not then a shame for him if he had any shame in him thus to intrude himselfe into such an high and soveraigne Authoritie without anie commission or warrant from Christ the King of his church Besides themselves acknowledge and that rightly that the companie of the glorious and invisible Saints in heaven and the companie also of the visible Saints on earth do all make but one church and one Bodie to Christ Iesus though their states be differing that is to say though the one sort be triumphant and the other militant Inasmuch then as they all make but one church one bodie unto Christ Iesus how can it be shifted or avoided but that Christ Iesus must be the head aswell of the saints on earth as of the saints in heaven aswell of the visible militant company as of the invisible triumphant Yea Bellarmine himselfe will not allow anie Christian to bee tearmed or called a member of the Pope How then can the Pope rightly be the head of the church for if all true Christians vpon earth bee and be to be termed the members of Christ and not of the Pope it must be granted that not the Pope but Christ onely is their head for the head and the members be relatives And whereas in this matter they talke of a ministeriall head which is not vitall it is also but a phantasticall and vaine distinction For there can be no head in true and proper appellation to this one bodie of Christ which is his Church but that which is vitall The Pope as appeareth even by this their owne distinction is but a dead head and hath no life in him to give to anie of the members of Christ or wherby vertue grouth nourishment or increase may distil or be derived from him as from the head to anie of the members What then should the bodie of Christ doe with such a livelesse and dead head or what good profit or benefite can anie reape or receive from thence A dead bodie is fittest for such a dead head but the living and mysticall bodie of Christ hath and requireth another manner of head namely that which is vitall which is Christ Iesus onely of whose fulnesse they have all received as S. Iohn speaketh Neither is there anie such necessitie as they also vainely fancie for the visible and militant Church to have such a visible head for albeit Christ Iesus be absent from his church militant here upon earth in respect of his bodily presence which he hath carried with him into heaven yet in his Deitie and by the power of his spirit is he alwaies present with the same his church For so himselfe witnesseth saying I am with you alwayes unto the end of the world And therefore alwaies doth S. Iohn testifie that notwithstanding the manhood and bodily presence of Christ be in heaven and there remaining yet neverthelesse by his almightie power and spirit he walketh and is in the midst of the seven golden Candlestickes that is In the midst of the seven Churches for so the text it selfe expoundeth the Candlestickes saying thus The seven Candlestickes be the seven Churches Vnder the name of which seven churches be also all other churches upon earth shadowed out unto us as Augustine Primasius Haymo Beda Thomas Aquinas and others affirme Seeing then that Christ Iesus notwithstanding his bodily presence remaining in heaven is neverthelesse by his almightie power and spirit present with all the true Christian churches in the world and walketh in the midst of them to guide governe comfort teach order rule susteine uphold and direct them and give all gifts and graces requisite It is manifest that he is sufficiently present with them in the church militant to doe all the offices of an head unto them so that they need not in anie sort the Pope to become an head unto them for anie of those uses or ends Yea is it not a verie great absurditie for anie to suppose or imagine that the Pope or anie one man mortall whosoever being on earth can better rule order guide and governe the whole militant church then Christ Iesus himselfe can doe being in heaven by his wisdome almightinesse and power of his Spirit But yet further when Christ in his manhood was to ascend up into heaven he promised neither the Pope nor anie one Bishop over all the rest to be his Vicar on earth or to supplie his roome and absence but the holy Ghost onely For thus he saith I tell you the truth It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away that Comforter will not come unto you And this comforter is the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth as is there expresly affirmed And againe he saith that After his departure they shall have another Comforter that shall abide with them for ever even the spirit of Truth vvhom the vvorld cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Doe not these texts verie plainely shew that the holy Ghost is and is to be accounted Christs Vicar upon earth ever since his departure into heaven that is to say is in his stead and place unto the militant Church and to abide with it for ever And therefore doth Tertullian say accordingly that Christus misit Vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat Christ sent the power of the holy Ghost to be his Vicar or in his steed to leade and direct the beleevers Howbeit if some Bishop will needes be so intituled namely Christs Vicar as being an Ambassador for Christ and in Christs steade yet let him then know that he is not so alone but that all godly and faithfull Bishops and Ministers be so likewise For which cause it is that the ancient Fathers doe call them all alike Vicarios Christi the Vicars of Christ But S. Paul yet further sheweth that not Christ himselfe tooke upon him this honour to be head of the church without his fathers appointment and constitution If therefore the Pope will take it upon him it is good reason he should likewise shew where God hath so constituted and appointed him which he is not able to doe Yea S. Paul sheweth againe That onely he is head of the Church vvhich is farre above all principalitie and povver and dominion and might and every name that is named not onely in this vvorld but in the vvorld to come And therefore this is such a high peerelesse and supereminent an honour and prerogative as that it is proper to Christ Iesus onely and not communicable to anie creature Lastly you may perceive by S. Paul that Christ is so the head of the Church as the husband is the head of his wife And is there anie honest wife that will bee content to have two heads that is two husbands though for distinction sake you should terme the one a ministeriall head or howsoever else you would please to call him 6 Now touching Miracles
respect of his Episcopal or Spiritual And for this cause also the one is said to arise out of the Sea and the other out of the Earth Rev. 13.1.11 for in respect of his Episcopal supremacie and Pseudoprophetical demeanour hee arose from the Earth it receiving his original from below and from the Earth and not from Heaven and in respect of his Imperial dominion hee arose out of the Sea because the Ruines of the Empire by meanes whereof hee arose to that his Imperial Greatnesse were not otherwise wrought but by the wavering and disquiet turbulencies that were in the World in those daies So that howsoever it is called the first Beast and the second Beast in distinct considerations yet upon the matter they both make but one Antichrist And therefore in Rev. 17. is there mention made but of One Beast only which supported the Whore of Babylon Yea Fatentur omnes pertinere omnino ad Antichristum verba illa Iohannis c. All men confesse saith Bellarmine himselfe that those vvords of Iohn in Rev. 13.11 c. doe undoubtedly belong to Antichrist Now then let us examine and see if they be not all verified in the Pope and Papacy First it is said that this second Beast had two hornes like a Lamb but he spake like the Dragon Duo Cornua similia Agni scilicet Christi cuius duo Cornua sunt duo Testamenta He shal have two Hornes like to those of the Lambe that is like to those of Christ vvhose two Hornes be the two Testaments as Lyranus Primasius and Augustine also expound them Whereby appeareth that Antichrist shall outwardly pretend great sanctitie sinceritie humilitie and simplicitie and as if hee did all things by good authoritie and strength of the holy Scriptures the two Testaments the Old and the New and yet in verie deed his voice and speech that is his doctrines decrees lawes canons and constitutions should bewray and discover him to be but a Wolfe in Sheepes clothing and no lesse cruell and malignant against the true Church of God then the verie Dragon Doth not everie man perceive that these things doe rightly fit the Pope For who maketh a greater outward shew of sanctitie pietie and Christianitie then he and what doth he else but pretend the strength and authoritie of the two Testaments namely of the holy Scriptures for warrant and maintenance of the false doctrines errors heresies hee teacheth and holdeth Can anie man outwardly pretend greater humi litie then he when he entitleth himselfe Servus servorum Dei a servant of Gods servants and yet for all that he taketh upon him by his claimes and actions to be Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of Kings and Lord of Lords So that howsoever hee pretendeth humilitie yet wee see hee is farre from it And howsoever hee pretendeth the authoritie of the holy Scriptures viz the two Testaments for the strengthning and confirmation of his religion doctrine and doings alledging them to be shadowed out and figured in the two Hornes of his Myter yet partly by reason of the unsound and false translations of those Scriptures which he defendeth and authorizeth against the truth of the Originals and partly whilest he perverteth and misinterpreteth the true Scriptures themselves and equalleth also his Traditions unto them and moreover dispenseth with them at his pleasure and preferreth his owne authoritie and the authoritie of his Church above them and so maketh them to speake in another sense and otherwise then ever they meant it is apparant that being thus used and abused they be at the most but like the two Hornes of the Lambe as this Text speaketh and be not the verie two hornes themselves that is they be not the pure incorrupt and undoubtedly true Scriptures themselves but corrupted differing from them Pope and Popery then appeareth to consist all in shewes semblances and likenesses of veritie sanctitie and pietie and have it not in verie deed and substance And therefore not without good cause did diverse Bishops make their complaint long sithence in their Epistle to Pope Nicholas recorded in Aventine saying in this sort unto him Thou bearest the person of a Bishop but thou playest the Tyrant under the habite and attyre of a Pastor vvee feele a VVolfe It is a lying Title that calleth thee Father thou in thy deeds shewest thy selfe to be another Iupiter being the servant of servants thou strivest to be the Lord of Lords c. But moreover doth not the Pope speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell for by the Dragon in the Revelation is the Divell understood when he saith that the Kingdomes of the world be his and that he hath power to dispose and give them to whomsoever hee will For did not the Divell speake the verie same to Christ in the Gospel Yea the Pope is as they write Totius orbis Dominus The Lord of the vvhole vvorld and hath Coelestis terrestris potestatis Monarchiam The Monarchy or soveraignetie both of the heavenly and earthly power and to him forsooth they apply that Prophecie Dominabitur à mari ad mare à flumine usque ad terminos orbis He shall rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the vvorld Yea they attribute that unto him which Iesus Christ spake of himselfe saying that All power is given unto him both in heaven and earth Matth. 28.18 Be not these most abominable blasphemous and divelish speeches being attributed to the Pope But yet further what doth hee else but speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell whilest he teacheth that doctrine of Divells mentioned in the Epistle to Timothy as shal afterward appeare and whilest he maintaineth a wrong worship of God a false faith and an Apostatical and Antichristian religion against the right most pure and onely true religion of Christ extant in the booke of God the holy and canonical Scriptures 3 Againe it is said that this second Beast did exercise all the power of the first Beast and that before him And who is so ignorant but hee knoweth that the Pope exerciseth all the power of the first Beast that is of the Latine or Romane State and that before him or before his face that is to say even at Rome and in the presence of the Romane State For hath not the Pope gotten that which was the seate of the Emperor namely Rome and made it his seate And is not the Emperor put downe from having anie Headship or Soveraigne Authoritie there Yea doth not the Pope there take upon him to exercise all the Imperial power authoritie tamen sine nomine Romani Imperatoris yet vvithout the name of the Emperor of Rome as Bellar. himself also saith that Antichrist must doe For this Imperial Authoritie aswell as his Ecclesiastical that is to say both his supremacies as before is shewed hee claimeth and holdeth under the name and title
selling let any communion be had vvith them that loosing the solace of humanitie they may be compelled to returne from the error of their vvay And vvhosoever shall doe the contrary let him as being a partaker of their iniquitie be sentenced to be Anathema and they if they be taken by Catholike Princes let them be committed to prison and loose all their goods In the Councell of Lateran likewise assembled against the Albigenses whom they call Cathari and Patâ—rini it was said thus Eos defensores eorum râ—ceptores Anathemati decernimus subiacere Et sub Anathemate prohibemus ne quis eos in domibus vel in terra sua tenere vel fovere vel negotiationem cum ijs exercere praesumat VVee decree Them and their defenders and receivers to bee under the sentence of Anathema And under the same curse VVee forbid that no man presume to keepe or harbour them in their houses or upon their land or to negotiate vvith them In like sort did Pope Martin the fift in his Bull of condemnation against Iohn Husse and Hierome of Prage annexed to the Acts of the Councell of Constance straightly charge and command that such as they were which would not be obedient to the Sea of Rome nor hold communion with that Church should not be permitted Domicilia tenere larem fovere contractus inire negotiationes mercantias quaslibet exercere aut humanitatis solatia cum Christi fidelibus habere to have any house or home to make any contracts or to use any trade or trafficke or to enioy any solace or comforts of humanitie vvith the faithfull of Christ. And as if all this were too little Pope Boniface the eight did further say and decree that it was de necessitate salutis subesse Romano pontifici of the necessitie of salvation for everie man to be subiect to the Pope of Rome Thus you see that this Image of the Beast that is the Emperor-like State and governement of Rome by the Popes was able to speak for her owne exaltation and advancement amongst the Inhabitants of the earth and what manner of speeches they were and how terible dammageable and in conclusion deadlie to all that would not worship it and become obedient thereunto But no onely by words speeches sayings perswasions doctrines and decrees but by miracles signes or wonders also was this Image of the beast to bee erected For the Text saith that this second Beast the false-prophet Antichrist did great Wonders so that he made fire come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signes which were permitted him to doe in the sight of the Beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make the Image of the Beast c. So that the drift of all these Miracles was but to make the Image of the Beast And this agreeth with that of S. Paul where hee saith that the comming of Antichrist shall bee by the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying vvonders and with that also of the False-prophet mentioned in this Revelation of S. Iohn that hee did Miracles Which False-prophet cannot be understood of Mahomet the False-prophet amongst the Turkes and Sarazens for hee did no miracles but prevailed with his religion an other way and especiallie by force of Armes and dint of Sword Yea Mahomet openlie protested saying Non sum miraculis aut indicijs ad vos missis I am not sent unto you vvith miracles or signes And so also doth Dionysius Carthusianus testifie that Mahometes asserebat Deum sibi dixisse quod non permisit eum Miracula facere Mahomet affirmed that God said unto him that hee permitted him not to doe miracles But againe the Myracles which this false Prophet mentioned in the Revelation did hee did them before the Beast and in his â—ight and presence Rev. 13.14 Rev. 19.20 that is at Rome and in the view of the Romane State and not amongst Turkes or Sarazens The false Prophet then here mentioned in this Revelation which did these Miracles appeareth to bee such a false Prophet as is among Christians to delude and deceive them and not any such as is amongst the Turkes or other Infidels of the World Now amongst the rest of the miracles which this second Beast that is this false Prophet amongst Christians viz. Antichrist was to doe this is speciallie mentioned that hee made fire come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men Bellarmine and some other Papists would have this to bee understood litterally of materiall fire And yet if they will needes have it so to bee taken it will advantage them nothing For in the Papacie they have made fire come downe from heaven on the earth as even their owne writings doe declare As for example in their Legend for the feast of Corpus Christi to confirme their error of Transubstantiation and the adoration of their consecrated Bread in the Sacrament they report that a Priest carrying the Host to a Sicke man lost it by the way and being perplexed for so great a losse there appeared a Pillar of fire shining like the Sunne from heaven to the earth pointing to the verie place where the Bodie of Christ lay attended with a companie of devout Beastsâ— which falling downe upon their knees adored it Yea Bellarmine alledgeth no lesse then seven miracles for confirmation of this error Likewise to confirme another error of theirs concerning the worship of Saints they alledge sundrie miracles and amongst the rest they fetch fire from heaven for that purpose For of Thomas they say that a burning light descended fower times and kindled the Tapers in honour of that Saint In the Legend of Iacinth and Eugenne they also fetch fire from heaven to consume Melance the false accuser of Eugenne Againe in the Legend of Edward the Martyr there is a Piller of fire brought from heaven to the earth to shew the place of his buriall In the Legend of S. George they also fetch fire from heaven to burne Dacianus who had be headed him In the Legend likewise of S. Barbara they fetch fire from heaven wherewith her Father that persecuted her was consumed In the Legend of S. Martyn they to make him like to the Apostles doe say that the holy Ghost descended upon him in the forme of Fire as it did upon the Apostles But to leave all other errors of Poperie which want no Miracles amongst them to confirme them and to come to this verie point in hand touching this Image of the Beast that is touching the Papall Empire or Emperor-like State erected in the Popes at Rome upon the subversion of the Emperors Was not Pope Hildebrand otherwise called Pope Gregorie the seventh the first that is most famous or rather most infamous for resisting and weakening the Emperor of his time by rebelling and making Warre against him Doth
of the doctrine of faith calleth Pope Gregory the 13 Supremum planè Supremum in terris Numen The supreme verily the supreme god upon earth And Steuchus the Popes Librarie keeper in his Booke of the Donation of Constantine saith that Constantine the Emperor held Pope Silvester for a god â—doravit ut Deum and worshipped him as God And the Councell of Lateran in the 3 and 10 Sessions further telleth you saying The Pope ought to be worshipped of all people and is most like unto God and least you should thinke that he speaketh of a civill kinde of worship it is there told you what manner of worship it is namely that it is with that kinde of worship or adoration that is mentioned in the 72 Psalme Adorabunt eum omnes Reges terrae All the Kings of the earth shall worship him where by worship the highest kinde of worship is meant which is due to the Sonne of God as Tertullian also teacheth in his 5 Booke and 7 Chapter against Marcion Againe Leo the 10 in the Councell of Lateran before cited is called the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah the roote of David the Saviour of Sion And Bellarmine in the Preface of his Book calleth the Pope the Corner-stone a tried stone a precious stone All which bee titles proper and peculiar to the Son of God And in the 25 Cause 1 quaest it is said that to violate his Canons and ordinances is to blaspheme against the holy Ghost which is a sinne not to bee forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Againe he calleth his decrees and Canons by the name of Oracles Now an Oracle signifieth an heavenly answer proceeding from the mouth of God Rom. 3.2 11.4 Sutably whereunto hee saith That his decretal Epistles are to bee numbred amongst the Canonical Scripturs in the 19 distinction in the Canon In Canonicis Againe what can bee more said of God then that which the before cited Councell of Lateran in the 9 and 10 Sessions attributeth to the Pope namely that hee hath all power aboue all Powers both in heaven earth And himselfe speaketh asmuch of himselfe in the first Booke of holy Cerimonies saying thus This Pontifical Sword representeth the Soveraigne temporal power that Christ hath given the Pope his Vicar upon earth as it is written All power is given mee both in heaven and in earth and elsewhere His dominion shall bee from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the earth And Pope Paul the 5. in his holy Register calleth himselfe a Vice-god the Monarch of the Christian world and the upholder of the Papal Omnipotencie So that if the words of S. Paul in 2 Thes. 2. concerning Antichrist had beene as they are not that hee should expresly say and affirme that hee is god you perceive by that which is before spoken how it might have beene verified and withall in what sort and sence it is that the Pope hath the verie name of God given unto him For it appeareth to bee given him in a farre other sense then it is to Kings and Princes and yet in verie deede Kings and Princes and such like Magistrates of the earth and not Bishops bee the men that in Scripture bee called Elohim or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Gods And they are called Gods as Christ himselfe declareth in respect that the word of God was committed to them not as it is to Bishops and Pastors publikely to preach in the Congregations but by their authoritie to establish and promote it to command obedience to it and to punish the violators of it and to countenance and encourage the professors and observers of it For to this end is it committed to their charge and custodie And for this cause are they called Custodes utriusque Tabulae The keepers of the two Tables wherein the Lawes of God were written And for this cause also was it an Institution from God and accordingly an observation in the Church of the Iewes that at the Coronation of a King the Booke of Gods Law should bee delivered unto him When therefore the Bishops of Rome take upon them this title to be called gods they take that which God in his Scriptures doth no where give them but when further they take upon them to be adored as God they doe that which is in them most intolerably blâ—sphemous And when you suppose out of this Text that Antichrist shall call himselfe God you see how much you are mistaken and that the Text affirmeth it not Obiect 7. Yea Antichrist must bee exalted even above God himselfe 2. Thes. 2.4 Ans. How proove you that For in the verie Text it selfe the highest degree and step of the pride and aspiring minde of Antichrist is discribed and set forth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So that hee shall sit in the Temple of God as God shewing himselfe that hee is God Hee doth not say that such shall bee his pride and elation as that he shall sit in the Temple of God aboue God or so shew himselfe as if hee were aboue God but onely that hee doth sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if hee were God The pride of the Divell himselfe is noted to be such as that he would bee onely as God or like the most high but not above Him And when the Divell tempted the first man Adam being in state of Innocencie and Integritie unto pride and ambition it was not to anie such pride or elation as to be above God but to be onely as God knowing good and evill It were therefore strange if the pride of Antichrist should be supposed to exceed or goe beyond the pride of the Divell his Master Yea indeed how can it enter into the conceit of anie creature to thinke it anie way possible for him to be exalted above God his creator when nothing can be conceived or imagined greater nobler or higher then Hee who is God over all blessed for ever But secondly observe that the words be not as you suppose viz. that Antichrist shall be exalted above God but above all or everie one that is called God for the words in the Greeke Text be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super omnem qui dicitur Deus aut Sebasma that is above everie one that is called God and above every one also that is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sebasma .i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est Augustus for so Pausanias interpreteth that word and so is it likewise taken and used in the New Testament it selfe So that the meaning of those words is that the grand Antichrist should be exalted not only above Kings Princes and other Magistrates but even above those also that be Emperors and have an Imperial command and authoritie For it was indeed this Imperial State that was the hinderance or impediment that Antichrist
of the Doctor what the reason might be that where he bringeth in the words of Giraldus Cambrensis touching this place as an authenticall authoritie hee passeth over that part of his relation wherein hee affirmeth that S. Patrick intended by this meanes to bring the rude people to a perswasion of the certaintie of the infernall paines of the reprobate and of the true and everlasting life of the elect after death The Grecians alledge this for one of their arguments against Purgatorie that whereas their Fathers had delivered unto them manie visions and dreames and other vvonders concerning the everlasting punishment wherewith the wicked should be tormented in Hell yet none of them had declared any thing concerning a purgatorie temporarie fire Belike the Doctor was afraid that wee would conclude upon the same ground that S. Patrick was carefull to plant in mens mindes the beleefe of Heaven and Hell but of Purgatory taught them never a word And sure I am that in the book ascribed unto him De tribus habitaculis which is to be seene in his Majesties Librarie there is no mention of anie other place after this life but of these two only I will lay down here the beginning of that treatise and leave it to the iudgement of anie indifferent man whether it can well stand with that which the Romanistes teach concerning Purgatorie at this day There be three habitations under the power of almightie God the first the lowermost and the middle The highest whereof is called the kingdome of God or the kingdome of Heaven the lowermost is termed Hell the middle is named the present World or the circuit of the Earth The extremes whereof are altogether contrary one to another for what fellowship can there be betwixt light and darkenesse betwixt Christ Belial but the middle hath some similitude with the extremes For in this world there is a mixture of the bad and of the good together whereas in the kingdome of God there are none bad but all good but in Hell there are none good but all bad And both those places are supplied out of the middle For of the men of this world some are lifted up to Heaven others are drawne downe to Hell namely like are joyned unto like that is to say good to good and bad to bad just men to just Angells wicked men to wicked Angels the servants of god to God the servants of the divell to the Divell The blessed are called to the kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the world the cursed are driven into the everlasting fire that is prepared for the Divell and his angels Thus farre there Hitherto also may be referred that ancient Canon of one of our Irish Synods wherein it is affirmed that the soule being separated from the bodie is presented before the judgement seat of Christ who rendreth it owne unto it according as it hath done and that neyther the Archangel can leade it unto life untill the Lord hath judged it nor the Divell transport it unto paine unlesse the Lord doe damne it as the sayings of Sedulius likewise that after the end of this life eyther death or life succeedeth and that death is the gate by which wee enter into our kingdome together with that of Claudius that Christ did take upon him our punishment vvithout the guilt that thereby he might loose our guilt and finish also our punishment Cardinall Bellarmine indeed alledgeth here against us the vision of Furseus who rising from the dead told many things which hee saw concerning the paines of purgatory as Bede he saith doth write But by his good leave we will be better advised before we build articles of faith upon such visions and dreames as these manie wherof deserve to have a place among the strange narrations of soules appearing after death collected by Damascius the heathen Idolater rather than among the histories discourses of sober Christians As for this vision of Furseus all that Bede relateth of it to this purpose is concerning certaine great fires above the ayre appointed to examine every one according to the merits of his workes which peradventure may make something for Damascius his Purgatorie in Circulo lacteo for in that circle made he a way for the soules that went to the Hades in heaven and would not have us wonder that there they should be purged by the way but nothing for the Papists Purgatorie which Bellarmine by the common consent of the Schoolemen determineth to be within the bowels of the earth Neyther is there anie thing else in the whole book of the life of Furseus whence Bede borrowed these things that looketh toward Purgatorie unlesse peradventure that speech of the Divell may be thought to give some advantage unto it This man hath not purged his sinnes upon earth neyther doth he receive punishment for them here Where is therefore the justice of God as if Gods justice were not sufficiently satisfied by the sufferings of Christ but man also must needes give futther satisfaction thereunto by penall workes or sufferings either here or in the other world which is the ground upon which our Romanists doe lay the rotten frame of their devised Purgatorie The latter visions of Malachias Tundal Owen and others that lived within these last five hundred yeares come not within the compasse of our present inquirie nor yet the fables that have bene framed in those times touching the lives and actions of elder Saints whereof no wise man will make anie reckoning Such for example is that which we reade in the life of S. Brendan that the question being moved in his hearing Whether the sinnes of the dead could be redeemed by the prayers or almes-deeds of their friends remayning in this life for that was still a question in the Church he is said to have told them that on a certaine night as he sayled in the great Ocean the soule of one Colman who had beene an angry Monke and a sower of discord betwixt brethren appeared unto him who complained of his grievous torments intreated that prayers might be made to God for him and after sixe dayes thankefully acknowledged that by meanes thereof he had gotten into heaven Whereupon it is concluded that the prayer of the living doth profit much the dead But of S. Brendans sea-pilgrimage we have the censure of Molanus a learned Romanist that there be many apocryphall fooleries in it whosoever readeth the same with anie judgement cannot choose but pronounce of it as Photius doth of the strange narrations of Damascius formerly mentioned that it containeth not onely apocryphall but also impossible incredible ill-composed and monstrous fooleries Whereof though the old Legend it selfe were not free as by the heads thereof touched by Glaber Rodulphus and Giraldus Cambrensis may appeare yet for the tale that I recited out of the New Legend of England I can
some have done that the King is therein called Supreme head of the Church they are deceived The words of the Oath at this day to take away all offence that any might conceive in that point being not supreme HEAD but supreme GOVERNOR And as touching this Title of Governor within his owne Dominions none can with anie reason gainesay it inasmuch as beside that which is before spoken King Alfred reigning long sithence was likewise called Omnium Britanniae Insulae Christianorum Rector The Governor of all the Christians vvithin the Isle of Britanny The Councell also held at Mentz in Germanie the yeare 814 in the time of the Emperor Charles the great and Pope Leo the third calleth likewise the Christian Emperor Carolus Augustus Governor of the True Religion and Defendor of the holy Church of God c. And a little after they say thus VVee give thankes to God the Father almighty because he hath granted unto his holy Church a Governor so godly c. In the yeare 847. there was also held another Councel at Mentz in the time of Leo the fourth and Lotharius the Emperor where they againe call the Emperor Verae Religionis strenuissimum rectorem a most puissant Governor of the true Religion The like was ascribed to King Reccesumthius in a Councell held at Emerita in Portugale about the yeare 705 in these words VVhose vigilancie doth governe both secular things vvith very great piety and ecclesiasticall by his vvisedome plentifully given him of God Where you see it expressely acknowledged that the King is a Governor both in causes secular and ecclesiasticall And this Councell of Emerita had also good allowance of Pope Innocent the third in his Epistle to Peter Archbishop of Compostella as Garsias witnesseth So that the Title of Governor even as touching matters ecclesiasticall as well as civill or secular attributed to the King he governing in them after a Regall manner and not in that Ecclesiasticall manner which Bishops and Clergie men use can no way justly be misliked but must in all reason be well approved and allowed Howbeit I grant that King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt had that Title of Head in their times given unto them but not of the universal Church upon earth as the Pope hath but of the Church onely within their owne Dominions and not within their owne Dominions neither in such sort and sense as the Pope taketh upon him to be Head over all the Churches in the world that is to rule and governe them at his own pleasure and as he lift himselfe Indeed Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester when he was in Germanie upon the Kings affaires was there a very ill Interpretor of that Title Supreme head of the Church vvithin his owne Dominions given to King Henry the eight reporting that the King might thereby prescribe and appoint new ordinances in the Church concerning faith and doctrine as namely forbid the marriage of Priests and take away the use of the Cup in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and in things concerning Religion might do what he listed This manner of declaring the Kings power and authoritie under that Title did so much offend the reformed Churches that Calvin and the writers of the Centuries did complaine of it and that iustly and worthily bearing that sense but in no other sort or sense did they dislike it Yea even that Title of Supreme head being rightly understood needed not to have offended anie for they had iâ— in no other sort or sense then the King of Israel likewise had the title of Head of the Tribes of Israel of which Tribes the Leviticall Tribe was one Or then Theodosius that Christian Emperor had the like within his Empire of whom Saint Chrysostome saith that non habet parem super terram He hath no peere or equall upon earth and affirmeth moreover of him that hee was summitas Caput omnium super terram hominum the Head and one that had the Supremacy over all men upon earth Yea by the Title of supreme Head attributed to King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt was no more meant but the verie same that was afterward meant to the late Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie or to King Iames our now Soveraigne Lord under the title of Supreme Governor for that they are both to be taken intended in one the selfe same sense is verie manifest even by a direct clause in an Act of Parliament viz. the Statute of 5. Eliz. cap. 1. in which also is declared how the Oath of Supremacie is to be expounded And the words of that Statute be these Provided also that the Oath viz of Supremacie expressed in the said Act made in the said first yeare of her raigne shall be taken and expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queenes Maiesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Maiesties raigne that is to say to confesse and acknowledge in her Maiestie her heyres and successors none other authoritie then that vvhich vvas challenged and lately used by the noble king Henry the eight and king Edward the sixt as in the said Admonition more plainly may appeare Where first you may observe the Authoritie attributed to King Henry the eight and to King Edward the sixt and to Queene Elizabeth as touching this point intended and declared to be all one And secondly you see it enacted how the Oath of Supremacy is to bee expounded namely that it is to be taken expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Raigne The words of which Admonition therefore as more amply conteyning the explanation of the same Oath I have here thought good to adde for your better and most full satisfaction in this matter The Title whereof is this An Admonition to simple men deceived by the malicious HEr Maiesty forbiddeth all her subiects to give eare or credite to such perverse and malicious persons vvhich most sinisterly and maliciously labour to notifie to her loving subiects how by the vvordes of the Oath of Supremacy it may be collected that the Kings or Queenes of this Realme possessioners of the Crowne may challenge authoritie and power of Ministery of Divine offices in the Church vvherein her said subiects be much abused by such evill disposed persons for certainly her Maiestie neyther doth nor ever vvill challenge any other authority then that vvhich vvas of ancient time due to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme that is to say under God to have the Soveraignety and rule over all maner of Persons borne vvithin these her Maiesties Dominions and Countries of vvhat estate eyther Ecclesiasticall or Temporall soever they be So as no forraine Power shall or ought to have any superioritie over them And if any person that hath conceived any other sense of the
herein giveth us an excellent rule saying Si quem videritis dicentem spiritum sanctum habeo non loquentem evangelica sed propria is à seipso loquitur non est spiritus sanctus in ipso If saith hee yee shall see anie man that saith I have the holy Ghost and doth not speake things agreeable to the Gospel but his owne that man speaketh of himselfe and the holy Ghost is not in him And againe he saith Si quis eorum qui dicuntur habere spiritum dicat aliquid de seipso non ex Evangelio ne credite If anie of them which are said to have the spirit speake anie thing of himselfe and not forth of the Gospel beleeve him not So that it still appeareth that the Gospel of Christ and divine Scriptures is the thing whereby men are to trie and examine all spirits and their doctrines and decrees and to determine who they be that speake and decree by the guidance and direction of the holy Ghost and who not And therefore doth S. Augustine also take it that no man is absolutely bound by the authoritie of Councels though they be generall for thus hee saith to one that obiected a generall Councell against him Neyther ought I to alledge the Councell of Nice nor thou the Councell of Arimine as thereby to preiudicate one another for neyther am I bound by the authoritie of this or thou of that but let matter vvith matter cause vvith cause and reason vvith reason make the Tryall by the authoritie of Scriptures not proper vvitnesses to any of us but indifferent to us both And concerning the Pope that he may erre as well as anie other Bishop in matter of Faith beside that which is before spoken it further appeareth even by Gratian himselfe dist 40. where it is taken for granted that the Pope may be à fide Devius a goer out of the way of faith Lyra affirmeth expresly that manie Popes have beene found Apostotasse à Fide To have been Apostotates or departers from the faith The Councell of Constance calleth Pope Benedict a Schismaticke and an Hereticke and a departer from the faith The like is said of Pope Iohn the 23. Catharinus saith directly Nihil prohibet Papam errare etiam in fide deficere etiamsi quidam novitij Scriptores ausi sint oppositum defendere praeter communem sensum Doctorum Nothing withstandeth but that the Pope may erre even in faith and faile albeit some late writers have dared to defend the contrarie against the common opinion of the Doctors And so likewise testifieth Alphonsus de Castro Papam posse in ijs quae ad fidem spectant errare immo aliquos Pontifices summos errasse in fide compertum est That the Pope may erre even in matters of faith yea it is found saith he that some Popes have erred in faith And againe he saith Omnis homo errare in fide potest etiamsi Papa sit Nam de Liberio Papa refert Platina eum sensâ—sse cum Arrianis Everie man may erre in point of faith though hee be a Pope For of Pope Liberius Platina reporteth that he held the Arrian heresie Yea Panormitan saith that a Councell may depose the Pope for Heresie ut in cap Si Papa dist 40. where it is likewise said That the Pope may be an Hereticke and iudged of Heresie Yea In concernentibus fidem etiam dictum unius privati esset praeferendum dicto Papae si ille moveretur melioribus Authoritatibus novi veteris Testamenti quam Papa In things concerning faith saith hee the saying even of one private man is to be preferred before the saying of the Pope if he be moved by better authoritie of the old and new Testament then the Pope It is therefore evident that neither the Pope by himselfe nor yet ioined in Councel with others is or can be held to be an unerrable or infallible Iudge in this case What then Would anie have the old Doctors and ancient Fathers to be this Iudge But they also may erre and doe sometimes taxe one another for errors Yea themselves as before is shewed doe humbly and reverently submit all their doctrines positions and opinions to the judgement of the Canonicall Scriptures not desiring to be further credited or beleeved then there is warrant for what they speake or write within those sacred writings Whereby they sufficiently give us to understand that God onely speaking in these his Scriptures is to be held for the only Infallible Iudge for the determining and deciding of every controversie in Religion Ista controversia Iudicem inquirit Iudicet ergo Christus This controversie enquireth after a Iudge Let Christ then be Iudge saith S. Augustine Iudicet cum illo Apostolus quia in Apostolo ipse loquitur Christus Let also saith hee the Apostle iudge with him because in the Apostle Christ himselfe speaketh And againe he saith Sedeat inter nos Iudex Apostolus Iohannes Let the Apostle Iohn sit Iudge betweene us In like sort speaketh Optatus Quaerendi sunt Iudices In terris de hac re nullum poterit reperiri Iudicium de coelo quaerendus est Iudex sed ut quid pulsamus ad coelum cum habeamus hic in Evangelio Testamentum c. Iudges are to be sought for In earth saith hee none can be found for this matter from heaven therefore is the Iudge to be sought but vvhy doe vve knocke at heaven vvhen we have here upon earth a Testament in the Gospel An earthly father vvhen he feeleth himselfe neere death fearing lest after his death the brethren breaking peace should fall at variance calling witnesses unto him out of his breast ready to dye putteth his vvill into a vvritten Testament that shall long continue And if variance grow amongst the brethren they goe not to the grave but the Testament or last vvill is demanded and hee which resteth in the grave speaketh out of that his speechlesse Testament vvith a lively voyce viz. that voice which he uttered whilst he lived He vvhose Testament it is is in heaven therefore as in a Testament so in the Gospel let his will be enquired To the same effect S. Augustine saith VVho is he that knoweth not that the Canonicall Scripture is so conteyned vvithin his certaine bounds of the old and new Testament and is so to be preferred before all other vvritings of Bishops that a man may not at all either doubt or dispute vvhether any thing be right or true that he is sure is vvritten in it but the vvritings of all other Bishops which eyther are or hereafter shall be vvritten beside the Canonicall Scriptures alreadie confirmed may be reproved eyther by more grave authority of other Bishops or learned men or by the vvords of any man that is better seene in the matter Again he saith thus Gather not my Brother against so many so cleere and so undoubted testimonies of
Hebrew text wee may as well say unto you that the Latin Hereticks have corrupted the Latin text and so by such kind of reasoning no Scripture should be found pure sound and sincere But thankes be to God who so preserved them the Scriptures in their originals remained pure amongst the Iewes unto the verie time of Christ and were not corrupted by anie of those Hebrew Heretickes as some Papists affirme of them for otherwise it had beene in vaine for Esay or anie other of the Prophets of God to bid the people goe for their assured direction To the Law and to the Testimony or for Christ himselfe to bid the people as hee did To search the Scriptures for their assured guidance in the truth Yea S. Peter would then never have said as he did VVee have a most sure vvord of the Prophets to the vvhich yee doe vvell that yee take heed as to a Light that shineth in a darke place For if it had beene corrupted and falsified it had not beene a sure vvord to trust unto Arias Montanus himselfe affirmeth and maintaineth the puritie and incorruption of the Hebrew originals saying further that there was no word nor letter nor point but it was reserved in that Treasory which they call Mazzoreth and therefore hee calleth that Treasorie fidam custodiam a faithfull or sure keeper of them Iohn Isaac likewise and Franciscus Lucas Burgensis as well as Arias Montanus doe also uphold maintaine and defend even unto their times the puritie and incorruption of those Hebrew Originals alwaies preferring them before all Latin Translations whatsoever And must it not needs bee so when as Christ Iesus himselfe saith that Till heaven and earth perish one Iot or one Tittle of the Law shall not perish till all things be fulfilled Yea what doth Christ Iesus else but further shew the puritie and incorruption of the Hebrew originals unto his time when it is written of him thus that He began at Moses and at all the Prophets and interpreted unto them in all the Scriptures the things that vvere vvritten of him And when againe after his resurrection likewise hee saith in the same Chapter thus These are the words that I spake unto you whilst I was yet with you that all must be fulfilled which are vvritten of me in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes Yea the originals in the old Testament be and remaine pure and incorrupt to this day and so doe also the originals of the new Testament insomuch that S. Hierome as in one place he derideth them which said the Hebrew books were falsified so doth he in another place pronounce them to be impudent and foolish people that affirme the same of the Greeke originals For thus he writeth unto one Tibi stultissime persuasisti Graecos codices esse falsaâ—os Thou hast most foolishly perswaded thy selfe that the Greeke bookes bee falsified And againe he saith Tu mira impudentia haec in Graecis cod cibus falsata esse dicis Thou with vvonderfull impudency affirmest that thâ—se thinâ—s be falsâ—fied in the Greeke Bookes And as this was the error of Helvidius against whom S. Hierome writeth so was it also the error of the Manichees against whom S. Augustine writeth And is it not now gâ—owne to bee the error or heresie of Papists But what reason have you to preferre that Latine Translation which yee call Saint Hieromes before the Originals of the Hebrew and Greeke For first yâ—e cannot proove that Translation to bee S. Hieroms which yee so boldly affirme to be his And secondly what likelihood is there it should be his considering that in divers and sundrie places S. Hierome readeth otherwise then that Translation is yea sometimes he findeth fault with that Translation and reproveth it as for example the word â—say that is found in that translation in Marke the 1. verse 2. he thinketh to bee added by the negligence of the Librarie keepers and vpon Math. 6 he correcteth the word exterminant which neverthelesse is also in that vulgar translation And divers other such faults S. Hierome espieth and findeth in that which you call his Translation wherefore there is no likelihood it should be his And that it is not S. Hieroms translation may further appeare by the discourse which Munster hath set upon it Yea Erasmus also doth flatly affirme that this translation is neither Cyprians nor Hillaries nor Augustines nor yet Hieroms seeing his reading is divers from it and that it is much lesse that which he corrected seeing there be found in this things that hee condemneth not onely as touching the words but as touching the sence also But admit it were S. Hieroms translation whereof neverthelesse there is no likelihood yet thereupon it followeth not that therefore it is to be preferred before the originals of the Greeke and Hebrew For as there were manie translations in S. Hieroms time which were not so well liked so even of that translation which S. Hierome himselfe made and was the Author of himselfe speaketh thus I doe not thinke saith he that the Lords words are to be corrected but I goe about to correct the falsenesse of the Latin bookes which is plainly proved by the diversitie of them and to bring them to the originall of the Greeke from which they doe not denie but they were translated who if they mislike the water of the most pure fountaine they may drinke of the myrie puddles And againe he saith That as the bookes of the old Testament are to be examined by the Hebrew so the bookes of the new Testament require the triall of the Greeke And in divers other places he likewise preferreth the originals of the Hebrew and Greeke before all Latine translations whatsoever And to this effect doth Gratian also cite a sentence as â—f it were S. Augustines And indeede S. Augustine speaketh to that very purpose saying directly that VVee ought rather to beleeve that tongue from which it is by Interpretors translated into another And Lodovicus Vives also upon this place declareth the same And agreeably hereunto speaketh also S. Ambrose saying expresly That the authority of the Greeke bookes is to be preferred Bee not those men then much deluded which contrarie to the direction and iudgement of the old Church and ancient fathers and also of all right reason doe preferre that Latin translation before the originals of the Greeke and Hebrew Yea even Lyndanus a popish Bishop writeth of that latin translation that it hath manie and sundrie corruptions in it and therefore it cannot be the best and safest way to trust unto it 6 But when they must needs yeeld if they will be reasonable to the preferring of the originals of the Hebrew and Greeke before all latine translations yea and before all translations whatsoever Then they fall to another course accusing our English translations to be false and untrue and not
the Church of the Gentiles to continue untill the second comming of Christ. It is true that the Church of Christ shall never bee extinguished But is there anie such promise that the Church of Christ shall never be hidden For persecutions even of the Christian Church have sometimes beene so great and cruell as that the Christians by reason thereof have beene enforced to lye hid and to be unseene and unknowne to the wicked world as in the daies of Dioclesian and Maximian persecuting Emperors who impiously boasted that they had utterly abolished the superstition of Christ and name of Christians The like divelish boasting also made Nero in his time Yea it is indeed expresly foretold in the Scriptures that such should be the state of the church sometime as that shee should be enforced to flie into the desert or wildernesse where shee should have a place prepared of God to cherish hide and keepe her from all her persecutors And therefore the church is not alwaies conspicuous and openly shining and shewing her selfe to the malignant world Neither doth that Text which yee alledge of Dic Ecclesiae tell it to the Church prove the church to bee alwaies openly conspicuous to the ungodly world It onely sheweth an order of Ecclesiasticall discipline for sinnes and offences how they should be proceeded in amongst brethren and such as professe one and the selfe same religion of Christ which order of discipline may well be observed even in a Christian church and among themselves though the wicked world neither see them nor the exercises of their religion nor know where they are But you say that if they make profession of their faith and religion as all Christians ought then the world cannot choose but take notice of them It is true that they are to make profession of their faith with their Mouth when cause so requireth aswell as to beleeve with their heart yea and to answer everie one in authoritie before whom they shall be convented and called and that with mildenesse and reverence concerning the same their faith and hope as S. Peter declareth But it doth not continually evermore so fal out that Christians be brought before Kings Princes and Magistrates of the earth to be examined and to make answer of their faith but at sometimes it so falleth out and at some other times againe it sufficeth that they make profession of their faith among themselves Neither were it indeed safe or a pointe of christian wisdome in them whom Christ willeth To bee as wise as Serpents though as innocent as Doves and to whom hee giveth an expresse caveat to take heede of men rashly or unadvisedly or without good and urgent cause to manifest and lay open themselves unto the view rage and furie of the malicious and persecuting world But you alledge further that Christ said to his Disciples Yee are rhe light of the world A Cittie that is set on a hill cannot be hid Neither doe men light a candle and put it under a Bushell but on a candlesticke and it giveth light to all that are in the house But none of these words doe proove the Church to be alwaies and evermore apparant to the eies of the wicked world though sometimes it bee For first though it be called the Light of the world yet thereupon it followeth not that therefore it is alwaies and at all times to bee seene Inasmuch as the Sunne and the Moone which be the great lights of the World and so appointed of GOD in the begining be not alwaies brightshining and appearing unto us but are sometimes unseene and covered with clouds and darkened and suffer strang Eclipses And therefore doth S. Augustine compare the Church to the Moone which is often obscured and hid yea he acknowledgeth that the Church may be so hid and secret as that the very members therof shal not know one another And whereas ye further alledge that it is like a Citty set upon a hill neither doth it thereupon follow that it is alwayes to be seene For in a great Mist or a darke night an Hill or Mountaine be it never so great will not be seene So if men be stricken with blindnesse it cannot be seene of them as the Aramites were that could not see the mountaine that was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha nor knew that they were in the midst of Samaria till God opened their eies Likewise though a Candle be set on a Candlesticke and giveth light to all that are in that house yet neither doth it give light to them that be in another house nor to anie that be blinde or shut their eies against it And yet the candle-light it selfe also will somtimes be much dimmed darkned with sundrie occurrents accidents that doe befall it When therfore the world either by reason of their own blindnesse or by reason of fierce and terrible persecutions or by reason of clowdie smoakie and mistie errors raised up bee not able to see and discerne the Church of Christ Is that anie iust cause for anie to quarrell against her as if therefore she had no being at all Yea when the fift Angell blew the Trumpet and the Bishop of Rome being in that time as a Starre fallen from heaven to the earth had no longer the keies of heaven in his custodie but the keies of hell even of the bottomlesse pit and that the smoake of the pit arose as the smoake of a great furnace so that the Sunne and the ayre were darkened by reason of the smoake Is it anie marvaile that the Church was then obscured Your selves doe grant that in the daies and times of the grand Antichrist foretold by S. Paule the church should lye obscured and be hidden And wee say and proove vnto you that those daies and times be come long since and therefore this ought not to seeme anie new or strange thing unto anie in these dayes Yea in the Revelation of S. Iohn you further reade that the Temple of God that is his Church which is there said to be in heaven because from thence she is descended and hath her minde treasure and affection there with Christ her head Phil. 3.20 Coloss. 3.1.2 was sometime shut and sometime opened For in that it is there said sometime to be opened therein is included that it was at other sometimes shut and closed and not open to the view of the world So that the Church of God is not alwaies openly and splendently seene to the persecuting World but is sometimes patent and sometimes latent as I trust you now sufficiently perceive and withall I trust you perceive that the Church was then in esse and had a continuance even when it was most latent For unlesse they even then had been in esse and in being they could not have beene à latent oppressed or persecuted Church Now as touching unitie I must tell you
yee First it is well knowne that S. Peter was a contemner of the pompe and pride of the world and a disregarder of the wealth riches thereof insomuch that hee said to one that asked almes of him that he had neither silver nor gold but the Pope of Rome is not so but contrariwise hath the pompe pride glorie and riches of the world in verie high and chiefe esteeme and aboundeth with them Againe Peter was subiect to Emperors Kings and Princes and taught all Christians to be likewise subiect to them but the Pope is so far from being subiect to them that contrariwise hee claimeth soveraignetie and supremacie over them all and taketh upon him to depose Kings Princes and Emperors at his pleasure and to disannull and dissolve the allegeance of subiects when and as often as he listeth Peter would not allow Cornelius though but a Captaine of the Italian band to fall downe at his feete but bad him arise but the Pope of Rome doth well allow not only Captaines but Kings Princes and Emperors to fall downe and kisse his feet Yea hee hath not beene ashamed with his feete to tread upon the necke of some of the Emperors Peter was a godly earnest and diligent Preacher of the Gospel in his owne person according to that commandement of Christ so often repeated saying unto him Pasce Pasce Pasce feed my lambes feed my sheepe feed my sheepe But the Pope of Rome like an idle pompous and slothfull man in his owne person seldome or never Preacheth Peter was content and well endured to be reproved at the hands of S. Paul when there was cause He also patiently suffered himselfe to be accused and contended against by certaine Christians and mildely and modestly answered to those their exceptions against him for their satisfaction But the Pope of Rome though he be never so worthie of reproofe will neverthelesse not suffer himselfe to be reproved nor accused or contended against nor will have his doings examined questioned censured or iudged by anie men such is his unmeasurable pride and unmatchable loftinesse Againe S. Peter did acknowledge S. Paul S. Matthew S. Andrew S. Iames and the rest of the twelve to be Apostles aswell as himselfe albeit they had no ordination or calling to that their Office of Apostleship from him for that they all had an immediate calling to that their Apostleship from Christ Iesus himselfe and not from Peter is a thing undeniably manifest But the Pope contrariwise acknowledgeth none to be a Bishop except he be ordeyned and made a Bishop by him or by his authoritie Moreover they were accounted and held to be Presbyters and Ministers of the Church which were made and ordeyned by other Apostles though they were not made or ordeined by Peter nor by anie authoritie derived from him But the Pope of Rome acknowledgeth none to be Presbyters or Ministers of the Church which be made by other Bishops except they be made and ordeined by him or by authoritie originally derived from him Yea S. Peter did acknowledge the rest of the Apostles to be his fellowes or Equals as well knowing that Christ Iesus himselfe did directly forbid them to beare Princely authoritie one over another insomuch that Peter aswell as Iohn was content to bee sent by the rest of the Apostles into Samaria and did goe thither at their sending But the Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth not other Bishops to be his fellowes or Equalls nor will be content to be sent as their Messenger to anie place but most proudly challengeth a Princely Primacie and king-like superioritie over them all If the Pope will needes be Peters successor it were reason and a thing equall and iust that he should claime no more authoritie over other Bishops then Peter had over the rest of the Apostles yea if hee will make Peter his patterne and president to follow as it were a happie thing for him if he were in verie deed so wel affected he must then utterly give over his triple Crowne and all his Papal worldly pompe and pride and be cleane reformed and become altogether another man in all respects wherein he is so exceedingly degenerated and unlike unto him And then together with the relinquishing of his most proud Popedome he must also forsake renounce and detest his Poperie and Popish Religion for S. Peter cleerely was such a one as we call a Protestant that is to say one that both held and taught that Religion that wee hold namely that which is conteined in the Booke of GOD the sacred and canonicall Scriptures Yea S. Peter died a Martyr for the testimonie of this faith and religion and the Pope of Rome is contrariwise a persecutor of those that professe this faith and religion For that the Papists be the cleere and undoubted persecutors of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus is afterward manifested by a direct and most evident testimonie thereof in the Revelation of S. Iohn to the end ye should not hereafter bee mistaken in that point as usually yee be nor deceive your selves anie longer therein Furthermore S. Peter was content and held it honour enough to be a member of the bodie of Christ which is his Church acknowledging with S. Paul and the rest of the Apostles that Christ onely was and is the head therof But the Pope of Rome is not content unlesse he intrude himselfe into this his verie royal prerogative taking upon him to be the verie head of the whole militant church We know that the Church of Christ is but one body as the Scripture speaketh and witnesseth though there be manie members of it and one bodie is to have but one head why then or by what right or reason doe they make this bodie of Christ which is his Church to have two heads namely one in heaven which is Christ Iesus another on earth which they say is the Pope They confesse that of the Church in heaven which is to us invisible Christ is indeed the head but of the visible Church on earth the Pope say they is the head and that such a visible head for the visible church is requisite and necessarie And here they have a distinction that Christ is indeed Caput vitale the vital head from whence all his members have and derive their life but that the Pope is Caput ministeriale visibile the ministeriall and visible head And thus they boldly speake frame and devise matters and distinctions according to the fancie of their owne braines But first what Patent conveyance warrant or commission from God can the Pope of Rome shew whereby he is thus authorized to be either Christ his special or onely Vicar Deputie or Lievetenant over his whole universall church here upon earth or to be this speciall and onely visible and ministeriall head Iust none at all doe they or can they shew for it And is it
anie righteousnesse of our owne or inherent in our owne persons but by that immaculate and spotlesse righteousnesse of his imputed unto us So that In him it is as this Text most plainlie sheweth and not in our selves that wee are deemed righteous in Gods sight Yea here consider further what righteousnesse also it is that God approveth and will have to stand for the Iustification of sinfull men in his sight for it must be a righteousnesse transcendent and going farre beyond the righteousnesse of anie sinfull creatures namelie it must be that which S. Paul here calleth the righteousnesse of God that is a most pure perfect and complete righteousness wherein must not be anie the least spot speck or staine to be found as S. Chrysostome also declareth Which kind of most pure and spotlesse righteousnesse because no other man hath but Iesus Christ only the second Adam who is both God and Man therefore in his person only and not in ours it is to be both sought and found For which cause also it is that the Church and people of God considered not in themselves but in Christ are by the Apostle S. Paul said to have not so much as a spot or vvrinckle or any such thing in them Well therefore doth S. Augustine make this double observation upon this Text of 2. Cor. 5.21 saying Videâ—e duo Iustitiam Dei non nostram In ipso non in nobis Behold and consider two things saith he first That vvee are made the righteousnesse of God and not our owne righteousnes and secondly In him and not in our selves The same observation likewise giveth S. Hierome upon the same Text saying Christus pro peccatis nostris oblatus peccati nomen accepit ut nos efficeremuâ— Iustitia Dei in ipso non nostra nec in nobis Christ being offered for our sinnes tooke the name of sinne that vve might be made the righteousnesse of God in him not our owne righteousnesse nor in us And therefore doth S. Paul againe not onlie for himselfe but in the behalfe of other Christians also speake in this sort even after faith and grace received VVe vvhich are Iewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles doe know that a man is not Iustified by the vvorkes of the Law but by the faith of Iesus Christ even vve I say have beleeved in Iesus Christ that vvee might be Iustified by the faith of Christ and not by the vvorkes of the Law because that by the works of the Law no flesh shall be iustified Be not these wordes verie direct for this purpose shewing that even those that be Christians and beleevers in Christ doe neverthelesse expect Iustification by Faith in Christ and not by the Workes of the Law Yea what man ever yet Christ Iesus onely excepted did fully and perfectlie keepe the whole Law and commandements of God in his owne person For which cause it is that none can be Iustified in Gods sight by anie works or observance of the Law which he by and in his owne person can doe or performe If theâ—e had beene a Law given vvhich could have given life then indeed righteousnes should have beene by the Law as S. Paul affirmeth But the Scripture saith he hath concluded all under sinne that the promâ—se by the faith of Iâ—sus Christ should be given to them that beleeve In which words you see he sheweth it verie significantlie to be a thing Impossible for anie that be but meere men to keep the Law of God in that full measure and perfection which the Law reâ—uireth and therefore that they must seeke to be Iustified in Gods sight and to have eternall life another way namelie by Faith in Iesus Christ. Againe he saith thus Be it knowne unto you men and Brethren thâ—t through this man Iesus is preached unto you the forgivenes of sinnes and by him every one that beleeveth is Iustified from all those things from vvhich yee could not be Iustified bâ— the Law of Moses Here also observe that hee saith they could not be Iustified by the Law as noting it likewise to bee a thing Impossible But hee speaketh yet further saying That vvhich vvas Impossible to the Law inasmuch as it vvas vveake because of the flesh God sent his owne Sonne in â—he similitude of sinfull flesh for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh thâ—t the righteousaesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us vvhich vvalke not after the flesh but after the spirit Where you may againe perceive that he teacheth it constantly expresly to be a thing impossible by reason of the vveakenesse that is in all flesh for the most godly person upon earth being but a meere man fullie exactly to keepe and performe the law and that therefore the Son of God Christ Iesus himselfe was sent into the world and became Man for our sakes that so the righteousnesse of the Law which hee in his humane nature in all points and perfection fully performed might by our faith apprehending and applying it bee made ours and so be fulfilled in us namelie by imputation and application and not by anie inherent and actual performance of it by in our owne persons for this he before affirmed to be impossible And this also do the ancient Fathers themselves affirme and teach S. Ambrose saith That the commandements of God bee so great vt impossibile sit servare ea as that it is impossible to keep them S. Chrysostome speaking of the Law and performance of it saith Id vero nemini possibile est That it is possâ—ble to no man S. Hierome saith That no man can performe the Lavv S. Bernard saith that God commanding things impossible made not men transgressors but made them thereby humble Yea it was the heresie of the Pelagians as S. Hierome sheweth ad Clesiphontem to hold as the Papists also hold that Mandata dei sunt possibilia The Commaundements of God are possible And they went about to prove it as the Papists likewise doe by these Texts viz. My yoake is easie and my burthen light in Mat. 11.30 And his commandements be not burdenous in 1. Ioh. 5.3 wheras they did not rightly understand those speeches no more then the Papists their followers doe For it is true that none of the commandements of God be grievous heavie or burthensome to a regenerate godly and sanctified minde which is ever desirous endeavoring and delighting to keepe them and to walke in the obedience of them though hee shall never be able during this mortall life fully and perfectly to keepe and performe them And therefore thus saith S. Hierome to the Pelagian and we also say the same to the Papists â—acilia dicis dei mandata tamen nullum proferre potes qui universa compleverit Thou saist the commandements of God be easie and yet thou canst bring forth none that hath kept them all Againe he saith Tunc ergo iusti sumus quando
faith And thus himselfe being otherwise dead did live or had life in him namely by faith in the Sonne of God and not by the workes of the law Yea he further excludeth even the workes of righteousnes in expresse termes saying thus Not by the vvorkes of righteousnesse vvhich vve have done but according to his mercie he hath saved us Observe that he here directlie affirmeth of himselfe of all the rest that shall be saved that they are saved not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by vvorkes done by them in righteousnes but of Gods meere mercie and grace through Christ Iesus And againe observe that speaking not to unbeleevers but to beleevers Saints and sanctified people living in Ephesus he saith thus By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of vvorkes lest anie man should glorie for vvee are his vvorkemanship created in Christ Iesus unto good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them Heere also you see infalliblie that workes though done by such as be sanctified and regenerate persons be neverthelesse excluded from being anie cause of their salvation yea by the verie words themselves of the text you perceive that he speaketh expresly and by name of good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them denying them neverthelesse to be anie cause of salvation But here why doe they speake of anie good workes done by Infidels or before faith received For to speake properlie and truely none doe or can doe good workes so allowed to be in Gods censure but beleeving persons onely inasmuch as the best workes of Infidels and before a man hath received faith be not allowed for good in Gods sight but bee as S. Augustine affirmeth of them Splendida peccata Glittering sinnes Howbeit here remember that although those which be Saints upon earth that is which bee regenerate and sanctified people be thus expresly affirmed to be saved by their faith and not by their good workes yet have they neverthelesse these good workes appointed for them to walke in so long as they live in this world for so this text to the Ephesians directlie sheweth to the end their faith should not be idle but working through love as S. Paul speaketh in another place and that so it might appeare to bee not a vaine and a dead faith but a sound and a lively faith and such as will save a man as S. Iames and the rest of the Scriptures have also before declared Yea this point even Christ Iesus also himselfe by his last Iudgement in the end of the world doth declare namely that the iustifying and saving faith is not voide of good workes but furnished with them and yet that Gods people doe not relye upon them For thus will hee say to his faithfull and elect ones Come ye blessed of my father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the vvorld for I vvas hungrie and yee gave me meate I was thirstie and yee gave me drinke I was a stranger and yee tooke mee in naked and ye clothed mee I vvas sicke and yee visited mee I vvas in prison and yee came unto me But now observe that although these elect and righteous persons had these good workes yet doe not they so much as take notice of them much lesse stand upon the merite of them and therefore doe they answer and say Lord when savv vvee thee hungrie and fed thee or thirstie and gave thee drinke vvhen saw vvee thee a stranger and tooke thee in or naked and clothed thee sicke or in prison and came unto thee Reade further the rest of the Chapter to the end of it And by all of it considered together ye may verie easilie perceive first that they bee not the elect and righteous people but the reprobates that stand upon their workes obiect their workes to plead for them And secondlie that Christ their Lord taketh notice of the good works of the elect although themselves take no notice of them nor doe so much as once mention or alledge them Where Christ by alledging their good works would have the world also to take notice and to be advertised that it was not a vaine idle or dead faith but a iustifying and saving faith which these men had For their good workes be there mentioned as testimonies fruites and declarations of their faith and as being Via regni non causa regnandi The vvay vvherein they walked toward this kingdome but not as being the cause of their enioying of that kingdome as S. Bernard also himselfe hath before taught affirmed Yea in verie deede the primarie and original cause of their enioying of that most happie kingdome is there delivered in the former words where Christ calleth them the Blessed of his father and telleth them moreover directlie that they are to possesse this kingdom not by anie purchase or desert of their owne but by way of Inheritance for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Inherite yee or possesse yee it by waie of Inheritance And further he there telleth them that this kingdom was prepared for them long before they were borne or had done anie good workes at all namelie even from the foundation of the world So that this glorious and heavenlie kingdome is given them of Gods meere bountie and grace and is unto them a Revvard according to their vvorkes as the Scripture speaketh but not for their workes as though their workes deserved it or were the meritorious cause of their salvation Yea it is a reward of grace and favour and not of debt or due desert as S. Paul hath also before testified and a revvard of Inheritance as the same S. Paul againe expresly affirmeth it In vaine therefore also is that your distinction of the first Iustification which you make to be by faith without vvorkes and of the second Iustification which you say is by workes and by living an holie and godlie life for the Scriptures speake but of one Iustification in Gods sight availeable to salvation As for that which you call the second Iustification consisting in doing good workes and in holinesse of life and conversation it is as I said before more properlie and rightly to be tearmed as the Scripture calleth it Sanctification it being an effect declaration fruite and consequent of that Iustification we have before by faith as S. Iames and S. Paul and the rest of the Scriptures doe manifestly teach CHAP. V. That Christ is our onely and all-sufficient Redeemer and hath fully satisfied Gods Iustice for our sinnes and the punishment thereto belonging against mens merits and satisfactions in that behalfe and against Popish Purgatorie And that there is no licentiousnesse in this doctrine but the cleane contrary BVt they further accuse our Religion to be licentious because relying wholly upon Christ our
by his appointment belong to anie but to the elect It is true neverthelesse that God ordereth disposeth and useth as lawfully hee may all mens sinnes to serve his owne glorie and good pleasure And herein is his power and wisedome highly to be admired who can thus one of the sinnes of men and Divels draw matter serving for his owne glorie as likewise most admirably he made the light to shine forth out of darkenesse How great glorie did God get to himselfe by that proude and mightie King Pharao whose heart was so much and so long hardened against the people of God Insomuch that himselfe saith thus of him For this cause have I appointed thee to shew my power in thee and to declare my Name throughout all the vvorld Exod. 9.16 Rom. 9.17 In like sort may it be said that for this cause God hath appointed Divels and reprobate men to shew his glorie by their destruction and in the meane time to use their wickednesse to serve his owne ordinance Sometimes therefore as the Schoolemen themselves doe also say Deus vult peccatum nâ—n quatenus est peccatum sed quatenus est poena peccati God vvill have sinne to be done by men not simply for the sinnes sake but as it is to be a punishment for another sinne formerly committed Which point namely that God will sometime have one sinne punished with another is verie evident for God punished the Adulterie of King David with another like sinne of Absolon his sonne who lay openly with his fathers Concubines and in the sight of Israel And the Text witnesseth that God himselfe would raise up this Evill against King David for David did this wickednesse secretly but I saith God vvill do this thing before all Israel and before the Sunne In which Act of Absolon therefore it is apparant that God had to do though not simply for the sinne sake yet so farre forth as it served for a requitall or punishment of the sinne and adulterie committed formerly by King David with Vriahs wife S. Paul saith likewise that the Gentiles when they knew God by the creation of heaven and of earth of all the things which they saw visibly before their eyes yet they glorified him not as God neyther vvere thankefull but became vaine in their Imaginations and their foolish heart vvas darkened vvhen they professed themselves to be vvise they became fooles for they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the Image of a corruptible man and of birds and foure-footed beasts and of creeping things VVherefore God gave them up to their owne hearts lusts unto uncleanenesse to defile their owne bodies betweene themselves And he further saith For this cause God gave them up to vile affections for even their vvomen did change the naturall use into that vvhich is against nature and likewise also the men left the naturall use of the vvomen and burned in their lust one toward another and man vvith man vvrought filthinesse and received in themselves such recompence of their error as vvas meete For as they regarded not to acknowledge God even so God delivered them up into a reprobate minde to doe those things vvhich are not convenient being full of all unrighteousnesse fornication vvickednes covetousnes maliciousnes full of Envie of Murder of Debate of Deceipt c. Where you plainly perceive how even amongst the Gentiles their not glorifying of the Creator of heaven earth as God according to such knowledge of him as by the creation of all things they had received was punished by divers and sundrie other sinnes into which they fell and wherin God himselfe had an hand so farre forth as they served for recompences requitals or punishments for former sinnes committed for it is said in the Text For this cause God gave them up to their owne hearts lusts c. And againe For this cause God gave them up to vile affections c. And againe As they regarded not to acknowledge God so God delivered them up into a reprobate mind to doe thâ—se things vvhich are not convenient c. In like sort it is said of some living in the daies of Antichrist that because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God sent them strong Delusion that they should beleeve lyes that they all might be damned vvhich beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Where you see againe that he punisheth one sinne with another in that he will have them to have this strong delusion to beleeve lies and false doctrines For it is expressely said that God sent this strong delusion upon them namely as a punishment as it is indeed a most iust and grievous one for their contempt of his Gospel neglect of his word and truth Sometimes againe God permitteth a sinne to be done for the triall proofe of his own servants and children as was the sinne of the Shabaeans and Chaldaeans in the violent taking away of Iobs goods for the further triall and proofe of Iobs faith vertue and patience and as is the sinne of persecution of Gods servants for their better triall and proofe likewise for so S. Peter declareth withall sheweth that Ita vult Dei voluntas Gods vvill vvill have it so And sometimes againe God permitteth sinnes to be done and multiplied by men thereby to heape up to themselves wrath against the day of vvrath and against the day of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God and thereby to procure to themselves the greater damnation as the Scriptures speake and thus 〈◊〉 all Reprobates commit their sinnes But sometime againe did God permit a sinne to the end there might be a way made and opened for declaration both of his Iustice and Mercie toward mankinde and thus he permitted the sinne and fall of Adam our first father For if Adam had not sinned but had alwaies remained in his estate of puritie and innocencie wherein he was created neither could Gods mercie towards anie nor yet his iustice towards anie have appeared in the race of mankinde inasmuch as where no sinne noâ— sinner is there can be no condemnation for sinne in iustice neither can anie mercie be shewed or exercised but towards the miserable and such as sâ—and in neede of it and have transgressed Although therefore God made Adam good in the creation of him yet hee made him mutably good that is in such an estate as that he might possibly fall For which cause he gave him free-vvill either to stand or to fall at his owne election So that there was in him a possibility to fall as also a possibility to have stood if he had would but the Divel tempting him and he yeelding and consenting to the temptation he then fell thorough his owne default as appeareth Wherupon S. Augustine saith that Homo libero arbâ—trio malè usâ—â— se illud
perdidit Man having ill used his free-vvill destroyed both himselfe and it So that now since the fall of Adam liberum arbitrium captivatum non nisi 〈◊〉 peccandum valet free vvill being captivated iâ— of no force but to sinne as the same S. Augustine affirmeth Againe he saith Quia peccavit voluntas secuâ—a est peccantem peccatum habendi dura necessitas Because the vvill had offended there followed the sinner an hard necessity of having sinne And againe he saith that Naturae nostrae dura necessitas merito praecedentis iniquitatis exâ—rta est The hard necessity of our nature arose out of the merit or desert of the before going transgression Since the fall of Adam then as the same S. Augustine further saith Voluntas in tantum est libera in quantum est liberata Mans vvill is so farre forth free as it is made free by God For as hee saith againe Hominis non libera sed à Deo liberata voluntas obsequitur Mans vvill not free of it selfe but so farre forth as it is made free by God doth yeeld obedience But yet howsoever mans Will is now become thus thrall and captive unto sinne yet is it free from constraint And of this freedome in respect of constraint it is that S. Augustine is ever to be intended wheresoever hee acknowledgeth men to have free VVill and therefore doe not mistake or misunderstand him in this point For indeed it is not by forcing violence constraint or compulsion but by his sweet internall motions and perswasions that God ex nolentibus facit volentes of unwilling maketh men willing as S. Augustine himselfe teacheth and affirmeth Now that out of the fallen Lumpe of mankinde it was that God shewed his Mercie to some in Electing them to salvation and his Iustice to othersome in not Electing them this is apparant because S. Paul saith directly that Election is neither of the vviller nor of the Runner sed miserentis Dei but of God that sheweth mercy For which cause also the Elect upon whom GOD thus shewed Mercie be called the vessels of mercy and the rest upon whom hee shewed not this mercie but left them as hee then saw them in their sinne and transgression be said to be the vessels of vvrath But as nothing commeth to passe in this world but what God before the world was made decreed and determined with himselfe either to doe or to permit to be done so accordingly hee decreed and determined before the foundations of the world to permit this sinne and fall of Adam and thereout to make this his Election of some unto glorie and salvation in and through Christ and to leave the rest in their sinne unto condemnation For that God did decree or purpose to permit Adam to fall beside the event of it which doth sufficiently declare it it is further evident because S. Peter also writing to the Elect saith that they were redeemed vvith the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spot and that he namely Christ vvas ordeyned before the foundation of the vvorld but was manifested in the last times for their sakes S. Paul likewise testifieth the same in his Epistle to Timothy Inasmuch then as both these Apostles doe thus cleerely affirme that Christ was ordeyned before the foundation of the vvorld to be as he is a Redeemer and Saviour of all the elect from their sinnes for for this cause it was that he had the name of Iesus which signifieth a Saviour given unto him because hee was to save his people from their sinnes as the Angel himselfe witnesseth I say seeing Christ was thus ordeyned before the vvorld vvas made to be a Redeemer and Saviour of people from their sinnes it must of necessitie be granted that the fall of Adam was also decreed to be permitted whereby men might become sinners for by the fall of Adam it was and not otherwise that sinne entred and was to enter into all mankinde Neither indeed needed there nor possibly could there have beene anie Redeemer Saviour or deliverer from sinne unlesse sinne had first beene and had made an entrance into the world And therefore well doth S. Gregory say Et quidem nisi Adam peccasset Redemptorem nostrum carnem suscipere nostram non oportuisset Dum pro peccatâ—ribus Deus homo nasciturus erat That verily if Adam had not sinned our Redeemer should not hâ—ve taken our flesh upon him Sith that for sinners it vvas that God vvas to be become man And to the same effect speaketh also Saint Augustine saying that Melius Iudicavit de malis benefacere quam mala nulla esse permittere God iudged it better out of evill to vvorke good then to suffer no evill at all to be And this is further declared for Saint Paul saith expressely That the Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be given to them that beleeve Againe hee saith That â—ll both Iewes and Gentiles bee under sinne c. that everie mouth may be stopped and that all the vvorld might be made subiect to the iudgement of God And again he saith There is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being Iustified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus vvhom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse Againe he saith that God hath shut up all in unbeleefe that hee might have mercy on all even upon all those whether they were Iewes or Gentiles whom hee so purposed to take to mercie in and through CHRIST By all which you may perceive that GOD did purpose or decree to permit the sinne and fall of Adam and for what cause and reason it was so permitted as likewise that hee permitteth other sinnes also in which permission of his his vvill is alwaies included for against his vvill hee permitteth nothing neither can anie thing come to passe against his will that is whether he will or no But he it is that ruleth ordereth and governeth the whole world all things therin and doth both in heaven and in earth whatsoever he pleaseth Yea Bonum est ut mala sint alioquin non sâ—â—eret deus ut mala sint Non sinit autem nolens utique sed volens It is good saith S. Augustine that there should be evill or sinne otherwise God would not suffer or permit it to bee And verily he permitteth it saith he not against his will but vvith his will Againe hee saith Non fit aliquid nisi omnipotens fieri VELIT vel sinendo ut fiat vel ipse faciendo There is nothing done unlesse God WILL have it to bee done either by suffering it to be done or by doing of it himselfe In like sort saith Hugo that when God doth good and permitteth evill his
c. for God vvill have all men to be saved But the meaning of these words is evident that he will have of all sorts and degrees of men that shall be saved even Kings and Princes aswell as of anie other sort for of them you see hee specially speaketh And so doth S. Augustine and Gregorie also expound those words And indeede what other sence all circumstances of the Text being well considered can be set upon them For to set this sence upon them namely that God will have all to bee saved in a generalitie without any exception were directly contrarie to the rest of the Scriptures which witnesse directly that God will have some to bee damned Yea if God would have all to be saved in a generality what should or can hinder but that all without exception should be saved accordingly For who was ever able to resist his will or to hinder the execution thereof that it should not come to passe Howbeit they say That God would and men will not and that this is the reason why some are damned because themselves will not be saved But what is this else but to make Gods will subiect to mens will and to be as it were a waiting servant and attendant upon their pleasures so that hee shall will their salvation when they will it themselves and shal also nill it when they nill it which beside that it maketh Gods will as variable and mutable as mens wills a thing dishonourable unto him and untrue it maketh also mens salvation and damnation to consist in their owne power and pleasures which is as absurd as if you should say it is in the power and will of the lumpe of Clay to choose of what sort and fashion it shall bee and to what use it shall bee applied and what part thereof shall bee a vessell to honour and what to dishonour For a Potter hath not more full or more absolute power over the Clay and the Pots which hee maketh thereout then God hath over all Men and Angells and over all other his creatures to doe ordaine and dispose of them and everie of them at his owne most free and uncontrollable pleasure as the Scriptures doe clearely testifie often using and as it were delighting themselves with this comparison resemblance It is true that no father hath such an high and absolute power over his Children nor King over his Subiects nor Master over his Servants the reason is apparant because these be not the makers of their Children nor of their Subiects nor of their Servants but God was the maker of them all as of all things else and therefore as touching this point the cases be not like And yet if Children offend it is in the power and pleasure of the father to correct which of them hee will or if Subiects offend the King may punish or pardon whom soever of them he pleaseth and if Servants offend it is also in the power and pleasure of the Master to punish or to spare whom he list Doth it not then consist much more in the will and pleasure of God the Creator and maker of all men especially after that all mankind was fallen in the transgression of Adam to choose or refuse whom hee pleased If then you doe but observe this comparison and similitude of the Potter which the Scripture so often useth or some such like wherein there is a Maker considered with such power and authoritie as he hath over the thing made by him being the worke of his owne hands This matter will then bee so plaine and evident unto you as that even by light and force of reason you will be compelled to confesse that the thing made is ever subiect to the will ordering and disposing of him that is the maker and not the maker to the will of the thing made And even this doth also S. Paul himselfe acknowledg and teach in this verie particular matter and thereupon he further saith expresly of God that He hath mercie upon whomsoever he will and whomsoever he will he hardeneth And againe hee saith that God spake thus I vvill have mercie on whomsoever my pleasure is to have mercie and I vvill have compassion on whomsoever my pleasure is to have compassion So then saith he againe it is not in him that vvilleth nor in him that runneth but in God that shevveth mercie By all which is most manifest that this great matter concerning the salvation and damnation of men consisteth not in the will and pleasure of men but in the will and pleasure of God and in his ordering and disposing Would you have this matter yet further declared then call to your remembrance what is written of Esau namlie that he would have inherited the blessing and yet was reiected for he found no place to repentance though he sought the blessing with teares Here you see that Esau would faine have inherited and fought it even with teares and yet was reiected and had this speciall grace of a true repentance not yeelded unto him Againe did not wicked Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous and that his last end might be like his Moreover did not the foolish Virgins aswell as the wise desire to enter in unto the Wedding and say Lord Lord open to us and yet were excluded Againe doth not Christ Iesus himselfe say to some Yee shall seâ—ke mee and yet yee shall dye in your sinnes and whether I goe thither can yee not come And againe doth he not say thus Strive to enter in at the straite gate for manie I say unto you shall seeke to enter in and shall not be able You see then that manie and sundrie persons would attaine to the everlasting felicitie of Gods people and to a most blessed happinesse and salvation and yet cannot because God will not as having otherwise ordayned of them And so againe witnesseth S. Paul saying thus Israel hath not obtained that he sought but the Election hath obtained it and the rest have beene hardened Againe Yee beleeve not saith Christ to some because yee are not of my sheepe And againe it is written Crediderunt quotquot erant ordinati ad vitam aeternam Onely so many beleeved as vvere ordained to eternall life And therefore also is this faith called fides Electorum Dei the faith of Gods Elect as being proper peculiar unto them Againe it is written of some people that To them it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven but to others it is not given Yea and Christ Iesus himselfe speaketh thus unto God his Father saying I give thee thankes O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid thâ—se things from the vvise and men of understanding and hast opened them unto Babes It is so O Father because such vvas thy good pleasure Againe it is written of some that The Gospel and vvord of God preached
worke of their owne hands to doe ordeine and dispose of it at their owne will And shall not God the maker and creator of all things be allowed the like authoritie over all and singular men to doe decree purpose ordeine and dispose of them and everie of them being his creatures even as pleaseth himselfe What a grosse strange iniurious and unreasonable dealing were this in men not to allow that in God which they allow in themselves Doth not Christ Iesus himselfe yet further give a full and sufficient answer in this case saying thus Is it not lawfull for mee to doe as I vvill vvith mine owne is thine eye evill because I am good Consider well these words for they shew plainly that God may doe with all his creatures as pleaseth himselfe and that if God bestow mercie kindnesse love and favour toward one which he bestoweth not upon another for this goodnesse and liberalitie of God no other should have an evill eye or envious heart or a murmuring or blasphemous tongue Besides God is Debtor to no man Why then should anie exclaime against God for that he was not elected to salvation nor had saving graces given unto him whilest he lived For is God compellable or standeth he tied and bound to give anie men salvation and saving graces whether he will or no or otherwise then at his owne pleasure Againe VVho hath been his Counsailer saith the Apostle Was it fit or meet thinke you that God the creator of all should not doe and determine of all his workes and creatures which he made without calling silly men or other the worke of his hands to counsaile Doe or will men hold it reasonable to aske counsell or advise of the things â—hemselves doe make what use it shall serve for or what shall become of it or doe not men first purpose and determine of everie thing they make before it be made to what use it shall serve and to what end it shall be And if these things be thus amongst men shal not the like be allowed unto God O the intolerable audaciousnesse of men that dare thus stand in contention against God their maker Although therefore it be true that by the transgression of Adam the Elect and the Reprobate were both sinners alike and in respect of themselves both worthie of condemnation alike yet it pleased God who hath full and free power in himselfe to doe whatsoever hee will to put a difference betwneene them and to shew mercie to the one sort and not to the other Yea in verie deed how could it be otherwise seeing both Iustice and Mercie were thus determined of God to be shewed among the children of men upon their fall For if all had beene saved where had beene his Iustice And againe If all had beene damned where had beene his Mercie To the end therefore that both his Iustice and Mercie might appeare to sinfull men it is that some men upon the fall of Adam be thus to goe to damnation and other some to salvation If as yet anie man conceive not the depth of this high point of Gods predestination let him not reiect nor monster-like blaspheme that which hee understandeth not but let him in all humilitie reverence and iustifie God in all his words and workes admiring and wondring at the height and depth of that wisedome which hee is not able to reach unto And let him in this matter doe as S. Paul did crying out thus O the depth of the riches both of the vvisedome and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Iudgements and his vvayes past finding out And let him also stay with patience untill the day of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God for such a day there is as S. Paul expressely affirmeth So that howsoever wicked blasphemous and ungodly men doe sometimes speake most impiously of God and of his doings herein yet at that day of the declaration of the iust Iudgement of God if not sooner it will be manifested that all the Iudgements decrees and doings of God are iust and such as no exception can be taken against And let men learne in the meane time to accuse and condemne themselves and their owne wayes as uniust and unequall and ever iustifie God and acknowledge his wayes and workes to be as they are most holy most iust and most equall as God himselfe also declareth by his Prophet Ezechiel And let us all confesse that according to his owne vvill he vvorketh in the army of Heaven and in the Inhabitants of the earth and that none can stay his hand nor may say unto him vvhat dost thou as it is written in the Prophesie of Daniel And let us likewise say as the Saints speak in the Revelation saying thus Thou art vvorthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy vvills sake they are and have beene created CAP. IX Concerning the Sacraments and that there be but two Sacraments of the New Testament properly so called namely Baptisme and the Lords Supper and that Confirmation Pennance Marriage Orders and Extreme unction be no Sacraments properly And that the Sacraments administred doe not give grace ex opere operato by the vvorke or action wrought or done but grace commeth and is given another way THe word SACRAMENT is sometimes taken in a generall or large sense and so it may comprehend all manner of Signes which God gave men at anie time to assure them of the undoubted truth of his promise in anie matter whatsoever In which sense the Tree of life in the Garden may be said to be to Adam a Sacrament or signe of his life received from God and that he should not die so long as he continued in his obedience The Rainebow also in this sense might be termed a Sacrament that is a signe to Noah and his posteritie that the world shall never more be destroyed with a floud of waters and sundrie such like But we here speake not of Sacraments in such a general signification or large acception of the word but as it is strictly and properly taken viz. of such Sacraments as God hath left to be usual and ordinarie in the New Testament and appointed to be signes and scales of our communion with Christ and of that righteousnesse we have by faith in him In this sense a Sacrament being taken is a visible signe and seale ordayned of God vvhereby Christ and all his saving graces by certaine outward rites are signified exhibited and sealed up unto all the faithful of which sort there be two namely Baptisme and the Lords Supper Baptisme succeedeth in the place of Circumcision and the Lords Supper in the place of the Passeover And as Circumcision was not onely a visible signe but also a seale to Abraham of the righteousnesse he had by faith in Christ so is Baptisme likewise the other Sacrament also of the Lords
shall be able to diswade them Howbeit I would desire you to be better advised and though it be to the utter overthrowing of your fancies and wills to yeeld to that puissant and unvanquishable truth which not onlie reason but all right faith and religion also requireth at your hands for even faith and religion aswell sense and reason perswadeth against that monstrous conceipt of Transubstatiation and of the natural bodie of Christ to be eaten with the bodilie mouth For further declaration whereof doe but consider some absurdities and inconveniences wherewith it is accompanied First you thereby make the Lords Supper to be no Sacrament for if it be a Sacrament it must of necessitie have aswel an outward visible signe of an holie thing as the holie thing it selfe The outward visible signe in this point is the bread and the holie thing whereof it is a signe is the verie natural bodie of Christ which was crucified for us Now you sâ—y That after consecration there is no bread at all remaining but onlie the verie natural bodie of Iesus Christ and so making no bread at all to be there you also make no outward visible signe to be there and consequentlie make it no Sacrament Secondlie if there be no bread remaining but onlie the Accidents of bread that is whitenesse roundnesse and such like without a substance as yee hold then beside that it is most absurd by the rules of reason to hold that anie accidents can be without their substance I pray further tell me what it is that the communicant receiveth and eateth for we thinke everie man should be ashamed to say that he eateth bare accidents and not the substance of bread But for cleere proofe S. Paul affirmeth it expreslie to be still bread after consecration and that accordinglie the communicant eateth bread neither will the bare accidents of bread without the substance nourish anie man Thirdlie how absurd and unseemlie a thing is it for one man to eate up another as if it became Christians to be Caniballs or Anthropophagi that is such as were eaters of men and yet if this Popish opinion were true should Christians be eaters even of the bodie of a man and of the best mâ—n that ever lived even of their owne Saviour and Redeemer Iesus Christ both God and man and that in a most grosse and carnal manner which is a most impious and most inhumane barbarous conceit Fourthlie it is well knowne that Christ Iesus is true man and hath all the properties of one that is a true man being like unto man in all things sinne only excepted as the Scripture witnesseth And therefore as he is a true man and hath a true humane bodie like other men sinne onelie excepted that his humane bodie cannot possiblie be in two or manie places at once no not after his resurrection as S. Augustine expresly witnesseth no more then the bodies of other men For which cause the Angel said of Christ Non est hic surrexit enim He is not here for he is risen This speech of the Angel sheweth contrarie to your conceit that the humanitie and bodie of Christ even after his resurrection is not in diverse places at once as his Deitie and Godhead is and that it cannot be in anie more places then one at a time because when his bodie was in the grave it was not anie where else and when it was risen ouâ— of the grave then it was not there but in another place as the Angel declareth Yea whilest you make his humanitie to be multi-present what doe yee else but confound his humanitie and fall into as manifest an errour as is the Heresie of the ubiquitares If anie alledge that the humanitie of Christ and his Deitie be inseparable and that therefore wheresoever his Deitie is there is also his humanitie and consequently because his Deitie or Godhead is everie where his humanitie also or manhood must be likewise everie where This is but a sophistical and deceitfull kinde of reasoning wherewith none should be ensnarled for although it be true that the Deitie and humanitie of Christ be inseparable in him in respect of his person in whom they are united both together making but one Christ yet are they not so inseparable but that the one may be and is namelie his Deitie or Godhead where the other is not For example the Deitie or Godhead of Christ is indeed everie where and filleth heaven and earth as it is said in the Prophet yea the heaven of heavens cannot conteine him as Solomon saith and consequently that Deitie was also even in the grave of Christ after he was risen from death and yet was not his humanitie or manhood there as the Angel himselfe hath before assured us So that although wheresoever his humanitie or manhood is there is also his Deitie or Godhead yet it followeth not contrariwise that wheresoever his Deitie or Godhead is there also is his humanitie or manhood Again doth not Christ Iesus himselfe say thus The poore ye have alwayes with you but me ye shall not have alwayes How could these words be true except wee confesse that he may be and is absent from us in his humanitie and manhood although he be alwaies present with us in respect of his Deitie and by his power and spirit In which respect he hath also said that Hee vvill be vvith his Church to the end of the vvorld You perceive then how Christ is present and how absent namelie that he is alwaies present everie where in his Deitie but not so in his humanitie or manhood And for further proofe hereof doth not Christ Iesus say againe expressely thus It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you Againe he saith I leave the vvorld and goe to the Father And againe he saith Now am I no more in the vvorld but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keepe them in thy Name even them vvhom thou hast given mee What meaneth all this but that Christ Iesus after his resurrection was to ascend into heaven and so to goe away to depart to leave the vvorld and to be as himselfe there speaketh no more in the vvorld Must not this needs be intended in respect of his manhood and bodily presence for most certaine it is that in respect of his Deitie power and spirit he is with us to the worlds end and for ever as before is said And therefore also doth S. Peter witnesse that in respect of that his manhood or humanitie the Heavens must conteyne him untill the time that all things be restored vvhich God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the vvorld began For which cause also we beleeve according to our Creede that from thence hee shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead If then ever since his ascention hee be
in respect of his bodily presence and manhood departed from the world and in that respect is as himselfe affirmeth no more in the vvorld but in heaven untill the day of the general judgement as S. Peter also and our Creede doe teach us how grosse and absurd yea what misbeleevers be Papists that dare affirme him cleane contrarie to his owne testimonie and the testimonie of S. Peter and the rest of the Scriptures and contrarie also to the verie Creed it selfe to be still in the world in that his manhood and bodily presence It is high time therefore for all to renounce and forsake this monstrous and detestable errour if they will be right Christians and right beleevers As for that Text where it is said No man ascendeth up to heaven but he that descended from heaven even the sonne of man vvhich is in heaven It is easily answered and resolved for most true it is that the Sonne of man Christ Iesus was even then in heaven in his Deitie at such time when hee was also upon the earth in his humanitie So that in respect of that his Deitie or Godhead it is that being upon the earth he was neverthelesse also in heaven and not in respect of his manhood or humanitie for his manhood or humanitie or bodily presence was then on the earth and could not also be in heaven at one and the selfe same time as is before declared S. Iohn saith that Every spirit vvhich confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God but this is the spirit of Antichrist Now what is it else to denie Iesus Christ to be come in the flesh but to denie him to be true man and like unto men in all things sinne onely excepted Whilest men therefore thus denie Christ to be come in the flesh that is to have all the properties of a True man and to be like unto other men in all things sinne onely excepted how can they cleere themselves but that they must be enforced to yeeld and confesse that they be herein led not by the spirit of Christ but by the spirit of Antichrist Yea whilest they thus say that Christ is in his manhood and natural bodie present upon earth what doe they else but denie or impugne not onely those Articles of the Creed viz. that Christ is ascended into heaven and that there hee sitteth at the right hand of God his Father and that from thence he shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead But this Article also that Iesus Christ vvas borne of the Virgin Mary and was incarnate and made man of her substance For this doubtlesse is the right Iesus Christ in whom wee are to beleeve but by this their doctrine they contrariwise beleeve in another Iesus Christ namely in such a one as they affirme by this their Transubstantiation to be made of another substance namelie out of the substance of a piece of bread And how can such a Christ so made of the substance of a piece of bread be the true Christ Of which and of all other sorts of false Christs the true Christ Iesus himselfe hath given us sufficieÌ„t forewarning Fiftly they herein make their Massing Priest after their words of consecration uttered to be the maker of his Maker namelie of Iesus Christ And that Iesus Christ is thus made anew everie day or so oft as their Masse is celebrated How manie thousand Iesus Christs by this meanes will they have in the world But can anie be so absurdlie impious as to beleeve or suppose that Christ Iesus can be made out of the substance of a piece of bread by a Priest by vertue of anie words of consecration uttered or by anie devise whatsoever Can anie creature possibly make his Creator or the thing made make his maker Fie on these and all other such senselesse detestable abominations Diverse other absurdities also of the Papists might here be further alledged but these before mentioned will I hope suffice to declare the most grosse and most notorious false exposition of the Popish Church concerning those wordes of Christ This is my Body in the Lords Supper wherby they strangely suppose a Transubstantiation and a carnal eating of Christ his verâ—e natural bodie contrarie to the Scriptures and contrarie to all sense reason right faith and true Religion For ye must learne so to expound Scripture as that yee make all the rest of the Scriptures to stand and agree with that sense you set upon it so that there may be no repugnancie But the sense and exposition which the Popish church setteth upon those words of Christ namely This is my Body is cleerely repugnant to other Scriptures and even to the verie Articles also of the Creede aswell as to all sense and reason as is before apparant and therefore it cannot possibly be the right sense nor true exposition What remaineth then but that the right and true sense and meaning of those words is and must needs be the same which the Protestants set upon them because that their exposition is consonant agreeing to the rest of the Scriptures and to all the Articles of the Creede aswell as to all sense and reason and is also sutable and correspondent to the like usuall ordinarie phrase and manner of speech in other and former Sacraments amongst the Iewes the old people of God under the old Testament according to which maner of speech Christ also spake when he instituted this Sacrament of his Supper under the new Testament calling according to the usuall Sacramental phrase the signe by the name of the thing signified Which thing I trust is now so cleare and evident as that none can iustly anie longer make anie doubt or question of it 5 But yet for the fuller discussing hereof it will not be amisse here to speake a few words touching Consecration because upon Consecration it is that they seeme to build their before mentioned error of Transubstantiation Let us therfore consider what Consecration is and what it importeth or worketh To Consecrate then is to take a thing from the prophane or ordinarie and common use and to destinate or appoint it to some holy use and end And if wee would know how things come to bee consecrate or sanctified S. Paul saith that everie Creature of God is good and nothing to bee refused if it bee received with thankesgiving For it is sanctified saith hee by the word of God and prayer Sanctification then or Consecration of a thing doth here appeare to bee by the institution and word of God and by praier or invocation whereof thankesgiving is a part And therefore the Lord Iesus before he brake the bread and gave it hee Blessed that is he gave thankes to his Father that hee out of his love to men had appointed him to bee the Redeemer for the satisfying of his Iustice in the behalfe of his elect and had given him authoritie to institute this
cleere that there was then no citie in the world noted knowne by these seven hills or mountaines but Rome onely and therefore doth Virgil say of it Pulcherrima Roma Septem quae una sibi muro circumdedit arces That Rome onely hath seven hills vvithin her vvall For which cause also it is commonly termed Septicollis that is the seven hild City And Propertius also saith of it that it is Septem urbs alta Iugis toti quae praesidet orbi A City high vvith seven Hills that ruleth over all the world The names also of the seven hills are to this day knowne namely Palatinus Caelius Capitolinus otherwise called Ianiculus Aventinus Quirinalis Viminalis and Esquilinus Seeing then there was in that time of S. Iohn no citie in the world that was noted and knowne by the seven Hills and which also in those daies raigned over the Kings of the earth and had the Empire but Rome onely even by these two markes and demonstrations conioyned it is infalliby manifest that not anie other citie in the world but Rome onely is and must needs be the Woman and vvhore of Babylon there described And this is so cleere and evident that the Papists themselves confesse it to be Rome But then for an evasion Bellarmine some other Papists say that thereby onely Heathenish Rome and such as it was in the time of Infidelitie and before it embraced the Gospel and Religion of Christ is signified and intended but how untrue and vaine an evasion this is let all men iudge that have anie iudgement or indifferencie in them For first why is that woman that is the citie of Rome there called an Whore but to shew that shee was once an honest chaste and obedient spouse of Christ and that she afterward revolted and became an Whore and so fell from that obedience saith and true Religion which shee had formerly professed and embraced For is anie called an Whore but shee that was once an honest woman And doth not that word Whore import that shee was now at this time when shee thus became an Whore departed from that her former faith and fidelitie And indeed most true it is that the citie of Rome did once embrace the faith and religion of Christ and was an honest dutifull and true spouse unto him as S. Paul himselfe and other Ecclesiastical Histories doe witnesse But afterward in processe of time Ambition Pride Covetousnesse and Licentiousnesse growing in the Church and Churchâ—men and an Apostasie or departure from the right faith and religion being also foretold to come into the world for the neglect and contempt of the Gospel it came to passe that the once faithfull and Christian citie of Rome departed from that her former true faith and obedience and became an Harlot or Whore so that now and long sithence it may be said of Rome as God himselfe sometime spake of Hierusalem saying How is the faithfull City become an Harlot It being therefore manifest and a thing confessed even by the Papists themselves that by this Woman the citie of Rome is intended thereupon must needs be further granted that inasmuch as the Woman afterward became an Whore that is that Rome afterward became an Adulteresse against Christ her head and husband not the Heathen and Infidell citie of Rome but Rome after it had once received the Christian faith and religion and afterward fell from it to follow her owne false doctrine and religion is to be understood For how could the citie of Rome whilest it was Heathenish and before it ever embraced Christianitie be properly or rightly termed an Harlot or Whore that is a violater or breaker of anie faith formerly plighted by her unto Christ Iesus when as yet whilest shee was Heathen shee had plighted no such faith unto him The citie of Rome therefore which S. Iohn thus saw beforehand in vision to be such a one as should afterwards become an Whore and a great VVhore even the vvhore of Babylon as shee is entitled must needs be intended of Papal or Popish Rome for with the Heathen Rome that had never betrothed her selfe to Christ and consequently could for that time be no Whore or violater of her faith unto him it hath no fit or apt coherence and agreement Secondly as touching the Heathenish estate of Rome in that respect and for that purpose S. Iohn needed not anie Revelation at all for he knew it otherwise sufficiently even by his owne banishment into Pathmos and other daily experiments that Rome was then Heathenish and governed by Heathen Emperors and was by that meanes a great persecutor of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus but that the same citie should be afterward governed by Popes and so fall into the spiritual whoredome of Poperie that hee could not foresee or foreknow or foretell without a Revelation and therefore hath he a Revelation given him of that matter And hereat the Text also saith that He vvondred and that with great marvaile This great vvondering of S. Iohn also Thirdly declareth what maner of Rome this was for even thereby likewise appeareth that not the Heathen citie of Rome at whose persecutions they being so frequent and common in those dayes he had no cause at all to wonder but the once true Christian citie of Rome which afterward revolted from that her true Christianitie to her Antichristian and persecuting courses whereat there was indeed iust cause to wonder is the thing there meant and intended Fourthly Rome governed by the Emperors is in that Chapter distinguished from Rome as it was afterward governed by the Popes yea Rome as it was governed by the seven heads or principal Rulers of it from the beginning of it to the end is there decyphered For this vvhore or vvhorish vvoman is not onely there said to sit upon a scarlet coloured beast with which kinde of colour the Romish Popes aswell as the Romane Emperors were and are delighted as appeareth in the Decret dist 96. but it is there further said that this beast that is this State or Dominion for so by the Beast is understood a State or Dominion as afterward is shewed which thus bare up and supported this woman the citie of Rome had seven Heads ten Hornes The seven Heads be in the Text it selfe expounded to be seven Hills or mountaines which are before named and mentioned And they be also there further said to be seven Kings that is seven sorts of principal or soveraigne Rulers whereby Rome hath beene governed namely by Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes Militarie with consular Authoritie Emperors Popes Five of these were fallen saith the Text in the dayes of S. Iohn namely Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes and one is saith hee that is the governement by Emperors For then in S. Iohns time was Rome governed by Emperors and one is yet to come saith the Text that is the governement by Popes For as yet the
then the Popish have the soules of men bin bought sold For be not their Priests Iesuits Friers and such other of that counterfeit holie order the men that are imployed as Merchants Factors in such wicked merchandizes Yea doth not everie 〈◊〉 among them take upon him to forgive sinnes verie boldliâ— I know that the Ministers of Christ have power and authorite given them to remit and forgive sinnes But these Priests of theirs bee not the Ministers of Christ whatsoever they pretend but the Ministers of Antichrist and therefore they have no such authoritie from Christ to forgive sinnes but doe onely cousen and abuse mens soules therein For the Pope from whom they derive their authoritie and ordination to that their Priesthood is the verie grand Antichrist as doth alreadie but yet more fullie afterward in good measure shal appeare And yet even the authority also which Christs Ministers themselves have received herein is to forgive sins not absolutelie as pleaseth themselves but ministerially only and declaratively that to such persons as by warrant from Gods word be allowed to receive it that is to say they are to declare pronounce remission of sins to all and everie such person or persons as unfainedlie beleeve in Iesus Christ as in their whole and onely Saviour and Redeemer renouncing utterlie all confidence in their owne merits and righteousnesse and together with a true and livelie faith have an earnest sorrow and repentance for their sinnes formerlie past and a purpose and endeavour of amendment for the time to come And so S. Hierome upon Matth. 16. expoundeth it and saith that the Ministers of Christ have received power to binde and to loose that is saith he to shew or declare who they bee that bee bound or loosed in the sentence of God and before his Tribunal and Iudgement seat And so doe the Schoolemen also interpret it and in all reason it must be so For if anie Minister shall declare or pronounce remission of sinnes to an ungodlie and impenitent or unbeleeving person or to anie whosoever whom Gods word doth not warrant remission of sinnes unto everie man will grant that such a one hath not remission of sinnes at Gods hand notwithstanding the Ministers such pronouncing of remission of them So that if they will have that to bee bound in heaven which they doe binde on earth and that to bee loosed in heaven which they doe loose on earth they must bee carefull to pronounce both remission and reteyning of sinnes to such persons onely as they bee due unto by the warrant of Gods word For if they shall binde the godlie penitent and beleeving Soule whom God looseth and absolveth or if they shall loose or absolve the wicked ungodlie impenitent and unbeleeving person whom God by the tenor of his word bindeth and forgiveth not such binding and loosing is not warranted nor ratified in heaven Howbeit most unreasonable and unsatiable hath beene the covetous merchandizing of mens soules in the Popish Rome not onelie this waie and by buying and selling of Pardons Indulgences but by buying and selling also of Popedomes Bishoprickes Cardinalships Abbathies Benefices and such like Yea from whence else arose the Proverbe so long used in Poperie viz. No penie no Pater noster but from the intolerable greedie covetousnesse of the Popish Priests and Clergie who would doe nothing without money and for money seemed to doe anie thing So that these Romish Merchants bee those that through covetousnesse with fained words doe merchandize men as S Peter foretold they should and as Claudius Espencaelus himselfe declareth But moreover whilst those their filthy Stewes be by publicke authoritie allowed or tolerated amongst them for rent or money do they not sell and merchandize both bodies and soules of men and women Be not also Masses Trentals Dirges Requiems Orizons and Praiers deliverance from supposed Purgatorie paines the supposed merits of the Saints and Martyrs the merits of Christ dispensations against Gods word yea and the Ioyes of heaven and all to be bought and sold in the Popish Church S. Bernard treating of the Psalme which beginneth VVhoso dwelleth speaketh on this manner of that Church The dignities and promotions of the Church are sought after for filthie lucres sake and to keepe revell-rout withall and for these roumes and their revenues they labour and contend in verie shamelesse manner And againe in his Sermon of the Conversion of Paul treating of the governement of the Church under the Pope of Rome hee uttereth the like matter And upon the Canticles Sermon 33. speaking further of the Romish Prelates and Clergie he saith thus of them They beare out themselves saith hee iâ— an honourable port with the goods of the Church vvhereunto notwithstanding themselves bring no credit or worship at all Hence commeth that whorish tricking that Stage-like attire that Prince-like pompe vvhich dayly vvee see in them Hence proceeds the gold they use in their Bridles Saddles and Spurres insomuch as their Spurres are more glittering then their Altars Hence came their stately Tables their varietie of Dishes and quâ—ffing Cups Hence issued their Iunkâ—tting Bankets their Drunkennesse and Surfeits Hence followed their Viols Harps and Shawmes Hence flovved their Cellars and Pantries so stuffed vvith vvines and Viands of all sorts Hence gat they their Lee pots and painting Boxes And hence had they their Purses so vvell lined vvith coyne Oh such men they vvill needs bee and yet they are our great Masters in Israel as Deanes Archdeacons Bishops and Archbishops These vvorkes of theirs are little inferior to that filthinesse vvhich they commit in Darkenesse And in his 4. Booke De Consideratione unto Eugenius Bishop of Rome after that hee hath described and detested the pompe of Romish Bishops hee shutteth up the matter in these words saying thus unto him Herein thou shevvest thy selfe to have succeeded not Peter but Constantine the Emperor Peter is hee vvho never knevv vvhat belonged to such solemne shewing of himselfe abroad in braveries of precious stones or silkes or gold or riding upon a vvhite Palfrey or being guarded vvith a troupe of attendants c. Agreeably also whereunto speaketh S. Hillary contra Auxentium of the state of Antichrist saying thus These fellowes doe ambitiously affect the continuance and maiestical port of the secular power and so thinke to uphold the flourishing estate of the Church by a shew of vvorldly Pompe Againe he saith They make great account of this to be greatly accounted of in the vvorld And therefore doth S. Bernard againe in his Epistle 230 further make this accusation and exclamation against those Bishops of Rome saying thus unto them At first indeed yee began to play the Lords over the Clergie contrary to the counsell of Peter And vvithin a vvhile after contrary to the advise of Paul Peters fellow-Apostle ye would have dominion over the faith of all men But yee stay not there yee have taken upon you more namely to have
a peremptory power in religion it selfe VVhat more remaineth wherein ye migh further encroach except yee will go about to bring the very Angels also under your subiection c. Now how should all this pomp pride in the Pope and Popish Clergie so much licentiousnes withall permitted to the people of their Church be maintained and upheld without this covetous and greedie kinde of merchandizing Who then doth not see that this Rome mentioned in the Revelation to be such a one as did merchandize the soules of Men must needs be intended of Popish Rome and not of Heathen Rome For all men know that the Heathen Rome never used this kinde of Trade namely of merchandizing mens soules Seventhly the Rome there mentioned is shewed to be such a one as caused or made the Kings and inhabitants of the earth to drinke of the vvine of her fornication that is of the pleasant seeming but indeed filthie and poysoned Religion and so to take upon them the Marke of the Beast But the Heathenish Rome where she conquered and prevailed and brought people in subiection under her urged not nor enforced her religion upon those nations or people which shee subdued but gave leave unto them still to retaine and hold that religion of their owne which formerly they had as even Leo Bishop of Rome himselfe declareth and as is apparant by the countrey of the Iewes and by other countries also which shee brought into subiection Whereupon followeth that not the Heathenish Rome which allowed the religion of other countries beside her owne but the Papal Rome which alloweth no other religion but her owne is must needs be there intended Eightly the Babylon that is the Rome there mentioned is such a Rome that shall be so desolated and destroyed as that it shall never be builded againe or inhabited anie more as is verie fully evident by the 18. chapter of the Revelation And this is so cleere that Suarez himselfe confesseth and teacheth it But the Heathenish Rome governed by Heathen Emperors was never yet so destroyed yea after that the citie of Rome was destroied by the Gothes and Vandals and others yet it was rebuilded againe and reinhabited and as yet it continueth a citie builded and inhabited to this day The Rome therefore that is here described and shewed to be such a Rome as shall be so desolated and destroied as that it shall never be inhabited anie more by men cannot possibly be imagined to be Heathen Rome but contrariwise must needs be supposed that which is now the Papal or Popish Rome for there is no Heathen Rome remaining so to bee destroyed I hope therefore by this time ye fully perceive that it is not the Heathen Rome as Bellarmine and some other of your Teachers would blindfold the world but the Papal or Popish Rome which in that place of the Revelation of S. Iohn is intended and described Yea further if yee would have Heathen Rome to be there described then must ye make Antichrist to bee come in the daies and times of the Heathen Emperors which is contrarie to your owne positions and opinions who say and hold though most untruly that hee is not yet come Lastly remember that these things which be mentioned concerning the Whore of Babylon be brought in and mentioned after that the seventh Angel had blowne his Trumpet and therefore also were long after the time of the Heathen Emperors An Appendix to the former Chapter NOw because Popish Rome is so directly affirmed to be an VVhore and a great VVhore and the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth not to speake anie more of her grosse bodily whoredomes filthinesses wherein she doth excell give me leave here to speake a few words of some of her spiritual whoredomes and adulteries that is to say of some of her Idolatries that so the truth of this matter may the better appeare First then as touching her most detestable Idolatry committed in adoring and worshipping of a peece of bread I meane their consecrated bread in stead of the true God that made heaven and earth I have before spoken and I doe here only put you in remembrance of it againe that yee may for ever hereafter tremble and feare to commit it For whereas ye say that yee take it not for bread anie longer after consecration but for Iesus Christ his verie natural bodie by way of Transubstantiation consider that that will not be sufficient to cleere you yea it is before shewed unto you that in so taking it yee doe utterly and most grossely mistake contrarie not onely to all sense and reason but contrarie to all right faith and true religion also And therefore your sinne of a most abominable Idolatry cannot be so execused but is rather so much the more aggravated by such an untrue and a most ungodly construction and supposition Ea demum est miserabilis animae servitus signa pro rebus accipere That is saith S. Augustine a miserable servitude of the soule to take the signes for the things signified by them 2 A second Idolatrous point in the Popish Church is the making of Images or visible formes of God For what Is not God a spirit How then can anie fashion him by anie bodily shape or visible likenesse Is hee not also an eternal and invisible Spirit What man then can make an Image and visible similitude of him that is eternal and whom he never saw Againe is not God incomprehensible and infinite Doe not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord And doth not King Solomon say That the heaven of heavens are not able to conteyne him And yet will silly men in the vanitie of their foolish thoughts presume to comprehend so almightie and incomprehensible a Maiestie within the narrow compasse of an Image made by themselves S. Paul sheweth it to be the error of the Heathen to take upon them to make Images of God and calleth them fooles for their labour VVhen they professed themselves to be wise they became fooles saith hee for they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of an Image of a corruptible man and of birds and of foure footed beasts and of creeping things If the Heathens were counted and called Fooles as yee see they were for taking upon them to make Images or visible similitudes of the invisible and incorruptible God and iustly did deserve to be so called and reputed for that high indignitie and dishonour offered to so great and incomparable a Maiestie what ought Papists to thinke of themselves in this case Notwithstanding they say they doe it for a remembrance and to put them in minde of God and notwithstanding whatsoever devotion or good intent or meaning they pretend For no doubt even those Heathens likewise pretended a devotion and a good intent and meaning in this matter aswell as Papists otherwise they would never have done it But yet further
even God himselfe doth expressely dislike that anie should be so bold as to attempt to make anie Image or visible shape of him at all reproving the Iewes for so doing saying for that end and purpose thus VVho is like unto mee And againe hee saith To vvhom vvill yee make me like or make me equal or compare mee that I should be like him All they that make an Image saith he are vanitie and their delectable things shall nothing profit And againe he saith All that are of the fellowship thereof shall be confounded for the vvorkemen themselves are men In vaine therefore is that distinction yee have betweene an Idoll and an Image saying That an Idoll is of a false or fained thing or which revera is not or hath no being at all and that an Image is of a true thing or of such a thing as revera is For you see by the premisses that even the portraiture or fashioning of a true thing as namelie even of the true God by anie similitude or likenesse whatsoever made by men is utterly coÌ„demned Yea S. Stephen also confuteth that distinction for even the golden Calfe which the Israelites made althogh they made it to worship the true God by is by him expresly called an Idoll Act. 7.41 Againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graecè formam sonat ab eo per diminutionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deductum aeque apud nos formulam facit Igitur omnis forma vel formula Idolum se dici exposcit Idos in Greeke saith Tertullian signifieth a forme or figure from whence the diminutive Idolon is derived vvhich signifieth a little forme or figure Every forme therefore or figure requireth to be called an Idoll Howsoever then in French or English speech the words Idol and Image may by reason of use and custome sometime differ yet in the Greek tongue from whence the word Idoll is originally derived there appeareth to bee no such dâ—fference But hereof there needeth not to be anie further dispute because God himselfe hath directly forbidden not only Idols but all Similitudes also or Likenesses whatsoever made and erected by men in the way of Religion Thou shalt make thee saith he no graven Image nor any similitude of things that are in heaven above nor that are in the earth beneath nor that are in the vvaters underneath the Earth Thou shalt not bow downe thy selfe to them nor serve them In which words you see two things directly enioined the one that no man presume to make anie Images or similitudes of God the other that if he have made anie such Image or similitude that he proceed not further in sinning by bowing downe to them or serving them Agreeably whereunto is likewise that which Moses spake as it were expounding that Commandement unto the Israelites and saying thus unto them The Lord spake unto you out of the middest of the fire and yee heard the voyce of the vvords but saw no similitude save a voyce Then hee declared unto you his Covenant vvhich he commanded you to doe even the Ten Commandements and vvrote them upon two Tables of stone And the Lord commanded me that same time that I should teach you ordinances vvhich yee should observe in the land vvhither yee goe to possesse it Take therefore good heed unto your selves for yee saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire that yee corrupt not your selves and make not a graven Image or representation of any figure vvhether it be the likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth or the likenesse of any feathered soule that flyeth in the ayre or the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the earth or the likenesse of any fish that is in the vvaters beneath the earth Marke well this reason of Moses that because they onely heard a voice of God but saw no Image or Similitude of him therefore they should take heed that they be not so presumptuous as to make anie visible Image or similitude of him Theodoret also saith Deus ab ijs fieri qui uâ—lâ—us creaturae imagine effingunt Creatorem that they make gods vvhich fashion the Creator by the image or likenesse of any creature And S. Augustine saith likewise that Dei praecepto prohibetur aliqua in figmentis hominum Dei similitudo By Gods commandement is forbidden any similitude of God devised by men Although therefore yee alledge and say that God in ancient time appeared in the similitude of a Man and that the Holy Ghost also appeared upon Christ in the similitude of a Dove all this maketh nothing for you for God might appeare in what similitude he pleased and who shall or can forbid him by anie law to doe whatsoever he pleaseth But he hath given a law and a commandement to us his creatures whereby wee stand bound though hee be free thaâ— wee shall not make anie Image or similitude of him and therefore our dutie is and accordingly our care must be to doe as he hath enioined and commanded us and not licentiously in matters concerning him and his religion to devise invent and doe as we list our selves 3 But they not onelie make Images or visible shapes of the everie where present invisible and incomprehensible God but they proceed further in this their boldnesse and do also worship God in or by those Images after that they have made them It was one great wickednesse to be so audacious as to make an Image or similitude of God and it is another to worship him after that sort in or by an Image after it is made So this is a third point of Idolatrie wherein the Popish Church is intolerablie faultie For God will be worshipped as himselfe hath prescribed in his word and not according to mens fancies and devises Yea S. Paul expressely condemneth all ethelothreskeian that is vvill-worship or worshipping of God according to mens pleasures and conceits And therefore Vetuit Deus non solum Imaginem aliquam adorari sed etiam seipsum adorari in Imagine God hath forbidden not onely an Image to be vvorshipped but himselfe also to be vvorshipped in an Image saith Abulensis Agreeably whereunto S Ambrose also saith Non vult se Deus in lapidibus coli God vvill not have himselfe to be vvorshipped in stones For as Christ himselfe also teacheth God is a spirit and they that worship him must vvorship him in spirit and in truth Yea their doings in this point be as grosse Idolatrie as was that of the Israelites in the time of Moses when they together with Aaron the high Priest made the golden Calfe and worshipped God in that Image which themselves had made For yee must not thinke them to be so senselesse or sottish as that they did beleeve that verie Image it selfe to be God I hope yee will suppose that Aaron
likewise touched him I say why should not all and euerie of these be by the same reason worshipped and adored with divine honour You see then what weake most poore reasons Papists have for this their Idolatry in worshipping a wooden Crosse in stead of the true God that made heaven and earth S. Ambrose directlie brandeth it and calleth it an Heathenish error to vvorship the Crosse vvhereon Christ dyed And yet neither are yee able to prove that all and everie of those severall Crosses which in so manie distant places of several Kingdomes and Countries amongst Papists be thus worshipped bee that verie Crosse whereon Christ our Saviour died and was crucified Yea it is a thing impossible that they all and everie of them they being so manie and diverse should or can bee that verie Crosse. 7 I shall not neede here to shew how the Pope of Rome is made a god or rather exalted above God himselfe in the Papacie because this is declared partlie before and partlie and more fully afterward But yet consider here whether they make not also the Church a God whilst they not onelie beleeve it but beleeve in it For accordinglie the Rhemists teach it to be lawfull to beleeve in Men and in the Church The Creede contrariwise teacheth us Credere sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam to beleeve that there is an holy Catholik Church but it doth not bid us to beleeve in the holy Catholike Church Yea it teacheth everie Christian to beleeve onelie In God for thus it saith I beleeve in God the Father c. and in Iesus Christ his only Sonne c. and I beleeve in the holy Ghost And this distinction of creatures and mysteries in the Creede from the Creator by the preposition In is likewise so observed and taught by the Ancient Fathers For Ruffinus saith thus Non dixit in sanctam Ecclesiam c. He said not I beleeve In the Catholicke Church nor In the remission of sinnes nor In the resurrection of the Body for if he had added the preposition In there should have beene the same force of meaning vvith that vvhich went before But now in those vvords in vvhich is set forth our faith of the Godhead it is said In God the Father and In Iesus Christ his Sonne and In the Holy Ghost But in the rest vvhere the speech is not of the Godhead but of Creatures and Mysteries the preposition In is not added that it should be said In the holy Church but that vvee should beleeve that there is an holy Church not as God but as a Church gathered unto God And men should beleeve that there is a remission of sinnes but not In the remission of sinnes and they should beleeve the resurrection of the Body but not In the resurrection of the Body Therefore by this syllable of Preposition the Creator is distinguished from the Creatures and things pertayning to God from things belonging to men Agreeablie to him writeth also Eusebius Emissenus saying Aliud est credere Deo aliud In Deum credere c. It is one thing to beleeve God and another thing to beleeve In God we ought of right to beleeve both Peter and Paul but to beleeve In Peter and Paul that vvere to bestow upon the servants the honour due to the Lord vvhich vve ought not to doe To beleeve him that is to give credite to him every one may doe it to a man but this to beleeve In him know that thou owest onely to the Divine Maiestie And this also is to be marked It is one thing Credere Deum to beleeve that there is a God and another thing Credere in Deum to beleeve in God for the Divel is found to beleeve that there is a God but to beleeve In God none is found to doe this but he vvhich hath devoutely trusted in him And therefore to beleeve that there is a God is to know naturally but to beleeve in God is faithfully to seeke him and vvith our vvhole love to passe into him So likewise touching the Articles of the Catholicke Church Remission of sinnes Resurrection c. he saith Let us beleeve In God These other things vve doe rehearse vve doe not beleeve in them but vve beleeve them These things I say vvee confesse not as God but as the benefites of God Primasius also observeth this distinction saying Fides perfecta est non solum Christum sed etiam In Christum credere It is perfect faith not onely to beleeve that Christ is but to beleeve In Christ. If you would know what it is to beleeve In God S. Cyprian will further informe you Non credit In Deum qui non in eo solo collocat totius foelicitatis suae fiduciam He doth not beleeve In God saith hee vvhich doth not repose in him alone the confidence of his vvhole felicity Credere in Creaturam est divinitatis offensio To beleeve in a Creature is an offence against the Deity saith Greg. Baeticus ad Gallam Placidiam Yea Cursed is the man that putteth his trust in man saith the Lord God himselfe Thus then you see a difference betweene Credere Deum and Credere Deo and Credere in Deum namelie that Credere Deum is to beleeve that there is a God and Credere Deo is to beleeve all that God speaketh to be true and thus farre Divels and Reprobates may goe but Credere in Deum to beleeve in God that is to repose the confidence of a mans whole felicitie not in his owne or in other mens merits nor in Saints or Angels or in the Church or in anie creatures but in God onlie is the faith and beleefe proper and peculiar to the true Christian. And herewithall you may perceive that Credere Ecclesiam Catholicam is to beleeve that there is a Catholike Church and Credere Ecclesiae Catholicae is to give credite to the Catholik-Church that is to beleeve that to be true which the Catholike Church teacheth and that Credere in Ecclesiam Catholicam is to repose a mans trust affiance faith and confidence in the Catholike Church which what is it else but to make a god of it and so to have moe gods then One and consequentlie to commit a most grosse Idolatrie For what greater dishonor or wrong can be done then to put the Church in the place of God or to attribute that to men or Angels or to anie creatures which properlie belongeth to the Creator But the Rhemists alledge three Texts of Scripture to prove it lawfull to beleeve in men The one is in the Epistle to Philemon where S. Paul speaketh thus unto him Hearing of thy love and faith vvhich thou hast toward the Lord Iesus and toward all the Saints c. But reddendo singula singulis it is easie to be perceived that Faith is there to be referred to Christ and Love to all the Saints for S. Paul himselfe who is the best expositor of his owne words
is in the Church namelie amongst such as professe Christ and Christianitie and consequently not amongst Iewes Turkes and other Infidels of the world For S. Paul is not wont to call anie Infidells The Temple of God but to Christians onely and such as professe Christ and Christianitie hee applieth and giveth this terme saying unto them expreslie Vos estis Templum Dei Yee are the Temple of GOD and againe Templum Dei sanctum est quod estis vos The Temple of God is holie which yee are The Papists therefore are deceived who would have this place understood of a material Temple which they suppose Antichrist shall build at Ierusalem to raigne in this they thus expound to shift it from their Pope of Rome that hee might not bee supposed Antichrist But what saith S. Hierome Antichrist saith he shall sit in Templo Dei id est vel Hierosolimis ut quidam putant vel in Ecclesia ut verius arbitramur In the Temple of God that is either at Hierusalem as some thinke or in the Church as wee more truly hold So that the truer opinion and righter exposition of these words hee holdeth to bee this that by the Temple there is meant not anie Temple at Hierusalem but the Church of Christians namelie of such as professe Christ and Christianitie Yea that conceipt of the Papists whereby they suppose that the Temple of Ierusalem which now lieth wast and ruinated under the dominion of the Turkes shall bee reedified and builded up againe S. Hierome reckoneth for a meere Iewish fable And so doth Origen also And indeed after that the Temple was once destroyed by Titus Vespasian the rest of the Romans according to the Prophesie of Christ in Mat. 24. the vulgar translation which the Papists hold for the only Authenticke text in Daniel chap. 9.27 doth shew that it is never to be reedified but that it is to remaine in perpetual desolation to the end for the words are Et erit in Templo abominatio desolationis usque ad consummationem finem perseverabit desolatio And there shall bee in the Temple the abhomination of desolation and unto the consummation and end shall the desolation continue And S. Hierome interpreting it speaketh yet more plainelie saying Vsque ad consummationem finem mundi perseverabit desolatio The desolation shall continue unto the consummation end of the world And so doth S. Chrysostome also declare Nazianzen also Theodoret Socrates Sozomen and Ruffinus also do likewise declare that the Temple at Hierusalem is never to bee reedified for say they when Iulian the Apostata endeavoured to reedifie the Temple to the end hee might falsifie if he had could the Prophecie and preaching of Christ concerning the said Temple Our Saviour Christ by fier first from heaven and after out of the earth and by a fearefull earth-quake hindred this enterprise thereby proving his Godhead the truth of his Prophesie and shewing that hee was not pleased as Sozemen saith with the renewing of the Temple Now how could Iulian the Apostata by this action of his and by this his attempt in going about to reedifie the Temple thinke to falsifie the words of Christ and likewise the opinion of Christians in that time touching this matter unlesse Christ had taught and the Christians in that time had held and beleeved that it was never to bee rebuilded or reedified And therefore by the temple of God wherin Antichrist shall sit cannot be meant anie Temple at Ierusalem which is never to have anie rebuilding but the Church of professed Christians over whom hee was to rule and raigne Which thing is so evident that besides S. Hieroms exposition of it in that sort Chrysostome also doth so expound it Hee shall sit saith he in the Temple of God not in that Temple at Ierusalem but in the Churches And so the Greeke Scoliast also who usuallie reporteth word for word out of Chrysostome explaineth it and saith likewise That hee shall sit in the Temple of God Ou ton en Hierousalem alla eis ecclesias tou Theâ—u not in the Temple at Ierusalem but in the Churches of God And so doth Theophilact also expound those words That hee shall sit not in the Temple at Ierusalem but simplie in the Churches in every Temple of God Yea that not Ierusalem but the VVhore of Babylon namelie the Papall or Popish Citie of Rome is the special place and seat for the great Antichrist to raigne in is before declared verie evidentlie and at large out of the Revelation of S. Iohn Chap. 17. So that all these Scriptures do well and rightlie accord together and agree in this that the grand Antichrist is not to have his seate or place at Ierusalem to raigne over either Iewes or Turkes or other Infidells of the world but at Rome speciallie generallie in the Temple of God that is in the churches of Christians that is amongst such as professe Christ and Christianitie All which as is apparant doth verie fitlie and fullie agree to the Pope of Rome 3 Here then you may perceive what manner of adversarie or opposite Antichrist is to bee supposed for S. Paul saith of him that hee is ho Antâ—keimenos an Adversarie or opposite namelie that hee is not to bee supposed anie open and professed enemie against Christ and Christianitie but a mystical secret hidden and disguised enemie and such a one as shall outwardlie pretend to bee as S. Hierome sheweth the head or chiefe of the Covenant that is a chiefe and principall friend of Christ and Christianitie and yet revera shall be an oppugner of him and an abuser of his name and of the name of the Church to serve his owne wicked plots and designes And this is yet further hereby manifest because this verie word Antichrist is no where throughout the whole new Testament expreslie found but only in the Epistles of S. Iohn where S. Iohn doth not call him an Antichrist that openlie professedly denieth or oppugneth Christ but such as in his time were Cerinthus Ebion and the like who making profession of Christ outwardly and in words doe neverthelesse hold teach or preach false erronious or heretical doctrins opinions Agreablie whereunto S. Hillary also speaketh saying It is the propertie of Antichrists name to be contrary unto Christ This is practised saith he under the opinion of counterfeit pietie This under a shew of preaching the Gospel is practized that our Lord Iesus Christ may be denied vvhilest hee is thought to be preached And so also testifieth S. Hierome saying Antichristus est quisquis sub nomine Christi ea docet quae contraria sunt Christo Hee is Antichrist vvhosoever teacheth under the name of Christ those things that bee contrary unto Christ. And therefore you must ever remember to observe a difference betweene Christian Vnchristian and Antichristian people into which three sorts of People all
the people in the world may aptlie be divided The Vnchristian people be those that make no profession at all of Christ or Christianitie of which sort be Iewes Turkes and other Infidels of the world The Christian people revera and indeed of which in this distribution I speake be those that professe Christ and beleeve in him and addict themselves onelie to his religion and the rules and waies of it as it is described and set downe in the sacred and canonical Scriptures The Antichristian people be those that professe Christ in words in outward shewes and semblance but yet neverthelesse denie or oppugne him in deeds or in doctrine or in both Whence is concluded that neither the Turke nor Mahomet as I said before nor anie of the rest of the Infidells of the world can properly and according to the Scripture phrase and sense bee tearmed Antichrists or Antichristians fith they make no profession of Christ at all but such are properly to be termed Vnchristian and not Antichristian people and consequently it remaineth that Antichrist and Antichristian people bee onely to bee found within Christendome and amongst those that professe Christ. And who these be within Christendome is easily to be discerned for that the Pope of Rome and his followers be this kinde of covert masked and disguised adversaries and opposites to Christ and that under the name and profession of Christ his church and religion I thinke there is none but doth or may verie readilie perceive But would you know it further and in some particulars For you must indeed come to particulars with them inasmuch as otherwise in general termes and words they will make great profession of Christ and of the rights honors prerogatives to him his Church belonging and yet in the meane time in particulars and indirectlie and by consequent they will oppugne him Inasmuch therefore as he hath the name of Antichrist chiefelie by reason of his opposition unto Christ in this covert and disguised manner let us see how that is verified in the Pope and Papacie For which purpose let us consider our Lord Iesus Christ as he is to be considered namelie in respect of his person and in respect of his offices committed to him from his Father In respect of his person he is both God and Man in respect of his offices he is a Prophet a Priest a King unto us Now in everie of these respects doth the Pope and Papacie oppugne Christ. For first what a God doe they make Christ to be when they preferre the Virgin Mary above him and acknowledge authoritie in her to command him For thus they speake unto her Iube natum Iure Matris Impera redemptori monstra te esse Matrem That is Command thy Sonne and by thy motherly authority command the Redeemer and shew thy selfe to be a mother Is he God and the creator and supreame commander of all things that is thus made subiect to the authoritie and commandement of a creature But doe they not further oppugne his Godhead verie manifestlie when they hold that everie Priest of theirs after breathing of a few words out of his mouth can create and make Iesus Christ his maker for so they say as is before shewed that Sacerdos est Creator creatoris sui The Priest is the Creator or maker of his maker Now then is he a God that can be thus made by men And what doe they else but oppugne his Manhood also verie manifestlie whilest they make his bodie to be multi-present that is present in manie places at one time For they say it is both in heaven and in earth at once yea in so manie places as their Masse is celebrated or their Host reserved at one and the selfe same time which is contrarie to the nature and propertie of a true bodie which we are sure Christ Iesus hath Yea as they hold his Body to be carnallie eaten in the Sacrament with the bodily mouth so doe they hold it also to be void of dimensions and quantitie and to be uncircumscribed and invisible and no way sensible which is likewise as much as to make him to have no true bodie at all When againe they hold that his bodie is made out of the substance of a peece of bread for so much that their verie word of Transubstantiation importeth which was indeed not so made but of the substance of the Virgin Mary doe they not verie cleerelie oppugne his humanitie and the veritie of his bodie You see then how they doe oppugne the person of Christ both in respect of his Deitie and also of his humanitie verie apparantlie Let us now likewise briefelie consider how they oppugne Christ in his three offices namelie as he is a Prophet a Priest and a King unto us The Prophecie of Christ whose voice and instruction as of a Prophet and Teacher all-sufficient we are commanded to heare and obey they oppugne first by teaching that the sacred and Canonical Scriptures be imperfect and insufficient for a Christian mans instruction and salvation without their Traditions secondlie by adding not onlie their owne Traditions but the Apocryphal Bookes and Decretal Epistles also to the Canon of the Bible and stablishing them to be of equall authoritie reverence with the Canonical Scriptures themselves thirdlie by equaling also the determinations of their Popes and the Decrees of their Councels and Church which they say cannot erre unto the divine and canonical Scriptures they holding them to be as undoubtedlie the voice oracle of the Holie Ghost as anie thing is which is contained in those Scriptures fourthlie not onlie in equaling but which is more and much worse in preferring magnifying and advancing of their Pope and Church and their authoritie above the authoritie of the Scriptures and therefore doth Silvester Prierias Master of the Popes Palace affirme that Indulgences bee warranted unto us not by the authoritie of Scripture but by the authoritie of the Church and Pope of Rome which saith hee is a greater Authority Againe hee saith Whosoever resteth not on the doctrine of the Roman Church and Bishop of Rome as the infallible rule of God à qua sacra Scriptura robur trabit authoritatem from which the sacred Scripture draweth her strength and authoritie hee is an Heretick And so saith Eckius likewise that Scriptura nisi Ecclesiae authoritate non est authentica The Scripture is not authenticall but by the authoritie of the Church and sundry such waies doe they oppugne the all-sufficient written word doctrine and instruction of Christ our Prophet His Priesthood they also oppugne which consisteth chiefly in these two things viz. in sacrificing himselfe once for all his people upon the Crosse to take away their sinnes and in making intercession for them Now this his onely-propitiatory and only-bodily and all-sufficient Sacrifice they oppugne by erecting of another Sacrifice in their abominable Masse wherein they say their Priests
unto thee but my Father vvhich is in heaven And I say unto thee Thou art Peter and upon this Rocke vvill I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it And I will give unto thee the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven and vvhatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and vvhatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Howbeit first you must be put in mind that the confession which Peter here made of Christ to be the Sonne of the living God was likewise the confession and acknowledgement of the rest of the Apostles aswel as of Peter so that Hee for his part was therin but as the Mouth of the rest or like the Foreman of a Iurie pronouncing that verdict and confession for them all For which cause also the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven and the power of binding and loosing of sinnes bee there promised to be given to Peter not as to him alone but to him as bearing and representing at that time the person of them all For that Peter at that time represented the person of them all is manifest by these reasons First the question was demanded not of Peter alone but of the rest of the Apostles aswell as of him for the words be not in the singular but in the plural number Vos autem quem me esse dicitis But VVhom doe yee say that I am and consequently the answer that was given must consonantly thereunto be supposed to be the answer of them all For it were a verie uncivill and unseemely part beside undutifull if the rest being demanded and asked the question aswell as Peter should give no maner of answer to their Lord and Master demanding it of them Which they must needs be held guiltie of unlesse their answer be taken to bee included and comprehended in that answere of Peter Secondly when this promise made to S. Peter came to bee performed it was performed to them all alike as you may see in that place of Ioh. 20.22 23. where that promise was performed and accomplished Which also sheweth that the promise made to S. Peter was not made as to him alone but to him as representing at that time the person of them all For the promise and the performance of that promise must of necessitie have coherence and bee made to agree together as most aptlie and rightly expounding one an other And according hereunto doe the Ancient Fathers likewise expound it Origen saith This saying of Christ to Peter I will give unto thee the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven is common also to the rest of the Apostles and the words that follow as spoken to Peter bee also common to them all Again he saith Shall we dare to say that the gates of hell shall not overcome onely Peter and that the same gates shall prevaile against all the other Apostles And againe hee saith If wee speakâ— the same thing that Peter spake wee are become Peter and unto us it shall bee said Thou art Peter for hee is a Rocke whosoever is the disciple of Christ. And againe hee saith If thou thinke that the whole Church was builded only upon Peter what wilt thou then say of Iohn the son of Thunder and of everie of the Apostles Cyprian speaketh in like sort upon these words of Christ to Peter In the person of one man saith hee the Lord did give the Keies to all the Apostles to signifie the unitie of them all for verilie the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was endued with equal fâ—llowship both of honour and power But hee did begin with unitie that is to say with one that thereby it might be signified that there is but one Church of Christ. In like sort doth S. Augustine expound it saying VVhen they vvere all asked Peter alone maketh the Ansvver and it is said unto him I vvill give unto thee the Keies of the kingdome of heaven as though hee alone had received authoritie to binde and to loose whereas HE had spoken THAT for them All and received THIS as representing or bearing in himselfe the person of unitie And againe hee saith If there were not a mystery of the Church in Peter The Lord would not have said I will give to thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of heaven for if this were said onely to Peter then the Church hath them not And if the Church hath them then when hee received the Keyes hee signified the whole Church So likewise testifieth S. Hierome Yee will say saith hee that the Church is builded upon Peter hovvbeit in another place the same thing is done upon all the Apostles and all receive the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven and the strength of the Church is founded equally upon them all Beda doth likewise so expound it saying thus The power of binding and loosing notwithstanding it seeme to bee given onely to Peter yet without all doubt wee must understand that it was given also to the rest of the Apostles Haymo doth also so affirm This authoritie saith hee the Lord gave not onely to Peter but also to all the Apostles because Peter expressed the faith of all the Apostles when he said Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God So that vvhat the Lord said to Peter he said unto all his Apostles as appeareth Ioh. 20.23 where hee saith thus unto them all alike VVhose sinnes yee remit they are remitted unto them and whose sinnes yee reteine they are reteyned Wherefore the Keyes whereby the Kingdome of heaven is opened and shut to sinners and the power of binding and loosing sinnes appeare to be no more specially or principallie given to Peter then to the rest of the Apostles but they all received that power athority equally alike And here withal you may perceive that the verie person of Peter is not the Rocke or foundation whereupon the Church of Christ is builded for then upon the death of Peter the church for want of a rocke or foundation to uphold it would have come to ruine but it is Christ Iesus himselfe whom Peter there for himself in the name of the rest confessed that is the Rocke and foundation to support and uphold the Church and whereupon it is builded For so also doth S. Paul expound and declare it saying in precise termes thus Other foundation can no man lay then that vvhich is layd alreadie vvhich is Iesus Christ where you see that hee expresly affirmeth the Church to have no other foundation but Christ onely And in another place hee also calleth Christ Iesus the Rocke in expresse termes for he saith That Rocke was Christ yea and Christ himselfe saith Hee that heareth my vvordes and doth them is the vvise man that buildeth his house upon the Rocke What better expositors then these would you have to expound and declare these words By the Rocke then not Peter but Christ is to
remaineth an husband and consequently whatsoever others doe his wife that oweth him special duetie and respect is not to withdraw her duetie and obedience but is still to performe it unto him as to her husband If the Master be excommunicate and that others therefore doe withdraw their companie from him yet is not his servant to withdraw his duetie and service from him for notwithstanding excommunication hee still is and remaineth a Master to his servant and consequently notwithstanding excommunication he is still of all his servants to be obeyed as a Master In like sort if a King be excommunicate and that therefore other Kings and Princes and such as owe him no subiection doe withdraw themselves from him yet may not his owne subiects withdraw their subiection duetie and obedience inasmuch as notwithstanding excommunication hee still is and remaineth a King to his subiects and consequently is of them still to be honoured and obeyed as their King But so as the Pope may serve his owne turne and erect and stablish to himselfe a Throne and Kingdome upon earth above all Kings Princes and Emperors of the world which is the chiefe or onely marke he shot at what careth hee what or whom or how he doth abuse be they Kings or subiects or whosoever Yea it is too well knowne to the world that some of his Cardinals Priests and Iesuites have been so monstrous as to perswade subiects to lay violent hands upon and to murther their owne Soveraignes accounting it forsooth to be a matter meritorious to commit such abominable and lothsome villanie in their pretended Catholicke but indeed most divellish and Antichristian cause If anie make doubt hereof let Parry Ballard Babington and sundrie others executed in the late Queene ELIZABETHS dayes be witnesses hereof And let also that late most execrable plot and intention of theirs to blow up the Parliament house in England and all that should be in it with Gunpowder likewise beare witnesse hereof to all posterities How then can such a Religion which under colour of being Catholike and under pretence of a Catholike cause when neverthelesse it is nothing so but the cleane contrarie alloweth warranteth commandeth and commendeth rebellion treason and murther of Christian Protestant Kings and Princes and their people as a matter good and meritorious be but most detestable and damnable And what can the Pope being the approver allower and chiefe in this businesse and for whose sake all this is done be but the Grand Antichrist Where also you may further understand that the Popish Priests Iesuites and the rest of that order being as they are no Ministers of Christ but of Antichrist can therefore give to none of you anie absolution or remission of your sinnes but doe rather augment enlarge and increase your sinnes so much the more as they must needs by such your unlawfull resorting to them So that hereafter ye shal doe well to forbeare and leave off your Eare-Christ or Auricular Confession to them which hath also no commandement or institution from Christ but is onely an humane devise whereunto none is necessarily tied Which thing is so cleere that their owne Canon Law affirmeth that It vvas taken up onely by a certaine Tradition and not by any auâ—horitie of the Old or New Testament Panormitan likewise saith That opinion of the Canon Law greatly pleaseth him because he findeth no manifest authoritie that ever God or Christ commanded us to confesse our sinnes to a Priest And Rhenanus and Erasmus also affirme that Christ ordeined it not Mâ—ctarius Bishop of Constantinople upon an accident that fell out at Confession put it cleane downe in his Church and the Bishops of the East did the like in theirs Which those godly ancient Bishops would never have done nor lawfully could have done if it had beene Gods owne ordinance and institution As for the confession of sinnes which they made that came to be baptised of S. Iohn Baptist it was voluntarie and publike and no private or auricular confession and so was also their confession voluntarie and publike and not secret or auricular which is mentioned in Acts 19. It is true that S. Iames saith Confesse your faults one to another and pray one for another that yee may be healed But this no more tyeth you to confesse your faults or sinnes to a Priest then to another man yea it no more tieth you if yee well observe the words to confesse your sinnes to a Priest then â—t tâ—eth a Priest to confesse his sinnes to you for by these words Christianâ— bee charged to confesse their sinnes one to another as they be likewise there charged to pray one for another I grant that in the ancient Church such as were publike offenders did for those their open and publike offences publike pennance by publike and open confession of them in the Congregation with sorrow for the same and asking forgivenesse first of God then of the Church or congregation which they had so offended After which publike confession and pennance and satisfaction so made to the Church or Congregation where the offence was committed they were againe reconciled and received absolution by a publike pronouncing of it upon that their repentance declared Which kinde of publike confession and open pennance and absolution thereupon is also observed in the reformed Protestant churches But this no way serveth to prove your private secret and auricular confession yea it rather maketh against it because this was publike Yet if anie thinke that a private confession to a Minister of Christ is sometime and in some cases convenient and meet to be used the Protestants in their learned and godly workes against the Papists have told you that they doe not dislike it but well allow and commend it so often as burthen of conscience oppresseth anie man for anie sinne by him committed to utter those his griefes and confesse his sinnes which wound him so sore either to anie faithfull Minister of Christ or to anie other skilfull godly and discreet Christian whosoever thereby to receive helpe remedie and consolation Caietan himselfe though hee like well with us of a voluntarie confession which is not forced or commanded yet expressely denieth this Popish manner of Auricular Confession to be of Christs institution And indeed the Ministers of Christ may verie well pronounce absolution or forgivenesse of sinnes upon a free and voluntarie confession though they binde not men by a law of necessitie at certaine times of the yeare to make such a confession unto them as is used and urged in the Papacie after a tyrannical manner This Christian moderate and allowable course doe the Protestant Ministers hold in their receiving of anie Confessions as also they forgive not sinnes absolutely and at pleasure but onely as is before said ministerially and declaratively and with a limitation viz. so as they have a right and lively faith and a true repentance to whom they pronounce their absolution But to proceede and
to shew how the other words in the Text be also verified in the Pope whilest he taketh upon him to forgive sinnes as fully absolutely as God himselfe whilest he taketh upon him to depose Kings and to dispose of their kingdomes at his pleasure whilest he taketh upon him not onely to order and dispose of earthly kingdomes but also to rule and order the whole Church of God upon earth at his owne will what doth hee else but sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if be vvere God yea whilest he advanceth himselfe above all Bishops Kings Princes and Emperors of the World and above all general Councels also so that hee will not be censured or controlled by anie of these or by anie of their lawes or constitutions and which is yet more whilest hee advanceth himselfe even above the divine Scriptures then selves dispensing with them at his pleasure what doth he else but so carrie himselfe as if he were God or rather above God But againe what doth he else but sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if he were God whilest he ruleth and raigneth in mens consciences like God yea or rather above God himselfe for common experience sheweth that the men and women that be under his subiection and of his Church and superstition be more devoted and more regardfull to know and obey his will and his ordinances and constitutions then they be to know and obey God his word and commandements It is then verie evident that the Pope is at the least as a God unto them and that upon him they as confidently relie as upon God himselfe affirming and supposing him to have an infallibilitie of iudgement and such a special direction by the Holy Ghost as that he cannot possibly erre in anie thing he teacheth decreeth or determineth Yea doth he not sit in the Temple of God as God so shew himselfe as if he were God when he not onely taketh upon him the proper and peculiar powers honours preeminences rights and authorities belonging unto God as is before declared but even the verie title and name also of God For with a verie bould face hee acknowledgeth himselfe to be called God urgeth the title and challengeth it and further they say of him that he is Dominus deus noster Papa Our Lord God the Pope And doe not also these Verses dedicated to him and accepted of him sufficiently declare the same Oraclo vocis mundi moderaris habenas Et meritò in terris crederis esse Deus That is By Oracle of thy voyce thou rul'st and govern'st all And vvorthily a God on earth men deeme and doe thee call 6 But S. Paul proceedeth and saith thus Remember yee not that vvhen I vvas yet vvith you I told you these things and novv yee knovv vvhat vvithholdeth that hee might bee revealed in his time for the mysterie of iniquitie alreadie vvorketh only bee vvhich novv vvithholdeth shall let untill hee bee taken out of the vvay and then shall that vvicked or lavvlesse â—an bee revealed Here hee sheweth what it was that did withhold and keepe backe Antichrist that hee did not appeare in his colours in those times of the Apostles albeit the Mystery of that Iniquiâ—y was not then altogether idle but was even then a working in such close manner as it could This same To chatechon vvhich vvithholdeth and letteth and hindereth Antichrist that hee could not then appeare was the Romane Empyre as Tertullian Chrysostome Augustine Hierome and others doe expound it For so long as the Romane Empyre stood in his full and florishing estate Antichrist could not rise to that his power and height And therefore that Antichrist might appeare and shew himselfe in his glorie and greatnesse it was requisite that the Emperour of Rome should give place and depart from that Cittie where the seate of the Empyre then was that so the Pope might possesse it and make it his seat according to that prophesie in the Revelation of S. Iohn before mentioned where it is foretold that that great City of Rome was to become the head and Metropolitan Citie for the Antichristian Kingdome And the issue and event hath shewed it selfe answerable For the Emperor Constantine removed and translated the seat of the Empire from Rome in Italy unto Bizantium otherwise called Constantinople in Greece and after that began the Emperors by little and little to loose their right in Italy so that at the last Rome the ancient seate of the Empyre with a great part of Italy fell into the Bishop of Rome his hands and now and for the space of manie hundred yeares hath the Bishop of Rome otherwise called the Pope not the Emperour there had his seate This is so evident as that it needeth no further declaration Wherefore to goe forward S. Paul saith that The comming of Antichrist shall bee by the vvorking of Satan vvith all povver and signes and lying vvonders and in all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they received not the love of the truth c. This is before shewed to agree verie fitly to the Kingdome of Poperie For who boast so much of Miracles as they And yet even touching the Miracles in their Legends Claudius Espencaeus himselfe saith No Stable is so full of dung as their Legends are full of fables Canus also taxeth even Gregories Dialogues and Bedaes Historie in this point And Caietan further taxeth as uncertaine the Miracles done even by those that bee the Canonized Saints in Poperie Why then will they still bee so credulous as to beleeve their Miracles to obiect them or to rely upon them For if you doubt of the reall bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament they will tell you that it hath beene confirmed by Miracle If you doubt of Purgatorie and whether Masses Trentalls Praiers or such like do the Soules of the dead anie good they will also tell you of a Miracle or of some strange Vision Revelation or Apparition of some dead person to prove the same And so to comprehend all in few words for the confirmation of their whole religion they will tell you strange tales of Miracles Apparitions and wonders wrought by their Popes Priests Iesuites Monkes and other their supposed holy men and holy women of their religion Howbeit God himselfe hath herein given us a good rule and direction saying thus If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreames and give thee a signe or vvonder and the signe and the vvonder vvhich hee hath told thee come to passe saying Let us goe after other gods vvhich thou hast not knovvn and let us serve them thou shalt not hearken to the vvords of that Prophet or unto that Dreamer of dreames for the Lord your God proveth you to knovv vvhether you love the Lord your God vvith all your heart and vvith all your soule yee
know the times and the seasons vvhich the Father hath put in his owne power There is another exposition which the Protestants deliver unto you touching the 42 moneths and 1260 daies otherwise called a Time and Times and halfe a Time mentioned in the Revelation which is this namely that times in Gods appointment certaine of the several persecutions and molestations of the Church be therein limited and prescribed albeit to us they be uncertaine untill the event doe declare them For that a time certaine even in the Revelation of S. Iohn may be thus put for a time uncertaine the Rhemists themselves doe sufficiently declare who expound the Thousand yeares wherein the Divell is said to be bound which in it selfe is a time certaine to be neverthelesse the whole time how long or short soever it be of the New Testament untill Antichrists time If then the certaine time of a Thousand yeares signifie no certaine number of yeares but are put for an indefinite and an uncertaine time as the Rhemists and other Papists also teach what marvell is it or what iust exception can they take against us if wee likewise expound the 42 moneths and 1260 daies otherwise called a Time and Times and halfe a Time for a time indefinite and uncertaine to us untill it be accomplished though God in his foreknowledge hath certainely limited it Yea according hereunto Beda saith By the number of these dayes vvhich make three yeares and an halfe the Holy Ghost comprehendeth all the times of Christianitie because Christ vvhose body the Church is preached so long in the flesh To the same effect he saith upon the 14 verse Hee designeth the vvhole time of the Church comprehended before in the number of Dayes Ambrosius Ansbertus likewise saith The number of 1260 dayes in vvhich the woman tarieth and is fed in the vvildernesse doth so signifie the course of Preaching or end of Persecution in vvhich the old enemy is permitted to rage against the holy Church by that damned man vvhom he shall possesse that neverthelesse it comprehendeth the beginning either of the preaching or of the persecution in vvhich Christ began to preach and suffer yea the vvhole time of this present life which is betweene the beginning and the end Rupertus also expoundeth these daies for so long time as the Church being a stranger in the vvorld suffereth persecution Haymo likewise saith It may be referred unto all the time from the ascention of Christ unto the end of the vvorld Thus you see that even these ancient Expositors expound it not for iust three yeares and an halfe as yee doe but as comprehending in it a much longer time and as being a time certaine put for an uncertaine as wee doe But yet to answere more particularly to those Texts And first to that Text of Revelat. 11. It is there said That the Gentiles shall tread under foot the holy Citie that is the true Church of God two and forty moneths But I will give power unto my two vvitnesses and they shall prophecy saith the Text 1260 dayes clothed in Sackcloth These are two Olive Trees and two Candlestickes standing before the God of the earth And if any man vvill hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouthes and devoureth their enemies For if any man vvould hurt them thus must he be killed These have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying and have power over vvaters to turne them into bloud and to smite the earth vvith all maner of plagues as often as they vvill And vvhen they have finished their Testimony the Beast that commeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make vvarre against them and shall overcome them and kill them c. You suppose that by these two witnesses here mentioned be meant Enoch and Elias who as you imagine shal come againe personallie into this world to encounter and oppose themselves against Antichrist But first how doe yee prove these two Witnesses to be Enoch and Elias for yee finde them not so named in the Text. And indeed it is but an imagination or surmise which hath no sufficient ground or certaintie in it Yea S. Hierom reiecteth it saith that they be Iudei Iudaizantes haeretici c. Iewes and Iudaizing hereticks that looke for a corporal or personal comming of Elias And in another place he reckoneth such maner of expectation and opinion touching Enoch and Elias as also the opinion touching the building againe of the material Temple at Hierusalem in the number of Iewish Fable Arethas indeed saith of these two Witnesses that it was constantly received that they should be Enoch and Elias but Victorinus who was more ancient then Arethas telleth us otherwise Many thinke saith hee that one of these two vvitnesses is Elias the other eyther Elizeus or Moses but they are both dead Howbeit the death of Ieremy is not found And all our Ancients have delivered saith hee that that other is Ieremy And S. Hillary thinketh them to be Elias and Moses Such uncertaintie there is even in ancient Fathers as well as in other Writers when they goe by coniectures ghesses and imaginations onely without sufficient warrant from the word of God It is therefore to be observed that the Revelation is full of mystical prophetical and alluding speeches As for example where these two Witnesses be called two Olive trees and Candlesticks he alludeth unto that prophecie in Zachary chap. 4.1.2.3.4.5.6 c. Which witnesses of divine Truth and Preachers and Ministers of the Gospel be not unfitly called Candlesticks inasmuch as they beare and hold out the light of Gods word unto the people as also they be well resembled to Olive trees inasmuch as by the meanes of their Ministerie and Preaching of the Gospell the Oyle of Gods grace and of his spirit is powred into mens hearts to mollifie and to convert them unto God Againe in that hee mentioneth two witnesses hee alludeth unto the Law which requireth the Testimonie of two witnesses the testimonie of which number of witnesses is held sufficient to ratifie and confirme a matter So that by these two witnesses he meaneth that hee will ever have even in the greatest furie and rage of Antichrist a competent and sufficient number to beare witnesse of his truth and religion conteined in the two Testaments of the holy Scriptures Likewise hee alludeth partlie unto the times of Elias and partlie unto the times of Moses when hee saith that If any vvill hurt the two vvitnesses fire proceedeth out of their mouthes to devoure their enemies and that these have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying and have power over vvaters to turne them into bloud c. For so in Moses time in the land of Egypt vvere the vvaters in the River turned into Bloud and sundrie other plagues brought upon that land of Egypt for molesting of Gods
people and not suffering them to goe out that they might serve him As also in the daies of Elias it was that fire came downe from heaven to consume and devoure certaine Captaines and their Companies of fifties that came to apprehend and disturb him And so againe at the praier of Elias heaven was shut so that it rained not on the earth for the space of three yeares and sixe moneths Wherefore here is a manifest allusion in some of these speeches unto the times of Moses and in othersome of them to the times of Elias signifying thereby that God will ever be the revenger of such as shall oppresse molest or wrong anie of these witnesses of his truth and religion Now as the famine or grievance for want of raine in those daies of the prophecying of Elias was verie great continuing three yeares and sixe moneths so the oppression or grievance of the Church in this place is answerably thereunto limited to 42 moneths as it is likewise in Rev. 13.5 Which 42 months conteine the verie same time of three yeares and sixe moneths mentioned in Elias time and be likewise all one with the 1260 daies mentioned in this Chapter of Rev. 11.3 and Rev. 12.6 reckoning thirtie daies to everie moneth according to the Grecian manner as is fittest this Revelation being written in Greeke and directed to the Greeke Churches But now although these 42 moneths otherwise called 1260 daies being thus reckoned doe arithmetically conteine iust three yeares and an halfe yet being as they are here spoken by way of allusion whether it be to those three yeres six moneths in Elias time or to the three yeares and sixe moneths employed about the siege and taking of Ierusalem by Vespasian and Titus or to the three yeares and an halfe of Christ his preaching in the flesh they are not to be taken literally to conteine during all the times of the Church her persecutions iust three yeares and an halfe and neither more nor lesse for her persecutions everie one knoweth were of much longer continuance then three yeares and an halfe But as I said before they import unto us by that allusion that there is a certaine set time appointed of God how long those grievances and persecutions of the Church should continue albeit we for our parts know it not till the event hath declared it Although then by the Gentiles in this Text of Rev. 11. the false and Antichristian Church be understood as by Iewes likewise mentioned in the Revelation the true Church of Christ is intended yet the 42 moneths and 1260 daies being to bee expounded not literally but mystically allegorically and by way of allusion can make no proofe at all for your purpose Yea Arethas saith that those Dayes and Times so reckoned in the Revelation be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brevitatis Declarativum to declare brevitie or the shortnesse of the time of the persecution of the Church by Antichrist And indeed so it seemeth to be expounded in the Revelation it selfe where speaking of this Antichrist being the seventh head of the Beast it is said that he shall continue but a short time So that the one place in this Revelation serveth well to expound the other And it is thus reckoned by daies and times and moneths that is by a short time for the comfort of Gods people against those persecutions of Antichrist and that they should not thinke it long as I said before how long soever otherwise it might seeme to worldly-minded men And even Hentenius also though a Papist reiecteth this conceit of yours that Antichrist should raigne but iust three yeares and an halfe alledging this for a reason that it is impossible that in so short a time as three yeares and an halfe Antichrist should obtaine so manie Kingdomes and Provinces as it is said hee shall conquer and subdue 10 But to make this yet more manifest unto you that yee may certainlie know the length and continuance of the time of Antichrist and not be led by uncertaine coniectures imaginations or conceipts of men you must resort to the sacred and canonical Scriptures for your direction and assurance in this point as likewise in all other For which purpose you must consider Antichrist in his beginning and in his proceeding increase and growth untill he came at length to his highest step and then being at the highest you must consider him againe in his declination and consumption untill his final destruction and utter abolishing That Antichrist even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had his beginning in the Apostles time S. Iohn is a manifest witnesse And so also witnesseth S. Paul saying expressely that the Mysterie of that his Iniquitie already vvrought even then in his daies And withall he sheweth that more or lesse he should continue and not be utterly abolished untill the bright glorious comming of Christ to Iudgement Now then seeing that Antichrist began in the Apostles times albeit neither â—hen nor long after hee came to his full growth and highest step of pride and seeing also that after he came by degrees and by little and little to the superlative degree he is not utterly to be abolished untill the comming of Christ to Iudgement although in the meane space he be alreadie much consumed and is yet more and more to be consumed what one man shall or can be named that ever lived so long a time as this Antichrist who beginning in the Apostles daies is to have continuance notwithstanding his consumption to the end of the world Can anie reasonable man imagine that anie of that long continuance should be but one singular and particular person Yea must not everie well-advised man hereupon needs conceive that Antichrist must be not one singular and particular man but manie and a succession of men that is thus to have continuance for the space of so manie hundreth yeares in the world Another argument and proofe thereof is this That which in the Prophecies of the Scripture is described under the name and figure of a Beast is not one singular person but an whole State or succession As for example the foure Beasts mentioned in Dan. 7. whereof one was as a Lyon the second like a Beare the third like a Leopard the fourth was unlike to the former and had ten horns None of these foure Beasts betoken anie singular or particular man but everie one of them betokeneth a State or Dominion wherein there was a succession of men For the Beast that was like unto a Lyon signified the Empire or Kingdome of the Assyrians and Babylonians the Beast like unto the Beare signifieth the Empire or Kingdome of the Medes and Persians the Beast likened to a Leopard signifieth the Empire or Dominion of the Greekes and Macedonians and by the fourth Beast with ten hornes is the Kingdome of the Seleucidae and Lagidae understood as some suppose or of the Romane Empire as some others understand
of being Pope and Bishop of Rome and not under anie name or title of being the Emperor For they hold as Antoninus writeth that Potestas Papae maior est omni alia potestate creata The power of the Pope is greater then all other created powers But to conclude what doth he else but exercise this Imperial Authoritie before his face whilest he domineereth over him that is now called Emperor of Rome and Germanie and maketh him his vassall and at his command Yea not only hath the Pope for his part thus disloyally and uniustly depressed and subiugated the Emperor exercising and that verie impudently all his authoritie before his face but hee did so worke and perswade with the inhabitants of the earth that they also were content at last to vvorship the first Beast vvhose deadly vvound vvas healed that is to honour and submit themselves to that Imperial State whereof himselfe after the overthrow of the Emperors became the Monarch For it was an Imperial Monarchie to be ioyned to his Episcopal which he so much desired and thirsted after 4 Wherefore to compasse and effect this which hee so much affected it is said that Hee did great vvonders so that hee made fire to come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signes which vvere permitted him to doe in the sight of the Beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an Image to the Beast vvhich had the vvound of a sword and did live And it vvas permitted to him to give a spirit unto the Image of the Beast so that the Image of the Beast should speake and also should cause that vvhosoever vvould not vvorship the Image of the Beast should be killed If you remember who this Beast is that had the deadly vvound by the sword namely that it was the Romane State wounded in the sixt head viz. in the Emperors you will the better perceive that the Image of that Beast is and must needs be some State or forme of government erected like unto that of the Imperial for what is an Image but a likenesse or resemblance of that whereof it is an Image Now then what is or can bee this Image of that Beast but the Popedome erected in lieu of that Empire at Rome This doth Augustinus Steuchus himselfe though a great Papist sufficiently declare in these words In Pontificatu etsi non illa veteris Imperij magnitudo species certè non longè dissimilis renata est Qua Gentes omnes ab ortu occasu band â—ecus Romanum Pontificem venerantur quam omnes Nationes Olim Imperatoribus obtemperabant In the Popedome saith he there arose if not the greatnesse of the ancient Empire yet verily a forme not much unlike to it VVherby all Nations from East and VVest doe in like manner VVorship the Pope of Rome as they did in times past obey the Emperor And therefore a little after the same Steuchus calleth the Popedome an Empire and a Maiestical Royaltie in expresse termes Blondus likewise comparing Rome restored under the Pope with Rome flourishing under the Emperors saith that Habet Roma in Regna Gentes Imperium Dictatorem nunc perpetuum non Caesaris sed Piscatoris Petri successorem Imperatoris praedicti id est Christi Vicarium Pontificem summum Principes Orbis adorant colunâ— c. Quid quòd maiora vel câ—rtè paria priscorum temporum Vectigalibus Europa pene omniâ— tribuâ— a Romam mittit Rome hath an Empire over Kingdomes and Nations The Princes of the VVorld doe now adore and vvorship the Pope of Rome being the perpetual Dictator and successor not of Caesar but of Peter the Fisherman and the Vicar of Christ c. Yea in a maner all Europe sendeth greater tribute to Rome or at least Equal to that of the old times And with this agreeth that also of Bellarmine where he saith Antichristum fore ultimum qui tenebit Romanum Imperium tamen sine nomine Romani Imperatoris that Antichrist shall be the last head of Rome vvho shall hold the Romane Empire but yet vvithout the name of the Romane Emperor For the name and title of being Pope of Rome and of Christs Vicar and Peters successor under which hee exerciseth all his authoritie both Imperial and Episcopal Spiritual Temporal is better pleasing and more beneficial to him then the name and title of Emperor Yea it is this spiritual power that animates and gives life and spirit as the Text speaketh unto the temporal and which maketh it to be of so great so glorious and so high esteeme for this opens the peoples hearts and purses unto him and brings in and heapes up abundance of wealth and treasure this causeth Kings to stoupe and bow unto him and his censures and thunderbolts of Excommunication to be so dreadfull causeth men to repaire from all quarters to Rome to partake of the spiritual liberalities of his Holinesse and yet hee is ever a gainer by that meanes notwithstanding all that his bountie and liberalitie Neither did this second Beast the false-Prophet Antichrist cause onely the Image of the Beast that is the Papal Empire to be thus made and erected nor did only put a life or spirit into it whereby it did speake that is give forth Edicts Lawes Sentences and Decrees but did further so speake as this Text sheweth that vvhosoever vvould not VVorship the Image of the Beast that is this Papal-Empire should be killed and put to death namely as an Heretick or schismatick or as a seditious person These things be so plaine and evident as that they need no further explication or proofe For to what other end tend all their cruell persecutions their bloudie Inquisitions their detestable Massacres their abominable Leagues Conspiracies and Warres against Protestant Kings Princes people but that none might live or breath if they might have their wills which would not worship and become obedient to it Yea not onely would they have them to be deprived of their lives but of houses also lands goods libertie whatsoever other solace of humane societie For thus did Pope Alexander the third decree in the Councel of Turon against such as would not subiect themselves to the Sea of Rome Ne ubi cogniti fuerint receptaculum quisquam eis in terra sua praebere aut praesidium impertiri praesumat sed nec in venditione emptione aliqua cum ijs communio habeatur ut solatio humanitatis amisso ab errore viae suae resipiscere compellantur Quisquis autem contra haec venire tentaverit tanquam particeps iniquitatis eorum anathemate feriatur Illi vero si deprehensi fuerint per Catholicos principes custodiae mancipati omnium â—onorum amissione mulctentur That after they be knowne no man presume to give them any receipt upon his land or harbour them neither in buying and
not Aventinus write directly thus of him Hildebrandus qui Gregorius septimus primus Imperium pontificium condidit quod successores per qurdringentos quinquaginta continenter annos invito mundo invitis Imperatoribus adeo duxere ut inferos superos in servitutem redigerint atque sub iugum miserint Pope Hildebrand who vvas also called Gregorie the seventh is the first that founded the Papall Empire which his successors for fovver hundreth and fiftie yeares together have so managed in despite of th VVorld and in despite of the Emperors that they have brought inferiours and superiors into subiection and under the yoake The like speaketh Eberard Hildebrandus ante annos centum atque septuaginta primus specie regligionis ANTICHRISTI Imperii fundamenta iecit Hec Bellum nefandum primus auspicatus est quod per successores hucusque continuatur Pope Hildebrand saith hee an hundred and seaventie yeares past was the first vvho under pretence of religion laid the foundation of the Empires of Antichrist Hee first began this wicked vvarre vvhich by his successors is hitherto continued And even Onuphrius also a great favorer and maintainer of the Papal authoritie saith Huic vni c. To this man onely viz. to Pope Hildebrand all the Latine Churches but especially the Church of Rome ought to attribute it that shee is free and pulled out of the hand of the Emperors that shee is enriched with so much riches and vvealth and temporal Dominion that shee is ruler over Kings Emperors and all Christian Princes from vvhom lastlie it is that I may comprehend all in one vvord that this most great excellent state floweth that Rome is the Ladie or Mistres of all the Christian vvorld vvhereas before as a base handmaide shee vvas kept under not onely by the Emperors but by anie Prince ayded by the Romane Emperor From him it is that the right of that greatest and in a manner infinite and in all ages terrible and venerable povver of the pope of Rome hath issued For although formerlie the Popes of Rome vvere respected as heads of the Christian religion and Vicars of Christ and the Successors of Peter yet did not their Authoritie stretch anie further but to defend or maintaine opinions of faith Yea they vvere subiect to Emperors al things vvere done at their becke by them vvere the Popes made neither durst the Pope of Rome iudge or determine anie thing of them Of all the Popes of Rome it is Gregorie the seaventh that is the FIRST vvho having the assistance of the Normans strengthened by the helpe of the Countesse Matildes a VVoman verie potent in Italy and inflamed through the discord and civill warre of the Germane Princes was bould beyond the manner of his predecessors and contemning the Authoritie and power of the Emperor after that hee had obtained the Popedome I doe not say onely to excommunicate but also to deprive the Emperor himselfe of his Kingdome and Empyre A thing before those times unheard of For those Fables which are reported and carried about concerning Arcadius Anastasius and Leo Iconomachus I regard not VVhereupon Oth◠Frisingensis a VVriter of those times saith also thus I read and I read againe the gests of the Romane Kings and Popes and no where doe I finde anie of them before this Emperor Henrie to bee excommunicate by a Pope of Rome or by him deprived of his Kingdome So farre Onuphrius Gotfridus Viterbiensis likewise testifieth that this Emperor Henrie the fourth was the first that was deprived of his Empire by the Pope Trithemius also witnesseth the same saying Ipse primus est inter omnes Imperatores per Papam depositus Hee is the first amongst all the Emperors that was deposed by a Pope By these Writers and Historiographers it then appeareth that although before the times of Hildebrand the Popes of Rome had an Episcopal or Ecclesiastical supremacie or Headship over all other Bishops which also began not till about the yeare 606. in the time of Boniface the third yet a temporal supremacy or Imperial Monarchy over Emperors Kings Princes they never fully compassed effected until the daies of this Pope Hildebrād which was above a 1000. yeares after Christ. And thus you see the original of both the Supremacies of the Pope But what were there anie Miracles signes or wonders done at this time when the Imperial Monarchy wherein the Image of the Beast chiefly consisteth was thus sought to be brought in and setled in the Pope especially was there anie Miracle or Wonder by fire then to be seene It is manifest there were For thus Aventinus writeth Falsi tum Prophetae falsi Apostoli falsi Sacerdotes emersere qui simulata religione populum deceperunt magna signa atque prodigia ediderunt c. False Prophets false Apostles false Priests did Then arise vvho under pretence of Religion deceived the people and did great signes and VVonders c. And amongst other Miracles they alledge this for one that a certaine Bishop whilest hee was preaching against Pope Hildebrand fulmine tactum esse vvas smitten vvith lightning What is this but fire from heaven Yea Pope Hildebrand himselfe being a Magitian and Necromancer would no doubt not faile to doe such miracles and wonders as by divelish device and helpe he could for the bringing of his designes and purposes to passe And amongst the rest of his Wonders Cardinal Benno saith that VVhen hee listed hee vvould shake his sleeves and fire like sparkles did flye out ijs Miraculis oculos simplicium volunt signo sanctitatis ludificabat and vvith those Miracles saith he as it vvere vvith a signe of sanctity did he delude the eyes of the simple Paulus Bernriedensis also rehearseth divers Miracles or Wonders of Pope Hildebrand done by fire and therefore often resembleth him to Elias in whose time fire came down from heaven So that if these words in the Revelation of fire comming downe from heaven on the earth were to be taken literally you see how they may be verified in the Papacie inasmuch as in the Papacie they have made fire come down from heaven on the Earth in the sight of men that is as they made men to beleeve and thinke for so also doth Arethas expound those words But indeed those words in the Revelation be rather mystically and allegorically to be taken for S. Hierome saith Apocalypsim tot habere sacramenta quot verba that the Revelation hath as many mysteries in it as vvords and againe he saith totum esse spiritualiter intelligendum that the whole booke is spiritually to be understood They seeme therefore to be words alluding to the times of Elias and signifying that as in his daies God miraculously sent fire from heaven thereby to certifie the people of the true God and of the truth of his religion so would Antichrist by the miracles done in his Church worke so powerfully and effectually
could not so long as that flourished appeare in his height And therefore well saith Optatus Cum super Imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem certè qui se super Imperatorem extollit iam quasi hominum excesserit metas se ut Deum non Hominem aestimat Seeing there is None above the Emperor but God only which made the Emperor certainly he that exalteth himself above the Emperor as one that hath gone beyond the bounds of men esteemeth himselfe not now any longer as a Man but as God You must then ever remember to distinguish betweene these two which Irenaeus also observeth namely betweene him that is God indeed and essentially and those that be called Gods Non super hunc extolletur Antichristus sed super eos qui dicuntur quidem uon autem sunt Dij Not above Him that is God indeed shall Antichrist be exalted saith he but above those that he called Gods and are not Anselmus doth also so distinguish and saith Antichrist shall be exalted super omne quod dicitur Deus id est super illos qui nuncupativè non essentialiter sunt Dij Deus enim dici aliquando homo potest c. above all that is called God that is saith he above those that be Gods nuncupatively but not essentially For even a man may sometime be called God And so likewise doth Remigius Remensis Peter Lombard Bruno Thomas Aquinas and Dionysius Carthusianâ—â— distinguish writing upon this Text of 2. Thess. 2. And therefore observe well the difference and forget not withall that the Pope is exalted above all these namely above all Emperors Kings Princes and other Potentates of the earth But you will say that not onely Princes on earth but Angels also in heauen be in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Gods as appeareth by conferring Psal. 8.5 with Heb. 2.7 and Psal. 97 7. with Heb. 1.6 c. and that therefore the Pope must have an exaltation above Angels also if he shal be Antichrist But first what necessitie is there that these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super omnem should extend anie further then to Every man for he is but a man himselfe of whom that Text speaketh namely Antichrist the man of sinne and is it not sufficient to declare his pride and elation that he is exalted above everie one of his owne kinde that is above Every Man on Earth be he never so sacred regal or Imperial or never so high or Maiestical But if these words be to be extended to Angels in heaven also then hath Innocentius the fourth told you that to the Pope subdita est omniâ— creatura Every creature is subiect Antoninus saith that His power is greater then all other created powers extending it selfe to things celestial terrestrial and infernal Augustinus Triumphus likewise saith that All knees must how unto him both of things in heaven and things in earth and things infernal Againe it is said that the Pope Vicariatum Christi gerit non tantum in terrenis coelestibus infernis sed etiam in super Angelos bonos malos beareth the Vicarship of Christ not onely in earthly heavenly and infernal things but also over and above the Angels both good and bad Yea it is there said that Potestatem habet maiorem quam omnes Angeli adeo ut ipsos excommunicare possit He hath greater power then all Angels so that he may excommunicate them And therefore it is further said that Papa Angelis habet imperare the Pope hath to doe to command the Angels And againe Papa habet Imperium in Angelos Daemonas The Pope hath command over Angels and Divels And againe Papa Angelis praecipit The Pope commandeth the Angels And the Pope hath accordingly actually commanded the Angels For Pope Clement the sixt in that his indulgent Bull in the yeare of Iubiley commandeth the Angels that they should carrie the right way to heaven the soules of them that purposed to goe on pilgrimage to Rome if being confessed they chanced to die by the way Mandamus prorsus Angelis paradisi quatenus animam à purgatorio penitus absolutam in paradisi gloriam introducant VVee straightly command the Angels of Paradise saith he that they bring the soule being altogether absolved from Purgatory into the glory of Paradise So that you see the Pope of Rome is exalted even above the Angels also which be in Scripture called Gods What then now hindreth but that he should be the undoubted grand Antichrist Yea by thus exalting himselfe above the Angels what doth he else but so shew himselfe as if he were God For by this argument doth the Apostle prove Christ to be God in that he is superior to the Angels As for the Idolls or gods of the Gentiles if anie doe vilipend and contemne them it is not to be imputed to him for a fault for all those Gods be as the Psalmist saith of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 res nihili things of no account or esteeme Yea the sacrifices which the Gentiles offered unto them were made not unto God but unto Divels as S. Paul affirmeth And therefore when the Apostle saith of Antichrist as taxing therein his pride and alledging it as a matter highly faultie and blame-worthie in him that he did exalt himselfe above all that is called God it is manifest that it cannot be meant of the Idols or false gods of the Gentiles which it is no fault for anie man to debase or depresse but it must be intended of his exaltation above such as be called gods by Gods own good liking and approbation of which sort are Kings Princes and the other Potentates of the earth And so also for the same reason must the Sebasma mentioned in this Text be intended not of the Idols or superstitious worship used amongst the Pagans Heathens or Gentiles although they be also called Sebasmata but of such a Sebasma as God in his censure and word alloweth Now it is expressely evident that the Emperor is called and that by way of approbation in Gods Booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Sebastos Augustus consequently the reverence worship and honour that was given unto him might well be called Sebasma And yet if this Text were to be understood of anie false gods or superstitious Sebasmata used in the Popish Church we see that the Pope is in that Church exalted above them all Is not the Altar a sacred and venerable thing unto them Yet when the Pope is once chosen he is exalted above the Altar and the Altar is made his seate to sit upon Is not the Crosse also another great and venerable Sebasma amongst them They say it is to be worshipped with divine honour even with Latria that is with that worship that is due and proper unto God and yet is this Crosse laid under the Popes feete and carried before him as
onely nor see at all so these two sayings likewise may stand well enough together that among all the vertues in the soule faith is the onely instrument whereby we lay hold upon Christ for our iustification and yet that faith being alone and disioyned from the societie of other graces is dead in it selfe as S. Iames speaketh and in that respect can neyther only iustifie nor iustifie at all So though Claudius doe teach as we doe that faith alone saveth us because by the workes of the law no man shall be justified yet hee addeth withall this caution Not as if the workes of the law should be contemned and without them a simple faith so hee calleth that solitarie faith whereof we spake which is a simple faith indeed should be desired but that the workes themselves should be adorned with the faith of Christ. For that sentence of the wise man is excellent that the faithfull man doth not live by righteousnesse but the righteous man by faith In like maner Sedulius acknowledgeth with us that God hath purposed by faith onely to forgive our sinnes freely and by faith onely to save the beleevers and that when men have fallen they are to be renewed onely by the faith of Christ which worketh by love intimating by this last clause that howsoever faith only be it which iustifieth the man yet the worke of love is necessarily required for all that to iustifie the faith And this faith saith he when it hath beene justified sticketh in the soyle of the soule like a root which hath received a showre that when it hath begun to be manured by the law of God it may rise up againe into bowes which may beare the fruit of workes Therefore the root of righteousnesse doth not grow out of workes but the fruit of workes out of the root of righteousnesse namely out of that roote of righteousnesse which God doth accept for righteousnesse without workes The conclusion is that saving faith is alwaies a fruitfull faith and though it never goe alone yet may there be some gift of God which it alone is able to reach unto as Columbanus also implieth in that verse Sola fides fidei dono ditabitur almo The greatest depressers of Gods grace and the advancers of mans abilities were Pelagius and Celestius the one borne in Brittaine as appeareth by Prosper Aquitanus the other in Scotland or Ireland as Mr. Persons doth gather out of those words of S. Hierome in one of the Prefaces of his commentaries not upon Ezechiel as he quoteth it but upon Ieremy Hee hath his off-spring from the Scottish nation neere to the Britans Against these Palladius and Patricius sent into these parts by Celestinus Bishop of Rome bent their forces by whose meanes the grounds of sound doctrine in these great points were well setled among the Scottish and Irish. And when the poyson of the contrarie heresie about two hundred yeares after that beganne to breake out among them againe the Clergie of Rome in the yeare of our Lord DCXXXIX during the vacancie of the See upon the death of Severinus directed their letters unto them for the preventing of this growing mischiefe Wherein among other things they put them in minde that it is both blasphemy and folly to say that a man is without sinne which none at all can say but that one mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus vvho was conceived and borne without sinne Which is agreeable partly to that of Claudius that it is manifest unto all wise men although it be contradicted by heretickes that there is none who can live upon earth without the touch of some sinne partly to that of Sedulius that there is none of the elect so great whom the Divell doth not dare to accuse but him alone who did no sinne and who said The Prince of this world commeth now and in me he findeth nothing For touching the imperfection of our sanctification in this life these men held the same that wee doe to wit that the Law cannot be fulfilled that there is none that doth good that is to say perfect and intire good that Gods elect shall be perfectly holy and immaculate in the life to come where the Church of Christ shall have no spot nor wrinkle whereas in this present life they are righteous holy and immaculate not wholy but in part only that the righteous shall then be without all kinde of sinne vvhen there shall bee no law in their members that shall resist the law of their mind that although sinne do not now raigne in their mortall body to obey the desires thereof yet sinne dwelleth in that mortall body the force of that natural custome being not yet extinguished which we have gotten by our originall and increased by our actuall transgressions And as for the matter of merit Sedulius doth resolve us out of S. Paul that wee are Saints by the calling of God not by the merit of our deed that God is able to doe exceeding aboundantly above all that we aske or thinke according to the power that worketh in us not according to our merits that whatsoever men have from God is grace because they have nothing of due and that nothing can be found worthy or to be compared with the glory to come The next point that offereth it selfe unto our consideration is that of Purgatory Whereof if anie man doe doubt Caesarius a Germane Monke of the Cistercian order adviseth him for his resolution to make a iourney into Scotland the greater Scotland he meaneth and there to enter into S. Patricks Purgatory and then he giveth him his word that he shall no more doubt of the paines of Purgatory If Doctor Terry who commendeth this unto us as the testimonie of a most famous author should chance to have a doubtfull thought hereafter of the paines of Purgatory I would wish his ghostly Father to injoine him no other penance but the undertaking of a pilgrimage unto S. Patricks purgatorie to see whether he would prove any wiser when he came from thence than when hee went thither In the meane time untill he hath made some further experiment of the matter he shall give me leave to beleeve him that hath beene there and hath cause to know the place as well as anie the Iland wherein it is seated being held by him as a part of the inheritance descended unto him from his ancestors and yet professeth that he found nothing therein which might afford him anie argument to thinke there was a Purgatorie I passe by that Nennius and Probus and all the elder writers of the life of S. Patrick that I have met withall speake not one word of anie such place and that Henry the monke of Saltrey in the dayes of king Stephen is the first in whom I could ever finde anie mention thereof this onely would I know
as an answer unto the Bishops of Ireland that did submit themselves unto him whereas the least argument of anie submission of theirs doth not appeare in anie part of that epistle but the whole course of it doth clearely manifest the flat contrary In the next place steppeth forth Osullevan Beare a wilde Beare indeed rather then a Christian man who in his Catholick Historie of Ireland for so he stileth his trayterous and barbarous Collections lately published would have us take knowledge of this that when the Irish Doctors did not agree together upon great questions of faith or did heare of any new doctrine brought from abroad they were wont to consult with the Bishop of Rome the Oracle of truth That they consulted with the Bishop of Rome when difficult questions did arise wee easily grant but that they thought they were bound in conscience to stand to his judgment whatsoever it should be and to intertaine all his resolutions as certaine Oracles of truth is the point that we would faine see proved For this he telleth us that when questions and disputations did arise here concerning the time of Eâ—ster and the Pelagian heresie the Doctors of Ireland referred the matter unto the See Apostolick Whereupon the error of Pelagius is reported to have found no patron or maintayner in Ireland and the common course of celebrating Easter was embraced both by the Northren Irish and by the Pictes and Britons as soone as they understood the rite of the Romane Church Which saith hee doth not obscurely appeare by the two heads of the Apostolick letters related by Bede lib. 2. cap. 19. But that those Apostolick letters as he calleth them had that successe which he talketh of appeareth neither plainly nor obscurely by Bede or anie other authoritie whatsoever The error of Pelagius saith he is reported to have found no patron or maintayner in Ireland But who is he that reporteth so beside Philip Osullevan a worthy author to ground a report of antiquity upon who in relating the matters that fell out in his owne time discovereth himselfe to be as egregious a lyar as anie I verily thinke that this day breatheth in Christendome The Apostolick letters he speaketh of were written as before hath beene touched in the yeare of our Lord DCXXXIX during the vacancie of the Romane See upon the death of Severinus Our countreyman Kilianus repayred to Rome 47. yeares after that and was ordayned Bishop there by Pope Conon in the yeare DCLXXXVI The reason of his comming thither is thus laid downe by Egilwardus or who ever else was the author of his life For Ireland had beene of old defiled with the Pelagian heresie and condemned by the Apostolicall censure which could not be loosed but by the Romane judgement If this be true then that is false which Osullevan reporteth of the effect of his Apostolicall Epistle that it did so presently quassh the Pelagian heresie as it durst not once peepe up within this Iland The difference betwixt the Romanes and the Irish in the celebration oâ— Easter consisted in this The Romanes kept the memorial of our Lords resurrection upon that Sonday which fell betwixt the XV. and the XXI day of the Moone both termes included next after the XXI day of March which they accounted to be the seat of the Vernall aequinoctium that is to say that time of the Spring wherein the day and the night were of equall length and in reckoning the age of the Moone they followed the Alexandrian cycle of XIX yeares whence our golden number had his originall as it was explained unto them by Dionysius Exiguus which is the account that is still observed not only in the Church of England but also among all the Christians of Greece Russia Asia AEgypt and AEthiopia and was since the time that I my selfe was borne generally received in all Christendome untill the late change of the Kalendar was made by Pope Gregory the XIIIth The Northren Irish and Scottish together with the Pictes observed the custome of the Britons keeping their Easter upon the Sonday that fell betwixt the XIIII and the XX. day of the Moone and following in their account thereof not so much the XIX yeares computation of Anatolius as Sulpicius Severus his circle of LXXXIIII yeares for howsoever they extolled Anatolius for appointing the bounds of Easter betwixt the XIIII and the XX. day of the Moone yet Wilfride in the Synod of Strenshalch chargeth them utterly to have rejected his cycle of XIX yeares from which therefore Cummianus draweth an argument against them that they can never come to the true account of Easter who observe the cycle of LXXXIIII yeares To reduce the Irish unto conformitie with the Church of Rome in this point Pope Honorius the first of that name directed his letters unto them Exhorting them that they would not esteeme their owne paucitie seated in the utmost borders of the earth more wife then the ancient or moderne Churches of Christ through the whole world and that they would not celebrate another Easter contrary to the Paschall computations and the Synodall decrees of the Bishops of the whole world and shortly after the clergie of Rome as we have said upon the death of Severinus wrote other letters unto them to the same effect Now where Osullevan pardon me if I honour the rake-hell too much in naming him so often avoucheth that the common customeâ— sed by the Church in celebrating the feast of the Lords resurrection was alwayes observed by the Southerne Irish and now embraced also by the Northren together with the Pictes and Britons who received the faith from Irish Doctors when they had knowledge given them of the rite of the Church of Rome in all this according to his common wont hee speaketh never a true word For neyther did the Southerne Irish alwayes observe the celebration of Easter commonly received abroad neyther did the Northren Irish nor the Pictes nor the Britons manie yeares after this admonition given by the Church of Rome admit that observation among them to speake nothing of his folly in saying that the Britons received the faith from the Irish when the contrarie is so well knowne that the Irish received the same from the Britons That the common custome of celebrating the time of Easter was not alwayes observed by the Southerne Irish may appeare by those words of Bede in the third booke of his historie and the third chapter Porrò gentes Scottorum quae in australibus Hiberniae insulae partibus morabantur jamdudum ad admonitionem Apostolicae sedis antistitis Pascha canonico ritu observare didicerunt For if as this place clearely proveth the nations of the Scotts that dwelt in the Southerne parts of Ireland did learne to observe Easter after the canonicall maner upon the admonition of the Bishop of Rome it is evident that before that admonition they did observe it after another maner The word jamdudum which Bede
of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for Christs bodies sake vvhich is the Church that is whatsoever yet wanted or remained for him to suffer in whose sufferings or afflictions Christ himselfe is said to suffer and to be afflicted and persecuted for what affliction or persecution is done to anie of his members hee accounteth it as done to himselfe all those sufferings and afflictions whatsoever they were that yet remained for him to beare he was readie willingly to undergoe for Christs bodie sake which is the Church that is for the profit and edification of the Church that it might thereby receive encouragement comfort confirmation strength and boldnesse in the profession of the Gospel I say all this being thus to be intended and understood how iniurious and impious be the Rhemists and other Papists which wrest this Text of S. Paul to prove that one man may merit and satisfie for the sinnes of another supplie his defects in that point As though the sufferings of Christ in his owne person for our sinnes had anie want defect or imperfection in them or as though the sufferings of S. Paul or of S. Peter or of anie other Saints or Martyrs and their bloudshed could or did doe that which the bloud and sufferings of Christ could not or did not doe Is it not a shame and a most monstrous shame for anie so to speake thinke or teach 7 But they here alledge that praier for the dead is mentioned in the booke of Macchabees and consequently that they be tormented in Purgatorie for why else should they be praied for I answer first that praying for the dead is there mentioned as the fact of one particular man onely namely of Iudas which can make no generall law or rule in this case And secondly there is likewise mentioned as by way of approbation in the same booke of the Macchabees the fact of one Razis that killed himselfe and yet for all that it is not of anie godly man to be followed or imitated And therefore as the one is disallowable so likewise may the other be disallowable notwithstanding the Approbation of it in that booke Thirdly Iudas himselfe did not there pray for the dead as thinking their soules to be punished and tormented in Purgatorie there is no such thing mentioned or appearing in the text but to shew that he had hope that they which were slaine and dead should rise again for to that end it was as the Text it selfe declareth But fourthly I answere that the book of the Macchabees is not canonicall Scripture and therefore is not of authoritie sufficient to prove a point of faith necessarily to be beleeved because that booke speaketh it That it is not canonicall appeareth before by the testimonie of the old Church and it doth also appeare by the testimonie even of the Author himselfe that wrote the Booke in that in the end of it he excuseth himselfe and as it were craveth pardon if he have written slenderly meanely Which apparantly sheweth that hee wrote by an humane and not by an undoubtedly divine spirit For the spirit of God is not wont nor needeth to crave pardon nor to excuse himselfe as though he wrote slenderly or meanely Lastly against that your conceit of tormeÌ„ting Purgatorie grounded out of that Booke I may and doe oppose the Booke of VVisedome where it is said directly The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them If no torment shall touch them then doe they not come into anie of your supposed Purgatorie torments Yea although S. Augustine praied for his mother and some other also for their friends departed it is no proofe of your Purgatory inasmuch as such praiers do manie times proceed out of natural humane affection only be used as a token of love wel-wishing to friends departed without anie such beleefe of Purgatorie Which may doth appeare even by S. Augustine himselfe who though he praied for his mother beleeved neverthelesse that she was in peace and rest free from all paine and torment S. Ambrose likewise praied for Theodosius Valentinian and Gratian whom neverthelesse he beleeved to be in peace and rest and in heavenly happinesse You see then that praying for the dead is no prooâ—e for your Purgatorie Howbeit this praying for the dead hath also no commandement example or warrant for it in anie of the canonicall Scriptures and besides it appeareth by the premisses that it can doe the dead no good and therefore it is in vaine in respect of anie good thereby to be done to the dead As for the apparitions of soules which they likewise somtimes alledge to prove their Purgatorie it is a verie Toy and a fable For S. Chrysostome saith it is not the soule of anie dead person but a Divel which faineth himselfe to be the soule of such a one to deceive those to whom he appeareth and he calleth them Vetularum verba Pâ—erorum ludibria Old womens Tales and Childrens toyes And so S. Augustine likewise telleth you that it was not Samuel in verie deed but a Divell in his likenesse which appeared to the witch in King Sauls time And therfore he pronounceth of these things that they be either the Cousenages of Deluding men or vvonders of Deceitfull Devils with which therefore none ought anie longer to be bewitched or deluded CAP. VI. Of workes done upon a good Intention as they be called without a commandement or warrant from God or his word Of workes de Congruo and de Condigno And of workes of Supererogation and how unpleasing they all bee in Gods sight and censure howsoever in respect of men that have use and profit by them they be and may be called good and beneficiall workes SVndrie there be who thinke anie worke of their owne Invention or of others devising to bee a good worke acceptable to God and a point of good service performed to him so long as they have a good meaning or a good intention in it though the worke bee not commanded from God nor warranted by his word But God will not have everie man to doe what seemeth to himselfe good or right in his owne Eyes But vvhatsoever I command you that saith he observe to doe Yea that and That onely must yee doe as your owne latine Translation is Againe he saith I am the Lord your God vvalke yee in my statutes and kâ—epe my iudgments and doe them And nothing doth he more dislike or condemne in his service or worship then when men will be so presumptuous as out of their owne imaginations to suppose and devise what shall bee well pleasing to him For what is this else but for people to goe a vvhoring vvith their ovvne inventions as the Scripture speaketh My thoughts are not your thoughts nor your vvayes my vvaies saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher then
the earth so are my vvayes higher then your vvaies and my thoughts then your thoughts Yea what are they else but superstitious vvorkes which are done by the will and pleasure of men without the Commandement of God or his rule and direction for so Isidorus giveth the Etymologie of that word superstition to be a thing done supra-statutâ—m more then is appointed by the law of God upon mens pleasures and devisings May not God say in these cases as sometime he spake Quis requisivit haec de vobis VVho hath required these things of you A good Intention therefore is not sufficient to prove or make the worke to be good in Gods sight unlesse it bee a worke or action commanded from God or by his word approoved For King Saul had a good intention or meaning when being sent against the Amalâ—kites and commanded from God to kill both man and woman infant and suckling oxe and sheepe camell and asse hee neverthelesse spared some of the Cattell suffering the people to take Sheepe and Oxen to this intent to sacrifice to the Lord. But notwithstanding this his good intention the fact was odious in Gods sight and because he had thus reiected the vvord of the Lord not suffring his actions to be thereby squared and ruled therfore also did the Lord reiect him from being King over Israel So likewise had Vzzah a good meaning or a good intention when driving the Cart wherein the Arke of God was and the Arke being shaken and in danger of falling hee put forth his hand to the Arke and tooke hold of it to keepe it from falling yet because it belonged not unto him so to doe with the Arke and that he therein did an action not commanded nor warranted unto him from God or his word therefore notwithstanding this his good intention God was offended with him and hee smote Vzzah there for his error and there hee died by the Arke of God The workes then which men doe of their owne heads and devisings without Gods commandement or approbation by his word be not to be accounted amongst the number of good workes in Gods censure what faire shew soever they make amongst men or what good meaning or intention soever they have For that which is highly esteemed amongst men is oftentimes abhomination in the sight of God as Christ himselfe also teacheth and affirmeth 2 But yee have further in the Papacie workes preparative or workes or merits de Congruo as yee call them such as bee done by a man before faith received which ye also account good workes But first How can a man that is not himselfe as yet made good bring forth any good vvorks for The tree must first bee good before it can bring forth good fruit as Christ himselfe teacheth Yea good workes and a sanctified course of life be the fruites of righteousnesse as S. Paul declareth and therefore before that a man be made righteous and iustified by faith hee cannot possibly bring forth these fruites of righteousnesse Againe the Scripture witnesseth expresly that VVithout faith it is impossible to please God How then can the workes of anie man before faith received please God be accepted of him or merit anie grace or favour at his hands The Heart is the fountaine of all mens actions and by faith it is that mens hearts be purified and cleansed as S. Peter witnesseth Vntill such time therefore that mens hearts bee thus clensed and purified by faith in Christ they can bring forth no good cleane or pure vvorkes but works like themselves that is most impure and uncleane For to them that be uncleansed and unbeleevers nothing is pure but even their minde and conscience is defiled as S. Paul also directly affirmeth And so hee saith againe of all the corrupt naturall men in the world untill they bee regenerated converted and iustified in Gods sight by faith they be such as have all gone out of the way they are all become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Not without good cause therefore hath S. Augustine before told us that all the workes of Infidels and Heathens and even the Morall vertues of the Philosophers as they were done and performed by them that had no beliefe in Christ were no good workes in Gods sight but Splendida peccata glittering sinnes Yea hee hath told us expreslie that Good vvorkes do follow him that is before iustified and doe not goe before him that is aftervvard to be iustified And againe he saith that faith goeth before that good vvorkes may follow neither are there saith he anie good vvorkes but those that follovv faith going before And therefore touching Cornelius the Centurion whose praiers to God and Almesdeâ—des be much commended before he was baptised whose example the Rhemists and other Papists alledge in this case the same S. Augustine giveth a sufficient answere thereunto saying That hee did not give Almes and Pray without some faith So likewise testifieth Beda and that out of Gregorie that Non virtutibus ad fidem sed fide pertingitur ad virtutes c. Men attaine not to faith by vertues but to vertues by faith as S. Gregorie expoundeth it For Cornelius saith he vvhose almes before baptisme as the Angell witnesseth be praised came not by vvorkes to saith but by faith to vvorkes And againe he saith Hee had faith vvhose prayers and almesdeeds could please God So that at this verie time of his Prayers and Almesdeedes hee beleeved in the Messias albeit most true it is that hee did not then so well know Christ or so firmely beleeve in him as hee did afterward by the ministerie of Peter 3 The merits also de Candigno as the Popish Church calleth them be not to be reckoned in the number of good works yea this conceit and opinion of Merit is it that poysoneth and marreth the vvorkes so that they are not reputed in Gods sight and censure to be good but bad and odious vvorks that be done with that affection and to that end For even those good workes that be done after grace and faith received and by a man regenerate and Iustified doe not merit or deserve salvation or eternall life because in the best works that men regenerate or sanctified persons doe is some humane frailtie defect or imperfection intermingled for which defects they are to crave pardon at Gods hand and not to stand upon the merit of them VVee are all saith Esay as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse is as filthy raggs If thou O Lord shouldst straitely marke iniquitie saith the Psalmist O Lord vvho shall stand But there is mercie vvith thee that thâ—u maist be feared In many things vvee all offend saith S. Iames And therefore well saith S. Augustine Vae universae iustitiae nostrae si remota misericordia Iudicetur VVoe to all our righteousnesse if it be iudged mercie being laid