Thou shalt come to the Priests the Levites Deut. 17.9 11. and the Judg that shall be in those days c. Thou shalt not decline from the Sentence that they shall shew thee to the right Hand nor to the left But it is apparent they were to judg according to Law and therefore the Jewish Gloss would fit these Men's Purpose Glossa Hebraica better than the Text it self If the Judg shall tell thee that the right Hand is the left and the left the right thou must believe him To which that known Saying of Bellarmin's very well agrees If the Pope shall desine Vertue to be Vice and Vice Vertue we must take it to be so upon his Credit But I proceed to examine the Religious Practices Opinions and Ceremonies of the Roman Church and to compare them with those of the Heathens And here I must not enlarge upon Particulars because I have so many to name but shall be most brief in those that are of an obvious and ordinary Observation I begin with 1. The Canonization of Saints Here the Pope assumes the very same Authority which the Roman Senate challenged in the Apotheosis of their Emperours As will appear by comparing the Power and Rites of Canonization in Bellarmin Bellarmin de Sanctorum Beatitudine l. 2. c. 7. Alexand. ab Alex. Genial dies Herod Hist Rom. l. 4. Dr. Jackson 's Works lib. 5. p. 937. with those of the Gentile Consecrations Yea to make the Parallel more compleat as the Deification of Antinous was countenanced with feigned Relations and the appearance of a new Star So are Revelations frequently pretended to credit the Popish Sanctifications and surely where Reason doth not only desert but oppose them as in this case of making their Gods and Mediators they had need be well furnished with Revelations The second thing I shall instance in is 2. Their praying to Saints and Angels Which seems to be the very same thing condemned by the Apostle in the Revolters of the latter times under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 but the most learned Mr. Joseph Mede The Apostacy of the latter times Doctrines of Demons These Demons in the Heathens Divinity were an inferiour fort of Deified Powers Mediating Spirits betwixt the Supream Deities and mortal Men according to that of Plato Plato's Symposion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. God doth not mix himself with Men by any immediate Communications but all Converse and Conference between the Gods i. e. the Dii superi the Superiour Gods and us is managed by Demons They receive and present our Prayers they return our Blessings and confer our Rewards And it is Celsus his Doctrine Origen contra Celsum lib. ◠that they must be confided in have Oblations and Prayers offered to propitiate them as their Laws require and he calls them the Peers of the Heavenly Kingdom chief Ministers and Officers of the High God And these were the Souls of Men famous in their life time for some worthy Deeds renowned and honoured after Death as a middle and inferiour sort of Gods Multi Christiani Divos Divasque non aliter venerantur quam Deum nec video in multis quid sit discrimen inter eorum opinionem de Sanctis id quod Gentiles putabant de suis Diis Lud. Viv. com in Aug. de civit Dei l. 8. c. ult and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 10.20 which we translate a Sacrificing to Devils may as well if not more properly be meant a sacrificing to those Daemons to the Souls of brave Men surviving after Death and supposed to be in a Capacity of doing good or evil to Men upon Earth Let us now consider whether the Papists praying to Angels and Saints departed their burning Lights and Perfumes to them presenting them with Oblations and Vows do not exactly resemble this Pagan Daemonolatry and equal if not exceed the Idolatry and Superstition of their Devotion herein The Advocates for Popery indeed pretend that there are many great differences in the Case As 1. That the Heathens ador'd wicked Men either altogether unworthy of any or worthy of disgraceful Memory whereas their Church worships none but such as were of eminent Deserts 2. That whereas the Heathens invoked their Demi-Gods as the immediate Authors and Bestowers of particlar Blessings and good Things they pray to the Saints only as Intercessours and more prevalent Supplicants to Almighty God 3. That they acknowledge one Supream Superexcellent Being and reserve for him a Soveraign Honour as his peculiar whereas the Heathens either did not own one Supream Being or worshipped the Devil as such and gave that singular Honour which was due to God to the Creature By such distinctions as these they endeavour to clear themselves from any Participation with Heathens in this their Idolatry But these Pretences have been so well examined and so fully confuted by others in every particular that a brief reply to each will be sufficient at present As to the first it is plain that Bochart Geogr. Sacr. 1. Many of those whom the Heathens worshipped were great and good Men Theoph. Gale Court of the Gentiles and it hath been noted by some learned Persons that the Gentiles worshipped Adam and Eve Noah Shem and Japhet Abraham Isaac Jacob c. under several other Names And if they worshipped evil Men it was upon mistake such as our Romanists with all their infallibilities are not sure to escape and perhaps Thomas Becket and Father Garnet may be found at last not much better Saints then some of their Vertuoso's However the Idolatry of the Service consists not in the qualification of the Creature to whom it is addressed those that worship good Angels as well as those that sacrifice to Devils are alike guilty of it because they give that homage to the Creature which is due only to the Creatour as it is remarked by our Apostle in the 25 verse of this 1 Chap. to the Romans It is a worshipping or serving the Creature good or bad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the Creator who is blessed for ever 2ly They pretend they only pray to Saints and Angels to pray with them and for them to God the only giver of all things and so are clear of that Idolatry of the Heathens in making Demons or the Souls of dead Men the Objects of their Adoration and the Authors of their Blessings But to this we answer these things And 1. It plainly appears by such Practices of the Church of Rome which the Popes themselves have authorized that their Invocation of a Saint doth not consist in a meer Ora pro nobis but in imploring particular Blessings and Relief and some such as is proper for none but God or Christ to give As in their Prayers to St. Cosmas and St. Dominic to keep them from all Diseases as well of Soul as of Body that to St.
the Saints in memory and honour of them whom they figure as also their Places and Reliques ought to be worshiped with Processions bending of the Knee bowings of the Body Incensings Kissings Offerings Lighting of Candles and Pilgrimages c. Yea in the Roman Catechism set out by the order of the Council of Trent is not the Parish Priest required to declare to his Parishioners not only that it is lawful to have Images in the Church but to give Honour and Worship to them c. And for their Practice I need say little because it hath been so fully demonstrated by our most learned Dean of St. Paul's and others of our Church 1. That they set up Images in Churches over Altars purposely to worship them 2. That they consecrate those Images with Solemn Prayers for that purpose 3. They use all the Rites of Worship to them which the Heathen Idolaters used to their Images 4. They make solemn Processions in honour of Images carrying them with as much Pomp and Ceremony as ever the Heathens did their Idols 5. That they cover their Altars and Images and omit to burn Incense before them in the time of Lent as the Heathens were wont to do at certain times Dii quoque templorum foribus celentur apertis Ovid. Fast l. 2. Thure vacent Arae stentque sine igne foci 6. Their attributing Motion and Speech and several miraculous Operations to the Images of Christ and the blessed Virgin hath even as much Truth and Reason in it Lib. 5. Hist lib. 1. c. 12. as that which Livy and Valerius Maximus report of the moving and talking of the Images of Fortune and of Juno Moneta I shall add no more upon this Head not only because so much hath been said by our Protestant Writers but because their Casander plainly confesseth Casan consul that their Peoples Adoration paid to Images and Statues was equal to the worst of the antient Heathens 4. Their Doctrine of Purgatory Which hath no ground at all to stand upon in the Holy Scriptures or as they have framed and modelled it in the Writings of the Antient Fathers if that will give it any Support or Credit was taught of old in the Heathens discourses of their Acherusia and their Rivers of Fire which give a painful Purgation of all the Spots and Stains of lesser Sins and thereby prepare the Soul for Admission into the Elysian Fields Plato Phood the Regions of blessed Spirits The next thing I shall take notice of is 5. Their Prayers and Oblations for the Dead That the Church Triumphant prays for this Militant though they know not particular Mens Cases without a particular Revelation I make no doubt at all and that Commemorations of the Dead Prayers for them and particular Intercessions at the Celebration of the holy Eucharist practised in the Ancient Church cannot be denyed Arch Bishop Usher's Answ to the Jesuit p. 204. Vossii Thes Theolog. 125. Yet it must be yielded withall that these Prayers and Intercessions had not any Relation to Purgatory being offered in their behalf whom they supposed to be in a state of Rest and Happiness and they consisted partly of Praises and Thanksgivings for the blessed Estate which the Party deceased was entred upon and partly of Supplications for the completion of their Bliss at the day of Judgment and the preservation of their Memory upon Earth for the good Example of the Living But there is no Warrant or Precedent at all in Church Antiquity before the fourth Century for the popish way of praying for the Dead their Oblations and Sacrifices either for the mitigation of Purgatory-Pains or deliverance out of them Till then this was only the way of the Heathen As Arnobius Lib. 2. adv Gent. in his Book against them hath observed It was their general Practice to pray for their departed Friends and to offer Gifts such as Hony Milk and Wine for them Ovid. Fast l. 2. and the forecited Father informs us that they sacrificed the Blood of certain living Creatures for the Purgation of the Souls of Men And Plato in his 2 Book de Republica tells us that the dead are purged by Sacrifices whereas the Gospel which Saint Paul desired to preach to his Romans promises no relief at all to the Dead from the Prayers Sacrifices or Merits of the Living forewarns us of no Wrath to come but what is eternal no Fire but what is unquenchable no Torments but those of Hell which are as immutable and unmixed as the Joys of Heaven and makes the time of this Life the only accepted time the day of Salvation exhorting us in this our day to consider the things that belong to our Peace to our future Happiness or Misery to make our Calling and Election sure and to work out our own Salvation not trusting to others to do it for us when the Night of Death comes upon our selves wherein no Man can work The Second Sermon HItherto I have shewed how little there is of Gospel in the Romish Canonization of or praying to Saints and Angels worshipping of Images Their Doctrine of Purgatory and lastly their Prayers and Oblations for the dead and â—o begin again where we left tho we cannot take notice of all their Pleas and Defences for their praying for the dead yet we shall not conceal one which they rely much upon and that is what Damascen if the Book de Defunctis be his â—ells us of a dead Man's Skull that spake thus unto Macarius the Egyptian Anchoret When thou dost offer thy Prayers for the dead then do we feel some little Consolation But this is no evidence against Moses and the Prophets against the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles But this Brainless speaking Skull minds me to consider in the next place 6. Their great Devotion to Reliques The Members Blood Bones yea the Habits or any of the Goods and Appurtenances of their Saints departed to which they ascribe as miraculous Effects of several Natures as the Speech of this Skull only the rarity of this is It was not the Skull of a Saint but of a Heathen Priest as the Greek Meneology will have it and Thomas Aquinas takes it for granted But if we consider how idly and lavishly they Romance in extolling the wonder-working Power of some of their Reliques we must conclude that the Confidence of the Reporters and the Credulity of the Hearers are the greatest Miracles in the case if their sottish Adoration of them be not still more prodigious I will not present you with Heathen Precedents and Practices to aggravate but rather a little to excuse the fondness of this Superstition which sure they would be more ashamed of if it were not a little countenanced by such Stories as Plutarch reports concerning the Preservation and devout Adoration of Theseus's Bones In Vit. Thes and by what such a Sage-Philosopher as Plato says concerning the Worship they gave to the very Shrines of their
the true Characters of the Divine Presence and came peaceably in aurd leni without Noise and Perturbation insinuating it self into the Beliefs of Men by silent Influences and convincing Arguments I may add here That although our Lord Christ was not only King of the Jews but had the whole Host of Heaven at his command yet he called not in the Assistance of Force and Violence to obtrude his Doctrines upon the World And it is a most remarkable Circumstance That Constantine the Great did not appear in the World to protect Christianity until it had gained Footing in the most considerable Parts thereof Nor do we read any where That when Christianity became the Religion of the Empire They ever used their Power to revenge their Sufferings that they ever put either Jew or Heathen to Death because they would not renounce their Religion The Kingdom of Satan and of Antichrist have still been planted and watered in Blood and Crueltv As Nebrchadnezzar once dealt with those who would not Worship his Golden Gods so did the Heathen Emperors with the Primitive Christians Eusch An. 403. in a long Series of most merciless Persecutions So did the King of Persia with Abdas the Bishop who had overturned his Idol-Temples So do the Turks at this Day with all the Opposers of their Superstition And it is sad to relate the Barbarous Cruelties of some professed Christians towards others really and truly such how bloody the Rage of the Arrians was against the Catholicks Athan. Ep. ad sol vit agentes as likewise that of the Donatists and Circumcellians in St. Angustine that of the Eutichians in the second Council of Ephesus called Ephesinum Latrocinium who murdered Flavianus Arch-Bishop of Constantinople To come nearer home I shall name no more here but that of our zealous Regicides which ought to be to us this day and will be to succeeding Ages for a Lamentation These were the bloody ways of Heathens and Hereticks But no Histories do tell us That true Catholicks did ever practise or approve of such Methods of maintaining or propagating Religion The Pseudo-Roman-Catholicks indeed are upon infamous Record for their inhumane Cruelties in the defence of their Churches Errors and Vsurpations which speaks the Pope the Successor of Romulus who made his way by Blood rather than of St. Peter who drew his Sword but once in his Master's Quarrel and was severely checked by him for so doing When the War begun by the Christians on the Turks and Saracens was turned upon the Albigenses by the Popes of Rome Dr. Heylin's Parable of the Tares and that the Cruciata was proclaimed against those poor Souls only because they differed in some Points of Doctrine from the Opinions of that Church how many hundred thousands of well meaning Men who made a Conscience of their ways and erred not if they erred at all out of Pride but Ignorance fell a Sacrifice to the Roman Furies Thuanus their own Historian reports that Pope Paul the third Anno 1559. among other Exhortations which upon his Death-Bed he delivered to his Cardinals did lastly wish them to uphold the Office of the Inquisition quo uno sacro-sactam authoritatem niti affirmabant whereby the Authority of the See of Rome is chiefly supported Charles the ninth with the French Papists never acted any thing with more Satisfaction to his Holiness than that Tragedy in Paris and other Cities where so many thousand Hugonots were most treacherously and barbarously slaughtered The Savage Irish never thought their Hands and Weapons better employed than in butchering the Protestants and this not more from the fierceness of their Natures than from the bloody Principles of their Religion And in our own Nation how many suffered Death under King Henry the 8th and in Queen Mary's his bloody Daughter's Days for their most reasonable Unbelief of Transubstantiation I have not now time to bring to your remembrance the many Conspiracies of the Jesuites against and Attempts upon the Life of our blessed Queen Elizabeth by Parry Babington Stafford Lopez Squire c. Nor to present you with the horrid Circumstances of their Powder Treason against King James her peaceful Successour all the Royal Family with the Flower of Church and State in a Parliament Assembly But I wish we would take special notice by reason of the seasonableness of the reflection of their treasonable Designs and Actings against that incomparable Prince Charles the First this Days Martyr How they plotted against his Life and Arch-Bishop Laud's as hath formerly and of late been sufficiently discovered how they blowed the Coales of the late unnatural and destructive War how in their Consults they voted that King's Death as much conducing to the Interest of the Catholick Cause as they call theirs and how they assisted and directed Instruments whereby that Hellish Enterprize for which we and the whole Nation mourn this day was accomplished and how they triumphed thereupon all this is notoriously known The first Rebellion began in Scotland See the Apology in behalf of the Papists answer in behalf of the Royalists p. 12. London 1667. where the Design of it was laid by Cardinal Richlieu his Majesties irreconcileable Enemy Then it brake out in Ireland where it was blessed with his Holiness's Letters and assisted by his Nuncio whom he sent purposely to attend the Fire there Lastly in England as hath been intimated it is manifest their Agents did their parts there to unsettle the People and gave them needless occasions of Jealousie which the vigilant Phanaticks made use of to involve us all in War and Confusion Both in England and Scotland the special Tools they wrought with were borrowed out of the Shops of the Romans It was our Royal Martyr's own Observation Large Declaration concerning the Tumults in Scotland p. 3. That their Maximes were the same with the Jesuites their Preachers Sermons were delievered in the very Phrase of Becanus Sciopius and Eudaemon Johannes their poor Arguments printed or written in their seditious Pamphlets were taken almost verbatim out of Bellarmin or Suarez and afterwards we have heard how they carried on and compleated the bloody Tragedy by Popish Influence and Instigation Hath the Clemency and Indulgence of his Majesty who now is and whom God long preserve any ways asswaged their Malice and turned their Hearts to better Purposes Their late deep and dreadful Conspiracy against the sacred Life of so good and Gracious a Prince and the whole body of his Protestant Subjects returns a loud Negative to the Question and gives us too sad and sensible an Assurance that their Feet are still swift to shed Blood that Destruction and Misery are in their ways and the ways of Peace have they not known And I would there was no just cause of Fear that they are working our Ruine again by the very Instruments they used so successfully heretofore and that some of those that give us the loudest Alarms of the Romans coming to take