Inventions They use meere Water in Baptisme They have no holy Water They me not consecrate their Church-yards They bury their dead in the fields and with â—easts as also they deserve it c. And â—ee addeth that the Emperour in stead of destroying them granted unto them safety and liberty But he should have added to this that the Emperor Sigismond having by armes assaulted and scuffled with them lost there many Battles For which cause he did let them rest in peace In this discourse Aeneas hath chopt and thrust in some calumniations as when he saith they give the Eucharist to madde men and to Infants and bury their dead with beasts Things very absurde and that never were As for the rest all our Religion almost is seene in it Hungaria at the same time was full of Faithfull people holding the same beleife They presented to the King Vladislaus in the yeare of our Lord 1508. their Confession of faith conformable to ours defending themselves against an Austin Frier that had accused them to the King of many errors namely for that they did not obey the Pope called not upon Saints denied Purgatory received the Communion in both kinds and rejected Transubstantiation Vpon which last point they speak thus This Frier writeth that the bread and wine in their naturall substance are changed into the body and blood of Christ This Confession is to be fouÌ„d in Fascioulo rerum expetendarum and are changed into Christ God and man so that nothing of the substance of the bread and wine remaineth but that the onely accidents are meerely upheld by miracle This Confession of faith hath no foundation in the Lord Christ Jesus his words who never spake one word of the conversion of the substance And a little after By that is manifested that the Primitive Church had this Beleife and hath confessed it and hath not erred and did not bowe at this Sacrament For in that time they received the Sacrament sitting and reserved nothing of it and carried none of it out of the house c. About the same time in the yeare 1520. Calvin being yet very young the Faithfull of Provence presented to the Parliament of Aix their Confession of Faith conformable to ours Vpon the point of the Sacrament they speak thus We are not entangled with any errors or heresies condemned by the Ancient Church and we hold the documents and instructions approved by the true Faith And as for the Sacraments particularly we have the Sacraments in honour and beleeve that they be testimonies and signes by which Gods grace is confirmed and assured in our consciences For which cause wee beleeve that Baptisme is a signe whereby the purgation that we obtaine by the blood of Jesus Christ is corroborated in such sort that it is the true washing of Regeneration and renovation The Lords Supper is the signe under which the true Communion of his body and blood is given unto us And these poore Churches were the remainder of the horrible Persecutions exercised by the space of three or foure hundred yeares by Kings and Princes at the instigation of Popes Which Churches they had defamed with horrible heresies accusing them to be Manicheans and enemies of Marriage even as they accuse us now to be enemies unto the Saints and the blessed Virgin and to beleeve that good workes are not necessary to salvation and that we make God Author of sin A few yeares before under the raigne of good King Lewis the XII who was called the Father of the People happed a memorable thing which Carolus Molinaeus a famous Jurisconsulte reciteth in his Booke of the French Monarchie He saith that certaine Cardinals and Prelates did goe about to stirre up and incite this good King to destroy and exterminate the Inhabitants of Cabrieres and Merindoles in Provence saying they were Sorcerers Incestuous persons hereticks condemned already by the Apostolick Sea But this King answered that he would condemne no body to death without hearing both sides and be fully acquainted with the cause And that for that end he sent one Adam Fumee a Master of Request and John Parin a Jacobin Frier his Confessor for to transport themselves into the place where they lived and be informed of their Religion Which they did and reported to the King that among these men they had found no Images nor any â—race or vestige of any ornaments of Masses or Papall Ceremonies That they had found nothing touching Magicall Artes whoredomes and other crimes laid upon them The King understanding this cryed out with a lowde voice and swore that those people were better Christians than hee and his people and confirmed their priviledges and immunities That fell out about the yeare 1412. Calvin scarce being borne Pope Julius the second made warres against this King But the King defeated his Armie and the Emperours neare the City of Ravenna Assembled a Councell at Piso against the Pope Caused money to bee coyned with this Inscription round about PERDAM BABYLONIS NOMEN as Thuanus relateth in the first Booke of his History But under the raigne of King Francis the first Successor unto Lewis the twelfth these poore Churches of Provence suffered hard and rude persecutions and Massacres Neverthelesse they subsist yet at this day and Thuanus in the sixth Booke of his History speaketh of their Religion Hee saith that these Valdenses for hee tearmes them so did say that the Church of Rome had departed from the faith of Christ Jesus and was become Babylon and the great Whore whereof is spoken in the Revelation That none ought to obey the Pope nor his Prelates That Monachall life was a sinke of the Church and an Infernall thing That the fiâ—â—â— of Rurgatorie the Masse the Dedicatiâ— of Churches the Service of Saints as Suffrages for the dead were inventionâ— Satan Then hee addeth To these 〈◊〉 and principall heads of their doctrine 〈◊〉 thens were falsly added touching Muriage the Resurrection the state anâ— condition of the dead and touchâ—â— meates The same Author in the 27 Booke speaketh of the Churches of the Valsies of the Alpes which he saith to be descended from the ancient Valdeuses which have yet at this very day a Religion altogether conformable to ourt and saith that in the yeare 1560 they presented their Confession of Faith unto those whom the Duke of Savoye their Lord had sent them by which they declared that they stuck fast and adheared to the ancient doctrine contained in the Old and New Testament and to the Apostles Creed and to the foure first Generall Councels and that for the rule of a good life they kept themselves close to the renne Commandements of the the Law That they taught to live chastely soberly and justly and to yeeld obedience unto Princes and Magistrates That neverthelesse they rejected Sacrifice of the Masse the â—â—â—rament of Penance Auricular Conâ—â—sion humane Traditions Prayers for the dead but cleaved to the holy Scripâ—â—es Which things they said to have â—â—eived
from Calvin to the Apostles time hardlie one Christian of a thousand could be saved That if the question be touching Histories it is certaine we must begin by the Ancientest and that it belongs to our Adversaries to shew where their Religion was in the time of the Apostles afore they speake of the time before Calvin There they are at a stand and driven to a non-plus and not being able to shew their Religion in the Apostles writings they send us back to an unwritten word which depends on the Popes Authority whom they make judge in his owne cause and make the Church of Rome the Soveraigne Judge of her owne proper duty The principall is that the Christian Church is subject to the Lawes and to the practice of the Church of the Apostles time and not to the example of what was done before Calvin Of whom they speake as of the Inventer of our Religion because he exhorted us to beleeve the holy Scriptures For Calvin gave us not any Lawes We speake not of him in our Sermons we ground not our selves upon his authority we doe not say of him what the Church of Rome saith of the Pope to wit that he could not erre We doe not call our selves Calvinists as our Adversaries acknowledge themselves to be Papists and make glory of that title as * Certe nullo sublimiori gloriae titulo exornare nec certius eos esse Catholicos demonstrare potuissent quà m eos nuncupare Romanos atque Papistas Cardinall Baronius doth in his Martyrologie at the 16 of October where he saith that a man cannot be adorned with a higher degree of glory than to bee called a Papist So that after his account the title of Papist is of as much worth as the name of a Christian This demand is so much the more absurd as it is made unto us For when they aske of us where our Religion was before Calvin they presuppose that the Orthodoxe Church ought to be visible in all ages Which the Scripture saith not but foretels us of great revolts and false Doctors that shall teach men to abstaine from Marriage and from meates which God hath created for to be received with thanksgiving 1. Timoth. 4.3 It foretels us that all the Earth ravished in admiration shall goe after the Beast Revel 13 3. and that when Christ shall come hardly shall he find faith on the earth Luke 18.8 2. Thes 2. Revel 17. It tells us of the Sonne of perdition that shall bee called God and shall doe wonders and of the great harlot cloathed with scarlet who sitteth in the Citty with seaven hills that raigneth over the Kings of the earth which seduceth Kings and makes them drunke and is made drunke with the blood of the Saints and Faithfull It tells us in the twelfth of the Revelation that wings are given to the Church for to flie into the Wildernesse and live there hidden for a time It warnes us that the broad way where the throng of Peoples passeth leadeth into perdition Which things afford us another consideration That is if a Cut-purse asketh him whom hee hath robbed of his purse Where is thy Purse This theefe addeth scoffing and derision to his theft So the Pope who since so many ages hath persecuted to the uttermost the Church of God and endeavoured to abolish it addeth to this violence this derision and scoffing when he asketh Where was your Religion at that time For it were rather his part to informe us where hee had put her himselfe and to what passe he had reduced her In the meane while though we are not bound to answer to such an absurd and injust a demand and which doth not at all concerne Religion and being propounded by men whose Religion is new and that have swerved from the Ancient Christian Religion and who even say that the Pope may add unto the Creed new Articles of Faith Yet we say that it is foure or five hundred years agoe since the Pope persecuteth with fire and sword the Faithfull ones whereof there was a great number in France in the Low countries England Germany Bohemia and Hungaria to whom our Adversaries gave odious nicknames calling them Valdenses Albigenses Sodomites Picards c. And fathering upon them many impious and abhominable doctrines fâ—rre from their beleife Of whom were Massacred in few months by one Domiâ—ick Author of the Order of the Jacobins above two hundred thousand in Languedoe and Gasconie in Pope Innocent the third his time Of these faithfull people we have the Confession agreeable to ours written in their owne Language a residue of which People remaines still in Bohemia Hungaria Moravia and in the Valleys of Angrogne Luzerne Peruse Saint Martin Pragela Merindoles and Cabrieres which Churches have joyned themselves to ours so soone as it pleased God to display in France and the neighbouring Countries the Banner of his Gospell And the sudden alteration that hapned in Luthers time shewed that Europe was full of People that knew the truth and groaned after a Reformation which the Pope promised alwayes but would never suffer it to come to execution And for to specifie some thing touching the age immediatly before Calvin Aeneas Sylvius who in the yeare 1458. attained to the Popedome was a capital enemie to the faithfull of whom in his time Bohemia and Hungaria and the neighbouring Countries were full and was a firebrand of warre for to provoke the Emperours and Popes to persecute them Wherefore his testimony in this point is the more worthy of credit This man in his 130 Epistle describeth his journey to Tabor a City in Bohemia and the Religion of the Inhabitants and the Conferences he had with them Their sect saith he is pestilentious and abhominable and worthy of the uttermost punishment They will not admit the Church of Rome to have the Primacy nor that the Clergie should have any thing in propriety They pull downe the Images of God and of his Saints They deny Purgatory They hold that the Prayers of Saints which raigne with Christ availe nothing unto men They observe no holy day but the Lords day and Easter Contemne fasting and the Canonicall Prayers They give the Eucharist under the kindes of bread and wine even to little Children and to madde men When they consecrate the Sacrament they say nothing but the Lords Prayer and the words of Consecration They change no habits and take not any ornaments Yea some of them are so madde as to hold that the very body of Christ is not in the Sacrament of the Altar but that it is onely the representation thereof being wandring Sactators of Berengarius unconverted Among the Sacraments of the Church they admit the Baptisme and the Eucharist and Marriage and Orders But as for the Sacrament of Penance they make little account of it But of Confirmation and extreame Vnction they make no reckoning at all They are very opposite to the Religions of Monkes and affirme they be diabolicall
the Scriptures Austiu in the 164 Epistle to Emeritus Baptismum Christi ubique veneramur We worship every where the Baptisme of Christ Such nâ—â—â—nâ—r of speeches ought to be understood according to the subject or matter in hand CHAP. XVII Of the Priests intention without which the Roman Church beleeveâ— no consecration nor Transubstantiation is made THe Roman Church holdeth that 〈◊〉 the Priest hath not intention to consecrate and to doe what the Church doth there is no consecration or Transubstantiation made It is thus defined and determined by Pope Eugenius the 4. in the instruction of the Armenians which is at the end of the Councell of Florence And by the Councell of Trenâ— in the 7. Session Canon 11. in these words * Si quis dixerit in Ministris dum Sacramenta consicâ—unt conferunt non requiri intentione saltem faciendâ— quod Ecclesia saâ—it â—â—athâ—ma sit If any one say that the intentiontâ— doe at least what the Church doth is not requisite in the Ministers let him be accursed The Sacrament then being of no value if the Priests intention be not to consecrate it is impossible for the people to be assured that the consecration was made For they know not what the intention and thought of the Priest was only they presume it by conjecture God only knows the hearts of men 2. Chron. 6.30 The adoration therefore of the Hoste is a conjecturall adoration and which is done at all adventure since no man is assured of the Priests intention without which the Sacrament is of no value Bellarmin confesses it ingenuously in his third Book of Justification chap. 8. * Dicent Neque potest quis esse certus certitudine fidei se percipere verum Sacramentum cum SacramentuÌ„ non consiciatur sine intentione Ministri intentionem alterius nemo videre possit No man saith he can be certaine by the certitude of faith that he receives a true Sacrament because it depends upon the intention of the Minister And none can see another mans intention And truly this Cardinall hath reason to say that none can be certaine of it for there are Priests that are Magitians and there are examples of Priests convicted and punished for having consecrated in the name of the Devill Even very lately there was one put to death at Loudun accused of Magicke by the Vrsulina Nunnes that were possest with the Devill There be Priests Atheists profane that scoffe and jest at every thing they doe in the Church I have knowne diverse Priests who beeing converted to the true Religion did confesse to have sung Masses for many yeares together against their intention and detesting in their hearts what they did and asked forgivenesse of God for that they had fought so long against their owne consciences In all these Masses then no consecration was made By the same doctrine it appeares that the Priest doth not know whether he bâ— a Priest or no. For he knowes not what the intention of his Ordinator was Whence followeth that all the Masses he sings and all the absolutions he giveth remaine in suspence and no man knowes whether they be of any force or value Peradventure this Priest received the order of Priesthood of a Bishop that had intention but this Bishop perhaps received his Orders of another Bishop that had no intention And so mounting upwards the uncertaintie encreaseth and multiplies it selfe ad infinitum Gabriâ— Biel acknowledges the same in his Epitomie of the Canon of the Masse * Nullâ—s â—elebrans potest evidenter scice se esse Sacer dotem quia non potest câ—â—â—â—â—nter sâ—â—re â—e sore baptizatu aut legâ—â—â—mâ— ordinatum No Priest saith he that celebrateth can know evidently whether he be a Priest for he cannot know evidently whether he be baptized or whether he hath received the Ordination lawfully The Church then under the Old Testament had a great advantage over the Christian Church for then the Salvation of Children depended not upon the intention of those that circumcised them but on the onely grace of God and upon his Covenant which is a stay infinitely more firme than the intention of men Pope Adrian the 6. * Adrian 6. Quodlib Sect. 10. Supposito 2. Fol. 70. Consilium Constantiense excusaâ— simplices adoraÌ„tes hostiam non consecratam quia tacite implicatur conditio si consecratio sit rectè facta Et paulo post Si sic adoret Adoro te situ es Christus Consideration 6. after the councell of Constance excuseth the simple people that worshippeth the unconsecrated Hoste which they thinke to be consecrated saying the Hoste is not worshipped but with this condition to wit if the consecration be made as it ought in saying Adoro te situes Christus I worship thee if thou be Christ As saying I know not whether thou be Christ or whether thou be not Christ but howsoever and at all adventure I adore thee if thou be Christ Gerson in his Treatise of the Examen of Doctrines Tome 1. moves an objection drawne out of Bonaventure touching the worshipping of the Eucharist which is thought to be consecrated though it be not His answer after Bonaventure is such a Objicit idem Bonaventura de adoratione Eucharistiae quandoque non consecratae in manibus Sacer dotis Respondet casum communem esse qui semper implicitam habet conditionem vel presuppositionem quod Sacerdos secerit secundum debitum Ecclesiae ritum It is an ordinary ease which alwaies carries this condition or implicite presupposition that the Priest hath done as ought to be done in the Church which condition needs not to be expressed in the adoration Neverthelesse this adoration frees it selfe from being a sinne because it is the custome of the faithfull whereof we have an example in the worshipping of Images These Doctors will have the Hoste and Images of Saints to be worshipped upon these conditions viz if the consecration was duly made and if those Images be Images of true Saints and if those Saints heare us Which be things that one must guesse at piously and be contented with conjectures and be saved by custome As if a wife doubting whether he that hath lien with her were her husband or no should say unto him I have received you but under this presupposition that you are my husband I have indeed lien with you but it was under this condition if you were my husband The faith of the saithfull is not grounded upon conjectures it worships not a conjecturall God not knowing whether he be a God or no God The force of this intention is so great that Vasquez the Jesuite saith * Vasquez in 3 part Thomae Tomo 3. Dâ—sp 171. num 17. Constat Sacerdotibus coÌ„missam fuisse potestatem consecrandi â—ta ut si vellent coÌ„secrare in maluÌ„ usuÌ„ nempe pro venefiâ—â—â—s incantationibus coÌ„secratio corum effectum haâ—eret It is most certaine that the power of consecrating was committed
28.2 But this place is likewise alleaged falsly For Saint Matthew in the very same place saith the cleane contrary There was saith he a great Earthquake For the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rolled back the stone from the doore of the Sepulcher And Marke chap. 16.4 saith the same c Thom. 1. Concil Edition Golonan 1567. pag. 814. Revoluto monimenti lapide tertio die caro resurrexit Leo the first Bishop of Rome in his 95 Epistle to Leo Augustus acknowledges it saying that in the third day the flesh of the Lord arose againe the stone of the monument being rolles backe In vaine do they alleage that Chriâ—â— walked upon the waters For what iâ— that to prove that his body may be in severall places at one and the same time He that walketh upon the waters is not for that farre from himselfe If Christ by his divine power hath made the waters firme under his feete or sustained his body that it might not sinke he hath not for that placed his body in severall places nor changed the nature of his body If I keepe up and uphold with my hand a stone above the water that changes not the nature of the stone and doth not take from it its weight and heavinesse For to prove that the body of the Lord hath beene sometimes in two severall places at once they alleage the 23 chapter of the Actes verse 11. where it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the night following the Lord stoode by Paul from whence they doe inferre that Christs body being in heaven stood neverthelesse by Saint Paul on earth In speaking thus they presuppose without proofe that the Lord of whom is spoken in this place is Christ onely and not God simply without distinction of persons Yea even in reâ—â—raining this word LORD to Christs person there is nothing in that place that obliges us to understand this of the body of Christ rather then of his divine nature and vertue Might not â—he sonne of God speake and make himselfe sensible to Saint Paul by his divine vertue without a locall and bodily approach The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 12.7 Luc. 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 23.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof Saint Luke makes use signifieth not onely to stand by one but also to come upon him unlook'd for to relieve and succour him and make him feele his favour as may be seene Acts 12.7 Luke 2.9 Acts 23.27 In all these places the Greeke word signifieth to come upon unlooked for Now the Roman Church doth not beleeve that Christ comes unto the Sacrament but beleeves that hee is made in it CHAP. XXI Of the dignitie of Priests And that our Adversaries debase and vilisie the utilitie and efficacie oâ— Masses and make them unprofitable for the remission of sinnes And of the trafficke of Masses THe Doctors of the Roman Church do speake of the Eucharist as of the highest mystery of Christian Religion and extoll with such bigge tearmes the power of priests in making Christ with a few words that they call them Gods and Creators of their Creator having a power above the blessed Virgin Mary and above all the Angels who cannot make Christ because he is made already So saith Gabriel Biel in his 4 lesson upon the Canon of the Masse * Ad Sacerdotii authoritatem Angeli coelorum cives noÌ„ audent aspiraâ—e The Angels Citizens of Heaven dare not aspire to the authority of Priesthood And a little after †Transgrediendo perinde agmina Angetorum ad ipsam eoeli Regâ—naÌ„ mundi Dom nam veniamus Haec etsi in gratiae plâ—nitudine â—â—â—aturas supergrediatur universas Hierarchâ—s tamen cedit it commissi mysterii executione Passing by the bands of Angels let us come to the Queene of Heaven and Lady of the World The same though in pleniâ—â—de of grace shee goes beyond all the creaâ—ures yet shee yeelds to the Hierarchs of â—he Church he cals the Priests so in the â—xecution of the Mystery committed unto â—â—em And it is in the same lesson where â—e saith that Christ in incarnate and made â—â—esh in the hands of Priests as in the Virâ—ins wombe and that Priests doe create â—heir Creator and have power over the â—ody of Christ Peter de Besse in his Booke of the Royall Priesthood chapter 2. speakes thus Saint Peter addeth that all Priests are Kings in token whereof they weare the crowne And in the 3 chapter The Priesthood and the Godhead are in some things to be parallell'd and are almost of equall greatnesse since they have equall power Matth. 16. 18. Againe Seeing that the Priesthood walketh hand in hand with the Godhead that Priests are Gods it goes farre beyond the kingly authority and Priests are farre above Kings And in the same place hee calls them Masters of Kings surpassing as much in dignitie the royall office as the Soule surpasses the body Which hee hath taken out of * Baron annal An. 57. §. 31. At verò longe praestare sacerdotes regibus arâ— gumento quo utitur plane significat Et paulo post Regem sacris ministris minorem gerere ordineÌ„ certum est And shewes it by the example of S. Martin who made a Priest drinke before the Emperour at the Emperour his owne table Baronius He addes Incredible things saith he but yet true that the power of Priests is so great and their excellencie so noble that heaven depends on them Item in the same place comparing the Priests with Josuah at whose Prayer the Sunne stood still he saith Josuah stopped but the Sunne but these to wit the Priests stay Christ being in heaven in the midst of an Altar The creature obeyed to the first but the Creator obeyes to these last The Sunne to the one and God to the other as often as they pronounce the sacred words To be short he concludes that whatsoever God is in heaven the Priest is the same on earth And all that with the approbation of the Faculty of Divinity at Paris prefixed in the front of the Booke It is good to know that England having beene a long time without a Bishop subject to the Pope the English Papists complained lately they had no body to conferre them the Orders and to minister unto them the confirmation without which the Canons say that a man cannot be wholy a Christian Vnto whose desire Vrhan now raigning being willing to satisfie sent them a titular Bishop which hee hath called Bishop of Calcedon But the Jesuits tâ—at are in possession of ruling and governing among the English Papists would not receive that Bishop saying that Confirmation is not necessary and that the Baptismall Vnction may supply the want of Episcopall Crisome and that a Church may bee without a Bishop Against whom the Sorbonne of Paris did cast some Censures calling their doctrine hereticall and scandalous
them are a thing whereof no trace is to be found in all Antiquitie As also the taxe of the Papall Chauncerie wherein the Absolutions for * Cap. de absolut oÌ„ibus Absolutio pro co qui interfecit patrem matrem gros 7 Absolut io pro eo qui falsificavit litteras Apostolicas grossos 15. Murther for Parricide Inceste Perjury are taxed at a certaine rate of money So many groats or so many Ducats for a man that hath killed his Father so much for him that hath lyen with his Mother A Roman Jesuit called Silvester Petra sancta wrote lately a Booke against me wherein he teaches us a thing which we knew not before He saith in the thirteenth Chapter that during the time of Advent and Lent the Pope permits not a man in Rome to passe the whole night in a bawdy house that would be thought 〈◊〉 violating of the holynesse of Lent Wherefore in those dayes of devotion it is onely permitted to passe the whole day and a part of the night in the Bawdy-house Can such Lawes be found in the Ancient Church Briefly it is a very new Religion and a heape of doctrines and Lawes unheard off in all Antiquitie expressly invented for gain and for the raising of the Popes Empire and building up that Monarchie which was not in the first ages of the Church And for to keepe the People in ignorance least they should discover these Mysteries For example Indulgences Privâ—â—â— Masses Masses and Sâ—ffrage◠〈…〉 dead are very lucrative 〈…〉 to the Pope and 〈…〉 Auriculâ—◠〈…〉 the 〈…〉 Conscienâ—◠〈…〉 jection 〈…〉 is not givâ—◠〈…〉 and satisâ—â—◠〈…〉 Monkes serve to fill up that Spirituall Treasure of the Pope whereof he carries the keyes distributing these satisfactions to the people by his Indulgences so lucrative and profitable to the Pope and his Clergie By Absolutions the Priests make themselves Judges of Soules and Judges in Gods cause In reserving to themselves and unto Kings the communion of the Cup they make themselves companions unto Kings and exalt themselves above the People By the single life of Bishops and other Clergie men the Pope keepes the Ecclesiasticall goods from being wasted and consumed and from being diverted and turned to the reliefe and enriching of the Children In painting God the Father dressed like a Pope they plant this opinion in the minde of the People that the Pope is like unto God and that God makes great account of the Pope since he borrowes his habit By Canonizing of Saints the Pope makes the People to worship his groomes and gives the title of Saint for a recompence of Services By the Sacrament of Penance the Pope and his Priests usurpe the power of imposing corporall and pecuniary punishments * Thus caused he Henry the second of England to be whipt by a troope of Monkes As is to be seene in Matth. Paris and in West monasteriensis so farre as to cause Kings to â—e whipt By the Service in the Latin â—ongue hee entertaines the People in â—gnorance and giving them his tongue planteth in the midst of them a marke of his Empire He gives them the Roman Language for to came and inure â—hem to the Roman Religion The Popes power to unthrone Kings makes him King of Kings and exalts him on an Empire above all the Greatnesse that is in the World Images which are called ignorant mens Books accustome the People to forget and be without the Scriptures which in those Countries where the inquisition raignes is a Booke altogether unknowne among the People By Transubstantiation Priests make Christ and have him in their owne power By Holy-dayes that the Pope ordaines he rules the Civill Government causing the Shops to be shut up and the Seates of Justice and of the Kings Counsell to cease When the Merchants shop shutteth the Clergie-mens shop openeth For then doe the People goe to gaine Pardons as they tearme it and visit Reliques and alwayes the Bason is by By the distinction of meates and fasting dayes the Pope rules the Markets and bellies and Kitchins and Kings and Peoples tables And the more prohibitions there is the oftner come they to the Pope and to the Prelates for to have dispensations The Pope hath made of Matrimonie a Sacrament that he might take away from the civill Magistrates and Judges Secular the right of judging of such causes for it belongs to the Church to judge of Sacraments By Dispensations in degrees of consanguinity which in the Word of God hinders the Marriage the Pope maketh that the Children of Princes for such dispensations are given but to Great ones are obliged to defend the Popes Authority if they will be held for legitimate By Annates or first fruites of Benefices and the sale of Archiepiscopall Cloakes the Pope makes an incredible gaine And there is such a Cloake for which he drawes above threescore thousand Ducats By the power which the Pope assumes to himselfe to change the Commandements of God and to dispense of Vowes and Oathes made unto God he exalts himselfe above God For hee that can free and exempt men from obeying God and being faithfull to him must be greater than God The Invocation of Saints the Adoration of Reliques and the Miracles which are said to be wrought at those Reliques serve to build up many Churches Monasteries which are as so many props to the Papall Domination In sum all the subtilty and policy in the World hath been brought therein Never was there any Empire built with so much craft and cunning The doctrine which teacheth that Christ Jesus by his death hath delivered us from the guilt and punishment of sinnes before Baptisme but as for the sinnes committed after Baptisme that we must beare the punishment for them either in this life or in Purgatory hath clipped Christs benefice for to make place unto their traffick and for to give credit to their Indulgences and Masses for the dead In a word they make profit of all Death it selfe is tributary to the Roman Clergie CHAP. XXIII Answer to the Question made unto us by our Adversaries Where was your Religion before Calvin THis demand which every foot is made unto us by our Adversaries viz. Shew us where your Religion was before Calvin is altogether injust and deceitful For to keepe us from examining the Roman Religion by the holy Scripture they amuse us with humane Histories For this is not a question of Divinity but of History wherein God hath not commanded us to be learned and skilfull that wee may bee saved But hath commanded us to be instructed in his Word At the day of judgement God shall not aske us whether we have beleeved as they did beleeve before Calvin but Saint Paul tels us that God shall judge us according to his Gospell and that men shall be judged by the Law of God Rom. 2.12 16 That if for to be saved it were necessary to know the History of the ages before Calvin mounting upwards
not from Calvin but from Christ and his Apostles For the strait â—â—ssages and steepe places of the Alpes â—â—d preserved them from the persecutiâ—â—s of the Pope and his Ministers And at this very day also the Church of Ethiopia which containeth 17 great â—â—ovinces agrees with us in the funâ—amentall points of Faith though she â—ave some small superstitions For she â—eleeveth not Purgatory nor Transubâ—antiation She maketh no elevation for Adoration of the Hoste Is not subâ—ect to the Pope Knowes nor what Indulgences meane nor private Masses Celebrateth the divine Service in the Ethiopian tongue Gives the Communion to the People under both kindes Worships no Images Hath but one Table or Altar in the Church Hath Monkes but they are Muried and earne their living by the worke of their hands Baptiseth not the male Children till forty dayes after this 〈◊〉 and the females after threesâ—â—â— dayes an assured signe that she beleeves not 〈◊〉 Baptisme of Water to be necessary uâ—â— Salvation These things are seene 〈◊〉 the History of Francis Alvarez a Pâ—â—tugall Monke who lived six yeareâ—â— the Court of the great Neguz Empertâ—â— of Ethiopia The Ethiopian Churches are calâ—â—niously and falsly accused to be Eutichians True it is they be subjeâ—â— to the Patriarch of Alexandria is who 〈◊〉 an Eutichian But that subjection iâ—â—â— in the doctrine but onely in that 〈◊〉 said Patriarch hath the right of noâ—â—â— nation of the Abuna or chiefe Prâ—late of the Ethiopians when the Seâ—â—voide The Greeke Church more ancient thaâ— the Roman and of whom the Chuâ—â—â— of Rome received the Christian Religion doth not acknowledge the Pope rejecteth his Lawes knoweth not whaâ— his Indulgences are Beleeveth neitheâ— the Purgatory nor the Transubstantiation Celebrateth the divine Service in the Greeke tongue Hath her Priests married Hath no Liturgies or Private Masses and comes a greatdeale neerer to our Religion than to the Romish And this I say not that we ground our selves upon any of these examples â—or would be authorised thereby For â—â—e doe ground our selves only upon the word of God and of his blessed Apostles contained in the holy Scripture unto which the Pope braggeth not to be subject and doth not acknowledge it for Judge In a word we must stand firme upon this To wit that our Adversaries must shew us where their Religion was in the time of the Apostles before wee doe shew them where our Religion was before Calâ—in CHAP. XXIV That our Adversaries reject the Fathers and speake of them with contempt OVr Adversaries being pressed by the holy Scripture are wont to have recourse to the Fathers whom never thelesse they receive not for Judges and acknowledge in them a multitude of errors and speake of them with great contempt Denis Petau a Jesuite in his Notes upon Epiphanius pag. Multa sunt à sactissims Patribus praeapucque à Chrysostomo in Homiliss aspersa quae si ad exactae veritatis regulam accommodare volueris boni sesus mania videbuntur 244 speaketh thus In the most holy Fathers and cheifly in Chrysostome his Homilies are dispersed many things which if thore wouldest accommodate to the rule of truth shall be found to be voide of sense Cardinall Baronius in his Annals in the year 34. § 213. a Sanctiâ—â—mos Patres in interpretatione Scripturae non semper in omnibus Catholica sequâ—â—ur â—â—desia The Catholick Church doth not follow alwayes the most holy Fathers in the interpretation of the Scripture b Consultiâ—â— dâ—â—ndu puâ—aâ—â—â— Hâ—eronymum sit amen ille ipse est ut humana sert infirmiâ—as memoriâ lapsum And in the § 185. Hierome hath erred for lacke of memory And in the yeare 31. § 24. he checks Saint Austin for not understanding well these words of the Lord Thou art Peter c. And in the yeare 60. § 20. he is vexed against Theodoret because he rejected the service of Angels grounded upon a place of Saint Paul Colos 2. c Ex his videas haud feliciter ejâ—s pace dictum sit Theodoretum assecutum esse Pauls verborum sensum By this saith he it may he seene that Theodoret with his good leave did not well apprehend the Apostles meanning And in the veare 369. § 24. Hilary had also his defects Alphonsus à Castro in his first Booke of Heresies Chapter 7. a SanctoruÌ„ Patrumsetentâ—â—e saepe invicem repugnant Oftentimes the opinions of the Fathers are repugnant one to the other Melchior Canus in his seventh Book of common places Chapter 3. b NuÌ„ 2. CuÌ„ Sanctorum quisque his duntax at exceptis qui libros Canonicos eduderunt humano spiritu locutus suerit aliquaÌ„do vel in co â—rrarit quod ad sidem pertinere posteademonstratum est c. Seeing there is none of the Saints except onely those that have written the Canonicall Bookes but have spoken by the spirit of man and sometimes erred in that which afterwards was knowne to belong to the Faith It is evident that from such an authority none can build a certaine and assured Faith And thereupon he produceth for an example the errors of many Fathers so farre as to say that against the ordinary course of nature they bring forth monsters Sixtus Senensis in the Preface upon the fifth Booke of his Bibliotheca c Prisâ—i illi Ecclisiaâ—il Magistrâ— nonnibâ—l interdum à proposito veritatis scopo aberraverunt These ancient Masters of the Churches of have some times swerved from the scope of the truth at which they aimed And in the same place d In libris sancterum Doctorum quos authentica legit Ecclesia nonnunquam â—â—uni antur quaedam pravavel haeretica In the Bookes of the holy Doctors whose authority is read in the Church are found sometimes things wicked and hereticall and he speaketh this after Anselme in his Commentaries upon the second to the Corinthians Maldonat the Jesuite upon the sixth of Saint John checking Saint Austin for not well conceiving in what sense Christ calleth himselfe the bread saith a § 81. Hoc dâ—co persuasum me habere D. Augustâ—num si nostra fuisset aetate longe aliter sensurum fuisse Et S. 71. Hanc interpretationeÌ„ multo magis probo quà m illam Augustinâ— I am perswaded that if Austin had lived in ouâ— dayes he would have beene of an other opinion And in the same place I doe approve of this interpretation much more than that of Austins Cardinall Cajetan in the beginning of his Commentaries upon Genefis b Nullus detestelur novum sacrae Scripturae sensum ex hoc quod dissonat à prescis Doâ—â—oribus Non enim allâ—gavit Deus exposiâ—â—onem Scripturarum pâ—isâ—orum Doctorum sensibus Let none detest a new sense of the Scripture under colour it disagreeth from the ancient Doctors For God hath not tyed the Expesition of the Scriptures to the sense or opinions of the ancient Doctors Andradius in his second Booke of the defense of the Faith
the Councell of Constance Sess XV. Artic. 19. Dixerant se audivisse quod Iohannes Hus dixisset quod indulgentiae Papae â—ipâ—scopi noÌ„ valent nisi Deus indulgeat in the fifteenth Session To whom also they did impute things farre from his beleefe Some witnesses presented themselves that testified they had heard him say That the Pardons of the Pope and of the Bishop are nothing worth unlesse God doe forgive That was one of the crimes for which he was burned For that venerable Councell hath judged that the Pope may forgive sinnes whether God will or no and that Gods consent is not necessarily required for to make that the Popes and Bishops Indulgences be of force and validity This newes of John Huz his death and of Hierome of Prague brought into Bohemia did pierce the heart of the Bohemians that were called Hussites with exceeding griefe Histor Bohemicae cap. 56. The King seeing their number encrease dayly more and more granted them Churches in Prague for their meetings Aeneas Sylvius saith that the people mooved with anger pulled downe some Monasteries and Churches both within and without the City Namely neere Tabor where thirty thousand persons did celebrate in the middest of a field the holy Communion under both kindes The King Wencestaus being dead the Kingdome of Bohemia fell to Sigismund his brother Emperor and King of Hungaria Whereupon great feare did seise the people of Bohemia because of his great power and that against his oath and violating the safe conduct he had given to John Hux and to Hierome of Prague he caused them to be burned at Constance But a Bohemian Gentleman called Zisca that had lost an eye in the warres a man incomparable for vigour of body and minde exhorted them not to be disscouraged And it fell out at the same time that Sigismund under tooke warre against the Turke in Hungaria with an indifferent bad successe That gave leasure to the people order their businesses The Queene widdow to Wenceslaus levied some troopes for to fall upon this people and hinder their encreasing Sigismund sent Lievtenants to governe the Country and set things into good order againe in whose hands Zisca did surrender and remit Pelzina and Plesta Cap. 39. and other places whereof he had gotten possession For his desire was to obey the Emperour and he sought all meanes to give him content But there came Letters from the Emperour whereby he did declare that his will and pleasure was that the Churches granted to the Bohemians called Hussites should bee taken from them and their Religion interdicted And they had good advice that Sigismonds intention was to destroy them Whereat the People being afraid looked for nothing but for a totall ruine and their enemies being become more vigorous beganne to oppresse them Which things moved Zisca to take Armes and thinke upon his defence With a few forces bee obtained many victories against the Queene having none but foote forces of small experience and little exercised in warre Then came Sigismond into Bohemia with a mighty Armie resolved to destroy this people Besieged Prague wherein Zisea was who in many sallies defeated the most part of Sigismonds armie made him raise the Siege and tooke many townes by the verie terrour of his name As hee was besieging Vissegrad the Emperour came at unawares for to make him raise the siege having with him thirtie thousand Horse and all the Nobility of Mordvia But Zisea defeated him and obtained upon him a great victorie And a little after Sigismond having for the third time prepared a mightie Armie lost a third Battell by which he was constrained to leave Bohemia full of shame and confusion A little after Zisea besieging a towne Cap. 44. received a shot of an arrow in the eye so that of blinde of an eye as hee was hee became blinde of both But that hindred him not from leading and conducting his troopes and giving many combates being victorious every where But the Emperour being irritated and angrie came backe againe into Bohemia bringing along with him two powerfull Armies the one out of Germanie and the other out of Hungaria which like an overflowing torrent overwhelmed all Bohemia Tooke some townes and made great ravage But Zisea though blinde and having but a few men drew directly towards the Emperours Armie and defeated him with a great defeat tooke Bag and Baggage and all things belonging to the Armie and pursued him a whole dayes Journey Pio a Florentine had brought out of Hungaria fifteene thousand horse who passing upon a frozen River for to save themselves the Ice breaking under them were all drowned in the River Furthermore Zisca with his victorious Armie went out of Bohemia and entred into Moravia and passed into Austria and came to succour the faithfull that were oppressed there To him did adjoyne himselfe a Moravian gentleman named Procopius exceeding valiant and an imitator of the vertue of Zisea who caused the Emperour Sigismund to raise the siege before Juâ—emberg in Moravia which he had besieged A great Battell was given betweene Zisea and the Emperours troupes neare Ausck upon the River of Elbe where a great quantity of the Germane Centry were killed on the Emperours side Who pulled downe and confounded with so many losses resolved at last to seeke after Zisca his love and friendship promising him the Generall Lievetenancy of the whole Kingdome and all kinde of Advantages Zisea gave eare thereunto and took his journey for to goe meet the Emperour but hee fell sicke by the way and dyed being very old and blinde Aeneas Sylvius saith that when hee was a dying he gave counsell to his people to make a Drumme of his skinne after his death Cap. 46. assuring them that at the sound of that Drumme his enemies would flie away Zisea being dead Procopius succeeded him in the conduct of a part of the troopes against whom Pope Martin the fifth set all Germanic in Armes and sent into Bohemia three mighty Armies commanded by the Dukes of Saxe the Marquesse of Brandenbourg and the Arch-Bishop of Trivers These three Armies joyned themselves together But so soone as the Bohemians did appeare such terrour and feare seised upon the Imperiall Armies that they presently fled without staying for the enemie forsaking all their baggage and munitions of warre But the Cardinal Julian sent by the Pope stirred up the Emperour Sigismond to make a greater effort than any of the former Aeneas Sylvius saith there was in his Armie forty thousand Horse besides the Foot This Cardinall entred into Bohemia where hee committed many unheard off cruelties killing both women and children But at the very first noyse and rumour that came of the Bohemians approach such a terrible feare tooke this huge Armie that every one threw his armes downe for to fly away more nimbly and left their carriage and munitions of warre to the enemy The Cardinall having escaped this danger came to Basile for to preside at the Councell that the Pope Eugenius the fourth had assembled there in the yeare of our Lord 1431. Now we have made this recitall not for to approve Zisea his actions nor the commotions of peoples taking armes against their Sovaraigne for to avoide persecution and Martyrdom For the truth of the Gospell is not established by these meanes Christ Jesus calleth us to beare the crosse after him The blood of Martyrs hath more efficacy for to encrease the Church and spread the doctrin of the Gospell than Battels But I have represented this history for to be an example of Gods justice punishing the disloyalty of Sigismond who against his faith and promise burned alive two faithfull Martyrs God having made use of weake and contemptible persons for to make him lose above two hundred thousand men and cover him with shame and confusion CHAP. XII The Confession of Cyril Patriarch of Constantinople now living touching the Sacrament of the Eucharist THis Prelate in the seventeenth Article of his Confession altogether conformable to the Doctrine of our Churches after he hath recited the Institution of the holy Supper as it is found in the Gospell addeth That is the simple true and lawfull Institution of this admirable Sacrament in the administration whereof wee doe confesse and beleeve the true and firme presence of the Lord Christ Jesus Yet that presence which faith offereth and makes present unto us but not that which Transubstantiation vainely invented doth teach For wee beleeve that the faithfull in the holy Supper doe eate the body of Christ Jesus our Lord not incrushing and breaking it sensibly and destroying it with our teeth in the participation But in partaking thereof by the sense of the soule For the body of Christ is not that which is taken and seene in the Sacrament with the eyes but that which Faith having taken spiritually makes it present and communicates it unto us Therefore it is 〈◊〉 that we eate it and are made partakers of it if we doe beleeve But if we beleeve not we fall away from all the benefit of the Sacrament By the same reason we beleeve that to drinke the Cup in the Sacrament is to drinke indeed the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ after the same manner as hath been said concerning the body For the Law-giver made the same commandement touching his blood as he did touching his body Which precept must not be mutilated according to every ones fancie and humour But the tradition that hath beene prescribed unto us must be kept sound and entire When therefore in the Sacrament wee have partaked worthily and communicated intirely with the body and blood of Christ we make this profession that we are already reconciled and united to our head and made one and the selfe same body with a firme hope that wee shall be his coheires in his Kingdome Here is the Originall in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS