chuse rather to behold their own Arms and Members consume in a fire and endure the most sensible pains and tortures than to behold the Smoak of Incense fallen from their hands mount up to the nose of a senseless Idol They did rather chuse to expose themselves to the fury of the fires and of drawn swords and undergo the torments of the wheels of the wild beasts c. than to bow their knees before a graven Image and yield unto it the least respect O Romans of our days if any of the ancient Christians could but rise out of their graves to come amongst you into your Churches on some Festival day what would they say or think when they should see the accomplishment of Ezekiel's Prophecy chap. 8. so many abominations in the midst of God's Sanctuary the worship due to God alone paid to dumb Pictures which stand about the walls of your Temples when they should see that your Christian Devotion consists chiefly in such apish tricks in the kissing of Altars in cringings stretching out of your arms and signs of the Cross often made sometimes three or five times in kneeling before an Image with hands lifted up in offering to it frankincense in numbring a few beads in casting holy water upon the bones of the deceased in burning a wax candle put out and lighted again as many times as you have things to desire from a Saint c. How many tears would these ancient Catholick Roman Christians shed when they should see this Church practising such foolish things so much contrary to the Truth of Christian Religion How many sighs groans and lamentations should we hear from their pious Souls Jeremiah never uttered so many over the Ruins of Jerusalem O Rome Rome would they say what change is this what are these impertinencies what wonderful metamorphosis Heretofore the Truth did command in thee over Errour the Laws of God over the Inventions of men the Precepts of the Gospel over the Traditions of the people and true Piety over Superstition and God's Worship was chiefly regarded but now we see the contrary Therefore the Church of Rome which is now is not the same as that Christian Church of Rome first established there but a shadow of it which hath nothing of its likeness I would desire the Papists never to boast of the Age and Antiquity of their Church they have no reason to glory in that Rome was anciently one of the most famous Churches of Christendom for it is not like what it was heretofore Miserum istud verbum fuisse saith Seneca It is but a sad comfort and a bad cause of glory to say we have been if we cannot say also we are yet This the Papists should endeavour to make good unto us They ought to shew us by their Doctrine and Works that the Church of Rome at present is the same as it was of old which cannot be done but by a reformation of all the abuses and a reducement to the first estate whilst they continue as they are they shall never discover what their first fathers have been The most learned of all their Doctors who have undertaken to shew their conformity with the ancient Church of Rome seem to be much perplex'd in the proving of this matter very weak in their arguments and so contrary to one another that we need but their own Books to find out the falshood of their Doctrine This every one may take notice that will peruse them without partiality I might here name an hundred passages out of their Books to prove the truth of what I say but I think I have said enough to make the Papists apply unto themselves Tertullians reproach directed to the Heathens Apol. adv Gent. cap. 6. Tell me where is your Religion where is that respect that ye owe to your forefathers you are not like to them in your habits in your manner of living in your customs opinions and in your language You praise antiquity but every day you admit new inventions You differ much from the worthy institutions of your predecessors You declare by your behaviour that you retain nothing of those things that deserve to be retained but observe that which deserves it not This is a true representation of the Church of Rome § In the next place that Sovereign Authority which this Church claims did seem to me to be very well grounded when I did consider that which Jesus Christ saith to St. Peter in many occasions especially in that where He tells him immediately after the Confession of his Faith Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven Matth. 16. By these words Christ seems to give unto him and his Successors a full power and more than to the rest There are other passages of Holy Scripture that make for the same purpose and St. Austin and several other Interpreters seem to favour this opinion and Reason it self seems to teach us the necessity of a visible Head over Christ's Church on earth answerable to its estate In this manner I did argue with my Comrades having been instructed in the Schools of Thomas Aquinas Suarez and others that gather from thence many reasons to prove the Pope's Authority and Sovereignty But when I had a little better examined these passages perused the Writings of the Fathers to understand their judgment of this matter I have found that there is nothing more false than the Doctrines of the Popish Schools in this occasion for Christ's words to St. Peter were not said to him alone as may appear if we look into the Gospel for Jesus Christ asked not only Peter but all His Disciples and Peter answers not only in his own name but also in that of the rest of the Apostles in persona omnium Apostolorum saith St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome and the other ancient Interpreters which words the Papists have inserted into their Breviarum or Rubrick speaking of this passage When therefore the Son of God returns unto St. Peter as a reward of his confession the power of binding and loosing and the keys of heaven c. it is not to him alone that He speaks and grants all these priviledges but to the rest in whose name St. Peter did answer therefore a few days after He repeated unto them the same thing and confirm'd the same priviledge to all the rest of His Apostles Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Matth. 18. vers 18. He addresseth Himself to them all and not to one alone And if after His Resurrection Christ speaks to St. Peter only Feed my sheep this was as St. Cyril and other wise Interpreters have taken notice with an intent to confirm and re-admit him into the office
of an Apostle which he had renounced by his Apostacy from Christ He had denied his Master thrice therefore the Son of God proposes this question Lovest thou me three times All this is noted in the Roman Rubrick Thrice saith St. Cyril lib. 12. chap. 64. He commands him to feed His sheep to renew unto him the dignity and confirm him in the office of an Apostle for fear that the denial of his Lord which he had been guilty of through the weakness of the flesh should seem to have cashier'd him For it is to contradict what Jesus Christ said to all His Apostles when He appointed them to preach the Gospel to Mankind to teach and baptize c. to say that none but St. Peter had this power granted to him But a great many passages of Holy Scripture do expresly contradict this Doctrine You have but one Master but one Father which is in heaven saith Jesus Christ Matth. 23. vers 8. I am the good Shepherd I know my Sheep and lay down my life for them He saith not I am an hired Shepherd but the true Shepherd John 11. As there is but one Flock there can be but one Shepherd now who is this Shepherd Christ or the Pope My Father hath given me all power in heaven and in earth Matth. 28. I have power to pardon sins on earth Mark 2.10 God hath committed all judgment unto me and power to execute judgment John 5. How can these passages agree with the Popes Sovereign Authority Is it not a grievous affront offered to Jesus Christ to set this Divine Saviour aside as Bellarmin doth secluso Christo to help up the Pope to his Throne and invest him into his usurped Sovereignty If we are to acknowledge but one Shepherd but one Master but one Lord but one only Heir of the Fathers Power and Authority shall we not rob Christ of these His Divine Prerogatives if we should offer to bestow them upon the Pope I am not ignorant of all the distinctions made use of in this occasion to justifie the Pope from this Usurpation but they are but philosophical and aiery distinctions of the same nature as are commonly invented by the wit of man to justifie Aristotle from his Belief and Doctrine of the Worlds Eternity Thomas Aquinas and others from their saying that the Virgin Mary was conceived in sin Tertullian Origen St. Bernard and others from teaching that the Souls of Saints are not admitted to the Vision of God before the day of Judgment They are such like distinctions as the Pirrhenians invented to prove that white was black that a hat was the same as a slipper and an Ape like a Lion c. All these arguments and distinctions might be well resented from the mouth of Aristotle of Plato Pythagoras or from a Cartesian Philosopher but not from a Catholick Christian who ought not to mind what he might say but what he should believe in conscience not what he can maintain but what he is bound to embrace When an Article of our Faith is concerned such a one must set aside his disputing humour and the quirks and tricks of Logick taught him in the Schools to make a plain and sincere profession of the Truth For my part I think it is the best to declare ingenuously that there can be no solid reason found out to authorize our ascribing to a man that which belongs to Jesus Christ alone by his own words No man can justly condemn me for having denied to the Pope that which I read in the Gospel to be Christs Prerogative only It is not possible faith an ancient Father to give too much to God especially when man enters into competition with Him But listen I pray to what the Apostles and primitive Fathers say upon this Article There is one sovereign or great Shepherd of our Souls saith St. Peter Ep. 1. chap. 5. with whom when He shall appear we shall appear also with Him in glory such as feed the flock of Christ committed to their charge taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being lords over Gods heritage but c. Doth St. Peter establish here the Popes Monarchy doth not he rather undermine the foundation of it No man saith St. Paul can lay another foundation but that which is already laid Jesus Christ There is one Lawgiver Who art thou saith St. James that judgest another He hath the Keys of David that opens and none can shut that shuts and no man can open Revel 3. How doth this agree with that which the Papists would perswade us of St. Peter and of the Pope Ought we not to gather from these passages Doctrines contrary to their belief No man can lay another foundation c. They are therefore much deceived that affirm that St. Peter is the foundation of the Christian Church and that the Pope is the head There is but one Lawgiver the Pope therefore hath no authority to command and appoint Laws He is to be looked upon as a Deceiver when he would perswade us that they are all out of the Church that will not acknowledge his power Jesus Christ hath the Key of Heaven He opens and no man can shut c. I must therefore seek an entrance from Him if He opens me the door I shall be admitted maugre the Pope his Priests and Excommunications if He shuts it to me the Pope hath no Absolution nor Indulgence of a sufficient efficacy and power to open it All the primitive Doctors confirm this Doctrine they ascribe to Jesus Christ only that which the Papists ascribe to St. Peter and to the Pope whom they have made his Successor When Jesus Christ saith St. Chrysostome Tom. 3. Ser. de pent hath said upon this Rock I will build my Church He did not say upon Peter for He hath not built His Church upon a man but upon this Faith What means saith St. Austin Tract 10. in Epist Joan. what means He by these words upon this Rock I will build my Church He means upon this Faith because he had said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God St. Ambrose St. Hilary Theophylact and many others affirm the same thing Optat. Millevitanus speaking of Pope Siricius he doth not call him Master or Holy Father c. but Noster Socius our Companion Contra Parmen lib. 2. Art thou bordering upon Achaia saith Tertullian de Praet cap. 36. thou art near to Corinth if thou art joyning to Macedonia thou hast Philippi Thessalonica if thou canst go over into Asia thou shalt find Ephesus and if thou neighbourest upon Italy thou art not far from Rome where we have authority Thus the Primitive Fathers discourse unto us of the Church of Rome They never ascribed unto her any more power or priviledge than to all the other Churches Let any man therefore judge what impudency and presumption the Popes are guilty of in that they claim a
to the Apostles Doctrine and the Practice of the first Christians we must have a notable Faith to believe this The inconveniencies which they mention to colour their Change are ridiculous They tell us that some men wear long Beards and that a drop of Christ's Blood may chance to drop upon them and that some that are sick may by this means give their Diseases to others c. But how comes it to pass that Jesus Christ did not foresee all these inconveniencies were the Bishops of this Council wiser than Christ himself Did not the men of our Saviour's days and in the Primitive time wear long Beards were they not as subject to spreading Diseases as well as in the time of this Council St. Paul tells us that Jesus Christ hath offered himself up once for all as a Sacrifice but they affirm that he offers himself not only once but every day and a thousand times a day and in a thousand distinct places in every corner where the Mass is sung which is say they a true and real Sacrifice of the Body of Jesus Christ Whom must we believe what the Papists say or what St. Paul But suppose the Mass were a true and real Sacrifice of Jesus Christ a second death and his very Passion as they teach are not their Priests Murderers and Executioners from whence proceeds this effect is it not from a real cause that is in them Whence is this Sacrifice is it not from a true and real Sacrificator Moreover according to their own Doctrine three conditions are chiefly required in every Sacrifice the Offering the Consecration and the Destruction where shall they find the latter in this Sacrifice of the Mass Do they destroy the Body of Jesus Christ if they answer that they destroy the Bread and the Wine they don't answer to the question for it must be the Sacrifice that must be consumed and destroyed for either we must say that only the Bread and the Wine are sacrificed or that the Body of Jesus Christ is there destroyed and consumed Hence we must conclude that he is both dying and immortal dead and risen and worshipped by the Angels and at the same time eaten by Men things altogether inconsistent and impossible But where do they find that we must worship the Bread and the Wine as being united to the Body of Jesus Christ that we must kneel at every time that we see them as before God himself if he were visibly present Doth not Jesus Christ command the contrary when he saith that the time is come that we must worship God in spirit and in truth How in spirit if we worship the Bread and the Wine How in truth if Jesus Christ be not there really present as we have good cause to question it and as it may happen according to their own saying For in case the Priest be not a true Priest in regard of some Canonical impediment or if his intention be elsewhere in celebrating Mass what kind of Mass will it be and what shall the People adore Some young men come to receive Orders very much unprepared whom the Lord Bishop saith that he hath no design to receive and admit to the Priesthood as for example when they send other persons in their stead that are more Learned to be examined for them when they make use of false and supposed Letters when they are mentioned in a Decree or deserve an Excommunication All these persons according to the Popish Doctors are not really Priests they have not the power to make the Body of Jesus Christ although they may pronounce the words of the Sacrament Others have not a right intention out of negligence or design these cannot cause Jesus Christ to come down under the species of the Bread and the Wine although they pronounce the words of the Consecration I have known a Priest that caused a noble Dame to Receive almost every day at the end of his Mass to hide from her Husband the secret correspondency that was between them and to cover it over with a fair shew of Devotion and for four or five years he never gave unto her a consecrated Wafer for fear of committing Sacriledge by causing her to receive in an evil disposition And about six months ago some Priests of a Town where I have dwelt to satisfie a devout Woman faln into Frenzy that did earnestly desire them to admit her to the Communion resolved amongst themselves to put an unconsecrated Wafer into the Chalice which should be separate from the rest In such a case I desire you the Divines of the Church of Rome to tell me if you believe that Jesus Christ is not present in the Bread and Wine but when the Priest pronounceth his words with an intention to make him come down from Heaven whether the people that assist there and worship the Wafers don't commit a grievous Idolatry Yes you will say they commit a material Idolatry But pray tell whether the Priest and the penitent Woman the Whoremaster and the Whore did not commit a crime in your judgment was not this as great and as formal an Idolatry as ever was seen I shall not mention many other stories of the baseness Sacriledges and Idolatries of the Romish Priests which they are guilty of in this occasion for I intend not to make a satyrical Libel of this serious Discourse I shall only say in general terms that if the Father-Confessors of the Church of Rome would but speak truth and declare what I have heard there is no reasonable man of any perswasion but will say that which we cannot utter without blasphemy that Jesus Christ would be extravagant and mad if he were in the Mass as the Papists believe § Purgatory is another new Article of their Creed which hath no ground nor appearance in Holy Scripture The Papists mention a certain place out of the Maccabees Book 2. ch 12. v. 43. but this Book St. Jerom praefat in Proverb and many more as Cajetan in fine Comment in hist Esther and Cardinal Hugo in Prolog Hier. in lib. Regum declare to be Apocrypha Another passage is cited out of St. Matth. 12. where Jesus Christ saith that there are some Sins that shall not be pardoned neither in this world nor in the world to come From hence the Papists conclude by a Maxim of Right Exceptio firmat regulam in contrarium that there are some Sins that shall be pardoned in another world that is to say according to their meaning in Purgatory But we may easily perceive that they miserably wrest this passage and argue very impertinently to make this conclusion Some Sins shall neither be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come ergo There is a Purgatory A Chymist would sooner extract ten ounces of Oyl out of a Pumice-stone than to gather this conclusion from the premisses But there is nothing impossible to the Popish Divines they can make a fire with any wood when they are to warm
Priest in his Mass often perfuming the nose of the Image with Incense they shall see a Deacon appointed to read the Gospel reading that appointed for the Saint's day over the head of such diseased persons as they imagin that the Saint can cure they shall see many others as well Priests as other Clerks singing upon their knees the Litanies of that Saint before the dumb Image and such like abominations they shall see What think ye in conscience that these Primitive Doctors would say if they beheld all this foppery would they not cry out against that which God hath prohibited You are in the Errour would they say to the Papists for ye do what God hath forbidden in express words He forbids you to make Images and your Churches are full of them He forbids you to make any Likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above and nevertheless you make unto your selves the Likeness of those men whom you fancy to be in Heaven He forbids you to Bow down to them and yet you Kneel to them He forbids you to Serve them and behold all your Priests are employed in their Service and Worship one saith Mass another smoaks the Idol's nostrils with Perfumes another reads unto him his Gospel another is busie to light Wax-candles about him all the rest are singing his Praises What think ye Papists will not God that declares himself to be a jealous God be offended to see you pay unto such senfless Idols that Honour and Service which he hath expresly forbidden Will not he punish you according to his threatning to the third and fourth Generation There is no person of the least reason will have this thought for the thing of it self is very plain we need not much Logick to discover this Errour and to condemn it Therefore it is not without good cause that the Church of Rome forbids the reading of the Holy Scripture nourishes her people with a strong and indisputable respect for the Pope and his Oracles although he commands things contrary to God's Word they believe nevertheless that they are obliged to obey and credit whatsoever he saith as an Article of their Faith and to curse as Hereticks all such as follow not their example The Reasons that they pretend to justify their Superstitions are very frivolous and unlikely They commonly tell us That they worship not the Image nor the Saint that is thereby represented but God in that Saint shewed unto us by the Image This Reason is very impertinent seeing that God forbids not only the worshipping of Images in the same manner as we believe the Heathens did but he forbids us to make them to make any likeness to carry it abroad to serve and fall upon our knees before it which the Papists do daily Besides this Reason hath no likelihood for we see by our experience every day that the Saint or rather the Image of the Saint is worshipped and reverenced and not God in the Saint as the Papists would fain perswade us For if they worship only God in the Saint wherefore do they esteem more a graven Image than a painted one We can never see the people going out of their Parishes and Precincts to pay their homages to an Image painted in another place wherefore is this If they only seek in the Image the resemblance of the Saint to call to their minds his virtuous behaviour and actions wherefore do the Papists beyond the Seas trot a-foot an hundred leagues from their own homes to cringe and bow to a monstrous Image which in some places hath not the appearrance of a man who should be represented decently about six foot high for this Image is like a mishapen Dwarf ugly and ill-favoured having the Virgin Mary standing by him in the shape of a Onild about seven or eight years of age whereas these persons leave their own Parish-Churches next to their houses where the Image of the same Saint more decent more like to the Original and more beautiful stands without receiving the like respect Wherefore do we see in the Church of St. Anna of Auray in Britany fifty or sixty thousand Pilgrims in her Festival-day whereas it may be not ten shall be found in other Chappels dedicated to the same Saint at that time Wherefore is there such a vast number of silver and golden arms legs hearts heads and little children hanging there rather than in the other Churches consecrated to the same Saint where it may be we shall find no other Ornaments but those which have been dedicated to and left her by the devout Snails behind them I mean their silver-colour'd slime with which they beautifie her walls and paint the face of this worthy Saint it may be we shall find there nothing but a crazy Shrine broken in many places and one before the great Altar made up with the tayl of some old Gown and so tatter'd that many times it is no easie task to tell of what stuff and colour it was of c. Wherefore do the common people throng to this Church only their hands loaden with Crosses Beads Medals and other baubles to have them touch the Image of St. Ann which to my knowledge is but a block of decayed wood almost rotten and which was found in a puddle lying in the mud over head and ears if they believe not in this wood any divine virtue more than ordinary and more than in other Images of this Saint Wherefore have the Carmelits the Keepers of this Church been so careful to preserve so long every morsel and crum of this rotten wood which they have been forced to cut off to mend the Image and wherefore have they offered it about the Countrey in little bits to the Noble persons and Gentry that have desired it to sanctifie their Closets if they did not believe in this crazy wood some holy quality some wonderful virtue like to that which the Heathens affirmed to be in their Idols Let them not therefore tell us that they seek nothing else in the Image of a Saint but the representation and likeness to call their Virtues to remembrance For they take all men to be fools and Idiots whom they would perswade to admit of this excuse by doing what they do A Heathen might with as much reason tell us that he is a Christian that he believes and that he acknowledgeth and and worshippeth but one only God when I see him upon his knees before his Idols offering to them his perfumes To say the truth I think that there is but little difference between the ancient Heathens and the modern Papists if there be any it is only in their names for at present the Papists speak in the same Idolatrous language as the Heathens did for without exception nor reservation they say now in the Popish Dominions that the Images themselves may be worshipped I am certain that the Heathens never shewed more respect to their Gods than the Papists do at present to their Images This