mysteries than Gospel institutions Their chief worship devotion lyeth in building and adorning Temples for Masses not for preaching in buying Masses in decking of images with Gold Jewels in offering incense and wax Candles in pilgrimages and offerings to their Saints in vows of forced and usually feigned chastity of Hypocritical and lazy poverty and such like bodily exercises which profit little 1 Tim. 4.8 4. The Church of Christ owneth him only for her head King and Lord. God gave Christ to be head over all things to his Church which is his body Eph. 1.23 He hath all power in Heaven and earth committed to him to rule and order all things concerning his Church which is his own house Mat. 28.18 19 20. Whereupon he appointed Apostles to bring all nations to be his Disciples to consecrate and ingage them to him by Baptism and to teach them to observe all as he commanded Christ as mediator is the only head of the Church which is his body and all Christians members in particular of him receiving life strength and spirit from him and being governed by him But the Papists acknowledge and adhere to the Pope as the head of their Church which they say could not be one Church unless it be united to the Pope as their visible head Catec Rom. de Symb. Art 9. Q. 11. De eo i. e. Pontifice Romano fuit illa omnium Patrum ratio sententia consentiens hoc visibiel caput ad unitatem ecclesiae constituendam conservandam necessarium fuisse They say that Christ and the Pope make but one compleat Head of the Church That all which is said in the Canticles or elsewhere concerning Christ's relation to his Church may be truly applyed to the Pope That he hath all power in heaven and earth given to him Pope Boniface the 8. declared that it was absolutely necessary to Salvation for every man to be subject to the Pope of Rome Definimus decernimus declaramus esse de necessitate salutis omni humanae creaturae esse subditum Pontifici Romano accordingly they teach peccatum pagantiatis incurrit quisquis Pontifici non est obediens i. e. Whosoever is not obedient to the Pope doth thereby become an Heathen They ascribe to the Pope an universal headship not of order only but of power and jurisdiction he is the Rock the foundation of the Church he giveth authority to the Scriptures and without him authoritas Scripturarum plane nulla est saith one i. e. the Scriptures have no authority at all he can lay aside the Bible if he please or dispense with any of the commands of the old or new Testament saith their Canon Law and he daily doth dispense with oaths vows and obligations of all sorts both to God and man with unlawful marriages c. They say indeed in disputation that the Pope is a ministerial head the Deputy the Vicar of Christ but a Minister is only to execute the pleasure of his Lord a Deputy and Vicar is to see his Masters laws and commands observed not to enact laws of his own not to relax or abrogate any of his Masters laws which power the Pope both challengeth and exerciseth 5. Christ's Church professeth subjection to his law only Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Christ is the only King of his Church and the power of making Laws is the chief prerogative of a King He gave his word to be the standing Law whereby his people should be ruled and guided and by which they must be judged at the last day John 12.48 But the Papists have another Law by which they are governed and the Pope is their law-giver who ruleth them The Scriptures they own indeed as the word of God but not as his whole mind and law and that no otherwise than as the Pope interpreteth and alloweth them They joyn with the Scriptures unwritten Traditions which the Council of Tent saith are of equal authority Traditiones non scriptas pari pietatis affectu reverentiâ suscipit veneratur Conc. Trid. Ses 4. Cat. Rom. Pref. Q. 12. The Canons of Councils viz. those that the Pope likes and confirms and the decretal Epistles of Popes they reckon equal with the Holy Scriptures Decretales epistolae meritò inter Scripturas canonicas recensentur The consciences of men they do subject to the determinations and commands of the Pope as to Jesus Christ so that the law of the Church of Rome is composed and made up of the Scriptures Traditions Canons and decretals of Popes over all which the Pope superintends as the supreme law-giver to confirm relax add or alter as he pleaseth according to the known Ruleof Cardinal Cusanus Lex currit cum praxi c. Whatsoever is the present allowed practice of the Church of Rome that must be taken for the infallible rule or law of Christ So that the will of the Pope is the supreme law of conscience to the Papist in this world 6. Christs Church acknowledgeth only his Sacraments Baptism and the Lords supper The Sacraments of the Gospel are badges of our professed Subjection to Christ and of our dependance on him for remission of sins for grace and eternal life and it is fit that Christ alone should appoint what should be the signs Seals and conveyances of his grace and the marks of subjection to him and the tokens of the Covenant betwixt him and his people Christ appointed his Disciples to enter into his Covenant by the sign and Seal of Baptism Matth. 28.19 to renew and confirm this Covenant from time to time by the use of his holy supper 1 Cor. 11.23 24. c. and he appointed no other but these and his people must institute and use no other as signs and Covenant seals betwixt him and them But the Papists have added five more which they own and maintain to be Sacraments besides many other significant ceremonies to which they attribute the use and effects of Sacraments these they make signs of Gods Covenant means to convey grace some of them as universally necessary as those that Christ appointed yea without which Christs Sacraments are not sufficient to Salvation viz. the Sacraments of Confirmation and Penance of the former they say a man cannot be a Christian till he be confirmed by the Bishop Baptism is not compleat without it De consecra dist 5. ch de jejun Nemo potest esse Christianus nisi ad Baptismum accesserit unctio episcopalis nisi confirmatione chrismatus Their penance consisteth of confession of sin to the Priest contrition for sin and the Priests absolution and they teach that sins cannot be forgiven unless they be particularly confessed to the Priest and he absolve them in the name of Christ upon their undergoing or promise to undergo some outward austerity or penance imposed on them by him These Sacraments are badges and means of their subjection to the Priest and to
to the Tryal and examination of all and such as carried an undeniable evidence and divine impress with them but these of Antichrist are lying wonders ungodly cheats many of them ridiculous trifles of no use unbeseeming the finger of God that are done in a corner and will bear no Tryal of judicious men but are fitted only to deceive the ignorant multitude it is not to be supposed that Papists could ever work any real sign or miracle to confirm their falsehoods for that were to make God himself who alone is the author of true miracles to bear Testimony to a lye and also to invalidate the Testimony of miracles when they are wrought to confirm the truth seeing they may be wrought also to prove a lye A false prophet may indeed give a sign foretell some future event by art and God may suffer that sign to come to pass to prove his people whether they will stick to his word Deut. 13.1 2 3. but he will never interpose his immediate power to work a miracle to confirm false doctrine which were to set his own seal to that which is contrary to his own word the miracles and signs therefore that Papists pretend to some of them are the meer works of nature only strange to the common people some are works of art Physick Mathematicks c. some are meer tricks of Legerdemain and some are more lies without either foundation in the things or colour of truth many of them also are wrought by Magick and assistance of the Devil as when they cause doleful cries and howlings in the night and apparitions of persons deceased to make the simple believe that the souls in Purgatory come forth to beg prayers and Masses which practice was very frequent in Luthers time The pretence of signs and miracles is peculiar to the Papists the Turks to whom they would turn this prophecie profess them not but impose and propagate their Religion by force Christians that own the Scriptures for the perfect rule of faith and manners need them not the matter of those Scriptures having been abundantly confirmed long since by unquestionable miracles and Divine attestations but the Papists who add unwritten uncertain traditions and the decrees of Popes and Councils to the rule have need to confirm them by signs and miracles if they could and upon the pretence of these all their chief doctrines are built as 1. Transubstantiation and adoration of the Host for this they pretend sometimes that the Host hath been seen to bleed sometimes that the hand of a child hath been seen in it that Wittikin the Saxon King in England seeing Christians receive the Sacrament in a certain Church went out and reported that he saw the Christians each one put a little smiling boy into their mouths some affirmed that they have seen a youth in a glorious shape sitting upon the Altar at or before the time of celebration and they commonly tell us of Cows Horses Bees yea and the Ass of a Jew or a Heretick adoring the Host and the bees building a wax chappel over it when it was casually lost in the field 2. The worship of Saints when the invocation of Saints was opposed in its beginning and Pope Constantine had called a Council at Rome to consider on it Ann. 1012. Edwin a Monk of Gloucester made Oath before the Council that the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a vision in great glory commanding him to go to Rome and tell the Pope that it was the command of God that they should worship her pray to her and erect Temples and Images in honour of her upon this acknowledgement the Council establisht the first decree for the invocation of her and other Saints They write whole Legends of Saints their apparitions revelations miracles and these they give to the people to read instead of the Scriptures they also read the acts and lying wonders of their Saints upon their festival days in their Churches always concluding their fabulous narrations with such words Let us then learn to admire such a Saint let us pray to such a Saint c. Saint Francis and his-Friars they say have raised above a thousand men from the dead their Saints heal all manner of diseases cast out Devils can bring fire from heaven as they report and these are the proofs of Divine worship due to them 3. Their worship of Images and Reliques of Saints to this purpose they pretend that some Images do speak though it is the Devil or the Priest that speaks through them some Images nod their head some hold up their hand as if they did bless the people that pray to them Mr. Downame saith he saw an Image of St. Nicholas at Chester who would lift up his hand as if he blest his petitioners which was done by a string put through the arm by which the Priest draw'd it up Some Images have bled they say when they have been abused diseases have been cured and all manner of miracles done while men have been praying before Images 4. Purgatory and prayers for the dead The only proof of this is the apparition of persons deceased that complain of their torments and beg Masses and prayers of their surviving friends to this purpose they make great use of the Vulcans i. e. burning Mountains in Italy Sicily and the Isles of the Aeolides where are heard frequent noises of divers kinds which they tell the people are the gates of Purgatory and the noises the cries of the tormented there They report of one Birstan Bishop of Winchester that as he was walking according to his custome in the Church-yard at midnight earnestly praying for the souls in Purgatory when he came to those words requiescant in pace let them rest in peace he suddenly heard the voices of an innumerable company small and great in the graves say Amen 5. Their religious orders St. Benedict St. Dominick St. Francis the founders of so many Orders of Friars and Ignatius Loyola the Father of the Jesuites all obtained both the honour of Saints and of Founders of religious Orders by many pretended visions revelations and miracles and the opinion of miracles done by Friars Monks and Nuns in every generation is that which keeps up their authority with the people Vse This should warn men to cleave close to Scripture Revelations and miracles are the engines of deceit but written truths are manifest and exposed to the consideration and Tryal of all and have been already confirmed by the Prophets our Saviour and his Aposties by very many and unquestionable signs and miracles f men will not be content with this which God hath so abundantly testified to be his mind and will it is just with him to suffer them to be deluded if there be now any miracles revelations or extraordinary impressions of the holy spirit they are of private concern for direction or encouragement in particular cases but they are not intended to confirm any doctrine or part of worship signs and Tongues
Pagan which did impose her Idolatrous wrship upon the world Lastly that it is Rome Papal as it now is and hath been for many ages past which is this Babylon and not Rome when she shall utterly renounce the Christian faith in the end of the world as some Papists without shadow of reason fancy is proved in that she is arrayed in purple and Scarlet decked with gold and precious stones and pearls which is the garb of the Pope and his Cardinals In that she is the Mother of fornications Idolatries through the earth and that she is drunk with the blood of Saints and Martyrs Rome Papal having destroyed far more Christians than ever Heathen Rome did And that the beast that carries this whore the Roman State is full of names of blasphemy v. 3. the blasphemous titles and power which the Pope usurpeth to himself and his Roman Church above any heathen that ever was And especially in that the ten horns upon the head of the beast that carries this Whore which are ten Kingsarising out of the dissolution of the Roman Empire are said to have received no Kingdom in Johns time but to receive it one hour with the beast v. 12. yea to give their power to the beast to set him up and maintain his Empire and to be deluded by him till God shall turn their hearts against him to destroy him v. 13 -17 The beast himself also was to be the eighth head of the former great beast and yet one of the seven i. c. a new government in Rome for the manner of it not much different from the preceding Emperours all which are apparently fulfilled in the Pope and his adherents For when Augustulus laid down the Empire Ann. Chr. 476. there immediately appeared ten small Kingdomes sometimes more sometimes fewer in this Western part of the world and then the Pope began to usurp the dominion of Rome and both he and they grew up together and strengthened each other till they were all inslaved by him and had inabled him to trample Emperours under his feet likewise the declining or wane of Popedome in these too last ages hath been caused by the withdrawing of these very Princes from his subjection whose Kingdomes were once provinces of Rome and whose predecessors had given their power to the Pope and when a few more shall follow their example the Pope will lofe his triple Crown These things thus explained the Observation is clear Obs It is the command of Christ to all his people to withdraw from the communion of Papal Rome as they would avoid joyning in her sins and to those that have opportunity to forsake the dwellings of Rome as they would escape her plagues When the whole world after the flood apostatized from God and his worship God singled out the family of Abraham and in time increast them to a nation to put his name and to keep up his worship among them for this the rest especially their neighbours in the East hated and opposed them and the heads of this opposition were Egypt Niniveh and at last Babylon in Chaldea which swallowed up all her neighbours Thus there was a long contest betwixt the Church of the Jews who adhered to God and pure religion and Babylon which was become the head of the Pagan Apostasie in the East In like manner the Gospel was no sooner planted and spread throughout the Western world but there began a defection to Idolatry in the worship of Saints and Angels and after some while Rome became the head of this Apostasie and for above 1 thousand years past there hath been a continual contest betwixt a purer part of Christs Church scattered through divers Countries and this Mystical Babylon a certain number specified by one hundred forty four thousand Rev 14.1 have kept themselves pure from the whoredomes of Rome they were Virgins and followed the Lamb whithersoever he went and with them the Roman beast hath continually made war and still seeks to destroy them out of the earth now all that would be the faithful servants of Christ must joyn with this small persecuted company and neither comply with nor submit to Rome nor connive at her power and impositions as they would not be found guilty of her Apostasie and be swept away in her destruction To prove this because we speak to them who are already separated from Rome it will be sufficient to clear these 2 Questions which being cleared will also prove the duty of others to separate from her who yet either adhere to or lean towards her 1. Question whether there was a just ground for the Potestants to separate from the Church of Rome 2. Whether there can be any reconciliation of Protestants to Rome In which I shall be brief because a foundation is in a sort laid for it in the foregoing discourse 1. Qu. Whether Protestants did upon just and necessary grounds separate from the communion of the Church of Rome in her worship and discipline Answ They did which I thus prove 1. Because the Church of Rome hath altered the rule of the Christian faith The Church is a holy Common-wealth under the government of the Lord Jesus Christ and he governs it by his laws contained in the holy Scriptures these are the rule of their worship and obedience to him Math. 28.18 19 20. He that alters this rule altereth the fundamental constitution of the Church But the Church of Rome hath altered this rule they teach the Scriptures to be a defective insufficient rule and therefore they joyn to them the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament and the Traditions of the Church which also they receive and reject at their pleasure Decrees of Councils and decretals and decisions of Popes all these together are the perfect rule that the Papists acknowledge and pretend to I say pretend because the Scripture hath little share in it when it comes to Tryal hereby they have made a new foundation of the Church both of faith and practice For it is not sufficient that we believe and practise all that is in the Canonical Scriptures but we must believe and obey the Apocryphal writings and unwritten Traditions as of the same authority with the Bible thus the Council of Trent hath determined as was shewed before This altereth the very constitution of the Church and subjecteth it to men instead of Christ and this is the root of all apostasie 2. Because the Papists pretend their Pope or Church to be above the Scriptures and to put an authentick authority on them and their sense Thus all our faith and obedience is resolved into the determination of men That the Papists pretend the Pope their Council or Church to be above the Scriptures cannot be denied they give the authority and authentickness to the Scriptures 't is from their command that the Bible is received and if they pleased they might cause it to be laid aside it cannot be known they say that the Scriptures are Gods word but that
the promoters of them did also promote their authority and strengthen their hands against the Godly and most serious part of the Church But the most usual causes of errors are ignorance of the Scriptures and of the principles of religion founded on them which in the primitive times had a great occasion given it by the prejudicate opinions that new Converts brought from Judaisme and Paganisme and from the new Testament not being fully written in a considerable time and the several books thereof not gathered into one volume in a long space after and chiefly corrupt affections Men will imbrace errors because they love not the truth Vse 1. This sheweth the necessity of adhering to the Scripture and of a standing Ministry If we stick not to the Scripture the pretence of the Spirit and Traditions will lead us into a wilderness where there is no end Heathens Mahometans Papists and all Enthusiasts will distract us by their several and contrary pretensions And if there be not a standing and learned Ministry Apocryphal Scriptures and false interpretations of Scripture will easily beguile the unskilful and hinder the edification of the more wise 2. The Papist's brags of infallibility of the Pope or Church and the necessity of it to the foundation of our faith is as foolish as it is untrue The Apostles and Apostolical men were infallible and yet this will not prevent errors and Heresies of the highest nature either in their own or in the next succeeding ages An infallible head or guide will not secure the Church from errors and divisions unless all the people be infallible likewise certainly able to discern the truth declared to them and perfectly free from all evil affections which may hinder their receiving and submitting to the truth 3. It is no Wonder to see errors and divisions in these last days of the Church sith they were in the first While men are subject to ignorance and evil affections there will be both errors and divisions and if we go to the Church of Rome to avoid all errors and Schisms because they boast of such Unity which was never promised nor long enjoyed by any Church we shall but do like Children that tear many little holes in a garment into one great one that comprehends them all and more and cannot be repaired Obs 2. It is certainly foretold that there should be an Apostasie in the Church The same Apostle almost in the same words foretels it 1 Tim. 4.1 The spirit speaks expresly that some shall depart from the faith The first Christians might be apt to expect the coming of Christ and their everlasting rest to be at hand from the love and joy they had conceived upon their first receiving the Gospel but they are here told that happy time is not so nigh There must come a departure of many from the faith first and many contests and persecutions should ensue thence and therefore they should arm themselves with patience to a conflict before they must expect the Crown When God made the world he made it wonderful great and large and stored it with almost infinite variety of creatures to set forth his own Majesty he hath also continued it some thousands of years with as great variety of providences in his governing of it to shew his manifold wisdom power mercy and justice and what will be the wonderful transactions of the world to come throughout eternity to set forth the glory of the â—ernal God no creature can conceive In like manner when our Lord came from Heaven to purchase a Church to serve him it was not quickly to expire but to conflict with the world and the Devil with enemies without and within through many changes and vicissitudes a considerable time and at last through faith and patience to inherit the promises It was long that the Church continued under the bondage of the Law and there were many changes and declinings of it at several times under the Judges and Kings of Judah but there was one great Apostasie of the Ten tribes under Jeroboam which ended in the ruin of that State and people Such a departure was there to be in the Christian Church signified here by the indeterminate word There shall come a departure or Apostasie for the falling off of a few particular persons was no strange thing but happened in every age Now such Apostasies are permitted 1. To punish the ingratitude of men for the Gospel Because they receive not the love of the truth because Christ and his Gospel are not welcome to the generality of men but any or no religion would content them as well if they might have outward peace and prosperity therefore Christ suffers them to be inticed with Errors and Heresies to their own destruction which at last bring publick calamities and ruin 2. To punish the Hypocrisie of others Some pretend great zeal and affection in the peace of the Church which is either meerly pretended for worldly interest or but a light and transient passion as in the stony ground who can never be perswaded to be zealous and rooted Christians Matth. 13.20 therefore when they have been tryed a convenient time opportunities of backsliding are sufferred to come to discover and shame them 3. To manifest and honour those that are sound 1 Cor. 11.18 19. There must be heresies among you that they which be approved may be made manifest among you When peace and truth meet together the sound and best Christians are unknown and for the most part less regarded than the Hypocrites that make more shew and noise Christ therefore suffers apostasies to come to discover and honour his sincere humble diligent and stedfast servants 4. Errors are also permitted to clear the trut more and make them that are sound more stedfast and strong The truths of the Gospel have in all ages been prejudiced by the zeal and good affection of some well minded as well as by the opposition of enemies because their affection over-run their judgment and their care to get a distinct knowledge of the principles of religion but the appearance of errours and corruptions makes them more careful to search the truth which hath been always more cleared and fortified by occasion of the oppositions against it and those who are upright have been put upon getting a clearer knowledge of the grounds of their faith worship and practices thereby 5. And in all this Christ manifesteth his distinguishing grace to some and his righteous judgments upon others Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness 6. Hereby all are stirred up to diligence and watchfulness When there shall come a falling away of many all are warn'd thereby to take care how they stand lest they also fall Rom. 11.20 Vse Be not therefore suprized at discouraged or tempted by the apostasies of others Though the Church be fair as the Moon she hath
then when the incumbent died the Pope must be judge who shall have it of all these which shall certainly be he that will give most money Thus they make woful Merchandize with mens souls 4. Continual endeavours to stir up wars and imbroil Nations The Pope pretends to be Lord of Lords and King of Kings and therefore he disposeth of Kingdoms sets up and pulls down Princes as he pleases and this is a sufficient pretence for any unjust wars and invasions and wherever there are any differences among Princes and their Subjects he interposeth his authority usually taking the unjust part if like to prevail that they being beholding to him may requite him with some addition to his authority or revenue Pope Zacheriah gave France to Pipin an aspiring man deposing Childerick their lawful King as unfit to govern Leo the 4. gave the Empire of the Romans to Charles the great and another gave England to the French in King Johns time and sent them to Conquer it and of late the Pope gave the East Indies to the Portugal and the West to the Spaniard where they murdred the poor natives as wild beasts made to be destroyed These doctrines and practices are not taught and practised by a few only among them but they are the State policies by which they stand which they never disown never endeavour to reform it is the design of their government to be universal and to attain it by any means Hence we infer that to hold communion with this Church is to conspire against the Church of Christ against all that is sacred or moral Nor may we expect any reformation from them they will not they cannot be better their interest and government depends upon these methods and therefore this Man of sin is the son of perdition appointed to be destroyed not to be reformed let us not deceive our selves with vain hopes They are and must be the same when they have opportunity The second character of this Apostasie is laid down v. 4. Who opposeth himself viz. the man of sin the Head of this apostasie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an adversary or one that sets himsel against Christ The same title that is given to the Devil viz. Satan an enemy or adversary Now the Devil was an adversary not by denying the true God he believes and trembles James 2.19 nor by causing himself to be worshipped as the supreme God for the Idols which the Heathens worshipped they worshipped as Mediators and servants to the supreme God but under this pretence the Devil took to himself all the worship and service of the world and left God but an empty name of Creatour and supreme residing in heaven when he himself was the God of this world ordering all things after his own lusts this the Devil did so long as Heathenism prevailed by the several Governours and Princes of the world and when he was cast out of Heaven viz. his worship Idolatry and Heathenish superstition abolished by the fail of the Heathen Roman Empire Rev. 12. v. 7 8 9 10. and opposition to the name of Christ was taken away he cast about and after some time delivered his power to the second Beast who used the power and tyranny of the former Beast i. e. the Roman Empire opposing Christ and his worship setting up himself with all superstition and Idolatry but under fair pretences of Christs authority Rev. 13.11 12 c. This beast was like a Lamb but spake as the Dragon and used all the power of the former beast viz. the Heathen government Now that the Pope and his adherents do thus oppose Christ and not his name but his power and worship drawing all subjection to himself and leaving Christ but a bare and empty title he being as Stapleton calls him plain supremum in terris numen i. e. the most high and absolute God in earth It is manifest 1. The Pope will not suffer Christ to be King and law-maker in his Church Kingly power consisteth in making laws and ruling according to them this belongs to Christ and he gave his word to be the law of his Church and his Mininisters to execute and administer it according to his mind But the Pope challengeth the sole power and government of the Church on earth to belong to him the authority of the Scriptures to belong to him that he can add to them take from them or dispense with any thing there commanded that he only must interpret and give them their sense that his determinations is the rule of conscience for whatsoever he defineth or commandeth is to be believed and obeyed and so under the pretence of Christs Vicar he rules as Christ on earth 2. The Pope will not allow Christ to appoint the ordinances of his own worship It belongs to Christ as King to appoint how and by whom he will be worshipped but the Pope will not give him leave He appoints more orders of Officers than Christ did more Sacraments and alters those of his appointing the bread in the supper he maketh a God to be worshipped and yet a Sacrifice to be offered to God the cup he takes away from the people the Council of Trent most insolently telling us that though our Lord Christ instituted and gave his supper to his Apostles under both kinds of bread and wine yet that doth not oblige all the faithful to receive it under both kinds Concil Trid. Ses 21. ch 1. Etsi Christus dominus in ultima coena venerabile hoc Sacramentum in panis vini specicbus instituit Apostlis tradidit non tamen illa institutio traditio â—ò tendunt ut omnes Christi fideles statuto domini ad utramque speciem accipiendam astringantur He appoints Saints and Angels and especially Christs Mother to be worshipped and honoured yea the very Cross on which he was murdered pretending these to be more honour to Christ than the preaching or hearing his holy word Almost the whole body of the Papists worship is of the Popes own institution 3. The Pope will not suffer Christ to appoint the means of his own grace to Salvation Christ as the Saviour of his people as divine and Princely Saviour is to appoint and hath appointed by what means and in what duties he will bestow and increase his grace to eternal life but the Pope lays these aside at his pleasure viz. the reading and hearing the Scripture the use of the Sacraments and prayer in a tongue that can be understood by those that use it and appointeth more upon which the greatest stress of salvation is laid as confession of sin to Priest without out which there is no forgiveness to the living and private Masses both for the quick and dead anointing of Children to confirm them in grace and anointing the dying to strengthen and comfort them against the terror of death crosses and holy water to drive away the devil and so many of this kind that they have greatly obscured the means
challengeth an absolute power to make laws for the whole Church Whatsoever he appointeth though against Scripture and reason must be accounted good and be observed He must with authority interpret Scriptures and what he determineth must be received as the sense of them He declareth what is Heresie and Schism he judgeth all things and persons but must himself be judged of none Now this is a Divine power and God's prerogative that the reason and consciences of men should be subject to him We are to submit our reason to God because he cannot err and our conscience to him because he can command nothing but what is good yea things are good because he commands them therefore the Pope in usurping this power sits as God 3. He claims a power to dispense with Gods Laws to appoint new means whereby men should come to heaven He doth frequently dispense with marriages in all the forbidden degrees Concil Trid. Ses 24. Can. 3.4.6 and the Council of Trent curseth those that think the Church hath not power to forbid marriage in more degrees than the Scripture prescribes or to alter those there set down and to allow marriage in those cases as it shall see cause The Scripture saith marriage is honourable in all Heb. 13.3 but the Pope saith it is not only a disgrace but a damning sin for any of the Ministers of the Gospel to marry It is Gods law 1 Cor. 7.2 to avoid fornication every man should have his own Wife and every woman her own Husband but the Pope saith it is better for Priests to live in fornication than to marry yea and for all persons 't is meritorious of heaven to vow not to marry though they live in all uncleanness he dispenseth with Oaths and vows and nothing humane or divine is or can he obliging any further than he alloweth it he being the supreme judge and determiner of all things God alloweth us the use of all meats fit for food but the Pope forbiddeth the use of many yea annexeth merit and the promise of heaven to the forbearance of certain meats at certain times though they gorge and glut themselves with other sorts of dainties And here let us observe that the Apostle speaketh of an apostasie from the faith that should be in the latter times v. 1. and he giveth this as one character of this apostasie that these apostates should forbid marriage and the use of meats in an hypocritical pretence of godliness which doth so point out the Papists as if they had been named none but they teaching those doctrines especially that of forbidding marriage The Pope maketh it meritorious of pardon and great immunitys to wear the habits to certain Monks and Friers to be buried in a Monks cowle or in the gown of a Capuchin or Carmelite Frier but above all to the saying of so many Ave-maries or Pater Nosters in the 7. chief Churches of Rome which will procure some hundred thousand years pardon 4. He pretends to forgive sin The Jews could say Who can forgive sin but God only and he that taketh upon him to forgive sin Luke 5.21 maketh himself a God But with the Papists every Priest taketh upon him to forgive sin yea a man cannot be forgiven unless he be first absolved by the Priest much more doth the Pope claim a power to forgive all sin and that not declarative only to pronounce the promises of pardon to the penitent but authoritative also to give absolution and heaven to whom he pleaseth In his Jubilees he carrieth in his hand a golden hammer to break open Paradise for all the Pilgrims that come to Rome They do often publish and sell indulgences for all manner of sins it was one special thing that stirred up the spirit of Luther that Frier Teselius came into Germany with indulgencies from Leo the 10. publishing in all Markets and Fairs that he could grant pardon for all manner of sins even though a man had laid with the Virgin Mary The Pope can prevent mens going to Purgatory at all or shorten and lengthen their time there as he pleaseth though they teach Purgatory to be a place where men must satisfie for their sins Part. 3. tit 22. cap. 5.5.6 7. Antoninus maketh a grave Quere whether the Pope may empty Purgatory and release all the souls that be there and as gravely determineth that out of the fulness of his power he may without doubt do it though he thinketh it not expedient he should and so doth the Pope too for then the private Masses and prayers for the dead which are a great part of their service and by which the poor Priests get their livelyhood would cease 5. The Pope taketh to himself the name and titles of God and Christ Dominus Deus noster Papa our Lord God the Pope is the language of their Canon Law Paul the 5. caused a triumphal Arch to be set up at Tolentum under which he was to enter the City with this inscription Paulo quinto Vice deo to Paul the 5. the vice-God They say the Pope is the rock the foundation of the Church her head and husband Lord of Lords and King of Kings c. When some among themselves were offended at these blasphemous titles Bishop Beedle informs while he was in Italy about 70. years since there was a congregation appointed at Rome to redress these abuses Beed answer to Wodsw called congregatio de moderandis titulis but before they could do any thing to purpose the Pope forbid them to proceed because he said there were no titles given him but what dignitas praerogativa Sancti Petri c. the dignitys and prerogatives of Peter would well enough bear Thus this Roman State is the Beast in whose head are the names of Blasphemy Rev. 13.1 Hence it appears though the Pope call himself the servant of servants and the Vicar of Christ yet he doth indeed usurp the place of Christ and the honour and authority of God himself wherefore he is deservedly accounted the Antichrist in both senses of the word Hostis emulus Christi both the opposer of Christ and his competitour that contends with him for honour and usurps his place and dignity The Apostle saith that there were many Antichrists in the world in his time 1 John 2.18 and that the spirit of Antichrist was then entered into the world 1 John 4.3 and that these Antichrists were apostates from the Christian Church They went out from us chap. 2.19 but yet that there was one special Antichrist to come of which the Church was forewarned you have heard that Antichrist should come cap. 2.18 and surely there hath never been a more dangerous enemy of Christ than this apostate State of Rome The Heathens had but one way of opposing Christ viz. persecution which tended much to the honour of Christ and his grace by the sufferings of the faithful but these both destroy by persecution those that are most upright
not fit the Ministers of Christ should be under the power of men of this world or that they should judge of Ecclesiastical causes or dispose of Ecclesiastical imployments but that all should be managed by a spiritual Court and spiritual person 2. They pretend the benefit of the Church It is necessary they say that as the Church is one body on earth though dispersed in all quarters so it should have one visible Head who should be the fountain of Unity that he should have supreme and absolute power to judge all persons and to determine all cases to prevent divisions and to preserve Unity to maintain the doctrine and worship of the Gospel and to prevent or redress errors and corruptions and that things may be managed with safety it is necessary this Head should be infallible who may neither be subject to deceive or be deceived for what end shall there be of Questions and controversies in Religion or in Civil matters How shall Heresies Schisms Wars and Seditions be prevented if there be not a supreme infallible head and judge whose authority and decision may put an end to all strife and lead into all truth 3. They pretend great care of the peoples Salvation They take away the Scriptures from them for fear they should prophane them by using them in common discourse or fall into error and Heresies by mistaking the meaning of them or be puffed up with knowledge and so be disobedient to their teachers and run into Sects divisions therefore they give them Images Crucifixes c. which they call Lay-mens books to stir up their devotion without danger of making them heady or high-minded they allow them little preaching and celeberate all the worship of God in an unknown tongue that the people may not grow slight and prophane and that they may still admire what they understand not ignorance being the best mother of devotion and for the greater security and ease they teach them implicitely to believe what the Church believes and that being infallible they cannot believe amiss especially when they know not in particular what she believeth nor can call her faith into Question 4. They pretend great devotion and zeal to Gods worship spiritual knowledge pious affections spiritual worship such as teaching the word prayer and use of plain Sacraments as Christ appointed them they think are mean things instead of these they build Temples adorn Images adore the bread in the Eucharist offer incense Tapers and many gifts as more real devotion Conc. Trid. Ses 25. The Council of Trent commands that the Priests should carefully teach the people the right use of Images which are to mind them of their Saints their virtues and miracles and sufferings that they may be stirred up thereby to the imitation of them Their worship of the Virgin is devotion to her Son and their praying to Saints and Angels is honour to God whose servants they are and the Pomp and riches of the Pope and his Bishops is to preserve the Gospel in honour and religion from contempt 5. They pretend great mortification They have frequent fasts at least from flesh and some sorts of food to curb keep down the flesh has they pretend Their voluntary penance whippings pilgrimages to remote places confessing all their sins to a Priest and craving his absolution and all to shew their sorrow for sin and to break them off from it more surely than the plain Spiritual means of the word and prayer It is thought great self-denyal to forsake the world to live in wildernesses and Monasteries to vow single life and to refrain those comforts and imployments which God hath both allowed and commanded 6. They pretend great humility It is humility in them to be subject to their superiours especially the Pope against their own reason and conscience and to obey all the commands and ordinances of their Church without presuming to inquire into the reason of them or to prove them by Scripture They account it presumption to pretend to assurance of Salvation and great humility to live and dye in doubt but especially that the best of them must not pretend to go to Heaven but through long suffering the pains of Purgatory and the help of the prayers of the Church on earth and of the merits of the Church in Heaven 7. They pretend great care to have the Ministery pure and industrious therefore they allow them not to marry because said Pope Ciricius they that are in the flesh cannot please God and that being free from the cares of a family they may wholly attend upon their Ministry and lest the service of Parish Priests should not be sufficient they have multitudes of Monks and Friars to help them in private and whose prayers and private Masses are always going for the benefit of the Church Thus they have plausible pretences for all their doctrines and practices nevertheless it is a mystery of iniquity in every particular 1. The universal power the Pope claimeth is only to set up himself and his own institutions therefore he taketh upon him all the state and grandeur of the Roman Emperours even the proudest of them he gives away Kingdoms when Kings any way displease him though they be very religious towards God and when he can make any advantage He sets Christian Kings at war with each other and taketh the unjustest part so it be the strongest yea himself raiseth War and driveth Princes out of their dominions to increase the riches of the Church or to preferr his own Nephews and kindred This was notorious in Julius 2 and many of his predecessours he maketh the Emperours swear allegiance to him and the Bishops at their consecration use to swear to maintain Regalia sancti Petri the royalties of Saint Peter 2. The pretence of infallibility is only to gain authority to himself that he may command and do what he pleaseth in the world it is used only to draw people into seditions and massacres to patronize any unjust actions or claims when the Pope giveth away the right of a King or other person when he dissolveth Lawful marriages or giveth dispensations to contract unlawful Matrimony as betwixt Uncle and Niece in Philip 2. of Spain or betwixt Brother and brothers Wife as at this day in Portugal the former husband yet living and the like when he forgives all manner of sins when he maketh as his Canons give him leave just things unjust and sins to be duties then he maketh use of his pretended infallibility and never but it such cases for the Popes never do nor never will determine or end any controversie in religion for fear of losing one part of the contenders There is a great difference among themselves betwixt the Dominicans and Jesuites about the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary Philip the 2 and 3. of Spain did for many years together by their Embassadours earnestly sollicite the Popes to use their Infallibility and decide the controversie but they could never
their Church declares it nor is any sense or meaning to be fixt upon as the certain sense of any Scripture but what they determine to be the meaning of the place Accordingly the Trent Council out of their great power have determined the vulgar Latin Translation of the Bible to be authentick and equal to the Greek and Hebrew originals Council of Trent Ses 4 though their own authors acknowledge it to be most false defective and in many things ridiculous Now then our faith is not ultimately resolved into the Scriptures we do not believe and obey because we know and are sure from Scripture that this is the mind of God but because the Pope or Church declare it to be the mind of God yea though the words of Scripture plainly condemn what they teach or though the Translation of a Scripture be contrary to the original which was indited by the spirit of God immediately yet if they say this is the meaning of the place and the true translation of it we must believe it The foundation then of all our faith and obedience is the determination of the Church or Pope Obj. But they are infallible they say Answ This they can never prove but if they were if I must believe meerly upon their Testimony and saying they are infallible my faith is still resolved into the witness of men their testimony concerning themselves is but a humane Testimony they do not cannot prove it by any divine infallible proof therefore my faith and obedience must ultimately pesolve into humane authority The Apostles were infallible yet had not they dominion over the faith of the Church 2 Cor. 12.24 to command what should be believed and practised but they proved by infallible and divine Testimony of miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost that what they taught came from God and so the belief of the people was built upon the Testimony of God to the Apostles doctrine 1. Cor. 2.4 5. the Apostle saith his preaching was in demonstration of the spirit and of power That their faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God If their faith had been grounded upon the Apostles own Testimony of his self that he was infallible and upon his determination concerning any Scripture or doctrine out of his own wisdom though he had seemed to prove it strangely their faith had stood upon the authoty wisdom of man but therefore their faith was built on God because his spirit did powerfully demonstrate what the Apostle preacht to be from God therefore unless the Papists can prove their infallibility by miracles and demonstration of the spirit theirs is but a humane Testimony and so we know it is and a false one too and therefore it is an intolerable abuse to take the Church off from faith and obedience to Christ as the head commanding and ruling her and from the holy Spirit as inditing and confirming the holy Scriptures and to subject her to the authority and determinations of fallible and sometimes most wicked men To let pass that the Papists themselves not being agreed who is the infallible supreme judge whether the Pope Council or the whole Church no man of them hath any sure foundation for his Faith If they say the Scripture declares who is the supreme infallible Judge I answer that Judge must again tell us what is the meaning of that Scripture The Pope saith it means him the Council and Church say it means them here are three pretenders to supreme and infallible authority and to interpret the Scripture which soever a man adheres to it is two to one but he is mistaken however here is no way to determine who is the infallible Judge unless there be infallible marks and Testimonies of it given by God and then they are of the supreme authority and neither Pope Council nor Church themselves but such they can never produce Thus the whole matter is but an inconsistent juggle to bring the Church into subjection to the Pope 3. Because the Church of Rome takes away the Scriptures from the people yea and alloweth the Clergy themselves the use of the corrupt vulgar Translation of the Bible only Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10.14 How then shall the people get Faith or grow in it when they must not have the Scriptures to read themselves nor have them read to them by their teachers but in an unknown tongue and that Translation so corrupt also that if any of them should understand Latin they would yet have much difficulty to find the truth The Scriptures are Christs Law whereby he governs his Church and the peoples Magna Charta the Charter of all their priviledges and of all Gods promises spiritual and temporal to take this from them is to deprive them both of the rule of their obedience and of the foundation of all their faith and hope in God This is not to be endured upon any pretence whatsoever 4. Because they impose the celebration of Gods worship in an unknown tongue the Papists celebrate their prayers Sacraments and singing of Psalms all in Latin which as they know the people understand not so they would not have them understand it by this means the people are deprived of all true worship For worship is the reverence and affection of the soul to God either in ascribing honour to him or desiring of him and trusting in him for whatever we need This it is impossible man should give to God in and by those words and expressions which he understandeth not which for what he knows may blaspheme God or beg a curse instead of a blessing which as managed by illiterate Priests oftentimes are nonsense and signifie nothing and sometimes contrary to sound Doctrine yea may at all times for what the people know be directed to an Idol or a Devil instead of God For preaching of the word the Papists pretend but little to it And thus the Roman Church is a Church of Christ which acknowledgeth not him for her head and Governour nor his word for her rule and Law nor his worship for her practice but sabjecteth her self to a wicked man under the name of Christs Vicar taketh his will for her Law and his institutions for her worship without Question and without understanding This is an abuse Jot to be tolerated 5. The Idolary that the Papists impose on the Church the Apostle is express You cannot partake of the Table of the Lord and the Table of Devils the Cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils 1 Cor. wor-10 20 21. and these Devils he saith are shipped in Idols by Idolaters with whom therefore we must have no communion now the greatest part of the Papists worship consists in the worship and invocation of Saints Angels and the Virgin Mary and their waser-God which they practise upon the very same grounds on which the Heathens worshipt their Idols and therefore are Idolaters as well as the