ingrosse this power of granting Jndulgences to himselfe alone but as the Law hath imparted it in some measure to Metropolitans and Bishops So hee for reasonable consideration wil out of his loue and bountie affoord the same euen to Parish Priests the Rectors of Churches and Curates of Chappels and will not appropriate them only to his Churches in Rome but at very indifferent rates conferre them and annexe them for a time to any other Churches and Chappels the whole World ouer And lastly obserue good Reader how iust the Pope is and how thankfully hee recompenceth any fauours done him or any thing hee takes from any body for example if Kings or Princes pay well their Peter-pence and suffer their subiects to pay good prices for their Palls and other preferments and to send in roundly their Annats Tenthes Contributions and such other payments whereby they empty their owne and fill his Coffers then in recompence for this base trash hee will send one King a paire of hallowed beads which forsooth haue touched Saint Peters Sepulcher another a golden Rose or a hallowed Sword blest with his owne most holy hand or els an Agnus dei made vp onely by himselfe whose vertues no tongue can tell or els a most precious Relique as happly a tooth of some great Saint or two or three hayres of the taile of the Asse whereon Christ rode into Jerusalem or if hee be a great King then that inestimable Iewell a bit of wood which must bee held a piece of the crosse whereon Christ dyed So excellent an Alchymist is he as in stead of turning base metals into gold and siluer hee can teach Kings and Princes thus to turne their gold and siluer into lead and iron paper and parchment wood and waxe and in like manner hauing rob'd many thousand of the Churches in the World of their Tithes and Liuings as namely of our not 10000. Parishes hee hath deuoured almost 4000. Now in recompence of their Tithes so taken from them hee heere sells them for siluer these glorious Jndulgences being fine painted Babies to please Children but knowne to the wise not worth taking vp But thus this wily Foxe preyes vpon the world and hauing stolne the Goose sticks downe a Feather But the honest Reader may iustly here demand what they meane by an Jndulgence for the Remission of the 3. part of a mans sins for it seemes strange Diuinity that any part of a mans sinnes should be remitted and the rest remaine vnpardoned especially if here by sinnes they vnderstand the guilt of sinne seeing the grounds of our Religion teach them that sinne is either altogether or not at all pardoned for whereas in the Creed our Religion teacheth our people to beleeue the forgiuenesse of sinnes as an Article of their Christian faith and the prime prerogatiue belonging to the true holy Catholicke Church whereof they beleeue and professe themselues to bee members it would sound as new and vnsound Diuinity in their eares to be taught that they may safely beleeue the remission of a third part and not of all their sinnes And whereas Christ in that holy Prayer and Patterne of all Prayers the Lords Prayer not only giues good leaue but euen warrants and commands euery beleeuing Christian to pray for the forgiuenesse of his sinnes Luke 11.4 they would doubtlesse hold him no better then a piece of the Great Antichrist that should tell them their Sauiour meant it not of all but a part of their sinnes And therefore they doe boldly beleeue that when he told some of his followers their Sinnes were forgiuen them he meant plainly as he spake and gaue them leaue to take it in the best sense And as the guifts fauours and pardons of Princes to their Subiects vse to be extended inlarged and construed to the best behoofe of the Receiuer so much more this Prince of Peace enlargeth his loue and is well content his beleeuing Subiects improue his pardon to their best benefit and as it may be most fauourable and comfortable to themselues and therefore feare not to beleeue that when he pardons he pardons all and reserues not a third part or a halfe to bee paid for afterwards and they dare maintain it against any CoÌ„fessor in Rome or Iesuite in the world that when Nathan pronounced to Dauid that God had pardoned his sinne 2 Sam. 12.13 neither Nathan intended nor Dauid did suspect any exception or reseruation of some part of his sinne that was not pardoned So that if heere they meane of sinne it selfe they will finde few Customers for this Commodity amongst vs And therefore seeing it is Diuinity of a new stampe they had best keepe this new refined Romish ware at home Wee doubt not but during all this merry yeere of Jubilee such curious coÌ„modities as this will be of great price amongst them and that there will be more fooles ready to buy them then there bee wise and crafty fellowes ready to vent and sell them nor doe we doubt but that many things dayly refused for counterfeits here passe well enough for good and currant amongst them Let therefore the Romish Pilgrims Penitents pay what they please or make their Market as cheape as they can for pardon of a third part of their sinnes wee dare say our people will not giue a penny for the pardon of neuer so many as long as there lies remaining but one sinne vnpardoned for they beleeue the Text that tels them Psal 32.1 That man is blessed whose sinnes are remitted but their Bibles afford them no Charter of peace nor blessednesse to him that hath but a third part remitted And our Country people would soone tell them that sinnes in the soule are like thornes in the heele and so hinder their way to Heauen and happinesse and will therefore neuer be at cost and paine to plucke out some and leaue more behind seeing one alone will suffice to hinder his vpright and cheerefull walking But if by sinne they here vnderstand the Penance or punishment due to sinne then why doe they not explane it whether they meane the punishment iustly inflicted by God or the penance craftily imposed by themselues If the former then wee desire to see their authority and to shew their Commission how they came to be Stewards and dispensers of Gods Iustice And we must then also let loose vpon them one of their owne Friers Bernardinus de Bustis in suo Maâ—iâ—â—â— who about the time that this Booke was made in Rome preacht in the Popes owne presence that God had diuided his kingdome with the blessed Virgin committing mercy to her but reseruing Iustice to himselfe Which blasphemy though it looked so blacke as Cassander confesseth Cassander in Consultat it was hideous in the eyes and eares of many Romish Catholiques yet we must needs say hee dealt reasonably in regard of the Authors of this Booke and broachers of this Doctrine for hee though he took away mercy yet
amongst them for such to say Masse as bee not full and lawfull Priests the danger whereof by their owne confession is no lesse then horrible Idolatry for by their owne rules if it be not consecrated it 's Idolatry to worship it and if hee be no Priest he cannot consecrate I doe not beleeue they thought to haue opened vs this doore not indeed did they thinke wee should euer haue seene this Booke But thus it pleaseth God to make them vent and foame out their owne shame And touching the third is it not strange and fearfull that some of their Clergie dare not only procure themselues to be promoted with places and Benefices which indeed are not but be meerely forged and counterfeit But moreouer dare her ignorant and prophane people to forsweare themselues and damne their soules by lending them a false Oath to confirme it Howsoeuer this may affect them wee for our parts professe it makes our hearts to tremble and our soules to mourne that such Atheisticall impiety should bee so frequent among them euen in their Clergy and Court of Rome And that it is no extraordinary but a frequent case appeares by the words following in that the Pope so wisely takes hold of it For Aquila non capit Muscas the lofty Eagle will not stoope at little Flyes and if it were a poore bait they would nor bite Seing therefore the Pope drew a good composition out of these its manifest to bee too common a case amongst the Popish Clergie And in as much as Iulius the 2. was willing to gaine out of so vngodly a ground it shewes him out of his owne Romish Records to bee no better a man then the Histories make him But for the last it 's more then strange that if he be so proud to offer yet that Kings will so farre forget themselues as thus to be befooled and to suffer an vsurping Prelate to domineere ouer them For who should hinder a King frō going to the place of Christs Sepulcher at his pleasure Or if another may command him or forbid him how is he then a King If it bee a part of the power or Prerogatiue of a King to set impositions then certainly those are but pieces of Kings who submit themselues to the penalties and impositions the Pope shall set vpon them those that will thus be trodden and trampled vpon by this base companion and yet proud Antichrist it 's pitty but they should pay in stead of this hundred for their Absolution a hundred thousand Grosses for such their grosse folly and vnkingly debasing of themselues CHAP. II. DISPENSATIONS First for Bastardie The Romish Text. A Dispensation for a Bastard to enter all holy Orders and to take a Benefice with Cure will cost 12. Grosses And to haue two Benefices compatible will cost him 2. Ducats 4. Carlens But if he will haue three Benefices then he must pay 4. Duc. 4. Carl. English Obseruations HEeere follow some of the faculties which Espencaeus as we heard before bitterly complained of for that not only they daily past at Rome for money but were also granted vnto the Legats or Nuncio's that came from Rome to France who being Legati à latere comming forsooth euen from his own sweet side and bringing such blessings as these with them Extra Io 22. cap. cum inter in Gloss they shew vs what a blessed brest their Lord God the Pope beares about him out of which they suck such hatefull Henbane euen such pieces of filthy poyson which spiritually infected all the World for a time and diuers Nations yet to this day The reason why hee is heere so beneficiall and bountifull to Bastards is because they are so neere and deare in likenesse vnto himselfe both in his spirituall and carnall Kindred For first it is he which for diuers Ages past had almost destroyed the true spirituall Childe the Religion of God and fild the world with a false base and bastardly Religion Moreouer it 's he and his Instruments the Iesuits and other his shamelesse Censors who haue by their Indices Librorum Prohibitorij Expurgatorij partly as it were killed the true children by vtterly suppressing the true vndoubted bookes and writings of learned men and partly put base bastards in their roome by chopping and changing purging and painting them as if the Fathers were aliue againe they would not now bee able to know their owne and certainly many of them would absolutely refuse Ioh Ferus his Comment vpon S. Iohns Gospell is since the Author died reprinted at Rome and the Author is forbidden and it is altred in no lesse then 1000. places and with great indignity disclaime these that passe vnder their names as being none of theirs And thus the World by this bold wickednesse of theirs is fild with a base bastardly brood of false forged fained and counterfeit Bookes to the intolerable iniurie of the truth partly in peruerting and principally in suppressing it and to the irrepairable losse of learning if it bee not by the true Christian Church both timely and wisely preuented Besides where euer that bastardly Religion of his reignes it fils the world with carnall Bastards by denying and dishonouring holy Marriage by publique toleration of Whoredome and by making it a lesse sinne for their Clergy to lye with many wiues of other men then to haue one of their owne By this meanes not onely their Townes and Cities but their Colledges and Cloysters are fild with a doubtfull vncertaine and Bastardly Generation their owne Records and Histories were enough to make them blush on this behalfe if they were not past shame Nay so farre are they forsaken in this poynt and giuen ouer of God as it 's hard to tell not how many Whores and Women haue been Popes for doubtlesse there was but one but how many Bastards haue sitten euen in the Popes owne Chayre so deepe was the wisedome and so iust the iudgement of the high God by ioyning the spirituall and carnall Bastardie together so to punish the one with the other There was an Age Geneb in Chron. Bellar. de Ro. Pont. l. 4. c. 12. euen almost in the height of Poperie which Genebrard calls and Bellarmine acknowledgeth indoctum infaustum infoelix saeculum Diuers of the Popes of that Age were by their owne Bookes Bastards at the best if not worse Sure we are that one a Monks Bastard of Saint Albanes in England Hadrianus quartus and driuen by shame from the gates there proued at last a Pope at Rome and one of the proudest that euer sate there No maruell therefore if hee bee so louing and tender ouer Bastards for therein he is but kinde to his owne Kindred And indeed if he did not dispense and make vse of such he would not haue a Clergy sufficient to supply their places And touching the other instance in this Article of Dispensations by which these Bastards are inabled by this Romish power non obstantibus all
stand not in feare of any creature to controll them and seldome haue any great measure of feare of God before their face as they will easily pretend such inconueniences or else will make them if they bee not rather than want their will in that kinde Now if such men may be dispenced withall to take their Brothers wife sisters daughter nay the sister her selfe wee maruell not if so many of the great Ones of the world affect so much to haue the Pope their Father and their god seeing hee goes so farre beyond God in pleasing his Children for God with-holds no good thing from his Children But the Pope denyes nothing at all to his deare Children no not that which is most foule and abominable in the Law of God and nature And if any be so scrupulous to thinke it euill or feare it to be foule hee can make it good and faire by his Dispensation prouided that it be well payed for and my Lord the Datary foundly satisfied with a round composition for as grosse as these be yet bee they no Grosse matters but Duckets must drop fast and Angels must flye apace to purchase these Dispensations Be assured it cost Henry the Seuenth the setting on and Philip payde well for it in one kinde or other And no maruell if Kings be rated high when inferiours pay somtime six hundred Grosses that is forty fiue pounds which in those dayes was no small matter In the conclusion marke how plainely this wicked Antichrist shewes himselfe and how boldly hee blusters out his owne shame These Dispensations saith hee are not for poore men because they cannot reach the price Thou mayest be sure good Reader the Iesuites were not bred when this booke of Rates was set out for they would haue beene ashamed of such shallownesse thus to lay their intentions open to their captious enemies For they though they deale much lesse honestly yet much more closely But now their close conueyances will doe no good seeing already the Pope hath here and elsewhere in those elder and plainer times discouered those plots of pollicies which are the pillars of their Kingdomes so as now though the Iesuites with their refined wits doe neuer so cunningly carry their businesse and couch their secret intentions vnder counterfeit vayles yet the iniquity of that Romish Religion is now manifest to all that will open their eyes to see it For let them now cast twenty colours vpon the matter why the poorer sort are not as well partakers of these priuiledges as the great Ones wee know by this booke the true cause is onely for that they want wherewith to pay Nay the greatest haue them not vnlesse they pay full sweetly for them Henry the Seuenth was willing to haue canonized Henry the Sixth for a Saint but the Dispensation for his sonnes marriage cost him so deare as he had no stomacke to rise so high for his Predecessors Canonization as hee must doe if he had got it and so honest holy Henry though happily a Saint in heauen wanted his Romish Saintship and came short of being a Saint in the Popes Kalender To conclude wee haue heard our Fathers say it was a common phrase in their dayes No money no Masse No Penny no Pater-Noster Now wee maruell not the Romish Clergy held that rule seeing they here learned it of their holy Father who openly professeth he grants no Dispensations at all to them that are not able to pay for them nor any of this nature but at an high and exorbitant price And see how louingly hee giues the Proctors and Sollicitors warning of it who bring him in his Reuenew and bids them take heed lest they being Amici Curiae should damnifie themselues by such fruitlesse vndertakings And marke how this mercilesse man the Pope will not suffer the poore to bee partaker of his fauours they haue no money for him therefore hath hee no mercy for them Hereby declaring himselfe no friend nor follower of that God with whom is no respect of persons and of whom the Scripture saith The rich and the poore meet together Prou. 22.2 the Lord is the maker of them both Nor is it lastly to be omitted how prophanely the Pope heere abuseth the phrase of holy Scripture for these words Non sunt ideo non possunt consolari are the words of the Holy Ghost both in the Old and New Testament speaking literally of Rachel mourning for her Children and would not be comforted because they were not and are here prophanely peruerted to their couetous and carnall intention Neyther is this an vnusuall thing with them for like hereunto is that in their Canon Law where affirming the difference and distinction betwixt two Metropolitanes they say the one shall not intermeddle within the others Prouince quia Iudaei non conuersantum cum Samaritanis And too many more like examples their Schoole-men and Canonists doe afford all which declare the base conceit they hold of Gods holy Word in that they dare thus turne and tosse it vp and downe as children doe a ball or a shuttle-cocke from hand to hand But let these fooles play with this Candle till it burne them for when they haue done all that man or diuell can doe to vphold Popery it is This Word of God This breath of the Almighty This Spirit of his mouth that shall consume and confound it CHAP. V. Dispensations The Romish Text. A Dispensation that one excommunicate or that is a Murtherer or for a man or woman that are found hanged that they may be buryed in Christian buriall comes to 1. Duc. 9. Carl. 6. Grosses English Obseruations THe ancient Lawes and Canons not onely Ecclesiasticall but Ciuill forbid Christian buriall to all these three sorts of malefactors and Christian Religion well allowes such prohibition though not to hurt their soules yet to feare men from these foule offences But see to what little purpose for here the great Bumble-Bee or rather the Romish Hornet breakes thorow them all as thorow a Spiders webbe to increase his reuenue and fill his coffers And this is much the fouler in respect that in Jtaly there be so many murders where the least quarrell suspition or iealousie will cost a man his life Againe will not this make the peruerse the longer to persist excommunicate the malicious care lesse for murder and desperate fellons lesse for their owne liues when notwithstanding these great offences they may for money be buried with the best We appeale to God and his holy Angels if this bee not a full euidence of a most vnholy Church an vnsound religion and a loose licentious gracelesse gouernement CHAP. VI. The Romish Text. A Dispensation for one that entred into his Benefice by Simony that hee may notwithstanding still retaine the same his Dispensation will cost him 6. Ducats But if he haue receiued any profits of the liuing he must for them compound with the Datarie English Obseruations SImony hath beene the perpetuall shame of the Romane Church
not God keepe no Sabboths care for no Churches haue no Wiues but community of Women and in a word liue in all licentiousnes more like Heathens then Christians We confesse indeed with S. Paul wee are all sinners in Gods sight and the best of vs all haue cause to cry out with him O miserable man that I am c. And there bee many great sinners and sinnes amongst vs which as wee confesse to be blemishes in the face of our Profession staines to our Religion and occasions of griefe to all the godly so wee dare iustifie it they are none of them allowed no nor tolerated much lesse maintained either by the Lawes of our Land or rules of Religion yet among all the euils that are among vs and the enormities which by the abuse of our long peace and plenty are too commonly practised among vngodly and vnregenerate men we challenge euen the most malicious enemies to proue if they can that euer any in these Kingdomes euen of the prophanest refuse of our Religion were found to be so extremely and shamefully impious as to lye with women in the Churches which it seemes by these words of their owne is alas too common among the Papists for if it were not frequent the price for the Absolution would not here bee rated among the rest for our parts our hearts trembled our mindes were amazed our soules sighed and sorrowed when we read it and had it not come from themselues such is our equity charity towards them wee should not haue beleeued it But seeing it is so manifest euen by their owne confession and was neuer charged vpon them by vs till thus they discouered it of themselues wee appeale to all the World of reasonable men whether they deale not vnreasonably with vs to appropriate all holinesse as only being their owne and to exclude vs amongst whom blessed bee God no such foule euils are found at all as heereby appeare to be frequent among themselues As for those other enormious and shameful things intimated in these words to bee perpetrated amongst them in their Churches Forasmuch as it seemes they are so foule as they be ashamed to name them wee for our parts are content to be as ignorant of them as their people be of that which is taught in our Pulpits or contained in the Bibles that lye in our Churches And for our neighbours the English Papists if they long to know the secret of this Pope-holy Mystery they may easily send and bee certified by some of their zealous Brethren who are now preparing to goe to Rome to the iolly Iubile now at hand who doubtlesse will bee carefully Catechized by the English Iesuites there and sufficiently instructed in this and many other poynts of Romish Catholicke Diuinity But if their stomacks be so sharpe set and their deuotions so earnest and their soules so sicke of filthy loue towards this spirituall Strumpet as they cannot indure to stay so long without it they may doe well to trusse vp their fardels and goe themselues that so they may receiue the speedier fuller and surer satisfaction And therefore O yes you that are so minded among our English Papists get you gone wee pray you what should hinder your Voyage seeing it's hard to say whether our King will more willingly let them goe as long as they beare such minds or the Pope more heartily bid them welcome as long as their English Gold sounds merrily in their pockets The while till they put the matter to tryall let the diligent and discreet Reader obserue with me this one thing for a Conclusion of this vnsauory Subiect Wee heere haue heard of Romish Catholickes how they vse their Churches some do lye with Women in them others commit such foule things there as they are ashamed to name yet these shamefull enormities found nowhere in the world but among themselues are esteemed and punished as poore idle and triuiall matters whereas if one should be found reading the holy Bible in the vulgar Tongue in one of their Churches or if two men two women or a man and a woman should bee taken reading and conferring vpon some Chapter of the blessed Gospell in their Mother-Tongue it is not 7 nor 700. Grosses would serue their turnes to procure their Absolution A fearfull thing and not to be beleeued if it came not from themselues that a man and a woman had better lye together in the Church and commit any wickednesse possible to bee done then to bee found reading the New Testament in the Church CHAP. IIII. 4. PERIVRIE The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that hath committed Periury or hath wilfully and falsly forsworne himselfe is rated at 6. Grosses English Obseruations PEriurie is one of the great Sinnes condemned in the Morall Law vnder the heauiest penalties and it is so foule a sinne as all well-formed Common-wealths euen amongst Turkes and Heathens doe detest it and deeply punish it What an holy Catholike Church then is this which makes so small account of so great a sinne And how vnworthily doe they wrong vs and other reformed Churches in whose Courts both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Periurie is so sharply censured And how good cause haue all Christians to take heed how they trust or haue any thing to doe with this Generation where Periurie is bought and sold at so easie a rate CHAP. V. 5. VSVRIE The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that secretly practiseth Vsury is rated at 7. Grosses An Absolution for him that burieth an open and notorious Vsurer in Christian mans buriall is rated at 8. Grosses English Obseruations VSurie is worthily condemned by the common Law and it is a commendable thing in the Popes Law that it forbids and punisheth all Vsurie If the Popes Canon Law were as good in other things wee should sooner and easier come to a good agreement But see how euen their best Lawes are made but Spiders webs for heere Vsurie is bought at an easie rate For if the Vsurer can gaine Hundreds in a yeere hee will little care for paying for his Absolution once a yeere nay if hee paid for it once a weeke hee would not lose by the bargaine And whereas by the * Greg. Decret Lib. 5. Cap. 2. Tit. de Vsuris Ecclesiasticall Lawes no Priest may bury the body of a knowne Vsurer in Christian buriall vnder a very great penalty you may bee sure a rich Vsurer will not care at least when hee dyes and can keepe his money no longer to pay the Priest soundly that will aduenture to bury him in the Church because though they liue like dogges deuouring their poore Neighbours yet dying they would not bee buried amongst dogges but amongst men and Christian men For they bee of Balaams Religion that howsoeuer they liue the life of the wicked Numb 23.10 yet they would bee glad to dye the death of the Righteous and to haue their carcases rest with the bodies of the best whose minds they would
Lawes and Canons to the contrary not only to enter all holy Orders and to take a Benefice with Cure But which those that be borne in holy Wedlocke cannot haue by their Law to enioy two nay three Benefices Heere I appeale to all indifferent Readers of what Religion soeuer if in this poynt the Romish Church transgresse not all bounds of modestie and moderation yea to all euen reasonable Papists themselues if herein they bee not ashamed of their Mother who is more indulgent and fauourable to the Bastards then her owne Lawes bee to true Children who without a speciall Dispensation cannot enioy two liuings with Cure CHAP. III. Dispensations in Cases Matrimoniall or matters of Marriage As first for Marriage within forbidden DEGREES The Romish Text. A Dispensation for one to marry in the 4. Degree of Consanguinity comes to 17. Grosses And in the third degree to 27. Grosses But he must alwaies in this case compound with the Datary that is with one of the high Officers of the Apostolicall Chamber or at least with the Keeper of the Popes priuie Purse which generally comes to 4. Duc. 1. Gr. A Dispensation for the second degree of Affinity comes to 7. Du. 5. Gr But another Booke of Rates called the Rates of the Chancerie saith that it will cost ordinarily 60. Grosses And that moreouer there must bee a Composition with the Datary which riseth oft-times to 300. Grosses and sometimes to 4. 5. and 600. according to the quality of the persons English Obseruations SEe what a pleasing Religion is this of Rome Neerenesse of bloud or Kindred shall not hinder any deuout Romish Catholique from hauing her to his Wife whom hee desires For what though the Law of God bee plaine and peremptory no man no not Moses shall come neere to any that is neere of Kin to him The Pope that is they say Gods Deputy is a more indulgent Father to his deuout Children and giues thē leaue to come almost as neere as they will or can euen to the second Degree And left they should be discouraged fearing so great fauours would cost them too deare he here tels thē fairely friendly what they must pay for such Dispensation And if it fall out that some vnhappily leape beyond these limits euen to the first degree or to the very stock it selfe and lye with his Sister or the very Mother that bare him howsoeuer he will not ordinarily grant him a Dispensation to doe so yet he will louingly measure him by himselfe and kindly giue him an absolution for it when it is done at very easie rates What more respect what greater fauour can the best deseruing Catholiques craue at the hands of their holy Father Iudge good Reader is it any wonder if so many of the great and delicate ones of the World affect that Religion And if any of them which alas many doe not make any scruple of conscience in that the Law of God commands them not to come neere the Kindred of their flesh The Iesuites haue an Answer ready Did not God say they dispense with his owne Law when he bade Abraham kill his Sonne And did not Christ dispense with the morall Law when he changed the Sabboth from the Saturday to the Sunday And is not say they the holy Father of Rome the Vicar of Christ nay the Vicar of God vpon earth Away therefore with this nicenesse of Conscience and trouble not your selues so much to know what God in the Scriptures in the Law or Ghospell commands or forbids as what the Pope who is now in the roome of God and Christ commands forbids or allows for that you may safely securely rest vpon Heere is Catholique Councell indeed and no maruell if such Councellers be so well fee'd and followed as they are And I appeale to all that know them indeed if this bee not in the plaine truth the Doctrine they teach and the Counsell they giue to all such of their disciples as they dare trust I will not charge them with the very words but with the matter and dare say that they do daily instill it into such as be Idonei auditores Iesuiticae Philosophiae For Nouices I know they haue another learning who are not yet capable of their mysteries and secrets of State not sensible of what beseemes the Maiestie of their Monarchie Such wise workmen are they they haue alwayes at hand both their milke for Babes and their meat for men CHAP. IIII. DISPENSATIONS The Romish Text. Also the holy Penitentiary Apostolicall hath power to dispense in the Court of Conscience for one to marry in the first degree of Affinity but then the Dispensation will cost 9. Du. 6. Gr. And a Dispensation to marry her with whom one hath speciall Kindred will cost 60. Grosses And let Proctors and Sollicitors obserue that these fauors and Dispensations in matters Matrimoniall vse not to bee granted to the poorer sort because they want wherewith to pay for them English Obseruations LOe heere the power the Pope takes to himselfe euen to dispence in the first degree of Affinity that is to marry euen his Fathers or his Brothers Wife See you Kings what a Soueraigntie the Pope hath you are all but shadowes to him And see you foolish Heretickes of England what a braue freedome it is to be a Romish Catholique you are all but slaues to them For they may marry as they list And what though the Law of God be so strait laced as expressely to forbid these copulations Mar. 6.18 and Iohn Baptist was so strict a Puritan that he told Herod that hee might not haue his Brothers wife no matter as long as the Popes transcendent power can thus reach beyond both Law and Gospell By vertue of this his power he gaue leaue to Henry of England to marry his Brothers Wife nay to Philip of Spaine to marry his Sisters Daughter And if their owne Bookes say true as in this case we haue no cause to suspect them * Reperitur tamen Martin V. vt refert Archiep dispensasse cum eo qui cum sua Gerinana contraxerat consummauerat habito consilio cum peritis Theologis et Canonistis propter mala scandala alias inde ventura licet aliqui dicerent cum hoc non posse Syluest in verbo Papa Bar. Fumus in verbo dispensat Angelus de Clauasio in verbo Papa in Anton. Notwithstanding it is foūd that Pope Martin the V. as Antonius the Archbishop of Florence writeth dispenced with him who had contracted and consummated taking iust counsell with learned Diuines and Canon Lawyers for the auoyding of certaine inconueniences and scandals which otherwise would haue followed thereupon Though they affirmed that the Pope could not doe it one of them namely Martin the V. gaue leaue to a man to marry his owne Sister for auoyding of certaine great inconueniences Now verily if that be a cause sufficient then be sure this passion is so powerfull especially in great Ones who
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Grosses is most grosse and foule if it be meant of such Irregularity as is duely and deseruedly incurred by morall crimes Irregularity take it either as malam culpae or poenae for sometimes it may be legally incurred and yet sine crimene and infamous actions which by the Lawes of God and man doe disable the delinquent from decent and profitable vse of his holy Calling But all is one if it were ten times greater we see it is all nothing as long as the Pope is thus permitted to encroach vpon the World for so long all Canons and Councels shall bee but Spider-webs thorow which all Offendors who like great Flyes doe flye with golden wings shall easily breake See heere how little wonder it is that there is so great an inundation of sinnes more venail then veniall in the Popish Churches seeing not onely the Pope himselfe and his Legates but euen euery Bishop that will may haue power to absolue all Delinquents yea euen to dispense with that which they account the highest crime or disabilitie euen Jrregularity And lastly iudge by this how iustly Guicciardine complained and how true a report he made of the miserable meanes and shamefull trickes Pope Leo vsed to gather in gold for his most vnreasonable and many of them dishonourable and dishonest occasions of expence But if Guicciardine had staid his Pen and Luther and Caluin had held their tongues or if Espencaeus his bookes were all burnt this Booke alone were euidence enough to proue all this And therefore as we maruell not that she made this Booke knowing her as we doe so wee cannot but maruell with Espencaeus they should be so besotted as to diuulge it had not God from heauen told vs Esay 57.20 that the wicked is like the raging Sea which foameth out his owne shame CHAP. XII INDVLGENCES The Romish Text. An Indulgence for an Hospitall or Chappell which Indulgence is to last for one yeare will cost 16. Gr. For two yeeres 20. Gr. For three yeeres 24. Gr. For foure yeeres 30. Gr. For fiue yeeres 40. Gr. For seauen yeeres 50. Gr. An Indulgence for remission of the third part of ones sinnes 100. Gross English Obseruations THe practice and vse of Indulgences is one of the great props and Policies of the Romish State The Doctrine of them is so dangerous and tender a peece as Bellarmine himselfe made dainty to touch it fearing on the one side to trench vpon one of the Popes highest Prerogatiues on the other to betray the truth and set his owne Conscience vpon the Tenters He therefore wisely omitted it in the course of those his readings which he afterwards printed and it seemes would very willingly haue beene totally spared in that businesse therefore hee not onely not handled it in his proper place time but shifted it off from yeere to yeere till at last the great Secular Iubilee of 1600. hasting on he was then inioyned the better to make ready for the market to write of that Subiect which he durst no longer deny especially at that time vnlesse he would haue discouered himselfe too farre and incurred a dangerous suspition Most of all this hee confesseth and implyeth in his Preface to that Booke and wittily puts it off but how cleanly and truly let the Reader iudge Moreouer it may bee good sport to a iudicious Reader to obserue in his Bookes how the Romish Proctors that write of Indulgences cannot agree in many maine things As touching the ground of them namely the treasure of the Church whether there be any such treasure at all Then if there be such a treasure whether to the making of it vp there need beside Christs the merits and satisfactions of Saints also and if they do concurre then how they can be pieced or mixt together Then for the nature of an Indulgence whether it be Solutio or Absolutio a payment of a debt or a discharge from the payment or both And for the extent of it whether it discharge a man onely from punishment and penance or from the guilt also and whether onely before the Church or before God also and whether it discharge a man of all penances inioyned onely or from all such also as might or ought to haue beene inioyned And whether Jndulgences helpe onely the liuing or can doe some good to the dead also that be in Purgatory And if they doe then whether by Absolution and discharge or onely by way of suffrage Also whether by way of Iustice and desert or only out of Gods meere mercy and fauour And whether they helpe all that be in Purgatory or those onely for whom they are intended And whether they helpe any who doe not all they can to helpe themselues And whether an Indulgence of so many dayes or yeeres will answerably deliuer one for as many yeeres or daies in Purgatory And whether any shall or ought abide in Purgatory more then twenty yeeres at the vtmost And if an Jndulgence be granted to take place at the point of death and the taker be in danger of death but doe recouer whether then the same Indulgence shall bee effectuall againe when hee comes to dye indeed Moreouer for the kinds and varieties of Jndulgences how many they bee and what is the true difference of one kinde from another And for the conditions required in the receiuer to make them effectuall what and how many they bee And lastly for the authority of granting them whether onely the Pope or whether also a generall Councell may not grant them as well or rather then the Pope And if the Pope can giue any true Jndulgences indeed then whether Bishops can not aswell giue them within their Iurisdictions These and many more no maruell if we either denie or make doubt of when they cannot yet accord them among themselues but their very principall Champions are diuided And Bellarmine himselfe is vpon consideration heereof so amazed as hee seemes in some measure euen besides himselfe and not the same man in this Booke Bellarmin de Indulgenntiis lib. 1. cap. 13. hee shewes himselfe in others Take a taste or two This opinion saith hee is profitable good and godly and yet peraduenture is not true See what a Paradoxe is heere if it bee true what is it but false and if false how can it bee good and godly Can any opinion in Religion be called profitable or held wholsome and godly that is not true Can Piety and Falsity stand together And in another place hauing largely laid downe the diuersity of opinions Lib. 1 cap. 12. 1. in a point of Jndulgences at last comming to resolue it and set downe the truth he saith These two opinions may happly in some sort bee reconciled See peraduenture they may bee reconciled and if they be how but in some sort a poore reconcilement and yet euen that also is vpon a peraduenture Such reconcilements of their differences wee enuy them not Againe in that greatest point of