thing to be examined by you to know the Author matters nothing I desire not that Athistâ—â— read my writings such as 〈◊〉 not in God can make no 〈◊〉 fit of Godly things for my part I make more Esteem of a Pagan that adores stocks anâ— stones thinking there is a Deit â— in them then of Aâ—hises Neâ—ther is it my ayme thaâ— Maho metans or Jewes read this worke the first not believing Christ to be the Sonn of God though they hold him to be a holy Prophet and borne of a Virgin the other believe not the Mesias is yet come whose Fathers Crucify'd him when hee was borne and came among them and made Evident by wonders and miracles that hee was the true Sonne of God and the now living Jewes as blinde and obstinate as theire Fathers tred theire stepps spitting on the Crucifix and whipping it in theire Chambers and stobbing with poyniards the H. Sacrament with horrour and extream Malice wherof there are Many Authentique Histories My wish is this Book be only read by Roman Catholicks and by Protestants the first will likely be well satisfyed with this my endevours and from the protestant reader I only pray that hee will be pleased with atention and without prejudging to read all and after to speak with God alone about the state of his owne Soule and what Religion hee will Chuse for his eternall salvation The argument I doe not handle Scholastically conceiving not that the better way to haue my sence rightly understood I am for the way of fact declareing ingeniously what happen'd in England upon the comming in of both Religions what kinde of men were instrumentall in bringing them in what theire manners vertues or vices who of them were of Sanctity and who not who of them wrought Miracles which are Evident signes of true Religion which was brought into all Kingdoms Countrys and Provinces by Sanctity and Miracles I deny what Sall falling from his faith who gave me the occasion of writing afirms to witt That the Roman Catholick Religion is repugnant to humaine reason It were to make Religion fabulous and foolish to say it is contrary to wisdome and reason for what can be oppositt to wisdome and reason but folly and fables As Scripture by which soly many Protestants will haue Religion try'd excluding tradition even Apostolicall it selfe though it be Verbum Dei non Scriptum is the Word of God supernaturall written in paper with the hands of his holy scribes by Revelation so is Reason Gods naturall Word and Gods truth written by his owne hand in our soules Signatum est super nos Lumen vultus tui Domine Doth not all this prove a great agreableness between Religion and reason whereby is clearly evinced that Religion is not repugnant to humaine Reason Haue not Pagan Philosophers even by the light of reason without any other teaching perceiued in many things what is honest and what dishonest what just and what uniust what vertue what vice this is that light in mans soule which S. Basill calls Iudicium quoddam naturale per Bas homilia aâ—â— populum quod ab iniquis bona facile discerniâ—us And S. Augustin accounted soe much of reason that hee said Recta ratio vertus est And S. Aug. de util Credendi Cap. 12. if Caluins Authority were worth any thing he says Semen Religionis est in mente humana But I pray you heare S. Paul telling you the Philosophers were unexcusable for not hauing made the right use they could and should haue made of the knowledg they had of Cod by the light of reason Because saith Ad Rom. Cap. 1. hee whereas they knew God they haue not glorify'd him as God or given thanks but are become vaine in theire cogitation and theire foolish hart hath bin darckned How have these Philosophers knowne God not by faith but by the light of reason and knowing him soe they should have as the Apostle teaches glorify'd him as God I shew in this Book the number of Catholick Arch-Bishops that sate upon the Chaire of Canterbury to haue bin sixty one many of these haue bin nobly borne and many of them very learned and vertuous twelve haue bin canonized saints Your number of Protestant Arch-Bishops have not as I think bin aboue six as Parker VVhitgift Grindal Branckfort Abots Laud and Sheldon all of them lowly born and as wee heare meanly Learned of theire vertues wee heard Little And could those few and less learned and vertuous know more of Gods verity and holy will then soe many Eminent Catholick Arch-Bishops what in Gods name would make any man think soe You had fifty two Catholick Monarchs of England Kings and Queens I speake nothing here of seventy small Kings when England was devided into seven Kingdoms many of these haue bin of the Gallantest Princes in Christendome as Egbert that first reduced England to a Monarchy Ina Edgar Canut William the conquerour Henry the second Edward the third Henry the fifth and Henry the seventh many of them vertuous and Godly Princes and som of them acknowledged for Saints by all the Church of God the Protestants have had but five in all the first a Child of nine yeâ—ars Edward the sixth the second a Woeman Queen Elisabeth a Cruell a woeman who put to death Queen Mary of Scotland the present Kings great Grandmother which was an open Murther and soe Esteemed by all the world as alsoe in the tyme of her raigne 200. Priests and Religious men soly for theire Religion A woeman druncken Apâ—c Cap. 17. of the blood of Saints and of the blood of the martyrs of Iesus A woeman fitter for Brauery then devotion thee other three King James a lerrned and wise Prince his Sonne Charles a sober and good King the last our present Souveraigne King Charles the second of him let those speak that shall survive him But certain it is Protestant Historians will not preferr those Protestant Princes in vertue valor glorious atempts and magnificence to the Catholick Princes To speak of both Religions Catholick and Prorestant and which of them is safest for salvation I offer you here a remarkable reflexion and consideration as thus Ask of the Mahometan the Jew and of the Scismatick Christians as the Ruthenians Armenians and all of the Greeck Church yea and of the Lutherans and Calvinists that disagree among themselves which is the best and safest Religion they will all say after their owne the Roman is the safest which is an Evident Jugment that the Roman is the fafest of all much like that the grave Judges gave for the Lacedemonians when all the Provinces of Greece claimed for the Palm and praise in the glorious victory they obtained against the Persians Those excellent Judges before whome the cause was brought demanded of every one of them whome they thought to have deserued best after themselues and all answering that the Lacedemonians the wise Iudges gave sentence that indeed the Lacedemonians had
which are flatt Heresies and for all these Impietyes and abominations there are not that I heare of any Lawes made in Parlament for punishing these Presbiterians Noe but all the lightning thunder and tempest of the Bishops and that kind of Protestants and of the Presbiterians likwise doth fall upon the poor Catholicks our Religion is made treason to owne the Pope head of the Church in Spiritualibus as realy hee is is punish'd with death to worship Images superstition to invocate the Angels and Saints Idolatry wee suffer disgrace in Court and Country wee suffer the loss of livings wee suffer Imprisonments and death it selfe the Extirpation of our Faith is desired sought and put in Execution and men receive pleasure which is inhumane and cruell in our Miserye and Distruction and all these Afflictions fale upon us soly for the hatred men have to Religion What comfort can wee finde in these Extremityes That only and that is enough which our Saviour hath promised to his Servants Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur Math. Cap. 4. propter Iustitiam quoniam ipsorum est Regnum Caelorum That is Blessed are they that suffer Persecution for Justice for theirs is the Kingdome of heaven Sall wee heare you have preached in July 1674. before the Lord Lieutenant and State in Christ-Church in Dublin a long premeditated Sermon for Justifying your departure from the Romish Communion and you then told your Auditors that you had found in the Romish Church three Abominations to wit Idolatry Impiety and Tyranny and those you called Abominationem desolationes stantem in loco Sancto And that therfore according to our Saviours Admonition you departed from that Congregation But I tell you you have forged a pernitious Calumnie and Imposture in charging the Church of Rome the Mother of all Churches with Idolatry Impiety and Tyranny And I further say my Opinion that an Idol which is found in all your Congregations the pride of the privat Spiritt that Spiritt Doctor Whitaker see Pagina 17. discribed made you charge the Church of Rome with Idolatry Sir your zeal in your new Religion is soe furious that you have render'd your selfe at present incapable of Councell and all advice but in tyme you may become colder Non est abrevitae manus Domini And think better of what you have done however for the true love I have for you and especially for your Soule which is the maine and principal part ought to bee taken care for I hartily pray you what kinde of thing is Parlament Religion a ssippery and changable Religion which is thus declared For Satisfying King Henry the eight The Parlament changed some Articles of Faith as soone as hee dy'd they changed that Faith into Zwinglianisme to comply with the Protector Summerset young King Edward the sixt his Vncle within two or three years after they changed Zwinglianisme into Calvinisme and at the sute of Calvin reformed the Liturgy accordingly After the young Kings death they return'd with good Queen Mary to the old Faith and by new acts abolished those acts they had lately made before against Catholick Religion with Queen Elizabeth they restored againe the new Religion with some Alterations when King Iames succeeded they changed the translations of Scripture and other things In King Charles the firsts tyme Prelatick Protestancy was puld downe by Presbitery and this by IndePendency and the last puld downe quite Kingly Authority and took of the good Kings head from his Body Prelatick Protestancy being restored by King Charles the second the forms of Ordination where upon depends the validity of the Protestant Ministry Church and Sacraments being not thought sufficient were amended and are now changed into more Catholick Forms adding to the Forms the words Priest and Bishop which hath quite discredited theire Character of Priesthood and Episcopacy for those two Words being held by them as Essentiall in these two Forms the former orders given without these Words must have been invalid and in like manner all things in theire Ministry that depends upon Ordination are uncertaine and doubtfull for if the Church of England hath acknowledged to have erred in a thing of soe great importance as the Forms of Ordination what reason can it have in not erring in all the rest In a word Protestants in the Kingdome of England in one age have made more changes of Religions then Mahometans in the ten ages they have continued What I have sayd being duly examined tell mee Sall is not Protestant Religion slippery and changable and consider well what shall become of you in the sad exchange you have made The fourth Advertisment Learned Protestants of the Church of England doe confess that English and Irish Pagans venerable Beda called them Slaves of Idols were converted to Christian Faith by men sent from the Popes of Rome holy men that wrought Miracles in those Conversions IF any shall demaund to what end doe I make Mention of these Protestant Authors what doe I inferr from theire Testimoneys I make this Illation that said Authors did attest the Conversion of those Pagans to have beene made by those sent from Rome to a true and sauing Faith and for this Verity there are two convincing reasons The first that the Veracity of God was herein concerned which neuer confirm'd by Miracles a false Faith The second that the Goodness of God would not have Pagans brought from Idolatry to Heresy or to such a Religion wherein they would bee as certainly damn'd as in Idolatry to Iudge this of the goodness of God were a horrible Blasphemy for it were noe less then to cale him a cheate Sall examin now seriously what Faith that was the Saints Fugatius Damianus sent from Pope Eleutherious taught to the Pagans of England when King Lucius the first Christian King his Queen and thousands more were converted what the Faith which Saint Augustin the Benedictin Monk sent from S. Gregory Pope denounced to the Saxon Pagans In what Faith did S. Parrick sent from Pope Celestinus instruct the Idolaters of Ireland doubtless you will confess it was the same Faith then professed in Rome and by all the People that obey'd the Pope now all these professed as Articles of Faith the Real-Presence in the Eucharist the Invocation of Angells and Saints the seven Sacraments the Sacrifice of the Mass worship of Images and the like And aforesaid Saints Fugatious Damianus c. delivered them for such to the Pagans of both the Nations they likewise wrought Miracles for proving the truth of the Religion they taught and the Pagans seeing those Miracles beleeved they were sent from God They were indeed sent to those Idalaters as Moyses Elias and others Prophets to the People of Israel and as the Apostles to the Gentils doeing wonders In Nomine Virtute Dei. I observe in this place that the Religion the S S. Fugatious Damianus Patrick and Augustin preached to the Pagans of these countryes was not the Faith now Professed by Sall and
had of theire doing good or evill is not this to make God a God of iniquity as you would call a temporall Iudge a cruell Iudge when hee puts to death a prisoner without hearing any trespasse or crime aleadg'd against him and whether hee did or did not meritt death the Scripture all over tells us God is a holy God and therfore in heaven the Angells and the blessed soules sing Sauctus Sanctus Dominus Deus omnipotens qui erat qui est c. King David says Quoniam non Psal 5. Deus volens iniquitatem tu es Because thou art not a God that wilt iniquity And elsewhere it is said Non est iniquitas apud Deum And Royall David further tells us speaking to God Odisti omnes qui Psal 5. operantur iniquitatem Thou hatest all that work iniquity Doth not Saint Paul say Nonquid iniquus est Deus Is Ad Rom. Cap. 3. God unjust And Calvin contrary to holy David and Saint Paul makes God unjust and doing iniquity in condemning soules to eternall flames without careing what they have done good or evill were ever spoken by the mouth of man soe horrible and impious words as these insuing of Calvin Dicitur Satan excaecare infidelium mentes sed unde hoc nisi quod a Deo ipso manat efficacia erroris lib. 1. Instit cap. 18. Sect. 2. And againe hee saith lib. 3. cap. 24. Sect. 13. Vocem ad eos homines dirigit Deus sed ut magis obsurdescant Lumen accendit sed ut reddantur Caetiores Doctrinam profert sed qua magis obstupescant What Doctrin soe diabolicall as this of Calvin saying professedly that when the Devill blinds sinners that the very efficacy of the error proceedeth from God and that God speaks to sinners but will not that they should heare him that hee sheweth them light to the end they may be come blinder then before finally hee saith God makes an offer of Salvation to the reprobate but with noe intention of theire having it This Doctrin of Calvin affirming God to be Author of our sinn as it is impious in it selfe soe it displeased many Protestants in soe much as the Magistrats of Berne though otherwise Calvinists made it penal by theire Lawes for any of theire Teritoryes to preach Calvins Doctrine therof or for theire people to read any of his Books containing the same Vide litter as Senatus Bernensis annâ— 1555. Himselfe acknowledgeth such a decree and judgement of God to bee horrible Decretum quidem saith Caluin horribile fateor and yet hee will have it stand soe This Doctrine hee Lib. 3. Instit cap. 23. §. 2. 3. 4. And in his harmonie upon Math. cap. 13. Petr. 2. Epist cap. 3. hath in his Institutions and upon Mathew Calvin and other Hereticks interpret holy Scriptures which in some places are darke and the sence hard to be understood with great presumption and without invoking the ayd of the holy Ghost which makes them fall into errors and heresies Saint Peter himselfe doth attest this darkness in these words My dearest c. doe you account Salvation as alsoe our most deare brother Paul according to the wisdome given him hath written to you as alsoe in all Epistles speaking in them of these things in the which are certaine things hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable deprave as alsoe the rest of the Scriptures to theire owne perdition It is certaine that by reason of the difficulties in Scriptures whether in the stile or in the depth of the matter the ignorant and unstable such as hereticks be doe pervert Saint Pauls writings as alsoe other Scriptures to theire owne damnation Wherfore it is a every dangerous thing for such as be ignorant or for wyld witted fellows to read the Scriptures for such conditioned men be they that become Hereticks and through ignorance pride and private fancy meeting with hard places of Saint Pauls Epistles or other Scrâ—tures breed Heresyes The great Saints and Doctors Aug. lib. 2. de doct Christ c. 6. Epist 119. Augustin Ambrose and Hierom tell us that not only the things treated of in the holy Scriptures but alsoe the manner of writing and inditing therof is high and hard and purposly Ambr. Epists 44. Iherom to Paulinus Epist 103. cap. 5. 6. 7. Psalm 128. Acts of Apost Cap. 8. by Gods providence appointed to be written in such sort For this reason the a bove named Saints and other Doctors in all ages by continuall study watching fasting and praying had much a doe to understand the Scriptures did not David pray to God thus give mee understanding and I will search thy Law Did not the eunuch in the Acts reading the Prophet Esay say to Philip How can I understand without an interpreter Truly if those holy Fathers and Doctors found the Scriptures hard after much study and praying to God for obtaining light and the true understanding of Scriptures I wonder how they were not hard to Luther Caluin Zwinglius and other impious men Saint Hierom saith expresly that the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans is wraped in soe great obscurities that to understand it wee need the help of the holy Ghost especially som passages in the ninth Chapter and among others this Iacob I loved and Esau I hated and God saith soe When they were not yet borne nor had done any good or evill The Apostle considered that men reading this passage would take accasion to murmour against God as partiall and acceptor of persons for loving Jacob and hating Esau that were both equall by nature and condition both infected with originall sinn and consequently both guilty of eternall damnation Saint Paul says what shall wee say then Is there iniquity with God But you will say what did God see in Jacob wherfore hee lou'd him and in Esau wherfore hee hated him before they were borne or had done any good or evill The Fathers and learned Interpreters of Scriptures answer thus In Jacob nihil invenit amandum nisi Misericordiae suae donum In Esau nihil odit nisi peccatum origenale That is That God found nothing in Iacob to be beloved but the gift of his owne mercy Nor in Esau to be hated but originall sin Now Calvin or another like him coms in and says Quid ergo what is hier to be said Nunquid dicetur Deus iniquus qui sine merito elegit Iacob Esau reprobavit That is Will not God be esteemed unjust that hath chosen Iacob without merit Saint Paul says absit God forbid and the Fathers that rightly understands Saint Paul doe justify what hee said and gives this unanswerable reason Quia Iacob pro misericordia elegit Esau pro justitia reprobavit cum facit Deus saith Saint Augustin upon this hard matter per misericordium facit cum autem non facit per judicium non facit Hee that will busy himselfe to know wherfore God gives mercy to one and not
to see or discerne though all the world knew him to be Summersets competitor This crafty man though hee had bin allways a Roman Catholick in his Iudgment yet as many polititians use to doe hee dissembled his belief and soothed the Protectors inclination to the Protestant Reformation and made account those new men for Propagation and Preseruation of theire new Ghospell and Doâ—trin would fix upon himselfe for theire chief Patrone and Director and take with him whome hee would appoint for Soueraigne of the Land and to this purpose hee much humored their madness and zeal while they were intoxicating the people with the liberty and pleasure of the new Religion Dudlay being all in all with the Protector and having gotten the power of the Militia into his owne hand hee began to settle a new Religion in England upon the score of a refined Reformation and to unsettle the goverment and ancient faith and in doeing all this hee gave the world to understand the Protector did all and therby made him soe odious that none could indure to heare his name or to live under his goverment This wicked Earle compassed what hee went about to his owne desire his impious drift was to make his Sonne King who was marryed to my Lady Iane Gray of the Blood-Royall and a Protestant Infine hee contrived the Protectors distruction and had him put to death the young King to be poysoned the Princes Mary afterwards Queen to be excluded and the Lady Iane Gray to be Crowned Queen of England For preparing the way to all those sadd things this cruell impious man by force of the Army which was in his hands against his owne Conscience in the first Parlament and yeare of King Edwards Raigne obtained in favour of Protestancy and these new men an act of indemnity for the new Preachers and Hereticks from pennaltyes inacted by the ancient Lawes of the Land against marryed Priests and Hereticks and a repeal of the English Statutes that had tyme out of memory confirmed the imperiall Edicts and Lawes against Heresies But in the second year and Parlament of Edward VI. it was carryed though by few votes and after along debate of aboue foure months that the Zwinglian or Sacramentarian Reformation should be the Religion of England O tempora ô mores ô exicrabilem Parlamenti Anglicani impietatem ô scelus Cleri Apostatantis Who the Contrivers of the XXXIX Articles and first Reformers of Protestant Religion TRue Faith and all Sanctity being chased out of England by the sinns of the Clergie and the wicked laymen in the Parlament the Charge of framing Articles of this new Religion as alsoe of composing the Liturgie and a Book of Rites Ceremonies and Administration of Sacraments was committed to Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and to som other Protestant Devines who were all married Fryers and Priests lately come out of Germany with their sweet harts videlicet Hooper and Roger Monks Coverdale an Augustin Fryer Bale a Carmelit all these Englishmen Peter Martir a Chanon Regulare Martin Bucer a Dominican and Bernardus Ochinus a Capucin these three strangers came over with three galloping Nuns invited by the Protector and Cranmer out of Germany and apointed to preach and teach in both Universityes and at London who were to agree with the rest in the new modern forme of Religion which was a matter of great difficulty because the tenets which they untill then had professed were irreconsilable For that Hooper and Rogers were fierce Swinglians that is Puritans or Presbiterians and joyned in faction against Cranmer Ridly and other Prelaticks Hugh Latimer of great regard with the common people hee opposed himselfe to Cranmer and others for their opposing his pretention to the Bishoprick of Worsester Coverdale and Bale were both Lutherans and yet differed because the one was a riged the other a milde or halfe Lutheran Bucer had alsoe professed a kind of Lutheranisme in Germany but in England was what the Protector would have him to be and therfore would not for the space of a whole yeare declare his opinion in Cambrid though pressed to it by his schollers concerning the Real Presence untill hee had heard how the Parlament had decided the Controversy at London and then hee changed his opinion and became wholy a pure Zwinglian The same tergiversation was used by Peter Martir at Oxford and soe ridiculously that coming sooner in the first Epistle of Corinthians which hee undertook to expound to the Words HOC EST CORPVS MEVM then it had bin determined in Parlament what they should signify the poor Monk with admiration and laughter of the University was forced to divert his Auditors with impertinent comments upon the precedent Words Accipite manducate fregit dixit c. Which needed noe explanation At length when the news was com that both houses had ordered these Words HOC EST CORPVS MEVM should be understood figuratiuely and not literally Peter Martir sayd hee wonderd that any man could be of another opinion though hee knew not the day before what would be his owne opinion As for Bucer hee was a concealed Iew joyned in Contriving the XXXIX Articles only to make good days with his Nun and dyed a Iew being asked confidently his opinion of the Sacrament by Dudley Duke of Northumberland in the presence of the Lord Paget then a Protestant who testifyed the same publickly afterwards hee answered that the Real Presence could not be deny'd if men believed that Christ was God and spoke the Words THIS IS MY BODY But whether all was to be believed which the Evangelistes writt of Christ was a matter of more Disputation Peter Martir who came to England to Cherish in pleasures his wanton Nun whose death hee lamented efeminatly was noe Protestant in Iudgment as is cleare by what is said and yet hee joynd in the XXXIX Articles Bernardus Ochinus who loved Woemen soe well as by an express written Book hee affirmeth Polligamy or the lawfullness of having two Wives together dying professed himselfe to be a Iew and soe whilest hee lived in England was but a counterfeit Protestant to make bon-chear with his Nun and for this cause agree'd to the XXXIX Articles Cranmer was a meer contemporiser and of noe Religion at all Henry the eight raised him from Chapline to Sr. Thomas Bullen Ann Bullens Father to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to the end hee might divorse him from Queen Catharin and marry him to said Ann Bullin which hee did Afterwards by the Kings Order hee declared to the Parlament that to his knowledg Ann Bullen was never lawfull wife to his Maiesty by which hee let the World know Elizabeth her daughter had noe right title to the Crowne of England After this hee marryed the King to Ann of Cleves and when the King was weary of her Cranmer declared this marriage alsoe null and married and unmarried him soe often that hee seemed rather to exercise the office of a pymp then the function
of a Priest which to requite one curtesy for another made the King connive at his keeping a Woeman and at some of his Opinions though som what contrary to the statute of the six Articles In King Henry the eight's days Cranmer professed to be Catholick and writt a book for the Real Presence In King Edward the sixt days hee professed Protestancy and writt another book against the Real Presence Bishop Bonner produced both those books against him in Iudgment Hee conspired with the Protector Summerset to overthrow K. H. will and testament and afterwards conspired with Dudlay of Northumberland to ruine the Protector hee joyned with Dudlay and the Duke of Suffolk against Queen Mary for the Lady Iane Gray and immediatly after with Arondell Shrewsbury Pembrook Paget ane others against the same Duke finally when hee was condemned in Queen Mary's tyme for treason and Heresie and his Treason being pardoned hopeing the same favour might be extended to his Heresie hee recanted and abjur'd the same but seeing the temporall Lawes reserved noe mercy for relapsed Hereticks who are presumed not to be truly penitent or converted hee was soe exasperated therby that at his death moved more by Passion then Conscience hee renounced the Roman Catholick Religion to which hee had soe lately conformed These were the Godly men who framed the XXXIX Articles of the Religion of the English Church the Liturgie and the book of Sacraments Rites and Ceremonies of the Protestant Church and though it may seem incredible that an Athist a Iew a Contemporiser or meer Pollitian a Presbiterian a riged Lutheran a halfe Lutheran and an Anty Lutheran or Sacramentarian should all make one Religion yet when men doe but dissemble and deliver opinions to please others and profitt themselves and have noe Religion at all they may without difficulty concurr in some generall poynts of Christianity framing negative Articles such as many of the XXXIX Articles are Impugning the particular truthes of Orthodox faith This was the case of the Church of England and men disagreeing in opinions made up one religion such as it was The Fabrick of those Articles being rays'd as was said let any Christian be Iudge whether it be more safe and more rationall to rely in matter of faith upon the Tradition of the whole Catholick Church and ancient Liturgy's and Rites and upon the Testimony of all the holy Fathers and Counsells since the Apostles tymes then to take the bare Word of Cranmer a man of slippery life and Religion Let any Christian man I say bee Iudge whether this man together with Ochinus a Iew Buzer an Athist or at the best a Iew Peter Martir of the Religion the Parlament would have him to be of Hooper and Latimer and Rogers stubborn discontented Presbiterians Bale and Coverdale Lutherans two lew'd and runagate Fryers whether hee that cares for his owne soule should rather believe these wicked impious men in points of Faith and marters of Salvation then all the ancient Fathers and the holy Councells Let us now see after Dudlay and his faction of Protestant Religion and the Citty of London had crowned Iane Gray what became of them and how long they were in the roofe and prosperity Queen Marys courage and resolution and her owne good right Protestancy being not as yet soe deeply rooted at once with those loyall Catholicks that waited on hervertue and fortune quashed Dudlays Rebellion and designe those lewd Apostate Monks and Priests that coyned the XXXIX Articles then vanished away like smoke and brought Dudlay to his distruction hee was put to death for treason and Rebellion Upon the scaffold hee declared that hee had never been a Protestant in his Iudgment and only made use of its principels and Profession for temporall ends as to raise his family and make his Sonne marryed to Lady Gray King c. Hee advertised the people of the new Religions in consistency with peace and quiet that its Clergie were but ungodly men and trumpets of sedition The substance of his speech is set downe by Doctor Heylin a Protestant in Doct. Heil Eccls Restau Queen Mary pag. 19 these-words Hee admonished the Spectators to stand to the Religion of theire Ancesters rejecting that of latter date which had occationed all the misery of the foregoing 30 years and that for prevention for the future if they desired to present theire soules unspotted in the sight of God and were truly affected to theire country they should expell those tempests of sedition the preachers of the reformed Religion that for himselfe what soever had otherwise been pretended hee professed noe other Religion then that of his fathers for testimony wherof hee apealed to his good frind and Ghostly Father the Lord Bishop of Worcester and finally that being blinded with ambition hee had been contented to make wrake of his conscience by temporising for which hee professed himselfe seriously repentant and soe aeknowledged the Iustice of his death A Declaration saith Doctor Heyling very vnseasonable whether true or false as that which rendered him less pittied by the one side and more scorned by the other This is a more politick then pious obseruation of Doctor Heylin would hee not haue men confess theire faults and profess theire faith when they are dying and would hee haue them preferr the vanity of the pitty or scorne of the World when they are to bid the whole World adieu before the Satisfaction and Salvation of the Soule Sall hath there been soe much as one man of your first Doctors and Reformers and of all those that contriu'd the XXXIX Articles hath there been I say soe much as one just man before God walking in all the Commaundements and Iustifications of our Lord without blame one vertuous soule that mortify'd his body and loved Chastity one Priest or Monk amongst them all that was bonus odor Christi Noe but all of them lew'd dissolute infamous Priests and Religious men that broak theire holy vowes Rebells against God and against his annoynted on earth Kings and. Magistrats rayfing tumults and seditions in all the countrys they liu'd in such kinde of men they have been though Iohn Fox a ridiculous man canonized many of them for great Saints of which wee shall treat more at large in the ensuing Chapter They haue beene Cores that have rent the Coat and garment of Christ and made a great Scisme in Gods Church like Ballaaems they have cheated Gods People for gaining Wordly Comodityes and Pleasures like Gains they have murthered millions of innocent Abells with Hereticall Doctrine and pestiferous manners and Conversation You are not ignorant Sall of what Saint Paul writes to Timothy And 2. ad Tim. cap. 3. thus know thou that in the last days shall aproatch perilous tymes And men shall be lovers of themselves covetuous hauty proud blasphemous wicked without affection Incontinent unmercifull traitours stubern puffed up and lovers of voluptuousness more then of God Lay your hand upon your hart
see not why I should not only compare but preferre alsoe one Cranmer before six hundred Becketts of Canterbury This is one Impudency let us heare another Quid in Nicolao Ridlaeo videtur cum quovis Divo Nicolao non conferendum That is What is there in Nicholas Ridley that Impudent rediculous demaunds of Iohn Fox may not be compard with any Saint Nicholas whatsoever To this every man that hath redd the life of Saint Nicholas surnam'd the great that was Bishop of Myra and soe famous in the first councell of Nice and hath either knowne the other Nicholas Ridley intruded into two Bishopricks of England at once together with his Burgundian wife or shall read those things which afterwards I am to set downe of him and Octob. 19 his actions out of Fox himselfe when I come to his festivall day will easily be able to make full answer There followeth Fox his third demaund of the learned reader more impudent and impious then the rest Qua in re saith hee Latimerus Hooperus Marshius Simsonus caeterique Christiani Martyrii candidati inferiores summis maximisque ill is Papistici Calendarii divis imò multis etiam nominibus non prâ—ponendi videantur That is In what one thing may Latimer Hooper Marsh Simson and other renowned Christian Martyrs in this book contained seem to be inferiour to the highest and greatest Saints of the Papisticall Calendar or rather not to be preferred before them all for many respects Here now you see his full sense and these his Martyrs are to be preferred before the highest and chiefest Martyrs of the Popes Calendar But some one of the Protestant Congregation will tell mee it is a flatt lye that Fox hath canonized Malefactors for Saints to wype of this staine I remitt this man to examine his Calendar by years monthes and days and to point out with a fingar som of them for it were toe tedious to pass â—an 7. 8. 9. 10. Febr. 6. Enormityes of divers Foxian Saints over them all In the first place I give you Sr. Iohn Old-Castle and Sr. Roger Acton who with above forty more were hanged in Saint Gylses field for treason and for actuall Rebellion and for conspiring the death of King Henry the fifth and of his Brethern who yet are made solemne Martyrs by Iohn Fox in his Calendar and distributed into divers festivall days for celebrating theire memories behold two capitall rubricated Martyrs of Iohn Fox who dyed for Rebellion and treason Soe write Catholick and Protestant Authors as Walsingham who liu'd at the same tyme with Old-Castle Likwise Stow expresly speaks thus Towards the end of the yeare 1417. Stow anno 5. Henr. 5. pag. 572. Sr. Iohn Old-Castle taken by chance in the Territory of the Lord Powesse was brought up to London in a Litter wounded during the Parlament and there examined Which Stow sets downe thus Assoon as Sr. Iohn Old-Castle was brought into the Parlament before the Kings Brother Duke of Bedford Regent and governour of the Realme his indightment was read before him of his forcible insurrection against the King in Saint Gylses field and other treasons by him commited The question was asked why hee should not be deem'd to Dye c. But the said Old-Castle giving many frivelous answers and speaking nothing to the point the chief Iustice admonished the Regent not to suffer him to spend the tyme soe vainly and being commaunded to answer finally why hee should not suffer death To which hee stoutly answered that This Rich. then in Scoctland was a Mock King a suborned impostore hee had noe Iudg among them soe long as his Leage Lord King Richard was a live and in the Realme of Scotland Which answer when hee had made because there needed noe other wittness hee was condemn'd to be drawne and hang d upon a Gallows and to be burned hanging upon the same Which Iudgment was executed on him the 14. of December in Saint Gylses field Where many honourable persons being present the last words that hee spoke were to Sr. Irpingham adjuring him that if hee saw him rise from death to life againe the third day hee would procure that his sect might be in peace and quiett Thus farre are the words of Stow Old-Castle was of the Sect of Wicklif And who will not say now but that this traytor publickly executed for treason is a worthy Martyr for Fox his Calendar and Martyraloge If Hackett the puritan put to death in Queen Elizabeth's days for saying he would rise againe the third day as Old-Castle did say and went devoutly to the Gallows as the other did crying IEHOVA IEHOVA as Stow setteth it downe and at the Stow anno 33. Eli. Christi Vero 1591. pag. 2289. Gallowes noe less bitterly rail'd against Q. Elizabeth then Old-Castle did against that worthy King Into his Calendar had he gone without further Consultation and in some respect was fitter for it being a Calâ—anist in the purest degree which Old-Castle was not as after shall be made appeare It is alsoe cleare and manifest Of Sir Roger Acton and his cause why hee was hanged that Sir Roger Acton Knight with Sir Iohn Old-Castle and others conspired King Henry the fith his death with his Bretheren and was taken in open Rebellion against him in the field of Saint Gyles in London upon the yeare 1414. And was condemned of treason at Westminster and on the tenth of February was drawn hang'd and buried under the Gallows soe â—elateth Stow. Stow. in Chro. â—n Dom 1414. pa. 551 Holen anno 1414. And Holenshed in effect writeth the same citing for his Authors Titus Livius And Hall in the Margent Stow and Holenshed as aboue was said were both Protestants Iohn Zisca alsoe the famous Bohemian Murtherer who besides the Rebellion against his Prince and Lieg Lord was a common manqueller began his Rebellion by murthering openly the Major of Prage and other Senators and then breaking violently into the court soe afflicted the sick King Vincislaus as hee fell presently into a dead Palsy and therof soon after departed this life Hee continued that most cruell and outrageous Rebellion against the afflicted Widow Queen Sophia his souveraigne Lady and against the Emperour Sigismund Brother to Vincislaus lawfull Successor to that Crowne for divers years And this with such slaughter and opprobrious handling especially of Priests and Religious men as scarse is read in any other Barbarous Historie calling himselfe in his Title Monachomastix the Murtherer of Monks His cruell bloody Soldiers were a company of People called Thaborits from a Castle being on a hill which Zisca cal'd Monthabor which hee had taken by treason and violence from a Catholick noble man killing both him and all his that were with in it who followed him for spoyle and licentious life There were committed more outragious insolencyes Murthers and grievous villanyes in a few years by the Directions of this cruell Zisca then any other Historie doth
inherence is naturall and propper to accidents and the Body and Bloud of Christ hauing in the Sacrament a spirituall presence seing all these wonders and magnalia may say with great Saint Iohn Chrisostome O Miraculum ô Dei benignitatem qui cum Patre sursum sedet in illo temporis Articulo omnium manibus pertractatur That is O Miracle ô goodness of God that hee who sitteth aboue with the Father is heer beneath handled by men If Sall inquire how a Body can have a spirituall Presence I answer him with demaunding how a spirit can have a corporall Presence How can an Angell have appearence and presence of a young man wherof there are many examples in Scripture Did not Angells seeme to the eyes of Abraham Tobias and others to bee young men and yet they were not men but spiritts And why cannot the Body of Christ have a spirituall Presence in the Sacrament if God will have it soe Let Sall shew us the cause and reason why it may not be done It is indeed a hard question to declare Qua Actione Corpus Christi ponitur in Sacramento Some hold it is done Actione Adductiva that is to say that Christ retaining the ubi his Body hath in heaven gives by this kinde of Action a new ubi to his Body and Bloud under the species and Accidents of Bread and Wine but this opinion hath great difficultyes and is hard to bee defended wherefore the clearer and more plausible Sentence is Quod Corpus Christi ponatur sub speciebus Panis Sanguis sub speciebus Vini By a true and real Reproduction Hoc est per Actionem productivam sic sentire videtur S. Thomas dicens quia in hoc Sacramento tota S. Tom. 3. part q. 75. Art 8. Substantia Panis convertitur in totam Substantiam Corporis Christi propter hoc haec Conversio Transubstantiatio vocatur Id est perit seu destruitur Substantia Panis quando reproducitur Substantia Corporis Christi sub speciebus Panis That is to say The Substance of Bread doth perish or is distroy'd when the Substance of the Body of Christ is reproduced under the accidents of Bread I have said aboue that the ancient Fathers and Saints asserted Corpus Christi in Sacrament◠Altaris fieri confici creari which Propositions cannot be verifyed but by a real Action which is this Actio productiva Reproduction or Replication of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament that the same esse or being that Christ hath in heaven is reproduced under the accidents of Bread and Wine in this Sacrament Will any man say that this is not possible to God If God can restore that which perrished by reproduceing the very same thing in Individuo G. V. if hee can raise to life one that was dead as hee restored Lazarus to life the very same Lazarus in Individuo the Brother of Martha and Mary Magdalen that dyed few days before why cannot God as well reproduce a man that is living and that was not dead before It is cleare the existence of the man living doth not hinder but that God may reproduce or replicate the same man againe and not once but ten tymes and a hundred tymes and even make an Army of one man by soe oft reproducing him Likewise reproducing or replicating the same man in severall places that man may doe different Actions the reason is Quia licet secundum se sit idem numero homo est virtute multiplex multis aequipollet locorum spatiis Operationtbus That is Because though that man reduplicated be one and the same man in number yet hee hath the vertue of many men and can bee in many and different places and doe many and different Actions By this means the man replicated may be hott in one place and cold in another walke in one place and stand in another may be sick in one place and well in another and which is more strange may live in one place and dye in another Let Sall tell us why all this may not be done and what Contradiction doth this Replication involue that it may not be done by the power of God Will hee dare say the power of God which is infinit can be soe ended and exhausted as it may not extend it selfe to such a Reproduction or Replication Hauing said soe much by way of discussion upon some parts of Salls Recantation that impugnes the Doctrin of Transubstantiation let mee now shew that the Greeck and Ruthenian Church and the Armenians doe agree with the Roman Catholick Church in the Doctrin of Transubstantiation Real-presence and in Cultu latriae or Worship of Adoration due to the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar XIX CHAPTER The Ruthenian and Greeck Church and the Armenians hold the same in the Article of Transubstantiation as the Roman Catholicks doe FOr informing Sall lately become Calvinist and a great zealot that way that the Ruthenians and those of the Greeck Church and Armenians agree with us in the Doctrin of Transubstantiation Real-presence c. I here set downe certain passages worthy to be notifyed to him and all those of his Religion which I lately read with great Attention and Satisfaction I will instance a late undeniable proofe of this out of a Conferrence that passed between L. H. Gondrin Arch-Bishop of Sans a very learned Prelate and a venerable Priest of Muscovia a Chanon of th◠Cathedrall of Muskow then in the retenue of the Muscovit Ambassador in Paris and with the Secretary of said Ambassador This conference was made at Paris anno 1668. These being invited by the Arch-Bishop to dyne with him after great civility done them his grace put the Priest many questions touching Transubstantiation and the Real-Presence after the words of Consecration and what Worship is due to Christ in the Sacrament and desired upon all this to receive the Iudgment and use of the Ruthenian Church they answered to all distinctly as men well versed in the Religion of theire Country and assured his Grace they agreed in all these points to wit Transubstantiation Real-Presence and Incultu latriae that is Adoration due to Christ in this Sacrament the Arch-Bishop much joy'd at these Answers further desired to know theire Iudgment of some Christians in France that denyed the Body and Bloud of Christ to be realy and substantially in the Eucharist and likewise deny'd Adoration to bee due there unto they replyed with a pious anger and indignation if such men liu'd in our country wee should put them to death and burne them like Hereticks and Deuills But there are said they God be praysed noe such men in Muscovia nor dare they live there Take another strong Confirmation of the same the answer Paisius Legaridius Chius Metropolitan of Gaza given to Ioannes Lylienthal Ambassador of the King of Sueden in the Court of Muscovia in the Month of September anno 1666. The Ambassador set forth to said Metropolitan the tenets of the
fellow in one of the Oxford Colledges it is one of the rarest and most learned Books ever saw light of that kinde the argument of the worke is by way of Paralel to compare the Religion of a Calvinist and that of a Turke This man Reading the sleights Shufflings Lyes Falsifications and corruptions of Mr. Iewell pretended Bishop of Salsbury one of the falsest men that ever set pen to Paper forsook the Protestant Religion saying it could not bee a sauing and true Religion that used Falsifications and sleights for a support of keeping it up hee went in the yeare of Iubily to Rome and submitted himselfe with his writings and works to the Iudges of th'Inquisition who received with all joy soe pretious a man Father Persons the Iesuit accompanied him came afterward to France there lived a holy life and there dyed a happy Death 4 ' th Author THe Legacy of Doctor King Bishop of London or his Motives for his change of Religion written by himselfe and delivered over to a Frind in his lifetyme A most rationall moving piece printed Anno 1622. 5 ' th Author THree Conversions of England penn'd by the very vertuous Father Persons one of the best works ever was set out in English All in this Book is strong here you will finde Iewell and Fox two pillars of the English Church tottering and cast downe and bruesed like a Dagon Both are evidently convinced to have beene the most infamous Lyers ' Shuflers and Falsificators that ever lived of the English Nation or I think of any other 6 ' th Author A Search made into Matters of Religion by Francis Walsingam Deakon of the Protestant Church before his change to Catholick Religion a Book full of prudent Observations printed Permissu Superiorum Anno 1609. 7 ' th Author REdargutio Scismatis Anglicani ' Authore Alexandro White a Confutation of the XXXIX Articles of the Confession of England See above pag. 13. 14. 15. Printed at Lovain Anno 1661. 8 ' th Author PRotestancy without principles or Sectaryes unhappy fall from infallibility to Fancy layd forth in foure Discourses by E. W. printed at Antwerp by Michael Cnobbaert 1668. This Author shewes playnly to the Eye Protestant Religion sinking downe for want of Principles as a House layd upon a very weak Foundation t is one of the most learned pieces of this kind and convincing that I ever handled There is another Book of the same Author intiteled The Infalibility of the Roman Catholick Church and her Miracles defended against Doctor Stillingfleets Cavills c. printed at Antwerp 1674. An excellent worke the Preface therof is a Pearl Sall I pray you read with Attention these two Books if you are able you have some kind of Obligation to answer the last having denyed Infallibility to the Roman Catholick Church I think you will finde this E. W. hath read as much as you have done if not som-what more and that hee is a subtile School-man I have reason to know what mettle is in the man and partly what in you 9 ' th Author A Book that lately came out stiled a Treatice of Religion and Goverment the Argument which is learnedly handled whether Protestancy bee less dangerous to the soule or more advantagious to the state then the Roman Catholick Religion The conclusion that Piety and Policy are mistaken in Promoting Protestancy and Persecuting Popery by penall and Sanguinary statutes This man gives a perfect Anatomy of the English Church shewes clearly to the eye the Falsifications Iuglings Corruptions Shuflings absurd lyes and artifices of Protestant writers and Doctors Hee expounds briefly and soundly the XXXIX Articles of your English Creed and Confession and declares them to bee Pernitious Finally hee doth as it were demonstrat the Church of England to be without Sacraments Priest and Sacrifice and consequently noe Church and where there is noe Church there is noe true Religion This Book is not Easily had but I am ready to furnish you with one you will finde I assure you the discourse learned and worth your reading Sixt Advertisment 3. Weighty Points offered to be considered by Sall. MOre then twenty years agoe I lighted upon a Book written by a learned Protestant in the days of the Usurper caled the Christian Moderator wherin hee shew'd a great kindness and tenderness of hart toward us Catholicks then much afflicted hee spake much good of us and said wee were a People of a tender Conscience shy in taking oathes but Religious Observers of them once taken hee maintained our Religion was not inconsistent with Obedience to the Prince and Magistrate and that the farr greater part of us were commendable in our manners and Conversation and honest in our dealings hee wyp't away an envious Callumny objected to us to wit that wee held as a constant Doctrin in our Schooles and Practises in our Proceedings Fidem non esse servandam Hereticis which hee shew'd to bee most false out of Catholick Authors especially out of Paulus Layman a Iesuit Hee likewise indeavoured to persuade by good Arguments that Persecution of Religion was not lawfull nor could be warranted by the Law of God Law of Nature nor the ancient Lawes of the Land Among many good things this Author said I took speciall Notice of three remarkable Points which I will express the best I can in my owne words having not his Book at hand Primum Punctum HEe said it was observed that Roman Catholicks who turnd Protestants commonly became worse liuers then before great libertins dissolute in theire manners and careless of Salvation especially Priests and Religious men who breaking theire Vowes took Wives and wenshes and ever after lived in Sensuality and Sinn without all shame and feare of God giving Scandall to all kinde of men and that many of them came to an Obduration of hart and dy'd in Dispaire I will give you here a true and lamentable Narration of two fearfull Examples in this kind of two Apostata's Priests that marryed and had Children whome I knew very well One of them having studyed in the University of Salamaâ—â—a was made Priest in Spaine had a rich Benefice in those parts I liu'd in but was borne in the Province of Sall hee was sufficiently learned and audatious in the highest degree and had sometymes preacht before the State in Dubblin as latly Sall hath done In his Conversation hee was a meer Publican and most vaine lying vapering insolent debaust and Drunkenest Companion that was knowne in those parts As soon as the Rebellion began in England hee bid a Deiu to his Loyalty went to England and stuck to those then in Rebellion thinking therby to make a great Fortune came over with Crumwell and was a meer scourge and plague to the Catholick Clergy bringing Souldiers and wicked men to the Houses of all the Priests hee knew Infine hee dyed of the plague in a Ditch deserted of all of both Religions crying as they say for a Priest but found none The