see Christ and his Apostles as if that were a Priviledge restricted to Church-men What shall be then said of these who call the Scriptures a Nose of Wax the Sourse of all Heresies a Book written not on Design but upon particular Emergents and do assert its incompleatness unless made up by the Traditions of the Church Is not this to add to the Words of that Book and to accuse the faithful Witness of Unfaithfulness But worse than all this is held by these who will have all the Authority of the Scriptures to depend on the Church which must be believed in the first place But here a great difference is to be made betwixt the Testimony of a Witness and the Authority of a Judg the former is not denied to the Church and so the Jews had the Oracles of God committed to them but that doth not prove the Authority of their Sanhedrim infallible or superior to Scripture and in this case more cannot be ascribed to the Christian Church than was proper to the Jewish in our Saviour's Time. But further if the Scripture be to be believed on the Testimony of the Church then upon what account is the Church first believed It cannot be said because of any testimony in Scripture for if it give Authority to the Scriptures it cannot receive its Authority from their Testimony How then shall it be proved that the Church must be believed or must it be taken from their own word and yet no other Reason can be given to prove the Church Infallible For to say that they have continued in a Succession of Bishops from the Apostles days concludes nothing unless it be first proved that the Doctrine of the Apostles was of God otherwise the Mahometan Religion is as much to be believed since for many Ages a Succession of Priests have believed it Further the Greek Churches drive up the Series of their Bishops to the Apostles Days as well as the Roman why then should not their Authority be likewise acknowledged infallible In fine must the Vulgar go and examine the Successions of the Bishops and judg about all the dubious Elections whether the Conveyance have been interrupted or not Certainly were this to be done it were an impossible Atchievement and harder than the study of the Originals of both Testaments Therefore the Vulgar must simply believe the Authority of the Church on her own Testimony which is the most absurd thing imaginable and this to every Individual will resolve into the Testimony of their Priest Behold then a goodly Foundation for building our Faith upon Christ's Prophetick Office is also invaded by pretence of the Churches Infallibility in expounding Scriptures for if this be granted the whole Authority will be devolved on the Church for by this Doctrine she may teach what she will and were the Scripture-Evidence never so full to the contrary yet whatever wrested Exposition she offers though visibly contrary to the plain meaning of the words must be believed But with whom this Power and Authority is lodged is not agreed to among themselves some yielding it to the High-Priest of the Church when in his Chair others to the great Sanhedrim of Christendom in a General Council others to both jointly but all this is asserted without proof for that of Christ's of telling the Church Matth. 18.17 so often repeated by them is meant of particular Offences and so is restricted to the Case of Differences among Brethren and relates not to Points of Doctrine Besides the Context of these Words doth clearly shew them applicable to every Parochial Church and yet their Infallibility cannot be asserted So it is clear that Christ doth only speak of a Jurisdiction for quieting of Differences among the Brethren That of the Gates of Hell their not prevailing against the Church Mat. 16.18 proves not the Pretence of Infallibility And indeed the Translation of that place deserves Amendment and instead of Hell that word is to be rendred Grave so that the meaning of the Phrase is Death which is the Mouth and Gate through which we pass into the Grave and is so used by Greek Writers shall never prevail against the Church that is the Church shall never die Neither will that of the Spirit of Truth leading out into all Truth John 16.13 advance the Cause a whit since that Promise relates to all Believers and it is a part of the happiness of the new Dispensation that all in it shall be taught of God. And the Promise of founding the Church on St. Peter Matth. 16. saith as little for suppose the Rock on whom the Church were to be built were St. Peter himself which I shall not much controvert that is not peculiar unto him since we are all built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and on the twelve Foundations of the New Jerusalem are written the Names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. But what will that prove for a Series of the Bishops of Rome And finally for the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16.19 their being given to St. Peter that saith no more but that he was to open the Gospel which is usually called the Kingdom of God or of Heaven in the New Testament Now the use of Keys being to open the Door this was peculiar St. Peter's Honour who did first publish the Gospel both to Jews and Gentiles and in particular did first receive the Gentiles into the New Dispensation But this hath no relation to the Bishops of Rome nor to the pretended Infallibility of that See. That which hath the fairest appearance of reason is that if there be no absolute unerring Court on Earth for deciding of Controversies there shall be no end of them but every private Man may upon the pretence of some ill-understood place of Scripture break the Unity of the Church and so the Peace of the Church is in hazard of being irrecoverably lost But how specious soever this may appear it hath no weight in it For it is certain that Vice as well as Errour is destructive of Religion and it will be no imputation on our Religion that the one be no more guarded against than the other is if then there be no Authority for repressing Vice but the outward discipline of the Church it is not incongruous there is no other Authority for suppressing of Error but that same of the Discipline of the Church It is certainly a piece of Humility for a Man to suspect his own Thoughts when they lye cross to the Sentiments of the Guides and Leaders of the Church But withal a Man ought to be in all he does fully perswaded in his own Mind and we are commanded to try the Spirits and not to believe every Spirit 1 Joh. 4.1 Now Reason being the chief excellency of Man and that wherein the Divine Image doth mainly consist it were very absurd to deny Man a rational judging and discerning of these things wherein his eternal Interest is most concerned Besides
spot or wrinkle And much more of this Nature meeting us in Scripture declares how plenary his Satisfaction was nothing being left undone by him for removing the Guilt and Demerit of Sin. And what comfortless Doctrine this is we may soon apprehend how it takes away that Joy in God at the approches of Death since there is such hazard of direful Miseries following Now this was no small part of the Mystery by which the World was brought under their Dominion and therefore great pains was taken for rooting the belief of it deep in all Mens Hearts many Visions and Apparitions were vouched for its Proof and all the Lives of the Saints that were written for divers Ages were full of such fabulous Narrations some Souls were said to be seen standing in burning Brimstone to the Knees some to the Middle some to the Chin others swimming in Caldrons of melted Metal and Devils pouring the Metal down their Throats with many such afrighting Stories But for all this the Proof from Scripture was only drawn from one wrested place of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 3.12 13 14 15. who saith That in the Day of the Lord such as built upon the Foundation of Christ superstructures of Wood Hay and Stubble should be saved because they kept the Foundation yet so as by Fire But this was only a proverbial form of Speech to express the risque they run to be such as of one that escapes out of a Fire such proverbial Speeches being usual in Scripture as that of the Prophet Zech. 3.2 Is not this a Brand plucked out of the Fire Or of the Apostle Jude 23. Some save with fear pulling them out of the Fire And any considering Person will at first view see how slender a Foundation this was for the Superstructure built upon it But the way was contrived for preserving Souls from or rescuing them out of Purgatory will discover what were the Inducements of advancing the belief of it with such Zeal which was thus framed It is believed by that Church that beside the Commands that necessarily oblige all Christians there are many Counsels in the Gospel in order to the attaining a higher pitch of Perfection such as the Counsels of Poverty and Chastity or the like and they teach that such as did not obey these cannot be said to have sinned but on the other hand those who have obeyed them shall not want a Reward by their so supererrogating beyond what was strictly bound upon them and the Reward of them is their meriting both for themselves and others an exemption from the Pains of Purgatory And of all these Merits there is a common Treasure of the Church wherein for good manners sake the Merit of Christ is the chief Stock and this is committed to the Successors of St. Peter to whom the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are believed to be given who can communicate of that Spiritual Treasure as they will either for preserving Souls from Purgatory or for delivering them out of it This could not but work wonders for the exaltation of the Papal Dignity when he was conceited to be honoured of God with so high a Trust This was also made an Engin for advancing all the Papal Designs for upon any Quarrel he had with any Prince the Popes proclaimed a Croisade promising exemption from Purgatory to all who hazarded their Lives for the Service of the Holy Church And the contrivance of Purgatory being universally believed this could not fail to draw great numbers about his Standards And by this means he brought most Princes into that servile subjection to him under which they groaned for many Ages Another practice yet more base and sordid was the selling of Indulgences and Pardons for Mony. Certainly here was Simon 's Crime committed by the pretended Successors of him who had of old accused him that thought the Gift of God might be purchased with Mony and thereupon did cast him out of the Church It were endless to tell the base Arts and blasphemous Discourses of the Monks who were sent through the World to sell these Indulgences which in the end proved fatal to that Church since the excessive magnifying of them did first provoke Luther to examine their Corruptions It is true they will not hear of the harsh word of selling Indulgences but disguise it with their giving them to such as will offer Alms to the Church but really this whole Contrivance is so base so carnal and so unlike the Spirit of Christianity that to repeat it is to refute it Here was a brave Device for enriching the Church when the making great Donations to it was judged so effectual for delivering out of Purgatory Who would not out of love to his Friend's Soul if he believed him frying in these Flames give liberally of his Goods but much rather would a Man give all that he had for his own Security especially when on his Death-bed he were beset with Persons who were confounding him with dismal Apprehensions and thus trafficking with him for the exchange of his Soul. Hence sprung the enriching of Abbeys and Churches for every Religious Order hath its own peculiar Merits which they can communicate to one of their Fraternity If then a dying Man had gained their favour so much that he was received into their Order and died wrapped in one of their Frocks then was his Soul secure from the grim Tormentors below And what an endless heap of Fables had they of Souls being on the brink or in the midst of the Flames and of a sudden snatched out But now all this Trade hath quite failed them therefore Indulgences are fallen in their Rates and in stead of them there are Prayers to be used and especially to be said before priviledged Altars or at such Times or before such Reliques that it is no hard work for any among them to ransome the Souls of others or to preserve their own In a word doth not all this debase the Spirit of true Religion and expose it to the jealousy of Atheists as if it were a Contrivance for advancing base and secular Designs And doth it not eat out the Sense of true Piety when the Vulgar see the Guides of Souls making such shameful Merchandise of them and doing it with such respect of Persons that if a Man be rich enough he is secure whereby our Lord's blessing of the Poor and passing a Woe on the Rich is reversed But above all what indignity is by this done to the Blood of the Son of God And how are the People carried from their dependance on Him and their value of His Sufferings by these Practices Another Art not very remote from this for detracting from the value of Christ's Death and the confidence we should have in it is the Priestly Absolution wherein after the Sinner hath gone over his Sin without any sign of remorse and told them to the Priest he enjoins a Penance the doing whereof is called a satisfaction and the Vulgar do
which we withdrew from her are additions to our faith for in this we mainly differ from that Church that whatever we acknowled they acknowledg likewise but with a great many additions We believe the Scriptures are a rule for Christians and they believe the same but they add Traditions and the authority of the Church to the Scriptures We believe that God is to be worshipped spiritually they believe the same but add that he may be worshipped by images and sensible Figures We believe Christ to be the Mediator betwixt God and Man they believe the same but add to this the intercession of Saints We hold that God and Christ are to be worshipped they hold the same but add Saints and Angels to their worship We believe Heaven and Hell to be the several States of the future life they believe the same but add Purgatory betwixt them to the day of Judgment We believe Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the Sacraments of the new Covenant they believe the same but add five more We believe Christ is spiritually and really present in the Lords Supper this they believe but add the unconceivable Tenent of his corporal presence In a word it might be instanced in many other particulars how they have driven us from their Communion by their additions to the truth and sincerity of the Gospel which they have adulterated by their Inventions and not only have they imposed all these things but thundered out Anathema's on all that question them and have so wreathed all their fopperies with that main and fundamental article of their belief of the infallibility of their Church that it is impossible to hope for their recovery till they renounce that Principle which is so dear to them For if their Church be infallible then in no matter of faith or practice can she decree amiss and therefore the lawfulness and sanctity of all her Decrees must be maintained with an equal vigor and zeal for if in one of them she step aside her infallibility is for ever gone And by this we may see to how little purpose it is to treat of accomodating matters with that Church since there is no possibility of our Union with them without we turn over entirely to them For they cannot part with one of their errors without they first renounce that which is the dearest of them all to wit the unerring authority of their Church How cruel then is that Church which addeth the severe sanction of an Anathema to all her decrees even about the most trifling matters and about things that are by their Confession of their own natures indifferent And a consectary to this is that cruel opinion they hold that none can be saved out of their Communion pretending there is no Salvation without the true Church which they restrict to those who are under the obedience of the Roman Bishop and this is what they usually frighten all with But it is to be considered what the true notion of the Church is that so we may see through this frightful Vizar The Church then is a Society of Christians united in the same faith for worshipping of God jointly And another definition of a Church cannot be proved from Scripture for the Church being called the Body of Christ its union with him as its Head is held forth by the Apostle in these words Col. 2.19 The head Christ from whom the whole body by joints and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God. From which words we see what constitutes a man a member of the true Church which is first his union to Christ as his head together with a dependance on him for growth and nutriture and next his being knit to all others who are thus united to Christ which is first the inward union of divine charity by which he loves all who cleave to Christ as their Head and next his associating himself with them in outward visible acts of worship which every Christian is bound to do with all that worship God in Spirit and Truth But if a Society of Christians do visibly swerve from Christ in many great and signal contradictions to the honour due to his Person and to the obedience due to his Laws and do grosly adulterate the worship so that communion cannot be had with that Church without departing from the Head Christ then it can be no departing from the Church to adhere to Christ and his true worship and to separate from the corruptions which are brought in upon the Christian Religion If then it appear that the Church of Rome hath departed from the truth and simplicity of the Gospel in so many great and main points those who attempted the reforming her to her first Purity and finding that not to be hoped for did unite among themselves for serving and worshipping God aright cannot be charged with separation from the true Church But by that cruel Tenent of theirs they breed up all their Children in the greatest uncharitableness imaginable condemning all who cannot believe their strange Doctrines or concur in their unhallowed worsh p. Thus they are the Schismaticks who have departed from the true Church and who force from their Communion all who adhere to it but this cruelty rests not in uncharitable censures but hath extended it self to as much bloody and barbarous rage as ever sprung from Hell for all the cruelty of the heathen Persecutors cannot match the practises of that Whore that hath been so often drunk with the blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus What enraged cruelty appeared against the poor Waldenses for the separating from their Corruptions How many of all Sexes and Ages were cruelly butchered down by the procurement of the Rulers of that Church and because the Albigenses lived under the protection of Princes that favoured them how did the Popes depose their Princes and instigate other ambitious invaders to seize on their dominions Which to effectuate a Croissade was proclaimed that had been formerly practised against the Enemies of the Christian Faith and Heaven was promised to such as went against these poor innocents whereupon they were killed by thousands without all mercy Never was there any who had the zeal or honesty in these dark ages to witness against the apostacy of the Church but the Pope and Clergy used all means to get his zeal rewarded with a Faggot And when the time of Reformation came with what rage and spite did the Pope by his Letters and Legates instigate all the Princes of Europe to cruelty against them But as these things were not done in corners so they are still so fresh in our remembrance by the copious accounts we have of them that I need not tell what Arts the Popes and other Ecclesiasticks used to set all Germany on fire upon this account Nor need I tell the cruelty was exercised in the Netherlands in Charles the Fifth his time in which more than an hundred thousand are
other Traffiquers and the driving from us those who do so disturb us All the authority we give the Church is Paternal and not Tyrannical our Church-men we hold to be the Pastors but not the Lords of the Flock who are obliged to feed them sincerely both by their Doctrine Labours and whole Conversation but we pretend to no blind obedience due to their directions and count them noble Christians who search and try all they say by that Test of the Scriptures We send the People to confess their sins to God from whom only we teach them to expect their pardon and pretend to no other keys but Ministerial ones over publick and known Scandals In our Worship as all do understand it so every one may joyn in it And in the number use and simplicity of our Sacraments we have religiously adhered to the Rules of the Gospel we holding them to be solemn federal Rites of our Stipulation with God in which if we do worthily partake of them we are assured of the Presence of the Divine Spirit and Grace for uniting our Souls more intirely to God and advancing us in all the ways of the Spirit of Life and if the Institution of them in the Gospel be compared with our Administration of them it will appear how close we have kept to our Rule And thus we see how exactly conform the Doctrine of our Church is to the whole Branches of the Christian Design upon which it is not to be doubted but the Characters of the Christian Religion will also fit ours We found our Faith only on the Scriptures and though we pay a great deal of venerable esteem to the Churches of God during their purity which continued above four Centuries and so be very willing to be determined in Rituals and Matters that are external and indifferent by their Opinions and Practices yet our Faith settles only on the Word of God and not on the Traditions of Men neither do we believe every Spirit that pretends to Rapts and Visions but try the Spirits whether they be of God or not and though an Angel should preach to us another Gospel we would ho d him accursed The Miracles we trust to as the Proofs of the Truth of that Revelation which we believe are only those contained in the Scriptures and though we believe there was a wonder working power continued for some time in the Church yet we make a great difference betwixt what we historically credit and what we religiously believe neither will we for supporting our Interest or Authority have recourse to that base trade of forging lying Wonders but we rest satisfied with the Miracles Christ and his Apostles wrought for the proof of the Religion we own since what we believe is no other than what they taught and therefore we leave the trade of forging new Miracles to them who have forged a new Religion And for the plain genuines of the Gospel we have not departed a step from it since we call upon our People by all the motives we can devise and with all the earnestness we are Masters of to receive full and clear Instruction in all the Matters of our Religion which we distinctly lay open to them And nothing of Interest or Design can be charged on us who pretend to nothing but to be the Stewards of the Mysteries of God nor have we offered to sophisticate the simplicity of our Worship by any additions to it for the determining about some particular forms is no addition to Worship but only the following forth of these Precepts of doing all things to edification peace and order But an addition to Worship is when any new piece of Divine Service is invented with a pretence of our being more acceptable to God thereby or of our receiving Grace by that conveyance and therefore any Rites we have as they are not without some hints from Scripture so we pretend not to become any way acceptable to God by them Further We teach no irrational nor unconceivable Doctrine It is true there are Mysteries in our Faith and even reason it self teacheth that these must be unconceivable but for all our other persuasions they are such as may be well made out to the rational faculties of Man therefore we do not betake our selves to that Sanctuary that we must be believed assert what we please but we assert nothing but what we offer to evince by the clearest proofs And in fine we add nothing to the burdensomness of the Laws of Christ but teach and propose them as we have them from his Gospel without adding changing or altering a tittle from the first Institution And so far have I considered the Doctrine and Worship of our Church wherein if I could justify all our Practices as well as I can do our Principles there were no grounds to fear hurt from all the Cavils of Mortals But for bad practices whatsoever matter of regrate they may furnish us with they afford none for separation Therefore there is no ground that can justify a separation from our Church much less warrant the turning over from us to the Communion of Rome And thus far have I pursued my designed Enquiry which was if with a safe Conscience any might adjoin themselves to the Popish Religion or if Communion with our Church was to be kept and continued in and have found great grounds to assert the evident hazards of the former so that no man to whom his salvation and welfare is dear can or ought to joyn himself to that Church on the other hand without renting the Body of Christ none can or ought to depart from our Churches But I leave the perusal and considering of these things to the serious Reader to whom I hope they may give some satisfaction if he bring with him to the Enquiry an attentive serious and unbyassed mind And I leave the success of this and every other attempt of this nature for the clearing of Divine truth with him who is the only Fountain of Blessings who is over all God blessed for evermore Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Joseph Watts SUre and Honest Means for the Conversion of all Hereticks and Wholesome Advice and Expedients for the Reformation of the Church Writ by one of the Communion of the Church of Rome with a Preface by a Divine of the Church of England 4 to Dialogues between Philerene and Philalethe concerning the Popes Supremacy The first Part. 4 to A Treatise of the Corruption of Scripture Councils and Fathers by the Prelates Pastors and Pillars of the Church of Rome for maintenance of Popery by Thomas James Library-keeper of Oxford In five Parts 8 vo The True Nature of the Divine-Law and of Disobedience thereunto in Nine Discourses tending to shew in the one a Loveliness in the other a Deformity By Samuel Dugard sometime fellow of Trinity College in Oxon now Rector of Horton in Staffordshire 8 vo Reform'd Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year in two parts Second Edition 12 s. An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with Devotions c. By Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Late Majesty The Seventh Edition with Additions A Compleat Discourse of the Nature Use and Right-managing of that Wonderful Instrument the Baroscope or Quicksilver Weather-glass in Four parts by John Smyth C. M. To which is added the true Equation of Natural Days drawn up for the use of the Gentry in order to their more true adjusting and right managing of Pendulum Clocks and Watches
Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost how have they added so many adulterated Rites the Child must be thrice blown upon then a Charm used for turning the Devil out of him he must be anointed with holy Oil and hallowed Salt must be put in his Mouth sanctified Garments also must be put on him and a holy Wax-candle in his Hand and the Priest's Spittle must be gently stroaked upon him Whether doth all this look like the Simplicity of the Spouse of Christ or the Attire of the Harlot And in the other Sacrament a great deal more ado is made so that any indifferent Spectator who were not warned of it would swear it were a solemn piece of Pageantry the Priest must come in cloathed with rich embroidered Vestments then he goes to the Altar sometimes reads on the one side then he turns to the other Often he bows and kisses and crosses sometimes single sometimes thrice repeated crosses Most of the Office he mutters though what he says is all alike understood being in an unknown Tongue Sometimes he turns to the People and gives them a short Barbarian Benediction Then he goes on till he comes to the five wonder-working Words And then instead of the Bread which the force of these words hath driven to nothing behold a God to be worshipped by the Spectators And after the Adoration the God is to be devoured by the Priest which made the Arabian say He never saw a Sect of Religion so foolish as the Christians were who with their Teeth devoured the God they had adored Certainly all this looks so like a piece of Extravagance especially if the simplicity of the first Institution be considered that many will doubt if it be possible that such Worship can be received in any corner of the Christian World. And by these Hints though an hundred more might be instanced let it be guessed what is become of the simplicity of the Christian Religion when it is so vitiated in all the Parts and Branches of it And whether that genuine sincere spirituality appear in it which the Gospel holds forth to the World These things having a native tendency for leading away the Soul from attending upon God in her Acts of Worship which is the only thing for which external Worship is to be continued in that in it we may jointly concur to converse with our Maker If from this I should reckon up all the Tricks are used in secreter Worship what Stories should I tell of the pattering over the Beads of the multiplying little unintelligible Prayers the using of Penances some whereof are ridiculous for their gentleness and others of them are as formidable for their horror and fitter for the Priests of Baal or the worshippers of Diana Taurica then for those that worship the living God with joy and gladness of Heart Now by the performance of these the simple deluded People imagine themselves reconciled to God and secured from his Wrath And so go about them meerly in the opinion of a Charm. But I must next shew how the multiplicity of the Jewish Rites was also brought in upon Christendom though Christ came to set us at liberty from that Pedagogy which was made up of Ordinances and lifeless Precepts that could not make the doer thereof perfect nothing being enjoined in the Christian Religion but that which was of it self easy and proper for the great Design of purifying our Souls Now such as have brought in a Yoke of Ordinances that have no tendency to the cleansing of our Souls but oppress us with their tyrannical burdensomness being both heavy and numerous must be looked on as the introducers of a new Judaism for oppressing the Christian World What a heap of new superadded Forms have the High-Priests of Rome brought upon these who stoop to their Tyranny And how much Sanctity do they place in them enjoining severer Censures on the violatition of these than on the greatest Transgressions against either the Moral or Positive Laws of God How many Holy Days have they instituted How much distinction of Meats of Fasting and Abstinence And how like are their Jubilees and Pilgrimages to the Jubilees and yearly trotting up to Jerusalem which was among the Jews In a word there is not a piece of Worship about which there is not a greater appendage of vain pompous and withall burdensom Ceremonies than were among the Jews Shall I here mention the five superadded Sacraments to the two instituted by Christ with all the Rites belonging to each of them or recount all the Rites in their multifarious Ordinations Shall I tell of the laying up the Bodies when dead and of the forms of their Burials The burning of Lamps in the clearest Day together with the Incense that perfumes the Worship which are clear pieces of antiquated Judaism In a word no part of the parallel holds more exactly than that they are zealous of the Traditions of their Fathers whereby the Commandments of God are made of none effect and that they honour God with their Lips when their Hearts are far from him And worship him in vain teaching for Doctrins the Commandments of Men Matth. 15.8 9. And hitherto I have discoursed upon the first limb of Antichristianism and have discovered too evident Indications of the Contradictions is in it to the first branch of the Design of Christianity whereby the Worship of God is partly adulterate and partly smothered by a heavy and trouble-some Load of useless and lifeless Performances which must needs lead out the Soul from an inward attending on God or free converse with him The second Branch of Christianity is the holding forth that Mysterious Contrivance of the Wisdom and Goodness of God for reconciling the World to himself by his dear Son whom he gave to the Death for us and also raised up making him both Lord and Christ Whose Glory and dignity is vulgarly branched out in these his three Offices of Prophet Priest and King. By the first of which he revealed the Father and his whole Counsel to Mankind in plain and simple Discourses afterwards committed to writing by the faithful Eye and Ear-witnesses of his Majesty His Prophetick Office therefore is chiefly acknowledged in our grateful receiving these Discoveries and our studying to adjust both our Faith and Practice to that unerring Rule But can any thing be more contradictory to this than to keep the knowledg of these Writings from Christians to accuse their Darkness and Defects and to apprehend great danger from their diligent perusal to vilify that sacred Study preferring the lame and lifeless Discourses of Men to the Words of eternal Wisdom For we must consider that our study of the Gospel is of the same nature with a personal following of Christ when on Earth to see his Miracles and hear his Doctrin the same is also to be said of the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles Now to bar the Vulgar from this is to hinder them to hear and
the Nature of Religion it being a thing sutable to the Powers of the Soul shews that a Man must have a conviction of the truth of it on his Mind and that he cannot be bound in contradiction to his own apprehensions to receive any Opinions meerly upon the testimony of others If to confirm all this I should add all can be brought from History for proving General Councils to have erred in Matters of Faith or that Popes have been Hereticks or that they have been anathematized as such by other Popes and General Councils I should be too tedious But in end how shall the Vulgar know the Definitions of Councils or the Decrees of Popes Or must they be blindly determined by the Priest's Assertion Certainly this were to expose them to the greatest Hazards since they are not suffered to found their Faith upon the Scriptures Nor doth the Church reveal her Doctrines to them so that their Faith must be resolved upon the bare Testimony of a Priest who is perhaps both ignorant and licentious And by this we may judg to what a pass the Souls of the People are brought by this Doctrine In a word We are not the Servants of Men nor bound to their Authority for none can be a Judg but where he hath Power both to try and to coerce Now none but God can either search our Hearts or change them for as no Humane Power can know our Thoughts so neither can it turn them which are not in our own Power much less in the Power of others therefore our Consciences can and must only fall within God's Jurisdiction And since the renovation of the Image of God consists in Knowledg and Religion designs an union of our Souls to Divine Truth that we may freely converse with it it will follow that all these Pretences of absolute Authority and Infallibility in Teaching are contrary to Christ's Prophetick Office who came to reveal the Father to us The second of Jesus Christ's Offices was the Priestly without which the former had never been effectual for had we known never so perfectly the Will of God without a method had been laid down for reconciling Sinners to him it was in vain to think of Religion since nothing Sinners could do was able to appease God or expiate Sin but this was fully done by the Sacrifice of that Lamb of God Who became Sin for us and bare our Sins in his own Body in whom we have Redemption even forgiveness of Sin through his Blood 2 Cor. 5.21 1 Pet. 2.24 Ephes 1.7 If then any have derogated from the value of this Satisfaction they have offered the utmost indignity to the highest Love and committed the Crime of the greatest Ingratitude imaginable who would requite the most inconceivable Love with such a Sacrilegious attempt But how guilty are they of this who would set the Merits and Works of Men in an equality with the Blood of God as if by these we were justified or owed our Title to Glory to our own performances whereas we are taught by the Oracles of God that by Grace we are saved that God only hath made the difference betwixt us and others and that he hath freely chosen us in his Son Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 1 Cor. 4.7 And alas what are we or what is all we do that it can pretend to the lowest degree of God's Acceptance without he freely both help us in it and accept of us for it so that when he rewards us for our Services with Eternal Life he freely crowns his own free Gifts to us For when we consider how great a disproportion there is betwixt our best Services and Eternal Glory when we also remember how all our good Actions flow from the Principles of Divine Grace freely given but withal reflect on the great Defects and Imperfections that hang about our best Performances we will not be able to entertain any thoughts of our meriting ought at the Hands of God. And certainly the deeper Impressions we have either of the Evil of Sin or the Goodness of God we will be further from a capacity of swelling big in our own Thoughts or of claiming any thing on the pretensions of Justice or Debt It is true this Doctrine of Merit is so explained by some of that Church that there remains no ground of quarrelling it except for the Terms sake which is indeed odious and improper though early used by the Ancients in an innocent sense But many of that Church acknowledg there there can be no Obligation on God by our Works but that which his own Promise binds upon him which none who believe the Truth of the Promises of the Gospel can question yet still we must remember that we owe all to the Love of Jesus and nothing to our selves which as it is the Matter of the Hallelujahs of glorified Saints so should be the Subject of our daily Acknowledgments wherefore we must abominate every thing that may seem to detract from this But alas were all this Zeal many of that Communion own for Merits and good Works meant for the advancing a Holy and Spiritual Life it would carry a good Apology with it and its noble Design would very much qualify the severity of its Censure but when these good Works which for so many Ages were highly magnified were the building of Churches the enriching of Abbeys Pilgrimages and other trifling and voluntary pieces of Will-worship advanced for the Secular Interests of the Church what shall be said of all that pains was used by the Monks for advancing them but that they were willing to sell the value of the Blood and Merits of Christ for advancing their own secular Interests and devised Practices Alas how far are these from that Holiness and Sanctity which must qualify us for the Kingdom of God and the Inheritance of the Saints And to end this Matter let me add one thing which is most evident to all who have observed the Methods of the Directors of Consciences in that Church that with whatever Distinctions this Matter be varnished over among them yet the Vulgar do really imagine they buy and sell with Almighty God by their undergoing these Laws of the Church and Penances imposed by their Confessor Which as it nourisheth the Life of Pride and Self-love so it detracts from the value they ought to set on the Blood of Christ as their only Title to Heaven and Glory And to this I must add that distinction of the temporary and eternal Punishments Sin deserves The latter whereof they acknowledg are removed by the Blood of Christ but the former must be expiated by our selves either by Sufferings in this Life or those we must endure in Purgatory unless by the Pope's Charity we be delivered from them Now how contrary this is to the Value we are taught to set on the Blood of Christ all may judg Ephes 2.15 5.27 By Christ Peace is made we are reconciled to God he represents us to the Father without
and Jesuits and is a Doctrine dearly entertained in the Court of Rome to this day as appeared from the late Attempt of Pope Paul the Fifth upon Venice But the World is now a little wiser than to be carried away by these Arts and therefore that Pretence is laid to sleep till haply the Beast be healed of the Wound was given it at the Reformation But I cannot leave this Particular without my sad Regrates that too deep a tincture of this Spirit of Antichristianism is among many who pretend much aversion to it since the Doctrine of resisting Magistrates upon colours of Religion is so stiffly maintained and adhered to by many who pretend to be highly reformed tho this be one of the Characters of the scarlet-coloured Whore. But thus far have we gone through the second part of Antichrist's Character and have discovered too clear indications of a difformity to the Spirit and Truth of the Christian Religion in all the Branches of the Honour and Worship due to Jesus the only Mediator of the New Covenant From this I proceed to the third part of my Enquiry which is the Opposition made to the great Design of Christian Religion for elevating the Souls of Men into a participation of the Divine Nature whereby the Soul being inwardly purified and the outward Conversation regulated the World may be restored to its Primitive Innocence And Men admitted to an inward and intimate fellowship with their Maker The first step of this Renovation is Repentance for God commands Men every where to repent and Repentance and Remission of Sins are always united And this being an horrour at Sin upon the sense of its native deformity and contrariety to the Law of God which makes the Soul apprehend the hazard it hath incurred by it so as to study by all means possible to avoid it in all time coming nothing doth prepare the mind more for Faith in Christ and the study of a new Life than Repentance which must needs be previous to these But what Devices are found to enervate this Sins must be divided into Venial and Mortal the former deserving only some temporal Punishment and being easily expiated by some trifling piece of seeming Devotion and hereby many Sins are struck out of the Penitents consideration For who can have a great apprehension of that which is so slightly expiated And this may be extended to the easy Pardons given for acknowledged mortal Sins For he who thinks that God can be appeased for them with the saying by rote so many Prayers cannot possibly have deep apprehensions of their being either so displeasing to God or so odious in themselves But shall I to this add their asserting that a simple attrition which is a sorrow flowing from the consideration of any temporal Evil God hath brought upon the Sinner without any regard had either to the vileness of the Sin or the Offence done to God by it that is I say can suffice for justifying Sinners and qualifying them for the Sacrament whereby the necessity of Contrition and Sorrow flowing from the Principle of the Love of God is made only a high degree of Perfection but not indispensibly necessary In the next place all these Severities they enjoin for Penances do but tend to nourish the Life of Sin when Sinners see a Trade set up by which they can buy themselves off from the Wrath of God. To this is to be added the Doctrine of Indulgences which is so direct an opposition to Evangelical Repentance as if it had been contrived for dispossessing the World of the sense of it That which is next pressed in the Gospel for uniting the souls of Mankind to God is that noble ternary of Graces Faith Hope and Love by which the Soul rests in God by a holy affiance in him believing the Truth of his Gospel expecting the accomplishment of his Promises waiting for the full fruition of him and delighting in his glorious Perfections and Excellencies Now how much all this is shaken by these carnal and gross Conceptions the Roman Doctrine offers of God in their Image and Mass-worship and by their Idolatry to Saints is apparent Are they not taught to confind more in the Virgin or their Tutelar Saints than in the Holiest of all Doth not the fear of Purgatory damp the hopes of future blessedness And finally what impious Doctrine hath been publickly licensed and printed in that Church of the degrees of the love we owe to God Some blasphemously teaching that we are not at all bound to love him others mincing it so as if they were afraid of his being too much beloved In a word there is an impiety in the Morals of some of that Church particularly among the Disciples of Loyola beyond what was ever taught amongst the worst of the Heathen Philosophers which hath been fully discovered by some of the honester and more zealous of that Communion And though these Corruptions have not been avowed by the Head of that Church yet by their being publickly vented by the Deaf Ear he gives to all the Complaints against them and by the constant Caresses and Priviledges he heaps upon that Order which teacheth them he discovers either his great Satisfaction in that corrupt Doctrine or that upon the account of other interests he is content to betray the Souls of Christians into the corruption of such impious and ungodly Leaders since the Order that hath owned all these Corruptions is yet possessed of the Consciences of the greater part of them that own that Communion they being the universal Confessors And since they license the publick vending of so much corrupt Doctrine in printed Writings what reason have we to suspect their base compliance with Sins in their more secret and unknown Practisings with such poor deluded Souls as trust to their Conduct of which many proofs are brought by other of that same Church But I pursue my enquiry into the other traces of the Antichristian Corruption of the Purity and Power of our most Holy Faith Solemn Worship and secret Devotion are the great means of uniting Souls to God and of deriving the assistance of his Spirit and Grace to us but when these are performed in an unknown Tongue how uncapable are they of reaching that End And the Doctrine of the efficacy of the Sacraments for conveying of Grace by the Work wrought looks like a design against all serious preparation for the worthy receiving of them since by that Doctrine a Man be he never so ill prepared yet is sure of their efficacy for if his Priest absolve him and he have a simple Attrition for Sin without any thing of the Love of God he is by their Doctrine and Conduct qualified for receiving worthily were his Heart never so much united to Sin or averse from all Devotion or Application to Divine Matters And what Complaints shall be here made of these who teach that the sure way of gaining the Favour of God which they phrase by the Keys of
I should descend to the Cardinals Bishops and Abbots and shew how secular they are become all their design being to engross the Power and monopolize all Riches which contagion is also derived into the Inferiour Orders of the Clergy who by the magnifying of their Images Saints and Reliques use all the Arts they can devise for enriching of themselves and their friends And even those Orders that pretend to mortification and abandoning the world and talk of nothing but their poor and austere manner of Life yet have possessed themselves of no small part of the Riches and glory of the World. It is true there is a young Brotherhood among them which though the youngest yet hath outstripped the elder and made them stoop to it and serve it And what base and sordid ways that Society hath pursued for arriving at the highest pitch of greatness and riches and how successfully they have managed their designs is sufficiently cleared what through the Zeal of some of the honester of that Communion what through the envy of other emulating Orders All these things do fully prove how unlike that Church is to the poor and pure simplicity of Christ and his Apostles and of the first Ages of the Church If we further examine the Characters of Evangelical purity we have them from the mouth of our Saviour when he commands us to learn of him for he was meek and lowly in heart and he made it the distinguishing badge of his Disciples that they loved one another Now for humility it is true the Head of that Church calls himself the servant of the servants of God but how far such humility is from his Design his aspiring pretences do loudly declare All the World must stoop to him not only must his fellow-Bishops swear obedience to him and become his Vassals but the Kings of the Earth must be his footstool and all must pay him that servile homage of kissing his foot an ambition as insolent as extravagant His power must be magnified with the most blasphemous Titles of his being God our Lord God on Earth Omnipotent with a great deal more of such servile Adulations offered to him from the Parasites of that Court. in a word a great part of that Religion when rightly considered will be found on design contrived and abetted for exalting him to the highest degrees of insolence But so many proofs of this were already upon other occasions hinted that it is needless to go over them again and that same leven levens the whole lump of their Clergy who all pretend that by their Ecclesiastical character they are only subject to their Head and so enjoy an immunity from the Civil Authority be their crimes what they may be And an in-road on this pretence of late from the State of Venice when they seized two Churchmen that were highly guilty drew out so much of their most holy Fathers indignation that he thundred against them and finding the weakness of the spiritual sword resolved to try the edge of his temporal one upon them in patrociny partly of these Villains and partly of the covetousness of the Clergy to which the Senate had set a small limit by a Decree but finding they were like to prove too hard for him he was willing to put up his sword rather than to kill and eat as one of his Cardinals advised him Shall I with this also tell the instances of the ambition of Cardinals who from their first original of being Presbyters of Rome have risen up to the height of counting themselves the companions of Kings and in their habits affect a Princely splendor but have unluckily chosen the Liveries of the whore for they wear Scarlet as the Bishops do Purple the foretold colours of the Whores Garments Shall I next shew to what a height of pride the exaltation of the Priestly dignity among them hath risen as if it were equal nay preferrable to the condition of Princes The Priest giving absolution is a sure device to make his power be much accounted of since he can forgive sin The gorgeous and rich apparel they wear in worship serves also to set off their Dignity And what a goodly device is it that their spittle must make one of the sacred Rites in Baptism Certainly that must be esteemed a marvellous holy creature whose very excrements are so sacred Their engrossing the Cup to themselves from the people was another trick for raising of their esteem But above all things their power of transmuting the substance of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ by uttering five words was a marvellous device to make all the World admire them who can so easily and every day work a miracle compared to which all the miracles of the Gospel may pass for ordinary actions What a great piece of wonder must such a man be held to be who can thus exercise his authority over the very person of Jesus Christ notwithstanding of all the glory to which he is now exalted And it was no contemptible Engine for that same design to possess the people with a belief of the Priests offering in the Mass an expiatory Sacrifice for the sins both of the dead and living which proved a Stock for them to trade on both for their ambition and covetousness and from these evidences we may infer how little of the humility of Christ appears in the Church from the highest to the lowest The next branch of the Evangelical spirit is Meekness and Charity which leads me unto the consideration of the fourth Design of the Christian Religion which was the uniting of Mankind under one Head and into one Body and this it designed to effectuate not only by these sublime Precepts of the highest love and the utmost extent of the pardoning of injuries and of returning them with the best offices of love and prayer which the blessed Author of our Faith did enact but by the associating of the Faithful into one Society called the Church which was to be united with the closest bonds of brothely love and charity and was to be governed by Pastors and Teachers who should feed the flock with the sincere milk of the Word and was also to be cemented together by the Ligaments of the holy Sacraments by which as by joynts and bands they are both united to their Head and knit together Now we are from these things to consider what opposition that Church we are now considering gives to this branch of the end of Christianity And first whereas the Gospel pronounceth us free and that we are no more the servants of men but of God if any attempt upon that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free he changeth the authority of the Church into a tyrannical yoke much more if all the new articles of belief and rules for practice be imposed under the severest certificates But here we are to consider that all these things which that Church hath imposed on all of her communion for
she is so poor as not to be able to maintain such Seminaries But on the way it is no great character of the Piety of their Church that she abounds so with great and rich donations when we consider the Arts they used for acquiring them by making People believe themselves secure of Heaven by such donations Indeed had we got our People befooled into such persuasions the cheat might have prospered as well in our hands but we are not of those who handle the Word of God deceitfully nor will we draw the People even to do good with a crafty guile or lye for God. But now as a conclusion to this Discourse I must consider if all things among us be so sound and well grounded that with a quiet Mind and good Conscience every one may hold Communion with our Church and hope for Salvation in it I shall therefore briefly run over the Nature and Characters of the Christian Faith to see if any contradiction to them or any part of them be found among us And first of all we worship God in Spirit as a Spiritual Being with suitable Adorations which we direct to no Image nor Symbol of the Divine Presence but teach that we ought not to figure God to any corporeal being no not in our thoughts neither do we worship any beside God the Father Son and Spirit We also worship Christ but as he is God and hath the fulness of the God-head dwelling in him bodily Angels indeed we honour but knowing them to be our fellow-servants we cannot pray to them or fall down before them We count the holy Virgin blessed among women but dare give her no share of the glory due to her Son All the Saints we reverence and love but knowing God to be a jealous God we cannot divide that honour among them which is only due to him and therefore do neither worship them their Images nor their Reliques We desire also to offer up to God such Sacrifices as we know are well-pleasing to him Prayers Praises broken and contrite Hearts and our Souls and Bodies but reject all Charms and Enchantments from our Worship as contrary to the reasonable service which is acceptable to God and do retain the genuine simplicity of the Gospel-worship in a plain and intelligible stile and form without any mixtures drawn from Judaism or Gentilism And thus there is nothing among us contrary to the first design of Religion And as little will be found against the second which is the honour due to Christ in all his Offices We teach our People to study the Scriptures and to examine all we say by them and exhort them to depend on God who by his Spirit will teach them as well as us neither do we pretend to an authority over their Consciences but acknowledg our selves men of like infirmities with the People who are all called to be a Royal Priesthood and thus we honour Christ's Prophetical Office by founding our Faith only on the Divine Authority of the Scriptures We also believe there is no Name given under Heaven by which we can be saved but the Name of Christ who laid down his Life a ransom for our Souls that by his Cross we might be reconciled to God and it is to that one Sacrifice that we teach all to fly for obtaining remission of sins and the favour of God trusting only to it and to nothing we have done or can do knowing that when we have done all we can do we are but unprofitable servants much less do we hope for any thing from any of our Fellow-creatures We apply our Souls to no Intercessor but Christ and trust to no Satisfaction but his and we acknowledg him the only King of his Church whose Laws must bind it to the end of the World. Neither do we acknowledg any other Authority but his over our Consciences It is true in things indifferent he hath left a power with his Church to determine in those Matters which may tend to advance order edification peace and decency but as the Church cannot add to our Faith so neither can it institute new pieces of Worship which shall commend us to God or bind any load upon our Souls We own a Ministerial Authority in all the Pastors of the Church which they derive from Jesus Christ and not from any visible Head on Earth and therefore they are only subject to Christ We also hold that the Civil Powers are of Christ whose Gospel binds the duty of obedience to them more closely on us and therefore if they do wrong we leave them to Christ's Tribunal who set them up but pretend to no power from his Gospel to coerce or resist them and thus we honour Christ in all his Offices and so are conform to the second branch of the design of our Faith. We also receive the third with the same fidelity and whatever the practices of too too many among us be yet there is no ground to quarrel our Doctrine we preach repentance to all and study to convince them of their misery and lost estate that they may mourn for their sins and turn to God by a new course of life we preach Faith through Christ in God as that which unites our souls to him by which we are in Christ and Christ is in us We stir up our people to love the Lord their God with all their heart strength soul and mind and to wait for his Son Christ Jesus who is the hope of glory and shall change our vile bodies into the likeness of his glorious Body And from this great motive do we press our people to the study of holiness withâ—ut which they shall never see God. We send them to the ten Commandments for the rule of their lives whose exposition we chiefly take from Christ's Sermon on the Mount neither can we be charged for having taught the People to break one of the least of these Commandments We exhort all our hearers to make the life of Christ the pattern of theirs and to learn of him who was meek and lowly in heart neither can our Church be accused of having taught any Carnal Doctrines for gratifying the base Interests of the flesh or for ingrossing the power or treasure of the World the subsistence of our Church-men being but a livelyhood and not a treasure In a word we preach Christ and him Chrucified and all the rules of his Gospel for ordering the conversation aright without adding or taking from it and thus our conformity to the third branch of Christianity appears We teach also according to the fourth branch of Christianity the Doctrines of Charity neither do we condemn any who hold the foundation though in some lesser matters they differ from us but hope they may be saved as well as we We abhor the Doctrine of cruel persecuting of any for their Consciences The outmost we allow of or desire of that nature being the preservation of our own Societies pure from the contagion of