it is the most ancient of all the Churches which have been ever governed by St. Peter in antioch St. Peter executed the function of Bishop even according to Baronius seven years before he had ever been at Rome it was in Antioch that the faithful were first called Christians as it is reported in the Acts of the Apostles and it is the Church of Antioch which is called by St. Chrysosthome the chief and Capital of the whole world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In fine if the Mother is more ancient than the Daughter if the Spring is before the Brook the Greek Church is more ancient than the Roman the Greek Church was erected by St. Paul and S. Andrew and it was from that Church as from an holy Spring the name of Jesus Christ was scattered abroad afterward through the Kingdoms and Nations of the earth it was from the Greek Church the Roman received the New Testament the Apostles Creed that of Nice and St. Athanasius it was of the Greek Church that the Roman learnt the very names of Baptisme of Eucharist of Bishop of Priest of Deacon c. So that the Bishop of Bitonto (c) lib. de actis conc Trident. pag. 18. acknowledges in the Council of Trent that the Greek Church is the mother of the Roman and that it is from that Rome has received all it possesses ea igitur Graecia mater nostra cui id totum debet quod habet Latina Ecclesia You may judge now upon what are grounded those fine Titles of Eldership of the Roman Church of which they make so much noise and so much boasting §. 2. That the Multitude is not of the Roman Church's side THE vanity the Church of Rome is puffed up withal to have Multitude of its side is not better grounded than the Antiquity of it Truly if you should dwell in the middle of Paris or of Rome and without taking any notice of the things which are acted in the world should take the word of the Preachers of the Church of Rome they would make you believe that all the Christians in the world belong to the Roman Church and that there is but a very small number of those who will not submit themselves to the Pope's jurisdiction But if you will lift up your eyes and look upon that which is done in the world you shall find that of all the three great parts of the world which have been known to our Fathers ASIA is all full of Christians who have received their Faith from the very Apostles and who never have received nor receive yet the domination of the Pope you may find there the Christians of Palestine submitted to the Patriarch of Jerusalem the Syrians and the Melchites under the Patriarch of Antioch the Armenians and Georgians subjected to their own Patriarchs and Metropolitans who do not acknowledge the dominion of the Pope you may see there the Mingrelians the Circassians the Christians of the less Asia submitted to the Patriarch of Constantinople the Jacobites the Christians of St. Thomas submitted to their peculiar Patriarchs and not to the Pope of Rome If you set your eyes on AFRICA and on those in that part of the world who have received the Gospel you may find there the Egyptians and the Cophtes to be subjected to the Patriarch of Alexandria the Ethiopians or Abissins have their own Patriarch who doth not acknowledge yet unto this day the jurisdiction of Rome what relation soever the Pope's Missionaries had made of it As for that Province whereof the Jesuites make so much noise which they call the Kingdom of Congo the Governours whereof have submitted to the Popes Dominion it is very easie to know that it is nothing but a Mission of Jesuites such as those which they have erected in Goa in Jappan even in England in the very chief Town of this kingdom to root therein in spight of all the Laws of the Kingdom and all Magistracy In EVROPE the Greeks are submitted to the Patriarch of Constantinople the Moscovites have a Patriarch at Moskow who relies not on the Pope the Christian Protestants and Reformed in England in Danemark in Swedeland in Holland in Switzerland in Germany and in Hungaria are subjected to their Bishops and Metropolitans who are not subjected to the Pope and every body knows that in Bohemia in Poland even in France even in some Countrys of Italy all is full of Reformed Churches which do not acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Pope So that all that great huge multitued whereof the Roman Church boasts so much is Spain most part of Poland France and It aly some Cantons of Switzerland part of the Low-Countries and of Germany this is that great multitude of people parturiunt montes c. what is that in respect of the whole world And lest some body should think that those Churches which are not submitted to the Pope be some small Churches those who will take the pains but to read the Historians shall find that the only Patriarchat of Constantinople has contained 80 Bishopricks and 40 Archbishopricks the Church of Antioch 150 both Bishopricks and Archbishopricks that of Jerusalem more that 76 and that there have been only in Africa 420 both Bispopricks and Archbishopricks according to Myraeus's relation a Pag. 94. which have never followed the belief of the Roman Church from thence you may Judge of the rest §. 3. Other Churches as well as the Roman have their Succession from the very Apostles AS for the matter of Succession if you hearken to those of the Church of Rome you would think that only in the Church of Rome the Bishops have succeeded one another from the beginning of the Christendom Those Gentlemen would make all the world believe that the Churches which are not of their Communion have neither Vocation nor Title nor Ordination and consequently no right in the Ecclesiastical Functions in the Administration of the Sacraments or Preaching the word of God But if you will but open your eyes and read Nicephorus Cedrenus and other Historians you shall find in the Churches which have never submitted to the Pope which have ever kept the purity of the word of God several Catalogues of Bishops and Patriarchs who have succeeded one another from the Apostles time In Jerusalem Jesus Christ our Lord the Son of God the Holy one began the function of an Everlasting Bishop which he will continue to exercise during all Eternity St. James was the first Bishop afterwards next Simon Cleophas then Justus the Jew c. and so successively Bishop after Bishop Patriarch after Patriarch unto Germanus and Theophanes who in our days have ruled that Church being the Patriarchs thereof In the Church of Antioch St. Peter was the first Bishop whom succeeded Evodius then Ignatius then Hero then Cornelius and others successively who have so well conserved the doctrine of the Primitive Church with the right succession of St. Peter that he of those Bishops who lived about the
hands on all the Churches there will be no other proof of Christianity no other shelter for the Christians who shall desire to know the truth than the Holy Scriptures than the word of God and truly in that time as well as in all those which I have marked heretofore the Multitude will follow the part of error and the true Church shall be reduced to a little flock which shall be strengthened only with the word of God against all the Stratagems and the persecutions of Antichrist To make an end of that proof I will rehearse what happened in the Council of Nice according to that which Sophronius (d) lib. 1. cap. 8. relates all the Bishops thought to introduce into the Church a new Law which was that those who would be in the Sacred Orders should lead a single life the good Priest Paphnutius a venerable old man of a holiness and purity free from all slanders rose in the middle of that multitude of Bishops You must not saith he to them lay so heavy a burthen upon the shoulders of those who are in the Sacred Orders you are to consider what St. Paul (e) ad Hebr. 13.9 saith that Marriage is honourable in all and the bed undefiled to that voice a numerous multitude of Bishops Priests and Deacons who were present there vouchsafing their attention considered that Holy old man as an Apostle who came to declare to them the word of God and changed their resolution so knowing by the Doctrine of St. Paul that Marriage is honourable in all they left all the Church-men free to live in the state of Marriage as they had us'd to do before Do but judge now if in that time the Multitude got the advantage over truth and if the Fathers of that Council were of the opinion of the Roman Church that the Multitude of those who hold one and the same Doctrine is a mark of the truth of that belief §. 3. Succession is not an Infallible mark of the true Church IF Succession could give the right of being Infallible there is no Church in the world which had more right to be esteemed such than the Church of Jerusalem it is of Jerusalem that it is said (f) 2 Chron. 33.4 7. in Jerusalem shall my name be for ever In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen before all the Tribes of Israel will I put my name for ever (g) 2 Chron. 7.16 I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there for ever and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually (h) Psal 132.13 14. The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation this is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it c. and I will also clothe her Priests with Salvation it was upon all those fair promises the Priests proceeded in withstanding the truth which was preached to them by the Prophets it was for that reason they exclaimed so often upon all occasions (i) Jerem. 7.4 The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these But hear what the Lord answers (k) v. 8 11 12 c. Behold ye trust in lying words that cannot profit Is this house which is called by my name become a Den of Robbers in your eyes behold even I have seen it saith the Lord but go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel And now because you have done all these works saith the Lord Therefore will I do unto this house which is called by my name wherein ye trust and unto the place which I gave to you and to your Fathers as I have done to Shiloh and I will cast you out of my sight c. The same is to be seen in the other Prophets where Jerusalem after it had been established by the Lord as a Tabernacle which should never be removed it is said afterwards that for its abominations it is transported into Babylon If Shiloh hath ceased to be the house of God if Jerusalem be reduced into a Wilderness where nothing grows but Briers and Thorns where (a) Isaiah 5.6 God will command the Clouds that they rain no rain upon it hath the Church of Rome any reason to brag so much because it hath been in times past the Nurse of Martyrs the Seed-plot of Saints doth it follow from thence that it is still at this time in the same condition it was in the first Ages of the Church Hath not the present Church of Rome a great deal of reason to fear that after all the abominations it hath been filled withal by those who have had the government thereof it may be dealt with like Jerusalem that it may be made a Den of Robbers an horrible Babylon a dreadful Wilderness where grows nothing but Briers and Thorns and where God hath permitted that the Heaven of the Holy Scripture should be shut up and that there should not fall a drop of his word upon those who stubbornly persist in its abominations In fine could the Church of Rome be in hope of having more priviledges than many other Churches which have been built by the Apostles in the Eastern part which have conserved during long space of years their right succession preserved from Bishop to Bishop from Pastor to Pastor and which notwithstanding all that have been since by the Turks turned into several Mosquées where those Infidels have the exercise of their Religion If the Church of Rome would say that the Doctrine it teaches is to be followed because the Popes who do govern at this time have succeeded one another from Bishop to Bishop in St. Peter's Chair I answer that for the same reason in the time of Paul Samosatenus it was necessary for every body to be an Heretick because Paul of Samosate was right Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch that he had succeeded lawfully Demetrius Demetrius Fabius Fabius Babilas who succeeded Zebinus he Philetus he Asclepiades he Serapion he maximinus he Theophilus he Cornelius he Hero he Ignatius he Evodius who succeeded lawfully St. Peter I answer that in the Age wherein lived Nestorius every body was engaged to be a Nestorian because Nestorius was rightful Bishop and Patriarch of Constantinople right successor to Sisinius to Atticus to Arsatius to John Chrysostomus to Nectarius to Gregory of Nazianze and so from Bishop to bishop the 36th according to the Chronicles of Nicephorus who had lawfully succeeded in that Chair the Apostle St. Andrew In fine to follow without partiality that principle of Rome and to give it the extent such a proposition ought to have which is always false if it is not universal and capable to be the first proposition of a Syllogism I answer the Popes are to revoke the Thunderbolts they have thrown against the Church of England
and must confess that they did wrong when they excommunicated it and that the Church of England is infallible and has the true Faith since in it they do conserve from Bishop to Bishop from the times of the Apostles a right Succession in all the Ecclesiastical powers But it is not upon Succession only that churches are to ground the Doctrines they profess the Reformed Churches are very willing to be examined after the very rule of the Gospel and do not defend a false principle by antiquity as those of the Roman Church do CONCLVSION That it is the Succession of the true Doctrine from the Apostles which is an Infallible mark of the true Church and that the Church of Rome which hath the Succession of Doctrine hath no reason to boast neither of its Antiquity nor of its Multitude nor Succession IT is true that the Fathers used the Argument of the Succession against the Hereticks Tertullian (a) De praescrip cap. 32. urged it against those of his time Optatus (b) Lib. 2 3. against the Donatists Augustin against the Manichees the Arians and the Pelagians but lest you should be mistaken do but read exactly those Fathers and you shall find that with the Succession of Churches and Bishops they required a Succession of Doctrine which Tertullian calls a Consanguinity and an affinity of Doctrine to prove they were the true Church which St. Augustin said it was impossible to prove throughly but by the Scripture Let them produce said Tertullian (c) De praescr cap. 32. the beginning of their Churches let them shew us the order and the succession of their Bishops from the beginning and at last bring forth some of the Apostles or some instructed by the Apostles who were Authors of their Churches c. But though they should have dispatched that step though they should have devised some Catalogue of Succession yet they should not have got very much by that for their Doctrines compared with that of the Apostles will make it appear by they diversity and the contrariety there is betwixt them that neither the Apostles nor those who have been instructed by them were the Authors of their Churches even saith he they shall be condemned by those Churches which though they have not for their Author neither one of the Apostles nor one instructed by them immediately as being erected after the time of the Apostles begun in our days are nevertheless Apostolical because of the Consanguinity of the Doctrine they teach which is the same with that which was taught by the Apostles And St. Gregory of Nazianze (d) In laud. Athan. shews that the succession is to be esteemed by Piety sooner than by Seat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he who professes the true faith is partaker of the same Seat he who doth the contrary though he doth sit in the same seat is an enemy directly opposed to that Chair which he sits on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Succession of the Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be esteemed the true Succession for it hath the truth of it whereas the other hath but the appearance thereof Thus you see that even by the testimonies of the Fathers To be a true Church it is not enough to have the Succession of the same Chair and the Succession of the Bishops which the Roman Church boast of upon all occasions since one may shew a long Catalogue of Succession and be an Heretick for all that as you see by Tertullian his Testimony since one may sit upon the same Chair which was Catholick heretofore and for all that be the sworn enemy of that Chair as it is manifest by the testimony of St. Gregory of Nazianze but a Church ought to have the Succession of the Faith the Succession of the Piety and shew as Tertullian speaks a Consanguinity of Doctrine Consanguinitatem Doctrinae and this the Church of Rome doth not boast of at all since it cannot abide that we should speak of examining its doctrine by the word of God and of comparing it with the Faith of the Primitive Church with the belief of the Apostles Let not therefore the Church of Rome boast that it hath possessed almost all the finest Churches in the world the Arians have possessed them as well as they and St. Hierome for all that calls them Hereticks The Church saith that Father (a) In Psal 133. consisteth not in walls and buildings but in the truth of the Doctrine the Church is where the true Faith is 't is not above 15 or 20 years past since the Hereticks possessed all these buildings even all these glorious Churches but in that time the Church was there where the true Faith was Ecclesia autem ibi vera erat ubi fides erat Could not we have said the same in this Kingdom 'T is not above 120 or 160 years past before the time of Henry the 8th and Queen Elizabeth when the Papists possessed all these buildings even all these Churches but in that time the true Church was there where the true faith was Ecclesia autem ibi vera erat ubi fides erat Do not let them say that the Pope hath succeeded St. Peter for we will answer that Nero was Successor of Augustus and notwithstanding Nero was a Tyrant Augustus was a good Prince we will answer that the King Manasses succeeded Ezechias and yet for all that Manasses was a wicked King Ezechias was a Saint In fine we will say that the Arian Bishops had succeeded the Catholicks that the impious Nestorius was the right Successor of St. Andrew in the Chair of Constantinople that the famous Heretick Paul of Samosate was the right Successor of St. Peter in the Church of Antioch and that all those as well as the Popes have succeeded others who had ruled before them but as the night succedes the day sickness good health death life CHAPTER II. The true Grounds of the now Roman Church Chap. 2. AS soon as I had overthrown those three false imaginations of Antiquity Multitude and Succession wherewith they used to cloak the Errors of the Church of Rome it was very easie to know the true grounds and foundations whereupon it is built and those grounds being neither the Authority of the Scripture nor the Doctrine of the Primitive Church nor Antiquity nor the Concurrence of the Multitude nor the Succession of Churches or Bishops I knew aftere a diligent examination that they could not be other than the Ambition and Covetousness of those who govern it and it is from thence that all the corruptions and all the errors of that Church have proceeded SECTION I. The Ambition of the Popes §. 1. The Pope exalts himself above all Kings whereas by right he ought to be submitted to them POpe Gregory the 7th in a Synod held at Rome in the year 1076. established 27 Propositions upon which is grounded all the greatness of Rome which are called the Dictatorship of the
cy-devant est tombée dans la Corruption et dans l Erreur § 1. Corruption horrible dans ses Moeurs p. 80. § 2. Erreurs extremement grossieres dans sa Doctrine pag. 88. Conclusion Generale Que j'estois engagé de sortir de l'Eglise de Rome aprés que Dieu m'en eut fait connoître les Erreurs par les degrés que j'ay marqués dans les deux Parties de ce Discours pag. 88. § 1. L'Occasion d'un Sermon que je préchay sur le sujet du Sacrement me rappella dans l'Esprit toutes les idées que j'avois des Erreurs de Rome pag. 91. § 2. Les repugnances que je souffris et les difficultés qu'il me falut surmonter pag. 94. § 3. Les raisons que je meditay dans mon esprit pour differer ma Conversion pag. 96. § 4. Dieu par sa misericorde me fait vivement comprendre le grand peché que c'est que de s'opposer au saint Esprit et ainsi acheve ma Conversion en me faisant genereusement abandonner la Communion de Rome pag. 101. TABLE INTRODUCTION § 1. The Reasons wherefore I have been engaged to write these Memoires Pag. 1. § 2. That the Conversion of a man who did live in the Errors of the Roman Church is a very great Miracle pag. 5. § 3. After what manner and by what degrees the Spirit of God made me understand my Errors pag. 9. FIRST PART That the Doctrin of the Roman Church is not grounded neither upon the belief of the Primitive Church or the Authority of the Holy Fathers CHAP. I. How I understood that the Doctrin of the Roman Church is not grounded upon the Scripture § 1. The Reading of the Scripture disposes me to acknowledge the Errors of Rome pag. 11. § 2. The Errors of the Roman Church whereof I was perswaded made me find in the Scripture many Difficulties many Insufficiencies and many Contradictions pap 16. § 3. Circumstances which did contribute to hasten my Conversion pag. 22. § 4. Conclusion of this Chapter That the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church cannot be proved by Scripture pag. 26. CHAP. II. How I understood that the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church are not grounded upon the Belief of the Primitive Church nor upon the Authority of the Holy Fathers INTRODUCTION The reading of the Books concerning The Perpetuity of Faith in the Eucharist was an occasion to me to examin in particular the Belief of the Roman Church about that matter pag. 30. Division of the Errors of Rome concerning the Eucharist pag. 34. Section I. That the belief of Rome about the real Presence in the sense of Transubstantiation is a new Doctrin in the Church I. First Proof drawn out of the Arguments wherewith the Fathers of the Church had wont to Dispute against the Heathens pag. 36. II. Second Proof drawn out of the Reasons wherewith the same Fathers had wont to Dispute against the Hereticks pag. 41. III. Third Proof drawn out of the manner whereafter the Fathers had wont to speak of the Holy Saerament pag. 44. IV. Fourth Proof drawn out of the novelty of the Doctrin teaching Transubstantiation pag. 48 Section II. That that which is taught of the Sacrifice of the Mass in the Church of Rome is a Doctrin contrary to the belief of the Primitive Church I. In what sense it is true to say that the Holy Sacrament is a Sacrifice pag. 50. II. That the pretended Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Roman Church is contrary to the Scripture pag. 53. III. What has given occasion to that Error and the degrees of Corruption which brought forth that belief pag. 56. IV. That the horrid abuse which is slid in the Roman Church to offer their Sacrifices in the honour of Saints is a practice contrary to that of the Primitive Church pag. 59. Section III. That the manner of Administring the Sacrament in the Roman Church is quite different and very much opposed to that to which they were used in the first Ages of the Church I. That in the time of the Apostles and in the first ages of the Church they gave the Communion to all the People under both kinds they worshipped not the Host and celebrated not the Holy Mysteries in an unknown Tongue pag. 64. II. The beginning of all the Errors of the Roman Church in the Administration of the Sacrament pag. 70. 1. The beginning of the Abridgement of the Cup. pag. 71. 2. The beginning of the Worship of the Host pag. 74. 3. The beginning of the celebration of the Eucharist in an unknown Tongue pag. 78. Conclusion of the First Part. That the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church cannot be proved by the practice of the Primitive Church nor by the authority of the ancient Fathers pag. 80. Second Part. That the Church of Rome is not the true Church that it's Authority is not Infallible and that it is full of Corruptions and Errors INTRODUCTION The Divine Providence brought forth some occasions which made me resolve to examin the very first grounds of the Question concerning the Authority of the Roman Church pag. 1. 1. The occasion that I had to examin a-new all the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church all which I reduced to the Authority of the same Church pag. 3. 2. The occasion that I had to doubt of the Infallibility of the Pope made me resolve to examin again and without passion upon which is grounded that Authority which the Church of Rome boasts so much pag. 6. 3. Circumstances wherewith I began to examin the Authority of the Roman Church and what I do design in the Rehearsal of them pag. 12. CHAP. I. Of the pretended grounds of the Authority of the Roman Church pag. 16. Section I. That Antiquity Multitude and Succession are not priviledges which ever the Roman Church had enjoyed above all other Churches pag. 20. § 1. That the Roman Church is not the Eldest of all the Churches pag. 21 § 2. That the Multitude is not on the Roman Churches side pag. 25. § 3. That other Churches as well as the Roman have their Succession from Bishop to Bishop from the very Apostles pag. 29. Section II. That neither Antiquity neither Multitude neither Succession are not Infallible marks of the true Church and consequently that a Church may have them all and with them all be an Heretical Church pag. 32. § 1. That Antiquity is not an Infallible mark of the true Church pag. 33. § 2. That the Multitude is not an Infallible mark of the true Church pag. 39. § 3. That the Succession is not an Infallible mark of the true Church pag. 45. Conclusion That it is the Succession of the true Doctrin from the Apostles which is an Infallible mark of the true Church and that the Church of Rome which hath not the Succession of the Doctrin has no reason to boast neither of its Antiquity neither of the Multitude neither
Christian Congregations do not agree together to know which of them has the true Faith and the true Religion instituted by Christ that was the point of my difficulty In that part of Europe wherein I find my self by the chance of my birth see two Congregation two Christian Churches the Roman and the Reformed which both boast to have that true Faith excluding the other now how to resolve that difference and to know which of them has truth of it's side The Roman Church brags it self to be the eldest it reckoneth a multitude of people and nations who conform themselves to it's Communion and shews a long Catalogue of Popes who have been settle one after another in the Seat of Rome but if it be asked to set open to the light its Articles of Faith and to examine whether or no they be agreeable to the word of God to that true Faith which has been taught us by Jesus Christ our Lord it cryes out frets and is disturb'd it cannot abide to come to that examination and would be believed upon its own word On the contrary the Reformed Church brags of nothing she could say that it is she truly that is the eldest since the doctrine she teaches if conformable to that which Christ himself taught us she could shew in all ages and in all parts of the world whole nations which are conformable to the same doctrine which she has learnt from Christ she could show long Catalogues of Bishops and Patriarchs who have succeded one another in the Chairs which the Apostles themselves have established which are with her in Communion and upon all those accounts she could demand as well as the Roman Church to be believed upon her own word without coming to the examination of her doctrine but forasmuch as she knows that this manner of dealing is unjust and that she is sure she teaches nothing but what is agreeable to the word of God she desires nothing so much as to be examined by the rule of the Scripture and gives leave to all the world to compare the doctrine she teaches with that which they taught in the Primitive Church with that which the Apostles with that which Christ himself taught when he was upon the earth Now which of these two Churches acts more sincerely and which of them have we most reason to suspect of error and falsehood If fomebody should come to a payment with you and you could not know surely whether his mony were good or false coyn would not you use weights and a touch-stone to examine the mony And if the man should be angry and alledge to you that the mony which he pays you seems very acnient that there is in the world a great deal more such as that and that he has received it successively from his great great Grandfather Would you not say to his Sir there is great quantity of ancient mony which is false for all that if this mony be not good all the mony in the world which is alike to it is not good neither and if these pieces be false you may give them your Children succes sively to the end of the world but they would not grow better for all that but if notwithstanding the man would be believed upon his word and could by no means abide you should bring his mony to the trial would not you take occasion from thence to think not without cause that such a man intended to cheat you SECTION I. Antiquity Multitude and Succession are not Priviledges of the Roman Church above all other Churches Such is the manner of dealing in the Church of Rome which is a great argument that the doctrine she teaches is not agreeable to the word of God since it cannot abide by any means that it should be examined by that rule she brags that she has on her side Antiquity the greatest number and succession and in repeating often those fine principles which dazle the world in saying them over and over and boldly in causing them to be published every where by her controversial and Theological Writers she has made the World almost believe that she is the eldest of all the Christian Churches and that among all the Christian Congregations there are but few which are not submitted to the Church of Rome and in fine that the Pope is the only true Successor of St. Peter these are the three false principles upon which the Roman Church grounds it self but which have no other foundation than the boldness wherewith those of that Church have used to publish them § 1. The Roman Church is not the Eldest of all the Churches WE learn of the ancient Ecclesiastical Authors Origine Eusebius Hierome Isidore and others that the Apostles after they had received the Holy Ghost which an order to go to publish the Gospel in all the world were scattered abroad as so many flouds full of the Holy Ghost to preach the word of God in all the Nations St. Peter preached in Judea Galatia cappadocia pontus Bithynia and Rome St. James the son of Zebedee in Judea and Spain St. John in Judea and Asia the less St. Andrew in Scythia Europea in Eprius Thracia and Achaia St. James the brother of our Lord in Jerusalem St. Philip in Scythia and Phrygia St. Bartholomew in the Indies and Armenia the great St. Matthew in Ethyopia St. Thomas preached to the Parthians Medes Persians Brachmans Hyrcanians Bactrians and Indians St. Simon in Mesopotamia and Persia St. Judas in Egypt and Persia St. Matthias in the higher Ethyopia St. Paul and Barnabas in many Countries of Europe and Asia Now I would very fain know upon what ground the Church of Rome would be accounted the eldest of all those Churches which have been erected by the Apostles of Christ if one of them have the right to be accounted and called the eldest of the Sisters it seems in all reason that it must be the Church of Jerusalem for it was in Jerusalem that Christ himself preach't the greatest part of his Sermons there he exercised his Offices of Priest and Bishop 't was in that City he was sacrificed for our sins 't was there the Apostles first declared the word of God as it is to be seen in (a) Chap. 24. v. 47. St. Luke it was of that Church St. James was created the first Bishop in the world it is the Church of Jerusalem which is called by Theodoret (b) Hist Ecclesiast lib. 5. cap. 9. Mother of all Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it is the Church of Jerusalem which is to be acknowledged as the first of all Churches according to the Testimony of all the Fathers who were present at the Council of Constantinople as Baronius himself testifies in the year of our Lord 382. If the right of Antiquity is to be given only to a Church instituted by St. Peter the Church of Antioch in Syria is to have in that the priviledge above the Church of Rome for
year 1237 agreed together with the Patriarch of Constantinople to excommunicate the Pope Gregory the 9th and pronounce Anathema against his Errors In the Church of Alexandria the Patriarch Gelasius who ruled that Church in the year 1636 succeeded Cyrillus Cyrillus succeeded Meletius Meletius Joachim and so from Bishop to Bishop they succeeded the Evangelist St. Mark who was the first Bishop of Alexandria In the Church of Constantinople the Apostle St. Andrew who was the first Bishop of it as relates Nicephorus had for his successor Stachys Stachys had Onesimus Onesimus Polycarp and so successively 177 Bishops the most part great personages and learned men unto Cyrillus and Methodius who ruled that Church in our days and Parthenius who rules it unto this very day It was to one of those Patriarchs that the Ministers who Preached the Gospel in Germany sent their Confession of Faith in the year 1576 for a token of Uniformity of Doctrine they had with all the Eastern Church SECTION II. That neither Antiquity nor Multitude nor Succession are infallible marks of the true Church and consequently that one Church may have them all and with them all be an Heretical Church IT is very easie to know by all that which I have rehearsed before that if we must judge of the truth and of the right of a Church by its Antiquity or by the Multitude of those who profess the same belief or by the Succession of its Bishops it will not be in favour of the Roman Church shutting out all others since you may find some Churches more Ancient than the Roman Church some Churches more large and more numerous and whose Succession is as sure at least and without comparison a great deal less interrupted and less disturbed than that of the Church of Rome has been by Schismes of I know not how many years by the Heresies of its Bishops and the Monstrous life of a great many Popes But for as much as the truth of a Religion doth not depend upon a question of Chronology Geography or History I will shew that neither the Antiquity of a Church nor the Multitude of those who stand of its side nor the Succession of its Bishops are infallible marks which oblige us to believe that such a Church is the true Church of Christ since it may be very possible that such a Church may have all those marks and for all that be an Heretical Church §. 1. Antiquity is not an infallible mark of the true Church IT is a rule receive by all Lawyers that things which have been worth nothing in the beginning can never grow better in time (a) L. quae ab initio ff de reg Juris quae ab initio non valuerunt tractu temporis convalescere non possunt and Tertullian (b) de virg veland holds for a principle that there is no Prescription against truth veritati nemo praescribere potest if you be a possessor of a house of a field of land and you have enjoyed it peaceable during a hundred years though you should have lost all your Evidences or suppose you had never any the prescription of a hundred years would establish you rightful possessor of that field land or house But it is not the same in regard of error and truth if you have been in an error from the beginning of the world all that long Prescription of years will not give you a right to maintain such an error because error cannot be strengthened by Prescription and a thing which was false from the beginning of the world can never become true by continuance though it should last as long as Eternity it self it would be always new in respect of truth on the contrary the things which are true bring always with themselves the character of a right Antiquity according to that principle of the same Tertullian that truth is altogether antient and everlasting veritas sempiterna antique res est and is it from that principle that after he has supposed that there are several things which seem new which nevertheless are very Ancient he concludes that it is not so much novelty as truh that confutes throughly all Heresies Haereses non tam novitas quà m veritas revincit So that following this principle to prove that Prayers directed to Saints that the worshiping of Images that the Belief of Transubstantiation are so many errors 't will go a great way to shew their novelty that they be Articles of Faith of a New impression but yet it is not enough barely that they are new wemust moreover show that those Articles are contrary to Truth that is to say the word of God let a matter of Belief seem to you as much new as can be if the Articles it contains be true if they be agreeable to the word of God to that Doctrine which we have received from the very Apostles it is an Ancient belief therefore do not say that the doctrine they teach in the reformed Churches is a new doctrine you are to examine first if it be true if it be agreeable to the word of God and if you find it such you are to say that it is an Ancient doctrine but if so be that in one of those Churches which derive their Original from the Apostles they should teach a doctrine which is not conformable to the Gospel the priviledge of antiquity will not excuse them from error they would be ancient inveterate diseases whom the priviledge of being old would not be able to heal Is there in all the world a Religion more ancient than that of the Idolaters yet dare any say that the priviledge it hath of being old gives it that of being true and Infallible and do you think that the ancient Fathers of the Church who disputed against the Heathens would have urged against them that among all Religions and Churches that is always the most true which is the most Ancient it was on the contrary what the Heathens objected to them against the Gospel as (a) lib. 4. Recognit Clement Alexandrinus relates What then said those blind men shall we forsake our Idols the Religion which hath been given us from hand to hand by our great great Grandfathers And it was to that argument of antiquity the Fathers used to answer that antiquity signifies nothing in matter of Religion that the custome of worshiping Idols being an error the antiquity they boasted of was an Antiquity of error according to that of (b) Epist 74. ad Pomp. St. Cyprian consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est In fine said St. Clemens if your Father has been a Thief a deboshed and a dissolute shall you be obliged to be a Thief a deboshed and a dissolute becaue your Father was so is there any crime in the world which would not be committed without punishment if Antiquity could priviledge wickedness and free it from punishment The Prophets knew not this fine doctrine whereupon the Popes pretend to
Pope and which are to be seen in Baronius (a) An. 1076. Num. 31 32 c. Among them the following propositions are to be found Princes are to kiss the Popes feet It is lawful for the Pope to depose Emperours and to absolve their subjects from their fidelity and the obedience which they owe their natural Lords and Superiours 'T is to establish these fine Propositions that Pope Innocent the 3d witness Durandus (a) Lib. 1. myster cap. 5. compareth the Pope with the Arke of the Covenant and saith that the Cardinal Deacons have the care of carrying the Pope upon their shoulders because in the Old Testament it was the duty of the Levites to carry the Ark of the Lord. 'T is for this reason that in the publick Processions which are made at Rome they carry the Pope and the Sacrament yet with such difference that the Sacrament which in the opinion of Rome is transubstantiated into the body of Christ is tyed upon the back of a Mule whilest the Pope is carried with Magnificence by the Princes or the Kings who are present there or else by their Ambassadors if the Kings be not present according as it it written in the (b) Lib. 2. sect 2. cap. 3. Book of their Ceremonies It was to put in practice the Maximes of deposing Kings and absolving their subjects from the obedience they owe them that Pope Gregory the 7th deposed Henry the 4th Emperour and Boleslaus the 2d King of Poland that Pope Zacharias deposed Chilperick King of France absolved the French from the fidelity they owed their natural King and put Pepine into his place that Boniface the 8th deposed Philip le Bell King of France and excommunicated him in that decretal which begins (c) Extravagant de majorit obedi Vnam sanctam Ecclesiam In which the Pope himself declares That it is of necessity to Salvation for every humane creature to be subjected to the Pope of Rome that Innocent III. deposed the Emperour Otho IV. Innocent IV. deposEd the Emperour Frederick II. Julius II. took away the Kingdom of Navarre from its natural King to give it to the King of Spain In fine it was to maintain all these ambitious Maximes that about the year 1200 Pope Innocent III. who deposed the Emperour Otho deposed also King John of England declared him to have lost the right to his Kingdom absolved his subjects from the Oath of Allegiance caused Divine Service to cease throughout all the Kingdom and Churches and Church-yards to be shut up which continued by the space (d) Mat. Paris of six years and a half excommunicated the King and gave the Kingdom of England to Philip Augustus King of France upon condition to conquer it at his own peril and fortune in short it was to maintain those principles that Paul III. excommunicated Henry VIII King of England and Pius V. Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory Whereas by right (e) King James in his premonition to all Christ Monar pag. 23. Christian Emperours are the Lords and the Superiours of the Popes even the Popes have acknowledged themselves their subjects and vassals and that they were to honour and obey the Emperours as their Lords and their Masters as it is to be seen by the Letters of Gregory the great and other Bishops of Rome to the Emperours in whose time they lived The Roman Emperours used to Elect the Popes and make Laws which were to be observed by the Roman Seat it was from the Emperours all the Bishops and Archbishops of Rome were to receive their Investiture and it was to the Emperours the Popes themselves were forced to pay a certain sum of mony to be confirmed in the Papacy witness Igebert and Luitprand with other Popish Historians The Emperors deposed the Popes as relateth King James the Emperor Otho deposed Pope John XII for diverse crimes and vices especially of Lechery the Emperour Henry III. in a very short time deposed three Popes to wit Benedict IX Silvester III. and Gregory VI. both because of their Covetousness and because they abused their Authority against Kings and Princes In fine all the Church-men and the Pope himself with them is subject to Kings who are immediately under God Supreme Governours of the Church since the Apostle (f) Ad Rom. 13.1 saith Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers c. Do but read the Comments of the Fathers upon that verse and they will teach you that Ministers Bishops and High-priests are not excused from that upon any terms St. Chrysostome (a) Homil. 23. super epist ad Rom. maintains that the greatest Bishops are not exempted from the jurisdiction of Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And afterwards Should you be an Apostle saith he should you be an Evangelist or a Prophet no body is exempted from the Kings Jurisdiction Theodoret St. Bernard and the others hold the same Is the Pope more than a Prophet is he more than an Evangelist is he more than an Apostle to rise above bove all the Kings of the earth and not only deny to them his obedience but furthermore to take upon him to rule and dispose of their Estates to depose and excommunicate the Kings themselves and to Commission the subjects to rebel against their natural Princes § 2. The Pope exalts himself above all Churches taking unjustly to himself the titel of Universal Bishop That it is a Blasphemy and an Apostasie in Christendome to take upon him such a title ANother of those 27 Propositions which do compose the Dictatorship of the Pope is this that the Bishop of Rome is to be called Universal Bishop where you may see the monstrous ambition of that man who is called the Pope who after he hath elevated his power above the Majesty of all Kings would rise above all his fellows and above all Churches 'T was in prosecution of this Maxime that in the 4th Council of Carthage three Bishops of Rome one after another after having falsified the decree of the first Council of Nice produced the Articles of the Council of Sardis pretending that one might appeal from other Bishops to the Bishop of Rome but the Fathers of that Council having had recouse unto the originals and known by that means the foul-play of the Bishops of Rome made a decree quite contrary to that exorbitant Authority that the Bishops of Rome would have taken upon themselves Truely there is nothing so ill grounded as that Primacy and that Title of Vniversal Bishop which the Popes challenge to themselves neither Peter nor any of the Apostles ever took upon themselves such title or jurisdiction and though they observed among the Apostles and in the Primitive Church the order of first and second c. yet such an order was never for the destruction of the Authority of the other Apostles or Bishops since among the Apostles St. Peter who was the first presided not in the Council of Jerusalem but St. James who
was Bishop of the place where that Council was held since according to the Authority of the Chancellour (b) Tom. 4. in propos utilibus ad exterminat schismatis Gerson in the Apostles times four Councils were held where St. Peter was not present now it is a principle in the Doctrine of Rome that the title of Universal Bishop gives one the right of presiding in all Councils from whence the consequence is manifest As for the times which have followed those of the Apostles we know that the Popes have not always presided in all general Councils and that the only thought of being elevated above other Bishops and stiled UniversAl was an abomination among all the Antients and a thing lookt upon as an Apostasie and a monstrous error proceeding from the bottom of Hell to plant Impiety and Idolatrie in the middle of the Temple of God About the end of the fifth Age about the year 600. John Patriarch of Constantinople would have challenged to himself the title of Universal Bishop and was in that enterprise supported by the favour of the Emperor Mauricius at the novelty of that monstrous title all Christendom was stricken with horror Pope Gregory the Great stirred up with the zeal of the honour of God withstands vigorously the establishment of that new title he writes to Eulogius Patriarch of Alexandria and to Anastasius Patriarch of Antioch (a) Epist 36. Never a one of my predecessors saith he has been willing to consent to a title so profane as that of universal Bishop challenging to himself the primacy over the other God forbid that Christian minds should ever be infected with such an opinion as to believe that there may be in the world some Bishop who could by right take to himself the title of Universal And in another (b) Epist 24. lib. 6. epistle to the same Without speaking saith he of the wrong which is done to you if some body be called Vniversal Bishop this Vniversal Bishop being faln all the Vniversal Church must need fall to the ground together with him and what madness saith he what levity is it to run after such a Doctrine To the Emperor Mauricius (c) Epist 32. lib. 4. he protests that it is not for his own particular interest that he withsTands that pretended Primacy of the Bishop of Constantinople he makes him understand that it is the business of all the Church that such a title is contrary to the ordinances of the Gospel to the Holy Canons of the Church and that it is an usurpation Nunquid ego in hac re piissime domine propriam causam defendo c. Causam Vniversalis Ecclesiae ago c. That such a title is new in the Church never one of my predecessors saith he again has been willing to consent to that title of singularity lest other Bishops should be thereby deprived of the honour which is owing to them and in another Epistle (d) Epist 30. lib. 4. to the same Emperour he doth openly declare that if any Bishop desires to be called Universal Bishop he is the forerunner of the Antichrist In fine he writes to the Bishop of Constantinople himself he prays him he beseeches him he exhorts him not to consent to that title full of error of ambition and madness he saies that it is a temptation of the Devil of which he must beware and that to consent to receive so mischievous a title is nothing else but to lose the Faith and to become an Apostate from Christianity But alas those words full of zeal and truth were the last words of the true Roman Church that Church ceased with Gregory the Great and there succeeded in its place a corrupted Roman Church whose Bishop challenged to himself that monstrous name full of Blasphemy and Apostasie which his predecessor withstood so generously The Emperour Mauricius was murthered by Phocas Phocas usurped the Empire and made himself a Tyrant and to have some prop for his tyranny he gave Boniface III. to make him his creature the title of Universal Bishop and that title which the Bishop of Rome thus usurped was established by degrees fair and softly by the Pope's cunning tricks so that about the year 642. they began in the superscription of Letters whcih were written to the Pope Theodorus to set these words which are related by Sygebertus in his Chronciles To the holy Father of Fathers and Soveraign Prelate of Prelates c. Against that monstrous name full of Blasphemy and Apostasie the Churches of Greece of Dacia and Illyrium made opposition and the Kingdoms of France Spain and England were a long while afore they could abide that huge and heavy burthen of the Popes dominion and submit themselves to that primacy and universality of the Roman Bishop This is the story and the progress of that primacy and it is upon that title of Universal Bishop and sovereign Prelate that the Church of Rome asserts the Pope to be infallible that it is by his judgment that the other Bishops must be governed and likewise on the contrary that there is none upon earth capable of redressing what the Pope has once ordained as it is written in one of those 27 Propositions in which consists the Dictatorship of the Pope § 3. That the Ambition of the Popes extends it felf as far as Impiety YOU would imagine that proposition to be a Paradox viz. That the Roman religion is grounded upon Impiety since there is nothing more contrary to Religion than Impiety but as much paradox as it is it is very true for all that or if one of the members of that Proposition is to be destroyed to hinder it from being a Paradox we are to say that the Romish is not a Religion As for the other member of the proposition to wit that it is grounded upon Impiety nothing is more true and more easie to to be proved The Church of Rome is all grounded upon the Authority of the Popes now the Authority of the Popes is injurious unto God's Majesty it doth establish a manifest Impiety therefore it is evident that the Religigion or the Church of Rome is grounded upon Impiety To prove the 2d Proposition of that argument I have nothing else to do but to shew that the Popes challenge to themselves the power of dispensing with the Gospel and the commandments of God and after they have taken to themselves a power as mighty as that of God Almighty they had the temerity to take also to themselves the same titles that we use to attribute only to God or to Jesus Christ our Saviour 1. The Pope takes to himself as great an Authority as that of God Almighty ACcording to the Maxime of Optatus (a) Lib. 3. That there is none but God about Kings and Emperours that he who exalts himself above those anointed of God raises himself above all men and makes himself equal with God Cum super Imperatorem non sit nisi solus
the Apostles to be his Protector to present him to the Disciples and declare unto them after how marvellous a manner Vers 27 God had been pleased to accomplish his Conversion This was the condition wherein St. Paul was reduced after his Conversion and it is also my Lord the very same condition in which a man newly Converted is reduced now in our Age. On the one side those whose party he doth forsake become his most bitter and most irreconcilable enemies they threaten him with nothing less than his entire destruction and ruin and were not their vows and pernicious designs restrained by the severity of Laws we should see presently the Tragical consequences of their indiscreet and Passionate Zeal On the other side a great number of those who do profess the Purity of the Gospel do not trust him they avoid him they are affraid of him for the same reasons for which the Disciples were affraid of Paul they are affraid least he should not be truly and throughly Converted they are affraid least his Conversion should be interressed and imperfect or at least they are affraid that it should not be everlasting and least after having stayed some while amongst them he should return to his Errors and become once more the Persecutor of the Gospel and of the Truth In this condition what will become a man newly Converted For those whose Errors he has forsaken and who do persecute him without Mercy or Charity he doth direct his Prayers to the Everlasting God for their Conversion in the very time when he is the most unmercifully persecuted by them he lifts up his hands to Heaven continually to acknowledge that the sins which he has committed are the only causes which draw upon his head all these Persecutions But for those with whom he doth profess the same Faith he has need as well as St. Paul of a powerful Protector to be his advocate to speak in his favour and make known to all the People that his Conversion is not an effect of Interest of Inconstancy or of Necessity but that it is the Work of God and an Effect of his Mercies Though by the Grace of God it is almost three years since I professed the Purity of the Gospel yet I may for several reasons be accounted in the number of those who are newly Converted and in that condition I find my self reduced to the same fortune to fall into the hatred and detestation of those whose Errors I have forsaken and to find in a great many Protestants coldness and repugnancy when they shall know that I have formerly professed Error and Persecuted those who embraced the Purity of the Gospel I am not so ignorant how far the Zeal and the Passion of Men reach in matters of Religion as not to excuse my Enemies I forgive them with all my heart and I pray God that he will be pleased to enlighten them and give them the knowledge of his Truth I am not so unjust neither as to condemn the Prudence of the Protestants I acknowledge that they have reason to mistrust me since that others have deceived them and as I have not the vanity to think my self more perfect than St. Paul so do not I think them more guilty than all the Disciples and all the Saints who dwelt at Jerusalem who mistrusted this Apostle and were affraid least his Conversion should not be sincere It is in this condition that I acknowledge that I have need of a powerful Protection and it is to crave yours my Lord that I come with this humble Dedication The Disciples were satisfied when one of the Apostles presented them Paul and told them the Wonders which Grace did work in his Conversion have not I all the reasons in the World to think that all those who do profess the Purity of the Gospel will be satisfied also and that they will consider me as a true son of the Church as soon as they will hear that the motives of my Conversion appear in publick under your Lordships Protection He who presented St. Paul to the Faithful was an Apostle who peculiarly rejoyced in the Increasing of the Kingdom of Christ he was * Acts 11.23 filled with Heavenly satisfaction when he saw the effects of the Grace of Christ in the hearts of the People who were Converted to the Gospel * Vers 24. He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of Faith It is in abridgement the Panegyrick which the Holy Ghost made of all his Virtues It is that which caused the Apostles to be satisfied with St. Paul and to consider him as a man truly Converted since that he was presented to them by an Apostle whose Faith Zeal and Virtue were so perfectly known to them And have not I reason to hope that the true Protestants will consider me as a man truly Converted when they shall see that it is you My Lord who receive me into the Church You to whom God Almighty has granted a peculiar Gift of Discerning of Spirits You who have no greater joy in the World than to see the Divine Operations of Grace in the hearts of those who lived formerly in Errors You who take so much care of those that are newly Converted who maintain so openly their interests who take your delight in bringing them up in keeping them as young Plants wherewith God is pleased to adorn his Church notwithstanding all the enemies of the Propagation of the Gospel You whose Integrity stops the mouths even of all those who being the Enemies of the Church of Christ are become your Enemies You in fine My Lord whose Zeal and Faith appear every day so generously When there is something that concerns the Interests of God the Glory of Christ and the Purity of his Holy Word Have not I reason said I to think that all the Faithful will not doubt of the sincerity of my conduct as soon as they shall know that it is You My Lord who receive me into the Church and that you have been pleased to receive me likewise into your Protection Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant Lewis Des-écotais TABLE INTRODUCTION § 1. Les Raisons qui m'ont engagé d'escrire ces Memoires Page 1. § 2. Que la Conversion d'un homme qui a vêcu dans les erreurs de l'Eglise Romaine est un tres grand Miracle pag. 5. § 3. De quelle maniere et par quels degrés l'Esprit de Dieu m'a fait connoître mes Erreurs pag. 9. PREMIERE PARTIE Que la Doctrine de l'Eglise Romaine n'est point fondée ny sur les Escritures ny sur la Creance de la Primitive Eglise ny sur l'Authorité des Saints Peres CHAP. I. Commant j'ay connu que la Doctrine de l'Eglise Romaine n'est point fondée sur l'Ecriture § 1. La Lecture de l'Ecriture Sainte me dispose à reconnoistre les Erreurs de Rome pag. 11. § 2. Les Erreurs de l'Eglise Romaine dont
the Bridegroom and the Foundation of the Church as he is stiled (b) De Pontif. Roman lib. 2. cap. 31. by Bellarmin if they do signifie that the Pope is Infallible that he has the power to make new Articles of Faith (c) 2.2 q. 1. art 10. as Thomas Aquinas doth hold If those places of Scripture signifie all these Propositions they are very dark we must confess it is a very hard matter to follow these Consequences since they are contrary even to common Sence That place of St. Paul (d) 1 Corinth 11.24 This is my Body If these Words are to be expounded after the same manner that those other words of the same St. Paul in the same Epistle in the next Chapter (e) 1 Corinth 12.27 Ye are the Body of Christ this place is very easie but if these words signifie that the substance of Bread in the Holy Sacrament is transubstantiated into Jesus Christ his own Flesh into his own substance as it is written (a) Sess 13. cap 4. can 2. in the Councel of Trent that place is very obscure there is not in all the Scripture such another And if we are to give to all the Texts of Scripture which are alike to that so rough an explication to understand them after the same manner the Council of Trent understands that of St. Paul we must needs say that all the substance of Christ is Transubstantiated into the substance of a (b) Joh. 10.7 door that Christ is truly and really a (c) Joh. 1.29 Lamb that the spiritual Rock which followed the Children of Israel in the Wilderness had but the appearances the colour the hardness the resemblance of a Rock but truly and really it was Transubstantiated into the Body into the Blood into the Soul and the Divinity of Christ because the Scripture saith (d) 1 Cor. 10.4 That Rock was Christ And how horrid an absurdity would it be to draw such consequences Ah we must confess the Scripture is very difficult if we are to receive such Interpretations Besides that I did find in the Scripture many Insufficiencies Insufficiencies of the Scripture I thought it was an Article of Faith to believe that the Roman Church is the true Church which Christ has established and in all the Scripture I did find nothing of it I knew it was an Article of the Faith of Rom to believe that it is an Holy thing godly acceptable to the Lord and profitable to Men (a) Sess 25. To call upon the names of the Saints (b) Sess 25. decr 2. To Worship their Images Bones and Reliques according as it is decreed in the Council of Trent And I did not find in all the Scripture any Prayers directed to the Saints after their Death I did not find in all the Acts of the Apostles nor any where else that the first Christians had any Images in whose presence they said their Prayers neither do we read they had any Caskets or Shrines wherein Reliques were kept to bring them abroad in solemn Processions to set them in the middle of their Churches and to Worship them there Wherefore I said sometimes to my self Alas If We keep the same Faith as the first Christians why do We the things which the first Christians never did Why do We call upon the names of Saints Why do We Worship their Images and Bones I found not in all the Scripture Indulgencies or Purgatory in short I thought my self obliged to beieve several Articles of Faith of which there is no mention in the Scripture That made me think that the Scripture was an insufficient Book and that every thing which is necessary to believe for our Salvation is not contained in it But I did not perceive my errors nor the falshood of my discoursing and that whereas I did conclude that the Scripture was insufficient because I did not find in it all those Articles I should rather and more rightly conclude that all those Doctrines are not Articles of Faith since they are not to be found in the Word of God These first glimpses of Truth made a mighty Impression in my Mind though under pretences of Doubts Difficulties and Insufficiencies Contradictions of the Scripture to which were added even many contradictions which I found in the Places of the Scripture whereby the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is utterly subverted in that place of (a) 1 Tim. 4. St. Paul to Timothy Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God has created to be received with Thanksgivings You would say that the Apostle did see by the Spirit the Errors of the Roman Church which he condemns before-hand as Doctrines of Devils Who doth not understand that these words do utterly destroy the Doctrine of the Popes in the Decree of Gracian (a) Distinct 82. can Propos can Propos can Plurimos wherein the Marriage of Church-men is stiled a defiling and a Sacriledge Doutterly destory the Commandements of the Roman Church wherein it is commanded to abstain from Meats upon the pain of a Mortal Sin These Words of (b) 1 Cor. 10.16 17. St. Paul to the Corinthians The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ We are all partakers of that one BREAD and in the next Chapter (c) 1 Cor. 1◠v. 26 27 28. As often as you Eat that BREAD c. Let a man examin himself and so let him Eat of that BREAD All these Testimonies of the Holy Ghost were a mighty weight to incline me to believe that the Holy Sacrament was the Bread which is broken Ch. 1. §. 3. But at last error did come again to extinguish this sparkle of Light which began to shine in my Soul and whereas it is the belief of Rome which is to be ruled modified and accommodated to the Truth of the Word of God I did perswade my self that these places of the Scripture were to be ruled modified and accommodated to the belief of Rome and so I was obliged to look upon all those Words of Scripture as so many Contradictions §. 3. Circumstances which did contribute to hasten my Conversion IN that condition I found my self divided betwixt Error and Truth betwixt the Word of God and the Belief of the Church of Rome But Error brought forth some pretences to persist stubbornly May be said I the reason wherefore I come to so many Difficulties Insufficiencies and Contradictions in the Scripture is because I have not read what the Theologians write concerning such Questions may be the Study of Divinity will make plain all these Difficulties supply all these Insufficiencies and reconcile all these Contradictions So I was like to that blind Man whom Christ
we must know that the custom of the First Christians was thus Before they might participate of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ they came to present their Offerings Bread Wine Oyl Fruits and other things and those Offerings were called by the Fathers of the Church Sacrifices as it is evident by the reading of (a) Lib. 4. cap. 32.34 St. Ireny (b) Epist 34. Item Lib. de Oper. et Eleem. St. Cyprian (c) Lib. 5. cap. 17. Theodoret the second Council of (d) Can. 4. Mascon about the Year 587 as it is to be seen in (e) Lib. 1. cap. 7 8. Rebanus Maurus his Instructions of Church-men Let the Sub-Deacons says he receive the faithful Peoples Oblations in the Temple of God and give them to the Deacons to be put upon the Altar and this was the reason why they called the Table of Communion an ALTAR because of the Oblations they offered upon it Such was the belief the use and the simplicity of the Primitive Church But alas how much has error defaced this Holy Practice in the Roman Church How great alteration is happened from the belief of the first Christians 1. Instead of Bread the First Faithful offered upon the Lords Table they offer in the now Roman Church only some slender Hosts like to Wafers and it is that of which the Author of the Exposition of the Roman Order and Constitutions complains as (a) In his Comment upon the Capitular of Charlesmagne lits B. Monsieur Pithou relates In some Churches says he the Oblation of Bread which according to the Ancient Custom of the Church was offered by the Faithful People upon the Lords Table for the usage of the Sacrifice is at this time reduced to a very small and very light form to the form of a little piece of Money which has neither the Figure nor appearance of the true Bread And it is to authorize such error that in several Pictures of the Lords Supper Christ is to be seen with all his Apostles having every one upon his Plate a little Hoste of the bigness of one Farthing Is not that a mighty alteration in the Roman Church to offer to the Lord some little Hosts that have not any appearance of Bread instead of the true Bread which was offered in the Primitive Church And is it not a monstrous boldness worthy of punishment to make the World believe that Christ instituting the Holy Sacrament hath not taken ordinary Bread but some little Wafers alike to those they use in the Roman Church 2. Whereas in the Primitive Church the Oblations which were made were Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Duty and that the Holy Sacrament was look'd upon but as a Sacrifice of Commemoration according to the belief the Church of England keeps still we have seen since altogether with the belief of Reality and Transubstantiation the belief of a Real and Propitatory Sacrifice in the Mass which has obliged the interessed to hold as they-did since in the Council of Trent That Christ was every day truly Sacrificed I do not know how many times for our Sins and that the Roman Priests were true Sacrificers and all that without any ground in the Scripture without any advowing or authority of the Primitive Church whose belief was very far from that of the Roman Church as it is proved in all this Section IV. The horrid abuse of the Roman Church to offer Sacrifice in the honour of Saints is a practice contrary to that of the Primitive Church FOr as much as Error is the Mother of Blindness as one deep calleth another Psal 42.9 and all the design of the Devil is to bring men to Impiety and to the Destruction of the Kingdom of Christ Whereas in the Primitive Church they directed their Oblations only to God Almighty they celebrated the Sacrifice of the Lords Supper only for the honour of his Divine Majesty the Church of Rome carried on Error to such excess as to hold that in the Sacrifice of the Mass which they do pretend Christ himself is Really Sacrificed that that Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ Really and Substantially present is offered Durst I rehearse such a Blasphemy that it is offered in honour of Saints and one comes boldly to say to a Priest who prepares himself to say the Mass Sir you must say the Mass of St. Peter The Mass of St. Paul Of St. James or some other that is to say You must Immolate Jesus Christ to day to the honour of St. Peter to the honour of St. Paul of St. James of St. Barnabas or of some other and that you may not think that I do impose upon the Church of Rome you are but to read upon that matter which you please of the Books of the Roman Theologians or to hear what the Priest says every day in his Mass when he reads the Canon thereof and you shall hear him saying with a low voice these words after he has recited the names of several Saints Ut illis proficiat ad honorem That it may profit them to honour he doth pray God that this Sacrifice be profitable to their honour If in the Old testament any should have offered Sacrifices to God in the honour of Abraham Isaac and Jacob would not they have stoned him in that very instant to expiate by his death the Impiety of this Blasphemy Alas in the Law of Moses there were in the Sacrifices only some Beasts whose throat were cut When Christ began to shew unto his Disciples how that he was to go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief-Priests and be killed to appease the wrath of his Father provoked against the Sins of Men St. Peter was presently filled with Zeal and could not abide that his Master should go unto Jerusalem to be Sacrificed there (a) Math. 16.22 Be it far from thee Lord said he this shall not be unto thee Oh! should St. Peter be upon the Earth and some body should come to tell him Peter this Priest who goes to say the Mass is going for your sake to worship you to Sacrifice Christ himself his own Body and Blood Would not he hear the news with a mighty horrour Would not he say with much more reason Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee thou shall not be Sacrificed for my sake for my honour We do read in the Acts of (a) Cap. 14. the Apostles that some people of Lycaonia having seen the Miracle that St. Paul had wrought were ready to offer a Sacrifice to him and that the Priests of Jupiter brought Oxen and Garlands unto the Gates and would have done Sacrifice with the People in honour of Barnabas and Paul which when these Apostles heard of they rent their Clothes and ran in among the People crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things we also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye
should turn from these Vanities unto the living God But alass the things which they brought to do Sacrifice withal were only Oxen with Garlands And what you think would these Saints say if they were now upon the Earth and some body should come and tell them that in the Church of Rome the Priests do Sacrifice Jesus Christ to honour St. Barnabas and St. Paul Would not they be very angry with those new Sacrificers would not they rent their Cloaths would not they say to all the People of the Roman Church Sirs why do you these things we also are men like you it is not for our honour you must offer your Sacrifices it is for the honour of God's Majesty to whom only it is lawful to offer them I do believe if some of the Apostles or of the First Christians should rise again and appear in the Church of Rome they would have need to learn almost all their Catechism so great is the alteration of the Articles of Faith of the now Roman Church from those of the Primitive Sect. III. Ch. 2. §. 3. The Manner of Administring the Sacrament in the Roman Church is quite different and very much opposed to that which they used in the First Ages of the Church I. In the time of the Apostles and the First Ages of the Church they gave the Communion to all the People under Both Kinds they Worshipped not the Host nor celebrated the Holy Mysteries in an Unknown Tongue AS for the manner of celebrating the Eucharist it is easie to take notice of three great faults in that after which the Church of Rome celebrates it now The first is the Abridgement of the Cup. The second is the Adoration of the Sacrament The is the Unknown Language which they do use in the Church of Rome in the celebration of the Eucharist You may read over all the Scripture you shall never find that the Faithful were couzened of the Chalice of Christ's Blood you shall not find that the Christians are to Worship the Sacrament you shall not find that Christ or this Apostles in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries ever spoke in a Tongue Unknown to the People You may read all the Histories of the First Ages of the Church and the writings of the Fathers who lived in those Ages you shall never find the Abridgement of the Cup never the Adoration of the Eucharist never the Celebrating of the Holy Sacrament in an Unknown Tongue In the Apostles time when they Celebrated the Lord's Supper they added first nothing to the Institution of Christ but the Lord's Prayer and some time after three devout collects as it is manifest by the reading of Ancient Authors After the Apostles death the faithful People being gathered together upon a Sunday the Reader did read some Chapter out of the Scripture afterwards the Minister or the Bishop who did preside made an exhortation unto the People upon the Scripture that had been read and at the end of his exhortation he made his Prayer unto God After that the Faithful gave one to another the Kissing of Peace then they set upon the Communion Table Bread and Wine then the Pastor used the Prayers of Consecration and after the People had Answered Amen the Deacons took the Bread and Wine Sanctified through the Ministers Blessing and Prayers and divided it to all those which were present there Such was the Plainness of the first Christians in the Celebrating of this Holy Mystery and after the same manner they celebrated it 'till the year 150. that is to say about 70 years after the Apostles death as it is reported by Justin Martyr in his second Apologie near the end In this manner of celebrating the Holy Sacrament the faithful People received the Communion under both kinds the Language which was spoken was known of all the People since the answered Amen and it cannot be found that they worshipped the Sacrament We have seen afterwards in the Church several forms of Celebrating the Eucharist which have been called Liturgies We have seen the Liturgy of St. James the Liturgy of St. Clement the Liturgy of St. Matthew of St. Andrew of St. Chrysostom But alas What agreement is there betwixt those Liturgies and the Mass of Rome we do find indeed in those Liturgies some Prayers which are almost the same with them that are said in the Mass but we do not see in one of those Liturgies that it was forbidden to give the Cup to the People on the contrary we find there that all the Faithful did receive the Sacrament under both Kinds We know that the Language of those Liturgies was a Language understood among the people and we cannot see any where therein the least trace of the Adoration of the Sacrament There are some Authors who do not hold all those Liturgies as authentical neither as being written indeed by the Saints to whom they are attributed as (a) De Scrip-Ecclesi Bellarmin maintains who nevertheless is constrained to confess that an infinite multitude of Corruptions have slid into them They say that it is very likely that in the Year 325. the Fathers of the Council of Nice had not heard of that Liturgie which they say is St. Jame's or if they had heard of it they did not believe it true since in that Council there were so many Disputes and oppositions about establishing this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consubstantial which is to be found in that Liturgie They say that in the Year 431. in the Council of Ephesus the Fathers of the Church made no mention of that Liturgie neither of the Authority of the Apostle St. James to prove that the Blessed Virgin Mary was to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mother of God This word being in the Liturgie of St. James it is not likely say they that the Fathers would have forgotten to use it as a proof against the Nestorians if they had believed that Liturgie to be an Authentical Book They say that in the same Liturgie mention is made of Incense which is offered which makes them believe that that Liturgie is not St. James's since in the times of the First Christians they offered not Incense in their Churches as it is manifest by (a) Lib. 6. 7. Arnobius They say the same of almost all the other Liturgies in that of St. Matthew mention is made of the Council of Nice of its Creed of the Council of Constantinople of the Council of Ephesus of Basil of Gregory who did live many Ages after the Death of St. Matthew That in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom who liv'd in the end of the Fourth Age St. Chrysostom himself is named among the dead that we find therein the names of Sabas of Onuphrius of Anastasius of Athos and of some others who lived a great while after the death of St. Chrysostom All these reasons make them believe that either these Liturgies are counterfeited works and not the Authors to whom they
with more maturity the reasons whereupon I was perswaded to hold that the Pope was infallible Alas said I all the reason the Monks have to refuse to obey the Bishops is because the Pope has held them excused from their jurisdiction what then could the Pope release Children from obeying their Fathers could he release Servants from their duty to their Masters can he free men from obedience to their Superiours can he take away the Sheep out of the conduct of their Pastors without exposing the flock to the fierceness of the Monks from the natural jurisdiction of the Bishops so that all the order of the Church shall not be overthrown and disturb'd with inevitable confusion Doth not one see every day the effects of those dispensations which are altogether the effects of that mighty power which is attributed to the Pope If a Bishop comes to make his visitation in some Churches belonging to the Monks they shut the door against him to the scandal of all the people If the matter comes into some of the Monk's Churches to perform therein some Ecclesiastical Functions there must be a great fighting before as it happened about 6 years ago with the Priests of St. Roch by the Capucin Nun's Church at Paris at the Burials of Madame la Duchesse de Vandôme they use the handles of Crosses instead of Halberds they fight with Links and Candle-sticks they burn the Surplesses of the Priests they rent their Ornaments in fine the strongest beat down the others some lose there their square Caps some their Hats and of an action which should be to replenish all the assistants with thoughts of death of eternity of the judgments of God they make it a Buffoonry a Puppet's fighting an action so ridiculous that the most serious can hardly forbear to burst with laughing a jeasting which is the subject of I know not how many Satyres and mock Poems so far that they must make of each side some verbal reports and obtain from the King an express inhibition to hinder the people from making Ballads thereupon and enterludes to make the people laugh at it on the Theaters of the King 's or the Duke's Play-houses These tragical and scandalous consequences which are the effects of the power of the Pope in the Roman Church freeted me and went against my mind which was the cause that I resolved to examine again whether that Authority which is given to the Pope was grounded upon some reasonable principles and to examine it if it was possible without any prejudice for my own instruction and to establish solidly the grounds of my Religion but God Almighty whose judgments are impenetrable permitted that the resolution I took was crossed again for some while The Curates of the Diocess of Sens at that time were to meet every month in the Synod where in my Lord Archbishop presided and there give their answers and opinions upon the Canonical and Ecclesiastical questions which had been propounded in the precedent meeting many of those Gentlemen who thought I had a peculiar knowledge of the Ecclesiastial History and of the Canons of the Church came to me and desired me to explain the propositions to which they were to answer in the next Conference and give them the resolutions and the proofs of them and so whereas I gave them every month their Conferences in writing that employed me wholly and gave me no other leasure during six or seven months but to study hard the Holy Fathers writings the Pope's decretals and the other Books of the Canons which I could find in the Monastery that I lived in 3. Circumstances wherewith I began to examine the Authority of the Roman Church and what is my design in the rehearsal of them AT last the divine providence furnished me with an opportunity which set me in a condition to give my self to the inquiry I intended to make I went with the obedience of our General to live in a Monastery which is called Font-Evrald by the River of Loire about nine miles from Saumur there I had the leasure to examine throughly the question of the Authority of the Roman Church and of the infallibility of the Pope which was the only principle which kept me in the Roman Church every thing did contribute to my design the solitude and the commodity of a fine and great library which I had at hand gave me all the facility that could be to give my self to that examination and I was no great while before I had acquaintance with one of the most learned men of that province who is Mr. Prior Pavilion who among the Books he has written made an answer to Mr Claude Minister of Charanton concerning the matter of the Eucharist I took an extream delight to converse with him and he took the pains as to come almost every day from about a mile off to the place where I dwelt and there we passed all the day long in Conferences and disputes upon matters of Religion it was with all those advantages having the convenience to learn the thoughts and to weigh the reasons of the learned men both of the quick and the dead that I examined that question whereupon depended my Religion and consequently my Salvation It would be a very hard matter to rehearse here all the questions which I thought to have some connection with that that I had proposed to examine and which I thought were either the principles or the consequences thereof and I should be tedious if I should rehearse here the thoughts of all the Authors I read upon that matter the reasons I examined in their principles and in their sources and the difficulties which I unwrapped in fine what I read what I wrote and what I thought during the space of almost one year Since I do intend here but to tell the faithful the means which God Almighty has used to draw me out of the captivity of the Roman Church and to make me one of his Church which professes to follow the purity of his word I will relate here only the motives which made at that time a mighty impression in my mind which were like Celestial influences of grace which ruled my conversion and my design in all this discourse is no other but to entice the holy and faithful people to praise God and to give thanks to his majesty for the marvellous things he works inlightening with his divine lights those who walk in the wandering of the truth and in being merciful even to those who seek after pretences to remain in their errors CHAPTER I. Chapt. I. The pretended grounds of the Authority of the Roman Church I Did understand well that there was in the world a true manner of worshiping God and I supposed as a principle not to be contested received of all those to whom God has given reason to govern themselves that the true manner of worshipping God was that which had been instituted by Christ but forasmuch as all the
ground their Religion for when they would have excited the Jews to forsake their errors and to give over their sins they said to them that a great while ago they had entertained the word of God contumeliously I spake unto thee in thy prosperity (c) Jerem. 22.21 saith the Lord but thou saidst I will not hear this has been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyedst not my voice (d) Jerem. 32.30 31 32. The Children of Israel and the Children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth for this City hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury even unto this day that I should remove it from before my face because of all the evil of the Children of Israel and of the Children of Judah which they have done to provoke me to anger they their Kings their Princes their Priests and their Prophets and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem c. Whereby it is very easie to see that the Prophet believed not that the people of Israel had any right to deal wrongfully with the word of God because they had done so during I do not know how many ages neither that the Kings the Princes the Priests the Prophets and the People could pretend to stay still in their blindness because in all ages before there had been found many of the Kings of the Priests the Prophets and the People who had gone astray from the Law of God to prostitute themselves to errors In fine jesus Christ himself knew not that fine maxime of Rome that antiquity is a true mark of Infallibility for when the Scribes and the Pharisees said (e) Joh. 8. that they were Children of Abraham he answered them that their Genealogie was a great deal more Ancient since they were Children of the Devil himself but he thought not all that fair Antiquity could render them Infallible could give them right to reject his holy word and the truths he came to preach to them §. 2. Multitude is not an infallible mark of the true Church IF the Multitude be a mark of the true Church we must need say that there was no true Church in the time of Enoch in the time of Noah in the time of Abraham that there was no true Church neither whilst Christ Jesus lived upon the earth nor in the time of the Apostles nor in the time of the Arians if the accounts we have received of their numbers be true When the Antichrist shall appear in the world the Church and the true worshipping of God shall be almost destroyed or what would be yet more horrible to imagine we must say that the Church of Antichrist shall be the true Church that in the time of the Arians those who denied Christ our Lords Divinity were the true Church that in the time of the Apostles and the Martyrs the Heathens had the true manner of worshipping God that Christ and his Apostles were not the true Church but that it was those who Crucified him who had reason on their side and who doth not see that all these propositions are so many Blasphemies which yet are good consequences from this principle urged by the Romanists but are horrible impieties and falsehoods How far be these propositions from the thoughts of the Fathers and from truth St. Augustin (a) In Psal 128. faith that the true Church was for a while inclosed in the single person of Abel a while in the single person of Enoch a while it did consist all in the family of Noah and since in that of Abraham I should be ashamed to prove here among reasonable people that it was among that people of God before Christ his coming and among the faithful in the Primitive Church that the true Religion was to be sought after not among the Idolaters and the Heathens and you would look upon me as a man who thinks all the Christians very little zealous for the love of Christ if speaking to those who profess to follow him I would engage my self to prove what all the world ought to suppose as a principle not to be contested that whilest Christ lived upon the Earth with his Apostles it was in that holy Colledge of Christ the true Church was to be found not in the Synagogue of the Jews which was all compacted of men who gasped but for the blood of the righteous who sought but to oppress the truth As for the time of the Arians it is true as Theodoret witnesses (b) Lib. 2. Hist Ecclesiast cap. 16. that the Emperour Constantius spake of Athanasius as of a naughty fellow whom all the world looked upon with detestation because he held Christ's Divinity Who art thou said that Emperour to Liberius what part of the world art thou to come all alone to trouble the quiet of all the Earth It is true as Hilary (c) In lib. de Synod witnesses that in all the ten Provinces of Asia there was but the bishop Eleusius and a very small number of people with him who persisted in the true knowledge of God it is true as St. Hierome (d) Contra error Joan. Jerosolim witnesses that in all the East there was but Athanasius and Paulinus who followed not the errours of Arius nevertheless the true Church was not destroyed it was not in the Communion of the Arians though they were the Multitude it was in the single Bishop Eleusius it was in Athanasius it was in Paulinus because as Liberius answered to the Emperour Constantius the word of Faith is not lessened by the small number of those who profess that Holy word neither by their loneliness non diminuitur solitudine mea verbum fidei and according to the witness of Tertullian (e) De pudicitia it is not the great number of Bishops that makes the Church the Church may consist in one or two saith (f) De poenit cap. 10. the same and Gregory of Nazianze where are those saith he (g) Orat. cont Arian who describe the Church by the Multitude they have the People for them and we have the Faith they have abundance of Gold and Silver but we have the true doctrine of Faith whereby you may see that in that time the true Church did not consist in the Multitude Neither shall it be in the Multitude that the true Church shall be found in the time of Antichrist the Church shall be reduced to a very little number according to the testimony of Christ (a) Luke 18.8 when the Son of man cometh shall he find Faith on the Earth St. Hierome (b) In Sophron. 2. saith that in that time the Church shall be reduced to a Wilderness shall be deivered to the wild Beasts and shall suffer all the evils whereof the Prophet gives a description and St. Chrysostome (c) In Mathaeum homil 49. saith that when the ungodly Heresie which is the Army of the Antichrist will come to lay
all kind of gainful Bulls whereupon Pope Sixtus IV. was wont to say That he should never want mony if so be that he should never want Pen and Ink to write Do but open the Historians and you shall find there the crafty tricks which the Popes have used to draw huge sums of mony out of the Kingdoms that have acknowledged his jurisdiction About the year 1216 whilst England overcharged and almost opprest groaned still under the tyranny of the Pope the Pope sent his Legates into this kingdom they Preached a Crosadoe against the Turks and the Bull of the Pope granted those who would make a voew to go into the Holy land to recover the holy Sepulcher the forgiveness of their sins and a degree of Glory in Heaven above the rest upon this a great multitude of Gentry sold and mortgaged their Lands and Estates for the charge of that journey but as they were armed and furnished for their journey another Legate came that dispensed the English from their vow and gave them the same graces and indulgences without budging from their own houses provided they would give to the Pope as much mony as was necessary to have been spent in their journey These are the fine devices which the Pope used to draw mony out of England never a year past but the Popes sent over into this Kingdom some new Commissions some new pretenses to raise mony in so much that the Pope called England his garden of pleasure and his bottomless treasure It is by the means of Bulls Indulgences Forgivenesses Dispensations and other such stuffes the Pope has used to draw from other Kingdoms as well as from England innumerable summes of mony In the time of Martin V. they brought out of France to Rome 9000000 nine millions of Crowns which are 2250000l two millions two hundred fifty thousand pounds sterling and at this time the Popes are wont to complain of France and the Italians stile it Heretick or at least Semiheretick because the Pope has now out of that Kingdom every year but 28 Tuns of Gold which are 560000l five hundred sixty thousand pounds sterling and 1690000l sixteen hundred ninety thousand pounds sterling less than they had used to receive Do but judge from thence what he has what he had and what he intends to have out of all the other Kingdoms which are submitted to his dominion Conclusion of the second Part. That the Roman Church being founded upon the principles which I have rehearsed is fallen into Corruption and Error §. 1. Horrid Corruptions in its Manners WHat can we expect of a Church which is grounded upon Ambition and Covetousness but that it must fall into abundance of Errors and prostitute it self to all kind of corruption and so it is happened to the Church of Rome Do but read the lives of the Popes who have ruled it since its fall you shall find there such dreadful and horrid stories as scarcely could you find amongst Turks and Idolaters Pope John XI who was Bastard to Pope Sergius governed the Roman Church about the year 931. he was a Monster as Baronius himself relates yet for all that he was the chief of the Roman Church Do but judge now what could that Church be whose head was a monster Pope John XII had the government of the Roman Church about the year 955. he was but 18 years old when he was made Pope Baronius speaks of that Pope with horror and execration and if you would know the particularities of the life of that Pope you are but to read Luitprandus (a) Lib. 6. cap. 11. Sygebert (b) An. 963. and Antonin (c) In his Cronicl Tom. 2. tract 16. §. 16. and you shall learn that that Pope was worse than a Turk or an Idolater he took Children to make them Bishops he conferred the Sacred Orders in a Stable he drank to the Devils good health his occupation all the day long was to spend the time in playing at Dice or other sorts of games and it was in those pastimes he used to call upon the name of Jupiter and Venus after which the death of that Pope was conformable enough to the life he had led for whilst he was in the middle of his dissolutenesses the Devil beat him so much that he dyed of it was not the Roman Church well grounded upon the Authority of such a Pope and is it not a thing well contrived to say that a Pope who calls upon the name of Devils enjoys an infallible Authority and that a Church which is grounded upon such an Authority is unable to receive or conceive any error We are but to read Platina Onnphrius and others who are Historians of the Roman Church to discover the wickednesses of the Popes Pope Boniface murthered (a) Baron an 985. two Popes to be their Successor in the Chair of Rome and Benedict IX who was but ten years old when he was made Pope by the faction of his Father lived a monstrous life all the while he sat in the Chair of Rome witnesses Baronius Platina and others There has been a time that they have seen three Popes at a time excommucating one another they have seen in that Chair Popes Murtherers Popes Adulterers Popes Sorcerers perjured persons simoniacal and full of all other crimes that can be imagined and to say that such Popes are infallible that they be governours of the Church of Christ truly if we speak strictly there is not an evident Metaphysical contradiction no more than there is an evident Metaphysical contradiction in saying that Jesus Christ might take even the Devils to make them the ordinary preachers of his Gospel and the Organs of the Holy Ghost and that he might chuse Sathan to make him the governor of his Church Nevertheless though those propositions contain not a strict impossibility yet we may say that they contain an infinite number of inconveniences and impossibilities in Morality and men can hardly believe that God almighty should have chosen Sathan among all his creatures to make him the governor of his Church I say the same of the Popes Men can hardly believe that God should have chosen the good friends of the Devil those creatures which the most moderate among the Papists call monsters to make them the Organs of the Holy Ghost and the Chiefs of the true Church Judge of the members by their Chief and enquire from those who have travelled into Italy what life lead the most part of the Cardinals and other Princes of that Church or else read what Honorius of Authun Sygebert and St. Bernard have written this is for corruption of manners §. 2. Some extreamly gross errors in the doctrine of Rome AS for the errors that are built upon those principles which I have rehearsed I should write a great volume if I should relate them all and shew that it is upon those principles that the discovery of a Purgatory the Doctrine of the Mass the Corruption and