whole behaviour avoiding every thing that may be to his prejudice and using all means to oblige him and further his welfare What more reasonable than that we should be civil and courteous and good natur'd to all and be ready to perform friendly offices to such as beg or need our assistance What more reasonable than to be peaceable and orderly in our stations observant and respectsul to Superiors meek and gentle to our inferiors kind and familiar with our equals modest and lowly ingenuous and compliant in all our behaviour There are secret charms in such a conversation as this which cannot but command the love and esteem of all men What more reasonable than that reason should have its due prerogative within us Not depress'd by a domineering appetite deluded by an enticing world or seduc'd by a deceitful Devil That we should have a mean opinion of our selves suitable to our condition of weakness and dependence sin and folly that we be so moderate in the use of the innocent comforts of this life as no way to impair our health corrupt our minds stain our reputations prejudice our peace endamage our estates or our lives What more reasonable than a generous contempt of these mean and fading injoyments and an elevation of our thoughts and affections to that Heaven where are objects more worthy our immortal Souls and only satisfactory to that Heavenly off-spring within us What more reasonable than to be sorry for our past ofsences and resolve amendment he that retains a love to his sin and resolves to persist in his rebellion deserves to die for his crimes and to have no benefit by an offer'd pardon What more reasonable than to believe in the Lord Jesus and seeing he hath been so compassionate over us to trust in his Merits obey his Laws and comply with the terms of his Covenant These are the precepts our Religion boasts of as her Crown and Glory These are the substantial Rules we have reason to glory in so admirably fitted to the Glory of God and the good of mankind so friendly to human society and advantagious to the interest of every man in the world Let the Heathens now cease their boasts of the wife Laws of Lycurgus Solon or Numa for whatever was excellent in them is more clearly laid down in the Laws of Christ without any mixture of their impersections Let the Jews cease their triumphs in the Law of Moses for behold a greater than Moses is here Thus it appears that the Christian Doctrine by its intrinsick worth discover'd its Divine Original and by its â—eâ—ring the image of Gods Holiness Wisdom and Goodness manifested from whence it proceeded 2. By the external testimonies God gave of his approbation 1. By prophesies God had frequently foretold that he design'd to abolish that legal worship he had set up and give a more compleat revelation of his will more agreeable to his own Spiritual Nature and the reasons of men That he would enlarge the bounds of his dominion remove that ceremonial worship which could only be practis'd in Judea and that spiritual incense and a pure offering should be offered up in every place and the gentiles Mal. 1. 11. should call upon him That he would raise up a Prophet like unto Moses who therefore must be a Law giveâ— and Mediator of a Deut. 18. 15. new Covenant as Moses was and that he should have Words new Revelations put into his Mouth to him the People were obliged to hearken with Attention and Obedience That God wòuld make a new Covenant with the Jer. 31. 31. house of Israel different from that made in Egypt And would write his Laws not upon Tables of Stone but in their hearts i. e. he would give them such Institutions as are easily discoverable by the light of nature so that there would not be so much need of teaching every man his Neighbour but every man shall easily understand his Duty That the Aaronical Priesthood Psal 110. 4. should be abolish'd and that of Melchisedeck be establish'd which should endure for ever That a new Heaven and a new Earth should be created a Worship more agreeable to Heaven and advantagious to Earth That the Ark of the Covenant should be no more visited and God would gather Jer. 3. 16. Isa 66. 18 21. all Nations unto him and out of them chuse to himself Priests and Levites That the Desir'd of all Nations should come and erect a spiritual Universal Kingdom in the hearts of Hag. 2. 7. men to give them more perfect Laws and reduce them to fuller Knowledg and better Obedience Thus was it Prophecy'd of old that the Jewish Ceremonial Religion should be abolish'd and a more perfect Revelation substituted in its place It is indeed said of some of the Jewish Ceremonies Bates Of the Christian Religion page 78. that they were to continue for ever but that was only to distinguish them from some temporary Injunctions that were of force only while they were in the Wilderness or when they were Inhabitants of Canaan but were to be practic'd in all places till by a new signification of the Divine Will they were forbidden And it 's observable that in the Jewish Law the word for ever doth oftentimes only import a continuance to the Jubilee so that these rituals were to continue till the coming of the Messiah the great Jubilee of the World Thus hath God declar'd his Abrogation of the Jewish Worship and by his Providence hath further disoblig'd us from the Observance of it nay disabled the most obstinate Adherents to it from performing the chief Rites of their Religion He hath demolish'd their Temple confounded their Tribes and forc'd them to wander for Sixteen hundred years without a Priest or Sacrifice Ephod or Teraphim God hath abolish'd the Jewish Worship which he once allow'd and the Doctrine of the Apostles was only that compleat Revelation of the Divine Will which was foretold by the Prophets of the Lord and therefore these Jews had no reason to quarrel at the Apostles as turners of the World upside down 2. By Miracles Tho the intrinsick Excellence of these Doctrines and their being a completion of those Prophecies which were long before publish'd to the Jews were sufficient Evidence of Gods Approbation Yet because the Jewish Religion was confirm'd by Miracles and that dull People was hardly to be convinc'd any other way because a Religion so contrary to the secular Interests ancient Customs inveterate Prejudices and corrupt Inclinations of the Heathens could hardly expect much more success than the Precepts of their sober Philosophers except the Power of God were displaid in some eminent surprizing manner That men might be therefore render'd utterly inexcusable in their unbelief our Saviour by many miraculous works declar'd that the hand of God was with him He outdid Moses before he displac'd him and show'd the pre-eminence of his Doctrine by his more wonderful works He was born of
to convince Hereticks and that was to call for express words of Scripture and absolutely deny whatever reason said against any of the Articles of their new Belief And now since their Doctrines are thus confessedly unreasonable we may be assur'd they came not from Heaven or the God of Reason 2. Are their Doctrines warranted by any Prophecies concerning them The Apostles compleated those Prophecies that had been long before made God had foretold his abolishing the Ceremonial Law and establishing a perfect standing-rule for Jews and Gentiles But doth he any where foretell That after the expiration of so many Years Judaism and Paganism should be mix'd together by his appointment On the contrary the Gospel is call'd an everlasting Gospel and at the closing of the Canon of Scripture a Rev. 22. 18. terrible curse is denounc'd against those who should dare to make any additions to Scripture There are some Prophecies indeed in Scripture which seem to concern them St. John and St. Paul have spoken many things concerning Antichrist and the Man of Sin which many think are clearly applicable to the Roman Church But I know she will say concerning these as Ahab of Micaiah I hate these men for they Prophecy not good but evil concerning me 3. Can they attest the truth of their Doctrine by Miracles Here I know they will make their boasts There is not a Saint among them but is famous for incredible wonders The Apostles were but puny Miracle-workers in comparison of their Modern Saints And the great St. Francis St. Bridget St. Catharine and St. Thomas of Canterbury far exceeded St. Peter or St. James or St. John or any of the other Disciples Who can question the lawfulness of Worshipping the Virgin Mary when he hears that the Angels brought wood and stone cross the Sea to Loretto and built her a Chappel there Who can forbear falling prostrate and crying St. Thomas help me when those very words from the mouth of a Sparrow struck a cruel Sparrow hawk dead that had almost fastned upon her as his prey Have not the wild beasts of the wood fallen down before the Host when casually let fall and the very Asses cast themselves into a worshipping posture And is it not mighty strange that men will still trust their own senses and remain Hereticks after such wonderful evidence I might instance in manyother pretty tales out of their Legends but they are so ridiculous and extravagant as plainly speak out their forgery and the wiser among them are forc'd to confess them Pious Frauds and Godly Cheats Our Saviour and his Apostles did their mighty works openly in the sight of their greatest enemies But these are all transacted in corners before friends and those that have already entertain'd their doctrines And surely there must be some Legerdemain in the business that so many Miracles should be done in Italy and Spain and none in England But the true reason why they can do no mighty works in our Country is because of our unbelief Protestants would soon discover their cheats and they were once so baffled in that intended miracle of the Boy of Bilson a known story that they have hardly ventur'd the exposing themselves since Their Miracles when they are not plain forgeries are either the curing of melancholly sumes or Hysterical-Distempers which frequently create fancies in persons as if they were possess'd of which instances have been given by Protestants particularly as I remember by Mr. Baxter who have cur'd such and might have gain'd the name of Miracle-workers as well as they Or if any of their Indian Apostles as Xavier and had a true miraculous power it was to confirm the truth of Christianity to the Heathens and not their additional corruptions Finally if God do permit them to do some strange unaccountable actions to confirm their errors 't is but as a trial to our faith to see whether we will forsake the true Doctrine confirm'd by greater miracles when we are fore-arm'd against such aslaults by being told that Antichrist shall come with lying wonders and we need not fear the sin against the Holy Ghost if we say that by Beelzebub do these men cast out Devils But I had almost forgot one great Miracle which is daily perform'd and that is Transubstantiation But those who believe this must live by faith or rather unreasonable credulity and not by sight And the greatest Miracle of all is That men who are Wise and Rational enough in common matters should swallow such an heap of Contradictions And thus have I made good the Charge against the Romish Church in the first Sense and tho much more might have been said yet this fully proves that they have corrupted Christianity with their impure mixtures and cover'd the excellent Foundations of our Faith with the Hay and Stubble of their own Inventions And thus I proceed to make good the Charge against them in the second Sense 2. Whether they have desturb'd the World by Principles of Religion This hath been so common a Theme of late years ' that I need not spend much time in proving it The Miter is by them exalted above the Crown and Peter's pretended Successor is so far from Preaching up his Doctrine of Subjection to the Civil Powers that he requires Kings and Emperors to stoop to him I need not laboriously prove this by Quotations out of their Authors If the Decrees of their Councils the Bulls of their Popes the Determinations of their Canon-Law the Assertions of not only Jesuits those known Enemies to Monarchy but of the most approv'd Doctors of all Orders among them may be taken to be the Sense of their Church the Learned Bp. of Lincoln hath lately Collected them together and thereby fully confirm'd the Title of his Book That Popish Principles are destructive to Protestant Princes There we may find such dangerous Assertions as these That Emperors and Kings are the Popes Subjects That they may be depos'd by him for Schism Heresie Laziness or unprofitableness and that he is the sole Judg of the Crime and Condemnation That Statutes made by Laymen bind not the Clergy That the Pope is the Vicar of God and every creature is subject to him That he that prefers the King before the Priest prefers the Creature before the Creator In a word He hath given such convincing Demonstration That King-killing Doctrines are authoriz'd at Rome that we may justly wonder at the daring-Impudence of the late Tyburn-Saint who pretended that none but Mariana ever publish'd such Doctrines But what truth can be so plain which the Confidence of a Jesuit dare not deny Neither have these been the idle Speculations of the Schools or the entertainment of the Cells and Cloysters but have been practically maintain'd many hundred Years and the History of the Church for some Centuries is nothing else but a Tragical and Bloody Comment on this Doctrine 'T is hardly possible to mention one King since Rome's rise to her greatness that hath been but
THE TRUTH and EXCELLENCE OF THE Christian Religion WITH THE CORRUPTIONS and ADDITIONS OF THE ROMISH CHURCH A Discourse Wherein the Pre-eminence of Christianity is demonstrated above the Religion of Jews or Heathens and the Contradiction of Popery to its main Articles And that Religion prov'd in many Instances to be a mixture of Heathenish Superstitions and Jewish Ceremonies With a short Vindication of Christian Loyalty And a brief Historical Account of Romish Treasons and Usurpations since the Reformation By a hearty Professor of Reformed Catholick Christianity Publish'd for the Benefit of those that have not leisure to read larger Volumes LONDON Printed for John Gellibrand at the Golden Ball in St Paul's Church-Yard 1685. To the Honourable Sir Thomas Roberts Knight and Baronet of Glassenbury in Kent SIR HAVING been for some time no uncompassionate observer of the strangely unnatural heaâ—s and angry Vnchristian jars of Protestants one with another I was willing to divert my thoughts from so melancholly a Scene and direct my Zeal against those more dangerous Enemies of our Peace Popery and Irreligion I was willing to call off my Native Country-men from biting and devouring one another to unite against those potent Adversaries which are coming in upon us through those wide Breaches our Divisions have made And methinks if men would but give themselves leave to consider how their hot Disputes about Trifles expose their Religion to the seorn of the Hectoring Atheists and Derision of the bold Incendiaries of Rome they would be less eager about Circumstances and Modes of Worship and more industrious in an unanimous Defence of the common Principles of Christianity I know many excellent Worthies have labour'd before me in this Argument and adorn'd their Discourses with all the Beauites of Wit Learning and Eloquence but yet because Irreligion gains new Proselytes and Rome swells big with greater hopes of once more introducing its blind Superstitions into our Land I have adventur'd at the same time to vindicate the excellency of Christianity against the Infidel and arm my Countrey-men against the bold Corruptions of Rome and tho I am not able to bear the Helmet of Saul and his weighty Coat of Mail be too heavy for my Shoulders tho I pretend not to such strong Lines and nervous Arguments as have been produc'd by the great Defenders of the Christian and Protestant Faith in our Age Yet I know not but a Sling and a Stone even in the hand of a Stripling may by Divine Assistance in some measure prevent the increase of our Enemies and confirm the staggering among us in the profession and practice of our Reform'd Religion And when once I had resolv'd to expose these Papers to the Censure of the World I at the same time resolv'd to make this publick acknowledgment of the endearing Obligations you Sir have laid upon me I must acknowledg the Present is too mean for so great a Person and 't is a Disparagement to so worthy a Name to prefix it before so inconsiderable a Piece but your good Nature is such that I hope your Affection will bribe your Judgment and what your Reason disallows your undeserv'd respect to the Author will not condemn I know Sir the usual Flattery of Dedicatory Epistles but know as well that you hate the fawning of mean Parasites and had rather be good than be magnifi'd as such in the World and tho I might expatiate in your due Praises yet I will not so far trespass upon your Humility that great Ornament of your Nature as well as Religion but rather turn my Panegyricks into Prayers That greatness and real goodness may be in you conjoin'd and the Nobility of your Birth may be equall'd by the noble Endowments of your mind Go on Sir in your hearty Zeal for God and Religion and let your great Example prevent the boasts of the bold Hectors of this Age That they have Proselyâ—ed all the Gentry of the Land Let your Dependents and Neighbours be aw'd into Seriousness by your strictly holy life and allure men into the practice of Religion by your sincere compliance with the amiable Virtues it recommends Let not the Infidel be able to say That Religion is only fit for the Cells of melancholly Souls and the retirements of the poor despised Men in Black who make it their Trade and Profession but continue Sir a glorious instance How well Religion becomes the most noble Souls and that Virtue is the best accomplishment and the highest badg of Honour Continue Sir in your becoming-Zeal against Papal Corruptions which so naturally tend to Debauchery and Irreligion And if this Discourse may be any way useful for so excellent a purpose I shall have great reason to bless God for directing me to such a Subject Who am Honourable Sir Your Oblig'd Humble Affectionate Servant S. C. ACTS XVII 6. These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also A Just Vindication of the Christian Religion from the impious Slanders of its professed Enemies and covert practices of its pretended Friends hath in all Ages of the Church been a very necessary work For tho our Religion be sufficiently attested and God hath given convincing Evidences that it came from him tho the excellency and intrinsick worth of the Precepts recommend it to the Approbation of all mankind Tho the Doctrines it delivers are highly agreeable to the wisest Apprehensions of men no way unbecoming a God to speak or men to hear Tho no Religion in the World was ever so admirably sitted to advance the interest of particular persons or promote the advantage of publick Societies yet hath it been vilely misrepresented by its Adversaries and the malice of Earth and Hell hath been busied in inventing lying Accusations to prevent its settlement and Propagation The blessed Author of it was accus'd as a Blasphemer and Impostor tho he came upon the most admirable design of promoting the happiness of mankind and laid down such excellent Rules as would certainly have fill'd the World with the blessings of a flourishing Peace and lasting Prosperity yet was he traduc'd as a Troubler of the World and Seducer of the People and tho he deserv'd to be honoured with the most profound respect and recompenc'd with the best rewards yet had he no other Crown than one of Thorns and no other Throne than a Cross And the same Spirit that murder'd their Lord did appear also against his Disciples and Followers Whereever they went to Preach the Word of the Kingdom they were still persecuted with the bold lies and virulent slanders of their enraged Adversaries The Magistrates were excited to secure the publick Peace against these pretended Disturbers of it And thus they boldly cry out in the Text These that have turn'd the world upside down are come hither also For the better understanding which words it will be necessary briefly to reflect upon the Context Paul and Silas having travell'd v. 1. through many parts of Asia publishing the Gospel
in this Chapter are come to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Jews and a mixture of Heathen Greeks and those v. 2. call'd devout i. e. Proselytes of the Gate that disown'd the Follies and Superstitions of the vulgar Heathen worship'd one God and complied with the seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah St. Paul gives the preference to his own Nation and according to his usual custom in other places goes into the Jewish Synagogue and for three successive v. 3. Sabbaths reason'd with them and proves by their Law That Jesus must be the expected Missiah And his v. 4 Arguments were so covincing that he gain'd some converts among the Jews and proselyted a numerous company of Religious Greeks But those v. 5. who remain'd obstinate in their infidelity being fill'd with rage gathered together a Rabble of the baser sort and tumultuously throng to the house of Jason whose Guest St. Paul was and would forcibly have drag'd the Apostles before the Civil Magistrate but they having prudently declin'd their fury Jason with some other Converts is hal'd before the Rulers of the City and accus'd as an Harbourer v. 6. of Traytors or at least Disturbers of the publick Peace For they cry out These that have turn'd the world upside down are come hither also Whom Jason hath receiv'd These they speak concerning the Apostles these whom Jason hath receiv'd That have turn'd the world upside down The Greek word is as I remember us'd but once more in the New Testament and there it is rendred to trouble Gal. 5. 12. I wish they were even cut off which trouble you i. e. unsettle your minds and seek to pervert you by teaching that new Doctrine of Circumcision and keeping the Ceremonial part of Moses's Law The word properly signifies to Disorder Disquiet and raise Confusion So that the Accusation against the Apostles may be understood either more Generally or Particularly 1. More Generally So the Accusation may be These that have disturb'd the World by bringing in a new Religion that have overturn'd the Ancient Religions and brought in new Doctrines directly opposite to the former as if they should have said They propagate new Principles destructive of the Ancient Religion of us Jews and customary rites of you Gentiles they have in every place argued against that Law which we are assured came down from Heaven and laugh at that Worship which you account most sacred and venerable They have not only created disturbance by this means in other Cities but with the same design are come hither also and therefore your duty to your Gods obliges you to silence and restrain them they indeed have escaped our hands but we have brought these before you who have given entertainment to their Persons in their Houses and their Doctrines in their hearts 2. More Particularly The Apostles may be here accus'd as disturbing the World by teaching Doctrines of Rebellion and Sedition Indeed as they brought in a new Religion they might be accounted Authors of Sedition because all Innovations were look'd upon as tending to unsettle the Peace of the State but the more particular crime of which they may here accuse them seems to be the immediate tendency of some of their Doctrines to Rebellion and this is countenanc'd by the 7th verse These all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar saying there is another King one Jesus we may therefore suppose the charge of the Jews to be manag'd after such a manner as this These that are the Pests of Societies and highly disaffected to the establish'd Government Friends of Anarchy and Enemies to Cesar that maintain rebellious Principles and sow Sedition wherever they come that have cast off all sense of Allegiance and teach others to renounce their Subjection to their Emperor that will not obey the Laws themselves and perswade others to refuse their Obedience also and preach up Subjection to another King one Jesus these as they have disturb'd the Government in other Cities so here also have they spread their Infection These are the men these are their Principles and whether they are worthy of restraint judg ye Thus do the malicious Jews misrepresent the Doctrines of these Messengers of Peace and Innocence it self was not a sufficient Guard against the Persecution of their envenom'd Tongues And oh that I might say concerning the whole Christian World at this day that such an Accusation would be Slanderous against them as well as the Apostles but alas the Groans and Sighs of England as well as other Lands gives too sad occasion to cry out These that have turn'd the world upside down have come hither also I shall speak to the words in both these senses seeing they will well bear it and are exactly suited to my design In order to a more methodical Progress I shall speak to four Generals 1. Whether the Apostles did introduce a new Religion different from what was before entertain'd in the World and whether they had the Divine Commission to do so For if they could produce the Warrant of God for what they did they could not justly be blam'd or accus'd 2. Whether the Apostles Doctrine tended to Rebellion 3. Whether any professed Christians at this day are justly liable to this charge in both senses 4. I shall deduce such Inferences as naturally result from the whole Discourse 1. Whether the Apostles did introduce a new Religion and had a Commission from God to do so To this I answer affirmatively Christ did institute and his Apostles did publish a more perfect platform of Religion than was before existent in the World but not without sufficient discoveries of Gods Approbation In this sense they did turn the World upside down taught Doctrines contrary to the universally receiv'd Opinions of the Gentiles and darling Traditions and Practiseâ— of the Jews The Christian Religion did silence the Pagan Oracles where it prevail'd and caus'd the Heathen Dagons to fall down before it the carnal Ceremonies of the Jews were disus'd and Moses was not able to stand before him whom they call'd a Magician The Brutish rites of the Heathens were abolish'd at the appearance of Christianity and the Light of the Gospel dispers'd the Shadows of the Law and took off the vail from Moses The Impurities of the Heathen and Imperfection of the Jewish Worship did render a more perfect Revelation of the Divine will very necessary and this was the Province undertaken by our Saviour and his Apostles 1. The Christian Religion hath given a more compleat discovery of the Nature of God and the manner how he will be Worshipped The Conceptions of the Heathens concerning the Nature of God were very gross and confus'd and the Wise-men of Athens and Rome were at continual jars and disagreement about his Attributes and they entertain'd very lame and imperfect and some blasphemous and unworthy Notions of him They did indeed generally acknowledg there could be but one Supreme and Sovereign God and of him Varro
Strifes might not be endless or such as are restrain'd to the Apostles themselves Such is that Mat. 16. 19. I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven The plain meaning of which words seems to be only this I will give thee the the priviledg of first opening Vide Lightfoot in locum the Gospel frequently call'd the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever parts of Moses's Law thou bindest to the Observation of or takest off the Obligation for so the Phrases of binding and loosing are generally us'd in the Jewish Writers shall be observ'd and forborn God will ratifie and confirm what thou establishest Accordingly we know St. Peter did first Preach the Gospel to the Jews in Acts 2. and to the Gentiles Acts 10. And this priviledg of binding and loosing was peculiar to him and the other Apostles Lastly Their proofs are such as agree to every particular Church and faithful Christian Thus that of Matt. 18. 17. Speaks only of a Jurisdiction in every Church for quieting differences among the Members of it And that other of Matt. 16. 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church For by the Gates of Hell may be either understood the crafts and policies of Hell Councils using to sit in the Gates of Cities shall not totally prevail There shall be a body of Christians in the World or the Translation should be mended and the words read the Gates of the Grave or the invisible State Death which is frequently call'd among the Greeks by that name shall not gain Victory over the Church over the particular Persons of which it consists tho they dye yet Christ will rescue them by a glorious Resurrection Death shall not have Dominion over them nor over the Church notwithstanding it s many Enemies it shall not perish totally or irrecoverably These are the best proofs of their Infallibility I can find in the Scripture and while they are so easily and naturally applicable to a different sense I cannot think a Doctrine so obscurely deliver'd in the Christian Rule to be any Articles of the Christian Faith Besides what use do they make of this gift they pretend to Have they oblig'd the World by an infallible Comment on all the difficult places in Scripture and put a final end to all controversies among themselves On the contrary have not some Popes profess'd their no skill in Divinity and infallible Councils contradicted each other Are not there violent disputes between the Franscicans and Dominicans Jansenists and Jesuits French and Italian Clergy Surely the Pope must be very regardless of the Peace of the Church who will not give an infallible discovery of the truth And if ever God did give this gift since the Apostles days he may have long since justly taken it away because they have hid their Talent and made no use of it And now I have weaken'd this pretence the other of the Scriptures dependance on the Authority of their Church falls of it self for if their Church be not infallible why should I believe the Scriptures to be Gods Word meerly because they say so any more than Mahomets Alchoran 'T is true the Testimony of their Church jointly with all other Christians in the World and the Confession of Jews and Heathens handed down to us by the most unquestionable historical Tradition is a great Confirmation that these were the Books indicted by the Apostles that they were confirm'd by various Miracles and are not corrupted in any material Articles but we believe their Divine Authority not because the Church says so but because of those Seals which God hath affix'd to them We have convincing Arguments enough of the Scriptures Divinity and need not go to Rome to know what they mean Christ hath fully prov'd that his Message is from God by the excellence of his Doctrines the accomplishment of Prophecies and numerous miraculous Works and we will not forsake these firm foundations of our Faith and be so unreasonably credulous as to believe the same things meerly upon the Affirmation of a company of the worst sorts of Christians in the World Thus have they dangerously invaded the Offices of Christ I proceed to 3. They have corrupted the excellent Rules of an holy Life contain'd in the Gospel The great design of the Christian Religion is to purifie and amend the World and reduce it to its primitive Innocence And I wish there were less occasion to think that the design of these men is to Debauch the World and show that it is possible to be more corrupt than the very Heathens themselves for have not they by their nice distictions render'd a holy Life a very needless thing and overturn'd the very foundations of Virtue and Morality Repentance that first Introduction to an holy Life consisting in such a hearty Sorrow for every Sin as influences the practice and disposes us to forsake them they have made utterly unnecessary For while they distinguish Sins into Mortal and Venial and impose very easie Penances for those of the most purple dye Is not this the way to tempt their Proselytes to a continuance in their Sins and keep them from that severe hatred of them and those firm Resolutions of forsaking them they ought to take up Besides they maintain that a slight Attrition and imperfect Sorrow for Sin meerly from the consideration of some temporal inconvenience if join'd with the Sacrament of Penance is sufficient to fit a man for Heaven so that it is a very needless thing to hate or forsake our evil ways This is desin'd by their Council of Trent and generally maintain'd by their most famous Casuists And Morinus tells us as I find him quoted by Dr. Stillingfleet * Preface to Answer to several Treatises That the excellence of the Evangelical Precepts above the Legal chiefly consists in this That by them we are freed from the heavy yoke of Contrition and Love to God A Speech that would better become a Turk or Heathen than a Christian Thus we see they have hinder'd the first entrance into an holy Life and made the Gate to Heaven wider and the passage much more easie than our Saviour or his Apostles And if we run over all the parts of our Duty we may find too plain a Contradiction among their Casuists If we examine the Duties of Piety towards God How necessarily must they have low and irreverent thoughts of his imcomprehensible Majesty who behold such scandalous Pictures of him in their Churches and see the same Devotions and Gestures of Adoration us'd to those who were once perhaps equally sinful Creatures with themselves How have they incourag'd an abuse of his sacred Name by their Doctrine of Equivocation and prophan'd his Holy Day by allowing the remains of that time that is not spent at Mass to be imploy'd in idle Sports and foolish Mirth How
have they destroy'd that trust we ought to place on God alone by teaching men to rely on Creatures and damp'd well-grounded hopes of Heaven by unreasonable fears of Purgatory How have they taken off all necessity of Faith in Christ by their Doctrine of implicite Faith and while they teach the salvability of Heathens will not allow that any Christian can be sav'd who is not a Subject to the Pope and thus a belief in him is more necessary than in the Lord Jesus I might give many instances out of their Casuists how they make it unnecessary to love God above once a year and if they say their Prayers no matter whether they attend to them or no. The Duties of Justice and common Honesty are as perfectly overthrown by the nice Distinctions of Rome Their maintaining it lawful to exercise Revenge and Kill him that hath injur'd us in Honour Goods or Reputation is certainly no way own'd by our Saviour who commands us to love our Enemies and do good to them that hate us by no means to avenge our selves but to overcome evil with good That Latitude of uncleanness and immodesty allow'd in their Books is but a very bad Comment upon that Text. He that looks upon a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultry already with her in his heart Neither were they ever incourag'd by him who said Thou shalt not for swear thy self to falsifie their Oaths or violate their Faith with Hereticks The great pattern of meekness and compassion that check'd his Disciples fiery zeal against the Samaritans with Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of Never encourag'd their envenom'd rage against Dissenters from them Never encourag'd their Gibbets Stakes or Inquisition Nor did he command that all should be tortur'd with the most bloody Cruelty who are so obstinately sullen as to refuse to stoop to a Wafer-Cake and believe their own senses before his Holiness They have turn'd Nupitals into Massacres and at the conclusion of Wedding-Feasts have not transubstantiated but exchang'd Wine for Blood They have treacherously murder'd thousands of Innocents and blasphemously sung praises to God as if he were the Author of those Villanies which are highly-displeasing to him and abominably odious in his sight The Gospel teaches us to maintain the most diffusive unbounded Charity towards all the world but they have consin'd their love within the Walls of Rome And like the Pharisees of old will allow no Salvation to any other Christians that will not submit to the usurpations of their High-Priest and Sanhedrim The Christian Religion is design'd to abate our pride and cure our selfishness But the great design of these men is to aggrandize their Church and promote the Secular interests of the Clergy Heavenly-mindedness and self-denial is every where urg'd in the Gospel But that the great corruptions for which we accuse the Church of Rome do plainly aim at a worldly interest may easily appear by an induction of the particulars I have already discours'd of And tho there are many Cloyster'd Votaries among them that make great boasts of their mortification who pretend to bid adien to the world and all its flattering vanities who pretend to spend their whole time in devotion and dressing their Souls for Heaven yet all this may be a juggle and cheat to blind the world Pharisaical and not Evangelical And if we might be allow'd to search their Cells and Abbeys we might perhaps find they have been more careful to lay up Treasures on Earth than Heaven true Mortification is chiefly inward but theirs is mostly in externals Their Religion lies no deeper than their skins and tho the Apostle tells us that this bodily exercise profiteth little yet they make it the very sum of their self-denial Thus have they Evacuated the great duties of our Religion And tho I cannot say that all these are Doctrines defin'd by their Councils and in that sense to be subscrib'd to by all that Communion Yet they are publickly Printed by their Casuists and the order of Jesuites who most propagate them are most encourag'd And while a denier of Transubstantiation shall be Sacrific'd to the Flames these debauchers of the World enjoy the best Ecclesiastical Promotions I might have enlarg'd in further instances but he that desires more may read enough to turn his stomach in Taylors Disswasive from Popery the Practical Divinity of the Papists to omit the Mystery of Jesuitism and the Jesuits Morals He that Reads those collections out of their own Authors will find that the Pious and Judicious Dr. Tillotson did not go beyond the bounds of his wonted moderation when he us'd these seemingly harsh expressions * Sermon on 5th Nov. -78. I speak it with grief says he and shame because the credit of our common Christianity is some way concern'd in it That Panaetius and Antipater and Diogenes the Stoick Tully and Plutarch and Seneca were much honester and more Christian Casuists than the Jesuits or the generality of the Casuists of any other Order that I know of in the Church of Rome Thus have I appli'd the first sense of these words to these men and I think sufficiently proved That they have overturned the whole design of the Gospel I proceed therefore to inquire Whether they can produce any divine commission for these great alterations they have made Are their Doctrines reasonable or have they any intrinsick excellence to commend them The Doctrines of the Apostles were highly reasonable and their worth and excellence attracted every unprejudic'd person But theirs are plainly absur'd and irrational such as none but the wilfully blind and resolvedly obstinate can believe For is it reasonable to worship the incomprehensible God by Images of Wood and Stone and to give the same veneration to Creatures that we do to the Lord of Angels and Men Is it reasonable to adore a Wafer-cake or imagine that the charming words of a Priest can fetch down the Body of Christ from Heaven and convey away the Bread in an instant Is it reasonable to believe that Christs Body may be in a thousand places at once that it may be divided not into parts but wholes and crowded into every crumb of the consecrated Wafer Is it reasonable to believe these and a 1000 more fulsome contradictions which that hard word Transubstantiation implies Is it reasonable to worship a spiritual Being with gay ceremonies and all the little pieces of soppery us'd in their worship Is it reasonable to believe that God should be so fond of the City of Rome that the Bishop thereof tho never so notorious for ignorance and villany shall become infallible Is it reasonable to believe that Absolution can change Attrition into effectual Repentance and the Omnipotent Words of a Priest conjure a man to Heaven in an instant But the world knows how the Jesuit Veronius hath implicitely confess'd Reason not to be on their side who presented the world with a new method more promising than ordinary
coldly affected to the Catholick Cause who hath not been scar'd by the Thunders of the Pope and Rebellions of his Subjects I might instance in the Fredericks and Henry's of Germany who were harass'd with continual Civil Wars and Confusion in the two Henry's of France one whereof Henry the third was Murder'd by Jaque Clement and the act commended in a set Oration by Pope Sixtus quintus and that execrable Murder compar'd to the Incarnation and Resurrection of our Lord and the Virtue and Courage of the Fryer to that of Judith and Eleazer The other Henry the 4th was as barbariously Assassinated by Ravilliac But I shall confine my self to our own Land and briefly show how these men have turn'd our English World upside down Here I might instance in King Henry the 2d and King John who were both scar'd by the Popes Thunderbolts into mean Submissions below the Dignity of Crowned heads and the latter at last poyson'd by a fawning Monk But I shall only mention their villanous Practices since the beginning of the Reformation When King Henry the 8th first renounc'd the Popes Supremacy Pope Paul the 3d Curses and Damns that King and his Parliament Cites them to appear before him in sixty Days and upon their refusal ratifies this Excommunication Prohibits them any Christian Burial and declares them eternally Damn'd deprives that King of all his Dignities and commands his Subjects to take up Arms and compel him to Repeal the Law he had made When Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown 't is well known how Pope Pius the 5th deposed her and the Northern Rebellion and many secret Plots by Poyson Gun-powder c. are to be read in our Chronicles but when these designs prov'd unsuccesful Pope Sixtus quintus Publishes a Croisade against her and perswades King Philip to War against her and crowns his Fleet with the Title of the Invincible Armado but the immediate hand of Heaven dispers'd their Ships by Tempest and thus confuted their proud conceits and gave a Demonstration to the World that infallibility dwelt not at Rome which made the Spanish Admiral swear he thought Jesus Christ was turn'd Lutheran but the Spanish King said more soberly He sent his Navy to fight against men and not against God to whose immediate Providence he attributed that Defeat After That Queen's Death they us'd many Artifices to prevent King James his coming to the Crown Pope Clement the 8th sent two Breivs into England one to the Clergy and another to the Laity not to suffer any but a Catholick tho never so near in Blood to Succeed and Father Parsons writ a Book to invalidate his Title tho they had before Proclaim'd Mary Queen of Scots the lawful Heir to the Kingdom But when these attempts met not with their desir'd Success they enter'd into that black unheard-of Conspiracy of the Powder-Treason and tho now they pretend this was only a Plot of Cecil's to render them odious yet we have full Confirmation of their Guilt and may be assur'd the Pope would have resented the welcome News of this Islands Reduction tho by so bloody a means to the Romish See with as much joy as he since did the hopes of rooting out this Northern Heresie when he wept for joy And the 5th of November would have been as great a Festival in their Calender as now it is in ours Nor were they less restless in their designs against King Charles the I. 'T is well known how they design'd to Murder that King which was discover'd to Sir William Boswel at the Hague They fomented our differences inflam'd the Spirits of men and acting their parts in several Disguises were the great Authors of our Civil Broils and Confusions When that King was Imprison'd by his unnatural Subjects 't is now publish'd to the World * See this and more instances in Dumoulins Answer to Phil. Ang. how a consult of Priests and Jesuits met at London and in a Letter to the Drs. of the Sorbon at Paris sent this Question viz. Whether considering the present posture of Affairs it were for the interest of the Catholick Cause to cut off that King who remain'd obstinate in his Heresie It was answer'd in the affirmitive and resolv'd at Rome by the Pope and his Council That it was not only Lawful but Expedient It cannot be deni'd that too many profess'd Protestants did ingage in that barbarous Villany but they had suck'd these poysonous Principles not from any Protestant Confessions of Faith but Romish Canons and Decrees Protestants disown such Principles 't is therefore an unreasonable thing to accuse the whole Party because of some Delinquents But such Practices are authoriz'd and encourag'd by Popish Councils as agreeable to their Religion We may be assur'd the Ax that cut off our Sovereigns head was whetted among the Romish Philistines and whatever spurious Protestants join'd in that or in any Treasons of the like nature since that time they were so far Papist and belong not to us but them 'T will but be needless labour to mention their secret Conspiracies under our present Sovereign the World hath been so fully inform'd about them And I hope there is as little necessity of proving that such Practices are disown'd by the Christian Religion For must we pay unto Cesar the things that are Cesars And is Rebellion and Treason the Tribute we owe him Must every Soul be subject to the higher Powers And are Plots and Conspiracies the best Testimonies of our Allegiance Are Consecrated Knives and Daggers any of our Gospel-Artillery and these Instruments of Death our Weapons of Righteousness Surely that Religion that thus practically own Rebellions is far different from what it was in the Apostles days and it will be no Slander for us to say These are the men that have turned the world upside down I now proceed to consider IV. What useful Inferences may be gather'd from our past Discourse 1. Hence we may see the excellence of the Protestant Religion The Scripture is the sole Rule of our Faith and Manners pure and uncorrupted Christianity reformed from the abusive Additions of the Romish Church is our Religion We profess to own nothing as part of it but what is as to the essentials summarily contain'd in the Baptismal Covenant and more explicitely in the Creed Lords Prayer and ten Commandments and as to the Integrals in the Old and New Testament So that whatever is said in the former part of this Discourse to prove the excellence of the Christian Institution doth equally confirm the excellence of the Protestant Faith which is the very same with naked Christianity We believe the imcomprehensibility and spirituality of Gods Nature and dare not entertain any Images of him no not in our very Imaginations Angels we Reverence as nobler and more excellent Beings than our selves but dare not pay them that Adoration which the Jealous God will not give to another The Virgin Mary we account blessed among Women but dare not
exalt her into the Throne of her Son nor blasphemously ascribe Divine Prerogatives to her The Holy Saints departed we respectfully remember and desire to imitate them as they follow'd Christ but dare not pray unto them as if they were Omniscient nor give those Services to them which are appropriated to God and the Lord Jesus The Holy Sacrament we joyfully Celebrate as a Seal of our Saviours tender Affection But dare not Worship the Bread but eat it in remembrance of him We Worship God with the most comely outward Postures and especially with sincere and spiritual Affection but have no occasion for the foolish Charms of the Heathens or burdensome Rites of the Jews Our Lord Jesus we acknowledg as our only Universal King and Sovereign and whoever shall boldly alter his Laws or invade his Prerogative shall be rejected by us as an Usurper He is our only High Priest and Intercessor and let other men talk at what vain rates they will we are better acquainted with our own Infirmities than to plead any merit of our own Through his Blood alone we hope for Salvation and let others trust in the merits of Saints the Omnipotent vertue of Medals and Relicks and priviledg'd Altars and such like hallow'd Baubles We will depend on nothing but his meritorious Sacrifice lest when it is too late we meet with a shameful disappointment and pass out of this World not into a temporary Purgatory but an eternal Hell Christs Prophetical Office we own and resolve to adjust our lives according to the Laws of the Gospel We teach the People to Study the Scripture daily and to examine all our Doctrines by the Touchstone of the Word We acknowledg our selves to be fallible men and should very gladly return to the bosome of that Church that is really indued with a Spirit of Infallibility but desire better proofs than those vain and idle ones we have hitherto heard of The Holy Laws of the Gospel are our standing-Rule and tho others vainly distinguish away their Duty we will keep close to these commands Piety Justice and Charity in their fullest extent we own to be our unquestionable Duty without those corrupting Glosses and Restrictions which some have invented True uniform self-denial is acknowledg'd as absolutely necessary and we place it not in uncommanded Austerities but in mortifying our Lusts and subduing whatever opposes the Glory of God or our own Salvation True undissembled Loyalty we acknowledg'd as our Duty Religion and Loyalty go hand in hand in our Constitutions these are our Principles and oh that our Practices were universally like them If we did but universally live up to the excellent Principles we maintain our Examples would be convincing give such a lovely Description of our Religion as would attract the Eyes and convert the hearts of the Romanists and more succesfully serve the Protestant interest than all the Arguments in our Books This leads to 2. Let our lives be agreeable to the Rules of our Religion Let every one that pretends to Reformed Christianity live a reformed Life Let not Religion only mend our heads but our hearts too and not only rectifie the errors and mistakes of our Minds but also the miscarriages and offences of our Lives For a professed Protestant to lead a vicious life is much more unbecoming and dangerous than for those who hope to be saved at an easier rate and own a more loose Religion Tho we do know our Duty except we practice it we cannot be happy Let me intreat you therefore if you have any concern for your selves and your own interest if you would not be accounted perjur'd Persons take heed how you contradict your Baptismal Vows and many repeated Engagements to forsake the World and Flesh and Devil If you would not lye under the Imputation of the most dangerous hypocrisie or unbelief forbear those Sins which are displeasing to God and forbidden by your Religion Not to believe the Christian or which is the same the Protestant Religion after such full Confirmation is certainly very unreasonable but to beheve it to be true and yet to live as if it were false is the greatest Contradiction and Repugnancy imaginable Do not you profess to believe That without h liness no man shall see the Lord and yet will you venture to continue in a sinful course Do you believe that every wilful Sinner shall be doom'd to Hell and all the Prayers and Tears of the holiest men on Earth can never fetch them thence and yet will you continue in a state of resolved impenitence If you would not therefore that the Articles of your Faith should be so many Articles of Accusation against you at the great day let your knowledg be improv'd into a Religious practice and not only tend to aggravate your future misery Further if you have any concern for the Religion you profess and would not it should be scandaliz'd as an encouragement to wickedness Now break off your Sins by Repentance and Amendment of Life by our impure lives we take the most effectual course in the World to bring our Religion it self into disgrace and do more prejudice to the Protestant Interest than we can possibly advance it by our Arguments I could therefore almost wish That men would either disown their Sins or their Profession openly renounce their Religion or strictly comply with its commands and if they will not be so generous as to follow its Directions they would at least be so honest as to quit their claim rather than still to retain it only the more effectually to disgrace the Religion they profess Let those that know no better allow themselves in sin and wickedness but let us that disown their principles abhor their lives too Our God will not indulge us in wickedness nor can we expect any dispensation from Heaven for our debaucheries and prophaneness nay further if we would not provoke God to leave us and suffer our subtil enemies to establish their impure Doctrines let us not imitate them in sin For if we become followers of their example God may in just judgment make them Lords of our Faith also In a word to conclude with the expressions of an excellent person we have the best and holiest the wisest and most reasonable Religion in the World but then we are in the worst condition of all mankind if the best Religion in the World do not make us good 3. Let us not by our divisions let in our common enemy Our sends and animosities and intemperate heats among our selves are the ready way to bring in Popery into our Land By our Divisions we weaken our own Interest imploy our pains and abilities in quarrelling about trifles and disable our selves in a great measure from preventing the growth and increase of the Romish Religion By our Divisions we expose our selves to the United Power of our Common Adversaries and like the unhappy Jews of old we are squabling among our selves while the Romans are ready to enter