him to bee an Angell it is like enough he would have demeaned himselfe otherwise but taking him to be a man as he seemed hee was more honest than to set him a worke for nothing Nor in case this story were as true as could be were it more absurd for old Tobie to offer this Angell wages whilst he knew him not than it was for Gideon to present an Angell with a Kid or for Lot to afford the Angels lodging or for Manoah to dresse a Kid likewise that the Angell might eate For Manoah saith the Scripture knew not that he was an Angell Iudges 13.16 And as for the dog going with them it is an usuall thing for a dogge to runne abroad with his Master and I pray quarrell not with him for feare hee bites you Little reason is there that you should bee troubled to see a man with a dogge at his heeles except he were going into a Church But if you be of the Packe of Praecisians you care as little to exclude your dogge from thence as you doe to shut out your owne irreverence And yet Iacob could say Gen. 28.17 How dreadfull is this place surely it is no other than the house of God and the gate of Heaven The Lord also saith Levit. 19.30 Ye shall observe my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary And in the Prophet Malachie Mal. 1.6 If I saith the Lord be a Father where is my honour If I be a Master where is my Feare And in the Gospell Mat. 21.13 Luke 19.46 It is written saith Christ that my House shall bee called the house of prayer but yee have made it a denne of Theeves Thus t was then And I would to God it could not in some sort bee as truely said that Gods House is by many made no better still than a denne of Theeves wherein they rob him of his service and are not against the respect which is done there to themselves giving none at all to him before whom they cannot bee too reverent but should bow which we commonly reade Worship fall downe and kneell Psal 95.6 as the Psalmist speaketh Nor doth Saint Paul but say 1 Cor. 11 22. That the Corinthians despised the Church of God for which hee praysed them not And as for reverence to bee done to the Lord of Heaven and Earth the same Apostle instructs the Hebrewes thus Wherefore saith he Heb. 12.28,29 Wee having received a kingdome which cannot be shaken let us have grace whereby wee may serve God acceptablie with reverence and a godly feare For our GOD is a consuming fire All which Scriptures mentioning these things are quoted in the Margent DIALOGUE Minist On the third of October another lying fable is appointed to be read how Tobias being come from Rages did call the Angell unto him and bade him take a servant and two Camels and goe to Rages for mony and that the Angell went and carried writings which he delivered to Gabael who brought bags of mony sealed up which he delivered to the Angell ANSWER Her 's still great noise and little Wooll much spoken but to little purpose as in the former answers hath beene already shewed DIALOGUE Gent. O horrible how have the Bishops deluded King Edward the sixt Queene Elizabeth King James and Our gracious King Charles and the whole estate and made them beleeve that there was nothing in the service Booke contrary to Gods Word God Almighty deliver us from them ANSWER You talke you know not what for that the Bishops have not deluded the state nor those Princes which you speake of appeares First by the Martyrdome of those worthy Bishops which suffered in the dayes of Queene Mary Secondly by the conference holden at Hampton Court in the beginning of King Iames his Raigne who as you know was a Prince so well accomplished in learning and particularly in Divinity that if they would they could not have captivated his judgment and skill as in that conference is most apparent His wise Nobles saw it well enough For being present and observing all passages they were perswaded that His Majesty spoke by inspiration And thirdly that they went not about to delude him appeares by that which they said throughout the whole conference and especially by the faire dealing with His Majestie about particular absolution and private Baptisme DIALOGUE Gent. Now that you have shewed me the blasphemies and lying fables shew also what are the Popish errours that are in it and first tell me whether the Service Booke doth command that all both Ministers and people shall bow their bodies when the Name Jesus is read Minist The Bishops only without any warrant from God but from the Pope Gent. I have read that the Name Jesus was a common name among the Jewes was it so Minist Yes Syrach of Jerusalem had a son whose name was Iesus Eccl. 50.23 Also Ioshua the son of Nun was called Iesus Acts 7.57 and one of Saint Pauls fellow Labourers was called Iesus Col. 4 11. Gent. Why doe the Bishops make an Idoll of the name Jesus by causing men to bow their bodies and to put off their hat when it is read Min. Because they mistake the Word of God where it is written that at the name of Iesus every knee shall bow both of things in Heaven of things on earth and of things under the earth Phil. 2.10 Gent. What is the name of Jesus Min. As by the name of our gracious King Charles is meant not the name Charles which is a common name but the authority and power that God hath given him over all people within his owne dominions as when men are prest to the Kings service they are prest in the Kings name that is by vertue of authority and power from the King even so as by the name of K. Charles is meant his authority and power c. So by the name of Iesus ia meant the authority and power that God hath given him over all things in Heaven and in Earth and under the Earth Gent. What is meant by things in Heaven Min. By things in Heaven are meant the holy Angels and soules of the faithfull that have no knees Gent. What is meant by things on Earth Min. By things on Earth are meant all mankinde living on earth whether they be Elect or Reprobate Gâ—nt What is meant by things under the Earth Min. By things under the Earth are meant the Devils and damned soules in hell Gent. What is meant by bowing of the knee Min. By bowing of the knee is meant subjection Isa 45.23 and not bowing of the body when the name Jesus is read as Pope Anastatius did command Anno 404. Gent. What is meant by bowing of every knee of things in Heaven of things on earth and of things under the earth Min. Thereby is meant that all the holy Angels and Saints in Heaven and all mankinde on earth and all the Devils and damned soules in hell shall submit themselves to
Christ and acknowledge him to be Lord of all and to have power over all to save and condemne whom he will ANSWER You undertake at the first to speake of things in the Common-Prayer-Booke but now I see you are fallen upon something else His name as you say which first commanded to bow at the name of Iesus was Anastatius a man I hope of an earlier date than either to be termed Pope by way of derision or to bee slighted for his care about this custome which the Church was acquainted with a long time before hee was ever Bishop of Rome Saint Hierom in his Comment upon Esay the 45.23 which is the very text alledged by you to be a testimony against bowing of the knee speakes of it as no new thing in his time for It is saith hee the custome of the Church to bow the knee to CHRIST which the Jewes shewing the perversenesse of their minds altogether refuse to doe noting thereby that it was so farre from being new as that it was come to bee one of the Churches customes Zanchy is able to say that the use is ancient Nor do men of great reading but affirme that it was used in the time of Arius which must needs be in the Primitive times because Arius was before the first Councell of Nice Nor might it but bee used sooner if wee cast an eye to the scoffings of the Jewes For the Jewes began to scoffe and mocke at our Saviour in allusion to his name even when he suffered and have ever since derided the Christians with their crucified Iesus Thus the chiefe Priests mocking him with the Scribes and Elders alluding to his name Jesus said He saved others himselfe he cannot save Matth. 27.42 And as Marlorat speaketh Marl. in Mat. ch 1. â— 21. The Jewes in scorn and derision to this day cal our Saviour not Jesus but Jehu which with them signifieth only some common and contemptible fellow As then the name Iesus is that name in which he was derided and which they abuse by their chopping and changing that they might thereby abase our Saviour and with which they flout us for our faith so is it that name in which he must bee honoured The Father hath assigned so much unto him and wee are bound to afford it as a part of his reward for the death of the Crosse His person wee know is taken from us but his Name he hath left still with us And as his Person for suffering is crowned with honour and glory Heb. 2.9 So must his Name be so farre exalted as that at the Name of Iesus every knee must bow Phil. 2.10 And thus will your figurative exposition be nothing worth though illustrated by a comparison of things done in the Kings name For at the name of Jesus is meant Jesus named to whom we how when we heare him called by that name For though his Person bee exalted and sitteth at the right hand of God yet his Name in which he was despised is not exalted by us as it ought except we also reverence his Person upon the mentioning of that name which God hath given him to bee above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow Where is then the Idoll which you speak of it would trouble you sure to finde it out and therefore that calumnie was either ignorantly cast upon the Bishops or maliciously to bring upon them the greater Odium obloquie contempt and scorne But others you say were called Jesus as well as our Lord and Saviour true some others have had that name given them by humane imposition but not as given to our Redeemer by God with a command of his adoration Ther 's none of them that could either doe that which hee did or be saved but by him and must therefore so resigne this name to him as that he beare it with a maine difference from them all And as for that which you say of the holy Angels and soules of the faithfull which have no knees they have their wayes surely to doe that which wee doe in our bodies else it would never bee given in charge that all the Angels of GOD must worship him Hebr. 1.6 Nor bee written that the Saints in Heaven fall downe before him Rev. 5.8,9 Nor may them in Hell bee excluded For though it bee a torment to them to testifie either reverence or subjection yet seeing Christ must Reigne till he have put all his enemies under his feet they shall whether they will or no be brought unto it a proofe of which assertion is in the foureteenth chapter of the Romans at the tenth and eleventh verses In which regard the Apostles words Phil. 2.10 mentioning that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow both of things in Heaven of things on Earth and of things under the Earth are not unfitlie said to bee a Prophecie which by many Christians is fulfilling in this life here on earth by blessed spirits and Saints is fulfilled in Heaven and shall fully be accomplished in the day of judgment as Master Calvin very well observeth For though it bee a prophecie wee must know that under this prophecie expressed there is a dutie implyed For Prophecies saith one are of two sorts some that are fulfilled in an instant others by degrees and by little and by little of which latter sort is this prophecie that every knee shall bow DIALOGUE Gent. What doe you thinke of them that kneele when they receive the Communion bread Min. The Papists say that they are Idolaters because they kneele and doe not beleeve the reall presente as they doe ANSWER It is no matter what the Papists say Their dislike should me thinkes moderate your spleene and make you think the better of us for their sakes To beleeve their reall presence is no part of our Creed and yet to kneele is a part of our devotion Wee kneele no more to the Bread than to the Pulpit or to our seates when we joyne with the Minister in praying unto God But our quarrell is not now with them of Rome but with you for taking durt out of their puddles and causelesly to throw it at us DIALOGUE Gent. Who was the first that brought in kneeling Min. Pope Honorius about the yeare of our Lord 1220. after that the errour of Transubstantiation was hatcht at the Councell of Lateran Gent. J have read in Gods Word that the Apostles did not kneele when Christ Himselfe delivered the bread unto them I have read also in the Booke of Martyrs that the ancient Councels in the Primitive Church did make Canons against kneeling least it should prove an occasion of Idolatry Ought not we to conforme our selves to our Saviour Christ and his Apostles and to the Christians of the Primitive Church rather than to the Devils Vicar-generall the Pope Min. Yes verily for it is grosse hypocrisie in us to make a shew as though wee were more godly and zealous than the Apostles and
and of faithfull Preachers against false Teachers belongs to other visions and cannot be here intended unlesse you had the faculty of making one thing serve for all purposes DIALOGUE Gent. What is meant by the casting the Dragon and his Angels out of heaven Min. Thereby is meant the utter confusion and overthrow of Antichrist by the Spirit of Christs mouth that is by Preaching of the Gospell so as he shall be deprived of all dignity and shall have no place in heaven that is in the Church of God to domineere any more as thankes be to God the Arch-bishop of Canterbury is deprived of all dignity and shall never have any place againe in heaven I meane in the Church of God to domineere as he hath done ANSWER The further you goe the more wrong still in your interpretation But was it so that you could not have a fling at the Archbishop of Canterbury except you streine a Prophecy You had better sure have let him alone then by a false glosse corrupt the text for in this very passage you have done no lesse as is more then manifest nor doe my former Answers but declare it DIALOGUE Gent. Why is this Prophecy appointed to be read on Michaelmas day Min. It is appointed to be read on Michaelmasse day of purpose to pervert the meaning of our Saviour Christ by mis-applying to Michael and all Angels in the highest Heaven the victory that Christ hath and daily doth and will every day more and more give to true Christians that doe follow him fighting his battell against Antichrist ANSWER Here is againe another small dram of your little Charity the accusation is the same with a former and the exposition not agreeing with the scope of the Prophecy For if you study the Revelation throughly you will finde this to be a vision of the Primitive times and not to be extended so low as Antichrist or to the successe of sound Christians fighting against him Besides as for the Churches meaning you might have soberly judged this to be the meaning of the Church in ordering to have this Scripture read at the time appointed That albeit Christ be figured and signified to vs under the type of Michael yet even the Angell Michael is understood to have appeared in the vision shewed to S. John with an host of other Angels fighting against the Dragon and his Angels representing thereby Christ with his heavenly Angels and his servants on earth to sight against the Devill with his Angels and wicked complices and to prevaile against them as was historically fulfilled in the dayes of Constantine who with his souldiers did undoubtedly fight under Christs banner and was incouraged thereunto by miracle and thereby made Generall upon Earth of this holy warfare for behold a bright Crosse appeared in the Heavens about mid-day with this inscription on it * Vide lib. 1. de vita Constant cap. 22. In hoc signo vinces under this ensigne thou shalt overcome The truth of which miracle was confirmed to Eusebius by Oath even from Constantine himself And at the sight of this Constantine being admonished of the Christian Religion suffered himselfe to be taught in Christianity and had the Banners of his Souldiers proportioned according to the fashion of the Crosse with two Greek letters X and P made upon them which should stand to signifie the name of Christ After all which when the warre was ended the divine providence thus ordering these occurrences that thereby we might learn the accomplishment of this Prophesie he took order that a table should be hanged up on high over the gates of his Palace wherein a Dragon was painted which lay thrust through with a Dart under his own and his Subjects feet as a little before I have already mentioned and do now cite for my Authors Eusebius Socrates and Theodoret. Euseb de vit Const lib. 3. cap. Socrat. lib. 1. c. 6. Theod. lib. 1. cap. 15. In every of which places of the said authors the story mentioned stands recorded AND thus hitherto I have followed you step by step and balked nothing which your pretions Dialogue hath afforded You make a sally next against new Orders which because they are upon their tryall I passe them over heartily wishing that under the feare of hatching Popery we may be better setled then to part with piety For whilest these things have been in question the ruder sort are every day more and more irreverent But the God of Heaven put it into the hearts of the high Court of Parliament to look into it and to make the whole kingdome know that the Lord is King both of Heaven and Earth and therefore more to be honoured then any King nay then all Kings else * Psal 99.1 The Lord is King saith David be the people never so unpatient he sitteth between the Cherubins be the Earth never so unquiet a Ps 96 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Declare his honour unto the heathen and his wonders unto all the people For the Lord is great and cannot worthily be praysed he is more to be feared then all Gods As for the Gods of the heathen they are but Idols but it is the Lord that made the Heavens Glory and worship are before power and honour are in his Sanctuary Ascribe unto the Lord oh yee kindred of the people ascribe unto the Lord worship and power Ascribe unto the Lord the honor due unto his name bring presents and come into his Courts O worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse let all the Earth stand in aw of him b Ps 122.1 I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. c Ps 93.6 Thy testimonies O Lord are sure Holinesse becommeth thine house forever d Psal 95 6. O come let us worship and fall down and kneele before the Lord our Maker e Ps 86.8,9,10 Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord there is none that can doe as thou dost All nations that thou hast made shall come and worship thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name For thou art great and dost wondrous things thou art God alone f Psal 5.7 I will come into thy house in the multitudes of thy mercy and in thy feare will I worship towards the Temple of thy holinesse g Ps 63,2,3,4,5,6 My Soule thirsteth for thee my flesh also longeth after thee in a barren and dry land where no water is Thus have I looked for thee in holinesse that I might behold thy power and glory For thy loving kindnesse is better then the life it self my lips shall praise thee As long as I live will I magnifie thee on this manner and lift up my hands in thy name My Soule shall be satisfied even as it were with marrow and fatnesse when my mouth praiseth thee with joyfull lips h Ps 74.2,3,4,5,6,7 O thinke upon thy Congregation whom thou hast purchased and redeemed of old Thinke upon the
successe to the Preaching of the Gospell as thanks be to his holy Majesty it hath had in many kingdomes since Martin Luthers time and shall have every day more and more ANSWER This which you now mention is well spoken and not amisse For true it is that at the fixt verse the second part of the Chapter beginneth wherein the downfall of Antichrist is proclamed by three preaching Angels the first whereof is said to fly through the midst of Heaven having an everlasting Gospell to Preach By which and those other Angels following we are not to understand any coelestiall Angel in respect of the accomplishment of this Prophesie but rather some speciall Ministers of God whom the Lord stirred up as his instruments to work a reformation in the Church And yet I deny not but that Saint John saw the representation of this in that heavenly theater wherein his visions were represented to him in the seeming shape and person of a celestiall Angel which was but to shew that at the time appointed God intended the accomplishment of this and the like appearances by such instruments as were pre-ordained for the same purpose DIALOGUE Gent. I am glad to heare this I pray you goe on to shew where the meaning of Christ is perverted Min. On Michaelmasse day the twelfth chapter from the seventh verse to the thirteenth is appointed to be read for an Epistle it being no Epistle but a prophesie c. ANSWER The Corinthians you know are termed Pauls Epistle written in his heart an Epistle for that they were in stead of an Epistle as Theophylact observeth So this Scripture howsoever not an Epistle properly may stand in stead of an Epistle For the denomination given to this and other portions of Scripture taken out of the Prophets Acts and Revelation is retained in respect of the greater part which is taken out of the Epistles and not because they be in themselves Epistles properly which why it should be quarrelled with is more then needeth But you go on and tell us That it is a Prophesie of a battell fought in Heaven between Michael and his Angels and the Dragon and his Angels and of the victory that Michael and his Angels had over the Dragon and his Angels and of the casting of the Dragon and his Angels out of Heaven all which is true and not at all to be denyed DIALOGUE Gent. What is meant by Heaven Min. By Heaven is meant not the highest heaven but the Church of Christ militant here on earth ANSWER Concerning this warre in Heaven you speak well enough For in respect of the vision seen it was shewed in that heaven or heavenly theater where Saint John saw the representation of these things as I think need not be denyed and not in heaven it self For in heaven properly taken there is no fighting the warfare of those who inhabite there is quite ended they are all triumphant they rest in joyfull peace But in respect of the accomplishment there is cause enough to grant that we are pointed either to the Church of God which is a kinde of heaven upon earth or else to that heaven whither the womans Childe was taken up after his mother had brought him forth for the Dragon in the Imperiall Dragons or heathen persecuting Emperours raigned over the Church till then I mean till Constantine subdued them who hanged up on high over the gates of his Palace a Table wherein was painted a Dragon which lay thrust through with a dart under his own and his subjects feet DIALOGUE Min. By Michael and his Angels are meant Christ and his true followers especially the faithfull Preachers of the Gospel ANSWER This is also reasonably well expounded but not full enough For the accomplishment it selfe sheweth that Constantine is chiefly to be comprehended amongst those of Michaels Angels who fought with the Dragon and his Angels as if I were to write purposely of these things I could shew at large DIALOGUE Gent. What is meant by the Dragon and his Angels Min. By the Dragon and his Angels are meant the Devill and the heathen persecuting Emperours and the Popes ANSWER Not the Popes for this was a vision of what was done before their times The vision which belongs to them is in the next chapter and in the account of times came not in thus soone In the rest you speak right enough For though that old Serpent which is called the Devill and Sathan be the Dragon primarily yet neverthelesse the instruments of his fury are secondarily termed Dragons too as well as he for which we may see the Scriptures in Jer. 51.34 Ezek. 29.3 Psal 74.13,14 Esa 27.1 and chap. 51.9 And so also for his Angels not onely the infernall Hags of Hell are meant but even the wicked men who were of his side and helped to fight against the truth for which we may likewise see the Scriptures in Pro. 17.11 Revel 2.10 and chap. 9.14 DIALOGUE Gent. What is meant by the Battell Min. By the battell is meant persecutions raised by the heathen persecuting Emperours and the Popes and the popish Princes against the Christian Religion and the professors thereof ANSWER You extend again the Vision too farre in bringing it down so low as the Popes and popish Princes For it is a Prophesie of a warre begun and finished before the Dragon went forth to make warre with the remnant of the womans seed which warre was indeed in the dayes of Antichrist and is found to have relation first of all to those cruell warres of the Beast against the Albigenses and Waldenses together with all such as were if any were called by other name professing the true worship of Christ and hath hitherto continued still against the Saints both in Martyrdomes Inquisitions Massacres and the like but the horns of the beast falling from him by degrees shall at the last give an end to this warre and being become partners with the Saints as many of them already are shall turne their forces against the Beast as in the 17. Chapter may be seene And for your better instruction you may see it in the end of the 12. Chapter how that S. John saith he saw the Dragon standing upon the Sea-shore or upon the sand of the Sea which was not onely a good while after the Battell that he had with Michael but was also for the raising up of the Beast to doe that which you here mention to be done by the Popes and Popish Princes DIALOGUE Gent. What is meant by the victory that Michael and his Angels bad over the Dragon and his Angels Min. By the victory is meant the victories that Christ gave to Constantine the Christian Emperour and that he hath doth and daily will give to Christian Princes fighting his battell against Antichrist and his partakers and to the faithfull Preachers against false Teachers ANSWER Here still you faile by carrying the accomplishment lower then the dayes of Constantine The successe of Christian Princes against Antichrist
not sufficiently into himselfe but by the striking of him with the terrours of the Law is brought to the full sight of his wretchednesse and by the glad tidings of the Gospell is raised up againe and kept from desperation namely That then God doth fully speake peace unto his soule when by the like Deputy he shall heare the like sentence of absolution Protestants saith Bishop * Protest Appeal p. 254. Morton doe greatly approve the use of private and voluntary confession when a man either suspecteth the unlawfulnesse of any action or else when he groaneth under the sensible guilt of a troubled soule and shall desire the way of curing his disease by the comfortable pronunciation of Gods pardon from the mouth of him who hath the commission thereof from God And in another place Idem in his Appeale p. 270. The power of Absolution saith he whether it he generall or particular whether in publike or in private it is professed in our Church where both in henpublike Service is proclaimed Pardon and Absolution upon all Penitents and a private applying of Absolution unto particular Penitents by the office of the Minister and greater power then this no man hath received from God thus he Bishop Vsher likewise against a Jesuites Challenge at the 109 page saith He hath done us open wrong in charging us to deny that Priests have power to forgive sinnes And he gives a reason irrefragable as another great Scholar termes it because he mentions hereupon that The formall words which our Church requireth to eused in the Ordination of a Miuister are these Whose sinnes thou dost forgive they are forgiven and whose sinnes thou distretaine they are retained The execution of which authority accordingly is put in practise in the Visitation of the Sicke And shall I further tell you you shall finde it noted in the Practise of Piety that Doctor Holland absolved Doctor Rainolds at his death who not being able to speake kissed the hand wherewith he was absolved And in the Conference at Hampton Court the said particular Absolution in the Common-Prayer-booke being read His * King James of blessed memory Majesty who was indeed a second Salomon exceedingly well approved it adding that it was Apostolicall and a very good ordinance in that it was given in the name of Christ to one that desired it and upon the clearing of his conscience Hath then Almighty God given such power unto Men as not only to publish the conditions of Peace and Reconciliation to the sonnes of Men viz. Credenti remittentur peccata if they beleeve they shall receive Remiffion but also to apply the comfortable assurance of Remission to this and that man in particular and upon the sight and approbation of Penitency to say I absolve thee Or is this doctrine of Confession and Absolution agreeable to the Scriptures and practise of the Church as well present as primitive Then that I may speake it in the words of our * â—… Boyse pag. 523. impres 1629. English Postiller albeit some scribling Scribe pen an invective pamphlet against a discreet Pastor executing this office or some selfe-conceited Pharisee tell the people this man blasphemeth he may notwithstanding upon good information of faith and repentance say to the fick sinner in his bed Thy sinnes are forgiven thee and by Christs authority committed unto him I absolve thee greater power then which no man ever received Thus tâ—en clave non errante if the Minister faile not in the key of knowledge that is in discerning and rightly judging of the penitentiall sorrow and contrition of the peccant his key of Power and Authority delegate is found effectually operative and hath in it as one truly speaketh M Bedford Treat os the Sacr. p. 60. the stampe of God for the quiet and content of the troubled conscience Qui vos audit 〈◊〉 audit he that heareth you heareth me Try this saith another See the Pract. of Pitty and tell me whether thou shalt not finde more ease in thy conscience then can be expressed Adding moreover that did prophane men consider the dignity of this Divine Calling they would the more honour the Calling and reverence the Persons For as God hath reconciled the world to himselfe by Jesus Christ so hath he given unto us the Ministry of this reconciliation as saith the Apostle in 2 Cor. 5.18 Verily the difference between the Papists and us in this point is very great They tie the keyes to the Popes girdle so as whoso hath them hath them not but from him He grants Absolutions sealed with Lead in forme of a Judiciall sentence of a Court although he know not how the party that he meanes to absolve stands affected or desires an Absolution Some have had Absolutions sent them from Rome for their monies others have caused them to come by Bills of Exchange The Pope under pretence of this power takes upon him to untie the knot of fidelity which Subjects owe to their naturall Prince he dischargeth men of their lawfull oathes and children of the obedience which they owe to their Parents A man they say may be absolved against his will no matter therefore for conditions requisite or qualifications of Faith and Repentance in the penitent Their Bishops and Priests they say forgive sinnes by the very word of Absolution or by the bare pronouncing of the words and syllables by a true and physicall efficiency reaching to the very production of grace as Suarez speaketh or to the dissolution and destruction or extinguishing of Sinne as Bellarmine affirmeth They faile also whilst they hold that at the will and pleasure of every Priest exercising the Keyes on earth men are bound and loosed in heaven without any proviso at all of Clave non errante And Bellarmine would faine make the world beleeve that the Keyes remaine in our Saviour Christs hand only at the vacancy of the Popedome Absolution is among them made a true and a right Sacrament They tie all upon paine of damnation to come to shrift thrusting this their auricular confession upon the soules of Christians as an expiatory Sacrifice and a meritorious satisfaction for sinne They leave none to liberty either to come or not to come to confesse or not to confesse but cry out that all who will be saved must necessarily goe on in this way though he feeles no distresse but having throughly fearched himself hath been truly sorrowfull already and received secret comfort from above Nor are they but tied to enumerate all their sinnes which is impossible Hugo in his booke of the Churches power to binde and loose speakesfully thus I dare boldly say quoth he if before the Priests absolution any man doe come to the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord that he doth assuredly eat and drinke his own damnation although be repent him never so much and doth never so greatly lament his offences But yet though Hugo were thus bold Saint Paul hath said Let a