trust and diligently examin Things till we be assured of truth yet his pretended Vicar with an Antichristian Pride and Impiety Contradicts this and Commands the contrary He forbids all Examination Those under his Tyranny at least the unlearned and Common people must believe as the Church believes that is all that he proposeth though it be Transubstantiation or any thing evidently repugnant to their Reason and Senses too They must renounce their own Reason and if he say that is white which they see black they are to believe what he says and not their own Senses All means for the People to examin whether it be truth or error which the Pope and his Church proposes is prohibited and deny'd them nor is it only the Books of Protestants which write of Religion but the Bible and Sacred Scripture too even the whole Law of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any vulgar Language which the People can understand come amongst prohibited Books and damn'd at Rome and the reason they give of such prohibition is impious and blasphemous For they say horresco referens the reading of the Holy Scripture by the People in any vulgar Tongue is more pernicious then profitable and brings more loss then benefit to the Reader Although this Doctrine be as I said impious and against God and his Holy Word blasphemous yet it is publickly own'd amongst those Rules for prohibited Books contrived by a Deputation or Committee of the Trent Fathers according to the Decree of that Council and afterwards approved and confirmed by Pius the Fourth Sixtus the Fifth and Clemens the Eighth as the Title of the Trent Index assures us After them that we may be sure they continue their Antichristian Tyranny to prohibit and damne the Bible and all Books which make against them Gregory the Fifteenth and Urban the Eighth do further approve and confirm the Impious Rules and Doctrine afore-mention'd and both of them expresly declare and in the same words 1. That it is known that the Reading prohibited Books the Bible is one of them brings great detriment to the Professors of the sincere Faith Roman Errors and Popery they mean which they miscall sincere Faith And what they say is most certain for there is no Book under Heaven so destructive of their Popish Superstition and Idolatry which they call sincere Faith as the Bible as it has been truly explain'd and preached by Protestants since Luther ' s time Which is evident in this that so many Kingdoms and Provinces by the help of Scriptures and Knowledge of the Gospel have clearly seen the Errors of Rome and justly abhorring her and them are come out of Babylon 2. All Licences to read any prohibited Books whosoever gave them to whomsoever they were given they recall cassate and declare null 3. Then they Command under severest punishments that all those who have any prohibited Books the Bible is one if it be in any Vulgar Tongue they are to bring them to the Bishop or Inquisitor and they are presently to Burn them 4. And then they declare That no man shall have any Licence for the future to read or have any prohibited Book no Bible or Protestant Book concerning Religion in any Vulgar Tongue save only from the Congregation of the Sacred Office the supream Office of the Inquisitors which sits every week before the Pope at Rome By the Premisses I think 't is certain that these Papers of mine are in Antecessum and already prohibited and damn'd at Rome and if their Papal Constitutions be obligatory and obeyed not to be read or had by any Papist save only such as have a faculty and licence from the Congregation of the Sacred Office as they call it the Roman Inquisitors and we may be sure that those watchful Fathers who guard the Capitol and industriously study to preserve and promote the Papal Greatness and Interest on which their own depends will give licence to none to read such Protestant Writings save to those who for fidelity to their Catholick Cause and Learning they judge able and willing to Answer and Confute them That is None shall have Licence to read such to them dangerous and damned Books save such as have solemnly Promised Vow'd and Sworn firmly to believe and constantly to hold and profess to their last breath and to the utmost of their Power indeavour that others under them do so too their new Trent-Creed and so the whole Mass of their Popish Errors and Idolatries contained and commanded in it The Case being evidently this that if their Papal Constitutions be obligatory and obey'd none are to read or have these Papers save such as have promised vow'd and sworn never to believe them as I have little reason to desire or hope for their favour so be it known unto them I do as little fear their Confutation or what I am like enough to have their Calumnies 4. Although I well know to say nothing of others that all our English Papists both in their Words and Writings do constantly call themselves Catholicks and Roman Catholicks yet they must pardon me if in these Papers I neither do nor justly can call them so Papists I do call them and I hope they will not be offended or take it ill that I do so For Baronius their great Cardinal and Annalist having said That the Hereticks we know whom he means call'd them Papists he adds That we could not honour them with a more glorious Title then that of Papists and therefore he desires that they may have the honour of that Title while they live and that after death it may be writ upon their Tombs and Sepulchral Monuments For my part so long as they believe and profess their new Trent-Creed and the Popes Monarchical Supremacy I shall according to the Cardinal's desire call them Papists and if it be so honourable a Title as he saies it is let them have it I shall not envy them that honour but pity their error who glory in that which is indeed their sin and shame For the other Title of Catholick which our Adversaries without and against reason appropriate to themselves we grant and know that anciently it was and when rightly used is a word of a good sound signification when it was applied to persons as a Catholick Bishop or Catholick Doctor c. it signified such persons as were 1. In respect of their Faith Orthodox who intirely believed and profess'd the true Christian Faith rejecting all pernicious and dangerous errors and so were no Hereticks 2. In respect of their Charity such as were in Communion with the Church of Christ without any uncharitable Separation from it and so no Schismaticks Now that our Adversaries of Rome are as they pretend such Catholicks is absolutely deny'd not only by Protestants but except themselves by all Christians in the World and that upon evident and great reason Considering
purpose give some short Account of the Contents of it The Bull I mean is that of Pope Paul the Fourth next Predecessor save one to Pius the Fifth and is dated eleven years before that of Pope Pius the Fifth Now concerning this Bull I observe 1. That it was no rash Act of that Pope but if he say true made with Mature deliberation by the Counsel and unanimous Consent of himself and the Cardinals 2. And it is further Confirmed by his Successor Pius the Fifth who Approves and Commands it to be Inviolably kept and observed Nor is this all but that we may see how such Doctrine is approved at Rome This Bull of Paul the Fourth and that of Pius the Fifth which so fairly confirms it are now both of them referr'd into the Body of their Canon Law Now in this Bull of Pope Paul the Fourth thus confirm'd approved and received into the Body of their Law 1. He does Approve Innovate and Confirm All the Censures and Punishments due to Hereticks and Schismaticks by any Constitution of any former Pope or those who were Reputed Popes Howsoever those Constitutions were made and promulgated and Commands them to be kept in fresh Memory and perpetually Observed 2. And then he declares with as little Charity as Infallibility that All Hereticks which are or For the Future shall be do Incurr All these Censures and Punishments and 't is his express Will and Decree they should do so And that we may not mistake his meaning as if All those Censures and Punishments were by him Inflicted and Denounced only upon and against some Inferior Persons and Hereticks he does seaven or eight times expresly name Counts Barons Marquesses Dukes Kings and Emperors And further says That as Heresie and Schism in them is more Pernicious to others so ought their Punishment to be more severe and then by his Constitution which he declares to be perpetually and for ever Obligatory he actually and totally Deprives them of their Counties Baronies Marquisats Dukedoms Kingdoms and Empires and leaves them to the Secular Power to receive Due Punishment that is Death as is evident by the Consequents in that Constitution Nor is this all He damns them to an Incapacity and Perpetual Inability of being restored to their Honours or Possessions No not if they seriously and truly repent and become good Catholicks For in that case of their true Repentance and forsaking their Heresie they shall save their Lives yet they must be Cast into Perpetual Prison and there be fed with Bread of Sorrow and Water of Sadness and to have no Comfort or Humanity shew'd them by any no not by Kings or Emperors And though this be the height of Impious and Antichristian Tyranny yet it must be Imputed as he tells us to the Popes Clemency and Benignity By the Premisses it may evidently appear That Queen Elizabeth was by many Papal Bulls and Damnatory Constitutions actually Excommunicate before this Bull of Pius the Fifth I desire then to know Whether those Anathema's of former Popes which they Declared and Commanded to be in force against all Hereticks For ever and Perpetually Obligatory were valid and did Actually and as they Intended Effectually Exclude that Queen out of their Church or not If not then 't is certain the Pope has not that Supream Power he pretends to For when so many Popes in their Damnatory Bulls and that Ex Plenitudine Potestatis Apostolicae declare the Queen and all such Hereticks Excommunicate and as their Phrase is cut off from the Vnity of the Body of Christ and Eternally damned If this be not Effectually done then all those Bulls are Bruta Fulmina Inefficacious Null and Insignificant But if those Anathema's and Excommunications of former Popes were valid and the Queen by them Actually put out of the Church as will I suppose and must by them be granted then Pius the Fifth his Excommunication is a nullity and indeed a ridiculous Impossibility It being impossible he should take from her what she had not and deprive her by any Excommunication of that Ecclesiastical Communion of which the stood Actually deprived before by his Predecessors especially by Pope Paul the Third who Excommunicates and Curses not only Henry the Eighth but particularly all his Children Male and Female born or to be born of Ann Bolen Mother of Queen Elizabeth declares them deprived of all Power and Dominion and of all their Goods and Patrimony and Incapable of restitution to that Power and Patrimony and of Acquisition of any other for the future And that we should not doubt that this was the Popes meaning they have added a Marginal Note to that Bull in the Roman Edition which tells us That the Pope in that Bull did deprive the Children of Henry the Eighth and his Adherents of All their Goods and Dignities and declared them Incapable of any other for the future By the Premisses I think it may be and is Evident that Queen Elizabeth by most Papal Bulls and Constitutions stood Actually Excommunicate and Depos'd before this Bull of Pius the Fifth Sure I am the Popish Party never own'd her as their lawful Sovereign but call'd her an Usurper of the Crown to which as a Declared and Excommunicate Heretick she had no right at all And it seems Pope Pius himself was of the same Opinion For in this very Bull he speaks of her only as Pretended Queen and of her Pretended right to the Crown And hence we may with Reason and good Logick Infer That when Pius the Fifth in this his Bull Excommunicates and Deposes her he does notwithstanding his Plenitude of Power and Infallibility ridiculously undertake what he could not do an Impossibility For as it is impossible to turn Sempronius out of a House in which he never was or deprive him of a Dominion which he never had turning out of a House necessarily presupposing his being in it and deprivation presupposing Right and Possession so it is a like Impossibility for the Pope by any Excommunication to turn the Queen out of the Communion of the Popish Church in which she never was being born baptiz'd and always bred in the Protestant Church and Religion or deprive her of those Dignities and Dominions which according to their own Principles she never had any right to nor ever could have any being by their Law and many Papal Anathema's and Decretals utterly disabled and made incapable of any such Dominions or Dignities 11. It is evident that the Pope in this Impious Bull does by his usurp'd Antichristian Power Depose and Deprive Queen Elizabeth of all her Royal Authority Dominion and Dignity and so puts her into the Condition of a poor private Person without any Power or Jurisdiction over all or any of her Subjects Whence these damnable Doctrines and Impious Conclusions evidently follow 1. That if any Jesuit any Villanous Raviliac or through pac'd
Cases of High Treason Nor was this Rebellious Doctrine maintained only by the Popes Party and Parasites but the Pope himself whom the Jesuits and Canonists miscall Infallible approves and justifies it and in Decemb. 1605. tells the Venetian Ambassador That Ecclesiasticks were not Comprehended in the number of A Princes Subjects nor could be Punished By him though they were Rebels A hundred such Passages out of their School-men Canonists Casuists especially the Jesuites and their Canon Law might easily be quoted but these to Impartial and Intelligent Persons will be sufficient to Evince That the Pope and his Party do publickly and expresly maintain this Rebellious Doctrine and when it makes for their Catholick Cause and they have Opportunity and Ability to put it in Execution do also practise it The Sum of which Damnable Doctrine repugnant to the clear Principles of Nature and Scripture and all Religions save that of Rome is this If any King be Excommunicate and Deposed by the Pope then any of his Subjects Clergy or Laity horresco referens may take Arms and Rebel against him or Murder him and yet by this Impious Popish Doctrine be neither Rebels nor Traitors And if their King be neither Excommunicate nor Deposed but stands rectus in Curia Romanâ and be as they call it a good Catholick yet if any of his Ecclesiasticks Secular or Regular Rebel or Murder him it can be no Treason or Rebellion in them seeing according to their Principles they are none of his Subjects nor he their Superior and Treason or Rebellion against an Equal or Inferior is in propriety of Law impossible But this is not all For 3. Let it be granted which is both Impious and Evidently untrue That any Popish Assassin or Roman Raviliac had not been Guilty of any Treason if he had kill'd the Queen after the Pope had Deposed her as a Heretick yet sure they must grant that it was Murder and an Impious Act to kill a Person overwhom he had no Jurisdiction No this they deny the approved and received Principles of the Popish Church acquit such Prodigious Villains not only from Rebellion and Treason but from Murder too He who had kill'd the Queen after Excommunication and Deposition by the Pope had been no Traitor nor which is less so much as a Murderer We are told in the Body of their Canon Law That they are no Murderers who out of Zeal to the Church take Arms against Excommunicate Persons So the Title prefix'd to the Canon cited in the Margent and the Text of the Canon says further Those Souldiers so armed Are not Murderers if out of a burning Zeal to their Catholick Mother the Church of Rome he means they Kill any of such Excommunicate Hereticks Thus the Case is deliberately determin'd by their Supream Infallible Judge Pope Vrban the Second a little before the end of the Eleventh Century and about Twenty years after by Ivo Carnotensis referred into a Collection of the Roman Canons And Gratian about Forty years after Ivo Registers it in his Decretum which Pope Gregory the Thirteenth approves and confirms for Law and so it stands confirm'd and received for Law in their last and best Editions of that Law ever since Whence it may and does appear that this Impious and Rebellious Doctrine That Killing Kings or Queens Excommunicate by the Pope was no Murder has been approved at Rome since the Devil was let loose and Antichrist appeared above Six hundred years I know that honest Father Caron not so disloyal as most of his Party indeavours to mollifie this Rebellious Constitution of Pope Vrban the Second and tells us that the meaning of that Canon is only this That if any man by Chance and Casually had kill'd an Excommunicated Person si contigerit trucidasse then he was not A Formal Murderer So Pope Urban ' s Sentence was not to Excuse those from Murder who Intended and directly Purposed to kill Hereticks and Excommunicate Persons For says he this were to Overthrow all Truth and Fidelity to Princes The good man was God forgive him a Roman Catholick and believed though Erroneously that the Supream Head of his Church and St. Peter's Successor and Vicar of Christ could not approve and maintain such a Rebellious and Impious Position and Principle That men might lawfully be kill'd because they were Hereticks or Excommunicate Persons which he there truly calls A Horrible Cursed and Execrable Principle That the Doctrine is Cursed and Execrable is easily believed and by me willingly granted But that Vrban the Second did not in that Canon approve it notwithstanding what Father Caron has said to the contrary I absolutely deny Sure I am 1. That Cardinal Bellarmine as is confessed by Father Caron in the place cited expounds that Canon as I have done 2. So does Cardinal Turrecremato too who says That Excommunicate Hereticks may be kill'd not only Casually as Father Caron mistakes the Text but with an Intention and Purpose to kill them and yet they who intend and do kill them be no Murderers but both the Intention and Act Just and Innocent But then their Intention must not be to get the Goods of those Hereticks they kill but it must be Zelo Matris Ecclesiae to secure the Church from the Mischievous Designs of those Hereticks So that in the Opinion of this great Cardinal and Canonist who well knew the opinions and practise of their Church killing of Hereticks was so far from being Murder that it was no Crime at all but sine Reatu as he says without all guilt and therefore nulla poenitentia erat imponenda it needed no Repentance 3. Cardinal Peron in his Oration to the Estates of France does expresly affirm That all Tyrants by Vsurpation may lawfully be kill'd and such was Queen Elizabeth and all Protestant Kings and Princes now are in the Judgment of the Pope and his Party seeing they all did and now do stand Excommunicate at Rome and deprived of all Dominion and therefore their medling with the Government after such Deprivation is evidently Usurpation in the Opinion of our Adversaries and then it follows on their Principles that they may lawfully be kill'd and therefore the killing of them cannot be Murder it being impossible that a Crime against the Indispensable Law of Nature should be lawful 4. But we have greater Evidence to prove that at Rome the killing of Protestant Princes as Excommunicate Hereticks is not Murder For in the year 1648. when the Parliament was or seemed to be severe against Papists as believing and maintaining Principles Inconsistent with our Government This Question amongst others was proposed to some of our English Popish Divines Whether the Pope could Depose or Kill Protestant Princes or Magistrates as Excommunicate Persons Some of those Divines met and whether out of Love of Truth or fear of the Parliament I know not Subscribed the Negative
was 25. years Bishop of Rome and actually transferred that Power to his Successor there or that our blessed Saviour ever had or exercis'd such a terrene and temporal power as they pretend the Pope as his Vicar has from him I say let them make all or any one of these Pariculars appear from Scripture and I will confess and retract my error Nor is the Condition unjust or unequal when I require Scripture proof For they themselves constantly affirm that the Pope has Right to his Monarchical Supremacy Jure Divino by the Constitution of our blessed Saviour and Divine Right and this their Popes Canonists and Divines with great noise and confidence but no reason endeavour to prove from Scripture miserably mistaken and misapply'd I know that their late Jesuitical Methodists so much magnify'd by their Party require of Protestants to confute their Popish Doctrines Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass Purgatory c. by express words of Scripture not admitting of Consequences however deduced from plain Texts as Premisses This method of theirs being irrational and demonstrated so to be I shall not tye them too But if they can prove any of the aforesaid Positions by the express words of Scripture or by good Consequences deduced from it or what they pretend to Vniversal and Apostolical Tradition I shall admit the proof Nay I shall make our Popish Adversaries two further and if that be possible fairer offers 1. Let them prove by any just and concluding reason whatsoever that any Christian Church in the World acknowledg'd or the Church of Rome her self assumed and publickly pleaded for such a Papal Supremacy as now they pretend to for 1000. years after our B. Saviour and for my own part I will confess and retract my Error 2. Let them prove by any such concluding reason that any Church in the World Eastern or Western Greek or Latin did acknowledge what now the Pope and his Party so earnestly and vainly contend for the Popes Infallibility and his Supremacy over all General Councils for 1500. years after our blessed Saviour and for my part Cedat Jülus Agris manus dabimus captivas I will retract what here I have affirmed and be what I hope I never shall be their Proselyte To Conclude I have no more to say my Adversaries will think I have said too much save only to desire the Readers who sincerely and impartially desire truth and satisfaction to read and consider the Margent as well as the Text. In this they have my Positions and the proofs of them in plain English In the Margent the Authorities and Authors I rely upon in their own words and the Language in which they writ and I have for the Readers ease not my own cited not only the Authors and their Books but the Chapter Paragraph Page and mostly the Editions of them That so the Reader may with more ease find the places quoted and judge whether I have cited and translated them aright It is notoriously known that our Popish Adversaries have published many forged Canons and Councils many spurious Decretals and supposititious Tracts under the names of Primitive Fathers and ancient Bishops that they have shamefully corrupted the Canons of Legitimate Councils and thousands of other Authors making them by adding and substracting words or Sentences say what they never meant or not to say what indeed they did both mean and say and this they themselves have without shame or honesty publickly own'd in their Expurgatory Indices and after all this fraud and falsification of Records these Apocryphal Books and supposititious Authors are continually produced by them for proofs of their Errors against Protestants who well know and as many sober men of their own Communion justly condemn such impious Roman Arts Nec tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Christus eget Truth needs no such forg'd and false Medium's to maintain it nor will any honest man use them Sure I am I have not in this Discourse built the truth of my Positions upon the Testimonies of our own Protestant Authors knowing that our Adversaries would with scorn reject their Testimony nor of any supposititious or spurious ones The Testimonies and Proofs I have quoted and rely upon are drawn from Scripture the genuine Works of the ancient Fathers and Councils or which ad hominem must be valid from their own Councils the Popes Bulls their Canon Law their Casuists Schoolmen Summists the Trent Catechism the Book of the Sacred Ceremonies of the Rom. Church their approved and received Publick Offices such as their Missal Breviary Ritual Pontifical c. which Authorities if I do not misquote or mistake their meaning are and to them must be just proofs of those Positions for which I have produced them But let the Evidence of the Testimonies and the Authority of the Authors quoted be what it will I have little hope that they will gain any assent from our Adversaries so long as they believe the Infallibility of their Pope and Church and their Learned Men are solemnly sworn firmly to believe their new Trent Creed the whole Body of Popish Errors to their last breath and to Anathematize and Damn what Doctrine soever contradicts it For while they are possess'd with these Principles it may be truly said of them what was said of the Luciferian Hereticks in St. Hierome Facilius cos Vinci posse quam persuaderi you may sooner bassle then perswade them They will in despite of Premisses hold the Conclusion nor shall the clearest demonstration overcome their blind Zeal and Affection to their Catholick Cause However that God Almighty would be graciously pleased to bless us and them with a clear knowledge of Sacred Truth with a firm belief and in dangerous times upon undanted and pious profession of it is and shall be the Prayer of Oct. 3. 1680. Thy Friend and Servant in Christ T. L. The Damnation and Excommunication of Elizabeth Queen of England and her Adherents with an Addition of other Punishments Pius Bishop Servant to God's Servants for a perpetual memorial of the matter HE that reigneth on High to whom is given all Power in Heaven and in Earth committed one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church out of which there is no Salvation to one alone upon Earth namely to Peter the Prince of the Apostles and to Peter's Successor the Bishop of Rome to be governed in fulness of Power Him alone he made Prince over all People and all Kingdoms to pluck up destroy scatter consume plant and build that he may contain the faithful that are knit together with the band of Charity in the Unity of the Spirit and present them spotless and umblameable to their Saviour Sect. 1. In discharge of which Function we which are by God's goodness called to the Government of the aforesaid Church do spare no pains labouring with all earnestness that Unity and the Catholick Religion which the Author thereof hath for the trial of his Children's
Faith and for our amendment suffered to be punished with so great Afflictions might be preserved uncorrupt But the number of the ungodly hath gotten such power there is now no place left in the whole World which they have not assayed to corrupt with their most wicked Doctrines Amongst others Elizabeth the pretended Queen of England a Slave of Wickedness lending thereunto her helping hand with whom as in a Sanctuary the most pernicious of all men have found a Refuge This very Woman having seized on the Kingdom and monstrously usurping the place of Supream Head of the Church in all England and the chief Authority and Jurisdiction thereof hath again brought back the said Kingdom into miserable destruction which was then newly reduced to the most Catholick Faith and good Fruits Sect. 2. For having by strong hand inhibited the exercise of the true Religion which Mary lawful Queen of famous memory had by the help of this See restored after it had been formerly overthrown by Henry the Eighth a Revolter therefrom and following and embracing the Errors of Hereticks she hath removed the Royal Council consisting of the English Nobility and filled it with obscure men being Hereticks oppressed the Embracers of the Catholick Faith placed impious Preachers Ministers of Iniquity abolished the Sacrifice of the Mass Prayers Fastings choice of Meats unmarried Life and the Catholick Rites and Ceremonies Commanded Books to be read in the whole Realm containing manifest Heresie and impious Mysteries and Institutions by her self entertained and observed according to the Prescript of Calvin to be likewise observed by her Subjects presumed to throw Bishops Parsons of Churches and other Catholick Priests out of their Churches and Benefices and to bestow them and other Church Livings upon Hereticks and to determine of Church Causes prohibited the Prelates Clergy People to acknowledge the Church of Rome or obey the Precepts and Canonical Sanctions thereof compelled most of them to condescend to her wicked Laws and to abjure the Authority and Obedience of the Bishop of Rome and to acknowledge her to besole Lady in Temporal and Spiritual matters and this by Oath imposed Penalties and Punishments upon those which obeyed not and exacted them of those which persevered in the Unity of the Faith and their Obedience aforesaid cast the Catholick Prelates and Rectors of Churches in Prison where many of them being spent with long languishing and sorrow miserably ended their lives All which things seeing they are manifest and notorious to all Nations and by the gravest Testimony of very many so substantially proved that there is no place at all left for Excuse Defence or Evasion Sect. 3. We seeing that impieties and wicked actions are multiplied one upon another moreover that the persecution of the faithful affliction for Religion groweth every day heavier heavier through the instigation and means of the said Elizabeth because we understand her Mind to be so hardned and indurate that she hath not only contemned the godly Requests and Admonitions of Catholick Princes concerning her healing and conversion but also hath not so much as permitted the Nuncios of this See to cross the Seas into England are strained of necessity to betake our selves to the Weapons of Justice against her not being able to mitigate our sorrow that we are drawn to take punishment upon one to whose Ancestors the whole State of Christendom hath been so much bounden Being therefore supported with his Authority whose pleasure it was to place Us though unable for so great a burthen in this Supream Throne of Justice we do out of the fulness of our Apostolick power declare the aforesaid Elizabeth being an Heretick and a favourer of Hereticks and her Adherents in the matters aforesaid to have incurred the sentence of Anathema and to be cut off from the Unity of the Body of Christ. Sect. 4. And moreover we do declare Her to be deprived of her pretended Title to the Kingdom aforesaid of all Dominion Dignity and Priviledge whatsoever Sect. 5. And also the Nobility Subjects and People of the said Kingdom and all others which have in any sort sworn unto her to be forever absolved from any such Oath and all manner of Duty of Dominion Allegiance and Obedience As we also do by Authority of these presents absolve them and do deprive the same Elizabeth of her pretended Title to the Kingdom and all other things abovesaid And we do Command and Interdict all and every the Noblemen Subjects people and others aforesaid that they presume not to obey her or her Monitions Mandates and Laws And those which shall do the contrary We do innodate with the like Sentence of Anathema Sect. 6. And because it were a matter of too much difficulty to convey these presents to all places wheresoever it shall be needful our will is that the Copies thereof under a publick Notaries hand and sealed with the Seal of an Ecclesiastical Prelate or of his Court shall carry altogether the same credit with all people Judicial and Extrajudicial as these presents should do if they were exhibited or shewed Given at Rome at St. Peters in the Year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1570. the Fifth of the Calends of May and of our Popedom the Fifth year Damnatio Excommunicatio Elizabethae Reginae Angliae eique Adhaerentium cum aliarum poenarum Adjectione Pius Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei ad perpetuam Rei memoriam REgrans in Excelsis cui data est Omnis in Coelo in Terra Potestas unam Sanctam Catholicam Apostolicam Ecclesiam extra quam nulla est salus soli in terris videlicet Apostolorum Principi Petro Petrique Successori Romano Pontifici in Potestatis plenitudine tradidit Gubernandam Hunc unum super omnes Gentes omnia Regna Principem constituit qui evellat destruat dissipet disperdat plantet aedisicet ut fidelem populum mutuae Charitatis nexu constrictum in unitate Spiritus contineat salvumque incolumem suo exhibeat salvatori Sect. 1. Quo quidem in munere obeundo Nos ad praedictae Ecclesiae gubernacula Dei Benignitate vocati nullum laborem intermittimus omni operà contendentes ut ipsa Vnitas Catholica Religio quam illius Auctor ad probandam suorum fidem correctionem nostram tantis procellis conslictari permisit integra conservetur Sed Impiorum numerus tantum potentia invaluit ut nullus jam in Orbe locus sit relictus quem illi pessimis doctrinis corrumpere non tentârint adnitente inter caeteros flagitiorum servâ Elizabeth praetensâ Angliae Reginâ ad quam veluti ad asylum omnium infestissimi profugium invenerunt Haec eadem Regno occupato supremi Ecclesiae capitis locum in omni Angliâ ejusque praecipuam Auctoritatem atque Jurisdictionem monstruose sibi usurpans regnum ipsum jam tum ad Fidem Catholicam bonam frugem reductum rursus in exitium miserum revocavit Sect. 2.
Whether the Pope be Antichrist many have with great success already done it I shall only in short give the Reader two or three Arguments or Motives which at present induce me to believe that the Pope is Antichrist And those Motives either grounded on Scripture the Confessions of our Adversaries the Testimonies of many and great men before or the concurrent Consent of the Reformed Churches since Luther Here consider 1. That it is not only Confess'd by our Adversaries in their Commentaries on 1. Pet. 5. 13. The Church of Babylon salutes you but indeavour'd to be proved by many Arguments they bring That Rome is that Babylon St. John speaks of in the Revelation which he calls the Great Whore Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth and in more plain Terms The Great City which reigns over the Kings of the Earth which cannot possibly be meant of any but Rome that being then the only great City which Reigned over the Kings of the Earth I know that some of them would have Pagan Rome meant but this evidently untrue for 1. It must be Apostatical Rome as indeed it is for the Apostle expresly tells us That Antichrist will not come till an Apostasie and falling from the Faith come first which cannot be meant of Pagan Rome it being impossible they should fall from the Faith who never had any 2. It is meant of that Babylon or Rome which St. John calls the Great Whore and Harlot but in Scripture none but Apostates from the Faith and true Religion are call'd so none but she who was once a Wife and afterwards falls into Spiritual Whoredom which of Pagan Rome neither is nor can be true 3. The Actings of Antichrist are call'd Mysterium a Mystery things hard to be understood but that Pagan Idolaters should persecute and oppress Christians and be drunk with the Blood of the Saints this is no Mystery But that all this should be done in pretence of the only True and Catholick Religion in Honour of Christ and by his Vicar this is indeed a Mystery not easily understood So that it is evident and confess'd that Rome is Babylon Mystical Babylon call'd so as she is call'd Sodom and Egypt in respect of that Analogy and Similitude between the Literal and Mystical the Pagan and Antichristian Babylon Babylon Chaldaeae Italiae Some of the Particulars wherein that Similitude consists are here in the Margent and he who considers what St. John says of the Mystical and what Isaie and Jeremy of the Literal Babylon may find more I take it then for a manifest Truth and confess'd by our Adversaries that by Babylon in the Revelation Rome is meant and that it is the Seat of Antichrist The next Query will be Who that great Antichrist is whose Seat is to be at Rome And this will best appear by the Description and Characters of him in Scripture 2. One Characteristical Note and Mark of Antichrist is given by St. Paul That he is an Enemy an Adversary to Christ our blessed Saviour so the word in St. Paul properly signifies so their Authentick Vulgar Latin translates it and their Learned Commentators prove it So that we are agreed on this That Antichrist whoever he be is an Adversary to our blessed Saviour and though he may pretend as we know he does to be Christ's Vicar and Act by his Authority and for him yet he is really his Adversary and acts in Opposition and Contradiction to him Now if this be a true Character of Antichrist and it is St. Pauls then the Pope has a fairer Plea to be that Beast then any man in the World For under the Name and Notion of Christ's Vicar and by a vainly pretended and usurped Power from him he acts contrary to Christ and the express Commands of the Gospel I shall of many give two or three Instances 1. Our blessed Saviour at the Institution of the Eucharist expresly Commands his Disciples and so all Christians who are of Age and rightly qualify'd Drink Ye All of this And another Evangelist tells us that they obey'd and Did All Drink But the Pope in Contradiction to this absolutely forbids all save the Priest who Consecrates to drink the Eucharistical Cup and so in Contradiction to our Saviour's Command deprives them of half that Sacrament And this they do with a blasphemous Impiety forbidding bidding all Laicks to have the Communion in both kinds Notwithstanding the Institution of Christ and notwithstanding that in the Primitive Church it was Received in both kinds and they further declare them Hereticks who think otherwise and Command that no Priest shall administer it in both kinds to any Lay-man under pain of Excommunication By the way it is observable That it is Confess'd by our Adversaries Lindanus Cardinal Bona c. that the whole Church of God Lay and Clergy for about One thousand two hundred years Received in both kinds even the Church of Rome her self And after that in Aquinas his time it was but in some Churches that the Cup was deny'd to the Laity The sum is this He who acts in Opposition and Contradiction to our blessed Saviour's Commands in the Gospel abrogates them so much as in him lies calls them Hereticks and Excommunicates those who obey them and Incourages those who disobey Christ and obey him he I say is an Adversary to Christ and Antichrist But by the Premisses it appears that the Pope does all this more signally in taking away the Cup in the Eucharist then any who pretends to be a Christian in the whole World Ergo he is Antichrist 2. The next Instance whereby it may appear that the Pope is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Adversary to our blessed Saviour and so has one Character of Antichrist is this St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians tells them and he says they are the Commandments of Christ he writes 1. That it is the Commandment of our blessed Saviour that in their Assemblies all things be done to Edification 2. That speaking in an unknown Tongue does not Edify or Profit the Church to which he speaks because they understand not what he says 3. He absolutely forbids all speaking in their Assemblies if there be none to Interpret in any unknown Tongue Now whether the Pope be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Adversary to Christ let the Reader Judge by that which follows Our blessed Saviour expresly Commands that in the Assemblies of Christians all things should be in a Tongue understood by the People for their Edification and the Apostle thinks it madness to do otherwise that they might know his Precepts and gracious Promises and so their Duty and Incouragements to do it But the Pope as all know in Contradiction to this absolutely forbids what our blessed Saviour expresly Commands and prohibits all Publick Prayers
Word of God So a Learned Popish Author tells us That the Word of God is threefold 1. His written Word the Scriptures 2. His unwritten Word Traditions 3. His explained or declared Word when Scripture or Traditions are declared and explained by the Pope whether in or out of a Council And he says That this Last word of God the Popes Definitions and Explications is the most approved and most men do with greater pleasure acquiesce in it Though this be much yet not all For the Pope does not only pretend to and assume to himself an Universal Monarchy over all the Kingdoms of the World but such an Absolute Power to dispose of them that he can parte inconsultâ give away Kingdoms pro Arbitrio to whom he pleases A Memorable and for Papal Pride and Injustice a Prodigious Instance we have of this in Pope Alexander the Sixth who at one Clap gave to Ferdinand and Elizabeth King and Queen of Castile and their Heirs for ever All the West-Indies from Pole to Pole and all the Isles about them which lay One hundred Leagues Westward from Cape Verd and the Azores with all their Dominions Cities Castles Villages all the Rights and Jurisdictions belonging to them And this he says he gives of his own meer Liberality by Power deriv'd from Peter and as Vicar of Christ. Then he Excommunicates all of what degree soever Kings and Emperors by name who shall dare to trade into the West-Indies given to Ferdinand by him without the leave and licence of the said Ferdinand Here we see the Pope gives away almost half the World from the true Owners Causa incognita inaudita indicta the Persons and their Quality being utterly unknown to him If it be said They were Pagan Idolaters Grant that Yet 1. What they all were he neither did nor could know 2. If they really were such as probably they were yet dominium non fundatur in gratiâ a Pagan and Idolater may jure naturae have as just a Temporal Right to his Estate as a Christian. Caesar was a Pagan in our blessed Saviours time and yet he Commands them to give to Caesar the things which were Caesars Some things were Caesars in which he had a propriety and to which he had a right and his Subjects an Obligation to pay him tribute and other things due to him But I hope this will not be deny'd For if none but pious men and true Christians have any just Right to what they possess it will I fear go hard with his Holyness and he will have no Propriety in St. Peters Patrimony or any other thing he does possess And therefore if he Impartially consider it he may find some reason if not for Truths sake which with him is not always a prevailing Motive yet for his own to be in this of my opinion By the Premisses I hope it may and does appear That the Pope Exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped and so really has the Characteristical Note and Mark of the Beast that Man of Sin and is indeed that great Antichrist described and foretold in Scripture 4. Nor am I singular in this Opinion many Excellent Persons both for Learning and Piety have said as much and some have given us a Catalogue of their Testimonies I shall say nothing of the Fathers many of which make Rome Babylon in the Revelation some of them I have Cited before and Schardius in the Place last Quoted has more Nor shall I say any thing of the poor persecuted Waldenses and Wiclisists or the Reformed Churches since Luther who both believ'd and constantly affirm'd and prov'd the Pope to be Antichrist especially the Church of England as appears both by her ablest Writers and her Authentick Homilies confirmed by the Kings Supream Authority in Convocations and Parliaments Omitting all these which yet were abundantly sufficient to shew that I am not singular in this Opinion I shall only of very many more give a few Evident Instances and Testimonies of those who lived and died in the Communion of the Church of Rome And here 1. The Emperor Frederick the Second in a Letter to the King of France complaining of the Prodigious Pride and Tyranny of the Pope and his Impious Practices to divide the Empire and ruin him he says That he Indeavour'd to build the Tower of Babylon against him And that we may know what and whom he meant by Babylon in another Epistle to the King and Nobility of France he Complains of the horrid Injuries and Injustice done him by the Pope and his Party he calls them the Elders of Babylon c. 2. A faithful Historian speaking of Pope Hildebrand or Gregory the Seaventh and his Prodigious Tyranny and Impiety tells us That in those times Most Men both Privately and Publickly curs'd Hildebrand call'd him Antichrist that under the Name and Title of Christ he did the work of Antichrist that he sat in Babylon in the Temple of God and as if he had been a God Exalted himself above all that is worshipped c. And much more to the same purpose abundantly Testify'd by the Historians of those times who were neither Lutherans nor by the Roman Church then reputed Hereticks And afterward speaking of the same Hildebrand we are told That he laid the Foundation of the Kingdom of Antichrist One hundred and seaventy years before that time when that was said under a colour and shew of Religion He begun the War with the Emperor which his Successors continued to that Day till the time of Friderick the Second and Pope Gregory the Ninth where we have many things more concerning the Prodigious Pride Impiety and Tyranny of the Pope to prove that he was Antichrist The same Historian also tells us That almost All Good Just and Honest Men did in their Writings publish to the World that the Empire of Antichrist begun about that time the time of Hildebrand he means because they Saw those things then come to pass which were foretold long before 3. But this is not all We have further Testimonies of this Truth 1. Robert Grosthead who both for Learning and Piety was Inferior to none in his Age He on his Death-bed having spoke of many horrid Enormities of Rome and loss of Souls by Papal Avarice he adds Is not such a one deservedly call'd Antichrist Is not a Destroyer of Souls the Pope he means an Enemy of God and Antichrist And after a long List of Papal Tyranny and Impieties he calls Rome Egypt so Saint John calls it Spiritually Sodom and Egypt and concludes that the Church will never be deliver'd from that Egyptian Servitude but by the Sword 2. Nor is this all we have great Councils of whole Nations in their Publick Edicts and Constitutions expresly declaring the Pope to be that Antichrist who Exalts himself above all that is called God We have a Publick Edict