Espencaeus in English or the same in effect LEet all this bee held faigned falsly charged vpon vs by the Lutherans were it not that the Booke it selfe being come from Rome is openly set to sale and as the Poet saith euen like a Strumpet offers it selfe to all that will but pay the price being here publikely imprinted and euery where vendible as well at this day as in former times and beares this shamelesse Title The Taxe or the Rates of the Chamber and Chancerie Apostolicall A Booke wherein if thou couldest not thou mightst learne to sinne and hee that is so minded may come to the knowledge of more wickednesse then was yet euer discouered in all the Summists and Summaries of Vices that bee in the World And for all those sinnes there is offered to all that will pay for it Absolution for what they haue done and to many License for what they shall doe I spare to name them for the very names of some of them are enough to make an honest heart to tremble It 's more then maruell that in the time of this dangerous Scisme when so many fall dayly from the Church so shamefull a Booke should not bee suppressed which is no better then a very Index pointing men the way to the most foule and hatefull sinnes so as I am perswaded
amongst them for such to say Masse as bee not full and lawfull Priests the danger whereof by their owne confession is no lesse then horrible Idolatry for by their owne rules if it be not consecrated it 's Idolatry to worship it and if hee be no Priest he cannot consecrate I doe not beleeue they thought to haue opened vs this doore not indeed did they thinke wee should euer haue seene this Booke But thus it pleaseth God to make them vent and foame out their owne shame And touching the third is it not strange and fearfull that some of their Clergie dare not only procure themselues to be promoted with places and Benefices which indeed are not but be meerely forged and counterfeit But moreouer dare her ignorant and prophane people to forsweare themselues and damne their soules by lending them a false Oath to confirme it Howsoeuer this may affect them wee for our parts professe it makes our hearts to tremble and our soules to mourne that such Atheisticall impiety should bee so frequent among them euen in their Clergy and Court of Rome And that it is no extraordinary but a frequent case appeares by the words following in that the Pope so wisely takes hold of it For Aquila non capit Muscas the lofty Eagle will not stoope at little Flyes and if it were a poore bait they would nor bite Seing therefore the Pope drew a good composition out of these its manifest to bee too common a case amongst the Popish Clergie And in as much as Iulius the 2. was willing to gaine out of so vngodly a ground it shewes him out of his owne Romish Records to bee no better a man then the Histories make him But for the last it 's more then strange that if he be so proud to offer yet that Kings will so farre forget themselues as thus to be befooled and to suffer an vsurping Prelate to domineere ouer them For who should hinder a King frō going to the place of Christs Sepulcher at his pleasure Or if another may command him or forbid him how is he then a King If it bee a part of the power or Prerogatiue of a King to set impositions then certainly those are but pieces of Kings who submit themselues to the penalties and impositions the Pope shall set vpon them those that will thus be trodden and trampled vpon by this base companion and yet proud Antichrist it 's pitty but they should pay in stead of this hundred for their Absolution a hundred thousand Grosses for such their grosse folly and vnkingly debasing of themselues CHAP. II. DISPENSATIONS First for Bastardie The Romish Text. A Dispensation for a Bastard to enter all holy Orders and to take a Benefice with Cure will cost 12. Grosses And to haue two Benefices compatible will cost him 2. Ducats 4. Carlens But if he will haue three Benefices then he must pay 4. Duc. 4. Carl. English Obseruations HEeere follow some of the faculties which Espencaeus as we heard before bitterly complained of for that not only they daily past at Rome for money but were also granted vnto the Legats or Nuncio's that came from Rome to France who being Legati à latere comming forsooth euen from his own sweet side and bringing such blessings as these with them Extra Io 22. cap. cum inter in Gloss they shew vs what a blessed brest their Lord God the Pope beares about him out of which they suck such hatefull Henbane euen such pieces of filthy poyson which spiritually infected all the World for a time and diuers Nations yet to this day The reason why hee is heere so beneficiall and bountifull to Bastards is because they are so neere and deare in likenesse vnto himselfe both in his spirituall and carnall Kindred For first it is he which for diuers Ages past had almost destroyed the true spirituall Childe the Religion of God and fild the world with a false base and bastardly Religion Moreouer it 's he and his Instruments the Iesuits and other his shamelesse Censors who haue by their Indices Librorum Prohibitorij Expurgatorij partly as it were killed the true children by vtterly suppressing the true vndoubted bookes and writings of learned men and partly put base bastards in their roome by chopping and changing purging and painting them as if the Fathers were aliue againe they would not now bee able to know their owne and certainly many of them would absolutely refuse Ioh Ferus his Comment vpon S. Iohns Gospell is since the Author died reprinted at Rome and the Author is forbidden and it is altred in no lesse then 1000. places and with great indignity disclaime these that passe vnder their names as being none of theirs And thus the World by this bold wickednesse of theirs is fild with a base bastardly brood of false forged fained and counterfeit Bookes to the intolerable iniurie of the truth partly in peruerting and principally in suppressing it and to the irrepairable losse of learning if it bee not by the true Christian Church both timely and wisely preuented Besides where euer that bastardly Religion of his reignes it fils the world with carnall Bastards by denying and dishonouring holy Marriage by publique toleration of Whoredome and by making it a lesse sinne for their Clergy to lye with many wiues of other men then to haue one of their owne By this meanes not onely their Townes and Cities but their Colledges and Cloysters are fild with a doubtfull vncertaine and Bastardly Generation their owne Records and Histories were enough to make them blush on this behalfe if they were not past shame Nay so farre are they forsaken in this poynt and giuen ouer of God as it 's hard to tell not how many Whores and Women haue been Popes for doubtlesse there was but one but how many Bastards haue sitten euen in the Popes owne Chayre so deepe was the wisedome and so iust the iudgement of the high God by ioyning the spirituall and carnall Bastardie together so to punish the one with the other There was an Age Geneb in Chron. Bellar. de Ro. Pont. l. 4. c. 12. euen almost in the height of Poperie which Genebrard calls and Bellarmine acknowledgeth indoctum infaustum infoelix saeculum Diuers of the Popes of that Age were by their owne Bookes Bastards at the best if not worse Sure we are that one a Monks Bastard of Saint Albanes in England Hadrianus quartus and driuen by shame from the gates there proued at last a Pope at Rome and one of the proudest that euer sate there No maruell therefore if hee bee so louing and tender ouer Bastards for therein he is but kinde to his owne Kindred And indeed if he did not dispense and make vse of such he would not haue a Clergy sufficient to supply their places And touching the other instance in this Article of Dispensations by which these Bastards are inabled by this Romish power non obstantibus all
stand not in feare of any creature to controll them and seldome haue any great measure of feare of God before their face as they will easily pretend such inconueniences or else will make them if they bee not rather than want their will in that kinde Now if such men may be dispenced withall to take their Brothers wife sisters daughter nay the sister her selfe wee maruell not if so many of the great Ones of the world affect so much to haue the Pope their Father and their god seeing hee goes so farre beyond God in pleasing his Children for God with-holds no good thing from his Children But the Pope denyes nothing at all to his deare Children no not that which is most foule and abominable in the Law of God and nature And if any be so scrupulous to thinke it euill or feare it to be foule hee can make it good and faire by his Dispensation prouided that it be well payed for and my Lord the Datary foundly satisfied with a round composition for as grosse as these be yet bee they no Grosse matters but Duckets must drop fast and Angels must flye apace to purchase these Dispensations Be assured it cost Henry the Seuenth the setting on and Philip payde well for it in one kinde or other And no maruell if Kings be rated high when inferiours pay somtime six hundred Grosses that is forty fiue pounds which in those dayes was no small matter In the conclusion marke how plainely this wicked Antichrist shewes himselfe and how boldly hee blusters out his owne shame These Dispensations saith hee are not for poore men because they cannot reach the price Thou mayest be sure good Reader the Iesuites were not bred when this booke of Rates was set out for they would haue beene ashamed of such shallownesse thus to lay their intentions open to their captious enemies For they though they deale much lesse honestly yet much more closely But now their close conueyances will doe no good seeing already the Pope hath here and elsewhere in those elder and plainer times discouered those plots of pollicies which are the pillars of their Kingdomes so as now though the Iesuites with their refined wits doe neuer so cunningly carry their businesse and couch their secret intentions vnder counterfeit vayles yet the iniquity of that Romish Religion is now manifest to all that will open their eyes to see it For let them now cast twenty colours vpon the matter why the poorer sort are not as well partakers of these priuiledges as the great Ones wee know by this booke the true cause is onely for that they want wherewith to pay Nay the greatest haue them not vnlesse they pay full sweetly for them Henry the Seuenth was willing to haue canonized Henry the Sixth for a Saint but the Dispensation for his sonnes marriage cost him so deare as he had no stomacke to rise so high for his Predecessors Canonization as hee must doe if he had got it and so honest holy Henry though happily a Saint in heauen wanted his Romish Saintship and came short of being a Saint in the Popes Kalender To conclude wee haue heard our Fathers say it was a common phrase in their dayes No money no Masse No Penny no Pater-Noster Now wee maruell not the Romish Clergy held that rule seeing they here learned it of their holy Father who openly professeth he grants no Dispensations at all to them that are not able to pay for them nor any of this nature but at an high and exorbitant price And see how louingly hee giues the Proctors and Sollicitors warning of it who bring him in his Reuenew and bids them take heed lest they being Amici Curiae should damnifie themselues by such fruitlesse vndertakings And marke how this mercilesse man the Pope will not suffer the poore to bee partaker of his fauours they haue no money for him therefore hath hee no mercy for them Hereby declaring himselfe no friend nor follower of that God with whom is no respect of persons and of whom the Scripture saith The rich and the poore meet together Prou. 22.2 the Lord is the maker of them both Nor is it lastly to be omitted how prophanely the Pope heere abuseth the phrase of holy Scripture for these words Non sunt ideo non possunt consolari are the words of the Holy Ghost both in the Old and New Testament speaking literally of Rachel mourning for her Children and would not be comforted because they were not and are here prophanely peruerted to their couetous and carnall intention Neyther is this an vnusuall thing with them for like hereunto is that in their Canon Law where affirming the difference and distinction betwixt two Metropolitanes they say the one shall not intermeddle within the others Prouince quia Iudaei non conuersantum cum Samaritanis And too many more like examples their Schoole-men and Canonists doe afford all which declare the base conceit they hold of Gods holy Word in that they dare thus turne and tosse it vp and downe as children doe a ball or a shuttle-cocke from hand to hand But let these fooles play with this Candle till it burne them for when they haue done all that man or diuell can doe to vphold Popery it is This Word of God This breath of the Almighty This Spirit of his mouth that shall consume and confound it CHAP. V. Dispensations The Romish Text. A Dispensation that one excommunicate or that is a Murtherer or for a man or woman that are found hanged that they may be buryed in Christian buriall comes to 1. Duc. 9. Carl. 6. Grosses English Obseruations THe ancient Lawes and Canons not onely Ecclesiasticall but Ciuill forbid Christian buriall to all these three sorts of malefactors and Christian Religion well allowes such prohibition though not to hurt their soules yet to feare men from these foule offences But see to what little purpose for here the great Bumble-Bee or rather the Romish Hornet breakes thorow them all as thorow a Spiders webbe to increase his reuenue and fill his coffers And this is much the fouler in respect that in Jtaly there be so many murders where the least quarrell suspition or iealousie will cost a man his life Againe will not this make the peruerse the longer to persist excommunicate the malicious care lesse for murder and desperate fellons lesse for their owne liues when notwithstanding these great offences they may for money be buried with the best We appeale to God and his holy Angels if this bee not a full euidence of a most vnholy Church an vnsound religion and a loose licentious gracelesse gouernement CHAP. VI. The Romish Text. A Dispensation for one that entred into his Benefice by Simony that hee may notwithstanding still retaine the same his Dispensation will cost him 6. Ducats But if he haue receiued any profits of the liuing he must for them compound with the Datarie English Obseruations SImony hath beene the perpetuall shame of the Romane Church