Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	england_n	reform_a	4,212	5	9.5265	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43640	The third part of Naked truth, or, Some serious considerations, that are of high concern to the ruling clergy of England, Scotland, or any other Protestant nation and also a discovery of the excellency of the Protestant religion as it stands in opposition to papistical delusions, being a representation of what is the true glory of Protestants, and what are the base, contemptible and ridiculous principles, on which those that are called Roman Catholicks do build, as upon the sand being very necessary for all Protestant families in this present juncture of time.; Naked truth. Part 3	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1681 (1681)	Wing H1830; ESTC R2673	42,995	50

Measure of Protestantism than according to what is thus firmly rooted in the hearts of men both by their Education and by the very Principles and Doctrine of the Reformation do seem but to prevaricate only with the reformed Religion and with the sixth Article of the Church of England and do if not in Words yet in Actions seem manifestly to declare that they neither really believe the Scriptures or the Christian Religion or the Reformation to be of God For if the whole of the Christian Religion be contained in the Scripture and in the Scripture alone as the sixth Article of the Church of England doth both plainly and expresly confess it is Then to make the rule of the Word to be our rule wholly as Christians in the Worship of God is so far from an Obstencie and so far from any thing of Humour or Superstition or Conceitedness that the contrary can be no way dispensable and much less maintainable before God and therefore there is neither any part of Popery it self nor any thing of Idolatry though never so gross but it may be as easily imposed upon and as easily entertained by a Protestant as any worship may which he evidently seeth or is sufficiently perswaded of in his Conscience to be against the Mind of God or against the Rule of his Word Seeing it is This Rule that is the only Index of his Mind as to us and it is This Rule alone to which all the Promises of God are intirely made and all the Promises of God being made to This Rule only This Rule and no other must then as we are Christians be The alone Foundation both of all our hope and of all our trust toward God And must consequently be the only ground upon which we can as Christians have any expectation of Salvation and Life And therefore the whole Interest and Concern of our Souls at least as we are Protestants doth and must stand entirely upon the said Word Which things if they cannot possibly any way be denyed Then the disobeying of all such Laws in the matter of Worship as are NOT agreeable to The Word of God or which at least appear not to be so is a thing wholly inevitable and is impossible to be avoided in a Protestant Government even as we are rational persons because there is a threefold reason that necessarily impels it First as it hath its rise from that most forcible and indeleable Character which is writ in the Minds of all men which is That seeing GOD IS HE ought to be worshipped in some manner or another of necessity Secondly as it hath its rise from that Character which hath equal force with the other in the Minds of us as we are bred Protestants viz. That God is no other way to be worshipped nor will accept of any other worship from us as Christians but what is agreeable to his Word Which two Principles seeing by vertue of our Education they make but one indeed in our hearts as we are Protestants they do and must constrain us assoon to abandon all worship it self unto God as to abandon that worship which is properly agreeable to his Word Because so far as we abandon this we do abandon all Worship that is according to our Principles as Protestants either acceptable with God or agreeable to the Mind of God Wherefore if to these two we shall add the third ground of its rise which is as certain also as either of the other viz. That we neither have hope in God nor any Promises made us by God further than as we obey him in his Word or further than as we worship him according to the Rule of it I say these three things being now joyntly considered and seriously weighed by us what man is there or what man can there be who firmly believes that there is any such thing as Salvation and Life who will not run any hazard rather than forbear what he judgeth to be the Worship of God or rather than he will observe such a Worship unto God as he cannot but know or cannot at least but verily believe to be contrary to his Mind and contrary to the Rule of his Word If it be evil then for any man to believe that God is indispensibly to be worshipped after some manner or another or evil for a man to believe that there is no other rule of his Will or Mind to us as we are Christians but his Word and therefore no other Rule wherein his Worship is contained besides his Word Or if it be evil to expect that God will most truly faithfully and fully perform his Promises to us if we shall serve him according to his Word and not otherwise I say if any of these three things are evil then it may be evil to disobey any Law relating to the Worship of God though it be not agreeable to his Word But if none of these things be evil in themselves they can never make any man evil who simply conforms to them I say not simply for his conformity how strictly or intirely so ever it be And therefore if these three Principles are of such a nature as creates a necessity of our compliance with them even as we are rational persons we must either then remove the Principles themselves and the lawfulness of them or we must unavoidably suffer and permit their efficacy as lawful over men For to allow the Principles themselves as good and lawful and as necessary and indispensible in themselves and to disallow nevertheless the Practice of them or to disallow such persons as follow them and imbrace them and to account such persons to be only disturbers or to be men so evil and bad as that they are not fit to be tolerated in a Nation even though no Crime besides this be objected against them Is either grosly to prevaricate with the said Principles and to make but a mock or sport of them or it is to do that which is absolutely repugnant absurd and contradictory in it self which is wholly against the Reason and Nature of a man as a man For though it cannot be maintained that all the Laws of men must or ought necessarily to arise out of the Laws of God viz. either that of his Word or that Law written in the heart of man Yet it is maintained among all Christian Governments whatever That no Law of the Civil Magistrate hath any power to supersede any Law of God whether it be that writ in the heart of man or that writ in his Word and therefore it is universally agreed by all Governments and cannot be denyed by any that profess Christianity That all humane Laws if they be inconsistent either with any of those common Principles that are writ in our Nature which are called the common Principles of Reason or with any thing that is expresly writ in the Word of God They are null and void in themselves Because they are against a prior or preceding Obligation which

THE THIRD PART OF Naked Truth OR Some serious Considerations that are of High Concern to the Ruling Clergy of England Scotland or any other Protestant Nation AND ALSO A Discovery of the Excellency of the Protestant Religion as it stands in Opposition to Papistical Delusions Being a Representation of what is the true GLORY of Protestants and WHAT ARE The Base Contemptible and Ridiculous Principles on which those that are called Roman Catholicks do build as upon the Sand. Being very necessary for all Protestant Families in this present Juncture of time 2 Thess 2.8 9 10 11. And that wicked shall be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his Mouth and shall destroy with the Brightness of his Coming even him whose Coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders and with all deceivableness of Unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the LOVE of Truth that they might be saved and For this Cause God shall send them strong Delusions that they should believe a LYE LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head Alley in Pater-Noster-Row MDCLXXXI THE PREFACE BY A Friend of the Author THough Falshood and Errors have need of a Veil or a Vizard to hide the naked Face of it because Falshood when it appears in its own Colours it is a very unpleasant and unlovely Object Yet on the contrary Truth appears most lovely and most desirable when the naked Face of it is most perspicuous when it appears without Veils or Vizards In this ensuing Discourse Truth is so nakedly discovered viz. those parts of Truth here treated of as the Ingenious Readers will certainly be as much enamoured with the Beauty of it as once they were with that worthy Discourse that first appeared in this Nation bearing that name of Naked Truth which now is stiled The first Part another Discourse bearing the Title of the Second Part of Naked Truth having been also some time since published for as in that first part of Naked Truth great Loveliness did appear to all ingenious and un-interessed Persons so assuredly this third part of Naked Truth will ingage the Hearts of many thousands to it that may have a view of it And though some Persons whose Errors and Evils that first part of Naked Truth did discover at lest by reflection were so impudent as to scribble against it yet what did they do in it but lay open their own Shame and Folly to all men So that if they had been publickly known they would have exposed their Persons as much to contempt and hissing as their dirty Papers were to Abhorrency In this third part of Naked Truth is a discovery of some of those parts of Truth as were not treated of in the first Part nor yet in that which is stiled the second part of Naked Truth but in this Discourse three things are performed First The Naked Truth is so laid open with reference unto some things which concern the Ruling Clergy of any Protestant Nation as will ingage the most Ingenious among the said Clergy to return solemn thanks-givings to God for this third part of Naked Truth Secondly the Naked Truth is made so conspicuous with reference to that which is the true glory of Protestants in opposition to Popery as hath never yet been done by any Pen. Thirdly the Naked Truth is so and in such a manner displayed as the Filthiness and the Odiousness of the Scarlet-Whore is made so Patent and Bare as may tend to the opening of the Eyes of the Kings of the Earth and of every ordinary and intelligent Person as may work in them a loathing and a detestation of her as Rev. 17.16 is said shall be wrought And it may be hoped that this very Discourse may prove to be such a Mirror or Looking-Glass to as many of that Scarlet Generation that are related to the Scarlet-Whore whose great thirstiness for Blood is so notoriously made manifest both formerly and lately as will but give themselves leave seriously to look upon their own odious Pictures I say this Mirror may so discover to them so much of their own Shame as they never saw before as possibly may work in them a loathing of themselves and a true Repentance of their evil Ways which have not been good according to Ezek. 36.31 and may ingage them to joyn with Protestants to hate the Whore and to make her desolate and naked and to burn her with fire For we have great ground to hope that the discoveries of naked Truth more and more will tend to the inlightening of all Nations professing Christianity both Protestant and Papistical for some Protestants have in some things erred also and to the Conversion of both from the Errors of their ways and to the bringing of all dissenting Parties to that sincere Love one to another and that true Peace one with another that becomes the Gospel Even to that perfect Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to which he hath determined to bring his Church in due time which time may be near even at the door To which all true Christians whatever their present Errors and Weaknesses may be will in Sincerity say Amen and Amen The Glory of PROTESTANTS And the Shame of PAPISTS HAving for some time laboured and travelled with desire of Soul to bring forth those things that have been given to me which may tend to Peace and Unity I shall in this short Discourse only touch at some few things in order thereunto And the first thing that I shall humbly present to the Consideration of the Protestant Churches both at home and abroad is That as the business of the Christian Religion is now a thing not capable to be separated from an Affair of State so considered as such it is far more difficult for a Protestant Prince upon some accounts to govern it than for a Popish Prince and that for the following Reason which difficulty when the Reason is considered may easily be remedied according to that Maxim Take away the Cause and the Effect ceaseth The Reason or Cause of this difficulty I shall here therefore endeavour to lay open and to manifest with all plainness and clearness I say therefore that the reason of this Difficulty is because the Prince having the Character or Repute only of a Secular Authority hath not that immediate Influence upon Religion it self or upon Religious People which the Clergy hath for as it is not to be expected that a Prince should have that knowledge so neither is it possible that he should be any way so Conversant in or so attendant upon the Affairs Controversies and Disputes which do relate to Religion as the Clergy may And by reason of this Though a Prince may in other things have never so great an ability of Judgment And though he be never so Absolute or Supreme Yet he is denied the Right of this Judgment as to the Matters of

Clergy therefore singly for this Reason even because of their meer Calling and Relation to Religion to be considerable in every Nation both for Power and Interest 5 That though they dare not meerly because of their Calling any way challenge an Order or Superiority above the Prince nor can Yet they are by consequence always made Independent upon the Prince and sometimes absolute over the Prince when the Prince himself shall intirely and without any check commit the Affairs of the whole Church and Religion to them Because if they govern Religion well and intirely according to the Peoples satisfaction they must unavoidably draw and ingage the very Souls Hearts and Consciences of the People to them and that by the firmest strongest and most lasting Tye of any which is that of their Minds and Affections and of the Duty they owe unto God If on the contrary they Rule the Affair of Religion wholly and perfectly to the Disgust Oppression or Bondage of the people they must of necessity as much disgust the Government though not for it self yet because of that absolute Authority which it maintains and upholds in the Clergy 6 That the committing the Affairs of Religion and of the Church intirely to the Clergy without any check at all upon them is yet the more against the Interest of the Prince because it layeth an express Temptation upon them to Govern both the Church and Religion absolutely and at their own Will and consequently to govern Religion with much less Care Heed Circumspection and Moderation than otherwise they would have done 7 While the Clergy govern the Affairs of the Church and of Religion absolutely and by their own Will without any Check whatever upon them The Prince himself neither hath nor can have the least security that they will not Govern all things directly agreeable to their own Interest and to their private and particular Concern let that Interest with the Means best to effect it be never so distinct to the Interest of the Prince or to the Interest of the People or never so destructive or contrary to either 8 That it is less adviseable for a Protestant Prince to commit the Affairs of the Church and of Religion absolutely and entirely to the Clergy than it is for any other Prince Because the Clergy are by this without any Head at all over them and without any Council whatever that is superiour to them which they are not under the Papists themselves and because the Prince must by this means inevitably subject himself to their Advice and to the Effect of it let the Issue of it prove never so inconvenient or rash to him as is manifest from the Examples before mentioned 9. That it is the less adviseable also for a Protestant Prince than for any other Prince Because it is not only against the Example of Holland but against the Example of all the Protestant Princes that were Instrumental in the first Reformation and of most of their Successors 10. That as it must be utterly against the Interest of a Prince to take part with the Clergy when ruling of Religion wholly and perfectly to the disgust of the People so it must recommend him not only to the Judgments but to the Minds Hearts and Affections of the People even beyond what any thing else hath a power to do if he shall please more especially at such a time as that is to gratifie them with the sence of his own Care of them And there cannot well be a greater Season and Opportunity put into the hand of any Prince either to Honour himself or to oblige a People and to oblige them to him in strictness by all Ties that are possible to be laid in Gratitude or Conscience upon them Than for a Prince to take the Affairs of Religion or of the Church into his own hand at such a time as they have most miscarried in the hand of the Clergy And to manifest to his people that it is his fixed resolution to defend that which is the Foundation of Protestantism and which is the true glory of it in opposition to the Popish Religion of which I shall now more particularly discourse The Glory of the Protestant Religion is That by the Reformation there was a restoration of the Scriptures in the Vulgar Tongue as well to the common people as to any others and this was one main part of the Reformation if not the chiefest of any that came by the Reformation it self and it is the true glory of it without which any thing else that came by the Reformation could have been but of little advantage to us And if a Protestant Prince do assure his people that he will maintain and defend this Principle or Foundation of Protestantism This will and must firmly and strongly ingage all the Hearts and Affections of his Protestant Subjects unto him But whether the Prince will defend and maintain this Principle or not yet it is unavoidable That all Protestants as well in all other Nations beyond the Seas where any Protestants are as well as in these three Kingdoms do irresistably cleave to this Principle viz. That by the Reformation the free use of the Scripture is restored to all people And this Principle being fixed in them it hath these four following Effects The first Effect 1. That no man or men that no party of the Clergy or any other shall ever be able to remove the influence which the Divine Authority of the Scripture must have and cannot but have upon the Minds and Consciences of the People professing the Protestant Religion as the Scriptures are acknowledged to be The ONLY Word the ALONE Rule of the mind of God unto his People This Character or Apprehension of the Dignity and Authority of the Scriptures being so Essential to our Reformation it self that there is no Protestant can so much as doubt of it It being that which is not only commonly taught in our Pulpits but frequently inculcated to us while we are Children by our Parents and by those Masters which take the Care of us while we are at School The Second Effect And secondly this Principle of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures being from our very Education thus firmly rooted in us it must make the influence of it to be equally as strong and equally as powerful upon the Consciences of us even as the Scriptures themselves are which is equal with the very Authority of God himself and especially upon all such as are religiously Educated and Bred so that there is no Obligation or Tye whatever which is capable to be laid upon men upon any civil outward or temporal Account that is able to have any part of that strength or influence upon them as the Scriptures must necessarily have upon and over the generallity of all Persons in the Protestant Church which is a second Effect which can never be removed by any Authority of man whatsoever The strength and prevalency of which Tye as made

upon the Consciences of all Persons as Protestants by or from the Scripture is yet the more considerable because whatever Worship Service or Religion we as Protestants do profess to give unto God we profess it only from the Authority of the Scriptures themselves and from the Authority of them as they are thus owned and professed by the Protestant Church to be our Supreme and consequently our immediate Tye in all that we believe and in all that we act as Protestants towards God which hath not its Termination in or its dependance so much upon men or upon the Ruling Clergy or upon the Church as upon the Scripture or Word of God it self We judging it lawful enough to forsake the Church when we once judge the Church in what it believes or in what it acts or practiseth toward God to have forsaken his Word And our Profession or Religion being thus founded I mean out of Conscience purely to Gods Word Every man then properly as a Protestant if he be Sincere doth as much believe that the Worship whatever it be that he professeth is as truly agreeable to the Mind and Will of God as is the very Scripture it self And consequently that he is as much to contend for the said Worship as he is bound to contend for the Authority of the Scripture it self For these two being taken by him but for one thing viz. the Truth and Authority of the Scripture and the Truth and Authority of what he professeth consequently the same Tye that binds him to the Scripture must of necessity bind him to that Religion whatever it be which he as a Protestant professeth unto God And consequently if there be no Tye so firm or so strong upon the Conscience as that of the Divine and Absolute Authority of the Scripture is There can be no Tye stronger than what Protestants as such and as Sincere must necessarily have for the Religion whatever it be that they do respectively profess unto God The Third Effect And Thirdly This now being made clear and undoubted viz. That the Tye and Obligation that every man hath to the Worship which he professeth unto God properly as a Protestant lyeth in and riseth immediately from the Scriptures And it being likewise cleared that the highest Tye which can possibly be laid upon the Conscience of any man is that proceeding from the Scriptures as they are The ONLY Rule of God's Mind and Will to us It must necessarily follow that if the Authority of men can neither remove the Use of the Scriptures themselves nor remove the Obligation which they have above all things upon the Consciences of men even from their very Education as they are The only Rule of God's Mind then no Authority of man can ever possibly remove the Obedience which men will always conceive themselves obliged to give to the said Word in whatever it be they apprehend it doth clearly command Seeing this Obedience is looked upon to be the same and no other with an Obedience given to God himself And if an Obedience given unto God be in Conscience also infinitely preferrable to any Obedience to man then must an Obligation to the immediate Law and Will of God be always preferrable to and stronger than any Obligation whatever to the Law or Command of men which is a third unavoidable Effect of it The Fourth Effect And Fourthly if the Law of the Church or of the Ruling Clergy cannot in the matter of Worship any way compel or bind men to Obedience farther or otherwise than as they apprehend it to be agreeable to the Law of God or to the Law of his Word Then neither can the Law of the Prince or the Law of the Civil Government bind mens Consciences in the matter of Worship further or otherwise than the Law of the Church viz. no otherwise than as the said Law shall appear to them to be agreeable to Gods Law which is the Law of his Scripture or Word And consequently it can never be avoided by any Protestant Prince but his Authority as relating purely to things Civil with the Efficacy of it must stand upon one Rule And his Authority as relating to things of Divine Worship with the Efficacy of it must necessarily and unavoidably stand upon another Rule And therefore that his Authority over his Subjects in the one and in the other of these must of necessity be distinguished Which is the fourth thing that we say cannot in any Protestant Government possibly be prevented That these four things are the certain Effects of that which is the Main part or the Chiefest Privilege of any that came by the Reformation it self before mentioned may be further and more fully demonstrated thus For if no Law can possibly Eradicate that Notion That there is a God Then no endeavour of man whatever can hinder his being worshipped by such at least as have a sence of his being and do verily believe that HE IS Wherefore if we are trained up from our Childhood and trained up not only as men but as Protestants firmly to believe that God will accept of no other Worship at all from us as Christians but what is agreeable to his Word And if it be a thing continually inculcated to us even from our very Infancy That it is in a Conformity to this Word alone that all Religion whatever doth consist Then it is not Reason only but Experience it self which attests it That a man may as soon quit his Notion that there is a God or be affraid to own it And may assoon quit the Notion that God is to be worshipped or be affraid to own it As he may quit or be affraid to own as he is a Protestant this Notion viz. That God is so only to be worshipped and no otherwise than he hath set down in his Word And if this Notion then about his Word as the only Rule of the Worship of God be as firmly planted in us by our Education as any Notion can be planted in us that belongs to our nature as men It must needs follow that a Government may as well and with as good success hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish common Notions as hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish among any Protestant Nation the Notion of the necessity of Worshipping God according to his Word And therefore if it be rightly considered it will likewise appear That it must be to him that is truly educated as a Protestant every way as grievous to be commanded by a Law to forsake Christianity it self as to be commanded by a Law to forsake that Worship which he as a Protestant cannot but believe in his heart is alone agreeable to the Mind and Law of God which is that Worship that is given to God directly conformable to his Scripture or Word And of the Truth of this the Martyrs in Queen Maries time are a competent Witness And consequently they that pretend to take another

he presumeth the Church also to be a thing altogether Holy and such as neither hath Erred nor can Err for should he question this he must question the whole of his Religion it self opposite to which Character we shall now consider The Character of a Protestant But the Protestant Church on the other hand having separated from the Church of Rome not only upon the Supposition that she hath actually Erred but that she hath been grosly corrupted as well in Manners as in Faith And the Protestant Church having for the better Justification of her own Practice both in the matter of Worship and in all things relating to Doctrine and Faith SET UP The Scriptures as the Sole and Soveraign Rule of Gods Mind and Will to his Church As she cannot challenge the Exercise of any Authority therefore that is beyond that of the Scripture or any that is not subordinate to the said Scripture it self So it is expected that all the Duties which she requires and all those Articles or Points of Faith which she at any time recommends to such as are the Members of her should always be enforced from those Arguments properly and only which are drawn from the Scripture Because it is this which she her self hath appealed unto and this only which she challengeth to justifie her A Protestant then that understands the Grounds of his Religion or that hath been at all instructed in the Rise or Principles of the Reformation taking this for the very first Article of his Faith That a Church may Err and may have Corruption in it and may in its Worship possibly swerve and depart from the pure Mind Word and Wisdom of God And laying that no less firmly as the Foundation of his Belief on the other hand viz. That the Scripture cannot Err nor can be other than the unalterable and incorruptible Rule of Gods Law and of his Will and Mind to his People he cannot possibly hold the Authority of the Church to be Divine any further or otherwise than as it appears to be clearly grounded upon the Scriptures as the Word of God And therefore the Tye or Obligation which he hath to obey the Church so far as it relates to the Conscience and binds the Conscience ariseth out of no other Ground than from the Conformity which he seeth or is perswaded that the said Church hath in her Laws Orders and Doctrines to the said Word and if this Conformity doth or shall once cease in the said Church a Protestant as a Protestant cannot but judge his Tye or Obligation to her as a Church ought to cease also with it And this being the true State of that Radical or Essential Difference that is between the Principles of a Protestant and the Principles of a Papist as a Papist It will hence follow That if a Church that professeth her self to be Protestant or the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church shall not much consider or regard the justifying of what Laws and Orders she makes by the Consonancy they expresly have to the Law or Mind of God in his Word which is his Rule to the Church nor shall much concern it self to clear and inforce the Faith and Doctrine which she holds by the Evidence of its Truth or by the Authority of it as sufficiently grounded upon that Word that is absolutely Divine But shall on the contrary in whatever she Commands or in the things she Teacheth constrain or exact an Obedience from her Members to her self and to her own Authority as absolute and as unsubordinate to the Word of God and therefore to her Authority as it is a distinct thing from the said Word That Church or the Clergy rather that are the Rulers of it so far as she doth this in any Doctrine or in any Law that she makes indispensable doth so far cease in her Principles and Practice to be Protestant and doth so far disclaim not only a main and chief Ground of her Separation from the Church of Rome but the very Principle it self upon which she pretends to guide her self in her Reformation For it cannot be denyed that these were the great and the main Causes of our Separation from the Church of Rome viz. First Because she had made her self Absolute and had set up an Authority in the matters of Worship and Faith above that of the Scriptures as the only Word of God And Secondly Because she did not barely excommunicate men but did also persecute them and did deprive them both of their Estates Liberties and Lives upon a Principle as contrary to humane Reason as it was contrary to humane Society and Quiet viz. not for any evil in their Conversations in their Morals or in their Lives But meerly for obeying what they sincerely judged to be the Law Mind and Will of God And meerly for believing that his whole Law Will and Mind to his Church as a Church especially relating to the Worship of himself was contained in his Word Thirdly Because by this persecution as it was extended to the extreme Punishment of Persons both in their Liberties and Goods and sometimes in their Lives by stinking Prisons and want of Necessaries she did unavoidably draw upon her self the Guilt of mens Apostacy Hypocrsie and Dissimulation who durst not but obey and comply with her Commands meerly out of fear And did as unavoidably draw upon her the Guilt of all that Suffering Cruelty and Blood whatever it were she spilt and did inflict upon those persons who withstood her Commands and who were otherwise in all things blameless both as to their Morals Lives and Conversations I say if it be matter of Fact and that which cannot be denyed that these three things were some of the Main and Principal Causes for which we separated from the Church of Rome and for which our first Reformers themselves called her Antichristian and sometimes Bloody and sometimes the Scarlet Whore And if these three things when at any time mentioned with reference to the Church of Rome are still acknowledged to be evil and so stiled to this day so far as it concerns her Yea if these three things are at this very present in our Controversies with that Church not only charged upon her but cast in her teeth among many other things by way of reproach and to set forth the just ground that we even as the Church of England as well as other Churches have both of exception against and hatred of her MUST NOT these three things be MUCH MORE EVIL in a Protestant Church who after she hath condemned all these things not only as evil but as Antichristian in the Church of Rome and after she hath pretended to separate from the said Church for them doth nevertheless give her self leave to practise them without condemning her self at all in them And MUST NOT This Practice cast a manifest Blemish and Reproach upon on her own Reformation and evidence to the world that she doth not either believe the Principles