A Defense of the Catholic Faith, Book 2 · Article 16
ARTICLE XVI. Of the baptiſing of Bels.
The KINGS Confeſſion.THe King of great Britaine proceedeth to theſe wordes: The baptiſing of Bels, and a thouſand other trickes: But aboue all, the worſhipping of Images. If my faith bee weake in theſe, I confeſſe I had rather beleeue too little then too much. And yet ſince I beleeue as much as the Scriptures doe warrant, the Creedes doe perſwade, and the auncient Councels decreede; I may well bee a Schiſmaticke from Rome, but I am ſure I am no Hereticke.
Mr. Coeffeteau anſwers,Fol 51. that it is no baptiſme that they giuegive vntounto Bels, but onelyonly a plaine bleſſing, which notwithſtanding the common people do call baptiſme for the reſemblance of ſome Ceremonies therein: but it is not of ſimple people, but of learned men, that we muſt learne the beleefe of the Church.
The Anſwere.This anſwere of M. Coeffeteau is more mannerly then that of Cardinall Bellarmines, who writing againſt his Maieſties booke, tels the King that it is an impudent ſlaunder: he might hauehave ſpoken more ciuilly to a King: for if we wrong them in calling their conſecration, and benediction of bels by the name of baptiſme, this imputation ſhould be laid vponupon the people of the Romiſh Church, which hauehave ſo named it, or rather vponupon their Biſhops and Prieſts, that by a Player-like prophanation, hauehave practiſed the ſame Ceremonies vponupon bels, and gallies, which they vſe in baptiſme: for in the bleſſing, and exorciſing of a bell, they giuegive him god-fathers and god-mothers, which holde the rope in their handes: the Suffragan asketh certaine queſtions of the bell: they cloth him in white, ſprinkle him with holy water, and ſalt: the Biſhop or his Suffragan annoints him with oyle, with many ſignes of the Croſſe, praying God that hee will graunt power vntounto this bell againſt the ſecret aſſaults of the diuell; againſt thunder and tempeſt, and for the comfort of ſoules departed; then after the ſinging of certaine Pſalmes, he is newly marked again with ſeuen croſſes without, and foure croſſes within, which are made vponupon the Criſme with the Biſhops or his Suffragans thumbe, who at eueryevery croſſe repeates theſe wordes; Conſecretur & Sanctificetur Domine ſignum iſtus in nomine Patris & filij & ſpiritus ſancti: In all this Ceremony there is nothing wanting but the word, Baptiſme, ſaue that it is done ſomething more diuerſly. The ſame Ceremony is practiſed vponupon gallies, when they launch them into the Sea, and for what offence they hauehave condemned this Sacrament vntounto the gallies, I doe not vnderſtand.
He that ſhall well vnderſtand the great vertue of bels, will not wonder at all, if the people of the Romiſh Church hauehave thought that baptiſme doth of right belong vntounto them; ſith that one peale hath power to carry ſoules into heauen, and eſpecially the ſoules of rich men: for if a rich legacy be giuen, all the bels in the towne ſhall ringe a requiem for the ſoule departed: but the poore ſhall hauehave leaue to die without any ſound. And it is preſumed that ſome bels hauehave more vertue then others; for they are not rung all at one rate. So at Paris there are bels ſome at foure Francs, ſome at fiue, and ſome at ſixe. For it is not credible, that any will buy the ſound of one bell dearer then another, but vponupon opinion of reaping a greater benefite thereby.
It is not then without great reaſon that Durandus in his rationale, and other illuminated Doctors doe finde ſo many myſteries in bels, ſaying, that the clapper of the bell is the tongue of the Preacher: that the riſing of the bell is the contemplatiue life, and the falling downe is the life actiue:Boniface 8. au cap. Almamater § adijcimus. De ſententia excomm. In Sexto Grego. 9. Tit 39. De ſent excomm. that a ringe of Iron is faſtened to the end of the Bel-rope, to ſhew that the Crowne is not obteyned vntill the race be finiſhed; which is the cauſe why Boniface the eighth, and Gregory the ninth hauehave forbidden the ringing of Bels in proſcribed or interdicted Churches, vnleſſe by ſpeciall leaue they be licenſed to toll an Aue-maria. During the interdiction, none but low Maſſes are ſaid, the doors being ſhut, and without ſound of Bell.And theſe obſeruations the Apoſtles would not hauehave omitted, if they had had the keeping of the Bels in the Temple of Ieruſalem: which then were not rung all the yeare long, but now a dayes they are onelyonly ſpeechleſſe vponupon good Friday, whereof there is ſome myſticall reaſon, which comes not within the compaſſe of my vnderſtanding.