in their proper shape and true likenesse And this was also at the time of the rising of Luther when as there was neither sound doctrine true faith nor religion to be found in all the Romish iurisdiction according to that Prophecie of their S. Hildegard a Nunne which saith In the Apostolike order to wit in the Roman Sea no religion shall be found Truely Christian Reader it seemeth very apparent that God hath made speciall choyse of England aboue all the Nations in the world to be the chiefe for the recouering and reducing of that part of his Church the Romish iurisdiction and the ouerthrow of Antichrists kingdome and religion For whereas in the 17. chapter of the Reuelation the tenne hornes are declared to be the maine strength of the seauen-hilled Citie to wit Rome and that the text declareth also those hornes to be so many kingdomes and that the learned expound them to be these tenne head kingdomes of the Romish iurisdiction England Scotland Denmarke c. the first whereof that withdrew her power from Rome was England it is manifest England is the chiefe I know Christian Reader it would be thought strange to say that that which was done by King Henry was foretold in the booke of the Reuelation Neuerthelesse a very learned man writing vpon these words in the 13. verse of the 11. chap. And the tenth part of the Citie shall fall saith plainely It is a thousand to one but that it is meant of King Henry meaning his withdrawing his power from Rome And indeed it is tenne thousand to one but that it is meant of him For plaine experience doth euidently demonstrate England to be the chiefe of those tenne Kingdomes also which the 16. verse of the 17. chap. declareth shall be the meanes of the finall fall of the Citie of Rome and power of Antichrist for that after this worke was set abroach by King Henry we saw it so greatly to preuaile vnder the raigne of that famous Queene his Daughter Elizabeth that at her decease the Pope had scarce three of those Kingdomes signified by those hornes left to adhere with him intirely And I doe finde also by diuers of the olde Romish Predictions that as God made King Henry the maine beginner of the ruine and decay of the strength of Romish Babylon so he hath ordained a most worthy King of the name of Iacob to second him in that worke And as touching that which shall be further effected by him thus hath their Robertus a Dominican Frier written long agoe in his second Sermon But Iacob flying from the Serpents face which Serpent in his third vision hee affirmeth the spirit told him was Antichrist the Pope is ioyned to those that doe praise my name For which cause hee declareth the Pope whom in the same Sermon hee compareth to Esau should put in practise the destruction of the spirituall Iacob as also for refusing to ioyne with him and to be of his societie For there hee bringeth in the Pope speaking in this manner to his spirituall sonnes Goe to my Sonnes and enter into a consultation among your selues how I may bring him vnder for by his destruction my treasure shall bee exceedingly increased I haue neede of much because the name of my house is great vpon the face of the earth Deglutiamus eum virum Come therefore let vs swallow him vp aliue Which Prophecie albeit wee saw fulfilled in the Powder-treason yet as the same Frier sheweth that all the Pope could doe should nothing at all preuaile so thankes be to our good God we saw it did not Againe the same Frier in his sixeteenth Sermon fore-sheweth that it shall come to passe that the same Iacob whom there hee calleth the Lyon King shall visite the Emperour and the rest of the Roman and other Catholique Princes of Christendome by his Christian and royall exhortations to helpe to subdue the Pope and to bring the Church of Rome into the same state of primitiue puritie as it was in the happy dayes of Constantine the Great Theodosius Valentinian c. Whereby he declareth not onely how greatly the Church of Rome is fallen from her primitiue purity in religion but also that shee shall be reformed by the speciall meanes of our Nation of England And to the like effect are these words of their Saint Bridgit cannonized for a Saint by Pope Boniface the ninth in her sixt booke of Reuelations 26. chap. where she bringeth in Christ complayning of the decaied state of the Church of Rome shewing him to exhort all Christian Kings what course to take for the perfect reformation thereof saying Wherefore the King for whom thou dost pray ought to call and assemble a Councell of Spirituall men such as are wise through my wisedome and he ought to enquire diligently of those that haue my spirite and aske their aduice how and by what meanes the wall of my Church may be built againe amongst Christians how God may be restored to his honour true Religion made to flourish anew godly charity made more feruent my passion more deepely imprinted in the hearts and mindes of men and my Commaundements loued with greater zeale and respect Let him therefore gather together the vpright and true kinde of Christians that hee together with them may repaire the spirituall breaches of my Church the which verily hath departed too farre from mee By which wee see shee giueth all true Christian Princes to vnderstand that God requireth of them that they ioyne together and vse all meanes by godly and learned instructers to reclayme the Romish Church and to reduce her to that most auncient Catholique faith and religion which Saint Paul so commended her for at the first which albeit at the first or on the sodaine shee will not receiue but as their Abbot Ioachim vpon the 22. chapter of Ieremy sayth Will stoppe her eares lest shee should heare the charming of the inchaunter the voyce of him that admonisheth her yet vpon the 15.17.18.21 and 22. chapters he showeth that those admonitions shall in short time so worke that not onely the Germaine Empire shall forsake the Church of Rome but the Church it selfe with her Colledge of Cardinalls shal be diuided and fall into discord among themselues And vpon the 50. and 51. of Ieremy he sheweth by the effect that those admonitions shall so greatly preuaile that the Pope and the whole order of his Clergie his Consistorie and State shall be exceedingly impaired For saith he The Nobles of the Romaine Church shall perish the Monasteries shall be diminished the High Priest shall be purified and Christian Religion shall be winnowed as with a fanne And the same also did their Saint Katharine of Sienne foresee as may appeare by these her words written in a prayer of hers But what shall the Lord doe to these euill husband men he shall come and destroy them and let out his Vineyard vnto others c. By tribulations and afflictions and in such a manner
who perceiuing that the Church was like to haue a new Husband to wit an Vniuersall Bishop to be made and to become her head in stead of Christ He confessed with teares that the state of the Church was like to fall to ground For said he k Gregorie lib. 4. Epist 52. 55. Seeing the order of Priesthood is falne within it cannot now stand long without And thus much concerning the fall of the Church especially of that part vnder the Patriarkedome of Rome before there was an Vniuersall Pope established in Rome Now it remaineth that wee see how it grew to perfection vnder Vniuersall Popes in these foure principall poynts Doctrine Faith Religion and generall Apostacie Which God willing shall bee made euident by their owne Writers also 13 Touching the first point their Saint Vincent sayth l Vincent in his Treatise of the latter end The religious orders are become vnto mens soules the way of perdition And a little after hee sheweth the reason to bee this For saith he the most part of Preachers preach now adayes not the simplicitie of the Gospell but the subtiltie of Aristotle Their S. Bridgit speaking in the person of Christ saith m Bridgit lib. 4. cap. 133. They annull and make of no effect my Word they affirme and teach their owne lies and denie my truth c. n In lib. 6. of her Reuelation chap. 26. My Word is vnto them intollerable and my wisdome and doctrine in their account but vaine Therefore o Lib. 4. cap. 132 They doe not preach and publish to the people my Word neither doe they teach my doctrine c. p Lib. 6. of her Reuelat. cap. 26. They follow their owne fancie so that their owne inuentions are vnto them a Law c. q Lib. 6. Reuelat cap. 15. They say â—nd doe boast that they vnderstand my Law and yet it is but for the deceiuing of others c. r Lib. 4.132 For of the vpright man they make a wicked man of the simple they make a Deuill And this commeth to passe as then Cardinall Beno sheweth because Å¿ Beno de vita gesâ—s Hudeb They are led by the spirit of errour and doctrines of Dâ—uâ—ls Whereby as their Bishop Cornâ—luâ—s saith t Cornelijorat Trident. The sauour of life is turned to the sauour of death So as their Matthew Paris the Monke saith u Paris in Henrico 2. sub 1160. Whence Christians were wont to fetch the water of Righteousnesse there they finde a poysoned puddle And euen thereby doth their Abbot â—oacham proue the Pope and his Clergie to be that Whore of Babylon mentioned in the seauenteenth Chapter of the Reuelation which offereth to the World the Abomination and Filthinesse of her Fornication in a golden Cup. * Ioacham vpon the 37. chap. Jere. The moderne Vicars of Christ saith he doe neglect Incense and Myrrhe but they seeke after Gold that they may with Babylon the great Ladie of the World fill vnto men Wine in a Golden Cup to infect their followers with their abomination Now therefore I demaund of our Romane Catholickes how it is possible for Doctrine to grow vnto any greater perfection of corruption then to be squared by the spirit of errour and Doctrines of Deuils whereby good men are made wicked men and simple men made Deuils 14 Touching the second poynt namely Faith their Saint Bridgit in her fourth Bâ—oke finding Rome to haue seduced the Romish Church from her primitiue puritie calleth her a wretched and an vâ— happie Citie And a little after shee saith x Bridgit lib. 4. cap. 30. Maruaile not that I called Rome an vnhappie and a wretched Citie because of the aforesaid abuses and others the like much contrarie to the Statutes of the Primitiue Church Wherefore it is to bee feared lest the Catholike Faith doe shortly sayle Their Saint Hildegard a Nunne hauing in a vision seene the Pope in the shew of a great and vgly Monster and other fearefull sigues ouer the Church of Rome wrote thus of the head thereof y Hildegard in her second booke of her Sciuias The sonne of perdition shall endeuour through a most wicked deceipt to seduce men for a time sweetely and smoothly by making crooked the path-way of the Christian Faith That Astrologian Ruth speaking of the state of the Romish Church when the Pope should be installed in his Seate wrote thus z Ruth in his 3. chap. of his Booke When as he shall enter into his House then shall the Romans stumble in the Faith Their Abbot Ioacham saith a Ioacham vpon the first and second of Ierem. The Pope considereth not in how peruerse a manner the Lyon of Faith is throwne downe And a little after he saith The religious orders doe defile the Faith by their errours teaching peruersly If in the head saith he is not the soundnesse of Faith much lesse is there in the heart the sinceritie of hope and yet further off from the foote is the diligence of doing charitable deedes And albeit the Faith of Rome was of olde published through the whole World yet afterward her Faith hath beene turned into perfidie and heresie Againe speaking of the whole Church of Rome hee saith b Jbidem This is the Synagogue of Sathan and his Seate This is that Figge-tree which is dried vp in the Faith by the meanes of the curse of transgression c. euen the latter Church the Ship of Saint Peter Their Bishop Cornelius saith c Oratio Cornelij Trident. Would to God they were not falne with one consent from Faith to Infidelitie and from Christ to Antichrist To conclude Ioacham yet sheweth of a more admirable perfection of falling from the true Faith in Christ in that he saith d Ioacham vpon the first and second chap. of Ieremie They haue chosen Antichrist for Christ the Deuill for God and Hell for the Kingdome of Heauen Wherefore whether it be possible for men to fall from the Faith in any greater measure let the learned Reader judge 15 Touching the third poynt to wit Religion Their Saint Bernard bewayling the desperate estate of Religion in his time saith e Bernard supra Cant. Ser. 33. gest Hildebrand Behold these times very much defiled with the worke that walketh in darkenesse Woe be to this generation because of the leauen of the Pharises which is hipocrisie If it may be called hypocrisie which is now so rife that it cannot and so shamelesse that it seeketh not to be kept secret A rotten contagion creepeth at this day through the whole body of the Church And a little after The wound of the Church is inward and incarable Their Cardinall Beno saith f Beno Cardinalis de vita gestis Hildeb Their Religion sauoureth nothing but of traiterousnesse and couetousnesse beeing led by the spirit of Errour and Doctrines of Deuils Their S. Elizabeth thus cryeth out against the Romish Clergie
they may after feare or feare those things which they haue framed And then deriding them with the words of their common answere he sayth No forsooth say they we feare not that but them after whose Image they be made and to whose names they beconsecrated Againe whereas they doubted their religion to be void without Images he thus resolueth their doubt p Lactant. lib. 2. cap. 19. Out of all doubt where there is an Image there is no religion If then where an Image is there true religion is not and that in the Popes iurisdiction euery Church is full of Images it is cleare that in all Churches within the Popes iurisdiction true Religion is not and consequently no religion And this is it whereof their Saint Hildegard thus foreshewed would come to passe saying q S. Hilde gard a Nunne lib. 3. Vision 11. Sciuias In the Apostolicall Order to wit saith she of the Romaine Sea no religion shall be found To be briefe Saint Augustine by rendering this reason why that sort of counterfeit Christians were so addicted to Images saying r Augustine in his booke against Admantus the 13. cha They would seeme to fauour Images to make the Heathen to thinke the better of their most miserable and lewd Sect plainely proueth the Papists to be not true Catholiques but most miserable and lewd Sectaries who wee see had rather ioyne themselues with the barbarous Heathen in their damnable idolatrie and superstition then with true Christians in the sinceritie and puritie of the Gospell of saluation And thus much touching the third and last illusion 9 But now forasmuch as they haue induced the ignorant to beleeue that in this their manner of worship they please God well it is our parts and duties to make knowne vnto them how it pleased God in them of olde time that so thereby they may the better iudge how themselues therein please God Exo. 32.27.28 The thirty two chapter of Exodus plainly declareth that the Israelites who acknowledged the true God for worshipping an Image were slaine in one day three thousand The tenth chapter of Hosea Hosea 10.1 to the 8. declareth as plainely that because the peoples hearts were diuided in affection betweene God and Images the Lord caused the Prophet to denounce such and so great desolation to come vpon them as that they should wish the hilles and mountaines to fall vpon them Also the first chapter of Zephaniah declareth Zephan 1. cha 1. to the 5. that because Iuda and Ierusalem had imparted the worship of God to the Hoste of heauen and his glorie to the idol gods in swearing by the Lord and by Malcham as the Papists doe By God and By the Roode By God and By the Masse the Lord threatned to destroy all things vpon the earth all things in the Sea the foules of Heauen and the inhabitants of the Land So then by this the most ignorant may euidently perceiue how in this their manner of idoll worship they please God 10 And now for that the Romanists are found Idolaters in the highest degree in that so directly contrary to the reuealed will of God and knowledge of his expresse Lawe which the Heathen had not make a Stocke and a Stone God in giuing vnto it the same diuine worship and honour that is due to God himselfe who hath sayd by the mouth of the Prophet Esay chap. Esay 42.8 42. I am the Lord and my glory will I not giue to any other neyther my praise to grauen Images and also in praying vnto it for all things needfull both for soule and bodie and that also this idoll-worship was established by Pope Gregorie the third then head of their Church and maintained euer since by his successours Bishops of Rome it is cleare that the Church of Rome is that idolatrous Church professing Christ which in the 17. Reuel 17.4.5 chapter of the Reuelation is said to be the Whore of Babylon offering to the world in a golden Cuppe to wit in the name of Christ the abomination and filthinesse of her fornication Reuel 19.2 And in the nineteenth chapter to be condemned for corrupting the earth with her fornication But lest for all this they should with impudent and brasen faces still face it out and deny it Let them heare how it is confirmed by their owne Writers Ioacham Abbas speaking of the corrupting of doctrine by the Priests of Rome sayth Å¿ Joacham vpon the 37. chapter of Ieremy They neglect Incense and Myrrhe but they seeke after Golde that they may with Babylon the great Lady of the world fill vnto men wine in a golden Cuppe to infect their followers with their abomination And vpon the seuenteenth chapter of the Reuelation hee speaketh yet more plainly and saith t Vpon the 17. chapter of the Reuelation The very Text it selfe doth teach how that the woman beguiled with golde and which committeth spirituall fornication with the Princes of the earth is the very Church of Rome which Babylon-like playeth spiritually the whoore with stockes and stones Againe hee saith of the whole Clergie of Rome v Vpon the 21. chapter of Ieremy They are Idolatrous Pastors and Prelates Againe he saith * Vpon the 1. and 2. chap. of Ieremy As Solomon in his olde age fell into Idolatry so hath the Church of Rome done And therefore it is which Robertus the Dominican Frier saith thus of the Romish Church in the person of Christ x Robertus in his 12. sermon Like an adultresse thou hast forsaken mee and hast ioyned thy selfe vnto strangers And of which their Paracelsus concludeth thus y Paracelsus in his 4. figured Prediction The whoore hath diuided her loue 11 So that the Romanists and Papists being thus so plainly proued Idolaters in worshipping God after the manner of the Heathen which he commanded his people the Iewes they should not doe if they would looke to continue in his fauour and to auoide his iudgements Deuter. 12. this maketh that good which wee affirmed in the beginning of our first Chapter namely that it is not possible that they and wee should be combined and conioyned together in Religion to make one and the same true Church of Christ For as the Apostle Saint Paul saith 2. Corint 6. 2. Cor. 6.16 There can be no agreement betweene the Temple of God and the Temple of Idoles Therefore it behooueth vs to looke warily vnto our selues that we be not deluded by their craftie and subtile arguments to be seduced to their idolatrous religion And thus much for the satisfying the Reader in this point also CHAP. V. Tending to resolue all men that for the first 606. yeeres next after Christ the Papists had no Church neither could haue because till then it had no vniuersall Pope to make it a Popish Church Neither was that first Church of Rome which Saint Peter planted the Mother but one of the Daughters of the Mother Church in which
Christ himselfe first planted that Faith and Religion which afterwards by meanes of his Apostles should be made Catholique 14. yeeres before Peter came to Rome So that hereby wee shall see the Antiquity of their Church ouerthrowne and Ierusalem to be the most ancient and true figure of the vniuersall Mother Church to wit heauenly Ierusalem and not Rome 1 THeir Cardinall Cusanus saith a Cusanus ad Behemos Epist 2. The members vnited to the Chaire and ioyned to the Pope make the Church By which he granteth that without an vniuersall Pope there could be no Popish Church Now that for the first 605. yeeres next after Christ there was no vniuersall Pope approued of nor publikely allowed to be the head of the members of the body of Christ these testimonies of Pelagius the second and Gregory the first will make it most manifest Pelagius in his dayes perceiuing that Mauricius the Emperour went about to make and establish an vniuersall Pope very bitterly inueighed against it and not onely so but thus Decreed against it b Pelagi Distin 99. an 580. No Bishop no not the Bishop of Rome himselfe ought to be called vniuersall Bishop Gregory the successour of Pelagius likewise finding the Emperour to persist in his enterprise wrote diuers Epistles vnto him to let him vnderstand that he went about an vnlawfull thing amongst which in one Epistle he sought to disswade him by this reason because said he c Greg. lib. 4. Epist 32. Peter is not called vniuersall Apostle inferring that seeing Peter was not none of the other Apostles were and then how could it be lawfull for any Bishop to take that title vpon him Againe when as he perceiued the Emperours Bishop which was then Iohn of Constantinople willing to take that title and supreame authority vpon him he thus inueighed against his arrogancy and saide d Greg. lib. 4. Epist 38. What wilt thou answer to Christ the head of the vniuersall Church at the last iudgement that thus goest about by the name of vniuersall Bishop to make all his members subiect to thee Whom doest thou imitate in this so peruerse a name but Lucifer that would haue beene singular and alone ouer all his fellow Angels Againe he saith e Greg. lib. 6. Epist 30. I speake it boldly whosoeuer calleth himselfe vniuersall Bishop or desireth so to be called is in the pride of his heart the fore-runner of Antichrist because he preferreth himselfe before all others and would be alone without any equall Now by the best Authours we find that this Gregory ended his dayes about the yeere of Christ 605. therefore we see this point standeth cleare that during so many hundred yeeres and odde after Christ there was not an vniuersall Pope approued of nor allowed by the Bishops of Rome themselues to be head of the members of Christ and therefore as yet there could be no Popish Church 2 But now to cast a must before the eyes of the ignorant they come in with this blinde distinction and say Notwithstanding this be spoken both by Pelagius and Gregory against the hauing an vniuersall Pope to be head of the vniuersall Church yet the question is what manner of Popes or vniuersall Bishops they meant whether such as the Bishops of Rome who allowed other Bishops vnder them or such as the Bishop of Constantinople The B. of Constantinople no more sought to exclude all other Bishops then the Bishop of Rome euer did who would haue had none other in all Christendome but himselfe I answer this is but a deluding distinction for that the Bishop of Constantinople no more sought to exclude all other Bishops then the Bishop of Rome euer did for had he of Constantinople once attempted that that had beene nuttes for Gregory for then might he in some one Epistle or other haue charged him therewith but we finde not any such matter neither in any of these Epistles doth hee charge him with any such thing onely he condemneth him of arrogancy for preferring himselfe before all other Bishops and for seeking to bring them into such subiection vnder him as whereby he might haue raigned ouer them as Lord and King And euen herein onely was it that hee charged him to imitate Lucifer Therefore this distinction of titles is but a meere misty matter Yea their owne records and some of their owne English Doctors plainely confesse that the same title and dignity which the Bishop of Constantinople sought to obtaine was onely one and the same which Boniface Bishop of Rome attained vnto by the meanes of Phocas the Emperour two yeeres after Gregories death and which they haue holden euer since For in their Booke called Chronicon f Chroni Euscbij An. 607. they are proued both one Also their Writer Sabilicus g Sabilicus Ennead 8. lib. 6. affirmeth them to be one and the same Likewise their Writer Vrspergensis h Vrspergensis in Phoca acknowledgeth the same And that which is more the chiefe of their adherents here in England in their answere returned to me Page 4. in these plaine and expresse words confesse the same The Emperour Phocas defended the righteous and ancient title of the Popes supremacy and iurisdiction ouer the vniuersall Church of Christ and suppressed the arrogancy of the Patriarke of Constantinople who challenged to be vniuersall Bishop And thus we see how themselues haue confounded their subtile distinction of titles 3 But yet for all this they will proue that the Bishop of Constantinople would haue had excluded all other Bishops because Gregory wrote thus to some of the chiefe of them i Gregory lib. 7. Epist 69. If one be vniuersall Bishop it remaineth that you be no Bishops Howbeit it is very apparant that Gregory meant by these words that if one should be admitted to be vniuersall head ouer all Bishops their powers then consisting onely in that one they by a consequent should be as none For to the very same effect are these his owne words k Gregory lib. 4. Epist 36. If one Patriarke be called vniuersall he derogateth from the other Patriarkes And a little after If this name may goe currant honour is taken away from all the Patriarkes But farre may it be from any Christian minde that any man should desire to take that vnto himselfe whereby the honour of his brethren should seeme in the least wise to be diminished By which it is most manifest that hee did not meane that Iohn of Constantinople would haue excluded all Bishops neither his fellow Patriarkes but that by diminishing their titles and honours hee would make them as no Bishops euen as all Bishops vnder the Popes are made by tollerating an vniuersall head ouer them For as their Cardinall Sabarella saith l Sabarella Citanture ad Illyrico De Sectis The Pope hath inuaded and entered vpon the right of all the inferiour Churches so that all the inferiour Bishops may goe for naught And vnlesse God helpe
as we know not he shall purge his Church and to that purpose shall stirre vp the spirits of his Elect. After which things saith she shall ensue such a reformation of the holy Church and such a renouation of the godly Pastors thereof that the very thoughts thereof maketh my spirit to reioyce in the Lord. And as I haue tolde you heretofore saith she the Spouse which is now altogether deformed ragged and â—orne shall then be adorned and decked as it were with precious iewels and chains And all faithfull people shall be glad when they are thus beautified with so holy Pastors Yea the very Infidells being drawne with the sweete smell of Christ shall repaire vnto the Catholike sheepfold and be conuerted to the chiefe Pastor and Bishop of their soules And this is it also which Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome did foresee as may appeare by these his words written in his nineteenth booke the ninth chap. vpon Iob The Church after the dayes of her afflictions shall afterwards notwithstanding be strengthened with great power of preaching And that it may yet more plainely appeare that our Nation of England shall beare some sway in this worke the aforesaid Dominican Frier in his sixt vision declareth that it was reuealed vnto him That the I le of Britaine should proue the chiefe receptacle of the Church of God and euen an Asile or Sanctuary to the Church of Rome in the time of the Turkish Persecution and as it were her nursing mother after she should come to be thus reformed and that the true Christian religion should be maintained especially by the blessed meanes of the people of the aforesaid Isle For As the title of his Vision saith the Translator is of the future state of the Church so the Vision it selfe doth beare how he did seeme to be together with some other persons in a small number in a certaine great ship not well appointed with Ruthers or Oares in the maine Sea and that the shippe came as it were of it selfe vnto a certaine Island whereunto saith he we being but a few had our recourse for refuge and safety Also to the like effect there is this prognosticall verse aledged by Ioannes Wolfius in the second tome of his memorable things in Latine thus Europa genit us terra vir iust us aequus Pastor erit Caeli claues non regna gubernans Pax erit toto surget concordia Mundo Vna Fides vnus regnabit in omnia Princeps In English thus A certaine wight equitable and vpright borne in Europe shall be the chiefe Pastor or Bishop of Christendome such a one as shall mannage and gouerne the Keyes of the kingdome of Heauen and not the Scepters of the kingdomes of the earth There shall be peace and concord in the world one Faith and Religion and once Prince imperially raigning ouer all Also their Paracelsus the German Hermite in his 26. Prediction maketh mention of an English Prince and his issue that shall more fully effect this worke of reformation And in an old Prophesie had out of the Pallace of wisdome in Rome and in another Prophesie of Sauanarola a Dominican Frier mention is made of a Prince of the name of Charles that shall strike a great stroke in this worke and shall bring to passe that in the end according to a Prophesie also of Nostrodamus Rome shall be ruled by her old Britannish head Cant. 5. quadrin 99. Quand Rome aurale chef vieux Britantique And saith Maister Iames Maxwell the Translater As the Italian Iesuite Heronymus Platus in the second booke of Religious life chap. 30. confesseth England to haue beene more fertill of conuerters of Nations and Countries to the Christian faith then any other Land else so is it not vnlikely but that God will haue the same Country to be more fertill of reformers of other corrupt Churches especially of that of Rome then any other Land whatsoeuer And that as there is in no one Country or Nation of the world to be found so many learned and eloquent Preachers nor so many compleat Diuines for Iudiciousnesse Ingenuousnesse and moderation and for fitnesse to deserue well for the peace of the Church as there is in England so it is like that God will honour this Island with the reformation of the Church of Rome and her daughters by sending forth from thence such godly iudicious zealous and moderate men as shall reclaime them from their abuses and restore vnto them their Primitiue puritie and integritie such as it was in the happie daies of Constantine the Great borne in great Britannie For saith hee To the same effect soundeth this prognosticall verse which was found in an old manuscript Iesse Rosa sanguis Bruti Portat Crucem Iesu Christi The Rose of England beareth and bringeth the Crosse of Christ to forraigne Lands Also as their Ioachim the Abbot writing vpon the 4.5.18.22 and 30. Chapter of Ieremy sheweth that there shall be certaine new Preachers of the Gospel in the Catholique or Vniuersall Church strong in faith and true in Doctrine whose Doctrine shall be open and free and that they shall preach Repentance both to the Greekes and Latines and conuert many of them to the truth so is there a certain Prophecie vttered in the yeare of Christ 1119. as writeth Matthew Paris in his 475. Page of this History which saith They that walke in darkenesse shall turne to the light and those things that were diuided and scattered shall be gathered together and vnited Also the same Abbot sheweth how that the Pope and his Prelates will rage against those whom God shall send to conuert them where hee writing vpon the first Chapter of Ieremy saith thus Such Doctors and Prophets are to be sent which shall not onely rebuke the people but also thunder out against the Priests and strike earthly and carnall hearts with all maner of plagues and put to silence the loftie and swelling Maisters who shall fight against the aforesaid Preachers which shall be reuealed as once did Iuda against Israel and the Iewes against Christ and his Apostles By meanes whereof the death of Philip the second King of Spaine in his Sericum mundi filum doth deliuer that The Lyon hauing the Rose and the Lillies in his armes shall vtterly destroy the Pope so as that afterwards there shall neuer be any more Popes And then all Christian Princes being at peace and vnitie it seemeth by a Prediction found in an olde Booke that they shall consent and agree to chuse out of all one excellent Man for learning and good life to be as a chiefe Moderator for the bringing all sorts of people in the whole world to one kinde of Religion and all Churches into one vniforme order For thus it is written in that Prophesie The afflictions of the Church and Clergie being passed and after so many great tribulations by the will of God a most holy man shall be chosen perfect in all manner of perfection
by the direction of God himselfe as appeareth in the foureteenth chapter of Numbers to Moses and the fourth chapter of Ezekiel where the Lord said vnto him Thou shalt beare the iniquity of the house of Iudah fortie yeares I haue appoynted thee a day for a yeare euen a day for a yeare So that euen by this rule must we count the time of Antichrists reigne euen by these Angels daies Angels daies I say for as the sayd O siander saith * Osiander in his booke of coniccture of the end of the world time of Antichrists raigne page 10. Notwithstanding with vs which be concluded vnder the heauens the course of the Sunne from East to West finisheth our day in foure and twenty houres yet with the Angels that dwell aboue the Circles and orbes of the planets their day finisheth her course whiles the Sunne moueth in her Zodiacke from the South to the North and agayne from the North to the South which is not finished but in one of our yeares Therefore it is certaine there be Angels dayes and those dayes are yeares Daniel 12.12 Reuelat. 13.5 Angâ—ls yeeres An Angels yeere doth containe 360. yeeres after 30. daies to a moneth which the Greeke Astronomers call a Time Now an Angels moneth we finde in the twelfth chapter of Daniel to containe iust thirtie of those Angels dayes and by the fortie two moneths in the 13. chapter of the Reuelation which Bellarmine citeth we find that an Angels yeare doth containe twelue of those Angels moneths for that three times twelue is 36. and sixe moneths for the halfe yeare makes iust 42. which make iust three Angels yeares and an halfe which albeit they be not by the Angel in the twelfth chapter of the Reuelation nor by Daniel in his seauenth chapter called yeares in expresse words but A Time times and halfe a time yet may wee truely gather by Daniels words in his fourth chapter that by times he meant yeares for that hee there calleth Nebuchadnezzars seauen Yeares seauen Times By which then wee see that as in that chapter by Times he meant Yeares so in the seauenth chapter he and likewise the Angel in his twelfth chapter of the Reuelation by Angels times meant Angels yeares one of which containes iust 360. of our yeares after thirâ—ie dayes to a moneth which the Greeke Astrologians also call a Time 29 Now then the time of Antichrists reigne being set downe to be three yeares and an halfe it is cleare they be Angels yeares and not three of our yeares and an halfe And the rather because the Angel in the 3. verse of the 11. chap. and 6. verse of the 12. chapter hath set downe that those yeares by which we must count must contayne iust 1260. daies which ours doe not but hath 17. daies and an halfe ouer which if it were but the halfe day would marre their whole matter Therefore seeing those three Angels yeares and an halfe do containe iust those 1260. dayes and that so many of those dayes are so many of our yeares after 30. dayes to a moneth Antichrists reigne shall continue rising and falling 1260. yeares of which counting from Boniface the 3. in whom Antichrist first rose which as we proued before in the third answere was in the yeare of Christ 607. Antichrist hath now reigned a thousand and twelue yeares and two hundred forty and eight are yet to be accomplished if God with the shortning of the world as some vnderstand for her iniquity doe not also shorten his time for his iniquity 30 But now notwithstanding wee haue thus plainely proued the Pope to be hee that shall reigne fourty two moneths and consequently to be Antichrist yet as their manner is I know they will deny it and who then shall decide the matter Truely Bellarmine himselfe shall be one Saint Bernard another their Robertus the Dominican Frier another Bellarmine howsoeuer in all his former obiections hee laboured to proue a Iew to be Antichrist that should domintere ouer that one nation of the Iewes onely yet heere hee wresteth the Scripture to haue vs to vnderstand that Romish Gentile mentioned in the thirteenth chapter of the Reuelation vnto whom the Text sayth Power was giuen ouer euery kinred tongue and nation to be he So that heereby he hath proued all his former Obiections but very fond coniectures and meere fables Also whereas the Text sayth that vnto the same beast Was giuen a mouth to speake blasphemy and to keepe warre with the Saints their Saint Bernard also vnderstanding this of the great Antichrist sayth thus of the Pope x Bernard in his 25. Epistle That beast that is spoken of in the booke of the Râ—uelation vnto which beast is giuen a mouth to spâ—ake blasphemy and to keepe warre with the Saints is now gotten into Peters Chaire and there sitteth as a Lyon prepared to his prey Againe speaking of the Popish Priests and Ministers he saith plainly thus y Supra canâ—â— serm 33. They serue Antichrist Ergo the Pope is Antichrist Their Dominican Frier saith z Rovertus in his 3. vision I sawe in a vision in the Pallace of Lateraine and in the Porch before the Chaire of Prophero where triall is made whether the Pope be a man or not how that an huge Serpent tumbled it selfe vpon a thicke and great reed making a great noise and the Spirit sayd vnto me This Serpent is Antichrist and his condemnation is at hand To conclude this matter their Bishop Cornelius bewayling the miserable estate of both Spiritualtie and Layetie in the Romish â—urisdiction sayth a Cornelius oratio Cornelij Epistle Bnon 〈◊〉 3. Domâ—â—â—ca aduent in Conâ—â—l Trident. habita Would God they were not fallen wholy with one consent from Religion to Superstition from faith to infidelitie and from Christ to Antichrist Ergo the Pope is Antichrist by their owne confession 31 But now whereas wee affirmed Antichrist first to arise in Boniface the third Bâ—shop of Rome of that name because in him was the order of vniuersal Bishops established by the Emperour Phocas let vs heare what their Saint Vincent saith hereof b Vincent in his Treatise of the end of the World amongst other things fore-shewing of two kinde of Antichrists one to be an open professed enemie to Christ and all sorts of Christians the other he said shall be a mixed kinde of Antichrist And this said he shall be an euill Pope made by an euill Prince of great power who shall place his euill Pope in the Prouince of Babylon And to this mixed Antichrist saith he many Prelates shall adhere Also their Saint Bridgit hauing declared the great ruine of the Church vnder the Popes and the desolation of many soules by their meanes saith c Bridgit 3. Booke 27. Chapter Yet know for all that that betweene the time of humble Peter and the time that Boniface did mount vp to sit in the seate of Pride many did ascend into Heauen Which is
Euseb eccles his lib. 2. cap. 14.16 Peter came not to Rome till the second yeere of Cladius the Emperour which was in the yeere of Christ 44. and foureteene yeares after hee was called to be an Apostle During which time hee and the other Apostles had planted many Churches in the world and yet was none of them the mother Church For that onely must needes be the mother which was first in which Christ himselfe first planted and taught that Faith and Religion which afterwards by the meanes of his Apostles should be made Catholique which as S. Matth. Matth. 26. Luke 21. Matth. 10.5.6 chap. 26.55 and Saint Luke chap. 21.37.38 sheweth was Ierusalem which Faith and Religion as appeareth in Matthew 10. Christ commaunded not to reueale to the Gentiles till they had spread it throughout the Regions of Ierusalem therefore Ierusalem and not Rome was the first and most ancient Church 10. Againe when as afterwards the Gospell was preached to the Gentiles it was not first taught to the Romans no not by S. Peter himselfe For as themselues confesse Peter after he had preached well neere seuen yeares about the coasts of Ierusalem went to Antioch and taught there other 7. yeares before hee came to Rome therefore that verie first Church of Rome could not be the most ancient Mother of the true Catholique Faith and Religion If not the first which was planted by Peter then not the second that was planted by Boniface aboue fiue hundred yeares after 11 And that it may yet more manifestly appeare that shee was not the Mother but one of the chiefe Daughters not the head but a chiefe member of the Mother Church these words of Tertullian which liued in the next age after the Apostles will make it plaine d Tertul. de praescription contra Haereticos Runne ouer said he and behold the Apostolike Churches whereas the Apostles Chaires are yet still continued and whereas the Authenticall writings of the Apostles are pronounced sounding out the voyces and representing the faces of each one of them The next Countrey to you is Achaia There haue you the Church of Corinth If ye be not farre from Macedonia there haue you the Church of Philippi and the Church of Thessalonica If ye may goe ouer into Asia there haue ye the Church of Ephesus If ye border neere to Italie there haue ye the Church of Rome And further to proue Rome but one of the chiefe members of the whole Church he saith thus e Tertul. De praescription contra Haereticos These so many and so great Churches are all that same one first Church planted by the Apostles from whence issued all the rest And so are they all first Churches and all Apostolique in that they follow all one vnitie By which who seeth not but that euen that same Church of Rome which was first was but one of the Daughters of Ierusalem from which the Church Triumphant had her name deriued and not from Rome and yet indeed was shee but the figure of the vniuersall Mother Church For as Saint Paul said Galathians 4.26 Ierusalem which is aboue Galat. 4.26 is the Mother of vs all therefore it is flat blasphemy to say that Rome is the vniuersall Mother of all Christian Churches and the rather for that as her state standeth now the Angell saith Reuelat. 17. Shee is the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth 12 Againe The Church triumphant and the church millitant being but one can haue therefore but one head in that the Apostle saith Ierusalem which is aboue is the mother of vs all it sheweth the Church Triumphant and the Church millitant to make both but one Church And therefore whereas the Papists would make these two parts of the Church two seuerall Churches that so they might set vpon the millitant part another head besides Christ what else doe they thereby but make that part an adultresse and consequently the Whore of Babylon For by Saint Pauls doctrine Romans 7.3 Romans 7. shee that hath two Husbands at one time is an Whore And doubtlesse howsoeuer shee is rightly called Babylon for resembling olde Babylon in Tyrany Idolatry and other abominations yet is shee called an Whore chiefly for coupling her selfe to another Husband besides Christ 13 In the time of the Apostles Christ onely is the Head it is cleare by Saint Paul in diuers of his Epistles that both the parts of the Church as well that beneath as that aboue and both together Christ onely is the head had none other head but Christ For first Ephesians 1. cap. verses 20.21.22 he speaking of Christ saith Ephes 1.20.21.22 God set him at his right hand in the heauenly places farre aboue all principalitie and power and might and domination and euery name that is named not in this World onely but also in that that is to come And hath made all things subiect vnder his feete and hath giuen him ouer all things to be the head of the Church which is his body And Colossians 1.18.19 He is the head of the body of the Church Colos 1.18.19 he is the beginning and the first begotten of the dead that in all things hee might haue the preeminence For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell Also to shew that the Church hath onely but this one head hee writing to the Church of Corinth 2 Epistle 11.2 said thus vnto her 2 Cor. 11.2 I haue prepared you for one Husband to present you as a pure Virgin to Christ Which plainly declareth that as the Church vnder the Law had none other Husband but God himselfe Vnder the Law the Church had no husband but God For as the Prophet Esay said to the Church of the Iewes cap. 45.5 He that made thee is thine Husband whose name is the Lord of Hostes so likewise vnder the Gospell that the Church hath none other Husband but onely the Sonne of God 14 And now also that it may as plainely appeare that for 605. yeeres next after Christ this doctrine of one headship was onely approued of euen by the Bishop of Rome himselfe to wit Gregory the Great these his owne words written against the Bishop of Constantinople which sought to be vniuersall head with Christ will make it cleare f Gregory lib. 4. Epist 38. If said he Saint Paul would not haue the members of the Lords body to be subiect to any heads but to Christ no not to the Apostles themselues what wilt thou answer to Christ the head of the vniuersall Church in the last day of iudgement which goeth about to haue all his members subiect to thee by the title of vniuersall Whom doest thou imitate in so peruerse a name but Lucifer So that here we see the case made cleare that the Romish Church with two heads Christ and the Pope as yet had not any being at all neither the name of Pope approued of as wee shewed in
1. Inocentius 3. Nicholas 5. Anastatius 1. Damassus 1. Alexander 3. Calistus 2. Lando 1. Leo 8. Vrbanus 3. Pius 1. Iohn 7. Victor 1. Clement 3. Paul 2. Leo 5. Steuen 8. Gregory 9. Xistus 1. Steuen 6. Nicolas 2. Inocentius 4. Inocentius 7. Iohn 8. Alexander 1. Haedrian 5. Alexander 5. Leo 6. Gregory 6. Iohn 17. Pius 2. Steuen 7. Victor 2. Nicolas 3. Iulius 1. Martinus 3. Vrbanus 1. Martin 4. Leo 9. Agapitus 1. Paschalis 2. Honorius 4. Â Iohn 9. Gelasius 1. Nicholas 4. Â Leo 7. Gallistus 1. Calestinus 4. Â 2 These euen from the very time of the decease of their predecessour and head began to put in practise their Antichristian authority receiued from him for the subduing of all Churches that did resist them amongst which the Church of Rauenna was one which as the Popes Decretall testifieth thought scorne to be brought in subiection to Rome neuerthelesse the same Decretall declareth that in the end Pope Domnus made her to yeeld And this was about 64 yeeres after the first vniuersall Pope Also the same Decretall declareth that the Church of Aquila resisted but yet about some 20. yeeres after the other Pope Sergius got the victory and forced her to yeeld And thus did they continue vanquishing all Churches in the West part till neere Luthers time But yet not so but that maugre the heads of all the Popes we had a Church continued in the Romish iurisdiction till within some 20. yeeres before Luthers rising though not alwaies a standing state but a dispersed company scattered here and there by meanes of persecution Reuelat. 12.14.15.16 wherein that prophecie was fulfilled Reuel 12. which testifieth that in the time of Antichrists reigne the Church of Christ within his dominions should be driuen into the wildernesse of this world and great floods of persecution sent after her to ouerwhelme her but as the Text saith The earth opened her mouth and swallowed vp the floud That is she was preserued by meere temporall and earthly people for amongst the spiritualtie both she and her seed were holden as heretiques and that chiefly for these causes First for that when as they saw that vniuersall dominion which the Pope had gotten ouer the Clergie they affirmed him to be that Angell of the Bottomlesse Pit prophecied of in the 11. verse of the 9. chap. of the Reuelation that should attaine to be king of the Clergie whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greeke named Appolyon which in English signifieth a destroyer Secondly for that when as they saw the Pope to bring into the Church and establish for Principles of Religion his Heathenish vnwritten verities The Pope reuealed himselfe to be Antichrist and those olde heresies wherewith the false Apostles and other Heretiques had corrupted the puritie of the Gospell and that he did offer them to the Church in the name of Christs Gospell they affirmed him to be that whore of Babylon foretold in the 4. verse of the 17. chap. of the Reuelation that should offer to the world The abhomination and filthinesse of her fornication in a golden Cup to wit in the name of Christ Thirdly for that when as they saw the Pope gotten aboue the Secular powers and that Emperours and Kings did yeeld him such subiection as to fall downe before his footstoole to kisse his feete to carrie him vpon their shoulders to leade his horse to hold his stirhop whiles hee gets on horse-backe yea euen to become his Vassalles they affirmed him to be the same great Antichrist mentioned in the 13. verse of the same chap. vnto whom the Text declareth The Kings of the earth should giue their power and authoritie Fourthly for that when as they saw the Pope to be come to that great height of pride as we plainely did demonstrate in our first Chapter namely to take vpon him the title of God and to suffer himselfe to be called our Lord God the Pope An vndoubted and true God on earth And to suffer men to prostrate themselues before him and to crie vnto him O thou our Sauiour which takest away the sinnes of the world haue mercy vpon vs. And to exalt his power ouer the Angels in heauen diuels in hell and ouer the dead and his decrees aboue the decrees of God and to haue power to fetch out of hell as many soules as he will and place them in heauen they affirmed him to be same Man of sinne and sonne of perdition foretold by S. Paul 2 Thes 2. That should sit as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe to be God and exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshiped Lastly for that when as they saw that with tooth and naile he laboured to frame and fashion all things to the similitude of the first beast The Heathen Empire they affirmed him to be that second beast mentioned in the 11. and 12. verses of the 13. cap. of the Reuel which should arise in the Romane kingdome after the Romane Emperours of whom S. Iohn saith thus And I beheld another beast Reuel 13.11.12 comming vp out of the earth which had two hornes like the Lambe but he spake like the Dragon and he did all that the first beast could doe before him and hee caused the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast That is by bringing them to honour reuerence and obserue all the former Heathenish and Idolatrous ordinances set vp againe by him Whereunto because that part of our Church among them would not yeeld it grew into contempt with them and was most grieuously persecuted and the faithfull Christians driuen from place to place and from countrie to countrie being of the most part among them taken and holden for notorious heretiques such as they hold vs to be at this day And because they grounded all their assertions vpon those and such like places of Scriptures whereby the Popes calling began to be called into question the Scriptures were forbidden to be written any longer in a knowne tongue and for that cause also it was that they so blasphemously depraued the Scriptures calling them c Pigghius Hierar lib. 3. cap. 3. fol. 203. A nose of waxe an inkie letter a dead letter and a blacke Gospell and that they are none otherwise to be vnderstood then the Pope and his Church will interpret them and that they must follow the Church and not the Church them and that the authority of the Pope and Church of Rome is aboue them Asoius Hosius Hence it was also that Lay men were forbidden to reade the Scriptures perswading them that they did but leade men into errour and that ignorance is the mother of deuotion howbeit all this did nothing preuaile for the faithfull in euery Coast and Countrey among them did the more diligently follow Christs commandement Iohn 5. Search the Scriptures Ioh. 5.39 and that euen in the greatest heate of persecution which was
the Church hath none other head but Christ yea as well that part that is Millitant as that that is Triumphant and both together because they both make but one Church And therefore writing to the Church of Corinth in his 2 Epistle 11. chapter 2. verse he said thus vnto her I haue prepared you for one husband to present you a pure Virgin to Christ And to the intent that all might know that the Church Triumphant and the Church Millitant hath both but one and the same head hee writing to the Church of Ephesus chapter 1.20.21.22.23 said thus vnto them of Christ God hath set him at his right hand in heauenly places farre aboue all principalitie and power and might and domination and euery Name that is named not in this world onely but also in that that is to come And hath made all things subiect vnder his feete and hath giuen him ouer all things to be the head of the Church which is his body euen the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all things And to the Colossians chapter 1. verses 16.17.18 thus For by him were all things created which are in heauen and which are in earth things visible and inuisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him And hee is before all things and in him all things consist And hee is the head of the body of the Church hee is the beginning and the first begotten of the dead that in all things hee might haue the preeminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell By which it is manifest Christ Iesus alone is the head of the whole Church The Pope cannot claime antiquity of Bishopricke from Peter because Peter was not the first bishop but Iames. and not Peter and therefore the Pope cannot rightly claime the vniuersall headship from him If Peter had beene the supreame head of the Church why was hee not then the first Bishop of the Church but agreed with Iames and Iohn to make Iames the Iust the first Bishop as Clement the first witnesseth in these words * Clement lib. 6. Hypotip Ierusalem the most ancient mother church and not Rome Peter Iames and Iohn after the Assumption of our Sauiour challenged not this prerogatiue vnto themselues but appoynted Iames the Iust Bishop of Ierusalem And as these words of Clement proue Peter not to be the first Bishop so doe they proue Rome not to be the first Church where the first Apostolicall Bishop was placed but Ierusalem therefore not Rome but Ierusalem must needes be the most auncient Apostolike Church 14 That must needes be the most auncient Apostolike Church whose ministers Christ himselfe appointed the Apostles first to be which was the Church of Iewrie as appeareth by S. Mathew chap. 10.5.6 where after he had repeated the names of the twelue Apostles which Christ had chosen said These twelue did Iesus send forth and commanded them saying Goe not into the way of the Gentiles and into the Cities of the Samaritans enter yee not but goe yee rather to the lost sheepe of the bouse of Israell Therefore the Church of Ierusalem was the most auncient Apostolike Church and not the Church of Rome which was the chiefe of the Gentiles 15 Againe that Church must needes be the Mother of the most auncient Catholique hâ—urch in which Christ himselfe first planted the Faith and Religion which should be Catholique and by the meanes of whose Ministers the Catholique Church should receiue it which Faith and Religion Saint Mathew chap. 26.55 and Saint Luke chap. 21.37.38 witnesseth Christ taught vnto the people daily in the Temple of Ierusalem and commaunded her Ministers the Apostles to publish the same afterwards to the vniuersall world Mathew 28.19.20 therefore Ierusalem and not Rome is the Mother of the most auncient Catholique Church 16 MoreoueÌ„r There was no Romish Church at all 14. yeeres after Peter was called to be an Apostle Ierusalem must needs be the mother Church of all Christian Nations for that in her all the Apostles receiued the holy Ghost and the gifts of tougues that euery Nation might be taught by them in their owne language what to beleeue and doe to be saued the which they had largely put in practise during well-neere foureteene yeeres immediately after their calling before Peter came to Rome For they cannot denie but that Peter came not to Rome till the second yeere of Cladius the Emperour which was in the yeere of Christ his incarnation 44. Before which time Peter planted many Churches in diuers Coasts For themselues affirme in their Rozarie that before he came to Rome hee spent his time preaching in Iewry Syria Antiochia and other places Many Churches were planted in the world before Peter came to Rome Therefore seeing that besides those other Churches which were planted by the rest of the Apostles Peter planted many before he planted a Church at Rome it is cleare that when as he had planted a Church in Rome shee could be but one of the Daughters and not the Mother of the most ancient Catholique and Apostolike Church 17 Lastly it must needs be the most ancient Church and the Mother of all the Churches Millitant from which the Church Triumphant hath her name deriued but Saint Paul Galathians 4 and Saint Iohn Reuelations 21. sheweth her name to be deriued from Ierusalem therefore Ierusalem and not Rome was the Mother of all Christian Churches Millitant That is to say the onely figure of the vniuersall Mother for as Saint Matthew Chapter 23.9 sheweth the vniuersall Father to be not in earth but in Heauen so Saint Paul Galathians 4.26 sheweth the vniuersall Mother not to be in earth That must needs be the most anâ—iâ—nt Church Millitant troÌ„ which the Church Triumphant hath her name derâ—ued but in Heauen 18 And now Christian Reader as wee shewed thee at large in our fifth Chapter that before the yeere of Christ 607. there was no Popish Church in Rome and here that before the yeere of Christs incarnation 44. there was no Romish Church at all so will we now shew thee more plainly that after there was a Romish Church and that shee was become most famous for her Faith and Religion that yet euen then shee was not the Mother but a Daughter not the head but a chiefe member of the Apostolike and Catholike Church Tertullian who liued in the next age after the Apostles wrote thus b Tertul. de praescription centra Haereticos Runne ouer and behold the Apostolique Churches whereas the Apostles Chaires are yet still continued and whereas the Authenticall writings of the Apostles are pronounced sounding out the voyce and representing the face of each one of them The next Countrey to you is Achaia There haue you the Church of Corinth If ye be not farre from Macedonia there haue you the Church of Philippi and the Church of Thessalonica If ye may goe
neither giue nor grant our requests If we pray to God in the name of Christ hee hath promised Iohn 14. Chapter that both his Father and he will heare our petitions and grant our requests And this is it which Saint Cyrill saith of Christ x Cyrill in his 11. Booke vpon John He put to in my name to shew that he was a Mediatour and a granter and a giuer with God which prerogatiue no Saint hath 9 Againe forasmuch as Christ himselfe saith Iohn 10. By me if any man enter in he shall be saued and in the 1. verse He that entereth not in by the doore into the sheepe fold but climeth vp another way he is a thiefe and a robber it is cleare that all those that enter into the Church by any other way then by Christ or into the Kingdome of Heauen by the meanes and mediation of Saints they are but theeues and robbers therefore if they repent not and forsake their errour they shall be sure to haue their part and portion with theeues and robbers And thus much touching praying to Saints Now a word or two touching the worshipping of Saints which we will but briefly touch because the matter is so plaine in the Scriptures that nothing can be made more plaine to be erronious therefore it neede not any long discourse 10 In the 14. Acts 14.8 to the 16. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles mention is made that Saint Paul hauing healed a criple that was borne lame the people did so admire thereat that they supposed Paul and Barnabas to haue beene Gods come downe from Heauen in the likenesse of men whereupon as the Text saith They brought Bulles with garlands beasts bedecked with flowers to haue sacrificed vnto them of which as the Text also saith When Paul and Barnabas heard they rent their cloathes and ranne in among the people crying and saying O men why doe ye these things we are euen men subiect to the like passions as ye be By which it is cleare it was not lawfull to worship the Apostles if not the Apostles then not any other Saint Reuel 19.10 Also in the 19. Chapter of the Reuelation the Text declareth that Saint Iohn fell downe before the feete of the Angell to haue worshipped him but he said vnto him see thou doe it not I am thy fellow seruant and one of thy brethren which haue the testimony of Iesus worship God Now therefore if neither the holy Apostles of Christ nor the glorious and vnspotted Angels of Heauen may be worshipped how may any other inferiour Saint be worshipped Wherefore this vtterly condemneth the Papists of most pestilent peruersenesse that will so directly contrary to so euident a truth teach men to worship Saints yea and not onely so but that which is most horrible to heare the very dumbe pictures and Images of Saints 11 Saint Augustine writing against Fostus the heretique bringeth in these two places of Scripture to proue that it is not lawfull to worship Saints for said he y August an his 20. book against Faustus Chap 201. The very Saints themselues whether they be dead men or Angels will not haue honour giuen to them which onely is due to God This saith he appeareth in Paul and Barnabas when the men of Licaonia astonied at their miracles would haue done sacrifice vnto them as if they had beene Gods For they renting their garments confessing and perswading them that they were not Gods forbad such things to be done vnto them This said he appeared also in the Angels as we reade in the Apocalips The Angell forbidding himselfe to be worshipped And therefore in another place he saith z In his Books of true Religion 55. Chap. Let not the worshipping of dead men be counted holinesse among vs. And a little after The thing that the highest Angell worshippeth must also the lowest man worship Let vs beleeue this that the best Angels and the most excellent Ministers would that we should worship one God with them That ancient Father Epiphanius speaking against old doting and ignorant women which then worshipped the Virgin Mary saith a Epipha in his 3. Booke of Heresies 59. heresie Let no man eate of this errour touching Saint Mary For though the tree be faire yet is not this fruite to be eaten Although Mary be beautifull and holy and honourable yet is shee not to be adored and worshipped but these women worshipping Saint Mary renew againe the sacrifice of wine mingled in the honour of the Goddesse Fortuna and prepare a Table for the Diuell and not for God Also Saint August writing against Maximinus the Arian Bishop saith b August in his 1. Book against Maximinus If we should make a Temple for an holy Angell should we not be accursed from God and the truth of Christ and from the Church of God because we exhibite that seruice to a creature that is due to God alone By which then who seeth not but that to worship Saints yea though not with Lateria but with hyperdulia is to make our selues the accursed of God for in Gods diuine worship and seruice he will haue all or none euen as our Sauiour himselfe saith Matthew 4. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue And yet besides the worship done to all other Saints in their Rosarie they haue twelue parts of spirituall worship of which tenne is giuen to the Virgin Marie and but two to God And notwithstanding the worshipping of Saints was forbidden both by the Apostles and the Angell and condemned by these ancient Fathers for deuilish and damnable long before the Popish Church was yet after they had a Church and that Antichrist the Pope was installed in his throne that he might share with God herein as in other parts of his glorious prerogatiues this was established for one principle of Popish Religion And thus much touching praying to Saints and worshipping of them CHAP. XII Tending to resolue all men who were the first founders of the Doctrine of Purgatory the first place of Scripture that was brought to confirme the Doctrine and to proue a third place of rest for the soules departed and how soone it had corrupted the Church and confounded the iudgements of the ancient Fathers and what confusion it hath bred amongst the Papists themselues and how it tendeth to the ouerthrow of the power of Christs death and passion AS touching the originall foundation of the Doctrine of Purgatory Purgatory had her originall from the Heathen Philosophers thou shalt vnderstand Christian Reader that it came first from the Heathen Philosophers in whom although there were the sparkes of diuine knowledge as there is naturally in all men and that by exercising themselues in the contemplation of the glorious workes of Gods creation they were able to write some thing of God and diuine things yet for want of the knowledge of his Word and the rules of his testimonies they could
into the 9.10 and 11. Verses of the same and they shall know to their euerlasting woe that by the Beast is meant the Heathen Roman gouernment and by the image of the beast the Popish Roman gouernment But he that was the author of the Ward-word would not that men should know this Therefore we see he is not willing that men should be resolued by the truth Againe if the Papists in generall had beene willing the truth should haue come to light that men might haue beene resolued in the truth of Babylon they would not in the Remish Testament haue expounded Babylon in the seauententh chapter of the Reuelation to signifie the Vniuersall societie of the wicked seeing the holy Ghost sheweth in the same Chapter that by Babylon is meant the Citie with seauen hils and that raigned ouer the Kings of the earth But to say that the Reprobates of the world are scituated vpon those seauen hils and raigned ouer the Kings of the earth is most ridiculous Therefore we see they are not willing the truth should come to light Againe if they had beene willing that men should haue beene resolued by the truth they would neuer haue giuen that exposition seeing that by Babylon is signified also the woman offering to the World in the name of Christ her whorish Religion as appeareth in the 4. Verse of the same chapter Againe if they had beene willing to haue brought the truth to light that men might haue beene truely resolued in that point then seeing the Angell in the same place shewed to Saint Iohn that hee spake to him of Romes estate offering to the World her Religion in a Golden cup that is in the name of Christ they would neuer haue expounded it of Heathenish Rome vnder the Heathen Emperours for they know as well as wee that she disdained once to handle that cup and persecuted any whosoeuer offered to her any truth therein But why should we stand any longer in the repeticion of these things now seeing that by the holy Ghost the misterie of the Golden cup is reuealed and the truth laid open that it is Christian Rome that the Angell called Babylon the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth And then seeing Christian Rome is the mother of whordomes and abominations of the earth the Pope must needes be the father of whordomes and abominations of the earth and he that is the father of whordomes and abominations of the earth must needes be the great Antichrist Therefore here all their mouthes are stopped and all their cunning arguments desolued and all their chiefe points craftie shifts and vntruths abandoned which they would haue should make vs to beleeue that Antichrist is not yet come that wee should not suspect the Pope to be he As touching the exposition of the Golden cup let them deny it to be the true meaning of the holy Ghost if they dare but they haue denied too much of the truth of that Booke already as one day they shall finde All the benefits of saluation which wee receiue in Christ the Prophet Dauid Psal 116. calleth the Cup of saluation And his name may well be called the Golden Cup because as S. Luke saith Acts 4.19 There is giuen none other name vnder heauen whereby men must be saued And yet to shew that all that professe Christ shall not be saued our Sauiour Christ fore-telleth that euen vnder his name many shall be deceiued which surely is a wonderfull great iudgement of God vpon that people whosoeuer they be Erasmus expounding the misterie of that cup sheweth that that which is offered therein is nothing else but the Popes religion which he saith he offereth in the name of Christ to deceiue the world And their Abbot Ioachim witnesseth the same as may plainely appeare in his 37. chapter vpon the Prophet Ieremy where he complaining of the corruption of the Popes saith They doe neglect Incense and Myrrh but they seeke after Gold that they may with Babylon the great Lady of the world fill vnto men Wine in a golden Cup to infect their followers with their abhominations And thus by the opening the misterie of the Golden Cup we see the Lord hath now made knowne to his Church that Christian Rome is Babylon and the Pope professing Christ is Antichrist Yea the same of whom Saint Hylary saith Hylary contra Auxenium Antichrist shall be contrary to Christ vnder a colour of preaching the Gospell so that our Lord Iesus Christ shall then be denied when a man would thinke he were preached And herein also the Pope agreeth to the signification of the name as it is in the Greeke namely to be both for and against Christ 2 Thessa 2. to sit as the Church the deare friend of Christ and yet to be as Saint Paul saith An aduersarie Therefore doubtlesse he cannot be said to be the great Antichrist that is not ouer-ruling all both for and against Christ Their Saint Vincent intreating of the end of the World sheweth of two kindes of Antichrists the one he calleth a pure Antichrist to wit the Turke the other he calleth a mixed kind of Antichrist which he saith shall be an euill Pope made by an euill prince of great power alluding to Boniface the third who was made the first Pope by that Murtherer Phocas the Emperour of Rome And their Astrologian Ruth speaking of Antichrist saith Hee shall be called Antichristus mixtus whom the Prelates shall greatly honour And this he spake not of himselfe for hee found it so written in an olde Prophesie as himselfe confesseth in his thirtie foure Chapter of the second part of his Booke To be briefe and to draw to an end this I aduise the Reader to note well that forasmuch as the same Apostle Ephesians 4.6 sheweth that as there is but one God and that he alone is the Vniuersall father of all And that Christ himselfe Matthew 23.9 forbad the title of Vniuersall father to be giuen to any but to the Father of Heauen it is cleare he is a most horrible blasphemer that will call the most holiest man vpon the earth vniuersall Father of all much more hee that will call Antichrist the Pope vniuersall father of all seeing the Holy ghost calleth him The man of sinne and sonne of perdition 2 Thessal 2. Againe forasmuch as the same Apostle Galatians 4.26 saith Ierusalem which is aboue is the mother of vs all he is a most horrible blasphemer that will call the most holiest Citie heere beneath the mother of vs all much more hee that will call Rome the Mother of vs all which the Angell of God calleth Babylon The mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth Againe forasmuch as the very selfe and same religion which Rome now offereth to the world in the name of Christ is by the Angell in the 4 verse of the 17. chapter of the Reuelation compared vnto the stinking filthinesse of a whoores fornication he must needes be a most
horrible blasphemer that will call it The most auncient true and holy Catholique religion Againe forasmuch as the Apostle Saint Paul 2. Thessalon 2. declareth that the comming of Antichrist shall be with great signes and wonders yea so great and wonderfull that as our Sauiour Christ saith Matthew 24. If it were possible they should deceiue the very Elect. Hee therefore that will say the Church of Rome must needes be the true Church because shee worketh miracles is a most horrible blasphemer Miracles are wrought in the Church of Rome by the spirits of Diuels as appeareth in the 16. chapter and 14. verse of the Reuelation Therefore miracles are not alwayes a true note of the true Church And this appeareth also in the thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy where we may see that a most vile kinde of people euen such as God abhorred wrought miracles to draw others to their religion And Saint Paul also declareth 2. Thessalon 2. verse 10. that Antichrist shall worke his miracles among them that perish therefore miracles are not alwayes a true note of the true Church Againe our Sauiour Christ Matthew 7.22 declareth that at the day of Iudgement certaine Christian Ministers that were wont to confirme their doctrine by miracles when they shall see themselues cast out to be damned with reprobates they will admire and say thus to Christ Lord Lord haue we not by thy Name prophecied and by thy Name cast out Diuels and done many great workes And then saith Christ I will professe to them I neuer knew you depart from me yee that worke iniquitie Popish Ministers worke miracles our Ministers worke none they themselues therefore shall be iudges in this case to which of these sort of Ministers this Scripture may iustly be applyed Certainely the greatest iudgement that God doth lay vpon men in this life is to blinde their vnderstanding with Poperie for then they are willing to receiue any errour and to reiect the truth to be marked with the marke of the Beast and to receiue the print of his name and to perish with the Beast and the false Prophet as it is most certaine they shall For thus it is written in the nineteenth chapter of the Reuelation verse 20. But the Beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him whereby he deceiued them that receiued the Beasts marke and them that worshipped his image These both were aliue cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone Therefore to conclude this I say to all those that haue receiued the marke of the Beast in their forehead or on their hand that is they that haue outwardly professed with their mouthes and gestures and those also that haue defended by Armes written Bookes wrought Miracles or any way laid to their helping hand to do any thing whereby the Popes kingdome and state is maintained Damnation shall be their end For as the Angell of God in the foureteenth chapter of the same booke 9.10 and 11. verses saith If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receiue his marke in his forehead or on their hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God yea of the pure wine which is powred into the Cup of his wrath and he shal be termented in fire and brimstone before the holie Angells and before the Lambe and the smoake of their torment shall ascend euermore and they shall haue no rest day nor night which worship the Beast and his image and whosoeuer receiueth the print of his name That is whosoeuer is content to be called by any such name as whereby he may be knowne to be the Popes faithfull subiect Therefore I aduertise them all in the name of God that they receiue his fatherly admonitions and call to minde how louingly the Lord in the fourth verse of the eighteenth chapter of the same Booke calleth his Elect out of Babylon that they be not partakers of her sinnes lest they should also receiue of her plagues As for those that regard not this louing fauour of God but will notwithstanding abide in her still and goe on with her in her abhominations let them goe and doe what they will He that is vniust saith the Lord in the 22. chapter let him be vniust still and he that is filthy let him be filthie still and hee that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still And behold I come shortly and my reward is with mee to giue to euery man as his worke shall be ¶ The Titles demonstrating the seuerall points contained in each of the Chapters 1 CErtaine Chapters contayning the summe and substance of the Christian Churches confutations of the Popish or Antichristian Churches errours heresies and blasphemies The first whereof tendeth to resolue all men that notwithstanding both Papists and Protestants professe but one God one faith one Baptisme and one Lord Iesus Christ that yet there is so great a difference in the manner of their profession that it is not possible that they both should be combined and conioyned together to make one and the same true Church of Christ 2 An answere to tenne seuerall Obiections for the clearing the Pope from being Antichrist whereof Bellarmine is supposed to be the originall authour 3 That Christian Rome now in her latter dayes is that Babylon the seate of Antichrist which the Angell in the 17 chapter of the Reuelation calleth the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth And which the other Angel in the 18. chapter saith is fallen and become the habitation of Diuels and holde of all fowle spirits and a cage of euery vncleane and hatefull bird and out of which the Lord from Heauen calleth all his Elect lest they should be partakers of her sinnes and consequently of her plagues 4 That the Popish Church is the same idolatrous Church yet professing Christ which Saint Iohn in his 13. and 17. chapters of the Reuelation sheweth to be the Church of Antichrist 5 That for the first sixe hundred and sixe yeares next after Christ there was no Popish Church neither could be because there was not as yet an vniuersall Pope established in Rome to make it a Popish Church Therefore as no Husband no Wife so no vniuersall Pope no vniuersall spouse of the Popes 6 That in the yeare of Christ 607. the Church of Poperie and the succession of vniuersall Popes first began From whence our Church had her first beginning before Luther and how our Protestant Bishops and Ministers which they haue ordayned haue lawfull callings 7 Their generall Consent ouerthrowne by generall consent of Councels and Fathers 8 That the Apostle Saint Peters authoritie was but the same that the other Apostles were and therefore the Pope cannot iustly claime from him to be called Vniuersall head of all Christian Bishops That the title of Vniuersall Father is forbidden by Christ to be giuen to any but to his owne Father 9 That the true
as much as to say before there was an Vniuersall Pope made and established and consequently a Popish Church many soules were saued in the Romish iurisdiction but afterwards as she saith d Ibidem Both Clergie and Laitie are scattered and runne seuerall waies carried with the immoderate loue of worldly commoditie neyther doe they care a whit for the incommoditie and damage of their soules THE NINTH OBIECTION 32 Besides this the Scriptures teacheth vs plainely that before Antichrist come Henoch and Elias shall returne to oppose themselues against him and in the end shall conuert the Iewes Malachi 4. Eccle. 4.8 Matth. 17. Apocca 11. But we see not this poynt fulfilled to proue the Pope to bee Antichrist THE ANSWERE 33 Here to blind the eyes of the ignorant he telleth them a tale of a tubbe to wit that before Antichrist come Henoch and Elias shal returne to oppose themselues against him and shall conuert the Iewes and for proofe hee citeth foure places of Scripture of which if any one of them doe proue his Assertion I dare recant all that I haue written For as touching the returne of Henoch there is no such thing mentioned in all the Scriptures and for that Prophecie of Malachi which fore-told of the returne of Elias if we may beleeue our Sauiour Christ that was fulfilled in Saint Iohn Baptist Matth. 11. Where in the 7. Matth. 11.7 verse it is said Iesus began to speake vnto the Multitude of Iohn And in the 13. verse Christ said All the Prophets and the Law prophecied vnto Iohn and if yee will receiue it this is Elias which was to come He that hath eares to heare let him heare And in the tenth verse Matth. 11.10 hee declareth Iohn to be the same Elias which the Prophet Malachi in that fourth Chapter which Bellarmine citeth fore-told should come in that he there repeateth the verie words of Malachie And hereby our Sauiour Christ confuted that erronious opinion of the Iewes Matth. 17.10 who thought that Elias should returne into the world in his owne proper person as the Papists doe at this day Also by these words of Saint Luke spoken of Iohn Luke 1.17 He shall goe before him to wit Christ in the spirit and power of Elias is plainely confuted that erronious opinion of some of the Rabbines who held that Elias should rise eyther in his owne bodie or his soule to enter into some other bodie in that hee sheweth him to returne onely in power and spirit in the person of Iohn Baptist And as touching the calling of the Iewes by Enoch and Elias forasmuch as no place in all the Scripture doth shew the returne of Enoch and that Saint Iohn Baptist was onely that same Elias that the Prophets fore-told should come it is cleare the Iewes shall not be conuerted by them Rom. 11.11 ver And the rather because Saint Paul declareth Romans 11.11 verse that their conuertion shall be by the Christian Gentiles and that Erasmus writing vpon the same place Erasmus Paraf declareth that when the fulnesse of the Gentiles be come into the Christian Church and all be of one Religion the Iewes onely excluded they will storme and rage at the Christians for a while but ere long will ioyne themselues vnto them therefore they shall bee conuerted by the Christians and not by Enoch and Elias Wherefore what prophecie is there yet to be fulfilled that should proue the great Antichrist not yet come or what one sound argument hath Bellarmine made to proue the Pope not to be the same THE TENTH and last OBIECTION 34 This Obiection is to proue the day of Iudgement a day certaine to be knowne of man which because our Sauiour as he was man said was vncertaine to himselfe I leaue to meddle with that matter but whensoeuer it doth come I doubt it will come too soone for Bellarmine and all that are led by him to cleaue vnto the Beast of Rome as may appeare in the 14 Chapter of the Rouelation where it is thus written Reuelat. 14.9 10 11. If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receiue his marke in his fore-head or on his hand the same shall drinke of the Wine of the wrath of God yea of the pure wine which is powred into the Cup of his wrath and he shall bee tormented in fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lambe and the smoake of their torments shall ascend euermore and they shall haue no rest day nor night which worship the Beast and his Image and whosoeuer receiueth the Print of his name And this is it which their Saint Bridgit cannonized for a Saint by Pope Boniface the ninth saith of the Popes their Prelates and all that are seduced by them e Bridgit in her first Booke 41. Chap. In stead of honour they shall haue eternall shame and confusion and looke how high they haue ascended aboue others through pride as low shall they be brought vnder others in Hell Their members that is to say saith she all their followers and fauourers shall be cut off disioynted and pulled in peeces like vnto a wall that is casting downe wherein is not left one stone standing vpon another neyther shall my loue and mercie euer warme them nor build them vp againe into eternall mansion in the Heauens but they with their heads secluded from all good comfort shall be tormented eternally Wherefore it behoueth euery man as he tendereth his owne saluation to turne from Poperie in time lest dying therein he be vtterly depriued of eternall saluation And thus much for answere to these Obrections for the clearing the Pope from being Antichrist Now it remaineth in the next chapter to answer the other Obiections which deny Christian Rome now in her latter dayes to be that Babylon the seate of Antichrist which the Angel in the 17. Chapter of the Reuelation Reuela 1 l. and 18. Chap. calleth the Mother of Whordemes and abominations of the earth And which the other Angell in the eighteenth Chapter saith Is falne and become the habitation of Deuils the hold of all foule spirits and Cage of euery vncleane and hatefull Bird. CHAP. III. Tending to resolue all men that Christian Rome now in her latter daies is that Babylon the seate of Antichrist which the Angel in the 17. Chapter of the Reuelation calleth the Mother of Whordomes and abominations of the Earth And which the other Angell in the 18. Chapter saith is falne and become the habitation of Deuils the hold of all foule spirits and cage of euery vncleane and hatefull Bird. 1 WHosoeuer wil diligently pervse the thirteenth Chapter of the Reuelation Reuela 13.1 2. shall euidently perceiue that Romish Babylon is described by two manner of Beasts the one corporall the other spirituall The corporall Beast is disciphered by the similitude of an vgly Monster beeing in shape like vnto a Leopard his feet like Beares feete and his mouth
bee the Christian state of Rome in her latter daies for that the Angell there said Shee offered to the World the abomination and filthinesse of her fornication in a Golden Cup that is as the learned expound it her idolatries and whorish Doctrine and Religion in the name of Christ which cup Erasmus declareth Heathenish Rome disdayned once to handle and abhorred what good soeuer was offered to her therein therefore he could not otherwise vnderstand but that the Angel meant the Christian Church of Rome in her latter dayes which vnder the glittering and golden shew of the name of Christ poysoned a great part of Christendome with that whorish filthinesse of her Heathenish Fornication Reuelat. 17.2 Reuelat. 18.3 and the third verse of the eighteenth Chapter And thus wee see the foure principall poynts which fully resolued that most learned Erasmus and may also as fully resolue all men that by Babylon the Mother of whordomes and abominations of the Earth the Angel meant Christian Rome in her latter dayes Now let vs heare how Erasmus concludeth of Christian Rome thus he saith 6 This whorish Woman d Erasmus vpon the 17. chap. Sect. 1. hath decked and garnished her selfe not like Peter and Paul with diuers and many vertues but with Siluer and Gold and pretious Stones and Pearles And the Cup of Gold which she offereth to the World is not the loue of Christ the Christian Faith nor the Law of God but her owne Decrees and Ordinances that she may play the Whore at her pleasure with pompe authoritie and lust without all shame or feare beyond all measure and all vnder the pretence and name of Christ Againe he saith e Erasmus vpon the 16. chap. Sect. 3. The whole order of Bishops and multitude of Spirituaell Pastours which by their office and calling ought to maintaine and support the true Doctrine of God haue bent themselues their whole life and state vtterly against the Doctrine of the Gospell that nothing can bee more vnlike the state of the Apostles in doctrine religion or life then is their order and state Againe he saith f Erasmus vpon the 16. chap. Sect. 2. This second beast with his two hornes is twice as had as the first for as much as through her two hornes it had power both of bodie and soule ouer the Doctrine and ouer the politique Lawes with mouth and hand against God the temporall gouernement Christ and his Ministers And againe he saith g Erasmus vpon the 27. chap. Sect. 1. The bloud of the holy Prophets and Preachers hath this Whore the Papacie shed without measure till she was so drunke therewith that shee tooke and esteemed her tyrannie for godly zeale Therefore he concludeth with the very head of the Romish Church thus h Erasmas in the words going before For the name of the Christian Church he hath deserued anonother name euen to be called the Whore of Babylon the Mother of all abominations idolatrie and of falling into Heathenish superstition And thus Christian Reader thou seest most apparantly proued that by Babylon is meant the Christian Church of Rome now in her latter dayes Now let vs intreat a little of the fall of Babylon for that will make this matter yet more apparant 7 This Angel in the seauenteenth Chapter hauing finished his testimonie touching spirituall Babylon Saint Iohn in the beginning of the eighteenth Chapter saith thus And after these things â—euelat 18.3 I saw another Angel come downe from heauen hauing great power so that the Earth was lightened with his glorie and he cryed out mightely with a loud voyce saying It is falne it is falne Babylon the great Citie and is become the habitation of Diuels and the hold of all foule spirits and a cage of euery vncleane and hatefull Bird for all Nations haue drunke of of the Wine of the wrath of her Fornication and the Kings of the Earth haue committed Fornication with her Now wee heard before by the other Angel that Christian Rome is Babylon therefore if this also be spoken of Christian Rome then is Christian Rome so wonderfully falne as that she may rightly be called Babylon And that it may appeare indeed that this Angel did also speake of Christian Rome let vs heare how Erasmus doth interpret his words thus hee saith i Erasmus vpon the 18. chap. Sect. 1. This is spoken principally against the second Regiment of Rome which vnder the pretence of the name of Christ hath delt so rebelliously against all faithfull Christians And a little after k Jbidem Now is it knowne that shee hath beene an Habitation for the wicked vnfaithfull and filthie Sodomites And againe l Erasmus vpon the 18. chap. Sect. 3. With this Babylon haue Princes and Prelates yea whole Kingdomes committed Whordomes So that by this wee see most apparantly that the same which is here spoken touching the wonderfull great fall of Babylon is spoken of Christian Rome 8 True it is that some do vnderstand this to be meant of the fall of the first beasts power the Heathenish Empire which was ouerthrowne by Constantine the Emperour when hee was conuerted to Christianitie about three hundred yeares after Christ but this cannot bee for by Constantines meanes the Romaines became Christians therefore if wee should vnderstand it of that time and state wee should vnderstand that the Angell called Rome Babylon and the habitation of diuells in respect that it was wholly become the habitation of Christians and that the Christians were those diuels foule spirits vncleane and hatefull birds which were most ridiculous so to say Againe those words of the Text which say And is become importeth a time when shee was not so which could not be meant of that time when she was Impious and Pagan for then she was no better but of a time after when she was risen and fallen And that it may appeare Rome risen and fallen that Christian Rome vnder the Popes did so fall as that shee became this hellish habitation none can make it more of credite nor more apparent then the Romanists themselues haue done as wee shall now see by these their owne testimonies following 9 Their Bernard which liued almost a thousand yeres after Heathenish Romes dayes writing of the state and manner of the Romans in his dayes sayth thus m Bernardinus de considerat ad Eugenium lib. 4. The Romaines are wise to doe euill good they know not how to doe they are irreligious towards God presumptuous against holy things they be Wolues not Sheepe And a little after speaking of the Pope and of his spirituall Pastours hee saith n Jbid. Of such art thou Shepheard if I durst speake all they be rather the pastours of deuils then of sheepe And againe complaining of the diueâ—lishnesse of his time and the ripenesse of the Church of Antichrist among the Romaines he sayth further thus o Bern. Serm. 6. in Psal 91. It onely remayneth that the
g Elizabeth in her 2. booke of Visions chapter 18. Woe be vnto you Hypocrites which hide the Gold and the Siluer to wit the Word of God and the Law of the Lord which is more pretious then eyther Gold or Siluer but howsoeuer yee seeme vnto men religious and innocent you are full of craftinesse and vncleannesse And lib. 3. cap. 14. Christ saith therefore Your Religion doth accuse you before mee Their Saint Katherine saith thus also of the Romish Clergie h Katherine of Siene in a prayer of hers The religious Orders are become the weapons or souldiers of the Deuill corrupting Religion inwardly in themselues and outwardly in the secular sort and Laitie And a little after she saith The Laitie and secular persons are seduced and deceiued by their blinde guides which are alas ignorant Idiots Their Saint Hildegard saith i Hildegard in her second booke of Sciuias I saw in a vision a monstrous blacke Head in the Church with fierie eyes an Asses eares a Lyons nosthrils with a mouth breathing out the furie of vnlawfull fire with the vnpleasant noyse of contradiction among Men whereby the white puritie of true Religion is obscured and diminished in the children of the Church Abbot Ioacham saith k Ioacham vpon the first and second chapter of Ieremie The infancie of Salomon representeth vnto vs the zeale of the Primitiue Church and his olde age signifieth or shadoweth out the present corrupt state of the Church and that as Salomon in his olde age fell into Idolatrie so hath the Church of Rome done Againe vpon the seauenteenth chapter of Saint Iohns Reuelation he saith * Vpon the 17 of the Reuelation The very Text it selfe doth teach that the Woman begilded with Gold and which committeth spirituall Fornication with the Princes of the Earth is the verie Church of Rome which Babylon like playeth spiritually the Whore with Stockes and stones To be briefe whereas their Robertus a Dominican Frier l Robertus Gallus a Frier in his 5.6 and 8. Sermon affirmeth the Pope to be the great and head Idol of the Romish Church whom the first part of our first Chapter sheweth plainely the Church of Rome holdeth to be a celestiall God and that their Saint Bridgit saith in the person of God m Bridgit in her 4. Booke chap. 133. They make an Idol of mee What fall can possibly be in Religion then to make the arch-Idol of the world God and the God of all worlds an Idol 16 Lastly concerning the fourth poynt which hath three diuisions The first concerneth the falling from God The second from Christ The third from the true Church Which because the three former hath in part proued a generall Apostacie I will but briefely touch Their Saint Bridgit saith as it were in the person of God n Bridgit ibidem Israel doth now neglect mee that is to say saith hee the Priests and they loue another God For they loue as I said before the golden Calfe c. Moreouer they make an Idol of mee and shut vpon mee lest I should enter o In her 135. chapter Thus doe these cursed Priests by mee And a little after I call them to mee as the Bridegroome doth his Bride or the Husband his wedded Wife I doe all I can but the more that I call them the further they goe from me Ioacham sheweth that the whole Clergie of Rome is so farre falne from God that as he saith p Ioacham vpon the first and second chapter of Ieremie They haue chosen the Deuill for God 17 Touching the second deuision Their Mathilde a Prophetesse thus exclaimeth against the Romish Clergie saying q Mathilde in a Prophesie of hers They are falne away from Christ and become rauening Wolues deuouring and cutting the throats of Christs Sheepe Ioacham Abbas saith r Ioacham vpon the 1. and 2. chap. of Iere. The Church of Rome like vnto another Tribe hath departed from Christ Hating all such as their S. Bridgit saith Å¿ Bridgit in her 1. Booke 56 chap. as walke in his wayes Yea and as in another place she saith of Pope Gregorie then t Lib. 4. cap. 142. Hee hateth Christ hee robbeth him of his sheepe hee plucketh them violently out of his hand and sendeth them to Hell fire By which the case is made cleare that all that are wonne to the Pope are lost from Christ And as Ioacham in that place before cited shewed the Church of Rome to be so farre falne from God as that she chose the Deuill for God so in the same place he sheweth that she is so far falne from Christ that she hath chosen Antichrist for Christ 18 Now for the third deuision concerning the falling from the true Church their Robertus bringeth in Christ thus repr ouing the Romish Church for falling away from the true and antient Christian Church v Frier Robertus in his 12. Sermon Daughter of Babylon saith he thou art estranged from thy mother my Doue that bare thee and art gone after gold and siluer and precious ornaments Like an adultresse thou hast forsaken mee and hast ioyned thy selfe vnto strangers Thou liest prostrate and such as are pleased to play the whoore repaire vnto thee And in the same Sermon in the person of Christ hee saith Ibidem Why haue the children of my Doue departed from mee and are become blacke They are become estranged by abandoning the simplicity of their mother Againe in the same Sermon Ibidem hee calleth the Clergie of Rome A disloyall generation and the adultrous sons of Christs Doue And in his thirty two Sermon the Lord saith thus vnto him * 2â— Sermon All the children of my beloued sauing onely a few shall play the Apostates And in his twentie one Sermon the Lord saith thus to the whole Clergy of Rome This mine house shall be destroyed because of you which make the children of my beloued to play the Apostates And this is it which Ioacham fore-tolde where hee sayth * Ioacham vpon the seauentâ—enth chapter of the Reuâ—laâ—tion The Lord shall stirre vp as it were with an hissing voyce the French men and Germanes to conspire against the Church which hath played the Apostate in the person of the warrefaring Popes who with their Clergie and their adherents as a prophecie had out of the Abbot of Clunies Library sayth x In an olde booke shall fight against the true Church Also the Abbot Ioacham painteth out one most cruell Pope which hee sayth y Ioacham in his 9. Prediction Shall wound and scourge with most cruell stripes the most meeke Lambe opening his mouth against Christ the Lord and darkening the Starres of heauen Wherefore saith Saint Bridgit to the Pope z Bridgit in her 6. booke of her Reuelation 26 chapter The King for whom thou doest pray ought to assemble and call a Councell of spirituall men such as are wise through my
during those fiery fiue moneths mentioned in the 5. Reuelat. 9.5 verse of the 9. chap. of the Reuelation which some of the learned doe interpret to be those last 500. yeeres before Luthers time in which Antichrist was growne vp to his full height and power and euen then did God stirre vp a great company of corragious Champions to withstand the Pope and openly and boldly to write speake and preach against him and his proceedings till well towards the rising of Luther a great part of which we will now produce as they thus follow in particular 3 About the yeare of our Lord 1158. which was almost foure hundred yeares before Luthers daies Garhardus and Dulcinus Nauarenses did earnestly preach against the Church of Rome and taught that the Pope is Antichrist that the Clergie and Prelates of Rome were reiected and were become the very whore of Babylon prefigured in the booke of the Reuelation These as the histories doe testifie came into England The two witnesses as they follow are sayd to be two because thâ—y bear witnesse to the two TestameÌ„ts and brought certaine others with them who were by the King and the Prelaetes burned in the foreheads and sent out of the Realme and afterwards were put to death by the Pope In the yeare 1160. * Waldus Waldus one of the chiefe Magistrates of the Citie of Lyons in Fraunce was terrified at the sight of one that fell downe dead suddenly he shewed great fruits of repentance both by exercising the workes of mercie in relieuing the poore and also by instructing himselfe and his family in the word of God and in exhorting all that resorted vnto him to the same and by translating certaine places of Scriptures into the French tongue which he declared vnto many He and a great number that receiued instructions by him maintained the same doctrine drawne out of the holy Scriptures which we doe now condemning the Masse to be wicked the Pope to bee Antichrist and Rome to be Babylon c. They were threatned and by violence of persecution scattered into many places and some of them remained long in Bohemia In the yeare 1212. An hundred burned in one day the Pope caused an hundred persons in the Country of Alsatia whereof diuers of them were Noble men to be burned in one day for maintaining doctrine against the Romish Church About the yeare of Christ 1230. The Graecians renounced the Church of Rome almost all the Church of the Graeciaens renounced the Church of Rome because of their execrable Simony and such like abominable wickednesse In the time of the Emperour Frederike the second about the yeare 1240. there was in the Countrey of Sweuia many Preachers which preached freely against the Pope and his Prelates affirming that they were Heretiques Simonackes and such like About the yeare 1250. rose vp Arnoldus de nona villa a Spaniard Arnoldus a man famously learned and a great Writer hee impugned the errours of the Popish Church and taught Guilielmus that the Pope led the people to hell About the same time Guilielmus de sancto Amore a maister of Paris and chiefe ruler of that Vniuersitie applied all the testimonies of Scripture which are touching Antichrist against the Popish Clergie About the yeare 1290. Laurence an Englishman Laurence and a maister of Paris mightily proued the Pope to be Antichrist and the Synagogue of Rome to be Babylon the Pope after his death caused his bones to bee taken vp and burned Robert Gallus At the same time Robert Gallus a man of noble parentage impugned the Pope of Rome and his Clergie calling the Pope an idol Robert Grostid Also about the same time Robert Grostid Bishop of Lincolne a man famously learned in three tongues wrote diuers Inuectiues against the Pope prouing him to be an heretike after his death the Pope would haue had his bones digged vp but was terrified by a Vision About the yeare 1350 the Lord raised vp diuers learned men Gregory Arminensis which openly and boldly impugned the Pope and the Church of Rome Gregory Arminensis who layed open the abuses of the Romish Synagogue and confuted the Popish doctrine of free-will In Germany a Preacher taught likewise Petracha Franciscus Petracha at the same time called Rome The whoore of Babylon the Sanctuary of heresie and Schoole of errour Johannes derupe Scissa And a little before that Iohannes derupe Scissa was cast into prison for rebuking the Popish Prelates for their detestable enormities and for that hee called the Church of Rome The Whoore of Babylon the Pope the Minister of Antichrist and the Cardinalls false Prophets And being in prison hee wrote a booke prophecying of the afflictions which hanged ouer the heads of the Romish Clergie Couradus Hager Also there was maister Conradus Hager who taught more then twenty yeares against the Masse hee was afterwards shut vp in prison Gerardus Ridder Michael Cesenas Petrus de Carbona Iohannes de Poliaco Also one Gerardus Ridder wrote a booke against the Monkes and Friers which he entituled Lachrime ecclesiae About the same time Michaell Cesenas and Petrus de Corbona and Iohannes de Poliace were condemned by the Pope and his adherents The said Michaell wrote a booke against the pride tyrannie and primacie of the Pope accusing him to be Antichrist and the Church of Rome Babylon That whoore drunke with the blood of the Saints He left behind him many followers of whom a great part were slaine by the Pope and some of them were burned Two Friers About the same time two Friers were put to death in Auinion for matters which they had against the Pope one of them was called Iohannes Rochetailiada who did preach that the Church of Rome is Babylon the Pope and Cardinalls Antichrist About the yeare 1360. was set forth a writing against the Pope and his Clergie The Plowmans complaint Armachanus called the Complaint of the plow man About the same time Armachanus an Archbishop in Ireland was raised vp against Antichrist he was a man of great learning and godlinesse his troubles were many and his deliuerances great by Gods prouidence In the yeare of Christ 1364. Nicolas Orme Nicolas Orme preached a Sermon before the Pope and his Cardinalls in which he rebuked the Popish Prelates and affirmed their destruction not to be farre off About the yeare 1370. liued Mathew Parisiensis a Bohemian Math. Parisiensis who wrote a large booke of Antichrist and noteth the Pope to be the same About the yeare 1384. Nilus Bishop of Thessalonica Nilus wrote also a large booke against the Romaine Church About the yeare 1390. many were put to death for the Gospell refusing the doctrine and worship of the Church of Rome as at Bringa there were burned sixe and thirty Citizens of Maguntia Many put to death for refusing the Romish religion In the prouince of Narbone there
Church And bid them now bragge of the visibilitie of their Church and of the standing state it alwaies had since it was a Church because thou canst not deny it them but withall giue them to vnderstand that euen thereby is our Church proued that true Church which the Angel in that chapter foretold should be driuen from home and dispierced abroad and theirs to be the tyrannicall and persecuting Church which should driue it out of her Countrie And thus much for the prouing when their Church first began and how farre it did extend it selfe as also the first beginning of vniuersall Popes to bee sixe hundred and sixe yeares after Christ whereby both their antiquitie and vniuersalitie is vtterly ouerthrowne Now to the conclusion of all 8 Forasmuch as we which now are distinguished from them by the title of Protestants confesse that in this their Romish iurisdiction we had no Church left at the rising of Luther they demaund of vs from whence our Bishops had their callings and how our Ministers which they haue ordained euer since can haue lawfull callings seeing there was then no Protestant Bishops to ordaine them neither that by the Apostles euer any Christians had that title giuen them We answer For the title Protestant wee stand not vpon for wee graunt that in the time of the Apostles there was not any Christians called by that name no more then there was any called by that name Catholique The onely title proper to the professours of Christ was giuen by the Apostles in the Citie of Antioch which was to be called Christians as appeareth in the 11. of the Acts of the Apostles but afterwards when as counterfait professours of Christ as the Arians Macedonians Eunâ—nians were growne to be Sectaries and Heretiques and each of them to challenge vnto themselues the title of the true Church There was another sort in Rome called Homousians which were indeede of the true Church these to distinguish themselues from those counterfait Christians intituled themselues Christian Catholiques Whereupon as Socrates testifieth k Socrates lib. 5. cap. 10. that worthie Prince Theodosius hearing thereof caused these foure sorts of Christians to be brought before him and euery Sect to bring their seuerall opinions in writing which when hee and his Bishops there assembled had throughly pervsed and examined he tore in pieces the Papers of the three Heretiques and approued onely of the Homousians finding it onely to agree with the Doctrine of the Scriptures And thereupon made this Decree All people subiect to our Empire How and when the name Catholique was giuen to Christians we will haue to continue in that Religion which Saint Peter the Apostle deliuered to the Romans as the faith kept from his time to this day doth declare and the which it is euident Bishop Damassus and Peter Bishop of Alexandria a man of Apostolique sanctitie doe professe to wit that according to the Apostolique and Euangelique Doctrine wee beleeue one Godhead of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost of like maiestie in sacred Trinitie The obseruers of this Law we commaund to be taken for Christian Catholiques the rest as mad and frantike we adiudge to beare the reproach of Heretiques which must looke to feele first the vengeance of God and next such penalties as the motion of our hearts directed from aboue shall appoynt And this was about two hundred yeares before the Papists had a Church therefore this act being done onely in our Church it is without all contradiction we onely must needs be of that sort of Christians vnto whom the title Catholique was then giuen and consequently of the true and most auncient Catholique and Apostolique Church So likewise afterwards when as the West part of the Church did vnder the title of Christian Catholiques professe Christ after an Antichristian manner then certaine true Christians withstanding them protested a contrary manner of Christian profession agreeable to the auncient Catholique Faith and Religion and by their protesting did distinguish themselues from that counterfait companie which they then saw as we now haue declared at large in our former Chapters were cleane swarued from the true Faith and Religion And from thence we following their true Faith and religion retain the same title to distinguish our selues from our most counterfait Christian Catholiques But would God both these new titles were laid away and that both sorts might be called by their owne proper titles to wit Christians and Antichristians for so the Church of Christ should the better be knowne from the Church of Antichrist 9 Now for the lawfulnesse of our Bishops callings wee say that when the time drew neere that the Gospel which Antichrist had suppressed in the Romish iurisdiction should be set vp againe according to that old Romish prophesie intituled Stimulus diuinae contemplationis written I know not how many hundred yeares agoe bearing that after the yeare of Christs Incarnation 1534. In an olde Booke Good Law good Religion good peace together with Faith Truth and sound Doctrine should returne againe into the World in their proper shape and true likenesse then about that time when by the meanes of that man of Cod Luther some Bishops were conuerted to true Christianitie againe and that others had time to conuerse with them concerning the present necessitie of electing and ordaining Christian Ministers then they entered by the olde ordinances of those Christian Bishops which were before Poperie was and so ordained ministers by the rules and authoritie of the first Apostolicke order which had alwaies continued in those other parts of our Churches which as wee shewed were neuer members of the Popish Church For otherwise had they not bin first conuerted they and all the Ministers which they haue ordained should haue been the seruants of Antichrist euen as those were before and at this day are which haue their calling from Antichrist the Pope For so their S. Bernard speaking of Bishops and Ministers which haue their calling from and by the Popes ordination saith l Bernard supra cant Serm. 33. They serue Antichrist Also their Albertus Magnus saith m Albert in Jehn 10. They bee the Ministers of Antichrist and the vnderminers of the flocke of Christ. And therefore whether it be likely that our Ministers which be ordained by Bishops of an ordinarie calling from the Apostles of Christ haue lawfull callings or such as haue their calling from Antichrist the Pope let the Christian Reader iudge And the more to inlighten his iudgement and better discerning the truth hereof let him consider these fruits and effects of their calling Their Saint Bridgit bringeth in Christ thus complayning of the Romish Clergie n Bridgit lib. 1. cap. 56. They faine themselues to be mine and in the meane time they worke wickedly against mee Their Saint Elizabeth bringeth in Christ thus reporting of them o Elizabeth against the corruptions of Rome lib. 3. cap. 14. They that walk vnder my name doe not feare to
according to the true sentence and censure of the Minister euen as the same Writer saith h Jbidem By thy sentence in earth I shall confirme it in Heauen So that by this we see that the ministeriall binding and loosing remitting and retaining sinnes is nothing else but by denouncing the binding sentence and pronouncing the loosing sentence to declare vnto men that they are both bound and loosed by God in heauen And hereof it is which that master of the sentences Peter Lumbard saith i Lumb 4. Seâ—m 18. dist Nec ideo God hath giuen Priests power to binde and loose that is to say saith hee to declare vnto men that they be eyther bound or loosed It were against vs saith Saint Augustine k August 2. booke 11. chap. Permentanus that we should be compelled to graunt that this thing were done of men but not through or by men Againe he saith l August in his Booke of the ladders of Paradise The Lord graunted the office of Baptizing vnto many but the power and authoritie in Baptisme to forgiue sinnes he hath reserued onely to himselfe And to this agreeth that which Saint Ambrose saith m Ambrose in his 9. Bookâ— 76. Epistle The Lord remaineth alone for no man can be partner with God in for giuing of sinnes And thus then who seeth not that albeit sinne bee ministerally remitted and retained yet is it actually done of God himselfe So that whereas the Pope would craftily ascribe this absolute power to Saint Peter all men may apparantly see he doth it but to draw the same power to himselfe that so men might esteeme of his pardons and take them of his owne price And thus much touching the vse of the keies and how farre their powers doe extend 5 Thirdly whereas they say To Peter Christ committed the care and charge of the whole Church we answere that it is not any where to be found in all the Scriptures that Christ said to Peter To thee I commit the care and charge of the whole Church but this wee finde in the 2 Corinth 2. Cor. 11.28 Gal. 2.7 11. cap. that Saint Paul said of himselfe I am cumbered daily and haue the care of all Churches Againe we read in the second chapter to the Galathians that Saint Paul speaking of Peters charge and his owne said The Gospell ouer the vncircumcision was committed to mee as the Gospell ouer the circumcision was committed to Peter Now then seeing that circumcision was but that one Nation of the Iewes and the vncircumcision all the other Nations of the World who had the more vniuersall charge not Peter but Paul and yet indeed and truth to say that euery of the other Apostles charge was not as vniuersal Acts 9.15 as either Peters or Paules iâ— as plaine foolerie as to say that because the Lord said to Annanias of Paul Hee is a chosen vessell vnto mee to beare my name before the Gentiles and Kings and children of Israel therefore none but Paul Or because Peter said of himselfe Acts 15.7 God chose out mee that the Gentiles by my mouth should heare the words of the Gospel and beleeue Ergo not by the mouth of Paul nor any other of the Apostles but by Peters alone John 13.13 Or to say because Iohn is said Iohn 13.23 to be the Disciple whom Iesus loued therefore none but Iohn Or because Saint Chrisostome said of Iohn n Chrisost ad Papâ—â— Antioch Hom. 73. He was the Pillar of all the Churches in the World therefore none but hee To bee briefe it is cleare by Saint Matthew chapter 28. verses 19.20 and chapter 18. verse 19. and by S. Marke chapter 16.15 and to the end of the chapter that Christ committed the care and charge of his whole Church to all his Apostles indifferently and that by his owne commission euery of their authorities was as great and as large as either Peters or Paules And therefore fabulous is it that the Pope doth challenge from the right of Saint Peter to haue the vniuersall care and charge of the whole Church committed vnto him or any one man in all the world S. Ambrose speaking of this poynt at large concludeth thus o Ambrose of the dignitie of Priesthood The sheepe and flocke which Peter receiued we all receiued the same together with him Now they will not say that S. Ambrose was a Pope of Rome therefore they must needes grant that he spake this generally of all Bishops Pastors and Ministers and not of the Popes of Rome alone 6 Fourthly they say To Peter Christ committed the office of feeding both Sheepe and Lambes olde and young to which we answere It is cleare that by feeding Christ meant the feeding of the soule by preaching the Word of eternall life Now whether this office of preaching was committed to Peter alone and not generally to all the other Apostles the verie plaine and expresse words of their generall commission set downe by Saint Matthew and Saint Marke doth declare Saint Matthew noteth them thus from Christs owne mouth chap. 28.18.19 All power is giuen to mee in heauen and in earth Matthew 28.18.19 Marke 16.15.20 Goe therefore and teach all Nations Saint Marke chap. 16.15.20 thus Goe ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to euerie creature And in the same chapter it followeth And they went forth and preached euerie where Now then what sheepe or Lambes old or young had Peter to feede that the other Apostles had not his commission could extend no further then all the World ouer and to euery creature and so farre did theirs extend as well as his Therefore how can the Pope iustly claime from Peter to be the onely feeding Father of Gods vniuersall Church Saint Augustine saith p August in his Booke of the troubles of Christians chap. 3. Those words spoken to Peter Feede my Sheepe when they were spoken to Peter they were spoken to all Priests and Ministers If to all then not to any one alone and consequently not to the Pope 7 Fiftly they say Peter was that Rocke on which Christ said he would build his Church against which the Gates of hell should not preuaile which being true how was it then that the gates of hell to wit the power of Sathan did so preuaile against him that hee failing in the fundamentall point of Religion attempted to debarre the recouerie of the most happie estate of the vniuersall Church for which Christ called him Sathan For no sooner had Christ imparted vnto him what things he was to suffer at Ierusalem for the recouerie thereof but presently hee gaue Christ councell he should not doe it Matth. 16.22 Maister said hee pittie thy selfe this thing shall not be vnto thee So that if Christ had followed his counsell euery particular member of his Church had beene damned Therefore it is cleare Peter was not that Rocke on which Christ said he would build his Church against the
called the forme of the Crosse a Sacrament c Aug. in Serm. De Sanctis 19. Leo called the Vowe of Virginitie a Sacrament d Leo inter Decreta Leonis cap. 14. Saint Bernard hee called the washing of feete The Sacrament of daily sinnes e Bern. in Serm. de Coena Dom. And yet besides these other fiue were many moe called Sacraments Saint Hillarie f Hilar. in Mat. Cannon 11.12 23. in diuers places of his writings calleth Prayer a Sacrament Fasting a Sacrament Weeping a Sacrament and the whole tenure of the Scriptures a Sacrament For as the Iewes before the comming of Christ had brought into a custome to call their Oblations and whatsoeuer tended to the worship and seruice of God Sacrifices So after the comming of Christ had the Christians brought into a custome to call almost all whatsoeuer tended to the worship and seruice of Christ Sacraments Saint Augustine speaking of these and other such new deuices which were then crept into the Church saith g August in his 219. Epistle Albeit they be not against the faith yet with seruile burdens they so oppresse our very religion which God of his mercy would haue to be free vnder few and most manifest Sacraments of diuine seruice that the state of the Iewes is much more tolerable for the Iewes notwithstanding they knew the time of libertie yet were they subiect onely to the pacts and burdens of the Law of God and not to the deuices of men Againe hee saith h In his third Booke of Christian Doctrine 6. cap. Our Lord and his Apostles haue deliuered vnto vs a few Sacraments instead of many and the same in doing most easie in signification most excellent in obseruation most reuerend as is the Sacrament of Baptisme and the celebration of the Body and Bloud of our Lord. Againe in another place hee saith i De Symbolo ad Catechumenos These be the two Sacraments of the Church If these two then not Scauen 2 Furthermore that it may plainely appeare that the true Christian Church is to be knowne onely by hauing two Sacraments and not Seauen Let vs heare what Saint Chrysostome saith his words be these k Chrysost of the Workâ— vpon Matth. hom 49. All those things which appertained to Christ indeede haue the Heretikes in their Schismes Churches the Scriptures of God Bishops and other order of Clerkes likewise Baptisme and the Sacrament of thankesgiuing and to conclude Christ himselfe So that hereby we see it plainly proued that to Saint Chrysostomes time which was about two hundred yeeres before the Papists had a Church the true Church of Christ was knowne by hauing two Sacraments and not Seauen and therefore the Popish Church by retaining seauen Sacraments is apparently knowne to be not the true Church of Christ That man of God Martin Luther which before had beene a Papist speaking of this matter saith thus l Luth. Babilonicall Captin In proper speach those we call Sacraments which are promises with signes annexed the rest that haue no signes are bare promises wherefore speaking hereof precisely and strictly there are onely two Sacraments in the Church of God Baptisme and the Bread forasmuch as in these onely we find the signes ordayned of God and also the promise of remission of sinnes But here because it may be they will obiect and say that Luther was but of a latter hatch and but of lesse then one hundred yeers standing let them heare what he saith that liued but in one age next after the Apostles Tertullian by name thus he wrote against Martion the Heretike m Tertull. lib. 4. against Marti How doest thou breake marriage neither coupling the man and the woman together nor being coupled otherwise admitting them to the Sacrament of Baptisme and thankesgiuing Note saith the Translatour how he striketh away fiue of the Popish Sacraments which of their owne heads they haue deuised Yea and let them heare what hee saith that liued in the next age after that S. Cyprian by name thus hee saith n Cypr. lib. 2. Epist 1. ad Stephan Then may they be throughly sanctified and become the children of God if they be new borne by both the Sacraments Now in that hee saith both it is cleare that hee acknowledged but onely two Sacraments But why should wee trouble the Reader any longer about this matter seeing the question is resolued by these two Writers of their owne Bessarion and Paschasius Bessarion saith o Bessa of the Euchar. We reade that these onely two Sacraments were deliuered vs plainely in the Gospell Paschasius saith p Pascha of the Supper of our Lord. These be the Sacraments of Christ in the Catholique Church Baptisme and the Body and Bloud of our Lord. Therefore forasmuch as by Scripture they cannot proue their fiue ceremonies to be Sacraments nor by the auncient Fathers before the rising of Antichrist the number of Seauen onely and that we haue proued that for foure hundred yeeres next after Christ there was but onely our two Sacraments in the Christian Church that must needes be a counterfeit Christian Church and of a latter hatch that will be knowne to be the true Catholique Church by retaining more then two nay then three times two Sacraments And that indeed it may more plainely appeare that by retaining more then two it is not the true Church one of the Popes owne Pen men describing the true Church by her owne notes and markes saith thus * Nicol. Cusanus De potestate Ecclesiae Romanae Epist. 1. In this sensible world that is heere beneath wee must learne by sensible Tokens to know the very Church of Christ for otherwise we are not able to reach the truth And a little after This Church standeth of them that declare by sensible and outward tokens that they be partakers of Christ as they be that confesse Christ to be the Sonne of God And therefore this Church hath certaine holy Tokens or Sacraments ordained to that end that thereby wee may know them that be of Christ so farre forth as by such Tokens coniecturall knowledge may be gathered Therefore I say That this Church of Christ by this coniecturall iudgement is counted holy notwithstanding wicked men and Hypocrites couer themselues vnder the same outward tokens And what those tokens are he expresseth in these words following And receiue Baptisme and the Lords Supper as well as the Godly And thus much for this point Now let vs see what wee can say to the Sacrament of the Altar or Masse 3 Their Masse they would beare the world in hand was the ordinance of Christ and formed and framed by the Apostles and that Saint Peter said their Masse at Rome and Saint Iames at Ierusalem But how true this is these words of their Iohannes Boemos will plainly demonstrate q Iohan. Bohem. In his Booke of the beginning of things cap. 1â— The Masse saith hee so call they the Sacrifice was
which the gates of hell should not preuaile 8 Furthermore if Peter had beene that Rocke against which the power of the Deuill should not haue preuailed how was it that Saint Paul found him a desembler in Religion for which himselfe saith Gala. 2. Gala. 2.11.12.13 hee reproued him before all men in the Citie of Antioch Also if he had been that Rock against which the power of hell should not preuaile whence was it then that hee became an Apostata by cursing himselfe if euer he knew Christ and by denying him with an oathe Matth. 26.72.73.74 Therefore it is euident hee was not that maine Rocke against which the Gates of hell should not preuaile nor on which Christ said he would build his Church yea the very expresse words of the Text declareth that he did not meane vpon Peter for the words are not vpon thee Matth. 16.18 but vpon this Rocke That is saith Saint Augustine q August in his 3. Sâ—r. vpon Matthew vpon this Rocke which thou hast confessed vpon this Rocke which thou hast acknowledged saying Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God I will build my Church I will build thee vpon mee and not mee vpon thee for men willing to build vpon men said I hold of Paul I am of Apollo and I holde of Peter But others that would not build vpon Peter but vpon the Rocke said I holde of Christ And this interpretation of Saint Augustine their Doctor Beda so approueth of r Beda vpon the 1. Cor. the first chap. that in his interpretating the same words hee obserueth Augustines words verbatim Likewise their Docter Haymo thus expoundeth the same words Å¿ Haymo of Peter and Paul Because saith he thou hast professed mee truely to be the sonne of the liuing God vpon this Rocke that is vpon me whom thou hast confessed to be the sonne of the liuing God I will build my Church Thus then wee see that Christ himselfe is that Rocke on which hee said hee would build his Church and not Peter And the rather because it is not any where found in all the Scriptures that the power of hell did euer any way preuaile against him but may euidently be proued it did more preuaile against Peter then against any other of all the Apostles therefore it is without all contradiction that Christ himselfe is that maine Rocke yea the same on which Saint Hierome witnesseth Peter himselfe did helpe to build the Church For he complaining how the Christian Doctrine was then in his time corrupted in Rome said t Hierome idem aduersus Iouianum Was there none other place in all the World to receiue this voluptuous Doctrine but that which Peters preaching had built on the Rocke Christ Declaring thereby that Christ was that maine Rocke and not Peter 1. Cor. 3.11 And therefore it was that Saint Paul 1 Cor. 3.11 speaking of the maine Rocke or Foundation concludeth hereof thus Other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Iesus Christ 9 But heere now perhappes they will obiect and say Did not Christ say to Peter thou shalt be called Cephas which is by interpretation a Rocke or a Stone We answere Hee did For if wee speake of the Ministeriall foundation no man can deny but that Peter was therein a Rocke or a Stone as the Prophets and the other Apostles were for that Saint Paul speaking of the ministeriall foundation Ephesians 2.20 saith plainely Ephes 2.20 It is built to wit the Church vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the head corner stone But in that hee bringeth in Christ among them and ascribeth vnto him onely the prerogatiue of singularitie it is cleare that euen in the ministeriall foundation hee allowed none singular but Christ alone And therefore that prerogatiue of singularitie which the Pope would claime by right from Peter is euen flat forgery and a foolish fantasie 10 I am not ignorant what a shuffling they keepe with Saint Hierome to proue Peter one singular in the ministeriall foundation but if it be possible for any man to speake plainer words to the contrary then these let the Reader iudge v Hieron lib. 1. aduersus Iouian Yee will say said hee the Church is founded vpon Peter notwithstanding in another place the same thing is done vpon all the Apostles and all receiued the Keyes of the kingdome of heauen and the strength of the Church is founded equally vpon them all And hereof it is which Saint Origen saith * Origen in 16. Matth. tract 1. If onely vpon Peter thou thinke the whole Church to be built what wilt thou say to Iohn and euery of the Apostles And a little after For if this speech To thee will I giue the Keyes of the kingdome of heauen be common to all why then should not all that which goeth before and that which followeth after as spoken to Peter be common to them all By which we see plainly that seeing Peter is not a Singular in the Ministeriall foundation the Pope very vniustly challengeth that prerogatiue from him 11 Sixtly they say For Peter the prayer was made as though Christ had not praied aswel for the other Apostles as for him But for the blowing away of this miste I referre the Reader to the seauenteenth chapter of Saint Iohns Gospell where he shall see that Christ prayed as well for all the other Apostles as for Peter whereupon it was that Saint Augustine wrote thus against those Heretikes of his time x Augustine in his first booke of his quâ—stion vpon the Old and New Testament the 75 question Did Christ pray but for Peter and not for Iames and Iohn It is manifest that all the Apostles were meant in Peter because in another place hee saith I pray for them whom thou hast giuen me and I will that where I am they may be also 12 Lastly they say thus Peter had an ordinary power from whence all the other Apostles receiued their power and authority For answere whereof and for breuitie sake I am compelled also to referre the Reader to these places of Scripture Iohn 20.21.22.23 Matth. 18.18.19 and 10.5.6.7.8 and 28.18.19.20 Iohn 14.26 Acts 2.1.2.3 which doth plainely proue that all the Apostles in generall and euery particular of them receiued their power and authority immediately from Christ as Peter himselfe did And hence it was that Saint Cyprian knitteth vp the conclusion thus y Cyprian of the simplicitie of Prelates Christ gaue to all his Apostles like and equall power and authority And where then was that ordinary power of Saint Peter that the Pope should challenge from him that prerogatiue to haue a singular power and principalitie to giue power and authoritie to all Bishops Pastours and Ministers iust no where to be found For albeit our Sauiour Christ seeing Peter so forwards aboue the rest and fore-seeing also how prone ready he was to