the Church of St. John of Lateran and the other at Bullen At our Lady of the Isle near Lions are kept for precious Reliques the twelve Combs of the twelve Apostles St. Anne Mother of the Virgin Mary hath one of her Bodies at Apte in Provence the other at our Lady of the Isle at Lyons Besides this she hath one Head at Trier the other at Turen another at Turinge a Town named after her name I omit the pieces of her Body which are in more than a hundred places as an arm in St. Paul's Church at Rome c. When they are agreed amongst themselves Note it will be time enough to believe them of the story of the twelve Combs and Cups Bodies and bones they talk of in these four last Paragraphs Lazarus the Brother of Martha and Mary Magdalen hath three Bodies one at Marseilles the other at Authum the third at Avalon Every one of these places boast that they have the true Body of Lazarus But how this may be no man may demand except he will be taken for a Lutheran Mary Magdalen is known to have two Bodies Mary Magdalen 's Noli me tangere hath great Veneration in the Romish Church one at Veselnere Auserre the other which is of greater renown at St. Maximius in Provence Besides she hath divers parts of her Body in divers places as her head with her Noli me tangere her bones her hair c. With what face can these people look men in the face Note and boast of unity of the Church of Rome when they cannot agree about a few bones and old invented Reliques about which they prove themselves lyars and under the curse of believing lyes But as for the Noli me tangere of Mary Magdalen I suppose the Priests have a great devotion and the people kiss it with as much St. Longus the Knight who pierced the side of our Lord Jesus on the Cross with a Spear hath two Bodies in two sundry places the one is at Mantone the other at our Lady of the Isle near Lyons Truly I should be as well contented if he had had two and twenty The Bodies of the three Kings which came to worship the new-born Saviour of the World whom the Papists have baptised with these names Balthasar Melchior and Gaspar are constantly affirmed of many to be at Colen but they of Millain say plainly that they have these Bodies of the three Kings so that whosoever will worship them they must come unto Millain and offer there unto them or else all their labour is lost About this matter there hath been great contention in times past insomuch that it was brought before the Apostolique See to be determined And could not the Pope by his art perswade the fools they are in both places Note and if I am not misinformed they are in the great Church in Portugal also And they pretend to have the Bodies of one of those three Kings at Palencia and another at Toledo in the Kingdom of Spain St. Denis whom some take to be one of the Apostles Disciples and the first Preacher of the Gospel in France hath two Bodies in two sundry places one is at St. Denis in France the other at Regensburg in Germany About this matter also there hath been no small ado who have the true body of St. Denis insomuch that the Apostolique See was fain to give judgment therein And yet both of them persist in their fancy And well they may persist for it is but a fancy Note like all the trinckets we have heard of in this whole Inventory of their Merchandize The Body of St. Stephen is reported to be whole in his Church at Rome Notwithstanding his Head is affirmed to be in Arles and his Bones are in more than 200 places Thus do these fools prove themselves Knaves and Lyers Note and would not England be blest to entertain such a sort of Religion and Religious men The Stones also wherewith St. Stephen is reported to be stoned to death are kept as Reliques at Florence again in Arles at the Augustines and at Vigan in Languedock There is also at Poictiers one of the aforesaid Stones which as they say if it be aptly applied to a certain part of a Woman that is big with Child is very profitable unto the safe deliverance of the Child to the hasty expedition of the Birth and easing of pain Would it not be well to find out who gathered these stones together Note and kept them till the Church of Rome began to show such tricks and invent this Trade cheating her followers St. Sebastian hath four whole bodies in four sundry places whereof one is at Rome in St. Laurences Church the other at Soison the third at Pilligne near Nantes the fourth near Narbon in the place where he was born besides this he hath two heads the one at St. Peters at Rome the other at the Jacobins of Tholouse But all these are but empty skulls if it be true what is reported for the Gray-friers of Anger 's affirm that whosoever have St. Sebastians head they have all his brains which they keep for holy and precious Reliques Item the Jacobins of Angiers have an Arm of his and they of St. Servine of Tholouse have another Another also of his Arms if one man may have so many Arms is at Avergne and another at Mombrison in the forest besides the small little pieces that are in many other Churches This Story if well observed doth so fully confute it self Note that one half blind may perceive it And what is the reason that they at Lisbon who do one day every year go down to the Water-side to look for him do not rather go to these places to meet him The Arrows also wherewith St. Sebastian was shot are preserved and kept for Reliques whereof one is at Lambest in Provence another at Poictiers at the Augustines and the rest are here and there Mr. David Rivers when he kept a Cooks Shop in Nortonfallgate at the Sign of the Plow there lodged two French-men at his house which were as they said Pilgrims and had been at Jerusalem Among several other discourses said Mr. Rivers you could not chuse but be exposed to great want in so long a Journey No said one of the Pilgrims the other standing by we did seldom want long for by one means or other we were soon supplied But we were once in a very great strait night coming on and we having neither food nor money but only a few odd things that might yield some small matter So we entred into an house required Lodging which being granted we demanded of the Woman if she had any thing to eat No indeed replyed the Woman I have nothing in the house but Bread that is fit for this day it being then a Fish-day but had it happened on another day I could have furnished you with a good Rib of Bacon bring us that said we
means methods and stratagems shall be by them used and contrived for the rooting out and overthrowing of the established Government of the Protestant Church and Churches seeing their Ministry is by them believed and asserted to be false and intruded III. They say That Protestants have not the preaching of the word of God This they have asserted to render the Reformed Churches vile and contemptible and the Worship of God amongst us and our Brethren in the Gospel of no value by which means many of our Religion have been seduced to follow their fopperies and to worship their trash and to wonder after this foul Dragon of Rome Therefore we may easily conclude That they who thus revile us and our Religion and especially in this material part to wit the Ministry of Gods Word which they have villanously denied us to have and enjoy would soon destroy us and that with their hands could they find opportunity since their impudence hath been such as to revile us and it with their tongues IV. That Protestants want the due Administration of Sacraments If the Ministry of the Protestant Churches be false intruded and usurped this then I confess will undoubtedly follow But in this we may my dear Brethren easily see what Calumnies they lay upon that holy Faith for the profession of which many of our Forefathers lost their dear Lives by these cursed Locusts and this they would continue to this day if they were again Lords over us for if the Religion which we profess upon which most of the good Laws under which we live are founded and established lyes under such notorious Censures then there is no man living that will exercise the reason God hath given him but will judge that these Vipers will endeavour and contrive the Subversion of such Laws and consequently the Government of our Prince will be also attempted and struck at V. That the Protestant Church is not the true Church of God This being Preached many of the more ignorant Protestants have been wounded in their Consciences perverted in their Principles corrupted in their Judgments and are brought to Question and at last to oppose the Jurisdiction of the King in things Ecclesiastical by which dismal change the more excellent part of the Government is by them endeavoured to be made and declared to be null and void And by means of this strange perversion those who before were quiet in their several Stations and subject to Laws are become heady and high-minded Traytors without the least spark of Obedience and Love to their Prince and Countrey to the great damage of our Countrey in which we live VI. That the Protestants are notorious Hereticks Upon which position and principle they establish those wicked and diabolical practises of Fires Rapes Thefts Murders Felonies Treasons to the great confusion of our Countrey and disquiet of professors of Religion Have they not I say burnt the Bodies of our Forefathers because they would not debauch their Souls and Consciences in their Idolatrous Communion and all because they judged them Hereticks Upon which principle they depose Kings and then say it is no Treason to Murther them because they are Hereticks if they do only countenance and not practise their Religion Yet we find them very brisk in the denial of all their wicked Attempts upon this Nation even to their deaths as appears by the Five Speeches of the Five Jesuits Traytors lately Executed for Conspiring the Death of the King and Subversion of the Protestant Religion and Government Who indeed would not deny all those things that were in their circumstances For should they have confessed What would have become of their zealous Votaries the conduct of whose souls they had been entrusted withall who would not have continued this trust in such hands if they had known their inclinations to such Treasons What would become of the Plot which certainly goerh on still against us and our Liberties as fast and as fierce as ever The conscious of whom we have not yet a certain intelligence would much abate in their courage and would not be in that capacity to serve the Interest of the Romish Dragon if that these Martyrs or indeed Malefactors had confessed How those considerable Traytors now in hold would have been damnified should they have confessed I leave to you my Brethren to judg and how the whole Interest of the Romish Synagogue must have sunk and perished to all intents and purposes had they spoken that which their Consciences knew to be true Moreover they had an Oath of Secrecy a branch of which was to enjoin them if discovered to deny the design to the last breath and not only a dispensation but also a command from the Pope to do the same and damnation threatned if they had not denied the fact to the last But that which is above all their cunning way of absolving one another just before the Cart was drawn from under them So that had not these considerations been inducements nor the dispensation of the Pope judged by them to be authentick nor his command safe yet behold a Plaister of Absolution is applied to this disease of theirs which certainly must be owned by them to be very effectual for the cure of a Lye and what if the Hangman had debarred them of this opportunity it would have been cured by a few Twelve-penny Masses and after a little frying in Purgatory they would have had Heaven for their pains and who would not endure a little heating in Purgatory for the advantage of their Mother the Church which lay at stake upon the discovery of their Villany plotted and contrived against our Prince Religion Lives and Liberties And now Brethren let this short reflection suffice from me seeing it is done to all intents and purposes by far better hands and it being not to the purpose here I say no more to that Yet I shall bless the Most High God before whose Judgment-seat I must one day stand That though they have made a pretended denial yet my comfort is I have that within me which teacheth me to laugh the Censorious and Malicious to scorn and it further obligeth me to go on with Courage in my Evidence against these obstinate and lying Cut-throats and I hope the Charity of my Brethrens credit will be sooner extended to their Friends that are living than to those implacable and forsworn Enemies that by the just hand of vengeance are now dead and God knowing that I speak the truth I am sure will justifie me in this management of his own Cause and my Countreys But now Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified So my Brethren I bid you heartily farewell in the Lord and remain for ever Whitehall July 12. 1679. Your affectionate Brother in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ TITUS OATES The Monstrous and Abominable CHEATS OF THE Romish-PEDLARS
OF RELIQVES The Introduction AS the Holy Prophets of old made it their business to shew the vanity and folly of the Apostate Church of the Jews and wherein they had gone away from God to the foolish inventions of idolatrous and superstitious men So our late zealous Reformers laboured to discover the madness and folly of them which did abide still in the Communion of the Popish Religion by shewing wherein the people were cheated by the superstitious pretences feigned miracles and useless reliques with which the seducing Priests Fryers Monks and Antichristian Popes of Rome had deceived the poor sons and daughters of men And herein the faithful Servants of God in the days of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth have laboured and have discovered the fanaticism of the Church of Rome in many instances and shewn what horrid Fanaticks the Popes and their followers have been And because the Papists are to my own knowledg still such Fanaticks and will not be reclaimed I have thought it my duty for the Honour of God and the preventing the good Christian people of this Generation from being any longer deceived by them to revive and recover out of oblivion the old observations and collections of the Servants of Christ which time hath buried in forgetfulness which together with my own Observations I have transcribed and caused to be published that so the madness and folly in which they persist may be known to all men that so as St. Paul saith of the Fanaticks of his time they may proceed no further read 2 Tim. 3.8 9. And I think it but reason if the disease be still the same the means of curing should be continued and of this I am sure that they do still cheat the people with their pretended Miracles and Reliques of pretended Saints and amongst the rest with the Fanatical pretences of Pardons and Indulgences by going to such a Saints Shrine or Sepulcher and of being healed of diseases by the touch of a Relique of a pretended Saint And because you shall see that I do not impose new fictions of my own brain but do follow the wise example of them who to undeceive the people and recover them out of the Fanaticism of the Church of Rome did discover her â—ollies and frauds to all men I have not only followed their methods but transcribed their very Collections which I doubt not but will be as useful in the present recovery of the English Christians as in the the days past And as the Prophets of old used no other means to reduce men but bringing them back to the Law and Testimony shewing them the folly and madness of their forefathers and of them that would or did mislead the people in the days in which they prophesied so ought the Servants of God in this day and I doubt not but the same method will have the same good effect AT Rome in times past as St. Sylvester the Pope writeth in his Chronicle there were One thousand five hundred and five Churches whereof the greater part at this present is destroyed But among those that remain there are Seven principal Churches which as they say * Query Who endued these Churches I am sure not Christ for he bestows spiritual Gifts on persons not Places are endued with greater and more singular priviledges than the rest are yea and that for the grace holiness and dignity which is found in them passing all other Churches * All are but Stone and Timber and dead matter and not capable of any holiness one more than other In those Seven principal Churches there are many yea almost innumerable Indulgences Pardons Priviledges c. and Reliques also as they fain And first I will rehearse the names of all such Reliques as be at Rome not only in those Seven Principal Churches but in the residue also and afterwards rehearse the Indulgences Pardons Priviledges c. that appertain unto the same And because no man shall think that I invent these things of my own head I here truly and faithfully confess that whatsoever in this Treatise is written of Rome is translated out of a Book Printed in Latin at Rome by Mr. Stephen Plank of Patavia in the year of our Lord 1489 the 7th of November the sixth year of Pope Innocent the Eighth And whatsoever is added is declared out of what Books they were taken and the judgment of all these things left to the indifferent Reader But first of all we will go in hand with such Reliques as be in the Churches at Rome and begin with the Seven Principal Churches whereof the Church of Lateran is the first Of the Church of Lateran and of the Reliques contained in the same THE Church of Lateran was dedicated of St. Sylvester the Pope in honour of St. Saviour St. John Baptist and St. John the Evangelist In the Relique-House of this Church there is the Altar of St. John Baptist which he had in the Wilderness It is a likely matter they should have the Altar of St. John Baptist who had no Altar there nor had he use for one A blessed company Why did they not tell us what he offered upon that Altar And besides this the Altar of which they boast is in eight or nine several places Also in a certain Chappel at the end of the said Church Ark. there is the Ark of the Lord which Moses made at the Commandment of God in the Desert after the Children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt They that will believe this story must needs be ignorant and willing to believe lyes seeing the Prophet Esdras 2 book ch 10. v. 22 saith it was spoiled by the Babylonians which any man will believe sooner than the Pope But to put it out of doubt that they do wickedly read Jer. 3.16 There is also the Table whereupon our Lord Jesus Christ did eat his supper with his Disciples when he ordained the Sacrament of his Body and Blood The Table I have seen a great part of this Table so called in Spain and Flanders and it is of excellent virtue if we may believe the holy Fathers of the Society of Jesus Item The Rod of Moses and Aaron which being cast on the ground Rod. became a Serpent wherewith also many and notable Miracles were wrought by the power of God It is strange to hear that they should have that stick or rod of Moses which was 2000 years before Christ in the wilderness of which the Scripture makes no mention after Moses smote the Rock with it Numb 20.11 and one of the Jesuits forgetting that it was said to be at Rome preached this Doctrine that Moses broke it when he smote upon the Rock All these things aforesaid did Vespastanus and Titus bring unto Rome from Jerusalem Padre Antonio de Laudayada on the Feast of St. Alban June 21. 1677. with four Pillars of Brass which are set up and stand about the high Altar of the said Church If we
Reliques of St. Michael the Archangel and likewise at St. Julians of Toures They do shew at great St. Michaels which is so well haunted of Pilgrims his Sword which is like a Childs Dagger and his Buckler likewise which is as it were the boss of a Horse-bit That Angels should have Swords and Shields is so vain Note that all the wit the Pope and Clergy of Rome have can never defend themselves from the imputation of being most horrid Impostors in asserting but that the Sword should be like a Childs Dagger and the Shield or Buckler like the boss of a horse-bit none but knaves will say and none but fools will believe it Although we 〈◊〉 before that the head of St. John Baptist is in divers places yet they 〈◊〉 Amiens boast to have the visage of St. John And in the Mask which they shew there is the sign of the cut of a knise overthwart the eye which they say Herodias gave him But they of St. John of Angel deny it and shew the like part As concerning the rest of the Head from the crown to the forehead it was at Rhodes and is now at Malta as it is thought at the least they have made men believe that the Turk did render it them The hinder part is at St. John of Nemoures The Brain is at Noyon Besides all this they of St. John of Morein do not want some certain part of the Head His Jawes are seen at Besanson at St. John the great There is another part at St. John of Latians at Paris and at St. Floura in Auvergne They keep his Hair at St. Saviours in Spain the Brow and some of the Hair There is also a little thereof at Noyon which is shewn very authentickly There is also some part I know not of what place at St. Lukes As for St. John Baptists Arm they of Sene boast to have it which is repugnant to all ancient Histories Now as touching that finger wherewith St. John did point and shew our Lord Jesus Christ saying Ecce Agnus ille Dei c. Behold that Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world it is found to be in many and divers places There is one at Besanson in the Church of St. John the great another at Lions another at Bruges another at Florence another at St. John of Adventures near to Mascone One of St. John's Shoos is at the Charter-house of Pa is His Jacket is at Rome in the Church of St. John of Lateran where also as they say is the Altar whereon he prayed in the desert As if in those days they used to make Altars for every purpose and in every place It is a marvel that they make not the people believe also that he sung Mass In Avignon is the Sword wherewith he was beheaded At Aix is the Linuen Cloth that was spread under him when he was beheaded At Poicters they have the Jaw-bone and beard of St. Peter At Trier there are divers bones both of St. Peter and St. Paul At Argenton in Bury one of St. Paul's Shoulders At St. Saviours in Spain one of St. Peter's Slippers They of Poicters also brag that they have St. Peter's Slippers but those are wonderful trim and brave made of Satin and broidered with Gold as though he had been like to our Popish Bishops when they are dressed and decked like Puppets in their Pontificalibus When it is well known that Peter lived a very poor man as it evidently appeareth by these words which he spake to a certain man that was lame from his mothers womb Silver and gold saith he have I none such as I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk And are not these the words of St. James Hath not God chosen the poor of this world Saith not St. Paul of himself and of his fellow Apostles in this wise Even unto this time we hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted with fists and have no certain dwelling place and labour working with our own hands This Paragraph shews that their Reliques are of their own invention by the gayness of them Note which agrees not at all with the poor estate of the holy men they talk of St. Peter's Pontifical Chair with his Cope wherein he said Mass as the Papists fain are at Rome and kept as precious Reliques About the Altar whereon he said Mass there is great contention they of Rome affirm that they have it and they of Pise likewise say they have it But how the lying Papists strive among themselves for â—â—ye who knoweth not seeing that neither that monster the Mass nor yeâ—â—â—…tars were received into the Church of Christ many years after the death of St. Peter By this they pretend to justifie their own foolish Gayeties Note and therein be-lye the Primitive modesty and plainness of the Christian Religion The Sword also wherewith St. Peter cut off Malchus his ear is reserved and reverenced of the Papists in divers and sundry places The having one Sword in so many places Note is a reasonable ground to conclude they have it no where Saint Peter's Crosier is shewed at St. Stephens of Grees at Paris But they of Collen plainly affirm that they have it So likewise say they of Trier But it is truly to be thought that none of them all have it for in St. Peter's time there were no such baubles as the Popish Bishops use now-a-days neither Miter nor Crosier Cope nor Vestment Altar nor Altar-cloth Saint Bartholomew's skin is at Pisa and there kept for an holy and precious Relique notwithstanding in the Kingdom of Naples they plainly affirm that they have the whole Body of St. Bartholomew with skin and all And in St. Bartholomew's Church at Rome they stoutly maintain that he is there both body and skin and in no other place Poor St. Bartholomew is at Pisa and at Rome too what place next an Arm with the Walloon Jesuits at St. Omers and five Ribs at Leige in Germany and a Leg at Burgos and an Head at Villa Garsia Saint Mathias hath one Body at Padua Note here is a blessed in crease of St. Mathias another at Rome in the Church of St. Mary the greater and a third Body at Trier Besides this he hath a Head and an Arm at Rome and another Body at Salamanca in Spain and another at the Cathedral at St. Omers and another where Mr. Pope pleaseth Nay he hath any thing but Truth and true Religion but these have left Rome long since At Ortone the Body of Saint Thomas the Apostle is kept and taken for an holy Relique notwithstanding they of Trier say they have certain of his Bones and at Rome they boast to have his Arm and Head The Chalice out of which St. John the Evangelist drank the Poyson being condemned by Domitian the Roman Emperour is found in two places and taken for a great Relique One is at Rome in
all them that be very contrite and truly confessed saying this devout Prayer in the Commemoration of the bitter Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ 3000 years of pardon for deadly Sins and other 3000 for venial Sins and say first a Pater Noster and one Ave Maria. Diripuisti Domine vincula mea Our Holy Father Pope Innocentius the Second hath granted to all them that say this Prayer devoutly in the worship of the Wound that our Lord had in his blessed Side when he was dead hanging on the Cross 4000 days of pardon Ave vulnus lateris nostri c. This most devout Prayer said the Holy Father St. Bernardin the Grey Friar daily kneeling in the worship of that most Holy Name Jesus And it is well to believe that through the Invocation of that most excellent Name of Jesus St. Bernardin obtained a singular reward of perpetual Consolation of our Lord Jesus Christ And this Prayer is written in a Table that hangeth at Rome in St. Peter's Church near to the high Altar where our Holy Father the Pope is wont to say Mass And whoso devoutly with a contrite heart daily says this Orison if he be that day in the state of Eternal pain it shall be changed into the Temporal pain of Purgatory And if he hath deserved the pain of Purgatory then it shall be forgotten and forgiven through the infinite Mercy of God Obone Jesu c. Pope Alexander hath granted to all them that say this Prayer devoutly in the worship of St. Anne and our Lady and her Son Jesus 10000 years of pardon for deadly Sins and 20 years for venial Sins toties quoties Ave Maria c. Bocatius saith That the hairs of that Angel of the Seraphical Order which came down from Heaven as the Papists feign unto filly simple St. Francis the Grey-Friar in the likeness of a young man and printed in his Hands Feet and Heart the signs and tokens of the five wounds of Christ are kept in a certain Monastery of Franciscan Friars in Italy as most Heavenly and Holy Reliques In the same Monaftery also are divers Reliques of the aforesaid Francis namely his Night Coul and his Breeches These are highly reverenced and had in great price It seemeth the very Coelestial Bodies must be abused by these Forgers of Lies Note here they pretend Angels to have Hairs which is false for Hair is an Excrement and Coelestial Bodies have no Excrements but it seemeth they spare none The Angels must have their Hair pull'd off to accommodate their Covetousness But that this Angel should put the five wounds of Christ upon silly Fanatick St. Francis none but stark Fanaticks will believe POSTSCRIPT ANd now Good Reader I have given thee an account of their monstrous Merchandize and horrid Cheats of the Church of Rome discovering to thee their feigned Reliques Let me tell thee how happy a Nation thou livest in how God did bless the Church of England when he did discover the folly of all these wicked Crew of Popelings which with these Thousands of Cheats did pick the Peoples Pockets as they do at this day and to my knowledge in other Nations And should the Pope and his Popelings prevail to introduce the Romish Religion in England again all these swarms of Fopperies will undoubtedly flow in upon us again Yea the Traitor Colman's as well as the Traitor Tom Becket's Bones may hap become holy Reliques Therefore for the Honour of Christ and for the good of your own Souls and the Souls of your poor Babes and all Posterity be earnest with God by Prayers and with your Children and Servants and Neighbours by Counsel to prevent it That that cloud of the darkness of Popery may never overshadow this Nation any more And let all Protestants as good Christians and Lovers of the Souls of their Posterity join heart and hand against it that so our Kings and Nobles and all our Governours and People may never be subject to the Censures or Pretended Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions of that abominable proud Pretender and Father of all Errors and Mischiefs the Pope of Rome And to that purpose be faithful in Discovering all their Priests and Parties and Interests and Designs to the uttermost of your Skill And Encourage all sorts of Protestants whatsoever that fear God honour the King and are willing to be subject to the Civil Magistrate though Dissenting from the rest of Christians in some small Matters and Indifferent things and so live together in Love and Neighbourly Friendship as they of Rome may never have hope again by our Divisions to Impose upon us their monstrous Heresies and Phanaticisms and living in Unity of Affection and Civil Peace put the Pope and all his Crew from all hopes of setting up their Trade of picking Englishmens Pockets by showing their feigned Reliques and pretended Pardons and Indulgences From which that England may be ever free is the Prayer of him that is the Lover of the Protestant Interest and of his King and Country Titus Oates FINIS
I Do Appoint Thomas Parkhurst Dorman Newman Thomas Cockerill and Thomas Simmons to Print this Book Entituled The POPES WARE-HOUSE or the MERCHANDISE of the WHORE of ROME July 24. 1679. TITUS OATES THE Popes Ware-house OR THE MERCHANDISE OF THE WHORE OF ROME Published for Common Good By TITVS OATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst Dorman Newman Thomas Cockerill and Tho. Simmons 1679. To the Right Honourable ANTHONY EARL of SHAFTSBURY Baron Ashly of Wimbourne St. Gyles Lord Cooper of Pawlet Lord President of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council The Publishers affectionate good Friend and singular good Lord. My Lord THE greatness of Your Lordships favours conferred on me since the first of your Honours acquaintance with my poor self hath obliged me from time to time to consider of some return and upon due consideration I find that it is next to an impossibility for me to perform that to Your Lordship to which the Laws of Duty and Respect oblige me yet My Lord I thought it my Duty although my Returns will appear inconsiderable not to omit any opportunity of making my Just acknowledgments All good men have highly resented Your Lordships Favour to me in this Great Affair And the whole Kingdom judgeth it self engaged to Your Lordship for standing by its Evidence and Cause to the great Confusion of the Romish Beast and those that wonder after it from all which I conclude that it becomes me to make to your good Lordship some Expression of my Gratitude And although My Lord it be in me a great boldness to make this Address to your good Lordship yet for all that since I have Your Lordships Countenance I pray your Favour and your Patronage for this poor Piece In the Publication of which by many Reviews and Remarks I have been at some pains and now My Lord it is upon the Travel Your Lordships Countenance may beget the Countenances of many more Persons of Honour so that I may not to all intents and purposes be discouraged in this War that I have vowed to make against the Whore and Dragon of Rome and all her Votaries as long as I have a day to live and will to the utmost of my power discover her Cheats and Villanies My Lord this Tract is a Catalogue of the Romish Lies and Cheats many of which are to mine own knowledge maintained and practised to this day in the Romish Synagogue to the great Dishonour of God and Contempt of Christian Religion great occasion being given by such inordinate practices to the Enemies both Jews and Turks of Jesus Christ to Blaspheme our Holy Profession so that if Your Lordship shall persevere in this good work of opposing this Devilish Interest of Rome to its ruine you may be an happy Instrument under God to preserve this Kingdom from its Superstition Idolatry and Tyranny And Your Lordship may remember what pains Your Honour hath taken whilst in place to suppress it and the growing Greatness of that French Tyrant for the which Your Lordship hath abundantly drank of the Cup of Afflictions which you may assure your self hath redounded highly to your Honour in this your Countrey Therefore may it please Your Lordship to continue your Care and Zeal for the securing of the Protestant and English Interest to the Honour of God the Safety Welfare and Advantage of our King and His Kingdoms then Your Lordship may assure your self of a lasting Repute in this Life and of Peace at your Death and a joyful Resurrection to the World to come As for Apostates and Traytors though they flatter themselves and for their own Applause suffer Parasites and Hypocrites to do the like yet they are the Objects of good mens Scorn and Contempt and will certainly without true Repentance of which God knows there is but little hope suffer the Vengeance of God upon them and their Posterities in this Life and Eternal Vengeance in the next and though Your Lordship hath not had one Popish Mass said for the preservation either of your Body or your Soul or both yet it is not to be questioned but that Your Lordship will grow as great in the Esteem of your Country and in the Favour of your God and greater than he who for the Safety of his Person hath had above One Hundred Thousand And though Your Lordship I believe never bestowed one Farthing for a small quantity of Romish Reliques I question not but your Name and Fame will endure to the end of the World when his that gave 600 l. to Endow and Adorn an Altar with stores of such stuff shall Perish Yet this fowl Monster goeth for a Protestant and I suppose and verily believe he is permitted so to do by a ' Dispensation from those Dogs whom he hath suffered to devour the Childrens bread My Lord I crave Your Lordships Pardon for this my boldness which I protest is out of the sincerity of my heart to Your Lordship and it is because I do earnestly desire your Honours welfare and in order to this I will not cease my humble Addresses to Heaven in the behalf of Your Lordship and Family and so concluding I humbly take leave to subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships very humble Servant TITVS OATES To all that profess the Protestant Religion within this Kingdom of England Grace Mercy and Peace Dearly beloved brethren ALthough the Impieties of this Kingdom have caused many Judgments to fall upon it and its Inhabitants yet there hath not been any one like unto that of â—â—e want of the knowledg of God and his Word or if I may presume to use the expression of the Holy Ghost the removing of the Candlestick For although rumours of Wars Pestilence and Civil Commotions be very unpleasant to the sense of Mankind yet as they are punishments which only affect the body and its senses they are the effects many times of Gods Fatherly love to a Kingdom and people and are so received and judged by good â—en But when God dealeth with a people as he dealt with the Seven Churches of Asia and depriveth a Kingdom and people of his Word and Ordinances and delivers it up to strange Diabolical deluders and delusions then nothing can be judged to be the cause of all this but the fierce anger and wrath of God and its effects and consequents to be eternal vengeance and ruin and as the soul exceeds the body and is much to be valued above it and preferred before it in respect of its worth and quality so it is certain and admits of no debate in any consideration whatever That those Judgments which are spiritual and the very Harbingers of an Eternal ruin must needs surmount those which are only corporal and perhaps sent in order to prevent this fiery wrath and indignation of the Most High God Afflictions that are temporal may well be compared to whips but this Judgment of removing the Candlestick deserveth to be compared to a fiery Scorpion Under this dismal burthen