carnibus ovis caseo seu omnibus quae à carnâ—bus trahunt originem abstineat omni tempore excepta die Paschae Pentecostes die Natalis Domini in quibus ad abnegationem erroris pristini praecipimus ut eis vescatur Tres quadragessimas anno faciat à piscibus abstinens tribus diebus in hebdomada semper à piscibus ab oleo vino abstineat jejunet nisi corporalis iâ—firmitas vel aestatio laboris exegerint dispensationem Religiosis vestibus induatur tum in forma tum etiam in colore quibus in directo utriusque papillae singulae cruces parvae sint assutae Quotidie si opportunum fuerit Missam audiat diebus Festivis ad vesperas in Ecclesiam pergat alias horas tam diurnas quam nocturnas ubicunque fuerit Deo reddat scilicet septies in die decies Pater Noster dicat media nocte vicesies Castitatem observet mane apud Cererim villam chartam istam Capellano suo per singulos menses ostendat Capellano etiam praecipimus ut de vita ejus curam diligenter habeat quod si ea observare contempserit tanquam perjurum haereticum excommunicatum ipsum habere praecipimus c. Frier Dominic the least of Preachers to all Christs faithful people to whom these presents shall come greeting in the Lord. By the authority of the Cistertian Abbot who hath appointed us this Office we have reconcilâ—d the Bearer of these presents Pontius Rogerius converted by Gods blessing from his Heretical Sect charging and requiring him by the Oath which he hath taken that three Sundays or three Festival days he be led by a Priest naked from his Shoulders down to his Drawers from the coming into the Town unto the Church-doors being whipt all the way We also injoyn him that he abstain at all time from Meat Eggs Cheese and all things that proceed from Flesh except on the days of Easter Whitsontide and Christmas on which days we command him to eat flesh for a denial of his former error We Will that he keep three Lents in one year abstaining even from Fish And that he fast three days every Week always refraining from Fish Oyl and Wine except bodily infirmity or hard labour in Harvest-time require a dispensation We will have him wear Friers Coats with two small Crosses sown on his two breasts Let him every day hear Mass if opportunity may serve and on Holy days let him go to Vespers to Church He shall observe all the other Canonical hours by day and by night where ever he be and shall then say his Orisons that is seven times a day he shall say ten Pater Nosters together and twenty at Midnight Let him altogether abstain from his Wife and every first day of the month let him shew these our Letters to the Curate of his Town of Cererim whom we also command to observe diligently what kind of life this Bearer leads Whom if he should neglect to observe these our Injunctions we declare to be perjured and Excommunicate and will have him taken for such c. The Penitent thus dismissed where the Popes Canons are in force loseth all that he had his Family is disgraced and his bloud is tainted as though he had committed High Treason And if it be enquired why they that in other cases are so indulgent to Sinners give them Absolution upon such easie terms should in this tie upon them such hard Penances and be so severe The answer is plain and easie that the Crime of Heresie goeth very far beyond all others in hainousness and enormity as by good authorities I shall soon make appear CHAP. XII Of the Condemnation of Hereticks that are to be burnt IF a man prosecuted by the Inquisition or thus reconciled by it attempts to flee and be taken he is a fugitive by a great mercy they may immure him but if they smell out any Heretical Pravity in the case then must he be burnt he is taken for obstinate or relaps And so likewise if he lets his tongue loose and doth tell tales out of the School if he disobeys the Commands of the Inquisitors if he again by word or deed declares he hath still some inclination towards Heretical Pravity or if notwithstanding all their pains to instruct him better he still persists in the profession of what they call Heresie in all these cases where they judg a man Relaps or Contumace he never comes out of their Dungeons but to be tied to the Stake Nothing is more displeasing to him than the constancy of a true Christian who heartily makes confession of all the Articles of the Christian Faith and declares his resolution to die in and for that Catholick Primitive Faith against the errors and Innovations of the Church of Rome After they have as much and as long as they could exercised their cruelties against him and end avoured thereby to bring him to an abjuration of his Faith then if that doth it not his Wife and Children and nearest Friends are to be sent for to try whether they can move him and soften his heart as their Directories appoint If this also be ineffectual then he is declared convict and must die without redemption Yet saith Carena and others Promissio impunitatis Relapso non tenet judicem qui promisit They may tempt him with promises of life and impunity to make him discover or renounce without being obliged to performance His present life being forfeited they may do and say what they will for the benefit of his soul But it is a judged case as Nich. Eimericus proves that when a man hath persisted so long in his Heresie he is never to be trusted and that though he would profess himself a Roman Catholick yet he is to be delivered to the Secular power And Dell Bene is very express Nec debet ad poenitentiam admitti qui convertitur jam prolatura sententia c. That he that is converted when sentence is ready to be given must never be admitted to any kind of Penance and that after his Sentence his fate is yet more irreversible They may release him of his Excommunication but yet he shall burn All Relaps and Impenitent Hereticks are excommunicated and devoted to damnation before they be delivered up to the Secular power And afterwards when the great day comes which they call the Act of Faith and the People are to see the sport and to be made sensible how vile and odious Hereticks are in this world the Prisoners are brought out into a publick place commonly into a Cathedral Church The Penitents bedeckt as I have said before The Relaps and Impenitents in a more horrid dress with Devils painted upon them and blasphemous expressions writ about their head which the crowd is to think they have said Their tongue is tied that they may not say one word and that by a prudent provision lest they should offend the Ears of the by-standers with their
THE Holy Inquisition Wherein is Represented What is the RELIGION OF THE CHURCH OF ROME And how they are dealt with that Dissent from It. LONDON Printed for Joanna Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Pauls Church-yard 1681. TO THE Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in God HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of his Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council My Lord THough with great zeal and prudence you use all the power which your Birth and Dignities have given you for the defence of the true Christian Religion as it is amongst us professed and established yet I hope this short account of what is most contrary and most destructive to it will not displease you I know your Lordship understands what is here treated of far better than I do but so doth not the Common People they may receive information from these Papers and will likely do it the more freely if you shall permit them to go abroad under your Name For it is generally acknowledged that we owe much of our preservation to your Care and Christian Courage and that you did stand in the gap when our Enemies were pressing to come in upon us My Lord the watchfulness and labours of your Sacred Order to preserve the face of a Church and as much Order and Discipline among us as the iniquity of the times can permit is a greater service to the Protestant Interest than many are apt to believe For our Adversaries expect not to prevail but by breaking of us and dissolving those bonds of Government which keep us united well knowing that those sheep are an easie prey when scattered abroad which under the guidance of their proper Pastors are safe and impregnable I have therefore endeavoured by what I have said of the Superstitions and cruelties of Rome to persuade such as are averse to them that their duty and interest oblige them to joyn with our Church which professing nothing but the pure and Primitive Religion of our blessed Redeemer makes use of none of those bloudy and violent Methods wherewith the Papal Religion and Authority are preserved and whose dangers and persecutions on both hands are for the best Cause in the world even for her faithful Allegeance to God and the King I shall rejoyce if what I have designed for the common good be beneficial to any And if the humble offer I make of it to your Lordship be favourably accepted However I shall ever pray for the peace and prosperity of our Jerusalem And that God would long preserve you to advance his glory and be an Ornament and Support to this Church Remaining My Lord Your Lordships most dutiful and obedient Servant L. B. THE PREFACE IT cannot but grieve every Lover of peace that is every good man to see our distractions We fear many things and have reason to fear yet many more especially when we consider how grievously God is provoked to bring upon us the worst of evils I design not to represent those crying sins that call for destroying vengeance upon us or to make declamations against them but it is for my purpose to note that the deforming a most pure and pious Reformation and the disturbing and weakening an equitable and happy frame of Government doth not only call for ruin but actually brings it breaks down the fence of our safety and so makes way for those Erroneous and Tyranical impositions we fear and foresee There is cause enough to believe that the Romish Party hath all along since the Reformation and doth still continue to widen our breaches and to foment our divisions there are many instances of it related by several credible Witnesses and some of them sworn too but that which most of all confirms it is that it is much their interest to keep us from ever having a happy peaceable and well-setled Church a constant and beautiful Order amongst us and that they certainly will not sâ—â—ck at dissembling and acting the part of zealous and scâ—â—pulous Dissenters to promote the ruin of them whom they would out right massaâ—râ—e and burn had they power so to do Some of our Seperatists are so ungrounded and have so poor an interest in the wâ—rld that they must of necessity yield and fall were they not supported by the power and policy of a stronger Party and the moderate sort of them are so near us that we could not but joyn and unite together were it not for their interposition whose great concern it is to keep us asunder that they may have room to come in at the void urguarded space betwixt both Whether or no it shall succeed as they would God alone knows they have great hopes and we cannot but have a dread upon us but however by breaking us to pieces they revenge our breaking of Communion with them and they likely tempt some to believe that we separated from the Church of Rome upon the same grounds as the Separatists have to leave the Church of England They will now and then draw a parellel betwixt both Cases and confidently assert that we can urge nothing against our Schismatick but what they may urge with as much reason against our Reformers It is no small advantage to their Cause if they can work in Dissenters as great an abhorrence for our Liturgy and Divine Service as for the Latin Mass and so bring them to an indifference as though there were hardly any choice betwixt both This will lessen the Odium under which they lie deriving part of it upon our Church and withal is a preity sure way to bring men bach again to Rome So that if I were a Jesuit I would as Lewis Moulin and some such as he so cry out upon the Superstitions bloudy Persecutions and Idolatries of the Church of England and by that means drive men so far from it that when things tend towards a change the people might either be undetermined what Party to take or even prefer Popery to so deform a Reformation as they should believe ours to be And accordingly it is easie to observe that those Sectaries are not far from Rome which are farthest from the Church of England The Jesuits Schools abroad are full of our Youth in the Low Countries in France in Spain and at Rome the English Seminaries are perpetually fitting up young men to carry on the great work of reducing this potent Island to the See of Rome Once every year they are sent over in numerous Sholes from those Colleges not directly and openly to preach Popery they are too wise to go that way to work but by other means to promote its restauration acting such parts bare-faced or in a disguise as they are enabled by their Genius and interest such to be sure as shall conduce to the disturbance and destruction of that Church and Government which now keeps them out Hence I make no question proceeds the beginning or the continuance of our divisions and the frequent insulting over us upon this
account and upbraiding us with our many Sects shews that Rominists are not a little proud of their success in begetting or maintaining of them A man in a Vizard robs his Neighbour and having pulled it off reproacheth him for his beggarliness this is very disingenuous But very strange it is that the same man should yield himself a prey every time the Thief shall put on his mask The mischief is that Faction not Conscience makes the great differences in the Christian Church Opinions are embraced and asserted upon design to promote worldly interests Those Doctrines in the Romish Church we say and prove to be Innovations are such as tend to advance the power and greatness of those that brought them in and now impose them on others And it is not to be denied but that some are enemies to the Tyranny of that Church because they themselves would govern or be under no Government at all Factions like errors and sins may clash and fight one against another but it is not the property of true Religion to multiply Controversies or to be fierce in lesser contentions But then there are some things so bad in themselves so much against Divine Commandments and the duty every man ows to God that there he may not and must not comply Let who will injoyn what is dishonourable to God or forbidden by him the first and greatest Obligation ought to take place God must be obeyed above all though in the discharge of that obedience we expose our selves to great dangers and sufferings Glad should I be that Popery were the true Religion that our Blessed Lord had constituted the Pope his Vicar and made him infallible and commanded us to believe and obey all he should speak from his Chair It would supersede all our enquiries and the paiâ—s we are at to examine whether Papal Decrees agree well with our Masters wâ—ll It would have spared the bloud of Millions of Christians who rather chose to die in flames and tortures than comply with those Injunctions which they judged contrary to their Saviours Laws And it would free all meek good men who would buy peace and submit to any thing that were not sinful from the dread of Massacres and Inquisitions and what else may be feared from the formidable Principles and Persecutions of the See of Rome We are abundantly satisfied that the Bishop of that City hath no just right to that Power and Dominion he claims over all Crowns and Miters nay we clearly see by the Records of ancient times that every where he used very ill means to usurp that Authority Yet I believe most Protestants would easily be brought to recede from their right and for peace sake to give him more than is his due Precedency Honour even Money to maintain his Greatness I could afford him if that engaged me to nothing contrary to the duty I owe my God and Saviour But if yielding so far must oblige me to embrace a new Creed and false and to practice an unlawful Worship then I am bound to assert my liberty und to bear faith and allegiance to God whatever I suffer for it we might if we would part with our freedom but we may not give up Gods truth and honour The Case is this we may not live in the Communion of Rome but as the Popes Subjects and that would make us in many things rebels against God We are not obliged to live in that Communion and we dare not do it for then except we yield in all things we are proceeded against as Hereticks as accursed Traitors to God and the Pope and the greatest severities are inflicted on us So that as we would preserve our Consciences and our lives we must withdraw from Rome and live asunder All Christians are obliged to worship God alone and in all things to obey their Saviour and all men would live and enjoy their own Now I shall make it appear that if we are in the Communion or in the power of the Roman Church we can do neither We must believe and worship otherwise than Gods Word hath commanded or we must live under infamy and persecutions and expire in flames Whilst I give an account of these two things it will appear that there is a very great difference betwixt the case of the Reformation and the case of them that separate from the Church of England That as necessary and Just as that was this is as needless and unjust and that as much as Religion and self-preservation obligeth us to break communion with the Church of Rome so much the same bonds tie all Dissenters to unite with the Church of England and to live quietly like good Christiane and loyal Subjects in its Communion A Prayer to be said by them that are solemnly admitted into the Fraternity of the holy Virgin Mary wherein the devout Officers of the Inquisition are Commonly listed SAncta Maria Mater Dei Virgo ego N. N. te hodie in Dominam patronam advocatam eligo firmiterque statuo atque propono me nunquam te derelicturum neque contra to aliquid unquam dicturum aut facturum neque permissurum ut à meis subditis aliquid contra tuum honorem unquum agatur Obsecro te igitur suscipe me in servum perpetuum adsis mihi in omnibus actionibus meis nec me deseras in hora mortis Amen Holy Mary Mother of God and Virgin I N. N. chuse thee this day for my Lady Patroness and Advocate firmly resolving and engaging my self that I will never forsake thee nor yet ever say or do any thing against thee nor suffer any thing to be done against thine honour by any that are subject to me I beseech thee therefore let me be thy Servant for ever and own me for such assist me in all my actions and forsake me not at the hour of death Amen The Holy Inquisition IF the Church of Rome had kept to the Primitive Creeds and still retained the Ancient purity of Divine Worship and used her strength and policy only to maintain true Christianity it might have been said that too great a Zeal had transported her and made her too fierce against erroneus opinions That might have made some abatement of the censure she lies under of being too cruel but withal it had been a prejudice against that Religion that had occasioned the shedding so much bloud and destroying so many lives and it would have been thought that the Christian Faith had disposed its Professors to be merciless and unnatural Now if in both cases it be quite otherwise if Christianity inspires and recommends nothing but meekness and the greatest charity and if it hath not been to maintain the Doctrines of our Blessed Lord or the Worship of the True God that Rome hath persecuted and slain so many Nay if the Gospel forbids nothing more than to be hard and severe to take away mens lives or the comforts of them And if Rome by flames and tortures
hath sought to impose on the Christian World only false Doctrines and superstitions if the case be so it will wholly clear the Institution of our Blessed Redeemer and make their guilt most heinous and crying who under pretence of preserving the purity of Christs holy Religion have destroyed millions of its Professors CHAPTER I. Of the Roman Faith as distinct from the Christian and truly Catholick And first of the New-Creed I Shall not in this place represent how distant from all cruelties how averse to them is the Christian Religion But first I shall give some account of those Doctrines and that Worship peculiar to the Church of Rome which for being opposed or not received in whole or in part have oceasioned those persecutions of which we complain I shall begin with the Doctrines as they are contained in the New Creed of Pope Pius IV. who as was appointed by the Council of Trent framed and imposed a Profession or Confession of Faith to be taken as an Oath by all the Secular Clergy by all Military Orders by all sorts of Friers all that should be required and all that should come to their Communion in this wise Ego N. firma fide credo profiteor omnia singula quae continentur in symbolo fidei quo Sancta Romana Ecclesia utitur videlicet Credo in unum Deum patrem omnipotentem c. I N. stedfastly believe and profess all things contained in that Confession of Faith which is received in the holy Roman Church as follows I believe in one God the Father Almighty c. So the Nicen Creed thoroughout and then follow the new Articles of the Roman Faith Apostolicas Ecclesiasticas Traditiones reliquasque ejusdem Ecclesiae observationes constitutiones firmissimè admitto amplector c. In English thus I most stedfastly embrace and admit the Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the Constitutions and all other things used in the Roman Church I also receive the holy Scriptures according to that sense which our holy Mother the Church whose it is to interpret it hath held and still holds neither will I ever understand or explain otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I also profess that there are seven true and proper Sacraments of the New Covenant instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ necessary to mens salvation though not each Sacrament to every singular person These are Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Peance Extreme Unction Orders and Matrimony all which do confer grace and whereof Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be repeated without Sacriledge I likewise own and admit all the approved and customary Rites which the Catholick Church useth in the solemn administration of all the foresaid Sacraments All and every particular defined and declared by the most holy Council of Trent about Justification and original sin I receive and embrace Likewise I profess that in the Mass a true and proper propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead is offered to God and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is really and substantially the Body and Bloud with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that there is a conversion made of the whole substance of the Bread into his Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his Bloud which conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I also confess that under either kind or species whole Christ is entirely contained and the true Sacrament received I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls therein detained are helpt by the good Works and Prayers of the Faithful As also that the Saints which reign with Christ pray for us and are to be worshiped and prayed to and their Reliques to be venerated I most firmly assert that the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin and of the other Saints are to be had and retained and that due honour and worship is to be imparted to them Also I affirm that the power of granting Indulgences was left by Christ to his Church and that the use of them is most salutary to Christian people I acknowledge that the holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church is the Mother and Mistris of all Churches and I promise and swear true obedience to the Pope of Rome who is Christs Vicar and Successor to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles I also without doubt or scruple receive and profess all other things delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and General Councils especially by the most holy Council of Trent and all things contrary to them with all heresies whatever condemned rejected and cursed by the Church I likewise reject and condemn and curse This holy Catholick Faith which I now truly hold and profess and without which no man can be saved I shall by Gods help constantly keep and confess whole and undefiled untill my last breath and to the utmost of my power shall in my Place and Calling endeavour that the same shall be taught preached and professed by all my Subjects and all under my care I the foresaid N. promise vow and swear it so help me God and these holy Evangills The Bull which appointed and framed this new Oath or Confession of Faith is dated from St. Peters in Rome the _____ of November in the year of our Lord 1564. and is concluded in the usual manner Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat c. Let no man whatever dare to infringe this written Declaration of Our Will and Command or by a temerarious Presumption any ways oppose it which if any one shall attempt he must know that he shall incur the indignation of Almighty God and of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul SECT II. General Reflections on this Roman Creed IT seems they that framed and imposed these new Articles were afraid they should not hold fast enough the Consciences of men and therefore Pope Pius obliged them to swear a simple Profession would not be sufficient to enslave the Minds of Christians and bind upon them this heavy Burthen a formal Oath as we see is contrived and so the Bull calls it forma juramenti And whereas men make Confession of the Christian Faith freely and out of choice as that that will be infinitely beneficial to them They must swear to the Roman Faith to secure themselves from persecution I know that some of the opinions of this Roman Creed were prest before upon the Western World by Inquisition and Fire and Sword and that most of them had been gaining ground upon the persecuted opposers about five or six hundred years But they never became a Creed imposed with an Oath necessary to all mens salvation till this Council and Pope did make them so And we find about the beginning of this Council under Paul III. in the year 1546. that when the Fathers made profession of their Faith according to the Roman Creed as they call it Symbolum quo sancta Romana
Ecclesia utitur Sess 3. that they said nothing but the Nicen Creed this new one not being yet hatcht Nay even now in their publick Worship and when they Baptize as conscious of the Novelty of the Tridentine Faith they only use the three Catholick Creeds the new one is not mentioned but reserved to persecute Hereticks withall that is to damn and to destroy the Enemies of the might and grandeur of Rome For it is to be noted that all these New Articles are so contrived that they all manifestly make for the advantage of the Roman Church They establish its uncontrolable dominion over Mens Consciences they stretch and assert its power over all persons and in all cases and they bring great profit to the Roman Clergy Here you find nothing that glorifies any of Gods Attributes nothing to magnifie or explain the Mysteries of our Redemption nothing that can engage men to serve and love God better nothing to encrease the hopes or settle the peace of Christian souls All of it is nothing but the founding of the Roman Empire the Canonizing of those Means whereby the Pope and his Clergy should reign and abound in wealth Accordingly this Faith is not propagated or maintained as the Christian was by the humility meekness and patient sufferings of its Preachers and Professors but by craft and policy by might and violence Not by the demonstration of a a divine power in the working of Wonders and Miracles openly before all the world But by such pretended feats as many among themselves are ashamed to mention and to own These 500 years and upwards they have filled their Books with wondrous Stories to back those their new devices which are neither Primitive nor universally received neither contained in Scripture nor the ancient Creeds And these their Miracles are for the most part so ill contrived so absurd so private and obscure so ill attested that they confute themselves and prove nothing but the ungroundedness of those Doctrines and badness of that Cause whose interest they are brought to maintain SECT III. That this New Creed makes the distinction betwixt Papists and other Christians THis Creed is the unpassable Gulf fixt betwixt Popery and the Reformation and hath widened the breach never to be made up betwixt the Roman Church and all other Christian Churches It is not now as before the Council of Trent when many lived in the Roman Church hoping and endeavouring to rectifie what was amiss and without owning its errors Now those errors are become Articles of faith declared necessary to all mens salvation and men must make a publick profession of them and solemnly swear to them And it is become a common Maxim and a Principle on which they ground their proceedings against Dissenters Dubius in fide censetur haereticus that he is counted an heretick that doubts in matters of Faith You may not question not so much as hesitate about any Point in the New Articles neither may you interpret them or seek to give them a commodious sense as the Bishop of Condom hath endeavoured to do to make them plausible the whole Creed and Oath must go down in the Popes sense that imposed it be it what it will So that except a man truly and thoroughly can believe all this he cannot with any Conscience any ways comply with the Church of Rome or remain in its Communion And all the guilded words and promises of the Popish Clergy to them they would seduce about tolerating different opinions and leaving them to themselves are as appears by this Bull and Creed but pious Frauds and down-right lies Upon these New Articles of Faith is grounded the Worship now used in the Church of Rome Whoever believes them not must needs look on the Mass and other Popish devotions with great horrour and abhorrency and own it his duty to die rather than joyn with them in what is so contrary to true Religion and so dishonourable to his God and Saviour So that the Points of this New Creed are the touch-stone and trial of a Papist and stand as a Partition-wall betwixt him and a Protestant Whence I desire it may be considered how unjust and injurious they are to the Church of England and its Conformable Clergy that charge It and Them with being Popish and Popishly affected Some no doubt as we have seen by experience do it with evil designs and will do it in spight of all evidence to the contrary and to them nothing is to be said but God convert them Others that may be imposed upon will perhaps be satisfied when they consider 1. The constancy of our Clergy in professing that Worship and Doctrine for which our Reformers died Martyrs even in those days when they themselves were persecuted exiled and ruined for it and had all the provocations imaginable to pass over to Rome if they had had any inclination towards it 2. Or when they acquaint themselves with the many and most learned Writings of our Doctors of all Ranks against Romish Errors and Superstitions so strong so convincing that none can read them with any attention and remain unsatisfied in any Point wherein Protestants do differ from Rome 3. Or lastly If they will but compare the declared and avowed Doctrines of our Church as they are contained in the Common-Prayer-Book and the 39 Articles with either the Canons of the Council of Trent or in short with this Roman Creed For then they shall see not only that we hold none of these Tenets peculiar to the Church of Rome and contrary to Gods word But that our Doctrines and Perswasions are directly opposed to them As for those that make Popery to consist in two or three Ceremonies or indifferent Rites they much mistake the matter and they must be mightily in love with Ignorance and Scruples that cherish such thoughts and will not read what will inform them better Any Reformed Church might as well be charged with what any man shall please for some of their Customs and Orders will be found to resemble those of the Jews Pagans Mahometans or Socinians And where the differences are so many so great so just and material as betwixt us and the Church of Rome it is strangely unreasonable to expect that we should go naked or walk upon our heads for fear of doing any thing that the Papists do It is much more to be feared lest the want of Order and Decency of Creeds and Forms of Divine Worship and administring the Holy Sacraments should open an easie entrance for the Roman Innovations to come in where there is a great confusion and a great latitude and nothing fixt and establisht in opposition to them than that we who in the Conformity of our Confessions of Faith and of a pure and holy Worship of God alone through our Lord Jesus Christ hold a constant and avowed Communion with all Reformed Churches and all Christians that keep to the Primitive Rules should break our ties and break over those bars and
inclosures wherewith we have separated our selves from Popery and excluded it from mixing with us The Church of England hath not made any thing necessary to Salvation but what God hath declared so to be and hath imposed upon the People no controverted or doubtful Doctrines nothing but what all true Christians owned in all places and all times so that it hath given provocation to none but to such as own the New Creed of Pius IV. to separate from her Communion But the Church of Rome hath made to be Faith absolutely necessary to Salvation that which was not so before that which God no where revealed in his holy Word and that which is in many things contrary to it and to the true Catholick saith of all Christians And who that believes Jesus Christ to be that Great Prophet who revealed to us the whole Counsel of God and is alone to be heard as the only Author and finisher of our Faith can swear an indefinite obedience to the Pope and make it part of his belief that he embraceth all the Traditions of the Church of Rome which they themselves cannot number and receives all the definitions and declarations of her Councils especially that of Trent and believes her to be the Mother and Mistris of all Churches which is apparently false Who that believes them accursed that shall add any thing to that Faith which our Blessed Lord and his Apostles preached can now make part of it that Christ is truly sacrificed in the Mass for the Living and the Dead that he is wholly contained under either species in the Sacrament that there is a Purgatory where Souls are relieved by what the Living do here for them That the Saints must be prayed to and that due Worship must be given to their Relicks and Images and that Christ left to his Church a power of granting salutary indulgences to such as would purchase them as we see by their practice This is a Faith so new so strange so different from the Christian so contrary to it that any man that shall compare both and be persuaded that it is part of that highest honour which belongs to God alone that all his Dictates and Declarations should be received with an humble submission of our understanding and an entire faith will die as Millions have rather than make profession of this Roman Creed Joh. 2.9 Whosoever transgresseth or goeth beyond and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God The Doctrine of Christ we have in the Gospel of which the sum is contained in the Christian Creed It declares the glorious Attributes of God his wonderful works of power and mercy what great things he hath done for us what more he will have us to expect from him and all to engage us Religiously to serve and love him alone and own him for our Supreme Lord by an holy Worship and Obedience The Doctrine of Rome doth only set forth the unlimited power and dominion of the Pope and his Church over the souls and consciences of men and the means of seizing on their Wealth by selling the Mass Sacrifice and the indulgences by taking the Offerings of the Images and Shrines and drawing Souls out of Purgatory The Popes Crown and the Monks Belly is the sum of all and the crime of us Hereticks is the speaking against either or the not believing what makes for them as much as we believe in God For this were the Cruelties and Inquisitions of the Roman Church invented and exercised against all Christians whose knowledge and Conscience would not permit them to profess this new and unchristian Faith But from this it is apparent we dissent not out of peevishness or humour or a stubborn temper but upon the account of obligations and duty to our God and Saviour whose true Religion I hope we shall constantly own and profess whatever we suffer for it CHAP. II. Of several parts of the Roman Worship and first of their Exorcisms IT is not to be expected that where the Doctrines are so corrupted the Worship should be pure Mens Actions commonly are worse than their Principles and so here it is to be observed that those Articles of the Roman Creed on which is grounded any part of their Worship are not so bad in the Notion as they are in the Practice Their customs usages and outward Acts of Religion which are the true Interpreters of their Doctrines make them uncapable of those fine Glosses some of their Missionaries would put upon them and withal are so superstistitious so idolatrous that all men that fear God and are concerned for the honour of the Blessed Jesus must needs judge themselves absolutely obliged rather to die than to joyn and comply with the Popish Worship As far indeed as their Worship proceeds from that Christian Faith they have common with us the Apostles Creed they may have Prayers very good and very devout But as far as it proceeds from their new Roman Faith it is a strange Medley of conjuring consecrating abusing Gods holy Name and giving to Creatures the love and praises due to our Blessed Redeemer I shall give some instances of it and first begin with their conjuring Part. 1. chap. 2. sect 10. of which they have Treasures and Manuals Printed besides what is in their Rituals and other Books of publick use Of the first Bishop Tailor in his dissuasive from Popery gives us some account how they assault the Devil with Holy Water Incense Sulphur Rue little Papers containing holy words Relicks of Saints and notable Railing How the Priest with his Stole about the Neck of the Possessed very imperiously commands the Devil using many names of God Hebrew Greek and Latine very many signs of the Cross adjurations in the name of St. Ann St. Michael c. especially of the Blessed Virgin all whose Names Epithets Merits and Titles are very effectual the Form in the Ritual is not much better and all of it is a heap of things very absurd and very dishonourable to true Religion But in their daily Ministrations there are so many of these Exorcisms for to drive out Devils out of every thing that one would think they are Manichees who believed most of the Creation to belong to those evil Spirits In the Office for Baptism they Exorcise the Salt which they put into the Infants mouth with nine signs of the Cross and a Prayer whereby they beg it may become Salutare Sacramentum a salutary Sacrament and a perfect Medicine to all that receive it And even the Child is Exorcised with the Priests blowing three times in his Face and anointing it with his Spittle saying Exi ab eo immunde Spiritus tu autem effugare diabole appropinquabit enim judicium Dei Come out of him unclean Spirit and thou Devil be gone for the Judgment of God is at hand Together with this Prayer Exorcizo te immunde spiritus in Nomine Patris c. I exorcize thee unclean Spirit in the
direction of the Inquisitors who will take great care that he may not relapse into Heresie SECT I. Of the Cautions of the Friers when they absolve an Heretick WHen the day comes that the Frier Inquisitor is pleased to give decisive sentence in favour of a Prisoner which is commonly done at the Act of Faith or their publick Assizes Then is he brought forth and an Officer of the Court reads his charge and his conviction which is what they please to say for the Prisoner must not dare to speak one word for himself After that it is declared how it hath pleased God to bless with success the Inquisitor's endeavours in bringing back the stray Sheep into the Fold and how that the repenting Heretick who had been held in the chains of Satan doth now see and bewail the greatness of his crime and begs to be untied from those bonds of Excommunication and all other Censures wherewith he was tied and to be upon any terms re-admitted to be a member of the Church which request of his they readily accept and grant out of their great inclination to mercy they never desiring the death of a sinner but only that he may be converted and live After this or such a fine Preface he is absolved in form if he was not before he came out of their Cloysters and then they pronounce his Sentence and after the publick solemnity ended bring him to the Monastery back again that he may have his Penitential Letters and be fully instructed how to behave himself for the future For by their Popes Bulls and by the Inquisitors Laws a man that hath once come into their hands is never wholly freed from them but by death they may still aggravate his Penance or Punishment as they please they may at any time take his cause in hands again and have him brought back into their Prisons They may swear whom they please to have an eye upon him to see that he wear his San-benit and that he attempt not to go out of the Country And this they fail not to do if they suspect the man And however before his dismission into the World the Gallies or the four Walls they strictly swear him to secrecy that he will never reveal to any creature any thing he hath seen or known within the Inquisition nor any thing that hath been said or done to him And the Inquisitors tell him the danger of it that if he doth he shall be taken for a relaps and Apostate and be dealt with accordingly Further they swear him to the Romish Faith with some curses and imprecations and many grievous threats if ever he swerves from it in any one point and make it part of his Oath that he shall ever discover and persecute Hereticks to the utmost of his power and in his Sentence and Absolution insert this conditional clause Si de corde bono de fide non ficta redieritis ad Ecclesiae unitatem si servaveritis illa quae vobis injuncta suerint mandata That they are not to receive any benefit by being absolved except they the penitent Hereticks return to the unity of the Church with a good heart and an unfeigned faith and obey what shall be enjoyned and commanded them All these Cautions and Securities duly observed and taken out goeth the trembling Wretch resolved to be so zealous a Roman Catholick as never to come there again by being suspected But some if before they had known the truth and cowardly denied it become so perplexed and uneasie that they relapse into Heresie and venture the severities of the Inquisition and think it easier to be racked and burnt than to bear the accusations and reproaches of their Consciences and venture an eternal Hell SECT II. Forms of Sentences THe Forms of Absolution and Reconciliation you have in the Pontificale and of them I have said enough already there is only this difference that here the Inquisitors make more use of the Rod they have in their hands and that the Penitents the day before the Act of Faith were shaved beard and hair and that at the solemnity they in Sicily are clothed in black every where they hold lighted Torches in their hands and are mightily sprinkled with Holy Water have hanging Ropes about their Necks and that sleeveless Coat on with Crosses before and behind which they call the San-benit I set down before treating of the Waldenses a form of Sentence against such as are immur'd or laid up to live and die upon bread and water in a Dungeon betwixt bare Walls As for them that are enlarged and only must wear the San-benit they are thus sentenced Nos N. N. Inquisitores Haereticae pravitatis c. vobis ad unitatem Ecclesiae reducere volentibus abjurata prius omni haeretica pravitate imponimus injungimus pro poenitentia duas cruces crocei coloris duorum palmorum in longitudinem unam anterius alteram posterius in omnes vestes praeter Camisiam in extra domum portandas renovandas si rumpantur vel desiciant item injungimus vobis peregrinationes visitationes Ecclesiarum N. W. alia quae literae poenae vestrae quae vobis concedentur plenius continebunt c. We N. N. Inquisitors against Heretical Pravity c. willing to reduce you N. to the unity of the Church you having first abjured every Heretical Pravity do appoint and enjoyn you for penance to wear upon all your garments behind and before two Crosses of yellow colour one foot in length and that within or without doors you never appear without them that when they are worn out or broke you take care to renew them That in Pilgrimages you visit such and such Churches and duly perform all other things contained more at large in that Letter of Penance which we shall give you c. still reserving to our selves and to our Successors in this Office full power to increase to lessen or to change the Penance here imposed to you Given c. Those Letters of Penance which are given to the reconciled Penitents and which they are sworn to observe ever to carry about with them that they may know what they must abstain from and what they must do differ according to the several restraints or impositions which the Friers are pleased to lay upon their Converts Thus St. Dominic their Founder set them their Copy which they still follow Omnibus Christi Fidelibus ad quos praesentes literae pervenient Fr. Dominicus Oxoniensis Canonicus praedicator minimus salutem in Christo Authoritate Domini Ab. Cistercienâ—s Apost sedis Legati qui hoc nobis injunxit officium reconciliavimus praesentium latorem Pontium Rogerium ab Haereticorum secta Deo largiente conversum mandantes in virtute praestiti Juramenti ut tribus Dominieis vel festivis diebus ducatur à Sacerdote nudus infemoralibus ab ingressu villae usque ad ingressum Ecclesiae verberando Injungimus etiam ei ut Ã
impious Blasphemies as their Doctors have it Alligata lingua ne impiis blasphemiis offendat astantes But we could give another reason for it that know what we Hereticks would be apt to speak in that case However in those Countries it goes down with the ignorant Vulgar who are taught above all things to have the greatest abhorrence and detestation for what their Guides call Heresie and to believe the worst of things of those that are called Hereticks So that they that are brought to die find little pity among the People and the Inquisitors may lay to their charge what they please without fear of being disbelieved or disproved One of the Inquisitors makes a discourse wherein is summarily rehearsed the Crimes of the Prisoners and the Proceedings of the Holy Tribunal and that being ended they are degraded that were Priests or of any inferior Order according to the Form in the Pontificale and then Sentence comes to be pronounced the condemned Hereticks are delivered up to the Secular Judg and for a conclusion the Inquisitors very bountifully give Indulgences to the good Catholick people who assisted at the solemnity and then return to their Monastery to prepare sport for the next Act of Faith SECT I. A Sentence in some Relapses Tanquam Canes ad vomitum redeuntes culpis veteribus novas superaddere non verendo nec divinum juramentum metuendo in abjuratam haeresim relabendo per hoc se falso ficte conversos impoenitentes ac de tam incorrigibili crimine incorrigibiles se ostenderunt manifeste necnon omni gratia misericordia audientia tanquam Relapsi fecerunt se indignos ita ut promissis juramentis suis nulla sit de caetero fides penitus adhibenda Nos praefati Inquisitores N.N. c. communicato consilio multorum bonorum virorum peritorum tam jure Canonico quam civili Religiosorum plurimorum discretorum Deum habentes prae oculis orthodoxae Fidei puritatem sacrosanctisque Dei evangeliis positis coram nobis ut de vultu Dei nostrum prodeat judicium oculi nostri videant aequitatem praedictos N. N. c. in hac die praesenti ipsis ad audiendum sententiam peremptorie assignata dicimus per sententiam in his scriptis declaramus Relapsos esse in Haeresim abjuratam cum Ecclesia ultra non habeat quod faciat Relinquimus eosdem N. N. Curiae seculari candem affectuosè rogantes prout suadent Canonicae fanctiones ut illis vitam membra illibata conservet Data c. After a Rehearsal of the former Process Reconciliation and Penance and the usual formalities then it follows Returning like Dogs to their vomit without fear of their sacred Oath or of adding new crimes to the former falling again into the Heresie they had abjured before they have made it appear that their conversion was false and feigned and have declared themselves Impenitents incorrigible of the most incorrigible crime of Heresie and have rendred themselves unworthy of all grace and mercy and of ever being heard so that henceforth no faith at all can be given to their Oaths and Promises Wherefore we N. N. Inquisitors c. with the counsel and advice of many good men learned in the Law and of many discreet Friers having set before our eyes the glory of God and the purity of the Orthodox Faith and having put before us the holy Evangils that our Sentence may come forth from the presence of God and our eyes may look on the thing that is equal do say and declare by this Sentence here written that the foresaid N. N. to whom we have peremptorily assigned this day to receive their Sentence are Relaps into Heresies abjured by them before and now the Church having no more what to do to them we leave the said N. N. to the Secular Court begging of it affectionately as we are directed by the Canonical Sanctions that it would so deal with them as to preserve them sound life and limb c. This Sentence pronounced the condemned Prisoners are delivered up to the Civil Officers who for all the hypocritical Prayer of the Inquisitors are obliged to burn them and without fail ever do it And if they should not they would be excommunicated and prosecuted with the utmost rigour Del Bene and all their Doctors prove it even by Papal Constitutions That the Church hath power to put obstinate Hereticks to death Sed Ecclesia non solet hanc potestatem exequi per ministros ecclesiasticos sed per saeculares Nec debet nec potest Judex saecularis Haeretico damnato poenam remittere sed omnino debet illi statim inferre juxta Text c. alias ut haereticorum fautor punire potest But the Church useth not to execute that power by Ecclesiastical but by Secular Officers And the Secular Judge neither should nor may remit the penalty to the condemned Heretick but is obliged forthwith to inflict it upon him according to the Texts of the Canon Law Else he may be punished as a Favourer of Hereticks Nay they ingeniously bring a Scripture Text why Hereticks should be burned and that is because our blessed Saviour said Joh. xv 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned And Canonists are very prolix in proving that Hereticks are to be punished with death and not only with death but with fire which is the most cruel and not only to be burnt but to be burnt alive Padre Paolo tells us whence proceeds this custom of interceding for the condemned Hereticks when they are going to be burnt Mean while it may be observed how much their kindnesses good words to Hereticks are to be trusted who constantly pray that they may not lose bloud or life when they are going to murther them with the greatest barbarity For as it appears the Civil Magistrate is but an inferiour Officer a Hangman to the Ecclesiastical Tribunal he is obliged to execute the irreversible Sentence and accordingly when the Inquisiâ—ors are pronouncing it the fires are kindled and all is in readiness for execution which immediately follows Those Religious men and learned in the Law whose advice is taken as the Sentence mentions are some Friers of the same House who expect to be promoted one day to sit on the Holy Tribunal and are trained up to it by being sometimes Assessors And some Canonists that are Consultors of the Holy Office who by their skill in the Canon and Pontifical Law are able to inform the Inquisitors how far in any case they are warranted to proceed against Hereticks suspected or proved SECT II. A form of delivering a stubborn Heretick to the Secular Power NOs c. attendentes quod tu N. fuisti nobis delatus accusatus quod tu in illis Haeresibus perstiteras multis annis in tuae animae detrimentum Nos
rusticus in pecore suo An Heretick is excommunicate by the Law without a Sentence and is delivered up to Satan to be tormented and the devil hath the same power over him as the Farmer over his Cattel Item Haeretici sunt deterioris conditionis quam Juaedi Hereticks are in a worse condition than Jews Item Papae neutiquam obediendum si aliquid praecipiat quod sit in favorem Haereticorum The Pope is not to be obeyed where he commands any thing in favour of Hereticks Item Sola voluntas vel cogitatio punitur in crimine Haeresis The Will alone or but the Thoughts without any outward Act is punished in the Crime of Heresie Item Quamvis sit Haeresis crimen Capitale poenam sanguinis irroget in eo tamen neutiquam transigere vel pacisci licet quod talem offensam nemo nisi solus Deus remittere possit Though Heresie be a Capital Crime which incurs the shedding of bloud yet there is no pardoning of it nor no treating about lessening of its punishment for it is such an offence as none but God can remit Item Quia Haereticus est hostis communis ideo licet cuique illum propria authoritate occidere à fortiori capere An Heretick being a common enemy it is lawful for every one to kill him much more to take him Item Delictum Haeresis etiam ignoranter prolatum gravius est quam dolosum homicidium An Heretical word spoken through ignorance is a more grievous crime than wilful murther murther because the Heretick sets his face against heaven Item Haeretici tanquam animalia venenosa pestifera antequam virus evomant sunt puniendi Hereticks like Serpents and Toads must be punished before they spue their venom And saith the Popes Extravagants Haeretici primo sunt admonendi post occidendi Haeretici utiliter patiuntur quod Catholici utiliter inferunt Hereticks must first be admonished and then killed And it is profitable for them to suffer what of duty Catholicks inflict upon them Volumes of Collections might be made of this That Hereticks may injoy nothing of those rights and priviledges that belong to human Creatures and that they must be afflicted and destroyed all manner of ways But 〈◊〉 shall conclude this with one instance oâ— the mighty zeal wherewith they thuâ— prosecute Hereticks A Paramo tellâ— us that when the Inquisition destroyeâ— many thousands in all parts of Spainâ— some at Court represented to Ferdinanâ—â— and Isabel what a great loss and weakning it was to have so many of theiâ— Subjects killed in that manner and thaâ— then great sums of money were offered to their Majesties to stop or moderate the proceedings of the Inquisition against Hereticks But that whilst moved with pity the King and Queen were considering whether they should take the money and stop the Torrent of bloud Turre-Cremata that famous Frier who had heard of what was in agitation came in with a Crucifix hid under his Coat and drawing near pulled it out and held it to them with these words Ecce Salvatoris crucifixi effigiem quem perditissimus Judas vendidit c. Here is the Image of our Crucified Saviour whom wicked Judas sold to his Enemies for thirty Pieces of Silver if you approve of that Fact do ye sell him for more here you have him And having said this he laid down the Crucifix and went out SECT III. That in the Case of Heresie Princes fare no better than Subjects EXcommunication in the Church of Rome may be incurred upon so many accounts that there is hardly one of Ten among the best Romanists that is not ipso facto or ipso jure excommunicate It is true that commonly in their Absolutions they take off those bonds indefinitely but yet the danger is so great of coming any ways under the direful Sentence that it mightily exposeth Magistrates to be thus smitten like others by the Papal Fulminations The Council of Trent hath provided Sect. ult that whoever after admonition remains for a whole year excommunicate shall be reputed Heretick and proceeded against as such Here Sovereign Princes have no exemption They may be the Popes eldest Sons but they must be as dutiful and obedient as others else they shall smart under his correction without partiality The Council in that last Session Can. 5. obligeth them under pain of Excommunication to back the Church Censures with their power In Can. 19. if they suffer Duels within their Dominions they are excommunicated and deprived of those places where the offence is committed And Pius IV. in his confirmation of that Council commands them amongst all the Faithful to receive and obey inviolably all the definitions and decrees of Trent But what then What if they are excommunicate and reputed Hereticks Then it is at their peril and the Pope will make the best use he can of these Laws Canon and Pontificial Papa dicitur habere coeleste arbitrium tenet locum Christi in Terris The Pope hath the place of Christ upon earth and his will is said to be the will of heaven Item Papa est super omnes homines ei obedire est de necessitate salutis The Pope is above all men and without obedience to him there is no salvation Item Papa obtinet principatum totius mundi habet utrumque gladium The Pope hath dominion over the whole world and hath the power of both the spiritual and the temporal sword Item Papa potest transferre imperium de gente ad gentem ex maxima causa potest principes seculares dignitate privare ex causa vel propter eorum iniquitates The Pope may give the Empire from one to another and may when there is cause or when they are faulty deprive secular Princes of their dignity Some one of these or many more of the same nature which he hath in store will reach the highest Throne on earth and sometimes have overthrown it Then the Canonists will prove and bring forth out of their Magazines of Treasonous Principles Pro crimine Haeresis aequaliter puniuntur omnes nullo habito respectu ad gradus dignitates That the Crime of Heresie is equally to be punished in all men without regard to their degrees or dignities Imperator puniri deponi potest per summum Pontificem propter crimen Haeresis ut fuit Imperator Fredericus That for the crime of Heresie the Emperour may be punished and deposed by the Pope as was Frederick Also Si parentes sunt Haeretici à filiis suis optime possunt exhaeredari nam patria potestas tollitur propter crimen Haeresis That for the crime of Heresie the Paternal power ceaseth and that then Children may disinherit their Parents And then to come home to the case Haeretici nullam prorsus jurisdictionem habere possunt That Hereticks can have no power nor jurisdiction at all Accordingly they all agree Vassalli liberantur ab omni fidelitate obsequio suorum dominorum si ipsi
domini in haeresim manifestam sint Capti That Vassals and all Subjects are free from all allegeance and duty to their Lords or Sovereigns if they are faln into manifest Heresie Nay It is proved by many Authorities and good Decretals and Reasons Quod digni sunt majori supplicio Reges Principes Haeretici quam caeteri homines That Kings and Princes become Hereticks deserve greater punishments than inferiour persons And not only if they become Hereticks but also Si domini temporales constitutiones Pontificias contra Haereticos latas servare noluerint excommunicentur omni honore officio priventur If they do not execute the Popes Laws against Hereticks they forfeit their Crowns and Dignities This is so often repeated Si Reges alii Principes Christiani facti sint Haeretici protinus subjecti vassalli ab eorum dominio liberantur And this De Haeresi damnatus non debet vocari sub nomine dignitatis pristinae A King who is an Heretick is no King and ought not to be called by that name That one that hath truly and fully embraced Popery might act and intend any thing against Charles Stuart and all the while in a sense which he believes true profess himself a loyal and obedient subject to the King of England SECT IV. Of the Authorities and Authors used in this Book MOst of what hath been said of the proceedings of the Popes and the Inquisition against Hereticks and Heretical Princes is to be met with in so many Authors and with so little variation and recurrs so often that to bring quotations for every particular would have swelled and crowded my Margin to no purpose at all when it may do as well here to name those Books which will prove what I have alledged Indeed most of it is so unreasonable so strange and inhuman that to men of a good temper it will look like the Fiction of a malicious and a melancholy brain Did many that are in the Church of Rome believe it to be guilty of such unnatural Principles and bloudy Practices as are here mentioned they would be mightily staggered in their belief of its being the pure and only Church of Christ and some would forsake and even detest the communion of that merciless persecuting party who now with a good zeal follow it and think to go right Many Protestants also would be mightily confirmed in that Profession of the Christian Religion which is established among us and would be more thankful for being delivered from under the Roman yoke if they knew how heavy and intolerable it was to such of our Forefathers as saw the Truth and desired to follow it I know it is objected that we have those amongst us who are very froward and seditious towards their Governours and upon Rebellious Principles have done very vile things But it is our unhappiness and our grief our established Church and Religion are hated and persecuted by them and were by them altered and ruined when they had power and it is clear as the light that they have their ill Principles out of those very Roman Schools which they seem so much to abhor In them are taught at large those opinions which make Dissenters bad Subjects and those which countenance the usurpations of the Popes and the cruelties of the Inquisition I profess that what I have laid down as their Tenents or Practices I have had from their own Authors and that in them I have consulted there is vastly more and sometimes worse than what I have extracted I shall be amply justified as to the faithfulness of what account I give of the Papal and inquisitory proceedings against Hereticks be they Princes or Plebeians by them shall read the Canon Law or but seek under proper Titles in the Extravagants Clementines Sexte and even in the Decretals of Gregory IX But in that vast Collection of the Pontificial Law Printed at Venice you have many Authors inserted who treat at large of all things relating to Hereticks wherein a man may fully inform himself of those Writers I have but lightly touched I cite some Bulls that are in the Bullarium of Laërce Cher. and other Collections since But to save the labour of searching into great Volumes Alois Bariola and Franc. Pegna have made a Collection in quarto of above an Hundred Bulls since the beginning of the Reformation to injoyn direct and encourage the extirpation of Hereticks all manner of ways but especially by the Inquisition And because some might say Who regards old Bulls or Decretals And what do most of them signifie that have been long out of date We must know that every thing is in force that makes against Hereticks That we may not flatter our selves Canonists frequently tell us Extravagantes in corpore juris non clausae contra haereticos editae sunt validae si constitutionibus in corpore juris registratis contra haereticos non obvient That is That all those Laws and Papal prescripts new or old some forged some of uncertain Authors that are not digested into order and have no proper place assigned to them in the Body of the Canon are of force as far as they make against Hereticks and moderate or oppose none of the more Canonical Constitutions that are against them And we know how strictly they are executed where the Pope is obeyed and how general that execution would be if he might have his will There is a Bull of Pope Paul IV. anno 1558. whereby he very streightly commands Renovari inviolabiliter observari omnes leges decreta sive statuta à Romanis Pontificibus sacris conciliis sanctorum Patrum decretis in haereticos schismaticos quovis tempore edita etiamsi in literis Pontificum extravagantibus contineantur c. That all Laws Decrees and Statutes made at any time by Roman Popes sacred Councils or holy Fathers against Hereticks and Schismaticks should be renewed and inviolably observed even such as are among those Decretals which they call Extravagants And he commands further that if they have been upon any account disused or neglected they should now be revived and brought into use again and that they should be strictly obeyed and executed against all persons whatsoever without regard to their greatness or dignity If we believe him to be in earnest we see what would become of us and of Protestant Princes had he those that could or would put his Sentence in execution These publick and in the Church of Rome highest Authorities give greater force and credit to those lesser ones of private Writings which are licensed and allowed and are as it were but Comments upon the Text Declarations of the practice of the Church that her Laws are taught and obeyed so that all those Inquisitors Fiscalis's Consultors of the Holy Office and Canonists which have written about the Crime and punishment of Heresie are to be looked upon as the Sentences of the supreme Roman Tribunal or the executions of them Lud.
Sentences of all Judges and Magistrates that do not take such an Oath are void and insignificant The Civil Magistrates as we see are made Officers of the Holy Tribunal even in Venice Padre Paolo tells us c. 6. the Inquisitors would oblige the Assistants who represent the State to swear secrecy to them making it a great Case of Conscience to reveal any of their proceedings without their leave and backing it with this Maxim Checause di fede evono restarappo i Giudici◠della fede That matters that concern the Faith must remain with the Judges of the Faith SECT I. Some Priviledges of the Inquisitors and Cruelties committed or occasioned by it INquisitors are called Defensores fidei Ecclesiae ad gloriam Dei augmentum fidei deputati Defensors of the Faith of the Church deputed for the glory of God and the increase of holy Faith They have power at any time to grant Indulgences of forty days and of three years to them who any ways are assistants against Hereticks They themselves have granted by three Popes as Aimericus in his Directorium tells us Plenary Indulgences and a full Pardon of all their sins both living and dying So that if they are exorbitant in the use of their power and chance to wound their Consciences here is a sure Plaister near at hand They being accountable to none but to the Pope whose Delegats they are and having power to proceed against all sorts of persons even against the Secular and Regular Clergy notwithstanding all exemptions as Villa-Diego cites the Canon Law Pro crimine Haeresis possunt procedere contra omnes etiam exemptos c. have therefore a mighty influence over all Confessors and by their means over all people who either living or dying are so awed by them that can give or deny Absolution that where the Inquisition prevails the Popes Edicts are of more force than any Civil Laws or Evangelical Precepts Padre Paolo chap. 26. gives an instance of it very observable And A Paramo p. 623 c. saith that in their Visitations when the Inquisitors publish their Edict of Justice they command all Confessors to make what inquiries they please and forbid them to absolve any penitents from any thing that concerns Heresie And they enjoyn all under severe penalties to declare who they are that have or have read any Bibles in the Vulgar Tongue or any Heretical Books or have revealed any secret of the Inquisition or spoken any thing against it or not obeyed their Injunctions Which makes their Dominion more formidable and absolute than that of Turkish Emperours We have seen before how they have a numerous train of armed men who have power always and in all places to wear all sorts of Weapons and are devoted to their service and obedience Now these men as well as their Masters are sacred and inviolable as appears by the fore-mentioned Bull of Pius V. But Leo X. had before that anno 1515. ordered that whoever should kill beat or strike any of them should be delivered up to the Secular Power to be burnt as a Heretick It would be endless to rehearse all their priviledges and powers which make the Tribunal of a few in outward appearance contemptible Friers higher more firm more irresistible and dreadful than that of any Potentate upon earth Their Mystick Coat of Arms represents much of this as some make it out very ingeniously A green Cross in Field Sable on the right side a green Olive branch on the left a naked glittering Sword and a Brier round the Cross this Motto Exurge Domine judica causam tuam which is ver 23. of Psal 74. But Torrents of Bloud and devouring Flames had been more proper to represent what use they make of their might Out of their own Writings and other Authors since the time of Ferdinand and Isabella a man might gather a dismal Catalogue of men of Fame Learning and Piety whom they have by various torments murthered in several Kingdoms for being Hereticks besides Millions known only to themselves whom they have likewise destroyed A Paramo tells us of more than thirty thousand burnt in Sicily in less than 150. years under pretence of being Magicians That in Portugal Didacus de Sylva being supreme Inquisitor so many and some even of the principal men were miserably harassed imprisoned bound tortured condemned that about the year 1535. the King was mightily affected with pity and with much ado stopt and reversed those bloudy proceedings And the same Author cites Hieronimus Zurita to witness that in a few years more than one hundred thousand in Sevil alone were several ways put to death and that more than five thousand houses remained empty for a great while But it would no doubt exceed much all other accounts and be the astonishment of the world if the Registers of the Inquisition for the two last hundred years should come to publick view and we could see in them the numbers of men they have slain and the sorts of tortures they have made them endure that were or were suspected to be such Hereticks as we Thuanus in l. 3. giving an account of the great prevalency of the Lutheran Doctrine even in Italy and how the Tyranny of the Inquisition was let loose upon all that but looked towards it gives this short account of that Holy Tribunal Ejus horror odium ingens augebat horrorem perversa praepostera judiciorum forma quae contra naturalem aequitatem omnem legitimum ordinem in jurisdictione illa explicanda observatur tum etiam immanitas tormentorum quibus plerunque contra veritatem quicquid delegatis judicibus libebat à miseris innocentibus reis ut se cruciatibus eximerent per vim extorquebatur That is That it is the object of the greatest dread and hatred because the method of its proceedings is against all Order and Justice and natural Equity and because by direful unnatural tortures the Judges make innocent Criminals suffer and say what they please I know there have been Massacres and bloudy Executions in many places where there is no Inquisition In France many Towns of the poor Waldenses were destroyed and the Inhabitants Men Women and Children most barbarously murthered Thuan. l. 6. The Parisian St. Bartholomeo some years after is also sadly remarkable what hapned since here and elsewhere upon the same account cannot be forgotten The Jesuit Strada l. 2. saith that besides those that suffered under Queen Mary the severities she used to purge this Kingdom of Heresie drove away no less than thirty thousand persons out of it How many in lesser numbers endured great persecutions and died at the the Stake for many years in most places of Europe where the Popish Religion and Power had the prevalency is known only to that God who hears the voice of Innocent bloud and is the Revenger of it though many Authors have transmitted to Posterity large memorials of those cruelties some in detestation some in commendation
of them What hapned in the Low Countries where Philip II. by fire and sword and great violence for the establishing of the Spanish Inquisition provoked the People in their own defence to undertake that long and bloudy War which cost him seven Provinces Thuanus What was done in France against the two Henries by that rebellious League which the Pope abetted and which undertook to set up his authority Inquisition and Tridentine Council These two memorable attempts in the behalf of Papal Inquisition against Heretical pravity have shed so much Christian bloud that nothing but that very power and Tribunal they were designed to promote have ever made greater effusions of it And I am of opinion that were all things duly considered and compared it would clearly appear that there have been as great slaughters outrages inhumanities committed as many Martyrs made by Rome Papist since Dominic and the Inquisition appeared as was done by Rome Pagan in the Ten Persecutions for three hundred years Rev. xvii 6. And I saw the Woman drunken with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration SECT II. Of the prohibiting of Books and the Indices expurgatorii AMong the many priviledges of the Inquisitors it is none of the least that the Censure of Books belongs to them whereever they have a Tribunal by which means they keep the People in as much ignorance as they please and furnish the learned with none but such Books as tend to establish the Roman Faith and their own Authority For these two there being in those Popish Countries so very many Books so fierce and positive and none appearing to contradict them it is no wonder if persons of all ranks lie under great invincible prejudices in those Points that are disputed betwixt us and the Church of Rome whether such as concern the Faith or the Power of the Magistrates or those common Rights of humanity which belong to all mankind where we and our opinions are represented as very monstrous and pernicious and there are publick Schools and Lectures of cruelty against us and a great part of the learning is to know the accurate and established methods of destroying Hereticks and men are acquainted with nothing but what makes for the Papal Power and Dominion and these things are inculcated and taught with great assiduity and great industry and a very strict watch is had against all Persons Books or Opinions that could any ways thwart or oppose those received Maxims it must needs have a mighty influence upon the minds and persuasions of men The Officers of the Inquisition who have nothing else to do are so numerous powerful inquisitive and diligent that it is matter of the greatest danger and difficulty to print or import any Books that should savour of what they call Heresie or maintain the just rights of Temporal Princes against the Spiritual Monarch For this last saith the Judicious Padre Paolo When a Potentate hath not the favour of him that commands in Ecclesiastical causes Religion is made a pretext to oppress him Of which he gives instances Chap. 1. and amongst them that when the Pope was fallen out with the Venetians any Books that came out in Favour of the Republick were forbidden by the Papal Inquisitions under colour of Heresie It is but giving any thing hard and terrible names and forbidding all things that can be said in the defence of it and then it will be easie to impose on the People Relating to this I shall transcribe out of the last mentioned Author part of Chap. 29. The matter of Books seems to be a thing of small moment because it treats of words but through these words come opinions into the world which cause partialities Seditions and finally Wars they are words it is true but such as in consequence draw after them Hosts of armed men By forbidding Books which at Rome are not liked of although they be good and godly because they maintain Temporal Power great wrong is done to Sovereign Princes to such especially as would rule with the Arts of Peace who use Books as a chief Instrument to cause people to believe as a firm truth that the Prince is Ordained by God and Ruleth with Divine Authority and the Subject consequently in Conscience is bound to obey him and not doing it offendeth God because that the Prince by the Law of God is above every person that is within his Dominions and may lay burthens on mens Estates as publick necessities require Where these things which are most true are believed a State may easily be governed but where contrary opinions are held great disorders must needs happen But as there was always in Gods Church those who made use of Religion for worldly ends so the number of them is more full These under a spiritual pretence but with an ambitious end and desire of worldly wealth would free themselves of the obedience due unto the Prince and take away the love and reverence due to him by the people to draw it to themselves To bring it to pass they have newly invented a Doctrine which talks of nothing but Ecclesiastical greatness liberty immunity and jurisdiction This Doctrine was unheard of until about the year 1300. Neither is there any Book concerning it before this time then did they begin to write of it scatteringly in some Books but there were not above two Books which treated of nothing else but this until the year 1400. and three until the year 1500. After this time the number encreased a little but it was tolerable After the year 1560. this Doctrine began to encrease in such manner that they gave over writing as they used before of the Mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity of the Incarnation of Christ of the Creation of the World and other Mysteries of the belief and there is nothing Printed in Italy but Books in diminution of Secular Authority and exaltation of the Ecclesiastical and such Books are not Printed by small numbers but by thousands Those people which have learning can read nothing else the Confessors likewise know none other Doctrine neither need they any other Learning to be approved of Whence comes in a perverse opinion universally that Princes and Magistrates are human Inventions yea and Tyrannical that they ought only by compulsion to be obeyed that the disobeying of Laws and defrauding the publick Revenues doth not bind unto sin but only unto punishment And contrariwise that every beck of Ecclesiastical persons ought to be taken for a divine Precept and binds the Conscience and this Doctrine is perhaps the cause of all the inconveniences which are felt in this Age. Here we may see as I noted before whence the disloyal and factious Principles of our Dissenters come and by whose instigation they likely have been moved to act as they have done Our Author adds That as they condemn and persecute Books that come out in the
justice upon Hereticks are most dearly beloved of God and all his Saints and Franciscus Sanctius de la Fuente Inquisitor and Scribe was tired with writing down what miracles hapned So that henceforth we may suppose they will rest satisfied as to this inquiry And it is no small proof that the Court of Rome as well as that of Heaven hath great veneration for the Holy Office when more than an hundred years ago more than forty Inquisitors had been made Cardinals and five had obtained the Treble Crown of Pope A Paramo tells us Nay Franciscus Ziletus tells the Cardinal Gambara who was of the Congregation of the Inquisition and makes it the superlative degree of his commendations Summis tuis meritis in supremum hunc ordinem cooptatus in quo tam praeclare te gessisti ut dignissimus fueris judicatus qui in sacro isto Magistratu Inquisitionis sederes cujus ea est dignitas meritum ac auctoritas ut summi Pontifices ex eo fere deligantur That his great merits having brought him him to the high honour of being a Cardinal he had in that station so nobly behaved himself as to be raised to the sacred Magistrature of the Congregation of the Inquisition whereof such is the dignity merit and power that for the most part the high Pontifs or Popes are chosen out of it Than which nothing upon earth can exalt higher the honour of the Holy Office CHAP. XV. The Conclusion A Few Reflections on what hath been said shall conclude all at present upon this subject And first if those of the Communion of the Church of Rome that live amongst us by reading this Book or consulting the Authorities I have cited remain satisfied that the faith and worship peculiar to their Church are such as I have described in the two first Chapters and that such severities as I represent afterwards are used by her against all that dissent from her then I would have them consider whether that part of their Religion which occasions the breach betwixt them and us depend not more on the Papal authority and be not more doubtful and suspicious liable to more objections than that common Christianity which we hold all together They may believe themselves to be in the Right mankind may be abused we see the greater part of the world are Turks and Pagans but they cannot that have conversed with us think that either our Lives or Doctrines are so abominably impious and wicked as the Papal Decrees and proceedings of the Inquisition make them Nay I expect from their Candor that they will believe we are in earnest when we protest that we have no other design in professing what we do but to please God and make our Souls happy that we would with our hearts and souls be amongst them if we thought truth were there but that after our best enquiries remaining persuaded we have it of our side we think our selves obliged under peril of damnation to own and follow it though thereby we expose our selves to the greatest extremities But if we are mistaken and they are pleased to call us Hereticks yet I would desire them to consider further whether such cruelties as their Church commands and executes against us be a likely means to make us have a better opinion of it and change our former persuasions I believe many of them have too much knowledge and humanity to approve of those violent and bloudy proceedings which we complain of But then what do they think of a Religion that doth enjoyn practice and commend them as the greatest service that can be done to God Can it be thought that the Institution of the merciful Saviour of the world allows of Croisadoes and Massacrees of Dungeons and Fetters of Tortures and Flames of all that can create horror in the minds of men and pain in their bodies and that he hath left his Vicar power to make use of them for to propagate and maintain his Faith If all the Bloudy Laws and Edicts the Church of Rome hath made against Christians of other Communions if all the means she hath used to make them miserable in the world and to send them out of it if all the Racks and Gibbets and Instruments of cruelty used by her Inquisitors if all those human Creatures she hath with great inhumanities slain and burnt alive in behalf of her Religion and to gain and maintain her Wealth and Power if all these could be seen altogether at once it would be the saddest object of pity that ever eyes beheld and an Argument which few could resist that sure Rome is not his Church nor holds not his Religion whose Kingdom was not of this world who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and who commanded his Disciples to be meek and lowly to forgive Injuries and render good for evil and by all the methods of Patience Charity and Beneficence to win mankind to the belief and profession of his most merciful and heavenly Doctrine Here also those of the Roman Persuasion may see why now lately the belief of a Popish Plot hath been so generally entertained amongst us Some of them seem to take it very unkindly that we of the Church of England should believe any thing of it and they wonder much that we do not see how that it was an invention of the Dissenters to involve them and us into a common ruin But though it must be confessed that the Dissenters have made a very ill use of the discovery of the Plot and that many particular persons of the Roman Communion that protest of their innocence ignorance and abhorrence of it are to be credited yet it is most true that such a Plot there may be and warranted by all the Laws of their Church they themselves may have generous and merciful dispositions I will not deny it But that their Religion is very cruel as to what concerns Hereticks they must not deny When their late Councils and Popes and Doctors have made Declarations and Laws that Hereticks Princes and all may and must be destroyed by all means possible That no Pact no Promise made to them doth any ways oblige that whatever Roman Catholicks can say or do to them in order to their Ruin is lawful and commendable that what in other Cases would be Perjury Treachery and Murther when used against Hereticks is Justice and an holy Zeal that the Crime of Heresie is so crying so enormous such a High Treason against God that all that love him are authorized and â—ound to prosecute and revenge it that accordingly the Church for the propagation and defence of the Faith hath used with great success those methods against Hereticks and where she had power erected Tribunals and Commissioned Officers for their punishment and extirpation When we see this in their Books and all the world may read it there are we to be told there is no such thing or may we not believe that they that profess
obedience to â—at Church would easily engage themselves to venture their lives for the extirpation of a Pestilent Northern Heresie as Coleman calls it Whether or no they that are accucused have designed and attempted such things as hath been deposed by persons from amongst them is not mine to determine that belongs to Magistrates and Judges But I am confident it is easie to be made out more demonstrably if what I have said be not sufficient to prove it that for what is laid to their charge they have as ample and full encouragements and authorities as their Church in any case can give And that supposing they had as is said undertaken the Deposition or Murther of his Sacred Majesty and others that stood in their way in order to bring in the Roman Catholick Faith it was only the executing the often repeated Sentences of the Sovereign Tribunal of Rome against such as are guilty of the unpardonable crime of Heretical Pravity Having also the same power as well to forswear and deny as to act any of the Premises I am a Witness against none of them and for ought I know they may be Innocent but it is proved that their Religion is guilty and would countenance and reward the destruction of Hereticks however effected And then it should not be much wondred at that we think it possible some of them may be led by the Principles of their Church and in compliance with the Sacred Sanctions and Decrees of it might consult and contrive how to do justice upon us for so they call in the Roman Language what in ours is Treason Murther and Cruelty The Jesuits are charged with all these and there are commonly loud clamours against them as if they alone were the cause of our miseries and dangers But I say though they may be more zealous for the Papacy and more obsequious to it obliged by their fourth Vow yet the Inquisition was erected and had done great execution long before their Order appeared and most of those Canons Bulls and Decretals that devote us to destruction were enacted published and executed before their name was heard of in the world so that if they out-do others in being more active and more fierce against us this is all can be said that they are most true to their Church and Religion and best deserve the name of down-right Roman Catholicks Lastly Here our Neighbours of the Roman Communion may see why we also of the Church of England are so affraid of them and their Religion They may observe that we joyn not with popular factions that we do not instigate the Vulgar to be violent against them that in our converse with them they find us courteous and kind and that we declared when there was danger on all hands to do it that if God after that most excellent Prince under whom we live should suffer another of their Persuasion to succeed we would own and obey him and whatever dangers and persecutions we might be exposed to be dutiful and loyal as becomes true Christians But then we know that their Religion obligeth them to deal very ill by us that are declared Hereticks and we know not how far they may think themselves bound to comply with those obligations We know that a Prince of their Communion would have the same and stronger ties upon him to endeavour the extirpation of Heresie and we know not how far the pressing importunity of the Roman Court and Clergy or the fear of undergoing the Fate of the two Henries of France might prevail upon him We know that what interest they have had here at Court hath been used for the depressing of our Clergy for the weakening the settlement and Constitution of our Church for the encouraging of the Sectaries against us for bringing our Peace and established Religion into confusion and contempt and that that we are not yet ruined is altogether owing to Gods infinite Mercy and to the Kings Goodness And we are persuaded upon very good grounds that if the change were brought about and their Church had here that Power which it hath whereever their Religion is uppermost that we should be in a most miserable condition forced to abjure what in our Conscience we believe to be the true and saving Religion of our dear Saviour forced to embrace and practise what we believe to be altogether false and superstitious or forced by the prosecution of those Laws against Hereticks which they count Sacred and Divine to be poor despised and persecuted or to lie in Goals and burn at the Stake Some of these things we have had occasion to know and the others we have very just cause to fear and therefore though we would not do any thing unjust or illegal to preserve our selves yet we would be very glad to be more secure and would have been very well satisfied and very thankful if it had pleased the late Parliaments to have made Laws according to his Majesties most gracious offer for the limiting the power of a Popish Successor if ever such a one there should be and putting the administration of the Government into Protestant hands for the preserving the Established Religion without destroying Monarchy I say for this we would have blessed God and the King and our Representatives had they thought fit to have done that for us and we would have thought our selves much safer and happier than we are as they have left us exposed naked to all that may happen Our Consciences and Persuasions oblige us by Reason and Argument and all Christian and Equitable ways to oppose the Papal Religion which we believe to be highly dishonourable to God and prejudicial to the souls of men therefore though we rail not and make not such out-cries as some are apt to do yet by serious Writings and Discourses we think our selves bound to confirm our people in the Protestant Religion We are not apt to start at Bugbears and shadows nor to fill the heads of the People with Pannick and groundless terrours yet we have very sad apprehensions of what we must be if we should come under the Power of Rome and will do what justly we may to preserve our Religion and Freedoms and prevent what to us appears upon all accounts most dreadful and terrible the Roman Catholick Faith and Inquisition As for them that are Protestants I desire them to observe how afflicted hath been the Condition of millions of our Christian Brethren whilst they were exposed to those severe Roman Tribunals of which I have given some account and to think with pity on the great oppressions and sufferings of many who still in many Countries groan under Papal Tyranny And then to pay their hearty thanks and acknowledgments to God for that liberty those immunities and those great blessings we enjoy by living according to the Rules of that pure and holy Reformed Religion which is here established and professed among us by heartily joyning with the Church in offering up with devout