whome God vouchsafed to take the flesh of man And if any of our Religion hath giuen any words of her that may giue the least blemish to her blessed state it was not done in any the least contempt of her but in the zeale they bare to the honour of their Sauiour whome they held dishonoured by the vnequal coÌ„paring of her with him for what will not a Christian mans zeale cause him to doe when he seeth his God dishonoured who would haue thought that Moses would haue cast so carelesly out of his hands so pretious a iewell as were the two Tables written with the finger of God and yet when he heard the name of the Lord blasphemed he forgot himselfe and them and as though he remembred none but God he threw them away and brake them in pieces if Moses his zeale makes his hastines excusable then no reason to condemne them whose zeale gaue passage to their passions and caused them for the honor of the Creator to forget the priuiledge of a Creature and I dare say there neuer was learned man of our profession that presumed to touch the very skirt of the garment of her glory vnlesse they saw her set in comparison with God or Iesus Christ which seeing the Romish Church dare offer to do thereby ecclipsing the glory of Gods mercy and the worthynesse of Christs satisfaction Bonauenture himselfe said that we must take heed least we so farre aduance the glorye of the mother that we diminish the glorye of the sonne we holde it our dutyes to be zealous for the glory of our God and to preserue as farre as in vs lyeth the prorogatiues of our Sauiour if it be said that they match her not with God or Christ I answer they doe and that in such a measure as we dare pronounce her or any Angel accursed that should either arrogate or accept of that which the Romish religion ascribes vnto her Too good euidence hereof hath beene seene in all ages for these 200. yeares last past wherein they haue fallen from honoring her as a Saint to magnifie her as a Mediator to pray to her as to a God to trust in her as in a Sauiour Many perticulars haue beene specified by many of our writers which by the aduersaries could neuer be denied they are so euident yet were they neither recanted nor remoued Reinoldus de Idolatria Catalogus testium veritaetis Perkins of the Idolatrye of the last times but contrarywise they haue proceeded from euil to worse till their blasphemy haue euen peirced the heauens and touched the Crowne of the Almighty confronted the woundes merrits and bloud of our Sauiour Particular instances heereof are many which may be collected out of the Authors of late yeares part whereof shall if God permit be perticularized in this Treatise But aboue all there is one which as it is the latest so is it the fowlest and wherein Popish blasphemye is at the height as now it giues hope to all Christian men that their prayers are heard her end is at hande Reuel and that her iniquitie is come vp before God And there remaines nothing but the reuenging hand of God to be stretched out vppon her We haue it not from the report of merchants from the letters of the posts nor from the Intelligence of Embassadors for then our aduersaries might suspect it Nor from the reporte or writings of our own men for then let the world not beleeue vs but we haue it from the fountaine it selfe euen from the Recorde wherein it is written with the Authors hand and surely if the euidence were not beyonde exception our selues would not beleeue it of them though they be our enemies Thus standeth the case Amongst the late deuices that Romishe pollicye hath forged to vpholde their hierarchye a principall is their art of Miracles which they pretende to haue so ordinarye In 80. the Pope lost all England Scotland Ireland Denmarke Sweden and a great part of Germany France Switzerland Peland and Hungary that in many Churches they haue more miracles then sermons but alas daily experience sheweth that they be lyinge Wonders and no true miracles Now because such tricks are most effectuall to delude the common people and that they finde themselues and their cause to haue lost much of late in many parts of Christendome therefore to recouer themselues and to gaine credit to their forlorne cause they haue most busily applyed this point of late and haue by the crafte of Machiauelian Iesuits as Watson their brother Preist often stiles them so farre preuailed In their quodlibets often that there scarce passeth a month wherin some new Image of our Lady is not found or some strange miracle and wonders heard of Two yeares agoe they caused a storye to be written and published wherein they blush not to make their people beleeue that more miracles See the booke called Iustiâ—â—iptii diua virgo Hallensis and greater then Christ did haue beene and are daily done at Hall a towne in the borders of Brabant and Henault by the virgin Mary at a picture of hers in a Chappell there and this is set out by no vulgar or triuiall fellow but by that famous Apostat Lipsius that the tale may carry the more credit and the miracles are not of ordinary but of the highest nature for healing of freÌ„sieâ— feuers coÌ„uulsions is nothing nay â—airus daughter sight is giuen to the blinde and whereas Christ raised but 3 from the dead that we know of our Lady of Hall saith Lipsius gaue life to 7 at least that wer dead Loe here how far short Christ himselfe is of his mother Omnia quafecit Christus fecit Francâ—scus plura quam fecit Christus fecit Franciscus lib. conformitâ—tum beati Francisci and now we meruaile no more if they haue written that St. Francis did all that Christ did and more then Christ did seeing the picture of his mother can doe more then he did I say the picture of his mother because Georgius fabricius the Popes ceÌ„sor of books in his allowance of this legend of Lipsius saith that God giueth and communicateth downe power to worke miracles not onely to the virgin Mary and the Saints but euen to their Images or pictures beholde good reader a worthy peice of new refined popery Gods diuine power is communicated to the very pictures of creatures strange doctriâ—e of â—opery And if a y man obiect that miracles are not in these dayes to be expected Lipsius hath a learned and catholike answer that now indeede in respect of Christ or to auerre his doctrine or to maintaine his honour they neede not but the case is otherwise saith he with Saints for many doe refuse to worship them and grudge at the honour that in the Romish Church is giuen them By popishe doctrine Christ doth more to establishe the worshipping ot Saints then his owne and therefore to defend them in this point
as we are elect and sanctified so redeemed also not with things corruptible therefore not with milke but with the precious blood of Iesus Christ Behould ye Iesuits and be ashamed Peter is all in Blood blood he knowes no milke There remaines but one for St Iames and St. Iude if they name not Christs blood I am much more sure they name no milke was it St. Iohn the beloued disciple to whome Christ committed her as his mother but not his Sauiour no verily for he is plaine that not the milke of the virgin Mary 1 Iohn 1.7 but the blood of Iesus Christ his sonne clenseth vs from all our sinnes and that there are three which beare witnes on earth 1 Iohn 5.8 the spirit and water and blood behold three witnesses on earth of our sanctification and redemption and of them blood is one but milke is none yea water is and yet milke is not surely if the fathers of the society or the inquisition might be Iudges St. Iohn were sure to be censured to remember water and forget milke But see how St. Iohn and the Iesuits differ they dare match and mixe her milke with his blood hee will neither mixe nor match it so much as with the water shewing that the very water issuing out of his pretious side was more of worth and value then all her milke euen that which fed the flesh of Christ when he was an infant Nay the Apostle hath not yet done Reuel 1.5 but tels vs that Christ loued vs and washed vs not in his mothers milke but in his blood and that the Robes of the Saints are made white euen white yet not in white milke but in the red Blood of the Lambe Reuel 7.14 See heere if euer milke had bene apt it had bene here if euer it had bene seasonable to haue named it here had bene the place for what should make white milke or blood and yet the whitenesse that must clothe the Saints must be dyed not in the milke of our Lady but in the blood of Iesus Christ if his beloued and blessed Apostle Iohn nay if his owne holy word may be beleeued If none of all these was it then her selfe that prescribed this potion and made this mixture no assuredly They say we hishonor disgrace her yet I dare venture euen my soule vpon it that her hart neuer coÌ„sented to such a thought as to match mixe her milk with his blood Luke 1.28 for seeing the Angell saith she was beloued of God I am sure that no creature can be beloued of God that durst offer to match the best thing in him if it were his very harts blood with the blood of his Son no his soule would hate him his wrath break out vpoÌ„ him his vengeance pursue him to destructioÌ„ Farre therfore was she from so vile a thought Luke 1.47 nay her soule reioyced in him her Sauiour so farre was she from making her selfe in any part a sauiour of her selfe yea rather if a Saint in heauen doth heare a blasphemy on earth then doutlesse that blessed soule of hers that magnified her sonne and reioyced in him as her Sauiour will neuer cease to cry and call vpon him to reuenge so high impiety which is so much more haynous in as much as they make the mother the dishonorer of the sonne And if her prayers be as powerfull with him as their doctrine teacheth assuredly she will not cease to prouoke his iustice against them till she haue laid their tottering kingdome flat on the earth for erecting vp her as an Idoll against her sonne and for mixing her milke with his pretious blood Thus then if neither God the Father nor Christ Iesus nor the Holy Ghost nor Moses nor the Prophets nor the Apostles nor the blessed Virgin her selfe did any of them prescribe this potion nor make this mixture It followeth that either the Diuell was the deuiser of it or else that they framed it out of their owne braines and therefore are to be iudged Mountebankes and spirituall deceiuers who make shew to the worlde they haue a confection of miraculous vertue when indeed it is a perfect poyson to all that take it for if S. Paul say true â— Galath 5.2 that if we ioyne circumcision to Christ Christ shall profit vs nothing then without all controuersie if we mixe the milke of a creature with the blood of the mediator that blood of his hath lost the vertue and shall ptofit vs nothing And thus the Church of Rome hath spunne a faire threed she will needes haue both the sonne and the mother to be hers in such a maner as she hath lost them both and made them both her enemies the mother to be her bitter accuser and the sonne to be her angry Iudge But thus hath God in Iustice blinded her that whereas for these 2 or 300. yeares past she came to this height of blasphemous deuotion as to trust more the piety of the Mother then the merrits of the sonne often to appeale from him to her * This is ordâ—nary in many otheir bookes especially Bernardine de Buâ— to his marialeâ— reuelationes Brigere and others Now at last by this dealing they haue taken the direct course to turne her against them also and to make her curse and abhor them and their superstition who dare make her name and her milke to be the dishonourers of her sonne her Sauiour and his pretious bloud Thus we haue heard and seene the strangest peece of phisicke and most vnequall mixture that yet was euer heard of The blood of God and milke of a woman are mixed to make a cordiall potion But now what will this potion do what is the operation of it hearken to the Mountebankes proclamation and he will tell you Thus he cries Vulnera restituent turpeÌ„ vlceribus mendicum Testa cui saniem reddere sola potest Vbera reficient Ismaelem sitientem Quem Sara non patitur quem neque nutrit Agar illa mihi ad Pestem procul procul expuÌ„geÌ„daÌ„ Ista mihi ad loÌ„gas eualitura febres That is These wounds the sores do clense cure full wel Which none can dresse but scrape theÌ„ with a shell These brests the fainting Ismael wel would cherish WhoÌ„ Sara would not Hagar could not norish The first from me expels all pestilence The second driues all lingring feuers hence Now he tells vs what his phisicke will doe and that perticularly in both his simples the blood the milke and as for the one of them that is the blood and wounds of the mediator if he had ascribed much more vnto them he might haue past with praise for vs for hee cannot sufficiently extoll the merit vertue of them but as for the other that is the milke of a woman tho it be the blessed virgin or a confection of both there he sheweth himselfe both impious in making such a mixture as also a vaine
himselfe to the Virgin Mary If any Man feele himselfe agrieued at the iustice of God seeing God hath deuided his kingdome with her for whereas God hath Iustice and mercy he hath reserued Iustice to himselfe to be exercised in this world as it pleaseth him but Mercy he hath committed to his mother If therefore any man finde himselfe agrieued in the Court of Gods Iustice let him appeale to the Court of mercy of his mother This diuinity was so well relisht in the Romish Church that after he had preacht it he publisht it vnder the Popes owne Patronage and the booke was againe printed within these three yeares but what say the Iesuits to it they testifie that this booke is a learned and godly booke full of goodnesse and piety Fourthly Horatius Tursellinus himselfe a Iesuit of good esteeme amongst them Horatius Turellinus in Hiâ—toria virg lauâ—tanae in prefat writes thus Almighty God hath made the Virgin his mother as farre as he may lawfully partaker of his diuine power and Maiesty Now surely if God haue made her fellow with him of his diuine maiesty lesse maruel if Christ haue made her fellow in the worke of redemption Posseuinus in â—it H. And this booke written by a Iesuit hath publike allowance and is dedicated to Cardinall Aldobrandino Fiftly a great Spanish Doctor and professor of diuinity of his order writes thus Iohn Chriâ—ostomus a visiâ—atione de vertis domine to 2 â—ib 2 cap. 2. We haue often seene and heard of very many who in their extreame dangers haue called vpon Mary and presently were deliuered for oft times safety is sooner obtained by calling vpon the name of Mary then by calling vpoÌ„ the name of Iesus Christ the sonne of God Posseâ—inus â—â— apparatu â—icro lit l And this booke is both dedicated to Pope Clement the 8. receiues publike allowaÌ„ce by the Iesuits his name is Chrisostome as tho he were a golden mouthed speaker but if this be his doctrine that her mediation is as powerfull or rather more then is her sonnes it is pitty but he should be calld and accounted a leaden mouthed wretch By all these many more that as the learned know might easily be produced it may appere that this blaspheming Iesuit Bonarscius in this his detestable comparison of her milk with Christs blood saith no more in effect then others both of his religion perticular sect and therefore it may be iustly concluded this is the doctrine and diuinity not of him alone but of the Iesuits and of the popish Church it selfe as long as it stands approued or vncondemned by them Now then if this be the diuinity of the Romish Church 1. That a Creatures milke may be mingled with Christs blood in the matter merit of our saluation 2. That it helpes and heales spirituall sores of the soule as well as the blood 3. That though no man did yet a woman did help God in the worke of our saluation 4. That the Psalmes may be turned from Lord to Lady 5. That a man may appeale from God to the Virgin Mary 6. That God hath deuided his kingdome with her keeping Iustice to himselfe and surrendring Mercy to her 7. That God hath made her pertaker with himselfe of his diuine power and Maiesty 8. That a mans prayers are often heard rather by and through her then Christ Iesus If these I say be the doctrines of the present Church of Rome then let the Christian world be pleased to obserue 1. How farre the present Romish Church is degenerate from the antient 2. How great cause we and al Churches of God haue to seperate from such a sinagogue 3. How iustly they may be pronounced Antichristian who thus hainously disparage the person and office of the Mediator 4. How vntrue it is that by many is suggested that the present religion of Rome is much reformed refined at this day for it is most certaine in the former times these would haue beene condemned as blasphemies euen in the Romish Church it selfe And lastly you of this most Honorable and reuerend assembly of the church CoÌ„mon-wealth of England may here see what cause there is to pronounce the true Papists Hereticks considering the present Church holds not onely these but many other fundamentall errors both for matter of faith and of gouernement which are perticularized in my Epistle And considering that all meanes haue beene vsed to reclaime and reforme her but all is in vaine for she is that Babilon that will not be healed wherefore it is our duty to forsake her and leaue her to the iust hand of God Thus shall we follow the counsell of the Prophet in the like case who saith we would haue healed Babylon but she vvould not be healed let vs forsake her and goe euery man to his owne Countrey for her Iudgement is come vp to heauen and lifted vp to the cloudes