Sacrament of the Body of Christ saying that it ought to be Ministred in both kinds and that after the words of Consecration pronounc'd there still remaineth material Bread in the Sacrament 2. He doth Err as touching the Church for that he doth not allow and admit that the Church signifieth the Pope Cardinals Archbishops and Clergy but saith this signification was drawn from the Schoolmen 3. That he hath said That Tempral Princes and Lords may take away the Temporal possessions of the Church and Clergy without any offence 4. He teacheth that all Priests are of like power and therefore affirms That the reservations of the Popes Casualties the ordering of Bishops and the Consecration of the Priests were invented only for Covetousness 5. That he erreth concerning the Church forasmuch as through Contempt he doth not fear Excommunication 6. He erreth by holding That a Man being once Ordain'd a Priest or a Deacon cannot be forbidden from the Office of Preaching c. Upon these and other the like Articles the Council proceeded against him in his sickness and tho he often offer'd to defend his Cause yet they would neither allow him any Advocats nor permit him publickly to be heard And in their Ninth Session they declared Quod non obstantibus salvis Conductis Imperatoris Regum c. Possit per Judicem competentem de Haeretieâ pravitate inquiri That notwithstanding any safe Conduct granted by the Emperor or any Kings Inquisition many be made against any Man for Haeresy by a Competent Judge and process to be made according to Law To relate the whole proceedings would be too tedious how malicious and unjust his accusers were how stout and faithful to him were several Bohemian Noble Men representing his Innocence to the cruel Fathers but all in vain nothing but his Blood would satisfy and so they proceed to pass the following sentence upon him The most sacred General Council of Constance Congregated together and representing the Catholick Church for perpetual memory of the thing As truth doth witness that an evil Tree bringeth forth evil Fruit so it cometh to pass that the Man of most damnable memory John Wickliff through his pestiferous Doctrine not through Jesus Christ by the Gospel as the holy Fathers in times past have begotten faithful Children but contrary to the wholesome Faith as a venemous root hath begotten many wicked and pestilent Children whom he hath left behind him successors and followers of his perverse and accursed Doctrine against whom this Sacred Synod of Constance is forced to rise up as against Bastards and diligently with a Sharp-knife of Ecclesiastical Authority to cut up Errors out of the Lords field as most hurtful Brambles and Briars lest they should grow up to the destruction of others Forasmuch then as in the holy General Council lately celebrated at Rome it was decreed that the Doctrine of John Wickliff of most damnable memory should be Condemned and his Books burnt as Haeretical yet 〈◊〉 John Hus here personally present in this Sacred Council not the Diciple of Christ but of Wicliff an Arch Haeretick hath taught and affirmed the Articles of Wickliff which were Condenm'd by the Church of God Wherefore after diligent Deliberation and full Information this most Sacred Council declareth and determineth the Articles abovesaid which are sound in his Books wrot with his own hand and which he hath own'd not to be Catholick nor worthy to be taught but that many of them are erroneous some wicked other some to be offensive unto godly Ears many of them to be temerarious and seditious and the greater part of them to be Notoriously Haeretical and doth condemn all and every the Books which the said Hus hath wrot in what form or phrase soever they be or whether they be Translated by others and doth decree That they shall be publickly burnt in the presence of the Clergy and People c. And the said Synod doth pronounce the said John Hus an Haeretick and a Seducer and obstinate Person and such an one as doth not desire to return again to the Lapp of our holy Mother the Church neither to abjure the Errors and Heresies which he hath openly Preached and defended wherefore this most Sacred Council decreeth and declares That the said John Hus shall be deposed and degraded from his Priestly Orders and Dignity Since this sentence mentions Degrading it will not be amiss to consider the manner how that Ceremony is perform'd Which is thus The party to be degraded is attir'd in all his Priestly Vestments and holdeth in the one hand a Chalice filled with Wine mixed with Water and in the other a Guilt Paten with a Wafer Then kneeling down the Bishops Deputy taking from him these Trincats Charges him to say no more Mass for the Quick or the Dead Secondly scraping with a piece of Glass his fingers ends he Enjoyns him never to Hallow or Consecrate any thing and Thirdly rasing his shaven Crown and stripping 〈◊〉 of his Priestly Vestments he is Clothed in a Lay habit and delivered into the Power of the Secular Magistrate Thus was poor Hus serv'd and withal a Capp put on his head all painted over with Devils and this word Haerisiarcha or Ring leader of Hereticks inscribed thereon and so was burnt in the Month of July 1415. He behav'd himself at his Martyrdom with a wonderful Cheerfulness and seems to have had a Spirit of Prophecy for whereas Hus in the Bohemian Tongue signifies a Goose he told them You now roast a Goose but after a 100 years there shall a Swan rise up out of my Ashes which was fulfill'd in Luther who just 100 years after Hus's Death began to appear in opposition to the Pope Likewise during the time of this Council one Jerome a Learned Godly Man of the City of Prague hearing of the manyfold injuries done unto Hus voluntarily came to Constance with an intent to defend his Cause but not being able to procure any safe Conduct there was returning back again to his own Country but taken on the Road and brought bound into Constance and there by the Council Condemn'd and Burnt and his Ashes thrown into the River Rhyne as Hus's likewise had been so Industrious were the Romish Clergy to destroy all Memorials of these faithful Servants of God whose Names do yet survive all their impotent malice and remain Registred in the Book of Life in Heaven and pretious to all good Men on Earth What esteem the godly Nobles of that Age had of Mr. Hus may partly appear by a Letter of 54 Noble Men of Morauia under their Hands and Seals to the said Council THE COURANT. Tory. PRethee are Miracles ceas'd No no There 's a New Saint lately come over call'd Cess Process that does daily Wonders Dam Ignoramus is an Ass to her Tory. What kind of Feats does she Profess can she sham Godfryes Murder and Esquire Thin's and make the World believe That they both kill'd themselves or that it was done Justly
that was Canonization which he bestowed one Edmund of â—â—â—terbury one Vincent in Spain and several others that as little dâ—â—â—rv'd that Title as he had just power to bestow it which Bessâ—â—â—â— seeing and especially how rashly and indirectly the same 〈◊〉 manag'd was not a little scandaliz'd thereat Tâ—ese New Saints quoth he make me doubt of the old Langeâ— in praefat But he that was for â—btrâ—ding Saints upon Heaven was no less busy in robbing Princâ— of their Rights upon Earth for Alphonsus King of Naples dying this Calixtus publisht his Bulls declaring that the Realm of Naples being vacant appertain'd only to him as a Fiefe of the Church and commands Ferdinand the Son of Alphonsus that neither he nor any other should call himself King thereof on pain of Excommunication whereupon Wars were like to ensue but the same was happily prevented by the Popes death who was called out of this World in the year of our Lord 1458 leaving behind him in his Coffers One Hundred and Fifteen thousand pieces of Gold as Platina affirms a Treasure very different from His that said Silver and Gold have I none and yet these Money monging Popes are not asham'd to boast themselves his Successors The COURANT. Unum aliquem voluptate ac deliciis fluere gementibus undique ac lamentibus aliis hoc non est Regni sed Carceris esse Custodem Tho. Mor. Utop Truem. VVHether so fast man Tory. To the new Academy Truem. What to learn to ride an Hobby-horse and practice the noble science of defence with Bean stalks and Bull rushes Tory. No no our's is not Monsieur's vaulting-room but a Schola Illustris that undertakes to new model all Arts and sciences Truem. A gallant enterprize as how I prethee Tory. Why first we begin with Grammer and Correct the old fashion'd use of words and Phrases as for Example to Elect two persons shall henceforwards mean to chuse but one the lesser party is to be call'd A Majority Confirmation shall signifie He-go-mad or a fatal necessity of approbation without a dram of free-will in the Case and to desire people to do a thing must be interpreted that you do thereby actually do it your self in spight of their teeth in Geometry and Arithmetick our Doctors of the Chair teach that a part is greater than the whole and Twelve hundred more by a bundance than Four and twenty hundred Logick they affirm ought not to be the Art of Reasoning but of Scolding Truem. Nay then by my Vote Roger L'Estrange shall be constituted Logick-Reader to both Universities Tory. I must tell you there are some there think themselves not a little oblig'd to that Reverend Guid else they would never have made him such a present Truem. Yet I have heard of a certain Squire Tyburn-wards that owes a Gentleman near Cambridge the Sum of Twelve Pound upon Note or Bond and having been several times dunn'd for it has promised payment and bound those promises with Oaths and Execrations as solumn and dreadfull as those wherewith with Roger uses to disprove himself a Papist yet has not paid the money at least it was not paid just before the time he received the Guinnies nor is it as we believe satisfied to this day Mr. L'Estrange would do well to give an account of that affair in his next Observator 'T would be altogether as edifying to the publique as Brass-screws or his being sent for to the old Dog Talk no more of debts and duns how goes the business in the City Truem. Alas it does not go sir but 't is driven Tory. What may be the grounds and design of all this bustle Truem. As far as I can learn on the one side the Generality of the Citizens have a mind to preserve their Right of Chusing of Sheriffs and acting in Common-Hall as time out of mind hath been accustomed on the other side there are some that scarce know what they would have themselves but however they make a horrid noise and clamour and every body that will not be as mad and silly as themselves they count a Traitor and a Fanatick many of these are influenc'd by Strangers that endeavour by rudeness and ill Language and all kind of Affronts to provoke and raise some tumult or disturbance and rather than fail will swear it on the most peaceable Or if we may beleive what a printed paper relates and names the person one of these sticklers confessed lately that the business so strugled for was to get Sheriffs to hang up half a score that were uneasy c. But as one Innocent mans blood is enough to draw down divine vengeance on the whole Nation so who knows where Blood hounds if once flesht would stop as to the present Controversy is it not fit to be consider'd 1. If my Lord Mayor be allow'd a Right to chuse one of the Sheriffs against the mind of the Common Hall then whether the Cities late plea to the quo Warranto in defence of the Charter be not thereby confess'd to be false and invali'd 2. If the Sheriffs for the time being have not a right to declare the free choise of Sheriffs for the year ensuing and to manage the Poll if any be demanded then whether we have had any Sheriffs duly chosen this hundred years for 't is certain the Sheriffs not the Mayors have done it nor did ever any Mayor Adjourn the Common-Hall before the business dispatcht but Sir Samuel Starling and he paid for it being cast at Law upon serious consideration of all the Judges Tory. But what have you to do with these matters Truem. Just as much as the Observator therefore I humbly conceive may do it altogether as lawfully Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY July 28. 1682. Dividimus muros et moenia pandimus Vrbis The History of Aeneus Sylvius or Pope Pius the II the Arts used by him to get the Chair how strangly he was thereby altered Certain notable sentences of his VVE hasten Because sooner than intended we must it seems close these unwelcome and ungratefully received sheets Who would suspect that in a Protestant Kingdome and in an age too wherein one of the most damnable Popish Plots that ever shockt a State was so providentially discovered and is it not still apparently working An History of Popery manag'd with an exact fidelity and some small neither unusefull nor unpleasant digressions for the Readers Entertainment should even amongst Protestants meet with misconstruction and Contempt But let them slight on Those that love Lees and loath the generous Wine We envy not their Pallate's with the Swine Pope Calixtus being dead there were but Two Competitorâ— for the Papacy viz. Cardinal Rotomagensis and Aeneas Sylvius so that during the four days space wherein the matter was debated in the Conclave the only difficulty was which of these they should chuse nor was either of them wanting to
unto Him all the Kingdoms of the World if he would fall down and worship us but he would not saying My Kingdom is not of this World and went his way when the Multitude would have made him a Temporal King But to You truly that are fallen from the state of Grace and that serve us in the Earth is that my promise fulfill'd and all Terrene things by the means which we have bestow'd upon you are under your Government For he hath said of us ye know The Prince of this World cometh c. and he hath made us to Raign over all the Children of Unbelief Therefore our Adversaries before-recited did patiently submit themselves unto the Princes of the World and did teach Men so to do saying Be you subject to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake And again Obey ye them that are made Rulers over you c. For so their Masters commanded them saying The Kings of the Heathen have Dominion over them c. But I on the contrary think it long 'till we have poured out our Poison upon the Earth and therefore fill your selves full with the enjoyments thereof and be you not only unlike those Primitive Fathers but also clean contrary to them in your Lives and Conditions Neither give you to God that which belongeth to him nor yet to Caesar that which is his but exercise you the Power of both the Swords according to our Decrees making your selves doers in worldly Matters fighting in our Quarrel intangled with Secular Labours and Business and climb ye by little and little from the miserable state of Poverty unto the highest Seats of all Honours and the most Princely places of Dignity by your devised Practises and false and deceitful Wiles and Subtlety that is by Hypocrisie Flattery Lying Perjury Treasons Deceits Simony and other greater Wickedness than any which our Infernal Furies can devise For after that ye have by us been advanced thither where ye would be yet that doth not suffice you but as greedy Stravelings more hungry than you were before ye oppress the Poor scratch and rake all together that comes to hand perverting and turning every thing topsy-turvy so swoln that ready ye are to burst for Pride living like Letchers in all Corporal Delicateness and by fraud directing all your doings you challenge to your selves names of Honour in the Earth calling your selves Lords Holy yea and Most Holy persons Thus either by violence you Ravage or else by ambition subtlely ye pilfer away and wrongfully wrest and by false Title possess these Goods which for the sustentation of the poor Members of Christ whom from our first fall we have hated were bestowed and given consuming them as ye your selves list and therewith ye cherish and maintain an innumerable sort of Whores Strumpets and Bawds with whom ye ride pompously like mighty Princes far otherwise going than those poor beggerly Priests of the Primitive Church For I would ye should build your selves rich and gorgeous Palaces that ye fare like Princes eating and drinking the daintiest Meats and pleasantest Wines that may be gotten that ye hoard and heap together an infinite deal of Treasure not like to him that said Gold and Silver have I none For why should you not serve and fight for us according to your Wages O most acceptable Society of Fellowship promised unto us by the Prophet and of those Fathers long ago reproved Whilst that Christ called thee Synagogue of Satan and liken'd thee to the mighty Whore which committed Fornication with the Kings of the Earth the adulterous Spouse of Christ and of a chast person made a Strumpet Thou hast left thy first Love and hast cleaved unto us O our blessed Babylon and our Citizens which from the Transmigration of Jerusalem come hither we love you for your deserts we rejoyce over you which contemn the Laws of Simon Peter and embrace the practises of Simon Magus our friend and have them at your Fingers ends and exercise the same publickly buying and selling Spiritual things in the Church of God and against the Commandment of God Ye give Benefices and Honours by Petition or else for Money for Favour or for filthy Service and refusing to admit those that are worthy to Ecclesiastical Dignities and preferring those that are unworthy you call into the Inheritance of God's Sanctuary Bawds Lyers Flatterers your Nephews and your own Children and to a childish Boy ye give many Prebends the least whereof ye deny to bestow upon a poor good Man ye esteem the person of a Man and receive Gifts ye regard Money and have no regard of Souls ye have made the House of God a Den of Thieves all Abuse all Extortion is more exercised a hundred fold in your Judgment Seats than with any Secular Tyrant ye make Laws and keep not the same and ye dispense with your Dispensations as it pleaseth you you justifie the wicked for Rewards and you take away the just Man's desert from him and briefly ye perpetrate all kind of mischief even as it is our will ye should and ye take much pain for Lucre's sake in our Service and especially to destroy the Christian Faith for now the Lay-people are almost in doubt what they may believe because if ye preach any thing to them at some times altho it be but seldom seen and that negligently enough even as we would have it yet notwithstanding they believe you not because they see manifestly that ye do clean contrary to that ye say whereupon the common people doing as ye do which have the Government of them and should be an Example to them of well-doing Now many of them leaning to your Rules do run headlong into a whole Sea of Vices and so continually a very great Multitude flocketh at the strong and well fenced Gates of our Dungeon and doubtless ye send us so many day by day of every sort and kind of people that we should not be able to entertain them but that our insatiable Chaos with her thousand ravening Jaws is sufficient to devour an infinite number of Souls And thus the Soveraignty of our Empire by you hath been propt up and our intolerable loss restor'd Wherefore most especially we command you and give you most hearty thanks exhorting you all that in any wise ye persevere and continue as hitherto ye have done neither that ye slack henceforth your Enterprize For why by your helps we purpose to bring the whole World again under our Power and Dominion Over and besides this we commit unto you no small Authority to supply our places in the betraying of your Brethren and we make and ordain you our Vicars and the Ministers of Antichrist our Son for whom we have made a very fair and expeditious way and passage Furthermore we counsel you that possess the highest Rooms of all other that you work subtlely and that you outwardly and feignedly seem to procure Peace between the Princes of the World but that you cherish and
and False Doctrines then obtruded in the Church which much Incensed the Prelates with Rage and particularly observing that Sir John Old-Castle a valiant Religious Knight of Kent and who in the Right of his Wife was Lord Cobham to be a great Favourer of that Doctrine they resolve to take him to task but first of all Complain of him to the King in the first Year of his Reign who sent for and discoursed him to whom the Lord Cobham declared his Loyalty and Obedience but added That as touching the Pope and Prelates he ow'd them neither Suit nor Service for that by the Scriptures he knew the Pope to be Antichrist c. Upon which the King would talk no further with him Then Arundel the Arch-bishop began to Cite him before him and not being obey'd Pronounc'd him guilty of Contumacy at last the Lord Còbham drew up a Confession of his Faith being an Explanation of the Apostles Creed and very Orthodox with which he repaired to the Court and humbly tendred it to the King but he refused to receive it and by the Kings Commandment he was sent to the Tower and in the 23 d. of Sept. 1413. Conven'd before the Arch-bishop and the Bishops of London and Winchester The chief Objections against him were That he held Erroneous and Heretical Opinions in these Four Points viz. Touching the Sacrament Touching Pennance Touching Images And touching Pilgrimages Therefore he delivered in to the said Bishops a Writing Indented containing his Opinion in each of these Particulars which not being long we shall here recite Verbatim I John Old-Castle Knight Lord of Cobham Will That all Christian Men Weet and Vnderstand that I Clepe Almighty God into Witness that it hath been now is and ever with the help of God shall be mine intent and my will to Believe faithfully and fully all the Sacraments that ever God Ordain'd to do in Holy Church and moreover to declare me in these four Points I Believe that the most Worshipful Sacrament of the Altar is Christs Body in the Form of Bread the same Body that was Born of the Blessed Virgin our Lady Saint Mary done on the Cross Dead and Buried the Third Day Rosâ— from Death to Life the which Body is now Glorified in Heaven Also as for the Sacrament of Pennance I believe that it is needful to every man that shall be Saved to forsake Sin and do due Pennance for Sin before done with true Confession very Contrition and due Satisfaction as Gods Law limiteth and Teacheth and else may he not be Saved which Pennance I desire all Men to do And as of Images I Vnderstand that they be not of Beleeve but that they were Ordain'd sith they beleeve was zewe of Christ by sufferance of the Church to be Calenders to Lews Men to Represent and Bring to mind the Passion of our Lord Jesu Christ and Martyrdom and good Living of other Saints and that who so it be that doth the Worship to dead Images that is due to God or putteth such hope or trust in help of them as he should do to God or hath Affection in one more than in another he doth in that the greatest Sin of Maumetrie Also I suppose this fully That every Man in this Earth is a Pilgrim towards Bliss or toward Pain and that he that Knoweth not ne will not Know ne Keep the Holy Commandments of God in his Living here albeit that he be go on Pilgrimages to all the World and he die so he shall be Damned he that knoweth the Holy Commandments of God and Keepeth them to his End he shall be Saved though he never in his Life go on Pilgrimage as Men now use to Canterbury or to Rome or to any other Place The COURANT. Papist and Tory. Tory. WEll and how go Cases now Papist Not altogether so well as we expected The heat against Dissenting Hereticks in many places begins to Cool not can we get the people to believe That Godfrey Murder'd himself Tory. Murder'd himself Why Thompson Num. 131. talks as if he were still alive and expected next fair Wind. For he says the Truth of his Two Sham-Letters will be as effectually prov'd as the Appearance of the Viscountess Cambaen's Steward did clear that business Which can no otherwise so effectually nor indeed at all be done without Sir Edmund Bury's appearing alive again and indeed I have often wonder'd that the Church which boasts of Miracles for one of her Notes hath not all this while wrought One by raising that Gentleman again to Life which undoubtedly would destroy the suspition of the Plot for ever Pap. Tush I may tell you as a Friend we are better by half at Raising of Lies than at Raising the Dead This Godfrey's Ghost always haunts us and all the skill of the South-sayer Gadbury the Hagg Celier or our Saterdotal Conjurers cannot tell how to Lay it How many Devices have we started to Evade not the Guilt but the Scandal of having Murder'd him Once we would have put it upon the Earl of D. to which purpose we scatter'd about a Libel call'd Reflections c. But that not taking comes in Macgrath and his Crew and they were for Swearing That he hang'd himself and his Man Mr. Moor cut him down This being likewise Confuted we revive our first story and Now we would make the World think he Murder'd himself with his own Sword Tory. If you had left the Management of this Intrigue to Roger he would have dispatcht it better by half than Natt for to speak Truth all the Priests are but Bunglers to him Pap. O but he had formerly given it under his hand That he did not in the least doubt but Sir Edm. Godfrey was Murder'd by Papists Tory. No matter for That He shall unsay it again for Two pence and prove that they were Presbyterians kill'd him and then we will have a new Setâ— of Abhorrencies go about to Abominate Detest and Defie John Calvin and all his Works This were somewhat to â—he purpose but to come as Natt does with Ifs and ands If Sir E. B. Godfreys Body were full of Blood If his Nostrils c. were fly blown If his Body stunk and Cakes of putrified Blood were found in his Cloathes c. Well what then Why then if all this were true Natt Thompson is a Lyer for Printing in October 78. a Narrative upon his own personal view quite contrary to all these Assertions But Friend Natt the Whiggs have often told you That these Suggestions are All notorious Lies forg'd out of a devilish Design to Conceal Murder and stifle Treason c. and they have Challeng'd you to produce the Witnesses that you boast of and you have not been able to name One except it be Mr. W. and him the very next Week you uâ—braid with Tankard stealing Pap. Well! well a little patience we have a parcel of Witnesses on the Stocks and as soon as we can Equipp and Rigg them something may be done
such incorrigible Bunglers as our Irish Rascals let 'um be damn'd blacker than Luther Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY April 21. 1682. Quae si cum sociis Stultus cupidúsque bibisset Sub dâ—mina Meritrice fuisset turpis excors Vixisset Canis Immundus vel amica Luto Sus. The Grand Question Whether the Church of Rome be in any kind to be esteem'd a Church of Christ entred into the Reasons why the same is here discuss'd The definition of the Church and how divided HAving deduc'd our History somewhat below the year 1400. and being Arriv'd at those times wherein our Ancestors in England first of all were brought to Capital sufferings for the purity of Religion and were to use the Apostles phrase Hebr. 12. 4. forced to resist unto Blood the wicked Impositions of the no less cruel than Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy It will be convenient if not necessary to inquire what opinion we ought to have of the Church of Rome in its present state A task we undertake not meerly for diverting the Reader tho sure variety in all other things delightfull will not here be offensive nor the intermixing Polemicks with History be censured since we find precedents of it in the best and most approved Authors But we do it for his satisfaction too that he may make the truer Judgment of those many Tragical Scenes all fill'd with fire and fagot Blood and horror Popish fury triumphant and Pious Innocence torn and mangled and Butcher'd with a thousand Barbarities For though to each Judicious peruser the very prospect of these Cruelties is enough to satisfy him that these are the Talons of the Vulture not the sweet Breathings of the Holy Dove practises of the Synagogue of Satan not of the Church of the meek and mercifull Jesus yet some hot and superficial Readers especially in this debaucht and unhappy Age may be apt to say Here 's a Clutter indeed with a parcell of Peevish Fellows what if they were burn't or hang'd out of the way whose fault was it why would they not conform and honestly come to Church if the Church of Rome be a true Church wherein a man may go to Heaven why did they trouble themselves and the world and make a Schism and disturb the Government you make a stir and call them Martyrs but for ought I know they were Follies Martyrs rather than Gods and I remember I have seen a Book Intituled Semper Iidem or a parallel betwixt the antient and modern Phanaticks Printed here at London with I think Authority I am sure publickly and without any trouble to the Bookseller Richard Lownds at the White Lyon in St. Pauls Churchyard 1661. which renders Oldcastle Bishop Latimer Woodman c. as errant Whiggs and Raskals as ever liv'd a sort of turbulent Hereticks that interrupted the Churches Tranquility and would needs be turning the world upside down though they knew neither why nor wherefore c. Suppose one should meet a Spark of this mettal and such frequently now adays at every Coffee-house you may meet with is it not fit my honest Country men should be ready provided to Confute his Folly and do right to those Glorious Worthies who did not sacrifice their Lives to a sullen Obstinacy or factious Freake but for the pure truths of God worth a million of Lives and departed from Rome because she was so far departed from God that if they had further accompanied her afterdivine Grace had open'd their eyes to see her Abominations they must necessarily have fallen into Eternal perdition To Demonstrate this therefore it will I think be not unworthy your while and presently too lest the Disease come upon us before the Medicine be provided and black darkness surround us e're every body be sufficiently Acquainted with it's Hellish Nature to consider the three points following viz. 1. Whether the present Church of Rome ought in any sort to be esteemed a true Church of Christ 2. Whether any person Living and Dying in the Communion of that Church and understanding her Doctrine and practises and joyning therein may ordinarily be saved 3. Whether any person as suppose a Protestant out of fear compliance c. may be present at Mass understanding the same without committing of grievous sin These Three particulars we shall endeavour in this and some following Sheets to discourse of with all plainness and Candor so far from any violation of Charity that we thereby only design a most necessary Caution to prevent poor missed souls from precipitating themselves into endless Ruin and Destruction As to the first Quaery touching the present Roman Churches being a Church of Christ two things are to be premised and explained 1. What we mean in this debate by Church of Christ 2. What we understand by the Church of Rome 1. The word Church taken in its full Latitude signifies the whole company of all those whom God by his word and spirit calls to the knowledge and profession of his truth and from its members being called forth and separated from the rest of the world that live in gross and avowed Atheism or Idolatry without the knowledg and acceptation of those supernatural verities the Incarnation and Crucifixian of the Son of God for the sins of men upon the terms held forth in the Gospel it is termed the Church in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evoco to call out or from The Church thus absolutely and simply considered in this Latitude is but one as the State and Company of the Kingdom of great Britain is but one since all and every one called to this Grace of how different estate qualities or condition soever belong one way or other to this Company but in this Church thus considered there are sundry differences and respects that is the persons called to the Faith of Christ are of diverse sorts for some part of the Church is already reduced from this mortal life and Crowned with that Glory whereunto they were called when here on Earth and thence stiled the Church Triumphant the other part is that which is successively abiding in this world which for that time is called the Church Militant because it lies as it were in the Camp always alarm'd and fighting against Hells Triple League the world the Flesh and the Divel under the Banner of our Lord the blessed Jesus and patiently waiting for the victory But amongst these latter there are again two sorts First such as are effectually called and these are the Elect only whom God not only calls but chuses by his free Grace inspiring them to obey that calling and to live Holily worthy of such their vocation and who shall infallibly be Saved in the life to come and this Company we call the Invisible Church because only God knows who are His and tho we see the men and by their fruits charitably hope
they are Gods Elect yet to speak precisely no mortal eye can infallibly discern them to be such since many times the Bristol-stone glitters as bright as the Diamond and Hypocrites make as fair outward shew as the real Saint The second sort therefore of the militant Church are Hypocrites and â—nâ—ound members who are not effectually called but disobey the truth whereof they make profession These distinctions being thus premised we proceed to acquaint you what we mean by a true Church of Christ and we shall do it in the very words of our mother the Church of England in the 19 th Article of her Faith The visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithfull men in the which the pure word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly Administred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of Necessity are requisite to the same So that here we see wherever the word of God is sincerely preach'd and heard and the Sacraments Administred according to Christs Institution there is a Church of God for those are the marks whereby the Church may be known So that the visible Church which is also Catholick or Vniversal under the Gospel not confined to one Nation as before under the Law consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true Religion And particular Churches which are members thereof are more or less pure according the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced Ordinances Administred and publick Worship perform'd more or less pure in them And not only the purest particular Churches under Heaven are subject both to mixture and Error but some may and have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagoges of Satan tho yet there shall to the end of the world be a Church on Earth to Worship God according to his will against whom the Gates of Hell shall not prevail Now whether the present Church of Râ—me be not one of these Apostatized Adulterous Churches against whom such a Divorce is sued out we shall proceed to Inquire as soon as we have told you what we mean by the Church of Rome And that is The whole Church of Rome as it is a Body consisting of one vissible head the Pope and of all Papists wheresoever Clergy and Laity professing themselves members of that Head and owning the Faith and Doctrine thereof This Body or Company I say is not in any sort to be accounted a true visible Church of Christ which I conceive will appear by diverse Arguments of which I shall give you one at present That Church which over throweth the main and proper cause of our Salvation is no true Church of Christ But the Church of Rome overthroweth the main and proper cause of our Salvation Therefore the Church of Rome is no true Church of Christ The Major I presume no man will deny and for the Assumption 't is notoriously evident for they have overthrown the principal and fundamental Article of Justification which is the Head and summ of all Religion they err in the Efficient Cause of our Justification which is the free Grace and favour of God which they deny building it upon mans merit of Congruity or works preparatory and dispository to Justification c. Coupling it with mans free-will They Err in the material cause Christ Obedience this they deny to be our Obedience or the matter of our Justification They Err in the Form of our Justification which it the Imputation of Christs Righteousness unto us They Err in the Instrumental cause to wit the Justifying Faith denying is to be a certain particular trust or Assurance in Gods mercy for the Pardon of our Sins They Err in the very Meritorious cause Christ our Redeemer several ways overthrowing all his Offices They Err also in the final cause of Justification being the free Gift of Eternal Life while they say the same is merited by the Condignaty They overthrow the very Fundamentals of Religion by denying the sufficiency of the Scriptures for the Rule of Faith and the necessity of its being known to Gods people They deny the right use of the Sacraments whilst they attribute unto them Grace ex opere operato and teach that their efficacy depends on the Intention of the Priest They deny the truth of Christs humane Body by their absurd whimsey of Transubstantiation and the vertue of His only and all alone sufficient Sacrifice by their propitiatory Masses c. So that 't is plain they have Corrupted or abandoned the main and proper Fundamentals of Salvation consequently has no Claim to the Title of a Church of Christ THE COURANT. Tory. HAVE you seen the famous Panegyrick the Sacrificâ— to the Rising-Sun Truem. No nor can guess what you mean But I have heard that amongst all sorts of Idolaters they were only a parcel of forlorn servile debauch'd effeminate Hen-hearted Chicken-soul'd Persians that worship'd the Sun rising And since you mention that word it puts me in mind what I read the other day in a Pamphlet Entituled A warning against the dangerous practises of Papists written by one Thomas Norton in good Queen Bess's days Anno 1586. Let it be well-weigh'd saith he what they mean to the Realm That under colour of Succeeding so far undermine the Head of our Country that they convey the countenance favour and supportation of a great corrupt number of such as may frame themselves any hope of Gain that way to persons that by such kindled Ambition may be the more hastily embolden'd This to do is to shew us a Sun rising to whose Worship they would fain draw us from our Sun declining as they suppose No no our Queen is our true Sun and whatever shining Thing they would set up in her time is no right Sun but an unlucky Comet And it is not yet Noon I trust with our Sun or if it be I hope yet God will lengthen the day to our Sun for his Honour-sake as he did to Joshua and rather have all good Subjects so to hope if the residue of that day may be so spent as Joshuah spent it and for which God did prolong it viz. To rid the World of God's Enemies Let it be considered what Hopes Anticipation and most dreadful Mischiefs which I fear and abhor to name the encouraging of such succeeding which is the work of Papists may minister where the only Person of our most dear and precious Soveraign standeth between them and their desired Effect the utter undoing of us all and specially where the power of Revenge may by possibility fall into their hands for whose sake it should be attempted It is no small mischief danger and appalling of our Faith and Courage when our Prince must be defended against those that by possibility may aspire to be our Princes themselves and to 〈◊〉 it upon good Subjects I dispute no Titles I have no reach beyond our Queen I can see nothing beyond our Queen 〈◊〉 a Chaos of Misery therefore I am
but is sick of a Canker or rather of a Leprosie or rather of a Pestilence insomuch that she is past hope of Recovery 3. Dr. Whitaker de Eccles Cont. 2. Quaest 6. C. 1. handling this Question exactly An Ecclesia Romana sit vera Ecclesia Christi visibilis whether the Church of Rome be a true visible Church of Christ resolves it in the Negative and goes on eam nos non modo non solam Catholicam c. we say not only that it is not the only Catholick but not at all Catholick Not Only Not Catholick that is Vniversal but we affirm it is not a true particular Church of Christ Quare deserendam esse ab omnibus c. And therefore we say she the Church of Rome ought to be forsaken of all who would be saved as the Synagogue of Antichrist and Satan it is not any Church at all nullam in eâ salutem in eâ sperandam esse there is no salvation to be hoped for in it With which home Testimony of so great Luminary of the Church of England we shall conclude The COURANT. Truem. VVHat hast got there so busily poring upon Tory. By the Mass a most Divine Scrol and as I am credibly assured found in the Friary at the late Fire at St. James's I 'e warrant ye if I knew the Holy Father that lost it and did but Restore it he would streight forgive me all my Drinking and Whoring Truem. Ah! but how would you come off for your Lying and Slandering the Whiggs with notorious scandals which is your daily practise Tory. Pshaw all that 's so far from Criminal that 't is meritorious but there 's another thing troubles me the Plague on 't is though the Priest compound one's sins with Heaven he cannot get Releases from stubborn Earth if he would but as easily wipe out my Landladies Chalk and cross my Chirurgeons Bills as he can mutter out an absolvo te he were a rare fellow indeed However I 'le away to Thompson or L'Estrange they are the two great Internuntii of Intelligence between the Cloyster'd Monks and the Lewd world and have an Advertisement and make the most on 't Truem. Prethee let 's hear it first Tory. I 'le warrant you had rather hear one of Baxter's tedious Sermons but to vex thee and shew thee what a dainty curious Religion we may with good Industry one day arrive at I 'le read it from the original Copy if that be not one of Heraclitus's Bulls as follows A Revelation from God Almighty done unto St Bridget First Printed at Rome in the Italian Language afterwards in Dutch in French and now in English Know my loving Friends that when I was Apprehended of the Barbarous Jews I received a hundred Buffets upon my Cheeks and upon my Lips thirty blows with Fists when I was taken in the Garden of Olivet I fell seven times going from one side to the other I fell often and to make me rise up again I received of the Jews two hundred and five Kicks I also received seventy two upon my Arms and eighty two Blows upon my Shoulders I also received twenty two Blows round about my Loyns they drew me up by the Hair eight and thirty times I was shouted at a hundred and five times I have been drawn up by the Hair of my Head from the Earth eight and thirty times upon the Pillar I received one deadly wound and on the same Pillar received six thousand six hundred fity six Blows I was whipt to the Bones too and twenty times they gave me a hundred deadly wounds with pressing on the Crown of Thornes I had three deadly wounds upon the Cross they spit upon my Face two and twenty times the Soldiers that apprehended me wâ—â—â— five hundred and eight in number and they that followed me were three hundred and three of them that led me bound there were three hundred and three I spilt out of myâ— Body three millions eight thousand four hundred and thirty six drops of Blood They that pray daily seven Pater Noster's and seven Maria's until the number is filled of my Drops of Blood I will give them five Graces The First he shall not come in Purgatory Secondly the same Graces as if he had shed his Blood for the Catholick Faith Thirdly the Soul of his Friend shall have hope not to come to Purgatory Fourthly if he die before the number is finished it shall be holden as if it were accomplished Fifthly they that carry this about them in Devotion shall not die without being visited of the most Blessed Mother Mary Set thy Intention to give God daily thanks that God for thy Salvation hath spilt so many Drops of Blood that thereby thou may gain God's Grace Amen Truem. This is goodly Gear in Earnest I wish you a good Market for 't but in the mean time prethee what 's the meaning of your friend Hodg with his Sham-Letter from Scotland Tory. Troth I think the old fellow 's mad or has an ambition not to be out rival'd by Thompson in Roguery of that kind what the Devil need he take such pains publickly to be the Papists Advocate they can shift well enough for themselves his Post is to pelt the Non-Con folks really the man is grown too open of late and our friends of the Crape-gown are forc'd to be asham'd of him If he continue to scribble so many Observators a week till the Dog-daâ—s there 's no remedy we must prvide a Lodging for him at Hogsdon or an Apartment opposite to his quondam fellow Servant Oliver's Porter Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The fourth Volume FRIDAY June 2. 1682. Quid primum discendum est in Scholâ Christi nisi ut Renunciemus nobis Whether any Protestant may in compliance or for fear c. be present at Mass without grievous sin IN discharge of our promise N. 18. we now come to consider this Question Whether any Person that has been Educated in the Protestant Religion and rightly instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel may if he happen to live amongst Papists or Popery should prevail be present at their Mass and Communicate with them in the rest of the Ceremonies by them used without offending of God and hazarding his Soul By our stating this Quaere the Reader may perceive we speak not here of those who out of curiosity happen to go into a Popish Chappel or the like meerly to see the manner of their Foppish Ceremonies though yet I must say even this is not unattended with danger for as those that out of wantonness imitate Stammerers many times come to stammer themselves against their wills so if People will thrust themselves into Temptation who knows but God may give them up to believe Lies But that which we intend in this Discourse relates to such as know already what the Mass is but for some carnal reasons out of fear or in