(a) TH HE Title, Name and Dignitie, which was given to King David, by reason of the great good Succeffe, which God vouchsafed to graunt unto him, is declared unto us by the holy Scriptures in the first Booke of the Kings. Wherunto King Saul (through the Wil of God) did greatly exhorte him, promifing unto him (for Rewarde of the Victories which hee hoped for by his Meanes) his eldest Daughter in Marriage, faying unto him, behave thy felfe like a valiant and vertuous Man, and fight the Battaile of the Lord, by Vertue of which Commission (and trufting on the Helpe of God) hee obtained the Victorie against the Amalechites and their Adherentes: amongst the which was greatly renowned and extolled the Revenge which he tooke upon Siceleg, which was a famous Cittie, which Achis the King of Beth delivered unto him. Where he restored the great Booties of Women and Children, certayne Dayes before taken Captives of the fame Towne, which had bene burned by the Amalekites: for the which the King David was greatly extolled and praised, and the People greatly holpen and protected under the Defence of David, and through the Mercie and Providence of God, who had elected him for that Service. In Comparison whereof our most holy. Father Gregorie the Thirteenth, hath not onely (b) given the Name or Title of Defendour of the People of God unto the Majeftie of the King Don Philip our Lord, but for the greater Zeale he hath to the Increase and Prefervation of the (c) holy Catholique Faith, confidering the great Charges which (a) This Preface would have ferved to verie great Purpose, if David had borne Armes against thofe which onely tooke their Refuge to God in Spirit and Truth, and not against the Amalekites and other faithleffe Idolaters, which had their Churches full of dumbe Idols and wodden Saintes, and did by them make all their Prayers to God, and did take all maner of deceaffed Perfons (being their Baals, that is, Saintes) for their Interceffours and Protectours, even as this holy Father likewife doth, howbeit hee will not much deceive the People, for he doth fufficiently manifest in the first Attempt what he pretendeth, comparing himselfe to Saule, which gave David a good Commiffion and Chardge to fight the Battaile of the Lord: but whiles hee all his Life Time did nothing els but murther the faythfull Servaunts and Prophets of the Lord, yea and perfecuted David himself with all his vertuous Adherentes, which repofed their Truft on Gods Promifes, fearing leaft he should lofe his Kingdome: even fo this holy Father doth preferre the Battaile of the Lorde, but whiles hee feeketh to murther and burne the Prophets and faithfull Servants of the Lorde, and wholy to roote out the true David, Chrift Jefu, with all thofe which onely depende on him, and acknowledge him to be the Head and King of the Catholike Church, fearing leaft his Kingdom of this World might decay, and his Belly-cheere decrease. (b) Here you fee that he doth appropriate to himself that which onely appertaineth unto God, for through him alone Kings do rule, and the Antichrift doeth here place himfelfe in Gods Throne, attributing to himselfe the Honour due to GOD, as though he might inftitute Kings and Protectors of the People of God: which hee fhall never proove to have beene doone, or purpofed by the Apostles. (c) The holy Catholike Fayth is here called the Extirpation of the Knowledge of the Truth of the Gofpel, and of the Salvation which we have obtayned in Chrift. For the Pope doeth fpecially and above all Things maintaine that the common People ought not to know any par ticular which daily arife for the common Defence of (d) Christendome, continually fighting the (e) Battailes of the Lord, (f) purging the Sea from the Incurf fions and Piracies which the Infidels and Heretikes committe, being very (g) Amalekites, the fame Pope for the Aide and Succour of fo rightfull Defence, opening the (b) Treafures of the Church, hath given unto him, and newe prolonged the (i) Bulle of the holy Croffe, to the Ende that all (k) faythfull Chriftians, which fhall accept thereof and give (1) the Nomber ticular Things thereof, but to referre them fimply to their Mother the holy Church, which is the Saying of the Monkes and Fryars and other beaftly Perfons, which doe inftruct the People with dumbe Idols, with Croffes, with Garlands, with hallowed Agnus Dei, and like Bables, to the Ende to keepe them ftill in their childish Ignoraunce and Catholike, that is to fay, generall Simplicitie. And this holy fimple Catholike Faith, their Divines and Doctors doe call Fides implicita, that is a Beleefe foulded together, and is like to a Cloth which is foulded, fo that no Man may looke within it: which Beleefe the King of Spayne through an indirect or blinde Zeale thefe many Yeares hath fought to defende and protecte with Fyer and Sworde, to the Spoyle of his Lowe Countries, yea with Hazarde of his Realmes and Dominions, extirping all thofe which would plant the true Chriftian Faith, through the Light of the Gofpel, to the End to fever the Truth from Lyes. (d) Christendome doeth he here terme the Seate of Rome, that is, all thofe which doe acknowledge the Pope for Head, Brydegrome, High Prieft, and Father of the Church: For whofoever will onely acknowledge Chrift for the fame, and not the Pope, he here is accompted among the Turkes and faithleffe Heretikes. Therefore for as much as there may not be two Chriftes nor two Heads of the Church, but the one must be Chrift, and the other Antichrift, you fhall not take Chriftendome in this Place for any other Thing, but the Trayne of the fecond Chrift, who vaunteth himselfe to be Chrift, but is very Antechrift in Deede. (e) You must here take the Battailes of the Lorde, according to the Comparison of Saul, (which he himselfe heretofore hath fet downe) when he perfecuted David, and murthered and burned the Prophets and High Prieft of Nobe, viz. the Battailes of our Lord the Pope, for to mainteine his Kitchin well furnished. (f) That is to fay, in making a great and fearefull Army for to overrunne the Countries and Realmes of other Princes, and to roote out all those even to the very Children and Women, which will not acknowledge the Pope to be the Vicar here, and robbe Chrift of his Honor. (g) Who be the Amalekites, is here before fet downe. (b) Behold here doth this Antichrift attribute to himfelfe the Power to devide or imparte according to his beastly unfatiable Defire to those which mayntaine his Potage pot, the Grace which the Sonne of God by his precious Bloud hath obtained for thofe which beleeve in him, and call upon him, and doe acknowledge him to be the Head of the Church of God. (i) Turne to the firft (a) and (b). (k) Which fignifieth poore ignorant Men, which doe fuffer themselves to be led like to a Beare with a Ring in the Nofe, not knowing what they beleeve, no more then Beaftes: but repofing them in that Behalfe on the holy Father the Pope, and their Mother the Catholike or chief Beaft. (1) This is the whyte they fhoot at, to wit, to get Money, and to make Warre therewith. Nowe let each one that hath Eyes fee, and he that hath Eares for to heare let him heare, whether this beg the Voyce of Peter (whofe Succeffor and Vicar this holy Father vaunteth to be) who fayd to Simon Magus (which offered him Money) thy Money perifhe with thee, becaufe thou thinkeft that the Favour or Grace of God may be obtained with Money. Act. 8. verf. 20. of of (m) Almes hereunder declared, doe receive the (n) Graces and Abfolutions and Pardons hereafter following. Inprimis hee doeth give unto all faithfull Chriftians of thefe Realmes and Dominions dwelling, being refident in the fame, and to those which shall come there which bee (0) inflamed with the Żeale of the Defence and Increase of the Holy Catholike Faith, and which fhall take his Part for to ferve (p) in the Wars under the Power and with the Men which his Majeftie fendeth, for the Space of one Yeare for to fight against the (q) Turke, or to do any other Service, or perfonall Helpe under the aforefaid Armie, remaining under the fame untill the End of the aforefaid Yeare, (r) the full Pardon and Forgive (m) This Word Almes is derived of a Greeke Worde Eleemofyna, which properly fignifieth Compaffion and Pitie. And behold here the Holineffe of this Father doeth esteeme it a Deede of great Charitie, to give Money for to fpill Chriftians Bloud, and doth fo fhamefully pervert every Thing, that he turneth Charitie into cruell Bloudfheeding. (n) According to that which before we have repeated of Simon Magus, who thought that the Grace of God was to be folde for Money, it may playnely appeare that this Marchant is a Succeffor not of Simon Peter, but of Simon Magus, whofe Workes he evidently followeth. () This is fufficiently fet downe before. (P) This is the Trompet of this holy Apoftle: Chrift fayeth to his Apoftles, I give you my Peace, I leave you my Peace: Peter writeth in the Beginning of his Epiftle, Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you: And again in the End, Peace be with you al which are in Chrift Jefus. Paule writing of the Apoftles and their Vocation, fayeth: howe beautifull are the Feete of them which bring glad Tidings of Peace, Rom. 10. 15. But this brave Succeffor of Peter and Paul, doeth here founde his Trompet for to induce all the Worlde to Warres, under the Armie of the King of Spayne, for to take in, and overrunne by Force, and Murther, the Realmes of other Princes: And for that Effect he doeth fell his Bulles, Graces, Pardons, &c. and doeth drawe the poor filly Soules out of his Purgatorie for to helpe thereunto. (2) This Bull was firft graunted against neffe the Turke: For whereas the Apostles were wont to convert the Infidels with preaching of the Gospell, and Examples of Life, the Romifh Apostles will doe the fame with the Sworde, murthering all those which knewe nothing of the Chriftian Religion. But they did yet cloake this with the Name and Shewe of a Zeale which they had of the Honor of Chrift against the Turkes. But now this Apostle hath fo well inchaunted the King of Spaine, that he hath made a Truce or League with the Turke, being an Originall Enemy of Chrift, to the End to affayle with all his Power and Might, those which onely call upon Chrift and God the Father in his Name, and which doe acknowledge none els for the Head, Bridegrome, High Prieft, Mediator and Peace Maker of the Church of God: For this doeth much more greeve this holy Father, then the Infidelitie of the Turke: For he thinketh that by this his Kingdome must decay, feeing that the Kingdome of Chrift only thereby is erected, and therfore he hath now changed the Bulles which were made against the Turke, and made them against the poore Members of Chrift, to the End utterly to extyrpe and roote them out. And in the meane Time, the Turke hath Time and Meanes on the other Syde, given him wholy to fubvert Chriftendome. And this is the Zeale wherewith these holy Fathers are fo inflamed. (r) Here we fee plainely how this Antichrift maketh an open Jeft of the Forgivenes of Sinnes, which the Sonne of God with fo deere a Price, to witte with his Death and Bloodfheeding, hath obtained for us. For he here with his bloudy Trompet neffe of all their Sinnes, fo that they do hartely (s) repent and be forowfull for them, and do by Mouth make Confeffion of the fame, or if they cannot confeffe themselves, that they doe with Hart defire to do the fame, (1) even as they are accustomed to give the fame Pardon to thofe which goe to helpe te recover the holy Lande, and in the Yeare (u) Jubileo. And it is to be Trompet doth pronounce this Remiffion, not unto thofe which with an humble Hart (taking their Refuge to Chrift) doe repofe all their Truft and Confidence upon his Satisfaction and Interceffion betweene God and Man: but to those which either do fpill Chriftian Bloud, or give Money to the fame Effect. And fecondly, where as he with all his Doctors and Divines, openly doth affirme that the Remiffion and Pardon of Sinnes, which Chrift hath obtained for us, can take away but onely the Offence, and not the deferved Punishment or Payne of Sinnes committed after the Baptifme for which Effect they have inftituted their invented Purgatorie, to the Ende there to pay the fayd Punishment and Penaltie: So likewife he is not ashamed to graunt his Pardon fo amply, that there with not onely the Offence, but also the deferved Punishment is wholy taken away, even as he hereunder in the Forme of an Abfolution plainly expreffeth: Yea, vaunteth the fame to be of fuch Force, that it draweth the Soules of others out of Purgatorie fo that he doeth efteeme his Bulles more excellent and worthier, then the most precious Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Sonne of God, which according to their Report, is not of fuch Force that it can deliver us from the Paines of Purgatorie. Whether thefe be not the moft horrible Blafphemies, which this Beaft uttereth against God his Name and Tabernacle, whereof John in his Revelations, 13. ver. 6. doeth fpeake, every vertuous Perfon eafely may per ceive. (s) This harty Penitence is nothing els but a falfe Color, wherwith this Whore doeth paynte and hyde her uncleane Face. For they doe publikely teache, that no Forgiveneffe of Sinnes can be obtayned through the Merites of Chrift, how penitent foever Men be for their Sinnes, unleffe understoode Man himfelfe do fatisfie for the fame: And this Satisfaction doe they inferre to the mumbling of Pater Nofters, and Ave Maries, being babled out in Latin, to Pilgrimages, to Fryars Weedes, to erecting of Cloysters and other like, which they themselves without Warrant out of the Word of God have invented, and that which is not cleane fwept away therewith, they referve for Purgatorie, to the Ende to be purged there with Dirges, and other Babels, which they for Mony Sake have invented, in fteede of the Bloodsheeding of Jefus Chrift, fo that it is manifeft that a harty Penitence is nothing worth with them, but onely to fet a Colour on their fubtill Satisfaction. (t) It is very well to be credited that the one Pardon is as good as the other, for they be both forged in the Forge of Lyes. (u) Jubileus is derived from a Hebrew Word, which doth fignifie a Trompet, wherewith the Yeare of Jubilee was declared to thofe of the Olde Teftament: For befides the Sabaoth which God had commanded to be fanctified on the feventh Day of the Weeke, fo likewise he would that Men fhould every feaven Yeares keepe a Feafte, to let the Country reft for a Remembraunce of the miraculous Delivery, whereby the Children of Ifrael were delivered out of the Tyrannie of Pharao, and Bondage of Egyyt, by the which was prefigured the fpiritual and perpetuall Delivery, which fhould happen through Chrift: But efpecially after that the feaven Times feaven, which is fourty nine Yeares, were expyred, God would that they should withall Thankefulnes keepe holy the next Yeare following being the fiftie Yeare, refting wholly in the Lord, and giving Libertie to all the Ifraelite Slaves, and letting the Countrey or Lande refte that whole Yeare, untill fuch Tyme that the fpirituall understoode that they fhall receive the like Pardon, which before the Ende of the Dispatch fhall happen to (w) dye on the Way going towardes the faide Forces, or being among the fame. Item they alfo which by reafon of Sicknes or other lawefull Bufines which unto them fhall happen, fhall be conftrained to depart out of the Armie. And likewife doeth give the faid Pardon to those the which (howbeit they fhall not goe together in Person) fhall nevertheleffe (x) fend other thether in their Steede and Place, and that in Manner following, that if he which fo fhall fende any other, were a (y) Cardinall, a Primate or Patriarke, a Bishop, the Sonne of a King, Prince, Duke, Marques or Earle, that he fende fo many Perfons as he commodiously may, to the Nomber of eight, or if he cannot fende fo many, that he at the leaft doe fende foure. And all other Perfons of what Condition foever they be, temporall or ecclefiafticall, fhall every of them fende his Man, unles they were fo poore that they could not doe the fame, in which Cafe two, three or fpirituall Deliverie in Chrift (which thereby is prefigured) fhould be perfourmed: for then by the comming of Chrift (the very and perfect Fulnes of all fuch Prefigurations) that Ceremonie fhould ceafe, and the right Jubileus in the Spirit and Trueth of all faythfull Chriftians fhould be kept. But thefe Romish Fathers, which in apifh fort have againe newe brought up all the Jewish Ceremonies (which Chrift had abolished) have in fteede of that Jubileus induced a very Stage Playe, commaunding that Men not onely everie fiftie, but everie five and twentie Yeares, fhould come and buye Bulles and Pardons at Rome, where they with a golden Croffe doe knocke upon a hollowe Walle, crying Aperite portas Principes veftras? And the fame Walle being broken open from without, al they which do creepe through that Hole which they call the golden Gate, in putting a Peece of Money in the Boxe, they doe thereby deferve Pardon of all their Sinnes, and doe release a great many Souls out of Purgatorie, which is an excellent Way to get Money. And now this Bulman doth promife us here the very fame Pardons, which there are deserved, if we will here give Mony for to perfecute and deftroy all those which will not acknowledge him for chief Pope. Now whether this do agree with the Learning of Peter and Paule, and whether the fame hath any Part with the Remiffion of Sinnes which Chrift hath obtained for us with his Death and Paffion, each one may judge which is VOL. I. not berefte of his Wittes. (w) Confider that they which fhall dye before this Dispatche, fhall receive greater Benefit of their Bulles, if they can cary the fame whole and`uncanceled with Seale and Writing into Purgatorie. For Lucifer who no doubt, is a great Friend to the Pope of Rome, and would doe much for him, will doubtles let their Soules goe out of his Clawes, if they can fhewe him thefe Bulles, being fo folde. (x) Paul faith that every one fhal Gal. 6. 5. And that eache one shall give Accompt unto God for him felfe, Rom. 14. 12. and receive according to his owne Works, be they good or bad, Rom. 2. 6. and 2 Cor. 5. 10. But this Romish Apoftle which alloweth, that one do heare a Maffe for an other, and that one giving a Peece of Money to the Prieft, may deliver the Soule of an other out of Purgatorie. He can alfo give Licence that one may goe for an other in this holy Warre, and being contributorie thereunto, also to enjoy the Pardon for an other. So that he get Money, he careth not whether he burne in Purgatorie or that he get out of the fame.. (v) Whether this Exception of Perfons doe in any Manner agree with the Trueth of the Gofpell, or the Doctrine of Peter and Paule, reade Acts the 10. Chapter, Vers 34. 35. Rom. 3. Vers 27, and 10. Vers 12. Item 1 Cor. 1. Ver. 26. 27. 1 Cor. 11. Vers 22. Coll. 3. Vers 11. James 2. |