Defense of the Protestant Christian Religion, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Of the Hereſies of the Church of Rome, eight particulars inſtanced.
THe firſt grand Error of your Church, is this, Your Dethroning and Unlording the Scripture. It is Chriſts own phraſe, Matth. 15.6. and Mark 7.13. by way of Reproof to your Predeceſſors, thoſe ancient Papiſts, the Phariſees, foreign, Unlording the Word of God, through your Tradition. But to this written Word, did Jeſus Chriſt appeal, John 5.39. Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think to have eternal life, and they are they which teſtifie of me. We are commanded, to try the ſpirits, 1 John 4.1. even by the Rule laid down in that Scripture, ver. 2. The Bereans are commended by the Holy Ghoſt, as Chriſtians of the right breed, foreign, becauſe they would not take the Apoſtles Doctrine upon truſt, but ſearched the Scriptures daily, whether thoſe things were ſo. Therefore many of them believed, Acts 17 11, 12. But with you, it is a Noſe of Wax, attramentary Divinity, of no more Authority in it ſelf, than Aeſop's Fables, or Titus Livius, but that your Church hath chriſtened it for Scripture; but yet She tells us withall, That we muſt receive Her Traditions, Pari pietatis affectu, & reverentia, Concil. Trident. S ſſ. 4. Decret. 1.with as much pious affection and reverence, as we receive the Scripture. So your Tridentine Council. It is lamentable to conſider, how many Bibles you have burnt, and how many Chriſtians you have burnt alive, for having Bibles, and labouring to acquaint themſelves therewith. In King Henry the Eighth's time, thoſe of you, who then had, the conduct of Affairs in England, did cauſe to be put forth a publick and authentick Inſtrument, for the aboliſhing, and inhibiting of the Scriptures, wherein, ye thus expreſs your ſelves, Da…ed. May 24. 1531.That foraſ much as there is ingendered an Opinion in divers of his Subjects, that it is his Graces duty to cauſe the Scripture of God to be Tranſlated into the Engliſh Tongue, to be communicated unto the people.—It appeareth, That the having of the whole Scripture in Engliſh, is not neceſſary to chriſten men, Fox, Acts and Mon. Vor. 2. E…it. 1641.the divulging of the Scripture at this time in the Engliſh Tongue to be committed to the people, conſidering ſuch peſtilent Books, and ſo evil Opinions, as be now ſpread among them, ſhould rather be to their further confuſion and deſtruction, than to the edification of their Souls. Thus you ſaid, and did your worſt, but you could not hinder the Sun from riſing, at its appointed hour; nor fruſtrate the Oath of him, who ſware, that (your) time ſhould be no longer, and he gave the book to his ſervants to propheſie again, Rev. 10. ver. 6, 9, 11.
This wretched neglect, and contempt of the Scripture, is the foreign, the very corner ſtone of the Tower of Babel. We look upon it as the firſt and chief of all your Hereſies, and the ſource and fountain of all the reſt: Ye do erre, not knowing the Scripture, Matt. 22.29. For there is a ſelf-evidencing light and majeſty in the Scripture, it bears the ſtamp and impreſs of the Divine Attributes upon it; which he that ſees not, muſt needs be blind, as to other Truths alſo: As he that cannot ſee the Sun, when it ſhines at Noon-day, can ſee nothing elſe; he that cannot hear the voyce of Thunder, is not like to be awakened, by a ſilent whiſper.
2. The Authority, and Infallibility of your Church and Pope, as if they were not men, but gods; for, humanum eſt errare: Let God be true, and every man a lyar, Rom. 3.4. This is the great Idol that you ſet up againſt the Scripture, and conſequently againſt God himſelf; for the Scripture is God ſpeaking to Mankind: Hence it is written of Antichriſt, that he exalteth himſelf, above all that is called God, or that is worſhipped; ſo that he as God, ſitteth in the temple of God, ſhewing himſelf that he is God, 2 Theff. 2.4. He takes upon him to diſpenſe even with the Laws of God; therefore it is made the brand of a Reprobate, to worſhip the Beaſt, Revel. 13.8. And the Lord denounces and thunders forth damnation to them, Reve 14.9, 10, 11. The ſmoke of their torment aſcendeth up for ever and ever; and their doom is juſt, for they make a god of him; for, put caſe the Pope ſhould erre, and go to Hell, Bell. De ſummo Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 5.Bellarmine would fain make us believe, that we are bound in conſcience to go with him, for thus he ſpeaketh: Si Papa exraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes, teneretur Eccleſia credere vitia eſſe bona & virtutes malas, niſi vellet contra conſcientiam peccare. If the Pope ſhould erre in commanding Vices, and forbidding Vertues, the Church were bound to believe that Vice is good, and that Virtue is evil, unleſs ſhe would fin againſt her Conſcience. Here is ſweet Catholick Doctrine, is it not? yet ſuch ſtuffe as this, is of ſuch value, with you, that the ſame Bellarmine ſaith, Bell. Praefatin li…res …e Fortif.Quâ de re agitur, cum de primatu Pontificis agitur? breviſſime dicam, de ſumma rei Chriſtianae; The Primacy of the Pope, ſayes he, is the ſum of Chriſtian Religion, he means Antichriſtian.
3. Your arrogant Attributions, to corrupted Free-will, in derogation to the ſovereignty and efficacy of converting and electing Grace, yea, to the utter corrupting and undermining of ſundry great Goſpel-truths, as Election, Regeneration, Aſſurance, Perſeverance; your Free-will, is an Error that draws a ſoul tail after it: But the Scripture ſaith, We are not born again of the will of man, but of his own will he begat us, John 1.13. James 1.18. So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth; it is neither Free will, nor good Works, but it is of God that ſheweth mercy, Rom. 9.16. When thou waſt in thy blood, yea, when thou waſt in thy blood, I ſaid unto thee, Live, Ezek. 16.6. Which is that that fills the hearts of his people, with ſuch admiring and adoring thoughts of the freedom, and ſovereignty, and efficacy of his grace. That gratia vorti-cordia, as Auſtin ſpeaks, that wonderful heart-changing grace, that ſlayes the enmity, ſubdues the heart, and turns the will; who was before a blaſphemer, and a perſecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy.—Now to the King eternal, immortal, inviſible, the onelyonly wiſe God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever, Amen, 1 Tim. 1.13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Ʋnto him that hath loved us, and waſhed us from our ſins, with his own blood, and hath made us Kings and Prieſts unto God, and his Father, to him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever, Amen, Revel. 1.5.6. But he that thinks he is converted, and doth not ſing his Hallelujahs and Songs of ſalvation, for it, to this King Eternal, Immortal, Inviſible, and to the Lamb that was ſlain, and to the power of his Spirit, but to his own corrupted will: As he ſets the Crown upon his own head, and robs God of his glory, as if he were not Maſter, and ſovereign diſpoſer of his own gifts and graces, ſo he doth thereby give in evidence againſt himſelf, that he never knew the grace of God in truth; The whole work of our ſalvation is both begun and carried on, by free grace alone, from firſt to laſt; from the foundation thereof, in election to the topſtone of glorification, the Saints cry grace, grace unto it, Zach. 4.7. That as ſin hath reigned unto death, even ſo grace might reign through righteouſneſs unto eternal life by Jeſus Chriſt our Lord, Rom. 5. ult.
4. Your Juſtification by the merit of good Works, to the infinite diſhonour of the grace and blood of Chriſt, and to the keeping of afflicted Conſciences upon the rack of everlaſting perplexity and trouble: for Conſcience once effectually awakened, will never be pacified, but by the blood of Chriſt, for we are juſtified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jeſus Chriſt, Rom. 3.24. When you have done all thoſe things that are commanded you, ſay we are but unprofitable ſervants, and where then is merit? Luke 17.7, 8, 9, 10. There is iniquity even in our holy things, Exod. 28.38. Our beſt Duties are in part defiled, and mixed with ſin. The very tears of Repentance need waſhing with the blood of Chriſt. Therefore well did Auſtin pray, Lava Lachrymas meas Domine. You can allow the righteouſneſs of a meer man, or of a woman, of a Monk, or a Nun, to be imputed and reckoned to another, as in your Supererogations, and yet cavil at the imputation of Chriſts righteouſneſs.
This is a Truth of ſo great weight, that Luther called it, Articulus ſtantis aut cadentis Eccleſiae, the very Criſis and chief Indication of the Churches ſtate, ſhe ſtands or falls with this Truth. And as the Scripture deſcribes the Proteſtant Reformation by their ſtanding upon the Sea of glaſs, as ſpiritual Prieſts, waſhing themſelves in the Righteouſneſs of Chriſt, and making their Robes white with the blood of the Lamb, whereof the molten Sea and Lavers of the Temple were a Type, Revel. 4.6. and 7.14. and 15.2. So indeed it was upon this grand Truth, and Principle of the Goſpel, Dr. Grew of Justification. Preface.as Dr. Grew hath well obſerved, That Luther, that Champion of the Lord, did pitch the Field againſt you: And well he might, for the Apoſtle doubteth not to tell the Galathians when corrupted here, That Chriſt was become of none effect to them, and that they were fullen from grace, and turned to another Goſpel, Galat. 5.4. and 1.6. Our Juſtification by the blood of Chriſt, and our Regeneration by his Spirit, being the two main parts of thoſe glad tydings of the Goſpel, by which it refreſhes and gives reſt to weary Souls. And therefore to deny theſe, or to aſcribe them to other cauſes, as to our own Wills or Works, as it is to ſend diſtreſſed Souls to the Brooks of Teman in a day of drought, and unto Waters that fail; ſo it is to reject at once, both the Blood of the Covenant, and alſo the Spirit of the Covenant of Grace, and ſo to turn both Jeſus Chriſt, and the Holy Ghoſt, as it were, out of Office: For, it is a Truth as firm as the foundations of the Earth, and as immoveable as the Pillars of Heaven, that it is the peculiar work and glory, both of the blood of Chriſt, to juſtifie and reconcile, and of his Spirit to convert, and apply that precious blood: And ſeeing the riches of his Free-grace appears, and ſhines forth exceeding gloriouſly, in theſe influences of his blood and Spirit into our ſalvation; therefore to detract from theſe, by founding it in our own Wills or Works, is to eclipſe the glory of his Grace. From all which, you may ſee the danger of both theſe Errors of your Church, there being nothing wherein the enmity of corrupt Nature againſt the Goſpel, doth more directly work out and vent it ſelf, like the venom of Aſps, and as the poyſon of Dragons, then in theſe deluſions, of Converſion by your own Wills, and Juſtification by your own Works.
5. A fifth pernicious Error of the Roman Church, is Idolatry, and Superſtition of all ſorts, contrary to the very Letter of the Second Commandment: As worſhipping Images, praying to Saints and Angels, your Cake-Idol, or Breaden-god; Your Sacriledge of the Cup in the Lords Supper; Your five ſupernumerary Sacraments; Your Latin-Service; Your Superſtitious, or Religious Orders, as you call them; Your prohibition of of Meats and Marriage; Your Holy Water, Reliques, Pilgrimages, &c. As it were on every high Hill, and under every green Tree, hath that Idolatrous Church play'd the Harlot; whereby ſhe ſcandaliſeth and hardeneth both Jews and Turks againſt the Goſpel: Yea, ſhe hath corrupted and intoxicated almoſt all the Churches in the world, with this ſin, and made all Nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her Fornication, for which the Holy Ghoſt brands her, as THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, Revel. 17.5. and 18.3. Yea, though ſhe hath ſeen the jealouſie, and the fury of her Husband, againſt her treacherous ſiſter Judah, yet ſhe feareth not. I mean, the deſolations of the Eaſtern Churches, by thoſe Inſtruments of his fury, thoſe Angels of his wrath, whom the Lord hath let looſe upon them, from about the River Euphrates; the Turks, who have deſtroyed and ſubjugated a third part of the Chriſtian world for this ſin, yet ſhe repenteth not, being beſotted, and dead drunk with the poyſon of her own Fornications, and given up to a reprobate ſenſe; ſhe hath a heart that cannot repent of ſuch a Church-deſtroying, ſuch a God-provoking ſin, as was propheſied of her in the ſixth Trumpet, Revel. 9.13.—20. The Learned Raynolds hath ſpoken very convictingly to you, concerning this ſin, in his Book, De Idololatria Romanae Eccleſiae: And ſo hath Mede, of the Apoſtaſie of the latter Times.
6. All your ſeditious Principles againſt Kings and Magiſtrates, exempting your Clergy, exalting your Pope above them. The number of thoſe you thus exempt, as ſous of Belial from the yoke, hath been eſtimated to amount in ſpacious Popiſh Countries, to a very great proportion, even to an Hundred thouſand able fighting Men in one Nation; which brings to mind that expreſſion of your own Pope Gregory, That Antichriſt hath an Army of Prieſts to fight his Battels. Rex ſuperbiae prope eſt, & quod dici…neſas eſt, Greg. Lib. 4. Epiſt. 38.Sacerdotum praeparatus eſt exercitus qui cervici militant elatioms, &c. The King of pride (ſaith he) is at the door, and which is dreadful to be ſpoken, there is an Army of Prieſts ready to fight under that neck of pride which lifteth up it ſelf, &c. The fifth Trumpet proclaimeth, that he hath a black Guard of Scorpion-locuſts, who know no other King but him whom the Holy Ghoſt hath named according to his Nature, Abaddon, and Apollyon, the great Deſtroyer, the Son of Perdition, the Man of Sin, Revel. 9. ver. 3, 11. And as you thus rob and ſpoil Kings of their Subjects, ſo you make Kings themſelves Subjects to the Pope, exalting his Throne with Lucifer, above the ſtars of God, Iſa. 14.13. And giving him ſuch a barbarous power over them, that it is a wonderful and unaccountable thing that ever any King or Magiſtrate ſhould be a Papiſt; no account can be given of it, but the ſtrange corruption of Nature, neither their Crowns, nor Lives, being ſecure, but meerly at the Popes courteſie, upon the principles of that Religion, which gives a forreign Prieſt power to depoſe them, and give away their Kingdoms.
But the Apoſtle Peter, a great Apoſtle, and whom you pretend a kindneſs, and a reſpect for, he exhorts us to ſubmit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords ſake; to the King as ſupreme, 1 Pet. 2.13. But not a word of the Popes Supremacy. And the Apoſtle Paul, though an Apoſtle, yet did appeal unto Caeſar, as knowing that to be the ſupreme Tribunal on earth in ſubordination unto God, for God alone is chief, and the Magiſtrates power ſubordinate unto Gods, Acts 25.10, 11. & 5.29. And he exhorteth every ſoul, which includeth the Pope, if he hath an humane ſoul, to be ſubject to the higher powers, Rom. 13. ver. 1. to 7. There may be paſſive obedience when men cannot act, therefore we whom you call Hereticks, have ſet it down as amongſt the Articles of our Faith, that Infidelity, or difference in Religion, doth not make void the Magiſtrates juſt and legal Authority, nor free the people from their obedience to him, from which Eccleſiaſtical perſons are not exempted, much leſs hath the Pope any power, or Juriſdiction over them in their Dominions, or over any of their people, and leaſt of all to deprive them of their Dominions or Lives, if he ſhall judge them to be Hereticks, or upon any other pretence whatſoever; yea, ſome of your own have confeſſed, That from the beginning it was not ſo. … Julio. 3… 2. B.Quin omnes emnium Eccleſiarum Miniſtri, Romanae non minus quam caeterarum ultro Regibus Principibus ac Magiſtratibus parebant. But all the Miniſters of all the Churches, yea, of the Church of Rome, as well as any other, were willingly obedient unto Kings, Princes, and Magiſtrates. So thoſe Bononian Fathers of yours before mentioned. How, and by what means, Morney Myst. Iniq. per totum: Fox Acts and Monum. Vol. 1. pa. 1018.and by what ſteps and degrees, the Pope roſe from ſuch mean beginnings, to ſuch an height of worldly power and grandeur, to tread upon the Necks of Kings and Princes, Guiccardin hath fully ſhewed in his digreſſion, towards the end of the fourth Book of his Hiſtories, which you have honeſtly ſtollen away out of ſome Editions, but in ſome others it is reſtored. Morney alſo ſpeaks fully to it, as being a great part of his ſcope, and ſo doth Mr. Fox.
7. Your ſanguinary Spirit and Principles, towards ſuch as differ from, and teſtifie againſt you: Wherein there is not only an evil in practice, but your practice being juſtified as lawful by your principle, it is two ſins conjoyned, it is both Murther and Hereſie, and moſt remote from the Spirit of the Goſpel, which is a Spirit of love and ſweetneſs; yea, it is a principal character of Antiohriſt, and mark of the Beaſt, Revel. 13.7. and 17.6. The Revelation often mentions theſe two ſins, the Sorceries and Fornications of your falſe Worſhip, and your ſhedding innocent and precious blood, as the two grand procuring cauſes of your Ruine: See Revel. 18.2. ult. and Revel. 19.2.
It is Ramus his Obſervation, that great Light, and faithful Martyr of Jeſus Chriſt, whom you ſlew, with Thirty thouſand more, in your great Pariſian Maſſacre in the year 1572. P: Rami Commentar. de Religione Chriſtiana. Lib. 4. cap. 19. pag. 546.It is his Obſervation and Lamentation, How that Julian the Apoſtate could obſerve, and teſtifie concerning the Chriſtian Religion, in thoſe primitive times, That it came to be ſo largely diffuſed and propagated, by means of the good turns and offices of love, which Chriſtians did towards all men of what Religion, or perſuaſion ſoever: But we, in theſe dayes (we Romaniſts) are of ſuch a ſpirit, that if our Neighbour do not conſent, and concur, and run along with us in every ſuperſtitious practice and opinion, we preſently burn him alive. Julianus Apoſtata ad Arſacium Cappadociae Pontificem ſcripſit, Chriſtianam Religionem tam late propagatam eſſe propter Chriſtianorum erga omnet cujuſvis Religionis mortales beneficentiam. Nos vero, niſi de cujuſſibet ſuperſtitionis opinione proximus noſter conſentiat, igne vivum protinus exurimus. You have ſlain (as ſome compute) a greater number of Chriſtians fince the firſt ſetting up of your Inquiſition, than there be Papiſts at this day in the World.
— Quis talia fando
Temperet à Lachrymis?
Who that hath either the grace of a Chriſtian, or but the common bowels of a man, can ſpeak of ſuch things, without bleeding Lamentations! Alſtedins obſerves, That in the ſpace of Forty years, Alſted Encyclop. Chronol. cap. 8. ad Annum 1540.from the year 1540, there were Nine hundred thouſand Martyrs in Europe. Should we Travel into Forreign Affairs, and former Ages, I might tell you of your bloody Croiſadoes againſt Chriſtians, inſtead of Turks, againſt the Waldenſes, and Abbingenſes of old, as well of late, your Spaniſh Inquiſitions, to which King Philip the ſecond, delivered up his own eldeſt Son and Heir Charles, to be butchered and murthered by them, for ſuſpition of ſavouring the Low-Countrey Hereticks. Your French Maſſacres, and Thyeſtaean Feaſts and Nuptials, at which you have drank more Blood, than Wine! The barbarous Spaniſh Butcheries in the Netherlands: And with how much blood your Romiſh Faith was planted in the Weſt-Indies, to the infinite ſcandal and diſhonour of the Name of Chriſt, even in the blood of Nineteen Millions of poor innocent Natives, as Acoſta, the Jeſuite, a Bird of your Neſt, as ſome have Noted, Relates the ſtory. But to come nearer home, there were near about Three hundred ſlain, and burnt alive in England, in Queen Maries time: And in the late Maſſacre and Rebellion here in Ireland, there were about Three hundred thouſand Engliſh Proteſtants murthered by you, whereof above one half, above One hundred and fifty thouſand in the firſt ſix Months of that Rebellion, moſt perfidiouſly and treacherouſly, in a time of Peace, without ever declaring War, and without any provocation given.
Theſe be ſome of the Hereſies, and falſe Doctrines of your Church; Rev. 17.3.5.ſome of the Blaſphemies written in the Forehead of Myſtical Babylon, which ſhe owneth and maintaineth in an open and avowed manner.
8. But I have not here mentioned her conſequential Errors, becauſe they are innumerable. For thus, there is no ſound part in her, but from the ſole of the foot, even to the crown of the head, there is nothing but wounds, and bruiſes, and putrifying ſores. Thus, ſhe is at defiance even with common ſenſe and reaſon; ſhe will not believe the report of three ſenſes, in the buſineſs of the carnal preſence: For as the Apoſtle calls it, This bread, this bread, this bread, three times after the Conſecration, 1 Cor. 11.26, 27, 28. So the eye ſaith it is bread, the taſte, the touch ſay the ſame, ſhe ſees it, feels it, and taſtes it; but yet ſhe believes there is no bread there, which is to lay aſide the uſe of reaſon, and to turn Sott and Sceptick. The madneſs of which deluſion, did ſo ſcandalize Averroes, the Arabian Philoſopher, that when they asked him upon his Death-bed, What Religion he dyed in? He gave this Anſwer, Quia Chriſtiani manducant Deum ſuum, & adorant quod comedunt, ſit anima mea cum Philoſophis: Becauſe the Chriſtians eat their God with their teeth, and worſhip that which they eat, let my ſoul be with the Philoſophers. But having heard of the glorious Name and Fame of Chriſt, and Chriſtianity, it had been his Duty, and would have been his Happineſs, to have made a thorow ſearch into the Fountain of that Religion, which is the Scriptures of Truth; and there he might have found, that this abominable Idolatry, is no part at all of the Chriſtian Religion, but of the Antichriſtian Apoſtaſie, of the Mother of Harlots; yea, there is hardly any Article of the Chriſtian Faith, which ſhe doth not ſome way or other, by evident and unavoidable conſequence, corrupt and ſubvert: As for inſtance, ſhe denies by conſequence that Chriſt is come in the fleſh, which is one of the Characters of Antichriſt, 1 John 4.3. She denies the Reality of the Humane Nature of Chriſt, by her Tranſubſtantiation; for ſhe leaves him only a Phantaſtick, or Imaginary body, having not the true Nature, and dimenſions of a body; yea, ſhe doth impugn and ſubvert, by true and ſound conſequence of Reaſon, that great Fundamental, of One God: As was ingeniouſly made out, by an Engliſh Gentleman, a Proteſtant, in diſcourſe with a Roman Catholick, thus; That is not the true Religion, that doth not acknowledge One God, but Popery doth not acknowledge One God: For did you not pray to the Virgin Mary this morning? The Roman Catholick replyed, Yes: To which the Proteſtant made this Return, And did not Five thouſand pray to her at the ſame time? The Papiſt anſwered, Yes, doubtleſs. From whence the Proteſtant inferred, Then either you prayed like a Fool, or elſe ſhe heard you all, and knows all your hearts; but this is to make her a God.
Theſe therefore, are ſome of the Roman Hereſies; Her dethroning the Scripture; The Popes Infallibility; Converſion by Free-will; Juſtification by Works; Idolatry and Superſtition; Her ſeditious Principles; Her ſanguinary Principles; Her conſequential Errors: Yet this is but a general and brief induction of them.
But now do you ask, Who ever teſtified againſt her? Proh pudorem tuum! Although if no man had, yet that is no ſufficient evidence of her Innocency; the cauſe doth not depend upon this: But yet withall you know, if you know any thing of the Hiſtories of the Church, in former times, That the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome, have been teſtified againſt, all along by faithful men, whom God hath raiſed up from Age to Age, to be the Witneſſes of his Truth; for the Lord gave his two Witneſſes light, and grace, and power, to propheſie in ſackcloth 1260 dayes, Revel. 11.3. There was a Woman in the Wilderneſs, when Antichriſt was upon the Throne, Revel. 12.14. There were Saints, whom the Beaſt did perſecute and war againſt, during all the time of his Reign, Revel. 13.7. Would you know their names … you may ſee ſome of them, in divers of our Divines, and Writers, who have taken the pains to preſent you with Inſtances and Catalogues of ſome of the chief, and moſt eminent. And common Reaſon will eaſily ſuggeſt unto you, That if there were ſo many left upon Record, there muſt needs be many more, whoſe names, the Hiſtories of former times have not preſerved, and delivered down to poſterity: But you may ſee a competent number of Witneſſes againſt you, in the Centuriſts of Magdeburg in Flacius Illyricus his Catalogus teſtium veritatis: Morney his Hiſtory of the Papacy, or Myſtery of Iniquity. Fox his Book of Martyrs. Raynolds his Conference with Hart. Sundry of our Expoſitors on the Revelation. See Mr. Arthur Dent on Chap. 11. White's way to the Church. Ʋſher againſt Maloone: And of the Religion anciently profeſſed by the Iriſh, and Britiſh, and de ſtatu & ſucceſſione Eccleſ. Brittanicarum: Yea, your own Bellarmine giveth ſome account of thoſe that have even from the primitive times, oppoſed and impugned the Primacy of the Church of Rome, though he doth it briefly, and defectively enough; for he omits, beſides other things, all the African Biſhops and Councils, Bell: Praefat. in libros de Pontif. This may ſuffice at preſent, as to the Errors and Hereſies of your Church. Your next endeavour, is to defend her, from the charge of Schiſm: Let us proceed, in the ſtrength and grace of Chriſt, to conſider that alſo.