A Word in Season BEING A Parallel between the intended Bloody Massacre of the People of the Jews in the Reign of King Ahasuerus and the Hellish Powder-Plot against the Protestants in the Reign of King James TOGETHER With an Account of some of the Wicked Principles and Practices of the Church of Rome Demonstrated in their Barbarous and Cruel Murders and Massacres of the Protestants in the Netherlands France Ireland Piedmont the Albigenses c. ALSO SHEWING That the present Church of Rome is an Apostate Church and so discovered to be that Mystery Babylon Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth mentioned in the Revelations By H. C. a Lover of true Protestants LONDON Printed for Francis Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhill near the Royal-Exchange 1679. The Author to the READER Courteous Reader NOt because I envy the Person of any Man of any Persuasion so consequently not those of the Papal Church who at present I am concerned with but 't is their Capital Errors and Damnable Principles I aim at in this my Discourse knowing they are contrary and repugnant to the Word of Truth which is the Rule of Faith and Manners and having compassion on Souls which may be Ignorant lest they should fall into the Errors of the Wicked and especially young ones which are not aware of their Principles I have taken a little pains to gather up some of their Horrid Practices and Soul-destroying Principles into a narrow Compass that so in a little time any may perceive what kind of condition they shall be in that do taste touch or handle any of them therefore I beg of you all to whom this shall come to reade it considerately and compare their Principles and Practices with the Word of God and you will see that there is as much difference between them as between Light and Darkness Good and Evil Heaven and Hell God and the Devil And this is not my Opinion alone but the Opinion of almost all the Reformed Churches For that the Pope is Antichrist hath been put into most of the Confessions of Faith I shall only recite the Testimony of one whose incomparable Learning and Piety may make his Words received or mine at least not over-hastily condemned it is the Reverend Doctor Usher Arch-Bishop of Armagh who in his Catechise writ thus As Christ is the Head of the True Church so Antichrist is the Head of the Romish Church which is his Body Quest Who is that Antichrist Answ He is one who under a colour of being for Christ nd under Title of being his Vice-gerent exalteth himself above and against Christ opposing himself against all his Offices and Ordinances both in Church and Commonwealth bearing Authority over the Church of God ruling over that City with seven Hills which did bear Rule over the Nations and put our Lord to Death a Man of Sin a Child of Perdition a Destroyer establishing himself by Lying Miracles and False Wonders All which Marks do agree together to be none but the Pope of Rome Quest What is the use of all his Doctrine Answ That whosoever are partakers of the Sins of Rome are also under the same Curse Quest What further Answ That there can be no sound agreement between Popery and the Gospel no more than between Light and Darkness Falshood and Truth God and Belial and therefore no Reconciliation can be devised betwixt them For if the Antichrist shall be destroyed we cannot in any sort communicate with them in their Errors unless we will bear them company in their destruction also An Account of which Errors Heresies and wicked Practices this Book may give you light in which I had not concerned my self withal at this time but that I was stirred up from the consideration of their Damnable and Hellish Designs of late against England so that they may thank themselves for what I have done and a great many more who are no friends to Popery If these few Sheets shall do any good to the Establishing of those that have received the Truth as 't is in Jesus or informing the Ignorant animating the Spirits of any against those Principles and Practices or bring any out of that gross Egyptian Darkness and leading them into the path of Light and Life I shall have my desire and I desire you may give God the Glory Which that it may be so shall be the hearty prayers of him that is a lover of the true Protestant Religion H. C. A Parallel betwixt the Jews Deliverance from the intended Bloody Massacre in the Reign of Ahasuerus and our Deliverance from the Hellish Powder-Plot in the Reign of King James BEloved Friends and Country-Men I am this Day as God's Messenger to remind you of a very Signal but almost-forgotten Deliverance which England received in the Year 1605 from that hellish Powder-plot of the blood-thirsty Papists Which was not only a general Mercy then received but as it was a kindness to our Grand-Fathers and Fathers so also to us For had Popery then entred England which hath been yet is and I hope will be Emmanuel's Land what in all probability had we been at this time Now for as much as God delights to have his wonderful Works remembred Psal 111. 4. by those that are in the fruition and enjoyment of them and more especially considering the need we may have of as great a kindness as then received already through Grace begun to be shewed the Lord of his rich Mercy bring Ahitophel's Counsel to nought totally what cause have we to be praising God this day that so your Hearts may be animated and stirred up to the Work I shall in this my Discourse at this time run a Parallel between the wicked Conspiracy made against the Jews and People of God in the days of King Ahasuerus and the hellith Powder-Plot in the days of King James of happy Memory for defending the Protestant Religion and discountenancing the contrary and I hope by that time I have done you will see what great cause there is to bless God for his unspeakable Goodness and also see what Enemies Papists are to all true Protestants and so I shall now begin what I have to say 1. As in the days of Ahasuerus who Reigned from India even to Ethiopia over one hundred and seven and twenty Provinces Esther 1. 1. there was a Massacre designed upon all the Men Women and Children which were of the Nation of the Jews the Church of God Esther 3. 13. So in the days of King James 1605. about seventy three Years since there was a Powder-Plot against this Nation and all the People of God for there was thirty six Barrels of Gun powder in a Seller under the Parliament House And in stead of Shot they had laid upon the Powder Bars of Iron Logs of Timber massy Stones Iron Crows Pickaxes and all their working Tools and to cover all that the Plot might not be discovered they had laid great store of Billets and Faggots
drunk deep of the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and also because she sets at nought God 's holy Word therefore we cannot we will not bow to her Golden Image that she hath set up notwithstanding all her Threats As Nebuchadnezzar threatned the three Worthies with a burning fiery Furnace if they would not bow down to the Image of Gold which he had set up So this Mother of Harlots if you will not put your Necks under her Yoke then comes an Armada an Inquisition a Massacre a Powder-plot Fire Faggot Racks Assassinations Stranglings witness Justice Godfry Who for taking but an Examination which was his Place and Work and Sworn to it those Men of Blood could not sleep quietly till their malice was vented on his Body by strangling and other Tortures they put him to as is more than probable to protract his misery and after a considerable time thrust a Sword into his Body to make the World believe it was his own Act. Surely had he done it himself some Blood would have appeared on the Ground where he lay but the Sword being run into his Body some considerable time after Strangling the Blood being coagulated nothing appears but a black Water which usually followeth after the Bloods coagulating And that Act inhumane and horrid Act was done by the Papists is clear from their taking his Pocket Book where the Depositions and Examinations were which was that they wanted though not his Gold nor Silver 'T is true his great Lace Band he went out withal in the Morning was taken away the Gentleman being strangled doubtless the Band was torn in the Fray and to have let that gone would have told the Story too plainly But this Blood as well as the Blood of many millions more crieth for Vengeance That one instance in Ireland in that most inhumane Massacre in 1642 wherein were more than three hundred thousand in a few days put to Death some burnt some slain with the Sword some shot to Death some smothered some starved and pined to Death some killed with Staves some cut in pieces some hanged twice or thriee many thousands drowned at Portendown-Bridg And when the poor Souls came swimming by the River side to save their Lives the Papists knockt them on the head with the But-end of their Musquets But the Instance I mind is that at Portendown-Bridg a Woman was seen to rise Brest-high out of the River her Hair hanging down with Skin as white as Snow often crying out Revenge Revenge Revenge which made the Persons much amazed that saw and heard it This was attested by one Elizabeth Price whose Husband was thrown into that River before the Commissioners appointed for that purpose with many more that might be named 4. Sudden Death was designed by wicked Haman after one Years provision and preparation for the Work as the Spanish Invasion was five Years before compleated so there was to be one Year For on the 13th day of the first Month the King's Scribes were called to make the Writings and on the 11th day of the twelfth Month the month Adar the Massacre was appointed and then nothing but sudden Death in one day Saith the Word They were to Destroy Kill and to cause to Perish all Jews both young and old little Children and Women in one day Esther 3. 12 13. So in like manner Sudden Death was like to be the portion of the Protestants in England Time for Repentance would have been reckoned too good for an Heretick To kill them and send them to Hell speedily is an act meritorious and cause of Triumph when there was near one hundred thousand lives in three days time taken away in France which it seems no less could quench the thirst of that unsatiable Whore and Harlot his Holiness at Rome at the same time made Bonfires rings his Bells shoots off his Guns and sang O horrid Blasphemy Te deum Laudamus We praise thee O God As if he would draw in the most Gracious God to be accessary to his Murders and an accomplisher of his Bloody and Abominable Impieties Sudden death is that they delight in when so many Barrels of Gun-powder were under the Parliament House and Chair of State Thirty six Barrels would soon have dispatcht the King Princes Clergie Nobles Knights and Burgesses the very confluence of the Flower of Glory Learning Prudence and Authority in the Land Fathers Sons and Brothers Foes Papists Protestants all at one blast and after that had been done then a sudden Massacre throughout the Nation and so would have altered Religion and Government and brought in a Foraign Power But our good God hath prevented them hitherto praised be his holy Name O what a settled Detestation and fixed Opposition should we have against that Religion whose Faith is Faction whose Promises are Equivocations whose Worship is Idolatry whose Principles are high Treason whose Mercies are Cruelties whose practices are Stabbing Strangling and poysoning of Kings whose frame of Government is a politick design to enslave the World and to bring the Necks of Princes under their Iron Yoke and whose God is a pretty little tiny thing which the Priests first create with a Charm of four Words long and then worship the Works of their own Hands and when they have done chop him up at a bit and make no Bones of him 5. Much Deceit and Hypocrisy was acted by wicked Haman when he intended to have the Jews Massacred For he pretended to the King Ahasuerus that this People had Laws diverse from the King's Laws and that they kept not the Laws of the King and besides that it was not for the Kings profit to suffer such People Est 3. 8. This he pretends to the King as the great reason why he would have them destroyed when indeed it was not out of love he had to the King's Honour but his own through the pride of his own Heart All the reason was because Mordecai would not bow to him Esther 3. 5. As hypocritical and deceitful hath Rome been in bringing about her wicked Designs at all times for concerning this Powder-plot the better to bring about her design Mr. Percy takes some Rooms of one Mr. Winyard which Rooms served for withdrawing Rooms in Parliament-time for the Lords for these Rooms adjoyned to the Wall of the Parliament-House and Percy took Fauks under pretence to be his Man who changed his name into Johnson he had the Keys and keeping of the Rooms and these Rooms were taken for Lodging Rooms They took also another House and a Seller just under the Parliament House under pretence to keep Coals and Wood which was to make the Serpents Nest in thus their deceit appears Yea further When they wanted to bring the Plot upon the Protestants for that they would have done one of the Conspirators Mr. Keys a Relation of Mr. Pickring of Tichmarsh Grove in Northamptonshire which Pickring was a Protestant and a great Favourite of King James's who had a very choice Horse This
so that nothing was wanting to carry on their wicked Design Neither were the Jesuites and Priests slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with Prayers for the success of that Good day as they called it 2. The chief Conspirator in King Ahasuerus's days was wicked Haman a Person of no small note So in like manner those that had a hand in this Gun-powder Plot were great Men men of Note some that could give many Hundreds to carry it on Mr. Percy and Mr. Catesby finding the Charge lay heavy call in Sir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esquire Catesby also took in Ambrose Rockwood and John Graunt two Recusant Gentlemen besides Winter Fanks John Writh And Sir Edmund Baynam an attainted Person who stiled himself Prince of the damned Crew was sent to the Pope to acquaint him of the Gun-powder Plot. These were some of the Instruments imployed in this Design 3. And as Haman was willing to be at vast Expences to have the Jews Massacre'd for he offers ten thousand Talents of Silver for the accomplishing the thing Esther 3. 9. So those men and many more did not care what Expences they were at Sir Everard Digby offers one thousand five hundred Pounds and Tresham two thousand and Percy four thousand to forward the Action And they were in great hopes of having in a few Months ten times as much The Pope himself was willing to give one Million of Money to compleat the Spanish Armada which he called the Invincible Armada but God made it vincible for of one hundred and thirty four sail of Ships that came for England Sir Francis Drake with eight Fire-ships by God's blessing destroyed so many of them that but fifty four returned to Spain But will the Pope give this Million of Money gratis and expect nothing for it No I 'le warrant you for he lays but one half down and the other half when they had won any notable Haven in our Dominions and with this proviso that the Crown of England should be held Tributary to the See of Rome in token whereof he bestows on the King of Spain his Apostolical Benediction and the Title of Defender of the Faith Not at so little Charge was the King of Spain whom the Pope animated to the Work by persuading him that the Church of God could not be more gloriously nor meritoriously propagated than by the Conquest of England extirpating Heresie and planting the Catholique Roman Religion and that the subduing England was but a just thing considering that the Queen of England Queen Elizabeth was Excommunicated and persisted contumaciously against the Church of Rome By this means the King of Spain like Haman was willing to be at vast Expence to please the Pope whom indeed he dared not to displease for it was as much as his Crown was worth And so that word is verified that she Raigneth over the Kings of the Earth Rev. 17. 18. His Charges must needs be great for they were five Years a preparing their Fleet which consisted of an hundred thirty and four Sail containing fifty seven thousand eight hundred and eight Tun wherein were eight thousand and forty five Mariners nineteen thousand two hundred and ninety five Souldiers to cut the poor Protestants Throats had they been landed Two thousand eighty eight Gally-Slaves and so sure were they that England should pay the Shot they spared no cost for Furnishing they were provided for Sea and Land they had Bullets of great shot two hundred and twenty thousand of Powder four thousand and two hundred Kintals every Kintal containing one hundred pound weight Musquets seven thousand of Partizans and Halberts ten thousand with store of other murthering Pieces as double Cannon they had also store of Torches Lamps Lanthorns Whips Butcherly Knives to murder and torment the poor English This Army cost the King of Spain thirty two thousand Ducats every day Oh who would be at such charges to do God service as the Pope and King of Spain Catesby Tresham Percy Haman c. were to do the Devil service Don Pedro being asked the question of the intent of their coming to England by some of the Privy Council stoutly answered To subdue your Nation But what would you have done with the Papists We would have sent them good men in the Nation to Heaven and you Hereticks to Hell But what meant you to do with your Whips of Cord and Wyer We meant to whip Hereticks to death But what would you have done with the young Children Answer Them that were above seven years old should have gone the same way their Fathers did them under should have lived only we would have branded them in the Forehead with the letter L. for Lutherans and reserved them for perpetual Bondage This Rome's cruelty is one infallible mark of her being the Whore of Babylon which is a better sign of her being a false Church than her pretence of Unity Antiquity Universality Infallibility and Miracles will render her to be a true one For these Denominations do as rightly belong to the Devil himself as to her I conceive to both alike 4. The chief cause and reason why Haman sought the lives of the Jews was because Mordecai the Jew would not bow and stoop to him He was so full of Ambition that all the Honour the King conferred on him signified nothing so long as Mordecai would not bow Esther 5. 13. So in like manner because we will not bow to the Pope and acknowledg him to be Head of the Church who is a great Enemy to God by worshipping Idols to Christ by its new-found Mediators to the Holy Ghost by putting a Pope in his room to the Scripture by its Legends and corrupt Traditions to Reason by its imposed Absurdities to Common Sense by its most foolish and Idolized Transubstantiations to all tender dissenting Consciences by Fire and Faggot an Enemy also to all Civil Government that refuses to be subject to it by Plots Assassinations and horrid Massacres Shall we stoop to her that will not stoop to God Let Rome know that as Mordecai which was a Jew would not stoop to Haman Son of Hamadatha the Agagite Esther 3. 1. The Heathen King the Person and People whom God sent Saul to destroy 1 Sam. 15. 2 3. which People were called Amalekites Agag being King of them they were a People hated by the Lord and of whom God said Numb 24. 20. That Amalek was the first of the Nations but his latter end should be that he perish for ever Now Mordecai knowing that they were a People of God's hatred and knowing Haman to be one of them Mordecai out of Conscience I conceive would not bow to him and also considering that they had been Enemies to the People of God So in like manner we knowing Rome to be an Enemy to the People of God and that God hath purposed to destroy her and give her Blood to drink being worthy Rev. 18. 6. because she hath
if we had been sold for Bond-men and Bond-women I had held my Tongue Then said the King Ahasuerus Who is he And where is he that durst presume in his heart so to do And Esther said The Enemy is this wicked Haman Then the King rose up in Wrath and went into the Palace Garden and Haman being afraid standeth up and makes request for his Life to the King and to Esther the Queen in the Kings absence When the King returned out of the Palace-Garden Haman was lying on the Bed where Esther was What saith the King will he force the Queen before me in the House Thus the King was more and more enraged against Haman Haman's face was covered of a sudden The saith one of the King's Chamberlains there standeth a Gallows in Haman's House which he built for Mordecai who hath spoken good for the King then the King said Hang him thereon So Haman was hanged and the former Writing reversed by sending Letters through all the Provinces and Orders was given the Jews should be ready to destroy all that day that came to destroy them and on that day they destroyed seventy five thousand but laid not their hands on the Prey Thus you see how wonderfully God did work for their Deliverance So in like manner did he for England for the Lord was pleased to prevent their design by two Prorogations before this Fifth of November and but ten days before the Parliament sate there was a Letter sent from some whose heart God had stirred up to the Lord Mount-Eagle to have him exempt himself from the Parliament House that day The said Lord Mount-Eagle takes the Letter and late at Night goes to White-Hall and sheweth it to the Earl of Salisbury then Principal Secretary the Earl of Salisbury acquaints the Chamberlain therewith these two Councellors shew the Letter to the Earls of Worcester and Northampton and all concluded how slightly the Contents seemed to be to shew the King for it was without Date and Subscription and not very legible However the Earl of Salisbury presents the Letter to the King which is as followeth MY Lord out of the love I bear to some of your Friends I have a care of your preservation Therefore I would advise you as you tender your Life to devise some Excuse to shift off your attendance at this Parliament for God and Man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this Time and think not slightly of this Advertisement but retire your self into your Country where you may expect the event in safety For though there be no appearance of any stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible Blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them This counsel is not to be contemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm for the danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter and I hope God will give you the grace to make a good use of it to whose holy protection I recommend you God's goodness did greatly appear in giving the King that Wisdom to interpret some dark phrases in the Letter by receiving a terrible Blow this Parliament the King did presently apprehend that a sudden blow of Gun-powder was intended by some base Villain in a Corner And that the danger was past so soon as the Letter was burnt The King putting the former words a terrible Blow and these together gathered that for so soon was as quickly as the Letter was burnt the danger would be past Order was given that the Rooms under the Parliament House should be searched throughly Accordingly the Earl of Suffolk then Lord Chamberlain upon Monday in the Afternoon with the Lord Mount-Eagle repaired into those under Rooms and finding the Sellar well stored with Wood and Coals asked Fauks the counterfeit Johnson Whose they were Who answered The Lodgings belonged to Mr. Thomas Percy and the Sellar was to lay in his Winter Provision When they were come forth the Lord Mount-Eagle told the Chamberlain when he heard Percy 's name named he did much suspect Percy to be the Inditer of that Letter The Lord Chamberlain returned and told the King and Council what he had seen and the suspicion the Lord Mount-Eagle had of Percy and of Johnson his Man all which increased his Majesties jealousie and a Charge was given that a narrower search should be made the Billets and Coals turned up to the bottom Sir Thomas Knevet a Gentleman one of his Majesties Privy-Chamber and a Justice of Peace in Westminster was imployed herein who about Mid-night before the Parliament was to begin went with a small but trusty number of Persons and at the sellar door they found Fauks at so unseasonable an hour Cloaked and Booted with a Dark-Lanthorn they found about him three Matches and other Instruments for blowing up the Powder He was no whit daunted and instantly confessed his Guiltiness and was so far from Repentance that he vowed had he been within the House as he came but just forth he would have blown up the House with himself and them all in it and further said That the Devil and not God had discovered that Design And when they came to ransack the Billets they found the Serpents Nest thirty six Barrels of Powder with Bars of Iron and massy Stones This Wretch would not discover the Plot till he knew the design of his Brethren in Iniquity which was to murder him in St. Georges Fields when he came to take Mr. Pickrings Horse and would have so mangled him that the World should have thought that it had been Mr. Pickring the Protestant and so as I said before would have fathered the Plot upon them This Villain remembred the Oath of Secrefie that he took with the rest from Gerard and Tresmond Jesuitical Priests who by their Apostolical Power did commend the Fact and absolve the Actors the Oath was in these words You shall swear by the Blessed Trinity and by the Sacrament you now purpose to receive never to disclose directly or indirectly by word or circumstance the matter that shall be proposed to you to keep secret nor desist from the Execution thereof until the rest give you leave 6. As the Wicked was snared in the work of his own hands in the days of Ahasuerus wicked Haman was hanged on the Gallows he made for Mordecai Est 7. 10. Yea his ten Sons were hanged also and seventy five thousand were slain who thought to have slain the Jews Est 9. 16. So in like manner about the Gun-powder Plot the judgment returns on their own Pate many of their lives being taken away that were Actors of it Fauks was Hanged and Quartered as some say others say that he had a pair of Iron Boots made red-hot which he was put to stand in Sixteen were taken in the Country and sent to London Catesby Rockwood and Grant had their Faces scorched with some Powder which they had put in a Chimny-corner a Billet thrown into the
Commentary But may we not be too bold to come to Christ and by him to God the next away Would it not be more decent and mannerly to come by Angels As when we come to a King we make use of Courtiers to get access to the presence Chamber But the Scripture plainly tells us we must come to God by Christ alone John 14. 6. Besides what will it avail us to go to God by Saints they cannot hear our Râ—quests neither know they our Wants nor can supply them Heb. 4. 15. Fifthly She is a Drunken Blood thirsty Cruel Inhumane Harlot Not without cause is she called the Scarlet-coloured Beast having drunk so much of the Blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Rev. 6. 9 10 11. And when he had opened the fifth Seal I saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony that they held And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord Holy and True dost not thou judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth Rev. 17. 4. These came out of great Tribulation Rev. 16. 6. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets Rev. 18. 20. Rejoyce over her thou Heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her Ver. 24. And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain on the Earth This further confirmed For under Charles the Ninth of France more than thirty thousand Protestants were slain in one Month Anno 1572. Bellarmin confesseth that an hundred thousand of the Albigenses were slain in one day under Pope Innocent the Third Let me here call in the Powder-Plot against England 1605 for a Witness to this truth Let me not forget the many thousands Americans whose guilt was their Gold Also that Inquisition of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands which he called the Council of Blood where were above fifty thousand Christians murdered at once Will not Ireland witness for me here where were about three hundred thousand Massacred Starved and Drowned whose Blood calls aloud to be reckoned for So in Piedmont how many quiet peaceable souls were murdered there Shall I not bring in their Design of firing London Semptember 2. 1666 as a Witness in this matter Let me not forget Sir Edmond-bury Godfry who will in the great Day of Judgment come in against this Church and prove her a Blood-thirsty Harlot yea the Mother of Harlots I would not have you forget this last Conspiracy in some part blessed be God discovered Sixthly She is a Lying dissembling Harlot Which appears in her pretended Miracles And this is one sign and mark the Apostle gives of Antichrist 2 Thess 2. 9 10. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish Rev. 13. 14. He doth great Wonders insomuch that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of Men. And that you may not think this is real but only seeming in the 14th vers the Apostle saith He deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth Bellarmine and some others would not have the Pope and Rome to be this mystery of Iniquity because saith he the Pope never brings down Fire from Heaven in the sight of men Answer But the Pope pretends to it or as bad if you will believe their Legends How often by them are Images counterfeited to move to sweat to nod to speak in the account of poor simple Men and Women that they may be assured to the worshipping of those Images they see The Devil did often speak in the Images of Heathen Rome and no doubt but the Devil doth sometimes speak in the Images of Mystery Babylon Now the Apostle Paul calls them Lying Wonders and Signs 1. In respect to the End because they serve to seduce Men. 2. Called so in respect of the Matter For they are either the counterfeits of Lying Men or the Wonders of Deceitful Spirits 3. In respect of the Form For whereas true Miracles exceeded Nature and were wrought by the Omnipotent Power of God false Wonders are those that are effected by Natural Causes and partly by the power of Satan The Miracles of the first kind have been infinite in the dark Kingdom of Antichrist the Apparitions of Spirits the Visions of Angels our Lady Mary How often hath she been coming gliding out of Heaven How often have the miserable Souls crept puling out of Purgatory besetting High-ways and recounting their Torments to procure Men to pity them Hence the Market of Purgatory is grown so very gainful How often have Images walked on foot if you will believe it the Bells struck alone without help the Angels like Choristers chant it in Canterbury Minister and play upon Dunstan's Harp the Apostles to come down from Heaven to help Basil to say Mass These Lying Miracles were feigned by Cheating Priests to confirm strange Lyes and cozen simple People of their Coyne For how often hath a Spirit been apprehended by a Magistrate Angels stript and our Lady sent to her Cell All of them have been notably whipt so that they had better have been in Purgatory These had a shew of Miracles but were not really so Nay how have they pretended to confirm their Mass with Miracles and the Transubstantiation Witness that Pillar of Fire from Heaven falling to the Earth upon that place whereby the negligence of the Priest as the Legend doth report the Body of God fell out of the Pix upon the Grals that Pillar of Fire shining like the Sun about the Body of God so that all the Beasts of the Field except one black Horse which bended but two bended all their four Legs to the Body of God This is like the rest of her Miracles Pray see a few of their own Authors against their pretended Miracles Lyranus saith The People in our Church are grievously guld with Miracles the Priests fain for worldly Gain So Ludovicus Vives a learned Papist saith There be those who thought it a piece of Piety to tell Lyes for Religion Saith Chrysostom Miracles were of good use in the Apostles days but of none now But because there is none now think not there were none then St. Augustin saith He that asketh now for a Prodigie or Miracle is a Prodigie himself Theophilact speaking of the Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost saith They were ceased long a-go So Erasmus saith That the gifts of Miracles are now ceased The Colledg of Paris in a Writing in 1389. saith Miracles ought to be suspected since our Lord saith Mat. 24. False Prophets shall arise From whence I infer from this last Mark That whoever pretends to work Miracles which are nothing else but Lyes and Impostures is Antichrist But the Church of Rome doth so pretend yet nothing but Lyes is the bottom of it Therefore
he Instituted the Sacrament Why do your Priests then wear so many foolish antick Garments more fit for a Stage-player than a Minister of Christ Which of the Apostles wore the Amis or Linnen-Vail or Albe Who commanded you to wear a Girdle in signification of that Cord you say Christ was bound in the Garden withal the Maniple that bound Christ to the Piller The Stole a Cord by which Christ was led to be Crucified with I do not remember I have read of such a Cord in the Scripture neither do I find any Chalice the Apostles used nor a Pattin or Altar-Clothes Corporal or Pall. Where did Christ ever say the Sacrament is for three sorts of Men those in Heaven to encrease Glory them in Purgatory to free them from pain them on Earth to encrease Grace or the Ministers going back three steps from an Altar in token of Christ's prostrating himself Where did the Priest learn to beat his Brest at Mea culpa and to bow at the Confiteor and to kiss the Altar Where do you find in God's Word the Introit In what Chapter do you find the Kyrie Eleison to repeat nine times Lord have mercy upon us three times to the Father three times to the Son three times to the Holy Ghost What Book in the Scripture do you find Prayers called the Collects or that Allelujah is repeated at Easter more than any other time of the Year Where is the Trackt to be found that is to be read with a slow and a long Voice Where did any of the Apostles reade the Gospel at the North-end of the Altar or St. Peter or St. Paul sign the Book with the sign of the Cross Or the Minister and People sign themselves in three places with the sign of the Cross on the Forehead on the Mouth and on the Brest Where do we find Christ wash his Fingers just after the Sacraments Institution as your Priests do In what Epistle do you find the Apostles adore the Bread and Wine that were in his Hand when he Administer'd it Where have you any Office of the Virgin Mary consecrated in Scripture as Hymns Psalms Canticles Antiphones Versicles Responsories and Prayers which you divide the Virgins Office in Not in holy Writ I am sure Who bid you beg for the assistance of the Virgin Mary to perform your service to God's Glory Where did the Apostles ever pray that God would pardon their negligence in the service of the blessed Virgin What Rule have you for keeping a Feast in remembrance of our Saviour's Birth or for the observation of Circumcision or Epiphany day What Rule have you for blessing your Candles you use in your Worship and why must the Day call'd Candleman-Day be the day above all others So we may ask a Rule for the keeping of Ascension-Day Pentecost Trinity Sunday Corpus Christi Transfiguration Day as you call it Who commanded this I pray The Pope not Christ So Advent-Sunday the four Lords-Days which precede Christmas-Day as you say Where do you find that the Apostles observed those four Days which preceded the Resurrection of Christ Septuagesima Sexagestma Quiâ—â—â—â—gesima Quadragesima hard words for the Simple to understand Which are four days of Penance and Mortification Where do you find a Lent commanded by Christ In what Chapter is Palm Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y or Passion Sunday mentioned or Low-Sunday Who taught you to keep a Feast and solemnly observe the Conception Nativity Presentation Annunciation Visuation and Assumption of the blessed Virgin Where is any time in Scripture set apart for the People to confess their Sins to a Priest Where are any holy Ashes spoken of in Scripture to be used on the Forehead on Ash-Wednesday These and forty more Ceremonies I could recount that the Church of Rome practiseth all which prove her to be a Superstitious Harlot Let the Church of Rome prove that she hath received those Ceremonies from the Spirit of God as she pretends and I will own them too Tenthly I might show that this Harlot is a rich Harlot See what Rev. 18. throughout saith The Merchants of this City which were made Rich by her they seeing her Destruction shall say Alas alas that great City which was clothed in fine Linnen and Purple and Scarlet and decked with Gold and precious Stones and Pearls Her Worldly Pomp she hath in her present Church state even among the Clergy only is quite out of the reach of the best Arithmeticians Add to this that of Experience and it will shew us that when that Church had her Domination in this Land they knew where the best ground lay as the Ruins of their Abbies do evince APPLICATION Is it so that the Church of Rome is this Mystery Babylon Mother of Harlots Then let all the People of God that are out of it bless God for that Mercy Had God suffered Popery to continue in England as it was in the Marian Days had not thousands and ten thousands in all probability of us in England been in that False Worship which now are freed from it O let us bless God in Deed with all our Hearts lest our Sins should let her in again upon us as the Sins of Israel brought in the King of Assyria upon them and not only so but laid their City desolate and caused God to take away their Prophets Priests Ark Vrim and Thummim their Solemn Assemblies Sabbaths and appointed Feasts Let us keep our ground that we have got against Antichrist and stand up as Witnesses for the Lord Though we may be slain for it comfort your selves in this the Witnesses shall live again 2. Let all that are in Babylon be exhorted to take the Counsel of the Spirit of God in Rev. 18. 4. Come out of her And that first because she is a false Church Whatever she pretends as marks to denote her a true Church she cannot be so because National The Church of the Jews was so indeed But the Gospel-Church is Congregational only such to be Members of the Gospel-Church which can give an account of the Work of Grace upon their Hearts Acts 2. 42 43. Acts 8. 12 13 14 15 16 17. As little can they say for their Holiness which they say must be in a True Church See the Lives of many of them which have been Heads of that Church I mean the Popes some have been Drunkards some Whore-mongers Thieves given more to War than to Christ prophane Scoffers of Christ Murderers Poisoners of their own Parents calling on the Devil to help them Players at Dice and Drinkers of the Devil's Health Traitors to Princes c. Bernard was a little moved with the Popes of Rome when he called them Tyrants Defrauders Ravenous Traitors Darkness of the World Wolves and Devils Are these St. Peter's Successors I am sure he never taught Men to live at this rate neither did he live so himself If they will have Peter's Seat they must have Peter's Doctrine and Life But the