The Contrariety of POPERY TO THE Blessed Word of GOD Wherein may be seen that the DOCTRINE and PRACTICE OF THE Church of Rome Are not consistent with the SACRED ORACLES OF THE Old and New Testament Very fit now to be seriously minded by all Good PROTESTANTS when we have such Warnings of the Approach of Popery Written by DIGBY BULL M. A. and late Rector of Sheldon in Warwick-shire LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by J. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1695. I. The Fundamental Doctrine of the Romish Church That the blessed Apostle St. Peter was the Head and Governour of all the Apostles and of all the Church is not consistent with the sacred Scriptures but is flat contrary to them THIS grand Position of the Church of Rome whereupon all their pretended Power and Authority is built is altogether groundless and false and not consistent with the blessed Word of God as we may see by a multitude of places First We may see That the places of Scripture which are urged upon this account have no force at all to prove that St. Peter was the Universal Head and Governour of the Apostles and of the Church Great Matters are spoken of St. Peter but nothing at all that will prove this Matt. 16.18 Saith our blessed Lord to him Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it But this doth not prove that St. Peter was to be the sole Foundation of the Church and it is clear by other places of Scripture that this is not the meaning of this place For in this Similitude wherein the Church is compared to a Building Jesus Christ our blessed Lord is the sole and only Foundation and none can pretend to be a Foundation in such a high manner as he is so And this the Apostle St. Paul hath plainly taught us 1 Cor. 3.11 For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Here when some were pretending to be of Paul and some of Apollos the Apostle doth positively affirm That Christ Jesus is the Foundation upon which the Christian Church was to be built and neither Paul nor Apollos nor Cephas or Peter are to stand in competition with him in this respect And when the Foundation is attributed to the Apostles they are mentioned together and Christ is called the chief Corner-stone Ephes 2.20 saith St. Paul And are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone And in St. John's holy Jerusalem the Apostles are all equally concerned Rev. 21.14 And the Wall of the City had twelve Foundations saith he and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. The Apostles we see are all concerned in the Foundation of the Christian Church and it was to be built upon them all as Ministers in this Spiritual Building and in respect of the Doctrine and Foundation of Christ which they laid and St. Peter alone is not the Foundation of the Christian Church And not only St. Peter but others also are mentioned as Pillars of the Church Gal. 2.9 saith St. Paul And when James Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me James and John here are accounted as Pillars of the Church as well as Cephas that is Peter It is plain we see that St. Peter was not appointed to be the sole Foundation of the Christian Church and that nothing can be fairly urged from these words of our Saviour to him to prove him to be the Universal Head of the Church Again our blessed Saviour promiseth to St. Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and power of binding and loosing Mat. 16.19 And I will give unto thee saith he to Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Here we see that very great Power indeed is promised to St. Peter but yet this doth not at all prove him to be the Universal Head over all the Church For this seems not to be an actual Grant of this Power but only a Promise and the actual conferring of this Power doth clear this matter That it was not granted to St. Peter alone but to all the Apostles This may be clearly seen by these places Matt. 18.18 Verily I say unto you saith our Lord whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Here the Power of Binding and Loosing the same Power that St. Peter was to have is as firmly ratified and confirmed to all the Apostles as it is to St. Peter and he could pretend to no Power above his fellow Apostles And after our Saviour's Resurrection immediately before his ascension to Heaven when he most solemnly invested the Apostles with this Power he equally gave it to them all Joh. 20.21 23. Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Here we see this Power is actually and solemnly settled upon them all And the Commission is large bearing a correspondence with that which God the Father gave him As my Father hath sent me even so send I you in the plural number And the Commission is Universal Whos 's soever sins ye remit This great Power then we see plainly is actually settled upon them all and none hath a greater share of it than his Fellows And when St. Peter said unto our blessed Saviour in behalf of himself and his Fellows Matt. 19 27 28. Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore Our Saviour returned this answer And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And saith he Luke 22.29 30 And I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me That ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Here we see that it is equally granted to them all to sit upon Thrones and to judge the twelve Tribes of Israel And these places are understood to respect the Power that they were to have to govern Christ's Church here upon Earth after his departure to Heaven It is clear then that our blessed Saviour gave and left St. Peter no more Power and Authority than he did the rest of the holy Apostles Again the Care of Christ's Flock is
recommended to St. Peter Joh. 21 15-17 Jesus saith to Simon Peter Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him ye Lord thou knowest that I love thee He saith unto him Feed my Lambs He saith to him again the second time Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me He saith yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee He saith unto him Feed my Sheep And so a third time But this doth not prove that St. Peter had any Power and Authority granted him over the rest of the Apostles by our blessed Saviour And we may see that our blessed Saviour hath recommended the Care of his Church to all the Apostles and commanded them all to preach the Gospel and to baptize Matt. 28 18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All Power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Here our Saviour tells his Apostles that all Power was given him in Heaven and in Earth and therefore because he had received this full Power he sends them all forth with Power to preach and baptize and grants not this Commission to St. Peter alone And Mar. 16.15 And he said unto them Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature The same Commission we see is granted to them all indifferently without any manner of prelation And accordingly they all went about the execution of it ver 20 And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them And St. Paul tells us that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision that is of the Gentiles was committed unto him in like manner as the Gospel of the Circumcision that is of the Jews was committed to St. Peter Gal. 2.7 But contrarywise saith St. Paul when they saw that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto me as the Gospel of the Circumcision was unto Peter And saith he in the following verse v. 8 For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles Thus we see that St. Paul had the same Commission to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles that St. Peter had to preach it to the Jews and that God wrought Wonders by him for the Conversion of the Gentiles as he did by St. Peter for the Conversion of the Jews which farther shews that the sole Care of the Church was not committed to St. Peter alone It is manifest then that by these words Feed my Lambs and feed my Sheep no Superiority and Authority is granted to St. Peter over the rest of the Apostles Again St. Peter seems sometimes to be the Mouth of the Apostles and the chief Speaker amongst them But this can argue no Superiority over them because St. James seems in a more eminent manner to do so than he And passeth Sentence in the whole Assembly of the Apostles and Elders when St. Peter himself also was present For in that remarkable Synod at Jerusalem when the Apostles and Elders came together to consider of this matter viz Whether it was needful that the Gentiles should be circumcised after the manner of Moses or not and after St. Peter had declared how God shewed his approbation of them by granting them the gift of the Holy Ghost St. James here seems to be the Chair-man and President of this Assembly and gives the definitive Sentence which was followed by them all Acts 15 13-20 And after they had held their peace James answered saying Men and Brethren hearken unto me Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a People for his Name And to this agree the words of the Prophets Wherefore my sentence is That we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God But that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of Idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood In this eminent manner doth St. James and not St. Peter pass Sentence in this Assembly of the Apostles and Elders And this we see is followed by them all ver 22-29 Then pleased it the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas St. James was President here and chief Speaker in a more eminent manner than ever we read that St. Peter was and it may as fairly be argued that he was Superior in Authority as it may that St. Peter was so Again St. Peter is oft named first in the Catalogues of the Apostles in the Gospels But this can be no good argument to prove that he had a Superiority over them In all Catalogues some one must be named first and for his Age or because he was an active and forward man among the Apostles or for some such reason St. Peter may be first named But to shew that nothing of Superiority can be proved from hence we may see that St. Paul useth no such constant order Gal. 2.9 It is James Cephas and John where Cephas which is another name of Peter is set after James And 1 Cor. 1.12 he nameth Paul and Apollos before him And so 1 Cor. 3.22 This Priority of Order in the Gospels will prove nothing of Superiority that he had over them These are the chief places of Scripture that are urged to prove that St. Peter was the Head and Governor of the Apostles and had Authority over them But any impartial Reader may see that these places will prove nothing at all to this purpose parallel places shewing as much concerning the rest of the Apostles Secondly We may see by other places in the Gospels that St. Peter was not made the Head and Governor of all the Apostles and of all the Church and that none of them was to be such a Head and Governor of all the rest It was not St. Peter but St. John that was the beloved Disciple above the rest and whom our blessed Lord favoured most and admitted to a greater familiarity than the rest And if any was to have been set over the rest it may seem probable that our blessed Saviour would have bestowed that Honour and Dignity upon his beloved Disciple Joh. 21.7 That Disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter And Joh. 13.23 24. Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of his Disciples whom Jesus loved Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake St. John is the beloved Disciple as we may see by the end of his Gospel And St. Peter himself had recourse to him desiring him to ask our Lord concerning this matter when he was fearful to ask him himself And when our blessed Lord was upon the Cross he recommended his Mother to St. John's Care and not to
body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Here we are plainly taught that it is still bread when it is eaten And our Saviour calls the wine the fruit of the vine Matt. 26.29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom Our Lord here shews us that this was the fruit of the vine and wine when he drank it And our eyes and hands and mouth do testify to us that the bread and wine in the Sacrament are bread and wine when we eat and drink them and it would be nonsense and madness to think that our blessed Saviour eat his own body and drank his own blood and gave them also to his Disciples that they might eat and drink them too We are taught that there is but one Christ and that he cannot be divided Ephes 4.5 6. One Lord saith the Apostle one faith one baptism one God and Father of all And 1 Cor. 1.13 saith he Is Christ divided Hereby shewing that he cannot be divided And Christ is the only begotten Son of God and is but one Joh. 3.16 But according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church that will have Christ to be wholely in every bit of the consecrated bread there will be millions of Christs directly contrary to the sacred Scriptures We are also taught that Christ is in heaven at the right hand of God and that he is to abide there till he shall come to judge the World at the last day Acts 1.11 This same Jesus said the Angels which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven And till we see him come in this visible and glorious manner we are to know that he is not bodily present here upon earth And saith the Apostle Act. 3.20 And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things And he tells us that he is at the right hand of God Rom. 8.34 And there we are to know that he is to abide until these times of restitution when and not before God will send him again to judge the World And therefore it is plain that Christ cannot be bodily present in such a multitude of places here upon earth at one time as the Papists would have him to be contrary to these places of Scripture and contrary to all the reason and understanding of man We are taught that Christ's body is glorified and spiritualized and made incorruptible Phil. 3.20 For our conversation saith the Apostle is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body And saith he again 1 Cor. 15.42 So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body Our bodies are to be made glorious bodies like Christ's body and our bodies are to be made spiritual and incorruptible bodies which shews that Christ's body is such And he is to return no more to corruption as the Apostle saith Acts 13.34 And how then can the glorified and spiritual and incorruptible body of Christ be eaten by men and return to corruption again This Doctrine of the Church of Rome we see is flat contrary to the sacred Scriptures and to all the sense and reason and understanding of man And as for those Words of our Saviour Matt. 26.26 This is my body We may see that this is a very common and ordinary way of speaking to call things by the names of those that they signify and represent The Paschal Lamb is called the Lord's Passover Exod. 12.11 And ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lord 's Passover This was to signify and to be a Sacrament of the Lord 's passing over the houses of the Israelites when he saw the blood of this Lamb upon the Door-posts and not suffering the destroying Angel to enter into them but the Lamb was still flesh as is said ver 8 and could not be the Lord 's passing over the houses of the Israelites but only as a Sacrament and Rite to signify this Action of passing over them and shewing them Mercy when the Egyptians were destroyed Pharaoh's kine are said to be years of time Gen. 41.26 The seven good kine are seven years And the seven thin and ill-favoured kine that came up after them are seven years But these kine could not be years of time any otherwise than that they signified so many years of plenty and so many years of scarcity that were to come The bones which Ezekiel saw are said to be the whole House of Israel Ezek. 37.11 Then he said unto me Son of man these bones are the whole House of Israel behold they say our bones are dryed But here we see that no more is meant hereby but that this vision of bones was to represent and signify the House of Israel By these and many more Instances we may see that this is a common way of speaking And hereby it is plain that by these words This is my body we are to understand that this bread was to be a Sacrament and Signification of his Body For we see and are taught by the sacred Scriptures that it is bread still as I have shewed Again our Saviour saith that he is a door John 10.7 And men may as well argue for a Transubstantiation here as upon those other words of his But how ridiculous would a man make himself that should from hence affirm That Christ after he spake these words was turned into a perfect door and that his body was no more flesh and bones but changed into as real a door as ever moved upon hinges Our Saviour saith that he is a vine Joh. 15.1 And men may as well argue for a Transubstantiation from hence as from the other place and say that Christ after these words was no more a man but was then changed into as real a vine as ever grew in the ground and bore grapes But to talk after such a vain and whimsical manner as this is more fit for mad and distracted persons than for such as pretend to Sobriety and Understanding VIII Their worshipping of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is contrary to the Word of God and gross Idolatry We see that the Bread and Wine are bread and wine still after Consecration tho' they be consecrated and set apart to a sacred use And our Saviour and his Apostles have given us no Command nor Example to worship them And this is to make them Idols and is contrary to a multitude of places in the sacred Scriptures This is flat contrary
St. Peter's Joh. 19 26 27. When Jesus therefore saw his Mother and the Disciple standing by whom he loved he said unto his Mother Woman behold thy Son Then said he to the Disciple behold thy Mother And from that hour that Disciple took her to his own home Here we see that our blessed Saviour recommended his dear Mother to the Care of St. John and not of St. Peter and yet it is highly probable that this Care would have been committed to him if he alone was to have been Christ's Vicar General This Care wherein our Saviour was concerned when he was expiring upon the Cross had been very fit to have been committed to him if his Power and Authority had been greater than the rest But yet St. Peter we see took not the Care of her nor was he intrusted with it In matters of Trespass and Wrong our blessed Saviour orders that an offended and injured Brother should go and admonish the offending Brother alone And if that would not do that he should take with him one or two more to convince him of his fault And if this proved ineffectual that he should then tell it to the Church that they might judge of it but orders no appeal to St. Peter in this case Matt. 18.15 If thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church But if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican Here in Matters of Injury and Wrong the last Appeal that our blessed Saviour orders is to the Church And if an offending Brother will not hear the Church we are to have no more to do with such And if our Saviour had left a Supreme Power with St. Peter and constituted him the sole Determiner of all Controversies and Matters in debate he sure would have ordered that Appeal at last should have been made to him that he might have put an end to the Matter in dispute and might have quieted men's minds But here is no such thing and yet our blessed Saviour had great occasion here to mention St. Peter's supreme Power and Authority if he had granted him any such thing which clears the matter more that St. Peter was not at all before the rest in Authority and Power And immediatly upon this our blessed Saviour subjoins these words Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven v. 18. Again our blessed Lord hath sufficiently shewed that no one of his Disciples was to exalt himself above the rest and to Domineer and Lord it over them He forewarned them that they should not be called Rabbi because they were all Brethren and of an equal Rank and Order Matt. 23.8 But be not ye called Rabbi saith our Lord to them for one is your Master even Christ and ye are all brethren And when there was a strife among them which of them should be the greatest our Saviour expresly tells them that it should not be so amongst them as it was among the Gentile Kings that one of them should exercise Lordship and Dominion over the rest Luk. 22.24 And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest And he said unto them The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors But ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve Here we see that there was a strife among them which of them should be the greatest and this shews that our Saviour had exalted none of them above his Fellows For if he had done so this Dispute would have ceased and they would have all acquiesced and sat down contented with what their Lord and Master had done and have accounted St. Peter the chief if our Saviour had made him so But our Saviour having determined nothing in this matter they fall to strife about it And at this time he grants no Pre-eminence to St. Peter above the rest which sure he would have done if he had intended that St. Peter should have been the Head of them all But instead of this he expresly tells them that no one of them should Lord it over the rest as the Gentile Kings exercised Lordship over the Gentiles It is plain then That our blessed Saviour granted to St. Peter no Superiority and Authority over the rest of the Apostles Thirdly We find no footsteps of any Superiority and Power over the rest of the Apostles that ever St. Peter claimed or pretended to He arrogated no such Supreme Authority over the rest but shews a more humble Mind as it became a Disciple and an Apostle of such a Master of Humility and Condescension as our blessed Saviour was He stiles himself a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ in his Epistles and gives himself no Title of Superiority 1 Pet. 1.1 Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers And 2 Pet. 1.1 Simon Peter a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ He exhorts the Elders to feed the Flock of God among them and saith that he also is an Elder assuming no other Title to himself but what he gave them 1 Pet. 5.1 The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ He joins himself with the rest of the Apostles and saith the Commandment of us the Apostles and asserts no Authority of his above theirs 2 Pet. 3.2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy Prophets and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour He pretends here no more but to be of the same level with the rest of the Apostles and assumeth no Authority above them He disswadeth the Elders from Lording it over God's heritage 1 Pet. 5.2 Feed the flock of God saith he which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind Neither as being Lords over God's heritage but being ensamples to the flock From filthy Lucre and Lording it over the Flock he dissuades them and we may be sure that he set them no ill Example herein He affirmeth our blessed Saviour to be the chief Shepherd and enforceth his Exhortation by the Crown that they should receive from him and doth not urge any supreme Authority of his own v. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear saith he ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away Such is his carriage and demeanor and there is no appearance of any Superiority
not trouble themselves with the Divine Laws and Commands of Almighty God but that they must mind the Commands of the Romish Church and take great care to keep them If this be not sinning with an high hand let any Man of reason and understanding judge This sure looks like that Man of Sin 2 Thess 2.6 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And if Saul was rebuked as a Rebel against God because he did not execute all God's Command 1 Sam. 15.22 well may the Romish Church be deemed such that is so far from keeping God's Commands that it doth set it self industriously to keep all others from keeping of them And they may justly fear that that Wo of our Saviour that he denounced against the Scribes and Pharisees may light upon them also Matt. 23.13 But wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in This seems to be their practice and they have just cause to fear this Doom And their Practice in imposing a blind Belief upon their Proselytes and Members requiring them to believe as their Church believeth without examining is not agreeable with the sacred Word of God We are to examine things by the Word of God and not to take all for Truth and Right that Seducers and others would impose upon us for such This is peculiar to the brute Beasts to be led wholly by the guide and conduct of Man and never to consider whether the things be Good or Evil Right or Wrong that they do But Men of all Ranks are endowed with Reason and Understanding and are made Masters of their own Actions and every one of us must give an account of himself to God Rom. 14.12 and therefore they are not to be led thus blindfolded by others like Beasts that are void of reason And the sacred Scriptures which are to be our Rule of Faith and Obedience do shew that we ought not to be led so blindly by others This our blessed Lord sheweth Matt. 23.8 9 But be not ye called Rabbi saith he for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are brethren And call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven No one is to take upon him to be our Master in such a high manner as our blessed Lord is so And we are to own no one for our Father in such a high manner as God is so to command our Faith and Obedience in such a high manner as he may and we are to account no one our Father in any way of competition with him And the Apostles themselves disclaimed the having any dominion over Men's Faith as St. Paul sheweth 2 Cor. 1.24 Nor for that we have dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy The Apostles claimed no such Power over Men to make them believe what they pleased but only what God required them to believe And we are often told both by our blessed Lord and the Apostles that there would come Impostors and Deceivers and are warned to have a great care that we be not seduced by their Heresies and Errors And this plainly shews that we are not to be led blindly by others but to examine every thing carefully by the sacred Scriptures Matt. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves saith our Lord. And saith the Apostle Acts 20.29 For I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Therefore watch And 1 Tim. 4.1 Now saith the Apostle the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lyes in hypocrisie And saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 2.1 But there were false Prophets among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies And Rev. 2.9 saith our Saviour by St. John And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan And ver 20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that Woman Jezebel which calleth her self Prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols And Rev. 3.9 Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lye And again Rev. 18.4 And I heard saith St. John another voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues By all these frequent Warnings and such like to have a care that we be not seduced by false Prophets and Teachers it doth plainly appear that it is our duty not to be led blindfoldly as the Romish Church would have us but to be very circumspect and careful who and what we give credit to And some of these places as I have shewed do respect the Romish Church and do particularly warn us against the Errors thereof And we are also cautioned by our blessed Lord and the Apostles to be very circumspect and careful herein and not to let Men impose upon us what they please Mar. 4.24 And he said unto them Take heed what you hear And Luk. 8.18 Take heed therefore how ye hear And saith St. Paul 1 Thess 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good And saith St. John 1 Joh. 4.1 Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God And saith St. Paul Ephes 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words By these and such Admonitions and Exhortations we see that it is our duty to try and examine all things well before we believe and practise them and not blindly to believe and follow others in matters of weight and moment And we may see that when people believe and follow a false Prophet or a false Guide it is at their own Peril and Hazard and that this will not excuse them and free them from the danger that they run in going a wrong way And this also will clearly prove to us that we are to look well to our selves and not to be led blindly by others without proof from the Word of God The People that heeded the false Prophets did it to their sorrow Jer. 14.16 And the people to whom they prophesie shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the Famine and the Sword and they shall have none to bury them And they that follow a blind Guide are like to speed as he doth
17.3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother his mother said I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten Image now therefore I will restore it unto thee yet he restored the money unto his mother and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder who made thereof a graven Image and a molten Image and they were in the house of Micah From hence it doth appear that they intended to serve the Lord by these Images Jeroboam pretended by his Calves also to worship and serve the Lord as we may see 1 King 12.28 Whereupon the King took counsel and made two Calves of gold and said unto them It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt From hence it doth appear that he pretended to worship and serve the same God by his Idolatrous Calves that was worshipped at Jerusalem and the same God that brought them up out of the Land of Egypt And yet he is branded with infamy for his practice herein and called Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who made Israel to sin 2 King 10.29 And his House and Family were totally consumed upon this account 1 King 13.34 And this thing became sin unto the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth And 1 King 14.7 His pretending to serve and worship the true God hereby did not at all excuse his Idolatry but notwithstanding this his Calves are called other Gods and the judgment of God came upon his House for his wickedness herein And it doth appear that the very Heathens by their Images and Idols did design to worship the supreme God as the Apostle sheweth Rom. 1.22 23. Professing themselves to be wise saith he they became fools And changed the Glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things From hence we may see that they originally at the first intended to worship the supreme and incorruptible God by these Images of men and beasts and used them as Substitutes and Representations of him in Religious Worship And Rabshakeh also pretended that the Altars that Hezekiah destroyed were for the Service of the supreme God 2 King 18.22 But if ye say unto me saith he we trust in the Lord our God Is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem Hence we may see that he pretended that these altars and high places were for the worship and service of the Great God above that was the God of Israel The old Idolaters both Israelites and Heathens pretended as much we see for their Image-worship as the Papists now can do and yet we see that they are both condemned in the Word of God We are to make no Images or Similitudes and Likenesses of Man or Beast or Crucifixes to worship the Great Jehovah thereby or his blessed Son or the Glorious Trinity For this would be Idolatry like the Heathenish Idolatry and flat against the Commands of God And the worshipping of the Images of the Saints is a more base and vile kind of Idolatry and a more wicked thing because they themselves are not the true Objects of our Worship And the more to shew that no Images or Similitudes are to be used in the Worship of God we may see that when Moses made the Tabernacle for his Worship and Service the Mercy-seat was to be left vacant and empty and to be filled with no Image or Similitude but only such Sparks of Glory as God himself was pleased to exhibit there Exod. 25.17 And if God been to be worshipped by any Image or Similitude we may be sure that one should have been placed in this peculiar Seat of his But there was to be none and hereby are we taught that none is to be made for Religious uses And Moses warneth the People that they should not corrupt themselves by making a graven Image or any Similitude upon this account and enforceth his Charge to them with this reason because they had seen no Similitude of God when he spake to them from Mount Sinai Deut. 4.15 Take ye therefore saith he good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire Lest ye Corrupt your selves and make you a graven Image the Similitude of any figure the Likeness of male or female the Likeness of any beast that is on the earth the Likeness of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air the Likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground the Likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth Here it is plainly shewed that no Images or Similitudes whatsoever are to be made as Mediums to Worship Almighty God by And we may see that this would be very injurious to him and a great derogation from his exceeding great Glory and Majesty and tend much to the debasing of Him in our minds to make dead and senseless Images to personate him which are much more vile and mean than our selves This is as St. Paul saith the changing the Truth of God into a Lye Rom. 1.25 For how can he be represented by a dead and senseless Image who so far exceeds all the understanding and apprehension of Man Our Saviour hath told us that God is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 He is a most Glorious Spiritual Being that cannot perish and decay but is an Everlasting and an Ever-living God And how can be then be represented by a Material and corruptible Image that must return to destruction and dust at the last This is the way to beget mean and low thoughts of Almighty God in our minds and such we ought not to have of him as the Apostle sheweth Acts 17 29 Forasmuch then as we are the off-spring of God saith he we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art or man's device God is of such a vast Immensity and Infinity that is not to be exprest nor conceived by us Thus saith the Lord Isa 66.1 the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my footstool Where is the house that ye build unto me And where is the place of my rest And Jer. 23.24 Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord And so dreadful was his Majesty upon Mount Sinai that the Israelites cryed out that they should be all struck dead with it if the Lord spake any more to them Exod. 20.19 Deut. 5.25 And how then shall he be represented in any meet way by dead stocks and stones and so mean and base a thing as an Image is
And the Prophet Isaiah having set forth the great Majesty of Almighty God in a high and lofty manner asketh to whom he may be compared and sheweth that Images cannot represent him Isa 40.15 Behold the Nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballances behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering All Nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity To whom then will ye liken God Or what likeness will ye compare unto him The workman melteth a graven Image and the Goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold But saith he ver 21 Have ye not known It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers that stretcheth out the Heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in That bringeth the Princes to nothing he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity To whom then will ye liken me or shall I be equal saith the holy One God is cloathed with Honor and Majesty and covered with inaccessible Light and is an invisible Being that cannot be beheld with mortal eyes Psal 104.1 1 Tim. 6.16 And how then shall he be represented by sordid Images that are much more base and vile than our selves These we see would be a great reproach to Almighty God and highly injurious to him and therefore are by no means to be used And our blessed Saviour is to be worshipped as he is God and therefore no Image can be made to represent him And his body too is now glorified and spiritualized and not to be represented by an earthly Image And the Saints departed are either separated Spirits or else have their bodies glorified and made incorruptible and therefore cannot in any meet manner be represented by a dead and senseless Image and they are not to be worshipped themselves and much less their Images We are strictly commanded not to bow down to any Images or Similitudes whatsoever nor to perform any other Religious Worship and Service to them such as the building of Temples and rearing up of Altars to them the lighting of candles or lamps before them in a Religious way the making of Prayers or Religious Addresses to them and returning them Praise the offering of Sacrifices and burning of Incense to them the making of Vows to them or swearing by them the shewing of any reverential fear towards them and placing any trust and confidence in them the performing of any such Religious Service towards them or joyning with those that do so is clearly forbidden by the sacred Word of God And the worshipping of Images and all such Idolatry is as well forbidden by the New Testament as the Old Our blessed Saviour hath taught us in his answer to the Devil that God alone is to be worshipped and served Matt. 4.10 For it is written saith he Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And saith St. James concerning the Gentiles Act. 15.20 But that we write unto them that they abstain from Pollutions of Idols And ver 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to Idols And saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.7 Neither be ye Idolaters as were some of them And ver 14. Wherefore my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry St. Peter also shews Idolatry to be a grievous Crime 1 Pet. 4.3 And saith St. John 1 Joh. 5.21 Little Children keep your selves from Idols Amen Idolatry we see is strictly forbidden by the New Testament as well as the Old And it is plain by the sacred Scriptures all along that Images that are made for worship are Idols and that the worshipping of them is Idolatry Psal 115.4 saith the Psalmist Their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not We may plainly see that these Idols were Images And so again Psal 135.15 And saith St. John Rev. 9.20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these 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 neither can see nor hear nor walk And this place as Dr. More sheweth respecteth the Romish Church it self It is evident from all these places and many more that the worshipping of Images and such Idols is a very sinful thing Again we may see that God commanded that the Worshippers of other Gods should be put to death as not fit to live any longer and to deter all others from the committing of such gross and notorious Impiety And such Gods were for the most part Images and such Idols That man or woman that had gone and served other Gods was to be stoned to death Deut. 17.2 And that Prophet or Friend or Relation that went about to draw them to serve other Gods was to be put to death Deut. 13 1-5 And that Prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God And ver 6 If thy brother the son of thy mother or thy son or thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul entice thee secretly saying Let us go and serve other Gods which thou hast not known Thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him neither shall thine eye pity him neither shalt thou spare neither shalt thou conceal him But thou shalt surely kill him Thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of all the people And thou shalt stone him with stones that he dye And the City that fell to Idolatry was to be destroyed ver 12. If thou shalt hear say in one of thy Cities saying Certain men the Children of Belial are gone out from among you and have withdrawn the Inhabitants of their City saying Let us go and serve other Gods which ye have not known Thou shalt surely smite the Inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof and shalt burn with fire the city and all the spoil thereof Idolaters are here called the Children of Belial and were all to be put to death for committing such abominable wickedness and to deter and fright others from committing the like and their City and Goods were to be burnt as accursed things so detestable is this sin to Almighty God And such as we may plainly see is all Image-worship Again we may see that God commanded that all Images as well as all other Idolatrous worship should be destroyed And the Jews were strictly commanded to do this Exod. 23.24 But thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their Images