days as their Posterity and Successors for ever They tell us that the Apostle pointeth to their Church as to the Mother Church of the whole world and that he extolleth their Faith as that which all other Churches were to look upon and mind and observe as their Rule that they were to account Her not their Sister but their Mother and Superintendent that they were from thenceforth to say after Her and to seek for the Law of Christ at Her mouth and in every particular to follow Her Directions so that whosoever in process of time should not be of Her Communion he ought not to be look'd upon as a Catholick or a Christian but as a Foreigner and an Alien to the Covenant of Grace Can any thing be Higher than this and yet what a slight Pedestal is it which this Tower of Babel stands upon Indeed St. Paul had reason to Praise the Church of Rome in His time because its Faith was Pure Entire and Uncorrupted then and so continued for a considerable time after Let it be granted too because the words of Hegesippus Euseb Hist Eccles lib. 4. c. 22. seem to argue it that the Bishops of Rome were in His days of the same true Faith with the Bishops of other Churches Let it be allowed too that even in Iraeneus's time that Church kept the Apostles Iren. adv Haeres lib 3. c. 3. Tradition meaning that Doctrine which the Apostles had once for all delivered unto the Saints Nay I see no danger if we go further yet and allow that those Commendations which St. Cyprian Cyp. Ep. 55. Hier. Apol. 3. adv Ruffin Jerome and others of the fourth Century gave of that Church were not meer Complements but that she was so Faithful in the main that she could not easily or would not willingly be guilty of Persidiousness especially in cases of moment I say Let us suppose all this that for some Ages the Church of Rome continued a Virgin not deflowr'd by any Hereticks yet it will by no means follow that she did not prostitute her Chastity in after Ages or that it was not Possible for her ever to turn Harlot There is no reason for that Fancy that if men be once in a good State they shall be so always much less reason is there for that conceit that a Church which is once Pure shall never be defiled and yet this is the thing which many unwary Romanists now take for granted that since the Faith of their Church was once right and sound which St. Paul doth here intimate and confess she neither did nor could Adulterate and Corrupt it and so that it is as Sincere Pure now as ever it was in the Apostles dayes And according to this rate Cornelius à Lapide the Jesuite doth reckon in his notes upon my Text That the Faith of the Roman Church was sound in St. Paul 's time amd so down to St. Jerome's time and so by necessary consequence unto this time for never hitherto saith he hath any Heresie tainted Rome as it hath other Cities This is a Point necessary to be Examined or rather a Fallacy that highly deserves to be Detected for the good of such Souls as are willing to be instructed And therefore I shall take occasion from the Text and the Day to shew you these following things in Order 1. What that Faith was which St. Paul here commendeth 2. That it was possible for this their Faith to be altered and corrupted in After-ages 3. That the Ancient Faith of the Church of Rome hath been de facto Actually corrupted 4. That a Reformation of those Corruptions was on our side Justifiable And so in the last place we will leave it to the impartial world to consider whether those violent Methods are justifiable which the Romanists have used since the Reformation for the Re-establishment of those Corruptions And of these as briefly as I can 1. What the Faith was which the Apostle here commendeth the Church of Rome for and which he saith was spoken of throughout the whole World It is certain in the general that the Faith of the Church of Rome was not different from the Faith of other Churches for as there was but One Lord so there was but One Faith over the whole Christian World Ephes 4. 5. And the Reason why St. Paul with Thankfulness takes notice of the Romans Faith was not because it was Other or more Excellent than that which was received in other places but because Rome being the great Imperial City whereunto the world was necessitated to have recourse the Christian Faith was likely thence to Disseminate it self every where over all the parts of the Empire in a very short time Now if we enquire particularly what that Faith was we shall find it to have been this viz. A Confession of the Necessary and Important Doctrines of Christianity A Belief of those Main and Fundamental Truths touching the Divine Nature and Authority of our Blessed Saviour touching the things which he did and suffered for the Salvation of the world and touching those inestimable Blessings which wereconsequent hereunto as the Sanctification of our hearts by the Holy Spirit the Remission of our Sins and the Hope of an Happy Resurrection to Eternal Life for Christ his sake These are the Grand Articles of the Christian Faith and they are summed up in that short Collection of Christian Verities which we call the Apostles Creed because whether they themselves compiled that Collection or no it contains those main Points and Doctrines which the Apostles preached at Rome and in all places beside as the only Credenda or matters of Faith that were absolutely Necessary to Salvation Of this we have Testimonies abundant for when St. Paul preached at Athens they were the Fundamental Substantial Doctrines of Christianity which he taught viz. Jesus and the Resurrection as St. Luke tells us Act. 17. 18. And when the great Apostle wrote to the Corinthian Church he told them what that Gospel was which he had received himself and which he had delivered unto them and by which they were to be saved And what was that Gospel why a Collection still of these Necessary matters of Faith how that Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3 4. Nay writing to That Church of Rome whose Ancient Faith we are now considering he declares what that was which he and the rest of the Apostles made the common subject of their discourses to the Romans and to all other people and still it was of the necessary and prime matters of Faith for This saith he is the word of Faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 8 9. Now can any thing be plainer than this That
observe these two things First That whereas it was provided by an Old Canon of the Church That every Nation should acknowledg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can. Apost 34. their Own Primate and count him their Head and do nothing without bis Order Pope Victor own'd the Authority of this Canon and claimed no Primacy over Polycrates the Metropolitan of the Proconsular Asia when he wrote to him about calling a Synod to consider of the Paschal Controversie For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquit Polycrates ad Vict. Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 24. though the Popes now challenge a power of Summoning all Councils by virtue of their pretended Primacy over all Churches yet it was not so in Pope Victor's dayes for he did entreat and beseech Polycrates that He would call a Synod of Bishops himself Secondly That when Victor purposed to Anathematize the Asiatick Churches for not complying with his Humour Irenaus and many other Bishops dealt very roundly and roughly with him so that he was forced to Alter his purpose Whence it appears that the Popes in those dayes were so far from conceiving themselves to be Supream or free from a possibility of Erring that they stood in awe of their Fellow-Bishops that could upon occasion Ruffle with them and make them keep the Peace and bind them to their good behaviour 6. I might shew too how St. Cyprian rated both those Popes in his time Cornelius and Stephen but I forbear to gather any more instances of that nature because it is so well known that for near 600 years after Christ the Bishops of Rome never had the Title of Universal Pastors of the Church till the dayes of Boniface the Third and he gat it basely and by the grant of that Bloody wretch Phocas who had murder'd the Emperor Mauritius and all his Children and had no way to secure himself but by giving the Pope a Title that pleased him and ever since our Bishops of Rome have pretended to be the Landlords of all God's Vineyard instead of being Labourers in it or rather have been Wolves instead of Shepherds and it is observable that the Donor of this title was a Bloody Tyrant and Traytor and you may guess at the Father by the Child for generally since the Love of Bloodshed and Treason hath run along in the veins of the Donees 7. To which I shall only add the Testimony of one Pope more not that he is the next in Order but because 't is most pertinent to this point and 't is the Testimony of Gregory the Great who speaking of the Title of Universal Bishop of the Church doth up and down in his Epistles call it a Title of Novelty Error Blasphemy Impiety full of poison contrary to the Ancient Canons to the Holy Gospel and to god himself and the fore-runner of Antichrist 8. And as touching the point of Infallibility Pope Adrian the Sixth did plainly assert and Bellarmine owns it that the Pope might be guilty of down-right Heresy and the Cardinal doth confess that for above 1400 years his judgment was not esteemed Infallible and the plain truth is he was never complemented under that notion till he got the Empire over Princes and the Preferments of the Church into his clutches Aeneas Sylvius who himself was a Pope gave this reason why the Clergy made him Infallible above all Councils because he could reward 'em well with fat promotions which Councils could not and had he sued for this Title in farma Pauperis and without a good Fee in his hand either his Cause would not have been pleaded at all or by the Verdict of all the Fathers he would have been presently Cast but in the Church of Rome 't is Money that doth all I have been the longer upon these points because they are some of the main and most material points that are in controversie between us which if they would but part with many other conceits if not all would soon fall to the ground which are now held up chiefly by the usurped Authority of the Church 9. I will not except the conceit of Transubstantiation Gelas de duabus naturis in Christo which if it were Ruin'd would like the Dragons tail sweep down a great many other admired Fancies with it For as touching our Faith in this particular we appeal to another of the Primitive Bishops of Rome Gelasius by name who wrote an excellent Book which is yet extant and he wrote it upon this occasion The Heretick Eutiches and his followers did believe that though at first Christ had two distinct Natures yet upon the Union of 'em the Humane nature was wholly converted into the Divine so that his Humanity ceased and was absorpt and turn'd into the substance of his Divinity just as our Adversaries pretend that the Bread in the H. Eucharist ceaseth and is turn'd into the substance of Christ's Flesh Pope Gelasius undertook the maintenance of the Catholic Faith against these Hereticks and which is well to be observed to prove the real existence of our Saviour's Humane nature he draws an Argument from the then received Doctrine concerning the nature of the Elements in the Eucharist And his words I render thus Verily the Sacraments of Christs Body and Blood which we receive are a Divine thing because by means thereof we are made partakers of the divine Nature and yet the substance or Nature of the Bread and Wine doth not cease to be And indeed it is the Image and Similitude of Christs Body and Blood which is represented in this Mysterious action It is evident enough therefore that we must think the same of our Lord himself which we profess celebrate and take in the Image of him that as these Elements by the operation of the Holy Spirit do pass into this that is a Divine condition still nevertheless remaining in the propriety So I conceive the words of Gelasius should be read Sic illud ipsum est mysterium principale cujus nobis efficientiam virtutemque veraciter repraesentant Scil. Sacramenta ex quibus constat propriè permanentibus quia Vnum Christum integrum verumque permanere demonstrant of their own nature so is the Principal mystery it self the efficiency and virtue whereof is truly represented unto us by the Elements which truly and properly remaining still the same it is manifest that they shew one entire and true Christ to remain in the union of both natures From these words of Gelasius it is clear that the real union of both Christs natures is the Principal mystery which is here represented and that this is represented by the Sacramental union between the Bread and the Wine and the Body and Blood of Christ And hence he concludes that the Nature of Christs Humanity doth still remain because the Nature of the Elements doth still remain But this would not have been Argumentative or Conclusive at all had not the Church then believed that the nature of the Bread
THE TRUE Mark of the Beast OR THE PRESENT DEGENERACY OF THE Church of Rome FROM THE FAITH once delivered to the SAINTS A SERMON on November 5. 1681. By EDWARD PELLING Rector of St. Martin's Ludgate and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Somerset Quid Romae faciam Mentiri nescio Juv. Sat. 3. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may Ye also do Good that are accustomed to do Evil. Jer. 13. v. 23. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that He as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing Himself that He is God 2 Thess 2. v. 3 4. London Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh at the Black-Bull in Cornhill and Walter Davis in Amen Corner 1682. To his Grace my ever Honoured and Dear Lord CHARLES Duke of SOMERSET Marquess and Earl of HERTFORD Viscount BEAUCHAMP and Baron of TROWBRIDG My Lord SEldom do some men make any Comments but they chuse me for their Text. Since I presented to your Grace a little Sermon preached on the 30 of January Factious people have accused me of Partiality for not Publishing this that was Preached on the 5th of November last and thence the Charity of our Modern Blessed Saints who like the Old Nestorians are nati ad Calumniandum rarely gifted in those two Virtues Lying and Slandering hath concluded that I am a secret friend to the Popish Interest Which manifest and gross injury I have yet the less reason to repine at since so many thousands of men who are far my betters have an equal share of it so that all who are not given to change all who are not weary of a Happy Peace all who Dread to be Slaves again to their Fellow-Subjects all that are true friends to the Government Establisht in Church and State all that love the Person and acquiesce in the Wisdom and Counsels of the King all Ranks and Degrees of men even Peers and Prelates who Abhorr the seditious practises of Ambitious Revengefull and unquiet Spirits are Libell'd under the notion of Tantivyes Popishly affected Papists in Masquerade Irish Bog-trotters and under I know not how many Nick names more Little do they consider in the mean while how they Dishonour the Reformed Religion and what great Service they do the Romanists when they call every Honest man a Papist and make Knavery to be a Characteristical note of a TRVE PROTESTANT And though the Sons of the Church of England be thus traduced as unfaithfull to their Mother yet we hope the indifferent world will consider that none but they have effectually undertaken the defence of the Protestant Cause all a long And 't is observable that since the discovery of the late Popish Plot whereas the Church of England hath both by Preaching and writing industridusly Laboured against Popery the Dissenters have Laboured with all their might and main against the Church of England which when men of Judgment and Integrity shall consider they will soon discern who they are amongst us that are the best friends to the Church of Rome As to mine own particular My Lord I do sincerely protest as in the presence of the Eternal and Omniscient God that I have ever liv'd and by Gods grace am resolved to dy a true member of our Church as it is now Establisht And for the rest of my Brethren the Conformable Clergy they cannot be suspected but either by Ignorant or by Ill men it being impossible for those who give their Vnfeigned Assent and Consent to our Liturgy to entertain any kind or favourable Opinion of those Errors and Corruptions which we justly Condemn in the Roman Church Therefore to deal truly with your Grace the onely Reason why this Sermon was not Publisht before was because I looked upon it as so inconsiderable a thing in comparison of what has been done by men of Great Learning and True Worth that I could not take the confidence to shew it the World Some discourses may be fit enough for the Pulpit which may not be so fit for the Press and such I conceive this Discourse to be However since 't is going abroad it will not take up much room in the World and this advantage I gain by it an opportunity of presenting my most Hearty Service and Duty to your Grace and of professing my self what I am My Lord Your Grace's most Obedient Obliged and Affectionate Servant and Chaplain EDWARD PELLING March 16 1681. A SERMON PREACHED ON The Fifth of November 1681. Rom. 1. 8. First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World YOu see by the Verse preceding that St. Paul directed this Epistle to the Church of Rome that then was and you may be sure that the Modern Romanists have not failed to make the most use of this Text more indeed by far than the Apostle ever intended to give them occasion of making for as it is their constant custom when they Comment upon the Fathers if they meet with any little passage though it be but the clink of a word that seems to favour their Errors to catch hold on it presently as if all the world were their own whereas they abuse the Writer all the while and either willingly mistake or studiously wrest the place contrary to the true sense of the Author so when they are Commenting upon the Scriptures if they light upon any one Text which with all their Art and Skill they can but take advantage by to plead from it and to Hallow their Impieties they run away strait with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glad that they have found a booty a dainty and strong Argument for their Cause But if St. Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles an Apostle that together with Peter preached and suffered Martyrdome at Rome an Apostle to whose Writings the Protestants do frequently Appeal and whose Epistles some of the Romanists have been very angry with because they do too much favour the Hereticks as they have been pleased to say if this Great man did so commend the Faith of the Church of Rome as he doth in this Text and if He spake so Honourably of it as that it was admired by the whole world we may reasonably expect to hear enough of their Brags And indeed this is their Starting place whence they run out into very high Encomiums of their Church and they tell us of a great number of Ancient Fathers that join with them in their Applauses they would perswade us that St. Paul here doth not only Declare what the Church of Rome was then but moreover that he did Prophecy that it should be an Excellent Church unto the worlds End and that his Commendation respecteth as well the Christians at Rome in his
the Catholic Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints and have laid aside that Hay and Stuble and Trash which had been piled upon this Foundation and if the Purifying of the Antient Faith be Heresie if the cleansing of our Church from Litter be Innovation and if the professing and practising of those things that were in the Apostolick Ages be Schism then we must own our selves guilty but own too that Christ and his Apostles were our Precedents only they had Miracles to speak on their side we have beside the Cannon of H. Scripture the Books of the Old Fathers to speak on our behalf and the credit of the Old Roman Church it self to testifie for us and to those Testimonies we Appeal 5. Lastly what would not the Romanists give could they at half such an easie rate be able to justify those evil methods whereby they have exprest their implacable enmity against Us for no other reason but because We have told them the truth and will not be perswaded to shake hands with them in their Impieties if the spirit of Love and Goodness be the spirit of Christ If the calling for Fire from Heaven or the fetching of it from Hell be utterly inconsistent with the temper of a Christian If our Holy o Lords Kingdom be not of this world If the weapons of our warfare be not Carnal and if that be the only true wisdom from above which is Pure Peaceable and Gentle Then they have reason to blush and hide their faces but that Impudenoe is the Daughter of Lewdness and Apostacy who talk so much of their Catholick Faith which hath nothing to support it but their Catholick Villanies Even as to this point too if we look into the Antient Faith of the Roman Church we shall find it to have been exprest by self-denial by bearing the Cross by Subjection unto Princes and suffering Persecutions to that degree that a great number of their primitive Bishops were successively made so many glorious Martyrs And how comes it to pass that whereas Loyalty and Love was once a great part of that Churches Honour at last the lawfulness of Treason and Rebellion and Cruelty should get in to be part of her Creed For are not these her Doctrines That she can divest Princes of their Regalities that she can without Sinning expose and Sacrifice their very lives that she can free her Children from all the most Sacred tyes of subjection that all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them are hers and that she can give them to whomsoever she pleaseth as if she had been trucking for a bargin with the Divel himself That men by being Hereticks in her account do ipso facto forfeit all their Rights Sacred and Civil and that to Kill and Butcher such Hereticks is an act highly Meritorious of Salvation let her deny these Doctrines if she can or Disclaim them if she dare but you shall never find her so Honest because she is Conscious to her self that did she not hallow these and the like Principles to keep the world in awe her Court would soon want Attendants and her cause an Advocate And is there not a most perfect Harmony between her lewd Faith and her villanous Practice whereby she hath rowled her Garments not in her own but in the blood of Peers Prelates Princes an unaccountable Host of Martyrs whose blood she hath abundantly shed over the whole Christian and Reformed world witness the streams drawn in the upper and lower Germany and in the neighbouring Countries witness the former Massacrees in France and the Fresh Persecution there now which is likely enough in a little while to end in Blood too Witness the Barbarous Executions in Ireland which are not quite lost out of our own memories And witness the continual Diabolical attempts which have been made against This Kingdom in every age since the beginning of the Reformation as the Troubles under King Hen. the 8th the Insurrections under King Edward the 6th the huge Sacrifices and Offerings by fire under Q. Mary the Spanish Invasion and Domestick Conspiracies under Q. Elizabeth and which we commemorate our deliverance from THIS DAY the Powder-Plot under King James when nothing would satisfie those Sanguinary Catholicks but the destruction of the whole Race Royal and of the Representatives and Flower of the whole Realm And to say no more witness that Hellish and damnable Conspiracy which hath been lately Levelled against the Gentlest and Kindest of Princes against our Laws Goverment Religion and the Common safety of us all But blessed be God that hath Providentially and Marvellously brought to light the hidden things of darkness Blessed be God for the Miraculous Deliverance which his own Goodness and Immediate hand wrought for us This Day And for ever blessed be his name that since that Time he hath kept us all along out of the hands of all our enemies that he hath delivered us yet and we hope will deliver us yet still And God of his mercy grant that as our Faith is Pure Primitive and Holy so we may study not only to Contend for it but to Adorn it too by the Simplicity of our hearts by the Unity of our Affections by a perfectly Honest and Peaceable deportment and by all the Necessary and Laudable instances of a Godly and Righteous Conversation that Our Faith also may be spoken of and renowned throughout the whole world and that the God of mercy and compassion may Protect and bless us for evermore Amen FINIS