their carnal and corrupt designs it is not unusual for God then to give up such men to other absurd opinions and practices though not serviceable to them in any such way Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved but the love of some errors instead and under pretence of truth that they might compass and bring about their worldly design therefore and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness saith St. Paul 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. I intend not to dispute the several points in difference between Papists and Protestants or to prove them to be such additions and corruptions as I term them to be for that hath been done many a time over sufficiently and abundantly already by Reformed Authors But methinks it should go as far and signifie as much with the Popish Laity if not much more as a just and full confutation of those additions as erroneous would do when they shall come to see how they have been abused and imposed upon by their Leaders and Guides and made to believe and do such things for the saving of their Souls as have no such tendency but the contrary and by dancing after their Pipe have been made use of as Engines meerly to work their ends and to serve their carnal design by them to squeez and drain them to fill themselves or as men make use of horses to carry them out of the dirt and to ease themselves by their labour Which puts me in mind of the woman that sate upon the Beast having upon her forehead a name written Mystery Babylon the great c. Rev. 17.3.5 All that I would desire of the Laity is that they would see with their own eyes and use their own reason in the things I shall now lay before them and not suffer their Clergie to blow out the Candle or to hoodwink them while they play tricks and pick their pockets In giving instances of the Popish corruptions by which the design of domination and worldly greatness hath been begun and carried on by the Romish Bishops and their Seconds and assistance under a Religious pretence I shall begin with that which was laid as the foundation of the Papal fabrick S. 16. First then they would bear the world in hand that the Bishops of Rome successively are St. Peter's successours and as such are invested with a kind of Apostolical Authority and their See the Apostolical See and that as St. Peter was superiour to all Bishops and Presbyters in jurisdiction so they as his successours are so too Yea that the Bishop of Rome for the time being is Christs Vicar on Earth and visible Head of the Church Which claim of theirs puts me in mind of those who said they were Apostles but were not but were found liars Rev. 2.2 And if it shall be affirmed that the Bishops of Rome are successours of these in their design and pretence they themselves have given a more cogent proof of it than ever they did of being St. Peter's successours in such headship and power as they pretend to But as the false Apostles by pretending to be Apostles indeed when they were nothing less did procure to themselves such a reputation with those that were deluded by them as did greatly advantage them in that worldly design which they undiscernedly carried on under that pretence just so have the Popes by making their deluded adherents believe that they are St. Peters successors Christs Vicars and head of the Church raised to themselves such a reputation as is greatly advantagious to them also in the like but greater worldly design of theirs For as the Proselytes of the false Apostles were by their delusive persuasion made not only plyant but even zealously active in serving them in their design so have the deluded adherents of the Popes been in like manner in serving them in theirs Into what mould may not such men cast the people when they have insinuated themselves into their opinion to be such marvellous men as they pretend themselves to be The Galatians though after the false Apostles had corrupted them began to look upon Paul with a jealous eye as if he had been their enemy by exposing them to that trouble in professing the Gospel which the other taught them how to avoid yet so long as they retained that veneration for him which sometime they had while they esteemed him the undoubted Apostle of Christ they could if it had been possible have pluckt out their very eyes to have given him as he saith Gal. 4.15 16. And when the false Apostles were taken for true ones they had such an interest in the deluded people thereby as that they did even what they would with them Which made St. Paul say ye suffer if a man bring you into Bondage if a man devour you if a man take of you if a man exalt himself 2 Cor. 11.20 Words doubtless applicable to the Popish Laity upon as great reason as ever they were to the deluded Corinthians So great is the power of false opinion when men whether false Apostles or Popes are taken to be what they least are Besides as this lofty claim and high pretence of supremacy and headship over the whole Christian world prepared the Popes way for commanding and doing what he pleased among them that received and owned him in that capacity So it was the direct road to the highest pitch of Vain Glory that is of being esteemed and honoured for what he is not since all mâ—n are wont to proportion the honour they give to men according to what they esteem them to be And honey is not sweeter to the mouth than honour and glory is to ambitious minds And therefore if Diotrephes loved to have the preheminence and the false Apostles thought it a prize worth striving for to be counted the head of a small party when but low and kept under in the world how was his Holinesses fancy tickled may we think with the contemplation of being Vniversal Head of the whole Christian World And what would not ambitious men give or do for such a purchase and to keep it when they have it Simon Magus we know would have purchased the power of working Miracles as the Apostles did with money but for what end but that he might not be outdone by the Apostles and so lose that high esteem he had among the people whom he had deceived with his Magick as if he had been the great power of God even as the Popes have done by their Arts. I appeal to the Papists themselves is it not apparent that honour from men was a great part of the prize for which the Bishop of Rome ran when he first laid his design for Universal Bishop and to bring all others under him And hath it not been a sweet morsel to his successors for the time
a judgment of those things wherein their corrupt Interest is opposed or immediately or remotely struck at For men cannot serve God and Mammon as there it follows they cannot be faithful to God and his Truth where a love to him and a care to please him do not bear a greater sway than love to Mammon or any other worldly concern doth Add we yet to all this one consideration more and that is That when men have more love for and pleasure in unrighteousness for worldly advantage sake than love to Truth for Truths sake and what attends a sincere receiving of it the Scripture hath told us that for that very cause God shall send such learned men not excepted strong delusions that they should believe a lie to think and believe verily they have fast hold of Truth when yet they have but a lie in their right hand 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. God in just judgment giving them up to an injudicious mind to call evil good and good evil These things shew how little in reason the consideration of the learning and parts of any of the Popish party ought to weigh with those who upon the account of them are inclined to entertain any whit the more favourable opinion of their way when they consider as they ought that their Learning and Parts are in conjunction with a corrupt Interest As for the Laity or Common people of the Popish perswasion I will not say that a worldly corrupt Interest doth so much prevail on them immediately to be or to continue to be what they are in point of Popery as it doth with their Clergie but at the Second hand it doth prevail on them also For they acting by an Implicite faith believing as their Church-men believe and seeing not with their own but with their eyes and taking all on trust from them and giving up themselves intirely to their Conduct it follows necessarily that if a corrupt Interest misguide their Guides they also must needs become seduced by means of it So that what was said to the people of Israel of old is truly applicable unto them O my people they which lead thee cause thee to err But that will be no excuse to them who suffer themselves to be so misled For if the blind lead the blind you know who hath said they both shall fall into the ditch Now if Popery shall be found indeed to be founded in a like secular carnal corrupt Interest as the corrupt Doctrine and Practice of the false Apostles was and whether it be or no I leave you to judge by what the following discourse offers you then that alone would be enough to blast the Reputation of it for ever in the minds of all such as have judgment in Spiritual things For by this very thing did St. John discriminate the false Teachers and Degenerate Christians and their way from the Orthodox and Sincere and their way They saith he are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them 1 Jo. 4.5 6. They are of the world i. e. they were men of worldly minds and such as chiefly designed a worldly Interest they were such as did mind earthly things as it is elsewhere exprest Phil. 3.18 therefore they speak of the world i. e. the Doctrine which they taught so far as it was False was calculated to promote a worldly corrupt Interest And the world heareth them that is earthly minded men pretenders to Religion received their Doctrine as falling in with their worldly design But we saith St. John are of God he that knoweth God heareth us i. e. received their Doctrine which drew men off from the world to God He that is not of God heareth not us Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of error behold here a plain Discrimination of who and whose way is of God and whose is not with whom the Spirit of Truth is found and with whom the Spirit of Error If the Authors of Popery then and their followers have adopted into their Religion as a part of it any corrupt Doctrine or Practice for worldly advantage sake as the false Teachers of old did then they we see as well as those false Teachers are markt out by St. John as being not of God but of the world and as men that are misguided by a Spirit of Errour And although by wresting the Scriptures and corrupting the Word of God they think to colour over and patronize their corrupt Doctrines and Practices just as the false Apostles before them did yet their Arguings thence are but of the same nature with the Reasonings of the false Apostles in like cases which were as St. Paul calls them but perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness 1 Tim. 6.5 I have in the following Papers shewed how St. Paul's Complying with the Jews in some Rites of the Jewish worship upon account of Expedience was quite of a different nature from the corrupt Complyances of the false Apostles and their party And from that prudential and expediential complyance of his I have in an Appendix by parity of Reason argued the expediency of yielding to the use of some things in or about the external form of Gods Worship which are neither directly commanded nor forbidden by God when circumstances render such a yielding necessary to prevent Divisions in the Church and the bad Consequences of them and to preserve Peace and Charity in it and the better to further the free course of the Gospel And this I have done the rather lest any should think that such a yielding as aforesaid should be of like nature with those corrupt compliances of the false Apostles and their Party which are represented to view in the following Discourse As for those who have hitherto escaped the snares of Popery the proper use of the ensuing Tract for them is to fortifie them against all Temptations of turning Papists of what nature soever the Temptation may be Always remembring that such as follow the false Apostles in corrupting the Christian Religion to avoid Persecution or for any worldly advantage whatsoever must expect to share with them in their fate also of whom it is said their end shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 11.15 And since you will find by the process of the Discourse before you that the Corruptions both in Faith and Practice first in the false Apostles and their followers and after them in the Papists did arise and spring out of an inordinate love of the world the consideration thereof may serve as a Sea-mark to warn us to take heed of that Rock upon which so many professours of Christianity have made shipwrack of it This running into the Spirit of the World hath always been fatal to the Churches As it laid waste at last the once famous flourishing Churches of the Apostles own planting so it hath since deprest and kept many others very low in their
the vast sums of money which we may reasonably conceive this device will bring into the Popes Exchequer from age to age Another Engine for the same purpose is Shrine Oblations that is the Offerings which the people make when they go on Pilgrimage to visit the Shrine of such or such a Saint whether voluntarily or in a way of Penance And the Treasuries of the Shrines of some eminent Saints are upon this account so rich as that it 's said they may vie it with the Treasuries of Great Princes Another Screw is Commutation of Penances that is the buying off the doing of such or such Penance for so much money as the Confessor or Ghostly Father shall be pleased to excuse them for and he knows well enough how to put the price according to the ability of the purchaser and so he doth also how to make the Penance greater or lesser as he pleases And this falls out so often and with so many in all Popish Countries that the Income thereby must needs be very great besides the ordinary Tithes they receive The fictious doctrine of Purgatory to name no more is I assure my self none of the least of the Artifices of the Founders of Popery to accumulate a prodigious mass of wealth of which Doctrine and device take this brief account First The people are made to believe that though God pardons Mortal Sins to the truly penitent so as to free them from Eternal Torments Yet since they have much Venial Sin and Corruption in which oft-times they die not having made sufficient satisfaction by Penances enjoyned them here they must expiate these and satisfie for them by suffering the pains of Purgatory And farther they must believe also that the Church hath a Treasure or stock of Merits arising out of Works of Supererogation done by such as have merited more than enough for themselves the over-plus still running into the common stock and that the Pope and Priests from him have the power of disposing and applying these out of the common stock to particular persons that need them And farther they are taught to believe that this Treasure of the Church is not drawn out and distributed but by Indulgences and that since these Indulgences are for the relief of the Churches Indigences they are not to be obtained without being purchased Now when the poor deluded people are made to believe all these idle Fictions for real Truths and come to have their Consciences awakened on their Death-beds what will they not give to obtain these Indulgences and for Masses to be said and Prayers to be made that they may be delivered from Purgatory a place of Torment little less than Hell Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his Life how much more for his Soul So that the fruit and effect of this device as we may well conceive is no small or inconsiderable thing And therefore it was no less truly than wittily said The fire of Purgatory keeps the Popes Kitchin warm and makes his Pot to boyl I shall instance in no more but these I have named are some of the Arts and part of the Craft in the Mystery of Iniquity by which Demetrius like they get their wealth And truly so vastly great hath been the Annual Income of the Court of Rome from all Nations of their Communion that according to the account given from amongst themselves by Matthew Paris for one M. Par. Hist. An. 1252. its yearly Revenue from England alone by one way and another more than I have named amounted to no less heretofore than twice so much as the then Kings Revenue No marvel then if the Bishops of Rome and their Cardinals formerly poor Priests and Deacons are now become Illustrious and for Pomp and Magnificence able to vie it with great Princes and to raise their Families Nephews and Nieces to Dignities and Fortunes very great as is well known to the World S. 25. And now I having made this Comparison between the salse Apostles and Founders of Popery in their worldly design and cursed means of accomplishing it all that I shall desire of the Lay Catholicks as they call themselves is that they would but bestow so much consideration upon what is here offered as by which they may come to make an impartial judgment whether or no I have wronged the latter by comparing them to the former And if I have not as I doubt not but they will find I have not if prejudice and prepossession do not make them err in judgment as too frequently it is wont to do Then methinks I should not need to use one word to persuade them to desist from following their guides any longer blindfold by an implicite faith for their own Interest both spiritual and temporal which useth to be most prevalent with men will prompt them to this Can they possibly think it safe for them to commit themselves to the conduct of those who directly follow the track and tread in the steps of the false Apostles who for self ends and worldly advantage Avarice and Ambition betrayed the Religion of the holy Jesus and the Souls of men Solomon sayes In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird And will they be more silly than the fowles of the Air in not endeavouring to make their escape when the Snare is discovered to them Remember this and shew your selves men may be said to them as once it was by the Prophet to others But we know the manner of these mens Guides either they will not suffer them to read discourses which detect their fraud or if they happen to hear or see any thing of that nature they can as they would have them think blow off all with one blast of their mouth I do therefore heartily wish that the Laicks I speak of would at last be so wise for their souls as to consider That when their Clergie whom they follow by an Implicite faith do make their defence against us in what we charge them with they are then concerned in point of a Carnal self interest and where that rules and is predominant it still obliges men to put the fairest colour they possibly can upon their Cause though never so bad without regard to truth that not being the thing they strive for but their selfish interest And it is the manner of such men when they have done so to glory over their Adversaries from the teeth outward as if they had laid them dead at their feet When at the same time inwardly they feel themselves struck to the very heart by the clear evidence and unresistable force of their Adversaries reasonings And the reason of their doing so is because they find that thereby they can preserve their interest among the people that have given up themselves to them and pinn'd their faith upon their sleeves this course of theirs serving their end as effectually as a real confutation would do And herein also they as evidently