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<DATE>2013-12-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Colm MacCrossan</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed.</ITEM>
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<BIBNO T="umi">99852702</BIBNO>
<VID>18039</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE ROCKES, OF CHRISTIAN SHIPWRACKE, Di&s;couered by the holy Church of CHRIST to her beloued Children, that they may keepe aloofe from them. WRITTEN IN ITALIAN BY THE MOST REVEREND FATHER, <HI>MARC ANT. DE DOMINIS,</HI> Archb. of Spalato, <HI>And thereout tran&s;lated into Engli&s;h.</HI></P>
<P><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>depiction of a fleet of ships sinking on rocks, and a fleet of ships afloat sailing towards a haloed female figure in the clouds</FIGDESC>
<HEAD><Q>CITO: LONGE: NVNQVAM.</Q></HEAD>
</FIGURE></P>
<P>LONDON, Printed by IOHN BILL. M.DC.XVIII.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>THE CHVRCH OF CHRIST TO HER MOST deare children wi&s;heth &s;auing health, and peace.</HEAD>
<P>_MY beloued children, If the &s;pi|rituall Wracke of Christian &s;oules could in the approach be &s;en&s;ibly di&s;cerned, it might of it &s;elfe &s;erue for a warning-marke, and all both eminent Rocks and vnder-water &s;helfs would be di&s;cried, and &s;o &s;hunned. But &s;o much the more dangerous, and per|nicious is that woefull &s;hipwrack, which &s;walloweth vp an infinite number of you, my deare children, in that tho&s;e, that vndergoe it, neither know, nor once all their life long heed this their owne ruine. Can I then your
<PB REF="3">dolorous Mother, can I brooke this mi&s;e|rable lo&s;se? can I &s;uffer &s;o many of my chil|dren to bee cast away? Noe, I cannot. Needs mu&s;t I impart the trueth vnto you; I am re&s;olued to hide nothing from you.</P>
<P>When in my yong &amp; first teeming daies I felt the wounds, and torments of Heathe|ni&s;h per&s;ecutions, very bitter, alas, was the angui&s;h of my &s;oule, to behold on all &s;ides &s;treaming riuers of the blood of my tender children &s;o impiou&s;ly &s;hed by mo&s;t cruel Ty|rants, &amp; per&s;ecutors of the faith of <HI>IESVS CHRIST</HI> my Spou&s;e, and Lord. No &s;oo|ner cea&s;ed the&s;e tyrannous per&s;ecutions, but I was be&s;et with other more dangerous af|flictions of Here&s;ies, whereby the bitternes of my &s;oule was more encrea&s;ed: In a&s;much|as that first kinde of per&s;ecution was onely outward, &s;laying the bodies of my children, but not hurting their &s;oules, nay rather much benefiting them. But this latter pier|ced
<PB REF="3">inward, destroying the &s;oules of many, and wounded my very heart, euen the faith of my Spou&s;e. At length the &s;torme of here|&s;ies was hu&s;hed; and &s;o I &s;ate me downe in peace, enioying a faire and goodly calme, whe~, <HI>behold,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38.17.</NOTE> <HI>my griefe was mo&s;t bitter in peace.</HI> Peace brought vpo~ me a greater bitternes then any of my former. The per|&s;ecutions of the Heathen, and the mu|tinies of the Heretiques were indeed a bit|ter &s;eruice to mee; but yet they both had their &s;weetning. For, by the former I was made a more fruitfull mother,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. Apol. aduer&s;. gent.</NOTE> <HI>The blood of the Martyrs being the &s;eed where|out more Chri&s;tians grew;</HI> and by oc|ca&s;ion of the latter my Officers, and Mini|&s;ters became the more watchfull, and fur|ni&s;hed them&s;elues with more &s;tore of know|ledge of &s;ound doctrine, and pure faith, and al&s;o fed my children with &s;o much the more exact &s;pirituall nouri&s;hment. But the bit|ternes,
<PB REF="4" MS="y">which mine owne Officers and &s;er|uants haue, by rea&s;on of peace, through their owne idlenes, brought vpon me, is be|come diuers ages &s;ince, but in the&s;e dayes more then euer, distastfull to me.</P>
<P>From the&s;e my Mini&s;ters comes this your &s;hipwrack; they haue &s;et in your way all the&s;e Rocks, &amp; Shelfes, &amp; Quick-&s;ands, wher|by &s;o many of you are ca&s;t away. Peace, and idlene&s;se haue beene my bane. As stan|ding-water in wells, ditches, and puddles through want of motion quickly corrupteth, and breedeth wormes, toades, &s;nakes, and other &s;uch vermine: &s;o peace, and idlene&s;se hath bin to my chiefe Mini&s;ters, Bi&s;hops, &amp; Prelates the cau&s;e of putrefaction. And &s;o they following the crooked bent of corrupt nature, and running a madding after their owne concupi&s;cences, haue first giuen ouer them&s;elues in prey to <HI>Auarice.</HI> &V;ery large haue bin of old the almes, and oblations of
<PB REF="4">faithfull, and very deuout people, for the maintayning of their &s;pirituall fathers Af|ter the&s;e followed the bounty of Emperours, and other Chri&s;tian Princes, and benefa|ctors; they, in their vnadui&s;ed deuotion hea|ping vpon me more and more riches, haue, I may &s;ay to you, brought my Ministers to a good pa&s;&s;e. For my part, I was at my high|e&s;t, and in best esteeme, whilest I went in a thinne coate, &s;uch as I was cladde withall when my Spou&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us</HI> betroathed him&s;elfe to me. My mo&s;t proper orna|ments, my true&s;t greatne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;teth, not in outward pompe, nor &s;uperfluous worldly commodities, but in &s;pirituall, and inward vertues. My beloued <HI>Dauid</HI> wrote con|cerning me,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.13.</NOTE> that <HI>the king's daughter is all-glorious within.</HI> And my worthy &s;onne St. <HI>Hierome</HI> hath noted concerning me, that,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hiero. de vita Malchi.</NOTE> <HI>after that I was entertained by Chri&s;tian Princes, I grew greater in
<PB REF="5">&s;tate, and wealth, but abated much in vertue.</HI> In thus &s;aying, (alas the while) hee came too neere the truth. Yet this was none of my fault: It was mine owne Mi|ni&s;ters, that haue brought this &s;car vpo~ me: e&s;pecially in that they, without my allow|ance, or weeting, haue diuided among them|&s;elues that &s;tocke of temporal goods, which, by my appointment, for diuers ages remay|ned in common, and whereout, by the pub|lique di&s;pen&s;ers, or stewards, dayly, or mo|nethly portions were wont to bee allotted to euery of tho&s;e my Ministers for their ne|ce&s;sary maintena~ce; but afterward by their <HI>Auarice</HI> properly was brought in. And I would to God they had there stayed, and contented them&s;elues with their parts &s;o a&s;|&s;igned to them: then had that bene tolera|ble, and now perhaps were nece&s;sary. But (as the gui&s;e of the couetous man is neuer to &s;ay hee hath enough) they haue gone on,
<PB REF="5" MS="y">inuenting new deui&s;es of purcha&s;e, though with the apparant danger of their owne, &amp; their peoples, my childrens, &s;oules, and to the no &s;mall hinderance of all kind of &s;pi|rituall gaine.</P>
<P>Hauing afforded &s;ome, but neuer full, content to <HI>Auarice,</HI> they, by the &s;way of naturall corruption, ca&s;t them&s;elues farther in prey to <HI>Ambition.</HI> They &s;aw them|&s;elues esteemed, and exalted by me, like fa|thers re&s;pected, reuerenced, and honored by my children: whereupon, forgetting that they were no other then my Ministers, and &s;eruants, and that their office, and charge was to &s;erue my children, rather then to command, (euen as they were taught by the example, and precept of my Spou&s;e, their and my Lord and Ma&s;ter, who <HI>came not to be mini&s;tred vnto,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>but to mini|&s;ter</HI>) they began to think &s;o highly of them|&s;elues, and to &s;well &s;o bigge with the conceit
<PB REF="6">of their office, that they pretended them|&s;elues to be Lords ouer my hou&s;e, and very Princes, and &s;o caried very &s;mall re&s;pect to me, who&s;e mini&s;ters, and &s;eruants they are. After that this Infernall &s;pirit of <HI>Ambition</HI> had entred into them, they now, not deigning any lo~ger to employ their ioynt paines in digging my vineyard, (which is the very office allotted the~ by my <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us</HI>) &s;et them&s;elues to contend with one another about Primacy, &amp; Ancestry, and one to domineere ouer the other, and to play the commander, as is well ob&s;erued, and de|clared by my <HI>Eu&s;ebius.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. hi&s;tor. lib. 8. cap. 1.</NOTE></P>
<P>The&s;e bee the two horrible wilde bea&s;ts, the&s;e the two mon&s;ters, namely <HI>Auarice</HI> and <HI>Ambition,</HI> which haue cast my Offi|cers headlong into very important errors, &s;o that, putting away a good con&s;cience, they haue al&s;o made &s;ome &s;hipwrack concerning the faith: And, that which is wor&s;e, to
<PB REF="6">boul&s;ter out their <HI>Couetou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>Ambition,</HI> they of their owne head, with|out my foreknowledge, or con&s;ent, nay to my great griefe, &amp; notwith&s;tanding my cea&s;e|le&s;&s;e reclaimes, and continuall protests a|gain&s;t the~, euen to the &s;topping of my mouth, by downe-right violence, they haue thru&s;t vpon the world their owne inuentions, and e&s;tabli&s;hed their owne ordinances, not drawne out of that Te&s;tament, which my Spou&s;e left to me, and them, namely the ho|ly Scriptures; but craftily hammered out of their owne capricious proiects, and ten|ding to the preiudice, downefall, and ruine of your poore &s;oules, my deare children. The&s;e their fancyfull deuices, and mon|&s;trous inuentions, brought in after tho&s;e many ages of my purity and &s;inglene&s;&s;e, were pa&s;t, the&s;e being founded vpon <HI>Aua|rice,</HI> and <HI>Ambition,</HI> and cunningly cou|ched vnder the water, yet &s;o that they &s;tand
<PB REF="7">neere the toppe of it, are the Rockes, and Shelfes, and Quick-&s;ands, vpon which full many a wracke is made in the chiefe&s;t parts of my Dominions.</P>
<P>Now therefore, my beloued children, e&s;pecially you, that finde your &s;elues, though to my di&s;honour and great preiudice, vnder the yoake of my daughter of <HI>Rome,</HI> I will di&s;couer to you all the&s;e Rockes, as I haue formerly di&s;couered them to diuer&s;e other my daughters, whereby they haue beene much &s;ecured from danger. Afford mee attention with diligence, for your part. I, for mine, prote&s;t in the pre&s;ence of my Spou&s;e, your Lord, and mine, and forwarne you, that from henceforth the &s;hipwrackes, which you &s;hall &s;uffer, &s;hall bee your owne fault, and not mine, if vpon vaine &s;cruples, or feares &s;ugge&s;ted by the diuell, and cheri|&s;hed by tho&s;e, who in name and profe&s;sion beare them&s;elues as my &s;eruants, but are
<PB REF="7">indeede my most deadly enemies, and re|bells against me, you &s;hall forbeare to open your eyes, and to bee aduerti&s;ed of tho&s;e dreadful Rocks, which for your euerla&s;ting good I heere compendiou&s;ly, as in a Sea|mappe, decipher out before your eyes, to the end that you, e&s;caping out of them, or rather keeping farre and wide from them, may euery of you guide the ve&s;&s;ell of his &s;oule with all &s;afetie to the hauen of eter|nall &s;aluation. Giue eare therefore to me. And although <HI>Coueti&s;e</HI> hath ri&s;en before <HI>Ambition,</HI> and giuen the fir&s;t blow to my Mini&s;ters; yet, fora&s;muchas <HI>Ambition</HI> hath been the fir&s;t of the two that hath built to your co&s;t, I will therefore beginne with the Rockes, which <HI>Ambition</HI> hath layd, and afterward will pa&s;&s;e to tho&s;e which grew out of <HI>Auarice.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="8">
<LIST>
<HEAD>THE FIRST PART hath the&s;e Rocks.</HEAD>
<ITEM>1 THE <HI>Papacie. Fol.</HI> 1.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2 <HI>Temporall power.</HI> 30.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3 <HI>Infolded faith.</HI> 38.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4 <HI>Exco~munication.</HI> 45.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5 <HI>The Co~mandements of the Church.</HI> 56.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6 <HI>Fal&s;e vnion.</HI> 69.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<HEAD>THE SECOND PART hath the&s;e Rocks.</HEAD>
<ITEM>1 THE <HI>Ma&s;&s;e. Fol.</HI> 73</ITEM>
<ITEM>2 <HI>Auricular, Confe&s;|&s;ion.</HI> 97.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3 <HI>Purgatory, together with Satisfactio~s and Indulgences.</HI> 117.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4 <HI>Inuocation of Saincts.</HI> 142.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5 <HI>Images and Re|liques.</HI> 148.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6 <HI>Merits.</HI> 158.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>PROVERB. 1.20.</BIBL>
<P>Wi&s;edome crieth without; &s;he vttereth her voice in the &s;treets. She crieth in the chiefe place of concour&s;e, in the opening of the gates, in the citie &s;he vttereth her words, &s;aying, How long, yee &s;imple ones, will yee loue &s;implicitie, and the &s;corners delight in &s;corning, and fooles hate knowledge? Turne you at my re|proofe; behold, I will powre out my Spirit vnto you, I will make knowen my words vnto you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="part">
<PB N="1" REF="8" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE FIRST PART. &para; <HI>The rockes, which are founded on Ambition.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD><HI>The fir&s;t Rocke:</HI> The Papacie.</HEAD>
<P>CHRIST my Lord, and Spou&s;e, <HI>the Sauiour of my body,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5. c 3.</NOTE> mine one|ly true, and liuing Head, as hee hath promi&s;ed to <HI>be with me al|way,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 28.20.</NOTE> <HI>euen vnto the ende of the world;</HI> &s;o he neuer would like, that I &s;hould ac|knowledge any other &s;pou&s;e, or Lord, or Head, then him&s;elfe. Indeed once he died, and that was to wa&s;h me with his owne blood, to make for me a vitall bath, and lauer of &s;aluation; but he quickly ro&s;e againe, and <HI>dieth no more,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>death hath no more dominion ouer him:</HI> and how&s;oeuer in his mo&s;t &s;acred manhood hee remaineth in heauen, farre di&s;tant from me in regard of bo|dily pre&s;ence; yet notwith&s;tanding by his Spi|rit hee is here vpon earth continually pre&s;ent with me; and &s;o by way of Head&s;hip, or Lord|&s;hip
<PB N="2" REF="9" MS="y">he hath no need of any Succe&s;&s;or, or Lieu|tenant, in that him&s;elfe, being mine owne, and onely Head, doeth infu&s;e into me all vigor, all motion, and all direction, which I, being his Body, receiue from him, being &s;uch an Head, as is not dead, but liuing, not &s;euered from mee, but &s;till growing to me. What need then haue I of a vi&s;ible Head? What&s;oeuer an head v&s;u|ally doeth, or can do to its owne body materi|ally, all that is &s;piritually wrought in me by my Chri&s;t, and that with abundant &s;ufficiencie. I am indeed a body, but rather an inui&s;ible and &s;pirituall one, then vi&s;ible, and materiall: in re|gard whereof my imployments are for the mo&s;t part &s;pirituall, and inui&s;ible. And there|fore I haue need of &s;uch an Head, as, by his &s;pi|rituall and inui&s;ible influence, may keepe mee in life, and gouerne mee, and furni&s;h mee with &s;trength for my performances. In this be|halfe a vi&s;ible head can &s;tead me iu&s;t nothing. And as for that &s;mall deale of vi&s;ibilitie, and outwardne&s;&s;e, which concerneth me in this world, I haue no need, in that behalfe, of any head for influence, but of a Mini&s;tery onely for execution, which is very &s;ufficient for mee. So haue I need of vi&s;ible hands and feet, but
<PB N="3" REF="9" MS="y">not of a vi&s;ible head; ina&s;much as that, which is to be wrought vi&s;ibly, and outwardly in me, is fully, and completely performed by the one|ly Mini&s;tery of my members, without any proper office of an Head.</P>
<P>Hence was it that my Chri&s;t, as &s;oone as he e&s;pou&s;ed me, did appoint me diuers Mini&s;ters, who in my vi&s;ible employments &s;hould all of them &s;erue my turne, but as members onely, and not as an Head. Of this the fir&s;t were the twelue Apo&s;tles, who were no other then meere Mini&s;ters both vnto Chri&s;t, and to me al&s;o, not ma&s;ters, nor Heads properly &s;o called. Neither was it his plea&s;ure, that any of them &s;hould be &s;et ouer me, as a proper Head, or as a Lord, or Ma&s;ter in any wi&s;e: but his appoint|ment was, that, vnder him&s;elfe my onely King, Lord, Ma&s;ter, and hu&s;band, I &s;hould be left, as Lady and Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e ouer all his, and my Mini|&s;ters, or &s;eruants: which is acknowledged by <HI>S. Paul</HI> &s;tiling him&s;elfe <HI>my Mini&s;ter.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.25.</NOTE> As indeed were likewi&s;e all the other Apo&s;tles, euen <HI>S. Pe|ter</HI> him&s;elfe; who auoucheth as much,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Actes 1.17.</NOTE> while&s;t hee calleth his Apo&s;tle&s;hip <HI>a Mini&s;tery.</HI> And &s;urely he neuer had, nor profe&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe to haue any &s;uch Head&s;hip, or Lord&s;hip ouer me,
<PB N="4" REF="10" MS="y">but was enterteined in my &s;eruice only, as were the re&s;t al&s;o. Neither can it euer be found, that Chri&s;t committed to S. Peter any greater, or o|ther charge, dignitie, iuri&s;diction or authority, then to the other Apo&s;tles, who all, and euery of them were, by the in&s;titution of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, ab&s;olutely equall in all charge and of|fice, which they bare in re&s;pect of me. Nay, my Spou&s;e was &s;o farre from affoording to any of them a pretended title of greatne&s;&s;e aboue the re&s;t of his fellowes, that, when as they diuers times ca&s;t out words among them&s;elues, and di&s;puted concerning Soueraigntie, he alwayes checked them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.26.</NOTE> and would haue them to re|maine as brethren, and ioyntly to attend his &s;eruice, and mine, and to keep them&s;elues from affecting dominion, either ouer me, or among them&s;elues. And when he tooke his leaue of them at his departure vp into heauen, they &s;till dreaming on this idle fanta&s;ie, and asking him whether he would then <HI>re&s;tore the Kingdome to I&s;rael,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Actes 1.6.</NOTE> (namely, that hereby they might know which of them &s;hould bee exalted aboue the re&s;t) they had the repul&s;e of him in this be|halfe, with intimation that they &s;hould attend, and that ioyntly with equall charge and office,
<PB N="5" REF="10">no other thing, then to be <HI>throughout the world witne&s;&s;es vnto him of his re&s;urrection.</HI> Certes, if euer there were a time for him to &s;peake plaine, and to declare, that hee left in his roome his Lieutenant Peter, or &s;ome other, to bee their, and mine Head, then mo&s;t of all it behooued, when in regard of his bodily pre&s;ence he gaue them his farewell: and yet he then recommen|ded me, his Spou&s;e, to them all together ioynt|ly, and equally, that they might employ their attendance on me:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hane &s;pon&s;am &s;uis amicis &s;pon&s;us abiens commendauit.</HI> Aug. cont. 2. Gaud. epi&s;t. lib. 2. cap. 12.</NOTE> Which is well ob&s;erued by my holy doctor <HI>S Augu&s;tine.</HI></P>
<P>There was no rea&s;on for it, nor decencie in it, that I, beeing his Spou&s;e, and an vniuer&s;all Mother, &s;hould bee domineered ouer, and lor|ded by any one of mine owne members, mine owne &s;onnes, nay mine owne &s;eruants. As for my <HI>Peter,</HI> certainly he neither exerci&s;ed, nor e|uer chalenged any &s;uch &s;oueraignety ouer me, or ouer his Collegues, and fellowes; neither did he pretend to be an vniuer&s;all Pope, or on|ly Vicar-generall of Chri&s;t. One of the fir&s;t actions of employment about me, after the a&s;|cent of my Spou&s;e into heauen, was the orday|ning of Deacons, which &s;hould take care of the widowes, and poore. And this action was
<PB N="6" REF="11">neither performed, nor gouerned by Saint Pe|ter, but by all the twelue Apo&s;tles ioyntly. This being my perpetuall ordinance,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Actes 6.2.</NOTE> as I haue receiued it from my Spou&s;e, that my Mini&s;ters, and Officers all together ioyntly &s;hould treat concerning the externall good guidance of my family: So likewi&s;e, when there were &s;ome to bee &s;ent into <HI>Samaria,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Actes 8.14.</NOTE> to fini&s;h the good worke of their conuer&s;ion, Saint Peter was &s;o farre from taking vpon him to &s;end whom hee plea&s;ed, that hee him&s;elfe was by the whole bo|dy of the Apo&s;tles cho&s;en and &s;ent thither, as one of the many. When the fir&s;t controuer&s;ie, brake out in <HI>Antioch</HI> concerning the ob&s;eruati|on of the ancient Iudaicall Ceremonies, to whom did <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Barnabas</HI> thinke they ought to haue recour&s;e, for certaine re&s;olution in that point? Surely if Chri&s;t had left Saint Peter his Vicar, they ought to haue addre&s;&s;ed them&s;elues to him principally; yet did they &s;ay among them&s;elues, and re&s;olue, that it be|hooued them to goe vp to Ieru&s;alem, to con|&s;ult <HI>about this que&s;tion with the Apo&s;tles,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Actes 15.2.</NOTE> <HI>and Elders</HI> of that City. Which accordingly was done: and there was gathered a Councel, and that &s;um|moned, and ordered, not by <HI>Peter</HI> alone, but
<PB N="7" REF="11" MS="y">the Apo&s;tles, of them&s;elues, ioyntly met toge|ther, with the Elders al&s;o. And how&s;oeuer Saint <HI>Peter</HI> (as the mo&s;t &s;tept in age, and the mo&s;t ancient Apo&s;tle, and much re&s;pected by the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles) was the fir&s;t that de|liuered his opinion; yet Saint <HI>Iames</HI> pro&s;ecu|ting the &s;ame, did further adde of his owne, &amp; did &s;trike vp the matter. And the publique letters, di&s;patched in that behalfe, were not &s;ti|led in the name of Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> but of all the A|po&s;tles, and Elders in common. Neither was it a &s;leight checke, or reproofe, wherewith St. Paul openly tooke vp Saint Peter,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Galat. 2.11.</NOTE> for halting in the in&s;truction of the faithfull: which hee might doe; beeing the Apo&s;tles were, in their office, and care of my affaires, all of them e|quall, and euen brothers among them&s;elues.</P>
<P>And how&s;oeuer yee read in the Go&s;pell, that Chri&s;t &s;aid to Peter, <HI>Thou art Peter,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 16.18.</NOTE> <HI>and vpon this rocke will I build my Church,</HI> yet are ye not there|fore to deeme, that Peter had hereby com|mitted vnto him any dominion, or command ouer mee, or that hee was entru&s;ted with a lar|ger cure, then the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles. For, the&s;e words (according to the interpretation of them communicated to me by the &s;pirit of
<PB N="8" REF="12" MS="y">my Spou&s;e, and declared by my mo&s;t &s;incere, pure, and holy Doctors) import, that that con|fe&s;&s;ion, made by Saint Peter, &s;aying, <HI>Thou art Chri&s;t the Sonne of the liuing God,</HI> mu&s;t bee that Rocke, whereon was to bee grounded that faith, which is indeed my foundation and &s;up|porter. By this Rocke is al&s;o vnder&s;tood he, whom Peter confe&s;&s;ed, euen <HI>Christ,</HI> who is my true foundation, whereon, and not on Peter, I was built: for, if Peter had bene my founda|tion, certes more then once &s;hould I haue fal|len by his falls.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 26.70.</NOTE> But if any man will pre&s;&s;e yet further,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Galat. 2.12.</NOTE> that <HI>Christ</HI> doth in the&s;e words promi&s;e that I &s;hould bee built vpon Peter, let him vn|der&s;tand withall, that to build my hou&s;e is no|thing el&s;e, but to get and prouide <HI>petras,</HI> &s;tones, and to reare them vp in my walles; that is to &s;ay, to preach the Go&s;pell, to conuert the vn|beleeuers, and to bring them home to mee. And fora&s;much as Peter was to bee, of all the twelue (or rather by the default of <HI>Iudas,</HI> eleuen) Apo&s;tles, the mo&s;t feruent, and mo&s;t diligent in conuerting a many of &s;oules, therefore to him, as to a principall Mini&s;ter, and Builder, there was a prediction made of the worke, which hee was to performe, and that I was to
<PB N="9" REF="12" MS="y">be built vpon him; namely that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> had e&s;peciall confidence in his care, for the buil|ding of my hou&s;e, as being more zealous then the other ten Apo&s;tles. But it followeth not thence, that hee was the onely builder, or that hee was cho&s;en for the onely <HI>Architect,</HI> or Chiefe-builder: for, the other Apo&s;tles al&s;o were Ma&s;teres of this Art, and laid to their hands for the rearing vp of my Fabrique, and in &s;peciall, Saint <HI>Paul laboured more abundantly,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 15.10.</NOTE> <HI>then they all,</HI> and &s;o &s;urpa&s;&s;ed, euen Saint <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe, in edifying me, and hath acquit him|&s;elfe for a <HI>&s;kifull Ma&s;ter-builder.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 3.10.</NOTE></P>
<P>In like maner, when ye heare it &s;aid to Saint <HI>Peter,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 16.19.</NOTE> <HI>I will giue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen, and what&s;oeuer thou &s;halt bind vpon earth, &s;hall bee bound in heauen, and what&s;oeuer thou &s;halt loo&s;e on earth, &s;hall bee loo&s;ed in heauen;</HI> yee are to remember, that the &s;ame was al&s;o &s;poken to all the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles. So likewi&s;e, though the keyes were promi&s;ed to <HI>Peter,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.18.</NOTE> yet it was neuer &s;aid to him, I will giue the keyes to thee onely. And when this promi&s;e was perfor|med, it was accompli&s;hed, not in <HI>Peter</HI> onely, but in all the Apo&s;tles ioyntly, when <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;ayd to them, <HI>Goe, and teach all nations.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 28.19. Ioh. 20.21.</NOTE> <HI>As my fa|ther
<PB N="10" REF="13" MS="y">&s;ent me, &s;o &s;end I you:</HI> namely with the &s;ame authority, and power, but yet mini&s;teriall in you, which is principall in me. What power therefore had <HI>Peter,</HI> other then that, which all the re&s;t had, to whom <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> imparted his owne power? Moreouer, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> gaue the keyes to them all, as al&s;o the power of binding, and loo&s;ing, when he &s;aid ioyntly to all, <HI>Who&s;oeuers &s;innes yee remit,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 21.23.</NOTE> <HI>they are remitted vnto them: and who&s;oeuer &s;ins yee retaine, they are retained.</HI> There|fore Saint <HI>Peter</HI> had no other part in my &s;er|uice, nor other power, then the re&s;t of the A|po&s;tles had.</P>
<P>La&s;tly,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 21.15.</NOTE> if it was &s;aid to <HI>Peter, Feed my &s;heepe and my lambes:</HI> know yee likewi&s;e, that feeding is principally preaching, in&s;tructing, and ad|mini&s;tering the Sacraments. All which was committed to all the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Goe and teach all nations, baptizing them &amp;c. As my Father &s;ent me, &s;o &s;end I you.</HI> Nor did <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;ay to <HI>Peter;</HI> Bee thou the only &s;heepeheard of my &s;heepe: But he, by a &s;peciall application, thus be&s;pake him, to feed his &s;heepe, that hee might comfort, en|courage, and reuiue him, whom hee &s;aw then ca&s;t downe with griefe, for hauing &s;o lately &s;hewed him&s;elfe a Renegate, whereupon hee
<PB N="11" REF="13">might with good rea&s;on mi&s;doubt him&s;elfe, to haue lap&s;ed from his Apo&s;tle&s;hip. But <HI>Christ</HI> recomforteth him by this his &s;peach, as &s;aying to him, I re&s;tore thee to thy Apo&s;tle|&s;hip, and, in recompence of thy crime in ba&s;e deniall of mee, I now enioyne thee the more zeale, and charity in feeding, and attending my poore flock; and therefore, in lieu of thy thrice denying mee, I will, that thou thrice confe&s;&s;e thy loue to mee: and &s;o I recommend this of|fice to thee in a more &s;peciall manner, euen by way of penance, which in general I haue com|mitted al&s;o to the re&s;t ioyntly: but to them I do not redouble my charge, becau&s;e they haue not as thou, denied me. And euen this he re|quired of him, when hee foretold his fall, and &s;aid to him, <HI>I haue prayed for thee,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22 32.</NOTE> <HI>that thy faith faile not: therefore, when thou art conuerted, &s;trengthen thy brethren.</HI> That is to &s;ay, if thou &s;halt &s;ee the faithfull, which hereafter &s;hall be|leeue in me, to fall &s;ometimes by weakene&s;&s;e and infirmity, it is your part to animate, and &s;trengthen them by your owne example, whom beeing fallen I haue ray&s;ed vp againe: and with this care of co~firming thy brethren, I burthen thee in &s;pecial more then the re&s;t; for
<PB N="12" REF="14" MS="y">that thou by thine en&s;ample can&s;t doe this, whereas others are like to doe that office by their exhortations onely, and not by &s;o liuely an example of their owne.</P>
<P>And if any doubt ari&s;e in your mindes vp|on <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> &s;peaking onely to <HI>Peter</HI> in the pre|&s;ence of the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles, and of &s;uch things, as were to bee imparted vnto all, and if thereupon yee &s;hould &s;urmi&s;e, that he did this to intimate heereby to the re&s;t <HI>Peter's</HI> Soue|raignety ouer them, as if hee were to bee the <HI>Cheife,</HI> and ordinary Pa&s;tor, and all the re&s;t as his adiutors, and a&s;&s;i&s;tants, you mu&s;t awake out of this error. Verely <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> neuer had any &s;uch purpo&s;e, or intention, nor (as I haue pro|ued) can he now &s;uffer any &s;uch con&s;truction: neither did euer any &s;uch interpretation come into my head. But well may yee know, that, in this action, not any &s;uch Primacy of <HI>Peter,</HI> but other my&s;teries are included, which bee the&s;e:</P>
<P><HI>Christ</HI> giuing charge concerning that, which was to bee committed equally to them all,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. de vnit. Eccle&s;.</NOTE> yet directeth his &s;peech onely to one, that it might hence be gathered, that I, his Spou&s;e, was to be but one, and that they &s;hould not imagine that
<PB N="13" REF="14">euery of them might make a &s;euerall foundati|on of their owne, by &s;chi&s;mes, and diui&s;ions, but that their ioynt labours &s;hould bring forth one, and the &s;ame worke, namely mee, beeing one, and the &s;ame Church. And this is Saint <HI>Cyprian's</HI> interpretation.</P>
<P><HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in &s;peaking onely with <HI>Peter,</HI> doth appoint him, as the Head in order, and the Pre|&s;ident of the Apo&s;tolique Colledge, which is a dignitie, and preheminence, not of authori|ty, nor iuri&s;diction, but onely of ranke, and ti|tle; that thereby the Apo&s;tolicall Company might attaine to a perfect collectiue vnity, &s;uch as is in a Collegiate-Chapter with their Deane, or in a Senate with their Pre&s;ident; and that heereby the Apo&s;tles might gather, how well vnity did plea&s;e their Ma&s;ter, in that, hee &s;peaking to <HI>Peter</HI> onely,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hieron. l.</HI> 1. <HI>aduer&s;. Iouin.</HI></NOTE> as to the Head in or|der, and Foreman of that Society, they &s;hould in no wi&s;e fall a&s;under in diui&s;ions, but keepe them&s;elues in perfect vnion, and &s;o, holding all together, they might the better &s;et them&s;elues to tend me, who am but one. And thus Saint <HI>Hierome</HI> expoundeth it.</P>
<P>Onely <HI>Peter</HI> was &s;poken to, as beeing my type, and repre&s;enting mee. <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> did then
<PB N="14" REF="15">treat with him, as with my Proctor, or Atur|ney: and &s;o when <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> deliuered him the keyes, he tooke &s;ey &s;in of them, not to his owne priuate v&s;e, but to mine, and in the name of the publique. For, there were then included, and repre&s;ented in <HI>Peter,</HI> all my Prelates pre&s;ent, or &s;ucceeding: and &s;o in the name of them al, and to the v&s;e of them all he both receiued the keies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug. de Agon. Chri&s;t. c.</HI> 30. <HI>&amp; in p&s;alm.</HI> 108. <HI>&amp; in Io. tract.</HI> 124. <HI>&amp;c. Ambr. de dig. Sacerd. c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> and the charge of feeding my flocke, and buil|ding my hou&s;e. Not that he had liberty to be|&s;tow tho&s;e keyes at his plea&s;ure, or to appro|priate them to any one, whom he would make his &s;ucce&s;&s;or: but that I, in his per&s;on, did then take them to the v&s;e of my Prelates. Like as an Atturney taking Liuery and &s;ei&s;in for an incorporation, doth not receiue it as an owner, or di&s;po&s;er, nor hath thereby authority to doe his plea&s;ure with it, but by this Attornement the right, and property inureth to the Body or Society repre&s;ented. And, as for the per|&s;on of <HI>Peter,</HI> he receiued indeede the keyes for him&s;elfe al&s;o, ina&s;much as him&s;elfe was one of them, in who&s;e name he tooke them: And this is Saint <HI>Augustine's</HI> iudgement.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, Chri&s;t maketh this conference with <HI>Peter</HI> onely, that all Prelates, ca&s;ting their eye
<PB N="15" REF="15">on Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> might from him take a iu&s;t mo|dell and patterne of gentlene&s;&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Leo. Serm.</HI> 3. <HI>de &s;u. A&s;&s;ump.</HI></NOTE> and other E|pi&s;copall vertues: Which is the expo&s;ition of Saint <HI>Leo.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e, and other like my&s;teries haue I al|wayes vnder&s;tood concerning this action of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> with <HI>Peter:</HI> but that therein &s;hould be compri&s;ed any Soueraignety, or Papacy, or commi&s;&s;ion for the only ordinary Pa&s;tor&s;hip, there hath not bin in all my hou&s;e, for the fir&s;t fiue hundreth yeeres, any one found &s;o idle, as to dreame of &s;uch an inuention.</P>
<P>And though I &s;hould bee &s;o prodigall, as to grant, that which I haue &s;hewed to bee mo&s;t fal&s;e, namely that Saint <HI>Peter</HI> was ordained by Chri&s;t an vniuer&s;all Pope ouer mee, yet what hath the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> to doe with St. <HI>Peter?</HI> The holy Scriptures giue-in no euidence at all, that euer <HI>Peter</HI> was at Rome. Onely humane hi&s;tories report it. And as for diuine Records, they plainely &s;hew, that he departed not from the coa&s;ts of Iudea till the fiftieth yeere of our Lord. Thereafter wee finde in the Eccle&s;ia|&s;tique hi&s;tories, that before his going into the We&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. in Pet.</NOTE> hee preached the Go&s;pell in the Ea&s;terne parts, in Pontus, Cappadocia, A&s;ia, Bythinia,
<PB N="16" REF="16" MS="y">&amp;c. for the &s;pace of diuers yeeres; and that hee &s;uffered martyrdome in <HI>Rome,</HI> about the &s;ixty eight yeere of our Lord. It is not po&s;&s;ible there|fore, that he could haue bene Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> &s;o long as fifteene yeeres, much le&s;&s;e twenty fiue: Which &s;pace of time is very vnadui&s;edly a&s;&s;igned him by &s;ome pa&s;&s;able ancient writers.</P>
<P>But, to omit the&s;e arguments from compu|tation, &s;uerely neither Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> nor any o|ther Apo&s;tle was euer made Bi&s;hop of any par|ticular City, whereto his &s;eat might be entay|led by a perpetuity. This is repugnant to the very office of Apo&s;tle&s;hip, which was by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> their Chiefe Lord in&s;tituted an order of profe&s;&s;ed <HI>errants</HI> throughout the whole world, when he gaue them their commi&s;&s;ion,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth 28.19. Mar. 16.15.</NOTE> to <HI>Goe and teach all Nations,</HI> and <HI>to preach the Go&s;pell to euery creature,</HI> that is to &s;ay, to all men where&s;o|euer throughout the world. They had no po|wer therefore to fix them&s;elues on any particu|lar place, nor to binde them&s;elues to it, but their duty was to attend the enlargement of my tents,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>beginning from Ieru&s;alem, to the vtmo&s;t parts of the earth:</HI> and when they had founded any particular Church, and vnited it to me the vniuer&s;all Mother, they were then to pa&s;&s;e on
<PB N="17" REF="16">for new plantations. Who therefore is &s;o har|dy, as to coope vp Saint <HI>Peter</HI> at Rome, and to binde him to a particular Bi&s;hopricke there till the day of his death? And if hee fini&s;hed his cour&s;e at Rome, certainely hee died not with the title of Bi&s;hop of Rome, but of an vniuer|&s;all Apo&s;tle. For, neither that, nor any other <HI>See</HI> could be cho&s;en by him, as proper to him, beeing by his function, and calling to pa&s;&s;e to and fro through the world. But if hee ended his life in any heatheni&s;h place, where, as then, there was no Church planted, who then was to be his &s;ucce&s;&s;or in the Papacie? It is there|fore a groundle&s;&s;e, and idle a&s;&s;ertion, to name per&s;onall &s;ucce&s;&s;ors to any of the Apo&s;tles; whenas none of them all was a locall Bi&s;hop, (for, as for Iames Bi&s;hop of Ieru&s;alem,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Con&s;tit. Apo&s;t. lib.</HI> 6. <HI>c</HI> 14. <HI>&amp; Doroth. in &s;ynop&s;i &amp;c.</HI></NOTE> hee was none of the twelue Apo&s;tles, but a Di&s;ciple be|&s;ide that number) and therfore all Bi&s;hops &s;uc|ceed all the Apo&s;tles <HI>in Solidum,</HI> that is to &s;ay, euery particular Bi&s;hop, what&s;oeuer hee bee, holdeth the place, and office of the Apo&s;tles, who by Chri&s;t's in&s;titution committed their charge, and office to the Bi&s;hops, and tho&s;e to other Bi&s;hops, and &s;o to others by continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion till the end of the world; and that
<PB N="18" REF="17">by vertue euen of tho&s;e words of <HI>Christ</HI> to the Apo&s;tles.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io. 20.</NOTE> <HI>As the Father hath &s;ent me, &s;o I &s;end you.</HI> That is to &s;ay, As the Father hath giuen mee power to &s;end you, &s;oe I giue power to you to &s;end others, and to giue them likewi&s;e the &s;ame mi&s;&s;iue power, which I giue you, and the Fa|ther hath giuen me. And hereupon it follow|eth, that euery Bi&s;hop, in re&s;pect of the diuine in&s;titution, hath the very Apo&s;tolicall power, that is, <HI>vniuer&s;all</HI> in habite, or generall qualifi|cation, which he is enabled to exerci&s;e actual|ly in any part of the world. But, in regard of my re&s;treining precept, for the auoyding of di&s;order, and confu&s;ion, there are long &s;ince limitations &s;et downe, and particular di&s;tincti|ons of euery ones Dioce&s;&s;e. Now therefore, when as there is no per&s;onall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion vnto any of the Apo&s;tles, who can fetch his claime from <HI>Peter?</HI> who from Iohn? who from any other of the Apo&s;tles? Nay, if &s;uch plea were good, there could not bee aboue 12. or at the mo&s;t 13. Bi&s;hops in the world. And to afford per&s;onall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion to <HI>Peter</HI> onely, with deni|all of it to all the re&s;t, is to beate the aire with idle words, and to goe again&s;t the Scriptures.</P>
<P>Certeinely for a thou&s;and yeeres and more,
<PB N="19" REF="17">I neuer heard in all my family from the mouth, or penne of any pious and holy Author, that the Bi&s;hop of Rome was acknowledged for an Vniuer&s;all Pope. Indeed the Bi&s;hops of Rome them&s;elues haue endeuoured to make me an vnderling, and to put me vnder their feete, and to make them&s;elues my Head, and Lord, and Ma&s;ter, with great wrong to my true, and one|ly Head, Lord, and Spou&s;e CHRIST IESVS: but they haue long attempted it in vaine. For they haue met with &s;tout oppo&s;itions. St. <HI>Poly|crates</HI> a mo&s;t holy Bi&s;hop of A&s;ia did &s;trongly oppo&s;e <HI>S. Victor B. of Rome. S. Irenaeus</HI> B. of Li|ons did the like; and this befell neere the times of the Apo&s;tles.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cypr. l.</HI> 1. <HI>ep.</HI> 3. <HI>&amp; l.</HI> 3. <HI>op.</HI> 13. <HI>Apud. Cypr. ep.</HI> 74. <HI>Pamel.</HI></NOTE> <HI>S. Cyprian</HI> beareth him&s;elfe as a companion, and Colleague with <HI>S. Steuen, and S. Cornelius</HI> both Bi&s;hops of Rome, euen in the Vniuer&s;all gouernment of the Church; and &s;pareth not to hold his owne again&s;t them. <HI>S. Firmilian</HI> B. of Ce&s;area in Cappadocia handleth the &s;ame Steuen of Rome very homely, and &s;etteth nought by his excommunications.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eu&s;eb. l.</HI> 7. <HI>c.</HI> 4. <HI>Iulij Epist. ad Orientales &amp; Socrat. l.</HI> 7. <HI>c.</HI> 5. <HI>&amp; Sozom. l.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 5 <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> The Church hi&s;tories are plentiful in &s;hewing, how lightly <HI>S. Iulius,</HI> though B. of Rome, was ouer|pa&s;&s;ed by the Bi&s;hops of the Ea&s;t, and by the Councell of <HI>Antioch,</HI> (which, for the more part
<PB N="20" REF="18" MS="y">of it, was Catholique, and Orthodoxe) for no le&s;&s;e matter, then that he would make him&s;elfe an Vniuer&s;all Iudge, euen in the cau&s;es of the Ea&s;terne Church, and yet in the end hee was faine to &s;it downe, and be quiet. The Councell of <HI>Nice</HI> acknowledgeth not the B.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Con. Nic. can.</HI> 6</NOTE> of Rome for any other, then one of the three then <HI>Patri|archs,</HI> who had their limited iuri&s;dictions: &s;o al&s;o doeth the fir&s;t Councell of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and the Councell of <HI>Chalcedon.</HI> None of the ancient fathers my deare&s;t children, for the &s;pace of 600. yeeres together, hath any the lea&s;t impre&s;&s;ion of the Romane Papacie; by whom the B. of Rome was neuer taken for other, then at the mo&s;t for <HI>Patriarch</HI> of the We&s;t. The A|fricane Church (in tho&s;e dayes one of my mo&s;t noble daughters,) affronted the Romane Church, and would not in any wi&s;e, that &s;he &s;hould exerci&s;e any power ouer her in the or|dering of the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall policie; and went &s;o farre, as in open Councels to re&s;i&s;t her, in which euen the renowned <HI>S. Augustine</HI> bare his part. The like hath bene many times practi&s;ed by the Churches of <HI>Rauenna,</HI> of <HI>Aquilege,</HI> &amp; of <HI>Milan.</HI> And <HI>S. Gregory</HI> in oppo&s;ing the title of Vniuer&s;al Bi&s;hop in the Patriarch of Con&s;tan|tinople,
<PB N="21" REF="18">mu&s;t needs oppugne the &s;ame in the Romane al&s;o by force of very &s;trong argu|ments.</P>
<P>It is to no purpo&s;e therefore to &s;eeke here vpon earth one Vicar-generall for my Spou&s;e Chri&s;t, who hath no need of a &s;ucce&s;&s;our or Vicar, ina&s;much as he is head of my body, and his Spirit is &s;ufficient for me, onely Mini&s;ters, and labourers are needfull for him, and for me: and tho&s;e were, fir&s;t the ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tles, and after them their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors. So that, in re&s;pect of labouring, and working, and &s;etting right al&s;o the externall gouernment of my family,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cypr. l.</HI> 4. <HI>ep.</HI> 3. <HI>&amp; l.</HI> 3. <HI>ep.</HI> 13. <HI>&amp; de Simpl. Prae. lat. Ambr. in</HI> 1. <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> 11. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t. hom.</HI> 17. <HI>in Mat. &amp;c.</HI></NOTE> tho&s;e Apo&s;tles all ioyntly, and <HI>in &s;olidum,</HI> (as S. Cyprian expre&s;ly affirmeth) hold the place of Chri&s;t, and are equally his Vicars, but in labou|ring, and working for my behoofe: and all Bi&s;hops likewi&s;e are with very good rea&s;on by my holy doctors, &s;tyled by this title of <HI>Christs Vicars,</HI> and not S. <HI>Peter</HI> onely. And &s;o in re|&s;pect of my true Head, and Spou&s;e, I am vnder a perfect Monarchie: but as for the worke of my Mini&s;ters, they performe their office in a kind of Ari&s;tocratie, without any Monarchie at all among&s;t them. They are like a company of workemen, which haue vndertaken a large
<PB N="22" REF="19" MS="y">Vineyard, euery man his parcell: or like a troope of many &s;hepheards all &s;eruants of one great Shepheard, who percel out among them|&s;elues the feeding of a very great flocke, where|of there is one intire Lord, and Ma&s;ter, that onely <HI>grand Sheepheard.</HI> And &s;urely when the owner of a vineyard hireth many laborers to dig it, hee doth not giue any dominion, or iuri&s;diction to any of them, ouer either the vineyard, or their fellow-workemen; and, if it be his plea&s;ure to appoint any to a&s;&s;i&s;t the workemen, and to direct them in their labors, either hee commeth among them him&s;elfe in per&s;on, or &s;endeth one of his &s;onnes, or his fa|ctor, or deputy, who&s;e office then mu&s;t bee, not to delue, and toyle with the re&s;t of the la|bourers, but only to ouer&s;ee, and to prouide, that they doe their taske. I pray you aske Saint <HI>Peter</HI> whether he were hyred by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> to bee a labourer in his vineyard, or to bee a &s;urueyor. Verely hee will an&s;were you, that he was one of the labourers, and diggers in my vineyard, and not a factor, or &s;urueyor, or deputy. His office therefore was, not to command others, but to worke him&s;elfe.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 9.9. 1. Tim. 5.18.</NOTE> For, all the Apo&s;tles were <HI>Oxen</HI> for the plough and <HI>for treading out
<PB N="23" REF="19">the corne:</HI> nor would Saint <HI>Peter</HI> haue &s;uffered his necke to bee withdrawne from this yoake. Let not therefore the Bi&s;hoppe of Rome thus without all ground vaunt him&s;elfe for the one|ly Vicar of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> nor vnder this title (equally common to all other Bi&s;hops with him) keepe me downe, and oppre&s;&s;e me, and together with me all my children.</P>
<P>Nor may you &s;uffer your &s;elues to bee delu|ded by a fal&s;e, but very common, imagination, that it behoueth me to haue one vi&s;ible Head, and one vniuer&s;all Gouernor. For, in &s;uch ca|&s;es, as this, yee are not to &s;et downe for good, that, which mens fancies doe conceaue; but ye are to haue an eye to that, which <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him|&s;elfe hath ordayned. And fora&s;much as he, as I haue &s;hewed, will bee my onely Head, and &s;ole Commander; and, for externall manage|ments, hath appointed that his laborers &s;hould among them&s;elues in common, and <HI>in &s;olidum,</HI> without Monarchy, in a kinde of Ari&s;tocrati|call forme, ioyne together, for the directing of my affaires, by way of Synods and Councels, as nece&s;&s;ity &s;hall require; therefore one &s;u|preme vi&s;ible Head ouer me neither is nece&s;&s;a|ry, nor was euer ordayned, nor is de&s;ired. And
<PB N="24" REF="20">if &s;o many temporall E&s;tates in this world are &s;ufficiently gouerned, without a Monarch, in a Democraticall, or Ari&s;tocratical forme, why doe ye &s;uffer your braines to be pe&s;tered with a fal&s;e imaginary nece&s;&s;ity of hauing a meere man to bee the Monarchicall gouernour ouer my hou&s;e? and con&s;ider not what a woe ca&s;e I were in, if I &s;hould hang on the &s;leeue of one man, who hath no priuiledge again&s;t any er|ror, or mi&s;ery.</P>
<P>Perhaps yee will aske mee, how then crept the Papacy into Rome, where now it carieth &s;o high a &s;ayle? whereto I am &s;ure, that, whil&s;t I was a yong, and &s;mall tenderling, both the Apo&s;tles, and likewi&s;e tho&s;e Bi&s;hoppes, which immediatly &s;ucceeded them, did indifferently, without any ielou&s;ie of concurring iuri&s;dicti|ons, or affectation of &s;oueraignety, agree toge|ther in the ordeining of other Bi&s;hoppes, and Mini&s;ters, and committing to them the prea|ching of the Go&s;pel and planting throughout the world new particular Churches. Which yong daughters of mine beeing thus multipli|ed, and inlarging mee farre and neere, the ne|ce&s;&s;ity of preuenting confu&s;ion did bring into my hou&s;e, an hole&s;ome, holy, and nece&s;&s;ary or|dinance,
<PB N="25" REF="20">that there &s;hould be diui&s;ion of Pro|uinces, and in Prouinces di&s;tinct Bi&s;hopricks, and Dioce&s;&s;es; and &s;o the Bi&s;hops of one Pro|uince &s;hould attend the directing, and gui|dance of their owne precincts onely, and not intermeddle with the Prouinces of others, vn|le&s;&s;e they were thereto reque&s;ted, or publique nece&s;&s;ity &s;o vrged. My &s;elfe, &s;eeing this cu|&s;tome brought in by nece&s;&s;ity, approoued the &s;ame, and did moreouer ordaine, that in euery Prouince the Bi&s;hop of the Mother City (that is of the place, which was the &s;eat of the chiefe Magi&s;trate, or otherwi&s;e con&s;picuous for &s;ome ciuile re&s;pect) &s;hould bee the chiefe, and con&s;ecrate the Bi&s;hops of that Prouince, and in the &s;teade of the Synode of his whole Pro|uince, &s;hould di&s;patch certaine affaires pertai|ning to mee, that &s;o the Bi&s;hoppes of that Pro|uince might not be encombred with meeting together vpon euery &s;mall occa&s;ion. And be|cau&s;e in the <HI>Romane</HI> Empire, which at the time of my e&s;pou&s;all to <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and for three or foure ages after, was in its greate&s;t flouri&s;h, there were then three mo&s;t renowned Cities,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hege&s;ip. de excid. Hiero&s;. l. 3. c. 5.</NOTE> mo&s;t eminent aboue the re&s;t in honour, and &s;ecular power; namely fir&s;t <HI>Rome</HI> in <HI>Italy,</HI> the chiefe
<PB N="26" REF="21">and principall &s;eat of the Empire; &s;econdly, <HI>A|lexandria</HI> in <HI>Aegypt,</HI> where the Emperors De|puty remayned; thirdly, <HI>Antioch</HI> the mother-Ci|ty of all the Ea&s;t; in regard hereof the Bi&s;hops of the&s;e three grand Cities were the three fir&s;t <HI>Metropolitanes.</HI> Afterward al&s;o the number of Churches &s;o encrea&s;ing, that the&s;e three &s;uffi|ced not, and the Prouinces which grew too large, beeing thereupon, for my conueniency, deuided into more, and le&s;&s;er Prouinces, (with appointment, that alwayes the Bi&s;hoppe of the principall City of &s;uch a Prouince &s;hould bee the Metropolitane thereof) the three afore&s;aid, in regard that they had beene my fir&s;t Metro|politanes, were honoured with the titles of <HI>Pa|triarchs,</HI> and indued with certaine priuiledges, which I was not vnwilling that they &s;hould enioy. To whom al&s;o I did afterward, by way of priuiledge, adde two other <HI>Patriarchs,</HI> one of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> (as &s;oone as that City became a &s;eat of the Empire beeing called another <HI>Rome</HI>) and the other of <HI>Hieru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>Thus my vnthankfull daughter the Church of Rome, hauing bene courteou&s;ly entertei|ned, ennobled, enriched, and exalted by diuers deuout Emperours, v&s;ing the aduantages,
<PB N="27" REF="21">which by little and little &s;he gained, partly by temporall greatne&s;&s;e, which then &s;hined faire vpon her, partly for that I had often good v&s;e of her helpe in the mid&s;t of my troubles, and garboiles, which here&s;ies brought vpon me, wherein &s;he &s;tood me in good &s;tead, by procu|ring mee fauour, and countenance of Catho|lique Emperours, as al&s;o by the credit and re|putation &s;he had abroad fro~ tho&s;e great Apo|&s;tles S. <HI>Peter,</HI> and S. <HI>Paul,</HI> which were her fo&s;te|rers, and breeders vp, yet &s;he, I &s;ay, impudently abu&s;ing all this, did about a thou&s;and yeeres agoe enter into a bold rebellion again&s;t me, not vouch&s;afing to remaine &s;till my daughter, nor acknowledging me for her mother in any wi&s;e, but &s;eeking to make her&s;elfe my mi|&s;tre&s;&s;e, and to domineere ouer me. But mo&s;t of all about 550. yeeres after, &s;ince the times of that firebrand <HI>Hildebrand,</HI> and &s;ince the totall ruine of the Romane Empire, this daughter of mine, being high-growne in greatne&s;&s;e, and pride, as &s;hee began to withdraw her necke from the yoke of a temporall Lord, who with his rod might hold her in obedience to me, &s;o would &s;he needs al&s;o abandon her due place, which &s;he held with me, of being a member
<PB N="28" REF="22">of my body, from which &s;he rent her&s;elfe by an horrible &s;chi&s;me; and di&s;deyning to bee a member of it, would haue no nay but perke aboue me, and make her&s;elfe my Head by ty|rannicall v&s;urpation. And whereas, fir&s;t, ac|cording to the appointment of my Spou&s;e, &s;he &s;hould receiue life, and vigor from me, as euery member of the Body doeth, from its coniun|ction with the whole, as being a part thereof, &s;he, by tearing her&s;elfe off from being a mem|ber, to put forward for the Head&s;hip, hath in|&s;tantly lo&s;t all that &s;pirit, and vigor, which eue|ry particular Church partaketh with and from mee,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. de vnit. eccle&s;.</NOTE> <HI>euen as branches deriue their vigor from the roote, &s;treames from the fountaine, and beames from the Sunne;</HI> which is <HI>S. Cyprians</HI> compari&s;on. And moreouer &s;he hath bene &s;o bold with me, as to di&s;poile me of my robes, and ornaments, and to rob me of my proper name; and now &s;hee, &s;he onely mu&s;t be &s;tiled the vniuer&s;all Church, the Catholique Church, the mother of the faithfull, the pillar of trueth, the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t, &amp;c.</P>
<P>Behold therefore here an infamous, and dreadfull rocke. For, who&s;oeuer abandoneth me, to cleaue to her, hee is out of the Arke of
<PB N="29" REF="22"><HI>Noah; he, not hauing me to his mother,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. ibidem.</NOTE> <HI>hath not God to his father.</HI> Who&s;oeuer is a follower of that tyrant, which v&s;urpeth my dignity and tramp|leth downe my authoritie, he certainely fol|loweth not Chri&s;t my true Spou&s;e, but <HI>Anti|christ.</HI> No Church can be vnder Chri&s;t, vnle&s;&s;e it be fir&s;t vnited to me: and all Churches, that enioy the graces flowing from Chri&s;t, doe par|take them by my meanes, and &s;o farre forth, as they are my daughters, and limmes growing vnto me, who am the Body of Chri&s;t. There|fore the Romane Church, ina&s;much as a daughter, or member &s;he will not be, and mo|ther or Head, which faine &s;he would, &s;he can|not be, betweene both &s;ure &s;he hath no part in me. And who&s;oeuer danceth after &s;uch a &s;chi&s;|matical and rebellious ring-leader, mu&s;t needs him&s;elfe be a &s;chi&s;matique, and rebel: and who &s;o followeth the v&s;urping Pope, mu&s;t engage him&s;elfe to beleeue euery fal&s;hood, and fiction that is thru&s;t vpon him, and &s;o &s;hall be &s;ure to tumble downe headlong after &s;uch a guide. Thus the Papacie &s;heweth it &s;elfe to bee the grand and mo&s;t dangerous rocke of all the re&s;t, again&s;t which &s;o many poore Chri&s;tian &s;oules daily da&s;h them&s;elues. And &s;o much for this
<PB N="30" REF="23" MS="y">mother-Rocke. The re&s;t I &s;hall pa&s;&s;e ouer more briefly.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The &s;econd Rocke. Temporall Power.</HEAD>
<P>_SO farre haue my Churchmen bene puffed vp with Ambition, that they haue not onely claimed, but al&s;o pro|fe&s;&s;ed, and exerci&s;ed temporall power in ma|ny meerely ciuill, and temporall affaires, chal|lenging to them&s;elues, as in my right, a power ouer Clerkes to impri&s;on, and bani&s;h them, and to inflict reall forfeits, and corporall paines vpon them; yet can none of my Prelats pretend for any power otherwi&s;e, then as the &s;ame belongeth to mee. And I, for my part, from my con&s;cience confe&s;&s;e, that I haue not receiued from my Spou&s;e any the lea&s;t tem|porall power concerning any temporall af|faire what&s;oeuer: but all the power I haue, is wholly and meerely Spirituall. For, the end, whereto I am ordeined, being wholly, and onely &s;pirituall, (namely to guide the &s;oules of
<PB N="31" REF="23">my children vnto eternall ble&s;&s;ednes, which is &s;upernaturall and &s;pirituall) it followeth, that all the meanes which I am to worke by, mu&s;t be of their owne nature Spirituall, and &s;uper|naturall: and therefore mine owne, and pro|per power can extend it &s;elfe no further, then to things Spirituall onely. My Lord <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, what other power did he exerci&s;e, then meerely Spirituall? Did hee euer thru&s;t him&s;elfe into any temporall affaire? S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, that <HI>Tho&s;e that are &s;et ouer my children,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.17.</NOTE> <HI>are to watch ouer their &s;oules, and to render accompt of them.</HI> My care therefore properly, and wholly concerneth mens &s;oules. As for their bodies, and bodily, or ciuill affaires, they haue other gouernours, namely temporall Princes. The &s;ame <HI>S. Paul</HI> &s;aith al&s;o, that <HI>No man,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Tim. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>that warreth vnto God, entangleth him&s;elfe with the affaires of this life.</HI> Moreouer, by the ioynt acknow|ledgement of my holy doctors, it is manife&s;t, that my employment is wholly and onely in cure of &s;oule, which al&s;o is not denied by di|uers the mo&s;t renowmed Bi&s;hops of Rome: as <HI>Hormi&s;da Epi&s;t.</HI> 21. <HI>Gela&s;ius de Anath. vinc. &amp; Epi&s;t.</HI> 10. <HI>Symmachus in Apologet. Nicolas the</HI> 1. <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 8. And why, I pray you, is my power de&s;cribed
<PB N="32" REF="24">ordinarily in holy writ by the name of a <HI>Chaire,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">th. 23.2.</NOTE> but that it con&s;i&s;teth in teaching, and dire|cting, this power of mine being principally in&s;tructiue, and doctrinall? <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;aid to his Apo&s;tles,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.25.</NOTE> that <HI>The Kings of the Gentiles exerci&s;e Lord&s;hip ouer them, But ye &s;hall not be &s;o:</HI> thereby inferring, that it belongeth not to the officers of my family to exerci&s;e dominion, or ciuill coactiue iuri&s;diction. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;aith, that <HI>Kings rule ouer men,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. ep. 3.</NOTE> <HI>will they, nill they; but the prie&s;t ruleth onely tho&s;e, that are willing to be &s;ubiect to him.</HI> The rea&s;on is, for that it is not in my reach to enforce any man. S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> very well &s;aith of me,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">. <HI>Chry&s;. hom.</HI> 3. <HI>in Act. Apo.</HI></NOTE> that <HI>I cannot impo&s;e any thing by authoritie;</HI> that is, in &s;uch maner as pretending power to compell others to obey me.</P>
<P>True it is, that religious, and deuout Prin|ces, to doe mee honour, and for my &s;ake to vouch&s;afe &s;ome priuiledge to my officers, haue afforded mee the fauour, to haue the exerci&s;e of a certaine ciuil, and criminall Iuri&s;diction o|uer my owne Mini&s;ters: but &s;uch grants as the&s;e are at the courte&s;ie, and in the liberty of the grantors. And yet hereupon my Prelats cary their heads too high, and lay claime to ex|empt from the ciuill Magi&s;trate, all Clearkes,
<PB N="33" REF="24" MS="y">and Monkes, with their very hangbyes, and lick&s;pits. And this Rocke is very dangerous, euen to my Clergy them&s;elues, who not one|ly are heereby emboldened openly to di&s;obey the Magi&s;trate in his ciuill gouerment, but al|&s;o hide vnder this cloake of exemption a foule heape of heynous &s;ins, and enormities, liuing as they doe, debauchedly, and without feare, either of God, or of the ciuill &s;word: the exe|cution of iu&s;tice in &s;uch ca&s;es by my Mini&s;ters being either too too gentle, &s;lacke, and &s;leepy, as it is ordinarily, or, on the contrary, &s;ome|times too cruell, bloudy, and barbarous.</P>
<P>This Rocke is &s;o much the more harmefull, and dangerous, in that the Bi&s;hops of Rome, cloaking them&s;elues with my mantle, thereby make preten&s;ion to mount aboue Princes, Kings, and Emperours, and to bee iudges ouer them, arrogating to them&s;elues authority to ouerrule them at their plea&s;ure, in their ciuill gouerment, and in their lawes; nay, moreouer to depriue them of their kingdomes, and free their &s;ubiects from their bounden duty, and oath of fealty: and this not onely in ca&s;e of he|re&s;ie, but vpon any other occa&s;ion which the Popes in their humor &s;hall conclude to be im|portant,
<PB N="34" REF="25" MS="y">and &s;ufficient. An horrible and abo|minable preten&s;ion, and altogether contrary to the law of God. This Rocke &s;urely is foun|ded by the Diuell him&s;elfe, wherat &s;o many of my children &s;plit them&s;elues, and for the main|tenance of the Pope's ambitions, forfeit their goods, honours, fame, liberty, life, and &s;oule. By this helli&s;h preten&s;ion, rebellions are ray|&s;ed vp in Kingdomes, infamous and exe|crable murthers of Kings are plotted, the peace of the whole world is troubled, bruti&s;h enor|mities are committed: and all this &s;pringeth only from Papall ambition.</P>
<P>It is mo&s;t certaine, and notorious, that by the law of God, and of nature, expre&s;ly confir|med in the holy Scriptures, euery one ought in con&s;cience, vnder the guilt of mo&s;t heynous mortall &s;in, to obey his lawfull Prince, in mat|ters concerning the ciuill e&s;tate, whether the &s;ame Prince be good, or euill. <HI>Let euery &s;oule bee &s;ubiect to the higher powers.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.1. 1. Pet. 2.18.</NOTE> <HI>Bee &s;ubiect to your Ma&s;ters, not onely to the good and gentle, but al&s;o to the froward.</HI> And for certaine, I neuer receiued any power to di&s;anull the bond of God's lawes. Whence therefore hath the Pope gotten &s;uch power, that he pre&s;umeth to di&s;oblige &s;ubiects
<PB N="35" REF="25" MS="y">from that naturall bond, which tyeth them to be entirely &s;ubiect to their lawfull Prince in ci|uill maters, and tho&s;e things which concerne the temporall gouerment? It is a meere gull, &amp; foppery, that hee &s;hould pretend to depo&s;e Kings from their thrones, and depriue them of their crownes, and in this wi&s;e to let loo&s;e their &s;ubiects from their obedience, whenas, without all dobut &s;uch depriuations, and de|po&s;itions, are meere <HI>temporall bu&s;ine&s;&s;es;</HI> and no power of mine extendeth it &s;elfe beyond &s;pirituals. The Pope's arch-flatterers confe&s;&s;e, that it followeth hence, that he cannot <HI>directly</HI> depo&s;e Kings; yet will they haue him enhabled to doe it <HI>indirectly,</HI> namely as &s;uch matters are occa&s;ion of &s;ome &s;pirituall good, or euill. But this, &s;ay I, is impo&s;&s;ible. For, a thing is &s;aid to be done <HI>indirectly,</HI> when it nece&s;&s;arily followeth vpon another thing which is done <HI>directly.</HI> As for example, when a thiefe robbeth a trayuai|ler of his cloathes, and he, thus left naked, dieth with cold, this thiefe hath robbed the man <HI>di|rectly,</HI> but killed him <HI>indirectly.</HI> In like maner it &s;hould be &s;hewen what &s;pirituall action the Pope doth <HI>directly,</HI> by his &s;pirituall power, whereupon nece&s;&s;arily, but <HI>indirectly</HI> the de|po&s;ition
<PB N="36" REF="26" MS="y">of a King, or depriuing him of his temporals doth en&s;ue. But it is impo&s;&s;ible that any &s;uch action &s;hould bee &s;hewed. For there cannot be any greater &s;pirituall action atchie|ued by my proper power, then Excommuni|cation. And who would euer come to that height of ab&s;urdity, as to &s;ay (and yet &s;ome haue &s;aid it, and beleeued it) that a Prince being ex|communicated is held in the &s;ame in&s;tant to be al&s;o depriued of his kingdome, and depo&s;ed? And yet my very nouices know, that excom|munication medleth not with any temporalls. A rich man beeing excommunicated doth not thereby lo&s;e his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; nor a noble man his nobility; why then &s;hould a King by ex|communication lo&s;e his crowne?</P>
<P>Now therefore &s;ee what a terrible Rocke this is. A toy takes the Pope in the head to beare the people in hand, that their Prince is an heretique, and excommunicate, and &s;o depri|ued of his kingdome, and that they are to ri&s;e again&s;t him, and to call in another to reigne o|uer them: The&s;e &s;imple wretches, being mi&s;|led by the Popes fal&s;e doctrine, will needes di&s;|obey God, to obey the Pope. And thus fir&s;t they herein &s;inne mortally, and ca&s;t away their
<PB N="37" REF="26">&s;oules; then are they al&s;o mo&s;t iu&s;tly puni&s;hed for traytors, as they are, and &s;o farewell goods, life, and all. Neither will the matter bee &s;alued vp by that, which the Romani&s;ts reply, &s;aying, Obey your Prince, and &s;weare fealty to him in ciuill obedience: but when the ca&s;e &s;o falleth out, that the Pope commandeth you other|wi&s;e, then renounce this obedience. Nay, but obedience due to Princes is perpetuall, ab&s;o|lute, and without any re&s;eruation, or conditi|on: for, God &s;o commandeth.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 5.</NOTE> And <HI>wee must obey God, rather then men.</HI> It behooueth there|fore by God's law to &s;weare obedience, and fe|alty, in matters concerning the <HI>temporall go|uernment,</HI> vnto euery naturall liege Lord, with|out any re&s;eruation; and con&s;equently euery &s;ubiect ought to declare him&s;elfe, when hee is &s;o required, that hee &s;weares, and promi&s;es per|petuall, and ab&s;olute obedience, any what&s;oe|uer, or who&s;e&s;oeuer, declaration, commande|ment, excommunication, or &s;entence to the contrary notwith&s;tanding. For, in this world there is no power, that can di&s;oblige a man fro~ this perpetuall, and ab&s;olute obedience com|manded by the law of God him&s;elfe. And in like manner the depo&s;ing, or depriuing Soue|raigne
<PB N="38" REF="27">Princes is to bee attempted by none but God's immediate hand, to whom onely it be|longeth <HI>to tran&s;late kingdomes.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 4.25.</NOTE> And, as for any power of mine, e&s;pecially that cannot in any maner, neither <HI>direct</HI> nor <HI>indirect,</HI> lawfully at|tempt any &s;uch depriuations. Let euery one therefore remaine &s;ubiect, and obedient vnto his owne Prince, in things concerning <HI>tempo|rall gouernment:</HI> nor let him thinke, that hee euer can bee a&s;&s;oyled by any power on earth, though Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall, from &s;uch his entire o|bedience.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The third Rocke. Implicite Faith.</HEAD>
<P>_CRuell, and pe&s;tilent ambition! The Pope, to the end that his v&s;urped ty|rannie may not be di&s;couered, and that he may be taken for a god vpon earth, by &s;im|ple &s;educed people, or rather that they may be made pliable, and capable to admit for good any fal&s;hood, and forgery, which the Pope, for the aduancing his owne greatne&s;&s;e, &s;hall pro|pound
<PB N="39" REF="27">to them, cau&s;eth them to be per&s;waded, and taught, that in matter of faith, it is &s;uffici|ent for euery of them to beleeue, what&s;oeuer the holy, Catholike, Romane mother-Church doth hold, and beleeue. Verely I, that am the vniuer&s;all Church, I,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.20. 1. Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> to whom the conti|nuall a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit of my Spou&s;e is promi&s;ed, (and not to the Romane) I, that am the pillar, and ground of truth, yet dare not be &s;o bold, as to a&s;&s;ure my children, that this <HI>in|folded faith</HI> &s;ufficeth them, namely, to beleeue vnder generall termes, what&s;oeuer I beleeue. How then &s;hee, now &s;warming with errours, and fal&s;hood, and being nothing, but ambiti|on and auarice, how dares &s;hee bee thus bold? My beloued Saint <HI>Paul</HI> would not haue his <HI>Co|rinthians</HI> thinke,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 1.24.</NOTE> that hee would <HI>beare dominion ouer their faith,</HI> which hee did &s;weetly in&s;till in|to them, and not thru&s;t it vpon them by com|mand and domineering. But Rome will haue euery man, will hee, nill hee, by all meanes to beleeue, and re&s;t in, what&s;oeuer &s;hee determi|neth, and commandeth, and to &s;ub&s;cribe his beleefe to all that &s;hee beleeueth and maintai|neth, or rather to what&s;oeuer &s;hee inuenteth and imagineth, though indeed her&s;elfe beleeue
<PB N="40" REF="28">it not, nor hold it for any point of faith, but for a matter of &s;tate; &amp; vpo~ this point of policy &s;he taketh order, that tho&s;e inuentions, which &s;hee knoweth to bee no matters of faith, but onely to &s;erue her ambition, and couetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, mu&s;t be giuen out for points of faith.</P>
<P>Rome cannot abide, that yee, my children, &s;hould bee zelous in &s;eeking to know what it is that yee are to beleeue; for, by &s;uch enquiry you would di&s;couer her trickes: and therefore &s;hee telleth you, that you are &s;afe, if yee haue this <HI>enuelopped faith,</HI> and beleeue all that &s;hee beleeues. And if &s;o be any of you make a &s;tand vpon any particular, beeing one of tho&s;e arti|cles, which &s;hee in point of policy hath inuen|ted, (and which &s;hall hereafter be declared by me in my de&s;cry of the&s;e Rockes) then &s;he pre|&s;ently mufleth vp your eyes, and blindeth you, and &s;endeth to you her owne attendants, the Prie&s;ts, and Friers, preachers, and confe&s;&s;ors, who wholly depending on her, are all at her deuotion, &amp; they declare vnto you, that <HI>Rome</HI> hath decided the point to be an article of faith. And thus, when yee are bound to beleeue all that the Church of Rome beleeueth, and maintaineth, that is, what&s;oeuer &s;he teacheth,
<PB N="41" REF="28">and auoucheth, as fit to be held, and beleeued, ye mu&s;t needs play at hoodman-blind, and be|ing loaden with dangerous &s;cruples, &s;tumble vpon the rocke of many an error, and fiction, and &s;o incurre mi&s;erable &s;hipwracke.</P>
<P>There is indeed a kinde of vnweeting obe|dience, which is holy, and good, nay nece&s;&s;ary, but vnfolded, which concerneth the funda|mentall articles of my faith. Such as are, the vnitie of the Godhead, and Trinitie of per&s;ons in one e&s;&s;ence, and nature: the incarnation of the Word, with the conioyning of two di|&s;tinct natures, the diuine and humane, in the one onely diuine per&s;on of my Spou&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> that he &s;uffered, and &s;hed his blood, and gaue his life vpon the Cro&s;&s;e for my redemption: that he ro&s;e againe by his owne power: and that hee a&s;cended, and is glorified in heauen, where he remaineth my true Mediatour, and continuall Aduocate with the Father: and that he is to bee iudge of all men, to giue to euery one according to his owne workes, either life, or death euerla&s;ting. In the beleeuing the&s;e, and other &s;uch Articles, euery childe of mine mu&s;t yeeld his eyes clo&s;ed vp by obedience, without curio&s;itie, or recalling them to the
<PB N="42" REF="29">principles of humane rea&s;on. For the&s;e are the fundamentals, wherein all Catholique Chri|&s;tendome is well re&s;olued, and &s;etled with ab|&s;olute agreement. But in many other points, either nece&s;&s;ary, or not nece&s;&s;ary to &s;aluation, there is danger,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor 21.</NOTE> that ye may be deceiued. (For, oftentimes <HI>Satan transformeth him&s;elfe into an Angel of light.</HI>) Therefore euery of you, that hath any heart, and &s;pirit at all, ought to open his eyes, and looke well into that, which is pro|pounded to him, to be beleeued, either by im|plication, or expre&s;ly, and to examine it with Chri&s;tian, and &s;ober diligence, whether that, which your Preachers, and confe&s;&s;ors, and writers teach you concerning &s;piritual things, (who too often, vnder the name of my Mini|&s;ters, are wolues in &s;heepes-cloathing, and no|thing els, but the mini&s;ters of humane ambi|tion, and auarice) be conformable to the holy Scriptures, and vnto my refined and through|ly-e&s;tabli&s;hed iudgement; mine, I &s;ay, that is, of the Vniuer&s;all Church, &s;uch as I was for the fir&s;t foure, or fiue vncorrupted ages, and &s;till am al&s;o in regard of my &s;elfe; but not &s;uch as the <HI>Romane,</HI> by v&s;urping my name, doeth di&s;|gui&s;e, and vaunt her&s;elfe to be. For if you &s;hall
<PB N="43" REF="29">walke on blindfold, vnder this <HI>enfuddling faith,</HI> after blinde guids, ye &s;hall, they, and you too, hit vpon the rocks, and tumble into the in|fernall pit.</P>
<P>For the&s;e re&s;pects, which I haue named, <HI>Rome</HI> would faine haue you remaine &s;till muf|fled vp with this <HI>cloudy faith;</HI> and, to keepe you in your &s;pirituall blindne&s;&s;e, &s;he hath de|priued you of the v&s;e of holy Scripture; &s;hee will not &s;uffer it to be imparted to all the peo|ple in the vulgar tongues; &s;he prohibites it, &s;he hinders it. Verily a mo&s;t horrible crueltie. God commanded, not onely <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> not <HI>Aaron</HI> onely, and the re&s;t of the Prie&s;ts, not onely the Scribes, and doctors of the Law, and Phari&s;ees; but generally all his people, that they &s;hould alwayes haue the Scripture before their eyes. In this is &s;tored vp your daily bread: but in &s;tead of making you abound with this bread, tho&s;e, whom you call your &s;pirituall fathers, take it from you; and &s;o may yee &s;tarue, for them. Nay, in &s;tead of this bread, they put in|to your hands either the &s;tones of &s;trange do|ctrines, which are marueilous hard for you to chew, as that you are to &s;pend your liues for the maintenance of the Pope's humors, or el&s;e
<PB N="44" REF="30" MS="y">the &s;corpions of errors, and fal&s;hood, which bite, and &s;ting your very &s;oules, or, at the mo&s;t, the cour&s;e browne-bread of their pamphlets concerning Chri&s;tian doctrine, and other ma|nuels which they name &s;pirituall. Wherein, be|cau&s;e they can doe no le&s;&s;e, (for, then &s;hould they appeare to bee open profe&s;&s;ed wolues) there are &s;et downe &s;ome good foundations of many good Catholick verities, but vnder the cru&s;t of this good wheaten-bread, the cour&s;e crumbe is deliuered to you, or rather the poi|&s;on of the manifold errors, and &s;uper&s;titions of humane, if not diueli&s;h, doctrine; thereby to cheri&s;h in your &s;imple &s;oules &s;uch reuerence, and obedience to the Pope, Prelates, Prie&s;ts, and Friers, as their ambition, and auarice ga|peth after. As for other bookes, which di&s;co|uer the&s;e their iugglings, <HI>Rome</HI> doeth &s;lande|rou&s;ly bruit them to be hereticall, and prohi|biteth them by vaine, and childi&s;h terrors of excommunications: and all this, that ye may not open your eyes, but remaine blinde for euer. Looke well to this.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="rock">
<PB N="45" REF="30">
<HEAD>&para; The fourth Rocke. Excommunication.</HEAD>
<P>_IT is a wonderfull, or rather mi&s;erable deui&s;e and craftie tricke of the Popes, for the mainteining their tyrannie o|uer your &s;oules, and making them&s;elues to be reuerenced, feared, and held for gods vpon earth; that they proiect to beare you in hand, that the keyes, giuen me by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> my Spou&s;e, are thunderbolts, and fierie darts in the hands of the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome,</HI> as being the &s;ucce&s;&s;or of <HI>Iupiter Capitolinus.</HI> Behold the deceipts, and cunning of this new <HI>Iupiter.</HI> There was neuer any thunderbolt, that &s;trake, or hurt any man, vnle&s;&s;e it were actually darted out: but they put a vaine ridiculous &s;care-crow vpon you, making you beleeue, that they haue certaine clo&s;e thunderbolts in a corner, which of them&s;elues fly abroad, and &s;mell out, euen in the mo&s;t &s;ecret clo&s;ets, tho&s;e that doe, or &s;ay any thing which may di&s;plea&s;e the Pope, though neither the parties them&s;elues bee knowne to him, nor any hint giuen what they
<PB N="46" REF="31">doe. Alas, what poore fooles are they, that giue credit to this?</P>
<P>The&s;e my keyes, which you &s;ee in my hands, no doubt, are mannageable by my Pre|lats and Mini&s;ters, and haue power &s;ometimes al&s;o to thunder out an <HI>Excommunication.</HI> But you mu&s;t know, that I am to cary an hand in the guiding of &s;uch thunderbolts: and, if they be darted foorth contrary to my order pre&s;cri|bed me by my Spou&s;e, they are of no force at all, and haue no other operation, then to make a vaine rumbling to &s;care yong children withall.</P>
<P><HI>Excommunication,</HI> my beloued children, is of diuers &s;orts in my family. The fir&s;t is, when any of my children, hauing committed &s;ome grieuous, publique &amp; notorious crime, where|by he hath &s;candalized all his brethren of that particular Church, where he remaineth, for the recalling him vnto true, whole&s;ome, in|ward repentance by outward medecinall &s;hame, is not onely reproued by the Prelate in the publique Congregation, when my chil|dren come together vnto &s;pirituall exerci&s;es, but al&s;o is expre&s;ly forbidden to receiue the &s;a|cred communion of the holy Euchari&s;t, and
<PB N="47" REF="31">of the Lord's Supper: and &s;o is kept off for &s;ome time, vntill he make &s;atisfaction vnto God in|wardly, and to the Church outwardly, by pe|nitentiall workes impo&s;ed vpon him by the &s;aid Prelate.</P>
<P>A &s;econd &s;ort of <HI>Excommunication</HI> is &s;ome|thing more rigorous; when as one of my chil|dren, being a publique, and notorious &s;inner, is, for one, or more, grieuous, and &s;candalous faults, not onely put backe from the holy Communion, but al&s;o from all other meetings, that is, from all holy a&s;&s;emblies, and is prohi|bited from entring into the Church with the re&s;t of the faithfull brethren to what&s;oeuer &s;a|cred exerci&s;e, whether hearing of the word of God, or receiuing the holy Sacraments, or be|ing pre&s;ent at the publick holy Seruice, &amp; prai|ers: and this re&s;traint to endure for a time, by way of whol&s;ome &amp; medicinall penance, that by this his co~fu&s;ion of face, both he may con|ceiue griefe for his &s;inne committed, and o|thers may take example by him, and be &s;triken with an holy terror, for the &s;hunning of &s;uch &s;innes. Both the one, and the other of the&s;e two <HI>Excommunications</HI> is taken away by pub|lique Reconciliation, when he, hauing with
<PB N="48" REF="32" MS="y">due humiliation performed what was impo|&s;ed on him, and giuen the Church outward e|uidence of his true inward repentance, is now readmitted both to the Church, and to the ho|ly Communion: and both the&s;e may truely be called <HI>the le&s;&s;er Excommunication.</HI></P>
<P>The third, and mo&s;t terrible <HI>Excommunica|tion,</HI> which I haue learned out of the Go&s;pel is, when one of my children, hauing bene giuen ouer in prey vnto grieuous, publicke, notori|ous, and &s;candalous &s;innes, after he hath bene tried, but all in vaine, by the two precedent me|dicinall <HI>Excommunications,</HI> being now incor|rigible, is wholy cut off from the number of the faithfull, and vtterly ca&s;t off from being my child, and &s;euered from my body, that is, from the body of <HI>Christ</HI> my Spou&s;e, and cut off, as a dead, and rotten member, and con&s;equently deliuered vp vnto Satan, and held as if he were a Gentile and Publican, depriued of all the ble&s;&s;ings, graces, and heauenly riches, which are to be found within my hou&s;e. This is the true, and dreadfull thunderbolt, which may mo&s;t fitly bee called <HI>the greater Excommuni|cation.</HI></P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee that the two fir&s;t <HI>Excommuni|cations</HI>
<PB N="49" REF="32" MS="y">are rather outward, then inward, rather medicines, then puni&s;hments; hauing exter|nall effects, and not inwardly working vpon the &s;oule, otherwi&s;e then indirectly, and by di|uers deductions: namely &s;o farre, as vpon the two fir&s;t <HI>Excommunications</HI> the remi&s;&s;ion of the &s;in remaineth in a &s;ort &s;u&s;pended, <HI>etiam in coe|lo,</HI> euen in heauen al&s;o, vntill it be remitted him by me on earth according to the promi&s;e made vnto me by <HI>Christ</HI> my Spou&s;e. And only the third (if it bee executed without any errour in the keyes) hath its operation directly vpon the &s;oule. But all the&s;e three <HI>Excommunications</HI> then onely are <HI>Excommunications,</HI> and then only haue their operation, when they are made in &s;pecial, and actually &s;ent forth, and employed, not be|fore the fact done, but when the crime is alrea|dy in being.</P>
<P>Therefore ob&s;erue what a trifle that is, which the Popes, and their flatterers haue inuented, in enacting one <HI>Excommunication &agrave; iure, &amp; ip|&s;o facto,</HI> and another <HI>ab homine,</HI> that is to &s;ay, that there is an actuall <HI>Excommunication,</HI> which worketh actually, and by the deede it &s;elfe, and not by way of threatning onely; and that, by vertue of the law before made, and
<PB N="50" REF="33" MS="y">written, it alwaies worketh of it &s;elfe, without comming to any &s;peciall act of <HI>excommunica|ting</HI> the particular offender, as often as he com|mitteth &s;uch, or &s;uch an offence before forbid|den by the Law: The other is that, which, without beeing made vniuer&s;all by the lawes, is, from time to time darted out by the Prelate again&s;t a particular man by name, for &s;ome fault committed by him. This di&s;tinction is both fal&s;e, and manife&s;tly deceitfull; and it is that very deui&s;e, whereof I &s;pake before, name|ly, to dreame of a thunderbolt, which doth not onely affright a man, but al&s;o beat him downe to the ground, without beeing darted foorth: and &s;o there can bee no &s;ecret among Chri&s;tians, which by this meanes the Pope cannot pierce into. Surely as for the two fir&s;t <HI>Excommunications,</HI> if they bee not &s;ent forth from time to time again&s;t the parties by name, no man will euer ab&s;teine from the Co~muni|on, or from &s;pirituall conuer&s;ation in &s;pirituall meetings, (for as for ciuill and humane com|merce, no <HI>Excommunication</HI> can hinder it.) In the third <HI>Excommunicatio~</HI> likewi&s;e, it is certaine, that no effect can follow vpon it, vnle&s;&s;e it bee actually (but without errour) thundered out.
<PB N="51" REF="33">Where was it euer &s;een, that a Delinquent was bound to execute a penalty vpon him&s;elfe? True it is, that euery man is bound to beare with patience his owne iu&s;t puni&s;hment; but no man can bee bound to execute it on him|&s;elfe, and to be his owne hangman. How then is it po&s;&s;ible, that any of my children, by vertue of a wandring, vncertaine, vniuer&s;all <HI>Excom|munication,</HI> which is indifferent by the law, &s;hould, vpon an <HI>ip&s;o facto,</HI> be truely, and actual|ly <HI>excommunicated:</HI> that is, di&s;&s;euered, and cut off from my body, vnle&s;&s;e he him&s;elfe, be|ing the onely man, that knoweth him&s;elfe to haue committed that fault, &s;hall of him&s;elfe bee executioner of the puni&s;hment vpon him|&s;elfe? For my part, I haue no &s;pirituall power to cha&s;ti&s;e &s;ecret &s;innes, no nor open neither, vn|till they come vnto my notice: and yet the&s;e men would mo&s;t fondly inflict actuall puni&s;h|ments for faults vnreuealed to them, and vpon Delinquents vtterly vnknowen.</P>
<P>Let no man therefore bee afraid of the&s;e <HI>Ex|communications iniure,</HI> although they bee <HI>ip&s;o fa|cto,</HI> vpon the very deede, or <HI>latae &s;ententiae,</HI> vpon the generall &s;entence, which is an errour: nor is it po&s;&s;ible that &s;uch <HI>Excommunications</HI> &s;hould
<PB N="52" REF="34">worke <HI>ip&s;o facto:</HI> neither doth God hold any man for <HI>excommunicate,</HI> vntill hee be namely bound, and actually <HI>excommunicate.</HI> Let eue|ry one bee affraid of &s;inne, though neuer &s;o &s;e|cret, and let him looke for puni&s;hment from God; but let him not feare any <HI>excommunicati|on</HI> of mine, vnle&s;&s;e it be actually brandi&s;hed out again&s;t him by his lawfull Prelate, and that vpon good cau&s;e: nor can this third <HI>Excommu|nication</HI> otherwi&s;e worke any whit vpon the &s;oule.</P>
<P>Moreouer I adui&s;e you, that, if a Prelate <HI>ex|communicate</HI> any of you, and that vpon iu&s;t cau&s;e, for &s;ome offence de&s;eruing <HI>excommunica|tion,</HI> if he doe not either by word, or deede, de|clare with which of the&s;e three <HI>Excommunicati|ons</HI> he doth &s;trike you, this his <HI>excommunicating,</HI> though it be &s;peciall, and actuall is either none at all, or at the mo&s;t it is to bee vnder&s;tood of the &s;econd, and not of the third. Neither can that &s;tand, which the new Canoni&s;ts auouch, that by the indefinite name of <HI>Excommunication</HI> the greater is to be vnder&s;tood. For, they con|found the &s;econd with the third, which not|with&s;tanding are mo&s;t different one from an|others; and they would haue the &s;econd to bee
<PB N="53" REF="34">the greater, becau&s;e it taketh away Eccle&s;ia&s;ti|call conuer&s;ation from the <HI>excommunicate</HI> par|ty. It mu&s;t be vnder&s;tood therefore of the &s;e|cond, but as not amounting vnto the third, which third is the true <HI>Excommunicatio maior,</HI> the grand <HI>excommunication.</HI> For, it is true, that in the later, the former are included, but not the later in the former.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides this, you are to vnder&s;tand, that, by my rules taught me by my Spou&s;e, none of the&s;e <HI>Excommunications,</HI> e&s;pecially the third, can be of force, but when the crime is grieuous, publique, notorious, and very &s;candalous, and &s;uch as giueth, fir&s;t very great offence to God, and moreouer much &s;candall to the Church. And hee, that is cleere in his owne con&s;cience, and knoweth that hee doth not offend in the &s;ight of God, and that the act, for which he is <HI>excommunicated</HI> (e&s;pecially by the <HI>Excommunica|tion in iure</HI> onely) is not of it &s;elfe abhominable, nor repugnant to Gods Law, let him neuer feare any <HI>excommunication</HI> at all, as making him guilty before God. Whil&s;t therefore a Prelate commandeth, or forbiddeth any act of its own nature indifferent, which is neither com|manded, nor forbidden by the word of God,
<PB N="54" REF="35" MS="y">and impo&s;eth this his command vnder paine of <HI>Excommunication,</HI> you may laugh in your &s;leeues at it. For the not obeying a Prelate in &s;uch things, as in their owne nature are indif|ferent, &s;eldome amounteth to a mortall &s;inne; and, though it were mortall, yet it is not &s;uch, as can de&s;erue the third <HI>Excommunication.</HI> And &s;o when you heare <HI>Excommunications</HI> thundred out for reading of bookes, for not paying of pen&s;ions, for puni&s;hing Prie&s;ts, and wicked Friars, according to law, with ciuill puni&s;h|ments, and &s;uch like cau&s;es, you may take &s;uch <HI>Excommunications</HI> to be made in ie&s;t, and neede not bee afraid of them: for I hold them to bee nothing worth; neither was it euer my mind, that this &s;word of mine &s;hould euer &s;erue the turne, either for temporall affaires, or for the priuate ends of my Prelats.</P>
<P>Take al&s;o this with you, which is one of my principall ordinances concerning <HI>Excommuni|cations,</HI> that none can <HI>excommunicate</HI> any other then tho&s;e that bee in proper &s;ubiected to him, and of his Dioce&s;&s;e. And &s;o the Bi&s;hoppe of <HI>Rome</HI> cannot <HI>excommunicate</HI> tho&s;e, that are out of the Dioce&s;&s;e of <HI>Rome.</HI> And who&s;oeuer <HI>ex|communicateth</HI> any, that are not &s;ubiect vnto
<PB N="55" REF="35" MS="y">him, his <HI>Excommunication</HI> holds not: and in this ca&s;e the Popes thunderbolt is of no more force, then that of the Bi&s;hop of
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">A pety Bi|&s;hopricke in <HI>Italy,</HI> in the dominions of <HI>Venice.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Caurole.</HI> Indeede any Bi&s;hop, vpon great cau&s;e, may de|ny to another Bi&s;hop his communion, that is his communication, and brotherly comply|ing, and &s;pirituall corre&s;pondence. So al&s;o may any particular Church deny its communion to another, (and this may bee called a fourth kinde of <HI>Excommunication</HI>) but it hath no ope|ration vpon the &s;oule, nor is exerci&s;ed with a|ny power, or iuri&s;diction of one Church ouer another: and the action it &s;elfe is meerely ne|gatiue, not po&s;itiue, nor operatiue: namely, when, vpon euidence, or deepe &s;u&s;picion of a|nothers &s;pirituall corruption, mutuall corre&s;|pondence is &s;hunned. And yet in this &s;ort of <HI>Excommunication</HI> there is very great danger, in|a&s;much as vpon it foule, &amp; turbulent &s;chi&s;mes doe en&s;ue.</P>
<P>This Rocke, as you &s;ee, becommeth very dangerous vnto you, while&s;t it makes you &s;tumble vpon feares, and terrors, which with|hold you from many actions, that would bee profitable, and commodious to you, and al&s;o it maketh you run headlong into the actions of
<PB N="56" REF="36" MS="y">blindefold obedience, whence indeede com|meth your ruine; &s;eeing they will not &s;uffer you to walke in the high-way of your &s;aluati|on, but amu&s;e you in the by-wayes of eternall perdition, and hold you in &s;ubiection to an I|doll, and to him that would haue you deeme him a god vpon earth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The fift Rocke. The Commandements of the Church.</HEAD>
<P>_THis is a very great Rocke, or rather a maine Sea of Rocks, and &s;helfes hea|ped vp together, and appointed for the &s;pirituall ruine of you, my deere Children. The ambition of Popes hath hitherto v&s;urped a Law-making power through my whole fa|mily; and would haue me bound, vnder paine of mortall &s;inne, to ob&s;erue their lawes. Ve|rely it belongeth to mee in my Synods, and Councels, to &s;et down certaine practicall rules concerning rites, and outward wor&s;hip: which rules are nothing el&s;e, then certaine good di|rections, and publique in&s;tructions, requi&s;ite,
<PB N="57" REF="36">and nece&s;&s;ary, for the e&s;tabli&s;hing of good or|der, for the preuenting of confu&s;ion, and for the increa&s;e of piety. But I neuer pretended, that they &s;hould haue the very nature of lawes, but onely of good ordinances: and therefore my will was to call them <HI>Canons,</HI> that is to &s;ay, Rules, but not Lawes, nor <HI>Commandements,</HI> vn|le&s;&s;e I procure the &s;ecular power to giue them the force of lawes. From which &s;ecular pow|ers, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> hath not freed either mee, or any of you, as hee hath freed vs from the legall Cere|monies, and from the yoake and burden of that law, which, beeing no part of the <HI>Decalogue,</HI> perteyneth to the gouernment of the &s;oule: there yet remayning mo&s;t full power in Prin|ces; and Magi&s;trates, as farre as concerneth temporall gouernment, whereto all the &s;ort of you are &s;ubiect, not onely by con&s;traint, and for feare, but al&s;o for con&s;cience-&s;ake, as Saint <HI>Paul</HI> in&s;tructeth you. True it is,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.5.</NOTE> that there is al&s;o an obedience due vnto the &s;piritual Ouer|&s;eers; but this is to be vnder&s;tood of follow|ing their good in&s;tructions in matter of faith, and concerning Chri&s;tian life. Neither was it the minde of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> to load mee with a multi|tude of externall obligations, ouer and aboue
<PB N="58" REF="37">the morall naturall law, and a few other pre|cepts, when as him&s;elfe commanded me, that I &s;hould beware of making his yoake hea|uy vnto my Children, by multiplying vpon them humane <HI>Commandements,</HI> and precepts: and &s;harply rebuked the Scribes, and Phari&s;es of his time, vpbraiding them with that &s;peech of <HI>E&s;ay;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 29.13. Matth. 15.8.</NOTE> <HI>This people draweth nigh vnto mee with their mouth, and honoureth mee with their lips; but their heart is farre from me: in vaine doe they wor|&s;hip me, teaching for doctrines the commandements of men.</HI> They ouerpa&s;t the <HI>Commandements</HI> of the law, and taught the &s;illy people, certaine ob&s;eruances inuented by them&s;elues, and e&s;ta|bli&s;hed by humane traditions only. In a ma~|ner euen &s;o it befalleth you, my Children, now a dayes; yee are plyed might and maine, with certaine precepts, which, v&s;urping my name, they call <HI>the Commandements of holy Church,</HI> in which notwith&s;tanding I haue no part at all, and as for God's <HI>Commandements,</HI> they lie by the walles. You take farre more heede, that you omit not a Ma&s;&s;e vpon an holy day, and many of you al&s;o vpon the working-dayes, then that you leaue not your neighbour without helpe, when he is in great mi&s;ery. Yee take more care
<PB N="59" REF="37" MS="y">of offending in eating fle&s;h on prohibited daies, then of committing fornication, or adul|tery. And hence it is that more &s;cruples are &s;tarted vp in your con&s;ciences, and more adoe again&s;t you by your Confe&s;&s;ors, Preachers, and Inqui&s;itors, if you haue but once &s;upped halfe a me&s;&s;e of fle&s;h-pottage vpon a Friday, then if you had committed fornication an hundred times.</P>
<P>Know ye therefore, that, in vndergoing &s;uch &s;cruples vpon the&s;e <HI>Church-commandements,</HI> yee are plainely tyrannized ouer, and are brought vnto a butchery, &s;hambles, &amp; &s;laughter-hou&s;e of the con&s;cience.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 3.17. Gal. 4.31.</NOTE> <HI>Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is libertie,</HI> concerning all indifferent things: which libertie <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> hath be&s;towed on you. I haue indeed authoritie vpon occa&s;ion of publique &s;pirituall affaires, to intimate fa|&s;tings, prayers, and almes; but with &s;weetnes, and gentlene&s;&s;e, without impo&s;ing any yoake, or impeaching this libertie, to the end that eue|ry one of you likewi&s;e &s;hould of your owne voluntary &s;weetly, and charitably compo&s;e him&s;elfe to &s;uch holy exerci&s;es, and thereby conforme him&s;elfe to my intention, which is alwayes hortatory, rather then mandatory,
<PB N="60" REF="38" MS="y">with compul&s;ion. I doe not hold my &s;elfe to haue authoritie to command vpon the guilt of mortall &s;inne, which I find no otherwi&s;e de|fined, then to be that, which is <HI>&s;poken, done, or thought against the eternall Law of God;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t cont. Fau&s;t. li. 22. cap. 27.</NOTE> it is not &s;aid again&s;t <HI>the commandement of the Church;</HI> whereas principally I either co~mand or forbid that, which in it &s;elfe is indifferent, and neither commanded, nor forbidden, by God's Law. So the holy Apo&s;tles, gathered together in the Councell of <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> did re&s;olue, that the new Chri&s;tians, e&s;pecially tho&s;e that were conuer|ted from Gentili&s;me, in re&s;pect of outward ob|ligation, be&s;ides the morall naturall Law of the <HI>Decalogue,</HI> &s;hould not be bound in con&s;cience to any other thing,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts. 15.29.</NOTE> except <HI>ab&s;teining from meats offered to Idols, and from blood, and from things &s;trangled:</HI> and moreouer to <HI>beware of fornication,</HI> not that this is not compri&s;ed in the <HI>Deca|logue,</HI> but for that the Gentiles for the mo&s;t part were in this error, to thinke that &s;imple fornication was not forbidden by the Law of nature. In other things the Apo&s;tles left them entire libertie of their con&s;cience.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.3.</NOTE> And S. <HI>Paul</HI> adui&s;eth,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;&s;. 2.16.</NOTE> that <HI>he, which eateth not, &s;hould not iudge tho&s;e that eate,</HI> and <HI>that none ought to iudge the
<PB N="61" REF="38">faithfull for eating, and drinking.</HI> Briefly, I con|clude, you are to conforme your &s;elues vnto the well-grounded and well-in&s;tructed deuo|tion of ab&s;tinence, of fa&s;ting, of prayers, of di|uine Seruice, and other &s;piritual exerci&s;es; e&s;pe|cially vpon the Sundayes, and more &s;olemne Fea&s;ts. But beware of two extreames; On the one &s;ide, le&s;t you fall into &s;uper&s;tition, and bring your &s;elues to &s;uch anxietie, and &s;crupu|lo&s;itie, as will oppre&s;&s;e the inward libertie of the con&s;cience; and therefore you are to put from you all feare of mortal &s;inne, if &s;ometime by negligence, or for your owne conuenien|cie (&s;o it be without contempt, or &s;candall) you omit &s;uch deuotions appointed, and ordeined by me, who am your indulgent Mother: and pretend not to hold you to it with &s;uch rigor. The other extreame which you are to beware of, is, that hereupon you doe not runne into carnall libertie, by contemning, and vtterly neglecting my good, and holy ordinances, &s;et|ting at nought the pious, and deuout exerci&s;es appointed by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> whereby the holy wor&s;hip of God is mainteined, and the inward &s;pirit is furthered in Chri&s;tian vertues, e&s;pecially in Religiou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</P>
<PB N="62" REF="39">
<P>The&s;e <HI>Commandements</HI> therefore, in &s;uch &s;ort as they are impo&s;ed on you by the Pope, are very Rocks, he making v&s;e of them principally to the end he may exerci&s;e his dominion ouer me, with a Law-giuing power; but &s;econdari|ly al&s;o for other indirect ends, tending vnto couetou&s;nes: they are (I &s;ay) Rocks, becau&s;e, when as by Preachers, Confe&s;&s;ors, and pettie doctrinall pamphlets, it &s;till ringeth in your eares, that tho&s;e <HI>Church-precepts</HI> doe binde you vnder the paine of mortall &s;inne, they being little ob&s;erued: by this your erronious con&s;ci|ence you make the omi&s;&s;ion of them to be|come in you mortall &s;inne indeed; whereas otherwi&s;e it would be no &s;inne at all. An erro|nious con&s;cience is that, which beleeueth a thing to be a &s;inne, which in trueth is none: and who&s;oeuer committeth, or omitteth that, which hee deemeth a &s;inne to be done, or not done, though in trueth this be not a &s;inne, yet he by his erronious con&s;cience &s;inneth mor|tally herein: and this is a dangerous pit, and deepe breake-necke of &s;oules. Now therefore when as you learne by mee, that my precepts (tho&s;e that are meerely mine) doe not include any obligation vnto mortall &s;inne, be not you
<PB N="63" REF="39" MS="y">troubled with &s;cruples, when, without con|tempt, or &s;candall, you finde them not ob&s;er|ued by you: and &s;o much the rather, becau&s;e &s;ome of tho&s;e ob&s;eruations haue a tang of &s;u|per&s;tition, whereupon it is not onely no &s;inne to omit them, but al&s;o it would be often-times a &s;inne to ob&s;erue them: I will declare my &s;elfe more particularly.</P>
<P>There be fiue precepts, which ordinarily pa&s;&s;e vnder the name of my <HI>Commandements,</HI> as common to all the faithfull: and yet in very deed there are to be found in <HI>the body of Canons</HI> now a dayes in force, a thou&s;and &s;uch precepts, euen more then euer the <HI>Iewes</HI> were burthened withall; which is a thing very intolerable. Tho&s;e fiue are the&s;e; 1. To heare Ma&s;&s;e on Sun|dayes, and e&s;tabli&s;hed holy dayes: 2. To fa&s;t in Lent, in the foure Ember-wekes, in the Vigils, or Eues; and to ab&s;taine from fle&s;h on Fridaies, and Saturdaies: 3. To be &s;hriuen by your owne Prie&s;t at lea&s;t once a yere: 4. To be hou&s;eled at Ea&s;ter: 5. To pay tythes according to cu&s;tome.</P>
<P>The keeping of the Lords day, which &s;uc|ceeded the ancient Sabaoth, is deriued rather from the diuine, or morall Law, then from mine: but let the obligation of that ob&s;er|uance
<PB N="64" REF="40">bee what it may, I meane not now to trouble you with it. I mu&s;t remember you, that the Sunday, and other ancient Fea&s;ts e&s;ta|bli&s;hed by me vpon mature deliberation, are to be fully ob&s;erued by you according to my an|cient v&s;e, and declaration, with ab&s;teyning from &s;eruile works, as much as morall nece&s;&s;i|tie, and other vrgent occa&s;ions will &s;uffer; that you may then apply your &s;elues to the wor|&s;hip of God, and to the &s;pirituall profit of your &s;oules; namely, by gathering together, e&s;peci|ally to heare the word of God; to ioyne in pub|licke prayer; and oftentimes to bee refre&s;hed with the mo&s;t holy Sacraments. What hath <HI>Rome</HI> done by adding this particular com|mand of hearing Ma&s;&s;e, (&s;ince the Ma&s;&s;e is de|generated into an abu&s;e, as I will &s;hortly &s;hew you, and hath much &s;uper&s;tition in it,) but that all you &s;hould hold your &s;elues to haue &s;ufficiently di&s;charged your duety of keeping holy all Fea&s;ts, by ab&s;teyning from &s;eruile workes and hearing the Ma&s;&s;e, and nothing el&s;e? For your Confe&s;&s;ors require nothing el&s;e of you vpon the commandement of &s;anctify|ing the Fea&s;ts. The word of God either is not preached at all, or, if it be preached, it is not
<PB N="65" REF="40" MS="y">heard, or, if heard, that is onely vpon curte&s;ie, and curio&s;itie, and not vpon duetie. The di|uine Seruice is &s;aid, or &s;ung, but in a language not vnder&s;tood by the vulgar: whereupon it falleth out for the mo&s;t part, that tho&s;e, that are there pre&s;ent, &s;pend the time in pratling, whi&s;|pering, and, which is wor&s;e, in courting, and ob&s;enities, and other &s;uch intertainments, very abhominable to be v&s;ed in the hou&s;e of praier. As for the Sacraments, I will &s;peake of them af|terwards. And this is your fir&s;t <HI>Church-com|mandement,</HI> which doeth much more hurt then good. You, my children, &s;hall duely &s;anctifie the Fea&s;ts, if vpon &s;uch dayes, auoyding the&s;e vaine, and &s;uper&s;titious, (and I would to God I might not &s;ay Idolatrous) Ma&s;&s;es, and, now that your &s;pirituall fathers, or rather &s;tep-fa|thers, afford you no good &s;pirituall exerci&s;es, forbearing al&s;o to heare the Sermons of your Friars, which are full of lea&s;ings, and deceipts, you would &s;pend &s;ome time in your owne hou&s;es in reading, in godly meditations, and prayers; and thus &s;hould you very well keepe holy-day, till it &s;hould plea&s;e God to giue you true, pure, and vncorrupt exerci&s;es in your owne Churches.</P>
<PB N="66" REF="41" MS="y">
<P>In the &s;econd precept, which concerneth fa|&s;ting, and ab&s;tinence, I like very well, that tho&s;e, who can, doe fa&s;t on the fa&s;ting-dayes, e&s;pecially in the <HI>Lent,</HI> which is a very ancient in&s;titution. And let this be a true fa&s;t, tending to the mortification of the fle&s;h, with ab&s;tei|ning, not onely from eating fle&s;h, egges, and whitmeats, as the manner is, but al&s;o from all delicate, and high feeding viands, e&s;pecially, if they be incentiue, as are &s;alt meats: Let the fa&s;t be kept with hearbes, with pul&s;e, with cheape ordinary fi&s;h, and only one meale a day. Your fa&s;ting is very ridiculous, and loath&s;ome, both to me, and my Spou&s;e: to ab&s;teine from &s;uch cour&s;e meat as beefe, and to &s;eeke out the mo&s;t delicate fi&s;h of the highe&s;t price, and other choi&s;e dainties, to plea&s;e the palate, with vari|ety al&s;o of &s;pices, and &s;auces. O, how much more perfect a fa&s;t would it bee, and more ac|ceptable to God, to take one light meale of fle&s;h, then a delicious banquet of fi&s;h. But, as I &s;aid, if any of you bee not di&s;po&s;ed to fa&s;t, or to forbeare fle&s;h, euen in <HI>Lent,</HI> let him not bee &s;crupulous thereupon: for, my precepts do not binde on paine of mortall &s;inne: yet notwith|&s;tanding he &s;hall bee very blameworthy, if, be|ing
<PB N="67" REF="41">able, yet he do not accommodate him&s;elfe to the re&s;t of the faithfull. Of Confe&s;&s;ion, and receiuing the Communion, I will &s;peake after|wards.</P>
<P>As for tithes, they are ill ranged vnder my precepts: for, I hold them to appertaine to God's law, either naturall, or po&s;itiue, at lea&s;t, where my Mini&s;ters receiue from thence their nece&s;&s;ary &s;u&s;tenance, and in &s;uch quantity, and manner, as cu&s;tome hath long confirmed. And this charge of ouerruling matter of tithes, where they neede rectifying, is proper to the &s;ecular Princes, euery of them in their owne dominions, ina&s;muchas tithes are externall goods: and they are to &s;ee to it, that, where nece&s;&s;ary Mini&s;ters haue not decent mainte|nance, &s;upply bee made by the Pari&s;hioners; and where too much aboundance, and &s;uper|fluity is, and the &s;ame luxuriou&s;ly employed, that it bee moderated, by transferring from tho&s;e Prie&s;ts, which haue too much, vnto o|thers, which haue too little. They are al&s;o to prouide that the Bi&s;hops entertaine &s;o many Clearkes, as are nece&s;&s;ary for their Churches, and to re&s;traine them from making a number of idle, and &s;uperfluous Prie&s;ts: and &s;o &s;hall
<PB N="68" REF="42">all of them bee well prouided for: but much the better, if, by the authority of Princes, and temporal Lords, the world were di&s;burthened of &s;uch rabbles of Friars, and Monkes, and Regulars, of the Religions now out of &s;quare, and di&s;&s;olute: reducing al&s;o the other Orders, which keepe as yet &s;ome forme of regular life, vnto the entire obedience of tho&s;e Bi&s;hops, in who&s;e Cities, and Dioce&s;&s;es, tho&s;e Co~uents are; and withall vtterly di&s;&s;oluing, and annulling, all forme of Common-wealth among&s;t them, wherein all the Regulars are combined toge|ther; &s;o that they may remaine either meere Clearkes, and &s;imple Prie&s;ts, or el&s;e become Monkes of the old fa&s;hion, without holy Or|ders, and without reuenues. And &s;o their ex|orbitant po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions will make a &s;upply to helpe Bi&s;hops of &s;mall meanes, and poore pa|ri&s;h-Prie&s;ts, and will &s;erue the turne to ea&s;e the people, in maintayning their pari&s;h-Prie&s;ts, &amp; in founding of Colledges, and Seminaries for &s;tudents in the Vniuer&s;ities, and &s;ome-where al&s;o for the &s;upport of the Military profe&s;&s;ion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="rock">
<PB N="69" REF="42">
<HEAD>&para; The &s;ixt Rocke. Fal&s;e Vnion.</HEAD>
<P>_VErely I am but one, beeing the onely Spou&s;e of <HI>Christ;</HI> and though my daughters, the particular Churches, bee many, yet I am nothing el&s;e, but they all ioyned together. And fora&s;much as I am only one, and they altogether are one with me, euen as all the members <HI>vnited</HI> make onely one bo|dy, and the head of this my body is no other but <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> alone; therefore this my <HI>vnion</HI> con&s;i|&s;teth in our being built all vpo~ one, &amp; the &s;ame foundation, which is onely one and the &s;ame <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> onely one and the &s;ame Go&s;pell, onely one and the &s;ame faith, onely one and the &s;ame Bapti&s;me; and in that wee loue, and imbrace one another in perfect charity. And tho&s;e Churches, which do not in this manner <HI>vnite</HI> them&s;elues vnto me, haue no part in this <HI>vnion,</HI> nor pertaine to this body. And in the&s;e parti|culars, my holy Fathers haue alwaies declared this nece&s;&s;ary <HI>vnion</HI> to con&s;i&s;t, the foundation whereof is faith, and charity the bond which combineth it. It mu&s;t needs be therefore very
<PB N="70" REF="43" MS="y">lamentable to behold &s;ome Churches my daughters, or my parts, or members, that is, limbes of my body, to agree with mee in the foundation, but will not be <HI>vnited</HI> by charity, vnder vaine pretences of friuolous di&s;&s;en&s;&s;ions in points, that are not fundamentall: and thus they fouly breake me this <HI>vnion.</HI></P>
<P>But that, which mo&s;t of all offends mee, is, that the Pope, my Capitall enemie, doth de|&s;troy, and breake, and di&s;&s;ipate this my &s;o im|portant <HI>vnion,</HI> drawing it mi&s;chieuou&s;ly to him&s;elfe, and vrging, that <HI>vnion</HI> con&s;i&s;teth in beeing &s;ubiect vnto him, as a vi&s;ible head. Yet haue I &s;hewed, that there is no relation of an head in him, and that hee is meerely my mini|&s;ter, and &s;eruant. Indeede he is, as euery other Bi&s;hop, the vi&s;ible head of his owne Church onely, my daughter of <HI>Rome:</HI> and he it is, that giueth <HI>vnion</HI> to that Church; for, euery parti|cular Church is vi&s;ibly one, while&s;t it depends of her owne only principall mini&s;ter. <HI>A Church</HI> (that is, a particular Church) &s;aith Saint <HI>Cypri|an,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. lib. 4. Ep. 9.</NOTE> <HI>is a people vnited to their Pa&s;tour:</HI> But in mee, that am the vniuer&s;all and totall Church, there is no <HI>vnion</HI> made by any other then by my true and onely head <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and all particular Churches bring forth that goodly, and nece&s;|&s;ary
<PB N="71" REF="43"><HI>vnion,</HI> by beeing <HI>vnited</HI> with me vpon the &s;ame foundation, and vnder the &s;ame head <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and that by way of charity, and con|cord.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem. lib. 4. Ep. 2.</NOTE> To this purpo&s;e well &s;aid the &s;ame <HI>Cy|prian,</HI> that <HI>the Church of Chri&s;t is one, beeing diui|ded throughout the world into many members, and that there is only one Bi&s;hopricke, which is diffu&s;ed by the agreeing multitude of many Bi&s;hops:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibidem. Ep. 3.</NOTE> More|ouer he &s;aith, <HI>though we be many Pa&s;tors, yet wee feede one flocke onely.</HI> And againe, <HI>being that the Church, which is one and vniuer&s;all, is not broken, nor diuided, &s;hee is al&s;o vnited, and combined by the bond of Prie&s;ts conioyned among them&s;elues.</HI> There|fore <HI>Cyprian</HI> neuer could finde, that this <HI>vnion</HI> con&s;i&s;ted in one of the Bi&s;hops, by the redu|cing all others to him, as to an head, but that all Bi&s;hops <HI>vnited</HI> together in faith and charity did cau&s;e this <HI>vnion</HI> of mine.</P>
<P>It is a grieuous iniury, which my vngratefull daughter of <HI>Rome</HI> doth offer me, while&s;t &s;he, forgetting that &s;he is my daughter, maketh her &s;elfe my Mi&s;tres, and v&s;urpes my Robes, and my Titles, as if &s;he were the vniuer&s;all Church, when &s;hee her &s;elfe is a particular Church, one of the many. It is I, that am the truely vni|uer&s;all, who &s;tretch forth my armes from Ea&s;t to We&s;t, and from North to South: and how
<PB N="72" REF="44">can &s;hee be vniuer&s;all, or totall, beeing onely a part, and member? All the many are gathered together and <HI>vnited</HI> in me, and not in her: for euen &s;he, if &s;hee will be Catholike, mu&s;t of ne|ce&s;&s;ity bee <HI>vnited</HI> to me, as a part to the whole, as a member to the body, vnder mine, and her head, <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>Behold therefore the Rocke, whereupon yee run, while&s;t yee are willing to reduce your &s;elues vnto an <HI>vnion</HI> inuented by the Pope, that hee might thereby become my head, and tyrannize ouer me, and while&s;t ye yeeld obedi|ence to him, in&s;tead of remayning in <HI>vnion</HI> with me, ye &s;eparate your &s;elues from me, and, in&s;tead of making and procuring <HI>vnity,</HI> you breake it, and diuide it. For, he is not in the Ca|tholique Church, that is not in the vniuer&s;all Church, which am I: and while&s;t the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> packeth a faction, which receiueth <HI>v|nion</HI> from him onely: &s;urely that &s;ect of his can bee neither Catholique, nor vniuer&s;all, nor Church: therefore his party is not the vniuer|&s;all Church, but a diueli&s;h &s;chi&s;me, wherein there cannot be any &s;ound and holy <HI>vnion,</HI> but a con&s;piracie and combination of a Sect, not of a Church. Now let vs pa&s;&s;e on to the Rocks of <HI>Auarice.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="part">
<PB N="73" REF="44" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE SECOND PART. &para; The Rocks founded on Auarice.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD><HI>The fir&s;t Rocke.</HI> The Ma&s;&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>_THAT exerci&s;e, wherewith I haue bene furni&s;hed &s;incere|ly for aboue foure hundred yeeres, which now adayes you call the <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> was, by the fir&s;t in&s;titution thereof, nothing el&s;e, but a con&s;ecrating of the Bread of the holy <HI>Euchari&s;t</HI> for the communion of the faithfull, and that to repre&s;ent the Pa&s;&s;ion and death of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and to make commemoration of that mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed &s;acrifice, wherein <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, being both Prie&s;t, and Sacrifice, did offer vp his mo&s;t &s;acred Body, and pretious blood, vpon the Al|tar of the Cro&s;&s;e, onely once for my redemp|tion, and for remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes: and this was then in&s;tituted by <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> when in his la&s;t Sup|per he made his Apo&s;tles Communicants of
<PB N="74" REF="45" MS="y">that my&s;terious Bread, and Wine, which re|pre&s;ented his Body and Blood, &s;aying vnto them, <HI>Doe this in remembrance of mee.</HI> That therefore, which <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> gaue vnto his Apo&s;tles, namely. Bread, and Wine, for them to eate, and drinke, was the Sacrament, a true, and reall Sa|crament, but not a true, and reall Sacrifice, o|ther then commemoratiue. For, this Sacra|ment was giuen them, as in very deed an actu|all Sacrament, and bearing with it Sacramen|tall fruit and benefit, but as a commemoration onely, and repre&s;entation of the future &s;acri|fice. When therefore he &s;aid vnto them, <HI>Doe you this,</HI> What el&s;e could he vnder&s;tand, but this, ye al&s;o &s;hall deliuer vnto others actually this true, and reall Sacrament, but &s;o, that it be commemoratiue, and repre&s;entatiue of my Sa|crifice then ouerpa&s;t. And in this &s;en&s;e did all my ancient Fathers alwayes vnder&s;tand this &s;acred exerci&s;e (now called the <HI>Ma&s;&s;e</HI>) for the introductions v&s;ed in the making a reall, and actuall Sacrament, and for a Sacrifice, not actu|all, but onely commemoratiue, and repre&s;en|tatiue.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t. in epi&s;t. ad Heb. hom. 17.</NOTE> Li&s;ten to <HI>S. Chry&s;o&s;tome, We make an of|fring euery day, but we doe it in remembrance of the death of</HI> Chri&s;t: <HI>there is onely one Sacrifice, which
<PB N="75" REF="45">was onely once offered in the Holy of holies: but this Sacrifice is a type or modell of that: And this which we now performe, we doe onely in commemoration; As he &s;aid,</HI> Doe this in remembrance of me. <HI>We performe not another Sacrifice, as the Prie&s;t then did; but we offer alwayes the &s;ame, or rather, we doe cele|brate the memory of that Sacrifice.</HI> So plainely &s;peaketh <HI>S. Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> that this action now called the <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> is not it &s;elfe a Sacrifice, but a memory, and repre&s;entation, &amp; after-draught of a by-pa&s;t Sacrifice.</P>
<P>What hath the <HI>Auarice</HI> of Rome done in this? This &s;acred exerci&s;e, which, in regard of the reall action, produceth the Sacrament, is by them intituled to a true and reall vn-bloody Sacrifice vnder the name of the <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> and &s;o they will needs haue their Prie&s;ts truely, and really to &s;acrifice <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> And to this their Sa|crifice, as reall, and properly &s;o called, they at|tribute the true properties of an actuall Sacri|fice, making it propitiatorie, impetratory, and &s;atisfactorie: their end herein is, that you, my poore, and &s;imple children, beleeuing the&s;e their fictions, may ply them to &s;ay <HI>Ma&s;&s;es</HI> for you, but tendring beforehand your money to the prie&s;ts, and oftentimes driuing the bar|gaine
<PB N="76" REF="46" MS="y">for more or le&s;&s;e to eeke it out for the quicke, and the dead. And &s;o you, finding your &s;elues deepely drenched in &s;inne, that you may &s;aue the labour of a true, and due &s;acrifice <HI>of an humble and contrite heart:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.17.</NOTE> thus tru&s;ting more to this vnbloody Sacrifice, which will &s;tand you in but a few pence, you thinke that you bring with you in your pocket an vndoubted remi&s;|&s;ion of your &s;innes. O fearefull rocke! O dole|full wracke! O hatefull auarice!</P>
<P>The Pope will needs haue a great Armie of innumerable Prie&s;ts, and Friars, whom he pre|tendeth, and, in de&s;pight of Secular Princes, mainteyneth, to bee his onely, his Subiects, &s;ouldiers, and &s;eruants: but, he is more thriftie then to allow them wages of his owne pay, or table of his proui&s;ion; and therefore hee hath inuented, for their maintenance, &s;uch deuices as this, to nimme the coyne out of your pur&s;es: Which yee giue downe very gently, that you may haue your part in the&s;e &s;weet Sacrifices, not by way of commemoration of the benefit which you haue receiued by <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> but by way of bargaine, and hier for the remi&s;&s;ion of your &s;innes, and the freedome of &s;oules out of Pur|gatorie for pettie peniworthes. And that you
<PB N="77" REF="46" MS="y">may ply their &s;hop the oftner, and become dai|ly cu&s;tomers for <HI>Ma&s;&s;e</HI>-bargaines, they tell you that one <HI>Ma&s;se</HI> will not doe the feat; that you are not alwayes rightly di&s;po&s;ed to be capable of the benefit of this Sacrifice; that for euery &s;inne you mu&s;t haue at lea&s;t one <HI>Ma&s;&s;e;</HI> with &s;uch like deui&s;es: and then let them alone to make their ware &s;aleable: they will finde you miracles ynough begotten by their <HI>Ma&s;&s;es,</HI> and &s;toare you with vi&s;ions, reuelations, and ma|ny other &s;uch tricks, and &s;lights coyned in the forge of couetou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>But what thinke you of the &s;uper&s;titious ce|remonies of the <HI>Ma&s;se?</HI> they are a many of de|ui&s;es broached to a&s;toni&s;h the &s;imple vulgar, and to raui&s;h them with admiration of hidden and vnknowne my&s;teries, without common &s;ence, without &s;ignification, without any con|tents in them, other then meere &s;uper&s;tition. The <HI>Ma&s;se</HI>-prie&s;t &s;ometimes beats his brea&s;t; one while lifts vp his eyes, other-while ca&s;ts them downe; one while ioynes his hands to|gether, other-while &s;preads them at large; one while holds his fingers clo&s;e, other-while di&s;|playes them: &s;ometimes he makes cro&s;&s;es in the aire, in a certaine prefixed number, and
<PB N="78" REF="47" MS="y">with &s;o nimble motion, as if he would beat a|way flies, &s;ometime he bends him&s;elfe downe, lowting low with Spani&s;h crindges: &s;ome|time hee &s;tands vpright, &s;ometime &s;toopes, &s;ometime mumbles in &s;ecret, other-while hee chaunts it alowd: one while hee turnes to the people, otherwhile to the Altar: which are ge|&s;ticulations fitter for the &s;tage, then for the Church, and to procure laughter, then to &s;tirre vp deuotion. Set habits I mi&s;like not; for, in my fir&s;t, and be&s;t times my Mini&s;ters were in their holy functions adorned with proper ha|bits for that purpo&s;e, which indeed were not &s;o co&s;tly and &s;tately, as now adayes I &s;ee them in &s;ome Churches, nor &s;o &s;louenly and na&s;tie, as I &s;ee them in other, e&s;pecially among&s;t tho&s;e Friars, which loue their broath well, and take more care to haue their diet large and fat, then to haue their Ve&s;trie furni&s;hed and neatly dight.</P>
<P>As for the Sacrament, while&s;t the Commu|nion of the faithfull, either all, or many, or &s;ome is in celebrating, then is the fit time for that, which is called <HI>Ma&s;se,</HI> which &s;hould in|deede bee the Liturgie, and, not a priuate, but publique exerci&s;e, euen for the &s;aid Commu|nion,
<PB N="79" REF="47">and no other v&s;e: for, this onely was the fir&s;t, and pure in&s;titution thereof. But <HI>Roma|ni&s;ts</HI> haue brought-in an innouation, that for the mo&s;t part the Communion &s;hould bee ce|lebrated without <HI>Ma&s;se,</HI> or Liturgie: for, they make boxes to be kept full of the&s;e <HI>Hosts:</HI> there one comes, another goes, and the Prie&s;t, with|out <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> without prayers, affords to euery &s;tander-by the Co~munion, or rather the halfe Communion; it being a maymed Sacrament, and full of vndecent enormities. Hence I in|ferre, that the priuate <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> as it is now adaies celebrated, is in many re&s;pects friuolous, and cau&s;eth the ruine of many &s;oules. One refor|mation of it would bee, by cutting off many parts of it, and generally all tho&s;e &s;trange ge|&s;tures, and by celebrating it for the Communi|on onely. Whereupon it followes, that in one and the &s;ame Church all the Altars, except one principall, &s;hould bee demoli&s;hed, as &s;uperflu|ous. For, in one Congregation one <HI>Ma&s;&s;e</HI> is enough for the peoples Communion, where the multitude of Altars, and <HI>Ma&s;&s;es</HI> is nothing but a meere &s;uper&s;tition, and erronious opini|on of a Sacrifice.</P>
<P>But the greate&s;t enormitie, and mo&s;t intol|lerable
<PB N="80" REF="48">error of the <HI>Ma&s;se,</HI> now adayes is, that you, poore &s;oules, are made beleeue, that in it the bread is conuerted, or (as they &s;peake) <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiated</HI> into the true, and reall body of <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> &s;o that the bread after the con&s;ecration mu&s;t bee no more bread, no not in &s;ub&s;tance, but <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> true and reall body, with his true, &amp; reall pre&s;ence in body, and &s;oule, and the Deity vnited thereto; with his head, eies, hands, and feet, the very &s;ame, that was borne of the Vir|gin <HI>Mary,</HI> which was fa&s;tened on the Cro&s;&s;e, which ro&s;e againe, and a&s;cended into heauen, and &s;itteth at the right hand of God the Father; a thing beyond all vnder&s;tanding, and vtterly imperceptible, which I could neuer appre|hend, nor approoue. Surely the Scripture al|wayes calleth the <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> euen after con&s;e|cration, bread; Saint <HI>Luke</HI> calleth it the Com|munion of <HI>breaking of bread:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.46.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 10.16.</NOTE> That <HI>the bread, which wee breake, is the com|munion of the body of Christ;</HI> and &s;peaking of the due preparation before the Communion, after a man hath prooued him&s;elfe, and purged his co~&s;cience,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 11.28.</NOTE> <HI>then,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>let him eat of that bread, and drinke of that cup.</HI> So likewi&s;e all the anci|ent Fathers acknowledged true bread in the
<PB N="81" REF="48" MS="y"><HI>Euchari&s;t;</HI> neither euer heard they newes of this <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> it being an vtter &s;tranger in my hou&s;e; and for aboue eight hundred yeres after <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> neither heard of, nor thought on. And when&s;oeuer the ancient Fathers doe call the <HI>Eucharist</HI> by the name of <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> body, their meaning is, that the bread is <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> body <HI>Sacramentally,</HI> without cea&s;ing to be bread &s;till: euen as the water of holy Bapti&s;me is &s;acra|mentally the blood of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> which wa&s;heth the &s;oule, yet notwith&s;tanding remayneth it &s;till water.</P>
<P>And, if yee aske mee, what the <HI>Eucharisticall</HI> bread doth get by con&s;ecration more then it had before, and what maner of tran&s;mutation, or change that is, which the holy Fathers ac|knowledge to be in the bread after con&s;ecrati|on; I an&s;were, that the bread before con&s;ecra|tion is nothing el&s;e, but ordinary bread, and onely materiall food for the body; but vpon con&s;ecration it is altered, and changed, and that &s;piritually, and not materially: for, it be|commeth Sacramentall bread, and by &s;o being it attayneth a very great and meruailous priui|ledge, that who&s;oeuer doth worthy lie eat it in the holy Communion, doth receiue the true
<PB N="82" REF="49" MS="y">body of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in a certaine vn&s;peakeable, but &s;pirituall, and Sacramentall maner: <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> ha|uing ordeined and promi&s;ed, that when&s;oeuer this bread beeing made Sacramentall by con|&s;ecration, &s;hall be eaten worthy lie, he will giue his body &s;piritually, and all other admirable &s;pirituall benefits for the nouri&s;hment of their &s;oules, to tho&s;e that &s;hall thus worthylie com|municate. And, in regard of this &s;pirituall ef|fect of receiuing the body of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;piritually, as often as the con&s;ecrated bread is worthylie receiued in the act of communicating, the Fa|thers are wont to call that bread the body of <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> And in this &s;en&s;e, <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> when he gaue the Communion to his Apo&s;tles in his la&s;t &s;upper, did call that bread, which he deliuered to them, his body. So al&s;o mu&s;t wee vnder|&s;tand the con&s;ecrated wine, which beeing druncke corporally in the Sacrament, the ve|ry blood of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is drunke, but &s;piritually, &amp; not corporally: and &s;o in the ble&s;&s;ed Sacra|ment of bread and wine, there is &s;piritually the true body, and the true blood of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> with their true, and reall effects, wrought in the &s;oule of the worthy Communicant: but there is neither the body, nor the blood corpo|rally,
<PB N="83" REF="49" MS="y">and that which is there corporally, is ve|ry bread, and very wine, imployed Sacramen|tally, as I haue declared.</P>
<P>The like is to be vnder&s;tood al&s;o of the wa|ter of holy Bapti&s;me: for, that al&s;o, before the inuocation of the mo&s;t holy Trinity in the act of baptizing, is no other, then meere ordina|ry water, but by that inuocation it is con&s;ecra|ted in the very act of Bapti&s;me, and &s;o at one &amp; the &s;ame time, both the water is con&s;ecrated, and of ordinary becommeth Sacramental, and withall there is performed the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, with the inward effect of purging the &s;oule: whereas in the <HI>Euchari&s;t</HI> the con&s;e|cration goeth before, whereby the bread, and wine are made Sacramentall; and afterwards follow the eating, and drinking of them: in which actions con&s;i&s;teth the very Sacra|ment, and the body &amp; blood of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is giuen inwardly to him, that worthylie eateth and drinketh this Sacramentall bread, and wine; but who&s;oeuer doth eat and drinke them vn|worthylie, without examining him&s;elfe, and fir&s;t being clen&s;ed from &s;inne, he doth not eat, nor drinke any other thing, then bread, and wine. For to tho&s;e, that are vnworthy, <HI>Christ</HI>
<PB N="84" REF="50" MS="y">affordeth not &s;piritually his body, nor his blood, how&s;oeuer they doe eat, and drinke the con&s;ecrated bread, and wine: which con&s;ecra|tion hath this operation, that it maketh the bread, and wine Sacramentall vnto tho&s;e that Sacramentally receiue them, and are onely fit for them; whereas the vnworthy receiue them not as a Sacrament, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> denying vnto them his body, and blood; and &s;o to them this eat|ing and drinking is no Sacrament, and that by their own default: This con&s;ecration there|fore doth them no good at all, but is the occa|&s;ion that they eat and drinke, not a Sacrament, nor <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> body,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 11.29.</NOTE> and blood, but <HI>iudgement, &amp; condemnation,</HI> as St. <HI>Paul</HI> denounceth, becau&s;e <HI>they doe not di&s;cerne the body of the Lord;</HI> that is, they put no difference betweene ordinary bread, and this con&s;ecrated bread, which in the Sacramentall eating doth &s;piritually exhibite the true body of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> to the worthy recei|uers; they making no other preparation for it, then if they were to receiue their common, or|dinary, and meere corporall food. So al&s;o, if, by any mi&s;chance in the time of communica|ting, any vnrea&s;onable creature &s;hould eat that con&s;ecrated bread, it eateth no other then
<PB N="85" REF="50" MS="y">meere bread; ina&s;much as <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> doth not af|foord his body with the con&s;ecrated bread, but onely vnto tho&s;e, who are capeable of the Sa|crament, and are made worthy of it, or, at lea&s;t, doe not vnworthylie approach vnto it.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> performeth not this won|derfull worke of giuing his body, and blood, (in &s;uch &s;ort as I haue declared) but onely by occa&s;ion of the Sacrament; and fora&s;much as, likewi&s;e the Sacrament it &s;elfe con&s;i&s;teth who|ly in the actions of eating, and drinking, who &s;eeth not, that &s;uch con&s;ecrated bread, while&s;t it is not imployed in tho&s;e actions, remayneth pure and ordinary bread? for, the con&s;ecrating of it &s;erued only to make it Sacramental bread, &amp; &s;urely it is not Sacramentall otherwi&s;e then as it is to bee eaten Sacramentally in that &s;piri|tuall banquet, which then is in celebrating, although the &s;ame &s;hould continue many houres, or there were &s;ome &s;icke per&s;ons to communicate of it, who lie in their beds at home, euen though they were &s;ome ten miles di&s;tant thence, in a&s;much as this may bee held morally one banquet or Communion.</P>
<P>Whereupon you may ea&s;ily perceiue the er|rour of tho&s;e, that terme by the name of the
<PB N="86" REF="51">mo&s;t holy Sacrament that con&s;ecrated bread, which after the Communion fini&s;hed, is kept in Pyxes and cabinets, where it is not to bee ea|ten by any, but after certaine daies, and weeks, and moneths, and perhaps not by men at all, but by mice, or other vermine, and yet &s;urely it is no Sacrament, but onely in the act of eat|ing: therefore in the&s;e Pyxes, and clo&s;ets there is contained, not onely no Sacrament, but not &s;o much as Sacramentall bread, the force of con&s;ecration beeing already vani&s;hed; ina&s;|much as that bread was con&s;ecrated onely to the end it might bee eaten in that meeting Sa|cramentally; and therefore afterwards it be|commeth ordinary bread: which notwith|&s;tanding, in reuerend regard that this very bread was con&s;ecrated to the Communion, is to bee eaten by tho&s;e, that are in &s;acred functi|on, and not to bee brought vnto the common dining-table, nor to be v&s;ed as ordinary foode. And yet (alas) euen to this bread thus re&s;erued, there are v&s;ually prayers made, and adoration performed, as vnto the onely true God, which is mo&s;t expre&s;&s;e, proper, and formall Idolatry.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider al&s;o the gro&s;&s;e ab&s;urdities, and ma|nife&s;t impo&s;&s;ibilities, which they are faine to
<PB N="87" REF="51" MS="y">maintaine, who hold <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiation:</HI> that the accidents of bread, namely colour, quanti|tie, &s;mell, &s;auour, and &s;uch like, remaine with|out any &s;ubiect, wherein they &s;hould inheare, or &s;ub&s;tance, whereby they &s;hould be &s;uppor|ted. Surely nothing can &s;ub&s;i&s;t in its actuall being when&s;oeuer it loo&s;eth its very e&s;&s;ence; and all Philo&s;ophie proclaimeth, that <HI>Acciden|tis e&s;se estine&s;se,</HI> the being of an accident, or qualitie con&s;i&s;teth in being &s;upported by a &s;ub&s;tance, or &s;ubiect. So that by this reckoning the&s;e accidents are in being, becau&s;e they are &s;eene, and felt, and yet are not in being, becau&s;e their owne being is denied them: and that which e&s;&s;entially hath no being of it &s;elfe, but wholy dependeth of another, it is vnpo&s;&s;ible that it &s;hould exi&s;t without that, by which it is that it is. So euery accident in its owne e&s;&s;ence is an appurtenance to another thing, namely, vnto &s;ub&s;tance; and he, that withdraweth &s;ub|&s;tance and &s;ubject from an accident, &s;tealeth a|way the very e&s;&s;ence thereof: and &s;o, as I &s;aid, the&s;e accidents are &s;omething, becau&s;e they are vi&s;ible, and palpable, and yet are nifles, becau&s;e there is no &s;ub&s;tance left to &s;upport them; and &s;o they are appendants, and no appendants.
<PB N="88" REF="52" MS="y">And, as for diuinitie, that acknowledgeth, that euen to God him&s;elfe tho&s;e things, which im|ply contradiction, are not fei&s;ible.</P>
<P>But what would they &s;ay concerning the power of nouri&s;hing, which is alwayes to be found in the <HI>Euchari&s;ticall</HI> bread? Certainely he, that &s;hould eate no other meat, nor drinke no other liquor, then the&s;e Sacramentall ele|ments, &s;hould finde him&s;elfe nouri&s;hed as much as with any ordinary bread and wine: And being that a man's body is not an acci|dent, but a &s;ub&s;tance, of nece&s;&s;itie it mu&s;t bee nouri&s;hed with &s;ub&s;tances and not with acci|dents, the &s;ub&s;tance of meats being alwayes turned into the &s;ub&s;tance of the body nou|ri&s;hed by them: here therefore is no other &s;tarting-hole left, then to run to a miracle, that for&s;ooth God doth create a new &s;ub&s;tance, whereby he, that thus eateth, is nouri&s;hed, and &s;o in trueth they might as well &s;ay, that he li|ueth and is nouri&s;hed without eating, and drinking: for, to eate and drinke without re|ceiuing the &s;ub&s;tance of meat and drinke is in|deed not to eate and drinke at all.</P>
<P>Here I may adde the greate&s;t impo&s;&s;ibilitie of all, and euen open contradiction hence fol|lowing,
<PB N="89" REF="52">namely, that <HI>Christ's</HI> body &s;halbe a bo|dy, and no body: it cannot be denied that cor|poreal, and incorporeall &s;ub&s;tances are &s;o farre in their nature, and e&s;&s;ence di&s;tingui&s;hed, that neither of them can haue the properties of the other, nor be di&s;poiled of their owne proper|ties, without the totall de&s;truction of one of them. To be in a confining circum&s;cribed place; to haue quantitie, and parts one di&s;tin|gui&s;hed from the other; to be either heauy, or light; to be &s;en&s;ible; are properties, which ari&s;e from the internall e&s;&s;ence of things corporeal. To be indiui&s;ible; to be vncircum&s;cribed by any place; to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e no &s;ituation; to be who|ly in the whole, and all in euery parcell of the whole, are properties of &s;ub&s;tances ab&s;tract, immateriall, and incorporeall. Well indeed may it be granted, that God's Almighty power can di&s;place &s;ome of the&s;e properties in bo|dies, by putting in another propertie contrary thereto, but yet corporeal; as he can make a bo|dy, which is naturally heauy, to become light, and that, which is hot, to become cold; but to make a body &s;till to remaine an entire body, yet &s;o, that it &s;hall reteine no corporeall quali|tie, but a&s;&s;ume incorporeall properties, is vtter|ly
<PB N="90" REF="53">impo&s;&s;ible, euen to God's omnipotencie: for it &s;hould be at the &s;ame time both a body and a &s;pirit; and &s;o a body, and no body. To this are the Papi&s;ts driuen, turning the body of <HI>Christ</HI> into an ab&s;tract, immateriall, and incor|poreall &s;ub&s;tance, and giuing it the true pro|perties of a &s;pirit, and depriuing it of all bodily qualities. And yet when the Di&s;ciples, after the re&s;urrection, vpon <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> appearance among&s;t them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.37.</NOTE> and &s;aying vnto them, <HI>Peace be vnto you, were terrified and affrighted, &s;uppo&s;ing they had &s;eene a &s;pirit;</HI> for the driuing this error out of their heads, <HI>Christ,</HI> &s;hewing them his hands, and feet, and body, &s;aid, <HI>Handle me and &s;ee; for, a &s;pirit hath not fle&s;h, and bones.</HI> It is therefore a &s;ound po&s;ition by <HI>Christ's</HI> owne argument, that that, which con&s;i&s;teth of fle&s;h and bones, cannot haue the properties of a &s;pirit, nor a &s;pi|rit haue the properties of a body; otherwi&s;e <HI>Christ's</HI> argument would not pa&s;&s;e for currant, if it were po&s;&s;ible, that a man's body might bee without palpable fle&s;h, and bones, and that a Spirit might con&s;i&s;t of palpable fle&s;h, and bones. But the Papi&s;ts will needs driue the body of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> which of nece&s;&s;itie hath vi&s;ible, and palpable fle&s;h, and bones, to be a meere
<PB N="91" REF="53" MS="y">&s;pirit: and &s;o they make the &s;ame body, remai|ning continually in heauen, and not departing thence, to come downe to the earth, into the hands of the Prie&s;t, and that without pa&s;&s;ing through the heauens, or the aire: and that the &s;ame entire body mu&s;t be in the &s;ame moment of time, both in heauen, and vpon an infinite company of Altars in the earth: and that not onely in the whole contents of the con&s;ecra|ted <HI>Host,</HI> but in euery little particle thereof, though no bigger then the point of a needle, there mu&s;t be the large entire body of a man fully growne, together with all his fle&s;h, and bones, with his hands, and feete, and with all the re&s;t of his members. A very meere vani|tie, whereat the Infidels our aduer&s;aries may well make them&s;elues merry, and mocke at our faith, for mainteyning things &s;o repug|nant to all rea&s;on, which wee cannot &s;alue vp, no not by running to God's omnipotencie.</P>
<P>There is no nece&s;&s;itie at all, whereby wee &s;hould be driuen to the&s;e ab&s;urd a&s;&s;ertions. True it is, that <HI>Christ</HI> &s;peaking of the holy Bread, &s;aid, <HI>This is my body,</HI> but euen &s;o it is &s;aid of iron heated red-hot, this is fire, not becau&s;e it cea&s;eth to be iron, but becau&s;e that iron is ac|companied
<PB N="92" REF="54">with fire, together with the pro|perties thereof, as heating, enlightning, and &s;uch like. So, this bread is his body, becau&s;e, in the Communion, the body of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> doeth &s;pi|ritually accompany this bread, and doth bring &s;pirituall effects with it.</P>
<P>So al&s;o <HI>Christ</HI> &s;aid of <HI>S. Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> that hee was <HI>Elias,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 17.12.</NOTE> yet he was not in per&s;on that ancient <HI>Elias,</HI> but he, that was prefigured by him. <HI>Ie&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> therefore &s;pake my&s;ticallie and Sacra|mentally; as likewi&s;e when he &s;aid of him&s;elfe, that he was <HI>the liuing bread</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 6.55.</NOTE> that <HI>his fle&s;h was meat indeed, and his blood drinke indeed.</HI> Some of the holy Fathers vnder&s;tand this place in <HI>S. Iohn,</HI> not of the Sacrament of the <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> but of faith, and in a my&s;terious &s;en&s;e, that he, that be|leeued in him, did thereby eate the true bread, which was giuen from heauen. And tho&s;e a|mong the Fathers, which, by this fle&s;h and blood thus promi&s;ed by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> for nouri&s;h|ment, vnder&s;tand the Sacrament, doe meane al&s;o, that this fle&s;h, and this blood is to be ea|ten, and drunke by faith, while&s;t the Sacra|mentall Bread, and Wine is eaten, and drunke by the corporall mouth.</P>
<P>From this maine error concerning this im|po&s;&s;ible,
<PB N="93" REF="54" MS="y">and vnconceiuable <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> whereby they will haue a true, and reall tran&s;|mutation of the Bread into the true, reall, li|uing, entire, and totall body of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> doth ari&s;e a true, and reall Idolatrie in the <HI>Ma&s;se:</HI> where|in the con&s;ecrated <HI>Ho&s;t</HI> is lifted vp, that it may be adored for very <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> very God; and yet in realtie and trueth it is true and reall bread.</P>
<P>Another branch &s;pringing from this error is, that vpon this occa&s;ion they haue maimed the Sacrament in the peoples Communion, by &s;aying, that in receiuing of the body of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in the Bread, there is receiued the fle&s;h, and &s;o the blood al&s;o by <HI>concomitancie.</HI> And vpon pre|tence of certaine vaine, and fruitle&s;&s;e reueren|ces, le&s;t by any mi&s;chance the con&s;ecrated wine &s;hould be &s;pilt vpon the ground, and &s;o the ve|ry blood of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> be trod vnder feet, they haue to preuent this mi&s;chiefe robbed the people of the v&s;e of the cup. Wherein they erre more wayes then one; fir&s;t, in running to this deui&s;e of <HI>concomitance,</HI> whereas <HI>Christ</HI> in his In&s;titu|tion of this holy Sacrament did employ both Bread, and Wine, commanding all both to eate and drinke, and giuing order to his Apo&s;tles, that they, and their &s;ucce&s;&s;ours after them
<PB N="94" REF="55">&s;hould in the very &s;ame man~er mini&s;ter the Communion vnto the faithfull people.</P>
<P>Moreouer, by taking away from the Sacra|ment the &s;ignification thereof, they doe, in whole, or in part, de&s;troy the Sacrament it &s;elfe: namely, as farre as the thing &s;ignified is more, or le&s;&s;e defalked. <HI>Christ</HI> hath in&s;tituted the Sacrament of the <HI>Eucharist</HI> in the forme of a meale, a banquet, a refection, for the increa&s;e of amitie, and loue among the faithfull, (who&s;e charitie is much imployed in the&s;e mutuall in|tertainements and fea&s;ts) as al&s;o to &s;ignifie, that he would hereby refre&s;h, and nouri&s;h our &s;oules. Now he, that debarres drinke from his boord, and feeds his gue&s;ts with meate onely, &s;urely maketh but a dry fea&s;t; and hee, that feeds onely on meate, without any drinke at all, is but ill refre&s;hed, and very imperfectly nouri&s;hed. When therefore the faithfull come together to the Lord's Supper, they ought, e|uen in the outward action, not onely to eate, but al&s;o to drinke together, to expre&s;&s;e in this compleat man~er their mutual loue, and vnion: and if they onely eate together without drink|ing, they cannot ta&s;te the entire &s;ignification of this &s;pirituall Fea&s;t, which con&s;i&s;ts in an
<PB N="95" REF="55" MS="y">entire, and totall charitie. And hee that out|wardly receiueth meate onely, without the Cup, cannot thereby repre&s;ent to his vnder|&s;tanding the inward receipt of a compleat &s;pi|rituall refection.</P>
<P>They haue therefore done very ill to take a|way the v&s;e of the Cup, to the grieuous may|ming of the Sacrament, and robbing of you, my deere children, of a great part of the fruit of the <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> while&s;t they giue it you in this man~er, lame and di&s;membred. And this reue|rence, which they pretend, is a vaine excu&s;e: for, &s;uch care, and diligence, as by men can bee performed in this behalfe, is &s;ufficient to pre|uent vndecent handling of tho&s;e &s;acred mi&s;te|ries; and there beeing no danger at all, that the very body, or the very blood of <HI>Christ</HI> &s;hould be materially trampled or trodden vnder foot; but &s;urely, their keeping their Sacrament thus in boxes and &s;hrines (which is indeede no Sa|crament while&s;t it is not thereto imployed) is heereby expo&s;ed to danger of beeing gnawen, and con&s;umed by mice and wormes: and in this their ca&s;e of danger, they are driuen to &s;ay, that a mou&s;e, eating tho&s;e <HI>&s;pecies,</HI> doth receiue into it &s;elfe the very body of <HI>Christ,</HI> and the en|tire
<PB N="96" REF="56" MS="y">Sacrament, though it receiue not <HI>rem, &amp; effectum Sacramenti,</HI> the Sacramentall thing and effect thereof: and while&s;t the&s;e <HI>&s;pecies</HI> remaine in the belly of this mou&s;e, it mu&s;t needes fol|low, according to their doctrine, that in the mou&s;e's belly there is included the true and re|all body of <HI>Christ.</HI> And is not this, I pray you, a greater ab&s;urdity, then if &s;ome droppe of the &s;acred wine, though it were indeede the very blood of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;hould be &s;pilt vpon the earth, whence it may either be gathered vp, or wiped away without beeing trodden on at all?</P>
<P>In the meane while heere al&s;o they v&s;e their ambitious tyrannie, making them&s;elues ab&s;o|lute Lords ouer holy things, and my&s;teries or|dayned by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, whereof they ought to be di&s;penfers onely, and not commanders, nor ma&s;ters to giue or deny what they plea&s;e, euen to tho&s;e, who are worthy receiuers of them. And be&s;ides this fuell of their ambiti|on, whereby they mainetaine <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> to make their Prie&s;ts and Friars to bee more highly e&s;teemed, and reuerenced of the peo|ple, (as tho&s;e who manage, and handle <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and cau&s;e him to come downe from heauen) heereto is to be added al&s;o the part, which co|ueteou&s;ne&s;&s;e
<PB N="97" REF="56" MS="y">hath in this lot, by &s;quie&s;ing your pur&s;es, and drawing from you the larger offe|rings by this vaine fancie put in your heads, &amp; &s;elling their <HI>Ma&s;&s;es</HI> at &s;o much the higher rate, which they &s;ee cannot haue the name of a pro|pitiatory Sacrifice, vnle&s;&s;e the very body of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> bee offered in them. And thus you &s;ee the&s;e &s;o high my&s;teries, for the priuate ends of tho&s;e that manage them, enwrapped with gro&s;&s;e and palpable errors; from which I ad|ui&s;e you to keepe aloofe, as from mo&s;t pernici|ous Rocks.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The &s;econd Rocke. Auricular Confe&s;sion.</HEAD>
<P>_ONe of the precious trea&s;ures, which my <HI>Ie&s;us Christ</HI> hath layd vp in his hou&s;e, and mine, is the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, which cannot bee had, or found any|where el&s;e, then in my precincts: This in mo&s;t full man~er is granted fir&s;t in Bapti&s;me vn|to tho&s;e, who, beeing of ripe vnder&s;tanding, doe &s;eriou&s;ly come to the holy lauer. And you
<PB N="98" REF="57">my children, by rea&s;on of your corrupt nature, cannot remaine any long while in this mortall life without falling into &s;innes, whereupon the true and generall remedy for remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes committed after Bapti&s;me, is Repen|tance.</P>
<P>But I would haue you be adui&s;ed, that yee by no deede, that you can doe, though &s;upported with God's grace, can euer purcha&s;e, or merit this Remi&s;&s;ion, as if doing one or more good actions, and pre&s;enting them to God, ye might pretend, that he is bound to pardon you, e&s;pe|cially concerning the act of Iu&s;tification; wherein of an impious &s;inner remayning vn|der God's wrath, a man becommeth the &s;onne of God, and is reconciled to him, and accepted of him. This is a grieuous errour, and dange|rous Rocke, ina&s;much as neither repentance, nor <HI>Confe&s;sion,</HI> nor any other act done by a &s;in|ner, can binde God to affoord him remi&s;&s;ion, to whom onely it belongeth to remit &s;innes. And this remi&s;&s;ion hath my only Spou&s;e your Lord, and mine, <HI>Ie&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> purcha&s;ed, and merited with his bitter Pa&s;&s;ion, by &s;hedding of his mo&s;t precious blood, and dying vpon the balefull tree of the Cro&s;&s;e: and the remi&s;&s;ion
<PB N="99" REF="57">of your &s;innes con&s;i&s;teth in this onely, that God through his meere grace and mercy ac|cepteth <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> &s;atisfaction in&s;tead of that &s;ati&s;|faction, which a &s;inner ought to pay him for his &s;innes, by the euerla&s;ting puni&s;hment of e|ternall damnation. And &s;o a &s;inner becom|meth iu&s;t, while&s;t God doth deriue vpon a &s;in|ner the iu&s;tice of his &s;onne, and doth apply it vnto him with this onely condition, that the &s;inner by faith doe vnite him&s;elfe vnto <HI>Christ,</HI> and beleeuing in him doe lay his whole confi|dence on him onely, and not on any worke or merit of his owne. For, all your workes, if they be meerely naturall, are filthy, &amp; of no worth to obtaine any &s;upernaturall good: and if they be done with faith, and by the helpe of grace, be&s;ides that they are alwayes full of imperfe|ctions, and tainted with &s;ome &s;pots, they are not indeede to bee counted yours, but to be at|tributed to God and his grace; and are al&s;o a debt due vnto him in many re&s;pects: for, who&s;e the tree is, his al&s;o is the fruit that it beareth; and to him that is ma&s;ter of a &s;laue, belong al|&s;o the children, the worke, and the pur|cha&s;e what&s;oeuer the &s;laue getteth. Yee can neuer therefore bring vnto God your workes
<PB N="100" REF="58">as your owne free gift, whereupon you might expect recompence of pardon: and &s;o much the more, in that there is no proportion be|tweene your workes, which are finite, and of finite value, (if of any at all) and the offence of infinite demerit. Suffer not therefore your &s;elues to bee deceiued by the couetou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the Prie&s;ts, and Friars, when they tell you, that you may obtaine iu&s;tification, and remi&s;&s;ion of your &s;innes how heynous &s;oeuer, by your good workes, e&s;pecially by giuing almes. Neither put you any confidence toward the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes in any, &s;auing <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> alone, and in his merits;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.24.</NOTE> for, hee <HI>freely iu&s;tifieth you,</HI> without any merit of yours.</P>
<P>True it is (and therefore take heede of the other extreame) that no man can pre&s;ent him|&s;elfe to God, nor rely vpon <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> merits, that goeth on in a wicked re&s;olution to continue &s;till in &s;in again&s;t his con&s;cience. And there|fore I told you, that you mu&s;t addre&s;&s;e your &s;elues vnto <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> to obtaine this remi&s;&s;ion, but with faith, that is, with a true and liuely faith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 2.17.</NOTE> not with that <HI>faith, which without workes is dead,</HI> but with &s;uch a faith in the mind, which is accompanied with holy affections, and that
<PB N="101" REF="58">is to beleeue in <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> to bee &s;ubiect vnto him, to obey him, with dete&s;tation of faults com|mitted, and intending of a new life, and yeeld|ing vp a man's &s;elfe to the keeping of God's ho|ly Commandements. And who&s;oeuer doth not this, in vaine &s;hall hee rely vpon <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and his merits, neither &s;hall he euer obtaine remi&s;|&s;ion of his &s;innes. This ry&s;ing vp from &s;inne, and &s;ubmitting to the ob&s;eruance of God's Commandements, as farre as humane frailty will afford, is not in you any merit, whereto remi&s;&s;ion &s;hould bee repayed as due, but it is a nece&s;&s;ary di&s;po&s;ition, and taketh away the im|pediments, that otherwi&s;e would hinder re|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes. And herein con&s;i&s;teth Pe|nitence, being both the inwards of true repen|tance, (which is the mo&s;t principall di&s;po&s;ition requi&s;ite for remi&s;&s;ion) and the out&s;ide al&s;o of penitentiall workes, as fa&s;ting, almes, mortify|ing the fle&s;h, and other workes of piety, which are indeede no merits, nor cau&s;es of forgiue|ne&s;&s;e, but fruits of inward true repentance, and a fit appurtenance vnto the inward good di&s;|po&s;ition, and vnto due humiliation.</P>
<P>The&s;e di&s;po&s;itions being forelaid, as nece&s;&s;a|ry, &amp; required by God, let a man hold him&s;elfe
<PB N="102" REF="59">to his faith, and confidence in <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and by his mercy hee &s;hall without faile obtaine re|mi&s;&s;ion: and the whole conueyance betweene God and a &s;inner, is carried in this man~er by the meanes of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> mine and your onely Mediatour, without any nece&s;&s;ity at all of any other <HI>Confe&s;sion</HI> made vnto man; due <HI>Confe&s;sion</HI> made vnto God beeing of it &s;elfe &s;ufficient, whereby a &s;inner, beeing humbled, doth not any more defend his &s;innes, but <HI>confe&s;&s;eth</HI> to God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;. in ep. ad Heb. hom. 31.</NOTE> that he hath &s;inned. <HI>I doe not adui&s;e thee</HI> (&s;aith Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome) to lay thy &s;elfe open, nor to accu&s;e thy &s;elfe to others,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm. 57.</NOTE> <HI>but to obey the Prophet, who &s;ayeth, Reueale thy way vnto the Lord. Con|fe&s;&s;e thy &s;innes before God, declare thy offences be|fore the Iudge, though not with thy tongue, yet with thy memory, and then hope that thou &s;halt obtaine mercy:</HI> So &s;aith that worthy holy Father.</P>
<P>I doe not know, that I euer intertayned in my hou&s;e any &s;uch Sacrament appointed mee by my Spou&s;e, as a true and proper Sacrament, whereby hee hath obliged him&s;elfe to giue re|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes after Bapti&s;me: I beleeue in|deed, that who&s;oeuer groaning vnder the load of &s;inne, &s;hall with true inward pentience, and reall repentance approach vnto the holy table,
<PB N="103" REF="59">and receiue the Communion with due prepa|ration, &s;hall receiue remi&s;&s;ion of his &s;ins. For, although this Sacrament was principally in&s;ti|tuted by <HI>Christ,</HI> and committed to mee for the &s;pirituall feeding of the &s;oule, and for the pre|&s;eruing of charity among my children; yet in that it is al&s;o a remembrance of the Pa&s;&s;ion of <HI>Christ,</HI> it auayleth much for the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes; for the obtayning whereof <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> bo|dy was &s;acrificed vpon the Cro&s;&s;e, &amp; his mo&s;t pretious blood &s;hed: and therefore in his fir&s;t giuing the Communion to his Apo&s;tles, hee &s;aid vnto them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22.19. Math. 26.28.</NOTE> that that was <HI>his body which was giuen for them, and his blood &s;hed for the remi&s;sion of &s;innes.</HI></P>
<P>You mu&s;t vnder&s;tand al&s;o, that <HI>Auricular Confe&s;sion,</HI> and Prie&s;tly Ab&s;olution, which are the ground of this Rocke, now &s;et before your view, is neither practi&s;ed aright, nor well vn|der&s;tood by tho&s;e that follow the <HI>Romane</HI> doctrine, who hereupon haue built a &s;hop of money-mart and gaine. Recall, I pray you, to your remembrance that, which I ob&s;erued be|fore in the fourth Rocke of the fir&s;t part, con|cerning the two fir&s;t medicinall <HI>Excommunica|tions,</HI> and you &s;hall finde that my ancient cu|&s;tome
<PB N="104" REF="60">pre&s;cribed vnto mee by my Spou&s;e, and practi&s;ed by my holy, and learned Mini&s;ters, of at lea&s;t foure of the fir&s;t Ages, was publick|ly to correct grieuous, and &s;candalous offen|dors, and, according to the authority commit|ted to me by <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> to binde them in their &s;ins, and afterwards to loo&s;e them againe, and in this man~er to imploy the keyes about the re|mitting of &s;innes; namely, to debarre &s;uch of|fenders for &s;ome while from the holy Table, &amp; &s;ometime al&s;o from all other Congregations, and meetings of the faithfull for &s;pirituall ex|erci&s;es, as heynous delinquents drowned in their &s;innes, and vnworthy of &s;uch participa|tion, vnle&s;&s;e they &s;hould fir&s;t recall them&s;elues vnto due inward penitence, and giue al&s;o out|ward &s;atisfaction vnto mee, by penitentiall workes enioyned them by me, and my Mini|&s;ters, when they thus had by &s;candalous &s;ins di&s;graced mee, and not yet made mee any due &s;atisfaction. And yet in due time, according to the pious di&s;cretion of my Mini&s;ters, &s;uch as the&s;e were loo&s;ed, and reconciled, and were anew admitted to the holy meetings with others, and to the Communion of the Lord's Supper.</P>
<PB N="105" REF="60">
<P>This was a cour&s;e taken to very good pur|po&s;e, and at length did work great &s;etledne&s;&s;e, and comfort in the con&s;ciences of &s;uch offen|ders, though perhaps it did goe downe with &s;ome bitterne&s;&s;e, and &s;hame. For, &s;uch a &s;inner being in this man~er bound by me vpon earth, was infallibly al&s;o bound in heauen, nor could obtaine remi&s;&s;ion at God's hands, though hee were neuer &s;o well di&s;po&s;ed by penitence and inward contrition betweene God and him: for, that promi&s;e, made by <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> is mo&s;t cer|taine, and cannot faile,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.18.</NOTE> <HI>that he would bind in hea|uen all tho&s;e, whom I had</HI> (without error) <HI>bound vpon earth,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 20.23.</NOTE> <HI>and that he would withhold and &s;uspend all remi&s;sion from tho&s;e &s;inners, who&s;e &s;innes I had withheld,</HI> namely by the afore&s;aid retention, or excommunication, or &s;olemne penance: and as &s;oone as &s;uch a &s;inner, thus fir&s;t bound by me, was afterward reconciled, and remaunded to the Church, and re&s;tored to religious com|merce, and to the participation of the holy Sa|crament, he did without faile obteine remi&s;&s;i|on of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, by vertue of his afore&s;aid promi&s;e, that he would relea&s;e, and forgiue the &s;inne a&s;&s;oone as I had loo&s;ed the per&s;on, and relea&s;ed the &s;inne by this externall remi&s;&s;ion:
<PB N="106" REF="61">and &s;o the internal remi&s;&s;ion afforded by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in &s;uch a ca&s;e, dependeth vpon the externall re|mi&s;&s;ion giuen by me; which truely was a way of dealing on a very &s;ure hand. And moreouer, many grieuous, and al&s;o &s;ecret offenders, nay perhaps all the &s;ort of them, in regard of the &s;uretie of this cour&s;e, came to their Bi&s;hop, or to &s;ome other deputed by him, who was after|ward called the <HI>Penitentiary,</HI> or <HI>Confe&s;sor;</HI> and, &s;ome openly with a lowd and audible voyce, others more priuily vnto the eare, but in a pub|lique place in the Church, confe&s;&s;ed their &s;innes, tho&s;e &s;innes, I meane, that were very grieuous, and enormous; and cau&s;ed them|&s;elues in this man~er, as I haue &s;aid, to be bound or excommunicated, and to haue penance in|ioyned them, that they might afterwards in fit time get reconciliation by the power of the keyes, and con&s;equently forgiuene&s;&s;e in hea|uen without faile.</P>
<P>And here you are to ob&s;erue, that the Keyes were employed onely vpon great and enor|mous crimes (for as for more light, and ordi|nary &s;innes, though mortall, there were other externall remedies, as I &s;hall hereafter &s;hew,) and that by way of accu&s;atio~, either by others,
<PB N="107" REF="61">or by the delinquent him&s;elfe: but the bin|ding, and reconciling, and whole proce&s;&s;e was in the &s;ame man~er. Whereby you may per|ceiue, that this was not a Sacrament, as the Ro|mani&s;ts would now haue it: for, vpon the ac|cu&s;ation of others, and iudiciall conuiction, they proceeded vnto this binding, and iniun|ction of penance, after which, the partie accu|&s;ed, a&s;well not confe&s;&s;ing, as confe&s;&s;ing pub|liquely, or priuately, was ab&s;olued with the &s;ame for me of reconcilement: neither is there to be found in tho&s;e dayes any other Confe&s;&s;i|on, or Ab&s;olution. Moreouer, that this was not then any Sacrament, it appeareth in that there was not any verball Ab&s;olution, nor any ordinary forme of ab&s;oluing, but this alone was &s;ufficient, that the Bi&s;hop, or his Sub&s;ti|tute did giue leaue to the penitent to come in|to the Church, euen into the place where the other people remained, which were not in pe|nance, and to partake the Communion with them. And this was alwayes called <HI>Reconcilia|tion,</HI> not Ab&s;olution. And how&s;oeuer after|wards there were brought-in certaine prayers, which were pronounced ouer the penitent in the act of his reconcilement, yet all was by
<PB N="108" REF="62" MS="y">way of &s;upplication, and not by <HI>authoritatiue Ab&s;olution,</HI> as may be yet &s;eene in the Romane <HI>Pontificall.</HI></P>
<P>And as for other &s;innes, which were not &s;o grieuous, and enormous, how&s;oeuer mortall of them&s;elues, God, in his mercy, doeth require le&s;&s;e di&s;po&s;ition, and le&s;&s;e adoe concerning them: and &s;o &s;uppo&s;ing alwayes inward repen|tance, namely dete&s;tation of tho&s;e &s;innes, and firme remouall of the will from them, and liue|ly faith, and due confidence, God hath promi|&s;ed to acquite them much more ea&s;ily, vpon &s;ome performances taught, and impo&s;ed in the holy Scripture: as principally the Lord's praier taught by my Sauiour <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> For, a&s;&s;uredly vpon the pre&s;enting that petition, <HI>Forgiue vs our trespa&s;&s;es, as wee forgiue them that trespa&s;&s;e a|gain&s;t vs,</HI> there followeth the remi&s;&s;ion of ligh|ter and &s;maller &s;innes; which <HI>S. Augu&s;tine,</HI> and other holy Fathers doe vnder&s;tand of &s;innes, which are in trueth <HI>mortall,</HI> how&s;oeuer they &s;tyle them by the name of <HI>venial,</HI> not that a ve|niall &s;inne is not mortall, (for euery &s;inne, that is truely a &s;inne, is mortall, and, if not mortall, it is no &s;inne) but becau&s;e it is in that &s;ort mor|tall that God vouch&s;afeth to deeme it veniall,
<PB N="109" REF="62" MS="y">that is, fit to be pardoned with more facilitie, then other heinous offences, which by the ho|ly Fathers are called <HI>crimes,</HI> and di&s;tingui&s;hed from ordinary faults; yet both the one, and the other are mortall. In like &s;ort the&s;e le&s;&s;er, or veniall &s;innes are cancelled vpon giuing of Almes, <HI>(for, as water putteth out fire,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 5.30.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o Almes ex|tingui&s;heth &s;inne)</HI> as al&s;o vpon vndergoing tri|bulations with faith, and patience.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>God is full of compa&s;sion, and very pitifull, and forgiueth &s;innes, and &s;aueth in time of affliction:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.37.</NOTE> Al&s;o vpon pardo|ning of iniuries, <HI>Forgiue, and it &s;hall be forgiuen vnto you:</HI> Al&s;o at my reque&s;ts, and interce&s;&s;i|ons &s;uch &s;innes are remitted,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amb. depae. nit. l. 1. c. 1. &amp; l. 2. c. 7. Aug. l. 3. de bapt. c. 17. Chry&s;. in ep. ad Rom. home 24.</NOTE> and <HI>gemitu co|lumbae,</HI> by my groaning, as you may finde in S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine:</HI> with other conueni|ent wayes al&s;o taught, and allowed by holy Scripture, and expounded by S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome.</HI></P>
<P>But beware, le&s;t you beleeue, that any &s;innes, how&s;oeuer veniall, are cancelled by the holy-water-&s;prinkle: this is a meere &s;uper&s;tition. Where doeth the holy Scripture euer teach, that &s;innes are wa&s;hed away by water of the Prie&s;ts hallowing? This were to bring in a &s;e|cond Bapti&s;me. They will haue this effect to a|ri&s;e, either <HI>ex opere operato,</HI> or el&s;e <HI>ex opere ope|rantis.</HI>
<PB N="110" REF="63" MS="y">That is to &s;ay; They will haue this effect to bee wrought either by the water it &s;elfe, through the vertue of the benediction of it, if there be no impediment in him, that is &s;prink|led with it; or el&s;e they will haue it to come of the deuotion of him that v&s;eth this water. If they &s;ay <HI>by the deed done,</HI> (as for the mo&s;t part they auouch) this is an intolerable impudency, namely to auouch, that the hallowing of this water doeth giue vnto it a certaine &s;upernatu|rall force to clean&s;e &s;innes, without any fur|ther diuine in&s;titution or promi&s;e, and &s;o this becommeth the dotage of the Turkes, who by often wa&s;hings hold them&s;elues to be purified from their &s;innes without faile: and how then can there be a more formall &s;uper&s;tition, then to giue to things meerely naturall and hu|maine a certaine &s;upernaturall force? If they will &s;ay, that it commeth <HI>ex opere operantis,</HI> to what purpo&s;e then &s;erues that water, otherwi&s;e then to bring-in the &s;uper&s;tition? The other operation, which they attribute hereunto, is the &s;caring away of Diuels: which certainely this water cannot doe, vnle&s;&s;e God doe impart &s;uch vertue vnto it: And where, I pray you, hath God bound him&s;elfe to giue &s;uch vertue
<PB N="111" REF="63">to a creature by the ble&s;&s;ing of a Prie&s;t? I would haue you therefore to fly from holy Water, as from an idle &s;uper&s;tition; &s;o al&s;o take heed you beleeue not, that ble&s;&s;ings giuen by Pope, Bi|&s;hop, or Prie&s;t, while&s;t they make the &s;igne of the Cro&s;&s;e ouer you in the aire, can cancel your &s;innes though but veniall; which is likewi&s;e a &s;uper&s;tition of the &s;ame kinde; whereto I may adde the <HI>Agnus Dei,</HI> and other &s;uch idle trinkets.</P>
<P>Well may yee collect out of that, which I haue &s;aid, and ob&s;erue how manifold, &amp; great are the abu&s;es of the <HI>Romane</HI> faction about <HI>Confe&s;sion.</HI> Fir&s;t, they make a Sacrament where none is, taking the word <HI>Sacrament</HI> in the pro|per, and &s;trict &s;en&s;e. Secondly, they allow an efficacie to <HI>authoritatiue ab&s;olution,</HI> which is nei|ther nece&s;&s;ary, nor hath any force at all; Re|conciliation being &s;ufficient, which in ancient times might bee performed euen by my Dea|cons, but &s;o as in my name. Thirdly, they make <HI>Auricular Confe&s;sion</HI> nece&s;&s;ary (at lea&s;t in mens de&s;ire of it when it cannot bee had) for the remi&s;&s;ion of euery mortall &s;inne. Yet haue I &s;hewed you, that it is left to your liberty thus to worke, or no, your owne &s;ecurity, by fir&s;t
<PB N="112" REF="64">cau&s;ing your &s;elues to be bound by the keyes, that afterwards you may bee let loo&s;e by the &s;ame. And this retention, or binding, or di&s;|communing, ought not to bee vndertaken by me for petty &s;innes, but onely for tho&s;e, that are heynous and &s;candalous; there beeing in my family &s;o many other meanes for remi&s;&s;i|on of venials, yet alwayes &s;uppo&s;ing Repen|tance. Fourthly, they doe fir&s;t ab&s;olue, and af|terwards impo&s;e the penance; that is to &s;ay, they loo&s;e him, whom they neuer bound, and then they bind him againe, whom they neuer loo&s;e afterward. And yet, for my part, I cannot loo&s;e, but that onely, which my &s;elfe haue bound; and my order is fir&s;t to binde, and then to loo&s;e; which is the true v&s;e of the keyes. True it is, that euery &s;inne doth pre&s;ently be|fore God binde euery &s;inner, and of this bind|ing <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> did not &s;peake, when he &s;aid, <HI>What&s;o|euer yee &s;hall loo&s;e in earth, &s;hall be loo&s;ed in heauen:</HI> ina&s;much as my loo&s;ing is a relatiue vnto my binding; and therefore <HI>Christ</HI> there vnder&s;tan|deth not that bond, whereby a &s;inner is bound before God, but that bond which is knitte by me; <HI>what&s;oeuer,</HI> &s;aith hee, <HI>yee &s;hall binde:</HI> and when a &s;inner doth binde him&s;elfe before
<PB N="113" REF="64" MS="y">God by his &s;inne, it is not I that binde him, but hee bindeth him&s;elfe by &s;inning. Therefore I let loo&s;e nothing, but that, which my &s;elfe haue bound, and &s;o the binding goeth before, with impo&s;ing of penance, and &s;atisfaction, and then in good order followeth loo&s;ing. And he, that is bound onely before God, and not in re&s;pect of mee, cannot be loo&s;ed by me; becau&s;e I neuer bound him: but he mu&s;t &s;eeke his loo&s;ing of God, and cary this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e be|tweene God and him alone, and then he knoc|keth at the right doore for <HI>Ab&s;olution.</HI> Which if hee de&s;ire to haue at my hands, let him fir&s;t come to haue me binde him, and &s;ubiect him|&s;elfe to my hol&s;ome cen&s;ures, and then in fitte time I may let him loo&s;e againe, ina&s;much as I haue bound him. Thus, and not otherwi&s;e, &s;tandeth the ca&s;e of <HI>Ab&s;olution</HI> by my keyes, there beeing al&s;o a liberty left to euery grie|uous offendor to v&s;e, or not to v&s;e the benefit thereof; beeing, that euen without the&s;e keyes he may be a&s;&s;oyled from his &s;innes: alwayes excepting tho&s;e offenders, who being accu&s;ed before mee, though again&s;t their owne wills, &s;tand bound by mee. And for &s;uch as the&s;e, my Spou&s;e committed the keyes to mee to
<PB N="114" REF="65">binde, and loo&s;e withall; but he dothnot ob|lige any man to come to me, that I may binde him, and afterwards loo&s;e him, there beeing other ordinary meanes of remi&s;&s;ion prouided for &s;uch, namely Repentance: onely tho&s;e, that either with, or again&s;t their owne wills haue beene bound by mee, are obliged by mee to wait their deliuerance at my hands, without which my relea&s;e (except in ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity) by vertue of <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> owne words, they &s;hall ne|uer bee loo&s;ed in heauen. And in this man~er I exhort all of you, my beloued children, in grieuous &s;innes alwaies to &s;eeke to haue remi&s;|&s;ion by my keyes, &s;ubiecting your &s;elues vo|luntarily to my binding, but &s;ecretly, that you may afterward obtaine at my hands Recon|cilement, whereupon infallibly followeth loo|&s;ing in heauen.</P>
<P>Behold this Rocke of <HI>Confe&s;sion,</HI> and <HI>Ab&s;olu|tion,</HI> which are &s;o corruptly, and prepo&s;terou&s;ly handled by the Romani&s;ts. They load you with more bonds then you are liable vnto: they beare you in hand with a Sacrament, where indeede there is none: they &s;ecure you with Ab&s;olution <HI>ex opere operato;</HI> whereupon you, putting &s;uch tru&s;t in the power of this
<PB N="115" REF="65" MS="y">Ab&s;olution, e&s;pecially in that it beareth the name to make you <HI>ex attritis contritos,</HI> it maketh you ca&s;t away all care, and luls you fa&s;t a&s;leepe, &s;o that you looke not after true inward repen|tance, without which it is not po&s;&s;ible to haue true remi&s;&s;ion, and you rely too-too much vp|on this Ab&s;olution, which is giuen you with|out fir&s;t beeing exerci&s;ed in penance. And, a|las, how many wretches be there among you, that lead &s;till a wicked life vpon pre&s;umption of the great force of Ab&s;olution, &s;aying thus to them&s;elues, When I &s;hall be at the brinke of death I will confe&s;&s;e mee, and receiue Ab&s;olu|tion, and &s;o I &s;hall &s;tand on a &s;ure ground. But Saint <HI>Augustine</HI> &s;aith to &s;uch as the&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. lib. 50. hom. 41. &amp; &s;erm. 47. de temp.</NOTE> that in|deede hee will not deny them reconciliation pre&s;ently vpon their confe&s;&s;ion, but he will not bee their warant, that it will boot them at all; becau&s;e there doth not come betweene their <HI>Confe&s;sion,</HI> and reconcilement &s;uch penitence as is nece&s;&s;ary. And &s;o in a mo&s;t important bu&s;ine&s;&s;e concerning your &s;oules, you my chil|dren, that are blinde, are lead by blinde guides, and both of you fall into the gulfe, and beat your &s;hip again&s;t this infamous Rocke of <HI>Aua|rice:</HI> for your Confe&s;&s;ors (excepting &s;ome few
<PB N="116" REF="66" MS="y">good ones) ordinarily, when as they &s;ee your almes prepared, e&s;pecially when it gli&s;ters ra|ther yellow, then white, they pre&s;ently ab&s;olue you, when you are nothing fit for it; or, to in|tertaine the more pay, they &s;huffle vp the bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e, that they may runne ouer others, and &s;o they di&s;patch you without examining, with|out &s;ifting your con&s;ciences, without due con|&s;idering your e&s;tate as well, or ill di&s;po&s;ed for <HI>Ab&s;olution.</HI></P>
<P>I pa&s;&s;e ouer the abhominable abu&s;es of ma|king aduantage of <HI>Confe&s;sion,</HI> either to di&s;co|uer the &s;ecrets of Princes, &amp; States, or to make way for inclinations to forraigne Princes, or to fi&s;h for inheritances, and legacies, or to &s;atisfie their owne wanton lu&s;ts. I pa&s;&s;e by the errors, and gro&s;&s;e enormities, whereby, vpon pre|tence of the &s;ecrecie of the &s;eale of <HI>Confe&s;sion,</HI> rebellions, con&s;piracies, king-killing, and &s;uch like abhominations are couched, cheri&s;hed, &amp; &s;ecured. Iudge you therefore, if this be not an horrible and dreadfull Rocke: Let vs pa&s;&s;e on to the re&s;t.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="rock">
<PB N="117" REF="66">
<HEAD>&para; <HI>The third Rocke, with two blind</HI> Rockes abutting, namely <HI>Purgatory,</HI> together with <HI>Satisfaction,</HI> and <HI>Indulgences.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_THe di&s;tinction of fault, and puni&s;h|ment in mens &s;innes, beeing an vp|&s;tart inuention, yet &s;ome Ages &s;ince deui&s;ed by my &s;tubborne vnruly daughter the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> for the feeding thereby her vn&s;atiable auarice; this di&s;tinction, I &s;ay, hath layd the foundation of that harmefull Rocke of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> inlarging it &s;elfe with tho&s;e two vnderlurking companions, <HI>Satisfaction</HI> af|ter ab&s;olution, or <HI>Penance,</HI> as they call it, and <HI>In|dulgences.</HI> I, for my part, through many the purer ages, haue alwayes publi&s;hed ab&s;olute, and entire pardon, and complete remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes; for &s;uch I haue learned of my Spou&s;e, of whom it is long &s;ince te&s;tified in the P&s;alme, that <HI>with him there is plenteous redemption;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm. 130.7.</NOTE> nei|ther did I euer finde, that hee, in pardoning of &s;innes, and giuing Ab&s;olution from the fault, did at any time change the eternal puni&s;hment
<PB N="118" REF="67">into temporall, or euer enioyned any puni&s;h|ment,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.48.</NOTE> or &s;atisfaction. Behold the example of the &s;infull woman:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 9.2.</NOTE> of the man &s;icke of the pal&s;ie: con&s;ider the parable of the debtors, <HI>I forgaue thee all thy debt.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 18.32.</NOTE> So al&s;o by <HI>Ezechiel,</HI> that, God, when hee pardoneth a man his &s;innes, <HI>mentioneth them to him no more:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 18.22.</NOTE> whereas, if hee left their debt of puni&s;hment vn&s;atisfied, cer|tainely he &s;hould remember it vntill the &s;aid puni&s;hment were wholly performed. And how can it bee &s;aid that a man doeth pardon his enemie, if, forbearing to take away his life, hee &s;hould make re&s;eruation vnto him|&s;elfe of &s;ome other reuenge vpon him, though not mortall: Alas, what a pinching pardon were this.</P>
<P>Are <HI>Christ's</HI> &s;atisfactions &s;ufficient for the whole fault, and are they not for the whole puni&s;hment? Or rather, hath not <HI>Christ</HI> taken vpon him&s;elfe intirely all my both faults, and puni&s;hments? And as for humane &s;atisfacti|ons, &s;o vile as they are, what price can they carry, being al&s;o due debt vnto God in many other re&s;pects?</P>
<P>But if you looke backe vnto my continuall practi&s;e, which I layed open to you in the di&s;|couery
<PB N="119" REF="67">of the la&s;t-touched Rocke, ye &s;hall find that after Reconciliation, (which they now a|dayes call Ab&s;olution) I did neuer impo&s;e any &s;atisfaction or penance vpon Penitents. I did indeed, before the loo&s;ing &s;uch offenders, im|po&s;e vpon them &s;ome penall workes, yet not as &s;atisfactory, nor that by them they might rid them&s;elues from the bonds of puni&s;hment due to their &s;innes, whether temporall, or eter|nall; (What acceptable &s;atisfaction can hee giue, who as yet is in di&s;grace) but that there|by they might &s;tirre vp inward repentance, and &s;hew foorth their humiliation, and edifie their brethren &s;candalized by their heinous &s;innes. Euen as the penitence v&s;ed by King <HI>Ahab,</HI> when hee fa&s;ted, and put on &s;ackcloth, was approued, and accepted of God, not as &s;a|tisfactory, but as an outward &s;igne of inward humiliation:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. King. 21.29.</NOTE> <HI>Seest thou</HI> (&s;aith God to <HI>Elias</HI>) <HI>how Ahab is humbled before me? becau&s;e hee humbleth him&s;elfe, therefore I will not bring that euill in his dayes.</HI> And this is that, which was &s;aid by pe|nitent <HI>Dauid, A contrite &amp; humbled heart, O God,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.17.</NOTE> <HI>thou wilt not despi&s;e.</HI> Contrite by true inward repentance, and humbled with tho&s;e outward &s;ignes, namely, lowly, and penall workes, by
<PB N="120" REF="68">which the penitent &s;heweth, that hee will not &s;tand out with God: but that laying a&s;ide all hautine&s;&s;e, hee &s;ubiecteth him&s;elfe to God's hand, and mercie; So al&s;o did the <HI>Niniuites,</HI> humbling them&s;elues with fa&s;ting, &s;ackcloth, and a&s;hes, going &s;o low, that they made the very bea&s;ts to fa&s;t: Which fa&s;ting &s;urely could be neither meritorious, nor &s;atisfactory: but to the end that the fairer euidence might bee giuen of their owne true repentance, they de|&s;ired that their humiliation might appeare e|uen in the very bea&s;ts. To this end haue I made the pious in&s;titution of <HI>Lent,</HI> which in order of time is to goe before <HI>Ea&s;ter,</HI> to the end that my children might bee the better prepared by fa|&s;tings, prayers, and other actions of deuotion, to receiue afterward in the holy fea&s;t of Ea|&s;ter reconcilement, and full remi&s;&s;ion of their &s;innes; and by this in&s;titution, <HI>Penance</HI> is to goe before Remi&s;&s;ion, or Ab&s;olution, and not to follow after it.</P>
<P>It cannot be denied, that oftentimes by the &s;courge of outward afflictions and tribulati|ons,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 12.6.</NOTE> God doeth bring tho&s;e, whom he loueth, to this afore&s;aid nece&s;&s;ary humiliation, and al|&s;o hereby trieth them, as gold is tried in the
<PB N="121" REF="68" MS="y">furnace, and is content that &s;uch cha&s;ti&s;ements as the&s;e, inflicted by him, &s;hall &s;tand in the &s;tead of puni&s;hment due to their &s;innes:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 11.32.</NOTE> but withall hee doeth moreouer apply his owne mercy, and pardon, which he affordeth them both of fault, and puni&s;hment: and &s;uch fauors vouch|&s;afed by God are not halfed, nor pinched, but full and complete. When therefore hee recei|ueth a man vnto fauour, he pardoneth him all: yet doeth God &s;ometimes before hand, in par|doning an heinous crime, ioyne al&s;o &s;ome no|torious temporall cha&s;ti&s;ement; the execution whereof may endure euen after the remi&s;&s;ion of the &s;inne; which penaltie God him&s;elfe doth inflict, and expre&s;ly enioyne, and referrs it not to the voluntary vndertaking, or executing by the penitent:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 12.22.</NOTE> As vpon <HI>Dauid's</HI> Adultery he in|flicted for a temporall penaltie the death of the child; which <HI>Dauid</HI> could not put by, by any humiliation that hee could vndergoe, or prayers that hee could make: So likewi&s;e that puni&s;hment of diui&s;ion of the Tribes, which was the iu&s;t reward of <HI>Salomons</HI> mi&s;deeds,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 11.31.</NOTE> came to pa&s;&s;e after his death, and perhaps after that his &s;innes had bene remitted, as we may with good rea&s;on pre&s;ume: So likewi&s;e <HI>Ahab's</HI> pu|ni&s;hment
<PB N="122" REF="69">was accompli&s;hed in his &s;onne's dayes;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Reg. 9.29.</NOTE> and in like man~er other penalties al&s;o inflicted by God without remi&s;&s;ion. But all the&s;e are extraordinary ca&s;es, and open cha&s;ti&s;e|ments, but not &s;atisfactory: and all of them executed in this pre&s;ent world. As for vs, we are to hold to that, which is ordinary.</P>
<P>Being therefore that there neither ought, nor can remaine any obligation vnto any pu|ni&s;hment after the &s;inne is remitted, (for, true remi&s;&s;ion is of the puni&s;hment, a&s;well as of the fault) therefore <HI>Penances,</HI> and <HI>Satisfactions,</HI> af|ter Ab&s;olution mu&s;t needs bee one of the&s;e two, either workes of humiliation done out of &s;ea&s;on prepo&s;terou&s;ly, which for the mo&s;t part are al&s;o neglected, and omitted by the peni|tents, hauing got their Ab&s;olution before hand: or el&s;e they are the gaines, and purcha&s;es of the Confe&s;&s;ors, who ordinarily, as oft as they can, fly vpon money-mulcts vnder the name of Almes, or for &s;aying of <HI>Ma&s;ses,</HI> which tho&s;e Confe&s;&s;ors offer them&s;elues ready to per|forme, and tell a tale, that they haue in their handes &s;ome priuate good bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, which would fitly be &s;et forward with &s;uch Almes, as them&s;elues thus impo&s;e in penance and &s;ati&s;|faction;
<PB N="123" REF="69">and by this meanes they draw &s;tore of water to their mill. And, that which is wor&s;e, the Confe&s;&s;ors contriue certaine nece&s;&s;ities of re&s;titution, and perhaps &s;ometimes beare them in hand, that they are bound to re&s;tore, where|as indeed there is no &s;uch cau&s;e, and &s;o com|pound with the penitent, that hee may giue them a &s;et price, and by that meanes obtaine complete Ab&s;olution. O what a deale of chaf|fering doe they v&s;e vnder this vaine pretence, that after the remi&s;&s;ion of the fault there re|maineth yet a temporall puni&s;hment to bee &s;atisfied!</P>
<P>Behold here the foundation of <HI>Purgatory;</HI> a vaine, and groundle&s;&s;e foundation, layd in the aire, rai&s;ed by imagination, being a meere tricke to bring-in money to the Prie&s;ts, and Friars, and be&s;ides them to my Grandees al&s;o. <HI>Purgatory</HI> by deceitfull deui&s;es hath founded the riche&s;t Abbies, and Priories, and other Re|ligious hou&s;es: <HI>Purgatory</HI> maketh faire po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|ons, and inheritances to &s;tart ouer to my ha|uing Churchmen: <HI>Purgatory</HI> makes &s;o many idle&s;bies to &s;wimme in delicacie, and voluptu|ou&s;nes: tho&s;e I meane, that defile the liuing, and feed vpon the dead. For the Preachers,
<PB N="124" REF="70">and Confe&s;&s;ors &s;till crying alowd, that it is not ynough to receiue Ab&s;olution, and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, as farre as concerneth the fault it &s;elfe, but that after all this there remaines a debt of temporall paine, which who&s;oeuer doeth not vndergoe in this life, it lyeth vpon him to make the &s;core euen with &s;mart y|nough in another life in <HI>Purgatory;</HI> and for as much as mo&s;t men are very backward in per|forming the&s;e <HI>Satisfactions,</HI> at length when they come to the point of death, then are they much affrighted with tho&s;e grieuous paines, which, as they are borne in hand, doe awaite them in <HI>Purgatory,</HI> and then the poore wret|ches, to &s;cape this brunt, giue what they can to the Church, that is, to the bellies of the Prie&s;ts, and Friars, by whom they are per&s;waded, that this is the onely way to ouerleape <HI>Purgatory.</HI> And if he, that lyes thus at mercy, drop away without paying &s;uch ran&s;ome, then they be|leaguer his children or other his heires, or exe|cutors, vrging them, for the pulling their fa|thers, or brothers, or hu&s;bands, or &s;onnes &s;oule out of the horrible torments of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> to make allowance for the &s;inging of &s;o many <HI>Ma&s;ses:</HI> or to found, and endow an Altar, a
<PB N="125" REF="70">Chappell, a Church, a dayly <HI>Ma&s;&s;e</HI> for euer, and a day, or &s;ome &s;uch like erections. So that this &s;ame <HI>Purgatory</HI> is the nour&s;e, and chiefe &s;u&s;tei|ner of an infinite rabble of mo&s;t irregular, and lewd prie&s;ts, who &s;till ring in your eares, that <HI>Ma&s;&s;es</HI> are true and propitiatory Sacrifices for the liuing, and for the dead.</P>
<P>As for <HI>Purgatory,</HI> as it hath no foundation, nor rea&s;on whereupon to build it, &s;o the holy Scripture hath none, no not the lea&s;t, mention of it: but on the contrary it hath many autho|rities, and grounds, a little afore pointed at by me, which proue that it may not in any wi&s;e be mainteined. The Papi&s;ts haue long gone a|fi&s;hing to finde &s;ome place in Scripture, which may make a &s;emblance of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> but all in vaine. Surely what&s;oeuer God would haue me to know as an Article of faith, or as a nece&s;&s;a|ry point, or very important for the &s;aluation of my children, he hath &s;et it downe in the Scrip|ture in &s;uch man~er, that I may, and ought thence to draw, and auouch it; but he will not in any wi&s;e, that any of my family out of his owne capricious conceit, &s;hould deui&s;e an opi|nion, and propound it to my children, and af|ter he hath thus of his owne head auouched it,
<PB N="126" REF="71">then to goe a begging for &s;ome fragment of a word in Scripture, to maintaine it, as they haue done about <HI>Purgatory:</HI> alleadging for it &s;ome places, which are &s;ubiect to many expo&s;i|tions, whereof none at all haue any acquain|tance with <HI>Purgatory.</HI></P>
<P>Verily I neither can, nor may deny, that from my very ancient times I haue alwayes had a good liking, and &s;o haue prouided, that in the death of my children (&s;uch as died not in very ill, and de&s;perate e&s;tate) there &s;hould prayers be made, and other deuotions to God, and that for diuers rea&s;ons. Fir&s;t that funerals, and ob&s;equies, being an vniuer&s;all, and morall cu&s;tome, intertained by all Nations, and v&s;ed by all &s;orts of men, and in that behalfe not to be neglected, they might be continued in my Family, not barely as humane, and naturall ce|remonies, but al&s;o as Chri&s;tian and religious, and that with giuing thankes to God, that &s;uch, or &s;uch a &s;onne of mine had rendered his &s;oule to his Creator, and had pa&s;&s;ed with his holy faith from this my hou&s;e militant to that other Congregation of the fir&s;t borne: where|by I did reuiue vnto tho&s;e, that were pre&s;ent at the funerall, the memory of the &s;oules immor|talitie,
<PB N="127" REF="71" MS="y">of the expected re&s;urrection of that dead body, and of the &s;trict vnion that is betweene me and my deere&s;t &s;i&s;ter now triumphing, to whom in the&s;e my prayers for the dead I did direct that &s;oule, with very good hope that it was to ariue there.</P>
<P>Moreouer, be&s;ides this, tho&s;e my prayers, and &s;upplications, which ought to haue beene made ouer the party ready to die, while&s;t hee beeing now in his la&s;t agony cannot performe any longer the actions of penitence and humi|liation before God, nor acknowledge his owne guilt, nor craue pardon for his daylie &s;innes, I, doing the office of a mother, pre&s;ent them for him in his funerall, together with the compa|ny of his brethren, and vtter tho&s;e prayers ouer him now dead, which &s;hould haue beene vtte|red ouer him dying. And if you would tho|rowly &s;ift your Ma&s;&s;es framed for the dead, &amp; the ancient prayers, which are &s;et downe in them, beeing currant at this day throughout the Papacie, you &s;hould find that they are pray|ers to be v&s;ed rather ouer him, who is at the la&s;t ga&s;pe, then who is already dead. For in them I pray for remi&s;&s;ion, not of any temporall paines, but of the &s;innes them&s;elues, yea euen
<PB N="128" REF="72">mortall &s;innes, and for deliuerance from <HI>hell;</HI> as al&s;o in Ma&s;&s;es for the dead, yee &s;hall neuer finde any prayers for freeing the &s;oule out of <HI>Purgatory,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Libera animas omnium fideli|um defunctoru~ de poenis Infer|ni, &amp; depro|fundo lacu; li|bera eas de ore Leonis, ni ab|&s;orbeat eas Tar|tarus, nec ca|dant in ob&s;cu|rum.</HI> In Mi&s;&s;a pro defunctis.</NOTE> but expre&s;&s;ely out of <HI>hell. Deliuer the &s;oules of all the faithfull departed from the paines of hell, and from the deepe lake: free them from the mouth of the Lyon, that hell doe not &s;wallow them vp, and that they fall not into the darke:</HI> &s;o that it is a meere foppery to goe about to picke <HI>Purgatory</HI> out of the&s;e prayers. Likewi&s;e tho&s;e <HI>tridualls,</HI> or thirday-ma&s;&s;es; tho&s;e <HI>trentalls,</HI> or moneths|mindes; tho&s;e <HI>anniuer&s;aries,</HI> or yeeres-dirges, or &s;uch like trinkets are the meere inuentions of <HI>Auarice</HI> afore&s;aid, and therefore their thru&s;ting of <HI>Purgatory</HI> vpon you is a very collu&s;ion.</P>
<P>They auouching, and teaching, that there remaine certaine temporall puni&s;hments for your mortall &s;innes (which &s;innes yet are for|giuen in this life) doe hereupon inioyne <HI>Sati&s;|factions</HI> after remi&s;&s;ion. And here wee finde them intangled in many difficulties: which of them knoweth the quantity of tho&s;e tem|porall paines, which God left to be vndergone by the penitent, after that hee is accepted into grace? how can they enioyne a true proporti|on of <HI>Satisfaction?</HI> If they &s;hall impo&s;e more
<PB N="129" REF="72" MS="y">then his debt requires, they &s;hall doe him wrong, and deale vniu&s;tly with him: if they giue him &s;hort mea&s;ure, they deceiue him, and defraud him of his entire deliuerance, and &s;o the <HI>Confe&s;&s;or</HI> by his owne fault tumbles this poore &s;oule into <HI>Purgatory</HI> after death. For, if hee had impo&s;ed &s;ufficient <HI>Satisfaction,</HI> hee had cleane wiped out the skore, and had left the penitent neuer a farthing in debt to <HI>Purgatory.</HI> And as for this <HI>Satisfaction,</HI> by what operation doth it cancell the puni&s;hment? it were fit that they &s;hould declare whether it worke <HI>ex opere operato,</HI> or <HI>ex opere operantis,</HI> by the deede done, or by the di&s;po&s;ition of the doer. And heere againe they da&s;h vpon hard difficulties. Be&s;ides this, where hath God bound him&s;elfe to re|lea&s;e the puni&s;hment of &s;innes by any action of man? When doth hee, pardoning the fault, leaue a guilt of temporall puni&s;hment? Doe you &s;ee into what perplexities, into what dan|gers they thru&s;t you? They make you beleeue that <HI>Christ's &s;atisfactions</HI> are vn&s;ufficient, &s;eeing that now ordinarily they doe not take away all the puni&s;hment with the fault. They make you to tru&s;t vpon your owne <HI>Satisfactions,</HI> as more able to cancell the puni&s;hments, then can
<PB N="130" REF="73">be done by <HI>Chri&s;t's Satisfaction.</HI> They make you remaine in a perpetuall perplexitie and doubt whether you haue fully &s;atisfied, or no: They make you lazie and negligent in going thorough-&s;titch with true Repentance, &s;uch as God requireth of you, and whereupon hee would giue you a full pardon both of fault and puni&s;hment: for you deeme their Ab&s;olutio~ to bee &s;ufficient for you, and that it doth without faile make riddance of your fault: and, as for the backe-reckoning of puni&s;hment, ye cheere vp your &s;elues, that a little ta&s;t of <HI>Purgatory</HI> &s;hall make you free-men: and &s;o it falls out that you pa&s;&s;e to another life perhaps (which God forefend) with your whole load both of fault, and al&s;o of obligation vnto eternall pu|ni&s;hment. But when you know there is no <HI>Purgatory</HI> at all, you will, for the &s;caping of hell, looke better to your tacklings: and you will not then &s;ay, as I heare many among you now &s;peake, <HI>I will not performe the penance, that is in|ioyned me: I am content rather to make it vp after|ward in Purgatory:</HI> And your in&s;tructers teach you, that you may lawfully &s;ay, and doe thus.</P>
<P>The other hidden Rocke, that groweth to this Rocke of <HI>Purgatory,</HI> are <HI>Indulgences.</HI> It is a
<PB N="131" REF="73">&s;hamele&s;&s;e boldne&s;&s;e to &s;ay, that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> indeede hath fully &s;atisfied for all the puni&s;hments due to euery &s;inner, which addre&s;&s;eth him&s;elfe vn|to him: but yet that the applying of <HI>Christ's</HI> merits goes in this man~er: the Confe&s;&s;or, when he ab&s;olueth thee, applieth the merits of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> vnto thee, onely in re&s;pect of the fault, and the eternall puni&s;hment, but as for temporall pu|ni&s;hment, that lies &s;till at thy doore: and that therefore, in re&s;pect of this puni&s;hment, it is in the Popes power to apply the &s;aid merits of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> for the remitting the &s;aid puni&s;hment in part, or in whole, as he &s;hall thinke good. But I &s;ay, if the Confe&s;&s;or ab&s;olue by the power of the keyes, who hath re&s;trayned him in this Ab&s;olutio~ to the fault, &amp; not to the entire pu|ni&s;hment? who hath halfed out vnto him the power of the keyes, that by them hee &s;hould apply the merits of <HI>Christ</HI> for the taking away onely of the fault, and of the eternall puni&s;h|ment, but not of the temporall? Surely the keyes containe entire remi&s;&s;ion; who then thus hath minced it out? And if the Confe&s;|&s;or can impo&s;e &s;uch <HI>&s;atisfaction,</HI> whereby all kind of puni&s;hment may beecancelled, (and certainely, as the Papi&s;ts teach, this <HI>&s;atisfaction</HI>
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<PB N="132" REF="77" MS="y">worketh by the power of the keyes, being Sa|cramentall) then his power extendeth al&s;o to the whole puni&s;hment: and by ab&s;oluing and by <HI>Ab&s;olution</HI> applying <HI>Chri&s;t's Satisfactions</HI> vn|to the penitent, hee doth apply them with all the power, and vertue, which is either in <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> merits, or in the keyes, or in the Mini&s;ter him|&s;elfe, that worketh by them: there is therefore no kind of puni&s;hment, which he hath not re|mitted: and what then remaines behinde for <HI>Indulgences</HI> to worke vpon?</P>
<P>I &s;ay nothing of the merits of the Saints Su|pererogation, which they &s;huffle into this Trea&s;ure among <HI>Christ's</HI> merits, with as great fal&s;ehood, as wrong, and iniury done to <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe: The fal&s;ehood lies in this, for that the workes of any Saints what&s;oeuer, both as they are maritorious, (if they may bee called meritorious at all) and al&s;o as <HI>&s;atisfactory,</HI> are wholly pay'd for the Saints owne debt; nor is there any ouerplus left for others in ca&s;e they were &s;ufficient for the Saint him&s;elfe, as I &s;hall afterward declare. To <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe great wrong is done, as if a man &s;hould poure a drop of water into the Sea, and &s;hould &s;ay that this drop carries euery &s;hip to the hauen: but e&s;pe|cially
<PB N="133" REF="77" MS="y">he is wronged, in that onely he, and none el&s;e, beeing appointed of God the Mediator both for faults, and puni&s;hments of the world, and all men in it, it mu&s;t needes bee an odious bla&s;phemy, to &s;ay that the merits of Saints doe &s;erue for the taking away of the puni&s;hments of &s;innes; for the cancelling whereof God ac|cepteth nothing el&s;e, but the blood of his one|ly-begotten Sonne: as al&s;o hee hath &s;ent none other, nor cho&s;en any other for that office, then this his only Sonne; neither is any other money currant in Gods Trea&s;ury for our com|plete redemption, either from fault, or from puni&s;hment, then the trea&s;ure of the blood, &amp; merits of <HI>Christ,</HI> &s;tamped with the image of <HI>Christ</HI> him&s;elfe: all other money v&s;ed for this purcha&s;e is fal&s;e coine, and is reiected by the mint-ma&s;ter of heauen.</P>
<P>But, be&s;ides this, how is the Pope inabled to apply the trea&s;ure of <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> merits? who hath made him Ma&s;ter of it? who hath put into his hands onely the keyes of it? I haue heard, that the principall key, which leads to this trea&s;ure, lieth open in publicke, to be v&s;ed by euery one, that will take it, and that the hand, by which euery one may take it, is true, and liuely faith,
<PB N="134" REF="78">nor is there any neede to aske this key of the Pope, or of any other man, it lying open to all; nor to beg of any man the fauour to bee made partaker of this trea&s;ure, which <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> hath made common, without giuing the cu&s;tody thereof to any man in the world. I haue in|deede a particular key committed vnto mee by him, but without any preiudice to the com|mon key, which lyeth open to all, and this is that key, by which I binde, and loo&s;e; and this is equally in the hands of euery of my Mini|&s;ters, and &s;pecially of my Bi&s;hops: and this key doth after a &s;ort apply vnto the penitent that trea&s;ure, namely the merits of <HI>Christ,</HI> ac|cording to the promi&s;e of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, who, when&s;oeuer he remits the fault, remitteth al&s;o all kinde of puni&s;hment; neither is it in my power, or in the power of any that v&s;eth this key of mine, to &s;eparate the puni&s;hment, or a|ny part thereof from the fault: for the money of this trea&s;ure payes all in the totall, and that is the currant rate of it. It is therefore open ty|rannie in the Pope, to incroach this key into his owne hands onely, and to impart it to whom&s;oeuer he plea&s;e, and in what degree hee thinkes good: whereas this key was giuen to
<PB N="135" REF="78">me, and I haue committed it to the handes of all, and euery my Mini&s;ters equally, without di&s;tinction. And if there were any true <HI>In|dulgences</HI> to bee had, it were a great folly in you to &s;eeke them of the Pope, when as your owne Bi&s;hops can a&s;well graunt them, as the Pope him&s;elfe: and this is not denied by the doctors of his owne &s;ide, namely, tho&s;e that yeeld, that Bi&s;hops haue all their authoritie, power, and Epi&s;copall Iuri&s;diction from God, and not from the Pope.</P>
<P>To compri&s;e this briefly; There are onely three Keyes, which keepe the trea&s;ury of my hou&s;e: The one is common to all my children, lying open to euery man, as I &s;aid, and not com|mitted &s;pecially to the hands of any: the other two are in the hands of my Officers, and of e|uery of them; for, by them onely are they to be imployed, but to the benefit of all the faith|full. One is of the holy Sacraments, namely of <HI>Bapti&s;me,</HI> and the <HI>Eucharist:</HI> the other is for binding, and loo&s;ing, as I haue declared. And who&s;oeuer brags, that he hath another key be|&s;ides the&s;e (as the Pope vaunteth that he hath the key of <HI>Indulgences</HI>) hee both is deceiued him&s;elfe, and deceiueth others. For we haue in
<PB N="136" REF="79" MS="y">the Scriptures expre&s;&s;e Patent for tho&s;e three &s;orts of Keyes: but of that fourth no graunt appeares, but forgery, and v&s;urpation; and if it be one of the&s;e three, it cannot haue any pro|per and di&s;tinct name, nor different effect, nei|ther can it be appropriated to any, more then they: neither can it be v&s;ed otherwi&s;e, then in remitting the whole puni&s;hment together with the fault, and &s;o it will not bee diuers from them.</P>
<P>There hath bene indeed in my hou&s;e, and &s;till may be the v&s;e of certaine <HI>Indulgences,</HI> but without imploying any Trea&s;ure in them (from whence tho&s;e fal&s;e <HI>Indulgences</HI> haue oc|ca&s;ionally taken their beginning, and not from Apo&s;tolique tradition, as is pretended.) and this was, when as &s;ome Penitent being bound by me in man~er afore&s;aid, with iniun|ction of penance for &s;ome prefixed, and deter|minate time, wherein the Penitent was to giue euidence of his repentance, and to bee taken downe to a fit degree of humiliation, (which cour&s;e of time for performance of penance, was now and then the &s;pace of &s;euen whole yeeres together) yet vpon the good behauiour of the partie, and out of my owne compa&s;&s;ion,
<PB N="137" REF="79" MS="y">and mercy towards him, as al&s;o by the in&s;tance and prayers of my children, I was wont to &s;horten this time, and to moderate the&s;e penal|ties, and &s;o to graunt him reconciliation &s;oo|ner, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> did to the ince&s;tious Corinthian.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 2.10.</NOTE> And this was my <HI>Indulgence</HI> which, as you &s;ee, hath nothing to doe with the puni&s;hment of &s;innes, nor with <HI>Purgatory.</HI> For the&s;e workes of Penance inioyned the Penitent before his Ab&s;olution, were not puni&s;hments otherwi&s;e due vnto the &s;inne by God's iu&s;tice, but meere &s;ignes of repentance, and of nece&s;&s;ary humilia|tion: the true puni&s;hments of &s;inne being can|celled by his Reconcilement, and con&s;equent|ly, by the applying of <HI>Christ's</HI> trea&s;ure in &s;uch &s;ort, as I haue declared, and not by abreuiating the time of precedent trials, and humiliations.</P>
<P>So here ye &s;ee the blind-Rocke of tho&s;e <HI>In|dulgences,</HI> that now-adayes are v&s;ed, A Rocke whereat many doe &s;uffer &s;hipwracke. The maine mi&s;chiefe of it is, that it taketh away cleane out of the world, and di&s;anulleth true Chri&s;tian repentance, and &s;o robbeth many a &s;oule of the true remi&s;&s;ion of their &s;innes. I will demon&s;trate this to you. A &s;inner heauie|loaden with heinous crimes, putting his con|fidence
<PB N="138" REF="80" MS="y">in the great vertue of Sacramental Ab|&s;olution, which, <HI>ex opere operato,</HI> by the deed done, mu&s;t remit &s;innes, and make <HI>ex attrito contritum,</HI> of a bru&s;ed heart a broken heart, hereupon doeth not hate his &s;inne, nor ab|horre it, and &s;o he doth not ri&s;e vp from &s;inne; but he goes to finde one of the&s;e triuiall Con|fe&s;&s;ors, with a brace of &s;ixpences in his hand, and for more, or le&s;&s;e vpon the bargaine, with|out any trouble&s;ome examination, he gets Ab|&s;olution; and now he holds him&s;elfe &s;ecured from his &s;innes, in re&s;pect of the guilt, and of eternall puni&s;hment; And as for the tempo|rall puni&s;hment, there are impo&s;ed vpon him &s;o many fa&s;ts, &s;o many Ma&s;&s;es, &s;uch a quantitie of Almes; which he accepts, but with intent to performe neuer a whit of them. He is content to leaue them on the &s;core for <HI>Purgatory:</HI> and yet he hath a tricke to e&s;cape that paiment too: he will gape after a <HI>planary Iubily,</HI> or rather he will take a gainer way: hee hath in his Bead|row, or Ro&s;ary certaine beads, cro&s;&s;es, and medals, which haue bene all to be-ble&s;t by the mo&s;t holy Father, and the&s;e containe in them <HI>Indulgentiam plenariam,</HI> a full Indulgence ouer, and ouer: and &s;o with chewing ouer three|&s;core
<PB N="139" REF="80" MS="y">and three <HI>Auemaries,</HI> and &s;euen <HI>Paterno|&s;ters,</HI> he hath rid him&s;elfe of all this trouble|&s;ome matter: and thus without <HI>Penance,</HI> with|out <HI>Satisfaction,</HI> and without <HI>Purgatory,</HI> hee is more then certaine of <HI>Paradi&s;e.</HI> And when the&s;e diueli&s;h inuentions were fir&s;t in vre, In|dulgences <HI>&agrave; culp&acirc;, &amp; paen&acirc;,</HI> a&s;well from all fault, as puni&s;hment, were granted, euen without Confe&s;&s;ion, and without Ab&s;olution to all, that would put to their helping hand, &s;o that it had money in it. But now-adaies <HI>(gran-mercy Luther)</HI> the <HI>Pardon-mongers</HI> are &s;omewhat more moderate, though not reformed. For they doe not now trucke for the fault, but for the pu|ni&s;hment onely. Where you may note, at lea&s;t, the goodly beginning of the&s;e <HI>Indulgences,</HI> with marting the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, at <HI>What will you giue.</HI></P>
<P>And yet notwith&s;tanding, for the gaine, that commeth of them, they are defended, and extolled by the Papi&s;ts, as likewi&s;e the <HI>Stations</HI> to &s;uch, and &s;uch Churches, the vi&s;iting of &s;uch an Altar, or &s;uch Reliques, with &s;o much adoe in iangling the Bells for many dayes a|fore, and &s;etting vp titles and banners in the chiefe corners, and eminent places of the Citie,
<PB N="140" REF="81">with vehement vrging the&s;e things in the pul|pit. Such doings as the&s;e, whither el&s;e do they tend, but to rob you, my &s;imple children, of your money? But &s;uch <HI>Stations</HI> as the&s;e, and <HI>In|dulgences,</HI> le&s;t they &s;hould pa&s;&s;e without in|come to the Pope, they are not granted, but in his Court of <HI>Chancery,</HI> in forme of <HI>Bulls;</HI> and this is a very good meanes for the ingro&s;&s;ing vp of money at Rome. To preuent murmures of the people, there was a new deui&s;e brought into Rome for the &s;peeding of <HI>Indulgences, per Breue, &amp; gratis,</HI> by Breues, without fees, but now-adayes againe he, that will haue any of the&s;e gainefull <HI>Indulgences,</HI> mu&s;t goe the olde way by the <HI>Chancery,</HI> and by <HI>Bulls;</HI> as for <HI>Breues,</HI> they are rarely graunted, and they al&s;o now not altogether <HI>gratis.</HI></P>
<P>But it is an excellent tricke of thrift the Pope hath gotten vp, both in leuying forces and Souldiers in forreine E&s;tates for his owne enterpri&s;es, as al&s;o in giuing of pre&s;ents, which, as a temporall Prince, he is to be&s;tow on other Princes, and on their Emba&s;&s;adors: he, to &s;aue his owne pur&s;e, puts his hand into the endle&s;&s;e trea&s;ure of <HI>Indulgences,</HI> and loads them with
<PB N="141" REF="81" MS="y">whole bags full of ble&s;&s;ed beads, medailes and cro&s;lets of copper, &amp; paltry pictures printed on paper, with a catalogue of <HI>Indulge~ces</HI> belonging to them: whereof more accompt is made by the Pope's gentle cu&s;tomers then of &s;o many Spani&s;h <HI>Doublons.</HI> Such trinkets as the&s;e, toge|ther with the tricke of a plenary <HI>Indulgence,</HI> and of opening the gate of Paradi&s;e, fly abroad vpon euery de&s;igne of the Popes. And yet all this while this trea&s;ure &s;hrinketh not, but it bulkes vp euery day by the canonizing of new Saincts, and with their merits and works of &s;u|pererogation. O wofull blindne&s;&s;e of men, which take no knowledge of &s;uch abu&s;es and deceits!</P>
<P>The Pope not content with the Keyes of heauen, and earth, will needs haue his keyes reach vnder the earth al&s;o, and exerci&s;eth his omnipotence vpon the &s;oules, which are in the center of the earth, &s;tretching forth his <HI>Indul|gences</HI> vnto the imagined <HI>Purgatory, per modum &s;uffragij,</HI> by way of &s;uffrage; but &s;o, that they may haue their certaine effect without faile, as much as concerneth his authoritie, if the in|di&s;po&s;ition of the &s;oules them&s;elues doe not hinder it: and all this for the whetting on of
<PB N="142" REF="82">&s;imple men, e&s;pecially &s;illy women in the be|halfe of &s;uch a &s;oule to multiply Ma&s;&s;es at pri|uiledged Altars, to lay on load of Almes, to giue large legacies to Chapters, Co~uents, Schooles, Chappels, and Altars: To this end al&s;o they bring fabulous <HI>Legends,</HI> they deui&s;e miracles, and reuelations from another world, with a thou&s;and prettie lea&s;ings to gull &s;imple people. Behold here new Articles of Chri&s;tian Religion made out at the fingers ends, where|of netts are knit to fi&s;h for gold, and &s;iluer. The&s;e be the Rockes, and vnder&s;helfes, which &s;plit many a poore &s;oule: I would haue you, my children, know how to e&s;cape them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The fourth Rocke. Inuocation of Saincts.</HEAD>
<P>_THis Rocke al&s;o hath need of warie ob&s;eruation. It is good in this pre|&s;ent life, for one to recommend him|&s;elfe to the prayers of another, and chiefly to the prayers of a whole particular Church. In this man~er S. <HI>Paul</HI> oftentimes recommends
<PB N="143" REF="82">him&s;elfe to the prayers of the faithfull people, to whom he writes; but in this ca&s;e there is no Religious <HI>Inuocation,</HI> neither are tho&s;e, to whom a man thus recommends him&s;elfe, cal|led vpon as Mediators betweene God and him, but as companions, and brethren, which both heare, and vnder&s;tand that, which is re|commended vnto them. There is no doubt at all, but that the holy Angels, and ble&s;&s;ed &s;oules in heauen, according to their inflamed chari|tie, doe intercede with God for me, and all you, they being (as S.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr de mortalitate.</NOTE> <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;aith) <HI>in &s;ure po&s;&s;e&s;sion of their owne glory, and carefull for the &s;aluation of you,</HI> my children: and therefore no Catholique man will euer deny &s;uch interce&s;&s;ion of the <HI>Saincts.</HI> But to make religious <HI>Inuocatio~</HI> of them, that is, to call vpon them with a certaine affe|ction, and opinion of a kind of Deitie in them, whereby they may heare, and attend vs, or, as mediators appointed vs by God, to treat of our &s;aluation with him; this is a perilous matter, and &s;mells &s;trong of Idolatry. And certainely this cannot be done without great wrong vn|to <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who is appointed by the Father for our onely Mediator, and Aduocate. Why therefore &s;hould wee here ouerpa&s;&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI>
<PB N="144" REF="83">who&s;e proper office it is to be our Aduocate, and, in &s;tead of him, hold our &s;elues to his &s;er|uants. They neither doe, nor can heare the praiers of men: and who&s;oeuer calls them thus to be his helpe, and inuoketh them, &s;uppo&s;eth an infinite, and plainely diuine vertue in them, that they can heare all. If the mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Vir|gine the mother of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> could heare, and li|&s;ten to all particular men, who throughout the whole earth pray to her, and call vpon her, and very many of them at the &s;ame moment, &s;he &s;hould be God, and not a creature: or, if God were plea&s;ed to reueale &s;uch prayers vn|to his Saincts, and that &s;uch <HI>Inuocations</HI> were acceptable to his heauenly Maie&s;tie, certainely the Scripture would either expre&s;ly deliuer it vnto me, or would imply it in &s;ome degree, whereas it doeth plainely teach me the con|trary, nor will &s;uffer me to inuocate any other, but God, and his onely-begotten Sonne my Spou&s;e.</P>
<P>Know you therefore, that the di&s;orders of this <HI>inuocation,</HI> hath runne on &s;o much the far|ther, in that the common people put far more confidence in the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> or in &s;ome o|ther he or &s;he Saint (who perhaps is not in hea|uen)
<PB N="145" REF="83" MS="y">then in <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, and certainely they do make more prayers and Ma&s;&s;es to the ble&s;|&s;ed <HI>Virgin,</HI> or to &s;ome <HI>Saints,</HI> then vnto <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> and how&s;oeuer in the <HI>Litanies</HI> and publique prayers vnder the Papacy, they &s;ay, <HI>ora pro no|bis,</HI> pray for vs, yet if you examine &s;illy women, and men of the vulgar &s;ort, you &s;hall find, that they call vpon them properly as on &s;o many gods, and that they v&s;e ordinarily to &s;ay, <HI>Saint Mary helpe mee, Saint Charles Borromeo &s;aue mee.</HI> Goe to <HI>Millaine,</HI> and enquire among the peo|ple, and you &s;hall finde that this &s;ame <HI>Charles</HI> hath not onely driuen the renowned St. <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI> out of their hearts there, (who now in compari&s;on of this Saint <HI>Charles,</HI> is much aba|ted in his reputation) but al&s;o that they put more tru&s;t in their <HI>new</HI> Saint <HI>Charles,</HI> then in <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> The rea&s;on is, becau&s;e they &s;ee the &s;o|lemnities of St. <HI>Charles</HI> &s;et out with far greater pompe then tho&s;e of <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> which doth infal|libly breede this errour in the mindes of the vulgar.</P>
<P>The great ones of <HI>Rome</HI> doe willingly che|ri&s;h the&s;e <HI>Inuocations</HI> and Idolatries, and make them Articles of Faith, that the Statues, and Images may be of more force to mooue you to
<PB N="146" REF="84">make large contributions for the building of Churches, and Mona&s;teries to their names, and to endow them with faire reuenues. I know well, that &s;ome witty and &s;ubtile braines can by certaine metaphy&s;icall formallities frame and accommodate the con&s;cience to dige&s;t this kind of <HI>Inuocation:</HI> but by their leaue, it is farre more &s;afe to hold off from it: and there|fore yee &s;hall doe well to ab&s;teine, fora&s;much as this your ab&s;teining tendeth not to any con|tempt of the Saints them&s;elues, but to the kee|ping your &s;elues from falling into the&s;e errors: neither will <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> take it ill, that you keepe your &s;elues from &s;uch <HI>Inuocations,</HI> lea&s;t you &s;hould di&s;honour him; and the Saints them|&s;elues, if they were to coun&s;aile you, would &s;peake thus: Imitate our holy actions, con|forme your &s;elues to our liuely faith, and holy life; honour vs in your hearts, as the faithfull &s;eruants of God, and in thus doing yee &s;hall yeelde vs all the re&s;pect you owe vs. The mo&s;t holy Mother of my Sauiour, for her part, would giue you the very &s;ame coun&s;aile, and that with more vehemencie: for, &s;hee would tell you, that it is irke&s;ome, and loath&s;ome vn|to her, that you thus call vpon her, and make
<PB N="147" REF="84" MS="y">recour&s;e euer and anon to her: &s;hee would tell you al&s;o, that tho&s;e glorious titles of <HI>Queene, Hope, Saluation, Aduocate,</HI> &s;ound abhominably in her eares, and make her &s;icke againe, &s;he ac|knowledging her &s;elfe to bee none other then <HI>the handmaid of the Lord;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.38.</NOTE> therefore take heede of this Rocke al&s;o. And when you repeat the <HI>Aue-mary,</HI> recite it hi&s;torically in remembrance of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God in the mo&s;t cha&s;t wombe of the Virgin. Prophane it not with that <HI>Inuocation, Sancta Maria, mater Dei, ora pro nobis, &amp;c.</HI> Holy <HI>Mary,</HI> the mother of God, pray for vs, &amp;c. For, certainely in ancient times tho&s;e words were not wont to be added in my hou&s;e, as al&s;o you &s;hall finde the <HI>Aue-ma|ry</HI> without them in the later Catholique Coun|cells of <HI>Germany,</HI> before that of <HI>Trent.</HI></P>
<P>And becau&s;e it is a laudable deuotion which hath anciently bene v&s;ed, to make commemo|rations of <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> Incarnation three &s;euerall times in the day at the publique tolling of a bell, which is called <HI>the Aue-mary,</HI> namely, at Sunne-ri&s;e, at noone, and Sunne-&s;et, it were good that you would fir&s;t purge or re|forme it, and then beeing reformed v&s;e it zea|lou&s;ly and vnto edification. You &s;hall reforme
<PB N="148" REF="85">it, if kneeling downe vpon your knees you &s;hall &s;ay in this maner. <HI>The Angell of the Lord brought a me&s;&s;age to the virgin Mary &s;aying to her, Hayle Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, thou art ble&s;&s;ed among women; and &s;hee &s;aide, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it vnto me according to thy word. Then the word was made fle&s;h, and dwelt among vs: O thou that didde&s;t beleeue this, thou art &s;urely ble&s;&s;ed, and ble&s;&s;ed is the fruit of thy wombe, Ie&s;us. O Lord God, poure downe thy grace into our &s;oules, that wee, which by the me&s;&s;age of an Angell haue knowen the Incarnation of thy Son Iefus Chri&s;t, may by his Cro&s;&s;e, and Pa&s;sion, bee lead to the glory of his holy re&s;urrection, Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The fift Rocke. Images, and Reliques.</HEAD>
<P>_PIctures, and Statues in ancient times were v&s;ed, as in priuate hou&s;es, &s;o al|&s;o in publique Churches, onely for remembrance of &s;acred hi&s;tories, and for the benefit of them, that could not, or would not read bookes. Wherein they beholding the re|pre&s;entation
<PB N="149" REF="85" MS="y">of <HI>Christ</HI> vpon the Cro&s;&s;e, of the martyrdomes, and memorable actions of holy men, might for their owne particular remem|ber the benefit of their redemption, and pro|pound vnto them&s;elues examples for imitati|on in the maintenance of our holy faith, and the exerci&s;e of chri&s;tian vertues. Otherv&s;e of <HI>Images</HI> then this, which is ciuill, I was not ac|quainted with for many Ages; But after that the couetou&s;ne&s;&s;e of men did runne on, inuen|ting and forging of myracles to draw on the peoples deuotion towards &s;ome <HI>Image,</HI> and &s;o their contributions vnder pretence of lampes, ornaments, and other materiall embelli&s;h|ments; thence began they to teach, that there was a certaine proper religious wor&s;hip due to the <HI>Image</HI> it &s;elfe, and then my idle Mini&s;ters beganne to light lampes to them, to burne in|cen&s;e to them, to adore them, to kneele downe, and make their prayers before them. Hence aro&s;e that abu&s;e, that none vnder the Papacie knoweth how to pray, without he haue before him &s;ome pettie &s;tatue, or picture, either pain|ted, or printed, e&s;pecially of the Crucifix, and of our Lady. And the Church-men doe wil|fully infu&s;e true and proper Idolatrie into the
<PB N="150" REF="86" MS="y">mindes of the ignorant common people, while&s;t they erect &s;tately Churches, curious Chappells, with &s;o many enclo&s;ures, ve&s;teries, curtaines, lampes, torches, indulgences: while&s;t they carry them in Proce&s;&s;ion with &s;uch furni|ture, and outward pompe, beeing an externall religious wor&s;hippe, which pertaineth vnto God: they command, and compell euery man to fall downe on his knees, and adore them, whereupon the &s;illy people conceiueth a cer|taine diuinity to be in them, and without any reflection at all <HI>ad prototypum</HI> to the principall copie, they offer their vowes, and their prayers to that &s;tocke, or &s;tone; to this cloth, or ta|blet, and expect immediately from that very <HI>Image</HI> the grace, which they reque&s;t, euen of eternall life. It is not to bee doubted, but that the more part of the vulgar commits mo&s;t pro|per, and formall Idolatrie with &s;ome <HI>Images.</HI> And the doctrine, which &s;ome learned Papi&s;ts doe teach, namely, that vnto <HI>Images,</HI> as <HI>Images,</HI> a proper religious wor&s;hip is due, mu&s;t of ne|ce&s;&s;ity make euen the wi&s;e, &amp; learned among&s;t them to Idolatrize formally.</P>
<P>A wodden Crucifixe repre&s;enting <HI>Christ</HI> on the Cro&s;&s;e may awake the minde of a Chri&s;ti|an
<PB N="151" REF="86" MS="y">to adore with his &s;oule him, that is repre|&s;ented, namely true <HI>Christ:</HI> but to teach a pro|per wor&s;hip, be&s;ides that, which is due vnto the <HI>prototype,</HI> and a proper adoration to bee due to a Crucifixe made of wood, onely be|cau&s;e it repre&s;ents the true <HI>Christ,</HI> this is to bring-in flat Idolatrie. If they &s;hall tell you, that a certaine humane, and ciuill reuerence is to bee giuen to the <HI>Images</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and al&s;o of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> and eminent Saints, &s;uch as are canonized by holy Scripture, &s;uch re&s;pect, I &s;ay, as is due to the <HI>Images</HI> of great Princes, and Emperors, and famous benefactors, or of the progenitors of noble families, publiquely aduanced, or priuately re&s;pected; in this there were no error, nor any danger at all. But while&s;t they will needs haue it to be religious, and &s;pirituall wor&s;hip, let them cloth it as cun|ningly as they can, with the names of <HI>dulia,</HI> or <HI>hyperdulia</HI> to balke the name of <HI>latria,</HI> yet in the end it commeth to be a very <HI>latria,</HI> diuine wor|&s;hip: ina&s;much as religious, and &s;pirituall wor|&s;hip is, nor can be any other then <HI>latria,</HI> which is the very adoration performed inwardly in the minde and &s;pirit, and outwardly by the body vnto the onely true God.</P>
<PB N="152" REF="87">
<P>And why did God &s;o &s;euerely command in the fir&s;t table of his liuely, and eternall law, that his faithfull people &s;hould beware of ma|king any <HI>Images</HI> of what &s;ort &s;oeuer, to be v&s;ed in any religious wor&s;hip, if not, becau&s;e hee knew, that all &s;uch wor&s;hippe of them mu&s;t needes be <HI>Idolatry?</HI> Thinke you that the Idola|trous Gentiles did indeede wor&s;hip tho&s;e Sta|tues of marble, wood, and mettall, as thinking that they were the very gods, whom they ado|red? It is a folly &s;o to deeme. But in that they gaue honor, and reuerence vnto tho&s;e Statues, as repre&s;enting tho&s;e men, whom they held for gods, nay otherwhile repre&s;enting &s;uch bea&s;ts, as they thought had a kinde of diuinity in them; in this re&s;pect our &s;acred Scripture doth deride them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 115.5.</NOTE> &s;aying, <HI>The Idolls of the heathen are &s;iluer and gold, the worke of mens hands: they haue mouthes, but they &s;peake not, eyes haue they, but they &s;ee not, they haue eares, but they heare not, &amp;c.</HI> Whereby their Idolatry is reduced, not onely to their adoring, for gods, very men, or very bea&s;ts, (which is indeede the mo&s;t pro|per Idolatry of all) but al&s;o much more, be|cau&s;e they, hauing made tho&s;e their Statues, &amp; Images, did render vnto the&s;e very &s;ame Sta|tues,
<PB N="153" REF="87">and <HI>Images</HI> a certaine proper wor&s;hip, as being the Statues, and <HI>Images</HI> repre&s;enting tho&s;e, whom they held for true Gods. In like man~er al&s;o, while&s;t Chri&s;tians doe yeelde vnto an <HI>Image</HI> a certaine proper religious wor&s;hip, though onely as it repre&s;enteth the true <HI>Christ,</HI> the holy Scripture by the &s;ame rea&s;on will &s;ay of them, <HI>The Chri&s;tians Images are wood or cloth, the worke of mens hands: they haue mouthes, and &s;peake not, eyes, and &s;ee not, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Neither doth it excu&s;e the matter, to &s;ay, that in the <HI>Image,</HI> the <HI>prototype</HI> or fir&s;t paterne is a|dored. For, the action in it &s;elfe is vnlawfull, and directly importeth Idolatry: and there|fore it ought of it &s;elfe and in its owne nature to be &s;hunned, as Idolatrous, as long as religi|ous wor&s;hip is yeelded. For, otherwi&s;e it were not Idolatry to wor&s;hip the very Idolls of the Gentiles made of any materiall &s;tuffe, beeing that in that very matter what&s;oeuer, there is the pre&s;ence of the true God. Nor will that ex|cu&s;e &s;erue in &s;aying, <HI>I doe not adore the Statue, or Image; but God in them.</HI> The action in it &s;elfe is directly terminated vpon the Statue, or <HI>Image:</HI> neither doth it &s;uffice for the preuenting of I|dolatry, that the intention is directed vnto
<PB N="154" REF="88" MS="y">God, becau&s;e there doth remaine at the lea&s;t materiall, and externall Idolatry euen in the iu|dicious and learned, that know how to frame the&s;e ab&s;tract notions: but in the vulgar ide|ots there will be no le&s;&s;e then formall Idolatry. And therefore on all hands, all religious wor|&s;hip of Statues and <HI>Images,</HI> euen of the Cro&s;&s;e, and of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe, would be altogether ba|ni&s;hed out of Chri&s;tendome: much more tho&s;e of <HI>Our Lady,</HI> and of other Saints, beeing that no religious wor&s;hip at all is due vnto tho&s;e <HI>Images,</HI> or to tho&s;e Saints, whom they repre&s;ent. Remember how Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> the E|uangeli&s;t, when hee would haue wor&s;hipped the Angell, was by the Angell him&s;elfe forbid|den with this Caueat, <HI>See thou do it not; for, I am thy fellow-&s;eruant.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Reuel. 22.9.</NOTE> And &s;urely Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> neuer meant to adore that Angell as God, with the wor&s;hip called <HI>latria,</HI> proper to God onely: for, he well knew, that this was an Angell: but be|cau&s;e hee bowed him&s;elfe to him with a religi|ous act, the Angell hindered him, knowing that &s;uch an act was vnlawfull: how much more vnlawfull were it to bee done to an <HI>Image?</HI></P>
<P>But if you would cleere the matter, whether
<PB N="155" REF="88" MS="y">this wor&s;hip be v&s;ed to be giuen to the <HI>Image</HI> it &s;elfe, as an <HI>Image,</HI> or to the <HI>prototype</HI> in the <HI>Image:</HI> looke into your Churches, &amp; hou&s;es, whether the &s;ame adoration be yeelded to all Crucifixes, &amp; to all the <HI>Images</HI> of the Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> equally, of all which the <HI>prototype</HI> or principall is the &s;ame: or whether there bee not rather a diffe|rence in the adoring the~. Surely you &s;hall find very great difference between one <HI>Image</HI> and a|nother, both being of the &s;ame principall. Of <HI>Our Ladie's Images</HI> you &s;hall haue in the &s;ame Ci|tie in diuers Churches, and hou&s;es &s;ome, that are not &s;o much as looked after, and yet one of them in &s;ome other Church &s;hall bee frequen|ted with infinite concour&s;e of people. That of <HI>Loretto</HI> &s;hall haue farre better doings, then that of <HI>Mont-ferrate,</HI> and &s;o likewi&s;e of others. Therefore the v&s;uall wor&s;hip is proper vnto the <HI>Image,</HI> and not to the <HI>prototype,</HI> or originall which it repre&s;ents.</P>
<P>Ob&s;erue al&s;o the di&s;orders which are to bee found, not onely in the common people, and &s;imple women, but al&s;o in tho&s;e, that are repu|ted di&s;creet, and graue: when they come into a Church, if there be there any famous Statue, or <HI>Image</HI> of <HI>Our Lady,</HI> loaden with vowes, gli|&s;tering
<PB N="156" REF="89" MS="y">with tapers, richly clad in gold and &s;il|uer, &s;hut vp in &s;hrines, and &s;uch like, this mu&s;t bee the fir&s;t, that is vi&s;ited: after they haue a|dored the <HI>Image</HI> of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> then, for fa&s;hion &s;ake, they goe to the Altar of the mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament, as they call it, where they &s;uppo&s;e, that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe is really and cor|porally pre&s;ent: or if there bee no &s;uch Altar there, then they fir&s;t wor&s;hip <HI>Our Lady</HI> dight in that man~er, and goe afterwards to the Cru|cifixe; or rather for the mo&s;t part doe not at all vi&s;ite it. How many huge tapers, and whole torches &s;hall you &s;ee burning before the <HI>Image</HI> of St. <HI>Francis,</HI> of St. <HI>George,</HI> of St. <HI>Charles,</HI> or &s;ome other Saint, but before the Crucifixe ei|ther none at all, or a petty farthing-candle. Is this to reflect from the <HI>Image</HI> to the <HI>prototype?</HI> Is not this to commit Idolatry, and to preferre the &s;eruant before the Ma&s;ter, the creature be|fore the Creator? Is not this to put more affi|ance in a Saint, then in <HI>Christ,</HI> and to expect more helpe from a Saint, then from <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him|&s;elfe? There is no one thing, whereby poore I am more defamed, and &s;hamed among the Iewes, Turkes, and Pagans, then by the&s;e Ido|latries: Fly therefore from them.</P>
<PB N="157" REF="89">
<P>The <HI>Reliques</HI> of Saincts, if they be true, and proued &s;o to bee, are to bee layed vp in honou|rable buriall, and kept in decent places, and are to &s;erue your turne, my Children, as a memo|riall of the holy actions of that Sainct for your imitation. Yee are therefore to re&s;pect them with ciuill honour, as the members of God's principall &s;eruants: but as for religious and &s;pirituall wor&s;hip, as it cannot without Idola|try be afforded to their &s;oules now glorified in heauen, &s;o is it much le&s;&s;e due vnto their a&s;hes, and dead bones, and lea&s;t of all to their Images: tho&s;e <HI>Reliques</HI> hauing in them&s;elues no diuine power at all, nor any Spirituall qualitie, where|by they may doe you any helpe. And if God, in loue vnto his Saincts, that remaine with him in glory, vouch&s;afe to do you any fauour, it is he him&s;elfe, that doth it, and not the Sainct, much le&s;&s;e any <HI>Relique,</HI> or image of a Sainct. So al&s;o when God did patiently beare with the &s;innes of the children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> euen to the par|doning them their Idolatries, for the loue which he bare to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Iacob:</HI> and when hee deferred the di&s;membring of <HI>Salo|mon's</HI> Kingdome, and pardoned many faults to his &s;ucce&s;&s;ors Kings of Iudah for his beloued
<PB N="158" REF="90"><HI>Dauid's</HI> &s;ake, the thanks then were not due nor rendered to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Iacob,</HI> nor to <HI>Dauid,</HI> but to God. So al&s;o may you intreate God to graunt you &s;ome fauours for the loue, which he beareth vnto his Saincts: but yee are not to begge tho&s;e fauours of the Saints them|&s;elues, nor of their <HI>Reliques,</HI> nor of their <HI>Images:</HI> and hauing obteined tho&s;e fauours, you are to repay your thanks, and &s;hew your gratitude to God onely, not vnto the Saincts, nor to any their <HI>Reliques,</HI> or <HI>Images.</HI> But, be&s;ides all this, you may be &s;ure, that there are innumerable impo&s;tures put vpon you concerning <HI>Re|liques,</HI> and that, perhaps for the mo&s;t part, the bones of knaues are &s;hewed to you for the bones of Saincts.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="rock">
<HEAD>&para; The &s;ixt Rocke. Merits.</HEAD>
<P>_THe Popi&s;h Ma&s;ters extoll <HI>Meritorious</HI> workes, e&s;pecially Almes; and will haue them de&s;erue eternall life: but their intent is, that you, being drawne on with the hope of &s;o great gaine, may put out your
<PB N="159" REF="90">money to v&s;e into their handes, to bring in a mo&s;t plentifull intere&s;t of an hundred for one; but in the meane time they them&s;elues take the money, and make God your debtor both for the principall, &amp; for the v&s;e, in the life to come. And this their bearing you in hand with hope of &s;o certaine, and infallible gaine makes the Prie&s;ts and Friars to ruffle it out vpon your pur&s;es: and you for your parts, if you be not the wi&s;er, and take not heed of this dangerous Rocke, &s;hall loo&s;e both your &s;tocke and inte|re&s;t; and &s;uffering &s;hipwracke, are like to bee drowned in the gulfe of eternall puni&s;hment.</P>
<P>Know ye therefore, that the principal works, which are nece&s;&s;ary, next after faith, to obtaine remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, and God's grace in this life, with eternall glory in the next, doe con&s;i&s;t in the due ob&s;eruation of Gods Commande|ments: that &s;o by God's helpe hee may keepe &s;inne aloofe from him. The&s;e workes there|fore, which con&s;i&s;t in keeping the Comman|dements, are nece&s;&s;ary, in a&s;much as God will not iu&s;tifie, nor &s;aue any man, that ob&s;tinately remaineth in &s;inne, and re&s;olutely holdeth on his way in offending his heauenly Maie&s;tie. Therefore a true and liuely faith, whereby a
<PB N="160" REF="91">Chri&s;tian layeth hold on <HI>Christ,</HI> hath this ope|ration, that it mollifieth, and &s;weetneth his af|fection, and loue towards God, and &s;o it hol|deth him off from &s;inne, and maketh him hate it. But the&s;e workes being nece&s;&s;ary di&s;po&s;iti|ons, without which God admitteth none into fauour, do not <HI>merit</HI> any &s;upernaturall reward. For, God doeth not therefore receiue thee into fauour, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t kept his Comman|dements, as though he were bound to receiue thee into his fauour for &s;uch thy ob&s;eruance: it is not &s;o. In the&s;e performances thou ha&s;t but done thy duety, remouing for thy owne behoofe the ob&s;takle &amp; impediment of &s;inne, but God by his meere grace doeth accept thee as his owne: neither were it a receiuing thee into grace, if thy workes did de&s;erue grace: for, reward is giuen vnto de&s;ert, nor by way of grace, but by way of Iu&s;tice. And yet Iu&s;tifica|tion it &s;elfe, remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, and adoption to become a &s;onne of an enemy, the&s;e come from God, as a meere grace, meere bounty, and meere mercy. Thou art not therefore to boa&s;t of any &s;uch workes, nor to flatter thy &s;elfe for them, nor to acknowledge any <HI>merit</HI> at all in them: <HI>When ye haue done all tho&s;e things which are
<PB N="161" REF="91" MS="y">commanded you,</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Chri&s;t</HI>) <HI>then &s;ay,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 17.10.</NOTE> <HI>We are vn|profitable &s;eruants, we haue done that, which was our duety to doe.</HI> Moreouer, &s;uch performances haue in the~, for the mo&s;t part, &s;o much imperfection, that perhaps they haue in them more &s;inne and demerit, then <HI>Merite,</HI> in regard of either vaine glory, or other humane ends, and &s;uch like faulty circum&s;tances.</P>
<P>Onely <HI>Chri&s;t's Merits</HI> are they, which being duely applied vnto a man, make God to holde him&s;elfe fully &s;atisfied for the di&s;honour, and offence taken at man, and by vertue of &s;uch, and no other &s;atisfaction, God receiueth a man in fauour, becau&s;e he &s;eeth him by a liuely, and working faith inue&s;ted in <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> as with the wedding-garment; and for this garments &s;ake he accepteth him at the mariage of glory: but who&s;oeuer entreth into that heauenly ban|quet arayed onely with his owne garments, his owne works, and proper <HI>merits,</HI> if he come not in couered with this nuptiall garment of <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> righteou&s;nes, and <HI>Merits,</HI> he &s;hall be &s;ure to be ca&s;&s;iered; and <HI>ca&s;t out into vtter darkenes, where &s;hall be wailing and gna&s;hing of teeth.</HI> And therefore, not onely iu&s;tification, remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, adoption into God's Sonne&s;hip are to
<PB N="162" REF="92" MS="y">be accounted the free grace of God, which hath no other foundation, then <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> onely <HI>Merits,</HI> applied vnto man by God's meere grace and bountie, but al&s;o e&s;&s;entiall glory it &s;elfe, and eternall life is to be attributed to the &s;ame. For, God, when hee adopteth for his &s;onne a man iu&s;tified by him, and that through his meere grace, for the <HI>Merits</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> onely, at the &s;ame time al&s;o, for full mea&s;ure of the &s;ame grace, and for the &s;ame <HI>Merits</HI> alone, God doth de&s;tinate vnto him the euerla&s;ting inheritance of the e&s;&s;entiall glory of Paradi&s;e. And there|fore to affirme, that Chri&s;tians by their good workes doe purcha&s;e eternall life, is to auouch a gro&s;&s;e and &s;ini&s;ter fal&s;hood: as al&s;o to affirme that good workes, done euen in grace, are <HI>me|ritorious</HI> of eternall life. For, eternall life is a meere fauour done vnto men, being purcha&s;ed for them by the onely <HI>Merits</HI> of <HI>Christ.</HI></P>
<P>Yet for all this, good works are not to &s;mall purpo&s;e, or vnprofitable to men. Fir&s;t, becau&s;e the keeping of the Commandements is al|waies nece&s;&s;ary, in &s;uch &s;ort as I haue declared; and without them &s;hall no man euer be &s;aued, though no man be &s;aued by them. Moreouer other good works, which of them&s;elues come
<PB N="163" REF="92" MS="y">not vnder commandement, are many times very profitable, and &s;ometimes nece&s;&s;ary al&s;o for the keeping of the Commandements: as mortification of the fle&s;h, to the end that con|cupi&s;cence draw not to di&s;loyaltie; for which cau&s;e euen S. <HI>Paul kept his body vnder,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 9.27.</NOTE> <HI>and brought it into &s;ubiection, lest by any meanes he, preaching to others, might him&s;elfe be a ca&s;t-away.</HI> And for the &s;ame cau&s;e he exhorted the Colo&s;&s;ians al&s;o to <HI>mortifie their members.</HI> Hither looke all fa&s;tings,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.5.</NOTE> watchings, continuall prayers, and other &s;uch holy exerci&s;es; not to any making God a deb|tor, nor to any obliging him to recompence them with eternall life; nor to any hoarding vp a trea&s;ure of mens owne <HI>merits,</HI> but to re&s;i&s;t euill de&s;ires: and therefore a man is bound e|uen vnder paine of &s;inne to vndergoe them for his owne behoofe, and for the great need, which he hath to &s;tand aloofe from &s;inne. To this only purpo&s;e long &s;ince in my yong yeres, Mona&s;teries, de&s;erts, &s;olitary places, caues, and dennes were repleni&s;hed, not to procure <HI>merite</HI> by &s;uch exerci&s;es, nor that they might thus purcha&s;e Paradi&s;e, but that the loo&s;ing of it might be thus preuented, and that the walke of the Tempter might be &s;topped, and the neere
<PB N="164" REF="93">occa&s;ions of &s;inne taken away: Whereas now many Mona&s;teries are the &s;chooles of vice, and of many heynous impieties, and, in a man~er, the proper lodges of &s;inne and Satan; or, at the be&s;t, the Seminaries of ambition, the recepta|cles of auarice, and the &s;ties to fat vp idle fel|lowes: and generally all of them are the ga|ri&s;ons of the Popes &s;ouldiers, and of his catchpoles for the maintenance of the Papacy, with all the enormities thereof, by the helpe of the&s;e irregular <HI>Regulars,</HI> who are bol&s;tred vp with many priuiledges granted by the Popes, being withdrawne from the iuri&s;diction of Bi&s;hops, to the end that they may become &s;pies, champions, and very <HI>Pandars</HI> to the Pa|pacie, not for venery, but to &s;erue his turne for wor&s;e v&s;urpations, and oppre&s;&s;ions.</P>
<P>Another benefit of good works is, that they &s;erue to di&s;charge the obligation, and debt, wherein euery Chri&s;tian is bound to bee an|&s;werable in his duety to God, and to &s;erue him faithfully, and to promote the glory of &s;o great, and bountifull a Ma&s;ter. A bond-&s;laue, if he be good, will of him&s;elfe, without looking for &s;tripes, &s;eeke out occa&s;ions faithfully to &s;erue his good Ma&s;ter, and, doing his <HI>deuoire,</HI> doth
<PB N="165" REF="93">not thereupon reckon his diligent &s;eruice vp|on the title of his owne loanes, and of his Ma|&s;ter's debts.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat 7.17.</NOTE> A good tree of it &s;elfe <HI>bringeth forth good fruit:</HI> yet doth not the planter and owner take vp that fruit on credit, or accompt him|&s;elfe a debtor to the tree; but enioyes the fruit, as his owne, and due to him, <HI>gramerc&eacute;</HI> his good planting, and hu&s;banding. To this purpo&s;e &s;aid <HI>Chri&s;t, Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.16.</NOTE> <HI>that they may &s;ee your good workes, and glorifie your father, which is in heauen.</HI> Likewi&s;e Saint <HI>Peter</HI> maketh the &s;ame v&s;e of them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Pet. 2.12.</NOTE> <HI>That the Gentiles beholding your good works may glorifie God.</HI> And to this glo|rifying of God euery of you is bound in duty, nor can challenge any reward vpon &s;o doing.</P>
<P>Moreouer good workes done in grace, doe help on the encrea&s;e of your loue toward God, and towards your neighbour, and &s;et forward a iu&s;t man to become &s;till more iu&s;t. In relati|on whereunto &s;ome kind of <HI>merit,</HI> but very im|properly &s;o called, may bee attributed vnto good workes; in that God in his bounty is con|tent to reward man's imperfect operations, with &s;uch encrea&s;es of his heauenly gifts, and graces. So Saint <HI>Paul</HI> exhorteth the faithfull <HI>to &s;erue righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, vnto &s;anctification:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.16.</NOTE> that
<PB N="166" REF="94" MS="y">is, that they might become &s;till more holy.</P>
<P><HI>Semblable</HI> thereto is that in the Reuelation, <HI>He that is iust,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Reuel. 22.11.</NOTE> <HI>let him be made iu&s;t &s;till.</HI> Yet is not this any true <HI>merit:</HI> becau&s;e the workes of them|&s;elues, though done in grace, yet haue no pro|portion to &s;uch a reward; and, if it were not for God's gracious promi&s;e, they &s;hould neuer receiue &s;uch a reward, as by iu&s;tice is not due vnto them. For, euen the&s;e workes are to bee attributed rather to the grace of God, by who&s;e helpe they are performed, then vnto man. Therefore God, in be&s;towing the&s;e gifts, doth rather reward his owne gifts, and graces, then any worke of man. And yet for all this no man can bee &s;aide to <HI>merit</HI> eternall life by his workes, as you &s;ee.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, good workes performed in the &s;tate of grace by the faithfull, (e&s;pecially tho&s;e, which in the afore&s;aid re&s;pects doe neither di|rectly, nor indirectly come vnder nece&s;&s;ary obligation) haue from God, out of his meere bounty, and liberality, a promi&s;e of reward, which &s;hall bee afforded them in the world to come: And this reward is not the e&s;&s;entials of eternall life it &s;elfe, but certaine degrees, and ouer-mea&s;ures of glory. The P&s;almi&s;t &s;aith to
<PB N="167" REF="94">God;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 62.12.</NOTE> <HI>Thou rendere&s;t to euery man according to his worke.</HI> And St. <HI>Paul,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 4.17.</NOTE> <HI>Our light affliction worketh for vs an eternall weight of glory.</HI> And <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him|&s;elfe promi&s;eth,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marc. 9.41.</NOTE> that <HI>who&s;oeuer &s;hall giue his Di&s;|ciples a cup of cold water in his name, &s;hall not lo&s;e his reward.</HI> Of which kind of promi&s;es the Scripture hath plenty: Yet doth it not there|upon follow, that &s;uch works are truely <HI>merits,</HI> or <HI>meritorious.</HI> For, that onely is true <HI>merit,</HI> to which the reward is due by iu&s;tice, without the entercour&s;e of any fauour at all. And, where grace is afforded,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.6.</NOTE> there all <HI>merit</HI> is exclu|ded. But in the&s;e good workes grace beares a great part. Fir&s;t, in that a man doth them by the power of grace: and therefore S.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug de gra. &amp; lib. arb. c. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid, that <HI>God crowneth not man's merits, but his own gifts.</HI> Al&s;o becau&s;e it is out of meere grace that God promi&s;eth a reward; &s;uch promi&s;es being made, not out of iu&s;tice, but from meere boun|tie. As when a Prince, not being obliged to a|ny, proclaimeth a prize for him, that &s;hall runne be&s;t in a race, it is certaine that this running is not properly a <HI>merit;</HI> being it hath no propor|tion with the prize, which is of great valew: and if it were not for the bountie of the pro|mi&s;e, that running were not of any worth at all.</P>
<PB N="168" REF="95">
<P>But yet, all the&s;e graces being &s;uppo&s;ed, when as the Scripture willingly calleth by the name of rewards all tho&s;e gifts, and heauenly remunerations, which are promi&s;ed vnto workes, &s;ome kinde of <HI>merit</HI> cannot be denied. For, &s;urely reward doeth imply a relation, and corre&s;pondence to &s;ome <HI>merit.</HI> But yee mu&s;t take with you, that this <HI>merit</HI> hath no relation to the e&s;&s;entials of eternall life; as al&s;o that it &s;uppo&s;eth all the&s;e graces. Whereupon you are not to rely vpon your <HI>merits,</HI> nor to build the frame of your &s;aluation vpon them; being that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is your entire foundation. There|fore put all your hopes, both in life, and death, in him onely, and build no foundation at all, for your hope of eternall life, and of your e|uerla&s;ting &s;aluation, vpon your owne workes done, or to bee done in pious Legacies, in Ma&s;&s;es, in Almes, or for Altars, or Churches. For, if you doe not take another cour&s;e to ob|teine eternall life by a true and liuely <HI>faith, which worketh by loue,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.6.</NOTE> remouing al&s;o betimes the ob&s;tacles of &s;inne by true, and &s;incere re|pentance, your owne <HI>merits</HI> &s;hall not (much le&s;&s;e any others) any whit benefit you, but as for encrea&s;e of glory, and augmenting of your
<PB N="169" REF="95" MS="y">ioy, good workes will be very helpfull to you, &s;o that they be throughly purified, and employed on lawfull things, and free from &s;uper&s;tition, and euill circum&s;tances.</P>
<P><HI>THus haue I di&s;couered to you, my mo&s;t deare children, twelue principall very dangerous Rocks: which I haue but briefly &s;hewed, and litle more then pointed at; ina&s;|much as I haue &s;ure confidence in my Spou&s;e (by who~ I haue bin put in tru&s;t to giue you the di&s;couery of them) that he will him&s;elfe at length ope~ all your eies. I &s;ee, that he hath very very long had patience with the many errors of that, his, and mine, vngratefull daughter, your, not louing mother (for that am I) but cruel &s;tepdame; and that now, be|holding her at her highest, he will no longer beare with her. He by his gentle Spirit wor|keth in the hearts of great</HI> Princes, (<HI>yea and of great</HI> Prelats <HI>too</HI>) <HI>his, &amp; my &s;onnes: he goes on taking away the manifold fal&s;e
<PB N="170" REF="96">preiudices, and delu&s;ions: hee by little and little mollifieth tho&s;e obdurations, &amp; ob&s;ti|nacies, whereby enormities, &s;o preiudiciall to mee, and &s;o pernicious to you are wilfully mainteined. They begin to acknowledge, that in</HI> Rome, <HI>not</HI> Chri&s;t, <HI>but the world &s;wayeth the &s;cepter, and that all my affaires there are reduced to temporall ends onely. He putteth the&s;e</HI> Princes <HI>in reme~brance, that they are my nur&s;ing-fathers, my pro|tectors, my defendors; and moreouer, that it lieth on the~, to bring home all my daughters to me their vniuer&s;all Mother; and not to &s;uffer one of them to tyra~nize ouer both her Mother, and other &s;isters. Whereupon my &s;elfe, with very good hope, doe expect from Chri&s;tian Princes, and Co~mon-wealths all good i&s;sue of a perfect peace, vnion, &amp; con|cord on my behalfe. In the meane time I ad|ui&s;e you, to take good notice of the&s;e Rocks, and to take &s;uch heed of them, that ye may
<PB N="171" REF="96" MS="y">e&s;chew your owne lame~table wracke. So the ble&s;&s;ed gale of the holy Spirit co~duct you &s;afe to the hauen of eternall happines. Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<HEAD>THE AVTHOR TO the godly Readers.</HEAD>
<P><HI>_LEt this Manuell, Chri&s;tian Readers, &s;erue you onely for an e&s;&s;ay, or rough|draught of a larger worke, wherein the &s;ame Heads, which are here but briefly pointed at, as al&s;o other mat|ters bordering thereon, are to be more particularly pro|&s;ecuted, and commodiou&s;ly enlarged. And I hope, that I &s;hall let in &s;o much light vnto you, that you &s;hall by God's grace be enabled to enterteine many trueths belonging to your &s;oules health, which for long time haue bene, with no good meaning, kept out of your &s;ight. If you plea&s;e to accept the&s;e my fir&s;t lineaments, you may ex|pect from me the more diligent accompli&s;hment of the entire worke: wherein will appeare other Rockes al&s;o worthy the di&s;couering, to the prai&s;e of our Sauiour</HI> IESVS CHRIST, <HI>to the &s;afety of our &s;oules, and to the confu&s;ion of the Diuell. God be with you euermore.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
