their Obligation of making new Articles of Faith and condemning things plainly commanded by him If any shall pretend without sufficient Proof a Vicarious delegated Commission from him and usurp the place of the Universal Law-giver of the World These must be acknowledg'd to be invaders of his Regal Office and in how many Instances the Church of Rome hath been thus bold and Jaringly guilty is too well known How many new Articles have they obtruded on our belief since the Canon of Scripture was sealed And how doth their Faith increase and decrease like the Moon Tho the Apostle pronounces an Anathema against the highest pretended Saint or Angel that should Preach any other Doctrine than what he had deliver'd to the Galatians Gal. 1. 8. Yet the Conventicle of Trent those professed Angels and Guardians of the Church have levell d their curses against all that will fear the threatnings of the Apostle and will not receive their supplemental and corrupt Traditions with the same reverence and pious Affection that they do the Holy Scriptures I need not tell how they have claim'd a power of dissolving the Obligation of the most Solemn Oaths and Covenants and of allowing Marriages in forbidden degrees How they have made Fornication a lesser Sin in a Clergy-men than Marriage tho the one be the Ordinance of God and never prohibited to any company of men and the other forbidden by the very Law of Nature I need not tell how the Pope hath usurp'd the Office of Universal Bishop and Vicar of Christ tho Pope Gregory severely reflected upon John of Constantinople for affecting such a Titile and call'd it the badg of Antichrist I need not tell how they have added five other Sacraments to those two instituted by our Saviour what a number of Church-Officers they have instituted unknown in Scripture and the purest Ages of the Church Nor how they have Lorded it over the Consciences of men by rigorously imposing numerous burdensome Ceremonies which change the spiritual Worship of the Gospel and alter its very Nature 'T is confess'd that Governours have a Power of imposing indifferent things and whatever tends to the more orderly and decent Administration of the Worship of God may be the object of their command But when these are either vain and useless or indecent in their number when they are impos'd as parts of Worship and necessary to Salvation When they obscure the Worship of God and are more like the shadows of the Law than becoming the light of the Gospel such Impositions are Acts of Tyranny and Usurpation I shall conclude this head with the mention of one more bold tho acknowledg'd Invasion of the Regal Office of Christ and that is their half Communions They have snatcht away the Cup in the Eucharist from the People and ingross'd it to the Clergy This was establish'd as an Article of the Romish Faith at the Council of Constance and afterwads confirm'd at Trent The chief remarkable Causes are these Seeing that in divers parts of the World there be some who rashly presume to say That Christian People ought to receive the Eucharist under both kinds this present Holy General Council being desirous to provide for the safety of the faithful doth decree That tho Jesus Christ did Administer the venerable Sacrament in both kinds and tho in the primitive Church the faithful did so receive it yet notwithstanding this custom ought to be kept i. e. that the Priest that says Mass shall communicate under both species of Bread and Wine but the Lay people under that of Bread onlyâ— and they that say the contrary let them be expell'd as Hereticks and grievously punish'd by the Bishop and his Officials How horrible a Canon is this and what a notorious Usurpation of Christs Prerogative They accuse of Rashness Error and Heresie all who dare by their own Confession imitate Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Church for this only reason some have been burnt at a Stake and it was an occasion of cruel Wars and Bloodshed in Germany They indeed pretend this to be an indifferent circumstance to be continued or remov'd at the Churches pleasure But why should this be more indifferent than the Bread Hath not Christ more expresly commanded the drinking the one than receiving the other Drink ye all of it says he as if he foresaw and design'd to prevent this great Corruption And to argue ad hominem our Saviour tells us Joh. 6. 53. Except ye drink the blood of the Son of man ye have no life in you These words if understood of the Eucharist as the Romanists pretend prove the absolute Universal necessity of communicating under both kinds So that either this great prop of Transubstantiation must be deserted or their half Communion condemn'd 2. They have invaded Christs Priestly Office By this he hath fully satisfi'd Divine Justice by giving himself a compleat Sacrifice for our Offences and procur'd for us the pardon of Sin the Graces of the Spirit and eternal Happiness upon Condition of sincere Obedience to his Laws and now is enter'd into Heaven and is by vertue of this Sacrifice our powerful Intercessor at the Right hand of God This Office also is shamefully invaded by those of the Romish Church and that in these following instances 1. By their proud doctrine of Merit Tho the Scriptures fully declare that by grace we are saved and eternal life is the free gift of God tho our reasons may convince us that a Creature how innocent soever can deserve nothing at his Creators hands tho a little reflection upon our selves will discover many spots in our fairest vertues many blemishes in our best duties many imperfections in our most religious exercise many sinful mixtures in our most unpolluted actions and great defects in our best obedience yet do these men boast of their good works and account them not only spotless but meritorious too but if all this zeal for good works as one well observes were designed to advance an holy life the nobleness of the design might a little excuse the fault but alas those works which they most extol are either pieces of will-worship that tend only to advance the Secular interest of their Church as Pilgrimages building Abbys enriching Monasteries c. or else are such actions as we think to be daring sins as murdering Hereticks and persons coldly affected to the Catholick Cause Thus 't is storied concerning Cardinal Richelieu that great Politician of France that when he lay upon his death-bed his Consessor came to him to perform the last offices of charity and urged him to a full confession of all his sins the Cardinal mention'd only some little petty crimes and told him those were all he could recollect at which the Confessor started saying Surely this sickness hath rob'd your Grace of your memory for we who have been plac'd in a lower sphere have observ'd many actions of a far deeper Dye and then mention'd many Murders committed by his
in this Chapter are come to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Jews and a mixture of Heathen Greeks and those v. 2. call'd devout i. e. Proselytes of the Gate that disown'd the Follies and Superstitions of the vulgar Heathen worship'd one God and complied with the seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah St. Paul gives the preference to his own Nation and according to his usual custom in other places goes into the Jewish Synagogue and for three successive v. 3. Sabbaths reason'd with them and proves by their Law That Jesus must be the expected Missiah And his v. 4 Arguments were so covincing that he gain'd some converts among the Jews and proselyted a numerous company of Religious Greeks But those v. 5. who remain'd obstinate in their infidelity being fill'd with rage gathered together a Rabble of the baser sort and tumultuously throng to the house of Jason whose Guest St. Paul was and would forcibly have drag'd the Apostles before the Civil Magistrate but they having prudently declin'd their fury Jason with some other Converts is hal'd before the Rulers of the City and accus'd as an Harbourer v. 6. of Traytors or at least Disturbers of the publick Peace For they cry out These that have turn'd the world upside down are come hither also Whom Jason hath receiv'd These they speak concerning the Apostles these whom Jason hath receiv'd That have turn'd the world upside down The Greek word is as I remember us'd but once more in the New Testament and there it is rendred to trouble Gal. 5. 12. I wish they were even cut off which trouble you i. e. unsettle your minds and seek to pervert you by teaching that new Doctrine of Circumcision and keeping the Ceremonial part of Moses's Law The word properly signifies to Disorder Disquiet and raise Confusion So that the Accusation against the Apostles may be understood either more Generally or Particularly 1. More Generally So the Accusation may be These that have disturb'd the World by bringing in a new Religion that have overturn'd the Ancient Religions and brought in new Doctrines directly opposite to the former as if they should have said They propagate new Principles destructive of the Ancient Religion of us Jews and customary rites of you Gentiles they have in every place argued against that Law which we are assured came down from Heaven and laugh at that Worship which you account most sacred and venerable They have not only created disturbance by this means in other Cities but with the same design are come hither also and therefore your duty to your Gods obliges you to silence and restrain them they indeed have escaped our hands but we have brought these before you who have given entertainment to their Persons in their Houses and their Doctrines in their hearts 2. More Particularly The Apostles may be here accus'd as disturbing the World by teaching Doctrines of Rebellion and Sedition Indeed as they brought in a new Religion they might be accounted Authors of Sedition because all Innovations were look'd upon as tending to unsettle the Peace of the State but the more particular crime of which they may here accuse them seems to be the immediate tendency of some of their Doctrines to Rebellion and this is countenanc'd by the 7th verse These all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar saying there is another King one Jesus we may therefore suppose the charge of the Jews to be manag'd after such a manner as this These that are the Pests of Societies and highly disaffected to the establish'd Government Friends of Anarchy and Enemies to Cesar that maintain rebellious Principles and sow Sedition wherever they come that have cast off all sense of Allegiance and teach others to renounce their Subjection to their Emperor that will not obey the Laws themselves and perswade others to refuse their Obedience also and preach up Subjection to another King one Jesus these as they have disturb'd the Government in other Cities so here also have they spread their Infection These are the men these are their Principles and whether they are worthy of restraint judg ye Thus do the malicious Jews misrepresent the Doctrines of these Messengers of Peace and Innocence it self was not a sufficient Guard against the Persecution of their envenom'd Tongues And oh that I might say concerning the whole Christian World at this day that such an Accusation would be Slanderous against them as well as the Apostles but alas the Groans and Sighs of England as well as other Lands gives too sad occasion to cry out These that have turn'd the world upside down have come hither also I shall speak to the words in both these senses seeing they will well bear it and are exactly suited to my design In order to a more methodical Progress I shall speak to four Generals 1. Whether the Apostles did introduce a new Religion different from what was before entertain'd in the World and whether they had the Divine Commission to do so For if they could produce the Warrant of God for what they did they could not justly be blam'd or accus'd 2. Whether the Apostles Doctrine tended to Rebellion 3. Whether any professed Christians at this day are justly liable to this charge in both senses 4. I shall deduce such Inferences as naturally result from the whole Discourse 1. Whether the Apostles did introduce a new Religion and had a Commission from God to do so To this I answer affirmatively Christ did institute and his Apostles did publish a more perfect platform of Religion than was before existent in the World but not without sufficient discoveries of Gods Approbation In this sense they did turn the World upside down taught Doctrines contrary to the universally receiv'd Opinions of the Gentiles and darling Traditions and Practiseâ— of the Jews The Christian Religion did silence the Pagan Oracles where it prevail'd and caus'd the Heathen Dagons to fall down before it the carnal Ceremonies of the Jews were disus'd and Moses was not able to stand before him whom they call'd a Magician The Brutish rites of the Heathens were abolish'd at the appearance of Christianity and the Light of the Gospel dispers'd the Shadows of the Law and took off the vail from Moses The Impurities of the Heathen and Imperfection of the Jewish Worship did render a more perfect Revelation of the Divine will very necessary and this was the Province undertaken by our Saviour and his Apostles 1. The Christian Religion hath given a more compleat discovery of the Nature of God and the manner how he will be Worshipped The Conceptions of the Heathens concerning the Nature of God were very gross and confus'd and the Wise-men of Athens and Rome were at continual jars and disagreement about his Attributes and they entertain'd very lame and imperfect and some blasphemous and unworthy Notions of him They did indeed generally acknowledg there could be but one Supreme and Sovereign God and of him Varro
THE TRUTH and EXCELLENCE OF THE Christian Religion WITH THE CORRUPTIONS and ADDITIONS OF THE ROMISH CHURCH A Discourse Wherein the Pre-eminence of Christianity is demonstrated above the Religion of Jews or Heathens and the Contradiction of Popery to its main Articles And that Religion prov'd in many Instances to be a mixture of Heathenish Superstitions and Jewish Ceremonies With a short Vindication of Christian Loyalty And a brief Historical Account of Romish Treasons and Usurpations since the Reformation By a hearty Professor of Reformed Catholick Christianity Publish'd for the Benefit of those that have not leisure to read larger Volumes LONDON Printed for John Gellibrand at the Golden Ball in St Paul's Church-Yard 1685. To the Honourable Sir Thomas Roberts Knight and Baronet of Glassenbury in Kent SIR HAVING been for some time no uncompassionate observer of the strangely unnatural heaâ—s and angry Vnchristian jars of Protestants one with another I was willing to divert my thoughts from so melancholly a Scene and direct my Zeal against those more dangerous Enemies of our Peace Popery and Irreligion I was willing to call off my Native Country-men from biting and devouring one another to unite against those potent Adversaries which are coming in upon us through those wide Breaches our Divisions have made And methinks if men would but give themselves leave to consider how their hot Disputes about Trifles expose their Religion to the seorn of the Hectoring Atheists and Derision of the bold Incendiaries of Rome they would be less eager about Circumstances and Modes of Worship and more industrious in an unanimous Defence of the common Principles of Christianity I know many excellent Worthies have labour'd before me in this Argument and adorn'd their Discourses with all the Beauites of Wit Learning and Eloquence but yet because Irreligion gains new Proselytes and Rome swells big with greater hopes of once more introducing its blind Superstitions into our Land I have adventur'd at the same time to vindicate the excellency of Christianity against the Infidel and arm my Countrey-men against the bold Corruptions of Rome and tho I am not able to bear the Helmet of Saul and his weighty Coat of Mail be too heavy for my Shoulders tho I pretend not to such strong Lines and nervous Arguments as have been produc'd by the great Defenders of the Christian and Protestant Faith in our Age Yet I know not but a Sling and a Stone even in the hand of a Stripling may by Divine Assistance in some measure prevent the increase of our Enemies and confirm the staggering among us in the profession and practice of our Reform'd Religion And when once I had resolv'd to expose these Papers to the Censure of the World I at the same time resolv'd to make this publick acknowledgment of the endearing Obligations you Sir have laid upon me I must acknowledg the Present is too mean for so great a Person and 't is a Disparagement to so worthy a Name to prefix it before so inconsiderable a Piece but your good Nature is such that I hope your Affection will bribe your Judgment and what your Reason disallows your undeserv'd respect to the Author will not condemn I know Sir the usual Flattery of Dedicatory Epistles but know as well that you hate the fawning of mean Parasites and had rather be good than be magnifi'd as such in the World and tho I might expatiate in your due Praises yet I will not so far trespass upon your Humility that great Ornament of your Nature as well as Religion but rather turn my Panegyricks into Prayers That greatness and real goodness may be in you conjoin'd and the Nobility of your Birth may be equall'd by the noble Endowments of your mind Go on Sir in your hearty Zeal for God and Religion and let your great Example prevent the boasts of the bold Hectors of this Age That they have Proselyâ—ed all the Gentry of the Land Let your Dependents and Neighbours be aw'd into Seriousness by your strictly holy life and allure men into the practice of Religion by your sincere compliance with the amiable Virtues it recommends Let not the Infidel be able to say That Religion is only fit for the Cells of melancholly Souls and the retirements of the poor despised Men in Black who make it their Trade and Profession but continue Sir a glorious instance How well Religion becomes the most noble Souls and that Virtue is the best accomplishment and the highest badg of Honour Continue Sir in your becoming-Zeal against Papal Corruptions which so naturally tend to Debauchery and Irreligion And if this Discourse may be any way useful for so excellent a purpose I shall have great reason to bless God for directing me to such a Subject Who am Honourable Sir Your Oblig'd Humble Affectionate Servant S. C. ACTS XVII 6. These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also A Just Vindication of the Christian Religion from the impious Slanders of its professed Enemies and covert practices of its pretended Friends hath in all Ages of the Church been a very necessary work For tho our Religion be sufficiently attested and God hath given convincing Evidences that it came from him tho the excellency and intrinsick worth of the Precepts recommend it to the Approbation of all mankind Tho the Doctrines it delivers are highly agreeable to the wisest Apprehensions of men no way unbecoming a God to speak or men to hear Tho no Religion in the World was ever so admirably sitted to advance the interest of particular persons or promote the advantage of publick Societies yet hath it been vilely misrepresented by its Adversaries and the malice of Earth and Hell hath been busied in inventing lying Accusations to prevent its settlement and Propagation The blessed Author of it was accus'd as a Blasphemer and Impostor tho he came upon the most admirable design of promoting the happiness of mankind and laid down such excellent Rules as would certainly have fill'd the World with the blessings of a flourishing Peace and lasting Prosperity yet was he traduc'd as a Troubler of the World and Seducer of the People and tho he deserv'd to be honoured with the most profound respect and recompenc'd with the best rewards yet had he no other Crown than one of Thorns and no other Throne than a Cross And the same Spirit that murder'd their Lord did appear also against his Disciples and Followers Whereever they went to Preach the Word of the Kingdom they were still persecuted with the bold lies and virulent slanders of their enraged Adversaries The Magistrates were excited to secure the publick Peace against these pretended Disturbers of it And thus they boldly cry out in the Text These that have turn'd the world upside down are come hither also For the better understanding which words it will be necessary briefly to reflect upon the Context Paul and Silas having travell'd v. 1. through many parts of Asia publishing the Gospel
change a piece of Bread into God and by virtue of such a strong fancy to give it Divine Worship is an instance of such egregious folly as exposes Christianity to the scorn of infidels and hardens them in their unbelief a Doctrine that would make a Monster of our blessed Redeemer and give him 10000 bodies at once A Doctrine that subjects our Saviour to the will of every Priest and daily renews his humiliation A Doctrine that makes the Covenant of Grace much more severe than the Law of Innocence while it threatens damnation to all that will not disbelieve the agreeing sences of the whole world of Animals A Doctrine that destroys the very Foundations of human Converse and tends to the most unreasonable Scepticism imaginable For if our Senses are deceiv'd in so plain an instance how know we but that we may be all very Phantasms and a bundle of Accidents without any substance A Doctrine that hath a natural tendency to Infidelity and is the ready road to the most damnable unbelief For the miraculous Works of our Saviour were the great convincing Evidences of the truth of Christianity What we have seen and heard as one speaks was the Apostles Logick and an appeal to Miracles the surest Demonstraion of the Spirit So that if our Senses deceive us in this instance our Religion it self may be false The Resurrection of Christ and all his wonderful Works might for ought we know be Impostures and Deceits Thus we see how naturally the Papist lends his Assistance to the Atheist and Unbeliever A Doctrine that calls God himself a Deceiver for he plainly tells us by the most certain kind of Demonstration to our Senses That here is bread when if this be true there is really none at all In a word A Doctrine so full of unreasonable Contradictions that had not an infallible Council curs'd all deniers of it I am perswaded it would have long ago been renounc'd A Doctrine contradictory to Sense inconsistent with Reason and overthrown by express words of Scripture For St. Paul expresly calls it Bread after Consecration 1 Cor. 10. 15 16. 11. 26 27. A Doctrine bottom'd only upon one Metaphorical Expression This is my Body Which how it can prove this prodigious Transmucation is not very easie to imagine for did not Christs natural Body speak this while sitting at the Table And could his Disciples apprehend they eat the same Body or that the substance of the bread was vanish'd and only the Accidents remaining Did they so hardly believe his Resurrection and would they without one question about it digest this miracle far more amazing Doth he not say Do this in remembrance of me And if the Popish Comment were true would it be sense to say Eat me in remembrance of me Are not the terms Metaphorical in one part of the Sacrament This Cup is the Nâ—w Testament in my Blood And why should this rather than the other be taken according to the literal meaning Besides the same word is us'd concerning the Passover to which the Eucharist succeeds And the Jews had no term more proper to express signifie by than this word is It is the Lords passover Exod. 12. 11. i. e. a Memorial and Signification of the Lords passing over the houses of the Israelites when he destroy'd the first-born of Egypt and why should not the same Sense be given of this Sacrament of the new Covenant It is a Memorial of that Body of Christ which was once Offer'd for our Sins Thus we see how unreasonable the Roman Exposition of this Text is and yet they cannot pretend any clearer proof of this great absurdity but it is the great design of this Church to conquer those three mischievous Enemies Sense Reason and Scripture and when they have once done that they may impose what they will upon those reasonable Beasts their followers Sense they continually represent as subject to many Illusions and unfit to be trusted to in any weighty matters Reason they Tragically exclaim against as a dangerous Weapon and the mortifi'd Father Cressy somewhere tells us That it is the Wit and Judgment of Catholicks to renounce their own Judgment and depose their own Wit Scripture setting aside the Authority of their Church is of no more Validity with them than Aesops Fables or Mahomets Alchoran And tho they pretend the unanimous consent of the Fathers to their Doctrines yet because the Testimonies of Irenaeus Justin Martyr Theodoret Pope Galasius are so plain against them they pretend that the Fathers being obscure the present Church must be the Judg of their meaning but if we joyn issue here also and agree to be judg'd by the majority of Votes in the Christian World then they very charitably damn all the World but themselves and assume the proud title of Catholick and Universal so that the result of all is this If we will not upon their bare Affirmation swallow this heap of Contradictions we must infallibly fall under the Council of Lateran's Anathema and be ipso facto excommunicate But it is better to bear their curses here than by our sinful compliance with their grossest Idolatry to endanger our Salvation for ever For if there be no Transubstantiation of what tremendous Idolatry are they guilty who pay Divine Honour to a piece of Bread and give that Adoration to a Waser-cake which is due to God alone who outdo the grossest Idolatry of the Heathens and justifie the most ridiculous Superstitions of the Infidel world They only believ'd that some invisible Deity incorporated it self in the Creature they worshipp'd but never imagin'd that the whole substance was chang'd into God A Metamorphosis more strange than the most poetical Invention could ever contrive nor can they save themselves harmless by pretending they believe the Bread to be God and therefore if they err it is the fault of their Judgments not of their Wills For when men will maintain such an Error in spite of their own Sense and Reason and Scripture and the plain Doctrine of the Ancient Church they are certainly guilty of not only material but wilful formal Idolatry But supposing this Doctrine sometimes yet so many contingencies happens that it is impossible to know whether this particular Bread be Transubstantiated or not For if the Priest have not a right Intention and be not duly ordain'd the Miracle will not follow so that it is confessed by Bellarmine that no man can have any other than a conjectural certainty that he receives the Body of Christ because it depends upon the Priests intention which no man can know And now can it consist with our duty as Bishop Taylors speak certainly Disswas page 149. to give Divine Worship to that thing which we cannot certianly know to have a Divine Being But further if we should suppose by virtue of a strong faith such as is able to swallow Mountains that this miracle were always perform'd yet will not this justifie our Adoration For we are not bound
procurement Oh says the Cardinal those persons were disaffected to the Catholick Interest and these are my good deeds with which I intend to present my Saviour A story that needs no other invective than the bare relation But I would not willingly accuse all while some only are liable to this charge For many Romish Doctors mean no more by merit than that obligation God hath by promise laid upon himself to reward our good works And this I think none that understand the Nature of the Divine Promises can gainsay These men we accuse only for the use of a proud improper term tho once us'd by the ancient Fathers in an innocent sence 2. By their Doctrine of penance and Purgatory Whereas the Scripture tells us that Christ hath pai'd down a compleat Ransom for our sins and it is through his Blood alone we can expect a freedom from the punishments we have deserved yet this Church hath Coind new distinctions between the temporary and eternal punishments of sin as if tho the latter be remov'd by the Blood of Christ the former must be satissi'd for by our selves either in this Life or in Purgatory To this end they have given the Priests a commission to injoyn penances for sin as satisfactions to Divine Justice and preventive of surther punishment Penances so Ludicrous and Trifling that it is a sign of great infatuation in any that can believe by such cheap and easy performances to appease the anger of an offended Deity Penances consisting of little observances such as numbering their Prayers by their Beads saying so many Avemaries at some priviledg'd Altars in abstaining from Flesh for so many days in whipping their bodies in wearing hair-shirts and the cords of the particular Orders and numerous other little pieces of solly and superstition By these means do they take off sinners from their grateful love and duty to the Redeemer and earnest believing-applications to the Lord Jesus who is appointed by the Father as the sole Mediator of his Church and through whom alone we can expect deliverance from punishments whether temporal or eternal Of the same nature is their Doctrine of Purgatory a state of torments in the other world equal in degree tho not in continuance to those of Hell wherein those souls must sry who have not satisfi'd for their sins here till their friends give money to the Priest to pray them thence By this means the interests of the Clergy are advanc'd and the grandeur of that Church promoted This hath enrich'd their Abbies adorn'd their Chappels fill'd their Coffers and made good provision for all the begging Orders among them For while they scar'd the people with such a terrible Doctrine and yet pretended a power of Praying them thence who would not give liberally to those who were able to deliver them from such extremity of torment A Doctrine which the honester of their Doctors acknowledg is not to be found in cripture and these who pretend to prove it thence have brought such lame and farfetch'd proâ—â—s as are as easily refuted as mention'd the only Text that can with the least probability be stretch'd to this sense is that of 1 Cor. 3. 15. He himself shall be sav'd yet so as by fire But this is but a proverbical speech and by the context the meaning plainly appears to be that he who holding the essentials of Christianity shall corrupt it by additions of other disagreeing Doctrines is in a very hazardous condition and tho his salvation is possible yet it is but as a mans whose house is on fire about his ears extreamly dubious and very uncertain which how applicable to the Romanists hath been excellently showed by others and will further appear by this discourse But were there such a place as this what a derogation is it to the blood and prerogative of Christ to think that money can procure a Release from thence The Psalmist I am sure tells us that they who trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can redeem his brother or pay to God a Ransom for him Psal 49. 6. 7. But this is but Old-Testament-Divinity and Purgatory hath been built since that time or rather the infallible Head of the Church will not be guided by the Laws of the Bible For tho St. Peter would not sell the gifts of the Spirit for Money yet a fair purchase of eternal Life may be bought of his Successor if God would as willingly consent as he And we may invert St. Peters words and apply them to the Romanists 1 Pet. 1. 18. They are bought with corruptable things and redeem'd by silver and gold from the imaginary flames of Purgatory tho not from that vain conversation receiv'd by tradition from their Fathers But we have not so learn'd Christ Scripture mentions but two places Heaven and Hell if we lead Pious and Holy lives we may receive death with a joyful welcome and need not allay our comforts by the fears of an after-reckoning in another world And tho we may have been guilty of many venial sins in a Gospel-sense through infirmity surprise and sudden temptation or of any more mortal ones of a deeper die yet upon our sincere repentance the Blood of Christ without the fire of Purgatory will cleanse us from all these and present us pure and spotless to the Father But if we die in an impenitent state we shall be presently doom'd to endless remediless torments and all the wealth of the Indies will never procure us a deliverance thence I might further mention their practice of selling Indulgences for money which happily occasioned the reformation by Luther By this they they have made easy composition for sins and the Taxa Cameroe Apostolicoe a book publickly printed amongst them sets down at what easy rates an absolution may be obtained for the most unnatural vices Now what a direct tendency hath this to make men set light by their sins tread under foot the blood of the Son of God and account the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus perfectly unnecessary 3. By their doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass as a formal expiation of the living and dead Tho the Apostle to the Hebrews makes the great excellence of Christs sacrifice above those of the Levitical Law to consist in this That it was so full and compleat that it needs no repetition Heb. 10. 12 14. Yet the Romanists have made it a great part of their Religion to offer him every day in the Mass as a propitiatory proper sacrifice and thus make his former sacrifice on the cross incompleat and imperfect or rather wholly unnecessary for Christ instituted the Sacrament before his passion and if he then offer'd up himself as a propitiation for our sins what need was there at all of his bloody death and passion It is acknowledged that the Eucharist may be called a sacrifice in the same improper sense as our prayers and alms-deeds and repentances
are called so in Scripture and if they will call it a commemorative sacrifice as it is a memorial of Christs once perfect offering up himself on the crose Or even a Propitiatory sacrifice as it is a means of propitiating the Divine favour and seals and exhibits to us the real benefits purchased by his death we need not quarrel about words if this be their only sense And indeed as Bishop Andrews somewhere speaks take away Transubstantiation and the conceit of Purgatory and this wordy controversy would quickly be ended 4. By their formal Invocation of Saints The Scripture teaches us that there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and that none might pretend there may be other Mediators of intercession tho not of Redemption the Apostle hath prevented that distinction 1 Tim. 2. 1. 4 compar'd where the Apostle urges us to pray for all men because all of whatsoever Nation or Condition in the world are interested in Christs intercession He is the only Mediator that prevailingly intercedes for us in Heaven To make creatures the objects of our formal invocation what is it but to make them competitors with Christ and share in his prerogative We may as well ascribe redemption to others as intercession Besides what a disparagement is it to his Love that when he hath given us the largest assurances of his kindness and ready acceptances of our prayers and graciously promis'd that if we put our considence in him he will be our Advocate and we shall have a gracious answer from Heaven Nay when God the Father hath declar'd that whatever we ask in the Name of the Lord Jesus shall be granted I say how do we disparage his love by begging others to plead our Cause Can we imagine that the servants of God can do more for us than his beloved Son Or the blessed Virgin than the Lord Jesus He that looks into the Roman Rituals indeed may be tempted to think so where ten Avemaries are prescrib'd to one Paternoster and they have pictur'd Christ as frowning upon sinners and driving them away from him but the Virgin Mary inviting them with her smiles and lending a willing ear to their Devotions But he that looks into Scripture there finds nothing of this nature We are never directed to put our confidence in man but curses denounc'd against those that do so The Saints in Heaven are there never made the objects of our Prayers and it was always thought by the Primitive Church a good Argument against the Arriant that Christ is God because we are directed to address our selves to him Whether the Saints Pray for us or no in Heaven is not the question and while we understand not the extent of their knowledg it will remain a doubt Luk. 15. 7. Those who rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner may perhaps as far as they know our condition pray for their militant fellow-members Rev. 6. 9 10. And those who so passionately desire that vengeance may be executed on the Churches enemies may reasonably be thought as earnest for the salvation of their friends But this their intercession is not as the Romanists pretend like the Lord Jesus's by presenting their merits in our behalf nor hath God given them power to pardon our sins heal our diseases supply our wants or save our Souls and yet for such things as these are prayers directed to them nor is there any warrant from hence for us to make them our Mediators and pray unto them For tho they may know such things concerning us whereby their own happiness and comfort may be increas'd yet that they should understand all the particular grievances and concernments of our lives hear our prayers or know our hearts is not to be imagin'd And when we use the same gestures of external adoration to them that we do to our Saviour we thereby make them copartners with him in the same honour and rivals to him in his dignity 3. They have invaded Christs Prophetical office By this he hath reveal'd the whole will of God unto us and that we might not be deceiv'd by the subtilties of seducers Commission'd his inspir'd Apostles to commit his precepts to writing in the Holy Scripture that this might be our standing rule According to this we are bound to walk and whatever Doctrines or practices are not agreeable to it must be disown'd This Office is also invaded by the Roman Church and most eminently by these following ways 1. By hiding the Scripture from the common people and to justify this practise accusing it of obscurity 'T is well known how they have forbid the Scriptures to be Read in the vulgar language and by terrible curses and Anathema's have scar'd their Lay-proselytes from this admirable guide to happiness How have they lock'd up this bread of life and ingross'd this facred Manna to themselves How have they inclos'd this well of Salvation and churlishly refus'd their Laity so much as a tast of the purer streams except they will take in the mud and filth and their own impure mixtures also Their people must be content with the crumbs which the Clergy are pleas'd to let fall and be satisfi'd with only a glimmering of that light which would clearly direct them to the paths of Life The Scriptures like the rising Sun would quickly dispel the darkness of error and their former ignorance and therefore the proud Prelates resolve to stop this Giant in his race and hinder him from scattering his Beams in the World But alas what an high affront and daring in dignity is this to the great Prophet of the Church That when he descended from his Fathers Bosom for this very end that he might discover the mind and will of God unto us took such unwearied pains to publish his Doctrine strengthend it by such amazing Miracles and inspired his Apostles that they might commit to writing this his last Testament and admirable Legacy I say what â— Monstrous piece of Ingratitude is it to hide it from the sight of those to whom it is consign'd by our Lord And that by them who pretend to be the Guardians of it and the Executors of their departed Saviour Such an Action might be more excusable in Julian or Dioclesian but for the Vicar of Christ to be Guilty of it is a crime sufficient to forfeit his Title and tempts us to believe him Antichrist Was the Scripture first Preach'd and afterwards written in a Language capable of being Universally understood And is there not as much necessity it should be so continued Did God command the Jews to be frequent in the Meditation of the Law To lodg it in their thoughts to make it their daily companion and the subject of their constant entertainment And hath Deut. 11. 18 19 20. he any where forbidden the use of the Gospel To delight in the Law of the Lord and to Meditate therein day and night was once the Character Psal 1. 1 2. of a Blessed
Man And is the scene so much chang'd that now it is become the black mark of a damnable Heretick The Prophets permitted the People to judg by the Scriptures which were true and which were counterfeit messengers from Heaven crying out to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word 't is because there is no Isa 8. 20. light in them And must we acknowledg these men for the Pillars of Truth and the Lights of the World without being allow'd the same liberty When our Saviour was ask'd by that young man what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life Our Lord answers him what saith the Law How Readest thou And shall ignorance be now accounted the surest Road to Heaven Search the Scripture was his precept but is the prohibition of the Romish Church Timothy and the Bereans were indeed commended by St. Luke and St. Paul as noble persons for their diligence in the Scriptures But if they had liv'd in the days of our Modern Saints this would have been thought a crime deserving the lash of the inquisition An Anathema would have been their spiritual reward and fire and faggot their civil recompence Certainly such a practice as this had need be back'd with good Apologies or else they will never be able to justify so great an abuse of the Lord Jesus But how weak are their pleas and how insignificant the excuses they make Is it because the People may wrest the Scripture to their perdition that they are forbidden their use Alas because some may abuse it must all therefore be depriv'd of it because some may make Scripture the support of their errors must it not therefore be the foundation of truth Because some dogs have trampled on the Bread of Life Must the Children therefore be withheld from their Spiritual Food Because Hereticks have taken too large draughts of the new Wine of the Gospel must all therefore be denied to tast of it Because some know not the worth of these Pearls must those therefore who know how to value them be hinder'd from their possession By the same reason the Scriptures should not be permitted in the Learned Languages for Learned Men have been generally the first broachers of Heresy and are most capable of perverting the Holy Writings Is it because Scripture is so obscure that if the common people did injoy it they could not understand it 'T is acknowledged there are mysteries in our Religion and God hath for wise ends left some things more dark and obscure to awaken our industry abate our Pride and show the most Learned his ignorance and infancy in knowledg and create in us all earnest longings after that Happy state where all the Riddles shall be unfolded and the mysteries clearly reveal'd But there is so much perspicuously laid down as is necessary to Salvation and every man that Reads it and sincerely endeavours to understand it shall with the help of Divine Grace arrive at so much Knowledg as if improv'd into practice will bring him to Heaven The great end why the Scripture was written was that we might have a constant Monitor of our duty and guide 2 Tim. 3. 16. to happiness now if the Scripture were so obscure that it answer'd not this end this would reflect upon the Divine Wisdom as if he had chosen an insufficient means and were defeated in his methods and expectations And it would equally reflect upon his goodness as if he envied his creatures happiness if after our sincere and humble endeavours we could not understand the things that are necessary to our Salvation The essentials are clearly reveal'd tho there be some obscure passages yet the Divine Goodness hath left them not that we should be debar'd from Reading but to prevent our loathing and contempt and the darkest phrases are incomparably more intelligible than the cloudy obscurities of their admired Authors The pious nonsence of Mother Juliana and the sanctifi'd gibberish of their mystical Divines are infinitely less perspicuous than the Prophecies of Daniel or mysteries of the Revelations And yet those which reflect on Christianity as if it consisted only in Enthusiastick heats and raprures are allow'd while the Scripture which gives so lovely a description of the Christian Religion must be shut up from the sight of the multitude But whatever slender pretences may be us'd to delude perverse Hereticks we have good ground to think that the true cause of this Restraint is the same which our Saviour mentions Joh. 3. 19. They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Should the Scriptures be read by all their Proselytes would be few and their Altars would no longer smoke the Grandeur of the Church must be abated the infallible Chair would totter and Rome would be no longér the Mistress of the Earth 2. Their pretence of Infallibility and the Scriptures dependance on the Authority of their Church This is another Invasion on Christs Prophetical Office For if Infallibility be lodg'd in either Pope or Council for they are not agreed where it is plac'd then tho Christ hath never so clearly explain'd his mind they may make what Expositions of his words they please and obtrude them on our belief Their great Champion Bellarmine asserts That if the infallible Head should condemn Vertue for Vice and commend Vice as Vertue we are bound to believe Vice as morally good and Virtue evil but if this be Gospel our great Master hath deceiv'd us and we have been led by our Saviour into an Error Then if that impure Cardinal that writ a Book in praise of the scarlet Sin of Sodom had been exalted to the Papal-chair and from thence proclaim'd that unnatural Vice to be morally good we should have been bound to believe it And tho some pretend that such a Supposition is not to be made because the Spirit of truth will guide the unerring Head into all truth yet sad experience hath taught us that the broadest Impieties have been canonized and miscal'd Virtue and Justice at Rome Besides what possible reason is there they should be secur'd from Error more than from Sin How can it be imagin'd that that Holy Spirit which is griev'd with impurity and will not dwell in the Habitations of uncleanness did infallibly assist those Monsters for Villany which are acknowledg'd by Baronius and Platina to have worn the Triple Crown in the ninth and tenth Centuries Surely if such a gift as this was ever given to the Guides of the Church How obscure soever the Scripture be in other things it will be highly necessary it should plainly lay down this important Doctrine But alas How impertinent are the Proofs they bring They are either such as will equally prove the Civil Magistrates and Judges in Westminster-Hall infallible Such is that Deut. 17. 10 11 12. Where Judges are appointed to decide matters of Difference between man and man to whose Decisions the People are bound to agree that their
Strifes might not be endless or such as are restrain'd to the Apostles themselves Such is that Mat. 16. 19. I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven The plain meaning of which words seems to be only this I will give thee the the priviledg of first opening Vide Lightfoot in locum the Gospel frequently call'd the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever parts of Moses's Law thou bindest to the Observation of or takest off the Obligation for so the Phrases of binding and loosing are generally us'd in the Jewish Writers shall be observ'd and forborn God will ratifie and confirm what thou establishest Accordingly we know St. Peter did first Preach the Gospel to the Jews in Acts 2. and to the Gentiles Acts 10. And this priviledg of binding and loosing was peculiar to him and the other Apostles Lastly Their proofs are such as agree to every particular Church and faithful Christian Thus that of Matt. 18. 17. Speaks only of a Jurisdiction in every Church for quieting differences among the Members of it And that other of Matt. 16. 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church For by the Gates of Hell may be either understood the crafts and policies of Hell Councils using to sit in the Gates of Cities shall not totally prevail There shall be a body of Christians in the World or the Translation should be mended and the words read the Gates of the Grave or the invisible State Death which is frequently call'd among the Greeks by that name shall not gain Victory over the Church over the particular Persons of which it consists tho they dye yet Christ will rescue them by a glorious Resurrection Death shall not have Dominion over them nor over the Church notwithstanding it s many Enemies it shall not perish totally or irrecoverably These are the best proofs of their Infallibility I can find in the Scripture and while they are so easily and naturally applicable to a different sense I cannot think a Doctrine so obscurely deliver'd in the Christian Rule to be any Articles of the Christian Faith Besides what use do they make of this gift they pretend to Have they oblig'd the World by an infallible Comment on all the difficult places in Scripture and put a final end to all controversies among themselves On the contrary have not some Popes profess'd their no skill in Divinity and infallible Councils contradicted each other Are not there violent disputes between the Franscicans and Dominicans Jansenists and Jesuits French and Italian Clergy Surely the Pope must be very regardless of the Peace of the Church who will not give an infallible discovery of the truth And if ever God did give this gift since the Apostles days he may have long since justly taken it away because they have hid their Talent and made no use of it And now I have weaken'd this pretence the other of the Scriptures dependance on the Authority of their Church falls of it self for if their Church be not infallible why should I believe the Scriptures to be Gods Word meerly because they say so any more than Mahomets Alchoran 'T is true the Testimony of their Church jointly with all other Christians in the World and the Confession of Jews and Heathens handed down to us by the most unquestionable historical Tradition is a great Confirmation that these were the Books indicted by the Apostles that they were confirm'd by various Miracles and are not corrupted in any material Articles but we believe their Divine Authority not because the Church says so but because of those Seals which God hath affix'd to them We have convincing Arguments enough of the Scriptures Divinity and need not go to Rome to know what they mean Christ hath fully prov'd that his Message is from God by the excellence of his Doctrines the accomplishment of Prophecies and numerous miraculous Works and we will not forsake these firm foundations of our Faith and be so unreasonably credulous as to believe the same things meerly upon the Affirmation of a company of the worst sorts of Christians in the World Thus have they dangerously invaded the Offices of Christ I proceed to 3. They have corrupted the excellent Rules of an holy Life contain'd in the Gospel The great design of the Christian Religion is to purifie and amend the World and reduce it to its primitive Innocence And I wish there were less occasion to think that the design of these men is to Debauch the World and show that it is possible to be more corrupt than the very Heathens themselves for have not they by their nice distictions render'd a holy Life a very needless thing and overturn'd the very foundations of Virtue and Morality Repentance that first Introduction to an holy Life consisting in such a hearty Sorrow for every Sin as influences the practice and disposes us to forsake them they have made utterly unnecessary For while they distinguish Sins into Mortal and Venial and impose very easie Penances for those of the most purple dye Is not this the way to tempt their Proselytes to a continuance in their Sins and keep them from that severe hatred of them and those firm Resolutions of forsaking them they ought to take up Besides they maintain that a slight Attrition and imperfect Sorrow for Sin meerly from the consideration of some temporal inconvenience if join'd with the Sacrament of Penance is sufficient to fit a man for Heaven so that it is a very needless thing to hate or forsake our evil ways This is desin'd by their Council of Trent and generally maintain'd by their most famous Casuists And Morinus tells us as I find him quoted by Dr. Stillingfleet * Preface to Answer to several Treatises That the excellence of the Evangelical Precepts above the Legal chiefly consists in this That by them we are freed from the heavy yoke of Contrition and Love to God A Speech that would better become a Turk or Heathen than a Christian Thus we see they have hinder'd the first entrance into an holy Life and made the Gate to Heaven wider and the passage much more easie than our Saviour or his Apostles And if we run over all the parts of our Duty we may find too plain a Contradiction among their Casuists If we examine the Duties of Piety towards God How necessarily must they have low and irreverent thoughts of his imcomprehensible Majesty who behold such scandalous Pictures of him in their Churches and see the same Devotions and Gestures of Adoration us'd to those who were once perhaps equally sinful Creatures with themselves How have they incourag'd an abuse of his sacred Name by their Doctrine of Equivocation and prophan'd his Holy Day by allowing the remains of that time that is not spent at Mass to be imploy'd in idle Sports and foolish Mirth How
have they destroy'd that trust we ought to place on God alone by teaching men to rely on Creatures and damp'd well-grounded hopes of Heaven by unreasonable fears of Purgatory How have they taken off all necessity of Faith in Christ by their Doctrine of implicite Faith and while they teach the salvability of Heathens will not allow that any Christian can be sav'd who is not a Subject to the Pope and thus a belief in him is more necessary than in the Lord Jesus I might give many instances out of their Casuists how they make it unnecessary to love God above once a year and if they say their Prayers no matter whether they attend to them or no. The Duties of Justice and common Honesty are as perfectly overthrown by the nice Distinctions of Rome Their maintaining it lawful to exercise Revenge and Kill him that hath injur'd us in Honour Goods or Reputation is certainly no way own'd by our Saviour who commands us to love our Enemies and do good to them that hate us by no means to avenge our selves but to overcome evil with good That Latitude of uncleanness and immodesty allow'd in their Books is but a very bad Comment upon that Text. He that looks upon a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultry already with her in his heart Neither were they ever incourag'd by him who said Thou shalt not for swear thy self to falsifie their Oaths or violate their Faith with Hereticks The great pattern of meekness and compassion that check'd his Disciples fiery zeal against the Samaritans with Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of Never encourag'd their envenom'd rage against Dissenters from them Never encourag'd their Gibbets Stakes or Inquisition Nor did he command that all should be tortur'd with the most bloody Cruelty who are so obstinately sullen as to refuse to stoop to a Wafer-Cake and believe their own senses before his Holiness They have turn'd Nupitals into Massacres and at the conclusion of Wedding-Feasts have not transubstantiated but exchang'd Wine for Blood They have treacherously murder'd thousands of Innocents and blasphemously sung praises to God as if he were the Author of those Villanies which are highly-displeasing to him and abominably odious in his sight The Gospel teaches us to maintain the most diffusive unbounded Charity towards all the world but they have consin'd their love within the Walls of Rome And like the Pharisees of old will allow no Salvation to any other Christians that will not submit to the usurpations of their High-Priest and Sanhedrim The Christian Religion is design'd to abate our pride and cure our selfishness But the great design of these men is to aggrandize their Church and promote the Secular interests of the Clergy Heavenly-mindedness and self-denial is every where urg'd in the Gospel But that the great corruptions for which we accuse the Church of Rome do plainly aim at a worldly interest may easily appear by an induction of the particulars I have already discours'd of And tho there are many Cloyster'd Votaries among them that make great boasts of their mortification who pretend to bid adien to the world and all its flattering vanities who pretend to spend their whole time in devotion and dressing their Souls for Heaven yet all this may be a juggle and cheat to blind the world Pharisaical and not Evangelical And if we might be allow'd to search their Cells and Abbeys we might perhaps find they have been more careful to lay up Treasures on Earth than Heaven true Mortification is chiefly inward but theirs is mostly in externals Their Religion lies no deeper than their skins and tho the Apostle tells us that this bodily exercise profiteth little yet they make it the very sum of their self-denial Thus have they Evacuated the great duties of our Religion And tho I cannot say that all these are Doctrines defin'd by their Councils and in that sense to be subscrib'd to by all that Communion Yet they are publickly Printed by their Casuists and the order of Jesuites who most propagate them are most encourag'd And while a denier of Transubstantiation shall be Sacrific'd to the Flames these debauchers of the World enjoy the best Ecclesiastical Promotions I might have enlarg'd in further instances but he that desires more may read enough to turn his stomach in Taylors Disswasive from Popery the Practical Divinity of the Papists to omit the Mystery of Jesuitism and the Jesuits Morals He that Reads those collections out of their own Authors will find that the Pious and Judicious Dr. Tillotson did not go beyond the bounds of his wonted moderation when he us'd these seemingly harsh expressions * Sermon on 5th Nov. -78. I speak it with grief says he and shame because the credit of our common Christianity is some way concern'd in it That Panaetius and Antipater and Diogenes the Stoick Tully and Plutarch and Seneca were much honester and more Christian Casuists than the Jesuits or the generality of the Casuists of any other Order that I know of in the Church of Rome Thus have I appli'd the first sense of these words to these men and I think sufficiently proved That they have overturned the whole design of the Gospel I proceed therefore to inquire Whether they can produce any divine commission for these great alterations they have made Are their Doctrines reasonable or have they any intrinsick excellence to commend them The Doctrines of the Apostles were highly reasonable and their worth and excellence attracted every unprejudic'd person But theirs are plainly absur'd and irrational such as none but the wilfully blind and resolvedly obstinate can believe For is it reasonable to worship the incomprehensible God by Images of Wood and Stone and to give the same veneration to Creatures that we do to the Lord of Angels and Men Is it reasonable to adore a Wafer-cake or imagine that the charming words of a Priest can fetch down the Body of Christ from Heaven and convey away the Bread in an instant Is it reasonable to believe that Christs Body may be in a thousand places at once that it may be divided not into parts but wholes and crowded into every crumb of the consecrated Wafer Is it reasonable to believe these and a 1000 more fulsome contradictions which that hard word Transubstantiation implies Is it reasonable to worship a spiritual Being with gay ceremonies and all the little pieces of soppery us'd in their worship Is it reasonable to believe that God should be so fond of the City of Rome that the Bishop thereof tho never so notorious for ignorance and villany shall become infallible Is it reasonable to believe that Absolution can change Attrition into effectual Repentance and the Omnipotent Words of a Priest conjure a man to Heaven in an instant But the world knows how the Jesuit Veronius hath implicitely confess'd Reason not to be on their side who presented the world with a new method more promising than ordinary
to convince Hereticks and that was to call for express words of Scripture and absolutely deny whatever reason said against any of the Articles of their new Belief And now since their Doctrines are thus confessedly unreasonable we may be assur'd they came not from Heaven or the God of Reason 2. Are their Doctrines warranted by any Prophecies concerning them The Apostles compleated those Prophecies that had been long before made God had foretold his abolishing the Ceremonial Law and establishing a perfect standing-rule for Jews and Gentiles But doth he any where foretell That after the expiration of so many Years Judaism and Paganism should be mix'd together by his appointment On the contrary the Gospel is call'd an everlasting Gospel and at the closing of the Canon of Scripture a Rev. 22. 18. terrible curse is denounc'd against those who should dare to make any additions to Scripture There are some Prophecies indeed in Scripture which seem to concern them St. John and St. Paul have spoken many things concerning Antichrist and the Man of Sin which many think are clearly applicable to the Roman Church But I know she will say concerning these as Ahab of Micaiah I hate these men for they Prophecy not good but evil concerning me 3. Can they attest the truth of their Doctrine by Miracles Here I know they will make their boasts There is not a Saint among them but is famous for incredible wonders The Apostles were but puny Miracle-workers in comparison of their Modern Saints And the great St. Francis St. Bridget St. Catharine and St. Thomas of Canterbury far exceeded St. Peter or St. James or St. John or any of the other Disciples Who can question the lawfulness of Worshipping the Virgin Mary when he hears that the Angels brought wood and stone cross the Sea to Loretto and built her a Chappel there Who can forbear falling prostrate and crying St. Thomas help me when those very words from the mouth of a Sparrow struck a cruel Sparrow hawk dead that had almost fastned upon her as his prey Have not the wild beasts of the wood fallen down before the Host when casually let fall and the very Asses cast themselves into a worshipping posture And is it not mighty strange that men will still trust their own senses and remain Hereticks after such wonderful evidence I might instance in manyother pretty tales out of their Legends but they are so ridiculous and extravagant as plainly speak out their forgery and the wiser among them are forc'd to confess them Pious Frauds and Godly Cheats Our Saviour and his Apostles did their mighty works openly in the sight of their greatest enemies But these are all transacted in corners before friends and those that have already entertain'd their doctrines And surely there must be some Legerdemain in the business that so many Miracles should be done in Italy and Spain and none in England But the true reason why they can do no mighty works in our Country is because of our unbelief Protestants would soon discover their cheats and they were once so baffled in that intended miracle of the Boy of Bilson a known story that they have hardly ventur'd the exposing themselves since Their Miracles when they are not plain forgeries are either the curing of melancholly sumes or Hysterical-Distempers which frequently create fancies in persons as if they were possess'd of which instances have been given by Protestants particularly as I remember by Mr. Baxter who have cur'd such and might have gain'd the name of Miracle-workers as well as they Or if any of their Indian Apostles as Xavier and had a true miraculous power it was to confirm the truth of Christianity to the Heathens and not their additional corruptions Finally if God do permit them to do some strange unaccountable actions to confirm their errors 't is but as a trial to our faith to see whether we will forsake the true Doctrine confirm'd by greater miracles when we are fore-arm'd against such aslaults by being told that Antichrist shall come with lying wonders and we need not fear the sin against the Holy Ghost if we say that by Beelzebub do these men cast out Devils But I had almost forgot one great Miracle which is daily perform'd and that is Transubstantiation But those who believe this must live by faith or rather unreasonable credulity and not by sight And the greatest Miracle of all is That men who are Wise and Rational enough in common matters should swallow such an heap of Contradictions And thus have I made good the Charge against the Romish Church in the first Sense and tho much more might have been said yet this fully proves that they have corrupted Christianity with their impure mixtures and cover'd the excellent Foundations of our Faith with the Hay and Stubble of their own Inventions And thus I proceed to make good the Charge against them in the second Sense 2. Whether they have desturb'd the World by Principles of Religion This hath been so common a Theme of late years ' that I need not spend much time in proving it The Miter is by them exalted above the Crown and Peter's pretended Successor is so far from Preaching up his Doctrine of Subjection to the Civil Powers that he requires Kings and Emperors to stoop to him I need not laboriously prove this by Quotations out of their Authors If the Decrees of their Councils the Bulls of their Popes the Determinations of their Canon-Law the Assertions of not only Jesuits those known Enemies to Monarchy but of the most approv'd Doctors of all Orders among them may be taken to be the Sense of their Church the Learned Bp. of Lincoln hath lately Collected them together and thereby fully confirm'd the Title of his Book That Popish Principles are destructive to Protestant Princes There we may find such dangerous Assertions as these That Emperors and Kings are the Popes Subjects That they may be depos'd by him for Schism Heresie Laziness or unprofitableness and that he is the sole Judg of the Crime and Condemnation That Statutes made by Laymen bind not the Clergy That the Pope is the Vicar of God and every creature is subject to him That he that prefers the King before the Priest prefers the Creature before the Creator In a word He hath given such convincing Demonstration That King-killing Doctrines are authoriz'd at Rome that we may justly wonder at the daring-Impudence of the late Tyburn-Saint who pretended that none but Mariana ever publish'd such Doctrines But what truth can be so plain which the Confidence of a Jesuit dare not deny Neither have these been the idle Speculations of the Schools or the entertainment of the Cells and Cloysters but have been practically maintain'd many hundred Years and the History of the Church for some Centuries is nothing else but a Tragical and Bloody Comment on this Doctrine 'T is hardly possible to mention one King since Rome's rise to her greatness that hath been but