speech So doth our Author advance his Wisdom and Judgment above the Wisdom and Judgment of all Churches and Nations that ever embraced the Faith of Christ for a 1000 years all which notwithstanding what there is of truth in any of his insinuations judged it their duty to translate the Scripture into their Mother Tongues very many of which Translations are extant even to this day Besides he concludes with us in general ambiguors terms as all along in other things his practice hath been What means he by the Bible's own Sacred phrase opposed to a prophane and common one Would not any man think that he intended the Originals wherein it was written but I dare say if any one will ask him privately he will give them another account and let them know that it is a Translation which he adorns with those Titles so that upon the matter he tells us that seeing the Bible cannot be without all the inconveniences mentioned it 's good for us to lay aside the Originals and make use only of a Translation or at least preferre a Translation before them What shall we do with those men that speak such Swords and Daggers and are well neither full nor fasting that like the Scripture neither with a Translation nor without it Moreover I fear he knows not well what he means by its own Sacred phrase and a prophane common one Is it the Syllables and words of this or that language that he intends How comes one to be Sacred another prophane and common The languages wherein the Scriptures were originally written have been put to as bad uses as any under Heaven nor is any Language prophane or common so as that the Worship of God performed in it should not be accepted with him That there is a frequent loss of Propriety and amplitude of meaning in Translations we grant That the Scriptures by Translations if good true and significant according to the capacity and expressiveness of the Languages whereinto they are translated are divested of the Majesty Holiness and Spirit is most untrue The Majesty Holiness and Spirit of the Scriptures lyes not in words and Syllables but in the Truths themselves expressed in them and whilest these are incorruptedly declared in any language the Majesty of the Word is continued It is much that men preferring a Translation before the Originals should be otherwise minded especially that Translation being in some parts but the Translation of a Translation and that the most corrupt in those parts which I know extant And this with many fine words prety Allusions and Similitudes is the sum of what is pleaded by our Author to perswade men to forgo the greatest priviledg which from Heaven they are made partakers of the most necessary radical duty that in their whole lives is incumbent on them It is certain that the giving out of the holy Scripture from God is an effect of infinite love and mercy I suppose it no less certain that the end for which he gave it was that men by it might be instructed in the knowledge of his will and their obedience that they owe unto him that so at length they may come to the enjoyment of him This it self declares to be its end I think also that to know God his mind and Will to yield him the obedience that he requires is the bounden duty of every man as well as to enjoy him is their blessedness And can they take it kindly of those who would shut up this gift of God from them whether they will or no or be well pleased with them that go about to perswade them that it is best for them to have it kept by others for them without their once looking into it If I know them aright this Gentleman will not find his Countrey-men willing to part with their Bibles on such easie tearms From the Scripture concerning which he affirmeth That it lawfully may and in reason ought and in practise ever hath been segregated in a language not common to vulgar ears all which things are most unduly affirmed and because we must speak plainly falsly he proceeds to the worship of the Church and pleads that that also ought to be performed in such a language It were a long and tedious business to follow him in his guilding over this practise of his Church we may make short work with him As he will not pretend that this practise hath the least countenance from Scripture so if he can instance in any Church in the world that for 500 years at least after it set out in the use of a Worship the Language whereof the people did not understand I will cease this contest What he affirms of the Hebrew Church keeping her Rites in a language differing from the Vulgar whether he intend before or after the Captivity is so untrue as that I suppose no ingenious man would affirm it were he not utterly ignorant of all Judaical Antiquity which I had cause to suspect before that our Author is From the dayes of Moses to the captivity of Babylon there was no Language in vulgar use among the people but only that wherein the Scripture was written and their whole Worship celebrated After the captivity though insensibly they admitted corruptions in their language yet they all generally understood the Hebrew unless it were the Hellenists for whose sakes they translated the Scripture into Greek and for the use of the residue of their people who began to take in a mixture of the Syro-Chaldean Language with their own the Targum were found out Besides to the very utmost period of that Church the solemn Worship performed in the Temple as to all the interest of words in it was understood by the whole people attending on God therein And in that language did the Bible lye open in their Synagogues as is evident from the offer made by them to our Saviour of their Books to read in at his first entrance into one at Capernaum These flourishes then of our Orator being not likely to have the least effect upon any who mind the Apostololical advice of taking heed lest they be beguiled with inticing words we shall not need much to insist upon them This custom of performing the Worship of God in the Congregation in a Tong unknown to the Assembly renders he tells us that great act more majestick and venerable but why he declares not A blind veneration of what men understand not because they understand it not is neither any duty of the Gospel nor any part of its Worship St. Paul tells us he would pray with the Spirit and pray with Understanding also of this Majestick shew and blind Veneration of our Author Scripture Reason Experience of the Saints of God Custom of the Antient Churches know nothing Neither is it possible to preserve in men a perpetual veneration of they know not what nor if it could be preserved is it a thing that any way belongs to Christian Religion Nor can any
abide not in the Truth so they never did nor can depart from it Well then that we may not displease them at present let us put the case so as I presume they will own it Suppose Men or a Church intrusted by Christ authoritatively to preach the Gospel do propagate the Faith unto others according to their duties these being converted by their means do afterwards through the craft and subtilty of seducers fall in sundry things from the Truths they were instructed in and wherein their Instructers do constantly abide yea say our Adversaries this is the true case indeed I ask then in this case What is and ought to be the formal Motive to prevail with these persons to return to their former condition from whence they were faln Either this that they are departed from the Truth which they cannot do without peril to their souls and whereunto if they return not they must perish or this that it is their duty to return to them from whom they first received the Doctrine of Christianity because they so received it from them St. Paul who surely had as much authority in these matters as either the Pope or Church of Rome can with any modesty lay claim unto had to deal with very many in this case Particularly after he had preached the Gospel to the Galatians and converted them to the Faith of Christ there came in some false Teachers and Seducers amongst them which drew them off from the Truth wherein they had been instructed in divers important and some fundamental points of it What course doth the Apostle proceed in towards them Doth he plead with them about their falling away from him that first converted them or falling away from the Truth whereunto they were converted If any one will take the pains to turn to any Chapter in that Epistle he may be satisfied as to this Enquiry it is their falling away from the Gospel from the Truth they had received from the Doctrine in particular of Faith and Justification by the bloud of Christ that alone he blamed them for yea and makes Doctrines so farr the measure and rule of judging and censuring of Persons whether they preach the Word first or last that he pronounceth a redoubled Anathema against any creature in Heaven or Earth upon a supposition of their teaching any thing contrary unto it chap. 1.8 He pleads not we preached first unto you by us you were converted and therefore with us you must abide from whom the Faith came forth unto you but saith If we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel let him be accursed This was the way he chose to insist on and it may not be judged unreasonable if we esteem it better then that of theirs who by false pretending to have been our old would very fain be our new Masters But the mentioned Maxim lets us know that the Persons and Churches that have received the Faith from the Roman-Church or by means thereof should abide under the rule and conduct of it and if departed from it return speedily to due obedience I think it will be easily granted that if we ought to abide under its rule and conduct whither ever it shall please to guide us we ought quickly to return to our duty and task if we should make any loapment from it It is not meet that those that are born Mules to bondage should ever alter their condition Only we must profess we know not the Springs of that unhappy Fate which should render us such Animals Unto what is here pretended I only ask Whether this right of Presidency and Rule in the Roman-Church over all persons and Churches pretended of old to be converted by her means do belong unto her by vertue of any general right that those who convert others should for ever have the conduct of those converted by them or by vertue of some special Priviledge granted to the Church of Rome above others If the first or general Title be insisted on it is most certain that a very small pittance of Jurisdiction will be left unto the Roman-See in comparison of that vast Empire which now it hath or layeth claim unto knowing no bounds but those of the Universal Nature of things here below For all men know that the Gospel was preached in very many places of the World before its sound reached unto Rome and in most parts of the then-known World before any such planting of a Church at Rome as might be the foundation of any Authoritative Mission of any from thence for the Conversion of others and after that a Church was planted in that City for any thing that may be made to appear by Story it was as to the first Edition of Christianity in the Roman-Empire as little serviceable in the Propagation of the Gospel as any other Church of name in the World so that if such Principles should be pleaded as of general equity there could be nothing fixed on more destructive to the Romanist's pretences If they have any special Priviledge to found this claim upon they may do well to produce it In the Scripture though there be of many Believers yet there is no mention made of any Church at Rome but only of that little Assembly that used to meet at Aquila's house Rom. 16.5 Of any such Priviledge annexed unto that meeting we find nothing The first general Council confirming Power and Rule over others in some Churches acknowledge indeed more to have been practised in the Roman-Church then I know how they could prove to be due unto it But yet that very unwarrantable Grant is utterly destructive to the present claim and condition of the Pope and Church of Rome The wings now pretended to be like those of the Sun extending themselves at once to the ends of the Earth were then accounted no longer then to be able to cover the poor Believers in the City and Suburbs of it and some few adjacent Towns and Villages It would be a long Story to tell the Progress of this claim in after-times it is sufficiently done in some of those Books of which our Author says there are enough to fill the Tower of London where I presume or into the fire he could be contented they should be for ever disposed of and therefore we may dismiss this Principle also III. That which is the main Piller bearing the weight of all this fine Fabrick is the Principle we mentioned in the third place viz. That the Roman Profession of Religion and Practise in the Worship of God are every way the same as when we first received the Gospel from the Pope nor can they ever otherwise be This is taken for granted by our Author throughout his Discourse And the Truth is that if a man hath a mind to suppose and make use of things that are in question between him and his Adversary it were a folly not to presume on so much as should assuredly serve his turn To what purpose is it
with them in his temptations thrusting them on and intangling them in their persuit As to the Contests about Religion which I know not with what mind or intention he terms an empty airy business a ghostly fight a skirmish of Shaddows or Horse-men in the clowds he knows not what principle cause or sourse to asoâ—ibe them unto That which he is most inclinable unto is That there is something invisible above man stronger and more politick then he that doth this contumely to mankind that casts in these Apples of Contention amongst us that hisses us to warr and battail as waggish Boys do Doggs in the street That which is intended in these words and sundry others of the like quality that follow is that this ariseth from the intisements and impulsions of the Devil And none can doubt but that in these works of darkness the Prince of Darkness hath a great hand The Scripture also assures us that as the Scorpions which vexed the world issued out of the bottomless pit so also that these unclean spirits do stir up the powers of the Earth to make opposition unto the Truth of the Gospel and Religion of Jesus Christ. But yet neither doth this hinder but that even these religious fewds and miscarriages also proceed principally from the ignorance darkness and lusts of men In them lies the true cause of all dissentions in and about the things of God The best know but in part and the most love darkness more than light because their works are evils A vain conversation received by tradition from mens fathers with inveterate prejudices love of the world and the customs thereof do all help on this sâ—d work wherein so many are imployed That some preach the Gospel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all their strength in much contention and contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered unto the Saints as it is their duty so it is no cause but only an accidental occasion of differences amongst men That the invisible substances our Author talks of should be able to sport themselves with us as Children do with Dogs in the street and that with the like impulse from them as Dogs from these we should rush into our contentions might pass for a pretty notion but only that it over-throws all Religion in the world and the whole nature of man There is evil enough in corrupted nature to produce all these evils which are declaimed against to the end of this Section were there no Daemons to excite men unto them The adventitious impressions from them by temptations and suggestions doubtless promote them and make men precipitate above their natural tempers in their productions but the principal cause of all our evils is still to be looked for at home Nec te quaesiveris extra Sect. 3. Pag. 34. In the next Section of this Chapter whereunto he prefixes Nullity of Title he persues the perswasive unto Peace Moderation Charity and Quietness in our several perswasions with so many reasonings and good words that a man would almost think that he began to be in good earnest and that those were the things which he intended for their own sakes to promote I presume it cannot but at the first view seem strange to some to find a man of the Roman party so ingeniously arguing against the imposition of our senses in Religion magisterially and with violence one upon the other it being notoriously known to all the world that they are if not the only yet the greatest Imposers on the minds and consciences of men that ever lived in the earth and which work they cease not the prosecution of where they have power until they come to fire and fagot I dare say there is not any strength in any of his queries collections and arguings but an indifferent man would think it at the first sight to be pointed against the Roman interest and practice For what have they been doing for some ages past but under a pretence of Charity to the souls of men endeavouring to perswade them to their Opinions and Worship or to impose them on them whether they will or no But let old things pass it is well if now at last they begin to be otherwise minded What then if we should take this Gentleman at his word and cry A match let us strive and contend no more Keep you your Religion at Rome to your selves and we will do as well as we can with ours in England we will trouble you no more about yours nor pray do not you meddle with us or ours Let us pray for one another wait on God for light and direction it being told us that If any one be otherwise minded than according to the Truth God shall reveal that unto him Let us all strive to promote Godliness Obedience to the Commands of Christ Good works and Peace in the world but for this contending about Opinions or endeavouring to impose our several perswasions upon one another let us give it quite over I fear he would scarsely close with us and so wind up all our Differences upon the bottom of his own Proposals especially if this Law should extend it's self to all other Nations equally concerned with England He would quickly tell us that this is our mistake he intended not Roman-Catholicks and the differences we have with them in this Discourse It is Protestants Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers that he deals with al and them only and that upon this ground that none of them have any Title or pretence of Reason to impose on one another and so ought to be quiet and let one another alone in matters of Religion But for the Roman-Catholicks they are not concerned at all in this Harangue having a sufficient Title to impose upon them all Now truly if this be all I know not what we have to thank you for Tantúmne est otii tibi abs re tua aliena ut cures eaque quae ad te nihil at tinent There are wise and learned men in England who are concerned in our differences and do labour to compose them or suppress them That this Gentleman should come and justle them aside and impose himself an Umpire upon us without our choyce or desire in matters that belong not unto him how charitable it may seem to be I know not but it is scarsely civil Would he would be perswaded to go home and try his remedies upon the distempers of his own family before he confidently vend them to us I know he has no Salves about him to heal diversities of Opinions that he can write Probatum est upon from his Roman-Church If he have he is the most uncharitable man in the world to leave them at home brawling and together by the ears to seek out practise where he is neither desired nor welcome when he comes without invitation I confess I was afraid at the beginning of the Section that I should be forced to change the Title before I came to
impenitent sinners what in the Covenant of his Grace to them that fly for refuge to the hope that is set before them even that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of our understanding being enlightned we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards them that believe according to the working of the might of his power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places that our hearts may be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the FULL ASSURANCE OF UNDERSTANDING to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and by whom alone we may obtain any saving acquaintance with them who also is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true This is the Port-Haven of Protestants whatever real darkness may be about them or whatever mists may be cast on them by the sleights of men that lye in wait to deceive That they need know no more of God that they may love him fear him believe in him and come to the enjoyment of him than what he hath clearly and expresly in Christ revealed of himself by his Word Whether the storms of this Gentleman's indignation be able to drive them or the more pleasant gales of his Eloquence to entise them from this Harbour time will shew In the mean while that indeed they ought not so to do nor will do so with any but such as are resolved to steer their course by some secret distempers of their own a few strictures on the most material passages of this Chapter will discover It is scarce worth while to remark his mistake in the foundation of his discourse of the Obscurity of God as he is pleased to state the matter from that of the Prophet asserting that God is a God who hides himself or as he renders it an hidden God His own Prophet will tell him that it is not concerning the Essence of God but the Dispensation of his Love and Favour towards his People that those words were used by the Prophet of old and so are unwillingly pressed to serve in the design he hath in hand Neither are we more concerned in the ensuing Discourse of the Soul 's cleaving to God by Affection upon the Metaphysicall representation of His excellencies and perfections unto it it being purely Platonical and no way suited to the revelation made of God in the Gospel which acquaints us not with any such amiableness in God as to endear the souls of sinners unto him causing them to reach out the wings of their love after him but only as he is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself a consideration that hath no place nor any can obtain in this flourish of words And the reason is because they are sinners and therefore without the Revelation of an Attonement can have no other apprehension of the infinitely Holy and Righteous God but as of a devouring Fire with whom no sinner can inhabite Nor yet in the aggravation of the obscurity of God from the restless endeavours of mankind in the disquisition of him who as he sayes shew their love in seeking him having at their birth an equal right to his favour which they could no wise demerit before they were born being directly contrary to the Doctrine of his own Church in the head of Original Sin That which first draws up towards the design he is in persuit of is his Determination That the issuing of mens perplexities in the investigation of this hidden God must be by some Prophet or Teacher sent from God unto men but the uncertainty of coming into any better condition thereby is so exaggerated by a contempt of those wayes and means that such Prophets have fixed on to evidence their coming forth from God by Miracles Visions Prophesies ashew of Sanctity with a concourse of Threats and Promises as that means also is cashiered from yielding us any relief Neither is there any thing intimated or offered to exempt the true Prophets of God nor the Lord Christ himself from being shuffled into the same bag with false pretenders in the close that were brought forth to play their game in this pageant Yea the difficulty put upon this help of the loss we are at in the knowledge of God by Prophets and Prophesies seems especially to respect those of the Scripture so to manifest the necessity of a further evidence to be given unto them then any they carry about them or bring with them that they may be useful to this end and purpose And this intention is manifest a little after where the Scripture is expresly reckoned among those things which all men boast of none can come to certainty or assurance by Thus are poor unstable souls ventured to the Borders of Atheism under a pretence of leading them to the Church Was this the method of Christ or his Apostles in drawing men to the Faith of the Gospel this the way of the holy men of old that laboured in the Conversion of Souls from Gentilism and Heresie Were ever such bold assaults against the immoveable Principles of Christianity made by any before Religion came to be a matter of carnal Interest Is there no way to exalt the Pope but by questioning the Authority of Christ and Truth of the Scripture Truly I am sorry that wise and considering men should observe such an irreverence of God and his Word to prevail in the spirits of men as to entertain thoughts of perswading them to desert their Religion by such presumptious Insinuations of the uncertainty of all Divine Revelation But all this may be made good on the consideration of the changes of men after their profession of this or that Religion namely That notwithstanding their former pretensions yet indeed they knew nothing at all seeing that from God and the Truth no man doth willingly depart which if it be universally true I dare say there is not one word true in the Scripture How often doth God complain in the Old-Testament that his people forsook Him for that which was not God and how many do the Apostles shew us in the New to have forsaken the Truth It is true that under the notion of God the cheifest Good and of Truth the proper object and rest of the understanding none can willingly and by choyce depart but that the mindes of men might be so corrupted and perverted by their own lusts and temptations of Satan as willingly and by choyce to forsake the one or the other to embrace that which in their stead presents it self unto them is no less
is a fair way to question another which came by the same hand and this a third till the very Authority of the first Revealer be at stake which can no more defend himself then he can his Law For the same Axe and Instrument that cut down the branches can cut up the root too and if his reverence for which all the rest was believed defend not their truth it must needs at length utterly fail in his own for all the Authority they had was purely from him and he fails in them before he falls in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Papists or Roman-Catholicks first brought Christ and his Christianity into this Land is most untrue and I wonder how any one that hath read any story of the Times that are past should so often averre what he cannot but know to be untrue The Gospel might have been brought into England by Romans and yet not by Papists for I cannot find nor can this Gentleman shew that the Romans St. Paul wrote unto were any one of them in any one poynt Papists But neither was it brought hither by Romans but came immediately out of the East from whence also about the same time it came to Rome Nor is it any jot truer That we no sooner heard news of Christianity than Popery with its Crucifixes Monasteries Reliques Sacrifice that is the Mass and the like Apage nugas What do we talk of tother-day things when we speak of the first news of Christianity The first planting and watering of these things was in after-Ages and their growing up to that consistency wherein they may justly be called Popery a work of many Centuries And yet I shall grant that most of them got the start in the World of that Papal Soveraignty whence Popery is peculiarly denominated But the first news we hear of Christianity is in the Gospel where there is not the least tidings of these trifles nor was there in some Ages that next succeeded the publication of it If this Gentleman give any further occasion the particulars shall be evinced to him For my part I know not how nor to whom a Papist is become odious which nextly he complains of I can and do love their persons pitty them in their mistakes hate only their vices But yet certain it is a Papist may be odious that is men may not love those parts of his Religion from whence he is so denominated without the least impeachment of that faith that extirpated Gentilism in the World It is for that faith which ruined Gentilism that we contend against Papists Let us have that and no more and there is an end of all our Contests The things we strive about sprang up since Gentilism was buryed the most of them out of its grave some from a deeper place if there be a deeper place For the practical Truths of the Papists which he complains to be abolished I was in good hope he would not have mentioned them their speculations are better then their practises whether he intends their moral Divinity or their agenda in Worshâ—p I would desire this Gentleman to mention them no more lest he hear that of them which I know he is not willing to do As for the Practical Truths of the Gospel they are maintained and asserted in the Church of England and by all Protestants and about others we are not solicitous What tendency then the Rejection of Popery which had no hand in supplanting Gentilism and which is no part of the Religion of Christ hath to the leading of men into Atheism is as hard to discover as the quadrature of a Circle or a Subterranean passage into the Indies But he gives his reasons If one truth be denyed a fair way is made to question another which came by the same hand and this a third till the very Authority of the first Revealer be at stake which can no more defend himself then he can his Law This first Revealer I take to be the Lord Christ he that grants a thing or doctrine to be taught and delivered by him yet denyes it to be true doth indeed deny his Authority However he will defend himself and his Law let men do what they please But he that denyes such a thing to be truth because it is not revealed by him nor consistent with what is revealed by him doing this out of subjection of soul and conscience to his Authority is in no danger of questioning or opposing that Authority Nay be it that it be indeed a truth which he denyes being only denyed by him because he is perswaded that it is not of Christ the first Revealer and therefore not true there is no fear of the danger threatned But the matter is That all that is brought from Christ by the same hand must be equally received It is true If it be brought from Christ by the same hand it must be so not because by the same hand but because from Christ They that preached Christ and withall that men must be circumcised had put men into a sad condition if in good sooth they had been necessitated to embrace all that they taught the same men teaching Christ to be the Messias and Circumcision to be necessary to life eternal Amongst those that were converted to the Gospel by the Jews that were zealous of the Law how easie had it been for their Teachers to have utterly frustrated St. Paul's Doctrine of Christian liberty by telling them that they could not forgo Circumcision but they must forgo Christ also for all those things they received by the same hand If indeed a man comes and delivers a Systeme of Religion upon his own Authority and Reputation only he that denyes any one point of what he delivers is in a fair way of everting all that he asserts But if he come as sent from another and affirm that this other commanded him to declare that which he delivers for Truth in his Name and produce for that end his Commission wherein all the Truths that he is to deliver are written if he deliver what he hath not received in Commission that may honestly be rejected without the least impeachment of any one Truth that was really committed unto him by him that sent him And this was the way this the condition of them who planted the Gospel in the Name of Christ not being themselves divinely inspired So that if in the second Edition of Christianity in some parts of this Nation by Austine and his Associates any thing was taught or practised that was not according to the Rule and Commission given by Christ it may be rejected without the least impeachment to the Authority of the first Revealer nay his Authority being once received cannot be preserved entire without such rejection I confess I do almost mistrust that by this Revealer of Christianity and his Authority which he discourses about our Authour intends the Pope which if so what we have discoursed of Christ is I confess to
little purpose and it were easie to turn our Reply that way but because I have not clear Evidence for it I will not charge him with so horrid a presumptuous Insinuation when he declares his mind he shall hear more of ours But he further specifies his meaning in an enumeration of Doctrines that were preached by the first Planters of the Gospel in and unto the extirpation of Gentilism If saith he the Institution of Monasteries to the praise and service of God day and night be thought as it hath been now these many years a Superstitious folly If Christian Priests and Sacrifices be things of high Idolatry If the seven Sacraments be deemed vain most of them If it suffice to Salvation only to Believe whatever life we lead If there be no value or merit in Good Works If God's Laws be impossible to be kept If Christ be not our Law-maker and Director of doing well as well as Redeemer from ill If there be no Sacramental Tribunal for our Reconciliation ordained from by Christ on the Earth If the real Body of our Lord be not bequeathed unto his Spouse in his last Will and Testament If there be not under Christ a general Head of the Church who is chief Priest and Pastor of all Christians upon Earth under God whose Vicegerent he is in Spiritual Affairs all which things are now held forth by us manifestly against the Doctrine of the first Preachers of Christianity in this Land then I say Paganism was unjustly displaced by these Doctrines and Atheism must needs succeed for if Christ deceived us upon whom shall we rely and if they that brought us the first news of Christ brought along with it so many grand lies why may not the very story of Christ be thought a Romance I could wish there had been a little more clearness and ingenuity in this annumeration the mixing of what he takes to be Truths with some Negatives that he condemns in the same Series breeds some confusion in the Discourse And I am also compelled to complain of want of candor and ingenuity in his representation of the Protestant Doctrin in every particular wherein he takes occasion to mention it Let us then separate the things that have no place of their own in this Argument than what is ambiguously proposed after which what remains may be distinctly considered 1. What makes that enquiry in our way at this time If it suffice to Salvation to believe whatever life we lead Who ever said so taught so wrote so in England Is this the Doctrine of the Church of England or of the Presbyterians or Independents Or whose is it Or what makes it in this place If this be the way of gaining Catholicks let them that please make use of it Protestants dislike the Way as much as the End 2. What is the meaning of that which follows If there be no value or merit in good Works Who ever taught that there is no value in good Works that they are not commanded of God that they are not accepted with him that they are not our duty to be careful in the performance of that God is not honoured the Gospel adorned the Church and the World advantaged by them Do all these things put no value on them For their merit the expression being ambiguous unscriptural and as commonly interpreted derogatory to the glory of Christ and the Grace of God we shall let it pass as proper to his purpose and much good may it do him with all that he gains by it 3. If saith he God's Laws be impossible to be kept but Who said so Protestants teach indeed that men in their own strength cannot keep the Laws of God That the Grace received in this life extends not to an absolute sinless perfection in their observation which is inconsistent with the Covenant of Grace and mens walking with God therein but that the Laws of God were in their own nature impossible to be observed by them to whom they were first given or that they are yet impossible to be kept in that way of their sincere observation which is required in the Gospel Protestants teach not that I know of He proceeds 4. If Christ be not our Law-maker and Director of doing well as well as our Redeemer from ill This is a little too open and plain doth he think any man will believe him that Protestants or Presbyterians teach that Christ is not our Law-maker and Director of doing well c. I dare say he believes not one word of it himself what confidence soever he hath taken upon him of imposing on the minds of weak and unstable men Other things mentioned by him are ambiguous as If the seven Sacraments be deemed vain most of them c. Of the things themselves which they term Sacraments there is scarse any of them by Protestants esteemed vain that one of Unction which they judge now useless they only say is an unwarrantable imitation of that which was useful Of the rest which they reject they reject not the things but those things from being Sacraments and a practice in Religion is not presently condemned as vain which is not esteemed a Sacrament There is no less ambiguity in that other Supposition If the real Body of our Lord be not bequeathed to his Spouse in his last Will and Testament which no Protestant ever questioned though there be great contests about the manner of the Sacramental Participation of that real Body the same may be said of some other of his Supposals But I need not go over them in Particular I shall only say in General that take from amongst them what is acknowledged to be the Doctrine of the Papists and as such is opposed by the Church of England or by Presbyterians as Papal Supremacy Sacrifice of the Mass Monasteries of Votaries under special and peculiar Vows and Rules necessity of auricular Confession Transubstantiation which are the things gilded over by our Author and prove that they were the Doctrines all or any of them whereby and wherewith the first Preachers of Christianity in this Nation or any where else in the old known World displaced Paganism and for my part I will immediately become his Proselyte What then can be bound with this Rope of Sand The first Preachers of Christianity preached the Pope's Supremacy the Mass c. By these Doctrines Paganism was displaced If these Doctrines now be decryed as lyes why may not Christ himself be esteemed a Romance For neither did the first Preachers of Christianity preach these Doctrines nor was Paganism displaced by them nor is there any ground to question the Authority and Truth of Christ in case those that do first preach him do therewithal preach somewhat that is not true when they bring along with them an authentick conviction of their own mistakes as was manifested before and might be made good by innumerable other Instances I shall not need to follow him in his declamation to the end of this
Paragraph the whole foundation of his many flourishes and pretences being totally taken out of the way CHAP. VII Scripture Vindicated WIth his three following Paragraphs from pag. 82. unto 108. which have only a very remote and almost imperceptible tendency unto his purpose in hand though they take up so long a Portion of his Discourse seeming to be inserted either to manifest his skill and proficiency in Philosophical Scepticism or to entertain his Readers with such a delightful diversion as that having taken in it a tast of his ingenuity they may have an edge given their appetite unto that which is more directly prepared for them I shall not trouble my self nor detain my Reader about If any one a little skill'd in the Discourses of these dayes have a mind to vye conjectures and notions with him to vellicate commonly received Maxims and vulgar Opinions to exspatiate on the events of Providence in all Ages he may quickly compose as many learned leaves only if he would be pleased to take my advice with him I should wish him not to flourish and guild over things uncertain and unknown to the disadvantage of things known and certain nor to vent conjectures about other worlds and the nature of the heavenly bodies derogatory to the love of God in sending his Son to be incarnate and to dye for sinners that live on this Earthly Globe Neither do I think it well done to mix St. Paul and his Writings in this Scepticism menâ—ioning in one place his fancy in another his conceit which he seems to oppose such is the reverence these men bear to the Scripture and holy Pen-men thereof so also that whole scorn that he casts on Man's Dominion over the Creatures reflects principally on the beginning of Genesis and the eighth Psalm An unsearchable abysse in many of God's Providential dispensations wherein the Infinite Soveraignty Wisdom and Righteousness of Him who giveth no account of his matters are to be adored we readily acknowledge and yet I dare freely say that most of the things instanced in by our Author are capable of a clear resolution according to knowne Rules and Principles of Truth revealed in the Scripture such are God's suffering the Gentiles to wander so long in the dark not calling them to repentance with the necessity of Christian Religion and yet the punishment of many of the Professors of it by the power of Idolaters and Pagans as the Church of the Jews was handled of old by the Assyrians Babylonians and others Of this sort also is his newly inserted Story of the Cirubrians which it may be was added to give us a cast of his skill in the investigation of the original of Nations out of Cambden For if that which himself affirms of them were true namely That they were devout adoring the Crucifix which men usually are when they cease to worship aright him who was crucified the sin mentioned Rom. 1.25 we need not much admire that God gave them up to be scourged by their Pagan adversaries but not to mention that which is not only uncertain whether it be true but is most probably false If our Author had ever read the Stories of those Times and the Lamentations made for the sins of them by Gildas Salvianus and others he would have found enough to justifie God in his proceedings and dealing with his Cirubrians according to the known Rules of his Word The like may be affirmed concerning the Irish whose decay like a true English-man he dates from the Interest of our Kings there and makes the progress of it commensurate to the prevalency of their Authority when it is known to all the world that by that means alone they were reclaimed from Barbarism and brought into a most flourishing condition until by their rebellion and unparalleled cruelties they precipitated themselves into confusion and ruin As for that which is insinuated as the conclusion fit to be made out of all these premises concerning the obscurity of God's Nature and the works of Providence viz. that we betake our selves to the infallible determination of the Roman-Church I shall only say that as I know not that as yet the Pope hath undertaken Pontifically to interpose his definitive Sentence in reference to these Philosophical Digladiations he glanceth on in the most part of his Discourse so I have but little reason on the resignation required to expect an illumination from that obscurity about the Deity which he insists on finding the children indeed the Fathers of that Church of all men in the Earth most to abound in contradictory Disputes and endless Quarrels about the very nature and properties of God himself But his direct improvement of this long Oration that he enters on Pag. 122. may be further considered It is in short this That by the Scripture no man can come to the knowledge of and settlement in an assurance of the Truth nor is there any hope of relief for us in this sad condition but that living Papal Oracle which if we are wise we will acquiesce in Pag. 125 126. To this purpose men are furnished with many exceptions against the Authority of the Scripture from the uncertainty of the rise and spring of it how it came to us how it was authorized and by whom the doubtfulness of its sense and meaning the contemptible condition of the first Pen-men of it seeming a company of ignorant men imposing their own fancies as Oraculous Visions upon us of whom how can we know that they were inspired seeing they say no such things of themselves not those especially of the New-Testament besides the many appearing contradictions with other humane infirmities seeming unto Criticks ever and anon to occurre in them and why might not illiterate men fail as well as c. With much more of the same nature and importance unto all which I shall need to say nothing but that of Job Vain man would be wise but is like to the wild Asse's Colt Never is the folly of men more eminently display'd than when confidence of their wisdom makes them bold and daring I doubt not but our Author thought that he had so acquitted himself in this passage as that his Readers must need resolve to quit the Scripture and turn Papists but there is an evident gulf between these Reasonings and Popery whereunto they will certainly carry any that shall give way to their force and efficacy This is no other but down right Atheism This the supplying of men with cavils against the Scripture its Power and Authority do directly lead unto Our Authour would have men to believe these suggestions at least so farr as not to seek for rest and satisfaction in the Scriptures or he would not If he would not to what end doth he mention them and sport himself in shewing the luxuriancy of his wit and fancy in cavilling at the Word of God Is not this a ready way to make men Atheists if only by inducing them to an imitation of that which
beautiful and according to the mind of God If our Author be able to make a right Judgement of these things and find them really abounding amongst his party I hope we shall rejoyce with him though we knew the Spring of them is not their Popery but their Christianity For the outside-shews he hath as yet instanced in they ought not in the least to have influenced his Judgement in that disquisition of the Truth wherein he pretends he was engaged He could not of old have come amongst the Professors and Mystae of those false Religions which by the light and power of the Gospel are now banished out of the World where he should not have met with the same Vizards and appearances of Devotion so that hitherto we find no great discoveries in his Messach From the Worship of the Parties compared he comes to their Preaching and finds them as differing as their devotion The Preaching of Protestants of all sorts is sorry pittiful stuffe Inconsequent words senseless notions or at least Rhetorical flourishes make it up the Catholicks grave and pithy Still all this belongs to persons not things Protestants preach as well as they can and if they cannot preach so well as his wiser Romanists it is their unhappiness not their fault But yet I have a little reason to think that our Author is not altogether of the mind that here he pretends to be of but that he more hates and fears then despises the Preaching of Protestants He knows well enough what mischief it hath wrought his Party though prejudice will not suffer him to see what good it hath done the world and therefore doubting as I suppose lest he should not be able to prevail with his Readers to believe him in that which he would fain it may be but cannot believe himself about the excellency of the Preaching of his Catholicks above that of Protestants he decryes the whole work as of little or no use or concernment in Christian Religion This it had been fair for him to have openly pleaded and not to have made a flourish with that which he knew he could make no better work of Nor is the preaching of the Protestants as is pretended unlike that of the Antients The best and most famous Preacher of the antient Church whose Sermons are preserved was Chrysostom We know the way of his proceding in that work was to open the words and meaning of his Text to declare the Truth contained and taught in it to vindicate it from Objections to confirm it by other Testimonies of Scripture and to apply all unto practise in the close And as farr as I can observe this in general is that method used by Protestants being that indeed which the very nature of the work dictates unto them wherefore mistrusting lest he should not be able to bring men out of love with the Preaching of Protestants in comparison of the endeavours of his Party in the same kind he turns himself another way and labours to perswade us as I said that preaching its self is of little or no use in Christian Religion for so he may serve his own design he cares not it seems openly to contradict the practise of the Church of God ever since there was a Church in the world To avoid that Charge he tells us That the Apostles and Apostolical Churches had no Sermons but all their Preaching was meerly for the Conversion of men to the faith and when this was done there was an end of their preaching and for this he instanceth in the Sermons mentioned in the Acts ch 2 3 5 10 7 8 13 14 16 18 19 20 22 24 26 28. I wonder what he thinks of Christ himself whether he preached or no in the Temple or in the Synagogues of the Jews and whether the Judaical Church to whose Members he preached were not then a true yea the only Church in the world and whether Christ was not anointed and sent to preach the Gospel to them If he know not this he is very ignorant if he doth know it he is somewhat that deserves a worse name To labour to exterminate that out of the Religion of Christ which was one of the chief works of Christ for we do not read that he went up and down singing Mass though I have heard of a Fryer that conceived that to be his imployment is a work unbecoming any man that would count himself wronged not to be esteemed a Christian. But what ever Christ did it may be it matters not the Apostles and Apostolical Churches had no Sermons but only such as they preached to Infidels and Jews to convert them that is they did not labour to instruct men in the knowledge of the mysteries of the Gospel to build them up in their Faith to teach them more and more the good knowledg of God revealing unto them the whole counsel of his will And is it possible that any man who hath ever read over the New Testament or any one of Paul's Epistles should be so blinded by prejudicies and made so confident in his assertions as to dare in the face of the Sun whilst the Bible is in every ones hand to utter a matter so devoid of truth and all colour or pretence of probability Methinks men should think it enough to sacrifice their consciences to their Moloch without casting wholly away their reputation to be consumed in the same flames It is true the design of the story of the Acts being to deliver unto us the progress of the Christian faith by the Ministry of the Apostles insists principally on those Sermons which God in an especial manner blessed to the conversion of souls and encrease of the Church thereby but Is there therefore no mention made of Preaching in it to the edification of their Converts or Is there no mention of Preaching unless it be said that such a one preached at such a time so long on such a Text When the people abode in the Apostles Doctrine Acts 2.42 I think the Apostle taught them And the Ministry of the Word which they gave themselves unto was principally in reference unto the Church Ch. 7.4 So Peter and John preached the Word to those whom Philip had converted at Samaria Ch. 18.25 A whole year together Paul and Barnabas assembled themselves together with the Church of Antioch and taught much people Ch. 12.26 At Troas Paul preached unto them who came together to break bread that is the Church until midnight Ch. 20.7 9. which why our Author calls a dispute or what need of a dispute there was when only the Church was assembled neither I nor he do know And ver 20. 27. he declares that his main work and employment was constant Preaching to the Disciples and Churches giving commands to the Elders of the Churches to do the same And what his practice was during his imprisonment at Rome the close of that book declares And these not footsteps but express examples of and precepts
he spake unto them in Horeb they saw no manner of similitude Deut. 5.15 which surely concerned not the ugly face of Moloch And it is a very prety fancy of our Author and inferiour to none of the like kind that we have met with that they have in their Catholick Churches both Thou shalt not make graven images and Thou shalt make graven Images because they have the Image of St. Peter not of Simon Magus of St. Bennet or good St. Francis not of Luther and Calvin I desire to know Where they got that command Thou shalt make Images in the Original and all the Translations lately published in the Biblia Polyglotta it is Thou shalt not So it is in the Writings of all the Antients As for this new Command Thou shalt make graven Images I cannot guess from whence it comes and so shall say no more about it Only I shall ask him one question in good earnest desiring his resolution the next time he shall think fit to make the world merry with his witty Discourses and it is this Suppose the Jews had not made the Images of Jannes and Jambres their Simon Magus's but of Moses and Aaron and had placed them in the Temple and worshipped them as Papists do the Images of Peter or the Blessed Virgin whether he thinks it would have been approved of God or no I fear he will be at a stand But I shall not discourage him by telling him before hand what will befal him on what side soever he determines the question He will not yet have done but tells us The Precept lies in this That men shall not makâ— to themselves as if he had said When you come into the Land among the Gentiles let none of you make to himself any of the Images he shall see there set up by the Inhabitants contrary to the Law of Moses and the practise of the Synagogue which doth so honour her Cherubims that she abominates all Idols and their Sculpture and thus if any Catholick should make to himself contrary to what is allowed any peculiar Image of the Planets c. But that Nil admirari relieves me I should be at a great loss in reading these things for truly a man would think that he that talks at this rate had read the Bible no otherwise then he would have our people to do it that is not at all I would I could prevail with him for once to read over the Book of Deuteronomy I am perswaded he will not repent him of his pains if he be a Lover of Truth as he pretends he is At least he could not miss of the advantage of being delivered from troubling himself and others hereafter with such gross mistakes If he will believe the Author of the Pentateuch it was the Image of the true God that was principally intended in the prohibition of all Images whatever to be made objects of Divine Adoration and that without any respect unto the Cherubims over the Ark everlastingly secluded from the sight of the people And the Images of the false Gods are but in a second place forbidden the Gods themselves being renounced in the first Commandement And it is this making unto a man's self any Image whatever without the appointment of God that is the very substance of the Command And I desire to know of our Author how any Image made in his Church comes to represent him to whom it is assigned or to have any religious Relation to him For instance to St. Peter rather then to Simon Magus or Judas so that the honour done unto it should redound to the one rather then to the other It is not from any appointment of God nor from the nature of the thing it self for the carved piece of wood is as fit to represent Judas as Peter not from any influence of vertue and efficacy from Peter into the Statua as the Heathens pleaded for their Image-worship of old I think the whole relation between the Image and the pretended Prototype depends solely on the imagination of him that made it or him that reverenceth it This creative faculty in the imagination is that which is forbidden to all the sons of men in the Non facies tibi Thou shalt not make to thy self and when all is done the Relation supposed which is the pretended ground of Adoration is but Imaginary and Phantastick A sorry basis for the building erected on it This whimsical termination of the Worship in the Prototype by vertue of the imaginations Creation of a relation between it and the Image will not free the Papists from down-right Idolatry in their abuse of Images much less will the pretence that it is the true God they intend to worship that true God having declared all Images of himself set up without his command to be abominable Idols CHAP. XVIII Latin Service SECT 25. Pag. 250. THe next thing he gilds over in the Roman practise is that which he calls their Latin Service that is their keeping of the Word of God and whole worship of the Church in which two all the general concernments of Christians do lie from their understanding in an unknown tongue We find it true by continual experience that great successes and confidence in their own abilities do encourage men to strange attempts what else could make them perswade themselves that they should prevail with poor simple mortals to believe that they have nothing to do with that wherein indeed all their chiefest concernments do lie and that contrary to express direction of Scripture universal practice of the Churches of old common sense and the broadest light of that reason whereby they are men they need not at all understand the things wherein their communion with God doth consist the means whereby they must come to know his will and way wherein they must worship him Nor doth it suffice these Gentlemen to suppose that they are able to flourish over their own practice with such pretences as may free it from blame but they think to render it so desirable as either to get it embraced willingly by others or countenance themselves in imposing it upon them whether they will or no. But as they come short of those advantages whereby this matter in former days was brought about or rather come to pass So to think at once to cast those shackles on men now they are awake which were insensibly put upon them when they were asleep and rejected on the first beam of Gospel-light that shined about them is I hope but a pleasing dream Certain I am there must be other manner of reasonings then are insisted upon by our Author or have been by his Masters as yet that must prevail on any who are not on the account of other things willing to be deluded in this That the most of Christians need never to read the Scripture which they are commanded by God to meditate in day and night to read study and grow in the knowledge of and which by
and in that manner you see me do it exercising before your eye my Priestly Function according to the order of Melchisedech with which power I do also invest you and appoint you to do the like even unto the Consummation of the world in commemoration of my Death and Passion exhibiting and shewing forth your Lords Death until he come This Protestants do not and we are mad-angry that the Papist does what his Redeemer injoyned him I fear his Readers which shall consider this odd medly will begin to think that they are not only Protestants who use to be mad-angry This kind of Writing argues I will not say both madness and anger but one of them it doth seem plainly to do For setting aside a far-fetched false notion or two about Melchisedech and the Doctrine of the Sacrament here expressed is that which the Pope with Fire and Sword hath laboured to exterminate out of the world burning hundreds I think in England for believing that our Lord instituting his blessed Supper commanded his Apostles to do the same that he then did and in the same manner even to the Consummation of the world in the commemoration of his Death and Passion exhibiting and shewing forth their Lord's death until he come a man would suppose that he had taken these words out of the Liturgie of the Church of England for therein are they expresly found and why then have not Protestants that which he speaks of Yea but Christ did this in the exercise of his Priestly Function and with the same power of Priesthood according to the order of Melchisedech invested his Apostles Both these may be granted and the Protestants Doctrine and Faith concerning this Sacrament not at all impeached but the truth is they are both false The Lord Christ exercised indeed his Priestly Function when on the Cross he offered himself to God through the Eternal Spirit a Sacrifice for the sins of the world but it was by vertue of his Kingly and Prophetical power that he instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud and taught his Disciples the use of it commanding its Observation in all his Churches to the end of the world And as for any others being made Priests after the Order of Melchisedeck besides himself alone it 's a figment so expresly contrary to the words and reasoning of the Apostle that I wonder any man not mad or angry could once entertain any approving thoughts of it That our Author may no more mistake in this matter I desire he would give me leave to inform him that setting aside his proper Sacrificing of the Son of God and his hideous figment of Transubstanatition both utter strangers to the Scripture and Antiquity there is nothing can by him be named concerning this Sacrament as to its honour or efficacy but it is all admitted by Protestants He pretends after this loose Harangue to speak to the thing it self and tells us that the consecrated CHALICE is not ordinarily given to people by the Priest in private Communion as though in some cases it were given amongst them to the body of the people or that they had some publick communion wherein it was ordinarily so given both which he knows to be untrue So impossible it seems for him to speak plainly and directly to what he treats on But it is a thing which hath need of these artifices If one falsity be not covered with another it will quickly rain through all However he tells us that they should do so is neither expedient nor necessary as to any effects of the Sacrament I wish for his own sake some course might be found to take him off this confidence of setting himself against the Apostles and the whole primitive Church at once that he might apprehend the task too difficult for him to undertake and meddle with it no more All expediency in the administration of this great Ordinance and all the effects of it depend solely on the institution and blessing of Christ If he have appointed the use of both elements what are we poor worms that we should come now in the end of the world and say the use of one of them is not expedient nor necessary to any effects of Communion Are we wiser then he Have we more care of his Church then he had or Do we think that it becomes us thus arbitrarily to chuse and refuse in the institutions of our Lord and Master What is it to us what Cavils soever men can lay that it is not necessary in the way of Protestants nor in the way of Catholicks we know it is necessary in the way of Christ. And if either Protestants or Catholicks leave that way for me they shall walk in their own wayes by themselves But why is it not necessary in the way of Protestants Because they place the effect of the Communion in the operation of faith and therefore according to them one kind is enough nay if we have neither kind there is no loss but of a Ceremony which may be well enough supplyed at our ordinary Tables This is prety Logick which it seems our Author learned out of Smith and Seaton Protestants generally think that men see with their eyes and yet they think the light of the Sun necessary to the exercising of their sight and though they believe that all saving effects of the Sacrament depend on the operation of faith and Catholicks do so too at least I am sure they say so yet they believe also that the Sacrament which Christ appointed and the use of it as by him appointed is necessary in its own kind for the producing of those effects These things destroy not but mutually assist one another working effectually in their several kinds to the same end and purpose Nor can there be any operation of faith as to the special end of the Sacrament without the administration of it according to the mind and will of Christ. Besides Protestants know that the frequent distinct Proposals in the Scripture of the benefits of the death of Christ as arising sometimes from the suffering of the body sometimes from the effusion of the bloud of their Saviour leads them to such a distinct acting of faith upon him and receiving of him as must needs be hindred and disturbed in the administration of the Sacrament under one kind especially if that Symbol be taken from them which is peculiarly called his Testament and that bloud wherewith his Covenant with them was sealed So that according to the Principles of the Protestants the Participation of the Cup is of an indispensible necessity unto them that intend to use that Ordinance to their benefit and comfort and what he addes about drinking at our ordinary tables because we are now speaking plainly I must needs tell him is a prophane piece of scurrility which he may do well to abstain from for the future What is or is not necessary according to their Catholick Doctrine we shall not trouble our selves knowing that
be made a Topick for these ends and purposes that is that indeed that is of no use in Religion The trouble and comfort of it are by a due mixture so allaid as to their proper qualities that they can have no operation upon the minds of men to sway them one way or other Had some of our Forefathers been so far illuminated all things had not been at the state wherein they are at this day in the Papacy but it may be much more is not to be expected from it and therefore it may now otherwise be treated than it was yerst-while when it was made the sum and substance of Religion However the time will come when this Platonical Signet that hath no colour from Scripture but is opposite to the clear testimonies of it repugnant to the grace truth and mercy of God destructive to the mediation of Christ useless to the souls of men serving only to beget false fears in some few but desperate presumptions from the thoughts of an after-reserve and second venture after this life is ended in the most abused to innumerable other Superstitions utterly unknown to the first Churches and the Orthodox Bishops of them having by various means and degrees crept into the Roman-Church which shall be laid open if called for shall be utterly exterminated out of the confines and limits of the Church of God In the mean time I heartily beg of our Romanists that they would no more endeavour to cast men into real scorching consuming fire for refusing to believe that which is only imaginary and phantastical CHAP. XXII Pope SECT 29. IT is not because the Pope is forgotten all this while that he is there placed in the rear after Images Saints and Purgatory It is plain that he hath been born in mind all along yea and so much mentioned that a man would wonder how he comes to have a special Paragraph here alloted to him The whole book seems to be all-Pope from the very beginning as to the main design of it and now to meet Pope by himself again in the end is somewhat unexpected But I suppose our Author thinks he can never say enough of him Therefore lest any thing fit to be insisted on should have escaped him in his former discourses he hath designed this Section to gather up the Paralipomena or ornaments he had forgotten before to set him forth withall And indeed if the Pope be the man he talks of in this Section I must acknowledge he hath had much wrong done him in the world He is one it seems that we are beholding unto for all we have that is worth any thing particularly for the Gospel which was originally from him for Kingly Authority and his Crown land with all the honour and power in the Kingdom One that we had not had any thing left us at this day either of Truth or Unity humanely speaking had not he been set over us One in whom Christ hath no lesse shewen his Divinity and Power than in himself in whom he is more miraculous then he was in his own person One that by the only Authority of his place and person defended Christ's being God against all the world without which humanely speaking Christ had not been taken for any such person as he is believed this day So as not only we but Christ himself is beholding to him that any body believes him to be God Now truly if things stand thus with him I think it is hightime for us to leave our Protestancy and to betake our selves to the Irish mans Creed That if Christ had not been Christ when he was Christ St. Patrick the Pope would have been Christ. Nay as he is having the hard fate to come into the World so many ages after the Ascension of Christ into heaven I know not what is left for Christ to be or do The Scripture tells us that the Gospel is Christ's originally from him now we are told It is the Popes originally from him That informes us that by Him the wisdom of God Kings Reign and Princes execute Judgement now we are taught That Kingly Authority with his Crown-land is from the Pope That instructs us to expect the preservation of Faith and Truth in the world from Christ alone the establishment of his Throne and Kingdom for ever and ever His building guidance and protection of his Church but we are now taught that for all these things we are beholding to the Pope who by his only Authority keeps up the faith of the Deity of Christ who surely is much ingaged to him that he takes it not to himself Besides what he is for our better information that we may judge aright concerning him we may consider also what he doth and hath been doing it seems a long time He is one that hath never been known to let fall the least word of passion against any nor move any engine for revenge one whose whole life and study is to defend innocence c. That by his general Councels all held under and by him especially that of Nice hath done more good than can be expressed Careful and more than humanely happy in all ages in reconciling Christian Princes c. One who let men talk what they will if he be not an unerring guide in matters of Religion and Faith all is lost But how shall we come to know and be assured of all this Other men as our Author knows and complains speak other things of him Is it meet that in so doubtful and questionable a business and of so great importance to be known we should believe a stranger upon his word and that against the vehement affirmations at least of so many to the contrary The Scripture speaks never a word that we can find of him nor once mentions him at all The antient Stories of the Church are utterly silent of him as for any such person as he is here described speaking of the Bishop of Rome as of other Bishops in those dayes many of the Stories of after-ages give us quite another Character of him both as to his personal qualifications and imployment I mean of the greatest part of the series of men going under that name In stead of Peace-making and Reconciliation they tell us of fierce and cruel warrs stirred up and mannaged by them of the ruine of Kings and Kingdoms by their means and instead of the meekness pretended their breathing out threatnings against men that adore them not persecuting them with Fire and Sword to the utter depopulation of some Countreys and the defiling of the most of Europe with bloudy cruelties What course shall we take in the contest of assertions that we may be able to make a right Judgment concerning him I know no better than this a little to examine apart the particulars of his Excellency as they are given us by our Author especially the most eminent of them and weigh whether they are given in according to truth or no. The first that