and the too many miscarriages found among us especially in some transactions of the late times which those Emissaries want neither skill nor will to improve to the furtherance of their designs and also the fair flourishes that she by them makes especially in these Countries where being in the midst of oppositions they put on greater appearances of Piety Patience Charity as they call their Almsdeeds and pretensions of greater Unity and Prosperity and what was lastly said also of her wiliness in accommodating her Doctrines and carriages toward them to mens different humors But besides these things there may be other causes that are more principal assigned which in conjunction with these are of great power and influence so as there is great danger of the fall of many into her embraces As for instance 1. Mens own former and hitherto Carelesness to acquaint themselves with and seek to be established in the truth and to walk in it according to its Instructions and that hath been and is the case of too many both of our Gentry and of others of both Sexes that though they have for many years had the Scriptures and Gospel Doctrines among them and many Learned and Solid disocurses published to discover the deceits of the Romanists yet they have not set their hearts toward God and Christ seriously to know and walk in and be obedient to his truth but have rested in a bare form of Godliness denying the power of it more minding the World and the things of it their Estates Riches Honours Pleasures Ornaments Gallantry or Intemperancy and what their corruptions lead them to than how to serve and please God and make such right improvements of his truths made known to and among them as wherein they might be fitted for and accounted worthy of its utmost Benefits especially in these late and present days in which loose and licentious principles and practises of Atheism infidelity and debauchery take great place and have wonderfully in a few years thriven so as to overcome the Nations Now God is marvailously jealous of his glory and the glory of his Name and truth and will not hold them guiltless that take or receive them in vain that is so as not to be made good by them and therefore will punish them that so do for this cause it was that he gave over the Gentiles to vile affections and to gross Idolatry because when he had in and by his works of creation and providence made known himself to and among them they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful to him but became vain in their Imaginations and their Foolish Hearts were darkened so as professing themselves to be wise they became fools c. Rom. 1.21 22 23 24 25. For this cause God also threatned us Christians that he would give way to the man of Sin to come in upon the World with power and signs and lying wonders after the manner of Sathan and send strong delusions that men might believe lyes and be Damned even because God had first sent the truth of the Gospel among us and men received not the love thereof that they might be saved namely from their Sins nor believed it heartily so as to obey it but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2 8 9 10 11 12. Which horrible threatned judgment he hath sadly executed in the World after the Christian faith being spread abroad in it hath not been duly entertained partly by leting loose Mahomet and seting up a Kingdom in the World as to its Eastern parts that received and propagates his delusions what they can and partly by suffering Rome in these Western parts so to exalt her self with all her corruptions and abominations and surely this is one and the main cause of the falling off of so many to her bad communion after such detection of her so fully made to which way hath also been the rather made by 2. The sad debauchings of the Nations and filling them with Profaneness uncleanness irreligion from the one end to the other thereof which hath doubtless been the project and work of some that hold the Doctrine of Balaam and follow his pernicious ways who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit Fornication Rev. 2.14 Or rather as Jezabel that painted Strumpet who seduced Gods People to commit fornication first and then to eat things sacrificed to Idols first to commit Fornication and then as a fruit thereof to which they might that way be the easier drawn to eat things sacrificed to Idols Rev. 2.20 According to some Machivillian principles to make men first of no Religion and then they may easily be drawn to embrace any false Religion how much bodily Whoredom and Fornication overspreads the Land is too sad as well as easy to observe and surely its just with God when men give up themselves to that to give them over to Spiritual Fornication also that they might fill up the measure of their Iniquities and his greater and severer wrath might come upon them and especially it s the direct way to promote the Popish Religion and its spiritual Whoredoms because it gives such indulgences to and dispensations for the beloved Sins of bodily Fornication promising to those that practice such Sins Pardon and impunity at least after some penances and Purgatory Pains for their Sins and Heaven and Happiness to at last if they will but joyn themselves in fellowship with that Church and uphold its claims and Pretentions though for others of a devouter complexion as we have noted she can take some precious truths of God compared in Scripture to Gold yea fine Gold or to Silver seven times Purifyed in the fire and his precious promises which are as precious Pearls more precious than Rubies and mixing them with her own superstitions make up pretty taking medals and formes or Images of devotion and composures of Croizons and religious exercises to allure and bewitch them 3. Yea the familiarity and Friendship with Persons of that Religion or being yoked up with them especially in Marriage proves a great inducement to diverse to turn to them for even such correspondencies and conjunctions with any false worshipers have been allways pernicious as may appear even in Solomon who though a wise man and of an exceeding large understanding so as that as Nehemiah observes among many Nations there was no King like him who was beloved of God yet even him did outlandish or strange women of a corrupt Religion cause to Sin Neh. 13.26 1 King 11.3 4 5 6 7. For his Women inclined or turned away his Heart so that it was not right with God but he followed other Gods and built high places for them and who may presume to stand under a temptation when he voluntarily casts himself into it that Solomon could not stand upright under though so wise a man therefore God forbad Israel to joyn themselves in affinity with
vers 9 10. Even so the Church of Rome and it's Teachers reject the word of the Lord as is evident in the instances we have given and yet they say the Law the Scriptures and it's Exposition are with that is belong unto them They are they from whom men must receive it and upon whom they must depend for it Yea they do as the false Church in Isa 48.1 2. is said to have done who make mention of the name of the Lord but not in truth nor in righteousness though they called themselves of the holy City that is in effect the holy Catholick Church The like is timated of them in Jer. 18.18 where the persecutors of the Lord's Prophets that were such in truth yet said of themselves come let us devise devices against Jeremiah and add as if they had thence authority to do so for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the Prophet Now when we see or may see by the Scriptures of truth and the testimony of the Holy Spirit in them that there should be false Teachers among the Christians answerable to the false Prophets among the Jews that would bring in Doctrines swarving from the Scriptures and find that the Papists and their Teachers evidently do so their challenge of authority to be the sole Expounders of the Scriptures should nothing move us while we see that they therein walk in the steps of the false Prophets especially seeing also that they challenge an authority which the Holy Ghost hath not given them nor directed his followers any where unto For the Holy Ghost himself who led the Apostles into all truth Joh. 16.13 doth not in any Scripture testifie to us of Rome or the Roman Church that we should derive our Faith from her or resolve it into her or her Doctors more than into any other Church The Apostle Peter whose authority they pretend to have committed to them but without any evidence of the holy Scriptures and whose Successors they tell us their Popes or Bishops are could not leave more authority to them than he had exercised himself Now we find him expresly preferring the authority of the Scriptures before his own saying or testimony as to the resolution of other mens Faith Yea he as well as other Apostles proved his sayings by the holy Scriptures as is evident in his Epistles 1 Pet. 2.6 7. and 3.10 11 12. and obtruded nothing upon men on his own authority barely as the Popes presume to do He calls the word of Prophesy a more sure word than what he related of his own knowledge 2 Pet. 1.16 17 18 19. and instead of directing the Believers after his death to the Church of Rome and her Bishops which surely he would and ought to have done had he known of any power given of Christ to her or to them for resolving mens doubts and determining their Faith and exercising a dominion over mens consciences more than to other Churches or their Bishops yea or directing them to himself more than to the rest of the Apostles when he forewarned them of false Teachers Scoffers that would come in the last days He stirs up the Believers minds to remember the words of the Prophets and the Commandments of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour He saith not his own Commands or his rather than of the other Apostles but indefinitely of the Apostles puting in himself with them as one of the same rank and of no superior rank or authority among or over them much less doth he say that we should after his death be take our selves to the Church or Bishop of Rome for our direction guidance and preservation from the Error of the wicked but directs us to the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles the things spoken and commanded in and by them He thought not of the Lord Peter or the Lord Pope nor signified that the rest of the Apostles stood in relation more than himself to any man as their Lord but only to him who is the Saviour Yea and the Lord Jesus himself when afterward he appeared to John in the Isle of Patmos and gave him visions and revelations of the things that should come to pass in the world and unto the Churches directed him not to bid us go to Rome for resolution of our hearts in the matters of God and in what concerns our preservation in his truth but he in his several Epistles to the Churches bids Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches He bids not That he that hath an ear should hear the Churches simply no nor yet what the Spirit saith in the Churches much less saith he Let him that hath an ear hear what the Church of Rome saith or what her Bishop as an heavenly Oracle or the Spirit as either in it or him as Infallibly tied to his Chair should dictate to us And yet which is very considerable this Book of the Revelations according to the most authentick testimonies of Antiquity was written after the Deaths of all the other Apostles and its probable at least that he lived not long after it himself who was the Penman thereof and therefore if there were any judge or orderer of mens faith infallible to be looked to by all Churches besides the holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles or any Infallible Interpreter of them above the rest to be taken heed to it had been the proper place and time surely for Christ the faithful and true witness of God the Amen the firm and sure friend and Pastour of his Church to have signified who it is and directed the Church and every one that hath an ear to hear and hearken to him but neither when he was asked or there was a strife among the Apostles who of them should be the greatest did he tell them Peter should be their Prince and chief among them nor did he direct them here to any Successor of his at Rome or elsewhere as an infallible Guide and Head to them no there is no other Director as to matters of Faith and Worship directed to of God by his Holy Spirit in any Scripture as our absolute and infallible Guide but only the Spirit himself as speaking in and by the Scriptures to the Churches what the Scripture saith being called the saying of the Holy Ghost or Spirit as is to be seen Heb. 3.7 and 10.15 Act. 28.25 And surely they are guilty of horrible Idolatry that prefer the Testimony Word or Determination of any person or persons Church or Bishop before or above yea or but as equal with the testimony of the Holy Ghost to cast by his sayings or commands to listen to and be ruled by men is indeed to have the fear of God taught us by mens precepts and in vain to honour God or worship him which was the fault of the Jewish Church reproved by the Holy Ghost in the Prophet Isaiah for which also he
reasons both 1. Of the continuance of so many still to cleave to her after she hath been so detected 2. Of the falling of any to her after so great and long a discovery of her and declining from her 1. To the first of these with respect to her self and those that are more properly the constitutive and essential parts of her the Church as distinguished by her self from the Laity or people adhering to her and especially the Court of Rome she being as she is called and as we have shewed a Whore a Harlot it fares with her as it doth with other Whores that is as such a one that is a Whore getting gain and profit to her self by her Whoredom and finding pleasure and sweetness therein is hardned against the discoveries of her false practises and usually goeth on impenitently in her Trade because of the profit and gain accruing to her thereby and especially if She be Courted by great and rich Persons or Princes they give her considerable gifts of Riches Honours and Dignities and makes but a Tush at the Laws Threatning Punishment or Death for such practises she finding no effect or Execution of them for a long time to appear against her by occasion whereof She flatters her Self that it will be never otherwise with her than it is but that She shall always escape punishment So fares it with this Adulterous Church she hath found and finds so much gain and profit of worldly Interest Riches Honour Dignity accruing to her since her trucking with Kings and Princes and Emperors and obtaining of them to be owned and honoured in all her pretensions as the Catholick Church the Church that all persons ought to comply with and submit to and that her Head and Bishop should be taken to be the Vicar of Christ the highest power on earth that it s no marvail if She repent not of her so sweet and gainful a Trade but by all means endeavours to keep up her credit that she may be still so courted and caressed and if she hath gotten a wound that hath threatned her life that she endeavours to get cured and to recover her Pristine strength which if she do recover we expect she will follow her old trade of Strumpetry and Blood-shedding as hard or harder than ever that so she may secure her self if possible from the threatned punishment and judgment ordered of God and denounced in his Name against her by us which maugre all her power and pollicy she shall not be able to escape for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her the brightness of whose appearing that Man of Sin shall not be able to endure To this purpose that she may recover her Pristine strength and vigour and follow her accursed Trade with the greater fervour or fury her Politicians as so many Physitians are at work very hard beating their brains and using all their skill and Industry to make her whole again and wo to us for a while if her disease be cured and the Beasts deadly wound be healed for then will be indeed accomplished more fully that which is written in Rev. 13.15 16 17. but in the mean time there are many cleave to her and have all along cleaved to her Because 1. Many of them are kept from or have not the opportunity of seeing and hearing what is evidenced against her though perhaps they have heard some rumour of the Gospel Preached to them that dwell on the Earth and of the Fall of Babylon in part from her Pristine power and splendour many are kept in ignorance both of the Scriptures and of the Sermons and Discourses in Writing of the Protestant parties and many neglect to inquire into them and so come not to know what is evidenced against her her Pandors or Merchants setting themselves to keep them in Ignorance and Error to keep up their own grandeur and worldly Interests 2. The cunning Sophistry and deceits of her Priests and Jesuits men of a seared Conscience and stiff Impudence who like Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses from or in his discovering the truth of God to Pharaoh and the Egyptians do stand against the truth and the Preachers of it and the discoverers of the Romish Frauds and Impostures prevail much with many who are apt to resolve their faith into their learning subtlety authority and appearing Piety and wisdom even as the slights of James and Jambres prevailed with Pharoah and many of the Egyptians so as that though they hear and may hear or read the discourses of the learned Protestants wherein they have detected their abuses yet they do not seriously Ponder or weigh them or are blinded from discerning the truth by the mists they cast before them 3. Worldly interest holds in many both of the Kings and Greater Persons their interest being interwoven with those of Rome and where the Kings and Princes of the earth commit fornication with her they do by their Laws in many places made against them that reject her Communion and their rigour and cruelty deter many from listening to and considering what is said against her yea and they keep out such discoverers or discoveries of her lewdness that otherwise would be afforded to them as was predicted in Rev. 13.15 16 17. and where their Laws are not so cruel yet by their bad examples and their indulging their favours to her followers they keep in many from listening to what would tend to withdraw them from her the most of men not searching so much with sincere endeavors after what is true and right as minding and resting in what is uppermost in the world and worshipping in truth its Power and Grandeur which I take to be that which the Holy Ghost in the Apocalyps calls the Beast more than any other God besides 4. The dependance that the younger persons have upon the Elder or others related to them the Children upon their Parents and Kinsfolks and Friends one upon another and the respect they have one for another is some cause also of many being detained therein being carryed away with such as they have such dependance upon or respect unto especially the being Educated under such Principles as have been maintained by and transmitted to them from their Ancestors and Progenitors for many generations proves a powerful motive to retain and not reject those principles what ever may be offered to detect and discover the evil of them few being so redeemed from the vain conversations received by tradition from their Fathers and Forefathers or from the Earth and Men even from earthly affections and from their respects to and dependances on men by the Blood of Christ minded and regarded by them as it hath been shed for them as to renounce all such respect to Fathers and Forefathers earthly affections and dependance on and respects to men and to follow after Christ singly and sincerely where-ever he by his Word and Doctrine would lead them or so as to make such due and diligent