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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66207	The false-prophets try'd by their fruits being a sermon preached at St. James's Westminister, November Vth 1699, in which it is shewn, that the principles, and practices, of the Church of Rome, with relation to those whom they call hereticks, are not only destructive of civil society, but are utterly irreconcileable with the gospel of Christ / by William Wake ...	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1700 (1700)	Wing W246; ESTC R39410	20,598	38

Accounted Christ's Catholick Church upon Earth The Truth is it is a Contradiction in terms for either of Us to Assume to our selves such a Character The Catholick Church is the Whole Church of which every Particular Church as the Church of England the Church of Rome c. are Parts And to say that any One of These Exclusive to All Others is the Catholick Church is to say that a Part is the Whole which I think is as plain a Contradiction as can well be affirmed by Any Nay but what if the Church of Rome be so far from being the Catholick or Vniversal Church that it is not so much as A Catholick that is any Sound or Orthodox Part of the Church of Christ Let me not be thought to speak any thing with a design to Raise in your Minds a wrong Notion against any But for the sake of Truth and out of the Concern which I have for your Immortal Souls I must freely declare that after the best Examination I have been able to make into her Principles and Constitution I do in my Conscience believe the Roman Church as it is at present Established in Matters of Faith Worship Morals and Government to be by far the most Corrupted of any Christian Church that I know of in the World and in which Salvation can the most hardly if at all be Obtain'd But 2dly Were the Church of Rome all that she pretends to be and Our Church all that ever it has been call'd by it Yet how comes this to Give them a Civil Authority over Us Christ meddled not with Mens Temporal Interests He taught no Doctrines of Cruelty and Uncharitableness He Founded no Dominion in Grace Nor ever Pretended to Depose Kings and Give away Kingdoms On the contrary We know How He would not so much as Arbitrate in a private Controversie Luke xii 14. But declared freely that His Kingdom was not of this World Jo. xviii 36. Nor were his Disciples to Expect any thing beyond Other Men except it were Troubles and Losses and Persecutions in it Mat. x. Luke ix 23. Jo. xv 20. xvi 2. c. Hence we read that when upon the account of his Adherence to the Temple of Jerusalem which was plainly a Religious Concern a Certain Village of the Samaritans deny'd Him the common Humanity of a Nights Lodging and some of his Disciples were so Hot upon it as to Desire Him to Revenge Himself by Fire from Heaven for the Affront All the Answer They got was this Reproof which One would have thought might alone have been sufficient to answer all these kind of Pretensions for ever That They knew not what manner of Spirit they were of Luke ix 55. For says He the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them But 3dly Our Saviour Christ has not only no where encouraged any Proceedings of this kind but Has every where delivered such Doctrines as are utterly Irreconcileable with Them That We must be Subject to Principalities and Powers and Obey Magistrates Tit. iii. 1. That we must do this not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Rom. xiii 5. That We must Love our Enemies Must Bless them that curse Vs Do Good to them that hate Vs and Pray for them that despightfully use Vs and Persecute Vs. Mat. v. 44. That We must not Avenge our selves but leave that to Him of whom it is written Vengeance is mine I will Repay saith the LORD Rom. xii 19. That we must not Root up the Tares before the Time but suffer them to Grow till the Harvest and that the Separation shall be made by God and not then by Vs. Mat. xiii 29 30. That we must bear with Those who are Weak in the Faith Must Instruct Them in Meekness and Endeavour to Convert Them from the Error of their Way that they may be Saved Rom. xv 1. Galat. vi 1. 1 Thess. v. 14. 2 Tim. ii 24 25 26. Jam. v. 19· These are the Doctrines of the Gospel And accordingly we know how our Religion Conquered the World not by Doing but by Suffering Not by disturbing Kingdoms and Overthrowing of Governments but by patiently Submitting to all the Evil that the Rage of Men or Malice of the Devil could bring upon the Professors of it And when this is so what can we conclude but that certainly either the Holy Scriptures have given Us a very wrong Account of the Doctrine of Christ and that neither the Apostles nor Those who were Instructed by them Understood their Own Rights and what Authority their Ecclesiastical Character Gave them over Princes and Countries at least in Order to Religion Or that if they did then these Men in Teaching and Acting as they do in these Matters must have utterly departed from the Truth of Christianity and have only the Name of Prophets the Cloathing of Sheep whilst in Reality they are Ravening Woolves Which being thus Resolved I do not see what other Conclusion we can draw from these Premises than that which our Saviour in the Text Recommends to Us which is To Beware of Them And indeed so we have all the Reason in the World to be whether We consider our Souls or Bodies The Interests of this present Life or the Hope of that which is to come For First As to the Concern of our Future State If it be possible for any Errors to destroy Salvation which are not Expresly Contrary to the Fundamentals of Christianity tho' in the Natural Consequence of them They do plainly Overthrow the Chiefest of them Then I am perswaded that the Errors of the Church of Rome will of all Others be found the most likely so to do And for the Other Thing mentioned our Present Interests How far they must be affected by the return of Popery again among Us Both the Encroachments it *⁎* For which see Sir Roger Twisden 's Hist. Vindicat of the Church of England c. which largely shews it chap. 1 2. formerly made upon our Civil Rights and Liberties and the Pretensions it * See Card. Bellarm. Apolog pro Resp ad Jacob. R●g c. 3. where He affirms the Pope to have a direct Dominion over the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Ita ut Rex tanquam secundarius Dominus Holds his Realms of him The same is affirmed by Card. Allen. in his Admonition to the Nobility That without the Pope's Confirmation No Man can lawfully take the Crown or be accounted King of England They Both took it from the Pop●'s Own Mouth who before His Colledge of Cardinals declared That the King of England was His Vassal nay in truth His Slave Mat. Paris ad Ann. 1253. still keeps on foot against Us more than against any Other Country or People besides not to say any thing of its common Principles of Tyranny and Slavery Ruinous to Societies as well as Dangerous to private Persons and Families may suffice to convince Us. Let Us then upon all these Accounts heartily Bless God who upon this same Day has twice Delivered Us out of its Hands And let Us earnestly Beseech him that He would still continue to defend Us from ever falling any more under the Power of it And tho' the Petition has too long been left out of our Liturgy yet let it never depart out of our Minds but be often the Subject of our Private Supplications to Almighty God both for our Religion and for our Country's sake See the First and Second Book of King Edw. VI. in the Litany From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and his detestable Enormities Good Lord deliver Us. FINIS Books printed for Richard Sare at Gray's Inn-Gate in Holborn THE Genuine Epistles of St. Barnabas St. Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp the Shepherd of Hermas c. with a large Preliminary Discourse 8 vo A Practical Discourse against Profane Swearing 8 vo The Authority of Christian Princes over Ecclesiastical Synods in Answer to a Letter to a Convocation-man 8 vo An Appeal to all the true Members of the Church of England on behalf of the King's Supremacy 8 vo A Sermon at the Dorsetshire Feast 1690. Before the Queen at Whitehall May 10. 1691. Before the Lord Mayor Nov. 26. 1691. At Grays Inn on the Death of the Queen At St. James's on the Day of Thanksgiving The Church of Rome no Guide in Matters of Faith In answer to a late Letter from a Nephew to his Uncle containing the Reasons why he became a Roman Catholick and why he now declines any farther Disputes or Contests about Matters of Religion 8 vo Pr. 6 d. The Principles of the Christian Religion Explain'd in a Brief Commentary on the Church Catechism 8 vo Pr. 2 s. These 11 by the Reverend Dr. Wake Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions Folio Fables and Stories Moralized being a 2d Part of the Fables of Aesop and other Eminent Mythologists c. Folio Both by Sir Roger L'Estrange Mr. Collier's View of the Stage His Defence His Essays upon several Moral Subjects Maxims and Reflexions upon Plays in Answer to a Discourse printed before a Play called Beauty in Distress written in French by the Bishop of Meaux with an Advertisement concerning the Author and Book By Mr. Collier An Answer to all the Excuses and Pretences that Men ordinarily make for their not coming to the Holy Communion To which is added A brief Account of the End and Design of the Holy Communion the Obligation to Receive it the Way to Prepare for it and the Behaviour of our Selves both At and After it Price but 3 d. for the Encouragement of such Persons as are willing to Give them away for the Promoting of Piety and Devotion

permitted freely to judge and determine according to the Holy Scriptures must needs be of more Authority and probably may be more sure than what is resolved by Every single Christian apart Yet when all is done as every particular Person is to Answer to God for his Own Soul so he must Examine as far as He is Able both What He Believes and How He Practises and upon What Grounds he do's Both And not follow any Assembly tho' of never so much Seeming Authority contrary to that which is of much Greater Authority than any Humane Assembly whatsoever can be I mean The Word of God And it may as well be said that all the other Parts of Christian Piety delivered by our Saviour Mat. v vi vii in these Chapters belong not to Single Persons or to Ordinary Christians at all but only to the whole Church or at least to the Pastors and Governors of it as that this Command of taking heed of False Prophets and of Knowing them by their Fruits is the Business of Such only and not the duty of every Private Person But 3 dly and to conclude these General Reflections If such be the case that it is not only lawfull for but the Duty of every Christian to Search the Scriptures and to Examine what is Proposed to him and to satisfie himself Whether it be the true Doctrine of Christ or no Then it will follow farther That if upon such a Proof of what is tender'd to Us by any Person or Church whatsoever we should chance to be clearly and evidently convinced that they have departed Themselves and would draw away Us from the pure Faith of Christ deliver'd to Us in the Holy Scriptures it is our duty to take heed that we do not follow them in their Apostacy but resolve rather to forsake Them than to abandon that Gospel which both They and We are commanded to adhere unto That it is possible for Men either by Interest to be Corrupted by Prejudices to be byass'd or thro' Infirmity to be deceived and by any or all of these Means to fall away from the Purity of the Christian truth both the Condition of Humane Nature assures us and the very Caution of the Text do's evidently suppose That by a Careful Attention and diligent Enquiry into the Doctrine deliverd to Us in the Holy Scriptures we may be able to discover when they do so and to distinguish between Truth and Falsehood Right and Wrong as to these matters not only our Saviour's Command to do this but the plainness wherewith most of those things are delivered which make up the summ of what is necessary for us to Believe and Do in order to our salvation Effectually shew But then to what purpose should we trouble our selves to Search the Scriptures and to Understand our Religion and to know that we are dealt fraudulently with by our Guides in it if after all there is no Remedy But we must follow our Church and the Pastors of it whether they teach Us the true doctrine of Christ or whether they lead Us into Damnable Hereresies destructive of the very Fundamentals of it And yet how Confidently do some Men here also rise up against Us And tell Us that we must Believe them before our Own Reason nay and in effect before God Himself That 't is Schism and Heresie and I know not what besides to doubt of or differ with them in any thing that they require us to Believe And that much better were it for us to shut our eyes altogether and Go on blindfold under their Conduct than to follow the clearest Light that Scripture Reason or even Sense it self can Give us in Opposition to their Errors But let them assume what Authority they please to themselves and raise what Clamours they can against us When all is done this Conclusion will remain firm as Heaven and clear as any first principle of Science that if the Scriptures be Rom. xv 4. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. 1.19 as we all agree that they are the Word of God and were written for our Instruction then we must follow the Conduct of Them And hold fast to the Truth which they deliver tho' not only a Company of assuming Men calling Themselves the Church but upon what Grounds no body could ever learn and pretending to Infallibility in Despight of the Grossest Errors but the whole World should conspire together to Oppose Us in it And thus have I shewn you what that General Vse is that we ought all of Us to make of this Command of our Saviour to Beware of False-Prophets and to Know them by their Fruits I proceed 2 dly To that more particular Application which I proposed to make of it to the Subject of this Days Solemnity I shall not need to tell you that we are now met together to Bless God for those wonderful Deliverances which He has twice afforded Us of this Nation upon this very Day from the Designs of Those who are the professed Enemies of our Religion and who have never Ceased from the first Beginning of the Reformation among Us to do what in them lies to subvert That and to destroy Us upon the account of it But of all the measures that were Ever taken by them in order thereunto never was there any more Remarkable than that which was intended to have been Executed on this Day had not God by a miracle of his Providence discovered and disappointed it A Design it was so Black and Horrid that we find many among Themselves ashamed to own it And therefore They either altogether deny that there was ever any such Plot carried on by Those of their Communion Or else pretend Papists Apology p. 31. With the Answer Comp. p. 34. Calendar Catholicum An. 1662. 5 th Nov. Hen. Morus Soc. Jesu Provinciae Anglic. Hist. l. 7. Sect. 19 21. that it was onely a private attempt of a Few-Desperate Men of their Religion Censured and Condemn'd for it by all the Better and more sober Members of their Church And indeed far be it from me to charge the whole Body of our English Papists either with the knowledge of this Conspiracy heretofore or with the Approving of it since I am sensible that Several among them have not only declared their Abhorrence of the Design its self See Widdrington contr Suarez pag. 12. 153. but of the very Principles on which it was founded But yet when all is done Certain it is that both the Doctrine on which it was Established has been * Concil Lateran 3. Can. 27. Concil Lateran 4. Can. 3. Concil Lugd. 1. Lab. Tom. 11. Col. 640 c. Concil Constant Sess. 45. Mart. PP Bull c. p. 259. Tom. 12. Lab. See more below Confirm'd by those of the Highest Authority in the Roman Church And that their Greatest Men have not only given their Approbation to such Attempts † As Tesmond Gerrard who were Both concern'd in the

was for pawning the Plate of the Chu●ch and coming himself in Person if need were to further it p. 117. Cambd. Eliz. An. 1588. Watson quodlib p. 239 246. Artic. 6 7. And the King of Spain was perswaded by Pope Pius the Fifth to Engage in it But that also miscarrying their private Attempts were again Renewed And still some Priest or Other in every One of them to Encourage and Sanctifie the Assassination It would engage Me in too long a Discourse to speak particularly of the Treasons of Arden See Watson 's Important Considerations c. Reprinted Lond. 1675. 4 o. Bristow makes them all Martyrs 15 Motive p. 72. c. 73. For the Historical Part see Foulis 's Popish Treasons Book 7. c. 5 7. Cambd. Eliz. An. 1595 1598 c. 1602. and Sommerville of Hesket and Lopez of Cullen and York of Squire and Babington Of the Designs of the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Westmorland and many Others who either by Sword or Poison by private Attempts or Publick Insurrections Endeavoured to deprive Her both of her Crown and Life I will only Observe that what the other Popes had in Vain attempted here in England | Foulis Pop. Treasons Book 9. c. 3. Cambd. Eliz. An. 1578 1579 c. Pope Gregory the xiiith and Clement the viiith no less Encouraged in Ireland By not only abetting the Rebellions which were raised there but Engaging the King of Spain once more to Endeavour her Destruction Whilst the Queen of Scots lived who was a Zealous Papist * Catena Lettere de Pio V. p. 329. the pretence for several of these Attempts then was | See the Papists Apology the Edit with the Answer 1675. p. 23. as their Excuse has been since That she had the Better Title to the Crown of England But that Unfortunate Princess being Gone and Queen Elizabeth now grown Old † Clement VIII See Cambden Eliz. An. 1600 1602. Doleman 's Confer about the next Succession to the Crown Tortur Torti p. 188. c. 197 278. Thuanus l. 135. p. 1205 1214 A. King James 's Apolog. p. 273. Casaubon Epist. ad Front Ducaeum inter Epist. p. 750. Edit 4 o. 1656. Sir Edw. Coke 's Plea Hist Gun-powder Treason 8 o. Lond. 1678. p. 92 c. all possible Endeavours were made by those very Persons with the Pope at their Head to Exclude the Son who would be thought to have had so much Zeal for the Mother In this first Attempt the Jesuits seemed unwilling to Engage But then to do them right See Watson 's Confession Casaub Epist. ad Front Ducaeum p. 752 753. I must observe that it was not out of any Checks of Conscience any dislike they had to such an Enterprize but because they had another Design of their own in hand which it seems was this of the Gun-Powder Conspiracy A Treason of so horrid and dismal a Complexion that the transcendent Cruelty of it not only stagger'd Some of the Conspirators themselves but proved the Happy Means of our Deliverance from it Whilst the desire of One among them to save his friend from that deadly Blow by the Providence of God discovered the whole Design and saved both the King and the Parliament with Him We ought not to wonder if the better to conceal such a Conspiracy as this but | About 20 whereof 5 were Jesuits See Popish Apol. p. 34 Casaub. Ep. ad Front Ducaeum p. 755. Few were admitted to a particular Knowledge of it * K. James 's Premonition p. 291. Tho' it was generally discoursed among the whole Party that something was in Agitation for the Interest of their Cause and to which they were to be Ready to lend their Utmost Assistance as soon as Matters should be Ripe for it Yet even among those Few who knew of it † Thuanus ingenuously owns this Hist. Lib. 135. p. 1213. D. And the publick Acts of this Conspiracy u●deniably confirm it See King James 's Praemonition p. 334 335. Bp. Andrews at large proves it from Garnet 's Own Confession Tortura Torti p. 281 c. 285 286. So does Isaac Casaubon Epist. ad Front Ducaeum p. 757 761 773 774 775. Add Sir Edw. Coke 's Arraignment of Garnet p. 168 c. And the Relation of his Execution Ib p. 225. Father Garnet the Provincial of the Jesuits was One and that not in Confession as some now pretend but by way of Consultation as Himself at last ingenuously Acknowledged | Historia Pontifical Part. 5. l. 1. c. 11. says That Fawks being in Flanders Y descubrio s● empresa à personas Ecclesiasticas y de su Nacion para hazer les ayunar y rogar a Dios que su fin llegasse a efecto Bulenger confirms it Hist. l. 12. p. 369. where speaking of Winter and Fawks Oeno Jesuitae says he consilia aperiunt qui pietatis studium laudat And p. 370. speaking of three Others among whom Garne● One says Rex cognito tres Jesuitas Conjurationis hujus Nefariae flabella fuisse Thuan. Hist. p 1206. E. lib. 135. Gerard the Jesuit gave them the Oath of Secrecy and the Sacrament upon it Tesmund confirm'd Bates 's Conscience in it Rei merito demonstrato Ib. p. 1207. C. See Winter's Confession about Owen to the same Effect King James 's Works p. 232. Add to this my Lord Stafford's Declaration at his Trial to this Effect p. 53. Mezeray 's H●st of France An. 1605. K. James 's Praemonition p. 291 335. Bp. Andrew 's Tortura Torti p. 280. Casaub. Epist. ad Front Ducaeum p. 755. Sir Edw. Coke 's Arraignment of the Conspirators p. 96 104 105 113. His Arraignment of Garnet p. 166. That several Others of the Society were acquainted with it may from undoubted Proofs be made appear Give me leave to add what * Foulis Popish Treason Book 10. c. 2. Some have farther Affirm'd that Fawks himself the Villain who was to have Executed the Treason was not long before at Rome in Conference with some Considerable Persons there Bishop Andrews ad Bellarm Resp. c. 5. p. 113. And had Three Bulls Ready to have been Publish'd had the Design Succeeded but that this Failing they were Suppressed And here then let us stop and not proceed to any following Instances of their Cruelty and Perfidiousness But from what has been already alledged both of their Doctrines and Practices as to these Matters Go on finally to Consider Whether such Principles and such Actions can ever be Reconciled either with the Spirit or Rules of Christianity And 1st Let them tell Us if they can where in all the Scriptures of the New-Testament either the Title or Promises of the Catholick Church are appropriated to the Roman Church or indeed to any other Particular Church or Society of Christians whatsoever Or what Reason can be given for that Fundamental Arrogance on which All the best of their Pretences are built why They any more than We should be Called or