THE DOVVNEFALL OF POPERIE Proposed by way of a new challenge to all English Iesuits and Iesuited or Italianized papists daring them all iointly and euery one of them seuerally to make answere thereunto if they can or haue any truth on their side knowing for a truth that otherwise all the world will crie with open mouths Fie vpon them and their patched hotch-potch religion Psal. 116. vers 10. Credidi propter quod loquutus sum LONDON Printed by A. Jslip for Arthur Iohnson and are to be sold at the signe of the White Horse ouer against the great North doore of Paules 1604. TO THE MOST PVissant Wise Vertuous Learned Iudicious and Religious Monarch James by Gods permission and holy ordinance king of England Scotland France and Ireland defendour of the auncient Christian Catholike faith and supreme gouernour within his said Realmes Kingdomes Territotories and Dominions next and immediately vnder God ouer all persons and causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Ciuile THe Truth is of such force most gracious and dread Soueraigne that it hath enforced the professed enemies of truth the cursed brood of English traitorous Iesuits and Iesuited papists I meane to testifie the truth against themselues The secular Seminarie priests the Popes owne deere vassals who professe the selfesame religion with the Iesuits and yeeld the selfe same obedience to the Pope tell vs plainly in printed bookes puplished to the view of the whole world a thing verie rare and greatly to bee admired of such brutish barbarous cruell villanous traytorous and most bloodie dealing practised not onely by their deere brethren the Iesuites but euen by themselues also though not in one or the same degree that my selfe doubtlesse could neuer haue giuen credit thereunto if their owne selues had not so written and so testified against themselues They affirme constantly in many printed bookes published to the view of the whole world that the Iesuits by treacherous practises and most bloodie complots haue long sought for the vtter ruine and conquest of noble England and that their owne hearts and hands had sometime beene imbrewed with the same They affirme against the Iesuits First that they are great lyers Secondly that they are proud men richly apparelled furnished with coaches and attended on with a great traine of seruingmen as if they were Barrons or Earles Yea it is constantly auouched that the Iesuit Gerard had two geldings in a gentlemans stable at thirtie pounds a gelding besides others else where and horses of good vse It is also set downe in print that a Iesuit had a girdle and hangers of thirtie pound price Thirdly that they trowle vp and downe from good cheere to good cheere commaunding their chambers to bee perfumed and gentlewomen to pull off their boots Fourthly that they are great statesmen and that matters of state titles of princes genealogies of kings right of succession disposing of scepters with other matters of like qualitie are their chiefe studies Fiftly that they threaten a conquest and promise great preferment to all that will execute their most traitorous designements Sixtly that they are cruell tyrants and firebrands of all sedition Seuenthly that they are theeues and murderers and that the Iesuit Percie stole seuen and twentie pound of the common money by the consent of the other his fellow Iesuits Eightly that they haue a mint of counterfeit miracles with which they labour to seduce the world Yea that they endeuoured with a false miracle to persuade Sebastian the late king of Portugall to establish a setled law That from thence forward none might bee capable of the crowne of Portugall except hee were a Iesuit or chosen by their societie as at Rome the Pope is chosen by the Colledge of Cardinals Nninthly that the Iesuits are right Machiauels and that whosoeuer will adhere vnto thē must depend vpon the deuil of hell Tenthly that the Iesuits are flat cousiners and that their religion is nothing else but an hotchpotch of omnigitherum And to knit vp all in a word that they are the wickedst men vpon earth They confesse against themselues first that Sanders a secular priest was the architect of religion both in England and in Ireland Secondly that the same Sanders did too much extoll the rebels seeing they were executed by the auncient lawes of our countrey for high treason Thirdly that the Iesuits came into England by the instinct of the deuill and were the chiefest instruments of all traitorous practises against our late Soueraine of most happie memorie Fourthly that popish Seminaries are erected for treason Fiftly that the Iesuits and the secular priests expected a chaunge which now they haue indeed but God bee thanked to their euerlasting woe and griefe Sixtly that the Seminarie priests are sworne to be traytours against their dread Soueraigne and natiue countrey Seuenthly that all Iesuited papists must depend vpon the deuill Eightly that poperie is inseparably annexed with treason Ninthly that the hearts and hands of the secular priests had sometime beene as deepe in treasonable practises as the cursed crew of Iesuits Tenthly that the lawes of the land are iustly made both against the Iesuits and themselues and that they are not put to death for religion but for treason Eleuenthly that long hidden treasons are miraculously reuealed God so appointing it to be done All these asseuerations to be true most dread Soueraine I am readie to iustifie out of their owne printed bookes euen vpon the perill of my life if any of them vpon the like perill will challenge mee to haue charged them falsly in that behalfe This notwithstandlng the Iesuits Seminaries and other Iesuited papists doe still expect a tolleration to liue as they list within your Maiesties kingdomes and dominions that is in plaine English to bee rancke traytours as they haue beene For this end they neuer cease to buzze into mens heads and eares so to withdraw them from their due allegeance and to become popish vassals that the next parliament they shall not faile of their desire Against this cursed brood I haue published many bookes but to this day could I not receiue answere to any of them all Neither can they alledge for their excuse that they haue not seene my bookes or else they would haue answered the same For about a yeere agoe the masked Iesuit E. O. did publish a treatise against two learned writers of this age in which he taketh notice to the bookes which I have published against them and their late vpstart Romish religion which by piece meale and by little and little hath crept into the Church as I haue prooued at large in my former volumes These are the expresse wordes of the masked Iesuit To these former I was once determined to haue adioined a reformed brother of theirs one Thomas Bell who hath published certaine bookes against the Catholicke Church and vaunteth mightily and with insolent words braueth all Seminaries but I altered my purpose partly vpon other considerations but especially because the
confutation of his worthy workes is alreadie vndertaken and to bee published if it shall bee thought necessarie Thus doth the Iesuit write By whose wordes it is very apparant cleere and euident that they haue beene many yeeres buzzing about some answere either to all or some one of my bookes but neuer yet durst aduenture to frame any answere to any one of the said bookes and to publish it to the view of the world Their silence in not answering my said bookes hath reclaimed many a man from their popish faction and therefore would they gladly haue the the world to thinke that they are in mind to answere my said bookes but they seeme to meane nothing lesse in deed and why hee telleth vs forsooth That the confutation which hath beene long vndertaken must be published but with this addition If it shall be thought necessarie What a iest is this the Iesuits and Seminarie priests haue consulted now for the space of eight yeeres and aboue and haue all that time deuised how to frame some colourable answere at the least to all or some of the said bookes and in the end of the yeere 1602 haue vndertaken the confutation of my worthy workes as they scornefully tearme them but for all that cannot yet tell whether it be expedient to publish the said confutation or no. Are these men the great Statists of the world are these men the skilfull Polititians that must manage all Europe are these our learned Diuines are these they indeed vpon whose doctrin and guiding all Lay-papists do depend and on their shoulders do hang their soules and saluation doubtlesse they may preach this goodly sermon to wise men but onely noddies and starke fooles will beleeue them In regard hereof most dread Soueraigne and because I greatly desire once during my life to receiue answere to some part of my labours published against our English Iesuited papists that so wee may valianly fight the combat my selfe so hauing occasion to reply vpon their answere which would bee to mee melle fauo dulcius I haue compiled and couched in a small roome a fewe distinct articles for answere whereunto I once againe challenge Robert Persons that traitorous Iesuit George Blackwell that seditious and late start-vp archpriest and all other English Iesuits Seminarie priests and Iesuited papists whosoeuer and wheresoeuer ioyntly and seuerally daring them all ioyntly and euerie one of them seuerally to answere either all my bookes or some one of them or these few articles or at least to confesse plainely that they cannot answere because I hold and defend the truth These my late studies most gratious Soueraigne I haue presumed to dedicate vnto your Maiestie in congratulation of your most happie raigne ouer vs whom God of his great mercie hath raised vp in our greatest necessitie to continue his holy Gospell among vs and to abolish all idolatrie and superstition out of his Church It is not such a present I confesse as beseemeth your most royall excellencie yet such a one as my small talent is able to affoord I most humbly beseech your Highnesse for to accept it as our Lord Iesus Christ did accept the two mytes of the poore widdow and withall for to protect and patronize the same against the traitorous Iesuits and Iesuited papists within your Maiesties Realmes who seeke by might and maine as I am credibly informed not onely to impaire my good fame and name with their malicious tongues but also to take away my life with their bloodie hands The Almightie blesse your Maiestie with long prosperous and happie raigne in this world and with euerlasting life in the world to come Amen From my studie this fourteenth of Ianuarie 1603. Your Maiesties loyall subiect and faithfull seruant Thomas Bell. To all English Iesuits Seminarie priests and Iesuited papists in England Scotland or wheresoeuer els I Haue written many times at large in larger volumes heartily and instantlie desiring to haue receiued some answere from you either from all ioyntly or from some of you seuerallie In my first booke published in the yeare 1593 I promised to yeeld if any of you could conuince me either to haue alleadged any writer corruptlie or to haue quoted any place guilefullie or to haue charged any author falslie since that time I haue challenged you againe and againe to answere me but Ne gry quidem will be had no answere can you make or dare you make In regard hereof I haue at this present compiled a few articles couched in a small roome challenging you once againe to frame the best answere you can vnto the same if you can sieceerelie and trulie confute these articles or any one of my former bookes I promise herewith and I protest before God to performe it to subscribe vnto your doctrine If you therefore shall refuse to answere me because you cannot for if you can you will vndoubtedlie performe it all wise men which haue any care of their saluation will without all peraduenture after notice hereof made knowen vnto them crie Fie vpon you and your religion Answere therefore ô papists if ye can if ye cannot so doe then repent for shame and yeeld vnto the truth Farewell THE FIRST ARTICLE of the falsely so supposed soueraignetie of the Bishop of Rome YOu Papists tell vs that your Pope the Bishop of Rome is aboue all powers and potentates on earth that he can depose kings and emperours from their royall thrones and translate their empires and regalities at his good will and pleasure But this doctrine is false absurd and nothing els but a meere fable and consequently late Romish religion consisteth of meere falshoods fables and flat leasings The proposition the Iesuit Bellarmine that late Romish Cardinall setteth downe in these words Si ergo princeps aliquis ex oue aut ariete fiat lupus id est ex Christiano fiat haereticus poterit pastor ecclesiae eum arcere per excommunicationem simul iubere populo ne eum sequantur ac proinde priuare eum dominio in subditos If therefore any prince of a sheepe or ramme become a wolfe that is to say of a Christian be made an heretick then the pastors of the Church the Pope forsooth may driue him away by excommunication and withall commaund the people not to obey him and therfore depriue him of his dominion ouer his subiects Thus we see that when any prince is not or ceaseth to be a Papist for that with this Iesuiticall Cardinall and all others of his brood is to be an hereticke then the Pope forsooth may depose such a prince from his royall scepter and absolue his subiects from their alleageance to him This is the common doctrine of all Iesuited papists as I haue proued in my anatomie of Popish tyrannie The assumption is prooued by the flat testimonie of their famous Pope Gregorie the great in these words Ego quidem iussioni subiectus eandem legem per diuersas terrarum partes transmittifeci quia
I find these expresse wordes Sic Papa dicitur habere caelesteâ— arbitrium ideo etiam naturam rerum immutat substantiam vnius rei applicando alij de nihilo potest aliquid facere So the Pope is said to haue celestiall arbitrement and therefore doth he alter the nature of things applying the substantiall parts of one thing to an other and so can make of nothing something Thus the papists write of their Pope and he is well pleased therewith And yet the truth is that as man can in some cases at some time make one thing of an other so in all cases at all times to make some thing of nothing is proper to God alone The Popes parasites write thus of his power in generall Sicut non est potestas nisia deo sic nec aliqua temporalis vel ecclesiastica imperialis vel regalis nisi à Papa in cuius foemore scripsit Christus rex regum dominus dominantium Like as there is no power but of God so is there neither any temporall nor ecclesiasticall neither imperiall nor regall but of the Pope in whose thigh Christ hath written the King of kings and Lord of lords Loe here gentle reader two things are proper to God alone the one to be King of kings and Lord of lords the other to be the author of all power both which you see here ascribed to the Pope The Pope himselfe from his owne pen Gregorie the ninth deliuereth vs this doctrine Ad firmamentum coeli hoc est vniuers alis ecclesiae fecit deus duo magna luminaria id est duas instituit dignitates quae sunt pontificalis authoritas regalis potestas sequitur vt quanta est inter solem lunam tanta inter pontifices reges differentia cognoscatur To the firmament of heauen that is of the vniuersall church God made two lights pontificall authoritie and power royall that we may know there is asmuch difference between Popes and kings as there is betweene the sunne the moone The glosse setteth downe precisely how farre a king is inferiour to a Pope that is to any bishop of Rome in these words Restat vt pontificalis dignitas quadragesies septies sit maior regali dignitate It remaineth that the dignitie of the Pope is fourtie times seuen times greater than the power of the king Now touching the kissing of the Popes feete I answere that some Christian kings and emperours vpon a blind zeale not grounded in knowledge humbling themselues to the Bishop of Rome and yeelding vp their soueraigne rights to him opened the window to all antichristian tyrannie For in short time after as is alreadie prooued the Romish bishops became so lordly and insolent that they tooke vpon them to depose the emperors to translate their empires and to dispose at their pleasures of their royall scepters and regalities Much more might be said in this matter but for that the Pope hath made it sacriledge to dispute of this I will here onely tell thee gentle reader what the Popes deere frier Sigebertus hath written of his holines These are his expresse words Vt pace omnium honorum dixerim haec sola nouitas non dicam haeresis nondum in mundo emerserat vt sacerdotes illius qui regnarefacit hypocritaÌ„ propter peccata populi doceant populum quod malis regibus nullam debeant subiectionem licet ei sacramentum fidelitatis fecerint nullam tamen debeant fidelitatem nec periuri dicantur qui contra regem senserint imo qui regi paâ—â—erit pro excommunicato habeatur qui contra regem fecerit noxa iniustitiae periuris absoluatur To speake by the fauour of all good men this sole noueltie I wil not say heresie was not yet known in the world that his priests who maketh an hypocrite to reigne for the sinnes of the people should teach the people that they owe no subiection to wicked kings and that although they haue taken the oth of fealtie yet doe they owe them no allegeance neither are they periured that thinke ill against the king yea he that obeyeth the king is this day reputed an excommunicate person and he that taketh part against the king is absolued from the crime of iniustice and periurie This is our very case gentle reader this day in England so liuely painted out in best beseeming coulours as if the writer had bene liuing euen now amongst vs. So then wee haue to obserue here for our instruction That the Popes owne monkes and friers haue thought as ill of the Popes dealings in former times as we thinke of his procedings in these latter dayes As also That popish religon hath alwaies bene condemned euen of great learned papists that liued in the Popes Church VVhereof none can be ignorant that will seriously peruse my bookes of Motiues and Suruey And this shall suffice for the first article to which if their hearts doe not faint them or their consciences condemne them the papists will frame some answere vndoubtedly The second Article touching the erroneous doctrine of the Popish masse The first member Of the impossibilitie of their supposed reall presence AQuinas the Iesuit Bellarmine the councell of Trent Melchior Canus Iosephus Angles and the rest of the Romish brood hold constantlie as an article of their christian faith That the true organicall and naturall bodie of Christ Iesus which was borne of the Virgin Marie which was crucified and nayled on the crosse which rose againe the third day from death and is circumscriptiuely and locally in heauen is also truelie really and substantially vnder the forme of bread and wine in the sacrifice of the popish masse But this is impossible as which implieth flat contradiction and consequently late romish religion consisteth of impossibilities falshoodes and contradictions The doubt hereof is onely in the assumption for proofe whereof I set downe this supposall with our Cardinall Bellarmine viz. That we are not bound to beleeue any thing which implyeth contradiction And because I will proceed sincerely yee shall heare his owne words thus doth he write Neque fides nostra ad id nos obligat vt ea defendamus quae euidenter implicant contradictionem Neither doth our faith bind vs so that wee must defend those things which implie euident contradiction But so it is that the popish imaginarie being of Christs bodie in a little round cake implieth in it selfe euident contradiction and cannot possibly be brought to passe For example no power vpon earth or in heauen can bring to passe that a bodie being three cubits long and one cubit broad remaining still so long and so broad shall be contained in another bodie of two cubits length and halfe a cubite breadth The reason hereof is euident because so to containe and be so contained implieth flat contradiction And this is the case now in controuersie concerning Christs supposed being in the round popish cake For if Christs naturall and
organicall bodie be there as popish faith auoucheth then must the papists beleeue euident contradictions contrarie to Iesuit Bellarmines resolution yea contrarie to all power all Logicke all reason All the papists in England are not able to solue this reason I challenge them all and aduise them to consult together and to craue helpe of their friends elswhere and then to let me haue their speedie answere hereunto Cardinall Caietane affirmeth boldly that no text in the whole Gospell doth prooue effectually and conuince the reader to vnderstand these words properly This is my bodie For which respect frier Ioseph aduiseth grauely to read their Cardinall caute warily Aquinas affirmeth constantly Corpus Christi non esse in pluribus locis simul secundū proprias dimensiones that Christs bodie is not in many places at once according to the proper dimensions thereof whose assertion is my flat position For Christs naturall bodie cannot be without those dimensions which naturally pertaine vnto it Durandus holdeth the very same opinion S. Austine saith plainely that Christs true bodie can be but in one onely place of heauen Vbi totum presentem esse non dubites tanquam deum in codem templo dei esse tanquam inhabitantem deum in loco aliquo coeli propter veri corporis modum Thou must not doubt saith S. Austen that Christ is wholly present euery where as God and in the same temple of God as God inhabiting it and in some one place of heauen for the manner of a true bodie Lo this graue father telleth vs that Christ as God is euery where but yet in respect of his true bodie he is onely in heauen and in some certaine place of heauen Only in heauen because the Scripture saith That he shall be there till the worlds end in some certaine place of heauen to declare the nature and veritie of a true bodie indeed So then if he were present as the papists would haue him his bodie should lose the nature and veritie of a true bodie indeed Againe in another place S. Austen hath these words Donec seculum finiatur sursum est dominus sed tamen etiam hic nobiscum est veritas domini corpus enim in quo resurrexit in vno loco esse oportet veritas autem eius vbique diffusa est Our Lord is aboue vntill the worlds end but yet his truth is with vs here for the bodie of our Lord wherein he rose againe must needs be in one place but this truth is diffused euery where Againe the same S. Austen writing against Faustus the Manichee hath these expresse words Secundum presentiam corporalem simul in Sole in Luna in cruce esse non posset According to his corporall presence it was not possible for him to be both in the Sunne and in the Moone and on the crosse at one and the same time O papists answere if you can if not recant for shame The second Member Of the Sacrifice of the Popish Masse THe Papists teach and beleeue as an article of Christian faith That in their masse Christs true and reall bodie is truly and really sacrificed to God the father vnder the forme of bread as also his true and reall bloud vnder the forme of wine Yet this implieth horrible impietie and brutish crueltie as shall be prooued and consequently popish Masse is to be abhorred First where the Apostle telleth vs that Christ rising againe from the dead henceforth dieth no more because death hath no more dominion ouer him the papists tell vs a contrarie tale that Christ dieth euery day nay a thousand times a day in the daily sacrifice of their masse for with them all priests the Pope Cardinals and some others excepted doe ordinarily say masse euery day and three masses vpon euery Christmas day VVhich being so and three hundred Iesuits and seminarie priests being this day in England and Scotland as the Iesuites tell vs an huge multitude of masses must be said daily in these realmes and many times must Christ be put to death so farre forth as in them lieth though they pretend to honour him thereby For as Cardinall Bellarmine graunteth freely a sacrifice implieth intrinsecally the consumption of the thing that is sacrificed I will not auouch any vntruth vpon any man gentle reader these are his owne words Sacrificium enim preter oblationem requirit mutationem consumptionem rei quae offertur For saith Bellarmine a sacrifice besides the oblation requires an alteration and a consumption of the thing which is offered Againe Bellarmine in another place telleth vs that the bodie and bloud of Christ are offered in the masse verè propriè truly and properly vnder the formes of bread and wine Againe Bellarmine saith in another place that flesh and bloud are not fit for meat nisi prius animal moriatur vnlesse the beast first die and be slaine Againe the same Bellarmine teacheth the same doctrin yet more plainely in another place Thus doth he write Sacrificium enim verum reale veram realem occisionem exigit quando in occisione ponitur essentia sacrificij For a true and reall sacrifice requireth a true and reall killing seeing that the essence of the sacrifice consisteth in the killing thereof And in very deed this is that constant doctrine which S. Paule doth inculcate to the Hebrewes So then we see it cleare and euident by popish faith and doctrine that Iesus Christ our sweet redeemer must first be killed then offered lastly torne and consumed by the teeth of the sacrificing masse-priest or els the popish masse cannot be perfect as their most perfect doctor telleth vs. For confirmation of this popish doctrine it is a constant position and generally receiued axiome in the popish church that by vertue of their consecratorie words Christs bodie is put apart from his bloud and his bloud apart from his bodie and so Christ is there slaine by force of their consecration though he still liue indeed because the priests words haue not so much force as they imagin You shall heare Bellarmines owne words Nam inprimis ideo in coena seorsim consecratur corpus seorsim sanguis vt intelligamus presentiam corporis sanguinis in coena esse ad modum occisi mortui corporis For first therfore is the bodie consecrate apart in the supper and the bloud asunder that we may vnderstand the presence of the bodie and bloud in the supper to be there after the manner of a bodie slaine and dead These are his words and this which he thus deliuereth is the constant doctrine of the Popish Church VVhereupon it followeth of necessitie that if any papist should haue said masse in triduo mortis Christi during Christs death then Christs bodie by vertue there of should haue been dead in one place and his bloud in another place for otherwise Christ should haue been both quicke and dead at