The Ancient Faith of the Romans and the Romish Religion, Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII.
AND becauſe the Apoſtle maketh his praiers and requeſtes ſometime for the Romans, I thinke it not amiſſe to conſider of his petitions that he maketh, that we may ſee whether heerein the Church of Rome doe follow his godly example, or in his prayſes and thankeſgiuinges to God for his benefites towards them.Praying to God onelyonly. Which his prayers and thankeſgiuinges if we doe marke, are directed onelyonly vntounto God, in the name of Chriſt for other mediatour hee did not Knowe but onelyonly one mediatour of God and man, 1. Tim. 2. 5.the man Chriſt Ieſus. Rom. 1. 9.He taketh God to witneſſe of the continuall mention that he maketh of them in his prayers. And why doth he call God to witneſſe thereof, but becauſe hee prayed to him he deſireth that God of patience and comfort will giuegive them on mind,Rom. 15. 5. and that The God of peace (will) cruſh Sathan vnderunder their feete. Hee willeth them to pray for him to God not to any other,Rom. 16. 20. Helpe me, or ſtriue with me by prayers to God for mee. Rom. 15. 30.And in his thankeſgiuings. I thanke my God through Ieſus Chriſt for you all. And againe To God onelyonly wiſe be glory through Ieſus Chriſt foreuer. The Apoſtle Saint Peter bleſſeth God the Father of our Lorde Ieſus Chriſt. Rom. 1. 8.For as the prophet Dauid ſaith, I hauehave lift vp mine eies vntounto the hils, Rom. 16. 27.from whence commeth my helpe, 1. Pet. 1. 3.my helpe commeth from the Lord that made heauen and earth, Pſal. 121. 12.The Godly know no other helpe but God, and therefore pray to none but him, neither are thankefull to any but to him, when they hauehave receiued any benefit. And for this cauſe, Chriſt when he woulde hauehave a ſupply of victuals,Mark. 6. 41. to reléeue them that followed him and were hungry, Hee looking vp to heauen bleſſed as S. Marke reporteth.Mark. 7. 34. And ſo he looked vp to heauen likewiſe when he would cure him that was deafe and dumme.Math. 6. 9. For he who teaching vsus to pray, inſtructeth vsus to ſay Our Father which art in heauen, doth by this his geſture, teach vsus to lift our handes and eies, and heartes vntounto heauen, to looke for helpe from our heauenly Father. To him he prayeth Abba Father, Mark. 14. 36.all thinges are poſſible vntounto thee, take away this cup from me. And a little before he did yéelde vp the Ghoſt:Mark. 15. 34. My God, my God why haſt thouforſaken me? The whole ſcriptures agrée with this that héere is taught. They are full of commaundementes wherein we are charged to call vponupon God in the day of our trouble; full of examples of the Godly, that make requeſtes to God onelyonly: full of thankeſgiuings, wherein the faithfull acknowledge that eueryevery good & perfect gifte commeth from aboue from the Father of lightes,Iac. 1. and therefore they are moued to ſay with Dauid, O giuegive thankes vntounto the Lord, for he is gratious, his mercy endureth for euer. Yea what way ſo euer we turne ourſelues or what good thing ſo euer we conſider in our ſelues, we muſt confeſſe, that all that we acknowledge our ſelues bound to be thankfull for, is giuen vsus of God. Whether life or liuing, thinges temporall or eternall, or whatſoeuer other bleſſing. And therefore to him onelyonly muſt we make our prayers, for that we want: to him onelyonly muſt we giuegive thankes, for that we hauehave. And ſuch are the prayers that were made in the auncient Church of Rome. Yea ſuch are the prayers of all the godly through out the ſcriptures. And this was the faith of Rome alſo in the daies of Iuſtin the Martyr who liued at Rome. For he writing againſt Tryphon the Iewe, or conferring with him of religion, out of theſe words of the Pſalms,Colloq. cum Trypho. Thou art my God, departe not from me ſaith thus. He teacheth that eueryevery man muſt repoſe his truſt in God, and aſke for health and helpe of him. So that as the Apoſtle did, ſo Iuſtinus teacheth vsus that we ſhould doe. I might to this end hauehave a whole cloud of witneſſes, out of the Fathers of the purer age of the Church: but becauſe I will not be tedious in ſo plaine a matter, I content my ſelfe with that one place out of Tertullian Aske and ye ſhall hauehave, De preſcript ad Haereticos.is ſpoken to ſuch as know of whom they ſhould aske, that is of him that hath promiſed anything, euen of the God of Abraham, Iſaac, & Iacob. And for the doctrine of mediation this onelyonly will I ſay out of S. Auguſtine, That he only that maketh interceſſion for al, and none for him, is the true Mediatour. Contra Epiſtol. perueniam Donat. cap.For as he inferreth afterwards, If Paul had beene a Mediatour, then other alſo his fellow Apoſtls ſhould hauehave beene Mediatours likewiſe. And if there ſhould hauehave bin many, then Paul himſelf had no reaſon to ſay one God, one Mediatour between God & man, the man Chriſt Ieſus. Thus we ſée that S. Auguſt. confuting the auncient heretiks called the Donatiſts, who made other Mediators beſids Chriſt doth euen by the ſame weapons, yea with the ſame blow beat downe our aduerſaries the Romiſh Catholickes and giueth their doctrine of many Mediatours a deadly wound.
But the Romiſh Church that now is, as in all things els, they frame vntounto themſelues newe opinions, ſo heere alſo they hauehave forſaken the old waies, yea they hauehave committed two euils, they hauehave forſaken God,Ier. 2. 13. the fountaine of liuing waters, to digge to themſelues pittes, broken pittes, that will holde no water. And we need not heerein examine their doctrine: their practiſe doth ſufficiently ſhew and proue,Vowes to the Saintes. what blaſphemies and ſuperſtitions that Church cheriſheth, In perils and dangers by ſea and by land, they will vowe and promiſe, offerings and giftes, which if they eſcape they will alſo performe to ſuch ſaintes as they vowed vntounto. For eueryevery ſickenes they had, and in that Romiſh kingdome, of more then Aegyptical darkenes, they yet hauehave a peculiar Saint, to whome they would call for helpe. Yea eueryevery beaſt had their leach among them, and their very pigs were not without their Saint Anthonie. Honour to Images.In eueryevery Church they had their Images, before which they kneeled, they knockt, they crept, they prayed, they ſwete, thy cenſed, they offered and did before them as much outwarde honour, as they would or coulde doe to GOD himſelfe. In their names woulde they dedicate Churches and Chappels, thereby the rather to binde them to heare them when they pray, and helpe them when they ſtand in need. And whereas that pattern of prayer that Chriſt hath deliuered, teacheth vsus onelyonly to pray to him, whom we may call Father, and ſay Our Father which art in heauen, yet theſe Romiſh Rabbies (in heauenly matters as blind as beetels) can very well ſuffer the people,Our father to hee Saints & ſhee Saints. nay they teach them to ſay that prayer, before eueryevery Image not of men onelyonly, but of women alſo. What madneſſe is this (if it were lawfull to pray vntounto Saintes, which is in trueth a greate diſhonoring of God, and manifeſtly againſt the commaundement) to kneele before the Image of Saint Mary the mother of Chriſt, or Mary Magdalen, or any other woman ſaying Our Father to them? If they coulde heare vsus, woulde not they thinke we were mad? Or in like manner kneeling before the Images of Saint Iohn, Saint Peter or any man to ſay to them,1. Cor. 14. 1…. Hayle Mary full of grace? Can wee thinke this to bee according to the rule that Saint Paule giueth to pray in ſpirite, and vnderſtanding? And yet theſe were their wordes that they muſt powre out before eueryevery Idoll, their beades did teach them to mumble vp ſo many creedes, ſo many Aue maries, ſo many pater noſters. Their pardons and indulgencies require the like order. God himſelfe coulde hauehave no more of them then ſuch ſtuffe as they had learned to reckon or ſcore vp on their beades, and the meaneſt Saint ſhould hauehave no leſſe. Yea the learneder ſorte, yet among other their prayers, muſt ſalute God himſelf if at any time they would pray vntounto him or Saint Peter or any other he Saint with Hayle Mary. Hayle Mary to Hee Saints.Fie vponupon ſuch brutiſh and beaſtly blindnes, whereby men and women are ſo beſotted,Pſal. 109. 7. that they doe not onelyonly powre forth vaine prayers that are turned into ſinne, wherein they can finde no comfort, becauſe they ſeek it not of him that can help, but alſo abuſe moſt fooliſhly the Lords Prayer which onelyonly belongeth to our heauenly Father, yet they will pray with it before eueryevery their Saints men or women. Well their prayers then we ſee are too abſurd. So are their thankeſgiuinges as before I ſaide, in that they yeeld all praiſe and glory of their deliuerance, not to God onelyonly who onelyonly hath wrought it, but to their Idols of whom they asked it. As for Mediator we hauehave none but Chriſt, we ſhould know none but Chriſt: I know not (ſaith Saint Auguſtine) what other interceſſour to ſende to thee,Meditat. cap. … but him onelyonly that is the propitiation for our ſinne. And afore what greater comfort, then to moue the father to pity by remembring his ſonne. He was figured by the high prieſt in Moſes his Lawe. He onelyonly offered the peoples offeringes, he onelyonly entred into the moſt holy place, to teach vsus to content our ſelues with one onelyonly Mediatour which is Chriſt. Where learned our Romiſh Catholicks to pray to any other then vntounto God? Where learned they to ſeeke for other mediatours? We ſee the auncient faith of the Romans, hath no ſuch commandement, no ſuch patterne or example to follow, but the contrary. Let not then from henceforth the Romiſh Catholicks, brag of the auncient Roman faith, for they hauehave it not, they hauehave chaunged well neere eueryevery poynt of it, they hauehave made it almoſt all new, ſo that in the Romiſh Church that now is, there remayneth not ſo much in a manner as a ſhadow thereof.