the Nature of Religion it being a thing sutable to the Powers of the Soul shews that a Man must have a conviction of the truth of it on his Mind and that he cannot be bound in contradiction to his own apprehensions to receive any Opinions meerly upon the testimony of others If to confirm all this I should add all can be brought from History for proving General Councils to have erred in Matters of Faith or that Popes have been Hereticks or that they have been anathematized as such by other Popes and General Councils I should be too tedious But in end how shall the Vulgar know the Definitions of Councils or the Decrees of Popes Or must they be blindly determined by the Priest's Assertion Certainly this were to expose them to the greatest Hazards since they are not suffered to found their Faith upon the Scriptures Nor doth the Church reveal her Doctrines to them so that their Faith must be resolved upon the bare Testimony of a Priest who is perhaps both ignorant and licentious And by this we may judg to what a pass the Souls of the People are brought by this Doctrine In a word We are not the Servants of Men nor bound to their Authority for none can be a Judg but where he hath Power both to try and to coerce Now none but God can either search our Hearts or change them for as no Humane Power can know our Thoughts so neither can it turn them which are not in our own Power much less in the Power of others therefore our Consciences can and must only fall within God's Jurisdiction And since the renovation of the Image of God consists in Knowledg and Religion designs an union of our Souls to Divine Truth that we may freely converse with it it will follow that all these Pretences of absolute Authority and Infallibility in Teaching are contrary to Christ's Prophetick Office who came to reveal the Father to us The second of Jesus Christ's Offices was the Priestly without which the former had never been effectual for had we known never so perfectly the Will of God without a method had been laid down for reconciling Sinners to him it was in vain to think of Religion since nothing Sinners could do was able to appease God or expiate Sin but this was fully done by the Sacrifice of that Lamb of God Who became Sin for us and bare our Sins in his own Body in whom we have Redemption even forgiveness of Sin through his Blood 2 Cor. 5.21 1 Pet. 2.24 Ephes 1.7 If then any have derogated from the value of this Satisfaction they have offered the utmost indignity to the highest Love and committed the Crime of the greatest Ingratitude imaginable who would requite the most inconceivable Love with such a Sacrilegious attempt But how guilty are they of this who would set the Merits and Works of Men in an equality with the Blood of God as if by these we were justified or owed our Title to Glory to our own performances whereas we are taught by the Oracles of God that by Grace we are saved that God only hath made the difference betwixt us and others and that he hath freely chosen us in his Son Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 1 Cor. 4.7 And alas what are we or what is all we do that it can pretend to the lowest degree of God's Acceptance without he freely both help us in it and accept of us for it so that when he rewards us for our Services with Eternal Life he freely crowns his own free Gifts to us For when we consider how great a disproportion there is betwixt our best Services and Eternal Glory when we also remember how all our good Actions flow from the Principles of Divine Grace freely given but withal reflect on the great Defects and Imperfections that hang about our best Performances we will not be able to entertain any thoughts of our meriting ought at the Hands of God. And certainly the deeper Impressions we have either of the Evil of Sin or the Goodness of God we will be further from a capacity of swelling big in our own Thoughts or of claiming any thing on the pretensions of Justice or Debt It is true this Doctrine of Merit is so explained by some of that Church that there remains no ground of quarrelling it except for the Terms sake which is indeed odious and improper though early used by the Ancients in an innocent sense But many of that Church acknowledg there there can be no Obligation on God by our Works but that which his own Promise binds upon him which none who believe the Truth of the Promises of the Gospel can question yet still we must remember that we owe all to the Love of Jesus and nothing to our selves which as it is the Matter of the Hallelujahs of glorified Saints so should be the Subject of our daily Acknowledgments wherefore we must abominate every thing that may seem to detract from this But alas were all this Zeal many of that Communion own for Merits and good Works meant for the advancing a Holy and Spiritual Life it would carry a good Apology with it and its noble Design would very much qualify the severity of its Censure but when these good Works which for so many Ages were highly magnified were the building of Churches the enriching of Abbeys Pilgrimages and other trifling and voluntary pieces of Will-worship advanced for the Secular Interests of the Church what shall be said of all that pains was used by the Monks for advancing them but that they were willing to sell the value of the Blood and Merits of Christ for advancing their own secular Interests and devised Practices Alas how far are these from that Holiness and Sanctity which must qualify us for the Kingdom of God and the Inheritance of the Saints And to end this Matter let me add one thing which is most evident to all who have observed the Methods of the Directors of Consciences in that Church that with whatever Distinctions this Matter be varnished over among them yet the Vulgar do really imagine they buy and sell with Almighty God by their undergoing these Laws of the Church and Penances imposed by their Confessor Which as it nourisheth the Life of Pride and Self-love so it detracts from the value they ought to set on the Blood of Christ as their only Title to Heaven and Glory And to this I must add that distinction of the temporary and eternal Punishments Sin deserves The latter whereof they acknowledg are removed by the Blood of Christ but the former must be expiated by our selves either by Sufferings in this Life or those we must endure in Purgatory unless by the Pope's Charity we be delivered from them Now how contrary this is to the Value we are taught to set on the Blood of Christ all may judg Ephes 2.15 5.27 By Christ Peace is made we are reconciled to God he represents us to the Father without
and Jesuits and is a Doctrine dearly entertained in the Court of Rome to this day as appeared from the late Attempt of Pope Paul the Fifth upon Venice But the World is now a little wiser than to be carried away by these Arts and therefore that Pretence is laid to sleep till haply the Beast be healed of the Wound was given it at the Reformation But I cannot leave this Particular without my sad Regrates that too deep a tincture of this Spirit of Antichristianism is among many who pretend much aversion to it since the Doctrine of resisting Magistrates upon colours of Religion is so stiffly maintained and adhered to by many who pretend to be highly reformed tho this be one of the Characters of the scarlet-coloured Whore. But thus far have we gone through the second part of Antichrist's Character and have discovered too clear indications of a difformity to the Spirit and Truth of the Christian Religion in all the Branches of the Honour and Worship due to Jesus the only Mediator of the New Covenant From this I proceed to the third part of my Enquiry which is the Opposition made to the great Design of Christian Religion for elevating the Souls of Men into a participation of the Divine Nature whereby the Soul being inwardly purified and the outward Conversation regulated the World may be restored to its Primitive Innocence And Men admitted to an inward and intimate fellowship with their Maker The first step of this Renovation is Repentance for God commands Men every where to repent and Repentance and Remission of Sins are always united And this being an horrour at Sin upon the sense of its native deformity and contrariety to the Law of God which makes the Soul apprehend the hazard it hath incurred by it so as to study by all means possible to avoid it in all time coming nothing doth prepare the mind more for Faith in Christ and the study of a new Life than Repentance which must needs be previous to these But what Devices are found to enervate this Sins must be divided into Venial and Mortal the former deserving only some temporal Punishment and being easily expiated by some trifling piece of seeming Devotion and hereby many Sins are struck out of the Penitents consideration For who can have a great apprehension of that which is so slightly expiated And this may be extended to the easy Pardons given for acknowledged mortal Sins For he who thinks that God can be appeased for them with the saying by rote so many Prayers cannot possibly have deep apprehensions of their being either so displeasing to God or so odious in themselves But shall I to this add their asserting that a simple attrition which is a sorrow flowing from the consideration of any temporal Evil God hath brought upon the Sinner without any regard had either to the vileness of the Sin or the Offence done to God by it that is I say can suffice for justifying Sinners and qualifying them for the Sacrament whereby the necessity of Contrition and Sorrow flowing from the Principle of the Love of God is made only a high degree of Perfection but not indispensibly necessary In the next place all these Severities they enjoin for Penances do but tend to nourish the Life of Sin when Sinners see a Trade set up by which they can buy themselves off from the Wrath of God. To this is to be added the Doctrine of Indulgences which is so direct an opposition to Evangelical Repentance as if it had been contrived for dispossessing the World of the sense of it That which is next pressed in the Gospel for uniting the souls of Mankind to God is that noble ternary of Graces Faith Hope and Love by which the Soul rests in God by a holy affiance in him believing the Truth of his Gospel expecting the accomplishment of his Promises waiting for the full fruition of him and delighting in his glorious Perfections and Excellencies Now how much all this is shaken by these carnal and gross Conceptions the Roman Doctrine offers of God in their Image and Mass-worship and by their Idolatry to Saints is apparent Are they not taught to confind more in the Virgin or their Tutelar Saints than in the Holiest of all Doth not the fear of Purgatory damp the hopes of future blessedness And finally what impious Doctrine hath been publickly licensed and printed in that Church of the degrees of the love we owe to God Some blasphemously teaching that we are not at all bound to love him others mincing it so as if they were afraid of his being too much beloved In a word there is an impiety in the Morals of some of that Church particularly among the Disciples of Loyola beyond what was ever taught amongst the worst of the Heathen Philosophers which hath been fully discovered by some of the honester and more zealous of that Communion And though these Corruptions have not been avowed by the Head of that Church yet by their being publickly vented by the Deaf Ear he gives to all the Complaints against them and by the constant Caresses and Priviledges he heaps upon that Order which teacheth them he discovers either his great Satisfaction in that corrupt Doctrine or that upon the account of other interests he is content to betray the Souls of Christians into the corruption of such impious and ungodly Leaders since the Order that hath owned all these Corruptions is yet possessed of the Consciences of the greater part of them that own that Communion they being the universal Confessors And since they license the publick vending of so much corrupt Doctrine in printed Writings what reason have we to suspect their base compliance with Sins in their more secret and unknown Practisings with such poor deluded Souls as trust to their Conduct of which many proofs are brought by other of that same Church But I pursue my enquiry into the other traces of the Antichristian Corruption of the Purity and Power of our most Holy Faith Solemn Worship and secret Devotion are the great means of uniting Souls to God and of deriving the assistance of his Spirit and Grace to us but when these are performed in an unknown Tongue how uncapable are they of reaching that End And the Doctrine of the efficacy of the Sacraments for conveying of Grace by the Work wrought looks like a design against all serious preparation for the worthy receiving of them since by that Doctrine a Man be he never so ill prepared yet is sure of their efficacy for if his Priest absolve him and he have a simple Attrition for Sin without any thing of the Love of God he is by their Doctrine and Conduct qualified for receiving worthily were his Heart never so much united to Sin or averse from all Devotion or Application to Divine Matters And what Complaints shall be here made of these who teach that the sure way of gaining the Favour of God which they phrase by the Keys of
which we withdrew from her are additions to our faith for in this we mainly differ from that Church that whatever we acknowled they acknowledg likewise but with a great many additions We believe the Scriptures are a rule for Christians and they believe the same but they add Traditions and the authority of the Church to the Scriptures We believe that God is to be worshipped spiritually they believe the same but add that he may be worshipped by images and sensible Figures We believe Christ to be the Mediator betwixt God and Man they believe the same but add to this the intercession of Saints We hold that God and Christ are to be worshipped they hold the same but add Saints and Angels to their worship We believe Heaven and Hell to be the several States of the future life they believe the same but add Purgatory betwixt them to the day of Judgment We believe Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the Sacraments of the new Covenant they believe the same but add five more We believe Christ is spiritually and really present in the Lords Supper this they believe but add the unconceivable Tenent of his corporal presence In a word it might be instanced in many other particulars how they have driven us from their Communion by their additions to the truth and sincerity of the Gospel which they have adulterated by their Inventions and not only have they imposed all these things but thundered out Anathema's on all that question them and have so wreathed all their fopperies with that main and fundamental article of their belief of the infallibility of their Church that it is impossible to hope for their recovery till they renounce that Principle which is so dear to them For if their Church be infallible then in no matter of faith or practice can she decree amiss and therefore the lawfulness and sanctity of all her Decrees must be maintained with an equal vigor and zeal for if in one of them she step aside her infallibility is for ever gone And by this we may see to how little purpose it is to treat of accomodating matters with that Church since there is no possibility of our Union with them without we turn over entirely to them For they cannot part with one of their errors without they first renounce that which is the dearest of them all to wit the unerring authority of their Church How cruel then is that Church which addeth the severe sanction of an Anathema to all her decrees even about the most trifling matters and about things that are by their Confession of their own natures indifferent And a consectary to this is that cruel opinion they hold that none can be saved out of their Communion pretending there is no Salvation without the true Church which they restrict to those who are under the obedience of the Roman Bishop and this is what they usually frighten all with But it is to be considered what the true notion of the Church is that so we may see through this frightful Vizar The Church then is a Society of Christians united in the same faith for worshipping of God jointly And another definition of a Church cannot be proved from Scripture for the Church being called the Body of Christ its union with him as its Head is held forth by the Apostle in these words Col. 2.19 The head Christ from whom the whole body by joints and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God. From which words we see what constitutes a man a member of the true Church which is first his union to Christ as his head together with a dependance on him for growth and nutriture and next his being knit to all others who are thus united to Christ which is first the inward union of divine charity by which he loves all who cleave to Christ as their Head and next his associating himself with them in outward visible acts of worship which every Christian is bound to do with all that worship God in Spirit and Truth But if a Society of Christians do visibly swerve from Christ in many great and signal contradictions to the honour due to his Person and to the obedience due to his Laws and do grosly adulterate the worship so that communion cannot be had with that Church without departing from the Head Christ then it can be no departing from the Church to adhere to Christ and his true worship and to separate from the corruptions which are brought in upon the Christian Religion If then it appear that the Church of Rome hath departed from the truth and simplicity of the Gospel in so many great and main points those who attempted the reforming her to her first Purity and finding that not to be hoped for did unite among themselves for serving and worshipping God aright cannot be charged with separation from the true Church But by that cruel Tenent of theirs they breed up all their Children in the greatest uncharitableness imaginable condemning all who cannot believe their strange Doctrines or concur in their unhallowed worsh p. Thus they are the Schismaticks who have departed from the true Church and who force from their Communion all who adhere to it but this cruelty rests not in uncharitable censures but hath extended it self to as much bloody and barbarous rage as ever sprung from Hell for all the cruelty of the heathen Persecutors cannot match the practises of that Whore that hath been so often drunk with the blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus What enraged cruelty appeared against the poor Waldenses for the separating from their Corruptions How many of all Sexes and Ages were cruelly butchered down by the procurement of the Rulers of that Church and because the Albigenses lived under the protection of Princes that favoured them how did the Popes depose their Princes and instigate other ambitious invaders to seize on their dominions Which to effectuate a Croissade was proclaimed that had been formerly practised against the Enemies of the Christian Faith and Heaven was promised to such as went against these poor innocents whereupon they were killed by thousands without all mercy Never was there any who had the zeal or honesty in these dark ages to witness against the apostacy of the Church but the Pope and Clergy used all means to get his zeal rewarded with a Faggot And when the time of Reformation came with what rage and spite did the Pope by his Letters and Legates instigate all the Princes of Europe to cruelty against them But as these things were not done in corners so they are still so fresh in our remembrance by the copious accounts we have of them that I need not tell what Arts the Popes and other Ecclesiasticks used to set all Germany on fire upon this account Nor need I tell the cruelty was exercised in the Netherlands in Charles the Fifth his time in which more than an hundred thousand are
Church to have them all believed without once questioning them But how comes it that in Heretical Countries as they call them where there is more need of those Miracles and where they might be more irrefragably proved if true since the Examiners of them were not to be suspected yet none of these mighty works do shew themselves forth Certainly that they are to this day so rife in Italy and Spain and so scant in Britain is a shrewd ground to apprehend Legerdemain and forgery in the accounts we get of their later Saints And indeed the Contrivers of these Stories have not managed their design by half so well as need was for they have bestowed as many of them on one person as might have Sainted the half of an Order But the gain that is made by new Saints and new Reliques is well enough known not to speak of the general advantage that Church pretends to draw from it In end tho some things among them did seem to surpass the known powers of Nature these ought not to prevail upon us for departing from the truth since though an Angel from Heaven Preached another Gospel he is to be accursed Gal. 1.8 If then they have so changed the Christian Doctrine by their Additions and Inventions that it is become thereby as another Gospel none of the seemingly Seraphical Appearances they may have among them tho true ought to reconcile us to it and that the rather since we were expresly guarded against this Imposture by St. Paul who gave it as an Indication of the Son of Perdition that his coming was after the power of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness 2 Thess 2.9 10. And it is a part of their curse that they are given up to strong delusions to believe lies the Beast also that appeared to St. John Rev. 13.13 did great wonders so that he made Fire come down from Heaven in the sight of men and deceived many that dwelt on the Earth by these Miracles which he had power to do But to conclude this my greatest quarrel at these forgeries of Miracles is that the People being taught to believe them and the Miracles of the Gospel with an equal certainty since they have the Testimony of the Church for both and they seeing such evident Characters of fraud and forgery on these supposed Miracles whereby they are convinced of their falshood are thereby in danger of suspecting all the Miracles of the Gospel as the tricks of subdolous and crafty men whereby they run head-long to an Atheistical disbelieving the truth of all alike And thus far we have found how opposite that Church is to the Spouse of Christ since her Doctrines are so ill founded and look so like cunningly devised Fables without the authority of Divine Inspiration or the proof of true Miracles The next Character of our Faith is its perspicuity and simplicity all being called to the clear light of the day in it and every part of it being so genuine that it is apparent it was not the contrivance of designing men that by the belief of it they might obtain the power and possess the riches of the World And therefore there are no secret Doctrines in our Faith which must be kept up from the Vulgar whereby the Pastors of Christendom may have dominion over their Souls But what must we conclude of them who by all means study to keep all of their Communion ignorant as if Devotion were thereby nourished and allow them not the use of the Scriptures in their Mother-tongue nor a worship which they can understand whereby it is that they who occupy the room of unlearned cannot say Amen at the giving of thanks since they understand not what is said To this might be added their implicite Faith to all the Doctrines of the Church without further inquiries and their blind obedience to the Confessarius be he never so ignorant and carnal These are certainly darkening opinions and practises and far different from the methods of the Apostles in preaching the Gospel who withheld from the People nothing of the Counsel of God and studied the enlightening their understandings as well as the enlivening of their wills But further how much of interest appears in the Doctrines of Rome which tend to the exalting or enriching the Papacy and inferiour Clergy for it is visible what a trade they drive by them and all the contrivances all the projectors in Europe ever fell upon for enriching their Master's Treasury falls short of the projects of Purgatory the Treasure of the Church Indulgences and the Pope's absolute authority in making abrogating and dispencing with all Positive Laws Neither is there more of design to be found in the Alcoran than in the Mysteries of that Caliph of the Spiritual Babylon And we may guess of their concernedness in these matters since a gentler censure may be hoped for upon the violation of the greatest of the Laws of God than upon the least contradiction to their idolized Interest The one is the constant subject of their Studies and Sermons whereas the other is seldom minded The third Character of our Faith is that it is rational and suitable to our Souls God having fitted it and framed them so harmoniously that they are congenial one to another It is true the Mysteries about God and Christ are exalted above the reach of our faculties but even reason it self teacheth that it must be so since if there be a God be must be infinite and incomprehensible and therefore it is not to be wondered if the Scriptures offer some Mysteries to us about God and Christ which choak and stifle the impressions we are apt to take of things But in these it is visible that the Object is so disproportioned to our faculties that it is impossible we can reach or comprehend it but as for the other parts of Religion they are all so distinctly plain that the reasonableness as well as the authority of them serve to commend them to us but how void are they of this who have made one of the chief Articles of their Faith and the greatest matter of their Worship that which is not only beyond but contrary to the most common impressions of Nature which teacheth us to believe our Senses when under no lesion and duly applied to a proper object For indeed in that case we cannot really doubt but things are as they appear to us for we cannot believe it mid-night when we clearly see the Sun in the Meridian nay and our Faith rests on the evidences our Senses give since we believe because Miracles were clearly seen by these who first received the Faith And Christ said believe me for the very works sake John 14.11 And so their sight of these Works was a certain ground for their belief therefore the Senses unvitiated fixing on a proper object through a due mean are infallible therefore what our sight our taste and our touch
the Books of the Old Testament have the Doctrine of Vertue Purity Humility and Meekness laid open very fully but without derogating from these it must be acknowledged that as the Doctrine of Christianity teacheth all these Precepts with clearer Rules and fuller Directions so they were in it recommended by the example of its Author backed with the strongest Motives and enforced with the greatest Arguments In these are the Lessons of Purity Chastity Ingenuity Humility Meekness Patience and Generosity so clearly laid down and so fully evinced that no Man who is so much a Man as to love these things whereby his Mind may be improved to all that is truely great and noble but must be enamoured of the Christian Religion as soon as he is taught it The fourth Design of Religion is to unite Mankind in the closest Bonds of Peace Friendship and Charity which it doth not only by the Rules prescribed for the tempering our Passions forgiving of Injuries and loving our Enemies and by the Doctrin of Obedience to those in Authority over us but likewise by associating us into one Body called the Church wherein we are to worship God jointly and to be coupled in one by the use of the Sacraments which are the Ligaments of the Body Having thus viewed the great designs of the Christian Religion in the several Branches and Parts thereof I shall add to this the main distinguishing Characters of our Religion which are also four The first its its verity that it is not founded on the tattles of Persons concerned nor on the reveries of Dotards nor received with a blind credulity being founded on the Authority of the great God which appeared visibly in those that published it chiefly in the Person of Jesus Christ who by his Miracles that were wrought in the sight of all the People even his Enemies looking on and not being able to deny them but chiefly by his Resurrection from the Dead was declared to be the Son of God which was seen and known by many who followed not cunningly devised Fables but were the Eye-witnesses of his Majesty who went in his Name and published it to the World confirming it by Miracles and mighty Wonders attesting it notwithstanding of all the Persecutions they met with most of them confirming it with their Blood And this Doctrine was received and believed by the better part of Mankind though it being contrary to all the Interests of the flesh whose mortification it teacheth its reception cannot be imputed to credulity or interest The second Character of our Religion is its genuine simplicity and perspicuity that all its Doctrines and Rules are clearly and distinctly held out to us not like the Heathen Divinity much whereof lay in dark Oracles in the Books of the Sybils and in other pretended Mysteries which none but the Priests might handle and expound The Jewish Religion was also vailed with Types and Figures so that it was not easie to see the Substance and Truth through all these foldings and shadows But the Glory of the Christian Religion as to this particular is nobly laid out by St. Paul in these words 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face as in a glass beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. The third Character is the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion it containing none of these absurd incredible things which abounded among the Heathens nor of these Rites of Judaism the Reasons whereof besides the Will of God in enjoyning them could not be assigned but both the Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion are fitted for Mankind and so congenial to his Nature that they well deserve the designation of reasonable Service or rational Worship God having made our Souls and them of a piece And the fourth Character of our Religion is its easiness Christ's Yoke is easy and his Burden light Mat. 11.30 Wherein we are freed from all the barbarous and cruel Rites of Gentilism and from the oppressive Bondage of Judaism which was a Law of Ordinances and a Yoke that our Fathers were not able to bear but that we are called to by Christ is so simple so easy and so plain that well may we say his Commandments are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 Having given this hint of the Design and Characters of the Christian Religion I hold it not necessary to dwell on a further deduction of those Generals into more particular Branches nor to make this Scheme of Religion good by any longer Proof the Position I have laid down being so obvious to the Reason of every considering Person wherefore I go on to examine if there be any such System of Doctrins or Opinions among Pretenders to Christianity which tends to the overthrowing and enervating of this whole Design and whose Characters are directly opposite to these I have mentioned and the less avowed and the more disguised that Society be as it is more likely to prevail since Error and Vice are not so formidable in their own colours as when vailed with the pretences of Truth and Vertue so it will better agree with that great Character the Prophecies give of this defection that it was a Mystery and had Mystery on its Fore-head Rev. 17.15 And here remains the sad part of my Discourse for what lover of Mankind can with pleasure either satisfy his own Reason or convince the Judgment of others in a Matter the issue whereof is to prove so great a part of the Christian Societies to be Antichristian and adulterate and certainly if my love to Truth and the honour of my Redeemer and his Gospel and by consequence a zeal for Souls did not engage me to this Search I could easily quit the Task and chuse more easy and pleasant Subjects for the exercise of my Thoughts but the Wisdom of God having declared it a part of Wisdom to observe the Characters of the Antichristian Beast I therefore though not without pain engage in the survey of it And first in the entry it will be a bad Omen of no good to be expected from any Society that shall study to keep her Members in Ignorance and to bar them the study of the Holy Scriptures which being the Revelation of the whole Counsel of God and written by plain and simple Men and at first directed to the use of the rude illiterate Vulgar for teaching them the Mysteries of Godliness and the Path of Life it is a shrewd indication that if any studied to hide this Light under a Candlestick and to keep it in an unknown Tongue or forbid the Body of Christians the use of it though its native tendency be to enlighten the Understanding and to enflame the Will it being given out by God for that end that those must be conscious to themselves of great deformity to that Rule and apprehend that if it were more known their Doctrin would be less believed especially since the hardest
character to judge if our zeal for God and his truth be Divine and Evangelical if it make us pour out Rivers of tears for those that have gone out of the way rather than streams of fire against them That Zeal which raiseth melting sorrow tender compassion and servent prayers for those we see erring is Christ-like and worthy of that meek and charitable spirit which the Gospel so much recommends Whereas that which boils out in rage and foam against such as err and designs their ruin and mischief and studies how to persecute rather than convert them and kindles in men a bitter aversion to their persons together with rude harshness in their behaviour to them is all Antichristian and carnal My design therefore in this discourse is to provoke pity rather than wrath and tears more than flames towards those deceived multitudes that we may pray for them rather than rail at them But my chief aim is to persuade all who love their souls to consider the danger of continuing in the Communion of a Church that hath not only fallen from her first love and purity but hath in so many great and essential points corrupted our most holy Faith and adulterated the pure sincerity of our worship I shall not here search into the depths of the Mercies of God how far they may reach any of that Communion nor examine how far they hold the Foundation Christ notwithstanding of all the base superstructures they have reared upon it nor shall I consider how far invincible ignorance may excuse the guilt of an Error nor how applicable this may be to them nor shall I discuss how far the private differing from these Errors may in many things secure some of the individuals of that Communion from the general guilt that lies over them upon all these particulars many things may be said and none alive is more willing to stretch his Invention for finding out grounds to fix his Charity on than my self But all I can devise falls short of a full and satisfying excuse for those who being educated in the knowledge of the truth and sincerity of the Gospel do fall away into the Errors and Superstitions of that Church nor can I imagine what their temptations should be to it except one of two The first is that they desire a sensible Religion and therefore loath the simplicity and spirituality of the Gospel and love to have some glorious objects in Worship to strike on and affect their senses But however this may make impressions on the grosser Rabble yet certainly any that considers that the perfection of man lies in his Reason and not in his outward senses and that the exaltation of Reason is Religion he must confess that the less it dwell in the senses and the more inward it become on the reason it is the more suitable both to the Nature of God of Religion and of the rational Faculties But the other consideration that may draw many to that Religion is yet worse which is because in it a great allowance is given to all manner of sin by the treacherous conduct of some Confessors who persuade men of Heaven on terms very easie and pleasing to Flesh and Blood. And hence it is that we see very few who have expressed any affection to a devout life abandoning us to go over to the Roman Communion most of those who do so except it be one of a thousand being as void of vertue as ignorant of the nature of true Religion that we may say Joh. 2.19 They went cut from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they had not gone out from us These being the only visible tentations to entice any from our Communion to theirs it is hard to preserve any great degrees of Charity for them For a third tentation being that only which can work on a devout mind takes with so few among us that I need scarce name it which is the solitary and retired houses among them for leading a devout and strict life and the excellent Books of Devotion have been published by many of that Communion This I know wrought mightily on one and made him many times wish that he could with a good Conscience throw himself into one of these Religious Houses but the consideration of these great Corruptions lay so in his way that without the doing the greatest force on his Conscience imaginable and thereby securing damnation to himself by complying with things he judged so damnable he durst not do it Yet for his further satisfaction he went among them to see if their Worship appeared more amiable in practise than it did in Writings but I have heard him often declare that though his mind was as free of prepossessions as perhaps ever man's was yet all he conceived of them even from the Writings of their Adversaries was nothing compared to the impressions which the sight of their Worship left upon him it appearing so Histrionical in all its circumstances and so idolatrous in its substance especially as he saw the vulgar practise it And for their Religious Houses he was among a great many of all Orders but was far from meeting with that spirit of devotion he had hoped to find among them for the always magnified their Order and the little external Austerities and Devotions of it but for genuine humility a delight in God and Christ abstraction from the World for all their frocks and retirements sincere heavenly-mindedness and fervent Charity to the Brethren he regrated he had met with little of it among them And that he found the several Orders full of emulation and envy at other Orders and of hears among themselves which made him see that he who meant to lead a devout life must chuse another Sanctuary than any of these he saw in that Communion I deny not that it is the greatest defect of the Reformation that there are not in it such encouragements to a devout life though the intanglements of Vows to things without our power is a manifest invasion of the Christian liberty and to languish out ones life in a tract of lazy Devotion without studying to serve God in our Generation seems contrary to the intendment of Religion a great many of its Precepts being about those Duties we owe our Neighbours Yet for all this it is not to be denied to be a great defect that we want recluse Houses for a stricter training up of those who design to lead a spiritual life and to serve in the Gospel that their minds being rightly formed before their first setting out they may be well qualified and furnished for their work Such Houses might also be retreating places for old Persons after they had served their Generation and were no more able to undergo toil and fatigue they might be also Sanctuaries for devout Persons in times of their greater afflictions or devotions But for all this want it fixeth no imputation on our Church her Doctrine or worship that
other Traffiquers and the driving from us those who do so disturb us All the authority we give the Church is Paternal and not Tyrannical our Church-men we hold to be the Pastors but not the Lords of the Flock who are obliged to feed them sincerely both by their Doctrine Labours and whole Conversation but we pretend to no blind obedience due to their directions and count them noble Christians who search and try all they say by that Test of the Scriptures We send the People to confess their sins to God from whom only we teach them to expect their pardon and pretend to no other keys but Ministerial ones over publick and known Scandals In our Worship as all do understand it so every one may joyn in it And in the number use and simplicity of our Sacraments we have religiously adhered to the Rules of the Gospel we holding them to be solemn federal Rites of our Stipulation with God in which if we do worthily partake of them we are assured of the Presence of the Divine Spirit and Grace for uniting our Souls more intirely to God and advancing us in all the ways of the Spirit of Life and if the Institution of them in the Gospel be compared with our Administration of them it will appear how close we have kept to our Rule And thus we see how exactly conform the Doctrine of our Church is to the whole Branches of the Christian Design upon which it is not to be doubted but the Characters of the Christian Religion will also fit ours We found our Faith only on the Scriptures and though we pay a great deal of venerable esteem to the Churches of God during their purity which continued above four Centuries and so be very willing to be determined in Rituals and Matters that are external and indifferent by their Opinions and Practices yet our Faith settles only on the Word of God and not on the Traditions of Men neither do we believe every Spirit that pretends to Rapts and Visions but try the Spirits whether they be of God or not and though an Angel should preach to us another Gospel we would ho d him accursed The Miracles we trust to as the Proofs of the Truth of that Revelation which we believe are only those contained in the Scriptures and though we believe there was a wonder working power continued for some time in the Church yet we make a great difference betwixt what we historically credit and what we religiously believe neither will we for supporting our Interest or Authority have recourse to that base trade of forging lying Wonders but we rest satisfied with the Miracles Christ and his Apostles wrought for the proof of the Religion we own since what we believe is no other than what they taught and therefore we leave the trade of forging new Miracles to them who have forged a new Religion And for the plain genuines of the Gospel we have not departed a step from it since we call upon our People by all the motives we can devise and with all the earnestness we are Masters of to receive full and clear Instruction in all the Matters of our Religion which we distinctly lay open to them And nothing of Interest or Design can be charged on us who pretend to nothing but to be the Stewards of the Mysteries of God nor have we offered to sophisticate the simplicity of our Worship by any additions to it for the determining about some particular forms is no addition to Worship but only the following forth of these Precepts of doing all things to edification peace and order But an addition to Worship is when any new piece of Divine Service is invented with a pretence of our being more acceptable to God thereby or of our receiving Grace by that conveyance and therefore any Rites we have as they are not without some hints from Scripture so we pretend not to become any way acceptable to God by them Further We teach no irrational nor unconceivable Doctrine It is true there are Mysteries in our Faith and even reason it self teacheth that these must be unconceivable but for all our other persuasions they are such as may be well made out to the rational faculties of Man therefore we do not betake our selves to that Sanctuary that we must be believed assert what we please but we assert nothing but what we offer to evince by the clearest proofs And in fine we add nothing to the burdensomness of the Laws of Christ but teach and propose them as we have them from his Gospel without adding changing or altering a tittle from the first Institution And so far have I considered the Doctrine and Worship of our Church wherein if I could justify all our Practices as well as I can do our Principles there were no grounds to fear hurt from all the Cavils of Mortals But for bad practices whatsoever matter of regrate they may furnish us with they afford none for separation Therefore there is no ground that can justify a separation from our Church much less warrant the turning over from us to the Communion of Rome And thus far have I pursued my designed Enquiry which was if with a safe Conscience any might adjoin themselves to the Popish Religion or if Communion with our Church was to be kept and continued in and have found great grounds to assert the evident hazards of the former so that no man to whom his salvation and welfare is dear can or ought to joyn himself to that Church on the other hand without renting the Body of Christ none can or ought to depart from our Churches But I leave the perusal and considering of these things to the serious Reader to whom I hope they may give some satisfaction if he bring with him to the Enquiry an attentive serious and unbyassed mind And I leave the success of this and every other attempt of this nature for the clearing of Divine truth with him who is the only Fountain of Blessings who is over all God blessed for evermore Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Joseph Watts SUre and Honest Means for the Conversion of all Hereticks and Wholesome Advice and Expedients for the Reformation of the Church Writ by one of the Communion of the Church of Rome with a Preface by a Divine of the Church of England 4 to Dialogues between Philerene and Philalethe concerning the Popes Supremacy The first Part. 4 to A Treatise of the Corruption of Scripture Councils and Fathers by the Prelates Pastors and Pillars of the Church of Rome for maintenance of Popery by Thomas James Library-keeper of Oxford In five Parts 8 vo The True Nature of the Divine-Law and of Disobedience thereunto in Nine Discourses tending to shew in the one a Loveliness in the other a Deformity By Samuel Dugard sometime fellow of Trinity College in Oxon now Rector of Horton in Staffordshire 8 vo Reform'd Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year in two parts Second Edition 12 s. An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with Devotions c. By Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Late Majesty The Seventh Edition with Additions A Compleat Discourse of the Nature Use and Right-managing of that Wonderful Instrument the Baroscope or Quicksilver Weather-glass in Four parts by John Smyth C. M. To which is added the true Equation of Natural Days drawn up for the use of the Gentry in order to their more true adjusting and right managing of Pendulum Clocks and Watches