any other Figure than that which they used when they denoted absolute Universality by Romanus Orbis and Romanum Imperium and made Romanitas to signify the whole World only that which they called Barbaria excepted Romana Dominatio i. e. Humani Generis saith Florus 2. Another Mark of the Church is Antiquity which they much glory in as if theirs were truly antient and ours a novel upstart Religion Notwithstanding our learned Writers have abundantly shewed not only when the Errors we protest against were not in the Church but the particular time and occasion of the commencement of many of them tho not a few of those Tares were sown in the most ignorant and sleepy Ages and brought forth by such gradual Alterations that they might not so easily be discerned in their Productions and Progress as in their Maturity but this is besides our present undertaking which was only to shew that this Pretence also was a great support of Gentilisme * Si longa aetas authoritatem Religionibus conciliat servanda est tot saeculis Fides sequendi sunt nobis parentes qui secuti sunt saeliciter suos Symmachi Ep. ad Theod. Its Orators and Advocates upon all occasions set forth the Antiquity of their Rites and Ceremonies and the Innovations of Christianity Where was your Religion before Luther say the Papists to us and where was yours before Jesus of Nazareth said the Pagans to the first Christians When †Acts 17.19 St. Paul preached the Gospel at Athens the Philosophers there asked in Scorn What the new Doctrine was whereof he spake and the Historian calls the Christians Christianos genus hominum novae maleficae superstitionis Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. Bellarm. lib. 4. de Not. Ecclesiae cap. 4. Men of a new and mischievous Superstition 3. A third Mark of the Church which they think suits theirs very well is a Power of Working Miracles we cannot yield that this is a perpetual visible Note of the true Church as is pretended Miracles indeed are the clearest Evidences of Divine Truth and Authority and the most immediate Credentials of Heaven Our blessed Saviour attested his Divinity and the Truth of his Gospel thereby and in the Churches Infancy gave his Apostles the same Power of confirming their Doctrine but many good Reasons have been given to shew that there is not the same need and use of them now as then there was and how far the Devil by the Agility and Subtilty of his Nature may impose upon the Senses of Men and puzzle them with strange Appearances I shall not now enquire nor endeavour to refute the pretence of the Romanists in this kind by discovering the Vanity and Extravagancy of their lying Legends only to be named in a place and time fitter for Laughter and Disport than this wherein we are Nor shall I stay to shew how little cause they have to boast of this Faculty if they were more expert in it than indeed they are Seeing our Saviour and his Apostles have prophesied of the latter times that in a general Apostacy from the Faith Great Wonders should be wrought Mat. 24.24 able to deceive if it were possible the very Elect and that those especially who would not receive the Love of the Truth thro' an effectual working of Satan 2 Thess 2.9 10 11. in lying Wonders and strong Delusions should be brought to believe Lies But my Business here also is to shew that the Heathens talked as much and upon as good Grounds of this Gift of Miracles as they do it is well known how famous Pythagoras was for it in the Writings of Porphyry and Apollonius Tyaneus in those of Philostratus and Hierocles Histor lib. 4. besides what is said of Vespasian by Tacitus and those wonderful Manifestations of the Divine Power and Presence in the Roman Armies which Balbus boasted of Lib. 2. de nat Deorum p. 27. yea the idle and rediculous Reports of the frequent removals of the Chappel of Loretto from one Country and from one Place to another by invisible Hands in its most creditable Appearance seems to be but the counter-part of a Heathenish Wonder That I mean of the Temple of Diana's removal out of the Isle of Zazinthus unto Saguntum in Spain as it is related by Pliny 4. Another Mark of the Church with them is outward Splendor and Temporal Prosperity of which we read nothing in Scripture and it agrees much better with the Condition of Paganism and Mahumetanism than this of Christianity The Roman Orator Cicer. Orat. de Haruspic from the flourishing Greatness the many Victories and Triumphs of that Empire infers the Truth and Goodness of its Religion and the Idolatrous Jews will not be put out of conceit with their abominable Superstitions because they prospered and fared well in them Jer. 44.17 We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our Mouth to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink-Offerings to her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the Streets of Jerusalem But why so resolute and obstinate in your way Why Because we have this Catholick Argument that we are in the right outward Plenty Health and Prosperity as it follows for then had we plenty of Victuals and were well and saw no evil I might here add That the Heathens have the same plea with them for uninterrupted Continuance Number and Variety of Professors but I forbear this because it is no reproach to true Christians that they are a little Flock seeing we are assured by Scripture Testimony that the whole World in a manner lies in Wickedness I proceed to examine the Popes pretended Titles of Supremacy and Infallibility It hath been observed that old Babel who was the Foundress of Idols and the Mother of all Heathenish Superstitions was the first Pattern in the World of ambitious Dominion And 1. For the Supremacy of our new and mystical Babel it seems to derive from that Lordship Mark 10.42 which was exercised by those that ruled over the Gentiles And indeed that Authority which the Historian attributes to the Pontifex Maximus may suit new Rome Dionys Halic Ant. Rom. l. 2. as well as old The High Priests have great power among the Romans and are the Lords and Controllers of their most important Affairs they decide all Religious Controversies between the Commonalty the Magistracy and the Ministry they call all Magistrates and Priests to account for the exercise of their Authority And what follows in the same Author shews in how great repute they were 2. For their Infallibility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They determine all Differences relating either to Traditional or Novel Customs in Religion I know the Papists would fain parallel the Infallibility of their Chair with that of Moses and endeavour to confirm it by a seeming Parity of Reason in their case with that of the Jews
the Saints in memory and honour of them whom they figure as also their Places and Reliques ought to be worshiped with Processions bending of the Knee bowings of the Body Incensings Kissings Offerings Lighting of Candles and Pilgrimages c. Yea in the Roman Catechism set out by the order of the Council of Trent is not the Parish Priest required to declare to his Parishioners not only that it is lawful to have Images in the Church but to give Honour and Worship to them c. And for their Practice I need say little because it hath been so fully demonstrated by our most learned Dean of St. Paul's and others of our Church 1. That they set up Images in Churches over Altars purposely to worship them 2. That they consecrate those Images with Solemn Prayers for that purpose 3. They use all the Rites of Worship to them which the Heathen Idolaters used to their Images 4. They make solemn Processions in honour of Images carrying them with as much Pomp and Ceremony as ever the Heathens did their Idols 5. That they cover their Altars and Images and omit to burn Incense before them in the time of Lent as the Heathens were wont to do at certain times Dii quoque templorum foribus celentur apertis Ovid. Fast l. 2. Thure vacent Arae stentque sine igne foci 6. Their attributing Motion and Speech and several miraculous Operations to the Images of Christ and the blessed Virgin hath even as much Truth and Reason in it Lib. 5. Hist lib. 1. c. 12. as that which Livy and Valerius Maximus report of the moving and talking of the Images of Fortune and of Juno Moneta I shall add no more upon this Head not only because so much hath been said by our Protestant Writers but because their Casander plainly confesseth Casan consul that their Peoples Adoration paid to Images and Statues was equal to the worst of the antient Heathens 4. Their Doctrine of Purgatory Which hath no ground at all to stand upon in the Holy Scriptures or as they have framed and modelled it in the Writings of the Antient Fathers if that will give it any Support or Credit was taught of old in the Heathens discourses of their Acherusia and their Rivers of Fire which give a painful Purgation of all the Spots and Stains of lesser Sins and thereby prepare the Soul for Admission into the Elysian Fields Plato Phood the Regions of blessed Spirits The next thing I shall take notice of is 5. Their Prayers and Oblations for the Dead That the Church Triumphant prays for this Militant though they know not particular Mens Cases without a particular Revelation I make no doubt at all and that Commemorations of the Dead Prayers for them and particular Intercessions at the Celebration of the holy Eucharist practised in the Ancient Church cannot be denyed Arch Bishop Usher's Answ to the Jesuit p. 204. Vossii Thes Theolog. 125. Yet it must be yielded withall that these Prayers and Intercessions had not any Relation to Purgatory being offered in their behalf whom they supposed to be in a state of Rest and Happiness and they consisted partly of Praises and Thanksgivings for the blessed Estate which the Party deceased was entred upon and partly of Supplications for the completion of their Bliss at the day of Judgment and the preservation of their Memory upon Earth for the good Example of the Living But there is no Warrant or Precedent at all in Church Antiquity before the fourth Century for the popish way of praying for the Dead their Oblations and Sacrifices either for the mitigation of Purgatory-Pains or deliverance out of them Till then this was only the way of the Heathen As Arnobius Lib. 2. adv Gent. in his Book against them hath observed It was their general Practice to pray for their departed Friends and to offer Gifts such as Hony Milk and Wine for them Ovid. Fast l. 2. and the forecited Father informs us that they sacrificed the Blood of certain living Creatures for the Purgation of the Souls of Men And Plato in his 2 Book de Republica tells us that the dead are purged by Sacrifices whereas the Gospel which Saint Paul desired to preach to his Romans promises no relief at all to the Dead from the Prayers Sacrifices or Merits of the Living forewarns us of no Wrath to come but what is eternal no Fire but what is unquenchable no Torments but those of Hell which are as immutable and unmixed as the Joys of Heaven and makes the time of this Life the only accepted time the day of Salvation exhorting us in this our day to consider the things that belong to our Peace to our future Happiness or Misery to make our Calling and Election sure and to work out our own Salvation not trusting to others to do it for us when the Night of Death comes upon our selves wherein no Man can work The Second Sermon HItherto I have shewed how little there is of Gospel in the Romish Canonization of or praying to Saints and Angels worshipping of Images Their Doctrine of Purgatory and lastly their Prayers and Oblations for the dead and â—o begin again where we left tho we cannot take notice of all their Pleas and Defences for their praying for the dead yet we shall not conceal one which they rely much upon and that is what Damascen if the Book de Defunctis be his â—ells us of a dead Man's Skull that spake thus unto Macarius the Egyptian Anchoret When thou dost offer thy Prayers for the dead then do we feel some little Consolation But this is no evidence against Moses and the Prophets against the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles But this Brainless speaking Skull minds me to consider in the next place 6. Their great Devotion to Reliques The Members Blood Bones yea the Habits or any of the Goods and Appurtenances of their Saints departed to which they ascribe as miraculous Effects of several Natures as the Speech of this Skull only the rarity of this is It was not the Skull of a Saint but of a Heathen Priest as the Greek Meneology will have it and Thomas Aquinas takes it for granted But if we consider how idly and lavishly they Romance in extolling the wonder-working Power of some of their Reliques we must conclude that the Confidence of the Reporters and the Credulity of the Hearers are the greatest Miracles in the case if their sottish Adoration of them be not still more prodigious I will not present you with Heathen Precedents and Practices to aggravate but rather a little to excuse the fondness of this Superstition which sure they would be more ashamed of if it were not a little countenanced by such Stories as Plutarch reports concerning the Preservation and devout Adoration of Theseus's Bones In Vit. Thes and by what such a Sage-Philosopher as Plato says concerning the Worship they gave to the very Shrines of their
Ages until St. Augustine's time and God in Scripture with respect to his own Covenant is said to be just as well as merciful in remembring our labours of Love Smith's Select Discourses p. 288. Hottinger Thesaur Philo. p. 554. yet the Popish Opinion of Free-will and the Meritoriousness of their good Works is as inexcusable as the Notion of the corrupt Pharisees about them And both they and the Talmudists have the same Plea for their unwritten Traditions But I have not time to insist upon more Particulars either of Jewish or Heathenish Corruptions in the Roman Church and it will be the less needful because I have already given you some of the most considerable Instances of their foul Relapses and Apostacies parallel with the greatest Defections in the Jewish Church the Sin of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat their worshipping the true God by Images the Calves of Dan and Bethel and the way of Ahab their worshipping of other Gods besides him viz. Baalim-Demons inferiour Gods and Mediators exactly accomplishing that Prophecy of St. John Rev. 11.2 that the second or outmost Court of the Temple which is the second state of the Christian Church Apostacy of the latter Times as Mr. Mede hath observed together with the holy City should be trodden down by the Gentiles that is overwhelmed by the Gentiles Idolatry fourty two Months So that in the close of this Argument we will allow the Antiquity of the Romish Religion that in many parts of it it was elder than the Apostles or the Preachings of Christ himself and to their fierce charge of Novelism we may justly oppose that of the learned Scaliger Scal. respons ad Serrar Min. Nos novatores non sumus sed vos estis veteratores Our Religion is not new bearing the same Date with the Gospel of our Saviour but your's a little too old professed at Rome before ever St. Paul or St. Peter preached there in many Parts symbolizing with that of your Vnchristened Ancestors the Gentile Fathers But some will say Why should we object that as a matter of Reproach to the Papists and to their Religion which they glory in as a convincing Proof of its Truth and Goodness its agreeableness to the Law of Nature and the best Reason of Mankind For answer hereunto 1. We must acknowledg that Christianity is the sum or perfection of whatsoever Things were laudable or passable in any Religion that hath been in the World 2. That those Practices in the Heathens which were not the Products of Superstition but Dictates of the Law of Nature we allow and embrace commending all things that were solemn decent and comely in their Religion 3. That as our Saviour was pleased to retain many of the received Practices among the Jews only with such necessary Alterations as made them suit with the Doctrine and nature of Christianity So the Primitive Church retained some Ceremonies which the Heathen used relating to the outward Order and Decency of their Ministeries and Worship such as were the Habits of their Priests their Fasts Vigils Festivals Processions c. And no doubt it was well done at first to accommodate to Christianity such customs of the Heathens as had nothing of Idolatry or Superstition in them Pertinaci Pâ—ganismo mâ—tatione sâ—b eâ—tum est quum rei iâ— to um subla io potius irritasset Beda nothing of peculiar Opposition to the Gospel to procure thereby a more easie Entertainment to its Doctrines and in some measure to abate the usual Prejudices which all new and strange Institutions meet withall 4. Some Compliances which were useful and necessary in the Infant-state of the Church might and did become hurtful afterwards and many great Men complained betimes of the retaining of Pagan Rites even of such as were in their own nature indifferent 〈…〉 p. 391. particularly because the Gentiles used in the Services of their Idols to sit down immediately after they had prayed Tertullian would not have the Christians do so De Oâ—at c. 〈◊〉 5. If there be any thing doctrinal in their Rites the Observation of them will be an owning of their Religion a joyning Christ with Belial Light with Darkness a corrupting and deflouring of the Purity and Chastity of our Saviour's Gospel 6. We have instanced for the most part in Ceremonies of this nature and have proved as fully as well as we could in so little time and space that if there ever was any such thing as Superstition and Idolatry in the Heathen World there is now too much of them in the Roman Church and the Christian Faith so throughly infected with them that in so general a Corruption we cannot but contemplate and lament that Apostacy or falling away of Christians foretold by our Apostle 2 Thes 2. And by these Spiritual Adulteries conclude who is the Whore of Babylon the Mother of the Formcations and Abominations of the Earth who in our days go a whoring after the Heathen Ezek 23.30 and are polluted with their ldols Therefore to apply this 1. What we have heard of the Church of Rome justifies our Separation from her we depart no further from her than she hath done from Christianity and renounce only the Heathenism and other foreign Corruptions which she hath mixed with the Gospel of our Saviour We do not voluntarily make a Schism upon the account of a stinted Liturgy a few indifferent Ceremonies or some little Defects and Disorders in the lower Forms of Ecclesiastical Polity but are forced to separate from such Idolatries and Superstitions as are altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine and Worship of the Gospel 2. It concerns those that would not partake of the Sins of Rome the mystical Babylon and receive of her Plagues Rev. 18.4 to come out of her according to our Apostle's Advice to come out from among them to be separate and not to touch the unclean Thing 2 Cor 6.17 For what Concord hath Christ with Belial or the Temple of God with Idols 3. Let us highly magnifie the undeserved and distinguishing Goodness of God for delivering us from those Heathenish and Abominable Superstitions wherewith for some time the whole Church in a manner was and still a great part of it is overspread and restoring to us the clear and pure Light of his Gospel and let us most humbly and heartily pray for the continuance of this Blessing Thou hast brought up a Vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the Heathen and planted it let not the Wild Boar out of the Wood root it up nor the Wild Beast of the Field devour it Yea it concerns us to bless God for delivering us from the Cruelties of the ' Papists wherein they also Gentilize as I should have shewed if I had had time and particularly from the most merciless Design of this day a Design which at once outwitted the Malice of past and the Imitation of future Conspiracies and which if it had taken effect would not