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
drink the chalice He prepares himself by divers signs of the Cross kneelings and prayers he eats the pieces of the wafer that are upon the plate and then repeating the same actions as for the wafer he drinks the chalice with that part of the wafer that was thrown into it He makes the assistants likewise to communicate if there be any present who are prepar'd He rinses the gobelet with unconsecrated wine he drinks it he empties the chalice and folds up the linnen and pronounces the last Dominus vobiscum and at last he saith the Ite Missaest and for a conclusion he kisseth the Altar lifts his eyes and hands to Heaven worships the cross and blesseth the People These are the ordinary simple Masses but those upon Great Festivals have the addition of many other things For instance in that on the Saturday before Easter they put out all the candles in the Church and strike new fire with a Flintand steel The Pomp of Solemn Masses they sprinkle the new fire with holy water they light up torches the Deacon takes three lighted Tapers at the end of a stick The Acolyte fastens five grains of Incense in the form of a cross upon one of the consecrated Tapers they kindle it they consecrate the fonts of Baptism by cutting the water in the form of a Cross they make it leap back towards the four parts of the world breathing upon it three times in the form of a Cross and dipping the consecrated Taper on which are the five grains of incense three times in this water in the form of a Cross Absurdities of the worship of the Mass When I consider this medley of vain Ceremonies without reason without order ill contriv'd and ill put together I cannot comprehend how so many men of understanding should ever suffer themselves to be inchanted with it What is there of Spirituality or of Reason in all these Grimaces turnings and returnings elevations and stoopings these signs of the cross repeated an hundred times over upon the Altar upon the Priest upon the book upon the wafers upon the body and blood it self of our Lord Jesus Christ these soft murmurs and loud screamings these Reverences and extensions of the hand c One must be prodigiously blind that can persuade himself that this is becoming the Majesty of divine service It would hardly be tolerable on a Theater in a piece that were any thing grave and these Gentlemen need not wonder that men compare this to the Ceremonies of such who by signs and figures and circles and muttering words think they can charm and chain up the Devill The Pagans themselves observ'd a better decorum in their sacrifices There is nothing Spiritual to be found in all this And there is as little to be found in it that can be called Rational 'T is true in this miscellany there are some things good for we meet with divers passages of the H. Scripture but they are intermixt without reason order or coherence and sometimes you may divine long enough ere you can imagine why or wherfore they are mention'd Besides that being in an unknown tongue whatsoever there is in it of Spirituality or Reason is lost as to the People What reason is there for the Confession of Sins to the Saints and to the Virgin as well as unto God what reason is there to demand the prayers of the people when they are ignorant of what you say to ' em Is it not absurd and ridiculous that a Priest celebrating a private Mass in the Corner of a Church without any assistants should turn himself about and speak to the walls saying Dominus vobiscum The Lord be with you Is it not ridiculous to make the Deacon ascend an high Pulpit in sight of all the People to read to 'em an Epistle or Gospell in Latine which they understand nothing of Is it not a manifest Contradiction to offer little wafers that are not consecrated as a Sacrifice for the living and the dead Is it not to affront our Blessed Lord Jesus to pretend to arm him against the Devill by making signs of the Cross Must they not be void of reason and common sense to leave a parcell of words in their liturgie which are addrest to the people and yet expresly to order that they shall be pronounc't with a low voice that they may not hear so much as the sound of ' em To what purpose do they pray for all the People as if they were to partake of the bread and wine and yet oftentimes they do not all communicate and when they do but in one kind of the bread only In truth we may as soon number the stars as reckon up all the absurdities contradictions and impieties of this false Worship What spirituality and what reason is there in the Ceremonies added by the Papacy unto Baptism the signs of the cross upon the forehead upon the mouth upon the nose upon the eyes upon the ears of the Baptised the spittle wherwith they stroak his nose and ears their exorcizing the water and the conjurations over the font of Baptism Circumcision was plain and simple there can be no comparison between this and that Can there be any spirituality or reason in giving to their Devoto's a Rosary or a string of Beads wherby they may repeat just such a number of Ave's and Paternoster's but ten Ave's to one Pater that is ten homages to the Virgin for one to God the Father as if the Virgin were ten times more adorable than God. Is it not absurd to say the Ave i. e. the salutation of the Angell to the Virgin in the form of a Prayer to give her the tidings of the future conception of Jesus Christ a thousand times a day two thousand years after his birth we should never have done if we should say all that may be urg'd against them on this head These Instances may suffice to let us see that the Romish worship in the general hath this in common with Heathenism that it is gross and carnal and without reason Let us now see it more particularly CHAPTER XVII The Parallel between Popery and Paganism in Doctrines and Worship being a continuation of the tenth character of Antichristianism found in the Papacy Popery hath five objects of worship THe Paganism of the Romish Religion is so obvious and manifest that 't is not possible not to discern it wherefore it hath been accus'd of this many hundred times within these last two hundred years That we may be convinc't there is ground for this charge we must consider in Popery the Object of their worship and the Ceremonies of it For the object of their worship they have First the Supreme God an Infinite Being 2. They worship Angells Spirits by nature separated from matter 3. They imploy and worship the Souls of men of Dead men whom they canoniz'd to whom they build temples and offer incense 4. They have services to the Dead and to
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-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
plain Blasphemies against the Creator by the mouth of their Missionarics and Preachers who preach to the people a Ridiculous and profane Gospel made up of impertinent Fables and absurd stories most unbecoming expressions and vile comparisons foolish and unworthy subjects and the whole accompanied with trifling and Mimical gestures with an air suited to a Farce or Comedy rather than a Sermon IX 'T is a prodigious heap of Superstitions which are criminal and Idolatrous in the plainest and most simple use of 'em but in their Abuse are the most extravagant Idolatry that can be named according to which the most proper Divine Adoration is given to a Creature making the Virgin to be the Queen of Heaven and of the rest of the World the Salvation of mankind the Redeemer of the World the distributer of all saving Grace the Goddess the Divinity of Men and Angels the Completion and Perfection of the Trinity and so in proportion to all the other Saints Male and Female X. 'T is real Paganism reviv'd wherein besides the great God of Heaven and Earth the Great Jupiter most good and most great they worship innumerable inferior and subordinate Deities A Queen of the World Spirits separated from matter Mediators between God and Men good Demons and Genius's who perserve and take care of men and watch over ' em They likewise worship as the ancient Pagans did the Souls of dead men they build Temples and consecrate Altars to 'em and offer Sacrisices to their Honour they put themselves under their protection they establish them to be Patrons of Kingdoms and Cities and Families and particulier Persons insomuch that Juda had as many Gods as Towns. In this new Paganism they worship the Reliques of the Dead their Bones their Askes their Garments their Shirts their Shoes and their old Rags They worship also Images and Pictures as the ancient Pagans did And this worship is such in all the parts of it as besides its agreement with Heathenism is not at all Spiritual or Rational made up of Ceremonies that are carnal corporal and vain apish and foolish postures signs of the Cross Holy and lustral Waters Temples and Altars adorn'd with magnificence and pomp grimaces and wry faces and gesticulations of a Priest round about the Altar turning about now to the right hand and then to the left sometimes speaking and then on a sudden silent now thundering with a loud voice and presently after muttering somewhat between his teeth one while reading another while speaking without Book and always saying that which is not understood by the common People This is the goodly worship of Popery and must pass for Divine service tho without spirituality or reason XI 'T is a Religion animated throughout by a spirit of Lying and founded and supported by Fabâ—es Their Invocation of Saints Adoration of the Virgin Purgatory Sacrifice of the Mass Adoration of the Sacrament and all their other Superstitions are built upon a fabulous Gospel but framed by a spirit of Lying so gross and palpable that the least measure of sincerity would be enough to make a man blush and be asham'd of 'em They are meer Romances and stuft with Ribaldry and Filthiness The Romance of the Virgin is more ridiculous than that of S. Rose The Lives of their Saints do paint'em out as a Company of Fools Fanaticks and Bedlams with a vast multitude of frightful Miracles the number whereof is sufficient of it self to contradict the truth and overthrow the Authority of 'em But for the most part they are such as are mean and trifling sottish and ridiculous unworthy of the Grandeur and Majesty of God Miracles wrought on purpose to prove the Holiness of some little Monk that after his decease Temples may be built in honour of his memory and he may be worshipt as a God or to introduce and encourage the worship of a piece of Bread of Wood or of Stone and none of 'em to promote the worship of God. XII 'T is a cruel Master who hath teeth of steel and nailes of Diamant that tears and devours what he can and treads under foot the remainder He establishes his Kingdom under the name of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ with Fire and Sword destroying all that stoops not to him overturning Cities and Kingdoms making whole Provinces to be so many burying places and large Cities to be ruinous heaps inflaming Europe with Wars and destroying Germany and Italy by that means arming the Father against the Son and Children against their Parents Subjects against their Prince and Princes against their Subjects causing the most horrible Massacres and covering the Earth with Human Blood. He erects Gibbets prepares Scaffolds kindles Fires to hang behead and burn those that resist him and not content to take away their lives would destroy their Honour and Reputation likewise by imputing such opinions to 'em as they abhor making them to pass for the Enemies of God and of the Saints charging them as Hereticks Arrians Photinians Mamenees and as believing the most horrible Doctrines accusing them of Incests and Promiscuous Impurities in their night meetings to worship God putting on them the Skins of Bears and wild Beasts and exposing them to publick Execution in the view of the multitude as the worst of men XIII Lastly 't is a cruel Tyrant which for many Ages hath enjoyed a profound Peace and the utmost of temporal Felicity without any interruption save by the troubles it hath given unto others and the cruel Wars it hath raised against the Innocent If at any time it hath met with any check or opposition it hath given a great deal more to the peace of others for at length it hath subdued and overcome all its Enemies and by violence stopt the mouth of all its Adversaries The Emperors after long and cruel commotions have at last stoopt to the feet of this Tyrant Insomuch that this Strumpet glories in her victories saying This is Babylon the great that I have built by the greatness of my power and who can resist the force of it She hath brought all Opposers under the yoke and peaceably enjoyed her richess and rapines her pleasures and her Crimes She hath said to her Soul Eat drink and be merry thou hast goods laid up for many years She had added to these riches from time to time and the Soul of this wicked Miscreant is not yet required of her so that She hath enjoyed all the fruits of her Iniquities without seeing sorrow and all the desires of her Eyes without knowing Trouble Behold the true Picture of the Papacy if any think it is more deformed and more horrid than it ought to be represented let him but have patience till he hath perused this Book and he shall find all these Characters made good by Historical proofs against which nothing that is solid and reasonable can be objected I have here performed that which I long ago promised viz. to give an Extract or Abridgment of my Book
of Legal Exceptions or Lawful Prejudices against Popery for the sake of those who cannot buy or read the larger Book in Quarto but I pretend not hereby to render the other less necessary This will be sufficient for those who are not obliged to know the bottom of these things they who would have further Light may consult that piece from whence this Extract is made Therefore I have not always mark't the places and sometimes not mentioned the Authors from whom I relate the matters of fact because those who would be more distinctly inform'd ought to consult the larger Book of Prejudices or Exceptions against Popery As this Book is a Continuation of the Explication and Application of the Prophecies this would be a proper place to insert an Answer to the Objections that have been made of late against the first 2d Parts of the Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies Those objections are in two little Treatises the one defends the explication of the 16. Chapter of the Revelations Ecclaâ—cissâ—ments sur l'Apocalypse de S. Jean as to the Non-Effusion of the seven Vials given by the Author of the Illustrations on the Apocalypse the other contests in the Title especially the designation of the time in the book of the Accomplishment c. But I have not thought fit to reply any thing in this piece I would not have those Gentlement think that I wave it on the account of any difficulty I find in answering their objections But I see not what profit can arise from such wranglings which may be endless and those Authors it may be are more at leasure than I am After all this dispute must be referred to Time and the decision of Providence if this latter do not declare it self for the Author of the Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies all that he can urge in his own defence will signifie very little But if God do answer the hopes of those who wait for Deliverance then it shall be made appear to him who writes against the Calculation of the Time that it was not by chance that I hit upon it till then I shall defer my Answer In the interim I would adveritise him that his method is exactly fitted to overthrow the accord and agreement between the Prophecies and the Events of Providence I might prove much after the same way that the Prophesies of the Old Testament are not at all fulfilled and that Christ is not the Messiah Omne simile est dissimile all the Prophecies are riddles and on that account have some obscure passages where 't is easy to take notice of two faces It is so as to the Types the objections which this Author makes against that of the Creation are in his opinion very strong and convincing to me they do not seem so But I think it is of so little moment to satisfie and persuade mankind as to that point that unless a very favorable occasion present it self I shall not take the trouble to give him further light as to those matters Those that have considered the principles I have laid down and have any tolerable Judgment to understand'em will quickly discern what may be replied and they who see it not will not be less wise or happy on that account This is that which doth encourage and support me with respect to the Spirit of Contradiction that I meet with in those Gentlemen A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. I. The first Character of the Antichristian Kingdom which is found in the Papacy Viz. a Temporal Dominion hid under the appearance of a Spiritual one Page 1 CHAP. II. The second Character of the Antichristian Kingdom purely Human Politicks 't is palpable that they bear sway in the Papacy Page 12 CHAP. III. The pretence of Infallibility and eternal Duration the third Character of the Antichristian Kingdom Page 24 CHAP. IV. The fourth Character of Antichristianism that is found in the Roman Church is the manner of their dealing with the H. Scriptures the common Rule of all Christians Page 35 CHAP. V. A Continuation of the fourth Character of Antichristianism which is found in the Papacy the profane abusing of the Sacred Scriptures that it is guilty of Page 49 CHAP. VI. The Conclusion of the fourth Character of Antichristianism which is found in the Papacy viz. the Affronts that it offers to the H. Scriptures both in Words and Actions Page 60 CHAP. VII The fifth Chrracter of Antichristianism that is found in Popery the extreme Corruption of its Head and Members first in their Popes Page 70 CHAP. VIII A Continuation of the fifth Character of Antichristianism an Epitome of the Disorders and Corruptions of the Popes from the ninth Century unto the seventeenth Page 75 CHAP. IX A Continuation of the fifth Character of Antichristianism that is found in the Papacy the extreme Corruption of its Members Pag. 93 CHAP. X. The sixth Character of Antichristianism which is found in the Papacy Viz. Excessive Pride Pag 104 CHAP. XI The seventh Character of the Antichristian Kingdom which agrees to the Papacy a Spirit of Covetousness and Simony and its extraordinary Riches Pag. 115 CHAP. XII The eighth Character of Antichristianism which agrees to the Papacy the Spirit of Impurity and Reprobation Pag. 124 CHAP. XIII A Continuation of the eighth Character of Antichristianism found in the Papacy the reprobate Spirit of their legendary Preachers Mystical Authors c. Pag. 132 CHAP. XIV The ninth Character of Antichristianism found in the Papacy Idolatry in it's height confest by the Papists themselves Pag. 143 CHAP. XV. An Examination of the Excuses by which some late Authors endeavour to palliate the Idolatry which hath been set forth in the preceding Chapter Pag. 151 CHAP. XVI The tenth Character of Antichristianism found in the Papacy that it is a revived Paganism built upon Christianity whose Worship is neither Spiritual nor Rational Pag. 165 CHAP. XVII The Parallel between Popery and Paganism in Doctrines and Worship being a Continuation of the Tenth Character of Antichristianism found in the Papacy Pag. 377 CHAP. 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 Virgin Mary Pag. 193 CHAP. XIX A Continuation of the Romance of the Virgin invented to support the Idolatry of the Papacy Pag. 208 CHAP. XX. A short account of some of the Fables which the Papacy hath invented to establish the Worship and Invocation of Saints Pag. 218 CHAP. XXI The fabulous History of Reliques of Images of the real presence of the Adoration of the Host of the Sacrifice of the Mass of Purgatory of founding the Order of the Monks Pag. 229 CHAP. XXII A Refutation of the Excuses by which the Papists attemt to efface this Character of Antichristianism in the Romish Religion Pag. 240 CHAP. XXIII The twelfth Character of Antichristianism that fitteth the Papacy is cruelty and shedding of Blood.
that kindled the flame which burns to this day 'T is a prodigious blindness in which there is somthing supernatural that men should come so far as to utter such Blasphemies and that at this day men should not be afraid to repeat them Scripture insufficient The Third Affront tho Papists offer to the Scriptures is their asserting them to be insufficient and imperfect and that they cannot serve as a Rule of Faith. They employ their greatest Engins to establish this Principle Councill of Trent Ses 4. that Traditions ought to be regarded with the same reverence and veneration that is given to the Scripture Yea that Traditions excell the Scriptures because the H. Scriptures cannot subsist unless confirmed by Tradition Baron Tom. â— Annal. whereas Traditions keep their strength intire without the H. Writings We stand more in need of Tradition than of Scripture for the Scriptures only furnish us with a dead and dumb letter But Tradition as the Church holds it forth helps us to the true sense which is not indeed distinctly layd down in the Scripture yet is the real word of God. W. Bayly Nothing is more injurious to the Scripture than this Nothing is more contrary to the intention and wisdom of God than to suppose that he hath given a Rule of Faith which cannot regulate Faith which is too short by more than three quarters which is crooked dubious flexible and altogether useless without the aid of another Rule that is unknown to all Christians excepting a small number of Learned men who alone are capable of consulting it Scripture hath no Authority The fourth Affront that Popery offers to the Scriptures relates to their Authority They have no Authority without the testimony of the Church Without the Authority of the Church Bayly we should have no more Obligation to believe the Scriptures than the History of Titus Livius The Scripture Hosius if deprived of the Churches testimony have no more Authority than Esops Fables How know we say they that the Writings which go under the name of Moses are his seeing we never had a sight of the Originals And if we should who could assure us that they were writ by Moses's own hand Again if we could be assured of this what certainty have we that what Moses writ is true Who shall assure us that the Evangelists were Witnesses to all that they report But tho we should believe that they saw and heard all the Actions and Discourses of J. Christ which they report yet they might forgett and lye as every man may deceive and be deceived How can we again know with certainty Pighius that what goes under their names are their true Writings and not corrupted or forged I know not what kind of Temper a man must be of who can read and hear such things without trembling He that should speak at this rate of the Alcoran at Constantinople would be impaled alive An Infidel cannot say more to destroy all the Authority of the Holy Scriptures The several ways used by Papists to take away the Credit of the scripture 'T is not enough to these Gentlemen to affront the Scriptures by these four Accusations 1. That they are not necessary to the Church 2. That they are obscure 3. That they are defective 4. That they have no Authority as to us without the Church there is no Method imaginable which they employ not to dishonour them They tell us that they were writ only Occasionally and not at all with any design to make them a Rule of Faith. An Evangelist or an Apostle wrote a Gospel or an Epistle at random by chance and on particular private designs Afterward the Church collected those loose writings into one Book But seeing these were not writ by one or several persons writing in concert we cannot find in them a System of Faith. Can any thing be said more affronting to the H. Spirit who ordered the pens of these Writers and the occasions that obliged them to write The Papists talk just as if the Apostles had writ meerly on their own designs without any Inspiration But did not the H. Spirit who moved them to write design their writings collected together should be the true Rule of Faith To lessen the Credit of the Canonical books that are truly divine Popery hath joyn'd with them fabulous books a tale of Tobit a Romance of Judith of Bel and the Dragon of Susanna This tends to dispose the minds of men to believe whatever they have a mind to propose seeing the veriest Fables when authoriz'd by the Church ought to be received as Truth and the greatest Truth destitute of the Churches Testimony may be rejected as a Fable This is not yet enough the more effectually to abolish the holy Books and their Authority they affirm that at this time we have not the H. Scriptures compleat Many Books say they are lost we have not the Book of the Wars of the Lord mention'd in the Book of Numbers We have not the Books of Gad and of Iddo Solomon wrote concerning plants from the Cedar even to the Hyssop and I know not how many thousand Parables and Songs which we have not S. Paul wrote a third Epistle to the Corinthians which is lost one to the Church of Laodicea and perhaps many others which are not to be found and who knows whether in all these writings that we have not there were not innumerable things which would have made the Rule of Faith more compleat Perhaps what is come down to us are only some Planks escap'd from a Shipwrack which hath swallowed up the Vessel All the sacred Books of the Old Testament were burnt at the sacking of Jerusalem under Zedekiah Afterward Ezra gather'd what he could of the scatterd pieces There are Popish Authors who discourse at this rate Yea they go further Those Books of Holy Scripture that are preserved are yet corrupted and alterd The Jews out of hatred to the Christian Religion have corrupted the Originals at the best these Originals are lost and the Copies have felt the injuries of Time and the fate that is inevitable to all antient Books having for above three thousand years past thro the hands of so many ignorant persons many things may have been changed in them Besides they are dead Languages in which these Books are written such as we understand not we are not skill'd in their Grammar we know not the signification of their words This is what they discourse at this day Lastly to compleat the Affront they pull away these books out of the peoples hands they affright them with these as if they tended to ruin their souls They tell men that it never was the intention of God to abandon his Scriptures to the indiscretion of the Laity And on this pretence the Scripture is become a secret Book hid under a barbarous Language to which none is allowed to approach unless he is aforehand initiated in their
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
we call Avarice and Simony is an honest and lawful means to support the honour and the Majesty of the Church CHAPTER XII The Eighth Character of Antichristianism which agrees to the Papacy The Spirit of Impurity and Reprobation IN the 16th Chapter of the Revelations we have an admirable Character of Antichristianism and a very plain and evident one where He speaks of three unclean Spirits coming out of the mouth of the Dragon of the Beast and the False Prophet V. 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like Frogs come out of the Mouth of the Dragon and out of the Mouth of the beast and out of the Mouth of the false Prophet V. 14. For they are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty V. 15. And he gatherd them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon The Spirits coming out of the Mouth of the Dragon are his words I cannot think that any man who will consider without prejudice the interpretation we have given of this Oracle in our Accomplishment of Prophecies can doubt of the truth of it 'T is manifest that those Spirits coming out of the mouth must be understood of words for so words are exprest in a figurative stile in the H. Scripture The Spirits therfore which come out of the mouth of the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet are doubtless the Words Laws and Doctrine of Antichrist And termed Vnclean Spirits because of the Impiety Folly Extravagance and Character of Reprobation which is to be apparent in those Laws and in that Doctrine of Antichrist Let us see whether this agree to the Papacy whether their words be not impious and impure extravagant and foolish and bear the marks of a Reprobate Spirit We must look for this in the words of Antichristianism that is what hath been said and taught by those who have liv'd in the Antichristian Kingdom in one word by the Doctors of the Church of Rome They are of several ranks and degrees Schoolmen Canonists Legendaries Preachers Casuists and the Authors of Mystical Theology Devotion and Controversy If we examin the words of all those different Authors we shall find in 'em the Characters of these impure and diabolical Spirits which come out of the mouth of the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet The Impurity of the Schoolmen In the first rank are the Schoolmen a sort of Doctors who started up in the twelvth Century when the Devil had just compleated the Antichristian Monarchy and made up the confused mass of Errors and Superstitions which belong to Antichrist the Beast spake and innumerable lying Doctors appear'd under his Authority to abuse the People and continue them in the darkness of Ignorance The Patriarchs of this kind of Doctors who gave rise to this Monstrous Theology were Lombard whom they call the Master of the Sentences Albertus Magnus Abelardus and Thomas Aquinas The H. Scripture was buried in oblivion Aristotle succeeded in the place of S. Paul and a barbarous Philosophy brought forth a Divinity that was much more barbarous What is this Divinity of the Papists 'T is a black and gloomy science rising from the Bottomless Pit cover'd with Clouds and Darkness 'T is a Dedalus an inextricable Labyrinth which the wisest of mankind can never unriddle 'T is a dark and confused Chaos where a very little of that which is good is buried under a great deal of that which is otherwise 'T is a new and barbarous Language invented to astonish and confound the simple where they talk of nothing else but Quiddities and Entities Formalities and Modalities Hecceities and Identities Categoricks and Syncategoricks and a thousand such like things good for nothing but to darken the minds of men and hinder the light of Truth by an infinity of trifling unintelligble distinctions 'T is an Heap of frivolous Questions knotty impenetrable obscure and oftentimes blasphemous In this Scholastick Divinity they gravely inquire whether God can seperate a Relation from its subject whether the Body of J. Christ could be in the Eucharist before his Incarnation whether God could become a Woman whether this Proposition God is a snail or a pumkin be as possible as this God is man whether God could command all sorts of Crimes even the Haâ—red of himself and the Hypocrisie and Dissimulation of all good Actions even in his own Service whether numeral words do add any thing real to the Divinity whether the number of divine Persons ought to belong to first or to second Intentions whether this Proposition God the Father hates his Son be possible or no whether the second person of the Trinity might not have been united to a Devill to a Stone to a Plant to an Asse and if that be supposed how the Stone or Plant could have been crucified have preacht and wrought Miracles c. In all this one may plainly perceive an Impure and Reprobate Spirit and the unclean spirits which come out of the mouth of the false Prophet There is none of the Christian Mysteries but they have polluted and blemisht by their bold Questions that of the Trinity of the Incarnation of the Divine Nature and Providence And tho of late they are a little come off from that way there yet remains so much of it as is sufficient to discover this character of Antichristianism The Errors and Superstitions and Idolatries of Popery are concealed and cloak't under the niceties and darkness of this Divinity 'T is this that hath coin'd those numberless distinctions which are so many Subterfuges where error and Idolatry secure themselves when we attempt to discover ' em 'T is to this Theology that we owe those famous terms of worship absolute and relative Dulia Latria and Hyperdulia of Transubstantiation Concomitance and an hundred others like these Impurities of the Canonists The Canonists are another kind of the Mouths wherby the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet do speak their words likewise have the Character of unclean and diabolical Spirits Burchard Bishop of Wormes Albertus Abbot of Gemblour Anselme Bishop of Lucca Ives Bishop of Chartres Gratian a Benedictine Monk of Bologna Raimond of Penna Fortè were the principal Composers of the Papal Laws and of those Decrees of the Papacy the body whereof makes up the Canon Law and they are in truth the unclean and diabolical spirits which come out to deceive the Kings of the Earth and to gather them together in battell against God in the place of Armageddon and that under the bond and tye of Excommunication It may be said truly that there is no Folly Filthiness Extravagance or Blasphemy which is not to be found in these Authors of the Canon Law. In one place we read that a Community of Wives is a very good thing and that Plato who would have introduc't it was the wisest of all
endured by the Brothers of the Order But nothing can be had without good ready Money which must be put in the Box by the name of Almes These are the great Revenues of the Mendicant Fryars Accordingly you have one Order contending with another which is a good diversion to see every Order cryes up their Fraternity and Marchandises and speaks the most contemtuously of the advantages of the other Orders The Jacopin boasts of his Rosary and saith that God reveald it to S. Dominick to be the scourge and terror of Devils a short abridgement of the whole mystery of Religion a remedy against all Evils the source of all good things a certain means of getting eternal Life The Carmelite saith that his Order is as antient as Elijah that the Virgin Mary is one of its Founders that all the Carmelites are Brethren of the Virgin that the Holy Scapulary was brought by her to the Blessed Simon Stock General of the Order for this end that whoever dyeth in the Scapulary might escape the flames of hell The Cordeliers and Augustins speak of as great Wonders about their Ropegirdles and Girdles They have Bulls in which full pardon of all sins is granted to those who shall wear these marks of the Beast On the other hand every Order turns the devotions of the rest into ridicule While the Dominican cryes up the Virtues of his Rosary he jeers at the Scapulary of the Carmelites the pretended antiquity of that Order the extravagant visions of Simon Stock The Carmelite calls the Rope-girdle of S. Francis a Whip for Doggs Every Fraternity hath its Writers whose Books are fill'd with impertinent Commendations of themselves and contain Rules of devotion to be observed by their Disciples But the whole is so dull so ridiculous and nonsensical that a very Jew who is wont to make his Religion consist in impertinent Observations would be asham'd of it and would not on any terms submit to it These are the unclean spirits that come forth of the mouth of the False Prophet Impurity of the mystical Teachers These spirits do also come forth of another Mouth of the Beast These are the Mystical Teachers a sort of men who are for Devotions that are much raised above the ordinary Devotion of the vulgar They are in a manner distracted and have a style peculiar to themselves which is altogether unintelligible both to others and themselves When they would express the elevations of the Soul to God and its uniting with him they will tell you of passive unions of the Deiform state of the Soul of the introversion of the Mind of the deiform fund of the Heart of Irraditions of Sequestrations of melting ones self to lose and drown ones self in God of imaginary Exercises of divine Inactions of the state of Totality Among these mystical Authors I believe we may rank a certain kind of Fishers of mysteries who make it their work to spiritualize and turn into Mysteries all the Ceremonies of Popery Chance Time Superstition Ignorance brought them into the Church sometimes such causes as subsist not now and there was never any intention to couch mysteries under them But afterward they must be discovered in them A Priest hath six or seven kinds of habits a Bishop many more The shape the figure the stuff of every one of these vestments must hide under it some mystery of our redemption A Priest cannot make the least antick motion but 't is mystical We have taken the pains to relate in our Legal Exceptions against Popery some considerable specimens of these impertinencies any one may consult the Book There he will read the pretty mysteries for example which are coucht under the Ringing of Bells Rationall divin offic lib. 1. cap. 4. as Durant explains them Bells signify Preachers whose Office is like a Bell to call the faithful to the Faith the wide hollowness of the Bell is the Mouth of the Preacher the Clapper is his Tongue the hardness of the mettal denotes the strength of his understanding according as God said to the Prophet I have made thy forehead hard against their foreheads the Bands which tye the Clapper to the Bell is the moderation of the Preachers Tongue the Bell-stock is the Cross of Christ the pieces of wood that go from side to side are the Fathers who have spoken of the Cross of Christ c. the wheel fastned to the Bell-stock is the Conscience of the Preacher the bell-rope is his Humility c. There is a whole long Chapter of this strain we may judge of the rest Impurity of the Eternal Gospel of the Monks Indeed if we should go on with the History of these Spirits of Reprobation that come forth out of the Mouthes of the Monks and Teachers of the Papacy we should never come to an end I will therefore only instance in The Eternal Gospel which the Fryars labour'd to set on foot in the 13 Century on design to ruin the Clergy or to speak more truly Christianity itself for never any thing more horrid was seen This Eternal Gospel was as they gave out a New Revelation made to the blessed Abbot Joachim And this new revelation was much more excellent than the doctrine of J. Christ the Prophets and Apostles more than the New Testament which was to be abrogated within six years i. e. was to continue only till the year 1260. They gave out that another Gospel and another Priesthood were to come in its place That the Jews who dye in their Infidelity and Blasphemies against Jesus Christ shall notwithstanding be saved in the next World that the Monks are not obliged to suffer martyrdom for J. Christ that out of a Monkish Order should arise a person in whom the Prophecies should be accomplisht that men ought to think of returning to Judaism This is a specimen of the impieties of this Gospel which was framed by the Abbot Joachim Abbot of a Monastery of the Order of the Cistertians in Sicily one Cyrill General of the Carmelites and John of Parma General of the Franciscans The Divines of Paris were alarm'd the wrote and order'd others to write against this Gospel but their writings were sharply censur'd at Rome The issue of the Controversy was that some Censures were granted against the Monks whose Body declared themselves Protectors and Patrons of this Gospel and the Book that bore this name was silently suppress'd This History is to be read in the Directory of Inquisitors and in the Treatise of Archbishop Vsher de Christianarum Ecclesiarum successione statu There only remains another Mouth of Antichrist which we have not mention'd viz. the Divines who have treated concerning the Object of Adoration and the manner of Worship Out of this Mouth are come forth unclean and diabolical Spirits abominable Discourses which must not be omitted But because we shall hear them in the ninth Character of Antichristianism viz. Idolatry we will not mention them here CHAPTER XIV The Ninth
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
of which you have whole heaps in the Legends 'T is to set on foot the Adoration of the V. Mary Invocation of Saints the Worship of Images of Reliques Purgatory and such like stuff Now is it probable that God should work no Miracles to confirm the Divinity of his Son and of his Holy Spirit which fundamental Articles were once cruelly opposed by the Arrians and afterwards should work Miracles without number to confirm some Devotions which 't is granted are not necessary Cheats discovered even in our Age. We might further say to these Devoto's who would have us believe all the stories of Miracles that are read in the Legends that if in so learned an Age as ours and in places where the Priests have so many Eyes to watch 'em they yet have the boldness to counterfeit Miracles they could surely do so in an Age when they acted behind the Curtain i. e. the ignorance and stupidity of the people who took pleasure in such Cheats And here we might relate to them a hundred Cheats of the Monks in the last Age and in the present one We might instance in the very late and famous Miracle of St. Florent very night Saumur where the Wafer appeared in the form of a little Child for the confounding of the Hereticks who had an Academy i. e. the nursery of their Heresy very nigh the place We might entreat 'em to remember that the Bishop of Anger 's after he had approv'd of this Miracle was ashamed of it when the Cheat came to be known We might produce to 'em the Saint of Troye a Nun that liv'd on consecrated Wafers and felt all the torments of the Martyrs when ever the days of their Passions return'd people flockt from all parts of France to see her but she was found out to be a Cheat by the Bishop of the place in the year 1673. what is acted at this day without doubt might be very well acted formerly Lastly we might tell these Gentlemen that in case God were obliged to be so prodigal of Miracles he ought to have laid 'em out in the Indies where men go to convert the Heathens Notwithstanding we do not find that he hath done so or at present doth so 't is true the Jesuites have publisht a vast number of pretended Wonders wrought by Francis Xavier their Apostle But 't is pretty strange that none knew any thing of these Miracles till after Xavier was dead yea that Xavier himself knew nothing of ' em We have his Letters among those written from Japan wherein the relates every thing he did in that Country excepting his Miracles if God had granted him the Gift of Miracles among the rest he ought to have had the Gift of Tongues But we find that he often complains that he could not edify these Indians because he could neither understand them nor make himself understood by them since Francis Xavier a vast number of Missionaries have gone into those Countreys who have not been able to work Miracles tho they would very fain have done so And yet I suppose the design which carrieth 'em thither viz. to plant the Christian Religion among the Indians is at least as important as the design to establish the Orders of S. Francis or of S. Dominick This is what we might say to such as Father Crasset and their Devoto's What is pleaded by the Papists who would not have us believe the stories of the Legends But there is another sort of men who do us a great deal more mischief These are the Luke-warm with respect to Popery your Libertines in the opinion of Father Crasset but as they account themselves Christians of a Finer-spun Religion These are our Converters in France who have had the best success in seducing those wretched Protestants who had a mind to be deceived These have told 'em you ought not to regard what your Ministers cite out of these rascal Legendary Writers sorry Monks Fabulous Authors who have neither wit or judgment This is not the Religion of people of Fashion The Reign of these Fables in expired you are not obliged to believe these impertinent Tales This is a most dangerous Snare which those who have any care of their Souls ought to take heed of For this end they ought to know that this filthy shameful lying History of Legends hath been the Popish Gospel The Legends have been the Popish Gospel for 7. or 8â—0 years for the space of seven or eight hundred years and a Gospel receiv'd with so universala consent that not one man hath been so bold as to question muchless to oppose it The common people sunk into a profound ignorance nourisht their false Piety only with these kind of Fables This already is enough to prove that Popery is Antichristianism for 't is impossible that God should suffer the true Church to sink into so horrid a degeneracy that all the bread they had for their Souls should be only a monstrous heap of ridiculous Fables But further the new Converts ought not to suffer themselves to be deceived this Gospel of the Father of Lyes is at this day in vogue as it was formerly all Italy all Spain have no other Spain and Italy even at this day have no other Gospel but Legends All the devout Clients of the Monks are fed with no other Nourishment The Hero's of the Papacy are the Patrons of these enormities Bellarmin and Baronius both learned men both Cardinals both of great reputation the Possevins the Vasques's the Snares's in a word all that are eminent and considerable in the Papacy do take the part of these fabulous Histories if some few confess that there are some Fables which may be cashier'd this scarce signifieth any thing Have we not an evidence of this in those vast Gollections of the Lives of the Saints begun by the Jesuit Rosweyd and continued by his Successors in that work They are already come to the fourteenth Volum in Folio and other three are every day expected and yet this Martyrology is come hitherto but to the moneth of May so that this Body of Fables will be about forty Volums Vast Volums of Legends printed at this day if the remainder be proportionable And will be the most prodigious work both for matter and bulk that was ever seen since the beginning of the world Ask the Carmelites if they are willing to lose any one of the Priviledges of their Order which were founded on meer Fables Know of the Franciscans and Dominicans if they be in the humour to correct their Annals and blot out those passages which we call Impieties and impure Fables Is it not Father Bouhowrs an Author of great Reputation at this day in France among persons of note who translated the Panegyrick of S. Rose in which we see all the Follies of the old Legends revived Lastly who is the person that hath dar'd openly to oppose and condemn the Book of F. Crasset excepting Mr. Arnaud