Reliques or peeces of Christs Crosse the rest But neither is Apostlicke Tradition enough to make vp the other moity of the partiall rule parallell to Scripture by Pontifician confession for neither will those serue the Popes turne What then How shall the rule of Faith bee eeked out to the intire perfection to please the Pope in case his Holinesse would come within the compasse of any rule Yes there is forsooth the liuely Oracle or voyce of the Church which being of an vnlimited latitude doth consummate the rule of Faith and the Popes brest is the fountaine whence these waters of Romes sanctuary flow But the truth is if there were any truth in it this rule is such as will not indure copartnership with Scriptures and Traditions for all they be Apostolicke but is the sole and supreme Rule whereby those must be squared whereto they must be conformed Nor is this Rule of the Popes brest certaine but sometimes it giues one sence of Scripture sometimes another according as the changeable various condition of the Church requiteth This is a Mystery which perhaps many of you the Popes Catholicke sonnes will hardly belieue specially such as are indued with any iudgement enjoy the priuiledge to haue the free vse of your reason without papall restraint but if any doubt of it we haue sufficient authentick records for it the best that Rome can afford But come doe but straine courtesie a little with your Ghostly Father and let vs enter in a little priuate sad conference and let right reason be the Moderatour Tell me as Paul asked Agrippa Belieuest thou the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles I know you belieue Surely if yee doe you may answere with Agrippa Almost thou perswadest mee to become an Orthodoxe Christian and true Catholicke And rest but vpon the Scriptures and I will say Thou art not farre from the Kingdome of God But to rest vpon the voyce of the Pope and not vpon the expresse words of Scripture what is it but to suffer him to plucke out both your eyes that so he may the more easily lead you blindfold into hell Or what were this but to make the Pope your God aboue God and Christ and so to adore him who thus aduanceth himselfe aboue all that is called God Fye for shame as God hath giuen you reason vnderstanding and iudgement so in the name of God vse it to his glory that gaue it and suffer no man to cheate you of it least you proue more sottish then those heathen who worshipped the creature in stead of the Creator who is blessed for euer But you are perswaded of the Popes inerrability as being Christs Vicar Peters successor as hauing continued in the See of Rome euer since the Apostles times so as not any Bishops See in the world hath done the like What then all Bishops and Ministers of the Word may be said to be Christs Vicars and Successors of the Apostles while they execute their Ministry as Christ and the Apostles did But neuer any man was Christs sole Vicar ouer his Church This prerogatiue is peculiar to the Holy Ghost that Other Comforter who onely cannot erre leading Gods people into all truth As for Peters Vicarship he had it but in common with his fellowe Disciples Wee passe by those places of Scripture which Pontificians haue miserably peruerted to this purpose Doe but looke in my answer to this Bull or Brieue And for lineall vniterrupted succession of the Bp. of Rome from the Apostles times what is this to the purpose to proue the Popes Vicarship or his Successors-ship Certainely it makes wondrous much to fulfill all those Prophecies in Scripture concerning Antichrst whose Seat is Rome For may not the same Church of Rome specially if we measure it by the place where it is fixed in so long a tract of time come exceedingly to differ from that it was once in the more pure and primitue age of it Doth not experience teach you that the soundest and solidest Oake in time growes rotten hollow a nest for Owles and such like night-birds vnusefull for building and at last good for nothing but the fire And yet the while it is called by the name of such an Oake still The Church of Rome at first was sound and Apostolicall while it kept the Apostolicke Faith but might not time make it rotten and yet be called Apostolicke still Bethel as much as the house of God so called at first by Iacob who erected there an Altar for Gods pure worship yet retained that name still in Ieroboams time euen when it was wholly polluted with the Idolatry of one of his golden Calues erected there Ancient goodly Chanels haue beene in time so choaked vp with mud and grauell that the maine streame hath beene diuerted and driuen another way and yet haue retained the name of the old chanell still Yea that goodly Cittie Ierusalem in Christs time when it crucified Christ was called the Holy Cittie and for all that God hath made that now a cursed heap and the Country about it a desolation neuer to be repaired yet your Pontificians especially call it the Holy Land still which notwithstanding is neuer a whit the holyer though by the Popes subtile instigation so many thousands of soules haue perished about the pretended quarrell out of a blind zeale of recoucring it againe which whither regained or no the Pope was sure not to loose by the bargain for if he had regained it it might haue brought the greater income to his coffers by the trade of superstitious Pilgrims at least althoug hee hath some footing there with the Turke but he was sure during the quarrell to inlarge his Papall Dominions at home in Christendome which he did but this by the way You see then that continuance of antiquity in name and title may notwithstanding stand with altering the propertie and true nature of the thing Did not the Prophet say of Ierusalem How is the faithfull Cittie become an harlot It was full of iudgement righteousnesse lodged in it but now murtherers c. And may it not proue so with Rome for all you still call it the Apostolicall See And what will you say then What if Apostolicall in title bee turned into Apostaticall in truth What if Tues Petrus c. and tibi dabo claues c. and Orani pro te Petre c. and Omnis mihi potestas data c. Ecce duo gladij hîc satest all proue by the Popes peruertings to make vp the Mystery of iniquity and by fastening all to Rome proue her the Mistres and Mother of whooredomes For let me tell you you cannot finde me out the exact and true naturall Mystery of iniquity indeed but vnder the vaile of such titles borrowed from Scripture None can be Antichrist but he must call himselfe the Vicar of Christ the Successor of Peter the onely one vpon earth that cannot erre and the like translating the whole power of
first before she him the Basiliske dyeth the man is preserued Thus such prodigious Comets may spend their malignant matter and bee frustrate of their force and influence where wise men make right vse of them Sapiens dominabitur astris for as the learned Zanchy obserueth well Comets cannot cause but may occasion onely State-ruines and changes as when they inflame the ayre the ayre mens bodies the bodies distempered worke vpon the minde and all this taking impression in the most delicate and tender bodies of Princes working vpon their spirits causeth oftentimes such combustions as hasten some fatall periods while in the meane time sage and moderate Princes can easily preuent such importent operations such and no other is the malignant influence of Papall Breeues which cannot possesse generous Princes with an imbellious feare of such bruta fulmina which cannot scare nor scratch any but Brutes The sword of good Lawes drawne forth well burnished and brandished to the cutting off but the maine pipes by which these poysoned waters of Marah of working dissention betweene the head and the members Prince and subiects are deriued from the Papall spring to his Cotholique sons will through Gods grace giue a speciall defeate to whatsoeuer Papall designe this Breeue clossely intendeth As followeth To his beloued Sonnes the Catholiques of England HAuing spoken of the father Papa now to his sons a father and sonne are of neerest relation and this relation a strong combiner of affections and ingager of mutuall offices Sonnes are either by naturall generation or by legall adoption or by common appellation or by spirituall generation such here in a spirituall meaning As for the Popes naturall sonnes those he calles his Nephewes Euphoniae gratiâ as it were a degree once remoued His spirituall sons we shall better discerne of their kinde not onely by their father but by their mother of whom they are begotten namely the Church of Rome which if it bee that great Whore described in the Reuelation as what more euident he that runnes may reade hence it appeareth how legitimate they be So that in a spirituall and mysticall sence he may as well call these also his Nephewes as his sons But in naming them sons it imposeth on them that filiall or rather baby blinde obedience which none but such a father as the Pope can or will exact of his children This father if they obey not aboue contrary to God they are none of the Popes true bred sons But to sweeten their rigid obedience he styleth them his beloued sonnes Yet rather louing then beloued for in naturall affection loue rather descends then ascend in this contrary therefore vnnaturall I dare sweare such babes more dote vpon their father in their blind affection then he vpon them all the world seeth what be the grounds and ends of the Popes loue to his sonnes But to passe by that he calles them the Catholiques of England all the rest then are Heretiques But Catholiques they are not simply but in the compound Romane-Catholiques a right Babylonish word And such are no true Catholiques as the learned Bishop hath proued in his Tortura for he is a true Catholique that holds the Catholique faith professed in all ages according to the Scriptures not hee that holds faith none otherwise but with limitation to the priuate sense and meaning of the Church of Rome such is a Romane-Catholique no true Catholike But to proceed Beloued Sonnes greeting and Apostolique benediction A Forme of salutation farre vnlike that of the Apostles farre from Apostolique The Apostles as Peter and Paul in all their Epistles write to Gods elect to his Saints by calling recommending vnto them grace and peace in Iesus Christ that is a right Apostolique salutation But in the Popes salutation nothing sounding to that of the Apostles but the bare word Apostolique which putteth the greater difference for Paul and Peter came in Christs name the Pope in his owne name they salute the Saints with the the Grace and Peace of Christ he with his owne Apostolique benediction An other note of Antichrist that commeth in his owne name As Christ said to the rebellious Iewes If another come in his owne name him will ye receiue Now he comes in his owne name that comes in his owne vsurped authority as here the Pope doth with his Apostolique benediction Yea although the Pope pretend and claime neuer so much to be Christ Vicar and so may seeme to come not in his owne but Christs name yet vsurping that power which Christ neuer vsed as contrary to the dispensation of his ministery The Popes power being to erect and support an earthly Monarchy whereof he may say as that proud King Is not this great Babylon which I haue built for the honour of the Kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my Maiestie he therefore commeth in his owne name So here His benediction is of himselfe who in this Breeue cals himselfe that Apostolique one such is his Apostolique benediction to wit Antichrists benediction Thus in stead of Christs grace he hath Apostolique greeting in stead of Christs peace Apostolique benediction and to whom not to the elect Saints in Christ Iesus but to the Popes sonnes not to the faithfull in Christ but to the Popes Catholiques in England such as his father-hood goes about to strip of all the cognizances of Christs faithfull ones who as they are truely faithfull towards God so they expresse the same towards man and as to Christ in the first place so in the next to the Lords annoynted their Leige Lord immediately vnder Christ It followeth Terrene felicity is not alwaies the benefit of heauen and the patrimony of piety for the Church seeing the peace of sinners hath often found by proofe that the power of mortals is the stipend of impiety Wherefore we preferre the chaines of Martyrs before the spoyles of the triumphant and the King eternall promiseth heauenly principalities not to them that trample the lawes vnder their prood foote but to those that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake Answer NOt to insist vpon euery particular but noting by the way throughout the Popes egregious hypocrisie and prophanesse in peruerting and abusing the Scriptures and the sacred name of God wee will touch onely vpon the principals Onely by the way how doth the Pope come to put a difference betweene terrene felicity and the benefit of heauen seeing that all the benefit hee either hath or can hope for of heauen is his terrene felicity This is the Popes heauen vpon earth this is his Peters patrimonie which in his owne papall sense is farre from the patrimonie of piety Or what hath the Church of Rome to doe with peace what peace shee seeâ—h the peace of sinners A phrase borrowed from Ezechiel 13. 16. And it agrees well with the Pope For as those false Prophets saw visions of peace where there was none so the Pope Is he about to stirre vp
this is the holy Ghosts vsuall phrase to say They that shall be accompted worthie of that life not They that shall be worthie thereof But this accompt here mentioned is not according to Gods account but the Popes accompt such as the Pope accompts worthie to suffer reproches for the name of Iesu to wit for his Iesutish doctrines teaching the lawfulnesse of rebellion against Princes For vnder this name of Iesu doth that society of the Iesuites the more easily play the Iudasses as hee did with Haile Master no man easily suspecting that there should bee the least affinity betweene that sweet sauing name of Iesus and the massacring Abaddon or Appollyon But the reward of such is They seeme to possesse onely The Pope dares not say They do possesse it c. for then he should seeme to grant the certainty of saluation if men in this life were in possession of it But he must not ouerthrow that Canon of Trent which dischargeth a sulphurious Anathema against the doctrine of the certaintie of remission of sinnes as an Arch-enemy vndermining the golden mines of his Purgatorie Well what seeme they to haue The bill of exchange of Gods loue and abound with that price wherewith they purchase the Diadem of eternitie Here the Pope fals downe right vpon his doctrine of selfe merits so derogatory from yea so destructory of that most precious and pearlelesse ransome payde for the purchase of those Diadems of glory Although the Church of Rome makes little difference betweene Christs paying of our debts himselfe and his inabling vs our selues to pay them sauing that they choose rather to haue the fingering of the money themselues then to trust to Christ for the payment of it As here the Pope they pretend Gods loue Christs merits but all is to enable them by graces infused their Bill of exchange to merit ex condigno the kingdome of heauen or thereby to purchase the Diadems of eternitie Well But ô yee Pontificians doe you not teach that those graces of yours infused may bee altogether and irreuocably lost if then by the way as you are trauailing to make your purchase and so to take possession of those heauenly diadems yee chance to meete with theeues that robbe you of your treasure and take your purse from you what will become of your purchase then were it not therefore safer for you to follow Christs counsell Lay not vp your treasures on earth where the moth and canker corrupt and where theeues breake through and steale but lay vp for your selues treasures in heauen where it is out of all danger what is this to lay vp for your selues treasures in heauen Is not Christ our treasure Is not he in heauen is not the laying vp of this treasure for our selues in heauen our laying hold on Christ by faith aske the ordinary Glosse In Goelo 1. Omnem spem in calestibus ponite lay vp all your hope in heauen fide gradientes charitatem amplectantes walking by faith imbracing charity or following the Apostles practise 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I haue beleeued and I am perswaded that he is able to keepe that which I haue committed vnto him against that day Aske Lyra the meaning Depositum meum c. my pledge that is my reward which by faith I haue laid vp to be kept with him against the day of my dissolution when my soule shall be glorified against the day of iudgement when my body shall be made immortall So the ordinary glosse excellently quia potens est Dominus Depositum meum seruare spe c. the Apostle is secure in the hope and magnificence of his Sauiour because what he committeth vnto him is in safety and that which he committeth vnto him is his saluation This was the ancient Catholique doctrin of the Church to trust in Christ wholly for their saluation But now from this ancient faith the present Church of Rome is vtterly fallen trusting her selfe for saluation which being in hir owne custody she confesseth not without iust cause that she may come vtterly to loose it No doubt of that yea they haue altogether shut themselues out of the kingdome of heauen already by this their doctrine of Iustification by their grace infused For betweene faith and justification they make such a separation as they decree in their Trent Councill that though by euery mortall sinne the grace of iustification receiued is lost although faith be not lost calling it a Doctrine of Gods Law which excludeth not onely vnbeleeuers but the faithfull also such as they call their fideles fornicarios adulteros molles masculorum concubitores fures c. out of the kingdome of God This is that doctrine of Romes Apostacy from the faith shutting hir selfe out of Gods kingdome as hauing expressely renounced and abandoned that faith in Christ the onely purchase of our saluation as might more abundantly bee shewed But this may suffice for the present occasion so punctually offered by the Pope in this place and that in his owne expresse words which no doubt were throughly scanned in his Conclaue betweene himselfe and his Cardinalls before they should come to see the light as Paul the fift confessed of the contents of his Breeue sent hither Anno 1607. So that in nothing doth the Pope vary from himselfe but in all points shewes himselfe to be that great Apostate that Antichrist from toppe to toe But to conclude this clawse if Treason if rebellion if disloyaltie of subjects against their Prince whereat the Pope here aimeth be so meritorious as to purchase the Diadems of Eternitie then let no malefactor neuer so notorious feare hell or iudgement so hee can but intile his villanies as committed for the Catholique cause The old heathen Rome had hir Culleus for Parracides but Catholique Rome his Diadems would not this startle and astond the very Indian when he should be told that the Kingdome of heauen is full of such gracelesse vnnaturals as for betraying their lawfull Soueraigne their natiue sweete Countrey for blowing vp the beautie and glory of their Nation yea of the whole world at a blast doe now raigne in heauen wearing eternall Diadems would not he make a solemne vow neuer to come there Nay more would Iesus Christ trow you trust such Parricides and Traytors to come neere his person now in heauen lest with Iudas they should againe betray him and with the Iewes and Romanes kill and crucifie him afresh for how could he be perswaded that such would spare his person in heauen who accounted it the speciall point of their religion to Martyr and massacre him in his members heere on earth or that they would yeeld obedience and reuerence to his Royail Majestie in heauen that stucke not to deface and defile his image imprinted vpon his annointed Vicegerents here below Certainly that heauenly Ierusalem is compassed with higher and stronger wals then to be scaled by such Gyant-like assaylants Lucifer was cast out
clowd breake forth into a tempest vpon our heades Wee as silly birds like the Done without heart sit and looke on till the fowler spread his net ouer vs or like the foolish fish which beaking her selfe neere the banke suffereth the fisher to tickle and handle her lightly till at length hee gripes her fast and flings her on the Land shall wee thus suffer Romes Fishers to play and dally with vs till by their smooth flatteries they haue with a suddaine vnexpected jerke cast vs out of our fresh pleasant riuers that they may presently vnbowell vs and put vs into their hotte boyling panne and so deuour vs shall thus the theife bee so vigilant rising by night to kill men and shall not honest men awake to preserue themselues Hell no doubt enlargeth her mouth as waiting for the euent of her Sonnes deepe designes and machinations that shee may deuoure such a precious morsell as England is This Hell is Rome or rather the Popes Pallace there from whence through the Gate-Portusa a faire way leadeth downe to a place called the valley of Hell It is a pregnant embleme of the Papall state But the Pope here by his very mentioning of Hells mouth enlarging it selfe doth from hence fetch fire to enflame his sonnes with a more violent ardour of hostilitye telling them that they ought therefore to bee armed with the inuincible Buckler of a good resolution But that he should withall impute vnto vs mortall crueltie thirsting after the blood of Martyrs we cannot choose but take it for a fine frumpe or rather for the Sardenian laughter a most bitter taunt Wee cruell vnlesse by shewing mercy to the Popes white sonnes wee are therein most cruell to our owne selues and so may prooue our selues to bee the Martyrs whose blood that purple whore so thirsteth after Or doe we thirst after the blood of Martyrs doth the Pope imagine so because England neuer since Queene Maries dayes so much as tasted any such like drinke that now after so long abstinence it should bee so thirsty but what Martyrs if he meane Romish rebels traitors murtherers factious seducers and the like cannot our just lawes which at first by such villanies were forced to bee made and now by the like your Romish attempts are a fresh justly enough prouoked to bee executed punish such miscreants but you must charge vs with mortall cruelty as thirsting after the blood of Martyrs such Martyrs of yours as justly suffered death for their many treacheries and treasons in that good Queene ELIZABETHS raigne against her Royall person Crowne and Realme farre vnlike those Martyrs of Christ which suffered fire and faggot in Queene MARIES dayes for the Gospells sake Or your late Martyrs Garnet Catesby Piercy Digby Tressam the two Winters the two Wrighâ—â—â— Rookwoad Grant Koyes and Faux those hellish Conspiratours in the Gunpowder-treason These be your Martyrs yet call yee vs cruell for executing but justice vpon such malefactors Wee know you pretend you exclaime you suffer for religion and therefore Martyrs So did the Donatists in Saint augustines time who beeing justly punished by Imperiall Lawes for maintaining their schismaticall factions and se ducements complayned they suffered Martyrdome whom Saint Augustine reproueth Hoc putant esse signum c. The Donatists account this to be the marke of a true Christian if hee doe not practise but suffer persecution But let them saith hee aske of the Apostle what Church Sara figured when she persecuted her bondmaid Surely in Sara the Apostle saith that the heauenly Ierusalem to witt the true Church of God was figured which afflicted the handmaid Si autem melius discutiamus c. And if wee better discusse the matter the handmaid did more persecute Sara by her insulting then Sarab her by hampering for Hagar did iniurie her Mistresse Sara disciplined her for her pride A pregnant parallell to this purpose Hee that is a Seruant that ought to bee a dutifull and peaceable subject playeth the insolent rebell denyeth obedience and subjection to his rightfull Soueraigne the Soueraigne by just Lawes chastiseth such a rebell whether of these is the Persecutor whether of these is the Martyr for nor paena sed causa facit Martyrem not the punishment but the cause maketh the Martyr But Pontificians suffer for Religion for what Religion not that of Christ but for that which is flat rebellion against Christ and his Word which streightly commandeth loyalty and subjection to Princes and Magistrates In that sense Popish Traytors may be said to suffer for Religion such a Religion which is so combined with rebellion that they can neither bee diuided nor yet distinguished so that not vnfitly in this place so much doth the Pope recommend and mention his Martyrs in this Breeus may wee rancke them with those Heretiques called Martyriam whom Saint Augustine joyneth with the Satamani in his 57. cap. de Haeres These Martyriani were so called for honouring one of their sect put to death by Luppieianus a Generall as a Martyr of God and Christian faith with these consented the Satanici or Satiniant who worshipped Satan as the Moderator of all their actions whose manners Saint Iude describeth These also were consociated with the Euchitae who despising labour were all for praying from whom the whole rabble of Monkes deriue their Order But how farre the Pontificians symbolize with these let their owne doctrines and practises witnesse But howsoeuer the great Vulcan of Rome heere plyeth his Forge hee beates while the Iron is hotte to frame a compleate Armour for his Sonnes and an inuincible buckler of a good resolution concluding this clause with a rhetoricall gradation that neither the prison the racke nor death it selfe should daunt them But when you Pontificians beginne to call to arme against vs your pretended enemies is it not high time for vs to leaue our dallying and in good earnest to buckle on our armour against your intended mischeifes It followeth Among the brittish rockes of their shipwracke religion Christs crosse hath beene a planke which hath brought you into the Hauen of your desire This Crosse you must embrace by the vertue whereof the bitternesse of punnishments is sweetned Answer IF the Pope heere did rightly apply Christs Crosse in that sense whereof the Scriptures spake namely as it is taken for the conformable sufferings of Christs members then might wee of the Church of England take vp this speach and say that by the Crosse of persecution in Queene MARIES dayes wee did swimme from the shipwrake to the shoare in Queene ELIZABETHS time the blood of Martyrs in that time being the seede whereof this our Church by the gracious dew of heauen and plentifull showers of preaching is sprung vp and increased to a most fruitfull harvest and other shipwrake religion wee knowe none but your Pontifician Religion which is a totall apostacie from the faith of Christ wherein you haue too many confederates euery where Your owne Apostate Marcus
Ecclesiasticall are subordinated to God almighties Lieutenants here on earth as all supreame Magistrates so that in this regard those that are Christs Vicegerents in common as all faithfull Ministers of the Gospell who are Christs Legats or Ambassadors 2. Cor. 5. 28. are for their persons and outward estate subiect to God almighties Lieutenants set ouer them So that if you will confine your selfe to the title of Christs Vicar first as no man is capable of that title as you challenge it so neither can you by vertue thereof shew you haue any such power deriued vpon you from Christ for Christ left or bequeathed no other kinde of power to his Church but such as himselfe as he was the Minister of the Gospell exercised in his Ministers here on earth Now Christ in that dispensation of his exercised no such power or iurisdiction ouer Kings and Princes yea he practised the contrary he submitted himselfe to pay tribute to Caesar yea to be iudged at Caesars barre from which the Pope hath exempted himselfe and Clergie by his papall decrees And was it because Christ wanted power to vindicate and defend himselfe from Caesars power No surely With the breath of his mouth his apprehenders fell backward to the ground Hee had twelue legions of Angels in readinesse to defend him Object But had not Christ as being God soueraigne power ouer Kings and Princes to dispose of their kingdomes and the like if it had pleased him Answ Christ the Mediatour the office whereof he came to execute is to be considered not simply as God but as hee was God-man In that regard the power of his dispensation was limited by his Father that sent and appointed him So that Christ said I came to doe not mine owne will but the will of him that sent me Not that Christs will was contrary to his fathers but subordinate onely as Mediatour to doe that which the father appointed him and no more Christ would not must not goe beyond his Commission receiued of the father Now the Father gaue him no such commission of a temporall iurisdiction no not so much as in small causes When those two brethren came to him intreating him to diuide their inheritance betweene them hee refused saying Who made me a Iudge or a diuider ouer you Hee had no commission in such things from the Father And if not in smaller matters as that was how much lesse ouer Emperours and Kings Obiect But although Christs power was limited during his abode on earth in the state of his humiliation yet after his resurrection hee receiued an absolute and vnlimited power as he saith All power is giuen mee in heauen and earth from this power doth the Pope as Christs Vicar challenge a Supremacie ouer Kings and States to depose dispose c. Answ When Saint Iohn in that vision saw the great where that Beast full of the names of blasphemie hee wondred with great admiration But when wee see this blasphemous Beast not in a vision but with open eyes how can we choose but greatly wonder for this very speech of Christ the Pope assumes as spoken of himselfe and that in as full yea more ample māner then Christ applied it to himselfe For although by this speech Christ declared himselfe to his Disciples and so to his Church to be the Sonne of God consecrated for euer Lord ouer all to the great comfort of his drooping Disciples now at his departure yet herein doth not Christ show any alteration in the dispensation of his Ministery deputed to his Disciples Hee doth not hereby inuest his Ministers with a larger power and commission then himselfe executed in his owne person while hee was with them for what followeth All power is giuen me in heauen and earth go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them c. Hee saith not Goe yee therefore and exercise this power of mine ouer the Kings of the earth and if they will not obey your Ministerie depose them or absolue their people from their allegiance and dispose you of their Kingdomes to whom you will Much lesse said he any such thing to Peter alone Goe Thou therefore and haue thou all power in heauen and earth for thee and for thy successour in the See of Rome No such thing All the power that Christ delegates to his Disciples and that in common men is for their Ministeriall function to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments Herein Peter had but his share with the rest of his fellowes They were ioyned in equall Commission none aboue another much lesse aboue others in any Temporall Iurisdiction To this their function Christ to animate and arme them against all difficulties and discouragements either in regard of their owne infirmities and naturall disabilities or of the worlds malice and might in opposing them hee tels them All power is giuen me in heauen and earth Goe yee therefore c. Feare nothing for I who haue all power giuen me in heauen and earth am with you and will be with you to the end of the world And it is worth the noting that this last charge which Christ now leauing the world and so his Disciples as concerning his bodily presence gaue vnto them hee gaue it in common to them all without putting difference which plainly sheweth that Christ left no Supremacie to Peter ouer the rest of his fellowes as the Pope vsurpeth which otherwise no doubt hee would haue expressed if it had bene such an Article of faith whereupon depended the necessitie of saluation as Pontificians teach Yet for all this the Pope will needes as Christs Vicar challenge these words to himselfe and be an equall sharet with him in them All power is giuen mee in heauen and earth For they say Christ and the Pope haue but one Consistorie and saith Bellarmine Nomina omnia quae in scripture is tribuuntur Christo vnde constat cum esse supra Ecclesiam eadem omnia tribuuntur Pontifici All names which are giuen to Christ in the Scriptures whereby he is declared to bee ouer the Church all those same are attributed to the Pope Thus in the Councell of Latera they called Pope Leo 10. the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah and many other names of Blasphemie which are spoken personally of Christ yea the Pope himselfe saith Boniface 8 That Christ Peter and his Successour are all one head of the same Church And Pope Nicolas 3. goes a little higher Christ saith he hath placed the mysterie of the Apostolike function principally in blessed Peter the chiefe of all the Apostles that from him as from a certaine head he might diffuse his gifts as it were into all the body for taking him into the fellowship of the indiuiduall vnitie the Lord would haue him named that which he himselfe was saying Tues Petrus super hanc Petram c. In a word the Popes triple crowne is to signifie his triple Dominion and iurisdiction in heauen earth and
the sacred Scripture If an Angell from heauen teach you otherwise let him be anathema This was the Apostles speech to the Galathians rightly applyed The Pope vsurpes the same words but to his most wicked purpose Herein also hee shewes himselfe that great Antichrist who was of old noted to be an egregious falsifier and peruerter of the Scriptures Take one example Origen saith Omnis sermo qui profitetur c. Euery speech that professeth the expositions of the Scriptures and the faith of them and hath not the truth is iustly to be vnderstood to be Antichrist comming in Christs name and saying I am Christ lying and not able to shew the forme of truth in himselfe How truly this is verified of the Pope among infinite other instances of his audacious peruerting of Scripture this one here taken from the Apostle may sufficiently euince But the Oath is preiudiciall to the Catholike faith to what Catholike faith you must vnderstand there is a twofold Catholike faith the one that of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the New of Christ and the Apostles and Prophets of the whole Church of God in all ages in all places of the world which is therefore called the Catholike faith because it is vniuersall and this is the onely true and proper Catholike faith There is another faith that hath the name of Catholike but with an addition either expressed or implied to wit the Romane Catholike faith and because Romane Catholike therefore indeede not Catholike no true but a bastard Catholike faith The obiect of this Romane Catholike faith is together with the History of the Scriptures for the mysterie of the Gospell contained therein to euery true beleeuers saluation they exclude from being so much as a partiall obiect of this their faith but in generall onely as an History the Apocryphall Bookes Which Saint Ierome saith are for instruction of manners not for instruction of faith all their Traditions which they call Apostolicall all their Decretales and Extrauagants and aboue all that which is the summe of all the rest the Oracle of the Popes owne breast inerrable and so whatsoeuer his Holinesse either hath taught or shall hereafter teach as he seeth to be most commodious for the present state of the Church all these are the adequate obiect of this Roman-Catholike faith Among which Doctrines Apostolike this is one to denie fidelitie to Kings and Princes when the Pope commandeth This is an Article of the Romane Catholike faith not to be violated vpon paine of damnation So that to take the oath of Allegiance and keepe it as it cannot stand with the safetie of Romane Catholike faith so neither of their owne saluation Why so By the irrefragible decree of Pope Boniface 8. Porrò subesse Romano Pontifici c. Finally to be subiect to the Pontifie or Pope of Rome we declare determine define and pronounce that euery humane creature is bound vpon necessitie of saluation But by what authoritie The glosse giues the reason from the very first word Porrò Porrò id est Certè quia sic est Truely because it is so A most Papall reason for as the Glosse saith sententiam c. that which is no sentence he maketh a sentence iniustice he can make to be iustice yea of nothing something quia in his qua vult et est pro ratione voluntas In those things which he will his will is for a reason Nor ought any to aske him a reason of his doings sic volo sic iubeo is sufficient quia plenitudinem obtinet potestatis because he possesseth plenitude of power nor is he pure homo and if hee shall carrie with himselfe millions of soules into hell there to be punished cum prime Mancipio with the great Diuell of bell yet let none presume to blame or iudge him for it So that though he should deceiue many here in England perswading them that disloyaltie to their Prince that rebellion and treason are Apostolike doctrines and so leade them with himselfe into hell they haue their amends in their owne hands as the Pope hath the Law in his It followeth We in the meane time will entreat the father of lights that hee suffer not the heart of the English King to bee blinded who shall certainly learne how great credit is to be giuen to Catholike subiects in those things which you may promise who lest they should make themselues lyable to periurie they had rather breath out their spirit then their voice Answer How after all these blasphemies against God and his word dare the Pope intreat the Father of lights vpon what confidence vpon what hope to be heard Will the Father of lights heare the prayer of the man of Sinne of the Sonne of Perdition of the great Antichrist the Beast full of blasphemies yea rather as Christ forbad the diuell to confesse him to vsurpe his name to preach of Iesus so we intreat the Pope not to intreat for our King the Lords Annointed hee needeth none of such prayers Hee hath daily thousands of good Christians of his louing and faithfull subiects to entreat the Father of lights for him for his life Crowne Kingdome happinesse which prayers no doubt will preuaile with God to defeat all Romes prayers and plots and practises against our noble King Church and State We know the Popes prayers to be meerely pharisaicall in stead of praying to prey vpon vs vnder the colour of many Pater nosters to deuoure our habitations Against the Popes prayers here our most humble and harty prayers and shall be to the Father of lights in the name of his Sonne Iesus Christ that hee will not suffer the heart of our dread Soueraigne to be blinded with Popish bandishments and faire promses that so he may not too dearely buy the certaine knowledge how great credit is to be giuen to Romane-Catholikes in those things which they may promise For note how his holinesse in the very next words bewrayeth how little confidence is to bee giuen to such promises as his Catholike Sonnes may make for saith he least they should make themseles liable to periurie But it is something that the Pope had rather his Catholike Sonnes should by making faire promises hazzard their fidelitie therein then by taking the Oath incurre the danger of periurie Although a good Christian makes conscience as much of his solemne promise as of an oath But it seemeth if his Catholike Sonnes should take the oath the Pope puts them in minde they should thereby expose themselues to periurie so that if they doe but promise fidelitie he teacheth them the very ready way to perfidiousnesse and breach of promise for if an oath cannot preserue them from periurie how shall a promise from breach thereof seeing both periurie and perfidiousnesse grow from the same root of Iesuiticall doctrine Nulla fides seruanda cum hereticis no faith to be kept with heretickes Herein therefore the Pope is to be commended that seeing he
as the stone Asbestos which once inflamed cannot be quenched againe But cannot Pontifician charitie be lost be quenched This is against your Trent-doctrine which teacheth that charitie with other graces may be lost But happily you meane this your vnquenchable fire of charitie towards vs your enemies is not a gift of grace but a Papall glosse or such a charitie as is of the eternall fire of hell such if so good as poore Diues his charitie to his brethren in hell-flames such or the like charitie is this here Whatsoeuer it is wee doe not greatly affect or desire this your charitie but wee pray God that wee neuer come to feele the fierie vnquenchablenesse of it For your weapons of humilitie fasting prayer and the like would to God we had no more cause to feare your poysons and pistals treasons and treacheries falsehoods and flatTHeries more then these But if the armour of your white sonnes patience were a little better scoured and exercised among vs we should as little feare these your pernicious weapons as those your superstitious deuotions But surely you must haue other gates weapons then all these to make good that cruell conflict you speak of to win you those celestiall palmes of triumph And your fasting prayers and humiliation cannot but bode some notable enterprise now a preparing What solemne Processions had you vpon 88 So that these your admonitions giue vs to prepare for some cruell conflict indeede Else what meaneth your exciting your sonnes to patience as if they were in the fierie triall as if they were to vndergoe a cruell conflict you know it is ridiculous to meane it of the present state of things But if your sonnes be in any hazard of a cruell conflict we cannot conceiue how it should be vnlesse vpon the discouery of your Armadoes approaching towards vs they should in the meane time to make all fast in vnitie at home be vrged to take the oath of fidelitie to our King which refused might bring condigne punishments vpon them Although I am perswaded no English Papist is such an vnnaturall miscreant yea so foolish and brutish as he would betray his own deere natiue Countrie to a sorraine Tyrant You exhort your sonnes to pray for the Kings eternall life Why alas Is his temporall in such danger God forbid But wee pray also for his temporall life that after a long happy religious gouernment and raigne here hee may at length come to enioy that eternall Crowne of glorie But all your prayers all your patience and peaceablenesse you perswade your Sonnes to is with speciall reference to the present good of the Church vntill the opportunitie and season serue to shew your selues in open colours For the Kings taking away your Sonnes mortall life it is ridiculous But if your sonnes must pray for the Kings eternall life onely while he takes from them their mortall we may make a question whether euer they will pray for him at leastwise if they reepe them quiet and liue like peaceable subiects as you seeme to perswade them For the rest of your words as of Christs Souldiers and so to the end of the clause we passe ouer them as being weary of your blasphemies and false applications What part haue you or yours in Christs Testament vnlesse your sonnes vtterly renounce communion with your papall fatherhood and flye to Christ and his word vnlesse you will as one of your Predecessours did quite abandon your Popedome for the saluation of your soule whereof there is small hope while you goe on in this manner Memorable is that speech of Pope Marcellus 2. who smiting his hand on the board said I doe not see how any holding this high place can be saued Looke to it O ye Popes and Papists that adhere to such an head And if the inheritance thereof be promised to none but Christs Imitators what portion haue you therein for wherein doe ye imitate Christ yea wherein doe yee not both teach and practise quite contrary vnto him But your shamelesse blasphemies and bold misapplying of the Scriptures are so familiar with you as we will giue ouer admiting of them Onely we cannot choose whether we will or no but admire one thing that you propound blessed Peter for an example of not smiting with the sword hath any thing beene more familiar with Popes then herein especially to shew themselues Peters Successours in smitting with the sword sauing onely that Peter drew his sword against that rabble rout in defence of his Master you draw your sword against Christ himselfe in his Members in Gods Vicegerents here on earth the Lords Annointed All of you challenge the power of Peters sword and some of you haue in your owne persons drawne in out in open field as Pope Iulius 2. when marching against the Emperour his Liege Lord he in a rage threw Saint Peters Keyes into Tyber as too impotent to vindicate his quarrell and pontifically drew forth Pauls sword saying If Peters Keyes could not Pauls sword should I could put you in minde of your Predecessiour Pope Vrban 6. how ciuilly hee carried himselfe yea what a racket he kept with his sword among his owne Cardinals those especially that of all the rest were the most learned and couragious exercising vpon nine or ten of them the most barbarous examples of crueltie and beastiall immanitie and Papall insolencie that euer I read or heard of But the thing I admire in your example of blessed Peter is this that here you vse it to your sonnes as a motiue to peace sith Peter was forbid to smite and yet from this very example you deriue the authoritie of your Papall supremacie as founded vpon Peters sword Memorable is that decree of Pope Boniface 8. hee that in his great day of Iubile had two glittering swords borne before him with Ecce duo gladij hîc Certè qui in potestate Petri temporalem gladium esse negat malè attendit verbum Domini proferentis Conuerte gladium tuam invagînam Surely hee that denieth the temporall sword to be in the power of Peter doth ill attend Christs word saying put vp thy sword into thy sheath And so also to proue both the swords to be in the power of Peter to wit the spirituall and the temporall Euangelicis dictis instruimur Wee are instructed by the words of the Gospell for the Apostles saying behold two swords here in Ecclesiâ scilicet doubtlesse in the Church the Lord did not answer it was too much but enough therefore both the swords are in the power of the Church These be tall arguments for that Boniface and your Papall brest to deuise for the maintaining of your Antichristian Tyrannie and vsurpation But alas by these your distorted speeches neuer thinke to impose vpon our simplicitie so farre as when yee talke of putting vp your sword wee should be such fooles as not to looke at least whether ours be rustie in the scabbert You promise the Palmes of
it that knew nothing to be the language and religion of Babel by the confused sound and little sense hee could find in it And yet all this while was not Antichrist come to his full pitch stature and strength vntill the Councell of Trent in which the Church of Rome sheweth her selfe to bee quite apostatized and fallen away from Christ ceassing to bee any longer a true Church as having solemnly renounced and accursed the sauing faith of Christ without which is no salvation no communion with him During which Council also was first founded that diabolicall Order of the Iesuites the most actiue instruments of Antichrist and in a manner the only and last supporters of the Babylonian tottering Tower But this by the way In the Councill of Trent I say is the whole Mystery of iniquity fully accomplished and the Pope now declared that Man of sinne that Antichrist prophecyed of in the Scriptures I can but name these things vnto you at this present nor doe I say more then I am able more abundantly to demonstrate if occasion serued For comparing the Pope exactly to the description of Antichrist in the Scripture wee finde him in all points answerable and that in a full measure so that it is not possible for a man to imagine wherein Antichrist can goe higher then the Pope hath done A scantling where of wee may take in this Papall Breeue or Bull wherein throughout hee showes himselfe that Antichrist And if the Pope bee that Antichrist as most demonstratiuely hee is which I dare vndertake to maintaine against all the Iesuites in England then consider ô yee Romaine-Catholickes in what a fearefull condition you all stand that adhere to the Pope as your Head Certainely such are no other then the limmes of Antichrist the members of the Beast the children of that Father who is the sonne of perdition who with all his goe into perdition This is a hard saying you will say but it is too true Nor do I alone say that in the Church of Rome is no saluation to bee found Aske the Councell of Trent which is the onely rule of Romish faith that will tell you To giue you one instance for many one of her Canons is Si quis dixerit fidem iustificantem nihil aliud esse quà m fiduciam diuinae misericordiae peccata remittentis propter Christum vel eam fiduciam solam esse qua iustificamur anathema sit That is If any shall say that iustifying faith is nothing else but a confidence in Gods mercy remitting sinnes for Christs sake or that confidence to bee onely that whereby wee are iustified let him bee accursed What is then Romes iustifying faith Heare another Canon which telleth you that the faith of Rome may subsist being seperate from grace and yet bee a true faith though it bee a dead faith And this is no other faith but that which is in the very Deuills as Saint Iames sayth For as they confesse they may with this their faith goe into hell and there bee punished with the Devils As for the iustifying and saving faith they not onely accurse it but him also that shall say that none is truly iustifyed but hee that beleeueth that he is iustifyed Thus they haue quite excluded and exiled out of their Church with Anathema the saving instifying faith without which there is no salvation no communion with Christ Whence I conclude with this Argument That Church which denieth yea accurseth the sauing faith of Iesus Christ vnto instification allowing onely such a faith which can neuer saue a man but is a graceles faith seperable from grace and which a man may carry with him into hell that is an Apostatized Church vtterly fallen away from Christ wherein no saluation is to bee found or hoped for But the Church of Rome denyeth yea accurseth the sauing faith of Iesus Christ vnto iustification allowing only such a faith as can neuer saue a man but is a gracelesse faith seperate from grace and which a man may carry with him into hell Therefore the Church of Rome is an apostatized Church vtterly fallen away from Christ wherein no saluation is to be found or hoped for Both the propositions are proved out of the Councell of Trents owne Canons already cited If any answer that the Church of Rome denyeth not the true faith forasmuch as the faith which shee alloweth she sayth is true though dead I rejoyne and say that this is a Paralogisme Romes dead faith is indeed for the kind of it a true dead faith or a true faith of devils as one may be said to be a true lyar But I proue that this faith of Rome is meerely different in kind from the true sauing faith of Christ thus That faith which Christ commendeth for the onely true sauing faith doth so iustifie a man that he shal neuer come into condemnation but passe from death vnto life But the only faith which the Church of Rome alloweth doth not so saue or iustifie a man but that he way with it go into condemnation and not passe from death vnto life Therefore the saith of the Church of Rome is not that faith which Christ commendeth for the only true sauing faith And consequently the Church of Rome denying the true sauing faith of Christ whereby to be justified is vtterly voyd of all hope of saluation and so hath quite abandoned Iesus Christ Now for the Proposition it is proved by Christ himselfe Ioh. 5. 24. The Minor is confessed by the Councell of Trent itselfe as hath beene proved Take one argument more That Church which cleaueth to Antichrist as her Head whome shee receiueth all her spirituall life hath no saluation to be found or hoped for in it But the Church of Rome cleaueth to Antichrist as her Head from whom shee draweth all her spirituall life Therefore the Church of Rome hath no saluation to be found or hoped for in it The Proposition is granted of all For Antichrist and all his members are damned and goe into perditition as the Apostle sheweth 2 Thess 2. Reuel 14. 8 9 10 11. 〈◊〉 But for the Assumption that the Church of Rome eleuenth to Antichrist as her Head from whom shee draweth all her spirituall life This is plainly proued yea professed and avowed even by the Pope himselfe and by his Papall Decrees First the Pope is the Head of the Church of Rome Secondly he is not simply a subordinate and Ministeriall Head but the absolute soveraine supreme Head whom as Pope Nicolas 3. in his Euangelicall and irrefragable Decree in Sexti de Electione cap. 17. tit 6. lib. 1. doth peremptorily tell vs the Lord would haue to bee intitled into the fellowship of the indiuiduall vnity that the structure of the eternall Temple built by God might by an admirable gift of the grace of God consist in the firmnesse of blessed Peter and his Successor that from him as from a certaine Head he might diffuse his gifts as into all