the Church and might have the same effect as if a Country Curate in England were brought over to the Roman Faith This Confession is the Cause also that upon every small accident of complyance a new reconciliation is presently divulged and so it happened in the year 1678. when at Rome for six Months together it was generally reported That the Armenian Patriarch with six and thirty Bishops was on their way thither to submit unto and to acknowledge the Apostolical See Howsoever I perswade my self that were the particulars wherein there is any Controversie between the Church of England and that of Rome well stated according to the Capacity of the Armenians it would not be difficult to procure another Confession at least an Explication of their Doctrine with little variety from that of the Church of England so little Understanding have these People of Controversies the which perhaps would be the sense of most good Christians in the World who laid aside all prepossessions to a Party or Tenent Howsoever I am sure it ought to be the Desire and Prayer of every good Christian that God would be pleased to lessen and close the Differences in the Church of Christ that we may have one God one Faith one Baptism and one Head the Lord Jesus Amen FINIS Histories and other Curious Discourses Printed for and sold by John Starkey in Fleet-Street 1. 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England and there observed that purity of our Doctrine and the excellency of our Discipline which flourished in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr and viewed our Churches trim'd and adorned in a modest Medium between the wanton and superstitious dress of Rome and the slovenry and insipid Government of Geneva entertained a high Opinion of our happy Reformation intending thence perhaps to draw a Pattern whereby to amend and correct the defaults of the Greek Church retrenching the length of their Services and the multitude of their Ceremonies and also by that Exemplar to reduce their Festivals to a moderate number to create a right apprehension of the state of Souls after separation and wholly to take away certain conceits both superstitious and savouring of Gentilism and confirm his Church in a reverend Opinion of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist without lanching so far into the explication of that Mystery as of late they have done both in the Anatolian Confession which was generally owned and confirmed in the year 1672 by the Subscription of the four Oriental Patriarchs and of the Metropolites then present at the Instance of Mounsieur de Nointel Ambassadour for his most Christian Majesty a very intelligent and ingenious Gentleman And had not this good Patriarch been thus malitiously prosecuted and his life taken from him by unhappy Wiles he might with God's assistance have accomplished a work of Reformation and piloted the Church into that state of Apostolical Purity which King James Erasmus Cassander Melancthon Buçar the Arch-Bishop of Spalatro and others did design But God it seems hath not as yet ordained the time for so happy a Conversion and Reformation which is a Blessing rather to be wished for at present than to be expected till when it is the duty of all good Men and the Elect of God to offer a continual Sacrifice of Prayer on the Altar of their hearts that he would be pleased to grant us Unity of Faith in our Religion and Peace and Concord in all Christian Governments that being one Sheepfold under one Shepherd the Lord Jesus we may imitate the Example of him who is the Prince of Peace Amen THE CONTENTS OF The several Chapters of the Present State of the Greek Church CHAP. I. THE Present State of the Greek Church in general under the Turkish Tyranny pag. 1 CHAP. II. Of the seven Churches of Asia unto which S. John wrote viz. Smyrna Ephesus Thyatira Laodicea Philadelphia Sardis and Pergamus wherein also is treated of Hierapolis 30 CHAP. III. Of the Office and Constitution of the four Patriarchs the Extent of their respective Jurisdictions their Revenue and whence it arises with what precedency or place the Patriarch of Constantinople acknowledges to the Pope of Rome 81 CHAP. IV. The Opinion of the Greek Church concerning that Article in the Nicene Creed I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and what Authority and Power is given by them thereunto 120 CHAP. V. Of the Fasts of the Greek Church 129 CHAP. VI. Of the Feasts observed in the Greek Church 139 CHAP. VII Of Baptism and the sealing of Infants called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 161 CHAP. VIII Of the second Mistery called Chrism 171 CHAP. IX Of the third Mistery called The Holy Eucharist as also of the Blessed Bread called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Panis Benedictus 177 CHAP. X. Of the fourth Mistery called Priesthood wherein is treated of their Monasteries Orders of Friars and Nuns and the Austerity of their lives 201 CHAP. XI In which is treated of Mount Athos called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Holy Mountain and of the Monasteries thereon and of the other more famous Monasteries of the Oriental Churches 215 CHAP. XII Of Confession Contrition and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Oyl of Prayer 263 CHAP. XIII Of the power of Excommunication and upon what slight occasions they make use of it 271 CHAP. XIV Of the treatment the Greeks use towards their Dead and the Opinion they have of Purgatory and the middle State of Souls 203 CHAP. XV. Of the fifth Mistery called Marriage and the Customs they use therein 305 CHAP. XVI Of the Liturgies used in the Greek Church and of their length and when used 317 CHAP. XVII Of Pictures and Images in the Greek Church 321 CHAP. XVIII Of Prayers to Saints and Adoration of Angels 331 CHAP. XIX Of the Greek Islands in the AEgean Sea called now the Arche-pelago and the division there of Religion between the Greek and Latin Churches 337 CHAP. XX. Of other Matters and Tenents held in the Greek Church not comprised in the premises and particular Customs observed amongst them 370 THE CONTENTS OF The several Chapters of the Present State of the Armenian Church CHAP. I. OF the Armenian Church in general 385 CHAP. II. Of their Patriarchs and Government in the Church 390 CHAP. III. Of Etchmeasin 396 CHAP. IV. The Confession of Faith in the Armenian Church 409 CHAP. V. Of Fasts in the Armenian Church 415 CHAP. VI. Of Feasts in the Armenian Church 419 CHAP. VII Of their Monasteries and Rules observed therein 423 CHAP. VIII Of the two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper 431 CHAP. IX Of Penance and Excommunication 438 CHAP. X. Of their Marriages 440 CHAP. XI Their Opinion of Souls in the state of separation and their Ceremonies used towards the dead 442 CHAP. XII A Confession of the Armenian Doctrine subscribed unto by the Patriarch and Bishops together at Constantinople 447 THE PRESENT STATE OF THE GREEK CHURCH CHAP. I. The Present State of the Greek Church in general under the Turkish Tyranny THE ancient division of Greece into many Commonwealths and their inveterate hatred against Philip of Macedon for no other Reason than because he was a King and as they stiled him a Tyrant and the unquiet disposition of that People never contented in their Estate nor satisfied in their Rulers the Humour and Fate of most Popular Governments have to us and to all future Ages represented the Grecians as great lovers of alteration and freedom Time afterwards and vicissitude of things transforming them from Associates to be Subjects of the Roman◠Empire they enjoyed notwithstanding for some Ages the benefit of their own Laws Protection and Liberty under the successful progress of the conquering Eagles and when the Imperial Seat was transported to Bizantium the Emperours themselves became Grecians and the People enjoyed still the lenity and gentleness of the Roman Yoke In this easiness of living things continued until the year of Christ 1300. when an unexpected Storm arose from the East which as a little Cloud appearing first at a distance like a spot or the measure of a Palm doth afterwards diffuse it self in a general blackness over the Face of the whole Heavens or as I have seen at a large Prospect something like the Swarm of a single Hive which approaching nearer hath proved to be an Army of
Institutions of the Universal and of their own Church or weighs the private Instructions of a Priest who is the Monitor of his Soul Nay even those who profess Obedience to the Church of England and attribute an efficacy to the power of the Keys and would not for the world be under an Excommunication and hold themselves obliged to celebrate the Feasts with devotion and rejoycing and account the non-observance thereof the Characteristical point of a Phanatick yet when the Anniversary Fasts take their turn which impose the same injunction on them of keeping holy as do the Feasts they find excuses to evade the obligation and dispute against all Penance Mortification and Severities of life as grounded on the Doctrine of Merits and Works of Supererogation And in this manner elude that admirable duty enjoyned by Christ himself where he saith That when the Bridegroom is taken from them then they should fast and would abolish that signal mark of Christianity which by its rigour and frequency distinguishes it from all other Religions in the World Some I know will be apt to attribute this abridgment of the Clergies power to their supereminent knowledge and more clear light of Scripture that they are better instructed than to be guided by their Priests or to stand in awe of the condemnation of a supercilious Prelate but such Learning as this derived from the Principles of Pride and Licentiousness is far worse than ignorance and that Person who is humble and submissive apt and willing to be instructed is a better Christian and in a more secure path and way to Godliness and Heaven than he that having heard and read much stands dangerously towring on the presumptuous Pinnacle of his own Reason And indeed this adherence to the Doctrine of their Church is the proper Basis and Pillar of their Faith For those ancient janglings and controversies which possessed the Greek Spirits in former days and through the acrimony of their malice and hatred opened a breach in divers pales of the Eastern Church whereby the whole surface of things was over-whelmed with the vast inundation of the Mahometan Enemie are Tragedies so sadly recorded that the present Age seems by the memory of those Examples so far to dread the danger of divisions and innovations that they refuse to amend even that which by their own confession is an Errour either in doctrine or practice but it is no wonder that those from whom God hath removed the ancient glory of his Candlestick brightly shining amongst them should delight to dwell in the twilight of Batts and groap in an Egyptian darkness but it is strange that those to whom his mercies and patience indulge the clearer Rayes of the Gospel should forsake the Sun-shine of divine Illumination to follow fantastick and wandring lights mistaking them for that great Pillar of Fire which conducted the Israelites Another great help to support and maintain the Eastern Church is their Confession to a Priest for by nothing more doth the Power and Authority of the Greek Church and Clergy seem to be maintained and asserted who account it the sole Axel on which the Globe of Ecclesiastical Politie turns and that without it they can neither have Influence on Mens Consciences nor under the power of Infidels and Aliens govern the least Circumstance of their lives and manners I know not how far the Roman Clergy may have abused this Excellent evidence of repentance this Ordinance of the Gospel this admirable means to inflame our devotion and to guide and instruct us in the rules of holy Living It is more than probable that their use of it in an ordinary and familiar manner rather in form than substance without regard to feigned or real Penitentiaries and as an encouragment to annimate men to sin when they can so easily be pardoned hath afforded just occasion to those who desired a Reformation to exclaim against it and to take it wholly from the Church as an Institution so entirely corrupted as never more to be reformed or recovered but by a total abolishment The Church of England as I am perswaded apprehended it under this notion when its Wisdom and perhaps I may say the Spirit of God thought fit to dispence for a time with this Discipline of Penance but with intention to restore it again when the time should become more seasonable and we our selves more worthy to receive so profitable an Institution as our Rubrick seems to intimate in the Office appointed for the first day of Lent And this Doctrine is maintained in the Sermons and Writings of our Divines and given as Counsel in that Exhortation preceding the Communion Service that we should confess our sins not only to God and our Brethren whom we have offended but in Cases of scandal and a troubled Conscience or other need of Ghostly Counsel and Advice to consult God's Ministers the Priests in which Case also our Church hath provided a Form of Absolution Considering which Premises it will not be difficult to conjecture under what Notion the Eastern apprehends the Western Reformed Churches for they taking notice that the English neither keep Fasts nor practise Confession nor ordinarily make the Sign of the Cross and that the Dutch Nation at Smyrna rehearse no Prayers at the Burial of the dead are not only scandalised thereat but also Jews and Turks take offence at the silence of Prayers when the dead are buried wondering what sort of Heresie or Sect is sprung up in the World so different from the Religion of all the Prophets at which undecent practice the Roman Clergy taking advantage to disparage the Protestants represent them to the Greeks under the notion of Calvinists whom they characterise to be such as contemn all Order in the Church the authority of Priesthood abolish Fasts abhor the Cross contemn the Saints besides a thousand other Heresies and Schisms in which they report we are at odds amongst our selves And in reallity were it not that the English Nation by the orderly use of their Liturgy and Discipline of their Church observing the Lords day and the Grand Festivals did vindicate themselves of these Aspersions it were impossible to perswade the Oriental Countries that those which we call Reformed were Christians or at least to retain any thing of Ancient and Apostolical Institution Upon which score the Greeks detest that Confession of Faith supposed to be wrote by Cyrillus their Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1629 and Printed and Confuted in the year 1631 by Mattheus Caryonhilus Arch-Bishop of Iconium for that Confession agreeing wholly with the Doctrine of Calvin in every particular is believed in a great measure to have been fathered on him by the Jesuits who to justifie their inhumane Persecutions of that worthy Prelate by making Turks and Infidels the Instruments of their rage formed and vented any thing which might procure the Curses and Anathemas of the Old and New Rome I am perswaded that this Cyrillus having spent some time in
call them or Governours to whom they refer all their Causes in Civil Differences and who are the Representatives of the Island and gather in the Poll-money getting it ready against the time that the Turkish Gallies and Captain Pasha come to demand it which they yearly do But in case any person be guilty of a Capital Fault which deserves death he is reserved till the arrival of the Commander in chief of the Gallies who executes justice upon him These Governors are chosen yearly by the people or they confirm the old ones which is most commonly done for amongst them are few who are ambitious of Rule and Soveraignty In some of these Islands are found the most expert Divers under Water in the World the best of which are of Samos and of Simo. One of which I saw employed in very cold Weather on occasion of an English Boat which was sunk by a Ships side laden with Tin and Lead in the Port of Smyrna in about eight fathom of Water who for want of heat rather than breath the Weather being very cold in the month of January was forced to dive four times to fix four Ropes to the Boat two of which he hooked within the Rings of the Head and Stern and two at each side in the mid-ships which he acted very dexterously not missing at any time of that which he went about Upon discourse with him afterwards he told me That he was born at Simo where at the Age of three or four years his Father brought him to the Sea and taught him to swim and then to dive which by degrees he so well learned with other young Companions that their common practise was to try who could stay longest under the Water in which they are very emulous to exceed because it is the sole trade of their poor Island to cut Spunges and he that is the most expert therein gets the handsomest Wife and the best Portion This man farther informed me That he never could stay under Water when his Belly was full but that in a Morning or at any time of the day fasting in warm Weather and in a calm Sea he could stay three quarters of an hour under Water He never heard of Spunges dipped in Oyl to hold in their mouths as we vulgarly report nor used they any other help than before they dived into the Water to fill their Lungs with as much Air as they could draw in If they staid long under Water they felt a pain in their Ears and many times blood issued thence and from their Noses their Eyes were always open so that they could almost see as well under as above the Water and indeed I observed that his Eyes were glazed and burnt with the Sea that they looked like Glass or the Eyes of Fish And this shall serve at present for what we have to relate of the Grecian Islands CHAP. XX. Of other Matters and Tenents held by the Greek Church not comprised in the premises and of particular Customes amongst them THEY earnestly deny the procession of the Holy Ghost from God the Son but only from the Father through the Son which they argue with more subtlety than usually they do any other Controverted Point in Religion They seem to retain something which savours of ancient Gentilism particularly their Belief of a certain holiness in some Fountains attributing miraculous operations to Waters and by reason of the favour of some Saint to whom the same is dedicated in the same manner as the Pagans did who believed their Fountains to be guarded by some Nymph or Deity to whom they were consecrated When they lay the Foundation of a new Building the Priest comes and blesses the Work and Workmen with Prayer for which they have an Office in their Liturgy which is very laudable and becoming Christians But when the Priest is departed the Workmen have another piece of their own Devotion to perform which they do by killing a Cock or a Sheep the Blood of which they bury under the first stone they lay It is not always but very frequently practised in which they imagine that there is some lucky Magick or some spell to attract good fortune to the Threshold they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice and therefore I believe that this is a piece of ancient Heathenism They think it not lawful to eat Blood or things strangled though they are not very nice or scrupulous in the examination of what Provisions are set before them The Apochryphal Books they esteem for Apocryphe and of no greater Authority than they are reputed for in England but yet they hold that some Traditions are of equal Authority with the written word The Doctrine of Justification by faith or good works is not a Problem controverted amongst them they are not as yet it seems so far proceeded in Polemick Learning but believe that both are very necessary to salvation and that he whose faith produces good works out-does him whose life is buried in notions and arrests it self in a bare disputation They believe Faith to be an active and prolifick Grace and that which cannot remain in idleness but must operate and employ that heavenly heat it receives from above but whether our Justification be beholding to our Faith or to our Works or to both together they leave the Query to the discussion of such who have more leisure and money and perhaps more curiosity than the ordinary Monks of Greece Those who have a Malice or Quarrel to any particular person do oftentimes bring the breadth and length in Thread or Wood of him against whom they entertain Malice to a Carpenter or Mason who is ready to lay the Foundation of a house the which for a little money is buried under one of the first stones after which they say the person dyes or at least macerates away as the Thread or Wood decays which is a most certain piece of Magick of the ancient Gentilism They really believe that on or about the 15th day of August which is the day that they celebrate the Assumption of our Blessed Lady that all Streams in the World retire into Egypt to do homage and obeysance to that Grand River of Nylus which is the cause as they say of the innundation of that Country And of this perswasion they are because they perceive that in August the Springs and Rivers are every where low and the Nilus full and over-flowing its Banks which they attribute as a blessing to that River and its Country where the Saviour of the World and his Blessed Mother were secured from the Malice and Treachery of impious Herod And this fond fancy the Vulgar have taken up not considering that the Nilus overflows in June and July and that the Waters decrease in August I have now done with the History of the Greek Church to which I shall only add this remarkable passage in the Conclusion which though it be a matter not more relating to the Greeks than other Christians
which is not either appointed for Fast or noted for a Festival CHAP. VII Of their Monasteries and Rules observed therein BEsides the Monastery of Etchmeasin of which we have already treated they have several others in divers places of Armenia Persia and Dominions of the Turks But those of greatest note are these That of S. John Baptist called by them Surp Carabet on the Borders of Persia Varatch or the Holy Cross scituated near Van where they report that Rupsameh fixed the real Cross of Christ Asfasasin or the Blessed Virgin is another Monastery near Darbiquier Surp Bogas or S. Paul at Angora Their Orders or Rules observed are three viz. Surp Savorich or that of S. Gregory Surp Parsiach or that of S. Basil and Surp Dominicos or that of S. Dominick The first wear Vests of black with Hoods of the same but when they officiate in their Mass they are cloathed in white with Crowns on their heads The second are habited like Greek Kaloires of that Order And the third are cloathed in black with no other difference from the first than in the cut and shape of their Hoods This latter of S. Dominicos they seem to have taken from the Roman Priests who have gained footing and admission amongst them for otherwise that Western Name and Modern Order could never have found place so far East-ward nor society with those other two more ancient Religions unless by imitation or in conformity to Rome They observe almost the same Rules and Orders in their manner of Worship and Service They eat no flesh nor drink Wine yet on Saturdays and Sondays out of Lent they have liberty to eat Eggs Milk Butter and Fish They have used themselves so much to fasting from their Infancy that it is very curious to observe what Custom is able to effect in our Bodies and with how small a proportion Nature can be contented in which strict manner of living some have so far endeavoured to exceed that they have daily diminished of their slender Diet and supposing still that Nature might be content with a meaner proportion have so extenuated and macerated their Bodies that at length they have miserably perished with Famine They arise from their Beds at Midnight and continue in Prayer and Fasting until three a Clock in the Afternoon during which time they are obliged to read over the whole Psalter of David There are Women likewise in this Country who put themselves into Nunneries and live with the same severity and strictness as do the men They have also some Hermites whom they call Gickniahore who live upon the tops of Rocks confined thereunto almost as severely as Simeon Stylites was to his Pillar Nor is this Country so remote and obscure nor the Language so much unknown but that the Roman Clergy hath gained a considerable footing amongst them whereby they have established no less than ten Monasteries in that Country all of the Order of S. Dominick of which I have seen and discoursed with some of the Friers and particularly I had once opportunity to discourse with the Arch-Bishop who was of the same Order and constituted by the Pope over this Church as he was going to Rome to receive his Consecration and to obtain a Stipend of 200 Crowns a year for his maintenance he told me that he had ten Monasteries under him all of the Order of S. Dominick that his place of Residence was at Nachavan three days journey from Tavris which was the place where Noah's Ark rested after the flood These of the Roman as well as of the Armenian Church are so wretchedly ignorant that they are not capable to render a satisfactory answer to a curious Stranger in any thing relating to their own Customs and Manners but commonly make a reply to his Queries by begging for if you ask them Questions they will demand Alms of you The first time that the Roman Religion crept into this Country was about 350 years past by means of one Ovan de Kurnah who having a wandring head and a genius towards Learning somewhat more curious than the generallity travelled into Poland and thence into France and Italy where having comprehended something of the Western Knowledge and Doctrine returned into his own Country where he preached and instructed them in the material points of their Religion which seemed unto them to be all new matters and high notions and had not entred into the consideration and brains of the wisest amongst them so that the Doctrines and Tenents of Kurnah began to pass currant amongst them to the great admiration and applause of this travelling Doctor But at length touching on the Popes Supremacy to the prejudice of the Patriarchal Authority and Jurisdiction the whole mass of his Doctrine became leavened and he forbidden farther to preach or the people to hear him Howsoever a considerable number adhered to his Doctrine and to this day rather gain than lose ground in Armenia of whom there is a Church licensed at Rome and the form of their Mass priviledged and squared according to that of the Latines but excessive long and tedious and much differing from that of the Armenian as I have seen them revised and compared together In the year 1678 when I was passing through Rome and Italy in my way from Smyrna into England it was confidently reported in the Dominions of the Pope that the Chief Patriarch of the Armenian Church together with many of his Metropolites were on their journey towards Rome with intention to submit themselves to that Church but having remained in those parts for some Months after that report began and neither seeing nor hearing of their nearer approach I may confidently conclude that this Patriarch is still as far off in his agreement with the Church of Rome as he is at a distance by the situation of his Country As to the Service-Book which belongs to the true and that which is properly called the Armenian Church it was compiled as they report in part by S. James and the rest by S. Chrysostom and S. Basil whose forms of Prayer and Service are wholly in use amongst the Eastern Christians for I have not heard of any Liturgy of Surp Savorich or S. Gregory in this Church which to me is very strange There not being much Literature amongst these people we cannot expect to find great Libraries wrote in their Language or many Books wherein the retired Monks may exercise their Studies That Book which is of most note amongst them and agreeable to the design of Religious men is the Book of one Gregorio of the Monastery of Stat which treats of the lives of holy men and serves in the place of Homilies read on Festival Days the study of which is the chief employment of the Armenian Monks CHAP. VIII Of the two Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper and Panis Benedictus IT would be very difficult to be resolved by Armenian Doctors whether they hold seven or two Sacraments in their Church for that word
posterity For I perswade my self that had it not been for the extream Ambition of the Roman Jesuitical Clergy on the one side and the too hot and blind Zeal of some Pharisaical Professors on the other Truth might have been established with moderation and all Churches reconciled without railing Accusations or personal Reproaches It is easie to pacifie when both Parties are willing to condescend unto Expedients of Concord and Peace which is then only effected when the Spirits of men are become quiet and sedate by the vertues of Meekness and Charity which are the only rare dispositions unto knowledge and a godly life but when men will soare in their fancies as high as Heaven and there penetrate into the Decrees of Predestination dispute the manner of the Holy Ghost's procession and dive into the Mysteries of the Holy Trinity and Secrets of the Eucharist matters so hidden and abstruse that Angels look into them with wonder and admiration and Humane Reason becomes giddy and blind by too rash an approach to those astonishing lights and loses it's way in that immense cavity and vastness of distance which is between Heaven and Earth And when men do only esteem and indulge their Party and damn all other Societies what can be more destructive to humane Politie How can we expect or hope for the conversion of Turks or Heathens when they shall be affrighted at the Church Gate by some Opposites to one another of their own divided perswasions with the threats of Hell and Damnation and meet almost as many Anathemas as when they remained Infidels How can we expect a Reconciliation and Concord whilst the Papists are so inveterate against the Protestants and all other Christian Churches that those who are most indiscreetly zealous amongst them believe the Foundation of their Faith ought justly to be subverted not only by menacing Bulls and Excommunications but by Fire and Sword by Massacres of the People deposing of Kings by the Papal Authority and by the murder of their true and natural King and of such a King as hath been indulgent to all his Subjects and to them in particular that if Religion had not struck them with an awe and dreadful affrightment of shedding the Blood of God's Anointed yet at least common gratitude and the Bowels of Humanity should have deterred them from a Design so full of horrour and amazement But if the Head be of these Principles what else can we expect from the Members of it If these be the Foundations of their Religion can the super-structure be other than false and wicked for I am confident that that Religion is Unchristian whose Conclusions are Blood and Destruction Whilest the Papists confined their Disputes within those Questions which were controverted Problems such as the Infallibility of the Church Transubstantiation Prayers to Saints and the like on which Volumes have been wrote the Victory seemed doubtful for both sides as in drawn Battels boasted of advantage But when they began to discover the rottenness of their Principles in Morality which is naturally impressed on the Consciences of men and is properly the Light and Lamp of the Soul such Morality I mean as allows mental Reservations Officiosum mendacium or officious Lies and a thousand other Corruptions whereby Equivocations Falsehoods and Lies are not only excused and made lawful but the greatest impurities hallowed and made good then I say their Adversaries took just advantage to render their Principles not only destructive to a Church but inconsistent with the first Elements and Foundations of Government In short therefore there is no way to Concord and Peace but by Charity to Theological knowledge but by Faith and Humility which are Divine Gifts which we must desire and pray for When God shall have conferred these upon us we may lay aside all Disputations and enter into the plain Path nothing is then more easie to be believed than the Symbols of the Apostolical and other Creeds received by the Church Universally nothing more easily practised than the Commands of the Decalogue Fear and love God above all and Love your Neighbour as your self and those especially of the Houshold of Faith this is that which cuts short all Arguments for herein is comprised the Law and the Prophets Considering the Premises I shall not enter the Lists of Disputation against any point maintained by the Greek Church but however shall boldly reprove it in the generality of the people of coldness and want of Devotion seeming only to maintain a meer out-side and shell of Religion laying more stress and efficacy on the observation of their Fasts performed with rigour and severity and their Feasts celebrated with mirth and jollity than on the force of Prayer and energy of a spiritual life And yet I am so far from condemning their Lents and Fasts which are so ancient as may well be believed to have been Apostolical that I have entertained frequent imaginations in my mind that in so great looseness of life and decay of Discipline it was an especial Grace and Favour of God that the severity of Lents should still be maintained and observed in those parts whereby the People are restrained from Luxury curbed from Prophaness and Wantonness and affected with some impressions of Religion for whilest they fear to eat any thing though in secret which is a breach of Lent they seem sensible of the danger of what they apprehend evil and capable of more lively and more substantial impressions But the truth is they are ill instructed or rather not taught at all Sermons and Catechising are rare amongst them Masses and Divine Service hudled and run over in a cursory and negligent manner and all Offices performed so perfunctorily and with so little Devotion that if any people content themselves with the Opus Operatum it may be said to be these or that have a form of Godliness but in many of them too little of the power thereof Yet I cannot but almost retract what I have said when I consider how they are startled and affrighted at the Sentence of Excommunication how strict and frequent some are in their Confessions how obedient and submissive to the censure and injunction of the Priest which certainly do evidence some inward tenderness of Conscience and dispositions towards being edifyed and built up in a more perfect frame and structure of Religion But here I lose my self and am amazed when I contemplate the light of the Gospel which shines in our Islands what daily Lectures we hear from the Pulpits the knowledge we have from the Scriptures expanded and laid open to us in our own Tongue the Divine Mysteries expounded by learned Commentaries and most Mechanicks amongst us more learned and knowing than the Doctors and Clergy of Greece And yet good God! That all this should serve to render us more blind or more perverse for who is it that values the Excommunication of a Bishop or other Ecclesiastical Censures who accounts of Vigils and Fasts according to the