the Popes charity we be secured or delivered from them Now how contrary this is to the value we are taught to set on the Blood of Christ all may judge Ephes. 2. 15 16. By Christ peace is made we are reconciled to God he presents us to the Father without spot and wrinkle And much more of this nature meeting us in Scripture declares how plenary his satisfaction was nothing being left undone by him for removing the guilt and demerit of sin And what comfortless Doctrine this is we may soon apprehend how it takes away that joy in God at the approaches of death Since there is such a hazard of direful miseries following Now this was no small part of the mystery by which the World was brought under their dominion and therefore great pains was taken for rooting the belief of it deep â—…n all mens hearts many Visions and Apparitions were vouched for its proof and all the Lives of the Saints that were written for divers Ages were full of such faâ—…ulous narrations some Souls were said â—…o be seen standing in burning brimstone â—…o the knees some to the middle some to â—…he chin others swimming in caldrons of â—…elted Metal and Devils pouring the Metal down their throats with many â—…uch affrighting Stories But for all this the proof from Scripture was only drawn from one wrested â—…lace of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 3. 12 13 â—…4 15. who saith That in the day of the Lord such as built upon the foundation of Christ superstructures of wood hay and stubble â—…ould be saved because they kept the foundaâ—…ion yet so as by fire But this was only a â—…roverbial form of speech to express the â—…isque they run to be such as of one that â—…scapes out of a fire such proverbial â—…eeches being usual in Scripture as that of the Prophet Zach. 3. 2. Is not this brand plucked out of the fire Or of the Apostle Iude 23. Some save with fear pullinâ—… them out of the fire And any considerinâ—… person will at first view see how slendeâ—… a foundation this was for the supeâ—… structure built upon it But the way was contrived for preseâ—… ving Souls from or rescuing them out 〈◊〉 Purgatory will discover what were thâ—… inducements of advancing the belief 〈◊〉 it with such zeal which was thus frâ—… med It is believed by that Church thâ—… beside the Commands that necessarily oâ—… lige all Christians there are many Couâ—… sels in the Gospel in order to the attaiâ—… ing a higher pitch of perfection such a the counsels of poverty and chastity oâ—… the like and they teach that such as dâ—… not obey these cannot be said to have siâ—… ned but on the other hand those whâ—… have obeyed them shall not want a râ—… ward by their so supererrogating beyonâ—… what was strictly bound upon them anâ—… the reward of them is their meritinâ—… both for themselves and others an exemption from the pains of Purgatory And of all these Merits there is a common treasure of the Church wherein for good manners sake the Merit of Christ is the chief Stock and this is committed to the Successors of St. Peter to whom the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are believed to be given who can communicate of that spiritual Treasure as they will either for preserving Souls from Purgatory or for delivering them out of it This could not but work wonders for the exaltation of the Papal Dignity when he was conceited to be honoured of God with so high a trust This was also made an engin for advancing all the Papal Designs for upon any quarrel he had with any Prince the Popes proclamed a Croisade promising exemption from Purgatory to all who hazarded their Lives for the Service of the holy Church And the contrivance of Purgatory being universally believed this could not fail to draw great numbers about his Standards And by this means he brought most Princes into that servile subjection to him under which they groaned for many Ages Another practise yet more base and sordiâ—… was the selling of Indulgences and Pardons for money certainly here was Simon 's crime committed by the pretendeâ—… Successors of him who had of old accused him that thought the gift of God mighâ—… be purchased with money and thereupon diâ—… cast him out of the Church It were endless to tell the base Arts and blasphemous Discourses of the Monks whâ—… were sent through the World to selâ—… these Indulgences which in the end proved fatal to that Church since the excessive magnifying of them did first provoke Luther to examine their corruptions It is true they will not hear of thâ—… harsh word of selling Indulgences but disguise it with their giving them to such as will offer Alms to the Church but really this whole contrivance is so baseâ—… so carnal and so unlike the Spirit of Christianity that to repeat it is to refute it Here was a brave device for enriching the Church when the making great Donations to it was judged so effectual foâ—… delivering out of Purgatory Who would not out of love to his Friends Soul â—…f he believed him frying in these flames give liberally of his Goods but much â—…ather would a man give all that he had for his own security especially when on his death-bed he were beset with persons who were confounding him with dismal apprehensions and thus trafficking with him for the exchange of the Soul Hence â—…prung the enriching of Abbeys and Churches for every Religious Order hath â—…ts own peculiar Merits which they can communicate to one of their Fraternity â—…f then a dying man had gained their â—…avour so much that he was received inâ—…o their Order and died wrapped in one of their Frocks then was his Soul secure from the grim Tormentors below And what an endless heap of Fables had â—…hey of Souls being on the brink or in â—…he midst of the flames and of a sudden â—…natched out But now all this Trade hath quite faiâ—…ed them therefore Indulgences are fallen â—…n their Rates and in stead of them there are Prayers to be used and especially to be said before priviledged Altars oâ—… at such times or before such Reliques that it is no hard work for any among them to ransome the Souls of others oâ—… to preserve their own In a word doth not all this debase the Spirit of true Religion and expose it to the jealousie oâ—… Atheists as if it were a contrivance foâ—… advancing base and secular Designs Anâ—… doth it not eat out the sense of true Piety when the Vulgar see the Guides of Souâ—… making such shameful Merchandise oâ—… them and doing it with such respect oâ—… persons that if a man be rich enough he iâ—… secure whereby our Lords blessing of the poorâ—… and passing a woe on the rich is reverseâ—… But above all what indignity is by thiâ—… done to the Blood of the Son of Godâ—… And how are the People carried froâ—… their dependance on Him and theâ—… value of His Sufferings by
mention no more will sufficiently convince any who will be at the pains to read them as they are written by these who lived in that Communion And Matthew of Paris will at length inform his Reader how much and how often England smarted under this Tyranny And all this is so far from being denied that it is defended avowedly by noâ—… a few of the Canonists and Iesuits and is a Doctrine dearly entertained in the Court of Rome to this day as appeared from the late attempt of Pope Paul the fifth upon Venice But the World is now a little wiser than to be carried away by these Arts and therefore that pretence is laid to sleep till haply the â—…east be healed of the wound was given â—…t at the Reformation But I cannot leave this particular without my sad regrates that too deep a tincture of this spirit of Antichristianism is among many who pretend much aversion to it since the Doctrine of resisting Magistrates upon colours of Religion is so stiffly maintained and adhered to by many who pretend to be highly reformed though this be one of the Characters of the scarlet-coloured whore But thus far have we gone through the second part of Antichrists Character and have discovered too clear â—…ndications of a difformity to the spirit and truth of the Christian Religion in all the branches of the Honour and Worship due to Jesus the only Mediator of the new Covenant From this I proceed to the third part of my enquiry which is the opposition made to the great design of Christian Religion for elevating the souls oâ—… men into a participation of the divine Nature whereby the soul being inwardly purified and the outward conversation regulated the World may be restoreâ—… to its Primitive innocence And men admitted to an inward and intimate fellowship with their Maker The firsâ—… step of this renovation is repentance for God commands men every where to 〈◊〉 and repentance and remission of 〈◊〉 are alwayes united And this being 〈◊〉 horrour at sin upon the sense of its native deformity and contrariety to the Law of God which makes the soul apprehend the hazarâ—… it hath incurred by it so as to study by 〈◊〉 means possible to avoid it in all time coming nothing doth prepare the mind morâ—… for faith in Christ and the study of 〈◊〉 new life than repentance which 〈◊〉 needs be previous to these But what devices are found to enervate this sins must be divided into venial and mortal the former deserving only some temporal punishment and being easily expiated by some trifling piece of seeming Devotion and hereby many sins are struck out of the Penitents consideration For who can have a great apprehension of that which is so slightly expiated And this may be extended to the easie Pardons given for acknowledged mortal Sins For he who thinks that God can be appeased for them with the saying by rote so many Prayers cannot possibly have deep apprehensions of their being either so displeasing to God or so odious in themselves But shall I to this add their asserting that a simple attrition which is a sorrow flowing from the consideration of any temporal evil God hath brought upon the sinner without any regard had either to the vileness of the sin or the offence done to God by it that this I say can suffice for justifying sinners and qualifying them for the Sacrament whereby the necessity of contrition and sorrow flowing from the principle of the love of God is made only a high degree of perfection but not indispensibly necessary In the next place all these severities they enjoyn for Penances do but tend to nourish the life of sin when sinners see a trade set up by which they can buy themselves off from the wrath of God To this is to be added the Doctrine oâ—… Indulgences which is so direct an opposition to Evangelical repentance as if 〈◊〉 had been contrived for dispossessing the World of the sense of it That which is next pressed in the Gospel for uniting the souls of mankind to God is that noble ternary of Graces Faith Hope and Love by which the soul rests in God by a holy affiance in him believing the truth of his Gospel expecting the accomplishment of his Promises waiting for the full fruition of him and delighting in his glorious perfections and excellencies Now how much all this is shaken by these carnal and gross conceptions the Roman Doctrine offers of God in their Image and Mass-worship and by their Idolatry to Saints is apparent Are they not taught to confide more in the Virgin or their Tutelar Saints than in the holiest of all Doth not the fear of Purgatory damp the hopes of future blessedness And finally what impious Doctrine hath been publickly licensed and printed in that Church of the degrees of the love we owe to God Some blasphemously teaching that we are not at all bound to love him others mincing it so as if they were afraid of his being too much beloved In a word there is an impiety in the Morals of some of that Church particularly among the Disciples of Loyola beyond what was ever taught amongst the worst of the Heathen Philosophers which hath been fully discovered by some of the honester and more zealous of that communion And though these corruptions have not been avowed by the head of that Church yet by their being publickly vented by the deaf ear he gives to all the complaints against them and by the constant caresses and priviledges he heaps upon that Order which teacheth them he discovers either his great satisfaction in that corrupt Doctrine or that upon the account of other interests he is content to betray the souls of Christians into the corruption of such impious and 〈◊〉 godly leaders since the Order that 〈◊〉 owned all these corruptions is yet 〈◊〉 of the Consciences of the greater 〈◊〉 of them that own that Communioâ—… they being the universal 〈◊〉 And since they license the publick 〈◊〉 of so much corrupt Doctrine printed Writings what reason have 〈◊〉 to suspect their base compliance 〈◊〉 sins in their more secret and 〈◊〉 Practisings with such poor deluded 〈◊〉 as trust to their conduct of which 〈◊〉 proofs are brought by others of 〈◊〉 same Church But I pursue my enquiry into the 〈◊〉 traces of the Antichristian corruption of the purity and power of our 〈◊〉 holy Faith Solemn Worship and 〈◊〉 Devotion are the great means of 〈◊〉 souls to God and of deriving the sistance of his Spirit and Grace to us when these are performed in an 〈◊〉 tongue How uncapable are they of 〈◊〉 that end And the Doctrine of efficacy of the Sacraments for coming of grace by the work wrought looks like a design against all serious preparation for the worthy receiving of them since by that doctrine a man be he never so ill prepared yet is sure of their efficacy for if his Priest absolve him and he have a simple attrition for sin without any
furnished for their work Such Houses might also be retreating places for old Persons after they had served their Generation and were no more able to undergo toil and fatigue they might be also Sanctuaries for devout Persons in times of their greater afflictions or devotions But for all this want it fixeth no imputation on our Church her Doctrine or Worship that she is so poor as not to be able to maintain such Seminaries But on the way it is no great character of the Piety of their Church that she abounds so with great and rich dotations when we consider the Arts they used for acquiring them by making People believe themselves secure of Heaven by such donations Indeed had we got our People befooled into such perswasions the cheat might have prospered as well in our hands but we are not of those who handle the Word of God deceitfully nor will we draw the People even to do good with a crafty guile or lye for God But now as a conclusion to this Discourse I must consider if all things among us be so sound and well grounded that with a quiet Mind and good Conscience every one may hold Communion with our Church and hope for Salvation in it I shall therefore briefly run over the Nature and Characters of the Christian Faith to see if any contradiction to them or any part of them be found among us And first of all we worship God in Spirit as a Spiritual Being with suitable Adorations which we direct to no Image nor Symbol of the Divine Presence but teach that we ought not to figure God to any corporeal being no not in our thoughts neither do we worship any beside God the Father Son and Spirit We also worship Christ but as he is God and hath the fulness of the God-head dwelling in him bodily Angels indeed we honour but knowing them to be our fellow-servants we cannot pray to them or fall down before them We count the holy Virgin blessed among women but dare give her no share of the glory due to her Son All the Saints we reverence and love but knowing God to be a jealous God we cannot divide that honour among them which is only due to him and therefore do neither worship them their Images nor their Reliques We desire also to offer up to God such Sacrifices as we know are well-pleasing to him Prayers Praises broken and contrite Hearts and our Souls and Bodies but reject all Charms and Enchantments from our Worship as contrary to the reasonable service which is acceptable to God and do retain the genuine simplicity of the Gospel-worship in a plain and intelligible stile and form without any mixtures drawn from Judaism or Gentilism And thus there is nothing among us contrary to the first design of Religion And as little will be found against the second which is the honour due to Christ in all his Offices We teach our People to study the Scriptures and to examine all we say by them and exhort them to depend on God who by his Spirit will teach them as well as us neither do we pretend to an authority over their Consciences but acknowledge our selves men of like infirmities with the People who are all called to be a Royal Priesthood and thus we honour Christs Prophetical Office by founding our Faith only on the Divine Authority of the Scriptures We also believe there is no Name given under Heaven by which we can be saved but the Name of Christ who laid down his Life a ransom for our Souls that by his Cross we might be reconciled to God and it is to that one Sacrifice that we teach all to fly for obtaining remission of sins and the favour of God trusting only to it and to nothing we have done or can do knowing that when we have done all we can do we are but unprofitable servants much less do we hope for any thing from any of our fellow-creatures We apply our Souls to no Intercessour but Christ and trust to no Satisfaction but his and we acknowledge him the only King of his Church whose Laws must bind it to the end of the World Neither do we acknowledge any other Authority but his over our Consciences It is true in things indifferent he hath left a power with his Church to determine in those Matters which may tend to advance order edification peace and decency but as the Church cannot add to our Faith so neither can it institute new pieces of Worship which shall commend us to God or bind any load upon our Souls We own a Ministerial Authority in all the Pastors of the Church which they derive from Jesus Christ and not from any visible Head on earth and therefore they are only subject to Christ. We also hold that the Civil Powers are of Christ whose Gospel binds the duty of obedience to them more closely on us and therefore if they do wrong we leave them to Christs Tribunal who set them up but pretend to no power from his Gospel to coerce or resist them and thus we honour Christ in all his Offices and so are conform to the second branch of the design of our Faith We also receive the third with the same fidelity and whatever the practices of too too many among us be yet there is no ground to quarrel our Doctrine we preach repentance to all and study to convince them of their misery and lost estate that they may mourn for their sins and turn to God by a new course of life we preach Faith through Christ in God as that which unites our souls to him by which we are in Christ and Christ is in us We stir up our people to love the Lord their God with all their heart strength soul and mind and to wait for his Son Christ Iesus who is the hope of glory and shall change our vile bodies into the likeness of his glorious Body And from this great motive do we press our people to the study of holiness without which they shall never see God We send them to the ten Commandments for the rule of their lives whose exposition we chiefly take from Christs Sermon on the mount neither can we be charged for having taught the People to break one of the least of these Commandments We exhort all our hearers to make the life of Christ the pattern of theirs and to learn of him who was meek and lowly in heart neither can our Church be accused of having taught any Carnal Doctrines for gratifying the base Interests of the flesh or for ingrossing the power or treasure of the World the subsistance of our Church-men being but a lively-hood and not a treasure In a word we preach Christ and him Crucified and all the rules of his Gospel for ordering the conversation aright without adding or taking from it and thus our conformity to the third branch of Christianity appears We teach also according to the fourth branch of Christianity the Doctrines of