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A41042 Seasonable advice to Protestants shewing the necessity of maintaining the established religion in opposition to popery / by Dr. Fell ... Fell, John, 1625-1686. 1688 (1688) Wing F620; ESTC R6938 21,116 40

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the Originals of Scripture when those that governed were so jealous of it that they would not suffer any Translation but the Latine which was overgrown the mean while as they now confess with many thousands of Corruptions III. Having considered the Obligation we have to the Religion we profess it may be seasonable next to reflect on the Religion to which we are invited We are invited to one that recals us to the Idolatrous practice of the heathen World to pray unto our fellow Creatures canonized to Saints and Heroes to worship Images and fall down to the stock of a tree Nay to the worshiping of the consecrated host which by the confession of Coster the Jesuite and Some others is a more stupid Idolatry than the worst of the Heathens were ever guilty of in case Transubstantiation cannot be made out Now that Transubstantiation is not real we have all the evidence that we are capable of the testimony of our reason and our senses The absurd and monstrous consequences of that Doctrine will fill Volumes a great part of which are with great truth and justice drawn together by Dr. Brevint in his late Tract entituled The Depth and Mistery of the Roman Mas. We are invited to a Religion that takes from us half the Sacrament of the Eucharist notwithstanding the Institution of Christ in express words and notwithstanding the practice of the Primitive Church to the contrary We are invited to a Church that revives the Heathen Persecution of taking away our Bibles and would involve every Lay-man in the guilt of being a Traditor the next step in the account of the Primitive Church to Apostacy from the Christian Faith. We are invited to a Church that as it takes away the Scriptures and half the Communion robs us likewise of the benefit of the Publick Prayers putting the Offices in an unknown Tongue insomuch that when about thirteen years ago some of the Prelates of the Church of France had taken care to translate the Liturgy and Scripture into the vulgar Tongue Pope Alexander the seventh damns the Attempt and under pain of Excommunication commands all persons to bring in their Books to be publickly burnt We are tempted to a religion which contrary to the command of trying all things and holding fast that which is good and paying to God a reasonable service enjoyns an implicite Faith and blind Obedience to a Religion that instead of the guidance of the Word of God sets up an infallible Judge and Arbitrator of all Doctrines the Pope of Rome Which instead of the faith once delivered to the Saints adds new Articles of Faith which instead of that one propitiation made by Christ and the condition thereof Faith and Repentance sets remission of sins upon quite other terms and proposes that gift of God to be bought with Money in the vile Market of Indulgences for instance Sacriledge is valued at seven grosses Incest at five Simony seven Perjury six Murder five and so on in the Tax of the Apostolic Chancery We are invited to a Church where we must be Schismatics that we may be Catholics and adhere to the Roman in opposition to all other that is to the Catholic Church 'T were endless by retail to reckon up the Errors and the Guilts to which we are invited the fond ridiculous Rites the superstitious burthensom and heathenish Ceremonies the Exorcisms and Conjurations the Blasphemies and forged Miracles Cheats and pious Frauds the Lies and Stories stupid and impossible as those of Amadis de Gaul the Knight of the Sun or the Seven Champions witness the Golden Legend the Lives of the Saints of S. Francis Bruno S. Dominick and infinite others or if we have a mind to a Romance of our own the long Tale of a Tub which Father Serenus Cressy has lately put out borrowed from Father Alford the improbable that is the greater Miracles as he tells us being omitted because of the unbelief of the Heretics and yet enow are left to weary the credulity of the most sanguine Catholic Wherein also as he tells us we may see the Faith of our Forefathers and truly we have great reason to thank him for the prospect which as he represents it gives us strong inducements in so unequal a competition to retein our own Notwithstanding all that has been said there are a sort of pacific Writers who represent the Doctrines of the Church of Rome under a fairer light and would have us believe they have a better meaning than is usually suggested And God forbid that we should take things by the worst handle or make that breach wider whose closure we should endeavour to make up with a zeal equal to that of the gallant Roman who threw himself on behalf of his Country into the gaping Gulf. Indeed no price can be too great for Peace but only Truth the which we may not part with for all the tempting charms of Charity and Love and God knows in the present case 't is evident that the excuses which are fram'd in the Romanists behalf are short and frivolous nor besides can any man be esteem'd a Roman Catholic by admitting the Doctrines of that Church in his own private or some more probable Doctors but in the public sense And had these undertakers in the Catholic Cause power to dispense therein according to that Candor which many of them make shew of we might attend to what is said but we are well assur'd that all these fair words can signifie nothing but are merely a bait and snare laid to draw in the easie Proselyte for when he 's reconcil'd and brought into the bosom of the Church these painted shews are presently washt off and all concessions immediately retracted the Convert must then learn the Colliers Creed believe as the Church believes and St. Peter's Key which threw the gate open to admit into the Church will shut the Prisoner in and the Child which had a piece of money given him to keep him quiet shall soon after have it call'd for back again and be aw'd with the rod if he repine or murmur So that 't will be a frivolous Project to talk of a Reconcilement with the Church of Rome till she first conform herself to Truth and a Conviction and much more a Reformation must here be impossible where the grossest Errors are joyn'd with an Assurance of being free from any nay a Persuasion of being infallible IV. The Motive which deserves the next place is the Safety of the King's Person and the Prerogative of the Crown which hath no higher or more necessary appendent than his Supremacy in his Dominions in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Secular according to the powers invested in the Jewish King under the Law and exercised by the first Christian Emperours 'T is obviously known how destructive both to itself and the Community is the Partnership of Regal Power but this must be