be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all Men in patience possessing their own Souls and so with a silent meekness slip through the World and lay hold on eternal Life leaving others behind them to question and commune with their own Hearts about their own Share and Interest in that sweet and blessed Legacy of our dying Lord John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you And to bethink themselves what account they can hereafter give unto him of that great Depostitum And when all Church-censures how duly soever dispensed and the Municipal Laws of particular Nations whereby the loose Spirits of Men were held to their Duty and to the observance of the Divine Law of both Tables shall be Suspended and Despensed withal and thereby Men turned loose to do every Man what is right or wrong in his own Eyes and to follow the inclination of his own Mind into how forlorn a Condition the Church and Worship of God must needs be reduced any considering Man may easily apprehend When a justifying Faith shall be reduced to the same form with that of the Devils Assurance of Salvation be branded for Presumption and Men discouraged from making their Calling and Election sure in spight of the Apostle's Exhortation when Sin shall be pardoned for Money or of course when Repentance which is a godly and hearty sorrow for Sin joined with an abhorrence and forsaking of it shall be laid aside as too harsh for the delicate Flesh and instead thereof an hanging down the Head a pale and distorted Countenance in a few Grimases the saying by rote a few Paters and Aves the chastising of the Body by some outward Severities rather than part with the Sin of the Soul a Whip and a lousy Coat and denying themselves something which they do not much care for shall be accounted the only Self-denial and Mortification a-la-mode When there shall be no Charity left but that of Almes and that applied for vain Glory given with the sound of the Trumpet and to maintain a lazy Superstition whilst the same Persons shall have so little true Charity or Mercy as to imbrue their hands in the Blood and Tears of the true Members of Jesus Christ When Charity shall grow cold and Persecution hot and Men become Lovers of themselves of their Pleasures and Riches more than of God abandoning themselves to all manner of Licentiousness and making it the chief of their care to make Provision for the Flesh Then may Men come to be assured that the Mystery of Iniquity is busily at work in the World as the Apostle tells us it had begun in his days But how much of it hath been since executed and wrought off and the woful Effects which it hath produced I shall leave to the Histories of the Church in all Ages to report and to the Judgment of all wise Men to make the Application But let every Nation and Church and Party of Men on which any of these Corruptions shall be found bear its own Burthen repent and reform what it finds amiss in it self and never dream of excusing it self by casting all the Blame upon others for it is most certain that the Mystery of Iniquity is as large as the Dominion of Sin and Kingdom of Darkness is within the visible Church and under the Profession of the Christian Religion and there is not a Nation under Heaven wherein the Devil hath not ten times more of real Subjects than Jesus Christ FINIS Some Books newly printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard A Third Volume of Sermons preached by the late Reverend and Learned Dr. Thomas Manton in two Parts The first containing sixty six Sermons on the 11th Chapter to the Hebrews with a Treatise of the Life of Faith. Part the 2d A Treatise of Self-Denial with several Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and other Occasions with an Alphabetical Table to the whole Folio The sure trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psalm 18. ver 23. I was also upright before him and have kept my self from mine Iniquity By William Bates D. D. Octavo His three Sermons at the Funerals of Mr. Clarksm Dr. Jacomb and Mr. Benjamin Arshurst Legal Exceptions and lawful Prejudices against Popery or a large Deduction of Historical Evidences proving that the Papacy is the real Antichristian Kingdom By Peter Jureiu Octavo A new Systeme of the Apocalypse or plain and methodical Illustrations of all the Visions in the Revelation of St John proving the Pope to be Antichrist Written by a French Minister in the Year 1685. and finished but two days before the Dragoons Plundered him of all except this Treatise Faithfully Englished Twelves Primitive Episcopacy evincing from Scripture and Ancient Records that a Bishop in the Apostles times and for the space of the first three Centuries of the Gospel-Church was no more than a Pastor to one single Church or Congregation By the the late Pious and Learned David Clarkson sometime Fellow of Clare-hall Cambridg Octavo A Discourse concerning Liturgies by the same Author Octavo A plain Representation of Transubstantiation as it is received in the Church of Rome with the sandy Foundations it is built upon and the Arguments that do clearly evert and overturn it By a Country Divine A brief account of the first Rise of the Name Protestant and what Protestantism is with a Justification of it and an earnest Exhortation to all Protestants to persist in that Holy Religion By Samuel Bold Rector of Steeple in Dorsetshire A Discourse concerning Idolatry and Transubstantiation in answer to the late Bishop of Oxford's Plea. By Gilbert Burnet D. D. now Lord Bishop of Salisbury Wonderful Predictions of Nostredamus Grebner David Pareus Antonius Torquatus wherein the Grandeur of their present Majesties the happiness of England and Downfal of France are plainly delineated with a large Preface shewing that the Crown of England has not been obscurely foretold to their Majesties King William the 3d. and Queen Mary and the People have duly contributed thereunto in the present Parliament Folio
on pretence of its being an insufficient Rule and Direction for Mans Salvation without the Addition of such Things as should in Truth subvert and contradict it and by giving it such a gloss as should be sure to corrupt the Text which he hoped to make uncontroulable if he could so bring it about as that all Corruptions both in Doctrine and Worship might be made incurable by a persuasion in the Minds of Men that the Proposer and Director of them was assisted by an infallible Spirit and could not Err and had received a Power of Dispensing with the Law of God it self and that there were still on Foot a Power of working Divine Miracles employed for the Confirmation of his Doctrines And then for his Kingly Office the Devil would raise up such an one which should pretend to a Donatio Christi as well as Constantini which should invest him with a Power both in Spirituals and Temporals equal to that of Christ himself and therefore make him his Deputy and Plenipotentiary even unto Adoration 2 Thes 2.4 or if that should fail the Devil had one ready sealed which he had made tenders of to Jesus Christ Luke 4.6 7. upon a certain Condition and though he rejected it with Scorn and Abhorrence yet he doubted not to find one who would thankfully accept of it the Draught whereof was already entred among the Divine Records and his bold Claim to it then made should be a sufficient Evidence of his Right But because the Men of the World were like to be something stiff and refractory to part with their Temporal Rights and Possessions therefore he should content himself with what he could get for the present for fear of Knocks yet giving away Kingdoms to those who would adventure for them which giving should prove his Right to retain or dispose of them and deposing whom he durst of those who would not allow him Power to dispose of their Temporals in order to his Spirituals which himself should claim to be the sole Judg of One that should in pursuance of this Claim pretend to pardon Mens Sins against the Law of God and erect a Purgatory or Prison for Offenders whereof himself should keep the Key on the same Bunch with those of Heaven and Hell which he should pretend to wear always at his Girdle One who should exercise Dominion over Mens Faith and Consciences minting new Articles of Faith at his Pleasure to be believed by them under no less pain then eternal Damnation Thus Satan thought it a thing not altogether unpossible for him to supplant and defeat Christ in all his Offices and thereby degrade him from that Honour wherein his Father had invested him who had given him a Name above every Name that the Angels of God should worship him and that to his Power and Authority every Knee should bow that his Humane Nature as existing in his Person and his Person as God-Man and consisting partly of his humane Nature should become the Object of Divine Adoration his humane Nature being assumed into that high Priviledg and Prerogative of partaking of that Worship which God will not suffer to be given to any that is not God and also that all Acts of Grace should be dispensed unto the Church as the alone purchase of his Merit and at his sole Instance and Intercession And if Satan could but gain this Point and Design upon the Person and Offices of Christ he hoped to lay his Faith and Religion low enough and in a great measure to defeat the great Design of the Gospel the Salvation of Mens Souls Which he should the more easily hereby retain under his Command and keep them still in their Sins and natural Corruptions Which that he might cherish and inflame to the utmost under the mysterious Covert of the Christian Profession he cast about how he might make Provision for the Flesh to improve the Corruptions of Humane Nature unto their utmost Pitch and Aâ—mâ— And therefore he contrived it so as that the Profession of Religion should not hinder but rather promote the injoyment of all worldly Honours Riches and sensual Pleasures the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life That Men might pursue their Pride and Ambition their Covetousness of Riches and Possessions and their earthly and carnal Pleasures and Delights and yet all the while go for good Christians abusing others and perhaps themselves also into a foolish Persuasion that they were in the first rank of those who should be saved The first of these Corruptions is Pride which being the Devil 's first-born and the principal Master-Lineament of his Image wherewith he had poisoned Humane Nature at the first and being the main Root of all Rebellion and Apostacy from God he took a special Care for its Accommodation in this new Model of his Kingdom And therefore when Men had taken upon them the Profession of the Christian Faith and brought along with them high thoughts of themselves of the acuteness of their Reason and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or uncontroulable Freedom of their Will both which the way of believing and taking things upon God's sole Authority and the necessity of the Grace of God for the Sanctification of the Heart and saving of the Soul seemed to cross and mortify the Devil gratified them in this by setting up Opinions of Religion to the same effect Which have proved a Seminary of most of the Heresies which afterward infected the Church of God for many Ages as proceeding from a corrupt Self-Love or love of corrupted Self and setting up Mans Understanding and Will against those of God whereby Men became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no longer subject to him Mens Reason was entertained with Notions contrary to the mysterious Truths of the Gospel called by the Apostle the Mystery of Godliness The blessed Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence and the Union of the two Natures in the Person of Jesus Christ God manifested in the Flesh Our Redemption by his Death and Justification by Faith in him Sanctification by his Word and Spirit the Resurrection of the Body and such like And their proud Wills were stroaked and soothed with an opinion of Merit and the self-sufficiency of Natures Stock without being beholden to God for Gospel-Grace But the main and top-branch of Pride did shew it self in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the asserting of a Superiority and appearing on the top of other Men. Therefore to gratify this Ambition he resolved first to make use of those Eminencies which he found in the Constitution of the Church Christ himself gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4.11 So that there wanted not Gifts and Offices which Men of Demetrius his Complexion who loved the Preeminency might pretend and aspire unto And if this were not enough to satisfie their Ambition they might build themselves higher Stories by
drawing Disciples after them Acts 20.30 and so heading of Sects and Colonies or by usurping and lording it over God's heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 and not only over the Plebs Christiana but also over all those Orders and Powers which Christ had planted in his Church and raise themselves up to a Soveraignty over all others of their Brethren and become Universal Bishops of the whole Church of Christ on Earth and Oecumenical Rulers in matters relating to Christ and his Kingdom But the Devil might easily foresee that when he should start this game there were like to be many pretenders at least many who thinking themselves of equal Power and as capable as others of such a Prelation would be glad to have it if there must be one but all could not be gratified with one place so that there must needs be a Simultas of more Competitors This affectation of Empire should first lift up its Head in the Eastern Church but at length prevail in the West after it had been decried and severely censured there as Antichristian For so great an Authority to be lodged in one Person there was no pretext could be made so plausible as to hold Vicegerent under Christ Jesus of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords to whom all Power was given by the Father in Heaven and Earth But that this new Spiritual Monarch might not seem to be the first in the Claim he was to pretend to be the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle for whose Investiture and Institution he was to combate the Gospel and to find it out there though neither Peter himself nor St. Paul have any thing like it in their Epistles and the Primitive Fathers and Councils were stiff against it especially the most ancient of them who by their Canons and Carriage and Writings seem not to have had any belief that any particular See on Earth was their sole Soveraign Lord and Emperor in Spiritualibus But to silence all such Gainsayers both ancient and modern in this and all other matters he should claim the Authority of infallible interpretation of Scriptures and Fathers whom having first garbled and cut out the Tongues of many of them that spake against him he should infallibly pronounce to be all for him Notwithstanding that the most considerable part of Christianity might judge and know the contrary But that this his Empire and Soveraign Dominion might not be thought the effect of Pride and Arrogance so contrary to the precept and example of Jesus Christ whose Vicar he should pretend to be and so expose him to the envy of others he should cloak it under the humble Title of Servus Servorum tho he should carry it liker Dominus Dominantium and in humility seal Annulo Piscatoris with the Ring and Seal of St. Peter the Fisher-Man Apostle who yet perhaps never had any such thing But be it as it will it is resolved that a Prince he shall be Rev. 13.1 11 12 14. but alas what 's a Prince in Cuerpo alone without welt or guard without a Court a Council and a Guard especially if he want both personal Wisdom Learning and Vertue to recommend him to his Subjects and protect him from Affront Envy and Contempt It was therefore thought fit in the next Consult That there should be a convenient number raised out of the Clergy to uphold the Mystery though of inferiour rank at first till the state should be formed and come into request by suitable Power and Riches and receive some considerable Address from the rest of the World. Hereby the Empire would rise by Degrees and at length be able to invite Politick Heads from Noble and Princely Families and entertain the Minds of such of the Clergy whose Advantages should tempt them to aspire to the supreme Dignity and for the present quiet their pretentions in hopes of obtaining when there should a favourable Conjuncture offer it self And 'i th mean while they would be true to the See which they might hope in time would be their own and enjoy all the most sublimated exercises of their Wits and Lusts and all this under the Mystery and pretence of administring the Spiritual Kingdom of Jesus Christ for the Salvation of Mens Souls and the Glory of God the Father And for this end the Revenues of the Church given and devoted by pious Christians to God for the Maintenance of his true Worship and Relief of his poor Children must be amassed upon these spiritual Courtiers to enable them to maintain a Port becoming the Children of Pride and provide Fuel for their burning Lusts while the Churches whose Titles they should wear would be pilled by them and the care of Souls neglected and Religion betrayed And because Bishopricks and Ecclesiastical Benefices would prove an insufficient Fund for their occasions therefore there were other Provisions to be made as we shall see hereafter But neither Court nor State can subsist in Prosperity and Reputation without Dependents Intelligence Forces and Means to support them All which might very easily be supplied by the means of Priests Missionaries and other Persons under the Mystery of Religion As for Dependents the getting into their Hands the Disposal of all Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church-Revenues would give them an Opportunity of boring through the Ears of many Millions and of making them their Vassals while so many whole Orders in their vast Number of Monasteries and all their Members Tenents and Retinue yea and Revenues also would upon occasion be at their Devotion and Command And for Intelligence there might be a select Number of Priests of choicest Abilities sent into the Courts of Princes who under pretence of being helpful to their Souls by preaching directing and confessing them should be able to discover their greatest Secrets and most private Counsels and be under an Oath to discover them unto the Governors of the State Ecclesiastick And others also in prodigious Numbers might be sent into all Nations who should be Eye-Witnesses of what is done by Men of all Conditions and have a Key into their Hearts and Consciences so that not so much as a Thought should stir but it should come to their Knowledg and be under their Management and Disposal And all under pretence of taking care of their Souls Others under pretence of voluntary Poverty should not only abuse the Charity of ignorant People but as they beg pry into their Families observe their private Behaviours Company and Acquaintance their Abilities and the several Degrees of their Devotion to Ecclesiastical Interest Besides these those of the mystical Council being pick'd out as Persons of Interest from several Nations and some out of Princely Families whose Secrets and Interests they are acquainted with or by their Friends and Acquaintance can easily come to the Knowledg of These I say can supply Intelligence how every Vein and Artery of any State and Kingdom and almost of every single Person in them