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A65422 Popery anatomized, or, A learned, pious, and elaborat treatise wherein many of the greatest and weightiest points of controversie, between us and papists, are handled, and the truth of our doctrine clearly proved : and the falshood of their religion and doctrine anatomized, and laid open, and most evidently convicted and confuted by Scripture, fathers, and also by some of their own popes, doctors, cardinals, and of their own writers : in answer to M. Gilbert Brown, priest / by that learned, singularly pious, and eminently faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. John Welsch ...; Reply against Mr. Gilbert Browne, priest Welch, John, 1568?-1622.; Craford, Matthew. Brief discovery of the bloody, rebellious and treasonable principles and practises of papists. 1672 (1672) Wing W1312; ESTC R38526 397,536 586

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silver and copper idols Miss Rom. de rit servand in celebrat Missae And to be short in this as their Priests had their heads and their beards shaven how like are the Papist Priests in this Pontif. 20. part 1. Pier. Valer. pro sacerd barbis They worship also the image of Christ with the worship of Latria Thom. Aquin. part 3. quaest 25. art 3. 4. Ant. Possev Bibl. select lib. 1. cap. 10. which themselves confess to be proper only to God confessed by one of their own number a learned Jesuit Gregor de Valent. lib. 2. cap. 7. And therefore he defends that some kind of Idolatry is lawful And Bellarmin saith lib. 1. de Eccles trium cap. 23. That the worship of Latria is given truly to the Image of the Cross and the Crucifix suppose he saith he thinks it not safe to preach this to the people They style the Image of the Crucifix with the styles only proper to God The King of glory the Lord that is strong and mighty in battel the Lord of strength Conrad Brun. de imagin cap. 7. Such like when the Image of the Dove at the Pentecost is let down in the Temple with fire and water then the Priest saith Receive the holy Ghost Ibidem So do the Popes give the style of the immaculat Lamb to the Images of wax Sacra cerem Eccles 20. lib. 1. tit 7. The second Council of Nice Act. 4. saith of the Image of Christ This is Christ And the Council of Trent Sessio 25. And in their consecration of their Images of wax ibid. sacra they pray to God the Father Let these immaculat Lambs speaking of the Images receive that self-same vertue against all the crafts and deceits of the Devil wherewith that innocent Lamb his own Son Jesus Christ delivered from the power of the Devil our first parents And they sing of every one of these wax Images which they call their Agnus Dei omne malignum that is these wax Images break and annul every sin as Christs blood doth And to fill up the heap of their iniquities not only do they worship the thing signified by the Images but the Images themselves as themselves testifie Polydor. Virg. de invent lib. 6. cap. 13. And Pius 2. saith Comment lib. 2. that in the Church of S. Mary c. there is an Image of the Virgin which the people worship mirâ Religione with a marvellous Religion as the giver of rain and fair weather And Bellarmin saith lib. 2. de imag cap. 21. That the images of Christ and the Saints ought to be worshipped properly and by themselves as they are considered in themselves and not only as they represent another thing And he saith cap. 13. That the Image it self should be worshipped with that same kind of worship properly with the which the thing it self represented thereby should be worshipped The second General Council of Nice is of the same mind Marinaeus Siculus de rebus Hisp lib. 5. testifies that in Spain in a certain Temple the Crucifix of Christ is adored And he saith Cujus imaginis invocato numine At the invocation of the Godhead of the which Image sundry received their health Pope John the 22. formed a prayer to be said to the Image of Christs face kept in a shirt which they call Veronica and hath granted ten thousand dayes pardon to them that say this prayer devoutly Salve sancta facies Redemptoris nostri c. In the which prayer first these styles are given to this Image as the face of our Redeemer wherein shines the brightness of the Godhead the beauty of the world the glass of the Saints wherein the heavenly spirit desire to look in the strength of our Christian faith the destroyer of hereticks our joy in this life Secondly they pray to this Image to purge us from all the spots of our sins to joyn us to the company of the blessed to powr in light in our hearts by that vertue which is given to it to increase our merit and to lead us to heaven When shal we tumble our selves out of the gulf of these abominations and idolatries Blind now must they be that see not their doctrine to be the doctrine of the Dragon Therefore do I strive with you saith the Lord and with your posterity For go through all the regions of the earth and see if there be the like abominations as is among them For they have changed the glory of God into unprofitable Idols O ye heavens be astonished at this and be confounded and be ye desolat For two evils have they done they have forsaken the Lord and Christ his Son the fountain of living waters and have made unto themselves broken pits which can hold no water that is they have made unto themselves false Gods and false Christs which cannot bring salvation unto them They have given his glory unto others so that of all Idolaters that ever have been they are the greatest It is no wonder therefore suppose the Lord hath caused it to be proclaimed by an Angel That he that worshippeth the beast and his image shal be tormented in fire and brimstone day and night and the smoke of their torment shal ascend for evermore and they shal have no rest Rev. 14 10.11 I hope now the second point is sufficiently cleared that they have spoyled Christ of his Priesthood and of that glory and honor that is due unto him Now as they have spoyled him of his Priestly office so have they robbed him of his Kingly office His Kingly office stands in two things The one is in the inward operation of his Spirit The other is in the exercise and ministery of the Word Sacraments and Discipline which he hath ordained for that end As for the first He by his Spirit prepares the heart by bringing us to a sight and sense of our misery that we may run to him to seek for mercy And then he by his Spirit works that living faith which makes us fully assured of salvation which works by love and brings forth the fruits of holiness and righteousness whereof prayer is one special All which is taken away by their doctrine As to the first No sufficient knowledge of their misery among them For first their doctrine is That we are not dead in sin but man hath free-will and then that concupiscence after Baptism is not sin and that the adoring and worshipping of Images is not the breaking of the second command And that the reward of every sin is not everlasting death And that men even without faith may merit the favor of God and that after they have obtained faith they may not only fulfill the Law perfectly but also do more yea love God with a greater love then he hath commanded and lead a more strait and heavenly life then either the Law of God or man prescribes as Bellarmin saith And that men may not only satisfie God for their own sins and merit everlasting life to
dwelleth wherein I shal rest for evermore I look to get entry at the new Jerusalem at one of these twelve gates whereupon are written the names of the twelve Tribes of the children of Israel I know CHRIST JESUS hath prepared rowm for me why may I not then with boldness in his blood step in unto that glory where my Head and LORD hath gone before me JESUS CHRIST is the door and the Porter who then shal hold me out VVill he let them perish for whom he hath died VVill he let that poor sheep be plucked out of his hand for whom he hath laid down his life VVho shal condemn the man whom GOD hath justified VVho shal lay any thing to the charge of the man for whom CHRIST hath died or rather risen again I know I have grievously transgressed but where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth I know my sins are red as scarlet and crimson yet the red blood of CHRIST my LORD can make me as white as snow as wool VVhom have I in heaven but him Or whom desire I in earth beside him O thou the fairest among the children of men the light of the Gentils the glory of the Jews the life of the dead the joy of Angels and Saints My soul panteth to be with thee I will put my spirit into thy hands and thou wilt n●● put it out of thy presence I will come unto thee for thou casts none away that comes unto thee O thou the only delight of mankind Thou camest to seek and save that which is lost Thou seeking me hast found me and now being found by thee I hope O LORD thou wilt not let me perish I desire to be with thee and do long for the fruition of thy blessed presence and joy of thy countenance Thou the only good Shepherd art full of grace and truth therefore I trust thou wilt not thrust me out of the door of thy presence and grace The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth by thee VVho shal separat me from thy love Shal tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things I am more then a conqueror through thy Majesty that hath loved me For I am perswaded that neither death nor life Principalities nor Powers nor hight nor depth nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature is able to separat me from the love of thy Majesty w ich is in CHRIST JESUS my LORD I refuse not to die with thee that I may live with thee I refuse not to suffer with thee that I may rejoyce with thee Shal not all things be pleasant to me which may be my last step by which or upon which I may come unto thee When shal I be satiat with thy face When shal I be drunk with thy pleasures Come LORD JESUS and tarry not The Spirit saith Come the Bride saith Come Even so LORD JESUS come quickly and tarry not Why should the multitude of mine iniquities or the greatness of them affright me Why should I faint in this mine adversity to be with thee The greater sinner I have been the greater glory will thy grace be to me unto all eternity Oh! unspeakable joy endless infinit and bottomless compassion O Ocean of never-fading pleasure O love of loves O the hight and depth and breadth and length of that love of thine that passeth knowledge O uncreated Love Beginning without beginning and ending without end Thou art my glory my joy and my gain and my crown Thou hast set me under thy shadow with great delight and thy fruit is sweet unto my taste Thou hast brought me into thy banqueting-house and placed me in thine orchard Stay me with thy flagons and comfort me with thine apples for I am sick and my soul is wounded with thy love Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair thou hast doves eyes Behold thou art fair my Love yea pleasant also our bed is green The beams of our house are Cedars and our rasters are of firr How fair and how pleasant art thou O Love for delights my heart is ravished with thee O when shal I see thy face How long will thou delay to be to me as a Roe or a young Hart leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills As a bundle of myrrh be thou to me and ly all night between my breasts Because of the savor of thy good oyntments thy name is as oyntment powred out therefore desire I to go out of the desert and through to the place where thou sittest at thy repose and where thou makes thy flocks to rest at noon When shal I be filled with thy love Certainly if a man knew how precious it were he would count all things dross and dung to gain it I would long for that scaffold or that ax or that cord that might be to me that last step of this my wearisom journey to go to thee my LORD Thou who knowst the meaning of the spirit give answer to the speaking sighing and groaning of the spirit Thou who hast inflamed my heart to speak to thee in this silent yet love-language of ardent and fervent desires speak again unto my heart and answer my desirs which thou hast made me speak to thee O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to GOD that giveth me the victory through JESUS CHRIST What can be troublesome to me since my LORD looks upon me with so amiable a countenance And how greatly do I long for these embracements of my LORD O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then wine O that my soul were the throne wherein he might dwel eternally O that my heart were the Temple wherein he might be magnified and dwel for ever c. If there were no more but these heavenly breathings of soul they do speak forth what earnest desires and groanings this holy Man had for the full enjoyments of GOD and what full assurance of faith he enjoyed As he was extraordinary in prayer so he was marvellously diligent in the rest of his Masters Work For as I was assured by an old reverend and godly Minister who knew the truth thereof he preached twise every week day from nine to ten in the morning and from four to five at night beside his work on the LORDS Day and catechising and visiting of families and of the sick In his preaching he had a deep impression of the great and dreadful Majesty of GOD upon his spirit that made him speak with great boldness and authority The learned and godly M. Boyd of Trochrig relateth in his Commentary upon the Ephesians chap 6. vers 19.20 praelect 91. pag. 1101. how that M. Welsch being called to preach before the University of Saumur one of the most learned Auditories in France although he
against you for wrath and vengeance then ever Abels blood did against his brother Cain Gen. 4.10 Now therefore at the last repent you of it Purge your hands of it and at the least vouchsafe so much upon every Church as may sustain a Pastor to break the bread of life unto them and think the damnation of so many millions of souls of your poor brethren who might have been saved for ought that ye know if they had had the Gospel of salvation preached unto them too great guiltiness suppose ye had not blood upon blood Otherwise if ye will not I call heaven and earth to witness against you Deut. 30.19 that the indignation of the LORD shal root you and your posterity out of the land of the living and their blood that perish for want of teaching shal be laid to your charge and ye shal be arraigned as murderers of their souls in that great day And not only that curse shal fall upon you which was commanded to be pronounced upon Mount Hebal Deut. 27.23.18 for causing the blind to go out of the way whereunto all the people should say Amen But also that most fearful and irrevocable sentence shal be pronounced and executed upon you in that great day by the Judge of the whole earth Depart from me ye cursed in that everlasting fire of hell to be damned with the Devil and his Angels for evermore Matth. 25.41 Lay it therefore to your hearts and flatter not your selves in a carnal and vain presumption Be not cruel to your own souls and to the souls of the poor people any more otherwise ye shal most assuredly drink of the wine of the wrath of God and be casten in the great wine-fat of his wrath where there ye shal be tormented day and night Let every one of us therefore in the conscience of so great and singular mercies which the LORD hath vouchsafed upon us in such a plentiful measure Harden not our hearts while it is called to day but let us rent them and turn them unto the LORD our GOD Heb. 4.7 Joel 2.13 and let us not delay it while he calls upon us by his word and spreads out his arms unto us Otherwise if we will not but despise the day of our salvation then I protest unto you in the Name of the great GOD that he will hear the cry of our sins and will abhor us greatly as he did Israel that he shal forsake his glorious Tents and Tabernacles in this land and first give over his strength to captivitie and his glory to the hands of our enemies Psal 78.49.60.61 c. And then accounting no more of us then of the myre in the street he shal deliver us over both old and young Pastor and people to the sword of the enemie For this I dare say if he take his Kingdom from us he shal not let Scotland be a free Kingdom Matth. 21.43 as it hath been before For true is he who hath said it The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shal perish and these Nations shal be utterly destroyed Esai 60.12 And if he spare not his own strength and glory I mean his glorious Gospel but deliver it over into captivity into the hands of his enemies he shal have no compassion of us but shal surrender us over to the edge of the sword to be consumed thereby and as the LORD hath been more abundant in his mercy towards us then towards any others so shal his wrath be accordingly For if other Kingdoms or Nations yea if Tyrus or Sidon Sodom or Gomorrha Matth. 11.21.22 yea if the Turks or barbarous Americans had heard the things that we have heard they would have repented long since in sackcloth and ashes and therefore our condemnation shal be heavier then any condemnation under heaven Now therefore if there be any consolation in CHRIST if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit Philip. 2.1 if any love to his glorie to his blood to his Gospel and if there be any compassion and mercy in your hearts to this poor and sinful land and his poor Church and Kingdom therein repent you of your sins reconcile you to GOD take hold of his blood wash you and cleanse you in it until ye be white and bright in his eyes Rev. 7.14 Bring him into the chambers of your hearts and make him to dwell in you Eph. 3.17 Galat. 6.14 that he may crucifie your sins and bury them in the grave with him Col 2.12.13 and may quicken and raise you up together wi●h him and may set you in those heavenly places with himself Eph. 2 5 6. And then having rooted and grounded your hearts in him Col. 2.7 and having filled your souls with the abundance of his presence bring him out first to your families and then to your tenants servants neighbors and people According to your callings instruct them rebuke them admonish them correct them and reform them and rest not till ye have set him up as a LORD and a King in their hearts or at the least till you have obtained this assurance in your consciences that ye have been so faithful and sincere in your callings that if CHRIST be hid from any to whom your callings or occasions have reached he is hid from such only as perish Now oh that the LORD would give us these hearts and so purge us that we might be thus fruitful to the praise of his glory then assuredly would he repent him of all the evil that he hath thought against us then should he have delight in us in our posterity and then these Canaanites I mean the relicks of that cursed generation of Babel the Church of Rome which is yet left unrooted out of this land to try us and tempt us if we will serve the LORD our GOD and to be pricks and thorns in our side should not bring us in bondage again but should be made tributaries to JESUS CHRIST yea our latter estat should be more glorious then the former Now let us find this favor in thy eyes O LORD our Redeemer and glorifie thy great Name among us by converting our hearts at the least the hearts of all thy children in mercy rather then by confounding and consuming of us in thy wrath and indignation For wherefore should thy enemies say Take up their GOD and their Gospel Wherefore should they O LORD our GOD blaspheme thy holy Name when they shal see thee angrie with thy own inheritance and redeemed ones Oh! turn us unto thee and put us not away from thy face and let not those that are thy enemies triumph over us Purchase thy self an everlasting Name through our conversion and repentance that the enemie and the avenger may be still and our hearts may be inlarged and our mouthes may be opened to proclaim the everlasting mercies and to shout forth thy praises Turn you unto him you that are his children and delight in his Tents You that love
crowned with a crown of glory suppose freely And to prove this If any had obeyed the Commandments perfectly then surely the Apostles Paul James John Peter should have done it For they loved him in as great and greater measure of love then ever any since did And our Savior testifies of them to his Father That they have kept his word John 17.6 But the Apostle Paul testifies of himself Rom. 7 That he did not the things he would but the thing that he hated that he did and to will was present with him but to perform he found it not and he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind and leading him captive unto sin And John saith of himself and of all men 1. John 1.8.9 If we say we have not sin we make him a lier and the truth is not in us And himself twise would have worshipped an Angel Rev. 29.10 and 22.8.9 contrary to the Law Deut. 6 1. And James saith That in many things we offend all James 3 2. And Peter to whom our Savior said thrise If thou love me keep my laws went not with a right foot to the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2.11 12. Therefore none is able perfectly to keep them We see then there is a keeping of the Commandments and a keeping of them in perfection The first common to all the faithful suppose not in an equal measure The second only possible to Adam ere he fell and to the Saints in that Kingdom As for the 11 of Matthew Take up my yoke c for my yoke is sweet and my burden light And the 1 John 5.3 his commandments are not grievous I answer Our Savior and his Apostles calls his commandments light sweet and not heavy not because the perfection of the Law is possible to any to perform in this life but first because the Lord Jesus hath taken away the curse of it and also requires not of us that perfection which the Law requires under the pain of the curse of the Law if it be not satisfied And because he by his Spirit renews the hearts of his own and makes them able with joy to begin that obedience so that what they do they do it not upon constraint as being under the Law but willingly for the love of Christ and they delight in the same according to the law of their mind as the Apostle speaks of himself Rom. 7. But yet within they find a law in their members rebelling against the law of their mind leading them captive unto sin So in these respects are his commandments called light and sweet But Acts 15 the Apostles calls it an unsupportable yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear And Romans 8 it is called impossible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3 20. and 7.14 c. Gal 3.10 As for Philippians 4.13 where the Apostle saith He is able to do all things by him that strengthens him The Apostle speaks not here of his ability to perform the Law in that perfection which the Law requires For he hath testified the contrary both of himself and of all others as hath been said But only this that through him he is able to sustain all sorts of condition both to abound and to be in scarcity to be full and to be hungry This is not my exposition but the Apostle so expounds himself in the former verse so that I wonder upon what show ye could quote this testimony As for Philip. 2. it is true the Lord worketh in his own both to will and to do but yet it follows not that they are able perfectly to obey the Law For if that measure of grace had been wrought in any it had been wrought in the Apostles but not in them as hath been shown and that by their own testimony therefore in none else Next what can be more clear for the overthrow of your Free-will then is this place of Scripture If the Lord work in us both to will and to perform then we are not able to will of our selves that which is acceptable to God As for the examples which ye cite of Noah Abraham Job Zacharias and Elizabeth David Ezechia Josia Juda and Asa and these whom the Lord reserved to himself pure from the Idolatry of your Antichristian kingdom fore-spoken there They walked indeed in integrity and sincerity in the commandments and ways of the Lord and therefore have received a good testimony and report of Gods Spirit in the Scripture all which we grant unto you But that they answered the law in that perfection that it requires the Scripture which hath registred their walkings and their own testimonies will gain-say it Noah fell in drunkenness Abraham was not justified by the works of the law but by faith Rom. 4. which is a most sure argument that he fulfilled not the law Job saith If I would affirm my self to be righteous my own mouth would condemn me Job 9 2 3.20 Zacharias believed not the word of the Lord spoken to him by the Angel therefore was striken dumb Luke 1.20 David fell in adulterie murther and provoked the Lords anger by numbering the people 2. Sam. 12 and 24. and he saith of himself My iniquities are more in number then the hairs of my head Psal 40.13 And in another place If thou mark iniquity O Lord who can stand Psal 130.2 And enter not in judgement with thy servant for no man living shal be righteous before thee Psal 143.2 Ezechias heart was lifted up 2. Chron. 32.25 Josias harkened not unto the words of Necho according to the word of the Lord. Asa put his trust not in the Lord his God but in the King of Syria 2 Chron 16.7 The like is to be said of these whom the Lord did reserve to himself in the midst of the kingdom of darkness that they did keep the commandments of God but not in that perfection which the law required For they were not more righteous then the Prophet Esay and the Apostles were But the Prophet saith That we are all unclean and all our righteousness is as a menstruous cloth Esai 64. And the Apostle saith In many things we sin all James 3. And Augustin saith All the commandments of God are accounted to be done when that which is not done is forgiven ad Bonif lib. 1. cap. 7. And in another place Epist 60. For the want of love it is that there is not a righteous man in the earth that doth good and sinneth not And Ambrose saith in Gal. 3. The commandments of God are so great that they are impossible to be kept And Jerome saith in Gal. 3 Because no man can fulfil the law and do all things that is commanded And Bernard saith Cant. serm 5. The commandments of God cannot nor could not be fulfilled of any man And Chrysostom saith in Gal. 2. No man hath fulfilled the Law And Thomas one of the chief pillars of your own Church writes in Gal 3. lect
because all men by nature are hypocrits and boasts of a vain pretence of faith unto whom James saith Show me thy faith by thy works James 2.18 to take away therefore this vail of hypocrisie from hypocrits the promises are made to works 2. The promise is made to works to stir us up to the doing of them for we would be faint in doing good if we knew not that the Lord would reward them It is true he hath promised no reward to them who work not because they in whom Christ dwels they are not only justified but also sanctified and bring forth the fruit of their sanctification And this for the ninth point of your doctrine which is so damnable that both it derogats from the merit of Christ and makes men to take away their confidence from Gods only mercy and free grace and swells them up with a vain confidence of themselves and binds as it were their hearts and mouthes that they cannot with all their heart render the whole praise of their salvation to Gods only free grace SECTION XVIII Concerning Works of Supererogation M. Gilbert Brown TWelftly we have other works that are called works of Supererogation which are works of greater perfection and are not set down to us as the commands of God without the which we cannot be saved but as divine counsels adjoyned thereto they augment our glory and reward in heaven which is also the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Christ said to the young man If thou wilt be perfect go sell the things thou hast and give unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come follow me Matth. 19.21 Mark 10.21 So we find that wilful poverty is a work of supererogation Such like S. Paul 1. Cor. 7.34.38 saith And the woman unmarried and the virgin thinks on the things that pertains to our Lord that she may be both holy in body and spirit And afterwards Therefore both he that joyns his virgin in matrimony doth well and he that joyns not doth better Therefore virginity is a work of supererogation for albeit matrimony be good yet the other is better and this was a counsel that S. Paul gave and no command Such like Paul wrought a work of supererogation when he preached the Evangel gratis where he might have taken justly for his labors 1. Cor. 7.40 and 9.14.15.23.17.18.19 Christ our Savior speaks of the same works in the parable of the Samaritan Luke 10.35 where he promised to the hostler to recompense him what ever he did supererogat upon the wounded man more then the two pennies And David the Prophet did supererogat when he did rise in the night to give God praise and seven times in the day and so forth Psal 118.62.164 Master John Welsch his Reply As though your former doctrine had not injuried the merits of the Son of God and his free grace enough with the which if the Apostle be true your merits of works cannot stand For the Apostle saith speaking of our salvation If it be of grace then it is no more by works otherwise grace were no more grace and if it were of works then were it no more of grace otherwise works were no more works Rom. 11.6 You yet add this damnable and blasphemous doctrine to all the rest And certainly suppose ye will not let it fall to the ground that your doctrine is the doctrine of the dragon and that your Church is that mystical Babylon that mother of whoredoms full of names of blasphemie yet this your blasphemous doctrine sufficiently declares what you are For I appeal your conscience if ye have any unblotted out yet with the smoke of the bottomless pit and the conscience of all men who ever felt the power of sin in them and the free grace of God renewing them whither this doctrine of yours be blasphemous or not That not only you may fulfil the Law and do all the duty which God hath commanded you and thereby merit eternal life but also you may do more then God hath commanded which ye call works of greater perfection then the Law of God requires of us by the doing of the which you say you merit a greater degree of glory in the kingdom of heaven and as Bellarmin saith in his preface before de monachis lib. 2. That your religious Monks lives a straiter and more high kind of life then either the Law of God or man hath prescribed And that a man may love God with a greater and more perfect love then is commanded him in the Law lib. 2. cap. 13. 6. yea that a man may love God with a greater love then he is bound to love him and that these works are not only meritorious of eternal life and of a singular glory in heaven but also are profitable to satisfie for our sins and that men may communicat of the abundance of these their merits unto others And therefore they have in their service books according to the order of sarum this form of prayer often That by the merits of the Saints they may obtain grace and by the blood of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury they may ascend to heaven All which whither they be not words of blasphemy and the doctrine of the dragon I appeal your conscience before God in the great day and the consciences of all men as though it were not blasphemy enough to say that men may merit eternal life and a greater degree of glory in that life to themselves by their works but also to communicat unto others of the abundance of their works and so not only to be saviors of themselves but of others also And here Reader I am compelled to speak this to thee suppose thou believe not that they have written and will maintain so horrible blasphemies I wonder not for I speak the truth to thee in my conscience I lie not I could not have been induced my self to have believed that ever they durst have professed such damnable and devilish doctrine if I had not read it my self in their own books yea I durst not have been so confident as to have set it down here upon the report of any except I had read it my self But if the blind lead the blind both will fall into the pit together The Lord deliver his own from such damnable doctrine which of necessity must bring damnation upon the believers and professors of it To answer you then first if we be not able to perform all the duties which God requires of us in his law then we are not able to do works of supererogation which is more then our duty commanded in the law as ye say But the first I have proved before therefore the second is true Secondly if the Law of God be perfect and prescrives more then we are able to do then there is no works of supererogation this you will not deny But David saith The Law of God is perfect Psal 19. and our inability to perform it I have
the sins of others What is this else but to make themselves in a part Saviors of themselves and Saviors of others also Yea what is this else but to make themselves God For who can satisfie the justice of God but God himself Thirdly as it hath been proved before Christ offered up himself once by shedding of his blood upon the Cross never to be offered up again which hath purchased an everlasting redemption the which is the only ground of mans salvation How they have overturned this by their abominable sacrifice of the Mass and their sacrilegious Mass-Priests I hope hath been proved sufficiently before so that they have both evacuat the vertue of the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross in setting up another sacrifice for the redemption of souls And also they have spoyled him of the dignity of his Royal Priesthood in joyning unto him collegues and fellow-Priests to offer up himself dayly in their pretended sacrifice Fourthly as they spoyl him of his Priesthood so do they spoyl men of that redemption righteousness and salvation which his death hath purchased both in the fountain matter and form thereof The Scripture testifies that the only fountain and efficient cause of our salvation is Gods free love and grace 2. Tim. 1.9 Tit. 2.11 Eph. 1.5 and 1. John 3.16 They teach That an infidel by the works of preparation as they call them even done without faith may procure and merit Gods favor Masuenda in disput Ratisb cum Bucero Scholast And also they joyn with the grace of God mans free-will as a party worker with it as though God did not renew it being corrupted or repair it being perished but only relieve it being weak and raise it up being faint by the which they abolish if the Apostle speak true Rom. 11.6 and 4 5. the grace of Christ for if our salvation be of grace it is not of works and if it be not of works then it is not of grace and so not at all As to the matter of our justification the Scripture ascribes it only to Christ his obedience and his death Rom. 5.19 They by the contrary suppose they grant that Christ hath fulfilled the Law and perfectly satisfied God yet they teach that this righteousness of Christ is not our righteousness by the which we must be justified but they place it in our own works and in our own merits And of this comes the third that whereas the Scripture testifies that this righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us by faith Rom. 4.22.23.24.3.5.6.7 They acknowledge not this imputation but placeth the form of our justification in the merit of our works and so they spoyl man of righteousness and salvation For Bellarmin saith lib. 2. de Pontif. cap. 2. That the imputation of the righteousness of Christ is not required to our justification And the Council of Trent Can. 10. Accurseth them who say that we are justified justos formaliter per Christi justitiam by the righteousness of Christ. And as they have spoyled Christ of the first part of his office of his Priesthood so do they spoyl him of the second part thereof which consists in his intercession in joyning with him innumerable Intercessors and Mediators as well of Angels as of Saints departed at whose hands they seek all manner of grace which is only proper to Jesus Christ to give and that not only for the vertue of the merits of Christ but for their own merits and intercession Every Parish almost among them had their own Patron and every malady disease or calamity their own Saint or Angel to run to And as their doctrine hath robbed the Lord Jesus of his Priestly dignity and man of the benefit of eternal life purchased to him by the same so have they robbed him of that glory and worship that is due unto him in plucking away his glory from him and giving it unto creatures 1. As unto Angels and 2. Unto Saints departed and especially unto the Virgin Mary 3. Unto their relicks 4. Unto images of the Trinity of the Saints of the Cross 5. Unto things consecrated as water oyl c. 6. And unto the Sacrament of the Eucharist unto whom they give that worship which is only due unto God as prayer worship vows sacrifices c. So that if they may be justly called the Antichrist whose doctrine spoyls Christ of the office of his mediation and man of his salvation purchased thereby and God of his due glory which man is bound to give him for his creation and redemption and sets up other Saviors and Mediators other Priests and Intercessors beside him and teaches another way of mans salvation then he hath taught and worship other Gods then the God that made heaven and earth and after another manner then he hath commanded Then I say the Popes of Rome may justly be called and is in truth the Antichrist and adversary to God For they are guilty of all this abomination And because I know that the poor and ignorant people and these that are blinded with the strong delusions of that man of sin will not believe these things of him and of his Church but as Thomas said of Christ Unless I see the print of the nails and put my finger in the print of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe Even so unless they see their idolatry and grope it as it were with their hands they will not believe it therefore I am compelled for their conviction and information that none of them that is ordained to salvation perish to let them see their idolatries and to make them to grope their abominations and that by their own Books For I shal not speak here beguess for that were great foolishness to alledge here any other thing then that which is written in their own Books seeing he hath promised to give an answer lest he should challenge me of lying of them I protest therefore Christian Reader that I shal forge nor fain nothing of them but shal only set down those things which are to be found in their own writings And first in their service and Mass Book secundum usum Anglicanum Horae beatae Mariae suffragia c. printed anno 1520. they pray to the Archangels and Angels to defend them in battel to defend them that none condemn them to keep both their soul and body from godless desires and from unclean cogitations to keep their mind from pollution to confirm them in the fear and love of Christ Secondly they pray to the Saints departed That by their merits and intercession they may be defended from all evils obtain all gifts and get eternal life Yea they seek of them Defence in this world from all evils and everlasting life And they pray to God the Father that by their merits and intercession they may be delivered both soul and body from Hell fire and may obtain through their merits faith patience and everlasting life So not only they
Sabbath that we may set forth wheat c. Vers 9. I will cause the Sun to go down at noon and darken the earth in the clear day And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs to lamentations c. And vers 11. I will send a famin in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. And they shal wander from sea to sea and from the North even to the East they shal run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shal not find it Zech. 11.8 Their soul abhorred me then said I I will not feed you that that dieth let it die Now is not the wearying despising slighting and contemning of the Ordinances of Christ so evident among us that he that runs may read it 4. A fourth sin for which the Lord threatens to give up with folk is formality and lukewarmness contenting themselves with a form of godliness without the power thereof 2. Thess 2.10.11.12 Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shal send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie c. And Laodicea is threatned for her lukewarmness to be spewed out of Christs mouth Rev 3.16 Now what age or generation could ever parallel this for formality and lukewarmness in the matters of God And may we not be justly given up to the delusions of Antichrist 5 A fifth sin is unbelief and disobedience to the call of God in the Gospel Hosea 9.17 My God will cast them away because they did not hearken unto him and they shal wander among the Nations Was it not for this sin that the Lord upbraided those Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done and threatens to bring desolation on them Matth. 11.21.22.23.24 Were not the Jews cut off for their unbelief Rom. 11.20 And is there no sad evidences and symptoms of this sin every where How few are they that have received Christ by faith is endeavoring Gospel-obedience And may we not fear lest the judgement of Chorazin Capernaum and Bethsaida be ours 6. A sixth sin for which the Lord threatens to remove the Candlestick is falling from our first love Rev. 2.4 Now have we not declined not only from the love and zeal which our fathers had but also even from that love zeal and diligence in duty that once we our selves had 7. A seventh sin is stupidity and impenitency under all Gods dispensations whether of mercy or judgement Jer. 8.5.6 7. And is not this sin so manifest that he that runs may read it Who is smiting on his thigh and saying What have I done How few are noticing what God is contending for or laying their iniquities to heart Several others might be instanced but these may suffice to show us what ground of fear we may have of Gods giving us up to the delusions of Antichrist yea is he not in a great measure departed from us Hath he not sore cracked if not broken the staves of beauty and bands our unity and authority We are divided in his anger and contempt is powred upon us Is not the blessing of Ordinances much restrained How few are converted and built up by the Gospel Yea what deadness decay and withering is upon all even the Lords people And how many are content to live without God and suffer him to be gone Now lay all these together and we will see that the ground of fear is greater then is apprehended by many Therefore let us be laying the hazard of the Church and of our selves and posterity to heart and let us be stirring up our selves to deal with the Lord by mourning and repentance prayer and supplications for the turning away of his wrath and for the powring out of his vials upon Antichrist If ever there was a time wherein repentance and mourning for our sins and the sins of the Land was called for it is now For are not our sins very great And is not the cry of them come up to heaven And is not the Lord hearkning and hearing if any man will repent him 〈◊〉 the evil of his doings and say What evil have I done For he is waiting to see what we will do before he leave us altogether For he hath in a great measure left us already For are we not stricken with blindness confusion and astonishment and trembling of heart Is he not in a great measure departed from his Ordinances For is not that light darkned that life withered that strength abated that presence evanished that tenderness gone these influences withholden that sometimes were wont to be felt in Ordinances Yea is not prayer restrained and love waxed exceeding cold and hardness of heart grown universal delight in God and in his Word and in the exercises of godliness grown exceeding rare Doth not God hide his f●ce from us and answer us with terrible things in righteousness All which speak that the glory of the Lord is departed from the Temple to the threshold Let us therefore lay these things seriously to heart and break up our fallow ground and circumcise our selves to the Lord and take away the fore-skins of our hearts lest his fury break forth like fire and burn that none can quench it Jer. 4.3 For is he not crying both by his Word and dispensations Be instructed O Jerusalem O Britain lest my soul depart from thee lest I make thee desolat a land not inhabited Jer. 6 8. Repentance and Reformation is only the mean to prevent our ruine therefore let us be dealing with him who is the Prince exalted to give repentance and remission of sins for the powring out of that spirit upon the land O! if we were all about this work then there might yet be hope in Israel concerning us The Lord who is rich in mercy grant us mercy so as to be stirred up to true mourning and repentance and to be laying more seriously to heart the grounds of his contention Amen FINIS Errata Page 1. line 7. for Churches read Church p. 9. r. Rev. 14.11 p. 33. l. 19. r. Arim. p. 37. l. 30. r. Bellarmins p. 58. l. 32. r. Sacramentis p. 92. l. 23. r. imports p. 128. l. 5. r. naturis p. 151. l. 9. r. is p. 172. l. 18. r. books p. 212. l. 9. r. The eleventh p. 388. l. 7. r. if it be of works p. 393. l. 32. r. one p. 413. l. 33. r. Ephes p. 443 l. 6. r. so great and l. 13. r. King p. 481. l. 33. r. gravest p. 484. l. 10. r. persecute p. 489. l. 22. r. Protestants of integrity