A Brief and Impartial ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE OF THE Protestant Religion IT S PRESENT STATE IN THE WORLD ITS STRENGTH and WEAKNESS WITH THE Wayes and Indications of the Ruine or Continuance of its Publick National Profession By a Protestant LONDON Printed by J. A. and are to be Sold by Benjamin Alsop at the Angel and Bible in the Poultrey 1682. THE STATE and FATE OF THE Protestant Religion THE World is at this day filled with discourses about the Protestant Religion and the Profession of it and that not without cause The publick Opposition that is made unto it the Designs that are managed with Policy and Power for it's utter Extirpation and the Confidence of many that they will take Effect must needs fill the minds of them whose Principal Interest and concerns lye in it with many Thoughts about the Event Never was there a greater Cause brought on the Stage for a Tryal A Cause wherein the Glory of God is concerned above any thing at this day in the World A Cause wherein the most Eminent prevailing Powers of the Earth are visibly ingaged as unto its Ruine and whereunto all the Diabolical Arts of men are employed A cause wherein those who embrace that Religion do judge that not only their Lives but the Eternal welfare of them and their Posterity is inevitably concerned This cannot but fill the minds of all men with various conjectures about the Issue of these things according as their Interest works in them by Hopes and Fears Some of them therefore do Endeavour by their Counsels and other wayes for the Preservation and Continuance of this Protestant Religion amongst our selves according as they have an Accession unto publick Affairs And some whose Lot is cast into a private capacity do engage Faith and Prayer unto the same purpose The Enemies of it in the mean time are powerful active and restless many amongst us being uncertain in their minds as not resolved where to fix their Interest and a greater multitude like Gallio care for none of these things This being a matter therefore wherein all men who have any sence of Religion are so deeply concerned it may not be unseasonable Briefly to enquire what is this Protestant Religion which is so contended about what is it's present State in the World What it 's Strength and Weakness as unto it's publick Profession and what is like to be the Issue of the present contest This is that which the ensuing Leaves are designed unto and it is hoped they may be of use unto some to extricate their minds from involved fruitless Thoughts to direct them in their Duty and to bring them unto an acquiescency in the Will of God The Protestant Religion may be considered either as it is Religion in General that is Christan Religion or as it is distinct from and opposite unto another pretended Profession of the same Religion whereon it is called Protestant In the first sence of it it derives it's Original from Christ and his Apostles What they taught to be believed what they commanded to be observed in the Worship of God All of it and nothing but that is the Protestant Religion Nothing else belongs unto it in nothing else is it concerned These therefore are the Principles of the Religion of Protestants whereinto their Faith and Obedience are resolved 1. What was revealed unto the Church by the Lord Christ and his Apostles is the whole of that Religion which God will and doth accept 2. So far as is needful unto the Faith Obedience and Eternal Salvation of the Church what they taught revealed and commanded is contained in the Scriptures of the New Testament witnessed unto and confirmed by those of the Old 3. All that is required of us that we may please God be accepted with him and come to the Eternal Enjoyment of him is that we truely believe what is so revealed and taught yielding sincere Obedience unto what is commanded in the Scriptures Upon these Principles Protestants confidently propose their Religion unto the Tryal of all mankind If in any thing it be found to deviate from them if it exceeds in any Instance what is so revealed taught and commanded If it be defective in the Faith or Practice of any thing that is so revealed or commanded they are ready to renounce it Here they live and dye from this Foundation they will not depart This is their Religion And if these Principles will not secure us as unto our present acceptance with God in Religion and the Eternal Enjoyment of him he hath left all Mankind at an utter uncertainty to make a blind venture for an invisible World which is altogether inconsistent with his Infinite Wisdom Goodness and Benignity Being in possession of these Principles of Truth and Security from Christ and his Apostles it belongs unto the Protestant Religion not to change or forgo them and to repose our confidence in the Infallibility or Authority of the Pope of Rome or of the Church whereof he is the Head For these Principles of Assurance are such as every way become the Wisdom and Goodness of God and such as that our Nature is not capable in this life of those which are higher or of a more illustrious Evidence Let the contrary unto either of these be demonstrated and we will renounce the Protestant Religion To forgo them for such as are irreconcilable unto Divine Wisdom and Goodness as also to the common Reason of Mankind is an effect of the highest Folly and of strong Delusion For that all Mankind should be obliged to place all their Confidence and Assurance of pleasing God of living unto him and coming unto the Enjoyment of him for Eternity on the Pope of Rome and his Infallibility however qualified and circumstantiated considering what these Popes are and have been is Eternally irreconcilable unto the Greatness Wisdom Love and Kindness of God as also unto the whole Revelation made of himself by Jesus Christ. The Principles of Protestant Religion before mentioned do every way become are highly suited unto the Nature and Goodness of God No man living shall ever be able to instance in one Tittle of them that is not correspondent with Divine Goodness and Wisdom But on the first naming of this other way no man who knows any thing what the Pope is and what is his Church if he be not blinded with Prejudice and Interest will be able to Satisfie himself that it is consistent with Infinite Goodness and Wisdom to commit the Salvation of Mankind which he values above all things unto such a Security Neither hath this latter way any better consistency with Humane Wisdom or the common Reason of Mankind namely that those who are known many of them to be better and wiser men than those Popes should resolve their Religion and therein their whole Assurance of pleasing God with all their hopes of a blessed Eternity into the Authority and Infallibility of the Pope and his Church Seeing many of them
the most of them especially for some Ages have been Persons wicked ignorant proud sensual and brutish in their Lives This then is the Foundation of the Protestant Religion in that it is built on those Principles which are every way suited unto the Divine Nature and Goodness as also satisfactory unto Humane Reason with a refusal of them which are unworthy of infinite Wisdom to give and the ordinary Reason of men to admit or receive Secondly as the name Protestant is distinctive with respect unto some other pretended profession of Christian Religion so it derives this denomination from them who in all Ages after the Apostasie of the Church of Rome came to be expresly Antichristian departed from the Communion of it opposed it reformed themselves and set up the true Worship of God according unto the Degrees and measures of Gospel Light which they had received This was done successively in a long tract of Time through sundry Ages until by an Accession of Multitudes Princes and People unto the same Profession they openly testified and Protested against the Papal Apostasie and Tyranny whence they became to be commonly called Protestants And the Principles whereon they all of them proceeded from first to last which constitute their Religion as Protestant were these that follow 1. That there are in the Scripture Prophesies Predictions and Warnings especially in the Book of the Revelation and the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians that there should be a great Apostasie or Defection in the visible Church from the Faith Worship and Holiness of the Gospel and in Opposition unto what was appointed of Christ the Erection of a worldly Carnal Antichristian Church-state composed of Tyranny Idolatry and Persecution which should for a long time Oppress the true Worshippers of Christ with Bloody Cruelty and at last be it self consumed with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroyed by the Brightness of his coming This Defection was so plainly foretold as also the beginning of it in a Mystery of Iniquity designed even in the dayes of the Apostles that Believers in all Ages did expect the accomplishment of it by the Introduction of an Antichristian State and Power though the manner of it was hidden from them until it was really fulfilled I say from the dayes of the Apostles and the giving out of those Prophesies and Predictions of the coming of Antichrist and an Apostate Church State with him all Christians in all Ages did believe and expect that it should come until it 's real coming in a way and manner unexpected confounded their apprehensions about it 2. Their second Principle as Protestants was that this Defection and Antichristian Church State so plainly foretold by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures was openly and visibly accomplished in the Church of Rome with the Nations that had Subjected themselves unto the Yoke thereof Therein they found and saw all that Tyranny and Oppression all that Pride and self Exaltation above every thing that hath the Name of God upon it all that Idolatry and false Worship all that departure from the Faith of the Gospel all that contempt of Evangelical Obedience which were foretold to come in under and constitute the fatal Apostasie 3. Hereon their third Principle was that as they valued the Glory of God the Honour of Christ and the Gospel their own Salvation and the Good of the Souls of others they were obliged to forsake and renounce all Communion with that Apostate Church though they saw that their so doing would cost many of them their dearest Blood or Lives 4. They were convinced hereon that it was their Duty publickly to Protest against all those Abominations to Reform themselves as unto Faith Worship and Conversation according unto the Rules before laid down as those that are Fundamental unto Christian Religion These were the Principles whereon Christian Religion as it is Protestant was reintroduced into the World after it had been not only obscured but almost excluded out of it as unto it's publick Profession And these Principles are avowed by all true Protestants as those whereon they are ready at all times to put their Cause and Profession on the Trial. The Way whereby the Profession of this Protestant Religion was introduced on these Principles and made publick in the World under the Antichristian Apostasie was the same whereby Christian Religion entred the World under Paganisme Namely by the Prayers Preaching Writings Sufferings and Holiness of Life of them who embraced it and were called to promote it And herein their Sufferings for the number of them that suffered and variety of all Cruel Preparations of Death are inexpressible It is capable of a full Demonstration that those who were Slain by the Sword and otherwise destroyed for their Testimony unto Christ and the Gospel in opposition unto the Papal Apostasie and Idolatry did far exceed the number of them that Suffered for the Christian Religion in all the Pagan Persecutions of Old A Plant so soaked and Watered with the Blood of the Martyrs will not be so easily plucked up as some Imagine Nay it is probable it will not go out without more blood of sufferers I mean than it was introduced by which yet no man knows how to conceive or express But it had no sooner fixed its Profession in some Nations but it was loaden with all manner of Reproaches charged with all the Evils that fell out in the World after its entrance and by all sorts of Arts and pretences rendred suspected and hateful unto Princes and Potentates Whatever is Evil in or unto Mankind especially unto the Interest of great men was with great Noise and Clamour charged on it For so it was in the first entrance of the Christian Religion under Paganisme There was neither Plague nor Famine nor Earthquake nor Inundation of Water nor War nor Invasion by Enemies but all was charged on that New Religion And the Reason hereof was not only the Hatred of the Truth through the Love of Sin and Unrighteousness and an ingrafted power of Superstition through blind Devotion but Principally because for a long Tract of Time the whole of the Profession of Religion had been suited unto the Secular Interests of men supplying them under various pretences with Power Domination Territories Titles Revenues Wealth Ease Grandeur and Honour with an Insinuation into and power over the Consciences of all sorts of Persons a thing very desirable to men of corrupt Minds and easily turned into an Engine unto very bad and pernicious Ends. That the whole Complex and all it's parts in their various motions and Operations of the Christian Religion in the Papacy is framed and fitted unto these Ends so as to give satisfaction unto all corrupt and Ambitious desires in men is palpable unto all that are not wilfully blind But this Protestant Religion so introduced stated the Interest of Christian Religion in a way and design utterly inconsistent herewith and destructive of it And this was to
made use of unto this End and all in vain And it was for a while the Judgment of most Wise men that the Council of Trent had rendred all Reconciliations so much as by a pretence of any Condescention on the part of Rome utterly impossible For it hath bound it self and all the World that will own its Authority under Solemn Curses not to make any change or Alteration in the present State of the Papal Church though the Salvation of all Men living should depend thereon Yet notwithstanding the fixing of this unpassable Gulph between the two Churches or Religions some persons professing the Protestant Religion either angry at their Station and disappointments in the World or Ambitious above their Station in the Protestant Church though of the Highest Dignity attainable in it or out of an Itch or Curiosity of venting their Conciliatory Notions as they suppose them and so to entitle themselves unto the name of Peace-makers have in the foregoing and present Age revived the same fruitless Design but hitherto without success But it must be confessed that at present things are more prepared for the plying of this Engine and making it Effectual unto the Ruine of the Protestant Religion than they were in former Ages whereof I shall give some Instances Sundry Learned men who have made themselves of great Name and Reputation thereby have in their publick Writings granted a Patriarchal Primacy in the West unto the Bishop of Rome which is meet to be restored And therewithall they have relinquished the true Grounds of the Reformation For whereas the real Causes and Reasons of it were the Idolatry Heresies and Tyranny of the Church of Rome which every private Christian might understand and was bound to Separate from in his own Person were there no other of his Mind in the World but himself alone and had Right so to do they have resolved it into the Power of a National Church in that Patriarchate with their Supream Civil Ruler to reform it self from such things as they esteem abuses Now as this is a matter wherein the Consciences of the People or private Christians are not concerned so it is built on sundry Arbitrary presumptions that have not the least Countenance given unto them from the Word of God And as this Endeavour tends directly to divert the Minds of Men from the true Causes and Reasons of the Reformation whereon all the Martyrs died so it leads directly upon a Relief against the pretended abuses to return unto the Pope as an Head of Unity and Peace unto all Churches at least in these Western parts of the World which is all that at present is pleaded for by many of the Papists themselves For the Dispute they say about the Pope his Power and Infallibility you need not trouble your selves let the Bishop of Rome in his Succession from St. Peter be acknowledged as an Head of Unity and Peace unto all Christians with a Patriarchal Power and no more shall be required of you that is at present for the Pope will be Pope whilest he is so that is until he is utterly cast out of the Church But by such Concessions as these the way is preparing for a composition as unto the outward Order and Rule of the Church As unto the Internal part of Religion in Doctrines of Faith there is no small advance towards a Reconciliation in the Introduction of Novel Opinions into the Protestant Profession For although on their first entrance among us they were publickly protested against by the Commons of England in Parliament as introductory of Popery yet their prevalency since hath been so great as that their Abettors are ready to avow them as the Doctrine of the present Church Yet are they all of them opposite unto the fundamental Principles of the Reformation which were to exalt the Grace of God and debase the Pride of Men from the contempt of which Principles all the Abominations of the Papacy did arise And this progress towards a Reconciliation is daily improved by the endeavours of some to lessen all the Doctrinal differences between the Papists and Protestants and to make them appear as things not worth the striving or contending about The same work is carried on by the labours and endeavours of many in their publick Writings to divert the making Application of Scripture Prophesies and Predictions of an Apostatical Antichristian Church-State unto the Church of Rome The perswasion hereof as it is a most undoubted Truth wherein the Souls of Men are concerned is the Principal means of preserving the Body of the People in an aversation unto Popery If you can once perswade them that the Pope is not Antichrist that the Church of Rome is not that Idolatrous Tyrannical State foretold in the Scripture many would be very indifferent how you treat with them or what composition you shall make for your selves But it is hoped that the broad Light which ariseth from the Evidence the Pope and his Church for many Ages have given of themselves so to be by their Idolatries Persecutions Murders Luciferian Pride trampling on the Power and Persons of Kings and all sorts of Persons in conjunction with the Characteristical Notes of Times Places Rise Progress Nature and Actings of that Church State in the Scripture will not easily be extinguished There is no small prevalency in the World of an Atheistical Principle lately advanced namely of Resolving all respect unto the publick Profession of Religion into the Wills and Laws of Men in Supream Power It is supposed herein that Men may be in their own Minds of what Religion they please and be as Religious as they will But for the preservation of Society it is meet that the Wills of Law-givers in all Nations should be the Sole Rule of the outward Profession of Religion Now although this Atheistical Opinion be destructive of Christian Religion condemning all the Professors of it from its first entrance into the World of the highest Folly imaginable yet being suited to accommodate all the Lusts and Interests of Men profane and ungodly it is incredible what a progress in a short time it hath made in the World And those who have imbibed it are ready for all such compositions in Religion as may be supposed any way Commodious unto their Inclinations and Interests I shall only mention that which of all other things is of the worst abode namely the Loss of the Power of Religion in all sorts of Persons The Protestant Religion will not any where long maintain its Station any otherwise than by an Experience of its Power and Efficacy on the Souls of Men. Where this is lost through the power of prevalent vitious Habits of the minds of Men the whole of that Religion will be parted withall at an easie Rate For there is another continually proposed unto them with those entertainments for Mens Fancies and carnal Affections with those accommodations for their Lusts Living and Dying with outward Secular advantages that this
Religion is not capable of nor accompanied withall This is that which guided with an Eye to outward Advancement hath in the last Age lost great numbers of the Nobility of France and Poland and other places from the Profession of the Gospel whose Ancestors were renowned Champions for the Truth of it For to what end should Men entertain a Religion which they find no inward Spiritual Advantage by and are for the Profession of it exposed unto all sorts of outward disadvantages And this sort of Men will at any time greedily embrace such a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome as by the Terms of it may a little shelter their Reputation and make a pretence of Satisfying some Traditiona Convictions of the Truth which they had professed Moreover unless it be diligently watched against weariness is apt to grow on many of the Clergy of that Spiritual Rule and Conduct of the People which according to the Principles of the Protestant Religion is committed unto them For there hath by Vertue thereof so much Light and Knowledge been diffused among the People and such a valuation of their Spiritual Liberty thereon which formerly they knew nothing of that there is an excellent Vertue and Piety with continual care and watchfulness required unto the Rule of them and yet when the best of Men have done their utmost herein also they will meet with that which shall exercise their Wisdom and Patience all their Dayes Neither hath Christ granted any Rule or Office in his Church on any other Terms nor will the state of his Subjects who are all Voluntiers permit it to be otherwise No wonder then if some do Like those Engines of an easie Rule namely Ignorance and blind Devotion in the People and so are Ready to return unto them again For it is a monstrous wearisome thing for Men of Heroick Governing Spirits to be obliged to give conviction from the Scripture unto such Persons as they judge impertinent of what they do much more to order their Conversation with strictness that no offence be taken at them This posture of things Men seem to be weary of and therefore do daily Relinquish them so far as they can pretend any consistency between what they do and the Religion which they profess But the utter shaking off of those Bonds and Manacles unworthy of Men of generous Spirits must needs seem more eligible unto them And if hereon such Terms of Reconciliation be offered as shall not only secure unto them their present Possessions and Dignities but give them also a prospect of farther advancement it is to be feared that many of this sort will judge it better to embrace things so desirable than to die in a Prison or at a Stake Besides all these there is at present a coincidence of Two things that exceedingly encline the Minds of many unto an Ecclesiastical Coalescency with the Church of Rome And these are First An Ignorance or Forgetfulness of what the Papacy was and will again be and then a sence of some provocations given or supposed to be given them by the Protestant Religion or those that profess it Alas what harm hath the Papacy ever done to them It may be they can give instances wherein they have had Advantage by it or by them that belong unto it But every thing which they suppose evil and find inconvenient unto their present inclinations they suspect to proceed from the Principles of the Protestant Religion from whence they have already received many provocations These are some of the Reasons which make it evident that there may be no small danger unto the publick Profession of the Protestant Religion the thing enquired after from the present Design of not a few to make a Reconciliation of the two Religions and to bring all Men into a Coalescency in Faith Worship and Rule with the Church of Rome Now as there is little Hope to prevail with them who are under the Power of these things and considerations or are influenced by them by Arguments Religious and Rational seeing they have all of them their Foundation in such corrupt Affections Inclinations and Interests as are more deaf than an Adder unto such Charms yet for the sake of others not as yet engaged by such Prejudices I shall manifest in a few Instances the folly and Wickedness of Attempting or complying with any Reconciliation with the Church of Rome For in the first place be it on what Terms it will it is a Renunciation of the Fundamental Principle of the Reformation namely that the Church of Rome is that Idolatrous Antichristian State which is foretold in the Scriptures For if it be so the Persons that belong unto it may be converted but the State it self is to be destroyed And to joyn our selves unto or coalesce in that Church State on any Terms whatever that the Lord Christ hath designed to destruction is both foolish in it self and will be ruinous in the issue unto our Souls For it will hence also follow that we interest our selves in the Guilt of all that innocent Blood which hath been shed by the Power of that Church-State for a dissent from it For this Guilt which is next unto that of the Church of the Jews in murdering the Head of the Church and every way Equal unto that of the Pagan World in the Blood shed in their Persecutions for which it was Temporally and Eternally destroyed lies charged on this Church-state and will reach unto all that shall choose an Ecclesiastical Conjunction therein And let such Persons flatter themselves whilst they please and slight these things as those wherein they are not concerned they will find them true to their cost here or hereafter Neither will Men of any Light or Ingenuity easily renounce the whole work of Gods Grace and Power in the Reformation and cast the Guilt of all the Divisions that have been in the World on the part of the Protestants For seeing they have all been on the account of the Church-state of Rome in opposition whereunto the Martyrs laid down their Lives a Coalescency on any Terms in and with that Church-state doth include a condemnation of all that hath been done or suffered in opposition thereunto The preaching of the Gospel hath been but a Fancy the suffering of the Martyrs was the highest Folly the Glory given to God on these accounts little less than Blasphemy is the Language of such a Coalescency The Vanity also of the Terms of Reconciliation which are or may be proposed is obvious unto all that are not wilfully blind For the Church of Rome preserving its essentially constitutive Principles and its Being as such can make no such Condescensions as shall not keep safe and secure the whole Malignity of their Faith and Worship When any thing that hath the shew or Appearance of a Concession as suppose Priests Marriage the Cup unto the Lasty and the Service of the Church in a known Tongue is proposed it is Natural for all Men