empoisonne Dont l' Empereur Henri tesmoignage nous donne Que dicoyent les Payens de ces gentils Docteurs Qui les hommes ont fait de luy Adorateurs Car si leur Dieu ne fait de meurtrir conscience Entre leur Diable et Dieu quelle est la difference i th' number of their Gods Pagans we find Ner'e rank't such as were hurtful to Mankind If that the God of Paste can poison men As the Emperour Henry testifies what then Would Heathens of these brave Doctors have said Who teach Men to adore a piece of Bread For if their God with Murder can dispence 'Twixt God and Devil what 's the difference As for Boniface the Eighth it is too notorious how he undervalued and vilified the same Host when he was Prisoner to the Gibellines of the Emperour's Platina Faction in the City of Agnania Julius the Second when he was defeated by the Earl of Faix and totally routed near Ravenna he out of extraordinary Zeal and Fervor I must not call it Madness or Irreverence threw away the Hostia and made it be trampled upon by the unsanctified Feet of the rude Multitude which hath been formerly taken by them with so much Reverence and Adoration Gregory the Ninth renounced the Gospel and embraced in lieu of it an infamous Legend compos'd Baleus li. 5. of the lives of the Popes by as infamous a Monk Cyril by name Thus you see how these Holy Pastors of Christ's Sheep behave themselves in Person and this is not all but their Canons published in Print and allowed are as blasphemous as their own common Discourse or that of their Parasites who are so far from punishment that they are loaded with Rewards asserting the Bishop of Rome to be a God. I 'll warrant you this Dist 96. c. satis evidenter Panorm c. Quanto Abbas bold assertion will frighten the Poor spirited Protestant to his Litany From such Blasphemy good Lord deliver us Pope Gregory is so bold as to couple abomination with the merit of the Holy Passion We ordain saith the Pope that for all such Cap. inter opera Charitatis despons l. 4. Decretal men who shall take common Strumpets out of the Stewes and Marry them that it shall advantage them as to the remission of Sin. Cardinal Bellarmine establisheth Bell. lib. 1. de Pontif. c. 9. the Pope over the Church Militant etiam Christo secluso Christ being secluded from him His Flatterers exclude all Patriarchs and Bishops from the Popes Lieutenancy to the Son of God in these words That he executeth C. quantol 1. Decretal tit 7. de translat Episcop not the Function of a meer Man here upon Earth but of a true God. Nay farther That the Pope is able to change the nature V. Gl. v. Veri Dei. cap. unico De jurejurando gl v. Vicarium in Clement of things That his Authority is heavenly that of nothing he can make something contrary to the old Rule ex nihilo nihil fit that his Will is sufficient for Reason that none may be so bold as to question him that he can dispence above the Law that he can make Justice of Injustice that he hath fulness of Power And elsewhere that every Creature is Can. omnes Dist 22. cap. c. subject to him that he hath the Rights of Heavenly and Earthly Empire Nay they proceed in higher strains and say We declare and define that it is necessary to Salvation Extrav commun c. Vnam sanctam de Majorit obedien See all the gloss of the chapt for all Creatures in all things and in all places to be under the Bishop of Rome Observe what the Blasphemous Parasite saith Our Lord would have been very indiscreet if he had Bertrand in gl Extrav com cap. unam sanctam de majorit Petri. not left a Man behind him that had an equal power with himself To conclude this subject take an abstract of this Oration pronounced in the Lateran Council printed by the Authority of Leo the Tenth in the presence of the whole Council Although the Aspect of your Divine Majesty Orat. Ant. Puccii Clerici Apostol 3. Non. Maiae 15 15 sess 10. by whose resplendent glory my weak Eyes are dazzled Again In thee alone the true and Lawful Vicar of Christ and God this Prophecy is to be fulfilled All the Kings of the Earth shall worship him and all Nations serve him Psalm 71. Then he saith Before and now the Universal Body of the Church is subject to one only Head viz. unto Thee Item Knowing that to thee alone hath been given all Power from the Lord in Heaven and Earth that thou mayest judge not only Spiritual but also the Earthly Powers of the World. If this be not like the Man of Sin to exalt himself above God let all men judge Another Flatterer was General of the Order of Preachers who received a Cardinal's Cap as the Guerdon of his Blasphemies It shall obtain if you will speaking of the Sess 2. in orat Cajetani Church and command it if you imitate the Power and Perfection of the Almighty whose Lieutenant you are here upon Earth not only in honour of Dignity but affection of Will. Gird your Swords for you have two the Spiritual and Temporal one common to other Princes the other belongs to you only And speaking of the Pope's Mercy It will render you worthy of Worship Gracious and most like unto God. And afterwards by the Mercy of God yours c. and so runs on with such a continued Series of Blasphemies as Black as the Hat could be Red which he purchased by his Adulation in this Hyperbolical Elogy of his Imperious Master But I presume I have tortur'd you sufficiently with this horrid Discourse therefore I close it with the Words of Seneca Magne Regnator Deum tam lentus audis scelera Tam lentus vides Ec quando saeva fulmen emittes manis Great God of Heaven can'st thou both hear and see Such horrid Crimes as these so patiently When will thy incens'd Justice send I wonder From thy Almighty hand revenging Thunder The next Vertues that qualifie them for the Papal Chair are Chastity Continencie and Abstinence from Carnal Lusts c. and how well they are gifted with these will appear by the following Examples Pope John the Thirteenth was a Monster of Men nay of Popes too who aâ—… it was articled against him in a General Council committed Incest with two of his Sisters deflowred innocent Virgins lay with Stephana his Fathers Concubine a lovely Generation like Father like Son with Raynera a Widow and one Anna with her Neece likewise He was a great Enemy to the Married Clergy and from him Dunstan received a Commission to be unnaturally incestuous Pope Sylvius left a brace of Bastards here in England the one got on a Scotch and the other on an English Woman nay whilst he was Cardinal he
iâ—… must necessarily follow that the Roman Church cannoâ—… be the Catholick Church mentioned in the Apostles Creed and consequently is not the Mother-Church as the Papistâ—… would have her to be Thus the Papists have so overcharg'd this Argument to shoot at us as it recoils anâ—… flyes in their own faces And of kin to this is their grand Battering-piece oâ—… all which so thunders in the ears of all Papists and makes the Popes power so absolute and the poor credulous Papist so obedient and that is the power given by our Saviour to St. Peter in the 16th of St. Matthew beginning the 18th Verse Thou art Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church and give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whomsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whomsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven and these words the Papists understand literally that St. Peter's person is the Rock that Christ builds his Church on which cannot possibly be by the verses just following For there when our Saviour tells his Disciples of his going to Jerusalem where he must suffer many things and be killed and raised again the Third day Peter took him and rebuke him Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee But our Saviour turned and said unto Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence to me for thou savourest not the things that he of God but those that be of men By which words 'tis most clear and evident that our Saviour did not mean Peters person could be the Rock of the Christian Church For if Peter's person had been that Rock meant sure our Saviour would never have removed it behind him and it would be not only irrational but impious to believe that Christ would build his Church on Satan for so he calls St. Peter's person and it were as unreasonable to believe that the Rock of Christ's Church could be an offence to him as St. Peter's person was and as improbable again as all this that Christ's Church the Foundation of all Christianity should savour not of the things that be of God but those that are of Men as Peter's person did Therefore if you but please to read the words of our Saviour carefully you shall find they are most plain for Verse 13th When Jesus came into the Coast of Caesarea He ask'd his Disciples Whom do men say that I am and they said Some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and others Jeremias or one of the Prophets but whom say ye that I am and Simon Peter answered and said Thou art Christ-the Son of the Living God And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this Rock not this person I will build my Church that is upon this Rock of Faith that I am Christ the Son of the Living God I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Now this must necessarily relate to his faith not his person for the gates of Hell that 's the power of evil did prevail against Peter's person or he had not deny'd and forsworn his Lord and Master again and again and been afterwards proved blame-worthy by St. Paul to his face and indeed as blame-worthy as any of his Disciples So that 't is most plain that Christ's words of making him the Rock of the Christian Church related not to his person but his faith of Christ's being the Son of the Living God. And for the other part whereas the Papists believe a particular favour and power given by our Saviour to St. Peter of the Keys of Heaven that was given as much to the Eleven Disciples as to him as you may read in the 18th of St. Matthew and in the 20th of St. John's Gospel Vers 23 24. As my Father hath sent me even so send I you and when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained So that you see this power is general to the Disciples and not in particular to St. Peter more than to any of the rest as the Papists misbelieve The Papists have many such Questions which I am sure Madam you have neither the patience to read nor I the time to write but those that are most material of them you will find I have here presented you truly answer'd by pure Scripture clear reasons plain arguments and all in few words fit for the weakest memory or smallest pocket to carry about them For true reason doth not consist in large Volumes long Gowns or gray Beards for many live to One and twenty without attaining to years of discretion the degrees of Age being not still the measures of Wisdom For the World will never be without old Fools and young Philosophers And truly Madam for my part I cannot so much as think of the Papists Religion without wonder that so many rational men of them should rather fasten their faith of salvation on the pretended infallibility of their Church which is deny'd by most Christians than on the Holy Scripture which is granted by all to be the will and word of God and the very Foundation of their Churches Foundation as containing in it all things necessary to our salvation And we Protestants have at least this satisfaction and advantage that not only the Papists but all sorts of Christians that are in the circumference of the whole World meet and joyn with us in this center of Faith That the Scriptures contain all things necessary to our salvation which being a general granted Truth I confess I admire how any Papist can make the least scruple which is the safest Heavenly Guide the Pope or the Gospel If there be any rational man so extravagant as to put them in the same ballance and to commit a rape upon his Reason I shall only desire him to consider this plain Question If he were to go a Journey in an unknown way would he not think it more rational and safe to follow a certain true Guide that all the Christians in the World declare is certainly able and ready to shew him the right way than to follow a pretended Guide which the greatest part of the Christians in the World assures him will lead him out of it And this being the real difference between the Papist and Protestant in gross concerning the Heavenly Guide the Bible and the Pope I think I need now say no more because so many have already said so much and I am sure enough to satisfie any except such who will believe a crooked Rule is better to draw a straight line by than a right one And now Madam I shall only beg so much of your patience as to let me tell you that the plot and Heads of this following discourse I have Extracted out of the worthy Collingworth Before I begin
Stupidity and blockish Ignorance It is recorded in History of the Cardinal of Avignon that when the French King saw the Grandeur State and Pomp of the Popes Court and the Haughtiness and Pride of his Cardinals he ask't him whether the Apostles were ever lacquey'd with such a Train at their heels or attended by such a numerous Retinue To whom he answer'd No surely Sir. But you must understand that they were Apostles when Kings were Shepheards that 's the reason Arch-bishop Parker in his Antiqâ—… Britan. saith that a French Bishop being to take his Oath before the Archbishop of Canterbury met with the word Metropoliticae which he could by no means Pronounce so ignorant he was and therefore past it over with this bald expression in French Soit pour dit Let it be so said or spoken so be it He was a wise Bishop indeed as wise as the Fellow that put out the Candle that the Fleas might not see to bite and sting him with their proboscis who commenced a Suit with his Canons which prov'd very dilatory but he at last overthrew them and took order in his life time that his Tomb should not lye along in the Church as others do but stand upright for fear that after his death they should piss upon his Body by way of revenge A pretty Pastor who took more care of his Body while living than of the state of his Soul after death Not many Years ago a President of the high Court of Parliament was so just and modest as to beg the favour of a Night's Lodging with a Lady of Quality and Honour upon which Terms he promised her audience the Lady having at that time a Cause depending before him his Name I will conceal but withall give you this notice of him that it was the same Person who not not long after being made an Abbot wrote a severe Book against the Lutherans which he dedicated to the Pope in so harsh and uncouth a Stile that his Holiness was resolv'd to make Cul-paper of it for going one day to the Close-Stool to shew as Platina says that he is subject to the Necessities and Infirmities of Nature as well as other Persons to ease himself brought a Disease upon himself by making cleanly use of a Leaf of it for it did so chafe and gall his Apostolick Seat that he lost a great deal of Leather and was as sore in the Fundament as he could have been in the Feet had his Devotion put him upon the Trott in a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem See the dire Effects of crabbed Latin 't is ten times worse than the Piles Hemorrhoids or Fistula in ano but I 'll warrant you this was such a warning to him that his Holiness of his own accord and for his own good without the Advice of a Physician did forbear ever after the use of such excoriating Abstersives This Question was once propos'd in a Councel An sint Episcopi immediate à Christo an mediate à Pontifice A Reverend Bishop moved with it made this learned and Christian reply Parcat mihi Dominus Christus non sum ab ipso Another of their Reverend Doctors being quite baffled and beat off of the Stage with downright Scripture pleaded this as an excuse Ego non sum Theologus Ego sum Canonicus One of these Reverendissimi was not at all asham'd to declare openly his admiration that such young Fellows and Boys should now a days quote the new Testament per diem whereas he did solemnly and truly profess that he was fifty years of Age and upward before he was so wise as to understand what the New Testament meant But here we will bid adieu to these Illustrissimos and pass from the Cardinal's red-Hat to the Jesuits black-Cap which I fear will prove more mischievous Take but a view of some of their Pranks and you 'l find them as expert and knowing in the exquisite Methods of crafty and circumventing Wickedness as any of the Popes or preceeding Cardinals As to the name of Jesuit it breaths nothing but health and prosperity being deriv'd from Jesus but as to the nature of the Persons nothing but death and damnation and for their presumption in assuming to themselves this name they were very much maligned and hated at first and that was the reason they called themselves afterwards Socios Jesu the Companions of Jesus Now in the sacred Writ if you strictly examine it throughout you will find only one and that a goodly one that was call'd Christ's Companion viz. Judas so much for their name They have also a Nick-name which they will carry to their Graves When they first negotiated for footing in Paris they demanded what they were whether Seculars or Regulars and they made answer Tales Quales Such and Such a Nick-name which they will ne're be able to claw off for they are upbraided with it to this very day The Glorious Patron of these Popish Janizaries was an infirm Enthusiastick Spanish Souldier and Cripple and they in imitation of him their first founder do hault lamely ever since his name was Ignatius Loyola who being a Souldier in those times when Ferdinand of Arragon invaded the Kingdom of Navarr and opposed King John de Albret whom the Pope had excommunicated because he supplied the King with Succours At this very time was this Loyola a Soldier at Pampelona where he was maimed it being then besieg'd by the King this Patron of that Holy Order resolv'd to erect a Society of Jesuits which should be able from that time forward to maintain and uphold the Usurpations of his Holy Master and to promote the Power of the unerring Prelate of Rome which they do infinitely prefer beyond the Life Honour and Good of Kings to which purpose these Fauters of the Popes Power have a peculiar Vow and take an Oath of blind Obedience a fourth Vow unknown to other Orders whereby they move Subjects against their Sovereigns and stirr them up to Rebellion against their Lawful Princes Let us begin with their Blasphemies both in Expressions and Opinions and you shall find them very bold as to these Particulars These are they that infected Ravilliac that monstrous Assassine with these and the like Blasphemies That to make War against the Pope was to make War against God that God is the Pope and the Pope is God. O horrid Lucianisme is modest to such Christianisme comparatively These are the Persons who blasphemously substitute another God on Earth besides our Holy Father in Heaven whom they stile most Holy Father and separate Jesus Christ from his Body and Spouse the Holy Church creating him a Vicar-General or Vice-gerent in all his Kingdoms etiam Bel. l. 1. de Christo secluso What shall we say of Pontif c. 9. such a pack of Saints as these The Saracens had an antient Law that whosoever should blaspheme the name of Christ or the Virgin Mary should be starved to death between two Boards Galeacius a Duke hanged a Man only for