belief concerning Purgatory Ans That as there is no such place so the belief of it is dangerous and groundless Quest How prove you that there is no such place Ans From Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead for they rest from their labours from henceforth that dye in the Lord. Quest Why is it dangerous and groundless Ans 1. Because there is no ground for it in Scripture 2. Because they that belong to God can be no where afflicted but he is afflicted with them Isa 63.9 In all their affliction he was afflicted 3. Because it denies the fulness of Christs satisfaction 4. Because hereby the horrid nature of sin is lessened 5. Because the Saints confidence and comfort is hereby impaired the desire that St. Paul hath to be dissolved is that he may be with Christ Phil. 1.23 Quest What is a Twelfth Error of the Papists Ans That some sins are venial Quest What is the Protestants belief in this point Ans That no sin is in its own nature venial but every sin is deadly and deserves eternal damnation Deut. 27.26 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in this law to do them Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth it shall die Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole law and offend in one point is guilty of all Quest What is a Thirteenth Error of the Papists Ans Their Doctrine of Merit Quest What is the Protestants opinion in this thing Ans That the reward of good works is not deserved by them that receive it Quest How prove you that Ans 1. Because good works are rewarded meerly out of mercy and grace Psal 62.12 Vnto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou rendrest to every man according to his work Rom. 11.6 If by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work Tit. 3.5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us 1 Pet. 1.13 Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ 2. Because eternal life is the gift of God Luk. 12.32 It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternal life 3. Because Believers owe all to God therefore can merit nothing from him Luk. 17.10 VVhen ye have done all that you can say that ye are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do 1 Cor. 4.7 VVhat hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why doest thou glory as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 6.19 Ye are not your own Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Quest What is a Fourteenth Error of the Papists Ans Their works of Supererogation Quest What say the Protestants to this Ans That they who in their obedience attain the greatest degree fall short of much which in duty they are bound to do much less can they do more or have any oyl to spare wherewith to help others Mat. 25.9 The wise answered Not so lest there be not enough for us and you Quest What is every man bound to do Ans To full conformity in the whole man to the righteous law of God Quest Is not this to be under the law and not under grace Ans Believers are not under the law as a Covenant of works but as a rule of life Mat. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil Rom. 7.12 22 The law is holy and just and good v. 22. I delight in the law of God after the inward man Quest May not Saints do more good than they have need of for themselves Ans No when you have done all that is commanded say you are unprofitable servants Luk. 7.10 Quest What is a Fifteenth Error of the Papists Ans Their corrupting the Doctrine of Justification Quest Wherein do they corrupt it Ans They tell us we must be justified by our own righteousness and that a perfect righteousness within us Quest What mean they by a perfect righteousness within Ans Any degree of charity is their righteousness in perfection Quest What is the Protestant Doctrine concerning Justification Ans That Believers are justified freely by the grace of God whereby he accepteth them as righteous only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to them Quest How prove you that Ans By these Scriptures Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Chap. 5.8 9. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then now being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Chap. 10.3 They being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God Ephes 1.6 7 To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Quest What is a Sixteenth Error of the Papists Ans Their worshipping of Images Quest What is the Protestants belief Ans That it is not lawful to make Images of God nor to direct our worship to an Image or by the help of an Image or to give religious worship to any creature Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Rev. 19.10 See thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren Quest What is a Seventeenth Error of the Papists Ans Their preaching and praying in an unknown tongue Quest What saith the Protestant Ans That publick prayer is not to be made in an unknown tongue but in such a language as is understood by the common people Quest What mean you by prayer Ans Confession of sin Petition for grace Intercession for others and Giving of thanks Quest Why must we not pray in an unknown tongue Ans Because it cannot be to edification 1 Cor. 14.26 Let all things be done to edifying Ver. 16 How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest Quest Why may we not preach in an unknown tongue Ans 1. For the same reason viz. because it is not to edification and so plainly against the word of God 1 Cor. 14. at the beginning 2. Because it is against the custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayer or Preaching or Administration of the Sacraments in a tongue not understood by the people 3. Because the Original Tongues are not known to all the people who have right unto and interest
drank of it 3. Because without the Cup a man cannot answer the end of this Sacrament As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 4. Because the same right we have to Christs blood we have to the Cup. Mat. 26.27 28 He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Luk. 22.20 This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you 1 Cor. 10.16 The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ Quest What is the twenty-fourth Error of the Papists Ans Their Doctrine of the Mass Quest What do they understand by the Mass Ans That which the Protestants according to the Scripture call the Lords Supper Papists call the Mass whereby the Sacrament is made a Sacrifice and offered up to God Bellar. lib. 1. de missa cap. 1. Quest What say the Protestants of the Mass Ans That it is a vain and Idolatrous thing as used by them Quest VVhy vain Ans Because by Christs Sacrifice God is sufficiently satisfied and the repenting-sinner fully secured Heb. 10.12 This man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God Quest Why Idolatrous Ans Because they make it a meer Idol not only worshipping it as God but trusting therein for salvation as in Christ himself Quest How prove you that the Mass is not the very same sacrifice with that of Christ crucified on the Cross Ans 1. God appointed Christ for a Sacrifice but never the Mass 2. The Mass is not of the same sort or kind with that of Christ crucified Quest Wherein lieth the difference Ans 1. It was the sacrifice of the very body born of a Virgin but the Mass of a piece of bread 2. There was shedding of blood but the Mass is an unbloody sacrifice 3. It had the due proportion of a man but the Mass is a wafer Quest Are there no more Errors of the Papists Ans Yes many but these are sufficient to make the Protestant abhor their Church and Doctrine Quest Where was the Protestants Religion before Luther Ans In the Bible Doctrinally and in its fruits in the hearts and lives of all good men Quest Where were the Disciples first called Christians Ans At Antioch the Disciples were first called Christians Act. 11.26 Quest Then the name of Christian had not its rise from Rome Ans No. Quest What doth the name Christian put us in mind of Ans It putteth us in mind of what Christ hath done for us and the many benefits we obtain from his life death resurrection and intercession Quest What more Ans It is a remembrance unto us what we should do for Christ in gratitude of what he hath done for us Quest Do not Popish Priests Jesuits and others that dye for Treasons and Murthers dye like Christians Ans No True Christians at their death will give Glory to God Quest Do not they give glory to God Ans No if they did they would confess their just deserts that brings them to that punishment Quest Why do they not confess their Treasons Murder c. when they come to dye for them Ans Because their Church forbids them to confess to Protestants which they call Hereticks Quest How doth that appear Ans In that they receive their Absolution upon condition that they dye concealing the Crime for which they dye Quest Vpon what Principle do they proceed in this Ans Upon this principle namely That no man owes his ememy Truth Quest Why so Ans Because then he owes him what may be a means for his preservation Quest What use do they make of this Principle Ans That the Protestants being Adversaries to the Church of Rome her Sons owe them nothing but ruin and destruction and the vilest of means they can use for that end are meritorious and glorious I Have not inserted the Quotations under the Five last Questions in regard the Authors are so numerous if the Papists shall deny it let the Reader peruse what the Protestant Authors have quoted out of the Romanists own books and he will find that they do not only make this kind of Perjury blameless but necessary breach of Oaths is no less with them than a vertue or a necessary duty in many cases especially when any thing of moment is to be opposed which is against the Laws of the Roman Church against that particularly of the General Council of Lateran under Pope Innocent the Third which forbids all favour to be shewed to Hereticks under the sorest penalties and decrees That favourers of Hereticks are under Excommunication if they will not break their Oaths made in favour of Hereticks and that by the Sacred Decree of their Church he must be forsworn if he will not be excommunicated and thereby exposed to the violence of every hand as Sir Edmondbury Godfrey was yea one that hath taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy according to their Doctrine sins mortally and puts himself into the state of damnation not if he takes those Oaths for that their Priests may dispense with but if he keeps them So Pope Martin the Fifth declared in writing to Alexander Duke of Lithuania Know says he that thou sinnest mortally if thou keep thy Oaths with Hereticks Apud Cochlaeum l. 5. Hist Hussitarium Hereby it appears that no Papists can possibly give any security which may be trusted that Protestants shall enjoy any thing which is in their power to deprive them of for the greatest securities that can be given in this case are engagements of Faith and Truth God being invocated for Confirmation in solemn Oaths but their Religion hath laid such strong bonds upon them to break all bonds that may favour the Protestants that it leaves no hope of salvation to them who will not at their deaths take it upon their salvation the greatest untruth if the Catholick Cause may be holpen by it for another General Council that of Constance hath determined that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks in the 19th Session of that Assembly that no safe Conduct given by Emperor King or Secular Prince to Hereticks or any defamed for Hereticks though with a design to reduce them by what engagements soever they have obliged themselves shall hinder those Hereticks from being destroyed though they come to the place of Judgment relying upon such security as in John Husse's case by Pope John the 22d Hereby Protestants may understand what reason they have to trust to nothing among Papists but what will keep them out of their power seeing the principles of that Religion not private mens opinions but the determination of Councils bind them to observe no Faith or Truth or common honesty with those whom they account Hereticks no not
when life is concerned rather than a Protestant shall be safe in any of his concerns where they can reach them It is a virtue a duty in their Religion to snap asunder all security by which the world hath hitherto been preserved to ruin a Heretick They who would see more of this at large may read the Jesuits Morals the Practical Divinity of the Papists and Mystery of Jesuitism besides the late instances which they have given at their Deaths who have been executed for Treason and Murders denying the things for which they suffered though proved upon them as clear as the Sun at noon-day occasioned by the awe their Priests have upon them being so far led away with them that the obedience of the dying Proselyte is prevalent even above his Considerations for a future estate This will be more apparent if we consider that hundreds of Irish Papists are executed in the Kingdom of Ireland every year for Murthers Thefts c. and though taken in the very fact yet when they come to dye usually take it upon their Deaths and as they must appear before the great Judg that knows all things that they are as innocent from the fact for which they dye as the Child unborn For they having discharg'd their Consciences by confessing it to the Priests and received his absolution it would bring an odium on their Religion and would be a strengthening the hands of the Protestants if the Priests should suffer it Whereas on the other side could they perswade the simple people to believe they dyed innocent they hope it may lay a stain upon that Religion which they call so often by the name of Heresie And though those Priests have always that regard to their Church as to impose upon the Prisoner to let the world know he dyeth a Roman Catholick yet he hath also much care of the Man that he must not desire the Prayers of any but Papists These things being so usual among them any considerate man will easily judg without breach of charity upon what ground such men are seduced to commit a sin and then out-face the truth of the matter of fact even in the face of Death BEcause the Papists shall not say the charge I give their Religion under the Eighth Error is groundless I shall instance in particular And 1. I say 't is a Superstitious Religion It were innumerable to account the many vain fopperies in their Devotions which they place Religion in as the Tooth of St. Christopher The Hair of St. Peters Beard The shift that came off the back of the Virgin Mary and the Dust and Vermine which they keep of some Saints Valla a great person of Learning and Eminency among them saith There are ten thousand such things in Rome if the Host fall to the ground it must be licked up the ground is to be scraped and the scrapings reduced to ashes is to have place among their Reliques Add to this their Holy-water their salt their spittle their Holy Oyl their Beads Whippings Fish-days Pilgrimages Nunneries Crossing themselves Baptizing of Bells Fonts c. So that the great Erasmus in his Annotations approved by Pope Leo the Tenth saith Their whole Religion is almost brought to their superstitious treatment of Reliques through the covetousness of Priests and the Hypocrisie of Monks fed by the foolishness of the people 2. 'T is an Idolatrous Religion In invocating Saints adoring the Host and worshipping Images Their worshipping of Reliques giving Religious Worship to such things as they do but fancy to be Reliques and not only when they are whole and sound but when they are corrupted and reduced to dust or nothing else left of them but the Vermin bred in them Henricus one of the School Doctors concludes That the Reliques in the form of dust and ashes may and ought to be adored but not under the form of Vermin and gives some reason for it But their great Vasquez rejects this scruple and the ground of it as vain and frivolous and concludes they may be worshipped as well when they are Vermin as when they are ashes Besides their Angel-worship Image-worship and Saint-worship 3. 'T is a Damnable Religion In that it overthrows the very foundation of Christianity their Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Truth of Christs humane Nature their proper Sacrifice his only Sacrifice for sin offered once for all their Doctrine of Merits for his Merits the multitude of Mediators among them deny that only Mediator betwixt God and Man the man Jesus Christ Their Sacrificing-Priests overthrow Christs Priestly office Their villifying the Scriptures and setting up their unwritten Traditions to be received with equal reverence with them overthrows Christs Prophetical office The great Article of forgiveness of sins and free justification through the Grace of God in Jesus Christ is overthrown by their Doctrine of Merit Pardons Indulgences c. 4. 'T is a Bloody Religion wherein Papal Rome exceeds Heathen Rome Witness the horrid Murthers and Massacres of the poor Waldenses who have been persecuted with Fire and Sword Armies and Inquisitions and very many Thousands nay infinite numbers of them have been inhumanely murdered That Barbarous and prodigious Villany and great Massacre of Protestants in France Anno 1572 where about 30 or 40000 innocent Protestants in Paris and other parts of France were suddenly and inhumanely murdered by Papists Witness Spains Invincible Armada in Anno 1588 when Romes force threatned to swallow us up Witness the Gun-powder Treason a black and unparallel'd villany worthy Rome and a Jesuit the blowing up of a whole Parliament King Lords and Commons the murdering a Kingdom in its Representatives and this in a moment After that their bloody Rebellion in Ireland where they murdered a Hundred thousand Protestants in cold blood without any provocation given but to kill Hereticks Add to this their bloody Traiterous design of late against His Majesty Person the Government and the Protestant Religion a Conspiracy had it taken might have turned England into an Aceldama a Field of Blood or Shambles of Popish Butchers These things considered I hope no man will be so mad to kiss the Popes Toe until his Nails be pared so as he will not scratch and make the blood run about the mouths of Christendom 5. 'T is a Traiterous Religion For they teach that the Pope may depose the Emperor or a King not subject to the Emperor that the Pope may lawfully absolve subjects from their Oath of Allegiance That subjects if they have the Popes consent which they are sure to have if it makes for his interest may depose their Kings That if the King be a manifest Heretick as all Protestants are with them then the Church may depose him Nor have they been wanting to put this their principle into practise so often as they could find occasion as their attempts on Queen Elizabeth by poyson Pistol Dagger on King James by Powder-Treason on King Charles the First and on our King to