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
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
and all means of intercourse and confidence in each other may be dissolved when the Pope or a Priest pleaseth If any Papist pretend to disown any of these doctrines I demand by what rule he doth it By the Scripture the Law of Nations or the Law of nature they all maintain the Pope is above these These are not a perfect rule neither apart nor together nor do reach all cases if they did there were no need of an infallible head to direct the Church nor any warrant for most of the worship and practices of the Church of Rome If then the Pope be above all and infallible then a Papist must believe that in this and that particular case that concerns him he may and must break his Oaths deny his promises murder lye or commit any such enormity when commanded or else he prefers his own judgement above the Popes and denies his principles Whence we may see that no trust is to be reposed in a Papist because they are not masters of their own reason and Conscience of their Oaths and promises but the Pope and their Confessours have the disposal of them all and make them do as they please and so long as their Church challengeth a power and jurisdiction over all the world and is always contending for it it is to be supposed their rulers will always put them upon those things that promote their own interest 10. Their doctrines that extenuate sin and make forgiveness very easiy are nothing else but doctrines of wickedness They extenuate sin by their doctrine of venial sins which they say are praeter non contra Legem not commanded by God nor forbidden of him and therefore scarce to be called sins Such they make all first thoughts and motions of the mind and affections to be when there is not a deliberate assent with them all wandering thoughts distractions in holy duties the stirrings of the most vile affections with some titillation or pleasing are all but natural actions and infirmities which do not deserve Hell or the wrath of God They make pardon of sin very easie Upon confession to the Priest he doth absolve upon some easie penance almost any sin and those reserved cases which the Priest cannot pardon are forgiven by the Pope for money There is a printed book called Taxa poenitentiariae Apostolicae wherein the prices are set down for all manner of sins and in the general all sins against God and his Law are more easily forgiven than those against the Popes law and Tradition What need men fear to commit sin that can be so easily remitted especially to them that have money They have also another device of transferring their sins upon their friends viz. a few friends agree together to take each others sins upon them so that he who dieth first leaveth his sins to be satisfied for by the Survivours and they again take others into their number and so can sin securely having Executors to pay their debts for them when they are dead The Sacrifice of the Mass offered for them by the Priest alone expiates all sin so that for 6 pence or 12 pence a Mass any sins may be taken away though they be not present or concerned about it or be committing wickedness the mean while Lastly Though a man live all his days in wickedness if he die in the communion of the Church of Rome and be absolved by a Priest which is rarely denyed to any he must go but to Purgatory and there satisfie for all his sins and at last be saved and if he leave any thing to the Church or his friends will buy Masses or prayers for him his time in Purgatory shall be shortened and his pains lessned 3. Thirdly Their Practice is as wicked as their doctrine not that only of particular persons which is incident to all societies but the allowed practice of the Church and that whereby their State is upheld To instance in a few 1. They persecute and by all means destroy all that submit not to them in every thing so that in Rome is found the blood of all the Saints and Martyrs that have been slain in all the earth being shed by her command About the year 750. the Popes Gregory 2. and 3. begun wars against the Emperors and their adherents in the defence of Image worship and afterward renewed them to obtain the right of investitures or bestowing of all Ecclesiastical preferments and to deprive the Emperours of their power of electing the Pope till they had brought the Emperours under their feet and compelled all the Clergy to put away their Wives Thus the Popes ruined all Christendom for about 400. years till they had got all the power into their hands and ever since they have shed blood in abundance to preserve what they had gotten They began with the Waldenses about the year 1160. of whom Tâ—uanus saith they had slain above two Millions and they have added many thousands more of late years of that poor people Afterward they destroyed many thousands in Bohemia in Germany both in the former and late wars Virgerius who was the Popes Nuncio tells us that in the space of 30. years at the first resormation their inquisition in several parts had secretly made away 150000 persons The Duke of Alva Governour of the Neatherlands in a few years is said to cut off 36000. The French Massacre Ann. 1572. in one Month treacherously and barbarously destroyed above 30000. In the late Irish rebellion Ann. 1641. they destroyed above 300000. of all ages and conditions and what they have done and attempted and do still attempt upon this Land is well known All these were authorized by the Popes and had their benediction and prayers for success besides the innumerable company of Martyrs which they have put to death by form of tryals in all countreys 2. Their toleration of all uncleanness besides what they allow in their Clergy privately They have publick Stews in all Cities of Italy and Spain and the Pope has a tribute from them for their Licences Pope Sixtus the 4. built at his own Charge a famous Stew in Rome both for men and women Paul the 3. had Catalogues found amongst his Papers after his death of 45000. Strumpets who payed him a monthly imposition 3. They are allowed Simony i. e. selling of all Ecclesiastical offices There is another book called Taxa cancalleriae apostolicae i. e. of the Popes Chamber wherein the prices of all benefices and promotions are set down no places of any value are disposed of without money A nameless Papist dedicated a book to King James wherein he acquaints him that all the Popes from Clement the 7. Called the new man to his time had got the Popedom by Simony and other indirect means This he was able to prove but he might truly have said so did all the rest for many ages before In England formerly benefices have been sold to two three or more sometimes to ten several persons and