Works

CHAP. I.

OF the First Part of this Prophecy, being a Description of the Condition of that Solemn Defection which was to come, I have spoken hitherto. I come now to the Second Part of my Division, The quality of the Persons, and the Means whereby it was to enter and be advanced, which is set forth in the Verses now read; which though you may find by others otherwise translated, yet I hope the Translation which I have propounded, if the judicious Reader please to examine it, will approve itself not only to be an enforced one, but such as salves that incongruity of Construction which the other could not avoid. For it is usually translated intransitively, with reference to the Persons expressed in the former verse, viz. That they should speak lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with an hot iron, and forbidding marriage, and commanding to abstain from meats: So as that which in the former verse is named Doctrines of Devils, should only mean that in general terms, which in these Verses is particularly instanced to be Doctrines of prohibiting marriage, and abstaining from meats, as two branches of that Devilish doctrine; for so Calvin, Melanchthon and some others seem to expound it.

But why this Interpretation should not be the most likely, my first Reason is,

• 1. Because it makes S. Paul, who speaks of that Great Apostasy of Christians which was to be in the Latter Times, to instance only in the smaller and (if I may so say) almost circumstantial errors; and to omit the main and principal, which the Scripture elsewhere tells us should be Idolatry or Spiritual fornication. Who can believe that he would so balk the substance, and name only that which in comparison is but an Appendix thereto?
• 2. He prophesies here in express words of such things as were to come 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Latter times: But Errors about Marriage and Meats were no novelty in the Apostles own times, as the diligent Reader may easily collect out of their Epistles; which makes it improbable he would specify the Apostasy of the latter times in these alone.
• 3. But my last Reason, whereunto I think I may trust, is, That the Syntax of the words in the Greek is uncapable of such an intransitive construction, and consequently of the sense depending thereon. For the Persons intimated in the former verse are expressed in casu recto, as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 • but the Persons intended here we find in the Genitive, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which I cannot see how they can agree with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , after the manner of intransitive construction, without breach of Grammatical congruity not elsewhere sampled in our Apostle's Epistles. Indeed they would agree with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , but that would be a harsh sense every way: for either we must say (as some do) that by Devils are meant Devilish men or men led by the Devil, which is an hard signification; or else it would be a stranger sense, and I think not over-pliable to the usual exposition, to say That Devils should lie, have seared consciences, and forbid marriage or meats: So that Beza, with others, had rather confess a breach of Syntax, than incur the inconvenience of such a forced sense: Major est habita (saith he) sententiae quàm constructionis ratio; The Apostle heeded more the matter than he did the Grammar.

But what needs this, so long as there is a better way to salve it? namely, to construe the words transitively, making all these Genitive cases to be governed of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , by or through the feigning of liars; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. through the feigning of those who had their consciences seared; and so forward. Which construction is observed and followed by Andreas Hyperius, one of our reformed Writers, who translates, Per simulationem falsiloquorum, &c. and expounds it, de modo quofallent Spiritus Impostores; fallunt per simulationem seu hypocrysin falsiloquorum, &c . and I believe that many others have taken it so; for our late Latin translations are indifferent to be taken either way. Howsoever it be, I see no way but this to keep the Syntax true and even, and wholly to avoid the fore-mentioned inconveniences: which as it is easy and obvious, and not strained, so I hope to let you see the Event to have been most answerable thereunto; That this was the Manner, and this the Means, this the Quality of the Persons whereby the Doctrine of Damons was first brought in, advanced and maintained in the Church, viz. Through the hypocerisie, feigning, craft, or counterfeiting of those who told lies, of those who had their consciences seared, &c.

As for the use of the Preposition [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] to signify causam, instrumentum, or modum actionis, he that is not a stranger in the Scripture, knows it to be most frequent, the Greek Text borrowing it from the use of the Hebrew Preposition 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which the Hebrews call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as when it signifies In, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (i.) Subjecti. But two or three examples will not do amiss. Matth. 5. 13. If the salt hath lost its savor, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; wherewith shall it be salted? Acts 17. 31. Because God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by the man whom he hath ordained. 2 Pet. 3. 1. I stir up your pure minds 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by way of remembrance. Tit. 1. 9. That he may be able 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by sound doctrine to exhort and convince the gainsayers. And most naturally to the business we have in hand, 2 Thess. 2. 9, 1 • . of the Man of sin, Whose coming ( saith the Apostle ) is after the working of Satan 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, ( or through them ) and through all deceivableness of unrighteousness, &c. So in my Text, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. through the hypocrisy of Liers, &c.

CHAP. II.

NOW for the unfolding of the words, this must first be observed in general, That they are not to be so understood, as if those who are the bringers in and advancers of the Doctrine of Daemons should everyone of them be guilty of all the several imputations in this Description: but they are to be construed rather as an Asyndeton, by understanding the Conjunction, as if it had been uttered thus; Through the hypocrisy of Liers, and, Through the hypocrisy of men of seared consciences, and lastly, By the hypocrisy of those who forbid marriage and meats; or thus; Through the hypocrisy, partly of Liers, partly of men of seared consciences, partly of those who forbid marriage and command to abstain from meats: that so though many were guilty of all, yet some may be exempt from some; as namely some might be guilty of the last note, of forbidding marriage and abstaining from meats, and yet free of the former, of being counterfeit Liers and men of seared Consciences: which I speak for reverence of some of the Ancients, who though otherwise holy men, yet cannot be acquitted from some of the imputations here mentioned, nor altogether excused from having an hand accidentally through the Fate of the times wherein they lived, in laying the ground-work whereon by others the Great Apostasy was built.

This therefore being remembered, I come now to the unfolding of them in several: and first of the first, The hypocrisy of Liers, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies dissimulation, a feigning, counterfeiting, a semblance and show of that which is not so indeed as it seemeth. And this word we must repeat 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as belonging in common to the rest which follows: For all should be counterfeit; Lying should carry the counterfeit of Truth, the seared Conscience a semblance of Devotion, the Restraint of Marriage should be but a show of Chastity, and Abstaining from meats a false appearance of Abstinence. For the Persons of whom they are spoken, should either make a show of what themselves knew was not; or that which they thought they had, should be no better than a false show and counterfeit of that they took it for. The Vulgar Latin in Mark 12. 15. and the Syriac in the same place, turn the word Hypocrisy, versutia, dolus, craft and subtlety; which sense, if need were, would not be denied admittance here.

But I return to 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The Hypocrisy of Liers; which I conceive to be the same and no other than that which our Apostle speaks in the same case, 2 Thess. 2. where he tells us, That the coming of the Man of sin and the Apostasy attending him should be after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unright ousness, or unrighteous and ungodly deceiving; and that God should send them strong delusions, that they might believe a lie, &c. Yea some of this, and of that which follows in that place, may extend also to the rest which follows in my Text; howsoever the most thereof, as you hear, doth most evidently expound this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , this Hypocrisy of Liers.

Now according to the Event, this Hypocrisy of Liers doth appear in three things:

1. Lies of Miracles; 2. Fabulous Legends of the Acts of Saints and Sufferings of Martyrs; 3. Counterfeit Writings under the name of the best and first Antiquity.

Lies of Miracles will display their Hypocrisy in three particulars: 1. Forgery, 2. Illusion, 3. Misapplication.

• 1. Forgery of Miracles never done; as were the reports of wondrous Dreams and Visions, which had no other credit but the Author's honesty: or miraculous Cures, by the power and Relics of Saints deceased; as when those who never were blind, made others believe they had newly received sight.
• 2. Illusion; when though something were done, yet it was but a seeming and a counterfeit only of a miraculous work; indeed some juggling trick of the Devil or his instruments.
• 3. Lastly, Misapplication: either when that was attributed to a Divine power, which was nothing but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the work and operation of the Devil; or when it was interpreted or abused to invite and confirm men in some Idolatrous error, as it happened in the Miracles at the Shrines and Sepulchers of the holy Martyrs, which were interpreted to be for confirmation of the opinion of their Power, Presence, and notice of human affairs after death, and to warrant and encourage men to have recourse unto them by prayer and invocation, as unto Mediators, and to give that honor unto their Relics which was due unto God alone. The like is to be said of the Miracles of Images and of the Host; which though they smelt strong of Forgery or Illusion, were supposed by a divine disposition to be wrought for the like end and purpose. All which was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the power of seduction or strong delusion, to make the world believe a Lie, as S. Paul speaks 2 Thess. 2. 11.

Concerning the Hypocrisy of fabulous Legend-writers of the Acts of Saints and Martyrs, you know what it means; as also the last which was named, Counterfeit Authors under the name of Antiquity, as approving those Errors which Latter times devised: I shall not need here to use any further explication. And thus you see what is comprehended under 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the hypocrisy, counterfeiting or feigning of Liers.

I should now come to display the truth of this particular of this Prophecy in the Event: But I will first unfold the next imputation, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the hypocrisy of those who have their conscience seared; which though it might be exemplified in other things, yet I mean to instance only in that afore-mentioned, and so must give you the story of both together.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Through the hypocrisy of those who have seared consciences: For 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as I said before, is to be repeated 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies both the place seared, and the mark printed by the searing with an hot iron. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is to cauterize, to sear with an hot iron, or cut off with searing, as Surgeons do rotten members: now that which is seared becomes more hard and brawny, and so more dull, and not so sensible in feeling as otherwise. In this sense 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies those who have a hard and a brawny Conscience, which hath no feeling in it: In the other sense, as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is to cut off by searring, it must signify those who have no conscience left. There is not much difference; but I follow the first, a hard and unfeeling Conscience. And whether those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 whereof we spake before (to use no other instances) were not of such metal for their conscience, I think no man can deny.

Who could have coined, or who could have believed such monstrous stuff as the Legends are stored with, but such as were cauterized? If they had had any feeling or tenderness, not only of Conscience but even of Sense, they could never have believed or vented such stuff as there is. As that the Virgin Mary should draw out her breasts, and milk in I know not what Clerk's mouth. That she played the Mid-wife to an Abbess got with child by her Cater, and sent the Bastard by two Angels to a certain Eremite to be brought up. Idem ibid. c. 86. That she came and lay the first night in the midst between a certain Bridegroom and his Bride. Idem lib. 7. cap. 87.

Caesarius in his seventh book, chap. 34. reports, That the Virgin Mary for twelve whole years together did supply the place of a certain Nun called Beatrice, while the Nun lay in the Stews, till at length returning, she freed the Virgin from standing Sentinel any longer. And lib. 7. cap. 33. That she said to a certain Soldier, I will be thy wife, come and kiss me; and made him do so. That she took a Monk about the neck and kissed him.

In an Italian book, called The Miracles of the Blessed Virgin, printed at Milane 1547. A certain Abbess being great with child, the holy Virgin willing to cover her crime, did in her stead present herself before the Bishop in form of an Abbess, and shown by ocular demonstration that she was not with child.

But that which Johannes de Nicol. in his Reformed Spaniard tells, that he read taken out of Trithemius, is the more worthy to be remembered, as being a principal Motive in his Conversion, who was till then extremely addicted to the Idol-worship of the Blessed Virgin; which was much cooled, when he read That she came into the chamber of Frier Allen, ( a Dominican that made her Rosary,) made a ring of her own hair, wherewith she espoused herself unto him, kissed him, let him handle her breasts, and conversed as familiarly with him as a Bride is wont with her Bridegroom. Whether think you not that these fellows were seared in their conscience? what block could have been more senseless? Melchior Cano, speaking of the Golden Legend, as they call it, a Book fraught with such stuff as you have heard, methinks almost expresses the meaning of a cauterized conscience: Hanc homo scripsit (saith he) ferrei oris & plumbei cordis, a fellow of an iron mouth and leaden heart; as if he had said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of a brawny and unfeeling conscience.

CHAP. III.

BUT now I come to show how this Prediction of our Apostle hath been accomplished; How 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The cozenage and feigning of Liers was the Means whereby the Doctrine of Daemons was advanced in the Church; I mean the Deifying and worshipping of Saints and Angels, the adoring and templing of Relics, the bowing down to Images, the worshipping of Crosses as new Idol-columns, the worshipping of the breaden God or any other visible thing whatsoever upon supposal of any Divinity therein: all which I have proved to be nothing else but the Gentiles Idolatrous Theology of Daemons revived among Christians.

The first of these, The Deifying and invocating of Saints and adoring Relics, is the most ancient for time of all the rest, and began to appear in the Church presently after the death of Julian the Apostate, who was the last Ethnical Emperor. The grounds and occasions whereof were most strange reports of Wonders shown upon those who approached the Shrines of Martyrs, and prayed at their Memories and Sepulchers; Devils charmed, Diseases cured, the Blind saw, the Lame walked, yea the Dead revived, and other the like: which the Doctors of those times for the most part avouched to be done by the power and prayers of the glorified Martyrs, and by the notice they took of men's devotions at their Sepulchers; though at the beginning those devotions were directed to God alone, and such places only chosen for the stirring up of zeal and fervor by the memory of those blessed and glorious Champions of Christ. But whiles the world stood in admiration, and the most esteemed of these Wonders as of the glorious beams of the triumph of Christ; they were soon persuaded to call upon them as Patrons and Mediators, whose power with God, and notice of things done upon earth, they thought that these Signs and Miracles approved.

Thus the Relics of Martyrs beginning to be esteemed above the richest Jewels, for the supposed virtue even of the very air of them, were wonderfully sought after as some divine Elixir sovereign both to Body and Soul. Whereupon another Scene of Wonders entered, namely, of Visions and Revelations, wonderful and admirable, for the discovery of the Sepulchers and ashes of Martyrs which were quite forgotten, yea of some whose names and memories till then no man had ever heard of; as S. Ambrose's Gervasius and Protasius. Thus in every corner of the Christian world were new Martyrs bones ever and anon discovered, whose verity again miraculous effects and cures seemed to approve; and therefore were diversely dispersed, and gloriously templed and enshrined.

All these things happened in that one Age, and were come to this height in less than a 100 years. But here is the wonder most of all to be wondered at, That none of these miraculous Signs were ever heard of in the Church for the first 300 years after Christ, until about the year 360, after that the Empire under Constantine and his sons having publicly embraced the Christian Faith, the Church had peace, and the Bodies of the despised Martyrs, such as could be found, were now bestowed in most magnificent Temples, and there gloriously enshrined. And yet had the Christians long before used to keep their Assemblies at the Coemeteries and Monuments of their Martyrs: How came it to pass that no such virtue of their bones and ashes, no such testimonies of their power after death, were discovered until now?

Babylas his bones were the first, that all my search can find, which charmed the Devil of Daphne, Apollo Daphnaeus, when Julian the Apostate offered so many sacrifices to make him speak; and being asked why he was so mute, forsooth the corps of Babylas the Martyr, buried near the Temple in Daphne, stopped his wind-pipe. I fear, I fear here was some Hypocrisy in this business, and the Devil had some feat to play: the very name of Babylas is enough to breed jealousy, it is an ominous name, the name Babylas: yea and this happened too at Antioch, where Babylas was Bishop and Martyr in the persecution of Decius. Would it not do the Devil good, there to begin his Mystery, where the Christian name was first given to the followers of Christ? Howsoever this was then far otherwise construed, and a conceit quickly taken, that other Martyrs bones might upon trial be found as terrible to the Devil as those of Babylas; which was no sooner tried, but experience presently verified it with improvement, as you heard before: So that all the world rung so with Wonders done by Martyrs, that even holy men, who at the first suspected, were at length surprised and carried away with the power of delusion.

Besides the silence of all undoubted Antiquity of any such Sepulchral wonders to have happened in the former Ages, the very manner of speech which the Fathers living in this miraculous age used when they spake of these things, will argue they were then accounted novelties, and not as continued from the Apostles times. Chrysostom, in his Oration contra Gentiles, of the business of Babylas speaks thus; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 If any man believes not those things which are said to be done by the Apostles, let him now beholding the present desist from his impudency. Ambrose. Epist. ad sororem Marcellinam, relating of a piece of the Speech he made upon the translation of the Bodies of Gervasius and Protasius, and the miracles then shown, Reparata (saith he) vetusti temporis miracula cernitis, You see the miracles of ancient times (he means the times of Christ and his Apostles) renewed. S. August. Lib. de civ. Dei 22. cap. 8. in a discourse of the Miracles of that time, saith, We made an order to have Bills given out of such Miracles as were done, when we saw the wonders of ancient times renewed in ours: Id namque fieri voluimus, cùm videremus antiquis similia divinarum signa virtutum etiam nostris temporibus frequentari, & ea non debere multorum notitiae deperire.

But, alas I now began the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Latter times; this was the fatal time, and thus the Christian Apostasy was to be ushered. If they had known this, it would have turned their joyous shoutings and triumphs at these things into mourning. The End which these Signs and Wonders aimed at, and at length brought to pass, should have made them remember that warning which was given the ancient people of God, Deut. 13. If there arise among you a Prophet, or a Dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder; And the sign or wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other God's and serve them: Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

But why should I go any further before I tell you, that even in this also the Idolatry of Saint-worship was a true counterfeit of the Gentiles Idolatry of Daemons? Did not Daemon-worship enter after the same manner? was it not first insinuated, and at length established, by signs and wonders of the very self-same kind and fashion? Listen what Eusebius will tell us in his fifth book de Praeparat. Evangel. chap. 2. (according to the Greek edition of Rob. Stephen) When (saith he) those wicked spirits (as he proved them to be which were worshipped under the names of Daemons) saw mankind brought off to a Deifying of the Dead, (he means by erecting Statues, and ordaining Ceremonies and Sacrifices for their memorials) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , they insinuated themselves, and helped forward their error— 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , by certain motions of the Statues which anciently were consecrated to the honor of the deceased; as also 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , by ostentation of Oracles and cures of diseases, whereby they drave the superstitious headlong, sometimes to take them to be some heavenly Powers and God's indeed, and sometimes to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Souls of their deified worthies—And so (saith he) the earth-neighbouring Daemons, which are those Princes of the Air, those Spiritualities of wickedness, and Ringleaders of all evil, were on all hands accounted for great God's; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and the memory of the Ancients deceased was thought worthy to be celebrated with a greater service: the features of whose Bodies the Images dedicated in every City seemed to represent; but the Souls of them and those Divine and Incorporeal powers 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the wicked Daemons counterfeited by working many Miracles.

Hear Tertullian also speak in his Apology to the Gentiles, cap. 21. in fine. Quaerite ergo, si vera est ista Divinitas Christi: si est ea quâ cognitâ ad bonum quis reformetur, sequitur ut falsa renuntietur; compertâ imprimis illâ omni ration, quae delitescens sub nominibus & Imaginibus Mortuorum, quibusdam Signis & Miraculis & Oraculis fidem Divinitatis operatur: Search therefore whether this Deity of Christ be true (or not.) If it be that by the knowledge whereof a man shall be reformed to good, it follows then that the false be renounced; especially that whole mystery ( he means of the Gentiles Idolatry and Daemon- worship ) being discovered, which under the names and Images of the Dead, through Signs, Miracles and Oracles, obtaineth an opinion of Divinity.

Chrysostom shall conclude, who in his Oration in Iudaizantes saith, That the Daemons of the Gentiles wrought Miracles for the confirmation of Paganism, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 For (saith he) they oftentimes by their skill cured diseases, and restored to health those that were sick: what, should we therefore partake with them in their impiety because of this? God forbid. Then he adds out of Moses, Deut. 13. that which we even now quoted; which had it been as well applied to the Miracles amongst Christians present as it was to those of the Gentiles past, perhaps he that spoke it would have questioned something which he inclined to believe.

CHAP. IV.

THE Second Particular I named of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Hypocrisy or Feigning of Liers, was Fabulous Legends of the Acts of Saints and Martyrs. This was also another means to advance the Doctrines of Daemons. For the true Acts and Stories of the Martyrs being extinguished for the most part by the bloody Edict of Diocletian, they now began to supply again that loss, by collecting such Tales as were then current of them, and adding thereto such Miracles as were fabled of them after death; fashioned all to the best advantage of what they meant to promote in the Church, and was already on foot in the same. Such was that wherewith the good Father Greg. Nazianzen was abused in his Funeral Oration upon Cyprian, and many others of the Greek Church; That Cyprian, even that great Cyprian, who was both Citizen and Bishop of Carthage in the reign of Decius, (for of him Gregory speaketh expressly) being formerly a Conjurer, and falling in love with a Christian Virgin Iustina, some say of Antioch, whenas by wooing and ordinary means he could not win her unto his will, he went about to prevail with Magical spells and Conjurations: which the Damosel perceiving, she having recourse to God, fell to work against him with Prayer and Fasting, and in her devotions also besought the Virgin Mary to succor her a Virgin in that jeopardy: By which means Cyprian 's Magical enchantments were frustrated, and he convinced thereby, became a Christian. All which Baronius himself confesses to be a Fable; as well he might, it being unknown both to Pontius his Deacon, who lived with him and wrote his life, and to the Western and African Churches where he lived and died, who knew (and who could know better?) that he was in his Paganism not a Magician, but a Professor of Oratory at Carthage, (far enough from Antioch ) and converted by one Caecilius. Nevertheless we have cause to think that this Tale, together with other the like, served not a little for the advancement of the Mystery of Daemons in the Eastern Churches; when we see our Adversaries so willing to have that passage (as seems by their often alleging it) of calling upon the blessed Virgin to be authentical, notwithstanding they know (which the Greeks so well could not, he being a Latin Bishop) that the whole Story must needs be a Fable.

Of this stamp are the well-known Legends of our Latin Churches, which almost all of them drive principally at this mark; it being also the ordinary conclusion of their Tales, (sure of our English,) That since God hath done thus and thus by this holy Martyr, or since God hath by such Miracles honored this Martyr, let us pray unto him, that by his Merits and Intercession we may obtain salvation. Nor is it a late device: Greg. Turonensis above a thousand years ago, in his two Books De Miraculis Martyrum, as his fabulous Narrations (which yet many of them he refers to others before him) are excellently well framed for the promotion of Saint-worship; so in the conclusions of them he plainly confesses that that was his aim, shutting up his first Book thus; Vnde oportet & nos eorum Patrocinia expetere, ut eorum mereamur Suffragiis, vel quod nostris digni non sumus meritis obtinere; eorum possumus Intercessionibus adipisci, &c. It behooves us therefore to desire the Patronage of the Martyrs, that so we may merit through their Suffrages, and by their Intercessions obtain that which we are not worthy of upon the account of our own Merits. His second thus; Ergo his miraculis Lector intendens intelligat, non aliter nisi Martyrum reliquorúmque amicorum Dei adjutoriis se posse salvari, &c. And therefore let the Reader, well considering these Miracles, understand that there is no possibility for him to be saved but by the help of Martyrs and other friends of God.

But among the Greeks Simeon Metaphrastes hath a strain beyond us all, who feigns prayers for many of his Martyrs, wherein they desire of God, that whosoever should pray unto him in their names, or have recourse to their Sepulchers when they were glorified, might obtain whatsoever they asked, yea remission of sins itself. Which because it is so singular a Counterfeit of a lying Greek, I shall not do amiss to insert the particulars, together with something about the occasion and time of this device.

In the Martyrdom of Anastasia, a Roman Virgin, under Diocletian, he tells us, if we be so wise as to believe it,

Saint Barbara, a Virgin of Heliopolis, martyred under Maximianus, he makes, under the Executioner's hand, to pray in this manner:

And thou, O King, ( God, ) now hear my prayer, That whosoever shall remember thy name, and (this) my conflict, no pestilent disease may enter upon his house, nor any other of those evils which may bring damage or troubles to the bodies of men.— She had no sooner spoken, saith he, but a voice was miraculously heard from heaven, calling her and her fellow-Martyr Julian to the heavenly p • aces, and promising also that those things which she had asked should be accomplished.

In Saint Blasius (who suffered, saith Baronius, under Licinius ) our Simeon tells us,

That when a woman came unto him to cure her son, who had a fish-bone sticking in his throat, he prayed in this manner: Thou, O Savior, who hast been ready to help those who called upon thee in truth, hear my prayer, and by thy invisible power take out the bone which sticks in this child, and cure him: And whensoever hereafter the like shall befall men, children, or beasts; if any one then shall remember my name, saying, O Lord, hasten thy help through the intercession of thy servant Blasius, do thou cure him speedily, to the honor and glory of thy holy Name.

Again he tells us, That while they were carrying him before the President, he restored to a poor widow a Hog, her only Hog, which a Wolf had taken away from her. And when as afterward, in sign of thankfulness, she brought the Hog's head and feet boiled to the Martyr in prison, he blessing her, spake in this manner; Woman, in this Habit celebrate my Memorial, and no good thing shall ever be wanting in thine house from my God: yea and if any other, imitating thee, shall in like manner celebrate my Memorial, he shall receive an everlasting gift from my God, and a blessing all the days of his life.

When he comes to suffer, he makes him pray to God thus: Hear me thy Servant; and whosoever shall have recourse to this thine Altar, ( he means himself ) and whosoever shall have swallowed a bone or prickle, or be vexed with any disease, or be in affliction or necessity of persecution, Grant, Lord, to everyone his heart's desire, as thou art gracious and merciful; for thou art to be glorified now and evermore.

When he had thus prayed (saith he) Christ descended from heaven as a cloud, and overshadowed him: and our Savior said unto him, O my beloved Champion, I will not only do this, but that also which thou didst request for the widow; and I will bless also every house which shall celebrate thy Memory, and I will fill their store-houses with all good things, for this thy glorious Confession and thy faith which thou hast in me.

Saint Catharine, whom he calls AEcatharina, a Martyr of Alexandria under Maximianus, he makes to pray thus at her Martyrdom:

Grant unto those, O Lord, who through me shall call upon thy holy Name, such their requests as are profitable for them; that in all things thy wondrous works may be praised now and evermore.

But above all the rest, Marina 's prayer, whom we Latins call Saint Margaret, is complete and for the purpose: she suffered under Diocletian, and thus she prayed, if you dare believe Simeon.

And now, O Lord my God, whosoever for thy sake shall worship this Tabernacle of my Body, which hath fought for thee, and whosoever shall build an Oratory in the name of thy handmaid, and shall therein offer unto thee spiritual sacrifices, oblations and prayers, and all those who shall faithfully describe this my conflict of Martyrdom, and shall read and remember the name of thy handmaid; Give unto them, most holy Lord, who art a lover of the good and a friend of Souls, remission of sins; and grant them propitiation and mercy, according to the measure of their faith; and let not the revenging hand come near them, nor the evil of Famine, nor the curse of Pestilence, nor any grievous scourge; nor let any other incurable destruction either of Body or Soul betide them. And to all those who shall in faith and truth adhere to my house ( her Oratory or Chapel ) or unto my name, and shall unto thee, O Lord, offer glory and praise and a sacrifice in remembrance of thine Handmaid, and shall ask salvation and mercy through me; Grant them, O Lord, abundant store of all good things: for thou alone art good and gracious, and the giver of all good things forever and ever. Amen.

While she was thus praying with herself (saith Simeon ) behold there was a great earthquake, &c. yea and the Lord himself, with an host and multitude of holy Angels standing by her, in such sort as was perceptible to the understanding, said, Be of good cheer, Marina, and fear not, for I have heard thy prayers, and have fulfilled, and will in due time fulfill whatsoever thou hast asked, even as thou hast asked it.

Thus saith Simeon; who nevertheless in the very entrance to this his tale of Marina or Margaret, complains much, forsooth, that not a few of these Narrations of the Acts of Martyrs were at the beginning forged, yea profaned (as he faith more truly than he was aware of) evidentissimis Daemoniorum doctrinis. Besides, he calls I know not what Narration of this Virgin's Martyrdom, in that sort corrupted, Dictio Daemoniaca: but for his own part, he would reject all counterfeit fables, and tell us nothing but the very truth. Which how honestly he hath performed, and what touchstone he used, let the Reader judge. Baronius I am sure is quite ashamed of him, who though he can be sometimes content to trade with not much better ware, yet this of Simeon 's he supposes will need very much washing and cleansing before it be merchantable.

CHAP. V.

BUT for the better understanding of this Mystery of iniquity, and what necessity there was of such desperate shifts when time was; ye shall know that this superstitious Simeon lived towards the end of that time of great and long Opposition against Idolatry in the Greek and Eastern Churches, by divers Emperors with the greatest part of their Bishops, Peers, and People, lasting from about the year of our Lord 720 till after 840, that is a 120 years: which was not against Images only, though they bare the name; but the Worship of Saints and their Relics: The state whereof it shall not be amiss to represent out of such Records of Antiquity as our Adversaries themselves have been pleased to leave us; if it be but for their sake who so often ask us whether there were ever any of our Religion before Luther. Let us therefore hear what Writers of their own Sect, such as then lived and were eye-witnesses, will tell us.

Leo Isaurus ( saith Theophames, Miscell. lib. 21. cap. 23.) erred not only about the respective adoration of venerable Images, but about the Intercession of the most chaste Mother of God, and all the Saints, whose Relics also the most wicked man abominated, like unto his masters the Mohammedans.

This was the first of those Emperors: the next was Constantine, whom they surnamed Copronymus, of whom the same Author (ibid. c. ult.) speaks as followeth: This pernicious, ( saith he ) inhumane and barbarous Emperor, abusing his authority tyrannically, and not using it lawfully, at the very beginning made an Apostasy from God and his undefiled Mother and all his Saints.

Again, lib. 22. cap. 42. upon the twenty sixth year of his reign:

—He shown himself wicked, beyond the frenzy of the Mohammedans, to all that were Orthodox ( so he calls Idolaters,) under his Empire, Bishops, Monks, Lay-men and other his subjects; everywhere, as well by writing as by speech, banishing, as unprofitable, the Intercessions of the holy Virgin and Mother of God and of all the Saints, (through which all succor is conveyed unto us) and causing their holy Relics to be rejected and despised: And if the Relics of any notable Saint, sovereign both to body and Soul, were known to lie anywhere, and were, as the manner is, honored by those which were religious; presently he threatened such as these with death, as wicked doers, or else with proscriptions, banishment, and torture. As for the Relics acceptable to God, and esteemed by the possessors as a treasure, they were taken from them, from thence forward to be made hateful things.

Again, cap. 48. of the next year:

—If any one getting a fall, or being in pain, chanced to utter the usual language of Christians, saying, O Mother of God, help me; or were found keeping Vigils, &c. he was adjudged as the Emperor's enemy, and styled Immemorabilis, Vnworthy of memory: This man a title of insamy.

Again, cap. 54. Anno regni 31.

—If one were found to have a Relique but to keep, ( that is, though he worshipped it not,) yet nevertheless did Lichanodraco (the Emperor's President) burn it, and punish him that had it as a wicked doer. Thus far Theophanes.

Hear now what the Author of the Acts of Monk Stephen, whom the same Emperor made one of their Martyrs for patronizing Idols, can tell us: Hear what he saith of the great Council of Constantinople, held in this Emperor's reign against Images.

O Christ, how should I not admire thy lenity!—To that height did those most impudent tongues yet further break out, that they were not afraid to utter that monstrous and impious speech, viz. That the very Virgin-Mother of God herself was now after her death unavailable, and no use to be made of her, nor could she help or protect any one.

The same Author thus deplores the state of those times, abusing the words of Psalm 79.

O God, the heathen are come into thine Inheritance; thy holy Temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones: The dead Bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the air, and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth; that is, (saith he) the venerable and sacred Relics of the Martyrs, quas partim igni, partim mari, partim denique (ô facinus orbi universo damnum serens!) praecipitiis tradiderunt; which they cast partly into the fire, partly into the water, and (O villanous act whereby the whole world is damnified!) partly threw down into precipices.

There is nothing yet in these relations will do any man hurt by ingendring a misconceit, especially if he remember the tale is told by malicious Adversaries, that counterfeit Relics were plentiful in those days as well as now, and that Hezckiah brake in pieces the brazen Serpent made by God's own commandment, a holy monument and a type of Christ, when it was once abused to Idolatry.

After the death of this Emperor Constantine, and his son who reigned not long after him, the Idolatrous faction, under Constantine his nephew and the Queen-mother Irene, again for some years prevailed; and that so far, as to pack a Council, called the Second of Nice, the Bishop of Rome having a main stroke therein; whereby the former Council of Constantinople was condemned, and the worship of Images again established. But Leo Armenius coming to the Empire, the Orthodox part again prevailed, as before they had done, during the reign of three Emperors more.

The last Emperor of the Opposers of Idols was Theophilus; the last Patriarch John. And that to the very end the Idolatry of Saint-worship was opposed more or less, as well as that of Images, may be gathered out of that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or Song of Triumph, which the Greeks used to sing every first Sunday in Lent, for a memorial of their last and final conquest of the Opposers of Images, ever since that time; where in the Hymn of Theodorus Ode 8. I find this verse, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (that is,) The sacred Relics of the Saints, and their Images, were not at all to be worshipped, said most wickedly the renouncers of piety, the barbarous Lezich and John. This John is that Patriarch of Constantinople which I said was the last of the Opposers of Idols, and is often mentioned in this Song, as is also Lezich, but what he was is uncertain.

But this whole story being delivered unto us only by professed enemies, if they should fasten no worse calumnies upon the opposite side than yet you have heard, you would think perhaps that the Patrons of Idols then were far more ingenuous to their Adversaries than we find their Successors now. Hear therefore something of this kind also, that you may see, as they agreed with us in the same profession against Idols, so did they also in suffering the like slanderous lies from their Adversaries. In discoursing whereof I shall be nearer to 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 than I was before.

In that great Council of 338 Bishops, held at Constantinople against Idols under Constantine Copronymus, were, by some that wished well to Saint-worship, (though they consented against Images, ) these two Canons inserted into the first draught of the Definition of the Synod; 1. If any one should not confess the holy and ever-Virgin Mary, truly and properly Deipara (the Mother of God) to be higher than any visible or invisible creature, and with a sincere faith implores not her intercession, Let him be Anathema. 2. If any one shall not confess all the Saints, which have been from the beginning of the world until now—to be honorable before God both in Soul and body, or shall not entreat their prayers—Let him be Anathema: which, when the Definition came to be read in the Council, the prevailing part of the Fathers caused to be blotted out : whereupon that slander, fastened on them by their enemies, may seem to have taken the first hint; as if forsooth by their rejecting these two foisted Canons, they had therefore denied whatsoever was contained in them; as That the Virgin Mary was Deipara the Mother of God, or That the Saints were to be honored so much as with that honorable title of Saints.

For Cedrenus would make us believe, That this Emperor Constantine published a general law, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that none of the Servants of God should in any wise be called Saints: yea, that such of their Relics as were found, should be despised, and their Intercession not to be prayed for; because, said he, they can avail nothing. The profane wretch added ( saith the same Author ) Let no man pray for the Intercession, no not of Mary, for she can do him no good; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 moreover that she should not be called Deipara, that is, the Mother of God. Then he tells us, that he compared the Blessed Virgin, after she was delivered of Christ, to a purse emptied of the gold that was once in it. The same with Cedrenus, almost word for word, hath Soudas; so that the one may seem to have been transcribed out of the other.

But Theosterictus, one who lived at the same time, (whereas Cedrenus was more than 240 years after) seems much more ingenuous: For in his funeral Oration upon Nicetus, a Confessor of those times, whose Disciple he was, relating otherwise the same things which Cedrenus and Soudas do, yet when he comes to the story of the purse, he brings in the Emperor expressly calling the Virgin Mary Deipara; but finds fault that he would not vouchsafe her the name Saint. Ita Deiparens Maria ( saith he) ( neque enim Sanctam dignabatur nominare illam (saith Theosterictus ) indignus ill) quo tempore Christum in se habebat, valde honoranda illa erat; ex quo autem tempore illum peperit, nihil differebat à reliquis.

Indeed it seems that at the wiping out of those fore-mentioned Canons, there passed something in the Council (as is wont in such disputes) concerning an indifference or lawfulness in ordinary speech to mention such places as were dedicated to the memory of Saints, without the addition of the name Saint. For I find that Stephen the Monk, (afterward forsooth a Martyr) at what time the Emperor sent some of the Bishops and others unto him, to require his subscription to the Decree of the Council, thus expostulates with them; Did ye not (saith he) discard this adjective Saint from all the Just, from all the Apostles, from the Prophets, Martyrs and other godly men? For it was bravely decreed by you, That when any one were going to any of these, and were asked whither he went, he should answer, To the Apostles, To the forty Martyrs; or being asked whence he came, he should in like manner say, From the Temple of the Martyr Theodore, From the Temple of the Martyr George.

But Theosterictus tells the same thing of the Emperor Constantine himself. Sanctos Martyrs, (saith he) quantum in ipsoerat, honor privavit, cùm praeceperit non esse illos Sanctos appellandos, sed simpliciter nominari Apostolos, quadraginta Martyrs, Theodorum, Georgium, & alios similiter: He deprived, as much as in him lay, the holy Martyrs of honor, in that he commanded they should not be styled Saints, but simply named The Apostles, The forty Martyrs, Theodore, George, &c. Whereby it appears, that this Law (whatsoever it was which these Authors charge the Emperor with) was something that proceeded from the Council itself, as Monk Stephen even now charged them. Besides, that it was something only about the calling of Places dedicated to Saints, though our Authors (as Calumniators use) tell it of Saints at large. Lastly, that it seems to have grown upon some question, how far and in what kind Saints were to be honored, which was occasioned by the wiping out of those Canons afore-mentioned.

Johannes Curopalata and Cedrenus relate, That Michael Balbus, the last save one of the Emperors that opposed Idols, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ordained that the word [Saint] should not be set upon any Images wheresoever they were painted. For this was (and as some say is yet) the fashion of the Greeks, to add the names of the Saints to the Images which are to represent them. Now if any such thing as this were done or discoursed of in the days of Constantine, whom they call Copronymus, you may easily guess what fuel it might add to the fire of that slander we speak of.

But why should we trouble ourselves any longer to find out the Original of that which we are certain was a notorious lie? For it is apparent in the Definition of the Council itself which is thus calumniously charged, that they both give the Title of Saints often to the Apostles, Fathers and others, and of Deipara to the Blessed Virgin. I shall not need to recount every place where they give the Title of Saint to particulars; hear but what they say in general: Sancti qui Deo placuerunt, & ab ipso sunt 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 dignitate Sanctitatis honorati, vivunt semper Deo, licet hinc migraverunt; The Saints which pleased God, and are by him honored with the dignity of Saintship, though they be departed hence, yet to God they always live. Again, Nefas est Christianis, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Daemonum cultricum Gentium moribus uti, & Sanctos qui tali & tantâ gratiâ resplendebunt (sc. conregnare cum Christo, & judicare orbem terrarum, & conforms fieri gloriae ipsius) in ingloria & mortua materia 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 contumeliâ afficere; It is unlawful for Christians to use the fashions of the Gentiles which worshipped Daemons or Devils, and in a base and lifeless matter (they mean Images) to dishonor the Saints, which shall one day shine in such and so great grace and glory, viz. to reign with Christ, and to judge the world, and to be made like to his glory, as they said a little before. Council. Nicene. 2. Act. 6. Tom. 4.

As for the other part of the Calumny, about styling the Virgin Mary Deipara, hear not only what they practiced, but what they expressly decreed ( ibid. Tom. 6.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 • If any shall not confess God to be truly Emmanuel, and therefore the holy Virgin to be Deipara the Mother of God—Let him be Anathema. Here the Blessed Virgin hath both the name of Saint 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Mother of God given her. All this you shall find in the sixth Act of the Idolatrous Council of Nice, where the Enemies, whilst they would confute the Definition of the Synod at Constantinople, have preserved it, which else had utterly perished, as the Acts thereof have done.

Now judge whether Constantine and his Council were guilty or not of what the Idolatrous Faction charged them with. But we may wonder the le • s at this notorious impudency of lying companions, seeing we have experience of the like calumnies fastened upon ourselves this day, though there be so many thousand eyes and ears, and writings too, which confute them.

AND thus you have seen what manner of Times they were about the end of which our Simeon Metaphrastes lived. Was it not high time, think you, for him and those hands to which he was beholden, (for I will not charge him with all) to ply the old craft, and re-enforce the Legends with new Lies, when the credit of Saintworship lay thus a bleeding? It is not credible they would be so much wanting to themselves. And it is as apparent that those Tales of the new strain, which we had out of Simeon, were coined in this age, and not before: For if any such thing had been known or delivered from elder times, how came it to pass no notice thereof was given us by any Writer of Ecclesiastical story, by any Father, by any Compiler or forger of Martyrs Lives and Miracles, till now? Certainly so miraculous and wonderful things as Voices from Heaven, and Christ descending thence in a cloud, and the like, had been worth the telling. But, alas • they could tell us but little of these Martyrs, save only the names and time of their suffering. And thus I end my Digression, which yet I hope hath not been altogether impertinent to the present argument.

CHAP. VI.

THE last particular of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The Hypocrisy of Liers, I made to be Counterfeit Writings under the names of the first and best Antiquity; S. Peter 's Liturgy, the Liturgy of S. James, of Matthew, of Mark, The Apostles Council at Antioch; Foisted works under the names of Justin, Origen, Cyprian, Athanasius and others, Through which we need not doubt but the Doctrine of Daemons was promoted, when we see some not ashamed still to maintain it by these counterfeit authorities.

Thus you see how the first-born and the most ancient part of the Doctrine of Daemons, the Deifying of Saints and Martyrs, was advanced by the Hypocrisy of Liers The same you shall find to have been verified also in the advancing of the next-born Daemon-changling, Image-worship, and of the third, the Idolatry of the Mass-God; all brought in and established by the means and ways aforenamed. I need not spend time in historical allegations, they are well enough known; and Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura consequentium; by that I spake of the first, you may judge of those which follow, yet for Images, I will tell you a Story or two for a taste.

Bale our Country-man ( Script. Illust. Britain. Cent. 1. c. 91, 99.) relates that about the year 712 one Egwin of Worcester published in writing certain Revelations, yea express Visions he had seen, wherein he was enjoined to set up in his Diocese of Worcester the Image of the Blessed Virgin for the people to worship; which Pope Constantine the first having made him confirm by oath, not only ratified by his Bull, but caused Brithwald the Arch-bishop to hold a Council of the whole Clergy at London to commend them to the people.

In that Idolatrous Council of the second of Nice, one of their proofs, among many other the like, for worshipping of Images, is a tale (quoted out of I know not what Sophronius ) of a certain Recluse, who using to worship an Image of the Virgin Mary holding Christ in her arms, had been a long time tempted by the Devil to fornication; whereat on a time the old man being much aggrieved, the Devil visibly appearing told him in plain terms (but under an oath of secrecy) that he would never cease to vex him, until he left worshipping the Image of the Blessed Virgin. The Monk, notwithstanding the Devil had made him swear by the most High he should tell nobody, yet acquaints one Abbot Theodore with the business; who not only allows of his perjury in revealing it, but gives him this ghostly resolution, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 It were better be frequented all the Stews in the City, than not to worship Christ and his Mother in an Image. I am afraid some of this Monk's successors still observe this wholesome counsel.

I must tell you also some of the Miracles and Lies for laying the foundation of Transubstantiation, and thence advancing the Idol of the Mass.

These wonders and other the like of apparitions of flesh and blood began not till about the end of the eight-hundredth year. But that they might seem ancienter, Simeon Metaphrastes hath a forged Legend of Arsenius the Eremite; and somebody counterfeited the life of S. Basil, under the name of Amphilochius his companion, which now they begin to be ashamed of. And for fear the people might suspect that these were Illusions, they keep yet some of the flesh and blood which was thus transubstantiated, for a monument, in many Churches. To these apparitions, to make all complete, they tell us of and many other the like. But I have stayed too long amongst them, and therefore let here be the conclusion of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the hypocrisy of Liers, that we may pass on to that is yet behind.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c. CHAP. VII.

I Come now unto the last particular of the Description of the Means whereby the Doctrine of Daemons was to be advanced, viz. Through the Hypocrisy of such as forbid marriage, and command to abstain from meats. Who are these? The wonderful correspondence of the Event makes me verily believe that the Holy Ghost intended here (at least chiefly) to decipher unto us Monks and Doctors of Monkery, by two such marks as are the chief points and grounds of that Singularity of life. For Prohibition of marriage and Difference of meats are inseparable Characters of Monastical profession, and therefore common to all that crew of Hypocrites, whether Solivagant Eremites, or Anchorites which live alone, or Coenobites which live in Society. And if we take them joined together, as our Apostle doth, I think they can befit no other kind of men by way of Rule and Precept but these alone. 'It is true, all Antichrist's Priests are forbidden marriage generally and absolutely; but meats they are not, but only upon certain days and times: which is not their case alone, but the people also partake with them in the like restraint. But Monks are bound by the vowed Rule of their profession to abstain from both absolutely and perpetually. Concerning the first hear S. Chrysostom speak ( Hom. 7. in Matth.) Nobis & Monachis (saith he) omnia mandata Legis sunt communia 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 All the Commandments of God's Law are common to us with Monks, besides Marriage. Wherefore in the Council of Chalcedon is an express Canon, cap. 16. Vt nec Deo dicata Virgo nec Monachus nubant, That no Nun or Monk should marry, (i. e.) they might not forsake their profession.

For the second, the Abstaining from meats, S. Bennet can tell us best, who is the Father and founder of well-nigh all the Monks of the West, His Rule, which they all bind themselves to observe, saith, A carnibus omnes abstineant, Let all abstain from flesh. Again, Carnium etiam quadrupedum omnino ab omnibus abstineatur comestio, Let all abstain altogether from the eating of flesh even of four-footed beasts. Hence is that Decree of Bishop Fructuosus in Gratian, Dist. 5. Carnem cuiquam Monacho nec gustandi nec sumendi est concessa licentia, No Monk hath leave granted him to take or so much as to taste a piece of flesh. And these were the two principal observations of the first Monks, before they came to be gathered into a Society of a common life, under certain set Rules. Paulus Thebaeus, the first pattern of this kind of life, abstained (as from Marriage, whereof there is no question, so) from all meats save bread and dates. Anthony the next ate naught but bread and salt, and both drank no other drink but water. Epiphanius in his Anchorato tells us of differing observations in this kind: Some ate no flesh, but fish; some neither of both, but only fruits and herbs some are flying creatures, but abstained from all besides.

But if you will take Meats in this place in a larger sense, you shall have a full Definition of Monkery, and take in that other Monastical principle of Renouncing possessions, and having no propriety in anything, which they account the Second fundamental principle, next to the Vow of chastity or single life. Now may not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Meats, be expounded in this sense? We know the word [ Bread ] in Scripture signifies all things needful for maintenance of life, omnia vitae subsidia; and therefore we ask them all in the Lord's prayer under that name, Give us this day our daily bread. Mark the words of David to Ziba, 2 Sam. 9. 10, Thou and thy Sons and thy Servants shall till the land for him, (Mephibosheth,) and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy Master's son may have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Food to eat. Here Bread or Food is taken for Mephibosheth 's whole maintenance, the whole profit of the Lands which Ziba tills. Matth. 10. 9, 10, Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor yet staves; for the workman is worthy 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of his meat. Here gold, silver, brass, clothes and staves and all come under 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that is, meat. Instead whereof S. Luke chap. 10. verse. 7. putteth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , his hire. Prov. 30. 8. Agur saith, Give me neither poverty nor riches: Feed me with Food convenient for me, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . By all which appears, that Food and Meat in Scripture is often taken for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as S. James speaks (chap. 2. verse. 16.) for all provision of things for the use of the body and this life; maintenance, revenue, estate, possession. Why may not then Abstaining from meats in this Prophecy mean or include Abstaining from possessions, Votum paupertatis the Vow of Poverty and renouncing of the world, as the Hypocrites call it? to which the following words [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] are every way as pliable as to the stricter sense, and may be read thus, [ which God hath created to be enjoyed with thanksgiving of them which, &c.] Let us hear S. Bennet 's Rule speak for all. Nemo aliquid proprium habeat, nullam omnino rem, neque codicem, neque tabulas, neque graphiarium, sed nihil omnino: Let no man have anything proper or as his own, no kind of thing, neither book, nor writing, nor Inkhorn, nor anything at all. And those who had once imposed upon themselves this law, were prohibited forever to return to the world again. Monachis non licere ad seculum redire, saith the Canon of a great Council. Hear a Story out of S. Jerome, Epist. ad Eustochium. A certain Monk being dead, was found to have been so good a Husband as to have had lying by him an hundred Solidi, which he had gotten by weaving of linen; hereupon great doubt there was what it should be done withal, whether given to the poor, to the Church, or to what use. But Pambo, Isidorus, and the other Fathers (of the Monks ) laying their heads together, decreed it should be buried with him, with this blessing, Pecunia tua sit tecum in perditionem, Thy money perish together with thee. The like sentence gave Gregory the Great against Iustus a Monk for the like fault, Dial. l. 4. c. 55.

I conclude therefore, That these words are a Description of Monkery by such notes as are fundamental, which way soever we take them; either containing Single life and Discrimen ciborum the Differencing meats; or the two Vows of Chastity and Poverty; or all three of them, Chastity, Poverty, and Abstaining from meats. As for that other Vow of Obedience, it was not from the beginning, nor common to all; not to Eremites and Anchorites, but such as lived in common under an Head. And these are the men through whose Hypocrisy and by whose means the Doctrine of Daemons should be brought in and advanced among Christians in the Latter times.

CHAP. VIII.

NOW let us see and behold with admiration the truth of this part also of this Prophecy. Where first observe that this Singular kind of life began even just at the time when the Doctrine of Daemons was to enter. For Paulus Thebaeus and Anthony, the first patterns thereof, died, the former in the reign of Constantine, the latter a little before the year 360, whence, or near unto which, we began our reckoning before of the first entrance of Saint-worship into the Church. About that time Monks till then having been confined to Egypt, Hilarion brought them into Syria, and presently S. Basil gave them a certain rule to live together in form of a Polity, and with the assistance of his brother Gregory Nyssen and Gregory Nazianzen (who all entered this new kind of life) dispersed them over all Asia and Greece: whose increase was so wonderful, that almost in an instant they filled the World; and their esteem was so great, that there was scarce a man of note but took upon him this kind of life.

Though therefore it be most true that our Apostle's prophecy will be verified, which soever of the two, either such as themselves entered the Restraint of a Monastic life, or those who approved, taught and maintained the holiness of that Profession, (as the rest did) were the Ringleaders and Foster-fathers of this Defection; (for both come within the verge of such as forbid marriage and command to abstain from meats ) yet we will not content ourselves with so loose an application, but see what an hand Monks and Friers themselves (chiefly I suppose intended by the Holy Ghost) had in this business.

And first in the first Doctrine of Daemons, Adoring of Relics and Invocation of Saints: Where that which I first speak of shall be in the words of Chemnitz, lest some more tender of the honor of our Fathers upon earth, than of the glory of our Father in heaven, might take exception. Hear therefore not me, but Chemnitz in his Examen Concilii Tridentini: About the year of our Lord 370, per Basilium, Nyssenum & Nazianzenum, in publicos Ecclesiae conventus, occasion orationum Panegyricarum (Invocatio Sanctorum) invehi incepit, eodem tempore cùm ab iisdem authoribus Monachatus ex AEgypto & Syria in Graeciam introduceretur. Et videtur (saith he) haec sive portio, sive Appendix Monachatûs fuisse. By Basil, Nyssen and Nazianzen, upon occasion of Panegyrical orations, Invocation of Saints began to be brought into the public Assemblies of the Church, at the same time when by the same Authors the Profession of Monastical life was brought out of Egypt and Syria into Greece: and it seems (saith he) that this was either a part, or an appurtenance of Monkery, &c. Again, speaking of S. Ambrose when he had once turned Monk, howsoever he was before, Non tamen nego (inquit) Ambrosium tandem cùm Monachatum à Basilio mutuo sumpsisset, etiam ad Invocationem Sanctorum inclinare coepisse, ut patet ex libro De viduis: I deny not (saith he) but Ambrose at length, when he had once borrowed Monkery from Basil, began also to incline to the Invocation of Saints, as appears in his book De viduis. Thus Chemnitz.

And that you may yet further see how operative Monks were in this business, hear S. Augustine De opere Monachorum, cap. 28. Tam multos hypocrite as sub habitu Monachorum usquequaquam dispersit (Satan,) circumeuntes provincias, nusquam missos, nusquam fixos, nusquam stantes, nusquam sedentes. Alii membra Martyrum (si tame • Martyrum) venditant—& omnes petunt, omnes exigunt aút sumptus lucrosae egestatis, aut simulatae pretium sanctitatis: The Devil (saith he) hath dispersed in every corner such a crew of Hypocrites under the habit of Monks, gadding about every Country, sent no whither, staying nowhere, everywhere restless, whether sitting or standing: Some sell the limbs of Martyrs, (if so be of Martyrs;) and all are asking, all exacting either the expenses of a gainful poverty, or the hire of a counterfeit sanctity. These were those surely which occasioned that Rescript of Theodosius the Emperor, Nemo Martyrem distrahat, nemo mercetur, Let no man sell, let no man buy a Martyr: whereby we may gather what honesty was like to be used amongst them. We know,

Merchants use to commend their commodities. Gregory of Tours, who lived and died somewhat before the year 600, tells us this, Monachos quosdam Roman venisse, ac prope Templum Pauli corpora quaedam noctu effodisse; qui comprehensi fassi sunt in Graeciam se ea pro Sanctorum reliquiis portaturos fuisse: That certain Monks came to Rome, and near unto S. Paul's Church in the night-time digged up certain bodies; who being apprehended, confessed they meant to have carried them into Greece for Relics of Saints. The same Author, l. 9. c. 6. Hist. Franc. relates a Story of another counterfeit, a Monk, who pretended to come out of Spain with Martyrs Relics; but being discovered, they were found to be Roots of certain Herbs, Bones of Mice, and such like stuff: and he tells us there were many such seducers which deluded the people. And he said true, there were many indeed, and many more than Gregory took for such, even those he took for honest men. For though it must not be denied but God had some of this Order which were holy men and unfeignedly mortified, notwithstanding their error in thinking God was pleased with that singularity of life; yet must it be confessed that the greater part were no better than Hypocrites and Counterfeits, and that the lamentable Defection of the Christian Church chiefly proceeded from and was fostered by men of that profession, as in part we have heard already.

And if you can with patience hear him speak, I will add the testimony of Eunapius Sardianus, a Pagan Writer, who lived in the days of Theodosius the first, about the year 400. In the life of AEdesius, most bitterly inveighing against the Christians for demolishing that renowned Temple of Serapis at Alexandria in Egypt, he speaks in this manner: When they had done, (saith he) they brought into the holy Places 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 those which they call Monks; Men indeed for shape, but living like Swine, and openly committing innumerable villainies not to be named; who yet took it for a piece of Religion thus to despise the Divinity (he means of Serapis:) For then (saith he) whosoever wore a black coat, and would demean himself absurdly in public, got a tyrannical authority: To such an opinion of virtue had that sort of men attained. These Monks also they placed at Canopus, instead of the intelligible God's, to worship Slaves and those of no good conditions; thus bringing a bond of Religion upon men. For having poudered the bones and skulls of such as had been condemned of many crimes, and punished by a legal course of Justice, they made God's of them, prostrating themselves unto them, and thinking themselves the better for being polluted with Sepulchers: They called them for sooth Martyrs, and some Deacons, yea and Solicitors of their prayers with the God's; being indeed but perfidious Slaves, who had been well basted with the whip, and carried the scars of their lewdness upon their bodies: and yet such God's as these the Earth brings forth.

Thus the wretched caitisse and damned dog blasphemes the Saints and Servants of Christ, who loved not their lives unto death, the dust of whose feet he was not worthy to lick up. Yet may we make a shift to gather hence what manner of offices Monks were then busied in. And if Baronius took leave to use his testimony for the antiquity of Saint-worship, why may not I with the like liberty allege it, to show that Monks and Friers were Ringleaders therein?

BUT when the Idolatry of Image-worship came to be added to that of Saints, whether Monks and Friers were not the chief sticklers therein, judge, when you shall hear how it fared with them in that great Opposition against Idols in the East.

Of Leo Isaurus, the first of those Emperors that opposed Images, we have this in general out of the Greek Menology; That he raged most cruelly against Bishops and Monks which maintained the worship of Images; and that he burnt a whole Cloister of such kind of people in their Monastery, together with a famous Library, and all their furniture.

But Constantine his son made a worse fray amongst them. For the Author of the Acts of Monk Stephen tells us, That he being reproved and convicted for what he had done ( viz. against Images ) by the religious and worthy professors of Monastical life, he raised an implacable war against them, calling that noble Habit 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the vesture of darkness, and the Monks themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that is, unworthy of memory, and besides terming them all Idolaters for the worshipping of venerable Images.

The same is confirmed by Theosterictus, another Author of that time, who saith, That the whole aim and study of this Emperor was to extinguish and root out the Order of Monks.

And for particulars, hear what Theophanes (himself a Monk, and a little • indged too in this flame, before it ended) will inform us.

In the one and twentieth year of his reign he caused (saith he) Andreas Calybites, a worthy Monk, who reproved him for his impiety, (in demolishing Images) to be scourged till he died. Lib. 22. cap. 30. Hist. miscell.

In the five and twentieth year of his reign he caused Monk Stephen to be dragged by the heels in the streets, till being rent in pieces, he died; both for the aforesaid offense, and because he drew and persuaded many to a Monastical life. Ibid. cap. 39.

The same year the Emperor (saith he) disgraced and dishonored the Monastical Habit, publicly commanding every Monk to lead a woman by the hand, and so to march through the Hippodrome, all the people abusing them and spitting upon them. Ibid. cap. 40.

In the seven and twentieth year (saith he) the Monasteries partly he destroyed to the very foundations, partly bestowed them upon his Captains and Soldiers. Ibid. cap. 49.

In the same year; when he could not draw Peter a Metra, a famous Stylite or Pillar-Monk, unto his opinions, he caused him likewise to be dragged by the heels, and his body cast out into the streets. Ibid. cap. 48.

In his thirtieth year, his Praetor or Deputy Lichanodraco gathered all the Monks in his Jurisdiction together, and commanded them to obey the Emperor, to put on a white coat, and to marry wives instantly, or to have their eyes put out, and be sent into exile. Ibid. cap. 52. So the Emperor, when he would have Constantine the Patriarch abjure Monkery, he made him (saith the same Author) eat flesh. Lib. eod. cap. 29.

In the one and thirtieth year the same Lichanodraco sold all the Monasteries both of men and women in his Jurisdiction, and sent the money to the Emperor. If he found any one to have a Relique of any Saint in keeping, he burnt it, and punished him that had it. He slew the Monks, some with stripes, some with the sword; and left not a man, where he had to do, that wore a Monastical Habit: whereupon the Emperor wrote thus unto him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , I have found thee a man after mine own heart, who fulfillest my whole will. Thus much of Constantine.

The like reports Cedrenus of Michael Balbus, that he abominated Monks and diversely afflicted them, ordaining one punishment after another against them. As also of Theophilus the last Emperor that opposed Images: Theophilus (saith he) ordained 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that no Monks should have access unto the Cities, and that they should by all means be banished; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and not so much as dare to be seen in the Country: and that he caused the Monasteries and places of holy retirement to become common and secular habitations. What the reason was, we may learn by that the same Author tells us: Of those (saith he) which reprehended the Emperor, the Abramite Monks were the chief; who freely adventuring into his presence, did demonstrate That Monastical life was not an invention of yesterday or the other day, but an ancient and primitive instituion; and That holy Images were familiar in the Apostles times, and that S. Luke painted an Image of the Blessed Virgin, &c. But it seems the Emperor was not convinced by their demonstrations; for their boldness cost them full dear, as our Author relates.

By this time I know you understand what the matter was that this Image-storm fell so heavily upon the heads of Monks and Friers; and yet notwithstanding all this, they at length prevailed, and carried the day (so God would have it) for their Idols. For another Theophanes, whom they call the Presbyter, a Writer also of his time, tells, That Theophilus being dead, Theodora the Empress, (whilst the reigned in the minority of Michael her son) when she meant to restore Image-worship which had been banished now the second time, ever since Leo Armenius, Re cum illis communicatâ qui erant in magistratu & dignitate constituti, accersit cum ipsis eos qui inter Monachos praestabant, & de Imaginum instauratione quaestionem proponit. Cúmque idem omnes consentientes comperisset, diuturnóque ejus rei desiderio teneri, atque animo excruciari propter Religions in hac re mutationem, postulat ut se etiam Patrum authoritatibus ad veritatem confirmarent quas variis in libris invenissent; mandavítque quo in loco Palatii praesinito Coetus Ecclesiasticus universus cogeretur, & ad populum ea de reverba faceret, &c. that is, When she had acquainted the Magistrates and those that were in authority therewith, together with them she sense for the chiefest of the Monks, and propounded to them the question concerning the restoring of Images: whom when she found all men for the purpose, yea very eager in the business, she called a Synod, whereby Idolatry was again publicly erected in the Greek Church, 120 years after it first began to be purged thereof by Leo Isaurus the Emperor.

For the Idolatry of the Mass-God, which was not in use, at the soonest, till a thousand years after Christ, (when the opinion of Transubstantiation had gotten sufficient strength,) we shall not need trouble ourselves much to show that Monks and Friers were the Authors and Advancers thereof, since by that time these kind of men were become the only Masters of Divinity; and therefore we need not doubt but what was then broached in the Church came out of their shops. Judge now, by what you have heard, how truly this Prophecy of S. Paul is fulfilled, who told us That the Doctrines of Daemons should be brought into the Church 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Through the hypocrisy of those who forbid to marry, and command to abstain from meats.

DANIEL 9. 24, &c.

THE WEEKS of Daniel are a Divine Chronology of the Time which the Sanctuary, with the Legal Service, should continue, when it should be restored after the Captivity of Babylon. During which time also the City of Jerusalem itself should be reinhabited, and the walls thereof re-built; and some LXII Weeks after that began to be, should Messiah the Redeemer be anointed, yea and cut off and rejected of his own: For which, when the whole LXX Weeks (the time allotted) should expire, their Sanctuary and City should again be rased, and their Commonwealth utterly dissolved.

ARGUMENTUM I.

Major ex Daniele constat, qui quarto Regno in statua Nebuchadnezaris descripto subdit, In diebus autem Regum istorum suscitabit Deus Coeli Regnum quod in secula non destruetur, neque populo alieno relinquetur. In diebus Regum istorum, vel, ad verbum, In diebus illorum Regum illorum, id est, quarti Regni temporibus, quod, ut dixi, multiregium erat futurum: vel, si cui hoc minùs placuerit, Temporibus Regum istorum, hoc est, constante adhuc, & nondum absolutâ aut peractâ, quatuor istorum Regum seu Regnorum serie. Alterutra interpretatio necessaria est, & utrâvis idem plane obtinebo, Christi Regnum suscitatum iri aliquo ex quatuor istis Regno nondum elapso, sed adhuc rerum potiente: illud vero cum Tertium certum est non fuisse, necessario Quartum erit. Id quod adhuc evidentiùs ex Somnio ipso confirmatur. Regnum enim Christi (Daniele interpret) est Lapis iste excisus sine manibus, ) id est, sine ope humana) qui Imaginem percussurus erat ad pedes ipsius ferreos & luteos, adeóque comminueret illos ut locus iis non est inventus ampliùs, cap. 2. verse. 34, 35. At vero qui potuit Lapis Imaginem percutere ad pedes, nisi saltem pedes isti mansissent adhuc cùm Lapis e monte exscindebatur?

Minor quoque, Romanis imperantibus (non Graecis aut Persis) coepisse Regnum Christi, non minùs est manifesta. Quid enim? Annon nascente Christo tota Terra censebatur ab Augusto? & non tantùm Iudaei, sed & Joseph ipse cum Sponsa Maria, Luc. 2? Annon eodem prodente decimo quinto Tiberii Caesaris, Baptismus & initium praedicationis Jesus Christi? Et quid voluit vox illa Christi, Date Caesari quae sunt Caesaris? Quid illa Iudaeorum Christum Regem respuentium, Non habemus Regem nisi Caesarem? nisi ut sciamus Romanos solos, non vero Graecos aut alios, tunc rerum potitos.

Et priusquam hinc abeam, facere non possum quin admoneam, hoc, de quo loquimur, tempus illud esse de quo Paulus ad Hebr. 1. 2. ait, Deum VLTIMIS DIEBVS locutum esse nobis in Filio; itemque ad Galatas cap. 4. 4. Postquam venit PLENITVDO TEMPORIS, emisisse Deum filium suum, factum e Muliere; denique ad Eph. 1. verse. 10. notum fecisse nobis Deum Mysterium voluntatis suae, ut in dispensatione PLENITVDINIS TEMPORVM omnia in Christo recolligeret, tum quae in coelis sunt, tum quae in terra: Nimirum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 isti 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , illud 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 nihil aliud in N. T. designant quàm ultimi Regni tempora in hac serie Danielis; tum quod hujus Regni tempora Quaternionis istius revera sunt ultima tempora; tum quod Regno hoc ultimo Quaternio Propheticus plenitudinem suam sortitur, seu plenum numerum.

ARGUMENTUM II.

Majoris veritas evidentissima est ex utraque Danielis Prophetia. De Somnio Nebuchadnezaris: Vidisti (inquit) usquedum excisus est Lapis sine manibus, & percussit Imaginem super pedes ipsius ferreos & luteos, ut comminueret eos. Ità abstulit ea ventus, & nullus locus inventus est eis. LAPIS autem qui percusserat Imaginem effectus est MONS magnus, adeo ut impleret totam terram. Hoc est, ipso Daniele interpret, In diebus Regni quarti suscitabit Deus coeli REGNVM (hic est Lapis iste e Monte excisus) quod in secula non destruetur, quódque populo alteri non relinquetur, (ut prioribus scilicet Regnis factum est:) sed comminuet & consumet omnia ista Regna; ipsum autem stabit in secula: Hoc est, Lapis Regni Christi jam à pluribus seculis ex Monte hujus Mundi excisus, tandem cùm tempus à Deo decretum advenerit, exterminatis, & abolitis penitus, quae huc usque vigent, Imaginis hujus partibus novissimis, seu postremis; Ipse, qui hucusque Lapis duntaxat fuerat, & quidem offensionis, tunc evadet in Montem Ingentem, implebítque totum terrarum orbem.

Altera vero Prophetia, quâ Quaternio iste Regnorum quatuor Bestiarum vision adumbratur, hujus rei demonstrationem suppeditat plane invictam. Nam ibi de quartae Bestiae seu Regni quarti postrema Dynastia, quae sub Cornu isto monstroso futura erat, cui & Oculi erant & Os loquens grandia;