The first Inference is from the Time, &c.

When the Wicked plot against the Just, and com­bine in rebellious Conspiracies, then doth approach the appointed ruine of the Plotters. This Sin of Witchcraft carries men blind-folded to destruction, and that is the reason, I think, why it is so called; men are bewitch'd to lay Snares that their own feet may be taken. Non est Lex aequior ulla, quam necit artifices arte perire suae.

Therefore did the Psalmist sing, The Heathen are sunk in the Pit that they have made, in the Net which they have hid, are their own feet taken: And from this time of Zedekiah's Rebellion, when he conspired a­gainst the King of Babylon, and brought upon him­self by his Plotting a total Ruine, we may very well observe, that Conspiring and Plotting Times are but the Fore-noons to the Evenings of executing Rebels: I have a very sure word of testimony for it, Psal. 37. 12, 13. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnash­eth against him with his teeth, but the Lord laugheth at him to scorn, for he knoweth that his day is coming. The Lord laugheth to scorn at the wicked Plots and Conspiracies of bewitch'd minds, and though men do not perceive their approaching Ruine, God know­eth that his day is coming: In the Net which every [Page 12] bloody Traytor hath made, may his own foot be first taken. And do not we now see whose days are come, and whose iniquity will have an end? is it not the days of such as devise Rebellion? and who hath not a full sense of these unquiet and restless Spirits, who never cease to plot against the just, yea a most just, tender, and gracious Soveraign; and who are those, and how many of all hands do we daily see, that gnash their teeth against him, and against his Prote­stant Church and Kingdom of England. The Igna­tian Tribe, the Brood of lame Loyolah, falsly call'd Jesuits; for indeed they are aes avitae, saith one, spend all their time and wits to bring the Kings of the Earth to the Battel of the great day of the Lord, that is, to sow Sedition and Rebellion in the whole World; witness their late Dismal Plot of Gun-pow­der, and this now discover'd of no less danger, as 'tis credibly reported: Dr. Hall in his Epistle to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, observes the time of this plotting Confederacy, with their ador'd Idol the Pope, to be approaching, saying, ‘All the World knows how that pretended Chair of Peter tottered and crack'd, threatens a speedy ruine to her Usurper: how is it that it still stands?’ This rebellious Zede­kiah (Jer. 52. 1, 2, 3. and 2 King. 24. 18, 19, 20. which two places of Scripture, are the same word by word) felt the revengeful stroke of Gods hand of Justice, in a short time, after his ungrateful and un­dutiful opposing of the King of Babylon. And the Holy Ghost speaking of Antichrist (who indeed is a Rebel against Christ, professing the name of a Chri­stian, [Page 13] but opposing him in Doctrine and Practice) tells us, his destruction is swift, and his judgment lingereth not. And to conclude this point, see how free from this witchcraft of Rebellion all the true Sons of the Church of England, Princes and People are, and ever have been accounted, insomuch that their perfect Loyalty, and true observance of their Kings, is born as a mark in their Forehead, and is become a Proverb, No Bishop, no King; no King, no Bishop.

2. Inference from the Provocation.

When obdurate hearts contemn the words of God, admonishing and threatning by his Messengers, they aggravate their former sins, and exasperate Divine Indignation against them. In the verse before the Text, Hoc revocatis, i. e. hereby ye call to remem­brance, that is, by disdaining my Prophets and Pro­phecies, which in your sight is as a false Divination, through the hardness of your hearts against me, saith the Lord, you provoke me to call to mind the wick­edness, prophaneness, idolatries, bloodshed, oppres­sion, and blasphemies that is amongst you, and all the Apostacy of your Forefathers this 380 years and upwards. You have transgressed very much, 2 Chron. 36. 14, 15. after all the abomination of the Heathen, and polluted the House of the Lord; and I sent unto you my Messengers, rising up betimes, and sending, be­cause I had compassion on you, saith the Lord. But this is it that imbittered me against you more than any thing, you have mocked my Messengers, and despised my words, till my wruth rose against you, till there was [Page 14] no remedy. Pro. 29. 1. He that being often reproved, hardneth his neck, shall be suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy. This was the case of Ely's Chil­dren, who disdaining the voice of their Father, per­sisted in their pollutions, till God in his wrath slew them: This hardning of the heart, is nothing else but the contempt of Gods Word; and the contempt of Gods Word, is the provoking of God to his face. When the people invited to the Wedding, in the Pa­rable of the Marriage-Supper, made light of their call, &c. and the King heard thereof, he was wroth, and sent forth his Armies, and destroyed those Mur­therers, and burnt up their City. It is strange to see with what a scornful state the proud ambitious Usur­per of the Chair of Peter would trample upon the Necks of all his Brethren, and how he looks from a­loft upon the honest Protestants reproving him, he looks upon them far below him, and with supercili­ous looks despiseth them; for so the word [...] signifies. Thus he, and all his Train of the Scarlet Conclave, the Cardinals, with the sly Jesuite (think­ing themselves righteous, despising others, as the Spirit of God rebuketh them, Luc. 18. 9.) do aggra­vate their former Revolt and Apostacy this thousand years standing, and call all to remembrance, that at last they shall, through the fire of Gods wrath, here­by incens'd, be taken with the hand, as the Text speaks. But as for the meekness and humility of the Church of England, and our readiness to condescend and submit to the Truth, let the World be our Wit­ness, as learned Bishop Jewel declares it; ‘If any [Page 15] learned man of our Adversaries, or of all the learn­ed that be alive, be able to bring any one sufficient Sentence, or Testimony, out of any old Doctor, or Father, or out of any old General Council, or out of the holy Scriptures of God, or any one Example of the Primitive Church, whereby it may be clearly and plainly proved, that there was any private Mass, or that the Bishop of Rome was delegated for Universal and Supreme Head of the Catholick Church, with Invocation upon Saints, worshipping of Images, and buying of Indulgences and Par­dons; or that the Roman Church was accounted and call'd the Universal and Catholick Church, or any thing own'd as Transubstantiation, at that time, for the space of six hundred years after Christ, we are content to yield, and to subscribe, otherwise we hold our selves strictly obliged to retain the Religi­on and Faith of Christ which we do now profess, and as it is now by our Laws established.’

Inference the third, from God provoked, Ye shall be taken with the hand.

Idolatry, Bloodshed, Oppression, Prophaneness and Blasphemy, are the crying sins that provoke God sa­fest, and hasten his unavoidable Judgments soonest. In Ezek. 22. 3. The City maketh Idols against her self, to defile her self. Idolatry is an open defiance to the Deity, therefore abhorr'd of God above other sins, and call'd by Gods Spirit, the Abomination; and therefore it is said in the Text, v. 24. Because you have made your iniquity to be remembred; this was so odi­ous, that it was the cause that made other sins to be [Page 16] remembred; and for Bloodshed and Idolatry, being put together, it is expresly declar'd by the Prophet, Chap. 22. 4. that they have hasten'd their destructi­on: And thou hast become, saith he, guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed, and hast defiled thy self with thine Idols which thou hast made, and thou hast caused thy days to draw near. And as to their oppression, prophaneness and blasphemy, it is declared in Ezek. 22. to be so notorious and palpable, that God blew the fire of his wrath to consume them: Their sins did testifie against them, the way of peace they knew not, truth was fallen in their streets, and equity could not enter; and Esay crys out, that he won­dred there was no Intercessor, Es. 59. 16. Esay, Jere­my, and Ezekiel, spend their breath and their books in declaring the falling away of these people from God, and his worship; insomuch that at last you see the fierce anger, wrath and indignation of God fell upon them, in this King Zedekiah's time.

4. Inference from the Charge, Thou wicked and prophane Prince, is this:

It is such as revolt from the Faith, despising holy things, and fall to the practises of the Heathen World, that the Scriptures call wicked and prophane, and never charge any so that keep the true Faith and Worship of God.

These people were justly charged, and their Prince also, as wicked and prophane, and that for these Rea­sons: (1.) They had forsaken the Lord and his Law, which is declar'd by good King Josiah in 2 King. 22. 13. Our Fathers hearken'd not unto the words of this [Page 17] Book, (meaning the Book of the Law found by Hil­kiah in the House of the Lord) to do according to all that is written concerning us. And this falling away from Gods Law, the Scripture calls Fornication, com­paring these people of Israel to sordid men, Ezek. 16. 15. Thou playedst the Harlot, and pourest out thy fornications on every one that passed by. (2.) They despis'd the holy things of the Lord: Manasseh built Altars for Baal in the House of the Lord, and set a graven Image, of the Grove which he had made, in the House, of which the Lord had said, In this House will I put my Name for ever: Therefore doth Ezek. Chap. 22. 8. cry out against them, Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast prophaned my Sabbaths. And ver. 26. Her Priests have violated my Law, and pro­phaned my holy things: I am prophaned among them. (3.) These people were justly called wicked and pro­phane, for they follow'd the Idolatrous practises of the Heathen World; Zedekiah did as Jehoiakin had done, and Jehoiakin as Jehoiakin his Predecessor, and he did as Jehoahaz, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his Fathers Manasseh and Ahab had done. Now Manasseh built up the High-places, rear'd up Altars for Baal, made a Grove, and worshipped the Sun, and the Moon, and the Planets, and all the Host of Heaven. (4.) They delivered their Children to pass through the fire to Moloch at Topheth, and shed Innocent blood: And behold, saith the Prophet, the Princes of Israel every one were in thee to their power to shed innocent blood, like ravening Wolves to destroy Souls for dishonest gain, [Page 18] Ezek. 22. 27. These Abominations were grounds e­nough to charge them, as the Prophet doth here, Thou wicked and prophane: And besides all these, there did Oppression and Usury, Lewdness and Un­cleanness, reign in the highest degree amongst them.

Now having seen who the Scriptures call wicked, &c. in the Old Testament, it lies upon us to know who are so charged also in the New Testament, and for what; and that appears plainly, 2 Thes. 2. 7, 8, 10. S. Paul tells you, He who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed, i. e. He that letteth and opposeth Christs Doctrine and Kingdom, is that wicked one, which in his appointed time shall be reveal'd, and in the 10th verse he gives the reason why he calls him wick­ed, Because they received not the love of the Truth. This is much like that of Queen Esther spoken con­cerning Haman, who had conspir'd to destroy all the Inheritance of God, the Generation of the Jews. This Adversary and Enemy is that wicked Haman: So in Eph. 6. 12. we find that the Church of Christ under the New Testament, wrestless against Powers and Principalities, that is, men exercising Autho­rity, which he calls spiritual wickedness in high places.

Again, in the 16th verse he tells you, that you are to take the Shield of Faith, which is able to quench all the fiery darts of the Wicked; whereby you must understand; that that wicked one hath fiery Darts with him to throw at the faithful, and by fiery Darts you can think of nothing else but bloody Persecuti­ons. [Page 19] And lastly, you may know that wicked party by his blasphemy, prophaneness, and coming after the working of Satan, with all Powers, and Signs, and lying Wonders, who opposing and exalting him­self above all that is called God, or that is worship­ped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. So that in every par­ticular, when these are compared with the former Prince and People, they are guilty of the same wick­edness and prophaneness: As thus.

Now I will shew you how the Pope of Rome, and the Roman Church resemble revolted Israel, in their Apostacy and wickedness; and will also declare how clear and free the King and Church of England are from this Charge.

Polanus saith, That the Popish Canons and Decre­tals, with the Lives and Practises of the Popes, do expresly declare them to be Antichrist; and Anti-Christ is defin'd to be a Man exercising Authority, Head of the Universal Apostacy, and Desertion of the Faith, professing the Name of Christ, yet op­posing himself to Christ and his Doctrine. That he is a Man exercising Authority no Man denys, that he is Head of Universal Apostacy, and opposeth Christ and his Doctrine, I will plainly shew in my Application. We are oblig'd to regard his Person as a Prince and a Prelate by the Laws of God and Nature, i. e. to give honour to whom honour is due; but it is his Vices and Corruption we cry out against, and what the Scripture and judicious Divines, ancient and mo­dern, of reformed Protestants have declar'd concern­ing him, we may without malice, or hatred speak of him; and omitting all terms of honour, he is an Idolater, a Hypocrise, a Blasphemer, ambitious, proud, lawless, and forbidding to marry, covetous, vain, a Lyar, a cruel Tyrant, a Persecutor, and Mur­derer of the Saints, despising holy things, and sitting in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The Idolatry of the Church of Rome, in wor­shipping the Pope as Supreme Head of the Univer­sal [Page 21] Church, and Images, with the Relicks of Saints, and their Invocations upon the Virgin Mary, with the lifting up of the Host are as directly against the I. and II. Commandment, as Blood shed is against the VI. and as palpable as it was with Israel who worshipp'd the Sun, Moon, and Planets; He must have a good Hide, saith Dr. Hall, that can worship Martin' s Boots, George' s Scabbard, Crispin' s Pareing-Knife, Thomases her Shoo, and Joseph's Breeches; to equalize these Fopperies with the Son of God in point of worship, as those do who fall before them, and call upon them, as Eraesmus complains, is abo­minable Idolatry, and horrible Impiety.

The Blood-shed of Rome is so sensibly known through all the Christian World that every Country can bear witness to it, and no marvel the Holy Ghost compare her to a Woman clothed in Scarlet, and drunk with the Blood of Saints.

The fiery Darts of this wicked-one have been so prevalent in Italy, that at one time was condemn'd 16000 Protestants, where 18 had their Throats and jugular Veins cut with a Butchers-Knife, the Butcher putting it between his Teeth whilst he did rid his Hand of one and take the other. In Queen Mary's days were several hundreds, here in England, burnt, in the space of the two last years of her Reign, 13 sometimes together, 12. 10. 6. 5. and other numbers, Bishops, Preachers, Gentlemen, Trades­men, old and blind Men, Cripples, and poor Maids; no sort of Christians could escape the fury of these bloody Persecutions.

And to speak of their Covetousness, Oppression, Prophaneness, and Blasphemies which are so com­mon, will be too tedious for me to hint here in the corner of a Sermon; therefore, in a word, I leave this point concerning the charge, and say it may be well said, Thou wicked and prophane Pope of Rome, whose Day is come, and thy Iniquity shall have an end; remove the Diadem, take away the Crown; I will exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high; I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he comes, &c.

Inference the fifth, from the Confusion of Judah and Jerusalem.

Crowns and Kingdoms cannot stand, when God Almighty hath denounc'd their fall: Witness the fall of all the mighty Monarchs of the World, and therefore this Prophet expostulateth pathetically, Can thy Heart endure, or will thy Hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee; I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more; and who can say to God, What dost thou: The Beast with seven Heads and ten Crowns must fall and tumble down, when God is pleas'd to toss them. Whom the Lord shall destroy with the Spirit of his Mouth, and consume with the brightness of his coming.

But as for the King and Church of England, being free from the Charge, they may be also concluded to be free from the Judgment, in the sence of all cha­ritable minds.

And that they are free from the Charge, let every sober-minded Man weigh these Particulars.

1. The King and the Church of England protest to maintain, nor suffer for no other Faith, but that which was once by Apostolical Tradition deliver'd to the Saints: This Profession do both Prince and Peo­ple, by a mutual Oath and Covenant, bind them­selves to assert, keep, and uphold, to the honour and glory of God; as good King Josiah and his People, in their days. His Majesty, (as other Kings his Pre­decessors, of blessed memory, at their Corona­tion) first promiseth (being ask'd by the Arch-Bi­shops) to keep, and afterwards by Oath confirms, the Laws and Customs of England; namely, the Laws, Customs, and Franchises, granted to the Clergie by the glorious King St. Edward his Predecessor, accord­ing to the Laws of God, the true Profession of the Gospel, and according to the Prerogatives of the Kings thereof, and defend and uphold the same to the honour of God, as much as in him lyeth.

The Oath. The things that I have here promis'd, I shall perform and keep, so help me God, and the Contents of this Book. This Oath is published in King Charles the Martyr's Answer to a Remonstrance, &c. of the 26th of May 1642.

The same Oath, for matter, you may find in an old Manuscript, containing the Form of Coronation, &c. in the publick Library at Oxon.

Is not this as firm, and as great a Covenant as blessed King Josiah made, who stood by a Pillar, and made a Covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his Commandments, and his Testi­monies, [Page 24] and his Statutes, with all their hearts, &c. and all the People stood to the Covenant, 2 King. 23. 3.

So all the People of England, and all his Majesty's Subjects, bind themselves strictly by two Oaths, called the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, to obey the King's Laws in all true Faith and Allegiance, renouncing all Forreign Powers, and declaring the King's Majesty Supreme Head and Governour in all matters, as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal, next under Christ, in all these His Majesty's Dominions: Thus do both Prince and People most unanimously, and faithfully, pro­test to stick to the Profession of the Protestant Reli­gion as it is by Law establish'd, being no other than the same as christ and his Apostles taught, and the pure Times of the Primitive Church maintained in the first Centuries after Christ.

2. For the purity, justness, and reasonableness of His Majesty's Laws whereby we are Govern'd, the Common, Civil, and Ecclesiastical; all the malice of our Adversaries cannot impeach them of the least savour of Idolatry, or Impiety, Prophaneness, or Blasphemies, as those of rebellious Israel under the Old did, and of the Roman Papists under the New Testament do: The Common-Law being certain reasonable Customs refined by succeeding Ages, and gathered out of Divine, Natural, and Moral Princi­ples; our Civil and Canon-Laws, being all grounded upon the Word of God, and the Decrees of General Councils, and the Sence of the Fathers in the first six-hundred years after Christ; and in this it is as [Page 25] clear as the Sun at Noon-day, that neither His Ma­jesty, nor his People can be charg'd for wickedness, nor prophaneness, in their Profession, nor Laws.

3. For the Doctrine which we reach it is briefly contain'd in the Creed, call'd the Apostles Creed, the Lords-Prayer, and Ten Commandments, and ex­plain'd throughout the whole Bible: we believe no­thing, we pray for nothing, and we practice no­thing as necessary to Salvation, but what is plainly prov'd by evident Scriptures. And as for the Go­vernment, Discipline, and Worship of our Church, it is acknowledg'd by all Judicious Protestants to be the best constituted Church this day in the whole World, and that in the main, the Doctrine, Disci­pline, and Worship, being so decently and excellent­ly fram'd for edification, that it makes all Men that duly observe it, truly and soberly religious, securing them (as a Reverend Divine saith) on the one side from the wild Freaks of Enthusiasm, and on the o­ther from the gross Follies of Superstition.

4. As for any violence and cruelty, we thank God, the World is our Witness, we can wash our Hands in Innocence; none condemn'd to death for bare per­swasions in point of Conscience, or different Opini­ons in matters of Religion. It is Fellons and Tray­tors, because they have not the fear of God before their Eyes, by the King's Law do dye. His most Sa­cred Majesty being of that gracious and Lamb-like Disposition, that he laboureth rather through ten­derness to regain, than through severity to compell Dissenters, to Unity of Spirit and Uniformity in Re­ligion.

5. And lastly, weigh our Practices, I mean the Lives and Conversations of those that are true Sons, and Observers of the Church: we ingenuously con­fess, that through our carelesness, and want of more strictness, in many things we do offend all; but with­all, at our daily and publick, as well as private De­votion, we pray for true repentance, and forgive­ness; and there's not a Christian Man that hath a little Grain of Charity in him, that will deny, but that we through a certain (though not so Univer­sal as wish'd) Obedience, receive, and submit to the Truth, Will, Law, and Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To these things, if I had time to amplifie, I would, nor do, desire no more Credit than shall be due to the fair Evidence of clear Scripture, and sound Reason, the two Master Pillars of a good Cause.

Now upon these and other like grounds, is found­ed the unmovable settled ends of our fixed hopes through Faith in our dear Saviour, that we are not Sentenc'd with Idolatrous Israel under the Law, are not, nor shall be condemn'd with Antichristian Popery under the Gospel: And I conclude this Point with that of our Saviour, in Joh. 14. 27. Confiding that it is appertaining to us, as much as to any other par­ticular Church in the World; for some have called the English Church, the Primogenita of the Catho­lick, and for certain it is a Member of the true Ca­tholick, and therefore may expect her Share in the Legacy of Christ; Peace I leave with you, Peace I give unto you, not as the World gives give I unto you, [Page 27] therefore let not your Heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And this leads me to the next Infe­rence.

Sixthly, The sixth Inference is from Christ's coming.

The Lord's goodness is so far extended to his be­loved Spouse, the true Church Catholick, and to every Member thereof, that in the greatest distress and confusions in the World, Christ and his com­forts will attend the faithful; Job 5. 19, 20, 21, &c. He will deliver thee in six troubles, and in seven there shall no evil touch thee; in Famine he shall redeem thee from Death, and in War from the power of the Sword; thou shalt be hid from the Scourge of the Tongue, neither shalt thou be afraid of Destruction when it cometh. What unspeakable comforts, satis­faction, and rejoycing all the holy Martyrs of Jesus have ever had in their sufferings, will be too long to relate here: He comes whose right it is, and I will give it him.

I think you do evidently perceive, and are fully sa­tisfied, by these things already said, concerning this Text, that there needs no further discourse to make all Men apprehend, how free, and plainly unspotted, with the Charge and Curse here denounced against Jerusalem, the present State of England stands. The City of Jerusalem and Israel were curs'd, mark, as you have heard, for breach of their Oath and Al­legiance, and further Rebellion (to the King of Babylon, though a Pagan King) together with their Contempt of God's Word, Idolatrous, and Prophane [Page 28] Practises; but the English Protestants are hated, cen­sured, accus'd, and persecuted by the Popish Faction, for no other cause, more than for bearing true Alle­giance to the rightful and lawful King of their Realm, and maintaining, as by Oath they are bound, that the Pope hath no power to depose the King, or to dispose of his Kingdoms; his present Majesty, Charles the II. being the 26th that successively in the right Line from the Conquerour have reign'd abso­lute Kings of England, &c. Now I will shew you, by way of Application, who have fallen off from the Faith under the New Testament, and that plainly and particularly in what points, and then you may judge whether the like Curse, as was so dreadfully denounced against Israel, may not be also hanging o­ver their heads, and pointing at their doors, being palpably guilty of the lille Charge.

The Church of Rome, Canonizing, as de fide, a new Doctrine, contrary to the Catholick Faith, for the first five or six hundred years after Christ, is become a false Church (or the Church of Antichrist, which is no part of the true Church of Christ) but an Im­posthume, or a bad humour in the body, and no part of the body, I mean the true Spiritual and Mystical Body of Christ: And as the ten Tribes of Israel fell off from the Worship of God, and ador'd the Golden Calfs made by Jeroboam, and turn'd Bethel, the House of God, into Bethaven, a House of Iniquity, so have Papists turn'd the Roman Church, which was once a pure flourishing Church, to a corrupt Den of Thieves. And yet it is granted by judicious Protestants, that [Page 29] some may possibly be saved, though with great ha­zard, that are in Communion with her, and groan under the lewd and Antichristian Doctrines and Pra­ctices (impos'd by her as necessary to Salvation) which overthrow the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith, (although held by themselves) and are contrary point-blank to the Catholick Faith once delivered to the Saints; particularly these follow­ing.

1. The Church of Rome hold and affirm the Pope to be Universal and Supreme Head of the Catholick Church, Caput totius Ecclesiae Militantis; Universal Father of the Church, the only Dispenser of Aposto­lick Benedictions; thus dignified, he Lords it over all the Clergy upon Earth. Our Creed, composed by the Apostles, teacheth us to believe first in God the Father, &c. and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: and the Nicene Creed explains it, I believe in one God, &c. and in one Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture explains this plainly, in the 4th of Eph. 15. Speaking the truth in love, grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: By which it appears we have no Universal Head for the Church Militant, but our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The Church of Rome is held by them to be the Catholick Church, contrary to our Belief in our Creed, which saith, I believe in the holy Catholick Church; and explain'd in the Nicene Creed, I believe in one Catholick and Apostolick Church: All the Elect of God that ever have been, now are, or ever shall be in the world, comprehending all particular Churches [Page 30] which were before the Roman Church, and were in the same time that she flourished, in other Provinces in Asia and Europe, and now are separated from her, making up one Catholick Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.

3. The Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility, that he cannot Err, and that his Authority confirm'd by Councils, is greater and more certain than the Scrip­tures, doth fly in the face of all the Foundation of our Faith; for we take, as the holy Catholick Church hath ever done, the holy Scriptures for the only cer­tain Rule of our Faith and Practice, from which we own no higher Authority to appeal unto, no, though an Angel did preach things contrary to the Scriptures, they are to us an Anathema; he, the Pope, can di­spence, they say, against Paul and Peter; that is, controul and wrest the sense of the Scriptures writ­ten by Paul and Peter, yea against the Old and New Testament he can, plenitudine potestatis, as much as God. This Doctrine you will find often boasted of in their Canons and Decretals.

4. The Church of Rome doth plainly and point­blank oppose and overthrow the Catholick Faith, concerning the Remission of sins: The Apostles in the Creed, as all the New Testament most amply and largely explaineth, teach us to believe the forgiveness of sins; and the Roman Church doth set it up on quite other terms, by proposing that gift, I mean, the forgiveness of sins, to be sold by the Pope, and his Priests, if any will be so fondly blind as to buy in the vile Market of Indulgences; so, in a word, the Ca­tholick [Page 31] Faith is to believe the forgiveness of sins, and the Doctrine of Popery is to sell and buy it.

5. The Popish Faction overthrow and utterly con­found by their new Doctrine and Practice, the Faith and Practice of the Catholick Church in Prayer: Our Saviour Christ himself taught us to pray after this manner, &c. directing our Petitions to God the Father, by the help of the Holy Ghost, in the Name and by the Mediation of God the Son; so are all Prayers made in the Old and New Testament: But the Papists call upon Saints and Angels, and because they believe it, for it is a prevailing Argument with them, that the Kingdom of Heaven is divided into two parts, the Kingdom of Mercy to the blessed Vir­gin, &c. but the Kingdom of Justice to Christ; they pray more for mercy unto Mary, than unto God through Christ.

6. They contradict and oppose the Christian Faith in the first six hundred years, by the most unreason­able Point to be impos'd for matter of belief as ever any man can hear of, Transubstantiation, come out of the Council of Lateran under Pope Innocentius the III. He who contended with John King of Eng­land: They believe that the Bread and the Wine in the Lords Supper, after Consecration, is substantially and materially changed, contrary to our Natural Sense, Seeing, Tasting, and Feeling; and we believe it, that they are Signs and Symbols of a Spiritual Food, and refection which our Souls receive from Christs Body and Blood which was given for us.

These things being considered, every Christian [Page 32] man will say, that it was piously done of all the Re­formers, Luther in Germany, Jerome in Prague, Val­dus in France, Wickliffe, Bilney and Tindal in England, to separate from this Apostate Church, lest they should be partakers of her sins, and afterwards re­ceive of her Plagues, Rev. 18. 4. Hos. 4. 15. 1 Cor. 10. 14. whose judgment now of a long time lingreth not, and her damnation slumbereth not. Rev. 13. Let him that understandeth count the number of the Beast. There's a set time appointed for his Judgment, men­tion'd in 2 Thes. 2. 7. until he be taken out of the way; as it is in the Text, until he comes. Let any se­rious, unbyass'd spirited man weigh these Points and Scriptures before-recited, and he will soon resolve himself how tottering the See of Rome is, and how miserable the honour of the Ignatian Tribe is, who brag if they had not been, Rome had not been; the Angel had long since said, It is fallen, it is fallen.