An Ansvvere to a Popish Ryme, lately scattered abroad in the West parts, and much relyed vpon by some simply-seduced.
By Samuel Hieron, Minister of the Word of God, at Modbury in Deuon.
Math. 10, 17.
Beware of Men.
Phil. 3.2.
Beware of Dogs.
LONDON Printed by Simon Stafford, dwelling in Hosier lane, neere Smithfield. 1604.
❧To my much esteemed friend, J. L.
YOu will wonder, I am sure (considering my profession, to see me become a Poet. And indeed I do almost maruell at it my selfe, knowing my selfe to want the two principal furtherances of Poetry: the one is natures instinct They say, Poëta nascitur: if a man be not, as it were, a Poet borne, hee shall neuer prooue excellent in that faculty., which God in his holy prouidence hath denyed me: the other is a certaine retired freedom from all such businesses, which may breed distraction, Carmina secessū scribentis & otia quaerunt, Ouid. de Trist. which my publike Calling, besides priuate encombrances, will not afford me. Yet notwithstā ding, vpon this present occasion, I haue euen forced my selfe to this straiter course of Verse-making, though I know, that for mine owne case (hauing to deale in such a distempered and vnruly Subiect) that lesse-limited & freer kind of discourse, which Prose alloweth, had bene more conuenient: Because the rules of Cadence, & number (to which our English Poetry especially is cōfined) do many times so straiten an vnaccustomed Practitioner, that he is in hazzard, either of obscuring the sence (which in a matter of this nature were something dangerous) or of marring the Verse (which to the apprehension of euery [Page] common conceit were very ridiculous.) But howsoeuer I haue erred in the carriage of this verse, I hope, to you and to others, whose fauour, eyther because of their Iudgement, or their honesty, I desire, this shall excuse me: that meeting with our common Aduersary (who appeareth sometime in shape of a States-man, debating of Titles, and Common-wealth affayres, Witnesse the Quodlibets, Dolman, &c. sometime as a Petitioner to the King and Parliament, At the Kings first cōming, & now since y e Parliamēt. sometime as a plausible perswader, Bristowes Motiues, & Bookes of that nature sometime as a Restorer of the holy Text, to the natiue purity thereof, Rhem. Test. and Grego. Martin. sometime as a man of a very tender Conscience, giuing reasons why he cannot come to our Assemblies, Howlet. somtime as a Rayler at our gouernment, and an approuer of our open enemies; The wardword. Quo teneam vultus mutantē Protea nodo. that, I say, meeting with this time-seruing Proteus, in the fashion of a Rimer or Balladine, and crept in (as the maner of false brethrē is Gal. 2.4. Similes habent labra lactucas.) into both the hands and the heartes of many simply-seduced; I haue endeuored to make the Lettuce like the lips (as the prouerb is) and to proportion my selfe to him in versing, to whom I am sure (without wilful forsaking the playne truth of God, manifested in Scripture) I shall neuer be like in beleeuing.
The Seruice it selfe, which is heere sent vs in by this Runnagate, He confesseth hee was a Protestant. is for substance agreeing with the rest of their Romish Cates, thogh (to say the truth) [Page] it hath come through the hands of a very homely and sluttish Cooke, by whom it is neyther seasoned with wit or argument, no, nor yet set forth after any good ordinary fashion: But it is euen a very Gally-mawfrey, of certayne naked and indigested Allegations (as it were the leauings and scraps of some other) without eyther order or proofe, as though euery Papist were a Pope, and euery word of his mouth an Oracle. Belike the Slouen thought it good enough for those, for whom it was prouided; as indeed it is: for those which turne their eares from the trueth, and are giuen vnto fables 2. Tim. 4.4.; and by some, vpon my knowledge (to whome, I feare me, God hath sent strong delusions, that they should beleeue lyes) it is highly magnified, 2. Thes. 2.11. as a speciall Preseruatiue against supposed Heresie, and as a well-framed Sconce, which none of vs all is able to ouerthrow.
In regard whereof, knowing my selfe bound among others to contend earnestly for the maintenance of the Fayth, Iude 3. I haue vndertaken this which you here see. For my desire and true intent therein, it is best knowne to him which seeth in secret Mat. 6.4., and in his due time will make the counsels of all hearts manifest. 1. Cor. 4.5.
Touching the thing it selfe, how it is, and how well it is, I submit it to the censure of the godly-wise, [Page] praying them, that with their fauourable (if not allowance, yet at least) conniuence, it may passe to the vse of those, to whom it is intended: And among others, I haue directed it especially to you, in part of recompence for a great deale of kindnesse, entreating you to entertayne it with the like measure of loue, wherewith it is offered. And so beseeching God to fill you with the fruites of righteousnesse, Phil. 1.11. I commend you to his grace in Christ Iesus.
Modbury,
August, 20. 1604.
Your very louing friend,
SAM. HIERON.
The Papists Ryme.
I Pray thée, Protestant, heare with mée,
Indeede a man had need to be very patient, that meaneth to heare thee.
To aske thée Questions two or thrée:
And if an answere thou canst make,
More of thy counsell I will take.
Yet I feare, that thogh thou were brayed in a Morter with a Pestell, among Wheat, thy foolishnesse will not depart from thee: Pro. 27.22.
Many sundry Sects appeare,
Now in the world farre and neere,
The Caluinist, the Protestant,
The Zuinglian, the Puritant:
The Brownist, and the Family of Loue,
And many more which I can proue,
And the Romane fayth truely,
Which you call Papistry.
And euery one confesse IESV,
Saying that their Fayth is true:
But amongst these tell mee how,
The Trueth from fayned lyes to know.
All these in very deede,
Rehearse all Articles in the Creede,
And euery one of them sayth,
That theirs is the Catholique Fayth:
But this it is that I doe séeke,
I beleeue, thou art one of those, which are euer learning, & neuer come to the knowledge of the Trueth, 2. Tim. 3.7. Take the Lanterne which Dauid vsed, and thou shalt soone finde the true Church, Psal. 119.105.
To knowe the Church Catholique,
The Communion or Company
Of holy men in Vnity.
Catholike.
IN your Bible I haue read,
The Church must through the world bee spred:
For Christ he his Apostles sent
With power and Commaundement,
That to all Nations they should goe,
To preach and to baptize also.
Who hath done this? to know I will,
For that is sure the Church of Christ.
I hope thou wilt not say that Rome hath don this: the charge was giuen and vndertaken before Rome was conuerted.
As for example, let mee know,
And if thou canst I pray thée show,
What Church did take in hand
The first conuersion of this Land?
The Apostles Church for ought you can proue to the contrary.
And all other countries euery where,
Throughout the world farre and neere:
Who but a Papist, would dare to say this?
If this were not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be conuerted soone.
You build your Faith vpon a very sure groūd.
Saint Paul in his Epistle fayth,
Did Paul say that Rome should neuer deny the Fayth?
The Romanes had the Catholique Fayth,
Saying it was renowned,
Spoken of, or published
Through the world, ouer all,
Catholique, Vniuersall:
And if your Churches were euen so,
Our Church is a part of the Catholique Church, disproue it if you can.
Then to your Churches I would go.
You may come to our Churches, the Pope giueth you leaue, so that you keepe your heartes to him.
Prophets.
SO sayth the Prophet Malachy,
There should be offred farre and nye,
A cleane Oblation or Sacrifice,
When you read, Altar, and Sacrifice, you thinke strait that makes for the Masse, not knowing, or not seeming to know the language of the Scripture.
From place where now the Sun doeth rise,
To the going downe of the same.
And what is that, I pray thée name?
If it be not the holy Masse,
I will be a Protestant as I was.
If thou hadst bene of vs, thou wouldest haue continued with vs, 1. Iob. 2.19.
In the eightéenth Psalme I found,
The whole world should heare their sound,
Namely, of the Apostles, and their doctrine; proue our Doctrine to disagree with theirs.
And it this marke you doe not want,
Presently I will recant.
Continuance.
THis is another marke most sure,
The Fayth of Christ must still endure,
Christes Fayth must endure, therfore Rome is the true Church. A hote Argument.
According as our Sauiour sayd,
When for Saint Peter hee had prayd.
Simon, thy Fayth shall neuer fayle,
The gates of Hell shall not preuayle,
The holy Ghost your Comforter,
Shall remayne with you for euer.
And I my selfe, your surest friend,
Will be with you vnto the end.
Saint Paul hath the like speach,
There shall be alwayes men to preach,
Apostles,
Some say they are Apostles, and are not, Re. 2.2.
Doctours, and the like,In the Church Catholike:
If this be not the Church of Rome,
Because you say it, we are boūd to beleeue it.
Then will I be conuerted soone.
Visible.
ANother marke there is most cleare,
The Church of God must still appeare,
As a City on a hill,
Some wrest the Scriptures to their owne destruction, 2. Pet. 3.16. Take heed.
Seene and continue still;
As a light on a Candlesticke,
So is the Church Catholique.
Our Sauiour sayth, If one offend,
And will not be ruled by his friend,
Tell all the Church without delay:
Would you haue vs go to Rome with euery cōplaynt? it seemeth so; for you tye the Church to that See.
And if he will not then obay,
Doe thou estéeme such a man,
An Heathen or a Publican.
Is not that the Church, wherein we sée
Two hundred Bishops thirty thrée,
To haue succéeded each other,
Since the time of Saint Peter?
You must first prooue that Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome.
Shew mee this marke in you,
Thou thy selfe sayst, there haue bene successiuely 63. Bishops in England, since Peter: then eyther ours is the true Church, or else succession of Bishops is no sure marke.
And I will say your Fayth is true:
If this be not in the Fayth of Rome,
Then will I be conuerted soone.
Vnity.
ANother marke there is truly,
The Church must haue Vnity,
As our Sauiour hath foretold,
One Shepheard and one Fold:
One is my Spouse, one is my Loue,
One is my Darling and my Doue:
This is his Spouse, and at some time
He doeth resemble it to a Vine.
His Father is the Husbandman,
A Branch is euery Christian,
This is his Body Mysticall,
The which he doeth his Kingdome call:
Whereof Saint Peter had the Keyes,
What became of the Keyes, when Pope Iulius 2. threw them into Tibur.
And his Successors haue alwayes:
As though no body did succeede Peter, but the Pope, who is rather the successour of Romulus, then Peter, as Pope Hadrian the fourth said when he dyed.
And likewise Saint Paul sayth,
One Baptisme and one Fayth,
And one Lord IESV:
Haue no dissention among you.
If this be not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be conuerted soone.
Holy.
THis you say in very déede,
When you rehearse the holy Créede,
So you say in the Creede, that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, and yet you say also, he is in body present at the Masse.
One Church Catholique,
Holy and Apostolique.
This is another marke truely,
The Church of God must be holy:
Holy men, Holy Seruice,
Ceremonies, Sacrifice:
Sacraments and Holy dayes,
Are obserued in her alwayes:
As for the Saints and Martyrs all,
And Virgins, which you Saynts doe call;
I aske you when they liued and where,
Whose names are in your Calender:
In what Religion they dyed,
By whom they were Canonized?
Who made the Pope a Saint-maker?
Proue that these agrée with you,
And I will say your Fayth is true:
If they were not your company,
You stand so much vpon Company, that you will rather goe to the Deuill, then want Company.
Then is your Fayth an Heresy.
Heretikes.
OVr Sauiour warneth vs to haue care,
Of false Prophets to beware,
That makes vs take heed of you.
Which in his name shall come,
Not sent, yet they shall runne:
There bee many of your Church come amongst vs to work mischiefe, before you bee sent for.
Théeues, not entring by the Doore,
A liuely description of the Popes Clergy.
That kill and steale and kéepe a stoore,
Woolues in Shepheards clothing,
That kill the Soule, and steale the tithing,
Dogges, Foxes, and Masters of lyes,
That newe Sects will deuise,
Bringing in dissention,
And heape thousands to perdition.
Where haue you bene this many a yere,
That none of you durst once appeare?
Euer since our Sauiours time,
To whom did your Light shine?
To those which had eyes to see it.
Where did your principall Pastor sit?
In Heauen.
Who kept your keyes, who fed your shéep?
You haue butchered a good sort of them.
Shew some Churches you haue built:
I can shew many you haue spilt.
How might a man haue found you out,
To haue tryall in a matter of doubt:
You be too proud to learne: It is the first lesson you teach your Disciples, to admit no conference.
Where for so many a yeere
No such company did appeare?
Vntill Luther, a lying Fryer,
If Luther had continued a true Frier, he had neuer bene good.
Vpon whom the Deuill had desire,
Brake his vowe,
Herods vow is better broken then kept.
and marryed a Nunne.And there your Sect
Our Sect is the same that Pauls was, Act. 28.22.
first begun,
Eyther thou knowest this to be a lye, or thou knowest nothing.
And fauoured in Saxony
By a Duke that loued liberty:
And in King Edwards time truely,
There were Englishmen in England, who bare witnesse to this truth, by suffering death for it long afore King Edwards time.
It first infected our Country.
For a thousand yeres you say,
That Papistry did beare the sway:
And during all that space,
No Protestant durst shew his face.
The more they lay hid the greater was your Tyranny.
Who kept
Indeed you kept thē so fast, that the people could haue no comfort by them.
the holy Scriptures thenFrom the hands of wicked men?
Who had authority to ordayne,
Our Priests and Bishops agayne?
For he that entreth without Order,
As a thiefe doeth kill and murder.
And one thing maketh me to muse,
That no Priest you doe refuse,
A very tale.
Being ordred by the Church of Rome,
But he was accepted soone:
If he would say the newe Seruice,
He should haue a Benefice,
Without any further order,
And accounted for the better:
He that hath once bin an eger Papist, & is conuerted truly, is to be the better thought of, because hauing known the abomination of Popery, hee must needs detest it more.
How can shée make a lawfull Priest,
If shée be not the Church of Christ.
Answere this, O Protestant,
If thou canst, I will recant,
I beleeue you wil not be so good as your word
But while an answere you deuise,
A man need not bee long in making you an answere.
I counsell all men that are wise,
To hold the fayth mayntained heere,
The space of a thousand yeere,
Brought vnto vs Englishmen
By our Apostle,
Who made him an Apostle?
Saint Austen,Who from Rome was bisher sent.
When Ethelbert was King of Kent,
Who learned his fayth of Gregory,
This Gregory accounted him the Forerunner of Antichrist, who so should seeke to bee called Vniuersall Bishop: from this fayth you are gone.
His fayth was kept successiuely,
By threescore Bishops and thrée,
Since Saint Peters time truely,
Who learned his fayth of Christ Iesu,
Who is the Sonne of God most true.
The Protestants Answere.
I May not (Papist) suffer thée,
Because thy Questions idle bée:
And if my counsell thou wilt take,
Then heare the Answere I will make.
Thou tell'st of Sects that doe appeare,
And séemst the truth glad to enquire:
But euen in this I malice smell,
And see thy spitefull meaning well.
When thou these diuers sects doest name,
Thou would'st therby our Church defame,
I haue reason so to thinke, because the multitude of supposed sects amongst vs, is a cōmon Imputation. See Brist. Motiues, pag. 10.
And make fooles think that we them lou'd,
When as with vs th'are not approu'd.
We doe not hang on Caluins sléeue,
Nor yet on Zuinglius we beléeue:
And Puritanes we doe defye,
If right the name you doe apply.
Viz. If eyther by that name, are vnderstood those anciēt Heretikes, called Cathari, who dreamed of a state of perfectiō in this life: or else such factious ones among vs, which haue soght the spoyle & hauocke of the Church.
All giddy Sects among vs crept,
We wish out of our Church were swept:
No name doe we delight in more,
Then that at Antioch giuen of yore.
Christians, Act. 11.26
But now what sects you Papists haue,
I doe but thy owne witnesse craue:
Some Capucines, some Franciscanes,
And some bee called Dominicanes:
Some Iesuites, some Seculars,
The emulation & difference betwixt these 2. their Quodlibets doe shew.
Some gray, some black, some white Friars:
And that your store may not be spent,
New Locusts still from Hell are sent.
Reu. 9.3. Those Locusts doe well represent the Popes Clergy: they were bred of the smoke of the Pit; so are these of Heresy, Ignorance, and Superstition: they destroy the fruites of the earth; so these spoyle the Church.
The reason why the Church is called Catholike.
Thou sayst, thou wouldst y
e Church find out,
So that I sée thou art in doubt:
And so indeede Vncertaynty
Is still the fruite of Popery.
Catholike.
IN our Bible thou hast read.
Tis well in ours, for yours is fled,
And lurketh in a tongue vnusde,
Whereby poore people are abusde.
The Church is Catholike, as you say,
And so say we: but why, I pray?
Because to it, it were disgrace,
To limit it to time or place.
It euer was, and so shall be,
Since Christ, excluding no degrée:
Col. 3.11. Acts 10.34, 35.
It once was tyed vnto the Iewes,
But now no place
Austine sayth, it is Catholike, because spred ouer the world, Ep. 170. and thereto agreeth the Scripture, Acts 1.8.
it doth refuse.It is a very fond surmise,
Which you the Papists doe deuise,
To shut the Church within Rome wall,
And yet to call it generall.
Catholike and General are all one; and therfore one of their owne Councels sayeth, The Romane Church is not the Vniuersall Church, but of the Vniuersall Church, Basil. Con. sy. 3
The very name which you pretend.
Whereby your Church you would defend,
To all which doe the meaning know,
Doth quite your fancy ouerthrow.
You say, the charge, which Christ once gaue,
The Romists well performed haue:
But marke how thou thy selfe doest hurt,
And lay Romes honour in the curt.
That charge
Viz. of preaching thorough the world.
was giuen first to them,Which liued at Ierusalem,
The Apostles, Mat. 28. Acts 1.
And thence the Gospel issued out,
Acts 8.1.
As Esay told
Isai. 2.3.
the world throughout.By them the Nations turned were,
We read in Histories, as in Eusebius & others, how the Apostles deuided thēselues into al the quarters of the world.
And thence of Christ Rome first did heare:
Yet now the place
Ierusalem.
which others call'd,To Turkish Empire is inthrall'd.
So though 'twere true, which is not so,
And neuer shalbe prou'd, I know,
That Rome to Christ the nations brought,
Yet this your reason were starke nought.
But now (perhaps) Rome doth, youle say,
Bring home the wanderers to the way.
In déed the Spaniards louing Gold,
Haue brought the Indians to your fold.
The Frogs from Euphrates come out,
Euphrates was a great Riuer running neere the olde Babylon in Chaldaea, & was the defence of the City. Cyrus and Darius could neuer take the City, vntil by policy they dryed vp the riuer. Now in a spiritual sence it doeth signify the honour, wealth and authority of Rome, which hath of later yeeres decayed exceedingly, and doth daily; & the frogs, mentioned in Apoc. 16.13. doe well resemble the Iesuites, who feeling Euphrates to dry vp, bestirre themselues, & are croaking like Frogs in euery corner, labouring to maintayne the Popes authority.
I meane, the Iesuited Rout
Do spread themselues in each country,
To draw men to disloyalty.
They counsell Subiects kill their kings,
Stabbings they vse and poysonings.
Our Countrey and times afford store of examples to proue this.
Christ gaue no such commaundement,
When first he his Disciples sent.
Of this Conuersion, if you boast,
Whereby, poore soule, Hell hath engrost,
I yéeld you full willyngly,
It well agréeth with Popery.
To draw Disciples is no marke,
For so doeth many a fayned Clarke.
2. Pet. 2.1, 2. Acts 20.30.
The Church to trueth which doeth conuert,
We doe imbrace with all our heart.
Thou sayst, Romes Fayth once ouer all
The world was famous (so sayth Paul)
Rom. 1.8.
And Rome did first conuert our Land,
And hereupon you greatly stand.
Romes Fayth indéede once bare the bell,
And so it did deserue it well:
But Rome's not now as heretofore;
The faythfull City's made a whoore.
If. 1.21. So it was said of Ierusalem, which had more excellent particular promises, thē Rome can alledge any.
If new Rome now, were as the old,
Then we with Romanists would hold.
If Rome become Christs enemy,
Then we from Babylon must flye.
Apoc. 18.4.
To say that Rome is therefore sound,
Because of old it was renownd,
It may a Papist satisfie:
But men of iudgement it denye.
Paul neuer Rome did magnifie,
As he did those of Thessaly:
See 1. Thes. 1.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Yet now that Church is cleane defac'd,
And there the Turk himselfe hath plac'd.
The Asian Churches,
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Leodicea, Apoc. 1.11.
famous once,Are turned to an heape of stones:
The golden lights
Those seuen Churches were represented by seuen golden Candlesticks, Apoc. 1.20.
of Saint Iohns age,Are now become euen Sathans Cage.
Proue thou, that Rome hath not declinde
From th'ancient Church by Paul refinde:
And then Ile say, thou hast done more,
Then euer Papist did before.
But for first turning of our Nation,
I trow thou namest it but for fashion:
For they that looke in History,
Thereof can find no certainty.
Simon Zelotes, as some say,
Niceph. lib. 2. cap. 40.
Did first Christs Gospell here display,
Euen whilest that Emperour did raigne,
By whom our Sauiour Christ was slayne.
Gildas Lib. de victoria Aurelij Ambrosij.
Some say, that he of Arimathy,
Ioseph, who buryed Christ.
In the yeere of grace sixty thrée,
From France by Philip
Philip the Apostle.
was sent ouer,To vs the Fayth for to discouer.
So sayth Gildas also.
Hereto agréeth a learned man,
That ancient Clarke Tertullian,
That by th' Apostles, Brittanny
Was turn'd to Christianity.
Tertullian in his book against the Iewes, amongst other places couerted by the Apostles, reckoneth diuers partes of France, and of Brittayne: So doth Origene Hom. 4. vpon Ezekiel.
Pope Eleutheriuo long agoe,
About the yeere of Christ, 180.
As his Epistle plaine doth show,
This Epistle hath bin found out of the ancient records of the Kings of England.
Vnto king Lucius hither sent,
Ere Ethelbert was king of Kent.
Which was about 600. yeres after Christ.
We hold the Fayth that then was taught:
But you the same do set at naught:
Eleutherius referred
K. Lucius to the Scriptures, clean against the Papists course now, and called him Gods Vicar in his kingdome: which Title, the Pope alone doeth now challenge.
When Rome the Trueth doth once forsake,
Then we of Rome our leaues must take.
If that our Church were Catholicke,
To come to Church thou wouldst not sticke.
If of the word thou knewst the sense,
Thou soone would'st leaue that fond pretēce.
Our Church that Truth doth firme imbrace,
Which all those hold in euery place,
Who leauing mens Traditions cleane,
Vpon the Scriptures onely leane.
That is truly Catholike which euery where, alwayes, & by all (viz. true Christians) is beleeued, Vincent. cont. Haer. cap. 3. Let Papists proue that y
e word Catholike being takē in that sence, ours is not y
e Catholike church,
Prophet.
THou cit'st a Text of Malachy,
Mal. 1.11.
Hoping to prooue thy Masse thereby.
Alas, the reason is but small,
And helpes that Idol not at all.
In it God threateneth the Iewes,
Who their great Priuiledge did abuse,
And thought the Lord was tyed to them,
And vnto their Ierusalem.
The Prophet telles, that God elsewhere
Will find out those, which shall him feare,
And in an order without blame,
Shall call vpon his holy Name.
Speaking to their capacity,
The Legall termes he doth apply:
So Ioel 2.28. the holy Ghost foretelling the plenty of spirituall enlightening, which the people shall haue vnder Christ, doeth deliuer it vnder the names of visions, and dreames, which notwithstanding were not ordinary in the times of the Gospell,
And calls our Gospel-like Seruice,
A pure
Pure in Christ, being accepted of GOD, through him, 1. Pet. 2.5
and spotlesse Sacrifice.What ground is here then for the Masse?
It stil remayneth as it was:
A grosse deuice, defaming Christ,
Who is our true and onely Priest.
See more of this hereafter, in speaking more directly of the Masse.
The speach of Dauid of the Skyes,
Psal. 19.3. But according to their account Psal. 18.
Vnto the Apostles, Paul applyes,
Rom. 10.18.
And sayth, their sound went farre and neere,
As in the stories doeth appeare.
Tell mee, I pray, what good to you,
This place you haue alledg'd can doe?
It maketh nought for Popery,
Or for your idle trumpery.
Indéed th' infamous Fame is spred,
Of Antichrist your hideous head:
And all Gods children him doe sée,
The man of sinne
2. Thes. 2.3.
alone to bee.Th' Apostles Faith was farre disperst,
And heere in England was reherst.
Sith then our doctrine is the same,
To it belongs part of their fame.
Continuance.
YOu say, Christs Fayth must still endure.
I yéeld that nothing is more sure:
And alwayes God a Church will haue,
Though thereat Sathan rage and raue.
Math. 16.18.
It glads my hart, that Christ hath prayd:
Thereby I know my Fayth is stayd:
Luke 22.32.
The Comfort of Gods holy Sprite,
Is eche good Christians sole delight.
This prooues there still a Church shal bée,
And herein thou and I agrée:
To prooue the Church tyed to one Sea,
Requireth yet a better Plea.
The Fayth of Christ may styll abide,
Though Rome should into Tibur slide:
Gods spirit is frée, and is not bound
Iohn 3.8.
Within the Lists of Romish ground.
When thou canst proue by holy writ,
Christs Fayth to Rome by Charter knit,
Then shall thy tale some credit find,
Where now it turneth all to wind.
But yet Continuance is a Note
Of Gods true Church: & Paul hath wrote,
That there should still some teachers be:
Eph. 4.11. &c.
In Rome we this fulfilled see.
I say, Continuance is no signe,
To proue a Church to be diuine;
We may not thinke eche doctrine sure,
Which doth for many yeeres endure.
It is true, that the truth shall continue, but yet it holdes not backwarde, that whatsoeuer continueth, is Trueth. The Deuill is a lyer from the beginning.
Must not the Tares be let to grow,
Till it be time the corne to mowe?
Math. 13.30.
And Antichrist shall long time stay,
Euen till the very Iudgement day.
2. Thes. 2.8.
The Arrian Heresie yeeres did stand,
Two hundred more then one thousand:
Yea, and it was so generally receyued, that it was sayd, the whole world was become an Arrian.
And so since Mahomet first was séene,
A thousand yeeres haue nombred béene.
Romes name endures, but Rome is chang'd,
And hath from Christ it selfe estrang'd:
Quit thou Rome from Apostacy,
Or name not perpetuity.
Pauls wordes do prooue,
Ephe. 4.11, &c.
that certeinlyThe Church shall haue a Ministry,
And that there shalbe some to féed
The Flocke of Christ at euery néed.
But that these Pastors here or there,
Shall alwayes sit in beautie cléere,
This fond Conceipt, not one poore word,
The holy Scripture doth affoord.
In déed in Rome there diuers bée,
That beare the name of Prelacy:
Better we Pilates may them call,
Séeking the Churches funerall.
You call your Pope a Shepheard great:
But where is his Spirituall Meate?
I do not heare that hee doth preach:
That would his greatnes much impeach.
Such are his carnall Cardinals,
Or rather bloudy Canibals,
The people, that liue vpon mans flesh.
They eate the Fatte, and skin the Flocke,
And liue vpon the Churches stocke.
An idle signe, a Shepherds Crooke
In hand they beare,
Their Pastoral staffe, made in fashion of a Shepheards crooke.
but can not brookeTo preach the word (a Pastors grace)
That duty fittes not their high place.
The key of knowledge they withdraw,
Luke 11.52.
And from Gods people steale
Ieremy, 23.30.
Gods Law,They teach traditions to be equally reuerēced as the Scriptures, Con. Trid. ses. 4. dec. 1.
And mens deuies on them thrust,Making them vnto Fancies trust.
These are Romes Pastors: wofull shéepe,
Which left are to the Wolues to kéepe.
Thou Shepheard great, & Byshop chiefe,
1. Pet. 2.25. & 5.4.
Come quickly
Reuel. 22.20.
quell this Romish thiefe.Visible.
THou tell'st a tale incredible,
How that Gods Church is visible:
And by the Byshops Catalogue,
Wouldst prooue thy Romish Synagogue.
The errors here together lap't,
By which the simple are entrap't,
All which your fained Church doth hold,
I meane in order to vnfold.
The Catholike Church defin'd aright,
Cannot be subiect to our sight:
It is th' Elected Company,
1. Pet. 2.9.
And Christ his chosen Family.
Ephe. 3.15.
Of this, one part in heauen liues,
Called the Church Triumphant.
The other here with Sathan striues,
Termed the Church Militant.
The part aboue (youle not deny)
With mortall eyes none can descry.
The same is true of that below,
It is vnséene by vs also:
How with mine eyes I might discerne,
And sée th' Elect, faine would I learne.
Vpon their persons we may looke,
Whose names are written in Gods booke,
The Booke of life, Phil. 4.3.
But as for their spirituall Being,
It is a thing doth passe our séeing.
Partes of Christs church, you Papists make
Euen those whom God will quite forsake:
So doeth Belarmine, lib. 3. de Eccl. Cap. 7. & the Rhemists in their annotations vpon Io. 15.1.
Which if the matter well be scand,
Cannot with any Scripture stand.
Of the true Church Christ is the Head,
Eph. 1.22.
In him can be no members dead,
They are called liuing stones, 1. Pet. 2.5.
His Church a Garden
Cant. 4.12.
closed well,In which no Reprobates can dwell:
So August. applyeth the place, contra Cres. Gram. lib. 2. and Gregory the great, who was a Bishop of Rome, in his Commentary vpon that place.
So that, if fitly we will speake,
The ground you lay is very weake:
In calling it a Marke most cléere,
That Gods true Church must still appéere.
Of Churches nam'd in seuerall,
In Cities, or els Nationall,
We yeeld sometime they may be séene,
Though sometime they are darkened cleane.
Sometime the Moone with chéerefull light
Shines in the height of Heauen bright:
Aug. vseth that Similitude in Psalm. 9. and Epist. 48. and Ambrose Hex. 4. C. 8.
Sometime with Cloudes tis ouerspred,
And in the Wane cleane vanished.
So is the Church in safety still,
Although not alway visible:
Sometimes it sittes in glory great,
Sometime it hath no certaine Seat.
The Woman, which to Desert fled,
From Sathans rage to hide her head,
Apoc. 12.6.
By all the Learneds full consent,
The Church on earth doth represent.
The famous Church of Israel,
Where God did promise still to dwell,
Psal. 132.14.
Was drownd so in Idolatry,
And superstitious slauery,
That all true worship being gone,
Elias thought himselfe alone:
1. King. 19.10.
And when Christ comes to iudge vs all,
Then Fayth on earth shalbe but small.
Luke 18.8.
How is the Church a City then,
Math. 5.14.
Rais'd on a Mount, and séene of men,
And how a light set vp on hye,
That all that will may it espye?
How shall we to the Church complaine,
Math. 18.17.
If of the Church no shew remaine?
This is thy Popish reasoning,
And Scriptures playne misconstruing.
Christ doth the Apostles counsell giue,
The true meaning of those places.
Soundly to preach, and well to liue:
Because their places were in sight,
And 'twas their Office to giue light.
They erring, many might misse-lead,
Which in their steps might hap to tread:
If that their Doctrine were vnsound,
In falsehood many might bee drownd:
It was in vaine for them to wéene,
In doing yll not to be séene:
You are (sayth Christ) vpon a Mount,
To be well markt, make full account.
Thus Chry. and Theophilact expound this place, Paideusi antous enagonious einai, cai acribeis peri ton bion, os para panton blepesthe mellontas.
This sheweth wherein our duety stands,
And what God lookes for at our hands:
Who call'd are to the Ministry,
To labour in Gods Husbandry.
1. Cor. 3.9.
But from hence how may prooued bée
The Churches visibility?
This place affoords a slender proofe,
And litle for the Popes behoofe.
Yet you perhaps will vrge it still,
The Pastors are set on a Hyll,
And called Light: euen so say I,
But all men can them not descry.
For those which want spirituall eyes,
Eph. 1.18.
Nor are by searching
Iohn 5.39.
Scriptures wise,
Eph. 5.15, 17.
This mounted City can not sée,
Nor where these lightsome Pastors bée.
This was the answere of Aug. to the Donatists. Tract. 1. in Ep. Iohan.
Christ bids vs we the Church should tell,
If things be not reformed well.
By Church, hee meanes all such as bée
Indued with Authority.
The same which Paul calleth
Presbyterion, 1. Tim. 4.14. The Eldership.
These Office-bearers all men sée,
In times of setled Souerainty,
Yea, and among them selues th'are knowne,
When th' outward state is ouerthrowne.
The Error of this Popish Argument.
When that was said in speciall,You turne to Church in generall.
Thereby you may deceiue some fooles:
But soone it will be séene in Schooles.
This Argument of outward state,
Which for a Marke you intimate,
Against that thing doth strongly make,
Which you to prooue do vndertake.
Romes state hath sometimes bin obscur'd,
And hath disgraces soule endur'd:
Burnt,
By the Gothes, 547.
sackt,
By Charles, Duke of Burbon, in the dayes of Pope Clement the 7. wherevpon was made y
e clause in the Letany,
Sancta Maria, &c. O holy Mary, pray for Pope Clement, &c.
some Popes imprisoned,
Iohn 14. Boniface 8. about the yeere 1304.
Some glad to fly,
Iohn 17. fled to Hetruria.
some banished.
Vigilius 18. & Gregory 9. about the yeere 1227.
Where did your glorious Church abide,
When Popes were glad themselues to hide?
Peace, peace, no more of this for shame:
Rome sayth thou wilt her cleane defame.
Succession.
Succession cometh next in place,Whereby thou séekst thy Church to grace:
Your turne Succession cannot serue,
If from the Trueth Succession swerue.
The Iewish Church from Aaron,
A iust descent might stand vpon:
Euen when they crucifide our Lord,
And hated all that lou'd his Word.
If we shall say, that Church was true,
Consisting of so vile a crue,
We cast Christ and the Apostles out,
Among the base and damned rout.
The Grecian Churches at this day,
For their defence as much can say:
At Constantinople there hath beene a perpetuall Succession from S. Andrew, Niceph. At Alexandria, from Saint Marke.
Yet you of them doe giue this doome,
That in Gods church they haue no
[...].
Yet if Succession were a signe,
Which your graund captayne Bellarmine
Dares not auouch,
Bellarmine sayeth, it followeth negatiuely, y
t where there is no succession, there is no church: but not affirmatiuely, y
t where there is succession, there is a Church.
I sayne would sée,How Rome can proue her Pedigrée.
You call your Church Saint Peters chayre,
As though the Pope were Peters Heyre;
But if that ground we once deny,
What Papist can it verify?
You cannot proue by holy Writ,
Peter at Rome did Bishop sit:
The onely place which you doe name,
1. Pet. 5.13. The Rhemists say, that there, by Babylon is ment Rome, & so they cōfesse Rome to be Babylon.
Returneth to your greater shame.
The things you fetch from History,
Touching this poynt, doe not agrée,
Osorius sayth, Peter came to Rome in the beginning of Claudius raigne; Hierome, in the 2. yere: others, in the 4. yere: other, the 13, yere. Damasus saith, he came thither in Neroes raign; so y
t there is no certainty in that which they make an vndoubted principle
And what our part hath herein sed,
By Papists stands vnanswered.
But if hee Bishop were indéede,
Tell me who next did him succéede?
Some, Clement,
The Popes decrees hold so.
and some, Linus hold.
Dorotheus, Euseb. li. 3. cap. 4. Hieron in Catalo.
Thus your succession is controld.
Once was a Pope suppos'd a man,
Iohn 8. Platina: The womans name was Gilberta, a Dutch woman of Maguntium.
But prou'd in time a Courtezan.
Then eyther your Succession shranke,
Or you must put her in the ranke.
When Popes there were some two
Two Popes together Anno 1083. & Anno 1058. & 1062.
or thrée,
Bened. 9. Siluest. 3. Greg. 6. all at one time: and at another time, Ben. 13. a Spanish Pope, Greg. 12. a French Pope, and Iohn 23. an Italian Pope.
Where thē might your successiō be?
One Schisme held almost fourty yere,
39. yeeres.
From Pope to Pope, as doeth appeare.
Let their Ancestors speake.
One Councel
The Councill of Constance.
did these Popes put downe,And to another gaue the crowne.
When these false Popes the place possest,
I thinke youle say Succession ceast.
Vnity.
'TIs true, Christs Church is alwayes one,
Tyd vnto him as Head alone:
The partes thereof do well agrée,
c
Like children of one Family.
But yet not euery company,
Together linckt in Vnity,
Must by and by be called good.
If Trueth by them shalbe withstood.
To make a Calfe they all agréed,
Exod. 32.1.
All cry'd,
Let Christ be crucifi'd:
Math. 27.22.
Great is Diana, with a shoute
At once the people all cry'd out.
Acts 19.34.
Iohn sayd, they should yéeld to the Beast.
Euen from the greatest to the least:
Apoc. 13.16.
As Christ his City is but one,
So is the Deuils Babylon.
Vt est dei vna ecclesia, sic est diaboli vn a Babylon,
Aug. de Ciui. Dei.
The best sometimes do disagrée,
Peter and Paul, Gal, 2.11. Paul & Barnabas, Acts 15.39. Chrysost. Theophilact, and Epiphanius, Augustine and Hierome, Cyrill & Theodoret.
Each man hath his Infirmity:
Better the Discord bringing Light,
Then is agréement without right.
Kreisson empathous omonoias he vper eusebeias diastasis,
Nazianz: Oratione prima de pace.
Yet by this Marke, if Rome be try'd,
It will fall hard vpon your side:
Your ioynt-consent we can not find,
Nor that you all are of one mind.
If we shall credit History,
You can not bragge of Vnity:
Where twenty seueral schismes haue béen,
Genebrardus in Chro.
What Harmony may there be séene?
The Lawes which one determineth,
The Pope that follows cancelleth:
Stephen 6. abrogated all his Predecessors decrees. Formosus tooke vp his body, cut two fingers of his right hād off, and buried him agayne.
Yet things by him abolished,
By next Popes are established.
The following Popes Theodorus 2. Romanus, Ioh. 10. confirmed all Formosus his actes.
And yet another
After all, Pope Sergius disanulled their acts, tooke vp Formosus his body, & cast it into Tibur, Ex. Poly. Chron.
comes behind,Who with the former fault doth find,
And all which they did quite displace,
Reduceth to the former grace.
Thus one sage Counsell doth decrée,
Another sayth it may not bée:
The first Nicene Coū cell allowed Priests mariage, and the Communion in both kinds. The Councels of Constāce & Basil forbade the Laity y
e vse of the cup. The coū cel of Trent forbiddeth both the Cup to the Laity, and marriage to the Clergy. The third Coū cell of Carthage pronoūced him accursed, & called him the Forerunner of Antichrist, whosoeuer should terme himselfe Vniuersal Bishop; but now the Councel of Trent curseth him, who shall deny the Pope of Rome to bee y
e head Bishop of the world. The general councel of Constantinople ouerthrewe Images. The second Nicene councell decreed them to bee worshipped. Againe, the Councell of Franckfort, vnder Charles the great, determineth it to be Idolatry, & accurseth the Nicene councel. Many the like differences might easily be alledged.
That which one Sect
In anno 1476. there was a great controuersy betwixt the Franciscanes & Dominicanes, touching y
e conceptiō of y
e virgin Mary, whether she were cōceiued in sin or not. The Do, held she was, the Fra. the contrary: but the Pope ioyning with y
e Fr. 4. of the other were condēned & burned at Berne.
or Author
Alph. de Castro li. 1. c. 6. holds the Pope inferior to the Coūcel. The opiniō of al y
e Iesuites at this day, is, y
t he is aboue the Councel. About the Eucharist they haue a world of differēces amongst thēselues; as whether Christ did consecrate whē he blessed y
e bread & wine: or whē he said, This is my body, whether so much bread as is taken onely, be cōsecrated: whether y
e substāce of the bread be turned to nothing, or chāged into y
e substāce of Chr. whether there be a bodily motiō in the Sacra. whether the body of Chr. in the Sacr. can be touched: how the accidēts in the Sacr. are with out a subiect: whether they stick in y
e aire, or in the body of Chr. or in some other subiect: whether the accidents can be broken: whether they can nourish: whether y
e water mingled with the wine, be turned into Christs blood. Whence come wormes in the Hoste.
likes,The same another cleane out strikes.
I know, you Papists do agrée,
To worke the Churches misery:
So Herode was made
Luke 23.12.
Pilates frend,To bring our Sauiour to his end.
Some yéeld, as fearing to resist:
(Such is the power of Antichrist:)
You may not call this Vnity,
But rather bloudy Tyranny.
Some ioyne, because they do not sée
The very depth of Poperie:
To build vpon the Church beliefe,
Of lay-Religion is the Briefe.
Some for ease and bellies sake,
Do to your Church them selues betake:
As Monkes, and such as Loytryng loue,
Whom none but Romists can approoue.
This is your Romish Concordance,
Among your selues at variance:
Though all for some respects are led,
To méete together in one Head.
In one point more, I néedes must stay,
Though nam'd of you but by the way:
Lest with a Phrase of Peters Keyes,
You dazell should the peoples eyes.
By Keyes, is meant the power to preach,
And in Gods Truth the Church to teach:
Luke 11.52.
By it
Viz. Preaching.
Heauen's opened to receiueAll those which truely do belieue.
It is the power to loose and tye,
Which Christ gaue to the Ministry,
Therefore Ministers are sayd both to haue y
e Ministery of Reconciliation, 2. Cor. 5.18. and the Ministery of Vengeance against disobedience, 2. Cor. 10.6.
It was intended vnto all,
Our Lord, in the person of one, gaue the keyes to all, to shew the Vnity of all, Cyp. de simp. praelatorum: and Leo, a Bishop of Rome is of the same iudgemēt, In Sermone de Natiuitate.
Though spoke to one in seuerall.
When to beleeuers we giue Hope,
Then is the Gate of Heauen set ope:
When Mercies promise is repeal'd,
Then by the Keyes that Gate is seal'd.
To bind and loose, is no other thing, but to declare Gods sentence, Hieron. in Mat. 16.
When Peter did his Fayth confesse,
Th' Apostles by dyd meane no lesse:
Austine sayth, he answered for all, Hom. in Ioh. 124. and elsewhere often:
Vnus pro multis respondit: one made answere for all: and Lyranus,
Confessio Petri, erat confessio alienorum.
And that which Christ to Peter spake,
We may not from the other take.
Cuncti claues Regni, &c. All receyue the keyes of heauen, Hier. lib. 1. aduersus Ioui.
Each true and faythfull Minister,
Is Peters rightfull Successer:
Then speake no more of Peters Keyes,
Except th' art sworne the Pope to please.
Holy.
THou sayst, the Church we holy call.
And so we do acknowledge all:
What in the Créede our mouthes confesse,
Our heartes within beléeue no lesse.
The Purity decayed before,
By Adams fall.
Vnto his Church Christ doth restore.
That which is here in lesse degrée,
The same in heauen shall perfit bée.
If thou knewst Romes Impurity,
Thou wouldst bragge of Sanctity:
A sincke of sinne, a Sea of Euill,
A place possessed of the Deuill.
Gallus Senonensis wrote aboue 400 yeres ago, that Sathan was let loose at Rome, to destroy the church. Th. Becket, a Romish saint, acknowledged the cōmon prouerbe to be true, y
t there is no right at Rome. The B. of Worcester, a Papist, told Philpot, that he thoght, the wickednes he saw in Rome made him an Heretike.
Your Popes beare names of Holynes,
But none more full of Wickednes:
Let Storyes speake, enquire of them,
What Popes haue worne the Diademe.
Some Heretikes,
Marcellinus Pope, sacrificed to the Idols of y
e Painims: Platin. & Vola ter. Liberius Pope, an Arriā. Plat. & Hiero. in Catal. scrip. Eccl. & in Chro. Anast. 2. Pope, an Acatian. Plat. Vigil. an Eutchyan. Liber in breuiario. Honorius, a Monothelite, condēned by the Romane Councell, vnder Adrian 2.
some Murtherers,
Pope Alexander 6. poysoned Gemes the great Turkes brother, committed to his custody, Hiero. Marius, Munst. lib. 4. Cosm. Pope Hildebrand hired one to kill the Emperor, Benno Cardinalis.
Incestuous some,
Iohn 13. Pope, committed incest with his two sisters: Luith. prand. lib.
6. Hee was wounded in adultry, Platina. Alexander
6. lay with his owne daughter. Vol.
some Sorcerers:
Hildebrand: so sayth Benno the Card. Pope Siluester 2. gaue himselfe to the Deuill, to bee Pope. Pla. Ioannes stella: many other were Magicians, as Iohn 21. Benedict. 9. &c.
Some noted for their Cruelty,
Pope Alexander 6. cut off the hands & feet of one Mancinellus, because he wrote against his filthinesse. Iohn 13. cut off the hands and noses of diuers Cardinals. Plat.
Some for their monstrous Blasphemy.
Pope Hildebrand threw the sacrament into the fire. Benno Card. Io. 22. derided y
e gospel, held y
e soules to be mortal, & was therefore by the Councel of Constance, 1. 2. ses. 11. called a Deuil incarnat. Leo 10. writing to Cardinall Bembus, calleth the story of Christ, a fable. Io. 13. called the deuil to help him at dice, & drāk to him, Luith. p. lib. 6
One Pope
Pope Sergius 3.
a famous Leuimen
Marozia, wife to Guido.
kept,Whose Bastard to the Popedome crept:
Iohn 11. or as some count, Io. 12. See Plat. and Luithprand.
Another graunted Liberty,
To practise beastly Sodomy.
Sixtus 4. granted liberty to the whole family of the Cardinall of Saint Lucy in the three hote moneths, Iune, Iuly, August, to vse Sodomitry. Wesellus Groningensis in a Treatise
de Indulg. Papalibus, at the foote of the licence, was written,
Fiat vt petitur: Be it as it is requested.
Who but the Pope receiueth rent,
Which from the Stewes to him is sent?
Euery commō harlot in Rome payd a Fee to Pope Sixtus 4. Agrippa in his declam. ad Louā.
Let Rome and Venice make report,
And all that thither doe resort.
Who hath in Méeter vile exprest
The sinne, which nature doeth detest?
Let
Beneuentum name the man:
The Archbishop of Beneuentum, Iohannes a Casa, Deane of the Popes chamber, vsed Sodomy, and commended it in Italian Meeter: the booke was printed at Venice, by Troianus Nauus: see the writing of Paulus Vergerius against this Archbishop.
Doe thou disproue it, if thou can.
If this among your Heads be found,
How shall we thinke the members sound?
Lord, blesse vs from such holy Popes,
And, Lord, make voyd all popish hopes.
Like to your Popes, your seruice is,
Holy seruice.
Wanting no store of blasphemies:
Which, lest the people should espy,
You hyde in Latine secrecy.
I néede no better witnesses,
Then your allowed Portesses,
Your Missals and your Letanies,
And all your forged Psalteries.
What we to God alone must giue,
That to the Saints you doe deriue.
God will not from his glory part,
Isa. 48.11.
Yet you to creatures it conuert.
Vnto the Saints you prayers make,
There is neither commaundement in the Scripture, that we should pray to saints, nor promise, that if we doe pray to them, we shall be heard; vpon which 2. euery lawful praier must be built.
And beg saluation for their sake:
In their praiers vpon the saints dayes, stil those words come in, that by their merits we may haue profit, by their requests wee may be deliuered &c. And Lambard saith, the Saints do
iunare nos merito, l. 4. dist. 45. d. 10.
[Page]You do adore a piece of bread,
When it is carried in procession; for though it were true, that the bread in the Sacrament is turned into the Body of Christ, yet the Sacramēt being ended, it must needs return to the former nature.
And make fond
They are fond, because touching th' estate of the dead, there is no certainty.
prayers for the dead.You knéele downe to a Crosse of wood,
All hayle, O Crosse, our only hope, &c. encrease righteousnesse to the godly, and giue pardon to the guilty.
In breniario infra, Heb. 4. Quad.
Thinking thereby to purchase good:
And for some things you would haue done,
You pray the Virgin, charge her Sonne.
Roga Patrem, iube natū; iure matris impera, &c. Pray the father, charge thy sonne, commaund by the right of a mother:
In officio beata Maria.
With Christ you do saint Frances ioyne,
They say, that Saint Francis could saue all that shall liue after him to the end of the world, through his merits, from euerlasting Death. Flosc. beati Francis. Conformit. s. Fran. Tho. lib. 4. dist. 4. art. 3.
And so his glory doe purloyne:
One Mediator
1. Tim. 2.5. That place proueth, that there is but one Mediator, as well as that there is but one God.
we doe know,You haue ioynd with him many moe.
The forme of Absolution to Penitentiaries runneth thus: The passion of Christ, and the merites of the blessed Virgin, of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and of other hee and shee Saints, be vnto thee in remission of sinnes.
We doe the Virgin Blessed call,
Luke 1.48.
And say shee passed women all:
But when you call her, Gate of Grace,
Coeli senestra: Regis al
[...]i ian
[...]a, &c.
We say, Christs honour you deface.
The thing which made her spirit glad,
Was, that shée such a Sauiour had:
Luke 1.47.
Can she on him commaundement haue,
Whose helpe shée néeded her to saue?
What honour is due to the Saints.
This honour to the Saints we giue,We craue Gods grace like them to liue,
1. Cor. 11.1.
We care to keepe their memory,
Heb. 13.7.
And God in them we glorify.
Gal. 1.23.
Holy Ceremonies.
Your Ceremonies idle be,And sauour most of vanity:
You stand so much on out ward show,
That you the substance ouerthrow.
With Images and Pictures gay,
You steale the peoples hearts away:
Well may you please the outward eye,
The Spirit you do not edifie.
A pretie play, to sée a Priest
Tossing his God betwéene his fist:
Such Gestures, and such Apish mowes,
Such warbling, and such Anticke showes:
Whoso readeth the Canō of the Masse, shall there see a world of idle & ridiculus ceremonies.
Now bends, now ducks, now stands vpright,
Then turnes him to the peoples sight:
Now sighes, now twenty crosses makes,
And 'ore his head the Wafer shakes:
Then washeth, then the Challice lickes,
And shuttes his Idoll in the Pixe:
But still the man is much afeard,
Lest ought should hang vpon his beard.
Meane while, the vulgar in a maze,
Vpon the Caky Idol gaze,
And knock and kneele, & thinke them well,
That they haue heard the sacring Bell.
Tell mée, I pray thée, doth God will,
With such fond Kites his Church to fill.
They neuer came into his thought:
Iere. 19.5.
Tradition onely hath them brought.
They say indeed, that they haue the forme of y e Masse, by the traditiō of the Apostles. Rhem. 1. Cor. 11. s. 22. but the truth is, that it was now a piece and then a piece, patched vp by their own Popes, Sixtùs 2. broght in the Sanctus: Innocē tius 1. the Pax. Leo 1. added this clause (A holy sacrifice and vnbloudy Host:) Gelacius, the Prefaces, Collects, Gradualts. Symmachus, the Gloria in excelsis. Agapetus 1. the Processiōs. Pelagius 2. nyne Prefaces before the Canon. Sergius 1. Agnus Dei: and Gregory 1. confesseth that one Scolasticus made most part of the Canon.
Holy masse or sacrifice.
Your Rites and Masse do well agrée,
Both full of grosse Idolatry:
Both are vnholy and vnsound,
Both wantyng holy Scripture ground,
You say that in the Eucharist,
To God is offred by the Priest,
A Sacrifice in wine and bread,
Rhem. Heb. 7. s. 8. Concil. Trident. ses. 22. cap. 1.
Both for the liuing and the dead.
Conc. Trid. ses. 22. cap. 3.
Looke first what Christ did institute,
Mat. 26.26. Mat. 14.22. Lu. 22.19. 1. Cor. 11.24.
And that one place shall you refute:
What he did, we must do likewise,
This do ye, 1. Cor. 11.25.
There's no word of a Sacrifice.
By this (sayd Christ)
Remember me.
That shewes he would not present
Bodily.
hi
[...].We keepe such things in memory,
Which we behold not really.
The Priests of old did euery day
Some Offring on the Altar lay.
Heb. 10.11.
Christs holy Offring is but One,
Performed by himselfe alone.
Heb. 10.12.
If Christ shall often offred bée,
We shall his suffrings multiply:
As on the Crosse he dyed not twice.
So there's no second Sacrifice:
Heb. 9.25, 26, 27, 28.
There's now no sacrificing Priest:
That Office resteth vpon Christ:
Heb. 7.23, 24.
It comes to none successiuely:
'Tis his for all eternity.
The office of a Priest, so far forth as we vnderstād therby a Sacrificer, whom the Grecians call
iereus, belongs onely to Christ, and cannot passe frō him to any other, neither the name of Priest in that sence: but as the name of Priest commeth from the Greeke word
Presbyteros, which signifieth an Elder, it can not simply be misliked.
How can a Masse a Pardon bring,
Sith 'tis a bloud-lesse Offering?
Heb. 9.22.
Christ hath procur'd Remission:
Heb. 9.12.
What needs a new Oblation?
Heb. 10.18.
Sée then your holy Sacrifice,
A thing without all warantize
Of Scriptures, or of Writers sage,
Which liued in the purest Age.
The Masse, as it is now, was not in vse in the Church, 1200. yeres after Christ: It neuer came to the full perfection (though it was in hatching before) vntill the Councel of Lateran, vnder Inno. 3.
Holy Sacraments.
The Sacraments in number twayne,You
[...]ek'd haue with a longer trayne,
The seuen-headed Romish Beast,
Reuelation 17.8.
The Two to seuen hath encreast.
Both Baptisme,
Mathew 28.19.
and that holy Feast
1. Cor. 11.24. &c.
Commaunded are by Christes beheast:
Shew mée but one commaundement,
To prooue an other Sacrament.
No Father within an hundred yeeres after Christ, acknowledged seuen Sacraments of the newe Testament: And Augustine saith, the Sacraments are,
numero paucissima, fewest in number, Ep. 118. now two is the least number.
[Page]Two in the Old,
Viz. Ordinary.
two in the New:Viz. The forme of Gods worship vnder the law.
So shall we haue proportion true:Name what in th' ancient Liturgy,
Your fiue false Symboles do supply.
The Sacraments of the new Testament, succeed the Sacramēts of the old: if then they can name no Sacraments of the olde Testament, in the place whereof their fiue supposed Sacramēts should come, then they cannot iustify them to be Sacraments.
Those Sacraments which holy bée,
You stayn'd haue with your Pedlery:
In Baptisme, oyle, lights, spittle, creame,
Your Exorcisme, and coniur'd streame;
Were these inuented by Gods Spirit,
Or found you them in Holy Writ?
Whence had you all that rituous store
Vs'd in the Masse and nam'd before?
Holy dayes.
You speake next of Festiuities,And Holy day Solemnities:
Thou thinkst by this, with easines
To prooue thy Churches Holines.
Trueth is, mens Conscience you enthrall.
Bellarmine saith, men are bound in conscience to keepe the Festiuities of the Church, lib. 3. ca. 10. prop. 3. and so doe the Rhemists, Gal. 4. s. 5.
To many an idle Festiuall:
Very neere 200. if wee put those together which were determined of,
Concil. Oxon. sub Steph. & which we read in the marginall Notes vpon the Rhemists Testament.
Youle haue them be as strictly kept,
As Gods owne day by his precept.
Of Feastes some lowe, some higher bée,
Some great, some lesser in degrée:
Some double more, some double lesse:
A treble fault some to transgresse.
So with your doubling and redoubling stile,
The simple people you beguile:
The Lord is weary of your Feasts,
Isay 1.14.
And likes not your deuised rests.
All dayes are like in Holines,
None holy more, none holy lesse:
The difference betwixt dayes, is in obseruation & vse, and not in the nature of the day: if one day had bene in nature holyer thē another, the Sabboth might not haue bene altered.
Paul thought his labour was in vayne,
Where dayes distinctions did remaine.
Gal. 4.10, 11.
Thou hoy'st to put vs in some feare,
With speaking of the Kalendere:
Saints canonized.
Thou ask'st what Fayth all those did hold,
Whose names are found therein enrold?
I tell thée plaine, 'tis nought to me,
What many a one there nam'd might bée:
My Fayth's not so set on the Racke,
To séeke strength from the Almanacke.
Yet sure I am, what we professe,
Some that are there, beleeued no lesse:
As Peter, Paul, Mary &c. and some there named, which suffered persecution in the ten first persecutions of the Church.
Our Fayth and theirs doth well agrée,
And you with them at variance bee.
You Churches make and Holy dayes,
Vnto the Saints, and Martyrs praise:
But vs which do bleéeue the same,
You seeke to kill and to defame.
Thou ask'st who them canonized,
Whose names are there enregistred?
You say the Pope. I aske againe,
Wilt thou that sainting power maintaine?
The custome of Canonizing Saints, was not heard, till one thousand yeres after Christ, in the dayes of Alexander 3. and Gregory 7.
Can any mortall Creature tell,
Who goes to Heauen, and who to Hell?
All Iudgement, Paul bid vs forbeare,
Vntill the Lord himselfe appeare.
1. Cor. 4.5.
In Heauen to sitte or high or low,
Is it in mans power to bestow?
Math. 20.23.
What Byshop can, or Saints inuest,
Or shutte men from eternall Rest?
Some one Pope doth a Saint enstall:
His graunt another doth recall:
Boniface 8. caused Hermannus Ferrariens, who had beene canonized for a Saint 30 yeres before, to bee taken out of his graue, and burned
anno, 1300.
'Tis but a silly dignity,
That's Subiect to vncertainty.
Among your Saints euen those are séene,
Which to their Prince haue traitors béen.
As Thomas Becket, and Elizabeth Barton, called The holy Mayd of Kent.
Though that our Church such Saints despise.
To it it is no preiudice.
Heretikes.
THe Caueat touching Heretikes,
Doth make against false Catholikes;
We know full well, that Popery
Is but a Masse of Heresy.
Those Errors which of old were hatcht,
Your Church together bath them patcht,
It mayntayneth free will, and merit of works with the Pelagians. Augustine: The Pelagians held children to be without sinne, Aug.
contra Iul. lib. 3. cap. 5. So the Church of Rome sayeth, Concupiscence is no sin. It holdes Imagery with the Simonians, Basilidians, and Carpocratians: and with the two latter, they secret their Religion, Iren. lib. 1. cap. 23. Epiph. Heres. 24. It alloweth praying in an vnknown tongue with the Osseni, Epiph. Haere. 19. It accounteth mariage vncleane, with Tatianus, hae. 46. and condēneth wedlock in their Priests; as the Manichees did in their Chosen ones, Aug. Ep. 74. With the same Heretikes it vseth bread onely in the Communion, Leo ser. 4. de Quad. and placeth fasting in the distinctiō of meats, Aug.
de Morib. Eccl. & Manich. lib. 2. cap. 23. It thinks that all necessary doctrine is not contained in the Scripture, with Montanus, Ep. Haer. 48. It braggeth of inherent righteousnesse, with the Cathari, Isid, Etym. lib. 8. cap. de Haer. Christ: It worshippeth Angels with the Angelici, Aug.
ad Quoduuli, cap. 39. It denyeth the preaching of the word to be a note of the Church, with the Donatists, Aug.
in variis locis: and with them tyeth the Church to one set place, Cass. in Psal. 60. It worshippeth the Crosse, with the Armenians,
Euthymius in Panoplia. Thus in many other poynts it partaketh with the ancient Heretikes.
On them she puts a fairer name,
But in effect they are the same.
You raz'd haue the Foundation
Of all Trueth and Religion:
You chang'd haue the Sincerity
Of all the Groundes of Piety.
As for example, First, the Article of Iustification, the efficient cause of our Saluation and Righteousnes by the Scripture, is Gods loue and grace onely, 2. Tim. 1, 9. Tit. 2.11. Ephes. 1.5. Iohn 3.6. The Papists say, God is moued by our preparing works. So held Maluend in his disputation with Bucer at Ratisbone: so Bonauenture lib. 1. sen. dist. 41. Quest, 1. Touching the matter of our Iustification, the Scripture
[Page] propoundeth nothing but Christs obedience, Rom. 5.19. & 10.4. The Papists place our Righteousnes before God in our owne works & merits, Con. Trid. s. 6. c. 7. For the Forme (as Scholers cal it) of Iustification, it is by the Scriptures, the imputatiō of Christs righteousnes, 2. Cor. 5.21. The Papists place it in our merits, Rhemist 2. Tim. 4. s. 4. Secondly, it is a groūd of Christian Religion, that the law cannot be fulfilled by vs, & that no man is to expect righteousnes of saluation by it, Rom. 8.3. Acts 15.10. Gal. 2.15, 16. & 3.10. The Papists maintayne, that men may keep y
e law, Con. Trid. s. 6. c. 11. yea, & that they may perform more then the Law binds vnto: whēce are sprung the works of Supererogatiō, and Indulgences, which that Councell so highly prizeth. ses. 21. ca. 9. A third ground of Religion ouerthrown by them, is, that eternal death is due to euery sinne. This the Scripture auoucheth, Rom. 5.12. & 6.23. Ezek. 18.14. The Papists teach some sinnes to be in their owne nature pardonable, not deseruing death, Con. Trid. ses. 6. c. 11. From which opinion arose Purgatory. A fourth ground of Religion, is the certainty of Saluation. That beleeuers may be certayn of Saluation, is the doctrine of the Scripture, Rom. 8.38. Heb. 11.1. Luke 10.20. The Papists deny and say, we can but haue hope onely, Con. Trid. s. 6. c. 9. and yet therein they confound themselues, for true hope cannot be deceyued, Rom. 5.5. It is the Anchor of the soule, Heb. 6.9. A fift ground is, that wee cannot satisfy God for our least sinnes: The Scripture ascribeth all satisfaction to Christ, He. 1.3. 1. Pet. 1.24. Re. 1.5. The Papists maintayn that we may & must satisfy, making satisfaction a part of penance, Con. Trid. s. 14. c. 13. A sixt groūd is, that the Scripture containes all doctrine necessary for our saluation. So sayth the Scripture, 2. Tim. 3.16. and the ancient Church, Aug. lib. 3. cont. lit. Petil. c. 6. & others. The Papists equall traditions to the Scripture, Con. Trid. s. 4. A seuenth ground is, that the knowledge of the Scripture is needfull to the people vnto saluation, & ought to be read of them. Thereto accords the holy Text, Ioh. 5.39. Col. 3.16. The ignorance therein is the cause of all error, Marke 12.24. The Papists forbid the people the vse of the Scripture, Rhemists Preface: and do all in the Church seruice in an vnknown toung. Eightly, the Scripture teacheth vs to worship God alone, Math. 4.10. The Papists worship Angels and Saints, yea their Images & Relikes: Their distinction of
Latria and
Dulia will not serue them: for they pray to creatures, & that is Latria: and they acknowledge that which they call Latria, to be due to the Crosse, Tho. p. 3. sum. Quae. 25. art. 4. & Andrad. lib. 9. Orth. expl. Ninthly, it is the Doctrine of the Scripture, that Christ, according to his humane nature, is only in Heauen, Act. 3.21. Papists say, he is bodily present in the Eucharist, Con. Tri. s. 13. ca. 6. Tenthly, Christ ordained the Communion in both kinds, cōmaunding to do as he did, 1. Cor. 11.24. &c. Papists take the Cup from the Laity. Con. Trid. s. 21 c. 1. Thus, as in these particulars, so in many other, it were easy to shew, how the Church of Rome hath ouerthrowne the maine points of Holy Doctrine, & haue nothing left but the name of the Church, and a Title and shewe of Religion.
Thou fall'st now to a rayling vayne,
And wouldst by this thy Pope maintayne:
Leaue idle termes, and shew some Reason,
Els all these wordes come out of season.
Shew thou what Sects we do deuise,
And wherein we deliuer Lyes:
And prooue it so, that all may sée,
Lest thou thy selfe the Lyer bée.
Foxes and Dogges & Wolues thou nam'st,
And Théeues, wherin thy selfe thou sham'st:
Or prooue all this in vs is true,
Eis we returne it backe to you.
They call'd Saint Paul an Heretike,
Acts 24.14.
A Babbler,
Acts 17.18.
and a Schismatike:
Acts 24.5. & 28.22.
They sayd, our Sauiour was possest,
Iohn 8.48.
And of his preaching made a Iest,
Luke 16.14.
Yet Paul no Heresy did teach,
Nor in the Church made any breach:
Nor yet our Sauiour had a Deuill,
He neuer did or preached euill.
Let Scripture try wherein we erre,
We craue no other Arbiter:
Conuict vs once by such a Iudge,
We will not at your raylings grudge.
Now that thy store is almost spent,
Thou com'st to an old worne Argument:
Where was your Church some yeeres agoe,
Before the World did Luther know?
If briefely now I should deny
The Churches Visibility:
It were a word sufficient,
To ouerthrow this prattlement.
Yet this I say, and will maintaine,
That euen when Blindnesse most did raine,
Our Church a certaine beyng had,
Though not with outward Beauty clad:
Like to that holy portion,
1. Kings 19.8.
In that great Superstition,
Which ouerwhelm'd all Israel,
After the Tribes from Dauid
Dauids lyne.
fell.Or as some Eares of purer seed,
Amidst a field of noysome Weed,
So God had some euen at that time,
When Antichrist was in his Prime.
And now and then out brake the Light,
Euen in that long and irksome Night:
Like as the Sunne in lowring dayes,
Sometime sends foorth his glittering rayes.
Long time ere Luther yet was borne,
Whom you our Founder name in scorne,
There were which shew'd their enmyty,
Against your vile Idolatry.
Bertram wrote against Transsubstantiation,
anno 812. a Bishop of Florence was condē ned for teaching, that Antichrist was come
anno 1114. Arnulph was murthered in Rome, for preaching against the Pope and his Clergy,
anno, 1128. Henry, a Monke of Tolose, was against prayer for the dead, pilgrimage, creme oyle, &c.
anno, 1137. Io. of Salisbury, called the Clergy, Pharises; the Pope, Antichrist; and Rome, Babylon, 1151. Gerard and Dulcimus, which taught the Pope to bee Antichrist, were burnt, with 30. more, about the yeeres, 1164. 1165. 1166. The Waldē ses, which held in many poynts against the Pope, were in
anno, 1167. & after increasing in diuers places: Almaris a Bishop burnt in Paris, for holding against Transsubstantiation, Images, Altars, and praying to Saints, 1206. Many in Sueuia did preach the Pope to be an heretike, in the yeres 1236. 1237. 1238. Grosted Bishop of Lincolne wrote against the Pope,
anno 1246. Arnold
de noua villa, against Masses, & Sacrifices for the dead, taught, that the Popes beliefe, was the deuils beliefe,
anno 1259. All Histories are ful of the like examples. These few may serue for a taste, to satisfie an indifferent Reader, and to stop their mouthes, who say, none were heard of, of our Religion and Church, till Luther.
But now the Lord hath let vs sée
Your Antichrists deformity,
That all men might him fully know,
Before his finall ouerthrow.
Our Pastor chiefe
1. Pet. 5.4.
in heauen did sit,And so doth stil, sayth holy Writte:
Acts 4.21.
On earth, a Vniuersall Priest,
None dare be call'd but Antichrist.
Gregory the great, a Bishop of Rome, sayd, that whoso calleth himselfe, or desireth to bee called Vniuersall Bishop, is the Forerunner of Antichrist,
Epist. ad Eulogium. lib. 7.
He that our Church and Keyes had sought,
By tokens in the Scripture tought,
Our Church and Keyes he might haue found,
Euen when the world was most vnsound.
Building of Churches nothing makes
For that which héere thou vndertakes:
For then commend Demetrius,
Who builded Shrines at Ephesus.
Acts 19.24.
Well may the Heathen people boast
Of Piramées and Churches cost:
In houses made, God doth not dwell,
As holy Scripture doeth vs tell.
Act. 7.48.
Yet neyther all the Churches here,
Erected by the Papists were:
Nor are by vs abolished
Places where God is worshipped.
If priuate men haue euill done:
For it, blame not Religion:
Those men which do Church-spoyling loue,
Our Fayth and Church doth not approoue.
Those Celles and Dennes of Idlenes,
And Nurseryes of wickednesse,
Vpon good causes were displac'd,
As
Baals Temples were defac'd.
2. Kings. 10.
Touching Luthers Mariage.
A Lawlesse vow
It is wel called a Lawlesse Vow, because it is of a thing which is not in mans power. If it be said that by fasting & prayer it may be performed, & continency obtayned: I answere, the giftes of God are twofold: Some cōmon to all Beleeuers, as Faith, &c, Some peculiar to some onely, as this of Continency. Now, if by fasting and Praier we labour for the first sort, we shal in some measure receiue them: but we haue not the like assurance for the gifts of the latter sort: because (it may be) the Lord is pleased otherwise to dispose, Now to make such a Vow, is a sinne: but to persist in it, is a double euill,
of single life,
Luther well brake, and tooke a Wife.
[Page]Better the pure and Spot-lesse Bed,
Koite amiantos, Heb. 13.4.
Then by vncleane lustes to be led.
1. Cor. 7.9.
Better the marryed Chastity,
Papists doe oppose mariage & chastity: but Paul bids yong women to be chaste & subiect to their Husbands. Tit. 2.4.5.
Then violent Virginity:
They ought not single to remaine,
Who are not gifted, to containe.
1. Cor. 7.9.
Wedlocke it selfe can not defile,
It hath an Honourable Stile:
Heb. 13.4.
God doth it not to each man giue,
Without the marriage bonds to liue.
Math. 19.11. And it is allowed to a Bishop, to be the Husband of one wife, 1. Tim. 3.2.
The forced vowes of Singlenes
Haue brought foorth beastly Filthines:
Thou maist behold in History
The fruits of Monkish Lechery.
There were 6000. infants heads found in Pope Gregory his mote, as appeareth by the letter of Voluntianus, Bishop of Carthage, or as some thinke, of Huldericus, Bishop of Augusta to Pope Nicholas, against the forbidding of Priests mariage.
Thy poysoned Tongue doth further reach
The noble Saxon to impeach:
Because to Truth he did encline,
Thou callest him a Libertine.
When God was pleas'd to let him sée,
How Christ his Death hath made vs frée,
Then did he déeme it slauery,
To beare the Romish tyranny.
Though Antichrist did Rome possesse,
Who kept the Scriptures.
You kept the Scriptures I confesse:And in that long Apostacy,
Those Bookes were in your custody.
So I a Pirate false haue knowne,
To kéepe the goods were not his owne,
And in the Ship to rule and raigne,
When the right Owner hath bene slaine.
So did the Iewish Synagogue
Safely kéepe Moses Decalogue,
And th'other Bookes,
Viz. the Prophets & Psalmes; for so is the old Testamēt diuided, Moses, the Prophets, and Psalmes, Luke 24.44.
when cruellyThey did Christ Iesus crucify.
Touching the calling of Ministers.
The Pastors, which did first restoreThe Trueth which lay long hyd before;
[Page]Thereto were called lawfully,
And euen by your Authority.
You did them Priests and Doctors make,
And they from you this charge did take,
In their admittance.
That they the Truth should soundly preach,
And in the same the people teach.
Hereto you caused them to sweare,
That to the Fayth they should adheare,
And neuer should errours endure,
That were against the Doctrine pure.
That whereunto you did them call,
Full well they haue performed all:
Trueth they haue sought to propagate,
And Heresyes to ruinate.
As we account your Baptisme true,
And neuer do the same renue,
So may you make a lawfull Priest,
Yet be not the pure Church of Christ.
We know that now you wiser bée,
And sweare your Priests to Popery,
In their othes and admissions, they put in this clause (The Catholike and Apostolike Church of Rome) which in elder times was not vsed.
And binde them to maintayne the state
Of your thrée-Crowned Potentate.
Sée now (O Papist) thou recant,
Th'art answered by a Protestant.
I counsell thée, if thou be wise,
No new euasions to deuise.
Thy tale of Ethelbert of Kent,
Is but a slender Argument:
It is also answered before.
It sails not whence the Fayth was brought,
Or who it first amongst vs tought.
Let vs into the Scripture looke,
Isay 8.20.
And duely search
Iohn 5.39. Acts 17.11.
that holy Booke:Thence shal we know which Church to leaue,
We haue found Christ in the Scriptures; there wee must also finde the Church, Aug.
de Pastoribus.
And vnto which alone to cleaue.
These swelling wordes
2. Pet. 2, 18.
of Vnity,Succession, and Antiquity,
[Page]Are but poore groundlesse fantasyes,
To blind the simple peoples eyes.
Though that an Angell thou shouldst sée,
Let him (sayth Paul) accursed bée,
Gal. 1.
[...].
If from the Scripture he doth erre,
Account him not Gods Minister.
If one arise, and wonders show,
Séeking the Trueth to ouerthrow,
Though that might séeme a motiue strong,
Yet vnto him death doeth belong.
Deut. 13.1, 2, 5.
If thréescore Byshops here and thrée,
Haue bene with vs successiuely,
It eyther prooues our Church is true,
Or els that marke makes nought for you.
That Fayth, for which Peter was slayne,
Our English Church doth still retayne,
We heare the voyce
Iohn 10.27.
of Christ Iesu,Who is the Sonne of God most true.
FINIS.