procurement Oh says the Cardinal those persons were disaffected to the Catholick Interest and these are my good deeds with which I intend to present my Saviour A story that needs no other invective than the bare relation But I would not willingly accuse all while some only are liable to this charge For many Romish Doctors mean no more by merit than that obligation God hath by promise laid upon himself to reward our good works And this I think none that understand the Nature of the Divine Promises can gainsay These men we accuse only for the use of a proud improper term tho once us'd by the ancient Fathers in an innocent sence 2. By their Doctrine of penance and Purgatory Whereas the Scripture tells us that Christ hath pai'd down a compleat Ransom for our sins and it is through his Blood alone we can expect a freedom from the punishments we have deserved yet this Church hath Coind new distinctions between the temporary and eternal punishments of sin as if tho the latter be remov'd by the Blood of Christ the former must be satissi'd for by our selves either in this Life or in Purgatory To this end they have given the Priests a commission to injoyn penances for sin as satisfactions to Divine Justice and preventive of surther punishment Penances so Ludicrous and Trifling that it is a sign of great infatuation in any that can believe by such cheap and easy performances to appease the anger of an offended Deity Penances consisting of little observances such as numbering their Prayers by their Beads saying so many Avemaries at some priviledg'd Altars in abstaining from Flesh for so many days in whipping their bodies in wearing hair-shirts and the cords of the particular Orders and numerous other little pieces of solly and superstition By these means do they take off sinners from their grateful love and duty to the Redeemer and earnest believing-applications to the Lord Jesus who is appointed by the Father as the sole Mediator of his Church and through whom alone we can expect deliverance from punishments whether temporal or eternal Of the same nature is their Doctrine of Purgatory a state of torments in the other world equal in degree tho not in continuance to those of Hell wherein those souls must sry who have not satisfi'd for their sins here till their friends give money to the Priest to pray them thence By this means the interests of the Clergy are advanc'd and the grandeur of that Church promoted This hath enrich'd their Abbies adorn'd their Chappels fill'd their Coffers and made good provision for all the begging Orders among them For while they scar'd the people with such a terrible Doctrine and yet pretended a power of Praying them thence who would not give liberally to those who were able to deliver them from such extremity of torment A Doctrine which the honester of their Doctors acknowledg is not to be found in cripture and these who pretend to prove it thence have brought such lame and farfetch'd proâ—â—s as are as easily refuted as mention'd the only Text that can with the least probability be stretch'd to this sense is that of 1 Cor. 3. 15. He himself shall be sav'd yet so as by fire But this is but a proverbical speech and by the context the meaning plainly appears to be that he who holding the essentials of Christianity shall corrupt it by additions of other disagreeing Doctrines is in a very hazardous condition and tho his salvation is possible yet it is but as a mans whose house is on fire about his ears extreamly dubious and very uncertain which how applicable to the Romanists hath been excellently showed by others and will further appear by this discourse But were there such a place as this what a derogation is it to the blood and prerogative of Christ to think that money can procure a Release from thence The Psalmist I am sure tells us that they who trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can redeem his brother or pay to God a Ransom for him Psal 49. 6. 7. But this is but Old-Testament-Divinity and Purgatory hath been built since that time or rather the infallible Head of the Church will not be guided by the Laws of the Bible For tho St. Peter would not sell the gifts of the Spirit for Money yet a fair purchase of eternal Life may be bought of his Successor if God would as willingly consent as he And we may invert St. Peters words and apply them to the Romanists 1 Pet. 1. 18. They are bought with corruptable things and redeem'd by silver and gold from the imaginary flames of Purgatory tho not from that vain conversation receiv'd by tradition from their Fathers But we have not so learn'd Christ Scripture mentions but two places Heaven and Hell if we lead Pious and Holy lives we may receive death with a joyful welcome and need not allay our comforts by the fears of an after-reckoning in another world And tho we may have been guilty of many venial sins in a Gospel-sense through infirmity surprise and sudden temptation or of any more mortal ones of a deeper die yet upon our sincere repentance the Blood of Christ without the fire of Purgatory will cleanse us from all these and present us pure and spotless to the Father But if we die in an impenitent state we shall be presently doom'd to endless remediless torments and all the wealth of the Indies will never procure us a deliverance thence I might further mention their practice of selling Indulgences for money which happily occasioned the reformation by Luther By this they they have made easy composition for sins and the Taxa Cameroe Apostolicoe a book publickly printed amongst them sets down at what easy rates an absolution may be obtained for the most unnatural vices Now what a direct tendency hath this to make men set light by their sins tread under foot the blood of the Son of God and account the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus perfectly unnecessary 3. By their doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass as a formal expiation of the living and dead Tho the Apostle to the Hebrews makes the great excellence of Christs sacrifice above those of the Levitical Law to consist in this That it was so full and compleat that it needs no repetition Heb. 10. 12 14. Yet the Romanists have made it a great part of their Religion to offer him every day in the Mass as a propitiatory proper sacrifice and thus make his former sacrifice on the cross incompleat and imperfect or rather wholly unnecessary for Christ instituted the Sacrament before his passion and if he then offer'd up himself as a propitiation for our sins what need was there at all of his bloody death and passion It is acknowledged that the Eucharist may be called a sacrifice in the same improper sense as our prayers and alms-deeds and repentances
in this Chapter are come to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Jews and a mixture of Heathen Greeks and those v. 2. call'd devout i. e. Proselytes of the Gate that disown'd the Follies and Superstitions of the vulgar Heathen worship'd one God and complied with the seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah St. Paul gives the preference to his own Nation and according to his usual custom in other places goes into the Jewish Synagogue and for three successive v. 3. Sabbaths reason'd with them and proves by their Law That Jesus must be the expected Missiah And his v. 4 Arguments were so covincing that he gain'd some converts among the Jews and proselyted a numerous company of Religious Greeks But those v. 5. who remain'd obstinate in their infidelity being fill'd with rage gathered together a Rabble of the baser sort and tumultuously throng to the house of Jason whose Guest St. Paul was and would forcibly have drag'd the Apostles before the Civil Magistrate but they having prudently declin'd their fury Jason with some other Converts is hal'd before the Rulers of the City and accus'd as an Harbourer v. 6. of Traytors or at least Disturbers of the publick Peace For they cry out These that have turn'd the world upside down are come hither also Whom Jason hath receiv'd These they speak concerning the Apostles these whom Jason hath receiv'd That have turn'd the world upside down The Greek word is as I remember us'd but once more in the New Testament and there it is rendred to trouble Gal. 5. 12. I wish they were even cut off which trouble you i. e. unsettle your minds and seek to pervert you by teaching that new Doctrine of Circumcision and keeping the Ceremonial part of Moses's Law The word properly signifies to Disorder Disquiet and raise Confusion So that the Accusation against the Apostles may be understood either more Generally or Particularly 1. More Generally So the Accusation may be These that have disturb'd the World by bringing in a new Religion that have overturn'd the Ancient Religions and brought in new Doctrines directly opposite to the former as if they should have said They propagate new Principles destructive of the Ancient Religion of us Jews and customary rites of you Gentiles they have in every place argued against that Law which we are assured came down from Heaven and laugh at that Worship which you account most sacred and venerable They have not only created disturbance by this means in other Cities but with the same design are come hither also and therefore your duty to your Gods obliges you to silence and restrain them they indeed have escaped our hands but we have brought these before you who have given entertainment to their Persons in their Houses and their Doctrines in their hearts 2. More Particularly The Apostles may be here accus'd as disturbing the World by teaching Doctrines of Rebellion and Sedition Indeed as they brought in a new Religion they might be accounted Authors of Sedition because all Innovations were look'd upon as tending to unsettle the Peace of the State but the more particular crime of which they may here accuse them seems to be the immediate tendency of some of their Doctrines to Rebellion and this is countenanc'd by the 7th verse These all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar saying there is another King one Jesus we may therefore suppose the charge of the Jews to be manag'd after such a manner as this These that are the Pests of Societies and highly disaffected to the establish'd Government Friends of Anarchy and Enemies to Cesar that maintain rebellious Principles and sow Sedition wherever they come that have cast off all sense of Allegiance and teach others to renounce their Subjection to their Emperor that will not obey the Laws themselves and perswade others to refuse their Obedience also and preach up Subjection to another King one Jesus these as they have disturb'd the Government in other Cities so here also have they spread their Infection These are the men these are their Principles and whether they are worthy of restraint judg ye Thus do the malicious Jews misrepresent the Doctrines of these Messengers of Peace and Innocence it self was not a sufficient Guard against the Persecution of their envenom'd Tongues And oh that I might say concerning the whole Christian World at this day that such an Accusation would be Slanderous against them as well as the Apostles but alas the Groans and Sighs of England as well as other Lands gives too sad occasion to cry out These that have turn'd the world upside down have come hither also I shall speak to the words in both these senses seeing they will well bear it and are exactly suited to my design In order to a more methodical Progress I shall speak to four Generals 1. Whether the Apostles did introduce a new Religion different from what was before entertain'd in the World and whether they had the Divine Commission to do so For if they could produce the Warrant of God for what they did they could not justly be blam'd or accus'd 2. Whether the Apostles Doctrine tended to Rebellion 3. Whether any professed Christians at this day are justly liable to this charge in both senses 4. I shall deduce such Inferences as naturally result from the whole Discourse 1. Whether the Apostles did introduce a new Religion and had a Commission from God to do so To this I answer affirmatively Christ did institute and his Apostles did publish a more perfect platform of Religion than was before existent in the World but not without sufficient discoveries of Gods Approbation In this sense they did turn the World upside down taught Doctrines contrary to the universally receiv'd Opinions of the Gentiles and darling Traditions and Practiseâ— of the Jews The Christian Religion did silence the Pagan Oracles where it prevail'd and caus'd the Heathen Dagons to fall down before it the carnal Ceremonies of the Jews were disus'd and Moses was not able to stand before him whom they call'd a Magician The Brutish rites of the Heathens were abolish'd at the appearance of Christianity and the Light of the Gospel dispers'd the Shadows of the Law and took off the vail from Moses The Impurities of the Heathen and Imperfection of the Jewish Worship did render a more perfect Revelation of the Divine will very necessary and this was the Province undertaken by our Saviour and his Apostles 1. The Christian Religion hath given a more compleat discovery of the Nature of God and the manner how he will be Worshipped The Conceptions of the Heathens concerning the Nature of God were very gross and confus'd and the Wise-men of Athens and Rome were at continual jars and disagreement about his Attributes and they entertain'd very lame and imperfect and some blasphemous and unworthy Notions of him They did indeed generally acknowledg there could be but one Supreme and Sovereign God and of him Varro
hardly possible to subsist The immortality of the Soul and a future State Another Sect the Herodians were Court-Flatterers and State-Politicians who made it an act of their Religion to comply with the humours of their Prince Those who pretended most to Sanctity and Piety the Pharisees had found an easie Religion which they fanci'd would please God and themselves too consisting mostly in trifles and shadows and very defective in the grear Duties of Religion they had put corrupt glosses on the Law of Moses and because the Magistrate could only punish the outward act they fondly presum'd God as indulgent and never imagin'd that their vain thoughts or idle words would be imputed to them as their sins They were indeed very careful to have a saint-like outside tho devillish Lusts dwelt within and hop'd to be justifi'd and sav'd tho their hearts were never purifi'd or amended All their Religion lay in the Observations of some Traditions and Customs handed down from their forefathers The Duties of Piety were suppli'd only by Ceremonious Services and Rites they were abominably guilty of Deceit and Injustice Cozenage and Over-reaching one another and neglected the Rules of Justice and common Honesty among men they knew no such thing as a Spirit of Divine unbounded Charity but were of very rugged sowr Dispositions they were swoln big with an high conceit of themselves and look'd with contempt and disdain on the rest of mankind their Charity was contracted within the consines of Judea and they would not so much as eat with an uncircumcis'd Gentile or Samaritan nor pay them the common Offices of Civilty In a word their righteousness was so lam'd and wofully imperfect that our Saviour tells us it could qualifie no man for Heaven Matt. 5. 20. Thus did the whole World lye in wickedness and therefore no wonder that the strictness of the Christian Doctrine was so disturbing to those who were unwilling to be freed from their pleasing mistakes A Doctrine that requires we should inwardly reverence and adore the Divine Majesty and express our Adoration by solemn Prayers and Praises and acts of Devotion A Doctrine that requires a flaming Love an humble Dependence an awful Fear and careful imitation of every imitable Perfection That we should give him the Supremacy of our Affections without any corrival or competitor That we should Worship him only in such a manner as is agreeable to the Dignity of his Nature and Revelation of his Will That we should never use his Name in a prophane irreverent manner but always with that becomingawe that is due to so Sovereign a Majesty That we should sanctifie that time he hath set a part for his Service and then Worship him with sincere devout Affections That we should be Pure and Chast and Sober and Temperate and Humble tame our Flesh subdue our Lusts be moderate in our pursuit of worldly Injoyments contemn the World entertain a mean Opinion of our selves and all things here below Sacrifice our secular Interests and even life it self for the sake of God and a good Conscience and always behave our selves as the Citizens of Heaven That we should love our Neighbour as our selves and not be so narrow-soul'd as to contain our Affections in smaller bounds than those of the Universe That we should follow Peace with all men forgive our Enemies pray for our Persecutors and be kind and obliging to all with whom we converse That we should subdue all angry Resentments and quench all revengeful desires and carefully abstain from every thing that is injurious to our Neighbour and do to others as we should reasonably desire they should do to us were we in their circumstances That we should in order to these ends repent of our Sins believe in the Lord Jesus and depend upon the aids of Divine Grace to enable us to purifie our thoughts and words and purge our actions and â—it us for Heaven These are the chief heads of the Christian Doctrine These are the excellent Rules which our Saviour commanded by his word and blessed example These were the Precepts that startled the World and inflam'd the hearts of guilty Sinners with such hatred and malice against the Apostles This was the chief cause of their enmity against the Preachers of this new Faith even because they would have reclaim'd them from their vicious courses and invited to the utmost heights of holiness because they endeavour'd to pull down the Devils throne and establish the Empire of Christ to root up those Weeds and Briars that had over-run the Garden of God and plant those Seeds of Grace that might bring forth fruit unto righteousness Their design was to work in the hearts of men an holy conformity to the Divine Nature and because the Philosophy of the Heathens and Law of Moses was not so clear and perfect as was necessary to bring men to happiness therefore did God send his Son to give this last and most perfect Revelation of his Will which for clearness and certainty and perfection far exceeds all the Volumes of Morality compil'd by Heathens and even that Law which was given from Heaven to the Jews In these particulars 't is confessed the Apostles did turn the world upside down but they were so far from deserving a reproof that for this very Cause the highest veneration of them as the most noble Benefactors to mankind is their due The error of the men of Lystra who took them for gods in the shape of men Acts 14. 11. was much more excusable than the dangerous mistake of these who accused them for disturbing a vicious World For they testiâ—ied God's approbation to their Doctrines wherever they came 1 By their intrinsick Worth and Excellence they maintained none of the absurd Articles of the Gentile Faith and imposed none of the burthensom Ceremonies of the Jewish Worship but their Doctrines were all suited to the Reasons of men and commended themselves to their approbation by their intrinsick Excellence To go over the former particulars 1. Their conceptions of God and the manner how he will be Worshipp'd Reason tells us that he who gave to all their Beings and Perfections must be himself infinitely perfect Must injoy all excellencies in himself in an eminent degree and be divested of every Imperfection The works of Nature declare that he must be Infinite in Power who created the vast Fabrick of Heaven and Earth incomprehensible in Wisdom who order'd every thing with such admirable harmony and agreement and boundless in his Goodness who gave such comely Perfections to every creature and made them so useful and serviceable one to another the whole World is a Map to represent these several excellencles and every Creature a Herald to proclaim these glorious Perfections his works of Providence discover his Justice whereby he Thunders against obstinate Sinners his Holiness whereby he shows his delight in the sincerely Obedient and his Truth whereby he makes good his Promises and Threatnings Indeed the Nature of God
Strifes might not be endless or such as are restrain'd to the Apostles themselves Such is that Mat. 16. 19. I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven The plain meaning of which words seems to be only this I will give thee the the priviledg of first opening Vide Lightfoot in locum the Gospel frequently call'd the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever parts of Moses's Law thou bindest to the Observation of or takest off the Obligation for so the Phrases of binding and loosing are generally us'd in the Jewish Writers shall be observ'd and forborn God will ratifie and confirm what thou establishest Accordingly we know St. Peter did first Preach the Gospel to the Jews in Acts 2. and to the Gentiles Acts 10. And this priviledg of binding and loosing was peculiar to him and the other Apostles Lastly Their proofs are such as agree to every particular Church and faithful Christian Thus that of Matt. 18. 17. Speaks only of a Jurisdiction in every Church for quieting differences among the Members of it And that other of Matt. 16. 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church For by the Gates of Hell may be either understood the crafts and policies of Hell Councils using to sit in the Gates of Cities shall not totally prevail There shall be a body of Christians in the World or the Translation should be mended and the words read the Gates of the Grave or the invisible State Death which is frequently call'd among the Greeks by that name shall not gain Victory over the Church over the particular Persons of which it consists tho they dye yet Christ will rescue them by a glorious Resurrection Death shall not have Dominion over them nor over the Church notwithstanding it s many Enemies it shall not perish totally or irrecoverably These are the best proofs of their Infallibility I can find in the Scripture and while they are so easily and naturally applicable to a different sense I cannot think a Doctrine so obscurely deliver'd in the Christian Rule to be any Articles of the Christian Faith Besides what use do they make of this gift they pretend to Have they oblig'd the World by an infallible Comment on all the difficult places in Scripture and put a final end to all controversies among themselves On the contrary have not some Popes profess'd their no skill in Divinity and infallible Councils contradicted each other Are not there violent disputes between the Franscicans and Dominicans Jansenists and Jesuits French and Italian Clergy Surely the Pope must be very regardless of the Peace of the Church who will not give an infallible discovery of the truth And if ever God did give this gift since the Apostles days he may have long since justly taken it away because they have hid their Talent and made no use of it And now I have weaken'd this pretence the other of the Scriptures dependance on the Authority of their Church falls of it self for if their Church be not infallible why should I believe the Scriptures to be Gods Word meerly because they say so any more than Mahomets Alchoran 'T is true the Testimony of their Church jointly with all other Christians in the World and the Confession of Jews and Heathens handed down to us by the most unquestionable historical Tradition is a great Confirmation that these were the Books indicted by the Apostles that they were confirm'd by various Miracles and are not corrupted in any material Articles but we believe their Divine Authority not because the Church says so but because of those Seals which God hath affix'd to them We have convincing Arguments enough of the Scriptures Divinity and need not go to Rome to know what they mean Christ hath fully prov'd that his Message is from God by the excellence of his Doctrines the accomplishment of Prophecies and numerous miraculous Works and we will not forsake these firm foundations of our Faith and be so unreasonably credulous as to believe the same things meerly upon the Affirmation of a company of the worst sorts of Christians in the World Thus have they dangerously invaded the Offices of Christ I proceed to 3. They have corrupted the excellent Rules of an holy Life contain'd in the Gospel The great design of the Christian Religion is to purifie and amend the World and reduce it to its primitive Innocence And I wish there were less occasion to think that the design of these men is to Debauch the World and show that it is possible to be more corrupt than the very Heathens themselves for have not they by their nice distictions render'd a holy Life a very needless thing and overturn'd the very foundations of Virtue and Morality Repentance that first Introduction to an holy Life consisting in such a hearty Sorrow for every Sin as influences the practice and disposes us to forsake them they have made utterly unnecessary For while they distinguish Sins into Mortal and Venial and impose very easie Penances for those of the most purple dye Is not this the way to tempt their Proselytes to a continuance in their Sins and keep them from that severe hatred of them and those firm Resolutions of forsaking them they ought to take up Besides they maintain that a slight Attrition and imperfect Sorrow for Sin meerly from the consideration of some temporal inconvenience if join'd with the Sacrament of Penance is sufficient to fit a man for Heaven so that it is a very needless thing to hate or forsake our evil ways This is desin'd by their Council of Trent and generally maintain'd by their most famous Casuists And Morinus tells us as I find him quoted by Dr. Stillingfleet * Preface to Answer to several Treatises That the excellence of the Evangelical Precepts above the Legal chiefly consists in this That by them we are freed from the heavy yoke of Contrition and Love to God A Speech that would better become a Turk or Heathen than a Christian Thus we see they have hinder'd the first entrance into an holy Life and made the Gate to Heaven wider and the passage much more easie than our Saviour or his Apostles And if we run over all the parts of our Duty we may find too plain a Contradiction among their Casuists If we examine the Duties of Piety towards God How necessarily must they have low and irreverent thoughts of his imcomprehensible Majesty who behold such scandalous Pictures of him in their Churches and see the same Devotions and Gestures of Adoration us'd to those who were once perhaps equally sinful Creatures with themselves How have they incourag'd an abuse of his sacred Name by their Doctrine of Equivocation and prophan'd his Holy Day by allowing the remains of that time that is not spent at Mass to be imploy'd in idle Sports and foolish Mirth How