her own soule the sword of grief did peerce As Holy Simeon prophecyed of her Luk. 2.35 When I come to say the third five tenns I will spend the time in saying each of them by meditating upon and so honouring each of the five glorious Mysteries First the Resurrection of our Saviour Secondly his Ascension to heavenly glory Thirdly his sending the Holy Ghost Fourthly the Assumption of our Lady When as many Holy Fathers have taught that body of hers in which Christ took flesh was soon after its buriall not made meat of wormes but with farre greater reason made partaker of her Sons Resurrection then were those many Saints of whom S. Matth. c. 27.53 sayth theyr graves were opened and they rose And they going forth out of theyr graves after his Resurrection came into the Holy Citty and appeared to many Fiftly and lastly I will to her honour consider her Coronation importing her special state in that heavenly glory in which shee is looked upon and reverenced by all Saints and Angels as theyr Queen she being the Mother of the King of glory The Mother of my Lord. Luke 1.43 9. The intent of the Holy Church recommending this devotion is to teach all that use it especially the more ignorant who cannot use Books how to imploy theyr minds fruitfully in a most commendable Meditation of Mysteries most glorious to Christ and his Mother and most beneficiall to our soules whilst theyr lipps are most devoutly busied in reciting words so pleasing to the Mother of God to which end the Teachers of our Church both by words and by writing still are inculcating this true use of the Beades 10. Now this number of fifteen tenns or of five tenns serving so fitly for the orderly practise of so easy a devotion cannot be more easily observed then by letting one Bead fall at each Ave Mary And the beginning of the next tenne can no way be more easily notifyed then to begin the sayd tenne with a bead of so different a bignes that it may easily be noted even in the dark without any distraction And the same different Bead serves allso to mind us of passing to the consideration of a different Mystery unles perhaps our soule hath other predominant pious thoughts or affections which tending to a very beneficiall Meditation are better continued then interrupted Now though many simple people use not these considerations but attend only to the words they say yet those words be so excellent that this entertaynment proves most vertuous by theyr using the recitall of them to honour Christ and his Blessed Mother 11. Neither is the often repeating of the same prayers or prayer a thing blame worthy For if after the saying of one Ave Mary wee should use a lesse excellent prayer yea or no prayer at all you could not blame us How then grow wee to be blame worthy for using this so excellent prayer Hee who should every houre say our Lords prayer although he should do it three times each houre is not to be blamed but commended How thē is he to be blamed who sayth the Lords prayer three our fourscore times in one houre Next unto our Lords prayer no prayer hath greater authority or excellency then the Ave Mary Why then be wee blamed for using it so often in so short a space whilst as you thinck you remain without blame who use it so seldome our Saviour had the rarest invention that ever man had and if we may make bould to accoūt any of his prayers more excellent then an other his prayer in the garden may seem to have been most excellent And yet even then as rare an invention as he had He prayed the third time using the same words Matth. 26.44 And not inventing any new forme So likewise those four blessed six winged Creatures Apoc. 4.8 Had not rest day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Omnipotent The oftner they said this one prayer over and over the more fervour appeares even in so rare inventive spirits All the Publicans prayer was God be mercifull to mee a sinner Luke 18.13 and v. 38. All the prayer of the blind man was to cry again and again saying Iesus Sonne of David have mercy upon mee And when they rebuked him to hold his peace he cryed much more Sonne of David have mercy upon me And thus he by perseverance in the same prayer obtained his request Who doth not see a speciall power to stirre up a great feeling of Gods mercies in the Psalm one hundred and thirty six which containeth but twenty seaven verses and yet it doth twenty seaven times repeat those words For his mercy endureth for ever THE XL. POINT It is laudable to worship the Images of Saints 1. IT is laudable I say to worship the Saintes Images in that sense in which we Roman Catholiks worship Images The very Saintes themselves we worship not with divine honour as I sayd and largely declared Point 36. n. 3. 4. 5. And therefore it is a most unconscionable slander which our Adversaries lay upon us saying that we give divine honour to Images No we give no such honour to the Saints themselves much lesse do we give it to theyr Images without you think we worship the Images more then the person represented by the Images All that we Roman Catholiks hold as a Point of faith may be read by all men in the Councel of Trent sess 25. where this Councel teacheth due honour and veneration to be given to the Images of Christ and his Saints not that there is believed to be in them any Divinity or Vertue for which they are to be worshiped or that any thing is to be asked of them or that any confidence is to be placed in the Images as anciently was done by the Gentils who did put theyr hope in theyr Idols Psal 115.8 But because the honour which is given to the Images is referred to the persons represented by the Images so that by or through the Images which we kisse and before which we uncover our head or ly prostrate we adore Christ and reverence the Saints whom these Images represent Behold the belief of our Church teaching that all the reverence done before Images I pray note well this manner of speach All the honour I say that is shewed before the picture resteth not in the Image but passeth through it and resteth in the person represented to me by this picture He that abuses King Charles his picture or statue neither intendeth to shew nor sheweth any anger or disrespect to Paper or to stock or stone All the abuse by all mens Iudgment is given to King Charles represented by his picture in paper or engraven in wood or stone A further and an evident proof of all this is that your selves on the one side believe the Sacrament to be only a signe or figure of Christs body and yet on the other side you count it no Idolatrie to kneel before this Sacrament at the
THE CATHOLIKE SCRIPTVRIST OR THE PLEA OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIKES SHEWING The Scriptures to hold forth the Roman Faith in above forty of the cheife Controversies now under debate Now I beseech you Bretheren marke them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them Rom. 16.17 By I. M. Printed in Gant by Maximilian Graet M.DC.LXII THE PREFACE 1. NOw I beseech you Bretheren mark those which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them Rom. 16.17 These words were the words of God and of truth as well in the yeare 1517. as at this present yeare Had any good Christian spoaken these words in that foresaid yeare 1517. all who had heard thē could have made no other sense of thē but that they were forewarned by them both to marke and to avoid all Authors of divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which they had learned yet as then there was not any good Christian unles you will account them for such whome you yourselves acknowledg to have maintained grosse Heresies who did not beleeve and professe the Roman Faith This was the Faith and Doctrine which they had learned Wherefore when in that yeare Luther first appeared causing divisions and offenses contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned all were bound by the advise of the Apostle to mark and avoid the sayd Luther and all his adherents and followers 2. But the world then no lesse addicted to old vices then to new doctrines did shutt they reares to this advise of the Apostle and did opē theyr armes to imbrace that which was in so very many Points contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned And the misery is that all those new Teachers which ensued in whole swarmes though they all taught contrary to what they had learned yea and the one contrary to the other yet all pretended to teach nothing but Scripture rightly understood which they all affirmed not to have been rightly understood for the foregoeing thousand yeares in such points as then they began to question yet with the same breath they sayd that in all those severall Points in which they contradicted the former doctrine and by doing so caused so great divisions and offenses they did affirme only that to which they were enforced by evident manifest and most cleer Texts of Scripture Which was to say that for the precedent thousand yeares no body had rightly understood or at least every body had by word and practise contradicted evident manifest and most cleere Texts of Scripture 3. The good Christians of those ages and we who adhere unto thē being in the quiet and peaceable possession of what we had learned were bound according to the advice of the Apostle to avoid those new teachers and it was sufficient for us to shew they taught contrary to what we had learned which they themselves confessed to be true and was too evident to require proofe But because we stood constantly to maintain what we had learned upon this ground as the Apostle did bid us our Adversaries desirous to bring us from beleeving to disputing would be still importunely pressing us to prove Point by Point every Point which we held by evidēt manifest and most cleere Scripture We vvell understood that it was theyr parts who affirmed all former ages for some thousand yeares at least to have thus grosly erred against cleere Scripture to make good so great and so scandalous an accusation by producing Texts in the Points under question of so manifest undeniable evidence against us that theyr Texts compared to ours alleadged in defence of the same Points should make the Truth so cleer on theyr side that all might be forced to confesse they had reason to revolt as they did from all theyr Ecclesiasticall and Civill Magistrates and to frame allso a new body by themselves wholy and entirely both in doctrine and discipline quite different yea and contrary to all Congregatiōs as then upō the face of the earth 4. The exorbitancy of this theyr proceeding will be unjustifyable when I shall here produce so many and so loud-speaking texts for above forty of those Points which they most misliked in our Religion yea it was our holding those Points for which they sayd they were enforced to this so unfortunate a Division But how weakly they were enforced upon this account to cause such divisions and offenses will easily be seen by any impartiall eye which shall attentively peruse on the one side al the texts which I shall here alleadg for forty five of those Points for which chiefly they have caused this division and on the other the few and inconsiderable and a thousand-times-answered Texts which they bring to the contrary 5. This then is the Plea of us Roman Catholicks that we ever since our Ancestors in England were Christians have held the doctrine which we have learned still avoiding those who taught the contrary For that we have done this in no fewer then fifty Points in which we are most accused of Novelty hath been demonstrated in a late booke entitled Englands old Religion out of Bedes owne words And though Bede had not been as he was the most grave and famed Authour which ever England had but had been only a lack straw living and writing before the yeare 731. that is above 900. yeares agoe yet to see in his words then writtē those fifty Points all held and all practised in our England when Englands Religion was at the purest cannot but abundantly convince that we Roman Catholiks did thē hold and practice what we hold and practise now What is this but to hold the doctrine we have learned avoiding those who teach the contrary 6. Yet this is not our whole Plea for wee know it will be objected that what we then learnt was contrary to Scripture and they must meane cleer and manifest Scripture or else why did they go against the doctrine and practise which they found agreeing so exactly with the doctrine and practice of old England as is unanswerably demonstrated in that book But we further more plead that in those very Points in which contradiction yea and manifest contradiction to Scripture is objected against us we have Scripture speaking so fully for us that no one of those many Religions now tolerated in England can with any colour of probability challenge greater evidence of Scripture for theyr opposit Tenets then we here produce for our undoubtedly ancient doctrine and therefore this our doctrine evē in this respect ought in all reason to be at least as much tolerated as any of those Religions lately sprōg up in England The proof of what I say must rely upon what shall appeare to be made good by me in each point of those forty five here ensuing 7. It only remaines that I advertise the reader how impossible it is that I or any one else should cite all Texts just in those very words in
which he will find them in his English Bible for you have so many severall traÌ„slations of the English Bible that whilst I oblige my selfe to follow one I shall make sure not to follow the other I conceived the best expedieÌ„t to avoid this difficulty would be to follow alwayes either the very words or the full seÌ„se of that English Bible which is most universally received And in this point I have been so very scrupulous that I continually admonish my Reader if at any one time I chance to put downe any single text differing in sense from the English Bible vvich I have made choice of as the best edition of theyr most received Bible which is that which was set forth at Cambridg 1635. printed by Thomas and Iohn Buck Printers to that Vniversity which Bible King Iames did cause to be set forth out of his deep Iudgment apprehending how convenient it was that out of the Originall sacred tongues there should be a more exact TranslatioÌ„ as is sayd in the Preface of this TranslatioÌ„ dedicated to his Majesty A note to the Catholike Reader LEt the Catholik Reader observe that when we cite the two books of Samuel the texts cited will be fouÌ„d in our two first Books of Kings And when we cite here theyr two Books of Kings the Texts will be found in our Bibles in the two last Books of Kings For our Third is theyr first our fourth theyr second So also with them the Books of Paraâ—ip be called Chronicles the secoÌ„d of Esdras they call Nehemiah In numbring allso the Psalmes they do from the 10 Psalme differ from us counting still one more then we untill they come to Ps 147. which from the 11. verse includes our Psalm 147. And thence we goe forward with the same account A Table of the Pointes contained in this Treatise POINT I. That the Scripture alone cannot be a Rule sufficient to direct us in all necessary Controversies Page 1. POINT II. Tradition besides Scripture must direct us in in many necessary Controversies Page 12. POINT III. Of the never failing of the Church which beeing perpetuall can preserve perpetuall Traditions allso of succession of true Pastors and Professors P. 21. POINT IV. Of the universality and vast extent of this perpetuall Church which allso must be the converter of Gentils this no Church differing from the Roman ever was Page 33. POINT V. Of the infallibilitie of the Church and consequently of her fittnes to be judge of Controversies P. 44. POINT VI. That the Roman Church is this infallible Church aÌ„d our Iudge in all points of CoÌ„troversie P. 64. POINT VII That the Chief Pastor of this Church is the successor of S. Peter Page 66. POINT VIII That this our Chiefe Pastour or Pope is not Anti-christ Page 74. POINT IX Of the Sacraments of the Church and of the Ceremonies which the Church useth in administrating these Sacraments as allso in other occasions Page 79. POINT X. Of Baptisme which is the first Sacrament P. 86. POINT XI Of Confirmation Pag. 87. POINT XII Of the Holy Eucharist Page 89. POINT XIII Of Communion under one kind Page 106. POINT XIV Of the Masse and of the Holy Eucharist as it is a Sacrifice Page 109. POINT XV. Of saying Masses and other publike prayers in the Latin tongue Page 119. POINT XVI Of the Sacrament of Pennance or Confession Page 131. POINT XVII Of the Sacrament of Extreame Vnction Page 134. POINT XVIII Of the Sacrament of Holy Order P. 138. POINT XIX Of the Sacrament of Matrimony Page 139. POINT XX. Of the single life of Priests Page 141. POINT XXI Of the single life of such as have vowed Chastity Page 149. POINT XXII Of works of Counsel and supererogation Page 155. POINT XXIII Of voluntary Austerity of life Page 159. POINT XXIV Of satisfactory good workes Page 165. POINT XXV Of Purgatory aÌ„d prayer for the dead P. 173. POINT XXVI Of Indulgences Page 189. POINT XXVII That faith alone doth not Iustifie P. 196. POINT XXVIII Whether Justification be any thing inherent in us Page 200. POINT XXIX Whether our Justification may not be lost Page 205. POINT XXX To Justification it is necessary to keep the Commandments Page 209. POINT XXXI How still wee have free will to do good or evill Page 213. POINT XXXII How this free will is still helped with sufficient grace Page 216. POINT XXXIII This sufficient grace is denyed to none Christ dying even for Reprobates Page 220. POINT XXXIV How our good works done in grace and by the helpe of Christs grace be meritorious and merit life everlasting Page 224. POINT XXXV It is laudable to do good works for reward Page 233. POINT XXXVI Wee laudably worship Angels and Saints Page 235. POINT XXXVII The Angels and Saints can hear our Prayers Page 245. POINT XXXVIII That Saints can and will helpe us and therefore it is laudable to pray to them Page 252. POINT XXXIX That among the Saints it is most laudable to pray to our Lady and of the beads sayd to her honour Page 264. POINT XL. It is laudable to worship the Images of Saints Page 275. POINT XLI It is iaudable to worship the Reliques of Saints Page 289. POINT XLII Some places are more Holy then others wee therefore laudably make Pilgrimages and Processions to such Holy places Page 296. POINT XLIII That wee laudably keepe Feasts in the honour of Saints Page 306. POINT XLIV That we laudably observe Fasts Saints eves and other dayes Page 312. POINT XLV That we laudably in our fasts obstaine from certaine meates Page 317. TO THE PROTESTANT READER I Humbly begg of thee to peruse this Table of the Points here treated and to turn first to that very Point in which thou thinkest wee are less able to give thee satisfaction And according as thou findest what I shall say even in that Point to be more or less satisfactory so judge of the rest But first correct these faults escaped with thy penne and pardon the Printer who was an externe THE FIRST POINT That Scripture alone can not be a Rule sufficient to direct us in all necessary Controversies 1. NO Roman Catholike doth deny the Scripture to be a sufficient Rule to direct us in all controversies if wee take the Scripture rightly interpreted And therefore all those many textes which Protestantes bring to prove the Scripture to be our sole Rule of fayth are very clearely answered by saying that all those Textes speake of the Scripture not taken as the letter sounds for the letter kills 2. Cor. 3.6 but they speake of the Scripture as rightly interpreted And Protestantes cannot but graunt the Scripture rightly interpreted to be a sufficient Rule of fayth But what are wee the nearer For now comes the great Question of Questions who be those that give the right Interpretation to Scripture 2. The very ground of all Religions but the Roman is the Scripture as Interpreted by theyr own selves after they have carefully conferred
1. Kinges 18.22 I even I only remaine a Prophet of our Lord. And in the next Chap. v. 10. I even I only am left which again he repeates v. 14. I answer that at lest he is told presently by God v. 18. That there were left in Israël seven thousand men whose knees had not bin bowed before Baal And in the former Chapter it is manifest he knew of an hundred Prophets For v. 13. Abdias told him I hidd of the Prophets of our Lord an hundred men by fifty and fifâ—y in caves Wherefore he knew well that there were many faithfull amongst whom so many Prophets were known to him yea hence it is cleare that he was not the only Prophet left Wherefore those words I only I remaine a Prophet of our Lord are to be understood thus I only I remaine a Prophet standing openly to oppose theyr fury amongst the Apostated Tribes of Israël For Elias knew full well that not all the Children of Israël but only tenne Tribes were faln from God 1. Kinges 12. He knew allso that the still faithfull Tribe of Iuda including Benjamin afforded Roboam an hundred and four seore thousand chosen men to fight against the other revolted tenne Tribes v. 21. which is again repeated 2. Chron. 11. with a notable declaration how much the true Church even then florished in Iuda and Benjamin Roboam himselfe building fifteene cities inclosed with walls And v. 13. the Preestes and Levits that were in all Israël resorted to him out of all theyr coasts And v. 16. Of all the Tribes of Israël whosoever had given theyr heartes to seeke theyr Lord God of Israêl came into Ierusalem to sacrifice and they strengthned the Kingdome of Iuda All this Elias knew very well and also that which follows to witt that Asa reigned over all Iuda in all pietie and peace 2. Chron. 14. And he built other fenced cities in Iuda And v. 8. Asa had of Iuda an army of three hundred thousand and of Benjamin two hundred eighty thousand And he defeated tenn hundred thousand Ethiopians And 2. Chr. 17. Iosaphat who lived in the day 's of Elias was yet greater then Asa his Father both in piety and power For v. 10. The Dread of our Lord came about all the Kingdomes of the Lands that were about Iuda Neither durst they make battell against Iosaphat And he built many strong cities and stupendious was the number of his forces v. 14. of Iudath under Abnath Three hundred thousand and two hundred eighty thousand under Iohanan And two hundred thousand under Amasias And two hundred thousand under Ehada And two hundred eighty thousand under Iosobad All these make Eleven hundred thousand and sixty thousand soldiers And yet the Scripture sayth All these were at the hand of the King besides others whome he had putt in Walled cities in Iuda Behold the Iewish Church even at her lowest ebbe Christ's Church is the Mistris and of higher dignity Wherefore at all times after her beginning you must find me at lest as many visible Professors of her doctrine as the Iewish Church had in her meanest coÌ„ditioÌ„ For the new testameÌ„t is established in far better promisses Heb. 8.6 As also appeares by the texts which here shall be cited All which texts coÌ„vince such a perpetuall coÌ„spicuous and visibly florishing state at all times that no church differing from the RomaÌ„ caÌ„ be shewed to have had any thing like it 3. The other only considerable objection is that perhapes these promises made by God to his Church concerning his allwaise protecting her were made upon this condition that he would do this if she should persever to keep his commandments for so all his promises to David and Salomon are made I answer that it is evideÌ„t that some promises which feeme made to them and their posterity are not to be litterally understood of their posterity according to flesh but as they by grace be sonnes of Christ who was the sonne of David And diverse of these promises are made so absolutly that absolutely they admit of no such condition Take for proof hereof that convincing Text Ps 89.4 I have made a covenant with my chosen I have sworne to David my servant thy seed will I establish for ever and I will build up thy throne to all generations All which is only verified in Christ Who in his Church hath giveÌ„ hâ—m the seate of David his father and he shall reigne in the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end As the Angel sayd Luke 1.32 After this promise of everlasting perpetuity to his Church lest any ony should thinke his promises might be made void by any sins of hers or to be made only upon condition of theyr walking in his commandments he addeth in the same Ps v. 29. And I will putt him the first begotteÌ„ high aboue the kings of the earth I will keepe my mercy unto him for ever and my Testament faithfull unto him I will putt his seede for ever and ever and his throne as the days of heaven But if his Children shall forsake my law this can not be possibly in your doctrine spoken of the Elect and will not walke in my Iudgments If they will prophane my Iustices and not keep my commandments I wil visit theyr iniquities with a Rod and theyr sinnes with stripes But my loving kindness I will not take a way from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My covenant will I not break nor the thing which is gone out of my Lips Once I have sworn in my holy if I ly to David his seed shall continue for ever And his throne as the Sun in my sight and as the Moon perfect for ever This Text speakes home to prove what I inteÌ„d to witt that these promises be made upon Christ The son of David the son of Abraham Matth 1.1 and as S. Paul teacheth that only those who believe in Christ be the rue children of Israël and Abraham so they only be the true children of David and concerning them is verified the promise which as is here sayed for no fins of theirs shall ever be frustrated Not as though the word of God had takeÌ„ no effect but they that are the Children of the Promisse are counted for the seed Rom. 9.6 4. And in this sense the Sacred Text speakes 2. Sam. 7.16 And thine house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever According to all these wordes did Nathan speake to David So Psalm 72.5 They shall feare thee as long as the Sun and Moone endure through out all generations He shall have dominion allso from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth In whom can these Texts of Scripture be verified but in Christ ever raigning in his Church diffufed even in a florishing condition over the face of the earth According to what is sayd Luke 1.32 The Lord God shall give
that knows God heareth us 9. Tenthly In declaring the true meaning of the true Scriptures the practise and doctrine of the Church is necessary to be followed as a certaine Guide For example When Christ sayd Doe this in remembrance of me He did impose sayth the Church a true commaund to doe so Yet though Christ no lesse cleerly sayd Iohn 13.14 That we ought to wash one anothers feete for I have given you an example that as I have done So you allso should doe He did not impose sayth the Church any commaund obliging vs to wash one anothers feete For though he sayd we ought to wash one an others feete yet by the practise and doctrine of the Church it is assuredly declard to vs that these words of Christ containe no precept though the former do 10. Eleventhly The same Apostle in his first Epistle Chap. 2.19 after that concerning Heretikes he had sayd They went out from us He turnes his speach to those who still remained in the Church subject and obedient to it and of them he sayth But you have the unction from the Holy one and know all things To witt the spirit of truth residing in the Church to teach her all truth maketh you who are guided by the Church to know all things necessary for your information and instruction 11. Twelfly It is grounded in this infallibility of the Church that her Prelates may exact obedience of her Children in captivating theyr understanding to the faith which she by commission from Christ delivereth unto them 2. Cor. 10.4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God casting downe Imaginations or Reasonings and every thing that exalts it selfe against the knowledg and bringing into captivity All understanding unto the obedience of Christ and haveing in a readines to revenge all disobedience So S. Paul But it is most irrationall to say God should impower his Church to force men to follow a Church which being fallible must needs confesse that she may deceive you and enforce you to follow errors Yet this in a Church haveing the infallible assistance of the Holy Ghost is most rationall For there you are to your apparent good enforced to follow truth in place of such error as might be most hurtfull to you Thirteenthly The same S. Paul tells vs that God out of an expresse intention which he had to keepe vs from all wavering and vnsetlement in faith resolved so to assist the Governours of his Church that we might securely relye upon them For Ephes 4 11. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and other some Evangelists and other some Pastours and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the Body of Christ untill we all come into the unity of faith To what end all this to the end that we hence forth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftines from which his Providence had not thus secured vs vnles these our Teachers had beē infallible whē defining in a lawfull councill or proposing what is universally taught by them 12. The second sort of Texts proving the infallibility of the Church conteines such glorius Titles given her or such admirable things spoke by Gods own mouth of her as must needs be vain empty and truthles words if the Church ever prove to be a Mistris of errors obtruding them to her Children for divine verities First Psal 132.13 Our Lord hath chosen Sion he hath chosen it for an habitation unto himselfe This is my rest for ever and ever Here will I dwell because I have chosen it Now Christs dwelling place as S. Paul tells vs is his visible Church 1. Tim. 3.15 That thou mayest know how to converse in the house of God The Church of the liveing God He could not be taught how to converse in an invisible Church he speakes then of the Church visible Farr be it from this house to be a store house of errors For how then could it be Christs desirable Habitation and his rest for ever and ever 13. Again Isa 54.4 Feare not for thou shalt not be ashamed neyther be thou confounded for thou shalt not be put to shame What greater shame or confusion to a Church which should be the Pillar and ground of truth to see herselfe growne now to professe open superstition Idolatry and other pernicious errors in whole swarmes How then is that true which follows 14. Thirdly Isai 60.15 I will make thee an eternall excellency a ioy of many generations Fourthly v 18. Thou shalt call thy walls saluation our Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light Thy Sunne shall goe downe no more and thy Moone shall be no more diminished because our Lord shall be thine everlasting light Words manifestly spoken not of the Elect but of the visible Church on earth even from the beginning of the Chapter for v 10. he tells how Kings should minister to her and how he had struck her when she was the Synagogue in his indignation Which words cannot be understood of the elect or the invisible Church and so he goes still on speaking 15. Fiftly In the like sense Chap. 62. v. 3. Thou shalt be a crowne of glory thou shalt be no more called forsaken as thou wert when thou wert the Synagogue but thou shalt be called my delight in her And sixtly to secure her from all error contrary to his will he adds v. 6. Vpō thy walls Hierusalem I have appointed watchmen And how careles soever thy be by theyr owne nature yet by my continuall assistance all the day and all the night for ever they shall not hold theyr peace To witt by crying downe errours For they had better have held theyr peace that preached publickly errours every where And v. 12. Thou shalt be called a Citie sought for and not forsaken And yet Protestants say they did laudably forsake every visible Church vpon earth by adhering to Luther and his followers who did separate themselves from all Churches visible in the whole world openly professing that as then there was no one Church on earth worth seeking for and so they did not joyne themselves in Communion with any Church then vpon earth but pretended to returne to the Primitive Church as it was above a thousand yeares before which is to say that for this whole last thousand yeares the Church was a Citie forsaken and that for so long her Communion was not to be sought for 16. Seventhly There is a very convincing text to prove the Church to be by divine Providence assuredly provided of faithfull Pastours and Governors Ierem. 33. v. 25 If I have not put my Covenant to night and day and laws to the heaven and earth then will I cast away the seed of Iacob and David my servant that I doe not take from his seed Princes to be Rulers over the seed of Abraham Isaac
his flesh to be eaten in a meere signe or figure of it had S. Peter thought this I dare say he would have pulled the other disciples backsaying our master only speaks of giving a signe of his body Had this been so then allso vndoubtedly the other Evangelists when they had come to write of this mystery which had scandalized so many before theyr writing would not have encreased the scandal by writing so vnanimously of this Sacrament in words sounding so loud a litterall sense as these do This is my body this is my blood But they would rather have lessned the difficulty by declaring it only to be a figure which they might have done in a word S. Paul was so farre from declaring it to be so that 1. Cor. 11. v. 27. he flatly saith Therefore whosoever shall eate this bread and drink the Chalice of our Lord unworthily he shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. Which could not be vnlesse he received the Body and Blood truly and not in a figure only To eate a Paper picture of Christ makes no such heinous guilt though it be done by a sinner and it be allso a figure of his body 4. S. Luke allso had been particularly to blame in encreasing the scandal by expressing so clearly a litterall sense Chap. 22. v. 19. This is my body which is givē for you This cup is the new Testamēt in my Blood which Chalice shall be shedd for you I say which Chalice that is that which is cōteyned in the Chalice shall be shed for you Now wine was not shed for vs but his true blood His true blood therefore was the thing cōteined in the Chalice For though by the Latine or English words we can not tell whether Christ sayd his blood should be shed for thē or the Chalice or Cup yet S. Luke writing in Greek makes it evidēt to all who know that language that he sayd the Chalice should be shed for us for he speakes in the nominative case by a word which can not agree with the blood which in Greek is the dative Now thus having proved that Christ literally sayd This is my body I have proved allso that this is not bread For it is his body which is as good a consequence as this this is a stone therefore it is not bread Or this is not bread for it is a stoone 5. Coming now out of Scripture to answer the chiefe okjections I begin with one which doth afford me a new strong argument They object then Idolatry to vs for adoring that which is bread I answer that according to Scripture Idolatrie can not be found in the only visible Church of Christ for Scripture sayth clearly of this Church Ifa 2.18 And Idolls shall be utterly abolisht Again Ezech. 36.25 And I will power upon you cleane water c and from all your Idols will I cleanse you And in the next Chapter v. 23. Neither shall they defile themselves any more in theyr Idols Again Micheas Chap. 5.12 Thou shalt no more adore the works of thy hands Again Zachar. 13. v. 1. In that day shall be a fountaine lying open to the house of David And it shall be in that day sayth the Lord of Hosts I will cast of the names of Idols out of the Land and they shall be remembred no more Hence I argue thus In the whole visible Church there continued and doth still continue adoration of the Sacrament but Idolatry did not continue in the whole Church visible therefore adoratiō of the H. Sacramēt is not Idolatry Moreover if worshipping this H. Sacrament were Idolatry all Christianity for many ages practizing this adoration had committed Idolatry and Christs Church for so many ages had quite failed as is cleare out of the third and fourth point For Christ had no other Church for many ages but that which every where practized this Idolatry as you miscall it Or tel mee if you can what other visible Church Christ had vpon earth different from the Roman in faith and worshipe for the thousand yeares before Luther If this be the only visible Church Christ had vpon earth then I have proved it could not be guilty of Idolatry 6. Against such a torrent of Scripture as we have for vs you ground yourselues not in Scripture but in Philosophy which tried by Scripture will be found to faile you in all your objections First then you object that an accident can not be without a substance Wee answere out of Gen. 1.3 God sayd be light made and light was made Light is a quality or accident Yet hence S. Basil S. Greg. Naz. and Theodoret are of opinion that light was without any subject at all for the Scripture specifyes no subject in which it was put Whence followes that at lest they must needs think it possible that light should be without a subject Secondly you object that the same body of Christ can not be multiplied so often over We answere again out of Gen 2.21 Our Lord God cast a dead sleepe upon Adam and whē he was fast a sleepe he tooke one of his ribbs and filled up flesh for it And our Lord God built the ribbe which he tooke of Adam into a woeman I aske how many times over must this one ribbe be multiplyed before a whole woeman of a comely proper stature could be made up of it After the same manner God can of one ordinary brick make a pillar of many foote high by multiplying that one brick In the like manner our Saviour multiplyed those five Barley loaves with which he fed above five thousand men Io. 6. For if he made new loaves he did not feede them with those five but with those many hundred new loaves which he made and yet the Scripture sayth v. 12.13 After they were filled they gathered the remnants and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves and not of any new loaves created by Christ so that the bread which was eaten remained still to be eaten And it is worth our noting that our Saviour did this miracle immediatly before he did first declare this strange doctrine of giving his flesh to be eaten like bread by every one that so when he should presently declare this strange doctrine they should have no reason to disbelieve the possibility thereof For his disciples seeing that he had done that most prodigious miracle so very lately ought not presently to have sayd This is hard and who can heare it Neither ought they so soone to have walked a part from him as there S. Iohn sayth they did but rather they ought to have sayd with S. Peter We believe and know thou art the Sonne of God able to make they words good as thou wart able so to multiply so few loaves 7. Hence appeares a solution of that which allso they still object one body can not be in two places at once For if whole Eve were made of one ribbe of Adam as the
and Cephas Here in place of a woman your Bibles reade a wyfe making the H. Ghost restreyn the word gynaika to a wyfe though it is knowne that this word is vsually put for a woman whether wyfe or not wyfe Here the Rhemish Testament shewes how Antiquity ever expounded this place of leading about such devout woemen as followed Christ to minister to him Matth. 27.55 I could thus have maintayned my selfe sayth S. Paul or by partaking of your temporall goods to whome I give spirituall goods But to burthen no body I being a tradsman have made it my glory to maintaine my selfe by the labour of my owne hands Yea your owne Bible but two chapters before translated the selfesame Greeke word for such a woeman as could not be a vvyfe 1. Cor. 7.1 It is good for a man not to touch a woeman Translate if you dare It is good for a man not to touch a wife gynaika 10. The second corrupt Text you object is Heb. 13. v. 4. For where we reade word for word out of the Greek Marriage honorable in all you reade Marriage is honorable in all men adding the verbe is and the nowne men yet your best Bibles have not this nowne Men and they print this verbe is in a different letter As allso in the former text they did print the word woeman in the margent This jugling the vulgar perceives not And the Bibles used it to make them take for the true Text that which is but theyr interpretation of it But if a man would presume to add a Verbe which should come as neere as may be to the minde of the Apostle then he should put the verbe in the Imparative moode thus Lett marriage be honorable in all For S. Paul useth this moode in the first verse Lett Brotherly love continue and in the second Be not unmindfull c. And in the third verse Remember them in bonds The fourth verse being that we speake of should be likewise expressed by a Verbe in that moode especially seeing he still goeth on in that moode in the fift verse let your conversation be without Covetousnes The Apostles sence then seems clearly to be Lett Marriage be honorable in all That is lett no man dishonour his marriage bed with either unfaithfullnes to his spouse or with vnnatural or brutish lust and so his next words very fitly are For God will judge fornicatours ad adulterers But your Bible by a double imposture maks a quyte different sence The first is to put the Verbe in the Indicative Moode Marriage is honorable and because this alone helped not much you used a second imposture in the words following which in Greeke are en pasi in Latin In omnibus And in both languages all Schollers see that there is doubt whether this should signify in all men taking the Adjective in the masculine gender or in all things taking it in the neuter gender Our Bibles leave it as they find it in all But your Bible undertaks absolutely to determine the sence of the Holy Ghost and make him say roundly Marriage is honorable among all men Thus your Bible Anno 1577. Yea Inter quosvis sayth Beza 1565. that is Marriage is honorable among any kinde of persons Out of which new Scripture the people easily inferre Marriage is honorable among those who have receaved Holy Orders or have made Vows of Virginity and the text being thus stretcht they might adde Among Brothers and Sisters Father and Daughter But wee shall in the next point n. 5. shew how flatly this Consequence is contrary to S. Paul who plainly denounceth damnation to such as have marryed after they vowed Chastity Your objection is sufficiently answered by having shewed a double corruption in the text alledged as many of you doe alledge it THE XXI POINT Of the single life of such as have vowed perpetuall Chastity 1. HOw commendable works of supererogation are by which we voluntarily do what we are not commanded and observe that which is of Counsel and not of precept we shall see in the next point Yet here we cannot but speake some thing to shew how much the vowing of Chastity is counseled and recommended and shew allso how strictly those who vow Chastity are obliged to keepe theyr vowes which voluntarily they made Numbers 30.3 If any man make a vow to our Lord to bind himselfe by an oath he shall not make his word frustrate but all that he promised he shall fulfill Whence S. Aug. q. 56. in Num. He that voweth abstinence from a thing lawfull maketh it unlawfull to himselfe by his vow Now that you may evidently see that the Scripture speaketh here of vowes made in matters not commanded it followeth If a woeman vow any thing and binde herself with an oath she that is in her fathers house and as yet in Maidens age if her father know the vow she promised and the oath wherewith she bound her soule and held his peace she shall be bound to the vow whatsoever she promised and sware she shall fulfull indeede But if immediately as he heares it her father doth gainsay it both her vows and her oath shall be frustrate neither shall she be bound to the promise The same he sayth of the vows of a wyfe that they shall hold if her husband hold his peace but if he gainesay it he shall make her vow frustrate Who sees not that it could not be either in the power of the father to make his daughters vows voyde or of the husband to frustrate and annul the vows of his wyfe if they had vowed things which they stood obliged to performe by commandments from God For example if shee should vow to fast in the feast of expiation her husband could not have made her vow voyd by gainesaying it For the Law obligeth her saying Levit. 23. v. 29. Every soule that is not afflicted that is which fasteth not this day shall perish out of his people By this you see that the Scripture here speaketh of vows made to do that to which they were not otherwise obliged But after the vow they stand now obliged to fulfill indeede what they promised by word 2. Take a further evident proof of this Deut. 23. v. 21. When thou hast vowed a vow to our Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it because our Lord thy God will require it and if thou delay it shall be deputed unto the for sin If thou wilt not promise thou shalt be without sinne But that which is once gone out of thy lipps thou shalt observe and shalt doe as thou hast promised to our Lord thy God and hast spoaken with thy proper will and thy owne mouth What could be said more manifest to prove that where there was no kind of Sin or breach of obligation before now there is a sin by the breach of a most strait obligation arrising from this vow Againe Eccl. c. 5. 4. Whatsoever thou hast vowed pay it And it is much
degree THE XXXV POINT It is laudable to doo good works for reward 1. AS Charity towards our neighbour is a most commendable vertue so charity towards our selves cannot be but most commendable Wherefore seeing these good works do profit us so very much as wee have seen in the last point and last number I cannot possibly vnderstand that Paradox of our Adversaries saying they do ill who do well out of a desire to gain heaven True it is a man may do well out of a more commendable motive that is to honour and please God But because something is better then doing good for hope of reward the doing good out of that hope doth not cease to be good You say faith alone is so good that it doth justify a man and yet Scripture tells you that of these three Faith Hope and Charity the greater and better of these is Charity 1. Cor. 13.13 Faith is very good and commendable Whence appeares that nothing ceases to be good because an other act is better 2. The Scriptures cited in the last point evidently exhort us in our sufferings to be glad and rejoyce because our reward is great in heaven and to do our good works in secret not to loose our reward but to heap up to our selves treasure in heaven and to sell all to purchase treasure there and in doing good works not to fail for in due time wee shall reap not failing May wee not sow in hope of harvest Did not S. Paul seek the fruit abounding on this account to those who had sent to his use Did he not bid us not to loose our confidence because it hath a great reward Hebr. 10.35 And not to sow sparingly that wee may reap plentifully 2. Cor. 9.6 Did not Christ himselfe say make friends of the Mammon of iniquity Luk 16.9 To what end this To the end that they may receive you into the eternal Tabernacles But what can be more cleer then that which I there cited out of Heb. 11.24 Moyses denyed himself to be the sō of Pharao his daughter chusing to be afflicted with the people of God esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasure of Aegyptians For he looked to the reward or according to your Bibles for the regard or respect he had to the reward No lesse cleer David Psalm 118. vers 112. I have inclined my hart to do thy Iustifications for ever for reward And for this reward he inclined his hart to do them sayth S. Augustin in this place reading it as wee do And so as wee tead it it is so faithfully translated by the Septuaginta out of the Hebrew and so your Translatours might have translated it if they had pleased but they willfully choose another sense though they so much professe to follow the Septuaginta THE XXXVI POINT VVee laudably worship Angels and Saints 1. FOr the ground of this question I lay this fundation out of Scripture that as the Angels are in heaven so the soules of the Saints go directly from hence to heaven without they have some few offēces to cleere in Purgatory Our soules sleep not untill Doomesday Christ sayd to the good theife This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And therefore S. Paul desired to be dissolved that he might be with Christ And again 2. Cor. 5.8 Wee are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with our Lord Therefore wee may come to be present with our Lord even whilst our soules are absent from our body Neither do our English Protestants deny this 2. This supposed our doctrine is that great reverence and worship is due to the Angels and Saints with God Secondly that they can hear our prayers Thirdly that they can and will helpe us and therfore it is laudable to pray to them and that this doth not derogate from Christs honour Fourthly that among the Saints it is most laudable to pray to our Lady And here wee shall speak of the Beads sayd to her honour Fiftly wee laudably worship Images of Christ and his Saints Sixtly that wee laudably worship theyr Reliques and inshrine them richly and place them as honorably as wee can Sevently that some places are more holy then others sanctifyed by the presence of those Reliques or by speciall graces given there And for this reason wee laudably make processions and pilgrimages to these places with all devotion Eightly that wee laudably keep Feasts or Holy Dayes as allso fasts in the honour of Christ and his Saints Lastly in these our fasts wee laudably abstaine from certaine meates All and every one of these nine things shall have theyr particular proofes in so many severall Points next following in the order here designed 3. And first for the worship of Angels or Saints note that the very selfe same outward worship yea and Adoration it selfe may outwardly be given either as a civil reverence to persons of respect and great eminency or it may be given to them out of a religious respect in regard of the great Sanctity and heavenly dignity in such a person or lastly given in regard of Divine perfection and infinite worth When this respect is given thus outwardly there passeth inwardly an act in our understanding apprehending the exellcency which wee honour to be either human as in civil honour or to be an excellency of singular though limited heavenly eminency as in the worship of Saints which wee call Dulia or lastly wee judge that there is a devine and infinite excellency in that person as it happens in the worship of God only which wee call Latria An other act passeth in our will answerable to that which was in our understanding by which wee have a will to make this outward worship or adoration to be either a civil honour only such as is due to men of highest human dignity or to make it a Religious worship though farre from devine such as is given to persons of eminent Sanctity or endowed with great heavenly gifts or lastly wee intend to make it an act of devine worship as when wee do it to God Whence it is evident that by doing of the outward act it cannot be knowne whether the honour wee do be meerly civil or Religious or Devine 4. With only civil adoration Abraham rose up and adored the people of the land Gen. 23.7 Iacob coming into the presence of his elder Brother Esay Gen. 33. v. 4. Going forward adored prostrate to the ground seaven times And v. 7. Lia with her Children adored in like manner and last Ioseph and Rachel adored And Gen. 43 v. 27. Iosephs Brethren offered him presents holding them in theyr hands and they adored prostrate to the ground And again Gen. 50. v. 18 And Iosephs Brethren came to him and adoring prostrate on the ground All these Texts are thus read in the Rhemish Testament But the Protestant Bible refusing to put the word Adore put either bowing down or falling down on theyr face Wee do no
to the honour of that person 6. But because our Adversaries much blame us for using this honour before insensible creatures lett us see whether such honour is not used in Scripture before things wholy insensible of any honour Yet behold before I look into the Bible and whilst I only stay looking upon it I see Protestants cover theyr Bibles with curious covers and placing them in decent places and taking it very ill if any one should trample them under foot or scornfully tear them in peeces And all this is done by reason of the relation which the word of God hath to God himself You know and we shall tell you in the next Point what honour was given to the Ark by reason of the Relation it had to God in regard that from thence he gave his Oracles to the Priests And 2. Sam. 6.16 it is sayd Michol saw David dancing before our Lord. Because he danced before the Ark he is sayd to do this before our Lord so when he kneeled or adored before it it may allso be properly sayd David kneeled and adored before our Lord. And in this sense when we kneele before any Image of our Lady or Saint we may be sayd to kneel before our Lady or before such a Saint This manner of speaking which you account ridiculous and superstitious is as you see the very phrase of Scripture in like occasion Yea adoration it self was used before the Ark. David Psal 99.5 Sayth worship at his footstoole for he is Holy Mark that the reason why worship is to be made at his footstoole is the Relation which this footstoole hath to him whose footstoole it is for he is Holy that is for it is the footstoole of him who deserves that worship should be done even at his footstoole 7. Our Adversaries will make us believe that they can call to mind Christ and his Passion as well and as frequently without seeing a Crucifix as by seeing it which is contrary to all common experience And the Scriptures teach our weaknes and dulnes to be much helped towards stirring up pious Acts by the outward use of these materiall signes Numb 15.38 Speak to the Children of Israël to make to them selves fringes in the borders of theyr garments And it shall be to you a fringe that ye may look upon it that ye may remember all the commandments of our Lord. These fringes were those Philacteria Matth. 23.5 We see that to help theyr dulnes in remembring Gods commandmēts this command is given them so Deutr. 6.9 Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on the gates And you Protestants usually for this reason write them in great letters in your Churches Give us then leave by Images of our Saviour to excite the memory of him Now to theyr objections 8. You first object Exod. 20.4 Thou shalt not make to thee a graven thing you read Image nor any similitude But I pray go on v. 5. Thou shalt not bowe down thy self to them nor serve them I answer these last words do tell you the sense of this commandment That is we are not to make any graven thing to adore it or serve it And this is the sense insinuated in those words Thou shalt not make to thee that is to be adored as God by thee or served by thee We neither bowe to them with intention to adore them as Gods nor do wee hold them so much as capable of beeing served by us Again the Hebrew word Pesel doth only signify a Graven thing though you did translate this word as if it had determinately signifyed a Graven Image This you did purposely to make us apeare Idolaters Certainly if God had declared it unlawfull to make Graven Images he would never have caused the Images of Cherubins to be made in the Ark before whose only presence Idols could not stand as we see 1. Sam. 5.7 by Dagon so often cast downe before it Neither would Salomon have presumed to place round about the walls of Gods Temple Images of Cherubins Wherefore in this command Idols only are forbidden and not such Images as are not used as Idols Whence the septuagint whom you pretend to follow hath the very word eidolon that is Idols why then translate you Graven Images If our Images be Idols God hath not fullfilled his promise to take out of his Church the worship of Idols as I sayd n. 2. 9. Your other and only objection to any purpose is Exod. 32. To answer which I must note some things before I put it First the people beeing assembled against Aaron sayd Arise make us Gods that they may go before us v. 1. Secondly Aaron knowing that they ment such Gods as they had seen worshiped in Aegypt made them a Molten calfe neither can you think of any other reason why he made rather a Calfe then any other thing but only because the Aegyptians worshiped theyr God Apis or Serapis in the shape of a black Calfe with white spotts as S. Augustin testifyeth l. 18. de Civit. c. 5. Thirdly this Calfe beeing molten v. 4. they sayd These be thy Gods ô Israel which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt which when Aaron had seen he built an Altar before it and by the Cryers voyce proclamed saying To morow is the Feast of our Lord. Here comes your objection The word which Aaron useth here for the Lord is the name Adonai or Iehova as your Protestants will have it a name proper to the God of Israël so that it seems they only worshipped the God of Israël Neither is it say our adversaries credible that Aaron would do otherwise or that he could call the Aegyptian God by the most sacred name of all names a name so especially appropriated to the God of Israël Whence say they you committ Idolatry if through the Images you worship the person it represents For the Israëlits when they committed Idolatry did only through that Calfe worship the God of Israël represented by It. And this seems strongly confirmed For Ieroboam renewed the selfsame Idolatry by making molten Calves to the house of Israël yet through these Calves he only worshiped the God of Israël calling him Baali as appeares by these words of Hosea c. 2. v. 16. And it shall be in that day sayth our Lord that thou shalt call mee no more Baali Where you see the God of Israël sayth they called him Baali Him therefore the Israëlits worshiped Calling him Baali And so through Baali they worshiped him I answere that they did not in this theyr Idolatry worship the true God but false Gods The people themselves desired Gods to be made them by Aaron as is thrice in that Chapter of Exodus expressed And Aaron knowing that they meant such Gods as they had seen worshipped by the Aegyptians did for that reason make a Calfe as I sayd To this Calfe or if you will to the Aegyptian God Apis through this Calfe they did offer Sacrifice Hence God sayd to