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
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
and Canon that you shall be finally and perpetually imprisoned betwixt bare Walls there to perform a salutary Penance with Bread and Water the bread of sorrow and the water of tribulation and that you N. and you N. because you have more grievously offended shall be kept perpetually in Chains and Irons in a more narrow and uneasie place charging and requiring every one of you upon the Oath which you have taken that without delay you transport your selves to the Walls of Tholose which is appointed to such Criminals as you and that therein you descend and shut up your selves And now if you shall neglect to fulfil what we here appoint you by not entring within those Walls or by coming out of them without our licence or the licence of our Successors in this holy Office or if at any time hereafter you any ways transgress against what you have sworn and abjured and shew your selves impenitent and that your Confession was but fained you shall be thenceforth taken for perjured and impenitents and shall return under your former Chains of guilt And by our foresaid Apostolick Authority we Excommunicate you and all them that shall knowingly receive defend counsel or favour you decreeing by these presents that you and they shall for ever after be uncapable of the benefit of Absolution And we reserve to our selves and to our Successors in this Office full and free power to change what we shall think fit in this our Sentence by making it more grievous or easie SECT II. Of the Crimes of the Waldenses THe Sentences against relaps'd and impenitent Hereticks who were delivered to the Secular Power to be burned have the same form mutatis mutandis So have also the Sentences against such as were to wear only the Sanbenit a certain kind of Coat with yellow Crosses upon it But I do not find by what tortures they made their Inquisitions nor how they dealt privately with their Prisoners we have only in this Register what the Inquisitors did publickly in the Cathedral Church of S. Stephen before the general Assembly of the Clergy and people I shall therefore at present out of this Manuscript observe only that the Crimes of such as were to be put to death or otherwise punished were only such wicked heresies and deeds as these That they were obstinate or that they returned as the dog to their vomit or that they had not persecuted and detected Hereticks as they were obliged by their Oaths that they had been made to confess with great difficulty or not till they were accused by others and taken and detained in Jail or that when they came to their Pastors or went away from them they had kneeled and craved their blessing Ter adorabant eos dicentes benedicite and to some Rogate Dominum pro nobis quod perducat nos ad bonum finem pray God to bring us to a happy end or that they believed those whom the Church of Rome called Hereticks to be good men and Professors of the truth and that they had commended their good lives to many believing for so many years that they might be saved in their way or that they had fled or endeavoured to flee into Lombardy or that they had concealed some that were fled from the Inquisitors or privately buried some Hereticks in their Gardens or that when they were sick some Hereticks had been brought to comfort them or else that they had comforted or promised to comfort some dying Hereticks or that they had heard them or read some of their Books or eaten of their blessed Bread or that they believed themselves descended from the Apostles of Christ and that their Pastors had from them that power of binding and loosing which Christ gave to blessed Peter and afterwards to the other Apostles that they did believe there were but three Orders in the Church Bishops Priests and Deacons the Church of Rome makes seven That they thought the Excommunications of the Church of Rome would not be their damnation That they did not believe themselves to be subject to the Pope and Prelates of the Roman Church because they persecuted them unjustly or that they had attempted to flee or had not come to confess lest if they came into the Inquisitors hands their Children should starve and perish One or two or more of these were the most abominable Crimes which with many cruelties they made those poor Waldenses to confess and for which they burnt immured or otherwise punished them And nothing can more clear the Innocence of those persecuted people than the accusations and convictions which were then brought against them in the Courts of the Inquisitors their profest and implacable enemies wherein we see nothing of those either silly or impious Errors which many of the Romish Writers are pleased to impute to them So much I thought fit to say concerning those pretended Hereticks who first felt the merciless barbarities of the Papal Inquisition CHAP. V. Of the restoring of the Inquisition NOw I shall give you some account of the setting up or restoring the Sacred Tribunal in several places The Inquisition was so successful in Tholosa and it so well agreed with the principles of the Popish Religion and the genius of the Roman Popes that Frier Lambertus was authorized to be St. Dominic's Coadjutor to help him to promote that work which so well prospered in his hands And that holy Father Innocent III. and his Successors used all their strength and endeavours and watched all opportunities to erect in all places such a Court as holy Dominic did manage In many Cities of France and even in Paris it was erected as appears by a Bull of Pope Alexander 47. 1258. In Hetruria and other parts of Italy the Franciscan Friers were made Inquisitors and appointed to proceed anno 1258. Gregory IX some twenty years before had in Navarra and the adjacent parts committed the judging and punishing of Heresie by way of Inquisition to the Dominicans In Lombardy also which was the refuge of the Waldenses Dominic had at the very first taken care that they should be duly prosecuted and destroyed In the Belgick Provinces Frier Robert and other Inquisitors did burn very many of the Albigenses In many parts of Germany also the like was done by times In Spain and Portugal it is more uncertain when the Inquisition began and some are of opinion there was none in those parts before King Ferdinand But A Paramo tells us that in some Cities in Castile there are extant Bulls of Clement IV. 1267. whereby the Provincial of the Dominicans is impowered to appoint out of his Order Inquisitors against Heretical pravity in all the parts of that Kingdom which the Christians possessed And that Boniface IX granted by a Bull the same power to Vincentius Lisboa and to Tostatus Abulensis who in his works mentions Inquisitors among the Spaniards SECT I. The erecting of the Spanish Inquisition BUt if Spain was free for some time of the Inquisition it
sanctorum Apostolorum Petri Pauli istorum omnium sanctorum ut illis proficiat ad honorem nobis autem ad salutem illi pro nobis intercedere dignentur in coelis quorum memoriam agimus in terris Amen Receive O holy Trinity this Oblation which we offer to thee for the remembrance of the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary of St. John the Baptist of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul of these and of all Saints that it may advance their honour and our salvation and that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven whose memory we celebrate on earth by the same our Lord Jesus Christ Amen After this their offering of Christ in honour of the Saints we may well think that they judge nothing is too good or too much for them And so when they bless the Images either of Christ or of any Saint they serve them alike sprinkle them with Holy Water burn Incense to them and pray for all in the same manner Omnipotens sempiterne Deus c. O God who dost not dislike that we should paint or carve Images or semblances of thy Saints we beseech thee that this Image made for the honour or memory of thy Son or of such an Apostle or Martyr may by thee be blessed and sanctified and that thou wouldst grant to all that shall supplicate and serve such a Saint before it that they may by that Saints mediation obtain Grace here and Glory herafter Amen But to the Image of the blessed Virgin there are more Prayers and amongst them this is said or sung by the Bishop and assistants whilst he sprinkles it Sub tuum praesidium confugimus sancta Dei Genitrix nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus sed à periculis cunctis libera nos semper virgo gloriosa benedicta We flee to thy protection holy Mother of God despise not our Prayers in our necessities But deliver us from all dangers at all times O glorious and blessed Virgin So at all occasions and in all parts of their publick Worship God hath nothing peculiar to himself And every where with our blessed Saviour some Saint or other is joyned They excommunicate and they absolve Auctoritate Dei omnipotentis Beatorum Apostolorum c. By the authority of God and of his Saints And it is so in all their Ministrations while they live And when they are dying Holy Water is plentifully sprinkled and the Image of that beloved Saint they had most devotion to is set before them as the Ritual appoints and the Soul is bid to go forth in peace in the name of Angels and Archangels of Patriarchs and Pâ—ophets of Apostles and Martyrs of holy Monks and Eremits and of all the Saints And the weak man is taught to say with heart or voice Sancie Angele Dei mihi Custos assiste omnes sancti c. Holy Angel that art my Guardian assist me and pray for me and succour me all ye holy Angels and Saints And then to the blessed Virgin Maria mater gratiae mater misericordiae tu nos ab hoste protege hora mortis suscipe Mary Mother of grace and of mercy protect us from our Enemies and receive us when we die And as in their Prayers so in their Glorifications the Saints must be partners with Almighty God every where as this one instance proves enough Sacrosanctae individuae Trinitati c. Eternal praise honour vertue and glory be by all Creatures evermore rendred to the holy and individual Trinity To the Fruitfulness and integrity of the most blessed and glorious Virgin and universally to all Saints This Magnificat hath an Indulgence annext to it by Pope Leo X. and is daily said by all that recite the Breviary By what hath been said and much more which is to be seen in their publick and most authorized Books and daily practice may appear what credit is to be given to those Romish Emissaries who very confidently deny their praying to Saints or giving them any Worship in the Church of Rome But that I may not be tedious I forbear to give any more proofs to the contrary and conclude with this which is in their ordinary and allowed Manual of English devotions Thus O holy and glorious Virgin Mary I commend my soul and body into thy blessed trust and singular custody and this night and ever especially in the hour of my death I commit to thy merciful charity all my hope and consolation all my distress and miseries my life and the end thereof that by thy most holy Intercession all my works may be directed according to the will of thy blessed Son Amen It is now clear that no Christian that fears to offend God by imparting to others that honour and worship due to him alone can joyn with the Church of Rome in their publick Worship Nor possibly live in a Communion where such a new Creed is imposed as hath been seen before But therefore they make use of Inquisition that where Conscience keeps men from assenting and complying with such Errors Superstitions and Idolatries there Terror may make them submit This is that Popish Religion without which as they say no man shall live in heaven and without which if they can no man shall live upon earth Here it appears that it was not a few tolerable abuses that made a great part of the Christian world so long wish and attempt and at last with great trouble and danger effect a happy Reformation here in the Western Churches wherein the Popes Tyranny had set up and imposed his Religion Their indispensable duty and allegiance to their God and Saviour obliged them to do it The terms of Communion with the Church of Rome were hardly consistent with the profession of Christianity and were most injurious to God and repugnant to that Faith and Worship revealed and appointed in the Gospel by our blessed Saviour God must be obeyed rather than Man And no compleasance no consideration whatever obligeth any man to destroy or venture his own Salvation This was their warrant and upon this they might well expose themselves to those cruel persecutions they endured for being counted Rebels to the Pope But what is there can oblige any man enlightned with the knowledge of the truth to separate from this Church Whereof the Faith is not a new and disputable Creed but that pure Primitive and Catholick Doctrine which is contained in the New Testament and wherein God alone is duly worshipped the Sacraments of Christ rightly administred wherein there are holy Prayers conformable to Gods Word humbly offered to him in the name of his blessed Son wherein the Ceremonies are few and grave and decent fit to express and to encrease our Reverence and Devotion and wherein the great design appears plainly to be Gods glory and mens salvation What man that loves Goodness and Piety and in the profession of
Christianity seeks only to serve God and save his own soul can break Communion with this Church if he be within its Precincts Or will not rather judge it as much his duty to joyn with it as to separate from Rome A Government and Order and a Liturgy of necessity there must be all Christian all Reformed Churches have and maintain them to prevent Confusions Prophaness and Innovations such as are here amongst us established oblige to nothing that God hath forbid under them we may be vertuous and Religious in the highest degree and ought therefore to be meek and peaceable thankful to God that he hath graciously freed us from those Romish impositions before mentioned They that would break those Rules that are now fix'd and established either have little value for true Christian Religion or are willing to make way for Popish Innovations or will make it appear that some tempers are so ungovernable that nothing can hold them but that Yoke and Tyranny of which I am now to speak CHAP. III. How the Inquisition came to be established and first of the Oaths and Excommunications wherewith they tie the Consciences of men IT is not for denying any Article of the Christian Faith that we like our fore-fathers are bloudily persecuted where-ever the Popes power can reach Neither is it that we worship a False God or are any ways impious against the True one Father Son and Holy Ghost It is for rejecting that Romish Creed and Worship whereof I treated before And it was not to maintain Christianity but those corruptions that Inquisition was invented and used with so much rigour Any one that hath read the Life and Doctrine of our blessed Lord will easily judge that cruelties are destructive of her Religion and cannot be fit Instruments to propagate or maintain it But the maintaining of that formidable Empire and Dominion the Pope and his Clergy have got into their hands requires they should proceed with that inexorable severity they practise against them that dissent from those Doctrines on which is grounded their power therefore they oblige all that have any Jurisdiction among them by a strict Oath of Allegiance to be the Popes Subjects and to endeavour all possible ways to make others be so Thus Ego N. electus Ecclesiae vel Monasterii N. ab hac hora in antea fidelis obediens ero Beato c. I N. elect of such a Church or Monastery from henceforth will be faithful and obedient to blessed Peter the Apostle and to the Holy Roman Church and to our Lord Pope N. and to his lawful Successors I will give no counsel or consent that they should lose Life or Limb or be any way injured upon any account I will never to their detriment reveal to any what counsel they shall trust me with by their Nuncios or themselves I will help them against any man saving my Order to keep and maintain the Roman Papacy and the Regalities of St. Peter I will assist their Legates going and coming and contribute to their necessities I will endeavour to preserve defend and encrease the authority rights honours and priviledges of the Holy Roman Church and of our Lord the Pope and of his Successors And I will no way contribute but rather detect and hinder any thing that should be to their prejudice With all my strength will I observe and cause to be observed by others all the Rules of the Fathers and all Apostolick i. e. Papal Decrees and Commands Provisions and Reservations All Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels to our said Lord the Pope and to his Successors will I oppose and persecute I will come when called to Synods and once in three years come to Rome And I will give an account to our Lord the Pope of my Pastoral Office and of all things that pertain to the state of my Church and Clergy All Papal Injunctions I will humbly receive and most diligently execute c. So help me God and these holy Evangils Here is a good hold already whereby all Secular and Regular Prelates are enslaved to the Papacy and to the Roman Doctrine and Worship From which if they or any other swerve then are the direful thunderbolts of Excommunication lanc'd against them with extinguishing of Candles and in the name of God and of his Saints shutting them out of the Church in heaven and in earth denouncing them to be cursed and anathematiz'd and adjudging them to be damned in eternal fire with the Devil and his Angels and all Reprobates As is to be seen in their form of Excommunication All we reputed Hereticks and all others that fall under this severe doom are good for nothing afterwards but to be destroyed any way possible as will be seen in what follows But if any by terror or hope or any other inducement are brought into their Church from among Hereticks he must climb over a high and difficult partition-wall and be tied so short that he shall hardly ever think of a return It is not as they represent to deceive the simple only going amongst them and be within the Pale of the Church and do what you will But after they have drawn you so far that you cannot go back then you must in earnest be reconciled to the Church And this is the manner of it as is prescribed in the Pontificale The penitent Schismatick or Heretick must kneel before the Church-door and there make a Confession of his Faith and have the Devil Exorcised out of him And being brought in and kneeling before the High Altar renounce all heretical pravity and promise to live in the unity of the Roman Faith and have some Prayers and Grosses made over him and then swear obedience to the Pope imprecating damnation to himself if ever he departs from the Communion of his Church and if he were a noted Heretick he is thus kneeling to damn all Heresies that especially which he leaves and pronounce all that still hold it worthy of an eternal Curse and upon his Oath profess to believe from his heart that Faith which is taught by the Roman Church and promise if ever he quits it to submit himself to the severity of the Canons This one would think should be judged sufficient by the Church of Rome to keep men in her obedience But she dares not trust to it as indeed experience hath shewn that long agon the exorbitant greatness of the Papacy had been reduced and a general Reformation effected if nothing but ties of Conscience or Excommunications had been used other means therefore have been found more violent but more effectual Inquisition managed with great rigour and great policy hath been as Pope Sixtus Quintus called it in a Bull I shall cite afterwards Firmissimum Fidei Catholicae propugnaculum The best and strongest Supporter of the Catholick Faith A truth which will manifestly appear when we have seen how it was at first established and hath proceeded ever since SECT I. Of the beginning of the
as makes it most clear that they are highly injured as well in their Names as in their Persons What cruelties were exercised against them by the urgent instigation of this Pope Innocent who by Bulls swarms of Preachers of Croisadoes and the bloudy and traiterous Decrees of his Lateran Council excited and forced many Princes to butcher in most parts of Europe those sheep appointed to be slain what faint resistance they made for a while assisted by several great Princes the Counts of Tholosa Foix Beam and others with Peter King of Aragon how many lying Miracles but truly bloudy Executions were acted by Simon Monfort and other Generals of the Popes Gros't-Souldiers All these are to be seen in Petrus Valissarnensis the Monk who then lived and writ the History of those Albigenses whom he terribly hated Spondanus also hath enough of those matters ad an 1200. deinceps I know that he makes Petrus de Castro novo a Cistercian Monk and Arnoldus Abbot of that Order to be the first Founders of the Inquisition and observes that that Peter being killed by Count Raimond blessed and consecrated that holy Tribunal he had erected in his own bloud But A Paramo will have it that Peter acted as the Popes Legate and as such deputed a power to Dominic to proceed against Hereticks many years before he had the Popes Commission There may be some truth of both sides and it matters not how much or how little only I will remark that when Dominic came to Rome to have his Order confirmed Pope Innocent was very averse to it till he saw in a Vision his Lateran Church and Palace ready to fall but that it was born up and supported by Dominic who indeed by his Inquisition hath upheld that Popish Religion which else had failed long agone SECT I. Of the Waldenses and the proceedings against them I Have been favoured with the sight of a Manuscript which was in the hands of the now Reverend Dean of St. Paul It is the Register of the Inquisition of Tholose genuine and authentick containing the proceedings of that Court for about 80 years against many hundred Hereticks Therein I saw that the forms of the several sorts of Sentences against Delinquents were much the same as they are now And that the account it gives of the Crimes or Heresies of the Waldenses agrees very well with what is found in Reinerus and others for the justification of those persecuted good Christians of whom I shall give a short account These be the offences of one that was fled Transcribed ex Fol. 191. Culpa unius Fugitivi Johannes Aimonius oriundus habitator de Alzona c. anno 1320. In English thus John Aimonius of Alzona c. it appears by his Confession taken in due form of Law that some thirty years before his said Confession his Mother Perotta had as it were bewitched him with certain strangers who used to come to his Fathers house in Alzona that he might not reveal them to any they being of that sort of men who were called Waldenses and who in Burgundy were apprehended by the Inquisitors and burned as many as could be found She commended them to him as good men and he promised he would not disclose them Also that much about that time Geraldus Provincial of the Waldenses did often resort to his Fathers house sometimes alone sometimes with a Companion and once with Robert the Valdensis and there lie and eat and drink of what the house afforded and that he heard his words and admonitions and amongst other things that a mortal sin to swear or kill a man in or out of judgment Also that he saw the said Gerardus and others of the same Sect bless the Table when they dined and supt and that he did eat with them and pray with them according to their way of praying kneeling and bowing themselves and saying the Lords Prayer Item That some three years after one John de Cernone sometimes alone sometimes with other Waldenses came many times to his Fathers house and there lay and eat of any thing freely that he heard them say grace at Dinner and at Supper and did eat at the same Table and pray with them kneeling and bowing himself upon a form as their manner is and that three or four times he confessâ—d his sins to the said John de Cernone and from him received Penance and Absolution although he knew that he was not a Priest ordained by a Bishop of the Roman Church Also that some twelve years before his Confession and some three years after he saw many times at his Fathers house one Bartholomeus de Caiarco Valdensis and did eat and drink and pray with him according to their manner and confess his sins to him and from him receive Penance and Absolution although he knew that he was not a Priest ordained by a Bishop of the Church of Rome And that he heard those Waldenses teach that there is no Purgatory and that the Prayers of the Living do not profit the Dead And that he did believe those Waldenses were good men and might be saved in their Religion though he knew that they were persecuted by the Church of Rome For these Crimes and for his running from their Cruelties this man must have been burnt like a Relapse had he been taken Now here is a specimen of their Sentences against such as were to be immured p. 14 In nomine Domini N. Jesu Christi Amen Quum nos c. In English thus In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Whereas we c. appointed Inquisitors in the Kingdom of France by the Authority of the Pope against heretical pravity have found by an inquisition duly made that you N. N c. have all so many ways and so grievously offended in the crime of damned heresies as it hath been intelligibly read and recited to you in the vulgar tongue you appearing here and at this time personally before us according to our peremptory Command to receive Penance and definitive Sentence and you affirming that you will unfeinedly and heartily return to the unity of the Church and that you do now entirely abjure every Heresie whatsoever and all favour to it and every rite and Doctrine any ways relating to Heretical pravity and that you will hold keep and defend the Catholick Faith and in all things obey according to your Oath the Commands of the Church and our Injunctions We having granted you the benefit of Absolution and released you from those bonds of Excommunication wherewith you were bound for your faults if so be that you return from your heart to the unity of the Church and truly observe what we shall enjoyn you having set before us the most holy Evangils that our Sentence may come from the presence of God and our eyes may look to the thing that is equal and sitting upon this Tribunal do now decree with the advice of good men and learned in the Law Civil
nothing but severity The appearing according to the Citation exposeth him to a certain ruine if he hath done or said any thing in favour of the Modern Heresies of Luther or Calvin for though he should recant yet his Estate is forfeited and he is either condemned to the San-benit or to be pent up betwixt four Walls to live upon bread and water and if according to his persuasion he persists in the confession of the True Faith he must resolve upon the patience of Primitive Martyrs and comfort himself with the hope of a reward in heaven SECT III. Of the Inquisitors Visitation BUt before I give an account of the farther poceedings of the Holy Tribunal against such as are brought before it I must say something of its perambulations for now and then when the Judges think fit it takes a walk into the Country and visits those parts that are remote from the place of its constant abode This Visitation of the Inquisitors was wont to carry great terror where-ever it went when before and about the time of the Reformation there were many every where who liked and promoted the design of Reforming and had secretly imparted their thoughts to such who were of the same mind For if but two or three were taken and in the midst of Tortures or for fear of them did speak all they knew they caused many others to be apprehended and whole Monasteries and Villages were sometimes taken and destroyed and a great dread and consternation fell upon the whole Party So that when the Clemency of the Kings of Spain caused Edicts of Grace to be promulged promising impunity to all Hereticks and Apostates that should return to the Catholick Faith within thirty days A Paramo tells us that it hath sometimes brought in seventeen thousand men and women who rather than venture to fall into the hands of the Inquisitors would say and do any thing though never so contrary to their persuasions Those Edicts of Grace were to be published the first time that the Inquisitors visited any Province whether they are still used I am not able to tell But sure I am he Pope never spake any thing more infallibly true than when he said that the Inquisition had brought in a plentiful Harvest as we have seen in the Bull of Sixtus Quintus for indeed there were Vberes fructus if Bloud Confiscations and hypocritical Converts may be called a fruitful Income As soon as the Inquisitors one or more are arrived in any place they send for the greatest Bigots the most furious haters of Hereticks and ask them who they are that are counted suspect in the Country They send for whom they will and question and swear them upon what Articles they please and they make them that are most cunning and zealous their special Baylisss or Familiars and oblige them by oath to enquire and inform against all Offenders Then they publish their Monitories and with dreadful formalities excommunicate and curse all that shall not reveal whatever they know that hath been said or done against the Pope and Church and the Catholick Faith and some have been so terrified by these that to discharge their tender Conscience they have accused themselves for wandring thoughts or dreams that were heretical and have done for it a severe pennance in the Inquisitors Jailes In these rural Visitations the whole process against Hereticks is seldom made an end of the judges commonly go no further in it than to what may serve to detect the accomplices and the Criminals are carried to that principal City where the Inquisition is seated there to be proceeded against according to the grave and formal Methods of the Holy Tribunal of which I shall proceed to give an account CHAP. IX Of the intermedial proceedings betwixt the apprehension and the Torture WHen the Citation Verbal or Real hath brought a man within the doors of the Inquisition there is always cause for his detention if the Friers that are Judges think fit and if he be indeed any ways tainted or guilty in the matter of Heresie he to be sure is laid up for a good while except God in mercy release him Indeed Padre Paolo makes mention of some who by the Interposition of the Republick of Venice or of some Princes have been set at liberty And A Paramo brings the example of Laurentius Valla who by the Kings command was brought out of the Inquisition where he had been condemned to be burnt and was only whipt with rods in the Dominicans Convent at Naples But these cases be rare and generally when a man goes in he may bid adieu to the world he must meddle no more with the concerns of it no friends must visit or comfort him nay they may not mediate for him where the Pope is supreme as appears by a Bull of Pius V. cited by Padre Poalo so that he is left to the mercy of them that think themselves obliged to have no mercy on him His fare is sufficient to make him live to feel his misery And as Tho. del Bene a very learned Author in these matters cites one of the Clementine Constitutions and other Authors the Prison must be durus arctus streight and uneasie so full of hardship and affliction that it may serve magis ad poenam quam ad custodiam rather to punish than to secure the Prisoner Yet with this wise and most gracious caution Vt vita incarcerati non abbrevietur notabiliter sed tantum aliqualiter that the life of the Prisoner be not notably but only indifferently shortned Indeed very few bodies are strong and vigorous enough to bear long with the Calamities of those Dungeons and most perish in them with grief and misery especially since so many Countries shook off the Papal Yoke and prudence and interest required it that the severities of the Inquisition should not appear bare-faced as they did do before SECT I. Of the being brought to the Bar. BUt for all this whatever he suffers who deprived of all his former comforts is confined to that most grievous restraint he can do nothing to hasten his doom and release by death or pennance If the Inquisitors please he shall lie many years if he can live so long without being so much as examined or allowed to speak one word for himself Caraena is express and hath authorities for it that it is In arbitrio Inquisitorum quoties quando reos examinent constituant In the choice of the Inquisitors when and how often they shall examine and call the Criminals before them When they do the Register sets down what is said to them and what they answer and the first thing the Friers do is to swear them upon certain insnaring Interrogations from which if they ever recede afterwards by forgetfulness or sharpness of pain they are perjured and supposed guilty of all that is laid to their charge Those Interrogations are such that no man that is not a thorough-paced Papist can answer without
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
A Paramo and Th. del Bene will give any men sufficient information about these matters in general But about particular subjects de fide or de Haereticis or de indiciis or de modo procedendi or de quaestionibus Torturis c. there are very many Authors Nichol. Eimericus his directorium Jacobi Simancae Intitut Cathol Alvarez Guerrero Thesaurus Religionis Christian Caesar Carene de off Inquisit Repertorium Inquisitorum Franciscus Brunus de Tortur indiciis Jacobus Arenas de quaest Gundissalvus de villa Diego de Haeret. Julius Clarus Joannes Roias Lud. Carrerius de Haeret Alphonsus de Castro de justa Haeret punit Laurent Arnoldus Robertus Cenalis de compescenda Haeret. ferocia c. They that shall consult these Books will be fully satisfied and tired But numberless are the Authors that treat of these matters and with little variation repeat the same things over and over CHAP. XIV Of several things that conduce to make the Inquisition powerful and glorious HEresie being so vile so execrable a thing and Hereticks so mischievous and odious accordingly the Church of Rome hath mightily magnified those persons and instruments that serve against them The Pope who is the great keeper and maker of their Faith is exalted above all right and Laws and all created things In his quae vult pro ratione voluntatem habet 5. the Gloss His Will stands for Reason and a sufficient one in whatsoever he hath a mind to do And so absolute and uncontrolable is his Dominion that he cannot be tied to any thing not so much as by himself Papa non potest legem sibi imponere à qua sibi recedere non liceat his own word hath no power to bind him And as for others the Text saith Papa à nemine judicari potest nec ulli contra eum sententiam proferre licet There is on earth no Judg nor Tribunal above the Pope Inquisition by the same Rule is placed next to him for it is saith the Law Inventum in augmentum fidei d. Clem. 1. found out and set up for the preservation and propagation of the Faith And it is a maxim in their spiritual Courts Citatus ab Episcopo Inquisitore prius Inquisitori pareto That the Inquisition must be obeyed before the Bishop But how should Prelates be regarded when even sovereign Princes who under God should be Masters of the world are as far as lies in the power of the Roman Court made to truckle under the Papal and Inquisitory Empire in all cases wherein Faith and Heresie are concerned So Spondanus ad ann 1460. tells us that there is a Bull of Pius II. whereby he damns as Traitors and Hereticks all that should presume to appeal from the Sentence of the Pope to the next Council though they were Kings or Emperours And there is a Decree of Julius III. anno 1551. against them that should any ways hinder the proceedings of the Inquisition or that admit Lay-men to be Judges in the Case of Heresie which he concludes thus bravely Quicunque monitis his nostris non obtemperaverint noverint se non solum per sacras praedecessorum nostrorum constitutiones verumetiam per hanc nostram sanctionem sive sententiam declarationem perpetuo duraturam quam auctoritate omnipotentis Dei ac Beatorum Apostolorum Petri Pauli ac nostra in ipsos non obtemperantes quacunque illi praefulgeant dignitate in his scriptis proferimus communione Fidelium omnium sacramentòrum perceptione privatos ac maledictionis ac execrationis aeternae ligatos Anathematisque majoris excommunicationis mucrone percussos Whoever shall not obey these our Precepts whatever dignity they are of let them know that by the Constitutions of our Predecessors and by the Sanction and Sentence which we bear in these presents to endure for ever against all disobedients by the Authority of Almighty God of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and of our own they are deprived of the Communion of the Faithful and of the receiving any Sacraments and are bound over to eternal Curse and Execration and struck with the piercing Anathema's of the greater excommunication And Pius V. anno 1569. hath a long Bull against all persons whatever that should do any wrong or injury to any thing or person belonging to the Most Holy Office as he calls it which he mightily magnifies and strengthens giving this reason for it Si de protegendis caeteris omnibus Ecclesiae Ministris quanto majore studio eam nos solicitudinem capessere necesse est ut qui in sacro Inquisitionis Haereticae pravitatis officio versantur sub tutela inviolatae auctoritate hujus sedis periculorum omnium expertes quaeque munera ad exaltationem fidei Catholicae exequantur c. If we are obliged to protect all the Ministers of the Church with how much more zeal and carefulness ought we to endeavour that they that belong to the Sacred Office of the Inquisition against Heretical pravity should be inviolably defended from all dangers under the authority of this See that for the exaltation of thâ— Catholick Faith they may executâ— freely all that belongs to their Office They being the most expert and valianâ— Champions against Hereticks who best convert them into Catholicks or Ashes are therefore to be defended and exalted by that Faith which they protect and advance And therefore besides this Hectoring of the Pope in their behalf whereever Inquisition is set up all Secular Officers are obliged to swear that they will persecute Hereticks with all their power and will be obedient to God to the Roman Church and to the Inquisitors This is the Form in the Directorium Nos N c. Tenebimus teneri faciemus fidem Domini nostri Jesu Christi sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae haereticos eis credentes fautores receptatores eorum prosequemur capiemus capi faciemus quomodocunque poterimus accusabimus denunciabimus Ecclesiae Inquisitoribus st alicubi noverimus cos esse administrationes nullas neque officia publica alicui de praedictis personis suspectis vel diffamatis de Haeresi committemus erimus obedientes Deo Romanae Ecclesiae Inquisitoribus sic nos Deus adâ—uvet c. We N. N c. will hold and cause to be held the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the holy Roman Church we shall prosecute and apprehend and cause to be apprehended all Hereticks and their Followers Favourers and Receivers all the ways we can we shall denounce and accuse them to the Church and to the Inquisitors if we can know where they are we shall commit to them or to any suspect or diffamed of Heresie no Administrations nor publick Offices and we shall be obedient to God to the Roman Church and to the Inquisitors So help us God c. And the Canonists tell us Quod si tale juramentum non praestiterint eorum sententiae irritae sunt inanes That the
behalf of Kingly power so they geld the Books of ancient Authors by new Printing them and taking out of them all that which might serve for Temporal Authority What he saith of Books that concern the Government is most true also of them that concern their Religion or new Creed Not one Book Ancient or Modern is suffered to speak one syllable against any thing that the Church of Rome doth teach or practise though they be such as are acknowledged even by learned men of their Communion to be corrupt or superstitious And Book that might open the eyes of the People is without fail either prohibited or gelded Even the Holy Bible as a dangerous Book that favours Hereticks is streightly forbidden the People as we have seen before in the severe Edict of the Inquisitors There are now great variety of those Indices or Catalogues of Books forbidden or of things to be taken out of them Every year likely their comes out one commanded to be admitted and obeyed in all the Christian world Where there are Inquisitors those Indices are sent to them who enjoyn all Confessors to take care about them in their confessing and absolving their Penitents And by this means they not only keep from the people all instructive good Books but they so mangle and alter those Books which they cannot keep out of their hands that at present in reading of a Book a man can no more find what the Authors meaning was but only what is the meaning of the Court of Rome who hath altered every thing as famous Padre Paolo complains and shews at large In those Indices published first by Junius and afterwards even by authority and licence we have this acknowledgment speaking of Bertrams Book In old Catholick Writers we suffer many Errors and extenuate and excuse them and by some device we feign some convenient sense when they are opposed to us Excogitato Commento sensum iis affingimus And we have these Corrections in Indices Text or Marginal Notes of several Authors which were to be purged and left out in the next Editions as being heretical or dangerous Doctrines Deus solus adorandus God alone is to be worshipped Alienis meritis operibus nemo juvatur No man is benefited by the merits or good works of another Habitat Jesus per fidem in cordibus nostris Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith Credens Christo non morietur in aeternum He that believeth in Christ shall not die eternally Justus coram Deo nemo No man is just before God Vxorem habeat unusquisque confitendo Deo peccata non homini sine scriptura divina nihil asserendum Sancta Dei Ecclesia creaturam non adorat The Holy Church of God worships no Image A Deo solo omnia petenda every thing is to be demanded of God alone by Prayer These and many the like some whereof are in the Authors themselves and some in holy Writ expresly yet are to be blotted out as not agreeing with Roman Catholicism Padre Paolo observes that they not only take away what they like not but that they also add what makes for their purpose I am sure by the Instructions of Clement VIII if they be duly observed Books that pass through the hands of the Inquisition must become as correct and infallible as his Holiness himself He directs and enjonys the Inquisitors and those whom they should appoint to repurge Authors that want it ann 1596. Qui negotium susceperit corrigendi atque expurgandi circumspicere attente notare debet non solum quae in cursu operis manifeste se offerunt sed si quae in scholiis in summariis in marginibus in indicibus librorum in praefationibus aut Epistolis dedicatoriis tanquam in insidiis delitescunt That is That they that undertake the work must not only look foreright but round about on all sides that no Bugbears lurk and lie in ambush in any corner in Annotations Summaries Margins in the Epistles Dedicatory Prefaces or Tables And these are some of the things which he saith want a purgation of Ink. Positiones erroneae schismaticae haereticae haeresim sapientes quae contra sacramentorum ritus ceremonias contra receptum usum consuetudinem sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae novitatem aliquam inducunt Prophanae etiam novitates vocum ab haereticis excogitatae ad fallendum introductae Verba dubia ambigua quae legentium animos à recto Catholicoque sensu ad nefarias opiniones adducere possunt Verba sacrae scripturae non fideliter prolata vel à pravis haereticorum versionibus deprompta nisi forte offerentur ad eosdem Haereticos impugnandos propriis telis jugulandos convincendos Expungi etiam oportet verba scripturae sacrae quae ad sensum detorquentur abhorrentem ab unanimi sententia Catholicorum doctorum itemque Epithet a honorifica omnia in laudem Haereticorum dicta deleantur Expungendae sunt etiam propositiones quae sunt contra libertatem immunitatem jurisdictionem Ecclesiasticam Explodantur exempla quae Ecclesiasticos ritus Religiosorum ordines statum dignitatem personas laedunt violant Positions heretical that have a smack of Heresie erroneous schismatical whatever is introductive of any novelty repugnant to those Rites and Ceremonies that are used about the Sacraments or to any of the customs and usages of the holy Roman Church Also new expressions and ways of speaking invented by Hereticks to deceive others And all such doubtful and ambiguous words as may draw the minds of Readers from the right Catholick sense to naughty opinions Words of Holy Writ not well rendred or taken from heretical versions except they be intended to serve against Hereticks to cut their throats with their own weapons Also those sacred Scriptures that are wrested to a sense differing from the unanimous consent of Roman Doctors be blotted out All honourable Epithetes also and whatever is said in praise of any Hereticks must be taken away As likewise those Propositions which are any ways contrary to the Ecclesiastical liberties immunities and jurisdictions And let nothing remain that may hurt or violate Ecclesiastical Rites Religious Orders or Persons or their state and dignities Heretical pravity must needs be mighty stubborn and incurable in those Authors that will not be purged and made sound Roman Catholicks by these and the like Prescriptions of which there are good store made since by other Popes Whereby we may see how we are to trust the faith and ingenuity of the infallible Church and what credit is to be given to Writers of that Communion when they treat of any matters that concern Hereticks Now in the Rules of the Sacred Congregation anno 1667. published by the Authority of Pope Alexander VII the former Injunctions are confirmed and they expresly set down in the Index of prohibited Books Biblia vulgari quocunque idiomate conscripta All Versions of the Bible in any vulgar tongue and in the Rules
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
affections those Prayers and Praises and acceptable Services wherewith she worships God daily and by having a Reverend esteem of those Orders and Constitutions which our Reformers established in opposition to Popery and which cost many of them their lives We see how great is our danger from the Church of Rome that she hath made Sacred and Religious the most severe and unnatural means that can be used to destroy us and that therefore we must expect no quarter from them that live in subjection to her who the more zealous and devout they are the more implacable and fierce they are against us being persuaded that by the punishing and extirpating Heresie they mightily endear themselves to the whole Court of Heaven and merit the highest rewards We see further that though there were not that danger yet we are in duty bound to avoid and oppose the Romish Religion which greatly wrongs the truth and honour of our God and Saviour and puts men out of the plain Primitive and safe way to Heaven and to endeavour the preservation and advancement of true Christianity as we have it by Gods blessing and the great sufferings of our Predecessors restored to us Therefore let me desire the good people among us who really have a love and value for the true Protestant Religion to consider that Popery is not what every one dislikes or is pleased to call so We have a sort of men who brand with as black names the innocent Ceremonies and necessary Decencies and Orders of our Church as they can do the worst Corruptions in the Church of Rome nay and all men that make Conscience of being conformable to the Laws under which we live and that are Friends to the Government Ecclesiastical and Civil are presently Popishly affected This palpably appears to be a design of them who once before under the same pretence did ruin King and Church and enslave their Country for these very men upon occasion when it is to serve a turn or to get an Office will freely Conform even receive the blessed Sacrament in our way which generally they had never done before but much slighted and spoken against and our present Constitutions in Church and State are so far from favouring Popery that they were made in opposition to it and have effectually kept it out above a hundred years and it is now clear by the Depositions upon Oath of the chief Discoverers of the Plot and by Colemans Letters that Popery is to be brought in if it can be by means of these very Sectaries who now would run us down for Papists and by weakning and abrogating those Laws and that Establishment which many Dissenters clamour at and fain would pull down This may suffice to shew well-meaning people the Snare that is set for us and to induce them as good Christians and good Subjects to help to maintain and defend the Established Religion in the profession whereof they may be as godly and as vertuous and good as it is possible for men to be here below in our state of imperfection Herein lies our Safety as well as our Duty that there may be a National Constitution and we may be united together in Religious Bonds under our lawful Governours It adds much to the strength and credit of the Church of Rome that the Members thereof are governable or at least governed and kept under one Rule whereas it brings disgrace and threatens ruin to the Reformation to have some that would be called Protestants perpetually contending with their Governours endeavouring to shake off their Yoke always objecting and struggling against Laws and publick Orders and entertaining such Principles of Libertinism as divides them into Sects and Factions This is so contrary to the common notion of true Godliness and to that meek spirit which the Gospel so much recommends that I hope God will open the eyes of such as truly fear him and have no ill designs and make them see how much it is for the interest of their present and future happiness to joyn with our Church to defend it and live in it like good Christians and loyal Subjects as all the ties of Religion and Conscience oblige them to do They that now aim at a change brought one about within these forty years most fatal and infamous to the Protestant cause and the good people were infinitely cheated and paid very dear for the overturning that Government in Church and State under which they might have lived very innocent and very happy in comparison to what they did in that bloudy and unnatural War and Usurpation which I hope is not yet forgot but will ever be a caution to all good men amongst us to endeavour for the preservation of our peace and settlement That having such a truly Christian Religion as we have and so gracious a Government we may not use our liberty for a cloak of Maliciousness nor abuse by a froward and unthankful humour those great and special mercies we enjoy nor provoke God to bring upon us and our Land the Superstitions and Cruelties of the Roman Church From which good Lord deliver us and all thy Servants for ever Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS THe Introduction p. 1 CHAP. I. Of the Roman Faith as distinct from the Christian and truly Catholick and first of the new Creed p 3 Sect. 2. General Reflections on this Roman Creed p. 9 Sect. 3. That this new Creed makes the distinction betwixt Papists and other Christians p. 12 CHAP. II. Of several parts of the Roman Worship and first of their Exorcisms p. 20 Sect. 1. Of their many Consecrations p. 24 Sect. 2. Of their Mass p. 27 Sect. 3. Of their worship of Images and Saints p. 30 CHAP. III. How the Inquisition came to be established and first of the Oaths and Excommunications wherewith they tie the Consciences of men p. 44 Sect. 1. Of the beginnings of the Inquisition p. 50 Sect. 2. Of Dominic the first Inquisitor p. 54 Sect. 3. Of the first making of Familiars or armed Officers or Bailiffs for the Holy Tribunal p. 59 CHAP. IV. Of the first that suffered the Rigours of the Inquisition p. 62 Sect. 1. Of the Waldenses and the proceedings against them p. 66 CHAP. V. Of the restoring of the Inquisition p. 76 Sect. 1. The erecting of the Spanish Inquisition p. 78 Sect. 2. The setling the Inquisition in Portugal and elsewhere p. 81 CHAP. VI. Of several Tumults and oppositions against the Inquisition p. 84 CHAP. VII Of the ordering of the Inquisition p. 90 Sect. 1. The Bull of Sixtus Quintus about the new modelling of the Inquisition p. 95 CHAP. VIII Of the proceedings of the Inquisition p. 101 Sect. 1. Of the Accusations p. 104 Sect. 2. Of proceeding by way of Inquisition p. 109 Sect. 3. Of the Inquisitors Visitation p. 113 CHAP. IX Of the intermedial proceedings betwixt the apprehension and the torture p. 116 Sect. 1. Of the being brought to the Bar p. 118 Sect. 2. How the Prisoners Estate is seized upon p. 122 Sect. 3. Of the tedious and sad condition of the Prisoner p. 126 CHAP. X. Of the Tortures and what relates to them p. 130 Sect. 1. Of some preparations previous to the Torture p. 132 Sect. 2. Of the ways of Torturing p. 137 Sect. 3. Of repeating the question p. 140 CHAP. XI Of reconciling and dismissing Penitents p. 144 Sect. 1. Of the Cautions of the Friers when they absolve an Heretick p. 146 Sect. 2. Forms of Sentences p. 150 CHAP. XII Of the condemning of Hereticks that are to be burnt p. 156 Sect. 1. A Sentence in some Relapses p. 160 Sect. 2. A form of delivering a stubborn Heretick to the Secular Power p. 166 CHAP. XIII Of the Enormity and further punishment of the Crime of Heresie p. 171 Sect. 1. Of the vileness of Heretical Pravity p. 175 Sect. 2. Of several Inflictions upon Hereticks p. 182 Sect. 3. That in the Case of Heresie Princes fare no better than Subjects p. 189 Sect. 4. Of the Authorities and Authors cited in this Book p. 193 CHAP. XIV Of several things that conduce to make the Inquisition powerful and glorious p. 200 Sect. 1. Some Priviledges of the Inquisitors and cruelties committed or occasioned by them p. 206 Sect. 2. Of the prohibiting of Books and the Indices Expurgatorii p. 213 Sect. 3. Of the honour of being employed in the Holy Office and the praises of it p. 227 CHAP. XV. The Conclusion p. 133 ERRATA PAge 5. line 6. after explain add them p. 44. l. penult for her read his p. 55. l. 25. for St. r. that p. 56. l. 13. r. decease p. 64. l. 3. r. were p. 64. l. 17. r. Bearn p. 66. l. 7. for 80. r. 30. p. 67. l. 23. after that r. it is p. 76. for 47. r. 4th p. 119. l. 26. been is transposed p. 155. l. 3. r. sowed p. 157. for him r. them p. 170. l. 16. r. accordingly p. 206. in tit Sect. 1. for it r. them p. 219. l. 21. for and r. any