Peter and Paul to Thomas and Sergius c. And what the Papists alledge of their doing all the same things that we Protestants do but they do more also is but all one in this matter as if a Woman should say that she doth all things to her Husband that another honest Woman doth to hers but she doth this more that whereas the other honest Woman yields her Body to her Husband only and admits no other man into her Bed besides she out of respect to her Husband admits him and his Servants and familiar Friends also And as a wise Husband would scarce think that a good honour given or done to him by his Wife no more will God take such adulterous embraces of the Saints and their Images and the like as a good honouring of him its like also as if the false Apostles and their followers should have pleaded against the true Apostles and theirs that they did the same things with them but they exceeded them and did more for they not only Baptized into the Name of Christ but Circumcised too and were Circumcised after the manner of Moses nor did they only celebrate the Lords Supper but also observed the dayes and times appointed in the Law and surely there was more colour for their so pleading than for these mens for they had something formerly of Gods appointment to shew for themselves but these have nothing at all but many prohibitions there against to produce Nothing said I Yes I remember the Plea of a Jesuite for the Picture of Christ though nothing for worship to be given it nor for worshiping the Saints and their Images from the Apostles saying to the Galathians that they were Fools to turn to Moses law when Christ Jesus had been set forth and evidently crucifyed among them the word saith he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is was Pictured and therefore they had the Picture of Christ drawn before their Eyes even of Christ Crucifyed surely the Jesuits was hard put to it for a proof that he was fain to fetch one from that word by the same way he might prove that the Prophets of old were Painters and Image makers because it s said in Rom. 15.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it should be translated whatsoever things were Pictured aforetime were Pictured for our Instruction he might have found the Pictures of other men besides Christ though not of the Saints unless such saints as some of them of the Roman Church may be for Jude tells us of some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall we read Pictured out unto this Condemnation Jude 4. ungodly Men. Surely the Jesuit was either a man of little judgment or which is rather to be judged of a profligate conscience that mattered not with what colours to paint over his matters or else he would have waved such a proof for so bad a purpose and have remembred that the Apostles and their fellow Labourers whither they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingrave or pourtray yet it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in Tables of Stone as the Romish Picturers work but in the fleshly Tables of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with Ink or such like Paint but with the Spirit of God as the Apostle writes in 2 Cor. 3.3 and with such a manner of drawing I suppose their Picture makers have little or no acquaintance nor indeed would it have deserved the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Foolish Galathians had the false Apostles only drawn them from a Christ Crucifyed as represented in an externally visible Picture or Image of him wherein nothing but his body and flesh or rather the external lineaments proportion and complexion of it could be represented and so the shape of a man Crucifyed nothing of his Deity and inward Virtue as they deserved for being drawn from him as Painted forth by the Spirit in the Gospel to the eyes of their understandings as the Son of God and so as God manifested in the flesh and baring our Sins in his Body on the Tree and there through geting the victory over Sin and death and the Divel which no Painters in matters of Stone or other Metals could draw to the Life the other might rather offend them and give the false Apostles advantage against believing on him than perswade to constancy therein there being nothing but a Crucifyed man represented to them therein But I have been tedious in making good this charge but therein I suppose I have abundantly discovered the truth thereof that Rome Papal is as arrant a Whore as Rome Pagan was nay in one respect far greater and worse for in those times she was not espoused to Christ as such therefore was not charged then as commiting adultery from him or breaking Wedlock as now that having been the Catholick Church and her Faith that that was preached in the whole World and she a famous Mother without it yet she hath played the Harlot from him like Jerusalem in Ezek. 16.15 as being corrupted from the simplicity in him to swarve so much from her loyalty to him and admit a multitude into the Bed of love besides him yea the Kings of the Earth also with whom she hath truckt for their honours and riches crowns and scepters accommodating her self to their wills that she might lift up her self by them and get her will on them as in the famous Story of her Bishop Boniface chaffering with Phocas who having Murthered his own Master Mauritius and his Children was owned as Emperour in his stead by the said Boniface that he might as he was be made and declared by him to be the Universal Bishop over all the Churches in Christendom upon a fond pretence never before thought on its likely that because Christ said to Peter that he would give him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven therefore the Bishops of Rome however unlike to St. Peter and without any delegation of them by him in any of his Epistles or other ways of conveyance of them to them must rule over all the Church in all after ages A notable reward of Romes Whoredom with that Murtherer but that may lead me to another particular charge agreeable also with the character given her which also declares her to be the Babilon spoken of by the holy ghost in the book of the Revelations viz. That 8. The Church of Rome is not only a Whore and the great Whore but a Bloody Whore too else she should not be that Babilon for St. John was shewed that so she would be for he saw her drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus to his great admiration and amazement and that in her was found the blood of the Prophets and of Saints and of all that were Slain upon the Earth Rev. 17.6 and 18.24 and indeed it may be doubted whither she slew more in her Pagan state to raise and maintain
hearty dependance on him and close cleaving to him and to his will and directions in which they should be preserved as that was the way the Branches came to be broken off and Israel to fall by her iniquity Jesurun waxed fat and kicked she waxed fat grew thick and was covered with fatness Then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the God of his salvation of the Rock that redeemed him he was unmindful and forgot God that formed him and moved him to jealousy with strange Gods and sacrificed to Daemons c. Deut. 32.15 16 17 18. According to their pasture so were they filled and their heart was exalted therefore they have forgotten me and sacrificed to them that were not Gods to new Gods c. Hos 13.6 with Deut. 32.17 They boasted that they were Abrahams Seed and so in covenant with God that it was impossible for them to be cut off and to be rejected they must alwayes be owned of him as is implyed of them in Mat. 3.8 9. Joh. 8.32 33. An Infallible Church not minding that as God said to Moses He could have cut them all off generally with his judgments and out of some one person of them as Moses he could have performed his promise to Abraham Exod. 32.10 raised up a seed to him that should be as the Stars for multitude yea out of stones as the Baptist saith Mat. 3.9 This High-mindedness and Pride leading them to boast as so in covenant with God and so to boast of God as so ingaged to them that they could not miscarry and so of their Law and skill in it and of their Temple and the like led them into carelesness and fearlesness and imboldened them to turn aside from Gods testimonies and hardened them against the Calls given them by the Prophets and by the Baptist and by Christ and his Apostles to repentance And so they became blind with a conceit of their Infallibility or impossibility of falling and so through unbelief they were broken off Rom. 2.17 18 19. Jer. 7.4 and 23.14 16 17. And of this therefore the Church of Rome was warned that she might have continued in Gods goodness and it was positively threatned to her that otherwise she also should be cut off But hath she taken warning verily no If there be a company of people in the World that are proud and high-minded it hath been and are they And that 's another charge That 9. The Church of Rome is a proud Imperious Harlot for hath she not lifted up her self in her Heads at least above all that is cal'd God or worshipped not only above Kings and Emperors as is most notorious as much above them as the Sun is greater than the Moon as one of them expressed himself but even above God and Christ also in daring to dispense with his Laws and Precepts and to set up their Decrees against them with a non obstante or notwithstanding that God or Christ otherwise ordered or commanded As in leaving out the second Commandment and worshipping and bowing down to Images contrary thereto denying the Cup to the people in the Sacrament Nay doth she not boast that her Priests can make God himself of a piece of bread or wafer And is not that a wondrous unparallel'd height of Arrogancy to presume to do so and a setting her above all that 's called God or worshiped For let reason or wise men judge If as one said majus est Regem facere quà m regem esse it 's a greater thing to make a King than to be one must it not needs be a greater power to make a God than to be a God If therefore they can make Almighty God as they believe they do Christ very God and very man Do they not set themselves above him and have it in their power to make him or not the effect therein as they say depending on the Priest's intentions so as if he intend not to transubstantiate the Bread it is not made into a God by him though he say the words that make him And if the ordinary Priests have such power how great is his height that is the Head and King of them But besides this have they not arrogated to themselves the Title of the Catholick Church and the promises made to the Church as solely belonging to them Though they have far less to shew for any promises to them more than to any other Church than the Jews had to shew that the promises made to Abraham and his Seed pertained to them Nor have they minded that as God could have destroyed the Jews as to the generality of them and yet have raised up Seed to Abraham to perform his promises unto So God can leave and cut off the Church of Rome and yet perform his promise of a Church to be given and preserved continually unto Christ and to secure the Church built upon Christ and humbly and sincerely cleaving to him against the gates of Hell Christs saying to Peter Tu es Petrus super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam tibi dabo claves regni Coelorum that is Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and to thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. are not half so colourable a plea for the Popes and the Church of Romes pretences as Gods saying to Abraham that he would be his God and the God of his Seed after him throughout their generations was for the Jews conceit that they could never be broken off by him For they cannot shew that Peter only had the Keys of the Kingdom seeing all the other Apostles had the same power of binding and loosing mens sins as he as the Primitive Doctors also acknowledged and as is evident in Mat. 18.18 Joh. 20.22 23. nor that the Church of Rome was either the only or the whole Church built upon the Rock which was not Peter but Christ unless St. Paul was a false Preacher in 1 Cor. 3.11 and 10.4 Nor can they find in Christ's grant to St. Peter any such clause as to thee will I give them and to thy Successors at Rome in all ages and generations as we find to Abraham and his Seed after him the promises made But this also is another evidence of their pride and arrogancy exalting themselves above Christ and God that they dare presume to inlarge his promises and put in clauses of their own head into his Will and Testament as well as alter and lay by his Commandments A bold Imperious Harlot It would be accounted a very presumptuous deed in a Wife to add such a clause into a mans Testament for as the Apostle saith If it be but a mans Covenant or Testament yet if it be confirmed no man addeth thereto as they make bold to do to his who is God Gall. 3.15 But should we grant beyond any evidence or proof that St. Peter left his Keys to the Bishops of Rome successively yet
and there was not Mystery writ on her forehead but now as very and as arrant an Harlot or Idolatress as then but more spiritually such and under finer pretences That we may make good this charge against her let us first inquire and take notice what Idolatry is in the Scripture language For as it is no asking a mans partner whether he be a Thief so neither will the Adultress confess her self to be such a one but she eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have done no wickedness Prov. 30.20 Now Idolatry in the Scripture language is with reference to the worship of God what Fornication or Adultery is among men therefore it 's often compared to and illustrated by the practices of Whores and Harlots as in Jer. 2. and 3. Ezek. 16. and 23. and so as she is a Whore that takes into the bed of love with her and prostitutes herself to any man that is not her husband espoused and married to her whether it be her servant friend or a stranger so he is an Idolater that falls down and gives religious worship to any beside the true God whether it be with the heart-worship only or whether also or only with the body In the former way Covetousness is Idolatry because it 's a putting riches in the place of God as to inward estimation of affection to confidence in them Ephe. 5.5 Coll. 3.5 Some also make their Belly their God and commit Idolatry therewith while they prefer their Belly before God and his favour and love in Christ or his word and Spirit directing us to worship him and walk with him rightly in and by Christ Phil. 3.19 whether by the Belly be meant the grosser appetites and brutish sensual lusts in gluttony drunkenness intemperance unchastity and the like or else their own wisdom understanding and will the Belly being often used to signifie and put for the inward man or heart and what is therein as in Job 32.18 19. Joh. 7.38 Job 15.2 35. and 20.15 20. Pro. 18.8 and 26.22 Now that the Church of Rome is guilty of Idolatry in those or some of those ways of it what can be more evident For her covetousness is insatiable grasping or gaping after Crowns Scepters Kingdoms and Dominions so as was said of the Caldaean Babilon that she enlargeth her desire as Hell and is as Death and cannot be satisfied but gathers to her all Nations and heaps up to her as far as she can all people Habak 2.5 and this that she might be enriched with their worldly riches and treasures So as it may be said of her that she is abundant in treasures and in the measure of her covetousness Jer. 50.13 Yea and was said sometime of Jeboiakim in Jer. 22.17 that her eyes and her heart is not but for her covetousness and to shed innocent blood Thence the Proverb omnia Romae venalia that all things may be sold at Rome for mony and the very Letters of her name are the Initials of Radix Omnium Malorum Avaritia And as for her Voluptuousness Uncleanness Sodomy and Filthiness their Church and City is too notoriously full of such things witness the lives and doings of diverse of their Popes and Bishops and their taking mony for the open maintainance of Stews and Brothelhouses and for her preferring her wisdom will and inventions before the word and appointments of God and Christ What is said before may in part give evidence So that in these things she is a notorious Idolatress though as if we aske any of the covetous Epicures or Self-conceited Persons whether they be Idolaters they will deny it stifly and if we charge them therewith they will be angry so it is with Rome and her Church also But again the giving external religious undue adoration to any thing or person that is not God is Idolatry as is evident from the Scriptures For so the falling down to the Molten Calf and worshipping or adoring it is called Idolatry in 1 Cor. 10.7 though it was professedly in honour of Jehovah Exod. 32.5 so also was the falling down to the Stock and worshipping it in Isa 44.15 And God in the second Commandment forbids both the making to our selves any graven or carved thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the likeness of any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath c. so as to fall down to and worship it Yea in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt not bow down to it neither shalt thou worship it either of them viz. either to bow down to it or worship it is Idolatry and forbidden to any similitude made any way either by carving graving painting or the like by men And when the holy man John fell down to the Angel that shewed him the things revealed to him in the Revelations he was twice forbid to do it and bid to worship God as implying that the worshipping or bowing down to the Angel was a derogating from and a sin against the Commandment that bids us to worship God He might not it seems join the worship of an Angel to or with the worship of God Nor is it said that he fell down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to kneel down to or adore him Yet it was a thing forbidden him as injurious to God and his worship as intrenching upon his prerogative therein and so certainly reducible to the sin of Idolatry even as for a married woman to admit to bed to her some of her servants though the chief about her husband yea though they be his familiar Friends it would be Adultery as really as if she should admit meer strangers or enemies to him Nor would it be an acceptable plea to him that she shewed therein the greater honour and humble respect to him that she loved his friends and servants so well for his sake as to admit them to bed with her also and judged her self too low for his fellowship and therefore thought it meeter to honour him after that manner by contenting her self at least sometimes with them hoping that way to make them her greater friends to him from whom alone she expects all her maintainance though by their mediation she hoped to have more of it and much better Nor would a King take it well that some Homage proper to himself in which the kingly power is ascribed to him should be given out of pretended respect to him to some of his Nobles or Courtiers also Now that the Church of Rome is grosly guilty of the giving this solemn religious prostration and adoration to those that are not God is so openly and evidently true that nothing can be more true For what do they in worshipping God do unto him that they do not to the Virgin Mary or to some other Creatures Certain it is that neither the Virgin Mary nor any of the deceased Apostles or Martyrs or holy Men are God much less the