THE SPIRIT of POPERY TRYED Whether it be of GOD. A SERMON Preached before the KING at WHITEHALL upon the Fifth of November 1699. By the Right Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Bishop of OXON Published by His Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1699. ERRATA PAge 7. del the first Line and to the word Faith in the 2d Line p. 8. l. 17. for Burnings r. Fumings l. 26. for Zeal r. real p. 14. l. 28. after enjoy'd add who suffered p. 17. l. 3. r. Campanella's THE Spirit of Popery tryed Whether it be of GOD. 1 John iv 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God THat by this Caution Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God is meant give not up your Faith to the Doctrine nor your selves to the Conduct of every Teacher and Guide that shall pretend to instruct and govern you till you have examined and proved whether his Commission and Doctrine be of God is evident from the Reason wherewith the Apostle inforces this Advice in the latter part of the Verse viz. because many false Prophets are gone out into the World And truly if this Reason could justify the pertinency and usefulness of our Apostle's Exhortation at that time the pressing of the same Advice will appear upon the same Grounds to be no less seasonable and necessary in this Age wherein the great Author of Lies and Divisions has shewed himself such a Master in his Art so successfully imploy'd all his Stratagems and Instruments to corrupt the Faith and break the Unity of the Church that not only ancient Heresies are revived and improved but new ones broach'd and the seamless Coat of Christ torn into so many Shreds his mystical Body broken into so many Sects and Parties that it is almost as easy to reconcile as to number them And each of the different Parties all of which cannot be in the right would engross Truth to themselves confine it to their own Division and exclude those that differ from them from any title to it It might be of good use to bring these several Pretenders to the Test laid down in the Text to try the Spirits whether they be of God But to examine them all would be the Work not of a piece of an Hour but of a whole Year The Time usually allotted for such Exercises as this will not allow me to try more than one of them and the Day points out which I should pitch on That bold Monopolizer of Christianity which unchristians all the World besides her own Communion anathematizes excludes from Heaven and damns to Hell all that will not renounce their Reason and Senses and blindly submit to her Usurpation who sticks at no Methods for the extending of her Tyranny whether of Fraud and Treachery or Violence and Cruelty Witness that fatal Design fatal in the Event to the Authors of it but intended so to this Church and Nation which was as on this Day to have been put in execution the never to be forgotten Powder-Plot A Plot which say some of the Soberer of their own Authors Posterity will not believe for the Horrour of it Horrour indeed if there must have been so many Thousand of Men Women and Children as one of them says it was computed cut off at one Blow had it taken effect A Plot surely hatch'd in Hell that Lake of Sulphur and form'd in the dark Parts of the Earth and discover'd by him only to whom the darkness is no darkness and whose hand can find out those that dig down into Hell And so much though Faux when he was taken cry'd out that the Devil and not God was the Discoverer is own'd by some of their own Party who have acknowledged the Discovery to have been from God To express our grateful Sentiments of which miraculous Deliverance as also of another from the Designs of the same Enemies which we have more lately received on the same day and to pay our Just Tribute of Thanks and Praise to the Great God for them is the end of our present Meeting to which I hope I shall do Justice and that my Discourse shall not labour of Impertinence or Unsuitableness to the Text or Day if instead of relating the Story of which after so many Annual Returns of this Day no one can be supposed to be ignorant or forgetful or proving the Truth of the Facts which is as unnecessary habemus confitentes reos I rather chuse to bring that Religion which by these and other such ever to be abhorr'd Methods they restlesly labour to propagate to the Trial advised to in the Words I have read And if upon Examination it appears to be not of God as I. Imposing Doctrines and Practices that derogate from and undermine the Great and Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion II. As being in a great measure contrary to the Nature and Design of the Christian Religion III. As having bid very fair for the weakening those Grounds and Motives of Credibility whereby the Divinity of the Christian Religion was asserted and it recommended to the World And IV. As supporting and spreading it self by Methods directly opposite to those by which the Christian Religion was propagated and even to the Dictates of Morality and Nature I suppose I may with good reason endeavour in my Application to excite in you 1. A due Aversion to and just Abhorrence of that Religion 2. Gratitude to God who has so often discovered and defeated the Designs of our Adversaries and rendred their Attempts for the introducing and establishing that Religion among us hitherto insuccessful And 3. A willingness and readiness to comply with those means which may most effectually secure us against them for the future I am then to try the Religion taught and professed in the Church of Rome whether it be of God and it will appear not to be so for these Reasons 1. Because it imposes Doctrines and Practices that derogate from and undermine the great Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion which is this that Jesus is the Christ This our Apostle does in several Places of his Writings make the distinguishing mark to try the Spirits by by confessing of which they would appear to be of God and by denying it of Antichrist Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God cap. 5. v. 1. But cap. 2. v. 22. Who is a Liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist denying the Father and the Son And in the Verses immediately following my Text Hereby know we the Spirit of God Every Spirit that confesses Jesus that is come in the Flesh to be the Christ is of God And every Spirit that confesses not Jesus that is come in the Flesh to be the Christ is not of God but is that Spirit of Antichrist So I construe that Proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
making the Predicate to refer to his Offices as the Messias and not to his Incarnation which is supposed in the Subject And this Interpretation is not only agreeable to the Original but to many parallel Places where St. John expresly makes the Predicate the Christ and to the general Sense of Commentators upon this Place Now it 's known that Christ signifies Anointed and that Jesus is so called with relation to his Offices The Ceremony of Anointing with material Oil has been anciently very usual in the designation of Persons to the Offices of Prophet Priest and King And our Lord Jesus being to take upon him those three great Offices For Moses foretold of him A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up Deut. 18.16 And the Psalmist Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek Bsal 110.4 I have set my King upon my Holy Hill of Sion Psal 2.6 He being to execute those Offices was Anointed thereto with the Holy Ghost and with Power and for that reason is called The Christ Or The Anointed By virtue of his first his Prophetical Office he was to reveal to us and instruct us in the whole Will of his Father so Moses predicted of him in the forecited Place he shall be like unto me and him shall ye hear in all things And we read in Heb. 3.2 that he was faithful as Moses was faithful in all his House And he himself tells his Father Joh. 17. that he had finished the Work he gave him to do had manifested his Name to Men 4 and 6 and in the 8th Verse the Words which thou gavest me I have given them and they have received them By virtue of his second his Priestly Office he was to offer Sacrifice and intercede for us The former of which he did upon the Cross when as the Apostle in Heb. 9.14 says he offered himself through the Eternal Spirit without spot to God And that Offering he tells us was to be but once made in several places of that and the following Chapter and gives Reasons for it First because it could not be oftner made for then he must often have suffered Chap. 9.26 And secondly because it was needless to be repeated for he had by that one Offering perfected for ever them that were sanctified Chap. 10.14 As to the other part of his Priestly Office that of interceeding for us the same holy Pen-man tells us Chap. 7.25 that he ever lives to make Intercession for us And Rom. 8.24 Christ is at the right hand of God and maketh Intercession for us and there is but one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 By virtue of his third his Kingly Office he was to rule and govern his Church as Head thereof to prescribe and give Laws to her So St. Paul Eph. 5.23 24. Christ is the Head of the Church and the Church is subject unto Christ And Col. 1.18 He is the head of the Body the Church that in all things he might have the pre-eminence And St. James tells us in his fourth Chapter that he is that one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy We have now seen why Jesus is called the Christ or the Anointed and what he does in virtue of those Offices he was anointed to Let us than examine how the Doctrines and Practices imposed by the Church of Rome comport with this Account which the Scriptures give of Christ and his Offices And here it is obvious at the first View that his first his Prophetical Office by which he was to reveal to us the whole Will of God is struck at by those Doctrines of theirs which assert that the Holy Scriptures in which he has discovered that Will are not a perfect Rule of Faith that the Holy Scriptures in which he has discovered that Will are not a perfect Rule of Faith that the sense of them is not clear and perspicuous but dark and uncertain that they are like a Nose of Wax or leaden Rule liable to be turn'd and bent any way and therefore are to be pieced out with the addition of Traditions and not to be read or received without the Expositions of the Church for what kind of a Prophet or Teacher is that who hath neither reveal'd to us all that it was necessary for us to know nor clearly explain'd what he has reveal'd And as to his second his Priestly Office by which he was to sacrifice and interceed for us how is that affronted by their frequent Sacrifices of the Mass which they assert to be true proper propitiatory Sacrifices for the sins and wants of the Dead and of the Living and by those multitudes of Intercessors the Virgin Mary and other Saints whom they join with or as one would be tempted by their Practice to judge preferr before him Which must necessarily argue that he has neither fully satisfied nor does effectually intercede for us for if he had compleatly satisfied or did sufficiently intercede what need of other Sacrifices or other Intercessors to be added to him but if he has not fully satisfied nor does effectually intercede what sort of a Priest or Mediator will they make of him Touching his third his Kingly Office by which he was to rule his Church as Head thereof and to give Laws to her We know who he is that assumes to himself the Title of Head of his Church and who they are that have pretended to a Power of dispensing with his Laws their own Council of Constance will inform us which tho' it freely confesses that our Saviour and King instituted the Sacrament in both kinds has yet with a non obstante to the Institution declared it should be given to the Laity but in one And then since they have in all these Instances given too plain proof that they believe our Lord Jesus has not sufficiently discharged those Offices which belong to the Christ they must not blame me but St. John if I conclude that their Spirits their Religion is not of God for it is his Assertion that every Spirit that confesses not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God 2. The Religion taught and profess'd in the Church of Rome is in a great measure contrary to the Nature and Design of the Christian Religion As for the Nature of the Christian Religion it was manly spiritual plain not made up of those Rudiments and beggarly Elements by which as by a School-Master the Jew being but a Child was to be tutor'd and led to Christ not clothed with that multitude of outward Observances nor adorn'd with that gaudy Pageantry and Shew with which the Mosaical Dispensation was But now let any one look into the Church of Rome view 〈…〉 â—ultiplicity of Ceremonies and Shadows the variety of 〈…〉 their frequent Crosses Burnings Sprinklings c. 〈…〉 â—ord how their Religion is almost wholly made of onew and Pageantry and let him tell me whether the outward Circumstances have not eaten up the
inward Substance and whether the Complaint may not justly be apply'd to them that the Yoke of Jewish Ceremonies was more tolerable than theirs And then for the Design of the Christian Religion which was to advance Vertue and Piety to make Men truly good and to lead them to Happiness by the Paths of Zeal and sincere Holiness how well the tendency of that Religion answers those ends we need look no farther to be informed than into their Doctrines of Penance Indulgences Purgatory c. which must necessarily encourage Men to be wicked For why should a Man fear to indulge himself in all manner of sinful Enjoyments when he has no more to do to obtain an Absolution than to confess himself to a Priest and be sorry that he has exposed himself to Sufferings At worst it is but giving some of his Money for his Transgression and some of the Product of his Estate for the Sin of his Soul and why should a Man doubt to defer his Repentance and Amendment in present as long as he has hopes of an after-Game in Purgatory And then let any judge whether a Religion that abounds with such ungodly Doctrines can be of God can lay any claim to that Character which St. Paul gives the Christian Religion in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians where he calls it a Mystery of Godliness and whether it has not a juster Title to that other which he gives the corrupt Doctrines of Antichrist in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians where he terms them a Mystery of Iniquity 3. The Church of Rome has bid very fair for the weak'ning those grounds or motives of Credibility by which the Christian Religion was attested and recommended to the World The chief of those grounds or motives of Credibility were the Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought by these he was as St. Peter speaks Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pointed out declared by God to be the Christ they were the Credentials he brought from Heaven This is plain from his own frequent urging of them to beget Faith in his Hearers Believe me for the Works sake and I have greater Testimony than that of John the Works I do bear witness of me from the Effects they had upon many that became his Converts who seeing the Works that Jesus did believed on him and from the Testimony of his very Enemies who when they saw how his Miracles wrought upon the People cried if we let him alone do not something to hinder or discredit these Works of his all Men will believe on him and therefore they endeavour'd to possess the People that he did them by the assistance of Beelzebub the Prince of Devils So that it is clear the Miracles which Christ wrought were a main Method which he used to affert the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine and gain Proselytes to his Religion And 't is no less clear that nothing can tend more to blast the Reputation or weaken the Authority of these Miracles than a Society of Christians receiving with these multitudes of other Miracles which are false or at best suspected Now to make good the Fact in this Charge against the Church of Rome I appeal not only to those little piae Fraudes which if we will believe Eye-witnesses are to this time made use of to amuse the Ignorant and impose upon the Credulous but to those strange Miracles which have been seriously urged to establish or justifie some of their Doctrines and Worship as Purgatory Invocation of Saints Worship of Images and Relicts c. and solemnly own'd in their Publick Service few of which are so attested as to gain Credit from any unbiass'd and thinking Man and of some they themselves have been ashamed 'T is easie to see what Advantage the Romanist has hereby given the Deist what an Argument ad hominem he has furnished him with Indeed a Protestant may fairly and truly reply to it that there is no just arguing from the Falshood of these Romish Miracles against the Truth of the Christian as I could easily shew had I time and were it my present husiness but here is too plain and plausible a Pretence given to the Enemies of our Holy Religion to be over look'd or neglected by them And however we may in Charity believe that Church did not design it may be foresee the Consequences of such a Conduct yet since she has eventally contributed to the weakning of the Force of the Christian Miracles and that by pretending false ones of her own she has come too near to another Character of Antichrist whose coming was foretold to be after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders 4. Lastly The Religion of the Church of Rome is supported and spread by the methods quite opposite to those by which the Christian Religion was propagated and the dictates of Morality and Nature The Methods by which the Christian Religion was propagated were like the Author of it meek and gentle charitable and loving The first Planters of it water'd it with no other Blood but their own The Gospel had no consuming Heats but kindly cherishing Warmths the Preachers of it did not make Converts with Sword and Pistol but by conclusive Arguments and moving Perswasions they did not enlighten Mens Understandings with Fire and Fagot but with bright and evident Reason Our Lord severely rebuked those Disciples who out of zeal to their Master whom the Samaritans would not receive would after the Example of Elijah have called for Fire from Heaven upon them with ye know not what Spirit ye are of not of mine not of the Gospel Temper What Spirits then are they of that fetch Fire not from Heaven but Hell to destroy not Samaritans but Christians and that not for refusing to receive Christ but his aspiring Adversary that is rivalling and justling him out of his Throne who being of a much more furious Spirit than Elijah would have sent the King Lords and whole representative Body of this Nation as he went in a fiery Chariot but not to Heaven but as they must believe of them being Hereticks to Hell who for the propagation of their Religion can put a Corban upon the most sacred Duties Men owe to their several Relations disturb Societies unhinge Governments ruin Families and Kingdoms form hellish Plots set up merciless Inquisitions encourage bloody Massacres make Converts by Plunders Rapes Prisons Galleys Gibbets and unheard of Torments to which Death would be preferable Blessed Jesu thou meek gentle Lamb of God! thou that didst never strive nor cry but wert all Love and Compassion even to thy very Enemies dost thou own these Proceedings or these wretched Murtherers of thy Saints and Servants who have so dipped thy Coat in the Blood not of wild Beasts but thy dear Martyrs that it can scarcely be known to be Joseph's Coat No surely they have a nearer Relation to the Woman described in the 17th of Revel who was arrayed in
Purple and Scarlet colour whose Garments were tinged with the Gore and who was drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus But it is time to divert from this ungrateful though necessary Task to take my leave of these Persons and apply my self to you From the Particulars which I have very briefly toucht upon time not permitting me to enlarge it does but too plainly appear that the Religion of the Church of Rome cannot bear the Tryal of the Text that it is not of God By way of Inference then 1. What a just Aversion should this give us to it and at what a Distance should it keep us from it Can we without Resentment behold that Church with bold and daring Doctrines affronting our Blessed Messias and reflecting upon him as not having made good that Character by sufficiently discharging the Offices belonging to it as we observed in the first particular Can we without Resentment behold her changing the Substance of the Religion he taught into Shadows and contradicting the Designs of it exposingt he holy Author of it as if he were a Saviour to save Men in and not from their Sins by giving Men too great encouragement to indulge themselves in all loose Conversation as we observed in the second particular Can we without Resentment behold her shaking the Grounds upon which he asserted the Divinity of it and furnishing the Enemies of it with Arguments against it as we observed in the third particular Can we without Resentment behold her Persecuting Banishing Tormenting Killing our Brethren as in the fourth particular How long Lord holy and true dost not thou avenge the Blood of thy Saints But let not our Resentments carry us to take any Revenge our selves to any of those Practices which we so justly condemn in them God forbid that any of their Provocations even their late base and notorious Misrepresentations of their Treatment in Protestant Countries should ever prevail with us to change our Christian Conduct towards them or that any of them should suffer in Person or Estate meerly upon the account of their Religion No may we rather be in the State of our Suffering Brethren than in the Condition of their Persecutors we are assured that Blessed are they that are persecuted for Righteousness sake but read of no blessing for those that persecute Let us overcome their evil with good and as we have opportunity return to those of that Religion all kind and Christian Offices for their Persecutions and despiteful Usage of those of ours and for their Anathema's and Curses Blessings and Prayers to our merciful God That he would bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived That to those of them that see not the Errors and Dangers they are in he would vouchsafe Light to discover them to them and to those that are sensible of them the Honesty and Courage to acknowledge their Conviction and come out of that Communion Yet sure it is no breach of Charity to be upon the defensive to guard our selves against their Attempts for the Civil Power to check the Boldness of their numerous Priests in this Town and restrain them from that Liberty they take to invade in many Instances our Ministers Office and on all Occasions to attempt the perverting of their People or for us who minister in holy Things to arm our Hearers against their Seduction And no other Weapon do we desire or need we to put into their hands than the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God which if rightly applied will make them proof against all their Assaults for since by that Word it appears that their Religion is not of God what Methods of allurement or terror can be of force to draw or drive those to it who make that Word their Rule What Allurement can be presented that that Question of our Saviour Matt. 11.26 will not answer What shall a Man be profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul What Terrors and Affrightments can be offer'd that his Promise in the 19th of this Gospel ver 29. will not support Man under Every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Name 's sake shall receive an hundred-fold and inherit everlasting life I shall conclude this Head with the Words of a Romish Writer in the late Reign which though used by him in ridicule shall be applied by me in very good earnest That the Martyrs recorded by Fox that past the fiery Tryal in Q. Mary 's Days and I will add all others that shall suffer the like upon the same Account had and shall have a glorious Cause on 't and I doubt not as he continues but the Crowns of Glory which attend such in Heaven are not inferior to those which they enjoy'd under Decius and Dioclesian 2. What Obligations of gratitude do we lye under to our most gracious God for not only raising up our holy Reformers who cast off that insupportable Yoke which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear rescued this Church from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and purged it from the Idolatry and Superstition of that Church but has also preserved it hitherto from being again corrupted and brought into Bondage has defended the House swept and garnished notwithstanding all his Atempts from the return of the evil Spirit Whoever reflects upon the Strength and Riches of the Church of Rome the Number of her Members her Interest with or rather Authority over too many of the Princes of Christendom whom she has made drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and bewitcht with her Philters to lay their Heads in her Lap and give up their Power to her How her Principles will give her leave to do any Evil that so great a Good may come of it as extending her Tyranny and bringing heretical Nations into subjection to her How she truly looks upon this Church to be the greatest Obstacle in her way that hinders her extirpating the Northern Heresy How often being thus provided with Power and Principle and strong Inclination to destroy this Church she has attempted it every Reign since the Reformation Whoever reflects upon all this and adds that we have not always been so strictly upon our Guard against her as we ought to have been but have always had a treacherous Party within us ready to betray us to her must acknowit to be Of the Lord's mercy that we have not been long since consumed by them and that If the Lord himself had not been on our side when Men conspired and rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick when they were so wrathfully displeased at us And how ought we then to add Praised be the Lord who has not given us over as a Prey unto their Teeth How should we say of this Day in particular That this is the