an absolute and totall Apostacy from the Christian Religion 'T is sufficient if it Symbolize with Paganism and very much resemble it This is also signified by what is said 13th chapter of the Revel that the Beast which was struck dead should revive again This Beast is the Roman Empire as Pagan There were two things considerable in that Beast His Kingdom and his Paganism the first had been struck dead by the Goths the other the Paganism had receiv'd a mortal Wound from the time of Constantine untill that of Theodosius but both must revive and recover again The Empire of the Beast in the Papal Domination and the Paganism in the Papal Religion The Papacy ressembles Paganism First in General because its Worship is neither Spirituall nor Rational as neither was the Religion of the Heathens Secondly in particular that the doctrines and worship of the Papacy are an imitation of the Pagan Religion by these two Articles of Conformity between Popery and Paganism I intend to prove the Paganism of the Romish Religion And in the first place I 'le prove that the Worship of the Papacy hath this in common with that of the Gentiles that it is neither Spiritual nor Reasonable The two Characters of Christian Worship are that it is Spiritual and National This is undeniable that the two great Characters of the Service and Worship of the Christian Religion are these two That it is Spiritual and that it is Rational By Spiritual I understand a Service freed from Ceremonies and bodily Observances By Reasonable I understand a Worship that is holy in its Institution full of Wisdom and Reason and proper to impress a lively sense of its Divinity by elevating the Soul unto God. Our Lord Jesus told the Samaritan Woman Woman believe me the hour Cometh John 4. c. v. 21 22 23 24. and now is that neither in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father The true Worshippers are they who worship in Spirit and in Truth God is a Spirit and they who worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth c. 'T is plain that the Spirit and a Spiritual Service are there appos'd to the Carnal Bodily Ceremonial Service of the Ancient Church S. Paul speaks in like manner to the Romans I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your Reasonable Service That is the other Character of the worship of Christian Religion 'T is true Judaism had a corporal worship bodily exercise but it was reasonable being full of deep mysteries of types and lessons of piety but the worship of the Heathens had neither Spirituality nor reason Christian worship is altogether both Spiritual and Rational Nothing can be more Rational than to pray to God to sing his praise to offer him thanksgivings to hear his word and preach it to keep his commandments to receive the sign of our washing in Baptism and of our Spiritual nourishment in the Sacrament of the Eucharist In the Popish Religion there is just as much of Spirituality and of Reason as there is of Christianity therfore we find there prayers to God and Thanksgivings and Sacraments But so far forth as Popery hath made additions to Christianity there is nothing that is either Spiritual or Rational Popish worship neither Spiritual nor Reasonable First their worship is covered under an unknown Language a dead and barbarous one which the People understand not and that alone were enough to take away all the reason and spirituality of any such worship For tho all that is contain'd under that language convered under that vaâ—l should be Spirit and Reason to the highest degree tho all should be devout pious full of unction and able to raise the soul to the third Heaven of what use could it be to what purpose could it serve we could perceive but the outside a frightfull carnal bark and cover that were only for the eye wherin even the ear can have no part but with respect to the symphony and Harmony of sounds Secondly All that we see is meerly corporeal viz. Churches adorn'd with extraordinary pride and pomp wherin is a glimmering Light mixt with darkness but inlightned with Lamps and candles with niches in the walls where we see Images of a Curious sculpture in rich and magnifick habits They who serve at their Altars have extraordinary garments both for matter and form and sometimes for cost too the service is not said but sung with Musick and the Masses of Great and Festival days accompanied with instrumental and vocal Musick The Body of the Clergy with all the People march often in great pomp a Cross lifted up and banners displaid and so walk thro the streets and sometimes the fields with this equipage The shrine of a Saint is sometimes carried in this manner before which one cries that all must kneel and all the people are presently on their knees Every year The God made by a Priest is carried in great pomp all the streets eccho with joy all places thro which they pass with this Ceremony are adorn'd with Tapistry and Pictures and the streets covered with Flowers nothing can be more like the pomp of Isis a part whereof is described by Apuleius Is this a spiritual and Rational worship Is not this like the Heathen worship who carried their Gods in procession upon sacred Chariots which they called Thensae Deorum Is not this to make Religion a meer spectacle a kind of Comedie In short all the devotion of the People comes to this to look upon Processions the shrines and Reliques of Saints the Ciborium where they put the H. Sacrament Altars Ornaments Tapistrys Pictures Images Crucifixes Priests Habits Canopies and the magnificence of the Train which follows according to Ceremony The Imagination and the Heart likewise are fill'd with this glittering outside and gawdy show which is so far from elevating the soul to God as is pretended that it stops and hinders it from mounting higher than to what is meerly external and earthly They pretend that this worship of theirs is very spiritual and full of Mysteries The Priest puts the Amict upon his head which is the name of his hood this signifies they tell us the Divinity of Jesus Christ which was hidden and concealed under his Passion He puts on the Albe or white surplice over his other cloaths because it is written thy garments shall be white and this to denote the Innocence of those who serve at the Altar The Subdeacon in some places kisses the right hand of the Priest who doth officiate because the right hand of the most High hath done valiantly The Priest or the Bishop doth sit down after the prayer in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ's fitting in the Temple to dispute with the Doctors of the Law. In a word there is not the most minute and trifling Ceremony of their worship but hath its
most Holy Virgin Mary the Mother of God almost every thing which is in the H. Bible In prosecuting this design the Virgin Mary must be found in the first word of the Bible By the Heavens which God created in the beginning we must understand the Empyreal Heaven i. e. the Lady of the World the V. Mary When God said Let there be Light the meaning is Let Mary be begotten and born Every thing that is Great and Singular in the Antient History is Mary She is the Altar which Noah built to God after the Deluge the Holocaust in which God will smell a sweet savour is the Prayers of the same Virgin the Virgin is the Bow in the heavens of which 't is said when I bring a cloud over the Earth the bow shall be seen She is the mystical Ladder which Jacob saw in a Dream for by her the Son of God descends to us and by her we ascend to him she is the Gate thro which we enter into the Kingdom of God 't was of the Virgin that Jacob spoke when he said how dreadful is this place 't is the House of God the Gate of Heaven The Jewish Tabernacle and all its parts did respect the Virgin. She is the Ark of the Covenant that is gone into Heaven before us to prepare us a place there She is the Mercy-seat of pure Gold because she was sanctifyed above others in her Mothers womb She is also the Altar of Burnt-offerings because she is the Reconciler and hath taken this Office at her going into Heaven We may judge of the whole piece by these small shreds A thousand and a thousand Copies have been taken from these two famous Originals the antient Preachers of the Roman Church adorned their discourses with these excellent flowers For example in Solomons Song they found a large field for these profane applications There the H. Spirit in a mysterious manner sets forth the Wonders of the Union between J. Christ and his Church by the Emblems of a Bridegoom and a Spouse These profane wretches apply all this to the Virgin as if the Mysteries of our Redemption and Union with J. Christ were verifyed and fulfill'd in her And to give greater authority to all these shameless applications they were brought even into the Hymnes of the Roman Church In them they say to the Virgin Tu quoe furentem Leviathan serpentem tortuosumque c. Thou bruisest under thy feet the furious Leviathan and the crooked Serpent an Elogy which the Oracle in Genesis gives to the Blessed Seed i. e. to J. Christ Another hymn speaks thus to her Scala Jacob ora pro nobis Jacobs Ladder pray for us Nor is less done to the other Saints every one of 'em hath his proper Votaries especially the modern Saints are much more feasted and caressed than the old The book of the Conformities between S. Francis and J. Christ is full of these Abominations That Author will have that God had his eye on S. Francis when he Created the first man. For to him those words ought to be applyed Let us make man in our Image after our Likeness and let them have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl c. There are none who have been so extravagant in abusing the H. Scripture as the Preachers of the Papacy For they have adopted all these profanations and over and above have peculiar ones of their own 'T was their profession to make the Scripture ridiculous and absurd by impertinent Expositions by expressions fit for the Stage and by the language of a Farce which they still used in all their discourses If any should dare to deny this we have at this day enough to convince the incredulous in the Sermons of Menot of Maillard of Barelette V. Exceptions from which we have made considerable citations and the consulting them will be useful to let us see the Character of Popery Tho their Preachers are not so sottishly extravagant in this age yet 't is certain that the same Character is to be discern'd in those who are newly come out of the Convent and have not convers'd with the world The Writers of Controversy Scripture abused by Controversial writers ought to be much more exact and circumspect in the using of the H. Scripture Preachers and those who write Books of Devotion have some Priviledge in this matter and may take some liberty in their Applications of Scripture provided that these applications are sutable to bring the soul unto God. But when we alledge Scripture as an evidence to decide a Controversy we must keep close to the true Intent of the H. Spirit Nevertheless one would pity and blush for the Controversial writers of the Church of Rome who boldly abuse and wrest the Scripture to prove their Doctrines We have ground already to say that all the proofs she brings from Scripture are real Abuses of it And what we have discoursed above to prove that the Papacy is not in the least sollicitous to have a conformity to the Rule of Christians might be repeated here But besides those abuses which the Papists are forced to employ otherwise they must in plain terms grant that the Scripture is not their Friend besides those I say we may find others which they could have spared Are not the words of Christ to S. Peter Thrust out a little from the land Panigarola and Launch out into the deep an excellent proof that S. Peter was first to erect his Episcopal Seat at Antioch and afterward to erect the Popes See and the Soveraign Tribunal of the Church in the City of Rome Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thy enemies Behold an express Text to prove the same thing viz. that Rome is to be the Metropolis of the Church the Queen of the world Christ saith to Peter Bozius Follow thou me i. e. Go and place thy Seat and that of my Kingdom at Rome Behold I lay in Ston for a foundation a tryed stone a pretious Corner stone i. e. I will establish the Pope to be the Lieutenant of God and the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth Bellarmin There is one Lord i. e. The Pope is the only Soveraign of the world Where two or three are gatherd together in my name Panigarola there I will be in the midst of them i. e. The Pope alone hath Authority to call general Councils Bellarmin Let a man so account of us as stewards of the mysteries of God i. e. There is a Treasure of Indulgences in the Popes keeping which he may dispense as he pleaseth Verily I say unto you Eckius this generation shal not pass away till all these things be fulfilld This signifieth that there shall be a constant succession of Bishops in the Roman Church Loose him and let him go did Christ say concerning Lazarus And this denotes that
Mysteries At present I appeal to the Consciences of all the men in the World whether the Behavior of Papists towards the H. Scriptures be not exactly like that of an indicted and convicted Criminal who goeth about to reproach the Witnesses and reject the Judges How long will this fatal inchantment last and when will men begin to perceive this Character of Antichristianism which is so manifest If Popery be Christianity why doth it so blame and reproach the Law of J. Christ If the Scriptures are favorable to it why goes it about to take away their credit and why doth it hinder the reading of them The vain Excuses of the modern Papists as to the preceding Points In our dayes those Impostors who are call'd Converters are still telling their Disciples that the most of these proceedings are false that which is true as to them was only the mistakes of some violent spirits who are condemn'd by the rest and lastly that all this is past and gone that at the present the Scriptures are in due esteem Translations of them made and put into the hands of the Laity with Exhortations to read them And those poor blind Creatures who are willing to be deceived believe all this But they ought to remember that even in this present age Cardinal du Perron hath heaped together every thing that might make the Scripture suspected and contemptible pleading that some things in it sound like Fables others are apt to raise in the mind indecent and dishonest Imaginations as some Expressions in Solomons Song the History of Balaams Asse which spoke and the Jawbone of an Ass with which Sampson slew a thousand Philistins c. 'T is in our age and very lately I confess that the Gentlemen of the Port Royal have wrote that we ought to read the H. Scripture Mr. Arnauld that it ought to be in the hands of the Common People that it is full of holy Unction and of great Efficacy and Vertue for Sanctification and Edification But it is likewise very lately said by these Gentlemen Mr. Nicole's apology c. Prejudices c and Calvinists convicted of Schism That it would be a Folly more plain than the day to go about to prove by Scripture that the Gospells according to S. Matthew and S. Mark are of divine authority that we never stop the mouths of the profane with our new Rule of Scripture without Tradition that the H. Scriptures have said nothing concerning the Divinity of J. Christ which may not be evaded that no Interpretations of Scripture are more than probable that the Sâ—cinian Hereticks find as much there for their cause as we for ours that there are some texts of Scripture which do naturally lead men to Error Behold what all their commendations of the Scripture do amount to This is just the same thing that the Ancient Papists were wont to say that the Scripture is a Nose of Wax a Leaden Rule a Sheath for any Sword. The terms are different but any man may perceive that the sense and meaning is altogether the same Lastly It must be observed that for eighâ— hundred years the common People in the Church of Rome have not known what the Scripture was and that the reading of it was forbidden them by their Popes Bishops Councils by the Indexes of forbidden Books and by Parliaments Mallet hath prov'd this against Mr. Arnauld in an irrefutable manner to which he never thought fit to make any Reply He only insists on the Question of Right viz. whether the reading of the Scriptures ought to be forbidden to the People he hath successfully prov'd that it ought not But he durst not meddle with the Question of Fact whether it hath not been always the practice of the Roman Church to forbid the Common People to read the word of God. He did well not to touch upon that for he could not have done it but to his own Dishonour Therfore let our New Converts to Popery no longer deceive themselves by regarding the Church of Rome only in that small part of it which is in France and hearken to that inconsiderable number of Popish Doctors who seduce them for they ought to know that even at this day in Spain and other places to have the Bible in the vulgar Language is a Crime to be punisht with Fire and Fagot and the Inquisition Popish dispensations contrary to the Law of God. 'T were easy to inlarge this chapter concerning the injuries and outrage that Popery is guilty of against the Scripture without digressing or going far we need but consider the bold attempts of the Pope and his Clergy to dispense with the law of God and act contrary to it no greater violence or affront can be offer'd to any Law than to command what it forbids and forbid what is commanded by it This is the case with the Church of Rome Popery requires the making of Images and injoyns the worship of 'em the Law of Christianity forbids it Popery forbids the eating of all sorts of meat at all times and forbids the marriage of the Clergy both are allowed by the Great Law of Christians It grants dispensations contrary to the Old and New Testament it dispenseth with the observation of the most solemn vows made to God and with Oaths of fidelity made to Kings wherein the name of God is invok't It dispenseth with that sacred and inviolable commandment of childrens obedience to their Parents and permits girles of twelve or fifteen years old to cast off the Paternal yoke that they may enter into a Nunnery It authorizeth the revolt and rebellion of Children against their own Fathers even so far as to permit them to usurp their Crowns and overturn their Thrones as is evident in History It establisheth new Sanctuaries and places of refuge in their Churches to save the lives of Murderers contrary to the express command of God. It makes void the plainest precept of God that every Soul must be subject to the Higher Powers by the many immunities granted to their Ecclesiasticks exempting them from the secular power It allows Fornication and Sodomy for such a sum of money and permits Incest contrary to the Law of God. It gives a Woman leave to marry two Brothers or a man to marry two Sisters or an unckle to marry his Neice It dispenseth contrary to the Apostles Rule that a Bishop should not be a Child or a Novice for it bestows benefices and Bishopsricks upon such as are altogether unfit and incapable which agrees exactly with what was foretold concerning Antichrist that he should endeavor to change the Times and the Law. These Seducers will doubtless tell their new Converts that these things are the Enterprizes and abuses of the Court of Rome and that according to the Gallican Church the Pope is not superior to the Laws and cannot dispense with the Canons This is the doctrine of the Sorbonne and of the Parliaments I refer them to what is written by
Favoriti against the plea of the Procureur General concerning the affair of Charonne He hath prest the matter home in that point and made it evident that they themselves do acknowledg and grant this Authority in the Pope to dispense contrary to the Canons of the Church and even contrary to the laws of God because in France all the Benefices they injoy in Commendam are possess'd by vertue of the Popes dispensation and that marriages with near kindred which are as common in France as in other places are not contracted but by a dispensation from Rome which would otherwise be down-right whoredom and incest We must then conclude that Popery is Antichristianism in this respect as well as others and that by her words and actions she Blasphemes against God and against his Law. CHAPTER VII The fifth Character of Antichristianism that is found in Popery The extreme Corruption of its Head and Members First in their Popes THe Papacy is wont to accommodate her Divinity to her Interest in some instances however she forgets her self for Example when Holiness is made one of the signs of the true Church There is some equivocation in this mark of the Church because the Devil of Hypocrisie doth frequently assume the external Characters of an Angel of Light. Nevertheless at the bottom this is a truth that there is no true Holiness but in the Church and in whatsoever assembly or Society of men this is found I acknowledg it to be a true Church But withall it must be granted that where-ever the greater Corruption is to be met with that Society of all others is the Antichristian Church for this is one of its proper Characters she is called Sodom on this very account and represented as a dissolute strumpet sitting in a publick place to prostitute her self for money to all Comers presenting a cup full of the wine of her fornications to make men drunk with her unlawfull pleasures 'T is in this respect that spiritual Babylon is describ'd in the 18 Revel as a great City wherin every thing may be had that may foment and entertain those criminal delights 'T is on this account that her head is called the Man of Sin the son of Perdition or a lost son that is one sunk into debauchery who gives up himself to all manner of licentiousness This is no doubtfull or uncertain Character 't is granted on all hands that the Antichristian Kingdom must be such as is exceedingly corrupt in manners the only thing to be considered is whether we can find such a Corruption of manners in the Papacy as answers the Idea of what the H. Spirit hath foretold should be found in the Antichristian Kingdom if the Roman Church be pure Christianity her Head who is the Bishop of Rome will be eminent for Holiness Let us then begin the consideration of the Corruption of the Papacy by that of its head In order of nature the Head must be considered before the Members We begin this subject with a Maxim of those Gentlemen Exception 6. part 1. cap. 16 17 18. with whom we had so much ado for twelve or fifteen years past I mean the Writers of Port Royal. 'T is the wisdom of God Legal Exceptions against the Calvinists Chap. 3. say they in their Legal exceptions not only to fill the sermons and discourses of the Gospell with light and force to convince those who will attend to 'em but to give them likewise some external qualities which may engage men to hearken to 'em and oblige the unprejudic't to judge that 't is at least very unjust to reject them without a hearing It would be they add a very strange alliance which our New Reformers must suppose between so strange a privation of the gifts of Grace and so great an abundance of Light. Which is so contrary to what we know of the order of Providence and the divine Conduct that to believe it we must renounce all the Ideas which our reason faith and hope do give us These Gentlemen argue very variously according to their different Interests formerly they have told us that they who are the Guides of Jerusalem are oftentimes no other than the Citizens of Babylon Nevertheless I 'le admit their principle and I believe it a good one but I demand how they can have the face to make use of that Reflection against us which is one of the strongest we can imploy against them If that be true which we have just now mention'd to be written by the Divines of Port Royal how is it possible they can look upon that Church to be a true one whose Head is stigmatized with the most Infamous Characters of Vice that can any where be parallell'd How can they regard the Chair of Rome as the supreme Tribunal of the true Church since for above a thousand years we have seen those who have sat there instead of the spirit of J. Christ and the Gospel to have been acted by meer Humane policy and a boundless Ambition and guilty of the most abominable Crimes and infernal Practices no better than those of Nero and Heliogabulus 'T is there that we must suppose a very monstrous alliance between so strange a privation of the Gifts of Grace and such an abundance of Light. Is it not a prodigy that Vertue should be as rare in that Seat as Vice ought to be and that of all those who have sat on the several Thrones of Christian Europe there have been no Princes who had less of the Spirit of Christianity than the Popes This Prejudice and Exception against Popery seems very strong the pretention in matter of Right is very clear the Question will be concerning the matter of Fact and that will manifest the Truth This I shall do after having made these two Reflections To the Pope's being Antichrist 't is not necessary that every Pope be Impious and debanchâ— The first is this that we are not obliged to find that spirit which is directly opposite to the Spirit of Christianity in all the Popes who have sat at Rome from the time where we six the Rise of Antichrist We place it about the middle of the 5th Century since that time it will be said there have been some good Popes It will not be very easy to find any considerable number of 'em but supposing that there have been some good ones we say that Antichristianism is not a Monster that is born all in one day It is to speak properly that Corruption of Christianity now all sorts of Corruptions do advance by degrees The Spirit of Christianity did gradually abandon the Popes as they forsook the Truth and rose to Tyranny as long as they preserved any thing of the purity of worship God did not permit his H. Spirit absolutely to leave ' em But when Idolatry came to its height when the abomination was set up in the Sanctuary which came to pass when Images prevail'd then the Spirit of the Devil took
That is in short they declare the Pope to be Antichrist for is not this the Character of Antichrist to assume to himself falsly and injustly the Rights of Jesus Christ to have power as our Lord to bestow Kingdoms and take away Crowns to open Heaven and Hell infallibly to determine all Controversies to pluck up and to plant to build and to destroy to have two swords the one spiritual th' other temporal and to be the only center and fountain of all the authority in the world Is it not the part of Antichrist to maintain an usurp't authority by the slaughter of so many thousand Christians as the Popes have done who have often made Germany and Italy to swim in blood to get the possession of this power to dispose of the Imperial Crown according to their pleasure for my part I expect a direct Answer to this and in the mean time I maintain that the Pope is a Monster of Pride and the Antichrist according to the last definitions of the Clergy of France and the Kings Declarations pursuant to ' em Can any thing be more ridiculous than what the New Converts alledge there is nothing they say more tolerable than the Power of the Pope as it is now explained in France But I would fain know whether the opinion of France and the decision of her Clergy be that which constitutes the Pope to be what he is and what he ought to be Let the assembly of the french Clergy at Paris say what they please is it ever the less true that the Pope doth ascribe to himself all that tyrannick Power we have been speaking of Is it the less true that he hath exerciz'd this power on an hundred occasions and that he will still exert it whenever he can Is it the less true that the Gallican Church on this very account is censur'd at Rome as guilty of Heresy and Scism Is it the less true that the whole body of the Roman Church looks upon the decision of Paris as a Crime If I should discourse in France of the Kings attempts upon his Neighbours as men discourse of them at Vienna and Madrid that nothing can be more unjust would this make any alteration in the Kings Right if he have any would he not still have reason on his side if it be true that he is in the right what hurt can it do to a Potentate that his Rights are limited and contracted by another Potentate in words and writing if the former continues still in possession of that which he pretends doth of right belong to him Let not those therfore be deceived who have suffer'd themselves to be abus'd by the modifications and abatements that have been made of the Popes power in France This doth not touch the Pope who continues still to be that in himself which he pretends to be and therfore once more I assert that this serves to no other end but to prove to the Gallican Church that the Pope is a Monster of Pride and by consequence that in this respect at least he bears the true Character of Antichrist CHAPTER XI The seventh Character of the Antichristian Kingdom which agrees to the Papacy a Spirit of Covetousness and Simony and its extraordinary Riches Babylon is to be a City of Merchants 'T Is manifest by the 18th Chapter of the Revelations that Babylon the Great was to be a City of great Commerce and Trade and of great Riches and consequently of Rapine and Avarice because these are the ordinary methods by which men acquire more than ordinary Riches Babylon is a City of Merchants V. 11. The Merchants of the Earth shall lament and mourn over her for no man buyeth her Merchandise any more V. 12. The Merchandise of Gold and Silver and precious Stones and of Pearls and Fine Linnen and Purple and Silk and Scarlet and all sweet Wood and all manner of Vessels of Ivory and of precious Wood and Brass and Iron and Marble V. 13. And Cinamon and Odors and Oyntments and Frankincense and Wine and Oyl and fine Flower and Wheat and Beasts and Sheep and Horses and Chariots and Bodies and Souls of Men. The Papacy framed by Covetousness That is to say that Spiritual Babylon is Rich and Powerful that her Goods are immense that every thing there is to be sold and bought Let us see whether this be not exactly verified in the Papacy First as to its Doctrines is it not Rich to the greatest abundance and do they not make sale of every thing First 't is plain that Covetousness dishonest gain and that wretched Passion which never saith 't is enough are the very soul and spirit of Popery Their Doctrines are framed to get Money The fable of Purgatory was forg'd by the spirit of Covetousness as well as Lying to drain Wealth and Treasure from the Houses of the simple People into those of the Priests and Monks 'T is this hath made so many foundations of Convents with good Revenues and Great houses setled by that which they call works of Piety The Sacrifice of the Mass the most august of all the Mysteries of Popery is made the source of a shameful and filthy Gain 'T is a Lucky hit for the Clergy that someway hath been found to persuade the people that this Sacrifice is good for every thing good for the Living and as good for the Dead good for Sickness and good for Health excellent to Find out what a man hath Lost and as admirable to Preserve that which he hath in possession good for Success in any undertaking by Sea or Land so that there is no Merchandise in the world that on this account hath so good a vent Innumerable persons are maintain'd by it and live by nothing else They have increased the number of the Sacraments because they are as so many Mines from whence money may be had Why are humane Satisfactions made to signifie so much but because you must pay dear to redeem them Why have they contriv'd a Treasure for the over-plus of the Righteousness of the Saints but to exhaust the treasure of the Ignorant of the Superstitious and of Libertins who buy Indulgences for money and do Penance by Proxy paying well for it 'T is well known that those Indulgences have made a filthy trade in the Papacy the traffick of 'em hath been so shameful that Papists themselves have complain'd of it By what spirit were Images brought into the Church and the Invocation of Saints not only is a spirit of superstition and Idolatry concern'd but of Covetousness too for Customhouses are establisht with reference to these called the shrines of Saints and consecrated Chappels where the Reliques and Images of our Lady work Miracles Multitudes of People flock thither and bring costly Presents and load the Altars with their Offerings to the great Gain and Profit of the Priests The proud Divinity of the Merit of Good Works serves only to advance that which they call Works
the Greeks in another we read that Fornication and having Concubines is that which ought to be allow'd 'T was the Canon Law and the Canonists that establisht the Rules of that horrible Simony we mention'd in the foregoing Chapter 'T was they who regulated and confirm'd all the Rites of Popery whereof their vain superstitions and Idolatrous worship is composed 'T is they who have made all the Corruptions of Doctrine and worship to pass into a Law. 'T is they who have made a God of the Pope and spoken so many Blasphemies concerning him a part whereof hath been mention'd in that Chapter where we treated of the Pride of the Popes that he is a God that he can make any thing of nothing and that he is above Emperors and Kings and can dispence contrary to the Law of God that he is the sun of this world and the only Soveraign that he can be judged by no man that if he should lead multitudes of People to Hell or give them over to the Devill no man hath any right to hinder him The stupidity and blindness of men that can fall into this extravagance is not to be exprest or imagin'd Impurities of the Caâ—â—â—â—â—â— The third sort of Doctors who speak for the Papacy and manifest what Spirit it is of are the Casuists In this order of men an impure and diabolick Spirit is very notorious the Spirit of the Beast and of the Dragon for this we have no need of proofs One part of the Roman Church will testifie against the other The writers of Port Royal in our age have laid open the unclean Spirit of Popery in their morals Fully to understand the Filthiness of this spirit you must read the Books which have been writ to instruct the Directors of Conscience and teach them what Questions to put to the Penitents who come to Confession and the works of Burchard Sanchez de Matrimonio Emanuel Sa Tolet and several others and you will find those Instructions can teach a man more Abominations than are known by practice in the most infamous places of Debauchery After this you must read the Decisions of their Casuists upon cases of Conscience and concerning the nature of mortal and venial Sins And you will soon perceive that there are no Crimes which they do not excuse tolerate and make light of According to these men Simple Fornication implies no guilt or malice that to kill an infant in his mothers womb by causing Abortion is no Murder that an unmarried Woman may be made to miscarry to save her credit that it is not Adultery to lye with a married Woman if her Husband consent that a Backbiter who doth calumniate you may be kill'd to prevent reproach A man is not obliged to put away his Concubine if she be necessary to him for his diversion and delight 'T is lawful to desire the death of a Father to enjoy his Estate 't is not necessary to Salvation to believe either Paradise or Hell but only in the general to believe in God the command to love God is not at all obligatory the sin of Luxury Sodomy and Buggery are sins of the lowest rank no one act of Love to God is necessary to Salvation Contrition is sufficient that is the Fear of Hell. Are not these the unclean Spirits coming out of the mouth of the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet The vanity of their Excuses of their ill Morals The Church of Rome must not think to acquit her self from this Charge on the account of some modern Writers few in number persecuted by the rest and overcome by the multitude of a contrary sentiment For this moral Divinity is allowed of What Sollicitations and incredible pains hath it cost to procure the condemnation of some few of these and the like propositions Even Pope Alexander VII who condemn'd some of those maxims by his decree of the 5th of May 1667. did ratifie the toleration of one of the most frightful of all those Doctrines viz. that Attrition alone caus'd by the fear of Hell without any act of the love of God is sufficient unto Salvation This is a piece of the most monstrous Theology that ever came out of the mouth of the Devil For it destroys the necessity of the first and great Command which is the soul of all Religion Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart 'T is to overthrow the whole of Christianity from top to bottom and open the door of Salvation to those who liv'd and dyed as bad as Devils Alexander VII left all this abominable Morality of the Casuists compleat and all that he condemn'd in 45 Propositions is of little moment except two or three articles Innocent XI whom they make a Saint hath gone somewhat farther I confess but besides that he hath spared all those Maximes that are fatal to the lives of Princes and the safety of their Kingdoms he hath only condemn'd those doctrines that are exprest in the Bull and forbad the teaching of 'em but neither the Books or the Authors are made liable to any Punishment and therfore this kind of Morality doth obtain as much as ever and by this the sect of the Jesuites is risen to that point of grandeur where we now see them Because of their insâ—uence in all the Popish Courts of Europe and 't is to be observ'd that they are the great sticklers for these Morals which are no better than Infernal the Iesuites I say who are fully possest with the spirit of Popery who are the great Bulwark of that Religion and have preserv'd it from ruin for one hundred and fifty years They are the true Mouth of the false Prophet We can never sufficiently describe how many unclean spirits have come out of this Mouth of the Jesuites Popish Authors themselves have taken the pains to keep a register of 'em the many Books which complain of their Theology and cry out of their Morals and Doctrine would make a considerable Library Alphousus de Vargas a Spaniard hath wrote a Book intitl'd the Stratagems of the Jesuites Among other things he there tells us that about the year 1625. the Spanish Jesuites had the impudence to compose a Systeme of Divinity which overthrew the whole Christian Religion one of them named John Baptista Poza made a book in honour of the Virgin and of her immaculate Conception called Elucidarium Deiparae Wherein he utters so many Prodigies and Blasphemies that the other Monks tho sufficiently drencht in Superstition could not but abhor it This deserves to be considered in the Original or in the relation we have given of it in our Legall Exceptions Part. I. chap. 3â— the Spanish Jesuites were so far from condemning their Brother for this that they undertook the desence of him and his Book In the same place we find a Censure of the Apostles Creed composed by the same Spanish Jesuites which is the most scandalous piece that ever saw the light For
the Ashes and Reliques of the Dead Lastly they worship and make use of Images and Pictures of the great God of Angels and of Separate Souls These are the five objects of worship in the Papacy The Heathens had just as many Paganism had also five First Rome Ancient as well as Modern worship one Supreme God a being infinitely Perfect King of men and of Gods as they were wont to speak Their Jupiter was the Soul of the world and as the Masters of their mysteries explain'd it he was Every thing Their different Gods called Neptune Pluto Ceres They worshipt but one supreme God. Apollo Vesta c. were but different names of the same great God upon different accounts many of their wise men have left it in their writings that at the bottom they believ'd but one only God at least this is certain that between their Jupiter and their other Gods and as to the opinion they had of him and his worship S. August lib. 4. de Civiâ— dei cap. 11. they made the same difference as the Papists do between the great God Creator of Heaven and Earth and between Angels and Saints The inferior Gods of Paganism were nothing else but those created spirits which according to our Theology do execute the orders and commands of God under him so that Popery hath no reason to boast it self above Paganism in this respect that they acknowledg'd and worshipt a plurality of Gods wheras the Papists do adore and acknowledg but one only for at the bottom the Theology of the Papists and of the Heathen is all one in that particular To prove a difference between Paganism and Popery in this respect they must not alledge the fables of the Heathen Poets for the Romans look't upon the fables of the Grecians as no other than Blasphemies against the Deity you ought to read what is written on this subject by Cicero in his Book de naturâ Deorum and by Dionisius Halicarnassaeus in the second Book of his Roman Antiquities The second object of worship in Paganism as well as Popery is Angels Heathens and Papists worship Angells The Heathens conceiv'd of 'em as Mediatory Spirits Agents between the Supreme Gods and mortal men God hath nothing to do with man saith Plato but all the commerce and correspondence between God and man is by the mediation of Demons So they call'd those Spirits which we now term Angels The Demons he adds are as messengers who maintain the intercourse between God and man who on the one hand convey our supplications and prayers to God and on the other his Commandments and Rewards unto us All that have any knowledg of Antiquity know this to be true Is not this meer Popery are not the Angels set up as Mediators between God and men to offer unto God the prayers and good works of men Are they not made Intercessors to obtain from God the favors we stand in need of The Heathens had 9 orders of Spirits as well as the Papists Paganism went as far as Popery in the knowledg of good and evill Angels The Heathens had a notion of bad Angels as well as good They divided the Angels into several classes and 't is very remarkable that the mystical Authors of Paganism rankt Spirits in nine orders as the mystical Divinies of the Papacy do Jamblicus names 'em thus 1. God. 2. Angels 3. Demons 4. Heroes 5. Princes or Greater Governors 6. Governors of matter or more inferior Governors 7. Archangels 8. Souls 9. He adds to these the visible Gods as the Sun and Moon c. 'T is plain the one is the copy of the other the only doubt is which of the two is the original Paganism paid homage to all these Spirits that they might make them â—avorable to themselves they built Temples to them they burnt Incense in honour of them they made prayers to them they put themselves under their Protection they chose them for their Patrons they believed that every one of these Angels besides their general affairs took a particular care of one single person The Papists do all this to the Angels they pray to them they serve them they build Chappels to them they choose them for their Patrons every one believes that he hath his guardian Angel. The Papists worship the dead as thâ— Pagans did The third article of the Conformity that is between the Papacy and Paganism is the Worship of the dead 'T is certain that the greatest part of the Gentile Gods were men that had been deifyed after their death When a person had done some extraordinary service either to the commonwealth or the world either by the Inventing of some useful Art or by some considerable deliverance of his country or by his singular virtues after his death they made him a God. Afterward 't was grown the fashion at Rome to Deify all their Emperors good and bad Nero that he might abuse his own Religion and his Predecessor Claudius got him ranked among the Gods. At first the deifying of Hero's was done by the tacit consent of the people But the ancient Romans the very Patriarchs of the modern begun the custom of making Gods in a solemn manner When any of their Emperors dyed they built in some spacious place of the City a stately Funeral pile of wood and other combustible matter divided into several stories which were fashion'd as a Pyramid to the poynt of which a rope was fastned with which an Eagle was tyed by the foot The dead Corps was placed in a lower storie then the Pile was set on fire and when the rope was burnt the Eagle flew up to the heavens and some witnesses appointed for the thing came and made report to the Senate that they had seen the Soul of the Hero fly up to heaven After this by order of the Senate a Temple was built to him and divine honours were given him The Philosophers by their fanci'es augmented and supported the superstition of the vulgar they said that the Souls of men after they leave the bodie become a kind of Demons or Angels which the antients call'd Lemures that those souls which were good natured and took care of their posterity were named Lares Apulejus de Deo Sccrat familiars And those that were restless troublesom ill natur'd and affrighted men by night vision were named Larvae and when it was uncertain to which rank the departed soul did belong whether it was Lare or Larva then it was only named the God Manes A man must in my judgment be very blind if he seeth not and very obstinate if he confesseth not the conformity that is between this and Popery In the Papacy all their Churches are so many Tombes and Temples of dead men and women exactly as it was under Paganism They bear their Names this is the Church of S. Peter that of S. Paul of our Lady of Magdalen c. and either their Reliques or those of some other Saint
of the Antiquities of Rome confess it The Pantheon is now the Church of the V. Mary surnamed the Rotunde Twelve Idol Temples are reckon'd that have the same Honour i. e. to be consecrated to the Virgin. The Primitive Christians did so abhor Paganism that they would not for any thing in the world have celebrated their Mysteries in Pagan Temples But Popery which came in afterwards makes use of any thing of the Pagans their Temples their Images their Ceremonies I know not how any one can look on this Conformity otherwise than a certain Character of Antichristianism CHAPTER XVIII The Eleventh Character of Antichristianism that is found in the Papacy a Spirit of Lying and Fables Falsehoods to sustain the Authority of the Pope A short account of the Romance of the V. Mary The Antichristian spirit must be a spirit of Lying and Fables ALL Heresies and false Religions in general have the Father of Lyes for their Author But yet 't is certain that there are some Sects that are distinguisht by this and have a Spirit of Lying for their Character 'T is plain by Scripture predictions that this was to be the Spirit of Antichristianism This is signified by those V. 13. Three unclean Spirits Apoc. 16. that come out of the Mouth of the Dragon and of the Beast and of the false Prophet V. 14. For they are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth These Spirits of Devils are those Lying Spirits who by Fables and false Miracles deceive the Inhabitants of the Earth 'T is of the same Spirit of Lying and Imposture that this Prophecy speaks V. 13. And he doth great Wonders Cap. 13. so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of men V. 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles These Wonders are Lying Miracles Delusions Impostures or Fables This is also predicted by St. Paul in his 2. Epist to the Thessalonians V. 9. Whose coming viz. of the Mystery of Iniquity is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders But above all this is the Character that the same Apostle expresly giveth the cursed Authors of the Antichristian Apostacy telling us that the Worship of Demons and Spirits as Mediators was to be set on foot by V. 2. Men 1 Tim. 4. speaking Lyes in Hypocrisy having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron The true Spirit of Popery is lying Fables and Imposture and consequently it is Antichristianism Let none wonder that we detain the Reader longer than usual on his Point For there is not a more sensible and palpable evidence that the Papacy oweth its Original to the Devil than this All false Religions have their fabulous Stories Paganism had its Fables corrupted Judaism had theirs But all the Fables of all the false Religions put together do not come near those of Popery either for number or horridness And those who will not see its Falsehood and Vanity by this prospect will never discern it by any other I promise once again that I do not call Popery that which remains of Christianity in the Roman Church for instance the Divinity of Christ his Resurrection his Redemtion and Judging the World c. Popery works no Miracles but to confirm its Superstitions These grand Truths are supported by Miracles and Wonders which were wrought by the Apostles and by Apostolical Persons The Papacy is not at all concern'd to support the Christian Truth by their Lying Miracles it takes little or no eare to preserve any part of it Or rather God hath not permitted that his holy Mystery should be disparaged by fabulous Evidences and Impostures of the Devil But the Papacy not being able to work true and real Wonders to confirm their Doctrines hath framed most horrid Relations fill'd with Lyes and ridiculous Fables to support the Popes Supremacy and Empire the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of the Virgin the Sacrifice of the Mass the Real Presence the Adoration of the Eucharist and of Images We must with some exactness view some Instances of these Lying Histories that we may understand the spirit of Popery Fables invented to set up the Popes Supremacy One of its principal Articles is the Authority of the Pope his Infallibility his unlimitted power his Succession to the Apostelship and Supremacy of St. Peter These things must be found in Tradition for Scripture saith nothing of them And to find them there they must be put into it for they were not there neither To put them into it for want of History they must weave together a heap of Fables Therefore in the first place they must without any proof suppose that St. Peter after he had been seven years Bishop of Antioch came and made himself Bishop of Rome and that he sat there five and twenty years that he was crucifyed with his head downward and at his death appointed a Successor to whom he bequeath'd a full Authority over the Vniversal Church This Successor of St. Peter left his and this third another so that in a continued Succession until this day the Popes of Rome have always been Soveraigns of the Church Umpires of all differences Judges without appeal of all Controversies and Liege Lords of all the Kings of the Earth but all this is founded on meer Fables Fables concerning the abode and actions of St. Peter at Rome First The Journey and Death of St. Peter at Rome are not very certain 'T is true antient Authors have said so But it doth not in the least agree with the History of the Acts of the Apostles or with the Chronology of St. Paul's Epistles That Apostle made two Journeys to Rome where he was twice a Prisoner In his second Imprisonment they will have him suffer Martyrdom with St. Peter 'T is very surprising and astonishing that the Apostle who in his Epistles written at Rome mentioneth so many persons of a mean quality should say nothing of St. Peter The Mystery of Iniquity began to work in Saint Paul's time this Journey and Martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome whether true or false was to be the principal foundation of the vain pretences of this Counterfeit Monarch of the Church 'T is not improbable that this Spirit of Lying which sowed the first seeds of Antichristianism persuaded the Antients of the second Century that S. Peter had appointed the Bishop of Rome to be his Successor tho this was plainly false For St. Peter had the charge of the Jews and of the Church of the Circumcision Now the Jews were very inconsiderable at Rome where they had no more respect than those Fortune-tellers whom we call Gypsies have among us The greatest and most considerable part of the Jews were about Babylon and 't is there that St. Peter dates his first Epistle As to the pretended Episcopacy of St. Peter at Rome which lasted five and twenty years
much more freely and say that these Visions are the Illusions of the Devil and these Miracles are the Cheats of the Monks Hear with what heat and zeal the good Father replyes 'T is an intolerable rashness says he to give the name of Tales and Fables to those Histories that are related by Authors eminent for Learning and Holiness and to reckon as the Mistakes of a weak understanding such Revelations as have merited the approbation of the Council of Basil of the Popes Gregory II. Urban VI. and Martin V. In the next Page the Reverend Father addeth For my part saith he I shall not think that I wrong the Historians of our Age if I give as much credit to St. Antonin who relates that Vincent Ferrier raised eight and thirty men from the dead as I do to all the stories in Gazetts out of which they make their Histories These grave Authors eminent for learning and Piety as F. Crasset calls'em are St. Antonin Arch-Bishop of Florence Bartholomew of Pisa Author of the Book of Conformities Pelbart of Temiswar the Speculum of Vincent Bernardin de Bustis the Monk Caesarius the Annalists of the Monks and in a word all the Authors out of which we have taken our proofs Our new Converts as they are called ought to be very wary as to this point They persuade'em that all these Extravagancies these Cheats these Fables and Legends are at this day out of date We shall see that in a little time In the mean while they ought to know that F Crasset who asserts the credit of those Books which some despise and decry is esteemed and approved by the whole Gallican Church it self What ought to be said to the superstitious and credulous as to the matter of Legends and that those of his sentiment are still the bulky part of the Papacy What is to be done with such people 'T is best I think to leave 'em to their evil Genius as those Patients whose case is desperate and say to 'em well even remain Fools without judgment and without conscience seeing you have a mind to be so believe that Vincent Ferrier raised 38. from the dead and Jacynthe 52. Take for Gospel the horrible Lyes collected by your Batholomew of Pisa by your S. Antonin by your Caesarius c. But give us leave to look on you as persons given up to a reprobate mind This in my opinion is all that can be said to these wretched creatures If they were capable of hearing reason we might thus bespeak them Consider in the name of God whether it is likely that your Monks and their Disciples have wrought more Miracles in ten years time than all the Prophets the Apostles and Iesus Christ himself have wrought in two thousand years We might add Reflect upon the impertinence of these Miracles which we have proved and judge if it be probable that the Wisdom of God should expose his Power to be turn'd into ridicule by doing mean sottish things and altogether unbecoming his Majesty The Famous Maimonides a Jewish Doctor in his Book of the Foundation of the Law makes an important and judicious remarque The Israelites saith he did not believe Moses because of his Miracles for one that would not believe unless there be Miracles might suspect lest the Miracle should be wrought by Sorcercy and Enchantment But all the Miracles that Moses did in the Desert he wrought them as it were out of necessity and not directly to confirm his Prophecy Thus it was necessary to divide the Red Sea to make a passage for the Israelites and to drown the Egyptians we wanted food therefore he brought down Manna from Heaven c. Indeed this deserves to be remarqu't God scarce ever hath wrought Miracles meerly to work them i. e. such kind of Miracles as are properly prodigies and serve only to discover the power of the Speaker All the Miracles of Iesus Christ and his Apostles were miraculous Cures raising of the Dead multiplying of Bread to feed the people There was always some profit and they were not meer prodigies And this is another evidence of the Falsehood of Popish Miracles that their Saints make impertinent prodigies which are good for nothing change pounds of Butter or heaps of Flegme into Gold make Light to stream out of their fingers make use of the Sun-beams or of the shadows of Trees to hang their Garments on Never any of the real Saints wrought such like Prodigies that are of no use and good for nothing in the world We might further say to these superstitious Creatures examin the Character of those Authors whom you style Eminent for learning and holiness Read their Writings and see if they deserve not very well those titles Men of leaden Hearts of Iron Months of Brasen Foreheads as some of your own Catholicks have called 'em on the account of their stupidity their barbarous style and their impudence in venting notorious Falsehoods for Truths We might also say to them Examin the Authors of the five first Centuries you will find in 'em some relations of Miracles especially in the fifth Century But is it the thousandth part of what is to be read in the Chronicles of Saints who have liv'd in the last seven or eight hundred years The Fathers and the Authors in whom we find the Narratives of these true or pretended Miracles wrought none themselves How comes this to pass Was the Jacopin Vincent Ferrier who raised 38. from the dead a greater Saint than S. Augustin who never rais'd one St. Athanasius the famous Champion of the Son of God and of the Holy Spirit St. Cyprian the glorious Martyr St. Polycarp the famous Disciple of the Apostles wrought no Miracles at all but St. Jacynthe a Polonian Dominican and Father d' Aviano a Capucin shall have the Priviledge to do that which the great Lights of the Church for Learning and Sanctity never did A man must have lost his reason if he believeth this When the Church was sorely assaulted by persecution and Heresie there was little talk of Miracles We might also say to these Gentlemen the Devoto's Pray tell us when the Church was cruelly persecuted by Heathens her Doctrine openly attacqu'd by Hereticks had she not more need to be supported by Signs and Miracles than in the time of S. Francis of S. Dominick of S. John Vincent Ferrier when she reign'd triumph't and was without Enemies And yet we hear of few or no Miracles when one would judg the Church stood in most need of 'em afterward we hear of millions when the Church did not want ' em But these Miracles they 'le say were wrought to authorize the new Religions i. e. the new Orders of Franciscans of Dominicans of Begging-brothers c. This is ingenious and well contrived that God should work a hundred fold more Miracles to establish the Order of St. Francis than he had wrought to establish the Christian Religion Observe well the design of these Miracles
who writing in a Country of Liberty styleth it the Pitiful Book of F. Crasset For one man who dareth to censure the Impieties of this Book there are numberless multitudes who canonise it and we see in the Instance of the Bishop of Agen and his carriage towards the Monk who preached at Duras at that rate which we related above how those who disapprove the fabulous Theology of the Monks are notwithstanding obliged to treat them with civility even in the places where they have a Jurisdicton over ' em Are not every day such kind of Books printed even under the Nose of the Bishops And are there not modern Saints which exactly resemble the antient ones Witness St. Mary of the Valleys whose life F. Eude hath written and cryed up her Sanctity Witness Magdelen Vigneron whose life written by F. Bourdin in the year 1678. and approved by the Chancellor of the University of Paris and the gravest Doctors contains all the Follies and impieties of the most fabulous Legends Popery is founded on the Fables of the Legends Lastly 't is replyed that we ought not to stumble the ordinary people with the Lying Histories of Popery because that Religion is not founded on ' em Take away all these will they say and 't will not be less true that men ought to adore the B. Virgin invoke the Saints worship the Cross Images and Holy Reliques because these Services are founded on the Authority of the Church I answer 'T is false that these fabulous Histories are not the Foundation of the false Worship and Idolatries of the Papacy This Spirit of Lying and Superstition begun in the Church exactly at the same time The People could never have been perswaded to worship Ashes and Bones if they had not been perswaded that these Reliques did work Miracles The people had never been brought to these wicked Services that make the Virgin Mary equal to Christ if they had not been disposed to them by the high-sounding Fables concerning the Miracles of her Conception her Birth her Life and her Assumtion The Worship of Saints could never have come to that prodigious excess as it now is without the assistance of Monks of their Legends their Cheats their false Miracles and their Fables So that we may say to these refin'd Papists that which St. Augustin said to the Pagans about Cicero This wise Pagan did himself turn into ridicule the Fables and Theology of the Poets yea accused the Poets that they had made such to be Gods who could not have been reckon'd among honest men if they had been men Many of the Heathens made use of this sentiment and driven to it by the Christians condemn'd their own Theology as foolish and impertinent pretending that their Religion was not founded on it But St. Augustin lets 'em see how weak this Entrenchment was and how Pitiful and false this Excuse was And proves particularly to 'em that all their Services the Mysteries of Ceres of Bacchus and Vesta their solemn Playes and in a manner all their practical Religion were built upon the Poets Fables and referr'd to ' em The case of Popery is the very same at this day the wise Papists reject the Romance of the Virgin Mary but notwithstanding their Devotion towards the Virgin the Festivals of her Conception of her Nativity of her Assumtion are founded on these Fables All the Titles which they bestow on her all the Prayers that they address to her all the Offices that they assign to her refer to her fabulous History CHAP. XXIII The Twelfth Character of Antichristianism that fitteth the Papacy is Cruelty and Shedding of Blood. 'T Is past all doubt that Antichrist must be a furious Beast and Antichristianism a cruel and persecuting Empire This Character is joyn'd with the preceding The two principal Characters of the Devil are a Lyar and a Murtherer our Lord Jesus Christ saith that he was such from the beginning Now seeing Antichristianism is the Master-piece of this Murthering and Lying Spirit it must be stampt with this impression of its Author This was layd down in the Prediction V. 1. And I saw a Beast rising up out of the Sea Apoc. 13. having Seven Heads and Ten Horns c. V. 2. And the Beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his Feet were as the Feet of a Bear and his Mouth as the Mouth of a Lyon. These are three most ravenous and destroying Beasts The Leopard overtakes his Prey with the greatest swiftness the Bear holds it fast and never lets it go the Lyon is the strongest Beast and whose Teeth are most terrible The Mouth of Antichrist is to be the Mouth of a Lyon always dyed red with Blood. V. 7. And it was given to him to make War with the Saints and to overcome them c. V. 15. And he had power to give life to the Image of the Beast and cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be kill'd V. 6. And I saw the Woman drunken with the Blood of the Saints Chap 17. and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus V. 24. And in her was found the Blood of Prophets Chap. 18. and of Saints and of all that were slain on the Earth V. 6. For they have shed the Blood of Saints Chap. 16. and Prophets and thou hast given them Blood to drink for they are worthy Behold one of the principal Lineaments of Antichristianism let us see if there be a Kingdom on Earth to which this doth agree better than to the Papacy It is a Lyar like its Father it is a Source of Fables It is not less a Murtherer The Antichristian Idolatry began about the end of the fourth Century and the beginning of the fifth 'T was also exactly at the same time that the Church began to lose the characters of Gentleness Clemency and Patience which are the Characters of the Gospel and turn'd Persecutor She had always been persecuted and had always condemn'd Persecution yet she had contrary to her own principles begun to persecute the Donatists But when Antichristianism which then was only in the bud was come to its full shape 't was then that its Persecuting spirit did fully discover itself I mean in the Wars between the image-Image-worshippers and the Image-breakers The Image-worshippers opposed the Orders of their Emperors who had a mind to banish this Abomination out of the Church This resistance forced the Emperors to exercise some Severities on the Idolatrous party But when Idolatry had got into power it retaliated its Enemies double The Image-worshippers made all Italy and the rest of the Western Provinces to cast off their Allegiance to the Emperors and in the East they kill'd and massacred all who would not conform to ' em Irene the Mother of Constantin put out the Ey 's of her own Son and after put him to death that she might reign alone Theodora another Empress who made the worship
of Images triumph in the East used violence to carry on this design and besides massacred a hundred thousand Manichees and Paulianists thoughout the whole Empire The pride of the Bishop of Rome was the cause of the Schism of the Greeks and afterward of a great shedding of Blood. The Pride of Antichrist the Enterprises of the Bishop of Rome who would raise himself above all the Churches in the World caused about the end of the ninth Century that great separation between the East and the West which is call'd The Schism of the Greeks And this Schism hath been the cause of numberless mischiefs The Popes left nothing untryed to bring the Churches of the East under their yoke To effect this they have shed Rivers of Blood 't was on this design that the Court of Rome set on foot the Croisado's The pretext was Piety and a design to conquer the Holy Places that were in the hands of Infidels Indeed this was really designed by some Princes and the ordinary people but the ambitious Popes and Latins had a further and more Politick aim viz. to enlarge their Dominion and to subdue the Greek Church yea and the Greek Empire too This was evident by the sequel For the Latins after they had carryed on this pretext of a Holy War at last fell on the City of Constantinople which they took and sack'd and ravag'd the Empire of the East for sixty years How many attemts Violences Murthers were committed to force the Greeks to submit to the Patriarch of the Latins How much Blood was shed how many millions of men lost their lives in these Holy as they were called Wars that were nothing but commotions caused by the Pride and Superstition of the Papacy Never was there so much Blood shed or so many crimes committed Antichrist then acted as a Leopard and a Lyon who invaded and tore in pieces all that lay in his way or ordered to do so The Blood shed by the Croisado's caused by Antichristianism After the Croisado's Antichrist found out other pretexts for shedding of Blood. The Popes openly invaded the Authority of the Emperors and the Princes of the West They would excommunicate 'em they deprived 'em of their Authority they took from 'em their Right of Investitures they spoyl'd the Emperors not only of the Soveraignty of Rome but also of that of Germany by making 'em the Vassals of the Popes who gave out themselves as Soveraigns and sole Administrators of the Empire during Vacancie's and by obliging 'em to receive the Imperial Crown from them and by depriving 'em of their Right to confirm the Elections of Popes And for not submitting to all this they deposed some Emperors and made others in their stead By these methods and this diabolical ambition from the time of Henry IV. and Pope Gregory VII until that of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria and Pope John XXII i. e. during the space of 300. years the Popes turn'd Germany and Italy into a Field of Blood in which one might have seen the Son in Arms against his Father Fathers sheathing their swords in the bowels of their children Subjects rising up against their Princes and Princes obliged to shed the Blood of their Subjects and to lay wast their own Countreys Cities were broken into parties that cut throats and massacred each other yea Families were divided and one Kinsman murthered another in this fury which was inspired by the Papacy The Combats the Battels the Sieges of Cities the Millions of men who perisht in those three Ages cannot be numbred Henry IV. alone for his share fought above sixty Battels or fights in those Wars which the Popes raised against him Behold the true spirit and temper of Antichrist Persecution against the Waldenses and Albigenset The Papacy which is a devouring Beast which tears in pieces on the right hand and the left whilest it shed such streams of the Blood of its own Subjects at the same time poured out great torrents of that of the Children and Servants of God. For in the very same Centuries the Popes raised those cruel Persecutions against those whom they named Waldenses Albigenses Henricians and Poor men of Lyons First they persecuted 'em in their Reputation accusing 'em that they asserted all manner of carnal conjunction tho with ones Mother or Sister to be lawful that they held the Old Testament to be the work of the Devil despised the Apostles Creed rejected Baptism were Manichees Panlicians Originists They revived against 'em the antient calumnies charged on the Christians that they kept their meetings by night in which their Barbes i. e. their Pastors after they had put out the Candles gave every one liberty to lye with the first woman that came to hand They call'd 'em Bulgarians from whence is derived the odious term B ... because over and above all other crimes they were charged with that of Sodomy To Calumny they joyn'd the Persecution with Sword and Fire Dominick the Monk and Simon Earl of Montfort had a commission to convert 'em but not being able to bring 'em as they said to reason they brought 'em to ruin All Languedoc was fill'd with Divastations Beziers Carcassone Tholouse felt the rage of Antichristian false zeal the Cities were burnt to ashes the Inhabitants were butcher'd the Women ravisht their goods plunder'd by the Army of Cross-bearers who wore the sign of the Cross on their shoulders and had the rage of Hell in their hearts Those who were taken by 'em were burnt alive For 50. or 60. years Languedoc was a very Theater of cruelty The fury of the Inquisitors had neither bridle nor bounds the innocent and the guiltie the Albigenses and those who were none were buryed under the same ruins The miserable Remnant who got away from this Persecution was scatter'd into all places a part of 'em escap'd by getting into the Rocks and Mountains of Piemont but the cragginess of these places which furnisheth Bears and ravenous Beasts with safe shelters could not afford shelter to these poor persecuted Christians The rage of the Papists followed 'em every where and still sacrificed 'em to the Idol Antichrist A hundred and fifty of 'em were burnt at one time at Grenoble They were attaqu't in the very midst of winter when they fled into the Snow that was on the Mountains and were found frozen to death among which were a Mother and her Child the Child lay at its Mothers Breast If their Persecutors overtook any they hung 'em on Trees or brain'd 'em against the Rocks In another place these poor Creatures having fled for shelter into some large Caverns they stopt up the entrance with Faggots and Straw which they set on fire so that all who were within were either suffocated with smoke or perisht by the flames In other places the unmerciful Souldiers fell upon the common people without distinction butcher'd old men women and children ravish't the girles and rip 't 'em up then pull'd
the Antichristian Empire The other reason why the Holy Spirit hath divided the Crâ—isado's into two Plagues and into two Vials and why he hath not done the like by the two Reformations is because the Vials as I have often said signify Periods of Time. Nor could he ascribe a Vial to each Reformation because each of them apart would have consisted of too few years to constitute a Period For as the Reformation of the last Age was wrought in 25. or 30. years so that which we do next expect will in all probability be brought to pass in a less time And therefore to have made two Vials of them he must have allowed each but 25. or 30. years continuance Which would carry no kind of proportion to the rest of the Vials or to the for'going Periods every one whereof were much longer Beside it would have been needful to have interposed a third Vial between the two Vials of the first and second Reformation which ought to comprehend the time that elapseth betwixt the Reformation of the fore-going Age and the Reformation that we hope and wait for Every one will easily perceive that this would not have been a disposing of the Vials as they ought and that it is much more natural to make but one Vial or one Period of all the Times which comprehend the beginning the progress and the consummation of the destruction of the Papacy by means of the Reformation and of bringing the Truth into light and evidence This I take to be enough for the satisfying persons of justice and moderation in reference to the present difficulty And we ought after all to consider that it is free for the Spirit of God to rank Events and to dispose them into such Classes as he thinks meet The whole which belongs to us in this case is to consider the Relation and Agreement of the Events unto and with the Prophetical Schemes and Images Now it is evident that the Figures in the Prophecy concerning the seven Plagues do admirably accord with the Events to which we have applyed them So that now I think we may return to the Reasons assigned by the Author of the Illustrations upon the Apocalypse which he calls a kind of Demonstrations proving that none of the Vials are yet poured out His third Reason so far as I can comprehend it is that all the seven Vials are contained under the third Wo pronounced by the Angel when he cried Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the other voices of the Trumpet of the three Angels which are yet to sound For saith that Author the third Wo shall not be accomplished until after the sounding of the last Trumpet And S. John saith Chap. 11. v. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly To which he adds And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord. If then the seven Vials be all contained under the third Wo and if the third Wo be not to come to pass till the sounding of the seventh Trumpet and if this last Trumpet which is to bring over the Kingdoms of the World to Jesus Christ have not hitherto sounded 't is then says he evident that none of the Vials are yet poured out And he concludes that this doth invincibly follow c. Tho for my part I do not comprehend how these can be stiled invincible proofs Nor is it true that the third Wo is contained under the seventh Trumpet But 't is true that this last Trumpet shall immediately and without any interval follow the third Wo so that we are not to wonder that the Holy Spirit speaketh of these two things as conjoined together The third Wo is the last Fall of Babylon and the moment of its total ruin The seventh Trumpet is the moment of Jesus Christ's entring upon his Kingdom For we may truly reckon the beginning of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to commence immediately after the Fall of Babylon tho it will not attain to its perfection and glory until that the Jews and Pagans are converted This proof that is proposed unto us as invincible is herein weak that it supposeth a thing which is not true and which the Author cannot advance any reason in confirmation of Namely that the Plagues and the seven Vials are all comprehended in the third Wo. Whereas there is not so much as one of them therein contained For the third Wo is to arrive at the End of the seventh Vial and of the seventh Period of the downfal of the Papacy But when one supposeth what he pleaseth he may also prove what he pleaseth Only he ought not to call suppositions that are more than uncertain invincible Reasons And to prove that the seven Vials are not comprehended in the third Wo it is enough to prove as we have done that the seven Vials are seven Periods of Time which run along as water runs out of an Hour glass For seven Periods of time cannot be comprehended within the Time of the third Wo seeing that Wo it self is confined to the compass of a few years The third Wo is properly that which the Holy Spirit chap. 14. calls the Vintage 'T is added by the Author that the Vials must necessarily be still to be poured out because we are yet under the sixth Trumpet 'T is true that we are yet under the sixth Trumpet but it is almost 800. years that this sixth Trumpet hath been pouring forth its Influences For as we have said it is subdivided into seven Vials and we are now towards the end of the seventh Vial of the sixth Trumpet Nor are we to think it strange that the sixth Trumpet comprehends so many Ages seeing the seventh Seal contains a great deal more because comprehending the Trumpets into which it is subdivided it reacheth from the Reign of Theodosius until the End of the World. And our affirming that the seventh Seal comprehends under it the seven Trumpets is not a supposition advanced at random forasmuch as St. Iohn does plainly inform us of it For he does nothing at the opening of the seventh Seal of that which he had done at the opening of the former but all he doth is to give the seven Trumpets to the seven Angels And when he had opened the seventh Seal there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour and I saw the seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets 'T is true that the Holy Spirit doth not so expresly say that the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into seven Vials But this may be gathered from the sixth Trumpets sounding at the time of the Turk 's invading the Grecian Empire which was about the tenth Age and from our finding that the first Vial fell about the same season on the Empire of the Beast So that the course of the Vials is confined within the
styl'd then a Spirit of Devotion that they might go and be destroy'd in the Eastern parts and there seek the punishment of their Crimes We may see how both antient and modern Writers set forth the state of the Roman Church at that time and the corruption of these Holy-war Souldiers who yet were the very Flower of the Saints of Europe for they had the Devotion to consecrate their Estates to sacrifice their Ease and Lives to the gaining of the H. Sepulchre They were Monsters Maimbourg History of the Crossades l. 1. who wherever they came left behind them the Traces of their Covetousness in seizing all of their Cruelty in Burning and Killing all Friends and Enemies without distinction of their abominable Luxury in the Villanies they committed The Lives of the very Clergy saith Maimbourg was so horribly debaucht that one cannot without trembling relate the hideous description which the Writers of that Age have made of them We may see how S. Bernard a Miracle-working Saint and consequently of good credit and Honorius of Autun the two gravest Authors of that Twelfth Age do paint is forth The Picture is made up of all kinds of Fornications Adulteries Incests Detestable Villanies and Acts of the utmost Filthiness This is S. Bernard's account he confesseth that if one had digg'd through the Wall of the Sanctuary as Ezechiel did he might have seen far greater Abominations than those the Prophet saw There was no order of men that was sound And Honorius of Autun ranks in order Princes Monks Priests Nunns and Nunneries and all orders of men giving a particular account of their horrid Abominations Corruption of the 13 Century The Corruption of the Thirteenth Century was every whit as bad yea worse even as a torrent in its progress swells and grows greater We may judge of this by one Instance related by Matthew Paris In this Thirteenth Century An. 1245. that the Council of Lyons which is reckon'd among the General ones was held In Henrico 3. At the Conclusion of this Council Cardinal Hugo preacheth a sermon in which he had this passage addressing himself to the Citrens of Lyons My Friends saith he to them since we came into this City we have been good Benefactors to you and brought you in very great Gain For at our coming hither we found but three or four Whore-houses but at our going away we leave but one 'T is true it reacheth thro the whole City from the East-gate to the West-gate The Corruption of Manners must be worse than it was in Sodom when Impudence gets up into the Pulpit of Jesus Christ or rather that must be the Pulpit of Antichrist where men take the liberty to speak such Abominable jests Corruption of the 14 Century We have credible Witnesses of the Corruption of the Fourteenth Century For instance one Alvares Pelagius a good Friend of Pope John XXII whom he defended against Oceam the Father of the Nominals who undertook the cause of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria He sets forth the Cloysters of his Age a◠places of Prostitution where Debauchery Gluttony Idleness Drunkeness Luxury filthy Converses impure Discourses Lascivious Touches did reign And where all the Gates and Windows as 〈◊〉 speaketh were open towards Death He especially sets forth the horrid Sin of Sodom a sin which reign'd even in the Quire of the most august and venerable Churches We may likewise consult a grave Author call'd Marsilius of Padua Desensot paci◠who hath set forth Rome as it was in his days exactly like that Babylon of which we have seen the description in the Apocalypse But none hath so painted to the life the corruption of the 14th Century as Petrarch the greatest Wit and Schollar of his Age. There are two and twenty Letters of his which have no inscription in them he reckons up all the Villanies of the Nero's of Heliogabolus's of Sardanapulus's of Caligula's He addeth the Wickednesses feign'd by Poets the Crimes of Pasiphaë of Medea of Hercules when madd of Oedipus and Thyestes and finds all these too little to afford a true Idea of the Corruption of the Roman-Church in that Age. So that he requests from God the return of Nero's and the resurrection of the greatest Monsters of Impurity and Cruelty as a less Misery than that the Church was oppress'd by Corruption of the 15th Century We may judge concerning the state of the Roman Church in the 15th Century by the Chastity of that venerable Assembly the Council of Constance which passeth in the Gallican Church at this day for the most Sacred and valuable of all the Councils 'T was the flower of all the Clergy of Europe in it a Zeal against Heresie burnt John Huss and Jerome of Prague 'T was this Council that purged the Sanctuary and ended the grand Schism of the West Notwithstanding in the Catalogue of those who attended on this Council we find six hundred Barbers 450 Women of Pleasure and 320 Juglers and Stageplayers not reckoning the other Ministers of all sorts of criminal pleasures who no doubt were there Fornication in that Age was a mere trifle Aeneas Sylvius who was afterward Pope Epist 15. by the name of Pius II. confesseth it without the least shame as if it had been a Bagatell he saith that he was not holyer than David and Solomon 'T is saith he an old Fault and I know not so much as one who is free from it A good Evidence to prove the Chastity of the Age and Clergy in general Nay he is so impudent as to assert that 't is a natural Inclination and that it cannot be criminal seeing it comes from nature We need not wonder that this Pope should say that there was good reason to deny the Liberty of Marrying to Priests but that upon better it ought to be granted again to them If we would hear another Witness concerning the manners of the Roman Church in the 15th Century we may bring Nicholas de Clemangis Archdeacon of Bayeux He wrote a Treatise on purpose which he calls de corrupto Ecclesiae statu and besides this he mingleth his Complaints and Descriptions of it in all his Writings There are no Crimes Debauches Disorders Brutalities Ignorance Drunkenness Luxury Impuritie and Abominations which do not find place in the description which he makes Corruption of the 16th Century The sixteenth Century was the Age when the Reformation began If we would be assured concerning the Corruption of the Roman Church at that time we need only hear the Confessions which our Adversaries make at this day Read Maimbourg's History of Lutheranism Mr. Arnaud's Apologie for Catholicks and to say all in a word all those who have either writ the History of the Church of the last Age or have made Remarques on that History They all say that 't is true there was reason to complain and be offended at the Clergy and Monks that the Corruption was deplorable and Manners extremely corrupted and
that this occasion'd the revolt of Zuinglius and Luther and disposed the spirits of the people to separate from a Clergy that was guilty of such dismal Disorders Besides we have the Confessions of the Papists of the same Age of Pope Adrian VI. of Cornelius Musse Bishop of Bitonto who in the midst of the Council of Trent said That there was no Filthyness how monstrous soever no Villany no Impurity with which the People and Clergy were not defiled We have the Testimony of the famous Mantuan and of the learned Espensaus who make such dismal and affrighting descriptions of the manners of the Roman City and Church in general that one cannot forbear trembling as he reads them After this we need not the testimony of the Lutherans and of the Hundred Grievances which were drawn up at the Diet of Norimberg 1522. wherein the Abominations of the Clergy of that time are set down with exact Fidelity The Priests and Monks have always been guilty of the greatest Corruption Observe I pray you that this dismal Corruption of Manners in all the Ages which we have been mentioning hath always been charged more particularly on the Clergy than on the People And this is a sensible Character of Antichristianism that is found in the Papacy We know that the Clergy and Monks are the principal Members of the Papacy its Spirit and Soul resides in them so that if Popery were Christianity the spirit of this later would be found in these two Orders of men we should perceive some marks of the Christian Religion to shine forth in them But by a righteous Judgment God hath permitted them to contract the very greatest corruption to convince those whom God will save that the Papal Empire cannot be the Kingdom of J. Christ The Corruption of the Priests Monks and Nuns hath always been worse than that of the Laity that so it might appear that the farther a man goes in Popery the more he partakes of the spirit of Antichrist We may view over again Alvares Pelagius Petrach Nicholas de Clemangis Fasciculus Temporum and add to them Walter Mapes an English Doctor Arnold de Villâ novâ Leonard Aretine and an infinite number of others and we shall see that their most bitter Invectives the lively Descriptions and affrighting Representations of the Corruption they speak of do principally relate to the Court of Rome the Priests the Clergy the Monks and Nuns This is not a matter that needs to be proved 'T is notorious even in our dayes for all who have had a mind to collect filthy and obscene stories even among the Papists themselves scarce relate any thing besides the enormous Crimes of the Priests and Monks this hath made the Name of a Fryar odious and the Proverbs which are in use among the vulgar make these the Instances of impurity such a one they say is Lazy fat and leacherous as a Friar Hence those who write Satyrs fall especially on the Monks as may be seen in the writings of Rablais and the Apologie for Herodotus Nor are they only obscure writers who have attacht them with violence The Bishop of Bellay in the present age hath omitted nothing that might make them odious And yet not one passage in him can be cited where he hath spoken without truth Consequences that ought to be drawn from â—â—nâ—e Here I conjure those who have any care of their own salvation to bestow their attention on this subject For in my judgment 't is the most proper to awaken those who have not quite lost even Common sense How can it possibly enter into the mind of any man that the only true Church should be found in a Society which for eight hundred years together hath been guilty of so abominable a corruption of manners that that of the Heathens has not equall'd it I grant indeed that we may find in Heathen History some passages as dismal as those which are seen in the History of the Papacy But I am bold to say that we cannot find such a long series of Villanies and abominable Practices so long continued For about a thousand years a Church is made up of Drunkards Whoremongers Incestuous Wizzards Magicians Sodomites Luxurious Unclean Wretches without Shame without Virtue without Modesty without Bounds without Masque These are the main body and community there are scarce honest men enough to complain of the Disorders of the rest A man I say must be resolved to damn himself in cool Blood if he digests this Absurdity and is persuaded that 't is possible for Jesus Christ to abandon his true Church at this rate and suffer her to sink into such a Corruption What can be replyd to this The Vanity of the Papists excuses 'T will perhaps be reply'd that in all Ages of the Church the H. Fathers have complain'd of Corruption of Manners and that we must not condemn the whole for the Faults of some particular men But 't is an intolerable Affront to the Primitive Church to make the Comparison between some Disorders that the Fathers complain'd of and the horrid Enormities of the Papacy At least the Clergy of those times complain'd therefore they were not guilty of the Disorders that they reproacht in others Some will say That there were great Corruptions sometimes in the people of Israel which was the only people of God. 'T is true but then they did not last so long God never sufferd this people to persevere constantly for seven or eight Ages in the Vices of the Heathen and in the Abominations which they borrowed from the Gentiles 'T is sayd that however these Disorders are past and that we cannot any longer justly charge the Church of Rome with them But First if this were true it doth not contradict the Truth of what I have alledg'd 'T is a certain Truth that the Church of Rome for seven or eight Ages was sunk into this extreme Corruption And I say it over again There is none who retains any Liberty of Mind who can possibly believe that the true Church could lye under this dismal Infamy for so long a time thro the permission of God. But besides where is this Reformation of Manners which they so much glory in In all the Countreys where there are no Protestants to inspect the Deportment and Manners of the Papists things are almost at the same pass We have Historians Travellors and Writers of Travells who tell us that in Italy and Spain Convents are places of Prostitution the Monks are employ'd to execute the worst of Villanies and the Priests are the most notorious Pimps We may consult A Relation of the Commonwealth of Venice writ by M. de S. Didier a Papist and a thousand other Books that are in every ones hands 'T is true in some Countries the outside is somewhat alter'd especially in France where for these twenty years past the Court being set upon the design of Reunion hath judg'd it necessary in order to gain the Protestants