Neither are they a little confirmed to this day in their errors by sundry principles which, under the Roman apostasy, got footing in the minds of men professing the name of Jesus Christ; particularly, they sheltered themselves from the sword of the word of God, evidencing the deity of Christ by ascribing to him divine adoration, by the shield of the Papists' doctrine, that those who are not gods by nature may be adored, wor- shipped, and invocated.
Now, that to this day the Papists continue in the same idolatry (to touch that by the way), I shall give you, for your refreshment, a copy of a verse or two, whose poetry does much outgo the old, —
' 0 crux spes unica ! Auge piis constantiam, Hoc passionis tempore, Reisque dona veniam ;"
and whose blasphemy comes not at all short of it. The first is of Clarus Bonarus the Jesuit, lib. iii. Amphitrial. Honor, lib. iii. cap. ult. ad Divinam Hallensem et Puerum Jesum, as followeth: —
" Heereo lac inter meditans, interque cruorem ;
Inter delicias uberis et lateris. Et dico (si forte oculus super ubera tendo),
Diva parens mammae gaudia posco tuae. Sed dico (si deinde oculos in vulnera verto),
0 Jesu lateris gaudia malo tui. Rem scio, prensabo si fas ei'it ubera dextra,
Lseva prensabo yulnera si dabitur. Lac matris miscere volo cum sanguine nati ;
Non possem antidoto nobiliore frui. Vulncra restituant turpem ulceribus mendicum,
Testa cui saniem radere sola potest. Ubera reficicnt Ismaelem sitientem,
Quern Sara non patitur, qucm neque nutrit Agar. Ista mihi, ad pcstem procul et procul expungendam ;
Ista mihi ad longas evalitura fcbres. Ira vomit flammas, fumatque libidinis ^tna;
Suffocare quco sanguine, lacte quco.
THE PREFACE TO THE READER. 45
Livor inexpleta rubigine stevit in artus ;
Detergere queo lacte, cruore queo : Vanus lionos me perpetua prurigine tentat;
Exsaturare queo sanguine, lacte queo. Ergo parens et nate, meis advertito votis
Lac peto, depereo sanguinem, utiumque volo. 0 sitio tamen! 0 vocem sitis intercludit !
Nate cruore, sitim comprime lacte parens. Die matri, mens hie frater sitit, optima mater,
Vis e fonte tuo promere, deque meo. Die nato, tuus hie frater mi mellee fili
Captivus monstrat vincula, lytron habcs. Ergo Redeniptorem monstra te jure vocari,
Nobilior reliquis si tibi sanguis inest. Tuque parens monstra, matrem te jure Yocari,
Ubera si reliquis divitiora geris. 0 quando lactabor ab ubere, vulnere pascar?
Deliciitque fruar, mamma latusque tuis."
The other is of Franciscus cle Mendoza, in Viridario Utriusque Erudi- tionis, lib. ii. prob. 2, as ensueth: —
" Ubera me matris, nati me vnlnera pascunt
Scilicet base animi sunt medicina mei, Nam mihi dum lachrymas amor elicit ubera su2,o
Rideat ut dulci mcestus amore dolor. At me pertentant dum gaudia, vulnera lambo
Ut me lijeta pio mista dolore juvent. Vulnera sic nati, sic ubera sugo parentis
Securjfi ut variaj sint mihi forte vices. Quis sine lacte prccor, vel quis sine sanguine vivat ?
Lacte tuo genetrix, sanguine nate tuo. Sit lac pro ambrosia, suavi pro nectare sanguis
Sic me perpetuum vulnus et iiber alit."
And this their idolatry is objected to them by Socinus/ who marvels at the impudence of Bellarmine closing his books of controversies (as is the rnanner of the men of tliat Society) with " Laiis Deo, virginique matri Marife," wherein, as he says (and he says it truly), divine honour with God is ascribed to the blessed Virgin.
The truth is, I see not any difierence between that dedication of him- self and his work, by Redemptus Baranzano the priest, in these words, " Deo, Virginique Matri, Sancto Paulo, Bruno, Alberto, Redempto, Fran- cisco, Clarfe, Joannfe, Catharinai Senensi, divisque omnibus, qu.os peculiar! cultu honorare desidero, omnis mens labor consecratus sit" (Baranzan. Nov. Opin. Physic. Diglad.), and that of the Athenians,'by the advice of Epimenides, QsoTg ' Aslag, xa/ 'Eucwttj^ '/.ai A/Cujjc, QsuJ dyvuitrru) nai Hfi/w, both of them being suitable to the counsel of Pythagoras : —
'A^avdmui /aiv •jrpura B-iovSt vo/a^ a; oia.KliTUi,
Ti/u.cc na.1 ciSou o^kov, Ws/^ r,puKi uyavov;.
Tous Ti xaTcc^^oyisv; ffiSs ^uiftayas, iyvoficc pi^uy.
Let them be sure to worship all sorts, that they may not miss. And by these means, amongst others, hath an occasion of stumbling and harden- ing been given to these j^oor souls.
As to the propagation of their conceptions, they had the advantage not only of an unsettled time, as to the civil government of the nations of the world, most kingdoms and commonweals in Europe undergoing in that age considerable mutations and changes (a season wherein commonly the envious man hath taken opportunity to sow his tares) ; but also, men be-
' "Hoctantura dicam, cum nuper Bellarmini disputationum primum tomum evol- verem, supra modum me miratum fuisse, quod ad finem feie singularum controver- siarum homo alioqui acutus ac s;»gax ea verba aut curaverit aut permiserit adscribi ; Laus Deo, virginique matri ; quibus verbis manifeste Virgini Mariaj divinus cultus, aut ex a?quo cum ipso Deo, aut certe secundum Deum cxhibctur."— Socin. ad Weik. cap. i. p. 22.
46 THE PREFACE TO THE READER.
ing set at liberty from the bondage under whicli they were kept in the Papacy, and from making the tradition of their fathers the rule of their ■worship and walking, were found indeed to have, upon abiding grounds, no principles of religion at all, and therefore were earnest in the inquiry after something that they might fix upon. What to avoid they knew, but what to close withal they knew not; and therefore it is no wonder if, amono" so many (I may say) millions of persons as in those days there were that foil off from the Papacy, some thousands perhaps (much more scores) might, in their inquirings, from an extreme of superstition run into another almost of atheism.