Sermon Preached 14 February 1607, Part 2
The second Wounde.
ALmost two hundred yeares agoe, hee did with publicke authoritie and after long examination, by a great Cardinall*This Cardinall was Iohannes de turre cremata: as appears in the prefaces before the booke of the Reuelations of S. Brigit. and other Commissioners, approue and after suffred to be published to the world, a booke in latine, called The Reuelations of Saint Brigite.
Where it is dogmatically deliuered & as a matter without question, That Pope Gregory by his prayers lifted the heathen Emperour Traiane out of hell: and another long afore, (whom they pretend also to bee theirs) deliuereth it more amplie, adding further that God answered the Pope thus: I hauehave heard thy prayers, and I grant merciemercy and pardon to Traiane; but see that thou hereafter offer me no sacrifice, for an vngodly man (h). From hence I offer them this argument to thinke on; The true God neuer deliuered a damned soule out of hell: but the Pope hath deliuered a soule out of hell: therefore he… hath done that, that God neuer did, not for ought that is reuealed euer vvill doe.
Heer is a foule wound, but is this healed vp? No, 4The 2. wound not healed.this booke stands allowed by the the Pope: and in his Catalogue of the bookes which hee forbids to bee readaVide Indicē lib. prohib. per Clem. 8., where many a learned and godly booke is condemned, this is not toucht; and therefore, as Posseuine himselfe (a Iesuite) grauntsbPosseuinus loco citato. not two yeares agoe, not onelyonly the booke stands vncondemned, but this foule blasphemie vncontrolled: and to shewe that the head of Babylon, namely, the Pope is incurable; let it be obserued, that tho many particular learned PapistscMel. Canus. lib. 11. c. 2. Bellar. de Purgat. lib. 2. cap. 8. Blas. Vieg. in Apoc. c. 6. comment. 3. sect. 3. Baronius annal. circa temp. Traianj. hauehave misliked, and condemned it as farre as in them lyeth; yet to this daie was it neuer condemned, not the booke forbidden or amended by the Pope: so vnwilling is Babylon to bee healed of her wounds.
Yea, the Pope is so farre from healing it; that contrariwise he suffred a Spanish Dominican Frier to defend it: and that not in word, but writing; not priuatly, but openly: not in a corner of the World, but to come to Rome within these fewe yeares, and there euen to write and publish vnderunder his nose, and by his authority, and apology of this blasphemous fable,… endeuouring to proue it by many arguments, that Gregory did deliuer Traian out of hell dAlphonsus Ciaconus..
Thus tho it containe neuer so great an impietie against God; yet, because it tends to the magnifying of the Popes power and prerogatiue (let as manie learned men as will speak against it) it shall stand and be mayntayned: so true it is that Babylon will not be healed of her deadliest woundes. And wonder not tho I call them deadly; for consider of these consequences: The Pope deliuered a soule out of hell; Therfore he did that which God neuer did. Againe, therfore there may be redemption out of hel. Again, therefore the Popes prayers did that which Christs prayers neuer did: againe, Christ sayth, I pray not for the world *Ioh. 17. The world, that is for the wicked & damned.: the Pope sayth, but I do; Ergo the Popes pittie and charitie is more then Christs: Alas, alas, is Rome the holy Church, and sees not these blemishes? Is she the liuing Church, and feels not these wounds? nay rather, is she not that Babylon that will not be healed?
But to conclude: all this is the worse because hee hath razed out many sentences, and passages out of many Authors, wherein he thought himselfe and his seat to be wronged*Ludou. viues: Ferus, Erasmus, Stella, Oleaster, Espencaeus and infinite others.; but this that so highly dishonoreth God himself, he can patiently suffer: but had he been as zealous of Gods glory as carefull of his own, then he that forbids Espencaeus his commentaries on Titus til they be purged, and the book called Onus Ecclesiae (absolutely without any limitatiō) because they touch his freehold too neere, would also hauehave forbidden the Reuelation of S. Bridgit, til this foule blasphemie had beene purged out: which seeing he hath so carelesly and wilfully neglected, tho his Catalogue of forbidden bookes hath so often been renued*It was first made by Pius 4. and so since cōtinued renued & augmented till Clement the 8.; it appears what an vnworthy Vicar of God hee is, who looks only to himself, but suffers his master to be dishonored before his face: Therefore, Arise, O Lord, maintaine thine owne cause.
Well then, seeing this wound is incurable, let vsus leaue it rankling and come to another.