Sermon Preached 14 February 1607, Part 19
The ninteenth Wounde.
IT hath bin long ago laid to their charge39The 19. wound: Their Liturgy is full of blasphemie: their Legend full of lies, their Ceremonies of superstition. that their Liturgies are full of idolatry and blasphemies, their Legends full of lies, their Ceremonies of superstition: which I will not at this time (beeing almost past) stand particularly to prooue; seeing for their Liturgie and Ceremonies, the Pope himselfe, *Vide Bullas Clem. & de Pontificali, anno 9…. & de Ceremoniali anno. 1600.or else his Conuenticle at TrentfVide Cōcil Triden… Sess. vlt. Dec. 4. hauehave granted it, and pretended that they should bee reformed; and touching their liues of Saints and their Legends, a greate Doctor of their own long agoe found them so full of ridiculous absurdities, impieties and vntruths, that he affirmed him to be a mangLudouicus Vi…es. lib. 2. de Caus. corrupt. art. de Lūbardica historia. of a brazen face, and a leaden heart that wrote them. Now al these three sorts of bookes are in shew reformed of late: but the truth is, there is neuer a material vvound healed, but rather a number made worse.
1. For their Liturgy and seruice either publike or priuate, it is cōtained in their books called, Missalia, Breuiaria, Officia, Manualia, Portiforia, and such other: all these hauehave beene reuiewed, and (as they say) corrected since the Councell of Trent.hVide Bullas Pontif. praefixas. Missal. & Breuiareditionis 70. & post. But let them be examined and compared together, & I dare say, that for one euil taken out there is another put in, and tenne stand vnremooued, and that both in diuers pictures, as also for points of doctrine, they are as ill as the former,iCompare for this end the Missals, breuiaries Manuals & Primeri, printed before the Councel of Trēt, with those printed since. at the least.
2. Their Ceremonies of state, or as they say, of deuotion, are contained in the bookes called, Pontificale Romanum, and Ceremoniale Romanum kAdde heereunto also their Processionale, Rationale, and Sacerdotale Romanum.: wherin what apish to yes there be, what absurdities, what superstitions, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes impious, is incredible to them that see it not: insomuch as some Papists,lVide Epistolam Alberti Castellani ad Leonem 10. praefiram Pō t…f… vlt edit. Vene…. yea the later Popes,mVide Bullas praed. Clem. 8. hauehave not spared to confesse that they need great reformation, and therefore vndertooke that worke thēselues. But if a man did see how they hauehave amended them, they would out of this one (if there were no more euidences) conclude, that Rome is that Babylon that will neuer bee healed: for looke into the Pontificale, and the Ceremoniale; which were reformed, and are indeed much altered by the authoritie of Clement the eightth and printed at Rome within these few yeeres; and you shall finde some small deformities taken away, but many greate enormities suffered to stand, & some put in that were not that there before:nCompare for this end the Pō tificale and Ceremoniale, new and old. which I will not stand at this time to particularise,(40) The 19. wound not healed: for al these are as bad still, as afore. both because the particulars are so manie, and also for that, seeing the bookes beeing so rare are not for each mans reading, it may hap heereafter that the exact comparison of them together, the old with the new, may be a work of it self not vnworthy of some mens labours.
3.*These were read in the Churches when the Scriptures were kept out. Their stories, or tales, are comprised in the bookes called, Speculum exemplorum. Vitae Sanctorū, Legēda, Festiualia, &c. These also are lately reformed as they pretend. But how? If any would know what is done herein, take but one exāple. The Iesuites in the Low countries, pretending these Legends or stories needed much reformation, tooke the matter vponupon themselues, because it was of greate waight and consequence, and appointed it to some of their societie to be reformed, and now of la…e they hauehave published it at Doway, some two or three yeeres agoe, & would make vsus beleeue that it is amended in innumerable places.oVide librū intitulatum: Magnum speculum exemplorum, ab innumeris mē dis, &c. vindicatum per quendam Patrem è societate Iesu & per eundem locupletatū: Duaci. anno 1605. But if any man hauehave lost any time in turning ouer their Legends, and perusing the prodigious stories there laid downe, let him venture euen a little more, and compare this new reformed Speculum exemplorum, with the former; and if hee finde as impious and ridiculous Legends, as improbable, and as impossible tales in that, as in the other; thē let him make report what good reformers the Iesuites bee, and how well the Romish Church is healed in this wound.pTo this end compare the old Speculum exē plorum or the Legend with the new Magnum speculū exemplorum, set out by the lesuites this last yeere. The conclusion is, that the Missals and Breuiaries, though vndertaken by Trent; the Pontificall & Ceremoniale, though vndertaken by the Pope; the Legend and Speculum, though vndertaken by the Iesuites, and all in shew reformed; yet stand all at this day as foule and deformed, and though some things bee taken out, yet (all laid together) as bad or worse then they were afore.
These straits of time hinder me from inlarging my selfe any further: therfore to conclude, and wrap vp all in one generalll exception: