to practise it and punish them as the worst Malefactours As for men who knoweth not that their tribunals are for the most part set up to maintain faithfulnesse and honestie in words and other declarative signes of our intentions If one after he have given his promise to a Maid That he will take her for his spouse should refusing to marry her be brought before a Justice and there be so impudent as to plead that he meant onely to take her for his concubine who questioneth but that such a man would be taken not onely for a treacherous person and a perjured but likewise for a mocker and that he should be punished notwithstanding his excuse And the subject who shall leave his Soveraignes colours and shall do homage to his enemy and wear his marks and badges shall he be quitted for saying That his heart was loyall all this while and that he did these things with another intention Shall he not neverthelesse be held for a Rebell and which is more for a mocker and a man that hath a heart and a heart as the Scriptures speak and one whom errour and passion hath transported into the contrary partie against his Liege-Lord And if he fall into the hands of the Princes Officers will these ridiculous excuses possibly preserve him from infamy and that punishment which shamelesse and rebellious subjects deserve or will he not rather fare the worse for them Now if the justice of man in stead of accepting this kind of excuses is offended and incensed by those who have the boldnesse to alledge them how can we hope that the justice of God which is infinitely more pure and more holy shall take such for payment when question is made concerning Truth and His Service I cannot believe that there is any man so brutish as to imagine that after he hath expresly pronounced That we must adore a creature he shall be absolved for saying that by the word Creature he meaneth the Creatour There is no man that hath common sense but seeth that this would be a pure illusion and that so dull and grosse as I cannot think any man should ever dream of making use of it Those very men who are partly of our perswasion and yet think That a man may with a good conscience prostrate himself before the Host of the Romane Church will yet make scruple of pronouncing with their mouthes that they must adore it Now the nature and reason of words and of actions and ceremonies is the same as we have proved Both the one and the other are signes and symboles instituted to signifie our thoughts Since then all Christians agree that in Confessions and declarations of Faith which we make either by the mouth or writing 't is not permitted them to use words in any sense but that wherein they are taken in common use we must conclude That it is not lawfull for us to abuse the ceremonies and actions of one Religion to a sense contrary to what they signifie in the ordinary practise of men Whence it followeth That even as by the confession of those who are our Adversaries in this point he will sinne grievously that believing the Host of the Romane Church to be a creature shall say with his mouth That he must render to it the adoration of latria in what sense soever he pretend to take these words so is it a very sottish fault for any to prostrate themselves before the Host having the same belief as we have the same intention in so doing Since by so doing they pronounce as much or more expresly then if they had said it with their mouth That they must adore the Host The action which they perform signifying the same thing clearly and expresly in the common use of men CHAP. XV. An answer to the example of Naaman the Syrian objected by some Object ANd whereas they object the famous example of Naaman the Syrian who after he was converted to the knowledge of the LORD was wont to bow himself in the temple of the Idol and when the King his Master went to perform his devotions he accompanied him and bowed himself that the King might lean upon him at his devotions Answ In answer I shall not mention the many interpretations of this passage that seem to draw the words 2 Kings v. 18. to another sense then what is now presented Suppose which is yet contended for that Naaman desired leave of the Lord to enter into Rimmons temple and bow himself there That the King might use him to lean on Suppose that Elisha did on Gods part grant him thus much so That this his bowing was no way contrary to his piety to God or charitie to his neighbour all this granted will conclude nothing against what hath hitherto been spoken For Naaman doth not simply entreat the Lord to let him prostrate himself in the Temple of Rimmon in no kind That had been to entreat a thing clearly and expresly forbidden which the Prophet would never have granted But he requests leave to yeild the King that service which he had done formerly viz. to wait upon Him and let Him lean upon him as 't is the custome of Princes and great Personages in state to lean upon their servants or Favourites and That if his Master should require that service of him in the Idol-temple he might give it him without offending God This action if well considered differs excessively from that we now speak of For we treat of such actions as have reference absolutely and simply to the service of that object which men pretend to adore whereas this is terminated directly and immediately in the service of an earthly King and Master Those actions of the Romanists signifie nothing in common use but the adoration and divinitie of the objects to which they are publickly consecrated this on the contrary signifies principally and directly Onely that Naaman acknowledged the King to whom he gave his service to be his leige-Leige-Lord and Master And therefore as much difference as there is between the adoration of a creature and the service of a Master so much there is there between this action of Naaman and those which the Romanists pretend to be permitted them God no where forbids a servant to obey his Master to lend him a hand to move or a shoulder to lean on or to kneel that a man may be the more commodious and serviceable to him therein Nay on the contrary He commands us in his H. Word to keep all the degrees and offices of civil societie inviolably and bids servants particularly beware of abating ought of what obedience is due to their earthly Masters under pretence of giving some to their heavenly But as for adoration of the creature He very rigorously forbids it Whence it appears that though one may lawfully use words and actions that testifie the first kind of submission yet it follows not that he may exercise such as signifie the second I confesse that Naaman's doing
before the Host For I have sufficiently shown before that this is the true cleare and precise signification of that action and others like it and he that will interpret them otherwise must overthrow the laws and communion of all civil and Religious Societies among men And to partake of such actions against our consciences is not onely an offence against God but likewise a most cruell outrage and scandall against our Neighbours For first one cannot abuse a man or mock him in a serious businesse without deeply violating the holy and respective charity which we owe to a creature that beareth the image of our Lord and hath the same nature that we are of And I do not see how one can more apparently mock his neighbours then by making shew of adoring that which they serve and approving their devotion as good and usefull to salvation and yet to believe nothing lesse and in our consciences to hold that to be a mere creature which they adore and the honour which they give it to be an unlawfull service and unpleasing to the true God What greater affront can men possibly put upon them than thus to abuse and sport with them questionlesse did they discern through the mask under which we hide our selves the thoughts of our hearts and the gullery that we put upon them when we present our selves to them in this false visage they would extremely abhorre us for brazen faced Couseners Did we disguise our selves thus for their good or did not our dissembling doe them a mischief they would have lesse reason to complain But 't is quite otherwise This our vain dissimulation and fond conceit is a very great scandall to them This masking and disguising our selves is to assassinate and destroy them For do you not by exercising the acts and services of Superstition in their presence plainly embolden or as S. Paul phraseth it 1 Cor. viii 10. edifie them in it Is not this to recommend the same things to them by your example and effectually to preach to them the belief and practise of them For example when you are prostrate before the Host of the church of Rome doth not your action authorize their belief do not you thereby warrant them to be more confident in it You tell them in a language that is dumbe indeed but yet more intelligible cleare and significative then all the words which you can use in this subject That this Host is not at all a creature That it is the Creatour and Redeemer of the world That we should adore it and give it the same honour which is due to the Soveraign Deity This and such language as this doth your action speak to your Neighbours nor can they otherwise read or understand what is the sense and meaning of your heart Seeing then that in your conscience you firmly believe that this Host is but a plain creature do you not see how you perswade them to adore a creature which is a pernicious and dangerous errour as I have shewed above You lay before them that which you esteem mortall poyson and seem to take of it your self that you may make them confidently swallow it down which is the most hurtfull and detestable treachery in the world Now if those who poyson the bodies of men are deservedly reckoned amongst the most abominable malefactours consider how great the horrour of your crime is who plunge not their bodies onely but as much as in you lyeth their souls also into that which is in your judgement a dangerous and deadly poyson And if he who offendeth the least of Believers never so little deserveth a rigorous punishment and one more grievous then to be thrown alive into the bottome of the sea as our Lord saith expresly Matt. xviii 6. what thunderbolts and hells shall he be thought worthy of who casts so enormous a scandall before all the congregation And if those who through errour mistake a creature for a Deity are neverthelesse inexcusable as we have proved before what pardon can you expect who knowing well that this is a creature cease not to prostrate your selves before it For the Lord protesteth that the servant who knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with more stripes than he who doth it not because he knew it not Luke 11. 47. And common reason teacheth us that it is a very equitable sentence and determination Seeing then that the fault of those who outwardly practise the services which they hold in their consciences to be false and unlawfull is so many wayes contrary both to our piety toward God and our charity toward men let none think it strange That our Lord condemneth them with an eternall curse who are so mischievous as to commit it For should He do otherwise He would forget his own nature and rob Himself of all those properties wherewith the H. Scriptures invest Him He would be no longer the Father of truth if He left a lie unpunished He would not be zealous of His glory if He did not avenge so evident an affront Finally He would not be the Prince Protectour of mankind if He did not condemne those to the greatest punishments who do so insolently and cruelly abuse poor men And now let every equitable person judge whether it be possible for Us in any manner to prostrate our selves before the Host of the Church of Rome to deck our houses against it passe by and to do other the like actions instituted to the honour of it believing as thanks be to God we do that it is a plain inanimate creature and not as some pretend our Soveraign Lord and God and whether we are not obliged by all the rules of Christs Doctrine rather to suffer most grievous extremities then to comply with what the Church of Rome requireth of us in this particular Indeed if it were lawfull to lie sometimes and outwardly to witnesse any thing contrary to what we believe in our hearts or to make profession of taking from our Lord the glory due to Him alone to give it to a creature or finally to abuse men and induce them to be confirmed in a belief of that which we esteem pernicious and destructive to their souls If I say it were at any time lawfull for us to doe any of these things for fear of separating from our countreymen I confesse that we should doe amisse in refusing to perform the honour which Rome commandeth us to her Sacrament But if all Laws divine and humane for the most part command us under pain of damnation rather not to fear undergoing all sorts of mischiefs then to fall into any one of these faults 't is evident that having the belief which we have of the Eucharist in the Church of Rome we cannot perform those services thereto which they require of us without incurring the anger of God and destruction of our own souls So that if there were no other difference between them and us but this alone it were
may differ in other things they are all one in this That they are not God Almighty to whom alone we are to give that kind of homage The dignity of Charles Cardinall of Bourbon and the affinitie he had with the late King of France of Glorious memory being his Nephew did not excuse them who gave him the name and honour of King and did not keep their fault from being a true Rebellion and a crime of Treason against the Supreme Governour And the honour which Joseph had in the house of Potiphar being his deare and best beloved servant did not at all justifie the love his Mistresse bore him Who ever she be that yields to another man the affection she ow's to none but to her husband renders her self manifestly guilty of adultery 'T is not needfull to know who it is that she loveth 'T is enough for her condemnation that it is not her husband If then the thing to which you render the adoration of latria be any thing but the Great God Creatour of the universe you are extremely blameable for it It matters not a whit what else the nature or the dignity thereof be What ever it is it s not being God to whom alone you owe such a service is enough for your condemnation and conviction of having committed Treason against the Majestie of your Soveraigne of having violated the promise of sacred wedlock which he hath vouchsafed to contract with you You are evidently a rebell and a faithlesse spouse and will never be able to avoid the infamy and the punishments due to this crime unlesse you wash your fault with tears of a reall and sad repentance If it were otherwise a man might quit or at least excuse them that adored the Sun the eye of the world the most beautifull and expresse image of the Creatour that can be beheld in all nature His punctual and admirable servant which bears so clearly upon it self the marks of his power and wisdome A man might then defend the service that the Israelites gave to the brazen serpent offering thereto incense since it was not an Idol which they served but a precious memoriall of the bounty of God an instrument of his goodnesse and in some sense a Sacrament of his grace A man might then maintain the action of the Collyridians who adored the Blessed Virgin since the object of their service was not a Pagan Idol but the most Holy and most excellent of all women the Mother of our Common Lord the pavilion wherein he vouchsafed to lodge his glory the sacred vessell where he did so spread abroad his graces A man might justifie the Soveraigne service that the Arians gave to their Christ for though they made him a creature yet they supposed him the most noble and most excellent of all the creation and the instrument that the Eternall Father made use of for the creation first and then the redemption of the world But the honour of these things and the dignity they have in coming so neare our Lord and great Master hinders not those who adore them from being condemned as worshippers of the creature For who knows not that God in the Scriptures Job xxxi 26 27 28. Deut. iiii 19. xvii 2 3. puts those who worship the Sunne and Moon and Starres in the rank of the most noted Idolaters and strictly forbids His people to imitate them And who knows not that the good King Ezechiah did so extremely abhorre the service of the brazen serpent that to abolish the use of it he was not afraid to break the sacred monument of the great miracles of God calling it by way of loathing 2 Kings xxiii 5 11. Nehustan that is a vain and unprofitable piece of brasse And then for the Collyridians the respect which we give to the Blessed Virgin whom those superstitious women took for the object of their folly hindered not the Church then from calling it Epiph. Haer. 79. p. 1058. 1061. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heresie or a sect of such as made idols and to alledge against them all the precepts and examples which the Scripture giveth us for the adoration of the one sole God The dignity that the Arians attributed to their imaginary Christ hindered not the most holy Doctours of the Primitive Church Athanas Orat 1. contra Ari. tom 1. p. 297. B. 314. A. orat 3. p. 385. C. orat 4. p. 468. Cyril in Joh. l. 9. c. 41. p. 471. A. Thesaur l. 2. c. 1. p. 30. C. l. 12. c. 4. c. from accusing them of Idolatry and calling them Idolaters because as excellent as they imagined that Christ whom they believed on they thought him but a creature and by consequence could not render to him the service due to the Deitie without manifestly adoring a creature The vanity of this pretence doth yet more plainly appear in that the most excellent servants of God have refused that adoration which sometimes hath been yielded to them For even as Joseph was seized with a just horrour seeing the ungodly lust of his Mistresse and opposed her designe who would have given him that which she owed onely to her husband and not being able by his grave and wise Remonstrances to quench her base heat he fled away from her esteeming it a blemish to him to be in such unchast hands shewing sufficiently that he held this attempt of hers to be a great abomination Semblably the faithfull servants of God have often very rudely thrust away them who would have given Them that service which is due onely to their Master and have taken such honour in very great indignation S. John in a transportation of Spirit being twice cast at the feet of an Angel who discovered to him the secrets of heaven intending to adore him was twice taken up That Sacred Minister of God would by no means consent that S. John should render unto him that honour Take heed saith he Revel xix 10. xxii 8 9. that thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren which bear witnesse to Jesus Adore God In the same sort did S. Peter the Apostle of our Lord take up Cornelius the Centurion when he was at his feet adoring him Stand up said he Act. x. 26. I also am a man In like manner S. Paul and S. Barnabas seeing that the Lycaonians would offer them those sacrifices which they were wont to offer to their Gods took such a displesure that they rent their garments crying out Act. xiiii 13 14 15. Sirs Why do ye thus We also are men subject to the same passions with you And we need not doubt but that the sunne moon and starres and other inanimate creatures would reject those services which are given them by the Pagans with the like indignation were their nature capable of it Et si indignari potest acerbius indignatur contra falsò honorantem quà m contra contumeliosum saith S. Augustine T. 8. fol.
for the true Creatour and Redeemer of the world and if he be of a contrary perswasion he must necessarily grant That he is either out of his senses or a notorious liar abusing the actions of his body to signifie the contrary thoughts of his heart And as the former would be laughed at by any judicious man if to excuse his expression he should alledge that by Pope of Rome he meant not what those words signifie in the common use of men but some other things as for example J. Christ our Lord so the latter would be as ridiculous who should tell us That he useth kneeling before the Host and other ceremonies not to let men know that he adoreth it which is the thing that these actions signifie in the common use of men but to signifie that he adoreth our Lord who sitteth on high in heaven If such excuses might take place if any one might be suffered to use the signes of things to a clean other sense then that wherein they are taken in the common and ordinary use of men all societies publick and private religious and civill would straight be plunged into an horrible confusion We should not hereafter have any credit or assurance among men For as for words every man might abuse them to signifie what pleaseth him the religion and great care that should be taken of oaths contracts promises a thing so absolutely necessary for the subsistence of mankind would quite fall to the ground A woman may think that a man hath promised to be her husband because he hath sworn that he will take her for his spouse but the perfidious dissembling fellow will excuse himself saying That by the word spouse he meant a concubine and not a lawfull wife which is that w ch the word commonly signifieth A Judge in France may believe that a guilty person is innocent because a witnes assureth him upon his oath that he did not tuer that is kill such a man for whom he is accused And according to this rule the witnesse shall quit himself from perjury by alledging That he meant by tuer not to kill as it signifies in French but to keep alive to defend and preserve as it signifieth in Latine by an impudence like that of the French prisoner who being asked whether he ever passed the straight of the sea swore that he never did meaning by the word straight not that between Dover and Calis whereof the question was asked him but that of Gibraltar of which none of the standers-by thought a whit Briefly all the language of men that admirable organ of their discourse by which they discover the thoughts of their hearts to each other so usefully would by this means become a meer ginne a trick to cousen and delude No man would be able by this means to understand his neighbours meaning any more then if the ancient confusion of Babel were again in the world every one would become a stranger and barbarian to his companion And then for actions which signifie any thing If particular men might be suffered to wrest them to another sense and meaning then that whereto the publick hath appointed them the same disorder would take place A subject after he hath done homage to the enemie of his naturall Lord to exempt himself from the punishment due to this undutifulnesse might alledge That he meant by this act not to acknowledge the Tyrant for his Soveraigne which is the common signification of that action but onely to salute him as we do another man And the servant of old time in Israel might have denied the service which he promised to his Master by the signe of his eare pierced an ordinary thing in that nation excusing himself that he meant the clean contrary by that act viz. to renounce his Masters service not to oblige himself to it for the future The Souldier in warre might wear the enemies colours and pretend that he had not for all this renounced his captain But this abuse will be more dangerous in religion by how much that should be kept more holy and inviolable among men For if a man may be permitted to practise actions whicd are instituted to another sense and that he may never intend them to that end for which they are commonly used there will be nothing certain in Religion For as you will presume to prostrate your self before the Host of the Church of Rome and think you may not thereupon be accused of adoring it so another will as well prostrate himself before images and offer to them wax-candles without being taxed of having worshipped them Another may wear a Turbant and enter into the Mosques of the Turks and there perform their devotions without being guilty of Mahumetanisme For he will say 'T is to Jesus Christ that I perform these services and not to the God of Mahomet And another among the inhabitants of China may prostrate himself without scruple before their idols pleading that he addresseth this adoration not to the Pagode there present as the idolaters doe but to God the Father or to Jesus Christ And if they be permitted to wrest actions thus from their true sense and meaning why not words likewise For these are signes of the same nature both the one and the other are instituted by men and to the same end saving that the nature of the words hath oftentimes lesse reference to their signification then the nature of an action or a ceremonie so that a man should make lesse scruple of abusing it According to this account a Protestant might swear boldly that he believeth A man should adore the Host for he will say that by the word Host he meaneth J. Christ fastened to the Crosse and not the Sacrament which they call so at Rome A Christian might answer without infidelity That he is a Muselman or a Jew or a Pagan according as it standeth most for his advantage and may take his oath on it if need be For he ' l say I take these words in a sense different from that wherein they are ordinarily used I mean that I am a Muselman that is a Believer as the word in Arabick signifies of J. Christ and not of Mahomet a Jew spirituall not a carnal one a Pagan by extraction or birth and not by religion For why may it not be as lawfull to wrest words if it be lawfull to use kneeling before the Host of the Romane Church to signifie any thing else besides adoration of the Sacrament Do you not perceive that there is the same reason Since in the use of the Church of Rome it signifies as clearly properly and universally this adoration as the words of Muselman of Jew of Pagan signifie the men of these three sects in our common language It will soon appear how dangerous a thing this libertie is if permitted among men But is it permitted God forbid The laws both of God and men censure them as cheaters treacherous faithlesse persons who offer
this in the Temple of Rimmon might by the circumstance of place give some occasion to another interpretation For this action which he did for the service of his Prince being the same re and matâ—rially as we speak with the bowing which Idolaters make in honour to their God and both hapning to be in the same place and time where and when infidels were adoring their Idol some of the standers-by might think he addressed it not to the King leaning on him but to the image of Rimmon there present And this was it that raised the scruple in this great Personage For though in his intention this act was onely a civil honour to the King and though in the custome of the world 't was so esteemed yet because time and place concurred so unhappily for it that it might have been otherwise taken he doubted it was not so free from fault as he imagined and consequently desired Gods pardon and leave to perform his service to his King So it was this which the Prophet seemeth to grant him in those words Go in peace and their opinion who imagine that Naaman here served an idol is not built upon any rationall or strong foundation For since the Prince leaned on him why have they not as much reason to think That he was there in relation to His service as to the service of the Idol Nay it was probable that this act terminated in his Master and not in the idol since neither reason nor the custome of men would permit him to part Religious acts between God and men And this one consideration if nothing else could be said were enough to shew that he then minded not the devotion of his soul but the service of his Master It being cleare that though he were a Pagan in religion this Rimmon whom the Syrians served suppose him endued with understanding or sense as he were an odd Deity else would not have allowed a service done to a Prince to bear a share in the adoration to him As suppose a Noble man rendring homage to his Soveraigne lean on one of his servants who is kneeling can you with any reason interpret this act of the servant an homage done to the Masters Prince 'T were unreasonable and impertinent to say or think so And for the better understanding of my meaning Suppose this servant were a vassal and held a farm of that Prince for which he were yearly to doe him some homage would you believe he had performed that homage by this very assisting and serving his Master upon such an occasion No surely 'T is evident that these are acts though alike yet plainly distinguished one whereby he cometh to render an honour that is due the other whereby he onely bendeth his knees to assist his friend Naaman's case was just the same The King of Syria gave religious worship to the idol but Naaman in holding him up served onely his Master not the idol his Master 's false and unbeseeming deity But beside this Circumstance divers others free this act of his from all sinister interpretation For 1 Naaman entred into the idol-Temple onely when he was obliged to perform some duty to his Master he offered no sacrifices he performed neither this nor any other homage or peice of devotion there alone Whence it is evident that what he did otherwhiles in the Temple was to his Master and not to the idol But 2 There is more in it yet for he did not onely abstain from all false and unlawfull acts of worship but he made moreover an open publick profession by word and deed of reverencing and adoring the true God who was known in Israel He protesteth as much expresly to the Prophet saying 2 Kings v. 15 17. I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other Gods but unto the LORD Who seeth not that all the circumstances of this action were so plain so farre from equivocation that no man of any ingenuity could take them in an ill sense viz. for adoration to the false God Rimmon Therefore as in common discourse an honest man may use words which signifie divers things as in all languages there are very many such provided he use them onely so as it may plainly appear by the circumstances of his discourse in what sense he takes them without any designe to deceive his auditors with the ambiguitie so it was lawfull for Naaman to signifie by this act the respect he bore to his Master notwithstanding the ambiguity which the place and time seemed to cast upon it since all the circumstances of this act and his life and words shewed plainly what he intended by it viz. a plain serving his Master no adoring the Idol And now who seeth not what a vast difference there is between this act of Naaman and those which we dispute against in this place For 1 the Romanists who bow their knees before the Host declare not what opinion they have of the object to which they addresse that worship by any other outward profession unlesse they say 'T is God 2 Naaman served the God of Israel openly and offered him sacrifices and highly and plainly protested that he took not Rimmon for his God at the adoration of whom the service that he owed his Master caused him to be sometimes present But all who communicate with or continue in the Church of Rome make publick profession of her doctrine they renounce not in word or deed the adoration of that to which they prostrate themselves Who then unlesse he can divine will interpret their bowing and adoration otherwise then as a testimony they give of the DEITY of that object wherein they terminate it Furthermore when they bend their knees before the Host or deck up their houses against it come or passe by them in the street these actions cannot be taken but for a profession of their adoring this and taking it for a reall deity For such in the common and ordinary use of men have no other interpretation then this whereas Naaman's act as we have proved was properly a duty which he owed to his Master and a token of that service which he was to render to him But as for the men we speak of we see no Master they have to lean upon them nor to enter into their houses when they thus deck them We see nothing in their Temples or at their Processions whereto we can imagine they terminate these actions but onely the Host And therefore in all reason they cannot be taken for ought but testimonies of that honour which they bear to it and of the Deity which they acknowledge to be in it Thus it appears that Naamans act doth not a jot excuse theirs but rather evidently condemn it For since he was so scrupulous of the deed though so many waies qualified and free from the suspicion of idolatry that he dared not venture on it without Gods
expresse leave what think you would he have done if he had been in the Romanists case with what horrour would he have refused and detested it since here is nothing but naked and plain demonstrations of honour and service to a creature All that may hence be concluded is in appearance to favour those who serve Kings to assist them at the ceremonies of the Religion of their Master if so be their service obligeth them to render any service to their persons so that the action which they exercise be one of the functions of their charge and that elsewhere they make a cleare and open profession of fearing the Lord onely that they acknowledge not that for God which is adored in such devotions Yet I know not whether the difference that is between the Old and New Testament will permit us to extend the consequence of this example thus farre God having formerly in the time of the Churches infancy permitted in his children divers things which he forbids them now under the light of the Gospel where our charitie should be so exquisite that we should rather endure all sorts of mischiefs then give the least cause of scandall to our Neighbours and I believe it were more safe to renounce those Dignities which oblige us to any appearances contrary to our Religion then to cause any to stumble by our enjoying and exercising them CHAP. XVI That to think it is lawfull for a man to exercise the ceremonies of a Religion which he believeth not doth by consequence diminish the glory of and cast a blur on the Martyrs BUt to this one example which they without any reason bring out of the Old Testament we may justly oppose the belief and perpetuall practise of the Saints under the first and second Covenant who have not more abhorred confessing with the mouth errours contrary to pietie then they have detested practising amongst those who teach them any of those actions that have reference to such errours Holding as well those to be Apostates and deserters of the Faith who defiled themselves with some false and unlawfull service as those who expresly and publickly professed errour For example Had not the three Hebrew children in Babylon Dan. iii. been of this perswasion why should they have been willing to have incurred the indignation of the King their Protectour and to have been deprived not onely of all their goods and honours but likewise cast into a hot fiery furnace there to endure a very grievous and horrible death rather then to prostrate themselves at his commandment before the golden image which he caused his people to adore Had it not been easie for them to have kept themselves from all this mischief by doing that which the King commanded but in another sense and with an intention different from that wherein he required it viz. by referring and addressing their adoration whereof bowing or prostration was the mark not to the golden image before them but to God the Creatour But this illusion and catch was so farre from prevailing with them that they never once thought of it but with a brave generositie befitting that piety whereof they made profession they answered boldly at the first word that they would not prostrate themselves before the statue thinking which was very true That since that action which was required of them signified in the custome of that people an acknowledgement of a Godhead in the inanimate creature they could not practise it without idolatry or damnable hypocrisie and consequently without rendring themselves guilty of a very enormous sinne against God and an irreparable scandal against their neighbours The same may I say of all the excellent and famous Personages that have from the first dawning of Christianitie to this houre with so much courage and glorie sealed the truth with their bloud For if a man might be permitted to counterfeit in this manner and without deserving punishment to exercise impious services and superstitious adorations provided that in the secret of his heart he referre and give those very services to God the Creatour which other men give to the creature why should those holy and blessed Witnesses of God have exposed themselves to such troubles and sufferings Why should they continually have made such scruple of casting two or three grains of incense into the Censer in presence of their Soveraigne Prince who commanded them Why might they not have done this with an intention of rendring this service either to God or to the Prince there present that he might smel the sweet odour and not to the idol as others intend and perform it If this petty quirk of Logick might have made the action cōmendable or at least tolerable and excusable what an incredible stupidity was it in those great men not to have used it Who perceives not that after the rate of our new Sophisters all the Christian courage of those holy Personages was but a piece of sillinesse all their constancy a sottish and childish opinionativenesse and wilfulnesse For who would not judge them either infinitely simple as not knowing or not thinking on so easie a subtilty or extremely imprudent if knowing it they would not have used it at such a time since for want of using it they miserably lost both their goods and lives and all that was deare and precious to them upon earth But if the Romanists be in the right the Martyrs beside suffering should have had a deal of crime and sinfulnesse in their fault For to lose a mans life needlesly and to spill ones own bloud in a bravery is an enormous offence against God who forbids us to violate or take away our neighbours life much more our own and detesting those who procure another mans death cannot but extremly abominate them who are the cause of their own destruction But God forbid that in stead of setting forth the praises and the glory which all Christians have ever given to these holy Martyrs we should be so ungratefull and malicious as to reproach their memory by accusing them either of imprudence or injustice meerly to gratifie such as having not courage enough to confesse openly what they believe privately in their hearts would in stead of condemning their own weaknesse tax all those of rashnesse who are not so fearfull as they Let us rather acknowledge that these Saints whose names have ever been precious and blessed in the Church have well and rightly judged thinking that none can with lesse then such a resolution perform the duty of a good and faithfull Christian nor otherwise avoid the infamy and punishments which they deserve who desert so holy a discipline CHAP. XVII That this dissembling is condemned by our Lord in the Scriptures FOr in truth God will not be put off with such quaint devices which are but meer pretences and colours wherewith flesh and bloud endeavour to smooth over their fearfulnesse He deals with us bonâ fide plainly and in earnest and will not own them who goe