Sermon Preached 14 February 1607, Part 10
The tenth Wound.
TWo or three hundred yeares agoe,(19) The tenth wound. The Pope may giuegive Indulgences for 20000. yeers & grant men power to redeeme soules out of Purgatorie. the Popes indulgences did growe to that height of rotten ripenesse, that all men of vnderstanding, euen of his owne brood, were ashamed of it: and many a one of the wiser sort, euen in these mystie times, did see & laugh at the nakednesse of Poperie in that point; the excesse whereof grew so great, as they cannot denie but it gaue at last an occasion of LVTHERS reuolte from them. There is a Manuscript extant, written some two hundred yeares agoe, and another not much differing from it, some 130. yeares ago printed at Rome, containing a catalogue only of those Indulgences belonging to the parish Churches of Rome, amongst which (they say) are 7. principall: let vsus but consider of some fewyHe that wāts this book let him look in Hospinian de Templis. lib. 2. c. 28. pag. 348. editonis Ti…ur 603. where he sh…ll finde both mention of the booke & a particular recitall of a great part of it..
In the Laterane Church, it is granted thus by Pope Boniface; If any Pilgrime come for deuotion to this Church, he shall be absolued from all his sinnes. And in the Chappel there called sanctum sanctorum there is full and true remission of all sinne …. And one day in the yeare, which is the day of the dedication of the Church, there is full remission of all sinnes both a poena & culpa: and this Indulgence is so certaine (saith the booke) that when the Pope first pronounced it, the Angells in the hearing of all the people said Amen.Angels say Amen, to the Popes indulgences: but they shold first proue, that God saith Amē to them; for else the Angels will not, vnlesse it be the euill Angels.
If these things bee true, then it is strange that all Papists in the world are not saued: for hee that hath full remission of al sinnes, both à poena & culpa, dying in that state cannot bee damned. And certainely, hee that for the obtaining thereof, will not take the pains to visite that Church one day in a yeer, is not worthy of saluation.
In Saint Peters Church, there bee euerie daie eight and fortie yeeres of pardon, which is in one yeere aboue fifteene thousand yeeres: Euerie daie of the Annuntiation there bee one thousand yeeres; and hee that with deuotion goeth vp Saint Peters staires, hath for eueryevery step seuen yeeres of pardon. Surely purgatorie paines are not so fearefull as they beare the worlde in hand; if going vp two and twenty-steppes may purchase releasement of a hundred & fifty yeeres thereof. And if these seeme too little, Alexander the Pope like a liberall Lord opens his treasure, & giues to eueryevery steppe a thousand yeares: So that now there is not a Papist in the world that needes to bee in Purgatorie one day except hee will:XXij. thousand yeers of pardō grāted for going vp 2…. steps If the Pope say true in this, no Papist neede to come in purgatory. For, for going vp twenty two steppes with deuotion, he may be released out of Purgatory, for two and twenty thousand yeeres: and I hope they do not think the World will last so long, and Purgatory (they say) ends with the World.
Further,Three doores of one Church in Rome of so great vertue that whosoeuer goeth through them shall bee as free from sinne as when he was newly baptized. whosoeuer will go through the 3. doores of the Laterane Church, shal be as free from al his sins as hee was the houre hee was baptized. Likewise at the Altar in Saint Peters Church, there bee xiiii. thousand yeeres of pardon and deliuerance of one soule out of Purgatorie.
And in the Church of Saint Lawrence, whosoeuer visiteth that Church eueryevery Thursday for a yeere, and sits vponupon the stone wheron Saint Lawrence was broiled,Oh what a great power, the Pope hath, who can giuegive power to another so easily to deliuer soules out of purgatory. shall deliuer one soule out of Purgatory.
And in the Church of saint Iohn, at the gate called Porta Latina, a man either by saying a Masse, or causing it to bee said, may deliuer one soule out of Purgatorie.
Are these true?How easie purgatory might be emptied by Popish doctrine. then why is there one soule left in purgatory? or else where is the charity of the Papistes (which they so much bragge of) seeing so easilie they may deliuer so many thousand soules out of purgatorie in one yeare? Certainely, if these be true as they be written, then granting that there is a purgatory, it might soone be emptied.
But if it bee false, fabulous and friuolous, and hath no other end but to mock poore people and to suck out their siluer; then what a Religion is that which maintaines such dealings? especially seeing this is not the deede of any priuate men, but of the Popes themselues: nor a few, but euen all since Boniface the eight.
Thus we hauehave searched deep into a foule and filthy wound. Now what remaines? but to see if it bee healed yet, or no.20The tenth wound not healed, but groweth more desperate and deadly to this day.
But alas, Babylon will not be healed: for as they feared not to put these tricks vponupon the people, 100. and 200. yeares agoe, in the times of superstition; so hauehave they presumed euen still in these daies of light to do the like. And as the whoore is shamelesse in her sinne, so is this whore of Babylon in her impiety; for she hath not at all amended this enormity, nor in any sort reformed it, but rather lets it grow from bad, to worse. For euidence whereof, let any man read Onuphrius Pauvinius zVide Oauphrium Pauuinium, de praecipuis vrbis Romae sanctioribus b…silicis quas septem Ecclesias vulgo vocant Colon. 1584. passim., who not past 24. yeares ago, hath written (with publike authority) a booke to this very purpose of the seuen principal Churches of Rome, and of the indulgences belonging to them; wherin al that is deliuered before is auerred, & much more added: some part whereof I would put downe, saue for that it may be reserued to a further purpose and fitter opportunity. And for better euidence, that as yet she hath not, so shee purposeth neuer to heale vp this wound; within these two yeares they hauehave allowed & published with authoritie, the pilgrimage or voyages of Seigneur Villamont, aLes voyages du S…de Villamont diuisez en…trois livies: derniere edition, reueuce & augmē …ee &c. A. Ar…as. 1605. vide (inter alia) ibrum 1 cap. 12. &c., one of the Gentlemen of the French Kings Chamber; wherein the poore deceiued Gentleman, out of his superstitious deuotion hauing visited all those Churches, and made himselfe (as he saith) blessed by being partaker of all the indulgences thereto belonging; & hauing ascended those holie staires to euerie steppe whereof belong a thousand yeeres of pardon: after all, returning home at last much poorer, but nothing wiser then hee went, he wrote a book of his voyage and pilgrimage to Ierusalem: and taking Rome in his way, he describes at large the Indulgences granted of old, and at this day in force, to the Churches in Rome. Which book (being written in French) whosoeuer list to reade, will soon confesse, that in this wound the Romish Babylon is not yet healed.