of Christians that when once Persons begin to damn others in their minds for their dissent from them they judge themselves at liberty and count that it is their Duty to do them all the mischief they can in this World They first make themselves their Judges that they must go to Hell and then would be their Executioners to send them thither as fast as they can Whether this be a Representation of Christ or of the Devil is not hard to determine Sure I am it is not compliant with the advice given unto all Guides of the Church of an attendance whereunto they must give an account 2 Tim. 2. 24 25 26. And the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his Will Hence it is that those who have a strong inclination to oppress and destroy other men which their Interest prompts them unto do endeavour to make every the least dissent from themselves on one pretence or other by Sophistical arguments and strained consequences to be a fundamental error and such as makes them incapable of Life eternal But no men can give a greater evidence of their disintrest in Christian Religion of their unacquaintedness with the vertues and Powers of it wherein the glories of it do consist and what is of real price with God than those who are so minded Blessed be God that Christ will not leave his seat of Judgment unto such Persons neither here nor hereafter But such differences as those mentioned will probably continue among Christians so long as they continue in this World For although all those among whom these differences are do chuse the same Guide yet they do not in all things equally hear and understand his voice Perfection in Light and Knowledge are required unto a perfect agreement in all the conceptions of our minds about spiritual things Wherefore it is reserved for Heaven where every thing that is imperfect shall be done away Here we have different measures We know but in part and therefore prophesy in part Rom. 13. 9. It is Love or Charity alone that supplies this defect and gives such an Harmony unto the different parts of the Mystical Body of Christ which is the Church as renders them all useful and the whole beautiful 1 Cor. 13. Col. 3. 14. But these are not the differences which at present I intend There are those which in their Nature are of greater Importance such as are about the Fundamentals of Christian Faith Worship and Obedience such as upon whose determination the eternal welfare and misery of the souls of men do depend And not only so but they are such also which on that wretched mannagement of Religious concerns that late ages have embraced have an influence into the Peace or Disturbance of Humane Society the Tranquility the Liberty and Lives of men Yea they are by some promoted and pursued by all waies of fraud and violence with that height of Impiety as is utterly destructive of all Religion Many we have who plead themselves to be Christians which might be allowed them if they pleased themselves would they not do such things as Christian Religion abhorreth But this is the least part of their claim they will also be the only Christians all others who differ from them however falsely so called being only a drove of unbelievers hasting unto Hell Now although this be intollerable presumption yet because they hurt none by it but themselves if they will not be awakened from this pleasing dream they may be suffered to sleep on But they rest not here these Christians who only are so and so alone know truly what is in Christian Religion will do such things under a pretence of it will perpetrate such execrable crimes avowing them to be the dictates and commands of that Religion that if men were not sure that their former pretences are presumptuously false it would be a sufficient warranty for them whereon to question the whole Truth of the Gospel And these things are done in the pursuit of these differences in Religion which abound among us Wherefore if we would not contribute unto that intollerable scandal against the Gospel that the Religion it teacheth is pernicious to the peace of Mankind and all that is praise worthy in the World which must be accounted for if we have any care about our own eternal Salvation we ought to use our utmost diligence to arrive unto a safe conduct through all these difficulties This being our present case there being such differences in and divisions about Religion among us the mannagement of them being grown incurably scandalous and perilous our enquiry is what Guide or Conduct a man that takes care of his own Salvation that would know the Truth and have the benefit of it that would please God here and come unto the eternal Enjoyment of him hereafter ought to betake himself and firmly adhere unto as that which will safely lead and direct him unto all these ends For if the blind lead the blind both will fall into the ditch Two things are pleaded to be this safe and infallible Guide to have that conduct committed unto them which every one who takes care of his Salvation is obliged to betake himself unto The first is the Church of Rome She it is who at this time laies a most vehement claim to be the only Authoritative infallible Guide of all Christians as unto their Faith Worship and Obedience We enquire not after a ministerial Guide and the benefit which we may receive thereby This they regard not as that which leaves men the exercise of their own understandings and use of all Divine Aids and Assistances as unto the Information Direction and Determination of their Minds in all that they are to believe and practise in Religion But such a Guidance as whereunto by vertue of its Authority and Infallibility we are entirely and absolutely to resign our understandings and consciences what ever it leads us unto is that which this Church claimeth and without which she is nothing nor can stand one moment This is that which those who plead the cause of that Church at present do wholly betake themselves unto the promotion of declining what lies in them all other Differences and Controversies between them and us Such a Guide they say there must be of all Christians and this Guide is their Church And they do wisely consult their own Interest therein For if they can once gain this point all other things which they aim at will follow of their own accord and they may satisfy the desires of their hearts on the consciences of men Wherefore this claim of theirs consists of these three parts or may be reduced unto these three Heads 1. That
wherein it issues had need give us better security of their Divine Infallibility than the Angels in Heaven can do For if an Angel from Heaven should preach this Doctrine unto us we may safely esteem him accursed Gal. 1. 8. 4. The last thing I shall instance in of this kind is the Adoration or Worship of Images God saies concerning it expresly Thou shalt not make unto thy self any graven Images thou shalt not bow dow to them nor worship them They say contrary Thou shalt make unto thy self graven Images thou shalt bow down to them and adore them And in their use they make them the stage plaies in Religion wherewith the minds of ignorant unstable Persons are allured and seduced into all manner of superstitious practices and turned off from the simplicity of the Gospel For being once perswaded on the credit of their Guide that the making use and Adoration of them are lawfull there is enough in the carnal minds of men to make them dote and even be mad upon them Wherefore no less service is done unto the interest of sin and the Kindom of Satan hereby than if they should have taken off all sense of the Authority of God from the consciences of men in the Prohibition of those things which their sensual lusts are most prone unto Could they have dissolved the obligation of the commands of God against Adultery or Stealing and left men unto the guidance of their own lusts and inclinations it is evident what abominable excesses the generality of men would run into Neither do the lusts of the mind engage persons with less fierceness into the pursuit of their objects than do those of the flesh And thence the disannulling of this command of God hath been an inlet unto all abominable Idolatry But herein they will not allow those who give up themselves unto their conduct once to consider the direct contradiction that is between Gods commands and theirs but believe they must what their Church believes and practise accordingly which is the most intollerable Tyranny over the souls of men that ever was attempted Only they will tell us of Latria and Dulia and Hyperdulia of Religious Worship that is direct or reductive transient or terminated on this or that object and after a maze of the like insignificant Terms the conclusion is positive You shall worship graven Images There are also sundry other things wherein they do or would impose on the credulity of men in open contradiction unto their Sense Reason and Experience as well as unto all evidence of Truth from the Light and Guidance of the Scripture which are somewhat of another Nature than those foregoing I shall only mention some of them As 1. They would have us believe that we cannot believe the Scripture to be the Word of God but upon the Testimony and Authority of their Church All the evidence that a man is capable of in his own mind that he doth so believe it all that can be given in ordering our lives according unto it as the Word of God the assurance and Peace which multitudes of all sorts have in resolving all their interest in things eternal into the Faith of it the sufferings and martyrdomes which many have undergone in the confirmation of it the uncontroulable pleas that are made of the sufficiency of the Motives whereon we believe it so to be are nothing with them but we must say we cannot believe the Scripture to be the Word of God but only on the Testimony and Authority of their Church and therein both give our selves the lye as unto what we know and are assured of and judge millions to Hell who have lived and died in the Faith of it without any respect unto that Testimony or Authority 2. They will have us to believe what they do not indeed believe themselves As for instance Justification by our own works For practically many of them do for this end trust unto Absolutions Masses the Sacraments and Sacramentals of the Church with a reserve for the complement of it in Purgatory which are not our own works and some of the wisest of them do betake themselves at last to the only Mercy and Grace of God So would they have us to venâ—ure our souls on that whereon they will not adventure their own 3. Papal Personal Infallibility was once a principal Article of their Creed and the generality of their Proselytes do receive it from them with no less firm assent than they do unto that of Christ himself But among themselves they have so multiplied their wrangling Disputes about it as makes it evident that they believe it only so far as holds proportion with their Interest and is subservient thereunto indeed not at all Their Disputes of a Difference between the Court of Rome and the Church of Rome of the Pope in his Chair and out of it in the use of help and advice of others and without this in a General Council and without it in a particular Council and without it in matter of Right and of Fact and the like make it evident that they know not in what sense to believe it and so indeed believe it not at all And whereas they do themselves confess that some of their Popes have been of the worst of men yea monsters for luxury uncleanness and violence that which they require of us is not only hard and unreasonable but impossible for any sober man to grant namely that we believe such Persons to have been infallible in the Declaration of all Divine Heavenly Mysteries so as that we ought to acquiesce in their Declaration of them 4. They would have us believe that the same Body of Christ which was once in the fulness of time made of a woman by the Power of God is every day made of a wafer by the Power of a Priest And what indignities are hereby cast on his Person hath been sufficiently demonstrated These are some of the Proposals which this pretended Guide makes unto all them who give up themselves unto its conduct to be believed with a suitable practice on the pain of eternal damnation But yet evident it is that they are all of them contrary unto the common Sense Reason and Experience of all Christians all that believe the Gospel as well as directly contradictory unto the Scripture and Example of the Primitive Church It is therefore left unto the Judgment of all sober Persons such as are not yet made drunk with the Cup of their Abominations to determine whether any thing but either profound Ignorance and spiritual Darkness or love of Sin with a desire to live securely therein or secular Interests or an hardening Judgment for the abuse of the Truth or a concurrence of all them can prevail with men to make an entire absolute Resignation of their souls and all their eternal concernments unto the conduct of this pretended Guide Fourthly The Way for the attaining the Knowledge of the Truth proposed by this Guide is
they and they alone are the Church of Christ All others who are called Christians in the World are Hereticks and Schismaticks who belong not unto it nor have any Interest in it Howbeit if the description given us of the Church of Christ in the Scripture be right and good it is almost impossible there should be any Society or combination of men on a religious account more unlike it than that which is called the Church of Rome This therefore must be taken upon their own credit and vehement Affirmation by them who have a mind so to do 2. That this Church which they alone are is entrusted with Authority over the souls and consciences of all Christians and all that would be so to be their only Guide in all that they are to know believe and do in Religion so that whoever gives not themselves up unto their conduct must perish eternally It were no hard task to manifest that a supposition hereof is destructive unto the Nature of Evangelical Faith and Obedience as also of all the Directions and Precepts given by Christ and his Apostles for the discharge of our Duty with respect unto them But this they must obtain or the whole present Popal Interest falls unto the ground Yet neither will a supposition that there is such a Church secure them their own pretences to be this Church being openly contradictory to the Scripture Nor is the Power claimed herein derived from the Apostles who professed themselves not to be Lords of the Faith of Believers 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. 3. They plead that hereon no more is required of any man who takes care of his Salvation but that he give up himself absolutely and entirely unto the conduct of their Church believing what it proposeth and that on this ground alone that it is proposed by it and obeying all its commands whereby they seem to set this pretended Guide in the Temple of God shewing him that he is God This is the claim of the Church of Rome these are the Principles whereinto it is resolved which whether they have any thing in them of Truth or Modesty will immediately be made to appear Secondly The Holy Scripture with the Divine Aids and assistances for the understanding thereof which God hath promised unto all that diligently seek him is pleaded to be the only Rule and Guide that men ought to betake themselves unto in case of those important differences in Religon which are under consideration And the plea on the behalf thereof is reducible unto these five Heads 1. That this Scripture is a Divine supernatural Revelation of God his Mind and his Will This Foundation is unquestionable and will never fail them that build upon it Those of the Roman Religion will propose ensnaring Questions about it unto them on whom they design They will be asking how they know the Scripture to be the Word of God labouring to disprove the evidences they produce to prove it so to be But this bold artifice is of no use in this case for themselves confess it so to be only they prefer the Authority of their Church testifying it so to be as more safely to be rested in and trusted unto than that of God himself which cannot be unto the advantage of their cause with any considerate Persons 2. That it is a Divine Revelation of the whole Mind and Will of God as unto all things that are necessary unto his Glory and our Salvation This it frequently testifieth of it self and on the former supposition of its being such a Divine Revelation its Testimony must be granted to be infallibly true Both these Assertions the Apostle expresly conjoyneth 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. Somewhat they except here in respect of their unwritten Traditions but dare not positively deny that the Scripture is a sufficient Revelation of all things absolutely necessary unto Salvation Indeed to do so will leave no assurance unto any man that he can ever know what is necessary unto salvation But they have a reserve whereunto they betake themselves on a concession hereof namely that whatever be contained in it it cannot be understood but as the sense of it is declared by their Church But this is a bold unproved presumption contrary unto the design of God in giving us his Word and the experience of all who have been exercised in it 3. The Way Manner and Method of this Revelation are such as are suited unto Divine Wisdom and Goodness whether they please men or no. It is with reference unto these things that they expatiate and enlarge themselves in charging the Scripture with obscurity and unfitness thereon to be our only Rule and Guide For the Bible they say is a Book composed of Histories Prophecies Songs Prayers and Epistles and is therefore unmeet for any such use or end But these things are of no consideration in our present case It is thus given out immediately by God himself and therefore every way answers Divine Wisdom and Goodness whether men are pleased with it or no we are not at all concerned He who designed it for the instruction of the Church alone knows what was to be the Method of its composure unto that end And it hath been proved on another occasion that considering the state of the Church in its several Ages the nature of that Faith which is to be wrought and confirmed by this Divine Revelation with the manner of teaching becoming the Authority of God and the holy Scripture could not have been given out unto us in any other Order or Method than that wherein it is disposed 4. On these suppositions there neither is nor can be more required of us in order unto our eternal salvation but that we understand aright firmly believe and yield obedience unto the Revelation of the Mind and Will of God that is made therein The Assurance hereof is so evidently included in the foregoing Assertions that it needs no confirmation Every thought unto the contrary is so injurious unto the Wisdom Goodness Grace and Truth of God so opposite unto all the Notions of the Minds of men on a supposition of Gods speaking unto them that it ought to be rejected with detestation 5. There are efficacious Aids promised and assured means appointed by God himself to help all that diligently seek him unto a certain infallible understanding of his Mind in the Scripture so far as the Knowledge of it is necessary unto our Salvation This also I have lately confirmed in a peculiar discourse These are the Heads whereunto the Plea for the Guidance of the Scripture in all differences and divisions about Religion may be reduced The case being thus plainly stated the enquiry hereon is whether of these Guides a man that takes care of his own eternal Salvation should betake himself and firmly adhere unto to the end In answer unto this Enquiry I shall prove that no wise man who feareth God and is careful of the eternal condition of his own soul
can chuse the Church of Rome for this Guide foregoing the other of the Scripture with the Divine Aids promised and given for the understanding thereof The Person of whom I speak I suppose to be a wise man that is one who prefers things eternal unto those that are temporal so as not to be ensnared by earthly Interests and Advantages unto the forfeiture of his Interest in things above and will be careful not to be imposed on by men who design their own Advantage in what they would perswade him unto He who is otherwise minded is a fool He is also one that feareth God and therefore is real and in good earnest in Religion as desiring to please him in all things For there are many who give the world no small disturbance about religious concerns who do on all occasions manifest that they have little or no regard unto God in what they say or do But in the Persons whom I address unto I suppose that they really take care above all other things of the eternal salvation of their souls And I shall not deal with them by abstruse Arguments nor by Testimonies of men that may be bandied up and down on the one side and the other but by such plain Reasonings as are accommodated unto the common understanding of all sober sedate rational Persons who own the Principles of Christian Religion which have their force from the general usage of mankind in things of an alike nature the common natural Principles of mens minds where they are not vitiated and depraved with the experience of what they have found already in any Duties of Religious Worship Indeed if we could but prevail with men to be perswaded that every man must believe for himself and obey for himself and give an account for himself this difference would be at an end For the choice of the Church of Rome to be the Guide enquired after is nothing but the putting of the care of saving our souls unto others who will not be able to answer for us when our Trial shall come And this subject in particular I have chosen at present to insist upon for two Reasons 1. Because as was before observed those who at present do plead the Interest of this Church among us do decline what they can all particular Controversies and under various notions betake themselves to this alone about an Authoritative Guide and Leader of all Christians which they pretend their Church to be They do not in their projection for Proselytes go to them and enter into Disputes about Transubsubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass Adoration of Images or the like no nor yet about the Popes Infallibility But supposing themselves to be greatly advantaged by the differences in Religion that are among us which usually they enlarge upon without either truth or modesty under a concealment of greater differences among themselves they insist only on the necessity of such a Guide which they pretend their Church alone to be Hereby have they prevailed on many who on one account or other do think themselves unmeet any longer to take care of their own salvation And when once they have prevailed herein there is nothing so horrid nothing so wicked that they cannot impose on the consciences of their Proselytes They will not now scruple or stick at all at those things which they would have dreaded to have thought of whilst they had the care of themselves in any measure upon them Not one man of a thousand who supposeth that he hath himself and his own soul in charge that he must give an account of and for himself will venture on those waies and practices which they will with great satisfaction rush into under their conduct 2. Because of the strange waies they have lately taken to put this pretence into use and practice and to take us all under their conduct Pretending unto the guidance of our souls in the things of God they have attempted to take us into their power as unto our Lives Liberties Laws and all other our concernments in this world which whosoever doth unlawfully forfeits all his own And a sufficient Indication it is of what Guidance we were like to meet withal when way was to be made unto it by Fire Confusion Blood Massacres and Sedition Should there be a School erected pretending unto an easie certain way of teaching all Sciences Divine and Humane should it pretend a Grant that nothing of this nature should be taught or learned but in and by it yet if I saw the posts of the house hung like Shambles with the limbs of slaughtered person if the ground about it be strewed with the bones and ashes of men burned to death here lying one strangled there another stabbed a third poisoned all for no other cause but either because they would not submit to the teaching thereof or would not learn things foolish and wicked I should avoid such a School and its Power so far as I were able But yet because there hath of late among us a great accession been made really unto this Guidance by persons formerly professing the Protestant Religion I shall a little enquire into the Causes of it or the Means whereby it hath been brought about And I shall not fear to say that as unto the most of them who have relinquished the Protestant Religion they are these that follow 1. A profound Ignorance of the Internal Powers of Religion with an utter want of all experience of them in themselves makes them an easie prey to seducers Persons who have never had any concernment in Religion beyond the out-side solemnity of it with some notions and opinions about the Doctrines of it are easily tossed to and fro from one Religion unto another or unto none at all through the cunning slights of men who lye in wait to deceive When men have only a form of Godliness in the Profession of the Truth but know nothing of the Power of it it is an uncertain Accident whether they persevere in that Profession or no. There are Internal Powers of true Religion which are efficacious on the minds of men to enlighten them to purifie them and give them liberty from the adverse Powers of darkness vanity and bondage unto sin Where men have experience of them in their own hearts there and there alone if a vigorous impression unto the contrary do befall them will they be constant in the Profession of the Truth The success of our Roman Emissaries is confined almost unto that sort of Persons who under the outward Profession of the Protestant Religion have been totally ignorant of the vertue and power of the Truth contained therein 2. Wickedness of Life taking shelter in the Promises of eternal security which that Church with presumptuous confidence tenders unto all that will give up themselves unto her conduct though in the last moment of their lives gains them a multitude of Proselytes This engine they apply unto many when they are leaving the world
what profit and advantage they make unto themselves by the conduct which they have assumed others according to their proportion shall be sharers therein The Holy Apostles succeeded unto the Personal Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ as unto this conduct of the souls of men Such Power was committed unto them by him who sent them even as the Father sent him such Assurance was there in their conduct through Infallible Inspiration and the presence of the Holy Ghost with them in an extraordinary manner as that all men were bound to give up themselves unto their Conduct and Guidance Howbeit they judged that there was no Duty more incumbent on them than to make it evident unto all the world that they neither sought nor would accept of any temporal Advantages unto themselves by the Trust reposed in them but were contended that their portion in this world should lye in all the extremities and calamities of it And this they willingly submitted unto that all men might he encouraged to trust them in their everlasting affairs when they saw what loosers they were by it in this World without desire hope or expectation of any better condition The Church of Rome laies claim to the very same Authority over and conduct of the consciences of men in Religion as were committed unto Jesus Christ and his Apostles It is as safe as they pretend for a man to cast off the Authority and Institutions of Christ himself as to dissent from those of the Pope But what in the mean time meaneth this bleating of the Sheep and lowing of the Oxen whence is it that they have mannaged the pretence hereof to the gaining of Power Dominion Wealth and Revenues unto themselves beyond that of the greatest Kings and Princes in this World Let others do as they shall think fit I shall never commit the conduct of my soul unto them who for ought I know would never look after me nor any other were it not for the advantage they make by it unto the service of their earthly desires It may be said that other Churches and Persons do make advantages unto themselves by that conduct of the souls of men which they lay claim unto And if this be sufficient to render such Guides suspected we shall scatter the Churches and leave none to guide them I answer it doth no way follow For the Rules Measures and outward Allowances for and in the name of their Labour and Guidance unto the Ministers of the Gospel are in general so stated in the Scripture as that men cannot mistake therein unto their prejudice But we are not at all concerned in what Advantages men make unto themselves hereby provided that the conduct they pretend unto be such as is accompanied with no dominion over our Faith but is proposed only as an help thereunto Whilst men require not an absolute Resignment of our souls and consciences unto them but leave us unto the perfect libert of our own minds to judge upon and receive what they propose unto us to examine and try all that they instruct us in which we may reject or refuse according as it evidenceth it self to be good or evil unto us there is no great danger in our conduct This I say is sufficient to render this pretended Guide which with so much vehement importunity would impose it self upon us to be so justly suspected unto all men not forsaken as well of common Reason as of all due Reverence unto the Word of God as that they will not readily embrace it 2. As what hath been spoken is sufficient to render this pretended Guide suspected with all sober and considerate Persons so there are cogent reasons why it ought to be absolutely rejected by all who take care of their own eternal Salvation The cause peculiarly under consideration is stated on a double supposition 1. That there are such differences in and about Religion among us as wherein the eternal Salvation of the Souls of men are immediately concerned For some of them consist in Opinions Principles and Practises pernicious and destructive unto Salvation as each side doth acknowledge and contend And it is meet the cause at present should be expresly stated on this supposition because those of the Roman Church design their great advantage from it 2. That in this case we ought diligently to apply our selves unto some safe Guide which may lead and conduct us in the right way wherein we may glorify God and obtain eternal Blessedness unto our own souls This also is not only allowed by them but fiercely contended for as a Foundation of their whole cause Wherefore to determin our Thoughts aright in our enquiry on these suppositions we may consider the things that follow 1. The first Supposition is plainly stated in the Scripture It is plainly affirmed therein that such things were then beginning in the Church that they would fall out in after ages and encrease towards the End Consummation of all things See to this purpose Acts 20. 29 30. 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. 2 Pet. 2. 1 3. 1 John 4. 1 2 3. all in compliance with the holy warnings and predictions of our blessed Saviour himself unto the same purpose Matth. 24 4 5 11 23 24 25 26. In all these places and many other the Cause as stated in our supposition is expresly foretold with the pernicious effects of Opinions and Heresies overthrowing the Foundation of Faith and destroying the souls of men In this cause is a certain Guide necessary in a peculiar manner 2. In no one place either in express words or by direct consequence are Believers or the Disciples of Christ directed in this case to betake themselves unto such a Guidance of the Church of Rome They are not so in any one place where these Divisions are foretold where properly such directions should be expected or no where nor yet in any other place whatever Any one Divine Testimony unto this purpose giving this Direction on that supposition shall for ever determine this Controversie Shall we think that the Lord Jesus Christ foreknowing foretelling and warning all his Disciples of such a dangerous state and condition as from which they cannot escape or be delivered without a Guide that will safely lead and conduct them if there were but one such Guide prepared and appointed by him should no where in any Divine Revelation direct them thereunto Doth a supposition hereof truly represent unto us his love care and compassion towards the Church Can any thing more injurious unto his Wisdom Faithfulness and Honour be once imagined It is impossible therefore that any man in the case supposed should betake himself unto the sole conduct of the Pope or Church of Rome without casting contempt on him and his Authority But 3. Yet there is farther Evidence of his Mind herein in that we are expresly in this case directed unto another Guide without any mention of the Church of Rome which is utterly exclusive of
opposite unto the Way and Means prescribed by God himself unto that end It is so whether we respect the internal Qualifications of our minds or the Duties that he prescribeth or the Aid that he promiseth thereunto For as unto the first he requireth that those who would learn the Truth ought to be meek and lowly and humble for such alone he will teach Psal. 25. 8 9 14. Joh. 6. 45. and if we are not taught of God we learn nothing as we ought or not unto any purpose that they cast out all wickedness and superfluity of naughtiness that so they may receive the ingrafted Word with meekness Jam. 1. 21. Without these things they may be alwaies learning but shall never come unto the Knowledge of the Truth And as unto Means and Duties two things he enjoyns and indispensibly requires of us in order unto this end 1. That we study the Word continually that we meditate upon it and place our delight in it Joh. 1. 8. Deut. 6. 7. Psal. 1. 2. Isa. 8. 20. Joh. 5. 30. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. Psal. 119. 18. Joh. 16. 13. 1 Joh. 2. 20. 2. Fervent and diligent Prayer that we may be lead into and preserved in the Truth that we may be enabled to receive it and hold it fast against Temptations and Oppositions For our Aid and Assistance herein he commands us to wait for it and expect the Spirit of Wisdâ—m and Revelation to open our eyes to bring us unto the full Assurance of Understanding or to lead us into all Truth Of these things of the necessity of them unto the due Knowledge of the Truth we hear nothing from this pretended Guide She knows well enough that to put the Minds of men into these Waies and the use of these Means whereby they may be taught of God and learn the Truth as it is in Jesus is to loose them from her self for ever Howbeit they are the only Waies and Means prescribed and blessed of God unto this end with those other especial Duties which belong unto them They will say it may be that they do instruct their Converts in these things and press them withal unto higher Acts of Devotion and Mortification than others do But there are two things which deprive them of any advantage by this pretence For 1. We see and know of what sort for the most part their Converts are I shall not give that character of them in words which generally they give of themselves in their works for I have nothing to do with the Persons of men And I should rejoyce to see them give a better evidence of being instructed in these things than as yet they have done But 2. Whatever of this nature they propose and prescribe unto them it is not unto this end that they may learn and know the Truth They require no more of any hereunto but that on their sophistical and frivolous pretences he give up himself unto their Guidance or submit himself unto the Authority of the Pope For hereby he formally becomes a member of the Catholick Church whose Faith whether he know it or no immediately becomes his and for particulars he must wait for the Priests information as occasion shall require This is I confess their great advantage in this World The way they propose to attain the Knowledge of the Truth is easy consistent with the lusts of men exposed equally to the wise and foolish to the sober and intemperate puts men out of all doubts giving them all the quiet assurance which deceit and falsehood can communicate The way of God unto the same end is difficult unto flesh and blood destructive unto the lusts of the flesh of the mind requiring Diligence Humility and Watchfulness in the Exercise of Grace all our Daies which things few are pleased withal Yet is this Way of God so suited unto the Nature of Religion so becoming the importance of this Duty so effectual not only unto the attainment of the Knowledge of Truth but unto all the ends of it in the Life of God is so necessary on the account of the Infinite Greatness and Holiness of God with the Nature of Divine Revelations as that no man who is not blinded with prejudices and corrupt Affections can decline it to embrace the other There are other things yet if it be possible of an higher Abomination to deter all sober Persons from touching with this Guide than those already insisted on And such they are as the present contrivances and practices of our adversaries do unavoidably compel us to plead in this cause and are in themselves sufficient for ever to divest that Church of this great and gainful pretence of being the only Guide of all men in Religion For Fifthly Consider what it is wherein they instruct many of them who betake themselves unto their Conduct and Guidance I mean of the Agents for and in the name of the Church of Rome The first thing which they labour to fix on their mindes and consciences is absolute Obedience unto their immediate Guides with a blind belief of what they propose unto them And this they prevail on them unto by assuming a twofold Authority unto themselves And the first is that of forgiving them all their sins though against the light of Nature and of their own consciences which they confess unto them and this confession they are obliged unto under pain of Damnation Some things indeed they do require of them in order unto a participation of Priestly absolution But they are all in the Power of the Priest to prescribe decline or accept which latter they will not be uneasy unto when it conduceth unto their advantage The issue is that in this pardon of their sins the souls of men may as safely acquiesce as if they were immediately pardoned by Christ himself And if they have occasion for the advantage of the Catholick Cause to put them on things that are openly sinful as Murder and Sedition either by vertue of the Direction Guidance and Commands of the Priests they loose their Nature and become no sins at all or they are so assured of pardon as puts them in their consciences into as good a state and condition as if they had not sinned And 2. They assume unto themselves an Authority to grant especial Priviledges and Rewards in Heaven and Earth to the doing of what tâ—ey command or require whatever it be As unto the Earth so many Prayers so many Masses shall be assigned unto their advantage and in some cases Canoninozation with all the glorious Priviledges of it And as unto Heaven what they so do shall have such a proportion of merit as shall exalt them unto the second third or fourth place of precedency and honour therein among all the Holy Martyrs It is uncredible what Power and Dominion over the consciences of their Proselytes they obtain by these means with other artifices of the like Nanture Hence many of them know of no other dependance
on any as unto present Peace and eternal Blessedness than that on the Priests alone Woful Practices do follow on these Principles For the minds of men being thus prepared they dispose of them unto such occasions or services for the Interest of the Catholick Cause as their own Nature Inclinations the fierceness or softness of their tempers their outward Greatness Power and Wealth or their Straights Wants and Necessities render them meet unto For now they are ready for such things which if they had not relinquished the care and charge of their own souls if they had not absoluteâ—y resigned them unto others they would never have entertained a thought of without detestation and abhorrency Poor deluded creatures who could sufficiently bewail their condition but that for the most part through the Love of sin and the wages of it they chuse these delusions Some now shall fire Cities some shall murther innocent Persons some shall assassinate Kings and Potentates some shall creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins lead about with divers lusts and some shall prostitute themselves unto the carnal Lusts and Pleasures of others all as they judge conducing unto the Catholick Cause and their own Intrest therein These are they who must answer not only for the blood of them that are murdered but of their murderers also I heartily wish these things were not so that they never had been so but being so it is well that they are known so to be and that they are written in such legible characters in most Nations of Europe especially in this wherein we live as that he who runs may read them I shall not descend unto particular Instances every ones mind and thoughts will suggest them unto them or they may learn them in Westminster Hall It will be said that on a supposition that these things are so yet this is the crime of but a few it may be of a few Jesuites which others especially the Church is not concerned in They are but a few who teach and instruct their Converts unto such purposes but a few that are possessed with those Maxims and Principles which lead unto these Practices Notwithstanding their miscarriages the Church it self may be a Safe Guide unto the souls of men I answer two things 1. That those who have these Principles who teach these Practices are all of them appointed unto their Office and Work imposed on the consciences of men as their only Guides by the Authority of the Church it self No Caution is given by it against them no Rule prescribed whereby they may know them but they come all armed with the Authority of the Church and as such are received by their credulous followers The whole therefore of what they do may justly be ascribed unto the Church it self 2. It may be made to appear that for about an hundred and fifty years past no Plot no Design hath been conceived or perpetrated wherein Kings Princes private Persons were to be murdered or destroyed wherein Nations were to be embroyled in blood and confusion in order unto the promotion of the Catholick Cause but the Church it self was either the Contriver or Approver of it Who approved of the murder of the two Kings in France one after another of the Massacre there of an hundred thousand Protestants who designed and blessed all preparations for the murder of Queen Elizabth with the unjust Invasion of the Nation in 88 who blessed and protected what in them lay the horrible Massacre of Ireland with the slaughters that have been made in other places on the same Principles was it a few Jesuites only was it not the Church it self in its Head the Pope and its Horns the Cardinals at Rome Wherefore although it seem good unto this Church to assume unto it self the sole Conduct of the souls of all men in the matters of Religion which hath thrived in its hands unto an incredible Grandeur in Dominion Power and Wealth yet other men of an ordinary wisdom and capacity who are not yet taken alive by them at their pleasure will be ready to judge especially now the Cave of Cacus is opened that it is necessary for them to take more care of their own souls Some will say that all these things Principles and Practices are separable from their Religion and that they will take sufficient heed unto themselves that they give admittance unto none of them especially such as are against the Light of Nature and the known Rules of common Honesty Both the Goodness of their own natural temper and the Principles of Morality which they will never part withal will give them and others security herein God forbid I should ever charge any Persons with any thing that is Criminal whereof they are not or may not be easily convicted Those who make these Professions shall pass with me at the rate and upon the credit of their Professions As shall all men in this World untill they contradict and disprove themselves by their Actions But even such Persons had need be very careful that they are not deceived herein The Resignation which they are to make of themselves and their Consciences unto the conduct of this Church doth quite change both their Light and Rule for it includes a Renunciation of all Principles and Perswasions in things Divine and Moral that do or may in the least interfere with that Conduct It is true that neither that Church nor any else can change the Nature of things Moral in themselves for although they may call Good Evil and Evil Good Light Darkness and Darkness Light yet they cannot make that which is Good Evil nor that which is Evil Good but they may make a false Representation of the one and other unto the minds of men Hence what was Evil unto them antecedently unto this Resignation of themselves as the Fireing of Cities the Murther of Innocent Persons the Overthrow of Governments and Nations for their own Ends shall be imposed on them by this pretended Infallible Guide as things Good and Meritorious with reference unto their Catholick Ends. These are the two most pernicious Divices in all their Superstition 1. That the Consciences of men are exempted and taken off from an Immediate Dependance on and Subjection unto the Authority of Christ and put in immediate Subjection unto the Priests seeing he neither promiseth any thing unto them nor commands any thing but by the Church 2. That their Commands because they are theirs do regulate their Consciences even as unto Moral Good or Evil. Nor is it safe for these men to trust too much unto the Goodness of their own Natures nor it may be unto others who are concerned in what they shall do For as it is the Glory of the Doctrine and Grace of the Gospel to change the Wolf the Lion and the Leopard Isa. 11. 6 7 8 9. Persons of the Fiercest and most Violent Inclinations unto quiet Associates of Lambs and Children so it is to be feared