of the Text Gen. 3.15 where God saith and it shall bruise thy heel which the Vulgar Latine renders and she shall bruise thy heel which the Papists apply to the Virgin in order to make her the Redeemer of mankind and the object of adoration S. Paul in the 11. Ch. of the Epistle to the Hebrews saith that Jacob worshipt leaning upon the top of his staff i.e. he lean'd upon his staff to bear him up whiles he worshipt the Vulgar Latin hath corrupted this passage by translating adoravit fastigium virgae he worshipt the top of his staff a mistake as palpable as 't is gross and yet the Papists receive and defend it as very proper to justify the worship of Images For you need only suppose that his staff had an Image on its head How the Canonists abuse the Scriptures If we would see these Abuses and ridiculous applications of Scripture in their deformity we must read the Canonists Authors who have a great yea a soveraign Authority at Rome You will find these men proving the twofold power of the Pope from the two Swords which the Apostles had when Christ was seized by Judas Jesus sayd It is enough he did not say 'T is too much therefore the spiritual and temporal power belong to the Pope Moses relating the History of the Creation saith In the beginning God created c. in principio and not in principiis in the beginnings therefore the Pope is the only Prince the only Soveraign of the Universal Church you are a Manichee if you understand it otherwise Christ saith to Peter Feed my sheep in general and not such and such sheep in particular therefore the Pope is the Vniversal Pastor of the Church S. Paul saith the powers are ordained of God i. e. that all Kings are the Popes vassals Moses tells us that God made two great Lights the Sun and the Moon the Church is the Moon therefore the Pope is the Sun the Guide and Light of the Church Christ saith to Peter put up thy sword into its sheath therefore the Pope is to manage the sword and take away Crowns from Kings as he pleaseth God saith to the Prophet I have set thee over the Kingdoms to root out and to plant this is another express text to prove that the Pope may dethrone Monarchs and make new Soveraigns S. Paul writes to the Corinthians he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man therefore the Pope may condemn and judge whom he pleaseth but as for him tho he is a Sorcerer Sodomite a Pagan he ought to be let alone and lest to the judgment of God. Christ said concerning himself all power is given me in heaven and earth therefore the Pope may challenge this as Christs Vicar * All the Kings of the earth shall worship him We did honestly believe that this passage respected Christ and none besides but thanks to the Canonists we now unsterstand that the Pope must be worship'd and that all Kings must kiss his Pantofle this Text saith so He hath put all things under his feet The Kings of Tarsis shall bring him presents i. e. the whole world ought to pay homage to the Pope Scriptures abused by the Mystical Authors Their Mysticall Authors who have written whole books for this very end to explain the mystical significations of the Ceremonies of the Church and of the habits of the Priests come not behind the Canonists in impertinent applications of Scripture The Priest puts a hood on his Head which is call'd the Amict the reason given is because S. Paul said take The Helmet of Salvation He wears a linnen Surplice which is call'd an Albe the reason is because 't is written let thy Garments be White This Surplice must be embroider'd about the edges because 't is written the Queen shall be brought in raiment of Needle-work They who are pleased with such stuff may find many other Instances in our Exceptions I will add no more of this kind because they are meerly triffling But will proceed to their Blasphemies Thus we ought to call those impious and profane applications which the cursed votaries of the Roman Church make unto the Saints of that which belongs only to God and his Eternal son Blasphemous applications of the Scriptures Beside those blasphemous and cursed Applications which are every where scatter'd in their Writings the lying Spirit hath taken care to compile a whole body of them in two Books the one is call'd The Ladies Psalter composed by Bonaventure the other the Bible of Mary by Albertus Magnus In these two Books you will find all the great and glorious things which the Scriptures speak to the Creators Glory applyed to the Glory of the Creature 'T is not the glory of God which the Heavens declare 't is that of the Virgin The Heavens declare your Glory O Virgin. The 27 Psal celebrates God as the Light of Believers but 't is no longer He the Virgin hath his room O our Lady say they to her my Illumination comes from your face The 31 Psal maketh God the object of the Soul's Confidence but they address those excellent words unto the Virgin and say to her Mother of God I have trusted in you I shall not be confounded forever take my Soul into your Favour and Mercy I commit my Soul into your hands O incomparable Virgin. Nothing is more peculiar to God than the exercise of Mercy which the Psalmist implores in the 51 Ps Have mercy upon me O God c. The Papists pull God out of the Throne of grace and teach their Penitents to say Have mercy upon me O our Lady who art call'd the Mother of Mercy and according to the bowels of your Compassions purge me from mine Iniquities pour out your Grace upon me and take not your ordinary Clemency away from me For I will confess my Sins before you I will accuse my self of my own faults The Psalms of David are peculiarly consecrated to the Glory of God this is the reason why the Psalmist every where sings the praises of God and celebrates his Greatness but all this is applyed to Mary For instance that excellent 103 Psalm which begins Bless the Lord O my Soul is thus changed My soul bless the Mother of Jesus Christ and all that is within me glorify her Holy Name Forget not Her Benefits Her Favours and Her Consolations by Her Grace sins are forgiven by Her Mercy Diseases are healed There is the same strain from the beginning to the end of the Psalter The Bible of Mary is written on the very same design Whereas the true disciples of J. Christ find him every where in the Old Testament not only in the Predictions and Types but even in such passages where few would have sought him This Bible of Mary finds the B. Virgin every where in the Old Testament agreeably to its design which is as the Author tells us to apply unto the
the first Empire in whose place it comes This being notorious and confess'd 't is not necessary to insist larger upon it At present we must see how this is found in the Papacy in which Religion Church and State are mingled and hid one under another 'T would be needless to prove that it is a Religion and a Church this is acknowledged this is pretended this is boasted so that we have nothing else to prove but that the Papacy is a mere Civil State or Monarchy hid under the appearance of a spiritual one The Popish Monarchy hath its Metropolis and Senate In every Civil State or Empire there is first a Metropolis which is the seat of the Prince the Residence of the Senate and from which all Lawes and Orders are sent abroad The Papacy hath such a one it hath its Metropolis and the Wicked Spirit who hath founded this Monarchy chose out a City of great Reputation to be the seat of it I mean Rome which all nations of the world during many Ages had been accustomed to look on as their Mistresse which made it less difficult to pay respect to it as the Royal Seat of this second Monarchy The Imperial Dignity which had alwayes placed its seat in this City proved a Basis to erect this sacerdotal soveraignity upon The Bishops of Rome having had the honour to be considered as the Principal Bishops on the account of their glorious City afterward came to persuade themselves that this Honour was their due Prerogative When the Emperors lost Rome the Popes seised it for themselves and preserved its antient Title The Queen of the World. 'T was styld Vrbs the City by way of Eminence under the Emperors the Popes do still keep the same Name for it Rex venit ante fores jurans prius Vrbis honores Secular States have their Senates Antichristianism hath one of its own in the famous Colledge of Cardinals a Senate whose Senators and members are clothed in Purple have in every thing succeeded the ancient Senators of Rome Accordingly at their Election these words are pronounced You are Senators of the Ruling City equal to Kings Cerâ—m l. 3. Sect. 8. Art. 6. the true Pillars of the World. This Senate determines the fates of Kings and bestowes the Crowns of Heaven and Earth Every secular Monarchy hath its Monarch It hath a Monarch Antichristianism hath one This Monarch dwells in Stately Palace hath a numerous Retinue of Servants He is attended as the greatest Princes His Court is made up of such as challenge the foremost rank from all the Potentates of the World. The Cardinals will take place of Kings or will not come behind them Every Cardinal hath his Palace his Retinue his Equipages his House where all the Pleasures and carnal Pomps of the world are to be seen Kings are but Lieutenants in this Antichristian Monarchy This Monarch hath under him a great and vast Empire divided into several Provinces to which he sends his Deputies T is true they are not call'd by this Name some of them are call'd Kings Dukes Princes c. The Pope is so civil as to leave them these specious Titles But he challenges a Right to take away their Crownes to Depose them to absolve their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegeance and to give away their Dominions to others Never any Emperors pretended to more Power over the Governors of Provinces in the Roman Empire The Canonists say in plain termes That there is no Soveraign Power but in the Pope that the Authority of God and of the Pope is the same thing that whoever say otherwise are wretched Flatterers who deceive the Kings and Princes of the Earth Besides this Kind of Deputies the Pope hath others who are called Primates Metropolitans Archbishops Bishops which have divided Christendom into Provinces to share it among themselves and receive from the Pope Bulls and Commissions and also pay him Tribute and yield him Homage Pont. Rom. Hommages and Oâ—â—hes of Alligiance Cerem lib. 1. This Temporal Monarch takes an Oath of Allegiance from both these Kinds of Lieutenants where he is not hindred The Emperor at his Coronation takes an Oath that he will cordially pay to the Church of Rome the Duties of Obedience Defence and Protection Archbishops and Bishops swear Fealty and Obedience to St. Peter to the holy Church of Rome and to our most holy Lord the Pope for time being And this Oath hath no exceptions I promise Fidelity against all manner of persons Without so much as excepting the Kings whose Subjects the Bishops are After the taking the Oathes of Allegeance there are homages and presents to be made The Emperors are their Coronation after they have sworn Allegeance to the Pope must bring a Barr of Gold and lay it at his feet The Bishops also cannot have the Full Title nor execute the Episcopal Office till they have payd their Tributes which is call'd Annates Soveragin Princes have invested their subjects into their Offices by some Ceremony by giving a Sword or a Staff. Formerly the Emperors invested Bishops and Abbots by a Crosier and Ring But the Pope is so arrogant that he will invest the Emperors into the Empire On Christmas Eve he consecrates a Sword which he sends to Soveraigns to teach them that this sword signifieth the supreme Temporal Power bestowed by Jesus Christ upon the Pope his Vicar on Earth The Courts of the Antichristian Monarchy Secular Princes have their Courts and Tribunals in all the Provinces that are under them The Pope hath his Courts and Offices his Tribunals to which formerly almost all Civil Causes were brought under pretext of being spiritual At Rome there is a supreme Court to which all the rest are responsable 't is named the Rota Besides all this he reserves to himself the weightiest Causes He judgeth between one King and another between God and men He deposeth he excommunicates he plucks up he plants he pulls down he builds up he creates new Princes he layes aside old ones he dispenseth with Oathes and with Obedience to divine and humane Lawes Secular Princes maintain Allyances with other Princes They make Leagues and Treaties they establish societies they keep up mutual Intelligence in one anothers States For this end they send Embassadors to one another they make Negotiations and conclude Treaties The Pope doth all this He sends his Legates his Nuncios his Embassadors into all Courts of Europe He hath his Allyes and his Enemies he makes Leagues and Allyances hath a hand in all great Negotiations and Treaties And it must not be sayd that he acts as a Temporal Prince who Rules over some part of Italy For he pretends to have right to concern himself in all Treaties between Christian Princes as he is Head of the Church Secular Princes besides their subjects have also their Vassals And there are some Princes and Lords who hold their Lands and Territories of others as their
is the Sun and that the Emperor is but the Moon who hath all his authority from the Pope who gives him the Empire and that in the interregnum between the death of one Emperor and the Election of another the whole soveraign power comes into the Popes hands That Kings are only the doggs of his flock but the Pope is the only shepherd That he hath all Lawes in the cabinet of his breast that he is the Cause of Causes that he keepeth the keys of Heaven and hell that he hath authority to command the Angels that he is the Infallible Judge of the whole Church that none can be saved but in communion with him that the Old and New Testaments ought not to be received but because the H. Pope hath so pronounced that he can change the natures of things and make something out of nothing that his power is greater than that of all the Saints and that the Pope is the only Bishop and the rest are but his subdeligates and have no power but from him that Emperors and Kings ought to adore his Pontifical Crown and his Diadem that all Kingdoms are tributary to him and that he may constrain all the Commonwealths of the world to pay him Tribute that he is the stomach of the Church and consequently it belongs to him to distribute nourishment i. e. riches and wealth to the whole body But what perhaps these pretentions are vain and without effect Quite the contrary For the Pope took the actuall possession of all those pretended Rights Proud actions of the Popes as far as he was able Divers Popes have deposed Emperors and Kings They took away the Empire from Henry IV. Frederick I. and Frederick II. they depriv'd several Families of the Kingdom of Naples and bestow'd it on others Innocent III. gave the Kingdom of England to Philip August King of France After that he assum'd it to himself and made King John pay him homage for it as his Tributary and Vassal Alexander VI. gave the West-Indies to the Kings of Spain by the title of a Kingdom Julius II. took away Navarre from its lawfull Soveraings to bestow it on the Spaniards The Popes have setled Imposts and Taxes throughout all their Dominions and appointed Receivers to Collect the money They have forc'd the Greatest Monarchs actually to kiss their feet they have trod upon the necks of Princes and kickt their crowns from off their heads assoon as they had put them on and made 'em hold the Stirrup while they got on horseback they have obliged them to come and ask pardon on their knees in the habit of Penitents stript of all their royal Robes they have sent swords to Princes to let them know that they have all their power and authority from them they have pronounc't Anathema's against all who would not obey them and declar'd them to be Accursed of what rank quality or condition soever they be who should refuse obedience They have appear'd in publick with a magnificence and pomp that was rather divine than Royal they make the H. Sacrament which is their God to be carried in a less honorable place and manner than they themselves It is carried upon an Hackney while the Popes are born upon mens shoulders of whom the Emperor is to be one if he be at Rome at the time of the great Ceremony They actually grant dispensations contrary to the laws of God in Oaths and in the forbidden degrees of Marriage They exalt themselves above their own Saints who are their Gods for they canonize'em and decree them to have the honour of Altars and Incense whenever they please They open the Gates of Purgatory to fetch Souls from thence whenere they have a mind to do so They give Indulgences for Sodomy and Buggery for the murder of Parents and for Incest with a mother or sister Could God himself do more There is not a tittle of all this but is notorious matter of fact known and acknowledg'd ledg'd or sufficiently proved by undeniable Instances in our History of Popery and Legal Exceptions Is it possible that the eyes of mankind should continue shut as to these things was there ever any picture more like the original How can it be that we should not confess that this is he who should oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God and worshipt and should carry himself as if he were God Is not this to exalt himself above the true God to dispense with his laws to assume to himself the adoration and worship that belongs to God to call himself his vicar and vicegerent without any authority or Commission to do so and take to himself the name of a God upon Earth Is it not to exalt himself above all that is called God to advance himself above all those who are called Gods and the sons of the most High above the Kings of the Earth who bear the Image of God Is it not to exalt himself against that which is worshipt to take place of the H. Sacrament of the Altar which they adore as God to prefer himself before Glorified Saints and Angells to whom they build Temples and confer upon 'em divine Honour Lastly is it not to act as if he were God to pretend to be Infallible which God alone is to require that men should worship him and kiss his feet to rule over the Kings of the Earth to depose them at pleasure and set up others to exact tribute from the whole Church and stile himself the chief Shepherd and only Bishop of Souls The vanity of the popish Excuses for all this Pride Shall we always be put off with this pittifull reply that these are only proud pretences of some Popes and that we are not to judge of their true Authority by such attempts as the wisest and best men among the Papists do at this day condemn that these are only particular Opinions of some in the Roman Church who with the Prot. Ministers abuse the people to make the Holy See odious to the People Prudence is an admirable thing and so is the blindness of the Gallican Church and of the present Clergy of France to facilitate the return of the Protestants to the Church of Rome they deprive the Pope of his soveraign power they delare that he is not Infallible that he is not above the universal Church but the Church is superior to the Pope that he hath no authority to depose Princes or to dispense with the oaths of allegiance and fidelity in subjects upon any pretence whatever no not in the case of Religion But what do they do by all this they declare the Pope to be a Monster of Pride who doth arrogantly ascribe to himself a soveraign Power which doth no way belong to him and that all the bold attempts he hath made to dethrone Emperors and depose Kings and cause so many thousands to be murder'd to preserve himself in this authority are enormous crimes villanies and Injustice
Character of Antichristianism which is found in the Papacy Idolatry in its height confess'd by the Papists themselves Antichrist must e an Idolater according to Prophecies Dan. 11. IT cannot be doubted that the Religion of Antichrist must be an Idolatrous Religion First we read that he should worship Mauzzim Dan. 11.38 But in his estate he shall honour the God of force Hebr. Mauzzim and a God whom his Fathers knew not shall he honour with Gold and Silver and with pretious Stones and with pleasant things He shall worship Idols of silver and gold And S. John saith concerning the subjects of the Antichristian Monarchy Revel 9. V. 20. And therest of the men which were not kill'd by those plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and of Wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk The whole thirteenth chapter sets forth the Antichristian Monarchy as an Idolatrous State. Ver. 4. Its subjects worship'd the Dragon which gave power unto the Beast They worship the Beast itself V. 8. And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb. The second Beast with two horns exerciseth the power of the first Beast in his presence V. 12. And causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed Altho these Adorations principally refer to the slavish Obedience that the Subjects of the Antichristian Kingdom do yield to the Head of this Kingdom 't is nevertheless certain that this Obedience is here set forth as an Idolatry and that it is really so Lastly this Babylonian Empire is described to us by the emblem of a notorious Harlot which was to commit abominable fornications with the Kings of the Earth and make all men drunk with the Wine of her Fornications V. 1. Come hither Chap. 1â— I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great Whore that sisteth upon many waters V. 2. With whom the Kings of the Earth have committed Fornication and the Inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the Wine of her Fornication Now every body knoweth that when the Scripture speaks of a Body a Society a Church the Fornications and adulteries which are charged on them signify Idolatries Therefore 't is certain that Idolatry must be one of the Characters of the Antichristian Kingdom Several ways by which the Papacy is guilty of Idolatry Let us see if this Character be found in the Papacy It is Idolatrous 1. In the Adoration of the Pope in giving divine Honours divine Attributes to him viz. a divine Power and an Universal Authority which are put in his hands 2. The Papacy is guilty of Idolatry in the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Altar which is nothing but Bread and yet all divine Honours are given it 3. It is Idolatrous in the account of the Invocation of Saints for the worship which is given to the Virgin to Angels and Saints makes them second-rate Gods to whom Honour of the same kind are orderd to be given that are given to the Great God. 4. Lastly The Papacy is Idolatrous because it obligeth men to fall down before Images of Wood of Stone of Gold and Silver The Idolatry of the Church of Rome may be consider'd either in their Worship itself or in the excesses of this Worship For instance in the Invocation of Saints either as it is generally owned by all the Members of the Roman Church or as it is explain'd by the bygotted Monks and Priests who are excessive in every thing and keep no bounds Thus the Idolatry as to Images may be considered either as layd down in the Decrees of their Councills or in the modern softning explication by which 't is palliated or in the Practice and downright Divinity of true Papists I will not here undertake to prove the charge of Idolatry upon the Roman Church on the account of the Services which she Authoriseth by her Canons and the unanimous Consent of her Doctors This would necessarily lead us into Controversy where we should be obliged to wash off the false colours which the modern Papists make use of to prove themselves no Idolaters neither in adoring the Sacrament or in the Invocation of Saints or in worshipping of Images In a word we should be engaged in a long debate whereas in this Treatise I design to take my arguments only from indisputable matters of fact and which are not debated After this Method I have proved all my preceeding characters of Antichristianism from History and Testimonies taken from the Books of our adversaries which themselves cannot gain-say And thus I will here prove the Idolatry of the Papacy by those Excesses which are own'd for such by all those of the Roman Church who pretend to any honesty and purity Mr. Arnaud and the Papists of his strain do in manner plainly confess that the disciples of F. Crasset and such like are Idolaters by their own Method of explaining and practising the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images I shall assist those Gentlemen by setting down our Arguments Palpable Idolatry in the Books that direct the Devotion of the people We cannot I suppose be blamed if in discovering the nature of the Popish Worship we make use of the Authors who have wrote Books to guide the Devotion of the People Now if their Directions be not Idolatrous and lead not directly to Idolatry we are content to be counted Lyars First these Books and these Teachers ascribe without any scruple a Divinity unto creatures They call the V. Mary a Deity and Goddess One of these Authors thus speaks to her Damian serm 7. in natif Virg. O Virgin have you forgotten your Humanity because you have been Deifyed 'T is a Cardinal of the Church of Rome who spoke at this rate in the eleventh Century which lets us see that these Idolatrous Excesses are not new Binet Marq. de Predest A much later Writer saith of the Virgin that She is advanced to a kind of equality to God. Another that Her bosom is the Ocean of the Deity O Holy Lady saith another to her I know that nothing is hid from you and that by your Deity you exactly understand all my faults Bonaventare The Lord hath said to our Lady Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thy Enemies thy footstool I suppose that to sit at the right hand of God is the same as to obtain divine Honour at least we take it so when we explain the Article of Christs Ascension The Iesuite Delrio giveth the Virgin the Titles of optima maxima i. e. most good and most great We know that the Romans gave these to none but the supreme of their Gods and that Christians have bestowed them on the Infinitely Perfect Being The Iesuite Tursellin with innumerable
Rome of the Spiritual Kingdom and the Temporal Kingdom These Distinctions are abhorred at Rome 't is a Heresy that deserves the Fire to maintain them Now we ought to judge of Rome and her Empire not by that which others say of her but by that which she saith of herself Besides the Spiritual Empire in the sense of the Gallican Church is a real Temporal Monarchy For the Church of France will have Cardinals Primates Archbishops Bishops Officials Ecclesiastical Courts Prisons Penalties Excommunications Tythes Taxes and all depending on the Pope who is a very Monarch residing in his Royal City All this is merely secular and Worldly and contrary to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ CHAPTER II. The second Character of the Antichristian Kingdom purely Human Politicks 't is palpable that they bear sway in the Papacy WHen I read at the beginning of a chapter in the book call'd Legal Exceptions against the Calvinists that a spirit of purely human Policy appears in their Controversies with the Lutherans and that the Author draws from thence an Exception against them I wonder at the imprudence of these Gentlemen Methinks they ought studiously to avoid the expressions and terms which cannot but raise in our minds such Idea's as must be disadvantagious to them such an one is the term of Human Policy Certainly they ought to speak nothing which may cause us to remember how the Papacy is constituted and govern'd Never was such a profound Policy seen Never was any Empire built upon such foundations therefore I wonder not at its long Continuance We cannot meet with a more subtile Policy than that which prevails in this Empire but 't is too great an honour to call it A merely Human Policy for it is really Diabolical And in this I find the second Character of Antichristianism agreeable to the Predictions Acording to the Predictions Antichristianism must have a deep Policy First S. Paul calls it a Mystery of Iniquity so it is with respect to its Religion and with respect to its Policy for this whole Religion is nothing else but Mystery and Policy It is mysterious cunning secret and dextrous but iniquity runs through it is the soul and source of it Secondly S. John describing this Monarchy under the Emblem of a Beast tells us that he had two Horns like a Lamb. We will presently shew Apoc. 13.11 that this is one of the tricks of this Policy always to lurk under the Name of Jesus Christ his horns and power He addeth that he doth great Wonders and deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth Which lets us know that he was not to reign by force of Arms but by Deceit and a cunning Policy He commands that they should make an Image to the Beast He doth not order the direct restauration of the Roman Monarchy but by an ingenious Policy only requests that they should make an Image to the Beast which was to be worshipt and obeyd but which was only a mere Image of the Imperial Power of the old Romans Apoc. 14.17 and 18. she makes all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication That is she bewitches them with her Charms and Persuasions and her persuasive Power depends on this Policy by which she insinuates and gets into the Hearts and Spirits of men 1 Tim. 4. These false Teachers have a fair out-side of Chastity in their Unmarryed Life and of Temperance in their distinction of Meats and this Policy serves to erect their Kingdom Without doubt this is one Character of Antichristianism For the Gospel seeks no Tricks borroweth no fictions It marcheth in a straight line It flatters no body nay it makes use of harsh and discouraging terms in those places where much soster might have been used It biddeth us to pluck out our Eyes and cut off our Hands it requires us to bear our Crosses and follow Jesus Christ it speaks of nothing but of Death and Mortification Whereas Antichrist marcheth under ground and carrieth on his design by Wiles which men are not aware of Let us now see how exactly History agreeth with the Prediction in this particular as well as in the foregoing The first Policy to cover the Temporal Dominion under the appearance of the spirituality The first human Policy consists in concealing this Secular Dominion which we have been speaking of under an appearance of spirituality This they call the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and every where bring in the names of S. Peter and of holy Church The Countreys which are under Rome are call'd the lands of the Church S. Peters patrimony The paying homage to the Pope and kissing of his Feet is styl'd a lying down at the feet of the Apostles A going on pilgrimage to Rome to get indulgences there is visitare limina Petri frequentare limina Apostolorum to visit the house of S. Peter and of the Apostles When a Vassal of the Pope is spoken of 't is said that he depends on holy Church that he is a Vassal of S. Peter The Popes Bulls their Decrees their Censures are styl'd Apostolical Letters Bulls Censures and Ordinances You may see V. to Tome Conâ—il Par. p. 380. how the Cursed Gregory VII places S. Peters name at the beginning of bis discourses when he was about to act some notable Villany which all must abhorr Who seeth not that this wicked manner of expression is infinitely crafty and a piece of hellish Policy If the Devil had attempted without disguise to erect a Secular Kingdom at Rome under the name of the Church where is that King who would have been guilty of the Baseness and Cowardise to make himself the Slave of a Priest But who had the boldness to oppose such great Names when once Religion hath taken deep rooting in men When any man can once perswade himself that he acts and speaks in the Name of God and by Commission from him there is nothing which such a man cannot effect The fear of Hell makes strong impressions upon the minds of men When Ignorant people heard that there was a Temporal Monarch at Rome who had the Keys of Heaven in his keeping they made their backs ready to bear whatever was layd upon them Perhaps if Kings had been their own Masters they had preserved themselves both from Delusion and Slavery But the People who are naturally weak ignorant and superstitious drew them along This is the Mystery of this Policy which hath produced such strange effects so that the Popes by two or three pages of barbarous Latin usher'd in with a servus servorum Domini have made whole Nations revolt have put all Europe into a Commotion have brought under the mightiest Monarchs have set States on fire and put Chains upon Soveraigns A 2d Policy worldly grandeur joyn'd with Ecclesiastical Power If this Authority and these spiritual Weapons had not been accompanyed with a worldly Grandeur without doubt the force of this Charm had been quickly broken Every Pope hath not
been so fortunate as the Nuntio of Julius II. who tho taken Prisoner by Francis after the Battel of Ravenna received Hommages from the Souldiers Prostrate at his Feet and begging his pardon for having fought against the Church Such an influence hath the force of Religion on the minds of the people 'T was in vain that Boniface VIII put on his Pontifical Robes at Anagina notwithstanding this his Jawes were bruised with a blow of a Gantlet and he thrust into Prison 'T was therefore necessary to joyn a second policy to the former and support this falsly named Spiritual Dominion with a Worldly Pomp and Grandeur Men are compounded of Flesh and Blood the Passions are ever the prevailing Party and the senses are the Faculties which bear the chief sway in the conduct of men 'T was therefore necessary to maintain this Dominion that men should see something that affects the senses and engageth the Passions Therefore it hath been the Policy of that Spirit which framed this Engine to heap together vast Treasures to have stately Palaces to change Priests into secular Princes to furnish them with greath Revenues with pompous Retinues with sumptuous Tables and indeed with every thing that belongs to Worldly Glory This Policy is owned by the considerable persons of the Roman Church you need only read what hath been written by Pallavicino in his History of the Council of Trent and the Collection out of him drawn up by another Author of the same Religion in an ingenious Book called The new Gospel of Cardinal Pallavicino There it is shewn that the Cardinal makes it a matter of necessity that the Pope and the Church should be Rich and Wealthy should have Palaces Benefices Princes who are equall to secular Princes We cannot doubt that this Policy hath been of admirable use to the Antichristian Monarchy for 't is certain that if the Bishops of Rome had continued poor as they were for the three first Ages of the Church they had never made themselves Masters of the World. Thunderbolts issuing forth from a Cottage or a Tent would not long have astonisht men But coming from the Vatican from a Palace that in poynt of splendour may dispute with the most magnificent in the world people believed that there was indeed something real in those painted Thunderbolts The Authors of the Logick of Port-Royal Part 3. cap. 19. have made a judicious remarque No man doth expresly argue at this rate such a one hath ten thousand pounds per annum therefore he is in the right He is of a Noble Familie therefore we must believe every thing he saith Nevertheless something like this rate of arguing is found in the minds of most men which unawares corrupts their judgments c. They approve every thing done or spoken by a Great man through a secret condescension of mind which bowes down under the weight of Grandeur and wants Courage to look it in the face This is the very Method that the Papacy hath used to gain the minds of men which being once gain'd by this Pomp of Riches and Worldly Grandeur have argued at this rate The Pope is a great Prince therefore be is in the right therefore he hath Authority to do as he doth Yea this very thing hath helped to delude the Popes themselves A Great Person who taketh no pains to rectify the impressions which his secular Grandeur makes on his mind is easily brought to believe that he excels other men as much in moral and intellectual Qualitties as he doth in Riches and Dignitie Thus the Popes seeing themselves to be served as Kings and adored as Gods have easily believed that they have a rightful Authority over the whole World. Third Policy a gainâ—nâ— all the Great ones of the World to its party Again 't is an admirable Policy of the Papacy to have the Art of engaging on its side all the Great Families of Europe and of binding them to itself by the strongest of all the Passions viz. Ambition and Covetousness If the Court of Rome had engross'd her Grandeur and Riches to her self alone it had been the Object of the Envy of all other Courts and its Regency which depends onely upon the Consent of men could not have lasted long But as it hath Riches in all places so it bestowes Preferments in all places Rome is the Common City of the nations the whole World hath the Priviledge of Citizens There is not a great Family which doth not possess great benefices and supports their Luxury and vanity by the Churches Patrimony This Patrimony is the spoyls which have been taken from the World. When ever this Church is ruin'd all these Spoyls must be restored to the owners to whom they belong Therefore all the Great ones are concern'd to maintain this Monarchy which furnisheth them with Provisions for their Luxury and other lusts This consideration makes me assert that there never was any Monarchy in the world which had such firm Foundations as this It hath no Enemies among those who are led by Sense and lust nor can have On the contrary the whole world adores it to get a share in its Favours 'T is a wonder that the Empire of old Rome lasted so long What Interest had the Roman Provinces to contribute to the Grandeur of one City whiles they themselves were Slaves Here the case is not the same all consent to the Greatness of new Rome because all reign with her Priests may come to be Abbots Abbots to be Bishops Bishops to be Cardinals and all the Cardinals of whatever nation to be Popes Fourth Poliâ—yâ—s the Hierarchy That which is call'd the Roman Hierarchy is again a piece of admirable Policy This subordination of the Members of this great Body is a Bond which makes it firm The Curates are subject to the Rural Deans these Deans to their Bishop the Bishop to the Metropolitan the Metropolitan to the Primate the Primate to the Pope And this Pope is call'd the Center of Unity This Fiction is one of the last things which will be ruinâ—d Our French men who are cured of the fondness for the Popes power cannot as yet free themselves from this They adore this great Image whose Head is of Gold the Shoulders of Silver the Belly of Brass the Thighs of Iron the Feet of Earth The disproportion between the Pope and the petty Clergy is greater than that between Gold and Dust There must be a Stone cut without hands out of a Mountain an unconceivable Blow of Divine Power to break this Image in pieces 5. Policy The founding the various Orders of Monks Behold another very cunning Policy of the Papal Monarchy the founding of the different Orders of Monks which are as so many Citadels of this Kingdom These men have an Art to make themselves Masters of Families and Consciences They inspire all their Disciples with Maximes of Submission and Slavery to the Holy See as 't is named They stir up Subjects against
their Princes when 't is for the Interest of the Court of Rome And to bind them more firmly to her self she grants them Priviledges which exempt them from the Jurisdiction of their Bishops This makes these Monks take part with the Pope against the Bishops which assists the Design which he hath ever had to bring down Episcopal Authority to make himself the only Bishop and to make all other Bishops to be his Subdelegates The Monks draw all manner of Advantages from these exemptions They have none near them to order and correct them they enjoy the greatest impunitie indulge themselves in Licentiousness Among the Monks the Jesuites Order is the product of as hellish Policy as the world ever knew The Prince of darkness sent it out of the bottomless Pit exactly at the time of the Reformation to support the Papal Monarchy which had felt some shaking Blowes After so many Books written on this matter men cannot but understand the Maximes of the Policy of this detestable Society But the corrupt and Antichristian Moral Doctrine of it is not the least of the Tricks of its Policy Which leads us to consider a new Evidence of the Carnal Policy which prevails in the Papacy 6. Policy a care to flatter the flesh and the senses 'T is the great care which it takes to flatter by all wayes imaginable the Flesh the Passions and Senses by making easy Laws and suting them to corrupt Inclinations by sending out every where loose Directors of Conscience and by furnishing Sinners with means of flattering themselves in their Disorders Hence have proceeded the Simonaical Laws of the Court of Rome Dispensations to marry within the prohibited Degrees to enjoy Bishopricks without having the Age or qualities which are required Indulgences for the most horrid crimes Relaxations of Pennances and the setting a rate upon all sins Lastly from hence 't is that care hath been taken to provide all the Pleasures for the Flesh which it desires Cardinal Pallavicin in this History of the Council of Trent saith that the Form must be suted to the Matter and such Lawes made as agree with Times and Places and that we must not deal with men wholy in the dreggs of Adam as if they were still in a state of Innocence V. The new Gospel Therefore they must be Indulged as to Idleness Excessive Eating and Drinking Playes yea Stewes which are allowed at Rome And that the Church may be able to triumph over Paganism which held men by the Pleasures of Sense she must furnish them with those that are more exquisite and delicious than those of Paganism 'T is from the same design of pleasing the Fleth and the Senses that the External Pomp in Worship proceeds Because men love Playes Theaters and the Pleasures of Sense the Policy of Rome hath introduced all these into Religion that She may engage them to herself by those things of which alone they are sensible Churches are splendidly adorn'd they glitter with Gold their Lights are ordered with great care those that serve at the Altars draw mens Eyes by the pomp of their Vestments in them Musiek sounds and flatters the ears They make Processions which are a marching in Triumph after the mode of the Pagan Romans Yea their very Funerals have Pomp that so even death itself may afford pleasure 'T was once a very difficult matter to reconcile Religion and Lust together But the Papacy hath found out this wonderful Secret by bringing into Religion whatever gratifieth Lust 7 Policy the Tribunals of Confession The Mysteries of the Chairs of Confession are the most profound in the Policy of Rome Nothing could be imagined more effectual and proper to reign over the Consciences of men than to oblige them to come and discover themselves even to the bottom to the Agents of the Papacy Scire volunt secreta domus atque inde timeri A Marryed Woman looking upon a Priest as the Confident of her Disloyalties and the Witness of her Disorders trembles at his Presence and can refuse him nothing A husband that hath disclosed to a Confessor all the Violations of his Promise to his Wife is a fraid lest something should come out which might trouble the quiet of his Family and to avoid this mischief he becomes the Slave of him who knows his secrets A Merchant who hath cheated in Trade will part with some of his Gain to assure himself of the Fidelity of him who is privy to his Crimes But above all on such Occasions when there are but two heads together the Priests say what they please they wind about the Conscience according to their own designs and Interests they rack they loose they bind they terrify they astonish they flatter it And by these different Methods they lead it where it had no Intention to go God knows and Experience hath told us somthing how many dismal effects have proceeded from this mysterious Policy All men are not made alike some are cholerick others are Melancholy and serious these are willing to live austerely others are sanguine and will have pleasure whatever it costs There are Confessors of different Characters according to these different humours Some who will endure nothing at all others who will endure every thing By this means they hold fast all sorts because every one is gratifyed 8 Policy a great external austerity This human Policy which so indulgeth Inward Licentiousness at the same time requires a great External Severity and Rigour For men are willing to give something to God and not being able to give him Fruit they are willing to pay him in Leaves Therefore they love those Customs which have a great shew of Mortification You cannot rid men of this notion that the Christian Religion is a serious thing and an Enemy to the Pleasures of the World. Therefore if the Papacy was licentious in all respects and held no correspondence with the Temper of Religion it would be impossible but men would quickly see through it Therefore it endeavours to keep up a great Appearance of Seriousness in the midst of its innumerable Villanies It ordains above a hundred and sixty Fasts in a year men eat and drink on these Fasts as at other times provided they choose such a diet But no matter they are always call'd Fasts and this makes a great Figure in the Outside of Religion From the same Policy we have the Penitents and Whippers of the Roman Church who tear themselves with Blowes of a Whip when they are hired to do it Thence come the Cloisters Frocks Hair-shirts Whippings Discipline Confinement Silence Solitude and all the strict and severe Rules of the Monks Such Rules and Orders as in show and appearance are very considerable and gain them Reputation with the people but in reality they are not much incommoded by 'em and suffer little by their observance as to any thing of that severity and mortification they pretend to because they are Masters of their own
most Holy Virgin Mary the Mother of God almost every thing which is in the H. Bible In prosecuting this design the Virgin Mary must be found in the first word of the Bible By the Heavens which God created in the beginning we must understand the Empyreal Heaven i. e. the Lady of the World the V. Mary When God said Let there be Light the meaning is Let Mary be begotten and born Every thing that is Great and Singular in the Antient History is Mary She is the Altar which Noah built to God after the Deluge the Holocaust in which God will smell a sweet savour is the Prayers of the same Virgin the Virgin is the Bow in the heavens of which 't is said when I bring a cloud over the Earth the bow shall be seen She is the mystical Ladder which Jacob saw in a Dream for by her the Son of God descends to us and by her we ascend to him she is the Gate thro which we enter into the Kingdom of God 't was of the Virgin that Jacob spoke when he said how dreadful is this place 't is the House of God the Gate of Heaven The Jewish Tabernacle and all its parts did respect the Virgin. She is the Ark of the Covenant that is gone into Heaven before us to prepare us a place there She is the Mercy-seat of pure Gold because she was sanctifyed above others in her Mothers womb She is also the Altar of Burnt-offerings because she is the Reconciler and hath taken this Office at her going into Heaven We may judge of the whole piece by these small shreds A thousand and a thousand Copies have been taken from these two famous Originals the antient Preachers of the Roman Church adorned their discourses with these excellent flowers For example in Solomons Song they found a large field for these profane applications There the H. Spirit in a mysterious manner sets forth the Wonders of the Union between J. Christ and his Church by the Emblems of a Bridegoom and a Spouse These profane wretches apply all this to the Virgin as if the Mysteries of our Redemption and Union with J. Christ were verifyed and fulfill'd in her And to give greater authority to all these shameless applications they were brought even into the Hymnes of the Roman Church In them they say to the Virgin Tu quoe furentem Leviathan serpentem tortuosumque c. Thou bruisest under thy feet the furious Leviathan and the crooked Serpent an Elogy which the Oracle in Genesis gives to the Blessed Seed i. e. to J. Christ Another hymn speaks thus to her Scala Jacob ora pro nobis Jacobs Ladder pray for us Nor is less done to the other Saints every one of 'em hath his proper Votaries especially the modern Saints are much more feasted and caressed than the old The book of the Conformities between S. Francis and J. Christ is full of these Abominations That Author will have that God had his eye on S. Francis when he Created the first man. For to him those words ought to be applyed Let us make man in our Image after our Likeness and let them have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl c. There are none who have been so extravagant in abusing the H. Scripture as the Preachers of the Papacy For they have adopted all these profanations and over and above have peculiar ones of their own 'T was their profession to make the Scripture ridiculous and absurd by impertinent Expositions by expressions fit for the Stage and by the language of a Farce which they still used in all their discourses If any should dare to deny this we have at this day enough to convince the incredulous in the Sermons of Menot of Maillard of Barelette V. Exceptions from which we have made considerable citations and the consulting them will be useful to let us see the Character of Popery Tho their Preachers are not so sottishly extravagant in this age yet 't is certain that the same Character is to be discern'd in those who are newly come out of the Convent and have not convers'd with the world The Writers of Controversy Scripture abused by Controversial writers ought to be much more exact and circumspect in the using of the H. Scripture Preachers and those who write Books of Devotion have some Priviledge in this matter and may take some liberty in their Applications of Scripture provided that these applications are sutable to bring the soul unto God. But when we alledge Scripture as an evidence to decide a Controversy we must keep close to the true Intent of the H. Spirit Nevertheless one would pity and blush for the Controversial writers of the Church of Rome who boldly abuse and wrest the Scripture to prove their Doctrines We have ground already to say that all the proofs she brings from Scripture are real Abuses of it And what we have discoursed above to prove that the Papacy is not in the least sollicitous to have a conformity to the Rule of Christians might be repeated here But besides those abuses which the Papists are forced to employ otherwise they must in plain terms grant that the Scripture is not their Friend besides those I say we may find others which they could have spared Are not the words of Christ to S. Peter Thrust out a little from the land Panigarola and Launch out into the deep an excellent proof that S. Peter was first to erect his Episcopal Seat at Antioch and afterward to erect the Popes See and the Soveraign Tribunal of the Church in the City of Rome Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Zion rule thou in the midst of thy enemies Behold an express Text to prove the same thing viz. that Rome is to be the Metropolis of the Church the Queen of the world Christ saith to Peter Bozius Follow thou me i. e. Go and place thy Seat and that of my Kingdom at Rome Behold I lay in Ston for a foundation a tryed stone a pretious Corner stone i. e. I will establish the Pope to be the Lieutenant of God and the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth Bellarmin There is one Lord i. e. The Pope is the only Soveraign of the world Where two or three are gatherd together in my name Panigarola there I will be in the midst of them i. e. The Pope alone hath Authority to call general Councils Bellarmin Let a man so account of us as stewards of the mysteries of God i. e. There is a Treasure of Indulgences in the Popes keeping which he may dispense as he pleaseth Verily I say unto you Eckius this generation shal not pass away till all these things be fulfilld This signifieth that there shall be a constant succession of Bishops in the Roman Church Loose him and let him go did Christ say concerning Lazarus And this denotes that
and Darkness At this time ruled those two Notorious Strumpets Theodora a Roman Dame most infamous for her lewdness and her Daughter Marosia wife to Albertus the Marquess of Hetruria and Concubine of this Pope Sergius who at the same time kept the Mother and the Daughter to reward them for raising him to be Pope by their Influence and Authority One Athanasius succeeded him concerning whom we have no account it is not easy to imagine the cause for as this Pope was one of the Cabal of Theodora and Marosia he was of the like character with his Predecessors After him comes Laudo who to oblige the infamous Theodora prefer'd a Priest of Ravenna named John to the Bishoprick of Bologna and afterwards to be Archbishop of Ravenna But Theodora not finding it for her Convenience to have her Gallant at such a distance from her quickly makes away with Laudo An. 912. and makes this John the tenth by name Bishop of Rome Platina Some Historians say that This John was the son of Pope Sergius by Marosia Theodora's daughter This Pope then was the Son of a Pope and kept his grand-mother Theodora to be his whore This Monster possess'd the Chair sixteen years and lest it by a violent death for Marosia who is reputed by some Authors to have been his Mother caused him to be put in prison and there to be stifled under a Bed. She made Leo VI. Pope in his room who surviv'd but six months and dyed in prison of a violent Death as his Predecessor did Stephen VIII succeeded him and he was permitted to continue in the chair till it was thought fit to place John 11. in his room who according to the opinion of several Authors was Marosia's bastard by Pope Sergius An. 931. and not John 10. as Platina would have it This John had his own Mother Marosia for his whore Albertus the son of Marosia by her marriage with Albertus Marquess of Tuscany imprisons both Marosia An. 936. and John 11. his Brother by the Mothers side This latter dyes there and leaves his seat to Leo VIII of whom Platina gives this great commendation nihil memoriâ dignum fecit that he did nothing worth remembring Those that follow'd till the year 956. had the good fortune to be almost buried in silence An. 955. It was otherwise with Octavian son of Albertus Marquess of Tuscany who was made Pope at seventeen years old the first who chang'd his name upon his advancement to the Chair which hath been the custom of succeeding Popes ever since His Crimes were very enormous but they are well known also by all the world Luitpâ—and In him did Rome see another Nero a second Heliogabulus The Lateran Palace became the most publick Bawdyhouse of all Europe an Honest Woman could not with any safety perform her Devotions in the most publick places for women were ravisht even in the Churches Besides that he was Cruel and caused Benedict his Spiritual Father to have his eyes put out and John Cardinal a Subdeacon to be put to death by cutting off his Privy Members he offer'd incense to the Devil and invok't Jupiter and the other Gods of Paganism the Emperor Otho coming to Rome caused this monster to be depos'd but he formed a party against the Emperor by which an Insurrection was made and much Blood shed Otho remain'd Master and set up another Pope but assoon as he left the City to return into Germany the Whores at Rome set him again upon the Chair and thrust out the other Pope whom the Emperor had made Otho who again prevail'd over the Seditious at Rome being dead another Villain who called himself Boniface VII seiz'd Pope Benedict VI. and caus'd him to be strangled in prison Another Tyrant of the Faction and Family of the Marquess of Tuscany named Benedict VII turned out this Boniface VII who was forc't to save himself at Constantinople whither he carried all the moveables and as much of the treasure of St. Peter as he could with him Some time after he comes back to Rome and puts himself again in the Chair where he found one named John XIV whom he throwes into Prison and there he is starv'd to death Eight moneths after this he himself dyes and is drag'd thro the streets to be thrown on a common Dunghill Behold these are the God's of the Papacy The Emperor Otho the Second Son of Otho the first would put a stop to these disorders as his Father had done He comes to Rome makes a new Pope according to his own mind but no sooner was he gone from thence but the Romans set up another Pope who called himself by the name of John XVI Otho returns and makes himself Master of Rome cuts off the Hands and Ears of this John XVI and put out his eyes he enters the Castle of S. Angelo by force and throws Crescentius the Leader of the Rebells who was retir'd thither headlong from the walls Doth not this look like the Chair of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace Gilbert first Arch-Bishop of Rhemes and afterward of Ravenna concluded this tenth Century and took the Chair under the name of Silvester the second Some late writers will have him to have been a good man contrary to the unanimous consent of all Popish Historians of any Age and of any Credit Geofrey of Monmouth Cardinal Benno who liv'd in that age Martinus Cistensis Petrus Premonstrensis Platina Nauclerus Rolluinkus Martinus Polonensis William of Malmesbury do all say he was a Sorcerer and strangled by the Devill in a Chappell at Rome which is called Jerusalem The Devil promis'd him that he should not dye till he had said mass at Jerusalem he thought of no other Ierusalem but the City of that name in the Holy Land and confider'd not that there was a little Church in Rome which bore the same name where he went to say Mass and there dyed This History is not invented by Protestants no more than that other which saith that he kept a Brazen Head in his Closet which he consulted concerning future Events and which gave him Answers The Popes of the eleventh century and their Character The eleventh Century saith Baronius began with a Report which spread it self far and near that Antichrist was come and that ere long we should see the end of the World. He confesseth that the horrible Villanies which had been seen in the Church and were yet to be seen there gave occasion to this Report This was no Popular Error but an evident undeniable Truth which all the world might take notice of that Antichrist was then come In this 11th Century untill the middle of it the Roman Chair was possest by men every whit as vile and monstrous as their Predecessors The Marquesses of Tuscany who did whatever they pleased at Rome continued to bestow the Popedom on their Kindred or to sell it unto Strangers Terrible Schisms follow'd on this Gregory VI. was
chosen Anti Pope against Benedict VIII the Sedition was very great and much Blood spilt and Benedict flies into Germany Henry surnamed Saint comes with an army from thence to expell Gregory VI. and re-establish Benedict VIII 'T was in this century that there was one Pope but of ten years old the son of Albertus Count of Tuscany He was called Benedict IX and was one of the vilest Monsters that was ever in that Chair or in the World. Cardinal Benno assures us he was a Sorcerer An. 1034. that he sacrified to Devills in the Woods that he drew the Love of Women by Magical Charms In this age likewise there were three Popes at once to be seen at Rome When this Benedict IX had raign'd peaceably for the space of ten years another Faction of Villains created another Pope under the name of Silvester III. Benedict IX sells his share in the Papacy to one named John and retires to his own house to live in privacy but returns within a few moneths and sets up himself again for Pope without thrusting out the other two so that Rome had three Popes in three distinct Churches Benedict in the Church of S. John Lateran Silvester in that of S. Peter and John in that of S. Maria Majore After they had endeavour'd to no purpose to depose one another they at last agree and divide the revenues of the Roman Church among them So that the Spouse of J. Christ saw Three Husbands at the same time living peaceably together and dividing her Favors among them with a good Agreement The Papists who are so concern'd to disprove the story of Pope Joan and so stoutly deny it have here a piece of History as good as that and no less to their Reproach Those three Wretches might have longer possess'd the honour and the profits of the Papacy if a fourth more cunning than they had not persuaded them to part with their Dignity in his favor on condition that they might retain these Church Revenues which before they enjoyed This Gratian for so that Priest was called he buys the Popedom but doth not long injoy it Clement II. takes his place and continued in it but nine moneths and then was Poison'd by Damasus II. who succeeded him This Damasus after three and twenty days was himself Poison'd by one Gerard Brazuta who was kept in pay for such work by the Holy See. For Cardinal Benno tells us that he had Poison'd seven or eight successively the Predecessor in favor of him who had a mind to succeed him We see then what sort of men were Bishops of Rome 'till the middel of the eleventh Century But the scene begins to change For two hundred years the Popes had been profligat and debaucht monsters of Filthiness worse than Sardanapalus Afterwards we meet with such as were merciless Furies whose Debaucheries are hardly taken notice of because their Ambition and Pride transported them to that degree as made their other Vices to be less observable Leo IX was put into the Chair An. 1049. T is under his Pontificat that Baronius and such Historians as he begin to get a little breath in him they find one who recover'd the honour of S. Peters chair The best thing they say of him is that he rais'd an Army compos'd partly of Criminals and of Banditi to make war against the Guiscard who were Norman Gentlemen that had seiz'd upon Apulia As Great a Pope as he is pretended to be he did not escape being Poison'd any more than his Successors Victor II. Stephen X. and Nicolas II. Benno Alexander II. An. 1061. was chosen by the Cabal of Hildebrand Monk of Clugny The Emperor Henry IV. being provok't that this election was made without his consent caused another to be chosen at Basil named Cadalous and sent him to Rome with the name of Honorius II. Italy is hereupon divided and Armies raised for the one and for the other there were pitcht Battells and Sieges and very much blood shed At length Alexander gets the victory and remains Master Honorius after having endur'd a Siege of two years in the Castle of S. Angelo forsaken of all his Friends he dyes of despair See how they disputed for the succession of the Heritage of Jesus Christ From that time the Popes began to distinguish themselves and be taken notice of for their Attempts against the Authority of the Emperors Alexander II. undertook to cite the Emperor Henry IV. before him to purge himself from the Crimes that were laid to his charge But Hildebrand the Monk of Clugny that Monster of Pride when he was made Pope under the name of Gregory VII carried his Insolence against Soveraigns much farther than any of his Predecessors had done He began his Pontificat with a false Oath for having sworn fidelity to the Emperor Henry IV. he revolts from him to become his Master He Cites him Excommunicates him Deposeth him and puts Rodolphus of Senobia in his place That wretched Rodolphus suffers the due Punishment of the Crimes which the Pope had made him commit He is wounded and dyes and makes this excellent declaration at his death Behold I now leave the Empire Abbas Usbergensis and this present life see this perfidious hand which I lified up to Heaven when I swore Fidelity to my Empeur Behold me in this deplorable condition you that made me usurp that Throne which belong'd to him Gregory makes the Emperor Henry IV. come to him a foot to obtain his peace makes him wait three days barefoot in the Snow at the Gate of his Castle strips him of his Imperial Habits and makes him put out a pitifull woollen cloak and shews him a Whip and a pair of Scissors to let him know that he deserved to have his head shav'd Malmsbuty and be thrust into a Convent and there to have severe Discipline He added Perfidiousness to his Pride and wrote to the Germans that he had given the Emperor Peace but not restor'd to him his Empire This Tyrant did likewise excommunicate and depose the Kings of Naples and of Poland the Emperor of Constantinople and threatned as much to Philip I. of France His Pride exceeded that of any of his Predecessors but he had not renounc't their Vices He was suspected to have been too familiar with Mathilde Countess of Tuscany he oblig'd her to part from her husband that he might the more easily enjoy her and so inchanted her that she bequeath'd all the lands she had in Italy which were very considerable unto the Church besides this Benno accuseth him to have been a Sorcerer and Necromancer The conduct of this Gregory was a pattern for all his Successors who copied it exactly Vrban II. continues the revolt and engages in it Conrad the Emperor Henry's own son This Son drove his own Father out of Italy but dyed soon after without enjoying the fruits of his Crime Pascal II. engages Henry the Emperors second Son in the same Rebellion
Emperor in his own Order that nothing is wanting to his Imperial dignity His anointing makes him a King of the Church and he acquires the whole perfection of the Quality of a Prince as soon as he gets subjects i. e. when a Priest gets a Cure and Parishioners They talk continually of the Clerical eminence and sublimity They tell us that the Clergy doth the neerest approach to and bears the most exact resemblance of God yea that those of the under-Clergy are Superiors to any of the Laity At this rate not long ago a Doctor of the Sorbon discourst in his Book against the Jesuit Cellot Is not this very like the description which our Lord Jesus Christ hath made of his Ministers The Kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them but ye shall not be so but whoever will be great among you let him be your Minister or servant Not lording it or affecting dominion over the Heritage A little ordinary Priest hath the greatest Monarchs lying at his feet and with a tone of Authority giveth 'em Absolution and remission of Sins They set up themselves as so many Judges between God and men and dispose of Heaven and Hell as if they were their own They take place and the upper-hand without any scruple of the greatest personages Of the three States which Commonwealths are divided into viz. the Nobility Clergy and Commons the Clergy which ought not to be reckon'd as the Tribe of Levi was not among the rest of the Tribes notwithstanding hath the precedence and consequently place themselves above Kings who are only the first or chief Nobles of their Kingdoms The Tribe of Levi had no inheritance in Canaan it was not reckon'd among the rest because it was the portion of God and he was their portion But the Clergy in the Papacy hath renounced their share of heaven and taken possession of the earth they make no account of God but take for their portion the chiefrank in the dignities of the world The Bishops will be styled My Lords and whenas Princes have only the title of Monsieur these monsters of Pride will be call'd by every body Monseigneur Read the Acts of their Assemblies T is pleasant to see how in every line they style themselves Monseigneur or My Lord. My Lord of Agen sayd thus My Lord of Tulle My Lord of Paris c. reported thus Their houses are stately their equipages are magnificent their tables sumtuous they live like Princes Is not this very sutable to the Ministers of Christ Nay is it not evident that these are the Officers of Antichrist The Clergy make themselves to be a Kingdom within a Kingdom Pride of the Bishops they exempt themselves from the Jurisdiction of their lawful Soveraigns By virtue of their Priviledges and immunities they must be free from all charges They have their own Courts their own Judges will have every body appear at their Tribunals but will themselves appear at none as if they were Soveraign Princes We read in History that these proud Prelates have resisted their Soveraigns have excommunicated and made them hold the stirrup for them to get a horseback In these later ages Kings have taken a little heart and refused such submissions But upon this the Clergy complains lamentably of oppression and violence offer'd to them Pride of the Coatâ— of Rome and the Cardicals If we would see the Pride of the Papacy in its height we must cast our eye on the source the Court of Rome the proudest that ever was in the world there we see some beggars whose first rise was to be scullions in a kitchin or valets de chambre and at the same time the Pathick to some Church man such fellows I say leap so high as to become Princes of the Church Pillars of the world Senators of the Universal Church these are the titles of Cardinals who pretend to be the superiors of Kings For on their grand solemnities the Seignior Cardinal Bishop Ceremon lib. 3. and lib. 2. sect 1. sits next after the Emperor above all the Kings of Christendom as is appointed by the Roman Ceremonial In all places they will go before Princes who are not Kings whatever Race and family they are of At Rome they dwell in stately Palaces have Bishops for their domesticks and often times there is not one of their servants who is not of a better family than they Pride of the Pope Lastly 't is in the Pope himself in whom we have an exact accomplishment of the Scripture predictions that paint forth the Seat of Antichrist as a Seat of Pride he will be styld Sanctissimus Dominus noster Our most holy Lord. A true name of blasphemy seeing that the true head of the Church J. Christ never would be styl'd other than Our Lord without addition But the Pope will on many occasions be call'd Our Lord God the Pope his divine Majesty The victorious God and man in his See of Rome Deus Optimus Maximus Soveraign Monarch and Vice-God named God by the pious Emperor Constantin and adored as God by that Emperor The lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world The most holy who carrieth the most holy i.e. the H. Sacrament which being in their opinion Jesus Christ himself behold the Pope in the same rank with Christ This is he who will have men to say of him that he is greater than all the saints in heaven yea greater than all the Angels greater than the whole Church That he cannot be judged by any that he cannot be censured or absolved that tho he should carry along vast multitudes to hell none may say to him what doest thou That he ought to be adored by all nations that he exactly resembles God that 't is written of him let all the Kings of the earth worship him that he hath power in heaven and in earth and ought to rule from sea to sea Behold what things he saith of himself and orders to be said in his Decretals in his Councils in his Bulls in Inscriptions Nothing in all this is aggravated 'T is transcribed word for word Exceptions 1. and 7. the citations are to be seen in our Leg. Exceptions Pride of the Popes pretentions T will be objected that Titles signify nothing but these Titles are so many real pretentions And these pretentions are prodigies of pride that were never heard of in any Throne nor in any person He pretends to have alone Right to make new Lawes to employ the forces of the Empire in his own service that Princes ought to kiss his feet that there is no other name in the world but that of the Pope that he may depose Emperors Kings and all Soveraigns that he can give away Crowns to whom he pleaseth that he can absolve subjects from all Oathes of Allegiance that he hath authority to dispense with Law against Right against the Gospel against the Apostles That God made two great Lights that the Pope
That is in short they declare the Pope to be Antichrist for is not this the Character of Antichrist to assume to himself falsly and injustly the Rights of Jesus Christ to have power as our Lord to bestow Kingdoms and take away Crowns to open Heaven and Hell infallibly to determine all Controversies to pluck up and to plant to build and to destroy to have two swords the one spiritual th' other temporal and to be the only center and fountain of all the authority in the world Is it not the part of Antichrist to maintain an usurp't authority by the slaughter of so many thousand Christians as the Popes have done who have often made Germany and Italy to swim in blood to get the possession of this power to dispose of the Imperial Crown according to their pleasure for my part I expect a direct Answer to this and in the mean time I maintain that the Pope is a Monster of Pride and the Antichrist according to the last definitions of the Clergy of France and the Kings Declarations pursuant to ' em Can any thing be more ridiculous than what the New Converts alledge there is nothing they say more tolerable than the Power of the Pope as it is now explained in France But I would fain know whether the opinion of France and the decision of her Clergy be that which constitutes the Pope to be what he is and what he ought to be Let the assembly of the french Clergy at Paris say what they please is it ever the less true that the Pope doth ascribe to himself all that tyrannick Power we have been speaking of Is it the less true that he hath exerciz'd this power on an hundred occasions and that he will still exert it whenever he can Is it the less true that the Gallican Church on this very account is censur'd at Rome as guilty of Heresy and Scism Is it the less true that the whole body of the Roman Church looks upon the decision of Paris as a Crime If I should discourse in France of the Kings attempts upon his Neighbours as men discourse of them at Vienna and Madrid that nothing can be more unjust would this make any alteration in the Kings Right if he have any would he not still have reason on his side if it be true that he is in the right what hurt can it do to a Potentate that his Rights are limited and contracted by another Potentate in words and writing if the former continues still in possession of that which he pretends doth of right belong to him Let not those therfore be deceived who have suffer'd themselves to be abus'd by the modifications and abatements that have been made of the Popes power in France This doth not touch the Pope who continues still to be that in himself which he pretends to be and therfore once more I assert that this serves to no other end but to prove to the Gallican Church that the Pope is a Monster of Pride and by consequence that in this respect at least he bears the true Character of Antichrist CHAPTER XI The seventh Character of the Antichristian Kingdom which agrees to the Papacy a Spirit of Covetousness and Simony and its extraordinary Riches Babylon is to be a City of Merchants 'T Is manifest by the 18th Chapter of the Revelations that Babylon the Great was to be a City of great Commerce and Trade and of great Riches and consequently of Rapine and Avarice because these are the ordinary methods by which men acquire more than ordinary Riches Babylon is a City of Merchants V. 11. The Merchants of the Earth shall lament and mourn over her for no man buyeth her Merchandise any more V. 12. The Merchandise of Gold and Silver and precious Stones and of Pearls and Fine Linnen and Purple and Silk and Scarlet and all sweet Wood and all manner of Vessels of Ivory and of precious Wood and Brass and Iron and Marble V. 13. And Cinamon and Odors and Oyntments and Frankincense and Wine and Oyl and fine Flower and Wheat and Beasts and Sheep and Horses and Chariots and Bodies and Souls of Men. The Papacy framed by Covetousness That is to say that Spiritual Babylon is Rich and Powerful that her Goods are immense that every thing there is to be sold and bought Let us see whether this be not exactly verified in the Papacy First as to its Doctrines is it not Rich to the greatest abundance and do they not make sale of every thing First 't is plain that Covetousness dishonest gain and that wretched Passion which never saith 't is enough are the very soul and spirit of Popery Their Doctrines are framed to get Money The fable of Purgatory was forg'd by the spirit of Covetousness as well as Lying to drain Wealth and Treasure from the Houses of the simple People into those of the Priests and Monks 'T is this hath made so many foundations of Convents with good Revenues and Great houses setled by that which they call works of Piety The Sacrifice of the Mass the most august of all the Mysteries of Popery is made the source of a shameful and filthy Gain 'T is a Lucky hit for the Clergy that someway hath been found to persuade the people that this Sacrifice is good for every thing good for the Living and as good for the Dead good for Sickness and good for Health excellent to Find out what a man hath Lost and as admirable to Preserve that which he hath in possession good for Success in any undertaking by Sea or Land so that there is no Merchandise in the world that on this account hath so good a vent Innumerable persons are maintain'd by it and live by nothing else They have increased the number of the Sacraments because they are as so many Mines from whence money may be had Why are humane Satisfactions made to signifie so much but because you must pay dear to redeem them Why have they contriv'd a Treasure for the over-plus of the Righteousness of the Saints but to exhaust the treasure of the Ignorant of the Superstitious and of Libertins who buy Indulgences for money and do Penance by Proxy paying well for it 'T is well known that those Indulgences have made a filthy trade in the Papacy the traffick of 'em hath been so shameful that Papists themselves have complain'd of it By what spirit were Images brought into the Church and the Invocation of Saints not only is a spirit of superstition and Idolatry concern'd but of Covetousness too for Customhouses are establisht with reference to these called the shrines of Saints and consecrated Chappels where the Reliques and Images of our Lady work Miracles Multitudes of People flock thither and bring costly Presents and load the Altars with their Offerings to the great Gain and Profit of the Priests The proud Divinity of the Merit of Good Works serves only to advance that which they call Works
of the Antiquities of Rome confess it The Pantheon is now the Church of the V. Mary surnamed the Rotunde Twelve Idol Temples are reckon'd that have the same Honour i. e. to be consecrated to the Virgin. The Primitive Christians did so abhor Paganism that they would not for any thing in the world have celebrated their Mysteries in Pagan Temples But Popery which came in afterwards makes use of any thing of the Pagans their Temples their Images their Ceremonies I know not how any one can look on this Conformity otherwise than a certain Character of Antichristianism CHAPTER XVIII The Eleventh Character of Antichristianism that is found in the Papacy a Spirit of Lying and Fables Falsehoods to sustain the Authority of the Pope A short account of the Romance of the V. Mary The Antichristian spirit must be a spirit of Lying and Fables ALL Heresies and false Religions in general have the Father of Lyes for their Author But yet 't is certain that there are some Sects that are distinguisht by this and have a Spirit of Lying for their Character 'T is plain by Scripture predictions that this was to be the Spirit of Antichristianism This is signified by those V. 13. Three unclean Spirits Apoc. 16. that come out of the Mouth of the Dragon and of the Beast and of the false Prophet V. 14. For they are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the Earth These Spirits of Devils are those Lying Spirits who by Fables and false Miracles deceive the Inhabitants of the Earth 'T is of the same Spirit of Lying and Imposture that this Prophecy speaks V. 13. And he doth great Wonders Cap. 13. so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of men V. 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles These Wonders are Lying Miracles Delusions Impostures or Fables This is also predicted by St. Paul in his 2. Epist to the Thessalonians V. 9. Whose coming viz. of the Mystery of Iniquity is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders But above all this is the Character that the same Apostle expresly giveth the cursed Authors of the Antichristian Apostacy telling us that the Worship of Demons and Spirits as Mediators was to be set on foot by V. 2. Men 1 Tim. 4. speaking Lyes in Hypocrisy having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron The true Spirit of Popery is lying Fables and Imposture and consequently it is Antichristianism Let none wonder that we detain the Reader longer than usual on his Point For there is not a more sensible and palpable evidence that the Papacy oweth its Original to the Devil than this All false Religions have their fabulous Stories Paganism had its Fables corrupted Judaism had theirs But all the Fables of all the false Religions put together do not come near those of Popery either for number or horridness And those who will not see its Falsehood and Vanity by this prospect will never discern it by any other I promise once again that I do not call Popery that which remains of Christianity in the Roman Church for instance the Divinity of Christ his Resurrection his Redemtion and Judging the World c. Popery works no Miracles but to confirm its Superstitions These grand Truths are supported by Miracles and Wonders which were wrought by the Apostles and by Apostolical Persons The Papacy is not at all concern'd to support the Christian Truth by their Lying Miracles it takes little or no eare to preserve any part of it Or rather God hath not permitted that his holy Mystery should be disparaged by fabulous Evidences and Impostures of the Devil But the Papacy not being able to work true and real Wonders to confirm their Doctrines hath framed most horrid Relations fill'd with Lyes and ridiculous Fables to support the Popes Supremacy and Empire the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of the Virgin the Sacrifice of the Mass the Real Presence the Adoration of the Eucharist and of Images We must with some exactness view some Instances of these Lying Histories that we may understand the spirit of Popery Fables invented to set up the Popes Supremacy One of its principal Articles is the Authority of the Pope his Infallibility his unlimitted power his Succession to the Apostelship and Supremacy of St. Peter These things must be found in Tradition for Scripture saith nothing of them And to find them there they must be put into it for they were not there neither To put them into it for want of History they must weave together a heap of Fables Therefore in the first place they must without any proof suppose that St. Peter after he had been seven years Bishop of Antioch came and made himself Bishop of Rome and that he sat there five and twenty years that he was crucifyed with his head downward and at his death appointed a Successor to whom he bequeath'd a full Authority over the Vniversal Church This Successor of St. Peter left his and this third another so that in a continued Succession until this day the Popes of Rome have always been Soveraigns of the Church Umpires of all differences Judges without appeal of all Controversies and Liege Lords of all the Kings of the Earth but all this is founded on meer Fables Fables concerning the abode and actions of St. Peter at Rome First The Journey and Death of St. Peter at Rome are not very certain 'T is true antient Authors have said so But it doth not in the least agree with the History of the Acts of the Apostles or with the Chronology of St. Paul's Epistles That Apostle made two Journeys to Rome where he was twice a Prisoner In his second Imprisonment they will have him suffer Martyrdom with St. Peter 'T is very surprising and astonishing that the Apostle who in his Epistles written at Rome mentioneth so many persons of a mean quality should say nothing of St. Peter The Mystery of Iniquity began to work in Saint Paul's time this Journey and Martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome whether true or false was to be the principal foundation of the vain pretences of this Counterfeit Monarch of the Church 'T is not improbable that this Spirit of Lying which sowed the first seeds of Antichristianism persuaded the Antients of the second Century that S. Peter had appointed the Bishop of Rome to be his Successor tho this was plainly false For St. Peter had the charge of the Jews and of the Church of the Circumcision Now the Jews were very inconsiderable at Rome where they had no more respect than those Fortune-tellers whom we call Gypsies have among us The greatest and most considerable part of the Jews were about Babylon and 't is there that St. Peter dates his first Epistle As to the pretended Episcopacy of St. Peter at Rome which lasted five and twenty years
'T is a Fable whose Original is found to be in the fourth Century in Sr. Jerom's time who is the eldest Author who mentioneth it For it is only to be found in Jerom's version of the Chronicle of Eusebius This Falle is unanswerably refuted both by the History of the New Testament and by Chronology And as one Fable produceth another the long abode of St. Peter at Rome hath produceth the Fable of his Contest with Simon the Magician in which this Magician flying in the Air out of sight St. Peters prayers tumbled him down and broke his Leggs or rather this last Fable was the older and so produced the other But because this Fiction of St. Peter's long abode at Rome was not sufficient to found the Dominion of the Pope they have forg'd Decretal Epistles of the first Popes from S. Clement Peter's Successor In which Epistles these first Bishops of Rome ascribe to themselves all that Authority which the Popes have since usurped They have besides forged a counterfeit Donation of Constantine by which he gives away to Pope Sylvester and his Successors the Popes the City of Rome Italie the Western Kingdoms and almost the whole Roman Empire And that this Title might be supported by possession the fabulous History of the Papacy maketh the first Bishops of Rome by virtue of their Papal Authority to send Bishops into every Countrey to plant Christianity there Thus St. Clement sent into Gaule Dennis to be Bishop of Paris Gratian to Tours Julian to Mentz St. Nicasius to Roüan Taurm to Evreux Exuperius to Bayeux Sainâ—â—n to Verdun Eucherius to Triers St. Saturnin to Thoulouse All Fables which Launoy a Doctor of the Sorbon hath taken the pains lately to refute they were expresly invented to establish the Supremacy of the Pope above Bishops This is but a small part of the Romance of the Papal Authority but because we must proceed to several other Instances we cannot insist longer upon this 'T is certain The Romance of the V. Mary that in all Popery there is nothing so singular and so near to that Worship which is 0165 0 given to God as the Worship of the Virgin. 'T is not easy to carry Idolatry to a higher degree as we have before demonstrated And we may truly say there never was a larger and more detestable Romance than the History of the Virgin framed on purpose to establish the Adoration of the Mother of Jesus Christ This Adoration is grounded on the glorious Priviledges which she received from God in her Conception in her Birth in her Life in her Death in her Resurrection in her Assumtion and in her Miracles We must give you an Epitome of this fabulous History and this Romance of the Virgin is far less discreet than that of St. Rose mentioned before 'T is probable that the Holy Ghost hath designedly been silent about the Life and Death of the blessed Virgin. Perhaps he intended by this silence to prevent the horrid Superstition which would flow from the Honour that is due to this holy Woman If this was the design it hath succeeded but ill For men have by their Conjectures discovered all the Circumstances of the Life of this Saint By one means or other God knows how they know them all as certainly as if She had always had an Historian or Annalist by her side who kept a diary of all that befel her even before she was born First they have understood I know not from whom that her Fathers Name was Joachim her Mothers Anna. That Anna had two Sisters and that all three were Daughters of Matthan the High Priest that so the Royal and Sacerdotal Blood might be joyn'd in the person of Mary This was known in the fourth Century in the time of St. Epiphanius But in the eighth Century Miracles in the Conception Birth and Infancy of the V. Mary men were told by a new Revelation that Joachim was the Son of Barpanther and he the Son of Panther These Names are not to be found in any of the Jewish Genealogies but that is no matter Anna the Mother of the Virgin and Wife of Joachim was a long time barren The High Priest Issachar refused the Offerings of Joachim as being a Dry Tree an useless Member of the Common-wealth because he could not perform the work of Multiplication Joachim filled with shame would not return home Anna sorely troubled that the Reproach of her Barreness had deprived her of her Husband doubleth her Prayers and Tears Joachim afflicted with her Sorrow hideth himself in a Desert where after forty Dayes retirement an Angel finds him out and biddeth him return to his Wise Anna the mean while had retired alone into the Sanctum Sanctorum whither never any Man or Woman could come excepting the High Priest who went there once a year In this place an Angel appeareth to Anna and tells her of the future Birth of Mary Behold how the Virgin is already as highly honour'd as her Son for an Angel cometh to fore-tel her Birth before she was conceived After this Anna is with Child in a miraculous manner for she was naturally barren and was now too old to bear Children Besides the Conception of the little Mary was immaculate as well as that of her Son Jesus she was also conceived without Original Sin. Indeed this discovery was not very certain for the sixteen hundred years past but in this last Age after innumerable Violent and bitter Contests between the Franciscans and Dominicans the former being assisted by the Jesuits have confirmed the Truth of the Immaculate Conception All the best Antiquity knew nothing of it the Fathers have expresly contradicted it But Salmeron the Jesuite hath proved that all the Fathers in this point are meer Fools and Blockheads and that men owe them no submission but only when they plead for the Catholick Church against the Lutherans then they are Infallible To confirm this Fable of the Immaculate Conception they have not fail'd to frame others S. Bridget had several Revelations about it and the Virgin herself often assured her of her own Immaculate Conception To oppose this Truth the Dominicans of Bern in the year 1507. wrought that famous Miracle which is related by all our Historians which History Dr. Burnet hath very lately rectified in the Relation of his Travels Without doubt the Virgin being provokt that they should by false Miracles oppose her Glorious Conception suffered the Cheat to be discovered Four principal Actors of this Comedie were taken and burnt as Victims to the Virgin and her good Friends the Franciscans in a Medow that was over against and in view of their Convent that those good Fathers might feed their Eyes with the sight of this just Punishment of the Enemies of their Goddess The Virgin being thus miraculously conceiv'd and with a Priviledge equal to that of her Son came into the World the eighth of September at such an hour For without doubt there was present some devout
of Images triumph in the East used violence to carry on this design and besides massacred a hundred thousand Manichees and Paulianists thoughout the whole Empire The pride of the Bishop of Rome was the cause of the Schism of the Greeks and afterward of a great shedding of Blood. The Pride of Antichrist the Enterprises of the Bishop of Rome who would raise himself above all the Churches in the World caused about the end of the ninth Century that great separation between the East and the West which is call'd The Schism of the Greeks And this Schism hath been the cause of numberless mischiefs The Popes left nothing untryed to bring the Churches of the East under their yoke To effect this they have shed Rivers of Blood 't was on this design that the Court of Rome set on foot the Croisado's The pretext was Piety and a design to conquer the Holy Places that were in the hands of Infidels Indeed this was really designed by some Princes and the ordinary people but the ambitious Popes and Latins had a further and more Politick aim viz. to enlarge their Dominion and to subdue the Greek Church yea and the Greek Empire too This was evident by the sequel For the Latins after they had carryed on this pretext of a Holy War at last fell on the City of Constantinople which they took and sack'd and ravag'd the Empire of the East for sixty years How many attemts Violences Murthers were committed to force the Greeks to submit to the Patriarch of the Latins How much Blood was shed how many millions of men lost their lives in these Holy as they were called Wars that were nothing but commotions caused by the Pride and Superstition of the Papacy Never was there so much Blood shed or so many crimes committed Antichrist then acted as a Leopard and a Lyon who invaded and tore in pieces all that lay in his way or ordered to do so The Blood shed by the Croisado's caused by Antichristianism After the Croisado's Antichrist found out other pretexts for shedding of Blood. The Popes openly invaded the Authority of the Emperors and the Princes of the West They would excommunicate 'em they deprived 'em of their Authority they took from 'em their Right of Investitures they spoyl'd the Emperors not only of the Soveraignty of Rome but also of that of Germany by making 'em the Vassals of the Popes who gave out themselves as Soveraigns and sole Administrators of the Empire during Vacancie's and by obliging 'em to receive the Imperial Crown from them and by depriving 'em of their Right to confirm the Elections of Popes And for not submitting to all this they deposed some Emperors and made others in their stead By these methods and this diabolical ambition from the time of Henry IV. and Pope Gregory VII until that of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria and Pope John XXII i. e. during the space of 300. years the Popes turn'd Germany and Italy into a Field of Blood in which one might have seen the Son in Arms against his Father Fathers sheathing their swords in the bowels of their children Subjects rising up against their Princes and Princes obliged to shed the Blood of their Subjects and to lay wast their own Countreys Cities were broken into parties that cut throats and massacred each other yea Families were divided and one Kinsman murthered another in this fury which was inspired by the Papacy The Combats the Battels the Sieges of Cities the Millions of men who perisht in those three Ages cannot be numbred Henry IV. alone for his share fought above sixty Battels or fights in those Wars which the Popes raised against him Behold the true spirit and temper of Antichrist Persecution against the Waldenses and Albigenset The Papacy which is a devouring Beast which tears in pieces on the right hand and the left whilest it shed such streams of the Blood of its own Subjects at the same time poured out great torrents of that of the Children and Servants of God. For in the very same Centuries the Popes raised those cruel Persecutions against those whom they named Waldenses Albigenses Henricians and Poor men of Lyons First they persecuted 'em in their Reputation accusing 'em that they asserted all manner of carnal conjunction tho with ones Mother or Sister to be lawful that they held the Old Testament to be the work of the Devil despised the Apostles Creed rejected Baptism were Manichees Panlicians Originists They revived against 'em the antient calumnies charged on the Christians that they kept their meetings by night in which their Barbes i. e. their Pastors after they had put out the Candles gave every one liberty to lye with the first woman that came to hand They call'd 'em Bulgarians from whence is derived the odious term B ... because over and above all other crimes they were charged with that of Sodomy To Calumny they joyn'd the Persecution with Sword and Fire Dominick the Monk and Simon Earl of Montfort had a commission to convert 'em but not being able to bring 'em as they said to reason they brought 'em to ruin All Languedoc was fill'd with Divastations Beziers Carcassone Tholouse felt the rage of Antichristian false zeal the Cities were burnt to ashes the Inhabitants were butcher'd the Women ravisht their goods plunder'd by the Army of Cross-bearers who wore the sign of the Cross on their shoulders and had the rage of Hell in their hearts Those who were taken by 'em were burnt alive For 50. or 60. years Languedoc was a very Theater of cruelty The fury of the Inquisitors had neither bridle nor bounds the innocent and the guiltie the Albigenses and those who were none were buryed under the same ruins The miserable Remnant who got away from this Persecution was scatter'd into all places a part of 'em escap'd by getting into the Rocks and Mountains of Piemont but the cragginess of these places which furnisheth Bears and ravenous Beasts with safe shelters could not afford shelter to these poor persecuted Christians The rage of the Papists followed 'em every where and still sacrificed 'em to the Idol Antichrist A hundred and fifty of 'em were burnt at one time at Grenoble They were attaqu't in the very midst of winter when they fled into the Snow that was on the Mountains and were found frozen to death among which were a Mother and her Child the Child lay at its Mothers Breast If their Persecutors overtook any they hung 'em on Trees or brain'd 'em against the Rocks In another place these poor Creatures having fled for shelter into some large Caverns they stopt up the entrance with Faggots and Straw which they set on fire so that all who were within were either suffocated with smoke or perisht by the flames In other places the unmerciful Souldiers fell upon the common people without distinction butcher'd old men women and children ravish't the girles and rip 't 'em up then pull'd