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 wiâ—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
is not visible but invisible so our altar also is not visible but invisible The second abuse is in the confession of the Priest that he saith in the entring of the Mass I confess to God Almighty and to the blessed Virgin and to all the Saints that I have sinned In the which are sundry absurdities First that this confession is made not only to God but also to the dead who neither sees the secrets of the hearts nor yet are able to give remission The secōd is in the prayer that is set down in the latter end of it saying I pray thee blessed Mary all the hee Saints and shee Saints of God to pray to God that I may have mercy wherein are two horrible abuses one that he makes no mention of Jesus Christ our only Mediator 1. Tim. 2.5 desires him not to make intercession for him Next that he prays unto the Saints departed and makes them Intercessors and Mediators who neither knows our necessities and the secrets of our hearts neither is able to hear or help us which wants all warrant out of the Word of God Rom. 10.14 1. Tim. 2.5 1. John 2. 1. Jer. 17.5 Psal 50.15 Jer. 29.12 Matth. 6.9 James 1.17 Gen. 20.1.2 2. Kings 6.6 2 Chron. 6.30 Isa 63 17. Eccles 9.6 And seeing prayer is a honor only due to God Jesus Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor therefore this prayer to Saints departed is both idolatrous and injurious to Christ his intercession and mediation This confession was instituted by Pontian and Damasus Popes anno 335. and 368. The third abuse is the absolution pronounced to the beholders of the Mass Amen Brethren and sisters by the mercy of our Lord Jesus by the help and sign of the cross by the intercession of the Virgin Mary by the merits of the Apostles and of all the hee Saints and shee Saints God give you mercy First this agrees not with their privat Masses where the Priest and the Clark only are present For how can the Priest speak truly Amen brethren and sisters since none is present but the Clark only Next that which is only proper to Jesus Christ to his death merits and intercession to make the Father merciful unto us and to make him to forgive us our sins is taken from him here and communicat unto the Virgin Mary and the merits of all the hee Saints and shee Saints and which is most horrible unto the sign of the cross that by her intercession their merits and the help of the sign of the cross God might have mercy What horrible idolatry is this to joyn such helpers to the Son of God who is a perfect Savior To joyn the merits of flesh and blood to his merits as though his were not sufficient to obtain salvation And as though men were not only able to merit eternal life to themselves but also had such aboundance of merits that they served to obtain mercy for others and so not only to make them saviors of themselves but of others also And that which is yet more horrible idolatry and blasphemy if worse can be to joyn with him the help of the sign of the cross Therefore in their Breviary they say Keep us Lord with thy peace c. whom thou hast redeemed by the tree of thy holy cross And in a Hymn O cross hail O cross only hope increase righteousness to the godly and forgive the guilty And in their Breviary they say We adore thy cross O Lord. Now what is it to mock God if this be not To substitut creatures yea a very stock and a tree in the room of the Son of God and to ascribe redemption unto it and to pray for righteousness and remission at the same to adore it and to call it their only esperance What place is left then to the blood and death of Christ The fourth abuse is in this prayer of the Mass We pray thee Lord for the merits of thy Saints whose relicks are here to forgive me all my sins Where first he makes no mention of Christ or his merits Next he prays to God that for the merits of the Saints he may be forgiven so he puts them in the room of Christ Thirdly they have the relicks of the Saints in such account that they have made a law that it shal not be lawful to celebrat any Mass but upon such altars where the relicks of some Saints are De consecrat dist 1. cap. Placuit But to what purpose is this To make their altars commendable and their sacrifices acceptable But hath not the Priest as he thinks in his hands Christ Jesus the Holy of the Holiest And is there relicks of Saints more precious and worthy then his blood is yea and what relicks I pray you for the most part Not of Saints but of harlots and brigands yea they have so multiplied their relicks that they have made some of them to have mo heads then one to have mo legs and arms then they were born with As for example Peter his whole body is buried in Rome in Vatican Annal. Eccles Tom. 1. 3. and yet the half of him is in another part of Rome Via Ostiensi Onu d. 7. urb Eccles cap. de Basilica another part in Constantinople Bellar. lib. 2. de Eccles trium cap. 3. 4. and his head kept in the fourth place Romae Onu ibidem and another part of his head in the fifth place Romae Onu ibidem another part of his head in the sixth place Pictavi◠Calv. admon de reliq and yet sundry of his teeth in other parts Onu ibidem So that if he had as many bodies and bones and teeth and heads and arms and legs as are said to be his and are kept as his relicks his body were monstrous And the head of S. Barbara was shown in so many parts that it behoved her to have seven bodies or at the least seven heads Luther postil in Evang. fest exalt cruce And that which is yet worse they honor them adores them and prays unto them the which is so manifest by the ordinary practise of their Church that it needeth no probation Unto this we may joyn the fifth abuse their images upon the hostes of their Mass and the rest of their Idols and Images which they call the Books of the Laicks wherewith they fill their Temples and Chapels which they honor adore and pray unto saying unto a stock Thou art my father and to a stone thou art my mother not only without commandment or example in the Scripture but contrary the express commandment of God given out of Mount Sinay in horror and fear so that the Mountain shook and Moses himself feared Thou shalt make thee no graven Image to worship it And contrary the whole Scripture Exod. 20. Deut. 4.15 Isa 40 15.16 Jerem 10.3 Acts 17.29 Rom. 1.23 1. Cor. 10.14 1. John 5.21 Rev. 9.20 21.8 And also the doctrine of the Fathers Tertull. lib. de corona
and her Son unto them What horrible blasphemy is this Who can give Christ but only God the Father They say God will give them that worship her a reward here and heaven hereafter How shal I praise the redeemed by thee speaking of Mary And in the prose of the Mass they have this prayer Jure matris impera Redemptori that is By thy motherly authority command the Redeemer And as concerning her Psalteries how horrible is it to see all that David spake of the Father Son and holy Spirit to be transferred and applyed to her without exception from the beginning to the end changing only the style of the eternal Lord in the style of our Lady blaspheming Blessed is he who loves Mary fears her and praises her name who hopes in her The heavens declare thy glory and the earth and the fulness thereof Blessed are all they who love thee because thou hast washen their sins in thy mercies Have mercy on me O mother of mercy and according to the bowels of thy compassions wash me from all mine iniquities Save me for thy names sake Let Mary be lifted up and all her enemies will be scattered Lord give thy judgement to thy Son and thy mercy to the Queen his mother Lady salvation and life is in thy hand O how good is God to them that worship his mother God is the God of vengeance but thou art the Queen of mercy Come let us worship the Lady let us praise the Virgin who hath saved us let us confess our sins unto her The Lord said unto our Lady Sit here my mother on my right hand O mankind rejoyce because God hath given to thee such a Mediatrix and at the name of Mary let all knees bow in heaven in earth and in Hell This Lady Psalter was compyled by a Cardinal of Rome Bonaventure who was canonized for a Saint by Pope Sixtus the fourth anno 1470. After the same manner have they corrupted the Songs of the Prophets of Simeon and of the Virgin blaspheming after this manner My soul rejoyceth in my Lady My soul magnifie my Lady c. Now letst thou O Lord the servant of Mary depart in peace because my eyes have seen the salvation of Mary And to put an end to these abominations they ascribe unto the Virgin that which the holy Ghost hath spoken only of Jesus Christ the everlasting wisdom of his Father The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way before he made any thing I was ordained from everlasting Prov. 8.22 And Pope Leo the 10. calls her Deam a Goddess Epist 17. In the General Council of Lateran in stead of praying to God through Christ for the assistance of his Spirit they crave the help and assistance of Mary Concil Lateran sub Julio 2. Leone 10. Sess 9.10 c. And Pope Pius the fifth acknowledgeth her for the victory of the Christians against the Turk in their combat which was stricken on the sea and for that victory hath ordained a yearly rememberance of her to be kept Martyrologium Rom. act 7. And Antoninus one of their Archbishops saith Hist. part 3. tit 23. cap. 3. That Christ sitting at the right hand of God the Father rose up angry to have slain all the sinners in the earth and when none was able to resist his mother came to him and pacified him till two of his servants Franciscus and Dominicus might be sent to them and that Christ answered Behold I am pacified and have accepted thy face I appeal your conscience M. Gilbert before the Lord Jesus Christ as ye must appear before him in that great day whether these speeches be not the speeches and blasphemies of the Dragon or not And whether this doctrine and Religion of yours be not idolatrous blasphemous and Antichristian or not Not only have they spoyled the Lord Jesus of his mediation intercession and of his glory due to him and mankind of their salvation purchased by his blood in ascribing it to Saints Angels and to the Virgin Mary but also in ascribing them unto their consecrat things as their holy water the tree of the Cross the sign of the Cross their golden silver and stony Crosses For unto the Cross they give the worship of Latria as themselves testifie which by their own confession is only proper to God Thomas in part 3. summae quaest 25. artic 4. Cajet in comment in illum locum Thomae Andradius in lib. 9. orthod explic And their prayer to the Cross and the sign of the Cross is to help them defend them and save them and they adore it and worship it They pray such like that the holy water may be salvation unto them and that by the sparging of the same the health of their soul the strengthening of their faith the security of their hope may be given them Unto the Images and relicks of the Saints they offer sacrifice in burning incense unto them which the Scripture calles an oblation only proper to the living God Mark 9 49. Therefore Ezechias brake the brazen serpent because they burnt incense unto it 2. Kings 18.4 And the burning of incense to Baal is counted idolatry 2. Kings 23.5 They pray for their golden silver and stony crosses that as the world was purged from the guiltiness of sin by the Cross of Christ so by the merit of this Cross these who offer it up may be forgiven of all their actual sins Pontif. Rom. part 2 tit de benedict novae crucis Careat omni peccato perpetrato Is not this to set up their stony c. Crosses in the room of the blood of Jesus Christ They ascribe to the tree of the Cross that which is only proper to God saying Salva catervam that is Give salvation to the assembly gathered together in thy praises Brevia Rom. in fest invent exalt sanctae crucis They worship their images after the same manner as the Heathens did their Idols And as the Heathens Baruc. 6.3 bure their golden silver and timber Idols upon their shoulders so do the Papists Baron nota Marti Rom. Sleidan com lib. 9. Jodoc meg peregr Hieros cap. 3. Pellic. in Baruc cap. 6. The Heathens worshipped their idols the Papists do the same in falling down before the images of Saints Conc. Trid. Sess 25. The Heathens decked their idols with vestiments as though they had been men so do the Papists with their images which some of themselves think to be an abuse and would have it abolished Molin Epist Valen. Salig Espen hist Eccles Ecclesia reform in Gallia lib. 4. They lighted candles before their idols which their idols saw not so do the Papists Erasm colloq peregrin relig ergo Polyd. Virg. de invent rer lib. 2. cap. 23. lib. 6. cap. 13. There the faces of their Gods were made black through the smoke of their incense which was burnt in their worship as it is exponed by some so do the Papists burn incense to their golden
do all my will And also that it may be written of your Majesty in the Chronicles of the Kings of Scotland as it was written of David Ezechias Josias in the Chronicles of the Kings of Juda That King JAMES the sixth his heart was perfect toward the LORD his GOD all his dayes and his Government was in such Peace and Justice that after him there was none like him of all the Kings of Scotland Neither was there any such before him who did cleave unto the LORD his GOD with all his heart and followed all his Commandments and neither declined to the right hand nor to the left Now the LORD grant to your Majesty that ye may find this favor in his eyes for his CHRISTS sake I have now taken this boldness to offer these my labors unto your Majesty as a testimony of my most humble and loyal heart unto your Majesty as GOD the searcher of the heart knows Your Majesty did exceedingly encourage me to let it go forth unto the light what by your Majesties most gracious acceptation of mine endeavor and most favorable censure and approbation of my labors what by your Majesties humane counsel and advise confirmed by your Majesties Priviledge and authority to me to publish the same Such was Your Majesties humanity to me not only in these but in all your actions both publick and privat with all your subjects of whatsoever rank or degree Ye shew such humanity and affability that that saying of Trajanus the Emperor That a Prince should behave himself so to his subjects as he would have them to do to him if he were a privat man is verified in you Sir wherein certainly ye need not to give place to any of whatsoever rank You express it so lively in all your actions and I have found it for my own part by experience So that Your Majesty hath often caused me to remember that notable saying of Titus that Roman Emperor A subject should never go sad-hearted from the speech of his Prince The which experience makes me to conceive hope that Your Majesty will pardon this my boldness will accept in good part this my smal mite I therefore most humbly desire Your Majesty to accept it as from Your Majesties most humble obedient servant and subject For whose peace and prosperity I am always earnest with the LORD Now the GOD of all Peace even that KING of Kings powr all light and grace in all abundance more and more upon Your Majesty and so root and ground your heart in JESUS CHRIST that ye may honor him more and more in your life and calling here that ye may be honored of him again both in this life and in that day with immortal and everlasting glory Amen From Air the 18. of November 1602. Your Majesties most humble subject M. JOHN WELSCH UNTO THE GODLY AND CHRISTIAN READER IN THIS LAND Grace Mercy and Peace from GOD the Father and JESVS CHRIST his Son our LORD and only Savior Amen WHen I think Christian Reader of the unsearchable mercies for so I may call them which the LORD according to his rich grace whereby he hath been abundant towards us if ever towards any hath vouchsafed upon us and of our great ingratitude and manifold iniquities wherewith we have recompensed him again I cannot but tremble to think of these most fearful judgements of GOD which we have most justly deserved and which cannot but most assuredly fall upon us unless with most speedy and earnest repentance of all sorts they be prevented and averted For unto what Kingdom or Nation under heaven hath GOD been more liberal in communicating the insearchable riches of his dear Son in his Gospel Eph. 3 8. as unto us in this Nation Nay unto what one Kingdom under heaven hath God been so rich and superabundant in mercy as unto this There are but few Kingdoms upon whom the Lord hath caused the glorious light of his Gospel to shine upon a gross darkness covering the most part of the Kingdoms of the earth and yet Scotland hath found this favor in the eyes of the most high GOD. So that that may be most truely said of us which is written of the land of Zabulon and Nephthali Matth. 4.16 A people that sate in darkness saw great light and unto them which sate in the region of death light is risen up Many Kingdoms upon whom this light is risen are but in part delivered from the bondage of that second beast Rev. 13.11 17.4 and from that abomination of Babel a part worshipping the LORD and a part worshipping Baal I mean the idol of the Mass and their idols of stock and stone But our deliverance was full from that bondage for that was fulfilled in us which was promised and prophesied of old Zech. 14 9. That the LORD should be but one and his Name one And in these Kingdoms where the LORD is but one and his Name one that is where he only is worshipped some of them have embraced him but as a Prophet to teach them and as a Priest to satisfie for their sins and to interceed for them but not as a soveraign King to rule them and govern them by that form of government which he hath prescribed in his Word with his own Lawes Offices and Officers retaining yet a part of that hierarchie of Babel with some of her Lawes Offices and Officers But the LORD was rich in mercy towards us in bestowing himself upon us not only as a Prophet to teach us and as a Priest to satisfie for our sins and to interceed for us but also as a soveraign King to govern us with that self same form of government which he hath commanded in his Word and unto the which only he hath annexed the promises of his blessing and presence with his own Laws Offices and Officers So that as the Prophet saith Zech. 14.9 He was not only one in us and his Name one but also a soveraign King in our land O Scotland what Nation was like unto thee that had the Gospel so freely preached his Sacraments so purely ministred his censures and all the priviledges of his Kingdom in such liberty executed as thou hadst For what one Nation under heaven hath God done so great things as for thee What one Kingdom is to be found in the whole earth where Idolatry was so fully rooted out wherein all the means of his glory and all the priviledges of his Kingdom was so fully restored to their own integrity and perfection as they were first instituted wherein all these means of the Word Sacraments and Discipline hath continued for so long a space in such peace in such purity in such liberty without heresie or schism as in thee O Scotland So that thy day hath been like the day of Joshua When the Sun stood in Gibeon and the Moon in Aialon Josua 10.12 For I know not if ever Nation or Kingdom hath had so long a day of the Gospel in such peace
purity and liberty as thou hast had Or if ever Nation after us shal have so long a day after such a manner again And it seems to me that as the LORD confirmed Ezechiah of his promise by causing 2. Kings 20. the Sun to return back again miraculously by the degrees whereby it went down So the LORD hath confirmed his superabundant love towards us in causing the light of the Gospel to return again as it were oft times and that most wonderfully and miraculously by the degrees whereby our iniquities in the righteous judgement of God did hasten it to go down upon us Yea the blessing of Abraham hath come upon us For he hath blessed them that blessed us and hath cursed them who hath cursed us he hath striven against them who hath striven against us and hath made our oppressors to eat their own flesh and to drink their own blood no instrument formed against thee O Church of Scotland hath ever prospered and the tongue that hath risen against thee the LORD hath condemned that all flesh might know that GOD was thy Savior and the strong GOD of Jacob thy avenger And certainly if ever people might have been called Jephzibas Esai 62.6 that is the LORDS delight or their land Beula that is married unto him the Church and Kingdom of Scotland might have been so called For the LORD had delight in us and our land hath a husband even the LORD our Redeemer he was an ornament unto us Esa 60 19. he set his beautie on us Ezech. 16.14 he crowned us with glory and a Diadem by the hand of our GOD was set upon our heads Esai 6.2 And true is that of us which our Savior spake to his disciples Luke 10.24 Many Kings and Prophets hath desired to see the things that we have seen and hear the things that we have heard and have not seen them nor heard them So who are so ladened with mercy and kindness as we have been for we have been made the head and not the tail Deut. 28.13 as the LORD promised And surely if ever people should have been Joshurim Deut. 32.15 that is upright and straight in the eyes of the LORD we should have been so No who should have been so holy as we Who so strong in CHRIST and rooted and grounded in him as we Coloss 2.7 Who so rich in all grace and fruitful in all good works as we For who had so many and so glorious means to have made us to have abounded in all grace as we had What could the LORD have done more to us then he hath done Isai 5.4 For we wanted no mean that ever the LORD commanded in his Word either to have bred grace in us or to have preserved it and increased it But they to whom much is given much shal be required at their hands again For as the LORD made us a spectacle of his mercy wherein he did demonstrat the riches of his free grace in CHRIST JESUS unto all the Kingdoms of the earth and above them all So it had been our part proportionably to have met him with thankfulness again and to have been examples of all grace godliness righteousness and of all good works unto all others and above all others But alace sinful Nation laden with iniquities Esai 1.4 who is so sinful as thou art What Nation so polluted with all abomination and wickedness as thou art Thy iniquities are mo then the sand of the sea they are grown up so high that the top of them reach up to the very heavens Hosea 9.7 and the cry of them is like yea beyond the cry of Sodom there is such a burden of iniquity upon this Land that considering all circumstances both of the means and of the time and space the LORD hath given us to repent I know not if ever Nation was so great in the eyes of the LORD as this Land is For may not that which the Prophet spake of Juda. Ezechiel 22. be most justly said of thee O Scotland For art thou not replenished with blood from corner to corner so that blood touches blood Are not thy Nobles in thee every one ready to shed blood In thee the father and the mother are despised in the midst of thee the widow and the fatherless are oppressed In thee the very abominations of the Gentils are committed The discovering of the Fathers shame and adultery with thy neighbors wife thou art so laden with adulteries incests and whoredooms that the Land groans under thee thou hast prophaned his Sabaths despised his Law contemned his Gospel withholden from him the fruits of his Kingdom and hast trodden under foot the blood of CHRIST and hast grieved that Spirit of grace So that when I think of the number and greatness of our sins I cannot but wonder that the LORD should not have withdrawn his Kingdom long since from us and have given it unto others that would have brought forth the fruits thereof Matth. 21.41 Yea I wonder that he hath not caused the Land to vomit us out for the abominations and sins wherewith we have defiled it in so great a light And surely when I think of the severity of the Justice of GOD in punishing other Nations and Kingdoms for the contempt of his Gospel and the withholding of the fruits of his Kingdom from him my soul trembles For wherefore did the LORD reject the natural branches that chosen generation of whom the Fathers was and of whom CHRIST was according to the flesh Rom. 11 2â— 9.5 and gave them and their posterity over to the hardness of their hearts this 1500. years and more to be damned for ever and ever in that everlasting darkness and yet his wrath is not turned back but because they would not be gathered and knew not in that their day the things that belonged to their peace and would not render to him the fruits of his Kingdom in due season Matth. 23.37 Luke 19.42.43 Mat. 21.41 And wherefore did the LORD remove his Candlestick Rev. 2.5 from a great many of the Churches both of the East and of the West which were planted by the Apostles and were once lanterns of light and hath given them over to strong delusions to believe lies 2. Thes 2.10.12 the one to the impiety of Mahomet and the savage Tyrant of the Church the other to the bondage of that second beast and fearful darkness of that bottomless pit Rev. 13.11 9.1 But because they received not the love of the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness as the Apostle saith 2. Thes 2.12 Now if GOD spared not them but gave them over to a most fearful bondage both of soul and body both spiritual and corporal temporal and eternal how should we not fear as great or rather greater judgements seeing we had all these as examples before us to have fore-warned us and to have made us to fear For we are not to think as our Savior saith to the Galileans that they
were greater sinners then we but unless we all repent we shal likewise perish Luke 13.3 And as though all our former sins were too light to pull down and to hasten the LORDS fearful departing from us this darkness of the bottomless pit Rev. 9.1 which is spreading it self again in this corner of the Countrey and this abomination of desolation the idol of the Mass which is set up in the privat families of this Countrey is added unto all the rest and above all the rest So that it is to be feared unless it be prevented by a most speedy and earnest repentance of all sorts in this Land that as we have been lifted up to heaven through his Gospel Matth. 11.23 so shal we be thrown down in the bottomless gulf of the LORDS fearful wrath and vengeance and as we have been made a spectacle of his mercy unto all Nations and above all other so we shal be made a most fearful spectacle of his wrath unto all other Nations and above all other O therefore that the LORD would powr upon us that Spirit of grace and deprecation that even from the house of David to the house of Levi Zech. 12.10.11.12 that is from the Kings house to the Ministerie and from them to the people from man to wife that we might all look up to him whom we have pierced through with our iniquities and mourn upon him as for our first or only begotten son and that we might mourn publickly privatly together and a part every Congregation by themselves and every family by themselves and every person by himself Oh that we had hearts to repent at the least in the evening of this our day before the Sun went down altogether upon us and then there is no question the LORD would not remove his Candlestick from us Rev. 2.5 nor make his glory to depart 1. Sam. 4.22 but would continue his covenant with us and our posterity and would cover all our enemies faces with shame as with a garment yea he would scatter that darkness that is beginning to overspread this Land again and Dagon should fall before the ark of the Lord 1. Sam. 5.3.4 and his last fall should be worse then his first Let me therefore be bold with you to beseech you yea to charge you in the bowels of JESUS CHRIST by the price of his blood and by his glorious appearing to judgement as ye would have it comfortable to you and as ye would have his glory to remain with us and our posteritie yea as ye would not be arraigned guilty in that great day of the LORDS banishment and removing of his glorious presence out of this Land For if we repent not the LORD as he hath begun to depart from a great part of this Countrey so shal he most assuredly depart from the rest of this Land I say Let me beseech you that every one of you would try and search your sins by the light of his Spirit in his Word both the sins of our persons and callings that we would humble our hearts for them and powr them out as water in his bosom mourning for them and for the sins of the Land Ezec. 9.4 and that we would turn our feet to walk in all his precepts and commandments And let us who are the Watch-men over the house of Israel begin first Ezec. 3.2 33. For the judgement of GOD will begin at his own house and at the Sanctuary For if we that are the lights of our people be darkness how great must their darkness be And if we that is the salt of the earth to season them with grace become unsavory wherewith shal either they or we be seasoned Matth. 5.14 6.23 And if that we that is the stomack and the heart as it were become senseless and dead is it any wonder suppose all the rest of the members be dead and senseless Let us therefore first convert our selves and then let us with tears and mourning cry aloud to our Congregations and spare not Let us lift up our voices as a Trumpet that the deafest and deadest may hear Let us show them their sins and defections that at the least they perish not for want of warning and so their blood be craved at our hands Ezec. 3.3.4.5 Let us be instant in season and out of season to preach the Word improve rebuke exhort with all doctrine and long-suffering as we are most gravely charged by the Spirit of GOD. Let us admonish every man and instruct every man publickly and privatly that we may do our endeavor at the least to present every man perfect Col. 1.28 as a pure Virgin to JESUS CHRIST And if they will not hear let us say to the earth Earth earth hear the word of the LORD let us rise up and contend with the mountains and let us make the hills to hear our voice and take them as witnesses against them And then shal we have this comfort in the dayes of our afflictions that we have not kept back the word of the holy One Job 6.10 And then shal we be a sweet smelling savor in CHRIST as well in them that perish as in them that are saved Let you that are the people walk worthy of that great salvation that is brought unto you and be fruitful in all good works denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts living godly soberly and righteously waiting for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of that great GOD our Savior the LORD JESUS 1. Thess 2.12 Heb. 2.3 Tit. 2.11.12 And you that are Princes of the Land and Magistrats of the Countrey Remove iniquity from your tents and let not your families be houses of iniquity Job 11.14 Mic. 26.10 Mat. 5.16 Phil. 2.15 Shine before your tenants servants and house-holders as lanterns of light for such Master such servant Be examples to them of godliness sobriety and righteousness Cleanse your hearts and hands from blood oppressions whoredoms adulteries Be an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame and a staff of comfort to the oppressed Deal your bread to the hungry and hide not your eyes from your own flesh Esai 58.7 maintain the godly and be a terror to the wicked Rom. 13.3.4 That your faces may chase away iniquity and fin may hide its self from your presence Take vengeance on all evil doers and spare not where the LORD bids strike And because a great many of you through your most cruel and barbarous covetousness sacrilege the like whereof I think hath not been heard of no not among the Turks and barbarous Americans that they spoil their GOD and let their worship decay for want of maintenance as ye do in Scotland are the causes of the everlasting damnation of a great part of the poor people for want of the preaching of the Word of salvation unto them For their blood are found under your wings Jerem. 2.34 and their blood cry more strongly from the low hells to the high heavens
the beautie of Sion and the glorious presence of his Redeemer fill your privie chambers with strong cryes and many tears Cause heaven and earth to be filled with groans and sighs of his own Spirit in you and take a claught of that Prince of life ere he remove altogether and before he have stollen himself far away that he cannot be found again And wrestle with him as Jacob did and let him not depart out of your hearts entreat him yea enforce him as it were by your tears and sorrowful cryes not to leave his own Tents and Tabernacles in this Land not to give over his glorious Gospel which is his strength and glorie into captivity in the hands of their enemies Remember that he cannot abide the intercession of his own Spirit in his own He cannot hide his eyes from his own flesh and blood he can deny nothing to his own beloved Son that makes intercession for his Saints Let us therefore step up to that Throne of grace with all confidence and assuredly as he is true who hath promised we shal find grace and mercy in the time of this our need both comfort to our own hearts and it may be peace in our dayes that our eyes shal not see the evils that are to come and at that bright appearing of our LORD of life all tears shal be wiped away from our eyes We shal be clothed with those long white robes and shal be fed with the fatness of his house and shal drink of the rivers of his pleasures which is at his right hand for evermore For Sions sake in this Land Christian Reader have I thus written unto thee and for Jerusalems cause have I not kept silence at this time that her glory and wonted brightness may be renewed that the Church of Scotland which was the beauty of Europe and the praise of the whole earth for her liberty purity and discipline might be established in the same and her salvation and righteousness might break forth as a burning lamp to all the Nations of the earth and that other Churches in other Kingdoms which desired to see our beauty and spiritual glory and accounted them blessed which might have had the occasion to have dwelt in our Tents to have seen and enjoyed the same yea who would have been content to have bought it with the price of their blood to their posteritie that they I say may see the continuance thereof and may rejoice Turn thou O LORD our GOD our hearts unto thee that thy glorious presence may be continued with us for ever for JESUS CHRIST his sake our LORD and Redeemer to whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever Amen Now I come to this matter in hand the occasion of it was this There was one who was sometimes an hearer of the word with me who shew me that he had been in conference with a Papist and he had brought him thus far that if he would show him of any that professed our Religion before Martin Luther he would renounce his Papistry and therefore desired me to set them down in writ The which I did and set it down in this form as thou seest it here So this being carried to M. Gilbert Brown he writs an answer to it and sent it to me Unto the which I have made this reply Thou hast them all three here first that which I did write then his answer to it and then my reply to his answer Indeed it is true Christian Reader that there was many things that did hinder me withdraw me from this resolution either to make any answer to it at all or yet to let it go forth to the light As first that so many things have been written already by the lights lanterns of this age against that ruinous Babel that all further cōvictions seemed to be superfluous Next the conscience of my own tenuitie and weakness together with a continual burden of a fourfold teaching every week in my ordinary charge beside others both privat and publick duties which not only my own people but also this desolat Countrey craved whereby I was let to afford that time and studie unto it as the gravity of such a matter required And last of all the consideration both of the person and work of the adversary that neither the one nor the other would be accounted worthy of any answer at all himself being both rejected and excommunicated according to the express commandment of the holy Ghost as an Heretick being perverted and damned in his own conscience and delivered over unto Satan that he might learn if it were possible not to blaspheme the everlasting truth of GOD any more Tit. 3.10.11.12 1. Cor. 5.5 1. Tim. 1.20 And also denounced his rebel for his treasonable attempts both against this Church and Kingdom his work also being so foolish in its self as both I heard his Majestie affirm that he was a foolish reasoner in it and also I hope the indifferent Reader shal see the same his reasons arguments being also so oft answered unto by the learned of our side so that it seemed but actum agere to make any further answer thereunto yet notwithstanding of all these impediments these motions and reasons prevailed with me at the last both to answer it and also to let it go forth to the open view and sight of all men to wit the conscience of that duty which I ow unto the truth of GOD being so highly blasphemed and evil spoken of the unfained love of the salvation of my Countrey-men who for the most part are blinded with the smoke of the darkness of that bottomless pit the railing and thrasonical bragging of the adversary both by word and writ that it would never be answered and that the Ministery would never suffer an answer to come to light because they knew the answer to be unworthy and none other was able to answer to it the most earnest pressing of a great many of my brethren who knew the lamentable estat of this blind Countrey the constant desire of all men in this Countrey to see the same together with his Majesties most gracious acceptation of my endeavor and most favorable judgement of this my labor and most humane counsel to publish the same which did not a little incourage me and last of all the express commandment of the holy Ghost Answer a fool according to his follie lest he seem wise in his own eyes the which if it have place in any thing it must have place here where not only this seeming wise in his own eyes would undoubtedly follow upon my silence but also a seeming wise in the eyes of all this part of the Countrey almost both to the prejudice of the everlasting truth of GOD and also to the stumbling of the weak the further obduring of the obstinat and the wounding of the hearts of the godly therein Augustin lib. de Trinitate cap. 3. lib. cont Mend. cap. 6. hath
a notable sentence to this purpose It is to be wished saith he where heresie flowrishes that all these who have any gift of writing that they all write suppose they should write not only of the self-same matters or questions but also the self-same things or arguments suppose perchance in other words For saith he it is expedient that Hereticks understand that there are not only one or two but many in the camps of the Catholicks who dare with open face meet them And he saith There is another commodity that comes by the writing of many to wit that by this means the Catholicks books themselves are more shortly and easily brought unto the hands of all men so that while as some fall upon one and some fall upon others yet notwithstanding they are all instructed to use the same weapons in their common dangers The which how fitly it agrees unto this purpose of mine I leave it to the judgement of all men who know the estat of this blinded Countrey wherein that darkness of the Antichristian Kingdom is so far spred the confident brags of the adversary are so universally credited the people scattered as sheep without shepherdâ— Matth. 9.36 lying wide open to all the assaults of the Devil and the deceits of these ravenous wolves and their hands so full of Papistical books the deadly weapons of their own destruction without any one book almost for ought that I know whereby either these that are perverted may be revoked from their errors or these that are assaulted may be sustained from yeelding to the adversary or those that are weak may be confirmed Not unlike the miserable estate wherein the Hebrews were brought unto through the tyranny of the Philistims wanting both sword and spear in the time of their warfare having no smiths in their whole land whereby they were compelled to go to their enemies to sharpen their cowter and sock and other instruments 1. Sam. 13.19.20 22. Now as for the work it self I say nothing of it but only recommend it to the blessing of GOD in all your hearts and consciences The which also hath been my earnest desire to GOD from the first time that I put in hand to the pen continually that his effectual presencâ— might be joyned therewith both to convict the contraâ—â— minded and to confirm the godly Read ye it therefâ—â—â— with that affection of heart wherewith it was written anâ— desire ye that blessing in the reading of it as I did in thâ— writing of it and then I hope through GODS blessing ye shal reap some profit by it Now the GOD of all mercy and the Father of all light illuminat all our eyes more and more and cause the light of his glorious Gospel to shine in our hearts and bless all the means thereof that we may be the children of light here and may be partakers of that everlasting weight of glory hereafter in CHRIST JESUS Amen From Air the 18. December 1602. Yours in the Lord M. Iohn Welsch Preacher of Christs Gospel AN INDEX OF THE SECTIONS of M. Welsch Treatise SEction I. The Introduction page 1. Section II. Whither the Church of Rome be a true Church page 4 Section III. Concerning the infallibility of the Church and her immunity from error page 12 Section IV. Whither the Church of Rome be the only true Church and the Reformed not true Churches page 44 Section V. Concerning the Judge of Controversies namely Whither God speaking in the Scriptures be Judge of Controversies page 71 Section VI. Concerning the necessity of Baptism to Infants page 85 Section VII Whither a man by the help of the grace of God may perfectly keep the Commandments page 93 Section VIII Whither a man by his free-will may resist the will of God page 104 Section IX Concerning transubstantiation and Christs real and substantial body and blood in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper page 106 Section X. Concerning the sacrifice of the Mass page 131 Section XI Concerning the degrees and means whereby the sacrifice of the Mass crap in page 170 Section XII Of the manifold abuses of the Mass page 189 Section XIII Concerning Confession and Absolution by the Priest page 219 Section XIV Of Extreme-unction whither it be a Sacrament page 2â—1 Section XV. Concerning Imposition of hands whither it be a Sacrament page 226 Section XVI Concerning Marriage whither it be a Sacrament page 231 Section XVII Concerning the merit of Good Works page 240 Section XVIII Concerning works of Supererogation page 246 Section XIX Concerning Christs descending into Hell page 253 Section XX. Concerning the difference betwixt Popery and the Reformed Religion page 258 Section XXI Concerning Justification by Faith page 263 Section XXII Concerning the authority of the Fathers page 270 Section XXIII Concerning the visibility of the Church and which â—he visible Church may make defection page 278 Section XXIV Where our Religion was before Luther Or a Catalogue of them who professed our Religion in the midst of Popery page 314 Section XXV That the Reformed Churches have not renewed old condemned Heresies page 328 Section XXVI That the Church of Rome renewed and maintaineth old condemned Heresies page 337 Section XXVII Concerning Antichrist page 343 Section XXVIII That the Pope is Antichrist page 346 An Index of the Sections contained in M. Crafords Treatise SEction I. Showing that the principles of Papists are bloody treasonable and rebellious against the person and authority of Princes and peace of Kingdoms And the excuses of H. T. the Author of the Manual of Controversies are proved to be frivolous page 445 Section II. Showing that no Oath or Bond can oblige a Papist and that they hold it as a principle that no faith is to be kept to Hereticks page 457 Section III. Showing that the Pope and Synagogue of Rome have been the grand Authors of Warrs and Combustions and Confusions in the Christian world both before and since the Reformation page 465 Section IV. That the continual practise of Papists ever since the Reformation hath been to plot and practise bloody and treasonable Conspiracies Affassinations and Murders both of Princes and People who profeâ— the Reformed Religion page 474 Section V. Containing some instances in particular of the barbarous and inhumane cruelty of Papists to Protestants where they had the power over them page 490 The Conclusion Holding forth the hazard that the Churches of Britain and Ireland are in of being ruined by Antichrist page 5â—8 A LEARNED PIOUS AND ELABORAT Treatise wherein many of the greatest and weightiest points of Controversie betwixt the Reformed Churches and Papists are solidly debated and the truth of the doctrine of the Reformed Churches especially of the Churches of Scotland evidently demonstrated and the falshood and error of the Popish Religion and doctrine plainly discovered and solidly refuted by Scripture Fathers and also by some of their own Popes Doctors Cardinals and other Popish Writers By way of Reply to one M. Gilbert Brown Priest SECTION I. THE
blood But Dominicus saith he not being void of that perfection of love he took a three-fold correction out of his own hand every day not with a cord but with an iron rod even to the effusion of his blood and for his own faults which were very few another for them that were in Purgatory the third for them that were in the world And so deduces this comparison through all the parts of Christs life And in the end he saith That being to depart from this world he comforts his disciples saying Let not this trouble you for in the place where I go to I shall be more comfortable to you then if I were with you For after death ye shall have me a better Advocat then ye could have in this life What blasphemies these are judge thou Christian Reader and yet they are authorized by the Church of Rome because they serve to establish the Popes supremacy For Gregory the 9. canonized him as a Saint anno 1223. and appointed a festival day to be kept to his honor And he that writes these things is an Archbishop of Florence a man famous among them To him that will joyn himself to this Order of Franciscus and Dominicus for to merit the Kingdom of heaven to redeem their own souls or the souls of their friends as their Bull of Fraternity saith The Provincial gives him the Bulls of Fraternity by the which is made capable of all the merits of the Convent of the merits of all the Friers of that Province of their Masses prayers fastings abstinences devotions watchings disciplins c. Whereby as though it were too little for them to be Saviors of themselves they teach that they have such abundance of merits as also may serve for others They have a prayer to Thomas Becket in their porteous book who was made a Saint by Alexander the 3. in these words Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit fac nos Christe ascendere quo ille ascendit that is Make us O Christ to ascend to heaven by the blood of Thomas which he shed for thee Mocking as it were the blood of Jesus Now as for the Virgin Mary what title is proper to Jesus Christ which they have not ascribed unto her What honor or worship is given to Jesus Christ which is not given to her Damascene saith praying to the Virgin Mary I shall be saved by hoping in thee Thou is the salvation of mankind Antoninus saith part 3. summa tit 12. part 4. tit 15. cap. 14. para 7. That all they upon whom the Virgin Mary turns her eyes are necessarily justified and saved And that Christ because he is both Advocat and Judge together is too rigorous for this cause saith he God hath provided an Advocat meaning of the Virgin Mary in whom nothing is to be found but sweetness And he saith The Seraphims willing to have retained Mary as she mounted to heaven Not saith she for it is not meet that man should live his alone speaking of the everlasting Son of God who sits at the right hand of his Father I am given to him for to be a help to that work of redemption by my compassion and to that work of glorification by my intercession to the intent that if he threaten to destroy the earth as in the time of the Deluge I may appear before him as the rain-bow to the intent that he may remember his covenant And which is yet worse if worse can be another Papist saith applying that which is only spoken of Christ to her God saith he said to her in her birth I have given thee to be a light to the Gentils to the intent that thou may be our salvation applying it blasphemously to Mary to the end of the world and a light to be revealed to the Gentils And again he saith That all graces which run down from the Father and the Son come by her who saith he is a Mediatrix between God and men And no grace comes from heaven but through her hands and all grace enters in her and comes out of her And he saith She is a Mediatrix of salvation of conjunction of justification of reconciliation of intercession of communication And to be short he saith The Father hath given to her the half of his Kingdom the which was signified in the persons of Assuerus and Ester and that he hath retained to himself justice and hath left to her to exercise mercy So that we may appeal from the Court of the Justice of God to the Court of the mercy of the Virgin Mary Whereby they most blasphemously prefer and lift her up above the Lord for that Judge unto whom appellation is made must be superior unto these Judges from whom the appellation is made therefore they blasphemously prefer the tribunal of Mary to the tribunal of the God of heaven And what shal I speak of her Letanies Psalteries and Hours Of her Hours where she is called the Queen of mercy who hath bruised the Serpents head which thing is spoken only to the first parents of the Son of God Gen. 3. and the restorer and Savior of mankind the most godly and most holy the gate of heaven the shining port of life the mother of grace and mercy our life our hope who makes the world to shine by the light of the brightness of her peace who only hath deserved to be next in honor to the Trinity by whom the whole world lives next God She is called the comfort of the desolat the salvation and hope of all them that put their trust in her the fountain of salvation grace godliness joy comfort The Queen of heaven and star of the sea whom the Sun honors the promise of the Prophets the Queen of the Evangelists the teacher of the Apostles the comfort of the Martyrs the salvation and consolation of the quick and the dead the bottomless fountain of all grace the port of paradise the Lady of glory the Queen of joy the Lady of Angels the joy of the Saints the only hope of the miserable the Empress of the Angels the comforter of sinners the keeper of the heart the praise of all the Saints And of her is sought in her Hours and Letanies all these graces generally which are only proper to God through Jesus Christ to give as Protection receiving in the time of death refuge in the time of misery remission of sins the keeping of soul and body holiness of life staying of the pest calming of the seas perseverance in grace the eschewing of sin salvation and eternal life And that by her merits and prayers their sins may be forgiven and that being redeemed by her they may climb up to heaven And they pray to Mary and John Baptist by the Redeemer making Christ a Mediator between them and them And they pray to Christ to defend them from his anger and from the anger of his mother And they pray her to give her self
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
own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy Without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent c. Traitors heady high-minded c. From such turn away TO THE LOVERS OF THE Reformed Religion in Britain and Ireland Grace mercy and peace DEarly beloved in the Lord The great increase of Popery every where is so visibly seen and so evidently known that to speak any thing to prove and evidence the same were altogether needless seeing he is a great stranger in our Israel that knoweth it not But alace there is very great decay of zeal and hatred against that Whore that if our glorious Predecessors whose excellent Motto it always was No peace with Rome were alive they would wonder to see us so brutish and sensless indifferent and lukewarm in ae matter of so great moment wherein the honor and glory of God the eternal happiness and felicity of our own and our posterities souls and the safety and preservation of Kings Kingdoms our lives estats and all that is near and dear to us is so much and so nearly concerned Therefore for letting us see our hazard in all and every one of these as we have revised and republished the above written excellent Treatise of that learned godly and eminently zealous and faithful servant of Christ M. John Welsch whose memory is very precious in the Church of Christ who doth learnedly and plainly to any ordinary capacity discover the abominations of that Whore and solidly prove her doctrine both to be most heretical and damnable and her self to be the very Antichrist that all who love the truth of God and the salvation of their immortal souls may be stirred up to a just zeal and indignation against her So we have thought fit to subjoyn this following Treatise for discovering to all and every one who love the Reformed Religion and resolve to adhere thereto what treasonable and bloody principles and inhumane and matchlesly cruel practises are maintained and committed by Papists in reference both to Kings Princes and People who profess the Reformed Religion and consequently what all and every one of us may expect to meet with if Popery prevail that so being convinced of our hazard both in body and soul and in all that is near and dear to us we may be stirred up to a real hatred and indignation against that Whore and may be much in the exercise of prayer repentance and other lawful and commanded duties for the putting a stop to the growth of the spreading abominations of that Whore which is earnestly prayed for by Yours for the truth M. C. A BRIEF DISCOVERY OF THE BLOODY REBELlious and treasonable Principles and Practises of Papists SECTION I. Showing that the principles of Papists are treasonable and rebellious against the person and authority of Princes and peace of Kingdoms c. And the excuses of H. T. the Author of the Manual of Controversies are proved to be frivolous and naught THE Church of Rome was formerly most hateful to the Churches of Christ in Britain and Ireland not only because of her most damnable and heretical doctrine but also because of the rebellious and treasonable principles and practises maintained and committed by her against the persons and authority of Princes and peace of Kingdoms her faith being accounted faction and her Religion rebellion Therefore Papists of late have endeavored by all means to ingratiat themselves in the favor of Princes and Magistrats making ample profession of loyalty and fidelity and charging Protestants with the odious crime of disloyalty And thus we see their late Writers denying and disowning the doctrine of Rebellion and Parricide that our Divines have justly charged them with For H T. the Author of the Manual of Controversies c. printed at Doway 1671 calleth it a loud slander to charge Papists with maintaining that if the Pope excommunicat a Tyrant or heretical Prince his own subjects may lawfully kill him Therefore to unmask a little the bloody rebellious and treasonable principles of Papists we shal prove First that it is no slander but a real truth that the Church of Rome holdeth that if the Pope excōmunicateth a King his own subjects may lawfully kill him 2. That the Pope can dispense with the alleageance of subjects to their Princes and if he so dispense then they are loosed from subjection and alleageance to them 3. That no faith nor oath is to be kept with Hereticks 4 That the Pope and Synagogue of Rome have been the Authors of warrs combustions and confusions in Christian Churches and Kingdoms all Europe over 5. That their continual practise ever since the Reformation hath been to plot and practise treasons and rebellions assassinations and murders both of Princes and people who professed the Reformed Religion 6. That whereever they got the upper-hand and dominion in any Kingdom or Common-wealth they have practised most unheard-of cruelties and barbarous inhumanities against the professors of the Protestant Reformed Religion For the first and second of these points to wit that Papists hold that if the Pope excommunicat a King his own subjects may lawfully kill him And that the Pope can dispense with the alleageance of subjects to their Princes and if he so dispense then they are loosed from subjection and alleageance to them I shal evidence it to be their commonly received doctrine both by the writings of their approved Doctors and Bulls of their Popes and their dayly practises And lest they say we wrong them we shal for the most part set down the words of the Authors themselves 1. I shal begin with Doctor Ranchin a Papist and a famous Lawyer in France in his Book intituled A review of the Council of Trent lib. 2. cap. 10. who setteth down these following positions as commonly received in the Church of Rome to wit That it is necessare to salvation to believe that every creature is subject to the Pope of Rome That he it set over Emperors and Kingdoms That he carryeth both the temporal and spiritual sword That he may depose Emperors c. and transfer their Empires and Dominions from one line to another That he may absolve subjects from their oath of alleageance That upon just cause be may set up a King in every Kingdom for he is the overseer of all Kingdoms in Gods stead That it belongeth to the Pope to correct Kings when they offend Much more hath this Author to this purpose 2. But let us hear their own Doctors themselves Augustinus Triumphus de potest Eccles quaest 46. art 2. as Doctor Usher citeth him saith There is no doubt but that the Pope may depose all Kings when there is a reasonable cause so to do Thomas Aquinas their Angelical Doctor holdeth 22. quast 12 art 2. That so soon as a Prince is denounced excommunicat for Apostasie ipso facto his subjects are free from his soverainity and absolved from the oath of alleageance which they are bound to him Bannes and
the light of the Gospel shine among us which mauger many oppositions he hath alwayes kept among us in purity to this day expecting that we should have brought forth the fruits thereof But alace was ever a people followed with so much mercy and gave such evil recompence and unanswerable dealing to the Lords goodness as we have done Was ever more wickedness and prophanity among a people then is among us Is not many very ignorant of GOD and the way of salvation holden out in the Gospel notwithstanding of all the pains that have been taken on them Hath not prophanity like Jordan overflowed all its banks I know not if there be so much swearing drinking whooring blasphemy revelling c. among Heathens that never heard of the Gospel as is among us And is there not an universal almost contempt and undervaluing of the Gospel and a deriding and mocking of Religion Many are now grown so Atheistical that they have casten off all fear of GOD Heaven Hell or regard of salvation or damnation Did GOD threaten to remove Ephesus candlestick out of its place because of falling from her first love And ought we not to tremble lest ours be removed Did he threaten to spew Laodicea out of his mouth because of lukewarmness and being neither cold nor hot and can we conceive that he will spare us who are so universally lukewarm Did GOD cut off the Jews who were the natural branches for their unfruitfulness and other sins and suppose we that he will spare us Is it enough to constitut a Reformed Protestant to cast off the idolatry error and superstition of the Church of Rome and not also to reform from the prophanity and wickedness that reigns in the world and to use all endeavors to have our conversation according to the Gospel For the great end of the appearing of the grace of GOD in the Gospel is to teach us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present life c. The Magdeburg Century-Writers in praefat ad Cent. 5. observe that before Antichrist came to his hight and infected the Christian world with his idolatry these following iniquities reigned every where Verbi Divini contemptus c. The contempt and depravation of the Word of the LORD the inventing and defending of corruptions the toleration and reverencing of seducers the persecution and oppression of faithful Teachers and finally Epicurism and collusion with the ungodly upon which followed as a deserved punishment the substitution of humane traditions in place of GODS Word the giving liberty and rewards to impostors the hindering the confession of the truth the giving over to a reprobat sense and to blindness and being deceived by the efficacious illusions of the Devil which punishments were accompanied with idolatry superstitious worship Phanatick and more then Ethnick furies also civil punishments and calamities on the Kingdoms and Common-wealths in which these sins did abound The Author of the Book intituled Consideratio causarum Belli Bohemici points out the abounding among them of the subsequent sins as one main cause of the destruction of Bohemia by Antichrist The chief sins saith he part 2. pag. 24. that abounded in Bohemia before its devastation were as the godly often confessed ingratitude and unthankfulness for the Gospel and contempt of the Ministery that they did not esteem it as became excess in meat and clothing especially in great persons oppression of their subjects and smal care of the poor doing to their neighbor what they would not had them doing to them remissness and slackness in discipline and giving a licence to sin but especially cold rifeness and lukewarmness in reference to the interest of Christ and defence and maintenance of the Gospel Now if God was so provoked by these above-mentioned sins that he gave up almost all the Christian world to the delusions of Antichrist and removed his Candlestick from Bohemia which was such a famous Church and had witnessed for the truth against Antichrist for so long a time may we not tremble lest he be provoked to give up with us Is not the Word and Ordinances much contemned and despised among us Have not many errors and corruptions sprung up and like a flood overspred many places in these Lands Was there ever more ingratitude and unthankfulness for the Gospel and contempt of the Ministery among a people then is among us Is not gluttony drunkenness vanity of apparel and oppression turned Epidemick among all ranks and degrees of persons Were ever any more coldrife and lukewarm in reference to the interests of Christ then we are Yea we are guilty of many of these things for which the Lord threatneth to depart and to remove his Candlestick as will appear if we a little consider some of the special sins that the Lord threatneth with his removeal 1. Ignorance of God and of the necessary truths of the Gospel is threatned with his removeal Jer. 6.8 Be instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee c. Isai 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them and he that formed them will show them no favor Now for all the light of the Gospel that hath shined among us these hundred years and above the Word being line upon line precept upon precept c. yet what gross and palpable ignorance is every where to be found the generality of people ignorant even of the fundamentals of Religion 2. Barrenness and unfruitfulness under the Gospel is threatned with the removeal thereof Isai 5.6 7. I looked for grapes but behold wild grapes And now go to I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will take away the hedge thereof and it shal be eaten up and breakdown the wall thereof and it shal be troden down And I will lay it waste it shal not be pruned nor digged c. The fig tree that was three years fruitless is commanded to be cut down Luke 13.7 And the earth that drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth nothing but thorns and thistles is rejected and near unto cursing Heb. 6.8 Now was ever people more rained upon then we And yet is there any that is more barren and unfruitful then we are Are not the most part of us empty vines that bring forth fruit to themselves How few are there that the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath taught to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly to be crucified to the flesh with the lusts and affections thereof to have their conversation in heaven 3. Slighting loathing and wearying of the precious things of God and of his Ordinances is a sin for which the Lord threatens to remove from a people Amos 8.4.5.6.9 11.12 Hear this O ye that swallow up the needy c. saying When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn and the