Spiritual state and is of ill abode as to their future standing And there is so much the more danger of falling into an undue and destructive love of the things of this world because we have need of them daily use them familiarly converse with them and because men generally are very unable to discern the parting difference between a lawful and unlawful degree of love to them and so are very apt insensibly to pass over from the one into the other And therefore there is great reason to be jealous of our affections in this respect and diligent to observe their motion and manner of operation towards the world and continually to be following them with considerations that all the things of this world are at best but Temporal and useful only for a little season and that our main Concern lies in the things of another world that are for Eternity in comparison of which the things of this World are of no weight when a judgment and estimate of both is rightly made By the Knowledge Belief and practical consideration of this it was that the Holy Apostles and all sincere Christans then did overcome the world when their worldly and spiritual their temporal and eternal Interest came in competition This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith saith St. John 1 Ep. 5.4 And though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day while we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.16 18. And it was by that saith which is the Substance or confident expectation of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen by which Abraham Moses and the rest of those Worthies in elder times became such famous instances of overcoming the world as they were Heb. 11. And our blessed Saviour for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame yea and contemned the Grandeur of the world too when he was tempted thereby to that which was incongruous to the end of his coming If any shall think the publishing of these papers might well be spared considering the many transcending pieces against Popery which are already extant I confess I should have thought so too especially considering the Author had it not been that the way of proceeding against Popery used therein by comparing it with the corrupt Religion of the false Apostles hath not so far as I have observed been much made use of by others unless only in some glances which look that way And yet what can expose Popery more to the dislike even of every vulgar apprehension than to discover its likeness to the Religion of the false Apostles who preached Christ indeed as these of this way also do but they did it not sincerely but added to and mixt with the doctrine and Religion of Christ and that as necessary to Salvation things of quite a different nature and contrary tendency even as these likewise do Phil. 1.15 16. Besides as by discovering the true nature of the corrupt Religion of the false Apostles and their Proselytes a thing which is endeavoured in the following discourse we may take measure of and estimate the nature of Popery when we find as we may a likeness between them So perhaps the Readers of more ordinary Capacities may find such further benefit thereby as to come to a better understanding of many places and passages in the Holy Apostles Epistles relating to the way of false Teachers as without knowing in some measure what the corrupt Principles and Practices of the false Apostles were and their ill effects in the Churches can hardly be understood And if that may though nothing else should be gained thereby yet that alone I hope would in some measure recompence the pains of such Readers in perusing the said discourse From which I shall detain them no longer this being all I have to say by way of preface craving their pardon for the length of it THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY UNFOLDED BY a collection of sundry passages scattered up and down in the Writings of the Holy Apostles of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ it may easily be discerned how and for what end and under what pretence the false Apostles in the Primitive times corrupted the Christian Religion And by comparing here-with the Christian Religion as now corrupted by Popery together with its end and design and the pretence under which it hath been managed by the Authors of it and Guides of the people of that perswasion those that halt between two opinions in the Case to be enquired into and that have any desire to be led into the way of Truth on which hand soever it falls may easily come to a clear Resolution and full satisfaction who are in the error the Papists or the Protestants In order to the Comparison thus to be made and to the satisfaction that is thereby to be attained I must represent to you from the Scriptures these two things 1. What the design of the false Apostles was in managing the Christian profession to so ill purpose as they did 2. In what way and by what means they carried on their design After I have done this I shall draw the Parallel between the false Apostles and Authors of Popery and shew how the Authors of Popery have followed the false Apostles in both End and Means S. 1. I shall begin with the first of these and shew what the design of the false Apostles was in managing the Christian profession so unchristianly as they did And to make way for the better understanding of that I shall briefly touch upon the Rise of them and the occasion of it The sincere profession of Christianity being attended at the first and for a long time after with sore persecution there were some of that Profession and probably Teachers too who being neither willing wholly to relinquish it nor yet to suffer so much as a faithful and thorough adherence to the doctrine and precepts of the Gospel did expose men to did cast about how they might retain a profession of the Gospel and yet avoid any great or considerable suffering for it And in conclusion resolved upon this viz. to Comply with their Adversaries in some things pertaining to the Religion and way which they profest of which I shall speak more particularly afterwards whereby they took off the keenness of their opposition and provided for their own ease and security Some pretences they found out for so doing wherewith they endeavoured to satisfie themselves and others as well as they could whom they laboured to draw in to make a party Just as St. Paul foretold the Elders of the Church of Ephesus saying Of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Acts 20.30 And being opposed herein by the faithful Apostles
thus Are they Ministers of Christ I am more 2 Cor. 11.23 They preached Christ indeed as St. Paul saith but it was of envy strife and contention not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds Phil. 1.15 16. They envied him the honour and respect he had among the Christians by preaching Christ and Salvation by him to them and so they preached Christ and Salvation by him too but yet in a way of opposition to Paul by preaching Christ insincerely mixing other things with his doctrine that were more gratifying to the flesh and thereby drawing off the respect of the Christians from Paul to themselves which if effected must needs add affliction to his bonds They zealously affect you but not well saith St. Paul yea they would exclude us that you might affect them Gal. 4.17 And that they might not be thought inferiour to the Apostles of Christ who were extraordinarily sent and of a higher standing than any other in the Evangelical Ministry they also some of them pretended themselves to be the Apostles of Christ that they might put the more glorious colour upon their design and arts of deceiving Such are false Apostles deceitful workers saith St. Paul transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11.13 Nay it should seem some of them did not only pretend to an equality with Paul but also to a more unquestionable Apostolick authority than was in him For they called St. Paul's Apostleship into question and sought to undermine the reputation of his Apostolical authority Upon this account and for this cause it was that Paul was constrained to vindicate his Apostleship to the Corinthians as he did in 1 Ep. Chap. 9. Ver. 1 2. Am I not an Apostle am I not free have not I seen the Lord are not you my work in the Lord if I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the Seal of my Apostleship are ye in the Lord. See farther for this 2 Cor. 10.8 11.5 12.11 12. 13.3.6 They insinuated that Paul had not seen Christ as those that were truly his Apostles had and that he had received the Gospel which he preached but from men and not immediately from Christ and that therefore he might be mistaken In opposition to which it was that St. Paul said I certifie you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I neither received it of men neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1.11 12. But though too many were so weak as to be deceived with these mens great swelling words yet there were others that were too wise to be imposed upon by their pretensions to Apostleship And such were those of the Church of Ephesus for a while at least till they fell from their first love Thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them liars saith Christ to the Angel of that Church Rev. 2.2 As for such as were deceived and did take them to be what they pretended themselves to be Apostles and upon that account could give as much credit to what they said as to what Paul said it was no marvel if they thought themselves in a better condition by their coming among them than they had been in by following Paul in as much as they taught them an easier and cheaper way of being Christians than he had done as I have often said And that they did think themselves in a happier condition appears by that representation of their thoughts which St. Paul made when he said now ye are rich now ye are full ye have reigned as Kings without us 1 Cor. 4.10 S. 12.2 And to gain yet the more credit among the Christians whom they laboured thereby to seduce they pretended to promote the ends of the Gospel holiness and righteousness in what they did and taught For the Gospel is so express for these that the professors of it could hardly be cheated and corrupted in there profession of it but under a pretence of promoting these And therefore there is no question but that these false Apostles talked as high for holiness and righteousness and made as great a noise about it in sound of words and name of the thing in general terms as seducers use to do as the true Apostles themselves And therefore St. Paul saith that they transformed themselves as the ministers of righteousness 2 Cor. 11.15 They were for a form of godliness in profession though they denied it in the power and practice of it 2 Tim. 3.5 They were wells and clouds without water as Peter and Jude describe them they in profession promised the furtherance of Religion and vertue as wells promise water and clouds rain but they were but as empty and deceitfull wells and clouds in this Nay they did not only pretend to holiness and righteousness as well as the true Apostles but they pretended to more strictness in some things than the Apostles themselves They pretended to go farther in mortification and self-denial than the Apostles did in imposing upon themselves and others abstinence from some meats and from Marriage forbidding them to marry and commanding them to abstain from some meats was part of the doctrine of these seducing Spirits 1 Tim. 4.18 Touch not tast not handle not said they which things saith St. Paul have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh Col. 2.21.23 They pretended that St. Paul and such as he walked but according to the flesh in comparison of themselves who lived a more abstemious and mortified Life as they would have others to think I think to be bold saith St. Paul against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh 2 Cor. 10.2 Let no man judge you saith he in meat or in drink or in respect of an Holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath dayes Col. 2.16 They were for judging the Christians that followed St. Paul as not so tender and conscientious about these things as they themselves pretended to be For that we see hath been and indeed still is the manner of Seducers to pretend to great strictness in some little things which are not necessary in themselves thereby to gain a great reputation among people of weak minds for holiness mortification and strictness of living when in the mean time they are deeply culpable in other things of moment in the eyes of those of more discerning Spirits Like the Pharisees who were for tithing Mint Anise and Cummin and for divers washings when they omitted and passed over the weightier matters of the Laws Judgment Mercy and the Love of God yea and made void the Commandments of God that they might establish their own traditions By reason of these and other like pretensions they came at last to Separation it self and withdrew themselves from Communion with the Orthodox
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
sincere Christians as their opposites and joined with their persecutors in persecuting of them still the more to ingratiate themselves with them These were of those as I suppose that St. Paul said Preached Christ of envy and strife of contention and not sincerely supposing to add affliction to his bonds Phil. 1.15 16. Of these it was as I apprehend by the scope of the place that St. Paul said But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now Gal. 4.29 Of these St. John speaks as I take it when he saith He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness until now 1 John 2.9 and cautions the brethren that they be not as Cain as some false Christians were who slew his brother because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 John 3.12 S. 10. Having shewed how the Christian Religion was corrupted by the false Apostles on purpose to promote their secular design I might now shew yet a little further how lamentably the Apostolical Churches were in a little time over-run with it and many of the Members thereof sowred with this Leaven as St. Paul feared they would when he said in reference to those corrupters A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump and wisheth that they were cut off that troubled the Church Gal. 5.7 8 9. Probably this their being neither directly and wholly Christian nor Jew nor Pagan but a mixture of all to keep fair quarter with all was the crime of the Church of Laodicea in being neither hot nor cold neither fish nor flesh as we say neither Christian Jew nor Pagan but a composition of all together and yet thought themselves in a brave condition rich and increased in goods and had need of nothing Just as some of those in the Church of Corinth upon the same account thought themselves to be as St. Paul represents it in 1 Cor. 4.8 Now ye are full now ye are rich ye have reigned as Kings without us They applauded themselves in that they had found out as they thought a wiser way of being Christians than the Apostles and others had done for they as they thought could hold the faith of the Gospel and their worldly enjoyments too Whereas others which they thought more imprudent in professing the Gospel exposed themselves to the spoiling of their Goods and the loss of all things To such as these it was I conceive that St. Paul saith thus in 1 Cor. 3.18 Let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world mark that wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise That is let him become such a Christian as those who by a faithful and close adherence to the doctrine and precepts of the Gospel exposed themselves to the loss of all in this world and were counted fools for so doing by the false Apostles and their adherents that he may be wise to purpose wise for the world to come So here in Revel 3.18 Christ in opposition to this carnal conceit of the Laodiceans of their being rich counsels them to buy of him Gold tryed in the fire that they might be rich in deed and not in conceit only That is as I conceive that they would not shrink at the fiery tryal as St. Peter calls it which his faithful followers patiently endured for his sake and which being endured would make them spiritually rich indeed rich in the experimental knowledge and proof of their own sincerity and fidelity to Christ and thereupon rich in their assurance of their title to the reward promised to those that overcome and consequently rich also in that consolation peace and joy which such a knowledge and experience would furnish them withal far beyond all mens worldly enjoyments could afford them when preserved with their faultring and double dealing with Christ in their profession of his Religion For as the sufferings of Christ abounded in his faithful followers so their consolation also abounded by him as those who experienced it did testifie 2 Cor. 1.5 Who therefore gloried in tribulations of that kind Rom. 5.3 And therefore well might St. Peter say that this trial of faith this proof of the goodness of faith this spiritual gold by enduring the fire is much more precious than that of Gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire 1 Pet. 1.7 And proportionably they are much more rich that have abundance of that than they that have abundance of this All this serves to demonstrate the wisdom and goodness of that counsel of Christ to the Laodiceans to buy of him Gold tried in the fire that they might be rich and not to decline doing so that they might retain their worldly riches And so doth that of buying of him white raiment to cover the shame of their nakedness By which I understand such an outward conversation in divine worship manners as is called by St. James a being unspotted of the world and as is opposed to such an one as is described by garments spotted by the flesh in S. Jude of which some professing Christianity were guilty by their compliances with the Heathen in their evil customs to curry their favors as well as to gratifie their own lusts The other part of our Lords counsel to them was to anoint their eyes with eye-salve that they might see that is make a right judgment of the nature of Christianity and see things a far off in the other world to govern themselves by their concernment in those things and not still remain like those who are blind and cannot see a far off as St. Peter describes them 2 Pet. 1.9 but govern themselves only by the sense they have of present things nigh unto them and just before them as bruit beasts do to which they are compared in that respect when it 's said In what they know naturally as bruit beasts in those things they corrupt themselves Jude vers 10. And by understanding the meaning of this counsel of Christ to them we may understand the nature of their disease to which this counsel was applied by way of remedy Their great distemper lay in two things First in their carnal compliance for fear of suffering by reason of which compliance they were neither hot nor cold neither thorow Christians nor thorow Pagans nor Jews as I said but like Ephraim of old a Cake half baked or a speckled Bird of several colours to which Israel was compared in their declined condition Secondly in applauding themselves in that they had by this means found out a way of being good Christians as they thought without exposing themselves to suffering for it and as if they had been in a happier condition than others that had not done so Whenas by that means and for that very reason they were miserable and poor and blind and naked and loathsom to Christ and ready to be spewed out of
his mouth far from such a happy condition as they fancied themselves to be in This also probably was the condition of the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.1 except the few names in it that had not defiled their Garments with those pollutions into which the false Teachers had enticed others For though they had a name to live from that profession of the Gospel which they made yet were in a manner dead by degenerating and going back again in part into Gentilism or Judaism from which they had been delivered The loss of first love in the Church of Ephesus also as it 's very likely befell them by the deceiving of the false Teachers we speak of that drove a worldly design in professing the Gospel so as that it might not be too costly to them This St. Paul had foretold when he said to the Elders of that Church in Act. 20.29 30. I know this that after my departure shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them And he admonished them in his Epistle to them Chap. 4.14 That they would be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lay in wait to deceive And again Chap. 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words c. Meaning doubtless in all this to arm them against and take them off from the insinuations temptations of false Teachers to draw them into sinful complyances to escape persecution Another hint of this nature we have in the close of his Epistle to them Chap. 6.24 where he saith Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity or with incorruption as it is in the Margin that is without mixing his Religion with any thing foraign to it or inconsistent with it for worldly ends as some had done Our Saviour in Revel 2.3 commends them for that at first they had born and had patience to suffer and for his names sake had laboured and had not fainted But then in the 5th ver he calls upon them to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and do their first works They were now fallen from that love and zeal for Christ which at first they manifested to him in suffering for him called here their first love which now they had lost and had now found out an easier way but withall an impurer way of owning Christ and professing his Gospel Which change he admonisheth them to repent of and to return to their first love and zeal in keeping close to the truth and purity of the Christian Religion whatever the Issue of it might be as to this worlds concerns for these were their first works as appears by what was said before of them in the 3d. vers And those Christians that kept to this whatever it cost them were such as were said to be Virgins Virgin Christians that had not violated their chastity to Christ but followed the Lamb only whithersoever he went though he led them through fire and water Rev. 14.3 I the rather think that corrupt compliances through fear of suffering were the faults of those Five of these Seven Churches which came under reproof because that for which the other Two of Smyrna and Philadelphia are commended and not censured at all was their courage for and constancy in the truth of the Gospel in the midst of danger impoverishing and trouble because of it Rev. 2.9 10. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty but thou art rich Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer Rev. 3.8.10 Thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try them Besides the promise in the close of every one of the Seven Epistles made to him that overcometh together with the other subject matters of them argues that the being overcome and prevailed with to do unworthily through fear of suffering was the sin of some and the temptation dangerous to all of them S. 11.2 Having shewed you how the false Apostles carried on their design of securing their worldly concerns in their profession of the Christian Religion by corrupting it I shall now come to shew how they did it under a show and pretence of Religion which was the last thing I proposed to insist on concerning them and their ill design This course taken by them of setting off what they did herein with a shew and pretence of being very Religious in it was nothing but what our Saviour had foretold would come to pass premonishing his Disciples to take heed of being deceived hereby when he said Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves Mat. 7.15 They could not carry on their design alone without making a party among them that professed the Gospel nor that but under a Religious pretence And a party they did make to join with them in it by such means as I shall now briefly instance in 1. They did it by obtaining the reputation among many of being the Ministers of Christ yea perhaps of being the Apostles of Christ which indeed some of them pretended themselves to be Which was of great advantage to them it being no hard matter for them to corrupt those with whom they obtained such a reputation and to draw them in to fide with them in their design For when once the people came to esteem them the Ministers and Messengers of Christ as well as Paul and other Apostles the false Apostles then came to have a great advantage thereby of drawing them off from those that were the Ministers of Christ indeed and of bringing them under their own conduct because their doctrine tended to secure them from that persecution and loss of worldly enjoyments which the doctrine of the true Apostles when followed exposed them to And if the people could be brought to give as much credit to the doctrine of the false Apostles as to that of the true as they must if they believed them to be true Apostles though they were not then they could be in no doubt which to follow for they would then certainly follow them who as they believed taught them how to keep this world and yet obtain that which is to come too rather than them who taught them to run almost a certain hazard of this that they might obtain the next And it was because of this advantage that they had the persons of the false Apostles in admiration Jude 16. Now that they pretended themselves to be the Ministers of Christ and not only so but that they were esteemed so to be by a party appears by that of St. Paul where he saith in his own vindication
these men For as those were desirous to have the people sin that they might have the more Sin-offerings So these are willing we see that the people should have liberty allowed them to sin provided they will but buy the more Indulgences and Dispensations And such likewise is their doctrine of Assuring men of pardon when they are going out of the world tho' they have lived never such wicked and vicious lives before upon condition of Contrition and Confession to a Priest Yea upon condition of that Confession and Attrition alone which as they define it is a grief for sin arising only from a fear of Hell And I should think no wicked man that believes or fears that there is a Hell can lightly be without such a sorrow at last And if men could be made to believe or hope that they may keep their sins and yet be pardoned at least upon such easie terms as we see they are taught to believe they may it would then be matter of wonder that there is no more rather than that there are so many Papists in the world Such doctrine as this is doubtless the reason why now and then some profligate persons and so many Thieves and Murderers when condemned to die turn Papists that were no better than practical Atheists before S. 23.8 And yet lest their loose principles and practices should render them too much suspected for Irreligious they just as the false Apostles before them would seem to be even more devout in some things than the purer Christians that oppose them in their carnal designs And therefore they have imposed upon themselves and their Votaries certain things as parts of Religion which God hath not made so and are more careful to observe them than what God hath commanded as the Pharisees before them were in reference to their traditions Such is their abstaining from some sorts of meats upon such and such dayes not upon a Civil account which may lawfully be done but upon a Religious account And it 's well if at least many of them do not make more conscience of eating flesh on a Fryday than to swear or lie The exercising certain severities upon their own bodies at certain set times of the year by way of Penance the restraining those that are in Religious Orders from Marriage the Vows of Poverty and Single life are also things of like nature with those which the false Teachers in the Apostles times imposed upon their Proselytes as I have shewed And so was the worshipping of Angels a thing which these Popish Christians also teach Nay they pretend to make show of such great love to Christ more than others do as that for his sake they worship such as are related to him as the blessed Virgin Mary and other Saints And not only so but to worship his very Picture and to have in sacred esteem the very Reliques of his servants or those which they esteem to be so Like the Pharisees of old who builded the Tombs of the dead Prophets and garnished the Sepulchres of the Righteous that were dead when at the same time they persecuted those that were living as these also have done By such arts as these they have made a covering such as it is for their Irreligious designs by which they have deluded people of gross minds that are influenced by sense in the way of Religious worship as Superstitious and Idolatrous persons alwayes have been but have misapprehensions of the Nature of God and of that Spiritual worship which is agreeable to his Nature and acceptable to him Which also makes them think that the eating of Christ's Flesh and the drinking of his Blood in the Sacrament in a natural and proper sence is that which is available like the Capernaumites who said how can this man give us his Flesh to eat understanding him in a gross sence when he had said to them The bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world And except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Joh. 6. Moreover to raise yet the greater opinion in the people of the goodness of their way they ingross the whole of true Christianity to themselves stiling those and those only of their way the Catholique Church denying Salvation to belong to those that are not of it accounting them Hereticks Herein likewise following the guise of the false Apostles and their Disciples who laboured to ingross to themselves the name and reputation of the most Knowing and most Spiritual separating from the rest of Christians as if they themselves only had been the true Church thereby to put the better colour upon their corrupting the Christian Religigion and the worldly end for which they did it S. 24.9 And then to fill the Churches treasuries and to draw to themselves the wealth of the world and thereby to support all their glory and grandeur and to glut themselves with sensual pleasures and delights they have used other methods and Arts also One of which is the doctrine of the Merit of good works For when the people are made to believe that they may by good works Almsdeeds and Donations to pious uses make satisfaction to God procure exemption from Purgatory and merit Heaven and by abounding in them may supererogate and not only merit enough for themselves but have to spare for others Then it is no hard matter to persuade them to be very liberal and kind to their Ghostly Fathers while they live being to them in Gods stead to pardon them and to leave a considerable part of their estates to the Church when they die The forbidding Marriage to the Clergy serves to the same end also which may be one reason of that restraint For when they especially those of the higher degree that have great Estates can leave no Children lawfully begotten to inherit who is likelier to be their Heir than the Church especially considering that the Canon Law allows not Regular Bishops to dispose of their Estates by Will Another device to get money is the Tax of the Apostolick-Chancery a grant by several Popes of Pardons at such and such a price for thousands of years though their sins be of a deep die It is true there are I must needs say very good peniworths to be had if the Ware be not counterfeit One may have that for 18 Pence 2 Shillings or half a Crown that a man would give all he is worth for be it never so much were he sure he should not be cheated in his purchase But as for all those that have faith enough to believe the Infallibility of the Popes in assuring them of Pardons at such cheap rates and if they question it in this they may question it in all the rest methinks there should not one of them fail to buy one of these Pardons that can go to the price of them and who cannot And if so who can count
Circumstances of the administration of the true worship And therefore these Scriptures when duly considered are without any colour of reason or truth alledged against the lawful use of undetermined Circumstances of administration of the Substance of Gods worship An opinion doubtless it is no less dangerous than false For since it cannot be conceived as I suppose how the publick worship other than the use of the Lords prayer and the reading the Scriptures and the reciting some words of Scripture in the administration of Baptism and the Lords Supper if so much can possibly be managed without doing something therein in reference to external administration which is not particularly determined and commanded in the New Testament such a position as that must needs tend not only to fill mens minds with endless scruples and their mouths with endless disputes but also to interrupt and put a stop to the administration of Gods publick worship should it be admitted Even under the Mosaical dispensation when things pertaining to the worship of God were far more minutely determined than they are under the Gospel many things were done of a religious nature and some of them more immediately respecting the worship of God which yet were neither commanded by God nor the doing of them censured by him so far as appears so long as any thing Commanded by him was thereby neither opposed nor justled out nor any thing done in the name or under pretence of things appointed by him which were not so as the Pharisees did when they taught for doctrine the commandments of men Of things of this nature these following are instances The rearing of an Altar by the two Tribes and half for a sign or witness that they and their posterity were people of the God of Israel and to prevent Apostasie in their posterity Josh 22.25.34 The erecting of a stone by Joshua for somewhat a like purpose Josh 24.26 27. Solomons hallowing the middle part of the temple for sacrifices 1 King 8.64 The keeping of the Passeover fourteen dayes by order of King Hezekiah and with the advice of the Heads of the people tho' God had appointed but Seven as also the Levites then helping the Priest in the Priests appropriate work 2 Chro. 30. The observation of the dayes of Purim The anniversary fasts of the 4th 5th 7th and 10th month The building of Synagogues for publick worship and appointing governours therein and the ordering what prayers should be made and how and after what manner the Law and Prophets should be improved to common benefit by reading and exhortation and what discipline should be used therein The determinate hours of prayer in the Temple Act. 3.1 The altering the gesture and some other things in eating the Passeover from what was used in the first Institution and conformed to by Christ himself under that alteration The seast of Dedication which Christ graced with his own presence The admitting of Proselytes by Baptism as wel las by Circumcision a practice which our Saviour was so far from testifying his dislike of as a humane invention that he chose the same rite by which to initiate his disciples These things with what was said before if there were no more to be said in the case would be enough to shew that it 's no just exception against our external form of publick worship in that it is not expresly and particularly commanded in Scripture for if it were it would be a just exception against every external form of publick worship whatsoever because there is no one in particular commanded with exclusion of all the rest Which still plainly renders it a thing more inexpedient yea and much more than so to be accessary by rending from the communion of the Church to the bringing on us all those sad effects of our divisions which every good man is sensible of than it is or can be to bear with what does not so well please them in our form of worship as somewhat else different therefrom would do Methinks it should make such as are more considering men among those that divide the Church by withdrawing from her communion to be very jealous of the expediency of their practice when they consider that before men took this liberty there was little of the sad effects forementioned visible among us but since that those bad effects are grown notorious and formidable and that 's no honour to Separation that it hath brought forth such fruit they may know what it is by what it hath done by its fruits ye shall know it And therefore such as would be loth to lye under the guilt unrepented of of being accessary to the drawing on us the sad events we speak of had need to examine again and again whether the grounds upon which they have made or incouraged those divisions which have been the cause of them be such as will abide the trial before God and whether they have any ground to think that what they contend for in case they could obtain it would ever countervail or compensate the damage which Religion in its reputation and the Souls of men have already sustained and are like farther to suffer by the course they have taken to effect it And when ever they do enter into such consideration it will doubtless be their wisdome not to flatter themselves with conceit as I fear some do as if they are not nor can be accessary to the bringing on us these sad effects of our divisions but that they are wholly owing and imputable to our Governours who as they perhaps suppose have given them just occasion of withdrawing from communion in the publick worship by making the terms of it so difficult and unsatisfactory as they have done For tho' that which they surmise should be so far true viz. That the conditions of communion are made more uneasie unto some than they need to be yet it will not follow but that tho' the Governours in some respect do ill in doing so the people may do very well in submitting to them tho' less pleasing to themselves rather than by causing divisions by not submitting to them to draw on such things as may well displease them much more than the uneasie terms of Communion need to do as long as they are but only less desirable and not absolutely sinful in themselves as doubtless those in question are not For if they were it would be wonderful that so many wise inquisitive and good men as well of the old Nonconformists as others as since the Reformation have submitted to them should not be sensible of it No not after all that could be said to work such a sense in them by such as have turned every stone to do it And it is not altogether inconsiderable to remember that however the case is now yet in the Apostles dayes they were such Christians as were less knowing in the right use of their Christian Liberty that caused troubles in the Church about things indifferent in their own nature Rom. 14. These things I have noted upon this occasion for no worse end than to satisfie the Scrupulous That although they should not or could not be perswaded that our external form of publick worship is best in it self yet that to conform to the use of it under present Circumstances is not only lawful but also very much better than to be accessary to all the evil effects and consequences of our divisions and causeless Separations and that there is upon account of the danger of being so much more cause to scruple Nonconformity than Conformity to our form of publick worship But if all the arguings and reasonings which have been used by many shall still fall short of their desired effects to close up our unhappy breaches and to heal our divisions the consequences of them are so dreadful that I could then heartily wish that if the Higher powers think it fit and rather than the wounds of our Church should be still kept bleeding to the exhausting of her strength and the endangering her very life and being that a Sacrifice were made of some such things as can least be born with and best spar'd to the publick peace and tranquillity of the Church if that might procure it Peace and Edification being the ends unto which all External circumstances of order are to be accommodated by way of means Thus much I thought good to add touching the point of Expediency from St. Paul's example THE END