their carnal and corrupt designs it is not unusual for God then to give up such men to other absurd opinions and practices though not serviceable to them in any such way Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved but the love of some errors instead and under pretence of truth that they might compass and bring about their worldly design therefore and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness saith St. Paul 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. I intend not to dispute the several points in difference between Papists and Protestants or to prove them to be such additions and corruptions as I term them to be for that hath been done many a time over sufficiently and abundantly already by Reformed Authors But methinks it should go as far and signifie as much with the Popish Laity if not much more as a just and full confutation of those additions as erroneous would do when they shall come to see how they have been abused and imposed upon by their Leaders and Guides and made to believe and do such things for the saving of their Souls as have no such tendency but the contrary and by dancing after their Pipe have been made use of as Engines meerly to work their ends and to serve their carnal design by them to squeez and drain them to fill themselves or as men make use of horses to carry them out of the dirt and to ease themselves by their labour Which puts me in mind of the woman that sate upon the Beast having upon her forehead a name written Mystery Babylon the great c. Rev. 17.3.5 All that I would desire of the Laity is that they would see with their own eyes and use their own reason in the things I shall now lay before them and not suffer their Clergie to blow out the Candle or to hoodwink them while they play tricks and pick their pockets In giving instances of the Popish corruptions by which the design of domination and worldly greatness hath been begun and carried on by the Romish Bishops and their Seconds and assistance under a Religious pretence I shall begin with that which was laid as the foundation of the Papal fabrick S. 16. First then they would bear the world in hand that the Bishops of Rome successively are St. Peter's successours and as such are invested with a kind of Apostolical Authority and their See the Apostolical See and that as St. Peter was superiour to all Bishops and Presbyters in jurisdiction so they as his successours are so too Yea that the Bishop of Rome for the time being is Christs Vicar on Earth and visible Head of the Church Which claim of theirs puts me in mind of those who said they were Apostles but were not but were found liars Rev. 2.2 And if it shall be affirmed that the Bishops of Rome are successours of these in their design and pretence they themselves have given a more cogent proof of it than ever they did of being St. Peter's successours in such headship and power as they pretend to But as the false Apostles by pretending to be Apostles indeed when they were nothing less did procure to themselves such a reputation with those that were deluded by them as did greatly advantage them in that worldly design which they undiscernedly carried on under that pretence just so have the Popes by making their deluded adherents believe that they are St. Peters successors Christs Vicars and head of the Church raised to themselves such a reputation as is greatly advantagious to them also in the like but greater worldly design of theirs For as the Proselytes of the false Apostles were by their delusive persuasion made not only plyant but even zealously active in serving them in their design so have the deluded adherents of the Popes been in like manner in serving them in theirs Into what mould may not such men cast the people when they have insinuated themselves into their opinion to be such marvellous men as they pretend themselves to be The Galatians though after the false Apostles had corrupted them began to look upon Paul with a jealous eye as if he had been their enemy by exposing them to that trouble in professing the Gospel which the other taught them how to avoid yet so long as they retained that veneration for him which sometime they had while they esteemed him the undoubted Apostle of Christ they could if it had been possible have pluckt out their very eyes to have given him as he saith Gal. 4.15 16. And when the false Apostles were taken for true ones they had such an interest in the deluded people thereby as that they did even what they would with them Which made St. Paul say ye suffer if a man bring you into Bondage if a man devour you if a man take of you if a man exalt himself 2 Cor. 11.20 Words doubtless applicable to the Popish Laity upon as great reason as ever they were to the deluded Corinthians So great is the power of false opinion when men whether false Apostles or Popes are taken to be what they least are Besides as this lofty claim and high pretence of supremacy and headship over the whole Christian world prepared the Popes way for commanding and doing what he pleased among them that received and owned him in that capacity So it was the direct road to the highest pitch of Vain Glory that is of being esteemed and honoured for what he is not since all mâ—n are wont to proportion the honour they give to men according to what they esteem them to be And honey is not sweeter to the mouth than honour and glory is to ambitious minds And therefore if Diotrephes loved to have the preheminence and the false Apostles thought it a prize worth striving for to be counted the head of a small party when but low and kept under in the world how was his Holinesses fancy tickled may we think with the contemplation of being Vniversal Head of the whole Christian World And what would not ambitious men give or do for such a purchase and to keep it when they have it Simon Magus we know would have purchased the power of working Miracles as the Apostles did with money but for what end but that he might not be outdone by the Apostles and so lose that high esteem he had among the people whom he had deceived with his Magick as if he had been the great power of God even as the Popes have done by their Arts. I appeal to the Papists themselves is it not apparent that honour from men was a great part of the prize for which the Bishop of Rome ran when he first laid his design for Universal Bishop and to bring all others under him And hath it not been a sweet morsel to his successors for the time
ditch it is not their saying they were led thither will help them out S. 20.5 Furthermore although Christ upon occasion of the two disciples desiring of him that they might sit the one on his right hand and the other on his left in that temporal Kingdom they fancied he was to have said to Peter and all the Apostles Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them but it shall not be so among you I say though this be so express as you see yet notwithstanding the Pope as pretended successour to St. Peter claims a Supremacy over Kings and a priviledge to be appealed to as the last and highest Tribunal upon earth And in case any Kings turn hereticks to him in denying his Claim and casting off his yoke he takes upon him a power to chastise them to excommunicate them and then to depose and dethrone them and to dispose of their Kingdomes and to absolve their subjects from the duty of their allegiance to their natural Prince And for what reason is this swelling power of overtopping Kings assumed The pretence is that the Pope as head of the Church being Superiour to all Christian Kings as being but members of that body whereof he is head they upon that account are under his conduct and government in using their secular power for the interest of the Christian Religion and Catholick cause and for the chastising of such as are heretical or undutiful and disobedient This is the Pretence But the true design is to render the Pope the more magnificent and venerable the more awful and terrible in the eyes of all and to lift him up to the highest pinnacle of worldly Pomp and greatness attainable in this world and to use the power and interest of such Kings to support and secure him in his Pontifical Chair of State and as executioners of his wrath and displeasure against all that shall but peep and mutter any thing against him or any of his decrees or orders or give him the least disturbance That this is the design tho' the other be pretended appears in that the Pope is well enough contented that these Kings should tolerate or connive at any wickedness in their Dominions though never so dishonourable to Christ and Christianity and destructive to his Religion in the power of it provided they be but tender of his Interest and will not connive at any Affronts put upon his Government as Papal Men may do what they will provided they meddle not with the Popes Crown or the Monks bellies was the saying of Erasmus S. 21.6 Again as the Popes do claim a supremacy over Temporal Princes for themselves so they do a priviledge and exemption for their subordinate Clergie from the Temporal power Concil Trid. Sess 25. as holding immediately under their Ecclesiastical Head the Pope which is another device to strengthen their Interest For hereby all his Clergy are the faster tied and engaged to their grand Master the Pope and at the greater liberty act securely in abetting his Interest and serving his designs as occasion and opportunity serves S. 22. 7. As the false Apostles broached Doctrines tending to Licentiousness to increase their party and strengthen their Interest so the Authors and Founders of Popery have set on foot certain corrupt doctrines good for nothing but to increase their party and wealth thereby and to strengthen their Interest Such is that of a pretended power vested in the Pope and from him derived to every Priest of absolving men and forgiving their sins upon such easie terms as the confessing them to the Priest and doing such slight Penances as he out of his Indulgence to them if they please him is pleased to appoint And which is yet worse if worse can be viz. the Doctrine of the Popes power not only of granting Indulgences for Sins past but also Dispensations to commit them for time to come And that such a power is pretended to we learn from Authors of their own Espenseus hath told us that They allow not only the Laity but also their very Clergie-men to dwell with Whores and Harlots and to beget Bastards for a certain Tax Comment on Tit. p. 478 479. Also De Continentia Lib. 2. Cap. 7. And the Princes of the Roman Empire assembled at Noremberg in the years 1522 1523. complained that the Popes sucked the marrow of the peoples Estates by Indulgences and that they heightened the imposture by their hireling Cryers and Preachers and that Christian piety was banished while to advance their Market they cried up their Wares for the granting of wonderful peremptory pardons not only of Sins already committed but of Sins that shall be committed So that by the Sale of these Wares as they said together with being spoiled of their money Christian Piety is extinguished while any one may promise himself impunity upon paying the rate that is set upon the Sin he hath a mind to commit Fasciculus rerum experendarum fol. 177 178. And if the people can believe that the Pope hath power by his Dispensations to bear them out for money in such Immoralities they may as well believe also that he hath power to dispense with their taking of such Oaths and entering into such Obligations which they never intend to keep or to do any other thing as bad especially if it any way tend to the advancing of the Catholick Cause And if so by what Test can they be discovered to be really what they are when they have a mind to conceal it or what security can such Oaths or other Obligations be to Protestant Princes of their true allegiance to them And what is said in this is the more considerable it we add thereto those other two loose Doctrines of theirs the one touching the lawfulness of their breaking Faith with Hereticks such as they esteem Protestants to be and the other the Jesuitical Doctrine of Equivocation with mental Reserves Wherein also they exactly follow their Leaders the false Apostles For they as I have shewed thought or at least taught that in some cases they might deny Christ in word so they did but retain a belief in him in their hearts and partake with Idolaters in their Idol Sacrifices so they did but retain in their minds a belief that there were no other Gods but one and intended not any honour to the Idol The very complexion of these and such like Doctrines shews them to be calculated not to promote Religion and Virtue but to hook in filthy lucre to gratifie any that will but be for them in giving scope to their Lusts and to set men free from all ties of Religion and Conscience when they stand in the way of their Cause and Interest That which the Prophet of Old from the Lord charged upon the Priests then when he said They eat up the sin of my people and set their heart on their Iniquity Hos 4 8. falls upon
advantage of that and by corrupt arts under religious pretences rise to that greatness in the world as to cause the world to wonder after them do fairly seem to be prophetically pointed at by the Apostle as those which should carry on the Mystery of Iniquity to a greater height and prevalence when that which hindred was taken out of the way than it could reach to in the Apostles dayes But I need not lay the stress of proving the Authors of Popery to be the Actors of the second part of the Mystery of Iniquity upon this contexture of Scripture I have been beating upon for the thing I suppose will appear evident enough of it self if there had been no such thing written as what we have in 2 Thes 2. For if they out of a worldly design have corrupted the Christian Religion under pretence of Religion as the false Apostles did Then they must needs be found workers of Iniquity in a Mystery as well as they And whether they have or no comes next to be enquired into which brings me to the Second part of what I was to discourse and that is to justifie my comparing the Authors of Popery with the false Apostles in managing a carnal and worldly design in corrupting the Christian Religion under pretence of practising and promoting it S. 15. To prepare my way to this I shall premise for our better understanding that though the design and practice of the false Apostles and the Authors of Popery agree in the general nature of them yet they differ in some circumstances But then that wherein they do differ does not tend to extenuate but to aggravate the iniquity of the design of the Authors of Popery and to render it more criminal than the same design was whiles and as it was managed by the false Apostles The false Apostles acting their part in times of open opposition against Christianity and of persecution for so much as but confessing the name of Christ were under a sore temptation of doing what they did at the first only to save their lives and to preserve and get a livelihood in the World Whereas those that gave the first rise to Popery taking their turn in the world in Halcy on days and peaceable times when persecution for confessing Christ was not only ceased but them when the profession of Christianity was grown into honourable request with High and Low they were under no such temptation of doing what they did in the way of their design either to save their lives or livelihood or to obtain an honourable estate becoming Bishops of the Churches of Christ being therein prevented by the bounty of Christian Emperors But their design and the mâ—â—ns used to effect it was founded in an excessive thirst and exorbitant desire after greatness and worldly domination exceeding all bounds of moderation And this difference renders the iniquity of the worldly design in the false Apostles but little in comparison of what it was in the Authors of Popery Solomon saith Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfie his soul when he is hungry Prov. 6.30 They pitty such as through a kind of seeming necessity are drawn to do that which yet is no wise-justifiable under such a Circumstance when the same thing done by another under no such temptation is looked upon with indignation To acquaint you then with the first rise of Popery as founded in a worldly design as at the first I acquainted you with the rise of the false Apostles and their corrupting the Christian Religion founded in a design for this world I must first represent to you the ill use which some of the Bishops made of that peace and prosperity which the Church of God at last came to enjoy when the Emperors and Rulers of the world became Christians themselves and imployed their power and greatness to encourage and farther the profession and practice of Christianity For when the Bishops of the Churches came not only to be protected in the discharge of their Function by publick Authority but also to be greatly honoured and highly advanced for their Profession and Function sake some of them were not able to stand under so great a weight of honour as was cast upon them without being puft up and transported with Pride and Ambition And this Pride and Ambition put them upon striving and contending for precedency preheminence and superiority of Jurisdiction which settled at last in a claim of Supremacy made by the Bishop of Rome in arrogating to himself the Title of Vniversal Bishop over all Bishops and Churches in the world And out of this pretended headship grew by degrees the whole body of Popery by which the Christian Religion hath been corrupted This exorbitant Power claimed by the Bishop of Rome could not be upheld and maintained without the assistance of such other Bishops and Presbyters as were willing to own and defend this headship Nor could that be expected without their sharing in the worldly advantages to be obtained thereby Nor could that grandeur which they designed for themselves be maintained without a suitable Revenue Nor such a Revenue be raised had the plain honest and moderate methods of Christianity been observed in it For if those methods could have been observed and their turn served thereby they would never have been at the trouble of inventing and defending new ones That these ends designed therefore might be served certain additions to and corruptions of the Scriptures and Christian Religion were pitcht upon as the likeliest means to obtain them but yet to be managed so as that the people might be perswaded that those additions and corruptions were either parts of Christian Religion or necessary means to promote it And these additions and corruptions are the things which we call Popery and not any other things though held and done by Papists which yet are agreeable to the Scriptures and which other Christians hold and do as well as they I do not say nor indeed think that the first Authors and beginners of Popery had in prospect or did practise all the additions and corruptions which afterward were found out by their successors as necessary to secure and uphold the Usurped Power and Greatness No more did their predecessors the false Apostles begin with all the evil devices which they were afterwards led to to carry on their design I shall now therefore come to instance in some of those additions and to shew how they fall in with this worldly design projected by the Authors of Popery and how like they look to what was designed and done by the false Apostles It may be every one of those additions in difference between Protestants and Papists may not directly tend to promote their worldly design though many of them do remotely which do not immediately But yet that will afford them no relief though so it should be Because when men invent some errors for no other reason but because they are serviceable to them in