Bishop of Rochester Gregorie the great and venerable Bede let the Iesuit therefore looke to the Consequent The Church of Rome commandeth every one upon paine of hell-fire to beleeve a temporarie purging fire after this life First upon what ground Scripture or unanimous consent of Fathers or Tradition of the Catholike Church no such thing But upon apparitions of dead men and testimonie of Spirits whether good Spirits or evill they cannot tell Next wee demand what soules and how long doe they contine there To this they must answer likewise Ignoramus Soto thinketh that none continueth in this purgation ten yeares If this be true saith Bellarmine No soule needs to stay in purging one houre Thirdly the soules that are supposed to be there till their sinnes are purged where with are they purged With fire onely so saith Sir Thomas Moore and proves it out of Zacharie 9.11 Thou hast delivered the prisoners out of the place where there is no water or with water and fire so saith Gregorie in his Dialogues lib. 4. Some are purged by fire and some by bathes and Fisher Bishop of Rochester proves it out of those words of the Psalmist Wee have passed thorow fire and water Fourthly admit they are purged by fire whether is this fire materiall or metaphoricall Ignoramus Wee know not saith Bellarmine lib. 2. de Purg. cap. 6. Lastly is there any mittigation of this paine in Purgatorie or no They cannot tell this neither For venerable Bede hist Ang. lib. 5. tels us of the apparition of a Ghost reporting that There was an infernall place where soules suffered no paine where they had a brooke running through it Neither is it improbable saith Bellarmine l. 2. de Purg. cap. 7. that there should be such an honorable prison which is a most milde and temperate Purgatorie Yea but saith the Iesuit Saint Austin is a firme man for Purgatorie and hee will prove it out of that booke of Enchiridion and place quoted by the Knight Resolutely spoken but so falsly Encharid ad Laurent c 69. Tale aliquid etiam post hanc vitam fieri incredibile non est et utrum ita sit quaeri potest et ut inveniri aut latere possit nonnullos fideles per ignem quendam purgaiorium salvari non tamen tales de quibus dictū est regnum Dei non posside bant that in this very booke chapter 69 Saint Austine speaking of a purging fire and commenting upon the words of Saint Paul Hee shall be saved as it were by fire addeth immediately It is not unlikely that some such thing may be after this life but whether it be so or no it may be argued and whether it can be found or not found that some Beleevers are saved by a purging fire yet it is certaine that none of them shall be saved of whom the Apostle saith they shall not inherit the Kingdome of God And in the same booke chapter 109. he resolves that All soules from the day of their death to their resurrection abide in expectation what shall become of them and are reserved in secret receptacles accordingly as they deserve either torment or ease These hidden Cells or Receptacles wheresoever they are scituated in St. Austins judgment C. 109. Tempus quod inter hominis mortem ultimam resurrectionem interpositum est animus abditis receptaculis continet sicut unaqueque digna est vel requiae vel arumnâ certaine it is they are not in the Popish Purgatory for St. Austine placeth in these secret Mansions all soules indifferently good or bad whereas the Popish Purgatory is restrained only to those of a middle condition being neither exceeding good nor exceeding bad Againe in St. Austines hidden repositories some soules have ease and some paine as each deserveth but in the Romish Purgatory all soules are in little-ease being tormented in a flame little differing from Hell fire or rather nothing at all save onely in time the paines are as grievous but not so durable Else where St. Austine is most direct against Purgatory and wholly for us as namely de peceat meritis de remissione l. 1. c. 28. There is no middle or third place saith he but he must needs be with the Devill who is not with Christ And Hypog l. 5. The first place the faith of Catholikes by divine authority beleeveth to be the Kingdome of Heaven the second to be Hell tertium locum penitùs ignoramus the third place we are alltogether ignorant of and in his booke de vanit seculi cap. 1. Know that when the soule is seperated from the body statim presently it is either placed in Paradise for his good worke or cast headlong into the bottome of hell for his sinnes Neither can the Iesuit evade by saying that there are two onely places where the soules remaine finally and eternally to wit Heaven and Hell but yet that there is a third place where the bodies fry in purging for a time for St. Austine speakes of all soules in generall both good and bad and saith that statim that is presently upon death they are receaved into Heaven or throwne into Hell and therefore stay no time in a Third place What then say we to the passage in which the Iesuit so triumpheth Enchirid. ad Laurenc c. 110. Neither is it to be denied that the soules of the dead are relieved by the piety of their friends living when the Sacrifice of our Mediatour is offered for them and Almes given in the Church We answer that where St. Austine is not constant to himselfe we are not bound to stand to his authority and therefore we appeale from Saint Austine missing his way in this place to the same Austine Nullum auxilium misericordiae potest preberi a justis defunctorum animabus etiamsi justi praebere velint quia est immutabilis divina sententia Qualis quisque moritur talis a Deo judicatur nec potest mutari corrigi vel minus dimia sententia hitting his way elsewhere namely l. 2. Quest Evan. c. 38. There can be no helpe of mercy afforded by just men to the soules of the deceased although the righteous would never so faine have it so because the sentence of God is immutable and Ep. 80. ad Hesich such as a man is when he dieth for such he is judged of God neither can the sentence of God be changed corrected or diminished As for Mr. Anthony Alcots confession that Saint Austines opinion was for purgatorie it maketh not for the Iesuit but against him for he saith it was his opinion not his resolved judgment and his opinion at one place and at one time which after he retracted and resolved the cleane contrary as Mr. Alcots there in part sheweth and Danaeus most fully in his Comment upon St. Austine his Enchiridian ad Laurentium To the tenth If all Papists did agree in this that all Images were to be worshipped but not as Gods yet are they at odds in other
I cite but three Authors and yet none prove the Antiquitie or Vniversalitie of our Faith Then you goe backe againe and you tell the Reader I say nothing here of the mans notable cunning and falshood in making him beleeve as if we did excuse our selves in those things whereof they accuse us If such extravagant excursions and reproches you call a Reply or a Catholike Answer I will lay my finger on my mouth and say with your Cardinall Qui decipi vult decipiatur Briefely the substance of my Assertion was this The three Creeds the Canonicall Scriptures the Apostolike Traditions the foure first generall Councels and the rest were so generally received in the bosome of the Roman Church that for that reason it might seeme a senselesse question to demand where our Church was before Luther Next I shewed that the positive Doctrines of our Church mentioned in our 39. Articles were contained in a very few points and those also had Antiquity and Vniversality then I shewed that those doctrines which they obtruded upon us were but Additions and Negative Tenets in our Articles and that many of those additions were condemned or at least excused by their owne men And I instanced in three Authors before mentioned for three severall points of their Doctrine and this is the substance and true meaning of that Section and thus much by way of advertisement to the moderate Reader Now to answer you distinctly to that you have produced confusedly Your first exception is touching Pope Adrian the sixth you say It is not as Sr. Humphry putteth it to wit if the consecrated Bread be Christ but if it be rightly consecrated And doe not you still by Adrians confession excuse your adoration by implying a condition and is it not all one according to your doctrine For if it be rightly consecrated it is Christ if not it is a Crust and no man amongst your Communicants knoweth what it is because he knoweth not the Priests intention Take it therefore which way you will yet my assertion stands true we condemne you for adoring the Elements for ought you know of bread and wine because it doth depend upon the intention of the Priest whether Christ be there or no but yet you cannot condemne us for adoring Christs rent body in the Heavens and however the Priests doe consecrate yet saith Gerson when the host is adored that condition is ever at lest to be supposed if it be rightly consecrated that is Gers compend Theol. Tit. de tribus virtut p. 111. if it be truely the body of Christ And this is that Pope Adrian hath delivered by your owne confession and therefore they are not to be cleered from Idolatry because they intended to worship one God as indeede there was but one God but because they adored him there where he was not and in that manner as they supposed him to be The case saith Catharinus is like in the host not consecrated Cathar Annot. in Caiet p. mihi 134. For God and Christ is not adored simply but as he is existing under the formes of bread and wine If therefore he be not there but it be found that Divine worship is given to a creature insteede of Christ there is Idolatry also For even in this regard they were Idolaters who adored Heaven or any other thing supposing with themselves that they adored in it the Divinity whom they called the soule of the world Compare then the certainty of your faith with ours which is the point in question and tell me if in this we are not more certaine and safe then you can be First your owne Bellarmine tels us Bell. de Iustific l. 3. c. 8. that none can be certaine by the certainity of faith that he doth receive a true Sacrament No man saith Andreas Vega can beleeve assuredly that he receiveth the least part of the Sacrament Vega l. 9. de Iustific c. 17. and this is so surely to be credited as it is apparant that we live And both give one and the same reason for it For there is no way except it be by Revelation that we can know the intention of the Minister either by outward appearance or by certainty of faith From this dangerous consequence we condemne your adoration and resolve to let you know from your owne men Th. Salistar de arte Praedicandi c. 25. that No man be he never so simple or never so wise ought precisely to believe that this is the body of our Lord that the Priest hath consecrated but onely under this condition if all things concerning the consecration be done as appertaineth for otherwise he shall avouch a creature to be the Creator which were Idolatry Now as this way in the generall is uncertaine and dangerous so likewise there are many other wayes which may easily occasion this Idolatry and therefore you cannot deny us to be in the more certaine and safe way As for instance Iohannes de Burgo who was Chancellor of Cambridge about 200. yeares since gives us to understand that a Priest may faile in his intention many wayes As for example Pupilla Oculi c. 3. 5. c. If the Bread be made of any other then wheaten flower which may possibly happen or if there be too much water in quantity that it overcomes and alters the nature of wine if the wine be changed into vinegar and therefore cannot serve for consecration If there be thirteene cakes upon the Table and the Priest for his consecration determine onely upon twelve in that case not one of them all is Consecrated Lastly if the Priest dissemble or leave out the words of Consecration or if he forget it or minde it not in all and every of these wayes there is nothing Consecrated and consequently the people giving divine honour to the Sacrament all Bread or Cup commit flat Idolatry When I heare the Apostle proclaime to all Christians that he which doubteth is condemned already I cannot chuse but pitty the state and condition of that miserable man who hath a doubtfull perplexed and uncertaine faith who taketh all upon trust and upon the report sometimes of an Hypocrite sometimes of a malitious Priest who hath no intention at all to administer the true Sacrament History of Trent For saith your Trent history if a Priest having charge of foure or five hundred soules were an Infidell but a formall Hyppocrite and in absolving the Penitent baptizing of children and Consecrating the Eucharist had an intention not to doe that which the Church doth it must be said that the children are damned the penitent not absolved and that all remaine without the fruite of the Communion Now let the Reader judge which doctrine is most certaine and safe either that of your Church which may occasion flat Idolatry in the worshiper or our sursum corda with hearts and eyes lifted up to Heaven where we adore our Saviour Christ in his bodily presence according to the
824. a Synod was held at Paris under Ludovicus Pius where the foresaid Councell of Nice was likewise condemned In the ninth age Ionas Aurelian de cultu imag l. 1. quae picturae non ad adorandum sed solummodò teste beato Gregorio ad instruendas nescientium mentes in ecclesijs sunt antiquit us fieri permissae Agob l. de â—ict Imagin rectè nimirum ad ejusmodievacuandam superstitionem ab orthodoxis fratribus definitum est picturas in ecclesia fieri non debere ne quod adoratur in parietibus depirgatur Rhemig in psal 96. non sun sunt adoranda simulacra nec enim Angelus adorandus est Ansel gloss interlin in Deut. c. 4. formam non vidistis ne scilicet volens imitari sculpendo faceres idolum tibi Vid Symph Cathol p. 822. Ann. lal 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ionas Bishop of Orleans wrote against Claudius Bishop of Turin concerning images wherein he holdeth that the images of Saints are not to bee worshipped though they may be set up in Churches for ornament and to bring into the mind of simple people the storie of the Bible And Agobardus Bishop of Lions telleth us that the orthodox Fathers for the avoiding of superstition did carefully provide that no pictures should bee set up in Churches Rhemigius boldly professeth that neither images nor Angels are to bee worshipped In the tenth age Anselmus Laudunensis the authour of the interlineare glosse upon the Bible composed of the Fathers writings expoundeth that text of Deuteronomie Yee saw no manner of similitude in this sort lest that willing to resemble that similitude by engraving thou shouldst set up an idoll to thy selfe In the eleventh age Nicetas Croniates a Greeke historian reporteth in the life and reigne of Isaac Angelus one of the Easterne Emperours that when Frederick Emperour of the West made an expedition into Palestine the Armenians did gladly receive the Almaines because among the Almaines and Armenians the worshipping of images was forbidden alike In the twelfth age Annal. p. 1. Hist eccl l. 18. c. 53. imagines patris spiritus sancti effigiant quod est pe rabsur dum Durand in 3. sentent dist 9. q. 2. facere imagines ad repraesentandum deuÌ„ patrem et spirituÌ„ spirituÌ„ sanctuÌ„ aut venerari ej us imagines fatuuÌ„ est unde Damascenus dicit quod insipientiae summae impietatis est figurare quod est divinuÌ„ AveÌ„t hist Bavar l. 7. In Deut. 4. in imaginibus signantibus Deum unde scilicot trinitatem duo inconvenientia sequi possunt primuÌ„ idololatriane etiam imago colatur secundum error haeresis scilicet attribuere Deo illam corporeitatem essentiâ—lem differentiam gualeÌ„ tres illas figuras figurare coÌ„spicimus Roger Hoveden an English Historian condemneth the worship of images for speaking of the Synodall Epistle written by the Fathers of the second Nicene Councell wherein Image worship was established hee addeth quod omninò ecclesia Dei execratur which the Church of God altogether abhorreth In the thirteenth age Nicephorus writing of the Iacobites saith that they made images of the Father and the holy Spirit which saith he is most absurd Durand stoutly maintaineth that it is utterly unlawfull to picture or represent the Trinitie or God otherwise then as in Christ hee tooke our flesh and Pope Iohn the 22. calleth certaine men that dwelt in Bohemia and Austria Anthropomorphitas that is heretiques ascribing an humane shape to God because they painted the Trinitie in forme of an old man with a young man and a Dove In the fourteenth age Abulensis is utterly against all painting of the Trinitie because from thence two inconveniences may follow first the perill of idolatrie in case the image it selfe should come to bee worshipped secondly errour and heresie by ascribing to God such bodily shapes and formes as the Trinitie is usually pictured withall And Gerson commenting upon the first Commandement speaketh fully in the Protestant language all images are forbid to bee made to adore or worship them thou shalt not adore nor worship them that is thou shalt not adore them with any bodily reverence as bowing or kneeling to them Gerson compend theolog de pri praecep ad adorandum colendum prohibentur imagines fieri thou shalt not worship them with any devotion of mind But to returne back to Philo whose testimonie the Iesuit would faine put off by a double answer first that the Iewes had not in their Temple any picture of God because hee cannot be painted next that they had no picture of Saints because there was none as yet might have the honour to have their pictures in the Temple being not yet admitted themselves into the Temple of God The first of these answers the better it is the worse it is for himselfe the stronger it is the more it maketh against the practise of his owne Church in which wee see the Trinitie familiarly painted In his second answer hee palliateth idolatrie by impietie and that hee may have some colour to set up images of new Saints in Churches upon earth hee excludeth all the old Saints before Christ out of the heavenly temple of God Not to digresse here to a dispute about their imaginary Limbus I would faine know of the Iesuit where did Enoch walke with God after hee was translated that hee should not see death to what place was Elias carried in a fierie chariot not into heaven When Dives soule was dragd by Divels into hell was not Lazarus soule carried by Angels into heaven the text saith Luk. 16.22 hee was carried into Abrahams bosome and where is that S. Austine will informe you even where the soule of his friend saint Nebridius and other blessed Doctours and confessours now live whatsoever place saith hee is meant by the bosome of Abraham ibi vivit Nebridius meus quis enim alius locus tam piae animae August Confess l. 9. c. 3. there my Nebridius liveth for what other place were meete for so godly a soule To the sixt There is nothing so easie as for a man with Antipho to pursue his owne fancie or shadow to set up a man of straw and push him downe with a festraw the Knight doth not thus argue the Iewes hate the Image and crosse of Christ therefore Christians ought so to doe for by the like reason it will follow that wee should condemne the very Gospell yea and hate Christ himselfe because the Iewes doe so that is not his argument but the Iesuits phantasme The Knights argument standeth thus if of his enthymem we make a Syllogisme None may or ought to give a scandall to Iew or Gentile But by setting up images or crucifixes in Temples the Iewes are so scandalized that even those among them who other wayes might be enclined to embrace the Christian faith are made utterly averse from it because they cannot perswade themselves that it can bee the true religion which maintaineth
The Ancient DOCTRINE OF THE Church of England Maintained in its Primitive Purity CONTAINING A Justification of the XXXIX ARTICLES of the Church of ENGLAND against Papists and Schismaticks The Similitude and Harmony betwixt the Romane Catholick and the Heretick with a Discovery of their Abuses of the Fathers in the First XVI Ages and the many Heresies introduced by the Roman Church Together with a Vindication of the Antiquity and Universality of the Ancient Protestant Faith Written long since by that Eminent and Learned Divine DANIEL FEATLY D. D. Seasonable for these Times Leo Mag. Ser. 1. de Epiph. Insanis veritas scandalum est caecis Doctoribus fit Caligo quod lumen est LONDON Printed for Austin Rice and are to be sold at the Crown in Saint Pauls Church-yard 1660. TO THE RIGHT Reverend Father in God THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord B. of DURESME c. May it please your good Lordship AFTER I had taken a resolution to apologize for my departed friend and make a kind of hedge to his Via tuta I seriously bethought my selfe who would maimtaine the fence by one so made and patronize this patronage of that his worthy worke For though the cause in hand be the truth of God and the person whom I undertake to defend against the Calumniations of his Adversarie be now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the eye of (a) Horat. Od. 14. l. 3. Sublatum ex oculis quaerimus invidi Ovid. l. 3. De Pont Pascitur in vivis livor post fata quiescit Et Iuvenal Sat. 1. Nulli gravus est percussus Achilles aut multum quaesitus Hylas envie and the reach of malice yet I well know that neither the consideration of the one nor regard to the other will prove any Amulet against the poyson of the (b) Aristoph in Plut. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est annulis medicinalis aut antidotus Sycophants tooth or venom of the Detracters tongue Death I grant which sets a period to all suits in Courts should grant a Supersedeas of Course against all Arrests and molestations of them who have taken Sanctuarie in the grave and therefore (c) Brusonius facet et exemp l. 1. Solon legem condidit quâ prohibuit in defunctos maledicta consicere Et Theodorus Chius censuit Pompeium in aegypt admittendum addens Mortuos non mordere Erosm Apoph p. 374. Selon enacted a Law whereby under a great penaltie he prohibited any to cast any foule aspersion on the dead And (d) Bruson ibid Asinius Pollio cum orationes condidisset in Plancum quas post mortem ejus legendas serâ—abat audlit à Planco cum mortuus non nisi larvas puguare Plancus sharply reproved the folly of Asinius Pollio who threatned to stigmatize him after his death by publishing his declamations against him saying None but Hobgoblins fight with ghosts Notwithstanding this privilege granted to the dead even by the Law of Nature I cannot remember without horrour nor expresse without griefe what the Acts and Monuments of the Church present to the view of all men concerning Popish malice surviving life it selfe and committing inhumane not onely unchristian outrages on the corpes and not lesse upon the workes of Orthodoxe Professors now with God The blessed Martyr Saint (e) Cypr. de lap Ep. l. 2. Saevitum est in plagas saevitum est in vulnera in servis Dei non jam membra torquebantur sed vulnera manabat pro fletibus sanguis pro lachrymis cruor e semiustulatis visceribus defluebat Cyprian setting the cruelty of the heathen as it were upon the Racke could straine no higher after hee had said These Salvage Persecutors wreake their furie on the brused and battered servants of Christ and torture not so much their members as their wounds Yet there is a Plus ultra in the enraged malice of our Romish Adversaries Saevitum est in cadavera saevitum est in ossa saevitum est in cineres For they (f) Vide hist de mort Spalatensis M. S. Arraigne the dead they sue against them an Ejection out of their long homes and interre them in (g) Acts and Monuments volume 3. pag. 778. The body of Peter Martyrs wife at Oxford was taken up by Doctor Marshall out of her grave in the Church of Saint Frideswids and buried in a dunghill Lestals nay they burne their (h) Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 606. The body and bones of Iohn Wickliffe by the Decree of the Synod of Constance were taken up burned 41. yeares after he was buried in his owne Parish at Lutterworth and his ashes taken throwne into the river and so was hee resolved into three elements Earth Fire and Water thinking thereby utterly to exstinguish and abolish both his name and Doctrine for ever Acts Monuments volume 3. pag. 771. The Vice chancellor taking with him a publike Notarie bound the Parishioners with an oath to digge up Paulus Fargius his bones and received the like oath of Roger Davis and William Hazell for doing the like with Martin Bucer when they came to the place of execution the Chests were set up an end with the dead bodies in them and fastened on both sides with stakes and bound to the post with a long â—on chaine fire being forthwith put to as soone as it began to flame round about a great sort of bookes that were condemned with them were cast into the same bones and strew their ashes on the rivers Tantene animis coelestibus irae Loe the bowels of them who most boast of workes of Mercie i Edmund Camp rat 10. Clavinum has principes unum coelum capere non potest Et Fishers resp to Doctor White and Doctor Featley c. 2. p. 152. Out of the unity of the Romish Church no salvation Et Coster resp ad refut Osiander proposit 8. wisheth himselfe damned with Lucifer if ever any Lutheran were saved towards the bodies of true Professors whilome Temples of the holy Ghost yet their charitie to their soules exceeds this for these they peremptorily exclude out of heaven and send them pell-mell without Baile or Mainprise to the dungeon of hell and there sentence them to more exquisite (k) Coccleus hist Hussit l. 2. Multo graviora esse crediderim Wicklefi tormenta quam sint apud inferos vel scelera tissimorum hominum Iudae proditoris Christi Neronis Christianorum persecutoris torments than either Nero the monster of men or Iudas the betrayer of Christ himselfe indure Of this straine is the Knights (l) Flood Spect. c. 17. per tot Papists dying in their Reliligion saved Protestants damned Alastor with whom I am to deale whose perfect character your Lordship may see in Sozimus drawne to the life by Isidorus Pelusiota 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as your Lordship may find likewise an exact Emblem of his booke in Plinie his description of the (m) Plin. nat hist l. 9. c.
may doe and another thing to disallow them out of hatred of idolatrie and superstition To stab the Kings picture or any way deface it out of hatred or contempt of his person is disloyaltie yet to take a piece of counterfeit coyne prohibited by law though bearing the Kings image and pricke it full of holes or naile it to a post is no argument of disloyaltie but contrarie an act of Loyaltie and obedience also to the Kings lawes Lastly hee chargeth the Knight with Sacriledge and prophanation of holy things saying You and such as you have had your shares in pulling downe of images and silver shrines this last hundred yeares are more like to be drawne with the love of gaine to the pulling downe of Images then wee that lose all for maintaining and setting them up for what wee and our Ancestors have parted with from our selves and out of our owne purses for the honour of God and his Saints you or men of your religion pull back from God and his Saints to bestow upon your backs and bellies and upon your Ministers their wives and brattes I would cast this dunge backe againe on your Nunnes bellies and Popes face and tell you of the brats of the one buried in the earth and drowned in moates to cover the shame of the parents and give you a bill of the expence of the other upon their mistresses farre surmounting the charge of all the Ministers wives in England but I choose rather to purge the Knight from all foule aspersion herein who is so farre from having any hand in pulling downe your silver shrines and images and making sale of them that he was not then borne when by command of King Edward the sixt those Monuments of idolatrie were knocked downe and defaced which yet was accounted a worke so acceptable to God Vit. Ed. 6. by Sir Iohn H. that the selfe same day that the images were broken downe in London God gave us a notable victorie in Scotland but the truth is the Knight chargeth the Iesuit home with the example of Demetrius and his followers maintaining images because they were maintained by them For who seeth not in all popish countries how when all other Artificers shut up their shoppes to wit on Sundayes and holy dayes the Priests open theirs setting out as it were their golden puppets on the stalls whereof they make no small advantage and therefore to all his railing rhetorick with which he concludes this section I hold sit to returne no other answer then the French provethe The Asse brayeth never so hideously as when hee is over-hard girt Thus having held up my buckler for the Knight and warded off the Iesuits blowes now I fall on whetting and sharpening the Knights sword wherewith he woundeth the Idolatrous superstition of the Roman Church the edge whereof the Iesuit endevoureth to dull by the twentie exceptions above mentioned which now I will scan in order To the first It is true that wee have beene oft told by Papists that we ought to make a difference betweene Image-worship and Idoll-worship but it is as true that this is a distinction without difference which hath beene a hundred times refuted by all those who have entred into lists with Papists about the question in hand and did not the Iesuit arme his forehead with the metall of his images he would blush to say that the texts alledged by the Knight make against idols Vulg. lat ex edit R. Stephani non facietis vobis idolum sculptile nec titulos erigetis nec insignem lapidem ponetis in terrâ vestrâ ut adoretis eum Lorinus in Act. 7. v. 29. sculptilis imago distinctiùs ac enixiùs prohibita est quoniam cultus idolorum versa batur potissimùm insoulptâ imagine vel statua quae soliditate partium atque crassitie mag is exhibet personam quae adoranda proponitur quà m si haec in superficie duntaxat coloribus exprimatur Tertul. cont Marcio l. 4. c. 22. nec enim imagines eorum nec staiuas populus habuisset lege prohibente Vasquez disp 5. in 3. p. Thō disp 94. c. 2. substantia praecepti fuit usum quemlibet imaginum auferre and not at all against images for the first text Levit. 26.1 word for word according to the originall and agreeably to the vulgar Latine is thus to bee rendred Yee shall make you no idols nor graven images neither reare you up a standing image neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land to bow downe to it The second text Exod. 20.4 is thus to be translated Thoushalt not make thy selfe any thing carved or graven in Hebrew Pesel derived from pasal signifying to carve or engrave in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the vulgar Latine unto which all Papists are sworne sculptile To which Commandement Tertullian alluding saith Peter knew Moses and Elias by the spirit when they appeared with Christ in the Mount not by any picture or image which hee had seene of them for the people of the Iewes had no such the law prohibiting it And Vasqnez the Iesuit convinced by the evidence of the text confesseth that God in the second Commandement forbiddeth not only to worship an image for God but also to worship God in any similitude and consequently hee thereby taketh away all use of any image of God Yet were there any mist in the word pesel the words following clearely dispell it nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth thou shalt not bow downe to them viz. with thy body nor worship them in thy soule Papists doe both and therefore though they could escape the net laid for them in the first words non facies tibi sculptile yet they are caught and strangled in the next For albeit they could prove that their images are no idols prohibited in the word pesel yet certainly they are the similitudes of something that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth The third text alledged by the Knight out of Dent. Custodite solicitè animas vestras ne forte deceptifaciatis vobis sculptam imaginem vel similitudinem masculi vel foeminae 4.15.16 17. is thus rendered in their owne vulgar Latine keepe carefully your soules you saw no similitude in the day in which the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire take heed lest peradventure being deceived you make to your selves any graven image or the likenesse of male or female Neither is the last allegation out of Esay the fortieth lesse prevalent then the former to batter downe all popish images v. 18. to whom will you liken God or what likenesse will you compare unto him in the vulgar Latine quam imaginem ponetis ei and verse the 20. the worke-man melted a graven image and the Goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth
P. 328. Absolution is a iuridicall act to be performed by a superiour and judge towards an inferiour and a subject being under his power which the soules in Purgatory are not in respect of the Pope Here by the way let the Reader observe how the Iesuit unwittingly striketh a blow at the Popes triple crowne For if the soules in Purgatory are none of his subiects where is his third Kingdome Why should he weare a triple crowne if he may not beare his sword in Purgatory the word Mysterium anciently engraven upon the Popes Miter was wont to be thus declared that the three Crownes compassing it signifie the rule he beares in Heaven Earth and Purgatory but if he hath of late lost that kingdom and is not now as the Iesuit saith Superior to the soules that frie in Purgatory What power hath he to mittigat their fine or release their mulct or abate their fire much lesse wholly absolve them from the guilt of temporall punishment there in toto As for that he addeth concerning communion of Saints it yeelds no support at all to his cause for the communion of Saints which all Christians beleeve is partly in the blessings of this life partly in the use of spirituall graces whereby they pray one for another admonish instruct and comfort one the other this communion no way extendeth to inward habits as faith hope charity nor to outward penall sufferings which can be imparted to no other as may be most evidently deduced out of Scriptures and the joynt testimonies of the ancient Fathers First therefore wee say that the Saints have no superabundance of merits or satisfactions as I have proved before next that admitting they had any they cannot dispose of them to others for every one shal beare his own burdens every one shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath don whether it be good or bad not according to that which he hath don or suffred in the body of another Gal. 6.5 de pudicit c. 22. Quis alienam mortem sua solvet nisi solus fiâ—ius Dei proinde qui illum emular is donando delicta si nihil ipse deliquisti plane patere pro me si vero peocator es quomodo oleum facuiae tuae sufficere tibi mihi porerit In Iohan. tract 24. Et si fratres pro fratribus moriantur tamen in fraternorum peccatorum remissâ—one nullius sanguis martyris funditur Leo ep ad Palest Accepere justi non dedere coronas et de fortitudine fidelium nata sunt exempla patientiae non dona justitiae singulares quippe eorum mertes fuerunt nec alterius quisquam de bitum suo fine persolvit Bernard ep 198 cont Abelard Satisfactio unius omnibus imputatur sicut omnium pecca-ta ille unus portavit nec alter invenietur qui fore fecit alter qui satisfecit satisfecit ergo caput pro membris the wise virgins said to the foolish that begged of them oyle to fil their lamps Not so lest there be not enough for us for you the righteousnes of the righteous shal be upon him the wickednes of the wicked shal be upon him Ez. 18.20 Who ever saith Tertullian satisfied by another mans death his owne death but only the Son of God therfore thou who imitatest him in forgiving sins if thou hast sinned in nothing thy selfe I pray thee suffer for me but if thou artâ—a sinner as I am how will the oyle of thy little lampe suffice for thee and for me If Tertullians coyne be not currant I am sure St Austine St Leos is Although saith St Austine brethren dye for their brethren yet the blood of no Martyr was ever shed for the remission of their brothers sinnes For as St. Leo testifieth the righteous have received they have not given crowns from the fortitude of true beleevers we receive examples of patience not gifts of righteousnes For their death was singular neither did any of theÌ„ by it discharg the death of another the head hath satisfied for the members the satisfactioÌ„ of one is imputed to all Marke he saith of one not of more the head satisfied for the meÌ„bers not the meÌ„bers one for another To the seventh I freely subscribe to the conclusion and beleeve without any scruple that the 56000. yeares of pardon granted by the Pope to every one that shall say seven prayers before the Crucifix and seven Paternosters and seven Ave-maries is no more for the dead then for the living For done to such an intent neither are the better for it neither the living nor the dead are gainers but onely the Pope himselfe and his Agents who sell paper and lead at a deerer rate than any Merchant or Stationer in Christendome Yet by the Iesuits leave Pope Gregory granting 14000 yeares of Pardon and Nicolas the first as many and Sixtus the fourth twice as many which make up the full number of 56000 must needs be thought to intend benefit to the soules in Purgatorie or in hell unlesse you will make the Pope to be so absurd as to suppose that any were to live upon earth so many thousand yeares which had beene an errour 55000 times worse than the errour of the Millenaries For they taught that the Saints should live a thousand yeares with Christ on earth but these that sinners should live in durance here or in Purgatorie 56000 yeares which is 50000 yeares longer than by all computations the World hath or as most thinke shall last To the eighth What Scripture or Tradition hath the Iesuit for this his incredible paradox If wee should grant him such a Purgatorie as hee desires which no man yet could find either in the Map of this world or in the Table of holy Scriptures yet is it impossible to defend with any probability this position of his that in few weekes space a soule might suffer punishment answerable to the Penance of many thousand yeares For the learned Romanists generally accord that Purgatorie fire differeth little from hell but in time that the one is eternall the other temporall they beleeve it to equalize or rather exceed any fiery torment on earth How then can they imagine so much fuell to be laid on that fire and the torments in it so improved that a man may suffer so much punishment in a few weekes which may weigh downe or beare scale with the penance of 56000 yeares or if the torments could be so increased what soule would be able to beare them for those few weekes nay rather a few houres To the ninth The Authours alleaged by the Knight namely Durand Sylvester Prierias Major Fisher Bishop of Rochester Alfonsus a Castro Antoninus Cajetan and Bellarmine speake not as the Iesuit would have it comparatively but positively Durand saith Durand 4. sent dist 20. q. 3. de indulgeÌ„tiis pauca dici possum per certitudinem quia nec scriptura expressè de iis loquitur sancti
contradict Romish doctrines not out of disobedience to man but out of obedience to him who commandeth us to contend for the true faith and to reprove and convince all gainesayers What Papists intentions are we take not upon us to judge their doctrines we put to the test of Gods word and finde them false and adulterine and all be it some points of their beliefe considered in themselves might seeme indifferent yet as they hold them they are not because they are not of faith Rom. 14.23 and what soever is not of faith is sinne Now no point of the Romish Creed as they hold it is of that faith the Apostle speaketh of that is divine faith because they ground and finally resolve all their articles not upon Gods word but upon the authority of the Pope Resp ad Archiepis Spalaten c. 47. Firmitas fundamenti â—â— firma licet implicita in aureo hoc fundamento veritatis adhaesio valebit ut in Cypriano sic in nobis ad salutem faenum stipula imbecilitas caries in tecto contignatione explicitae erroris opinio non valebit nec in Cypriano nec in nobis ad perâ—â—tiem or Church of Rome which is but the authority of man whereas on the contrary as Doctor Crakent horpe demonstrateth If any Protestant build hay or stubble upon the true foundation he may he saved because be holdeth the true foundation which is that every doctrine of faith ought to be built upon Scripture If the Iesuit wonder at this conclusion let him weigh the Authors reasons and he will be forced to confesse that the errors if there be any in Protestants in regard they sticke close to the true foundation and implicitly deny them cannot in them be damnable whereas the very true doctrines of faith in Papists because they hold them upon a wrong ground and foundation very much derogatory to God and his truth are not so safe To the third With what face can the Iesuit avow this considering that Prieras before alleaged and other writers approved by the Church of Rome mainetaine this blasphemous assertion that the authority of the Church is greater then the anthority of Scripture and all Papists of note at this day hold that the Scripture is but an imperfect and partiall rule of faith all Protestants on the contrary teach that it is an entire and perfect rule of faith Papists believe the Scripture for the Churches sake Protestants the Church for the Scripture sake Papists resolve all points of faith generally into the Popes infalibility or Churches authority Protestants into the written word of God which as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth De verbo Dei non script l. 4. c. 11. containeth all things necessary for all men to beleeve and is a most certaine and safe rule of beleeveing Yea but saith the Iesuit out of Vincentius Lerinensis De verbo Dei l. 1. c. 2. he that will avoid the deceits and snares of Haeretikes and remaine soundin the faith must strengthen his faith two wayes to wit by the authority of the divine law and the tradition of the Catholike Church This advise of Vincentius is sound and good if it be rightly understood and not in the Iesuits sense Vincentius there by tradition of the Catholike Church understandeth not unwritten verities but the Catholike expositions of holy Scriptures extant in the writings of the Doctors of the Church in all ages and we grant that this Catholike exposition of the Doctors where it can be had is of great force to confirme faith and confound Heretikes Vt Scripturae ecclesiastice intelligentiae jungatur authoritas For the stopping of whose mouth that Father saith and we deny it not that there is great neede to add to the Scripture the Churches sense or interpretation albeit as he there addeth which cutteth the throat of the Iesuits cause The Canon of Scripture is perfect and sufficient of it selfe for all things nay rather as hee correcteth himselfe Over and above sufficient cum sit perfectus scripturae canon sibique adomnia satis superque sufficiat To the fourth Here the Iesuit would make his Reader study a little and his Adversarie to muse Vero nihil verius certo nihil certius but it is indeed whether hee be in his right wits or no. For first as Seneca well resolveth one thing cannot be said truer than another one truth in Divinitie may be more evident to us than another but in it selfe it cannot be truer or surer Secondly admitting there could be degrees of certainty at least quoad nos there can be yet no comparison in regard of such certaintie betweene an Article of the Creed assented unto by all Christians and a controverted conclusion maintained onely by a late faction in the Westerne Church But the sitting of Christ at the right hand of his Father is an Article of the Creed set downe in expresse words in holy Scripture Mark 16.19 Luke 24. consented unto by all Christians in the world whereas the carnall presence of Christ in the Sacrament by Tranfubstantiation is no Article extant in any Creed save onely that of Pope Pius his coyning in the yeare of our Lord 1564. It is neither in words set downe in Scripture as the other Articles are neither can it be necssarily inforced or deduced by consequence as foure great Cardinals of the Roman Church confesse Cameracensis Cajetan Roffensis and Bellarmine Neither was this Doctrine of the Romane Church ever assented unto by the Greeke Church nor by the Latine anciently or generally as I shewed before Thirdly the Iesuit contradicteth himselfe within eight lines for having said in the eighteenth line Pag. 384. that Christ his corporall presence in the Sacrament was more sure than his presence in heaven at the right hand of his Father about seven lines after forgetting himselfe hee saith that Wee shall find as much to doe marke as much not more in expounding that Article of the Creed as they doe in expounding the words This is my Body Wherein it is well hee confesseth that Papists make much to doe in expounding the words This is my Body which is most true for by the demonstrative Hoc they understand they know not what Neither this Body nor this Bread but an Individum vagum something contained under the accidents of Bread which when the Priests saith Hoc it is Bread but when hee hath muttered out an Vm it is Christs Body Likewise by the Copula est is they understand they know not what either shall be as soone as the words are spoken or is converted unto or is by Transubstantiation Lastly by Body they understand such a body as indeed is no body without the extension of place without distinction of Organs without facultie of sense or motion and will hee make this figment so incredible so impossible as sure nay more sure than the Article of Christs ascension into heaven and his sitting at the right hand of his
Heaven and Hell 19. That there are three holy Orders in the Church Bishops Priests and Deacons 20. That Confession to a Priest in case the Conscience be troubled with any grievous Sin is profitable and behoovefull To all these points and many more like unto these the Papists assent but in all their additions they stand single as namely 1. That a fourth Creed made by Pius the fourth is likewise to be received under paine of damnation 2. That religious worship is due to Saints 3. That Saints and Angels are to be called upon 4. That the Pope is the visible head of the Church 5. That Saints are our Mediatours and Advocates 6. That the Virgin Mary also was conceived without sinne 7. That wee are justified and saved in part by our owne Merits and superabundant satisfactions of Saints 8. That Tradition is a rule of Faith as well as Scripture 9. That besides those two and twenty there are other Books of the old Testament to wit Tobit Judith Baruch The Wisdome of Salomon Ecclesiasticus and the Maccabees to be admitted into the number of Canonicall Scriptures 10. That the vulgar Latin translation of the Scripture is most pure and authenticall 11. That besides Baptisme and the Lords Supper there are five other Sacraments Confirmation Order Penance Matrimonie and Extreme Vnction 12. That Gallies and Bels may and ought to be christened 13. That besides Water Creame Salt and Spittle are to be used in Baptisme 14. That Christ is present in the Sacrament by Transubstantiation and that his body and blood is not onely received spiritually by Faith but also carnally by the mouth 15. That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper may lawfully be administred to the Laity in one kind onely 16. That besides an historicall there is a religious use of Images and that they are to bee worshipped 17. That Peter had not onely a Primacie of Order but a power also and jurisdiction over the Apostles 18. That besides Heaven and Hell there is a third place of abode for soules to wit Purgatorie and a fourth also termed Limbus infantum 19. That besides those three holy Orders of Bishops Prists and Deacons there are others as namely Exorcists Acolyts c. 20. That confession of every knowne Sin to a Priest is necessarie Now because Negatives are not properly Articles of Faith but Positives or Affirmatives it appeareth evidently that the Faith of the reformed Churches is assented to by Papists themselves and all Christians in the world and therfore is most certain safe by the confession on all sides wheras the Popish additions wherein we stand onely upon the Negative and they are to make good the Affirmative are assented to by none but themselves and therefore by the Iesuits rule are weak doubtful and lesse safe This is Vulcaneum telum et argumentum palmarium the main and principall argument whereby the Knight demonstrateth the title of his Booke and hee is so confident of it that if that be to be accounted the safer way wherein different parties agree both in one as the Iesuit laid it downe in the former chapter hee will joyne issue with all Papists in the world in this very point and if in this hee make not good the title of his Booke that wee are therefore in the safer way because they agree in the principall and Positive points of Religion with our Doctrine hee will reconcile himselfe to the Roman Church and creepe upon all foure to his Holinesse for a Pardon At this the Iesuit is so mad that he fometh at the mouth and raveth saying Pag. 512. That to creepe upon all foure is a very fit gate for men so devoid of reason as to make such Discourses and to use such malicious insinuations as if men used to creepe upon all foure to the Pope Parce sepulto Parce pias scelerare manus be not so inhumane and barbarous in tearing the fame of the dead there is no cause at all given of such rage and furie The Knight doth herein no way blaspheme or falsly traduce Dominum deum Papam for those that ordinarily kisse the Popes toe unlesse his Holinesse be the more courteous to hold up his foot the higher must needs be neere creeping on all foure To say nothing of Dandalus King of Creete and Cyprus who was upon all foure and that under the Table before the Popes Holinesse as Iewell in his Apologie and the defence thereof undeniably proveth out of good Authors against Mr. Harding yet the Knight in this place chargeth not the Pope with any such imperious demand of Luciferian pride but onely professeth what penance hee would willingly enjoyne himselfe if hee should abuse the Reader and not make good the Title of his booke by the argument above propounded against which what the Iesuit here particularly Articleth and objecteth I will now consider To the first The words which the Iesuit would make seem so ridiculous are related by the Knight as their owne words not ours as any may perceive by the Preface to them therefore say they and by this that they are written in a lesser Character and is it not senslesse in the Iesuit and most ridiculous to laugh at himselfe and put his owne nonsense upon the Knight who taking the Iesuits words as he found them scorning to nible at syllables interpreted the Iesuits words at the best and taking his meaning joynes issue with him upon the point in this manner In a Church professing Christianity where the Scriptures of the old and new Testament are received and the two Sacraments instituted by Christ administred suppose we there to be two sorts of Professors either publikely allowed as in France or at least tollerated as in other Kingdomes both these entituling themselves to be members of the pure Orthodox Church and neither of them having beene particularly condemned in any generall Councell received through the Christian world the probleme then is whether of these two that party is not in the safer way who holdeth no positive Article of faith to which both parties besides all other Christians give not their assent unto then the other who maintaineth twelve Articles of faith at least wherein they themselves stand single and are forsaken by all Christians not onely of the reformed Churches in England France Germany Denmarke Swethland Norway Poland Transylvania but also in the Eastern and Greek Churches dispersed through the large Dominions of the Turke in Europe Asia and Africa But thus it standeth betweene us and Papists all the positive Articles which we hold necessary to salvation they themselves and all other Christian Churches in the world assent unto whereunto the Church of Rome hath added many other positive Articles in joyning all under paine of damnation to beleeve them in all which additions she standeth alone by her selfe therefore it is safer to adhere to the doctrine and faith of the reformed churches then the Pope his new Trent Creed The Iesuits exceptions against this argument