Feudatories If we believe the Pope and Court of Rome almost all the Princes of Christendom are Vassals of the Church of Rome Vassals of the Antichristian Monarchy A bout the tenth Century there was forged at Rome a shameless Instrument call'd the Donation of Constantine in which 't is sayd That that Emperor gives to the Popes the East and West the North and South Thrace Grece Jewry Asia Africa Italy c. By virtue of this donation all the Kings of Europe are the Popes Vassals and hold their Kingdoms only as his Feudatories But the Court of Rome is since that time grown more cunning Baron in ann 324. and 1192. sect 52. Baronius asserts that this Piece is forged because Constantine was farr from giving away the Empire to Pope Silvester and his Successors And Silvester was farr from accepting it under that notion For the Empire belongs to the Pope not by virtue of any human Donation but by that of Jesus Christ In Sermone de Sto. Sylâ—cstro S. Sylvester saith Vincent of Ferrara pleaded his own Cause so well that he gained a sentence importing that all the Possessions of the World which had been in the hands of Tyrants who call themselves Emperors and Kings should be restored to their Lawful Administrators viz. the Pope and the Prelates But besides this General Title there is not a Kingdom in Christendom which the Popes do not or have not claimed upon some particular Rights as the Vicars and Lieutenants of Christ Gregory VII declares that the Kingdoms of Spain belong to the Church Baron ad ann 1073. §. 34. and 1077. §. 63. From the very beginning saith he the Kingdom of Spain is the Territory of St. Peter and the Right of it is in no Mortal The same Pope makes the like declaration to the Lords and Bishops of Corsica concerning that Island That it belongs to none but to the holy Church of Rome and that those who have possessed it without paying homage to her are guilty of Sacriledge Steuchus Bishop of Eugubium proves that the Kings of Arragon Portugal and Sardinia depend and ought to depend upon the Church of Rome as proper Feudatories England for a long space of time was reckon'd the Popes feudatorie Innocent III. forced King John to make over himself and his Kingdom to the Church of Rome And if we believe Polydore Virgil Lib. 4. Hist Angl. long before that time Ina King of that Isle made himself a Tributary of Rome laying the Tax of a penny Sterling upon every fire-hearth The same Polydore Virgil reports Lib. 3. that Pope Boneface VIII wrote to Edward I. King of England that he could not make war against Scotland because that Kingdom belonged to the Pope who alone had power to bestow and take it away If any Heathen Kingdom was Converted to Jesus Christ and the Christian Religion upon this account it hath been challenged as a Territory of the Church of Rome Upon this ground Baron ad ann 1074. Gregory VII wrote to Solomon King of Hungary that King Stephen and the Emperor Henry had given that Kingdom to the Church and that since that time it had depended upon his Apostolick Majesty The Kingdom of Poland was converted in the year 966. and was made Tributary to the Pope as soon as it was subjected to Jesus Christ And things were brought to that pass that not only were the Polonians obliged to pay Poll money without exempting the Gentry but to make their slavery visible to the whole World Benedict IX appointed them to go dressed almost like Monks Baron 1013. §. 2 3. to have their heads shaven their ears bare to wear on great Festivals a linnen garment like a Surplice Gregory VII procured a surrender of the great Empire of Muscovy by Demetrius to whom he gave it back again to hold it in Feè of the Pope The Popes have had the same pretensions to the Kingdoms of Sweden Denmark Norway and Bohemia Above all they have counted the Empire of Germany as their proper Demesnes and have done their utmost to have the same Jurisdiction over France For Boniface VIII had the insolence to write to Philip the Fair We will have thee know That thou art subject to Vs both in Spirituals and in Temporals I know nothing that this Monarchy wants to make it like those other Monarchies which are represented in the Prophecies under the Emblems of Ravenous Beasts Lyons Leopards and Bears It hath a Metropolis a Monarch a Senate a Council Senators Emhassadors Allyances Leagues Governours of Provinces Courts Judges Vassals Subjects Feudatories It receives Hommages Oathes of Allegeance Tributes in First-fruits Provisions of Benefices Tythes and a hundred other wayes It hath further its Canon Law its Laws its Codex exactly as Emperors have their Pandects their Novelles and their Civil Law. The Papists boast that their Church is a Civil state But what need so much proving of a thing which is not denyed yea is boasted of Read but Steuchus Bishop of Eugubium about the Donation of Constantine Blondus in his Roma restaurata Thomas Aquinas on the 2 Chap. of the 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians Lipsius in the Preface of his Book de Magnitudine Romana They all confess take a pride in saying that the Majesty of the Roman Empire is restored in the Papal power that this new Monarchy is made up of a Religion and an Imperial Power that by means of the Church of Rome is accomplisht the Oracle which was given to old Rome Imperium sine fine dedi That the Pope is a perpetual Dictator that the old Senate is found in the Colledge of Cardinals c. That Rome still to this day receives Tributes from the whole World. Is it possible that the eyes of men should not be open'd at last to discern this How is it that God will suffer such a vail to remain on the minds of men Will men never discern that the Papacy is the head that was wounded to death which is healed again Apoc. 13.3 Will not men perceive that it is the Image of the former Beast or of the old Empire and that speaks acts commands and performs all the Actions of the old Empire What have men seen in Christ and his Apostles what have they read in the Gospel that gives any pretext to imagine that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ ought to be a Temporal one and have a Monarch a Metropolis Governours Officers about secular things Tributes Subjects and Vassals How is it possible that men should not see a Mystery of such shameful Iniquity which under the appearance and names of a Spiritual Kingdom and Ecclesiastical Power excercises a Carnal Worldly Earthly Dominion that is pompous vain and devilish and directly opposite to the Genius of Christianity Our French men with their Liberties of the Gallican Church do miserably blind themselves with the vain distinctions of the Holy See and of the Court of
most Holy Virgin Mary the Mother of God almost every thing which is in the H. Bible In prosecuting this design the Virgin Mary must be found in the first word of the Bible By the Heavens which God created in the beginning we must understand the Empyreal Heaven i. e. the Lady of the World the V. Mary When God said Let there be Light the meaning is Let Mary be begotten and born Every thing that is Great and Singular in the Antient History is Mary She is the Altar which Noah built to God after the Deluge the Holocaust in which God will smell a sweet savour is the Prayers of the same Virgin the Virgin is the Bow in the heavens of which 't is said when I bring a cloud over the Earth the bow shall be seen She is the mystical Ladder which Jacob saw in a Dream for by her the Son of God descends to us and by her we ascend to him she is the Gate thro which we enter into the Kingdom of God 't was of the Virgin that Jacob spoke when he said how dreadful is this place 't is the House of God the Gate of Heaven The Jewish Tabernacle and all its parts did respect the Virgin. She is the Ark of the Covenant that is gone into Heaven before us to prepare us a place there She is the Mercy-seat of pure Gold because she was sanctifyed above others in her Mothers womb She is also the Altar of Burnt-offerings because she is the Reconciler and hath taken this Office at her going into Heaven We may judge of the whole piece by these small shreds A thousand and a thousand Copies have been taken from these two famous Originals the antient Preachers of the Roman Church adorned their discourses with these excellent flowers For example in Solomons Song they found a large field for these profane applications There the H. Spirit in a mysterious manner sets forth the Wonders of the Union between J. Christ and his Church by the Emblems of a Bridegoom and a Spouse These profane wretches apply all this to the Virgin as if the Mysteries of our Redemption and Union with J. Christ were verifyed and fulfill'd in her And to give greater authority to all these shameless applications they were brought even into the Hymnes of the Roman Church In them they say to the Virgin Tu quoe furentem Leviathan serpentem tortuosumque c. Thou bruisest under thy feet the furious Leviathan and the crooked Serpent an Elogy which the Oracle in Genesis gives to the Blessed Seed i. e. to J. Christ Another hymn speaks thus to her Scala Jacob ora pro nobis Jacobs Ladder pray for us Nor is less done to the other Saints every one of 'em hath his proper Votaries especially the modern Saints are much more feasted and caressed than the old The book of the Conformities between S. Francis and J. Christ is full of these Abominations That Author will have that God had his eye on S. Francis when he Created the first man. For to him those words ought to be applyed Let us make man in our Image after our Likeness and let them have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl c. There are none who have been so extravagant in abusing the H. Scripture as the Preachers of the Papacy For they have adopted all these profanations and over and above have peculiar ones of their own 'T was their profession to make the Scripture ridiculous and absurd by impertinent Expositions by expressions fit for the Stage and by the language of a Farce which they still used in all their discourses If any should dare to deny this we have at this day enough to convince the incredulous in the Sermons of Menot of Maillard of Barelette V. Exceptions from which we have made considerable citations and the consulting them will be useful to let us see the Character of Popery Tho their Preachers are not so sottishly extravagant in this age yet 't is certain that the same Character is to be discern'd in those who are newly come out of the Convent and have not convers'd with the world The Writers of Controversy Scripture abused by Controversial writers ought to be much more exact and circumspect in the using of the H. Scripture Preachers and those who write Books of Devotion have some Priviledge in this matter and may take some liberty in their Applications of Scripture provided that these applications are sutable to bring the soul unto God. But when we alledge Scripture as an evidence to decide a Controversy we must keep close to the true Intent of the H. Spirit Nevertheless one would pity and blush for the Controversial writers of the Church of Rome who boldly abuse and wrest the Scripture to prove their Doctrines We have ground already to say that all the proofs she brings from Scripture are real Abuses of it And what we have discoursed above to prove that the Papacy is not in the least sollicitous to have a conformity to the Rule of Christians might be repeated here But besides those abuses which the Papists are forced to employ otherwise they must in plain terms grant that the Scripture is not their Friend besides those I say we may find others which they could have spared Are not the words of Christ to S. Peter Thrust out a little from the land Panigarola and Launch out into the deep an excellent proof that S. Peter was first to erect his Episcopal Seat at Antioch and afterward to erect the Popes See and the Soveraign Tribunal of the Church in the City of Rome Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thy enemies Behold an express Text to prove the same thing viz. that Rome is to be the Metropolis of the Church the Queen of the world Christ saith to Peter Bozius Follow thou me i. e. Go and place thy Seat and that of my Kingdom at Rome Behold I lay in Ston for a foundation a tryed stone a pretious Corner stone i. e. I will establish the Pope to be the Lieutenant of God and the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth Bellarmin There is one Lord i. e. The Pope is the only Soveraign of the world Where two or three are gatherd together in my name Panigarola there I will be in the midst of them i. e. The Pope alone hath Authority to call general Councils Bellarmin Let a man so account of us as stewards of the mysteries of God i. e. There is a Treasure of Indulgences in the Popes keeping which he may dispense as he pleaseth Verily I say unto you Eckius this generation shal not pass away till all these things be fulfilld This signifieth that there shall be a constant succession of Bishops in the Roman Church Loose him and let him go did Christ say concerning Lazarus And this denotes that
so negligent of their duty toward God tho Villains Robbers Debaucheés c. they cannot be damn'd because they have been Clients of the Virgin. This they prove by innumerable examples of those whom the Virgin hath by strange Miracles brought back as it were from the Gates of Hell because they had been her Votaries And as an evidence how highly pleasing this Adoration is to the Virgin she hath wrought more Miracles within these last seven or eight hundred years than God hath wrought snice the Creation by Moses and the Prophets by Jesus Christ and his Apostles and by all the Saints together Her Images have Spoken they have Sung they have resisted the Fire and the Hammer they have sored in the Air like Birds they have swet Blood and Oyle and Milk have run from them some of them have been turn'd into Flesh they have Wept Lamented Groaned they have made the Lame to Walk the Blind to See the Deaf to Hear They have cured all kinds of Diseases and Wrought all sorts of Prodigies For these reasons people will go to the end of the World to visit these consecrated Images they kiss and fall down before them and render to them an external Worship accompanyed with a most fervent internal devotion They rubb their Chaplets or Beads their Handkercheifs upon these Images and wear about them these Chaplets and cloths which have touched the Images of the Virgin and believe that they are reliques which have a virtue to preserve from all Evills That which we have discourst concerning the Virgin may be applyed to Saints proportionably There is no Folly or Extravagance that we have now related but every Order of Monks say such like of their Founder and Author the Cordeliers and Capucins of their S. Francis the Jacopins of their S. Dominick and in general of all the pretended Saints of their Orders they are more Holy than Seraphims they raise the Dead they heal all Disceases the whole Creation is subject to them We shall see their Instances when we come to handle the Fables of the Legends CHAPTER XV. An Examination of the Excuses by which some late Authors endeavour to palliate the Idolatry which hath been set forth in the preceding Chapter THere is none unless he is plung'd into the darkest Superstition but must confess that what we have been relating is Idolatry in the highest degree Accordingly since of late some Papists of the Gallican Church have taken up something of a Spirit of Moderation people begin to be ashamed of these Excesses Indeed how can it be that men should not see the Blasphemy that lyeth in giving to a Creature that which belongs only to the Creator To ascribe just every thing to the Virgin which can be spoken of God and consequently to give her divine Honours Those Gentlemen who make it an Article of their faith to follow the sentiments of a certain Ecclesiastick who wrote The wholsom Advices of the Virgin to her indiscreet Votaries tell us that the things charged are the Excesses of some Fryars which were never approved by the Church that no Council ever enjoyn'd them that at present all those Follies are antiquated that men are perfectly come off from 'em and that the Invocation of Saints must not be judged of by that measure And therefore if we have no other Arguments to make good the charge of Idolatry that we bring against the Church of Rome we must be non-suted This is their note for these last twelve or fifteen years and what they perpetually repeat to the New Converts yea they write and print it that all those who revive these Monkish Superstitions are some pitiful Jesuites such fellows as F. Crasset They tell us that when we pray to Saints we do nothing more really than place them among them who pray And that we pray to them on the same ground and design that we desire a Friend to pray for us The Roman Church is Idolatrous in the Invocation of Sts. First we reply in a word that the Invocation of Saints the most refin'd and the most amended by the Ecclesiasticks of France is a real Idolatry and therefore tho we could not reproach the Church of Rome with these excesses we have notwithstanding very good proof to convict her of Idolatry We say in the 2d place that 't is enough to us that these Gentlemen do acknowledge that these Excesses are Idolatrous as Mr. Arnaud expresly owns it and the Author of the Advices c. does strongly prove it This acknowledgment I say is enough to us to found an Accusation of Idolatry against the Church of Rome and to evince that she bears this Character of Antichristianism as well as the rest 'T is a meer Cavil to say that the Roman Church can only be charged with that she hath expresly determined in her Councils The universal consent the constant practice of her people the uniform Theology of all her Doctors the Orders and Examples of her Popes and lastly the toleration or rather the long reign of these Abominations without the least contradiction are sufficient to give us ground for judging this to be the Religion of the Papacy For we now take it for granted that for these last seven or eight hundred years this is the Religion of the Latin Church and that all her Teachers have approved have taught and practis'd it that the Popes have Authoriz'd it by their Decrees by their Examples by the blasphemous Hymns which themselves have composed in Honour of some Creature We defy Mr. Arnaud and all the refin'd Papists at this day to cite the Authors who have dared to condemn these Excesses We easily believe that there have been some who have neither approved nor practis'd them But the number hath been so small and the torrent so violent against them that they had been burnt if they had taken the courage to declare themselves 'T is so publickly notorious that nothing can be more that before the Reformation God and his Worship were scarce known by the common people Nothing was talked of but Pilgrimages to Saints or to some Image of the Virgin the Miracles wrought by Images and especially by those of the Virgin Vows and Prayers made to He-Saints and She-Saints The Jesu Maria had so shut out the name of God that it did fill your ears on all occasions In dangers in fear in surprises in short prayers produced by any strong passion All the world knoweth that in these horrid dark Ages the Monks were the Masters of the Conscience and Directors of the peoples Devotion These Monks I say who are the principal Authors of these dismal Excesses which men are forc't to be asham'd of at this day Such was the torrent of this impiety that those who were not born down with it were forced to conceal themselves so that 't is no wonder that we of this age cannot name and shew them These Gentlemen when we tell them that God reserved his Elect hidden in
of the Antiquities of Rome confess it The Pantheon is now the Church of the V. Mary surnamed the Rotunde Twelve Idol Temples are reckon'd that have the same Honour i. e. to be consecrated to the Virgin. The Primitive Christians did so abhor Paganism that they would not for any thing in the world have celebrated their Mysteries in Pagan Temples But Popery which came in afterwards makes use of any thing of the Pagans their Temples their Images their Ceremonies I know not how any one can look on this Conformity otherwise than a certain Character of Antichristianism CHAPTER XVIII The Eleventh Character of Antichristianism that is found in the Papacy a Spirit of Lying and Fables Falsehoods to sustain the Authority of the Pope A short account of the Romance of the V. Mary The Antichristian spirit must be a spirit of Lying and Fables ALL Heresies and false Religions in general have the Father of Lyes for their Author But yet 't is certain that there are some Sects that are distinguisht by this and have a Spirit of Lying for their Character 'T is plain by Scripture predictions that this was to be the Spirit of Antichristianism This is signified by those V. 13. Three unclean Spirits Apoc. 16. that come out of the Mouth of the Dragon and of the Beast and of the false Prophet V. 14. For they are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth These Spirits of Devils are those Lying Spirits who by Fables and false Miracles deceive the Inhabitants of the Earth 'T is of the same Spirit of Lying and Imposture that this Prophecy speaks V. 13. And he doth great Wonders Cap. 13. so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of men V. 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles These Wonders are Lying Miracles Delusions Impostures or Fables This is also predicted by St. Paul in his 2. Epist to the Thessalonians V. 9. Whose coming viz. of the Mystery of Iniquity is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders But above all this is the Character that the same Apostle expresly giveth the cursed Authors of the Antichristian Apostacy telling us that the Worship of Demons and Spirits as Mediators was to be set on foot by V. 2. Men 1 Tim. 4. speaking Lyes in Hypocrisy having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron The true Spirit of Popery is lying Fables and Imposture and consequently it is Antichristianism Let none wonder that we detain the Reader longer than usual on his Point For there is not a more sensible and palpable evidence that the Papacy oweth its Original to the Devil than this All false Religions have their fabulous Stories Paganism had its Fables corrupted Judaism had theirs But all the Fables of all the false Religions put together do not come near those of Popery either for number or horridness And those who will not see its Falsehood and Vanity by this prospect will never discern it by any other I promise once again that I do not call Popery that which remains of Christianity in the Roman Church for instance the Divinity of Christ his Resurrection his Redemtion and Judging the World c. Popery works no Miracles but to confirm its Superstitions These grand Truths are supported by Miracles and Wonders which were wrought by the Apostles and by Apostolical Persons The Papacy is not at all concern'd to support the Christian Truth by their Lying Miracles it takes little or no eare to preserve any part of it Or rather God hath not permitted that his holy Mystery should be disparaged by fabulous Evidences and Impostures of the Devil But the Papacy not being able to work true and real Wonders to confirm their Doctrines hath framed most horrid Relations fill'd with Lyes and ridiculous Fables to support the Popes Supremacy and Empire the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of the Virgin the Sacrifice of the Mass the Real Presence the Adoration of the Eucharist and of Images We must with some exactness view some Instances of these Lying Histories that we may understand the spirit of Popery Fables invented to set up the Popes Supremacy One of its principal Articles is the Authority of the Pope his Infallibility his unlimitted power his Succession to the Apostelship and Supremacy of St. Peter These things must be found in Tradition for Scripture saith nothing of them And to find them there they must be put into it for they were not there neither To put them into it for want of History they must weave together a heap of Fables Therefore in the first place they must without any proof suppose that St. Peter after he had been seven years Bishop of Antioch came and made himself Bishop of Rome and that he sat there five and twenty years that he was crucifyed with his head downward and at his death appointed a Successor to whom he bequeath'd a full Authority over the Vniversal Church This Successor of St. Peter left his and this third another so that in a continued Succession until this day the Popes of Rome have always been Soveraigns of the Church Umpires of all differences Judges without appeal of all Controversies and Liege Lords of all the Kings of the Earth but all this is founded on meer Fables Fables concerning the abode and actions of St. Peter at Rome First The Journey and Death of St. Peter at Rome are not very certain 'T is true antient Authors have said so But it doth not in the least agree with the History of the Acts of the Apostles or with the Chronology of St. Paul's Epistles That Apostle made two Journeys to Rome where he was twice a Prisoner In his second Imprisonment they will have him suffer Martyrdom with St. Peter 'T is very surprising and astonishing that the Apostle who in his Epistles written at Rome mentioneth so many persons of a mean quality should say nothing of St. Peter The Mystery of Iniquity began to work in Saint Paul's time this Journey and Martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome whether true or false was to be the principal foundation of the vain pretences of this Counterfeit Monarch of the Church 'T is not improbable that this Spirit of Lying which sowed the first seeds of Antichristianism persuaded the Antients of the second Century that S. Peter had appointed the Bishop of Rome to be his Successor tho this was plainly false For St. Peter had the charge of the Jews and of the Church of the Circumcision Now the Jews were very inconsiderable at Rome where they had no more respect than those Fortune-tellers whom we call Gypsies have among us The greatest and most considerable part of the Jews were about Babylon and 't is there that St. Peter dates his first Epistle As to the pretended Episcopacy of St. Peter at Rome which lasted five and twenty years
that such a bright Light should shine forth in so dark a night to shame those of after-ages who should Idolize this Antichristian Power 'T is a great reproach to the Princes of our days that they see not that which was so plainly seen by their predecessors in an age of ignorance and of superstition After this Passage I shall mention no other because I can produce none so good That light was not extinguisht but continued and increast till it broke forth with a more than ordinary lustre in the beginning of the last Century This famous passage of Eberard is as the Text to which every thing ought to be referred that hath since or then been said by others for instance the remarkable passage of Honorius of Autun who in the same age passing thro all the orders and degrees of people in the Church Princes Judges Ecclesiasticks Priests Men Women c. discovers the marks of Babylon every where even in his time In the same Age William de St. Amour a Parisian Doctor disputing against the Mendicant Friars the creatures of the Pope and the Court of Rome makes no scruple to say and prove that they are the Ministers of Antichrist and serve the Beast which hath seven heads and ten horns In the fourteenth Century Marsilius of Padua who vindicated the Emperor Lowis of Bavaria against the Court of Rome and the famous Petrarque whose reputation is to this day so considerable in the Roman Church have plainly proved by the very same predictions which we make use of in our time and Eberard the Bishop of Saltsbourg did in his that the Court of Rome is the Kingdom of Antichrist An Historian of that age tells us that a certain Carmelite had the courage to paint the Court of Rome and its Cardinals with all the colours of the Beast and of the Whore in the Apocalypse it was written to the Pope himself and affixt on the most publick places of Rome and Avignon You may see these Testimonies cited in our Legall Exceptions with those of S. Brigit of Nicholas of Clemangis Gregory of Heymbourg and many others So that we may say this light hath from age to age been diffused in all places men have allways either foreseen or seen it that Rome is the seat of Antichrist and that the Bishop of Rome who calls himself the Prince of Priests is the Man of Sin and the Apocalyptical Beast I here conclude what I intended to say to prove the Papacy to be Antichristianism and I repeat what I have said in other places that they who endeavour to darken this Truth are criminal against Christianity it self and they who see it not are prodigiously blind and stupid No wonder if Grotius and such as he be of that number these Gentlemen seem to design to overturn the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion Ought we to think it strange that those men who can find the Prophet Jeremy instead of Jesus Christ in the 53 Chapter of Isaiah cannot find the Pope in the book of the Revelations or in the Prophesies of Daniel I have said it elsewhere and I say it again that they who cannot discern the Pope in the Prophesies of the New Testament will never be able to find our Messiah in the predictions of the Old. Experience confirms this for the same men who exclude the Papacy from being intended in the Apocalypse do exclude Jesus Christ from almost all the Prophesies and Types of the Old Testament I would fain know how any man can make it out to a Jew that Jesus is the Messiah if he yeilds to him that all that which is spoken of the Passion of Christ in the 53. Isaiah may be applied to the Persecutions and sufferings which the Prophet Jeremy endur'd Where are there any Prophecies that may not as easily be turned to another sense as those If it be granted that he saith nothing for our opinion in this point shall any wonder that we are offended at so learned a man Who can with any justice complain of it since we have so much reason to complain of him who hath as much as he could by his Commentaries taken from us the strongest Arguments we had to confute both the Jews and Socinians He is the Patriarch and the Master of those Literal Interpreters of our days who undervalue all the Mysteries of the Bible and destroy the very Spirit and Spirituality of the Holy Scriptures Because they have taken some pains to discover some parts of Jewish or Pagan learning that their labors may not be lost all the Sacred Texts of the Old or New Testament must be understood with a relation to some Pagan rites or some Customs of the Synagogue and have nothing in 'em of spirit Mystery or depth Every one of these Gentlemen hath his own Idol one of 'em finds that the Gnosticks began to discover themselves in the time of the Apostles and for that reason we must meet with the Gnosticks in all the Apostolical Writings Another hath studied the Egyptian Antiquities and to prove that his time was well imploy'd we must find some of the Egyptian Rites in all the Mosaick Institutions Another believes he hath good Skill in the Traditions of the Jews and therefore the most spiritual part of the New Testament must be interpreted with respect to some of the Dreams and Fancies of the modern Jews We know very well that this sort of Learning Jewish and Pagan is not unuseful for the understanding of some part of Scripture but 't is in such places where some Heathenish Customs are treated of or in Historical matters But by going too far this way much mischief is done to Religion we shall soon abolish all the Types and destroy the Spirituality of the Law and make nothing to be contained in it but a bare Superficies We nevertheless respect and honour the learning and merit of the men we speak of but it were to be wish't that they had better imployed their parts and learning and we hope that they themselves will at length be sensible of it and perceive that their writings are not at all to edification However far be it from us to impute the particular Errors and Fancies of some few to any of the Protestant Churches to which they join themselves we know of no Christian Church in the West except the Church of Rome that doth not discern the Papacy to be the Antichristianism that is Prophetically described in the New Testament Therefore let it not be said that such or such a Church is not of this opinion for the sentiments of a few particular men here and there are not the Sentiments of the Church in which they live We must seek for those in their Confessions of Faith and the Annotations of the Bible authoriz'd by the Laws Now among all the Reformed Churches there is none we are so much obliged to for the discovery of the Mystery of Iniquity as to that 〈◊〉 England The most
A CONTINUATION OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE Scripture-Prophesies OR A Large Deduction of Historical Evidences Proving that the PAPACY Is the Real Antichristian Kingdom To which is added A CONFIRMATION of the Exposition of the sixteenth Chapter of the Revelation concerning the pouring out of the VIALS Written in French by PETER JURIEU Professor of Divinity one of the present Ministers of the French Church at Rotterdam Faithfully Englished LONDON Printed in the Year 1688. THE TRANSLATOR'S ADVERTISEMENT THE learned Author hath given the world an account of the Occasion and Original of his Legal Exceptions or Lawful Prejudices against Popery in the Preface to that Book of which this is an abridgment 'T is evident that in both he principally designed the advantage of his Country-men among whom the greatest wits have been employd to cover the deformity and paint over the foulness of Popery and consequently some Citations and passages will seem obscute to an ordinary English Reader But the present circumstances of our Nation abundantly justify the Translating and publishing a work of this design For tho the learned writers of the Church of England have sufficiently discovered the falsehood and danger of the Popish Doctrines yet the threatning Infection of our Age calleth for a stronger Antidote 'T is found by experience that the clearest Notions about these things are too weak to preserve from Apostacy in a time of Tryal Nothing can do this but deep Impressions on the Conscience which can produce an invincible Antipathy against Popery And I know nothing so effectual to work this as a due Consideration of the Characters of Antichrist that are to be found in the Roman Church If once a man is satisfied of this and withal hath a due concern for his own salvation tho he wants learning to plead against Popery yet he will be able chearfully to lay down his life in the Combat against it It hath been on this Principle that such numbers of antient and modern Witnesses have with admirable constancy suffered in the defence of the Gospel against the Tyranny of Rome 'T is therefore much to be lamented that our Author is somewhat mistaken in his charitable sentiments concerning the modern English divines whom in the conclusion of the Book he supposeth all to tread in the steps of their Predessors Whereas 't is manifest that the Example and Influence of a late Prelate A. B. Laâ—â— hath made many to for-bear the terms of Babylon and Antichrist in their Controversies with the Church of Rome So that of late these have past for rayling Expressions not fit to be used by Genteel Writers I heartily wish that such a Complaisance had not been attended with very pernitious effects Sure 't is no time now to manage and compliment such a declared Enemy of Christ and the Souls of men The Church doth therefore owe much to the Courage and Zeal of our Author who hath entred the lists against her with the Spirit and Weapons of a true Combatant and hath so effectually discovered the nakedness and deformity of the Apocalyptick Harlot that it must be madness for any either to fall in love with her or have any kind thoughts for her The Reader will find many passages of this Book to have an air of pleasantness and diversion as indeed 't is a hard matter to forbear laughter when the Objects are extravagantly ridiculous but I earnestly request this from him that he would take heed of jesting in so serious a matter 't is by no means enough to laugh and tell stories against Popery 't is alwayes to be remembred with what design these ridiculous passages are related which is not to make the Reader merry but to convince the Conscience that the Roman Church is the Babylon the Apostate Society which hath establicht herself by the most abominable Lyes and Fables as well as by the most barbarous Cruelty The Reader is entreared to make this Application of the whole otherwise the Labour of writing and Translating the Book will be lost The Lord grant it may not THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE A short Description of the Papacy TO divert and entertain Monsr Arnaud I shall once more act the part of a Mountebank as he is pleas'd to term it he shall have the Satisfaction to see a second Preservative of my writing and this may afford him a new Subject of raillery to imploy his wit as he formerly did in his Reflections upon the first Preservative which I publisht against the Catholick Exposition of the Bishop of Meaux But withal it will displease and vex him to review sometimes the passages quotedout of Father Crasset and the sorry scribbles of such Jesuites as he who are not at all to his liking and he would be glad never to see or hear any thing of ' em In this piece we give the true picture and representation of the Papacy as genuine and faithful as that is false and flattering which is of late made to the new Converts by the Gentlemen imployed in the famous Conversions in France It is composed of these thirteen lineaments which compleat the picture or so many Characters which describe Popery considering it in it self as distinct from the Common Christianity that doth yet remain in the Roman Church Let us then see what it is I. First 't is a Kingdom altogether Earthly and after the Spirit of the World. This Beast is as other Beasts which in the stile of Prophetick Scripture signifies Kingdoms and Empires It hath its Capital City its Monarch Provinces Governours Arms Cittadels Tributes c. and in one thing doth go beyond all other Tyrants that whereas their power reaches only to the Bodies of men the Papacy usurps an Authority over the Conscience and the Souls of men II. 'T is the effect of the most subile and yet the most detestable Poâ—icy by which any Worldly Empire was ever erected or preserved Their Temporal Tyranny is vailed under the appearance of Spirituality and at the same time 't is assisted and supported by it As Magicians to make up their Charms bring in the names of God and sometimes of Baptism and the Eucharist so doth the Roman Church make use of the words Religion Sacraments Church Censures Confession of sins the several degrees of the Ministry c. as the Means to establish a Kingdom and Government that is meerly Humane and Worldly and to exercise a power over the Bodies the estates the lives and Consciences of men III. 'T is a Proud Tyrant who is seated on a magnifick Throne and from thence cries aloud to the whole Earth that he is the Prophet of the Living God the mouth which Speaks Oracles Saying I am Queen and shall see no sorrow I am seated in the Eternal City Rome I am Infallible and of my Dominion there shall be no end It belongs to me to bestow the crowns of Paradise and I am the Soveraign Minister of the Living God upon Earth as to Temporals I am the only
the first Empire in whose place it comes This being notorious and confess'd 't is not necessary to insist larger upon it At present we must see how this is found in the Papacy in which Religion Church and State are mingled and hid one under another 'T would be needless to prove that it is a Religion and a Church this is acknowledged this is pretended this is boasted so that we have nothing else to prove but that the Papacy is a mere Civil State or Monarchy hid under the appearance of a spiritual one The Popish Monarchy hath its Metropolis and Senate In every Civil State or Empire there is first a Metropolis which is the seat of the Prince the Residence of the Senate and from which all Lawes and Orders are sent abroad The Papacy hath such a one it hath its Metropolis and the Wicked Spirit who hath founded this Monarchy chose out a City of great Reputation to be the seat of it I mean Rome which all nations of the world during many Ages had been accustomed to look on as their Mistresse which made it less difficult to pay respect to it as the Royal Seat of this second Monarchy The Imperial Dignity which had alwayes placed its seat in this City proved a Basis to erect this sacerdotal soveraignity upon The Bishops of Rome having had the honour to be considered as the Principal Bishops on the account of their glorious City afterward came to persuade themselves that this Honour was their due Prerogative When the Emperors lost Rome the Popes seised it for themselves and preserved its antient Title The Queen of the World. 'T was styld Vrbs the City by way of Eminence under the Emperors the Popes do still keep the same Name for it Rex venit ante fores jurans prius Vrbis honores Secular States have their Senates Antichristianism hath one of its own in the famous Colledge of Cardinals a Senate whose Senators and members are clothed in Purple have in every thing succeeded the ancient Senators of Rome Accordingly at their Election these words are pronounced You are Senators of the Ruling City equal to Kings Cerâ—m l. 3. Sect. 8. Art. 6. the true Pillars of the World. This Senate determines the fates of Kings and bestowes the Crowns of Heaven and Earth Every secular Monarchy hath its Monarch It hath a Monarch Antichristianism hath one This Monarch dwells in Stately Palace hath a numerous Retinue of Servants He is attended as the greatest Princes His Court is made up of such as challenge the foremost rank from all the Potentates of the World. The Cardinals will take place of Kings or will not come behind them Every Cardinal hath his Palace his Retinue his Equipages his House where all the Pleasures and carnal Pomps of the world are to be seen Kings are but Lieutenants in this Antichristian Monarchy This Monarch hath under him a great and vast Empire divided into several Provinces to which he sends his Deputies T is true they are not call'd by this Name some of them are call'd Kings Dukes Princes c. The Pope is so civil as to leave them these specious Titles But he challenges a Right to take away their Crownes to Depose them to absolve their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegeance and to give away their Dominions to others Never any Emperors pretended to more Power over the Governors of Provinces in the Roman Empire The Canonists say in plain termes That there is no Soveraign Power but in the Pope that the Authority of God and of the Pope is the same thing that whoever say otherwise are wretched Flatterers who deceive the Kings and Princes of the Earth Besides this Kind of Deputies the Pope hath others who are called Primates Metropolitans Archbishops Bishops which have divided Christendom into Provinces to share it among themselves and receive from the Pope Bulls and Commissions and also pay him Tribute and yield him Homage Pont. Rom. Hommages and Oâ—â—hes of Alligiance Cerem lib. 1. This Temporal Monarch takes an Oath of Allegiance from both these Kinds of Lieutenants where he is not hindred The Emperor at his Coronation takes an Oath that he will cordially pay to the Church of Rome the Duties of Obedience Defence and Protection Archbishops and Bishops swear Fealty and Obedience to St. Peter to the holy Church of Rome and to our most holy Lord the Pope for time being And this Oath hath no exceptions I promise Fidelity against all manner of persons Without so much as excepting the Kings whose Subjects the Bishops are After the taking the Oathes of Allegeance there are homages and presents to be made The Emperors are their Coronation after they have sworn Allegeance to the Pope must bring a Barr of Gold and lay it at his feet The Bishops also cannot have the Full Title nor execute the Episcopal Office till they have payd their Tributes which is call'd Annates Soveragin Princes have invested their subjects into their Offices by some Ceremony by giving a Sword or a Staff. Formerly the Emperors invested Bishops and Abbots by a Crosier and Ring But the Pope is so arrogant that he will invest the Emperors into the Empire On Christmas Eve he consecrates a Sword which he sends to Soveraigns to teach them that this sword signifieth the supreme Temporal Power bestowed by Jesus Christ upon the Pope his Vicar on Earth The Courts of the Antichristian Monarchy Secular Princes have their Courts and Tribunals in all the Provinces that are under them The Pope hath his Courts and Offices his Tribunals to which formerly almost all Civil Causes were brought under pretext of being spiritual At Rome there is a supreme Court to which all the rest are responsable 't is named the Rota Besides all this he reserves to himself the weightiest Causes He judgeth between one King and another between God and men He deposeth he excommunicates he plucks up he plants he pulls down he builds up he creates new Princes he layes aside old ones he dispenseth with Oathes and with Obedience to divine and humane Lawes Secular Princes maintain Allyances with other Princes They make Leagues and Treaties they establish societies they keep up mutual Intelligence in one anothers States For this end they send Embassadors to one another they make Negotiations and conclude Treaties The Pope doth all this He sends his Legates his Nuncios his Embassadors into all Courts of Europe He hath his Allyes and his Enemies he makes Leagues and Allyances hath a hand in all great Negotiations and Treaties And it must not be sayd that he acts as a Temporal Prince who Rules over some part of Italy For he pretends to have right to concern himself in all Treaties between Christian Princes as he is Head of the Church Secular Princes besides their subjects have also their Vassals And there are some Princes and Lords who hold their Lands and Territories of others as their
that it is not so plain but that 't is necessary it should be Prov'd Now from whence shall we fetch the Proofs of the Churches Infallability I must take them from her own mouth and believe her to be infallible because she tells me so and for that only reason because she saith it This is manifestly absurd for no man's bare word is to be taken in a business wherein he hath a particular Interest to be partial Hath a Turk right to oblige me to believe the Divinity of his Alchoran only because Mahomet hath said that the Angel Gabriel brought him the Alchoran from Heaven Must I then consult Tradition that is the Councils and the Writings of the Fathers this is another plain Absurdity because it is evident that this way cannot be made use of by three Quarters of the number of Christians and more who are ignorant of Greck and Latin and so cannot read the numberless volumns wherein this Tradition is to be found Or must every one believe his Curate or Pastor when he tells him that the Church is infallible This is another Absurdity for this Pastor must be infallible or I cannot build my Faith upon his Testimony He tells me there is an infallibility in the Church but how doth he Prove it which way soever I turn my self I fall into the former inconveniencies for if he saith I must believe it without proof he deals with me like a Brute and not as a Rational Creature If he gives me Tradition for Argument in this case I tell him I know nothing of it if he turns me over to the Church I ask where is this Church If he sends me to the Pope I tell him I cannot go thither and if I could I 'm told he is not Infallible If he send me to a Councill I say there is none now sitting If he send me to the Canons of former Councills I shall answer that I cannot understand 'em and if I could have no assurance that these Canons were really made by such a Councill If he proves that these Canons were not forged but really made by a Councill there remains another difficulty which I cannot get over viz. that several Good Catholicks maintain the fallibility of a Council There is then but one way left to satisfie my self concerning the infallibility of the Church and that is the Testimony of the H. Scriptures But how can any man make use of that according to the Principles of the Roman Church for I shall say that the Scriptures have no Authority without the Church I cannot believe the testimony of the Scripture till I know it to be divine and I cannot know it to be divine but by the testimony of the Church as we are often told The Scripture then hath no Authority as to me without the Testimony of the Church and yet you would have me believe the Infallibility of the Church upon the Testimony of the Scripture you must therefore in the first place convince me that the Church is infallible without dependance on the Scriptures and then I shall believe the divinity of the Scriptures on the Testimony of the Church and after that I may be able to believe the infallibility of the Church on the Testimonies of the Scripture The absurdities of blind obedience If the Church be infallible a blind Obedience is my Duty to obtain this submission to the Church is the reason of asserting her infallibility I must blindly believe all that the Church affirms But till then I am not obliged to credit any thing which the Scripture saith or seems to say for I am not capable to understand the meaning and sense of the Scriptures without the Church so that until the Church hath declar'd that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God and equal with the Father I have leave to doubt of it There was a time when the Church had not deliver'd her opinion in this point there was then a time when I was permitted to be an Arrian Photinian or Socinian But on the other hand whenever it shall please the Church to determine that the Ark was of a square figure equal in length and breadth or that Aaron's Sandals were with or without latchets it will be necessary that I must believe this or be damn'd Can any man be unapprehensive of the absurdities of such a Doctrine according to which at one time we may Blaspheme God without the least danger and at another time lie liable to Damnation for the least mistake about that which the Church hath decided to be the Truth These Gentlemen tell us that we must believe without examination all that the Church declares And by the same reason the Heathens were obliged to believe all that their Priests told'um and the Jews to receive all that was taught in their Synagogues No you will say they were false Teachers and so not to be credited very well But the Pagans and Jews say the same concerning my Pastors that they are false Guides And if the Jews and Heathens are bound to examin the truth of what is told them by their Guides why are not Christians obliged to know and examin what is told them by the Church at least they ought to examin the Church it self and her Authority and then we fall into the same Difficulties which were mention'd before After all this if a short and easy way could be found out to convince me that the Church is infallible this were not enough to quiet my mind because I know not where to find this infallible Church I see a multitude of differing Sects in the East and West in Europe and Asia who all say that they are the Church and that all other parties of Christians are guilty of Schism The Latins say this of the Greeks and the Greeks are even with 'em and say the same of the Latins the Protestants charge it on the Papists and the Papists on the Protestants I must know which of all these is in the right and to find out this I am plung'd into an abysse of difficulties and how shall I find my way out or extricate my self for there is no way left but by the Scriptures and that way is forbidden me till I am assured of the Infallibility and Authority of the Church without which I cannot be certain that the Scripture is divine It may possibly be said that I may believe the Divinity of the Scriptures before I know in what Sect of Christians is the Church because the Scripture is receiv'd by all the several Sects It matters not may it be said which of them is the infallible Church since they all bear restimony to the Scripture and there is one among them that is infallible viz. the true Church for her where-ever she be the Scripture hath an infallible testimony But this remedy will serve to little or no purpose because 't is necessary that I should know which of these Sects is the true Church before I can understand the
the Texts they bring for the proof of their fable of Purgatory Worship in an Vnknown Tongue Pilgrimages and a thousand other things There is nothing evident if this be not viz. that Popery hath no agreement at all with the H. Scripture But that this may be more apparent and manifest to all the World let me make these two Reflections and let the Reader therin follow me Christianity and Popery consider'd in the gross are directly contradictory First By a Comparison of the whole Scripture and all that we find there with the whole body of Popery by thus comparing it in the gross we shall see on the one hand the pompous show of the Roman Religion her High Priest seated on a stately Throne with his three Crowns calling himself the Supreme Judge of the Church a Vice-God the Leiutenant of J. Christ the King of Kings Magnificent Temples Altars Images and Worshippers who bow down before Wood and Stone Altars on which men offer Sacrifice with all the Equipage of those Religions which do most abound in Ceremonies Priests who are clothed in Mystical Habits who perform a thousand Actions that savour of Pride and are said to be full of Mysteries Spiritual Judges sitting in Chairs of Confession with Penitents at their feet repeating all their Crimes and craving Absolution A Worship wherein creatures are joyn'd in the Praises of the Creator over which especially they have drawn the vail of an unknown Language that the People and Fools may admire the more what they do not understand Processions wherin they carry either the Sacrament of the Altar or Reliques where several fraternities march in State and great Pomp where we see all the world bow down to the Earth and kiss the Dust in honour of the Ashes of some one deceased or of a Rag which they call the Girdle or Shift of the Virgin or her Slipper On the other hand let us cast our eyes upon the New Testament and observe the Simplicity of worship which is enjoyn'd there viz. Prayers that are the most plain and unadorned which have God alone for their Object The breaking a little piece of Bread in Honour and for the Remembrance of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ The sprinkling a little Water upon an Infant who is to be admitted into the society of Christians The publishing of the Mysteries of the Gospel with the greatest plainness and in such a manner as may be profitable to all If any seeth something else besides this in the New Testament he will do us a kindness to tell us of it And if this doth in the least resemble the magnificent and pompous Worship of Popery he will oblige us by letting us know it We ought not therefore only to compare the particular Doctrines and Services of Popery with particular passages of Scripture but 't is useful to make this Comparison between the whole body and mass of Popery and the whole body of true Christianity For these objects placed one against another make the deeper impression and more sensibly discover the prodigious difference between Popery and the Common Rule of Christians The Papacy is always on the defensive against the Scriptures The second Reflection which I would have made upon this subject respects the manner how the Church of Rome defends herself against the Accusation which we have now brought against her We accuse her for want of conformity in any measure unto that Rule which is common to us both The natural Method of justifying herself would be to take this sacred Rule and apply it to her Religion to evidence their Agreement Indeed the Papacy pretends a willingness to try this Method But it makes itself ridiculous in a most palpable manner when it attempts to find its Doctrines and Services in the Scriptures as we have even now proved Accordingly it stayeth not here its strength lyes in weakning all those Testimonies of the Holy Writings by which we overthrow its Superstitions Idolatries and Errors You alwayes find it on its guard always on the defensive against the Scripture alwayes wrestling alwayes winding alwayes fighting in retreat always entrenching it self in a bulwark which is called Tradition If you object against it the express Law which forbids the making of Images and bowing down to them it distinguisheth between an Idol and an Image between the Images of false Gods and those of Saints If you attaque it with the often repeated Commandment of serving none besides God it saves it self in the mists which come forth from the pits of Superstition and Barbarity I mean the distinctions of Doulia Latria and Hyperdoulia If you charge it with the impudent wickedness of robbing the Laity of the use of the Cup against the express Command Drink ye all of it it retreats to the monstrous terms of Transubstantiation and Concomitance If you produce express passages of Scripture which say that Jesus Christ was sacrificed and dyed but once it distinguisheth between the Vnbloody and the Bloody Sacrifice If you prove that Christ hath fully satisfyed for our sins it distinguisheth between Eternal and Temporal Punishments If you undenyably make it out by Scripture that there is but one Head of the Church they run to a distinction between a Ministerial and Principal Head. If you show them that the forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats are characters of the Doctrines of Devils according to S. Paul they distinguish between an Abstinence which proceeds from aversion out of an Opinion that some Meats are unclean and an Abstinence out of a mere design to mortify ones self If you bring them plain Texts which say in express terms that divine Worship is not to be performed in an Vnknown Tongue they wrest them by saying that we must distinguish between Holy and Profane Languages In a word go quite thro Popery observe its combats you will see it every where defending itself by distinguishing and warding off the Rule of Christianity which attaques it If ever there was a Character of Antichristianism this is one Antichristian and Antiscriptural have a very great agreement There is no Sect which deserves the second Title more than the Papacy therefore it is the former If the Papacy only had the misfortune of not finding Supports in the Scriptures and that we could find nothing in them to bring against it we should stand almost on equal terms with it and ought to seek some other Judge But the Roman Religion finds nothing in the Scriptures to support itself nay it finds a thousand things to ruin and destroy it This is the reason why it treats the Scriptures as an Enemy whose Assaults it every where meets and every where feels its blows But 't will be objected Are we not obliged to answer the Heriticks who abuse the Holy Scriptures against the Truth Must we not on such occasions distinguish and explain the Rule To this I reply that we are obliged to answer But we are not constrain'd
Mysteries At present I appeal to the Consciences of all the men in the World whether the Behavior of Papists towards the H. Scriptures be not exactly like that of an indicted and convicted Criminal who goeth about to reproach the Witnesses and reject the Judges How long will this fatal inchantment last and when will men begin to perceive this Character of Antichristianism which is so manifest If Popery be Christianity why doth it so blame and reproach the Law of J. Christ If the Scriptures are favorable to it why goes it about to take away their credit and why doth it hinder the reading of them The vain Excuses of the modern Papists as to the preceding Points In our dayes those Impostors who are call'd Converters are still telling their Disciples that the most of these proceedings are false that which is true as to them was only the mistakes of some violent spirits who are condemn'd by the rest and lastly that all this is past and gone that at the present the Scriptures are in due esteem Translations of them made and put into the hands of the Laity with Exhortations to read them And those poor blind Creatures who are willing to be deceived believe all this But they ought to remember that even in this present age Cardinal du Perron hath heaped together every thing that might make the Scripture suspected and contemptible pleading that some things in it sound like Fables others are apt to raise in the mind indecent and dishonest Imaginations as some Expressions in Solomons Song the History of Balaams Asse which spoke and the Jawbone of an Ass with which Sampson slew a thousand Philistins c. 'T is in our age and very lately I confess that the Gentlemen of the Port Royal have wrote that we ought to read the H. Scripture Mr. Arnauld that it ought to be in the hands of the Common People that it is full of holy Unction and of great Efficacy and Vertue for Sanctification and Edification But it is likewise very lately said by these Gentlemen Mr. Nicole's apology c. Prejudices c and Calvinists convicted of Schism That it would be a Folly more plain than the day to go about to prove by Scripture that the Gospells according to S. Matthew and S. Mark are of divine authority that we never stop the mouths of the profane with our new Rule of Scripture without Tradition that the H. Scriptures have said nothing concerning the Divinity of J. Christ which may not be evaded that no Interpretations of Scripture are more than probable that the Sâ—cinian Hereticks find as much there for their cause as we for ours that there are some texts of Scripture which do naturally lead men to Error Behold what all their commendations of the Scripture do amount to This is just the same thing that the Ancient Papists were wont to say that the Scripture is a Nose of Wax a Leaden Rule a Sheath for any Sword. The terms are different but any man may perceive that the sense and meaning is altogether the same Lastly It must be observed that for eighâ— hundred years the common People in the Church of Rome have not known what the Scripture was and that the reading of it was forbidden them by their Popes Bishops Councils by the Indexes of forbidden Books and by Parliaments Mallet hath prov'd this against Mr. Arnauld in an irrefutable manner to which he never thought fit to make any Reply He only insists on the Question of Right viz. whether the reading of the Scriptures ought to be forbidden to the People he hath successfully prov'd that it ought not But he durst not meddle with the Question of Fact whether it hath not been always the practice of the Roman Church to forbid the Common People to read the word of God. He did well not to touch upon that for he could not have done it but to his own Dishonour Therfore let our New Converts to Popery no longer deceive themselves by regarding the Church of Rome only in that small part of it which is in France and hearken to that inconsiderable number of Popish Doctors who seduce them for they ought to know that even at this day in Spain and other places to have the Bible in the vulgar Language is a Crime to be punisht with Fire and Fagot and the Inquisition Popish dispensations contrary to the Law of God. 'T were easy to inlarge this chapter concerning the injuries and outrage that Popery is guilty of against the Scripture without digressing or going far we need but consider the bold attempts of the Pope and his Clergy to dispense with the law of God and act contrary to it no greater violence or affront can be offer'd to any Law than to command what it forbids and forbid what is commanded by it This is the case with the Church of Rome Popery requires the making of Images and injoyns the worship of 'em the Law of Christianity forbids it Popery forbids the eating of all sorts of meat at all times and forbids the marriage of the Clergy both are allowed by the Great Law of Christians It grants dispensations contrary to the Old and New Testament it dispenseth with the observation of the most solemn vows made to God and with Oaths of fidelity made to Kings wherein the name of God is invok't It dispenseth with that sacred and inviolable commandment of childrens obedience to their Parents and permits girles of twelve or fifteen years old to cast off the Paternal yoke that they may enter into a Nunnery It authorizeth the revolt and rebellion of Children against their own Fathers even so far as to permit them to usurp their Crowns and overturn their Thrones as is evident in History It establisheth new Sanctuaries and places of refuge in their Churches to save the lives of Murderers contrary to the express command of God. It makes void the plainest precept of God that every Soul must be subject to the Higher Powers by the many immunities granted to their Ecclesiasticks exempting them from the secular power It allows Fornication and Sodomy for such a sum of money and permits Incest contrary to the Law of God. It gives a Woman leave to marry two Brothers or a man to marry two Sisters or an unckle to marry his Neice It dispenseth contrary to the Apostles Rule that a Bishop should not be a Child or a Novice for it bestows benefices and Bishopsricks upon such as are altogether unfit and incapable which agrees exactly with what was foretold concerning Antichrist that he should endeavor to change the Times and the Law. These Seducers will doubtless tell their new Converts that these things are the Enterprizes and abuses of the Court of Rome and that according to the Gallican Church the Pope is not superior to the Laws and cannot dispense with the Canons This is the doctrine of the Sorbonne and of the Parliaments I refer them to what is written by
That is in short they declare the Pope to be Antichrist for is not this the Character of Antichrist to assume to himself falsly and injustly the Rights of Jesus Christ to have power as our Lord to bestow Kingdoms and take away Crowns to open Heaven and Hell infallibly to determine all Controversies to pluck up and to plant to build and to destroy to have two swords the one spiritual th' other temporal and to be the only center and fountain of all the authority in the world Is it not the part of Antichrist to maintain an usurp't authority by the slaughter of so many thousand Christians as the Popes have done who have often made Germany and Italy to swim in blood to get the possession of this power to dispose of the Imperial Crown according to their pleasure for my part I expect a direct Answer to this and in the mean time I maintain that the Pope is a Monster of Pride and the Antichrist according to the last definitions of the Clergy of France and the Kings Declarations pursuant to ' em Can any thing be more ridiculous than what the New Converts alledge there is nothing they say more tolerable than the Power of the Pope as it is now explained in France But I would fain know whether the opinion of France and the decision of her Clergy be that which constitutes the Pope to be what he is and what he ought to be Let the assembly of the french Clergy at Paris say what they please is it ever the less true that the Pope doth ascribe to himself all that tyrannick Power we have been speaking of Is it the less true that he hath exerciz'd this power on an hundred occasions and that he will still exert it whenever he can Is it the less true that the Gallican Church on this very account is censur'd at Rome as guilty of Heresy and Scism Is it the less true that the whole body of the Roman Church looks upon the decision of Paris as a Crime If I should discourse in France of the Kings attempts upon his Neighbours as men discourse of them at Vienna and Madrid that nothing can be more unjust would this make any alteration in the Kings Right if he have any would he not still have reason on his side if it be true that he is in the right what hurt can it do to a Potentate that his Rights are limited and contracted by another Potentate in words and writing if the former continues still in possession of that which he pretends doth of right belong to him Let not those therfore be deceived who have suffer'd themselves to be abus'd by the modifications and abatements that have been made of the Popes power in France This doth not touch the Pope who continues still to be that in himself which he pretends to be and therfore once more I assert that this serves to no other end but to prove to the Gallican Church that the Pope is a Monster of Pride and by consequence that in this respect at least he bears the true Character of Antichrist CHAPTER XI The seventh Character of the Antichristian Kingdom which agrees to the Papacy a Spirit of Covetousness and Simony and its extraordinary Riches Babylon is to be a City of Merchants 'T Is manifest by the 18th Chapter of the Revelations that Babylon the Great was to be a City of great Commerce and Trade and of great Riches and consequently of Rapine and Avarice because these are the ordinary methods by which men acquire more than ordinary Riches Babylon is a City of Merchants V. 11. The Merchants of the Earth shall lament and mourn over her for no man buyeth her Merchandise any more V. 12. The Merchandise of Gold and Silver and precious Stones and of Pearls and Fine Linnen and Purple and Silk and Scarlet and all sweet Wood and all manner of Vessels of Ivory and of precious Wood and Brass and Iron and Marble V. 13. And Cinamon and Odors and Oyntments and Frankincense and Wine and Oyl and fine Flower and Wheat and Beasts and Sheep and Horses and Chariots and Bodies and Souls of Men. The Papacy framed by Covetousness That is to say that Spiritual Babylon is Rich and Powerful that her Goods are immense that every thing there is to be sold and bought Let us see whether this be not exactly verified in the Papacy First as to its Doctrines is it not Rich to the greatest abundance and do they not make sale of every thing First 't is plain that Covetousness dishonest gain and that wretched Passion which never saith 't is enough are the very soul and spirit of Popery Their Doctrines are framed to get Money The fable of Purgatory was forg'd by the spirit of Covetousness as well as Lying to drain Wealth and Treasure from the Houses of the simple People into those of the Priests and Monks 'T is this hath made so many foundations of Convents with good Revenues and Great houses setled by that which they call works of Piety The Sacrifice of the Mass the most august of all the Mysteries of Popery is made the source of a shameful and filthy Gain 'T is a Lucky hit for the Clergy that someway hath been found to persuade the people that this Sacrifice is good for every thing good for the Living and as good for the Dead good for Sickness and good for Health excellent to Find out what a man hath Lost and as admirable to Preserve that which he hath in possession good for Success in any undertaking by Sea or Land so that there is no Merchandise in the world that on this account hath so good a vent Innumerable persons are maintain'd by it and live by nothing else They have increased the number of the Sacraments because they are as so many Mines from whence money may be had Why are humane Satisfactions made to signifie so much but because you must pay dear to redeem them Why have they contriv'd a Treasure for the over-plus of the Righteousness of the Saints but to exhaust the treasure of the Ignorant of the Superstitious and of Libertins who buy Indulgences for money and do Penance by Proxy paying well for it 'T is well known that those Indulgences have made a filthy trade in the Papacy the traffick of 'em hath been so shameful that Papists themselves have complain'd of it By what spirit were Images brought into the Church and the Invocation of Saints not only is a spirit of superstition and Idolatry concern'd but of Covetousness too for Customhouses are establisht with reference to these called the shrines of Saints and consecrated Chappels where the Reliques and Images of our Lady work Miracles Multitudes of People flock thither and bring costly Presents and load the Altars with their Offerings to the great Gain and Profit of the Priests The proud Divinity of the Merit of Good Works serves only to advance that which they call Works
Character of Antichristianism which is found in the Papacy Idolatry in its height confess'd by the Papists themselves Antichrist must e an Idolater according to Prophecies Dan. 11. IT cannot be doubted that the Religion of Antichrist must be an Idolatrous Religion First we read that he should worship Mauzzim Dan. 11.38 But in his estate he shall honour the God of force Hebr. Mauzzim and a God whom his Fathers knew not shall he honour with Gold and Silver and with pretious Stones and with pleasant things He shall worship Idols of silver and gold And S. John saith concerning the subjects of the Antichristian Monarchy Revel 9. V. 20. And therest of the men which were not kill'd by those plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and of Wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk The whole thirteenth chapter sets forth the Antichristian Monarchy as an Idolatrous State. Ver. 4. Its subjects worship'd the Dragon which gave power unto the Beast They worship the Beast itself V. 8. And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb. The second Beast with two horns exerciseth the power of the first Beast in his presence V. 12. And causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed Altho these Adorations principally refer to the slavish Obedience that the Subjects of the Antichristian Kingdom do yield to the Head of this Kingdom 't is nevertheless certain that this Obedience is here set forth as an Idolatry and that it is really so Lastly this Babylonian Empire is described to us by the emblem of a notorious Harlot which was to commit abominable fornications with the Kings of the Earth and make all men drunk with the Wine of her Fornications V. 1. Come hither Chap. 1â— I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great Whore that sisteth upon many waters V. 2. With whom the Kings of the Earth have committed Fornication and the Inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the Wine of her Fornication Now every body knoweth that when the Scripture speaks of a Body a Society a Church the Fornications and adulteries which are charged on them signify Idolatries Therefore 't is certain that Idolatry must be one of the Characters of the Antichristian Kingdom Several ways by which the Papacy is guilty of Idolatry Let us see if this Character be found in the Papacy It is Idolatrous 1. In the Adoration of the Pope in giving divine Honours divine Attributes to him viz. a divine Power and an Universal Authority which are put in his hands 2. The Papacy is guilty of Idolatry in the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Altar which is nothing but Bread and yet all divine Honours are given it 3. It is Idolatrous in the account of the Invocation of Saints for the worship which is given to the Virgin to Angels and Saints makes them second-rate Gods to whom Honour of the same kind are orderd to be given that are given to the Great God. 4. Lastly The Papacy is Idolatrous because it obligeth men to fall down before Images of Wood of Stone of Gold and Silver The Idolatry of the Church of Rome may be consider'd either in their Worship itself or in the excesses of this Worship For instance in the Invocation of Saints either as it is generally owned by all the Members of the Roman Church or as it is explain'd by the bygotted Monks and Priests who are excessive in every thing and keep no bounds Thus the Idolatry as to Images may be considered either as layd down in the Decrees of their Councills or in the modern softning explication by which 't is palliated or in the Practice and downright Divinity of true Papists I will not here undertake to prove the charge of Idolatry upon the Roman Church on the account of the Services which she Authoriseth by her Canons and the unanimous Consent of her Doctors This would necessarily lead us into Controversy where we should be obliged to wash off the false colours which the modern Papists make use of to prove themselves no Idolaters neither in adoring the Sacrament or in the Invocation of Saints or in worshipping of Images In a word we should be engaged in a long debate whereas in this Treatise I design to take my arguments only from indisputable matters of fact and which are not debated After this Method I have proved all my preceeding characters of Antichristianism from History and Testimonies taken from the Books of our adversaries which themselves cannot gain-say And thus I will here prove the Idolatry of the Papacy by those Excesses which are own'd for such by all those of the Roman Church who pretend to any honesty and purity Mr. Arnaud and the Papists of his strain do in manner plainly confess that the disciples of F. Crasset and such like are Idolaters by their own Method of explaining and practising the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images I shall assist those Gentlemen by setting down our Arguments Palpable Idolatry in the Books that direct the Devotion of the people We cannot I suppose be blamed if in discovering the nature of the Popish Worship we make use of the Authors who have wrote Books to guide the Devotion of the People Now if their Directions be not Idolatrous and lead not directly to Idolatry we are content to be counted Lyars First these Books and these Teachers ascribe without any scruple a Divinity unto creatures They call the V. Mary a Deity and Goddess One of these Authors thus speaks to her Damian serm 7. in natif Virg. O Virgin have you forgotten your Humanity because you have been Deifyed 'T is a Cardinal of the Church of Rome who spoke at this rate in the eleventh Century which lets us see that these Idolatrous Excesses are not new Binet Marq. de Predest A much later Writer saith of the Virgin that She is advanced to a kind of equality to God. Another that Her bosom is the Ocean of the Deity O Holy Lady saith another to her I know that nothing is hid from you and that by your Deity you exactly understand all my faults Bonaventare The Lord hath said to our Lady Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thy Enemies thy footstool I suppose that to sit at the right hand of God is the same as to obtain divine Honour at least we take it so when we explain the Article of Christs Ascension The Iesuite Delrio giveth the Virgin the Titles of optima maxima i. e. most good and most great We know that the Romans gave these to none but the supreme of their Gods and that Christians have bestowed them on the Infinitely Perfect Being The Iesuite Tursellin with innumerable
'T is a Fable whose Original is found to be in the fourth Century in Sr. Jerom's time who is the eldest Author who mentioneth it For it is only to be found in Jerom's version of the Chronicle of Eusebius This Falle is unanswerably refuted both by the History of the New Testament and by Chronology And as one Fable produceth another the long abode of St. Peter at Rome hath produceth the Fable of his Contest with Simon the Magician in which this Magician flying in the Air out of sight St. Peters prayers tumbled him down and broke his Leggs or rather this last Fable was the older and so produced the other But because this Fiction of St. Peter's long abode at Rome was not sufficient to found the Dominion of the Pope they have forg'd Decretal Epistles of the first Popes from S. Clement Peter's Successor In which Epistles these first Bishops of Rome ascribe to themselves all that Authority which the Popes have since usurped They have besides forged a counterfeit Donation of Constantine by which he gives away to Pope Sylvester and his Successors the Popes the City of Rome Italie the Western Kingdoms and almost the whole Roman Empire And that this Title might be supported by possession the fabulous History of the Papacy maketh the first Bishops of Rome by virtue of their Papal Authority to send Bishops into every Countrey to plant Christianity there Thus St. Clement sent into Gaule Dennis to be Bishop of Paris Gratian to Tours Julian to Mentz St. Nicasius to Roüan Taurm to Evreux Exuperius to Bayeux Sainâ—â—n to Verdun Eucherius to Triers St. Saturnin to Thoulouse All Fables which Launoy a Doctor of the Sorbon hath taken the pains lately to refute they were expresly invented to establish the Supremacy of the Pope above Bishops This is but a small part of the Romance of the Papal Authority but because we must proceed to several other Instances we cannot insist longer upon this 'T is certain The Romance of the V. Mary that in all Popery there is nothing so singular and so near to that Worship which is 0165 0 given to God as the Worship of the Virgin. 'T is not easy to carry Idolatry to a higher degree as we have before demonstrated And we may truly say there never was a larger and more detestable Romance than the History of the Virgin framed on purpose to establish the Adoration of the Mother of Jesus Christ This Adoration is grounded on the glorious Priviledges which she received from God in her Conception in her Birth in her Life in her Death in her Resurrection in her Assumtion and in her Miracles We must give you an Epitome of this fabulous History and this Romance of the Virgin is far less discreet than that of St. Rose mentioned before 'T is probable that the Holy Ghost hath designedly been silent about the Life and Death of the blessed Virgin. Perhaps he intended by this silence to prevent the horrid Superstition which would flow from the Honour that is due to this holy Woman If this was the design it hath succeeded but ill For men have by their Conjectures discovered all the Circumstances of the Life of this Saint By one means or other God knows how they know them all as certainly as if She had always had an Historian or Annalist by her side who kept a diary of all that befel her even before she was born First they have understood I know not from whom that her Fathers Name was Joachim her Mothers Anna. That Anna had two Sisters and that all three were Daughters of Matthan the High Priest that so the Royal and Sacerdotal Blood might be joyn'd in the person of Mary This was known in the fourth Century in the time of St. Epiphanius But in the eighth Century Miracles in the Conception Birth and Infancy of the V. Mary men were told by a new Revelation that Joachim was the Son of Barpanther and he the Son of Panther These Names are not to be found in any of the Jewish Genealogies but that is no matter Anna the Mother of the Virgin and Wife of Joachim was a long time barren The High Priest Issachar refused the Offerings of Joachim as being a Dry Tree an useless Member of the Common-wealth because he could not perform the work of Multiplication Joachim filled with shame would not return home Anna sorely troubled that the Reproach of her Barreness had deprived her of her Husband doubleth her Prayers and Tears Joachim afflicted with her Sorrow hideth himself in a Desert where after forty Dayes retirement an Angel finds him out and biddeth him return to his Wise Anna the mean while had retired alone into the Sanctum Sanctorum whither never any Man or Woman could come excepting the High Priest who went there once a year In this place an Angel appeareth to Anna and tells her of the future Birth of Mary Behold how the Virgin is already as highly honour'd as her Son for an Angel cometh to fore-tel her Birth before she was conceived After this Anna is with Child in a miraculous manner for she was naturally barren and was now too old to bear Children Besides the Conception of the little Mary was immaculate as well as that of her Son Jesus she was also conceived without Original Sin. Indeed this discovery was not very certain for the sixteen hundred years past but in this last Age after innumerable Violent and bitter Contests between the Franciscans and Dominicans the former being assisted by the Jesuits have confirmed the Truth of the Immaculate Conception All the best Antiquity knew nothing of it the Fathers have expresly contradicted it But Salmeron the Jesuite hath proved that all the Fathers in this point are meer Fools and Blockheads and that men owe them no submission but only when they plead for the Catholick Church against the Lutherans then they are Infallible To confirm this Fable of the Immaculate Conception they have not fail'd to frame others S. Bridget had several Revelations about it and the Virgin herself often assured her of her own Immaculate Conception To oppose this Truth the Dominicans of Bern in the year 1507. wrought that famous Miracle which is related by all our Historians which History Dr. Burnet hath very lately rectified in the Relation of his Travels Without doubt the Virgin being provokt that they should by false Miracles oppose her Glorious Conception suffered the Cheat to be discovered Four principal Actors of this Comedie were taken and burnt as Victims to the Virgin and her good Friends the Franciscans in a Medow that was over against and in view of their Convent that those good Fathers might feed their Eyes with the sight of this just Punishment of the Enemies of their Goddess The Virgin being thus miraculously conceiv'd and with a Priviledge equal to that of her Son came into the World the eighth of September at such an hour For without doubt there was present some devout
to that purpose and therein he affirms that there is no man so wicked so much accursed of God that can want the Mercy of the Virgin provided that he be truly devout towards her he quotes the words of Bonaventure who saith O Mary how wretched and miserable so ere a sinner be you have for him all the Tenderness of a Mother you imbrace him you hug him in your Virginal Bosom 'T is with the intent to perswade to and promote these impieties that Father Crasset hath heapt together innumerable Examples of such as have been saved by the Virgin tho they were the vilest of men and Monsters of Wickedness Such is that of one Theophilus of Cilicia who had given himself to the Devil by means of a Jew who was a Magician but by the help of the Virgin was delivered such again is the Example of a young Soldier of Gascony who having given himself to the Devil denied God and J. Christ but would never renounce or disown the Virgin tho the Devil very earnestly prest him to it and this saved him for the Virgin undertook his cause and carried it against the Father and the Son. And that Woman who prayed to the Virgin to confound her Neighbour who had tempted away her husband from her the Image of the Virgin replied to the Woman and told her She of whom thou speakest is wont to offer me very acceptable Praises and Worship I cannot do any thing for her Confusion The same Authors tell us the Virgin hath often delivered her Votaries from the Gallows in Storms at Sea out of the grave and out of Hell it self to give them time to confess themselves that they may be saved only because they had been careful to Worship the Virgin and to fast every Saturday to her honour So shameful are these Romances of the Virgin that the very Heathens would disdain to apply 'em to their Diana or Minerva The design of them is plainly Diabolical for they would have us to believe the Virgin to be a Fool to be ambitious and Usurping minding nothing but to make her self ador'd and Worshipping and courting those that adore her as if she meant to appropriate all divine Honour to her self exclusively of God and J. Christ as if she would advance her Throne of Mercy above the Throne of Grace of our B. Saviour CHAPTER XX. A short Account of some of the Fables which the Papacy hath invented to establish the Worship and Invocation of Saints THe Legends are a Sea wherin a man may lose himself so large are they but 't is such a Sea as the Prophet Isaiah speaks of that casts forth mire and dirt for nothing is more filthy and hideous than the stories they tell us We will take notice of some few Instances only sufficient to make us abhor ' em First You must know that the Holy places or places of Devotion among the Papists to which they go in ' Pilgrimage to Worship and invoke such and such Saints are all founded upon meer Fables For instance the famous devotion of S. James of Compostella in Galicia a Province of Spain Original of the devotion to S. James in Spain is built upon a Fabulous History which saith that S. James the Greater who suffer'd Martyrdom under Herod Agrippa as is related 12th of the Acts he came into Spain preacht the Gospel there and returned from thence to Jerusalem where he dyed and his Bones were carried into Spain and reposited at Compostella where men come from the other end of the Earth to worship'em It would not be safe to call this History in question in the Spanish Dominions a man could not escape the Inquisition for doing so Nevertheless 't is so gross and palpable a Falshood that few understanding men in the Roman Church will go about to maintain it And if it were necessary it would not be very difficult to prove that S. James could not have been in Spain and that his Bones were never carried thither The fable of S. Denis the Areopagite near Paris France hath little reason to reproach Spain for this Fable because that of their Apostle S. Denis the Areopagite is yet more silly and ridiculous if you will give credit to the Venerable Monks of the Abbey of S. Denis near Paris and believe their Annals they have the true Body of S. Denis the Athenian disciple of S. Paul. He was first Bishop of Athens and afterward came to Rome to suffer Martyrdom there with S. Paul his Master But â—t so fell out that he came too late and that S. Paul had been beheaded some time before his arrival Clement who succeeded S. Peter judg'd it more to the purpose to send this S. Denis into Gaule to plant the Christian Faith there He comes to Paris with Rusticus and Eleutherus his Companions After this they are thrown into a dark and nasty Prison and loaded with Irons Some few days after these Martyrs were rackt and after that S. Denis is fasten'd to a Gridiron and roasted on the Fire he comes out of that torment and is thrown to the Lions but by making the sign of the Cross he presently stops their Fury and shuts their Mouths He is cast into a burning Furnace the Fire doth not in the least hurt him he comes forth out of the furnace without being singed The Tyrant inraged that no means would be effectual to take away his life tries one more makes him be extended on a cross Gibbet and his Members stretcht out upon it in order to quarter him but neither could they by this punishment put an end to his Life therupon he is again committed to Prison where he sung Mass for all the Prisoners during the service our B. Saviour comes down from Heaven with all his holy Angels fills the Prison with a glorious Light and gives S. Denis the Communion After this the Tyrant causeth him and his Companions to be fetcht out of Prison and they are all Beheaded When these Heads were separated from their Bodies their Tongues mov'd spake and sung the Praises of God and to compleat the wonder the Body of S. Denis rises up takes his Head in its Arms and marches two miles from Paris and throws it into the Bosom of a devout Woman named Catulla This is a short account of the History of S. Denis which many in our days will not believe especially since the learned de Launoy a Doctor of the Sorbon hath had the courage to prove it to be a meer Fable There is hardly any Devotion more renown'd than that of the Magdalen of Provence The Fable of S. Magdalen in Provence of the Holy Balsom and of the Blood of Jesus Christ in the Church of St. Maximin that doth visibly bubble up every year on the day of his Passion This Devotion is bottom'd on a ridiculous and impertinent Legend if ever there were any Let us see what was the occasion that brought Magdalen from the heart of Palestine
of which you have whole heaps in the Legends 'T is to set on foot the Adoration of the V. Mary Invocation of Saints the Worship of Images of Reliques Purgatory and such like stuff Now is it probable that God should work no Miracles to confirm the Divinity of his Son and of his Holy Spirit which fundamental Articles were once cruelly opposed by the Arrians and afterwards should work Miracles without number to confirm some Devotions which 't is granted are not necessary Cheats discovered even in our Age. We might further say to these Devoto's who would have us believe all the stories of Miracles that are read in the Legends that if in so learned an Age as ours and in places where the Priests have so many Eyes to watch 'em they yet have the boldness to counterfeit Miracles they could surely do so in an Age when they acted behind the Curtain i. e. the ignorance and stupidity of the people who took pleasure in such Cheats And here we might relate to them a hundred Cheats of the Monks in the last Age and in the present one We might instance in the very late and famous Miracle of St. Florent very night Saumur where the Wafer appeared in the form of a little Child for the confounding of the Hereticks who had an Academy i. e. the nursery of their Heresy very nigh the place We might entreat 'em to remember that the Bishop of Anger 's after he had approv'd of this Miracle was ashamed of it when the Cheat came to be known We might produce to 'em the Saint of Troye a Nun that liv'd on consecrated Wafers and felt all the torments of the Martyrs when ever the days of their Passions return'd people flockt from all parts of France to see her but she was found out to be a Cheat by the Bishop of the place in the year 1673. what is acted at this day without doubt might be very well acted formerly Lastly we might tell these Gentlemen that in case God were obliged to be so prodigal of Miracles he ought to have laid 'em out in the Indies where men go to convert the Heathens Notwithstanding we do not find that he hath done so or at present doth so 't is true the Jesuites have publisht a vast number of pretended Wonders wrought by Francis Xavier their Apostle But 't is pretty strange that none knew any thing of these Miracles till after Xavier was dead yea that Xavier himself knew nothing of ' em We have his Letters among those written from Japan wherein the relates every thing he did in that Country excepting his Miracles if God had granted him the Gift of Miracles among the rest he ought to have had the Gift of Tongues But we find that he often complains that he could not edify these Indians because he could neither understand them nor make himself understood by them since Francis Xavier a vast number of Missionaries have gone into those Countreys who have not been able to work Miracles tho they would very fain have done so And yet I suppose the design which carrieth 'em thither viz. to plant the Christian Religion among the Indians is at least as important as the design to establish the Orders of S. Francis or of S. Dominick This is what we might say to such as Father Crasset and their Devoto's What is pleaded by the Papists who would not have us believe the stories of the Legends But there is another sort of men who do us a great deal more mischief These are the Luke-warm with respect to Popery your Libertines in the opinion of Father Crasset but as they account themselves Christians of a Finer-spun Religion These are our Converters in France who have had the best success in seducing those wretched Protestants who had a mind to be deceived These have told 'em you ought not to regard what your Ministers cite out of these rascal Legendary Writers sorry Monks Fabulous Authors who have neither wit or judgment This is not the Religion of people of Fashion The Reign of these Fables in expired you are not obliged to believe these impertinent Tales This is a most dangerous Snare which those who have any care of their Souls ought to take heed of For this end they ought to know that this filthy shameful lying History of Legends hath been the Popish Gospel The Legends have been the Popish Gospel for 7. or 8â—0 years for the space of seven or eight hundred years and a Gospel receiv'd with so universala consent that not one man hath been so bold as to question muchless to oppose it The common people sunk into a profound ignorance nourisht their false Piety only with these kind of Fables This already is enough to prove that Popery is Antichristianism for 't is impossible that God should suffer the true Church to sink into so horrid a degeneracy that all the bread they had for their Souls should be only a monstrous heap of ridiculous Fables But further the new Converts ought not to suffer themselves to be deceived this Gospel of the Father of Lyes is at this day in vogue as it was formerly all Italy all Spain have no other Spain and Italy even at this day have no other Gospel but Legends All the devout Clients of the Monks are fed with no other Nourishment The Hero's of the Papacy are the Patrons of these enormities Bellarmin and Baronius both learned men both Cardinals both of great reputation the Possevins the Vasques's the Snares's in a word all that are eminent and considerable in the Papacy do take the part of these fabulous Histories if some few confess that there are some Fables which may be cashier'd this scarce signifieth any thing Have we not an evidence of this in those vast Gollections of the Lives of the Saints begun by the Jesuit Rosweyd and continued by his Successors in that work They are already come to the fourteenth Volum in Folio and other three are every day expected and yet this Martyrology is come hitherto but to the moneth of May so that this Body of Fables will be about forty Volums Vast Volums of Legends printed at this day if the remainder be proportionable And will be the most prodigious work both for matter and bulk that was ever seen since the beginning of the world Ask the Carmelites if they are willing to lose any one of the Priviledges of their Order which were founded on meer Fables Know of the Franciscans and Dominicans if they be in the humour to correct their Annals and blot out those passages which we call Impieties and impure Fables Is it not Father Bouhowrs an Author of great Reputation at this day in France among persons of note who translated the Panegyrick of S. Rose in which we see all the Follies of the old Legends revived Lastly who is the person that hath dar'd openly to oppose and condemn the Book of F. Crasset excepting Mr. Arnaud
which ought in their judgment to be always under the Cross is fully obtain'd by these kind of sufferers I know not what Notions F. Maimbourg once a Jesuit had 'T is reported that he had begun to write the History of the Flourishing of Rome Christian probably he would have observed the Method which he used in his History of the Fall of the Empire If so 't is probable that he did not reckon among the Crosses of the Church all the troubles which the Popes endured from the Emperors who opposed their usurpations If the Papacy therefore will have Martyrs it must register in its Martyrology all that have dyed in the Wars raised against Kings by the Popes all that dyed in the Croisado's or in the massacring of the Waldenses and Albigenses all that dyed in the Field in the Wars raised in France on account of Religion at the Battels of Dreux of S. Denys Moncontour Coutras and many other engagements during the Design of the H. League in France to extinguish by Fire and Sword the Sect of the Calvinists and the antient Race of the French Kings I confess that such a reckoning would make a huge Martyrology and the Papists might glorie in being persecuted But the Hereticks in these dayes are somewhat scrupulous in the point of Martyrs and will find out something to hinder the Canonizing of such a vast multitude They will call those good Catholicks who dyed in the Wars against the Emperors of Germany Rebells who received from Heaven the just punishment of their Revolt They will say that the blessed Cross-bearers who dyed in the H. Lâ—nd or in going thither were a company of sidy distracted men who smarted for their rashness They 'le say that those who lost their lives in murthering the Waldenses and Hugenots were like Executioners who sometimes pay the scores of those who eâ—cape Laâ—â—ly they 'le say that the Church of Rome for eight hundred years past never suffered evil but when she had a mind to do mischief that She hath not born Jesus Christ's Cross but the Devils Cross that she hath been a Persecutor and not persecuted that she always came off victorious and that both her victories and combats have not been design'd for the advancing of the Throne of J. Christ but of that of the Pope Bellarmin is very ingenious Temporal prosperity cannot be a mark of the true Church Deâ—otis Eccl. â—ob 4. cap. 28. when he proves that temporal prosperity is a mark of the Church and among the Arguments to prove the real presence worship of Images Invocation of Saints c. he sets down the defeating of a hundred thousand Waldenses by eight thousand Catholicks the victories of the Popish Cantons in their Wars against the Protestant Swâ—â—zers and that of Charles V. over the Duke of Saxony in the year 1547. How well doth this agree with the Confession of the Bishop that the most peculiar Law of the Gospel is that of bearing the Cross These constant victories of the Papacy this continued prosperity of the Popes and of the Heroes who have defended their cause the dismal adversity of all that have opposed 'em these things I say in my opinion do afford a very strong Exception or prejudice against this Church For no such thing was ever promised to the Christian Church This prosperity was wholly reserved for the Antichristian Church at least until a certain Period in which the Church in her turn shall have Dominion over the earth and the world CHAPTER XXV The Conclusion In all Ages it hath been fore-seen or known that Rome and her Bishop are the Seat and Empire of Antichrist FOr a conclusion of this Work and of all that we design to say concerning the Antichristianism of the Church of Rome we will add some evidences to prove that we are not the only or the first men who have discern'd the Characters of Antichrist and of Antichristianism in Rome and her Bishop in the Pope and the Papacy 'T is above fifteen hundred years since some begun to discern that which we at this day behold more clearly The Fathers tho they fell into some mistakes concerning Antichrist yet did perceive something of this Mystery And in the Ages that were the darkest and the most enslaved under the Tyranny of the Papacy some were found who clearly saw Antichrist in Rome tho it was their great Interest not to see it because they always lookt on the Church of Rome as the true Church and both lived and dyed in her communion S. Irenaeus saw Antichrist in the number of the Beast S. Irenaeus without doubt was very unhappy in his Interpretations of the Mysteries of the Apocalypse as to what concerns Antichrist About whom he hath occasioned the mistakes of all those who followed his steps Notwithstanding we are beholding to him for the understanding of the Mystery coucht in the Name of Antichrist which was to make 666. He hath observed that the name Lateinos i. e. Roman or Latin does exactly make this number and this is of great use 't is a considerable discovery that lets us know where we ought to seek for Antichrist Not at Constantinople nor at Isphahan nor at Pequin but at Rome and in the Master of Rome S Jerom saw Antichrist in Rome Christian St. Jerom lived in the fourth Century in which the Church had a most glorious Age as to temporals The Church of Rome began at that time to raise herself above all other Churches to act the Queen and appear as a Star of the greatest magnitude The Bishop of Rome began to be a great Prince he had a brave House a stately Equipage a sumtuous Table was courted by many In a word his condition was such that a Roman Consul would willingly have changed preferments For a Heathen named Praetextatus prickt for Consul said Make me Bishop of Rome and I 'le turn Christian From hence the Flatterers of the Popes draw this profitable conclusion for the Church of Rome that she is naturally and necessarily the Queen of all the Churches St. Jerom who relates this saying of Pretextatus doth not draw the same conclusion on the contrary he begins to discern the characters of mystical Babylon in this pomp of the Roman Church his words are Whilst I dwelt in Babylon Praefat. in lib. Dydyâ—â— de Spir. Sâ—â— and was a subject of the Woman cloathed in purple I had a mind to discourse concerning the Holy Spirit and to dedicate that smal work which I had begun to the Bishop of that City but behold the Pot which Jeremy saw in the Northern climate behind a Staff began to boyle The Senat of Pharisees and all the false Scribes not one excepted making up one faction of Ignorance set themselves to conspire against me as tho I had a mind to contest with 'em in point of learning 'T is not Rome Pagan that he speaks of for 't was almost fifty years since she had submitted to Christianity
are far more sensible of a Tyranny that oppresseth 'em than of a Corruption that doth little or not at all concern and touch ' em This was the occasion why in the eleventh Century the Clergy of Liege being unjustly excommunicated by Pope Paschal the II. made him know that he was Antichrist and that his See was Babylon Tom. 10 of the Councils Paris Edition There was never a greater confusion in Babylon than is at this day in the Church c. Peter saith in his Epistle The Church that is at Babylon salutes you 'T was thought till now that he meant by Babylon Rome Pagan because then it was fill'd with Idolatry and filthiness But at this day sorrow forceth us to believe that Peter speaking of the Church at Babylon did by a spirit of Prophecy foresee the confusion and discord that at this day reigns in the Church This is to speak somewhat afar of But Aventin tells us that they most spoke more home The Preachers saith he did publickly curse the Pope and sayd that he was Antichrist and that under an outside of Piety he exercised his cruelty that under the pretence of Jesus Christ he advanc't the interest of Antichrist that he did sit in Babylon in the Temple of God and did lift up himself above all that is worship't and gloryed as tho he had been God that he could not err The Emperors of Germany cruelly vex'd by the ambition of the Popes plainly perceived that the real Antichristianism was there We have many Letters of the Emperor Frederick II. the conclusion of 'em is that Rome is Babylon and the Pope Antichrist But if we would know the sentiments of the Church of Germany concerning this it will be sufficient to hear the Admirable Discourse that Eberard Bishop of Saltsburgh made at Ratisbon before all the States of the Empire 'T is long and we will only take out what our Subject requir's An admirable Dicourse of a German Bishop that proves the Pope to be Antichrist Anno 1240. Aventin l. 7. 'T is about a hundred and twenty years since Hildebrand under pretext of Religion began to lay the Foundations of Antichrist's Monarchy He was the first Author of that War that is continued to this day by his Successors First they took from the Emperor the Right of Electing the Popes and gave it to the Priests and the People c. Paul who had a Treasure of Divine Philosophy saith Be subject one to another in the fear of the Lord our Soveraign and eternal Master our Heavenly Teacher instructs us in the difference between the Princes of the world and those of the Church which is this that the former rule over their Subjects and the later serve theirs He that was clothed with Soveraign Majesty took the form of a Servant ministred to his Disciples and wash'd their Feet But the Priests of Babylon will reign alone they can suffer no Equals and will give themselves no rest until they have put all things under their ' Feet and are exalted above all Authority Their Hunger after Riches and their Thirst after Honours is unsatiable c. He who calls himself a Servant of Servants will be Lord of Lords as if he were God c. He speaks as majestick as if he were God he frames new Projects in his heart he designs to found an Empire for himself where he is to be sole Master he changeth Lawes he publisheth his own he ravageth he pillageth he plundereth he cheats he kills Thus acteth this man of sin who is called Antichrist on whose Forehead is writ a name of blasphemy I AM GOD I CANNOT ERR He sits in the Temple of God and ruleth far and wide But as it is written in the Mysteries of the H. Scriptures he that readeth let him tenderstand the wise shall understand but the wicked shall do wickedly and shall not understand The Sybills spake plainly of this a long while ago and Hydaspes a very antient King he interpreted by a Child who prophecyed left to posterity the Name Roman a long time before the Trojan people were in the world And the Oracles of our Prophets have fore-told this under other names and in riddles that so every body might not understand it The Majesty of the People of Rome who once governed the Empire is vanisht out of the Earth and the Empire is return'd into Asia The East will recover the Empire and the West become a Slave The Kingdom hath been divided and the Soveraign Authority parted among many and at the same time weakned and lessned not to say that it hath been torn in pieces c. The name of Emperor is now nothing but an emty Title and a meer shadow There are ten Kings who have divided the Roman Empire among 'em not to govern but to destroy it These are the ten Horns which seem'd incredible to St. Augustin 1. The Turks 2. The Greeks 3. The Egyptians 4. The Africans 5. The Spaniards 6. The French. 7. The English. 8. The Germans 9. The Sicilians 10. The Italians possess the Roman Provinces and have expell'd the Romans out of ' em But among the ten a little Horn is grown up that hath Eyes and a mouth that speaks proudly and this little horn hath especially vanquisht three Kingdoms viz. that of Sicily that of Germany that of Italy and hath forced 'em to serve it Further it vexeth the people of Jesus Christ and his Saints by an intolerable tyranny it confounds divine with human affairs and commits horrid and execrable villanies Is there any thing more plain than this Prophecy I never read this passage without very great admiration There seems to be an enthusiasm in it And I cannot conceive how in such an Age as that any other Spirit than that of God could bestow so much knowledge Never any Calvinist or Lutheran spoke any thing more clear more excellent and exact to interpret Daniel or St. John. Let those who accuse at this day the applications of the Prophecies to the Pope as vain fancies and sports of wit learn that 't is now four hundred and fifty years ago there were those who had the same sentiments and proved 'em in a most convincing manner But some will object Why did not the Church of Germany break with the Pope at that time when it so clearly saw and so invincibly prov'd that he was Antichrist I answer Why the Germans in the 13th Age did not break with the Pope 't was because the Church of Germany was then divided Antichrist had there an infinite number of slaves who kept the rest in bondage Thence it was that even those who so clearly discern'd the Pope to be Antichrist remain'd nevertheless in the worst errors and in Idolatry They deserved not that God should give 'em the Grace to seperate from him whom they knew to be Antichrist Lastly the principal reason is because the Time appointed by the divine Providence was not come Only God was pleased