Oeconomy commanding the image and type of his own body to be made and that the Apostle received a command according to the constitution of the New Testament to make a memory of this sacrifice upon the Table by the symbols of his body and healthful bloud S. Macarius says that in the Church is offered bread and wine the antitype of his flesh and of his bloud and they that partake of the bread that appears do spiritually eat the flesh of Christ. By which words the sense of the above cited Fathers is explicated For when they affirm that in this Sacrament is offered the figure the image the antitype of Christs body and bloud although they speak perfectly against Transubstantiation yet they do not deny the real and spiritual presence of Christs body and bloud which we all believe as certainly as that it is not transubstantiated or present in a natural and carnal manner The same thing is also fully explicated by the good S. Ephrem The body of Christ received by the faithful departs not from his sensible substance and is undivided from a spiritual grace For even baptism being wholly made spiritual and being that which is the same and proper of the sensible substance I mean of water saves and that which is born doth not perish S. Gregory Nazianzen spake so expresly in this Question as if he had undertaken on purpose to confute the Article of Trent Now we shall be partakers of the Paschal supper but still in figure though more clear than in the old Law For the Legal Passover I will not be afraid to speak it was a more obscure figure of a figure S. Chrysostom affirms dogmatically that before the bread is sanctified we name it bread but the Divine grace sanctifying it by the means of the Priest it is freed from the name of bread but it is esteemed worthy to be called the Lords body although the nature of bread remains in it And again As thou eatest the body of the Lord so they the faithful in the old Testament did eat Manna as thou drinkest bloud so they the water of the rock For though the things which are made be sensible yet they are given spiritually not according to the consequence of Nature but according to the grace of a gift and with the body they also nourish the soul leading unto faith To these very many more might be added but instead of them the words of S. Austin may suffice as being an evident conviction what was the doctrine of the primitive Church in this question This great Doctor brings in Christ thus speaking as to his Disciples You are not to eat this body which you see or to drink that bloud which my crucifiers shall pour forth I have commended to you a sacrament which being spiritually understood shall quicken you And again Christ brought them to a banquet in which he commended to his Disciples the figure of his body and bloud For he did not doubt to say This is my body when he gave the sign of his body and That which by all men is called a sacrifice is the sign of the true sacrifice in which the flesh of Christ after his assumption is celebrated by the sacrament of remembrances But in this particular the Canon Law it self and the Master of the Sentences are the best witnesses in both which collections there are divers testimonies brought especially from S. Ambrose and S. Austin which whosoever can reconcile with the doctrine of Transubstantiation may easily put the Hyaena and a Dog a Pigeon and a Kite into couples and make fire and water enter into natural and eternal friendships Theodoret and P. Gelasius speak more emphatically even to the nature of things and the very philosophy of this Question Christ honour'd the symbols and the signs saith Theodoret which are seen with the title of his body and bloud not changing the nature but to nature adding grace For neither do the mystical signs recede from their nature for they abide in their proper substance figure and form and may be seen and touch'd c. And for a testimony that shall be esteem'd infallible we allege the words of Pope Gelasius Truly the sacraments of the body and bloud of Christ which we receive are a Divine thing for that by them we are made partakers of the Divine nature and yet it ceases not to be the substance or nature of bread and wine And truly an image and similitude of the body and bloud of Christ are celebrated in the action of the mysteries Now from these premises we are not desirous to infer any odious consequences in reproof of the Roman Church but we think it our duty to give our own people caution and admonition 1. That they be not abus'd by the rhetorical words and high expressions alleged out of the Fathers calling the Sacrament The body or the flesh of Christ. For we all believe it is so and rejoyce in it But the question is after what manner it is so whether after the manner of the flesh or after the manner of spiritual grace and sacramental consequence We with the H. Scriptures and the primitive Fathers affirm the later The Church of Rome against the words of Scripture and the explication of Christ and the doctrine of the primitive Church affirm the former 2. That they be careful not to admit such Doctrines under a pretence of being Ancient since although the Roman errour hath been too long admitted and is ancient in respect of our days yet it is an innovation in Christianity and brought in by ignorance power and superstition very many ages after Christ. 3. We exhort them that they remember the words of Christ when he explicates the doctrine of giving us his flesh for meat and his bloud for drink that he tells us The flesh profiteth nothing but the words which he speaks are spirit and they are life 4. That if those ancient and primitive Doctors above cited say true and that the symbols still remain the same in their natural substance and properties even after they are blessed and when they are receiv'd and that Christs body and bloud are onely present to faith and to the spirit that then whoever tempts them to give Divine honour to these symbols or elements as the Church of Rome does tempts them to give to a creature the due and incommunicable propriety of God and that then this evil passes further than an errour in the understanding for it carries them to a dangerous practice which cannot reasonably be excus'd from the crime of Idolatry To conclude This matter of it self is an error so prodigiously great and dangerous that we need nor tell of the horrid and blasphemous questions which are sometimes handled by them concerning this Divine Mystery As if a Priest going by a Bakers shop and saying with intention Hoc est corpus meum whether all the Bakers bread be turned
Canonical punishments they expected they should perform what was enjoyn'd them formerly But because all sin is a blot to a mans soul and a foul stain to his reputation we demaud in what does this stain consist In the guilt or in the punishment If it be said that it consists in the punishment then what does the guilt signifie when the removing of it does neither remove the stain nor the punishment which both remain and abide together But if the stain and the guilt be all one or always together then when the guilt is taken away there can no stain remain and if so what need is there any more of Purgatory For since this is pretended to be necessary onely lest any stain'd or unclean thing should enter into Heaven if the guilt and the pain be removed what uncleanness can there be left behind Indeed Simon Magus as Epiphanius reports Haeres 20. did teach That after the death of the body there remain'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purgation of souls But whether the Church of Rome will own him for an Authentick Doctor themselves can best tell 3. It relies upon this also That God requires of us a full exchange of penances and satisfactions which must regularly be paid here or hereafter even by them who are pardon'd here which if it were true we were all undone 4. That the Death of Christ his Merits and Satisfaction do not procure for us a full remission before we dye nor as it may happen of a long time after All which being Propositions new and uncertain invented by the School Divines and brought ex post facto to dress this opinion and make it to seem reasonable and being the products of ignorance concerning remission of sins by Grace of the righteousness of Faith and the infinite value of Christs Death must needs lay a great prejudice of novelty upon the Doctrine it self which but by these cannot be supported But to put it past suspition and conjectures Roffensis and Polydore Virgil affirm That who so searcheth the Writings of the Greek Fathers shall find that none or very rarely any one of them ever makes mention of Purgatory and that the Latine Fathers did not all believe it but by degrees came to entertain opinions of it But for the Catholick Church it was but lately known to her But before we say any more in this Question we are to premonish That there are Two great causes of their mistaken pretensions in this Article from Antiquity The first is That the Ancient Churches in their Offices and the Fathers in their Writings did teach and practice respectively prayer for the dead Now because the Church of Rome does so too and more than so relates her prayers to the Doctrine of Purgatory and for the souls there detain'd her Doctors vainly suppose that when ever the Holy Fathers speak of prayer for the dead that they conclude for Purgatory which vain conjecture is as false as it is unreasonable For it is true the Fathers did pray for the dead but how That God would shew them mercy and hasten the resurrection and give a blessed sentence in the great day But then it is also to be remembred that they made prayers and offered for those who by the◠confession of all sides never were in Purgatory even for the Patriarchs and Prophets for the Apostles and Evangelists for Martyrs and Confessors and especially for the blessed Virgin Mary So we find it in Epiphanius St. Cyril and in the Canon of the Greeks and so it is acknowledged by their own Durantus and in their Mass-book anciently they prayed for the soul of St. Leo Of which because by their latter doctrines they grew asham'd they have chang'd the prayer for him into a prayer to God by the intercession of St. Leo in behalf of themselves so by their new doctrine making him an Intercessor for us who by their old doctrine was suppos'd to need our prayers to intercede for him of which Pope Innocent being ask'd a reason makes a most pitiful excuse Upon what accounts the Fathers did pray for the Saints departed and indeed generally for all it is not now seasonable to discourse but to say this onely that such general prayers for the dead as those above reckon'd the Church of England never did condemn by any express Article but left it in the middle and by her practice declares her faith of the Resurrection of the dead and her interest in the communion of Saints and that the Saints departed are a portion of the Catholick Church parts and members of the Body of Christ but expresly condemns the Doctrine of Purgatory and consequently all prayers for the dead relating to it And how vainly the Church of Rome from prayer for the dead infers the belief of Purgatory every man may satisfie himself by seeing the Writings of the Fathers where they cannot meet with one Collect or Clause for praying for the delivery of souls out of that imaginary place Which thing is so certain that in the very Roman Offices we mean the Vigils said for the dead which are Psalms and Lessons taken from the Scripture speaking of the miseries of this World Repentance and Reconciliation with God the bliss after this life of them that die in Christ and the Resurrection of the Dead and in the Anthemes Versicles and Responses there are prayers made recommending to God the Soul of the newly defunct praying he may be freed from Hell and eternal death that in the day of Iudgment he be not judged and condemned according to his sins but that he may appear among the Elect in the glory of the Resurrection but not one word of Purgatory or its pains The other cause of their mistake is That the Fathers often speak of a fire of Purgation after this life but such a one that is not to be kindled until the day of Iudgment and it is such a fire that destroys the Doctrine of the intermedial Purgatory We suppose that Origen was the first that spoke plainly of it and so S. Ambrose follows him in the opinion for it was no more so does S. Basil S. Hilary S. Hierom and Lactantius as their words plainly prove as they are cited by Sixtus Senensis affirming that all men Christ only excepted shall be burned with the fire of the worlds conflagration at the day of Iudgment even the Blessed Virgin her self is to pass through this fire There was also another Doctrine very generally receiv'd by the Fathers which greatly destroys the Roman Purgatory Sixtus Senensis says and he says very true that Iustin Martyr Tertullian Victorinus Martyr Prudentius S. Chrysostom Arethas Euthimius and S. Bernard did all affirm that before the day of Judgment the souls of men are kept in secret receptacles reserved unto the sentence of the great day and that before then no man receives according to his works done in this life We do not interpose in
Non magna loquimur sed bivimus Nihil opinionis Gratia omnia Conscentiae faciam A Dissuasive FROM POPERY By JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down The third Edition revised and corrected by the Author LONDON Printed by I. G. for Rich. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty MDCLXIV THE PREFACE TO THE READER WHen a Roman Gentleman had to please himself written a book in Greek and presented it to Cato he desir'd him to pardon the faults of his Expressions since he wrote in Greek which was a Tongue in which he was not perfect Master Cato told him he had better then to have let it alone and written in Latin by how much it is better not to commit a fault than to make apologies For if the thing be good it needs not to be excus'd if it be not good a crude apologie will do nothing but confess the fault but never makes amends I therefore make this Address to all who will concern themselves in reading this book not to ask their pardon for my fault in doing of it I know of none for if I had known them I would have mended them before the Publication and yet though I know not any I do not question but much fault will be found by too many I wish I have given them no cause for their so doing But I do not onely mean it in the particular Periods where every man that is not a Son of the Church of England or Ireland will at least do as Apollonius did to the Apparition that affrighted his company on the mountain Caucasus he will revile and persecute me with evil words but I mean it in the whole Design and men will reasonably or capritiously ask Why any more Controversies Why this over again Why against the Papists against whom so very many are already exasperated that they cry out fiercely of Persecution And why can they not be suffered to enjoy their share of peace which hath returned in the hands of His Sacred Majesty at his blessed Restauration For as much of this as concerns my self I make no excuse but give my reasons and hope to justifie this procedure with that modesty which David us'd to his angry brother saying What have I now done is there not a cause The cause is this The Reverend Fathers my Lords the Bishops of Ireland in their circumspection and watchfulness over their Flocks having espied grievous Wolves to have entered in some with Sheeps-clothing and some without some secret enemies and some open at first endeavour'd to give check to those enemies which had put fire into the bed-straw and though God hath very much prosper'd their labours yet they have work enough to do and will have till God shall call them home to the land of peace and unity But it was soon remembred that when King James of blessed memory had discerned the spirits of the English Non-conformists and found them peevish and factious unreasonable and imperious not onely unable to govern but as inconsistent with the Government as greedy to snatch at it for themselves resolved to take off their disguise and put a difference between Conscience and Faction and to bring them to the measures and rules of Laws and to this the Council and all wise men were consenting because by the Kings great wisdom and the conduct of the whole Conference and Inquiry men saw there was reason on the Kings side and necessity on all sides But the Gun-powder Treason breaking out a new Zele was enkindled against the Papists and it shin'd so greatly that the Non-conformists escap'd by the light of it and quickly grew warm by the heat of that flame to which they added no small increase by their Declamations and other acts of insinuation insomuch that they being neglected multiply'd untill they got power enough to do all those mischiefs which we have seen and felt This being remembred and spoken of it was soon observ'd that the Tables onely were now turn'd and that now the publick zele and watchfulness against those men and those persuasions which so lately have afflicted us might give to the Emissaries of the Church of Rome leisure and opportunity to grow into numbers and strength to debauch many Souls and to unhinge the safety and peace of the Kingdom In Ireland we saw too much of it done and found the mischief growing too fast and the most intolerable inconveniencies but too justly apprehended as near and imminent We had reason at least to cry Fire when it flamed through our very Roofs and to interpose with all care and diligence when Religion and the eternal Interest of Souls was at stake as knowing we should be greatly unfit to appear and account to the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls if we had suffer'd the enemies to sow tares in our fields we standing and looking on It was therefore consider'd how we might best serve God and rescue our charges from their danger and it was concluded presently to run to arms I mean to the weapons of our warfare to the armour of the Spirit to the works of our calling and to tell the people of their peril to warn them of the enemy and to lead them in the ways of truth and peace and holiness that if they would be admonished they might be safe if they would not they should be without excuse because they could not say but the Prophets have been amongst them But then it was next enquired who should minister in this affair and put in order all those things which they had to give in charge It was easie to chuse many but hard to chuse one there were many fit to succeed in the vacant Apostleship and though Barsabas the Just was by all the Church nam'd as a fit and worthy man yet the lot fell upon Matthias and that was my case it fell to me to be their Amanuensis when persons most worthy were more readily excus'd and in this my Lords the Bishops had reason that according to S. Pauls rule If there be judgments or controversies amongst us they should be imploy'd who are least esteem'd in the Church and upon this account I had nothing left me but Obedience though I confess that I found regret in the nature of the imployment for I love not to be as S. Paul calls it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disputers of this world For I suppose skill in Controversies as they are now us'd to be the worst part of Learning and time is the worst spent in them and men the least benefited by them that is when the Questions are curious and impertinent intricate and inexplicable not to make men better but to make a Sect. But when the Propositions disputed are of the foundation of Faith or lead to good life or naturally do good to single persons or publick societies then they are part of the depositum of Christianity of the Analogy of faith and for this we are by the Apostle commanded to contend
earnestly and therefore Controversies may become necessary but because they are not often so but oftentimes useless and always troublesom and as an ill diet makes an ill habit of body so does the frequent use of controversies baffle the understanding and makes it crafty to deceive others it self remaining instructed in nothing but useless notions and words of contingent signification and distinctions without difference which minister to pride and contention and teach men to be pertinacious troublesome and uncharitable therefore I love them not But because by the Apostolical Rule I am tyed to do all things without murmurings as well as without disputings I consider'd it over again and found my self reliev'd by the subject matter and the grand consequent of the present Questions For in the present affair the case is not so as in the others here the Questions are such that the Church of Rome declares them to reach as far as eternity and damn all that are not of their opinions and the Protestants have much more reason to fear concerning the Papists such who are not excus'd by ignorance that their condition is very sad and deplorable and that it is charity to snatch them as a brand from the fire and indeed the Church of Rome maintains Propositions which if the Ancient Doctors of the Church may be believ'd are apt to separate from God I instance in their superaddition of Articles and Propositions derived onely from a pretended tradition and not contain'd in Scripture Now the doing of this is a great sin and a great danger Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Si non est scriptum timeat vae illud adjicientibus detrahentibus destinatum said Tertullian I adore the fulness of Scripture and if it be not written let Hermogenus fear the wo that is destin'd to them that detract from or adde to it S. Basil says Without doubt it is a most manifest argument of infidelity and a most certain sign of pride to introduce any thing that is not written in the Scriptures our blessed Saviour having said My sheep hear my voice and the voice of strangers they will not hear and to detract from Scriptures or adde any thing to the Faith that is not there is most vehemently forbidden by the Apostle saying If it be but a mans testament nemo superordinat no man adds to it And says also This was the Will of the Testator And Theophilus Alexandrinus says plainly It is the part of a Devillish spirit to think any thing to be Divine that is not in the authority of the holy Scriptures and therefore S. Athanasius affirms that the Catholicks will neither speak nor endure to hear any thing in Religion that is a stranger to Scripture it being immodestiae vaecordia an evil heart of immodesty to speak those things which are not written Now let any man judge whether it be not our duty and a necessary work of charity and the proper office of our Ministry to persuade our charges from the immodesty of an evil heart from having a Devillish spirit from doing that which is vehemently forbidden by the Apostle from infidelity and pride and lastly from that eternal Wo which is denounc'd against them that adde other words and doctrines than what is contain'd in the Scriptures and say Dominus dixit The Lord hath said it and he hath not said it If we had put these severe censures upon the Popish doctrine of Tradition we should have been thought uncharitable but because the holy Fathers do so we ought to be charitable and snatch our Charges from the ambient flame And thus it is in the question of Images Dubium non est quin Religio nulla sit ubicunque fimulacrum est said Lactantius Without all peradventure where ever an Image is meaning for worship there is no Religion and that we ought rather to die than pollute our Faith with such impieties said Origen It is against the Law of Nature it being expresly forbidden by the second Commandment as Irenaeus affirms Tertullian Cyprian and S. Augustine and therefore is it not great reason we should contend for that Faith which forbids all worship of Images and oppose the superstition of such Guides who do teach their people to give them veneration to prevaricate the Moral Law end the very Law of Nature and do that which whosoever does has no Religion We know Idolatry is a damnable sin and we also know that the Roman Church with all the artifices she could use never can justifie her self or acquit the common practises from Idolatry and yet if it were but suspicious that it is Idolatry it were enough to awaken us for God is a jealous God and will not endure any such causes of suspicion and motives of jealousie I instance but once more The primitive Church did excommunicate them that did not receive the holy Sacrament in both kinds and S. Ambrose says that he who receives the Mystery other ways than Christ appointed that is but in one kind when he hath appointed it in two is unworthy of thâ— Lord and he cannot have Devotion Now this thing we oughâ— not to suffer that our people by so doâ—ing should remain unworthy of thâ— Lord and for ever be indevouâ— â—â— cozen'd with a false shew of devotion or fall by following evil Guides into the sentence of Excommunication These matters are not trifling and when we see these errours frequently taught and own'd as the onely true Religion and yet are such evils which the Fathers say are the way of damnation we have reason to hope that all wise and good men lovers of souls will confess that we are within the circles of our duty when we teach our people to decline the crooked ways and to walk in the ways of Scripture and Christianity But we have observed amongst the generality of the Irish such a declension of Christianity so great credulity to believe every superstitious story such confidence in vanity such groundless pertinacy such vicious lives so little sense of true Religion and the fear of God so much care to obey the Priests and so little to obey God such intolerable ignorance such fond Oaths and manners of swearing thinking themselves more oblig'd by swearing on the Mass-book than the four Gospels and S. Patricks Mass-book more than any new one swearing by their Fathers soul by their Godsips hand by other things which are the product of those many Tales are told them their not knowing upon what account they refuse to come to Church but onely that now they are old and never did or their Countreymen do not or their Fathers or Grandfathers never did or that their Ancestours were Priests and they will not alter from their Religion and after all can give no account of their Religion what it is onely they believe as their Priest bids them and go to Mass which they understand not and reckon their Beads to tell the number and the tale of
upon the wayes and ask after the old paths and walk in them lest they partake of that curse which is â—hreatned by God to them who remove â—he Ancient Land-marks which our Fathers in Christ have set for us Now that the Church of Rome cannot not pretend that all which she imposes is Primitive and Apostolick appears in this That in the Church of Rome there is pretence made to a power not only of declaring new articles of faith but of making new Symbols or Creeds and imposing them as of necessity to Salvation Which thing is evident in the Bull of Pope Leo the Tenth against Martin Luther in which amongst other things he is condemn'd for saying It is certain that it is not in the power of the Church or Pope to constitute Articles of Faith We need not adâ— that this power is attributed to thâ— Bishops of Rome by Turrecremata Augustinus Triumphus de Ancona Petrus de Ancorano and the Famoâ—â— Abbot of Panormo that the Popâ— cannot only make new Creeds buâ— new Articles of Faith that he can make that of necessity to be believ'd which before never was necessary that he is the measure and rule and the very notice of all credibilities That the Canon Law is the Divine law and whatever law the Pope promulges God whose Vicar he is is understood to be the promulger That the souls of Men are in the hands of the Pope and that in his arbitration Religion does consist which are the very words of Hostiensis and Ferdinandus ab Inciso who were Casuists and Doctors of Law of great authority amongst them and renown The thing it self is not of dubious disputation amongst them but actually practis'd in the greatest instances as is to be seen in the Bull of Pius the fourth at the end of the Council of Trent by which all Ecelesiasticks are not onâ—y bound to swear to all the Articles of the Council of Trent for the present and for the future but they are put into a new Symbol or Creed and they are corrobroated by the same decretory clauses that are us'd in the Creed of Athanasius that this is the true Catholick Faith â— and that without this no Man can be saved Now since it cannot be imagined that this power to which they pretend should never have been reduc'd to act and that it is not credible they should publish so inviduous and ill-sounding Doctrine to no purpose and to serve no end it may without furtheâ— evidence be believed by all discerning persons that they have need of this Doctrine or it would not have been taughâ— â— and that consequently without moâ—â—adoe it may be concluded that some 〈◊〉 their Articles are parts of this new faithâ— and that they can therefore in no senâ—â— be Apostolical unless their being Roâ—man makes them so To this may be added another conâ—sideration not much less material thâ—â— besides what Eckius told the Elector 〈◊〉 Bavaria that the Doctrines of Luthâ—â— might be overthrown by the Fatherâ— though not by Scripture they haâ—â— also many gripes of conscience conceâ—â—ning the Fathers themselves that thâ— are not right on their side and of thâ— they have given but too much demonstration by their Expurgatory indices The Serpent by being so curious a defender of his head shews where his danger is and by what he can most readily be destroyed But besides their innumerable corruptings of the Fathers writings their thrusting in that which was spurious and like Pharaoh killing the legitimate Sons of Israel though in this they have done very much of their work and made the Testimonies of the Fathers to be a record infinitely worse than of themselves uncorrupted they would have been of which divers Learned Persons have made publick complaint and demonstration they have at last fallen to a new trade which hath caus'd more dis-reputation to â—hem than they have gain'd advantage â—nd they have virtually confess'd that â—n many things the Fathers are against â—hem For first the King of Spain gave a â—ommission to the Inquisitors to purge â—ll Catholick Authors but with this clause iique ipsi privatim nullisque consciis apud se indicem expurgatorium habebunt quem eundum neque aliis communicabunt neque ejus exemplum ulli dabunt that they should keep the expurgatory Index privately neither imparting that index nor giving a copy of it to any But it happened by the Divine providence so ordering it that about thirteen years after a copy of it was gotten and published by Iohannes Pappus and Franciscus Iunius anâ— since it came abroad against their wills they find it necessary now to own it and they have printed it themselvesâ— Now by these expurgatory Table what they have done is known to aâ—â— Learned Men. In St. Chrysostomâ— Works printed at Basil these words The Church is not built upon the Maâ— but upon the faith are commanded 〈◊〉 be blotted out and these There is 〈◊〉 merit but what is given us by Christ and yet these words are in his Sermoâ— upon Pentecost and the former worâ— are in his first homily upon that of Sâ—â— Iohn Ye are my friends c. Tâ—â— like they have done to him in many other places and to St. Ambrose and to St. Austin and to them all insomuch that Ludovicus Saurius the Corrector of the Press at Lyons shewed and complain'd of it to Iunius that he was forc'd to cancellate or blot out many sayings of St. Ambrose in that edition of his works which was printed at Lyons 1559. So that what they say on occasion of Bertrams book In the old Catholick Writers we suffer very many errors and extenuate and excuse them and finding out some commentary we feign some convenient sense when they are oppos'd in disputations they do indeed practise but esteem it not sufficient for the words which make against them they wholly leave out of their editions Nay they correct the very Tables or Indices made by the Printers or Correctors insomuch that out of one of Frobens indices they have commanded these words to be blotted The use â—f images forbidden The Eucharist no â—acrifice but the memory of a sacrifice Works although they do not justifie yet are necessary to Salvation Marriage iâ— granted to all that will not contain Venial sins damn The dead Saints afteâ— this life cannot helf us nay out of the Index of St. Austins Works by Claudius Chevallonius at Paris 1531. there is a very strange deleatur Dele Soluâ— Deus ador andus that God alone is to bâ— worshipped is commanded to be blotted out as being a dangerous Doctrineâ— These instances may serve instead oâ— multitudes which might be brought oâ— their corrupting the witnesses and razing the records of antiquity that thâ— errors and Novelties of the Church oâ— Rome might not be so easily reprov'dâ— Now if the Fathers were not againâ—â— them what need these arts Whâ— should they use them thus Their oâ—â— expurgatory
Instrument of Union how they were yet constrain'd to it by their Chiefs being obnoxious to the Pope how a while after they dissolv'd that Union and to this day refuse to own this Doctrine are things so notoriously known that they need no further declaration We add this only to make the conviction more manifest We have thought fit to annex some few but very clear testimonies of Antiquity expresly destroying the new Doctrine of Purgatory S. Cyprian saith Quando istinc excessum fuerit nullus jam locus poenitentiae est nullus satisfaction is effectus When we are gone from hence there is no place left for repentance and no effect of satisfaction S. Dionysius calls the extremity of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The end of all our agonies and affirms That the Holy men of God rest in joy and in never failing hopes and are come to the end of their holy combates S. Iustin Martyr affirms That when the soul is departed from the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 presently there is a separation made of the just and unjust The unjust are by Angels born into places which they have deserv'd but the souls of the just into Paradise where they have the conversation of Angels and Archangels S. Ambrose saith that Death is a haven of rest and makes not our condition worse but according as it finds every man sort reserves him to the judgement that is to come The same is affirm'd by S. Hilary S. Macarius and divers others they speak but of two states after death of the just and the unjust These are plac'd in horrible Regions reserv'd to the judgement of the great day the other have their souls carried by Quires of Angels into places of rest S. Gregory Nazianzen expresly affirms that after this life there is no purgation For after Christs ascension into Heaven the souls of all Saints are with Christ saith Gennadius and going from the body they go to Christ expecting the resurrection of their body with it to pass into the perfection of perpetual bliss and this he delivers as the Doctrine of the Catholick Church In what place soever a man is taken at his death of light or darkness of wickedness or vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ◠in the same order and in the same degree either in light with the just and with Christ the great King or in darkness with the uujust and with the Prince of Darkness said Olimpiodorus And lastly we recite the words of S. Leo one of the Popes of Rome speaking of the Penitents who had not perform'd all their penances But if any one of them for whom we pray unto the Lord being interrupted by any obstacles falls from the gift of the present Indulgence viz. of Ecclesiastical Absolution and before he arrive at the appointed remedies that is before he hath perform'd his penances or satisfactions ends his temporal life that which remaining in the body he hath not receiv'd when he is devested of his body he cannot obtain He knew not of the new devices of paying in Purgatory what they paid not here and of being cleansed there who were not clean here And how these words or of any the precedent are reconcileable with the Doctrines of Purgatory hath not yet entred into our imagination To conclude this particular We complain greatly that this Doctrine which in all the parts of it is uncertain and in the late additions to it in Rome is certainly false is yet with all the faults of it passed into an Article of Faith by the Council of Trent But besides what hath been said it will be more than sufficient to oppose against it these clearest words of Scripture Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth even so saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours If all the dead that die in Christ be at rest and are in no more affliction or labours then the Doctrine of the horrible pains of Purgatory is as false as it is uncomfortable To these words we add the saying of Christ and we relie upon it He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal life and cometh not into judgment but passeth from death unto life If so then not into the judgment of Purgatory If the servant of Christ passeth from death to life then not from death to the terminable pains of a part of Hell They that have eternal life suffer no intermedial punishment judgment or condemnation after death for death and life are the whole progression according to the Doctrine of Christ and Him we choose to follow Sect. V. THe Doctrine of Transubstantiation is so far from being Primitive and Apostolick that we know the very time it began to be own'd publickly for an opinion and the very Council in which it was said to be passed into a publick Doctrine and by what arts it was promoted and by what persons it was introduc'd For all the world knows that by their own parties by Scotus Ocham Biel Fisher Bishop of Rochester and divers others whom Bellarmine calls most learned and most acute men it was declared that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is not expressed in the Canon of the Bible that in the Scriptures there is no place so express as without the Churches Declaration to compel us to admit of Transubstantiation and therefore at least it is to be suspected of novelty But further we know it was but a disputable question in the ninth and tenth ages after Christ that it was not pretended to be an Article of faith till the Lateran Council in the time of Pope Innocent the third MCC years and more after Christ that since that pretended determination divers of the chiefest teachers of their own side have been no more satisfied of the ground of it than they were before but still have publickly affirm'd that the Article is not express'd in Scripture particularly Iohanes de Bassolis Cardinal Cajetan and Melchior Canus besides those above reckon'd And therefore if it was not express'd in Scripture it will be too clear that they made their Articles of their own heads for they could not declare it to be there if it was not and if it was there but obscurely then it ought to be taught accordingly and at most it could be but a probable doctrine and not certain as an Article of Faith But that we may put it past argument and probability it is certain that as the Doctrine was not taught in Scripture expresly so it was not at all taught as a Catholick Doctrine or an Article of the Faith by the Primitive ages of the Church Now for this we need no proof but the confession and acknowledgment of the greatest Doctors of the Church of Rome Scotus says that before the Lateran Council Transubstantiation was not an Article of faith as Bellarmine confesses and Henriquez affirms that
understands the Priests thoughts when he speaks not as well as when he speaks he hears the prayer of the heart and sees the word of the mind and a dumb Priest can do all the ceremonies and make the signs and he that speaks aloud to them that understand him not does no more Now since there is no use of vocal prayer in publick but that all together may signifie their desires and stir up one another and joyn in the expression of them to God by this device a man who understands not what is said can onely pray with his lips for the heart cannot pray but by desiring and it cannot desire what it understands not So that in this case prayer cannot be an act of the soul There is neither affection nor understanding notice or desire The heart says nothing and asks for nothing and therefore receives nothing Solomon calls that the sacrifice of fools when men consider not and they who understand not what is said cannot take it into consideration But there needs no more to be said in so plain a case We end this with the words of the Civil and Canon Law Iustinian the Emperour made a Law in these words We will and command that all Bishops and Priests celebrate the sacred Oblation and the Prayers thereunto added in holy Baptism not in a low voice but with a loud and clear voice which may be heard by the faithful people that is be understood for so it follows that thereby the minds of the hearers may be raised up with greater devotion to set forth the praises of the Lord God for so the Apostle teacheth in the first to the Corinthians It is true that this Law was rased out of the Latine versions of Iustinian The fraud and design was too palpable but it prevail'd nothing for it is acknowledged by Cassander and Bellarmine and is in the Greek Copies of Holoander The Canon Law is also most express from an Authority of no less than a Pope and a General Council as themselves esteem Innocent III. in the great Council of Lateran above MCC years after Christ in these words Because in most parts within the same City and Diocess the people of divers Tongues are mixt together having under one and the same faith divers ceremonies and rites we straitly charge and command That the Bishops of such Cities and Dioceses provide men fit who may celebrate Divine Service according to the diversity of ceremonies and languages and administer the Sacraments of the Church instructing them both by word and by example Now if the words of the Apostle and the practise of the primitive Church the Sayings of the Fathers and the Confessions of wise men amongst themselves if the consent of Nations and the piety of our fore-fathers if right reason and the necessity of the thing if the needs of the ignorant and the very inseparable conditions of holy prayers if the Laws of Princes and the Laws of the Church which do require all our prayers to be said by them that understand what they say if all these cannot prevail with the Church of Rome to do so much good to the peoples souls as to consent they should understand what in particular they are to ask of God certainly there is a great pertinacy of opinion and but a little charity to those precious souls for whom Christ dyed and for whom they must give account Indeed the old Toscan Rites and the Sooth-sayings of the Salian Priests Vix Sacerdotibus suis intellecta sed quae mutari vetat Religio were scarce understood by their Priests themselves but their Religion forbad to change them Thus anciently did the Osseni Hereticks of whom Epiphanius tells and the Heracleonitae of whom S. Austin gives account they taught to pray with obscure words and some others in Clemens Alexandrinus suppos'd that words spoken in a barbarous or unknown tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are more powerful The Jews also in their Synagogues at this day read Hebrew which the people but rarely understand and the Turks in their Mosques read Arabick of which the people know nothing But Christians never did so till they of Rome resolved to refuse to do benefit to the souls of the people in this instance or to bring them from intolerable ignorance Sect. VIII THe Church of Rome hath to very bad purposes introduc'd and impos'd upon Christendom the worship and veneration of Images kissing them pulling off their hats kneeling falling down and praying before them which they call giving them due honor and veneration What external honor and veneration that is which they call due is express'd by the instances now reckon'd which the Council of Trent in their Decree enumerate and establish What the inward honor and worship is which they intend to them is intimated in the same Decree By the Images they worship Christ and his Saints and therefore by these Images they pass that honor to Christ and his Saints which is their due that is as their Doctors explain it Latria or Divine worship to God and Christ. Hyperdulia or more than service to the Blessed Virgin Mary and service or doulia to other canoniz'd persons So that upon the whole the case is this What ever worship they give to God and Christ and his Saints they give it first to the image and from the image they pass it unto Christ and Christs servants And therefore we need not to enquire what actions they suppose to be fit or due For whatsoever is due to God to Christ or his Saints that worship they give to their respective Images all the same in external semblance and ministery as appears in all their great Churches and publick actions and processions and Temples and Festivals and endowments and censings and pilgrimages and prayers and vows made to them Now besides that these things are so like Idolatry that they can no way be reasonably excused of which we shall in the next Chapter give some account besides that they are too like the religion of the Heathens and so plainly and frequently forbidden in the Old Testament and are so infinitely unlike the simple and wise the natural and holy the pure and the spiritual religion of the Gospel besides that they are so infinite a scandal to the Jews and Turks and reproach Christianity it self amongst all strangers that live in their communion and observe their rites besides that they cannot pretend to be lawfull but with the laborious artifices of many Metaphysical notions and distinctions which the people who most need them do least understand and that therefore the people worship them without these distinctioâ—s and directly put confidence in them and that it is impossible that ignorant persons who in all Christian countreys make up the biggest number should do otherwise when otherwise they cannot understand it and besides that the thing it self with or without distinctions is a superstitious and forbidden an unlawful and unnatural worship of
good mans case If an Indulgence be granted to a place for so many days in every year it were fit you inquire for how many years that will laâ—t for some Doctors say That if a definite number of years be not set down it is intended to last but twenty years And therefore it is good to be wise early 8. But it is yet of greater consideration If you take out a Bull of Indulgence relating to the Article of death in case you recover that sickness in which you thought you should use it you must consider whether you must not take out a new one for the next fit of sickness or will the firstâ— which stood for nothing keep cold and without any sensible errour serve when you shall indeed die 9. You must also inquire and be rightly inform'd whether an Indulgence granted upon a certain Festival will be valid if the day be chang'd as they were all at once by the Gregorian Calendar or if you go into another Countrey where the Feast is not kept the same day as it happens in movable Feasts and on S. Bartholomews-day and some others 10. When your Lawyers have told you their opinion of all these Questions and given it under their hands it will concern you to inquire yet further whether a succeeding Pope have not or cannot revoke an Indulgence granted by his Predecessor for this is often done in matters of favour and privileges and the German Princes complain'd sadly of it and it was complain'd in the Council of Lions that Martin the Legate of Pope Innocent the VIII revok'd and dissipated all former Grants and it is an old Rule Papa nunquam sibi ligat manus The Pope never binds his own hands But here some caution would do well 11. It is worth inquiry whether in the year of Jubilee all other Indulgences be suspended for though some thinkâ— they are not yet Navar and Emanuel S à affirm that they are and if they chance to say true for no man knows whether they do or no you may be at a loss that way And when all this is done yet 12. Your Indulgences will be of no avail to you in reserved cases which are very many A great many more very fine scruples might be mov'd and are so and therefore when you have gotten all the security you can by these you are not saâ—e at all â—ut therefore be sure still to get Masses to be said So that now the great Objection is answered you need not fear that saying Masses will ever be made unnecessary by the multitude of Indulgences The Priest must still be imployed and entertained in subsidium since there are so many ways of making the Indulgence good for nothing And as for the fear of emptying Purgatory by the free and liberal use of the Keys it is very needless because the Pope cannot evacuate Purgatory or give so many Indulgences as to take out all souls from thence And therefore if the Popes and the Bishops and the Legates have been already too free it may be there is so much in arrear that the Treasure of the Church is spent or the Church is in debt for souls or else though the Treasure be inexhaustible yet so much of her Treasure ought not to be made use of and therefore it may be that your souls shall be post-pon'd and must stay and take its turn God knows when And therefore we cannot but commend the prudence of Cardinal Albernotius who by his last will took order for fifty thousand Masses to be said for his soul for he was a wise man and lov'd to make all as sure as he could But then to apply this to the Consciences of the poor people of the Roman Communion Here is a great deal of Treasure of the Church pretended and a great many favours granted and much ease promised and the wealth of the Church boasted of and the peoples money gotten and that this may be a perpetual spring it is clear amongst their own Writers that you are not sure of any good by all that is past but you must get more security or this may be nothing But how easie were it for you now to conclude that all this is but a meer cozenage an art to get money but that 's but the least of the evil it is a certain way to deceive souls For since there are so many thousands that trust to these things and yet in the confession of your own Writers there are so many fallibilities in the whole and in every parr why will you suffer your selves so weakly and vainly to be cozen'd out of your souls with promises that signifie nothing and words without vertue and treasures that make no man rich and Indulgences that give confidence to sin but no ease to the pains which follow Besides all this it is very considerable that this whole affair is a state of temptation for they that have so many ways to escape will not be so careful of the main stake as the interest of it requires He that hopes to be relieved by many others will be tempted to neglect himself There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Unum necessarium even that we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling A little wisdom and an easie observation were enough to make all men that love themselves wisely to abstain from such diet which does not nourish but fills the stomach with wind and imagination But to return to the main Inquiry We desire that it be considered how dangerously good life is undermined by the Propositions collaterally taught by their Great Doctors in this matter of Indulgences besides the main and direct danger and deception 1. Venial sins preceding or following the work enjoyn'd for getting Indulgences hinder not their fruit But if they intervene in the time of doing them then they hinder By this Proposition there is infinite uncertainty concerning the value of any Indulgence for if venial sins be daily incursions who can say that he is one day clean from them And if he be not he hath paid his price for that which profits not and he is made to relie upon that which will not support him But though this being taught doth evacuate the Indulgence yet it is not taught to prevent the sin for before and after if you commit venial sins there is no great matter in it The inconvenience is not great and the remedy is easie you are told of your security as to this point before hand 2. Pope Adrian taught a worse matter He that will obtain indulgence for another if he does perform the work enjoyn'd though himself be in deadly sin yet for the other he prevails as if a man could do more for another than he can do for himself or as if God would regard the prayers of a vile and a wicked person when he intercedes for another and at the same time if he prays for himself his prayer is
in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practise safe Who says so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or griev'd from their penitential chairs But upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practise Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it then it is safe enough to do so And upon this account who could find fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observ'd by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chastely that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married wife and then shall find in the Popes Law That a Priest is not to be removed for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawful especially since abstracting from the consideration of a mans being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so says Durandus Simple fornication of it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris says to believe simple fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not express These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practise safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement the VIII in the Index of Prohibited books says That the Bible published in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the Bible and Bellarmine says That it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say that this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the light of Gods Word and relie wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet says That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what he says if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawfull for a man to expose his bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He says it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Iudge unequal a man that cannot sell his wine at a due price may lawfully make his measures less than is appointed or mingle water with his wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended wife before Marriage it is no sin or a light one nay quinetiam expedit si multum illa differatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of Marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their cradles may be made Priests is the common opinion of Divines and Canonists saith Tolet and that in their Cradles they can be made Bishops said the Archdeacon and the Provost and though some say the contrary yet the other is the more true saith the Cardinal Vasques saith That not onely an Image of God but any creature in the world reasonable or unreasonable may without danger be worshipped together with God as his Image That we ought to adore the Reliques of Saints though under the form of Worms and that it is no sin to worship a Ray of Light in which the Devil is invested if a man supposes him to be Christ And in the same manner if he supposes it to be a piece of a Saint which is not he shall not want the merit of his Devotion And to conclude Pope Celestine the III. as Alphonsus à Castro reports himself to have seen a Decretal of his to that purpose affirmed That if one of the Married Couple fell into Heresie the Marriage is dissolved and that the other may marry another and the Marriage is nefarious and they are Irritae Nuptiae the Espousals are void if a Catholick and a Heretick marry together
any further Commentary but apply the premises Now therefore we desire it may be considered That there are as the effects of Christs death for us three great products which are the rule and measure of our prayers and our confidence 1. Christs merits 2. His Satisfaction 3. His Intercession By these three we come boldly to the Throne of Grace and pray to God through Iesus Christ. But if we pray to God through the Saints too and rely upon their 1. Merits 2. Satisfaction 3. And Intercession Is it not plain that we make them equal with Christ in kind though not in degree For it is publickly avowed and practis'd in the Church of Rome to rely upon the Saints Intercession and this intercession to be made valid by the Merits of the Saints We pray thee O S. Iude the Apostle that by thy Merits thou wouldst draw me from the custom of my sins and snatch me from the power of the Devil and advance me to the invisible powers and they say as much to others And for their Satisfactions the treasure of the Church for Indulgences is made up with them and the satisfactions of Chriâ—t So that there is nothing remaining of the honor due to Christ our Redeemer and our Confidence in him bâ—t the same in every kind is by the Church of Rome imputed to the Saints And therefore the very being and Oeconomy of Christianity is destroyed by these prayers and the people are not cannot be good Christians in these devotions and what hopes are laid up for them who repent to no purpose and pray with derogation to Christs honour is a matter of deepest consideration And therefore we desire our charges not to be seduc'd by little tricks and artifices of useless and laborious distinctions and protestations against evidence of fact and with fear and trembling to consider what God said by the Prophet My people have done two great evils they have forsaken me fortem vivum the strong and the living God fontem vivum so some copies read it the living fountain and have digged for themselves cisterns that is little phantastick helps that hold no water that give no refreshment or as S. Paul expresses it they worship and invocate the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the Creator so the word properly signifies and so it is us'd by the Apostle in other places And at least let us remember those excellent words of S. Austin Tutius jucundius loquar ad meum Iesum quà m ad aliquem sanctorum spirituum Dei I can speak safer and more pleasantly or chearfully to my Lord Jesus than to any of the Saints and Spirits of God For that we have Commandment for this we have none for that we have example in Scriptures for this we have none there are many promises made to that but to this there is none at all and therefore we cannot in faith pray to them or at all rely upon them for helps Which Consideration is greatly heightned by that prostitution of Devotion usual in the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— to every Upstart to every old and new Saint And although they have a story among themselves That it is ominous for a Pope to Canonize a Saint and he never survives it above a twelve-moneth as Pierre Mathieu observes in the instances of Clement the IV. and Adrian the VI. yet this hindeâ—s not but that they are tempted to do it frequently But concerning the thing it self the best we can say is what Christ said of the Samaritans They worship they know not what Such are S. Fingare S. Anthony of Padua S. Christopher Charles Borromaeus Ignatius Loyola Xaverius and many others of whom Cardinal Bessarion complain'd that many of them were such perâ—ons whose life he could not approve and such concerning whom they knew nothing but fâ—om their Parties and by pretended Revelations made to particular and hypochondriacal persons It is a famous saying of S. Gregory That the bodies of many persons are worshipped on Earth whose souls are tormented in Hell and Augustinus Triumphus affirms That all who are canonized by the Pope cannot be said to be in Heavenâ— And this matter is beyond dispute for Prateolus tells that Herman the Author of the Heresie of the Fratricelli was for twenty years together after his death honoured for a Saint but afterwards his body was taken up and burnt But then since as Ambrosius Catharinus and Vivaldus observe if one Saint be call'd in question then the rest may what will become of the Devotions which are paid to such Saints which have been canonized within these last five â—enturies Concerning whom we can have but slender evidence that they are in Heaven at all And therefore the Cardinal of Cambray Petrus de Alliaco wiâ—es that so many new Saints were not canoniz'd They are indeed so many that in the Church of Rome the Holy-days which are called their Greater Doubles are threescore and four besides the Feasts of Christ and our Lady and the Holy-days which they call Half double Festivals together with the Sundays are above one hundred and thirty So that besides many Holy-days kept in particular places there are in the whole year about two hundred Holy-days if we may believe their own Gavantus which besides that it is an intolerable burthen to the poor Labourer who must keep so many of them that on the rest he can scarce earn his bread they do also turn Religion into Superstition and habituate the people to idleness and disorderlyâ— Festivities and impious celebrations of the day with unchristian merriments and licentiousness We conclude this with those words of S. Paul How shall we call on him on whom we have not believed Christ said Ye believe in God believe also in me But he never said Ye have believed in me believe also in my Saints No For there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus And therefore we must come to God not by Saints but onely by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sect. X. THere is in the Church of Rome a horrible impiety taught and practised which so far as it goes must needs destroy that part of holy life which consists in the holiness of our Prayers and indeed is a Conjugation of Evils of such evils of which in the whole world a society of Christians should be least suspected we mean the infinite Superstitions and Incantations or Charms us'd by their Priests in their Exorcising possessed persons and conjuring of Devils There was an Ecclesiastical book called Ordo Baptizandi cum modo Visitandi printed at Venice A. D. 1575. in which there were damnable and diabolical â—harms insomuch that the Spanish Inquisitors in their Expurgatory Index printed at Madrid A. D. 1612. commanded deleatur tota exorcismus Luciferina cujus initium est Adesto Domine tui famuli that all that Luciferian Exorcism be blotted out But whoever looks into