Fair-Play on both sides: OR, The surest way to HEAVEN.

DISCOVERED IN A DISPUTE BETWEEN A Roman-Catholick, AND A PROTESTANT.

LONDON, Printed for Richard Head, at the Heart and Bible in Little-Brittain, 1666.

To my much esteemed Friend, Mr. J. L.

YOU will wonder, I am sure (considering my profession) to see me become a Poet. And indeed I do almost mar­vel at my self, knowing my self to want the two principal furtherances of Poetry; the one is Na­tures instinct, They say, Poeta noscitur If a man be not as it were a Poet born, he shall never prove excel­lent in that faculty. which God in his holy providence hath denyed me: the other is, A certain retired free­dom from all such businesses which may breed destraction; Carmina secessum scri­bentis & otia quae unt. Ovid. de. Trist. which my publick calling, besides private encomberances, will not afford me. Yet notwithstanding, upon this present occasion, I have even forced my self to this strait [...]r course of verse-making; though I know, that for my own ease (having to deal in such a distempered and unruly subject) that less limited, and freer kind of discourse, which Prose alloweth, had been more convenient, because the Rules of Cadence & number (to which our English Poetry specially is confined) do many times so streighten an unaccustomed Practitioner, that he is in hazard, 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 every common conceit, were very ridiculous.) But howsoever I have erred in the carriage of this Verse, I hope, to you and to others, whose favour, either because of their judgement, or their honesty, I desire, this shall excuse me; that meeting with our common Adversary (who appeareth sometime in shape of a States­man, debating of Titles, and common-wealth affairs, Witness the Quodli­bets, &c. sometime as a Petitioner to the King and Parliament, At the Kings first coming, and now since the Parliament. sometime as a plausible Perswader, B [...]istows Motives, and Books of that nature. sometime as a restorer of the holy Text, to the native purity thereof Rhem. Test. & Grego. Martin. sometime as a man of a very tender conscience, giving reasons why he cannot come to our Assemblies, Howlet. sometime as a Raylor at our Government, and an approver of our open enemies The ward-word. Quo te­neam vultus mutantem, Proted nodo? that I say, meeting with this time-serving Proteus, in the fashion of a Rimer or Balladins, and crept in (as the manner of false Bre­thren 1 [Page] is) Galat. 2.4. Similes habet labra lactucas. into [...]oth the ha [...] and [...] simple sedu­ced; I have endeavoured to make [...] like the Lips (as the Proverb is) [...]sing, to [...] I am sure (without wilful forsaking the plain truth of God, [...] I shall [...]

The service it [...] here [...] by [...], He confes­eth he [...] Protestant. is [...] though [...] say the truth it [...] through [...] yet set forth after any good or [...] but it is even [...] of certain [...]egations (as to there the [...]avings and scraps of [...] other [...] order or proof [...] word of [...] than Or [...]. Belike, the [...]rough for those for whom it was provided, as [...] it is for those which turn their ears from the Truth, and are given unto fables: 2 Tim. 4.4 and by some, upon my knowledge (to whom [...] me, God hath sent strong delusions, that they should believe [...]) [...]. The [...]. 2.11. it is highly magnified, as a special preservative against supposed Heresie, and as a well-framed Sconce, which none of us all is able to overthrow.

In regard whereof, knowing my self [...] others, to con­tend earnestly for the maintainance [...]; Iude. 3. [...]2 1 [...] I have un­dertaken this which you here see, For my desire and true intent there­in, it is best known to him which seeth in [...], Ma [...]. [...] and in his due time will make the counsels of all hearts manifest. 1 Cor. 4. [...]

Touching the thing it self, how it is, and how well it is, I submit it to the sensure of the godly-wise, praying them, that with their fa­vourable (if not allowance, yet at least) connivance, it may pass to the use of those, to whom it is intended: And among others, I have di­rected it especially to you, in part of recompence for a great deal of kindness intreating you to entertain [...] with the like measure of Love; wherein it is offered. And so [...]ching God to fill you with the fruits of Righteousness Phil. 1.11., I command you to his grace in Christ Jesus.

Your loving Friend, SAM. HIERON.
Modbury, Aug. 20. 1604.

FAIR PLAY: Or a Dispute between a PROTESTANT and a ROMAN-CATHOLICK. Wherein the true Religion is made clear to the meanest capacity.

Roman Catholick's Preface.

I Pray thee, Protestant, bear with me,
Indeed a man had need to be very patient that meaneth to hear thee.
To ask thee Questions two or three:
And if an answer thou canst make,
More of thy counsel I will take.
Yet I fear, that though thou wert brayed in a Mortar with a Pestel, a­mong Wheat, thy foolishness will not depart from thee, Prov. 27.22.
Many sundry Sects appear,
Now in the world far and near,
The Calvinist, the Protestant,
The Zwinglian, the Puritant,
The Brownest, and the Family of Love,
And many more which I can prove,
And the Roman Faith truly,
Which you call Papistry.
And every one confess Jesu,
Saying that their Faith is true:
But amongst these, tell me how
The Truth from feigned lies to know.
All these in very deed,
Reherse all Articles in the Creed;
And every one of them saith,
That theirs is the Catholick Faith:
But this it is that I do seek,
I believe, thou art one of those, which are ever learning, and never come to the knowledge of the Truth, 2 Tim. 3.7. Take the Lanthorn which David used, and thou shalt soon find the true Church, Psal. 119.105.
To know the Church Catholick,
The Communion or Company
Of holy men in Unity.

Protestants Answer.
His Preface.

I May not (Papist) suffer thee,
Because thy Questions idle be:
And if my Counsel thou wilt take,
Then hear the answer I will make.
Thou tell'st of Sects that do appear,
And seem'st the truth glad to inquire:
But ev'n in this I malice smell,
And see thy spiteful meaning well.
When thou these divers Sects dost name,
Thou wouldst thereby our Church defame
I have reason so to think, because the multitude of supposed Sects amongst us, is a common imputation. See Brist. Motives, pag. 10.
And make fools think that we them lov'd,
When as with us th' are not approv'd.
We do not hang on Clavins sleeve,
Nor yet on Zwinglius we believe:
And Puritans we do desie,
If right the name you do apply.
Viz. If either by that name, are un­derstood those ancient Hereticks, called Cathari, who dreamed of a state of per­fection in this life, (so as Papists also do) or else such factious ones among us, which have sought the spoile and ha­vock of the Church.
All giddy Sects among us crept,
We wish out of our Church were swept:
No name do we delight in more,
Then that at Antioch given of yore.
Christians. Acts 11.26.
But now what Sects you Papists have,
I do but thy own witness crave:
Some Capucines, some Franciscans,
And some be called Dominicans:
Some Jesuites, some Seculars,
The emulation and difference be­twixt these two their Quodlibets do shew.
Some gray, some black, some white Friars:
And that your store may not be spent,
New Locusts still from Hell are sent.
Rev. 9.3. Those Locusts do well represent the Popes Clergie: they were bred of the smoak of the pit, so are these of Heresie, Ignorance and Superstition: they destroy the fruits of the earth; so these spoile the Church.
Thou saist, thou would the Church find out:
So that I see thou art in doubt:
And so indeed Uncertainty
Is still the fruit of Popery.

Popish Rime.
Catholick.

IN your Bible I have read,
The Church must through the world be spread:
For Christ he his Apostles sent,
With Power and Commandement,
That to all Nations they should go,
To Preach, and to Baptize also.
Who hath done this? to know I wish:
For that is sure the Church of Christ.
I hope thou wilt not say that Rome hath done this: the charge was given and undertaken before Rome was con­verted.
And for example, let me know,
And if thou canst, I pray thee show,
What Church did take in hand
The first conversion of this Land.
The Apostles Church, for ought you can prove to the contrary.
And all other Countries every where,
Throughout the world far and near;
Who but a Papist would dare to say this?
If this were not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.
You build your faith upon a very sure ground.
Saint Paul in his Epistle saith,
Did Paul say that Rome shall ne­ver deny the Faith?
The Romans had the Catholick Faith,
Saying it was renowned,
Spoken of, or published,
Through the world over all,
Catholick, Universal:
And if your Churches were even so
Our Church is a part of the Catho­lick Church: disprove it if you can.
Then to your Churches I would go.
You may come to our Churches; the Pope giveth you leave, so that you keep your hearts to him.

Protestants Answer.
Catholick.

IN our Bible thou hast read:
'Tis well in ours, for yours is fled,
And lurketh in a tongue unus'd,
Whereby poor people are abus'd.
The Church is Catholick, as you say,
And so say we: but why
The reason why the Church is called Catholick.
I pray?
Because to it, it were disgrace,
To limit it to time or place.
It ever was, and so shall be,
Since Christ, excluding no degree:
Col. 3.11. Acts 10.34, 35.
It once was ty'd unto the Jews,
But now no place
Austine saith it is Catholick, be­cause spread over the world, Ep. 170. and thereto agreeth the Scripture, Acts 1.8.
it doth refuse.
It is a very fond surmise,
Which you the Papist do devise,
To shut the Church within Romes wall,
And yet to call it general.
Catholick and general are all one; and therefore one of their own Councels saith, The Roman Church is not the Universal Church, but of the Universal Church, Basil. Con. sy. 3.
The very name which you pretend,
Whereby your Church you would defend,
To all which do the meaning know,
Doth quite your fancy overthrow.
You say, the charge, which Christ once gave,
The Romists well performed have:
But mark how thou thy self dost hurt,
And lay Romes honour in the dirt.
That charge
Viz. of preaching through the world.
was given first to them,
Which lived at Jerusalem,
The Apostles, Mat. 28. Acts 1.
And thence the Gospel issued out,
Acts 8.1.
As Esay told
Isa. 2.3.
the world throughout.
By them the Nations turned were,
We read in Histories, as in Euse­bius and others, how the Apostles di­vided themselves into all the quarters of the world.
And thence of Christ Rome first did hear:
Yet now the place
Jerusalem.
which others call'd,
To Turkish Empire is enthrall'd.
So though't were true, which is not so,
And never shall be prov'd I know,
That Rome to Christ the Nations brought,
Yet this your reason were stark nought.
But now (perhaps) Rome doth, you'l say,
Bring home the wanderers to the way.
Indeed the Spaniards loving Gold,
Have brought the Indians to your fold.
The Frogs from Euphrates came out,
Euphrates was a great river run­ning near the old Babylon in Chaldea, and was the defence of the City. Cyrus and Darius could never take the City, until by policy they dryed up the River. Now in a spiritual sense, it doth signi­fie the honour, wealth and authority of Rome, which hath of latter years de­cayed excedingly, and doth daily; and the frogs, mentioned in Apoc. 16.13. do well resemble the Jesuites, who feel­ing Euphrates to dry up, bestir them­selves, and are croaking like Frogs in every corner, labouring to maintain the Popes Authority.
I mean, the Jesuited Rout,
Do spread themselves in each countrey,
To draw men to disloyalty.
They counsel Subjects kill their Kings,
Stabbings they use, and poysonings.
Our Countrey and times afford store of examples to prove this.
Christ gave no such commandement,
When first he his Disciples sent.
Of this conversion if you boast,
Whereby poor souls, Hell hath engrost,
I yeeld it you full willingly,
It well agrees with Popery.
To draw Disciples is no mark,
For so doth many a feigned Clark.
2 Pet. 2.1, 2. Acts 20.30.
The Church to truth which doth convert,
We do embrace with all our heart.
Thou sayst, Romes Faith once over all
The world was famous (so saith Paul)
Rom. 1.8.
And Rome did first convert our Land,
And hereupon you greatly stand.
Romes faith indeed once bare the bell,
And so it did deserve it well:
But Rome's not now as heretofore;
That faithful Citie's made a Whore.
Isa. 1.21. So it was said of Jerusa­lem, which had more excellent particu­lar promises, then 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 flie.
Apoc. 18.4.
To say that Rome is therefore sound,
Because of old it was renownd,
It may a Papist satisfie:
But men of judgement it deny.
Paul never Rome did magnifie,
As he did those of Thessaly:
See 1 Thess. 1.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Yet now that Church is clean defac't,
And there the Turk himself hath plac't.
The Asian Churches,
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thy­atira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Apoc. 1.11.
famous once,
Are turned to a heap of stones.
The golden lights
Those seven Churches were repre­sented by seven golden Candlesticks, Apoc. 1.20.
of Saint Johns age,
Are now become even Sathans cage.
Prove thou, that Rome hath not declind
From th' ancient Church by Pauls resind:
And then I'le say, thou hast done more
Then ever Papist did before.
But for first turning of our Nation,
I trow thou nam'st it but for fashion:
For they that look in History,
Thereof can find no certainty.
Simon Zelotes, as some say
Niceph. lib. 2. cap. 40.
Did first Christs Gospel here display,
Even whilst that Emperour did reign,
By whom our Saviour Christ was slain.
Gildas Lib. de victoria Aurelii. Ambrosii.
Some say, that he of Arimathy
Joseph who buried Christ.
In the year of grace sixty three,
From France by Philip
Philip the Apostle.
was sent over,
To us the faith for to discover.
So saith Gildas also.
Hereto agreeth a learned man,
That ancient Clark Tertullian,
That by th' Apostles, Britany
Was turn'd to Christianity.
Tertul. in his book against the Jewes, amongst other places converted by the Apostles, reckoneth divers parts of France and Britain: So doth Ori­gen, Hom. 4. upon Ezechiel.
Pope Elutherius long agoe
About the year of Christ, 180.
As his Epistle plain did show
This Epistle hath been found, out of the ancient Records of the Kings of England.
Unto King Lucius hither sent,
Ere Ethelbert was king of Kent.
Which was about 600. years after Christ.
We hold the faith that then was taught,
But you the same do set at naught:
Eleutherius referred King Lucius to the Scriptures, clean against the Pa­pists course now, and called him Gods Vicar in his kingdom: which title the Pope alone doth now challenge.
When Rome the Truth doth once forsake,
Then we of Rome our leaves must take.
If that our Church were Catholick,
To come to Church thou wouldst not stick.
If of the word thou knewst the sence,
Thou soon would'st leave that fond pretence.
Our Church that truth doth firm embrace,
Which all those hold in every place,
Who leaving mens traditions clean,
Upon the Scriptures onely lean.
That is truly Catholick which eve­ry where, alwayes, and by all ( viz. true Christians) is believed, Vincen. cont. Haer. c. 3. Let Papists prove, that the word Catholick being taken in that sence, ours is not a Catholick Church.

Popish Rime.
Prophets.

SO saith the Prophet Malachy,
There should be offered far and nigh,
A clean Oblation or Sacrifice
When you read Altar and Sacrifice, you think streight that makes for Mass, not knowing, or not seeming to know the language of the Scripture.
From place where now the Sun doth rise,
To the going down of the same:
And what is that, I pray thee name?
If it be not the holy Mass,
I will be a Protestant as I was.
If thou hadst been of us, thou wouldst have continued with us, 1 John 2.19.
In the eighteenth Psalm I found,
The whole world should hear their sound:
Namely, of the Apostles, and their Doctrine: prove our Doctrine to disa­gree with theirs.
And if this mark you do not want,
Presently I will recant.

Protestants Answer.
Prophets.

THou cit'st a text of Malachy,
Mal. 1.11.
Hoping to prove thy Mass thereby,
Alas, the reason is but small,
And helps that Idol not at all.
In it God threatneth the Jews,
The opening of the place of Mala­chy.
Who their great priviledge did abuse,
And thought the Lord was tied to them,
And unto their Jerusalem.
The Prophet tells, that God elsewhere
Will find out those, which shall him fear,
And in an order without blame,
Shall call upon his holy Name.
Speaking to their capacity,
The Legal tearms he doth apply:
So Joel 2.28. The holy Ghost fore­telling the Spiritual enlightning which the people shall have under Christ, doth deliver it under the names of Vi­sions and Dreams: which notwith­standing were not ordinary in the times of the Gospel.
And calls our Gospel like Service,
A pure and spotless
Pure in Christ, being accepted of God through him, 1 Pet. 2.5.
Sacrifice.
What ground is here then for the Mass?
It still remaineth, as it was,
A gross device, defaming Christ,
Who is our true and onely Priest.
See more of this hereafter, in speak­ing more directly of the Mass.
The speech of David of the Skies,
Psal. 19.3. But according to their account, Psal. 18.
Into the Apostles, Paul applies,
Rom. 10.18.
And saith, their sound went far and near,
As in the stories doth appear.
Tell me, I pray, what good to you,
This place you have alledg'd can do?
It maketh nought for Popery,
Or for your idle trumpery.
Indeed the infamous Fame is spread,
Of Antichrist your hideous head,
And all God's Children him do see,
The man of sin
2 Thes. 2.3.
alone to be.
Th' Apostles Faith was far disperst,
And here in England was rehearst.
[...]ith then our Doctrine is the same,
[...]o it belongs part of their fame.

Popish Rime.
Continuance.

THis is another mark most sure,
The Faith of Christ must still endure,
Christs Faith must endure, therefore Rome is the true Church. A hot ar­gument; as though the Christian Faith could endure no where but at Rome.
According as our Saviour said,
When for Saint Peter he had pray'd;
Simon, thy faith shall never fail,
The gates of Hell shall not prevail,
True, the gates of Hell shall not pre­vail against the Church of Christ: but Christ in despight of the Devil will have a Church upon earth: what makes this for Rome?
The holy Ghost your comforter,
Shall remain with you for ever.
And I my self, your surest friend,
Will be with you unto the end.
Saint Paul hath the like speech,
There shall be alwayes men to preach:
Apostles
Some say they are Apostles, and are not, Rev. 2.2.
Doctors, and the like,
In the Church Catholick:
If this be not the Church of Rome
Because you say it, we are bound to believe it.
Then will I be converted soon.

Protestants Answer.
Continuance.

YOu say, Christs faith must still endure,
I yield that nothing is more sure:
And alwayes God a Church will have,
Though thereat Satan rage and rave,
Mat. 16.18. And that is the ut­termost which can be collected out of that place.
It glads my heart, that Christ hath praid;
Thereby I know my Faith is staid:
Luke 22.32. Christs prayer there belongs to all believers as well as to Saint Peter, John 17.20.
The comfort of Gods holy Sp'rit,
Is each good Christians sole delight.
This proves, there still a Church shall be,
And herein thou and I agree:
To prove the Church tied to one Sea,
Requireth yet a better Plea.
The Faith of Christ may still abide,
Though Rome should into Tibur slide:
Gods Spirit is free, and is not bound
John 3.8.
Within the lists of Romish ground.
When thou canst prove by holy writ,
Christs Faith 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: and Paul hath wro [...]
Ephes. 4.11, &c.
That there should still some teachers be:
In some we this fulfilled see.
I say, continuance is no sign,
To prove a Church to be divine;
We may not think each Doctrine sure,
Which doth for many years endure.
It is true, that the truth shall con­tinue; but yet it holds not backward, that whatsoever continueth is Truth. The Devil is a lyar from the beginning
Must not the tares be let to grow,
Till it be time the corn to mow?
Mat. 13.10.
And Antichrist shall long time stay,
Even till the very Judgment day.
2 Thes. 2.8.
The Arrian heresie years did stand,
Two hundred more than one thousand:
Yea, and it was so generally recei­ved, that it was said, the whole world was become an Arrian. Hierom. dia­log. contra Luciferianos.
And so since Mahomet first was seen,
A thousand years have numbred been.
Romes name endures, but Rome is chang'd,
And hath from Christ it self estrang'd:
Quit thou Rome from Apostacy,
Or name not Perpetuity.
Pauls words do prove,
Ephes. 4.11, &c.
that certainly
The Church shall have a Ministry:
And that there shall be some to feed
The Flock of Christ at ev'ry need:
But that these Pastors here or there,
Shall alwayes fit in beauty clear,
This fond conceit, not one more word,
The holy Scripture doth afford.
Indeed in Rome there divers be,
That bear the name of Prelacie:
Better we Pilates may them call,
Seeking the Churches Funeral.
You call your Pope a Shepheard great;
But where is his Spiritual meat?
I do not hear that he doth preach:
That would his greatness much impeach.
Such are his carnal Cardinals,
Or rather bloody Canibals.
The People that live upon mans flesh.
They eat the fat, and skin the Flock,
And live upon the Churches stock.
An idle sign, a Shepheards Crook
In hand they bear
The Pastoral staff, made in fashion of a Shepheards crook.
but cannot brook
To preach the Word (a Pastors grace)
That duty fits not their high place.
The key of knowledge they withdraw,
Luke 11.52.
And from Gods people steal
Jerem. 23.30.
Gods Law,
And mens devices
They teach Traditions to be equally reverenced as the Scriptures, Conc. Trid. ses. 4. dec. and Lidanus calleth them the foundation of Faith, Panopl. lib. 5. cap. 2.
on them thrust,
Making them unto fancies trust.
These are Romes Pastors: woful sheep,
Which left are to the Wolves to keep.
Thou Shepheard great and Bishop chief,
1 Pet. 2.25. & 4.5.
Come quickly
Rev. 22.20.
quell this Romish thief.

Papists Rime.
Visible.

ANother mark there is most clear,
The Church of God must stil appear,
As a City on a hill,
Some wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction, 2 Pet. 3.16. Take heed.
Seen and continue still,
As a light on a Candlestick,
So is the Church Catholick:
Our Saviour saith, if one offend,
And will not be rul'd by his friend,
Tell all the Church without delay:
Would you have us go to Rome with every complaint? It seemeth so; for you tie the Church to that Sea.
And if he will not then obey,
Do thou esteem such a man,
An Heathen or a Publican.
Is not that the Church, wherein we see
Two hundred Bishops thirty three,
To have succeeded each other,
Since the time of Saint Peter.
You must first prove that Saint Pe­ter was Bishop of Rome.
Shew me this mark in you,
Thou thy self sayst, there have been successively 63. Bishops in England since Peter: then either ours is the true Church, or else succession of Bishops is no sure mark.
And I will say your faith is true:
If this be not in the faith of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.

Protestants Answer.
Visible.

THou tell'st a tale incredible,
How that God's Church is visible:
And by the Bishops Catalogue,
Wouldst prove the Romish Synagogue.
The errors here together lapt,
By which the simple are entrapt,
All which your feigned Church doth hold,
I mean in order to unfold.
The Catholick Church defin'd aright,
Cannot be subject to our sight:
It is th' Elected company,
1 Pet. 2.9.
And Christ his chosen Family.
Ephes. 3.15.
Of this, one part in Heaven lives,
Called the Church Triumphant.
The other here with Satan strives,
Tearmed the Church Militant.
The part above (you'l not deny)
With mortal eyes none can descry.
The same is true of that below,
It is unseen by us also:
How with mine eyes I might discern.
And see th Elect fain would I learn.
Upon their persons we may look,
Whose names are written in Gods Book:
The Book of Life, Phil. 4.3.
But as for their Spiritual being,
It is a thing doth pass our seeing.
Parts of Christs Church, you Papists make
Even those whom God will quite forsake:
So doth Bellarmine, lib. 3. de Ec­cles. cap. 7. and the Rhemists in their Annotations upon John 15.1.
Which if the matter be well scand,
Cannot with any Scripture stand.
Of the true Church Christ is the head,
Ephes. 1.22.
In him can be no member dead:
They are called living stones, 1 Pet. 2.3.
His Church a Garden,
Cant. 4.12.
closed well,
In which no Reprobates can dwell,
So August. applieth the place. Con­tra Cres. Gram. lib. 2. cap. 26. and Gregory the great, who was a Bishop of Rome, in his Commentary upon that place. Charitatis vallo circumquaque munitur, ne intra numerum electo­rum reprobus aliquis ingreciatur.
So that, if fitly we will speak,
The ground you lay is very weak:
In calling it a mark most clear,
That Gods true Church must still appear.
Of Churches nam'd in several,
In Cities, or else National,
We yeeld sometime they may be seen,
Though sometime they are darkned clean.
Sometime the Moon with chearful light,
Shines in the height of Heaven bright:
Aug. useth that similitude. Epist. 48 and Epist. 80. and Ambrose Hex. 4. C. 8. Ecclesia sicut luna defectus habet & ortus frequentes.
Sometimes with clouds 'tis overspred,
And in the Wane clean vanished.
So is the Church in safety still,
Although not alway visible:
Sometimes it sits in glory great,
Sometime it hath no certain seat.
The Woman, which to Desart fled,
From Satans rage to hide her head,
Apoc. 12.6. So much also the Rhe­mists upon that place do acknowledge.
By all the learnedst full consent,
The Church on earth doth represent.
The famous Church of Israel,
Where God did promise still to dwell,
Psal. 132.14.
Was drown'd so in Idolatry,
And superstitious slavery,
That all true worship being gone,
Elias thought himself alone:
1 Kings 19.10.
And when Christ comes to judge us all,
Then faith on earth shall be but small.
Luke 18.8.
How is the Church a City then,
Mat. 5.14.
Rais'd on a mount, and seen of men?
And how a light set up on high,
That all that will may it espie?
How shall we to the Church complain,
Mat. 18.17.
If of the Church no shew remain?
This is thy Popish reasoning,
And Scriptures plain misconstruing.
The true meaning of those places.
Christ doth th' Apostles counsel give,
Soundly to preach, and well to live,
Because their places were in sight,
And 'twas their Office to give light.
They erring many might mislead,
Which in their steps might hap to tread:
If that their Doctrine were unsound,
In falshood many might be drown'd.
It was in vain for them to ween,
In doing ill not to be seen:
You are (saith Christ) upon a Mount,
To be well mark't make full account.
Thus Chry. and Theophilact. ex­pounded this place, [...].
This shews wherein our duty stands,
And what God looks for at our hands,
Who call'd are to the Ministry,
To labour in God's Husbandry.
1 Cor. 3.9.
But from hence how may proved be
The Churches visibility?
This place affords a slender proof,
And little for the Popes behoof.
Yet you perhaps will urge it still,
The Pastors are set on a hill,
And called Light: even so say I,
But all men can them not descry.
For those which want spiritual eyes,
Ephes. 1.13.
Nor are by searching
John 5.39.
Scripture-wise
Ephes. 5.15, 17.
This mounted City cannot see,
Nor where these lightsome Pastors be.
This was the Answer of Aug. to the Donatists. Tract. 1. in Epi. Johan.
Christ bids us we the Church should tell,
If things be not reformed well:
By Church, he means all such as be
Indued with Authority.
The same which Paul calleth Pres­byterian, 1 Tim. 4.14. The Elder­ship.
These Office-bearers all men see,
In times of setled Sovereignty:
Yea, and among themselves th' are known,
This answer the Papists cannot mis­like: for they make use of it for them­selves. Rhem. in Apoc. 12.6. The error of this Popish Argument.
When th' outward state is overthrown.
When that was said in special,
You turn to Church in general:
Thereby you may deceive some fools;
But soon it will be seen in Schools.
This argument of outward state,
Which for a mark you intimate,
Against that thing doth strongly make,
Which you to prove do undertake.
Romes state hath sometimes been obscur'd,
And hath disgraces foul endur'd:
Burnt
By the Goths, 547.
sackt
By Charles Duke of Burbon, in the dayes of Pope Clement the seventh, whereupon was made t [...] clause in the Letany, Sancta Maria, &c. O holy Mary, pray for Pope Clement, &c.
some Popes imprisoned,
John 14. Boniface 8. about the year 1304.
Some glad to fly
John 17. fled to Hetruria.
some banished;
Vigilius 18. and Gregory the ninth, about the year 1227.
Where did your glorious Church abide,
When Popes were glad themselves to hide?
Peace, peace, no more of this for shame:
Rome saith you will her clean defame.
Succession.
Succession commeth next in place,
Whereby thou seek'st thy Church to grace:
Your turn Succession cannot serve,
If from the Truth Succession swerve.
The Jewish Church from Aaron,
A just descent might stand upon,
Even when they crucifi'd our Lord:
And hated all that lov'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 been a perpetual succession from Saint An­drew. Nicep. At Alexandria from Saint Mark.
Yet you of them do give this doom,
That in Gods Church they have no room.
Yet if Succession were a sign,
Which your grand Captain Bellarmine
Dares not avouch,
Bellarmine saith, it followeth ne­gatively, that where there is no successi­on, there is no Church: but not affirma­tively, that where there is succession, there is a Church. Lib. 4. de Eccl. cap. 8.
I fain would see,
How Rome can prove her pedigree.
You call your Church Saint Peters Chair,
As though the Pope were Peters Heir:
But if that ground we once deny,
What Papist can it verifie?
You cannot prove by holy Writ,
Peter at Rome did Bishop sit:
The onely place which you do name,
1 Pet. 4.13. The Rhemists say, that thereby Babylon is meaned Rome, and so they confess Rome to be Babylon.
Returneth to your greatest shame.
The things you fetch from Historie,
Touching this point, do not agree,
Orosius saith, Peter came to Rome in the beginning of Claudius reign; Hierom in the 2d. year, others in the 4th. year, other the 13. year. Damasus saith, he came thither in Neroes reign; so that there is no certainty in that which they make an undoubted princi­ple.
And what our part hath herein sed,
By Papists stands unanswered.
But if he Bishop were indeed,
Tell me who next did him succeed:
Some Clement
The Popes decrees hold so.
and some, Linus hold.
Dorotheus, Euseb. lib. 3. cap. 4.
Thus your succession is control'd.
Once was a Pope suppos'd a man,
John 8. Platina, The womans name was Gilbertia, a Dutch woman of Bur­guntium.
But prov'd in time a Curtezan.
Then either your Succession shrank,
Or you must put her in the rank.
When Popes there were, some 2.
Two Popes together, Anno 1083. Anno 1058. and 1062.
or 3.
Bened. 9. Silvest. 3. Greg. 6. all at one time; and at another time. Ben. 1. a Spanish Pope. Greg. 12. a French Pope, and John 23. an Italian Pope.
Where then might your succession be?
One Schisme held almost forty year,
39. years.
Pope against Pope, as doth appear.
Let their own Authors speak.
One Council
The Council of Constance.
did these Popes put down,
And to another gave the Crown:
When these false Popes the place possest,
I think you'l say Succession ceast.

Popish Rime.
Unity.

ANother mark there is truly,
The Church must have Unity,
As our Saviour hath foretold,
One Shepheard and one fold:
One is my Spouse, one is my Love,
One is my Darling and my Dove.
This is his Spouse, and at some time,
He doth resemble it to a Vine:
His Father is the Husbandman,
A Branch is every Christian.
This is his Body Mystical,
The which he doth his Kingdom call:
Whereof Saint Peter had the Keys,
What became of the Keys, when Pope Julius the second threw them in­to Tyber?
And his Successors have alwayes:
As though no body did succeed Pe­ter, but the Pope, who is rather the suc­cessor of Romulus then Peter; as Pope Hadrian the fourth said when he died.
And likewise Saint Paul saith,
One Baptisme, and one Faith.
And one Lord Jesu:
Have no dissention among you.
If this be not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.

Protestants Answer.
Unity.

TIs true, Christs Church is alwayes one,
Ty'd unto him as head alone:
The parts thereof do well agree,
Acts 4.23.
Like Children of one Family.
But yet not every company,
Together link't in Unity,
Must by and by be called good,
If truth by them shall be withstood.
To make a Calf they all agree'd,
Exod. 32.1,
All cry'd, Let Christ be Crucifi'd:
Mat. 27.22.
Great is Diana, with a shout,
At once the people all cry'd out.
Acts 19.34.
John said, they should yeeld to the Beast,
Even from the greatest to the least.
Apoc. 13.16.
As Christ his City is but one,
So is the Devils Babylon,
Ut est Dei una Ecclesia, sic est Diaboli una Babylon. Aug. de Civit. Dei.
The best sometimes do disagree,
Peter and Paul, Gal. 2.11. Paul and Barnabas, Acts 15.39. Chrysost. Theophilact, and Epipha­nius, Augustine and Hierom, Cyril and Theodoret.
Each man hath his infirmitie:
Better the discord bringing light,
Then is agreement without right.
[...], Nazienz. Oratione prima de pace.
Yet by this mark, if Rome be try'd,
It will fall hard upon your side:
Your joynt-consent, we cannot find,
Nor that you all are of one mind.
If we shall credit History,
You cannot brag of Unity:
Where twenty several Schisms have been
Genebrardus in Chro.
What harmony may there be seen?
The laws which one determineth,
The Pope that follows cancelleth:
Stephen 6. abrogated all his pre­decessors decrees. Formosius took up his body, cut two fingers of his right hand off, and buried him again.
Yet things by him abolished,
By next Popes are established.
The following Popes, Theodor. 2. Romanus, John 10. confirmed all For­mosus his Acts.
And yet another
After all, Pope Sergius disanulled their Acts, took up Formosius his body, and cast it into Tyber, Ex Polychron.
comes behind,
Who with the former fault doth find,
And all which they did quite displace,
Reduceth to the former grace.
Thus one sage Council doth decree,
Another saith it may not be:
The first Nicene Council allowed Priests mar­riage, and the Communion in both kinds. The Councils of Constance and Basil, forbad the Laity the use of the Cup. The Council of Trent forbiddeth both the Cup to the Laity, and marriage to the Clergy. The third Council of Cartharge pronounced him ac­cursed; and called him the fore-runner of Antichrist, whosoever should rearm himself Universal Bishop: but now the Council of Trent curseth him who shall deny the Pope of Rome to be the head Bishop of the world. The general Council of Constantinople over­threw Images: The second Nicene Council decreed them to be worshiped. Again, the Council of Frankfort, under Charles the Great, determineth it to be Idolatry, and accurs­eth the Nicene Council. Many the like differences might be alledged.
That which one Sect
In Anno 1476. there was a great con­troversie betwixt the Franciscanes and Dominicanes, touching the conception of the Virgin Mary, whether she were con­ceived in sin or not; the Dominicanes held she was, the Franciscanes the contrary: but Pope Xystus the 4. joyning with the Franciscanes, four of the other were con­demned and burned at Rome.
or Author likes,
Alph. de Castro. lib. 1. cap. 6. holds the Pope inferior to the Council. The opini­on of all the Jesuites at this day is, that he is above the Council. About the Eucha­rist, they have a world of differences a­mongst themselves; as whether Christ did consecrate when he blessed the bread and wine: or when he said, This is my Body, whether so much bread as is taken onely be consecrated: whether the substance of the bread be turned to nothing, or chang­ed into the substance of Christ: whether there be a bodily motion in the Sacra­ment: whether the body of Christ in the Sacrament can be touched: how the acci­dents in the Sacraments are without a subject: whether the accidents can be bro­ken: whether they can nourish: whether the water mingled with the wine, be turned into Christs blood: Whence come worms in the Host?
The same another clean out-strikes.
I know you Papists do agree
To work the Churches misery:
So Herod was made
He that would know the differences betwixt the Thomists, Scotists, and Occa­mists, let him read Eras. L contra Latomum, Luke 23.12.
Pilates friend,
To bring our Saviour to his end.
Some yeild, as fearing to resist,
(Such is the power of Antichrist)
You may not call this Unity,
But rather publick Tyranny.
Some joyn, because they do not see
The very depth of Popery:
To build upon the Church Belief,
Of Lay Religion is the brief.
Some for their ease and Bellies sake,
Do to your Church themselves betake:
As Monks, and such as loytring love,
Whom none but Romists can approve.
This is your Romish Concordance,
Among your selves at variance:
Though all for some respects are led,
To meet together in one Head.
In one point more, I needs must stay,
Though nam'd of you but by the way;
Lest with a phrase of Peter's Keyes,
You dazle should the Peoples eyes.
By Keys, is meant the power to preach,
And in Gods truth the Church to teach:
Luke 11.52.
By it
Viz. Preaching.
Heaven's open'd to receive
All those which truly do believe.
It is the power to loose and tye,
Which Christ gave to the Ministry;
Therefore Ministers are said both to have the Ministry of Reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5.8. and the Ministry of Vengeance against disobedience, 2 Cor. 10.6.
It was intended unto all,
Our Lord, in the person of one, gave the Keys to all, to shew the unity of all, Cyp. de simp. Prelatorum: and Leo a Bi­shop of Rome, is of the same judgement, In Sermone de Nativitate.
Though spoke to one in several.
When to Believers we give Hope,
Then is the Gate of Heaven set ope:
When Mercies Promise is repeal'd,
Then by the Keys that Gate is seal'd.
To bind and loose, is no other thing, but to declare Gods sentence, Hieror. in Mat. 16.
When Peter did his Faith confess,
Th' Apostles (by) did mean no less:
And that which Christ to Peter spake,
Austin saith, he answered for all, Hom. in Joh. 66.9. & elsewhere often: unus pro multis respondit, one made answer for all: and Lyranus, Confes­sio Petri, erat confessio aliorum.
We may not from the other take.
Cuncti claves Regni, &c. All re­ceive the Keys of Heaven. Hier. lib. 1. adversus Jovi.
Each true and faithful Minister,
Is Peter's rightful Successor:
Then speak no more of Peter's Keys,
Except th' art sworn the Pope to please.

Popish Rime.
Holy.

THis you say in very deed,
When you rehearse the Holy Creed,
So you say in the Creed, that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God: and yet you say also, he is in body present at the Mass.
One Church Catholick,
Holy and Apostolick.
This is another mark truly,
The Church of God must be holy:
Holy Men, Holy Service,
Ceremonies, Sacrifice:
Sacraments and holy Days,
Are observ'd in her always:
As for the Saints and Martyrs all,
And Virgins, which you Saints do call,
I ask you when they liv'd, and where,
Whose names are in your Calendar?
In what Religion they died,
By whom they were Canonized?
Who made the Pope a Saint-maker?
Prove that these agree with you;
And I will say your Faith is true:
If they were not your Company,
You stand so much upon company, that you will rather go to the Devil, then want company.
Then is your Faith an Heresie.

Protestants Answer.
Holy.

THou sayst the Church we Holy call,
And so we do acknowledge all:
What in the Creed our Mouths confess,
Our Hearts within believe no less.
The Purity, decay'd before,
By Adams fall.
Unto his Church Christ doth restore.
That which is here in less degree,
The same in Heaven shall perfect be.
If thou knew'st Romes Impurity,
Thou would'st nor brag of Sanctity:
A sink of Sin, a Sea of Evil,
A place possessed of the Devil.
Gallus Senonensis, wrote above 400. years agoe, that Satan was let loose at Rome to destroy the Church. Tho. Becket a Romish Saint, acknowledged the com­mon proverb to be true, That there is no right at Rome. The Bishop of Worster, a Papist, told Philpot, That he thought, the wickedness he saw in Rome made him an Heretick.
Your Popes bear Names of Holiness,
But none more full of Wickedness:
Let Stories speak, enquire of them,
What Popes have worn the Diadem:
Some Hereticks,
Marcellinus, Pope, sacrificed to the I­dols of the Panims: Platin. and Volater. Li­berius Pope, an Arian. Plat. & Hiero. in Catal. scrip. Eccl. & in Chro. Anact. 2. Pope, an Acatian. Plat. Vigilius an Eu­tychian. Liber in breviatio: Honorius, a Monothelite, condemned by the Roman Council under Adrian 2.
some Murtherers,
Pope Alexander 6. poysoned Gemes the Great Turks brother, committed to his custody, Hiero. Maurius, Munst. lib. 4. Cosm. Pope Hildebrand hired one to kill the Em­perour: Benno Cardinalis.
Incestuous some,
John 13. Pope committed incest with his two sisters: Luithbrand, lib. 6 He was wounded in adultery, Platina. Alexander 6. lay with his own daughter. Vol.
some Sorcerers:
Hildebrand: so saith Benno the Card. Pope Silvester 2. gave himself to the De­vil to be Pope. Pla. Joannes Stella: many others were Magicians, as John 21. Be­nedict. 9. &c.
Some noted for their cruelty,
Pope Alexander 6. cut off the hands and feet of one Mancinellus, because he wrote against his filthiness: Joh. 13 cut off the hands and noses of divers Cardinals, Plat.
Some for their monstrous Blasphemy.
Pope Hildebrand threw the Sacra­ment into the fire. Benno. Card. Joh. 22. derided the Gospel; held the souls to be mortal, and was therefore by the Council of Constance, 1. 2. ses. 11. called a Devil Incarnate. Leo 10. writing to Cardinal Bembus, calleth the story of Christ, a Fable, Joh. 13. called the Devil to help him at Dice, and drank to him, Luithp. lib 6.
One Pope
Pope Sergius 3.
a famous Lemman kept,
Whose Bastard to the Popedome crept:
Joh. 11. or as some count, Joh. 12. see Plat. and Luithprand.
Another granted liberty
To practise beastly Sodomy.
Sixtus 4. Granted liberty to the whole family of the Cardinal of St. Lucy in the three hot months, June, July, August, to use Sodomit [...]y. Wesellus Groningensis, in a Treatise, de Indulg. Papali­bus, at the foot of the License was written, Fiat ut petitur, Be it as it is requested.
Who but the Pope receiveth Rent,
Which from the Stews to him is sent?
Every common Harlor in Rome paid a Fee to Pope Sixtus 4. Agrippa in his declam. ad Lovan.
Let Rome and Venice make Report,
And all that thither do resort.
Who hath in Metre vile exprest
The sin which Nature doth detest?
Let Beneventum name the man:
The Archbishop of Beneventum, Johannes a Casa, Dean of the Popes Chamber, used Sodo­my, and commended it in Italian Metre: the book was printed in Venice, by Trojanus Nau­us: see the writing of Paulus Vergerius against this Archbishop.
Do thou disprove it, if thou can.
If this among your Heads be found,
How shall we think the Members sound?
Lord, bless us from such holy Popes;
And, Lord, make void all Popish Hopes.
Marozia, Wife to Guido.
Like to your Popes your Service is,
Holy Ser­vice.
Wanting no store of blasphemies:
Which, lest the People should espy,
You hide in Latine secrecy.
I need no better Witnesses
Then your allowed Portesses,
Your Missals, and your Letanies,
And all your forged Psalteries.
What we to God alone must give,
That to the Saints you do derive:
God will not from his Glory part,
Isa 48.11.
Yet you to Creatures it convert:
Unto the Saints you prayers make,
There is neither com­mandement in the Scripture, that we should pray to Saint, nor promise that if we do pray to them we shall be heard: upon which 2. every lawful prayer must be built.
And beg Salvation for their sake:
In their prayers upon the Sts. dayes, still those words come in, that by their merits we may have profit, by their re­quests we may be delivered, &c. And Lombard saith, the Saints do juvare nos merito, lib. 4. dist. 45. d. 10.
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 Sacrament being ended, it must needs return to the former nature
And make fond
They are fond, because touching the estate of the dead, there is no certainty.
prayers for the dead.
You kneel down to a Cross of Wood,
All hail, O Cross, our onely hope, &c. encrease righteousness to the godly, and give pardon to the guilty, In breviario infra, Heb. 4. Quad.
Thinking thereby to purchase good:
And for some things you would have done,
You pray the Virgin charge her Son.
Roga patrem, jube natum; jure matris impera, Pray the Fa­ther, charge thy Son, command by the right of a Mother; In officio beatae Mariae.
With Christ you do Saint Francis joyn,
They say, that St. Francis could save all that shall live after him to the end of the world, through his merits, from ever­lasting death Flos. beati Francis. Confor­mit, s. Fram Tho. lib. 4 dist. 4. art. 3.
And so his Glory do purloyn:
One Mediator we do know,
1 Tim. 2.5. That place proveth, that there is but one Mediatour, as well as that there is but one God.
You have joyn'd with him many mo:
The form of Absolution to Penitentia­ries runneth thus: The passion of Christ, and the merits of the blessed Virgin, of Saint Peter, and Saint Paul, and of other he and she Saints, be unto thee in remissi­on of sins.
We do the Virgin Blessed call,
Luke 1.48.
And say she passed Women all:
But when you call her Gate of Grace,
Coeli fenestra: Regis alti janua, &c.
We say Christs honour you deface.
The thing that made her Spirit glad,
Was, that she such a Saviour had:
Luke 1.47:
Can she on him commandment have,
Whose help she needed her to save?
What honour is due to the Saints.
This honour to the Saints we give,
We crave Gods grace like them to live:
1 Cor. 11.1.
We care to keep their memory,
Heb. 13.7.
And God in them we glorifie.
Gal. 1.23.
Holy Ceremonies. Whoso readeth the Canon of the Mass, shall there see a world of idle and ridiculous ceremonies.
Your Ceremonies idle be,
And favour most of vanity:
You stand so much on outward show,
That you the substance overthrow.
With Images and Pictures gay,
You steal the Peoples hearts away:
Well may you please the outward eye,
The spirit you do not edifie.
A pretty play, to see a Priest
Tossing his God between his fist:
Such gestures, and such apish mowes,
Such warbling, and such antick showes;
Now bends, now ducks, now stands upright,
Then turns him to the Peoples sight:
Now sighs, now twenty Crosses makes,
And ore his head the Wafer shakes:
Then washeth, then the Chalice licks,
And shuts his Idol in the Pix:
But still the man is much afeard,
Lest ought should hang upon his Beard.
Mean while the Vulgar in a maze,
Upon the Caky Idol gaze,
And knock and kneel, and think them well,
That they have heard the sacring Bell.
Tell me, I pray thee, doth God will,
With such fond Rites his Church to fill?
They never came into his thought;
Jerem. 19.5.
Tradition onely hath them brought.
They say indeed, that they have the form of the Mass, by the Tradition of the Apostles. Rhem. 1 Cor. 11. s. 22 but the truth is, that it was now a piece and then a piece, patched up by their own Popes. Sixtus 2. brought in the Sanctus. Innocentius 1. the Pax. Leo 1. ad­ded this clause (A holy Sacrifice and unbloody Host:) Gelasius, the Prefa­ces, Collects, Gradualls. Symmachus the Gloria in excelsis. Agapetus 1. Processions. Pelagius 2. nine Prefa­ces before the Canon. Sergius 1. Ag­nus Dei: and Gregory 1. confesseth, that one Scolasticus made most part of the Canon; Holy Mass or Sacrifice.
Your Rites and Mass do well agree,
Both full of gross Idolatry:
Both are unholy and unsound,
Both wanting holy Scripture-ground.
You say that in the Eucharist,
To God is offered by the Priest,
A Sacrifice in Wine and Bread,
Rhem. Heb. 7. sect. 8. Concil. Tri­dent. ses. 22. cap. 1.
Both for the living and the dead.
Conc. Trid. ses. 22. cap. 2.
Look first what Christ did institute,
Mat. 26.26. Mark 14.22. Luke 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 (said Christ) Remember me:
That shews he would not present be:
Bodily.
We keep such things in memory,
Which we behold not really.
The Priests of old did every day
Some Off'ring on the Altar lay.
Heb. 10.11.
Christs holy Off'ring is but one,
Performed by himself alone.
Heb. 10.12.
If Christ shall often offred be,
We shall his sufferings multiplie:
As on the Cross he died not twice,
So there's no second Sacrifice:
Heb. 9.25. to 28.
There's now no sacrificing, Priest,
That Office rested upon Christ:
Heb. 7.23, 24
It comes to none successively,
'Tis his for all Eternity.
The office of a Priest, so far forth as we understand thereby a Sacrificer, whom the Grecians call Hiereus, be­longs onely to Christ, and cannot pass from him to another, neither the name of Priest in that sense, but as the name of Priest cometh from the Greek word Presbyteros, which signifieth an Elder, it cannot simply bee misliked.
How can a Mass a pardon bring,
Sith 'tis a bloodless Offering?
Heb. 9.22.
Christ hath procur'd Remission:
Heb. 9.12.
What needs a new Oblation?
Heb. 10.18.
See then your holy Sacrifice,
A thing without all warrantize:
Of Scriptures, or of Writers sage,
Which lived in the purest Age.
The Mass, as it is now, was not in use in the Church, 1200. years after Christ: It never came to the full per­fection (though it was in hatching be­fore) until the Council of Lateran, un­der Inno. 3.
The Sacraments
Holy Sacraments.
in number twain,
You eek't have with a longer train:
The seven-headed Romish Beast,
Revel. 17.7.
The two to seven hath encreas'd.
Both Baptism,
Mat. 28.19.
and that holy feast,
1 Col. 11.24. &c.
Commanded are by Christs beheast:
Shew me but one commandement
To prove another Sacrament.
No Father within an 100. year after Christ, acknowledged seven Sa­craments of the New Testament: And Augustine saith, The Sacraments are, Numero paucissima, fewest in num­ber, Ep. 118. Now, two is the least number.
Two in the Old,
Viz. Ordinary.
two in the New,
So shall we have proportion true:
Name what in th' ancient
Viz. The form of Gods worship under the Law.
Liturgy,
Your five false Symboles do supply.
The Sacraments of the New Testa­ment. succeed the Sacraments of the Old: if then they can name no Sacra­ments of the Old Testament, in the place whereof their five supposed Sacraments should come, then they cannot justifie them to be Sacraments.
Those Sacraments which holy be,
You stain'd have with your Pedlary:
In Baptism, Oyl, Lights, Spittle, Cream,
Your Exorcism, and conjur'd Stream;
Were these invented by Gods Spirit?
Or found you them in holy Writ?
Whence had you all that rituous store
Us'd in the Mass, and nam'd before?
You speak next of
Holy dayes.
Festivities,
And holy-day Solemnities:
Thou think'st by this, with easiness
To prove thy Churches holiness.
Truth is, mens Conscience you enthral,
Bellarmine saith, men are bound in Conscience to keep the Festivities of the Church, lib. 3. cap. 10. prop: 3. and so do the Rhemists, Gal. 4. s. 5.
To many an idle Festival:
very near 200. if we put these toge­ther which were determined of, Con­cil Oxon. sub. Steph. and which we read in the marginal Notes upon the Rhemists Testament.
You'll have them be as strictly kept,
As Gods own day by his precept.
Of feasts, some low, some higher be,
Some great, some lesser in degree:
Some double more, some double less,
A treble fault some to transgress.
So with your doubling and redoubling stile,
The simple People you beguile:
The Lord is weary of your feasts,
Isa. 1.14.
And likes not your devised rests:
All days are like in holiness,
None holy more, none holy less.
The difference betwixt dayes, is in observation and use, and not in the na­ture of the day; if one day had been in nature holier then another, the Sabbath might not have been altered.
Paul thought his labour was in vain,
Where days distinctions did remain.
Gal. 4.10, 11.
Thou hop'st to put us in some fear,
With speaking of the Kalendar:
Saints Canonized.
Thou ask'st what Faith all those did hold,
Whose Names are found therein enroll'd?
I tell thee plain, 'tis nought to me
What many a one there nam'd, might be:
My faith's not so set on the rack,
To seek strength from the Almanack.
Yet sure I am, what we profess,
Some that are there, believ'd no less:
As Peter, Paul, Mary, &c. and some there named which suffered per­secution in the ten first Persecutions of the Church.
Our Faith and theirs doth well agree,
And you with them at variance be.
You Churches make, and holy days
Unto the Saints and Martyrs praise:
But us which do believe the same,
You seek to kill, and to defame.
Thou ask'st who them canonized,
Whose names are there enregistred?
You say the Pope: I ask again,
Wilt thou that sainting power maintain?
The custom of Canonizing Saints, was not heard of, till one thousand years after Christ, in the dayes of Alexan­der 3. and Gregory 7.
Can any mortal Creature tell,
Who goes to Heaven, and who to Hell?
All judgement Paul bids us forbear,
Until the Lord himself appear.
1 Cor. 4.5.
In Heaven to sit, or high or low,
Is it in mans power to bestow?
Mat. 20.23.
What Bishops can, or Saints invest,
Or shut men from eternal rest?
Someone Pope doth a Saint enstall,
His grant another doth recall:
Bonifance 8. caused Hermanus Ferrariens. who had been Canonized for a Saint 30. years before, to be ta­ken out of his Grave and burned, ann. 1300.
'Tis but a silly dignity,
That's subject to uncertainty.
Among your Saints even those are seen,
Which to their Prince have Traytors been.
As Thomas Becket, and Eliza­beth Barton, called the holy Maid of Kent, and others.
Though that our Church such Saints despise,
To it, it is no prejudice.

Popish Rime.
Hereticks.

OUr Saviour warns us to have care,
Of false Prophets to beware;
That makes us take heed of you.
Which in his name shall come,
Not sent, yet they shall run:
There be many of your Church come amongst us to work mischief, before you be sent for.
Thieves; not entring by the Door,
A lively description of the Popes Clergy.
That kill and steal, and keep a stoor;
Wolves in Shepheards cloathing,
That kill the Soul, and steal the Tything.
Dogs, Foxes, and Masters of lies,
That new Sects will devise;
Bringing in dissention,
And heap thousands to perdition.
Where have you been this many a year,
That none of you durst once appear.
Ever since our Saviours time,
To whom did your light shine?
To those which had eyes to see it.
Where did your principal Pastor sit?
In Heaven.
Who kept your keys? who fed your sheep?
You have butchered a good sort of them.
Shew some Churches you have built:
I can shew many you have spilt.
How might a man have found you out,
To have trial in a matter of doubt;
You be too proud to learn: it is the first lesson you teach your Disciples, to admit no conference.
Where for so many a year,
No such Company did appear?
Until Luther, a lying Frier,
If Luther had continued a true Friar, he had never been good.
Upon whom the Devil had desire,
Br [...]ke his Vow,
Herods vow is better broken then kept.
and married a Nun,
And there your Sect
Our Sect is the same that Pauls was, Acts 28.22.
first begun.
Either thou knowest this to be a lie, or thou knowst nothing.
And favoured in Saxony,
By a Duke that loved liberty:
And in King Edwards time truly,
There were English men in Eng­land who bare witness to this truth, by suffering death for it long afore King Edwards time.
It first infected our Country.
For a thousand years you say,
That Papistry did bear the sway:
And during all that space,
No Protestant durst shew his face.
The more they lay hid, the greater was your tyranny; yet many then both shewed their faces, and lost their lives.
Who kept
Indeed you kep them so fast, that the people could have no comfort by them.
the holy Scriptures then
From the hands of wicked men?
Who had authority to ordain
Our Priests and Bishops again?
For he that entreth without Order,
As a Thief doth kill and murder.
And one thing maketh me to muse,
That no Priest you do refuse.
A very tale.
Being ordred by the Church of Rome,
But he was accepted soon:
If he would say the New Service,
He should have a Benefice
Without any further Order,
And accounted for the better.
He that hath once been an eager Papist, and is converted truly, is to be the better thought of; because having known the abomination of Popery, he must needs detest it more.
How can she make a lawful Priest,
If she be not the Church of Christ?
Answer this, O Protestant;
If thou canst, I will recant:
I believe you will not be so good as your word.
But while an answer you devise,
A man need not be long in making you an answer.
I counsel all men that are wise,
To hold the faith maintained here
The space of a thousand year,
Brought unto us English men,
By our Apostle
Who made him an Apostle?
Saint Austen.
[...]
[...]
Who from Rome was hither sent,
When Ethelbert was King of Kent,
Who learn'd his Faith of Gregory:
This Gregory accounteth him the fore-runner of Antichrist, who so should seek to be called Ʋniversal Bishop; from this Faith you are gone.
His Faith was kept successively,
By threescore Bishops and three,
Since Saint Peter's time truly,
Who learn'd his Faith of Christ Jesu,
Who is the Son of God most true.

Protestants Answer.
Hereticks.

THe Caveat touching Hereticks,
Doth make against false Catholicks:
We know full well that Popery
Is but a Mass of Heresie.
Those Errors which of old were hatcht,
Your Church together hath them patcht:
It maintaineth free will, and merit of works, with the Pelagians. Au­gustine. The Pelagians held Children to be without sin. Aug. contra Jul. lib. 3. cap. 5. So the Church of Rome saith, Concupiscence is no sin. It holds Imagery with the Simonians, Basilidi­ans, and Carpocratians; and with the two latter they secret their Religion, Iren. lib. 1. cap. 23. Epiph. Haeres. 24. It alloweth praying in an unknown tongue with the Osteni, Epiph. Hae­res. 19. It accounteth marriage un­clean, with Tatianus, Hae. 46. and con­demneth wedlock in their Priests, as the Manichees did in their chosen ones, Aug. Ep. 74. With the same Hereticks it useth bread onely in the Communion, Leo Ser. 4. de Quad. and placeth fasting in the destinction of meats, Aug. de Morib. Eccl. & Ma­nich. l. 2. cap. 23. It thinks that all necessary doctrine is not contained in the Scripture, with Montanus, Ep. Haer. 48. It brageth of inherent righteousness, with the Cathari, Isid. Etym. lib. 8. cap. de Haer. Christ: It worshipeth Angels with the Angelici, Aug. ad Quodvult. 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 Cross with the Armenians, Euthimius in Panoplia. Thus in many other points it partaketh with the ancient Hereticks.
On them she puts a fairer Name,
But in effect they are the same.
You raz'd have the foundation
Of all Truth and Religion:
You chang'd have the sincerity
Of all the Grounds of Piety.
As for example, first the Article of Justification, the efficient cause of our Sal­vation and Righteousness, by the Scripture, is Gods Love and Grace onely, 2 Tim. 1.9. Tit. 2.11. Ephes. 1.5. John 3.16. The Papists say, God is moved by our pre­paring works. So held Malvend in his Disputation with Bucer at Ratisbone: so Bonaventure lib. 1. sen. dist. 41. Quaest. 1. Touching the matter of our Justifi­cation, the Scripture propoundeth nothing but Christs obedience, Rom. 5.19. & 10.4. The Papists place our Righteousness before God, in our own works and merits, Con. Trid. s. 6. c. 7. For the form (as Schollars call it) of Justification, it is by the [Page 27] Scriptures, the imputation of Christs Righteousness, 2 Cor. 5.21. The Papists place it in our merits, Rhemist, 2 Tim. 4. s. 4. Secondly, It is a ground of Christian Re­ligion, that the Law cannot be fulfilled by us, and that no man is to expect Righteousness or Salvation by it, Rom. 8.3. Acts 15.10. Gal. 2.15, 16. & 3.10. The Pa­pists maintain, that men may keep the Law, Con. Trid. s. 6. c. 11. Yea, and that they may perform more then the Law binds unto; whence are sprung the works of Superero­gation, and Indulgences, which that Council so highly prizeth, Sess. 21. c. 9. A third ground of Religion overthrown by them, is, that eternal death is due to every sin. This the Scripture avoucheth, Rom. 5.12. & 6.23. Ezek. 18.14. The Papists teach, some sins to be in their own nature pardonable, not deserving death, Con. Trid. ses. 6. c. 11. From which opinion arose Purgatory. A fourth ground of Religion is, the certainty of Salvation; that Believers may be certain of Salvation, is the Doctrine of the Scripture, Rom. 8.38. Heb. 11.1. Luke 10.20. The Papists deny and say, We can but have hope onely, Con. Trid. s. 6. c. 9. And yet therein they confound themselves, for true hope cannot be deceived, Rom. 5.5. It is the Anchor of the Soul, Heb. 6.19. A fifth ground is, that we cannot satisfie God for our least sins: The Scripture ascribeth all satisfaction to Christ, Heb. 1.3. 1 Pet. 2.24. Rev. 1.5. The Papists maintain, that we may and must satisfie, making satisfaction a part of Pe­nance, Con. Trid. s. 14. c. 13. A sixth ground is, That the Scripture contains al Doctrine necessary for our Salvation; so saith the Scripture, 2 Tim. 3.16. & the ancient Church, Aug. lib. 3. cont. lit. Petil. c. 6. and others. The Papists equal Traditions to the Scripture, Con. Trid. s. 4. A seventh ground is, that the knowledge of the Scrip­ture is needful to people unto Salvation, and ought to be read of them; thereto accords the holy Text, John 5.39. Col. 3.16. The Ignorance therein is the cause of all error, Mark 12.24. The Papists forbid the people the use of the Scripture, Rhemists Pre­face; and do all in the Church Service in an unknown Tongue. Eighthly, the Scrip­ture teacheth us to worship God alone, Mat. 4.10. The Papists Worship Angels and Saints, yea their Images and Reliques: their distinction of Latria, and Dulia, will not serve them; for they pray to Creatures, and that is Latria; and they acknowledge that which they call Latria, to be due to the Cross, Tho. p. 3. sum. Quaest. 25. art. 4. and Andrad. lib. 9. Orth. expl. Ninthly, It is the Doctrine of the Scripture, that Christ, [...]ding to his humane Nature, is onely in Heaven, Acts 3.21. Papists say, He is bodily present in the Eucharist, Con. Trid. s. 13. c. 6. Tenthly, Christ or­dained the Communion in both kinds, commanding to do as he did, 1 Cor. 11.24. Pa­pists take the Cup from the Laity, Con. Trid. s. 21. c. 1. Thus, as in these particu­lars, so in many other, it were easie to shew how the Church of Rome hath overthrown the main points of Holy Droctrine, and have nothing left but the name of the Church, and a title and shew of Religion.
Thou fall'st now to a railing vain,
And would'st by this thy Pope maintain:
Leave idle terms, and shew some reason,
Else all these words come out of season.
Shew thou what Sects we do devise,
And wherein we deliver lies;
And prove it so, that all may see,
Lest thou thy self the Lyar be.
Foxes, and Dogs, and Wolves thou nam'st,
And Thieves, wherein thy self thou sham'st:
Or prove all this in us is true,
Else we return it back to you.
They call'd Saint Paul an Heretick,
Acts 24.14.
A Blabler,
Acts 17.18.
and a Schismatick:
Acts 24.5. & 28.22.
They said our Saviour was possest,
John 8.24.
And of his preaching made a Jest.
Luke 16.14.
Yet Paul no Heresie did teach,
Nor in the Church made any breach:
Nor yet our Saviour had a Devil,
He never did or preached evil.
Let Scripture try wherein we erre,
We crave no other Arbiter:
Convict us once by such a Judge,
We will not at your railings grudge:
Now that thy store is almost spent,
Thou com'st t'an old worn Argument:
Where was your Church some years ago,
Before the World did Luther know?
If briefly now I should deny
The Churches Visibility;
It were a word sufficient
To overthrow this prattlement;
Yet this I say, and will maintain,
That even when blindness most did reign,
Our Church a certain being had,
Though not with outward Beauty clad:
Like to that holy portion,
1 Kings 19.18.
In that great superstition,
Which over whelm'd all Israel,
After the Tribes from David
Davids Line.
fell.
Or as some Ears of purer seed,
Amidst a field of noysome weed;
So God had some even at that time,
When Antichrist was in his prime.
And now and then oat brake the Light,
Even in that long and irksome night:
Like as the Sun in lowring days,
Sometime sends forth his glittering Rays.
Long time ere Luther yet was born,
Whom you our Founder name in scorn,
There were which shew'd their enmity
Against your vile Idolatry.
Bertram wrote against Transubstan­tiation, ann. 812. a Bishop of Florence was condemned for teaching that An­tichrist was come, ann. 1114. Arnulph. was murthered in Rome, for preaching against the Pope and his Clergy, anno 1128. Henry, a Monk, of Tolose, was against prayer for the dead, Pilgrimage, Cream, Oyl, &c. anno 1137. Jo. of Sa­lisbury, called the Clergy Pharisees, the Pope, Antichrist, and Rome, Babylon, 1151. Gerard and Dulcimus, which taught the Pope to be Antichrist, were burnt, with 30. more, about the years, 1164, 1165, 1166. The Waldenses, which held in many points against the Pope, were in anno 1167. and after in­creasing in divers places. Almaris a Bishop burnt in Paris, for holding a­gainst Transubstantiation, Images, Al­tars, and praying to Saints, 1206. Ma­ny in Suevia did preach the Pope to be an Heretick in the years 1236, 1237, 38. Grosted, Bishop of Lincoln, wrote against the Pope, anno 1246. Arnold de Nova Villa, against Masses and Sacrifices for the dead taught, that the Popes belief was the Devils belief, ann. 1259. All Histories are full of the like examples: these few may serve for a taste, to satisfie an indifferent reader, and to stop their mouths, who say, none were heard of, of our Religion and Church till Luther.
But now the Lord hath let us see
Your Antichrists deformity:
That all men might him fully know,
Before his final Overthrow.
Our Pastor chief
1 Pet. 5.4.
in Heaven did sit,
And so doth still, saith holy Writ:
Acts 4.21.
On earth, Universal Priest,
None dare be call'd but Antichrist.
Gregory the Great, a Bishop of Rome, said, that who­so calleth himself, or desireth to be called Universal Bishop, is the fore-runner of Antichrist, Epist. ad Eulogium. lib. 7.
He that our Church and Keys had sought,
By tokens in the Scripture taught,
Our Church and Keys he might have found,
Even when the World was most unsound.
Building of Churches nothing makes
For that which here thou undertakes:
For then commend Demetrius,
Who builded Shrines at Ephesus.
Acts 19.24.
Well may the heathen People boast
Of Piramees and Churches cost:
In Houses made, God doth not dwell,
As holy Scripture doth us tell.
Acts 7.48.
Yet neither all the Churches here,
Erected by the Papists were:
Nor are by us abolished
Places where God is worshipped.
If private men have evil done,
For it blame not Religion?
Those men that do Church-spoyling love,
Our Faith and Church doth not approve.
Those Cells and Dens of Idleness,
And Nurseries of Wickedness,
Upon good causes were displac'd,
As Baals Temples were defac'd.
2 Kings 10.
Touching Luthers Marriage.
A lawless Vow
It is well called a lawless Vow, be­cause it is of a thing which is not in mans power. If it be said that by fa­sting and prayer it may be performed, and continency obtained; I answer, the gifts of God are two-fold: Some com­mon to all Believers, as Faith, &c. Some peculiar to some onely, as this of Continency: Now, if by fasting and prayer we labour for the first sort, we shall in some measure receive them: but we have 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 sin, but to persist in it, is a double evil.
of single life,
Luther well brake, and took a wife.
Better the pure and spotless Bed,
[...], Heb. 13.4.
Then by unclean lusts to be led.
1 Cor. 7.9.
Better the married Chastity,
Papists do oppose marriage and cha­stity; but Paul bids young women to be chast, and subject to their Husbands, Tit. 2.4, 5.
Then violent Virginity:
They ought not single to remain,
Who are not gifted to contain.
1 Cor. 7.9.
Wedlock it self cannot defile,
It hath an honourable stile:
Heb. 13.4.
God doth it not to each man give,
Without the Marriage Bonds to live.
Mat. 19.11. And it is allowed to a Bishop to be the Husband of one Wife, 1 Tim. 3.2.
The forced vows of singleness,
Have brought forth beastly filthiness:
Thou maist behold in History,
The fruits of Monkish Lechery.
There were 6000. Infants heads found in Pope Gregories Mote, as ap­pears by the letter of Volutianus, Bi­shop of Carthage, or as some think, of Huldericus (Bishop of Augusta) to Pope Nicholas: against the forbidding of Priests marriage.
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 see
How Christ his death hath made us free,
Then did he deem it slavery
To bear the Romish Tyranny.
Though Antichrist did Rome possess,
Who kept the Scriptures.
You kept the Scriptures I confess:
And in that long Apostacy,
Those Books were in your custody.
So I a Pirate false have known,
To keep the Goods were not his own;
And in the Ship to rule and raign,
When the right Owner hath been slain.
So did the Jewish Synagogue,
Safely keep Moses Decalogue,
And th' other Books,
Viz. The Prophets and Psalms, for so is the old Testament divided, Moses the Prophets, and Psalms, Luk. 24.44.
when cruelly
They did Christ Jesus crucifie.
Touching the calling of Ministers.
The Pastors which did first restore
The truth which long lay hid before,
Thereto were called lawfully,
And even 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 swear,
That to the Faith they should adhere,
And never should Errors endure,
That were against the Doctrine pure.
That whereunto you did them call,
Full well they have performed all:
Truth they have sought to propagate,
And Heresies to ruinate.
As we account your Baptism true,
And never do the same renew:
Yet it followeth not hereupon that Rome is a true Church: There is in the Papacy a certain hidden Church, and to it that Sacrament appertains. Cir­cumcision was used of old, even among the Samaritans.
So may you make a lawful Priest,
Yet be not the pure Church of Christ:
We know that now you wiser be,
And swear your Priests to Popery,
In their Oaths and Admissions, they put in this clause, (The Catholick and Apostolick Church of Rome) which in elder times was not used.
And bind them to maintain the state
Of your three-crowned Potentate.
See now (O Papist) thou recant,
Th' art answer'd by a Protestant.
I counsel thee, if thou be wise,
No new evasions to devise.
Thy tale of Ethelbert of Kent,
Is but a slender Argument:
It is also answered before.
It skills not whence the Faith was brought,
Or who it first amongst us taught.
Let us into the Scriptures look,
Esay 8.20.
And duly search
John 5.39. Acts 17.11.
that holy Book:
Thence shall we know wch Church to leave,
And unto which alone to cleave.
We have found Christ in the Scrip­tures, there we must also find the Church, Aug. de Pastoribus.
Those swelling words
2 Pet. 2.18.
of Unity,
Succession, and Antiquity,
Are but poor groundless fantasies,
To blind the simple peoples eyes,
Though that an Angel thou shouldst see,
Let him (saith Paul) accursed be,
Gal. 1.8.
If from the Scripture he doth erre,
Account him not Gods Minister.
If one arise, and wonders show,
Seeking the truth to overthrow,
Though that might seem a motive strong,
Yet unto him death doth belong.
Deut. 13.1, 2, 5.
If threescore Bishops here, and three,
Have been with us successively,
It either proves our Church is true,
Or else that mark makes nought for you.
That Faith for which Peter was slain,
Our English Church doth still retain:
We hear the Voice of CHRIST JESU,
John 10.27.
Who is the SON of GOD most true.
FINIS.

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