Ignorance excuseth sins committed without knowing them and even those which are committed afterwards and that there are properly no sins of ignorance according to the Jesuits 16. The Papists teach that the whole Law of God may in this life be fulfilled by the Regenerate and and that some do keep it perfectly 17. That we may fulfil the Commandements of God and of the Church not only without intention but with an intent contrary and altogether criminal 18. The Jesuits enhaunse and debase as they please the Goods of this world which are the usual object or matter of sin and so nourish vice and dispense with the Law of God 19. They have found out a kind of necessity which dispenseth with the Law of God that necessity makes that lawful which is not lawful by the Law 20. That though God as a Sovereign and absolute Lord might make him suffer an eternal pain who did disobey him in a slight matter yet he could not do it as a Judg because in this quality he is obliged to proportion the punishment to the fault which is not greater than the matter of the disobedience 21. Bellar. de Justif l. 4. c. 10. Greg. Valen Tom. 1. They teach that it is not only possible for men to keep the Law of God in this life but to do more than is prescribed or commanded and that these works do make men perfect and that men of their abundance may allot unto others such works of supererogation 22. That good works are not only necessary to Salvation necessitate praesentiae because they must necessarily be present and we cannot be without thems but necessitate efficientiae they are necessary as efficient causes together with Faith of our Salvation 23. Vid. Cepaâ—in vit Gonzagaeâ— l. 3. c. 2. That a just man in his good works doth not sin but that their works are truly just without any spot or blemish of sin 24. Andrad Orth. Expl. l. 6. They hold that eternal life is bestowed for the merit of Works that Christ did merit for His not only Pardon of all faults and Grace to do all good Works but also that their Works should be meritorious of life everlasting Bayus merit operum l 3. c. 9. They make two kinds of merit meritum de congruo merit of congruity such are the preparative Works before Justification as were the Prayers and Alms-deeds of Cornelius Act. 10. which though they be not simply meritorious ex debito Justitiae by the due debt of Justice yet say they of Congruity they deserve at Gods hands because he doth gratiously accept them The other kind they call meritum de condigno merit of Condignity when the reward is justly due by debt 25. That there is a first and second Justification 26. That the Virgin Mary was without sin that she was conceived and born without original sin and lived and died without actual sin 27. Bernardini de Busti Mariale Par. 3 Serm. 3 That the Virgin Mary during the time of Christs Passion and from his Ascension into Heaven was the sole Queen Mistress and Instructer of his Church on Earth That he assumed her into Heaven Soul and Body Baronius Spondanus Fabrit Destruct Vitior fourteen years after his own Ascension as Baronius Spondanus and others testifie though they contradict each other therein both in the manner time circumstances and reality of her assumption of which there is little or no mention in any old Ecclesiastical Historians or Fathers of the Church 28. Bernard Serm. de Assumpt beatae Mariae Mich. Lochi main Serm. 6. Suraez Tom. 2. Disp 54. Sect. 6. They assert that Christ hath assumed her Soul and Body into Heaven and placed her therein far above all Orders of Saints or Angels even at his own right hand in the very Throne of the Trinity and they vow obedience to her 29. They assert that Mary vowed Virginity before the Angel Gabriel came to her with his Message They also say that the Church was in her alone when Christ died 30. That there is a place Rhem Annot. in Matt. 12. Sect. 6. commonly called Purgatory into which some of the Redeemed go after this Life as in a Prison-house where the Souls which were not fully purged in this life are there purged and cleansed by fire before they can be received into Heaven Vid John Verons Hunting of Purgatory 31. They have devised and imagined in their wandring conceit four infernal and subterrestrial places Hell Purgatory Limbus Infantium where Children remain dying without Baptism and Limbus Patrum where they say the Fathers were before Christs coming These places they distinguish three ways 1. By the situation Hell is lowest Purgatory is next Limbus Infantium in the third place Limbus Patrum uppermost 2. They differ say they in measure of punishment some of them have poenam damni poenam sensus a double punishment both of loss in that they are excluded Heaven and of pain also as Hell and Purgatory The other two Limbi are but dungeons of darkness only where they suffer no other smart or pain but are only absent from God 3. They differ in time and continuance say they Hell and the Dungeon of Children shall remain for ever but Purgatory and the Dungeon of the Fathers are temporal The one that is Limbus Patrum is many years ago dissolved and Purgatory also shall cease say they at the coming of Christ This then is their opinion that the Patriarchs and Prophets before Christs coming were not in Heaven but were kept in an infernal place of darkness yet without pain and were delivered by Christs descending into Hell 32. Bellarm. l 4. de Pontif. c. 13. That the Pope is Christs Deputy Vice-gerent and Vicar-General upon earth to whom and to whose Successors we should all give place and yield obedience 33. That the Pope cannot err Here see their shifting distinctions The Pope may err in Manners say they not in Faith alone by himself not in a Council in his Chamber not in his Consistory by way of Conference not of Conclusion in a private Letter not in a Decretal Epistle in his Palace not in the Pulpit which last is truest for he never cometh there But he that erreth in Judgment must of necessity err in his Determinations Many of the Popes have erred greatly Pope Marcellinus was an Idolater and offered Sacrifice to Jupiter and was forced by the Council of Sessa to recant it where there were three hundred Bishops assembled Liberius fell into Arrianism as Athanasius testifieth The like did Pope Foelix as Saint Hierom writeth Vide Willet Controv. 4. Pope Honorius was a Monothelite holding Christ had but one Will and so but one Nature for the which he was condemned in three General Councils Innocent the first made both Baptism and the Eucharist necessary for the Salvation of Infants the latter of these was condemned by the Council of Trent Pope Stephen the sixth abolished all the
not upon Scripture 6. That the efficacy of Baptism doth not extend it self to the future but only to that which is past 7. That there is in Baptism a silent and implicit Oath of Obedience to the Pope 8. That the laver of Regeneration is not profitable to those that fall after Baptism 9. The Baptism of John say they was of another kind than Christs Baptism was Concil Trid. Sess 8. câ—n 1. neither was it sufficient without Christs Baptism nor had the like force or efficacy as his Baptism had and therefore such as had been baptized of John say they were admitted afterward to Christs Baptism 10. They clog Baptism with many trifling Ceremonies and by mixing therewith their own inventions they have greatly polluted the Holy Sacrament of Baptism For I. Vid. Dr. Willet Controv. de Bapt. Quaest 8. Before Baptism they have devised these toys to be used 1. They do exorcise conjure and exuflate the evil spirit from the party baptized 2. They touch the Ears and Nostrils with Spittle that his Ears may be opened to hear the Word and his Nostrils to discern between the smell of good and evil 3. The Priest signeth his Mouth Eies Ears Nostrils Breast Forehead with the sign of the Crovs that all thereby may be defended 4. Then hallowed Salt is put into his mouth that he may be seasoned with Wisdom and be kept from putrifying in sin 5. The party is then anointed with Oil in his breast that he may be safe from evil suggestions they anoint him also between the shoulders that he may receive strength to bear the Lords burden II. These Ceremonies do accompany Baptism it self 1. The Font and Water therein is consecrated and hallowed in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 2. He is thrice dipped in the Water to signifie the being of Christ three daies in the Grave III. After Baptism they have this use 1. They anoint the top of the head of him who is newly baptized with holy Chrism or Oile and thereby he is become a Christian 2. Gabr. Biel. l 4. dist 6 quaest 3. Then a white Garment is put upon him to betoken his Regeneration 3. A Vail is put upon his head in token that he is crowned with a Royal Diadem 4. A burning Taper is put into his hand to fulfil that saying in the Gospel Let your Light so shine before men c. 11. They teach that Baptism leaveth nothing in the baptized that hath the nature of sin Their Errours concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper or Eucharist 1. THey take away the Name of the Lords Supper and call it the Sacrament of the Altar 2. Vid. Fox Acts and Monum In this Sacrament they teach and urge the corporal presence of the Flesh of Christ as if that Sacrament were instituted to nourish Bodies and not Souls 3. They affirm the Body of Christ to be really in diverse places that it is in Heaven and in the Eucharist all at once 4. They take away the substance in the Sacrament and leave the accidents as if the accidents viz. length breadth figure colour tast were without subject 5. That the Priest by the force of these five words Hoc est enim corpus meum out of the Bread in the Sacrament createth the Body of Christ Bellarm. l 4. de Sacra c. 13 The whispering of those five words the Papists call the Consecration of the Elements and being whispered they presuppose such a secret vertue in the syllables as is able to chase away the substance of the Bread and so say they the Bread and Wine is turned into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ 6. That these words This is my Body are to be taken literally Bellarm. cap. 9. without any Figure 7. That the Body of Christ is made of the Bread in the Eucharist as Wine was made of Water 8. That the substance of the Bread is consumed and ceaseth to be and yet is not annihilated 9. That the Body of Christ doth remain in the host as long as the accidents of Bread remain uncorrupted 10. Bishop Downham Catal. That as long as the Body of Christ is in the Host it is accompanied with Angels 11. That in the corruption of the Species there is matter substituted by God in that very instant in which those species cease to be in which something else is generated 12. That the Elements of the Sacrament of the Eucharist do not nourish if taken in a great quantity without a divine miracle 13. But as they take away the substance of Bread and Wine and so with that the substance of the Sacrament so they rob the Body of Christ of almost all the essential properties of a true Body by this fiction of Transubstantiation 14. And as they feign the Accidents of Bread in the Sacrament without the substance of it so they must needs feign the substance of Christs Body without the Accidents of it 15. Many do teach that one and the same Body of Christ undivided doth exist upon innumerable Altars and is every where whole 16. That the Body of Christ being in many places at once and yet not in the space between is not discontinued or divided from it self in respect of its proper substance or quantity but only is divided from it self in respect of place 17. That one and the same Body of Christ being in Heaven and on Earth yea in innumerable places on Earth at once is indeed visible and palpable in Heaven but on Earth invisible and beyond all our senses there it is limited and circumscribed here it is unlimited there it hath dimensions here it is free from all dimensions 18. They teach Vide Concil Trid. Sess 21. cap. 2. that the Sacrament is not to be taken in both kinds Some of them confess it is Christs institution that we should take the Sacrament in the two kinds but that the Church hath dispensed from that Commandment for say they it belongeth to the Church to judg what Mysteries of Christ are dispensable and the Church hath the power to use both dispensation and alteration herein Hereby they declare the Church of Rome to be above God since she can change his Laws and correct his Institutions 19. They take away the Communion it self in the Supper the Priest alone devouring all the rest looking on 20. The Priest doth adore the consecrated Host and doth offer it to others by lifting it up to be adored and for the same end they keep it and carry it in solemn procession that it may be publickly adored 21. That the Eucharist when it is carried to the sick is to be adored by all those that meet it those that do adore it are to have Indulgences those that do not adore it are to be counted Hereticks and are to be persecuted with Fire and Sword 22. Trid. Câ—nâ—il S. s◠〈◊〉 6. By this Bread-worship they commit great
any body came near it and and would have touched it And therefore they named it Vmbra because it was but a salse representation like unto the shadow of a Body They said that it did remain about the Graves and upon the Earth where it was to wander and to appear unto men So say the Papists though the Bodies of men may be corrupted in the Grave and brought into ashes so that they cannot come out of it before the day of the general Resurrection except it be by Miracle yet it is otherwise of the Souls for they be immortal and go not down into the Grave as the Bodies do therefore they may come again and appear unto men on earth and to converse with them But some of the Heathen have derided at these toys Cicero Tuscul quaest l. 1. Cicero where he makes mention of the Lake Avernus saith they will that these Images and Visions should speak which thing cannot be done without Tongue Mouth Throat without the force and shape or figure of Lungs and Ribs Chrysost de Lazarâ— Divite Chrysostom saith well ne quaeramus audire à mortuis quae multo clarissimè nos docent sacrae Scripturae let us not seek to hear those things from the dead which the holy Scriptures do teach us most plainly 6. Macrob. in somnscipio l. 2. Singing and Musick was also used in the Funerals of the Paynims of which Macrobius speaketh Pythagoras and Plato speak of the Musick and Harmony of the Heavens proceeding from the continual moving of the heavenly Sphears or Circles And Plato and they that held opinion with him that the Souls were immortal did think that they had their off-spring and original from Heaven and that they were come down from thence to inhabit and dwell in the Bodies of men whereupon Macrobius saith that it was established by the Laws and Statutes of many Countries that they should follow the dead unto their Graves with good Musick and Singing for the Paynims did believe that the Souls after they were separated from the Bodies did return to the original of the sweet Musick and Harmony that is into Heaven 7. Before Bells were invented the Pagans used Trumpets which they consecrated by washings and purifications and the day of that Ceremony was called Tubilustrium as Ovid tells us that is the purifying and hallowing of Trumpets And because they were wont to use them in Funerals they were wont to purifie and hallow them at the Feast of Minerva called Quinquatria and at a certain Feast of Vulcan as Festus Pompeius and Varro do testifie they did in a manner the like with them as the Pope who baptizeth Agnus Dei's and Bells also are baptized in the name of the sacred Trinity and they have a God-father and a God-mother that give them a Name Thus wickedly do they blaspheme the holy Institution and Ordinance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath ordained Baptism for a Seal of his faithful Congregation and People 8 The Pagans applied Reliques to women with Child they used to gird their Belly about with Rollers made before the Idols much like the women in the Abby of St. German at Paris girding themselves with the Girdle of S. Margaret 9. Many popish Monks place merit in going barefoot The superstitious had an holy-day in which they went barefoot which S. Jerome in his first book against Jovinian calleth Nudipedalia of which Juvenal speaketh Observant ubi festa mero pede Sabbata Regis Juvenal 10. The Papists are full of begging Friers Such there were among the Pagans among whom the Priests of the Syrians Goddess Ovid. Fâ—â—sti l. 4. and those of Cybâ—le went about begging from Town to Town bearing sacks where they put the Provision that was given them An exact description hereof you may find in the fourth book of Ovids Fasti and in the eighth book of the Milesia of Apulcius 11. The spittle used in Baptism by the Roman Church is derived from the Pagans who made use of spittle for a preservative and expiation as Persius saith 12. The Indians had Gardens of Herbs and sweet Trees with Roses and Flowers for the Altars and this is also the Church of Rome's custome and superstition to trim and deck their Saints and Altars with Garlands and Crowns of Roses and other Flowers The Pagans cloathed their Images as the Papists do The history of Dionysius the Tyrant is known who eased the Images of their golden heavy cloakes and gave them other cloaks of Cloath saying those of Cloath were both lighter warmer The Indians had 2000 Gods whose Images stood highest in the Temple upon the Altars They were made of stone in full proportion as bigg as a Giant They were covered with a lawn called Nacar they were beset with divers Pearls pretious Stones and pieces of Gold wrought like Birds Beasts Fishes Flowers adorned with Emeraulds Turquies Chalcedons and other little fine Stones so that when the Lawn was taken away the Images seemed very beautiful to behold So doth the Church of Rome deck and adorn their Idol-saints as the Heathens did their chiefest Gods called Vitzilopuchtli and Tezcatilipuca They cover their wooden and stony Statues of Saints and of the Virgin Mary with fine lawn-shirts and hide them with Curtains of cloth of Gold and enrich them with costly and pretious jewels and Diamonds not considering that they are the work of their own hands 13. In Mexico and without the great Temple and over against the principal door thereof a stones cast distant stood a Charnel house only of dead-mens heads Prisoners in War and sacrificed with the knife This Monument was made like unto a Theatre more large than broad wrought of lime and stone Gages Hist of the West-Indies with ascending steps in the Walls whereof was graffed between stone and stone a skull with the teeth outward At the feet and head of this Theatre were two Towers made only of Lime and Skulls the Teeth outward which having no other stuffe in the Wall seemed a strange sight So the Romish Church makes much of their dead mens skulls and rotten bones laying them up in their Church-yard under some arches made for that purpose in their Church-Walls 14. At the Consecration of an Heathenish Idol a certain vessel of water was blessed with many words and ceremonies and that water was preserved very religiously at the foot of the Altar for to consecrate the King when he should be crowned and also to bless any Captain General when he should be elected for the Wars with only giving him a draught of that water Justin Martyr saith that the Gentiles when they enter into their Temples do sprinkle themselves with water and then they go and offer sacrifice to their Gods And Hippocrates saith in going in we sprinkle our selves with this water to the end that we may be made clean from our sins And is not this practised in the Roman Church They had also among the Gentiles
THE ANATOMY OF POPERY OR A Catalogue of Popish Errours in Doctrine and Corruptions in Worship Together with The AGREEMENT between Paganism Pharisaism and Popery Nostrae Regulae noster sunt Decalogus imò Decalogo praestantiores quoniam illic mandata hîc consilia Jac. Crusius Jesuita in Hossem ca 5. LONDON Printed by Tho. Milbouâ—â— for Tho. Passenger at the Tâ—â—ee Bibles on London-Bridge 1673. To the much honoured Sir FRANCIS POPHAM of Littlecott in the County of Wilts Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath To Sr. Thomas Dolman of Shaw in the County of Berks Knight and and to William Ashe of Heitesbury in the County of Wilts Esquire the Author wisheth an encrease of all Heavenly blessings Honoured Sirs GRreat was the goodness of God after our Saviours Resurrection and Ascension that he sent down cloven Tongues from Heaven like as fire upon his Apostles which was a visible sign of those invisible â—ifts of the Spirit poured down abundantly upon them for the service of the Church and the enlightening of the World with the knowledg of Salvation by Jesus Christ and that even after the Nations of the Earth had so many Ages sate in darkness and in the shadow of death a dark Cloud of Barbarous Heathenish errours and superstitions having over-spread the face of the whole Earth insomuch that wicked Men and Women Adulterers and Adulteresses Stocks Stones and other Creatures were mistaken for Gods and Goddesses The times of this Ignorance as the Apostle calls them Act. 17.30 were woful but then let us see the goodness of the Lord who restored the light in so plentiful a manner that as that Cloud which Elijah's Servant saw at the first rise up like a man's hand had in short time over-spread the Heavens so that little Lamp which at first being put into the hand of Adam gave light to his House and Family became now like the Sun in the Firmament and shined to all Nations the knowledg of God being plentifully dispersed all abroad as the Sun-beams diffused through the whole body of the ayr But then again that evil Angel of the bottomless pit sent out a smoak in the Ages following which darkened the face of the Heavens and the light of the Church The Devil raised up divers Instruments not only open and notorious Hereticks but those of all others most dangerous who closely promoted the mystery of Iniquity never ceasing their secret workings until they had lifted up Antichrist into his Chair of Pestilence and by degrees corrupted the simplicity of the Truth darkning the knowledg of Christ with corrupt traditions errours contrary to the Faith defaceing the glory of Christ his full satisfaction and perfect merit with their own merit and works of supererogation and pretended Treasury of the Church joyning with Christ other Mediators and finding other ways to Heaven which the Holy Ghost never taught the Gospel of Christ never mentioned So that we may as truly say of them as of the Heathens Professing themselves Wise they became Fools Foolishly bragging of an infallibility nailed to their Popes Chair that it was impossible for him to erre or be deceived they fell into gross and monstrous errours and led many thousands away by their strong delusions to destruction who had pleasure in Vnrighteousness and received not the love of the truth that they might be saved The Romanists have used abundance of lyes and cunningly devised fables for the maintenance of their Tenets and the defence of their supposed truths as also for the defacing and blemishing of the undoubted truth of God They used not only fabulous specches but also fabulous actions too viz. lying wonders How many false miracles have they hatched for the defence of their Religion their Purgatory Praying for the Dead Invocation of Saints Transubstantiation Worshipping of Images c Would not these much trouble many weak minds had not the spirit of God expresly foretold that this should be the practice of Antichrist that man of sin whose coming should be with signes and lying wonders and all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish 2 Thes 2. So that that which they make use of to prove their Religion by when they want proofs in the Word of God we are taught by the word to make use of as a proof that their Pope is the very Antichrist and they the followers of the Beast What shameful lyes do they bring also to prove their Tenets that are in Controversie How do they abuse Scripture and as much as in them lyeth put lies into the mouth of the holy spirit of truth for the maintenance of their false doctrine for what is it else when men will wickedly go about to make the Scripture speak that which the Spirit who endited it never meant wilfully perverting plain Texts of the Word to serve their base ends and to confirm those falshoods which they have learned from the Father of lyes On the other side how many wicked Tales have they devised to suppress deface the Truth That edious lye concerning Luthers death and that of Beza's death and falling from the Truth to Popery cast abroad in his life-time which himself lived to confute to their shame what doth it but shew by what Spirit they are led what shameful lyes have they devised against many other special Instruments of God's Glory They hope it seemeth that some will be found so foolish as to believe their loudest lies yea do not many of them maintain lying as lawful for defence of Religion that Faith is not to be kept with those whom they call Hereticks and that Equivocation a more cleanly kind of lying is lawful insomuch that when Tresham one of the Powder-Traitors in articulo mortis lying on his Death-bed in the Tower denied by solemn Oath what he knew to be most true to save the life and credit of Garnet the Superiour of the English Jesuits and a man of great account among them and when the thing was proved manifestly and Garnet was asked what he thought of his case he said he knew not unless Equivocation might excuse him But if their doctrine be true it cannot want truth to defend it if false as it is all the lyes in Hell will not hold it up against the power of Truth no more than the darkness which silleth the ayr at night can resist the Sun-beams at his rising for as darkness is but a shadow and so cannot withstand the light so lyes are but shadows and fancies there is nothing selid in them and they are not able to resist the power of truth which is divine and cometh down from the Father of Lights and God of Truth Worthy Sirs P It is lamentable to consider what the Pope of Rome and his Clergy in this Land did heretofore practise upon the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation suffering them to live in Ignorance whereby they might not boggle at any looseness or wickedness of life that so the Clergy might afterward
in the Sacrifice of the Mass the better to discern the Body of Christ There are other Ceremonies Bâ—llâ—m l. 2 de Missa c. 14 15. which they observe and use in the very action it self and celebration of the Mass as the diverse Gestures of the Priest to lift up his Eies and cast them down again and so lift them up the second and the third time sometimes to cast abroad his hands to close them again to warble with his fingers to bow to bend to duck to turn on this side Concil Trid. Sess 22 Can. 7 and on that now on the right hand again on the left to sigh to smite upon his breast to lift up the Chalice and shew it to the people and set it down again as also the dividing of the Host into three parts which signifies three parts of the Church in Heaven in Earth in Purgatory the rinsing of part thereof in Wine and eating of part dry the washing of his fingers before Consecration kissing of the Altar the Patten the Book the Paxe sprinkling of holy Water censing of Odours crossing the Chalice the Bread their Mouth Breast and Face which sign of the Cross they make above twenty times during one Mass Add also unto these their tedious and irksom Songs the rude noise and unedifying sound of strange Instruments and the whole course of their Mass-Musick set forth in a strange Language and endited to the honour of Saints Sledian doth briefly describe this fink of Ceremonies speaking of the tumult that was raised at Strasburg Sleidan Hâ—st lib 21 because of the Mass There was saith he a great concourse of men especially of the youth for in his time it was to them a rare spectacle and there not heard of before that many with shaven Crowns cloathed after a new fashion should sing together such things as no man understood that Candies and Torches should burn as the saying is at noon-day that smoak and perfumes should be raised up with frankincense that the Priest with his attendants should stand at the Altar pronounce words in an uncouth Language use divers bowings and gestures bend downward with his hands close shut one while fling abroad another while pull back his arms ever and anon turn himself one while cry aloud another while mutter over some things with great silence cast his eyes on high look groveling to the ground stand in no one place turn himself now to the right part now to the left part of the Altar wagg with the fingers breath upon the Chalice and lift it up on high and after set down in certain places name sometimes the living sometimes the dead break unleavened Bread and dip it in the Chalice strike his breast with his first sigh make as though he slept with his eyes shut awake again eat one part of the Bread and drink up the other whole with the Wine lest any drop should be left wash his hands shew to the people with his back toward them and his hand stretched out the gilded Patten move the same to his forehead and breast kiss one while the Altar another while an Image enclosed in some matter or mettal Thus He. 14. They say they have the form of their Mass by Tradition from the Apostles and that by Masses Souls are delivered out of Purgatory Many Errours and Blasphemies that are to be found in the Canon of the Mass as touching the Matter collected by Doctor Andrew Willet 1. THe Priest saith We pray thee accept these gifts these holy and unspotted sacrifices Thus he maketh Bread and Wine the Sacrifices of the Gospel 2. The Priest speaking of the Bread and Wine thus saith Which we offer unto thee for thy holy Catholick Church and again afterwards Which we offer for the Redemption of our Souls What great blasphemy is this to offer Bread and Wine for the Redemption of the Church for the which Christ in great love offered himself up and so make his death of no force 3. The Rubrick of the Mass willeth that the Priest should pray for his own Bishop only and for himself and his special friends but Charity would that he should pray for all Bishops Pastors and Ministers and Christ biddeth us not only pray for our friends but also for our enemies 4. The Priest prayeth first for the Pope then for his own Bishop lastly for the King but Saint Paul would have Prayers made first of all for all men but especially for Kings 1 Tim. 2.2 The Papists in their Mass and other Praiers prefer the Pope before their Prince and acknowledg him to be their Pope and Bishop 5. The Priest saith worshipping the memorial of the Virgin but Christ instituted the Sacrament to be kept in remembrance of himself and not of her 6. By whose merits and praiers namely the Saints grant we may be defended but Saint John saith if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous 7. In the second Prajer of the Canon they pray by vertue of the Oblation of Bread and Wine to be delivered from eternal damnation for as yet the elements are not consecrated 8. We beseech thee saith the Priest to receive this Oblation which we beseech thee in all things to make blessed Here the Priest is made a Mediator between Christ and his Father desiring God to sanctifie the Body and Blood of his Son Thus beginneth the third Praier of the Canon 9. Who the next day before he suffered but the Scripture saith the same night For this is my Body Here they have put in enim of their own and left out Quod pro vobis datur which is given for you Such is their boldness that they are not ashamed to change the words of our Saviour Christ 10. Take ye c. Why then doth the Priest take it alone seeing Christ appointed it to be taken of many 11. Eat ye c. Why then do they hang it up in a Pixe seeing Christ would have it eaten 12. Drink ye all of this Why then doth the Priest drink it alone seeing by Christs institution all are to drink of it 13. He saith further in the fourth Prayer The holy Bread of eternal life which vouchsafe thou with a pleasant countenance to behold Whereas the Bread of eternal life is Christ himself if this be He how dare they presume to offer him up to his Father Diverse other things there are of like sort 14. Afterward the Priest praieth Command thou this to be brought by the hands of thy holy Angel unto the high Altar in Heaven What an absurd thing is this that he should desire that to be carried into Heaven which he eateh and devoureth And if this be the Body of Christ what need the help of an Angel to carry it up to Heaven Is not Christ able to lift up his own Body 15. As many of us as shall receive thy Sons Body and Blood And yet for the most part none receive but the
These few Proofs drawn out of the most authentick Rules of the Roman Church will be a pattern more than sufficient to shew to any man that is not resolved to lose himself and that seeks instruction that the Roman Church can err 4. Our Adversaries do devise many Notes whereby their Church is descried Driedo and P. a Soto would have three Hosius four Sanders six Michael Medina ten Cunerus twelve Bellarmine fifteen Socolovius twenty Doctor Favour chap. 4. one the true and oldest Antiquity But there are seven principal which they do most stand upon Antiquity Vniversality Succession Vnity the Power of Miracles the Gift of Prophecy Prosperity Of Antiquity THe Papists make great brags of the long continuance of their Church yea that they can shew the descent of their Church from Adam but they must come short of our Saviour Christ and the Apostles times by five or six hundred years for the most of the Opinions which they now hold The Romanists adulterate Antiquity because it is a Pearl of greatest price but a skilful Lapidary can soon espy the Alchymy it seemeth Gold yet is but brandished Brass it seems a Ruby one of the Stones in Aarons rich array or a Foundation of New Jerusalem where is no counterfeit but it is only a polished Garnet it beareth resemblance of a Diamond but it is digged out of Saint Vincents Rock as good as a Saint Martins Chain So many things are offered by the Papists for Antiquity which upon trial prove meer Novelty worse Vanity a plain Nullity The Roman Church in this point is intolerable for she boasteth of Antiquity but will not suffer the truth of her Doctrine to be examined she will have us to judg of the Truth by Antiquity whereas we ought to judg of Antiquity by the Truth and by Conformity to the Word of God which is the first Antiquity Anno 420. Zosimus Bishop of Rome challenged a prerogative above other Churches that it might be lawful to make appeals from other Churches to that See and to set the better colour upon it he falsly alleadged a Decree of the Nicene Council but there was no such thing found there wherefore it was decreed in the Council of Carthage at that time that none should appeal to Rome Boniface the third purchased of the wicked Emperour Phocas the Title of Universal Bishop Transubstantiation was first concluded against Berengarius anno 1062. under Pope Leo the ninth but not publickly enacted before anno 1216. under Innocentius the third The Dominick Friers were brought in at the same time Auricular Confession was brought in the year before under the same Pope Telesphorus brought in their Lenton Fast Calixtus instituted the four Ember Fasts Hyginus brought in Chrism It is easie to shew by whom every piece of their blasphemous Mass hath been patched together Marriage was first prohibited by Pope Nicholas the second Alexander the second Gregory the seventh The Communion in one kind forged urged and decreed in the Council of Constance not much above two hundred years agone The Church of Rome boasteth of Antiquity and yet as one saith brings new things every day she makes a shew of some old patched Clothes to make the world believe that she comes from far as the Gibeonites did but let a man examine her Doctrine by pieces he shall find she comes not from very far and almost all is new It cannot be proved that the antient Church in many ages after the Apostles excluded the people from the Cup or kept them from reading the holy Scripture or made Pictures of the Trinity or yielded veneration to the Images of Saints or call'd the Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven or made mention of the Roman indulgences or of the power of the Pope to depose Kings and fetch Souls out of Purgatory c. In a word saith old Doctor Du Moulin as it is now another Doctrine so it is another Church because it is another Religion That true Antiquity is not of our Adversaries side 1. The Greek Church testifieth for the Grecians affirm that their Church is the Mother of the Roman Church and hath born the first prerogative in the orthodoxal verity The Syrians boast themselves to be the first Christians in the world because that St. Peter had his Seat seven year at Antioch before ever he went to Rome 2. The Eastern and Southern Churches do give the priority and priviledg of Antiquity unto the Church of Antioch before Rome Symmachus a Pagan Symmach writing to the Christian Emperours Valens Theodosius and Arcadius he desireth them to have a reverence for the Pagan Religion by reasonÌ„ of her Antiquity If saith he the length of time gives authority to Religion we must keep Faith to so many Ages and follow our Fathers who have so happily followed theirs Then he personates the old Pagan Rome thus speaking to the Emperours Good Princes Fathers of your Countrey respect my years unto which the pious Ceremonies have brought me permit me to use the Ceremonies of my Ancestors This Religion hath subjected the World unto my Laws these holy Services have beaten back Hannibal from the Wails and the Senones from the Capitol Have I been preserved unto this time that I should be rebuked in mine old age The Correction of old age comes too late and is injurious What could Ambrose and Prudentius answer who confuted that Epistle but that the Law of God is more antient than Numa Pompilius the Author of those Ceremonies and that all is new which is not from the beginning and that Errour cannot be authorized by the number of years Our Fathers received it of their Fathers August saith Cresconius sed errantes ab errantibus saith Saint Augustine Of Universality THe Papists say their Church is universal both in respect of time person and place it hath always been in the world and hath flourished in all Countries and Nations ergo it is the true Church That it is universal they first prove by the name of Catholick But if the name Catholick were an unchangeable mark or natural property of any real Church it should be of the Greek Church or Nation unto which the name of Catholick is prime and natural If the real property answering to this name had belonged to the Romish Church the Holy Ghost would have expressed it by a Roman Name and have called the Roman Church the Universal Church at least the Romanists should have called themselves Universals not Catholicks as the learned Doctor Jackson noteth It is easie to consider the vanity of this Assertion Jackâ—on de Eccl. that a Name should be an unseparable property proceeding of the nature of any reality But the Name of a Christian is a more honourable Title than the Name of Catholicks for this was used in the Apostles time Act. 11.26 and by the Apostles themselves allowed but it is not certain that the Name Catholick came from the Apostles Secondly they prove their Universality by the
of God The Pope and his Clergy propound themselves two ends for the celebration of the Mass and the ordinary Service in the Latin tongue The first is to keep the people in ignorance and use them to believe without knowing to follow their leaders blind-fold and to obey without enquiring They were afraid that even the Latin should be too intelligible and therefore they would have the principal parts of the Mass to be said with such a low murmur that the voice of the Priest cannot be heard The second end was to plant the marks and Standard of the Popes Empire among the Nations which he had conquered The simple people believe that their Religion must be Roman as well as the Tongue which is used in Religion and that both Christian Faith and the Language come from the same place But the chief cause why the Pope will not have the Mass to be understood by all is that the Mass contains many things which would either instruct or offend the people Of praying for the Dead THeir Opinion is that the Praiers of the Living are neither available for the Saints in Heaven for they need them not nor for the damned in Hell for they cannot be helped but only for the Souls tormented in Purgatory who do find great ease say they by the Praiers of the Living Of the Canonizing of Saints THe Canonizing of Saints is nothing else but the publick Determination and Sentence of the Church whereby some that are dead are judged to be Saints and worthy of Honour and Worship as to be praied unto Temples and Altars to be set up in their names Holy-days to be appointed for them and their Reliques to be adored And thus say they it is lawful profitable and expedient for the Church to canonize Saints This was the Popes own invention eight hundred years after Christ at the least set abroach and continued in Policy for the confirmation of certain idolatrous Superstitions which he laboured thereby to advance and now are made the seven Points wherein the Canonization consisteth fetting the new Saints in the Calendar with red Letters Who gave the Pope that priviledg to be infallible in that Judgment for our Adversaries themselves acknowledg they may be mistaken how many Factions and Sollicitations are used in the Court of Rome by Princes and States that a man of their Countrey or City be canonized And at what vast expences have they been to purchase it The City of Barcelona and the whole Country of Catelona spent many thousand pounds in the canonizing Raimond de Pennafort a Dominican Frier The Jesuits spent ten millions for the Canonization of their two twins Ignatius Loiola and Francis Xavier whom they call the East-India Apostle The Book of sacred Cerimonies doth acknowledg that the Pope sometimes was constrained in some sort to canonize a man against his opinion and therefore made a Protestation By that Protestation he thought to discharge his Conscience The words whereby the Pope canonizeth a Saint are these The manner of canonizing a Saint In the authority of God Almighty Father Son and Holy Ghost and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and in our own we decree and define that N. of good memory is a Saint and must be put into the List of Saints c. But before the pronouncing of that Sentence the Cause is pleaded in the Consistory and an Advocate presents himself who represents the Reasons why such a one ought to be sainted The Apostles were not so sainted nor their Disciples nor those Fathers who were called Saints as Ireneus Cyprian Basil Hierome Augustine as a learned Divine noteth It happens saith he to some poor Saints for whom the dignity of Saints is begged in the Court of Rome to be cast in their suit and they cannot be Saints in Heaven because men on earth were not favourable to them Sometimes the degree of Beati is obtained for them which is a middle degree and an expectation of Saint-ship By this means Popes will give their Servants to be worshipped by the Nations of Christendom whch new Saints are far more honoured than the Patriarchs and Prophets for in the Roman Church it fareth with Saints as with Clothes the newest are the best and most esteemed Of Invocation of the Saints THe Papists maintain the Doctrine of Angel-worship of Invocation of Saints and of the Virgin Mary and canonized Saints calling especially upon the Virgin Mary They usually carve pourtray paint the Statue of the Virgin and represent her by them to the Eyes and Thoughts when they pray unto her in all their Offices Primers Psalters Rosaries Missals Breviaries Books of Devotion Churches Chappels Monasteries Altars of our Lady especially on all their publick Festivals dedicated to her Honour in greatest state crowned with a Crown of Glory as the Empress Queen Lady of Heaven Earth and all Creatures in them In their publick Liturgy they have a Letany whereby they pray 1. To her 2. To the Arch-Angels and Angels 3. To Patriarchs and Prophets 4. To the Apostles and Evangelists 5. To the Martyrs 6. To Fathers and Doctors 7. To Popes and Confessors 8. To Monks and Eremites 9. To all the Saints Virgins and Widows that they would joyn together to make Intercession for them And to these Saints they have their set Holy-days to them they burn Tapers perform Masses and Trentals each have their sundry Collects Hymns Praiers and Oblations each have their sundry Offices designed them Some are over particular Towns and Cities some over Trades and particular Professions same are over Diseases some have the special gift of bestowing Arts and Sciences Now what is this but to forsake the Fountain of living Waters and to hew out broken Cisterns that can hold no Water as the Lord complaineth in a like case The rise of all this was from a preposterous admiration of Saints departed or I may say of some of them they were rather Devils incarnate and from the perverse opinion of those who make no difference between civil Praier to Men living and religious Praier to Saints departed which Errour hath been maintained and heightened by the great ambition and avarice of the Popish Clergy so that now the French Proverb is not without ground 〈◊〉 or ne â—ognâ—ist Dieu plus â—ntre les Saints God cannot be known among so many Saints Thus have they jumbled together God and his Saints in a promiscuous manner of worship Saint Peter tells them to whom he writes that he will endeavour that they may be able after his decease to have these things always in remembrance â—hem in 2 Pet. 1 2 Pet. 1.15 Whence the Rhemists those Popish Corrupters rather than Interpreters of the holy Scripture take upon them to tell us if we will be so sottish as to believe them And they say it was this that the meant to pray for them and as in his life-time he meant to further their Salvation by instructing them so after his death
Rome was Heathenish Gratian a meek and religious Emperour who was slain by the men of Maximus the Tyrant is the first of the Christian Emperours that refused to be called Pontifex Maximus holding that Title which his Predecessors though Christians had born to be unsutable with a Christian Prince as derived from the Pagans and relishing of Paganism yet soon after the Bishops of Rome suffered themselves to be called so and took up that which an Emperour had rejected as a learned man well noteth 3. Secrat l. 3. ca. 23. The Popish fashion of swearing by Saints is but an imitation of the Pagans Superstition who used to swear by their Gods as Libanius doth oftentimes in his Books swear by Hercules Bacchus Asclepius The Heathens were of opinion that their swearing by their Idols was a token of their serving of them And it is a common thing for the Papists to swear by the Virgin Mary and by the rest of the Saints They set the Virgin in Gods seat as though it belonged to her to judg the world It is horrible treachery to swear by the Virgin Mary or by any other creature The Pagans had also divers Rites belonging to thâ—ir superstition 1. The Heathen for Devotion-sake made shadows about their Altars in plashing of Trees to make places dark that when men entred into them they might be moved to a kind of aw and fearfulness So it is among the Papists if a place be darksome it seemeth to them to carry some Majesty in it and the simple sort are as it were amazed when they come into a Cave and where the Windows be dimmed with red or blew Glass mens Eyes dazzle at it and simple folk feel a kind of motion in themselves which makes them afraid and astonished and to their seeming it is good to stir them up to Devotion thinking it is a reverencing of God whereas indeed it is stark foolishness 2. The Pagans assigned particular Offices to each of their Gods one governed the Sea another ruled in Hell one took care of the Corn another of Women with Child and every Land or Country had his Titular God or Goddess Juno was the Patroness of Carthage Venus of Paphos and Pallas of Athens The Church of Romc hath transported these Titles to the deceased Saints hath given to every one their Office St. Margaret Patroness of Child-bed Women did succeed the Goddess Lacina St. Nicholas who is invocated by Navigators did succeed Castor and Pollux St. Eustache succeedeth the hunting Diana St. Christopher succeeds Hercules Jupiter Pluvius hath given the Rain unto Genivieve Ceres hath given over the Corn unto S. John and S. Paul Esculapius gives Medicine unto S. Cosm Bacchus the Vines unto St. Vrban Mercurius the Oxen to Pelagius And every Kingdom Town and City hath its titular Saint St. Mark is the Patron and Protectour of Venice St. James of Spain St. Dennis of France Saint Martin of Germany St. George of England c. 3. The Canonization of Saints is an imitation of the Pagan Apotheoses that is Deifications or making of Gods whereby a man is made one of the Gods by the authority of men And the Senate of Cardinals hath the right of Apotheoses or Canonizations and to admit whom they please into the list of the Saints of Paradise The Preface of the second Book of the sacred Ceremonies calleth the Canonization of Saints of the Papacy Divorum nostrorum Apotheosis the Deification or Apotheose of our Saints 4. The Church of Rome hath borrowed from the Pagans the Equipage and Ornament of her Images They gave a Key to Janus as the Church of Rome gives to Saint Peter They represented Jupiter Hammond with horns as Moses is now pictured The Genâ—i or Houshold-Gods had a Dog with them so hath the Popish Saint Hubert Vulcan of old had an Hammer so hath Saint Eloy now Hercules had a Club so hath St. Christopher Before the Pagans Images Wax-lights were lighted and Incense was burnt which is done still to the Images of Saints in the Church of Rome A custom much derided by Tertullian Arnobius and Lactantius Of burning of Incense it was so common a custom among the Gentiles as that Julian the Apostate that he might cunningly bind the Christians to the same ordained that when any man came to him according to the custom to receive any gifts at his hands they should burn Incense before him whereupon some notable Christians having understanding of his purposed intent came and brought them back again unto him that they might not be polluted About the year 800. Pope Leo the third ordained it should be used in the Mass Then for Tapers Wax-Candles and Lights in the Churches this Ceremony took its passage from the Gentiles to the Christians in the time of S. Hierome that is more than 400 years after the death of Christ And Vigilantius Pastor of Barcelona wrote against the same complaining of it that he should see the superstition of the Pagans drawn into Religion and fetched from the Gods of Paganism to be bestowed on the Christian Martyrs 5. Their Doctrine of Purgatory and satisfaction after this life came from the Heathen Plato in his Dialogue of the Soul saith those that live indifferently well come to that Lake and there dwell and being purged and having born the pains of their iniquities they are released Virgil followeth him speaking thus of the Souls of Purgatory Aliae panduntur inanes Suspensae ad ventos aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum cluitur scelus aut exuritur Igni Virgil. Aeneid 6. Hence Purgatory arose As for the purgation of Souls at the Wind or in the Water Pope Gregory the first teacheth it in the fourth Book of his Dialogues where there are many apparitions of Souls saying that they are in Purgatory in the Wind or in the Water or in hot Bathes for the Purgatory in a subterranean fire was not yet invented The Paynims divided man into two parts taking the Body for one and the Soul for the other Again after that the Soul was separated from the Body they divided it into three parts The same that went down into those places called they called Inferos or Inferna they called Manes comprehending thereby all that which now-adays they call the Hell of the damned Limbus and Purgatory Then there remained the Spirit and that which they called Vmbram that is a shadow As touching the Body and the Spirit they were not of opinion that any of them did ever come again into this world or that they were ever seen after that a man was once dead and buried for they did well see that the Body did turn again into dust and into ashes And as for the Spirit they were of opinion that it went up again into Heaven from whence it had its original and there did abide And as for that which they called the shadow because it had no true bodily substance they said it did vanish away suddenly as smoak when