several Interests of his Kingdom of Darkness and the Polices thereof First for Preaching the Gospel which is the means of the Propagation and Edification of the Church and saving the Souls of Men this the Devil knew might be made a Gladius Delphicus and was capable of being turned upon the Gospel it self by making the Pulpit a Mortar-Piece to discharge his Granado's from and to cast his fiery Darts of Sedition and damnable Heresies among the People by taking Care that when it was used the Doctrine might be corrupted by a preverting Gloss and by mixing with it Legends and feigned Miracles and cunningly devised Fables to keep the People ignorant and from the sight and knowledg of the Scriptures lest they should know too much and discover his Errors lest they should be wiser than their Priests and so despise them who should have neither parts nor means for Learning which might recommend them but be like Priest like People Priests of the meanest of the People and the People made pliable to believe any Doctrine that should be offered to them and readily practise whatsoever Superstition or Idolatry should be injoined and while Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion the Devotion must needs prove Blind and never be able to grope the way to Heaven and yet so it must needs be while Prayers are recited in an unknown Tongue But because it might be too great a Mortification of Mens Curiosity to let them see no further then their Noses therefore he resolved to furnish them with Prophecies of his own dictating whereby they might be amused without danger of being made wiser or better by them as they might be by the Scriptures And remembring how his heathen Romans were wont to have their Curiosity hushed with the lullaby of the Theater he resolved to entertain Christians with Images and sine Pictures on the Church-Walls and Windows and Theatrical Representations of Gospel-History which should be instead of Scripture to them and were like to be taking with those empty Souls who knew no better Then for the Sacraments they might be easily laid lower in esteem by joining others in Commission with them which should be so slightly grounded that People might be tempted to suspect the true Coin as if of no better Metal or else think that Men could make Sacraments and add Grace to accompany them But as for the sealing and assuring Power of them it should be enervated by suspending their Efficacy upon the Intention of the Priest which none living but himself could be assured of without a Divine Revelation and therefore not know but they might be Idolaters in worshipping an unconsecrated Wafer nor whether they had so much as been baptized or no. And besides the Sacraments were capable of being corrupted by superstitious Ceremonies and by impious Uses and Applications viz. Baptism might either be totally rejected as childish and ridiculous or neglected and deferred or by misapplying it to Persons against their Wills or to the Ignorant or unduly to the Children of Unbelievers or else defiling it by adding to it Creame or Spittle and Exorcisms or shamefully profaning of it by Christening of Bells c. The Eucharist might be perverted by worshipping of the Elements instead of Christ himself giving the Priest a power to make his Maker which would advance the Priesthood into Admiration and ballance other just Causes of Contempt and make the People beholden to him for his Intention which alone could keep them from being gross Idolaters By abusing it as an Amulet to Preserve or an Opportunity to Poison a Charm to Exorcise or a Pawn for securing a Debt thereby turning the Host into a Hostage and the Natural Body of Christ as they should believe it to be into Gold or Silver by a strange kind of Retransubstantiation Which a certain Emperor is recorded to have done However while this sacred or solemn Mystery instituted by our Saviour's dying Breath and bequeathed as a Legacy to his beloved Spouse whom he purchased with his own Blood as a Divine means of her Comfort and Union shall become the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 matter of Contention and occasion of the most mortal hatred that Satan himself could infuse into the Minds of Men and while the due Commemoration of Christ's most Precious Death shall be made to many Men the cause of their own while I say this sacred Mystery shall be thus perverted to contrary Ends the Devil will triumph as having turned it into a Mystery of Iniquity to the defeating of the Gospel especially while so many Men by unworthy receiving do eat and drink their own Damnation and give possession of themselves unto Satan by the livery and seisin of the Sop. And as for that Authority and Power of the Keys which Christ left with his Church Satan knew how to serve himself of it for excluding out of the visible Church those of the Houshold of Faith and the letting in of Thieves and Robbers How to make it a Pick-lock to Mens Purses and Consciences and to imploy it upon trivial and pecuniary Errands which would render it ' i th' mean while not only useless to its proper End but also pernicious by absolving Men into Presumption Yea and the Government of the Church ordained for the Union Order Safety and Edification of it might be in a great measure defeated by reducing the choice of the Persons into the Hands of Temporal great Ones of whom while few would be good Men the Persons chosen would likely be accordingly and by intoxicating their Minds with Temporal Riches and Honours which would make them think their primitive Duty too far below them and have neither care nor leisure to mind it And lastly by making their Precincts so large that it would be impossible for any one Man though never so Good Able and Diligent to administer one of them as he ought And all this might be brought about under the specious pretence of the flourishing Condition of the Church and its having Princes for its nursing Fathers And as for those blessed Ends of this Institution above mentioned while some should delight themselves in imposing upon others their own Opinions and Commands in matters doubtful or needless and others please themselves as much in a pertinacious holding and propagating of their contrary Opinions and a sturdy noncompliance with what they desire both Sorts would be so stiffly set upon having their own Wills and maintaining their own Reputations as to forget that they were Brethren and to neglect the Peace of the Church which Christ their common Saviour purchas'd with his own Blood. But yet in the mean while even in all Ages truly gracious and humble Persons would indeavour to keep their Peace with God studying and believing plain Truths and faithfully practising all their known Duties to have Peace in themselves and to shew forth a brotherly-Love unto others yielding as much as is possible for Publick Peace sake According to St. Paul's Exhortation Rom. 12.18 If it
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY Anatomized BY WILLIAM DILLINGHAM D. D. For we are not ignorant of his Devices 2. Cor. 2.11 For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work 2 Thessal 2.7 LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIX THE Mystery of INIQUITY ANATOMIZED WHEN in the Fulness of time the Son of God the second Person in the blessed Trinity did assume humane Nature uniting it in the same Person with his Divine Nature that being God-man he might redeem Mankind and save his People from their Sins and instate them in a blessed condition to all Eternity he was born of a Virgin and with such other wonderful Circumstances as might well give Satan a just Apprehension that this was He whom all the Prophets had foretold and God had from the beginning of the World promised under the notion of the Seed of the Woman that should break the Serpents Head disappoint all his malicious Designs against the Glory of God and Mans Salvation and undo the Work of the Devil utterly destroying his infernal Kingdom which he had long exercised over fallen Mankind Which he being sensible of thought it concerned him to bestir himself to the utmost and to stir up all his Malice Power and Subtlety if it were possible to prevent it And therefore in the first place he sought to take away the Life of our Saviour and that betimes that so his being incarnate might signify nothing This he attempted by Herod's means putting a Jealousy into his Head that his Kingdom would be indangered by one who was at his very Birth bespoken and proclaimed the King of the Jews that so by Herod's Jealousy for his Kingdom he might ease himself of the Fears which tormented him of losing his own But that Trust being put by through the Providence of God his real and the care of Joseph his reputed Father Satan found himself so manacled by the Divine Power that he could make no more Assaults upon his Person than God was pleased to permit him Wherefore for above thirty Years we find not that he made any Attempt upon him But God did then give way to his boiling Malice to set upon him by Temptations And though perhaps he had but small hopes of prevailing yet in a desperate Case he resolved to put it to the push in hopes of a Possibility and therefore he thought if he could by any means draw him to Sin then he would be his own in Fetters and in no Capacity to deliver others out of those Chains of Darkness wherein himself should be held his Prisoner But when he saw that no Temptation could enter but that the blow did ever recoil upon his own head which was still wounded by that Sword of the Spirit the same Word of God which had fatally denounced his Destruction he then did more sensibly perceive that Christ was more than his Match and more than Man and consequently the Person designed for the ruine of his Kingdom and therefore he departed from him for a season hoping still for a more favourable Conjuncture in time to come but he found himself in the mean while going down the Wind apace being daily dispossessed and cast out of one Garison after another and that a whole Legion were unable to man one single Man to hold out against his Almighty Word and Command He found that Sins were forgiven Diseases cured and some Dead were raised and many believed on him returning to the Obedience of their Maker being convinced by his Heavenly Doctrine and perfectly Holy Conversation and the unresistible Power of his miraculous Works against which he found himself unable to bear up Yet between Rage and Despair he filled the Hearts of the Jews with all Mischief making them to blaspheme and revile him charging him in particular to be a Blasphemer against God i. e. himself and which was a notable fetch that he was confederate with the Devil by whom yet themselves spake and acted all This our Saviour did refute to the confusion of all his Accusers But the Devils and their Malice ceased not until after many bafflled Attempts they did at last according to the determinate Counsel of God permitting and ordering it bring him to a cruel and ignominious Death For He was numbred with the Transgressors Now was it that Satan began to triumph as if he had wholly broken all God's Measures and secured his own Kingdom from so dangerous an Attack But the Death of Christ in such a manner was the very way and means whereby God had fore-appointed to bring about his great Work for his own Glory and Mans Salvation through the ruin of Satan's Kingdom to which himself did cooperate by his own utmost Power Malice and Subtilty and by all the Instruments that he could make Thus the Wisdom of the Father did turn the Subtilty of the Serpent into the greatest piece of Folly that ever was in the World. And this the Devil soon became apprehensive of and therefore applied all his Arts to hinder the after-game and recruit of a Resurrection which would prove the greatest Miracle of all and would at once revive and confirm all the Doctrine which Christ had taught and so become more dangerous than all the rest if he should have his Prison the Grave broken open for he had the Power of Death and the Keys thereof ravished from him by a stronger hand And when he could not hinder the thing he indeavoured to stifle it in silence that it might not be known unto the World and for this purpose he retained the Jews to be his Brokers who suborned the Souldiers with large Mony but all in vain For the Sun would rise in despight of Clouds which seemed to obstruct him and being up did soon dispel those Mists which the Devil had raised and by the powerful Beams of his Doctrine and the miraculous Works taught and wrought by the Mouths and Hands of his Apostles did proclaim to all the World that he was risen and so had led Captivity captive and both received and dispensed such Gifts unto Men and Graces also as were like to lead the whole World in Triumph after him While Satan's Oracles were non-pluss'd his Altars cast down his Worshippers converted his Schoolmens Books burnt and all his Cheats laid open to the view of all Men. Thus Christ went on conquering and to conquer rescuing his People from their Sins loosing the Bands and Fetters of Sin and putting on them other Chains the Golden Chains of Grace and Gratitude the most potent Obligations to love God and to yield him new Obedience In the mean while neither the Devil's Malice nor Subtlety were idle for in pursuance of the first he resolved never to give over persecuting the Church of Christ both Teachers and others making use at first of the Jewish Nation and by them fermenting the Heathen World into the utmost Rage against the Christian Faith and the Professors of it And though he has been
on pretence of its being an insufficient Rule and Direction for Mans Salvation without the Addition of such Things as should in Truth subvert and contradict it and by giving it such a gloss as should be sure to corrupt the Text which he hoped to make uncontroulable if he could so bring it about as that all Corruptions both in Doctrine and Worship might be made incurable by a persuasion in the Minds of Men that the Proposer and Director of them was assisted by an infallible Spirit and could not Err and had received a Power of Dispensing with the Law of God it self and that there were still on Foot a Power of working Divine Miracles employed for the Confirmation of his Doctrines And then for his Kingly Office the Devil would raise up such an one which should pretend to a Donatio Christi as well as Constantini which should invest him with a Power both in Spirituals and Temporals equal to that of Christ himself and therefore make him his Deputy and Plenipotentiary even unto Adoration 2 Thes 2.4 or if that should fail the Devil had one ready sealed which he had made tenders of to Jesus Christ Luke 4.6 7. upon a certain Condition and though he rejected it with Scorn and Abhorrence yet he doubted not to find one who would thankfully accept of it the Draught whereof was already entred among the Divine Records and his bold Claim to it then made should be a sufficient Evidence of his Right But because the Men of the World were like to be something stiff and refractory to part with their Temporal Rights and Possessions therefore he should content himself with what he could get for the present for fear of Knocks yet giving away Kingdoms to those who would adventure for them which giving should prove his Right to retain or dispose of them and deposing whom he durst of those who would not allow him Power to dispose of their Temporals in order to his Spirituals which himself should claim to be the sole Judg of One that should in pursuance of this Claim pretend to pardon Mens Sins against the Law of God and erect a Purgatory or Prison for Offenders whereof himself should keep the Key on the same Bunch with those of Heaven and Hell which he should pretend to wear always at his Girdle One who should exercise Dominion over Mens Faith and Consciences minting new Articles of Faith at his Pleasure to be believed by them under no less pain then eternal Damnation Thus Satan thought it a thing not altogether unpossible for him to supplant and defeat Christ in all his Offices and thereby degrade him from that Honour wherein his Father had invested him who had given him a Name above every Name that the Angels of God should worship him and that to his Power and Authority every Knee should bow that his Humane Nature as existing in his Person and his Person as God-Man and consisting partly of his humane Nature should become the Object of Divine Adoration his humane Nature being assumed into that high Priviledg and Prerogative of partaking of that Worship which God will not suffer to be given to any that is not God and also that all Acts of Grace should be dispensed unto the Church as the alone purchase of his Merit and at his sole Instance and Intercession And if Satan could but gain this Point and Design upon the Person and Offices of Christ he hoped to lay his Faith and Religion low enough and in a great measure to defeat the great Design of the Gospel the Salvation of Mens Souls Which he should the more easily hereby retain under his Command and keep them still in their Sins and natural Corruptions Which that he might cherish and inflame to the utmost under the mysterious Covert of the Christian Profession he cast about how he might make Provision for the Flesh to improve the Corruptions of Humane Nature unto their utmost Pitch and Aâ—mâ— And therefore he contrived it so as that the Profession of Religion should not hinder but rather promote the injoyment of all worldly Honours Riches and sensual Pleasures the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life That Men might pursue their Pride and Ambition their Covetousness of Riches and Possessions and their earthly and carnal Pleasures and Delights and yet all the while go for good Christians abusing others and perhaps themselves also into a foolish Persuasion that they were in the first rank of those who should be saved The first of these Corruptions is Pride which being the Devil 's first-born and the principal Master-Lineament of his Image wherewith he had poisoned Humane Nature at the first and being the main Root of all Rebellion and Apostacy from God he took a special Care for its Accommodation in this new Model of his Kingdom And therefore when Men had taken upon them the Profession of the Christian Faith and brought along with them high thoughts of themselves of the acuteness of their Reason and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or uncontroulable Freedom of their Will both which the way of believing and taking things upon God's sole Authority and the necessity of the Grace of God for the Sanctification of the Heart and saving of the Soul seemed to cross and mortify the Devil gratified them in this by setting up Opinions of Religion to the same effect Which have proved a Seminary of most of the Heresies which afterward infected the Church of God for many Ages as proceeding from a corrupt Self-Love or love of corrupted Self and setting up Mans Understanding and Will against those of God whereby Men became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no longer subject to him Mens Reason was entertained with Notions contrary to the mysterious Truths of the Gospel called by the Apostle the Mystery of Godliness The blessed Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence and the Union of the two Natures in the Person of Jesus Christ God manifested in the Flesh Our Redemption by his Death and Justification by Faith in him Sanctification by his Word and Spirit the Resurrection of the Body and such like And their proud Wills were stroaked and soothed with an opinion of Merit and the self-sufficiency of Natures Stock without being beholden to God for Gospel-Grace But the main and top-branch of Pride did shew it self in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the asserting of a Superiority and appearing on the top of other Men. Therefore to gratify this Ambition he resolved first to make use of those Eminencies which he found in the Constitution of the Church Christ himself gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4.11 So that there wanted not Gifts and Offices which Men of Demetrius his Complexion who loved the Preeminency might pretend and aspire unto And if this were not enough to satisfie their Ambition they might build themselves higher Stories by
drawing Disciples after them Acts 20.30 and so heading of Sects and Colonies or by usurping and lording it over God's heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 and not only over the Plebs Christiana but also over all those Orders and Powers which Christ had planted in his Church and raise themselves up to a Soveraignty over all others of their Brethren and become Universal Bishops of the whole Church of Christ on Earth and Oecumenical Rulers in matters relating to Christ and his Kingdom But the Devil might easily foresee that when he should start this game there were like to be many pretenders at least many who thinking themselves of equal Power and as capable as others of such a Prelation would be glad to have it if there must be one but all could not be gratified with one place so that there must needs be a Simultas of more Competitors This affectation of Empire should first lift up its Head in the Eastern Church but at length prevail in the West after it had been decried and severely censured there as Antichristian For so great an Authority to be lodged in one Person there was no pretext could be made so plausible as to hold Vicegerent under Christ Jesus of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords to whom all Power was given by the Father in Heaven and Earth But that this new Spiritual Monarch might not seem to be the first in the Claim he was to pretend to be the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle for whose Investiture and Institution he was to combate the Gospel and to find it out there though neither Peter himself nor St. Paul have any thing like it in their Epistles and the Primitive Fathers and Councils were stiff against it especially the most ancient of them who by their Canons and Carriage and Writings seem not to have had any belief that any particular See on Earth was their sole Soveraign Lord and Emperor in Spiritualibus But to silence all such Gainsayers both ancient and modern in this and all other matters he should claim the Authority of infallible interpretation of Scriptures and Fathers whom having first garbled and cut out the Tongues of many of them that spake against him he should infallibly pronounce to be all for him Notwithstanding that the most considerable part of Christianity might judge and know the contrary But that this his Empire and Soveraign Dominion might not be thought the effect of Pride and Arrogance so contrary to the precept and example of Jesus Christ whose Vicar he should pretend to be and so expose him to the envy of others he should cloak it under the humble Title of Servus Servorum tho he should carry it liker Dominus Dominantium and in humility seal Annulo Piscatoris with the Ring and Seal of St. Peter the Fisher-Man Apostle who yet perhaps never had any such thing But be it as it will it is resolved that a Prince he shall be Rev. 13.1 11 12 14. but alas what 's a Prince in Cuerpo alone without welt or guard without a Court a Council and a Guard especially if he want both personal Wisdom Learning and Vertue to recommend him to his Subjects and protect him from Affront Envy and Contempt It was therefore thought fit in the next Consult That there should be a convenient number raised out of the Clergy to uphold the Mystery though of inferiour rank at first till the state should be formed and come into request by suitable Power and Riches and receive some considerable Address from the rest of the World. Hereby the Empire would rise by Degrees and at length be able to invite Politick Heads from Noble and Princely Families and entertain the Minds of such of the Clergy whose Advantages should tempt them to aspire to the supreme Dignity and for the present quiet their pretentions in hopes of obtaining when there should a favourable Conjuncture offer it self And 'i th mean while they would be true to the See which they might hope in time would be their own and enjoy all the most sublimated exercises of their Wits and Lusts and all this under the Mystery and pretence of administring the Spiritual Kingdom of Jesus Christ for the Salvation of Mens Souls and the Glory of God the Father And for this end the Revenues of the Church given and devoted by pious Christians to God for the Maintenance of his true Worship and Relief of his poor Children must be amassed upon these spiritual Courtiers to enable them to maintain a Port becoming the Children of Pride and provide Fuel for their burning Lusts while the Churches whose Titles they should wear would be pilled by them and the care of Souls neglected and Religion betrayed And because Bishopricks and Ecclesiastical Benefices would prove an insufficient Fund for their occasions therefore there were other Provisions to be made as we shall see hereafter But neither Court nor State can subsist in Prosperity and Reputation without Dependents Intelligence Forces and Means to support them All which might very easily be supplied by the means of Priests Missionaries and other Persons under the Mystery of Religion As for Dependents the getting into their Hands the Disposal of all Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church-Revenues would give them an Opportunity of boring through the Ears of many Millions and of making them their Vassals while so many whole Orders in their vast Number of Monasteries and all their Members Tenents and Retinue yea and Revenues also would upon occasion be at their Devotion and Command And for Intelligence there might be a select Number of Priests of choicest Abilities sent into the Courts of Princes who under pretence of being helpful to their Souls by preaching directing and confessing them should be able to discover their greatest Secrets and most private Counsels and be under an Oath to discover them unto the Governors of the State Ecclesiastick And others also in prodigious Numbers might be sent into all Nations who should be Eye-Witnesses of what is done by Men of all Conditions and have a Key into their Hearts and Consciences so that not so much as a Thought should stir but it should come to their Knowledg and be under their Management and Disposal And all under pretence of taking care of their Souls Others under pretence of voluntary Poverty should not only abuse the Charity of ignorant People but as they beg pry into their Families observe their private Behaviours Company and Acquaintance their Abilities and the several Degrees of their Devotion to Ecclesiastical Interest Besides these those of the mystical Council being pick'd out as Persons of Interest from several Nations and some out of Princely Families whose Secrets and Interests they are acquainted with or by their Friends and Acquaintance can easily come to the Knowledg of These I say can supply Intelligence how every Vein and Artery of any State and Kingdom and almost of every single Person in them