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A13155 An abridgement or suruey of poperie conteining a compendious declaration of the grounds, doctrines, beginnings, proceedings, impieties, falsities, contradictions, absurdities, fooleries, and other manifold abuses of that religion, which the Pope and his complices doe now mainteine, and vvherewith they haue corrupted and deformed the true Christian faith, opposed vnto Matthew Kellisons Suruey of the new religion, as he calleth it, and all his malicious inuectiues and lies, by Matthevv Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe, Matthew, 1550?-1629. 1606 (1606) STC 23448; ESTC S117929 224,206 342

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professe Christ to be true God yet they teach that dogges and hogges doe eat his body as ofte as they eate consecrated hosts The Turkish Priests beleeue that Christ was true man that his body is visible and palpable but the Masse-priests giue him a body in the sacrament that is neither visible nor palpable nor in any respect like to our bodies The Turkes doe teach that after this life some are placed in paradise some damned to hell as Postell writeth in his history of Turkes a third place they know not nor doe they beleeue that their Calipha or high Priest is able to deliuer soules out of the nether part of the earth by his indulgences but the Papists beleeue a third place beside heauen and the place of the damned and suppose that the Pope is souereigne lord of purgatory and can deliuer soules thence by his indulgences Among the Turkes we doe not read of anie that euer doubted of the immortality of the soule as Menauinus de relig Turc testifieth but among the Papists many doubt of it for else why should Leo the x. lateran concil sess 8. forbid men to dispute against the immortality of the soule some deny it as did Iohn the 23. as is testified in the appendix to the councell of Constance and many other atheisticall Papists who haue nothing of religion but an outward bare profession Turkes do beleeue that God hath a body yet doe they not suffer any image or similitude of God to be made but Papists albeit they professe God to be a spirit yet most absurdlie they doe make diuers corporeall Images of God The law of God prohibiting the making and worship of grauen images and other likenesses is diligently obserued of Turkes Georgeuitz in his booke de moribus Turcarum saith he neuer saw any images in the temples of Turkes with him also in effect concurreth Zigabenus in elencho Ismaelit and sheweth that such as worship images by the Turks are called idolaters but Papists fill al the corners of their churches ful of images and idolatrously doe they worship them nay because they perceiue their practise to be contrariant to the law of God therefore in their briefe catechismes they raze out the commandement against images Mahomet neuer called himselfe God but the Prophet of god only neither did his followers euer giue him the title or honor of God nay some of them beleeue that Cosdroes was vanquished by the romans because he called himselfe God but Papists call the Pope God as we read in Baldus in c. vlt. cod sent rescind and the Pope calleth himselfe God after a cunning sort c. satis dist 96. The Turkes are not so absurd as to beleeue that their Calipha Mufti or high Priest cannot erre because he succeedeth Mahomet and sitteth in his chaire but the simple Papists most absurdly thinke that their Pope albeit he bee ignorant and foolish yet cannot erre as long as he teacheth out of the papall chaire In all the histories of Turkes we cannot finde where any Ianizars or Turkish Friers thought it lawfull or attempted to blow vp the Turkes pallace or parliament house but Thomas Percy Catesby and their consorts attempted and thought it lawfull to blow vp the parliament house the king and principall men of England the Papists therfore passe Turkes in barbarous and perfidious cruelty We do not reade that any Calipha of the Turkes did skin any of his Priests but Iohn the 22. as Platina recordeth did pull the skinne from the Bishop of Cahors happy had he beene if his body had beene inuisible and impalpable as the Papists make Christs imaginary body in the sacrament Mahomet as Zigabenus in Saracenicis telleth vs wrote only 113. fables but the Papists in their legends and breuiaries and Caesar Fabulonius I would say Baronius haue written more then x. M. fables and commend to their followers most fabulous fooleries Among the Turkes the Priests may not begge but the Iebusites and other mendicant Friers count beggery a peece of perfection and much it were to be wished that they did only begge for oftentimes they either take by force or steale most cunningly Septemcastrensis de relig Turc c. 14. testifieth that the Turkes in their fasts abstaine from all meat and drinke doth it not then appeare that they fast better then Papists that drinke wine and eate all dainty fishes and banketting meats vpon their fasting daies The Turkes doe not beleeue their religion to be true or their Alcoran to bescripture because their Calipha doth tell them but because they take it to haue come from God but the Papists neither beleeue scriptures nor the articles of faith vnlesse the Pope doth particularly tell them that the scriptures came from God and that their Christian faith is Apostolicall and most true The Turkes beleeue not that any can be iustified by extreme vnction or eating red-herrings and salt-fish but the Papists both teach it and beleeue it and burne all that shall hold beleeue or teach the contrary The Turkes albeit seruile in their manner of life yet neither kisse the feete of their Calipha nor heaue him vp to be adored by his followers are not then the papists in this point more slauish and miserable then the Mahometans Finally Mahomet neuer taught his followers to kill Kings excommunicated by the chiefe Priest of Turkes or to rebell or take armes against the Sultan or Emperor of Saracens as oft as their chiefe priest should command them nor did he teach his followers that the Calipha of Turkes could dispense with the law of God or assoile subiects from their oathes made to princes but the Popes bastardly children the Iebusites doe giue all this power to their holy father and he is nothing nice in taking it vpon him and so farre haue they proceeded in this damnable doctrin that no prince can stand assured of his life that hath any of this generation about him this doctrine cost Henry the third of France and the prince of Orenge their liues and put both Henry the 8. of England and his daughter Elizabeth and Henry the 4. of France to their plunges and brought them into great danger And of late time the King the Queene their children the Nobles and prelates of England and the Commons assembled in parliament were deseined to the slaughter and had beene destroied if God had not discouered the trechery Were Christians then so patient as to tolerate heresie yet it argueth great stupidity if they should endure a religion more absurd foolish and abominable then Mahometrie CHAP. XLVIII That Christians are lesse oppressed vnder the Turke then vnder the Pope HOw great miseries they endure that liue vnder the Turks gouernment those can best relate that haue trauailed Turkie and haue experience of their lawes and customes we doubt not but they are many and extreme considering the rigour of the Turkish tyranny yet if we will beleeue those that are as well acquainted with the gouernement of the Pope and his
Paris sheweth that in the times of Innocent the third Christians were accused by a writing sent from heauen for shewing no pity vpon widowes and orphans and shewing lesse mercy then did the pagans viduae orphani ad vos clamant quotidie saith that writing quibus nullam facitis miscricordiam pagani habent misericordiam at vos non habetis but much more reason haue we to vse these words to the moderne Iebusites and their complices for they are more mercilesse then Turkes the Turkes suffer Christians to inioy their religion and these doe not therefore the Italians as Natalis Comes in his history testifieth say it is better to liue vnder the Turke then vnder the Spaniards and Popes inquisitors and for this cause the kingdome of Hungarie and principality of Transiluania hath chosen rather to seeke for succor at the hands of Turkes then to endure the cruell and trecherous executions of the Pope and his bloody inquisitors vp then o Lord and scatter these thy bloody enemies that seeke to scatter and massacre the sheepe of thy pasture and let not those preuaile any further that make warres against the Lambe and all that follow him and constantlie professe his truth these wolues haue conspired and sworne the destruction of the professors of religion At Bayon anno 1585. a league was concluded betwixt France Spaine and other Princes the articles were these as is euident by the French histories The Spanish king shall warre vpon the king of Nauarre the dukes of Ferraria and Sauoy with the aid of German horsemen shall translate the wars into France the Germans shall hinder all succor to come to them of the religion the Cantons of Suizzerland that adhere to the Pope shall oppresse the other Cantons Monkes shall giue their names for souldiers and all shall endeuor to kill the Lutherans so you see that the finall end of their designes is murder and cruelty their meanes fire sword and gunpowder their contentment wast and desolation What reason then haue Christians to slugge and sleepe when danger is so neere them doe they thinke that papists want gun powder or poison or that they wil not hurt if they recouer strength as well they may thinke that wolues wil cease from crueltie and Serpents cast away their poison and tyrants prooue gentle foster fathers and Turkes turne Christians Nay such Princes as are not Papists are not much to trust them if they satisfie not the Popes will in all things Gregory the 7. killed and empoisoned all that were opposite to his deseings he excommunicated the emperor Henry the fourth because he would not suffer him quietly to sell ecclesiasticall prelacies his successors made warres vpon Henry the sift Fridericke the 1. Philip Otho and Fridericke the 2. for that they could not bee suffered to dispose of the landes of the Empire Lewis of Bauier was persecuted for no other cause then for that he would not receiue his crowne at the Popes hands for this cause also Harold King of England became enemy of the Clergy because he tooke the crowne before it was deliuered by Popish prelates Philip the faire King of France was persecuted by Boniface the 8. for that he would not acknowledge himselfe to be the Popes subiect and yet did they not know any other religion then that which the Pope then professed Finally Henry the 3. of France albeit superstitiously addicted to popery yet could he not escape the butcherly hands of the popish leaguers that suborned a Dominican Frier to kill him for that he would not at their appointment make warres vpon his subiects To conclude therefore this point there is no way of security for Christians against the Popes cruelty and his adherents practises then manfully to resist their vsurpations warily to take heede of their mines and gunpowder and neuer to trust their sweete words and guilefull promises with clemency they are not to bee mitigated but with resolution and iustice they may easily be subdued CHAP. XLV That the practises and treaties of Popes and their complices with Christians are not to be trusted THe Prophet describing a wicked man saith he laid hands on such as were at peace with him and broke his couenant Among heathē people the Thracians were very infamous for breaking their oathes and promises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was in times past a common prouerbe but neither among heathen people nor among such as professe to know God doe we reade of any more foedifragous or periurious sect then the Popes of Rome and their complices Others percase breake both oathes and promises but no man in time past euer taught that faith and oathes giuen to others ought to be broken as doe the Romanistes in the conuenticle of Constance they not onely made void the Emperours charter of faseconduct giuen to Iohn Husse but also by publike act determined that saith was not to be holden with heretikes They absolue subiects from their oathes of allegeance which as Sigebert in his Chronicle saith sauoureth of heresie Pius quintus not onely absolued the late Queenes subiectes from their allegeance but also denounced them excommunicate that continued firme in their allegeance Iulius the second went one point further and disputed that the church was not bound with othes as Guicciardine in his historie reporteth now euery man knoweth that by the church he vnderstood the Pope With this wicked doctrine their execrable practise very well accordeth Gregorie the 7. by a publike sentence of a synode was declared periured Paschal the 2. confirmed certeine couenants betwixt himselfe and the Emperor by solemne chartres seals and othes literis sigillis inramentis saith Otho Frising●nsis lib. 7. but immediately he brake all Fridericke the 2. as Matthew Paris testifieth accused Gregory the 9. for teaching persidiousnesse and periury quod persidiam periurium doceret and yet his disciples hold that the Pope when he teacheth cannot erre in matters of faith Gregory the 12. as Theodoricke a Niem tract vnionis 6. c. 29. writeth was charged to be a publike forsworne person and by him called periurus publicus lib. 3. de schism c. 3. he saith he deceiued the world with his oathes and vowes votis iuramentis suis decepit mundum likewise he saith tract 6. c. 39. vnionis that Innocentius would not admit the vnion of the Papacy albeit he had before vowed and sworne to doe it Charles the French King chargeth both him and Peter de Luna with breaking their oathes as Theodoric a Niem writeth tract nemoris vnionis lib. 6. c. 14. The Bohemians for this persidious dealing of the Popes complices would not come to the councell of Basil without good pledges Alexander the 6. was more perfidious then any Carthagigian as in his life Onuphrius testifieth perfidia plus quàm punica When Iulius the third was in petition he swore both to the French and Spanish as is testified in Pelegrino Inglese but performed neither to the one nor to the other The Masse-priests of Trent
and ceremonies or else they would haue their heads broken Against Queene Elizabeth our late dread soueraigne vpon the roring of the Popes bull the Northren rebels anno 1569. fell into armes both leaders and followers were the Popes deare children this was also the motiue of all the troubles and insurrections in Ireland His Maiestie also that now raigneth hath not found any so troublesome disloyall and trecherous as his subiects popishly affected the Erle of Goury had brought too much popish leuaine out of Italy to be a good subiect Watson and Clarke that conspired the destruction of the king and state were Masse-priests Brooke Marcham and Copley their adherents were Masse-louers Faux and the late powdermen were zealous Papists Henry the 3. of France was oppugned by no other then the popish leaguers the duke of Guise and his house were therein principall agents and all the rest were affected and deuoted to the Popes seruice the Dominican friar that most shamefully murdred his liege souereigne Lord was the Popes vassall and set on by the Iebusites the same faction stood in armes against king Henry the 4. now reigning and not being able to resist by force by treason sought to destroy him Iohn Chastel a scholler of the Iebusites and Ghineard a Iebusite were therefore executed so also was Peter Barriere that incited by Iebusites and Masse-priestes came with a ful resolution to take away his Soueraignes life Parsons Campian and other Masse-priests and Iebusites were sent into England by the Pope for no other cause then to make a side for the execution of the Popes bull as appeareth by the Popes faculty granted to Campian and Parsons Neither were Parry Sauage Ocollen Yorke Lopez Squire and others that haue beene executed for attempting either by the sword or by poison to take away the late Queenes life set on by others then the Pope and his bloody faction God grant that his roiall Maiesty may escape their trecherous plots whose heads no doubt are as busie plotting against him as they euer were against his predecessor and that he neede not to doubt of it they declared the same euidently in the treacherous plot of Brooke Watson Clerke executed for the same at Winchester but most cleerely was the same resolued by the practise of Catesby Percy and Fauxe and their intended rebellion and fiery treason It may be the Pope and his faction will deny that they are the authors of these stirres rebellions and treasons but the Popes bulles their owne hand-writings their confessions their euident acts of treason the deposition of witnesses and the defences made by diuers Papists who mainteine these rebellions and treasons shall alwaies plainly conuince them Sanders in his booke de visibili Monarchia doth mainteine the rebellion in the North against Queene Elizabeth and both he and Bristow and others doe number those rebels among Popish martyres Thomas Becket that stirred vp forraine enemies against his prince and country and stood against his Prince is worshipped by the popish faction for a great saint Iames Clement that killed Henry the third of France was highly praised by Sixtus Quintus in his consistory and al the seditious masse-priests that came into England to stirre rebellion are by little and litle put into the catalogue of Martyrs as dying for Popish religion or rather for practising treason Neither doe these acts of rebellion and treason proceed from sodeine motions but rather from the lawes rules of Popery for first they hold that the Pope is aboue the King and hath power to depose him and to giue away his kingdome if then the Pope doe depose the king and giue away his Kingdome all his Popish subiects must forsake him Secondly they teach that if the Pope doe commande the subiects to take armes against the King that they are bound to rebell against him and to lay hands vpon him if they can vpon paine of damnation and this is meritorious in the opinion of the Pope if then rebels be good subiects then these fellowes may be reputed good subiects Thirdly Cardinall Como in his letters written to Parry in the Popes name sheweth that it is meritorious to kill a king excommunicat and so was both he and Iames Clement perswaded by the Iebusites and Masse-priests and may a man trow you beleeue them to be good subiects that thinke it lawfull to kill their leege-Lords vpon the Popes warrant Lastly they hold that euery king that is by the Pope excommunicat and declared a tyrant ipso facto is deposed and may be slaine by any man for so Emanuell Sa the Iebusite doth determine in his aphorismes some say further that an hereticall king ipso facto loseth his kingdome and those that are not so forward affirme notwithstanding that the Pope may assoile subiects from their obedience and dispense with oathes but all such deserue the title of rebels and traitors and those kings stand in great danger that trust such trustlesse and pretended subiects But it may be said that all Papists in England are not of this opinion I grant it may be so de facto but if they be true Papists and truly deuoted to their holy father then must they obey the Popes bulles and acknowledge his doctrine and this the Masse-priests and Iebusites that lurke in diuers places of England attending their pray both know and practise for as traitors they teach conditionall obedience vntill the Popes further pleasure be knowen they interteine intelligence with forraine enemies they receiue their authority from the Pope they depend vpon him and not vpon the king they are gouerned by the Popes lawes and not by the kings lawes Finally the 5. of Nouember last the Iebusites Masse-priests and their adherents of the popish faction in England determined to destroy the King and state and to make a generall insurrection and massacre throughout the whole kingdome and had done their vttermost if God had not preuented their malicious dessines and purposes They may also alledge in excuse of papists that to kings that be of their owne religion they are most obedient and deuoutly affected but first this obedience and deuotion is conditionall and temporary that is if and so long as the Pope commandeth not the contrary For if the Pope excommunicate the King of Spaine called by them the Catholike King hee is in no better termes then others The Emperors that were excommunicat by the Pope within these 3. or 4. hundred yeares were of the Popes religion yet did it not auaile them Henry the third of France was superstitiously addicted to Popery yet was he murdred by a Dominican Frier and Henry the fourth being reconciled to the Pope and scornefully whipped in the person of his ambassador scaped not the blow of Iohn Chastel Secondly kings professing Popish religion are not obeied in ecclesiasticall matters For as Bellarmine teacheth they are no gouernours of the Church others say they haue no power to make lawes concerning ecclesiasticall causes so it appeareth they lose
AN ABRIDGEMENT OR SVRVEY OF Poperie Conteining a compendious declaration of the grounds doctrines beginnings proceedings impieties falsities contradictions absurdities fooleries and other manifold abuses of that religion which the Pope and his complices doe now mainteine and wherewith they haue corrupted and deformed the true Christian faith Opposed vnto Matthew Kellisons Suruey of the new Religion as he calleth it and all his malicious inuectiues and lies By MATTHEVV SVTCLIFFE LONDON Printed by Melchisedech Bradwood for Cuthbert Burbie 1606. TO THE WORTHY and noble Lord Prince HENRY sonne and heire to the most puissant King and our dread Souereigne IAMES by the grace of God King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Faith THere are two principall offices most worthy excellent Prince of a true Christian the first is To decline from euill the second is To do good And these two as they are necessarily required in all so principally in those which are to command and gouerne others But the ground of both is the true Catholike and Apostolike Faith without the knowledge wherof not only good things are often times refused as euill but also things euill embraced for good Seeing then our aduersaries the Papists of late time haue both violently and fraudulently sought to bring backe into his Maiesties Dominions whereof your Grace by the grace of God is vndoubted heire not onely the heresies and superstitions of Popish religion but also the tyrannicall gouernment of the Pope that is so preiudiciall both to Princes and their states and also to all Christians their liberties I haue thoght I could not doe either to God or my Countrey better seruice then to declare to the world both their weake and absurd grounds and their impious and wicked doctrines and how they haue proceeded in the maintenance and defence of the same And this I doubt not would appeare far more cleerely if without preiudice of mens persons or respect of priuat mens interests matters might be debated before indifferent Iudges and soundly tried by the touchstone of holy Scriptures and none of those excluded from hearing that professe true Catholicke religion My purpose is not God I take to witnesse to touch any man particularly but onely to set forth the trueth of all matters that the obstacles of Christian vnity and the causes of the good successe of the Turke being remoued we may all for the most part consent in the vnity of the Catholicke faith and conioyne our mindes and forces the better to resist publike enemies This I present to your Grace as the first fruits of my affection and seruice that thereby learning to eschew euill and to embrace that which is good and pious you may as it followeth in the 34. Psalme seeke peace follow after it Nay you may the better be instructed not only in following the true meanes of peace but also obtaine your desires and for euer truly possesse it This your affection in pious promoting the true seruice of God preuēting of the trecherous plots of the factious complices of Antichrist shall be the foundation of your prosperous estate It shal increase the ioy of your noble Father our Souereigne Lord and King and glad your Mother whose hearts ioy you are S. Iohn reioyced to see the children of that noble lady to whom he directed his second Epistle walking in trueth And this is the affection of all your friends and wel-willers who reioyce to see the heroicall vertues of your Father budding forth in your Grace The Prophet Psal 112 doth assure vs That his children that feareth the Lord shal be mighty vpon earth and that the generation of the righteous shall be blessed On the other side the aduersaries of religion shal weepe and lament when they shall see the Prophesies of S. Iohn Apocalyp 17. and 18 concerning the destruction of the great whore and the ruines of the city of Babylon accomplished and the rather as we hope by your Fathers and your godly endeuours and meanes Vouchsafe therefore most gracious Prince to giue reading to this Discourse made in opposition of that infamous libell which not long since one Matthew Kellison a Priest of Baal and a marked slaue of Antichrist presumed to direct to the King your Father and consider what reason he had to talke of the surueying of religion seeing his owne religion can so euill abide any examination or suruey The Lord of heauen blesse you with all spirituall graces and the rest shal be added vnto you This is also the continuall prayer of all the seruants of God your Fathers true subiects That your Grace may be made a worthy instrument to aduance Gods glory and that the vowes of your Parents and all well affected to his Maiesty and to your Grace may plentifully be performed in you Your Graces most affectionat seruant MATTHEW SVTCLIFFE THE PREFACE TO THE Christian Reader MVch it were to be wished Christian Reader that the same affection and feruent desire were in all true Christians and especially in those that are Pastours and Teachers to mainteine the truth which we finde to be in false teachers and heretikes to vpholde and mainteine their errors The Scribes and Pharisees in time past as our Sauiour Matth. 23 teacheth vs compassed sea and land to make one of their profession And so in time past did the Nouatians Donatists and Arians But what need I to speake of times past when we see before our eyes the present example of the Masse-priests and Iebusites and their complices They spare neither cost nor labour some write some discourse some practise one taketh on him one part of the labour and another performeth the rest So nothing is left vnattempted that either fraud could deuise or malice execute or industry and labour performe Among others one Kellison not long since as is said my L. Vauxes Butler but now a drawer of Popish doctrine hath shewed himselfe very busie and for his part hath gathered together out of the libels of Staphylus Cochleus Bolsec Sanders William Reynolds and other the Popes Parasits agents a whole packe of slanders lies and wicked imputations against Luther Zuinglius Melancthon Caluin Beza and other Teachers of truth To this he hath also added diuers fragments of certeine idle declamations of his owne and the most malicious railing termes that either himselfe could deuise or els finde out in his fellowes inuectiues And all this put together he calleth A Suruey of the new religion by the termes of Noueltie Heresie Impietie and such like seeking to disgrace that Trueth which we professe I did therefore expect that some learned man or other would take this fellow to taske and indeed I doe now vnderstand that a man both learned graue and eminent in this Church of England hath both vndertaken and finished the Answer to his scurrilous discourse but seeing the same is not yet published I thought it not amisse in the meane while to requite his Suruey of religion with this
deposing Princes nay to assirme that this great authority is prositable for Princes Ghineard a Iebusite was hanged in Paris anno 1594. for writing and mainteining diuers seditious positions concerning the Popes authority in disposing the crowne of France and translating the same from the family of Bourbon Parsons in his warne-word p. 2. f. 127. alloweth the deposing of Henry the 3. of France neither would he haue desired that the Bull of Pius the sift against Queene Elizabeth might be suspended against the Papists but that he imagined that she was iustly deposed the same man in his seditious booke of titles lib. 1. c. 1. endeuoreth to proue that the succession in kingdomes by necrenesse of blood is by positiue lawes of the common-welth and may vpon iust causes be altered by the same in his third chapter he pretendeth that not only vnworthy claimers may be put backe but also that kings in possession may be chastised and deposed his drist in the fourth chapter is to shew that the people sometimes may lawfully proceed against princes is it not then strange that the factious schollers of this seditious teacher are still harbored in the bowels of this state William Rainolde a rinegat English-man in a certeine treatise set out vnder the name of William Rosse and titled de iusta reip Christianae supra reges impios haereticos authoritate c. doth in expresse termes defend the wicked league of the French rebels against the King and giue the people power to depose their kings the same man in the 2. chapter of that booke assirmeth impudently that the right of all the Kings and kingdomes of Europe is laid vpon this foundation that common-welthes or the people may depose their kings I us omnium Europae regum regnorum saith he hoc fundamento nititur quod resp possint suos reges deponere In all Europe therefore it will be hard to find more arrant traitors then himselfe and his complices Bellarmine lib. 5. de pontif Rom. c. 6. saith it is not lawfull for Christians to tolerat a king that is an insidell or an heretike if he goe about to draw his subiects to his heresie or infidelity non licet Christianis tolerare regem infidelem aut haereticum si ille pertrahere conetur subdit os ad suam haeresim aut infidelitatem a hard sentence against his Maiesty if Papists had power to iudge him Emanuel Sain his booke called aphorismi confessariorum holdeth these aphorismes in verbo princeps viz. that a prince may be deposed by the common-welth for tyranny and also if he doe not his duty or where there is iust cause and that another may be chosen by the greatest part of the people in the word tyrannus he affirmeth that a tyrant may be deposed by the people although they be sworne to bee obedient vnto him if being admonished he will not amend now to the Popish faction all are tyrants that will not admit their Popish superstition though otherwise they bee neuer so mild and gentle and so it appeareth they accompt of our gratious king whom of late they haue sought trecherously to murder If then we admitte this common doctrine of Papists of the Popes authoritie in deposing Kings and giuing them Law we diminish the authority of Kings and make them subiects to the Pope which is a matter abominable to be either taught or beleeued we doe also indanger not only the state of all Kings but also of their kingdomes for how can any King stand against the violence of the Pope if he haue authority to depose Kings by this vsurped authority Gregory the 7. wrought Henry the Emperor and his subiects many troubles Paschall the 2. made the sonne to rise against the father and the subiects against their Princes and in the end caused the en peror to be taken prisoner and to resigne his Empire the same man also as he subdued the father so quarreled he with the sonne and caused his subiects to take armes against him Innocent the 2. by force of armes thought to vanquish Roger King of Sicilia and in a pitched field had preuailed against him if the sonne had not succoured his father Roger. Adrian the 4. and Alexander the 3. did so farre preuaile against Fridericke the first that he held the stirrop to the first and was troden vpon by the second Celestin the 3. proudly demeaned himselfe against Henry the 6. casting the crowne from his head with his foote as he kneeled before him as we reade in Rogor Houeden Innocent the 3. brought the Emperors Philip and Otho to destructiō by his furious persequution the same man caused King Iohn of England to surrender his crowne and was the cause of the losse of Normandy to the English Neither did he alone offer wrong to Iohn King of England for before his time king Henry the second had receiued a great scorne of the Pope in the cause of Thomas Becket Gregory the 9. and Innocent the 4. with great fury set vpon Friderike the 2. and emploied Christians that had made vowes to fight against the Saracens to the ruine of the Emperor Iohn the 22. Benet the 12. and Clement the 6. with implacable hatred prosequuted Lewes of Bauier and that for no other cause then for that he tooke on him as Emperor without the Popes allowance and for the same cause Harold encurred the Popes displeasure not submitting himselfe to receiue his crowne of the Popes faction Boniface the eight while he sought to subdue Philip of France and the houle of Colonna in Italy troubled both Spaine and Italy the Popes of late time haue caused all the stirres in Germany Italy France Flanders England and Scotland the leaguers of France were confirmed in their rebellion by the Pope and droue King Henry the third out of his pallace and killed him by a Dominican Frier as he beseeged Paris and long withstood the king now reigning Vpon the excommunication of Paul the third the papists of England rebelled against King Henry the eight in his bul of excommunication recorded by Sanders he commanded his subiects to resist him and to throw him out of his kingdome principibus viris ac ducibus Angliae saith he caeteraeque nobilitati praecipit vt vi armis se Henrico opponant illumque è regni sinibus eijcere nitantur by the Popes excommunications the rebellion was raised in the North of England by the Erles of Westmerland and Norththumberland and diuers tumults in Ireland against Queene Elizabeth nay albeit our King be not denounced excommunicat yet did the gun-pouder Papists seeke to blow him vp with the principall men of England neither had the Spaniards anno 1588. any better ground to inuade England then the Popes commandement and warrant Seeing then the Pope taketh vpon him a superiority ouer all Kings seeketh to depose all such as will not conforme themselues to his will it is much to be wondred that Christian princes that doe embrace his doctrine
doe not see in what danger they stand either to be disgraced or dispossessed of their crownes disgrace it is to acknowledge any in earth their superiour and an euident danger to fall out with the Pope where the subiects are affected to Popery CHAP. XXXVII That Kings professing Popish religion are either no Kings or but halfe Kings BVt were not Kings in danger to lose their crownes and Kingdomes liuing vnder the Pope yet haue they no reason to take vpon themselues as free Kings and Princes or to beleeue that they can enioy all the right that belongeth to lawfull Kings and Princes For first no King can freely dispose of matters belonging to his gouernement that acknoledgeth any man to be his superior as for example Herode and other Kings that ruled vnder the Romans who could proceed no further then pleased the Emperors and people of Rome if then the King of Spaine or France or other nations do acknowledge the Pope to be his iudge and superior he may not refuse his iudgement or resist his authority Secondly we find that Kings before Christs comming in the flesh gaue lawes both to the chiefe priests and to all their people and not the chiefe priest either to the Kings of Israel and Iudah or to the people as may appeare by the lawes of Moyses Iosue Dauid Salomon Hezekia Iosiah we do also read that Constantine other Christian Kings vntill the times of Charles the great and long after gaue lawes to the Bishops of Rome and other clergy-men as may be euidently proued by the lawes yet extant Cod. de sum trinit sid cath de episc Cleric de episcop audient de haereticis and in diuers other titles and books but where any bishop of Rome all this time made any law to bind either kings or their subiects we find not vnlesse we list to admit counterfet decretales for currant lawes which no man of any vndestanding will doe nor any modest Papist can require wherefore taking vpon them authority to make lawes to binde both Kings and their subiects the Popes plainly declare that Kings lining vnder the confusion of Antichrists tyranny are no kings Thirdly Bellarmme lib. 1. de pontif Rom. c. 7. determineth that temperall Princes are no gouernors of the Church and generally both the Pope and his complices teach that kings haue no power either to make ecclesiasticall lawes or to reforme abuses of doctrine or to settle matters ecclesiasticall finally the Papists of England in their glosing petitions to his Maiesty wherein they pray his fauour yet will allow him no authority saue only in temporall and ciuill causes doth it not then manifestly appeare that Papists take from kings halfe their authority and giue the same to forreiners and publike enemies Fourthly in temporall matters which they are content to leaue to the disposition of Kings they restraine them in such sort that they wil not haue them either to rest in peace when the Pope commandeth them to make warres or to make warres further then the Pope permitteth Bomface the eight in c. vam sanctam extr de maiorit obed sheweth how princes are to vse their swords ad nutum patientiam sacerdotis that is at the Popes beck as long as he listeth to suffer it Fiftly the Pope shareth halfe the kings reuenues claiming tenths first fruits subsidies and other rights out of ecclesiasticall liuings he doth also claime the disposition of diuers ecclesiastical liuings in diuers cases and right to confirme bishops and getteth great summes of money for pardons licences and other rescripts and faculties Sixtly if a king need a dispensation against an ecclesiasticall law or an absolution from an offence he is sent to Rome to obteine it if be can and oftentimes such faculties and absolutions cost full deare King Henry the 8. spent great summes of money to be diuorced from his brothers wife and yet failed of his purpose Fredericke the 2. could not be absolued from his excommunication by Gregory the 9. but it cost him 125. M. ounces of gold as Nauclere and Iuan de Pineda a Spaniard doe signifie Iohn the king of England to obteine absolution was forced to resigne his crowne Seuenthly Alex. inder the fourth in the chapter quia nonnulli de immunit eccles in 6. exempteth the possessions and goods of clergie men from tolle and custome Finally Bomface the 8. in the chapter clericis de immunitat eccles m 6. doth excommunicate both kings and others that impose taxes and subsidies vpon the clergy and this is the common doctrine of the Popes agents Bellarmine de exemptione clericorum c. 1. setteth downe these propositions that clerkes in ecclesiasticall causes are free from the command of secular Princes by the law of God and againe that clerkes are not to be iudged of secular iudges albeit they transgresse temporall lawes and lastly that Princes in respect of clerkes are not soueraigne Princes Emanuel Sa in his Aphorismes for confessaries first printed and alledged by him that wrote the Franke discourse hath these wordes clerici rebellio in regem non est crimen laesaemaiestatis quia non est subditus regi the rebellion of a clerke against the king is no treason because he is not the kings subiect nay of late both the masse-priests and their firie followers haue thought it meritorious to rebell against the king And consonant to this doctrine is the practise of papists for in matters of contention betwixt the Pope and their kings they take part with the Pope and rebell against their kings as the rebellions of the Germaines and French in time past of the English and Irish against king Henry the 8. and Queene Elizabeth of the leaguers of France against king Henry the 3. and 4. doe manifestly declare When the Pope doth giue law to Princes they take themselues bound to execute it and vpon euery excommunication rise in armes against them and seeke to depose them In ecclesiasticall causes they runne for direction to the Pope and care not a straw for the ecclesiasticall lawes of their kings When the Pope commandeth a Prince to execute his bulles they are ready to follow the warres if he command them to surcease they forsake their kings in the midst of his conquests If the Pope leuy tenthes or subsidies vpon the clergy or Monkes or Friers they willingly beare all burthens and to him they runne for dispensations and all faculties Kings also seeke to the Pope in their owne cases for dispensations and absolutions where the Popes law saith they are necessarie Finally both the possessions and persons of clergy men are the Popes to dispose as may appeare for that he layeth what charge he listeth on their possessions and sometimes alienateth them to mainteine his warres and findeth their persons prest to doe him seruice If then kings beare themselues as inferiors to the Pope and receiue lawes at his hands and are excluded from all disposition and rule in ecclesiasticall causes and
Gods worship and persecuted their enemies like most cruell tyrantes that afterward they might with more security satisfie their lusts when there was none to controll them Ioannes Marius de schism part 3. c. 5. testifieth that all the euils of christendome haue proceeded from the malice ambition and auarice of wicked Popes a malitia ambitione auaritia sceleratorum paparum omnia mala in mundo proueniunt Robert Grosted as Matthew Paris testifieth in Henrico 3. did bitterly inueigh against the couetousnesse vsury simony rapines excesse and luxuriousnesse of the court of Rome neither doth Budaeus de Asse or Valla contra Donationem Constantini say lesse against the Popes then he Next to the Popes the Cardinals Masse-priests Monks and Friers and of late yeares the Dominicans Franciscans and Iebusites are the chiefe aduancers teachers and defenders of Romish heresies of which if we say litle men may suppose there is no more to be said if we say what they deserue and is in authenticall bookes reported of them it would exceede the proportion of this short Suruey onlie thus much we say of many things that may be said Brigit in her reuelations testifieth that Cardinals are excessiue in pride couetousnesse al delights of the flesh 4. Brig 49. cardinales extenti effusi sunt ad omnem superbiam cupiditatem delectamentum carnis Pelaguis lib. 2. de planct eccles art 16. saith they are encreased in riches but much diminished in pietie aucta est possessio diminuta religio The same man lib. 2. de planct leccles art 20. saith the prelates of the church haue declared their sinnes like Sodome Peccatum suum sicut Sodoma praedicauerunt Mantuan Alphonsi lib. 6. saith that the priests hate their flocks and care not to feed them but to poll them and mocke them Pastores saith he odere pecus nec pascere curant Sed tondere greges pecorique illudere tonso Catherine of Siena c. 125. saith that religious men pretend angels liues but for the most part are woorse then diuels Religiosi collocati sunt in religione velut angeli sed quam plurimi sunt daemonibus deteriores What the Iebusites are I report me to the French carechisme of Iesuites set out by a Papist and a learned man and to the discourses of the secular priests against them they shew they are couetous false proud cruell malicious and diuels incarnate for the rest I referre them ouer to the 2. booke 2. chap. of my answer to Rob. Parsons his Warn-word a man in whom most of the capitall vices of the Iebusites may be specified The chiefe mainteiners of Popery in our times if we speake of lay men were Charles the 9. of France Henry the 3. his brother Philip the 2. of Spaine the duke of Alua the duke of Guise and his brethren the earle of Westmerland the head of the rebellion in the North. but if we seeke all histories we shall hardly finde woorse men Charles the 9. was a notorious sweater a perfidious and licentious prince Henry the 3. was superstitious and altogether giuen to carnall delights What Philip the 2. was his wiues and sonne and the innocents done to death by him for religion will speake one day the Duke of Guise and Alita were cruell and bloodie men perfidious and wicked atheists the first more giuen to pleasure the second to auarice Charles of westmerland was a rebell to his prince and a man consumed with his own delights and pleasures Is it not then a matter ridiculous that Masse-priests should so excessiuely commend this religion that had such founders and fauorers as these are and which as we see was inuented and confirmed by wicked men and vpholden by fraude and force CHAP. XLVII That Popery in many points is more absurd and abominable then the doctrine of Mahomet THe impieties and abominations of Turkish religion are so many that hardly can we recount them and so odious and horrible that no Christian can take pleasure to heare them and yet if we please to looke into the secret mysteries of Popery and to examine all the odious and abominable doctrines of the Romish synagogue we may well make question whether of the two religions deserueth more to be abhorred and hated for first the Turkes do speake well of the law and the Prophets and handle books of scriptures with great reuerence Antonie Geoffrey in his 2. booke of Turkish ceremonies reporteth how the Turkes accompt the gospels among holy scriptures inter sacras literas habent nostra euangelia saith he but the Papists speake euill of scriptures and call them sometimes a dead and killing letter sometimes a matter of strife sometime a nose of waxe they doe also handle them very rudely and without respect Lastly they will not haue them to be authenticall in respect of vs without the Popes consignation and testimony The Turkes neuer burned their Alchoran or the writings of the Prophets and Apostles vpon pretence of false translations but the Papists haue often times burned holy scripturs as appeareth by the ecclesiasticall histories of France England Germany and other places Postell in his history of Turkes sheweth how they teach that perfection is conteined in the gospell and Gifford lib. Caluinoturcis 3. c. 9. confesseth that they beleeue all religion to be therein conteined but Papists doe rather hope to finde perfection in the rules of Monkes and Friers then in the gospell and therefore accompt rather the state of Monks to be a state of perfection then the liues of Christians after the rule of the Gospell the Masse-priests of Trent doe make traditions equall to scriptures and commonly they deny scriptures to be a perfect rule of life and doctrine The doctors of Turkish religion were neuer so simple as to thinke the traditions of their church to be equall to the Alchoran of Mahomet But the Masse-priests of Trent will haue traditions not written and holy scriptures to bee receiued with equall affection Such as blaspheme Christ are punished by the Turkes most seuerely but Papists teare him in pieces with their blasphemies and such are thought to be most cleare of heresie which sweare most wickedly and blasphemously Auerroes of all religions accompteth Popery to bee most absurd for that Papists worship a peece of a Masse-cake for their God and yet presently deuoure him and swallow him downe into their bellies No Turkes euer allowed the eating of mans flesh or beleeued that it were possible for a man to swallow downe a whole and perfect man without hurt or diminution or brusing of his body but Papists make their followers eaters of mans flesh and say that euery one eating the sacrament doth eate vp Christs body whole and entire and yet beleeue that they neither breake his flesh nor digest it Euery Mahometan albeit he beleeueth not Christ to be God yet would be ashamed to say that doggs and hogges and other brute beasts may eate Christs body but the Papists albeit according to the Christian faith they