mysteries than Gospel institutions Their chief worship devotion lyeth in building and adorning Temples for Masses not for preaching in buying Masses in decking of images with Gold Jewels in offering incense and wax Candles in pilgrimages and offerings to their Saints in vows of forced and usually feigned chastity of Hypocritical and lazy poverty and such like bodily exercises which profit little 1 Tim. 4.8 4. The Church of Christ owneth him only for her head King and Lord. God gave Christ to be head over all things to his Church which is his body Eph. 1.23 He hath all power in Heaven and earth committed to him to rule and order all things concerning his Church which is his own house Mat. 28.18 19 20. Whereupon he appointed Apostles to bring all nations to be his Disciples to consecrate and ingage them to him by Baptism and to teach them to observe all as he commanded Christ as mediator is the only head of the Church which is his body and all Christians members in particular of him receiving life strength and spirit from him and being governed by him But the Papists acknowledge and adhere to the Pope as the head of their Church which they say could not be one Church unless it be united to the Pope as their visible head Catec Rom. de Symb. Art 9. Q. 11. De eo i. e. Pontifice Romano fuit illa omnium Patrum ratio sententia consentiens hoc visibiel caput ad unitatem ecclesiae constituendam conservandam necessarium fuisse They say that Christ and the Pope make but one compleat Head of the Church That all which is said in the Canticles or elsewhere concerning Christ's relation to his Church may be truly applyed to the Pope That he hath all power in heaven and earth given to him Pope Boniface the 8. declared that it was absolutely necessary to Salvation for every man to be subject to the Pope of Rome Definimus decernimus declaramus esse de necessitate salutis omni humanae creaturae esse subditum Pontifici Romano accordingly they teach peccatum pagantiatis incurrit quisquis Pontifici non est obediens i. e. Whosoever is not obedient to the Pope doth thereby become an Heathen They ascribe to the Pope an universal headship not of order only but of power and jurisdiction he is the Rock the foundation of the Church he giveth authority to the Scriptures and without him authoritas Scripturarum plane nulla est saith one i. e. the Scriptures have no authority at all he can lay aside the Bible if he please or dispense with any of the commands of the old or new Testament saith their Canon Law and he daily doth dispense with oaths vows and obligations of all sorts both to God and man with unlawful marriages c. They say indeed in disputation that the Pope is a ministerial head the Deputy the Vicar of Christ but a Minister is only to execute the pleasure of his Lord a Deputy and Vicar is to see his Masters laws and commands observed not to enact laws of his own not to relax or abrogate any of his Masters laws which power the Pope both challengeth and exerciseth 5. Christ's Church professeth subjection to his law only Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Christ is the only King of his Church and the power of making Laws is the chief prerogative of a King He gave his word to be the standing Law whereby his people should be ruled and guided and by which they must be judged at the last day John 12.48 But the Papists have another Law by which they are governed and the Pope is their law-giver who ruleth them The Scriptures they own indeed as the word of God but not as his whole mind and law and that no otherwise than as the Pope interpreteth and alloweth them They joyn with the Scriptures unwritten Traditions which the Council of Tent saith are of equal authority Traditiones non scriptas pari pietatis affectu reverentiâ suscipit veneratur Conc. Trid. Ses 4. Cat. Rom. Pref. Q. 12. The Canons of Councils viz. those that the Pope likes and confirms and the decretal Epistles of Popes they reckon equal with the Holy Scriptures Decretales epistolae meritò inter Scripturas canonicas recensentur The consciences of men they do subject to the determinations and commands of the Pope as to Jesus Christ so that the law of the Church of Rome is composed and made up of the Scriptures Traditions Canons and decretals of Popes over all which the Pope superintends as the supreme law-giver to confirm relax add or alter as he pleaseth according to the known Ruleof Cardinal Cusanus Lex currit cum praxi c. Whatsoever is the present allowed practice of the Church of Rome that must be taken for the infallible rule or law of Christ So that the will of the Pope is the supreme law of conscience to the Papist in this world 6. Christs Church acknowledgeth only his Sacraments Baptism and the Lords supper The Sacraments of the Gospel are badges of our professed Subjection to Christ and of our dependance on him for remission of sins for grace and eternal life and it is fit that Christ alone should appoint what should be the signs Seals and conveyances of his grace and the marks of subjection to him and the tokens of the Covenant betwixt him and his people Christ appointed his Disciples to enter into his Covenant by the sign and Seal of Baptism Matth. 28.19 to renew and confirm this Covenant from time to time by the use of his holy supper 1 Cor. 11.23 24. c. and he appointed no other but these and his people must institute and use no other as signs and Covenant seals betwixt him and them But the Papists have added five more which they own and maintain to be Sacraments besides many other significant ceremonies to which they attribute the use and effects of Sacraments these they make signs of Gods Covenant means to convey grace some of them as universally necessary as those that Christ appointed yea without which Christs Sacraments are not sufficient to Salvation viz. the Sacraments of Confirmation and Penance of the former they say a man cannot be a Christian till he be confirmed by the Bishop Baptism is not compleat without it De consecra dist 5. ch de jejun Nemo potest esse Christianus nisi ad Baptismum accesserit unctio episcopalis nisi confirmatione chrismatus Their penance consisteth of confession of sin to the Priest contrition for sin and the Priests absolution and they teach that sins cannot be forgiven unless they be particularly confessed to the Priest and he absolve them in the name of Christ upon their undergoing or promise to undergo some outward austerity or penance imposed on them by him These Sacraments are badges and means of their subjection to the Priest and to
also many dark spots though clear as the Sun she hath her clouds and Eclipses Many will be carryed away with errour superstitions and carnal policies yea some of all sorts rulers as well as ruled learned as well as unlearned Those that have made great shew as well as the common sort be not troubled nor suspect the true doctrine and worship these things are foretold and therefore must be We are next to enquire what this departure is which is here foretold and who be guilty of it Some have understood it of the defection of the world from the Roman Empire following the conjecture of some one leader without consideration as Calvin observes And the Rhemists recede from it very unwillingly and under correction of their Superiours but the Apostles saith the day of Christ shallnot come except there come a departure first viz. a departure from Christ The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used for departure or apostasie is appropriated to signify a defection in or from religion so the same Apostle useth it but with an explication 1 Tim. 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some shall depart from the faith Moreover the head of this Apostasie is to sit in the Temple the Church of God v. 4. and to bring it about by delusions and lying miracles seducing those that loved not the truth that they might be saved but had pleasure in unrighteousness v. 10 11 12. It must therefore be a departure from the truth and purity of the Christian religion It is agreed betwixt Papists and Protestants that it is the apostasie under Antichrist as the chief head and leader of it which is here foretold but the question is who is this Antichrist Where and when this apostasie may be found As the Jews did generally expect the coming of Christ yet knew him not believed him not when he was among them so the Papists believe and expect that Antichrist shall come and miserably spoil the Church but cannot or will not see and own him though he is and long hath been amongst them That Nero shall rise again and be the Antichrist as he was the first persecuting Emperour I not worth the refuting The Papists generally teach that Antichrist is yet to come and shall endure but three years and a half immediately before the end of the world that he shall be a Jew of the tribe of Dan rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple abolish the Christian worship and almost the name of Christ but all this without any colouor proof except that slender one that he shall sit in the temple of God v. 4. Some few are so ingenuous as to confess that Rome is Babylon Antichrists seat but then some say the Heathen persecuting Emperours in the first three hundred years of the Church were this Manof sin Some again considering that it is an apostasie of professing Christians here spoken of conjecture that some Pope of Rome at the end of the world shall deny Christ become an Infidel and cause himself to be worshipped as God this should be this man of sin But the Text plainly speaks of a defection of Christians which was secretly working in the Apostles days only some thing hindered its prevailing and full discovery vi 6 7 8. The mystery of iniquity doth already work and it was to be a mysterious defection not an open and totall apostasie from Christ it was to be brought in by signs miracles lying wonders and all ungodly deceits for the just condemnation of them that received not the love of the truth that they might be saved though they received the profession of it v. 9. to 12. And the man of sin the Head of this apostasie was to sit or rule in the Temple of God which is his Church 1 Cor. 3.16 Therefore this apostasie was to be not total from the name and profession of Christ ad of his Church but a defection in the Church an apostasie from the purity of the Doctrine worship Discipline and practice of the Gospel such as should have so many excuses and specious pretences for it that the delusion should be strong and such as those that do not heartily love the truth should not be able to discern Whence we collect this proposition Proposition That the Church of Rome is and for a long time hath been the seat of this man of sin the mother of this apostasie or That Popery is the grand Apostasie of the Church here foretold This I shall make good first by some general reasons and then by the particular criteria or marks laid down in the text By the Church of Rome we mean all those Nations and Churches which as so many members make up that great body which they call the Roman Catholick Church whereof the Pope is the Head and the Church of the City of Rome the principal part By Popery we understand that religion viz. Doctrines worship Discipline and Government which is peculiar to them and distinct from all other Christians especially from the Protestant Churches and whereby they are knit into one body and society and live in one Communion distinct from and opposite to the Reformed Churches Now that this Church is apostatized from Christ and this religion is a Doctrine and practice of apostasie may appear in the general by comparing the true state of the Church of Christ with the state and Doctrine of the Roman Church 1. First The true Church of Christ acknowledgeth and worshippeth one only God the creator of the world and father of our Lord Jesus Christ This is the foundation of religion that there is one only infinite Being the fountain and author of all things else and therefore that all worship fear trust and obedience is due to him alone 1 Cor. 8.5 Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there are Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in Him But the Papists do acknowledge and worship other Gods besides him even the Host or Bread in the Sacrament and the Virgin Mary The Heathens pretend to acknowledge but one supreme God but the Papists do acknowledge that which sense reason and scripture witness to be a bit of bread to be the supreme God their maker and Lord which they usually call the Host and that it is to be worshipped cultu Latriae Conc. Trid. Ses 13. Cap. 4 5. ibid. c. 6. with that worship that is due to God alone This they keep upon their Altar in a gilded Box in imitation of the Ark of old there they teach is the special presence of God as it was in the Holy of Holies This they worship and carry in triumph by this they swear viz. by the Mass and by the Pix and this is a peculiar note and badge of their communion by which they difference themselves from others and destroy all that do not acknowledge and worship this their God as far as their power
the pretence of Religion and the name of spiritual of which the Pope is the head his Cardinals Princes all his Priests and Clergy officers and Factors for him to hold the Consciences of men in subjection to him and to keep Princes and their Kingdoms in homage and tributary to his Coffers By all these things it appears that the Papists have quite altered both the foundation and superstructure of the Church of God and the government of his house and retained little more than the name of Christ his Church and Gospel and therefore it was necessary they should withdraw from them who had any care of the honour of God or their own salvation Obj. The Papists Object that the Protestants acknowledge the Church of Rome to be a true Church and therefore not to be separated from Answ 1. Suppose it were a true Church are not other true Churches also What obligation lyeth upon all Churches to be members of subject to the Church of Rome more than on the Church of Rome it self to be a member of any other true Church surely none from the notion of a true Church seeing all Churches of Christ that are true are at least equal with her in this attribute If they say that the Church of Rome hath the Primacy of all Churches and dominion over them from Peter the head of the Church this is but to beg what they can never prove that Peter had the headship of the Church committed to him and his successors and which is denyed of their own Council of Constance Sess 15. 2. Because the Church of Rome doth retain the profession of Christanity the general creeed and the holy Scriptures however they deviate from them in their expositions and practice therefore the Protestants dare not deny it absolutely to be a Church of Christ but that he may be still striving with it and may have many in it who may keep themselves from the great corruptions of it even as the 7000. in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal and so she may continue a Church in this sense and in this State till her finall rejection and destruction nevertheless they unanimously agree that she is an Idolatrous Apostatical Church under great and fatal corruptions though she hath not quite forsaken the name of Christ or he utterly forsaken her as the ten Tribes under Jeroboam became idolatrous and Apostatical and are said to have worshipped Devils in worshipping the Calves though they pretended them to represent Jehovah 2 Chron. 11.15 and when they were in this state of backsliding all the people as well as the Priests and Levites that did set their hearts to seek the Lord God of their fathers forsook them and went to Jerusalem to sacrifice and joyned themselves to Judah 2 Chron. 11.13.17.16 and in the time of his successours those that were upright and had opportunity did still resort to Jerusalem to worship whence the Idolatrous Priests are complained of for laying wait and Nets for them in Mispah and Tabor and this they did notwithstanding that God did still contend with Israel by his Prophets and sent many eminent ones to them as Elijah Elisha Hosea Jonah with many others to call them back again to himself to continue to warn and invite them to repentance even untill their dispersion and captivity 2. A 2. Question is whether there may be any reconciliation of Potestants to or with the Church of Rome And here I must distinguish betwixt particular persons members of that Church and the body of the Church it self There are many particular persons in the Popish Communion that be wail their corruption that complain of their bondage and are moderate toward Protestants for these we may have charity respect and compassion but to the Church of Rome the general communion and society of Papists under the Pope the ir head there may be nocommunion or reconciliation 1. Because they have redressed none of their errors and corruptions for which the Protestants at first forsook them If our first separation from Rome was just and necessary so it is still for they have not mended or redressed any of the grounds of our separation but on the contrary when they were intreated and in a sort compelled to call the Council of Trent to compose matters besides the many unworthy arts they used to have men chosen to their mind and of their own party they did severally confirm every error in doctrine and corruption in worship which the Protestants accused them of and Anathematized all that held the doctrine of the Protestants and as if this were not enough their Priests are all to be sworn to maintain this Council and a Catechism was ordered to be composed out of it to be the standard of the Doctrine of that Church which was done accordingly 2. As they have not so they cannot mend or alter any thing considerable The constitution of the Roman Papal Church depends on the corruptions they maintain and practise Should their Clergy marry they would not be at the Popes command should they lay aside private Masses image worship and Purgatory their Priests would lose a great part of their maintenance and the Pope a great jewel in his Crown viz. the power of canonizing Saints and freeing souls from Purgatory and if the people should have the Scriptures and publick service in their own tongue they would quickly discern the corruptions of their Church and impostures of their Pope above all should they alter any thing of moment decreed by the Council of Trent which was also confirmed by Pope Pius the 4th it would shake the foundation of the Church the Popes infallibility for either the Council and Pope Pius erred in their decrees or that Pope must err who alters any thing of those decrees hence it was that the Pope and Council of Trent would not yield so much as the cup in the Lords supper to the Laity at any time or in any case though greatly importuned to do it by the Emperor Ferdinand the 1. and his son Maximilian 3. The Church of Rome is the body of Antichrist or man of sin she hath made him her head and hath espoused her self to him as her Lord the whole religion of Popery is fitted only to exalt the Pope and his Clegy and cheat the people both of the knowledge of God and of their money To unite with Rome is to joyn our selves with a company of Rebels and fugitives from Christ that have conspired against him and set them up another King and Lord. 4. Rome haht of long time and doth maintain an opposition against the Churches of Christ She contends for the universal headship of the Pope she decreeth and compasseth as far as she can the destruction of all Hereticks i. e. of all that will not submit to her corruptions for about 900 years together and still attempts the same To joyn with Rome is to condemn all the Confessors and Martyrs that have suffered by them and to bring the guilt of their blood upon our selves as our Saviour saith Math. 23.35 all the righteous blood that was shed upon the earth from Abel to Zacharias should be required of that generation because they persisted in the footsteps of their fathers and were of the same body and succession with them that shed that blood 5. Rome is appointed for destruction That State or Polity that City and people are appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ to be utterly destroyed as in the 17 18 19. of the Rev. at large and their destruction is not threatned conditionally in case they repent not as it is to other Nations but it is absolutely foretold as of a people abhorred of the Lord forsaken and given over by him because they forsook him first Christ hath declared war against Rome which he will pursue till he hath conquered her and triumphed over her therefore there may not be that desire or attempt of union with her as with other backsliding Churches Gods people are called to come out of Babylon upon pain of their destruction therefore are not to make peace with her Who would joyn with a perishing Church with a Party devoted to destruction and with a perishing religion whereas Christ will have a Church pure and triumphant which shall survive and triumph over Babylon Rev. 19.1 c. FINIS
POPERY The Grand APOSTASIE Being the Substance of certain SERMONS Preached on 2 Thes 2. v. 1. to 12. On occasion of the discovery of the desperate Plot of the Papists against the King Kingdom and the Protestant Religion By John Troughton Minister of the Gospel To which is added a Sermon on Rev. 18.4 preached November 5. 1678. London Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chapel 1680. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Good Reader IT was well observed by one That next to the knowledge of Christ and of the true way of salvation by him nothing is more necessary for a Christian than the knowledge of Antichrist for hereby he may be able to distinguish the true knowledge of Christ from the corruptions and mixture with which Antichrist hath adulterated and obscured the true Doctrine of the Gospel That the Pope with his Adherents is Antichrist hath been the general opinion of learned men for these last 600. Years ever since Gregory 7. not of Protestants only Hus Wicleff and the Waldenses but also of many that lived and dyed in the communion of the Roman Church And seeing our Papists generally confess Antichrist in St. Johns epistle to be the same with the man of sin in St. Paul and with the mystical Babylon in the Apoc. they do in effect yield that the Pope is Antichrist seeing all the marks of the two latter do undeniably agree to him For this cause I have waved the particular controversies betwixt us and the Papists which have been so largely and clearly managed by our Writers both formerly and of late as less necessary for this present time there being little of reason conscience or Scripture to urge any Protestant to embrace any particular error or corruption of the Papists endeavouring briefly and summarily to shew that the Church of Rome is as Wicleff long since called it the Synagogue of Satan mystical Babylon a state of Apostate Christians that have joyned themselves to the Pope as their Head against Christ his Gospel and pure Church that by this brief consideration of things Christians may be the more stirred up to detest and to oppose in their places that body of men which call themselves the only Catholick Church that they may be the more zealous for the truth as it is received in the Reformed Churches and that they may if called to it suffer with the greater comfort what cruelties and violence God may yet permit that Beast of Rome to exercise upon his Church I my self and many that heard this discourse have thought it might be seasonable and useful in these days to plain and private Christians for the learned have no need of it because through long peace and security the error and tyranny of the Papists have been much forgotten by the people and many that hate the name of Papists scarce know the grounds they stand on and are Antipapists by a kind of implicite faith If any find their judgements informed their consciences settled their zeal and courage excited by these endeavours in these shaking times I have mine end and may they and the Church of Christ long enjoy that benefit to the glory of God and their own comfort to the strengthening of their brethren and the shame of their implacable and restless adversaries Thine in the work of the Gospel J. T. 2 THES 2. v. 1. to 12. Now we beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him v. 2. That you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand v. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition c. THese words begin a new discourse and contain an earnest obtestation to the Thessalonians not to be troubled at the Doctrine of some that the day of Christ viz. his second coming was at hand which though in appearance it tended to holiness and watchfulness to make men live in preparation for Christs coming yet seeing his coming was not nigh and many great things were to be transacted first both in the world and the Church this perswasion would take off Christians from their repective duties in the several places and times they should live in and would give great occasion to Atheistical mockers to think and say Christ would never come seeing his coming was so long delaied beyond expectation of his servants and consequently that all the Gospel was a fable and Religion vain which also was foretold 2 Pet. 3. v. 3 4. In the last days shall come Scoffers walking after their own lusts saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were The Apostle therefore beseecheth them by the coming of Christ and our gathering to him i. e. As sure as they did believe Christ would come and his Saints should be gathered to him so also to believe that his coming was not nigh but that great transactions and changes should come before that day Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be well rendered I beseech you for the sake of the coming of our Lord and our gathering to him i. e. that you may not bring this Doctrine of Christs coming into Question when the world shall see you are mistaken in the time when you looked for it That you be not soon shaken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That you be not unsetled or made to fluctuate in your minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor be perplexed This is the obtestation Next the Apostle signifies the means how this perplexing Doctrine was introduced amongst them viz. By spirit by word or by pretence of his Epistle v. 2. Then renewing his obtestation v. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by any pretence whatsoever he entereth upon the confutation of this opinion telling them that Christ would not come till there had been an Apostasie in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is an Ellipsis wherein something for brevity sake is omitted For except there come an Apostasie first it is to be supplyed from the first v. The day of Christ shall not come Afterwards he describeth the manner and measure of this Apostasie to v. 12. Hence we may observe by way of introduction Obs 1. That the Church even in the best ages of it hath been infested with errours and disturbances The Church of old under Moses immediately after their deliverance out of Egypt and their receiving the Law from God by an audible voice did presently return to the Idolatry of Egypt in the worship of the Golden Calf Ex. 32.1 2. though they had obliged themselves to the Lord by Covenant a few days before chap. 24.3 6 7 c. And all his time he was
them yet they must go through Purgatory hereby robbing them of the comfort of the Gospel and miserably enthralling their consciences to themselves and their Tradition By all this it is evident that the Papists have altered the nature and ends of Christian religion which was the doctrine and institution of Jesus Christ to exalt him as the only mediator of the Church by whom only we should come to God and have framed a new platform of a carnal worldly religion to exalt the Pope and his Clergy and to worship the creatures instead of the Creatour Let us add their doctrine of persecuting and destroying all Hereticks as they call them that is all that will not obey them The first Lateran Council Ann. Dom. 1215. decreeth Sub Innoc. 3. P. That if any Prince or Lord be a Heretick or favourer of Hereticks or will not destroy his own subjects being Hereticks he shall be deprived of his dominion and it be given to some other Catholick Prince Accordingly they gave away the Estates of divers Earls Ramund Earl of Tholouse the Earl of Besieres and others because the former favoured the other would not destroy the Albigenses their Subjects Vid. Hist Walden The Inquisition giveth orders not only to destroy Hereticks but also all such as favour them or habour them or give them any relief in their distress or conceal them or any of their goods Yea that those who do not discover and accuse their own relations or friends being Hereticks shall themselves be punished as Hereticks In Concil Constan Pope Martin the 5. decreed by a Bull That Hereticks should not be suffered to buy or sell or to injoy the benefit of humane society This Doctrine and their practice according to it makes them an Apostatical body or society maintaining it self in opposition to the pure Church of Christ and therefore to take part with them to joyn with or submit to their interest is to desert Christ and to side with or become a member of that great Apostasie Let us now take notice of the several characters or marks that the Apostle gives of this Apostasie which will further prove the Papists to be guilty of it The first is v. 3. That the Head of it is the man of sin the son of perdition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Hebraism where the genitive of the substantive is put for the adjective and that by way of eminency The sinful or wicked man as he is afterward called v. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked or lawless man v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of perdition this is exegetical of the former viz. such a wicked man as is ripe for and appointed to destruction By this is meant not a particular person but a state or government in the hands of one or more persons though perhaps some one of those governors may be intended in a special manner as more singularly wicked and active than others even as Nebuchadnezzer was said to be the head of Gold of the great image Dan. 2. i. e. in special manner though the whole series of the Assyrian and Babylonian Monarchs for 1300. years was represented thereby Thus the Devil is expressed singularly when the whole society of those wicked spirits is intended and no one particular meant And the four Monarchies are expressed by 4. Dan. 7. Beasts though they were possessed not only by many Kings but the last by the people of Rome for a long time consisting of the Senate and Plebeian The Papists would infer from these notes of particularity that Antichrist this man of sin must be but one particular person Vid. Whit. resp ad Sand. Q. 1. and therefore not the Popes who have been many But themselves grant what is here said v. 8. He that letteth will let till he be taken out of the way is meant of the Roman Empire which was in the hand of many successively though expressed as one man and it is common so to express States or Kingdoms when we speak of their constitutions prerogatives or Laws And when our Saviour Matth. 16.18 19. said to Simon Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom c. they will needs have it meant that this was granted to Peter and all his successours the Popes though none but Peters name is mentioned Why then may we not so understand the man of sin here The Apostles sense is there well come an apostasie of the Church a declining in and from religion which will encrease till the man of sin be revealed i.e. till these apostates shall frame themselves into a body and state of a most wicked government this is the Pope and his Clergy who successively govern and manage that Apostasie This will appear if we consider the wickedness of their Persons Doctrines and Practices 1. For their persons There was a series of Popes for about an hundred years in the 10. and 11. Centuries who were Magicians Murderers open Adulterers and destroyers of each other of whom Genebrard the Jesuite saith they were Apostatici potius quam Apostolici apostates rather than Apostolical men Gregory the 7. they report poysoned 6 Popes his Predecessours to obtain the Papacy and was himself a known Magician he threw the host his breaden God into the fire because it would not answer him in his Magical charms Many others of them have been professed Magicians some bold Atheists as Leo the 10. who said to Cardinal Bembus Behold what great riches we get by that fable of Christ Quantas opes nobis tulit ista fabula de Christo Most Adulterous Sodomites Simoniacks and some have lived in incest with their own Sisters and daughters insomuch that one of themselves gives this testimony Nemo hodie in Pentificibus Romanis virtutem aut pietatem requirit Invita Pauli tertii optimi putantur si vel mediocriter boni sint vel minus mali quam caeteri mortalium esse solent i. e. No man looks for virtue or godliness nowadays in the Popes they are accounted most excellent if they be but indifferently good or not quite so bad as other men The Cardinals and all their Clergy are like their head and father being allowed Sodomy fornication and adultery to keep them chast i. e. from marrying Where shall we find a man of sin if this be not him 2. Next consider we their wicked doctrines 1. That of absolute subjection to the Pope that whatsoever he commandeth must be done though never so wicked Bellarmine saith Etiamsi Papa erraret prohibendo virtutem praecipiendo vitium c. Though the Pope should forbid virtue and command vice he must be obeyed And their law saith si Papa totos populos secum in insernum traheret nemo potest ei dicere Domine cur ita facis i. e. Though the Pope should draw whole Nations into Hell with himself yet none may say to him why dost
thou so This daily experience attesteth Murdering of Kings destroying of Kingdoms any villanies must be done and that upon pain of damnation if the Pope or any inferiour governour of their Clergy commands it Never any state or government in the world though many have been very wicked challenged this prerogative to command whatsoever they pleased right or wrong and that men are bound in conscience to obey them though against God and men but this the Pope doth challenge and practise 2. The Doctrine of the Popes infallibility whereby they father all their errours superstitions and corruptions upon the spirit of God It is blasphemous against God to imagine that he should annex the infallible guidance of his spirit to a succession of men who defile and destroy his Church oppose his son and his Gospel and themselves are Monsters of men Innocent the 10. S. Amore's Journ who suffered himself and his holy Church to be governed by an impudent Harlot Don Olympia his own Brothers wife when the people of Rome complained to him of the unjust exactions of his Officers answered them You must not find fault which mine Officers for I chuse them and I am guided by the infallible spirit of God What is more wicked than to ascribe wicked actions to the guidance of Gods spirit Some Papists indeed acknowledge not the Popes infallibility but then they ascribe it to a Council of Bishops most of them as good and as wise as the Pope Some give it to the whole Roman Church but it will come all to one if whatsoever the Church of Rome or the Heads and guides of it do determine must be reckoned infallibly true and good hereby they wholly wave the Scriptures as the Rule and Christ as their Law-giver and are both Rule and Law-givers to themselves 3. The Papists have reduced the whole body of the Heathenish worship into the Church and this is the greatest part of their worship The Heathens honoured the good Angels with divine honours as the servants of the supreme God that they might be their friends to him and that they might do them many good Offices They deified men and women eminent in any way especially Princes honoured them with Temples Images Festival days and Sacrifices that they might mediate with God for the good of their Country family or friends putting themselves and their affairs under their special protection and this took up most of their worship The Papists do ascribe the very same honour and worship in all particulars to the Angels and Saints and for the same reasons every Country City yea every person hath his Tutelar Saint and upon these they call and to these they pay more devotion by many degrees than they do to God 4. Their Casuists allow common swearing and using of the name of God lightly in common discourse and contend that the Third Commandment forbideth only perjury swearing falsely or to a false thing in the name of God Hence it is that Papists almost universally are common and profane swearers 5. They teach that the Pope in all and the inferiour Clergy in ordinary cases can dispense with Oaths Vows and the most solemn obligations that can be made to God or man The Pope taketh himself for head of the Church therefore whatsoever vows and ingagements men make to God he can loose them from them when it serves his interest he gives licence to men and women to marry who have vowed single life and to his Fryars to leave off the habit and rules of their order though they have vowed never to lay them aside Also as he is Lord of all the world he can give away Kingdoms loose Subjects from their oaths of Allegiance yea make it their duty to break their oaths and to rebel and what is most abominable they can give men leave to take Oaths to make vowes and protestations on purpose to deceive when they do not intend they shall be kept but be used to carry on their own designs the more secretly by deceiving the credulous Hist Albig Book 1. ch 5. Thus the Popes Legat sent a Gentleman to the Earl of Besiers to draw him into his Camp commanding him to assure him in his name by what Oaths and protestations he would desire that he should return safe home as soon as the poor Earl came into his presence he absolved the messenger from all his Oaths kept the Earl prisoner and soon after privately murdered him 6. They make the Sabbath either a Tradition or an institution of their Church profane it with sports and plays and observe their Saints days with much more strictness and devotion than the Lords day 7. The Pope and his Clergy can dissolve all bonds and duties betwixt men They can command Princes to destroy their Subjects and absolve them from all their oaths and promises to them of protection They can discharge Subjects from their obedience to their Princes and make it meritorious of heaven to kill them and a sure way to go to heaven immediately to dye in fighting against them They can divorce or separate husbands and Wives at their pleasure Concil Trid. Ses 24. Canon 6. Can. 8. Alphonsus the present King of Portugal was deposed and imprisoned by the Popes order and his wife taken from him and given to his Brother two now rules the Kingdom Parents and children Masters and servants in case of Heresie must betray each other and if they will enter into religious houses or give any thing to the Church then they are freed from all obligations to or care of their relations Is not this a man of sin that can and daily doth dissolve all bonds of men to God and of men to themselves 8. They teach that no faith leagues promises are to be kept with Hereticks or any that are not of their Church Pope Eugenius the 4 made Vladislaus King of Hungary break his league with the Turk solemnly sworn by him and all his Nobles and absolved them by Julian his Legate The Council of Constance burnt John Huss though the Emperour Sigismond had promised him safe-conduct to and from the Council they telling the Emperour that Oaths and promises to Hereticks must not be observed 9. They teach Equivocations and mental reservations both in oaths and common discourses viz. that a man may take any Oath make any promise answer any Question directly and plainly according to the words proposed and yet mean no such thing or the contrary keeping another sense or intent in their minds Garnet and Tresmond two Jesuites that were in the powder Plot being examined apart Tresmond said he had not seen or spoke with Garnet for 14. years before Garnet confessed that they two walked and discoursed together in Moorefields London about four months before they were taken being asked what his fellow meant to say they had not met so long a time he answered I suppose he meant to equivocate and this was excuse enough Thus all bonds of humane Society
Heathens they say they do not worship them as God the Heathens said the same and as truly but they do ascribe to them the praise trust homage and subjection fear and reverence which is due only to God which is above the condition and desert of our fellow Creatures who depend upon God and the merits of Christ as much as we and this doth take off the Heart from God and makes men believe that the Saints and Angels are nearer to us more merciful more ready to help us than God is and more concerned for our good than our blessed Lord whose whole work it is to redeem and interceed for us 6. Their imposing the belief of Transubstantiation and worship of the bread in the Sacrament Most of our Marian Martyrs were put to death upon this point only their not believing the real presence as they Papists call it of Christ in the Sacrament i. e. that the bread was substantially turned into the body of Christ If men would impose upon us the belief of the least untruth though in natural or civil things we must not submit to them much less when they impose such an untruth as this Tiansubstantiation which is against the plain letter of Scripture which saith that Christ did not only take which was before Consecration but also that he gave bread and wine to be eaten and drunk by his disciples which was after they were consecrated 1 Cor. 11.22 23. which is also against our senses the eye the smell the touch and taste all witnessing the Elements to be still bread and wine against Philosophie which teacheth such a change of one body into another especially so small a one as that of a Wafer into so large as the body of Christ to be absolutely impossible yea and against common reason which knows whence the bread and wine came how they were made how they go into the stomach are digested refresh and are carried off like other food should such a Paradox be admitted there can be no certainty in any thing For by the pretence of such a change or miracle all evidence may be evaded and so the Apostles that saw Christ in the body heard him handled him both before and after his Resurrection might for what we know be all mistaken and all the witnesses of the miracles that confirm both Testaments might all failin their sense and judgement of things and so nothing be certain in Religion seeing there is continually in innumerable places such a prodigie as the Host which is as they say the glorified body of Christ now in Heaven and yet sense and reason take it to be a bit of bread what may they not perswade and impose on people that can prevail with them to believe this The worshipping of the bread doth also destroy the nature and use of the Sacrament where instead of a comfortable remembrance of Christ and his death to increase faith in him and love to him men are taught only ignorantly to worship a bit of bread and that with more solemnity than Christ himself was honoured with on earth 7. Because they take away the cup from the people in the Sacrament hereby they take upon them to alter Christs institution at their pleasure they deprive the people not only of one part of the Sacrament but in so doing wholly obscure the meaning of the Sacrament for seeing they break not the bread but give it whole nor pour out the wine nor suffer the people to see and drink it the people have no representation of the death of Christ neither of the breaking or bruising of his body nor shedding his blood and in this the Papists are most insolent of any other their Corruptions for that their Councils of a Sess 13. Constance and b Sess 21. Trent do acknowledge that Christ gave both Elements to his disciples and that the Primitive Church continued the like custom for many ages and yet they can presume to alter it upon trivial reasons 8. The Papists greatly obscure the Doctrine of Justification the Gospel is the glad tydings of peace the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. ch 19 20. v. that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself is the chief thing committed to the Ministers of the Gospel if therefore this be obscured the Gospel is in a great measure rendred ineffectual and the Ministry useless for the end it was appointed for It is the chief enquiry of sinful man what he should do to be saved Act. 16.31 and on this depends all his worship of God for till man be reconciled to God he cannot worship him acceptably nor can he trust love and fear God aright unless he know upon what grounds and in what way God will have this done If we lose the doctrine of Justification we lose the substance of the Gospel and of all Religion Now this the Papists do obscure so much that a man can scarce tell amidst their Doctrines what Christ hath done for him and what he must expect from Christ They say a natural man improving the gifts of nature doth in some fort merit the grace and spirit of God and when he hath that grace he doth ex condigno properly and of due debt merit the continuance of Gods favour and heaven it self yea over and above may merit for other men and if a man do commit sins after conversion his voluntary penances his patient bearing of Gods corrections in this world and Purgatory in the next together with alms-deeds fastings and such good works do make full satisfaction for all these sins and he that wants penance and satisfactions of his own may be supplied out of the treasury of the Church by Masses and the Popes indulgences Now this is not only the doctrine of Schoolmen but the chief part of Religion and worship among them and the chief things the Priests teach and are imploy'd about 9. The Popes claim of supremacy is blasphemous and not to be submitted to by the Churches Under the Gospel Christ hath appointed no high Priest to whom all Ministers should be subject no place of worship to which all Nations should repair no Mother Church on which they should depend none to be his Vicar on earth but all this the Pope and Church of Rome claim and usurp which tendeth to bring all the Churches on earth into bondage to them and to exclude the conduct of the spirit in the Ministers and Churches as if it were peculiar to them only it is also a power which no Creature is capable of and derogates from the honour of Christ who doth by his Godhead spirit and word preside in govern and guide his whole Church 10. Because the Papists have wholly changed the discipline of the Gospel into a pompous worldly Polity Christ appointed Pastors and teachers for the edifying of the Saints till they all come to the perfect man in Christ Eph. 4.12 13. but the Papists have changed this into a visible worldly Monarchy though under