Strifes might not be endless or such as are restrain'd to the Apostles themselves Such is that Mat. 16. 19. I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven The plain meaning of which words seems to be only this I will give thee the the priviledg of first opening Vide Lightfoot in locum the Gospel frequently call'd the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever parts of Moses's Law thou bindest to the Observation of or takest off the Obligation for so the Phrases of binding and loosing are generally us'd in the Jewish Writers shall be observ'd and forborn God will ratifie and confirm what thou establishest Accordingly we know St. Peter did first Preach the Gospel to the Jews in Acts 2. and to the Gentiles Acts 10. And this priviledg of binding and loosing was peculiar to him and the other Apostles Lastly Their proofs are such as agree to every particular Church and faithful Christian Thus that of Matt. 18. 17. Speaks only of a Jurisdiction in every Church for quieting differences among the Members of it And that other of Matt. 16. 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church For by the Gates of Hell may be either understood the crafts and policies of Hell Councils using to sit in the Gates of Cities shall not totally prevail There shall be a body of Christians in the World or the Translation should be mended and the words read the Gates of the Grave or the invisible State Death which is frequently call'd among the Greeks by that name shall not gain Victory over the Church over the particular Persons of which it consists tho they dye yet Christ will rescue them by a glorious Resurrection Death shall not have Dominion over them nor over the Church notwithstanding it s many Enemies it shall not perish totally or irrecoverably These are the best proofs of their Infallibility I can find in the Scripture and while they are so easily and naturally applicable to a different sense I cannot think a Doctrine so obscurely deliver'd in the Christian Rule to be any Articles of the Christian Faith Besides what use do they make of this gift they pretend to Have they oblig'd the World by an infallible Comment on all the difficult places in Scripture and put a final end to all controversies among themselves On the contrary have not some Popes profess'd their no skill in Divinity and infallible Councils contradicted each other Are not there violent disputes between the Franscicans and Dominicans Jansenists and Jesuits French and Italian Clergy Surely the Pope must be very regardless of the Peace of the Church who will not give an infallible discovery of the truth And if ever God did give this gift since the Apostles days he may have long since justly taken it away because they have hid their Talent and made no use of it And now I have weaken'd this pretence the other of the Scriptures dependance on the Authority of their Church falls of it self for if their Church be not infallible why should I believe the Scriptures to be Gods Word meerly because they say so any more than Mahomets Alchoran 'T is true the Testimony of their Church jointly with all other Christians in the World and the Confession of Jews and Heathens handed down to us by the most unquestionable historical Tradition is a great Confirmation that these were the Books indicted by the Apostles that they were confirm'd by various Miracles and are not corrupted in any material Articles but we believe their Divine Authority not because the Church says so but because of those Seals which God hath affix'd to them We have convincing Arguments enough of the Scriptures Divinity and need not go to Rome to know what they mean Christ hath fully prov'd that his Message is from God by the excellence of his Doctrines the accomplishment of Prophecies and numerous miraculous Works and we will not forsake these firm foundations of our Faith and be so unreasonably credulous as to believe the same things meerly upon the Affirmation of a company of the worst sorts of Christians in the World Thus have they dangerously invaded the Offices of Christ I proceed to 3. They have corrupted the excellent Rules of an holy Life contain'd in the Gospel The great design of the Christian Religion is to purifie and amend the World and reduce it to its primitive Innocence And I wish there were less occasion to think that the design of these men is to Debauch the World and show that it is possible to be more corrupt than the very Heathens themselves for have not they by their nice distictions render'd a holy Life a very needless thing and overturn'd the very foundations of Virtue and Morality Repentance that first Introduction to an holy Life consisting in such a hearty Sorrow for every Sin as influences the practice and disposes us to forsake them they have made utterly unnecessary For while they distinguish Sins into Mortal and Venial and impose very easie Penances for those of the most purple dye Is not this the way to tempt their Proselytes to a continuance in their Sins and keep them from that severe hatred of them and those firm Resolutions of forsaking them they ought to take up Besides they maintain that a slight Attrition and imperfect Sorrow for Sin meerly from the consideration of some temporal inconvenience if join'd with the Sacrament of Penance is sufficient to fit a man for Heaven so that it is a very needless thing to hate or forsake our evil ways This is desin'd by their Council of Trent and generally maintain'd by their most famous Casuists And Morinus tells us as I find him quoted by Dr. Stillingfleet * Preface to Answer to several Treatises That the excellence of the Evangelical Precepts above the Legal chiefly consists in this That by them we are freed from the heavy yoke of Contrition and Love to God A Speech that would better become a Turk or Heathen than a Christian Thus we see they have hinder'd the first entrance into an holy Life and made the Gate to Heaven wider and the passage much more easie than our Saviour or his Apostles And if we run over all the parts of our Duty we may find too plain a Contradiction among their Casuists If we examine the Duties of Piety towards God How necessarily must they have low and irreverent thoughts of his imcomprehensible Majesty who behold such scandalous Pictures of him in their Churches and see the same Devotions and Gestures of Adoration us'd to those who were once perhaps equally sinful Creatures with themselves How have they incourag'd an abuse of his sacred Name by their Doctrine of Equivocation and prophan'd his Holy Day by allowing the remains of that time that is not spent at Mass to be imploy'd in idle Sports and foolish Mirth How
to convince Hereticks and that was to call for express words of Scripture and absolutely deny whatever reason said against any of the Articles of their new Belief And now since their Doctrines are thus confessedly unreasonable we may be assur'd they came not from Heaven or the God of Reason 2. Are their Doctrines warranted by any Prophecies concerning them The Apostles compleated those Prophecies that had been long before made God had foretold his abolishing the Ceremonial Law and establishing a perfect standing-rule for Jews and Gentiles But doth he any where foretell That after the expiration of so many Years Judaism and Paganism should be mix'd together by his appointment On the contrary the Gospel is call'd an everlasting Gospel and at the closing of the Canon of Scripture a Rev. 22. 18. terrible curse is denounc'd against those who should dare to make any additions to Scripture There are some Prophecies indeed in Scripture which seem to concern them St. John and St. Paul have spoken many things concerning Antichrist and the Man of Sin which many think are clearly applicable to the Roman Church But I know she will say concerning these as Ahab of Micaiah I hate these men for they Prophecy not good but evil concerning me 3. Can they attest the truth of their Doctrine by Miracles Here I know they will make their boasts There is not a Saint among them but is famous for incredible wonders The Apostles were but puny Miracle-workers in comparison of their Modern Saints And the great St. Francis St. Bridget St. Catharine and St. Thomas of Canterbury far exceeded St. Peter or St. James or St. John or any of the other Disciples Who can question the lawfulness of Worshipping the Virgin Mary when he hears that the Angels brought wood and stone cross the Sea to Loretto and built her a Chappel there Who can forbear falling prostrate and crying St. Thomas help me when those very words from the mouth of a Sparrow struck a cruel Sparrow hawk dead that had almost fastned upon her as his prey Have not the wild beasts of the wood fallen down before the Host when casually let fall and the very Asses cast themselves into a worshipping posture And is it not mighty strange that men will still trust their own senses and remain Hereticks after such wonderful evidence I might instance in manyother pretty tales out of their Legends but they are so ridiculous and extravagant as plainly speak out their forgery and the wiser among them are forc'd to confess them Pious Frauds and Godly Cheats Our Saviour and his Apostles did their mighty works openly in the sight of their greatest enemies But these are all transacted in corners before friends and those that have already entertain'd their doctrines And surely there must be some Legerdemain in the business that so many Miracles should be done in Italy and Spain and none in England But the true reason why they can do no mighty works in our Country is because of our unbelief Protestants would soon discover their cheats and they were once so baffled in that intended miracle of the Boy of Bilson a known story that they have hardly ventur'd the exposing themselves since Their Miracles when they are not plain forgeries are either the curing of melancholly sumes or Hysterical-Distempers which frequently create fancies in persons as if they were possess'd of which instances have been given by Protestants particularly as I remember by Mr. Baxter who have cur'd such and might have gain'd the name of Miracle-workers as well as they Or if any of their Indian Apostles as Xavier and had a true miraculous power it was to confirm the truth of Christianity to the Heathens and not their additional corruptions Finally if God do permit them to do some strange unaccountable actions to confirm their errors 't is but as a trial to our faith to see whether we will forsake the true Doctrine confirm'd by greater miracles when we are fore-arm'd against such aslaults by being told that Antichrist shall come with lying wonders and we need not fear the sin against the Holy Ghost if we say that by Beelzebub do these men cast out Devils But I had almost forgot one great Miracle which is daily perform'd and that is Transubstantiation But those who believe this must live by faith or rather unreasonable credulity and not by sight And the greatest Miracle of all is That men who are Wise and Rational enough in common matters should swallow such an heap of Contradictions And thus have I made good the Charge against the Romish Church in the first Sense and tho much more might have been said yet this fully proves that they have corrupted Christianity with their impure mixtures and cover'd the excellent Foundations of our Faith with the Hay and Stubble of their own Inventions And thus I proceed to make good the Charge against them in the second Sense 2. Whether they have desturb'd the World by Principles of Religion This hath been so common a Theme of late years ' that I need not spend much time in proving it The Miter is by them exalted above the Crown and Peter's pretended Successor is so far from Preaching up his Doctrine of Subjection to the Civil Powers that he requires Kings and Emperors to stoop to him I need not laboriously prove this by Quotations out of their Authors If the Decrees of their Councils the Bulls of their Popes the Determinations of their Canon-Law the Assertions of not only Jesuits those known Enemies to Monarchy but of the most approv'd Doctors of all Orders among them may be taken to be the Sense of their Church the Learned Bp. of Lincoln hath lately Collected them together and thereby fully confirm'd the Title of his Book That Popish Principles are destructive to Protestant Princes There we may find such dangerous Assertions as these That Emperors and Kings are the Popes Subjects That they may be depos'd by him for Schism Heresie Laziness or unprofitableness and that he is the sole Judg of the Crime and Condemnation That Statutes made by Laymen bind not the Clergy That the Pope is the Vicar of God and every creature is subject to him That he that prefers the King before the Priest prefers the Creature before the Creator In a word He hath given such convincing Demonstration That King-killing Doctrines are authoriz'd at Rome that we may justly wonder at the daring-Impudence of the late Tyburn-Saint who pretended that none but Mariana ever publish'd such Doctrines But what truth can be so plain which the Confidence of a Jesuit dare not deny Neither have these been the idle Speculations of the Schools or the entertainment of the Cells and Cloysters but have been practically maintain'd many hundred Years and the History of the Church for some Centuries is nothing else but a Tragical and Bloody Comment on this Doctrine 'T is hardly possible to mention one King since Rome's rise to her greatness that hath been but
change a piece of Bread into God and by virtue of such a strong fancy to give it Divine Worship is an instance of such egregious folly as exposes Christianity to the scorn of infidels and hardens them in their unbelief a Doctrine that would make a Monster of our blessed Redeemer and give him 10000 bodies at once A Doctrine that subjects our Saviour to the will of every Priest and daily renews his humiliation A Doctrine that makes the Covenant of Grace much more severe than the Law of Innocence while it threatens damnation to all that will not disbelieve the agreeing sences of the whole world of Animals A Doctrine that destroys the very Foundations of human Converse and tends to the most unreasonable Scepticism imaginable For if our Senses are deceiv'd in so plain an instance how know we but that we may be all very Phantasms and a bundle of Accidents without any substance A Doctrine that hath a natural tendency to Infidelity and is the ready road to the most damnable unbelief For the miraculous Works of our Saviour were the great convincing Evidences of the truth of Christianity What we have seen and heard as one speaks was the Apostles Logick and an appeal to Miracles the surest Demonstraion of the Spirit So that if our Senses deceive us in this instance our Religion it self may be false The Resurrection of Christ and all his wonderful Works might for ought we know be Impostures and Deceits Thus we see how naturally the Papist lends his Assistance to the Atheist and Unbeliever A Doctrine that calls God himself a Deceiver for he plainly tells us by the most certain kind of Demonstration to our Senses That here is bread when if this be true there is really none at all In a word A Doctrine so full of unreasonable Contradictions that had not an infallible Council curs'd all deniers of it I am perswaded it would have long ago been renounc'd A Doctrine contradictory to Sense inconsistent with Reason and overthrown by express words of Scripture For St. Paul expresly calls it Bread after Consecration 1 Cor. 10. 15 16. 11. 26 27. A Doctrine bottom'd only upon one Metaphorical Expression This is my Body Which how it can prove this prodigious Transmucation is not very easie to imagine for did not Christs natural Body speak this while sitting at the Table And could his Disciples apprehend they eat the same Body or that the substance of the bread was vanish'd and only the Accidents remaining Did they so hardly believe his Resurrection and would they without one question about it digest this miracle far more amazing Doth he not say Do this in remembrance of me And if the Popish Comment were true would it be sense to say Eat me in remembrance of me Are not the terms Metaphorical in one part of the Sacrament This Cup is the Nâ—w Testament in my Blood And why should this rather than the other be taken according to the literal meaning Besides the same word is us'd concerning the Passover to which the Eucharist succeeds And the Jews had no term more proper to express signifie by than this word is It is the Lords passover Exod. 12. 11. i. e. a Memorial and Signification of the Lords passing over the houses of the Israelites when he destroy'd the first-born of Egypt and why should not the same Sense be given of this Sacrament of the new Covenant It is a Memorial of that Body of Christ which was once Offer'd for our Sins Thus we see how unreasonable the Roman Exposition of this Text is and yet they cannot pretend any clearer proof of this great absurdity but it is the great design of this Church to conquer those three mischievous Enemies Sense Reason and Scripture and when they have once done that they may impose what they will upon those reasonable Beasts their followers Sense they continually represent as subject to many Illusions and unfit to be trusted to in any weighty matters Reason they Tragically exclaim against as a dangerous Weapon and the mortifi'd Father Cressy somewhere tells us That it is the Wit and Judgment of Catholicks to renounce their own Judgment and depose their own Wit Scripture setting aside the Authority of their Church is of no more Validity with them than Aesops Fables or Mahomets Alchoran And tho they pretend the unanimous consent of the Fathers to their Doctrines yet because the Testimonies of Irenaeus Justin Martyr Theodoret Pope Galasius are so plain against them they pretend that the Fathers being obscure the present Church must be the Judg of their meaning but if we joyn issue here also and agree to be judg'd by the majority of Votes in the Christian World then they very charitably damn all the World but themselves and assume the proud title of Catholick and Universal so that the result of all is this If we will not upon their bare Affirmation swallow this heap of Contradictions we must infallibly fall under the Council of Lateran's Anathema and be ipso facto excommunicate But it is better to bear their curses here than by our sinful compliance with their grossest Idolatry to endanger our Salvation for ever For if there be no Transubstantiation of what tremendous Idolatry are they guilty who pay Divine Honour to a piece of Bread and give that Adoration to a Waser-cake which is due to God alone who outdo the grossest Idolatry of the Heathens and justifie the most ridiculous Superstitions of the Infidel world They only believ'd that some invisible Deity incorporated it self in the Creature they worshipp'd but never imagin'd that the whole substance was chang'd into God A Metamorphosis more strange than the most poetical Invention could ever contrive nor can they save themselves harmless by pretending they believe the Bread to be God and therefore if they err it is the fault of their Judgments not of their Wills For when men will maintain such an Error in spite of their own Sense and Reason and Scripture and the plain Doctrine of the Ancient Church they are certainly guilty of not only material but wilful formal Idolatry But supposing this Doctrine sometimes yet so many contingencies happens that it is impossible to know whether this particular Bread be Transubstantiated or not For if the Priest have not a right Intention and be not duly ordain'd the Miracle will not follow so that it is confessed by Bellarmine that no man can have any other than a conjectural certainty that he receives the Body of Christ because it depends upon the Priests intention which no man can know And now can it consist with our duty as Bishop Taylors speak certainly Disswas page 149. to give Divine Worship to that thing which we cannot certianly know to have a Divine Being But further if we should suppose by virtue of a strong faith such as is able to swallow Mountains that this miracle were always perform'd yet will not this justifie our Adoration For we are not bound
Man And is the scene so much chang'd that now it is become the black mark of a damnable Heretick The Prophets permitted the People to judg by the Scriptures which were true and which were counterfeit messengers from Heaven crying out to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word 't is because there is no Isa 8. 20. light in them And must we acknowledg these men for the Pillars of Truth and the Lights of the World without being allow'd the same liberty When our Saviour was ask'd by that young man what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life Our Lord answers him what saith the Law How Readest thou And shall ignorance be now accounted the surest Road to Heaven Search the Scripture was his precept but is the prohibition of the Romish Church Timothy and the Bereans were indeed commended by St. Luke and St. Paul as noble persons for their diligence in the Scriptures But if they had liv'd in the days of our Modern Saints this would have been thought a crime deserving the lash of the inquisition An Anathema would have been their spiritual reward and fire and faggot their civil recompence Certainly such a practice as this had need be back'd with good Apologies or else they will never be able to justify so great an abuse of the Lord Jesus But how weak are their pleas and how insignificant the excuses they make Is it because the People may wrest the Scripture to their perdition that they are forbidden their use Alas because some may abuse it must all therefore be depriv'd of it because some may make Scripture the support of their errors must it not therefore be the foundation of truth Because some dogs have trampled on the Bread of Life Must the Children therefore be withheld from their Spiritual Food Because Hereticks have taken too large draughts of the new Wine of the Gospel must all therefore be denied to tast of it Because some know not the worth of these Pearls must those therefore who know how to value them be hinder'd from their possession By the same reason the Scriptures should not be permitted in the Learned Languages for Learned Men have been generally the first broachers of Heresy and are most capable of perverting the Holy Writings Is it because Scripture is so obscure that if the common people did injoy it they could not understand it 'T is acknowledged there are mysteries in our Religion and God hath for wise ends left some things more dark and obscure to awaken our industry abate our Pride and show the most Learned his ignorance and infancy in knowledg and create in us all earnest longings after that Happy state where all the Riddles shall be unfolded and the mysteries clearly reveal'd But there is so much perspicuously laid down as is necessary to Salvation and every man that Reads it and sincerely endeavours to understand it shall with the help of Divine Grace arrive at so much Knowledg as if improv'd into practice will bring him to Heaven The great end why the Scripture was written was that we might have a constant Monitor of our duty and guide 2 Tim. 3. 16. to happiness now if the Scripture were so obscure that it answer'd not this end this would reflect upon the Divine Wisdom as if he had chosen an insufficient means and were defeated in his methods and expectations And it would equally reflect upon his goodness as if he envied his creatures happiness if after our sincere and humble endeavours we could not understand the things that are necessary to our Salvation The essentials are clearly reveal'd tho there be some obscure passages yet the Divine Goodness hath left them not that we should be debar'd from Reading but to prevent our loathing and contempt and the darkest phrases are incomparably more intelligible than the cloudy obscurities of their admired Authors The pious nonsence of Mother Juliana and the sanctifi'd gibberish of their mystical Divines are infinitely less perspicuous than the Prophecies of Daniel or mysteries of the Revelations And yet those which reflect on Christianity as if it consisted only in Enthusiastick heats and raprures are allow'd while the Scripture which gives so lovely a description of the Christian Religion must be shut up from the sight of the multitude But whatever slender pretences may be us'd to delude perverse Hereticks we have good ground to think that the true cause of this Restraint is the same which our Saviour mentions Joh. 3. 19. They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Should the Scriptures be read by all their Proselytes would be few and their Altars would no longer smoke the Grandeur of the Church must be abated the infallible Chair would totter and Rome would be no longér the Mistress of the Earth 2. Their pretence of Infallibility and the Scriptures dependance on the Authority of their Church This is another Invasion on Christs Prophetical Office For if Infallibility be lodg'd in either Pope or Council for they are not agreed where it is plac'd then tho Christ hath never so clearly explain'd his mind they may make what Expositions of his words they please and obtrude them on our belief Their great Champion Bellarmine asserts That if the infallible Head should condemn Vertue for Vice and commend Vice as Vertue we are bound to believe Vice as morally good and Virtue evil but if this be Gospel our great Master hath deceiv'd us and we have been led by our Saviour into an Error Then if that impure Cardinal that writ a Book in praise of the scarlet Sin of Sodom had been exalted to the Papal-chair and from thence proclaim'd that unnatural Vice to be morally good we should have been bound to believe it And tho some pretend that such a Supposition is not to be made because the Spirit of truth will guide the unerring Head into all truth yet sad experience hath taught us that the broadest Impieties have been canonized and miscal'd Virtue and Justice at Rome Besides what possible reason is there they should be secur'd from Error more than from Sin How can it be imagin'd that that Holy Spirit which is griev'd with impurity and will not dwell in the Habitations of uncleanness did infallibly assist those Monsters for Villany which are acknowledg'd by Baronius and Platina to have worn the Triple Crown in the ninth and tenth Centuries Surely if such a gift as this was ever given to the Guides of the Church How obscure soever the Scripture be in other things it will be highly necessary it should plainly lay down this important Doctrine But alas How impertinent are the Proofs they bring They are either such as will equally prove the Civil Magistrates and Judges in Westminster-Hall infallible Such is that Deut. 17. 10 11 12. Where Judges are appointed to decide matters of Difference between man and man to whose Decisions the People are bound to agree that their
exalt her into the Throne of her Son nor blasphemously ascribe Divine Prerogatives to her The Holy Saints departed we respectfully remember and desire to imitate them as they follow'd Christ but dare not pray unto them as if they were Omniscient nor give those Services to them which are appropriated to God and the Lord Jesus The Holy Sacrament we joyfully Celebrate as a Seal of our Saviours tender Affection But dare not Worship the Bread but eat it in remembrance of him We Worship God with the most comely outward Postures and especially with sincere and spiritual Affection but have no occasion for the foolish Charms of the Heathens or burdensome Rites of the Jews Our Lord Jesus we acknowledg as our only Universal King and Sovereign and whoever shall boldly alter his Laws or invade his Prerogative shall be rejected by us as an Usurper He is our only High Priest and Intercessor and let other men talk at what vain rates they will we are better acquainted with our own Infirmities than to plead any merit of our own Through his Blood alone we hope for Salvation and let others trust in the merits of Saints the Omnipotent vertue of Medals and Relicks and priviledg'd Altars and such like hallow'd Baubles We will depend on nothing but his meritorious Sacrifice lest when it is too late we meet with a shameful disappointment and pass out of this World not into a temporary Purgatory but an eternal Hell Christs Prophetical Office we own and resolve to adjust our lives according to the Laws of the Gospel We teach the People to Study the Scripture daily and to examine all our Doctrines by the Touchstone of the Word We acknowledg our selves to be fallible men and should very gladly return to the bosome of that Church that is really indued with a Spirit of Infallibility but desire better proofs than those vain and idle ones we have hitherto heard of The Holy Laws of the Gospel are our standing-Rule and tho others vainly distinguish away their Duty we will keep close to these commands Piety Justice and Charity in their fullest extent we own to be our unquestionable Duty without those corrupting Glosses and Restrictions which some have invented True uniform self-denial is acknowledg'd as absolutely necessary and we place it not in uncommanded Austerities but in mortifying our Lusts and subduing whatever opposes the Glory of God or our own Salvation True undissembled Loyalty we acknowledg'd as our Duty Religion and Loyalty go hand in hand in our Constitutions these are our Principles and oh that our Practices were universally like them If we did but universally live up to the excellent Principles we maintain our Examples would be convincing give such a lovely Description of our Religion as would attract the Eyes and convert the hearts of the Romanists and more succesfully serve the Protestant interest than all the Arguments in our Books This leads to 2. Let our lives be agreeable to the Rules of our Religion Let every one that pretends to Reformed Christianity live a reformed Life Let not Religion only mend our heads but our hearts too and not only rectifie the errors and mistakes of our Minds but also the miscarriages and offences of our Lives For a professed Protestant to lead a vicious life is much more unbecoming and dangerous than for those who hope to be saved at an easier rate and own a more loose Religion Tho we do know our Duty except we practice it we cannot be happy Let me intreat you therefore if you have any concern for your selves and your own interest if you would not be accounted perjur'd Persons take heed how you contradict your Baptismal Vows and many repeated Engagements to forsake the World and Flesh and Devil If you would not lye under the Imputation of the most dangerous hypocrisie or unbelief forbear those Sins which are displeasing to God and forbidden by your Religion Not to believe the Christian or which is the same the Protestant Religion after such full Confirmation is certainly very unreasonable but to beheve it to be true and yet to live as if it were false is the greatest Contradiction and Repugnancy imaginable Do not you profess to believe That without h liness no man shall see the Lord and yet will you venture to continue in a sinful course Do you believe that every wilful Sinner shall be doom'd to Hell and all the Prayers and Tears of the holiest men on Earth can never fetch them thence and yet will you continue in a state of resolved impenitence If you would not therefore that the Articles of your Faith should be so many Articles of Accusation against you at the great day let your knowledg be improv'd into a Religious practice and not only tend to aggravate your future misery Further if you have any concern for the Religion you profess and would not it should be scandaliz'd as an encouragement to wickedness Now break off your Sins by Repentance and Amendment of Life by our impure lives we take the most effectual course in the World to bring our Religion it self into disgrace and do more prejudice to the Protestant Interest than we can possibly advance it by our Arguments I could therefore almost wish That men would either disown their Sins or their Profession openly renounce their Religion or strictly comply with its commands and if they will not be so generous as to follow its Directions they would at least be so honest as to quit their claim rather than still to retain it only the more effectually to disgrace the Religion they profess Let those that know no better allow themselves in sin and wickedness but let us that disown their principles abhor their lives too Our God will not indulge us in wickedness nor can we expect any dispensation from Heaven for our debaucheries and prophaneness nay further if we would not provoke God to leave us and suffer our subtil enemies to establish their impure Doctrines let us not imitate them in sin For if we become followers of their example God may in just judgment make them Lords of our Faith also In a word to conclude with the expressions of an excellent person we have the best and holiest the wisest and most reasonable Religion in the World but then we are in the worst condition of all mankind if the best Religion in the World do not make us good 3. Let us not by our divisions let in our common enemy Our sends and animosities and intemperate heats among our selves are the ready way to bring in Popery into our Land By our Divisions we weaken our own Interest imploy our pains and abilities in quarrelling about trifles and disable our selves in a great measure from preventing the growth and increase of the Romish Religion By our Divisions we expose our selves to the United Power of our Common Adversaries and like the unhappy Jews of old we are squabling among our selves while the Romans are ready to enter