also many dark spots though clear as the Sun she hath her clouds and Eclipses Many will be carryed away with errour superstitions and carnal policies yea some of all sorts rulers as well as ruled learned as well as unlearned Those that have made great shew as well as the common sort be not troubled nor suspect the true doctrine and worship these things are foretold and therefore must be We are next to enquire what this departure is which is here foretold and who be guilty of it Some have understood it of the defection of the world from the Roman Empire following the conjecture of some one leader without consideration as Calvin observes And the Rhemists recede from it very unwillingly and under correction of their Superiours but the Apostles saith the day of Christ shallnot come except there come a departure first viz. a departure from Christ The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used for departure or apostasie is appropriated to signify a defection in or from religion so the same Apostle useth it but with an explication 1 Tim. 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some shall depart from the faith Moreover the head of this Apostasie is to sit in the Temple the Church of God v. 4. and to bring it about by delusions and lying miracles seducing those that loved not the truth that they might be saved but had pleasure in unrighteousness v. 10 11 12. It must therefore be a departure from the truth and purity of the Christian religion It is agreed betwixt Papists and Protestants that it is the apostasie under Antichrist as the chief head and leader of it which is here foretold but the question is who is this Antichrist Where and when this apostasie may be found As the Jews did generally expect the coming of Christ yet knew him not believed him not when he was among them so the Papists believe and expect that Antichrist shall come and miserably spoil the Church but cannot or will not see and own him though he is and long hath been amongst them That Nero shall rise again and be the Antichrist as he was the first persecuting Emperour I not worth the refuting The Papists generally teach that Antichrist is yet to come and shall endure but three years and a half immediately before the end of the world that he shall be a Jew of the tribe of Dan rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple abolish the Christian worship and almost the name of Christ but all this without any colouor proof except that slender one that he shall sit in the temple of God v. 4. Some few are so ingenuous as to confess that Rome is Babylon Antichrists seat but then some say the Heathen persecuting Emperours in the first three hundred years of the Church were this Manof sin Some again considering that it is an apostasie of professing Christians here spoken of conjecture that some Pope of Rome at the end of the world shall deny Christ become an Infidel and cause himself to be worshipped as God this should be this man of sin But the Text plainly speaks of a defection of Christians which was secretly working in the Apostles days only some thing hindered its prevailing and full discovery vi 6 7 8. The mystery of iniquity doth already work and it was to be a mysterious defection not an open and totall apostasie from Christ it was to be brought in by signs miracles lying wonders and all ungodly deceits for the just condemnation of them that received not the love of the truth that they might be saved though they received the profession of it v. 9. to 12. And the man of sin the Head of this apostasie was to sit or rule in the Temple of God which is his Church 1 Cor. 3.16 Therefore this apostasie was to be not total from the name and profession of Christ ad of his Church but a defection in the Church an apostasie from the purity of the Doctrine worship Discipline and practice of the Gospel such as should have so many excuses and specious pretences for it that the delusion should be strong and such as those that do not heartily love the truth should not be able to discern Whence we collect this proposition Proposition That the Church of Rome is and for a long time hath been the seat of this man of sin the mother of this apostasie or That Popery is the grand Apostasie of the Church here foretold This I shall make good first by some general reasons and then by the particular criteria or marks laid down in the text By the Church of Rome we mean all those Nations and Churches which as so many members make up that great body which they call the Roman Catholick Church whereof the Pope is the Head and the Church of the City of Rome the principal part By Popery we understand that religion viz. Doctrines worship Discipline and Government which is peculiar to them and distinct from all other Christians especially from the Protestant Churches and whereby they are knit into one body and society and live in one Communion distinct from and opposite to the Reformed Churches Now that this Church is apostatized from Christ and this religion is a Doctrine and practice of apostasie may appear in the general by comparing the true state of the Church of Christ with the state and Doctrine of the Roman Church 1. First The true Church of Christ acknowledgeth and worshippeth one only God the creator of the world and father of our Lord Jesus Christ This is the foundation of religion that there is one only infinite Being the fountain and author of all things else and therefore that all worship fear trust and obedience is due to him alone 1 Cor. 8.5 Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there are Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in Him But the Papists do acknowledge and worship other Gods besides him even the Host or Bread in the Sacrament and the Virgin Mary The Heathens pretend to acknowledge but one supreme God but the Papists do acknowledge that which sense reason and scripture witness to be a bit of bread to be the supreme God their maker and Lord which they usually call the Host and that it is to be worshipped cultu Latriae Conc. Trid. Ses 13. Cap. 4 5. ibid. c. 6. with that worship that is due to God alone This they keep upon their Altar in a gilded Box in imitation of the Ark of old there they teach is the special presence of God as it was in the Holy of Holies This they worship and carry in triumph by this they swear viz. by the Mass and by the Pix and this is a peculiar note and badge of their communion by which they difference themselves from others and destroy all that do not acknowledge and worship this their God as far as their power
and so other miracles are for them that believe not who have not received the Gospel but not to them that believe 1 Cor. 14.21 22. who have already been convinced of the truth and fulness of the Scriptures to which God expects they should yield their full assent and obedience Ver. 10 11 12. In them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness In these words we have the subject of Antichrists delusions those on whom his signs and lying wonders should have effect viz. they that perish though many of the godly may have been entangled by Popish superstitions yet none receive them throughly or give up themselves to them but those that are to perish Rev. 17.11 They that dwell on the earth wondred after the beast even they whose names were not written in the book of life We have also here the reason why God suffereth so many to be delivered to their own destruction viz. because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved and this is further amplified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for this cause viz. because they love not the truth God shall send them strong delusions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delusions that shall be effectual to make them believe a lie who believed not the truth i. e. obeyed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness that so they might be damned Gods judgements are suitable to mens sins those that love not the truth he suffereth to lose the truth and they that are willing to receive false doctrines and false worship that they may more quietly practise unrighteousness God suffereth them to have temptations to it and to be prevailed with by those temptations and this is the case of the Papal world because men delight not in the true knowledge of God to fear him and be thankful therefore he gave them up to worship Images and to serve the Creatures more than the Creator as he dealt with the Heathens before them Rom. 1.21.25 Men lov'd not the knowledge of Christ valued not his love and death but loved to boast of their own wills abilities and performances therefore God suffered them to lose the sound doctrine of justification faith an assurance and to make men and Angels their Mediators and to trust in the merits of their own works and sufferings men had no pleasure in holiness but in unrighteousness and licentiousness therefore God suffered them to be deprived of the Scriptures the mean and rule of holiness and to spend their days either in will worship superstition and voluntary severities bodily exercise which profits not 1 Tim. 4.8 or else in all filthiness and profaneness and yet to delude themselves with the vain hopes of pardons indulgencies dispensations penances and venial sins Moreover because men delighted not in spiritual things and heavenly mindedness they were deprived of the true knowledge of heaven and the comfortable hopes of Salvation to be taught to live in endless doubts and fears that can never be satisfied and to count it a favour to go to Purgatory at last there to suffer some thousands of years the torments of hell and to believe that their deliverance from thence depends upon the will of Popes and Priests and is to be bought with money Men were weary of the spiritual worship of God Faith and love prayer and thanks giving hearing the word and receiving the Sacraments with a serious heart and desire to profit by them therefore they are given up to be content to be deprived of Gods word and to hear little but the lying miracles of feigned Saints and humane Traditions and commandments of men also to have their prayers and Sacraments in a language they do not understand and to fool themselves with a belief that the Opus operatuns their bare presence at them and performance of the outward work is sufficient to save them Lastly because men were weary of a pious profitable and learned ministry therefore they are delivered to be enslaved by a generation of men for the most part abominably wicked ignorant and superstitious who deceive the people and are themselves deceived briefly natural conscience will not suffer men to be content without some religion and some hope of a better life and some persons to instruct them in it but their unruly lusts and affections make them love and chuse a religion that they may play and trifle with and such is Popery where men may seem very devout and zealous in external worship and for the Traditions of their fathers and yet live in all wickedness and notwithstanding hope to go to heaven Vse 1. This may lessen our wonder that Popery should so much prevail upon the world and that men should be so ready to return to it after they have received the knowledge of the truth and Popery been discovered to be false and ridiculous to common reason it is the righteous judgement of God to suffer them to be deceived who would be deceived and to suffer them to take up a false and absurd religion who are weary of the true though most excellent and most rational for this reason no means can withdraw men from their superstitious and Idolatrous practices and from their brutish obedience to the Pope and their Priests because God hath given them eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear and hearts that cannot perceive and understand till he hath executed all his wrath upon them 2. The best means to be preserved from Popery is to maintain in our selves love to the truth It was want of this that provoked God to give up the world to delusions and still to continue it under the power of them in a great measure He that will do the will of him that sent me he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God saith our Saviour John 7.17 Scripture and reason will not suffer us to receive Popery as a truth or as any religion but as a meer humane device to keep up the power of the Pope and his adherents and sense also will confute some of their errors as Transubstantiation and many of their miracles but if we love not the truth interest or fear may make us willing to believe a lye and submit to it unfeigned love of the Gospel and a lively sense of spiritual things will prevent this that we shall not be willing to let go the truth and then God will not suffer us to be led into errors If we delight in the knowledge of God he will never suffer us to be bewitcht with Idols that can neither see nor hear nor help If Christ be precious to us the chiefest of ten thousands and altogether lovely God will never suffer us to put our confidence in Creatures as our Mediators or in our own
the promoters of them did also promote their authority and strengthen their hands against the Godly and most serious part of the Church But the most usual causes of errors are ignorance of the Scriptures and of the principles of religion founded on them which in the primitive times had a great occasion given it by the prejudicate opinions that new Converts brought from Judaisme and Paganisme and from the new Testament not being fully written in a considerable time and the several books thereof not gathered into one volume in a long space after and chiefly corrupt affections Men will imbrace errors because they love not the truth Vse 1. This sheweth the necessity of adhering to the Scripture and of a standing Ministry If we stick not to the Scripture the pretence of the Spirit and Traditions will lead us into a wilderness where there is no end Heathens Mahometans Papists and all Enthusiasts will distract us by their several and contrary pretensions And if there be not a standing and learned Ministry Apocryphal Scriptures and false interpretations of Scripture will easily beguile the unskilful and hinder the edification of the more wise 2. The Papist's brags of infallibility of the Pope or Church and the necessity of it to the foundation of our faith is as foolish as it is untrue The Apostles and Apostolical men were infallible and yet this will not prevent errors and Heresies of the highest nature either in their own or in the next succeeding ages An infallible head or guide will not secure the Church from errors and divisions unless all the people be infallible likewise certainly able to discern the truth declared to them and perfectly free from all evil affections which may hinder their receiving and submitting to the truth 3. It is no Wonder to see errors and divisions in these last days of the Church sith they were in the first While men are subject to ignorance and evil affections there will be both errors and divisions and if we go to the Church of Rome to avoid all errors and Schisms because they boast of such Unity which was never promised nor long enjoyed by any Church we shall but do like Children that tear many little holes in a garment into one great one that comprehends them all and more and cannot be repaired Obs 2. It is certainly foretold that there should be an Apostasie in the Church The same Apostle almost in the same words foretels it 1 Tim. 4.1 The spirit speaks expresly that some shall depart from the faith The first Christians might be apt to expect the coming of Christ and their everlasting rest to be at hand from the love and joy they had conceived upon their first receiving the Gospel but they are here told that happy time is not so nigh There must come a departure of many from the faith first and many contests and persecutions should ensue thence and therefore they should arm themselves with patience to a conflict before they must expect the Crown When God made the world he made it wonderful great and large and stored it with almost infinite variety of creatures to set forth his own Majesty he hath also continued it some thousands of years with as great variety of providences in his governing of it to shew his manifold wisdom power mercy and justice and what will be the wonderful transactions of the world to come throughout eternity to set forth the glory of the â—ernal God no creature can conceive In like manner when our Lord came from Heaven to purchase a Church to serve him it was not quickly to expire but to conflict with the world and the Devil with enemies without and within through many changes and vicissitudes a considerable time and at last through faith and patience to inherit the promises It was long that the Church continued under the bondage of the Law and there were many changes and declinings of it at several times under the Judges and Kings of Judah but there was one great Apostasie of the Ten tribes under Jeroboam which ended in the ruin of that State and people Such a departure was there to be in the Christian Church signified here by the indeterminate word There shall come a departure or Apostasie for the falling off of a few particular persons was no strange thing but happened in every age Now such Apostasies are permitted 1. To punish the ingratitude of men for the Gospel Because they receive not the love of the truth because Christ and his Gospel are not welcome to the generality of men but any or no religion would content them as well if they might have outward peace and prosperity therefore Christ suffers them to be inticed with Errors and Heresies to their own destruction which at last bring publick calamities and ruin 2. To punish the Hypocrisie of others Some pretend great zeal and affection in the peace of the Church which is either meerly pretended for worldly interest or but a light and transient passion as in the stony ground who can never be perswaded to be zealous and rooted Christians Matth. 13.20 therefore when they have been tryed a convenient time opportunities of backsliding are sufferred to come to discover and shame them 3. To manifest and honour those that are sound 1 Cor. 11.18 19. There must be heresies among you that they which be approved may be made manifest among you When peace and truth meet together the sound and best Christians are unknown and for the most part less regarded than the Hypocrites that make more shew and noise Christ therefore suffers apostasies to come to discover and honour his sincere humble diligent and stedfast servants 4. Errors are also permitted to clear the trut more and make them that are sound more stedfast and strong The truths of the Gospel have in all ages been prejudiced by the zeal and good affection of some well minded as well as by the opposition of enemies because their affection over-run their judgment and their care to get a distinct knowledge of the principles of religion but the appearance of errours and corruptions makes them more careful to search the truth which hath been always more cleared and fortified by occasion of the oppositions against it and those who are upright have been put upon getting a clearer knowledge of the grounds of their faith worship and practices thereby 5. And in all this Christ manifesteth his distinguishing grace to some and his righteous judgments upon others Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness 6. Hereby all are stirred up to diligence and watchfulness When there shall come a falling away of many all are warn'd thereby to take care how they stand lest they also fall Rom. 11.20 Vse Be not therefore suprized at discouraged or tempted by the apostasies of others Though the Church be fair as the Moon she hath