not trouble themselves with the Divine Laws and Commands of Almighty God but that they must mind the Commands of the Romish Church and take great care to keep them If this be not sinning with an high hand let any Man of reason and understanding judge This sure looks like that Man of Sin 2 Thess 2.6 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And if Saul was rebuked as a Rebel against God because he did not execute all God's Command 1 Sam. 15.22 well may the Romish Church be deemed such that is so far from keeping God's Commands that it doth set it self industriously to keep all others from keeping of them And they may justly fear that that Wo of our Saviour that he denounced against the Scribes and Pharisees may light upon them also Matt. 23.13 But wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in This seems to be their practice and they have just cause to fear this Doom And their Practice in imposing a blind Belief upon their Proselytes and Members requiring them to believe as their Church believeth without examining is not agreeable with the sacred Word of God We are to examine things by the Word of God and not to take all for Truth and Right that Seducers and others would impose upon us for such This is peculiar to the brute Beasts to be led wholly by the guide and conduct of Man and never to consider whether the things be Good or Evil Right or Wrong that they do But Men of all Ranks are endowed with Reason and Understanding and are made Masters of their own Actions and every one of us must give an account of himself to God Rom. 14.12 and therefore they are not to be led thus blindfolded by others like Beasts that are void of reason And the sacred Scriptures which are to be our Rule of Faith and Obedience do shew that we ought not to be led so blindly by others This our blessed Lord sheweth Matt. 23.8 9 But be not ye called Rabbi saith he for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are brethren And call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven No one is to take upon him to be our Master in such a high manner as our blessed Lord is so And we are to own no one for our Father in such a high manner as God is so to command our Faith and Obedience in such a high manner as he may and we are to account no one our Father in any way of competition with him And the Apostles themselves disclaimed the having any dominion over Men's Faith as St. Paul sheweth 2 Cor. 1.24 Nor for that we have dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy The Apostles claimed no such Power over Men to make them believe what they pleased but only what God required them to believe And we are often told both by our blessed Lord and the Apostles that there would come Impostors and Deceivers and are warned to have a great care that we be not seduced by their Heresies and Errors And this plainly shews that we are not to be led blindly by others but to examine every thing carefully by the sacred Scriptures Matt. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves saith our Lord. And saith the Apostle Acts 20.29 For I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Therefore watch And 1 Tim. 4.1 Now saith the Apostle the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lyes in hypocrisie And saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 2.1 But there were false Prophets among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies And Rev. 2.9 saith our Saviour by St. John And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan And ver 20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that Woman Jezebel which calleth her self Prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols And Rev. 3.9 Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lye And again Rev. 18.4 And I heard saith St. John another voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues By all these frequent Warnings and such like to have a care that we be not seduced by false Prophets and Teachers it doth plainly appear that it is our duty not to be led blindfoldly as the Romish Church would have us but to be very circumspect and careful who and what we give credit to And some of these places as I have shewed do respect the Romish Church and do particularly warn us against the Errors thereof And we are also cautioned by our blessed Lord and the Apostles to be very circumspect and careful herein and not to let Men impose upon us what they please Mar. 4.24 And he said unto them Take heed what you hear And Luk. 8.18 Take heed therefore how ye hear And saith St. Paul 1 Thess 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good And saith St. John 1 Joh. 4.1 Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God And saith St. Paul Ephes 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words By these and such Admonitions and Exhortations we see that it is our duty to try and examine all things well before we believe and practise them and not blindly to believe and follow others in matters of weight and moment And we may see that when people believe and follow a false Prophet or a false Guide it is at their own Peril and Hazard and that this will not excuse them and free them from the danger that they run in going a wrong way And this also will clearly prove to us that we are to look well to our selves and not to be led blindly by others without proof from the Word of God The People that heeded the false Prophets did it to their sorrow Jer. 14.16 And the people to whom they prophesie shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the Famine and the Sword and they shall have none to bury them And they that follow a blind Guide are like to speed as he doth
see is flat contrary to the express Word of God In these matters concerning Marriages it is clear that their Practice is not agreeable to the sacred Word of God XII Their Doctrine of Purgatory and their Masses and Prayers and Absolutions for the delivering of men from thence are not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures And first we may see that the places alledged to prove these will prove no such thing Our Saviour hath told us Matt. 12.32 That whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world or age neither in the world or age to come But this place doth not prove that any sins shall be forgiven in another world which are not forgiven in this This only shows that no pardon at all was to be granted to this sin And so it is explained in St. Mar. 3.29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal Damnation This place in St. Matthew is clearly explained to us by the Spirit of God how we are to understand it and nothing like Purgatory we see can be drawn from it And we may see that such expressions as these in the Scriptures prove nothing at all to this purpose Our Saviour saith concerning the man that was born blind Joh. 9.3 Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents But this is no proof that other men do sin before they are born into the World Nor does this place prove that sins shall be forgiven in another world which are not forgiven in this And if some sins were to be forgiven in another World that would belong to God and men here upon earth have nothing to do to order the affairs of the World to come and are in ignorance as concerning the State and Condition of the greatest part of particular men tho' something may be known concerning a few And great arrogancy and vanity it is for men here to pretend to order the affairs of the World to come and another life Again saith our Saviour Matt. 5.25 26 Agree with thine Adversary quickly whilest thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Here our blessed Saviour doth exhort and persuade men to repent and amend their lives and to make satisfaction for all the Injuries and Wrongs that they have done to others while it may be done here in this World and lets them know that if they do not take this wise course to make satisfaction now they shall hereafter be dealt with with great rigor and severity like one that suffers the extremity of the Law and is not released from prison till he hath paid the uttermost farthing that was due from him These words till thou hast paid do not prove that such an one shall be released but are rather to be understood of lying in hell for ever But here is nothing like Purgatory and no proof that men shall be delivered from thence by Absolutions and Prayers and Masses c But this place instead of proving of Purgatory is a strong argument to prove that there is no such place For here we see that our Saviour doth exhort men to take such a course in due time that they may not be cast into prison and if they will be wise betimes and take care he sheweth that men may escape this prison and not come into it at all And when men are cast into this prison he doth plainly affirm that they cannot be discharged from thence by Absolutions nor be begged and bought out thence by Prayers and Masses c. Again we read of the Holy Jerusalem Rev. 21.27 That there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth But this is no proof at all that men must be purged in Purgatory after death And the Word of God doth plainly teach us that we are to be purged and cleansed other ways We are cleansed and sanctified by Baptism by the Word and Spirit of God and by the blood of Christ and not by Purgatory after death 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed saith St. Paul but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God And saith our Saviour Joh. 15.3 Now ye are clean thro' the Word which I have spoken unto you And Ephes 5.25 saith the Apostle Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish And saith St. John 1 Joh. 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Here we see how men are cleansed and purified and made fit to enter into the Holy Jerusalem And here we see that there is no need of Purgatory and that men are not cleansed and purified this way but that they are purified by the Ordinances of Christ by repentance and forsaking of their sins and evil ways by being baptized into the Christian Religion and living of holy and innocent lives according to the Doctrine and Commands thereof and by the precious blood of Christ and by the Holy Spirit of God These Texts of Scripture do plainly prove to us that there is no such place as Purgatory because there is no need of it and men are not cleansed and purified by it but are purified by other ways and means Nothing like Purgatory can be gathered from this place in the Revelation chap. 21. ver 27. Again saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.18 19 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison And these Spirits the Papists would have to be in Purgatory and that Christ by his Spirit went to preach to them But this will prove nothing to their purpose For these are those sinful Wretches that were disobedient in the days of Noah and then it was that Christ preached to them by his Spirit in Noah and the righteous men in those days And thus saith St. Peter ver 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison Which some time were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing And while the long-suffering of God waited for their repentance in the days of Noah then it was that Christ preached to them by his
Matt. 15.14 Let them alone saith our Lord they be blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch With blind Guides we see we may go to the Pit of Destruction And what will it profit us to have their company there to encrease our sorrow that we were so miserably deluded by them The Prophet that came to Bethel was slain by a Lion for returning back contrary to the Word of the Lord and yet the Prophet that brought him back pretended that he had an express Order from God to bring him back again 1 King 13.15 But notwithstanding this he was slain for his Disobedience So dangerous a thing we see it is for men to go contrary to the sacred Word of God through the vain persuasions of deluding men And Ahab perished and lost his life at Ramoth Gilead notwithstanding his false Prophets bid him go and prosper 1 Kin. 22. This Practice of the Romish Church to require poor Souls to believe what they please without any ground out of the Word of God is not agreeable with the sacred Scriptures we see and is fit for none but such as have abandoned and cast off all care of their Immortal Souls and are altogether regardless what becomes of them in another World Their keeping the sacred Scriptures in an unknown Tongue from the common People that they may not read them and practise the things therein contained And their imposing a blind Belief upon their Proselytes and Members requiring them to believe without Ground and Examination are both we see flat contrary to the blessed Word God and very sinful IV. Their performing their Worship and Divine Service in an unknown Tongue which the common People do not understand is not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures Such blind Service and Devotion is not fit for Men that are endowed with Reason and Understanding to use towards Almighty God who are to serve him with a reasonable and hearty Service And such vain Service and Babbling is not agreeable to the Word of God Eccl. 5.1 saith the Preacher Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil And sure to serve God with such a blind Worship and Service can be no better than the sacrifice of Fools when Men neither consider nor so much as understand whether the things which they utter or join in are good or evil We are to serve God in Spirit as our Lord hath taught us Jo. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth But this can be no spiritual service sure when Men neither regard nor understand what they say or say Amen to This can be no better than pure Lip-service if it may be allowed to be so much which God complaineth of as a thing not pleasing and acceptable to him without the heart Matt. 15.7 8 saith our Saviour Ye hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me And this is all that such blind Devotions can arrive to viz. to honour God with Lip and Mouth if they do so much And our Prayers and Devotions are to have a good influence upon our selves and to work good upon us That when we beg pardon for our sins we thereby should be made more sensible of our own vileness and unworthiness and the hainousness of our sins that we may be the more deterred from committing the like That in deprecating of Evil and praying for Good we may be made the more sensible of our own needs and wants and of the tender love and care and Fatherly affection that God hath for us and that he is full of Mercy and prone and forward both to give and forgive and that we by his example should be drawn to do the like And that in returning him Praise and Thanksgiving we might see how infinitely we are bound and obliged to him and thereby be moved to a greater sense of gratitude and to have our hearts more inflamed with love towards him again But such blind Devotions as are used in the Popish Church cannot well have such good influences upon our selves nor be so beneficial for the bettering of our Lives A devout performing of our Services to God with the heart and understanding will tend much to the working of good motions and desires and affections in us but such cannot well be affected by such a blind way of Worship God is to be loved with all the heart and mind and understanding Matt. 22.37 And so we may be sure that he is to be worshipped and served and not in such a manner as the Papists make the common People to worship him in an unknown Tongue which they understand not And this is clearly against the Doctrine of St. Paul to use an unknown Tongue in the worship of God which the common People understand not This he sheweth ought not to be done 1 Cor. 14.2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue saith he speaketh not unto men but unto God for no man understandeth him This he sheweth to be of no use to Men when they understand not the Language And ver 7 And even things without life giving sound whether pipe or harp except they give a distinction in the sounds how shall it be known what is piped or harped For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to the battel So likewise you except ye utter by the tongue words easie to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken There is an absolute necessity that what is spoken in the Congregation should be understood of the People And ver 11. Therefore saith he if I know not the meaning of the voice I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me Here the Apostle sheweth how useless and insignificant a strange Tongue is to such as understand it not and that there can be no communion in such a case And ver 14 15. For if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful What is it then I will pray with spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also The Spirit of him that prayeth in a strange Tongue may be well affected but the Understanding will be altogether unfruitful and to such as understand him not the speaker will be but a Barbarian and they will not know whether he blesseth or curseth And we are to worship and serve God with all the powers and faculties of our Souls and this we cannot do in an unknown Tongue Ver. 16. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of
of our Saviour and the Apostle XI The Practice of the Romish Church in respect of Marriages is not agreeable to the Word of God First The prohibiting the Marriage of Clergy-men is not agreeable to the Word of God The Word of God alloweth them to marry as well as other men if they see good cause for it and it is great Tyranny and an evil thing to deny them this Liberty The Law of God allowed the Priests and even the High Priests to marry as we may see Lev. 21.7 and in several other places They shall not take a wife that is a whore or profane neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband for he is holy unto his God And ver 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity The Priests might marry notwithstanding God accounted them holy to himself and would not suffer them to profane themselves in many other respects wherein the Common People might profane themselves And we see that Aaron and his Sons were married men and yet were the High Priests of the Jews and that they married as they saw good observing only the limitations of the Law of God And the Gospel doth allow all men liberty to marry that see good cause for it And it doth require that those should marry that have not the gift of continency and cannot well otherwise keep themselves chast but it tolerates no whoredom at all 1 Cor. 7.2 saith St. Paul Nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband Here is no exception but all may marry that see need for it And saith the Apostle Heb. 13.4 Marriage is honourable in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge And St. Paul doth plainly shew that Bishops and Deacons might be married men 1 Tim. 3.2 A Bishop then said he must be blameless the husband of one wife He that had not married one Wife and put her away and married another as the Jews sometimes did but had married but one Wife he might be a Bishop And so might the Deacons be married men as we may see ver 8 And St. Paul alloweth Bishops and Elders to be married men in his Instructions to Tit. 1.5 And it doth appear that St. Peter the Apostle was a married man mention being made of his Wives Mother Matt. 8.14 Mar. 1.30 1 Cor. 9.5 And the Apostle tells us that it is better to marry than to burn 1 Cor. 7.9 But if they cannot contain let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn Such as are in danger to be tempted to wickedness are not only allowed but advised to marry and keep themselves pure and not to fall to Whoredom And the Apostle sheweth that the forbidding of Marriage is a sinful and evil thing 1 Tim. 4.1 Now the Spirit speaketh expresly saith he that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils Forbidding to marry This is one thing that these sinful men would do And hereby we see that it is an unlawful thing to prohibit marriage and to keep any Order of men from their liberty herein which God hath granted to all The Practice of the Romish Church is not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures in not suffering the Clergy to marry To prohibit Marriage and to tolerate Whoredom is flat contrary to the sacred Word of God Secondly The Romish Church doth tolerate Incestuous Marriages and the Popes do grant Dispensations for such Marriages as are forbidden by the Word of God God hath forbidden all Incestuous Marriages in the Book of Leviticus and told us what persons we are to marry Lev. 18.5 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness I am the Lord. And the several degrees of persons that we are not to approach to are mentioned in this Chapter and in the twentieth Chapter of this Book And here we may see that the marrying a Brother's Wife is unlawful Lev. 18.16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife it is thy brother's nakedness And Lev. 20.21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife it shall be an unclean thing And John Baptist told Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his Brother's Wife Matt. 14.3 For Herod saith St. Matthew had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias sake his brother Philip's wife For John said unto him It is not lawful for thee to have her But notwithstanding these plain and positive Commands of God the Popes at their pleasure will grant Dispensations for the marrying of such persons as are here forbidden and for marrying a Brother's Wife Thirdly The Practice of the Romish Church in dissolving of lawful Marriages is not agreeable to the Word of God When a Marriage is lawfully contracted and duely solemnized it is not to be dissolved but only upon the account of Fornication This is our Saviour's determination in this Matter Matt. 5.31 It hath been said whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery And Matt. 19.3 The Pharisees came unto him tempting him and saying unto him Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause And he answered and said unto them Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female And said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder And again Mar. 10.8 And they twain shall be one flesh so then they are no more twain but one flesh What therefore God hath joined together let no man put asunder This we see is a sacred Knot and a work that God hath done when it is lawfully done according to his order and not to be dissolved by man except in the case of Fornication And saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 7.10 11. And unto the married I command yet not I but the Lord Let not the wife be separated from her husband But and if she be separated let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away his wife Christians are not to put away their Wives but were even to keep their Heathen Wives if they would live with them and not leave their Husbands because they were Christians But notwithstanding Marriage is so sacred a thing and we are commanded not to dissolve it yet the Church of Rome doth dissolve the Marriage of all Priests and we see that the Marriage of the Clergy is as lawful as the Marriage of other men This we
any thing out of the sacred Oracles to countervail what is said of it Again we may see that it is an impossible thing for one spiritual Pastor to superintend and overlook the Affairs of the whole Church and to do it in such a Christian manner as it ought to be done There is no more likelihood that one Bishop should Rule and see to the whole Church than that one Temporal Prince should govern the whole World which hath never yet been done since it hath been overspread with Inhabitants It is altogether impossible for one Pastor to take Care of the Church that is scattered into the four quarters of the Earth and to administer Assistance to places a thousand or perhaps four or six thousand miles from him To such he can be nothing but an Inutile Pondus and hinder them of that speedier Help and Succour which otherwise they might have by having Pastors of their own that could act without waiting for his tedious Commissions And it is clear that particular and National Churches had Power to govern themselves without any dependance at all upon the Church of Rome The Epistles to the Corinthians do shew that they had Power to govern their own Church according to St. Paul's Direrections and Commands 1 Cor. 5.12 Do not ye judge them that are within saith the Apostle And by the Power of Christ were they to deliver over the Incestuous Person to Satan ver 4 5 In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ saith St. Paul when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus In this weighty Matter which was to be done in such a solemn manner there was no need of any Authority from St. Peter or Rome but they might act of themselves with the Power of Christ And saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in order By this Chapter and other places in his Epistles to the Corinthians we may clearly see that St. Paul doth give them full Power to govern and rule their own Church without any dependance at all upon Rome or any other Church And the Epistles to Timothy and Titus do plainly shew that they had Power to do so too And our Lord as I have shewed before hath expresly declared that no one of his Disciples should Lord it over the rest as the Kings of the Gentiles did Matt. 20.25 And this plainly shews that all the Pretences of the Roman Church of this kind are vain and groundless and not at all consistent with the Gospel of Christ But farther It is our Lord's Prerogative and Peculiar to be the Chief Shepherd and the Universal Head of all the Church and those that do assume such a Title invade his Prerogative and Right This the Apostles shews that our blessed Saviour Christ is the Supreme Head of the Church and the Chief Shepherd thereof Ephes 1.20 Which he wrought in Christ saith the Apostle when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all Principality and Power And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his Body And saith he Ephes 5.23 For the husband is the head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church And again Col. 1.18 And he is the Head of the Body the Church who is the beginning the First-born from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence And St. Peter sheweth that Christ is the Chief Shepherd 1 Pet. 5.4 And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear saith he ye shall receive a Crown of glory that fadeth not away And he tells the dispersed Jews to whom he wrote that they ought not to Lord it over God's Heritage ver 3. Neither as being Lords over God's heritage but being ensamples to the flock We see that no Bishops are to Domineer over the Church and that it is our Lord 's Right and Peculiar to be the Head and chief Shepherd of the Church and that no one ought to invade this Right and Prerogative of his And no one ought to be forward to give such Supremacy and Preeminence to any earthly Bishop and think it a light thing to do so Lastly Those that keep not the Doctrine of the Gospel pure and uncorrupt but fall to gross Errors and Heresies can be no true Governors of the Church at all much less the supreme Governors thereof This the sacred Scriptures plainly shew A Bishop must be blameless saith St. Paul Tit. 1 7-9 as the Steward of God Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers And such men as act flat contrary to the Gospel of Christ do make void their Authority Matt. 5.19 saith our blessed Saviour Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven And Joh. 15.6 If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned No one must pretend to be a Pastor under our blessed Lord that doth not carefully observe his Doctrine and Commands but must then expect to be cast out like a withered branch that is to be cast into the fire and burned And St. Paul sheweth that an Apostle or an Angel that should pretend to come from Heaven which should preach contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel is not to be heard and heeded but to be accounted accursed Gal. 1.8 But tho' we saith he or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be Accursed As we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed But it is plain by these Papers that Popery is another Gospel in that they make the Pope the supreme Head of the Church and allow him a Power to over-rule and disannul the sacred Commands of our blessed Lord at his own pleasure and to set up his own Commands in the room of them And how can the Bishops of Rome then that establish another Gospel and whom the Apostle here pronounceth accursed for so doing How can they I say be any Pastors at all of Christ's Church And what good Christian then that is zealous for our blessed Lord and his sacred Commandments can comply in such a sinful Religion as Popery is And saith St. John 2 Joh. 9 Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not
he might have an opportunity of doing an act of mercy and kindness to him even at that time when he came to apprehend our Lord and to take him away to be crucified And he cured his ear again that no one might have any just cause to complain that any injury or wrong was done to him by Christ or his Disciples And when his Disciples would have called for fire to come down upon the Samaritans as Elias did because the Samaritans would not entertain them perceiving that they were Jews he rebuked them and told them that he was not come to destroy mens Lives but to save them Luk. 9.54 And when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did But he turned and rebuked them and said ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of For the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them And from hence it is plain that the Disciples of the blessed Jesus ought not to destroy mens lives but to do what they well can to save them Ananias indeed and Sapphira his Wife were stricken dead upon St. Peter's admonition of them Acts 5.1 But this seems to be done by the immediate power of God and St. Peter caused no violent hand to be laid upon them And this was for a very great Crime for lying to the Holy Ghost and to God And such sins against the Holy Ghost men are not now well capable of committing except God should now vouchsafe such evidence and demonstration of the Holy Spirit as was then which is not to be expected This place cannot be any encouragement at all now to Cruelty and Bloodshed Elymas for his wickedness was stricken blind upon St. Paul's words Acts 13.11 But this seems also to be done by the immediate power of God and it is probable that he had still time to repent and God might thus afflict him that he might be brought to repentance hereby if he would St. Paul ordered that the incostruous Person at Corinth should be delivered to Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 But this was for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus That by such chastisement he might be brought to repentance and so be saved He also delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan 1 Tim. 1.20 But it was that they might learn not to blaspheme He ordered also that an heretick after the first and second admonition should be rejected Tit. 3.10 But gave Titus no command to put him to death And our blessed Saviour commanded his Apostles when he sent them forth to be harmless like Doves Matt. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves Our blessed Lord and his Apostles practiced nothing like this bloody Cruelty and he commanded his Apostles the quite contrary and shews that he came into the World upon no such design but for a quite contrary end And the Gospel is full of Precepts commanding the highest charity and love and goodness that can be to all men even to our enemies Matt. 5.44 saith our Saviour But I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you That ye may be the Children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And to this purpose Luk. 6.27 This universal love and charity are we to exercise that we may be the Children of God and imitate his universal love and kindness and if we do not so we shall not approve our selves to be the true Children of God And saith St. Paul Rom. 12.14 Bless them which persecute you bless and curse not And ver 20 Therefore if thine Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good And saith he Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith or faithfulness meekness temperance These are the works of the good Spirit of God and not Bloodshed and Cruelty And saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.22 See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently And 1 Pet. 2.15 For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men This and not the Sword and Rack and Fire is the way that he prescribes to silence the ignorance of the foolish And 1 Pet. 4.8 And above all things saith he have fervent charity among your selves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins This fervent and universal love and charity doth the Gospel require And so far ought we to be from malice and cruelty towards others that we should rather be ready to lay down our own Lives for them when it is likely to be beneficial to them as St. John shews 1 Job 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God saith he because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren And so far is the Gospel of Christ from tolerating and giving any encouragement to such bloody Cruelty and merciless Practices that it flatly declares that Murderers shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but that they are like to perish eternally and to go to their Father the Devil that was a Murderer from the beginning as our Saviour saith Joh. 8.44 That such are not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven St. Paul shews Gal. 5.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest saith he which are these Adultery fornication Envyings murders drunkenness revelling and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And saith St. John 1 Joh. 3.15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him For Envy and Hatred and Murder especially are men to be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven And saith St. John Rev. 21.8 But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Such bloody Murders and merciless Cruelties as are committed by the Romish Church are thus severely threatned in the Gospel and it Cries out aloud against them as directly contrary to it We are to lead holy and innocent Lives and to take great care that we do not cause the Christian Religion to be evil spoken of among Unbelievers Rom. 2.24 1 Tim. 6.1 Tit. 2.5 But such wicked and hellish Practices are the ready way to