〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The end of all our agonies and affirms That the Holy men of God rest in joy and in never failing hopes and are come to the end of their holy combates S. Iustin Martyr affirms That when the soul is departed from the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 presently there is a separation made of the just and unjust The unjust are by Angels born into places which they have deserved but the souls of the just into Paradice where they have the conversation of Angels and Archangels S. Ambrose saith That Death is a haven of rest and makes not our condition worse but according as it findes every man so it reserves him to the judgement that is to come The same is affirm'd by S. Hilary S. Macarius and divers others they speak but of two states after death of the just and the unjust These are plac'd in horrible Regions reserv'd to the judgement of the great day the other have their souls carried by Quires of Angels into places of rest S. Gregory Nazianzen expresly affirms that after this life there is no purgation For after Christs ascension into heaven the souls of all Saints are with Christ saith Gennadius and going from the body they go to Christ expecting the resurrection of their body with it to pass into the perfection of perpetual bliss and this he delivers as the Doctrine of the Catholick Church In what place soever a man is taken at his death of light or darkness of wickedness or vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same Order and in the same degree either in light with the just and with Christ the great King or in darkness with the unjust and with the Prince of darkness said Olimpiodorus And lastly we recite the words of S. Leo one of the Popes of Rome speaking of the Penitents who had not perform'd all their penances But if any one of them for whom we pray unto the Lord being interrupted by any obstacles falls from the gift of the present Indulgence viz. of Ecclesiastical Absolution and before he arrive at the appointed remedies that is before he hath perform'd his penances or satisfactions ends his temporal life that which remaining in the body he hath not receiv'd when he is devested of his body he cannot obtain He knew not of the new devices of paying in Purgatory what they paid not here and of being cleansed there who were not clean here And how these words or of any the precedent are reconcileable with the Roman Doctrines of Purgatory hath not yet entred into our imagination To conclude this particular We complain greatly that this Doctrine which in all the parts of it is uncertain and in the late additions to it in Rome is certainly false is yet with all the faults of it pass'd into an Article of Faith by the Council of Trent But besides what hath been said it will be more than sufficient to oppose against it these clearest words of Scripture Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth even so saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours If all the dead that dye in Christ be at rest and are in no more affliction or labours then the Doctrine of the horrible pains of Purgatory is as false as it is uncomfortable To these words we adde the saying of Christ and we relie upon it He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal life and cometh not into judgement but passeth from death unto life If so then not into the judgement of Purgatory If the servant of Christ passeth from death to life then not from death to the terminable pains of a part of Hell They that have eternal life suffer no intermedial punishment judgement or condemnation after death for death and life are the whole progression according to the Doctrine of Christ and Him we chuse to follow Sect. V. THe Doctrine of Transubstantiation is so far from being Primitive and Apostolick that we know the very time it began to be own'd publiquely for an opinion and the very Council in which it was said to be pass'd into a publick Doctrine and by what arts it was promoted and by what persons it was introduc'd For all the world knows that by their own parties by Scotus Ocham Biel Fisher Bishop of Rochester and divers others whom Bellarmine calls most learned and most acute men it was declared that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is not express'd in the Canon of the Bible that in the Scriptures there is no place so express as without the Churches declaration to compel us to admit of Transubstantiation and therefore at least it is to be suspected of novelty But further we know it was but a disputable question in the ninth and tenth ages after Christ that it was not pretended to be an Article of Faith till the Lateran Council in the time of Pope Innocent the Third MCC years and more after Christ that since that pretended determination divers of the chiefest Teachers of their own side have been no more satisfied of the ground of it than they were before but still have publickly affirm'd that the Article is not express'd in Scripture particularly Iohannes de Basselis Cardinal Cajetan and Melchior Canus besides those above reckon'd And therefore if it was not express'd in Scripture it will be too clear that they made their Articles of their own heads for they could not declare it to be there if it was not and if it was there but obscurely then it ought to be taught accordingly and at most it could be but a probable doctrine and not certain as an Article of Faith But that we may put it past argument and probability it is certain that as the Doctrine was not taught in Scripture expresly so it was not at all taught as a Catholick Doctrine or an Article of the Faith by the primitive ages of the Church Now for this we need no proof but the confession and acknowledgement of the greatest Doctors of the Church of Rome Scotus says that before the Lateran Council Transubstantiation was not an Article of faith as Bellarmine confesses and Henriquez affirms that Scotus says it was not ancient insomuch that Bellarmine accuses him of ignorance saying he talk'd at that rate because he had not read the Roman Council under Pope Gregory VII nor that consent of Fathers which to so little purpose he had heap'd together Rem transubstantiationis Patres ne attigisse quidem said some of the English Jesuits in Prison The Fathers have not so much as touch'd or medled with the matter of Transubstantiation and in Lombard's time it was so far from being an Article of Faith or a Catholick Doctrine that they did not know whether it were true or no And after he had collected the sentences of the Fathers in that Article he confess'd He could not tell whether there
are not Venial in their own nature and in their appendant circumstances either the people are cozen'd by this Doctrine into an useless confidence and for all this talking in their Schools they must nevertheless do to Venial sins as they do to Mortal that is mortifie them fight against them repent speedily of them and keep them from running into mischief and then all their kinde Doctrines in this Article signifie no comfort or ease but all danger and difficulty and useless dispute 3 or else if really they mean that this easiness of opinion be made use of then the danger is imminent and carelesness is introduc'd and licentiousness in all little things is easily indulg'd and mens souls are daylie lessen'd without repair and kept from growing towards Christian perfection and from destroying the whole body of sin and in short despising little things they perish by little and little This Doctrine also is worse yet in the handling For it hath infinite influence to the disparagement of holy life not onely by the uncertain but as it must frequently happen by the false determination of innumerable cases of Conscience For it is a great matter both in the doing and the thing done both in the caution and the repentance whether such an action be a venial or a mortal sin If it chance to be mortal and pour Confessor says it is venial your soul is betrayed And it is but a chance what they say in most cases for they call what they please venial and they have no certain rule to answer by which appears too sadly in their innumerable differences which is amongst all their Casuists in saying what is and what is not mortal and of this there needs no greater proof than the reading the little Summaries made by their most leading guides of Consciences Navar Cajetane Tolet Emanuel SÃ and others where one sayes such a thing is mortal and two say it is venial And lest any man should say or think this is no great matter we desire that it be considered that in venial sins there may be very much fantastick pleasure and they that retain them do believe so for they suppose the pleasure is great enough to outweigh the intolerable pains of Purgatory and that it is more eligible to be in Hell a while than to cross their appetites in such small things And howeveâ— it happen in this particular yet because the Doctorâ— differ so infinitely and irreconcileably in saying what is and what is not Venial whoever shall trust to their Doctrine saying that such a sin is Venial and to their Doctrine that says it does not exclude from Gods favour may by these two Propositions be damned before he is aware We omit to insist upon their express contradicting the words of our Blessed Saviour who taught his Church expresly That we must work in the day time for the night cometh and no man worketh Let this be as true as it can in the matter of Repentance and Mortification and working out our pardon for mortal sins yet it is not true in Venial sins if we may believe their great S. Thomas whom also Bellarmine follows in it for he affirms That by the acts of Love and Patience in Purgatory Venial sins are remitted and that the acceptation of those punishments proceeding out of Charity is a virtual kinde of penance But in this particular we follow not S. Thomas nor Bellarmine in the Church of England and Ireland for we believe in Jesus Christ and follow him If men give themselves liberty as long as they are alive to commit one whole kinde of sins and hope to work it out after death by acts of Charity and Repentance which they would not do in their life time either they must take a course to sentence the words of Christ as savouring of heresie or else they will find themselves to have been at first deceiv'd in their Proposition and at last in their expectation Their faith hath fail'd them here and hereafter they will be asham'd of their hope Sect. VII THere is a Proposition which indeed is new but is now the general Doctrine of the Leading Men in the Church of Rome and it is the foundation on which their Doctors of Conscience rely in their decision of all cases in which there is a doubt or question made by themselves and that is That if an Opinion or Speculation be probable it may in practise be safely followed And if it be inquir'd What is sufficient to make an Opinion probable the answer is easie Sufficit opinio alicujus gravis Doctoris aut Bonorum exemplum The opinion of any one grave Doctor is sufficient to make a matter probable nay the example and practise of good men that is men who are so reputed if they have done it you may do so too and be safe This is the great Rule of their Cases of Conscience And now we ought not to be press'd with any ones saying that such an opinion is but the private opinion of one or more of their Doctors For although in matters of Faith this be not sufficient to impute a Doctrine to a whole Church which is but the private opinion of one or more yet because we are now speaking of the infinite danger of souls in that communion and the horrid Propositions by which their Disciples are conducted to the disparagement of good life it is sufficient to alledge the publick and allowed sayings of their Doctors because these sayings are their Rule of living and because the particular Rules of Conscience use not to be Decreed in Councils we must derive them from the places where they grow and where they are to be found But besides you will say That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors and what then Therefore it is not to be called the Doctrine of the Roman Church True we do not say It is an Article of their Faith but a rule of manners This is not indeed in any publick Decree but we say that although it be not yet neither is the contrary And if it be but a private opinion yet is it safe to follow it or is it not safe For that 's the question and therein is the danger If it be safe then this is their Rule A private opinion of any one grave Doctor may be safely followed in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practise safe Who sayes so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure
oftentimes useless and alwayes troublesome and as an ill diet makes an ill habit of body so does the frequent use of controversies baffle the understanding and makes it crafty to deceive others it self remaining instructed in nothing but useless notions and words of contingent signification and distinctions without difference which minister to pride and contention and teach men to be pertinacious troublesome and uncharitable therefore I love them not But because by the Apostolical Rule I am tyed to do all things without murmurings as well as without disputings I consider'd it over again and found my self reliev'd by the subject matter and the grand consequent of the present Questions For in the present affair the case is not so as in the others here the Questions are such that the Church of Rome declares them to reach as far as eternity and daâ—n all that are not of their opinions and the Protestants have much more reason to fear concerning the Papists such who are not excus'd by ignorance that their condition is very sad and deplorable and that it is charity to snatch them as a brand from the fire and indeed the Church of Rome maintains Propositions which if the Ancient Doctors of the Church may be believ'd are apt to separate from God I instance in their superaddition of Articles and Propositions derived onely from a pretended tradition and not contain'd in Scripture Now the doing of this is a great sin and a great danger Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Si non est scriptum timeat vae illud adjicientibus detrahentibus destinatum said Tertullian I adore the fulness of Scripture and if it be not written let Hermogenus fear the wo that is destin'd to them that detract from or add to it S. Basil sayes Without doubt it is a most manifest argument of Infidelity and a most certain signe of pride to introduce any thing that is not written in the Scriptures our blessed Saviour having said My sheep hear my voice and the voice of strangers they will not hear and to detract from Scriptures or add any thing to the Faith that is not there is most vehemently forbidden by the Apostle saying If it be but a mans Testament Nemo superordinat no man adds to it And says also This was the will of the Testator And Theophilus Alexandrinus says plainly It is the part of a Devilish spirit to think any thing to be Divine that is not in the authority of the holy Scriptures and therefore S. Athanasius affirms That the Catholicks will neither speak nor endure to hear any thing in Religion that is a stranger to Scripture it being Immodestiae vaecordia an evil heart of immodesty to speak those things which are not written Now let any man judge whether it be not our duty and a necessary work of charity and the proper Office of our Ministery to persuade our charges from the immodesty of an evil heart from having a Devilish spirit from doing that which is vehemently forbidden by the Apostle from Infidelity and pride and lastly from that eternal wo which is denounc'd against them that add other words and doctrines than what is contain'd in the Scriptures and say Dominus dixit The Lord hath said it and he hath not said it If we had put these severe censures upon the Popish Doctrine of Tradition we should have been thought uncharitable but because the holy Fathers do so we ought to be charitable and snatch our charges from the ambient flame And thus it is in the Question of Images Dubium non est quin Religio nulla sit ubicunque simulacrum est said Lactantius without all peradventure where ever an image is meaning for worship there is no Religion and that we ought rather to die than pollute our Faith with such impieties said Origen It is against the Law of Nature it being expresâ—y forbidden by the second Commandment as Irenaeus affirms Tertullian Cyprian and S. Austin and therefore is it not great reason we should contend for that faith which forbids all worship of Images and oppose the superstition of such guides who do teach their people to give them veneration to prevaricate the Moral Law and the very Law of Nature and do that which whosoever does has no Religion We know Idolatry is a damnable sin and we also know that the Roman Church with all the artifices she could use never can justifie her self or acquit the common practises from Idolatry and yet if it were but suspicious that it is Idolatry it were enough to awaken us for God is a jealous God and will not endure any such causes of suspicion and motives of jealousie I instance but once more The Primitive Church did excommunicate them that did not receive the holy Sacrament in both kinds and S. Ambrose says that he who receives the Mystery otherwayes than Christ appointed that is but in one kind when he hath appointed it in two is unworthy of the Lord and he cannot have devotion Now this thing we ought not to suffer that our people by so doing should remain unworthy of the Lord and for ever be indevout or cozen'd with a false shew of devotion or fall by following exil guides into the Sentence of Excommunication These matters are not trifling and when we see these errors frequently taught and own'd as the only true Religion and yet are such evils which the Fathers say are the way of damnation we have reason to hope that all wise and good men lovers of souls will confess that we are within the circles of our duty when we teach our people to decline the crooked wayes and to walk in the wayes of Scripture and Christianity But we have observed amongst the generality of the Irish such a declension of Christianity so great credulity to believe every superstitious story such confidence in vanity such groundless pertinacy such vitious lives so little sense of true Religion and the fear of God so much care to obey the Priests and so little to obey God such intolerable ignorance such fond Oathes and manners of swearing thinking themselves more obliged by swearing on the Mass-Book than the Four Gospels and S. Patricks Mass-Book more than any new one swearing by their Fathers Soul by their Godsips hand by other things which are the product of those many tales are told them their not knowing upon what account they refuse to come to Church but onely that now they are old and never did or their Country-men do not or their Fathers or Grandfathers never did or that their Ancestors were Priests and they will not alter from their Religion and after all can give no account of their Religion what it is onely they believe as their Priest bids them and go to Mass which they understand not and reckon their beads to tell the number and the tale of their prayers and abstain from eggs and flesh in Lent and visit S. Patricks Well and leave
alledged can prevail more than all that which already hath been so often urged in these Questions But we are not deterr'd from doing our duty by any such considerations as knowing that the â—ame medicaments are with success applyed to a returning or an abiding Ulcer and the Preachers of Gods Word must for ever be ready to put the People in minde of such things which they already have heard and by the same Scriptures and the same reasons endeavour to destroy their sin or prevent their danger and by the same Word of God to extirpate those errors which have had opportunity in the time of our late Disorders to spring up and grow stroger not when the Keepers of the Field slept but when they were wounded and their hands cut off and their mouths stopp'd least they should continue or proceed to do the Work of God thoroughly A little warm Sun and somâ— indulgent showers of a softer rain have made many weeds of erroneous Doctrine to take root greatly and to spread themselves widely and the Bigots of the Roman Church by their late importune boldness and indiscreet frowardness in making Proselytes have but too manifestly declar'd to all the World that if they were rerum potiti Masters of our affairs they would suffer nothing to grow but their own Coloâ—ynths and Gourds And although the Natural remedy for this were to take away that impunity upon the account of which alone they do encrease yet because we shall never be Authors of such Counsels but confidently rely upon God the Holy Scripture right reason and the most venerable and prime Antiquity which are the proper defensatives of truth for its support and maintenance yet we must not conceal from the People committed to our charges the great evils to which they are tempted by the Roman Emissaries that while the King and the Parliament take care to secure all the publick interests by instruments of their own we also may by the word of our proper Ministery endeavour to stop the progression of such errors which we know to be destructive of Christian Religion and consequently dangerous to the interest of souls In this procedure although we shall say some things which have not been alwayes plac'd before their eyes and others we shall represent with a fittingness to their present necessities and all with Charity too and zeal for their souls yet if we were to say nothing but what hath been often said already we are still doing the work of God and repeating his voice and by the same remedies curing the same diseases and we only wait for the blessing of God prospering that importunity which is our duty according to the advice of Solomon In the Morning sow thy seed and in the Evening with-hold not thy hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good CHAP. I. The Doctrine of the Roman Church in the Controverted Articles is neither Catholick Apostolick nor Primitive Sect. 1. IT was the challenge of S. Augustine to the Donatists who as the Church of Rome does at this day inclos'd the Catholick Church within their own circuits Ye say that Christ is Heir of no Lands but where Donatus is Coheire Read this to us out of the Law and the Prophets out of the Psalms out of the Gospel it self or out of the Letters of the Apostles Read it thence and we believe it Plainly directing us to the Fountains of our Faith the Old and New Testament the words of Christ and the words of the Apostles For nothing else can be the foundation of our Faith whatsoever came in after these foris est it belongs not unto Christ. To these we also add not as Authors or Finishers but as helpers of our Faith and Heirs of the Doctrine Apostolical the Sentiments and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of God in the Ages next after the Apostles Not that we think them or our selves bound to every private opinion even of a Primitive Bishop and Martyr but that we all acknowledg that the whole Church of God kept the Faith entire and transmitted faithfully to the after-Ages the whole Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of Doctrine and sound words which was at first delivered to the Saints and was defective in nothing that belong'd unto salvation and we believe that those Ages sent millions of Saints to the bosom of Christ and seal'd the true faith with their lives and with their deaths and by both gave testimony unto Jesus and had from him the testimony of his Spirit And this method of procedure we now choose not only because to them that know well how to use it to the Sober and the Moderate the Peaceable and the Wise it is the best the most certain visible and tangible most humble and satisfactory but also because the Church of Rome does with greatest noises pretend her Conformity to Antiquity Indeed the present Roman Doctrines which are in difference were invisible and unheard of in the first and best Antiquity and with how ill success their quotations are out of the Fathers of the three first Ages every inquiring Man may easily discern But the noises therefore which they make are from the Writings of the succeeding Ages where saecular interest did more prevail and the Writings of the Fathers were vast and voluminous full of Controversie and ambiguous senses fitted to their own Times and Questions full of proper Opinions and such variety of Sayings that both Sides eternally and inconfutably shall bring Sayings for themselves respectively Now although things being thus it will be impossible for them to conclude from the Sayings of a number of Fathers that their Doctrine which they would prove thence was the Catholick Doctrine of the Church because any number that is less than all does not prove a Catholick consent yet the clear Sayings of one or two of these Fathers truly alledged by us to the contrary will certainly prove that what many of them suppose it do affirm and which but two or three as good Catholicks as the other do deny was not then matter of Faith or a Doctrine of the Church for if it had these had been Hereticks accounted and not have remain'd in the Communion of the Church But although for the reasonableness of the thing we have thought fit to take notice of it yet we shall have no need to make use of it since not only in the prime and purest Antiquity we are indubitably more than Conquerours but even in the succeeding Ages we have the advantage both numero pondere mensurâ in number weight and measure We do easily acknowledge that to dispute these questions from the sayings of the Fathers is not the readiest way to make an end of them but therefore we do wholly rely upon Scriptures as the foundation and final resort of all our perswasions and from thence can never be confuted but we also admit the Fathers as admirable
there is an easie cure for all this for Pope Leo granted remission of all negligences in their saying their offices and prayers to them who after they have done shall say this prayer To the Holy and Vndivided Trinity To the Humanity of our Lord Iesus Christ crucified To the fruitfulness of the most Blessed and most Glorius Virgin Mary and to the Vniversity of all Saints be Eternal praise honour vertue and glory from every Creature and to us remission of sins for ever and ever Amen Blessed are the Bowels of the Virgin Mary which bore the Son of the Eternal God and blessed are the Paps which suckled Christ our Lord Pater noster Ave Maria. This prayer to this purpose is set down by Navar and Cardinal Tolet. This is the sum of the Doctrine concerning the manner of saying the Divine offices in the Church of Rome in which greater care is taken to obey the Precept of the Church than the Commandments of God For the Precept of hearing Mass is not to intend the words but to be present at the Sacrifice though the words be not so much as heard and they that think the contrary think so without any probable reason saith Tolet. It seems there was not so much as the Authority of one grave Doctor to the contrary for if there had the contrary opinion might have been probable but all agree upon this Doctrine all that are considerable So that between the Church of England and the Church of Rome the difference in this Article is plainly this They pray with their lips we with the heart we pray with the understanding they with the voice we pray and they say prayers We suppose that we do not please God if our hearts be absent they say it is enough if their bodies be present at their greatest solemnity of prayer though they hear nothing that is spoken and understand as little And which of these be the better way of serving God may soon be determin'd if we remember the complaint which God made of the Jews This people draweth near me with their lips but their hearts are far from me But we know that we are commanded to ask in faith which is seated in the understanding and requires the concurrence of the will and holy desires which cannot be at all but in the same degree in which we have a knowledge of what we ask The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man prevails But what our prayers want of this they must needs want of blessing and prosperity And if we lose the benefit of our prayers we lose that great instrumentality by which Christians are receptive of pardon and strengthned in faith and confirm'd in hope and increase in charity and are protected by Providence and are comforted in their sorrows and derive help from God Ye ask and have not because ye ask amiss that is S. Iames his rule They that pray not as they ought shall never obtain what they fain would Hither is to be reduc'd their fond manner of prayer consisting in vain repetitions of Names and little forms of words The Psalter of our Lady is an hundred and fifty Ave Maries and at the end of every tenth they drop in the Lords Prayer and this with the Creed at the end of the fifty makes a perfect Rosary This indeed is the main entertainment of the peoples Devotion for which cause Mantuan call'd their Religion Relligionem Quae filo inâ—ertis numerat sua murmura baceis A Religion that numbers their murmurs by berries fil'd upon a string This makes up so great a part of their Religion that it may well be taken for one half of its definition But because so few do understand what they say but all repeat and stick to their numbers it is evident they think to be heard for that For that or nothing for besides that they neither do nor understand And all that we shall now say to it is That our Blessed Saviour reprov'd this way of Devotion in the Practise and Doctrines of the Heathens Very like to which is that which they call the Psalter of Iesus in which are fifteen short Ejaculations as Have mercy on me * Strengthen me * Help me * Comfort me c. and with every one of these the name of Iesus is to be said thirty times that is in all four hundred and fifty times Now we are ignorant how to distinguish this from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or vain repetition of the Gentiles for they did just so and Christ said they did not do well and that is all that we pretend to know of it They thought to be heard the rather for so doing and if the people of the Roman Church do not think so there is no reason why they should do so But without any further arguing about the business they are not asham'd to own it For the Author of the Preface to the Iesus Psalter printed by Fouler at Antwerp promises to the repetition of that sweet Name Great aid against temptations and a wonderful increase of grace Sect. IX BUt this mischief is gone further yet For as Cajetan affirms Prayers ought to be well done Saltem non malè at least not ill But besides that what we have now remark'd is so not well that it is very ill that which follows is directly bad and most intolerable For the Church of Rome in her publike and allowed offices prays to dead men and women who are or whom they suppose to be beatified and these they invocate as Preservers Helpers Guardians Deliverers in their necessity and they expresly call them their Refuge their Guard and Defence their Life and theiâ— Health Which is so formidable a Devotion that we for them and for our selves too if we should imitate them to dread the words of Scripture Cursed is the man that trusteth in man We are commanded to call upon God in the time of trouble and it is promised that he will deliver us and we shall glorifie him We finde no such command to call upon Saints neither do we know who are Saints excepting a very few and in what present state they are we cannot know nor how our prayers can come to their knowledge and yet if we did know all this it cannot be endured at all that Christians who are commanded to call upon God and upon none else and to make all our prayers through Iesus Christ and never so much as warranted to make our prayers thorough Saints departed should yet choose Saints for their particular Patrons or at all relie upon them and make prayers to them in such forms of words which are onely fit to be spoken to God prayers which have no testimouy command or promise in the Word of God and therefore which cannot be made in faith or prudent hope Neither will it be enough to say that they onely desire the Saints to pray for them for though that be of it self a matter indifferent
yet Bellarmine dares not deny it but makes for it a crude and a cold Apology Now concerning this Article it will not be necessary to declare the Sentence of the Church of England and Ireland because it is notorious to all the World and is expresly oppos'd against this Roman Doctrine by Laws Articles Confessions Homilies the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy the Book of Christian Institution and the many excellent Writings of King Iames of Blessed Memory of our Bishops and other Learned Persons against Bellarmine Parsons Eudaemon Iohannes Creswel and others And nothing is more notorious than that the Church of England is most dutiful most zealous for the right of Kings and within these four and twenty years She hath had many Martyrs and very very many Confessors in this Cause It is true that the Church of Rome does recriminate in this point and charges some Calvinists and Presbyterians with Doctrines which indeed they borrowed from Rome using their Arguments making use of their Expressions and pursuing their Principles But with them in this Article we have nothing to do but to reprove the Men and condemn their Doctrine as we have done all along by private Writings and publick Instruments We conclude these our Reproofs with an Exhoriation to our respective Charges to all that desire to be sav'd in the day of the Lord Iesus that they decline from these horrid Doctrines which in their birth are new in their growth are scandalous in their proper consequents are infinitely dangerous to their Souls and hunt for their precious life But therefore it is highly fit that they also should perceive their own advantages and give God praise that they are immur'd from such infinite dangers by the Holy Precepts and Holy Faith taught and commanded in the Church of England and Ireland in which the Word of God is set before them as a Lanthorn to their feet and a Light unto their eyes and the Sacraments are fully administred according to Christs Institution and Repentance is preach'd according to the measures of the Gospel and Faith in Christ is propounded according to the Rule of the Apostles and the measures of the Churches Apostolical and Obedience to Kings is greatly and sacredly urg'd and the Authority and Order of Bishops is preserv'd against the Usurpation of the Pope and the Invasion of Schismaticks and Aerians new and old and Truth and Faith to all men is kept and preach'd to be necessary and inviolable and the Commandements are expounded with just severity and without scruples and Holiness of Life is urg'd upon all men as indispensably necessary to Salvation and therefore without any allowances tricks and little artifices of escaping from it by easie and imperfect Doctrines and every thing is practis'd which is useful to the saving of our Souls and Christs Merits and Satisfaction are intirely relyed upon for the pardon of our sins and the necessity of Good Works is universally taught and our Prayers are holy unblameable edifying and understood they are according to the measures of the Word of God and the practice of all Saints In this Church the Children are duly carefully and rightly Baptiz'd and the Baptiz'd in their due time are Confirm'd and the Confirm'd are Communicated and Penitents are Absolv'd and the Impenitents punished and discouraged and Holy Marriage in all men is preferr'd before unclean Concubinate in any and Nothing is wanting that God and his Christ hath made necessary to Salvation Behold we set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing Safety and Danger Choose which you will but remember that the Prophets who are among you have declar'd to you the way of Salvation Now the Lord give you understanding in all things and reveal even this also unto you Amen FINIS 1 Cor. 6.4 Phil. â— 14 Cont. Hermogen De vera side in Moral â—â—g 72. c. 1. reg 80. c. 22. Epist. Pasch. 2 De incar Christi Lib. 2. cap. de origen error lib. 7. contr Celsum Can comperimus de consecr dist 2. in 1 Cor. 11. Eccles. 11.6 De uniâ— Eccles cap. 6. * Ecclesia ex facris canoniciâ— Scripturiâ— osteudenda est quaque exillis aftendi non potest Ecclesia non est S. Aug. deâ—â—tit Eccles. c. 4. c. 3. Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi deat namus causum nostram * Lib. Cano discipl Eccles. Angliâ— injunct Regiâ— Elis. A. D. 1571. Can. de concionatoribus â—at 3. Calend. Mart. Thâ—ssaâ—onicae a Quod sit metrum regula aâ— scientia credendorum Summae de Eccles. l. 2. c. 203. b Novum Symbolum condere solum ad Papam spectat quia est capuâ— fidei Christians cujus authoritate omnia quae ad filem spectant firmantur roborantur q. 59. a. 1. art 2. sicut potest novum symbolum condere ita potest novos articulos supra aelios multiplicare c Papa potest sacere novos arâ—iâ—ulos fidei id est quod modo credi oporteat cum sic prius non oportereâ— in cap. cum Christ. de hate n. 2. d Papa potest inducere novum articulum fidei in idem e Super 2. Decret de jurejur c. minis n. 1. f Apud Petrum Ciezam â—o 2. instit peruinae cap. â—9 * Iohannes Clemens aliquos folia Theodereti laceravit abjecit in socum in quibus contrae Transubstanâ—iaetionem praeclare disseruit Et cum non itae pridem Originem excuderent totum illud capuâ— sextum Iohannis quod commentabaetur Origenes omiserunt mutilum ediderunt librum propter candem causam * Sixtus Senensis Epist. Dedicat. ad Pium Quint. laudat Pontificem in haec verba Expurgari emaculari curâ—stâ— omnium Catholicorum Scriptorum at praeciput veterum Patrum scriptae Index Expurgator Madrili 1612. in Indiâ—e libror. expurgatorum pag. 39. Gal. 1. 8. Part 2. act 6. c. â— De potest Eccles consiâ— â— De Consiâ— author l. 2. c. 17. Section 1. Sess. 21. cap. 4. Part. 1. Sum. tit 10. c. 3. In art 18. Luther * Intravit ut vulpes regnavit ut leo moriebatur ut canis de eo saepius dictum Tertull. l. ad Martyr c. 1. S. Cyprian lib. 3. Ep. 15. apud Pamelium 11. Concil Nicen. 1. can 12. Conc. Ancyr c. 5. Concil Laodicen c. 2. S. Basil. in Ep. canonicis habentur in Nomocanone Photii can 73. * Communis opittio DD. tam Theologorum quaem Canonicorum quod sunt ex abundantiae meritorum quae ultrae mensuram demeritorum suorum sancti sustinuerunt Christi Sum. Angel v. Indulg 9. * Lib. 1. de indulgent cap. 2. 3. a In 4. l. sent dist 19. q. 2. b Ibid. dist 20. q. 3. Ubi supra In lib. 4. sent Verb. Indulgentia Vt quid non praevides tibâ— in die judicii quando nemo poterit per alium excusari vel defendi sed unusquisque sufficiens onus erit sibi ipsi Th. ae Kempis l. 1. de imit c. 24. a Homil. 1.