Popish Glorying in Antiquity Turned to their Shame, Chapter 1
CHAPTER I. Of Antiquitie, and the severall sorts there-of.
1. OF SCRIPTURE.
AGe is a Crovvne of Glorie, (sayeth the Wyse) when it is found in the way of Righteousnesse: and, Aske for the olde way, which is the good waye, is a wholesome counsell: For if we speake of ANTIQUITIE in the Superlatiue, wee may positiuelie affirme, Quod Antiquissimum est, est verissimum; & quod verissimum est, est tutissimum: That that which is most ancient, is truest; and that which is moste true, is moste sure. Therefore, Gods affirmatiue Trueth to Eva…, was prior to Satans negatiue Lie, Non moriemini, Yee shall not die: And therefore ever since, after the Beraeans exemple, To the Law, and to the Testimonie, hath beene the soundest directorie. Neyther must rash credulitie (as that of the young Prophets) against the warrand which wee hauehave out of Gods owne mouth,1. Kings 13. induce vsus, so to hearken to Gray hairs, as they anie way seduce vsus. Neyther was it a sufficient warrand for the Pharisaicall doctrine in our Saviours tyme, that it was sayd of olde: but the true Touch-stone, where-to wee are taught to reduce each thing for reformation, is to that, Quod fuit ab initio, which was from the beginning. Divine Institution being onelie lyke the First-borne, to whom, as Primacie in order, so Supremacie of authoritie, as the excellencie of Dignitie, and prerogatiue of Strength is sole and onelie competent.
This is that which Peter calleth the moste sure worde; which as it came from Heaven by inspiration, & leadeth to Heaven by direction: so hath it ever beene guarded by Heaven, by powerfull protection. And as by it the manner of Gods worship, as by a patterne, hath bene formed and prepared: so hauehave the aberrations there-frae, and decay there-of,2. Chron. 31.21.35. beene ever reformed, and repared.
This is the Christians Non ultra, No further; whose comprehension & Consummatum, Accomplishment, (as it is in Scripture,) So doeth the Soule solie borrow light, (as the Moone from the Sunne,) and onelie from Scripture: Gods word there-in onlie resounding, His enlightning beams there-in onelie shyning, His will being there-in fullie revealed, and His whole counsell clearlie detected. So that as the sole rule of Religion wee doe embrace it, and as the perfect patterne on the Mount we doe proclaime it: although our Adversaries would seeme to supply a def…ct there-in, partlie by Apocryphall Writings, against all Antiquitie, and partlie by sophisticating the sound sense there-of, with vnwritten veritie: the glorious light where-of they woulde lyke-wyse obfuscate, with an vnknowne tongue, against all authoritie, and the comfortable knowledge wherof, by an impious prohibition they with-holde from their Laitie.
2. Of Councels and Fathers.
NExt vntounto Sacred Scripture, wee reverence Councels, Bell. lib. 1. de Concil. cap. 5. in fine.and Fathers of the primitiue Church: and therefore Bellarmine granteth, that we receiue the first sixe Councels: which we account as Subjects at the right hand (lyke Bathsheba) beside the Throne, but will not place them in the Throne, (lyke Salomon himselfe) giving the Priviledge of foreign foreign not vntounto them, but to their GOD and ours.Iohn 4.42. And as the Samaritanes, believing them not so much because they sayde it, as that we find their speach, lyke the Womans, agree with Christes wordes: and therefore take not their sentences as a Law, but as they homologate with the Law,Isai 8.22. and are tryed by the Testimonie.
How-so-ever then wee account them Fathers to vsus, yet wee esteeme them sonnes and subjectes to the Trueth it selfe: and that wee are no further bound to follow them, than Paul willed the Corinthians to be followers of him:1. Cor. 11.1. And therefore, as Orpah left Naomi, Ruth 1.when she left Midian: or as Augustine left Cyprian before him, when hee, and a whole Councell, left Scripture, concerning Re-baptizing. So we may leaue them lawfullie, when they leaue the Trueth erringlie, else, why are not the Papists them-selues Millenaries, Quae opinio, Bell. lib. 3 de Pont. cap. 17. §. hac.fuit multorum Veterum, Which was the opinion of many of the Ancients, sayeth their Grand Bellarmine.
Wee may not, therefore, sacrifice to the paynes of Man, what is due onelie to the pen of the Spirit: nor as if gods had come downe, in the shape of men, as the people of Lystra thought Paul and Barnabas, dare we giuegive to them that supreame honour of absolute beliefe, as to the mouth of God: but must with saint Ierome distinguish wyselie of the persons, and with saint Augustine discerne warilie of their payns: Ierome saying of the one, Scio me aliter habere Apostolos, Hieron. epist. 62 cap. 2.aliter reliquos tractatores, illos semper vera dicere, istos in quibusdam ut homines aberrare: I know I respect the Apostles one way, and other entreaters of matters another: the one, as those that ever speak truth; the others, as men in some things subject to errour. And Augustine saying of the other,August. de beno pers…v. c. 2. Neminem velim sic amplecti omnia mea, ut me sequatur, nisi in iis, in quibus me non errare perspexerit, I would hauehave no man so to embrace all my writings and sayings, that he should follow mee, but in those things in which he knoweth well that I am free from errour. So that they them-selues subject their worke to the fyerie tryall of the Spirit, their building to the measuring Reede of the Temple; their speach, to the Law and Testimonie; their Coyne, to the Ballance of the Sanctuarie; and tho never so skilfull for the worke of the LORDS Tabernacle, like Bezaleel & Aholiab, yet must their cunning bee lyable to the canon of Scripture, and their labours levelled according to that patterne, whereby no more indignitie is done so, to their venerable persons, nor worthie paines, and happie memories,Iohn 5.39. than CHRIST wished to be done to his heavenlie Speaches; or the Baereans did to the Apostles Preachings. And in a word, Reserving to GOD, and sacred inspyred Scripture, their prerogatiue royall, wee protest, that wee afford as much authoritie, as Pietie will permit, Reason require, Equitie admit, or themselues doe desire. So farre are wee from vilifying Antiquitie, disdaining the Fathers, contemning of Councels, or rejecting their Authorities, as most impiouslie we are belied, and more duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page impudentlie slandered, by those who are of alike temper in their Faces,Daniel, 2. as Nebuchadnezar's Image was in his yron legs, being suteable of a whorish fore-head, that cannot bee ashamed, who are the supporters of that Whoore of Babylon.
While as they (as shalbe showne God-willing) eyther contradict openlie, castrate craftilie, vilifie disdainfullie▪ reject contumeliouslie, corrupt wilfullie, counterfeit audaciouslie, or glose shameleslie, and slander injuriouslie, not onelie Fathers severallie, but the most innocent proceedings in the first, and most famous, Councels.
3. Of Historie.
ANd as for Histories, the Vnfolder of Prophecie, the Light of Times, the Lyfe of Memorie, the Eternizer of Actions, the Glasse of Sufferings, & Detecter of Trueth, wee admit the same more than our Adversaries, & dimit them as probable Witnesses, with farre lesse Injurie: wherein wee clearlie see, that Sainct Peter and his true Successours, were never more busie to found Re…igion, than his pretended Successours at Rome hauehave bene there-after to confound Religion, & on the ruines thereof to ground their usurpation: which made their owne Author of Fasciculus temporum, to cry out,F. 49. defecit sanct… as primitiv…, & di…in…tae sunt veritate…: that is, Primitiue holinesse was ecclipsed, and verit…es were impared. of the 900. yeare of GOD, that in that most wicked time, and in the Papall Seat, both Pietie and Veritie was altogether decayed: and Platina to say, Quod eo tum Pontificatus devenerat ut qui plus largitione & ambitione valeret, is tantummodo dignitatis gradum bonis oppressis & rejectis obtineret: that is, that at that time the Popedome came to that passe, that hee who was able to doe most by bryberie and ambition, good men being borne downe and rejected, did onlie obtaine the place of honour.
Thus is made plaine the falling of that Starre from Heaven,Revelation, 9. to whome was given, the Key of the bottomlesse Pit: Thus did that Beast rise out of the Earth, horned like the Lambe, but speaking lyke the Dragon, and aspire both to such matchlesse power, and pompous pryde: Thus began that Whoore to sit on manie Waters, and that Mother of Harlots to make the Earth drunke, with the Wine of her Fornications, beeing drunke her selfe with the Blood of the Saincts.
Thus out of cleare Storie we see, how what budded both in Demas and Diotrephes, had its perfection in the Apex of the Papacie; never ceasing, till that which before was a preaching Church, became thereafter a pompous Court: and those whose Predecessours were made Martyres, became themselues, by cruell massacring, Martyr-makers. So that as in the first period of the Church, there was trueth and patient suffering, (against Satans force) with holie simplicitie; and in the second there was learned and pithie wrestling (against Satans fraud) by errour and Heresie: So in the third poysonable corruption, entred in the Romane Church by Pelfe and Pryde, Mammon and Monarchie: till at last Sodomiticall ease and fulnesse of Bread, bred tyrannous securitie: which being joyned with Craftinesse and obstinacie, doth now with bloodie crueltie and impudencie, fill vp the Cup, and summe vp the Mysterie.
All which is made manifest by their owne Friends and Favourers, who, howsoever they be the brood of their Bowels, yet like Vipers, who discover the bowels of their venomous Mother; so these declare the lamentable decay of the light of religious Trueth, vnderunder the cloud of Papacie; and the worlds dolefull declyning, to that palpable and mistie darknesse of ignorance and Apostacie. They likewise detect the Schismes and Simonies of the Romane Church, the pride and prevailing of that Apostaticke Synagogue, the craft and crueltie of that brutish Beast, the licentious luxurie of that lustfull Harlot, the cloaked hypocrisie of that false Prophet, with the damnable entries, desperate liues, & dreadfull deathes of those men of Sinne: Sometimes a Whoore possessing the Seate of that Whoore of Babylon, as wee reade of Pope Ioane: Sometimes a Whoore obtaining that Seate to her filthie Whoore-master, as wee reade of Theodora, advancing Iohn X. Sometimes the Whoorish Bastard of a Pope, and a Whoore sitting therein, as Iohn XI. procreated betweene Sergius III. and Marozia, Meretrix famosissima, a most notorious Whoore, (sayeth Onuphrius.) Sometimes by Monsters for filthinesse, and all sort of Vice, as Iohn XII. Steven VII. Sylvester III. Bennet IX. Sometimes entring by pactiō with the Devill, as Sylvester II. Sometimes by Simonie, or violent intrusion, as wee see was common, by Histories consent:Pla…ina in vit…a Syla. 3. and sometimes by such craftie cousenage, as wee see in Boniface VIII. who entred lyke a Foxe, lived like a Lyon, and died like a Dog,Fasc. temp. f. 49. & 59. saith their owne Fasciculus.
All these Witnesses of their owne wee produce faithfullie, wee desire them to bee heard indifferentlie, acknowledging their pens by GODS providence to hauehave beene guided carefullie, and for them wee thanke the LORD for their detection of veritie. But how they are of late belied in their Works, disgraced in their Writs, rejected in their Testimonies, and vilified by our Adversaries, the Reader may heereafter see, and the peruser consider.