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faith_n believe_v church_n infallibility_n 5,773 5 11.7611 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A29730 A dissuasive from popery sent in a letter from A.B. to C.D. A. B.; C. D. 1681 (1681) Wing B5; ESTC R23574 10,610 32

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afflicted the person till he had pay'● the utermost farthing that is till all hi● disorderly affections were worn off this latter clears a man out of prison for the goo● deeds of others upon Earth viz. Prayer Pilgrimages Masses Indulgences c. an● without this Appendix of Indulgences th● Pope would not lift up a Finger for Purgatory In fine he that in the Church of Rome holds no other Purgatory but that which the fore-quoted Fathers held will be declar'd haeretical of which Tho White late an English Priest of the Church of Rome is an example See his book de medio animarum Statu But it may be said The ancient Fathers holding one sort of Purgatory and the present Church of Rome holding another sort how come we Protestants to hold none I answer The Church of Rome is to account for throwing off the Purgatory maintained by some of the Fathers for she had thrown it off long before our Reformation We indeed threw off that Purgatory which is maintained by the present Church of Rome as new and invented which is thus demonstrated out of the foregoing discourse The present Church of Rome maintains a Purgatory absolutely inconsistent with that which was maintained by the ancient Fathers as is proved above therefore the Purgatory of the present Church of Rome came not by tradition from the Fathers but was invented by their children Add to this St. Austin ad Dulcitium q. 1. It is not incredible says he that such a thing should be after this life and inquiry may be made whether it be so and it may be found out and it may be hid that some of the faithful through a certain Purgatory fire should be sav'd sooner or later as they did more or less love the good things that perish He says Purgatory is not incredible that is some sort of Purgatory that it may be inquir'd after and perhaps it may be found and perhaps not A good while after him Gregory said to Peter the Deacon that many things are now known of separate souls which were not known of old And Bede says that Purgatory became known in England upon the miraculous deliverance of a souldier from his bonds by the sacrifice of the Masse In fine the Greek Church never own'd Purgatory and yet to them as to gospel matters was declared the whole council of God Act. 20. 27. But suppose Transubstantiation and Purgatory are fictious is the Errour Damnable I do not say whether it be or no but I am sure that all errour is dangerous to the soul because it is its blindness and if the blind lead the blind c. Besides errour has a spawn of consequents in which the blackness is often more sensible than in the damm For instance the opinion of Transubstantiation has though not by good consequence to my reason brough forth a sacrilegious detention of the Cup from the Laity Adoration of the Host is another and a true birth of the same opinion and that has in it many symptomes of Idolatry But what soul-killing venom comes from Purgatory Why t is a grosse disparagment of the passion of Christ which we do accuse of imperfection while we think it necessary to joyn our ownsufferings with it for the satisfaction of the divine Justice I have done with Transubstantiation and Purgatory and need not name any more of the incredible doctrins of Popery for this is one of their doctrins that he who denies one Article of the Faith denies all because the proposal of the Church is the only reason of believing any Out of which I infer that if they are baffl'd in any one Article they are undone as to all for their proposal has lost its infallibility Therefore in the next place as the doctrins of Popery are incredible and dangerous to our condition in the world to come so I say the yoke of it is very grievous and the burthen almost insupportable in this world For First Popery deprives us of several rights of nature It requires us to believe things naturally absurd without giving us any supernatural proof as appears in the instances of Transubstantiation and Purgatory and yet if we doubt we are damn'd to the fire of this world and that of the world to come Agen to make us pray and praise God in an unknown tongue What is it but to rob us of the common rights of humanity Parrots and Pies learn words but to understand them is the priviledge of mankind And he that should worship God only by saying what he does not understand were degenerate into a beast as to his religion St. Paul says if in the Church they all speak with tongues though themselves do understand them that a stranger coming in will think them mad Is it not madder for them all to speak with tongues which they do not understand That Papist must be very much stupifyed to whom this imposition is not grievous 2dly Popery is a great Invader of our Civil Rights The Pope can excommunicate a King and by so doing his Subjects are absolv'd from their Oath of fidelity and are commanded to pay no Obedience so the Prince loses his government and the people not only lose their Protection but also are Embarras'd in insoluble doubts of conscience between the pretensions of the Pope and those of the King And this was the Popish Doctrin long before the Jesuits as appears in Thomas Aquinas's Summ. Neither has the Pope ever been drawn to declare against that Branch of his power though in several Provinces he might by such a declaration have delivered abundance of his people from very great troubles Nay the Pope disposes of unforfeited Kingdoms He gave away the Kingdoms of Mexico and Peru though those Kings had never been under his Jurisdiction and S. Paul says what have we to do with them that are without But there is an instance of this grievance about which I am more concern'd Our King John had troubles from his Subjects to that height that he was fain to resign up his Crown to the Pope and to receive it again from Pandol● his Legate and to hold it thenceforth as from the Pope This they say and brag off and upon this accompt pretend a Title to England at this day Here are several matters hard to be understood If the Pope was partner in the Rebellion what can be more dangerous than he to Soveraignty If he was no partner in the Rebellion how came he to get the Crown by the Success of the Rebells Again if John was Persecuted as an Usurper why was not the Crown given to the right Heir But nothing can be more unpolitick than their pretending a Title to England from this Transaction with King John for it intitles them to the just Indignation of every King of England and of all his good Subjects Thirdly Popery is very grievous to the private purse c. consequently dwarfs any people that embraces it Of what boundies numbers are their Clergy and Religious