Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A11038
|
The abuses of the Romish church anatomised. By a vvelwiller to Sion, and to all them that loue the truth in the truth
|
Catholic Church.
|
1623
(1623)
|
STC 21302; ESTC S107868
|
13,157
|
44
|
THE ABVSES OF THE ROMISH CHVRCH ANATOMIZED BY A Welwiller to Sion and to all them that loue the Truth in the Truth Religio a Christo religat Romana subinde Aes religit rectos relegare jubet Viuere qui sancte cupitis discedite Roma Omnia cum liceant non licet esse bonum LONDON Printed by Augustine Mathewes and are to be sold by John Grismand at his Shop in Pauls Alley at the Signe of the Gunne 1623. To the Reader COurteous Reader for so I will stile thee till I find thee contrary The intolerable abuses of Pole-shorne Popelings haue in all ages heeretofore and are still so great that many haue been animated I had almost said inforced thereby to shew themselues in Print who otherwise neuer meant it if they had not been instigated thereto by their abhominable Lying Whoring Swearing Blaspheming Pride Drunkennesse Couetousnesse and the like I my selfe am one of this number I haue heere published a Booke the first which euer yet set forth and shall be the last vnlesse this find kind entertainement If then gentle Reader thou acceptest willingly and louingly what thou findest laid downe plainly and rudely the Authour will acknowledge himselfe bound to pleasure thee in what hee is able if otherwise thou play the Critticke carping at euery thing and construing that ill which was intended well doe as thou pleasest vse mee as thou wilt I am Thine as thou vsest me ANONYMVS THE ABVSES OF THE ROMISH CHVRCH ANATOMIZED Their Lying AVgustus Emperor of Rome in the Tryumph which he made of Marke Anthony and Cleopatra brought with him to Rome a Priest of Egypt aged threescore yeres who in all the dayes of his life neuer told any lye In regard whereof the Senate presently ordained that hee should be made free and created Pontifex Maximus also that a Statue should be erected for him and placed amongst those of the most renowned men of all the Ancients In the dayes of Claudius Emperour likewise of Rome there died a man in Rome named Pamphylus who neuer told any matter of truth in all his life time but euermore had his chiefe delight in lying which caused the Emperour to giue commaund that no graue should be graunted to his body but his goods were confiscated his house ruined and his wife and children banished out of Rome to the end that no memory might remaine of so venemous a beast If the same order were among the Papall Frye still in force wee might hope that either wee should haue more Truth-tellers or fewer I yers But that custome is now abolished and this vice of Lying raignes more among these Masse-monging Priests then any people vnder Heauen Witnesse those many lyes which they tell of their Saints as for example Saint Denis the Areopagite say-they tooke vp his head after it was stricken off and carried it in his hand two miles They say further that Saint Bernac turned Oke leaues into loaues stones into Fishes water into Wine and that he sayled ouer the Sea vpon a stone as an hundred and fifty of Ioseph of Arimathea's company did vpon his sonnes Shirt and Fryer Herueus vpon his Mantle They goe on and tell you that Saint Nicholas whilest hee lay in his cradle fasted Wednesdayes and Fridayes on which daâ—es he would neuer sucke aboue once They report moreouer That Bishop Tryan hauing killed his Cow and his Calfe to entertaine Saint Patricke and his company found both of them the next morning feeding in the meadow They further tell of Saint Dominickes books how they fell into a Riuer lay there three dayes and so many nights but were found afterward by a Fisherman and taken vp as drie as a feather They say farther that Saint Romuala deliuered high poynts of Diuinity as soone as he was borne and presently after that hee was baptized made a learned Sermon They deliuer also that Saint Margaret being swallowed by a Dragon had no sooner made the signe of the Crosse but the Dragon burst asunder and out shee came as sound as a Trout They say also that a man who neuer saw further then the length of his nose opening Xauiers Tombe and rubbing his eyes with his hand straightway recouered his sight Yea they are not ashamed to affirme that Ignatius Loyola was rapt vp into heauen and saw the holy Trinity in three Persons and one Essence and that God shewed him the paterne of the world which he layd before him when he made it They report also that Frier Bennet of AreZZe being cast into the Sea in a Tempest was inuironed with a little cloud and carried to the terrestriall Paradise whom when 〈◊〉 and Elijah saw they demaunded of him what hee was And when they heard he was Saint Francis his brother they danced for ioy and led him about to shew him euery corner of Paradise from whence hee was carryed backe againe ouer the Sea in a little Cloud which marueilously astonished those that beheld it They goe on still and would make you beleeue that one time whilest Saint Dunston was at his deuotion the Deuill looked in at the windowe in the shape of a beautifull Damsell thinking to allure him to lust but he hating such abhominable filthinesse tooke the said Deuill by the nose with a paire of hote tongs Neither doe they heere cease but tell wonders surpassing credit of Saint Thomas Becket For they auerre That when Ailâ—ardus for stealing of a great Whetstone which the Authour that writes it best deserued was by sentence of Law depriued of his eyes and virilities vpon prayer to Saint Thomas he had all restored againe Yea euen a bird hauing beene taught to speake flying out of her Cage and now ready to be seazed on by a Sparrow-Hawke sayd onely Saint Thomas helpe me and her enemy fell presently dead but she escaped and belike reported it Yea in his life time the Virgin Mary her selfe was contented to bee his Sempster and sowed his shirt with red Silke But these forgeries be onely fit for Monks to indite Children to reade and Fooles to beleeue inuented at the first to deceiue poore ignorant people who cannot perceiue this their abhominable lying being nuzled and fostered all their life long in Ignorance by a commaund from his Holinesse least they should descry their intollerable wickednesse And therefore I will not dwell any longer vpon this poynt but conclude it with a proofe of their Lying for in the Raigne of King Richard the second King of England their lying was growne to such a passe that it was held as good an Argument to reason thus Hic est Frater Ergo Mendax He is a Frier and therefore a Lyer as to say Hoc est Album Ergo coloratum This thing is white and therefore coloured Their Gluttonie and Drunkennesse HItherto we haue seene them lying now let vs see them walking like the tops of trees tossed to and fro with the winde Let vs also view their Gu mandizing and Glttony That these vices are
domineere in England in the Raigne of King Henrie the third that a Cardinall told the Pope that England was to the Pope like Balaams Asse which being so often veronged spurre-galled and cudgelled it was no maruaile if at the length she opened her mouth to complaine And as for themselues and their Romane Court they were like vnto Ismael euery mans hand was against them and theirs against euerie man In the same Kings Raigne Edmund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury weary of his life here in his owne Countrey of England by reason that hee could not redresse nor suppresse the Popes detestable exactions and oppressions made choyce of a voluntary exile at Pountney in Fraunce where hee dyed with the honour and opinion of a Saint A Senator of Rome sayd to Sylla that vaunted of himselfe in the Senate How can you bee a good man that hauing little or nothing left you by you father yet in so short a time are become exceeding rich So may we say to the Popes Holinesse vaunting and boasting that he is aboue Kings and Emperours How can you bee a good man who having as you pretended little or nothing but went about begging the beneuolence of good charitable people yet now are raised to that honour and dignitie that you set your selues aboue your Superiours And wee may say of all Papists in generall That they arrogate to themselues the glorious name of Catholiques and brand their opposites with the odious name of Heretiques as certaine Heathen in old time called themselues Deists and all men else Atheists and as the Turke at this day who will needs be the true Muselman and all the world beside Pagans But this their Catholique Religion is nothing but Catholique corruption and Catholique Papists Catholique Heretiques I will now draw towards a Conclusion giue mee leaue onely to speake a little of Rome and so an end In ancient times M. Aurelius said of Rome that it was the head of vices O Rome without Rome which now art become Stewes of vices not without teares quoth hee I say that there was neuer any Romane Captaine that killed tenne thousand Asians with the weapons hee brought into Asia but he lost an hundred thousand Romanes with the vices they brought to Rome Thy walles are carryed a great height but thy vertues very low Shee braggeth of the number of her Inhabitants but may rather weepe that her vices be more without comparison In one moneth a man may number the stones of her stately Buildings but not in many yeares her lewde manners O cursed Rome cursed thou hast beene art and wilt bee As by thy Tyrannie thou hast made thy selfe Lady of Lordes so the time will come when thou with Iustice shalt returne to bee Seruant of Seruants The like Sentence another gaue of Rome who tolde the Senators that he came out of strange Countries onely to see Rome and now he found it without Rome If my Iudgement saith he deceiue me not either these be not Romanes of Rome or else this is not Rome of the Romanes This was Rome in ancient time and that it is still the same may sufficiently appeare by those abuses of the Inhabitants thereof afore mentioned And therefore I thinke I may safely conclude with that Disticke of the Poet Roma vale vidi satis est vidisse reuertar Cum Leno aut meretrix scurra cynaedus ero Englished Now farewell Rome I haue thee seene It is enough to see I will returne when as I meane Bawd Scoffer Whore and Rogue to bee FINIS