Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A59540
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A letter writ to an atheistical acquaintance upon his turning papist in his old age by a person of honour.
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Shannon, Francis Boyle, Viscount, 1623-1699.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing S2964; ESTC R38232
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15,643
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30
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no new Article of Faith should be added to the old Apostolical Creed Yet the late pretended general Council of Trent added no less than twelve new Articles which was but a declaring that they esteem'd the Apostles Creed defective and light by twelve Grains or else surely they would never have added that Number to make it weight as they thought and pretended to do by which that Council does in effect declare themselves to be more knowing in what is necessary to true Faith than the first four General Councils and the very Holy inspir'd Apostles themselves And this that Council says but with great impudence and falseness is the true old Catholick and Apostolick Faith without which no Man can be saved for 't is the very words of Pius the Fourth's Creed This is indeed a princely Doctrin fit for such a princely Pope of whom I must beg leave or else I shall be so bold as to take it to let slip a Lease of Popes and four General Councils against his twelve new Articles of Faith The First Pope shall be Pius the Second against Pius the Fourth for this Pius the Second confesseth that before the Time of the Nicene Council little regard was had of the Roman Church which is a plain contradiction to Pope Pius the Fourth and all Popes since that she is the Mother of all the Churches for sure all the Churches did know the Duty they owed their Mother so well as not to have neglected the paying it if they had believ'd it truly due to her but it appears by their not paying they esteem'd it not truly due My Second Pope is Gregory the Great whose Character is That he was the worst Bishop that ever went before him and the best that ever came after him sure it cannot be upon the Account of upholding or inlarging the Power of the Court of Rome for I am very confident and I believe my Confidence is grounded upon this good Reason that had Pope Gregory liv'd in the Time of Pope Pius the Fourth and had been assur'd that he had taken upon him to add twelve new Articles to the old Apostolical Creed he would have said the very same of him as he did of John the Patriarch of Constantinople when he was told he had taken upon him the Title of Universal Patriarch or Bishop That whosoever should usurp to himself that Title was a forerunner of Anti Christ And for his part he pretended to no other Title than that of being a Servant to the Servants of God tho' he was not only then Bishop of but Resident in Rome But Pope Boniface who soon after succeeded him in the Papacy tho' he had a less humble Christian Mind yet he had a much higher Papal Spirit for he presently chang'd that Note and swallowd greedily that sweet tempting Bit of Universal Bishop choosing rather the great Power of being the Head and Master of all the Bishops on Earth than the humble Character of being Servant to the Servants of the great God of Heaven By which he shewed the Pride of a bad Pope but not at all the Humility of a good Christian by esteeming the Office of a Pope more perfect freedom than that of God's Service But this Title of Universal Bishop is attended with such great Dignity and accompanied with such a large Revenue that all Pope Boniface's Successors would never since abandon that proud Usurpation for tho' the doing it may be a Sin yet that 's nothing to the Pope for he that has Power to forgive other Mens Sins may easily absolve himself of his own and indeed I believe he has as full Power to pardon his own Sins as much as any others But now to return to the Point I was about this Pope Gregory concurr'd in his Opinion with the first four General Councils that no new Articles of Faith were to be admitted but what were professed by them And in his giving an account of his Faith as the Custom was for every Pope upon the Advancement to his Papal Dignity he speaks of the first four General Councils in so high a Stile as he professed to receive and reverence them as the four Books of the Holy Gospel How vastly differing was the Faith of this Pope Gregory from that of Pope Pius the Fourth and the now Roman Church who tho' we Protestants embrace all the Doctrins of our Saviour contain'd in the Apostles Creed and confirmed by the first four General Councils yet the Church of Rome will not allow that the Performance of these with a strict vertuous Life can afford us so much as a Possibility of Salvation To which unchristian and uncharitable Doctrin of theirs I shall only answer That the Papists by this plainly shew that they forget that Charity is an essential Mark of true Christianity and what the Apostle saith of particular Christians is as true of whole Churches That tho' they have all Faith yet if they have no Charity they are nothing The third Pope I shall here produce is Pelagius who being elected to the Papacy was demanded if he held the Definitions of the Council of Chalcedon which contain'd that of Nice Constantinople and the Ephesine Creed To which he made answer in a Letter which is in the Body of the Canon Law that he received the Definitions of the first four General Councils concerning the Catholick Faith and then beginning to rehearse his Creed as the fashion was upon being made Pope he repeated the Apostles Creed This is my Faith said he and the Hope that is in me by the Gift of God's Mercy of what St. Peter commands us to be ready to answer every one who asketh us a Reason and an Account of it Of which I am sure the Trentonian Fathers with their twelve new additional Articles can give no good Account out of Scripture because there 's not a word mention'd of them in it Therefore I shall conclude with St. Austin Since the Just live by Faith the greater care must be taken that Faith be not corrupted and then adds Now the Catholick Faith is made known to the faithful in the Apostles Creed which plainly argues that since the Trent Articles are in no part of the Apostles Creed or in God's Word they can be no part of the Catholick Faith And now to conclude this Point I shall leave it to the Popes for a Memorandum the Example of their Brother Pope Honorius who was condemned by two Councils as an Heretick and also anathematized by Pope Leo the Second And pray why was this great Scandal and heavy Punishment laid upon his Holiness the reason Pope Leo tells us was because he consented to violate the Rule of Apostolical Tradition meaning as it was contain'd in the Apostles Creed And surely if declaring a Defect in this Creed be a Violation of it then certainly nothing can be more plain than that Pope Pius the Fourth and the Council of Trent have defiled the Apostolical Creed for they have declared
A LETTER WRIT TO AN Atheistical Acquaintance UPON His turning Papist IN HIS OLD AGE By a Person of HONOUR LONDON Printed for Iohn Taylor at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. A Letter c. 'T WAS the saying of a great Prelate That a Man of no Religion might easily be of any and tho' I remember your ill Living and this Bishop's true saying yet I could not but be surprized at the News of your turning Papist especially considering you had attain'd not only to the full Years of Discretion but the Old Age of Experience which still is or ever ought to be the Parent of Wisdom and Consideration both great Enemies to Popery But upon more serious Thoughts I find Old Age to be the fittest Season of a Man's whole Life to turn Papist in because 't is nearest to that of Dotage and since you are upon losing your Senses as I conclude you are by turning Papist I can assure you you could not have pick'd out a Religion so fit for one that has lost his Senses as that of the Roman Church because you must necessarily be out of them before you can be admitted into it since none can be a thorow pac'd Papist who does not believe the Doctrin of Transubstantiation and none can believe that Doctrin who does believe his own Senses since if you credit them you cannot believe it a strange Article of Religion where to urge the Testimony of Sense is an Offence and to produce the Arguments of Reason is no less than High Treason against the Royal Dignity of this Majestick Popish Miracle call'd Transubstantiation But since I remember you never before own'd your self to be of any Religion still living as if you had none I cannot say you have now chang'd your Religion but chosen it and indeed considering how many Years of Deliberation you took before you did it in my Opinion after all you have cull'd out the very poorest of all the Flock for Amsterdam could not have given you a worse I mean as to the true Direction of your Soul to Heaven nor yet a better to convey it thither if you will believe your Priest's false Promises of Salvation for if you have much Mony no matter how little Religion since you may with it purchase a whole Bundle of Absolutions and Indulgencies sufficient to keep your Soul out of Purgatory which is the Parent of Indulgencies invented by the Roman Church meerly to frighten and cozen the Rich out of their Estates And tho' our blessed Saviour bid the young Man in the Gospel who had great Possessions To sell all and give to the Poor and follow him for 't is as hard for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as 't is for a Camel to pass through the Eye of a Needle yet the Popish Clergy will not allow the Rich to sell any thing but they must convey all they have to the Patrimony of the Church and then they shall be sure to purchase Heaven for their Mony for as the Roman Church can by their Miraculous Art Transubstantiate a small Piece of Wafer into the full bulk of a Man's Body so they can with the same Ease and by the same Art Transubstantiate and stretch the small Eye of a Needle to the large Size of a Door wide enough to let you into Paradice without stooping though you were as big as a Camel for they will tell you St. Peter left with them the Keys of Heaven and they have Power to keep out and let in whom they please so that if you can but pay your Priest Mony enough on Earth he will never fail to promise you a good purchase in Heaven for he is so good a Christian that he will give you Heavenly Treasure for your Earthly by Bill of Exchange on the Virgin Mary upon the Credit of so many Masses he will make to her for your Soul on Earth but be not deceived by them as you must certainly be if you rely on them For this false pretended Heavenly Wealth he tells you he 'll furnish you with is but meer fairy Treasure which only lasts till it be discover'd and then vanisheth assoon as 't is it being not more against the Course of Nature that the Mony you pay for those Masses should ascend to Heaven than 't is against the Stream of Reason to believe that they should carry your Soul there such common Sail-Masses for the Souls of the Dead being but like fine bright Clouds in the Sky which tho' they look high and make a great shew yet they have no real Substance being but meer Airy Apparitions Therefore tho' I was ever an Enemy to your Religion yet I am still so much a Friend to your Person as to wish that as you have had always a great share of natural Wit so you may now have so much Heavenly Wisdom as to pray to God to open your Eyes before Death quite closes them that you may through his Grace clearly see the foppish Religion you have now chosen and the ungodly Life you have still led and that you may seriously reflect and truly repent of both and often remember that Death will soon seize you and Judgment will soon follow it therefore pray to God for your own Soul whilst you are in this World and trust not to the Mony you leave with your Priest to pray for it after you are gone to the next for then such Masses can only cheat you of your Mony but can never rid you of your Sins And did I not certainly know that you had much rather in Point of Religion read a dull Lay-man's Letter than a Learned Divines Book not that you can be ignorant but that such a good Book must be much better for your use than such a short Letter but because this Letter is so much shorter than such a good Book and consequently less troublesome to read for all Troubles you esteem Evils and of Evils the least is best or rather less ill And therefore had I not known this sort of Logick to suit exactly with your lazy and unzealous Humour I should have rather recommended to your reading a Sermon writ by that Pious and Learned Divine Dr. John Tillotson for many Writers do but in a manner fence with their Arguments against Popery but this Dr. makes all his home thrusts and wounds the Papist in the very Vitals of their Religion and as a skilful Painter may draw exactly well a great Beauty in small Proportions so this Learned Person has largely confuted Popery in one short Sermon And as none can be said to steal from the Bible tho' he takes and quotes never so many Verses out of it So none can be justly accused for having stoln or plunder'd this Reverend Doctor of any of his Arguments against the common Enemy the Papists because he design'd them freely for the benefit of all such as will employ all or any of them to that use they being bestow'd