these diuers hundred yeeres Concilium delectorum Cardinalium c. Their owne nyne Committees in the Councell of Trent cryed out vpon 't to Paul the third as beeing vtterly ashamed of it But so farre is the Romish Strumpet from shaming with it as here she cherisheth the Simonists in her bosome as her white Sonnes and for thirtie or fortie shillings dispenseth with him to keepe that Benefice which by the Lawes of vs English Heretickes is totally taken from him that so vnlawfully came by it and yet must we be filthy Heretickes and prophane Dogges and She the onely holy and Catholike Church CHAP. VII DISPENSATIONS for Non-age The Romish Text. A Dispensation for one vnder age to enter all holy Orders yea to be made Priest will amount to 33. Grosses Also that he may be ordained of any Bishop will cost him 33. Grosses more And to bee ordained at any time of the yeere will be no lesse then 54. Grosses English Obseruations MArke Christian Reader of what Religion soeuer thou be these three are all Constitutions of their owne and though they bee commendable needfull in the Church yet amongst them and by their Diuinity they stand by the authority of Ecclesiasticall Constitution and yet see heere the penalty of the breach of them how farre it exceeds the breach of any of Gods holy Commandements Would it not be held incredible if Caluin or Luther had reported it that the deflowring of a Virgin lying with Sister Murder Periurie Sacriledge Simony Reuealing Confession keeping a Concubine and lying with a woman in the Church that all these nine hideous sinnes against Gods expresse Law should haue no grearer a punishment all put together then the breach of one of these Orders of their owne Or that to breake this humane Law of theirs which commands ordination of Ministers to bee at certaine set times should more then ten times exceed the punishment of that villaine that lyes with his owne Mother Verely if their owne words did not declare it all the world should not make vs beleeue it of them though they beleeue and daily diuulge of vs the foulest things that the idlest head or lewdest lyar of a thousand will but deuise of vs. Now for the breach of almost all the ten Commandements to bee more easily past ouer than the breach of one of their owne Orders we appeale to the world of indifferent men if this proclaime them not true Pharises Hypocrites who vilific the Commandements of God to magnifie their owne Their sinne testifies to their face that they esteeme their owne glory tenne times more than the glory of God How iust therefore is the iudgement of the Highest vpon this cursed Synagogue which is pronounced from heauen vpon her in the Reuelation How much she hath glorified her selfe Reu. 18.7 and liued deliciously so much torment and sorrow giue her Now touching this particular that the Reader may knowe the better how to iudge of the Religion and Church of Rome in this point of dispensation for Non-age I will first set downe what their Lawes bee in this case and then shew how the Pope dispenseth against their Lawes Their Canon Law stands thus 1. FOr wills or making ones will it is required a man haue 14. Yeeres A Woman 12. Yeeres 2. For marriage the same or lesse in case where malitia supplet aetatem 3. For a Contract 7. Yeeres 4. For Dignities A Bishop ought to be of 30. Yeeres An Abbot 25. Yeeres An Abbesse 30. Yeeres A Prior with Couent or Cure 25. Yeeres But without 20. Yeeres A Prebendary in a Collegiat Church 10. Yeeres In a Cathedrall Church 14. Yeeres 5. For liuings or Benefices for the taking of one it sufficeth one be of 14. Yeeres For Chappels 7. Yeeres 6. For holy Orders first A Priest must bee of 25. Yeeres A Deacon 20. Yeeres A Sub-deacon 18. Yeeres For the other foure inferiour Orders or prima tonsura it sufficeth one be of 7. Yeeres 7. For places of Iudicature An Inquisitor must be of 40. Yeeres A Iudge 18. or 20. Yeeres A Proctor 17. Yeeres For these and more see Gambarus de off autor Legati à latere lib. 7. art 417. Et Rebuff praxi benef lib. 1. These be the ages required by their Lawes whereof some be reasonable as for a Priest to be 25. yeeres old and some few others But many of these be shamefully vnreasonable as namely for one to be a Gouernour a Prebendary at 14 nay at ten yeeres old especially for one to be made a Clergie man or rather a Clergie child at seuen yeeres old and consequently to bee capable of a Benefice is it not a shame such a thing should be heard of in a Christian State And yet alas as loose as these Lawes bee and as vnreasonable as those ages bee that are allowed by Popish lawes yet comes the Pope and will dispence euen against these Lawes If then these Lawes be vnreasonable though they were strictly obserued how abominable then be the Dispensations Now that the Pope doth so and that ordinarily and vsually harken what a French Papist both confesseth and complaineth of in bitter termes For * Rebuff in prax benef l. 1. p. 382. c. Sciendum est circa Minorem multipliciter dispensari Primò Minor ante 7. annos tonsuram accipere non potest sic nec beneficia habere sic opus est Dispensatione Et in huc vidè laâ—ardae sunt iuris habenae nam hoc est contra ius Diunum quodammodo contra ius naturare vt quâ—â— qui nescit alios doc al. At vae tibi qui cum istis dispensas qui datus es in ruinam eâ— aâ—â—â—â—ctâ—onem multorum Item Minorante 10. annos est inhabilis vt sit Canonicus 〈◊〉 Et 〈◊〉 Collegiatis in Cathedrâ—tibus vel Metrapolitanis ante 14. quamobrem in hic casisus req 〈◊〉 Popâ— Dispensatis Dignitatem verò aut beneficia Curata ante annos 25. Minor obtinere non potesè sine Dispensatione First saith he One cannot by Law receiue primam tonsuraÌ„ and take a Benefice till he be seuen yeeres old vnlesse he haue a Dispensation but heerein the Law must be shamefully strained for this is both against Gods Law and the law of Nature that hee who cannot speake should teach others But saith hee to the Pope for French-men haue beene bold with him woe bee to thee that thus dispensest for thou art ordained for the ruine and destruction of many Againe that one vnder ten yeeres should take a Prebendary in a Collegiate Church and vnder foureteene in a Cathedrall cannot be without the Popes Dispensation no more can any man haue an Ecclesiasticall Dignity or a Benefice with Cure vnder fiue and twenty Gambarus de offic Legati lib. 7. art 451. And saith an Jtalian Lawier A Legate à latere caÌ„not dispense with a Prebendary vnder age that hee may be a Commissioner in great causes for this is a
Child took medicinall drinke to destroy her Birth or doth any other Act whereby the Childe being aliue in her Wombe is destroyed is taxed at the rate of 5. Grosses English Obseruations IF the slauery of Women and Iealousie of Husbands in Italy bee so common as Trauellers tell and the violent beating of Wiues so ordinary as this Particle implies then certainly our English Women may iustly thanke God for that comfortable freedome that they enioy which is such as made Erasmus and other strangers comming hither say That no Women in the World liued so faire liues as ours in England And our Catholike Women may heere see how little they are beholding to the Pope who cares so little for them more then for seruing the filthy lust of him and his lustfull law-lesse Clergie that all the base Iealousies vnworthy vsage and cruell blowes of their imperious Husbands moue not him at all nor holds hee it worthy so much as a poore Purse-punishment vnlesse it cause the death of the Child Haue not our Catholike Dames great cause to runne after Romish Religion as they do If they loue it so well Oh that they would euen runne to Rome and enioy it there where they may haue the Popes dayly blessing to make amends if their Husbands should pay them with dayly and sometimes deadly blowes It is also fit for the Readers obseruation what little account is made in Rome of killing Infants and his Shauelings and vnholy Cloyster-brethren shew themselues children not vnlike their Father amongst whom and their carnall Sisters the Nunnes their Chronicles and all Trauellers and the Visitations of their Abbeyes doe all declare how wickedly hundreds and thousands of Infants doe perish amongst them some newly borne and baptized in their blood and either cast into Ponds or buried in their Gardens Celles Cellers Vaults hollow Walles and sometimes in baser places some slaine and strangled in the Birth many destroyed and neuer suffered to see the light of this Life and those bee held of tender and honest hearts among them who feare to destroy these harmelesse Babes and doe therefore saue them sending them out to be nursed and liue And yet these are the men that condemne holy Marriage as vncleane and vnholy nay as a foule sinfull and punishable fault aboue Whoredome and all Fornication CHAP. XIII VVhoredome or keeping of Concubines The Romish Text. An Absolution for a Priest or Clergie-man that keepes a Concubine as also his Dispensation to saue him from being Irregular which by the generall and Prouinciall Constitutions hee incurres all this together is rated at the price of 7. Grosses And if a Layman will keep a Concubine his Absolution also will cost him the same price euen 7. Grosses English Obseruations SEe the horrible impudencie of this shamelesse Generation they confesse that euen their owne both Generall and Prouinciall Councels doe condemne the keeping of Concubines vnder paine of Irregularity and yet the Pope is not ashamed against them all to set to sale this filthy sinne and to put down so base a price as seauen Grosses But speak you monstrous Whore-maintayners Is not the keeping of Concubines or Whores for what is shee better then a Whore whom a man keeps as a wife and is no wife Is it not I say as well against the expresse Law of God and Gospell of Christ as against Canons of Councels and Constitutions of the Church If it be as euery Child knowes it to be so why doe you then conceale it The reason is plaine enough to them that bee acquainted with your pollicies euen because it little moues you what is commanded or forbidden by God in the Law or in the Gospell But all that you care for is what is forbidden in your owne Constitutions And lest that should breed some scruple of conscience that keeping a Concubine is forbidden in your generall and prouinciall Constitutions you take a course to quench that also euen that little sparke of conscience and feare of sinne and tell the offendor that besides his Absolution from the sinne hee shall also haue a dispensation to deliuer him from the danger of Irregularity that most seuere and most iust punishment which the Canons of the former and better times inflict vpon that sinne See all good Christians marke I beseech you you potent Princes and Kings of Christendome you godly Bishops and faithfull Diuines who all in your seuerall places wish the welfare of Sion and seeke to settle true peace in the Church See to what little purpose it is to haue any generall Councell or to make any wholsome Canons and Constitutions as long as this Man of sinne is suffered to sit in the Chayre of Pestilence seeing all the good and carefull Canons the Councels haue made against that filthy and reigning sinne of whoredome in sixe and sixe hundred yeeres are all cast off cashierd and nullified for the bringing in of scuruie sixe or seuen Grosses into the Popes Coffers See what all your labours tend vnto Kings and Princes in calling learned Bishops and Diuines in managing the proceedings of Generall Nationall or Prouinciall Councels as long as hee is suffered in his exorbitant pride and insatiable couetousnesse and vnmeasurable lasciuiousnesse thus to tyrannize ouer the World And you that bee learned marke heere what good cause had Erasmus the Low-Germane Espencaeus the French-man Ferus the Dutch-man Caranza Oleaster Stella and Viues the Spaniards Sauanarola Mirandula Mantuan and other Italians to cry out vpon the Romish abominations and to call so earnestly for reformation as they did both in Pulpit and Print And because they set so easie a penaltie euen for a Lay-man also that shall keepe his Concubine it puts mee in minde of a memorable example in that kinde whereof I can make report vpon my owne certaine knowledge wherein it is manifest that this villany though hatcht at Rome yet reacht euen as farre as England Mr. William Strickland of Bointon neere Bridlington in the Eastriding of Yorkeshire whose sonne Mr. Water Strickland or else his sonne liues there at this day Lord of that Towne and diuers others in that Countrey can witnesse the same An ancient Gentleman in Yorkeshire told me himselfe neere thirty yeeres agoe that liuing at Yorke in Queene Maries time where hee was one of the Councell of State or else the Queenes Secretary to her Councell there and fearing to be questioned for not comming to the Church to Masse which hee resolued neuer to doe whatsoeuer it cost him and hearing that Cardinall Poole was come from Rome to reconcile England being Legat à latere and came furnisht with these faculties and power of giuing the Dispensations and Licences mentioned in this booke and complayned on by Espencaeus sent to his Sollicitor at London to get him a Dispensation out of the Lord Legats the Cardinals Court not to goe to Church but that hee might exercise his Deuotions at home The Sollicitor going about it found it somewhat difficult because they
leaue their fleeces behinde them there The Popes Chamberlaine The next Officer in the Romish Court is his Chamberlaine whose proper duety is to looke to the Popes Reuenew both for his constant Rents and his casuall commings in and is called Chamberlaine of the Apostolicall Chamber or a Chamber in the Popes Palace where that Court is kept and in our English it may not vnfitly be called the Popes Chequer or his Chequer Chamber This is also daily filled with suiters for as their Writs or Letters are dispatcht in the Chancery so their sines and other Rates or payments they be taxed at are payd into this Chamber and there bee also many things expedited in this Court which come not in the Chancery for they haue at Rome mille nocendi artes vnsearchable deuices to bring in money and wayes past finding out Vnder him first the Popes Procurator generall then the Receiuer generall the Auditor of the Chamber the Colledge of Apostolicall Secretaries who dispatch the affaires of Kings Princes Common-wealths free Atates Cities Cardinalls that be absent and Bishops Here be also the Summists the Protonotaries called of old time Regionaries of the seuen Regions or ancient Parishes of Rome whereunto they were assigned but now they be without number These goe in habit little differing from Cardinalls Then follow the Auditors of the Wheele so called for that they sit round and of old time had power to heare and examine onely but now haue to determine also All these being vnder the Chamberlaine are mighty Offices and haue infinite number of other subordinate to them for from this Court or some branches of it proceed all those writs that are called the Popes Brenes which past of old time vnder Leade but now of late sub annulo piscatoris Hereto also belong Faculties Pardons Dispensations Licences Confirmations Jndulgences Conseruations Exemptions Donations â—â—fâ—dations Pâ—cutsions to benefices and a million more all hookes crooks to worke in money The next great office is the Penitentiary so called because it is the Court of the Penitents and properly this is or should be the Court of Conscience if there bee any such thing as Conscience left in Rome For the Chancery there is properly their Court of Iustice but cases of Conscience belong to the Penitentiary where sinners and offendors of tender troubled Consciences should vpon their Confession and discouery of their hearts receiue direction and consolation This was certainely of old an excellent Institution and of most necessary vse in the Church had it beene preserued in the ancient integrity but the old holy and spirituall vse thereof as all other parts and poynts of true holinesse was long agoe lost at Rome and for many ages hath been wholly peruerted to the ensnaring seducing of simple soules to the distracting troubling of tender Consciences to the discouering of the secret intentions of Kings Princes and great Persons and to the raking in of millions of money into the Popes coffers so as indeed this that should be the best is now the worst and that Office which was originally erected for the increase of piety deuotion and true holinesse is now turned into one of the chiefe Stratagems and one of the principall pieces of prophane and carnall policy that was yet euer practised in any State of the world The Grand Penitentiary is the Pope himselfe and so indeed he ought to be if he knew himselfe and so he was of old time whilest any goodnesse and honesty remained amongst them But of later times since they grew to be so great in the world and so poore in grace he hath designed that office vnto some Cardinall whom they call the Maior Penitentiarius vnto whom and whose Court there is resort of all sorts of people to whom lye Appeales from all places in all cases of Conscience and from whom there is none And no maruell though he euer conferre this place vpon a prime Cardinall and one of his owne kindred and chiefe Minions for it is of mighty power and profit Vnder this great Penitentiary are many subordinate as first his Vicar generall that sits in St. Peters Church in the Vaticane The next in St. Iohns Church in the Laterane Another in St. Maries and so in all the 7. great Churches of Rome and vnder them they haue their Vicars and Deputies in all the Churches of Rome and al the Confessors that be in euery Parish ouer all the Popish world The Office or Court of the grand Penitentiary hath beside many other great Officers no fewer than foure and twenty Proctors for the expediting of causes and bringing in of money the more artificially which is now the high and Soueraigne end of all the policies practices and Religion at Rome These three great Officers be alwayes Cardinalls The fourth and last of the Offices mentioned in this Booke is the Datary touching which I confesse I cannot giue the Reader so good light as in the former there being but rare mention made thereof among the Writers of these things so as it seems this is one of the secret mysteries of their State It s probably thought he is as it were the Popes Almoner as the word Datarie may seeme to import Others thinke that the Actiuo signification of giuing to the Pope which happely it bore of old is of late times turned into the Passiue and signifies now the bearer of his priuy Purse But by that that is often mentioned in this booke if this Officer be his Almoner it were more credit for him to giue his Almes out of better gotten goods and if hee be the bearer of his priuy Purse it is a shame for him to fill it by such meanes for of the foulest and most exorbitant Dispensations it is said that besides the other Fees hee must in such or such a case compound also with the Datary For the Conclusion thus much for thy satisfaction good Reader who neyther hast been nor intendest to goe to Rome nor canst informe thy selfe by Reading For the learned they may as cheap as I know this and more out of the Authors that haue written hereof as namely Syntag. Juris Petri Gregorij Tom. 2. lib. 15. cap. 42. Gomerius in Prooem ad reg Cancell Octau Vostrius de Aula Rom. lib. 1. Cassanci Catall gloriae mundi part 4. consid 29. Gomerius de officialibus Rom. Curiae Moscouius de Maiest militantis Ecclesiae Rebuffus Praxis beneficiorum Nauarri Consil Tom. 1. lib. 3. de praeb alibi A Caution or direction to all Readers touching these Romane COYNES I Confesse good Reader that neyther of my selfe nor by reading nor hitherto by any help of conference can I sufficiently informe thee in the true and certaine valew of these Romane Coynes the Grosse the Carlen the Iulio the Quatrine the Ducate and the Floren yet thus farre I dare assure thee for truth partly out of this booke and others of theirs and partly by relation of Merchants that a Grosse and a
Heathen know how sacred places the Churches and Temples bee for as it is imprinted in Nature to worship God so Reason as well as Religion affords that the places for that worship are therefore to be seuered and separated from ordinary vses and much more from filthy and prophane employments Therefore howsoeuer our Religion knowes that Churches are not inherently holy in themselues nor Typically as was the Temple at Ierusalem nor haue the appropriated promises that it had nor practise the many cumbersome idle Superstitions of Popery at their Consecrations yet doth it solemnly and decently dedicate them to God and vseth them not for Gods worship till they be so set apart by solemne Consecration And being so consecrated commands to keepe them cleane and in comely manner and measure to adorne them and allowes them not to bee imployed to any other vses at other times euen when God is not actually worshipped in them Therefore it forbids not only the keeping of Markets Sessions Courts Feasts and much more of Playes in the Churches which was vsuall in the times of Popery but euen of Schooles and Parish-meetings except in some outside or with certaine limitations And the least abuse or prophaning of our Churches is seuerely punished amongst vs not onely by our Ecclesiasticall Censures but our Temporall Lawes Wee therefore wonder at the Romish Church who punish so slightly such great and enormious prophanations as be here named and it is sorrow and shame that they should be named amongst Christians to be done in Churches and the more seeing they impute ascribe more locall inherent holinesse to Churches then we do But hereby as in many other things appeares their palpable Hypocrisie for if they bee so holy or they in their Consciences hold them so holy as they pretend why then make they no more account to haue them so filthily abused and punish it lesse then wee doe Indeed I know no expresse Law we haue nor no punishment specified for him that shall bee so bold and beastly as lye with a Woman in the Church for to that wee shall answer as did the famous Law-giuer Who can commit so foule a sinne seeing as Saint Paul saith Haue yee not Houses to eat and drinke in 1. Cor. 11.22 c So much more may we say in this case Haue yee not Houses c. How therfore can a man be so monstrous to doe that in Gods House which a ciuil man would be ashamed to offer in his Neighbours house But if any should bee found amongst vs that should dare to doe so bold and beastly a part I dare say hee should either dye without pitty or liue with such shame and hatred as hee had better haue dyed And as for our owne parts we suppose wee may truely say that since the reformation of Religion such a Sinner hath not beene heard of in our Nation So wee are both much sory and more ashamed that so foule and vile a thing should bee so common ordinary amongst the Papists seeing they passe vnder the name of Christians for if it were not ordinary then were there no need of this Law nor Penalty amongst them no more then is amongst vs. But wee are much ashamed that if it bee so common then that they who professe Christ and his holy Religion should set so slight a punishment vpon so foule a sinne euen such a one as may rather inuite wicked men to it then feare them from it And here wee confesse it may seeme very strange at the first sight how it can come to passe though they haue amongst them men so beastly-minded that they should haue opportunity to commit this wickednesse in Churches But it will not seeme so to them that are acquainted with the Doctrines and practices of Popery for they haue many Church-meetings on certaine Saints dayes and Eues that wee haue not and at certaine seasons of the yeere Besides also their Regulars do all rise at midnight both Men and Women and goe to their Seruice in their Churches the deuotion wherof should bee honourable in our eyes if it were not tainted with such grosse Superstition and accompanied with so many miserable and monstrous inconueniences And such men and women of the Laity as will may come thither also and those that doe are held most holy and deuout Now if the ancient Vigils of the Saints and Martyrs were found to minister the occasion of so great impurities euen in those pure times of the Primitiue Church as that by publike order they were put down no maruell if in those licentious times wherein the Popish Clergie haue no Law so strong as their lust no bridle vpon their affections but which they please to put vpon themselues if most foule and enormious things euen so foule as Whoredome and other execrable pollutions bee perpetrated in their very Churches Moreouer their great Master-piece of Policie their Stratagem of Auricular Confession is for the most part exercised in their Churches where their Confessor sits in a place seuered for the purpose or at least in a corner where none can heare and the Penitent kneels before him By the abuse whereof how great enormities haue beene committed or at least the bargaines made in Churches by the dayly opportunities of meeting betwixt men and women their own Histories and the continuall experience these many yeeres do afford so many lamentable Relations as grieue our hearts to thinke on and the honour of Religion requires and modesty commands rather to bee suppressed in silence and vnknowne of some then repeated and diuulged to the scandall of all Furthermore heere appeare the fearfull fruits of their rigorous Law by which they tye their Clergie frō lawfull marriage For howsoeuer many among them as also amongst vs are able to containe yet as the wiser sort of themselues confesse to many it is so difficult and to some others so impossible as rather then they will want a woman they will eate of the forbidden fruit and take such as they can any way win to their wicked purpose and rather then they will want time place and opportunity they will as it is here manifest not spare the Church it selfe Therefore how much more holily and wisely hath our Church ordered that according to the Law of God and Nature euery man that finds himselfe not fit to want that society shall take that course and vse that holy meanes of Marriage which the Holy Ghost approueth to bee honourable in all and which that learned Aeneas Syluius afterward Pope Pius Secundus tels vs was vpon great reasons once forbidden to the Clergie but now vpon farre greater and better reasons ought to bee restored It is heere also manifest how vnequall and vnreasonable Iudges they be betwixt themselues and vs They will bee the holy Church and wee must passe for prophane and be driuen out as dogges Nay in forraigne Nations they feare not to make their people beleeue that we liue not like Christians wee serue
not God keepe no Sabboths care for no Churches haue no Wiues but community of Women and in a word liue in all licentiousnes more like Heathens then Christians We confesse indeed with S. Paul wee are all sinners in Gods sight and the best of vs all haue cause to cry out with him O miserable man that I am c. And there bee many great sinners and sinnes amongst vs which as wee confesse to be blemishes in the face of our Profession staines to our Religion and occasions of griefe to all the godly so wee dare iustifie it they are none of them allowed no nor tolerated much lesse maintained either by the Lawes of our Land or rules of Religion yet among all the euils that are among vs and the enormities which by the abuse of our long peace and plenty are too commonly practised among vngodly and vnregenerate men we challenge euen the most malicious enemies to proue if they can that euer any in these Kingdomes euen of the prophanest refuse of our Religion were found to be so extremely and shamefully impious as to lye with women in the Churches which it seemes by these words of their owne is alas too common among the Papists for if it were not frequent the price for the Absolution would not here bee rated among the rest for our parts our hearts trembled our mindes were amazed our soules sighed and sorrowed when we read it and had it not come from themselues such is our equity charity towards them wee should not haue beleeued it But seeing it is so manifest euen by their owne confession and was neuer charged vpon them by vs till thus they discouered it of themselues wee appeale to all the World of reasonable men whether they deale not vnreasonably with vs to appropriate all holinesse as only being their owne and to exclude vs amongst whom blessed bee God no such foule euils are found at all as heereby appeare to be frequent among themselues As for those other enormious and shameful things intimated in these words to bee perpetrated amongst them in their Churches Forasmuch as it seemes they are so foule as they be ashamed to name them wee for our parts are content to be as ignorant of them as their people be of that which is taught in our Pulpits or contained in the Bibles that lye in our Churches And for our neighbours the English Papists if they long to know the secret of this Pope-holy Mystery they may easily send and bee certified by some of their zealous Brethren who are now preparing to goe to Rome to the iolly Iubile now at hand who doubtlesse will bee carefully Catechized by the English Iesuites there and sufficiently instructed in this and many other poynts of Romish Catholicke Diuinity But if their stomacks be so sharpe set and their deuotions so earnest and their soules so sicke of filthy loue towards this spirituall Strumpet as they cannot indure to stay so long without it they may doe well to trusse vp their fardels and goe themselues that so they may receiue the speedier fuller and surer satisfaction And therefore O yes you that are so minded among our English Papists get you gone wee pray you what should hinder your Voyage seeing it's hard to say whether our King will more willingly let them goe as long as they beare such minds or the Pope more heartily bid them welcome as long as their English Gold sounds merrily in their pockets The while till they put the matter to tryall let the diligent and discreet Reader obserue with me this one thing for a Conclusion of this vnsauory Subiect Wee heere haue heard of Romish Catholickes how they vse their Churches some do lye with Women in them others commit such foule things there as they are ashamed to name yet these shamefull enormities found nowhere in the world but among themselues are esteemed and punished as poore idle and triuiall matters whereas if one should be found reading the holy Bible in the vulgar Tongue in one of their Churches or if two men two women or a man and a woman should bee taken reading and conferring vpon some Chapter of the blessed Gospell in their Mother-Tongue it is not 7 nor 700. Grosses would serue their turnes to procure their Absolution A fearfull thing and not to be beleeued if it came not from themselues that a man and a woman had better lye together in the Church and commit any wickednesse possible to bee done then to bee found reading the New Testament in the Church CHAP. IIII. 4. PERIVRIE The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that hath committed Periury or hath wilfully and falsly forsworne himselfe is rated at 6. Grosses English Obseruations PEriurie is one of the great Sinnes condemned in the Morall Law vnder the heauiest penalties and it is so foule a sinne as all well-formed Common-wealths euen amongst Turkes and Heathens doe detest it and deeply punish it What an holy Catholike Church then is this which makes so small account of so great a sinne And how vnworthily doe they wrong vs and other reformed Churches in whose Courts both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Periurie is so sharply censured And how good cause haue all Christians to take heed how they trust or haue any thing to doe with this Generation where Periurie is bought and sold at so easie a rate CHAP. V. 5. VSVRIE The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that secretly practiseth Vsury is rated at 7. Grosses An Absolution for him that burieth an open and notorious Vsurer in Christian mans buriall is rated at 8. Grosses English Obseruations VSurie is worthily condemned by the common Law and it is a commendable thing in the Popes Law that it forbids and punisheth all Vsurie If the Popes Canon Law were as good in other things wee should sooner and easier come to a good agreement But see how euen their best Lawes are made but Spiders webs for heere Vsurie is bought at an easie rate For if the Vsurer can gaine Hundreds in a yeere hee will little care for paying for his Absolution once a yeere nay if hee paid for it once a weeke hee would not lose by the bargaine And whereas by the * Greg. Decret Lib. 5. Cap. 2. Tit. de Vsuris Ecclesiasticall Lawes no Priest may bury the body of a knowne Vsurer in Christian buriall vnder a very great penalty you may bee sure a rich Vsurer will not care at least when hee dyes and can keepe his money no longer to pay the Priest soundly that will aduenture to bury him in the Church because though they liue like dogges deuouring their poore Neighbours yet dying they would not bee buried amongst dogges but amongst men and Christian men For they bee of Balaams Religion that howsoeuer they liue the life of the wicked Numb 23.10 yet they would bee glad to dye the death of the Righteous and to haue their carcases rest with the bodies of the best whose minds they would
suspected that hee who sued for such a Dispensation was likely to be a Lutheran or a Caluinist Heretique notwithstanding other pretences being made hee compast it for money Which being granted and the Dispensation drawing vp an Italian Officer of that Court asked him merrily and not secretly But how old is your Master would hee not also haue a Licence to keepe a Concubine The Sollicitor blusht knowing his Master to be another man and of a better Religion than to keepe a Whore yet considering his Master had the wit to make a good vse of an ill thing and would be glad to haue such an aduantage against them closed with him and asked him the price which was not vnreasonable for for a French Crowne more hee had it past and so sent downe his Master a double Dispensation that is not only to forbeare the Church but to keepe a Concubine At which hee was much amazed till hauing read his Sollicitors Letters and then he laughed full heartily at it and many a time he and the good Gentlewoman his wife This Gentleman and his Wife liued together Man and Wife sixty yeeres and dyed both in one yeere made themselues merry with it together with some priuate friends whom they durst trust I asked him what became of his Dispensation Hee said he kept it safe till the last yeere of Queene Mary when the Inquisition began to be so hot at Yorke that euen such men as hee were questioned for Religion And hee being called before the Commissioners and charged with not comming to Masse at the Church Hee pleaded the Popes Dispensation for his absence But being told hee must exhibit it in Court he spake to the chiefe of them being an ancient Doctor of Law whose name he told mee but I haue forgot it that if hee might haue his Dispensation againe hee would produce it else not And taking his word for security of restoring it he brought it into the Court Where all looking at it one after another one chafed another blusht another rownded in his fellowes eare but all were ashamed of the businesse such Marchandizes hauing beene rare in England especially so farre from Court But saith hee I demanding my Dispensation the chief Commissioner bade me come home to him for it and said The Court dismist me Afterwards going to him for it hee curiously inquired of mee how I had it and what it cost Which when hee heard it wonderfully perplext him for being a man of morall honesty but an English Papist being little acquainted with these Italian trickes hee was amazed and much ashamed of it and not hauing any thing to say in denyall of a thing so manifest nor in excuse of so foule a matter hee prayed mee to conceale it and vtterly to forget it but would by no meanes giue it mee againe and said hee had burnt it And thus saith he I lost my Dispensation yet lost nothing by the losse of it but onely the benefit of an euidence against themselues CHAP. XIV VVHOREDOME or deflouring of Virgins The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that hath defiled and defloured a Virgin is rated at 6. Grosses English Obseruations ARe these the great extollers of Virginity Surely it 's but a false flourish they do not so esteeme it as they make shew for if they did then they would prize it at a higher value for whatsoeuer is held precious is alwayes sold at a deare rate Seeing therefore the violation of Virginity is so poore a matter in the Popes Court and passeth at so base a price it may let all see that be not blind it 's but a counterfeit colour they cast vpon the matter And see moreouer how by consequent they accuse of cruelty and iniustice the Law enacted by God Hee that violates a Virgin Deut. 22 21 28 29. is to dye for it or else bee fined to her Father and take her to his Wife but heere 6. Grosses will suffice for his discharge They say the Pope is the Vicar of Christ and some of them call him the Vicar of God But is not hee a strange Vicar that dare alter the Lawes of his Lord and Master CHAP. XV. INCEST The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that lyeth with his God-mother or with any woman that is of his bloud or carnall kindred and for him that lyes with his Sister or with his owne Mother is taxed at 5. Grosses English Obseruations WHat is this wee heare Is it vsuall in the Popish world for men to lye with their Sisters nay with their Mothers Alas that wee should heare it of any that professe Iesus Christ But seeing it is so and euen common it seemes amongst them who despise vs as dogs in respect of themselues wee haue cause to blesse God that wee know it especially that we haue it from their owne mouthes for now wee know the better how to esteeme of them and we hope the world of reasonable men will thinke nothing the worse of vs seeing wee are condemned by such as these But if these be the manners of the Italians wee shall the better beleeue hereafter that which Petrarch Boccas and many more do write touching the Religion of Rome and liues of the Italians Much more should here be spoken but as the old saying is Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent For truth is words must needs want where no words can suffice to expresse the horror and hideousnes which lyes not hid but openly expresseth it selfe in this Absolution which in our Consciences wee beleeue would passe on no conditions in any Ciuill Heathen Countrey in the World and yet is granted for 5. Grosses in the Court of Rome CHAP. XVI ROBBERIES The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that spoyles or robs another or burnes his Neighbours Houses is rated at 7. or 8. Grosses English Obseruations RObberies or burning of Houses are foule Capitall Fellonies in England but in Rome the Pope an indulgent Father deales more mildly with his Children Bee gone therefore you zealous English Catholiques get you out of this rigid Gouernment get you vnder the wings of his Protection where you may burne spoyle rob reuenge and not passe the Pikes of our sharp and seuere Lawes But when you come at the holy City of Rome you may do wel to ask your holy Father how hee will answer the Law of God who ordaines Exod. 22. â—â— that if fire breake out and damnifie the Neighbours the kindler of it shall make restitution If this bee iust against him by whose negligence it broke out without any mind to doe hurt how vniust then is it to absolue him for 7. or 8. Grosses who wickedly and wilfully sets it on fire CHAP. XVII FORGERIE The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that forgeth false Letters testimoniall and for such as bee the Witnesses to such forged Letters is rated at 7. Grosses And for him that forgeth any Writs of the Office of the Penitentiary at 8. Grosses And for him
that forgeth Letters of Priuiledge at 16. Grosses And for him that forgeth the Popes hand or Letters Apostolicall at 18. Grosses English Obseruations Anno 5. Eliz. Chap. 14. ANd for Forgery though it bee not flat Fellony yet finds it such censures in our Courts of England as for this World some Offenders would rather wish to bee hanged then vndergoe them yet in this mercifull Mother-Church of Rome it is so ordinary a matter as the highest Penalty euen for forging the Popes hand is vnder 30. shillings yet I must needs herein commend the Pope for his courteous dealing in measuring other men by himselfe for knowing himselfe to bee the great Forger of the World thrusting vpon the Church continually counterfeit Bookes and sometime whole Authors counterfeit hee deales the more fauourably with them who take to themselues the boldnesse to counterfeit hands for he iudgeth and Oh that none of his iudgements were more vniust that a name is nothing to a whole Booke and a hand but little to a whole Man But withall obserue good Reader how hitherto you haue heard of the Penalty of 6. or 7. neuer aboue 8. Grosses how then come wee so sodainly to a double price or Penalty of 16. and 18 Oh the case is altred the former faults were against God the breach of whose Lawes and neglect of whose Commandements are but Peccadils at most but petty Treasons at Rome But these are such as trench vpon the Power and Prerogatiue of the Pope these touch his Free-hold therefore now the prizes are higher and the Penaltie heauier Thus are they blinded with selfe-loue mis-led with mis-conceits of themselues and carried away wholly with care of that which concernes themselues And God himselfe little better then forgotten amongst them CHAP. XVIII False VVitnesse-bearing The Romish Text. An Absolution for him who in a criminall cause takes a false Oath is rated at 6. Grosses English Obseruations BVt the iust God who knowes that a false Oath in Iudgement may lose a mans Credit State or Life allowes neither sixe nor sixe score nor sixe hundred Grosses as a competent recompence to the partie wronged nor a proportionable punishment to the Offendor * Leuit. 6.5 but ordaines that hee shall satisfie fully the partie wronged and receiue other punishment for his breach of Gods Law What shall wee then say to this fellow that makes thus base account of a false witnesse nay of a false Oath wherein besides all the confusion that thereby may breed amongst men God himselfe and his glorious Maiesty is immediately assaulted and most impiously abused CHAP. XIX Commutation of Vowes or Absolutions for the same The Romish Text. For a man to haue leaue to change his Vow will cost him 10 Grosses For a Lay-man to change his Vow of going to Rome to visit the Apostolicall Churches 12. Grosses For a Prince who vowed to visit the Sepulchre 20. Grosses English Obseruations ALl men know how sacred a matter they make of their Vowes they fill the World with the noyse of them Such a man say they hee is cursed if he marry for he hath vowed the contrary such a one is damn'd if hee or shee enter not such an Order for hee hath vowed to doe it Luther must needs bee damned in Hell because hee married a Wife for hee broke his Vow and a Hundreth like Quanto conatu quantas nugas What adoe heere is about nothing or little better then nothing when a matter of 10. Grosses that is fifteene shillings will purchase him a Pardon or a Faculty to change his Vow into somthing else But such is their Religion and such be their trickes as Vowes are the strongest bonds when the vrging of them makes for their owne ends But if to break them be for their turnes then they be of no force their Sampson of Rome can breake them in pieces like a threed Oh shamefull and yet shamelesse Hypocrisie to make so great a shew where is so little substance for why the tender consciences of poore men bee so terribly intangled and burthened about their Vowes which sometime negligently sometimes merrily nay in drinke sometimes hastily somtimes impiously oft-times rashly alwaies ignorantly do fall from them If the Pope can so easily as for a matter of 15. shillings take the burthen from them surely they are simple that trouble themselues when they may so easily bee discharged It seemes the High Priest in the Old Testament tooke no such power to himselfe Iudg. 6 for then good Ieptha and his Daughter needed not to haue mourned so much for his vnaduised Vow who I warrant you would haue giuen 10000. Grosses to haue been discharged from his Vow But he held as wee doe that if a Vow bee vnlawfull it binds not at all but breaks in peeces of it selfe so if it be lawfull it binds so firmely as no man no money no price no power on earth can dispence with it And here we challenge that grand Hypocrite of Rome and all his Colledge Consistory to answer vs but this one Question If it bee an vnlawfull Vow how dare he for want of money bind where God loseth if lawfull how dare hee for money lose where God binds And if hee will not answer vs wee bind him ouer to the great and generall Sessions in the bonds of an euill Conscience which will hold him fast and sure enough to answer it before God for thus abusing the World and turning Religion vpside downe to serue his owne carnall and lawlesse lusts For the particulars Will it cost a man but 20. shillings to change his Vow who vowed to visit the Churches in Rome then sure your owne consciences know it to be a lye when you write that such great Indulgences for thousands of yeeres and forgiuenesse of sinnes and releasing of soules out of Purgatory belong to them that visit the 7. Churches in Rome for if that were true you could not bee such Villaines as suffer men for a little money to misse so great a blessing as indeed is worth all the World And if a Prince that vowed to visit the Sepulcher would be discharged of it change his Vow it must cost him 30. shillings Verily the price is easie enough But how came it to passe you trench thus vpon the sacred Prerogatiue of Princes elsewhere hee might not goe without License if hee doe hee must pay you Now if hee say hee will goe and after change his mind hee must pay you for that also How dare you thus play with edge-tooles and dally with your betters and prey vpon them that are able to make a prey of you at their pleasures Againe is this it for him that cals himselfe the Seruant of Seruants But heerein appeares your Hypocrisie in words to maske vnder the vaile of Humility and in deeds to declare your selfe the Commander of Kings Let the rest of the Kings and Princes of Christendome open their eyes and learne at last to tread the pathes
amongst them for such to say Masse as bee not full and lawfull Priests the danger whereof by their owne confession is no lesse then horrible Idolatry for by their owne rules if it be not consecrated it 's Idolatry to worship it and if hee be no Priest he cannot consecrate I doe not beleeue they thought to haue opened vs this doore not indeed did they thinke wee should euer haue seene this Booke But thus it pleaseth God to make them vent and foame out their owne shame And touching the third is it not strange and fearfull that some of their Clergie dare not only procure themselues to be promoted with places and Benefices which indeed are not but be meerely forged and counterfeit But moreouer dare her ignorant and prophane people to forsweare themselues and damne their soules by lending them a false Oath to confirme it Howsoeuer this may affect them wee for our parts professe it makes our hearts to tremble and our soules to mourne that such Atheisticall impiety should bee so frequent among them euen in their Clergy and Court of Rome And that it is no extraordinary but a frequent case appeares by the words following in that the Pope so wisely takes hold of it For Aquila non capit Muscas the lofty Eagle will not stoope at little Flyes and if it were a poore bait they would nor bite Seing therefore the Pope drew a good composition out of these its manifest to bee too common a case amongst the Popish Clergie And in as much as Iulius the 2. was willing to gaine out of so vngodly a ground it shewes him out of his owne Romish Records to bee no better a man then the Histories make him But for the last it 's more then strange that if he be so proud to offer yet that Kings will so farre forget themselues as thus to be befooled and to suffer an vsurping Prelate to domineere ouer them For who should hinder a King frō going to the place of Christs Sepulcher at his pleasure Or if another may command him or forbid him how is he then a King If it bee a part of the power or Prerogatiue of a King to set impositions then certainly those are but pieces of Kings who submit themselues to the penalties and impositions the Pope shall set vpon them those that will thus be trodden and trampled vpon by this base companion and yet proud Antichrist it 's pitty but they should pay in stead of this hundred for their Absolution a hundred thousand Grosses for such their grosse folly and vnkingly debasing of themselues CHAP. II. DISPENSATIONS First for Bastardie The Romish Text. A Dispensation for a Bastard to enter all holy Orders and to take a Benefice with Cure will cost 12. Grosses And to haue two Benefices compatible will cost him 2. Ducats 4. Carlens But if he will haue three Benefices then he must pay 4. Duc. 4. Carl. English Obseruations HEeere follow some of the faculties which Espencaeus as we heard before bitterly complained of for that not only they daily past at Rome for money but were also granted vnto the Legats or Nuncio's that came from Rome to France who being Legati à latere comming forsooth euen from his own sweet side and bringing such blessings as these with them Extra Io 22. cap. cum inter in Gloss they shew vs what a blessed brest their Lord God the Pope beares about him out of which they suck such hatefull Henbane euen such pieces of filthy poyson which spiritually infected all the World for a time and diuers Nations yet to this day The reason why hee is heere so beneficiall and bountifull to Bastards is because they are so neere and deare in likenesse vnto himselfe both in his spirituall and carnall Kindred For first it is he which for diuers Ages past had almost destroyed the true spirituall Childe the Religion of God and fild the world with a false base and bastardly Religion Moreouer it 's he and his Instruments the Iesuits and other his shamelesse Censors who haue by their Indices Librorum Prohibitorij Expurgatorij partly as it were killed the true children by vtterly suppressing the true vndoubted bookes and writings of learned men and partly put base bastards in their roome by chopping and changing purging and painting them as if the Fathers were aliue againe they would not now bee able to know their owne and certainly many of them would absolutely refuse Ioh Ferus his Comment vpon S. Iohns Gospell is since the Author died reprinted at Rome and the Author is forbidden and it is altred in no lesse then 1000. places and with great indignity disclaime these that passe vnder their names as being none of theirs And thus the World by this bold wickednesse of theirs is fild with a base bastardly brood of false forged fained and counterfeit Bookes to the intolerable iniurie of the truth partly in peruerting and principally in suppressing it and to the irrepairable losse of learning if it bee not by the true Christian Church both timely and wisely preuented Besides where euer that bastardly Religion of his reignes it fils the world with carnall Bastards by denying and dishonouring holy Marriage by publique toleration of Whoredome and by making it a lesse sinne for their Clergy to lye with many wiues of other men then to haue one of their owne By this meanes not onely their Townes and Cities but their Colledges and Cloysters are fild with a doubtfull vncertaine and Bastardly Generation their owne Records and Histories were enough to make them blush on this behalfe if they were not past shame Nay so farre are they forsaken in this poynt and giuen ouer of God as it 's hard to tell not how many Whores and Women haue been Popes for doubtlesse there was but one but how many Bastards haue sitten euen in the Popes owne Chayre so deepe was the wisedome and so iust the iudgement of the high God by ioyning the spirituall and carnall Bastardie together so to punish the one with the other There was an Age Geneb in Chron. Bellar. de Ro. Pont. l. 4. c. 12. euen almost in the height of Poperie which Genebrard calls and Bellarmine acknowledgeth indoctum infaustum infoelix saeculum Diuers of the Popes of that Age were by their owne Bookes Bastards at the best if not worse Sure we are that one a Monks Bastard of Saint Albanes in England Hadrianus quartus and driuen by shame from the gates there proued at last a Pope at Rome and one of the proudest that euer sate there No maruell therefore if hee bee so louing and tender ouer Bastards for therein he is but kinde to his owne Kindred And indeed if he did not dispense and make vse of such he would not haue a Clergy sufficient to supply their places And touching the other instance in this Article of Dispensations by which these Bastards are inabled by this Romish power non obstantibus all
Lawes and Canons to the contrary not only to enter all holy Orders and to take a Benefice with Cure But which those that be borne in holy Wedlocke cannot haue by their Law to enioy two nay three Benefices Heere I appeale to all indifferent Readers of what Religion soeuer if in this poynt the Romish Church transgresse not all bounds of modestie and moderation yea to all euen reasonable Papists themselues if herein they bee not ashamed of their Mother who is more indulgent and fauourable to the Bastards then her owne Lawes bee to true Children who without a speciall Dispensation cannot enioy two liuings with Cure CHAP. III. Dispensations in Cases Matrimoniall or matters of Marriage As first for Marriage within forbidden DEGREES The Romish Text. A Dispensation for one to marry in the 4. Degree of Consanguinity comes to 17. Grosses And in the third degree to 27. Grosses But he must alwaies in this case compound with the Datary that is with one of the high Officers of the Apostolicall Chamber or at least with the Keeper of the Popes priuie Purse which generally comes to 4. Duc. 1. Gr. A Dispensation for the second degree of Affinity comes to 7. Du. 5. Gr But another Booke of Rates called the Rates of the Chancerie saith that it will cost ordinarily 60. Grosses And that moreouer there must bee a Composition with the Datary which riseth oft-times to 300. Grosses and sometimes to 4. 5. and 600. according to the quality of the persons English Obseruations SEe what a pleasing Religion is this of Rome Neerenesse of bloud or Kindred shall not hinder any deuout Romish Catholique from hauing her to his Wife whom hee desires For what though the Law of God bee plaine and peremptory no man no not Moses shall come neere to any that is neere of Kin to him The Pope that is they say Gods Deputy is a more indulgent Father to his deuout Children and giues thē leaue to come almost as neere as they will or can euen to the second Degree And left they should be discouraged fearing so great fauours would cost them too deare he here tels thē fairely friendly what they must pay for such Dispensation And if it fall out that some vnhappily leape beyond these limits euen to the first degree or to the very stock it selfe and lye with his Sister or the very Mother that bare him howsoeuer he will not ordinarily grant him a Dispensation to doe so yet he will louingly measure him by himselfe and kindly giue him an absolution for it when it is done at very easie rates What more respect what greater fauour can the best deseruing Catholiques craue at the hands of their holy Father Iudge good Reader is it any wonder if so many of the great and delicate ones of the World affect that Religion And if any of them which alas many doe not make any scruple of conscience in that the Law of God commands them not to come neere the Kindred of their flesh The Iesuites haue an Answer ready Did not God say they dispense with his owne Law when he bade Abraham kill his Sonne And did not Christ dispense with the morall Law when he changed the Sabboth from the Saturday to the Sunday And is not say they the holy Father of Rome the Vicar of Christ nay the Vicar of God vpon earth Away therefore with this nicenesse of Conscience and trouble not your selues so much to know what God in the Scriptures in the Law or Ghospell commands or forbids as what the Pope who is now in the roome of God and Christ commands forbids or allows for that you may safely securely rest vpon Heere is Catholique Councell indeed and no maruell if such Councellers be so well fee'd and followed as they are And I appeale to all that know them indeed if this bee not in the plaine truth the Doctrine they teach and the Counsell they giue to all such of their disciples as they dare trust I will not charge them with the very words but with the matter and dare say that they do daily instill it into such as be Idonei auditores Iesuiticae Philosophiae For Nouices I know they haue another learning who are not yet capable of their mysteries and secrets of State not sensible of what beseemes the Maiestie of their Monarchie Such wise workmen are they they haue alwayes at hand both their milke for Babes and their meat for men CHAP. IIII. DISPENSATIONS The Romish Text. Also the holy Penitentiary Apostolicall hath power to dispense in the Court of Conscience for one to marry in the first degree of Affinity but then the Dispensation will cost 9. Du. 6. Gr. And a Dispensation to marry her with whom one hath speciall Kindred will cost 60. Grosses And let Proctors and Sollicitors obserue that these fauors and Dispensations in matters Matrimoniall vse not to bee granted to the poorer sort because they want wherewith to pay for them English Obseruations LOe heere the power the Pope takes to himselfe euen to dispence in the first degree of Affinity that is to marry euen his Fathers or his Brothers Wife See you Kings what a Soueraigntie the Pope hath you are all but shadowes to him And see you foolish Heretickes of England what a braue freedome it is to be a Romish Catholique you are all but slaues to them For they may marry as they list And what though the Law of God be so strait laced as expressely to forbid these copulations Mar. 6.18 and Iohn Baptist was so strict a Puritan that he told Herod that hee might not haue his Brothers wife no matter as long as the Popes transcendent power can thus reach beyond both Law and Gospell By vertue of this his power he gaue leaue to Henry of England to marry his Brothers Wife nay to Philip of Spaine to marry his Sisters Daughter And if their owne Bookes say true as in this case we haue no cause to suspect them * Reperitur tamen Martin V. vt refert Archiep dispensasse cum eo qui cum sua Gerinana contraxerat consummauerat habito consilio cum peritis Theologis et Canonistis propter mala scandala alias inde ventura licet aliqui dicerent cum hoc non posse Syluest in verbo Papa Bar. Fumus in verbo dispensat Angelus de Clauasio in verbo Papa in Anton. Notwithstanding it is foūd that Pope Martin the V. as Antonius the Archbishop of Florence writeth dispenced with him who had contracted and consummated taking iust counsell with learned Diuines and Canon Lawyers for the auoyding of certaine inconueniences and scandals which otherwise would haue followed thereupon Though they affirmed that the Pope could not doe it one of them namely Martin the V. gaue leaue to a man to marry his owne Sister for auoyding of certaine great inconueniences Now verily if that be a cause sufficient then be sure this passion is so powerfull especially in great Ones who
stand not in feare of any creature to controll them and seldome haue any great measure of feare of God before their face as they will easily pretend such inconueniences or else will make them if they bee not rather than want their will in that kinde Now if such men may be dispenced withall to take their Brothers wife sisters daughter nay the sister her selfe wee maruell not if so many of the great Ones of the world affect so much to haue the Pope their Father and their god seeing hee goes so farre beyond God in pleasing his Children for God with-holds no good thing from his Children But the Pope denyes nothing at all to his deare Children no not that which is most foule and abominable in the Law of God and nature And if any be so scrupulous to thinke it euill or feare it to be foule hee can make it good and faire by his Dispensation prouided that it be well payed for and my Lord the Datary foundly satisfied with a round composition for as grosse as these be yet bee they no Grosse matters but Duckets must drop fast and Angels must flye apace to purchase these Dispensations Be assured it cost Henry the Seuenth the setting on and Philip payde well for it in one kinde or other And no maruell if Kings be rated high when inferiours pay somtime six hundred Grosses that is forty fiue pounds which in those dayes was no small matter In the conclusion marke how plainely this wicked Antichrist shewes himselfe and how boldly hee blusters out his owne shame These Dispensations saith hee are not for poore men because they cannot reach the price Thou mayest be sure good Reader the Iesuites were not bred when this booke of Rates was set out for they would haue beene ashamed of such shallownesse thus to lay their intentions open to their captious enemies For they though they deale much lesse honestly yet much more closely But now their close conueyances will doe no good seeing already the Pope hath here and elsewhere in those elder and plainer times discouered those plots of pollicies which are the pillars of their Kingdomes so as now though the Iesuites with their refined wits doe neuer so cunningly carry their businesse and couch their secret intentions vnder counterfeit vayles yet the iniquity of that Romish Religion is now manifest to all that will open their eyes to see it For let them now cast twenty colours vpon the matter why the poorer sort are not as well partakers of these priuiledges as the great Ones wee know by this booke the true cause is onely for that they want wherewith to pay Nay the greatest haue them not vnlesse they pay full sweetly for them Henry the Seuenth was willing to haue canonized Henry the Sixth for a Saint but the Dispensation for his sonnes marriage cost him so deare as he had no stomacke to rise so high for his Predecessors Canonization as hee must doe if he had got it and so honest holy Henry though happily a Saint in heauen wanted his Romish Saintship and came short of being a Saint in the Popes Kalender To conclude wee haue heard our Fathers say it was a common phrase in their dayes No money no Masse No Penny no Pater-Noster Now wee maruell not the Romish Clergy held that rule seeing they here learned it of their holy Father who openly professeth he grants no Dispensations at all to them that are not able to pay for them nor any of this nature but at an high and exorbitant price And see how louingly hee giues the Proctors and Sollicitors warning of it who bring him in his Reuenew and bids them take heed lest they being Amici Curiae should damnifie themselues by such fruitlesse vndertakings And marke how this mercilesse man the Pope will not suffer the poore to bee partaker of his fauours they haue no money for him therefore hath hee no mercy for them Hereby declaring himselfe no friend nor follower of that God with whom is no respect of persons and of whom the Scripture saith The rich and the poore meet together Prou. 22.2 the Lord is the maker of them both Nor is it lastly to be omitted how prophanely the Pope heere abuseth the phrase of holy Scripture for these words Non sunt ideo non possunt consolari are the words of the Holy Ghost both in the Old and New Testament speaking literally of Rachel mourning for her Children and would not be comforted because they were not and are here prophanely peruerted to their couetous and carnall intention Neyther is this an vnusuall thing with them for like hereunto is that in their Canon Law where affirming the difference and distinction betwixt two Metropolitanes they say the one shall not intermeddle within the others Prouince quia Iudaei non conuersantum cum Samaritanis And too many more like examples their Schoole-men and Canonists doe afford all which declare the base conceit they hold of Gods holy Word in that they dare thus turne and tosse it vp and downe as children doe a ball or a shuttle-cocke from hand to hand But let these fooles play with this Candle till it burne them for when they haue done all that man or diuell can doe to vphold Popery it is This Word of God This breath of the Almighty This Spirit of his mouth that shall consume and confound it CHAP. V. Dispensations The Romish Text. A Dispensation that one excommunicate or that is a Murtherer or for a man or woman that are found hanged that they may be buryed in Christian buriall comes to 1. Duc. 9. Carl. 6. Grosses English Obseruations THe ancient Lawes and Canons not onely Ecclesiasticall but Ciuill forbid Christian buriall to all these three sorts of malefactors and Christian Religion well allowes such prohibition though not to hurt their soules yet to feare men from these foule offences But see to what little purpose for here the great Bumble-Bee or rather the Romish Hornet breakes thorow them all as thorow a Spiders webbe to increase his reuenue and fill his coffers And this is much the fouler in respect that in Jtaly there be so many murders where the least quarrell suspition or iealousie will cost a man his life Againe will not this make the peruerse the longer to persist excommunicate the malicious care lesse for murder and desperate fellons lesse for their owne liues when notwithstanding these great offences they may for money be buried with the best We appeale to God and his holy Angels if this bee not a full euidence of a most vnholy Church an vnsound religion and a loose licentious gracelesse gouernement CHAP. VI. The Romish Text. A Dispensation for one that entred into his Benefice by Simony that hee may notwithstanding still retaine the same his Dispensation will cost him 6. Ducats But if he haue receiued any profits of the liuing he must for them compound with the Datarie English Obseruations SImony hath beene the perpetuall shame of the Romane Church
and holy workes and which are of a publike and vniuersall goodnesse one cannot haue power to doe them but must pay for it we then maruell not if they pay for their liberty in priuate personall things as to choose his Confessor to marry in forbidden times to eate flesh in Lent to be freed from fasting daies and the like Yet it may seeme a hard and strange case that when a man may freely choose his Lawyer for his businesse and his Physicion for his body who he will yet he may not choose his Confessor for his soule without a round Composition But one question riseth here of so strange a nature that if our Quodlibeticall Masters of Cullen and Louane will not determine it I then wish that some of our deuout Catholicks who intend to trudge to Rome to the holy holy ioyfull Iubilee to gaine the glorious Indulgences of that happy yeere would carry this question with them propoūd it either to the Auditors of the Wheele or to the Fathers of the holy Society or if they will to the Colledge of Cardinals to know what holy Roman mysterie may be in the matter that a man cannot build a Church a Hospitall a Vniuersity but pay so deare for his Licence but may build a Stewe freely or twenty if he will Wee should be glad to know how his Holinesse will resolue this question But it 's yet more strange to vs that he dare impose so huge a fine as a thousand Grosses for making a Citie of a Towne and therein erecting a Bishops See for Bishoprickes are neuer barely erected but endowed also with faire Lands and large Possessions and those Lands come generally from the Laity but the Bishopricke which receiues those Lands belongs euer to the Clergy and yet must the Laity be it Prince Lord Citie or Towne that will thus fleece themselues to feede and fat the Popes Clergy giue a thousand Grosses to haue leaue to doe it so cunningly can the Pope play his game or rather into such a blinde obedience and sottish obsequiousnesse had they captiuated the World that he can make them glad to pay deare for weakning themselues and strengthning him to impouerish themselues and enriching him But we hope that England and Germany haue taught the world to be a little wiser hereafter Another point seemes also strange namely that he is content to grant a City Licence to coine their owne mony seeing that is alwayes Insigne Maiestatis a signe of Soueraignty and a prerogatiue which we haue seldome seene any King in the World would part withall on any tearmes yet fiue hundred Grosses will compasse it at Rome By which it appeares most of the Popes though they be aduanced to royall dignity and aduance themselues euen aboue the greatest Kings yet as they were born and bred basely so that basenesse will not easily bee worne or wrought out for otherwise they would shame to part with so faire a piece of their Prerogatiue Royall for a little money As for those other two particulars that during the Interdict of a Towne certaine great men or Officers may haue Seruice and Sacraments in a Chappell for 50. Grosses and that a Towne may haue power to take out of the Churches such as take Sanctuary therin for 60. Both which are absolutely against two ancient and fundamentall Rules of their owne Religion these afford vs an ample euidence how truly and iustly not only the Pasquils and Poets but euen the grauest sort of men complained and cryed out of her that Omnia venalia Romae All Lawes diuine and humane Gods their owne are daily bought and sold made and vnmade for money But here is one particular plungeth vs plaine people and puts vs all to Schoole namely that for money one may haue leaue to diuide a dead body in two to be buried in two places What meaning or Mystery may be in this we confesse will not enter into our grosse conceits seeing it is lawfull for euery man to dispose his body in buriall to one or moe places at his pleasure But thus it pleaseth the Pope euen thus vnreasonably to load the Laity that louing Asse which like old Isachar hath many yeers crouched groned betwixt the 2. burthens of the Secular Regular Romish Clergie But let no man trouble himself to inquire what Henry the 4. of France paid for diuiding his heart to the Iesuits and leauing his heartlesse carcasse to lie amongst the former French Kings for I dare say the Iesuits so loued both his head and his heart that to haue one of them off and the other out of his body they would not spare both to pay the price themselues and to bestow great cost vpon the buriall CHAP. XI Licences for the Clergie The Romish Text. A Licence for a Priest to say Masse in any place is rated at 27. Grosses A Licence for a Bishop to visit 40. Grosses To take to himselfe a yeeres proffits of euery vacant Benefice for 3. yeeres 50. Gross To exercise Episcopall Iurisdiction out of his Diocesse 30. or 40. Grosses To haue leaue to exact a Subsidie or a Beneuolence of his Clergie 20. Gross A Faculty to absolue all Delinquents and to dispence for Irregularity 40. Gross English Obseruations ANd heere good Reader vpon consideration of the generall nature of all these appeares more plainly the truth of that the obseruation vpon the former Chapter doth affirme if thou wilt but obserue and compare these Rates the Clergie payes for these extraordinary fauors with the price the Laity payes for those ordinary and common commodities of which also some doe serue the Clergies turne more then the Laities For to instance in a particular or two for a Bishop to haue a Licence to take a yeeres profit of euery vacant Benefice in his Diocesse or to haue leaue to exact a Subsidie or a beneuolence of all his Clergie how much the lesse of these may amount vnto I will not take vpon mee to set downe and if I would I cannot yet the Licence for the better of these ariseth but to 50. Grosses which is but some 4. pounds whereas for a Queene to haue Licence to adopt a Child must cost her 4000. which comes to 300 pound and when she hath it she thereby doth good to others but none to her selfe And for any of the Laity to haue leaue to erect an Vniuersity which is as much for the benefit of the Clergie as of the Laity must cost him 150. which is triple as much And to erect a Bishopricke which must be a huge charge to the Laity but the benefit redounds only to the Clergie must cost 1000. Grosses that is almost fourescore pounds such vnequall Iudges are they betwixt themselues and the poore Laity And is it not strange presumption to make a King both aske leaue and pay deare for a Licence that he may take a Contribution of his Clergy that be his owne Subiects and so lightly to giue leaue to the
left he God his Iustice entire But these men incroach vpon his Iustice also and so amongst them they haue made a god who hath neither Iustice nor mercy But what care they They haue a Lord god at Rome and all their care is to keepe his Crowne safe his Prerogatiue entire and his power vnbounded for so long they are sure their Free-hold shall neuer be toucht But if they meane no more by sinne in this place but the penance which themselues doe politiquely impose vpon their Penitents then what a noyse is here about nothing and how grossely is the good honest Reader gul'd and abused with a shadow for a substance For 1. the plaine-meaning man is made to beleeue that in such a Church or Chappell on such and such not vnreasonable conditions hee may gaine remission of the third part of his sinne And presently both his Religion and reason tell him that there is no doubt but in another place as good as that hee may purchase another third and in another the third remaining and so consequently be fully discharged of all his sinnes for he knowes well the Temple of Jerusalem is abolished and since then no Church nor Chappell hath any holinesse blessing Indulgence or power giuen it by God or man which another may not haue He therefore reading this is fild with hope and surprized with ioy as knowing now the place where the meanes whereby and conditions wherupon he can readily purchase pardon of all his sinnes But alas when the matter comes to due tryall see how the good soule is deluded when in stead of the forgiuenesse of his sinne he must be contented with an abatement of a Portion of that Penance which his crafty Confessor imposed vpon him which if it were iustly moderately and orderly laid on him then as a wholesome medicine it 's better all taken then any part forborne but if vnworthily and vniustly why then should hee pay any thing for hauing it abated But thus we see here as in many cases more how the Romish Strumpet mocks and deceiues her poore Children She cals them to her as to the true Church but they finde her a Synagogue She professeth to be their louing Mother but proues a cruell Step-dame She promiseth them the pure Manna of Gods Word but feeds them with Legends lyes tales and traditions She flourisheth with no fewer then seuen Sacraments and yet they cannot haue one as Christ ordained it She tels them of Generall Councels gouerned by the holy Ghost and they proue priuate Conuenticles complotted called concluded and wholly carried and guided by her selfe And here good Soules she makes them beleeue they shall haue forgiuenesse of their sinnes and it proues no more but remission of a piece of the Penance her Priests had laid vpon them O what pity is it that so good Children should not haue a better Mother and what shame is it she should thus play fast and loose with them who trust their soules into her hands and that shee dare thus dally in cases of Conscience But leauing these seduced soules to better aduised thoughts and wiser wayes vnlesse they haue resolued to runne into their owne ruine for our parts that are but by-standers and lookers on as we can but pity and pray for them so can we not but laugh at her to see how craftily she layes about her on both sides for first shee keepes it in her power to inioyne them and lay vpon them what penance she pleaseth on the other side she takes vpon her to dispence commute lessen or abate as she sees cause and as her Penitents shall please her in the payment Now verily if she can first lay it on as she list and then take it off againe when shee is pleased we maruell not she hath made her selfe so strong and gain'd so great a power ouer the blind and ignorant World of Romish Papists CHAP. XIII EXEMPTIONS The Romish Text. An Exemption of a Monastery of Friers Minors from the Iurisdiction of their Prouinciall will cost 30. Gross To bee exempted from the Iurisdiction of the Bishop during his time will cost 50. Gross And if the Abbot will haue withall a Licence to weare a Miter it must cost him saith Iohn the 22 100. Gross Of a Bishop frō the Iurisdiction of his Metropolitan during his life is rated at 50. Gross Of a Parochiall Church from the Bishops Iurisdiction 20. Gross Of the Parson of a Parish from the power of his Ordinary during a suite is rated at 20. Gross Of an Hospitall from payment of Subsidie 20. Gross Of a Towne from the payment of any Impositions 60. Gross Of a priuate person for the same 30. Gross Also in the Rate-booke of Pope Iohn the 22. there is found an exemption of a Monastery the Couent taxed at 300. Gross English Obseruations ALl good Law-giuers and wise States-men Christian or Heathen euer held it as a rule that good Order is the life of a Common-wealth and that subordination is the very life of all good order insomuch as where there is no subordination that is some to command and some to obey there all good ordet is decayed and disorder and confusion crept in and consequently disipation and destruction Thence it is that both all worthy Commanders in warre and all wise Gouernours in peace were such strict obseruers of all not only politicke Constitutions but euen Martiall Discipline that tended to maintaine the authority of Superiours and to nourish obedience in the Inferiours that no money nor reward nay no neerenesse in nature nor bond of blood could procure Exemption or Priuiledge in this case How famous are the ancient Romane and Grecian Generals for executing their martiall Lawes not only vpon their most valiant Souldiers but euen their worthiest commanders and Leaders nay their owne sonnes if they transgressed the rules and orders of the Army or went beyond the bounds and limits of their places Nay their wisedome would not allow them to doe a piece of good seruice if it were done out of order or contrary to any publique command and if any did so he were sure first to bee rewarded for his good seruice valorous exploit but as sure to be punished for his presumption and transgression though in some cases the Penalty were no lesse then death it selfe The wel-aduised Readers know that the Histories afford vs plenty of examples in this kind One of Alexander the Great is most remarkable howsoeuer held by some to bee a hard piece of Iustice who sayling on a time in Tygris with diuers Princes and great Lords it chanced his Royall Diadem fell from his head into the Riuer where being in danger to be lost a Sailer that could swimme cast himselfe into the water and notwithstanding the fiercenesse of that streame aduentured his life to saue his Soueraignes Diadem and hauing recouered it and not being able to bring it in his hand being of necessity to vse both hands to saue his life hee
a mortall and capitall sinne in the Court of Conscience before God Anno 1. E. 6. cap. 12. but also punished with no lesse than death in our exteriour Courts of Iustice And that with so great seuerity as some helpes of life allowed by our Lawes to other Fellons are vtterly denyed to the Church-robber * In Saint Andrewes in Holborne the common Prayer-booke was stolne and the Fellon was condemned for it And some haue dyed in our times for things of small value onely because it was Sacriledge Therefore how great wrong they doe vs thus to censure vs and how vniustly they challenge to themselues to be the onely holy Church let God and his Angels and all good men iudge betwixt vs seeing with them 7. Grosses will suffice for Sacriledge which among vs is euer punished with no lesse than death And if a Priest may steale the goods of the Church and then be absolued for 7. Grosses when happely he hath sacrilegiously stoln more neere to 700. we must needes say with Espencaeus that a tolerable man may by this booke learne to be naught and an ill man to be much worse CHAP. II. For reuealing of Confession The Romish Text. An Absolution for him that reueales another mans Confession is taxed at 7. Grosses English Obseruations TOuching Confession to Man howsoeuer Gods Church knowes no reason to enioyne it to bee practized by all Christians as is the Popish Auricular Confession because it s simply necessary to saluation to confesse to God but to man not so Yet our Church and Doctrine not onely allow but aduise and exhort all men to vse it euen to man for their consolation or direction when they finde cause And we deny not but it may be of great vse and hath euer beene practized in Gods true Church by such as tendred the quiet state of their owne soules And we doubt not but many doe grieuously burthen their consciences and carry sore troubled and full heauy hearts about them because they doe not open their mindes and discouer the spirituall state of their soules vnto their godly Pastors whose duty by our Doctrine is not only readily louingly and patiently to heare them but with all his power and best skill to direct aduise and comfort them and most faithfully to keep secret whatsoeuer is thus in confession made knowne to them as Ministers of God especially if it be a blemish to the party confessing vnlesse eyther the penitent giue him leaue to discouer it or that it be a matter of blood or some enormious euill to be committed for preuention whereof it may and ought yet with great caution and discretion be discouered to the Magistrate Now the Romish Church makes vse of this as one of her principall stratagems whereby to know the hearts and dispositions of all men and women especially the Princes and great Ones of this world And howsoeuer to bring them on the better to confesse freely and fully they make a shew that the Seale of Confession is not to be violated but most strictly and sacredly to be obserued yet this strictnesse they keepe in their owne power like St. Wilfrids Needle to inlarge or restraine at their pleasure or as shall make for the good of the Catholique cause Therefore on the one side when it makes for them the Popes and Popish Princes haue by the Conduit of confession beene made priuy to the purposes of such great Princes as walking in their simplicity did freely impart their mindes to their Confessors who like good soules little feared any false measures in so holy a businesse as Confession And on the other side when it makes against them to open it then the Seale is sacred and then all the world must perish rather than it be violated And therupon * Delrio disquis mag 〈◊〉 3 â—iâ— Câ—aâ— 1. Sect. 2. Delrio the Spanish Iesuite concludes that Garnet hauing knowledge of the Powder-treason in Confession long before the execution was bound to conceale it and so suffer it to come to passe not careing though it concerned the Kings life and all his Issue and thousands with them and the safetie of the whole Kingdome Thus can they fight on both sides And by these meanes no maruell if their Kingdome haue stood so long and if they doe such strange things as they doe dayly And here let the world consider and wisely obserue what is it in all the Popish world that the Pope or Spanish King may not know at their pleasure seeing to that end they haue many apt Instruments especially the Iesuits and Capuchins and so many fit Engines with this two-handed sword of Auricular Confession And to shew how little they care for the keeping safe of this Seale when they list to breake it it appears in that the Iesuites who be the refined Papists are in many places almost the sole Confessors So as it was complayned of in France that the Confessionall places of Parishes were left desart and those of the Iesuites so thronged as one could hardly haue a roome there And what vse they make of it and how safely they keepe it is manifest by the Register found at Venice vpon their late expulsion wherein they carefully recorded the secret Confessions of all great persons and so most wickedly made vse of such things to their wicked ends as in all honesty ought to haue beene eyther buried in obliuion or at least supprest in silence And if there were no record in the world to this purpose there needs no more euidence than this which is their owne euen the price of his absolution who eyther by drunkennes or carelesnesse or corruption or vpon any other knauish ground haps to reueale it which seeing it is so far their own as they little thoght we should euer haue knowne it it concerns vs the more to make much of it For it may giue vs and the world good cause to wonder at their wickednes and hatefull hypocrisie so seriously to commend to the people as a sacred holy matter that Confession which themselues account of so lightly and so slightly as that the Absolution for the breach of it shall cost the Villaine but 7. Grosses who rather deserued 7. Halters And howsoeuer these Censorious Pharises disgrace and disparage vs yet I dare say that Minister amongst vs who should so far forget himselfe and the honour of his Calling as to discouer the secret Confession of any Penitent who powred out his soule into his bosome should be so far from passing with the leane punishment of 7 Grosses as hee would rather bee iudged vnworthy of his place and held hatefull amongst his fellowes and vnfit for the society not only of Christians but euen of ciuill men CHAP. III. For polluting and prophaning of Churches The Romish Text. An Absolution for him who lyes with a Woman in the Church and there commits other enormities is rated at the price of 6. Grosses English Obseruations ALl Christians nay most of the