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Dominican friars, who performed it fo ill, that the fcandal arifing both from thence, and from the ill lives of those that set them on work, ftirred up Luther to write against the abuses of these indulgences: which was all he did at firft; but then, not long after, being provoked by fome fermons, and small difcourfes that had been published against what he had written, he rips up the bufinefs from the beginning, and publishes 95 Thefes against it at Wittenberg. Against thefe, Tekel a Dominican writes; then Luther adds an explication to his. Eckius and Prierius, Dominicans, thereupon take the controverfy against him: And now Luther begins to be hot; and because his adverfaries could not found the matter of indulgences upon other foundations than the Pope's power and infallibility, this begets a difpute betwixt them concerning the Pope's power, which Luther infifts upon as inferiour to that of a general council; and fo by degrees he came on to oppose the popifh doctrine of remiffion of fins, penances and purgatory; and by reafon of Cardinal Cajetan's imprudent management of the conference he had with him, it came to pafs, that he rejected the whole body of popish doctrine. So that by this we may fee what was the accidental occafion whereon, the flender means whereby,and the ab

ject condition of the perfon by whom, the work of the reformation was fet on foot.

on.

Page 4. Yet have I not fo fhaken hands with thefe defperate refolutions, &c. refolvers it ought to be.] The author here intends the papifts, these adversaries whom he had mentioned in the preceeding fectiAnd the meaning of the phrase is not, what it would feem-at firft view, that he had fo made peace with them, but that he had not fo far feparated himself from them, or bid them adieu, as to ftand diametrically oppofite to them in every thing; for which he immediately after proceeds, to give his reasons.

Page 10. * Henry VIII. tho he rejected the Pope, refufed not the faith of Rome.] So Buchannan in his own life, written by himfelf, teftifieth, who, speaking of his coming into England about the latter end of that King's time, faith, Sed ibi tum omnia adeo erant incerta, ut eodem die, ac eodem igne utriufque factionis homines cremarentur, Henrico VIII. jam feniore, fua magis fecuritati quam religionis puritati intento. And for confirmation of this affertion, vide Stat. 31. Hen. VIII. cab. 14.

+ The State of Venice would have attempted in our days. This expectation was in

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the time of Pope Paul V. who, by excommunicating that republick, gave occafion to the Senate to banish all fuch of the clergy as would not, on account of the Pope's prohibition, administer the facraments; and upon that account the Jefuites were caft out, and never fince received into that state..

Page 11. Or be angry with his judgment, &c.] Our author's thought here is much the fame with that of Monf. Montaigne, whom he has often in his eye, Combien diverfement jugeons nous de chofes? Combien de fois changeons nous nos fantafies? Ce que je tiens aujourdhuy, ce que je crois, je le tiens & le crois de toute ma crioance; mais ne m'eft il pas advenu non une fois,mais cent, mais niille, & tous les jours d'avoir embrasse quelque autre chofe &c, Montaigne lib. 2. des effais, cap.

12.

*

Page 12. Every man is not a proper champion for truth, &c.] A good caufe is never betrayed more than when it is profecuted with much eagerness, and but little fufficiency; and therefore Zuinglius, tho' he were of Caroloftadius's opinion, in the point of the facrament of the eucharist, against Luther; yet he blamed him for undertaking the defence of that cause against Luther,not judging him able enough for the

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encounter: Non fatis habet humerorum, faith he of Caroloftade, alluding to that of Horace, Sumite materiam veftris, qui fcribitis, aquam ̧ Viribus, & verfate diu quid ferre recufent Quid voleant humeri.----

So Minutius Fœlix; Plerumque pro differen tium viribus, & eloquentia poteftate, etiam perfpicue veritatis conditio mutetur: Minut. in Octav. And Lactantius faith, this truth is verified in Minutius himself: For he fpares not to blame Him, Tertullian and Cyprian, (all of them) as if they had not with dexterity enough defended the Chriftian cause against the Heathens. Lactant. de juftitia, cap. I. I could wish that those that fucceeded him had not as much caufe of complaint against him: furely he is noted to have had many errors contra fidem.

Page 14. * For indeed herefies perish not with their authors.] Monf. Montaigne, 1. 2. des eff. cap. 12. fays, Nature enferre, dans les termes de fon progres ordinaire, comme toutes autres chofes, auffi les creances, les judgements & opinions des hommes; elles ont leur revolutions. And Cicero de nat. Deor. 1. 1. fays, Non enim hominum interitu fententia quoque occidunt.

+ Like the river Arethusa, &c.] Videbis celebratiffimum carminibns fontem Arethufam, limpidiffimi ac perlucidiffimi ad inuum ftagni,· gelidi

gelidiffimas aquas profundentem, five illas primum nafcentes invenit, five flumen integrum fubter tot maria, &a confufione pejoris unde fervatum reddidit. Sénec. de confolat. ad Martiam.

Page 15. * Now the first of mine was that of the Arabians,&c.] In this fection, our author proceeds to enumerate the herefies wherewith he had just now faid his greener ftudies had been polluted. The first of thefe is the herefy of the Arabians, fo called, because it appeared and spread first in Arabia, and that the broacher of it was unknown. The doctor has fully fhown what it was. It was thought fo fpecious and reasonable, that Pope John XXII. came to be of that perfuafion; and it is remarkablethat Bellarmine, tho' he condemns the opinion, yet infifts, that Pope John was neverthelefs infallible: For, faith he, he maintained this opinion when he might do it without danger of herefy; as at the time when he held that opinion there was no definition of the church making it herefy,

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Page 16. 1. 11. The fecond was that of Origen, &c.] The opinion of Origen as related by St. Auguftine, Epiphanius and St, Jerom, was, that not the fouls of men on ly, but the devils themfelves fhould be dif +"Hall there been i's a hue charged When thave absoentely said this so And I proved therwise?"

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