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CHAP.

11. Lust is lust, and under whatever ceremony or VII. pretext it is gratified, its nature is not altered, restrained nor diminished thereby; nor is there any difference between the Papist and the Protestant, the monk and the married bishop, as to their motive, or first moving cause; neither have they but one example to follow, and that is the example of their first father ADAM.

12. But as Carlostadt put off his veil of popish hypocrisy, and made a regular and bold provision for the works of the flesh, it was counted a good example, and Luther himself soon after followed it. He married a nun whose name was Catharine a Bora, whereby both of them broke their solemn vows of continency which they had made before God.

13. Well said the Lord by the prophet Malachi : I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers. Thus Antichrist began his work by Simon and other sorcerers, continued it by an endless train of adulterers, and it remained to be completed by perjured persons or false swearers.

Mal. iii. 5.

of Cath.

Doc p.54

14. Bishop Challoner, after stating Luther's gen- Grounds eral character, very properly adds: "But what was 'the most scandalous in a pretended restorer of the purity of religion, was his marrying a nun, after 'the most solemn vows, by which both he and she ' had consecrated themselves to God, in the state of 'perpetual continency. In which he was imitated by a great part of the first reformed ministers."

Charles V

15." Even his most devoted followers (says Dr. Hist. of Robertson,) thought this step indecent, at a time vol. i. p. ' when his country was involved in so many calami- 340. ties; while his enemies never mentioned it with any softer appellation than that of incestuous or 'profane."

16. Some might try to excuse Luther, by pleading his former ignorance, while under the reign of superstition; however, that can furnish but a mean excuse, while they represent him as a man of such uncommon parts. Had he been forced to take such a vow, it might have materially altered the case, but

VII.

CHAP. he had done it deliberately, from his own free choice, and that from the most solemn considerations.

Hist. of

Charles vol. ü. p. 209.

Keel. His

iv. p. 87.

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17. The death of a companion killed by lightning at his side in a violent thunder-storm, made such an impression on his mind, as co-operated with his natural temper, in inducing him to retire into a convent of Augustinian friars, where, without suffer'ing the entreaties of his parents to divert him from 'what he thought his duty to God, he assumed the 'habit of that order." So says Dr. Robertson.

18. And is a popish vow or solemn oath so far infe rior to the oath of a Protestant, that, for the gratification of Protestant lust, it can be broken with impuni ty? Where is that court of justice on earth that would make such a distinction, and would not deem it perjury in one as much as another, to violate what they had solemnly confirmed by an oath? or that would not, forever after, reject the testimony of such a false swearer?

19. Yet this same perjured Luther was not only believed as a translator of the sacred scriptures, but in the most momentous points of doctrine, his creeds were adopted as rules of faith; and he was also prac tically followed in his example of rejecting continency and true gospel purity as the doctrine of devils, and of reforming the old works of the flesh under the false pretext of an ordinance of God, and that without regarding even so much as the restrictions which the law of Moses had laid on the corrupt and beastly passions of man.

20. "JOHN CALVIN was originally designed for the tory, vol. church, and had actually obtained a benefice;" of Note a course he must have come under the common oath of continency; yet it seems that he was not subject to the law which saith concerning the high priest among his brethren, that a widow shall he not take, but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.

Lev. xxi.

13, 14.

Ecel. Re

P. 541.

21. Nor was he subject to the example of Jesus searches, Christ, nor to his own solemn oath; for "he married the widow of an anabaptist at Strasburg." And thus, according to the law, he profaned his seed in the highest degree, by mixing with a people who were condemned, both by Papists and Protestants, as

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heretics, and counted by LUTHER himself, no better than mad dogs.

CHAP.

VII.

22. Theodore Beza, Calvin's companion and successor, contributed not a little to this part of the Reformation, both by his practice, and his writings. Robinson says that, thirteen years after his conversion, "he published a collection of Latin poems, the most ' lascivious that can be imagined. There is one epi- Eccl. Researches, 'gram which, in licentiousness, surpasses any thing 344 that the most unguarded debauchees have ever ventured to offer to the public eye.*

23. From such reforming priests we may descend to the princes, and see how far their popish lusts were restrained or lessened by their reformed gospel. It has been observed that, Henry the eighth obtained a divorce from Catharine, his brother's old widow, whereupon he married Anne Boleyn, a woman of respectable family and connexions.

P.

of Eng

24. Her he afterwards beheaded under pretence Hume's of adultery, though there appears no proof of her History guilt. Next he married Jane Seymour, who died in child bed. Again, he married Anne of Cleves, whom he also divorced, and married Katharine HowardShe was beheaded. And his sixth and last wife was Katharine Parr.

25. Such were the fruits of that good example which the first reformers set their followers, and which was sanctioned by their universities, who set to their seal that this same HENRY should be the supreme head of the Church, instead of the Pope; and such was the example of lawless lust and butchery which this Protestant supreme head openly manifested, which perhaps was never equalled by any who supported that title before him.

* Beza's Candida was not his wife, for his wife was never with child, and there are some verses on the pregnancy of Candida in the poems.-Robinson's Eccl. Researches, p. 344.

+ Henry had been for some time enamoured with Jane Seymour, and his man rying her the next day after the execution of his queen, is considered as a presumptive evidence, not only of the queen's junocence, but of the cause which ted to her execution

CHAP.
VIII.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Subject continued.

a

N tracing the effects of the Reformation in England, we find bishop Cranmer making a conspicuous appearance. This ambitious primate, instead of promoting purity and truth, began his reforming ca reer by paving the way for a flood of licentiousness, injustice and corruption. When his crimes are considered, we need not wonder that the Papists accused him with treason and perjury, in giving the supremacy to such a profane and wicked prince as HENRY VIII. and for his hypocritical and treacherous conduct in other respects.

2. This great reformer, on his trial, was charged by Martin, a popish doctor, that, "being yet free, and 'before he entered into holy orders, he married one Joan Black or Brown, of Cambridge. That he mar'ried there one Joan, that he granted. That after 'the death of the aforesaid wife, he entered into 6 holy orders, and after that was made archbishop by 'the pope."

3. "That he, being in holy orders, married anoth'er woman as his second wife, named Anne, and so ⚫ was twice married.-That in the time of king HEN

RY VIII. he kept the said wife secretly, and had 'children by her.* Hereto he also granted, affirm'ing that it was better for him to have his own, than to do like other priests, holding and keeping other 'men's wives."

4. MARTIN. "Did you swear obedience to the see of Rome?" Cranmer. "Indeed I did once swear unto the same. Martin. "Yea, that you did twice, as appeareth from records and writings 'here ready to be shewed. At your consecration 'you took two solemn oaths for your due obedience to be given to the see of Rome, to become a true 'preacher or pastor of his flock; yet, contrary to

The criminality of this charge is founded on the violation of his oath of consineney, which he had taken as an ecclesiastic: but this reforming archbishop manifested on this as well as on other occasions, that the violation of a solemni eath was but a small matter with him.

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VIIL

'your oath and allegiance, for unity, you have sowed CHAP. discord; for chastity, marriage and adultery; for 'obedience, contention; and for faith, you have been 'the author of all mischief."

5. What doctrine taught you when you condemned Lambert, the sacramentary, in the king's presence at Whitehall ?" Cranmer. "I maintained then the 'Papist doctrine." Martin. "Then from a Lutheran you became a Zuinglian-and for the same heresy, you will help to burn Lambert, the sacramen'tary, which you now call the Catholic faith and God's 'word."

6. From these short hints it is easy to perceive, who bore the highest marks of Antichrist, and most evidently filled the character of those entire apostates from the faith and practice of Christ, spoken of in the scriptures. Therefore, Martin, with the highest Catholic authority, addresses Cranmer as follows.

7. "Christ foretold there should come against his 'church, ravening wolves, and false apostles. But how shall we know them? Why, Christ teacheth 'us saying, By their fruits ye shall know them. What are their fruits? St. Paul declareth, after the flesh they walk in concupiscence, and uncleanness, they 'contemn power."

8. "Again: in the latter days there shall be peril'ous times. Then shall there be men loving them'selves, covetous, proud, disobedient to parents, "treason-workers. Whether these be not the fruits ' of your gospel, I refer to this audience; whether the said gospel began not with perjury, proceeded with adultery, and ended in conspiracy."

9. So much then have the Protestants gained, by endeavouring to prove that the Papists forbid to marry, in order that they might be released from every obligation to chastity, and take full liberty in their incestuous and beastly works: so that, in every respect, they evidently reformed from bad to worse.

10. Likewise their charging the pope with forbidding to marry in order to excuse themselves, will be but weakly supported, if we consider that their translation of 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3. is, according to their own critics, much to be disputed.*

• See

Dod. in

Loc.

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