An Answer to a Popish Ryme, lately scattered abroad in the West parts, and much relied upon by some simply-seduced.
By Samuel Hieron, Minister of the Word of God, at Modbury in Deuon.
Math. 10, 17.
Beware of Men.
Phil. 3.2.
Beware of Dogs.
LONDON Printed by Simon Stafford, dwelling in Hosier lane, near Smithfield. 1604.
To my much esteemed friend, J. L.
Y
Ou will wonder, I am sure (considering my profession, to see me become a Poet. And indeed I do almost marvel at it myself, knowing myself to want the two principal furtherances of Poetry: the one is natures instinct
, which God in his holy providence hath denied me: the other is a certain retired freedom from all such businesses, which may breed distraction,
which my public Calling, besides private encombrances, will not afford me. Yet notwithstanding, upon this present occasion, I have even forced myself to this straiter course of Verse-making, though I know, that for mine own case (having to deal in such a distempered and unruly Subject) that less-limited & freer kind of discourse, which Prose alloweth, had been more convenient: Because the rules of Cadence, & number (to which our English Poetry especially is cōfined) do many times so straiten an unaccustomed Practitioner, that he is in hazard, either of obscuring the sense (which in a matter of this nature were something dangerous) or of marring the Verse (which to the apprehension of every
common conceit were very ridiculous.) But howsoever I have erred in the carriage of this verse, I hope, to you and to others, whose favor, either because of their Judgment, or their honesty, I desire, this shall excuse me: that meeting with our common Adversary (who appeareth sometime in shape of a States-man, debating of Titles, and Common-wealth affairs,
sometime as a Petitioner to the King and Parliament,
sometime as a plausible persuader,
sometime as a Restorer of the holy Text, to the native purity thereof,
sometime as a man of a very tender Conscience, giving reasons why he cannot come to our Assemblies,
sometime as a Rayler at our government, and an approuer of our open enemies;
that, I say, meeting with this time-serving
Proteus,
in the fashion of a Rimer or Balladine, and crept in (as the manner of false brethrē is
) into both the hands and the hearts of many simply-seduced; I have endeavored to make the Lettuce like the lips (as the proverb is) and to proportion myself to him in versing, to whom I am sure (without willful forsaking the plain truth of God, manifested in Scripture) I shall never be like in believing.
The Service it self, which is here sent us in by this Runnagate,
is for substance agreeing with the rest of their Romish Cates, though (to say the truth)
it hath come through the hands of a very homely and sluttish Cook, by whom it is neither seasoned with wit or argument, no, nor yet set forth after any good ordinary fashion: But it is even a very Gally-mawfrey, of certain naked and indigested Allegations (as it were the leavings and scraps of some other) without either order or proof, as though every Papist were a Pope, and every word of his mouth an Oracle. Belike the Slouen thought it good enough for those, for whom it was provided; as indeed it is: for those which turn their ears from the truth, and are given unto fables
; and by some, upon my knowledge (to whom, I fear me, God hath sent strong delusions, that they should believe lies) it is highly magnified,
as a special Preseruatiue against supposed Heresy, and as a well-framed Sconce, which none of us all is able to overthrow.
In regard whereof, knowing myself bound among others to contend earnestly for the maintenance of the Faith,
I have undertaken this which you here see. For my desire and true intent therein, it is best known to him which seeth in secret
, and in his due time will make the counsels of all hearts manifest.
Touching the thing it self, how it is, and how well it is, I submit it to the censure of the godly-wise,
praying them, that with their favorable (if not allowance, yet at least) connivance, it may pass to the use of those, to whom it is intended: And among others, I have directed it especially to you, in part of recompense for a great deal of kindness, entreating you to entertain it with the like measure of love, wherewith it is offered. And so beseeching God to fill you with the fruits of righteousness,
I commend you to his grace in Christ Jesus.
Modbury,
August, 20. 1604.
Your very loving friend,
SAM. HIERON.
The Papists Ryme.
I
Pray thee, Protestant, hear with me,
To ask thee Questions two or three:
And if an answer thou canst make,
More of thy counsel I will take.
Many sundry Sects appear,
Now in the world far and near,
The Caluinist, the Protestant,
The Zuinglian, the Puritant:
The Brownist, and the Family of Love,
And many more which I can prove,
And the Roman faith truly,
Which you call Papistry.
And everyone confess IESV,
Saying that their Faith is true:
But amongst these tell me how,
The Truth from feigned lies to know.
All these in very deed,
Rehearse all Articles in the Creed,
And everyone of them saith,
That theirs is the Catholic Faith:
But this it is that I do seek,
To know the Church Catholic,
The Communion or Company
Of holy men in Unity.
Catholic.
IN your Bible I have read,
The Church must through the world be spread:
For Christ he his Apostles sent
With power and Commandment,
That to all Nations they should go,
To preach and to baptize also.
Who hath done this? to know I will,
For that is sure the Church of Christ.
As for example, let me know,
And if thou canst I pray thee show,
What Church did take in hand
The first conversion of this Land?
And all other countries everywhere,
Throughout the world far and near:
If this were not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.
Saint Paul in his Epistle faith,
The Romans had the Catholic Faith,
Saying it was renowned,
Spoken of, or published
Through the world, over all,
Catholic, Universal:
And if your Churches were even so,
Then to your Churches I would go.
Prophets.
SO saith the Prophet Malachi,
There should be offered far and nye,
A clean Oblation or Sacrifice,
From place where now the Sun doeth rise,
To the going down of the same.
And what is that, I pray thee name?
If it be not the holy Mass,
I will be a Protestant as I was.
In the eighteenth Psalm I found,
The whole world should hear their sound,
And it this mark you do not want,
Presently I will recant.
Continuance.
THis is another mark most sure,
The Faith of Christ must still endure,
According as our Savior said,
When for Saint Peter he had prayed.
Simon, thy Faith shall never fail,
The gates of Hell shall not prevail,
The holy Ghost your Comforter,
Shall remain with you forever.
And I myself, your surest friend,
Will be with you unto the end.
Saint Paul hath the like speech,
There shall be always men to preach,
Apostles,
Doctors, and the like,
In the Church Catholic:
If this be not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.
Visible.
ANother mark there is most clear,
The Church of God must still appear,
Seene and continue still;
As a light on a Candlestick,
So is the Church Catholic.
Our Savior saith, If one offend,
And will not be ruled by his friend,
Tell all the Church without delay:
And if he will not then obey,
Do thou esteem such a man,
An Heathen or a Publican.
Is not that the Church, wherein we see
Two hundred Bishops thirty three,
To have succeeded each other,
Since the time of Saint Peter?
Shew me this mark in you,
And I will say your Faith is true:
If this be not in the Faith of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.
Unity.
ANother mark there is truly,
The Church must have Unity,
As our Savior hath foretold,
One Shepherd and one Fold:
One is my Spouse, one is my Love,
One is my Darling and my Dove:
This is his Spouse, and at some time
He doeth resemble it to a Vine.
His Father is the Husbandman,
A Branch is every Christian,
This is his Body Mystical,
The which he doeth his Kingdom call:
Whereof Saint Peter had the Keys,
And his Successors have always:
And likewise Saint Paul saith,
One Baptism and one Faith,
And one Lord IESV:
Have no dissention among you.
If this be not the Church of Rome,
Then will I be converted soon.
Holy.
THis you say in very deed,
When you rehearse the holy Creed,
One Church Catholic,
Holy and Apostolic.
This is another mark truly,
The Church of God must be holy:
Holy men, Holy Service,
Ceremonies, Sacrifice:
Sacraments and Holy days,
Are observed in her always:
As for the Saints and Martyrs all,
And Virgins, which you Saynts do call;
I ask you when they lived and where,
Whose names are in your Calender:
In what Religion they died,
By whom they were Canonized?
Prove that these agree with you,
And I will say your Faith is true:
If they were not your company,
Then is your Faith an Heresy.
Heretics.
Our Savior warneth us to have care,
Of false Prophets to beware,
Which in his name shall come,
Not sent, yet they shall run:
Thieves, not entering by the Door,
That kill and steal and keep a stoore,
Wolves in Shepherds clothing,
That kill the Soul, and steal the tithing,
Dogs, Foxes, and Masters of lies,
That new Sects will devise,
Bringing in dissention,
And heap thousands to perdition.
Where have you been this many a yere,
That none of you durst once appear?
Euer since our Saviors time,
To whom did your Light shine?
Where did your principal Pastor sit?
Who kept your keys, who fed your sheep?
Shew some Churches you have built:
I can show many you have spilled.
How might a man have found you out,
To have trial in a matter of doubt:
Where for so many a year
No such company did appear?
Until Luther, a lying Friar,
Upon whom the Devil had desire,
Brake his vow,
and married a Nun.
And there your Sect
first begun,
And favored in Saxony
By a Duke that loved liberty:
And in King Edwards time truly,
It first infected our Country.
For a thousand years you say,
That Papistry did bear the sway:
And during all that space,
No Protestant durst show his face.
Who kept
the holy Scriptures then
From the hands of wicked men?
Who had authority to ordain,
Our Priests and Bishops again?
For he that entereth without Order,
As a thief doeth kill and murder.
And one thing maketh me to muse,
That no Priest you do refuse,
Being ordered by the Church of Rome,
But he was accepted soon:
If he would say the new Service,
He should have a Benefice,
Without any further order,
And accounted for the better:
How can she make a lawful Priest,
If she be not the Church of Christ.
Answer this, O Protestant,
If thou canst, I will recant,
But while an answer you devise,
I counsel all men that are wise,
To hold the faith maintained here,
The space of a thousand year,
Brought unto us Englishmen
By our Apostle,
Saint Agustine,
Who from Rome was bisher sent.
When Ethelbert was King of Kent,
Who learned his faith of Gregory,
His faith was kept successively,
By threescore Bishops and three,
Since Saint Peters time truly,
Who learned his faith of Christ Jesus,
Who is the Son of God most true.
The Protestants
Answer.
I
May not (Papist) suffer thee,
Because thy Questions idle be:
And if my counsel thou wilt take,
Then hear the Answer I will make.
Thou tell'st of Sects that do appear,
And seemst the truth glad to inquire:
But even in this I malice smell,
And see thy spiteful meaning well.
When thou these diverse sects doest name,
Thou wouldest thereby our Church defame,
And make fools think that we them loved,
When as with us th'are not approu'd.
We do not hang on Calvin's sleeve,
Nor yet on Zwingli we believe:
And Puritans we do defye,
If right the name you do apply.
All giddy Sects among us crept,
We wish out of our Church were swept:
No name do we delight in more,
Then that at Antioch given of yore.
But now what sects you Papists have,
I do but thy own witness crave:
Some Capucines, some Franciscans,
And some be called Dominicanes:
Some Jesuits, some Seculars,
Some gray, some black, some white Friars:
And that your store may not be spent,
New Locusts still from Hell are sent.
Thou sayst, thou wouldst y
e
Church find out,
So that I see thou art in doubt:
And so indeed Vncertaynty
Is still the fruit of Popery.
Catholic.
IN our Bible thou hast read.
It is well in ours, for yours is fled,
And lurketh in a tongue vnusde,
Whereby poor people are abusde.
The Church is Catholic, as you say,
And so say we: but why, I pray?
Because to it, it were disgrace,
To limit it to time or place.
It ever was, and so shall be,
Since Christ, excluding no degree:
It once was tied unto the Jews,
But now no place
it doth refuse.
It is a very fond surmise,
Which you the Papists do devise,
To shut the Church within Rome wall,
And yet to call it general.
The very name which you pretend.
Whereby your Church you would defend,
To all which do the meaning know,
Doth quite your fancy overthrow.
You say, the charge, which Christ once gave,
The Romists well performed have:
But mark how thou thyself doest hurt,
And lay Rome's honor in the curt.
That charge
was given first to them,
Which lived at Jerusalem,
And thence the Gospel issued out,
As Isaiah told
the world throughout.
By them the Nations turned were,
And thence of Christ Rome first did hear:
Yet now the place
which others called,
To Turkish Empire is enthrall'd.
So though 'twere true, which is not so,
And never shall be prou'd, I know,
That Rome to Christ the nations brought,
Yet this your reason were stark naught.
But now (perhaps) Rome doth, youle say,
Bring home the wanderers to the way.
In deed the Spaniards loving Gold,
Have brought the Indians to your fold.
The Frogs from Euphrates come out,
I mean, the Jesuited Rout
Do spread themselves in each country,
To draw men to disloyalty.
They counsel Subjects kill their kings,
Stabbings they use and poysonings.
Christ gave no such commandment,
When first he his Disciples sent.
Of this Conversion, if you boast,
Whereby, poor soul, Hell hath engrost,
I yield you full willingly,
It well agreeth with Popery.
To draw Disciples is no mark,
For so doeth many a feigned Clarke.
The Church to truth which doeth convert,
We do embrace with all our heart.
Thou sayst, Rome's Faith once over all
The world was famous (so saith Paul)
And Rome did first convert our Land,
And hereupon you greatly stand.
Rome's Faith indeed once bare the bell,
And so it did deserve it well:
But Rome's not now as heretofore;
The faithful City's made a whore.
If new Rome now, were as the old,
Then we with Romanists would hold.
If Rome become Christ's enemy,
Then we from Babylon must fly.
To say that Rome is therefore sound,
Because of old it was renownd,
It may a Papist satisfy:
But men of judgment it deny.
Paul never Rome did magnify,
As he did those of Thessaly:
Yet now that Church is clean defaced,
And there the Turk himself hath placed.
The Asian Churches,
famous once,
Are turned to an heap of stones:
The golden lights
of Saint John's age,
Are now become even Satan's Cage.
Prove thou, that Rome hath not declinde
From th'ancient Church by Paul refinde:
And then I will say, thou hast done more,
Then ever Papist did before.
But for first turning of our Nation,
I trow thou namest it but for fashion:
For they that look in History,
Thereof can find no certainty.
Simon Zealots, as some say,
Did first Christ's Gospel here display,
Even whilst that Emperor did reign,
By whom our Savior Christ was slain.
Some say, that he of Arimathy,
In the year of grace sixty three,
From France by Philip
was sent over,
To us the Faith for to discover.
Hereto agreeth a learned man,
That ancient Clarke Tertullian,
That by th' Apostles, Brittanny
Was turned to Christianity.
Pope Eleutheriuo long ago,
As his Epistle plain doth show,
Unto king Lucius hither sent,
Ere Ethelbert was king of Kent.
We hold the Faith that then was taught:
But you the same do set at naught:
When Rome the Truth doth once forsake,
Then we of Rome our leaves must take.
If that our Church were Catholic,
To come to Church thou wouldst not stick.
If of the word thou knewst the sense,
Thou soon wouldest leave that fond pretence.
Our Church that Truth doth firm embrace,
Which all those hold in every place,
Who leaving men's Traditions clean,
Upon the Scriptures only lean.
Prophet.
THou cit'st a Text of Malachi,
Hoping to prove thy Mass thereby.
Alas, the reason is but small,
And helps that Idol not at all.
In it God threateneth the Jews,
Who their great Priuiledge did abuse,
And thought the Lord was tied to them,
And unto their Jerusalem.
The Prophet tells, that God elsewhere
Will find out those, which shall him fear,
And in an order without blame,
Shall call upon his holy Name.
Speaking to their capacity,
The Legal terms he doth apply:
And calls our Gospel-like Service,
A pure
and spotless Sacrifice.
What ground is here then for the Mass?
It still remaineth as it was:
A gross device, defaming Christ,
Who is our true and only Priest.
The speech of David of the Skyes,
Unto the Apostles, Paul applies,
And saith, their sound went far and near,
As in the stories doeth appear.
Tell me, I pray, what good to you,
This place you have alleged can do?
It maketh naught for Popery,
Or for your idle trumpery.
Indeed th' infamous Fame is spread,
Of Antichrist your hideous head:
And all God's children him do see,
The man of sin
alone to be.
Th' Apostles Faith was far dispersed,
And here in England was reherst.
Since then our doctrine is the same,
To it belongs part of their fame.
Continuance.
YOu say, Christ's Faith must still endure.
I yield that nothing is more sure:
And always God a Church will have,
Though thereat Satan rage and rave.
It glads my heart, that Christ hath prayed:
Thereby I know my Faith is stayed:
The Comfort of God's holy Sprite,
Is eche good Christians sole delight.
This proves there still a Church shall be,
And herein thou and I agree:
To prove the Church tied to one Sea,
Requireth yet a better Plea.
The Faith of Christ may still abide,
Though Rome should into Tibur slide:
God's spirit is free, and is not bound
Within the Lists of Romish ground.
When thou canst prove by holy writ,
Christ's Faith to Rome by Charter knit,
Then shall thy tale some credit find,
Where now it turneth all to wind.
But yet Continuance is a Note
Of God's true Church: & Paul hath wrote,
That there should still some teachers be:
In Rome we this fulfilled see.
I say, Continuance is no sign,
To prove a Church to be divine;
We may not think eche doctrine sure,
Which doth for many years endure.
Must not the Tares be let to grow,
Till it be time the corn to mowe?
And Antichrist shall long time stay,
Even till the very Judgment day.
The Arian Heresy years did stand,
Two hundred more then one thousand:
And so since Mahomet first was seen,
A thousand years have numbered been.
Rome's name endures, but Rome is changed,
And hath from Christ it self estrang'd:
Quit thou Rome from Apostasy,
Or name not perpetuity.
Paul's words do prove,
that certainly
The Church shall have a Ministry,
And that there shall be some to feed
The Flock of Christ at every need.
But that these Pastors here or there,
Shall always sit in beauty clear,
This fond Conceipt, not one poor word,
The holy Scripture doth afford.
In deed in Rome there diverse be,
That bear the name of Prelacy:
Better we Pilate's may them call,
Seeking the Churches funeral.
You call your Pope a Shepherd great:
But where is his Spiritual Meat?
I do not hear that he doth preach:
That would his greatness much impeach.
Such are his carnal Cardinals,
Or rather bloody Cannibals,
They eat the Fatte, and skin the Flock,
And live upon the Churches stock.
An idle sign, a Shepherds Crooke
In hand they bear,
but cannot brook
To preach the word (a Pastors grace)
That duty fits not their high place.
The key of knowledge they withdraw,
And from God's people steal
God's Law,
And men's deuies on them thrust,
Making them unto Fancies trust.
These are Rome's Pastors: woeful sheep,
Which left are to the Wolves to keep.
Thou Shepherd great, & Bishop chief,
Come quickly
quell this Romish thief.
Visible.
THou tell'st a tale incredible,
How that God's Church is visible:
And by the Bishops Catalogue,
Wouldst prove thy Romish Synagogue.
The errors here together lapit,
By which the simple are entrapit,
All which your feigned Church doth hold,
I mean in order to unfold.
The Catholic Church defined aright,
Cannot be subject to our sight:
It is th' Elected Company,
And Christ his chosen Family.
Of this, one part in heaven lives,
The other here with Satan strives,
The part above (youle not deny)
With mortal eyes none can descry.
The same is true of that below,
It is unseen by us also:
How with mine eyes I might discern,
And see th' Elect, fain would I learn.
Upon their persons we may look,
Whose names are written in God's book,
But as for their spiritual Being,
It is a thing doth pass our seeing.
Partes of Christ's church, you Papists make
Even those whom God will quite forsake:
Which if the matter well be scand,
Cannot with any Scripture stand.
Of the true Church Christ is the Head,
In him can be no members dead,
His Church a Garden
closed well,
In which no Reprobates can dwell:
So that, if fitly we will speak,
The ground you lay is very weak:
In calling it a Mark most clear,
That God's true Church must still appear.
Of Churches named in several,
In Cities, or else National,
We yield sometime they may be seen,
Though sometime they are darkened clean.
Sometime the Moon with cheerful light
Shines in the height of Heaven bright:
Sometime with Clouds tis overspread,
And in the Wane clean vanished.
So is the Church in safety still,
Although not always visible:
Sometimes it sits in glory great,
Sometime it hath no certain Seat.
The Woman, which to Desert fled,
From Satan's rage to hide her head,
By all the Learneds full consent,
The Church on earth doth represent.
The famous Church of Israel,
Where God did promise still to dwell,
Was drownd so in Idolatry,
And superstitious slavery,
That all true worship being gone,
Elias
thought himself alone:
And when Christ comes to judge us all,
Then Faith on earth shall be but small.
How is the Church a City then,
Rais'd on a Mount, and seen of men,
And how a light set up on hye,
That all that will may it espy?
How shall we to the Church complain,
If of the Church no show remain?
This is thy Popish reasoning,
And Scriptures plain misconstruing.
Christ doth the Apostles counsel give,
Soundly to preach, and well to live:
Because their places were in sight,
And 'twas their Office to give light.
They erring, many might miss-lead,
Which in their steps might hap to tread:
If that their Doctrine were unsound,
In falsehood many might be drownd:
It was in vain for them to ween,
In doing ill not to be seen:
You are (saith Christ) upon a Mount,
To be well marked, make full account.
This showeth wherein our duty stands,
And what God looks for at our hands:
Who called are to the Ministry,
To labor in God's Husbandry.
But from hence how may proved be
The Churches visibility?
This place affords a slender proof,
And little for the Popes behoove.
Yet you perhaps will urge it still,
The Pastors are set on a Hyll,
And called Light: even so say I,
But all men can them not descry.
For those which want spiritual eyes,
Nor are by searching
Scriptures wise,
This mounted City cannot see,
Nor where these lightsome Pastors be.
Christ bids us we the Church should tell,
If things be not reformed well.
By Church, he means all such as be
These Office-bearers all men see,
In times of settled Souerainty,
Yea, and among them selves th'are known,
When th' outward state is overthrown.
When that was said in special,
You turn to Church in general.
Thereby you may deceive some fools:
But soon it will be seen in Schools.
This Argument of outward state,
Which for a Mark you intimate,
Against that thing doth strongly make,
Which you to prove do undertake.
Rome's state hath sometimes been obscured,
And hath disgraces soul endured:
Burnt,
sacked,
some Popes imprisoned,
Some glad to fly,
some banished.
Where did your glorious Church abide,
When Popes were glad themselves to hide?
Peace, peace, no more of this for shame:
Rome saith thou wilt her clean defame.
Succession cometh next in place,
Whereby thou seekst thy Church to grace:
Your turn Succession cannot serve,
If from the Truth Succession swerve.
The Jewish Church from Aaron,
A just descent might stand upon:
Even when they crucifide our Lord,
And hated all that loved his Word.
If we shall say, that Church was true,
Consisting of so vile a crew,
We cast Christ and the Apostles out,
Among the base and damned rout.
The Grecian Churches at this day,
For their defense as much can say:
Yet you of them do give this doom,
That in God's church they have no
〈◊〉
.
Yet if Succession were a sign,
Which your grand captain Bellarmine
Dares not avouch,
I sayne would see,
How Rome can prove her Pedigree.
You call your Church Saint Peters chair,
As though the Pope were Peters Heyre;
But if that ground we once deny,
What Papist can it verify?
You cannot prove by holy Writ,
Peter at Rome did Bishop sit:
The only place which you do name,
Returneth to your greater shame.
The things you fetch from History,
Touching this point, do not agree,
And what our part hath herein sed,
By Papists stands unanswered.
But if he Bishop were indeed,
Tell me who next did him succeed?
Some, Clement,
and some, Linus hold.
Thus your succession is controlled.
Once was a Pope supposed a man,
But prou'd in time a Courtesan.
Then either your Succession shrank,
Or you must put her in the rank.
When Popes there were some two
or three,
Where thē might your successiō be?
One Schism held almost forty yere,
From Pope to Pope, as doeth appear.
One Council
did these Popes put down,
And to another gave the crown.
When these false Popes the place possessed,
I think youle say Succession ceased.
Unity.
'TIs true, Christ's Church is always one,
Tyd unto him as Head alone:
The partes thereof do well agree,
Like children of one Family.
But yet not every company,
Together linckt in Unity,
Must by and by be called good.
If Truth by them shall be withstood.
To make a Calf they all agreed,
All cried,
Let Christ be crucified:
Great is Diana,
with a shout
At once the people all cried out.
John said, they should yield to the Beast.
Even from the greatest to the least:
As Christ his City is but one,
So is the Devils Babylon.
The best sometimes do disagree,
Each man hath his Infirmity:
Better the Discord bringing Light,
Then is agreement without right.
Yet by this Mark, if Rome be tried,
It will fall hard upon your side:
Your joint-consent we cannot find,
Nor that you all are of one mind.
If we shall credit History,
You cannot brag of Unity:
Where twenty several schisms have been,
What Harmony may there be seen?
The Laws which one determineth,
The Pope that follows cancelleth:
Yet things by him abolished,
By next Popes are established.
And yet another
comes behind,
Who with the former fault doth find,
And all which they did quite displace,
Reduceth to the former grace.
Thus one sage Counsel doth decree,
Another saith it may not be:
That which one Sect
or Author
likes,
The same another clean out strikes.
I know, you Papists do agree,
To work the Churches misery:
So Herod was made
Pilate's friend,
To bring our Savior to his end.
Some yield, as fearing to resist:
(Such is the power of Antichrist:)
You may not call this Unity,
But rather bloody Tyranny.
Some join, because they do not see
The very depth of Popery:
To build upon the Church belief,
Of lay-Religion is the Brief.
Some for ease and bellies sake,
Do to your Church them selves betake:
As Monks, and such as Loytryng love,
Whom none but Romists can approve.
This is your Romish Concordance,
Among yourselves at variance:
Though all for some respects are led,
To meet together in one Head.
In one point more, I needs must stay,
Though named of you but by the way:
Lest with a Phrase of Peters Keys,
You dazzle should the people's eyes.
By Keys, is meant the power to preach,
And in God's Truth the Church to teach:
By it
Heaven's opened to receive
All those which truly do believe.
It is the power to loose and tie,
Which Christ gave to the Ministry,
It was intended unto all,
Though spoke to one in several.
When to believers we give Hope,
Then is the Gate of Heaven set ope:
When Mercies promise is repealed,
Then by the Keys that Gate is sealed.
When Peter did his Faith confess,
Th' Apostles by did mean no less:
And that which Christ to Peter spake,
We may not from the other take.
Each true and faithful Minister,
Is Peters rightful Successer:
Then speak no more of Peters Keys,
Except th' art sworn the Pope to please.
Holy.
THou sayst, the Church we holy call.
And so we do acknowledge all:
What in the Creed our mouths confess,
Our hearts within believe no less.
The Purity decayed before,
Unto his Church Christ doth restore.
That which is here in less degree,
The same in heaven shall perfect be.
If thou knewst Rome's Impurity,
Thou wouldst brag of Sanctity:
A sink of sin, a Sea of Evil,
A place possessed of the Devil.
Your Popes bear names of Holynes,
But none more full of Wickedness:
Let Storyes speak, inquire of them,
What Popes have worn the Diademe.
Some Heretics,
some Murderers,
Incestuous some,
some Sorcerers:
Some noted for their Cruelty,
Some for their monstrous Blasphemy.
One Pope
a famous Leuimen
kept,
Whose Bastard to the Popedom crept:
Another granted Liberty,
To practice beastly Sodomy.
Who but the Pope receiveth rent,
Which from the Stews to him is sent?
Let Rome and Venice make report,
And all that thither do resort.
Who hath in Meeter vile expressed
The sin, which nature doeth detest?
Let
Beneuentum
name the man:
Do thou disprove it, if thou can.
If this among your Heads be found,
How shall we think the members sound?
Lord, bless us from such holy Popes,
And, Lord, make void all popish hopes.
Like to your Popes, your service is,
Wanting no store of blasphemies:
Which, lest the people should espy,
You hyde in Latin secrecy.
I need no better witnesses,
Then your allowed Portesses,
Your Missals and your Litanies,
And all your forged Psalteries.
What we to God alone must give,
That to the Saints you do derive.
God will not from his glory part,
Yet you to creatures it convert.
Unto the Saints you prayers make,
And beg salvation for their sake:
You do adore a piece of bread,
And make fond
prayers for the dead.
You kneel down to a Cross of wood,
Thinking thereby to purchase good:
And for some things you would have done,
You pray the Virgin, charge her Son.
With Christ you do saint Frances join,
And so his glory do purloyne:
You have ioynd with him many moe.
We do the Virgin Blessed call,
And say she passed women all:
But when you call her, Gate of Grace,
We say, Christ's honor you deface.
The thing which made her spirit glad,
Was, that she such a Savior had:
Can she on him commandment have,
Whose help she needed her to save?
This honor to the Saints we give,
We crave God's grace like them to live,
We care to keep their memory,
And God in them we glorify.
And savor most of vanity:
You stand so much on out ward show,
That you the substance overthrow.
With Images and Pictures gay,
You steal the people's hearts away:
Well may you please the outward eye,
The Spirit you do not edify.
A pretty play, to see a Priest
Tossing his God between his fist:
Such Gestures, and such Apish mowes,
Such warbling, and such Antic shows:
Now bends, now ducks, now stands upright,
Then turns him to the people's sight:
Now sighs, now twenty crosses makes,
And 'ore his head the Wafer shakes:
Then washeth, then the Challice lickes,
And shuttes his Idol in the Pixe:
But still the man is much afeard,
Lest ought should hang upon his beard.
Mean while, the vulgar in a maze,
Upon the Caky Idol gaze,
And knock and kneel, & think them well,
That they have heard the sacring Bell.
Tell me, I pray thee, doth God will,
With such fond Kites his Church to fill.
They never came into his thought:
Tradition only hath them brought.
Your Rites and Mass do well agree,
Both full of gross Idolatry:
Both are unholy and unsound,
Both wantyng holy Scripture ground,
You say that in the Eucharist,
To God is offered by the Priest,
A Sacrifice in wine and bread,
Both for the living and the dead.
Look first what Christ did institute,
And that one place shall you refute:
What he did, we must do likewise,
There's no word of a Sacrifice.
By this (said Christ)
Remember me.
That shows he would not present
hi
•
.
We keep such things in memory,
Which we behold not really.
The Priests of old did every day
Some Offring on the Altar lay.
Christ's holy Offring is but One,
Performed by himself alone.
If Christ shall often offered be,
We shall his sufferings multiply:
As on the Cross he died not twice.
So there's no second Sacrifice:
There's now no sacrificing Priest:
That Office resteth upon Christ:
It comes to none successively:
'It is his for all eternity.
How can a Mass a Pardon bring,
Since 'tis a blood-less Offering?
Christ hath procured Remission:
What needs a new Oblation?
See then your holy Sacrifice,
A thing without all warantize
Of Scriptures, or of Writers sage,
Which lived in the purest Age.
The Sacraments in number twayne,
You
•
ek'd have with a longer trayne,
The seven-headed Romish Beast,
The Two to seven hath encreast.
Both Baptism,
and that holy Feast
Commaunded are by Christ's beheast:
Shew me but one commandment,
To prove another Sacrament.
Two in the Old,
two in the New:
So shall we have proportion true:
Name what in th' ancient Liturgy,
Your five false Symboles do supply.
Those Sacraments which holy be,
You stayn'd have with your Pedlery:
In Baptism, oil, lights, spittle, cream,
Your Exorcisme, and coniur'd stream;
Were these invented by God's Spirit,
Or found you them in Holy Writ?
Whence had you all that rituous store
Vs'd in the Mass and named before?
You speak next of Festiuities,
And Holy day Solemnities:
Thou thinkest by this, with easines
To prove thy Churches Holines.
Truth is, men's Conscience you enthrall.
To many an idle Festival:
Youle have them be as strictly kept,
As God's own day by his precept.
Of Feasts some low, some higher be,
Some great, some lesser in degree:
Some double more, some double less:
A treble fault some to transgress.
So with your doubling and redoubling style,
The simple people you beguile:
The Lord is weary of your Feasts,
And likes not your devised rests.
All days are like in Holines,
None holy more, none holy less:
Paul thought his labor was in vain,
Where days distinctions did remain.
Thou hoy'st to put us in some fear,
With speaking of the Kalendere:
Thou ask'st what Faith all those did hold,
Whose names are found therein enrold?
I tell thee plain, 'tis naught to me,
What many a one there named might be:
My Faith's not so set on the Racke,
To seek strength from the Almanac.
Yet sure I am, what we profess,
Some that are there, believed no less:
Our Faith and theirs doth well agree,
And you with them at variance be.
You Churches make and Holy days,
Unto the Saints, and Martyrs praise:
But us which do bleeeue the same,
You seek to kill and to defame.
Thou ask'st who them canonized,
Whose names are there enregistred?
You say the Pope. I ask again,
Wilt thou that sainting power maintain?
Can any mortal Creature tell,
Who goes to Heaven, and who to Hell?
All Judgment, Paul bid us forbear,
Until the Lord himself appear.
In Heaven to sit or high or low,
Is it in man's power to bestow?
What Bishop can, or Saints inuest,
Or shut men from eternal Rest?
Some one Pope doth a Saint enstall:
His grant another doth recall:
'It is but a silly dignity,
That's Subject to uncertainty.
Among your Saints even those are seen,
Which to their Prince have traitors been.
Though that our Church such Saints despise.
To it it is no prejudice.
Heretics.
THe Caveat touching Heretics,
Doth make against false Catholics;
We know full well, that Popery
Is but a Mass of Heresy.
Those Errors which of old were hatched,
Your Church together bath them patched,
On them she puts a fairer name,
But in effect they are the same.
You raz'd have the Foundation
Of all Truth and Religion:
You changed have the Sincerity
Of all the Groundes of Piety.
Thou fall'st now to a railing vain,
And wouldst by this thy Pope maintain:
Leave idle terms, and show some Reason,
Els all these words come out of season.
Shew thou what Sects we do devise,
And wherein we deliver Lyes:
And prove it so, that all may see,
Lest thou thyself the Liar be.
Foxes and Dogs & Wolves thou nam'st,
And Thieves, wherein thyself thou sham'st:
Or prove all this in us is true,
Eis we return it back to you.
They called Saint Paul an Heretike,
A Babbler,
and a Schismatike:
They said, our Savior was possessed,
And of his preaching made a Iest,
Yet Paul no Heresy did teach,
Nor in the Church made any breach:
Nor yet our Savior had a Devil,
He never did or preached evil.
Let Scripture try wherein we err,
We crave no other Arbiter:
Conuict us once by such a Judge,
We will not at your railings grudge.
Now that thy store is almost spent,
Thou comest to an old worn Argument:
Where was your Church some years ago,
Before the World did Luther know?
If briefly now I should deny
The Churches Visibility:
It were a word sufficient,
To overthrow this prattlement.
Yet this I say, and will maintain,
That even when Blindness most did rain,
Our Church a certain being had,
Though not with outward Beauty clad:
Like to that holy portion,
In that great Superstition,
Which ouerwhelm'd all Israel,
After the Tribes from David
fell.
Or as some Ears of purer seed,
Amidst a field of noisome Weed,
So God had some even at that time,
When Antichrist was in his Prime.
And now and then out brake the Light,
Even in that long and irksome Night:
Like as the Sun in lowering days,
Sometime sends forth his glittering rays.
Long time ere Luther yet was borne,
Whom you our Founder name in scorn,
There were which showed their enmyty,
Against your vile Idolatry.
But now the Lord hath let us see
Your Antichrists deformity,
That all men might him fully know,
Before his final overthrow.
Our Pastor chief
in heaven did sit,
And so doth still, saith holy Writte:
On earth, a Universal Priest,
None dare be called but Antichrist.
He that our Church and Keys had sought,
By tokens in the Scripture tought,
Our Church and Keys he might have found,
Even when the world was most unsound.
Building of Churches nothing makes
For that which here thou undertakes:
For then commend Demetrius,
Who built Shrines at Ephesus.
Well may the Heathen people boast
Of Piramees and Churches cost:
In houses made, God doth not dwell,
As holy Scripture doeth us tell.
Yet neither all the Churches here,
Erected by the Papists were:
Nor are by us abolished
Places where God is worshipped.
If private men have evil done:
For it, blame not Religion:
Those men which do Church-spoiling love,
Our Faith and Church doth not approve.
Those Celles and Dennes of Idleness,
And Nurseryes of wickedness,
Upon good causes were displac'd,
As
Baals
Temples were defaced.
A Lawlesse vow
of single life,
Luther
well brake, and took a Wife.
Better the pure and Spot-less Bed,
Then by unclean lusts to be led.
Better the married Chastity,
Then violent Virginity:
They ought not single to remain,
Who are not gifted, to contain.
Wedlocke it self cannot defile,
It hath an Honorable Style:
God doth it not to each man give,
Without the marriage bonds to live.
The forced vows of Singlenes
Have brought forth beastly Filthines:
Thou mayest behold in History
The fruits of Monkish Lechery.
Thy poisoned Tongue doth further reach
The noble Saxon to impeach:
Because to Truth he did incline,
Thou callest him a Libertine.
When God was pleased to let him see,
How Christ his Death hath made us free,
Then did he deem it slavery,
To bear the Romish tyranny.
Though Antichrist did Rome possess,
You kept the Scriptures I confess:
And in that long Apostasy,
Those Books were in your custody.
So I a Pirate false have known,
To keep the goods were not his own,
And in the Ship to rule and reign,
When the right Owner hath been slain.
So did the Jewish Synagogue
Safely keep Moses Decalogue,
And the other Books,
when cruelly
They did Christ Jesus crucify.
The Pastors, which did first restore
The Truth which lay long hyd before;
Thereto were called lawfully,
And even by your Authority.
You did them Priests and Doctors make,
And they from you this charge did take,
That they the Truth should soundly preach,
And in the same the people teach.
Hereto you caused them to swear,
That to the Faith they should adheare,
And never should errors endure,
That were against the Doctrine pure.
That whereunto you did them call,
Full well they have performed all:
Truth they have sought to propagate,
And Heresyes to ruinate.
As we account your Baptism true,
And never do the same renew,
So may you make a lawful Priest,
Yet be not the pure Church of Christ.
We know that now you wiser be,
And swear your Priests to Popery,
And bind them to maintain the state
Of your three-Crowned Potentate.
See now (O Papist) thou recant,
Th'art answered by a Protestant.
I counsel thee, if thou be wise,
No new evasions to devise.
Thy tale of Ethelbert of Kent,
Is but a slender Argument:
It sails not whence the Faith was brought,
Or who it first amongst us tought.
Let us into the Scripture look,
And duly search
that holy Book:
Thence shall we know which Church to leave,
And unto which alone to cleave.
These swelling words
of Unity,
Succession, and Antiquity,
Are but poor groundless fantasyes,
To blind the simple people's eyes.
Though that an Angel thou shouldst see,
Let him (saith Paul) accursed be,
If from the Scripture he doth err,
Account him not God's Minister.
If one arise, and wonders show,
Seeking the Truth to overthrow,
Though that might seem a motive strong,
Yet unto him death doeth belong.
If threescore Bishops here and three,
Have been with us successively,
It either proves our Church is true,
Or else that mark makes naught for you.
That Faith, for which Peter was slain,
Our English Church doth still retain,
We hear the voice
of Christ Jesus,
Who is the Son of God most true.
FINIS.