intended not for them alone but for them also who should believe on him through their word I say therefore if our Saviour had any thought of Christians that should suffer from their Brethren as his Disciples did from the Jews I know not where to apply this but only to them of the Roman Church Of them only among Christians he had Occasion to say this They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea when they kill you they shall think that they do God service So that I have a twofold Consideration in these words First in relation to the Jews and Secondly to the Romish Christians First in relation to the Jews Christ said these words immediately to his Disciples that the Jews would Excommunicate Them and Kill them in pure Zeal for their Religion To pursue this in the Method that I propounded at first First the Cause of those Evils which the Jews did to the Apostles was meerly Zeal for their Traditionary Religion What their Zeal was you know is often spoken in Scripture S t Paul testifies of them Rom. 10. 2. They had a Zeal but not according to Knowledge They reckon'd it Zeal towards God Acts 22. 3. They were Zealous of their Law Acts 21. 20. But by the Law they meant chiefly their Customs So 't is explained Acts 6. 13 14. Those Jews that bore Witness against Stephen their Witness was that He blasphemed against God and against Moses Vers. 11. How did it appear In the the Thirteenth Verse He spoke against the holy Place and the Law What did they mean by the Law Even the Customs which Moses delivered them No doubt their Hebrew word was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Cabalistical Rites their Traditionary Customs Quos Moses Tradidit which Moses delivered by word of Mouth That this was their meaning it appears by St. Paul's Explication Speaking of himself what he did when he was a Jew Gal. 3. 14. Saith he I beyond measure persecuted the Church of God and wasted it A Jew persecute the Church of God Wherefore did he do it He declares what I have said I was saith he exceedingly Zealous for the Traditions of my Fathers That stuck more with the Jews than the Scripture the Written Law of God They insisted much less upon the Law than upon the Traditions Yea they called their Traditions the Law as you have heard and contended for them as being Essential to Religion Saith the Apostle I profited in the Iews Religion above many of my Equals in my own Nation being more exceedingly Zealous for the Traditions of my Fathers So we have found out the Cause of this Carriage that follows The Jews Cause was the Defence of their Traditions Their Carriage it self was First to Excommunicate and Secondly to Kill those that convinced them out of the Written Word of God Since their Religion was founded not on Scripture but Tradition in those Points that were in Controversie between them and the Disciples The Disciples not owning but condemning those Traditions they lookt upon them as Men of Another Religion that is both as Heretics and Schismatics And as such They put them out of their Synagogues they cast them out of the Church they cut them off by the Sentence of Excommunication Even while our Saviour lived they had agreed among themselves that whosoever confessed him should be turned out of the Synagogue Joh. 9. 22. According to this Agreement when one born blind being cured by our Saviour confessed him and maintained it that he that cured him could be no other but a Prophet sent from God They were so moved at this Confession and so inraged at him that had received his Sight the more inraged because the matter was so evident that not knowing how at that time to revenge themselves otherwise for the People took Christ for a Prophet therefore they durst not meddle with Him they fell upon the Poor Man they took Occasion against him to turn him out of the Synagogue Iohn 9. 34. And the Matter was so notorious that some that did believe in Christ yet durst not confess him Iohn 12 4. They knew they ought but they durst not for fear of being turned out of the Synagogue 'T is known to them that are conversant in the Writings of the Jews that whensoever they had any cut off by their Censures it was their way to expose them with Contumelious Names They called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Heretics and Schismatics Secondly Whom they cast out for a Heretic or a Schismatic they lookt upon him as not worthy to live When St. Paul discovered himself to be a Christian they threw off their Clothes they threw Dust into the Air they cried Away with such a Fellow from the Earth for it is not fit that he should live Acts 22. 23. They would have stoned him if they durst but that the Roman Governour was present as you read there Vers. 34. By saying That he ought not to live their meaning was That it was a good deed to kill him which was the usual Effect of their total and final Excommunication The Effect of it was Killing with those horrible Circumstances that whereas he that was killed was judged an Enemy of God he that killed him was considered as having done God a great piece of Service which made this much different from any other kind of Death He that killed a Man otherwise knew he did Murther He that killed him for God's sake lookt upon it as a Sacrifice So far from being an Offence against God that it rather made amends for all his other Offences And whereas he that ordinarily kills a Man seeks nothing more but to be rid of him as soon as he can and therefore makes haste to put him out of his Pain Those that put Men to Death for Religion think no Death too severe Single Death is not enough It is too soon over They will make such a one feel how he dies Common Rage is but a blunt Sword in comparison of that which is whetted and edged with a Zeal of mistaken Religion First by the Sword of Justice If the Jews put one to Death for Religion it must be done by the Sanhedrim who were their Judges in Ecclesiastical things But the Sanhedrims way of putting Men to Death was by Stoning which was a very Unmerciful Death St. Stephen felt it He was thus put to Death for Religion And they stoned Stephen calling upon God When Herod that had no such Motive as Religion was yet pleased for Popularity to put St. Iames the Apostle to Death he only killed him with the Sword Acts 12. 2. If the Jews had had the doing of it it would have been done at another Rate Else possibly for Haste or for Concealment or the like when they could not intend those more exquisite Cruelties and so in those cases where the Sanhedrim had no power there they were for destroying by Assassination as you read Acts 23.
Imprimatur Guil. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. a Sacris Domest Febr. 27. 1678. A SERMON PREACHED At St. Martins in the Fields ON NOVEMBER the Fifth 1678. By WILLIAM LLOYD D. D Dean of BANGOR and One of His MAIESTIES Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed by T. N. for Henry-Brome at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-yard 1679. JOHN 16. 2. They shall put you out of the Synagegues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service THe Words are part of that Discourse which our Saviour made to his Disciples the Night before his Passion The Words of a Dying Man use to leave the deepest Impression And that was the end for which Christ intended this Discourse He knew there would be a more than ordinary need of it That which gave such force to his Words was the very cause of this need that is his Death For Him to suffer Death whom they lookt upon as their Messias Him that was to restore the Kingdom to Israel For Him to Frustrate that great Work by Dying They were in pain to hear this For Him to suffer such a Death They were offended at it often offended as often as He spoke of it Our Saviour considered their Weakness in this and mildly told them it should not be so but much otherwise That which they were so apt to be offended with when they heard it He made them hear it that they might not be offended when it came to pass These things have I spoken to you saith he to the end that ye should not be offended that you should not be scandalized nor deterred from my Service by any thing that I am to suffer Nay more What you shall see done in Me will likewise be done in You. As I am rejected and put to Death so shall You be and that for Righteousness sake They which now begin their Work with Me shall deal likewise with You when I am gone The time comes and thus it will be till time be at an end The time comes when they shall remove you from their Assemblies they shall put you out of their Synagogues Excommunicate you for your Christian Profession And having done so they shall kill you and all this in Zeal thinking it not only lawful but acceps to God They shall do it as Men that would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do God Service or Worship so the Original signifies as if in so doing they should offer Sacrifice to God It is a wonderful thing That Men of Knowledge and Conscience and Religion they who doubtless were a True though then a Corrupt Church of God should think to please God with those Sacrifices which were scarce offered to the Devil by any other but the most Barbarous and Brutish part of Mankind What To Sacrifice to God with Human Blood which in his Law he had positively and directly forbidden To kill Men upon His account that has expresly said Thou shalt not kill To kill not Malefactors but the most faithful Servants of God the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ To kill them to do God service was surely a most preposterous way But they that did it thought otherwise and they thought as they were taught they acted according to their Principle It was the Principle of their Religion that false Prophets are to be put to Death 'T is most true God had so ordained it in his Law as you read Deut. 13. six first Verses But how should a false Prophet be tried Among the Jews he should be tried by his Doctrine And how his Doctrine By Scripture God sent them to the Law and to the Testimony and declared that if Men that took upon them to Prophecy spake not according to this Rule they had no Light in them then they were to be taken for false Prophets But these of whom our Saviour speaks the Jews of his Age had another way of Trial which they held at least equal with the Scripture That was their Oral Tradition Our Saviour told them of it He blamed them smartly for preferring it before Scripture You make saith he the Scripture of no Effect by your Tradition By this Tradition if they tried Christ and his Apostles and judged them all to be False Prophets that would not receive it they must judge Christ and his Apostles to be False Prophets and as such must kill them by their Law Thus they did They dealt so First with Christ himself and Then with his Apostles And they thought they did well in it They did this upon the Account of Religion It was indeed for their Religion such as it was not grounded on Scripture but on that False Rule of Oral Tradition In Defence of their Traditions they killed the Followers and even the Writers of Scripture Tanto in Religio potuit Such a mischievous pernicious Inflorence hath misguided Religion upon the Souls and Consciences of Men. So that now in my Text we have two things to consider You see the Theme of it is Persecution against the Followers of Christ. You see First the Cause of it is Misgrounded Religion In these Jews it was grounded not on Scripture but on Tradition Secondly you see the Effect of it in their carriage towards the Followers of Christ. The Effect is twofold First to shut them out of the Church by Excommunication Secondly having so done to put them to Death They shall Kill you saith my Text. Now Killing again is twofold either Publickly by the Magistrate or Privately by any particular Person 'T is all one to him that Suffereth whether he die by the Sword of Justice or whether he have his Throat cut in a Massacre or by Assassination But as to the Authors 't is far different The Sword of Justice may be Abused in many respects and is so sometimes in all Nations It may kill the Innocent through Misinformation and the Magistrate may be faultless in doing it But for Private Mens Killing by Assassination or by Massacre it is and ought to be odious in all Nations Yet some will do it and Justifie it My Text says some would not stick to do it yea and justifie it upon the account of Religion Thirdly the Time when they will do this The time comes says our Saviour Comes when Now under the Gospel The Jews did it at the Entrance of the Gospel In After-times that Christians should do it that profess to believe the Gospel Did our Saviour ever think of this If he did you may soon guess of what sort he meant For I know but one sort of Christians that do it and that justifie it upon account of Religion I know not any Principles for it among Christians but theirs in the Roman Church It seems as if Christ looked upon them when he said these words to his Disciples It appears he thought of them if what he said to his Disciples were intended of any sort of Christians He declared elsewhere Ioh. 17. 20. that what he said he
12. When St. Paul was so protected by the Magistrate that they could not come at him in a Legal Judicial way then they resolved to Assassinate him They bound themselves under a Curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul And they were more than forty of the Jews that had made this Conspiracy Those were of the Cannitae or Zealots as they called them Men that took upon them the Cause of God to avenge him of his Enemies whether it were to kill any single Person or a Family or a Nation if they were able to compass it They stuck at nothing that stood in the way of their bloody and barbarous Sect disguised under the mild and sacred Name of Religion I shall not shew nor will it be greatly material to tell you what Reaks they played among the Jews nor what Havock they made of the Christians of those times I have shewn you enough of their Way and of their Principle which suits the immediate scope of my Text. This together with the rest that I have said was that measure that the Apostles of Christ were to expect and to receive from the Jews upon the account of Religion that is indeed of Tradition against Scripture But now I come to consider the Time when this Prophesie was to be fulfilled I have shewn you that besides the Completion in that Age it is as capable to be extended to any future Age any Age before the Resurrection for even That lies within the reach of these words Venit Hora The Hour comes in my Text. The Hour cometh saith our Saviour when they that are in their Graves shall hear the Voice of the Son of Man and shall come forth John 5. 28. The Notation of that word then it is plain is large enough to extend even till the Resurrection And if our Saviour spoke this First of the Jews in the Apostles times of whom should he intend that they will do this in Future Ages Could he mean this of the Unbelieving Gentiles Saint Austin says No in his Book Contra Literas Petiliani For saith he They do not use Excommunication nor when they kill do they think that they do God good service What then Could it be said of the Jews in after-times Much less For they were in no condition to kill They have been killed in every Age both by Heathens and by Merciless Christians But for them to kill Christians it hath not been in their Power at any time since the Destruction of Ierusalem Of whom then are we to understand this If not of Gentiles nor of Jews 't is surely meant of some kind of Christians in Future Ages So the same Saint Austin doth understand it in his Book Contra Epistolam Gaudentii This he says is to be understood of Heretical Christians They will be ready to kill the Orthodox Christians whensoever they have them in their Power But how shall we know who are Heretics We know who they are that are given to Kill among Christians upon the account of Religion I dare appeal to themselves in the Roman Church whether any but themselves either Teach or Practice this among Christians at this present Day First I am sure for the Cause which these Jews had they also have it They have the same Zeal that those Jews had for Unwritten Traditions And as the Jews called theirs by the Name of the Law so the Papists make bold to call theirs The Vnwritten Word of God So they call it expresly in the fourth Session of the Council of Trent All that which they chiefly contend for is wholly founded on their Unwritten Traditions Run through all those Points that they have added to the true Christian Faith What Pretence or what Colour have they for the proof of them For many they do not so much as pretend a word of Scripture For some they do But God knows very wretchedly and absurdly For every one of them the true Bottom is nothing else but Unwritten Tradition Is there any thing else for seven Sacraments of Christs Institution For their Picturing of God the Father and of the Trinity For their Worshipping Images For their Denying the Cup to their Laity For their Doctrine of Purgatory For their Indulgences and the like The learned Writers among them do acknowledge even while they maintain these Traditions while they endeavour to prove them that there is no Proof for these out of Scripture For all the rest of their Doctrines they may have some Colour but they have no manner of Proof for any of them but what the Jews had against Christ himself and as Christ convinced the Jews so Our way to convince them is by Scripture But what Return have we for it First Excommunication to be sure Let any among themselves argue any thing against their Tradition Let him offer to name Scripture against it Nay let him own his right to read Scripture 't is enough to bring him under the Sentence of Excommunication As for us that do all this we are cut off from their Church at one stroke We are Excommunicated in a heap We are Anathematized in Bulla Coenae by his Holiness in Passion Week 'T is his Charity to us at those times when he most solemnly betakes himself to remember the Death of Christ in that Sacrament And being so Excommunicated and Accursed by him as we are you must not wonder at the Names which they are pleased to give us They call us Heretics and Schismatics in their modest Appellations Yea Infidels and Atheists whensoever they please And whether they do not treat us like such that comes next to be considered Do I say they treat us like such No I know they do much worse Except at the first Conquering of the Indies when the Spaniards killed some Millions I say Millions of that poor miserable People Except that time they have dealt more favourably always with Heathens than with us They kill none usually where they are Masters but only Heretics And they killed not even those as they do Heretics in those Countries which are wholly under the Dominion of Popery As namely in Spain and in Italy in those Parts where they have the Inquisition Whosoever there sides with Scripture against their Traditions is no sooner discovered but hurried away to Prison where no Friend is suffered to come at him no Relief to come near him no Hope of better in this World All which taken together make it Hell upon Earth and the rather for from thence there is no Redemption Well he may scape by Dying there But if ever he comes forth 't is to be burnt If one dies there in the Popes Slaughter-House or if one scape coming thither which is impossible but by not being discovered if he be discovered after death they will not allow him Burial Or if he be buried first then they dig up his Body to be burnt So that whether one dies in their hands or no 't is all one
he must be burnt There is only this difference He that dies in their hands his Body is not buried but burnt He that was buried before he was discovered he is digged up to be burnt as soon as he is discovered though it be twenty or forty years after I could give many undeniable Instances of all that which I have said in this matter Few Instances can be given to the contrary in Spain or in Italy in those parts which are under the Inquisition If it is not so in any other Country yet it was so even there when it was under the full Dominion of Popery As for instance in France a little more than a hundred years since In our Kings Dominions about a hundred and twenty years since In the Low-Countries as Grotius tells us in the first Book of his Annals a hundred thousand Men and Women had suffered thus before ever Sword was drawn against the Spanish Government Not to speak of Merindole and Cabriers and Piedmont and in Austria and Bohemia and other Places where this Cruelty was exercised so lately in Countries not under the Full Power of Popery When all was theirs before the Reformation it was no where otherwise How was it possible it should be When since the time that it came to be a Practice of their Church that all whom they accounted Heretics should be burnt that is since about the year 1200 for then it began it hath been Established by their Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil It hath been approved by and acted in their General Councils It has been taught by their Doctors and Writers It hath been Enacted and Prosecuted and Executed every thing by the Pope whose very Throne is Established whose Greatness has been built the Foundations of it laid in the Bodies and the Walls cemented as I may say with the Blood of Orthodox and Innocent Christians Where they have not Power to do this and the colour of Law where the Government hath been against them or where it hath been weakly on their side There they have found other ways to do the same thing by Private Murther by Public Assassination by Open Rebellion by such Barbarous ways as I should not mention for fear of being accounted a Slanderer but that they are notoriously known to all the World And in All these ways there 's none like them for Cruelty among Christians There were indeed Assassines among the Heathen Saracens There are Deruices among the Turks and Saids among the Moors Single Persons or Orders of Men that are bloody enough in other Sects But for a whole Sect to be led by its Principles nay even Obliged to shed Blood I know none like these Traditionary Christians The Jews in the Apostles time to Them were but Children Their Zealots not to be mentioned with the Iesuites the Cannites of the Popish Religion They have the same Zeal that those had for their Traditions the same Diligence to make Proselytes the same Cruelty to shed Blood Only what those acted upon the small Stage of One Country these do throughout the whole World wheresoever they dare and have opportunity to do it Whether it is to be done by Private Murther or by Open War Whether by a Foreign Sword or by the Civil Whether it be upon Subjects or upon Princes And in this last thing indeed they Out-do the Turks and the Jews and all other That they spare not their own Princes where they may hope to advantage their Cause by it For the Foreign Sword they hold it not only Lawful but Necessary to be drawn upon the meer account of Religion There is no Kingdom in our Europaean World but the Pope hath given it away upon the account of Religion No Country but He has made an Aceldama upon the account of Religion His giving Kingdoms indeed hath been like the Devil 's offering them to Christ upon Condition that they to whom he gives them shall fall down and Worship him As the Devil offered All so the Pope hath given Many though they are none of His Own Though He had no more Title to any One of them than the Devil himself has to All Kingdoms The Empire he hath given away more than once France many a time over England many and many a time to those that would Conquer them And for fear that Prize should be too little he hath given them Heaven into the Bargain He hath Commanded them to Conquer those Kingdoms and that for the Remission of their Sins Thus he gave Navarre to the Spaniard who both Conquered it and holds it to this Day under no other Original Title but of the Popes Gift and that founded upon No other Right the Pope had to it but what he hath to All Kingdoms He knows little of our Story that knows not how he hath plaid with the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Sometimes exciting the Foreign Sword sometimes stirring up Princes against their Subjects sometimes Arming the Subjects against their Prince sometimes commanding them and sometimes hiring them either to Rebellion or to Assassination And in this they exceed the Turks and all others who do bloody things otherwise but not to their own Princes at least not upon the account of Religion But to Kill Kings meerly for Religion I know not one Instance where it was ever done but for Popery Not to insist upon old Stories Within this last hundred years there have been Two Kings of France Stabb'd by their own Popish Subjects but for Favouring the Protestant Religion Henry the Third in our Queen Elizabeth's and Henry the Fourth in King Iames's time For those Princes themselves Queen Elizabeth's Life was attempted many times She was never out of Danger after the first Eleven years of her Reign Though all that time she had not put One to Death of that Religion Afterwards indeed she did put some of them to Death to secure her own Life And knowing it was Chiefly sought by their Priests she forbad them to come into her Kingdoms And for coming in spite of her she did sometimes put to Death some few of them whom she had cause to judge faulty otherwise But this Rule she observ'd She never put any One to Death that would declare under his Hand That the Pope had no Power to take away her Life and her Kingdoms When King Iames came in after her He even Studied to oblige them He treated them with all possible Indulgence He could not presently take away the Laws but he put none in Execution against them He never touched either the Person or the Purse of any of those whom they call Catholicks He forgave all that was in Arrrear from them to Queen Elizabeth He refunded what Money of theirs he found in the Exchequer He gave them leave to live at Home how they pleased only peaceably Or to go Abroad and Travel where they pleased without Account Or to take Imployment under what Prince they pleased without Distinction He Honoured all alike with Advancement