of an Apostle which he had renounced by his Apostacy from Christ He had denied his Master thrice therefore the Son of God proposes this question Lovest thou me three times All this is noted in the Roman Rubrick Thrice saith St. Cyril lib. 12. chap. 64. He commands him to feed His sheep to renew unto him the dignity and confirm him in the office of an Apostle for fear that the denial of his Lord which he had been guilty of through the weakness of the flesh should seem to have cashier'd him For it is to contradict what Jesus Christ said to all His Apostles when He appointed them to preach the Gospel to Mankind to teach and baptize c. to say that none but St. Peter had this power granted to him But a great many passages of Holy Scripture do expresly contradict this Doctrine You have but one Master but one Father which is in heaven saith Jesus Christ Matth. 23. vers 8. I am the good Shepherd I know my Sheep and lay down my life for them He saith not I am an hired Shepherd but the true Shepherd John 11. As there is but one Flock there can be but one Shepherd now who is this Shepherd Christ or the Pope My Father hath given me all power in heaven and in earth Matth. 28. I have power to pardon sins on earth Mark 2.10 God hath committed all judgment unto me and power to execute judgment John 5. How can these passages agree with the Popes Sovereign Authority Is it not a grievous affront offered to Jesus Christ to set this Divine Saviour aside as Bellarmin doth secluso Christo to help up the Pope to his Throne and invest him into his usurped Sovereignty If we are to acknowledge but one Shepherd but one Master but one Lord but one only Heir of the Fathers Power and Authority shall we not rob Christ of these His Divine Prerogatives if we should offer to bestow them upon the Pope I am not ignorant of all the distinctions made use of in this occasion to justifie the Pope from this Usurpation but they are but philosophical and aiery distinctions of the same nature as are commonly invented by the wit of man to justifie Aristotle from his Belief and Doctrine of the Worlds Eternity Thomas Aquinas and others from their saying that the Virgin Mary was conceived in sin Tertullian Origen St. Bernard and others from teaching that the Souls of Saints are not admitted to the Vision of God before the day of Judgment They are such like distinctions as the Pirrhenians invented to prove that white was black that a hat was the same as a slipper and an Ape like a Lion c. All these arguments and distinctions might be well resented from the mouth of Aristotle of Plato Pythagoras or from a Cartesian Philosopher but not from a Catholick Christian who ought not to mind what he might say but what he should believe in conscience not what he can maintain but what he is bound to embrace When an Article of our Faith is concerned such a one must set aside his disputing humour and the quirks and tricks of Logick taught him in the Schools to make a plain and sincere profession of the Truth For my part I think it is the best to declare ingenuously that there can be no solid reason found out to authorize our ascribing to a man that which belongs to Jesus Christ alone by his own words No man can justly condemn me for having denied to the Pope that which I read in the Gospel to be Christs Prerogative only It is not possible faith an ancient Father to give too much to God especially when man enters into competition with Him But listen I pray to what the Apostles and primitive Fathers say upon this Article There is one sovereign or great Shepherd of our Souls saith St. Peter Ep. 1. chap. 5. with whom when He shall appear we shall appear also with Him in glory such as feed the flock of Christ committed to their charge taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being lords over Gods heritage but c. Doth St. Peter establish here the Popes Monarchy doth not he rather undermine the foundation of it No man saith St. Paul can lay another foundation but that which is already laid Jesus Christ There is one Lawgiver Who art thou saith St. James that judgest another He hath the Keys of David that opens and none can shut that shuts and no man can open Revel 3. How doth this agree with that which the Papists would perswade us of St. Peter and of the Pope Ought we not to gather from these passages Doctrines contrary to their belief No man can lay another foundation c. They are therefore much deceived that affirm that St. Peter is the foundation of the Christian Church and that the Pope is the head There is but one Lawgiver the Pope therefore hath no authority to command and appoint Laws He is to be looked upon as a Deceiver when he would perswade us that they are all out of the Church that will not acknowledge his power Jesus Christ hath the Key of Heaven He opens and no man can shut c. I must therefore seek an entrance from Him if He opens me the door I shall be admitted maugre the Pope his Priests and Excommunications if He shuts it to me the Pope hath no Absolution nor Indulgence of a sufficient efficacy and power to open it All the primitive Doctors confirm this Doctrine they ascribe to Jesus Christ only that which the Papists ascribe to St. Peter and to the Pope whom they have made his Successor When Jesus Christ saith St. Chrysostome Tom. 3. Ser. de pent hath said upon this Rock I will build my Church He did not say upon Peter for He hath not built His Church upon a man but upon this Faith What means saith St. Austin Tract 10. in Epist Joan. what means He by these words upon this Rock I will build my Church He means upon this Faith because he had said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God St. Ambrose St. Hilary Theophylact and many others affirm the same thing Optat. Millevitanus speaking of Pope Siricius he doth not call him Master or Holy Father c. but Noster Socius our Companion Contra Parmen lib. 2. Art thou bordering upon Achaia saith Tertullian de Praet cap. 36. thou art near to Corinth if thou art joyning to Macedonia thou hast Philippi Thessalonica if thou canst go over into Asia thou shalt find Ephesus and if thou neighbourest upon Italy thou art not far from Rome where we have authority Thus the Primitive Fathers discourse unto us of the Church of Rome They never ascribed unto her any more power or priviledge than to all the other Churches Let any man therefore judge what impudency and presumption the Popes are guilty of in that they claim a
Christ That all these Vices by which St. Peter's Chair hath been dishonoured are proofs of its Holiness Excellency and Infallibility because saith he God hath permitted all these debaucheries and wickednesses in such as were the Governours of His Church without punishing them this discovers that this Estate is more sacred more holy and more regarded of God than that of Kings whom God commonly chastiseth as soon as they are unfaithful and abuse their Authority I must needs confess that I was never more astonished than when I found this Argument made use of by this Learned Man and heard it approved of in the Popish Schools Me thinks I could as easily prove the union of Contraries to be found in the same Subject as to shew the union and correspondency of this Conclusion with the Principles from whence it is drawn In this Church most abominable Popes have been seen Alvar Pelag. a Portugues Bishop tells us lib. 2. art 15. of many Popes who have crept into that See by their factions agreements covenants and large promises and when they have got in all their endeavour was to enrich and raise their Relations to promote their friends to the chief Offices to live themselves in pleasure and to dignifie their Kindred building Towers and Palaces in Babylon I mean Rome so called by St. Jerome These Popes have fomented the Wars and Factions in Italy instead of maintaining the unity of the Church They have wasted the sacred Revenues advanced most unworthy persons and gloried in their chariots elephants horses rich garments numerous train guards and noble attendants They have by the power of the sword often endeavoured to enlarge their own Borders and seize upon the Territories of their neighbouring Princes never minding the salvation of souls but have been addicted to the pleasures of the flesh c. These Men for money have sold as Judas did Christ's Body consecrated the Sacraments and celebrated Orders for silver c. We have seen saith the same Author lib. 2. art 2. fol. 104. men that have made this City like Sodom and Nineveh by letting in and countenancing all manner of vices publick and private as covetousness ambition symony usurpations uncleanness vain glory envy tyranny and other crimes which cannot nor ought not to be named We have seen in God's sanctuary saith the Bishop of Bitonte in the beginning of the Council of Trent orat hab in concil Trid. sess 1. shameless monsters rotten vessels full of infection publick plagues c. so that there remains no appearance nor hopes of good life but an immoderate and extraordinary debauchery a not able impudency more crimes than can be well credited We have seen according to the testimony of some Cardinals chosen by Pope Paul III. for the Reformation of the Church Concil delect Cardin. tom 3. pag. 823. Whores walking about the streets of Rome as honourable Dames carried upon Mules attended and waited upon by Noblemen and Cardinals Chaplains such like scandals have never been seen elsewhere but in this City We have seen saith Guischardin Hist of Italy lib. 1. sect 2. Rodericus Borgia who was afterwards Pope Alexander VI. buy the priviledge of disposing of the Holy Treasury And Platina and Baronius relate that there have been some Popes introduc'd by violence who have clapp'd in prison such as were before in possession of the See of Rome as Christopher did Leo VIII Some have been so base and furious that they have taken up the Bodies of their Predecessors whose Fingers wherewith they had given their blessing to the people they have cut off and cast into the Tybur as Stephen VI. treated Formosus In short we have seen men more covetous ambitious impious lecherous cruel and wicked than in the most licentious Courts than amongst the most barbarous Nations And Genebrard Chron. lib. 4. saith that these disorders have lasted sometimes 150 years together During this time saith Baronius ann 912. sect 8. Jesus Christ slept very soundly in the bottom of the ship and wink'd at all these mischiefs Therefore from hence he gathers this conclusion for this cause the Church of Rome must needs be the truest the holiest and best beloved of God infallible and the only Church that may be named Catholick c. Let any man judge if this be not the most impudent and unjust reasoning in the world The Heathenish Philosophers have taught these Popish Doctors to argue in this manner for their Religion from this ancient Maxim of theirs Ex quolibet fit quodlibet That from any Principle we may draw any Conclusion either good or evil They care not so they can but maintain their Thesis and Opinion but these kind of Reasons discover their weakness For any Understanding may perceive from thence the feebleness of their Doctrine the falshood of their Religion seeing that they are driven to draw such Conclusions as are quite contrary to the nature and truth of the things themselves If any man say that this Reason is not in Baronius word for word as I have expressed it the premises are there and the Conclusion not in two or three words and in such a plain and succinct manner as I have here related it but it is laid down in a more ample and more florid Discourse which tends to no other end but to prove the Truth Holiness and Excellency of of the Popish Religion from the Vices and Debaucheries of its Priests and Popes This cannot but be look'd upon as very ridiculous by any man of Judgement For if their Reasons were good I might as well say that Pharaoh's Kingdom was holy because God suffered it to continue so long without punishing him and did many Miracles for his sake and that the Turkish Religion must needs be the holiest and the best at present because God hath suffered it to abide so many years and increase every day although its Chieftains lead most filthy lives These and such like Considerations which I have had by reading the Books of the Popish Doctors and Historians have lessened that vast esteem that I had formerly for that Church and made me to understand that all its excellent Priviledges which it claims and which they assign to her are but whimseys and Chimaera's begot in their fancy by their fondness for their Religion the Popes ambition and the credulity of silly minds who are ready to believe any thing the greatest absurdity if boldly asserted Let us proceed next to our other Considerations THE SECOND PART THE Second Reason that hath so long time kept my Mind in a ballance was grounded upon the Faith and Articles of that Church I did seriously examine all those things which she engageth us to believe as infallible Truths the Pope's Infallibility the real and corporal presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar the Sacrifice of the Mass Purgatory the Invocation of Saints and the certain damnation of all those who acknowledge not the Pope for their Superiour c. I thought all this
their Lives for Christ's Cause where so many Saints have observed the Rules of the Gospel and made such a glorious profession of all Christian Virtues a Religion where so many pious Souls do yet live a very exemplary and a holy life having forsaken the World to confine themselves to a Convent Who dares deny such a Religion to be the best the securest and the holiest of all In this manner I did argue and many judicious Persons suffer themselves to be thus deceived with a false appearance But such as will as I have done look more narrowly to this particular and weigh every thing in the Scales of the Sanctuary shall find by experience that the Church of Rome hath no cause to glory so much in them There are many Martyrs reckoned in the Church of Rome I confess but this is no infallible proof of its excellency There have been many also in the Churches of Jerusalem of Antioch of the Georgians Muscovites Greeks c. yet the Papists esteem them not the more But they say that many Saints in this Profession have and do yet perform notable Miracles I have cause to question the truth of this Assertion for many false ones are published but when they should be real they are no infallible signs of the Truth of their Faith for the Magicians of Egypt by Gods permission did also work Miracles Exod. chap. 7. God whose Secrets and Judgments are not to be searched out may suffer the Devil to keep men in ignorance by this means But the Papists say that amongst them many Religious Persons are to be seen that lead a most holy life I answer that they are for the most part but whited Sepulchres and that this is the Devils cunning to deceive Souls I shall say something more in this Chapter But what advantage do they expect from this Argument There are men of honesty every where amongst the Heathens and Hereticks as well as amongst the Christians and Catholicks there are persons of good behaviour or at least appear so to the world This is therefore no infallible sign of a true Religion but suppose it were so that the holiness and integrity of life were an infallible sign of the Truth the Papists will never be able to better their Cause by this reason unless their Chief and Governours who are to be look'd upon as the Paterns of the rest change their manner of living The Church of Rome is not so holy as it is said to be to the simple people ignorant of the Affairs of that City Examin the Transactions there now and within this eight or nine hundred years If we did but see the disorders of this Church plainly presented unto us we should have cause to wonder at the things related by the Papists themselves of their Popes I shall here mention some of them and that I may not be traduced as a Lyar I shall bring two or three of their own famous Writers speaking of the Court of Rome such I mean who endeavour to cover its imperfections and have never made use of their Pens but in its defence The first is devout St. Bernard Ser. 1. de Convers Pauli This man's integrity can never be suspected In this manner he speaks of the Court of Rome Iniquity proceeds from the grave Judges who are named Christ's Vicegerents and who seem to govern His people Of them we cannot say As is the People so is the Priest for the people were not like or so bad as the Priest And elsewhere de Consid ad Eugen. lib. 1. cap. 4. From all parts of the world the ambitious the covetous and persons guilty of symony sacriledge debauchery and incest and such like Monsters did flock to Rome to get the Ecclesiastical Honours or to keep them by the Pope 's Authority About the year 897 Cardinal Baronius affirms That there were the most wicked Varlets brought in to sit in St. Peter 's Chair men of most infamous lives most fearfully debauch'd of a corrupt and filthy behaviour every where and in every respect And when he speaks of the year 900 he intreats the weaker sort of Christians not to be offended from thenceforth if they see sometimes the abomination of desolation in the Temple of God Afterwards he cryes out What horrible Monsters were introduced into this See which the Angels respect O disgrace O grief how many evils have proceeded from them how many grievous tragedies have been acted by them what villanies have been here committed in this glorious See what filthy and base actions have appeared here c. In the year 912 he saith sect 8. this Church was so debauch'd and swimming in vice That the filthiest and the noted whores did govern all at Rome At their pleasure the See was disposed of the Bishops were created and their Favourites and Gallants were chosen in St. Peter 's Chair to be Popes This is what Baronius hath been forced to acknowledge after many other Historians who have recorded the disorders of the Roman Church Let any man read Genebrard Chron. l. 4. ad ann 902. Isidor Peleus l. 3. epist 323. Baptist Mantuan de calam suorum temp l. 3. Alvar. Pelag. de planctu Ecclesiae Or let any man go to Rome to see how such behave themselves who pretend to be established of God to govern His Church on earth and they shall find there more wickedness than ever was in Sodom or in Nineveh Let Rome be therefore ashamed saith a Learned Man who beheld these abominations Claud. Espens in Epist ad Tit. c. 1. Let her never offer to shew a Catalogue of her shameful Crimes I would advise her to not mention nor produce this Calendar of so many Saints whom she hath canonised and in whom she glories so much for all those former Saints discover her shame seeing that the Lives of the present Popes and Governours are quite contrary to theirs therefore she hath no cause to challenge them as her own Those former Worthies are her reproach and condemnation because she doth not imitate their Example Nevertheless the Popish Doctors are so impertinent to boast of these disorders vices and abominations and to gather from thence reasons to prove the truth and holiness of their Religion Who would believe that Baronius after that he had filled his Annals with the filthy debaucheries of many Popes should gather from thence a conclusion to the advantage of his Church Yet this he doth very boldly for when he hath taken notice of the debauch'd and abominable Lives of some Popes declared their vices in a most horrible manner and acknowledged all that hath been written of them by his predecessors to be very true that there have been Popes very ambitious covetous symoniacal impious Murderers lecherous incestuous Atheists and Sodomites which things the Papists cannot deny because their own Historians declare them Nevertheless when Baronius hath said all this of the Popes he concludes as boldly as if he had to prove the Divinity of Jesus
their own Kitchin If I might argue in the same manner I might say with more reason that Judas Macchabaeus never thought to speak of Purgatory in the foregoing passage but of the Resurrection of the dead I am perswaded that from St. Paul's words Heb. 1.3 He hath by himself purged our Sins we may conclude a Doctrine contrary to this of the Papists For seeing Christ hath purged our Sins what need of any other Purgatory seeing that he hath done this by himself that is by his Blood as St. Paul saith Revelat. 1.6 there is no need of the Fire of Purgatory But pray tell me which of all the first Doctors of the Christian Church mentions Purgatory and how was that Festival established in the Church of Rome to pray to God for the deceased I have many times been ashamed when I have been questioned because I was forced to alledge a Dream as the cause and ground of one of the chief Articles of that Religion The Abbot of one of the Monasteries of St. Benedictus as the Roman Legend declares heard upon the top of a Mountain from whence certain flames did proceed not much unlike to those of Aetna and Vesuvius a confusion of voices occasioned by the strugling of the flames with the air round about as the Philosophers inform us as many times it happens when the Air is shut up in Rocks and concavities this brain-sick Abbot fancied that these voices came from the departed Souls burning in those flames to desire his Prayers Therefore he appointed in his Convent a Festival-day to pray to God for the deliverance of these poor Sufferers The next night it is said that he had a vision of these Souls which to his seeming were mounting apace towards Heaven at the same time that his Monks were praying in their Church for them Afterwards he published his Dream and Vision which was look'd upon as a Divine Revelation when the Pope came to understand it he soon established a Festival like that of the Abbot and Monks in their Convent to be observed all over Christianity The design succeeded very happily the silly women that believed that their husbands Souls were frying in Purgatory gave vast summs of Money and great Revenues that Prayers might be said for the happiness of the deceased About this time some Dreamers had Visions in their sleep the Priests asssured them that their departed Friends did require from them Prayers this Doctrine was proclaimed in the Pulpits and believed every whereas an undoubted Truth it pass'd for an Article of Faith for which the Priests were more willing to dye than for the Faith of one God or for the belief of the Incarnation of the Son of God This was the first beginning of that Festival and of that mode received for currant in the Church of Rome to pray to God for the deceased Souls From hence we may judg of the thing in it self and whether it is not to the abuse of mens credulity to deliver upon these grounds this as an Article of Faith But that we may refute the Papists Errours from their own confessions and belief If we may obtain a full Indulgence to be exempt from the flames of Purgatory if by wearing a little Scapulary a Medal of five Saints or by repeating three times in our sickness Jesu Maria before a Crucifix or by being of the Fraternities of the the little Habit of the Virgin or of the Rosary or of the Dying What reason have they to be so earnest with the Widows that Prayers may be said for their Husbands c. when they have seen them perform all these duties which they impose upon the negligent as weighty Cases of Conscience especially at the time of Confession what need of any Mass to be said for their deliverance from Purgatory They affirm at Rome that one Mass said before a priviledged Altar is able to bring up a Soul from the very bottom of Purgatory although it hath been condemned to remain there one hundred or a thousand years or till the day of Judgment Wherefore then do they oblige Children to buy daily Masses for many years in all the Churches of a City and give away their Revenues for ever for the repose and happiness of their Parents Souls If one Mass be sufficient what need is there of so many thousands wherefore do they condemn them as Atheists that will have but One because they trust upon the Priviledge of such Altars And if the Pope hath the power to let the Souls go out of Purgatory when he pleaseth as the Papists say why does he not free them Is it not for want of Charity to suffer them there in Torments to release but one when he may release a thousand or all Is it not pity to see needy wretches labour and sweat all the Week long poor Widows take the Bread out of their Childrens mouths before they come to be of age and give it to a fat Priest on the Sunday that he might say a Mass and deliver by that means from Purgatory the Soul of a Wife or of an Husband when the Pope may perform this with two words by granting an Indulgence From hence we may plainly discover that the chief design of this was to enrich the Clergy with the spoils of the Orphelin and of the poor Widows and with the Estate of the deceased § The Invocation of Saints is another sensless and groundless Doctrine for there is no Text of Holy Scripture that mentions any thing of it it is there neither commanded nor allowed of nay several passages prohibit this Idolatry There is one God saith St. Paul and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 there he confirms the Faith of one God and of one Mediator If any should offer to maintain to a Popish Doctor that there are many Gods he would exclaim in a rage upon him as upon a wicked Idolater Fair and soft Mr. Doctor you have little cause to suffer your wrath to kindle against a person as innocent as your self you are no less guilty in regard that you affirm that there be many Mediators although St. Paul protests that there is but one as there is but one God The King of Samaria was punished with death because he had sent to enquire of the god of Ekron as if there had been no God in Israel The Papists deserve as great a punishment because Christ hath been pleased to invite us unto himself and oblige us to seek to him alone Come unto me all ye that travel and are heavy laden and I will refresh you learn of me for I am meek and lowly Matth. 11.28 No replies a Papist I will not go to thee I will not address my self directly to thee for thou art a rigorous God thou wilt not suffer Sinners to be so bold to speak to thee only Saints are allowed to offer up unto thee their Prayers Doth not this language of a Papist contradict Christ's command
Priest in his Mass often perfuming the nose of the Image with Incense they shall see a Deacon appointed to read the Gospel reading that appointed for the Saint's day over the head of such diseased persons as they imagin that the Saint can cure they shall see many others as well Priests as other Clerks singing upon their knees the Litanies of that Saint before the dumb Image and such like abominations they shall see What think ye in conscience that these Primitive Doctors would say if they beheld all this foppery would they not cry out against that which God hath prohibited You are in the Errour would they say to the Papists for ye do what God hath forbidden in express words He forbids you to make Images and your Churches are full of them He forbids you to make any Likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above and nevertheless you make unto your selves the Likeness of those men whom you fancy to be in Heaven He forbids you to Bow down to them and yet you Kneel to them He forbids you to Serve them and behold all your Priests are employed in their Service and Worship one saith Mass another smoaks the Idol's nostrils with Perfumes another reads unto him his Gospel another is busie to light Wax-candles about him all the rest are singing his Praises What think ye Papists will not God that declares himself to be a jealous God be offended to see you pay unto such senfless Idols that Honour and Service which he hath expresly forbidden Will not he punish you according to his threatning to the third and fourth Generation There is no person of the least reason will have this thought for the thing of it self is very plain we need not much Logick to discover this Errour and to condemn it Therefore it is not without good cause that the Church of Rome forbids the reading of the Holy Scripture nourishes her people with a strong and indisputable respect for the Pope and his Oracles although he commands things contrary to God's Word they believe nevertheless that they are obliged to obey and credit whatsoever he saith as an Article of their Faith and to curse as Hereticks all such as follow not their example The Reasons that they pretend to justify their Superstitions are very frivolous and unlikely They commonly tell us That they worship not the Image nor the Saint that is thereby represented but God in that Saint shewed unto us by the Image This Reason is very impertinent seeing that God forbids not only the worshipping of Images in the same manner as we believe the Heathens did but he forbids us to make them to make any likeness to carry it abroad to serve and fall upon our knees before it which the Papists do daily Besides this Reason hath no likelihood for we see by our experience every day that the Saint or rather the Image of the Saint is worshipped and reverenced and not God in the Saint as the Papists would fain perswade us For if they worship only God in the Saint wherefore do they esteem more a graven Image than a painted one We can never see the people going out of their Parishes and Precincts to pay their homages to an Image painted in another place wherefore is this If they only seek in the Image the resemblance of the Saint to call to their minds his virtuous behaviour and actions wherefore do the Papists beyond the Seas trot a-foot an hundred leagues from their own homes to cringe and bow to a monstrous Image which in some places hath not the appearrance of a man who should be represented decently about six foot high for this Image is like a mishapen Dwarf ugly and ill-favoured having the Virgin Mary standing by him in the shape of a Onild about seven or eight years of age whereas these persons leave their own Parish-Churches next to their houses where the Image of the same Saint more decent more like to the Original and more beautiful stands without receiving the like respect Wherefore do we see in the Church of St. Anna of Auray in Britany fifty or sixty thousand Pilgrims in her Festival-day whereas it may be not ten shall be found in other Chappels dedicated to the same Saint at that time Wherefore is there such a vast number of silver and golden arms legs hearts heads and little children hanging there rather than in the other Churches consecrated to the same Saint where it may be we shall find no other Ornaments but those which have been dedicated to and left her by the devout Snails behind them I mean their silver-colour'd slime with which they beautifie her walls and paint the face of this worthy Saint it may be we shall find there nothing but a crazy Shrine broken in many places and one before the great Altar made up with the tayl of some old Gown and so tatter'd that many times it is no easie task to tell of what stuff and colour it was of c. Wherefore do the common people throng to this Church only their hands loaden with Crosses Beads Medals and other baubles to have them touch the Image of St. Ann which to my knowledge is but a block of decayed wood almost rotten and which was found in a puddle lying in the mud over head and ears if they believe not in this wood any divine virtue more than ordinary and more than in other Images of this Saint Wherefore have the Carmelits the Keepers of this Church been so careful to preserve so long every morsel and crum of this rotten wood which they have been forced to cut off to mend the Image and wherefore have they offered it about the Countrey in little bits to the Noble persons and Gentry that have desired it to sanctifie their Closets if they did not believe in this crazy wood some holy quality some wonderful virtue like to that which the Heathens affirmed to be in their Idols Let them not therefore tell us that they seek nothing else in the Image of a Saint but the representation and likeness to call their Virtues to remembrance For they take all men to be fools and Idiots whom they would perswade to admit of this excuse by doing what they do A Heathen might with as much reason tell us that he is a Christian that he believes and that he acknowledgeth and and worshippeth but one only God when I see him upon his knees before his Idols offering to them his perfumes To say the truth I think that there is but little difference between the ancient Heathens and the modern Papists if there be any it is only in their names for at present the Papists speak in the same Idolatrous language as the Heathens did for without exception nor reservation they say now in the Popish Dominions that the Images themselves may be worshipped I am certain that the Heathens never shewed more respect to their Gods than the Papists do at present to their Images This
thought came into my mind at every time that I did look over the Ecclesiastical Histories where they mention the Pagans Idolatries I was confirmed in it by what one of the most famous of the Popish Doctors tells us Thomas Aquinas named by them the Angelical Doctor maintains very solidly and rationally that a man or a child that hath attained to an age able to understand the natural truths and to make use of his reason if he can but discourse upon the things that he sees he must needs discover the necessity of a first Being of a primitive Principle the Origin of all other things of a first Truth the only source of the rest of a first Cause that gives motion and action to all secondary causes he must needs find the necessity of the Being of a Sovereign Moderator and Governour of the Universe who commands in chief over all things that are and shall be in the World It is not possible but that such an one must find out by the light of Nature that There is One God and that there can be buâ— one Only God When I had made this supposition and did nevertheless find that Aristotle Plato Pythagoras Dioclesian Trajan and other Emperors until the time of Constantin the Great had Canonized many men and reared up unto them publick Statues to receive the Worship of the People and Sacrifices and that a certain Valentin had caused no less than thirty to be made of a new fashion fifteen makes and fifteen females Is it possible said I to my self that men should be so stupid as not to understand that there can be but one only God one only true perfect and sovereign Divinity Had not they as well as we the light of Reason and Nature to know this Yes doubtless they Knew it and according to the judgment of Thomas Aquinas it was unpossible but that they must have this discovery they knew this God they did worship him they did rear unto him Altars as well as to the other Gods As may appear by that Altar at Athens consecrated to the Unknown God which was the occasion of St. Paul's Preaching unto them some of these primitive Heathens did place Jesus Christ in the number of their Gods How came they therefore to be guilty of Idolatry wherefore are they accused of this crime It was because they did worship men and other creatures with the true God They did fancy some divine qualities in certain creatures and therefore they reverenced them or rather they reverenced and adored God in them For we cannot conceive how those great Philosophers who are yet received amongst us as our Teachers could worship a Rat as a true God it is not credible that they were guilty of so great a mistake to take a Rat or an Onion for the great Creator of Heaven and Earth Neither did they imagin that their Caesars and their Hero's men whom they had seen entring into the world living and departing as other men were real Gods but they believed that they were the chief Friends and Favourites of the true God They had seen them perform notable and wonderful deeds whiles they were on earth which made them judge that God had yet a particular affection for them and that he had more regard of them than of other men therefore they thought themselves obliged in duty to pay unto them more respect to adore in them the divine qualities which God had given them and to pray unto them as to persons whom they imagined to have an influence upon God and to be well esteemed of him For this cause they built for them Temples reared up Altars erected their Images and put them in frequented places to be there adored of the people they appointed Festivals that they might be then worshipped in a particular manner in these solemn days the people did throng together to kneel before these dumb Statues to offer to them their Vows Prayers and Sacrifices all which are homages due to none but to God alone This was their fault this was their crime which causeth them to be condemned of Idolatry Don't we said I to my self don't we do the same as they did do not we render to our Saints and Images the same devotion as the Heathens did to their false Gods Let us judg by this comparison between them and us They made Images we do the like they set them in publick places we likewise they did fall down and kneel before them and burn incense unto them and do not we do the same they prayed unto them in their need to Mars in time of War to Neptune when they did set sayl to go to Sea c. Don't we Papists said I imitate them These and such like considerations did often trouble land disturb me against my will for I could not well suffer such reflexions that did lay open to me the nakedness and abominations of my Religion so much like to the Heathenish condemned by God himself For the Papists in time of War fly to the Saints that are the Protectors of their Kingdoms as if St. Denis St. Marcellus and the other Protectors of France were at their request 〈◊〉 â—â—gage in a quarrel for their sakes in the Court of Heaven against St. James St. Theresia and the other Protectors of Spain when those two Nations are at variance The Papists pray to St. Yues when they are at Law because he was a very good Lawyer as if such as were of an employment on Earth were to continue it in Heaven St. Joseph was a Carpenter St. Crispin a Shooemaker and so of the rest We call upon St. Roch in time of the Plague St. Eutropius for the Dropsie because the Legend informs us that these Saints have been sick of those Diseases as if the Saint that hath been troubled with an infirmity on Earth did enter into Paradise only to become there the Physician of it to get a Patent and pass the degree of Doctor They pray to the Virgin Mary at all times and seasons and give her many ridiculous names they pray to her for their Eye-sight stiling her Lady of the Light they worship her by the name of Our Lady of good News when they have any Ships sayling upon the Seas they call upon her in distress and affliction and stile her Our Lady of Gladness in a grievous Sickness they make their addresses to her and flatter her with this title Our Lady of Pity or Our Merciful Lady and in all other necessities they honour her with these glorious Names Our Helpful Lady Our Assisting Lady Our Lady adorned with all kind of Virtues Thus to this one Saint they ascribe many names titles and properties that they might make the silly people believe that she is in some respect not much unlike unto God whose attributes and perfections are infinit But that which I find to be very ridiculous amongst them is the manner of representing and worshipping Jesus Christ they have made him a monstrous Statue
Brethren but by the principles of conscience and the more rational motives to salvation On the other side those that are acquainted with the Reasons that retain the Romanists in the Religion which they profess will not wonder that there are so few of them made Proselytes They know well enough that the Nobility and the Commonalty the Learned and the Unlearned the Zealots and the Libertines have an hundred invisible chains by which they are held fast Never expect that a rich Abbot of 5000 Livres per ann should quit such a preferment to become a Minister or that a man in favour at Court should incur the displeasure of his Prince by renouncing the Pope Nor can you with any more reason hope for the conversion of the Learned for you must look upon them in their Schools as Disciples to no other but Aristotle for they learn to dispute before they are taught to believe and become Philosophers before they are Christians If at any time they read the Holy Scripture it is not with any intent to satisfie themselves which doctrine is most agreeable to that divine Rule but that they may find therein some Text or other to be wrested in favour of themselves and their perverse opinions I read the Scripture my self for a long time with this very design when I met with any thing in it different from my principles I thought my self obliged to encounter it and applied my self forth with to the finding of Arguments which might serve as an answer to it And this is that which renders the conversion of the Learned so difficult nor is that of the Ignorant any less for these are the people that will have no other Faith but that which they deposite with their Curate and yet so great an abhorrence for all such as follow not their superstitions that come not to Mass carry not their Rosaries about them make no use of the Office of the Virgin nor pray to other Saints that they are always ready to attempt their extirpation and believe that they should therein do God good service I have heretofore my self had such unchristian intentions and desires as these wherewith the Papists are imbued and amongst the rest those of the Order of the Jesuits I became once so tractable a Scholar by the charitable instructions of these Masters that I was one of the first that rais'd the Tumult at Rennes and set fire to a Protestant Church at such time as it was believed that they were immur'd within it and these reverend Fathers were so far from discountenancing the outrage that they declared their sorrow and regret that we had not at least burnt the Minister there alive Judge therefore if there be any hopes of their Conversion who from their Cradle have imbibed such sentiments as these But the Zealots are yet further removed from it being blinded and kept close to their Principles by erroneous Maxims and superstitious Principles in which they are made to believe the truth and purity of the Christian Religion to consist They perswade them that they must at a venture believe what the Church believes that is what their Director tells them that they ought not to raise the least dispute about what is preach'd to them out of the Scripture as being uncapable to comprehend those Mysteries that to doubt in the least of the truth of Miracles Traditions Indulgences the Power of the Pope and his Priests or to entertain the least thought of the possibility of being saved in any other Religion is a most enormous crime So that that very light which by the special favour of God is afforded them for their conversion is look'd upon by them as a machination of the Devil against which they are obliged to engage This renders it in a manner impossible that they should ever be reclaimed As for the Libertines they have no thoughts of the well fare of their future state and therefore all Religions are to them indifferent carrying always about them some pernicious principles wherewith they are provided to combat against whatsoever shall oppose their sensual inclinations and wherewith they extinguish the light of the Spirit which is afforded them for their relief Amongst these I may rank the giddy and inconstant that out of a principle of Libertinism abandon the Romish Religion and a while after upon the like motives return to their former estate a mercenary sort of people that are ready to enroll themselves in the service of any that will hire them at a dearer rate Such men as these having inconsiderately shut themselves up in a Cloister where they are obliged to lead a regular life grow quickly weary of their first design the Cowl is burdensom to them and the Religious Yoke becomes insupportable hereupon they fancy that if they sally out and go over to the Protestant Party they shall be received after the same manner that they are wont to entertain the revolting Ministers in France who are usually complemented like Princes With such imaginations as these and without any other motive or being able to render any solid reason of their actions one of them presents himself to a Consistory which they presume to be with a good intention and being unwilling to be so injurious as to send him back they receive him in hope that he is sincere in his profession and will prove a good man nor is the assistance of some charitable persons wanting But the man finding himself free from all subjection begins to give the reins to his inordinate appetite frequents Brothel-houses and gives himself over to a scandalous and sensual life hereupon they summon him to the Consistory that he may have the punishment inflicted on him which he deserves the charity lately extended to him is with-held and the Papists again by their sollicitations and promises of a Dispensation from Rome for the future and an Act of Oblivion for what is past they assure him of all possible incouragement and thereby prevail with him to return to his former state without any conviction wrought upon his conscience or any other true motives of his change than the inconstancy of his mind and his propensity to his lusts and pleasures We need not marvel then that such as these should forsake the communion of the true Church since we seem hereby the rather to be confirmed that that Church is the true Church from which they revolt according to their own argument which infers the holiness and good discipline of a Religious Order from the number of such as do renounce it They went out from us saith St. John Ep. 1. c. 2.19 but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have remained with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us By their works we may judge of the sincerity of their conscience and the truth of their faith as the goodness of the tree is judged by its fruit § There are several
other things which from my own experience I could speak to in laying open the Abuses of the Romish Church which I have not at present thought necessary to mention But I am perswaded that what I have said already may be sufficient to convince you that I have not without good reason forsaken the Papists that I might embrace the Religion of the Church of England I will conclude therefore with my request to you that you would reflect on what I have done and said I have not I hope in this act of mine discovered any thing of blind ignorance or any unruly passion which I trust I may say without vanity for by the grace of God I am free from it I know very well that I am rather exposed to the pity than to the envy of the world but this I have done that I might give glory to God and assert that which I am perswaded is the truth All that I have said concerning the Abuses of the Romish Church are things whereof I am very well assured and such as I have not without a great deal of study and industry discovered I have for six or seven years diligently search'd for Reasons whereby I might defend them sometimes applying my self to the Holy Scripture sometimes to the ancient Fathers and modern Authors I sometimes seriously proposed my Objections to a great number of most accomplish'd men with whom I had been long conversant and never could receive any satisfactory return Wherefore after all these Essays being perfectly convinced of the truth of your Religion I am constrain'd to renounce the Religion of my Ancestors and to take up a resolution to forsake it But how and at what time I must to the glory of God acknowledge it that it was at such a time as there was not the least probability that I should attempt it for certain reasons which some are not unacquainted with and which are not fit to be published It will be sufficient to declare in general that I have forsaken Popery in a time in which I had the strongest and natural engagements to keep me in my predecessors Religion and in my former Profession How so Because a change must needs cause me to run many hazards bring upon me the hatred of my Friends and the displeasure of my Kindred make me appear to them as a declared Rebel and an Apostate So that according to the Laws of the Land that I have forsaken I am to be punished in an exemplary manner for embracing the truth These and the following Considerations did long retard my design as that by this alteration I should purchase to my self nothing but misery and in the judgment of some the esteem of a vagabond or of a licentious person guilty of some offence or scandal and that I must never expect to be entertained and live in the world but as little better than a Beggar Notwithstanding all these obstacles and Panick fears my Christian Brethren you see that I have freely and confidently engaged my self in the profession of your Religion I forsake without regret or apprehensions that of my Forefathers to embrace the Protestant This act ought to be look'd upon as an encouragement of such as are doubting and wavering in their minds whether that which they profess is the best and the furest without doubt it is You may believe me upon my word which I have confirmed by my deeds for God be praised in this matter I am not ignorant I have been long enough deliberating and weighing the Reasons of both Parties of Protestants and Papists I know from whence I come what I forsake and what I embrace Besides you may well look upon and esteem me to be no mad man that runs wilfully into his own damnation There is none more careful in the Church of Rome than I am to avoid the causes of damnation If I did but doubt of my salvation in the Reformed Religion or if I could believe that it were possible for me to be saved in the Church of Rome I here swear and protest unto you before God that I would never do what you see I have done I would rather undergo the most bitter torments and whatever might happen to me I would never wrong my conscience This consideration therefore and my example should settle and confirm every one of you in the Protestant Religion should appease the troubles and doubtings of your mind fix your resolutions in the profession of the Truth And you my beloved Brethren that are sufficiently grounded in your Religion and whose lives are conformable my example should oblige you to rejoyce in that God is pleased to grant your private and publick requests and the prayers of your Congregation by sending to you from time to time Proselytes and bringing into your Flook the straying Sheep or rather the lost Sheep such whereof the salvation was so difficult that there was scarce any appearance or likelihood that it should be brought to pass St. Anstin was named the son of Monica 's tears because his religious Mother shed so many that at last she obtained her request and her Son's conversion from God's goodness I may this day stile my self in the same manner for I look upon my self as the return of your religious and charitable prayers and the Son of your sighs and tears I would therefore now express unto you my hearty thanks but you desire that I should render them only to God I have nothing else to request from you but the continuation of the same prayers for all those whom I yet leave behind me especially for such as I have confirmed in their errours and mistakes help and joyn with me in my duty in endeavouring their conversion But especially I must entreat your prayers to God that I may for the time to come lead a life answerable to that holy profession which I hâ—â—e this day made that I may not be unworthy of your Communion here and may attain with you hereafter to the fruition of that Crown of Glory which God hath promised to his faithful Servants To One God and Three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory and Praise now and for evermore Amen FINIS