Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	faith_n	true_a	truth_n	4,594	5	5.5207	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69677	Brutum fulmen, or, The bull of Pope Pius V concerning the damnation, excommunication, and deposition of Q. Elizabeth as also the absolution of her subjects from their oath of allegiance, with a peremptory injunction, upon pain of an anathema, never to obey any of her laws or commands : with some observations and animadversions upon it / by Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln ; whereunto is annexed the bull of Pope Paul the Third, containing the damnation, excommunication, &c. of King Henry the Eighth.	Barlow, Thomas, 1607-1691.; Catholic Church. Pope (1566-1572 : Pius V). Regnans in excelsis. English & Latin.; Catholic Church. Pope (1534-1549 : Paul III). Ejus qui immobilis permanens. English & Latin.	1681 (1681)	Wing B826; ESTC R12681	274,115	334

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

prove it 4. Pope Hildebrand or Gregory VII deposeth the Emperor Henry IV. by the Authority given by God as he says of binding and loosing both in Heaven and Earth And then he absolves his Subjects from their Oath of Fidelity and then prohibits them to obey him This Bull is dated at Rome Anno Domini 1075. and five years after he ●xcommunicates and Deposes him again 1080. And implores the Assistance of Peter and Paul in this his Excommunication and Deposition of the Emperor that the World may know that as they have power to bind and loose in Heaven so they have power on Earth to give and take away Empires Kingdoms Principalities Dukedoms Earldoms and according as they shall deserve and he is Judge of that the possessions of all men This power he says Peter had and so he and the Bishops of Rome have it too and that from God as Vicars of Christ and Peter ' s Successors And so by this most Erroneous and Impious Doctrine the Popes have a Power which neither Peter nor any nor all the Apostles ever had to dispose of all mens Temporal Estates in the World whether they be Supream or Subjects 5. After this Pope Gregory IX Excommunicates the Emperor Friderick II. Absolves his Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance lays an Interdict on all his Cities Castles and Villages Excommunicates all that favour him or any way assist or obey him commands the German Bishops upon pain of Excommunication solemnly to publish this Excommunication with all their Impious Solemnities ringing of Bells lighting and then extinguishing Candles c. 6. After this Pope Innocent IV. in the like form Excommunicates and Deposes the said Frederick The Lemma or Title prefix'd to the Bull is thus The Damnation and Excommunication of Frederick II. c. And least this might be thought a rash and inconsiderate Act of the Pope he himself tells us That he did diligently deliberate about it with his Brethren the Cardinals he means and the Sacred Council the General Council of Lions I know that Matthew Paris says that he publish'd that Excommunication in that Council not without the Horror and Amazement of all who heard it But Platina tells us That it was done by the general and concurrent consent of the Council And Innocent himself expresly says That it was done Friderick Excommunicate by the Council it self and therefore the Major part must concur and if it was not so that Pope was not only fallible but actually false And it is a considerable Observation which Matthew Paris has and therefore I shall not omit it when he tells us That some did positively affirm and he believed it that Innocent IV. did above all things earnestly desire to ruin the Emperor Friderick whom he called the great Dragon that he being trampled upon the King of France England and other Christian Kings whom he call'd diminutive Kings and little Serpents affrighted with the sad Fate of Friderick might more easily be kept under and they and their Prelates spoiled of their Goods and by him plundered So that although he and other Popes did pretend as appears by their Bulls that they deposed Kings for the Extirpation of Heresie the Preservation of the Catholick Faith and Christian Religion yet 't is evident to any intelligent and impartial Judge of their Actions that it was their prodigious ambition and covetousness their inordinate and erroneous desire of Dominion of Rule and Riches which made them usurp and exercise a power to depose Kings and Emperors which St. Peter from whom they pretend to have it never had nor pretended to 7. Pope Paul III. Excommunicates Curses Deposes and Damns Henry VIII of England and all who adhere to him favour or obey him absolves his Subjects from all Oaths of Allegiance commands them all under pain of Excommunication not to obey him or any Magistrate or Officer under him nor to acknowledge the King or any of his Judges or Officers to be their Superiors And further with a strange Impiety and Impudence he declares King Henry and his Complices and Favourers and their Children and Descendents to be Infamous incapable to be Witnesses make Wills or be Heirs to any Incapable to do any legal Act and that in any Cause of Debt or any other Cause Civil or Criminal none should be bound to answer them and yet they bound to answer every body And to omit the rest for I shall at the end of these Observations set down the whole Bull he commands the Ecclesiasticks Secular and Regular to quit the Kingdom and not to return till the Persons Excommunicate deprived cursed and damn'd the King and all his Loyal Subjects he means be absolved from their Censures This Bull though fram'd and ready to be publish'd yet the Execution of it was suspended for three years and then actually published in the Year 1538. which was the fifth year of Pope Paul III. as appears by the Date of it in the aforesaid Bullary And when it was published as it was in itself highly Impious so to Hen. VIII and his Loyal Subjects it was ridiculous and all the Effect it had was that it increased their hate and contempt of the Antichristian pride and folly of its Author It appeared what indeed it was Brutum fulmen and that King had too great a courage and understanding to be frighted with an Ignis fatuus Papal Squibs and Wild-fire which could neither warm or burn him 8. Lastly as the Popes preceeding Pius V. so those who followed approved and so far as they were able put in practise that execrable Doctrine of Deposing Kings Pope Gregory XIII did immediately succeed Pius V. and renues and confirms his Bull for deposing Queen Elizabeth and absolving her Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance as is testified not only by Cambden but by the Romish Priests themselves the Seculars who seem'd most moderate and in prosecution of that damnatory Sentence the said Pope Gregory did constitute Fitz-Gerald an Irish Rebel against the Queen General of all the Irish Rebels that so he and they by Fire and Sword might Execute the Sentence of those two Popes deposing that Queen This is expresly testify'd by Fitz-Gerald himself in an Edict publish'd by him after he was General declaring the Justice of that Irish War which he says was undertaken for the Catholick Faith and restoring it in Ireland To Gregory XIII Sixtus Quintus immediately succeeds and confirms the damnatory Sentences of his two Predecessors and as he who well knew tells us Excommunicates and deposes the Queen Absolves her Subjects from their Oaths of Fidelity and published a Croisado as against Turks and Insidels indeed as afterwards evidently appear'd against England and Queen Elizabeth and gave what he Never had ●o give plenary Indulgence to all who should assist in that War Nor is this all Cardinal Allen writ a Traiterous

Brutum Fulmen OR THE BULL OF Pope Pius V. Concerning the Damnation Excommunication and Deposition OF Q. ELIZABETH As also the Absolution of her Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance with a Peremptory Injunction upon Pain of an Anathema never to obey any of Her Laws or Commands With some Observations and Animadversions upon it By THOMAS Lord Bishop of Lincoln Whereunto is Annex'd the Bull of Pope Paul the Third containing the Damnation Excommunication c. of King Henry the Eighth Come out of her my People that ye partake not of her Sins and Plagues Rev. XVIII 4. LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXI The Right Hon. ble Algernon Capell Earl of Essex Viscount Maldon and Baron Capell of Hadham 〈◊〉 THE EIPSTLE TO THE READER Reader WHoever thou art Protestant or Papist Courteous or Censorious having made these Papers publick thou hast a liberty to read and a right to judge and that thou maist do it impartially not out of hate or kindness to me but upon a serious and just Consideration of the Cause I shall neither importune thy Favour nor deprecate when 't is just thy severest Censure For 1. 'T is truth I have impartially desired and not indiligently sought and if by the blessing of God I have found it Magna est veritas praevalebit it will prevail in despite of all Enemies and Opposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nat super non immersabilis undis Truth we know especially Divine Truth which concerns our Souls and their salvation ever had and so long as there are Devils and wicked Men will have in this World many Enemies who will indeavour what they cannot do to suppress it premi potest veritas opprimi non potest They may dipp and for some time keep it under water but they cannot drown it If these Papers contain truth as I hope they do then I am sure that every Intelligent Reader and pious lover of Truth will be its Patron and though in this Epistle I do not sollicit him ready to vindicate it from the Objections of its Adversaries But on the other side if my Reader relate to Rome and be possess'd with strong delusion to believe against Reason and Divine Revelation his Catholick Cause the Papal Monarchy and Infallibility it will be in vain for me in this Epistle to desire what I believe I cannot have his Favour However he shall have my Pity and Prayers That God Almighty would be graciously pleased to open his Eyes and bless him with the Knowledge and Love of the Truth 2. We know 't is true what the great Roman Orator long since said Humanum est errare labi decipi c. The wisest men have their mistakes Bernardus non videt Omnia quandóque bonus dormitat Homerus Since Adam fell the best men have their Infirmities and sometimes erre even when they desire and seek Truth Since the Prophets our blessed Saviour and his Apostles left the world I know no man Infallible nor any save the Pope who against evident Reason and the sense of Christendom pretends to it For my own part I do humbly acknowledge my many and great Infirmities and for these Papers Hominem pagina nostra sapit there may be mistakes and errors in them yet it is my hope and not ungrounded belief that there are none such as may prove pernicious or in the main dangerous Non hic Centauros non Gorgonas Harpyasve invenies No such prodigious and pernicious errors as our Popish Adversaries maintain so far as they are able vindicate such I mean as their stupid Doctrine of Transubstantiation contradictory to Natural Reason Divine Revelation and all our Senses their Idolatrous Adoration of a piece of Bread with Divine Worship due to God only their Sacrilegious robbing the Laity of half the Sacrament in the Eucharist contrary to our blessed Saviour's express Command and the practise of the Christian World even of the Church of Rome her self for above a thousand years as their own great and learned Writers confess c. I say such errors as these I do and have reason to believe the Reader will not find in these Papers Though it be certain and confess'd that every one even the best and most learned Writers are fallible yet so long as they rationally build their Conclusions upon the clear Principles of Nature Scripture or Vniversal Tradition They may be sure enough and so may their Reader too that they are not actually false nor what they so write erroneous However if the Reader find any errors of what nature soever and can make it appear that they are indeed errors I shall not as I said before deprecate his severest Censure but concur with him and Censure them my self as much as he and do hereby promise publickly to retract them and heartily thank him for the discovery For in this Case my Reader and I shall both be Gainers and in a several way Conquerors Vicimus utérque nostrum palmam Tu refers mei Ego Erroris my Reader has overcome me by manifesting my mistakes and I by his help have overcome those errors otherwise in Cyprian's opinion and language Non vincimur cum offeruntur nobis meliora sed instruimur He who by his Adversaries help and concluding Arguments gains the knowledge of Truth is in that good Father's opinion not conquered but instructed But if the Intelligent Reader discover any error in these Papers and can and will really make it appear to be so let him call it what he will Victory or Instruction I shall thankfully submit and both love that truth and him for the discovery of it 3. I know that this Tract of mine as every one of the like nature is already prohibited and damned at Rome for the Rules presix'd to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum contrived by the Authority of the Trent Council declare all Books of Controversies between Catholicks and Hereticks Protestants and Papists in any Vulgar Tongue prohibited and damned neither to be had nor read by any Papist under pain of Excommunication and many other Penalties contained in their Canons Papal Constitutions and their Expurgatory Indices So that although our blessed Saviour by his holy Spirit in the Gospel Command all even the Common people for to those he writes to Examin and try all things to use that understanding and discretion God has given us to distinguish truth from error for that 's evidently the meaning of those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove all things as scher and learned Papists confess and when we have done so then we must hold fast that which is good I say in this Case in the choice of our Religion wherein the Eternal weal or woe of our Souls is concerned though Christian prudence require it and our blessed Saviour by his Apostle Command that we should not believe every Spirit but try before we

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