5. And St. Paul tells us other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which he saith not is St. Peter not Petrus but Petra is Jesus Christ the true Rock who is the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets both that upon which they themselves were built and stood and that upon which they as God's Builders built his Church 1 Cor. 3.11 Ephes 2.20 And surely no man can stand more strongly by being built upon St. Peter than by being built upon Christ Nor find we either Christ himself or any of his Apostles to say or signify any such thing as that the place or Church where Peter should reside or praeside should be more Infallible than any other Church or Churches founded resided in or praesided over by any other of his Apostles Nor that such as should succeed him as Bishops in any place much less in Rome praesided in by him should be more Infallible than other Bishops If the praesidency of St. Peter in Rome can secure that Church or it's Bishop from failing or falling into Errour how comes it to pass that his sitting at Antioch did not also secure that place Church Yea those Churches of Judaea of the Circumcision whereof he was the Prime and immediate Apostle Gal. 2.9 Surely they ought rather to have had this Privilege and Praerogative from him than Rome a Gentile Church which was rather under S. Paul's Barnabas's Jurisdiction as being the Apostles of the Gentiles It 's strange that none of the Churches more certainly planted by him should have this Privilege but only Rome which it is not certain that he planted or ever came into for some of no small learning have made a question of that that I say not have positively denied it Surely none but simple persons and such as are easy and willing to be deceived and therefore look not well to their goings will believe such groundless praetexts imposed upon them True it is that some of the Ancient Councels gave a Patriarchal power to the Bishop of Rome subjecting these Western Churches thereunto but that was but an humane constitution for order and unities sake and gave him no more Infallibility than the like constitutions gave to the Bishops of Jerusalem or Antioch or Alexandria or Constantinople whom they made Patriarchs also in their respective Jurisdictions Nor yet did that make Rome or it's Church the whole Catholique Church or the Bishop thereof the Head of it as is evident by the 6th Councel of Carthage where Faustinus the Popes Legate challenging for his Master a power to order all great matters in all places pretending for it a Decree of the Nicene Councel was upon diligent search into the Records of the said Councel found a falsifyer thereof and thereupon was decreed an equality in power with the other Patriarchs But beside all this against the plea of that Church's Infallibility it is evident 2. That she hath in Fact erred and can there be a clearer and better demonstration of the possibility of her Erring deceiving and being deceiv'd than that she hath actually Erred For though à posse ad esse non valet consequentia yet ab esse ad posse est validissima Now that she hath actually Erred is evident not only in her members and different parties but also in her conjunct consideration and in her Head As for her having erred and yet erring in her parties and members it 's demonstrable in this that contradictoria non possunt esse simul vera of two contradictory positions maintained by different parties the one must needs be false Now in the Church of Rome there are contradictory positions maintained by several parties witness the Dominicans and Franciscans the one contradicting the other in the matter of the immaculateness of the conception of the Virgin Mary the one denying and the other asserting it if the Virgin Mary was conceaved in her Mothers womb without sin then the Dominican Party of the Roman Church errs and if otherwise then the Francâ—scan Party errs The like may be said of the Jansenists and Jesuites in the five Articles wherein they differ But I say not only their members but their Head and Bishop may erre also even in Cathedrâ or in his solemn Determinations and doings yea in matters of Faith as is made manifest in Liberius subscribing to Arrianisme and Vigilius who both condemned and commanded the same things to be believed as in the three Chapters condemned by a Councel as favouring Nestorianisme and in Honorius who was condemned by a Councel for a Monothelite And surely if a Pope may contradict himself and say and unsay a thing as Pope and Head of their Church and both condemn and command the belief of the same thing as in that case of Pope Vigilius he must needs be Fallible and erre in the one of them And there is no way to avoid it but that either some of their Popes have erred or some of their General Councels which is the Church representative and were some time also declared and held to be about the Pope and were usually consented to and confirmed by their Popes have been deceived in condemning them as having erred either of which supposals mightily infringes the Infallibility of their Church Nay and it is believed that the Jansenists would they speak out do not look upon the late Pope Innocent as Infallible in his condemnation of the five Articles maintained by them Nay did not St. Peter himself greatly erre in a main matter of Faith and that too after our Saviour had said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church when he preaches such doctrine to his Master as that he should not suffer death for which our Saviour rebuking him cal'd him Sathan Mat. 16.22 23. But not only have and do great Parties in her and branches of her erre and even their Popes themselves but She herself in her whole Authoratative Constitution and Catholique complex consideration and that very grosly too if we look upon her Doctrines and determinations in the light of the infallible testimony of God and of his holy Spirit speaking in the holy Scriptures which is the Touch-stone to which the Prophet Isaiah or the Lord himself by him in Isai 8.20 and Christ himself in Joh. 5.39 directs us and to which the noble Boereans brought the Apostle Paul's preaching with commendation for their so doing Act. 17.12 yea and the Apostle St. Peter himself directs the Churches and the believers therein to that in 2 Pet. 1.19 and 3.1 2. and the Apostle Paul commends Timothy for that from a child he knew the holy Scriptures they being able to make men wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 implying therein that even Children if they will mind the holy Scriptures and set themselves to seek the knowledge of them may as they grow up in some good measure obtain it to their great benefit and salvation Now contrary to these holy Scriptures
THE Church of Rome Unmask'd OR HER FALSE PRINCIPLES Briefly Detected TOGETHER VVith some Reasons of so many retaining or returning to Communion with Her and the great danger of everlasting Destruction That such Persons especially after separation from Her return to Her Communion do run themselves upon Written by a Learned Divine by way of Letter to a Friend in the Country Prov. 4.14 15 16 17. Enter not into the way of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men Avoid it pass not up it turn from it and pass away For they sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall For they eat the Bread of wickedness and drink the Wine of violence I heard a voice from Heaven saying Come out of her from Babilon my people that ye be not partakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues For her Sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Rev. 18.4 5. LONDON Printed for Isaac Cleave at the Sign of the Star next door to Searjants-Inne in Chancery-lane 1679. The Fallibility and Falshood of the Church of Rome briefly detected and made manifest SIR SInce Providence cast me so luckily into your company and acquaintance your affable carriage and obliging civility hath stirred up in me both towards your self and your relations no small affections and affectionate desires of your best welfare and happiness and therefore having heard not without grief that the Roman party have endeavoured to seduce you or them into their communion I have not been a little exercised in my heart with desires to prevent or rescue you therefrom being well assured that the Factors for that communion are Deceitful workers evill doers such as the fruit and product of their Principles in them who are snared with them is no less than imminent danger of if not inevitable destruction And indeed I cannot but bewail that any ingenuous persons brought up under the light of the Scriptures and of Protestant doctrine should have attained to no greater understanding and better judgment thereby than to be imposed upon by persons guilty of so much corruption in their Religion as that a man with half an eye as they use to say if not careless to use and improve it for his own welfare may easily discern it but yet I know their subtilties are great and their insinuations strong where they can get admission to obviate which I shall indeavour a little to help you against them and to let you see wherein the Roman Church and the men of her communion are so dangerously erroneous and corrupt that it behoves all men as they love their souls to avoid them And first her claim of Infallibility is a most palpable errour and miscarriage for which she hath neither any good ground nor colour for what though Christ hath said that he will build his Church upon the Rock and that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it yet that affords no more ground for the Roman Church or any officer in her to assert her or his infallibillity than for any other Church for granting that by the word It is meant the Church built upon the Rock and not the Rock it selfe upon which he builds it though the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cam it being a relative agrees in gender with and may therefore be referred indifferently to either of them yet its Christs Church indefinitely and generally that our Saviour asserts that of and the Church of Corinth the Church of Ephesus the Churches of Galatia and the rest mentioned in the Scriptures yea and beyond what are their mentioned were every whit as much the Church or of the Church of Christ as the Church of Rome that is they were all equally and indifferently members of the same Catholick or Universal Church when they were first planted and when the Apostles wrote to them and they were all one as well as another by the Apostles ministry and by Christ as going forth with them built upon the same Rock and so they were under the same promises and in the same state of safety for all of them conjunctly made up that Church which was and is the Church of Christ in its Catholick and Universal capacity and yet we see the other Churches might possibly and did actually erre very grosly as is evident in what is said of the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 15 12 2 Cor. 11.2.3 and the Churches of Gallatia Gall. 1.6 and 3.1 2 3 4 10. and 5.2.3.4 and where now I pray are the Churches of Asia Ephesus and the rest have none of them failed or erred grieviously what promise made our Saviour to the Church of Rome more than to any of them nay he made such to some of them as to that of Philodelphia of Keeping her in and from the hour of temptation that should come upon all the earth as we no where find the like made unto Rome Rev. 3.8.9.10 oh how would Rome have boasted her self had such a thing been directed to her or to her Angel if there be any such to her where is it written or recorded And yet the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christs Church namely so as to ruin it Christ hath will have a Church in the World Maugre all the power and malice of hell yea and he may have part of it among those Churches in Asia and Graecia that are yet lest in being though under great oppressions and not free from corruptions for they whoever they be that heartily believe Jesus to be the Christ so as sincerely to imbrace his doctrine and be followers thereof to the best of their skill and power and keep singly thereto they even the whole company of them whoever they be or how much soever outwardly disperst are Christs church the Church built upon the Rock against which the gates of hell shall not prevail And such there are not only if there be any such at Rome and under her jurisdiction but more purely and less corruptly in divers parts of the world that are no members of her If it be said as I know it is by them that Christ gave a more peculiar priviledge to the Church or Bishop of Rome than to any other Church or Bishop belonging thereto as to infallibility in that it is built upon St Peter as its Bishop the Bishops thereof being his successors To that I say that the Scriptures know or use no such language as the Churches or any Churches being built or founded upon St. Peter Yea St. Peter himself tells us that the true Believers and so consequently the Church comes to Christ the living Stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious and are built upon him so us to grow up into a spiritual house an holy Priesthood c. not making any mention of their coming to himself that is to Peter and being built upon him 1 Pet. 2.4
this Church of Rome errs 1. In forbidding and witholding from men the reading of the Scriptures both while in childhood and afterwards which is a manifest opposition to Christ and the holy Spirit and his faithful Servants for therein she forbids what they bad and exhorted to as is shewed in what is already said They said the Believers did well to take heed to them and willed them to be mindful of the words of the Prophets and the commandments of the Apostles 2 Tim. 1.19 and 3.1 2. And this Church refuses to let men have them in their own languages that they may read them especially except they will purchase a License with mony which is the great Goddess worshipped at Rome An evident and plain demonstration that the deeds of this Church are evil because she withholds from men the light whereby they should judge of them and that she leads her Followers into by-paths and ways of error when she witholds from them what holds forth and would guide them into the truth Chrysostom in his time exhorted his hearers to take the Bible into their hands and call together their Neighbours and by those holy Oracles to water the minds both of themselves and them that they might the better withstand the wiles of Sathan c. Hom. 6 in Gen. But this Church is for taking away these weapons of the holy Spirit and divine waterings of their minds from them 2. In making herself the whole Catholique Church while she ties up mens Salvation to their communion with her and subjection to her Bishop which is a gross and grievous error and all one as to make a part and that a very unsound too to be the whole to the denying in effect this fundamental truth that whosoever believeth on Christ shall be saved For while she maintains that out of the Church there is no salvation and then assumes that all that are not in her communion and of her Church are out of the Church she makes all those Believers in Christ however cordial and constant they be therein that are not of her society to be in the state of damnation and so contradicts Christ and his Apostles that say whoever believes on him shall be saved and that there is no respect of persons as to their belonging to this or that place or Church as to that matter It was not so in the Apostles time for neither the Churches of Judaea nor the seven Churches in Asia nor the Churches uf Galatia or any other Churches mentioned in the Scriptures distinctly from that of Rome were ever said or signified to be the members of the Church of Rome or to owe any subjection to the Bishop of Rome Nor doth the Apostle when he saith if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus the Lord and with thine heart believest that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved put in as a third requisite to the definition of a right Christian and an Heir of Salvation if thou acknowledgest the Church of Rome as the Mother Church and be subject to the Pope or Bishop thereof as if without that they were not true Members of the Catholick Church of Christ nor might be saved Rom. 10.9 yet this is now an Article of the Roman Creed wherein they imitate the Donatists of old who would confine the Church of Christ and by consequence Salvation to Affrica and therein to the Men of their Communion as St. Augustine testifies Surely this is none of the least Errors of the Roman Church but a gross and grievious one making Christ and his Apostles upon the matter to be Lyars and the Scripture sayings that own all Believers in Christ for Members of her Church to be falsehoods 3. In doing contrary to the Apostles express direction that all things in the Church should be done to edification to which he adds that if any man judge himself a Prophet or spiritual he ought to acknowledge the things he wrote thereabout to be the commandments of the Lord 1 Cor. 14.26 31. yet these men and this Church contrary hereto impose upon their Members in most places yet and have upon all formerly for divers ages to perform their Service or Prayers and Thanksgivings to God in an unknown tongue notwithstanding that the same Apostle hath expresly testified that the so doing is contrary to edification 1 Cor. 14.10 11. to 28. and will we follow men or joyn our selves with them that so palpably and openly contradict the Word and Commandment of God and so loudly proclaim that they fear him not and believe them when they tell us they are infallible and though perhaps it may be said that in this and another Nation they do or are willing to permit their Service in an unknown Tongue yet that excuseth them not for so much as they have all along so notoriously practised otherwise till of late some have extorted this as it were unwillingly from them nor do they yet acknowledge their error and iniquity in what they have done formerly but justify themselves in it by not altering that evil practise and imposition every where for in Spain Italy and in many other parts I suppose they retain it Nay Mr. Egan a lately converted Fryar informs us that the Pope forbids the use of their Prayers which some have turned into the Vulgar Language so as that they that use them are not right Roman Catholicks in his Recantation Sermon pag. 10. but if they had reformed this every where yet even their Reformation would be a Conviction that they have erred therein and destroyed their Plea for Infallibility whether in their Church formally considered or in their Head the Pope seeing both the one and the other of them have a long time practised allowed and imposed so gross a miscarriage and taught the people to believe it to be a service acceptable unto God Can this Church be Infallible that hath fallen and done so fowly or can they be innocent that joyn themselves in Communion with her when she so much slighting and acting impudently in opposition to the commandment and directions of Christ and as it were openly disclaiming therein what his authority injoyns and practises things so contrary thereunto especially how can they but be horribly guilty of casting away their own Souls who being brought up under clearer and better light do willingly depart therefrom or suffer themselves to be seduced into a compliance with her Surely since it was the design of Christ to bring light into the world and to be the Light of the world to direct and guide their Feet into the ways of Peace and he hath set his Church and Servants for lights therein also they who take away that light or withhold it from them and lead them into darkness denying them the Scriptures and teaching them to pray or rather to say Prayers in an unknown tongue wherein they cannot edifie or be edified they therein declare themselves to be opposite to Christ and so to be
vers 9 10. Even so the Church of Rome and it's Teachers reject the word of the Lord as is evident in the instances we have given and yet they say the Law the Scriptures and it's Exposition are with that is belong unto them They are they from whom men must receive it and upon whom they must depend for it Yea they do as the false Church in Isa 48.1 2. is said to have done who make mention of the name of the Lord but not in truth nor in righteousness though they called themselves of the holy City that is in effect the holy Catholick Church The like is timated of them in Jer. 18.18 where the persecutors of the Lord's Prophets that were such in truth yet said of themselves come let us devise devices against Jeremiah and add as if they had thence authority to do so for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the Prophet Now when we see or may see by the Scriptures of truth and the testimony of the Holy Spirit in them that there should be false Teachers among the Christians answerable to the false Prophets among the Jews that would bring in Doctrines swarving from the Scriptures and find that the Papists and their Teachers evidently do so their challenge of authority to be the sole Expounders of the Scriptures should nothing move us while we see that they therein walk in the steps of the false Prophets especially seeing also that they challenge an authority which the Holy Ghost hath not given them nor directed his followers any where unto For the Holy Ghost himself who led the Apostles into all truth Joh. 16.13 doth not in any Scripture testifie to us of Rome or the Roman Church that we should derive our Faith from her or resolve it into her or her Doctors more than into any other Church The Apostle Peter whose authority they pretend to have committed to them but without any evidence of the holy Scriptures and whose Successors they tell us their Popes or Bishops are could not leave more authority to them than he had exercised himself Now we find him expresly preferring the authority of the Scriptures before his own saying or testimony as to the resolution of other mens Faith Yea he as well as other Apostles proved his sayings by the holy Scriptures as is evident in his Epistles 1 Pet. 2.6 7. and 3.10 11 12. and obtruded nothing upon men on his own authority barely as the Popes presume to do He calls the word of Prophesy a more sure word than what he related of his own knowledge 2 Pet. 1.16 17 18 19. and instead of directing the Believers after his death to the Church of Rome and her Bishops which surely he would and ought to have done had he known of any power given of Christ to her or to them for resolving mens doubts and determining their Faith and exercising a dominion over mens consciences more than to other Churches or their Bishops yea or directing them to himself more than to the rest of the Apostles when he forewarned them of false Teachers Scoffers that would come in the last days He stirs up the Believers minds to remember the words of the Prophets and the Commandments of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour He saith not his own Commands or his rather than of the other Apostles but indefinitely of the Apostles puting in himself with them as one of the same rank and of no superior rank or authority among or over them much less doth he say that we should after his death be take our selves to the Church or Bishop of Rome for our direction guidance and preservation from the Error of the wicked but directs us to the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles the things spoken and commanded in and by them He thought not of the Lord Peter or the Lord Pope nor signified that the rest of the Apostles stood in relation more than himself to any man as their Lord but only to him who is the Saviour Yea and the Lord Jesus himself when afterward he appeared to John in the Isle of Patmos and gave him visions and revelations of the things that should come to pass in the world and unto the Churches directed him not to bid us go to Rome for resolution of our hearts in the matters of God and in what concerns our preservation in his truth but he in his several Epistles to the Churches bids Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches He bids not That he that hath an ear should hear the Churches simply no nor yet what the Spirit saith in the Churches much less saith he Let him that hath an ear hear what the Church of Rome saith or what her Bishop as an heavenly Oracle or the Spirit as either in it or him as Infallibly tied to his Chair should dictate to us And yet which is very considerable this Book of the Revelations according to the most authentick testimonies of Antiquity was written after the Deaths of all the other Apostles and its probable at least that he lived not long after it himself who was the Penman thereof and therefore if there were any judge or orderer of mens faith infallible to be looked to by all Churches besides the holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles or any Infallible Interpreter of them above the rest to be taken heed to it had been the proper place and time surely for Christ the faithful and true witness of God the Amen the firm and sure friend and Pastour of his Church to have signified who it is and directed the Church and every one that hath an ear to hear and hearken to him but neither when he was asked or there was a strife among the Apostles who of them should be the greatest did he tell them Peter should be their Prince and chief among them nor did he direct them here to any Successor of his at Rome or elsewhere as an infallible Guide and Head to them no there is no other Director as to matters of Faith and Worship directed to of God by his Holy Spirit in any Scripture as our absolute and infallible Guide but only the Spirit himself as speaking in and by the Scriptures to the Churches what the Scripture saith being called the saying of the Holy Ghost or Spirit as is to be seen Heb. 3.7 and 10.15 Act. 28.25 And surely they are guilty of horrible Idolatry that prefer the Testimony Word or Determination of any person or persons Church or Bishop before or above yea or but as equal with the testimony of the Holy Ghost to cast by his sayings or commands to listen to and be ruled by men is indeed to have the fear of God taught us by mens precepts and in vain to honour God or worship him which was the fault of the Jewish Church reproved by the Holy Ghost in the Prophet Isaiah for which also he
threatned to give up their wise and prudent men on whom the people leaned to an infatuation of their understandings Isa 29.9 10 11 12 13 14. and the fault charged by our Saviour on the Scribes and Pharisees and the Jewish Church as depending on them Math. 15.1 3 7 8 9. Mark 7.6 7. to vers 13. and it will be as great or a greater evil in us than in them if we make our selves guilty of it in as much as God having now spoken to us by his only begotten Son hath declared his Name more plainly and expresly than he had done in former ages and therefore greater heed and acquiescence in his words and sayings is expected from us for us then to forsake the fountain of Living waters which is Christ speaking in his Servants the Apostles and Prophets in the Scriptures to dig up Cisterns broken Cisterns as all men with their inventions and decrees and all their authority and power that are not his are would be a more astonishable madness than what of that nature was practised under Moses and the Prophets by the Church of Israel Jer. 2.12 13. Our Saviour in the Relation of the Rich man and Lazarus introduces Abraham directing the Rich mans five brethren to Moses and the Prophets and not to the Jewish Sanhedrim or High-Priest or any other persons claiming an infallible authority distinct from them though they might have had more colour by far for claiming such a thing either from that in Deut. 17.8.11.13 appointing men in case of doubt or controversy to stick to and observe the determinations of the High-Priest or chief Ruler of the People or from that promise in Isa 59.21 where God promiseth to put his Spirit upon Zion or some persons in it and his words into their mouth so as to continue it from generation to generation than any the Pope or the Church of Rome can shew for their claim yet I say Abraham directs them to no such person or persons but onely to Moses and the Prophets and if he so directed them then surely now that we have Christ and his Apostles also added as a compleatment of the revelation of Gods mind and will and as infallible Interpreters of Moses and the Prophets it behoves us to take heed to them as speaking in their words and writings and not to neglect or refuse them under pretence of insufficiency in them to direct us now aright without some other infallible Guide that he no where directs us to to determine us And that Rome or her Head the Pope is not Infallible in her doctrine of Transubstantiation the thing last insisted on is evident from hence that Gelasius one of their Popes or Bishops hath taught the Church that the bread in the Sacrament is not naturû or substantiâ mutatus changed in its nature or substance and others of them have taught and determined that it is substantially changed so as the flesh of Christ it is that is eaten and torn with the Teeth of the Communicants as in the Luteran Council was defined and in contradictories one part must needs be false which things duly considered may imbolden us to reject the Pleas and pretence of that Church as more groundless Usurpations Inchroachments by which they pervert men from the right ways of God which our Lord Jesus hath delivered to us Nay our Lord Jesus in the Book of the Revelations instead of directing us to Rome doth clearly call us off from it and hath revealed that to us concerning her which being taken heed to by us will admonish us to flee from her for by the concurrent consent of Interpreters as led to it by the Scripture it self compared with the state and condition of Rome it is Rome deciphered in that Book not by the Name of Jerusalem the beloved City of God in the light whereof the Nations of the saved should walk but by the name of Babylon the Enemy of Jerusalem and her Inhabitants and the subject of the deepest died sins and heaviest judgments mentioned in that Book Yea the Papist writers themselves are also forced to confess the truth hereof it is so palpable and evident yea rather than they will not prove St. Peter to have been at Rome Babylon shall signifie Rome too in his 1. Epistle 5.13 surely she was the City that then ruled over the Kings of the Earth and was built upon seven Hills or Mountains and that 's the City called Babylon Rev. 17.9 18. and its evident that she ruled over the Kings of the Earth not only in her Pagan but also as much or more in her Papal State wherein their Popes or Bishops have exacted Homage of them made them kiss their Toes hold their Stirrups wait at their Doors and do things far below their Majesty and Grandeur in subjection to them Now in all that Book no good is spoken of Babylon nor any direction is given to Gods people the followers of the Lamb to resort to her for any thing but much is spoken of its Wickedness Whoredom Idolatry Bloodiness while it remains and of its woe and misery irreparable in its fall as that that shall for ever Perish with express and vehement command to Gods people that are in her to come out of her lest pertaking with her in her sins they should also pertake with her in her Plagues Rev. 18.4 which one consideration also quite overthrows that corrupt interpretation that would confine what is said of her to her Heathen state only as the Papists to excuse themselves do or rather to blind themselves from seeing their own guilt for if it were so then she should have found her not as a City or Harlot destroyed for ever but by a glorious Metamorphosis or dispossession of the Spirit of Whoredom and Resurrection from her falls in Heathenism changed into the holy City or the Lambs Wife whereas there is not the least intimation of any such thing but a vehement assertion of her sinking like a mighty stone in the waters never to rise again Rev. 18.21 whence it is evident which I shall mention as a farther distinct charge and a farther instance not only of her fallibility but also that she is fallen foully already in that it is thereby evident That 7. She is guilty of Idolatry for that 's it that in Scripture is represented by Whoredom and she is called the great WHORE and the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth And she is certainly as great a WHORE from Christ as ever the old Babilon or the old Pagan Rome was and more truly so also being not so espoused to Christ in her Pagan state as since she turned Christian Indeed she is a Mystical WHORE corrupted from the purity of the Faith and Worship of God in Christ yet giving out herself to be a Queen and Lady the Queen or Darling of Heaven the only Catholique and Infallible Church In her Pagan state she was more openly and grosly a Harlot a gross Idolatress
aurem tuam in maerore meo laetifica me Tu es fortitudo mea refugium meum consolatio mea protectio mea ad te clamavi cùm tribularetur câ—r meum In manus tuas Dom na commendo spiritum meum meam totam vitam diem ultimum that is in thee O Lady have I put my trust let me not be confounded for ever receive me into thy favour incline thine ear to me and in my mourning comfort me Thou art my strenght my refuge my consolation and my protection unto thee have I cryed when my heart was troubled Into thy hands O Lady do I commend my spirit my whole life my last day See here is there not herein beside the outward worship of the body and the bodily act of invocation a profession of the most inward worship proper unto God and most incommunicably to be reserved unto him Is there not here then gross Idolatry and Blasphemy ascribing to a creature that that is peculiar unto God Of the like sort is that in Psal 71. Resperge Domina cor meum dulcedine tuâ c. Besprinkle my heart O Lady with thy sweetness make me to forget the miseries of this life stir up everlasting desires in my soul and inebriate or make drunk my mind with the joys of Paradise and in Psa 46 alià s the 47 thus Omnes Gentes plaudite manibus psallite Jubilo Virginis gloriosae quoniam ipsa est porta vitae Janua salutis Via nostrae reconciliationis spes paenitentium solamen lugentium pax beata cordium atque salus c. that is ô clap your hands all ye Nations sing with a joyful voice to the glorious Virgin because She is the Gate of Life the Door of salvation and the Way of our Reconciliation the Hope of those that repent the Comfort of those that mourn the blessed peace and safety of hearts c. with reference to Psal 18. it is also said Religiosi omnes honorate illam quia ipsa est Adjutrix vestra specialis Advocata Esto refrigerium nostrum gloriosa Mater quia Tues totius Religionis mirabile firmamentum c. that is All ye Religious men or Cloysterers honour ye Her because She is your helper and special Advocate Be thou our refreshing O glorious Mother of Christ for thou art the marvelous foundation or establishment of all Religion upon Psal 20. Exaudi Domina succurre Animae cùm deseruerit corpus suum mitte Angelum in occursum ejus per quem ab hostibus defendatur sentiat in paenis refrigerium tuum concede locum inter Electos Dei that is Hear O Lady succour my soul when it shall leave it's body send an Angel to meet it by whom it may be defended from it's enemies let it feel thy refreshing in the pains of Purgatory and give it a place among the Elect of God And if this do not sufficiently shew their guilt of Idolatry I shall add a passage or two that will shew it with greater Blasphemy as when they say in Psal 34. Quia Domina humillima fuisti Verbum Increatum ex te carnem suscipere coegisti that is Because thou O Lady wast most humble thou didst constrain or compel the Increated Word to take flesh of Thee and in Psal 36. Mater Dei inclina vultum Dei super nos coge illum peccatoribus misereri Mother of God incline the countenance of God towards us compel him to be merciful to sinners But enough of this blasphemous Idolatry with her Yet all this and much more is to be found in that Psalter of the blessed Virgin said to be made by their Seraphical Doctor St. Bonaventure Bishop of St. Albans and one of the Cardinals of the holy they might better have said unholy Church of Rome And their Primer made for their children after the use of Salisbury printed with a privilege according to the Kings and Queens Majesties Letters in the reign of Queen Mary is of like complexion with that Psalter as is to be seen in Fox Martyro volum 3. pa. 273. witness these among other passages Holy Mary So comfort us in our Desolation That by thy prayer ond special Mediation We may enjoy the reward of the Heavenly reign c. And again The dolorous passion of Gods sweet Mother Bring us to the Bliss of Almighty God the Father Again O Thou meek Mother have mercy therefore On Wretches for whom thou hadst these pains all Seeing thy Son that Vine-cluster pressed sore And from the pestilence of death eternal Keep us by voiding the Fiend Infernal And join us with them that rewarded be With eternal Life seeing the Deitie Nor only with Her do they commit this Idolatry but with others also both Apostles and others of less worth if not evil persons as may appear from the same Primer Whence they teach their Children to be such in Idolatry betimes teaching them not only to say O Lord defend us always through the continual succours of St. John Baptist or with reference to the Apostles Peter and Paul Hear us mercifully and grant that through the merits of them both we may obtain the glory everlasting but also with respect to Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury murthered by occasion of contempt against the then King this is said By the blood of Thomas which He for thee did spend Make us Christ to climb whither Thomas did ascend O Blasphemy And with respect to St. Nicholas O God which hast glorified blessed Nicholas thy holy Bishop with innumerable miracles grant we beseech thee that by his merits and prayers we may be delivered from the fire of Hell To these I shall add some passages that Dr. Moor hath mentioned in his Antidote against Idolatry giving that in English that He hath therein set down in Latine only Being pieces of Devotion publiquely read or sung with Stentorian voices as he phrases it in their very Churches as to St. Cosmas and St. Damian two Quondam Physitians they thus sing O Medici piissimi Qui meritis clarissimi In Coelis refulgetis A peste clade corporum Praeservetis operum Moribus nè langueamus Nec moriamur spiritu Sed Animae ab olitu Velociter surgamus Et vivamus in gratiâ Ad sacra Caeli palatia Donec regrediamur O Physitians most pious Who in merits being famous Brightly in the Heavens do shine Keep us from pestilence noisom The bodies death and also from Bad manners lest in them we pine Neither let us in spirit dy But from Souls death hastily Let us rise again And that we may live in grace Till to Heavens sacred Palace We return to reign St. Francis they bespeak to this purpose Sancte Francisce properè veni Pater accelera ad populum qui premitur teritur sub onere paleâ luto latere sepultos Aegyptio sub sabulo nos libera carnis extincto vitio Holy Francis come apace hasten Father to the people pressed and worn out under their
Peter and Paul to Thomas and Sergius c. And what the Papists alledge of their doing all the same things that we Protestants do but they do more also is but all one in this matter as if a Woman should say that she doth all things to her Husband that another honest Woman doth to hers but she doth this more that whereas the other honest Woman yields her Body to her Husband only and admits no other man into her Bed besides she out of respect to her Husband admits him and his Servants and familiar Friends also And as a wise Husband would scarce think that a good honour given or done to him by his Wife no more will God take such adulterous embraces of the Saints and their Images and the like as a good honouring of him its like also as if the false Apostles and their followers should have pleaded against the true Apostles and theirs that they did the same things with them but they exceeded them and did more for they not only Baptized into the Name of Christ but Circumcised too and were Circumcised after the manner of Moses nor did they only celebrate the Lords Supper but also observed the dayes and times appointed in the Law and surely there was more colour for their so pleading than for these mens for they had something formerly of Gods appointment to shew for themselves but these have nothing at all but many prohibitions there against to produce Nothing said I Yes I remember the Plea of a Jesuite for the Picture of Christ though nothing for worship to be given it nor for worshiping the Saints and their Images from the Apostles saying to the Galathians that they were Fools to turn to Moses law when Christ Jesus had been set forth and evidently crucifyed among them the word saith he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is was Pictured and therefore they had the Picture of Christ drawn before their Eyes even of Christ Crucifyed surely the Jesuits was hard put to it for a proof that he was fain to fetch one from that word by the same way he might prove that the Prophets of old were Painters and Image makers because it s said in Rom. 15.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it should be translated whatsoever things were Pictured aforetime were Pictured for our Instruction he might have found the Pictures of other men besides Christ though not of the Saints unless such saints as some of them of the Roman Church may be for Jude tells us of some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall we read Pictured out unto this Condemnation Jude 4. ungodly Men. Surely the Jesuit was either a man of little judgment or which is rather to be judged of a profligate conscience that mattered not with what colours to paint over his matters or else he would have waved such a proof for so bad a purpose and have remembred that the Apostles and their fellow Labourers whither they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingrave or pourtray yet it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in Tables of Stone as the Romish Picturers work but in the fleshly Tables of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with Ink or such like Paint but with the Spirit of God as the Apostle writes in 2 Cor. 3.3 and with such a manner of drawing I suppose their Picture makers have little or no acquaintance nor indeed would it have deserved the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Foolish Galathians had the false Apostles only drawn them from a Christ Crucifyed as represented in an externally visible Picture or Image of him wherein nothing but his body and flesh or rather the external lineaments proportion and complexion of it could be represented and so the shape of a man Crucifyed nothing of his Deity and inward Virtue as they deserved for being drawn from him as Painted forth by the Spirit in the Gospel to the eyes of their understandings as the Son of God and so as God manifested in the flesh and baring our Sins in his Body on the Tree and there through geting the victory over Sin and death and the Divel which no Painters in matters of Stone or other Metals could draw to the Life the other might rather offend them and give the false Apostles advantage against believing on him than perswade to constancy therein there being nothing but a Crucifyed man represented to them therein But I have been tedious in making good this charge but therein I suppose I have abundantly discovered the truth thereof that Rome Papal is as arrant a Whore as Rome Pagan was nay in one respect far greater and worse for in those times she was not espoused to Christ as such therefore was not charged then as commiting adultery from him or breaking Wedlock as now that having been the Catholick Church and her Faith that that was preached in the whole World and she a famous Mother without it yet she hath played the Harlot from him like Jerusalem in Ezek. 16.15 as being corrupted from the simplicity in him to swarve so much from her loyalty to him and admit a multitude into the Bed of love besides him yea the Kings of the Earth also with whom she hath truckt for their honours and riches crowns and scepters accommodating her self to their wills that she might lift up her self by them and get her will on them as in the famous Story of her Bishop Boniface chaffering with Phocas who having Murthered his own Master Mauritius and his Children was owned as Emperour in his stead by the said Boniface that he might as he was be made and declared by him to be the Universal Bishop over all the Churches in Christendom upon a fond pretence never before thought on its likely that because Christ said to Peter that he would give him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven therefore the Bishops of Rome however unlike to St. Peter and without any delegation of them by him in any of his Epistles or other ways of conveyance of them to them must rule over all the Church in all after ages A notable reward of Romes Whoredom with that Murtherer but that may lead me to another particular charge agreeable also with the character given her which also declares her to be the Babilon spoken of by the holy ghost in the book of the Revelations viz. That 8. The Church of Rome is not only a Whore and the great Whore but a Bloody Whore too else she should not be that Babilon for St. John was shewed that so she would be for he saw her drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus to his great admiration and amazement and that in her was found the blood of the Prophets and of Saints and of all that were Slain upon the Earth Rev. 17.6 and 18.24 and indeed it may be doubted whither she slew more in her Pagan state to raise and maintain
here was not a taking Gods name in vain and a notorious leading men to debauch their consciences I know not what is as for the fourth commandment they keep not that while they keep Markets on the Sabbath day and less observe it than many of their own instituted holy days the fifth commandment how little they reguard their often absolving Children from ingagements to honour their Parents and obey them yea their stirring up Children somtimes against them as Gregory the ninth stirred up Henry the Son against his Father Frederick the second Emperour of Germany and how often they have discharged subjects from their due allegiance and obedience to their lawful Sovereigns stirred them up to rebel and rise in War against them both our own Cronicles and the Histories of other Nations do abundantly evidence And then as for the sixth commandment their Murthering of Princes and the many great Slaughters and Massacres yea destructions both of Souls and Bodies occasioned and caused by the Roman Church and her Bishops before hinted at sufficiently declare how little care they have thereof That they little reguard the seventh both their forbiding Marriage to their Priests without any order or command of God and Christ to that purpose nay contrary to the express permission and allowance thereof of God in the Scriptures for both our Lord Jesus Christ himself chose Married Persons to be Apostles at least Peter was such when he chose him for we read before that of his Wives Mother Mark 1.30 with 3.16 Which he would not have done surely had he judged a Wedded State incompatible or inconsistent with the Ministry which he instituted yea and that St. Peter and other Apostles led their Wives about with them when they were Apostles is evident in 1 Cor. 9.5 And the Apostle expresly both in his Orders about Bishops and in those about Deacons orders and much more allows that they be Husbands of one Wife and have their Children in subjection which they would not have done had they forbidden Marriage to the Bishops and Ministers of the Church or judged it unfit for them as these according to his predictions of false Teachers that would depart from the faith do 1 Tim. 3.2.4.11.12 with 4.12.3 By which means they often put them upon the practice of uncleanness whoredoms furnications and the like mischiefs and allow them to keep Concubines for Money besides the Practice of Sodomy even in the Popes themselves some of them and the notorious Wickedness of one of their Cardinals that wrote and Wrote published a Book in commendation thereof their allowing publick Stews for Mony even in Rome it self are sufficient Proofs And that they as little keep the eighth Commandment their insatiable covetousness and many frauds to get Mony some whereof have by the way been hinted at yea their grasping whole Kingdoms to themselves from their lawful Princes as they did a great part of Italy yea and Rome it self from the Emperours to which they belonged and our Kingdom of England in King Johns time and taking away by force the Kingdoms of some Princes from them and giving them to others whom they have incouraged to get them from them as appears in the History of the Albingenses and the attempts of their Popes and Sea of Rome against our late Queen Elizabeth are sufficient demonstrations besides the most horrible theft of all others they are guilty of in stealing or taking forcibly from men the word of God not suffering men to know or be instructed into that therein taking away the key of knowledg and shutting up the Kingdom of Heaven against them and robbing their Souls thereof a theft which God complained of in the false Prophets of Israel when he saith Behold I am against the Prophets which steal my word every one from his Neighbour Jer. 23.30 Against the ninth Commandment is all their reproaching and branding falsly as Hereticks those that will not subscribe to their corruptions stirring up Princes and People against them to make Havock of them And that the tenth commandment is little set by their Doctrine that denyes the first stirrings and motions of Sin to be Sins and their Doctrine of venial Sins and their insatiable covetousness may be evidence enough so that they are horribly guilty of not keeping the commandments of God the like may be observed too of their keeping the things given in commandment by our Lord Jesus Christ that they keep none of his commandments purely and incorruptly for whereas he commanded Baptism into the Name of the Father of the Son of the Holy Ghost they have corrupt that with many devises as of oyl and cream and spettle and the like Fopperies his commandment of his Supper to take and break and eat Bread set a part with blessing to that purpose and drinking the Cup in Remembrance of him and as a commemoration of his death they have horribly corrupted and changed into a sacrifice propitiatory and unbloody available for obtaining remission of Sins for the quick and for Dead and into private Masses and half Communions and the Pageantry of carrying the consecrated Host as a God in Procession the command of Preaching the word sincerely they have exchanged into teaching for Doctrines of men that is their own precepts and devises and his command about prayers and supplications unto God they have corrupted by injoyning Prayers in unknown Tongue and to others besides God even to Saints and Angels But what needed I to have been so larg in going over these several commandments when the complexion of much of their divinity is a clear patronage of all manner of Sin and Naughtiness while they promise to men the pardon thereof upon so easy termes as the only being at some small time before they dye grieved that they have sinned though without any real contrition of heart for it or love to God and so hearty sorrow that they have offended him as springing therefrom provided that they receive but the Sacrament as they will have it of their extream Unction and the absolution of one of their Priests and have devised a Purgatory in which after death they may be Purifyed though they continue till death in their Sins from the pains of which also they perswade men they may be soon delivered by the propitiatory sacrifices which they say they can and do dayly make in their Masses both for the quick and for the dead and by the indulgences which are in the Popes dispose and which for such sums of Mony given to their Church-men or for such uses as they prescribe as for the procuring Masses Dirgies and such like fopperies they propose to sale what are all these devises of this covetous Church and its Church-men but ways of making merchandise of mens Souls and an incouraging them in and unto an impenitent breach of all Gods commandments all their days for who that loves his lusts and lives in any pleasurable or profitable way of Sin will much