A Preservative Against Popery

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Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus,
A Preservative againU Topery, &C.
Cnil. Needhanty R. R.
inChristo P. ac D.D.
Feb. x. 1687.
4P
Wilhelmo Archiepisc.
CantASzcr. Domest.
Preservative
- o
AGAINST
POPERY:
Being some Plain
DIRECTIONS
T O
Vnlearned
TROTESTA NTS,
How to Dispute with
The First PART.

By WILLIAM SHERLOCK, D. D.
Master of the Temple,
LONDON:
Printed for William Rogers, at the Sun over against
St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet -street.
M DC LXXXVIII.
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PRESERVATIVE
AGAINST
POPERY.
The
Introduction.
*Hile so many Learned Tens are employed

to such excellent purpose, in answering the
w Writings, and confuting the Dotlrines and
Pratthes of the Church of Rome, / cannot but think it a
very useful Work to give some plain Directions to those, who
are Vnlearned, who have neither Time to Read, nor Money
to Buy, nor Abilities to Vnderstand more Learned Contro
verfies. Our Divines indeed have taken great care to write
short Trails, with great Plainness and Perspicuity, and with
as little unnecessary shew of Learning as may be, to fit them
the letter for Vnlearned Readers ; and they have had, by
the blejjing of God, wonderful Success ; Popery was neverJo
generally understood, as it is at this day; the meaneH Trades
men can now dispute againfl Popery with sufficient Skill and
Judgment, and need not be beholding to the prejudices xf
Education tosecure them : and therefore my bufiness shall
mt be at present down-right to State any one Controverfie.beB
tween
A Preservative against POP EKT.

twee* m, and the Church of Rome, but to direct cur People
how to secure themselves against the Attaques of our Roman
Adversaries, to check their conferring and disputing Humour,
or to baffle them. Ishall reduce all into as plain a Method
and as short a Compass as J can, and (hew.
First, How.to stop them at the beginning of their Dispute.
Secondly, Give some Rules about the Topicks. from which
they Dispute , such as Reason, Scripture,. and the Authority of
the Ancient Fathers and Writers of the Church.
Thirdly, Hoto to Answer sor/ie of their mott popular Pre
tences, such as the Uncertainty of the Protestant Religion,
the Misrepresentations of Popery, &c.
Fourthly, To givesome short Directions as to particular
Controversies.
c h a p.
i.
y\i
'
Mow Protestants may prevent Disputing with

Papists.
NOw I do not by this mean, that they should always
avoid their Company, and run aWay from them
where-ever they meet them, which is very ill Manners;
though it is not adviseable neitHer to court such Acquain
tance, or to make them our Intimates, when neither the
Obligations of Nature, nor other Civil or Political Rea
sons make it neceflary ; for Conversation many times
prevails more than Arguments tart do, and will as soon
corrupt Mens Faith, as Manners.
Nor do I mean, that Protestants should obstinately reluse to Discourse with Papists When they meet them ; to
bear
A Preservative agamU POPER.T.

hear what they have to say for themselves, and to give
a Reason for their own Faith ; this is not agreeable to
Protestant Principles, To prove all things, and to hold fast
that which is good : and yet this ought to be done with
great prudence ancs caution too; for there are a sort of
perverse Disputers, who are to be avoided according to
the Apostolick Precept, Ifany man teach otherwise and con
sent not to wholsome words, even the words of our LordJe
sus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godlmest;
he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and .
strife of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil
surmifing, perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and
destitute of the truth, suppofing, that gain is godlinest; from
such withdraw thy self, i Tim. 6. 3,4,
Men of weak Judgments, and who are not skilled in
the Laws of Disputation, may easily be imposed on by
cunning Sophisters, and such as lie in wait to Deceive*:
The Church of Rome is very sensible of this, and there
fore will not sufser her People to dispute their Religion,
or to read Heretical Books, nay not so much as to look
into the Bible it self ; but though we allow all this to our
People, as that which God not only allows, but requires,
and which all considering Men will allow themselves,
whoever forbids it ; yet we do not allow them to be per
petual Seekers, to be always doubtful of their Religion,
to be like children tojsedtoo and fro with every wind of Do*
(trine. And therefore the liberty of Judging and Inqui
ring, which we allow, is only that they may understand
the true Reasons of their Faith, and be well grounded in
it, which men may be, who are not able to answer eve
ry cavilling Objection ; but it is an abuse of this, liberty,
when men have itching Ears, and hearken after all Nc*.
velties of Opinions, and grow wanton ^!5d sceptical Drfputers ; and therefore it is very consistent with that liber
A Preservative againft P 0 PE RY.

ty, which Protestants allow, to advise Christians to be
very careful how they hearken to such as Preach any
new Doctrine, which they have not been taught; that the
weak in Faith and Knowledge should not venture upon
doubtful Disputations ; that they shduld not be hasty to
question what they have believed, nor to give heed to
new Doctrines ; that they should not rely on their own
understanding in these matters, but when they meet with
any difficulties, should consult their Spiritual Guides, not
to be finally determined by theirAuthority, as the Church
of Rome requires, but to hear their Reasons, and what
Answers they can give to such difficulties, as they them
selves cannot answer. With such Cautions as these, we
dare venture our People to hear, and read, and enquire,
as much as they please, and have not found yet, that
our Roman Adversaries have been able to make any great
impression upon such honest and prudent Inquirers. But
that which I intend at present, is of another nature, to
teach our People a Way to make these men sick of Di
sputing themselves, to make them leave off those Imper
tinent and Noisie Squabbles, with which they disturb all
Company they come into : and this is no such mighty
Secret neither, as may be expected, but is very plain and
obvious at the first proposal.
For when you are assaulted by such troublesome Di
sputes, only ask them, Whether they will allow you to
Judge for your selves in matters of Religion > if they will
not, why do they trouble you with Disputing ? for the
end of Disputing, is to convince ; and you cannot be con
vinced, unless you may Judge too. Would they dispute
with a Stone, that can neither hear, nor understand ? or
would they make a Speech to convince a Horse, that he
is out of his way., and must take another Road, if he would
return home ? And do not they talk tp as little purpose,
and
A Preservative againU PO PER. Y.

and spend their breath as vain upon a man, whocan hear
indeed, and understand somewhat, but must not follow
his own understanding ? If they fay, that you mfost Judge
for your selves ; ask them, Whether tl>is be the Doctrine
of their Church, that private men may Judge for them
selves ? Whether this do not resolve our Faith into a pri
vate Spirit, which they fay, is the Protew^t Heresie, and
the Foundation of Protestant Uncertainty ? If they once
open this Gap to Hereticks into the Church, there is
great danger that more will run out at it, than will come
in; and it well if the Church it self stays behind :
for what becomes of the Church of Rome, if all their
glarious Cant of the Infallibility of Church, and Popes,
and General Councils, be at last resolved into a private
Spirit ! While these men go about to dispute Hereticks
into their Church, they unavoidably give up the Cause
of the Church, and of Infallibility ; which is the way to
dispute a great many good Catholicks out of ir, who are
kept there only by the power of a blind and implicite
Faith. Here then let our Protestant six his foot, and not
stir an inch, till they disown Infallibility, and consess, that
every man can and must Judge for himself in matters of
Religion, according to the Proofs that are offered to him.
For will a wise man dispute with, one, who he knows ban
ters him all the while > who appeals to his private Judg
ment (as all men do, who dispute with one another) and
at theâme time cries down this private Spirit as the cause
of Schisms, and Herefies, and Blasphemies, and every
thing, that is evil : no man of any Spirit, but will scorn,
to dispute with- one who intends only to put a trick on
him, and to out-wit him if he can ; and in truth it is no
more to endeavour to dispute a man intoPopery, when
the Fundamental Principle of Popery^feshat we must
not Reason and Dispute, but Believe
we must take
our
A Preservative against P 0 P E RT.

our Faith upon the Authority of the Church, without
asking any questions about it. There are two or three
things, wtch may be answered to this.
I. That though Disputing be not a proper way for
Papists to take, yet it is the only way, that can be taken
with Protestan^ who are all for Disputing, and will
believe nothi^^'ithout a Reason; and therefore Prote
stants ought not to blame Papists for Disputing, unless
they would be good Catholicks without it. Now in
answer to this, I have something to say to Papists, and
something to Protestants.
i. As for the Papists, what necessity soever they be in
of Disputing, I desire to know, with what face they can
reproach Protestants with adhering to their own private
Judgments, when they themselves are such jealous Di
sputants, which is an Appeal to every private mans Judg
ment : If ever they make any Converts, they must be
beholden to mens private Judgments for it, for I think
men cannot change their Opinions, without exercising*
private Judgment about it; and I suppose when they di
spute with men to make them Papists, they intend to con
vert them by their own private Judgments. Now what
difference is therebetween mens using their private Judg
ments to turn Papists, or to turn Protestants ? One in
deed may be false, and the other true ; but private Judg
ment is private Judgment still : and if it be so great 3
fault for men to use their own private Judgments, it is a;
great a fault in a Papist, as it is in a Protestant. So thac
at least, as to Converts, the Church of Rome has no ad
vantage in this particular over Protestant Churches; some
by the exercise of their own Reason and Judgment, go.
over to the Chuuh of R<we, zn$ (bme to the Church of
England; so m^tt disputed into Popery, and somi into
Protestantism ilrW therefore for the sake of their beloved
Con
A Preservative againU POPERT.

Converts, and their beloved Disputations, they ought to
be more favourable to a private Spirit: The truth is,
by disputing with Hereticks, they give up their Cause,
and consess, that in all Disputes of Religion, their lies
an Appeal to every mans private Judgment and Con
science ; and should they lose this Point by their Dispu
ting, all the Converts they make, cannot recompence
such a loss.
i. As for Protestants, though they have no other
way to satisfie themselves, or to convince others, but
by Reason and Discourse ; yet this is no reason why they
should Dispute with those men who disown the Judg
ment of Reason, as a private Spirit : For why should I
Dispute with any" man who uses such Arguments to con
vince me, as he himself does net think a sufficient Reason
of Faith ? Ask then one of these Disputers, who alled
ges Scripture, ReSfori and Antiquity, to prove any Do
ctrines of the Romish Faith, Do you, Sir, believe Transubstantiation, the Worship of Images, the Invocation of
Saints, Purgatory, Mass for the Dead, upon the bare Au
thority of these Scriptures and Fathers, you have pro
duced for them ? if these Doctrines were not Defined
by the Church, should you think these Arguments suffi
cient to prove them ? or could you suppose, the Church
had Defined the contrary, should you think the Argu
ments good still ? In short, can any Realgn, any Authori
ty of Scripture, or Fathers, be any Foundation for a Di
vine Faith, but only the Authority of the Church ? He
\jfax. fays they can, is no Papist ; and he that fays they
cartnot, consesses, that he uses such Arguments, as he him
self does not build his Faith upon : If you wiU believe
them; you may ; but though you do, you are no found
Believer, without resolving your Faiji solely into the
Authority of the Church. And, I think, he must love
Dispu-
A Preservative againU POP EKT.

Disputing well, who will dispute with such men as these ;
and those must have a good degree of Assurance, w ho
will be troublesome with their Disputes, after such a dis
covery. The end of Disputing, I suppose, is either to
convince, or to be convinced : but should you answer
and baffle all such a man's Arguments, if he be modest,
it may be he may blush a little, but is not to be moved;
for his Faith, after all, is not built upon these Arguments,
but upon Church- Authority : and it is to no purpose for
you to suffer your self to be convinced by these Argu
ments, for it will not make you a good Catholick, with
out resolving your Faith wholly into the Authority of
the Church. It is certainly a very surprizing thing for
a Protestant to be disputed into Popery j for as soon as
he is converted, he must renounce she very means of his
Conversion : He must use his own Judgment to turn
Papist, and as soon as he is turned; hetnust renounce his
own Judgment, and consess it to be of no Authority:
Now though it'may be such a private Judgment as leads
a man to Popery, may as well deserve to be renounced,
as any ; yet it is an odd kind of contradiction, to re
nounce our own private Reason and Judgment, and yet
to own our Conversion ; methinks such men should re*
nounce their Conversion too at the same time they re
nounce their Reason ; for if their Conversion be good, it
is a sign their Judgment was so ; but if their Judgment
be not fit to be trusted, methinks this should make them
question their Conversion: And therefore they should
either maintain the Reputation of their Judgment and
Conversion together, and then they cannot be good Ca"
jholickSjWhile they adhere to their ownJudgment, or they
should renounce them bothtogether ; nay, they must not
only renounce their own Judgments, as soon as they are
.converted, butnhey must renounce the Authority and
A Preservative againtt POPEKT.

Validity of those very Arguments whereby tliey are Con
verted, whether from Scripture, Reason, or Fathers ; they
must consess, that these Arguments are not a sufficient
Foundation for a Divine Faith, without the Authority of
the Church *, for it is a dangerous thing to allow any
Authority to Scripture or Fathers, without the Church,
for that may make men Hereticks ; and yet, I suppose,
when Hereticks are converted by these Arguments, ic
must be the force of the Arguments, and not the Au- '
thority of the Church, which converts them, unless they
believed the Authority of the Church before they were
converted, and that was a little too early for it. Now
methinks when Protestants turn Papists, as they pretend,
from the conviction of their own Reason and Judgment,
and as soon as they are converted,* are taught, that there
is no relying upon their own Judgment, and that the
Reasons whereby they were converted, are not good in
themselves without Church Authority ; if it were pos
sible for them ever to use their Reason more after such
a Change, it would certainly make them disown their
Conversion ; which, it seems, was the effect of a very.
fallible Judgment, and very uncertain and inau then tick
Reason.
II. There is another pretence for these Disputes, which
may seem to answer this difficulty, that the intention of
these Disputes,, is onely to lead you to the Infallible
Church, and set you upon a Rock ; and then it is very
natural to renounce your own Judgment, when you have
an infallible Guide. Our own Judgment then must bring
us to the infallible Guide, and when we have found him,
we have no farther use for our own Judgment. I an
swer,
' :
. . ;
i . Should we grant this, it puts an end to all the par
ticular Disputes of Religion between us and the Church
C
.
of
A Preservative againft P OPERT.

of Rome: We may dispute on about an Infallible Judge,
but they cannot, with any sence, dispute with us about
the particular Articles of Faith, such as Tranfubstantiation, the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Worship of Images,
and the like ; for these are to be learnt on% from the
Church, and cannot be proved by Scripture or Fathers,
without the Authority of the Church. And if they
would consess this, they would save us, and themselves,
" a great deal of trouble : For why should they be at the
trouble of writing such Arguments, or we to answer
them, when they themselves consess, that the Arguments
are not good, unless they be confirmed by the Churches
Authority ? I consess, I have often wondered to see such
Volumes of Controversies written by the Roman Di
vines, for I could never imagine to what end they are
Writ. Is not their Faith wholly resolved into the Au
thority of the Church? what need Reasons and Argu
ments then, which cannot work Faith in us ? Either these
Arguments are sufficient to confirm the Articles of their
Faith without the Authority of the Church, or they are
cot: If they are, then there is no need of Infallibility,
since all the Articles of Faith are confirmed by such Rea
sons, as are a sufficient Foundation for Faith without it :
And thus they give up all their Arguments for an Infal
lible Judge, from the necessity of such a Judge. If they
be not, of what use are they ? does the Decision of the
Church need to be confirmed by such Arguments? If
they are not good Arguments without the Authority of
the Church, they can no more give Authority to the
Church, than an Infallible Church can want any Autho
rity, but its own : Are they to convince Hereticks ? But
how if Hereticks should confute them ? If they be not
in themselves good Arguments, they may be confuted ;
aid they know, by fad experience, that there are Here
A Preservative againU POFEKT.

ticks, as they call them, who have Wit and Learning enough to confute, what is to be confuted ; and if they
fall into such hands ( which has been their hard fate of
late ) they are sure to be confuted ; and, I doubt then,
they had better have let them alone; for the Catholick
Cause may sufser much in the Opinion of the World,
when all their Arguments are confuted: All then that
they can design by such Arguments, is to impose upon
the Weak and Ignorant, when Learned Men are out of
the way, which is no very commendable design ; and
that design will be spoiled too, if Unlearned Men do but
learn to askthem the Question, Whether they build their
aith upon such Arguments ? For then they must either
quit the Authority of their Church, or the strength of
their Arguments : The first reduces them to Protestant
Uncertainty, for thqp they have no other Foundation for
their Faith than Protestants have ; which resolves it self
into the Reasons and Arguments of Faith : The second
puts an end to Disputing about these matters ; for no
mantieeds answer any Arguments, which the Disputant
himself acknowledges not to be good.
a. There is nothing then left for Disputation, and the
Exercise of our private Reason and Judgment, but the
inquiry aster an Infallible Judge. And here also, before
you Dispute, it will be necessary to ask them, Whether
the belief of an Infallible Judge, must be resolved into
every mans private Judgment? whether it be not neces
sary to believe this with a Divine Faith ? and whether
there can be any Divine Faith without an Infallible Judge ?
Certainly it ever it be necessary to have an Infallible
Faith, it is so to be infallibly assured of an Infallible Judge,
because this is the foundation of all the rest : for though
the Judge be Infallible, if lbe not infallibly assured qf
this, I can never arrive to Infallibility in anything; for
A Preservative against POPEKY'.

I cannot be more certain, that his Determinations are
Infallible, than I am, that he himself is Infallible ; and if
I have but a Moral assurance of this, I can be but moral
ly assured of the rest ; for the Building cannot be more
firm than the Foundation is : and thus there is an end
to all the Roman Pretences to Infallibility. Now if we
must believe the Infallibility of the Church, or Pope of
Romey with an infallible Faith, there is an end of Dispu
ting ; for no Reasons or Arguments, not the Authority
of the Scripture it self, without an infallible Judge, can
beget an infallible Faith, according to the Roman Doctors :
For this reason they charge the Protestant Fa"ith with Un
certainty, and will not allow it to be a Divine, but Hu
mane Faith, though it is built upon the firmest Reasons,
the best Authority, and the most express Scripture that
can be had for any thing ; but because we do not pretend
to rely on the Authority of a Living Infallible Judge,
therefore, forsooth, our Faith is Uncertain, Humane, and
Fallible: and this, they fay, makes an Infallible Judge
necessary, because without him we have no Infallible Cer
tainty of any thing.
Now if nothing but an Infallible Judge can be the
Foundation of an Infallible Faith, then it is to no purpose
to dispute about such a Judge ; for Disputing is nothing
else but weighing Reason against Reason, and Argument
against Argument, or Scripture against the pretence of
Scripture ; but whoever gets the better of it this way,
no Reasons, or Arguments, or Scripture-proofs can Beget
an Infallible Certainty, which is necessary in this case ;
ad therefore this is all lost labour, and they do but put
a trick upon you, when they pretend to dispute you in
to the belief of an Infallible Judge ; for they themselves
know, and must consess, ff you ask them, that the best
and most convincing Arguments cannot give 'us an Infal
A Preservative againU PO PERT.

iible assurance of this matter ; and yet unless we are in
fallibly assured of an Infallible Judge, it is all to no pur
pose.
3 . I can think but of one thing more, that can be (aid
in this Cause, viz. that it is manisestly unreasonable, not
to grant to the Church of Rme, that liberty which all
men and Churches challenge, to Dispute for themselves,
and against their Adversaries : for when two men, or
two Churches differ in matters of Faith, there is no other
way to end the Controversy, but by disputing it out ;
whereas this Discourse will not allow them to dispute,
nor any Protestants to dispute with them.
In answer to this , I grant, that the Charge is jn a
great measure true, and shews the absurdity of that
Church and Religion, but does not disprove the reason
ableness of this method. If men will embrace such a
Religion as will not admit of disputing, it is their own
and their Religion's fault, not the fault of those men who
will not dispute with them. Now a Religion wtiich
leaves no room for the exercise of Reason and private
Judgment, leaves no place for Disputes neither ; for how
(hall men dispute, who must not use their own Reason
and Judgment? They ought not to dispute themselves,
if they be true to their own Principles ; and no man
ought to dispute with them, who will not be laugli'd at
by them, and by all the World: For to dispute without
Reason, is a new way of disputing, (though it is the
only thing that can justifie the Romanists, and our late
Disputants have been very careful to observe it ; ) and
to dispute with Reason, is to use our private Reason in
Religion, which is Protestant Heresie. Infallible men
ought not to dispute, for that is to quit their Infallibili
ty ; and fallible men are very unwise to. dispute with
them, because no good can come oF it : for Reason can
never
A Preservative againU P 0 P E RT.

never confute their infallible Adversaries, nor make them
selves infallible Believers.
But for the better understanding of this, [ have two

things to say.
i. That Papists may Dispute against
Protestant Heresies, as they call them, but cannot di
spute for their own Religion, i. Protestants may di
spute against Popish Doctrines, and to vindicate their
own Faith, but cannot reasonably be disputed into Po
pery.
i. That Papists may dispute against Protestant He
resies, but cannot dispute for their own Religion : And
the reason of this difference is plain, because Protestants
allow of Reason and Discourse in matters of Religion ;
and therefore they may be confuted, if good Reasons
can be produced against them : And here the Roma
nists may try their skill ; but the Religion of Rome is
not founded on Reason, but on Infallibility ; and there
fore is not the subject of aDispute, because the truth and
certteinty of those Doctrines, is not resolved into the
Reasons of them. They ought to alledge no other
ground of their Faith, but the Infallibility of the Church ;
and they ought not to dispute about this neither : but
those who will believe it may, and those who won't,
may let it alone, because Infallibility is not to be proved
by Reason ; for Reason proves nothing infallibly, and
therefore cannot give us an infallible certainty of the
.Churches Infallibility.
, % \, t'
But you will fay, if they have other Arguments for
the truth of their Faith, besides the Infallibility of the
Church, why may they not urge those other Reasons
and Arguments to convince those, who will not own
the Churches Infallibility ? I answer, Because whatever
other Reasons they have, their Faith is not refolved into
them ; and therefore it is not honest in them to urge
thole
A Preservative againU POPERY.

those for the Reasons of their Faith, which are not the
Reasons why they believed : For let me ask them, Sup
pose they may have very good Reasons for some of
their Doctrines, do they believe them meerly because
they are reasonable? If they say they do; then they be
lieve just as Protestants believe; and there is no. need
of Infallibility, when men believe nothing but what is
reasonable ; and it is. pity that so good a thing as Infal
libility should serve onely to support an unreasonable
Faith.
Let me ask them again , Can they have a sufficient
certainty, that these Reasons are good, without an in
fallible Judge ? If they can, then the Faith- of Protestants,
which is grounded upon rational Evidences, may be
very certain too, though it be not infallible; if they
cannot, then their Reasons are none, since the very cer
tainty of them is resolved into an infallible Authority ;
and therefore they are no certain Reasons, that is, not
such as a man may rely on, when they are separated from
Infallibility ; and consequently they ought never to be
urged apart from Infallibility, because they themselves
do not think them good Reasons, that is, not a sufficient
Foundation of Faith alone : and then I know not why
they should be urged at alt ; for Infallibility can standby
itself, without the support of any Reasons.
. I ask them again, would tfiey reject those Doctrines
which they think they can prove by such evident Rea
sons, did they see those Reasons as evidently confuted?
If they would not, then it is plain, they do not believe
them for the fake of those Reasons ; for if they did, they
would reject them, when all their Reasons were confu
ted : They only impose upon the World with a pre
tence and flourish of Reason, and set up a Man of
Straw for Protestants to shoot at ; but whatever be
comes
A Preservative agai& POPERY.

comes of their Reasons, they have a iase Retreat into In
fallibility.
If they believed any Doctrine because it is reasonable,
if they will be true to themselves, they ought to reject
all Doctrines, which are unreasonable, or contrary to
Sense and Reason : He who believes for the fake of Rea
son, can never believe against it : for if Reason makes a
thing credible, then what is unreasonable is incredible
too; and we may as reasonably dis-believe what is con
firmed by Reason, as believe what Reason contradicts :
and therefore it is not very modest to hear men talk of
Reason in any case, who can believe such an absurd and
unreasonable Doctrine as Transubstantiation.
Now whatever Opinion Protestants have of Reason,
Papists ought not to pretend to it, because their Faith
has nothing to do with Reason ; it is a Reproach to art
infallible Church and infallible Faith, to need the sup
ports of Reasons. And the truth is, those who will
have nothing to do with Reason, Reason commonly has
as little to do with them, but owes them a Shame, when
ever they pretend to her ; and therefore they had as good
let her alone. .
x. Protestants may dispute against Popish Doctrines,
and to vindicate their own Faith, but they cannt rea
sonably be d isputed into Popery . When Papists alledge
Scripture, Reason, or humane Authority for any Do
ctrines of their Religion, Protestants, who allow of the
use of Reason in Religion, may examine and confute
them : when Papists dispute against Protestant Do
ctrines, Protestants are concerned to vindicate their own
Faith, or to renounce it ; but if a Protestant understands
himself and his own Principles, all the Disputes in the
World can never make him a Papist. For to be a Pa
pist, does not signifie meerly to believe Transubstantia
A Preservative agaM PO PERT.

tion, or the Worship of Saints and Images, and such-like
Popish Doctrines ; but to resolve our Faith into the In
fallible Authority of the Church, and to believe what*,
ver the Church believes, and for no other reason, but be
cause the Church teaches it. This is the peculiar and di
stinguishing Character of the Church of Rome, which di
vides it from all other Churches and Sects of Christians;
and therefore our late Popish Writers are certainly in the
right, to endeavour to bring the whole Controverfie to
this issue; not to dispute about particular Doctrines, which
follow on course, when once you believe the Church to
be Infallible ; but to perswade men that the Church is In
fallible, and that the Church of Rome is that Infallible
Church. Now I say, no understanding Protestant can
be disputed into this kind of Popery, and that for two
plain Reasons, x. Because no Arguments or Disputati
ous can give me an infallible certainty of the Infallibili
ty of the Church, t. Because it is impossible by Reason
to prove, that men must not use their own Reason and
Judgment in nutters of Religion.
i . No Arguments can give me an infallible certainty
of the Infallibility of the Church. The great Motive
to any man to forsake the other Communions of Chri
stians, and to go over to the Church of Rome, is to attain
an Infallibility in Faith, which is a wonderful good thing, *
if it were to be had ; but though the Church of Rome
were Infallible, and I should be convinced that there
were some reason to ttoinfc so, yet unless I can be infal
libly assured of it, my Faith still as fallible as the Pro
testant Faith is ; and I am no nearer to Infallibility in
the Church of Rome, thin in the Church of England.
For as I observed before, unlese I can have an infallible
certainty of the Infallibility of the Church, I can have
no Infallibility at all : Though the Church were trifalD
lible

ible in all her Decrees, I can never be infallibly certain
of the truth of her Decrees, unless I be infallibly certain
that she is infallible. It is a known Rule in Logic, that
the Conclusion must follow the weaker part, and there
fore it is impossible to inser an infallible Faith from the
fallible Belief of the Churches Infallibility.
. And yet the best Reasons in the World ( which is
all that disputing can do, to offer Reasons for our Faith)
cannot give us an infallible certainty, because Reason it
self is not an infallible Principle, at least the Church of
Rome dares not own, that any mans private Reason and
Judgment is infallible; for then Protestants may set up
for Infallibility as well as Papists. No man, by Reason
and Argument, can arrive at a greater Certainty than
Pfotestants may have, and yet no man can arrive at
greater certainty in the way of disputing, than Reason
and Argument can give him ; and then a Popish Con
vert, who is reasoned into the belief of Infallibility,
though he has changed his Opinion, yet has no more
Infallibility now, than he had when he was a Prote.
flant. Protestants, without an Infallible Church, may,
have all the Certainty that Reason and Argument can
give them ; and a Convert has no greater Certainty
(if he have no more than what Disputing could give
'him ) for his Infallible Church :* And how is it pofiible
then, that a reasonable man can be disputed out of the
Church of England into the Church of Rome, upon such
vain hopes of a more infallible certainty ? for let him go
where he will, if he be lead t9 Rome it self by his own
fallible Reason and Judgment, (which is the only Guide
he has in disputing) he will be the same fallible Creature
that ever he was. But to represent this the more fa
miliarly, let us hear a short Conserence between a sturdy.
Protestant, and a new Convert.
Prot.

. Trot. O, myxoid Friend ! I am glad to meet you, for
I have longed to know what change you find in your self,
since you are become an Infallible Believer.
Conv. I find, Sir, what I expected, very great ease and
satisfaction of mind, since I am delivered from all doubt
ful Dilutes in such an important concernment as the
Salvation of my So*ul, and have a firm and sure Rock to
trust to, such an Infallible Church as cannot err it self,
nor mis-guide me.
Frot. This, I consess, is a very great advantage 5 and
therefore as we have been formerly of the fame Church
and Communion, I would be glad to keepydu company
also in so advantageous a change. Pray therefore tell
me, how you came to be so infallibly perfwaded of the
Infallibility of your Church.
Conv. With all my heart 5 ind I shall be very glad of
such company : and indeed there are such powerful Rea
sons for it, as I am sure must convince so free and inge
nuous a mind, as you always carry about with you. For
Christ has promised to build his Church upon St. seter,
and that the Gates of Hell (hall not prevail against
it
Trot. Hold, good Sir ! Reason ! Are you got no far
ther than Reason yet ? Will Reason ever make a man
infallible? I have considered all the Reasons that are
used to this purpose, and know what to say to them, if
that were our business ; and the truth is, I have a great
deal of unanswerable Reason, to stay where I am ; and
am a little surprized, to think that you, or any man,
mould leave the Church of England for want of Reason,
or go to the Church of Rome lor it : and therefore pray
tell me the Secret, for there must be something else to
make Converts, besides Reason.
Conv. Then I perceive you take me for a Knave/who
. \\
D x
have

have changed my Religion for base secular Ends, with
out Reason.
Trot. You know that best 5 but that was not my
meaning : but the reason of my Question was, because
you changed for an infallible Faith. Now if you rely
still upon Reason, I don't see how your Faith is more in
fallible than mine : for I am as confident, as you can be,
that I have as good Reasons for my Faith, and in my opinion much better, than you have for yours.
Conv. I beg your pardon for that : I rely upon the
Authority of an Infallible Church, you trust to your
private Reason.
Trot. And I beg your pardon, Sir : for I rely on the
Authority of Scripture, which is as infallible as your
Church.
Conv. But you rely oft your own Reason for the Au
thority of Scripture, and those particular Doctrines you
draw from it.
Trot. And you rely on your own Reason and Judg
ment, for the Infallibility of your Church, and conse
quently of all the Doctrines of it ; and therefore your
infallible Faith is as much resolved into your own fallible
Judgment, as the Protestant Faith is : so that the diffe
rence between us is not, that your Faith is infallible,
and ours fallible ; for they are both alike, call it what
you will, fallible or infallible ; but the Dispute is, whe
ther your Reason and Judgment, or ours, be best : and
therefore if you think your Reason better than ours, you
did well to change ; but if you changed your Church,
hoping to grow more infallible by it, you were miserab
ly mistaken, and may return to us again: for we have
more rational Certainty than you have, and you have no
more infallible Certainty than we. You think you are
reasonably assured that your Church is infallible, and
then

then you take up your Religion upon trust from your
Church, without, and many times against Sense and Rea
son, according as it happens; so that you have onely a
general assurance of the Infallibility of your Church, and
that no greater than Protestants pretend to in other cases,
viz. the certainty of Reason and Argument ; but have
not so much as a rational assurance ofthe truth of your
particular Doctrines ; that if you be mistaken about the
Infallibility of your Church, you must be miserably mi
staken about very thing else, which you have no other
evidence for. But now we are in general assured, that
the Scriptures are the Word of God, and in particular are
assured, that the Faith, which we prosess, is agreeable to
Scripture, or expresly contained in it, and does not con
tradict either Sense or Reason, or any other Principle of
Knowledge. So that we have as much assirance of eve
ry Article of our Faith, as you have of the Infallibility of
your Church ; and therefore have at least double and
treble the assurance that you have. But if you know the
Reasons of your Conversion, I desire to know of you,
What made you think, that you wanted Certainty in the
Church of England?
Conv. Because with you every man is left to his own
private Reason and Judgment, the efsects of which, are
very visible in that infinite variety of'Sects among you,
which shews what an uncertain thing your Reason is,
that so sevp judge alike of the power and validity of the
fame Reasons.
Trot. And were you not sensible at the same time,
that yoil were left to your own Reason and Judgment, .
when you turned Papist ? Are you not sensible, that
men do as little agreebout your Refsons for Infallibili
ty, as they do about any Protestant Reasons ? Do not I
know the Reasons alledged by you for the Infallibility of
- '
your.
22

your Church as well as you do : And do we not still dif
fer about them ? And is not this as much an Argument
of the uncertainty of those Reasons, which make you a
Papist, that they cannot make me a Papist, as the distent
of Protestants in other matters, is of the uncertainty of
their Reasons ? Could you indeed be infallibly allured of
the Infallibility of your Church, I grant you would have
the advantage of us, but while you found your belief of
Infallibility upon such an uncertain Principle, as you think
Reason is ; if Certainty had been your onely aim, you
might as well have continued in the Church of England,
as have gone over to Rome.
This abundantly shews w hat a ridiculous thing it is for
a Protestant to be disputed out of his Church and Religi
on, upou a pretence of more infallible Certainty in the
Church of Rome : Were they indeed inspired with an in
fallible assurance, that the Church of Rome is Infallible,
there might be some pretence for this; but an Infallibili
ty which has no better foundation than mens private Rea
son, and private Judgment, is no Infallibility, but has all
the fame uncertainties, which they charge on the Prote
stant Faith, and a great deal more, becaule it is not found
ed upon such great and certain Reasons.
The plain truth is, men may be taught from their In
fancy to believe the Church Infallible, and when they are
grown up, may take it, without examination, for a first
and self-evident Principle, and think this an infallible.
Faith : but men wllo understand the difference between
the evidence of Reason and Infallibility, can never found
an infallible Faith on Reason, nor think that a man who
is reasoned into the bekef of the Infallibility of the
Church, is more infallible in his 5aith, than a Protestant
is : And such a man will see no reason to quit the Church
of England, fr he lake of an infallible Faith ; for though
they

they had an infallible Guide,yet Reason cannot give them
an infallible assurance of it, but can rise no higher at most
than a Protestant certainty.
z. It is impossible also by Reason to prove, that men
must not use their own Reason and Judgment in matters
of Rel igfon. If any man should attempt to perswad%
you of this, ask him, why -then he goes about to dispute
with you about Religion ? whether men can dispute
without using their own Reason and Tudgment? whe
ther they can be convinced without it ? whether his of
sering to dispute with you agamtt the use of your Rea
son, does not prove him ridiculous and absurd ? For if
you must not use your Reason, why does he appeal to
your Reason ? And whether you should not be as ridi
culous and absurd as he, if by his Reasons and Arguments
you should be perswaded to condemn the use of Reason
in Religion ? Which would be in the same act to do, what
you condemn, to use your Reason when you condemn
it. If you must not use your Reason and private Judg
ment, then you must not by any Reasons be perswaded
to condemn the use of Reason ; for to condemn is an act
of Judgment, which you must not use in matters of Re
ligion. So that this is a point which no man can dispute
against, and which no man can be convinced of by dispu
ting, without the reproach of self-contradiction.
This is an honourable way of silencing these-troublesome and clamorous Disputants, to let them see, that
*their Principles will' not allow of Disputing, and that
some of their Fundamental Doctrines, which they impose
upon the World, are a direct contradiction to all Disputes,
for the very admitting of a Dispute, confutes them,. and
the meanest man may quickly fay more in this Cause,
than their greatest Disputants can answer.
CHAP.
A Preservative againU FOFEKT.
chap.
n.
Concerning the several Topicks of Dispute.
Sect. I.
'
Concerning Argumentsfrom Reason.
x. '~|*"kHe next Direction relates to the Topicks from

,1
which they Dispute ; which are, either Rea
son, Scripture, or the Authority of the ancient Fathers
and Writers of the Christian Church ; for the infallible
Authority of Popes, or General Councils, is the thing in
dispute between-us, and therefore can prove nothing till
that be first proved by something else.
i . To begin then with Reason : Now we do allow of
Reason in matters of Religion ; and our Adversaries pre
tend to use it, when they think it will serve their turn,
and rail at it, and despise it, when it is against them.
Not that we make Natural Reason the Rule or the
Measure of our Faith ; for to believe nothing but what
may be proved by Natural Reason, is to reject Revelati
on, or to tkstroy the necessity of it ; For what use is there
'of a Revelation, or at least what necessity of it, if nothing
must be revealed, but what might have been known by
Natural Reason without Revelation-; or at least what
Natural Reason <:an fully comprehend, when it is reveal
ed i But though we believe such things, when they are
reveakd by God, which Natural Reason couW never
have taught us, and which Natural Reason does not see
the depths and mysteries of; and therefore do not stint
our

our Faith, and confine it within the narrow bounds of
Natural Reason ; yet we use our Reason to distinguish a
true from a counterseit ReveJation,and we use Reason to
understand a Revelation ; and we Reason and Argue
from revealed Principles, as we do from the Principles
of Natural Knowledge : As from that Natural Principle,
that there is but one God, we might conclude.without a
Revelation, that we must worship but one God : so from
that revealed Doctrine of one Mediator between God
and Man.we may as sasely conclude.that we must make
our Applications , and osier up our Prayers and Petiti
ons to God, only by this one Mediator ; and so in other
cases.
Now to direct Protestants how to secure themselves
from being imposed on by the fallacious Reasoning of Ro
man Priests* I shall take notice of some of the chief faults
in their way of Reasoning ; and when these are once
known, it will be an easie matter for men of ordinary
understandings, to detect their Sophistry.
i. As first, we must allow of no Reason against the
Authority of plain and express Scripture : This all men
must grant, who allow the Authority of Scripture to be
superiour to Natural Reason ; for though Scripture can*
not contradict plain, and necessary, and eternal Reasons,
i. e. what the universal Reason of Mankind teaches for a
necessary and eternal Truth ; yet God may command
such things, as we see no Natural Reason for, and forbid
such things as we see no Natural Reason against ; nay, it
may be, when we think there are plausible Reasons against what God commands, aud for what he forbids :
But in all such cases a Divine Law must take place against
our uncertain Reasonings ; for we may reasonably con
clude, that God understands the Reasons and Natures of
things, better than we do.
E
As
A Preservative againU P 0 P E RY.

As for instance,when there is such an express Law as,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy Godt and him only /halt
thou serve : No reason in the World can justifie the Wor
ship of any other Being, good or bad Spirits, besides God,
because theresis an express Law against it, and no Rea
son can t3ke place against a Law. Hie like may be said
of the Second Commandment, Thou /halt not make to thy
self arty gra ven Image, nor the likenefi of any thing which
is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the wa
ters under the earths thou /halt not low down to them, nor
worship them. Which is so express a Law against Image- Worship, that no Reason must be admitted for k.
No man need to trouble himself to answer the Reasons
urged for such Practices, for no Reasons ought to be al
lowed, nor any Dispute admitted against such exprcfe
Laws.
This, I suppose, all men will grant : but then the diffi
culty is, What is an express Law > For the Sence of the
Law is the Law; and if there may be such a Sence put
on the words, as will reconcile these Reasons with the
Law, we must not fay then, that such Reasons are afainst the Law, when, though they may be against the
,aw in some sence, yet they are consistent with other
sences of the Law; and it is most likely, that is the true
sence of the Law, which has the best reason on its
fide.
It must be consessed, there is some truth m this, when
the words of the Law are capable of different sences.and
Reason is for one sence, and the other sence against Rea
son, there it is fit, that a plain and necelwry Reason
should expound the Law r but when the Law is not ca
pable of such different sences,or there is no such reason as
makes one sence absurd, and the other neceslary, the
Law must be expounded according to the most plain and
obvious
A Preservative against POPERY.
1}
obvious signification of the Words, though it should

condemn that, which we think, there may be some rea
son for, or at least no reason against ; for otherwise it is
#
an eafie* matter to expound away all the Laws of God.
To'be fvlre all men must grant, that such Reasons as de
stroy the Law, or put an absurd or impossible sence on
it, are against the Law, and therefore must be rejected,
how plausible soever they appear : As for iristance,Some
there are, who to excuse the Church of Rente from Ido
latry in Worshipping Saints, and Angels, and the Virgin
Mary, positively affirm, that no man can be guilty oi Idolatry, who worships one Supreme God; as a late Au
thor exprefly reaches : As for the Invocation of Saints,un- ntaf0HSf0r akfi they Worship them as the Supreme God, the Charge of brogating tbt
Idolatry is an tale word ; and the Adoration it self, whichT,n' P''3J'
u given to them as Saints, is a dirett Protestation against
Idolatry lecaufe it supposes a Superiour Deity ; and that
suppofition cuts offthe very being of Idolatry. Now, not
to examine what force there is in this Realbn.our present
enquiry is onely, How this agrees with the first Commandment,f<> shalt have none.otherGods before me ? be
fore my Face, as it is in the Hebrew: Which supposes an
acknowledgment of the Supreme God, together with other Gods; for otherwise, though they Worship other
Gods, they do not do it before the Face of God, while
they see him, as it were, present before them : to worship other Gods in the presence of the Supreme God, or
before his Face, as that Phrase signifies, is to worship
them together with him ; and therefore this is well ex- .
prefled by the Septuagislt, by txW
besides me ; which
supposes that they worshipped him too. - And our Savi
our expounds this Law by, thou /halt worship the Lord M b
thy God, and him onely /halt thou serve. So that this
'*
Reason, That there can be no Idolatry, where the Lord
E *l
Jeho-
2%
aid. p. 80.
A Preservative against POPEKT.

Jehovah is Worshipped as the Supreme God, contradicts
the very letter of this Law.
How then does this Author get rid of the first Commandment? Truly by laying it all aside: for he gives
this as the whole Sence of the first Command mem /That
God enjoyns the Worship of himself, who, by his Almighty
Power, had delivered them from their gyptian Bondage.
Bur is this all that these words, Thou shalt have no other
Gods before me, signifies? The Worship of God indeed
is supposed in them; but t)ie express words of the Law,
are not for the Worship of the Lord Jehovah, but against
the Worship of any other Gods, before him, or besides
him : But according to our new Expositor, this is no
part of the Law, though according to the express words,
it is the principal, if not the whole meaning of it.
If this Argument be good, viz. That Idolatry is no
thing else, but the Worship of other Beings besides the
Lord Jehovah, as Supreme Gods, then other Gods, in this
Commandment, must signifie other Supreme Gods; and
then the Commandment runs thus : Thou (halt have no
ether supreme Gods before me. Now this is a very absurd
sence.because it supposes.that men may Believe and Wor
ship more Supreme Gods than one ; for if there can be but
one Supreme God,and by Gods in the Commandment,be
meant Supreme Gods, then it is absurd to forbid any man
to have other Supreme Gods,because no man can acknow
ledge two Supremes : It should have been,Thou shalt not
have any other God besides me, not Gods : For thd it had
been possible for them to have acknowledged some other
God to be Supreme, and rejected the Lord Jehovah horn.
being Supreme, yet they could not have other Supreme
Gods. But it is evident, tliat God here forbids the Wor
ship of a Plurality of Gods,ofother Gods; and therefore
they could not all be Supreme Gods.
But
A Preservative againtt PO PERT.

But suppose it had been any other God in the single
number, yet to understand this of a Supreme God, is
Very absurd; because there is no other Supreme God,
but the Lord Jehovah, and those who worihip but one
Supreme God, worship him, and none else. For a Su
preme God is not to be pointed at, is not to be distin
guished by his Person or Features, as one man is distin
guished from another: indeed' a Prince may properly
fay to his Subjects, You shall own none but me for your
King, because they know his Person, and can distinguish
him from all other men. But the Jews never saw God,
nor any likeness or similitude of him ; they were not
acquainted with his Person, nor could they distinguish
him from other Gods , by any personal Characters ;
they knew him onely by his Notion and Character of
the Supreme Being, who made the World and all things
in it, and brought them by a mighty Hand out of the
Land of gypt. Now does it not found very strange,
that the Supreme God, who is known onely by this
Character, that he is Supreme, the Great Creator and So
vereign Lord of the World, mould make a Law, that
we should worship no other Supreme God but himself ;
when it is absolutely impossible, that he who worships
a Supreme and Sovereign God, should worship any other God but himself, because he alone is the Supreme
God; and therefore those who worship the Supreme
God, upder this Notion as Supreme, worship him, and
no other Being. So that if we will make sence of it,
the meaning of the first Commandment is plainly this :
Thou shalt not give Divine Honours to any other Be
ings, as to inseriour Gods, as the Idolatrous Practice of
the World now is, which worships a great many things
for Gods; but thou shalt worship onely one Supreme
and Soveraign Being, the Maker and Sovereign Lord of
A ?reservative againft FOFERT.

the World, which is I my self, the Lord Jehovah, who
brought thee out of the Land of gypt , out of the
Hotile of Bondage. When the Supream God com
mands us to worlhip himself, the meaning must be, that
we pay our Worship and Adorations to a Supream Be
ing, considered as Supream ; and he who worships such
a Supream Being, worships the true God, whom we can
distinguish from false Gods only by this Character, that
he is Supream : And when this Supream Being forbids
ns to worship any other Gods, it must signifie, that we
must worship nothing which is not Supream, not that
we must not believe that which is not Supream to be
the Supream God ; which would be ridiculous Nonsence,
to command them not to own that Being for the Su
pream God, which they know not to be Supream.
But it may be said, that the Heathens did worship
some Beings, who were not the Supream God, as Su
pream, as this Author tells us, they did the Sun, though
no body told him so, that I know of ; for Macrohus^
whom he cites in this Cause, does not fay, that they
worshipped the Sun as Supream God, though he fays
that most of the Gods they worshipped did signifie the
Sun : But suppose the Sun were the chief Object of their
Worship, and look'd on as the greate'st and most priiv
cipal God, this does not prove that they worshipped it as
the Supream God : for these are two very different
things to be worshipped as the chief God, which such a
People have, and to be worshipped under the Notion of
Absolutely Supream.
Some Pagan Idolaters might
worship a Creature as their chief and greatest Deity,
and might call it their great, their greatest God, because
it is the greatest God they have ; their King and Prince
of Gods, as Mr. Selden tells us, they called the Sun, as
being the chief Planet who directed and governed the
Insluen
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Influences of the rest, not as the Maker of the World,
as this Author asserts : But those who direct their
Worship to a Supream aud Soveraign Being, considered
as absolutely Supream, infinite in all Persections, the
Maker and Governour of the whole World, can under
this Notion worship no other but the Lord jekovab, be
cause there is no other Supream God but he. Which
shews, that the first Commandment is so far from for
bidding the Worship of other Supream Gods, besides the
Lord Jehovah, that to make sence of it, these other Goefs
must be expounded not of Supream, but inseriour Dei
ties ; and it is so far from being the Notion of Idolatry,
to worship other Supream Beings, besides the Lord Je
hovah, that it is Nonsence to suppose it. The true No
tion of Idolatry in the first Commandment, is to worship some Inseriour Beings, together with the Supream
God : It is a grosser fort of Idolatry, when men wholly
neglect the Worship of the Supream God, and worship
some Creature for their greatest and chiesest God ; and
it is worse still, when men worship bad Spirits, than
when they worship good Spirits, together with the Su
pream God : but it is evident, this Law condemns the
Worship of any Inseriour Beings, though we do also
worship the Supream God.
I shall give but one Instance more of this nature, and
that is, the second Commandment, which in such ex
press words forbids the Worship of all Images, of what
kind or nature soever. Now whatever Reasons men
may imagine there are for the Worship of Images, they
can be of no force against an express Law : And if these
words be not express, Thou shalt not make to thy self any
graven image, &c. I deipair of ever seeing an express
Law. For had God intended by this Law to forbid the
Worship of any Images, under what notion or respects
soever,.
52
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soever, I would desire to know what more significant

and comprehensive words could have been used to have
declared his mind, unless he had expresly rejected those
false Interpretations, which the Patrons of Image-Wor
ship have since invented, but were never thought on at
thatHime.
ibid. p. 30.
The same Author, whom I have so often mentioned,
having expounded the first Commandment only to a
positive sence, not to forbid the Worship of other Gods,
but only to command the Worship of the Lord Jehovah,
exprefly contrary to the very letter and plain sence of the
Law ; agreeably to this.he makes the second Commandment only to forbid the Worship of Idols or false Gods,
and not that neither, unless they take them for the Supream Deity. His words are these :
In the next place, he forbids them the Worship of all
Idols, i. e. as himself describes them, the likenefi or fimili
tude of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth
beneath, or in the Water under the Earth. A plain and
indeed a logical definition this, that Idolatry is giving the
Worship of the Suprearn God to any created, corporeal, or
vifible Deity, or any thing that can be represented by an
Image, which nothing but corporeal Beings can, and to sup
pose such a Being the Supream Deity, is the only true and
proper Idolatry. Now let^ny man judge, whether this
be not such a gloss as utterly destroys the Text.
As for his Worship of Idols, there is no such word in
the Law, but Images, Likenesses, Similitudes ; but yet
I will not dispute about this, for an Idol does not only
signifie a false God, but the Images either of false Gods,
or false and corporeal Images of the true God. For the
135 P&L 15. Idols ofthe Heathens, as the Psalmist tells us, are filver,
and gold, the work of mens hands ; which can relate to
nothing but Images and Pictures: for corporeal Deities,
which
j
I
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which were made by God,are not the work ofmens hands.
Now Idolatry , he fays, is giving the Worship of the
Supream God to any created , corporeal, or vifible Deity,
or any thing which can be represented by an Image , which
nothing but corporeal Beings can. Now how plain and lo
gical loever this definition of Idolatry be, there is not a
word of it in the Text. That forbids not the Worship
of any created, corporeal, or visible Deity, (which is
forbid in the first Commandment) but only the Wor
ship of Images, the likenefi of any thing in Heaven, or
Earth, or in the Water under the Earth.
Now an Image
differs from the thing whose Image it is. And it is a
very strange Exposition of the second Commandment,
which forbids nothing lse but the Worship of Images,
to take no notice of the Worship of Images as forbid in
it. According to this gloss upon the Law, a man may
worship ten thousand Images and Pictures, sj> he do not
worship any visible and corporeal Deity, and not break
this Commandment ; which I think is not to give the
sence of the Law, but to expound it away.
But how does the worship of corporeal and visible
Deities, and nothing else, appeac to be forbid by this
Law, which mentions nothing at all but the likeness of
things in Heaven, and Earth, and Water ? Why, our
learned Author imagines that no Images can be made,
but onely for corporeal and visible Deities, because no
thing but corporeal Beings can be represented by an Image : which Conceit is worth its weight in Gold ; for
it evidently proves, that there are no Pictures of God
the Father, nor of the Trinity, in the Church of Rome,
because they are not corporeal Deities, and therefore can
not be represented by an Image: so miserably have all
Travellers been mistaken, who tell us of a great many
such Pictures, and not very decent ones neither, There
F
can
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can indeed be no Picture or Image to represent the like
ness and similitude of an incorporeal God, but yet the
visible parts of Heaven and Earth, and the visible Crea
tures in them, may be represented by Images, and the
Images of such visible things may be made the symbo
lical representations of invisible and incorporeal Deities;
and such invisible and incorporeal Deities may be wor
shipped in the likeness and similitude of corporeal things;
and then I am sure to forbid the Worship of Images may
sigmsi#fomething more than meerly to forbid the Wor
ship of some visible and corporeal Deities ; for it may
signifiethe Worship of invisible anJ incorporeal Deities,
by visible Images.
But I perceive he imagined, that
when God forbad them to make and worship the like
ness of any thing in Heaven, in Earth, or in the Waters
under the Earth, he only forbad the Worship of those
Beings, whose likeness or Images they made ; whereas
all men know, that those very Idolaters who worship
ped these glorious parts of the Creation ; did not repre
sent them in their proper likenesses and figures ; and that
those who worshipped invisible and incorporeal Beings,
did it by material and visible figures, which plainly
proves, that when God forbad the Worship of Images,
he had not respect meerly to visible and corporeal Dei
ties, but forbad Image-worship, whether they were the
Images of visible and corporeal, or of invisible and incor
poreal Deities.
Our Author durst not fay, (as the Roman Advocates
do) that God in the second Commandment only for
bids the Worship of Images as Gods ; which is such glo
rious Nonsence, that he could not digest it : and there
fore he supposes, that God does not forbid the Worship
of Images at all, but only of such corporeal Deities as
may be represented by Images ; which is a more gentile
way

way of discarding the second Commandment, than to
leave it out of their Books of Devotions. But if he will
stand to this, he condemns the Popish worship of dead
Men and Women, for they are corporeal Deities ; nay,
of Christ himself, considered as a man, who might be
represented by an Image or Picture. And thus I doubt
he has done the Church of Rome no kindness at all : for
this is a Demonstration against the Worship of Saints,
and the Virgin s<ar/^,because they are created, corporeal,
and visible Beings, who maybe represented by Images ;
and he has thought of an Argument against Images,
which neither the Scripture, nor the Church of Rome,
know any thing of : The Church of Rome .thinks it a
good Argument for the Images of Christ, and the Saints,
and the Virgin Mary, that they are representable by Images and Pictures ; and therefore there can be no hurt
in such Images : And the Scripture perpetually urges
that Argument against Images, that the Deity cannot be
represented by an Image ; but neither of these Argu
ments are good, if our Author's Notion be goofl: For
then to worship such corporeal Beings, as may be re
presented by Images, is to worship corporeal Gods,
which is Idolatry. And there is no danger in the Ima
ges of an incorporeal Deity, which cannot represent the
God for which they are made ; for whatever the Image
be, this is not to worship a corporeal God, since we
know him to be incorporeal, and therefore it is not Ido
latry.
,j
' But he has one Salvo still to excuse thole from Idplatry , who worship even corporeal Gods , (for he
speaks hot a word of worshipping the Images of any
Gods) that they are not Idolaters, unless they worship
such corporeal Gods , suppofing then* to be the Supream
Deity ; whereby he explains what he means by giving
'. '
Fx
the
3$
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the Worship of the Supream God to any created, corporeal,
or visible Deity ; viz. to think such a God to be the Su
pream God, is to worship it as Supream. And thus those
who worshipped the Sun, not thinking him to be the
Supream God, but the chief Minister oT Providence un
der the Supream God , with reserence to this Lower
World, as most of the Sun Idolaters seemed to do, were
not Idolaters.
Nay , very sew of the Philosophers ,
though they worshipped their Country Gods, were Idolaters, because they either, did not believe them to be
any Gods, or at least not to be the Supream ; as it is
certain Socrates, and Plato, and Tully, and many others,
did not.
But it is plain, that to worship the Supream God, is
not meerly to suppose him to be Supream ; for St. Paul
tells us , that there were some , who knew God, but
did not worship him as God : and therefore there
is an external and visible Worship, which is due to the
Supream God, as well as the belief, that he is Supream.
And ifi this Worship which is due to the Supream God,
be given to any Being which we our selves do not be
lieve to be Supream, we are Idolaters ; and then though
we do not believe the Gods we worship to be Supream,
any kind or degree of Religious Worship (or which is
used as an Act of Religion, not as common and civil
Respects) is Idolatry. This Commandment brings it as
low as meerly bowing to an Image, and then I doubt no
other Act of Religious Worship can escape the Charge
of Idolatry.
But though it is not my business to persue this Au
thor, I cannot pass over the very next Paragraph, where
he observes , Though there may seem to be two forts of it :
(this Idolatry in worshipping Corporeal Beings) First, ei
ther to worship a material and treated Being, as the Supream
Deity t
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Deity : Or secondly, to ascribe any corporealform or shape
to the Divine Nature, yet in result, both are but one ; for to
ascribe unto the Supreme God any corporealsorm , ut he same
thing as to worship a created Being , for so is every corporeal
Substance.
Which is a very wonderful Paragraph : for
thus some of the Ancient Christians, who believed God to
be Corporeal, (as tertullian himlelf did) but yet did not
believe that he was created, but that he created all things,
were as very Idolaters, as those who worshipped the Sun
or Earth : And I would gladly know, who those men are,
who ascribe unto the Supreme God, a Corporeal so*m,
and yet think, that he was created. I am apt to think
they differ a little in their Philosophy from our Author,
and did believe that a Corporeal Supreme Deity might
be uncreated ; and then, I suppose, there may be some
difference also between their worshipping a Corporeal
Created , and a Corporeal Uncreated God , at least if
mens Belief and Opinions of things makes a difference,
as this Author must allow ; for, if I understand him, to
worship a Corporeal Being, without believing it to be Su
preme, does not make them Idolaters, but if they be
lieve it Supreme, it does; and by the fame reason, thd
to worship a Supreme Corporeal Created Deity (if that
be not a contradiction) be Idolatry , yet to worship a
Corporeal, which they believe to be an Uncreated Deity,
is no Idolatry : For though I believe, with our Author,
that all Corporeal Beings are created, yet, I suppose, those
who believed God to be Corporeal, did not believe, that
every thing, that is Corporeal, was created.
So that the first and second Commandments are very
plain and express Laws, the one forbidding the Religious
Worship of all inseriour Beings,Corporeal,or Incorporeal*
with or without the Supream God, or forbidding the
Worship of all other Beings but the Supreme God ; the
other
A Preservative againtt POPERT.

other forbidding the External and Visible Worship ofany material Images and Pictures: And though I am cer
tain, there can be no good Arguments to justifie such
Practices as are forbid by these Laws, yet no Christian
need trouble himself to answer them, for be they what
they will, it is a sufficient answer to them, to say, They
are against an express Law.
%. Another Rule is, in matters of Faith, or in such
things as can be known onely by Revelation, Not to
build our Faith upon any Reason, without the Authori
ty of Scripture. That this may be the better under
stood, I shall briefly shew what these things are, which
can be known onely by Revelation, and therefore which
every Protestant should demand a plain Scripture-proof
for, before he believes them, whatever Reasons are pre
tended for them : As,
i. Whatever depends solely upon the Will and Appbintment of God, which God might do, or might not
do, as he pleased. In such cases our onely inquiry is,
What God has done? And this can be known onely by
Revelation ; for Reason cannot discover it, because it de
pends not upon any necessary Reason, but on the free
and arbitrary appointment of God : as St. Paul tells us,
That as no man knows the things of a man, but the spirit of
man, that is in him ; so no man knoweth the things of God,
but the spirit of God: That is, as no man can tell the se
cret thoughts and purposes of a man, nor how he will
determine himself in matters of his own free Choice and
Election : so what depends purely upon the Will of God,
is known onely to the Spirit of God, and therefore can
be made known to us onely by Revelation. Many such things there are in dispute between us and
the Church of Rome, which depend so intirely upon the
Will of God, that they may be, ox may not be, as God
pleases. As for instance :
No

No man, nor company of men can be Infallible, un
less God bestow Infallibility on them ; for Infallibili
ty is not a natural Endowment, but a supernatural Gift ;
and therefore no reason can prove, the Bishop of Rome,
'or a General Council to be Infallible. God may make
them Infallible if he pleases, and if he pleases, he may
not do it : and therefore our only inquiry here is, What
God has done ? And this can be known only by Revela
tion.
Thus that the Church of Rome only, and those Chur
ches that are in Communion with her, mould be the Catholick Church, and the Bishop of Rome the Oecumeni
cal Pastor, and the Center of Catholick Unity must de
pend wholly upon Institution, for nothing but the Will
and Appointment of God, can give this Preheminence
and Prerogative to the Church and Bishop of Rome, above all other Churches and Bishops. No reason then
can prove this without pkin and express Scripture to
prove such an Institution.
Were there nothing in Scripture or Reason to prove,
that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not a propitia
tory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead, yet no Rea
son can prove, that it is: For thevertue and acceptation
of a Sacrifice, intirely depends upon the will and ap
pointment of God, at least so far, that no Sacrifice can be
Propitiatory without it : And. therefore there can be no
other proof, that thdMass isa propitiatory Sacrifice, but
the declaration of God's Will and Institution, that it stjalfe
be so.
z. Those things also can be proved only by Scripture,
which are done in the other World,which isan unknown
and invisible State to. us, any farther than the Scripture
has revealed it : and men may more reasonably expect to
find out, by the power of Reason, what is done every
A Preservative againH f 0 P E RT.

day injChina, or the most remote and unknown parts'of
the Earth, than what is done in the other World. And
then there are a great many things wherein you must
reject all pretences to Realon, any farther than it is sup
ported by plain and evident Scripture. As to give some
instances of this also :
i. No reason can prove, that there is such a place as
Purgatory , for that isan invisible place in the other
World; if there be any such place, no man living ever
(aw it ; and then how can any man know, that there is
such a place, unless it be revealed? To attempt to prove
that there is such a place as Purgatory, meerly by Rea
son, is just as if a man-, who had some general notion of
an Inquisition, but never had any credible information,
that there actually was any such place, should under
take to prove, by Reason, that there is and must be such
a place as the Inquisition ; though he would happen to
guess right, yet it is certain his Reasons signified nothing ;
for some Countries have the Inquisition, and some have
not ; and therefore there might have been no Inquisition
any where, how strong soever the Reasons for it might
be thought to be. We may as well describe, by the
power of Reason, the World in the^Moon, and what kind
of Inhabitants there are there, by' what Laws they Jive,
what their Business, what their Pleasures, and what their
Punishments are, as pretend to prove, that there is a Pur
gatory in the next World, for they are both equally un
known to us ; and if Reason cannot prove that there is
such a Place as Purgatory, nothing else which relates to
Purgatory, can be proved by Reason.
x. Nor can we know what the state of. Saints in Hea
ven is, without a Revelation, for no man has been there
to see : the slate of the other World is such things as nei
ther Eye hath seen, nor Ear heard, neither hath it entred
into
A Preservative against POPERT.

into the Heart of man to conceive. And then I cannot
understand how we should know these things by Rea
son.
The Church of Rome teaches us to Pray to Saints, and
to flie to their Help and Aid : And there are a great ma
ny things which a wise man would desire to know, be
fore he can think it sit to pray to them ; which yet it is
impossible to know, without a Revelation : as, Whether
the Saints we direct our Prayers to, be in Heaven ?
Which is very fit to be known, and yet can certainly be
known but of a very sew of that vast number, that are
worshipped in the Church of Rome ; the Apostles of
Christ, and the Virgin Mary, we have reason to believe
are in Heaven, and we may hope well of others, but we
cannot know it : No man can see who is there, and
bare hope, how strong soever, is not a sufficient founda
tion for such a Religious Invocation of unknown Saints,
who, after all <Jur perswasions that they are in Heaven,
may be in Hell, or at least in Purgatory, where they
want our Prayers, but are not in a condition to interceed
for us.
Thus it is very neceslary to know, what the power
and authority of the Saints in Heaven is, before we pray
to them ; for it is to no purpose to pray to them, unless
we know they can help us. The Council of Trent re
commends to us the Invocation of Saints, as of those who
reign with Christ in Heaven, and therefore have power
and authority to present our Petitions, and procure those
Blessipgs we pray for. And if I could find any such
thing in Scripture, it would be a good reason to pray to
them ; but all the Arguments in the World cannot prove
thiswithout a Revelation : they may be in Heaven, and
not be Mediators and Advocates.
Thus, whatever their power and Authority may be, it
G
is
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is to no purpose to pray to them, unless we are sure,
that they hear our Prayers ; and this nothing but a Re
velation can assure us of; for no natural Reason can assure
us, that meer Creatures, as the most glorious Saints in
Heaven are, can hear our soft, nay mental Prayers, at
such a vast distance, as there is between Heaven and
Earth.
Such matters as these, which Reason can give .us no
asiurance of, if they be to be proved at all, must be pro
ved by Scripture; and therefore as the pretence of pro
ving these things by Reason is vain, so no Protestant
should be so vain, as to trouble himselPto answer such
Reasons.
But you'll fay, The Papists do pretend to prove these
things by Scripture. I answer, So far it is very well ;
and I onely desire our Protestant to keep them to their
Scripture-Proofs, and to reject all their Reasons ; and then
let them see, what they can make of it* As for Scri
pture-Proofs, they shall be considered presently.
3 . More particularly you must renounce all such Rea
sons, as amount to no more than some May-bes and Pos
sibilities ; for what only may be, may not be, and every
thing that is possible, is not actually done. As for in
stance : When you ask these men, How you can be a
fused, that the Saints in Heaven can hear our Prayers ?
They offer to shew you by what ways this may be done :
They may see all things in the Glass of the Trinity, and
thereby know all things, that God knows. Which is
but a may-be; and yet it is a more likely may-be, that
there is no such Glass as gives the Saints a comprehen
sive view of all that is in God. Well, but God can re
veal all the Prayers to the Saints, which are made to
them on Earth. Very right! we dispute not God's
Power to do this, but desire to know, whether he does
it

it or not ; and his bare power to do it, does not prove
that : But the Saints in Heaven may be informed of
what is done on Earth, by those who go from hence thi
ther, or by those Ministring Angels who frequently pass
between Heaven and Earth : but this may not be too>
and if it were, it would not answer the purposes of
Devotion : for in this way of intercourse the News may
fDme too late to the Saints, to whom we pray, for the
aints to do us any good : as, suppose a man pray to the
Virgin Mary in the hour of Death, or in a great Storm at
Sea, the man may be dead, and Ship wrackt before the
Virgin knows of his Prayers, and may carry the first
news of it into the other World himself. Such kind
of May bes and Conjectures as these, are a very sorry
Foundation for an Infallible Church to build her Faith
on.
4. You must reject also all such Reasons in Divine
and Spiritual things, as are drawn from Earthy Patterns.
A considering man would a little wonder, how a Papist
mould so punctually determine what is done in the other World, without speaking with any one who has
seen it, and without having any Revelation about it, as
I have already observed } but whoever considers many
of their Arguments, will soon find that they make this
World the Pattern of the next, and reason from Sensible
to Spiritual things.
Thus the true Foundation of Saint-Worship is, that
men judge of the Court of Heaven by the Courts of
earthly Princes : The most effectual way to obtain any
Request of our Prince, is to address our selves to some
powerful Favourite ; and they take it for granted, that
all Saints and Angels in Heaven are such Favourites, and
can obtain w hateverthey ask; and therefore they pray
very devoutly to them, and beg their Intercession
.
.
G 2
with
A Preservative again& POPERT.

with God and their Saviour. Especially in earthly
Courts the Queen Mother is suppoled to have a power
ful influence upon the young Prince her Son ; and there
fore they do not doubt but the Virgin Mary, the Mo
ther of Christ, can do what she pleales with her Son ;
And since it is generally observed, that Women are more
soft, and tender, and compassionate, than men, they
hope to gain that by her Intercession, which He, wh%
died for them, would not grant without it ; and there
fore they beg her to (hew her self to be a Mother, that
is, to take the Authority of a Mother upon her, and
command her Son. Thus Princes and Great Men love
to have their Pictures set up in publick places, and to
have all civil Respects paid to them, which redounds to
the honour of those whose Pictures they are ; and there
fore they imagine that this is as acceptable to Christ
and the Saints, as it is to Men ; as if the other World
were nothing else but a new Scene of Sense and Passi
on.
Mankind is very apt to such kind of Reasonings as
these ; and indeed they can have no other, when they
will undertake to guess at unseen and unknown things :
But if there be any difference between the Court of Hea
ven and Earth, if pure Spirits, who are separated from
Flesh and Sense, have other Passions and Resentments
than Men have, that is, if we must not judge of spiritual
things by Sense, of the Government of God by the Pas
sions of men, then such Reasonings as these may betray
us to absurd and foolish Superstitions, but are a very ill
Foundation for any new and uncommanded Acts of
Worship.
f. Never admit any Arguments meerly from the
usefulness, conveniency, or supposed necessity of any
thing, to prove that it is. As for instance : A Supream
Oecume

Oecumenical Bishop, and an Infallible Judge os Contro
versies, are thought absolutely necessary to the Unity of
the Church, and Certainty of Faith, and confounding of
Schisms and Heresies. If there be not a Supreme Pa
stor, there can be no Unity ; if there be not an Infallible Judge, there can be no certainty in Religion ; every
man must be left to his own private Judgment, and
then there will be as many different Religions, as there
are Faces. Now if I thought all this were true, (as I
believe not a word of it is ) I should onely conclude ,
that it is great pity that there is not an Universal Pastor
and Infallible Ju<Jge instituted by Christ ; but if you
would have me conclude from these Premises, Ergo,
there is an Universal Bishop and Head of the ChurctL
and an Infallible Judge ot Controversies, I must be^
your pardon for that ; for such Arguments as these do
not prove, that there is such a Judge, but only that there
ought to be one, and therefore I must conclude no more
from them. Indeed this is a very fallacioys way of
Reasoning, because what we may call useful, conveni
ent, necessary, may not be so in it self ; and we have
reason to believe it is not so, if God have not appoint
ed what we think so useful, convenient, or necessary :
which is a truer and more modest way of Reasoning,
than to conclude that God has appointed such a Judge,
when no such thing appears, onely because we think it
so useful and necessary, that he ought to do ir. These
Directions are sufficient, to Preserve all considering Pro
testants from being imposed on by the fallacious Reason
ings of Papists.
v- i,i
; ', ,
Sect.
A Preservative againtt FOPERT.

'.
.''.'l;
- >'
Sect. II.
Concerning Scripture-Proofs.
xv 1' Et us now consider their Scripture-Proofs, though
I , it is not choice, but necessity, which puts them
upon this Tryal : When they have good Cafholicks to
deal with, a little Scripture will serve the turn, but Hereticks will be satisfied with nothing else ; and therefore
in disputing with them, they are forced to make some
little shew and appearance of proving their Doctrines
by Scripture ; but they come very unwillingly to it, and
Pke as much of a little, as may be. The truth is, there
evidence enough, that they have no great confidence
in ihe Scripture themselves, and therefore do not deal
honestly and fairly with poor Hereticks, when they make
their boasts of Scripture.
For did jhey believe that their Doctrines which they
endeavour to prove from Scripture, were plainly and evidently contained in them, why should they deny the
People the liberty of reading the Scriptures ? If the Scri
ptures be for them, why should they be against the Scri
ptures ? The common Pretence is, that those who are
unlearned, put very wild sences upon Scripture, and ex
pound it by their own fancies ; which in many cafes in
deed is too true : but why should the Church of Rome
be more afraid of this, than other Protestant Churches ?
If they think the Scripture is as much for them, as we
think it is for us, why dare not they venture this as well
as we? We are not afraid men should read the Scripture,
though we see what wild Interpretations some put on
them, because we are certain we can prove our Faith by
Scripture, and are able to satisfie all honest men, who

will impartially study the Scriptures, that we give the
true sence of them ; and if they believed, they could do
so too, why do they avoid this tryal, when ever they
can ? For though they admit People to dispute from the
Scripture in England, where they cannot .help it, yet
they will not allow them so much as to see the Scriptures
in Italy or Spain, where they have power to hinder it :
Nay they themselves do in effect consess, that the pecu
liar Doctrines and Practices of their Religion , wherein
they differ from all other Christian Churches, cannot be
proved by Scripture. And therefore to help them our,
where the Scripture fails, they sly to unwritten Tradi
tions, which they make of equal authority with the Scri
ptures themselves ; which they would never do, were
they not convinced, that the Scriptures are not so plain
on their fide, as to satisfie any man, who has not already
given himself up to the Church of Rome with an impli
cit^ Faith.
...
And therefore, before you enter into any debate about
the sence of any particular Texts of Scripture, and their
way ofproving their particular Doctrines from Scripture,
ask them two Questions , without a plain Answer to
which, it is to no purpose to dispute with them out of
Scripture.
\ > ,!.'..'
:
j:.
Ajsk i . Whether they will allow the Holy Scriptures
to be a complete and persect Rule of Faith ; that no
Christian ought to receive any Doctrine for an Article of
Faith, which cannot be proved from Scripture ? This to
be sure they must not allow, unless they will reject the
Council of Trent, which gives as venerable an Authori
ty to Tradition, as to Scripture itself : Since then they
have two Rules, Scripture and Tradition ; when they
pretend to dispute from Scripture, it is reasonable to
know of them, whether they will stand to Scripture, and
A Preservative againH PO PERT.

reject such a Doctrine if it cannot be plainly proved out
ot Scripture : For if they will not stand to this, they give
up their Cause, and there is no need to dispute with
them : For why should I dispute with any man from Scri
pture, who*vill not stand to the determination of Scri
pture ? We ProtestaBts indeed do own the Authority
of Scripture ; and what we see plainly proved out of
Scripture, we must abide by : which is reason enough
for us to examine the Scripture-proofs which are produ
ced by our Adversaries. But it is sufficient to make
them blush, if they had any modesty, to pretend to prove
their Doctrines from Scripture, when they themselves
do not believe them meerly upon the Authority of Scri
pture, and dare not put their Cause upon that issue ;
which gives a jisst suspicion,, that they are conscious to
themselves, that their Scripture-proofs are not good, and
should make Protestants very careful, how they are im
posed on by them. To dispute.upon such Principles as
are not owned on both sides, can establish nothing, thd
it may blunder and confound an Adversary ; it is onely
a tryal of Wit, where the subtilest Disputant will have
the Victory; and it is not worth the while for any man
to dispute upon these terms.
This is not to reject the Authority of Scriptures, be
cause the Papists reject it, which no Protestant can or will
do, but it is an effectual way for men, who are not skil
led in Disputations, to deliver themselves from the
troublesome Importunities of Popish Priests, when learn
ed men, who can detect their Fallacies, are out of the way\
Let them but ask them, Whether all the peculiar Do
ctrines of" the Church of Rome can be proved by plain
Scripture-evidence ? If they fay, they can % then they
must reject the necessity of unwritten Traditions, and
acknowledge the Scripture to be a complete and persect
:".
Rule

Rule of Faith. A point, which I believe, no understand
ing Priest will yield. If they say, they cannot ; ask
them, With what confidence they pretend to prove that
from Scripture, which they consess is not in it > Why
they go about to impose upon you, and to perswade you
to believe that upon the Authority of Scripture, which
they themselves consess, is not, at least not plainly, con
tained in Scripture.
2. Ask such Disputants, who alledge the Authority of
Scripture to prove their Popish Doctrines, How they
themselves know what the sence of Scripture is, and how
you (hall know it ? For it is a ridiculous undertaking
to prove any thing by Scripture, unless there be a cer
tain way of rinding out the sence of Scripture. Now
there can be but three ways of doing this, either by an
infallible Interpreter, or by the unanimous Consent of
Primitive Fathers, or by such Humane means as are used
to find out the sence ofother Books.
I. If they fay, we must learn the sence of Scripture
from an infallible Interpreter : Tell them, this is not to
dispute, but to beg the Cause. They are to prove from
Scripture, the Doctrines of the Chutch of Rome ; and to
do this, they would , have us take the Church of Rome's
Exposition of Scripture. And then we had as good take
her word for all, without disputing. But yet,
They know, that we reject the pretences of an in
fallible Interpreter r We own no such infallible Judge of
the sence of Scripture. And therefore, at least,, if they
will dispute with us, and prove their Doctrines by Scri
pture, they must fetch their Proofs tfom the Scriptures
themselves, and not appeal to an infallible Interpreter,
whom we disown : Which is like appealing to a Judge in
Civil matters, whom one of the contending Parties thinks
incompetent, and to whose Judgment, they wilfnot
A Preservative dgain& POPERY.

stand ; which is never likely to end any Controversie :
and yet they cannot quit an infallible Interpreter, with
out granting, that we may understand the Scriptures
without such an Interpreter ; which is to give up the
Cause of Infallibility.
_ x. One principal Dispute between us.and the Church
of Rome, is about this infallible Interpreter ; and they
know, that we will not own such an Interpreter, unlels
they can prove from Scripture, that there is such an one,
and who he is. The inquiry then is, How we shall
learn from Scripture, that there is such an infallible Inter
preter ? that is, who shall Expound those Scriptures to us,
which must prove that there is an infallible Interpreter?
if without an infallible Interpreter we cannot find out the
true fence of Scripture, how (hall we know the true
sence of Scripture, before we know this infallible Inter
preter ? For an Interpreter, how infallible soever he be,
cannot interpret Scripture for us, before we know him ;
and if we must know this infallible Interpreter by Scri
pture, we must at least understand these Scriptures, which
direct us to this infallible Interpreter, without his as
sistance. So that of necessity some Scriptures must be
understood without an infallible Interpreter, and there
fore he is not neceflary for the Interpretation of all Scri
pture : And then I desire to know, why other Scriptures
may not be understood the fame way, by which we must
sind out the meaning of those Texts which direct us to
an infallible Interpreter > There are a hundred placebos
Scripture, which our Adversaries must grant, are as plain
and easie to be understood, as those: And we believe it
. as easie a matter to find all the other Trent- Articles in
Scripture , as the Supremacy and Infallibility of the
Bishop of Rome. If ever there needed an infallible In
terpreter of Scripture, it is to prove such an infallible
Inter
A Preservative againU POPEKT,

Interpreter from Scripture ; but upon this occasion he
cannot be had, and if we may make shift without him
here, we may as well spare him in all other cases.
a. Suppose we were satisfied from Scripture , that
there is such an infallible Interpreter, yet it were worth
knowing, where his infallible Interpretation is to be
found ; for if there be such an Interpreter who never In
terprets, I know not how either they or we shall under
stand Scripture the better for him : Now, have either
Popes or General Councils given us an authentick and
infallible Exposition of Scripture ? I know of none such :
all the Expositions of Scripture in the Church of Rome,
are writ by private Doctors, who were far enough from
being infallible ; and the business of General Councils,
was not to expound Scripture, but to define Articles of
Faith : and therefore we find the sense of very sew Texts
of Scripture Synodically defined by any General Coun
cil ; I think, not above four or five by the Council of
Trent, So that after all their talk of an infallible Inter
preter , when they undertake to expound particular
Texts, and to dispute with us about the sense of them,
they have no more Infallibility in this, than we have ;
for if they have an infallible Interpreter, they are never
the better for him , for he has not given them an infal
lible Interpretation, and therefore they are forced to do
as Protestants do, interpret Scripture according to their
own skill and understanding, which, I suppose, they will
not fay, is infallible.
But you'll fay, though the Church has not given us an
infallible . Interpretation of Scripture, yet she has given
us an infallible Exposition of the Faith, and that is an in
fallible Rule for expounding Scripture. I answer, there
is a vast difserence between these two : for our dispute
is not about the fense of their Church, but about the
H x
sence
A Preservative againH POPERT.

sence of the Scripture i we know what Doctrines their
Church has defined, but we desire to see them proved
from Scripture : And is it not a very modest and plea
sant proposal, when the Dispute is, how their Faith agrees
with Scripture, to make their Faith the Rule of expound
ing Scripture ? Though, I consess, that is the only way
I know of, to make their Faith and the Scriptures agree ;
but this brings the Scripture to their Faith, does not
prove their Faith from Scripture.
II. As for expounding Scripture by the unanimous con
sent of Primitive Fathers : This is indeed the Rule which
the Council of Trent gives, and which their Doctors
swear to observe ; how well they keep this Oath, they
ought to consider. Now as to this, you may tell them,
that you would readily pay a great deserence to the una
nimous Consent of Fathers, could you tell how to know
it ; and therefore in the first place you desire to know
the agreement of how many Fathers makes an unani
mous Consent : for you have been told, that there have
been as great variety in Interpreting Scripture among
the ancient Fathers, as among our modern Interpreters;
that there are very sew, if any controverted Texts of
Scripture, which are interpreted by an unanimous Con
sent of all the Fathers. If this unanimous Consent then
signifie all the Fathers, we shall be troubled to find such
a Consent in expounding Scripture ; must it then be the
unanimous Consent of the greatest number of Fathers?
This will be a very hard thing, especially for unlearned
men to tell Noses: we can know the Opinion oneJy of
those Fathers who were the Writers in every Age, and
whose Writings have been preserved down to us; and
who can tell, whether the major number of those Fa
thers who did not write, or whose Writings are lost, were
of the fame mind with those whose Writings we have ?
and
A Preservative againB POPEKT.

and why must the major part be always the wisest and
best men I and if they were not, the Consent of a sew
wise men, is to be preserred before great numbers of other Expositors.
Again, ask them, whether these Fathers were Infalli
ble or Traditionary Expositors of Scripture, or whether
they expounded Scripture according to their own pri
vate Reason and Judgment : if they were Infallible Ex
positors, and delivered the Traditionary sence and inter
pretation of Scripture, it is a little strange, how they
should differ in their Expositions of Scripture , and as
strange how private Doctors and Bishops should m that
Age come to be Infallible, and how they should lose it
in this; for now Infallibility is confined to the Bishop of
Rome, and a General Council If they were not Infalli
ble Expositors, how comes their Interpretations of Scri
pture to be so sacred, that it must not be opposed? Nay,
how comes an Infallible Church to prescribe such a Fal
lible Rule of interpreting Scriptures ? If they expound
ed Scripture, according to their own Reason and judg
ment, as it is plain they did ; then their Authority is
np more sacred than their Reason is; and those are the
best Expositors, whether Ancient or Modern, whose Ex
positions are backed with the best Reasons.
We think
it a great confirmation of our Faith, that the Fathers of
the, Church in the first and best Ages did believe the
fame Doctrines , and expound Scripture in great and
concerning points, much to the fame sence that we do;
and therefore we refuse not to appeal to them, but yet
we do not wholly build our Faith upon the Authority of
the Fathers ; we forsake them where they forsake the
Scriptures, or put perverse sences on them ; and so does
the Church of Rome too, after all their boast of the Fa
thers, when they contradict the present i?ww*-Catholick
Faith,

Faith, as they do very often, though I believe without any
malicious design, because they knew nothing of it.
However, ask them once more, whether that sence
which they give of those Texts of Scripture, which are
controverted between us and the Church of Rome, be
confirmed by the unanirtrous consent of all theancient Fa
thers: whether, for instance, all the ancient Fathersdid
expound those Texts, Thou art Peter, and on this Rock
will I luild my Church, and feed my Sheep, &c. of the
personal Supremacy and Infallibility ot Peter and his
Successors the Bishops of Rome? , Whether they all ex
pounded those words, This is my Body, of the Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the
natural Flesh and Bloud of Christ ? and those words,
Drink ye all of this , to signifie , Let none drink of the
Cup but the Priest who consecrates ? and so in other
Scriptures. If they have the confidence to fay, that ill
the Fathers expounded these and such-like Scriptures, as
the Doctors of the Church of Rome now do, tell them,
you have heard and seen other Expositions of such Scri
ptures cited from the ancient Fathers by our Divines,
and that you will reser that cause to them, and have it
tried whenever they please.
III. There is no other way then left of understanding
Scripture, but to expound it as we do other Writings ;
by considering the signification and propriety of^vords,
and phrases, the scope and context of the place, the rea
sons of things, the Analogie between the Old and New
Testament, and the like : When they dispute with Pro
testants, they can reasonably pretend to no other way
of expounding Scripture, because we admit of noother ;
and yet if they allow of this, they open a wide Gap for
all Heresies to come into theChurch ; they give up the
Authority of the Church, and make every man his
own
A Preservative againtt P 0 P E RT.

own Pope, and expose themselves to all the senceless
Rallery of their admired Pax Vohh. By this they con
fess, that the Scripture may be understood by Reason,
that they can back their Interpretations with such pow
erful Arguments, as are able to convince Hereticks, who
reject the Authority of an infallible Interpreter : and
then they must unsay all their hard Sayings against the
Scriptures, That they are dark and obscure dead Letters^
unsenced Charailen, nteer figured Ink and Taper ; they
must recant all their Rallery against expounding Scri
pture by a private Spirit, and allowing every man to
judge of the sence of it, and to chuse what he pleases :
for thus they do themselves when they dispute with
Hereticks about the sence of Scripture ; and I am pret
ty confident, they would never speak against Scripture
nor a private Spirit more, if' this private Spirit would
but make us- Converts ; but the mischief is, a private
Spirit, if it have any tincture of Senceand Reason, sel
dom expounds Scripture to a Roman-Cathqlick sence.
So that in truth it is a vain, nay a dangerous thing
for Papists to dispute with Protestants about the sence
of Scripture ; for it betrays the Cause os the Church,
and vindicates the Scriptures and every mans natural
Right of'judging from the Usurpations and Encroach
ments of a pretended Infallibility ; but yet dispute they
do, and attempt to prove their Doctrines from Scripture.
And because it is too large a task for this present Under
taking, to examine all their Scripture-Proofs, I shall
only observe some general faults they are guilty of,
which whoever is aware of, is in no danger of being
imposed on by their Pretences to Scripture : and I shaS
not industriously multiply Particulars, for there are some sew palpable mistakes, which run through most of their
Scripture-Proofs.
. As,
56
i. As first, many of their Scripture- Proofs are foun. ..ded upon the likeness of a word or phrase, without any
regard to the sence and signification of that word in
Scripture, or to the matter to which it is applied : As
for instance, There is not a more useful Doctrine to the
Church of Rome, than that of unwritten Traditions,
which are of equal Authority with the Scriptures ; for
were this owned, they might put what Novel Doctrines
they pleased upon us, under the venerable name of an
cient and unwritten Traditions. Well, we deny that
there are any such unwritten Traditions , which are of
equal Authority with the Scripture, since the Canon of
Scripture was written and persected, and desire them to
prove that there are any such unwritten Traditions.
Now they think it sufficient to do this, if they can but
find the word Tradition in Scripture; and that we
consess they do in several places : for Tradition signi
fies only the delivery of the Doctrine of the Gospel,
which we grant was not done persectly in writing, when
those Epistles were written, which speak of Traditions,
Thtff.t. 15. by word, as well as by Epistle. But because the whoJe
Doctrine of the Gospel was not written at first, but de
livered by word of mouth, does it hence folloWj that
after the Gospel is written, there are still unwritten Tra
ditions of equal Authority with the Scripture? This is
what they fhould^prove ; and the meer naming of Tra
ditions in Scripture, before the Canon was persected,
does not prove this : for all. men ;knpw, that the ^Gospel
was delivered by word of mouths or by unwritten Tra
dition, before it was written ; but this does by no means
prove, that there are unwritten Traditions, after the
Gospel was written. To prove this, they should (hew
us where it is said, that there are some Traditions which
lhall never be written, that the Rule of Faith shall al.1
ways

ways consist partly of written, partly of unwritten Tra
ditions.
Thus we know how zealous the Church of Rome is
for their Purgatory-fire, wherein all men, who are in a
state of Grace, or delivered from the guilt of their fins,
must yet undergo tRat punishment of them, which has
not been satisfied for by other means. As profitable a
Doctrine as any the Church of Rome has, because it gives
great authority to Sacerdotal Absolution, and sets a good
price uponMasies for theDead.and Indulgences: and yet
the best proof they have for this, is that Fire mentioned,
i Cor. 3 . 13,14,15. Every mans work shall be made mani~
feH ; for the day shall declare it, because itshall be revealed
byfire, and thefireshall declare every mans work ofwhatfort
it is.Ifany mansivorkshall be burnt, heshallsuffer loss : but
he himselfstall be saved, but so at by fire. Now here is
mention of Fire indeed ; but how does it appear to be the
Popish Purgatory > Suppose it were meant of a material
Fire, tho that does not seem so proper to try good or bad
Actions.a true and Orthodox or Heretical Faith, yet this
Fire is not kindled till the Day of Judgment, which is eminently in Scripture called the day, and is the only day,
we know of in Scripture, which (hall be revealed byfire,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealedfrom heaven with
his mighty angels in flaming fire, % ThesT 1 . 7, 8. So that
here is nothing but the word Fire, applied to another
Fire, than St. Paul ever thought on, to prove a Popish
Purgatory.
Thus they make Consession to a Priest ordinarily neceslary to obtain the Forgiveness of our sins; and have
no better Scripture-Proofs for it, but that we are often
commanded to consess our sins, sometimes to God, and
sometimes to one another, but never to a Priest.
They have made a Sacrament of Extream Unction,
I
where

wherein the sick Person is anointed for the Forgiveness
of Sins ; and though a Sacrament ought to have the most
plain and express Institution, both as to the matter, and
form, and use, and end of it, yet the only Proofs they
produce for this, is the Disciples working Miraculous
Cures by Anointing the Sick wish Oyl, 6 Mark 13.
which methinks is a little difserent from the Sacrament
ofcxtreamUnction,which is not to cure their fickncss,but
to forgive their sins ; and St. James his Command, Is any
sick among you, let him callfor the elders of the Church, and
let them fray over him, anointing him with oyl in the name
of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick,
and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have committed
fins, they shall be forgiven him. Where anointing with
Oyl, joyned with servent Prayer, is prescribed as a
means of restoring the sick person to health again ; and
therefore is not the Popisti Extream Unction, which is
to be administred onely to those who are dying : And
though St. James adds, And if he have committedfins,
they shall he forgiven him ; yet, 1 . This is not said to be
the effect of Anointing, but of the servent Prayer : and
2. This very Forgiveness of Sins does not reser to a ple
nary Pardon of sins in the other World, but signifies the
removal of the visible and sensible punishments of Sin,
in restoring the sick Person to health again. That
though such sickness was inflicted on him for his sins,
and possibly were the effects of Church-censures, which
in those days were confirmed and ratified by bodily pu
nishments, yet upon his Reconciliation to the Church,
and the Prayers of the Elders, and the Ceremony of Anointing, he should be restored to health again, which
was an external and visible Remission of his sins, and
should be a plenary Pardon, if he brought forth the true
and genuine fruits of Repentance : This is very natural,
A Preservative agaitiH POPERY.

and very agreeable to the scope and design of the Text,
and differs as much from the Popish Extream Unction,
as their greatest Adversaries could wish. Such kind of
Proofs as these, are mecrly the work of Fancy and Ima
gination, and can impose upon no man who will but at-'
tend to the different use and signification of words.
x. Another grand fault our Roman Adversaries are
guilty of is, that their Scripture-proofs are always very
lame and impersect, that is, that they never prove their
whole Doctrine from Scripture, but only some little
part of it : They draw very fine and artificial Schemes,
and if they can find some little appearance in Scripture to
countenance any one part of it, they take that for a Proof
of the whole. As for instance :
Thus they tell us.that Christ made Peter the Prince of
the Apostles, and the Head of the Universal Church, his
own Vicar upon Eartfi ; and that the Bishops of Rome,
who are St. Peters Successors, succeed not only to his
Chair, but to al! the Rights and Prerogatives of Sr. Pe
ter ; and therefore the Bishop of Rome also is the Head
of the Church, the Oecumenical Pastor, who neither
wants St.Peter's Keys nor Sword. This is a very nota
ble point, if it were well proved ; but as I observed be
fore, this being a matter of pure Institution, which de
pends wholly upon the Will of God, it can be proved
only by Scripture : How much then of this do they pre*
tend to prove from Scripture > Why, they will prove by
Scripture, that St. Peter was the Prince of the Apostles,
because Christ said unto him, Thou art Peter, and oh this
Rock will I build my Church : and / will give unto thee the
Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and feed my Sheep ;
which indeed are lamentable Proofs, for the fame Power
was given to all the Apostles, ro J$bmi,x%, x}. Then
said Jefui unto them) Peace be unto you, as my Father sent
I z
me,
A Preset native againtt POP EKT.

me, even so send Iyou, all of you ; and therefore not one
in subjection to another, but all with equal Power : And
when he had said this, he breathed on them, andfaith unto
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whosoever finsye remit,
'they are remitted unto them ; and whosoever finsye retain,
they are retained. Accordingly on the day of Pentecost;
the Holy Ghost sell on them all, they were all endowed
with the Gift of Tongues, and Miracks, and Prophesie;
they all had the fame Infallible Spirit, and therefore
needed no superiour Head over them : They were to be
separated into all parts of the World, where they could
have no Communication with each other, and therefore
could have no Universal Head. The History of the
Acts of the Apostles gives not the least intimation of any such Superiority, which either St. Peter challenged,
or the other Apostles paid him ; which are flrong Pre
sumptions against such a Supremaoy of St. Peter : and
I suppose they themselves will grant, that all the rest of
the Apostles were as Infallible as he.
But suppose we should grant them, that St. Peter was
the chief of the Apostles, and had a kind of Primacy not
of Government.but Order.how do they prove from Scri
pture, that the Bishop of Rome succeeds in all the Rights
and Prerogatives of St. Peter > for unless this be proved,
whatever Prerogative St. Peter had, it signifies nothing
to them : and yet this cannot be proved, but by institu
tion ; for though Christ had bestowed a Primacy on St.
Peter, yet unless he expresly grant it to his Successors too,
nay to his Successors in the See of Rome, his Primacy, as
being a personal Prerogative.must die with his Person: As
a Prince may grant a Priority to persons in the sameOffice
and Power, may make a first Colonel, or a first Captain,
but if these men to whom the precedency isgiven.die or
are removed.those who succeed in their Office and Power,
to
A Preservative againtt P 0 P E RT.

to the same Regiment or Company, do not therefore suc
ceed to their Priority too ; for this did not belong to their
Office, but to their Persons ; and the King may give the
Priority again to whom he pleases.or appoint them to suc
ceed in course.according to their admission into such Offi
ces. And by the fame reason, the Primacy of the Roman
Bishops, who are St. Peters Successors, docs not follow
from the Primacy of St. Peter, unless they can mew, that
Christ has given them the Primacy also, as well as Sr.
Peter ; and this must be proved jpm Scripture, because
it is matter of Institution, and no Arguments in theWorld
can prove any thing, which depends solely upon an In
stitution, without proving the Institution : Bur this the
Roman Doctors never pretend to, for they know, that
there is not one* word in Scripture about it; and nothing
but the Authority of Scripture can prove a Divine Insti
tution. So that could they prove the Primacy of St. Pe
ter from Scripture, they prove but half their Point, and
that the most inconsiderable half too, for it does them
no good. And therefore when they make a great noise
about St.Peter's Primacy and Prerogatives, never trouble
your selves to dispute that Point with them, which is no
thing to the purpose ; but require them to prove, from
Scripture, that the Bishop of Rome, as St. Peter's Succes- - *
for, is appointed by Christ to be the supream Oecume
nical Bishop, and the Prince of all Bishops. And if
you stick here, as in reason you ought, there is an end
of that Controversie.
Thus there is nothing the Church of Rome makes a
greater noise about, than Infallibility, though they are
not agreed where' to place this Infallibility, whether in
the Pope or a General Council : But let it be where it
will, this being a matter of Institution, must be proved
by Scripture : how then in the first place do they prove
the
A Vrescsvative againtt PO PERT.

the Pope to be Infallible ? That they think is very plain,
because Christ fays,Tbou art Peter\amd upon this rock will I
build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But how does this prove, that the Bishop of
Rome is Infallible > For here is not one word of the Bi
shop of Rome. Yes, this proves St. Peter to be infallible,
who was afterwards Bisliop of Rome, and therefore all
his Successors are Infallible too. Now that St. Peter
was infallible, as all the other Apostles were, we readily
grant ; though, I thinkjthis Text does not prove it : But
does this prove the Bishop of Rome's Infallibility ? Just
as St. Peters Prhnacy proves the Pope to be the Oecu
menical Primate : They themselves must grant, that an
infallible Apostle may have a fallible Bishop for his Suc
cessor ; or else they must either deny, that the rest of the
Apostles, as well as St. Peter, were infallible,or they must
grant, that all the Apostles Successors, that is, all the
Bishops, who succeeded any of the Apostles in their Sees,
must be as infallible as the Bishops of Rome, who succeed
ed St. Peter ; and then there will be so much Infallibili
ty, that it will be worth nothing: If then there be not a
natural and necessary entail of Infallibility upon the Suc
cessors of infallible Apostles, they must shew us an ex' press Institution, which makes the Successors of Peter at
Rome infallible. And let our Protestant demand this,
before he owns the Infallibility of the Pope of Rome, and
then, I believe, they will not think him worth Conver
ting.
Thus as for those who place Infallibility in a General
Council, demand a Scripture-proof of it,that they would
produce the General Council's Charter for Infallibility :
This they can't do ; but they (ay the Church is infallible,
and the General Council is the Church Representative,
and therefore a General Council must be infallible too.
So
A Preservative agawH POPERT.

So that here are several 'things for them to prove, and to
prove by Scripture too ; (for there is no other way of pro
ving them) before they can prove the Infallibility of Ge
neral Councils: As, r. That the Church is Infallible,
a. That a General Council is the Church Representa
tive. 3. That the Church Representative, is that Church
to which the Promile of Infallibility is made. And then
they might conclude, that a General Council, as being
the Church Representative's Infallible. Now instead of
proving every particular of this by Scripture, (as they
must da, if they will prove by Scripture, that General
Councils are Infallible ) they pretend to prove no more
than the first of the three, that the Church is Infallible ;
and that very lamely too, as may appear more hereafter:
and then they take all the rest for granted, without any
proof : which is just as if a man, who in order to prove
his Title to an Estate, is required to prove, that this Estate did anciently belong to his Family, that it was en
tailed upon the Heir Male, that this entail was never cut
off, nor the Estate legally alienated, and that he alone is
the true surviving Heir ; mould think it enough to prove
only the first of these, that the Estate did anciently be
long to his Family ; which it might have done, and yet
not belong to it now, or if it did still belong to it, he
may not be the true Heir.
Thus if we consider what it is they teach about Pur
gatory, we shall quickly perceive, how little it is, they
pretend to prove of it: they tell us, that there is a Pur-'
gatory-fire after this lise,where men undergo the punish
ment of their sins.when.the fault is pardoned : that the
Church has Power, out of her stock of Merits, which
consists of the supererogating Works ofgreat and eminent '
Saints.to grant Pardons & Indulgences to men while they
live, to deliver them from several thousand years punish
ment,.
A Preservative againtt POPERY.

ment, which is due to their fins 'in Purgatory ; that the
Souls in Purgatory may be released out of it by the
Prayers, and Alms.and Masses of the living ; which is the
very lise and soul of this Doctrine of Purgatory: Now
of all this, they pretend to prove no more from Scri
pture, but that there is a Purgatory-fire after this Lise ;
and how they prove it, you have already heard : But
that either Penances or Pilgrimages, and other extraordi
nary Acts of Devotion, while we live, or the Pope's Par
dons and Indulgences, can either remit or shorten the
pains of Purgatory ; or that the Prayers and Alms of
our living Friends, or Masses said for us by mercenary
Priests, can deliver us out of Purgatory, which we are
principally concerned to know, and without which, Pur
gatory will not enrich the Priests, nor the Church ; this
they never attenapt.that I knowof.to prove by Scripture:
Whether there be a Purgatory or not, in it self consider
ed, is a meer speculative point.and of no value : But could .
they prove, that the Pope has the Keys of Purgatory,
and that Alms and Mafles will deliver out of Purgatory ;
this were worth knowing, and is as well worth proving
as any Doctrine pf the Church of Rome, for there is no
thing they get more by. But ifyou will not believe this, .
till they produce a Scripture-Proof of it, you may Jet
them dispute on about the place of Purgatory, and keep
your Money in your Pocket. Thus it is in most other
cases,if you take their whole Doctrine together, and de
mand a Proof of every part of it, and not take a Proof
of some little branch of it,foraProof of the whole, you
will quickly find, that they will not be so fond of dispu
ting, as some of them now are.
3. Another way our Roman Adversaries have of pro
ving their Doctrines from Scripture is, instead of plain
and positive Proofs,to produce some very remote and inevident
A Preservative againU POP EKt.

evident consequences from Scripture, and if they can but
hale a Text of Scripture into the premises, whatever
the conclusion be, they call it a Scripture-Proof. There
are infinite Instances of this, but I can only name some
sew.
Thus they prove the perpetual Infallibility of the
Church, because Christ promises his Disciples to be with
them to the end of the world, i8 Matth. 20. which pro
mise cannot be confined to their persons, for they were
to die long before the egA of the World, and therefore
must extend to their Successors. Suppose that , and
does Christ's being with them, neceslarily signifie, that
he will make them Infallible ? Is not Christ with every
particular Church, with every particular Bishop, nay with
every particular good Christian, and must they all be In
fallible then ?
Thus Christ promises that the Gates of Hell shall not
prevail against his Church ; Ergo, the Church is Infal
lible ; for if Error and Heresie prevails against theChurch,
the Gates of Hell prevail against it : And I add, if Sin
and Wickedness prevail against the Church, the Gates of
Hell prevail against it ; Ergo, the Church is Impeccable,
and cannot sin 3 which is to the full as good a conse
quence as the other : And therefore the Gates of Hell
prevailing, can neither signifie the meer prevalency of
Errors or Sin in the Church, but such a prevalency as
destroys the Church ; and this shall never be, because
Christ has promised it (ball never be ; and it may never
be, though the Church be not Infallible ; and therefore
this does not prove Infallibility.
Thus they prove there is such a place as Purgatory,
where Sins are forgiven and expiated, because our Savi
our fays, That the sin against the Holy Ghost, shall nei
ther be forgiven in this world, nor in the world to come,
K
Matth.
A Yreservative og&'mfi POPE&T.

Matt, i z. 3 x. arid therefore there are some Sins which are
forgiven in the next World, because there is a sin which
shall not be forgiven there. Now not to consider the ordi
nary use of such Phrases to signifie no more, than it (hall
never be, without distinguishing between what is to be
done in this World, arid what in the next ; oay, not to
consider how contrary this is to their own Doctrine of
Purgatory, that then who go to Purgatory have all their
Sins already forgiven, though they must sufser the pu
nishment of them there; which>how absurd soever it is,
yet shews, that Purgatory is not a place of forgiving
Sins ; and therefore cannot be meant by our Saviour in
those words ; yet supposing all they would have, that
there shall be some Sins forgiven in the next World,
which are not forgiven in this ; How does this prove a
Popish Purgatory, where Souls endure such torments as
are not inseriour to those of Hell it self, excepting their
duration ? Thit some Sins shall be forgiven in the next
World, I think, does not very evidently prove, that men
shall be tormented, it may be for several Ages, in theFire
of Purgatory.
Thus they prove the necessity of Auricular Confession
to a Priest, from the power of Judicial Absolution. Christ
has given the Priest power to forgive Sins, and hereby
has made him a Judge, to retain or remit Sins, to ab
solve and inflict: Penances. Now a Judge cannot judge
right, without a particular knowledge of the Fact, and all
the circumstances of it ; and this the Priest cannot know
without the consession of the Penitent : and therefore as
Priests have authority to absolve, so a Penitent, who
would be absolved, must of necessity consess. But now
I should think it a much better consequence, that the
Priest has not such a judicial authority of Absolution, as
requires a particular consession of the Penitent, because
Christ

Christ has no where commanded all men to consess their
Sins to a Priest, than that the Priest has such a judicial
Authority, and therefore all men must consess to a Priest :
for though our Saviour does give power to his Apostles
to remit and retain sins, yet those words do not necessa
rily signifie a judicial Authority to forgive Sins,, or if it
did, it may relate onely to publick Sins, which are too
well known without a private consection ,' or however,
it is not the particular knowledge of the Sin, with all the
circumstances of it, but the marks and characters of true
Repentance for publick or secret Sins, which is the best
rule and direction whom to absolve ; and therefore there
is no need of a particular Consession to this purpose.
But the Sophistry of this is most palpable, when they
draw such consequences from one Text of Scripture, as
directly contradict other plain and express Texts. Thus
because St. Peter tells us, That there are many things
hard to be understood, in St. Paul's Epistles, which they
that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the ather scriptures to their own destruction, 2 Pet. 3.16. From
hence they would conclude, that People ought not to be
allowed to read the Bible : as if St. Peter had intended to
forbid them to read those Epistles , which St. Paul had
written to them ; nay, to read this very Epistle which
he himself now sent to them; For these Epistles which
were sent to the Churches, that they might be read by
them, make a considerable part of the New Testament,
which the People must not be allowed to read now. But
setting aside this, this consequence that the People must
not read the Bible, is directly contrary to a great many
other Texts, which exprefly command them to readând
search, and study, and meditate on the Laws of God, and
the Holy Scriptures, as every body knows, I cOnsels it
amazes me to hear men argue at this rote : when they canK 2
not
A Preservative againU P 0 P E KT.

not produce any one Text w hich forbids People to read
the Scriptures, and there are a great many express com
mands, that they should read the Scriptures, they think
it sufficient to oppose against all this Authority, a conse
quence of their own making, and a very absurd one too,
and call.this a Scripture-proof.
I would not be thought wholly to reject a plain and
evident consequence from Scripture ; but yet I will never
admit of a meer consequence to prove an Institution,
which must be delivered in plain terms, as all Laws ought
to be ; and where I have no other proof, but some Scri
pture-consequences, I shall not think it equivalent to a
Scripture-proof : if the consequences be plain and obvi
ous, and such as every man sees, I shall not question it ;
but remote, and dubious, and disputed consequences, if
we have no better evidence, to be sure are a very ili foun
dation for Articles of Faith. Let our Protestant then tell
such Disputants, that for the Institution of Sacraments,
and for Articles ofFaith, he expects plain positive Proofs :
that as much as the Protestant Faith is charged with un
certainty, we desire a little more certainty lor our Faith,
than meer inserences from Scripture, and those none of
the plainest neither.
4. Another false pretence to Scripture- proofs is, to cJap
their own sense upon the words of Scripture, without any regard to the use and propriety of words, to the cir
cumstances of the place, to the reason and nature of
things; and to call this a Scripture- proof of their Do
ctrine, when their Doctrines do not naturally grow there,
but are only engrafted by some cunning Artists, upon
a Scripture-stock. I shall give you onely one instance
of this, their Doctrine of Tranlubstantiation.
As for Transubstantiation, they teach, that the Ele
ments of Bread and Wine are converted into the natural
Flesh
A Preservative againH POPERY.

Flesh and Bloud of Christ, which was born of the Virgin
Mary : That after Consecration there is nothing of the
substance of Bread and Wine, but the Accidents subsist
without a substance : That the natural Body of Christ
his Soul and Divinity, are present undej the species of
Bread ; nay, that whole Christ, Flesh and Bloud, is un
der the species of Bread, and in every particle of it, and
under the species of Wine, and every drop of it : That
the Body of Christ is not broken, nor his Bloud shed in
the Sacrament, but only the species of Bread and Wine,
which are nothing : That it is only this Nothing
which we eat and drink in the Sacrament , and which
goes down into our stomachs, and carries whole Christ
down with it. Now this Doctrine sounds so very harsh,
is so contrary to all the Evidence of our Senses, and lias
so many Absurdities and Contradictions to Reason, that
it ought to be very plainly proved from Scripture in every part of it : for if a man might be perswaded to re
nounce his Senses and Reason to believe Scripture, yet
it ought to be equally evident to him at least, that Scri
pture is for it, as it is, that Sense and Reason is against
it : and yet there is not one word in Scripture to prove
any one part of this Doctrine of Transubstantiation :
neither that the natural Flesh and Blood of Christ is in
the Sacrament, nor that the substance of Bread and Wine
does not remain after Consecration, nor that the Acci
dents of Bread and Wine, such as colour, smell, taste,,
quantity, weight, subsist without any substance, or sub
ject to subsist in. These are such Paradoxes to Sense and
Reason, that they ought to be very well supported with
Scripture, before they are received for Articles of Faith,
or else our Faith will be as very an Accident, without any substance, as the sacramental species themselves are,
But though they have no Text which pcoves the least
!
Tittle
A Prefers alive againU POPERY.

Tittle of all this, yet they have a Text whereon they
grast this Doctrine of Transubstantiation, viz. This is my
Body, which they say; signifies every thing which they
teach concerning Transubstantiation ; but then I hope
they will prove that It does so, not expect that we should
take it for granted, because they say it. Now, not to
insist upon those Arguments, whereby our Divines have
so demonstratively proved, that Transubstantiation, as
explained by the Church of Rome, cannot be the sence of
Tim is my Body, my advice to Protestants is to put them
upon the proof, that this is the sence f it, which in rea
son they ought to prove, because the>e is not one word
of it in the Text ; and I shall only tell them what Proofe
they ought to demand for it.
Now, I suppose, all men will think it reasonable, that
the Evidence for it, should at least be equal to she Evi
dence against it, though we ought indeed to have more
reason to believe it, than to disbelieve it ; or else we
must hang in suspence , when the Balance is equal and
turns neither way. Now I will not oppose the Evi
dence of Sence and Reason , against the Authority of
Scripture ; for I will never suppose that they can con
tradict each other ; and if there mould appear some
contradiction between them, I will be contented at pre
sent, without disputing that point, to give it on the
side of Scripture ; but I will oppose the Evidence of Sense
and Reason against any private man's, or any Churches
Exposition of Scripture : and if that Exposition they
give of any Text of Scripture , as suppose, This is my
Body, contradict the Evidence of Sense and Reason, I
may modestly require as plain proof, that this is the
meaning-bf the Text, as I have, that such a meaning is
contrary to all Sense and Reason : for though Sense and
Reason'be not the Rule and Measure of Faith,yet we must
A Preservative again& PO PERT.

ufe our Sense and Reason in expounding Scripture, or
we may quickly make a vsry absurd and senselels Reli,
gion. '
Now this (hews us what kind of Proof we must require, that Transubstaomtiosi is the Doctrine of the
Gospel, wz. as certain Proof as we have,that Tramubflantkition is contrary to Sense and Reason. And there*
fore,
u .
i . We must demand a self-evident Proof of this, be*
cause it is self-evident, that Tranfubstantiation contradifts Sence and Reason. Every man, who knows what
the word means , (which I beUeve men may do, with
out being great Philosophers) and will consult his own
Senses and Reason,will need no Arguments to prove, that
Tranfubstantiation contradicts both. Now suchaScrtfuture Proof, I would see for Tranfubstantiation, so plain,
and express, and self-evident, that no man, who under
stands the words, can doubt whether this be the mean
ing of them ; I mean, a reasonable, not an obstinate,
wilful, and fcepticai doubting. Now I believe, that our
Adversaries themselves will not fay, that tbis u my Body,
is such a self-evident Proof of Tranfubstantiation ; I am,
sure some of the wisest men among them have-not
thought it so, and the fierce Disputes tor so many Ages
about the interpretation of those words, proves that it
is not so : for men do not use to dispute what is selfevident, and provesit self without any other Arguments.
Now it is very umteaJbnable to Acquire any man to- be
lieve Trah(uBstanriatibnagaiost,a-Jeifevident Props, that
it is contrary to &nse and Reason, without giving him;
a self-evident Proof, that it is the Doctrine of Scripture j
which is to require a man to. believe against the best.
Reason and Evidence.
..un
%. We muftderaandiuch a,Scriptte-Proef of Tras*
substao-.

substantiation, as cannot possibly signifie any thing else ;
or else it will not answer that Evidence which we have
against Transubstantiation ? for Sense and Reason pro
nounce Transubstantiation to be naturally impossible ;
and therefore unless it be as impossible to put any other
sense upon Scripture than what signifies Transubstantia
tion, as it is to reconcile Transubstantiation to Sense and
Reason, there is not such good Evidence for Transub
stantiation, as against it. Were the Scripture-Proofs for
Transubstantiation so plain and evident, that it were im
possible to put any other sense on the words , then I
-would grant, that it is as impossible for those who be
lieve the Scriptures to disbelieve Transubstantiation, as
it is for those, who trust to their own Sense and Reason,
to believe it. Here the difficulty would be equal on
both sides, and then I should preser a Divine Reve/arion
(if it were possible to prove such a Revelation to be Di
vine) before natural Sense and Reason ; but I presume,
no man will say, that it is impossible to put another, and
that a very reasonable, interpretation upon those words,
This is my Body, without expounding them to the sense
of Transubstantiation.
Our Roman Adversaries do not deny, but that these
words are capable of a figurative, as well as of a literal
sense; as when the Church is called the Body of Christ,
Flesh of his Flesh, and Bone of his Bone, it is:not meant
of his natural, but his mystical Body: and thus when
the Bread is called the Body of Christ, it may not signifie his natural, but sacramental Body, or his Body to ail
the ends and purposes of a Sacrament. Now if there
be any other good sense to be made of these words, be
sides Transubstantiation, there cannot be such a necessity
to expound them of Transubstantiation, as there is not
to expound them of it; for I do not reject Scripture, if
l:

I deny Transubstantiation, when the words of Scripture
do not neceslarily prove it; but I renounce Sense and
Reason, if I believe it. Now though I were bound to
renounce my Sense and Reason, when they contradict
Scripture, yet sure I am not bound to deny my Sense
and Reason, when they do not contradict Scripture;
and Sense and Reason are never contrary to Scripture,
nor Scripture to them, when the words of Scripture are
capable of such an interpretation as is reconcileable both
to Sense and Reason : In such a case to expound Scri
pture contrary to Sense and Reason, is both to pervert
the Scripture, and to contradict Reason, without any ne
cessity. An unlearned man need not enter into a large
Dispute about Transubstantiation ; let him but require
his Adversary to give him as plain Evidence, that Tran
substantiation is the Doctrine of the Gospel, as he can give
him, that it is contrary to Sense and Reason, and the Di
spute will quickly be at an end. It had been very easie
to have given more instances under every Head, and to
have observed more false ways of expounding Scripture,
which the Doctors of the Church of Rome are guilty of ;
but these are the most obvious, and therefore the best fit
ted to my design to instruct unlearned men ,' and I must
not sutler this Discourse, which was at first intended much
shorter than it already is, to swell too much under my
hands.
s t c t. hi.
Concerning the Ancient Fathers and Writers of the
Christian Church.
THough Learned men may squabble about the
Sence ofFathers and Councils, it is very unreaso
nable, that Unlearned men should be concerned in such
L
Disputes,,
A Preservative againU P 0 P ERT.

Disputes, because they are not competent Judges of it;
and yet there is nothing which our Roman Disputants
make a greater noise with, among Women and' Chil
dren, and the meanest sort of People, than Quotations
out of Fathers and Councils, whom they pretend to be
all on their side. Now as it is a ridiculous thing for
them to talk of Fathers and Councils to such People, so
it is very ridiculous for such People to be converted by
Sayings out of the Fathers and Councils : I consess, it
has made me often smile.with a mixture of pity and in
dignation, at the folly of it; for what more contempti
ble easiness can any man be guilty of, than to change his
Religion which he has been taught out of the Scriptures,
and may find there if he pleases, because he is told by
some honest Priest, ( a sort of men wlio never deceive
any one ) that such or such a Father, who lived it may
be they know not where nor when, and wrote they
know not what, has spoke in favour of Transubstantiation, or Purgatory, or some other Popish Do
ctrine.
And therefore let me advise our Protestant, who is
not skilled in these matters, when he is urged with the
Authority of Fathers, to ask them some sew Questi
ons.
i. Ask them, How you shall certainly know what
the Judgment of the Fathers was ? and* this includes a
great many Questions, which must be resolved, before
you can be sure of this , as, How you shall know that
such Books were written by that Father, whose name it
bears ? or that it has not been corrupted by the igno
rance or knavery of Transcribers, while they were in the
hands of Monks, who usurped great Authority over the
Fathers, and did not only pare their Nails, but altered
their very Habit and Dress, to fit them to the modes of
the

the times, and make them fashionable ? How you (hall
know what the true meanjng of those words are, which
they cite from them ? which the words themselves ma
ny times will not discover, without the Context : How
you shall know that such Sayings are honestly quoted,
or honestly tranflated ? How you (hall know whether
this Father did not in other places contradict: what he
here fays ? or did not alter his opinion aster he had wrote
it, without writing publick Recantations, as St. Austin
did ? Whether this Father was not contradicted by other
Fathers ? And in that casse, Which of the Fathers you
must believe?
You may add, That you do not ask these Questions
at random, but for great and neceflary Reasons : for in
reading some late English Books both of Protestants and
Papists, you find large Quotations out of the Fathers on
both sides ; that some are charged with false Tranflati
ons, with perverting the Fathers sdlse, with mis-citing
his words, with quoting spurious Authors, as it seems
many of those are which make up the late Speculum, or
Ecclesiastical Prospective- glass; to name no more. Now
how {hall you, who are an unlearned man, judge of such
Disputes as these ? What Books are spurious or genuine ?
whether the Fathers be rightly quoted ? and what the
true sense of them is ? For my part, I know not what
Answer such a Disputant could make, but to blush, and
promise hot to alledge the Authority of Fathers any
more. It is certain, in such matters, those who are un
learned, must trust .the learned ; and then, I suppose, an
unlearned Protestant will rather trust a Protestant than
a Popish Doctor, as Papists will rather trust their Priests
than Protestant Divines ; and then there is not much to
be got on either side, this way : For when a Protestant
sliews an inclination rather to believe a Popisti than a
L x
Prote

Protestant Divine, he is certainly three quarters a Papist
before hand.
Indeed unlearned Protestants, who are inquisitive, and
have time to read, have such advantages now to satisfie
themselves even about the sence of Fathers and Councils,
as it may be no Age before ever afforded ; these being
so many excellent Books written in English, as plainly
confirm the Protestant Faith, and confute Popery, by the
Testimonies and Authorities of Ancient Writers ; and
such men, though they do not understand Latine and
Greek, are in no danger of all the Learning of their Po
pish Adversaries : and any man who pleales, may have
recourse to such Books, and see the State of the Contro
versy with his own eyes, and judge for himself; butthose
who cannot do this, may very fairly decline such a Trial,
as improper for them. For,
x. LetourProtestantasksuchDifputers.whetheraplaiir
man may not attains sufficient knowledge and certainty
of his Religion, without understanding Fathers and Coun
cils ? If they fay he cannot, ask them, how many RomanCatholicks there are that understand Fathers and Councils?
Ask them, how those Christians understood their Religion,
who lived before there were any of these Fathersand Coun
cils ? Ask them again, whether they believe that God has
made it impossible to the greatest part of Mankind, to
understand the Christian Religion ? For even among
Christians themselves, there is not one in an hundred
thousand, who understands Fathers and Councils, and it
is morally impossible they mould : and therefore certain
ly there must be a shorter and eafier way to understand
Christian Religion than this, or else the generality of
Mankind, even of prosest Christians, are out of all pos
sibility of Salvation. Ask them once more, Whether it
be not a much easier matter for a plain: honest:' man to
learn;
A Preservative agaitM FQPEKT.

learn all things necesiary to Salvation, out of the Scri
ptures themselves, especially with the help of a wiseand
learned Guide, than to understand all Fathers and Coun
cils, and take his Religion from them ? Why then do
they so quarrel at Peoples reading the Scriptures, and put
them upon reading Fathers and Councils ? 1 suppose
they will grant, the Scriptures may be read a little-sooner than so many Voluminous Fathers, and Labbe's Coun
cils' into the bargain r and, 1 believe, most men, whatry,
will think, that they are more easily understood ; and
therefore, if Protestants, as they pretend', can haveno cer
tainty of the true sence of Scripture, I am sure there' is
much less certainty to be had from the Fathers : A short
time will give us a full view of theScriptures, to read
and understand all the Fathers, is work enough' for
man's liftit the Scripture is ail of a piece, every part of
it agrees with the riest ; tfte Fathers many rimes contraidict: themselves and each other : arid if men differ afeour
the sence of Scripture, they differ mudi more about Fa
thers anoj Council's. That it is a mighty Riddle, that
those whb think ordinary CHrulians not fit to read the
Scriptures, mould^trrif-it1 necesiary for them to under
stand Fathers and Councils,- and yet they are ridiculous,
indeed to dispute with every Tradesman about Fathers
and Councils, if they do not think they ought to read:
and understand them.
The sum is, such Protestants as are not skilled in Booklearning, may very reasonably tell these Men, who urge
them wfth the Authority of Councils and Fathers, That
they do not pretend to any skill in such matters, and
hope it is not required of them, for if it be, they are in an
ill case : the Holy Scriptures, not Fathers and Councils, is
the Rule of their Faith; if they had read the Fathers,,
they should. believe them: no farther, than what they
taught;
A Preservative against POPEM'.

taught was agreeable to Scripture; and therefore what
ever Opinions any of the Fathers had, it4s no concern
of theirs to know, if they can learn what the Doctrine of
Christ and his Apostles was.without it : learned men may
dispute about these things; and they have heard learned
Protestants affirm, that the Church of Rome can find none
of her peculiar Doctrines in the Writings of any of the
Fathers for the first three hundred years ; and it's cer
tain, if this be true, all the later Fathers are of no Au
thority to establish any new Doctrine ; for there was no
more Authority in the Church, to bring in any new Do
ctrines, aster three hundred years, than there is at this
day.
Unlearned men may very honourably reject all dis
pute about Fathers and Councils, ( though learned men
cannot, and indeed need not ; ) for ifthey are not bound
to read Fathers and Councils, I think, they are not bound
to understand them, nor to dispute about them ; and it
is very unadvisably done, when they do : for it is past a
Jest in so serious a matter, though otherwise it were co
mical enough, for men to be converted by Fathers and
Councils, without understanding them.
CHAP.
A Preservative again& POPERT.
CHAP.
III.
How to Answer some of the most popular Preten

ces urged by Papists against Protestants.
Sect. I.
i . Concerning the Uncertainly of the Protestant Faith.
OU R Popish Adversaries of late,have not so much di' sputed, as senced ; have neither downright oppo
sed the Protestant Faith, nor vindicated their own, but
have betaken themselves to some tricks and amusements,
to divert and perplex the Dispute.and to impose upon the
ignorant and unwary. One of their principal Arts has
been to cry out of the Uncertainty of the Protestant
Faith. This every body is nearly concerned in ; for
there is nothing wherein certainty is so necesiary, and so
much desired, as in matters of Religion, whereon our eternal State depends. This has been often answered by
Protestants, and I do not intend to enter into the merits
of the Cause, and shew upon what a firm and sure bot
tom the Protestant Faith stands : this is a Cavil easily enough exposed to the scorn and contempt of all consi
dering men, without so much trouble :
For i. Suppose the Protestant Faith were uncertain,
How is the Cause of the Church of Rome ever the better ?
Is this a sufficient reason to turn Papists, because Prote
stants are uncertain ?Does this prove the Church of Rome
tobelnfallible.because the Church of England"^ Fallible ?
Must Certainty neceflarily be sound among them, be
cause

cause it is not to be found with us > Is Thomas an honest
nusL, becaufe Jeha is a Knavxl These are two distinflQijestions, and must be distinctly proved. If they can
prove our Faith uacertain, and dieir own certain, there
is reason then to go ovef to them ; but if they cannot
do this, they may, it may be, perfwade men to renounce
the Prpteftant fyitji, but not to embrace Popery. Ask
them then, What greater assurance they have of their
Faith, tlian we have of ours ? If they tell you, their
Church is Infallible ; tell them, that is another Question,
and does not belong to this Dispute. For the Infallibili
ty of their Church, does not follow from the Uncertainty
of our Faith j if they can prove their Church Infallible,
whether they prove our Faith Uncertain or not, we will
at any time change Protestant Certainty for Infallibility :
And if they could prove our Faith uncertain, unless they
could prove their own more certain, ( though we bate
them Infallibility ) we may cease to be Protestants, but
shall never turn Papists.
x. Ask them, What they mean by the Uncertainty of
the Protestant Faith ? For this may fignifie two things :
either, i. That the Objects of our Faith are in them
selves uncertain, and cannot be proved by certain Rea'
sons : Or idly, That our Perswasion about these matters,
is uncertain and wavering. If they mean the first, then
the sence is, that the Christian Religion is an uncertain
thing, and cannot be certainly proved ; for this is the
whole Protestant Faith : We believe the Apostles Creed,
and whatever is contained in the Writings of the Evan
gelists and Apostles, and this is all we believe. And I
nope, they will not fay these things are uncertain ; for
then they renounce the Christian Religion, and In
fallibility it self cannot help them out : for Infallibility
cannot make that certain* which is in it felf uncertain:
an
A, Preservative agaioU PO PERT.

an infallible man must know things as they are, or else
he is mistaken,, and ceases to be infallible ; and therefore
what is certain, he infallibly knows to be certain, and
what is uncertain, he infallibly knows to be uncertain :
for the most certain and infallible knowledge does not
change its Object:, but sees it just as it is : And thefore
they must allow the Objects of our Faith, or the Prote
stant Faith, as to the matter of it, to be very certain, and
built upon certain reason, or else their infallible Church
can have no certainty of the Christian Faith.
If they mean the second tiling, that we have no certain
perswasion about what we prosess to believe : This is a
great abuse to Protestants, as if they were all Knaves and
Hypocrites, who do not heartily and firmly believe What
we prosess to believe : and a Protestant, who knows
that he does very firmly and stedfastly believe his Reli-'
gion, ought to reject such a Villanous Accusation as this,
with indignation and scorn, Indeed it is both impu
dent and silly for any man to tell a Protestant, that his
Faith is uncertain* ( as that signifies an uncertain and
doubtful Perswasion) when he knows and seels the con
trary ; and no body else can know this but himself : In
what Notion then is the Protestant Faith uncertain ?
what can Faith signifie, but either the Objects of Faith, or
the internal Assent and Perswasion ? The Objects of our
Faith are certain, if Christian Religion be so, that is, they
have very certain Evidence : our Assent and Perswasi
on i very certain, as that is opposed to all doubtfulness
and wavering : And what certainty then is wanting to
the Protestant Faith ?
When then you hear any of these men declaiming about the uncertainty of the Protestant Faith, onely ask
them, What they mean by the Protestant Faith ? whe
ther the Articles of your Faith, that they are uncertain,
M
'
.
or
g3,

or the Act of Faith, your internal Aflent and Perswasion ? If they say , they mean the Aft of Faith : Tell .
them, that it is a strange presumption in them to pretend
to know your Heart ; that you know that best your
self, whether you do firmly and stedfastly believe your
you assure them, that you do : As for the Objects of your
Faith, or what it is you Believe, tell them, your are a
Member of the Church ot England, and embrace the Do
ctrine of it, and there they may find your Faith both as a
Christian, and as a Protestant ;and may try their skill on
it, when they please, to prove any part of it uncertain,
and you are ready to desend it. This is a plain and fair
Answer, and I believe you will hear no moreof them.
For as for their common Argument to prove the Un
certainty of the Protestant Faith, That there is a great
variety of Opinions among Protestants, and that they
condemn one another with equal confidence and assurance,
Ask them, how this proves yourFath to be Uncertain,
either as to its Object, or as to its Assent ? May not what
you believe, be Very certainly true, because some men
believe the contrary ? Tell them, you do not place the
certainty of what you believe, upon any man's belie
ving, or not believing it, but upon the certain Reasons
you have to prove it ; and therefore if they would
convince you , that what you believe is not certain,
they must disprove. your Reasons , not meerly tell
you, that other men think it false or uncertain, and .be
lieve otherwise : Thus does it prove, that you give an
uncertain and doubtful Assent to what you prosess to
believe, because other men are very fully perswaded of
the contrary ? Pray tell them, that you do not build
your Aflent upon other mens Perswasions, but upon the
Reasons of your, Faith, aad while they are unshaken,
you
A Preservative agamU PO PERT.

you shall believe as you do, and with the fame asiurance,
whoever believes otherwise.
There -arc two things indeed, which this Argument
proves, but they sigmrie nothing to weaken the Prote
stant Faith.
i . That all the Doctrines which are prosessed by some
Protestants, are not certain ; for some of them must be
false, when there are contradictory Doctrines maintain
ed and prosesied by several Sects of Protestants ; but
then no man, that I know of, ever said, that all Prote
stant Doctrines were certain ; which I hopes does not
hinder but that some Protestant Doctrines may be cer
tain ; and then the Doctrines of the Church of England
may be certain, though some other Communions of Pro
testants have erred.
z. This Argument proves also, that men who are
mistaken, may be very confidently perfwaded of their
mistakes, and therefore the confidence of perfwasion
does not prove the certainty of their Faith ; and I never
heard any man fay that it did : But I hope this does not
prove that a man, who is certain upon evident Reasons,
must be mistaken too, because men, who are certain
without Reason, may mistake. ..
And yet this very Argument, from the different and
contrary Opinions among Protestants to prove the un
certainty of the Protestans Faith, signifies nothing, as to
our Disputes with the Church of Rome : For ask them,
what they would think of the Protestant Faith, were all
Protestants of a mind ? Would their Consent and Agree
ment prove the Certainty of the Protestant Faith ? Then
the Protestant Faith, in opposition to Popery, is very
certain : for they all agree in condemning the Errors
and Corruptions of the Church of Rome; and thus I
think they get nothing by this Argument: for if the
M x
Dit
A Preservative againU POP ERT.

Distentions of Protestants proves the uncertainty of
their Faith, as to such matters, wherein they differ, then
by the fame Rule their Agreement in opposition to Po
pery, {hews their great certainty in such matters: And
this I suppose is no great Inducement to a Protestant to
turn Papist.
. S e c t. II.
Concerning Protestant Ms-representations of Popery.
THis has been another late Artifice of our RomanAdversaries- to amuse ignorant People with a
great noise of Mis- representing : That Protestant Di
vines have painted Popery in such horrid shapes, as to
disturb the Imaginations of People, and to beget an in
curable Aversion in them against Popery, without un
derstanding what it is. I mail not now dispute this
matter over again : there has been so much of late
said of it, and this Pretence so shamefully baffled, in
answer both to the Representer, and to Monsieur Dt
Meaux's Exposition, that I am apt to think, they them
selves could be very glad that it had never been men
tioned, or could now be forgot; and therefore reser
ring the inquisitive Readers to those late Bonks, where
in they will find this Controversy fairly stated; I fiave
some sew things to add, which are plain and obvious
to every body ; and that both with reserence to the
Probability of this Charge, and to the Consequencesof it.
<
First, As to the Probability of this Charge. Now,
i. Ask them, whether the first Reformers charged the
Church of Rome with such Doctrines and Practices as
they were not guilty of? We have not, that I know
of,
A Preservative agahU POPERT.

of, increased our Charge against the Church of Rome
in this Age ; if there has been any difference, we have
rather been more favourable and candid in our Cen
sures of some of their Doctrines, than the first Re
formers were. Now is it likely, that the first Refor
mers should charge the Church of Rome wronfully ?
No man can be a Mif-representer, but either out of
Ignorance or Design ; which of these then can we,'
with any 'Probability , charge the first Reformers,
with ?
As for Ignorance, is it a probable thing, that Luther,
Mela*tthon, Oecolampatfiiu, ZuingUtu, Bucer, Calvin, or
to come to our own English' Reformers, that Arch
bishop Crammer, and others, who had all been Papists,
themselves, should be ignorant what was taught and
practised in the Church of Rome t It is now thought
in this very Cause, a very considerable Proof -that Pro
testants do Misrepresent Papists, because. some Papists
deny such Doctrines and Practices as Protestants charge
them with* and, fay they, can you think that Papists '
do not understand their own Religion better than Pro
testants do ? Now though this may be made a Que-stiorr, and J am very apt to think, that compare the
'Learned and the UnleamedProteslanfc and Papists toge
ther, there are more Protestants than Papists, who un
derstand Popery : and not onely Experience verifies
this, bur there is a plain reason why it should be so;
because it is the Principle of Protestants, that they must;
neither believe nor disbelieve any thing, without under
stand it ; but an implicite Faith in the Church, go
verns the unlearned Papists, and many of those who,
should be learned tod.' . i : . <'' .hi :
But let that be as it will, this Argument signifies no
thing to our first Reformers : for if Papists may be preV . fumed;
A Preservative against PO P EKT.

fumed to understand their own Religion, the first Re
formers, who were all educated in Popery, might be as
well presumed to understand what Popery then was ;
and therefore there can be no reason to suspect that they
Mis-represented Popery out of Ignorance.
Nor is it more probable, that they mould Mis-repre
sent Popery out of Interest and Design: for if they
were conscious to themselves, that Popery was not so
bad as they represent it to be, why mould they them
selves have set up for Reformers ? and what hope could
they have,#that at that time, when Popery was so well
known, they should perfwade the World to bejieve their
Mis- representations ? ,,
'*Was it so desirable a thing for men to bring all the
Powers of the Church and Court of 'Rome upon them
selves, meerly to gratifie a Mif-repre/enting humour >
Do these men remember what our Reformers suffered,
for opposing Popery? the loss of their pstates, their Li
berties, their Lives, all- the Vengeance of a blind and
enraged Zeal : And did they undergo all this with such
constancy and Christian patience, only for the sake of
telling Lyes, and rasing scandalous Reports of the
Church of Rente .<? We think it a very good Argu
ment, that the Apostles and first Preachers of Christia
nity were very honest men, and had no design, to cheat
the World, because they served no worldly Interest' by
it; but chearfujly exposed themselves to all manner of
Sufferings in Preaching the Gospel : and why dees not
the fame Argument prove, our first Reformers to be
honest men, and then they could not be wilful Mis representers ?
: .
Nay, if we will but allow them to have been cunning
men (and it is evident, they did not* want wit) they would
tie ver have undertaken so hopelek a dcsign,as to run down
Popery
A PreserVdtkx againit POPE K T.

Popery meerly by Mis- representing it ? when, had their
Exceptions against Popery been only Misrepresentati
ons of their own, all the World could have confuted
them : had the Reformers been oftefy MiPrepresentefs, can we think, that they could have imposed upon
such vast numbers of Men, Learned andUnlearned, who
knew and saw what Popery was ? They were no Fools
themselves, and therefore could not hope to impose such ,
a Cheat upon the World.
*
-l. Ask them again, How old1 this Complaint is, of

Protestant Mis.representations of Popery > how long it
ha* been discovered, that Popery has beeR thus Abused
and Misrepresented ? were the first Reformers. charged
with these Mis-representations by their Adversaries in.
those days ? did they deny, that they gave Religious
Worship to Saints and Angels, and the Virgin Mary, t<5
Images and Reliques? did they cry out or Misrepresen
tations, when they were charged with such Doctrines
and Practices as these ? or did1 they desend tkem, and en
deavour to answer those Arguments which the Reform
ers brought' against them ? And yet methinks if Pope
ry hid been so grofly Mis-represented by the Reformers,
this would as soon have been discovered by the Learned
Papistsof those days, as by our late Representer ; but it
is most likely they did not then think Popery so much
Misrepresented, for if they had; they would certainly
have complained of it : So that the high improbability
ofthe thing, is a sufficient Reason to Unlearned Prote
stants, to reject this Charge of Protestant MiPrepresen- .
tations of Popery, as nothing else but a Popish Calumny
against Protestants ; and to conclude, that if Popery be
Misrepresented now, it h onely by thertiselves, and that
is the very truth of the Cafe
.
A Preservative again& POPEKX.

Secondly, Let us consider this Charge of Mis-representations in the Consequences of it : It would a little
puzzle a man to guess, what service they intend to do
the Church of Rome by it. For,
i . By complaining of such Mis-representations of Po
pery, they plainly consess, that those Doctrines and Pra
ctices, which we charge the Church of Rome with,are ve
ry bad, and fit to be rejected and abhorred of all Chri
stians. This tjie Representer himself consefles, and is ve
ry Copious and Rhetorical upon it. Now this is of migh
ty dangerous consequence ; for if it appears, that we have
îot Mis-repreflhted them, that the Doctrines and Pra
ctices we charge them with, are truly the Doctrines and
Practices 6f the Church of Rome, then by their own con
session, Popery is a very bad Religion, and to be rejected
by Christians : Then there was a very just reason for our
Separation from the Church of Rome, and we are no
longer either Schismaticks or Hereticks; and if the Cause
be put upon this Issiie, we need desire no better Vindi
cation of the Church of England: for if they cannot
prove us Hereticks or Schismaticks, till they can prove
us Mifrepresenters, I believe, we are pretty secure for
this Age.
x. These men, who complain so much of Misrepre
senting, endeavour to make the Doctrines of the Church
of Rome, look as like Protestant Doctrines, as possibly '
they can, as if there were little or no difserence between
themt Now methinks this is no great reason for a Pro
testant to turn Papist, that the Popish Faith is so much
the better, the nearer it comes to the Protestant Faith.
The truth is, the chief Mystery in this late Trade of Re
presenting and Misrepresenting, is no more but this, to
joyq a Protestant Faith with Popish Practices ; to believe
as Protestants do, and do as Papists do. As to give
some
A Preservative 'against TVT EKY.

some sew instances of this in the Papist *Mis-represented
and Represented.
The Papist Represented, believes it damnable to Worship
Stocks am Stonesfor Gods, to Pray to Pictures or Images us
Christ, the Virgin Mary, or any other Saints. This is
'good Protestant Doctrine : but then this Papist fays his
Prayers before an Image, Kneels and Bows before it, and
pays all external Acts of Adoration to Christ and the
Saints, as represented by their Images ; though// is mt
properly the Image he honours, but Christ and his Saints by
the Images. Which is down-right Popery in Practice.
Thus he believes it is a most damnable Idolatry, to make
Gods of men, either living or dead. Which is the Prote
stant Faith but yet he prays tq Saints, and beggs their
Intercession, without believing them to be Gods, or his
Redeemers ; which is Popery in Practice.
He believes it damnable, to think the Virgin Mary more
powerful in Heaven than Christ. Which is Protestant Do
ctrine : but yet he prays to Her oftner than either to God
or Christ, fays ten Ave-Maries for one Pater Noster ;
which is a Popish Devotion.
He believes it unlawful to commit Idolatry\ and most
damnable to Worship any Breaden God. ' Which is spoke
like a Protestant; but yet he pays Divine Adoration to
the Sacrament, which is done like a Papist. And thus in
most of those thirty seven Particulars of the double Cha
racters of a Papist Mif-represented, his great Art is to Re
concile a Protestant Faith with Popish Practices.
So that this New way of Representing Popery, is no
reason to a Protestant to alter his Faith, because, it seems,
they believe in many things just as we do; but, I think,
it isa very great reason for a Papist to alter his Practice,
because a Protestant Faith and Popish Worship do not
very well agree. Those who would not make Gods of
N
Stocks

Stocks and Scones, of dead Men and Women, had certain
ly better not Worship them, which is the most certain
way not to make them Gods ; and those who think it
such damnable Idolatry to Worship a BreaJen Gad, in my
Opinion, are on the safer side not to Worship the visibk
Species of Bread in the Eucharist. Let but our Prote
stant observe this> That when they would Represent Po
pery most favourably, they either say what Protestants
do, or something as like it, as they can, and he will see nc
reason, either to change his Faith or his Practice.
the EtTD.
"Books lately Trintedfor W. Rogers.

TH Doctrines and Practices of the Church of fyme, truly Repre
sented } in Answer to a Book intituled, A Papiit Misrepresented, and
Representedy &c Quarto.
An Answer toa-Disoausointinifcd, Papistsprotesting arainft Protestant
Popery ; being a Vindication of PSptstt not Misrepresented by Protestants :
And containing a particular Examination of Monsieur dt Meaux, late
Bishop of Condom,' his Exposition of the Doctrine ofthe Church offyme,
in the Articles of Invocation of Saints, Worship. of Images, occasioned by
that Discourse. Quarto.
An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Differences, between
die Representer and the Answerer. Quarto.
A View of the whole Controversies between the ^presenter and the
'Answerer j with an Answer to the ^presenter's last Rfpfy j in which are
laid open some of the Methods, by which Protestants are Misrepresented
by Papists. Quarto.
The Doctrine of the Trinity, and Transubstantiation, compared as to
Scripture, Rfasen,' and Tradition j in a new Dialogue between a Prote
stant and a Papist, the first Part : Wherein an Answer is given to die late
Proofs ofthe Antiquity of Transubstantiation, in the Books called, Consen
sus Veterum, and Nubes Testium, &c Quano.
The Doctrine of thelrinity, and Transubstantiation, compared as to
Scripture, Reason, and Tradition in a new Dialogue between a Protestant
and a PapisJ, the. Second Part : Wherein the Doctrine of the Trinity is
shewed to be agreeable, to Scripture and /fcj/Sw, and Tranfibstantiationrepugnant to both. Quarto.
An Answer to the Eighth Chapter of the Bfpresenter's Second Part, in
the first Dialogue, between him and his Lay-Friend.
Of the Authority of Councils, and the Rule of Faith. By a Person of
Quality : With an Answer to the Eight Theses, laid down for the Tryal ,
of the English Reformation ; in a Book that came lately from Oxford.
Sermons and Discourses, some of which never before Primed : The
Third Volume, By the Reverend Dr. TiUotfon, Dean of Canterbury. 8 .
Booths lately Printed for Ms. Rogers.

A Manual for a Christian Souldier, Written by Erasmus , and Trans
lated into English. Twelves.
A new and easie Method to learn to Sing by Book, whereby one ^who
hath a good'Voice and EarJ may without other help, learn to Sing true
by Notes, JDeljgn'd chiefly for, 'afcd appliedto, ihe,promttngi mPfitmody and 'fumistied with Variety q PjUm-wm kck Parts, wkh;D*ections for that kind of Singing.
.o. . .' > :. .
A Book-os Cyphers, or Letters Reverft : being a Work very jHeafuir
and useful, as well for Gentlemen as all sorts ef Artificers, Engravers,
Painters, Carvers, Clucers^-^mbrokierer^
Wheije you- may Jind
Cypher for any Name whatsoever tosoufly- composed after the newet
Mode. By Jeremiah Marine. Price BeOndv*.*, .r... i'.u iiW'
A Peffwasive to frequent Communion in the Sacrament of the Lcrii
Supper. By John TiJlotson, Dean of Canterbury. In Octavo, Pritergvi
A Discourse against Transuhftantiatioh. Tb-Q&ava : Price 'j i' ' '"r
s The State of' the Church of'Home wbefi theêftâribn'rj^gStrts s jc
appears by me Advices given to Panltjl. and'jWhtflff. ' ^Creatures
fef their Own. With a Preface leading to the-matterof the Bbtik. 4.
A Letter to a Friend, Reflecting on some Paflages in a Letter to the
.of P. in Answer to.the Arguing Part of his firflt^rttr to^fr.-'Si 1
- " L^w % -f,#nr e:'.'. ' Tli.-c'.t. V/* <r"
'''
The 'tttfteftefs Defence of bis-Lei^r;to a Friend, against the furious
Aflaults of Mr. 7. S. in his second Catholic Letter, in sour Dialogues. 40.
A Sermon Preached at the Funeral ofthe'ReVerendrfe/ Calamyti>X>.
and late Minister of St. Ltwrenoe-Jury , Lxmd. Jan.,7<h, itfUfo:' iBy
M Sherlock, D. D. Master of theT^/fo . , . ;'. ,' ;
A Vindication of fame Protestant Principles of Ciurch-pmjy and
atholick<bmrrlunion, from the Charge ofAgreement with the'Churcn
of R$me. In Answer to a late Pamphlet , Intituled, An Agreement be
tween the Church of England and the Church of Rome, evinced frem the
Coticertation of some of herScmt with their Brethren the Dissenters. By
WiBam Sherlock, D. D. Master of the Temple.
^Dtfurse ncemrrjg the Nature of Idolatry : m.whkR late Authbr's'thie arid only Notion of Idolatry is ConiGdereii andCenfiiKd.^,,
In the Press, The Protestant Htfpfo'd: or, a Discourse, shewing the'Vn*
faabl*iii$fkisTttmii%^
.'
DEFENCE
O F
Dr.SHERLOC ZC s Preservative
AGAINST
POPERY,
REPLY
T O
Jesuits
Answer:
Wherein the R. Father's Reasonings

are fully Confuted.
By W. G. a Protestant Foot-man.
LONDON:
Printed for Brab. Aylmer, at the Three 'Pigeons over
against the Royal Exchange in Comhil, 1688.
Imprimatur,
A Defence of Dr. SherlocI(sPrefervativey&c.
Gnil. Needbam.
THE
PUBLISHER
TO
THE
READER.
IHave heard it often observed, that it would be a Worf^

worth any ingenious Alan's pains, and very acceptable
to the World, to take a View of the whole Controverfie
betwixt the Writers of the Church of Rome and us since his
Majeflies coming to the Crown ? and to compare it with the
Management of this fame Controverfie at the beginning of
the Reformation, and through the late Reigns, I am assured
it would make such a Discovery of the present Controversies
of that Church, as would make all them to bluf/j that have
any Ahdesty, and the World to blush for them that have
none.
It is very well known, that when the Reformation began,
learning was at a very how Ebb, and they of the Church of
Rome, who were commanded to defend it againfi the Re
formers, had a very hard Task^ of it, fines they were en
gaged in matters wholly new to them ; and, which was
worse, in the Defence of a Cause which did want Arguments
ten thousand times better than any could be gotten for it.
However, to their Credit be it Jpoken, they undertook^ the
matter fairly, and were so just to their Adversaries, as well
as
To the
Reader.
as to their own Cause, as to answer Book, w; - 1 .ok,, and not

to drop their Weapon, and runaway as. a (he first little
Charge.
But roe have a quite contrary sort os M.n to deal with
now-a-days , they write as if the Controverfie had hut just
Begun, and as if they had not read so much as their own
old Authors j hut after one little Effort, fall to Sheet and
Half-sheet Replies, as if they that furnished them with the
firji Book., could not have furnished them also with a Fair
Reply. It is a very broad Sign that some Men came very
unprepared to this Controverfie, and that it was a perfect
Surprize to them, who dreamt surely of nothing less than
offending and proving, they have been so untoward at it.
And this is that which hath made this present Controver
fie so very mischievous unto them , for some of their own
Laity could not but own that the answering of large Books by
Sheet, or a Halfsheet, did not appear fair, but that it was
very like it, if not a direft betraying of their Cause : And
this was too apt to raise Suspicions, either that their Priefis
could not defend their Cause, or that their Cause was such
as was not to be defended It were caste to give the Reader
many Instances of this Kind : When the Six Conferences
concerning the Eucharist were publifoed, a Book, written
withso much strength of Reason and Solidity, and which bore
so very hard upon their great Do&rine ofTransubstantiation,
as to undertake to demonstrate that it did overthrow the
Proofs of Christian Religion ;. we might have expected that
the Romish Priests would have been justly alarm d at such
a Book, of so threatning a Nature to their Darling Tran~
substantiation, and would have employed the best Heads
among them to answer so dangerous a Book, '> but as if they
had all been asleep, the World is presented with a drowse
Half-fbeet at last against a Book of about eighteen Sheets j
as if Yawning wire to piss for Answering.
When
To the R eader.
When that excellent Book, The Second Defence of the
Exposition against: the Bishop of Meaux and his Vindi
cator was Printed, and did so largely and so effectually
prove all the former Charges against the wretched prevarica'
tions of that Bijhop, and his Vindicator } Was it not- a very
.pleasant thing to see a Sheet and a half Printed against it,
with the pompous Title, of a full Answer to it .<? But I can
not be angry at the Man, for all the World is satisfied that
he is fick of that Controverfie j and that a Sheet and a half
was enough in Conscience for a man in hk Condition. He
.did indeed about the same time threaten the learned Author
of the Discourse against Extreme Unction, with a Sheet
against his Boohj> wherein he would take it to pieces : But
Isuppose he was half ajleep when he made that promise, and
quite forgot it upon his first sleep. It is ten to one, but some
of their party will rouse up this doughty Champion, and tell
hint, that now he may venture to write his Sheet against that.
Book, fiMce there is no fear of an Answer from the Author
of that Discourse, who is now in his Grave : but if I might'
be of CounceJ to him, I would advise him to thinks twice be
fore he ventures on his Sheet-Answer 5 for though the In
comparable and never-to-be-forgotten Dr. Clagett, the,
Author of that Book be ( to our unspeakable loss ) in
his Grave, yet neither his Book, nor his Memory, nor his
Friends are buried with him } and though that Bookjsmore
than able to defend it self against so very weak an Adversa
ry, yet were it not, I am told, that let our Adversaries be
gin as soon as they please, either against that or any other of
his many excellent Discourses against Popery. they will,
find, that there are too many Friends to the Memory and
Reputation of that Pious and Learned Champion of the
Church of England, to suffer any thing against Him to lye
unanswered : And I cannot fancy but some People are my
humble Servants for this Iqnd hint, who do not, love to burn .,
their Fingers.
B
I.
To the Reader.
1 will but mention one other instance of our Adversaries
extravagant behaviour in this kind, against that Book, the
Desence of which 1 am intrusted topnblijl) , the celebrated
PRESERVATIVE AGAINST POPERY: how very ac
ceptable to the World this excellent Tract was, the univer
sal entertainment it met with, and the many thousands of it
so greedily bought t/p, do sufficiently JJjew , how much the
Book did in it self deserve all that kindness it found, every
Reader will soon discover, that will but give himself the
trouble to read any one page of it. 1 mufi confess, I have
been mightily pleased, that our Adversaries themselves can
find how very good a Book it is. I hear some of them rail
unmeasurably at it, and are at a loss sometimes how to vent
themselves more passionately against it : and this 1 take for
as infallible a sign, that this Book. is a very good one, as I
would the leaf commendation of theirs, for its being a very
dull one.
This Bool^ then, which the Commendations of all our own
Church, and the bitter Revilings ofsome of our Adversaries
have made so conspicuous, and attested its great worth, did
deserve a very skjlful Manager ( if they must be answering
it ) to pull down all the worthy Doctor had with so much
Skill and Accuracy been building against them ; did call
for one who could answer with the same Solidity, Clearness
and Wit that the Doctors Book had been written with. But
as if this Book had been one of the dullest pieces that was
publiJhccUon our part, a Jesuit, ( that is famous for some
thing ) is employ d to answer it and as if there had been
no reason, nor sense, nor any thing for an Adversary to
fasten upon in the PRESERVATIVE, the Jesuit gives us
an Answer of a Sheet, as thinking that enough, or too much
to employ againji a Book that had nothing in it.
But this Jesuit is one of the most unlucky men that ever
venturd upon Controversies for as all the world did grant
that
To the Reader,
that this was a ridiculous Answer to so Great a Book., so. it
raised the Indignation os most Men againji it, to see a Je
suit trifling in a. matter os so great concern, and nihling
at a Book, the least Paragraph of which he is utterly unable
to Answer. This is that, I believe, which provoked the ho
nest Footman to Write this Reply to the Jesuites Answer
to the Doctors PRESERVATIVE^ for he found
the Jesuit had Written in such a strain of Sense and Rea-
son together, as if he had intended to enter the lifts with
some such Person as himself, and not with the Excellent
Master of the Temple : and I do not wonder that the
honest Footman could not rests the Temptation of catching
the Jesuit at such an advantage, and of taking this so fa
vourable an Opportunity of having a certain Victory over
him \ this would have tempted a more Teamed Man, but I
am well enough pleased that the honest young Footman has
the glory of it.
One would have expensed that when the Jesuit under
took.
Answer so large a Book as the Preservative in so
little room, he would have fallen immediately upon the Book,
he was Answering : but he it seems thought he had room to
call others to account too in that small compass and does
very severely fall upon all our Reformers in general, as well
as some Authors alive in particular.
The Honest Footman does confine himself in his Reply
tothe Defence of the PRESERVATIVE itself, and
lets the Jesuites Preface alone, as nothing to the purpose in
deed there.: but i am willing to have a word or two with him
about it, and fee how the Reformers and those Men are
concerned here in an Answer to Dr. SHERLOCKS
PRESERVATIVE.
The Jesuit at first daflj accuses our Reformers of fal
ling presently [_ when they set up for opposers of Popery ~]
to forgeries, cliping of Texts, Fathers and Councils :
B 2
but
To the Reader.
but forgets in his fury to give the Reader one instance of
any Forgery, or cliping of Text, Father or Council. He
fliould not have forgotten to have done this, fince the World
will be ready enough to believe that it was not for any good
will that he did omit them, but that all the reason was, that
though he had malice enough to accuse them of it, yet that
he wanted means to prove it upon them. But this accusation
. theyfind to be absolutely necessary, because our, Men do so of
ten accuse them of those very things, and they are not for
being behind-hand in such charges, true or false it makes no
matter, the thing mufi be done to keep off" some way or other
so severe a blow. The Accusations run high on both fides,
and the Reader hath this certain way of knowing where the
guilt lyes j that the Church os Rome accuse us, but do not
prove it, but our Men do not only accuse them, but prove it
upon them.
For a clear Proof of this we need look no further than
thk Jesuit himself, who of all Men living Jhould have
k$pt his Pen from such an Accusation, fince he knows one
that lyes under thesevere charge of many such things. This
very Jesuit is the Person so famous for the Controverfie
About a Sermon of St. Austins betwixt him and One ofour
learned Writers, who did not only prove that that Sermon
which the Jesuit had quoted in a Prayer before Sermon
was a Forgery, but that the Authors he brought afterwards to
.defend himself with, were neither better nor worse than
down-right Forgeries 1 have given my self the trouble for
the worlds fake of examining that Controverfie, andfind
that the i^th Sermon de Sanctis urged by the Jesuit k a
**, the First and FoT^ ' ^ the iSth of the same sort
Second Letters to "a forgery, that hts S.Hieroms Sermon
Lewis Sabnm Je- * was a Forgery, that his Hephonfiis was a
Forgery, that his Mallion's Sermon was a
Forgery, that his Story about Juvenal and Marcian the
Emperour was a Forgery.
And
To the Reader.
And in a Controverfie betwixt these two, not above a
month ago, about Invocation of Saints, Jfind, our Author
cbareine
the*LJ-Te/ilit
.
, _.. ,
r
C n. awith
u the fame
r >. thines
a. *: or *SeetbeTatr
worse, * that his hrlt Author wasjuppojititwus ; ewer n snthat he had not only dipt that Authors words, bran the Jesuit,
but brought them in to prove that very things for the confu
ting of which the Author had himself intended them :
that he had put down a Prayer to the Virgin Mary, as out of
that Author, not a syllable oftvhich tea* to be found there j
that the Jesuit had jalfified his next quotationfrom S. Cy
ril, that his Nectarius upon Theodore w./s a Forgery -0
that his Prayers to the Virgin Mary from^kthodius/^n?*/
Ephrem Syrus, from hthamtim and from Leo were forge
ries j that Gregory Nazianzens Prayer toherwas a Forgefy $
that his Proofs from S. Ambrose, from Gregory Nazi
anzens Iambicks were Forgeries ; that his Proof from the
Councils Chalcedon was dipt and abused that his Quo
tations from the Council of Laodicea, Gangr andCarthage were every one of them misrepresented, and abused j
I must confess I was amazed at such a mass of Forgeries
info little room, and could not have thought it possible that
any Man that pretends to the least knowledge in Books could
be guilty ofsuch things , much less that this very Jesuit
could have been the Man,who isso very ready to accuse others
though moji falsely ) of\ it.
He next falls upon particular men, and begins with Dr.
Comber, whose Book he says, was first set forth by him
in the time of the pretended Plot, and is so full of false
Quotations, that they cznbe produced by Dozens.
But these things should not have been asserted so boldly,
for the Author of that Book printed it first in 1674. which
is four years sooner than our Jesuit ( who it seems knows
better than he ) will have it .> and a third Edition of it
wiph all the Quotations, was Licensed before the end of
To the Reader.
1676. As for the dozens of false Quotations which the
Jesuit fays are m that Boofe let him produce them ajfoon as
he pleases, I can assure him, he shall not fail of an Answer,
not only to them, hut to those two his Friend the Representer hath already attacks.
As for the Answerer to the Address, whom the Jesuit
next tells us was run down for an ignorant Scribler, / will
only tell him, that the Addresser may very quickly hear from
that worthy Person j who will convince them both, that we
havc.no had Cause to defend, and that he is no unskilful De
fender of it.
And now the Jtsoit is got to Dr. Sherlocks Preservative,
where Ifoall take leave of him, and commit him to the Ho
nest Footman, who does here undertake him ; but before I
conclude this, I think, it fit to give the Reader some account
of the Desence os the Doctors Book against the Jesuit,
which I am here publishing.
It was brought to my hands by the young man himself,
who had been diretted to me by a Friend. The reasons of
his writing it, and encountering the Jesuit, I believe 1 have
guessed before and those that will peruse the Jesuits Paper,
will 1 question not, be of my mind. He did with agreat deal
of Modesty, commit it to my Disposals I told him I would
Print it, since 1 was very wellsatisfied with it. However,
that the Reader may fuspeft no fraud nor foul play, 1 do pro
fess here upon the word of a Christian, that 1 have commit
ted it to the Press as it was delivered me by the young Man
himself, in his own hand-writing, without the addition, or
taking away of one word, or altering one Sentence or Line^
so that the Reader will have it just as I had j excepting the
falseness of the English, which is pardonable enough in a
poor Servant , that was very young deprived of his Pa
rents, and never had more Learning than to read English :
however, upon this, 1 order'd the Bookseller to speak, to his
Com
To the Reader.
Compositor at the Press, to correct the Englijh as he set*
it.
1 hope none will be angry that I encourage Jo mean a
person so far, as to help his Bookjo the Press against the Je
suit, none of our Church will be angry, and ?wne of theirs
ought, since they should remember, it is not so long since, that
one oftheir Foot-Soldiers wasfor fighting a Pen-duel with the
Reverend and verjfc Worthy Dr. Tenison, ( whom the
Jesuit in this very Paper could not avoid Slandering J and
published a thing called a Bookâgainft that worthy person :
the inequality betwixt whom is, J take it, far greater than be
twixt my Writer and the Jesuit : and there is another grea
ter difference in the business for my man treats the Jesuit
throughout with respeff, and gives him no ill Language ;
Had the other done so, it would as J conceive, have been no
disparagement either to his Cause, or his Profejjion.
And sol commit the Book^ to the Perusal of the Reader,
whosefavour I will not bespeak^for it, since it is so able to
speakjbr it self, and will only wish it goodspeed.
Post
POSTSCRIPT.
I Must not forget to advertise the Reader, that as to

those Quotations out of Latin or Greek, Anthers,
which the Young Man is far from understanding, as he
declares in his Book , and therefore might justly be
suspected to have been added by some other hand \
( Upon my enquiry ) He told me he had that from Nicephorus, out of the Preface to White's Way to the Church,
and the rest from AUiaco, Scotns and Tonstal out of the
Book, it self, Digression 49th, numb.y. where I suppose any
inquisitive Reader may find them.
E#N
0 F
Dr.SHE RLO CX's Preservative
AGAINST
POPERY,
1 N
Reply to afESVITS Answer.
TO begin then with Dr. Sherbets Principles,
which overthrow all right use of common
Sense : For the first, the Answerer tells
us it is Page the Third, and there I find
the Doctor blaming the Church of Rome
for not suffering her people to Dispute their ^Religion, or to
read Heretical Books? nay notso much as to look, into the
Bible it self ; which he Repeats thus, They will not allow
the reading Heretical Books, leaving out what was said of
the Bible, it being too hot for him j he could not deny
the Fact, nor had courage enough to desend it, but faith,
C
Hk
A Defence os Dr. SV. Preservative
His reason cannot teach him hove God should require the
Reading of Heretical Books 5 and so take? it for granted,
that all the Writings of our Divines are so, nay and
the Bible it self too, if he will keep to the Doctors
words. Well but there are some Ministers (in the Moon
poflibly, for we cannot learn where) that use all endea
vours to hinder their flocks from hearing Catholics Ser
mons and reading Catholics Books. Catholick Sermons,
blessed be God, we do or may hear, every Lords day
at least, yea and read Catholick Books too ; ay ! but
he means Roman Catholics^ Books and Sermons, let it
be so, and desire him to tell you who it is that everforbid his People to hear a Sermon or read one of their
Books, I consess this ought to be done with caution,
knowing we have to do with them who make it their
practice to deceive. For my part I gladly prosess my
self a Member, though an unworthy one, of the Church
of England, and hope"God will ever give me grace to
do it : and I have, according to the liberty which God
and that Church hath given me, read several Books, not
refusing his Catholick ones, not being contented with an
Implicit Faith, especially when I read in the Sacred Scri
pture, a command to be ready to give an Answer to every
one that jhould ask a Question of the Hope which k in ttt,
to try the Spirits, and to try all things, and the like; and
I know not but I may still do the fame, as that small alowance of time, which one in my circumstances can
expect, will afford me, for as Dionysus Alexandrians
faith ( Niceph.J. 6. c.B. ) He usedsometimes to be occupi
ed in redding the Writings andTreatifes ofHereticks, though
it something polluted his mind with touching their unclean
Opinions, because he reaped this profit thereby, that he might
the eajkr resell them, and the more execrate and detest them.
Pre-
against a fejuite.
Preservative against Popery, page the fourth) Ashjhem

whether they will allow yen tojudge for your selves in matters
of Religion, if they will not, why will they troubleyou with
disputing, you cannot be convince! unless you judge too ,
and thereby resolve Faith into a private Spirit. - Here
let our Protestant fix his Foot, and not flir an inch till they
disown Infallibility } and confess, that every man can and
must judge for himself, in matters of Religion, according
to the proofs that are offer d to him.
Answerer, This is to fay, Tk impossible to convince a
man that in reason he ought to submit hk judgment to that
of. any other though Infallible. But how doth this inse
rence follow, it appears plain and natural to me, that I
may submit my judgment to an infallible Judge, and yet
the Church of Rome may not be that judge 5 must I sub
mit my scnee and reason to be govern'd by the Pope, or
else own it impossible to be convinced by reason that I
may do it to an infallible Judge. Upon my word, sir,
if you will but prove your Church Infallible, sle im
mediately forsake that Church which at present I think
my self very happy in, for yours. Doth this pretty Logic,
as you call it, make void all the right use of common
sence and reason, when it should lead us to submit to
any just Authority ; surely no, but argues that we may
make use of them to judge betwixt a just Authority and.
an Imposture that usurps that name. The Doctor doth
not take the Jews fart against St. Paul, nor bid us not
harken to him till he disown LnfaUibilitys 'tis the product:
of your own brain : when you can give us such proofs
for your Infallibility, as he did, we shall own it, till
then we are content to be in the number of your Hereticks.
Pre-
Preservative, Folio 6. What difference k there between

Mens ujtng their private Judgments to turn Papists, . or to
turn Protestants .<? The Answerer tells us, Page the 4.
That 'tis the fame as between two jick^ Men, the one whereof
chooses to put himself in an able Doctors hands, whom he
knows to have an infallible Remedy, whilst the other chooses
his own Simples, and make his own Medicine. Well, and
is not here private judgment used all this while ? doth
not he that puts himself into this able Doctors hands,use
his private judgment as well as the other ? and is not the
Doctor as much obliged to him for it ; for if he did not
use his judgment how could be find out this able Doctor,
or know that he had an infallible Remedy > So that
what Dr. Sherlocl^ said is true, That you are as much obli
ged to private judgments for your Converts as Protestants
can be.
Well but now, he tells us, the Doctor takes the Catholick's part, and though faintly, yet speaks well in so
clear a cause ( Preservative, Fol. 9. ) The intention of
these Disputes, is only to lead you to the Infallible Church,
and Jet you uson a Rockj, and then it is very natural to
renounce your own Judgment, when you have an Infallible
Guide. But now for convincing Reasons against this
plain Truth, as he calls it, the first is as he repeats it
thus ; They cannot with any fence Dispute with us*, about
the particular Articles of Faith, because the fence given of
Scripture and Fathers takes its Authority from the Church
understanding it so. This he is pleased to fay, is false ;
thefence takes it's Authority from God who spake that Word.
But how if thatfence be not there .<? Yes, the Spirit of God
is to abide with her ( i. e. the Church of Rome ) for ever,
John the 14. 16. and so fie cannot err. I wonder how
our Adversaries can so palpably wrest such Texts,especi-
against a fesuite.
ally considering that they have so often been told of it

by our Divines. But to return, the Doctor having said,
That if we should admit of the former Plea, that thenfirfit
it puts an end to all the particular Disputes of Religion be
tween us and the Church of Rome ; we may Dispute on
about an Infallible Judge, but they cannot with any fence
Dispute with us about the particular Articles of Faith, such
as Tranptbstantiation, the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Wor
ship of images, and the lik ; for these are to be learnt only
from the Church, and cannot be proved by Scripture or Fa
thers, without the Authority of the Church. But you see
how he pares" the words, and to (how you that this
charge is true, I shall only mention something upon the
first Point, viz. Transubstantiation, out of their own
Writers, and though I never read their Books, nor do
understîd any other Language than my own, yet I am
so sore that they are honestly quoted, that I challenge
any Romanist to prove the Contrary. Petrus de Alliaco
the Cardinal faith, -4..^ 6. Art. i.f.y.That manner
which fuppofeth the substance of Bread to remain jlill is
possible, nciher k it contrary to reason, or to the Authority
of Scripture , nay it is eafier to conceive, and more reasona
ble than that which says the Substance doth leave the Acci
dents j and of this opinion no inconvenience doth seem to
ensue, if it could be accorded with the Churches determina
tion. Scotus faith ( Script. Oxon. 4. D. 1 1. q. 3. quan
tum ergo ad istum) Principally thisfeemeth to move us to
hold Tranfubstantiation, because concerning the Sacraments
we are to hold as the Church of Rome doth. And ( 4. d.
14. q. 3. Bill. Euchar L. 3. C. 23. there is no Scripture to
convince it, unless ye bring the Church of Romes exposition.
Tonslal faith (de verit. Corp. & Sang. p. 46. ) That it
was free for all men, till the Councel of Lateran, to follow
their own conjectures as concerning the manner of the Pre
sence.
This
A Defence of Dr. SV. Preservative
This shows upon what account Popery is believed,

and with what respect they treat Scripture, making it
indeed what they have call'd it, A Nose of Wax, that
so it might be flexable to cover their Errors. Now if
the sence they contend for cannot be proved from
those Texts which they bring for it, nor is contained in
Scripture, but that another sence may be had without
any inconveniency^ that is more easie to conceive and
more reasonable, but that the Church of Rome hath de
termined otherwise : Surely we may conclude that the
Scripture takes it's Authority from the Church, under
standing it so, seeing they believe it wholly upon that ac
count, and would believe otherwise were it not for
that Reason.
Preservative, &c. sol. 1 1. Ashjhem whether th^jpelief of
an Infallible fudge must be resolved into every mans private
Judgment .<? whether it be not necessary to believe this with
a Divine Faith, 5 and whether there can be a Divine Faith
without an Infallible Judge
f Answerer page 4. ) There
can be no Divine Faith without a Divine Revelation, true 5
and therefore if you will have one with a Divine Faith, be
lieve that there k an Infallible Vifible Judge, nay, that the
Pose is he, fray shew me a Divine Revelation fcr it. .
Answerer, p. 5.) No understanding Protestant can be
disputed into Popery, which owns an Infallible Church, &c.
But the Doctors words are, No understanding Protestant
can be disputed into this kind of Popery, i. e. That the
Church is Infallible, and that the Church of Rome is that
Infallible Church, and then gives his Reasons ; first, no ar
guments can give me an infallible certainty of the Infallibi
lity of the Church. ( f. the 17.) Now what faith the
Answerer, why hear him, We saw Dr. Sherlock just now
plead
pleading for the Jews against St. Paul, nm he. Reasons

even against Christ our God blessed for evermore (just a like
indeed Sir ) hk words prove that Christ who own'd himself
Infallible did imprudentlyso Preach or wor\ Miracles
Arguments so offenfive to pious ears ( mentioned 2 Tim.
4. 3. ) ou^st to meet with no other Answer than Prayers for
him who offers them. And doth this indeed follow from
the Doctors words? is the comparison all one between
your Reasons and Arguments, foryour Churches Infal
libility, and those which Christ offered with the additi
on ofMiracles ? And yet though he was Infallible, and
did work Miracles to confirm his Doctrine, he did not
command them to be content with an Implicit Faith,
but the contra ry,Search the ScripturesJohn 5. and 39.and
Mark^ 1 2. and the 24. tells them, They erred not knowing
the Scriptures. Besides, Sirs, could there not be a true
certainty without Infallibility ) doth Dr. Sherlock fay,
That the Jews could not be Disputed into Faith, unless that
Faith were Infallible .<? no, he leaves that to be talked of
by you who are the great pretenders to it.
Ibid. It is impossible by Reason to prove that Men must
not use their own Reason and Judgment in matters of Re
ligion. Answerer, That Men must use Reason to come to
the Knowledge that God hath revealed what they believe is
very certain ~ But after that there is no further use of
Reason, if we believe St. Paul, but in order to the bring
ing into Captivity all understanding into the obedience of
Christ, i of Corinth, the 10. his meaning is, that he will
allow you to use your Reason, so. long as it leads you
to the Church of Rome, but if once you find any thing
to contradict that, you must immediately renounce it,
and not expect Sence and Reason from an Infallible
Church which is above all that ; but methinks if my
Sence
A Defence of Dr. S
Preservative
Sence and Reason will serve me to find out an Infallible

Church, it is a little severe to renounce it when I come
there.' We do not find in Scripture that they did or
were required to do thus, nay the contrary, and yet
sure the Apostles were as Infallible as the Church can
pretend to be now, i Epistle of John 4. 1. Believe not
every Spirits but try the Spirits whether they he of God.
I Corinth. 10. 1 5. Ispeafâs to wife Men, judgeyt what I
fay ; and Acts 17. 1 1. We have this particular commenda
tion of the Bereans, that they were more noble than those
of Thesialonica, in that they received the Word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures doyly, to
fee whether what they heard were conformable thereto
or no.
Preservative,
Fol. 21.) We have as much assurance
of every Article of our Faith, as you have of the Infalli
bility of your Church first, because we are in general as
sured that the Scriptures are the Word of God. Answer
er, Hitherto there holds some parity, though but lame, but
suppose it were entire, the Conclujion would be this, Ca
tholics are as certain of the fence of Scripture as Prote
stants are that they have the Letter. But .don't you for
get, Sir, that Infallibility is the Point Disputed, you
say indeed you have it , but ye are Judges in your
own Cause, none own it but your selves ; but the Scri
pture all Christians own to be the Word of God, yea
and we have the concurrent Testimonies of all Church
es that we have those Canonical Books, and have we
no better ground for our Belief in that Point than
you have for the other , seeing you contradict and
Dispute against all man-kind, and are fain to take it
upon your own word, with the wresting of a Text or
two to speak for the Church of Rome , which is to
have
have no other Limitation than to the Church Universal 5

but if your Church be not Infallible ( which you know
we say) what warrant can you have for the receiving
of particular points of Faith, wholly because she teacheth them ? Here if you are not sound in the first point,
all the rest will tumble. But now Protestants have all
the certainty imaginable for the Rule of their Faiths
and for the particular points of it ; because they prove
them from the Word of God, which is their Rule. But
let us suppose a while that your Church were Infallible,
what greater Certainty ( for that is the point you know
which the Doctor was upon ) have you of it, than we
have of any particular point of Faith? As for the Cer
tainty of Reason and Argument, that we have, and
would fain see you shew more ; what we believe is ac
cording to Scripture , and doth not contradict either
Sense or Reason, nor any other Principle of Know
ledge ; which you know the People of your Church
are not to stand upon; but to submit to her teaching,
let her teach how she will, because she is supposed to
be Infallible, though they have no greater Certainty of
it than Protestants have for any single point 3 which
makes it ridiculous indeed, for any man to forsake the
Church of England for the Church of Route, upon the
account of greater Certainty.
Preservative, Ibid. Secondly, and in particular, we
are assured that the Faith which roe profess is agreeable to
Scripture. Thus far th^ Answerer : but the Doctor ad
ded, or exprefly contained in it, and does not contradict ei
ther Sense or Reason, nor any other Principle of Knowledge.
Now what faith the Answerer? why, If he means that
they have the fame Proof for thk, which Catholics have for
the Infallibility of the Church, that is, for the Being ofthat
D
Church
io
Church which declares her self Infallible (for a Church err

ing in such a point, would cease to be the Church of Christ )
then 'tis evidently false, fince each Christian in this Agt
bath thefame Evidence of her being the Church of Christ,
and of her teaching Truth, and consequently of her Infalli
bility, which he hath of Christ, viz. Prophesies, Miracles,
&c. which no Protestant so much at challengeth for the cer
tainty of the particular Sense of Scripture } thesame proofs
which Catholicks have for the Infallibility of the Church,
that is, for tlx Being of the Church: This is a pretty con
ceit, the Infallibility of the Church, that is to fay, the
Being of the Church ; Cant a Church Be then without
being Infallible ? Well ! but every Christian in this Jgt
hath the fame Evidence of the Church of Romes being the
Church of Christ, and of her teaching Truth, and conse
quently of her Infallibility, which he hath of Christ, viz.
Prophefies, Miracles, fccc. And where I pray are these
things ? What ! the Evidence so plain to. all Chri
stians, and yet two parts of three that can see no soch
thing ? I consess, we have heard much of Miracles, but
could never fee any if they have any, they are kept
to themselves : but 'tis no matter, for ( as a late Au
thor hath it) the greatest Miracle is, that any man can
believe them : t (hall not repeat any } they are com
mon enough, any one that hath a mind to a whole Book
full, need but enquire for the School of the Eucharist,
and I believe he will have satisfaction.
Preseivative, &c, sol. 25.) Ifj/o* tmst not use your
Reason and private Judgment, then you must not by any.
Reasons be perswaded io condemn the use of Reason. This
is a plain case 5 for as the Doctor adds, to condemn ' an
a& of Judgment : But the Answerer faith, All this might
with equal weight h, said by <t fick,, Monty who dissrvaded
from
against a fefaite.
1 1
from choosing his own Remedies, and defired to fend for a

skilful Do&or, should answer, 'tis impojjible by Reason to
perfvpdde me not to use my Reason, in governing my self by
Reason, as my oven Reason teacheth me } which would be
to condemn Reason, and yet be guided by your Reason }
such Discourse would prove the Sick^ Man, at leaji somewhat
Light-headed. What 'tis a Symptom of in Dr. Sherlock^*
his Modesty will not let him be positive in. But Sir, Is
this fame Sick Man , when he is desired to send for
some able Doctor, perswaded too to renounce his Rea
son, or rather, is it not that he should submit his Judg
ment ( not renounce his Reason) in that case, to that
person whom he hath all the reason in the World to
believe, hath better knowledge and understanding of
those things which are to be ns'd for his Recovery than
himself? And all this while, methinks he is govern'd by
Reason, though he doth not think fit to trust his own
Skill '> 'tis the Doctors prosession to know what Medi
cines are fit to be used in soch and such Cases and Con
stitutions, which I never trouble my self about, and.
therefore sorely I may be govern'd by him without re
nouncing my Reason ; nay, 'tis Reason that makes me
do it. But this bears no comparison } Religion is, or
ought to be the concern of all : Physical Speculations,
those only who are pleased to make it their Study $ eve
ry one must believe for himself, but every one is, not
obliged to be his own Doctor.
Preservative, &c06\. 25.) We must allow of no Rea
son against the Authority of plain and express Scripture
We may reasonably conolude, that God understands the redsons and nature of things better then we. This the An
swerer faith, is a very true and CatholickPrincipte. Whence;
we*nay infer, That when the Doctor comes to apply
D 2
it,
12
it,that he will be guilty of some most Illogical Inserence.

Alasfor Dr. Sherlock! who can hold no Catholick Princi
ple, but what must have some Illogical Inference attend
ing it to spoil all ; but let's hear it : Thou, foult Worfiip
the Lord thy God, and him only /halt thou serve, is such a.
plain and express Scripture, that no Reason can jiijiijie the
Worfiip os another Being. And what laith the Answerer
to this, fore some great matter, since he prepared his
Reader before hand with a Behold? Why 'tfc like this, A
Subject must love his King, and owe Allegiance to him
alone , therefore no Reason can justifie the love of a Childfor
his Father, or of a Wife for her Husband. What a deli
cate piece of Sophistry is here ! But 'tis no matter, his
design is to confound us unlearned Hereticks : but Sirs,
the command is, to serve God only ; which Service, we
must of necessity understand to be that which is Divine;
but Worship is so : wherefore it irresistibly follows, that
we must not Worship any other Being, but what we are
here commanded to serve, which is, God alone: So your
similitude will not hold. I am to love my King, ( and
I thank God I do it heartily) and to owe all Allegiance
to him, but I may love another to whom I owe no Al
legiance ; but to Worship a Being, I can't without ser
ving that Being ; wherefore the Text is plain against the
Worship of any other but God.
Preservative, &c. ô\. 26. and in the Answer, page 6.
The sense of the Law is the Lave
but when the Law
is not capable of a differentfense, omihere is no such Rea*
son as makes one fense absurd, and the other necessary, the
Law must be expounded according to the most plain and
obvious fense of the words. Answerer. This Principle is.
found. You may then be sure of a false Inference at th*
heel of it, just as before. Surely this Gentleman isonev
againfl a Jesuite,
1 3
os Momuss Race, whom nothing could please. They

write of him, That none of the Gods could do any
thing but he had a quarrel at it ; when Neptune had
made a Bull, Vulcan a Man, and Minerva a House, he
quarrell'd at the Bull because the Horns stood on his
Head ; the Man, because he had not a Window in his
Breast; the House because it stood not upon Wheels,
to remove k when it stood not well ; and when Venus
walked by, smiling at his conceit, he told her, she was
not well made neither 3 and her Shoes made too much
creaking as she went. But for the Doctors false Infe
rence i and this is it, Thou shalt not make to thy self any
Image, &c. which is so express a Law against ImageWorship, that no Reason must be admitted for it; arid
what hath he to fay to this ? Why, there are two que
stion^ which he thinks cannot be answer'd, but that the
Doctors false Inserence will appear : First then, What if
yon be told, that although the Jews had perhaps a command
of making no graven Image, &C. yet this being a pofitive
Law, and not confirmed in the Gospel, doth not oblige us I
"Will this reason be admitted? No.> andyetyou have no other
motive to pass by as express a Lavs of SanffifyingSatUTday ?
And do you indeed Sir, think it all one ? Is it not held
on all hands, that the keeping of the Seventh day was
Figurative, and so abolish'd at the Death of Christ?
but so for as it was Moral, namely, that a Seventh day
should be kept, that still remains. Besides, were we, or
Christ and his Apostles, Authors of this change > Christ
as he rose on that dayk so he did usually appear on that
day to his Disciples : And doth not the Scripture main
tain the Celebration of it by the constant practice ofthe
Apostles, A&s 20. & 7. 1 Corinthians 16. 8c 21. which
stiews, that we have better foundation for our belief
in this point, than you who rely on Tradition. Well !
14
but suppose it be rcjoyn'd, that only the making to themselves

C by private Authority J an Idol to adore it with Divine
Worship is forbidden, can none of these Reasons be heard}
no then Bezeled by Gods command, making several like
nesses of things on Earth, Solomon placing such in the Tem
ple, finned againsl the first Commandment
The tr%th
is, what fense they put on any Text, is the express have,
againsl which, no Reason must be heard j so they challenge
to themselves the Infallibility which they so flurdily deny to
the Church of God. For Answer to this then, first, we
do not challenge the Infallibility which the polluted
and degenerate Church of Rome ( which he calls the
Church of God ) claims : for she would have us take
the sense of any Scripture upon her own word ; and
because she so teacheth, we must submit to her defini
tions; and for this reason, because she hath (tesined
them : Tis not for private Christians to examineparti
cular points of their Faith or Religion ; no, 'tis suffici
ent to submit to an Infallible Guide ; and that too, if
he declare as the Council of Constance did, Session i $.
concerning the Eucharist, That notwithstanding our Lord
did institute it in.both kinds, and the Apostlesso celebrated
it, yet now it should not be so j which was confirmed by
the Council of Trent, Session 21. But for us Protestants,
we cannot think that any reason can be sufficient to lay
aside an express Text. Well, but how shall we excuse
Bezeleel and Solomon from sinning against the first Com
mandment ? why truly that is very easie ; for 'tis plain,
that they did not make them for any Religious Wor
ship, neither did they pay any Adoration to them. And
what comparison this hath to the practice of the Church
of Rome at this day, I shall leave to any man who hath
any knowledge of their Religion, to judge.
Aud
Agamfi a Jesuite.
15
And now ( in good time ) he tells ire he will con

clude the Doctor's admirable Principles and Inferences
i. e. that make void all right use of common Sense and
eason ) with one so singular, that it deserves to be
observed by all : And truly it doth so, but k is of his.
own coyning; take it in his own Words, page 6.
No Argument from the necessity of a thing must be admit
ted to prove it fc 5 if there he no Infallible Jstage, there can
be no certainty of Faith. .
Tho it be true, and ym
thinks it to be true, you must mt' allow this consequence,
therefore there if one.
Such Arguments do notprove that
there be such a Judge, but that there ought to be. Now to fee
the Difingenuity (to soy no worse) of this Author, we
must look into the Doctor's Book, and there, (sol. 44.)
he tells us, That we flwnld never admit any Arguments
merelyjrom the usefulness, convenieney,' orsupposed necessity
of any thing to prove it is. Now the Answerer leave*
out the word supposed, and so makes that absolute,
which was only conditional, (sol. 45.) If there be not an
Infallible Judge, there can be no certainty in Religion: :
This the Doctor said bat for whom, I pray, for him
self or for the Roman Catholick ? and therefore he
goes on, If I thought all this were true, (* at I believe not
a Word of it is) I should only conclude, that it is great pity
that there is not an Infallible Judge instituted by Christ :
But if yon would have me conclude from these premises,
Ergo, there is an infallible Judge of Controversies, Imujh
beg your pardon for that j for such Arguments as these do
not prove, that there k such a Judge, but only that there
ought to be one, and therefore I must conclude no more from
them. Indeed this k a very fallacious way of reasoning,
because what we may call useful, convenient, necessary, may
not be so in itsself j and we have reason to believe it k not
sa, if God have. not appointed what we thinl^so useful,
con
16
convenient, and necessary, which is a truer and more modest

way of reasoning, than to conclude, that God has appointed
such a Judgex when no such thing appears, only because we
thinkît so useful and necessary that he ought to do it : And
now I wouid-fain know who it is that denies Wisdom
aadTReason in God.
And thus I have run through that Point, which the
Answerer told us he would enlarge upon, /*. e. Reason,
which to desend Protestancy, we must make void, for
so fam'd an Author as Dr. Sherlock^, could not support it,
he faith, without making void all Reason, which Charge,
how well he hath proved, the Reader is to judge.
To go on then, the Principles of Dr. Sherlock^, which
make void all Faith, follow next, which if I can but
find, we are to take notice of, and I shall not say any
thing to that long Harangue, which the Answerer makes,
before he tells us where they be ; not that I think it
unanswerable, but because it is that which hath been
so often answered by our Divines, and what they can
fay nothing to, but repeat over their old Objections again, that so, if possible, they might keep those Learn
ed Men from better Employment. For the first then,
the Answerer tells us it is sot. 78. mistaken for sol. 79. &
80. where the Doctor puts the case thus . suppose the
Protestant Faith uncertain, how is the Cause of the Church of
Rome ever the better? - Is Thomas an honest Man, hecause John is a Knave : To this he answers, That if
Thomas and John be accused severally of Theft, and the
ftoln Goods be found with John, I conceive, though this
prove not Thomas so assuredly an honest Man, yet an
honest Jury would, he conceives, bring him in Not Guilty.
That tlfere is a true Faith, and consequently a certain Rule
dgainfl, a fesuite.
ij
of Faith all Christians acknowledge, Protestants on one fide

choose one Rule7 (how differently ever they ^pply it ) Ca~
thotickf another .) I conceive then if the Protestant Rule he
proved uncertain, 'tis plain the Catholics Rule must be the
certain one. But for Answer to this conceit, which I
consess made me smile at the Reading, and to begin
with John and Thomas for the first, The Jiolen Goods
are found with him, and so he's Condemn d ; hut now for
the proof that Thomas is an honest Man, and Ifee no ne
cessity that he should be so, unless there was nothing for
him to steal but what John had got } nay, unless it be also
proved that he had no hand in the taking Kof those Goods
tehich were found with John, which he might have, and so
le equally guilty with him, notwithstanding their being found
with another. And so for Protestants and Roman Catholickst one choose one Rule and the 'tother another andsup
pose the Protestants Rule be proved false, doth it indeed
necessarily follow that the Catholicks must be the true j? I
conceive, Sir, that you must first prove that it is impos
sible for people to make to themselves two wrong Rules,
which I presume will be labour. Suppose I mould tell
you that there were two Men which were to go to such
a City or Town, but could not agree in their Judg- ments concerning the nearest way which lead to it,
and so took too several ways, and conclude, when one
of them had been prov'd to err, that the way which
the other took must be the nearest way, which was to
go to that City or Town, and so the true and right way;
would you not Answer me, that that did not follow,
for there might be a third, and so a nearer than either
of the former, and that they might both err ; where
fore if you could prove the Protestant Rule uncertain,
I do not see how it appears so plain, as you would perswade me, that your Catholick one is the right.
E
What
18
A Defence os Dr. S7. Preservative
What can be the Gentlemans meaning in his next af

fected Paragraph, I cannot conceive, unless it be this,
That because Protestants take the Reasons of their Faithfrom
-Scripture, and not from the Church of Rome, that therefore
they can have no certain or Divine Faith, which if it be,
I pitty him j if it be not, I must desire him to explain
himself
Preservative, &c. ibid. ) We believe the Apostles Creed,
and whatever is contained in the Writings of the Evange*
lifts and Apostles, and this is all we believe : And, I hope,
they will not fay that these things are uncertain. Answer,
page j. They are in themselves very certain, but not to any
Protestant, whose Ride of Faith cannot make him certain of
any one Article: this is pleasant, these things are certain,
but the Scripture, which is our Rule, cannot make us
certain of any one Article contain'd in it 5 which shews
demonstratively upon what account they hold their
Religion, and believe the Articles of their Faith, not
because they find them in Scripture, for that cannot
make them certain that they are there, but because
their Church so teacheth, which 1$ the thing he means ;
that God hath given sufficient means to come to the
knowledg of, if we would but use them :- Well but the
Doctors Answer, justifies Turk, Jew and Gentile, and
how, I pray, do they believe all that is contain'd in the
Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles which. we do ?
and which you cannot deny, but with a little grum
bling, because we will not receive it upon the Authority
of your Church, with those additions which she is gra
cioufly pleas'd to rhake.
Preservative, &c. sol. 8 1. ) If these things, i. e. the
Writings of the Apostles, &c. be not built upon certain Rea^
sons
againft a Jejuite,
19
sons,their Infallible Church can have no certainty of the ChriJiian Faith.

Answer, This is most notoriously false, fince
she is not Infallible by any light of her own, but by the gui
dance of the Spirit of Truth. Were not the Apostles certain,
of what Christ told them, when they had acknowledg'd him
the Son of God, before he gave them certain Reasons for it,
'tis a blind Impiety even to thinly so. Patience good Sir,
and only be pleased to tell me whether therein were a
cetain Faith without certain Reason or no? as for what
the Doctor (aid it is undoubtedly true, for as he faith
but just before , Infallibility cannot make that certain,
which is in it self uncertain : an infallible Man must know
things as they are, or else he is mistaken, and ceases to be In
fallible j and therefore what is certain, he infallibly knows to
be certain, and what is uncertain, he infallibly knows to be
uncertain : for the most certain and infallible knowledge
does not change its Object, but fees itjust as it is. Where
fore supposing your Church had the guidance os the
Spirit of Truth, to make her Infallible in all things, she
must certainly see things as they are : wherefore the
Scripture must be the Word of God, and what is there
in contain'd certain, because she so Teacheth, or else she
ceaseth to be Infallible.
Preservative, &c. sol. 82.) 'Tis their common Argu
ment, That there is a great variety of Opinions among Pro
testants, and that they condemn one another with equal con
fidence and assurance. But the Answerer faith, he should
have added, Though they use the fame Rjtle of Faith, and
apply it by the same means, and that thus propos'd 'tis an un
answerable argument against our Rule os Faith, and evi
dently proves it uncertain. Alass for us now, we are gone
with a witness, out* Rule being prov'd uncertain, we
must certainly err if we rely upon it : yet chear up, we
E 2
." .
have
io
Defence of Dr. SV. Preservative
have heard this unanswerable Argument Ansvver'd, par

ticularly by the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet, in his An
swer to J. <ys. Catholick Letters ; but *tis a Talent inhe
rent in a Romanist, to repeat his old musty Arguments
without taking notice of what hath been laics in An
swer thereto. But I must beg leave a while to look into
the forenamed Book, and there I find a foil Answer to
what is here (aid ; J. S. having said, That Scripture in
terpreted by private Judgment was not the way to know cer
tainly what thrist and his Avostles taught, because they that
made use of it that way did not agree, but differ d in fun
damentals, ( In his first Letter ). The Doctor Answers,
FoL 3$. Th^f it doth not follow, by no means, that the Scri
pture is no certain Rule j and he puts it thus, according
to J.S's. Propositions, First, Arithmetics prescribes a certain
way by Addition and Substra&ionfor m to find out any Sum.
Secondly, Therefore it must be such, that they who take it
shall arrive by it at the cxaSt Sum. Thirdly, But two Men
who have made use of the same way , differ at least a
Hundred in casting up the Sum. Fourthly, Therefore Arithmeticl^doth not prescribe a certain way to attain at a cer
tain Sum. Fifthly, Therefore they who take only that way,
cannot by it arrive at the certain Sum. But, laith he, FoL
40. those who consider a little better than Mr. S. hath done,
mil distinguish between the Rule and the Application of it ;
the Rule of Arithmetics may be nevertheless certain, al
though those who want ski3 or care and diligence, may mis
take in casting up a particular accompt. The same wesay
here, Scripture k a certain Rule in all Fundamental Points^
to such as have capacity, and use due care and diligence in
finding them j but we do not deny but Men through preju
dice , weakness , want of Attention , Authority of false
Teachers, impatience of throughly examining things, and
mt using proper helps, may run into gross Errors
But
again/I a festate,
2 1
liilithe Rule is certain to those who use it aright. FoL 41.

For although the Scripture he an infallible Rule, yet unless
every Man that makes use os it be infallible, he may mistake
in the application of it. I desire the Gentleman to take
this into Consideration, and if he think it not sufficient,
to try his skill upon Dr. Stillingsteet.
Preservative, &c. Fol. 83.) Were all "Protestants of a
mind, would their Consent and Agreement prove the cer
tainty of the Protestant Faith .<? The Answerer faith, Not
at all, yet that it is a most ridiculous Inference ofDr. Sher
lock, that this is the fame Rule, and their Disagreement
proves their Uncertainty j all Union is no Argument of
the Spirit of God j for People may combine to do ill ; yet St.
Paul assures us Disunion and Desertion is a certain Mark,
of the absence of the Spirit of God : You should have ad
ded, in some, not in all the disagreeing Parties : For
suppose, Sir, the Question be put among a Company of
Men to go rob such a House, or kill such a Man ; some
of them consent to it, but there re others which will
not > I desire to know, whether it be a mark of the
absence of the Spirit of God in thdse which do not
agree to do that Wickedness > And so you see what the
Doctor's rnst ridiculous Inference comes to, and how
he hath made void all Faith.
But now for Dr. Sherlocl(s Position, which makes void
all Scripture-proof, as it lies in the Answer, page the ph.
If a Mystery appear against Sense and Reason, we must
have a Scripture-proof as cannot possibly fignifie any thing
else, or else it will not answer that Evidence which we have
against it, Sense and Reason proving it naturally impojsible.
A Text, he faith, which cannot pojsibly have another Sense,
doth not leave it in any ones Liberty, who owns Scripture, to
be an Heretics therefore the Church produced no such

Text against the Arians or Nestorians j whence it evidently
follows, that according to Dr. Sherlock, the Arians and
Nestorians were bound not to believe the Trinity, and the
Incarnation- of Chrifl. A Happy Ministerial Guide ! And
well led those who follow him ! And now, Reader, I
must desire you again to look into the Doctor's Book,
and read what he faith, and there I find that 'tis but
reasonable that the Evidence for it (/. e. Transubstantia
tion ) should at least be equal to the Evidence against it,
sol. jo. And therefore we must demand a self-evident Proof
for this, because it is self-evident that Transiibstantiation
contradicts Sense and Reason, sol 71. And so he faith,
sol. 7a. That we must demand such a Scripture-proof of
Transubstantiation, as cannot pojjiblyjignifie any thing else,
^without contradicting Sense and Reason, as that doth~]
or else it will not answer the Evidence which we have against
Transubstantiation j for Sense and Reason pronounce Tran
substantiation to be naturally impojjible ; and therefore, unless
it be as impojjible to put any other Sense upon Scripture, than
what signifies Transubstantiation, as it is to reconcile Tran
substantiation to Sense and Reascn, there is not fitch good
Evidence for Transubstantiation as againfi it. With what
Conscience now can any Man cavil at this, and {ay, that it
makes void all Scripture-proof .<? As for the Trinity and
Incarnation, which the Arians and Nestorians disputed,
they are Mysteries indeed, and might seem to be above
Sense and Reason, but they they are not contrary to it ;
and it was not necessary to produce Scripture, which
could not possibly sigriifie any thing else, that is to fay,
which could not possibly have any other Sense put up
on them, without contradicting Sense and Reason j for
they could not prove that those which were disputed
did either.
But now for Transiibstantiation, that that
doth,
gainfi a fefitite.
23
doth both, is plain ; wherefore 'tis but reasonable to

desire a Scripture-proof that cannot signisie anything
else but Transubstantiation, without contradicting Sense
and Reason, else, as the Doctor faith, there k not so good
Evidence for it as against it ; so that for ought our Au
thor can fay, Dr. Sherlock^ is a good Ministerial Guide,
and those may be happy which follow his Guidance ,
when those who seek to .pervert Souls, and bring them
into a By-way of Darkness and Error, may be lament
ing abusd Mercy, and that they made no better use of
that Talent which God had lent them.
Next comes the Doctor s Position, making void all use
of Holy Fathers and General Councils, which to prove,
the Answerer repeats by halves what the Doctor said,
and then concludes, That some ofthose Requifits not being
possibly to be kjiown, no use is to be made of any. What
Dr. Sherlock said is this . That 'twos ridiculous for that
man that had been taught his Religion out of the Scripture,
and which he might find there if he pleas'd, to change it for
Quotations out of the Fathers and Councils which he did
not understand, becausesome hones Pries, f asort of Men
rcho never deceive any one) had told him that such a Fa
ther, who liv'd, it may be, they know not where nor when,
and wrote they kyow not what, has spoke in favour of Tran
substantiation, or Purgatory, or some other Popisto Do&rine.
And then he comes to tell us what Questions we ought
to ask, when we are urged with the Authority of Fa
thers, as, How we pall know that such Books were writ
ten by that Father whose Name it bears .<? Whether it be uncorrupted .<? How we shall know the true meaning of those
Words which they cite from them, which the Words tliemfelves many times will not discover without the Context, and
the like, which requisites that Man who will build any
24 A Defence of Dr. Ss.Vrefervative

any thing upon their Authority, must know, or else he
may be miserably mistaken ; yet this is not to deny any
use of Fathers and Councils ; for Learned. Men may
dispute about them as they please j and I question not,
if our Religion were to be try'd by the Fathers, but
that we should undoubtedly carry it against the Church
iof Rome, notwithstanding all her Pretences to Antiqui
ty , and yet we do not build, our Faith thereon, but
keep to that Rule which they had to walk by, which is
the Word of God, contained in the Canonical Books
of the Old and New Testament.
And now I am arriv'd to the last Point, which our
dandid Answerer undertook, wx.to shew that Dr. Sherloch^made void all Moral Honcjly, and that he tells us lies
in his last Chapter, where to injtnute, that a Catholics
thinks the Blessed Virgin more powerful in Heaven than
Chrifl, he tells us, that he fays ten Ave Maries for one
Pater Noster. Well ! for the matter of Fact, that the
Catholick doth fay Ten Prayers to the Virgin for one
to Christ, the Answerer can't deny : Ay, but he doth
not think her more powerful than Christ. Suppose
that yet sure he must think her more merciful, and
readier to hear his Prayers than Christ, or else why is
he so partial to pray Ten for one ? which I doubt
will prove much of a consequence with the former :
And yet if the Doctor had not only done what he here
perfwades us he doth, but directly said it, I know not
how he would have excused some of his own Party :
And you know, Sirs, what the Author of the Remarks
upon the Reflections of the Author of Popery Misrepresented
and Represented hath undertaken, viz. this among many
other things,to shew,when you shall desire it, that there
are some of your own Writers, who believe the Blef
again/I a fesuite.
1 1
fed Virgin to have as much Power in Heaven as her Son,

and that maintains the fraying to her to command him,
and begging from her fardon of Sins, and the assurance of
Salvation. To conclude, the Answerer tells us, that to
be thorough-Sherlock , and thorough- Protestant -Mini
fies he concludes with the most difingenuotts Misre
presentation, and the most false Calumny imaginable, as
a supposed and owned Truth, to wit, That Catholicks
worship the visible Species in the Eucharist : A most impudent
Slander, he faith, no Catholics being guilty of it, no more
than the Apostles of worshiping and adoring the Cloaths of
Christ, when they ador'd him upon Earth. Preservative,
sol. 89. He ( Papist Represented ) believes it unlawful to
commit Idolatry, and most damnable to worjliip any Breaden God, which, faith Dr. Sherlock^ , is spoke like a Pro
testant, but yet he pays Divine Adoration to the Sacrament,
which is done like a Papist. Here you see is no mention
made of Species, but the word is Sacrament ; and that
they do pay Divine Adoration to that, they can't deny ,
but then they tell us, That Christ is there, yea, that that
Body which was born ofthe Virgin Maryland that hung upon
the Cross, Flejh, Bloud, Bones and all is whole in every
Point and Crum of the ConfecratedWafer ; and that there re
mains nothing of the consecrated Elements j and that 'tis this
their Adoration is paid to. But surely now they had need
to have good Grounds that this is so j this had need to
be wonderfully clear in Scripture ; and yet when they
come to prove it thereby, they bring those Words, This
is my Body, and conclude there is Foundation enough
for all this, and much more, as if there were no Figu
rative Expressions in Scripture j and as if there were a
necessity to take Scripture in a Sense which contradicts
Sense and Reason, when another Sense more natural
and eafie may be had.
F
'
And
26
A Defence of Dr.SV. Preservative
And now to close up all with some good Advice for

us Protestants, and that too in Dr. Sherlock^ Words, on
ly putting the Word Scripture m lieu ofFathers, ( a little
Alteration, do not stand upon't , come>come, shew a lit
tle good nature for once, and take it upon my Word )
Amongst Christians there k not one in a hundred thousand
who understands all Scripture, and it is morally impojfible
they stould, and therefore certainly there must he an easier
and shorter way to understand Chrifiian Religion than this,
er else the generality os Mankind, even os profess 'd Christ'
ans, are out of possibility f Salvation : Think^weU on it, as
you will answer at God's Tribunal for the Care you took^ of
the one only Necessary, the saving ofyour Souls > Jeekôut that
eafier andshorter way, and walk^ faithfully in it. Good,
ee'n close jour Eyes, and examin nothing, but come
over to our Mother Ron/e, and be resolute, and I'll war
rant an happy Agreement. If this is not to be thorough
Papist, and thorough Romish Priest, I know not what
is : But to consider it a little, though the truth is, it
doth doth not deserve it, all Scripture, yes, all Scrip
ture must be understood, or else the Christian Religion
cannot : So that if a Man understood all the Texts of
the Old and New Testament, except one, as ibr In
stance, that in the yth of the Revelations, verse the i^th.
he cannot understand Christian Religion, and is out of
a possibility ofSalvation. This is a wonderful Discove
ry, and yet one would not think thatit came out of a
Jesuits Forge ; 'tis wrote so bunglingly, *tis not done
with Art enough to deceive, and so will not answer the
Makers purpose : For as1 for us Protestants , I hope we
are above such little Shams ; and we do not only fay,
but we find that Scripture in all Points necessary to Sal
vation is plain and easie ; so that we may run and
read: 'Tis true, there are some Texts, which we that
are
againft a festate* '
27
are unlearned, cannot readily find the true Sense and

meaning os; but they are not such as immediately con
cern Salvation ; and we are not destitute of Helps
as to these j for we have learned and Religious Divines,
whom we have all the reason imaginable to believe
have no other Design upon us, than the Good of Sottls,
to whom we may have recourse ; and we always find
them willing and ready to afford us their Assistance : So
that to conclude, we are very happy where we are, and
in a fair way to understand Scripture, tho it may be not
every jot and tittle of it. However, I think it much
better to know some, and so much as is sufficient for
my Salvation, than to go over to a Church which would
have me stupify'd, and to understand none at all.
FINIS.
Some Books lately Printed for Brab. Aylmer.

A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy : to which is ad
ded, A Discourse concerning the Unity of the
Church. By Dr. Isaac Barrow.
A Discourse against Transobstantiation. By Dr.Til/otfon.
A Discourse concerning the Adoration of the Host, as
it is Taught and Practised in the Church of Rome.
' A Discourse of the. Communion in One Rind : In An
swer to a Treatise of the Bishop of Meaux's.
A Discourse os the Sacrifice of the Mass, in 40.
A Discourse against Purgatory.

An Answer to a Book Entituled, Reason and" Autho
rity : Or, the Motives of a late Protestant's Reconcilia"
tion to the Catholick Church. In a Letter to a FriendTogether with a Brief Account of Austin the Monk,and.
Conversion of the Exgfifc in 40.
The Judgment of private Discretion in matters of Reli
gion Desended ; in a Sermon on 1 Thes.v. 2 1.Preached at
lSt.PaulsCovent-Garden,Veb.26.i6S6. By Richard Kidder.
A Request to Roman Catholicks to Answer the Queries
upon these their following Tenets : 1 . Their Divine Ser
vice in an unknown Tongue. 2. Their taking away the Cup
from the People. 5. Their with-holding the Scriptures from
the Laicks. 4. The adoration of Images. 5. The Invocation
of Saints and Angels. 6. The Do&rine of Merit. 7. Purga
tory. 8. Their Seven Sacraments. 9. Their Priests tntention
in Baptism. 1 C. The Limbo of unbaptized Infants, r 1 . Tranfubjiantiation. 1 2. The Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass.
I 3. Private Masses. 14. The Sacrament of Penance. 1 5. The
Sacrament of Marriage, with the Clergies Restraint there
from. 1 6. Their Sacrament of extream TJnBion. 1 7. Tradi
tion. 18. That thred-bdre .ûestion, Where was your Church
before Luther ? 1 9. The Infallibility of the Pope with his
Councils. 2 o. The Pope's Supremacy. 1 1 . The Pope's Deposing.
Power, 3 2. Their Uncharitablenefs to all other Christians^
9
THE
9
^
OF THE
PRESERVATIVE
; ;^
AGAINST
^mprlmatur Liber cui Titulus,
The Second Tart of
the Tre/ervative
againU Tofery.
Cuil. NeedbaMy R. R.
inChristoP.acD.D.
tfilbetooArchietfifc
CantJk Sacc Domest.
ERR ATA.
PAge 27. line 10. for greats. greater, p. 37.1.5-. f.wbenj. where. 1.2j.f.
contratl,r.contact. p.ôA.2j.C[houlditlr. it should, p. 7 9. 1. 22 ,i underminedyV,undetermined. p.8o.l.g.f. corrupt^corrupts.\.ziS.upjc.upon. p9iJ.22.r.
in knowledge and bolinefi.
The Second Part

OF
THE
Preservative
AGAINST
POPERY:
Shewing how Contrary
TOT ERY
is to the True Ends.
O F THE
Fitted for the

INSTRUCTION
O F
Vnlearned TRO TES TANTS.
By WILLIAM SHERLOCK, D. D.
Master of the Temple.
LONDON:
Printed for William Rogers, at the Sun over against
St. Dttnstaris Churdh in Fleet -street.
M DC LXXXVIII.
-'J
it
.
~ ^* %*.
Part II.
THE
PRESERVATIVE
AGAINST
POPE
CHAP.
Y.
IV.
Some Directions relating to particular Controversies,
THose who would understand the particular Disputes be

tween us and the Church of Rome, must of necestiry
read such Books as give the true State of the Controversie between us, and fairly represent the Arguments on both
fides ; and where such Books are to be met with, he may learn
from a late Letter, Entituled, The Present State of the Controverfie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome, Or an
Account ofBooks written on bothfides. But my present Design is
of another nature, to give some plain and caste Marks and Characterspf true Gospel Doctrines ; whereby a man, who has any
relish of the true Spirit of Christianity, may as certainly know
Truth from Error in many casses, as the Palate can distinguish
Tasts. There are some things so proper to the Gospel, and so
primarily intended in it, that they may fitly serve for distinguish
ing marks of true Evangelical Doctrine : I shall name some of the
chief, and Examine some Popish Doctrines by them.
-j
Section
A Preservmive agatnU POPERT.
Part II.
Section f.
Concerning I DO L At RT.
X. /""VNE principal intention of the Gospel, was more peri Tohn s.
V J sectly to extirpate all Idolatry ; For this purpose the son
8.
of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, that is, not
only all Sin a.nd Wickedness, but the very Kingdom of Darkness;
tliat Kingdom the Devil had erected in the world, the very Foun
dation of which was laid in Idolatrous Worship.
fs "~
To this purpose Christ has expresly taught us, that there is but
one God, and has more persectly instructed us^n the nature of
i. Joh. 1 8. God : For mo man hath seen God at any time, but the only begotten^
son, who is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. Igno
rance was the Mother of Pagan Idolatry, because they did not
know the true God, they Worshipped any thing, every thing,
for a God ; and therefore the most effectual course to cure Ido
latry, was to make known the true God to the world : for those
men are inexcusable who know the true God, and Worship any
thing else. Tho' indeed according to some mens Divinity, the
knowledge of the true God cures Idolatry, not by rooting out
Idolatrous Worship, but by excusing it ; by making that to be
no Idolatry in a Christian, who knows God, which was Idolatry
in a Heathen, who did not know him: for if (as some fay) none
can be guilty of Idolatry, who acknowledge one Supream Being ;
then the Heathens, when once they were instructed in the know
ledge of the one true God, might have Worshipped all their
Country Gods, which they did before, without being guilty of
Idolatry; which is, as if I should fay, that man is a Rebel, who
through mistake and ignorance owns any man for his Prince, who
is not his Prince ; but he, is no Rebel, who knows his lawful
Prince, and pays Homage to another, whom he knows not to
be his Prince.
And therefore our Saviour confines all Religious Worship to
M*. io. God alone : Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve : It is his Answer to the Devil, when he tempt
ed
Part IL
A Preservative againUP OPERT.
ed him to fall down and worship him, but he gives such an an- '
swer as excludes all Creatures, not only bad but good Spirits, from *
any share in Religious Worship : Our Saviour does not deny to
worship him meerly because he was the Devil, (tho' that a man
may do without the guilt of Idolatry, who knows him to be the
Devil , if those men are in the right , who allow nothing to
be Idolatry , but to. worship some Being for the Supreme
God, who is not Supreme ; for then you may worship the De
vil without the guilt of Idolatry, if you do not believe him to
be the Supreme God) but our Saviour's reason for not worship
ping him was, because we must Worship none but God. Which
is as good a reason against the worship of the most glorious An
gel, as of the Devil himself : Nay, our Saviour denies to worship
him, though the Devil made no terms with him, about the kind
or degrees of Worship : He does not require him to osier Sacri
fice to him, ( which is the only Act of Worship the Church of
Rome appropriates to the Supreme God) but only to bow down
before him, as an expression of Religious Devotion ; he did not
demand that degree of Worship, which the Church of Rome calk
Latria, and appropriates to the Supreme God : nay, he consesses
that he was not the Supreme God, for he does not pretend to di
spose of the Kingdoms of the World in his own right, but fays,
they were given to him, and he had power to give them to
whom he pleased ; in which he acknowledges, that he had a Superiour, and therefore could not in the fame breath desire to be
owned and worshipped as the Supreme. But our Saviour denies
to give him this inseriour degree of Worship, and thereby teaches
us, that no degree of Religious Worship must be given to any Be
ing, but the Supreme God.
And because Mankind were very apt to worship inseriour D
mons, as believing them to have the care of this lower World,
and that it was in their power to do great good to them, to an
swer their Prayers, and to mediate for them with the Superiour
Deities, or with the Supreme God, if they believed one Supreme,
which appears to be a received Notion among them : to prevent*
this kind of Idolatry, God advances his own Son to be the uni
versal!
Part If.
vcrsal Mediator, and the Supreme and Soveraign Lord of the

World ; that all Mankind should make their Addresles and Ap
plications to him, and ofser up their Prayers only in his Name;
that in him they should find acceptance, and in no other name.
Which was the most effectual way to put an end to the Worship
of all inseriour Deities, and Creature-Patrons and Advocates;
for when we are assured, that no other Being can Mediate for us
with effect and power, but only Christ, it is natural to Worship
no other Mediator but him, who being the eternal Son of God,
may be worshipped without danger of Idolatry. Thus St. Paul
tells us, That tho' the Heathen world had Gods many and Lords
i Cor 8. many> yet to us tnere *s Dut one
and one Lord Je5, <s.
Jus ChriH : One Supreme and Soveraign Deity, and one Medi
ator between God and men.
Now this being so apparently one end of Christ's coming in
to the World to Suppress the Idolatry of Creature-Worship, and
to confine all Religious worship to one Supreme Being, in oppo
sition to the many Gods of the Heathens, and to teach us to
make our Applications to this one God by one Mediator, in
opposition to the worship of inseriour Deities ; can any man imagine, that the worship of Saints and Angels, and the Virgin
Mary, can be any part of the Christian Religion ? For how dear
soever they are to God, they are but his Creatures, and if Sove
raign Princes will not receive their greatest Favourites into their
Throne, much less will God.
If God under the Gospel dispensation has taken care to prevent
the Worship of inseriour Beings, by appointing his own Son to be
our only Mediator and Advocate, can we imagine, that he ever
intended we should ofser up our Prayers to other Mediators ? ff
he had liked the Mediation of Creatures, would he have given
his own Son to be our Priest and our Mediator? Whatever
fair pretences may be made for this, it apparently contradictsthe
Gospel dis pensation ; for if we must own but one God, he alone
must be worshipped ; if we have but one Mediator, we must ofm fer up our Prayers only in his Name and Intercession. The Re: ''
ligtous Worship of Creatures is Idolatry, and if God intended to
root
Part Ut
root Idolatry out of the World, by the Gospel of Christ, he could

never intend to set up the Worship of Saints, and the Virgin Mary, which tho' it have not all the aggravations of Pagan Idolatry,
yet is Creature-worship.
Thus we know, how fond the Heathens were of material Ima
ges and Pictures, to represent their Gods as visibly present with
them ; and to receive Religious Worship in their stead : not that
they did believe their Gods to be Corporeal, or that their Cor>
poreal Images were proper Likenesles of their Gods, in which a
late Author places the whole of Idolatry, which I consess was agreeable enough to his design, to find out such a Notion of Ido
latry, as it may be no Persons in the World were ever guilty of,
and then he might excuse, whom he pleased from Idolatry : But
the Heathens were not such great Sots, as this account makes
them, as the Learned Founder of all Anti-CatMkk, and Ant>m.sm\n.
christian Principles (as this Author is pleased to= stile a very great Sjfgj?0'
man, whose Name will be Venerable to future Ages) has abun- course
dantly proved. Bat they wanted some material' Representati- f000^"
bns of their Gods> in which they might as it were see them pre- JJ*1 *'
sent, and offer up their Petitions to them, and court them with
some visible and sensible Honours. Now ta cure this Idolatry,
tho' God would not allow any Images or Pictures for Worship,
yet by the Law of Moses he appoints them to build an House or
Temple for himself, where he would dwell among them, and
place the Symbols of his Presence ; there was the Mercy-seat,
and the Cherubim* covering the Mercy-seat.and there God promi
sed Moses ta meet with him^ and to commune with him from between a gxoi
the two Cheruhimsy which are upon the ark of the testimony.
Now 22.
this was a Symbolical Representation of God's Throne in Hea
ven, where he is furreranded with Angels, as we know^ the Holy
of Holies itself was a Figure of Heaven ; and therefore the Jews,
when they were absent from the Temple, . prayed towards it, and
in the Temple (as- is thought) towards the Mercy-seat, as the
place ofGod's pecuriar Residence; as tjtfw. when we pray, ws lift
up our eyes and hands to Heaven, where God dwells: So that
urfckr the Law God had a peculiar prace for Worship, andpeculiB
ar
A rrejervaiivc agaimi i v i tivi.
rare u.
ar Symbols of his Presence, but no Images to represent his Per

son, or to be the Objects of Worship : I know some Roman Do
ctors would fain prove the Cherubims to have been the Objects
of Worship, and which is more wonderful, a late Bishop of the
Church ot England has taken some pains to prove the fame, and
Reafonsfor thereby to juitifie the Worship of Images in the Church of Rome ;
abrogating and before I proceed, I shall briesly Examine what he has said in
124,
tnisCauseOne would a little wonder, who reads the Second Command

ment, which so severely forbids the Worship of Images, that
God himself should set up Images in his own Temple as the Ob
jects of Worship ; and a modest man would have been a little cau
tious, how he had imputed such a thing to God, which is so di
rect a contradiction to his own Laws. That the Cherubims were
Statues or Images, whatever their particular Form was, I agree
with our Author,, and that is the only thing I agree with him in :
For,
I. That they were Sacred Images set up by God himself, in the
vA&t-izj. piace (j friS mn worship^ I deny. For the Holy of Holies, where
the Ark was placed, and the Mercy- seat over the Ark, and the
Cherubims at the two ends spreading their Wings, and covering
the Mercy-seat, was not the place of Worship, but the place of
God's Presence. The place of Worship is the place wherein men
worship God ; now it is sufficiently known, that none of the
Jews were permitted to go into the Holy of Holies, nor so much
as to look into it, and therefore it could not be the place of their
Worship : the Holy of Holies was the Figure of Heaven, and
therefore could be no more the place of Worship to the Jews, tlian
Heaven now is to us, while we dwell on Earth. The High Priest
, indeed entered into the Holy of Holies once a year, with the
9 Heb. tx, Blood of the Sacrifice, which was a Type of Christ's entringinto
ia>
Heaven with his own Blood, and yet the Priest went thither not
to. Worship, but to make an Atonement ; which I take to be two
very different tilings ; however if you will call this Worship, it
has no relation to any Worship on Earth, but to what is done by
Christ in Heaverr, of whom the Higii Priest was a Type. And
this>
Part II.
A Preservative agaioB POPEKT.
this, I think, is a demonstration, that the placing of Cherubims

to cover the Mercy-seat in the Holy of Holies, does not prove
the lawful use of Images in Temples or Churches, or in the Wor
ship of God on Earth ; if it proves any thing, it must prove the
Worship of God by Images in Heaven, of which the Holy of Ho
lies was a Figure ; and if any man can be so foolish as to imagine
that, let them make what they please of it, so they do but ex
cuse us from worshipping God by Images on Earth.
x. That these Cherubims were the moHsolemn andsacredpart of
the Jewish Religion ; that nothing is more remarkable in all the old
Testaments than the honour done to the Cherubims, that an outward
worship was given to these Images, as Symbols of the Divine presence,
that the High Priest adored these Cherubims once ayear, as this Au
thor asserts, I utterly deny ; and he has not given us one word to
prove it.
For the Cherubims were so far from being the most solemn
and sacred part of the Jewish Religion , that they were no part
at all of it, if by Religion he means Wor (hip ; for there was no
regard at all had to the Cherubims in the Jewish Worship; and it
is so far from being remarkable in the Old Testament, that there is
not the least footstep or intimation of any honour at all done to
the Cherubims : There is nothing in Scripture concerning them,
but the command to make them, and place them at the two ends
of the Mercy-Seat ; and that God is said to dwell between the
Cherubims , and to give forth his Oracles and Responses from '
tfcat place : but I desire to learn, where the Jews are commanded
to direct their Worship to or towards the Cherubims ? where the
High Priest is commanded to adore the Cherubims once a year ?
or what Protestant grants he did so, as this Author insinuates ?
He supposes the Cherubims to have been the Symbols of Gods
presence, and his representations , and that the Jews directed their p- 13*
worship to them as such, and that is to worship God by Images,or to
give the fame Signs of Reverence to his Representations, as to him
self: but how does it appear, that the Cherubims were the Sym
bols of Gods presence ? God indeed is said to sit between the
Cherubims, and he promised Moses to commune with him from
B x
be-
AFreservativeagair&TOrERr.
Part fL
between the Cherubims , but the Cherubims were no Symbols

of Gods presence.much less a representation of him : ifany thing
was the Symbolical presence of God , it was the Mercy Seat,
which was a kind of Figurative Throne, or Chair of State ; but
the Cherubims were only Symbolical representations of those
Angels, who attend and encompass Gods Throne in Heaven, and
were no more representations of God ,or Symbols of his presence,
then some great Ministers of State are of the King.; as this Au
thor himself acknowledges., when he makes the sour heasts in the
Pagt 127. Revelations (Rev. 4. 6,7.) which steed round ahout the Throne, to
be an allufion to the representation as the immediate Divine Presence
hi the Ark by the Cherubims ; it lie had said to the Cherubims co
vering the Mercy Seat, which was bis Figurative Throne , and
where he was:invisibly present
without any visible Figures or
Symbols of his presence , he had said right : for the Cherubims
which covered the Mercy Seat, were no more Symbols of Gods
Presence, than the four Beasts , which stood before the Throne,
are the presence of God; or then some great Courtiersor Mini
sters of State, who attend the King.are the presence of the King;
They attenÛfche King, whereever he is, and so may be some sign
of his presence, but are not a symbolical presence , as a Chair of
State is. But it seems our Author imagined.that the Cherubims
were such Symbols of Gods presence, and such representations of
him, as Images were of the Pagan Gods , and therefore might be
worshipped with the fame signs of reverence,as God himself was ;
according to Thomas Aquinas $ Rule, that the-I mage must be wor
shipped with the lame Worship, which is due to the Proto-type,
or that Being whose Image it is, which is such old Popery, -as
Monsieur De Meaux, and the Representer cry shame of; well,
But how does he prove, that any Worship was directed to these
Cherubims ? I can find no proof he offers for it, but David's Exr
bortation ( as he calls it) to the People, to honour the Ark (he
should' have said worship) -rewwfo, bow down to, or worship his
.Footstool, for it, or he, is holy. Now suppose this did relare to tfbe
Ark, What is that to the Cherubims ? When but four Pages be
fore, he tells us, that the Ark is called God's Footstool, and the
Che
Part II.
XFrefcrvativeagainttFQPERr.
Cherubims hk Throne ; How then does David's Exhortation to wor

ship the Ark, which is God's Footstool, prove that all their Wor
ship, must be directed to the Cherubims, which are his Throne?
It is pitty, that great Wits have but short Memories.
And yet I fancy, our Author would have been much troubled
to prove the Ark to be meant by God's Footstool; for the Ark
was in the Holy of Holies, which was a figure of Heaven ; and
neither the Heaven, nor any thing in it, but the Earth, is in Scri
pture called God's Foot-stool ; and the Psalmist expresly applies
it to Zion, and to the Holy Hill, which, I will not prove, was not 99 ^
the Ark.
' 9'
And this I suppose is a sufficient confutation of his Exposition
of the words, To bow down to, or worship his foot-stool ; for I be
lieve he did not think that Mount Zion, or the Holy Hill, was
-the object of worship, or the symbol of God's presence; but there
God was present, and that was reason enough to worship at his
foot-stool, and at his holy hill \ as our English Translation reads it.
But now suppose the Jews were to direct their Worship to
wards the Mercy-seat, which was covered with the Cherubims,
where God had promised to be present; how are the Cherubims
concerned in this Worship ? The worship was paid only to God,
though directed to God, as peculiarly present at that place;
which is no more, than to lift up our Eyes and Hands to Hea
ven, where the Throne of God is, when we pray to him : I
grant, that bowing to, and bowing towards any thing, as the Object
of Worship, is the very fame, as this Author observes ; and there
fore had the Jews either bowed to or towards the Cherubims, as
the Objects of their Worship, as the Papists bow to or towards
their Images, they had been equally guilty of Idolatry, and the
breaches the second Commandment; but when bowing To sig
nifies bowing to an object of Worship, and bowing towards signifiesbowinglo this Object of Worship, -only towards such a place,
where he is peculiarly present, this makes a great difference ; and.
this was all the Jewsd\d at most, if they did that ; they bowed
to God towards the Mercy-seat, where he dwelt, without any
regard to the Cherubims or Mercy-scat, as the Gfeject of Wor
Part II.
ship, which was as invisible to the Jews then, as the Throne of

God and the Angels in Heaven are now to us; and we may as
well fay, that those who lift up their eyes and their hands to Hea
ven, when they pray to God, worship the Angels, who incircle his
Throne, because they know that the Angels arc there ; as fay,
that the Jews worshipped their invisible Cherubims, because they
knew that the Cherubims were there : For is there any necessity
that the Jews must worship whatever they knew, was in the Ho
ly ot Holies, because they worshipped God towards that place,
any more than there is, that we must worship whatever we know
to be in Heaven, when we direct our Worship to God in Heaven >
Men, I grant, may worship an unseen Object, for so we all
worship God, whom we do not and cannot see ; but it is a good
argument still, that the Cherubims were not intended by God
for the Objects of Worship, because they were concealed from
the Peoples sight ; for I believe the World never heard before
of worshipping invisible Images : The original intention of Ima
ges, is to have a visible Object of Worship ; for an invisible Image can afsect us no more than an invisible God; and if our
Author had consulted all the Patrons of Image-worship, whether
Pagan or Popish, he would have found most of the reasons they
alleadge for this Worship to depend on sight, and therefore what
ever he thought, are all lost when a man shuts his eyes. A man
who directs his worship to an Image, may be an Idolater in the
dark, and with his eyes shut ; but as blind as Idolaters are, there
never had been any Image.worship, had their Images been as in
visible as their Gods ; and therefore sight has more to do in this
matter, than our Author was aware ot.
But it seems the High-Priest once a Year did see these Cheru
bims, and adore and worship them. But this is another mi
stake: for the Jews did believe, that the High-Priest never saw
the Cherubims or Mercy-seat, even when he went once a Year
into the Holy of Holies ; and they have great reason for what
they say, since God expresly commanded, That when he went
into the Holy of Holies , he should take a censer faff of burning
eoals offirejjm off the altar before the Lord, and his hands faff of
sweet
Part II.
sweet incense leatensmall, andbring it within the veil: And he shall

put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the
incense may cover the mercy-feat, that is upon the testimony, that he
die nott 16. Levit. n, 1 3. which shews that the Cherubims and
Mercy- feat were to be covered with a Cloud of Incense, and to
become as invisible to the High-Priest within the Veil, as to the
People without it.
But suppose the High-Priest did see the Cherubims, when he
entred within the Veil, I have one plain Argument to prove that
he did not worship them, not only because no act of Worship
was commanded him when he went into the Holy Place, but be
cause as the Holy of Holies was the figure of Heaven, and the
Cherubims the types of Angels, who stand about the Throne of
God ; so the High-Priest entring into the Holy of Holies, was the
type of Christ ascending into Heaven with his own Bloud ; and
therefore the High-Priest must do nothing in the Holy of Ho*
lies, but what was a proper figure and type of what Christ does
in Heaven : and then he must no more worship the Cherubims,
which covered the Mercy-seat, or the Typical Throne of God;
than Christ himself, when he ascended to Heaven, was to wor
ship the Angels, who stand about the Throne.
So that notwithstanding God's command to make two Che
rubims, and to place them at the two ends of the Mercy-seat in
the Holy of Holies, all Image-Worship was strictly forbid by the
Law of Moses ; and God has provided the most effectual remedy
against it by the Incarnation of his Son : Mankind have been al
ways fond of some visible Deity, and because God cannot be seen,,
they have gratified their Superstition by making some visible Images and Representations of an invisible God : now to take
them off from mean corporeal Images and Representations >
which are both a dishonour to the Divine Nature, and debase
the minds of men, God has given us a visible Image of Himself,,
has cloathed his own eternal Son with Humane Nature, who is
the brightnefiof his Father's glory, and the exprefi image of his per*
font i. Hebr. 3. And therefore St. John tells us, That the word'
was made sie/h, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his-glory, the gUn
j3
si rrejervanve against r u r . iv x.
rarr n,
-'. ry as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,
i John 14. And tor this reason when Philip was desirous to
see the Father , Shew us the Father and it fufficeth; Christ teHs
him, that the Father is to be seen onely in the Son, who is his
visible Image and Glory ; Jesus faith unto hint, Have I been fi
long time with you, andyet hah thou not seen me Philip .<? He that
hathseen me, hath seen the Father, and how fayeH thou then, Shea
us the Father? 14 John 8, 9. This was one end of Christ's In
carnation, that we might have a visible Deity, a God Incarnate
to represent the Father to us, who is the living and visible Image of God ; and there could not be a more efsectual way to
make men despise all dead, material Representations of God, than
to have God visibly represented to us in our own Nature.
It is true, Christ is not visible to us now on earth , but he is vi
sible in Heaven, and we know , he is the only visible Image of
God, and that is enough to teach us.that we must make and adore
no other. He is as visible to us in Heaven, as the Mercy Seat in
the Holy of Holies was to the Jews,and is that true propitiatory
of which the mercy seat was a Type and Figure, 3 Rom zf. Him
bath Godset forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood
httrivor the Mercy-seat, as that word is used, 9 Heb. f. He is
the natural Image of God, and his Mercy-seat, or Presence and
Throne of Grace, be is his visible Image, tho' he cannot be seen
by us, for the Typical Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies.did pre
figure, that his residence should be in Heaven, and therefore invi
sible to us on earth , but there we may see him by Faith , and
there he will receive our Prayers,and present them to hisFather.
Now then to sum up this Argument : since it was one main
design of Christs appearance , to root all the remains of Kf<v
latrous Worship out of the world, is it credible, that the Worship
of Saints and Angels, and the Virgin Mary ; the worship of Ima
ges and Reliques, as it is practised in the Church of ww.fhould
be any part of Christian Worship , or allowed'by the Gospef of
our Saviour? If Creature-worship , and Image-woruSip were- Ib
ofsensive to God, here is the Worship of Creatures , and Images
still , and therefore all the visible Idolatry, that ever was practised
in
Part II.
A Preservative againU POPER.T.
in the world before : AU that they can pretend is, that they have
better Notions of the Worship of Saints, and Angels, and Images,
than the Heathens had : but whether they have or no, will be hard
to prove : The Pagan Philosophers made the fame Apologies for
their Worship of Angels.andDmons.and Images.which the Learn
ed Papists now make, and whether unlearned Papists have not as
gross Notions about their Worship of Saints and Images, as the
unlearned Heathens had, is very doubtful, and has been very
much suspected by learned Romanists themselves: But suppose
there were some difference upon this account, can we think, that
Christ, who came to root out all Idolatrous Worship, intended
to set up a new kind of Creature- Worship and Image-Worship
in greater pomp and glory than ever, and only to rectifie mens
Opinions about it ? Suppose the Idolatry of Creature-Worship
and Image- Worship, does consist onely in mens gross Notions
about it; yet we see under the Law to prevent and cure this,
God did not go about to rectifie their Opinions of these things,
but absolutely forbids the Worship of all Images, and of any other
Being but himself, which methinks he would not have done, had
there been such great advantages in the Worship of Saints, and
Angels, and Images, as the Romanists pretend : and when God
in the Law of Moses forbad all Creature and Image Worship, can
we think, that Christ who came to make a more persect -Refor
mation, mould only change their Country Gods into Saints and
Angels, and the Virgin Mary, and give new names to their Sta
tues and Images? Which whatever he had taught about it, in
stead of curing Idolatry, had baen to set up that same kind of
Worship, which the Law of Moses absolutely forbad, and con
demned as Idolatry.
When God to cure the Idolatrous Worship of inseriour D
mons, as their Mediators and Advocates with the Supreme God,
sent his own Son into the World to be our Mediator, can we
think, that he intended after this, that we should worship Angels,
and Saints, and the Virgin Afjry, as our Mediators ? When God
has given us a visible Image: ot himself, his Eternal and Incarnate
Son, whom we may Worihip and Adore, did he still intend, that
C
we
Part II.
we should worship material and sensible Images of Wood or Stone ?

By the Incarnation of his own Son, God did indeed take care to
rectifie mens mistakes about Creature- Worship, and to cut off all
pretences for it : Those who pleaded that vast distance between
God and men, and how unfit it was, that Sinners mould make
their immediate approaches to the Supreme God, and therefore
worshipped inseriour Dmons as middle Beings between God and
man, have now no pretence for this, since God has appointed his
own Son to be our Mediator : Those who worlhipped Images as
the visible Representations of an invisible God, have now a vi
sible Object of Worship, a God Incarnate, a God in the nature and
likeness of a Man ; and though we do not now see him, yet we
have the notion of a visible God and Mediator to whom we can
direct our Prayers in Heaven, which is satisfaction enough even
to men of more grose and material Imaginations, without any
artificial and senseless Representations of tlie Deity : And was all
this done, that men might worship Creatures and Images with
out Idolatry ? or rather was it not done to, cure mens inclinati
ons to commit Idolatry with Creatures and Images ? Whoever
believes that the Gospel of our Saviour was intended as a Reme
dy against Idolatry, can never be perswaded, that it allows the
Worlhip of Saints and Images ; which if it be not Idolatry, is so
exactly like it in all external appearance, that the allowance of it
does not look like a proper cure for Idolatry.
Sect. II.
Concerning the great Love of GOD to Mankind, and the Affuratf
ces of Pardon and Forgiveness which the Gospel gives to aM Penhtent Sinners ; which are much weakned bysome Popish Dottrines.
%. *~T""*He Gospel of Christ was intended to give the highest
X demonstration of God's Love to Mankind, and the
greatest possible Security to all humble penitent Sinners, of the
Forgiveness of their Sins : Hence the Gospel is called the Grace of
fad, and the Gospel of Grace, as being a Dispensation of Love and
Gioodness; and therefore whatever lejTens and disparages the Gospel
Part Is.
A Preservative againU PO .PERT.
j$
spel-Grace, can be no Gospel-Dohrine. As to consider this. par

ticularly.
The Gospel magnifies the Grace of God in giving his own Son
for us : Godso loved the world, that be gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlast
ing life, 3 John 1 6. In this was manifested the love of God to
wards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved tis, andsent his Sen to be the propitiation fcr
our fins, i John 4. 9, 10. And St. Paul assures us, that this is
such a glorious manisestation of God's love.as will not suffer us
to doubt of any other expressions of his Goodness : He thatspa
red not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, Imw shall he not
with him also freely give us all things j? 8 Rom. 31. So that the
Gospel of our Saviour gives us much higher demonstrations of
God's love and goodnels, than either the Light of Nature, or the
Law of Moses did. Love is the prevailing Attribute of God un
der the Gospel-dispensation, For God is love, and he thatdwe'lleth
in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him, 1 John 4.16.
Thus the Gospel of Christ gives a humble Penitent as great as
suranceof Pardon, as his own guilty Fears can desire; for Repen
tance and Remission of Sins is preached in the Name of Christ :
He has expiated our Sins by the Sacrifice of his Death, God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yetsinners, Christ
diedfor us, much more then being justified by his bloud, we shall be
savedfrom wrath through him ; for if when we were enemies we were
reconciled unto God by the death of his Son, much more being recon
ciled we shall be saved by his life, $ Rom. 8,9,10. For as he
was delivered for our Offences, so he was raised again for our
Justification ; And him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Sa
viour to give repentance unto Israel, and remission offins, So that 1 John 2.
// any man fin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Chriff *. 2.
the righteous, who is able to save all them to the uttermoH, that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them, 7 Heb. x 5 . These are the fundamental Doctrines of Chri
stianity, and therefore nothing can be a Gospel-Doctrine, which
C z
weakens
A Preservative againSl POPERY.
Part II. "
weakens or overthrows them. Let us then examine the Popiih Doctrine of Purgatory, and the Invocation of Saints and An
gels as our Mediators with God, and see how ihey are reconcileable with the Gospel-notion of God's love, and that security it
gives us of Pardon through the Merits and Intercession or' Christ.
i. Let us consider the Doctrine of Purgatory, which is but
the outward Court or Region of Hell,where the Punishments are
as severe as in Hell itself, only of a less continuance. , and ) et as
short, as they are, they may last many hundred, nay thousand
Years, unless their Friends and the Priests be more merciful to
them, or they themselves have taken care before Death to pay
the Price of their Redemption. This is a barbarous Doctrine,
and so inconsistent with that mighty Love of God to penitent
Sinners, as it is represented in the Gospel of Christ, that it is not
reeoncileable with any notion of Love and Goodness at aJl , you
may call it Justice, you may call it Vengeance, if you please,
but Love it is not, or if it be, it is such a Love as no man can di
stinguish from Hatred : for my part I declare, I do not desire to
be thus loved ; I mould rather chuse to fall into nothing, when
I die, than to endure a thousand Years torments to be happy for
ever ; for Humane Nature cannot bear the Thoughts of that :
And is this, that wonderful Love of God to Sinners, which is so
magnified in the Gospel, to torment those, who are Redeemed by
the Bloud of Christ, some hundred or thousand Years in the Fire
of Purgatory, which is not cooler than the Fire of Hell >
The Light of Nature, I consess, never taught this, for Mankind
never had any Notion of such an outragious Love; they always
thought, that the Love of God consisted in doing good, not in
damning those, whom he loves, for so many Ages: And if this
be all the Discovery, the Gospel has made of the Love of God, we
have no great reason to glory in it. He who can believe ,
that God, who so loved the World, as to give his only begotten
Son for the Redemption of Sinners, will torment a penitent Sin
ner so many Years in Purgatory, till he has either endured the
punifliment of his Sins himself, or is released by the Charity of his
Friends, or the Masses of some Mercenary Priests, deserves to lie
in
Part II.
A Preservative againU POPEKY.
in Purgatory, till he thinks more honourably of the divine good

ness, and be convinced, that it is no such extravagant commen
dation of the love of God, to send penitent Sinners to Purga
tory.
There are two extravagant Notions whereon the Doctrine of
Purgatory is founded, which overthrow all the natural Notions
men have of Goodness, and destroy all the hope and confidence
of the most penitent Sinners in the goodness of God. As,
i. That God may forgive Sins, and yet punish us for them ;
for no man can go into Purgatory according to the Doctrine of
the Church of Rome , whose .Sins are not already forgiven : but
though his Sins are forgiven, he must make satisfaction for that
temporal punishment, which is due to them, either in this World,
or in Purgatory : Now how reconcilable these two are, to for
give, andropuntfh, let all mankind judge. I believe, very sew
menthink, they are forgiven, when they are punished ; for that
which all men desire should be forgiven them, is the punishment,
they have descrv'd. What is it, men are asraid of, when they
have sinned ? is it not, that they mall be punished for it? What
is it men desire, when they desire Pardon ? is it not, that they
may not be punished ? And is it any comfort to a Malefactor to
be pardoned, and to be hanged ? Does any man boast of his love
and kindness, or take any comfort in it, who freely forgives him,
but exacts the payment of the Debt, or the punishment of his
fault ? And if this be so contrary to the very notion of good
ness and forgiveness among men, how comes it to be the notion,
of goodness and forgiveness in God ? How comes that to be love
andôodness, which the Sinner receives no benefit by ? for love
and goodness, I think, signifies to do good ; or if this be good-,
ness, let those take comfort in it that can.
If it be said, that it isan Act of goodness to exchange the eter
nal punistimentof Hell, which is due to sin, into the Temporal
punishment of Purgatory, I grant, this. is something , but only*
ask, whether it would not have been a more pertect expression of
love and goodness, to have remitted the Temporal Punishment
also of, it may be, some thousand years Torment in Purgatory ?
Part 1 1
whether this might not have been expected under a dispensati

on of the most persect love ? and from that God, who sent his
only begotten Son into the World to lave Sinners ? Whether
those sins are persectly forgiven, which shall be avenged, tho not
with Eternal, yet with long Temporal Punishments in the next
World ? Whether any man thinks himself persectly forgiven, who
is punished very severely, tho' not absolutely according to his de
serts ? And consequently, whether the Doctrine os Purgatory be
not a very g-eat diminution of the Love of God, and the Grace
of the Gospel ? And whether that can be a true Gospel Doctrine,
.which represents the Love of God, . much left then the Love of a
kind and good man, who when he forgives the Injury, forgives
the whole Punishment of it > Nay, Whether that can be a Gospel
Doctrine, which represents the Love of God less than infinite?
and I suppose an" infinite Love may forgive true Penitents the
whole Punishment of their Sins ; and then there is no need of
Purgatory.
a/y. In Purgatory, God does not only punish those, whom
he has pardoned , but he punishes for no other reason, but pu
nishment-sake. For thus the Reman Doctors tell us, that the
Souls in Purgatory, are in a state of Pardon, and in a state of Per
sect Grace ; and they suffer the pains of Purgatory, not to purge
away any remains of Sin, or to purifie and refine them, and make
them more fit for Heaven, but only to bear the punishment due
to Sin, for which they had made no satisfaction, while they lived.
Now I dare boldly affirm, this is irreconcileable with any degree
of Love and Goodness : to make any Punishment just, !t must
have respect to the guilt of ftn,to make itanactofgoodness,itiMust
be intended for the reformation of the sinner ; but when sin is
pardoned, the guilt at least is taken away, and therefore such
punishments can have no relation to guilt ; and when the sinner
is in a persect state of Grace, and needs no amendment, such pu
nishments can have no respect to the good and reformation of
the sinner, and therefore such punishments are neither just nor
good , and this is the exact notion of Purgatory ; and methinks
we should consider, whether this agrees with that account the
Gospel
Part II.
Gospel gives us of the love and goodness of God : should a Prince

have a Jayl of the fame nature with Purgatory, where for seve
ral years he torments those whom he pretends to have pardoned,
and who are grown very goodmen, and good Subjects, and need
no correction, or discipline, I believe all the World would laugh
ac those, who should call this, love and goodness, pardon and
mercy. Hell is very roconcileable with the goodness of God, be
cause it is prepared only for those, who are the Objects of a just,
a righteous Vengeance, and a very good God may be very just ;
but Purgatory can never be reconciled with the superabundant
goodness of God to sinners, through Jesus Christ, unless men
think it a great kindness to suffer the pains of Hell for several
Months, Years, or Ages for no reason, which makes it either
just or good to suffer them. So that a Popish Purgatory is in
consistent with the belief of God's great Love and Goodness to
sinners, in Jesus Christ, and destroys the hope and confidence of
sinners : for if they may lie in Purgatory for some thousand
years, as they may do, notwithstanding the Love of God, and
the Merits of Christ, if the Pope, or the Priests, or their Mony
be not more merciful unto them, they have no great reason to
glory much in the Goodness of God, though they should go to
Heaven at last : so that our Protestant need not dispute much about Purgatory : let him only ask a Popish Priest, How the Do-,
ctrine of Purgatory can be reconciled with that stupendous Love
of God declared to penitent sinners, in his Son Jesus Christ ? for
it is a contradiction to the Notion of Goodness among men, to.
inflict such terrible punishments in meer Grace and Love, even
when the sin is pardoned, and the sinner reconciled, and no lon
ger in a state of Discipline and Tryal.
Secondly, The Doctrine of Purgatory destroys, or weakens,
that Security the Gospel hath given Sinners of their Redemption
from the Wrath of God, and the just punishment of their Sins.
One great Security, is the Love of God declared to the World by
our Lord Jesus Christ, but if the Love of God to penitent Sinners,
who are Redeemed by the Blood of Christ, be consistent with his
tormenting them in Purgatory so many thousand years, as you
have.
A Preservative againU POPEKT.
Pa rt Is.
have already heard, it will be a very hard thing to distinguish

such Love from Wrath, and a Sinner, who is afraid ot so many
thousand years punishment, can take no great comfort in it : but
besides this, the Doctrine of Purgatory destroys mens hope and
confidence in the Merits and Intercession of Christ, and in the
express promises of Pardon and Remission of Sins in his Name.
i. It destroys mens hopes in the Merits of Christ, and the atonement and expiation of his Blood ; For if the Blood of Christ
does not deliver us from the punishment of Sin, what security is
this to a Sinner > Yes, you'll fay, Christ has Redeemed us from
Eternal, tho' not from Temporal Punilhments, and therefore
penitent Sinners have this security by the expiation of Christ's
Death, that they shall not be eternally Damned : This I know
the Church of Rome teaches ; but I desire to know, How any
man can be satisfied from Scripture, that Christ by his Death has
delivered us from Eternal Punilhments, if he have not delivered
us from Temporal Punishments of Sin in the next World ? I thank
fully acknowledge, and it is the only hope I have, that the Gospel
has given us abundant assurance of the expiation and atonement
made for Sin by the Blood of Christ ; but what I fay is this, that
if these Texts which prove our Redemption by the Death of
Christ; do not prove, that Christ has redeemed us from the
whole punishment due to Sin in the next World, they prove no
thing, and then we have not one place of Scripture to prove,
that Christ by his Death has redeemed us from Eternal Punish
ments; which is enough to make all Christians abhor the Do
ctrine of Purgatory, it it destroy the Doctrine of Salvation by Je
sus Christ. As to mow this briefly :
The hope and security of Sinners depends upon such Scripture
expressions a.s these : that Christ has diedfor oursins, that he has
made atonement for sin, that he is a propitiation through faith in
his blood, that he has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for its : that remission andforgiveness ofsins is preached
in his'name ; that by him we are justifiedfrom all those things, from
which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses, t hat being jujlu
fed by faith, we have j>eace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ;
Part If.
that we are reconciled unto God, and saved from wrath by him.
Now I desire to know, Whether all these expressions signifie, that
for Christ's fake, and through the atonement and expiation of his
Blood, a penitent Sinner shall be delivered from the punishment
due to his sins ? If they do not signifie this, how is a Sinner secu
red, that though his sins are pardoned, and he is justified , and
reconciled to God, and redeemed from the Curse of the Law, and
saved from Wrath, he shall not aster all this be damned for his
sins, since that is the punishment of sin, which it seems is not re
moved, when the sin is pardoned, and the Sianer justified and
reconciled to God ? If these expressions do not signifie taking away
the punishment of sin,I desire one Text of Scripture to prove.that a
Sinner,who is pardoned and justified,shallnot undergo the Eternal
Punishmentof his sins. If to be pardoned and justified
does sig
nifie to be delivered from the punishment of sin, I desire to know,
How a sinner, who is pardoned and justified, can be punished
for his fins ? that is, How a sinner, who is released from the Pu
nishment of his sins, should be bound to suffer the punishment of
his sins in Purgatory ?
Our Roman Adversaries do indeed distinguish between theTem*
poral and Eternal Punishment of Sin 5 the Eternal Punishment
of Sin, they say, Christ has made satisfaction for, and that is re*
moved by his Death, that no penitent Sinner shall be Eternally
damned ; but a Sinner must make satisfaction for the Temporal
punishment of Sin himself, either in this World, or in Purgatory :
and consequently that forgiveness of Sins, signifies the remission of
'the Eternal Punishment of sin, but not of the Temporal : now I
shall not put them to prove this distinction from Scripture, which
is a very unreasonable Task, because there is nothing in Scripture
about it ; but yet I would gladly be secured, that I shall be saved
from EternalJPunishments; and therefore I would gladly know,
how forgiveness of Sins, and our Redemption from the Curse of
the Law, signifies our deliveranoe from Eternal Punishments, if
they do not signifie our deliverance from the Punishment of our
fins ? And how they can signifie our deliverance from the punish
ment of our sins, if notwithstanding this we must suffer the puD
nishment
A Preservative agdinti P OPE R T.
Part fl.
nifhmentof our sins in Purgatory ? If they signifie, that we shall

not be punished for our sins, then indeed they may signifie, that
we shall not be Eternally P.unished ; but they canDot signifie, that
we shall not be Eternally punished, unless they signifie that we
shall not be punished, and therefore not in Purgatory neither ;
if that be the Punilhment of sin. The truth is, this is a very
senceless distinction between the Temporal and Eternal Punish
ment of sin : for I desire to know, Whether the Temporal Pu
nishment be not the Punilhment of sin ? be not the Curse of the
Law > if it be, <hen forgiveness of sin, if it remits the Punish
ment, remits the Temporal Punishment, for that is the Punish
ment of sin ; then our Redemption from the Curse of the Law,
redeems us from Purgatory, for that is the Curse of the Law too,
if you add, and from Death, for that is the Curse of the Law too,
and yet those who are redeemed and justified, die still ; which
(hows the fallacy of this Argument, for it seems Redemption
from the Cursii of the Law, does not signifie our Redemption
from the whole Curse, for then a justified Person must not die,
since bare dying is part of the Curie. I answer.this had certain
ly been true, had not the necessity of dying been expresly excepted out of this Redemption ; for in Adam all die, and it is appoint
ed (by a Divine Decree ) for all men me to die , and could they
show, where Purgatory is excepted too, then I would grant,
that those who are redeemed from the Curie of the Law might
fall into Purgatory, if that be any comfort to them : and yet the
ease is vastly different between Death and Purgatory : for though;
Death be the Curse of the Law, yet we may be delivered from'
Death as a Curse and Punishment, without being delivered from
the necessity of dying : and thus good men are redeemed from
Death : for their Sins are expiated and pardoned, and then the
Sting of Death is gone ; for the stingos death is fin^ and therefore
when our Sins are pardoned, Death cannot sting us, can do us
no hurt j because it does not deliver us over to Punishment-, but
transplants us into a more happy State. The sears of Death are
conquered by the promises of Immortal Lise, and Death itself (hall
ac the last day be swallowed up in Victory,, when our dead Bo
Part II.
A Preservative againU POPllkt.
dies shall be raised immortal and glorious, so that tho' good men
still die, yet they are redeemed from the Curse of the Law, from
Death itself as a Curse and a Punishment. But the Popish Pur*
gatwy is a place of Punishment, and nothing but Punishment ;
and therefore is not reconcileable with the remission and forgive
ness of sin.
Again I ask, Whether there are two kinds of Punishments due
to sin, Temporal and Eternal, of such a distinct nature and con
sideration, that the Promise of forgiveness does not include both i
Nay, that God cannot forgive both ; that only the Eternal Pu
nishment can be forgiven, but the Temporal Punishment must
be satisfied for, or endured by the Sinner : -if this were the case
indeed, then I would grant, the Promise of forgiveness could ex
tend only to Eternal Punishments, because God can forgive no
other ; and the forgiveness of Eternal Punishment, does not in
clude the forgiveness of the Temporal Punishment. But if the
Curse of the law be Eternal Death, and all other Punishments,
which can Properly be called the punishment of sin (for Correcti
on and Discipline is not the Wrath of God, and the Curse of the
Law) are only parts of the Curse, and a partial execution of it ;
if the only thing, that makes Sinners obnoxious to Temporal
Punishments is, that they are under the Sentence of Eternal
Death, which God may execute by what degrees he pleases ; then
to forgive Eternal Punishment must include the forgiveness
of Temporal Punishments, as parts or branches of it. As sup
pose there were a Law, that no man should suffer any Bodily
Punishments, but such a Malefactor as is condemned to die, but
when the Sentence of Death is past upon him, it should be at
the Prince's pleasure to deser the Execution of this Sentence, as
long as he pleased, and in the mean time to inflict all other Pu
nishments on him, whatever he pleased ; in this Case to Pardon
the Sentence of Death, would deliver such a man from all other
Punishments too, which by the Law are due only to that man,
who is under the Sentence of Death : and in such a Constitution
for any man to say, that the Prince's Pardon extends only to
Lise, but does not excuse from Whipping and Pilloring, andperD z
petual
24
^ Preservative againtl POPERT.
Part H.
petual Imprisonment, would be to make the Pardon void, since

no man by the Law can suffer those other Punishments but he
who is Condemned to Die,, and therefore he u ho is pardoned the
Sentence of Death, in consequence of that is pardoned all%her
Punishments too.
Thus it is here, the original Curse against sin was, in the day,
that thou eateH thereof, thou shalt surely die, which by the Gospel
of Christ is expounded of Eternal Death, and there is no other
threatning in all the Gospel against sin, but Eternal Death ; and
therefore all other Punishments are inflicted by Vertue of this
Law, and consequently he- who is delivered from this Curse of
the Law, from Eternal Punishments, is delivered from the whole
Punishment due to fin ; unless they can find some other Law in
the Gospel, besides that which threatens Eternal Death, which
obliges a Sinner to Punishment.
Again, since they acknowledge, that Christ by his Death has
delivered us from Eternal Punishments, I do nor #think it worth
the while to Dispute with them, . whether those Sufferings and
Calamities, which good men are exposed to in this World, may
properly be called Punishments, or only Correction and Disci
pline ; but I desire to know, Why they call Purgatory, which
is a place of Punishment in the other World, a Temporal Punish
ment ? for this is an abuse of the Language of Scripture, which
makes this World Temporal, and the next World Eternal, as St.
Paul expresly tells us ; the things, which are seen, are temporal,
but the tilings, which are not seen, are eternal, z Cor. 4. 1 8. And
therefore Temporal Punilhments signifie the Punishments in this
World,but the unseen Punishments.as well as the unseen Rewards,
ofthe next World are Eternal rwhich is a demenstration,that there
is noPurgatory, unless it beEterna!,andthen it is but another Name
for Hell, and therefore the State of the next World is called either
LiseorDearh.eternallifeor eternal death: those who believe inChris^
jfiall never die, 1 1 Jolm z$, x6. Now I desire to know the diffe
rence between Living, and Dying, and Perishing in the next
World- ; for bad men do not cease to be, nor loose all sence in the
uex,t World, no more than good men; and therefore. Lise can
only
Part II.
AFrescrvativeagainttrOFERT.
only signifie a state of Happiness, and Death a state of Misery,

which is much worse than not being : now if good men must
not perish, must not die, but live, in the next World, they must
not go to Purgatory, which is as much perishing, as much dy
ing, as Hell, though not so long ; but if they must never die, ne
ver perish, they must never suffer the pains of Purgatory, which
is a dying and perishing, that is, a state of Torment and Misery,
while they continue there.
Let us then see how a Papist, who believes a Purgatory-sire in
the next World* wherein he shall be tormented ( God knows
bow long ! ) for his Sins, can prove that a penitent Sinner shall
not be eternally damned : Oh ! says he, Christ has died for our
Sins, and made attonement for them, and we are pardoned and
justified through Faith in his Bloud ; and what then, may we not .
still be punished for our Sins ? If not, what becomes of Purgato
ry ? If we may, prove, that we shall not be eternally damned for
Sin, which is the proper punishment of it : For rf to be pardoned
and justified, signifie to be delivered from punishment, it signifies
our deliverance from the whole punishment of Si^ sincetthe Scri
pture does not limit it : if they do not signifie our deliverance
from punishment, then we may be eternally punished for Sin,
though we are pardoned and justified.
Ehit we are redeemed from the curse of the Law, and saved
from wrath. But if such a man may go to Purgatory, why not
- to Hell ? Or if the Curse of the Law, and the Wrath of God be
in Hell, but -not in Purgatory, though, the torments are equally
great, why may not he lie for ever in Purgatory, as well as a
thousand Years, with this comfort, that though he be infinitely
tormented , yet it is not the curse of the Law , nor the wrath of
God.
Well, but Christ has promised, That those who Believe in hint,
shall not perish, but have everlasting life .-'And that proves that the
pains of Purgatory cannot be forever, for then. Christ could not
make good bis promise of bestowing everlasting Lise on them: so
I consess one would think, and so I should have thought also,
that when Christ promised, that such Believers.should net pcriJli,
and.
25
A Preservative againti POPERT.
Part II.
and should never die, that he meant, such men should not go to
Purgatory in the next World ; but if falling into Purgatory be not
perishing, and not dying, it may be everlasting life too, for ought I
know, and then the pains of Purgatory may be eternal.
Whoever would not forseit all the assurance the Gospel has gi
ven us, of our Redemption from Hell, and a glorious Immortali
ty, must reject the Popish Doctrine of Purgatory, as a flat con
tradiction to all the gracious Promises of the Gospel : for Hell, or
an eternal Purgatory, is as reconcileable with the Promises of For
giveness and immortal Lise, as the Popish Purgatory is.
z. This Doctrine of Purgatory destroys our hope and confi
dence in the Mediation and Intercession of Christ, and that for
these two plain reasons : r. As it represents him less merciful and
compassionate; And 2. less powerful, than the wants and neces
sities of Sinners require him to be. For
I. After all that is said in Scripture of his being so merciful and
compassionate an Higb-PrieB , a Sinner who hears what is told
him of Purgatory, could wish him a great deal more compassio
nate than he is* for it is no great sign of tenderness and compas
sion to leave his Members in Purgatory-fire, which burns as hot
as Hell. Could I believe this of our Saviour, I should have very
mean thoughts of his kindness, and not much rely on him for any thing : We should think him far enough from being a merci
ful and compassionate Prince, who can be contented to torture
his Subjects for a year together; and it is a wonderful thing to
me, that when a merciful man cannot see a Beast in torment with
out relieving it, it should be thought consistent with the mercy
and compassion of our Saviour, to see us burn in Purgatory for
Years and Ages. To be sure this destroys all our hope in him in
this World ; for why should we think, he will be concerned
what we sufser here, who can contentedly let us lie in Purgatory,
to which all the calamities and sufferings of this lise are meer
trifles ? O Blessed and Merciful J E S U ! pardon such Blasphemies
as these. For
II. If he be compassionate, he must want Power to help us ;
and that destroys the hope of Sinners as much as want of Com
Part It
A Preservative against FOFERT.
passion. It must be want of Will or Power in him, that he does

not deliver us from Purgatory as well as Hell : and if he want
Power to deliver us from Purgatory, for my part I should more
question his Power to deliver from Hell, for that is the harder of
the two : if his Bloud could not expiate for the Temporal punish
ment of Sin, which the Merits of some Supererogating Saints, or
the Pope's Indulgence, or the Priests Masses can redeem us from,
how could it make expiation for Eternal punishment ? If his In
terest in the' Court of Heaven will not do the less, how can it do
the great ? There is no Doctrine more irreconcileable with the
persect Love and Goodness of God, and the Merits and Interces
sion of our Saviour, which are the Fundamental Doctrines of
the Gospel, which, is a Dispensation of Love and Grace, than this
of Purgatory, and therefore we may sasely conclude, that this is
no Gospel-Doctrine.
i. Let us now examine the Doctrine of Invocation of Saints
and Angels as our Mediators with God, and see whether it does
ftot disparage the Grace of the Gospel, tlie Love of God, and of
our Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ, to penitent Sinners.
Now a.very sew words will decide this matter.
I. With respect to God ; now can that man believe, that God
is so very gracious to Sinners for the fake of Christ, who seeks
to so many Advocates and Mediators to interceed for him with
God. To imagine that we want any Mediator to God, but on
ly our High-Priest, who mediates in Vertue of his Sacrifice, is a
reproach to the Divine Goodness. The Wisdom and Justice of
God may require a Sacrifice, and a High-Priest to make Attonement for Sin, but Infinite Goodness needs not any Entreaties, and
meer Intercessions to move him. A truly good man, who
knows a proper Object of his kindness, needs not .to be asked to
do good. The use of such Advocates and Mediators among
men, is either to recommend an unknown Person to the favour
of the Prince, or fairly to represent his cause to him, which has
been mis-represented by others, or to procure favour for an unde
serving person, or among equal Competitors, to procure some one
t&bepreserrexr'; this is all the use of Intercession among men .-
A Preservative againH POPERT.
Part II.
for a good, and wise, and just Pricnce, will do what is wise, and
just, and good, not only without Intercessors, but against all In
tercessions to the contrary. Now I suppose no- man will say,
that God wants Mediators and Advocates upon any of these ac
counts; for he knows every man, understands persectly hiscause,
will never be perfwaded by any Intercessions to shcw kindness to
unfit Objects, that is, to impenitent Sinners; and his Goodness is
so unconsined, and so extensive to all, that there can never bea
ny competition for his Favour ; and therefore to multiply Advo
cates and Mediators to God, must argue a great distrust of his
Mercy and Goodness, which a kind and good Prince wouJd take
very ill of us-.
God indeed has commanded us to Pray for one another in this
World, as he has to pray for our selves ; but this is not by way
of Interest and Merit, as the Church of Rome pretends, the Saints
in Heaven pray for us, but by humble Supplications, which is ve
ry reconcileable with the goodness of God, to make Prayer a ne
cessary conditions granting Pardon and other Blessings we want:
bus as the use of Prayer for our selves, is not to move God meerly by our importunities to do good to us, for we#must pray in
Faith, that is, wirh a humble assurance and confidence that God
will hear us, which includes a firm Belief of his readiness to
grant, what we pray for ; so neither are our Prayers for others
to move God by our interest in him, that is, they are nbrtffe
Intercessions of Favourites, but of humble Supplicants.
There was great reason why God should make Prayer the con
dition of our receiving, though he wants not our importunities
to move him, because there are a great many excellent Virtues
exercised in Prayer ; such as great sorrow for Sin, great humility
os Mind, faith in God's Promises, the acts of Love, and affiance
and trust in God, and a constant dependance on his Grace and
Providence for all spiritual and temporal Blessings : and there was
great reason why he should command us to pray for others, tho'
he wants none of our Intercessions for them; because it isa mu
tual exercise of Charity, of Love to our Brethren, and Forgiveness to our Enemies, and is a mighty obligation to do ail other
Part XL
A freservttive agafatt PO PERT.
acts of kindness ; for those who know it to be their Duty to pray

for one another, will think themselves bound to do good to one
another also : This becomes those, who live and converse toge
ther in this World, because it is a great instrument of Virtue, and
that is a reason why God should encourage the exercise of it by
promising to hear our Prayers for each other.
But as farasmeer goodness is concerned, the Gospel represents
God as so very good to Sinners, that there is no need of any In
tercessor for them : For Godso loved the world, that he gave his on
ly begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but
have everlastinglife, 3 John 1 6. This was an act of goodness an
tecedent to the Incarnation and Death of Christ, and the highest
act of goodness that God could manisest to the World, and there
fore secures us of God's love and goodness to Sinners without a
Mediator and Advocate ; for that love which provided a Media
tor for us, was without one, and proves, that it wasmot for want
of goodnese, or that he needed entreaties, that he gave his Son to
be our mediator. And therefore hence S.Paul proves, how ready
God is to bestow all good things on us : He that spared not his
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things, 8 Rom. 31. And our Saviour him
self represents the goodness of God, by the tenderness and com
passion of an earthly Parent: If ye then being evil (that is, less
good than God is ) know how to give good things to your chil
dren, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to
them that ask him, 7 Matth. 11. especially in the Parable of the
Prodigal, where our Saviour describes the goodness of God to
Sinners, by that passion and joy wherewith the Father received
his returning Prodigal ; nay, he assures his Disciples, that there
was no need of his own Intercession to incline God to be good
and kind to them : At that day ye shall ask in my name% and Ifay not
unto you, that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself
loveth you, because ye have loved me, and believed that I came out
from God, 16 John z6, x-j. God is so infinitely good, that he
needs no Mediators or Intercessors to incline him to all acts of
goodness ; but as he is the wise and ju# Governour of the World,
A Preservative againlt rOMKT.
Part II.
lie requires a Sacrifice for Sin, and a High-Priest to make Attonement for it, and to intercced in vertue of the Sacrifice. Such
a Mediator Christ is, who alone is both our Sacrifice and our
Priest, and therefore our only Mediator ; not to incline God to
be good, for that he was before, infinitely good, or else he had
not given his Son to be our Sacrifice and our High-Priest, but to
make Attonement for our Sins, and thereby to reconcile the ex
ercise of God's goodness with his wisdom and justice in Govern
ing the World. Such a Mediator and High-Priest does not les
sen the Divine goodness, for the intention of his Mediation is not
to make God good and kind, but to make it wise and just in God
to do good to Sinners ; but all other Mediators in Heaven, whose
business it is by Prayers, and Entreaties, and Interest, and Favour
to incline God to be good to such particular persons as they interceed for, is a real disparagement to the Divine goodnels y as if he
would not be good unless he were conquered by Entreaties, and
over ruled by the prevailing Intercesl'ons of some great Favou
rites : and yet such Mediators as these the Saints, and Angels, and
Virgin Mary are.if they be Mediators at all ; and therefore to pray
to them as toour Mediators, argues such a diffidence and distrust
of God's goodness, as does not become the Gospel osour Saviour ;
this can be no Gospel Doctrine, because it is irreconcileabJe with,
that account the Gospel gives us of the Love of God
x. Nor is it less injurious to the'Love of our Saviour, to flie tothe Prayers and Aids of Saints, and Angels, and the Virgin Mary
her self I shall not now dispute, what encroachment this is up
on the Mediatorshipof Christ, to make our Addresses and Appli
cations to other Mediators ; bat whoever does so , must either
think that Chrrst wants Interest with God, without the joynt In
tercession of Saints and Angels, or that he wants Kindness to us,
and either will not interceed for us at all, or will not do it unless
he be prevailed with by the Intercession of Saints, or- the Entrea
ties or the Commands of his Mother. I suppose they will not
pretend, that he wants power to do, what we ask of him, when
he himself has assured us, That whatsoever we ask of the Father in
his name, he will give h ut, i $ John 1 6. %6 John 1,3 , 14. Does
our
Part II.
A Preservative agsitttt POPERY.
our Mediatour then need other Mediators to intcrceed with him

for us ? What ! he who became man for us ? who lived a labori
ous and afflicted lise for us > who loved us so, as to give himself
for us ? who is a merciful and compassionate High-Priest, and
touched with a seeling of our infirmities, being in all things tem
pted like as we are, yet without Sin ?
What a change does this make in the whole Gospel ? Had not
the Church of Rome found out some better security for Sinners, in
the Mediation of Saints, and Angels, and the Blessed Virgin, what
a hopeless State had we been in? For all that the Gospel tells us
is, That God in great love and goodness to Sinners, sent his Son
to be our Saviour ; and that we might have the greater assurance
of his pity and compassion for us, he became Man, Flesh of our
Flesh, and Bone of our Bone ; and not only so, but submitted to
all the weaknesses and infirmities of our Natures, to the greatest
shame and reproach, to the sharpest pains, and the most infamous
Death, that he might the better know, what our temptations and
sufferings are in this World, and might be more sensibly affected
with our condition in all our sufferings: This one would have
thought, should have given the greatest security to Sinners of his
readiness to help them, who did and suffered all this for them ;
and this is the onely security which the Gospel of our Saviour
gives us. But it seems Christ is not merciful and pitiful enough ;
his Virgin Mother has softer and tenderer passions, and such an
interest in him, or authority over him, in the right of a Mother,
as some of them have not without Blasphemy represented it, that
she can have any thing of him ; and thus they suppose the other
Saints to be much more pitiful than Christ is, and to have inte
rest enough to protect their Supplicants, or dse it is not ima
ginable why they should need or desire any other Advocates.
Now let any man who understands the Gospel, and finds there
how the love of Christ is magnified, not only in dying for us,
but in his being a merciful and compassionate High-Priest, that
this is the only hope of Sinners, That if any man fin, we have an
advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also apro
pitiationfor ourfins, think the Invocation of Saints, as our Patrons
and Advocates, to be a Gospel-Doctrine, if he can.
Ex
Skct.
APreservativeagain&FOPERT.
Part II.
Sect. Us.
Concerning the Nature of Christian Worship.
y.
A Nothcr manisest design of the Gospel, was to reform the

l\ Worship of God, not only by extirpating Idolatry, but
by purging it frorri all Pagan and Jewish Superstitions, and to ap
point such a Worship as is more agreeable to the Nature both of
God and Man. And whoever will take the pains to compare the
Worship of the Church of Rome, with that Worship wlweh our
Saviour has prescribed in the Gospel, will easily discover how un
like they are. Let us then consider what Christ has reformed
hi the Worship of God, and what kind of Worship he has pre
scribed to his Disciples.
f. What he has Reformed in the Worship of God ; and that
may be comprehended in one word, he has taken away all that
was meerly External in Religion. By which I do not mean that
our Saviour has forbid all External Acts of Worship, or such Ex
ternal Circumstances as are necessary to the decent and orderly
performance of Religious Worship, which the nature and reason
of things reouires under all Dispensations of Religion; but that
he has laid aside all such External Rites as either were, or were
thought to be in themselves Acts of Religion, and to render such
Worshippers very acceptable to God. A great many such Rites
there were in the Pagan Religion, and a great many in the Jewish
Worship of God's own Institution, and a great many more which
the Tradition of the Elders, and the Superstition of the Scribes and
Pharisees had introduced.
We know the Jewish Worship consisted of External Rites ,' in
their Temple, and Altars, and Sacrifices, and Washings, and Pu
rifications, in New Moons and Sabbaths, and Festival Solemni
ties, in Consecrated Garments and'Vessels for the Service of the
Temple, in distinction of Meats, &c. the very External obser
vance of these Rites, were Acts of Religion, and neceslary to make
their Worship acceptable to God 5 and the wilful and presumptu
ous neglect or contempt of them, was punished with Death.
Now
Part II.
A Preservative againU P 0 P EKT.
33
Now our Saviour has abrogated all these Jewish Rites, and has
Instituted nothing in the room of them, excepting the two Sa
craments, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, which are of a very
different Nature and Use, as we shall see presently : He did not
indeed, while he was on Earth, blame the Observation of the
Law of Moses, which till that time was in full force, and which
he observed himself, but he blamed the External Superstitions of
the Pharisees, in warning Cups and Platters, and making broad
their Phylacteries, and thinking themselves very righteous persons,for their scrupulous observation even of the Law of Mojesj in
paying Tithe of Mint and Cummin,Su\ while they neglected the
weightier matters of the Law, judgement, mercy, andfaith, 2 3 Mat,
23. But when our Saviour was Risen from the Dead, and had
accomplished all the Types and Shadows of the Law, then the
Apostles with greater freedom ! opposed a Legal and External
Righteousness, and though they did for a time indulge the Jews
in the Observation of the Rites of Moses, yet they asserted the
Liberty of the Gentile Converts from that Yoke, as we may see
in the first Council at Antioch , andin St. Pads Disputes . with
the Jews, in his Epistles to the Romans and* Galatians, and else
where. And indeed whoever considers the Nature of the Chri
stian Religion, will easily see, that all those ends, which such
External Rites served either in the Jewish or Pagan Religion, have
no. place here, , and therefore noshing that is meerly External can
be of any use or value in the Christian Worship. As to show this
particularly.
i . There is no expiation or satisfaction for sin under the Go
spel, but only the Blood of Christ , and therefore all External
Rites are useless to this purpose. Him and him only God hath 3 Rom.:?,
fit forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Death was
the punishment of sin, and Death is the only expiation of it ; and
none else has died for our sins but Christ alone, and therefore he
only is a propitiation for our fins ; and yet wcjknow, how great
a part both of the Pagan and Jewish Religion was taken up in
the expiation ofsin : all their Sacrifices to be sure were designed
for this purpose, and so were their Wathingsaod Purifications in
'>
some
3 a,
Jf
19j 2a,
Part II.
some degree, and many other voluntary Severities and Supersti

tions, this being the principal thing they intended in their Reli
gious Rites, to appease God and make him propitious to them ;
since then Christ has made a full and compleat satisfaction and
atonement for fin, and there is no expiation or satisfaction requi
red of us, all external Rites for expiation and atonement can have
noplace in the Christian Worship, without denying the atone
ment of Christ, and this necessarily strips Christian Religion of a
vast number of external Rites practised both by Jem and Hea
thens.
ily, Nor does the Gospel admit of any legal Uncleannefles and
Pollutions, distinction between clean and unclean Meats, which
occasioned so many Laws and Observances both among Jews and
Heathens ; so many ways of contracting legal Uncleannefs, and
so many ways to expiate it, arid so many Laws about Eating
and Drinking, and such Superstition in Washing Hands, and Cups,
and Platters, but our Saviour told his Disciples, Not that which
goeth into the mouth defileth the man, but that which cometh out of
*** mouth, this defileth the man. For whatsoever entrethinto the
* mouth, goeth into the belly, and is caH out into the draught, but
those things, which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the
heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses,
blasphemies, these ate the things which defile a man ; but to eat with
nnwafhen hands, defileth not a man. And this also delivers Chri
stian Religion from all those Rites and Observances, which con
cerned legal cleanness, which were very numerous.
lly, Nor is there any Symbolical Presence of God under the
Gospel, which puts an end to the legal Holiness of Places and
Things. God dwelt among the Jews in the Temple at Jerusa
lem, where were the Symbols and Figures of his Presence : it was
God's House, and therefore a Ute place, and every thing that
belonged to it had a legal HolineB : for the Holiness of Things
and Places under the Law, was derived from their relation to
God, and his Presence: this was the only place for their Typical
rod Ceremonial Worship, whither all the Males of the Children
of
Part II.
of Israel were to resort three times a year, and where alone they
were to offer their Sacrifices and Oblations to God s the very
pjace gave Virtue to their Worship and Sacrifices, which were
not so acceptable in other places ; nay, which could not be of
sered in other places without sin, as is evident from Jeroboam's
Cm, in setting up the Calves at Dan and Bethel for places of Wor
ship, and the frequent Complaints of the Prophets against those,
who offered Sacrifices in the High Places ; and therefore the Di
spute between die sews and Samaritans was, which was the place
of Worship^ whether the Temple at Jerusalem or Samaria : but
Christ tells the Woman of Samsria, that there should be no such
distinction of places in the Christian Worship: Woman believe me-,
the hour cometb, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at
Jerusalem worship the father. ~~But the hour cometh and now it, 4
when the true worshippers st>all worship the father in spirit and in tp
truth. Not as if the Father should not be Worshipped, neither at
Jerusalem nor Samaria ; but that neither the Temple at Jerusalem
nor Samaria, should be the peculiar and appropriate place of
Worship; that God's Presence and Worship should no longer be
confined to any one place ; that the HoUnessof the place would
no longer give any value to the Worship; but those who wor>.
shipped God in spirit and in truth, should be accepted by him,
where-ever. they worshipped him; Such Spiritual Worship and
Worshippers, shall be as acceptable to God at Samaria as ztjtr
msalem, and as much in the remotest. Corners of the Earths as at
either of them :. for God's Presence should no longer be confined'
to any one place* but he would hear- our devout Prayers from all parts of the World, where-ever they were put up to him, and<:on-.
sequently the Holiness of places is lost, which consilts only in>
some peculiar Divine Presence, and with the Holiness of places,
the external and legal Holiness of things ceases also: for all other
things were Holy only with relation, to the Temple, and the
Temple Worship. For indeed God's Typical Presence in the
Temple, was only a Figure of the Incarnation : Christ's Body
was the true Temple where Goddwelt :' for which reason he calfc
hUBody the Temple., Bejlrvj tbit Temple^ and-Lvoill raise it up ,
35
56
. Part If.
in three days : And the Apostle assures us, that the fulness of the
Godhead dwelt in Christ Bodily, o^t/w< really and substantial
ly, in opposition to God's Typical Presence in the material Tem
ple : and therefore when Christ was come, who was the true Em
manuel or God dwelling among us, and had by his Incarnation
accomplish'd the Type and Figure of the Temple, God would no
longer have a Typical and Figurative Presence.
I will not quarrel with any man, who (hall call the Christian
Churches, and the Utensils of it, holy things ^ feu- being employ
ed it? the Worship of God, they ought to be separated from com
mon uses, and reason teaches us to have such places and things in
some kind of religious Respect, upon the account of their relati
on, not to God, but to his Worship ; but this is a very difserent
thing from the Typical Holinese of the Temple and Altar, and
. other things belonging to the Temple, and there are two plain
differences between them, the first with respect to the cause, the
second with respect to the effect : the cause of this legal Holiness,
was God's peculiar Presence in the Temple, where God chose to
dwell as in his own House, which Sanctified the Temple, and all
things belonging to it : the efsect was that this Holiness of the
Place Sanctified the Worship, and gave value and acceptation to
it : the first needs no proof, and the second we learn from what
our Saviour tells the Scribes and Pharisees.' Wo untoyou, ye blind
snides, which fay, whosoever shallswear by the temple it is nothing,
ut whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he it a debtor ;
a Matth fe ?
a"d Mi*d, for whetherjs greater, the gold, or the temp/e,
W i7,"i8, *',at f>*tlifi*th the gold $ And whosoever shall/wear by the altarJt
ip.
is nothing, but whosoever fweareth by the gift, that lieth upon it, he
is guilty f ye fools and blind, for whether is greater, the gift, or the
Altar that fantlifieth the gift .<? So that it seems, there was such
a Holiness in the Temple and Altar, as conveyed a Holiness and
Sanctity to other things, even to the Oblations and Sacrifices,
which were offered there. But now whatever Holiness there is
in Christian Churches and Oratories, they are sanctified by the
worship, that is performed there, not the worship sanctified by
them. It is the Assembly of Christians themselves , that is the
Church
Part It.
A Vrtftrvaiive agawB P 0 T E R t.
Church, the House, the holy and living Temple of God, not the
building of Wood or Stone wherein they meet : God andChrist
is peculiarly present in the Asiemblies of Christians , though not
by a Figurative and Symbolical Presence, and thus he is present
in the places, when Christians meet, and which are Consecrated
and Separated to Religious Uses, and there is a natural Decency
in the thing, to mew lome peculiar Respects to the places, where
We solemnly Worship God ; but the presence of God is not pecu
liar to the place as it was appropriated to the Temple of Jerusa
lem, but it goes along with the Company and the Worship ; and
therefore the place may be called Holy, not upon account of its
immediate relation to God, as God's House, wherein he dwells,
but its relation to Christians, and that Holy Worth ip, Xvhich is
performed there; and I suppose every one sees the vast difference
between these two : and thus all that vast number of Ceremonies,
which related to this external and legal Holiness of Places, Vestels,
Instruments, Garments, &c. have no place in the Christian Wor
ship, because there is no Typical and Symbolical Presence ofGod,
and consequently no such legal Holiness of places and things, un
der the Gospel.
4/y, Nor are material and inanimate things made the Recepta
cles of Divine Graces and Vertues under the Gospel, to convey
them to us meerly by Contract: and external Applications ; like
some Amulets or Charms, to wear in our Pockets, or hang about our Necks. There was nothing like this in the Jewish Re
ligion, though there was in the Pagan Worship, but under the
Gospel Christ bestows his holy Spirit on us, as the principle of a
new divine Lise, and from him alone we must immediately re
ceive all Divine Influences and Vertue, and not seek for these
heavenly Powers in senceless things, which can no more receive,
nor communicate Divine Graces to us, then they do Wit and
"Understanding to those who expect Grace from them ; For can
Grace be lodged in a rotten. Bone, or a piece of Wood > or con
veyed to our Souls by perspiration in a kiss or touch ?
$ly, The Christian Religion admits of no External or Ceremo
nial Righteousness. In Cbrift Jesus neither circumcifion availeth
F
any
A Preser'vati've againU POPERY.
Part IL
any thing, nor mcircumcifwn, but a new creature, and obedience to

the commandments of God, and faith which worketh by love : The
great design of the Gospel, and of all our Saviour's Sermons, be
ing to make us truly holy, that we may be partakers of the Di
vine Nature, having escaped thecorruptioh.which is in the world
through lust. There is nothing our Lord does more severely con
demn, than an External and Pharisaical righteousness , which con
sisted either in observing the External Rites of the Law of Moses,
or their own Superstitions received by tradition from their Fore
fathers , and exprefly tells his Disciples , except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
wife enter into the Kingdom of Heaven : Now this cuts off every
thing, which is External in Religion at a blow, because it cuts off
all hopes and relyances on an External Righteousness , and I be
lieve men will not be fond of such Superstitions.when rhey know,
they will do them no good.
6ly, And hence it appears, that there can be no place for any
thing, that is external.in the Christian Religion.but only for some
fderal Rites ; such as the two Sacraments of the Gospel are,
Baptism and the Lords Supper ; the first of which is our admisft.
on into the new Covenant , the second the exercise of Commu
nion with Christ in this Gospel Covenant.
And luch Rites as
these are necessary in all instituted Religions, which depend up
on free and voluntary Covenants : for since Mankind has by sin
forseited their natural right to Gods favour , they can challenge
nothing from himnow.but by promise and Covenant ; and since
such Covenants require a mutual stipulation on both sides % they
must be transacted by some visible and sensible Rites, whereby
God obliges himself to us , and we to him ; but these being only
the signs or seals of a Covenant, are very proper for a Religion,
which rejects all External and Ceremonial Righteousness and Wor
ship : for it is not our being in Covenant with God, nor the Sa
craments of it, that can avail us , without performing the con
ditions of the Covenant, and therefore this does not introduce an
External Righteousness..
Now.
Part II.
A Preservative agaiaU POP&KT.
Now whoever has such a Notion and Idea of the Christian

Worship as this , (and let the Church of Rome confute it if she
can) will easily see without much Disputing, how unlike the
Worship of the Church of Rome is to true Christian Worship.
For whoever only considers, the vast number of Rites and Ce
remonies in the Church of Rome, must conclude it as Ritual and
Ceremonial a Religion as Judaism itself ; the Ceremonies are as
many, more obscure, unintelligible, and useless ; more severe
and intolerable, then the Jewish Yoke itself, which St. Peter
tells the Jews, neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear;
it is indeed almost all Outside and Pageantry, as unlike the Plain
ness and Simplicity of the Gospel-Worship, as Show and Ceremo
ny can make it.
It is true, external and visible Worship, must consist of exter
nal Actions ; and must be performed with such grave and decent
circumstances of time and place, and posture and habit, as become
the Solemnity of Religious Worship ; this Reason and Nature
teaches, and this the Church of England prudently observes, whose
Ceremonies are not Religious Rites, but decent Circumstances of
Worship, sew in number (as the necessary Circumstances of Action are but sew) and Grave and Solemn in their use : but this is
not to place Religion in any thing, that is external, but only to
pay an external Homage and Worship to God, which differ as
Worshipping God in a Decent Habit, difsers from the Religion of
Consecrated Habits and Vestments ; or as praying to God with
an audible Voice, difsers from placing .Religion in Words and
Sounds which we do not understand, or as Kneeling at receiving
the Sacrament, differs from a Bodily Worship of the Host in bow
ing the knee.
But though the bare number of external Ceremonies, which
are always the Seat of Superstition, be a great corruption of the
Christian Worship, yet the number of them is the least fault of
the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome ; as will appear, if we con
sider a little their nature.
For i. Most of their external Rites are prosessedly intendecras
Expiations and Satisfactions for their Sins. This is the Doctrine
F x
and
3?
Part H.
and Practice of the Church of Rome, that notwithstanding the

satisfaction made by Christ, every Sinner must satisfie for his own
Sins, or have the satisfaction of other mens applied to him, out
of the Treasury of the Church, by the Pope's Indulgences : this
is tits meaning of all external Penances in Whippings, Fastings,
Pilgrimages, and other superstitious Severities ; their Backs, or
their Feec, or their Bellies must pay for their Sins, unless they can
redeem them out of their Pockets too : now it is plain,that these
are such external Superstitions., as can have no place in the Chri~
stian Religion, which allows of no other expiation or satisfacti
on for Sin, but the Blood of Christ.
rly, Those distinctions between Meats, which the Church of
Rome calls Fasting, ( for a Canonical Fast is not to abstain from
Food, but pnly from such Meats as are forbid on Fasting Days )
can be no part of Christian Worship, because the Gospel allows
of no distinction between cleanand unclean things, and therefore
of no distinction of Meats.neither : for meat commendeth us not to
God, i Cor. 8. 8. The Church of Rome indeed does not make
such a distinction between clean and unclean Beasts, as, the Law
of Moses did, and therefore is the more absurd in forbidding the
eating of Flesh , or any thing that comes of Flelh, as Eggs, or
Milk, or Cheese, or ButteV, on their Fasting Days, which/ is to.
impose a new kind of Jewish Yoke upon us, when the reason of jr
is ceased. For there is no imaginable reason why it mould be an.
Act of Religion meerly to abstain from Flesh, if Flesh have no le
gal uncleanness ; and if it had, we must all turn Carthusians, and
never eat Flesh ; for how mould it be clean one day, and unclean
another, is not easie to understand. I am sure St. Paul makes
this part of the Character of the Apostacy of the latter days, that
they mail Command to abstainfrom meats, which God hath created
to he received with thanksgiving of them, which helieve and know
the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be re
fused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified hy .
the word of God, and prayer. And let no man judtze you in meat
or drink,
wherefore if ye be dead with ChriH from the rudi
ments of the world, why as though living in the world, are yesubject
Part IT.
to ordinances : touch not, taH not, handle not, which all are to perish1^
with the ufing, after the Commandments and Dotlrines of men .<?
And yet, though they do not own the legal distinctions be
tween clean and unclean things, their Consecrations would perswade one, that there were something more than a meer legal
uncleanness in all Creatures, viz. that they are all possessed by the'
Devil and wicked Spirits ; for when they Consecrate Salt and
Water to make their Holy-water, they first exorcise both the
Salt and Water to cast the Devil out of them: and if such inno
cent Creatures are possessed, I doubt none can escape ; which has
made me sometimes wonder, that they durst eat any thing before
it was first exorcised, for sear the Devil should take possession of
them with their meat. It is certain, if the Christian Religion
takes away all such distinctions between Meat and Drinks, the
meer abstaining from Flesh can be no part of Christian Worslaip, much less so satisfactory and meritorious as the Church of
Rome pretends, when such Abstinence is appointed as a satisfacto
ry Penance.
id/jy As for the Religion of Holy Places, Altars, Vestments,
Utensils, the Church of Rome has infinitely out-done the Jewish
Laws : instead of one Temple at Jerusalem , they have thou
sands . to the full as Holy, and Sacred asi that, as may appear
from their Rites of Consecration. Though herein, I consess, they
differ, that the Temple of Jerusalem was only God's House, and
that alone made it a Holy Place, because God was there peculiar
ly present ; but the Popish Churches derive their Sanctity, not so
much from the presence of God, ( for then they would be all
qually Holy) as from some great and eminent Saint, who is pe
culiarly Worshipped there. It is a great argument of the opini
on men have of the Holiness of any place, to go in Pilgrimage
to it, not meerly in Curiosity, but Devotion ; as if either going ,
so far to see the place, were in itself an act of Religion, or their
Prayers would be better heard there, than if they prayed at home :
Thus they traver to Jerusalemxo visit me Holy Land and the Se
pulchre, and this may be thought in honour of our Saviour who Lived, and Died, and was Buried there: but otherwise I know.
not
A Preservative againd ? OVERT.
Part IT.
not any Church or Chappel, which the most devout Pilgrims

think worth visiting meerly upon the account of God or Christ:
The several Churches or Chappels of the Virgin, especially those
which are the most famed for Miracles, or the Churches where
the Reliques of some great and adored .Saints are lodged, have
their frequent Visits, for the fake of the Virgin, or of the Saints ;
but without some Saint Churches lose their "Sacrednefs and Vene
ration, which I suppose is the reason why they always take care
of some Reliques to give a Sacrednefs to them, without which
no Church can be Consecrated ; that is, its Dedication to the Wor
ship of God, cannot make it Holy, unless some Saint takepofleflion of it by his or her Reliques.
This, I consess, is not Judaism, for under the Jewish Law, all
Holiness of things or places was derived from their relation to
God ; now the Names, and Reliques, and wonder-working Ima
ges of Saints and the Blested Virgin, give the most peculiar and ce
lebrated Holiness ; and whether this be not at least to ascribe such
a Divinity to them, as the. Pagans did to their Deified Men and
Women, to whom they erected Temples and Altars, let any im
partial Reader judge. Those must have a good share of Divini
ty, who can give Holiness to any thing else.
. But since they must have Holy Places, and something to an
swer the Jewish Superstition, who cried, The Temple ofthe LORD,
the Temple of the LORD, I cannot blame them for making choice
of Saints to inhabitate their Churches, and sanctifie them with
their presence, since under the Gospel God is no more present in
one place than in another : He dwelt indeed in the Temple of
Jerusalem by Types and Figures, but that was but a Type of
God's dwelling in Humane Nature: the Body of Christ was the
true Temple, as he told the Jews, Destroy this Temple, andin three
days I will raise it up ; which he spake of the Temple 6f his Bo
dy ? And now Christ is ascended into Heaven, there is no Temple
on Earth ; end theiefore if they will have Temples, they must
have the Temples of Saints, for the Presence of*God is now no
more confined to a House, than his Providence is to the Land of
Juda, as it was in a very peculiar manner, while the Temple
stood
Part II.
stood there. God dwells not on Earth now, as he did among

the Jeivs, but his Presence , viz our Lord Jesus Christ, is remo
ved into Heaven, and therefore he has no House on Earth to an
swer to the Jetrish Temple, as the Ancient Fathers asserted that
the Christians had neither Temples nor Altars ; The Christian
Church indeed is a holy and living Temple, wherein the Holy
Spirit dwells, but that is built not with Stones or Brick, but of
living Saints ; and therefore the Holiness of Places, and Altars,
and Garments, &c. which makes up so great a part of the Roman
Religion, is a manisest Corruption of the Simplicity of the Chri
stian Worship. .The Jewish Temple made that Worship most ac
ceptable to God, which was offered there, because it was a Type of
Christ, and signified the acceptance of all our Prayers and Reli
gious Services, as offered up to God only int the Name of Christ ;
but to think that any place is so Holy now, .that the bare visiting
it, or praying in it, should bestow a greater holiness upon us, and
all we do, (hould expiate our Sins, or merit a Reward, is no bet
ter than Jewish or Pagan Superstition.
<\hly, That the Church of Rome does attribute Divine Virtues
and Powers to senseless and inanimate Things, is so evident from
that great Veneration they pay to the Reliques, and those great
Vertues they ascribe to them, from their Consecrations of their
Agnus Dei, their Wax-candles, Oyl, Bells, Crosses, Images, Ashes,
Holy-water, for the Health of Soul and Body, to drive away e*
vil Spirits, to allay Storms, to heal Diseases, to pardon Penial.and
sometimes Mortal Sins, meerly by kissing or touching them, car
rying them in their hands, wearing them about their necks, &c.
that no man can doubt of it who can believe his own eyes, and
read their Offices, and see what the daily Practice of their Church
is. Whoever has a mind to be satisfied about it, needs only read
Dr. Brevint's Saul and Samuel at Endor, Chap, i ?. These things
look more like Charms than Christian Worship; and are a great
Profanation of the Divine Grace and Spirit ; indeed they argue
that such men do not understand, what Grace and Sanctificanon
means, who think that little Images of Wax, that Candles, that
Oyl, that Water and Salt, that Bells, that.Crosses, can be sancti
Part If.
ficd by the Spirit of God, and convey Grace and Sanctification by

the fight, or found, or touch, or such external applications. Christ
has given his . Holy Spirit to dwell in us, which works immedi
ately upon our minds and rational powers, and requires bur con
currence to make his Grace efsectual to cleanse and purifie our
Souls, and to transform us into the Divine Image; the grace of
the Spirit is to enlighten our Minds, to change our Wills, to go
vern and regulate our Passions, to instruct, to perswade, to admenish, to awaken our Consciences, to imprint and fix good thoughts
in us, to inspire us with holy desires, with great hopes, with di
vine consolations, which may setus above the sears of the World,
and the allurements of it, and give greater servour to our Devo
tions, greater strength to our Resolutions, greater courage and
constancy in serving God, than the bare powers of Reason, tho'
enforced with supernatural Motives, could do. This is all the
Sanctification the Gospel knows, and he who thinks that inani
mate Things are capable of this Sanctification of the Spirit, or can
convey such Sanctification to us by some Divine and Invisible Ef
fluviums of Grace, may as well lodge Reason, and Understand
ing, and Will, and Passions in senseless matter, and receive it from
them again by a kiss or touch. To be sure men who know what
the Sanctification of the Spirit means, must despise such Fooleries
as these.
$ly> That all this encourages men to trust in an External
Righteousness, is too plain to need a proof; and therefore I shall
not need to insist long on it.
For i. such External Rites are naturally apt to degenerate in
to Superstition, especially when they are very numerous : The
Jewish Ceremonies themselves, their Circumcision, Sacrifices,
Washings, Purifications, Temple, Altars, New Moons and Sab
baths, and other Festival Solemnities, were the Righteousness of
the Scribes and Pharisees,and a cloak for their Hy pocrisie and great
Immoralities, though they were never intended by God for the
justification of a Sinner. For such External Rites are so much ea
sier to carnal men, than to subdue their Lusts, and live a holy and
vertuous Lise, that they are willing to abound in such External
Obser
Part II.
A Preservative agsinU PO PERT.
Observances, and hope that these will make Expiation for their o
ther Sins; and therefore when the Typical use of these Ceremo
nies was fulfilled by Christ, the External Rites were Abrogated,
that men might no longer place any hope or confidence in any
thing which is meerly External: And therefore that Church
which fills up Religion with External Rites and Ceremonies, were
there no other hurt in it, laies a Snare for Mens Souls, and tempts
them to put their trust in an External Righteousness, without any regard to the Internal Purity of Heart and Mind.
Especially 2'. when such External Rites are recommended as
very acceptable to God, as satisfactions for our Sins, and merito
rious of great rewards ; and this is the use they serve in the
Church of Rome, as you have already heard. They aflert the
necessity of Humane Satisfactions ; And what are these satisfa
ctory Works wherewith men must expiate their Sins? The prin
cipal of them are Fastings, that is abstaining from Flelh, and other Acts of Penance, as Whippings, Pilgrimages, and some Bo
dily severities, or Prayers, that is saying over such a number of
Ave-Maries ; or Alms, that is to pay for Indulgencies, or to purchasse Mafles for themselves, or their Friends in Purgatory, or to
found some Religious Houses, or to enrich those that are ; which
are much more satisfactory and meritorious than common acts of
Charity to the Poor : All which men may do, without the least
sorrow for Sin, without any true devotion to God, without mor
tifying any one Lust. They mightily contend for the Merit of
Works ; but what are their Meritorious Works ? Whoever reads
the Lives of their Canoniz'd Saints, will easily see what it was
that made them Saints : their Characters are usually made up of
some Romish Superstitions, of their Devotions to the Virgin Ma
ry, and their familiar Conversations with her, the severities of
their Fasts, and other external Mortifications, their frequenting
the Mass, the great numbers of their Ave-Maries, pretences to
Raptures and Visions, and such wild Extravagancies as made
them suspected of Madness, while they lived, and CanOniz'd
them for Saints, when they were dead: Other things may be ad
ded to fill up their stories, but these are the glorious AccomplHhG
merits.
A Preservative againtl POPERY.
Part If.
merits, especially of the more Modern Saints: for no man must

be a Saint at Rome, who is. not a famous Example of Popish Su
perstitions.
Monkery is thought the most persect State of Religion among
them, and has even Monopolized the Name, for no other per
sons are called the Religious, but those who belong to one Order
or other : And wherein does the Persection of Monkery consist >
i. In the Vows of Olibacy, Poverty, and Obedience to the Su
periors of their Order, which are all External things, no Virtues
in themselves, and very often the occasion of great Wickedness,
z. In the strictest Observance of the External Rites and Ceremo
nies of their Religion; of Masses, and Ave- Maries, and Fastings,
and Penances, and many of them would be glad, if they could go
Pilgrimages too. These things are in persection in their Mona
steries and Nunneries, with such additional Superstitions as are
peculiar to particular Orders. As for other true Christian Vertues, they may as soon be found without the Walls of the Mona
stery, as within.
Now when such External Rites and Observances shall, be judg
ed Satisfactions and Expiations for Sin ; shall be thought the most
highly meritorious, shall be made the Characters of their great
est Saints, and the most persect state of Religion ; I cannot see
how any true thorough-paced RomaniB, can aim at any thing but
a Ceremonial Righteousness.
Indeed the true reason why any thinking men are so fond of
an External and Ceremonial Righteousness, is to excuse them from
true and real Holiness of Lise : all men know that if they mortifie their Lusts, they need not afflict their Bodies with Fastings,
and other, severities : that if they have their Conversation in Hea
ven, they need not travel in Pilgrimages to Jerusalem or Lorettoi
that if they take care to obey the Laws of the Gospel, they need
no satisfactions for their Sins, nor no works of Merit or Supere
rogation, which are nothing else but meritorious and supererogating satisfactions ; for all men know, that in the Offices of Piety
and Vertue, they can never do more than is their Duty; and
therefore as nothing can be matter of Merit, which is our Duty,
Part II.
A Preservative agam& PO PERT.
so the true intention of all Merits and Works of Supererogation,

are to supply the place of Duty, and to satisfie for their Sins, or
to purchase a Reward, which they have no title to, by doing
their Duty ; but a good man, who by believing in Christ, and
obeying him, has an interest in his Merits, and a title to the Go
spel-Promises of Pardon and Eternal Lise, needs none of these Sa
tisfactions, Merits, or Supererogations. Now would any man
who believes that he cannot be saved without mortifying his
Lusts, be at the trouble of Whippings and Fastings, &c. not to
mortifie his Lusts, but to keep them, and to make satisfaction for
them ? Would any man travel to Jerusalem, or. the Shrine of any Saint, who believes he shall not be forgiven, unless he leaves
his Sins behind him, which he might as well have parted with at
home > The true notion of Superstition is, when men think to
make satisfaction for neglecting or transgressing their Duty, by
doing something which is not their Duty, but which they believe
to be highly pleasing to God, and to merit much of him : Now
no man who believes that he cannot please God without doing
his Duty, would be so fond of doing his Duty, and doing that
which is not his Duty, nor pleasing to God, into the bargain.
3 . And yet these meritorious and satisfactory Superstitions are
very troublesome to most men, and though they are willing to
be at some pains rather than part with their Lusts, yet they would
beat as little trouble as possibjy they can ; and herein the Church
of Rome, like a very indulgent Mother, has consulted their ease ;
for one man may satisfie for another, and communicate his Me
rits to him : and therefore those who, by their Friends or Mo
ney, can procure a vicarious Back, need not Whip themselves ;
they may Fast, and fay over their Beads, and perform their Pe
nances and Satisfactions by another , as well as if they did k
themselves ; or they may purchase Satisfactions and Merits out
of the Treasury of the Church, that is, they may buy Indulgencies and Pardons ; or it is but entring into some Confraternity,
and then you shall share in their Merits and Satisfactions. This
is an imputed Righteousness with a witness, and I think very Ex
ternal too, when men can satisfie and merit by Proxies.
G z
4. And
47
Part II.
4. And I think it may pass for an External Righteousness too,

- when men are sanctified and pardoned by Reliques, Holy -water,
Consecrated Beads, Bells, Candles, Agnus Dei's, &c And how
unlike is all this to the Religion of our Saviour, to that purity of
Heart and Mind the Gospel exacts, and to those means of Sanctification, and methods of Piety and Vertue it prescribes ? Who
ever considers what Christian Religion is, can no more think
these Observances Christian Worship, than he can mistake Popish Legends for the Acts of the Apostles^
II. Let us now consider what kind of Worship Christ has pre
scribed to his Disciples : And the general account we have of it
4 John z 3 , 14. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worflippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Fatherseeketh such to worship him: God is a spirits and they that wor
ship him, mufi worship him inspirit and in truth. Now there are
three things included in this description of Gospel - Worship :
1 . That we must Worship God under the Notion of a Pure and
Infinite Spirit, z. That we must Worship him under the Cha
racter of a Father. 3. That we must Worship him with the
Mind and Spirit.
. First, We must Worship God under the Notion of a Pure and
Infinite Spirit, who has now confined his peculiar Presence to no
place, as he formerly did to the Temple at Jerusalem ; for this
was the present Dispute, Whether God would bs Worshipped at
the Temple at Jerusalem, or Samaria', as I observed above: In
opposition to which, our Saviour tells the Woman, that God is a
Spirit, and therefore not confined to any place ; he is every-where,
and present with us every-where, and may be worshipped every
where by devout and pious Souls : that though for Typical Rea
sons he had a Typical and Symbolical Presence under the Jewish
Dispensation, yet this was not so agreeable to his Nature, who is
a Spirit, and therefore he must not now be sought for in Houses
of Wood and Stone.
And indeed the Reformation of the Divine Worship must bein in rectifying our Notions and Apprehensions of God ; for such
we apprehend God to be, such.a kind of Worship weshall pay
him;
Part II.
him ; as is evident from the Rites and Ceremonies of the Pagan

Worship, which was fitted to the Nature and History of their
Gods ; for where there are no Instituted Rites of Worship, all
mankind conclude, that the Nature of God is the best Rule of
his Worship, for all Beings are best pleased with such Honours,
as are suitable to their Natures, and no Being can think himself
Honoured by such Actions as are a contradiction to his own Na
ture and Persections.
Now if God will be Worshipped more like a pure and infinite
Spirit under the Gospel, than he was under the Law ; if this be
the fundamental Principle of Gospel- Worship, that God is a Spi
rit, and must be Worshipped as a Spirit, I think it is plain, that
nothing is more unlike a pure Spirit, then a material Image; no
thing more unlike an infinite Spirit, which can have no shape or
figure, then a finite and figured Image, made in the likeness of a
man, or of any thing in Heaven and Earth ; nothing more unlike
an infinite Spirit, which is Lise, and Mind, and' Wisdom, than
a dead and senceless Image ; and if under the Law, where God
suited his Worship more to a Typical Dispensation than to his
own Nature, he would not allow of the Worship of Images, muchless is this an acceptable Worship to him under the Gospel, where
he will be Worshipped as a pure Spirit, for there is nothing in the
World more unlike a Living, Infinite, Omnipotent, Omniscient
Spirit, than ahttle piece of dead senceless figured Gold or Silver,
Wood or Stone, whatever shape the Carver or Engraver please
to give it, since God has none. Now would any man, who un
derstands this, that God is a Spirit, and will under the Gospel
be Worshipped as a Spirit, should he go into many Popish Chur
ches and Chappels, and see a vast number of Images and Pictures
there, and People devoutly kneeling before them, suspect that
these were Christian Oratories, or this Christian Worship, unlefshe knew something of the matter before ? For there you shall
find the Pictures of God the Father, and the ever Blessed Trinity,
in different Forms and Representations ; the Pictures of the Blefled
Virgin, and other Saints and Martyrs devoutly Adored and Wor
shipped , and would any man guess, that this were to Worship.
God;
A Preservative againtt FOPLKT.
Part II.
God as a pure and infinite Spirit ? A Spirit cannot.be Painted,

And then to Worship God as a Spirit, cannot signifie to look upon
any Representation of God, when we pray to him, which to be
sure cannot give us the Idea of an infinite Spirit. He who Wor.
(hips God as a Spirit , can have no regard to Matter and. Sense,
but must apply himself to God as to an infinite Mind, which no
man can do, who gazes upon an Image, or contemplates God in
the art and skill of a Painter ; for to pray to God in an Image,
and in the fame thought to consider him as a pure and infinite
mind, is a contradiction ; for though a man, who believes Cod
to be a Spirit, may be so absurd, as to worship him in an Image,
yet an Image cannot represent a Spirit to him, and therefore ei
ther he must not think at all of the Image, and then methinks he
should not look on an Image, when he worships God, for that is
apt to make him think of it ; or if he does think of the Image,
while his mind is filled with such gross and sensible representati
ons, it is impossible in the same act to address to God, as to a pure
invisible,and infinite Spirit. Which shews how unfit and impro
per Images are in the Worship of God ; for they must either be
wholly useless , and such as a man must not so much as look or
think on, (which is very irreconcileable with that Worship.which
is paid to them in the Church of Rome) ot while he is intent up
on a Picture or Image, his mind is diverted from the contemplati
on of a pure and infinite Spirit , and therefore cannot, and does
not Worship God as a Spirit.
And the fame is true of the Images of Saints and the Blefled
Virgin : for though to makes Pictures of Men or Women, is no
reproach to the Divine Nature , since they are not the Pictures
er Images of God, who is a Spirit, but of those Saints, whom
they are intended to represent, yet if all Christian Worship be
the Worship of God, it is evident, that the Worship of Images*
though they be not the Images of God, but of the Saints, can be
no part of Christian Worship, because God must be Worshipped
as a Spirit, and therefore not by any Image whatsoever.
Now the Church of Rome will not pretend, that the Worship
of Saints and their Images, is a distinct and separate Worship
from
Part II.
A Preservative agamSi r 0 r K T.
from the Worship of God, but to justifie themselves, they con

stantly affirm, that they Worship God in that Worship, which
they pay to the Saints and their Images ; for they know, that
to do otherwise, would be to terminate their Worship upon Crea
tures , which they consess to be Idolatry, since all Religious
Worship must terminate on God ; and therefore should they give
any Religious Worship to Creatures distinct and separate from
that Worship they give to God, it were Idolatry upon their own.
principles.
Now if they Worship God in the Worship of Saints and their
Images, then they Worship God in the Images of Saints, and
that I think is to Worship him by Images : the Worship of a pure
infinite and invisible Spirit will admit of no Images, whe
ther of God or Creatures, as the Objects or Mediums of Wor
ship.
But it may be said, that this is to graft our own Fancies and
Imaginations upon Scripture ; for though Christ does fay, that
God is a Spirit, and must be Worshipped in Spirit, he does not
fay, that to Worship God in Spirit is not to Worship him by an
Image ; but to Worship God in Spirit, in our Saviour's Discourse
with the Woman of Samaria, is not opposed to Image-Worship,,
but to confining the Worship of God to a particular place, such as
the Temple at Jerusalem and Samaria was ; as I observed above.
Now to this I answer :
I . To Worship God as a Spirit, does in the nature ofthe thing,
signifie this ,' for to Worship God by any material or sensible Re
presentations is not to Worship God as a Spirit ; for an infinite
Spirit cannot be represented by matter, nor by any shape and:
figure, because it neither is material, nor has any figure.
i. If God will not have his peculiar Presence confined to any
place under the Gospel, much less will he be Worshipped by Ima
ges and Pictures, for it is not such a contradiction to the nature
of an infinite Spirit, to sh.ew himself more peculiarly present in
one place than in another, as it is to be Worshipped by sensible
Images and Pictures. Though God fills all places, there may
be wise Reasons, why he should confine the Acts of Worship to
sonac
A Preservative againtl PO PERT.
Part IF.
some peculiar place, and such Typical Reasons there were for it
under the Law, but there never can beany Reason, why a Spirit
should be Represented and Worshipped by an Image, which is
such a contradiction and dishonour to the nature of the Spirit; and
therefore when God confined his Symbolical Presence to the Tem
ple at Jerusalem, yet he strictly forbad the Worship of Images.and
much less then will he allow of Image- Worship, when he will not
so much as have a Temple.
3. For we must observe farther, that what our Saviour here
says, God is a Spirit, and will be Worshipped in Spirit, is not a
particular Direction, how to Worship God, but a general Rule
to which the nature of our Worship must be conformed, and
therefore it is our Rule, as far as the plain Reason of it extends.
Under the Law they were not left to general Rules, but God de
termined the particular Rites and Ceremonies of his Worship
himself; for under the Law God had not so plainly discovered
his own nature to them, as he has done by his Son in the Gospel.
For no man hathseen God at any tirey but the only begottenson, who is
in the bosom of the fatherJhe hath declared him. And therefore the
nature of God was never made the Rule of Worship before. Thd
God was as much a Spirit under the Law, as he is under the Go
spel, yet this was never assigned as a reason against Image- Wor
ship, that God is a Spirit : but either that they saw no Likeness
or Similitude in the Mountain, when God spake to them, 4
Deut. 15, 16. or that he is so great and glorious a Being, that
nothing in the World is a fit Representation of him : To whom then
willye liken God .J or what likeness willye compare unto him .<? -h
is he that fitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants
'thereof are as grashoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a cur
tain, andfpreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, &c. But that
God is a Spirit, who has no shape and figure, is a much better
Argument against Image-Worship, than all this ; but this God
had not so plainly declared to them ; and if God forbad the
Worships Images, when he thought fit to give no other rea
son for it, but that he had never appeared to them in any Like
ness or Similitude, or that he was too great to be Represented ;
we
Part II.
$3
we our selves may now judge, how unfit it is to Worship God

by. an Image, since our Saviour has declared, that he is a Spirit,
who has no Likeness or Figure, and that now he expects to be
Worshipped by us as a Spirit, and therefore without any Image
or sensible Representation.
4. And yet some Learned men think, that our Saviour in these
Words, had as well respect to the Worship of God by Images,- as
to his Worship in the Temple : for that he had respect to the Ob
ject as well as Place of Worship, is evident from what he adds,
ye worship ye know not what, we know what we worship, for salvati- 4 John 22,
on is of the Jews ; wherein he informs the Woman, that though
she inquired only of the place of Worship, the Samaritans were
guilty of a greater fault than setting up the Temple at Samaria
in opposition to the Temple at Jerusalem, viz. in a false Object,
or an Idolatrous manner of Worship, they Worshipping a Dove
as the Symbol and Representation of God : and thus to Worship
God in Spirit, is expresly opposed to Worshipping God by Images.
f ly, However this comes much to one ; for if God being a Spi
rit his Worship must not be confined to any place or Symbolical
Presence ; then he must not be Worshipped by an Image, for an
Image is a Representative Presence of God, or of the Saints ; for
the use of Images is to represent that Being whom we Worship
as present to us : and therefore if men consider what they do,they
go to Images,as to Divine Presences, to Worship. Images, which
are set up in Churches and Chappels for the Worship of God, or
of the Saints, are confined to places, and make those places as
much appropriate and peculiar places of Worship, as the Jewish
Temple was, excepting that the Temple was but one, and they
are many. Heathen Temples were the Houses of their Gods, or
of their Images, which were the Presence of their Gods; and if
we must not appropriate the Presence of God to any place, then
we must not Worship him by Images, which are of no use but
to represent God as sensibly present, with the Image, or in the
place, where the Image is. If God be better Worshipped before
an Image, than without one, then the Worship of God is more
confined to that place, where an Image is, than to those places,
H
which
Part II.
which have no Images. I cannot see how to avoid this, that if

God must be Worshipped by Images, than there must be appro
priate places of Worship, viz. where the Image is, if there be no
appropriate places of Worship under the Gospel, like the Temple
at Jerusalem, then God must not be Worshipped by Images; for
an Image must be in some place, and if God must be Worshipped
at, or before his Image, then that is the proper and peculiar place
of Worship , where his Image is ; nay, though the Image be
not fixt to any place, but be carried about with us, yet if we
must Worship God by Images, the Image is not only the Ob
ject, but makes the place of Worship , for there we must Wor
ship God , where his Image is ,v if we must Worship him
before his Image. It is impossible to separate the Notion of
Image- Worship, from the Notion of a peculiar and appropriate
place of Worship 5 for the Image determines the place, as the
Presence of the Object; does and as under the Gospel we may
Worship God any where, because he is an infinite Spirit, and fills
all places, and is equally present with all devout Worshippers,
where-ever they Worship him : So where the Image is Consecra
ted for a Divine Presence, it is not only the Object , but the pe
culiar place of Worship, because God is peculiarly present there,
or more acceptably worshipped there, than where there is no Image. So that if a peculiar and appropriate place of worship be
contrary to the notion of an infinite Spirit, the worship of Ima
ges is much more so , for besides that they are gross and corpore
al representations of a Spirit, they are Divine Presences too , and
appropriate places of worship.
Secondly, As God must be worshipped under the notion of a
Spirit, sounder the character of a Father : as our Saviour expresly
tells us; The hour cometh andnow is, when the true worshippersJball
worshipthe Father in Spirit and truth , for the Father seekethsuch
' to worship him, and therefore he taught his Disciples to pray, Our
Father which art in heaven. Under the Law God was worshipped
as a King, and that not so much as the King of the whole world,
but as in a peculiar manner the King of Israel.
The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble, he fitteth between the Cherubims (in his
Tern
Part II.
A Preservative agaioU POPEKT.
$$
pie at Jerusalem) let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in 2/- 99 rsa!.
on, andhe is high alove allpeople. But under the Gospel the pe- *
culiar character of God is a Father, and that not only as he is the
"maker of all men , and so the Father of all , but as he is the Fa
ther of Christ , and in him the Father of all Christians. Now
this makes a vast difference in our worship , from what is daily
practised in the Church of Rome. Fo^s
i . When we pray to God as our Father, we must pray to him
as dwelling in Heaven : as our Saviour teaches us to fay, Our Fa
ther, which art in Heaven. For as a Father, Heaven is his House
and Habitation ; in my Fathers House are many mansions, that is,in 1 4 Joha
in Heaven, which is his House as a Father, as the Temple at Jeru
salem, was his Palace considered as the King cf Israel ; and this is
one reason our Saviour intimates, why the presence of God mail
no longer be confined to any particular place or Temple, because
he mail be worshipped as the universal Father, not asthe King of
Jury ; Now when he is to be worshipped as a Father from all parts
of the world , he must have such a Throne and presence to which
all the World may equally resort, and that can be no other then
his Throne in Heaven, whither we may send up our Prayers from
all Corners of the Earth ; but had he confined his Presence to any place on Earth, as he did to the Temple of Jerusalem, the rest
of the World must have been without God's peculiar Presence,
could have had no Temple nor place of Worship, but at such a
distance that they could never have come at it : for though God
fills all places, it is a great absurdity to talk of more Symbolical
Presences of God than one : for a Symbolical Presence confines
the unlimited Presence of God to a certain place in order to cer
tain ends, as to receive the Worship, that is paid him, and to an
swer the Prayers, that are made to him; and to have more than
One such Presence as this, is like having more Gods than One.
So that all our Worship under the Gospel, must be directed to
God in Heaven ; and that is a plain argument, that we must not
Worship God in Images on Earth, for they neither can represent
to us the Majesty of God in Heaven, nor is Godpresent with the
Image to receive our Worship there : if God must now be WorH x
(hipped
56
A Preservative againU POPEKT.
Part K
Ihipped as dwelling in Heaven, it is certain there can be no Ob. ject of our Worship on Earth ; for though God fill all places with
his Presence, yet he will be Worshipped only as sitting on his
Throne in Heaven ; and then I am sure he must not be Worship
ped in an Image on Earth, for that is not his Throne in Heaven.
This the Msrcy-seat in the Holy of Holies was an Emblem of ;
for the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple, did signifie Heaven,
and the Mercy-seat covered with Cherubims, signified the Throne
of God in Heaven, whither we must lift up our Eyes and Hearts
when we pray to him : for though it is indifserent from what
place we put up our Prayers to God, while we, have regard to the
External Decency of Religious Worship, yet it is not indifferent
whither we direct our Prayers; for we must direct our Prayers
4 Hebatf. to the throne of grace, if we would chain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need. Now the Throne of Grace is only in Hea
ven, whither Christ is ascended to make Atonement for us ; for
he is the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat : And therefore if redi
rect our Prayers to God, to his Picture or Image, or to the Ima
ges of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saints, did not provoke God
to jealousie, yet it would do us no good, unless such Images are
God's Throne of Grace, for all other Prayers are lost, which are
not directed to God on his Throne of Grace, where alone he will
receive our Petitions. If a Prince would receive no Petitions but
what were presented to him sitting on such a Throne, all men
would be sensible how vain a thing it were to offer any Petition
to him else-where. And yet thus it is here : A Sinner dare nor,
must not approach the Presence of God, but only on his Mercyseat and Throne of Grace ; for any where else our God is a Con
suming Fire, a Just and a Terrible Judge : now God has but one
Throne of Grace, and that is in Heaven, as the Mercy-seat was
in the Holy of Holies, which was a Type of Heaven ; thither
Christ ascended with his Bloud to sprinkle the Mercy seat, and to
coyer it with a Cloud of Incense, which are the Prayers of the
Saints, as the High-Priest did once a Year in the Typical Holy
Place. Whish is a plain proof, that all our Prayers must be im
mediately directed to God in Heaven, where Christ dwells, who
is-
Part H.
A Preservative againtt POPE RT.
$j
is our true Propitiatory and Mercy-seat, who has sprinkled the

Throne of God with his own Bloud, and has made it a Throne of
Grace, and where he ofsers up our Prayers as Incense to God.
a. To Worship God as our Father, signifies to Worship him
only in the Name and Mediation of his Son Jesus Christ: for he
is our Father only in Jesus Christ, and we can call him Father in
no other Name. By the right of Creation he is our Lord, and
our Judge, but he is the Father of Sinners only by Adoption and
Grace, and we are Adopted only in Christ: so that if Christian
Worship be the Worship of God as a Father, then we must pray
to God in no other Name, but of his own Eternal Son : The Vir
gin Mary, though she were the Mother of Christ, yet does not
make God our Father ; and then no other Saint, I presume, will
pretend to it: which shews what a contradiction the Invocati
on of Saints is to the Nature of Christian Worship, and how un
available to Obtain our requests of God If we must Worship
God only as our Father, then we must Worship him only in the
Name of his Son, for he owns himself our Father in no other
Name ; and if he will hear our Prayers, and answer our humble
Petitions only as a Father, then he will hear only those Prayers >
which are made to him in the Name of his Son : How great Fa
vourites soever the Blesled Virgin and other Saints may be, if
God hear Prayers only as a Father, it is to no purpose to pray to
God in their Names, for he hears us not.
j. To Worship God as a Father, signifies to pray to him with
the humble assurance and confidence of Children : This is ihe spi- 8 Rom.i j,
rit of adoption, voherehy we cry Alia Father. For because ye are
sons, God hath sent forth thespirit of his Son into your hearts, crying 4 ea1.
Alia Father. A dutiful Son does not question his Father's good
will to him, nor readiness to hear and answer all his just requests,
he depends upon the kindness of his Father, and his interest and
relation to him, and seeks for no other Friends and Favourites to
recommend him : And upon this account also the Invocation of
Saints is a contradiction to the Gospel-Spirit of Prayer, to that
Spirit of Adoption, which teaches us to cry Abla Father ; for
siirely those have pot the hope, and assurance, and *#w of Chik
dren,,
A Preservative against FOPERT.
Part IL
drcn, who dare not go to their Father themselves, but must send
their Petitions to him by the hands of Favourites and Intercet
sors. To pray to God in the Name of Christ, is onely to pray to
him as Sons, for it is in his Name only that he owns us for Sons;
and this is the true Spirit of Adoption, in the Name arid Media
tion of Christ, to go to God, as Children to a Father ; but to pray
to him in any other Name, how powerful soever, is not to go to
him as a Father, but as to our Lord and King, who must be Ad
dressed to by the Mediation of some great Favourites. To pray
to God in any other Name, which does not make us his Sons, is
to distrust our Relation to him, as our Father in Christ; and this
is contrary to the Spirit of Adoption, which teaches us to call
God Father, and gives us that assurance of his Fatherly goodness
to us in Christ, that we need and desire no other Advocates.
Thirdly, To Worship God in Spirit, is to Worship him with
our Mind and Spirit ; for that is most agreeable to the Nature of
God, who is a Spirit. God cannot be Worshipped but by a rea
sonable Creature, and yet a Beast may Worship God as well as a
Man, who Worships without any act of Reason and Understand
ing, or devout Affections. To pray to God without knowing
what we fay, when neither our Understandings nor Affections can
joyn in our Prayers, is so absurd a Worship of a pure Mind, that
Transubstantiation it self is not more contrary to Sense , than
Prayers in an unknown Tongue are to the Estential Reason and
Nature of Worship. I suppose no man will say, that to pray to
God, or praise him in words which we do not understand, is to
Worship God in Spirit, unless he thinks that a Parrot may be
taught to pray in the Spirit : What difference is there between
a man's not speaking, and speaking what he does not understand?
Just so much difference there is between not praying, and praying
what we do not understand : and he honours God to the full as
much, who does not pray at all, as he who prays he knows not
what, and, I am sure, he affronts him a great deal Jess : However,
if Christian Worship be to worship God in Spirit, Prayers in an
unknown Tongue, in which the Mind and Spirit cannot be con
cerned, is no Christian Worship.
Sect.
Part II.
A Preservative againUP OPEKY.
$9
Sect. IV.
Concerning the Reformation and Improvement of Humane Naturs,
by the Gospel of CHRIST.
4.
A Nother principal end and intention of the Gospel, was

\ to cure the Degeneracy of Mankind, and to advance
Humane Nature to its utmost Persection : for as Man sell from
his original Happiness, by falling from the purity and integrity
of his Nature, so there was no restoring him to his lost Happi
ness, much less no advancing him to a more persect state of Hap
piness, not to an earthly, but to an heavenly Paradise, without
changing and transforming his Nature, and renting him aster
the Image of God. And therefore our very entrance into Chri
stianity, is a new Birth : Except a man he lorn of water, and of the ? j0hn
spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God: that which is born
of the fiesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And
such a man is called a new Creature; and a Christian Lise is a
newnefi ofUse, and living after the Spirit, and walking after the Spi- 8 Rom
rit : and this new Nature is the Divine Nature, the Image of God,
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness andtrue Boli. 4 Epj1.
ness, which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that crea- 3 Colos
ted him.
. " . ,
,.
.
So that there are two things, wherein this new Nature confists, Knowledge, and Righteousness, or true Holiness, and I doubt it
will appear.that the Church of Rome is no great Friend to either.
I. Knowledge : Now I suppose neither the Church of Rome,
nor any one for her, will pretenc! that me is any great Friend to
Knowledge : She is so horribly asra"id of Herefie, that (he endea
vours to nurse men up in Ignorance of their Religion, for sear
they mould prove Herericks ; and indeed (he has some reason for
it : for the Church of Rome was never so Triumphant as in the
most ignorant and barbarous Ages ; but as Knowledge broke in
upon the World, so men turned Hereticks apace.
If there be any knowing Papists (and it would be very hard*
if there mould be none) they are net beholding to their Church
sot
Part H.
for it, which deprives them of all the means of Knowledge : for
slie will not allow them to believe their Senses, which is one way
of knowing things, and the most certain we have : and yet (he
commands us to believe Tranfubstantiation, which no man can
do who believes his Senses : and if I must not believe my Senses
in so plain a matter, as what is Bread and Wine, I know no rea
son I have to believe them in any thing, and then there is an end
of all Knowledge, that depends on Sense ; as the proof of the
Christian Religion itself does : for Miracles are a sensible proof,
and if I must not trust my Senses, I cannot rely, on Miracles, be
cause I cannot know, whether there be any such thing as a real .
Miracle.
The Churches Rome also forbids men the use of Reason in mat
ters of Religion? will not allow men to judge for themselves, nor
to examine the Reasons of their Faith, and what knowledge any
man can have without exercising his Reason and Understanding,
I cannot guess ; for to know without understanding founds to me
like a contradiction.
She also denies Christians the use of the Bible, which is the on
ly means to know the revealed Will of God : and when men must
neither believe their Senses, nor trust their Reason, nor read
the Scripture, it is easie to guess what knowing and understand
ing Christians, they must needs be.
But it may be said, that notwithstanding this, the Church of
Rome does Instruct her Children in the true Carholick Faith,,
though (he will not venture them to judge for themselves, nor
to read the Scriptures, which is the effect of her great care of
them, to keep them Orthodox*, for when men trust to their
own fallible Reasons, and private Interpretations of .Scripture,
it is a great hazard that they do not fall into one Heresie or other :
but when men are taught the pure Catholick Faith without any
danger of Error and Heresie, is not this much better, then to
suffer them to reason and judge for themselves, when it is great
odds, but they will judge wrong.
Now this would be something indeed, did the Church of Rome
take care to Instruct them in all necessary Doctrines, and to
, teach
Part II.
A Preservative agaittU PO PERT.
61
teach nothing, but what is true, and could such men, who thus
tamely receive the dictates of the Church, be said to know and
to understand their Religion. How far the Church of Rome is
from doing the first, all Christians in the world are sensible but
themselves, but that is not our present dispute ; for though the
Church of Rome did instruct her people into the true Christian
Faith, yet such men cannot be said to know and understand their
Religion ; and to secure the Faith by destroying knowledge, is a
direct contradiction to the design of the Gospel , which is ta
make men wise and understanding Christians. For no man un
derstands his Religion , who does not in some measure know the
reasons of his Faith, and judge whether they be sufficient or not ;
who knows not how to distinguish between Truth and Error,who
has no Rule to go by, but must take all upon trust, and the cre
dit of his Teachers ; who believes whatever he is told, and learns
his Creed, as School boys do their Grammar, without understand
ing it : This is not an active, but a kind of passive knowledge ;
such men receive the impression, that is made on them, as wax
does , and understand no more of the matter ; now will any
one call this the knowledge and understanding of a man, or the
Discipline of a Child i
But suppose there were some men so dull and stupid, that they
could never rise higher ; that they are not capable of inquiring
into the reasons of things , but must take up fheir Religion up
on trust ; yet will any man (ay, that this is the utmost persection
of knowledge, that any Christian must aim at > is this the mean
ing of the word of God dwelling in us richly in all wisdom .<? is 3 Col
this the way to give an answer to any ort'j who asks a reason os
the hope that is in us i the persection of Christian knowledge is a
great and glorious attainment; to understand the secrets of God's
Laws, those depths and mysteries of wisdom and goodness in the
(Economy of Mans Salvation ; to seethe Analogy between the
Law and the Gospel, how the Legal Types and ancient Prophe
cies received their accomplishment in Christ, how far the Gospel
has advanced us above the state of Nature, and the Law of Ma?
fis ; what an admirable design it was to redeem the world by the
I
In-
Part ft
Incarnation and death and sufserings and intercession of the Son

of God ; what mysteries of Wisdom and Goodness the Gospel
contains ; the knowledge of which is not only the persection of
our understandings, but raises and ennobles our minds.and trans
forms us into the Divine Image : These things were revealed,
that they might be known , not that they should be concealed
from the world, or neglected and despised ; but this isa know
ledge, which cannot be attained without diligent and laborious in
quiries, without using all the reason and understanding we have,
in searching the Scriptures , and all other helps which God has
afforded us.
Now if Christian Knowledge be something more than to beable to repeat our Creed , and to believe it upon the authority of
our Teachers , if the Gospel of our Saviour was intended to ad
vance us to a true manly knowledge , Chjist and the Church of
Rome seem to have two very different designs, our Lord in causing the Gospel to be wrote and publisht to the world , the cther in concealing it as much as (he can, and suffering no body to
read it without her leave , as a dangerous Book, which is apt to
make men Hereticks ; for it is hard to conceive, that the Gospel
was written, that it might not be read, and then one would
guess , that he by whose authority and inspiration the Gospel
was written, and those by whose authority it is forbid to be read,
are not of a mind in this matter.
i. This I think in the first place is an evident proof, that to
forbid Christian people to read and study and meditate on the
word of God, is no Gospel Doctrine, unless not to read the Bi
ble , be a better way to improve in all true Christian knowledge
and wisdom, than to read it : for that is the duty of Christians,
to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ; this was one great end of publishing the Gospel to
the world , to enlighten and improve mens understandings , as
well as to govern their Lives ; and though we grant, men may
be taught the principles of Christian Religion, as Children are,
without reading the Bible, yet if they will but grant, that stu
dying and meditating on the holy Scriptures, is the best and on
Part II.
A Preservative againU FOFERT.
Iy way to improve in all true Christian knowledge , this (hows

how contrary this prohibition of reading the Scriptures is to the
great design of the Gospel, to persect our knowledge in the my
steries of Christ.
rly. This is a mighty presumption also against Transubstantiation, that it is no Gospel Doctrine, because it overthrows the
very Fundamental Principles of Knowledge, which is a direct con
tradiction to the design of the Gospel, to advance Divine Know
ledge to the utmost persection it can attain in this world.
Whoever has his eyes in his head must consess, that the Do
ctrine of Tranfubstantiation is contrary to Sense; for were our
senses to be Judges of this matter , they would pronounce the
Bread and Wine aster Consecration , to be Bread and Wine still ;
and therefore what ever reason there may be to believe it not to
be Bread and Wine, but Flesh and Blood, yet it must be consefled,
that our Faith in this matter contradicts our sense ; for even Ro
man Catholick Eyes and Noses and Hands , can see and seel and
smell nothing but Bread and Wine : and if to our senses it appears
to be nothing but Bread and Wine, those who believe it to be the
Natural Body and Blood of Christ, believe contrary to what they
see.
Thus there is nothing more contrary to the natural notions we
have of things, than the Doctrine of Tranfubstantiation : for if
this Doctrine be true, then the fame individual body of Christ is
in Heaven at the right hand of God, and on ten thousand Altars,
at a great distance from each other on earth, at the fame time.
Then a humane Body is contracted into the compass of a Wa
ser, or rather subsists without any dimensions , without extenfion
ofparts, and independent on place.
Now not to dispute, whether this be true or false, my only in
quiry at present is, whether this do not contradict those natural
notions all men have of the properties of a Humane Body : let
a man search his own mind, and try .whether he find any such no
tion of a Body , ascan be present at more places than one at the
fame time : a Body that is without Extension, nay that has parts
without Extension, and therefore without any distinction too :
I z
lor
Part tt
for the parts fan Organicai Body must be distinguished by place

and scituation, which cannot be, if they have no Extension ; a
Body, which is present without occupying a place, or being in a
place: if we have no such natural notion of a Body, as I am sure
I have not, and I believe no man else has, then let Tranfubstantiation be true or false, ft is contrary to the natural notions of
our minds, which is all I am at present concerned for : Thus let
any man try, if he have any notion of an accident subsisting with
out any substance, of a white and soft and hard nothing ; of the
same body, which is extended and not extended , which is in a
place, and not in a place at the fame time: for in Heaven, I sup
pose, they will grant, the Body of Christ fills a place , and has
the just dimensions and proportions of a Humane Body , and at
the fame time in the Host the very fame body is present, without
any extension; and independent on place ; that is, the fame body
at the sajne time is extended and not extended, fills a place and
fills no place, which, I suppose, they mean by being Independent
on place ; now is and is not, is a contradiction to natural Reason,
and I have no other natural nation of it, but as of a contradicti
on, both parrs ot which cannot be true. Let us then briefly ex
amine, whether it be likely, that Transubstantiation, which con
tradicts the evidence of sense, and the natural notions of our
Minds, should be a Gospel Doctrine, considering the Gospel as the
most Divine and excellent Knowledge, and most persective of
Humane understandings. For,
i. This Doctrine of Transubstantiation, is so far from persect
ing our Knowledge, that it destroys the very Principles of all
Humane Knowledge : All natural knowledge is owing either to
Sense or Reason, and Transubstantiation contradicts both, and
whoever believes it, must believe contrary to his Senses and Rea
son, which if it be to believe like a Catholick, I am sure, is not
to believe like a man ; if the persection of knowledge consist in
contradicting our own Faculties , Transubstantiation is the most
persect knowledge in the world ; but however, I suppose no man
will say, that this is the natural persection of knowledge, which
overthrows the most natural notions we have of things : and yet
All:
Part II.
4 Preservative agaitiH P 0 P EKT.
%. All supernatural Knowledge must of necessity be grafted

upon that which is natural ; for we are capable of revealed and
supernatural Knowledge, only as we are by nature reasonable
Creatures, and destsoy Reason, and Beasts axe as sit to be preach
ed too as Men : And yet to contradict: the plain and most natu
ral notions of our minds, is to destroy Humane Reason, and to
leave Mankind no Rule or Principle to know and judge by. No
man can know any thing, which contradicts the Principles of Na
tural Knowledge, because he has only these natural Principles to
know by ; and therefore however his Faith may be improved by
it, he forseits his natural Knowledge, and has no supernatural
Knowledge in the room of it : For how can a man know and un
derstand that which is contrary to all the natural Knowledge and
Understanding he has ? There may be some revealed Principles
of Knowledge super-added to natural Principles, and these things
we may know to be so, though we have no natural Notion of
them, and this persects, because it enlarges our Knowledge ; as the
Knowledge of three Divine Persons super-added to the natural
Belief of one Supreme God ; which does not overthrow the belief
of one God, but only acquaints us, that there are three Divine
Persons in the Unity of the Godhead, which, whatever difficulty
there maybe in apprehending it, yet overthrows no natural No
tion : this is an improvement of Knowledge, because we know
all we did before, and we know something more, that as there is
one God, so there are three Persons, who are this one God ; and
though we have no natural Notion of this, how three Persons are
:ne God, because we know no distinction between Person and
Essence in Finite Beings, yet we have no natural Notion, that
there cannot be more Persons than one in an Infinite Essence ; and
therefore this may be known by Revelation, because there is no
natural Notion against it. But now I can never know tliat
which is contrary to all the Principles of Knowledge I have ;
such men may believe it, who think it a Vertue to believe against
Knowledge: Who can believe that to be true, which they know
to be false ? For whatever is contrary to the plain and neceslary
Principles of Reason, which all Mankind agree in, I know mult
be
66
Part Is.J
be false, if my Faculties be true, and if my Faculties be not true,

then I can know nothing at all, neither by Reason nor Revelation,
because I have no true Faculties to know with : Revelation is a
Principle of Knowledge as well as Faith, when it does not con
tradict: our natural Knowledge of things, for God may teach us
that which Nature does not teach; and thus Revelation im
proves, enlarges, and persects Knowledge : in such casses Faith
serves instead of natural Knowledge, the Authority of the Revela
tion instead of the natural Notions and Idea's of our Minds; but
I can never know that by Revelation which contradicts my natu
ral Knowledge ; which would be not only to know that, which
I have no natural Knowledge of, which is the knowledge of Faith,
but to know that by Revelation, which by Reason and Nature I
know cannot be ; which is to know that, which I know cannot
be known, because I know it cannot be :
So that Transubstantiation, which contradicts all the evidence
of Sence and Reason, is not the Object of any Humane Know
ledge, and therefore cannot be a Gospel Revelation.which is to im
prove and persect, not to destroy Humane Knowledge: lean ne
ver know it, because it contradicts all the Notions of my Mind;
and I can never believe it without denying the truth of my Fa
culties, and no Revelation can prove my Faculties to be false; for
I can never be so certain of the truth of any Revelation, as I am,
that my Faculties are true ; and could I be perswaded, that my
Faculties are not true, but deceive me in such things, as I judge
most certain and evident, then I can no more believe them as to
any Revelation, than I can as to their natural Reasonings, for
the fame Faculties must judge of both, and if the Faculty be false,
I can trust its judgment in neither.
3/y, The Doctrine of Transubstantiation destroys all Rpflible
certainty, what the true sence and interpretation of Scripture is,
and thereby overthrows all supernatural Knowledge. The Scri
pture we know is Expounded to very difserent and contrary Sences, and made to countenance the most monstrous and absurd
Doctrines ; Witness all the ancient Heresies which have been Fa
thered on the Scriptures. Now what way have we to confute
these
Part If.
these Heresies, but to (hew, either that the words of Scripture will
not bare such a sence, or at least do not necessarily require it ;
that such an Interpretation is contrary to Sense, to Reason, to the
natural Notions we have of God, and therefore is in itself absurd
arid impossible? But if Transubstantiation be a Gospfl. Doctrine,
I desire any Papist, among all the ancient Heresies, to pick out
any Doctrine more absurd and impossible, more contrary to
Sense and Reason, than the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is;
and then it is no Argument against any Doctrine, or any Expo
sition of Scripture, that it is absurd and impossible, contrary to
Sense and Reason, for so Transubstantiation is ; and if we may
believe one absurd Doctrine, we may believe five hundred, how
absurd soever they be : And then what desence has any man against the most monstrous Corruptions of the Christian Faith?
Is this the way to improve Knowledge, to destroy all the certain
marks and characters of Truth and Error, and to leave no Rule
to judge by l If the design of the Gospel was to improve our
Minds by a knowing and understanding Faith, Transubstantiati
on, which overthrows the certainty botli of natural and revealed
Knowledge, can be no Gospel. Doctrine.
3. The Authority of an infallible Judge, whom we must be
lieve in every thing, without examining the reasons of what he
affirms, nay, though he teaches such Doctrines as appear to us
most expresiy contrary to Sense, and Reason , and Scripture, is
no Gospel-Doctrine, because it is not the way to make men wise
and understanding Christians, which is the great design of the Go
spel, for to suspend the exercise of Reason and Judgment, is not
the way to improve mens Knowledge : an infallible Teacher, and
an infallible Rule do indeed mightily contribute to the improve
ment of Knowledge; but such an infallible Judge, as the Church
of Rome boasts ot, can only make men ignorant and stupid Be
lievers.: For there is avast difference between an infallible Teach
er, and an infallible Judge, which sew men observe, at least have
not well explained ; for an infallible Teacher is onely an external
Proponent, and while men only teach and instruct, how infalliMe.soever they are, every man is at liberty to use his. own Rea
son.
A Preservative agaihtt POPERT.
Pdrt IL .
son and Judgment ; for though the Teacher be infallible, he that

lcarnsmust use his own Realon and Judgment, unless a man can
learn without it : But now an infallible Judge is not contented to
teach and instruct, which is an appeal to the Reason of Mankind,
but he usurps the office of every mans private Reason and Judg
ment, and will needs judge for all Mankind, as if he were an V'niverjiil Soul , an Vniversal Reason and Judgment , that no man
had any Soul, any Reason or Judgment but himself: for if every
man has a private Reason and Judgment of his own, surely every
man must have a right to the private exercise of it ; that is, to
judge lor himself; and then there can be no such universal Judge,
who must be that to every man, which in other cases his own
private Reason and Judgment is, which is to un-Soul all Man..N.kind in matters of Religion. And therefore though there have
been a great many infallible Teachers, as Moses and the Prophets
Christ and his Apostles, yet none ever pretended to be infallible
Judges, but the Church of Rome ; that is, none ever pretended
to deny People a liberty of judging for themselves, or ever ex
acted from them an universal submission to their infallible Judg
ment without exercising any act of Reason and Judgment them
selves. I am sure Christ and his Apostles left People to the ex
ercise of their own Reason and Judgment, and require it of them;
they were infallible Teachers, but they did not judge for all
Mankind, but left every man to judge for himself, as every man
must and ought, and as every man will do, who has any Reason
and Judgment of his own : but an infallible Judge, who pretends
to judge for all men, treats Mankind like Bruits, who have no
reasonable Souls of their own.
But you'll fay, .this distinction between an infallible Teacher
and an infallible Judge, is very nice and curious, but seems to
have nothing in it ; for does not he who teaches infallibly, judge
infallibly too? And must I not submit my private Judgment,
which all men allow to be fallible, to a publick infallible Judgment,which I know to be infallible > If I know that I may be decei
ved, and that such a man cannot be deceived, is it not reasonable
for me to be governed by his Judgment, rather than my own >
Part H.
A Preservative againU POTEST.
I answer, AH this is certainly true as any demonstration, but then

it is to be considered, that I cannot be so certain of any man's
Infallibility, as to make him my Infallible Judge, in whose Judg
ment I must acquiesce, without exercising any Reason or Judg
ment of my own : and the reason is plain, because I cannot know
that any man teaches infallibly, unless I am sure that he teaches
nothing that is contrary to any natural or revealed Law. Who
ever does so, is so far from being Infallible, that he actually errs ;
and whether he does so, I cannot know, unless I may judge of
his Doctrine by the Light of Nature, and by Revelation: and
therefore though there may be an Infallible Teacher, there never
can be any Infallible Judge, to whom I must submit my own
Reason and Judgment, because I must judge of his Doctrine my
self, before I can know that he is Infallible.
As for instance, when Moses appeared as a Prophet and a Law
giver to the Children of Israel, there was no written Law, but
only the Law of Nature ; and therefore those great Miracles he
wrought, gave authority to his Laws, because he contradicted
no necessary Law of Nature : but had any other person at that
time wrought as many Miracles asMo/es did, and withal taught
the Worship of many Gods, either such as the /Egyptians, or any
other Nations worstiipped at that time, this had been reason enough to have rejected him as a false Prophet, because it is con
trary to the natural Worship of one Supream God, which the
Light of Nature teaches.
When Christ appeared, there was a written Law, the Writings '
of Moses and the Prophets, and all the Miracles he wrought could
not have proved him a true Prophet, had he contradicted the
Scriptures of the Old Testament ; and therefore his Doctrine was
to.be examined by them, and accordingly he appeals to Moses
and the Prophets to bear testimony to his Person and Doctrine,
and exhorts them to search the Scriptures, which gave testimony
to him : and how the Miracles he wrought gave authority to any new Revelations he made of God's Will to the World, since
he did not contradict the old. The Law of Nature, and the
Laws of Moses, were the Laws of God ; and God cannot contraK
dict
A Preservative against F0FL1LT.
Part II.
dict himself: and therefore the Doctrine of all new Prophets, even of Christ himself, was to be examined, and is to be examined
to this day, by the Law and the Prophets ; and therefore though
he was certainly an Infallible Teacher, yet men were to judge of
his Doctrine, before they believed him ; and he did not require
them to lay aside their Reason and Judgment, and submit to his
Infallible Authority, without Examination.
So that all this while, there could be no Infallible Judge to
whom all men were bound to submit their own private Reason
and Judgment, and to receive all their Dictates as divine Oracles,
without Examination ; because they could not know them to be
such Infallible Teachers, till they had examined their Doctrine
by the Light of Nature and the Law of Moses: and we cannot
to this day know that Moses and Christ were true Prophets, but
in the fame way.
Since the writing of the New Testament, there is a farther
Test of an Infallible Teacher, if there be any such in the world;
that he neither contradicts the Light of Nature, nor the true in
tent of the Law of Moses, nor alter or add to the Gospel of
Christ ; and therefore there can be no Infallible Judge, because
be he never so Infallible, we can never know that he is so, but by
the agreement of his Doctrine with the Principles of Reason,
with the Law and the Prophets, and with the Gospel of Christ ;
and therefore must examine his Doctr ine by these Rules, and
therefore must judge for our selves, and not sufser any man to
judge for us, upon a pretence of his Infallibility^
Could I know that any man were Infallible, without judging
of his Doctrine, then indeed there were some reason to believe
all that he says, without any inquiry or examination ; but this
never was, never can be : and therefore though there may bean
Infallible Teacher, there can be no Infallible Judge to whom I
must submit my own Reason and Judgment, without asking ay
ny Questions
Which by the way (hews, how ridiculous that
Sophism is, The Church has not erred, because Jhe is Infallible ,
when it is impossible for me to know she is Infallible, till by exa
mining her Doctrine by an Infallible Rule I know, that (he has
not erred.
And
Part II.
A Preservative agawHPOPEKT.
And the truth is, it is well there can be no Infallible Judge ;

for if there were, it would suspend and silence the Reason and
Judgment of all Mankind : and what a knowing Creature would
Man be in matters of Religion, when he must not reason, and
must not judge ? just as knowing as a man can be without exer
cising any Reason and Judgment. And therefore not only the
reason and nature of the thing proves, that there can be no In
fallible Judge, but the design of Christ to .advance humane Na
ture to the utmost persection of Reason and Understanding
in this World, proves that he never intended there should be
anj : for to take away the exercise of Reason and private Judg
ment, is not the way to make men wise and knowing Christians ;
and if Christ allows us to judge for our selves, there can be no In
fallible Judge, whose Office it shalj be to judge for us all. ,, '
4/y. To pretend the Scripture to be an obscure or impersect
Rule, isa direct contradiction to the design of the Gospel to im
prove and persect Knowledge: for if the Scripture be so obscure
in the1 essential matters of Faith and Christian knowledge, that
we cannot have any certainty what the true sence and interpre
tation of it is, without an Infallible Judge, then the Scriptures
cannot improve our knowledge, because we cannot know what
they are, we cannot understand their meaning, and therefore can
learn nothing from them,. 1 :lf ..
Yes you'll. fay, we may know their meaning, when they are
expounded to us by an Infallible Judge : though the Scriptures
are so obscure, that we cannot understand them without an In
fallible Judge, yet we may certainly learn what the sence of Scri
ptures frc-m such aju^ge. ,
. ',. , ., '.*
Now in answer to, this, I observe; that though such an Infal
lible Judge should determine' the sense of all obscure Texts of
Scripture, ( which neither the Pope nor Church of Rome have
ever done ) yet this would not be to understand the Scriptures,
or to learn from; the Scriptures, but onjy to rely on this Infalli- ble Judge for the 'sense of Scripture : To understand the Scri
ptures, is to be able to give a reason, why I expound Scripture
to such a sense, as that the words signifie so, that the circumstanr.3
K x
ces
Part II.
ditions ; such as the Supremacy of the Pope, the Infallibility of

Popes and General Councils, the Worship of Images, the Invoca
tion of Saints, and the great Glory and Prerogatives of the Vir
gin Mary, the Doctrine of Purgatory, Indulgences, the Sacrament
of Penance, fife, as necessary Doctrines as any that are recorded
in Scripture, and the denial of which makes us all Hereticks and
Schifmaticks, as the Church of Rome fays. Though thanks be
to God, as far as appears, we are no greater Hereticks and Schif
maticks, than the Apostles were, unless they are excused for not
knowing these necessary Articles of Faith, and we are Hereticks
for denying them, since the Church of Rome in the Council of
Trent has decreed and published them/
i. These unwritten Traditions cannot supply the desects of
a written Rule, because they are of uncertain Authority, and
therefore not the Objects, much less the Rule, of a certain Faith
and Knowledge. What is not written, but said to be delivered
down from Age to Age by oral Tradition, and kept so private
ly, that the Church of God never heard of it for several hundred
years, can never be proved but by Miracles, and they must be
more credible Miracles too, than the School of the Eucharist, and
the Legends of the Saints furnish us with;and yet I know of no bet
ter the Church of Rome has.It is impossible to prove,that a private
Tradition cannot be corrupted ; it is unreasonable to think that
any thing which concerns the necessary Articles of Faith or
Rules of Worship, should be a private and secret Tradition for
several Ages. Miracles themselves cannot prove any Tradition
which is contrary to the written Rule, and the Catholick Faith
of Christians for several Ages, as several of the 7ratf-Doctrines
are; nay, no Miracles can prove any new Article of Faith, which
was never known before, without proving that Christ and his
Apostles did not teach all things neceslary to salvation; which
will go a great way to overthrow the truth and certainty oft he
Christian Faith : for Miracles themselves can never prove, that
Christ and his Apostles taught that which the Christian Church
never heard of before ; which is either to prove that the whole
World had forgot what they had been once taught, which I doubt
is
Fa r t 1 1.
A rrefervative againlt tOfEKT.
is not much for the credit of Tradition, or that the Church for
several Ages did not teach all that Christ taught, which is no
great reason to rely on the teachings of the Church ; or to prove
against: matter of fact:, that Christ and his Apostles taught that,
which no body ever heard of, and I do not think a Miracle suffi
cient to prove that true, which every body knows to be false,
or at least do not know it to be true, though they must have
known it, if it had been true.
And does not every body now see, how improper unwritten
Traditions are, to supply the Desects and Impersections of the
written Rule? for they can never make one Rule, because
they are not of equal Authority. A Writing may be proved
Authentick, an obscure unwritten Tradition cannot : and can
any man think, that Christ would have one half of his Gospel
written, the other half unwritten, if he intended to persect: the
knowledge of Christians : for they cannot have so persect: a
knowledge, because they cannot have so great certainty, of the
unwritten, as they have of the written Gospel. Writing is the
most certain Way to perpetuate Knowledge, and if Christ in
tended, that his Church in all Ages should have a persect: Rule
of Faith, we must acknowledge the persection of the written
Rule. The truth is, I cannot but admire the great artifice of
the Church of Rome, in preaching up the Obscurity and Imper
fection of the Scriptures, for she has hereby put it into her own
power, to make Christian Religion, what she pleases ; for if the
Scriptures be obscure , and she alone can infallibly interpret
them ; if the Scriptures be impersect:, and she alone can supply
their desects by unwritten Traditions, it is plain, that Christian
Religion must be, what she fays it is, and it shall be, what her
interest requires it to be. But whether this be consistent with
our Saviour s design in publishing the Gospel, or whether it be,
the best way of improving the knowledge of Mankind, let any
impartial man judge.
5'/y. An Implicit Faith, or believing as the Church believes,,
without knowing what it is we believe,can be no Gospel-Doctrine,,
because this to be sure cannot be for the improvement of know-,
ledge.
Part Is.
ledge. Some os the Roman Doctors think it sufficient, that a

man believes as the Church believes, without an explicite know
ledge of an)7 thing they believe ; but the general opinion is, that
a man must have an cxpliciie belies os the Apostles Creed, but
as for every thing else it suffices, if he believes as the Church be
lieves, without knowing, what the faith of the Church is: that
is, it is not necessary men should so much as know, what
the new Articles of the Trent Faith are, if they believe the
Apostles Creed , and resign up their Faith implicitely to the
Church.
Now this is a plain consession, that all the Doctrines in dispute
between us and tlie Church of 'Rome, are of no use, much less
necessary to salvation ; for if they were, they would be as ne
cessary to be known, and explicitly believed, as the Apostles
Creed and I cannot imagine, why we Hereticks, who believe
the Apostles Creed, and understand it as orthodoxly as they,
may not be saved without believing the new Trent Creed; for
if we need not know what it is, there seems to be no need of
believing it ; for I always thought, that no man can, and there
fore to be sure no man need, believe, what he does not know.
So that it seems, we know and believe all things, the explicate
knowledge, and belief of which, by their own consession, is ne
cessary to salvation, except that one single Point of the Infalli
bility of the Church of Rome : believe but that, and ye need be
lieve or know nothing more but the Apostles Creed, and yet go
to Heaven as a good Catholick : which makes an implicite Faith
in the Church of Rome, as neceslary as Faith in Christ is.
But if the intent of the Gospel was to improve our Know
ledge, then Christ never taught an implicite Faith, for that does
not improve Knowledge : and if the Faith of the Church of
Rome, excepting the Apostles Creed, which is the common Faith
of all Christians, need not be known, then they are no GospelDoctrines , much less neceslary Articles of Faith , for Christ
taught nothing, but what he would have known ; and though
the knowledge of all things, which Christ taught, is not equally
neceslary to salvation, yet it tends to the persecting our know-
Part 1 1
A Preservative agaiott PO PERT.
ledge, and Christ taught nothing which a man need not know ;
which I think is a reproach to meaner Masters, and much more
to the eternal and incarnate Wiidom.
Secondly, The improvement and persection of Humane Na
ture consists in true Holiness and Virtue, in a likeness and con
formity to God, and a participation of the Divine Nature : and
this is the great end of the Gospel to advance us to as persect
Holiness as is attainable in this lise : Christ indeed has made ex
piation for our fins by his own Bloud, but then this very Bloud
of Atonement does not only expiate the guilt of sin, but purges
the Conscience from dead works, that we may serve the living
God : for no Sacrifice, not of the Son of God himself, can recon
cile an impenitent and unreformed Sinner to God, that is, can
move God to love a Sinner , who still loves and conti
nues in his sins; which an infinitely holy and pure being
xannot do : Indeed the expiation of sin is but one part of the
work of our Redemption; for a sinner cannot be saved, that is,
cannot be advanced to immortal lise in the Kingdom of Heaven,
without being born again, without being renewed and sanctified
by the holy Spirit, after the Image and likeness, of God. For this
new Nature is the only Principle of a new immortal lise in us ;
an earthly sensual mind is no more capable of living in Heaven,
than an earthly mortal body. In both fenfesflesh and bloud cannot
inherit the Kingdom ofGodêither can corruption inherit incorruption.
The Church of Rome indeed has taken great care about the
first of these, and has found out more ways of expiating sin, and
making satisfaction for it, than the Gospel ever taught us ; whe
ther they are so effectual to this purpose, let those look to it, who
trust in them : but there is not that care taken to inculcate the
necessity of internal holiness and purity of mind, and one would
easily guess there can be no great need of it in that Church, which
has so many eafie ways of expiating sin. . .
The true character of Gospel-Doctrines is, a Doctrine accor
ding to Godliness, the principal design of which is to promote
true goodness ; all the Articles ofthe Christian Faith tend to this
end, to lay great and irresistible obligations on us to abstain from
L
every
A Preservative againB P 0 P E RT.
Part K
every sin, and to exercise our selves in every thing that is good,
as we have ability and opportunity to do it : and therefore all
Doctrines which secretly undermine a good lise, and make it un
necessary for men to be truly and sincerely vertuous, can be no
Gospel-Doctrines. That there are such Doctrines in the Church
of Rome, has been abundantly proved by the late Learned and
Reverend Bishop Taylor in his Dijswastve from Popery, which is
so-very useful a Book, that I had rather direct my Readers to it,
than transcribe out of it: My design leads me to another mer
thod ; for if I can prove that the Doctrines and Practices of the
Church of Rome naturally tend to evacuate the force of the Gospel
it self, to make men good and holy ; every one will easily see
that that can be no Gospel-Faith and Worship, which sets aside
the Gospel itself.
The whole Doctrine of the Gospel either consists of the Rules
of Holiness, or of the Motives and Instruments of it ; for the Ar
ticles of the Christian Faith are all of them so many Motives to a
good lise : let us then consider how the Faith and Worship of
the Church of Rome has made void the Gospel of our Saviour, as
the Pharisees made void the Law of Moses by their Traditions.
i. Let us begin then with the Gospel-Rules of Holiness. It
would be an endless thing here to take notice of the loose Deter
minations of their famed arid approved Casuists, of their Do
ctrine of probable Opinions, of the direction of the intention, by
which means the very Laws and Boundaries of Vertue and Vice
are in a great measure quite altered ; and it may be this would
only make work for the Reprefenter, and furnish out a fourth part
of the Papist Misrepresented, if we venture to tell the World what
has been the avowed Doctrines of their great Divines and Ca
suists. But whether such Definitions be the Doctrine of their
Church or not, I am sure they are equally mischievous, if they be
the Doctrines of their Consessors who have the immediate dire
ction of mens Conscience. Those who have a mind to be satis
fied in this matter, may find enough of it in the Provincial Let
ters, the Jesuits Morals, and Bishop Taylors Dissuafive. It suffi
ciently answers my present design to take notice of some sew
plain things,which will admit of no dispute.
I
Part II.
A Preservative againtt POPERY.
I have already flievvn what a great value the Church of Rome

sets upon an external Righteousness,. which is much more meri
torious than a real and substantial Piety and Virtue. Now let
any man judge whether this be not apt to corrupt mens notions
of what is good ; to perswade them that such external observan
ces are much more pleasing to God, and therefore certainly much
better in themselves, than true Gospel-Obedience, than Moral
and Evangelical Vertues ; for that which will merit of God the
pardon of the greatest immoralities, and a great reward, that
which supplies the want of true Vertue, which compensates for
sin, and makes men great Saints, must needs be more pleasing
to God, than Vertue it self is : and if men can believe this, all
the Laws of Holiness signifie nothing, but to let men know,
when they break them, that they may make satisfaction by some
meritorious Superstitions.
Thus the Doctrine of venial sins, which are hardly any sins at
all, to be sure how numerous soever they are, or how frequently
soever repeated, cannot deserve eternal punishments, is apt to
give men very slight thoughts of very great Evils: For very
great Evils may come under the notion of venial sins, when they
are the effects of Passion and Surprize, and the like. Indeed this
very Doctrine of venial sins is so perplexed and undermined,
that the Priest and the Penitent may serve themselves of it to
good purpose : I am sure this distinction is apt to make men
careless of what they think little faults, which are generally the
feeds and dispositions to much greater ; such as the sudden erup
tions of Passion, some wanton thoughts, an indecorum and undecency in words and actions.and what men will please to call little
venial sins, for there is no certain Rule to know them by : so
that while this distinction lasts, men have an excuse at hand for
a great many sins, which they need take no care of ; they are
not obliged to arm at those persections of Vertue, which the
Gospel requires ; if they keep clear of mortal sins, they are sase,
and that men may do, without any great attainments in Vertue ;
which does not look very like a Gospel-Doctrine, which gives
us such admirable Laws, which requires such great circumspection
L z
in
lo
Part U.
in oar Lives, such a command over our Passions, such inofTensiveness in our Words and Actions , as no Institution in the
World ever did before. Whatever ccrsLpt mens Notions of
Good and Evil, as External Superstitions, and the distinction be
tween Venial and Mortal Sins is apt to do, is a contradiction to
the design of the Gospel, to give us the plain Rules and Precepts
of a persect Vertue.
Secondly. Let us confider some of the principal Motives
of the Gospel to a Holy Lise , and see, whether the C L urch of
Rome docs not evacuate, them also, and destroy their force and
power.
Now i. The Fundamental Motive of all, is the absolute ne
cessity of a Holy Lise ; that without holinesi no man shall see God,
for no other Argument has any necessary force without this.
I5ut the absolute necessity of a holy lise to please God,and to go to
Heaven, is many ways overthrown by the Church of Rome, and
nothing would more efsectually overthrow the Church of Rome,
than to re-establish this Doctrine of the absolute necessity of a
good lise. For were men once convinced of this, that there is
no way to get to Heaven.but by being truly and stneerely good ;
they would keep their Money in their Pockets, and not sling it
so lavishly away up Indulgences, or Masses ; they would stay
at home, and not tire themselves with fruitless Pilgrimages, and
prodigal Offerings at the Shrines of some powerful Saints, all
external, troublelome and costly Superstitions would fall into
contempt ; good men would seel, that they need them not, and
if bad men were convinced, that they would do them no good,
there were an end of them, for the only useof them is to excuse
men from the necessity of being good.
But this is most evident in their Doctrine about the Sacra
ment of Penance, that bare Contrition with the Absolution of
the Priest, puts a man into a state of Salvation ; I do not lay it
upon Attrition, which is somewhat less than Contrition, though
the Council of Trent, if lean understand plain words, makes that
sufficient with the Absolution of the Priest ; but because some
men will unreasonably wrangle about this, I shall insist only on
what
Part If.
A Preservative againH POPEKY.
what is acknowledged by themselves, that Contrition, which is

only a sorrow for sin, if we consess our sins to a Priest, and re
ceive absolution, puts us into a state of Grace : now contrition,
or sorrow for sin, is not a holy lise, and therefore this Doctrine
overthrows the necessity of a holy lise, because men maybe sa
ved by the Sacrament of Penance without it, and then I know
no necessity there is of mortifying their Lusts : for if they fin
again, it is only repeating the fame remedy, confessing their
fins ; and being sorry for them, and receiving absolution, and
they are restored to the favour of God, and to a state of salva
tion again. Nay, some of their Casuists tell us, that God has not
commanded men to repent, but only at the time of death, and
then contrition with absolution will secure their salvation, after
a whole lise spent in wickedness, without any other good action,
but only sorrow for sin : and if men are not bound by the Laws
of God so much as to be contrite for their sins.till they find them
selves dying, and uncapable of doing any good, all men must
grant, that a holy lise is not necessary to salvation.
x. More particularly. The love of God in giving his own
Son to die for us, and the love of Christ in giving himself for
us, are great Gospel Motives to Obedience and a Holy Lise ; but
these can only work upon ingenuous minds, who have already
in some measure conquered the love of sin ; for where the love
of sin prevails, it is too powerful for the love of Gcd ; but the
holiness and purity and inflexible justice of the Divine Nature
is a very good argument, because it enforces the necessity of a
holy lise; for a holy God cannot be reconciled to wicked Men;
will not forgive our sins, unless we repent of them,, and.reform
them: which must engage all men, who hope for pardon and
forgiveness from God, to forsake their sins, and reform their
lives : but the force of this Argument is lost in the Chunk of Rome
by the judicial absolution of the Priest : for they see daily the
Priest does absolve them without forsaking their sins, and God
must confirm the sentence of his Ministers, and therefore they
are absolved, and need not sear, that God will not absolve them,
when the Priest has ; which must either destroy all sence of God's
eflential;
A Preservative againtt FOPERT.
Pare If.
cflential holiness and purity, and perswade them, that God can
be reconciled to sinners, while they continue in their fins, cr
else, they must believe, that God has given power to his Priests,
to absolve those, whom lie could not have absolved himself : To
be sure it is in vain totell men, that God wtfl not forgive sin
ners, while they continue in their sins, if they believe the judi
cial authority of the Priest to forgive sins ; lor they every day
absolve men, who do not forsake their sins, and if their absolu
tion be good, God must forgive them too ; and thus the holtness and inflexible justice of God loses its force upon good Catholicksto reform their lives ; and therefore were there no other
arguments against it, it is not likely that the judicial absolution
of the Priest, as it is taught and practised in the Church of Rome,
should be a Gospel- Doctrine. '
3 . The Death and Sacrifice of Christ is another Gospel-Mo
tive to Holiness of Lise ; not only because he has now bought
us with his own Blood, and therefore we must no longer live
unto our selves, but to him, who died for us ; but because his
Blood is the Blood of the Covenant , and the efficacy of his
Sacrifice extends no farther than the Gospel-Covenant , which
teaches us to deny all ungodlineft and worldly lusts, and to liveso
berly , righteously, andgodly in this present world. That is, no man
can be laved by the Blood of Christ, but those who obey the Go
spel, which obliges all men, who hope to be laved by Christ, to
the practise of an universal righteousness.
This the Church of Rome seems very sensible of, that none but
sincere Penitents, and truly good men can be saved by the Sacri
fice of Christ upon the Cross \ which gives no hope to Sinners,
'who do not repent of their sins and amend their lives,- and
therefore Die has found out a great many other ways of expiating Sin, which give more comfort to Sinners. The Sacrifice of
the Mass has a distinct vertue and merit from the Sacrifice upon
the Cross ; it is a propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead,
to expiate especially the sins of those, for whom it is particular
ly offered ; and thus those sins which are not expiated by the
Death of Christ upon the Cross, are expiated by the Sacrifice of
the
Part H.
A Preservative agavM POPER%
the Mass, and that by the bear opus operatum, by the offering this
Sacrifice of the Mass itself, without any good motion in the per
son for whom it is ofsered: and thus the Sacrifice of the Mass
destroys the vertue of Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross, to oblige
men to holiness of lise ; for though none but sincere and reform
ed Penitents are pardoned by the Sacrifice of the Cross, the Sa
crifice of the Mass will expiate the sins of unreformed Sinners, and
then there is no need to reform our lives. Thus I am sure all
men understand it, or they would never put their confidence in
the Mass-Sacrifice; for if it does no more for us than Christ's
Death upon the Cross, it might be spared, for it gives no new
comforts to impenitent Sinners.
They are very sensible, that holiness of lise is necesiary to intitle us to the Pardon and Forgiveness purchased by the Death of
Christ ; but then the Sacrifice of the Mass, Humane Penances,
and Satisfactions, and Merits, and Indulgences, seem on pur
pose contrived to supply the place of Holiness of Lise ; for no body
can imagine else what tliey are good for. Christ has by his Death
upon the Cross, made a persect Atonement for the sins of all true
penitent and reformed Sinners ; and therefore a true Penitent,
who according to the terms of the Gospel, denies all ungodliness
and worldly lusts, and livessoberly, righteously, andgodly in this present world, needs no Expiation but the Death of Christ : Will they
deny this ? by no means \ They grant, that all our sins are done
away in Baptism, meerly by the application of Christ's Death and
Passion to us; and therefore the Death of Christ is a complete
and persect satisfaction for all Sin, or else Baptism, which derives
its whole vertue from the Death of Christ, could not wash away
all sin : What use can there be then of the new propitiatory Sa*
crifice of the Mass, of humane Satisfactions, and Merits, and In
dulgences? Truly none but this, that when our sins are expia*
ted by the Death of Christ, and the pardon of all our sins ap
plied to us in Baptism, the Gospel exacts a holy lise from us, arid
therefore men forfeit the baptismal Pardon of their sins by the
Bloud of Christ, unless they either live very holy lives, m make
some other satisfaction for their not dokig so : And for this purpose
Part II.
the Sacrifice of the Mass, humane Penances, and Satisfactions serve.

It will not beunuseful, nor unpleasant to draw a short Scheme of
this whole matter, which will explain this great Mystery, and
make it intelligible, which now appears to be nothing but non.
sence and confusion.
Christ then has made a persect Atonement and Expiation for
fin ; this is applied to us at Baptism, wherein all our sins are for
given ; and while we continue in this state of Grace, we cannot
be eternally damned, though we may be punished for our sins,
both in this World and Purgatory. . But every mortal sin puts us
out of the state of Grace, which we were in by Baptism, and till
we be restored to the state of Grace again, we must be eternally
damned, because we have no right to the Sacrifice and Expiation
of Christ's Death : the only way in the Church of Rome, to re
store us to this state of Grace, is by the Sacrament of Penance,
and the Absolution of the Priest, which restores us to the fame
state which Baptism at first put us into, and therefore very well
deserves to be thought a Sacrament : And thus we recover our
interest in the Merits of Christ's Death, and therefore cannot be
eternally damned for our sins; but still it is our duty to live well,
for the Death of Christ does not excuse us from Holiness of Lise,
which is the condition of the Gospel ; and therefore if we are in
a state of Grace, and thereby secured from eternal damnation,
yet if we live in sin we must be punished for it, unless we can find
some other expiation for sin, than the Death of Christ upon the
Cross, which still leaves us under the obligations of a holy lise,
and therefore cannot make such an Expiation for sin, as (hall serve
instead of a holy lise : Now here comes in the Sacrifice of the
Mass, Humane Penance, Satisfactions, Indulgencies ;
For the sacrifice of the Mass, as I observed before, does not
serve the fame end, that the Sacrifice of the Crols does s the Sa
crifice of the Mass isa propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the
dead ; But what sins is it a Propitiation for ? For such sins for
which men are to fatisfie themselves ; that is, for all fins the eternakpunishment of which is remitted for the Sacrifice of the
Cross. This is evident from their making the Sacrifice of the
Mass
Part II.
A Preservative against P 0 P E RY.
85
Ma(s a oropitiatory Sacrifice for the dead ; that is, for the Souls
in Purgatory, who suffer there the temporal punishments of
sin , when the eternal punishment is forgiven : the Souls in
Hell are capable of no Expiation, and therefore an expiatory Sa
crifice for the dead, can be only for the Souls in Purgatory, and
that is for the temporal punishment of sin, for which the Sacri
fice of the Cross is no Expiation ; and the Mase is in no other
sence made a Sacrifice for the living than for the dead ; and there
fore is not to expiate the eternal, but the temporal punishments
of sin, as appears from hence, that the saying Masies, or hearing
Masses, or purchasing Masies, is reckoned among those Penances
men must do for the Expiation of their sins, and yet they can, by
all they do, only expiate for the temporal punishment of sin ; and
therefore Masies for the living are only for the Expiation of those
temporal punishmentsof sin, for which the Sacrifice of the Cross
made no Expiation. And I shall be so civil at present, as not to
inquire, how the Sacrifice of the Cross, and the Sacrifice of the
Mass, which are the very fame Sacrifice of the Natural Body and
Bloud of Christ, come to serve such very different ends : that
when Christ was Sacrificed upon the Cross he expiated only for
the eternal punishment of sin ; when Sacrificed in the Mass,
only for the temporal. I need add nothing to prove, that Hu
mane Penances, Satisfactions, Merits, Indulgences, are onely to
expiate temporal punishmentof sin, because it is universally ac
knowledged. Now if these temporal punishments be only in lieu
of Holiness and Obedience which the Gospel requires to intitle
us to the Expiation of Christ's Death upon the Cross, as I have al
ready (hewn ; then it is evident toa demonstration,that theChurcb
of Rome has overthrown the Death and Sacrifice of Christ upon
the Cross, consider'd as an argument of a holy lise, by setting up the
Sacrifice of the Mass, Humane Penances.Satistactions.Merirs.Indulgencies, instead of the Gospel* terms of obedienceand holiness of lise.
4. The Intercession of Christ for us, at the right hand of God,
is another powerful motive to Holiness of Lise: Tt gives all the
encouragement to true penitent Sinners, that can be desired ;
For if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ ,j0hn
.
M
the
Part II.
the righteous, who is also a propitiation for ourfins. But then Christ
mediates only in vertue of his Bloud, that is, only upon the terms
and conditions of the Covenant of Grace which was sealed by his
Bloud ; that is, he mediates and intercedes only for true penitent
sinners; which obliges us, as we hope to be heard by God, when
we pray in the Name of Christ, truly and heartily to repent of
all our fins, and to live a new lise.
This the Church of Rome also seems very sensible of, that Christ
of his own accord will not intercede for impenitent and unreformed sinners ; that he who is the great Example and the great
Preacher of Righteousness, will not espouse the Cause of incorri
gible sinners, who are very desirous of pardon, but hate to be re
formed ; and therefore they seem to think it as hopeless a thing
to go immediately to a holy Jesus, as to appear before the Tribu
nal of a just and righteous God, without a powerful Advocate.
For this reason they have found out a great many other Ad
vocates and Mediators a great deal more pitiful and compassio
nate than Christ is, who by their interest in him, or their great
favour with God, may obtain that pardon which otherwise they
could not hope for ; such as the Virgin Mary, who is the Mother
of Christ, and therefore, as they presume, has as great interest in
and authority over him, as a Mother has over her Son ; besides
those vast numbers of meritorious'Saints, whose Intercessions can
not but prevail for those sinners whose Cause they undertake.
And that this is the true reason of their Addresses to Saints and
the Virgin Mary, though they will not speak out, is evident to
any considering man : For will they say, that Christ, who be
came man for us, who suffered and died for us, who was in aU
things tempted like as we are* yet without sin ; who did and
sufsered all this on purpose that he might be a merciful and comj passionate High Priest, and might give us the highest assurance
[of his tenderness and compassion for us. I fay, can they suspect
*that such a High Priest will not undertake to plead our Cause, if
we be such as according to the terms of the Gospel, it is hk
Office to interceed for ? No Christian dare fay this, which is such
a reproach to our common Saviour, who hath bought us with his
own
Part II.
own Bloud ; and therefore no Christian who thinks himself with

in the reach and compafe of Christ's Intercelfion, can need or defire any other Advocate : but those who are conscious to them
selves of so much wickedness, that they cannot hope the holy
Jesus will intercede for them for their own fakes, have reason to
procure some other Favourites to intercede for them with their
Intercessor ; and to countenance the matter they must recom
mend it to the practice of all Christians, and more than so, make
it Herefie to deny it. There is but one Argument I know of against this, that any man mould be so stupid as to think that
the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, or the most powerful Saints,
can prevail with our Saviour to do that, which according to the
Laws of his own Mediation, they know he cannot and will not
do : and this I consess I cannot answer, but yet so it is. And
thus the Intercession of Christ is made a very ineffectual Argu
ment to make men good ; for though Christ will intercede for
none but true Penitents, the Church ofRome has a great many other Advocates that will, or at least she perswades people that
they will.
Another great Gospel-Motive to a holy lise, is the hope of
Heaven, and the sear ofHell. As for the hope of Heaven, that
is no otherwise a Motive to holiness of lise, but upon a supposi
tion of the necessity of Holiness, that without holinefi no man shall
see God but this you have already heard, is overthrown by the
Church of Rome : and if men may go to Heaven without holiness,
I know no need of it for that purpose in this World.
But Hell is a very terrible thing, to be condemned to endless
and eternal torments with the Devil and his Angels ; but then
the Doctrine of Purgatory does mightily abate and take off this
terror : for though Purgatory be a terrible place too, not cooler
than Hell it self, yet it is not eternal ; and men, who are mighti
ly in love with their sins, will venture temporal punilliments,
though somewhat of the longest, to enjoy their present satisfa
ctions : especially considering how many easie ways there are
for rich men to get out of Purgatory ; those who have money
enough to buy Indulgences while they live, and Masles for their
M x
,
Souls
88
Part II.
Souls when they die, need not lie long there, if the Priests are not
out in their reckoning : and yet it is so easie a thing for a good
Catholick to get into Purgatory ; especially if he take care fre
quently to consess himself, and receive absolution, or do not die
so suddenly as to be surprized in any mortal sin, that Hell seems
to be very little thought of, or seared in the Church of Rome.
Now I desire no better Argument, that all these are not GospelDoctrines, than that they destroy the force of all those Arguments
the Gospel uses to make men good ; that is, they are a direct
contradiction to the Gospel of Christ.
6. I shall name but one Motive more, and that is the Exam*
12 Heb. i. pies of good men ; to le followers of thew, who through faith and
patience inherit the promises ; that being incompajfed with such a
cloud of witnesses, we should lay afide every weight, and the finVwhich
doth so eafily beset us, and run with patience the race which is set
before us. Now this is a powerful Argument, because they were
men as we are, subject to the same temptations and infirmities;
and therefore their Examples prove, that Holiness is a practica
ble thing ; that it is possible for men to conquer all the difficulties
of Religion, and all the temptations in this lise ; and many times
in them we see the visible rewards of Vertue in great peace of mind,
great assurances of the divine favour, great supports under all ad
versities, and such a triumphant death, as is a blessed presage of
a glorious Resurrection.
But now in the Church of Rome, if there be any great and me
ritorious Saints, as they call them, their extraordinary Vertues
are not so much for Imitation as for a slock of Merits. ' The
more Saints they have, the less reason other men have to be
Saints, if they have no mind to it, because there is a greater trea
sury of Merits in the Church to relieve those who have none of
their own. The extraordinary Devotion of their Monasteries
and Nunneries, ( for so they would perswade the World, that
there is nothing but Devotion there ) is not for Imitation, and it
is unreasonable it should, because no body sees it ; and it is in*possible to imitate that recluse lise, without turning the whole
World into a Monastery : but these Religious Societies furnift
the
Part 11
the Church with a stock of Merits, out of which she grants In

digencies to those, who are not very religious ; and it is plain,
that if one man can merit for twenty, there is no need, there
should be above one in twenty good. Herein indeed the Mem
bers of the Church of Rome, have the advantage of all other
Churches, (especially if they enter themselves into any religious
Confraternity, to partake in the Merits of the Society) that others can merit for them ; and then if we can share in the Merits
of the Saints, we need not imitate them : a Church which has
Saints to merit for them on Earth, and to intercede for them in
Heaven, if (he can but maintain and propagate a Race of such me
riting Saints, (which is taken care of in the Institution and En
couragement of Monastick Orders and Fraternities) may be ve
ry indulgent to the rest of her Members, who do not like meri
ting themselves. So that the principal Motives of the Gospel to
Holy Lise, as appears in these Six Particulars, lose their force and
efficacy in the Church of Rome, and certainly those cannot be Go
spel-Doctrines , which destroy the great end of the Gospel to
make men Good
3/7, Nor do the Gospel-means and Instruments of Holiness
a nd Vertue escape better in the Church of Rome .- as will appear in
a very sew words.
Reading and Meditating on the Holy Scriptures, is one ex
cellent means of Grace, not only as it informs us of pur. Duty,
but as it keeps a constant warmsense of it upon our Minds, which
nothing can so efsectually do, as a daily reading of the Scripture,
which strikes the mind with a more sacred authority, than any
Humane Discourses can do : but this is denied to the People of
the Church of Rome, who are not allowed to read the Scriptures,
in the Vulgar Tongue, for sear of Heresie,. which, it seems, is
more, plain and obvious in the Scripture than Catholick Do
ctrines : but they should also have considered, whether the dan
ger of Heresie or Sin be the greater; whether an orthodox faith
useof the Bible be theiway to keep them orthodox* I am sure k
is. not the way to make them good ; True Piety will lose more
Thus,
by this, than the Faith will get by it.
A Preservative againit POPERY.
Part II.
Thus constant and servent Prayer, besides that supernatural

grace and assistance it obtains for us, is an excellent moral in
strument of holiness : for when men consess their sins to God
with shame and sorrow, when with inflamed Devotions, they
beg the assistances of the Divine Grace, when their fouls are eve
ry day possessed with such a great sence awe and reverence for
God, as he must have, who prays devoutly to him every day ;
I fay, it is impossible such men should easily return to those sins,
which they have so lately consessed, with such shame and confu
sion and bitter remorse ; that those who so importunately beg the
assistance of the Divine Grace, should not use theiTSest endea
vours to resist Temptations, and to improve in Grace and Vertue, which is a prophane mockery of God, to beg his assistance,
that he will work in us, and with us, when we will not work :
that those who have a constant sence and reverence of God.should
do such things, as argue, that men have no sear of God before
their eyes.
But this is all lost in the Church ofRome, where men are taught
to Pray they know not what, and when men do not understand
their Prayers, it is certain such Prayers cannot affect their minds,
what other good soever Latin Prayers may do them ; and thus
one of the most powerful Instruments of Piety and Vertue is
quite spoiled by Prayers in an unknown Tongue, which can no
more improve their Vertue than their. Knowledge.
Sorrow for Sin is an excellent Instrument of true Repentance,
as that signifies the reformation of our Lives ; for the natural
effect of Sorrow is, not to do that again, which we are sorry for
doing ; but in the Church of Rome, this contrition, or sorrow for
sin, serves only to qualifie men for absolution, and that puts
them into a state of grace, and then they may expiate their sins
by Penances, but are under no necessity of forsaking them.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, besides those supernatu
ral conveyances of Grace, which are annexed to it, by our Savi
our's Institution, is a great Moral Instrument of Holiness ; it re
presenting to us the Love of our crucified Lord, the Merit and
Desert of Sin, the Vertue of his Sacrifice to expiate our Sins, and
to
Part II.
to purge our Consciences from Dead Works, and requiring the

exercise of a great many Vertues ; an abhorrence and detestation
of our Sins, great and ardent Passions ofLove and Devotion, firm
Resolutions of Living to him, who Died for us, Forgiveness of
Enemies, and an Universal Love and Charity to all Men, espe
cially to the Members of the fame Body with us ; but in the
Church of Rome this admirable Sacrament is turned into a dumb
shew, which no body can be edified with, or into a Sacrifice for
the living and the dead, which expiates Sin, and serves us instead
of a Holy Lise, as I observed above.
External Mortifications, and Severities to the Body, Fastings,
Watchings, hard Lodging, &c. are very useful Instruments of
Verjue, when they are intended to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit,,
and to wean our Minds from Sensual Enjoyments ; but when they
are intended to (atisfie for our Sins, not to kill them ; to punish
our selves for our sins, that we may commit them more securely
again, this is not a means to break vicious Habits, and to con
quer the love of Sin, but only to conquer the sear of commit
ting it.
This is enough to (hew, how far Popery is from promoting'
the great design of the Gospel to improve and persect Humane
Nature and Holinels, and were there no other Argument against
it, this were sufficient to me to prove,x That it cannot be thft
Religion of the Gospel of Christ.
IS.
V
'Boofy lately Trinted for W. Rogers.
m
TH E Doctrines and Practices of the Church of H$me, truly Represented ;
" in Answer to a Book, intituled, A Papist Misrepresented, and Represented, &c.
'Quarto.
An Answer to a Discourse, intituled, P.apists protesting againSt Protestant Popery.
Quarto.
An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation. Quarto.
A View of the whole Controversie, between the Reprefintcr and the Answe
rer. Quarto.
/
The Doctrine of the Trinity, and Tranfubstantiation, compared as to Scripture,
Hcafin, and Tradition > i it and id PartT In two Dialogues, between a Protestant
and a Papist. Quarto.
An Answer to the Eighth Chapter of the Representer's Second Part.
Of the Authority of Councils, and the Rule of Faith. By a Person of Quality :
\Vith an Answer to the Eight Theses, laid down for the Tryal of the Engl,fh Re
formation.
Sermons and Discourses : The Third Volume. By Dr.Tillotson, Dean of Cats .
terhury. 80.
..
*:
A Manual for a Christian Souldier, Written by Erasmus. .
A new and easie Method to learn to Sing by Book. ,
A Book of Cyphers, or Letters Reverst : Price bound y t. -, - <
">
A Perfwasive to frequent Communion in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.,
By John T,Botson, Dean of Canterbury. In Octavo. Price 3 d.
A Discourse against Tranfubstantiation. In Octavo. Price 3 d. .
. ,
The State of the Church ofRome when the Reformation began.
A Letter to a Friend, Reflecting on some Passages in a Letter to the D. of P.
in Answerio the Arguing Part of his first Letter to Mc.<?,. "\ , \: .,
The Heflefter's Defence of his Letter to a Friend : In Four Dialogues.
A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Reverend Benj. Calamy^.O.
A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and CatholickCommunion, from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome. In Answer
to a late Pamphlet, Intituled,' An Agreement between the Church of'England and
the Church of Rome , evincedfrom the Conccrtatien of some of her Sons with their
Brethren the Dissenters.
A Preservative against Popery ; being some Plain Directions to Unlearned Protefiantsfrow to Dispute with Romish Priests. The First Part. The Fourth Edition.
These three last by William Sherlock D. D. Master of the Temple.
A Discourse concerning the Nature of Idolatry : in which the Bishop of Ox
ford's true and only Notion of Idolatry is Considered and Confuted.
The Protestant Rcfoh'd: or, a Discourse, /hewing the U,freasonablenest of his Turn
ing Roman Catholickfor Salvation. Secoad Ediaon. ' _
The Absolute Impossibility of Transubstantiation Demonstrated.
.'x. ...... o
- \ * j ... 1 \ ' t . ... x .
1'.
-r v
' i 't.
I
. . .wri .
i -'
Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus,
J Vindication of both Tarts ofthe Preser

vative againU Topery, oCC.
CniL Needhamt R. R.
J*ly 1688.
inChristoP.acD.D.
Wilhelmo Archiepise.
CanUz Sacr. Doraest.
VINDICATION
O F
Both
PARTS
OF THE
Preservative
AGAINST
POPERY:
S
TO
THE
CAVILS
O F
LEWIS SA<BRAN9
Jesuit.
By WILLIAM S H ERLOC K, D D.
Master of the Temple.
LONDON:
Printed for William Rogers at the Sum over against
St. Dunstaris Church in Fleetstreet. 1688.
TO THE
READER.
I Must confess, F. Lewis Sabran of the Society of Jesus,
as be writes himself, has all the good Qualities be
longing to his Order', excepting that Learning, which
some of his Order have formerly had, but be is extusable
for that, because of late, that has been the least of their
care ; but what they want in Learning, they make up in
Confidence and Noise, which is a nearer conformity to the
temper andspirit of theirfirH Founder.
When Ifirst saw his Sheet which he wrote against the
First Part of the Preservative, I read it over, and laid
it aside, as I thought it deserved ; for Ieasily perceived^
that he could not, or would not understand the plainest
sense\ and Isaw nothing he had objetted, which could im
pose upon the moH unlearned Protestant ; and I bail no
mind to engage with a Man, who has not Understanding
enough to be Confuted.- But the honest Footman thought
ft to call him to an account, and I believe all impartial
Men thought the Footman had the better of him, andyet
the Jesuite had an honourable occasion to retreat, had hit
Wit served him to take it ; for no Man would have expetted that a Jesuite should have encountered a Footman;
but here his Courage out-ran his Wit, as it often happens
to Knights Errant in their bold Adventures.
1 do intend as little as possibly I can to concern my self
in the Dispute between the Jesuite and the Footman ; the
B
Footman
To the READER.
Footman able to Defend'himself', and I e'en quake for
the Jesuite for fear he should ; but having a little lei
sure at present) I will spare some sew hours to Vindicate
the.Preservative from this. Jesuite'j Cavils, for it will appearj that they are no better. As for those many good
words he has bestowed on me, I take them for Complements
on course, and to be plain with him, they are all loft up
on me, for when I have Reason and Truth on my fide, I
am perfectly insensible ofall the Sportings of Wit and Sa
tyr, for there are no Jests bite, but those that are true.
I do not intend to pursue this Jesuite in all his rambling
Excursions, but shall keep close to my business, to Vindi
cate The Preservative, and that in as few words as 1 can ;
and this will come into a very narrow compass ; for he has
as little to fay, as ever man had, if you keep him out of
his Common-place Disputes ; but ifyou suffer him to draw
you into those beaten Roads, there is no end of him ; for he
has the Confidence of a Jesuite to repeat all the old baffled
Arguments without blushing.
I confess, I am a little ashamed to meddle with so tri
fling an Adversary, and know not how Ishall Answer it to
the Ingenious Gentlemen of the Temple, to whom he so
often Appeals against the Master, forspending my timeso
ill, unless his Character of a Jesuite will plead my excuse,
which has been a formidable Name in former Ages : and
if this will do, I have a very honourable and a very eafie
Task of it, an Adversary to encounter with the glorious
Character of a Jesuite, but without the Sense of a Foot
VINDICATION
OF THE
FIRST
OF
TART
THE
Preservative.
TH E Charge against me is very formidable, Answer to
that I advance such Principles in the Prefervative, as make void the use of Reason, Faiths
Fathers, Councils, Scripture, and Moral Honesty, if he .
had said less, he might sooner have been believed, or
might have proved it better , when such wild and ex
travagant Accusations confute themselves ; but Jesuits
commonly spoil all by over-doing. Let us examine
particulars.
; . . Sect. I.
The Principles which are pretended to overthrow all right
Vfe of Common Sense Vindicated.
TH E first instance of this nature is, that ICharge ibid.
Catbolicks with this great Crime, that they will not
allow the reading Heretical Books, andprove my Charge,
A Vindication of the First Fart os
because God not only allows, but requires it. The Para
graph he resers to is in p. 3. of the Preservative, in
these words :
Men osweak judgments, and who are not skilled in the
Laws of Disputation, may easily be imposed on by cunning
SophiJlerS, andsuch as lie in wait to deceive : the Church
of Rome is very sensible os this, and therefore will not
suffer her People to dispute their Religion, or to read He
retical Books nay not so much as to look into the Bible it
self : but though we allow all this to our People, as that
which God not only allows but requires, &c. from hence
he charges me with faying, that God not only allows but
requires People to read Heretical Books, But the honest
Footman plainly told him, what the meaning of Here
tical Books was, that I spoke the Language of their
Church, which calls all Books Heretical which are not
of the Roman stamp : and this is all that I meant by it,
as every honest Reader would see. Does not he use the
very fame way of speaking himself in the same Para
graph, when he retorts this" Grime upon us, that we
Answer p. 4. use all endeavours to hinder our Flocks from hearing Catholick Sermons, and reading Catholick Books, for are any Christians so absurd as to forbid People to hear Ca
tholick Sermons, and to read Catholick Books ? No
sure, not what they think Catholick : and why may
not I use Heretical, as well as he use Catholick in the
sense of the Church of Rome f by Heretical meaning
such Books as the Church of Rome calls Heretical, as by
Catholick he means such Books as the Church of Rome
calls Catholick ; for they are both equally Heretical and
Catholick.
But he complains in the Preservative Considered,
Jh.'4 That heiiad asketi three very material Questions,
and the Footman had not vouchsased all Answer to
them,
\
the Preservative againU POPERY.

them, and I believe the Footman was in the right, for
they deserved none. But let us hear them, This (fays
he) seemed to me extravagant, not to fay impious, and to
all those who have inherited from St. Paul that Faith to
which he exails so firm and unwavering an adherency, that
if an Angel from Heaven should teach us anything in op~
position to it, we ought not to mind him, or return him any
other Answer than Anathema. How can, said I. this
positive certainty stand with, an obligation of reading He
retical Books which oppose that Faith, to frame hy them,
andsettle a judgment. ut now, if these Heretical Books
do not oppose that Faith, which was Preached by St.
Paul, 1 hope, there was no need of answering this
Question ; and if the Catholick Books do, I would de
sire him to Answer the Question; and if there be a Di
spute depending, which of them contradicts St. Pauss
Doctrine, I would desire him to tell me, How we
shall know, which of them does it, without examining
them ? When we know these Books, which contradict
St Paul's Doctrine, we will reject them with an Ana
thema, and for that reason we reject the Council of
Trent, whose Authority we think to be inserior to an
Angels, and that (hews, that we do not think reject
ing and yet reading such Books to make void common
Sense ; for though we reject the Council of Trent, yet
we read it, as they find to their cost.
His next Question ( or else I cannot make three of
them ) is, By what Text doth God deliver this Injunction )
viz, of reading Heretical Books; which in his Sense of
Heretical Books is a very senseless Question ; for no
man pretends, that God commands us to read Books,,
which we know to be Heretical ; though a man who is
inquiring aster Truth, must read such Books, as the
several divided Sects <>f Christians may call Heretical.
A Vindication of the FirU Part of

But his killing Question is to come. I siked fur
ther, Howstanding to thefirst Principles of Common Sense,
a Church which declares all men bound to judge for them
selves, could countenance Laws which exad of Dissenters,
that they stand not to that their Judgment, but comply
against it, and that constrain their liberty of judging by
the dread of Excommunications, Sequestrations, Impri
sonments, &c. which is to make it Death not to all agninjl
a stritl Duty of Conscience, acknowledged by the Persecu
tors, to be juch.
But what is this to reading Heretical Books ? Is
there any Law in the Church of England, thus to punish men for reading Heretical Books ? There is we
know in the Church of Rome, where besides other He
retical Books, to have and ro read the Bible in the vul
gar Tongue without License, which is rarely granted,
and ought not to be at all, brings a man in danger of
the Inquisition, which one word signifies more than
any man can tell, but he who has selt it, witnefc the
late account of the Inquisition of Goa.
Well, but to allow a liberty of Judging, and not to
suffer men to stand to their Judgment, is contrary to
Common Sense : It is so, but who gives a liberty of
Judging, and forbids men to stand to their own Judg
ment ? I am sure, the Church of England accounts any
man a Knave, who contradicts his own Judgment and
Conscience. There is no Inquisition for mens private
Opinions, no ransacking Consciences in the Church of
England, as we -know, where there is.
Yes ! We constrain th'ts liberty of Judging by the dread
of Excommunications, Sequestrations, Imprisonments, Ex
clusion from the chiefest Properties offree born Subjects,
even by Hanging and Quartering ; which is to make it
Death not to all against a str'tft Duty of Conscience, ac
knowledged
the Preservative againU POPERT.

kaovoledged by the Persecutors to be such. It is a blessed
time for these Jesuits, who like that no body shoukl
be able to Persecute but themselves, to rail at Persecu
tion ; but let thit pass.
It seems then it is contrary
to Common Sense to allow a liberty os Judging, and to
deny a liberty of Practice; for God, suppose, to al
low men to choose their Religion, and to Damn them,
if they choose wrong. That is to fay, a Natural liber
ty of Judgment, and by the fame reason, the Natural li
berty of Will, is inconsistent with all Government in
Church and State : If this were so, it would indeed
make Persecution ( as he calls it ) in a free-judging
Church very absurd, but it is very reconcileable to
-Common Sense, for a Church which denies this liber
ty of Judging, to Persecute too ; and this justifies the
Persecutions of the Church of Rome : Let Protestants
here see, if such Jesuits could rule the Roast, what it
will cost them to part with their liberty of Judging ;
they loose their Argument against Persecution : for an
Infallible Church which will not suffer men to Judge,
may with good Reason Persecute them , if they*do :
that all men, who like Liberty of Conscience, are con
cerned to oppose Popery, which it seems is the only
Religion, that can make it reasonable to Persecute,
nay, which makes it unreasonable not to Persecute,
for it is as much against Common Sense for a Church,
which denies a liberty of Judging to allow a liberty of
Conscience, as for a Church to deny Liberty of Con/cience, which allows a liberty of Judging. Thus far
the Preservative is sase, and letrhis following.Harangue
against the liberty of Judging shift for it self, that is
not my business at present.
His next Quarrel is, that {Prefer, p. 4;
ladvise Protestants not to dispute with Papists, till then
df.
A Vindication of the F/r0 Fart of
Answer, p. 4 disown Infallibility. I own the charge, and repeat it

again, that it is a ridiculous thing to dispute with Pa
pists, till they renounce Infallibility, as that is opposed
to a Lberty ot Judging ; for so the whole Sentence runs :
Here then let our Protestant fix his Foot, and not stir an
inch, till they disown Infallibility, and confefi, that every
man must Judge for himself in Matters of Religion, ac
cording to the Proofs, that are offered to him. This the
Jesuit either designedly concealed, or did not under
stand, though it is the whole designof that Discourse :
For the plain state of the Case is this. The Church of
Rome pretends to be Infallible, and upon this pretence
she requires us to submit to her Authority, and to re
ceive all the Doctrines (he teaches upon her bare Word,
without Examination ; for we must not Judge for our
selves, but learn from an Infallible Church : Now I
fay, it is a ridiculous thing for such men to pretend to
Dispute with us about Religion, when they mil not
allow that we can judge what is true or false, for it is
to jio purpose to Dispute, unless we can Judge; and
therefore a Protestant before he Disputes with them,
ought to exact this Consession from them, that every
man must Judge for himself, and ought not to be over
ruled by the pretended Infallible Authority of the
Church against his own Sense and Reasonv and this is
to make them disown Infallibility, as far as that is Mat
ter ofControversy between usand the Church of Rome,
to disown Infallibility as that is opposed to a liberty of
JudgiBg. If it be absurd to Dispute with a man, who
denies me a liberty of Judging, thet* ;I' mtffr make
him allow me this liberty before I Dispute* and then
he must disown the over ruling Authority of an Infal
lible Judge, which is a contradiction to such a Liberty* '< . ' .
' 1 .
.
' 3.
'.
BJ

By this time, I suppose, he sees to what little pur
pose his Objections are ; that to require such a disown
ing of Infallibility, is tosay, 'Tis impossible to convince a
man that in Reason, he ought to submit his Judgment to
any other, though Infallible : No Sir ! but 'tis to fay,
that I cannot make use of my Reason in any thing, till
I am delivered from the Usurping Authority of such an
Infallible Judge, who will not suffer me to use my Rea
son, or to Judge for my self : It Joes not make void the
use of Common Sense and Reason, when it should lead us
to submit to any just Authority ; but to submit to such
an unjust Authority, makes void the use of Gammon
Sense and Reason, because he will not a'low us to use
our Reason. The Jews had no Reason, as he pretends
to reject St. Paufs Disputation, till he had renounced
Infallibility, because he never urged his own Infallibi
lity, as the sole Reason of their Faith, and to debar
them from a liberty of Judging, as the Church of Rome
does ; if he had, it had been as vain a thing for the
Jews to have Disputed with St. Paul, as it is for Pro
testants to Dispute with Papists.
. His next Exception is against those Words, (Pres.p.6.)
What difference is there betwxit mens using their private
Judgments to turn Papists, or to turn Protestants ? To
this he answers, The fame as betwixt two fick men, the
one whereofchooses to put himself in an able Dotlors hands,
whom he knows to have an infallible Remedy, (which
none but Mountebanks ever had yet) whilst the other
chooses his own Simples, and makes his own Medicines.
The case is this ; I was giving a reason, why Papists,
who have any modesty should not dispute with Prote
stants, because // is an appeal to every mans private
judgment : if ever they make Converts, they muff be be
holden to every man'sprivate judgment for it, for I think
C
men
A Vindication of the First Part of
men cannot change their opinions , without exercising a

private judgment about it ; and I suppose when they
dispute with men to make them Papists^, they intend to
convert them by their own private judgments : now
what difference is there between mens using their private
judgments to turn Papijls or to turn Protestants one
indeed may be false, and the other true , but private
judgment is private judgment still ; and if it be so great
a fault for men to use their private judgments, it is as
great a fault in a Papist, as it is in a Protestant. So
that all that I said is, that there is no difference with
respect to mens using their private judgment, whether they use their private judgment to turn Papists,
or to turn Protestants, for both is but private judg
ment ; and to confute this, he tells us, that there is a
great difference between turning Papist, and turning
Protestant, which I granted there was ; but is nothing
to the present Argument. I say, there is no difference
as to the principle or cause os their change, when the
change of both is owing to private judgment, and he
learnedly proves, that the change itself is difserent, as
widely different, as Papist and Protestant differ. But
though the Footman had plainly told him this, the Jesuite had not wit to understand it, and therefore {Pre
servative Confid. p. ii.) adds, is there no difference then
betwixt one, who follows his fancy in chusing his way, and
him who chuses a goodguide, andfollows himf because thfiy
both chuse do both equally rely on theirfancy ,<? I grant,
there is a difference between these two, as there is be
tween a Protestant and a Papist; but whenthedifpute
is, whether they shall follow their own reason and
judgment, or give up, tbxmselvqs to., follow a Guide
with a blind and implieite faith,, and every man must
determine this by his own private judgment, which is
the Preservative against POPERY.
the case I proposed, which way so ever they determine

this question, whether to follow their own reason, or
to follow a Guide, in this point, they both equally rely
on their own private reason, and judgment, or as he
calls it, fancy.
In the next place he fays, / take the Catholicks part, Anfwtr, p
and tho faintly, yet speak well in so clear a cause.
The
intention of those Disputes is only to lead you to the in'
fallible Church, and set you upon a Rock, and then it is
very natural tn renounce your own judgment , when you
have an infallible Guide. This I do alledge as the most
plausible pretence to justifie Papists in disputing with
Protestants, that the end of it is to lead us ro au in
fallible Church. That our own judgment mutt bring pnftrv. p
us to the infallible Guide, but when we have found him,
we have no farther use for our own judgment.
I offered two Answers to this, neither of which he
durst meddle with, but nibbles at a Passage in each.
The 1. he thus represents, they cannot with any sense
dispute with us about the particular Articles of Faith,
because the fense given of Scripture and Fathers takes its
Authority from the Church understanding it so.
But my Answer was this ; That if Disputes be only
to lead us to the infallible Church, then it puts an end
to aO the particular Disputes of Religion between us and
the Church of Rome: We may dispute on about an infal
lible Judge, but they cannot with any fense dispute with
us about the. particular Articles of Faith, such as tranfubstantiatiom the Sacrifice of the Masi, &c. for these
are to be learnt only from the Church, and cannot be pro
ved by Scripture or Fathers without the Authority of the
Church. Which is a demonstration if Faith must be
resolved into the infallible Authority of the Church,
for then no Arguments are a sufficient foundation for
.
,
C z
Faith
Io
4stFir to
M* p. 4.

Faith without the Authority of the Church, or if they
be, there is no necessity of resolving our Faith into
Church Authority, because we have a good foundation
for Faith without it.
He answers, This is false The sense (of Scripture)
tafaS ffs aut\mtty from GoJ, whospoke that Wore/, though
we are certain, that we have the true fense of that Word,
because we receive it from the Church, which is protefted
and guided in delivering us hoth the letter and fense, by
the infallible Spirit of God, that is to abide with her for
ever, accordingto Christ's promise, John 14. 16.
This is a choice Paragraph. The Question between
us is, Whether they can by Scripture convince a man,
who docs not yet believe the infallible Authority of
the Church, as we Protestants do not, that their Do
ctrines of Transubstantiation, the Sacrifice of the Mass,
the Worship of Images, &c. are true Gospel- Doctrines :
This I fay they cannot, if they be true to their own
Doctrine, that we cannot be certain, what the true
sense of Scripture is , without- the infallible Autho
rity of the Church of Rome.
For a man cannot
be convinced by Scripture, till he be sure, what the
true sense of Scripture is, and if we cannot be sure
of this without relying on the Authority of the Church
in expounding Scripture, then a Protestant, who dis
owns such an Authority, can never be sure, what the
true sense of Scripture is, and therefore cannot be con
vinced by Scripture-Proofs, which shews how absurd it
is fora Papist, who prosesses to bdieve all this, to at
tempt to perswade a Protestant who rejects the Au
thority of their Church, of the truth of Papifli Do
ctrines from Scripture : either he thinks these Doctrines
so plainly contained in Scripture, that a man, who re
jects the Authority of the Church, may be forced to
acknow
the Preservative againSl P 0 P E RY.

acknowledge, that they are in Scripture, and then he
must reject the necessity of Church- Authority for the
understanding of Scripture , which is to yield up a
very concerning point to Protestants ; or else he must
consess, that he does very foolishly or knavishly in ur
ging Scripture-Proofs to a man, who rejects the Au
thority or their Church , without which he Istiows
there are no Scripture-Proofs of any Authority.
But this, which was the true state of the Controver
sies the Jesuite takes no notice of ; all that he fays is
this : That the sense of Scripture takes its Authority
from GoJ, that is, is ultimately resolved into God's
Authority, who intended such a sense in it, but as to
Catholicks, (for such he must mean) their certainty
of the sense of Scripture is resolved immediately into
the Authority of the Church, which is guided in ex
pounding Scripture by an infallible Spirit : Now is not
this the very fame, thaf [fail, that all Scripture Proofs
must be resolved into the Authority of the Church,
and are not good without it, as it is impossible they
should be, if we cannot certainly know, what the true
sense of Scripture is , but from the Exposition of
the Church. And yet if the Church of Rome be no
more infallible in delivering the sense of Scripture, than
in delivering the letter ofit, there is no great encou
ragement to rely on her infallibility : as is evident
from the many Corruptions of their Vulgar Latine,
which one Pope corrected aster another, and yet k is
not corrected still ; that it was a little over-sight in this
Jesuite, (though possibly he knew nothing of the mas
ter) to make the Church equally infallible in deli
vering the letter and the sense of Scripture.
But to do him right, he seems to ofser at something
of sense in his dispute between John and WiQim,tskkb
A Vindication of the F/rf? Tart of

u the right way to a place. For, says he, is John dis
abled from convincing William of his mi/lake by reasons,
because he hath with him a Guide who certainly knows
the way, and that he himself would certainly pas by those
reasons, if his Guide assured him, that he applied them iU
and wrongly to that way. This has something of ar
gument in it, and therefore shall be considered, and I
am glad to meet with any thing, that deserves to be
considered.
The sum of his Argument (which i shall represent
fairly for him, becauie he has not shewn it to the best
advantage) is this. That Roman-Catholicks have two
ways of finding out the sense of Scripture, either by
the use of Reason, or by the Expositions of an infallible
Guide : but that Reason must be subordinate to the
Guide, and if Reason dictates one sense of Scripture, and
the Church teaches another, Reason must submit, and
a trueCatholick must embrace the sense of the Church,
though it be against his Reason ; but yet if Reason,
and his Guide be both of a fide, and he can prove by
Reason, that to be the true sense of Scripture, which
the Church gives of it, he may then wave the Autho
rity of the Church, when he disputes with those, who
reject; such Authority, and argue from the. reasons of
things-,.! arjd the natural interpretation of Scripture it
self, j As John may convince William, who rejects the
infallibility of John's Guide, which is the true way by
plain reason, while his reason is not contradicted hy his
Guide : and if our Jesuite can make more of this Argumcntihimêlf,. let. him. I am sijre1lieahas spqikdit
by iepeatulgillci.ih his. ffreferir., Cûitr. \\ i \ * 'John
is not disabled of convincing W.ilJiani tfi his mistake., be
cause' he.* receives1, the reasons he uses from an infallible
Gjdds. WlKreêiHiS ^t U,UPODanothabdttom, and
a very
the Preservative againU POPEKT.
a very silly one for his purpose : for if the force of his
Reasons be resolved into the Authority of an infallible
Guide, it is all lost to him, who disow ns the infallibili
ty of the Guide : or if he means, that John is taught
such Reasons by an infallible Guide, as are able by
their own evidence to convince William without any
regard to the infallibility of the Guide, we desire no
more than to see such Reasons, and to be left to judge
for our selves ; but this ends in a Protestant Resolution
of Faith, for every man to judge for himself according
to the evidence of Reason, which in it self is neither
more nor less evident, for being proposed or learnt
from a fallible or infallible Guide. And yet by what
follows, he can mean no more, but that the Authority
of an infallible Judge must over-rule every Man's pri
vate Reason ; for he appeals to the learned Gentlemen of
the Temple, hoping they will joyn with him maintaining
against their Master, that all the Judges of the Land
may very reasonably convince by Law an impertinent
Party, though he should oppose, that they may not do it,
be cause their interpretation of the Law is to deliver the
true fense of it. . Which is glorious Nonscnce, that all
the Judges of the Land can convince a man, who is
not convinced, but declares still, that they have not
given the true sense of the Law. In all Civil Causes
there must be a final judgment; and every private
man must submit to the decision " of Authority, whe
ther his own season be satisfied or not ; but .it is not
so in matters of Religion; in which no man at the pe
ril of his Soul must be over-ruled Jby any Authority,
till he be first convinced. So that the Jesuits had said
a good thing by chance, but for want ofunderstanding
it, had lost it again; and any man may see, that I
could as easily have lost it, as he/ had I a mind to it ;
A Vindication of the Firft Part of

but I will not part with it without an Answer, because
it is the most plausible thing, that can be said, and pos
sibly other men may understand it, who can't answer
it, though he don't.
His Argument then as first proposed is this, That
they allow of Reason in expounding Scripture, so
long as they do not contradict the Sense and Exposi
tion of the Church; and therefore they may dispute
with Hereticks from Scripture , without concern
ing the Authority of the Church in the dispute. Now
in answer to this, there are some material Questions to
be asked. As,
i. Whether they can dispute with Protestants by
Scripture-Arguments without allowing them to judge
of the sense of Scripture by their own private Rea
son ? and whether this be agreeable to the Doctrine of
the Church of Rome, that every man may judge of the
sense of Scripture by his own private Reason ?
x. Whether the Scripture be so plain and perspicu
ous, especially in the Doctrines in dispute between us
and the Church of Rome, that every honest impartial
Inquirer may find the true sense of them without an in
fallible Interpreter ? if they be, I think, they never
ought to talk of the obscurity of Scripture, nor the
necessity of an infallible Judge more ; if they be not,
and if they know, that they are not, then they know
before hand, that the evidence of Scripture alone is not
sufficient to convince a Protestant, who rejects an in
fallible Judge , and then it is a senflefs thing for
them to attempt the proof of such Doctrines by Scripure. Good Catholicks are satisfied with the Authori
ty of the Church, and Hereticks who reject such an in
fallible Authority, cannot be confuted and convinced
by meer Scripture.
the Preservative against PO PERT.

3 . I ask again, Whether the evidence of Reason in ex
pounding Scripture be a sufficient Foundation for a Di
vine Faith? if it be, then Protestants, who disown an In
fallible Judge, may have a true Divine Faith without the
Infallibility of the Church, and then we may be true Be
lievers without being <?wM-Catholicks ; and I should be
glad to hear that out of the mouth* of .a Jesuile, for there
is good use to be made of such a consession : if Scripture
as expounded by Reason without an Infallible Judge is not
a sufficient Foundation for a Divine Faith, then to what
end does their disputing with Protestants from Scripture
serve, if this cannot make them true Believers.
4. I ask once more,Whether the beliefof.the Scriptures
themselves must not be resolved into the Authority of the
Church ? whether any man can believe the Scriptures to
be the Word of God without it ? if they cannot (and I
would be glad to hear the Jesuitc fay they can) then I am
sure the Scripture is no proof of any thing without the
Churches Authority, and it is an absurd thing for those
who think so to dispute from Scripture against those who
deny the Authority of the Church.
From hence I think, it evidently appears, that the Au
thority of the Scriptures, and the Authority of the Church,
are not two distinct Arguments in the Church .of Rome,
for then I grant, they might use either way of proof, and
dispute from Scripture against those, who deny the Au
thority of the Church ; but if the Authority of the Scri
pture as to us is resolved into the Authority of the Church,
then the Scripture alone is no Argument, but the Autho
rity of the Church is all. Whercforedo you believe
the Scripture > Because the Church tells me it is the Word
of God ; Wherefore do you believe this to be the sense of
Scripture i Because the Church so expounds it : Is not
this the true Resolution of the Roman Faith ? Is this Mis
representing too ? But if it be the truth, does not every
D
man
A Vindication of tbe FirH Part of

man see, that as to us the Scripture has no Authority, n&
sense, but from the Church, and therefore can prov^ no
thing separated from the Authority of the Church.
Is they allow of any Proofs from Scripture separated
from the Authority of the Church, then whether they
will or no, they must allow of the Protestant Resolution
of Faith ; that is, to resolve my Faith into the Authority
of the Scriptures, as expounded with the best reason and
judgment I have, in the careful use of all such means, as*,
are necessary for the understanding that Holy Book-: now
if they will allow this to be a good Resolution of Faith,,
we will allow of all their Scripture-proofs, and give them,
leave to make us Converts to the Church of Rome by
Scripture, if they can : but if they do allow of this, thenwe Protestants are in a very good way already as to the
Resolution of our Faith, and so that Controversie is at an
end ; and if they will not allow this, then they consess*,
that Scripture-proofs of themselves are not good, for if.
they were, we might certainly resolve our Faith as Pro
testants do, immediately into the Authority of Scripture.
And thus much for John and William and the Infallible
Guide ; if John has any Reasons independent cn the Autho
rity of his Guide, he may then try his skill upon William,
who rejects his Guide, but if all his other Reasons are
resolved into the Authority of his Guide, and are no good
. Reasons -without it, then he may spare his Reasons till he
has made William submit to his Guide. And this is the
case between the Scripture and the Church, in the Church
of Rome i the Scripture wholly depends both for its Autho
rity and Interpretation on the Authority of the Church,
and therefore can signifie nothing and prove nothing, but
what the Church makes it fignine and prove. The Scri
ptures may be supposed to be the Word of God,, and to
have some sense antecedent to the Churches Authority,
but no man can know this without the Church, and there
the Preservative againH PO PERT.

fore as to us both the Authority and Interpretation of the
Scripture depends upon the Authority of the Church, and
is no Argument, to prove any thing by itself
But I cannot pass on without taking noticeof a pleasant
Answer the Jesuite gives to a very substantial Argument
of the Footman, To prove that at least some Doctrines
of the Church of Rome by their own consession, cannot be
proved by Scripture without the Authority of the Church,
he shews that Petriu de Alliaco, Scotus, and Tonstal 'do
consess, that Transubstantiation is not founded upon any
necessary Scripture-proofs, but on the Authority of the

Church, for the Scripture might, and that very reasona
bly too, be expounded to another sense,had not the Church
determined otherwise. Now what does the Jesuite fay
to this ? i. He prevericates like a Jesuite in repeating
the Argument, That the Words of Scripture brought in proofpriftrvttive
of Transubstantiation might le taken in a different fense from Considered,
that which the Catholick Church hath ever received and deli- f'lu
vered\ and that had not the Church ever taught that fenfey
one might believe otherwise, for all the letter of Scripture : for the Authors alledged by the Footman do not fay, as the Jesuite makes them, that the Catholick Church hath
ever received and delivered that sense of Transubstantiation,
which the Church of Rome now teaches ; but Tonstat expresly declares the contrary in the words there cited, That
it wasfree for all men, till the Council of Lateran to follow
their own conjectures as concerning the manner of the Presence.
Which supposes, that this Doctrine was never determined
by the Church till the Council of Lateran, and therefore
-not ever received, and delivered, and taught by the Catho
lick Church, i. In a Parenthesis he adds, how truly (this
is said of the Catholick Divines, that they did affirm this)
it belongs not to my present purpose : very truly said, it is
not to his purpose, but very much against it : but if lie
means, that he was not concerned to know, whether
D x
these
,8
A Vindication of the Fir& Part os
these passages are truly cited from these Authors, it seems

he is not concerned to desend his Argument, for that is
very much concerned in it, it is a plain consession be bad
nothing to fay, and therefore would not be concerned about it : and will our Learned Jesuite consefs,that he is so
ignorant as not to know that this was said by Tetrtu de
Alliaco, Scotus, and Tonfial? or will he so easily give up
such men as these, and let the ingenious Footman runaway
wkh them and his Argument together.
3 . He answers, let it be so ; but what follows here i

but the necessity of an unerring Interpreter ? What follows i
why it follows, that they cannot prove Transubstantiation from Scripture without the Authority of the Church,
and consequently that it is not Scripture but their Church
they rely on for the proof of their Doctrines, which is the
thing the Footman intended to prove by it.and has done it
effectually : but how an unerring Interpreter follows from
hence, I cannot see, unless it be to prove that to be in Scri
pture, which the most searching and inquisitive men can
not find there : and this indeed is the true use of an uner
ring Interpreter in the Church of Rome , to impose upon
mens Faith to believe that to be in Scripture, which no
man can see there ; for what men can see there, one
would think they might believe to be there, without an
unerring Interpreter. As for what he adds, that the Arians gave as natural a sense of i John 5. 7, 8. as the Catholicks did, is to be answered at present only with abhor
rence and detestation. But to proceed.
In the next place, to shew them, how absurd it is to di
spute even about an infallible Judge, I direct our ProtePrtftrvatnt, slant to ask them,Whe4ber the belief of an Infallible Judge
tm t f must be resolved into every wans private judgment i. Whe
ther it be not necessary to believe this with a Divine Fatfh }
And whether there can be any Divine Faith without an In
fallible Judge ? To this the Jesuite answers {Ans. p. 4)
there.
the Preservative againU PO PERT.

There can be no Divine Faith without a Divine Revelation,
nor a prudent one without a Moral Evidence in the Motives
of Credibility, on which may be grounded the evident obliga- .
tion to accept it. This he calls a Moral Tnfallibility, and
shews by what fleps, it may fasten on God's Veracity, and
with a submijfton not capable of any doubt, embrace the re
vealed Truth. Now all this amounts to no more than
Protestant certain*y, void of all doubt, which the Church
of Rome would never yet allow to be a Divine and In
fallible Faith. But what is this to my Question >. Which
was not, Whether a Divine Faith required a Divine Re
velation, but whether there can be any Divine Faith with'
out an Infallible Judge j? which it seems, he durst not own,
nor fay one word to. And yet here lay the force* of the
Argument, as I told him in the fame place, Ifwe must be
lieve the Infallibility of the Pope or Church cf Rome, with
an infallible Faith, there is an end ofDisputing ; for no Rea
sons or Arguments, not the Authority of the Scripture itself
(which I hope he means by his Divine Revelation) with
out an infallible Judge, can beget an Infallible Faith, accord
ing to the Roman DoBors. For this Reason they charge the
Protestant Faith with uncertainty, and will not allow it to
be a Divine, but Humane Faith, though it is built upon the^
firmest Reasons, the best Authority, and themostexprefsScripture, that can be hadfor any thing ; but because we do not
pretend to rely upon the authority ofa living infalliblejudge,
forsooth , our Faith is uncertain , humane , and fallible:
This he knew to be true, and yet knew^ that he could not
buiM the belief of an Infallible Judge upon the authority
of ap Infallible Judge , unless he could find one Infallible
Judge to give testimony to the Infallibility of another^nd
a third to give testimony to the second, and thus to dance
round in a circle of Infallibility, without finding any beginning or end ; and therefore he flips this pretence of an
Judge, and would found a Divine Faith upon re
velation,
A Vindicatioh''of the First Part of '

velation, or prudential motives of rredtbility , which in
deed is to quit Infallibility,and to take up witha Protestant
moral certainty vor moral infallibility as he calls it,that:he
may retain the name at least, when the thing is lost. -1 .
Nay, he gives a substantial Reason against an Infalli
ble Faith of the Churches Infallibility. For if the Infalli
bility of the Church were more than Morally Evident, it
were impossible, that any Herefieshould be, the wisest word,1
that he has said yet, but I shall make him repent of say
ing it, before I have done ; for this is an evident demon
stration against Infallibility^
.
He fays, we can have no more than a Moral Evidence
for the Infallibility of the Church ; and if this be true, and
our Faifh be founded upon the Authority of the Church,
then we can have no more than a Moral Evidence for the
Truth of the Christian Religion, or any Article of it:
for as I argued in that very place. Though the Judge be.
Infallible^ if I be not infallibly assured of this, (if I have*
only a Moral Evidence of his Infallibility.) lean never
arrive to Infallibility in any thing, ( or can never get higher
than a Moral Certainty ). for I can never be more certain,
that his Determinations are Infallible, then I am, that he
himself is Infallible, and if I have but a mdral assurance of
this, lean be but morally assured of the rest, for the Build
ing cannot be more firm than the Foundation is y and thus
there is an end to all the Roman Pretettces to Infallibility.
Though he stipt this at first Reading, Ihopehernay judge*
it worth Answering upon second Thoughts.
But how he will get rid of his own Reason, I cannot
guess, if the Infallibility of the Church were more than. Mo
rally Evident, it ivere impossible, that any Heresiesshould be i
by ! which he either means, that de faih the Bei>ng of He
resies in the World is a sensible Argument, that there is
no Infallible assurance of the Infallibility of the Church ;
for an Infallible Proof cannot be resisted, and then all the
*
World
the Preservative againU VOPER T.

World must believe the Churches Infallibility, and give up
themselves to the Directions of the Church, and then
there could be no Heresies : or else his meaning is, that
since there must be Heresies fa the World, as the Apostle
tells us, therefore God has given us no more than a Moral
Evidence of the Infallibility of the Church ;' because an
Infallible assurance of this would Hive prevented all He
resies, which God, it seems, for very wise Reasons, did
not intend thus irresistibly to prevent.
Now rightly to understand this Matter, I would desire
to know why they fay God has bestowed Infallibility on
the Church ? Was it not to prevent Heresies and Schisms >
Is not this the Popish Objection against the Protestant
Resolution of Faith, that for want of an Infallible Guide
men fall into Errors and Heresies, .and divide and disturb
the Peace of the Church with Schisms ? Is not this the
$at Reason they urge for the necessity of an Infallible
Guide to prevent all Heresies and Schisms? and yet now
it seems, there must be no more than a Moral Evidence
for the Infallibility of the Church, that there may be
Heresies : How often have they been told by Protestant
Divines, that if God intend an Infallible Judge to prevent
all Heresies, the Being of an Infallible Judge ought to
be as evident and demonstrable, as that there is a Sun in
die Heavens , that all men might see him , and believe
him : and now they tell us, This Infallible Judge must
not be thus Evident, that men might not know him, that
there may be room for Heresies to creep into the World.
Now methinks it is pretty odd, that there should be an Infallible Judge to keep Heresies out of the Church, andthat the Being of this Judge should be no more than Mo
rally Evident, that Heresies may ^reep into the Church.
It seems the Romish Resolution. of Faith leaves as great
Scope for Heresies to come into the Church, as the Pro
testants does, ajrid therefore from henceforward, all the
Argy.
52
A Vindication of the TirU Fart of
Arguments for Infallibility from the necessity of keeping

Heresies out of the Church, are given up ; and they must
never more object against the Protestant Rule of Faith,
that by this means Heresies get into the Church. His
Argumenr, I consess, concludes fully against any Infal
lible Certainty of an Infallible Judge ; and the reason is
to the full as good agaralt an Infallible Judge, as against
an Infallible way of knowing, that there is one, And
now since I cannot be Infallibly assured of this Infallible
Judge, I will trouble my heati.no further about him, and
therefore leave his Preservative Considered, ^.13, &V.
to any Footman that pleases toanswer it.
Answer to
His next Objection is much of the lame nature. That
Prefer, f. 5. Protestants cannot reasonably be disputed into Popery, as
that signifies, resolving, our Faty .into the infallible Au
thority of the Church to believe whatever the Church be
lieves , and for no other reason , but because the Churcjj
teaches it, and the reason, whereby I proved it, is, because
no Arguments or Disputations can give me an infallible certainty of the infallibility of the Church. And this he has
just now granted, that we cannot have an infallible cer
tainty, but only a. moral evidence for the infallibility of
the Church, and if there, can be no more than a moral
evidence for this, then no Arguments can give us an in
fallible certainty of it, because this cannot be had. And
what has he to fay now' ? a very shrewd Objection I assore you, and it is this: We saw Dr. Sherlock juil now
pleading for the Jews against St. Paul, (that I have ac
counted for already) now he reasons againff Christ our God,
. blessed for ever more. His words prove that Christ, who
owned himself infallible^ did imprudently to Preach or work
Miracles ; forfince they couldmt give an infallible certainty,
(an evident one he means by his whole Discourse]) no pru
dent Jew, nor Gentile, could be disputed by htm into Faith.
Those who corrected his first Paper lor him, which
.they
she Preservative against POPERY.

they have done in several places , as being sensible the
Footman had great advantage of his loole way of Wri
ting, have made some Alterations here mthe Preservative
Considered, p. xq. This. Position proving, that Christ our
Lord, who owned himself infallible , did imprudently /j
Preach or work Miracles , by which he exacled a certain
firm Faith grounded upon his Infallibility in Teaching : ftr
since bis Preaching and Miracles did not gPve an evident in
fallible certainty of his Infallibility, (and such an evident
one Dr. Sherlock must mean, for the certainty we have of
a real Infallibility cannot be in reality fallible) no prudent
Jew or Gentile could be disputed by Christ into Faith. This
isexprefled tyith greater art and subtilty than, the first,
but however they palliate it, it is equally absurd and
senfless. The Fallacy lies only in this, that by an infalli
ble certainty, they will have me mean only a certain firm
faith, or an evident certainty , whereas I plainly mean
such an infallible certainty, as the Church of Rome oppo
ses to the certain firm faith, and evident certainty of Pro
testants.
The Papists perpetually object against Protestants, that
their Faith is uncertain ; we aflert, that our Faith is not
uncertain ; that we have all the evident certainty, that
the thing is capable of : but this will not satisfie them,
unless we can produce some such infallible certainty, as
they pretend to have ; and by this Argument they perswademen to forsake our Communion, and to go over to
the Church of Rome, that they may have the certainty
of Infallibility for their Faith : This I tell our Protestants,
they cannot be disputed into, because no Reasons or
Disputations can give them an infallible certainty of the
Infallibility of the Church, and yet unless they can be in
fallibly assured of that, they are no nearer to Infallibility,
in the Church of Rome, than in the Church of England i
now had our Jesuite read this, as he ought to have done
E
before
24
A Vindication of the FirH Tart of
before he answered it, had it been possible for him had he

not been a Jesuite, to have said, that by infallible, I meant
evident ? ibr we Protestants pretend to evident certainty,
and this we have, and Jews and Gentiles might have of
Christ's Preaching and Miracles, and when I opposed this
Înfallible Certainty to Protestant Certainty , surely I
rrfeant as much more by it then Evident as Papists do,when notwithstanding all our Protestant Evidence, they
charge us with the want of Infallibility. And yet for
ought I can perceive now , they are contented to Jet
Evident Certainty pass for Infallible, and the Corrector of
F. Sabrans Sheet has given us a notable reason for it, for
which Protestants are bound to thank him , for he has
made them all infallible. For the certainty we have of a
real Infallibility cannot be in reality fallible. That is to
fay , when the Object: is infallibly true , our Faith or
Aflent to it , cannot be fallible : and thus before they
can prove us Protestants to be fallible Creatures any
more, they must prove, that what we believe, viz. the
Holy Scriptures, and the Apostles Creed, are not infalli
bly true. Though I thought the Infallibility of Faith had
not been owing to the Object of our Faith, but to the
Evidence of it.
District #/
This the Footman plainly saw, and therefore minds him
pus. p. 7.
0f the difference between True Certainty and Infallibili
ty. Doth Dr. Sherlock fay, that the Jews could not be di
sputed into Faith, unless that Faith were infallible ? Nc, he
leaves that to be talked of by you, who are the great Pre
tenders tt it. The Jesuite is very angry at the Reverend
Licenser sos this. What do youown^ that we only are to look
on the Faith even as preached by Christ., to be necessarily in
fallible ? Is it no part ofyour' belief that you are any way
concerned in, that that certain Faith which Christ exatled
from the Jews, St. Paul from each Christian, must of neces
sity be infallible t Fair and softly ! we believe, whatever
,
Christ
the Preservative againSf POPERY.

Christ and St. Paul taught to be infallibly true, but we
know, that a fallible Creature, as all private Christians at
least are, cannot believe with art infallible Faith ; that is,
no man, who knows himself fallible, though he may be
very certain of what he believes, can fay he is infallible
in his Faith, unless there be a Divine Promise, that he
shall never err ; for if he be not infallible, he can be infal- "*
lible in nothing. Protestants believe Christ to be an in
fallible Teacher, and the Christian Faith .to be infallibly
true, and this they believe with all the firmness and cer
tainty of assent ; but this is not, what the Church of
Rome used to call Infallibility, though the Jesuite (if it be
not meer want of understanding in him) seems to be
hammering out a new notion of Infallibility ; but it is but
a rude and impersect Embryo yet, we shallsee, what they
will make of it in time.
And here I find my self obliged to look a little back
wards, to see how he states the Churches Infallibility, for
he mightily complains of Protestant Misrepresentations Pr
about it.
'
sid>
Our Guide then, he tells us, it the Catbolick Church, either
diffusive in its whole extent, (that is, as it contains or sig
nifies the whole number of Christians all the World over)
or representative in its Head and Bishops, the Pope and a
General Council, the Church diffusive , or the whole
number of Christians on Earth, is most certainly the true
notion cf the'Catholick Church on Earth; is that Church,
to which, most of the Promises made to The Church in
Scripture, are made ; but how this Church diffusive should
be our Guide, wants to be explained : if the Church diffu
sive, or the whole number of Christians, is the Guide, who
is.to be guided, unless the Guide is to be a Guide only to
himself : However, I hope thenevery particular Christian
will be allowed a private judgment of his own ; for the
Church diffusive will be a very, strange Guide, if it cannot
Ei
use
26
A Vindication of theJFirjl Part of
use its own reason and judgment ; and how the whole,
which consists of all particular Christians, should judge
for' itself, when no particular Christian must judge, is
somewhat mysterious : tliat is, that all Christians must:
judge, and yet none must judge. But I will not dispute
with him about this, but whenever he will collect the
Votes of the Church diffusive, or of all the Christians
in the World , I promise to subscribe to their Defini
tions
The Representative Church, is the Head and Bishops, the
Pope and a General Council. I thought, the Pope in Je
suits Divinity, had been the Church virtual, and a Gene.
a Discourse
ral Council the Church representative. But I have in a
VttmHnT *ate D^courê Proved, that tne PoPe 's not the Head of
Vmtjtftht the Catholick Church, nor a Council of Bishops the recatbotict
presentative of it, and he may try his skill upon it, when
hkrch'
he pleases.
Now it seems, the Church diffusive has the keeping of
the general faith of Christians, first receivedfrom Christ and
his Apostles, andpreserved by all Bishops in their respective
Diocestes, and in the minds and atlions of each faithful
Believer in the whole Catholick Chur<h. Strange! that
our Jesuire should now at last turn a meer Blackloist, or
Traditionary Divine. This general Faith of Christians
he compares to the common Laws of the Land, to shew I
suppose his skill in the Law, and makers learned Gentle
men of the Temple to pity or scorn TheMaster's igno
rance., well let that be as it will, for I pretend to no skill
in Laws, but as for this general Faith of Christians, what
ever it be like, I would gladly learn from the Church
diffusive, what it is ; for I matter nothing else, but the
General Faith of Christians ; but how to learn this, he has
not told us ; it is preserved, he fays, by all Bishops in
their respective Diocefses , and in the minds and atlions
as each faithful Believer in the whole Catholick Church.
Well

Well then, must we examine all Bishops and every partis
.cular Believer about this? this is impossible to be done ;:
will any one Bishop, or any one particular Believer,
( since every Bishop , and every particular Believer has
it) suffice to tell us, what this general Faith of Christians
is ? is this an infallible Conveyance of the Faith to de
pend upon the Tradition of Bishops and Christian People ?
is there no faithful and authentick Record of this Faith,
from whence we may learn, what Christ and his Apostles delivered to the Church i So one would think by
this Jesuit's account, who takes no notice of the Holy Scri
ptures, as if the common Faith of Christians could not be
learnt from them, but from the tradition of the Church
diffusive.
Thus much for Common Law, but the Church has her
Statute Laws too, and they are the Decisions or Canons of
General Councils, declaring and applying to particular In
stances the Common Law and Belief of the Church : but
how does the Pope and a General Council, or the Church
representative,, as he calls it, come to have the power of
declaring and applying the common Faith of Christians,
which is in the keeping of the Church diffusive, and
therefore one would think.could be declared by none else ?
do the Pope and a General Council infallibly know the
Sentiments and Opinions of all the Christian Bisliops and
People in the World ? This they must do, or else they can
not declare the common Faith of Christians, unless they
can infallibly declare, what they do not know : If their
Authority be only to declare the common Faith of Chri
stians, how mail we know, that they declare nothing but
the common Faith of Christians'? for if they do, their
Decrees are not valid, for they declare that which is
false.
This Jesuit has- greatly intangled and perplexed the
Cause by laying the whole stress upon the declarative and
apply
A Vindication of the Frrff Fart of

Tomer. Had he said, that the Pope and a Gen e
C&unc'1 had Authority to declare what is the Christian
. air.'), and though they declared that to be the true Faith,
v hich the Church diffusive never heard of before, yet after
iheir decision, it must be received as the common Faith ot
Christians, though it had not been so formerly, there had
been some sense in this, though no truth: but when he
fays the Church can only declare what is, and always has
been the common Faith of Christians, if lean find by ancient Records, that what the Council declares to be the
common Faith of Christians now, was either not known
or condemned in former Ages; if I certainly know, that
she declares that to be the Faith, which at the very timeof the Council was so far from being the common Faith
of Christians, that it was not the common Faith of the
Council, but was contradicted by the wisest and best part
df it ; then I certainly know, that the Council has notdeclared.the common Faith of Christians, and therefore that
its Decrees are of no Authority.
Bat he proceeds. We hold, that this general Faith re*
ceivedfrom the Apostles* and preserved in all the Members
of the Catholick Church , explained upon occafion by tbe
Church representative, is infallibly true, and this is all tbe
Infallibility the Catholick Church pretends to. And there
is no Protestant but will own this Infallibility. That
the Faith ar first received from the Apostles, the iame
Faith, which was delivered by the Apostles, prekrved
in all the Members of the Catholick Church, and the fame
Faith explained upon occasion by the Church reprdentative, so that it is evident aster the explanation, that it
is the larrie Faith still; I fay, ,every Protestant will ac
knowledge, that this Faith is infallibly true; for we be
lieve the Faith delivered by the Apostles to be infallibly
true, and if it appears, that the fame Faith is still taught
by the Church, whether in or out of Council it matters
. '>'./.:.
not,
V
the Preservative againU P 0 P EKT.

not, it must be infallibly true still. But yet there is a
little difference between us and the Jesuit ; He believes,
and would have us believe, that the present Faith of the
Church of Rome, viz. the Doctrine of the Council of
Trent, is that Faith, which was received from the Apostles,
preserved in all the Members ofthe Catholick Church,and only
explained upon occafion by the Council of Trent, which nos the
Church representative ; this we deny : this we know, this
we can, and'often have proved to be false. And I beseech
you, what greater infallibility can any Ghurcb pretend
to, than to have the World receive all her Decrees as infal
libly true?
But they.do not pretend, that either the whole Church, or
any person, or persons in it, are held to pojfest any intrinfick Infallibility, which they own to be proper to God alone.
Thante 'em for nothing , they do not believe, that the
Church or Pope or Council are by nature infallible, for
all the World would laugh at them, if they did. We do
not fay, (as he adds) that they cannot of themselves deceive
us, but that God according to his Promise directing them by
his infallible Spirit, it cannot possibly happen^ that they should
deceive us. The Modesty of ajeluit! who claims no
morfr Infallibility sot the Pope and General Council, than
the Apostles had, and wonders any man mould grudge
them this, since they do*not pretend to an intrinftck In
fallibility, not to be infallible by Nature, but only by
Grace. Thus he adds, that they do not pretend to new
Revelations and Lights, nor admit any new Article of Faiths
though where a doubt arises the Church hath infallibly power
to declare what hath been revealed by Christ to the Apostles,
andpreached by them, whichperhaps some part ofthe Church
might have had a lest clear understanding thereof ; but this
. is done, not by making any new Article of Faith, but more
clearly delivering what was ever believed by the Apostles,
and all Catholicks from their time to this : That is to fay,
what
A Vindication of the First fin of^\.

what ever the Church determines, though the Christian
Church in former ages knew nothing of it, yet it must
not be called a new Article of Faith, but a declaring what
had been revealed by Christ to his Apostles, and preached
by them,though the world had long since forgot it : what
ever the Church determines today, we must believe to
have been the Faith of the Apostolick Age, thougli there
are no other evidence^ nor symptomes of it, but because
theChurch which is. infallible soys so. And this is all the
Infallibility the Church pretends too ! a very small matter
to be denied her by Christians, it is only to believe what
ever she says, without disputing or examining her Faith ;
nay to believe that to be the old Faith, which the most authentick Records of.the Church prove to be new. I have
thus step? out of my way, to see what fine thing he had
to fay of the Churches Infallibility , which he promised a
very favourable representation of; but it is all the old cant
still, a little disguised by some ignorant blunders, or artifi
cial Non-sense ; as for his proofs of this Infallibility, I am
not concerned with them at present, and after so many dit
courses on that Argument they need no answer.
Another Argument whereby I proved, that no man
can be disputed into Popery, which denies us the use of
our own Reason and Judgment in matters of Religion,
was this, Because it is impoffibk by Reason to prove, that
men mjiiJ not use their own Reason and Judgment in matters of
Religion : For to dispute is to appeal to Reason, and to di
spute against the use of Reason in Religion, is to appeal
to Reason against the use of Reason: in Answer to this
he teUs us, That men must use their Reason to come to this
knowledge, that God hath revealedwhat they believe.
Now
I would desire no more but this to prove that we must
use our Reason iQ- matters of Religion: for no man at .
this day can know what is revealed without it. I do at
sert, and let him disprove me when he can, that since God
the Preservative againti PO PERK

has given us reason to judge os the truth or falfhood
of such things, as are knowable by the light of Nature,
and a standing Rule of Faith and Manners in the writings
of the Old and New Testament, for .matters of Revela
tion, we must believe no Mans or Churches pretences to
Infallibility, who either teaches any Doctrine, which plain
ly contradicts the light of Reaion.or a standing revelation ;
and therefore we must judge of mens pretences to the
Spirit, by the Doctrines they teach, and therefore must
particularly judge of their Doctrines too : Tliis is the fair
state of the Controversie between us, and here I leave it,
and let him take it up again, when he pleases.
And here he returns back to the Conference between astur
dy Protestant anda new Convert, which belonged to the for
mer head, the design of which is to shew the new Convert,
that by going over to the Church ofRome he has gained no
more Infallibility, than a Protestant has.nay has lost some
degrees of certainty, which he might have had before :
for thus the Protestant tells him : Ton rely on your own.
reason and judgment for the Infallibility of your Church, and
consequently of all the Dotlrines of it, and therefore your in*
fallible Faith is as much resolved into your ownfallible Judg
ments as the Protestant Faith is : So that the difference be
tween us is not, that your Faith is infallible, and ours fal
lible, for they are both alike\ call it what you will, fallible or
infallible
We have more rational certainty than you have,
and you have no more infallible certainty than we. Tou think
you are reasonably assuredyour Church is infallible, and then
you take up your Religion upon truH fromyour Church, with
out, and many times against Sense and Reason, according as
it happens. So that you have only a general assurance of the
Infallibity of your Church, and that no greater than Prote
stants pretend to in other cafes , viz. the certainty of Reason
and Argument, but have not so much as a rational assurance
es the truth of your particular Dottrines, that if you are mi
F
stakeu
A Vindication of the Fir& fart of

stake* about the Infallibility of your Church, you must &e
miserably mistaken about every thing else, which you have no
other evidence for. But now we are in general assured, that
the Scriptures are the Word of God, and in particular assu
red, that the Faith which we profess, is agreeable to Scri
pture, or exprefly 'contained in it, and does not contradict ei
ther Sense or Reason, nor any other principle of Knowledge:
so that we have as much assurance of every Article of <mr
Faith, as you have of the Infallibility of your Church, and
therefore at leaft have double and triple the assurance that
you have.
I have repeated this at large, that the Reader might
see what the dispute is, and indeed the very repetition of
it is a sufficient justification, for it carries its own evi
dence along with it. Now as to what I said, that we are
in general assured, that the Scriptures are the Word of God.
To this he aniwers, the conclusion would be this, Cit.belicks are as certain of the fense of Scripture, as Fratestants
are that they have the letter. Now I believe any Reader
will be as much puzled to guess, how this comes in, or
what relation it has to this dispute, as I am. I tell the
new Convert, that his old Protestant Friend has as much
certainty of his Religion as he has ; for tho' he flatters him
self with the conceit of an infaihble Church, yet his be
lief of the Churches Infallibility is founded only on Rea
son and Argument, as the Protestant Faith is, and there
fore his Faith is no more infallible than the Protestant Faith
is, and so far they are equal. But then I add, that the
Protestant has at least as good assurance, that the Scri
ptures are the Word of God, as the Papists can pretend
.to have, that the Church is infallible, and so far they may
be allowed equal still, that the one thinks he has an infal
lible Guide, the other an infallible Rule of Faith : Now
how can the Jesuit's conclusion come in. here ? Catholics
*rc as certain of the Sense of Scripture, as Protestants
ttte9

are, that they have the Letter. For the comparison did
not lie between the Sense and the Letter of Scripture,
but between that Evidence Papists have of the Infallibili
ty of their Church, and Protestants have, that the Scri
ptures are the Word of God ; both which is not infallible,
but a rational Evidence, and therefore so far equal : and
this he has nothing to fay to. In the Preserv. Confid. p.
29. he represents it otherwise : This is the cafe ; On one
fide there is supposed an infallible Interpreter os the Chri
stians great Law-Book, ( for thus Dr. Sherlock slates the
cafe) on the other are some men (far the greater part un
learned and weak) who allow not any Sense to this Book,
whichseems to them to contradict their Sense or Reason, or any other principle of their Knowledge. And I am asked,
Whether I proceed more prudently in receiving the Sense of
the Law from that Interpreter (which is actually supposed
infallible) or in proceeding by the second Method. Now
this is as wide of the mark as t'other ; I never suppose an
infallible Interpreter ; never make any dispute, whether
I should submit to an infallible Interpreter, or follow my
own Reason ; which were indeed a ridiculos question,
supposing the Interpreter were actually infallible; but
our only dispute was, Whether a man, who by the ap
pearing evidence of Reason, is perswaded to believe an inallible Judge, beUeves more infallibly than a Protestant
loes, who believes also upon the evidence of Reason and
\rgument ? This is the Question he cannot answer, and
herefore would lose, if he could.
JBut then I added, that Protestants had much the ad
vantage of Papists, because besides that general assurance
bey had, that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and
he ir*&UibIe Rule of Faith, they are in particular assured,
ha.t the Faith they prosess is agreeable to the Scripture,
r exppesty cqntajne^ in jt, and does not contradict either
ense or Reason, nor any other Principle of Knowledge ;
F 2
whereas
A Vindication of the FirU Tart of

whereas Papists have no other evidence for the particular
Articles of their Faith, but the infallible Authority of
their Church, which is the last resolution of their Faith,
and that many times in contradiction to Sense, and Rea
son, and Scripture, as far as fallible men can judge of it:
So that we have as much assurance of every Article as ear
Faith, as they have of the Infallibility of their Church : The
meaning of which is, that we have a rational assurance of
every Article of our Faith in particular, as they think
they have the assurance of Reason and Argument, that
' their Church is infallible. To which he answers, If be
means, they have the fame proofs for this, which Catholicks
have for the Infallibility of tjpe Church- it is false. No,
Sir, I do not mean the fame, for I hope they are better,
but proofs of the fame kind, i. e. from Reason and Ar
gument, which are the only proofs they can pretend to,
for the Infallibility of their Church ; and therefore our
Assurance (for that I laid, not Proofs) is of the fame kind
too, a moral rational Assurance, not infallible, for that
they have not for Infallibility itself, as our Answerer consest above.
But the Argument he hints In his Answer, p. 5. is so
very new, and so very pretty, that I cannot pals it: If Be
means, they have the fame proofs for this, which Catholics
have for the Infallibility of the Church, that is, for the being
of that Church which declares her self Infallible (for a
Church erring in such a point, would cease to be the Church
tf Christ ) then 'tis evidently false. The Argument is
this , that the Infallibility of a Church, which declares
herself infallible, is as evident as the being of that Church ;
for if she declares her self infallible, and is not infallible,
such an Errour as this makes her cease to be the Church
of Christ. So that the Church of Rome is either an in
fallible Church, or no Church r Well, for Argument's
fcke, we will fay she is no Church, and try then, how he
can
the Preservative againU P 0 P E RT.

can prove her Infallibility. But he has anojher bold
stroke in what follows: That the Christians of this Age
have the fame evidence of Her (he must mean the Church
of Rome) being the Church of Christ, and of her teaching
Truth, and consequently of her Infallibility, which sh,e hath
of ChriH, viz. Frophefie, Miracles, &c. What will no less
evidence serve his turn ? is it full as evident, that the
Church of Rome is the Church of Christ, and speaks Truth,
and consequently is Infallible ( which it seems every one
that speaks truth must by consequence be) as that there
was such a person as Christ, the true Prophet and Messias ?
I hope by Prophesies, he does not mean the Reve
lations of St. John, nor by Miracles, the School of the ,
Eucharist.
His next exception is against that Argument: Ifyou
must mt use your Reason and private Judgment, then you
rnuH not by any Reason be perfwaded to condemn the u/e f
Reason ; for to condemn is an atl of Judgment, which you
muff not use in matters of Religion : So that this is a point
which no man can dispute againH, and which no man can be
convinced of by disputing, without the reproach ofself contraditlion. Here our Jeluit is as pleasant as his wit would
serve him 5 the sum of his Answer is, That a man may
be convinced by Reason, that he ought to choose a Guide,
and not to trust his Reason in all things. I readily grant
it, for this is to use our Reason; but the inquiry is, Whe
ther Reason can convince any man, that he ought to fol
low this Guide in contradiction to his own Sense and Rea
son : whether because Reason will direct a sick man to
choose a Physician, it will direct him also to submit to this
Physician when he certainly knows that he gives him
Poison.
The next Principle, which overthrows the use of com
mon Sense and Reason (for that is his charge against me)
is this, That we must allow of no Reason against the Autho
g6
A Vindication ef the FirB Part of
rity of plain and express Scripture. This he allows to be

a true Catholic Principle ; and therefore I hope the Prin
ciple does not overthrow common Sense, unless Catholic
Principles may do it. But he does not like an instance
or two I give of it in the first and second Command
ments-: I lay, such an express Law is that, Thoushalt wor
ship the Lord thy God, dnd<bim only shalt thou serve, tfo
reason in the World can justifie the worship of any other Being,
good or bad Spirits besides God, because there is an express
Law against it, and no Reason can take place, against a Law.
Anhv, to Pre- A rare consequence ( fays the Jesuit ) to infer a Negative
fin. p: 6.
jrom a affirmative antecedent. But I thought, Him only
Jhalt thou serve, had signified thou shalt sewe none but
* him ; and that I think excludes all other Beings from a*
ny share in our Worship. Now to take his own instance,
were there such a Law, that a Subject should love his King
only,this woifld exclude Father or Wise,or any other Friends
or Relations from a (hare in our love. Here he begins to
distinguish between that worship they pay to Creatures,
and to God , and alleadges St. Austin's Authority for it ;
but if he have a mind to renew that Dispute about the
sense of the Primitive Fathers, as to Invocation of Saints,
he knows his man, and had best keep to him , or at least
do him right, before he engages any farther. It had been
more to the purpose, to have examined that explication I
gave of the first Commandment, and how I proved, that
k is an express Law against the worship of any other Be
ing, but the Supreme God , but what is most to the pur
pose, is seldom most to his purpose.
The next instance I gave of this rule was the second
Commandment : Thou shalt not make to thy self any gra
ven Image ; and there the Jesuite stops with an &c. (or lie
durst not trust goodCatMicks.who might read his paper,
though they will read nothing else, with the whole Com
mandment 5 and this laifirmcd, arid a$ri ftft fl/StMK
37
press a Law against Image-Worship , that no reason must le

admittedfor it. What (says he) if you be told, that al
though the Jews had perhaps a command of making no gra
ven Image, &c. again why not and not to worship it; we
do not lay they were forbid to make any graven Image4
but they were forbid to make them for worship ; and
. therefore his following instances of Bezaleel and Solomoti,
who made no Images or likenesses of things in Heaven or
Earth for worfhip.ak.e nothing tothe purpose; he adds, jr*
this being a positive Law, and not confrmed in the Gospel,
doth not oblige us ; will this reason be admitted / He an
swers for me, Mo ; but I answer yes, if it be true and he
dare stand to it; but this is no reason against an, express
Law, but an exception to the Law itself, as of no force. I
do affirm,that if the second Commandment be still in force,
it does so expresty condemn all Image-worship, that no
reasons can justifie Iwage- worship against such an express
Law ; but if it be a Law no longer , the casse I consess is
altered,and I defire to know, whether he will stand to this ;
but he had best advise with some wiser men first, who un
derstand the sense of the Church and of. the Fathers , and
of their own Divines a little better about this matter. But
before they abrogate this Law , I would desire them to
make it a Commandment by it self, and call it the second
Commandment, a we do, for sear of abrogating the first
Commandment with it, of which they make it a part:
though the truth is, the Church of Rome could spare them
both* and thank you too.
His parting blow is a very terrible one. I direct: Pro- Frtfiw.rmV
test ant s never to admit any Arguments meerly from the use- f' 44i 45*
fulness, conveniency,cr pretended necessity of any thing,toprove
that it h. As for instance : A supreme Oecumenkal Bishop
and an Infallible Judge of Controverfies,are thought absolute
ly necessary to the Vnity of the Church , and certainty of
Faith, and confounding of Schism and Herejfci\~*-lsow if
. ^Vindication of the FirU Part of

I thought aS this were true (as I Relieve not a wordof it is)
I should' only conclude, that it were great pity that there is not
an Universal Pastor.and Infallible Judge Instituted by Christ;
but ifyou would have me conclude from these Premises, Ergo,
there is an Universal Pastor and infallible Judge , I must
beg your -pardon for that ; for these Arguments do not prove
that there is such a Judge, but that there ought to be one,
and therefore I mutt conclude no more from them. This, he
says, is nrt only to misuse humane Reason, but to deny Wis
dom and Reason in God ; Alphonfus the Royal Mathemati
cian, was ever looked cn as guilty of a horrid Blasphemy, for
having said,he thought he could have orderedsome things bet
ter than God did, at the first Creation. 'Tis one of as deep
a dye, to think God ought to have done, what we belive, that
he hath not done.
But do I any where fay, that God ought to have done,
what I believe he has not done ? d<*I any where say, that
God ought by necessary and infallible means to have pre
vented Schisms and Heresies? Dare our Author himself
say this, who assigns this as the reason, why the Infallibili
ty of the Church u no more than morally evident, because otherwise // were impossible that any Herefie should be : which
at least supposes, that God did not intend to make it im
possible, that there should be Heresies and Schisms ; and
therefore though we mould grant it absolutely neceflary
to prevent all Heresies and Schisms, that there fliould be
an Oecumenical Pastor and Infallible Judge ; is this to
grant it neceflary, that there fliould be one, or to fay,
that there ought to be one, unless I had said also, that it
were absolutely necessary that all Heresies and "Schisms
should be prevented ? Is there no difference between
faying, that such a thing is absolutely neceflary to such an
end , and to say, that such an end is absolutely necefla
ry.
But however, where do I fay, that God has not done
that,
th Preservative ttgmU POPEKT.

that which I believe he ought to have done > is it the
fame thing to fay, such a thing is not, and such a thing
is not proved by soch an Argument ? and yet this is the
utmost that I fay, that the supposed necessity of an in
fallible Judge, does not prove, that there is such a Judge,
but only that there ought to be one, and I must conclude
no more from it ; and does this overthrow the use of
Reason, to conclude no more from an Argument, than
the Argument will prove? whatever any man appre
hends necessary, to be sure, he is mightily inclined to be
lieve, but whoever will believe like a reasonable creature,
must have good evidence for what he believes, and yet
that we believe it necessary is noevidence, that it is ; not
that God will not do, what is neceflary to be done, but
because that may not be necessary, which we vainly
and presumptuoufly imagine to be so : which is the very
reason I assign for it in the words immediately following.
Indeed this is a very fallacious way of reasoning : because
robot we may call useful, convenient, necessary, may not be so
in itself; and we have reason to believe it it not so, if God
have not appointed, what we thinkso useful, convenient, or ne*
ceffary : which is a truer and mtre modest way of reasoning,
than to conclude, that God has appointedsuch a jttdgie, when
no such thing.appears, only because we think it so useful and
necessary, that God ought to do it. Which is not to excuse
a bad Saying with a good one, as the Jesuite pretends in
answer to the Footman, {Preservat* Consider. .p. 36.) .tout
to justisie a good Saying with a good Reason.' But if 3
were such blasphemy in Alphonsus to say, that he thought
he.could have orderedsome things better than God did at she
first Creation, let the Jesuite consider whattofept* mend
what God has done in the woft of our Redemption,
upon a meer supposition, that it may be mended : sot
Popery is nothing else but a mending, or more properly
ipeakiog, a amping Che Gospel of Christ Wjfh a bljrfpheG
mous
A Vindication of the FirH Part of

mous opinion of mending it. And I think to fay, that
God has done, what there is no other proof he has done,
but only that we think he ought to have done it, is to
fay, that God ought to have done,, what it does not ap
pear he has done; and if not to be, and not to appear, be
the fame in this casse, then this is equivalent to faying,
that God ought to have done/ what he has not done. And
this I hope is sufficient for the Vindication of those Prin*
ciples, which are pretended to overthrow the Use of Conn
mon Sense and Reason.
Sec^, II.
the Principles pretended to wake void all Faith vin*
dicated.
fair. p. 6.
HE begins with proving the Protestant Faith, not to

be a Divine Faith, because it is not a certain one ;
which if it were true, is like proving a man not to live,
because he is weak : for if there be as much certainty, as
is absolutely neceflary to the essence of Faith, it may he
a true Faith, though weak, as a weak man is alive still :
and Faith receives its denomination of Divine or Hu
mane Faith, not from the Certainty or Uncertainty of it,
but from the Authority on which it rests ; a Divine Au
thority makes a Divine Faith, Humane Authority an
Humane Faith, and both these may be either certain or
uncertain, or, to speak properly, strong or weak : so that
to prove, that the Protestant Faith is not Divine^ because
it is not Certain, is like disproving the Essential Properties
by. Changeable Accidents, that a Man is not a reasonable
Creature, because he is not strong : for there is no more
neceflary connexion between Faith being Divine , and
being Strong or Certain, than between Reason andBodi*
ft

ly Strength ; a weak Man may be a reasonable Creature,
and a weak Faith may be Divine, if it be founded on a Di
vine Authority.
But I wish the Jesuite had told us, what that degree of
Certainty is, which makes a Faith Divine, whether any
thing less than the certainty of Infallibility can do it ; for
this used to be the old Argument, that our Faith is not
Divine nor Certain, because it is not infallible, but if they .
will abate any thing of Infallibility, we will vie all other
degrees of Certainty with them, and that he very fairly
quitted before, when he owned and proved, that there
could be no more than Moral Evidence for the Infallibi
lity of their Church, and then I am sure, they can have
no more than a Moral Evidence for the rest of their
Faith, which is all founded upon their Churches InfallibiJity.
'
Well, having proved, that our Faith cannot be Divine,
because it is not certain, he next undertakes to prove,
that our Faith is not certain : because we cannot have an
Ail of Faith of any One Article, till our Rule of Faith pro
poses it, i. e. till we know certainly what Scripture teaches
of itt not by any one Text, but by comparing all the texts
thatspeak of that Subject. Very well, we cannot believe
any thing upon the Authority of Scripture, which is
our Rule of Faith, till we know, that it is in Scripture ;
wisely observed, and we grant it. Let us see, what fol
lows. I . Then a Protestant must certainly know, that he
hath all the Books of Holy Writ. x. That all those, fre
owns for such were really written by inspired Pens. The
second we accept of, but there is no need to submit to his
first Condition. That* Protestant must certainly know, that
he hath all the Books of Holy Wkit ; that is, he must be
able to prove, that there never were any other Books
written by the Apostles or other inspired Men, but what
we receive into our Canon of Scripture ; which is to
G 2
*
prove
A Vindication of the F*r# Fart of

prove a negative, which is always thought unreasonable,
and at this distance from the Apostolick Age is impossible,
but whenever the Church of Rome will prove this of their
Canon of Scripture, we will prove it of ours. 'In the mean
time it is sufficient, that we reject: no Books, which have
been always acknowledged by the Universal Church, and
that the Books we receive have been received for inspired
Writings by the Universal Church ; and if ever there
were any other Books written. by the Apostles or Evan
gelists, which are now lost, we have reason to believe,
that the Church does not need them, but has a persect:
Rule of Faith and Manners without them ; for the
Divine Providence would never permit , that the
Church should want any neceflary part of the Rule of
Faith.
He proceeds, $ly. And (since the Letter kills) that he
understands the true fense of each Text whith relates to the
Objeft of that Aft of Faith. /\ly. That be remember them
all, so as comparing them, to fee which is the clearer to
expound the obscurer, and what is the result of them all,
(for any one he understands not, or hathforgotten, may possi
bly be that one that must expoundthe rest) he cannot have one
Aft of Faith.
. ,
Now, not to take notice of his ridiculous, not to fay
blasphemous, misapplication of Scripture in that Parenthe
sis, the Letter kills, by which St. Paul understands the
Law, which he calls the Letter, or an External Admini
stration, and the Ministration of Death, and of Condemna
tion, in distinction from the Gospel, which is the Mini
stration of the Spirit, and the Ministration of Righteousness,
% Cor. 3. 6, 7, 8, 9. but our learned Jesuite understands
it of the Letter of the Gospel as distinguished from the
Sense of it, which is such a distinction as no men of sense
ever thought of, till the Church of Rome found it neces
sity to distinguish the Letter and the Words of Scripture
from
45
from the Sense of it, and to separate them too, whieh

they have effectually done ; but yet how the Letters,
which are very innocent things in all other Books, should
be such killing things in Scripture, is worthy of the Wit
and Learning of a Jesuite to unriddle : But I say, to
let this pass, I grant a Protestant must understand the
true sense of Scripture (which must be done by venturing
to understand the killing Letter of it) before he can know,
much less believe, what the Scripture teaches ; but that
they should understand and remember every place of
Scripture which relates to such a Subject, I see no reason
for ; if we have one or two or more plain and express pla
ces for it, it is enough, at least for ordinary Christians,
and a great deal more than the Church of Rome has for
any of her new Articles of Faith. For we are sure, what
is plainly and exprefly said in one place cannot be con
tradicted by another ; and therefore if I had no more than
that one plain Text, Thou jbalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only /bait thou serve, I should think it a sufficient
Proof against the Worship of Saints and Angels, though
there were no other Text in the Bible against it. Now
whatever Papists fay (for we desire to hear them prove as
well as fay) this is so far from being impossible to any, oralmost any man , that every considering Protestant has
sufficient assurance of all this to found a Divine Faith
on.
Well, but what says Dr. Sherlock to give Protestants any
certainty? Truly not one word, for that was not my bu
siness to (hew what positive certainty Protestants have,
but to (hew upon what vain pretences Papists charge the
Protestant Faith with uncertainty.
And 1 . I observe, that could they prove the Protestant
Faith uncertain, this is no sufficient reason to turn Papists,
because Protestants are uncertain, does this prove the Church Prifm/M
f Rome to be infallible, because the Church of England u * 79faU
A Vindication of the First Part of *

fallible ? must certainty be necessarily found amongfl them,
because it is not found with its f is Thomas an honeH man,
because John is a knave .<? Yes, he fays, // the stolen goods
were found with John, an honest Jury he conceives would
bring Thomas in not guilty. And if Protestant Uncer
tainty, and Popish Inlallibility, were to be decided by an
honest Popish Jury, we might guels pretty near at their
Verdict.
But he fays, there is a true Faith, and conse
quently a certain Rule of Faith. Protestants on one fide chuse
one Rule, viz. the Holy Scriptures, for we have no other
Rule ; Catholicks another ; therefore not the Holy Scri
ptures, for that is the Protestant Rule : but here he ignorantly misrepresents his own Church ; for the Church of
Rome does own the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith,
though not a compleat and persect Rule; but the dispute
between Protestants and Papists, is not so much about the
Rule, as about the Judge ; but he seems not to understand
this distinction between the Rule and the Judge of faith.
But now for his conceiving ! / conceive then, that if the
Protestant Rule be proved uncertain, (that is, the Holy
Scriptures) 'tit plain, the Catholick Rule must be the certain
one. But when the Scriptures are proved uncertain, I
sear, there will be no Rule at all. But however, his Argument is so far true, that if he could prove, that there
are but two Rules, that one is false, and the other true;
then when he has proved one to be false, I grant with
out any more disputing, that the other is true : but
now, though there can be but one true Rule , there
may be a great many false ones, and then both the
Rules in competition may be false and uncertain. In
the Preservat. Consider, p. 38. he endeavours to salve
this ; and now does not put the question about two
Rules of Faith, for that he fays, we are agreed on. That .
the Scriptures are the Word of God, that if we understood
the full extent of its fense and meaning, there would never
the Preservative agairM PO PERT.

be Error or Herefie amongst us. Which (hews, that, as I
"Observed before, he did not understand the difserence be^
tween a Rule of Faith, and a Guide or Expositor, till
some wiser man had told him of it. Well, now the thing
in question is, ly what method we ought to come to that
knowledge, as jar as it is necessary to a Christian. And I
Jay, that all the methods are reduced to these two heads :
that we are guided to the certain knowledge of what God hath
revealed, either hy a knowledge communicated to each of
us, or by a knowledge communicated only to Guides appointed
to direel the rest. What he means by this communicated
knowledge I cannot tell ; for we think tha Scriptures may
be understood without either publick or private Enthu
siasms, as all other Books are to be understood, by consi
dering the use and signification of words, the scope and
design of the place, and by comparing one Text with
another, and the like : Thus the Guides of the Church
must understand Scripture , and by their assistance thus
private Christians may understand Scripture. This all Man
kind consess to be one way of understanding Scripture,
the fame way that all men use to understand any Wri
ting, nay the only natural way, that we know of : No,
fays the Church of Rome, there is another possible way,
for God to direct the Guides, the Pope of Rome, or Ge
neral Council by an infallible Spirit in expounding Scri
pture : right fay I, this is possible indeed, for God can
do it, if he pleases, but it does not follow, this is any
way at all, till it appears, that God has revealed, that he
will take this way : so that before there can be any com
petition between these two ways of expounding Scriptures,
it must be proved, that there are two ways ; the Prote
stant way is acknowledged by all Mankind, for Nature
teaches no other way of understanding Books, whether
of Humane or Divine Composition ; that there is such a
way asthePopisti Method must be proved by Revelations
46
for it depends wholly upon the Will of God, and there

fore can be proved only by Revelation : now to make a
competition between two ways of expounding Scri
pture, before it is proved there are two ways is ridicu
lous ; and much more ridiculous to prove the certain
ty of the unknown and unproved way, from the uncer
tainty of the known way : if they can prove , the Pro
testant way of expounding Scripture, which is the only
way we know of, to be uncertain, the consequence is,
that there is no certain way of expounding Scripture,
not that the Church of Rome is the infallible Interpreter
of Scripture : and therefore any Protestant who is perswaded to own the Infallibility of the Church of Rome,
because he is told, that the Protestant Faith is uncertain,
is a very foolish Convert, and has so little sense and rea
son, that it were fit, he had an infallible Guide, if he were
to be found.
So that he is a little too forward, when he kys, that
all the Methods (of coming to the knowledge of Scri
pture) are reduced to these two heads, for we know, but
of one way of expounding Scripture, till he proves ano
ther ; and when he can prove his infallible Guide, we
will give up Protestant certainty, as I told him before,
but till he has in another way proved the infallible Au
thority of his Church in expounding Scripture, though he
could prove our Faith uncertain, this cannot prove his
own to be infallible.
In the next place I directed our Protestant to ask these
Popish Disputants, what they meant by the uncertainty tf
Prism. p.8o. the Protestant Faith. For this may fignifie two things, ei
ther, I. that the Objects of our Faith are in themselves un
certain , and cannot be proved by certain reasons. Or,
a.ry, That our ferswafion about these matters is uncertain
and wavering. The Jefuite answers, that this is not a true
division, for there is a third thing also, to wit, that what# '
ever
the Preservative agaiaU POPERT.

ever Reasons there may he for a thing, he who believes it,bath for the motive of his belief those certain Reasons - Tor
he that believes in Christ only because his Mother hath
taught him so, hath a very uncertain , and po Divine*
Faith. But suppose this Mother be the Church, and he
believes it only, because the Church hath taught him so,
Has this man a divine and certain Faith ? No doubt must
our Jesuite say, because the Church is Infallible. But sup
pose this man can no more prove the Church to be infal
lible, than that his natural Mother is infallible ; What difserence is there between those, who believe upon the Au
thority of the Church, and of their Mother t I can assign
none, and (hall be glad to learn the difserence from our
Jesuite. He who believes the true Christian Faith, and
lives in conformity to it, mall certainly be saved, or else I
sear we must at least damn half the Christians in the World,
whether Protestants or Papists, for want of understanding
the reasons of their Faith. Nay I am afraid all Traditionary
Christiansmustbedamned.who believe this is the true Faith
today, because their Fathers and Mothers were taught so
and believed so yesterday. So that I guess upon second
thoughts our Jesuite will compound this matter with me,
and let fall the third part of the division, and I am con
tented at present, till I hear farther from him.
But he might have observed that I said, not only that
the Objctls of our Faith are in themselves certain, but that
they may be proved by certain Reasons. . And therefore for
him to say, that they are indeed in themselves certain, but
not to any Protestant, whose Rule ef Faith cannot make him
certain of any one Ârticle, without offering to shew, that
the Reasons, why we believe are uncertain, is to drop half
of the first branch of the division, and then to complain of
the want of it. When the Footman had minded him, that
our Rule of Faith is the Scripture, and therefore if what
he fays be true, the Scripture cannot make us certain of
H
any.
48
A Vindication of the Th U tart of
any one Article of Faith, instead of answering this Blafr

der, his Superiors only correct his Words in a Parenthesis,
Treserv Constd. p. 40. The Protestant Rule of Faith (con
fidering the Method he applies it by) cannot make him ce*
tain, &c. which is a plain consession, that the Footman
was 'too hard for the Jesuite, but then he should have
shewn us, how we had misapplied, and what the uncer
tainties of our Reasons are, but I suppose, he will talre
time to consider that.
As for what he calls my Rule of Faith, which he seys
justifies Turk, Jew, and Gentile. We believe all that God
hath revealed, and nothing else, u not aS, that he hath re
vealed certain i Though I grapt 4 Divine Revelation is
the only Rule of my Faith; y,et here I spoke not of the
Rule but of the Objects of my Faith, and challenge him to
shew, that we do reject any thing that God has revealed in
the Gospel of his Son, or believe any thing else and dare
him, as I well migjjt all prosesied Christians, to deny the
truth or certainty of what is revealed in the Gospel : but
Turks and sews believe what they think in their judgments
God hath revealed', that is their Rule, and 'tis yours. And is
there any fault to be found with this so far ? Do Papists
believe, what they think in their , judgments, God has
not revealed, or what they think, he has revealed i If
they believe , what they think God has revealed, then
they justifie Jew$and Turks too, as much as Proteslanfs.
it con ^
'he Jesuite, Tour own private judgments are *n both
fidtrt4,p. 4* hands your Guides, and not any authority established by AU
mighty God. Now I consess, I am not ashamed to own,
that Turk and Jew and Gentile, that is 'all Mankind ex
cept Papists, agree with Protestants in this, that all men
must believe with their own judgments, and that there is
no other faculty to believe with : and much good may it
do Papists, that they have found out a way to believe
without judgment, wherein they differ from the rest of
the Preservative against POPERY.

Mankind. As for their Authority appointed by God, on
which they must rely without using their own Judgment,
when they can prove any such Authority we wilJ Tubmit
to it.
I proved that the Articles of the Christian Faith, which
Protestants believe, are* certain and founded on certain
Reasons, as they .themselves must grant, unless they re
nounce the Christian Religion, for here Infallibility itself
cannot help them out. For Infallibility cannot make that
certain, whish is in itsself uncertain, an infallible man must
know things as they are, or else he is mistaken andceases to be
infallible, and therefore what is certain he infallibly knows to
he certain, and what is uncertain he infallibly knows to be
uncertain ; for the most certain and infallible Knowledge does
not change its Qbjeft, but fees it just as it is. Now this be
fays is notoriously false, sinceshe (the Church) is not infallible
by any light of her own, but by the guidance of the Spirit of
Truths Now this is nothing to the purpose by whit light
the Church sees, the Question is, Whether an infallible
Church can know that to be certain, which is uncertain ?
if she can, then she infallibly knows that which is not true.
But were not the Apostles certain of what Christ told them,
when they acknowledged him the Son of God before he gave
them certain Reason for it ? But was not Christ's telling
them b a certain Reason ? If they believed without Rea
son, I am of opinion, how blind an impiety soever it be,
that they believed too soon. I envy no Church the priyikdge of believing infallibly without Reason or Evidence,
Jbut it is well for the Church of Rome if she have this priviledge, for unless she can be Infallible withoutUeason,
pay in contradiction to it, I am sure, she is not infallible.
But what tergiversation is here ? Does the Church of Rome
infallibly jipow , that the Christian Religion is certainly
true? Does she infallibly know, that the certain Truth of
Christian Religion is founded upon certain Reasons ? if so,
H %
then
A Vindication of the First Part of

then the Christian Religion is certain and founded on cer
tain Reasons; and then those who believe the Christian
Religion for the sake of such certain Reasons have a cer
tain Faith, whether they believe upon the Authority of
the Church or not, unless a Faith built upon certain Rea
sons may be uncertain, or cannot be certain : for if the
Church infallibly knows, that there are, certain Reasons
for the truth of Christianity, then there are certain Rea
sons distinct: from the Infallibility of the Church, and they
may be a Foundation for a certain Faith without the
Churches Infallibility.
I observed, that their great Argument to prove the un
certainty of the Protestant Faith is, that there is agreat va. riety of Opinions among Protestants, and that they condemn
one another with equal confidence and assurance. He fays, /
should have added,, tho they use the fame Rule of Faith, and
apply it by the same means. But there was no need of ad
ding this, it was supposed in all the Argument* T used,
which*he answers only by faying, 'Tis an unanswerable Ar
gument against your Rule of Faith, and evidently proves it
uncertain. What does it prove the Scripture to be uncer
tain ? for that is our Rule, or does he mean this of our
Way of applying it, that is by using the best Reason and
Judgment we have to understand it : and then his Argu
ment is this, some men misunderstand Scripture, and
therefore no man can rightly -understand it ; some men
reason wrong, and therefore no man can reason right ;
some men arc confidently perswaded, that they are in the
right, when they are in the wrong, and therefore no man
can be certain when he is in the right : an Argument which
in all other casses mankind would hiss at. Some men be
lieve they are awake, whenthey are m a dream, therefore
no man can know, when he is awake : there are filly con
fident people, who are cheated with flight appearances of
tilings, therefore no man can distinguish1 between appea r
$i
ances and realities. Or to put but one case, which will

sensibly affect him : some men, nay the greatest part of
Christians, do not believe the Infallibility of the Church

of Rome, and therefore no man can be certain, that the
Church is Infallible : For here are all his Conditi
ons , the same Rule , applied the same way, for he consels'd above that there can be no more than a Moral Evi'
deuce for the Infallibility of the Church.
Now in Moral
Evidence every man must use his own Judgment ; thus
we do, we consider all the. Arguments they alledge for
the Infallibility of their Church from Scripture, fromProrftises, from Prophesies, from Bellamiris Fifteen Notes of
the Church, or whatever other Reasons and Arguments
they use; upon the whole we conclude, that the Church
of Rome is not Infallible, they that it is : now if he will
stand to his Argument, That variety of Opinions , when
men use the same Rule, and apply it the same way, is an
unanswerable Argument, that the Rule is uncertain, thin
it is impossible mat they should have so much as a Moral
certainty of Infallibility ; since all mankind besides are
against them.
His Answer toDr.Sr.'s Arguments, to prove that the
Scriptures may be a very certain Rule, though yjen dif
ser in expounding them, are so very senseless, that I have
no patience to answer them, especially since he grants all
that the Dean intended to prove, that a Rule may be a
certain Rule# though men, who do not understand it, may
misapply it. But the principle he has laid down for
mine, I contess, is very extraordinary and surprizing, that
if two men have the Bible, read it, endeavour to understand
it, and believing they do, draw from the fame Scriptures two
different Conclusions, two opposite Articles ofFaith, both are f
^
Hound to stand to their private judgment, and to believe pdirld, p. 4,.
themselves in the right, though all the World should accuse
them in lieu of the true pretended Rule, to have' used a false
One.
1*2
A Vutdication of she FirU fart of

One. I affirm, that one man may expound the Scripture
right, and know, that he does so, though another es
pounds it wrong ; and he makes me fey,' that when two
men expound the Scripture to difserent and contrary sen
ses, they are both bound to believe, that they are in the
* right : this it is certain they will do, and there is no reme
dy against it, but what is worse than the disease, that men
should not use their own Judgments, and then they dare
not believe themselves when they are in.the right, which
is as bad, as to believe themselves in the righf, when they
are in the wrong : but that for. this reason, all the World
shouldaccuse them in lieu of the true pretended Rule to have
used a false one, is very 'senseless, unless by all the Wprld
he means the World of RomanCatholicks> for.no other
men, as I have already (hewn, nay not he himself, j he
will stand to his own word, will accuse the Rule to be
false, because men make a false judgment of it ,- for to call
every man's private judgment of the Rule hit Rule, whicij
is the substance of his following harangue, is to resolve
neither to think, . nor speak, like other men : for that no
man thinks his own private judgment to be his Rule, is
evident from hence, that upon better Information he af
ters hisiudgment,, without changirfg his Rule.
I concluded this Section concerning the uncertainty of
the ProtestantFaith with this observation.that this very Ar
gument from the different and contrary opinions ofProtestants
to prove the uncertainty of the Trotestant Faith, signifies nth
thing as 4o our disputes with the Church of Rftme : for ask
them, what they would think of the Protestant Faith were (iff
Protestants of a mind .<? would their consent and agreement
prove the certainty of the Protestant Faith ? /hen the Profedant Faith in opposition to Popery is very certain, for they
all agree in condemning the Errors and Corruptions of the
Church of Rome. And thus J think they get nothing by this
Argument : for if the dissensions of Protestants proves the
the Preservative against POP ER X.

uncertainty of their Faith, as to such matters wherein they
differ, then by the fame Rule their agreement in opposition to
Popery, shews their great certainty in fucirmatters. And
this I suppose is no great inducement to a Protestant to turn
Papist.
Our Jesuit had so much Wit in his Anger, as to conceal
the force of this Argument, and to reprelent it thus, Were
all Protestants of a mind would their consent and agreement
prove the certainty of the Protestant Faith, By which a.
lone no man living could guess, what I was proving ; and
to this he answers, Not at all, and I agree with him in it ;
for meer agreement does not prove the certainty of Faith,
no more then rneer disagreement, or variety of Opinions
proves the uncertainty of Faith. But they prove then}
both alike, as I observed, which he calls a ridiculous In
ference, and as lie has reported it, he has made it ridicu
lous enough, This is the fame Rule, and their disagreement
proves not their uncertainty. This is to mangle and transprofe an Argument that it may not be understood t but
to confute this he says, all Vnion k no Argument of the Spi*
rit ofGod, for People may combine to do til .* But what is
this jo agreement in Opinions fc May not that argue the
certainty of Faith, because some men agree to do ill ? for
a general consent and agreement of mens understandings,
may be an argument of the truth of what they consent in,
though the agreement of their Wills may not be a vertuous but a wicked Combination. But yet St. Paul assures us,,
disunion and dissension is a certain mark of the absence of the
Spirit of God,thzX is,Contentions and Quarrels and Schisms
are indeed so far the Works of the Flesh. But when two
men or two Churches differ in their opinions of things,
can neither of them be in the right ? Is the Spirit of God
with neither of them? Is truth on neither side? Then the
Controversies between the Church of Rome, and the
Church of England, prove that the Spirit of God is no
more
\fVindication of the FirftVart of

more with the Church of Rome, then with the Church of
England.
The plain case is this ; our Roman Adversaries perswade
Protestants, that they can hav e no certainty of their Faith,
because Protestants are so much divided about it , and
therefore they must go to the Church of Rome, which alone pretends to Infallibility. But fay I, why mould these
differences am6ng Protestants oblige them to go over to
the Church of Rome, when Protestants have no difference
about this matter, but are all agreed, that the Church of
Rome is so far from being infallible, thar she is a very cor
rupt Church : I do not soy, that the difserences of Prote
stants is a good Argument to prove the uncertainty of
their Faith, nor their bare agreement to prove the cer
tainty of it, T)ut I fay, one proves as much as t'other, and
therefore 'tis a better reason to Protestants not to turn
Papists, that all Protestants are agreed, that the Church
of Rome is not infallible, but has greatly erred, then it is
for Protestants to go to the Church of Rome for Infallibi
lity, because they differ in some things among themselves ;
especially considering that many points they now differ
about, will not be reconciled by their going to the Church
of Rome ; for the fame points are as fiercely disputed among
them too, as to instance at present only in the Quinqutdrticular Controversy.
CHAP.
III.
A Vindication of some Positions, which are pre*

tended to ntakg void all Scripture-proof, all
use of Fathers and Councils,
rity,
and of Civil Cha
and Moral Justice to our Neighbours.
AS for Scripture-proof : I was directing Protestanti

what kind of Scripture-proof to demand for Trasubstantiation : and having shewn that the Doctrine of
Transubstantiation does manisestly contradict the evi
dence of all our Senses and the most necefiary principles
of Reason, I told them, that it is but reasonable, that
the evidence for Transubstantiation should at least be
equal to the evidence against it, and therefore they muH
demandsuch a Scripture-proof of Transubstantiation, as cannot possibly fignifie any thing else ; or else it will not answer
that evidence which we have against Transubstantiation : Pr(sfor sense and reason pronounce Transubstantiation to be natu
rally impossible ; and therefore unless it be as impossible to
put any other sense upon Scripture, as it is to reconcile Tran
substantiation to sense and reason, there is not such good
evidence for Transubstantiation, as there is againH it. This
he repeats after his usual manner, to take care that no
body shall understand what it relates to, or see the force
of the Argument ; and in answer to it he gives us a new
instance of his good will to the Doctrine of the Trinity.
He fays, A Text which cannot possibly have another fense, An^
doth not leave it in any one's liberty, who owns Scripture to
.te an Heretick ; therefore the Church produced no such
I
Text
A Vindication of the F/Vf? Part os

Text against the Arians or Nestorians ; whence it evident
ly follows, that according to Dr. Sherlock, the Arians and
Nestorians were not bound to believe the Trinity and Incar
nation of Chritf. But did I fay, that nothing can be pro
ved but by such express Texts, as it is not possible to un
derstand otherwise ? I said, this was necessary to prove
any Doctrine which sense and reason declare to be abso
lutely impossible. And will he say the Doctrine of the
Trinity is such a Doctrine? No he fays, Preservative
Considered, p. 4? . But they so appeared to the Nestorians
and Arians, and that is the cafe put ly Dr. Sherlock : but
I put no casse about meer appearing , but of such pal
pable contradictions as the sense and reason of all Man
kind agree in : as Papists themselves cannot deny, and
know not how tojustifie, without pressing the Almighty
Power of God to make good their absurd Imaginations.
Now where there is only an appearance of contradiction,
where a Doctrine only lies cross to metis natural rea
son, there such express Texts as do more evidently prove
that Doctrine, then that Doctrine does evidently contra
dict reason, is a sufficient foundation for the belief of ir,
because in this casse there is more evidence for it than against it : and did not the Churcli alledge such Scri
pture.proofs for the Trinity ? And are there no such
Proofs to be alledged ? He thinks they did not, because
then the Arians could not have continued Hereticks ;
for a Text which cannot possibly have any other sense, doth
not leave it in any ones liberty to be a Herttkk.
But I
suppose, he will allow, that I spoke not of a natural
but of a moral impossibility ; now a moral impossibility
of interpreting Scripture otherwise is, when a man can
not reasonably do it without offering manisest violence
to the words, and this a wilful and obstinate Hereticfc
may do, how plain and self-evident, how uncapable soe
ver the words are of any other possible sense to a reaso<
nabJe
the Preservative againtl PO PERT.

nable and impartial Inquirer. This principle, I consess,
makes void all Scripture-proof of such Doctrines as
sense and reason pronounce absolutely impossible, but
this is no injury, but the greatest right we can do the
Scripture. But I cannot without some indignation ob
serve, how the Doctrine of the ever blefled Trinity is
upon all occasions introduced by these men as contra
dicting sense and reason, which would make one suspect,
they kept it for no other reason but to justifie the ab
surdities and contradictions of Transubstantiation.
As for the making void the use of Fathers and Coun
cils to unlearned men , it is the thing I designed, and
I am very glad if I have done it : but as for learned
men they may make such use of them still , as such
Writings are designed for ; not to make them the Rule
of Faith, but either to learn what was the Doctrine and
Practice of the Church in their days,' or what their
private Opinions were, or how they expounded Scri
pture and the like : that I call it squabling about the sense
of Fathers , if the expression be undecent , it is ow
ing to himself and some such late Scriblers, whose Di
sputes have been nothing else but Squables. But I can
not blame him, that he is so angry, that I direst the Pro
testant to inquire, Whether such Books were written by
that Father, whose Name it bears, for he knows such an
inquiry has very lately cost him dear, 1 was going to fay
a blulh , but that is impossible. If such Questions as
I ask cannot be answered to the satisfaction of learn
ed men, they are of no more use to them, than they
^re to the unlearned, who cannot answer them them
selves, and want the Learning which is necessary to
make them capable of a satisfactory Answer, and this is
all the Answer I shall return to this Charge.
I x
His
A Vindication of the FirB Part os

His next Charge is a dreadful one : Such Principles
as make void all use of Civil Charity and Moral Justice
to our Neighbours. He Jays it in the very- last Section of
the Preservative, Concerning Protestant Misrepresentations
of Popery. Wherein I (hewed, how vain and filly this
charge was, and he has not one word to fay in desence of
ir.
Among other tilings I observed, that these men, who
complain so much of Misrepresenting, endeavour to make
the Doctrines of the Church of Rome look as like Prote
stant Doctrines, as ever they can, as if there were little
or m difference letween them.
The truth is, the chief
Myfiery in this late Trade of Representing and Misrepre
senting is no more tut this, to joyn a Protestant Faith with
Popish Pratiices , to believe as Protestants do, and to. do as
Papists do. This I gave some sew instances of out of
the Representor, and shewed that their Faith, as he Re
presented it, came very near and in some cases was the ve
ry fame with the Protestant Faith, but their Practice was
Popish. How is this contrary to Civil Charity and Mo
ral Honesty .<? He fays it is this, When a mans exterior
Atlions are naturally capable of a good and pious meaning,
and he ever and clearly declares, that it is his, yet to fa~
sten upon him another oppofite design and meaning. But
how does this concern me, who fasten no meaning at all
upon their Actions, but only barely relate, what they
prosess to believe, and what they practice. He instances
in two, and let all the World judge, who makes void Ci
vil Charity and Moral Honesty, He, or T.
To infinuate, fays he , that a Catholick thinks the VirginMary more powerful in Heaven than Christ , he tellsyou,
that he fays Ten Ave-Maries for one Pater Noster ; where
as all that I fay is , He (the Papist Represented) believes
it damnable , to think the Virgin Mary more powerful m
Heaven than Christ , which is Protestant Doctrine. But
yet
the Preservative againtt POPERT.

yet he prays to her oftner than either to God or Christ ;
Jays ten Ave-Mariesfor one Pater Noster ; which is a Po
pish Devotion.
Is here any breach of Moral Honesty
in this ? is not all this true ? do T put any sense or inter
pretation upon this action ? I believe all men will think,
that this does more than insinuate , what a belief they
have of the power of the Virgin ; and this the Jefuite
was sensible of, and therefore fays, that I insinuate it, but
I will leave it as I did at first, to what judgment all indif
ferent men will make of it.
In the next place, he fays , I charge the Catholicks wish
worshipping the visible Species in the Eucharist : Hear - my
words again ; He believes it unlawful to commit Idolatry,
and most damnable to worship any Breaden God ; which is
spoke like a Protestant : but yet he pays Divine Adoration
to the Sacrament, which is done like a Papist. Here is no
thing about worshipping the vi/ib/e Species in the Eucha
rist : but whatever is the Sacrament, they worship, and
must do so by the Doctrine of their Church ; if they
can make a Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ,
withour the visible Species , then according to their Do
ctrine, they need npt worship the visible Species, if they
can't, they must , for they must adore the Sacrament ;
and if the Sacrament should prove to be Bread and Wine,
not the natural Body and Blood of Christ.and it is strange,
if it should not , then I need not tell them what they
worship.
But those matters- have been debated often e*
noughof late.
He concludes with an advice to Protestants, urging the
Argument against Scriptures , which I had before done
against Fathers.
Among/I Christians, there is not one in an
hundred thousand , who understand all Scripture , and it is
morally impojftble they should ; and therefore certainly there
must be an easier and shorter way to understand Christian'
Religion^
A Vindication of the First Part, &c.

Religion than this, or else the generality ef Mankind, even ef
frofest Christians, are out of possibility ef Salvation. I grant
every word of it to be true, if understanding aU Scripture,
as he puts it, were neceflary to Salvation ; but the only
easier and shorter way is to understand so much of the
Scripture as is necessary to Salvation , and let him when
he pleases, if he dare venture the Blasphemy of it, prove
that this is morally impojftble to the generality of Mankinds evenof profest Christians.
VINDICATION
OF THE
SECQNT>
'
OF
TART
THE
Preservative against POPERY-
HEre our Jesiiite gives me a great many hard Words,

but nothing of Argument j He talks tragically of
Calumnies and Misrepresentations, how much he
proves of it, unless a bold Accusation must pass for
a Proof, I dare leave to every ordinary Reader, who will compare my Book with his. He is much off of his byafi here,
for I did not dispute directly against any Popish Doctrines,
but used such collateral Arguments, as are very evident and
convincing to ordinary Readers, but so much out of the road,
that the Jesiiite could find nothing in his Common-place Book
about it, and therefore does not pretend to answer any one
SeBion of my Book ; but yet out of every SeStion he picks some
single Sayings, and if he meets with an Argument, that he
cannot answer, he takes some few words of it, and calls it
Calumny and Misrepresentation j the only way I have to
write such an Answer to him, as may be fit to be read, is to
give a short Abstract of each Seftion of my Book, and to take
notice, where those Passages come in, which he calls Calum
nies and Misrepresentations.
Sb ct.
62
A Vindication of the Second Fart of
Sect. L
Concerning Idolatry.
I Shewed the great Design of our Saviour was more perfectly
to extirpate all Idolatry. To this purpose he has more per
fectly instructed us in the Nature of God. To this end he
-M .
confines all Religious Worship to God alone. Tbjujbalt vorpf
4-Mtth. io. fbe ^
6ej ^ bm onij fl,ait thou sent. \t is his answer
to the Devil, when he tempted him to fall down and worship
him j but he gives such an answer, as excludes all Creatures,
not only good, but bad Spirits from any share in Religious
Worship. For he does not deny to worship him meerly be
cause he was the Devil, but because we must worship none
but God. Which is as good a reason against the Worship of
Prism. Cm- thc most glorious Angels, as of the Devil himself. This he
fid. p. 61.
calls a Misrepresentation, and to make it so, first very sillily
misrepresents my words, and fays, that I charge the Church
of Rome, that she doth not fay to God alone, that degree os Warfinp, which the tempting Devil demanded of Christ. But I fay not
one word there about the Church of Rome, tho' the applica
tion was obvious and he made it for me : but then I do not
blame them, that they do not pay that degree of Worship to God,
which the Devil demanded of Christ ; which was but an inserior
degree of Worship, and therefore not proper for the Supreme
Deity ; but that they pay any degree, how inserior soever,
of Religious Worship to Saints and Angels, or any other Being
besides God, for that is the import of our Saviour's Answer to
the Devil, and answers the pretence of the Church of Rome,
' that she does not give latria, or that Soveraign Worship, which
due to the Supreme God, but only Julia, or an Inserior Wor
ship to Saints and Angels j whereas our Saviour's Argument
proves,that no degree of Worship is to be given to any but God.
He fays farther, p. 64. That Christ, by refufing himself all Wor(hip to GeJs Enemy the Devil, teaches us to pay none at all to God's
Saints and Angels, is an inference that no one but Dr. Sherlock
was ever able to make. T,hen it seems, I have the honour of
inventing a good Argument, which this Jesuite dares not at
tempt to answer : let him shew me if he can, that to Worship
none
the Preservative against POPE KY.

none but God, excludes only the Worship of the Devil, not
of Saints and Angels.
As a farther proof of this, I add, Our Saviour denies to Wor
ship him, though the Devil made no terms -with him about the kind
or degrees of Worffiip. He does not require him to offer Sacrifice to
him, (-which is the only AB of Worship the Church of Rome appro
priates to the Supreme God) hut only to bow down before him, as
an exprejficn of Devotion. This he calls a Misrepresentation,
that Sacrifice is the only AB of Worship, which the Church of'Rome
appropriates to the Supreme God\ which is the first time this was
called a Misrepresentation 5 and yet he himself owns, p. 64.
that Sacrifice is indeed the only exterior Worjhip inseparable from
latria, and therefore never to be offered to any but God. And is
not this what I said ? did I deny, that the Church of Rome
paid any other Worship to God, but Sacrifice ? but I (ay, and
16 says our Jesuite, that there is no other external Act of Wor
ship so peculiar to God, that it can be given to no other be
ing, but only Sacrifice j and therefore since the Devil did
not demand of Christ to sacrifice to him, he did not demand
of him that degree of Worship, which alone the Church of
Rome thinks peculiar and appropriate to God,and yet Christ tells
us of all other Acts of Worlhip,which the Church of Rome thinks
may be separated from latria, and therefore given to Crea
tures, Thuu shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve.
I added, that to prevent the Worship of Inserior Dmons,
who were worshipped as Mediators to the Supreme God, God
advances his own Son to be the Universal Mediator, and the
Supreme and Soveraign Lord of the World, that all Mankind
should make their Addresses and Supplications to him, and offer up
their Prayers only in his Name, that in him the/ Jhvuld find accep
tance, and in no other Name. Hence he concludes, that I charge
the Church of Rome, (though I did not mention her) that
they offer not their Prayers only m the Name of Christ, that in him
tjoey may find acceptance. And this he calls a Mi (representa
tion ; and I will venture to be a Misrepresenter for once,
and charge them with it: for if they pray to God in the Name
and Merits of Saints and the blessed Virgin ; if they pray to
them to intercede for them with God, as appears in all their
Offices , then they do not pray only in the Name of
A Vindication of the Second Part of

Christ , nor expect to be accepted only for his fake.
I summed up this Argument thus : Now this being so appa
rently one end of Christ's coming into the World to suppress
the Idolatry of Creature-Worship, and to confine all Religions
Worfliip to one Supreme Being, in opposition to the many Gods of the
Heathens, and to teach us to make our Applications to this One God,
by One Mediator , (this, he fays, is another Misrepresentation,
that they make not their Applications to One God by One Mediator,
which is true, if by One he means only One, for they have
Many) in opposition to the Worship of inferior Deities; can any man
imagine, that the Worfliip of Saints and Angels and the Virgin
Mary, can be any part of the Christian Religion ? which is not a
direct Proof against the Worship of Saints and Angels, but
an Argument from what is likely, fit and congruous, and con
sistent with our Saviour's design, to root out all remains and
all appearances of Idolatry ; which makes it improbable and
incongruous to the utmost degree, that Christ should permit
the Worship of Saints and the Virgin Mary, as it is practised
in the Church of Rome ; with Temples and Altars and Ima
ges, with Solemn Prayers and Vows, and Solemn Proceffions,
which has so much the external appearance of that Idolatrous
Worship, which the Heathens paid to their Gods, that there
is no visible distinction between them. And if Christ intend
ed to root out Idolatry, it is highly improbable, that he would
allow, so much of the external pomp and shew of it," if it were
no more : Those who think this may be, may believe the
Worship of Saints and Angels to be a Gospel.Doctrine, notwith
standing this Argument ; but such Arguments as these are
thought by most men to have some weight in them ; as for in
stance, That a Man, who is very curious to preserve his Wives
Chastity, will not suffer her to receive all Amorous Addresses
and Courtships from Strangers,no not from his dearest Friends ;
That a Prince, who is so jealous of any Rivals and Partners,
as to make it Treason to usurp the meanest of the insignia Majestatir, will not suffer the greatest Favourite to wear the Im
perial Crown, nor to sit on his Throne, and receive the Ad
dresses and Homage of his Subjects upon the knee. As I obser
ved before, that how dear soever the Saints are to "God, they are.
but his Creatures, and if Soveraign Princes will mt receive their
greatest Favourites into their Throne, much lesiwiB God.
This

This is another of his Misrepresentations, that I fay, the Pa
pists, by their worshipping Saints, Angels, and the Virgin Mary, Jut
them in the Throne
God\ but this I do not fay, but only that
God will not take any of his Creatures into his Throne. But
yet if giving Religious Worship placed the Heathen Deities
in God s Throne, I would gladly be satisfied, why the Wor
ship of Saints and Angels should not be thought to do the
fame : I am sure to worship Saints in the lame Temple and at
the fame Altar, and with the fame humble Prostrations, and
in the very fame Prayers, that we worship God, looks very
like placing a Favourite on the lame Throne with his Prince ;
but yet this is not the dispute, whether they do so or not, but
whether it be not so like it, that it is unreasonable to think, that
Ghrist, who came to rootôut all Idolatry, will allow or com
mand it.
Another kind of Idolatry the Heathens were fond of, was,
the Worship of Images and Pictures, whereby they represented
their Gods as visibty present with them. For they wanted
some material representations of their Gods, in which they
might, as it were, see them present, and ofser up their Petitions
to them, and court them with some visible and sensible honours.
To cure this kind of Idolatry under the Law, though God
forbad the Worship of Images, yet he appoints them to erect a
Tabernacle or Temple, where he would dwell among them,
and place the Symbols of his Presence, the Mercy. seat, and the
Cherubims covering the Mercy.feat ; which was a symbolical
Representation of God's Throne in Heaven, where he is sur
rounded with Angels, as the Holy of Holies itself wasthcFigure of Heaven. Thus under the Law to give them assurance
of his presence with them, though they could not see him, he
had a peculiar Place for Worship, and peculiar symbols of his
Presence, but no Images to represent his Person, or to be the
Objects of Worship.
And here I took notice of that Pretence of the Church of
Rome for Image- Worship, that the Cherubims were worship
ped by the Jews, and particularly answered the Arguments of
the late Bishop of Oxford to prove it, and it had been worthy
of the Jesuite to have made some reply to this, but he was.
wiser than to meddle with it : among other things, the Bishop
, had urged David's Exhortation to the People to Honour the

Ark, Bow down to or worship his Foot.stool, for it ; or be ip holy,
99 Psalm , to prove , that the Jews worshipped the Cheru.
bims ; this I said, was very strange, when he himself, four Pa
ges before had told us, that the Ark was God's Foot.stool, and the
Cherubims his Throne ; now suppose David had exhorted the
people to Worship the Ark , which, as he fays, is God's Foot.stool,
how does this prove, that they must Worship the Cherubims, which
are God's Throne : this he calls a misrepresentation, and so it is
indeed, and a very gross one too, but it is his own ; for he
represents this as my Argument against the Worship of the
Cherubims, that they were commanded indeed to Worship
the Ark, which was God's Foot.stool, but not the Cherubims,
which were his Throne : whereas I never granted, that by the
Foot-stool of God was meant the Ark, but all that I laid was,
that if the Ark, as the Bishop assigned, was meant by God's
Foot.stool, and the Cherubims were his Throne, then though
there had been such a Command to worship God's Foot.stool,
this could not prove the worship of the Cherubims, which in
his Divinity were not the Foot.stool, but the Throne of God.
This he could not be ignorant of, because I exprelly proved,
that by the Foot-stool of God could not be meant the Ark, for
the Ark was in the Holy of Holies, which was a figure of
Heaven ; and neither the Heaven, nor any thing in it, but
the Earth is in Scripture called God'sFoot-stool j as the PJalmift
expreily applies it to Zion and the Holy Hill. And this I ob
served, is a sufficient confutation of his Exposition of the words,
to bow down to, or worship his Foot.stool; for Mount Zion or the
Holy Hill was nor the Object of Worship, nor Symbol of
God's Presence j but there God was present, and that was rea
son enough to worship him at his Foot.stool, and at h/s Holy Hill, as
our English Translation reads it.
I added, Suppose the Jews were so direil their Worship towards
the Mercy-feat, which was covered by the Cherubims, where God
had promised to be present, how are the Cherubims concerned in this
Worjhip ? the Worjhip was paid only to God, though dirctledto God>
as peculiarly present in that place, which is no more than to lift up
our eyes and bands to Heaven, where the Throne of God is, when we
pray to him : but, he adds, the very Image (for example) of Cbrif}
crucified, istbeQhjecJ of the Worship of Papists, which is certainly
true j but he should have given my own words. The Bishop

had said, that bowing to or towards any thing, was the fame
thing ; this I granted, if they bowed to or towards any thing
as the Object of Worship ; and therefore had the Jews either
bowed to or towards the Cherubims as the Objects of their
Worship, as the Papists bow to or towards their Images, they
had been equally guilty of Idolatry, and the breach of the Se
cond Commandment ; but when bowing to signifies bowing ro
an Object of Worship, and bowing towards signifies bowing to
this Object of Worship, only towards such a place, where he
is peculiarly present, this makes a vast difserence. And this he
calls a Misrepresentation, that I say, Paf,fts bow to their Images
as Objects of Worship j but this has been so often proved upon
them in the several Answers to the Represcnter and M. de
Mtaux and his Vindicator, that it would be as foolish in me to
prove it again, as it is impudent in him to deny it.
But I observed farther, that in the Gospel God has provideda more efsectual remedy against Image.Worship in the Incarna
tion of bis Son. Mankind have been alwavs fond of some vi
sible Deity, and because God cannot be seen they have gra
tified their superstition by making some visible Images and Re
presentations of an invisible God : Now to take them off from
mean corporeal Images and Representations, which are both a
dishonour to the Divine Nature and debase the Minds of Men,
God has given us a visible Image of himself; has clothed his
own Eternal Son with Humane Nature, who is the brightnesi of
bis Fathers Glory, and the expref Image of bis Person.. Now
when God has given us a visible Image of himself, his eternal
and incarnate Son, whom we may worship and adore, can we
think he will allow us to worship material and sensible' Images
of Wood and Stone ? And here the jesuite finds another Mis
representation, that by the Incarnation God is visibly represented
to us in our nature, but the Papists not contented with this contrary
to the design of God, made man, make and adore other Images of
God. Here he has concealed what my Argument was, but the
thing is true : that though God gave us a visible Image of him
self to cure the Idolatry of Image-Worship, yet this is still retained and practised in the Church of Rome.
In summing up this Argument, I said, Since it was one
main design of Christ's appearance to root out Idolatry, is it
credible, that the Worship of Saints and Angels and the Virgin
. " 'Mary,

Alary, the Worship of Images and Reliques, as it is practised
in the Church of Rome, should be any part of the Christian
Worship, or allowed by the Gospel of our Saviour? ifCreatureWorship and Image-Worship were so offensive to God, here is
the Worship of Creatures and Images still, and therefore all the vi
sible Idolatry, that ever was fratlifed in the World before. This
is another of his Misrepresentations, but very true. No un
derstanding Papist, that has any modesty, can deny, that they
worship Creatures and Images, for that they should be wor
shipped is determined by their own Councils; now if there
bâny salvo to deliver the Church of Rome from the guilt of
Idolatry in worshipping Creatures and Images, when the Hea
thens were Idolaters for doing it, yet here is the visible Wor
ship of Creatures and Images, that is, all that was visible in
the Idolatry of the Heathens. This was my Argument to
itfhew how improbable it was , that Christ, who came to extij pate all Idolatry, should still allow the external and visible
Worship of Creatures, which if it be not Idolatry, yet is all
that was visible in the Idolatry of the Heathens: and it had
better become him to have answered this Argument, than to
have called it a Misrepresentation.
I observed farther. That the great difference the Papists
can pretend between their Worship of Saints and Images, and
what the Heathens did, whereby to excuse themselves from
Idolatry, notwithstanding they worship Creatures and Ima
ges as the Heathens did, is that they have better Notions of
the Worship of Saints and Angels and Images than the Hea
thens had ; but I said, whether they had or no, would be
hard to prove : The Pagan Philosophers made the fame Apologies
for their Worfl)ip of Angels and Damons, and Images, which the
learned Papists now make, and whether unlearned Papists have not
asgrost JSktions, about the Worship of their Saints and Images, as the
unlearned Heathens had is very doubtful, and has been very much
fujpeftedbj learned Romanists themselves. This he puts down for
another Misrepresehtatiohj though all learned men know it
to be true. Had he ever read Origen against Celjusi he would
have known, that that Philosopher had taught the Roman Do
ctors, how to desend the Worship of Saints and Images, and
that the Father had confuted them long since ; and had he
looked into Fives upon St. Aust. de Civitatc Dei, he would have
found

found that learned Man make no great difference between un
learned Christians and Heathens as to these matters, to name
no more at present.
I addedj Can we think, that Christ, who came to make a mon
ferfeft reformation, should only change their Country.Gods into Saints
and Angels and the Virgin Mary, and give new Names to their
Statues and Images ? This he calls a Misrepresentation too, tho'
it neither represents nor misrepresents any body, that I know
*>f, but only argues, what Christ was likely to do. For had
Christ only forbad the Worship of Pagan Gods, and set up the
Worship of Saints, it had not been to extirpate Creature. Wor
ship, but only to change those particular Creatures, who were
to be Objects of Worship, and instead of the Images of Jupiter
and Bacch,,s to set up Images to Saints.
Thus I have considered the Misrepresentations charged upon
the first Section of the Preservative ; as for his own representa
tion of the Faith and Practice of the Catholicks, as to their
Worship, I am not concerned with it. There are a great many
late Treatises, wherein those Matters are fully debated. Such
as. The Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly reprefented. The Object of Religious Wcrjliip. The Answer to Papists
protesting against Protestant Popery. The late Answers to M. de
Meaux and his Vindicator j and a Book, which this Jesoite has
some reason to know, The Primitive Fathers no Papists. And to
these I refer my Reader, who needs any farther satisfaction.
;
.""
Sect. If.
Concerning the great Love of God to Mankind, &c.

HE has found but six Misrepresentations and Calumnies in
this Section, which is pretty moderate ; and some sew
Arguments against Purgatory, and our recourse to Saints for
their Prayers; which he fays he has collected, (not one omitted)
but when I read them over, I could not find any one of them:
I consess, it is a very dull and troublesom task to answer him j
for he transcribes several Passages out of my Book, without
representing their connexion with what goes before or what
follows, or without telling, what their fault is, or offering one
word to confute them : that whoever will but take the pains
to .

7
to put every Sentence into its proper place, will need no other
an( we,.. And this I shall do, as briefly as I can.
Having shewn, what great assurance the Gospel of our Sa
viour gives us of the love of God to sinners, I came to shew,
how irreconcilable the Doctrine of Purgatory, and the Invoca
tion of Saints and Angels, as our Mediators with God, is with
the Gospel.Notion of God's Love, and that Security it gives us
,\
of Pardon, through the Merits and Intercession of Christ,
i. The Doctrine of Purgatory, where the Punishments arc
as severe as in Hell itself, only of a less continuance, and yet
they may last some thousand Years, unless their Friends or the
Priests be more merciful to them. This I said was a barba
rous Doctrine, and so inconsistent with the Gospel-Account
of God s Love, that it is not reconcilable with any Notion of
Prefirv.Con- Love and Goodness; you may call it Justice, you may call it
Si. p. 8.
Vengeance, if you please, but Love it is not. These words he
cites as an Argument against Purgatory, without representing
on what it is founded, viz,, that glorious discovery of God's
love to sinners in the Gospel of Christ : now if to damn men,
whose sins are pardoned , for a thousand or two thousand
Years, (for so long sure a man may lse in Purgatory, or else
the Pope is a great Cheat for selling Pardons for tea and twen
ty thousand Years, if no man be in danger of lying one thou
sand Years in Purgatory) I fay, if this be not reconcilable
with the Gospel.Notion of God's Love, then Purgatory can be
no Gospel. Doctrine. This Argument he never mentions, and
never pretends to answer in bis Catholick Doctrine of Purgatory.
Ibid. p. 70. He says the Doctrine of Purgatory is God's Justice, tempered
with Infinite Mercy : but I desire him to shew me, where this
Infinite Mercy is, to torment a humble, penitent, pardoned
sinner for some thousand Years in Purgatoiy ? I believe I spoke
the sense of Mankind, when I said, IJhould rather chuse to fall into
nothing, when I die, than to endure a thousand Tears torments to be
happy for ever ; for humane nature cannot bear the thoughts of that ;
This he severely censures, and fays, that man is unworthy ever to
fee the face of God, who declares with Dr. Sherlock, that did God
offer htm the eternal fojjejjijn of himself on this condition, that he
fjouUfirst Juffer a thousand years, he would absolutely refuse it. I .
wish he had kept to my own words, for I never woold suppose
so much Blaspemy, as that God should ofser the enjoyment of
him-
the Preservative agaiuU PO PERT.
71
himself upon such terms, but I am of the fame mind still ; though
I preser the enjoyment of God before all the World, and would
siiffer all the Miseries and Calamities of this Lise to obtain it,
yet a thousand years torment in Purgatory, which is as intolera
ble as Hell, is a temptation to big for humane Nature ; and 4s
most men think as I do, I believe most men will be at a loss to
find out the infinite Mercy of Purgatory.
I observed, that there are two extravagant Notions whereon
the Doctrine of Purgatory is founded.
1. That God may forgive sins, and yet punish us for them,
for no man can go into Purgatory according to jhe Doctrine of
the Church of Rome, whose sins are not already forgiven, and I
appealed to all mankind, how irreconcileable these two are, to for
give and to punish. For what it it men are afraid of when they
have firmed ? Is it not that they snail be punished for it ? What is it%
men desire, when they desire fardon ? Is it not, that they may not bt
punished ? Which shews , that no man thinks , he is forgiven ,
when he is punished. Here he represents me to fay, That men
desire nothing when they ask pardon , but meetly not to be punished J
which declares, that they value not God's love and favour as Children,
but meerly fear the lajh like Slaves. But I never said any such thing.
Does it follow, that because all men, who desire pardon, desire
not to be punished, that therefore they desire no more ? and yet
pardon in its strict notion signifies only the remission of punish
ments ; that pardoned Sinners shall be rewarded too, is the abundanceof Grace through Jesus Christ : but yet I fay, the first
act of God's love is not to punish, and he who values God's love
and favour, in the first place desires not to be punished : for this
was the Argument I insisted on, that such a Notion as this, that
God pardons Sinners, and yet punishes them some thousand years
in Purgatory, is inconsistent with God's goodness declared by his
Son JeTus Christ ; for no man thinks such a pardon an expression
of love, which does not remit the debt nor the punishment. That
it is in our power, as he says, to attain Salvation without suffering in pfij ^ 7
"Purgatory, makes Purgatory no more an act of goodness, than
Hell is, which it is in our power by the Grace of God to escape
too : but the best account he gives of God's goodness with respect
to Purgatory is this : That God restores his favour to us, before our
hearts be as perfectly converted to him, as his justice might well require :
that is, he takes us into his favour, before we haye thoroughly
repented of our sins and reformed them, but then Purgatory- fire
L
must
*

must expiate the desects ofour repentance and reformation : now
this is a great deal more and a great deal less than the Gospel
teaches us of God's love to Sinners. For the Gospel promises no
mercy to any, but to true penitent and reformed Sinners, and
therefore to receive men into favour before their hearts are thus
perfectly converted, (which I suppose he means of an Evangelical
not of a Legal Persection of Conversion, that is, true and sincere
Repentance) is more mercy than the Gospel promises ; and to
torment such men in Purgatory, who are received to favour, is.
a great deal less ; and it is somewhat hard to understand the fa
vour of a thousand years punishment, though it may be thought
favour to receive Sinners, before they are persectly converted.
And yet he has told the plain truth of the case j for this is the only thing, that can reconcile men to the thoughts of Purgatory, or
make them think it an Act of Grace, that it is in exchange for
the pleasures of Sin, which they are so very fond of j and those
who will venture Hell to enjoy their Lusts, may well think it an
Act of Grace to turn Hell into Purgatory : but this is not the
Gospel representation of God's love to Sinners ;. which is to par
don none but true Penitents, and not to punish thole in the next
World, who are actually pardoned.
^
I granted, it is something. To exchange the eternal punishment of
Hell, -which is due to fin, into the temporal punifliment of Purgatory,
but askt, Whether it would not have been a more perfect expression of
love and goodness to have remitted the temporal punifljment also of, it
may be, some thousand yearstorment in Purgatory ? Whether this might
not have been excelled under a Dispensation of the moil perfect Love ?
And from that God, who sent his only begotten Son into the World to
save Sinners ? This is the force of the Argument, which the Jeftite conceals, that though Purgatory be more mercy than Hell,,
yet it does not answer that representation the Gospel makes of
God's infinite love and compassion for penitent. Sinners through
Jesus Christ.
2. I observed, chat in Purgatory, God does not only punish
those whom he has pardoned, but he punishes for no other reason
but Punishments.sake. For thus the Raman Doctors tell us, that
the Souls in Purgatory are in a state of Pardon, and in a state of
persect Grace, that they suffer the pains of Purgatory not to
purge away any remains of Sin, or to purisie and refine them*
and make them more fit for Heaven, but only, to bear the punish
ment due to Sin, for which they had made no satisfaction while.
they
'
.
/
the Preservative againU P 0 P E RT.

they lived : now I dare boldly affirm, this is irreconcileable with
any degree of love and goodness : a just punishment respects
the guilt of Sin, but there is no guilt when the Sin is pardoned ;
to make it an Act of Goodness, it must respect the reformation
of the Sinner, which cannot be, when he is in a persect state of
Grace and needs no amendment ; and such punishments as nei
ther respect the guilt of Sin, nor the reformation of the Sinner,
are neither just nor good, which is the exact Notion of Purgato
ry. This he sets down as a Misrepresentation (p. 68.) but does
not tell us why : this Doctrine is taught by Roman Divines, as I
suppose he knows, or if he don't, let him consult Bellarmin or
such good Catholick Writers.
I summed up this Argument thus : Our Protestant need not
dispute much about Purgatory ; let him only ask a Popish Priest,
How the Doctrine of Purgatory can be reconciled with that stupendious love of God declared to penitent Sinners in his Son Jelus Christ ? For it is a contradiction to the Notion of Goodness among men, to inflict such terrible punishments in meer Grace
and Love, even when the fin is pardoned and the Sinner recon
ciled, and no longer in a state of discipline and trial. This is the
force of the Argument, and here the Jesiiite, if he likes it, may
try his skill.
Secondly, Another Argument I urged against Purgatory was
this, that it destroys or weakens that security the Gospel hath
given Sinners of their Redemption from the Wrath of God, and
the just punishment of their Sins. And that upon two accounts.
i. As it destroys mens hopes ift the Merits of Christ, and the
Atonement and Expiation of his Blood. For if the Blood of
Christ does not deliver us from the punishment of Sin, what se
curity is this to a Sinner ? Yes, you'll fay, ChriH has redeemed us
from eternaly though not frqpt temporal punishments, and Therefore pe
nitent Sinners shall not be eternally damned. This he puts down
as a Mis-representation, p. 67. and says, p. 7;. That ChriH truly
obtained remission from all temporal as well as eternal pain, and that
.whoever is regenerated by Baptism, he not only is not adjudged to eter
nal tormenu, but neither doth he suffer after death any Purgatory
pains , if he die in that state of recovered mnoctncy. This I grant
they own, that unless men sin after Baptism, they are neither in
danger of Hell nor Purgatory ; and yet it is evident they deny
that Christ has expiated the temporal punishments due to sin ei-
ther in this World, or in Purgatory ; for if he had, there were
L 2
an

an end both of the Popish Sacrament of Penance and Purgatory :
and if Christ by his death had expiated the temporal punishments
of sin , I would desire to know, why the temporal punishment
of sin is not as well remitted by the Sacrament of Penance, as
by Baptism ; since the expiation of Christ's Blood, as they pre
tend, is applied to us in both : and therefore this is a meer fal
lacy ; for though a Sinner in Baptism is delivered from all pu
nishment due to sin, yet he is not in a proper sence delivered
from what they call the temporal punishment of sin, for there
was no such punishment due to sin before Baptism. Hell, not
Purgatoiy.,is the punilhmenr of all sin before Baptism, and there
fore a baptized Person is delivered by Christ from Hell, which
is the only punishment due to Sins before Baptism ; and if he die
before he commits any actual sin after Baptism, he escapes Pur
gatory and goes immediately to Heaven, not because Christ's
death has delivered him from the tempor-al pains of Purgatory,
but because he had done nothing to deserve it. For what they
call the temporal punishment of sin is only the pains of Penance,
and no man is capable of the Sacrament of Penance, who is not
a baptized Christian ; and yet Purgatory is of the fame namre
with the pains of Penance, for there men compleat the expiation
of their sins by enduring the pains of Purgatory , which was
wanting to perfect their Penance in this World. And therefore
Baptism does not remit the temporal punishment of sin, because
there is none due till men sin after Baptism : it can no more re
mit the temporal pains of Purgatory, than the temporal pains of
Penance, which none but a baptized Sinner is obnoxious to : and
therefore it is false ( according to their Doctrine ) to say, That
ChrisI obtained remijsum from all temporal, at well as eternalfain, un
less they will fay, that Christ obtained remission of the pains of
Penance, and then farewel Penance and Purgatory together.
And this very bottom ourjesuite sets it on, p. 75-. where he tells
USj Those -who fay, that it were a greater mercy in God to remit all the
punishment due tofin, blame Christ for Preaching Penance, and account
him on that score less merciful : which justifies what I said, that the
pains of Purgatory answer the pains of Penance, and therefore
this temporal punishment of sin, was not expiated by the Death
of Christ no more then Penance is : and when he can prove,
that Christ Preached such Penance as this, we will acknowledge
Purgatory..
But to return ; t desired, to know, how any man can be satis

fied

fled from Scripture, that Christ by his death has delivered us from
eternal punishments,if he have not delivered us from the temporal
punishments of sin in the next World. For if those Texts which
prove our Redemption by the Death of Christ, do not prove, that
Christ has redeemed us from the whole punishment dv.e to sin in
the next World, they prove nothing, and then there is not one
place of Scripture to prove, that Christ has redeemed us from
eternal punishments. For if Christ's dying for our sins, making atonement for sin, being a propitiation through faith in his blood j if re
mission and forgivenesi ofsins, being justified, having peace with God,
being reconcile! to God, and saved from wrath, do not signi fie taking
away the punishment of sin, I desire one Text to prove, that a
Sinner who is pardoned and justified shall not be eternally punish-'
ed for sin : and if they do signifie taking away the punishment
of sin, how can a Sinner, who is pardoned and justified be pu
nished for his fins, so that these Scriptures either prove, that there
is no Purgatory, or they cannotprove, that we shall be delivered
from Hell. This Argument he slightly mentions, p. 69, but has
so much wit as to fay nothing to it.
I asked farther, whether there are two kinds of punishments
due to sin, temporal and eternal, of such a distinct nature that
the promise of forgiveness does not include both, nay that God
cannot forgive both, that God can only forgive eternal punish
ment, but the Sinner himself must endure the temporal. If this
were the case, I would grant, the promises of forgiveness could
extend only to eternal punishments ; but if the Curse of the Law
be eternal death, and all other punishments are only parts of the
Curse and a partial execution of it , then to forgive eternal pu
nishments must include the forgiveness of temporal punishments
as parts or branches of it : and this I shewed was the case here,
that there is no other threatning in all the Gospel against sin, but
eternal death, and therefore all other punishments are inflicted by
vertue of this Law, as included in it ; and consequently he who1
is delivered from this Curse of the Law, from eternal punishments,
is delivered from the whole punishment due to fin , though not
from correction and discipline, which is not properly the Curse
of the Law, nor the Wrath of God. A little piece of this he
cites, p. 69, but without an answer. In his following harangue.'
indeed for Purgatory, he endeavours to prove by some examples'
of God's punishing those, whose fins were forgiven, and by some.
Sayings of the Fathers, that after theguilt of sin isforgiven, there
j6
remains an obligation to undergo punishment j but these have

been answered often enough, and are no Answer to the Argu
ment of the Preservative, and therefore I am not concerned about
them.
I asked farther, why they call Purgatory, which is a place of
punishment in the other World, a temporal punishment? which
is an abuse of the l anguage of Scripture, which makes this World
2 Cor. 4. 18. temporal, and the next World eternal. Tie things which are {,en
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal : and there
fore temporal punishments signirie the punishments of this World,
but the unseen punishments, as well as the unseen rewards, of the
next World are eternal ; which is a demonstration, that there is
no Purgatory,unlefs it be eternal. This he thus repeats,
The
things which are seen (that is, of this World) are temporal j but tht
things, which are not seen (that ts,ofthe next World) are eternal. This
is a demonstration, that there is no Purgatory : which is both to con
ceal the force of the Argument, and to pervert it ; for he should
at least have added, there is no Purgatory, unlesi it be eternal.
But his answer to this is extremely pleasant, p. 76. St. Paul ne
ver taught that all things, that are not seen, or of another World, are
eternal, or else God would be eternally judging, and so never rewarding
his Sa vants , or punijliing his Enemies. But it is plain the Apostle
by things that are seen, or not seen, signifies things which are to
be enjoyed or sufsered by us, not any transient Acts of God or
Creatures ; and thus if there be any such thing as Purgatory in
the other World, it must be eternal.
To this I added ; The state of the next World is called either
11 John 25, lise or death, eternal lise, or eternal death. Those who believe m
26.
Ghrisl shall never die. Now I desire to know the difserence be
tween living and dying and periling in the next World. For bad
men do not cease to be, nor lose all sense in the next World,
no more than good men j and therefore lise can only fignifie a
state of happiness, and death a state of misery. Now if good
men must not peris), must not die in the next World, they must
not go to Purgatory, which is as much perijhwg, as much dying,
as Hell, though not so long. This he thus recites, p. 69. Who
believes in Chris!, sliall never die ; therefore good men must not go
to Purgatory, which is as much ptrisring and dying as Hell, but not so
long. ..Which you fee, is still to conceal the force of the Argu
ment, but the comfort is, he fays nothing against it, unless his re
peating it must pals for a confutation. But he immediately
adds,

adds, as if it were in the fame period j otherwise Purgatory may he
everlasting life for all I know, and so the pains ofit eternal. But this
is several periods off In summing up this Argument I inquired,
how a Papist, who believes a Pmgatory-fire, wherein he shall be
tormented (God knows how long ) for his fins, .can prove, that a
penitent sinner shall not be damned for his fins. After other
proofs, which, I thought, it was reasonable for them to urge,
(and I am sure thc;y can urge no better) I alledged this in their
behalf; that Christ has promised, that those whj believe in him,
flail not perish, but have everlasting life : and that proves, that the
pains of Purgatory cannot be for ever, for then Christ could not
perform his promise of bestowing everlasting lise on them : To
this 1 answer, So I consess one would think, and so I should have
thought also, that when Christ promised, that such believers
should not perish, and should never die, that he meant, that such
men should not go to Purgatory : but iffalling into Purgatory, be
not perishing and not dying, it may be everlajting life too3 for ought I
know, and then the fains of Purgatory may be eternal.
I hope the Reader is by this time sensible, how easie it is to ren
der any Discourse ridiculous by taking half Sentences, and joyning those passages together, which have no connexion and dcpendance.
I observed farther. That the Doctrine of Purgatory destroys our
hope and confidence in the mediation of Christ, as it represents
him less merciful and compassionate or less powerful than the ne
cessities of sinners require him to be.
r. As for his Compassion. It is no great sign of tenderness and
coaipassion to leave his Members in Purgatory.fire, which burns
as hot as Hell. Could I believe this of our Saviour, I should have
very mean thoughts of his kindnefS, and not much rely on him for any
thing
it is a wonderful thing to me, that when a merciful man
cannot fee a Beast in torment without relieving it, it should be thought
consistent with the mercy and compassion of our Saviour, to fee m burn
in Purgatory for Tears and Ages. Part of this he repeats, and I
fuppole thought all the World would take it for an ill faying,
and therefore leaves it, as he found it; but I shall stand to it, tili
he confutes it.
x If it be not want of Compassion, it must be want of Power
in our Saviour to help us: -- and if he want Power to deliver
from Purgatory, I should more question his Power to deliver from
Hell j for that is the harder of the two : if bis Blood could net expiatt

pate for the temporal punishment of sin, .which the Merits ofsome fitpcrercgating Saints, or the Pope's Indulgences , or the Priests Maffes
can redeem us from, how csuld it make expiation for eternal pimijhment ? tf his interest in the Court of Heaven cannot do the lest, how
can it do the greater ? This he calls a Misrepresentation, and truly
as he has recited it, it is a very great one. P. 68. That the Blood of
Christ could not expiate for the temporal punishment of Jin, which the
Merits of some fupererogativg Saints,or the Priest's Masses, or Popis In
dulgences can redeem us from j how then can that Blood make expiation
for eternal punijliment ? I (ay, if it cannot do one, which is the
greater, much less can it do the ocher, which is the less ; he makes
me say, that it cannot do one, which is the less, and therefore
cannot do the greater : This is Popish Liberty of Conscience with
a witness.
From the Doctrine of Purgatory, I proceeded to the Invoca
tion of Saints and Angels, as our Mediators ; whether this does
not also disparage the Grace of the Gospel, the Love of God,
and of our Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ, to penitent sin
ners.
Now I observed i. with respect to God ; Thatnoman can be
lieve, that God is so very gracious to sinners for the sake of Christ,
who seeks to so many Advocates and Mediators to intercede for
him with God. To imagine, that we want any Mediator with Gcd,
hut onfy our High.Priest, who mediates in vertue of his Sacrifice, is a
reproach to the Divine Goodnest. This the Jesuite recites, but what
he has to fay to it, he does not tell us. I there shewed at large,
that God does not want Entreaties to do good, though his Wis
dom and Justice may require a Sacrifice and a High-Priest to make
atonement for sin.
To prevent that obvious Objection, that God commands us to
Pray for one another on Earth j I observed, that this is not by way
of Interest and Merit, as the Church of Rome pretends the Saints in
Heaven Pray for us, but by Humble Supplications, which I (hewed
was very reconcilable with the Wisdom and Goodness of God ;
from those excellent ends it serves in this World j this he calls a
Misrepresentation, p. 68. but I pray why ? do not they Pray co
God in the Name and Merits of the Saints? are not all their Offices
full of such Prayers ? do they think the Saints in Heaven Pray
only as humble Supplicants, when the very reason the Council
of Trent gives, why they should fly to their Aid and Succors, is,
that they Reign with Christ ? do they not, as he adds, take tht
Fir-
the Preservative againU POPE R Y.

Virgin Mary, Angels and Saints for Mediators to incline God to be
good to peculiar persons ? which he calls another Misrepresenta
tion ; why then do they Pray so frequently and devoutly to
them ? why do they tell of so many miraculous Delive
rances wrought by the Virgin Mary in favour of her Clients,
and of other Saints in favour of their Devotoes ? English Prote
stants know these things too well, to be imposed on at this time
of day by the bawling and confidence of an ignorant Jesuite.
2. I observed, That it is not less injurious to the Love of our
Saviour to fly to the Prayers and Aids of Saints and the Virgin
Mary j as if Christ either wants interest with God , or wants
kindness to us, and either will not intercede for us at all, or will
not do it unless he be prevailed with by the Intercession of Saints,
or the Entreaties or Commands of his Mother. And having
shewed what assurance we have of the Love and Compassion of
our Saviour, I added, This one would have thought should have
given the greatest security to sinners of his readiness to help them.
But it seems Christ is not merciful and pitiful enough : bis Virgin
Mother has softer and tenderer Passions, and such an interest in him,
or authority over him in the right of a Mother, (as some of them have
not without blafthemy represented it) that she can have any thing of
kirn J and thus they suppose the other Saints to he much more pitiful
than ChriB is, and to have interest enough to proteEt their Supplicants,
or else it is not imaginable, why they Jhould need or desire any other Ad
vocates. This he calls another Misrepresentation, and makes me
fay, that the Church of Rome prosesses to believe all this; but I
lay no such thing, but only this is the natural interpretation of
their seeking other Advocates and Mediators besides Christ: when
he can give a better account of this Practice, I will acknowledge,
I was mistaken in my Argument, but am no Misrepresenter ; for
to Argue ill, and to Misrepresent, are two things, as the Representer himself, I suppose, has learnt by this time.
Sect. III.
An Answer to the shirty Misrepresentations and Calumnies,
andsome Fanatical Principles said to be offered in the Third
and Fourth Sections. '' * ' .
HEre our Jesuite foams and rages ; and I will make him rage
a little more, before I have done with him. Forbad Spirits
are apt to rage most, the more they seel the power of Exorcism,
M
. and

and then there is no way to make them quiet, but to cast theft
our.
The third Seciion of the Preservative concerned the Nature of
Christian Worship, what Christ has reformed in the Worship of
God, and what Worship he has prescribed.
i. As for the first, I said, that Christ has taken away every
thing that was meerly external in Religion j not external Acts,
nor the necessary external Circumstances of Worship, but such
cxernal Rites, as eichcr by the Institution of God, or Superstition
of Men, were made Acts of Religion, to render us more accep
table to God. This I mewed was agreeable to the nature of
Christian Religion, which has none of those ends to serve, for
which these external Rites were instituted by God under the
Jewish Law, or invented by Men. For r. There is no Expia
tion or Satisfaction for Sins under the Gospel, but only the Blood
of Christ, and therefore there is no place now for any Expiatory
Rites and Ceremonies. 2. The Golpel makes no difference be
tween Legal Cleanness and Uncle^nnels, and therefore distincti
ons of Meats and External Washings and Purifications are now
out of date. i. Nor is there any Symbolical Presence of God
under the Golpel, which puts an end to the Legal Holiness of
Places and Things. 4. Nor are Material and Inanimate Things
made the Receptacles of Divine Graces and Vertues, to convey
them to us meerly by Contact and External Applications, like
some Amulets or Charms to wear in our Pockets, or hang about
our Necks, y. The Christian Religion admits of no External or
Ceremonial Righteousness Now this cuts off every thing,which
is External in Religion at a blow, because it cuts off all hopesand
relyances on an External Righteousness. 6. Hence it appears,
that the Christian Religion can admit nothing, that is External,
but only some Fderal Rites ; fiich as the two Sacraments of
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are. And such Rites as these are
necessary in all instituted Religions, which depend uponfreeand
voluntary Covenants. For since Mankind has by sin forfeited their
natural right to God's favour, they can challenge nothing from him nenv^
hut by Promise and Covenant and since such Covenants require a mu
tual stimulation cnbotbsides, they musl be transact*f4 by some visible .and
sensible Rites, whereby Ovd obliges himself to us and we to him. This
he calls a Fanatical Principle, but why I know not. And %$,
that this is destroyed by my former Principle of taking away all RsUs
that are Ails of Religion. This is a severe Man,. who will not
allow
81
allow me to make one Exception from a Geneial Rule, which

no man yet was ever denied ; especially when I give such a
peculiar reason for the Exception, as is applicable to nothing
else : that an instituted Religion is and must be founded on a
Covenant, that a Covenant must be transacted by visible and
sensible Rites ; for there cannot be a visible Covenant, nor a
visible Church founded on this Covenant without visible and
sensible Rites. And this I suppose he will think a sufficient
Answer to what he says. That on this Principle I ought fa teach,
that the mutual stipulation betwixt God and m rnuii be made by Mv. Chis interior Graces, and our interior JVursiip, because God must be * "
worshipped as a meer Spirit . That God must be worshipped as
a meer Spirit, and therefore without any external Acts of
Worship I never said, much less tjjd I assign it as my reason
here against a meer external Worship, that God must be wor
shipped as a meer Spirit, but that the nature of the Christian
Religion will not admit of such an external Worship. And yet
if he can tell me, how this Stipulation or Covenant can be
made betwixt God and us by interior Graces without some
visible covenanting Rite, how the Christian Church, which is
a visible Society distinguished from the rest of the World by a
visible Covenant, can be thus visibly incorporated by inte
rior invisible Graces, I will consess then, that there had been
no need, had Christ so pleased, of any visible Sacraments.
He adds, upon whatever account that interior Covenant (but
we speak of an external visible Covenant, which requires Visible
Pledges and Seals) requires a visible sensible Mark, and our actual
Comtmunion with Christ another, all the Communications of God's
Grates to us, all our return of Worship and Adoration will equally
admit of sensible Signs and Rites. Let us apply this then to those
Instances I gave of this external Worship, and see whether
there be the same reason for that, as there is for some visible
signs of a visible Covenant. The1 fame reason and necessity,
for instance, of some external Rites to expiate sin j now the
Gospel declares, there is no expiation of fin, but the Blood of
Christ, chat there is of Gospel-Sacraments to apply the expia
tion of Christ's Death to as. The fame necessity of external
Washings and Purifications, distinction of Meats, &c. Now
the Gospel has pine air end to all legal l^stcleanness, as there
is of Baptism to wajh away our Sias, or of the Lord's Supper
M 2
to
A Vindication of the Second Part ef

to strengthen and refresh our Souls by a Spiritual feeding on
the Body and Blood of Christ ;. the.same externalholiness of
Places to sanctifie our Worship, now God has declared* that
he has no symbolical Presence on Earth, the fame necessity of
material and inanimate receptacles and conveyances of Divine
Graces and Vertues? the fame necessity of an external and ce
remonial Righteousness, which is such a contradiction to the
whole design of the Gospel, as there is of the Gospel.Sacra
ments to receive us into Covenant, and to convey the Blessings of the Covenant to us. As for external Acts and Cir
cumstances of Worship and Adoration, I allowed the necessity
of them under the Gospel, but these are very different things
from external religious Rites, and if he knows no reason, why
the conveyances of Grace should rather be confined to the two
Gospel.Sacraments, therrto Holy Water , or Agnus Deis, os
the Reliques of Saints, or such other Popish Inventions, I will
tell him one: because the Spirit of Grace is the Spirit ofChrist
and derives his influences only to the mystical body of Christ,
all our Graces are the immediate influxes of the Divine Spi
rit, and nothing can intitle us to the Graces of the Spirit, but
being Members of Christ's Body, and there are no visible Sa?
craments of Union to Christ, but Baptism and the Lord's
Supper, and therefore no visible Rites of conveying the Gra
ces of the Divine Spirit to us hut these. Again, As our Spir
ritual Life consists in our Union to Christ, ib this Union
makes us . New Creatures, for be that is in Christ is a New
Creature : Now there are but two things necessary to a New
Creature, a new birth, and a constant supply of nourishment
for its increase and growth. Baptism is our Regeneration or
New Birth, whereby we are incorporated into Christ's Mysti
cal Body, and receive the first Communications of a Divine
Life from the Holy Spirit j the Lord's Supper, is the constant
Food and Nourishment of our Souls, wherein we receive
fresh supplies of Grace, as our Natural Bodies do new Spirits
from the Meat we eat* Now let any man tell me, what more
is necessary to a New Creature,, than to be born and to be
nourished by fresh supplies of Grace, till it grow up to a per*
sect man in Christ Jesus : all this is. done for us by Baptism
and the Lord's Supper, and if all Divine Grace must be deri
ved to us from our Union to Christ a* the Members of his
Body,
the Preservative againft P OPERT. Body, nothing can be more congruous than that the Sacra
ments of our Union to Christ, mould be the only visible and
external Rites of conveying all supernatural Grace to us : so
that unless Holy Water and Relicks, &e. be new Sacraments
of our Union to Christ, they can be no Gospel conveyances
of Grace ; and by the way, whoever well considers this, will
think it little less than a demonstration, that there can be but
two Gospel Sacraments, because there are no other visible Rites
of uniting us to Christ, and consequently of conveying super
natural Grace to us, which is the Notion of a Sacrament. But
to proceed,
I came to apply this Discourse to Popish Worship to see,
how consistent it is with that Reformation Christ had made of
the Worship of God under the Gospel. And I observed in
general, that whoever only considers the vast number} of Rites^
and Ceremonies in the Church of Rome, must conclude it as
Ritual and Ceremonial a Religion as Judaism itself: the Cere
monies are as many, more obscure , unintelligible and useless ,
more severe and intolerable than the Jewish Yoke itself, which St.
Peter tells the Jews neither' they nor their Fathers were able to bear.
The first part he has nothing to fay to, and by his silence con
fesses, it to be true, and that is proof enough, that it is no
Christian Worship. But he will by no means allow> that they
are as severe and as intolerable as the Jewish Take : this he calls a i
Mis-representation, and looks about to see, what it should be,
that is so intolerable j he suspects I mean their Fasts in Lent,
or on Fridays and Saturdays, but he is much mistaken ; I know
all these are very easie and gentle things in the Church of
Rome ; or that Prayer and Almsdeeds may be these terrible things.
And here he comes pretty near the matter , for I look upon it
very intolarable to fay over so many .Prayers and Masses every
day without understanding one. word they fay, which is the
daily Task of many thousand Priests, who understand ho more
what they fay, than the People do. To part with their real
Estates, many times to the great damage of their Families, out
of a blind Devotion to deliver their Souls from the imaginary
Flames of Purgatory, which they call Almsdeeds: to whip and
macerate their Bodies (if they be so blindly devout) with se
vere Fasts (for men may fast severely in the Church of Rome
if they, pleaseX with long Watchings, hard Lodging, tedious
A Vindication of the^Second Tart of

and expansive Pilgrimages, not to cure, but to expiate their
fins. He fays, If the Ceremonies used in the Liturgy, he should
have said in their Mass-Book and Rituals, and Breviaries, be a
burdtn, purely the Clergy or Religions must feel the -weight of it, jet
I am Jure not one ever owned it. Is he sure of this ? Has he conseised all the Nuns and Monks ? but if they have not owned
it, Have they never felt it neither ? Will he himself say this ?
but suppose they neither selt nor owned it, May it not be as
intolerable as the Jewish Law ? Did the Scribes and Pharisees,
who were so fond of the Rites of Moses., own it to be a heavy
Yoke ? And yet does not St. Peter fay it was so ? Superstition
will bear very heavy yokes of external Rites and Ceremonies
without complaining, to be delivered from what they think a
more terrible yoke of mortifying and subduing sin, bur yetthey
are very unsupportable Yokes still to ingenuous and vertuous
Minds.
Hence I proceeded to a more particular consideration of
their Worship, i. That nvost of their external Rites are pro
fessedly intended as expiations and satisfactions for sin. This
he durst not deny, and therefore all their expiatory Rices are
no part of Christian Worship, which allows no expiation for
sin, but the Blood of Christ.
Secondly, Those distinctions between Meats , which the
Church of Rome calls fasting (for a Canonical Fast is not to
abstain from Food, but from such Meats as are forbid on
fasting days) can be no part of Christian Worship, because
the Gospel allows of no distinction between clean and un
clean things, and therefore of no distinction of Meats nei
ther ; For meat commendtth us not to God} I Cor. S. 8.
Here is another Misrepresentation ; That a Canonical Fafi
is not to abstain from Food. Does he deny this ? Yes he fays,
this is most false, but one Meal being allowed of on fasting days.
A terrible Penance this ! which most of our Merchants, and
Citizens endure all the year round, and eat later too general
ly than they do on fasting days: But is there no Repast of
Wine and Sweetmeats to be had at night for those who cast
purchase them ?
I added, There is no imaginable reason, why it mould be
an Act of Religion, meerly to abstain from Flesh, if Flesh have
no legal uncleanness j and if it had> we must ail have been
Car
the Preservative againU P 0 P ERT.

Carthusians, and never eat Fleshmore: for how it should be
clean one day, and unclean another, is not eafie to under
stand. This is another of his Misrepresentations ; for that
is the word, right or wrong. He fays, I would insinuate that n
they Judaic. Whereas 1 exprefly said, that they did not .Judaize, but did something more absurd : for they do not make
such a distinction between clean and unclean Beasts, as the
Law of Mojes did, and therefore are the more absurd, in for
bidding to eat Flesh, or any thing that comes of Flelh. But,
he fays, when God by Jeremy pratjcs the Recbabites for abstaining
from Wine, was it because Wine was held by them to have a legal
uncleannesi ? No, nor is Wine Flesh. But, Is taming of the
flesh, the curbing of sensuality, no reason at all for abstinence ? And
does abstinence consist meerly in abstaining from Flesh ? Will
not good Fish and good Wine pamper the Flesh too ? To
place abstinence in deleft u ciborum , as in abstaining from
Flesh, is a senseless piece of Superstition : if it serve the ends
of Mortification, it is well ; if it be made essential to a Reli
gious Fast, it s absurd, and no part of Christian Worship.
Thus I shewed, jly, that the Church of Rome has infinite
ly out.done the Jewish Law, in the Religion of holy Places,
Altars, Vestments, Utensils, &c. which he pastes over silent
ly. 4ly. That they attribute divine Vertues and Powers to fenfelesi and inanimate things, as is evident siom that great Veneration
they fay to Relicks, and those great Vertues they ascribe to them :
from their consecrations of their Agnus Dei's, their Wax.Candles,
Oyl, Bells, Crosses, Images, Ashes, Holy Water, for the health of
Soul and Body, to drive away evil Sfirits, to allay Storms, to heal
Diseases, to pardon Venial and sometimes 'mortal Sins, meerly by
kissing or touching them, carrying them its their hands, wearing
them about their necks, $CC.
These things look more like
Charms than Christian Worship.
Indeed they argue, that
siich men do not understand what Grace and Sanctification
means, who think that little Images of Wax, that Candles,
that Oyl, that Water and Salt, that Bells, that Crosses, can be
sanctified by the Spirit of God, and convey Grace and Sancti
fication, by the fight, or sound, or touch, or such external ap
plications.
He who thinks that inanimate things are ca
pable of the Sancl ification of the Spirit, or can convey this SanBisication to us by some divine and invisible effluviums of Grace ;
may

may as well lodge Reason, and Understanding, and Will, and
Passions, in senseless matter, and receive it from them again
by a kiss or touch. Here are three of his thirty Misrepre
sentations all together j and yet the Jesuit is more tame, than
the Devil is usually represented to be, when he is frighted
with Holy Water. But let us hear him : AU theft are Misre
presentations of our Faith, which teaches us nothing of all this.
Well, however this is pretty moderate ; here is no Hector
ing yet; no Minister Oates, and Minister Sherlock. What we
believe, u, that nothing can free us from the guilt of any fin, which
is external, and doth not affcB and change the heart. But this is
not the Question, Sir, but whether Agnus DeCs, Holy Water,
&c. can deliver from the guilt of sin, and drive away the
Devil, and work a great many Deliverances for us ; whether
with or without the change of heart : if they can affeiT and
change the heart, that is the better way ; and then they efse/
ctually convey Grace, which is the thing I said, and which
he dares not deny : if they cannot forgive fin, I desire him to
tell his People so, who like that better than changing the
heart j and then they will purchase no more Agnus Dess, nor
trade in such Roman Merchandize. But they believe, That
all (features of God are good, and that they are fmclified by the
Word of God and Prayer. What.' to forgive Sins, to give
Grace, to allay Storms, to drive away Devils ? Was this the
Apostle s meaning in those words ? Is there any word of Pro
mise in the Gospel for this ? Which is the meaning of being
sanctified by the word. Neither doth Faith teach us, that any
material thing hath any other than moral connexion with Grace,
either obtained for us by the Prayers of the Church, offeredfor us
at the blessing of those things, or of those blessed Saints whom we
honour, and call upon by that Veneration, or by the Sacraments, ac
cording to the Institution and Covenant of Christ ; but we do not
believe , that Gods Grace is inherent, but in the Souls of the
Faithful, or that any fin is remitted, without a due disposition in a
repentant sinner. As rbr the Sacraments, I have already given
an account of their Vertueand Efficacy, that they are institu
ted signs and means of our Union to Christ, and that intitles
us to the influences of the divine Grace : Whether it be a na
tural or moral connexion between Grace and such inanimate
things, is not the Question, but it seems Grace is annexed to
them ;

them ; which is all I affirm : But however Grace is annexed
to them, the conveyance of Grace from them to the Soul, by
meer external ' applications, as by lighting up, or carrying
a consecrated Taper, by sprinkling Allies on our heads, by
-sprinkling our (elves with Holy Water, by waaring an Agnus
Dei, or some Relicks about us,&c. look as if it was done, not
by a moral but a natural efficacy ; for what moral efficacy
can such things have upon our minds ? But let it be done
how it will, it seems such divine Vertues and Powers are na
turally or morally annexed to inanimate and senseless things,
and naturally or morally conveyed from them to the Soul,
by external applications,and I desire him to shew me the dif
ference between such Observances and Pagan Charms. He
has consessed enough, and as much as we could desire of him,
when he adds, Or any Virtue to be noiv.a.days communicated otherwife by insensible things, than it was to the .woman that touched
the hem of Christ's Garments, ( for Christ selt Vertue to pass from
him, and therefore it was a very real Communication) or by
the handkerchiefs of St. Paul, orstiadow of St. Peter : And here
were real and sensible effects, without any moral, but only
natural or rather supernatural efficacy upon the Patient. And
if Holy Water, and Agnus Deis convey Grace at this rate, I
assure you, they are very notable things. His undertaking at
last to prove, Whenever required, that they use no other blessings
( or Consecrations of such inanimate things to such spiritual
purposes ) but what they find in the Records of the Primitive
Church to have been ordered by the Apostles , is bold and
brave, and I here challenge him to make it good ; but I hope
he will produce better Records for it, than his Homily of
St. Austin of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin.
%ly. I observed farther, that all this encouraged men to
trust in an external Righteousness. For, 1. Such external
Rites are veiy apt to degenerate into Superstition. Especial
ly, 2. When they are recommended as very acceptable to God,
as satisfactions for our sins, and meritorious of great Rewards.
And this is that use they serve in the Church of Rome : They
assert the necejfity of humane fatisfailions ; and what are these satis
factory works ? Fastings, Whifpings, P/lgrimages, &C. all which
men may do, without the least farrowfor Jin, without any true De
votion to Godt without mortifying any one Lust. To make this a
N
Mis
87
88
**g 19.

Misrepresentation, he repeats it thus : They actount satttfagcry works, Fafitngs, A3t of Penance, Prayers, Alms, though dmt
without the least sorrow for fin, 8cc. Whereas I fay, they ac
count these satisfactory works, and they may be done with
out the least sorrow for fin. Now are not these satisfactory
works ? That he dares not deny. May not all these be done,
without sorrow for sin ? That he dares not deny neither.
And this is all I said j but then he will not allow, that they
are satisfactory works, without sorrow for sin : I would to GoJ
he could perswade all the Members of his Church of the
truth of this. But let me ask him one Question : Are these
Acts of Penance in the Church of Rome intended as expres
sions of sorrow for sin, or as satisfactions for the punishment
due to it? Are they necessary, before Absolution, to qualifie
men to receive the pardon of their sins, as the signs and de
monstrations of a sincere repentance ? or to be performed
after the fin is forgiven, not to express our sorrow for sin, but
to undergo the punishment of it ? Are they al ways the voluntary choice of the sinner, as the expressions of a hearry sorrow
are, or the sentence of a Judge, imposed by the Pried upon
Absolution, or by the sears of Purgatory ? Now if sucV\ Acts
of Penance are only intended to satisfie for the punishment, I
think to undergo punishment, whether with or without sor
row for sin, does satisfie for the punishment of sin : Sorrow
may be necessary to Absolution ; but when the guilt of sin is
pardoned, if men can undergo their penance without sorrow,
the satisfaction is never the less : and should he promote this
Doctrine, that the works of Penance avail nothing, unless rhey
be done with a hearty sorrow for sin, men would not be Ib
easily perswaded to undergo their Penances, especially if the
Priest be severe.
I observed farther, that the true reason why any thinA/ng
men are so fond of an external Righreousoefs, is to excuse
them from true and real Holiness of Life
All men know,
that in the Offices of Piety and Vertue they can never do
more than is their duty ; and therefore as nothing can be
matter of merit, which is our duty, So the true intention of d
merits and works of Supererogation, are to Jusply the place of Duty,
and to fatufie for their fins', or to purchase a Reward, which they
have no title ,$o by domg their duty : that is, because they do no:
their
the Preservative against POPERT.
8p
.their duty. But then the Jesuk represents it, as if I said, TheyVag. St.
could have no rewardfor doing their duty, and therefore they add
works of Supererogation ; which isJesuit like: they may be re
warded for their duty, if they would do it, though they can
not merit by doing their duty.
n ;ly. I observed, that to make these meritorious and satis
factory Superstitions more eafie, one man may satisfie for ano
ther, and communicate his Merits to him : this the Jesuit
confidently says, is a sham ; for each man ,s bound to fatuse for
himself fulfilling the Penances imposed on him. Now suppose that
men are bound personally to perform those Penances which
are imposed on them by their Priests in Consession, what I
said was not confined to Penances imposed in Consession ;
and I presume he will grant there are other satisfactions and
penances necessary besides these. Did he never hear of men,
who have been hired to whip themselves for some rich and
.great sinners ? to fay such a number of Ave-Maries for them ?
If one man cannot satisfie for another, what becomes of their.
Indulgences, which are the application of the Merits of Supererogating Saints to those who need them ?
Another Mis representation is, that I fay, They payforlnduU *H. 19gences with Money, and buy Satisfactions and Merits. But though
Indulgences are not to be had without Money, it isa fad Mis
representation to call this Buying, which should only be called
Alms-deeds : but the thing is the fame, let them call it what
they will ; Alms.deeds, if they will call them Alms-deeds,
and that at a set rate and down-right Bargain, are the price of
Indulgences and Satisfactions ; and if this were the reason of
giving Alms, were there such an express Bargain and Sale in
the case, I am of his mind, that every Alms-giver might with as
much justice be accused to have bought of God his Grace and ParJon fer a sum of money*
From hence I proceeded to shew, what kind of Worship
Christ has preseribed to his Disciples, and the general account
we have of it. 4 John 22, 24. But the hour cometb and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father m spirit and m
truth, for the Father Jeeketb Jucb to worship him : God is aspirit,
and they that worship him, must worship him in Jj>ir3t and in truth*
In which defcription of Gospel.Worship, there are three things
j^luê^ x. That we must worship ,God under the notion
A Vindication os the Second Part os

of a pure and infinite Spirit : 2. under the character of a Fa
ther. 3. With the Mind and Spirit. But he has found little
here to except against, only two or three Fanatical Principles,
which shall be briefly considered.
The first. God being a Spirit} must not be sought for in Houses
of Wood .and Stone: because he mutt be worshipped in Spirit (as a
Spirit it should be, which difser greatly) he must not be worship
ped by any material or sensible Representations (by material Images
and Pictures) those words except jour righteousness exceeds the righ
teousness of Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wife enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven, cuts iff everything, that is external in Reli
gion. Here he has jumbled things together of a different na
ture. I shall begin with the lalt first, because it concerns
what I have already accounted for. That the Christian Re
ligion admits of no external nor ceremonial Righteousness:
the great design of the Gospel being to make us truly good,
that we may be partakers of the Divine Nature. There is
nothing our Lord does more severely condemn than an exter
nal and Pharasaical Righteousness Except your Righteousness
exceed the Righteousness*, &C. Now this (not these words meerly,
but this rejecting an external Righteousness) cuts off every
thing that is external in Religion at a blow, because it cuts off
all hopes and reliances on an external Righteousness, and I
believe men will not be fond of such Superstitions, when they
know, they will do them no good. Now what is the fault
of this ? Jo not these Principles remit all Christians to the silent
Meetings of Quakers ? exclude singing of Psalms ? that fs, because
it excludes an external Righteousness, it excludes all external
Acts of Worship. Well rhym;d Father, Brains and Stairs.
Since God will be worshipped as a Spirit, he will now con
fine his peculiar Presence to no place, as he formerly did to
the Temple at Jerusalem, for though for typical reasons he
had a typical and symbolical presence under the Jewish dispen
sation, yet this was not so agreeable to his nature, who is a
Spirit, and will now be worlnipped as a Spirit, and therefore
must not now be sought for in Houses of Wood and Stone : This,
fays he, excludes the use of Churches rather than Barns. That is,
because God does not confine his presence to one place, bscause he has no symbolical presence, therefore there must be
no places set apart from common uses for Religious Worship.
Thus
the Preservative againU FO P EK7\

Thus God will be worshipped as a Spirit, and therefore not by
Images, or material Representations, which are so unlike a
Spirit ; that is, fays he not by such material Representations
as singing of Psalms. Well guess't for ajvfuite .'
The second Fanatical Principle is this. God and Christ are Ibid.
not present in the Assemblies of Christians by a figurati ve and symbo
lical Presence: There u no symbolical Presence of Gid under the Go
spel. Though God fill all Places, it is a great absurdity to talk of
more symbolical Pnsences than one : for a symbolical Presence
confines the unlimited Presence of God to a certain place, in order to
certain ends, as to receive th; Worship, that is paid to him, and to
answer the Prayers, that are mjde to bim', now to have more than
cne such Presence as this, is like having more Gods than one. To
which he answers, to s,y nothing of the absurdity of this Discourse,
which makes that Christian an Adorer of two Gods, who by Faith
adoring God in Heaven and in his own Soul, worship him in both
flaces. Truly he had bitter hive said norhin?, than norhing
to the purpose; for is Goi symbolically p resin: in Heaven,
or in thi Soulsof Men ? in Hiaven he is really present, in th;
Souls of Men he is present by his Gra:e a id Spirit, bar in
neither by Symbols and Figures of his Pretense, a; he was
present in the Temple. But he ha; a terrible Argimint to
come. Dotb not this destroy the -v:ry essence os your Surament, the
Bread and Wmt in the Lord's Supper, which you own to be a symbo
lical Presence of Christ ? but no Place nor Object of Worship; "
And yet though we grant the Eucharist is a Symbol and fi
gure of Christ's Body and Blood, ic .is no 'Symbol of Christ's
bodily and personal Presence, unless it be a Symbol of Christ's
bodily Presence on the Cross, for it is a Symbol only of
Christ's broken Body and of his Bbod (hid for u> j and thi
intention of it is not to represent Christ bodily present with
us, but to be a Memorial of him in his bodily absence, and
therefore it Ts no symbolical Presence of Christ j for the Fi
gures and Symbols of his Body and Blood, if they be a sym
bolical Presence, mast be the Symbols of his bodily Pre
sence.
His third Fanatical Principle is this. If God be better wor
shipped before an Image than without one, then the Worship of God is
More confined to that place, where the Image is. I cannot fee, how
to avoid tbisi whereat there it no appropriate place of Worship under
the
<
p2
.Vig.iu

tbt Gofrtl : and 'tis the fame cafe, tbo" the Image be not apfropriactti
to any place, but carrui about with -ut. ; for ftiE tbt Image makes
the Place of Worship. Most of these are my words, but he has
transplaced them lb, as to lose the Argument. The force of the
Argument is this. If the Worship of God must not be confi
ned to any Place or symbolical Presence, then he mult not be
worshipped by an Image, for an Image is a representative
Presence of God, or of the Saints, and Men go to Images as
to Divine Presences to Worships so that where-ever the Image
H, which is a symbolical Presence, whether fixt in a Church,
or carried from one place to another, it makes it a peculiar
place of Worship, as having a symbolical Presence. So that
the whole force of the Argument, lies upon an Image being a
symbolical Presence. And this he tells us is an Argument far aU
Dtfjenters against a Liturgy, or Set-Form of Prayer, (I suppose he
means the Book of the Liturgy, or Forms of Prayer) for if
God be better worshipped by a Set-Form of Prayer, than without it,
then the Worship of God is more confined to that place, where thus
Set-Form of Prayer, that Set- Liturgy u ufed\ and his the fame tbS
no set place be appointed for that Set-Form of Prayer. Tie Parallel
is exaih It is ib indeed, if he an prove the Common-PrayerBook to be a symbolical Presence of God, as an Image is, but
till then it is ridiculous.
At the conclusion of this SeEtion I observed, that to worship
-God in Spirit, is to worship him with our Mind and Spirit.
And from hence I shewed the absurdity of Praying to God in
an Unknown Tongue , when neither our Understandings,
nor Affections can joyn in our Prayers. For I suppose no man
will Jay, that to pray to God or praise him in words which we do
not understand, is to worship God in Spirit, xnlefi he thinks, that
a Parrot may be taught to pray in the Spirit. This he calls a Calumny. He would infinuate k that Cat helicls when they assist to
(present ho should have Aid at) Prayers, which thes Jo not under
stand, are not comm.mded to pray in Spirit by devout Thoughts end
pious Assertions. Now I insinuate no liich thing: when they
are prelent at Prayers which they do not understand, they
may have other devout thoughts lor ought I know, but I fay
they cannot offer those Prayers, to God with their understand
ing, which they do not understand, and in such Prayers
ihey do not pray with the Mind *nd Spirit, and therefore all
r- i
the Preservative againft P 0 P EKT.

such Prayers are absurd, and contrary to the nature of Christi
an Worship, which is to wor/hip God in Spirit.
But my work is not at an end yet ; there are some other
Misrepresentations and Calumnies, which he has picked out
of the fourth SeBion of the Preservative, which mult be conliciered.
Xhe fourth SeBion concerns the reformation and improve
ment of Mumane Nature , which I shewed to be the great
design of the Gospel, and that particularly with respect to ,
Knowledge and Holiness ; and I examined how far the Prin
ciples and Practices of the Church of Rome did comply with
this great Gospel Design.
i . As for Knowledge, I supposed, neither the Church of
Rome nor any one for her would pretend that she is any great
Friend to Knowledge, which is so apt to make men Hereticks.
That knowing Papists are not beholden to their Church for
their Knowledge, which deprives them of all the means of
Knowledge j will not allow them to believe their senses, but
commands them to believe Transubstantiation, which is con
trary to the evidence of fense ; forbids men the use of Reason
in matters of Religion ; suffers them not to judge for therriselves, nor examine the Reasons of their Faith ; and denies,
them the use of the Bible, which is the only means to know
the revealed Will of God : and when men must neither be
lieve their Senses, nor use their Reason, nor read the Scripture, ,
ir is easie to guess, what knowing and understanding Christi
ans they must needs be.
Against this it may be objected, that the Church of Romedoes instruct her Children in the true Christian Faith, though .
Ihe will not allow them to read the Scriptures nor judge for
themselves, which is the saser way to teach them the pure Cathdlick Faith without danger of Error or Heresie. To this I
answered, This were something, did the Church of Rome
take Care to instruct them in all neceflary Doctrines, and to '
teach nothing but what is true ; and could such men, who 1
thus tamely receive the dictates of the Church, be said to
know and to understand their Religion : so that here were
two Inquiries, i. Whether, the Church of Rome instructs her
Children- 1*' all necessary truth, and nothing but the truth.
z. Whether ike & instructs them, that they may be said to '
know*
93
<

know anJ understand. How far the Church of Rome is from
doing the first, i said, all Christians in the World are sensible
'but themselves, but that is not our present Dispute. But our
Jdiiiteit seems will make it the Dispute, or it shall pass for .;
ferfett SLnder, for thus he repeats it, they take ni care to instruct
men in all neajjary Doctrmes. Which I did not positively affirm,
but since he will have it so, I do now affirm, That they Jo not
instrutt men in all necessary Doctrines, and that tb\y jf.;c> them a
great many falsi Doctrines. But then he must remember, what
1 mean by instructing, it is not meerly to teach them to repeat
the Articles, of their .Creed, but to give them the true fen/e
anil meaning of them ; and I do affirm, and am ready ro
prove it, and possibly may do lb, when leisure permits, that
they do not rightly instruct men in the great and necessary
Doctrine of rbrgivenels of Sins in the Name of Christ, nor in
the nature of Chi ists Mediation and Intercession for us, nor
in the nature of Justification, or of Gospel and Obedience,
but teach such Errors as overthrow the true Gospel notion of
these great and necessary Doctrines.
Then as for their manner of Teaching, to require men to
believe what they fay meerly upon the Authority of the
Church, witlwut suffering them to examine, whether such
Doctrines arc taught in Scripture, or to exercise their own rea
son and judgment about it, can make no man a knowing and
understanding Christian. For no man understands his Reli
gion,, who docs not in some measure know the reasons of his
Faith, and judge whether they be sufficient or not ; who
knows not how to distinguish between Truth and Error, who
has no Rule to go by, but must take all upon trust, and the
credit of his Teachers, who believes whatever he is told, and
teams hts Creed as School-hoys do their Grammar, without under'
standing it : this is not an active, but a kind of passive know
ledge : Such men receive the imprejfien that is made on them, as
Wax does, and understand no more of the matter. These Sayings
that arc marked out, are more of his Misrepresentations., which
need no other Vindication, but to be shewn in their own fight,
and proper places.
And yet I did not deny, but some men might be IbduU
and stupid, as to be capable of little more than to be taught
theip Religion as Children,, but certainly this is not the ut
most
the Preservative agaiatt POPERY.

most perfection's knowledge, that any Christian must aim at :
which he thus represents, With them this is the utmost perfe&ion
bf Knowledge, that any Christian must aim at. This I did not
{ay, but this I fay, that it is she utmost perfection of Know
ledge, which any man can attain to, who will be contented
with the Methods of the Church of Rome, not to examine his
Religion, but to take all upon the credit of the Church.
Well, How does our Jefuite confute this heavy Charge and
perfett Slander ? Does he shew, that they teach all necessary
Truth ? Does he prove that men
may be very knowing Christians without understanding the
Reasons of their Faith ? Not one word of this, which alone
was to his purpose ; but he fays, hundreds of thousands of Re
ligious men are employed in instructing the Ignorant , and
teaching Children ; and whoever denied this, that they do
teach Men and'Children after their fashion ? But does this
prove, that they teach them all necessary Truths, and nothing
but truth ? Or that they make them ever the wiser for their
teaching ? As for those ignorant Protestants he has had to
deal with, if he made Converts of them, I believe they were
very ignorant ; otherwise if there were Ignorance between
diem, it was as likely to lie on the Jefuite's fide.
Having laid down this as a Principle, that one great design
of the Gospel is to improve the Knowledge of MarTkind, I
hence inferred, i. That to forbid People to read and meditate
on the Word of God, can be no Gospel Doctrine, unless not
to read the Bible be a better way to improve Knowledge than
to read it. 2. This is a mighty presumption also against Transubstantiation, that it is no Gospel Doctrine, because it over
throws the very fundamental principles of Knowledge, as I
shewed at large, and wonder he has not one word to fay for
Transubstantiation. 3. The Authority of an Infallible Judge,
whom we must believe in every thing, without examining
the reasons of what he affirms, nay though he teaches such
Doctrines as appear to us most exprefly contrary to Sense and
Reason and Scripture, is no Gospel-Doctrine, because it is
not the way to make men wise and understanding Christians,
for to suspend the exercise of Reason and Judgment, is not
the way to improve Mens Knowledge j and here I distinguish
between an infallible Teacher and an infallible Judge. The
first
O
A Vindication of the Second fart of

first teaches infallibly, but yet he that learns, must use his own
Reason and Judgment, unless a man can learh without it. But
the Second usurps the Office of every Man's private Reason
and Judgment, and will needs judge for all Mankind, as if he
were an universal Soul, an universal Reason and Understand
ing, which is to unsoul all Mankind in matters of Religion.
And therefore though there have been infallible Teachers, as
Mofei and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles, yet none erer pretended to be infallible Judges but the Church of Rome.'
'Though there may he an infallible Teacher, there never can be an in
fallible Judge, to whom I must submit my own Reason and
Judgment without examination, because I cannot know, that be
teaches infallibly, unlefi I am sure, that he teaches nothing , that u
contrary to any natural or revealed Law, and that I cannot know,
unless I may judge of his Doctrine by the light of Nature and
Revelation : for he is not infallible, if he contradicts any na
tural or revealed Laws. I gave an instance of this in Muses
and the Prophets, and in Christ himself: for when Christ ap
peared, there was a written Law, and all the Miracles he
wrought could not have proved him a true Prophet, had he
contradicted the Scriptures of the old Testament; And there
fore he appeals to Moses and the Prophets to bear testimony to
his Person and Doctrine : and then Miracles gave Authority
to any New Revelation he made of God's Will, when it ap
peared, that he had not contradicted the Old. The Law of
Nature and the Law of Moses were the Laws of God, and God
cannot contradict himself j and therefore the DocTrme of all new
Trophets, even of Christ himself was to be examined, and u to be
examined to this day by the Law and the Prophets } and therefore
though he was certainly an infallible Teacher, yet mm were to judge
of his DoSlrine, before they besieved j and he did not reautre them
to lay aside their Reason and Judgement, and submit to his infallible
Authority, without examination.
This our Jesiiite makes a horrible outcry about, which
has made me transcribe the whole of this Argument. H
will hardly allow either the Author, or the Licenser to
be Christians , and reserved this for the concluding Blow
to end his Pamphlet with : What Jesus our God blessed far ever
more , even when owned the Son of God, even from us Chrtftsmtt amet exaii a submission to hit infallible Authority, withot
the Preservative againtt POPEHY.

examining the truth of what he [ays, by comparing it with the prin
ciples of humane reason : this is the sum of all his Answer, the
rest is raving and senseless harangue. Bat the fallacy of all
this lies in a few words, Jefttstbe Son of God blessed for evermore,
even when owned the Son of Son, wen by us Christians. For
those who own him the Son of God, no doubt will submit to
his infallible Authority, and therefore all prosest Christians
must do so ; but that which I (aid is this, that no man could,
nor to this day can own him, upon Wife consideration, to be
a true Prophet, and the Son of God, till he is satisfied, that
he neither contradicts the plain light of Nature nor the Law of
Moses ; and therefore thus far we are to examine his Doctrine j
but when it is evident he contradicts no former Revelations,
and confirms his Authority by Miracles, then we are to be
lieve any new Revelations he makes upon his own Authority.
And therefore in my own Name, and the Name of the Li
censer, I here profess, that when,by examining the Doctrine
of Christ by the Light of Nature and the Law of Moses, I find
he has contradicted neither, arid by the great Miracles he
wrought, I am satisfied he is an Infallible Teacher, then I
own him for such ays Infallible Teacher (or Judge if he pleases)
that I must not judge ofhis Doctrine (gxcepting the case of. the
Light of.Nature and the Law of Moses) but believe it, andfubmit to him ; and in these cases, I submit to bis Infallible Autho
rity without examination j I receive all his Dictates as Divine Ora
cles.
I do not wonder the Jesuite is so much disturbed at this, for
-if it' appears, that Christ himself did not pretend to be such
3tn Infallible Judge, as he would have us believe the Pope or
GhurCh of Rome to he, they must for shame give up this kind
of Infallibility : and therefore if he has a mind to Confute
this Principle thoroughly, that he may understand my mind
plainly, I will reduce all to some few Propositions, which he
may try his skill upon, when he pleases.
. n That no Prophet is to -be bdicve'd in contradiction tb
such plain and evident Principles of Nature, as all Mankind
agree in.
a. That the first Prophet, who appears in the World, be
fore any revealed Law; and confirms his Authority by plain
and evident Miracles, is to be believed in every thing he fays,
O 2
while

while he does not contradict the plain and evident principles of
natural Knowledge. And for that reason Moses was to be be
lieved in every thing, which did not contradict the light- of
Nature, because he was the first Prophet, who made a Publick
Revelation of God s Will to the World.
- 3. That succeeding Prophets, who confirm their Authori
ty with Miracles, are to be believed in all new Revelations
they make, which neither contradict the Light of Nature,
nor any former Revelations ; and therefore Christ is absolute
ly to be believed, when it appears, that he neither contra
dicted the Light of Nature, nor the Law of Moses. '
.4. When the Revelation is compleat and persect, and has
no new additions to be made to it, (as the Gospel. Revelation
is) how infallible soever any Teachers may be, we must be
lieve them in nothing, which either contradicts the light of
Nature, or the standing Revelation, or is not contained in the
Revelation.
And this shews us, how far we are to submit our own Rea*
son and Judgment to an infallible Teacher ; that is, when we
are convinced of his infallibility, we must then believe him
upon his own word, but not till then. And therefore we must
ot necessity judge of all Brophets, till we can prove them true
Prophets, and then we must believe them without judging.
The Miracles Moses wrought were a sufficient reason to be
lieve him to be a true Prophdt, while he did not contradict
the Laws of Nature, and thus far all men were to judge of
him, and not to rely upon his Authority j but when by his
Miracles and the agreement of his Doctrine with natural Prin
ciples, they were satisfied, he was a true Prophet, they were
to judge no farther, but to receive every thing else upon his
Authority..
When Christ appeared in the World, men were to judge of
him, before they believed, and that not only by Miracles, and
the Conformity of his Doctrine to the Light of Nature, but
by his Agreement with the Law of Moses, which was a stand
ing Revelation: and when by these Marks he was known to
be the true Meffiat, they were to believe every thing else he
said upon his own Authority.
But Christ having now given us a persect Revelation of

God* Will, to which 00 additions must be made j we are to
believe

1
I
I
I ,
'
9$
believe no men, how infallible soever, any further than they

agree with the Gospel- Revelation, and therefore must judge
for our selves both of the sense of Scripture, and the Doctrine
they teach ; which is a plain demonstration, that as -these ne
ver was such an infallible Teacher, whom we must in all Cases
believe without examination, (which is what the Church of
Rome means by an infallible Judge) for Moses his Doctrine was
to be examined by the Light of Nature, and Christ's by the
tight of Nature and the Law of Moses $ so now especially can
there be no such infallible Judge, because the Gospel is *the
entire and perfect Rule of Faith, and we must believe jio man,
against or beyond the Gospel-Revelation ; and therefore must
judge for our selves, and compare his Doctrine with the Rule ;
which,confound9 the Infallibility of the Church of Rome. This
is , the Scheme of my Principles j and now he knows, what he
has to answer, when he has a mind to it.
\ jjfy. I observed farther, To pretend the Scripture to be an
obscure or impersect Rule,is a direct contradiction to the design
of the.Gospel, to improve and perfect Knowledge. He says
nothing aboutfhe Obscurity of the Rule, as for the Imperfe
ctions of it, I observed, they pretended to supply the* Desects
of Scripture by Unwritten Traditions. The first Answer I gave
to this, which alone he pretends to fay something to, was this.
If the Sriptures be an imperfect Rule, then all Christians have
not a perfect Rule, because they have not the keeping of un
written Traditions, and know not what they are,. till the
Church is pleased to tell them ; and it seems it was a very great
while before the Church thought jit to do it : for suppose all the new
Articles of the Council of Trent, Were unwritten Traditions, fifteen
hundred Tears wassomewhat of the longest' to have jo constderahle a
part of the Rule of Faith concealedfrom the IVorld. Which theJesuite thus repeats ; The Catholicks by unwritten Traditions, that Pag. 77.
make up a fart of their Rule of Faith, mean such things as may be
concealed from the World for I yoo Tears,never heard of before in the
Church of God, kept very privately and secretly for several Ages, and
totally unwritten. Whereas I said nothing at alios this, but
that if the Twelve new Articles of Pope Pius his Creed in the
Council of Trent, be pretended (as they do pretend) to oe the
Tradition of the Church, then dtfacie this Tradition was con*
waled for near 1500 Years, far there was no seen Tradition
i oa
4 VihdicatfQn of the Second Part of
. . known before, nor at che cime of the Council of Trent, as has

been proved as to several Articles, by the learned Dean of
Sr. Pauls ; and, when our Jesiiite pleases, he may try to con*
futqhim.
: j ,.. ; . r i ,. '>.''.'. ;
/
.. els. I observed, that an implicit Faith, or believing as the
Church believes, without knowing what it is we believe, can be
no Gospel Loctrine, because it is not for the improvement of
Knowledge. And here 1 observed, that some Roman Doctors
think it lufficienr, that a man believes as the Church believes,
without an explicite knowledge of any thing they believe j
but the general Opinion is, that a man must have.' an explicite
belief of the Apostles Greed, but as for every thing else it sti
fices, if he believes as the Church believes. That is, as I inser
red, it is not necessary men should so much as know, what
the new Articles of the Trent Faith are, if they believe the
Apostles Creed, and in other things resign up their Faith inu
plicitely to the Church. From whence 1 concluded, that\by
their own consession all the Doctrines in dispute between us
and the Church of Rome are of no use, much less necesiary to
salvation, for if they were they would be as necessary to be
known,# and explicitely believed, as the Apostses Creed j and
therefore Protestants who believe the Apostles Creed, may be
saved without believing the Trent Creed, for what we need not
know, we need not believe. What does our . Jesuite say to
3a.
this ? is an implicite Faith no Dccttine of their Church ? hare
I misrepresented their Doctrine ? he says nothing of this. But
this Calumniator (he fays, meaning poor calumniated me) con
founds what is to be known necessitate meuii, so that be .who
through no fault of his hath not learned it, is however unusable of
salvation (which is all c6ntain^d tn the Creed) with what mnfi hi
known necessitate pfcepti, because God batb commanded all those
who are in the occasion and in the capacity of being instrutted in tt,
to learn it. Whatever I confounded, I am sure, this is a distin
ction would cOnfoiind any man to reconcile it with an impli
cite Faith. Some things are so necesiary to be knOWn, that a
man shall be damned nleerly for not. knowing them, though
he had no opportunity to know them (which some wiH say is
very hard) other things are necessary to be knoWri ib those
who have opportunity to know them, for thdt I suppose he
means, by occasion tmd capacity, oi he means nothing but a trick s
and
tlePrefervative.ag<tin& POPERY.
ip|
and what place is here for an implicite Faich? When they

must know all that is a necessary means of salvation, at. the
peril of their salvation, and must know every thing, as far as
they have opportunity of learning it ; and therefore must ne
ver take up with an implicite Faith. He fays, Each man is
not bound to know all that Christ hath taught, but yet all that
Christ has taught as necefj'ary to him in bisstation : So that if all
Christians are not bound tohaveanexplicite belief and know
ledge of any thing but the Apostles Creed, then the know
ledge of all the peculiar Doctrines of Popery, it seems, are not
necessary for them in their station ; and if they be not neces
sary for all Lay.Christians suppose in their station, they are ne
cessary for no body but the Pope and his Clergy j and that is
the truth of the story : for they are the only people that get a.
ny thing by .them, and it concerns them only to know these
matters.
Secondly, I proceeded to Holiness and Vertue, the promo
ting of which is another great Gospel.design j and shewed
.
how many ways this is hundred in the Church of Rome.
I observed, That great value the Church <jf Rome sets upon an
external Righteousness is very apt to corrupt mehs notions of what is
good, to perjwade them that such external Observances are much
more pleasing to God, and therefore certainly much better in themselves,tban true Gospel.Obedience,thanMoral and Evangelical Vertues:
for that which will merit of God the pardon of the greatest Immora
lities, and a great Reward, that which supplies the want of true
Vertue, which compensates for. fin, and makes men great Saints, must
needs be more pliastng to Gfd, than Vertueit self. This he cites
as a great Misrepresentation, and so it is, as he puts it ; for
he makes me fay, that they teach all this : whereas all that I Pag. 7*.
sey is, that these are natural inserences which men draw from
that great value the Church of Rome puts upon an external
Righteousness, and that such Conceits as these are very apt to
make" men careless of a holy 15 se.
'
Thus he makes me fay, The Roman Church teaches, that men
need take no care of venial fins,afld that they may keep clear of mortal pg. <jf.
fits, without any great attainment in Vertue, But I never said,
the Roman Church taught this. I fay. The Dottnn, of venial
fuss, which cannot deserve eternal punishments, how many Joevtr
they arc, it apt to give men veryflight thoughts of very great evils;
that.
A Vindication osthe Second Part os

that wdile this distinction lasts, men have an excuse at hand for
great many sins, .which they need take no care of. What ! because
the Church teaches, thac they need not avoid venial sins ? By
no means! But because they shall not be damned for them,
which is encouragement enough to most men to be careless
about them : If. they keep ckar of mortal sins, they are safe, that is,
as to eternal damnation ; and that men may do without any great
attainments in Virtue: whiqfr is certainly true, whoever teaches
it, according to the Roman distinction between venial and
mortal sins.
"* .* .
I fliewed Farther, that the Church of Rome makes void most
of the Gospel Motives to a holy lise. The second was the Ho
liness, and Purity, and inflexible'Justice of the divine Nature,
which enforces the necessity of Holiness, because a holy God
cannot be reconciled to wicked men, nor forgive our sins,
unless we repdht and reform. But the force of tb,s Argument is
lost in the Church of Rome by the Judicial Absolution of the Priest*
For they set daily the Priest does absolve them without forjaktng
their fins, and God must confirm the Sentence of bis Ministers ; and
therefore they are absolves, and need not fear that God will not ab
solve them : Which must either destroy all sense os God s essential
Holinest and. Purity, and ferswade them, that God can be reconciled
to Sinners, while they continue in their fins ; or else they must believe that God hath given sower to his Priests to absolve those whom
be could not have absolved himjelf. This he thus repeats : They
teach ( for this must always come in to make me a Mifrepresenter ) that when a Priest absolves men that forsake not their fins,
God must confirm'the Sentence of bis Minister, and therefore tbey.
are absolved, and need not fear j whence they believe that God can
be reconciled, to sinners, whilst they remain in their sins ; anJ. there
fore they must believe that God hath given sower to bis Priests to ab
solve those whom he could not absolve himself. How uhlike this
is to what I said, I need not tell any man ; but he^ has not
only mif-represehted njy words and sense, but has made non| fense of it too, which is a little too much at once : for if they
believe that God can be reconciled to sinners, while they con
tinue in their sins, they need not believe that God had given
power to the Priest to' absolve those whom he could not ar>
solve himself, that is, unreformed sinners j for if God can be
reconciled to such men, who continue in their sins, he may
absolve them too, as well as the Priest.
But t
th&KKtffr&tiiWS *g(tin& POPE R.T-
103
But I mult not part with this point thus. I laid, that de
fablo men saw th^t they areevery day, or as oft as they please
to go to consession, absolved by the Priest without forsaking
their fins j is not this tme;? That they arc .$aght that God
confirms the jSentence of his Ministers, and when they are
forgiven by the Priest, they are forgiven by God : That the
Priest is a Judge and absolves as a Judge, by a true judicial,
not a meer declarative power : Is not this true ? And is not
this realbn enough for them to believe that when, they are ar>
solved by the Priest, without forsaking their fins, they are ab
solved by God ? And does not this destroy that Argument
from the holiness and justice of God, that he will not forgive
our sins, unless we forsake them ? But he says, They teach, that
to. receive absolution without a realforsaking of our Jim} in lieu of
forgiveness of them, adds a haino,ts Sacriledge. But how do they,
teach this, by words or actions, ? Their actions teach quite < .
thefwl, for they absolve men over and over, who do not forlake their sins, though they know that they do not j and if
(uch Absolutions do not avail to die forgiveness of sins, what
greater security is there in the Popish judicial, than in the^
Protestant declarative Absolution 5;, Nay, why do they. cheat
people out 'of their Souls, and lull them into security\by such
Yoid Absolutions ? Nor do their words teach any necessity of
mens forsaking sin, to make their Absolution valid : Contrition
is the most that is required to Absolution. Now suppose Con
trition signifie a sorrow for, sin, and a resolution to forsake \tk.
yet Contrition is not forsaking* fin, is not holiness of lise; and
if Absolution upon Contrition puts men into a state of salva
tion, then men may be saved by the Sacrament of Penance,
without an actual forsaking of sin ; for if they sin again, it is
only repeating the fame Remedy^ the Sacrament of Penance,,
with the Absolution of the Priest, will restore, them to the far;
your of God, and a state of salvation again, Which shews
that the Church of Rome does not teach what he pretends ; I
wish she did, or that he would teach it for her, that the Abso
lution of the Priest wUl avail no man who does not actually
forsake his sins, an^^0OT,^4fe,..jWid then we should fee..
whatyaUyi men WQul<|J$vefor thejrJudicial Absolution; - of'
. A thir'(| pf^l.MotiYe, . to; p$ness, is the Death and Sacri-
A Vindication of the Second Torsos

fice of Christ, because his Bloud is the Bloud of the Covenant,
and the efficacy of his Sacrifice, extends nef farther than the
Gospel. Covenant ; that is, no man can be saved by the Bloud
of Christ, but those who obey the Gospel. This I observed
the Church of Rome seems very sensible of, that the Sacrifice
of the Gross will avail none but penitent ancf reformed Sin
ners. But then the Sacrifice of the Mast is a Propitiatory Sacri
fice for the living and the dead, to expiate those1sins, which are not
expiated by tbeSacrifiee of Christ upon the Crosi, and that by the
bareeptis operatum, by the offering thu Sacrifice of the Mast it
filfr without any. g'bod motion in the person for -whom it it offered.
These are some more of hisMis-representations, to which he
adds, That when Christ was sacrificed upon the Crqst, h e expiateJ
only for the eternal punishment ofsin ; when sacrificed in the Mast
only, for the temporal. , ;
" *'
."' What has he to fay to this, only tbrfe loud Calumnies. We
teach, that Christ on the Crostgave himself a full Redemption for all
the guilt and debt of sinners, who apply to themselves that precious
Bloud by the means appointed by Christ.
Very tender this ! But
did Chrilt expiate the sins only. of. true penitent and reformed
sinners? Is that the only mean's of applying his precious Bloud
to us ? That by the Sacrifice of the Mast, as also by any good CArP
stian Prayers for obdurate sinners, such Graces may be obtained as
slaai work in them their salvation j but that no fm it remitted tV. an
impenitent sinner. Very artificial and trickim still ! Does the
Sacrifice of the Mass expiate siris,: ,or not ? Do other good
Christian Prayers expiate sin ?'. Why then does. he joyn the
Sacrifice ofthe Mass, and other good Christian Prayers, as if
they attribute no more expiation to the Mass, than to Chri
stian Prayers ? Is the Sacrifice of the. Mass to obtain Grace foF
sinners, or to expiate sin ? Pray what Grace is obtained by
the Sacrifice of die Mass for tr.ose who ate dead ? or is the Si
orifice of the Mass available for obdurate sinners, or for those
only who, are in a state of Grace? But pray, why not one
word to the main case, that the Mass expiates those sins, for
which the Sacrifice of the Croft made no Expiation? What he.
adds, That no sin it remitted to an impendent sinner, is nothing to
the purpose j the question is, Whether no man shall be par
doned, who does aot reform his sin, and live a holy lise ?
These
the Preservative against POPEKT.
These are two things in the Ghurch of Rome, where men re

ceive Absolution upon their Contrition, as is pretended, who
never reform their lives. But as for the Opus Oper'atum he tells
US, It hath no reference to him, who receives the Sacraments,but
to those 'who administer the Sacraments, from whose Piety they take
not their force. This I know Caflander and some other mode
rate Romanists would have to be the sense, but in contradicti
on to the Doctrine of their Church : I shall not enter into that
Dispute now : our present case is very plain. For the Mass is
ofsered for the livingand the dead, for those who are absent
and know nothing of it, and therefore cannot joyn in the Ob
lation of this Sacrifice ; that if it have any vertue it must be
its own, the bare Opus Operatum, without ai)y good motion of
him, for whom it is ofsered. <
.' , . A Fourth Gospel Motive to Holiness is the Intercession of
Christ for us at the right hand of God. Because he mediates
and interceeds only for true penitent Sinners ; which obliges us,
-as we hope for any benefit from the Intercession of Christ, .
heartily to repent of our fins, and live a new lise : but the
Church of Rome has found out a great many other Advocates
and Mediators, who by their great Interest in Christ, or fa
vour with God , may obtain that pardon, which otherwise
they could not hope for : and that this must be the meaning
of their Addresses to Saints and the Virgin Mary, I proved, be
cause there is no other account to be given of it ; for will they
iay, that Christ wants Will or Power to undertake our Cause,
if we be such, as according to the terms of the Gospel it is his
Office to inierceed for : I consessed, it was hard to think, that
theyI should imagine, that the Intercejswn of the Virgin Mary, or
the most powerful Saints can prevail with our Saviour to do that,
. which according to the Laws of his own Mediation, they know he ,
cannot and witi not do. But yet so it is, that is, thus they do,
and there is no other account to be given of it but this. This
he says is a bare.faced Calumny I But what is the Calumny ?
that they do pray to Saints and the Virgin ? or that such vile
. Wretches hope to be heard by them, who could not reafona. fely expect, that Christ would hear them upon their own ac
count ? Let him have a care of calling this a Calumny ; there
are many fine Stories, how gracious the Blessed Virgin has
c.i
P a
been
i o6

been to the most profligate Villains, which I suppose are rela
ted for this purpose to make such Wretches great Devotoes of
Pag. 83,
the Virgin.
' . "'" .:'-'.'. '
What he fays, That the blejftd Saints mly joyn their Prayers to
ours to obtain mercy of Christ , is nothing to our present purpose :
the Question is,Why those who hare so mercifuland compassi
onate an High-Priest, should make such frequent Addresses to
other Advocates, if they did not hope to find them more piti
ful and compassionate, w obtain that for them of their Savi.
our by their Interest and Intercession, which good men know,
they may have of Christ for asking, without applying to other
Advocates,
A Fifth Gospel Motive to a^Holy Lise is the hope of He*
ven and the fear of Hell j but then the terror of Hill is mightily
abated by the Dotfrine of Purgatory, for though Pwtgdtory be a ter
rible place, yet it is not eternal}
especially confidering how many
eafie ways there are for men to get out of Purgatory : those w/bo can
buy Indigencies, while they linxj or Mafjes sot their Souls, when
they die, need mt Ue long there, if the Prufts .art not out in their
reckmmg.
'<'. <
. i '. ' u' '
.....'-. > r'
.
Here he finds three Calumnies. The first, That Catholieks
exempt Sinnersfrom Hell, who in the Protestant DocJrine would be
condemned to it. No unrtpented mortal fin is lodged in Purgatory\
or escapes HeU. Now I consess, though I did not fay so, yet I
think they do ; and I grant it is a true consequence of my
Argument : That all impenitent Sinners shall go to Hell, we
both agree ; but then we make the reformation of our lives
essential to repentance , and how sorrowful soever men are
for their sins, if they live after such sorrow and do not reform
their lives, they shall go to Hell. In the Church of Rome, ac
most contrition or sorrow for sin is all that is 'neceflary to Ab
solution, and that keeps them out of Hell, and such men
must expiate their sins by Penance in this World, or in Purga
tory in the next, but though they do not reform their sins, if
they.be contrite and absolved again, they are restored to a
state of Grace again, and so tetits qnottis. Now such Peni
tents as are sorry sor their fins, but do not reform them, are
condemned to Hell in the Protestant Church, and only to
Purgatory in the Church of Rome : and therefore the First is
no
the Preservative against POPERT.

no Calumny. The Second is, That hdulgencies may be bought
for Money, this is no Calumny as I have already shewn, or avail
a Soul undisposed to receive the benefit of them, through want of
contrition, the guilt offin not being before remitted. This I never
' said, and therefore is no Calumny of mine. The third, That
Masses said for any Soul in Purgatory avail such as during life have
mt deserved and merited that mercy. This I take to be nonsense
according to the Doctrines of their own Church. For certain
ly those Souls who have merited to get into Purgatory, have
merit enough to receive the benefit of Masses.
Another Gospel-Motive to Holiness are the Examples' ofGood
Men, but in the Church of Rome the extraordinary Vermes of
great and meritorious Saints are not so much for imitation as
tor a stock of .Merits/The more Saints they have,the less need
is there for other men to be Saints, unless they have a mind
to it, because there is a greater treasure of Merits to relieve
those who have none of their own and if one man .can me
rit for twenty, there U no need there should be above one in twenty
]gotd. Here he quibbles upon the different acceptation of Me
rit, as it relates to a reward, or as it expiates the punishment
of fm. In the first sense he says Merit is personal, not. com
municative ; but if it be communicative in the second sense,
that one man may be delivered from punishments by the Me
rits of another, (and if it be not, there is an end of the gainful
trade of Indulgences) tnae is sufficient to my Argument, and
will satisfie most sinners, who are not concerned about degrees
of glory, if they can escape punishment.
im-..-..' I .
Lastly I shewed, that the Gospel Means and Instruments
of Holiness, do not escape much better in the Church of
Rome : among others I instanced in the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, which besides those supernatural . conveyance! of
Grace, which are annexed to it by our Saviours Institution, is a
great Moral Instrument of Holinefi- but in the Church of Rome
this admirable Sacrament it turned into a dumb fisew, which no
body can bi edified with, $r into a sacrifice for the living and the
dead, which expiates fin andserve's instead of- a holy life. Here he
fays, there are three crying Calumnies, x. That the Sacrament
imohgtHBiti' isj nothing but a shew or a sacrifice^ whereas
they viery often receive it j and did I fay the Sacrament was
never
A Vindication of the Second sort of

never received in the Church of Rome ? 2. That they re
quire the prablice of no Virtue to the receiving the Sacrament,
whereas they require the Sacrament of Penance to prepare
for the Eucharist. But I spoke of those Vertues which were to
be exercised in receiving, which there are not such advantages
for in the Church of Rome, where the Office is not under
stood, and the mind diverted with a thousand insignificant
Ceremonies. 3. That our exposing the blejjed Sacrament, a a
dumb flew, and so we assist at bolj Masi. And whether it be or
no, let those judge, who have seen the Ceremony. How
much the Sacrifice of the Mais encourages Vertue, we have al
ready seen.
1 doubt not but our Jesiiite can give as good an Answer to
1 this Vindication, as he did to the Preservative, and I as little
doubt but he will ; unless Mr.Needhams Name to the License
may be my security, for he has threatned, it flail be to him &
sufficient Note and Character ofa Bookjtot worth the Reading, much
les the Censuring, where.ever he sees, that Reverend Person has
opened it the Presi : and I commend him for it, for he has had
very ill success with such Books of late : but though I never
grudge my pains in answering an Adversary, who gives occa
sion for any useful and material Discourse, (for I desire what
ever I say, should be sifted to the very bottom, and am as rea
dy to own any Error, I am convinced of, as to vindicate
the Truth) yet it is very irkfbm to be forced to write a great
Book meerly to rescue my words from the injuries of a per
verse Comment, which has been my present Task : Thus any
Book may be answered, by a man, who has wit or ignorance
enough to pervert it: and such Answers may be easily an
swered again by men, who have nothing else to do j but if
this trade grow too common, they must be very idle people
indeed, who will find time to read them.
And therefore to prevent such an impertinent trouble for
the future, before I take leave of my Adversary, I will ven
ture to give him a little good Advice, which may stand him
in stead against the-next time.*
.'.
1. That he would be more modest and sparing in his
Tide-page j not to paint it so formidable as to make ^ridicu
lous;
the Preservative againtf POPEKT.

lous: it is a little too much to talk of Principles which dtft roy all
right use of Reason, Scripture, Fathers, Councils,' undermire Divine
Faith, and abuse Moral Honesty. Or Forty malicious Calumnies*
and forged untruths, besides several Fanatical Principles, which de-.
oy all Church Discipline, and oppose Christ's Divine Authority?'
such things be proved against any Book, I allure you it fs
very terrible , though there be nothing of it in the Title,.
but the World has been so long deceived with Titles, that
commonly the more the Title promises, the less they expect
in the Book. Some cry it is a Mountebank's Bill, others, rhe
Man raves, and if curiosity tempts any to look any farther,
the disappointment they meet with;, provokes their scorn, or
indignation. The bare name of an Answer to a Book, which
is commonly known and approved, is a sufficient invitation,
to all men to read it, but it is a very impolitick thing to pte->
judice the Readers by a frightful Title.
*. That, he would not think , he has confuted a Book by

picking out some sayings , which he thinks very inconvenient
and "obnoxious, but in which the main Argument of the Boot
is not concerned. : this is the case in many passages he has ob
jected against the Preservative, for though there is never a one,
but what is very desensible , and what I have desended , yet
there are many , that if they could not be desended , the
main Argument of the Book is never the worse : This is as
vain ,' as to think to kill a man by launfliing a. Sore, while all
his Vitals are sound and untoucht. k
. .'3. That he would not boast of confuting a Book , without
bearing up fairly to any one Argument in it*
,
I know in his Postscript, he says,*A#f be omitted nothing in Aafwer to the: First part of the Preservative , that even pretended
to the appearance of an Argument \ that all the rest, which he
did not answer in his single sheet , was onlyswelled up with
words, but void of Sense and Reasop.
A strange Tympany this
poor Preservative was sick of, that' when the wordy swelling
was taken down , that and the Answer too could be reduced
to a single .flleet. But the Prefacer he says, Jliouldbave pointed
atsome pretended proofs, which he.flighted to expose, or have praised
l op

him for not wearying his Readers with a duH prolixity. But the
Prefaces pointed him to the Book, and that was enough, un
less he would have had him transcribe the Book again,and con
cluded every entire Argument, with this is not Answered by the
Jesutie. For I know not any one paragraph, that he has pre
tended to answer, though some single layings he has nibled at,
and little pieces ofArguments appears from this Vindication,,
and that so dully coo, that there was no need of more prolixi- \
ty to tire iiis Readers. Our Author little thinks, how he ex-,
poses his Reputation among our people by such vain brags as
these : They can find a great many Arguments, which he has
not medled with , and therefore conclude the Jesuite to be
very blind, or very impudent in pretending to have answered
all he could find, or (which it may be is the truth of thecale)
that he was not trusted to read the Preservative, but had some
sayings picked out for him to answer , .and he mistook them
for the whole.
'
^
4/y, That when he talks big of Calumnies and Misrepre
sentation, he would not only fay but prove them to be so : that
is, that I attribute any Doctrines to them, which are not
taught by their- own Councils and Doctors, or impute such
Practices to them, as they are not guilty of : for this Gry of
Misrepresenting is grown so familiar now, and that Charge
has been so often bafied of late, that our People will not take
his Word for it, nor allow evry Argument he cannot An
swer, to pass for a Misrepresentation.
_(
j/y, I would advise him to have a care, that he do not
Confute his own Church, while he is zealous to Confute bis
Adversary j this often happens, and has done se to him in this
very Dispute: especially in his Talk, of Moral Infallibility,
which has effectually given up the Roman pretences to Infalli
bility, as I have shewn above.
6lyt If he resolves to Write again ; I desire him to take but
any one Chapter or Section in the Prtservatme, and try his
skill on it ; not to pick out a single Saying or two, but to An
swer the whole Series of Argument!, as they lie the^re j and
if

if he can make any work of it, I promise him a very grave
and modest Reply.
But if he skips about from one Page to another, and only
hunts for Calumnies and Misrepresentations as he calls them,
which he first artificially makes, by changing Words and Pe
riods, and joyning Sentences, which have no relation to each
other, and then triumphs over his own Creatures, I shall leave
him to be answered and chastized by any Footman, who
pleases to undertake him, and I wish the next may not be ib
much his Over match, as the first was.
I have taken no Notice of his Postscript in Answer to the
Preface to the Protestant Footman's Desence of the Preservative.
That Author is able to Answer for himself, if he thinks fit;
but I presume he looks upon that Dispute as at an end, if
Disputes must ever have an end : for when all is (aid, that a
Cause will bear, and the same Arguments and die fame An
swers come to be repeated over again, it is time then for a
modest man to have done, and to leave the World to judge;
unless Disputing be only an Art of Scolding, where theTan
Word is thought the Victory. . . 's/
.
THE
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BP Wilkjns his Fifteen Sermons.
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Answerer ; with an Answer to the Rgprescnters last I{cply ; in which are
fe<d fcptn some AB0* Methods; by wh*d*'Ftofiftjisr are Misrepresented
btf Papists <Qa.m:1 TJTJ^l3iiuw..;j:j'.y>j: -.?dqi .1 A
' '.
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and a Papify the Second Part : Wherein the Doctrine of the "trinity is
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. "y . 1' '
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the first, Dialogue, .between him and his Lay-Friend.
: Of the Authority Qs,CoitnciIs, and the JCuleof Faith. By a Person of
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DISCOURSE
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*. v&the
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Roman, Church,
^
j -. .. <i .tr . .
, ., 1(j /. ;,i .-fn
i -I.. ..
. ":i Oi
E that incriafeth Knowledge increafeth Sorrow, is an Ob
servation which holdeth true, of no part of Knbwv
ledg,: so much as of the Knowledg of Mankind : It is
S iome relief to him, who knows nothing of; foreign
\Vjckedness, to hope there are other Nations wherein Vertue
is honoured, and Religion is in esteem, which allays his Regrates,
when he sees Vice and Impiety abound in his Country ; but if by
travelling or reading, he enlarge his Horizon, and know Man
kind better, his Regrates will grow, when. he .finds she whole
World lies in Wickedness. It arguesia cruel and inhumane/ Tletaper, to delight in beholding Scenjss of; Horror and Misery v.^nd
certainly none, who either honours his Mafcen ?nd Redeemer, . br
is a lover of Mankind, can without sorrow -look on* and see the
Indignities done to God and his Son, Christ, and fee the Enemy
of the humane Race triumphing oRer. t^ W'Wl&.'witJJ such ab
solute Authority, and so mqh.Afii%gfifo QrueHy y and thatMt
only in the dark Regions<.of i& which the Saifiof Rigbteousne&
hath not yet visited with his Gospel, but that where Gbrist ihouJd
have a Throne, Satans Seat should also be, is justly surprising' and
astoaishng. That almost all Christendom hath fallen, from cheir
first J-ove,iis\what none , whose Eyes .are open safcddny, i awLit is
little left evident, that the greater, pirt; of hnhatfa..iftaêr?stjip.wrack, and erred from the fwth v a^ itb^ UieiGhiiiThi whose
Faith was once ffokgn of throughout the World, is now become . the
Mother of the Fornications of the Earth j-tt is tre4 tht Scriptures
Warned us of a f&i*g *xo*y ,of, a Myfiery of Iniquity, of au An.
tifbrist to he revealed in due time^ and of a\BabyloniJb Komi, rvhipb
shonld bewitch the Earth jvitb' hex Sorceries, but should bt Yarnifhed
over with fair- Colours and: specious Pretences, .so, tbat<.Myfl cry
should be on her Forehead.:* Being then warned of Sa much dan
ger
ger to the Christian Religion, it is a necessary ( though painful)

enquiry to see if this Antichrist be yet come, or if we mast look
for another.
But because some have stretched the Notion of Antichristianismsofar, that things harmeless and innocent come within its
compass and others have so much contracted it, that they
might scape free ; we are to take a view of the Nature and De
signs of the Christian Religion, and. to conclude from that what
must be Antichristianism : It being not only a bare contradiction
to some branches or parts of the Gospel Cfor then every.Error or
Heresy were Antichristianism ) but a Design and entire Complex,
of sich Opinions and Practices as are contradictory to, and sub
versive of the Power and Lise of Christianity : And if we find
any such thing to be broached and received in the World,we may,
with the least hazard of uHcharitabfeness, pronounce it be Anti
christianism , and if it be acted or animated by any Head, he may
be concluded Antichrist.
The Designs of the Christian Religion run betwixt these soar
Heads :.. The first is, to give us right apprehensions of the Nature
and Attributes of God, that we may conceive aright of him, and
adore him futebly to his Nature, and according to his W ill, and
thereby be admitted to a free converse with him, and become par
takers of the Divine Nature. How little of God was known by
the twinkling's of Nature's Light, even to the better and wiser
part of the World, Tuffy's Books of the Nature of theGcds do
siifficiently inform us ? But if the Philosophers were fb much u
seek in it, what stiaH we expect from the Vulgar? And indeed
Homer's Iliads, and Ovid's Metamorphosis, were wretched Systems
of Divinity y and yet soch, and fuch-like, were the Sentiments
of the Nations about the Godhead. It is true, the Seed of Abra
ham were delivered from that Darkness, and knew God by his
Name Jehovah, and had Laws and Ordinances given them by
God *, yet their Worship. was so carnal, and did ft) strike upon,
and affect the Senses that we will be soon satisfied, it was not so
sublime and free as became the Spirituality of the Divine Nature,
and so was only fitted for the Infancy of the People of God ; but
by Christ the Mystery that lay hid from Agtl and Generations, tpm
revealed; for he declared the Father, aud revealed him, and taught
US to renennee Idols and Fanitiesi and to serve thriving Cod, com
manding all Men every where to refers, the Tin.es of Jgncranct wherein
(7 )
Godxcinkdat Idolatry, 4>eing then over. That so Mankind being
Co,sj Ojs ftrwjr, might feel after him, and not worship him any
more in the binding grossnefs of Idolatry, but in a pure spiritual
manner ; and whereas the Law came by Moses, by Christ came Grace
andTrmh. Grace, in opposition to the Severity of the Law
and Truth, as opposed ( not to Falshood ) but to the Figures and
Shadows of Moses hi> Law ; and therefore God is to be worship
ped in Spirit and Truth, in opposition to the Carnal Ordinances,
and Typical Rites, which fliadowed out the Truth in the Law.
The second Branch of the Christian Religion is, to hold forth
the Method of Man's Reconciliation with his Maker. For the
Sense of ad Mankind agrees in this, that Sin is an Indignity done
God, which deserveth Punishment, and cannot be expiated by
any Service Man can do : k was therefore necessary there should
be a mean found for incouraging Sinners to imbrace a Religious
Lise ; of which all had reason to despair, without Pardon were
offered to Penitents, upon the change of their Lives. Now this
was that the Heathen could not dream how to procure : It is true,
the Jews had Sacrifices for expiating of Sin, but these could never
quiet their Consciences, since the common Sense of Mankind tells,
that the Blood of Beasts cannot appease God. The Mystery
therefore of the Reconciliation of Sinners to God, is the proper
Character ofthe Christian Religion : which holds forth to us how
the Eternal Word was made Man, and endured unspeakable Suf
serings for the Sins of Men, even to the Death of the Cross ; and
was raised up by God, and carried to Heaven, where he is vested
with all Power and Authority, and by the Merits of his Death
hath a right to grant Pardon, give Grace, and conser Eternal
Lise on all that believe on him ; by whom God conveys all things
$o us, and through whom we are to offer up all our Worship to
God, he being the Mediator betwixt God and Man.
The third Head of the Christian Religion is, to teach the perfectest, clearest, and most Divine Rules, for advancing of the
Souls of Men to the highest persection of their Natures. It is
true, noble pieces of Morality were acknowledged and taught
by the Heathen Philosophers : and the Books of the Old Testa
ment have the Doctrine of Vertue, Purity, Humility and Meek
ness laid open very fully : but without derogating from these,
it must be acknowledged, that as the Doctrine of Christianity,
teachetb all these Precepts with clearer Rules, and fuller Di
rections ;
C*8VV
redions i. so tfefey'were in it recommended by the example oF.fts1
Author, backecTwith the strongest Motives, and enforced with
the greatest Arguments. In these are the Lelsons of Purity, Cha-':
llity, Ingenuity, Humility, Meekness, Patience; and Generosi
ty; so clearly laid down, and so fully evinced, that no Man, who
is so much a Man as to love these things whereby his Mind may.
be improved, to all that is truely great and noble, but must. .be
enamoured of the Christfen; Religion, as soon as he is taught'
The fourth Design of Religion is, to unite Mankind in the
closest Bonds of Peace, Friendship, and Charity, which it doth.'
not only by the Rules prescribed for the tempering our Passions,'
forgiving of Injuries, and loving our Enemies, and by the Do
ctrines Obedience to those m1 Authority over us; but likewise by
altociating us into one Body,' catted the Church, wherein we are.
toworstiip God jointly, and to be coupled in one by the use cJr
the Sacraments, which arc the Ligaments of the Body.
' Having thus viewed the great designs of the Christian Religion
in the several Branches and Parts thereof, I shall add to thi<v the'
main distinguishing CharaUers of our Religion, which are Jaifa
&ur... ' .
;T
.
.' '
':' r
1 ;
:s7
' *
"
The first its, its Verity ., that it is not founded on the tattles of
Persons concerned, nor on the reveries of Dotards, nor receiv
ed with a blind credulity, being founded on the Authority of the
great God, which appeared vifibLy in those that published it,chieflyinthe1 Person of 'Jesus Christ, who by his. Miracles that were
wrought ib the sight of all the People,' even bis'Enemies looking
on, and not being able to deny them but chiefly by his Resur
rection from the Dead, was declared to be the Son of Cod.wbich
was seen and known by many, who followed not cunningly devi
sed Fables, but were the Eye-witnesses of his. Majesty, who went
in his Name, and published it to the World, confirming it by
Miracles and mighty Wonders, attesting it, notwithstanding of
all the Persecutions they met with, most of them confirming ic
with their Blood : And this Doctrine was received and believed,
by the better part of Mankind, though it being contrary to all
the Interests of the flesh, whose mortification it teacheth, ks re
ception cannot be imputed to credulity or interest.
The second Chardiet of our Religion h, its gmninc simplicity
and fcrfocHity, that all its Doctrines and Rules are clearly and
distinctly
C 9 )
distinctly held out to us, not like the Heathen Divinity, much
whereof lay in da, k Oracles in the Books of the Sybils, and in other pretended Mysteries, which none but the Priests might handle
and expound. The Jewijh Religion was also vailed with Types
and Figures, so that it was not easie to see the Sub tance and
TruJi through all these foldings and shadows. But the Glory
of the Christian Religion, as to this particular, is nobly laid
out by St. Paul, in these word", 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with
ofen face, as in a glass, beholding the glory of the Lord, are chang
ed into the fame Image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the
Lord.
The third Character is, the Reasonableness of the Christian Reli
gion, it containing none of these absurd incredible things, which
abounded among the Heathens ; nor of these Rites of Judaism,
the Reasons whereof, besides the Will of God in enjoyning them,
could not be assigned ; but both the Doctrines and Precepts of the
Christian Religion are fitted for Mankind, and so congenial to his
Nature, that they well deserve the designation of reasonable Ser
vice, or, rational Worship, God having made our Souls and them
of a piece.
And the fourth Character of our Religion is, its easiness ; Christ's
Yoke is easy, and his Burden light, Mat. 11. 30. Wherein we are
freed from all the barbarous and cruel Rites of Gentilifm, and
from the oppressive Bondage of Judaism, which was a Law of Or
dinances, and a loke that our Fathers were not able to bear ; but that
we are called to by Christ, is so simple, so easy, and so plain,
that well may we say, his Commandments are not grievous, 1 Job.
5- 3Having given this hint of the Design and Characters of the
Christian Religion, I hold it not necessary to dwell on a further
deduction of those Generals into more particular Branches, nor
to make this Scheme of Religion good by any longer Proof, the
Position I have laid down, being so ob ious to the Reason of eve
ry considering Person ; wherefore I go on to examine if there be
any such System of Doctrins or Opinions, among Pretenders to
Christianity, which tends to the Overthrowing and enervating
of this whole Design, and whose Characters are directly oppo
site to these I have mentioned ; and the less avowed. and the more
disguised that Society be, as it is more likely to prevail, since Er
ror and Vice are not so formidable in their own colours, as when
B
vailed
( io )
tailed with the pretences of Truth and Ver tue, so it will better
agree with that great Character the Prophecies give of this de
fection, that it was a Mystery, and had Mystery on its Fere bttd,
Rev. 17. 15.
And here remains the fad part of my Discourse, for what lo
ver of Maakind can with pleasure either satisfy his own Res/oE,
or convince the Judgmeut of others, in a Matter the issue where
of is to prove so great a part of the Christian Societies to be Atticbristian and adulterate > and certainly if my love to Truth, and
the honour of my Redeemer and his Gospel, and by conse
quence a 2eal for Souls, did not engage me to this Search, I could
easily quit the Task, and chuse more easy and pleasant Subjects
for the exercise of my Thoughts-, but the Wisdom of God ha
ving declared it a part of Wisdom to observe the Characters of
the Antichristum Beast-, I therefore, though not without pain, en
gage in the survey of it.
And first, in the entry it will be a bad Omen, of no good to
be expected from any Society that shall study to keep her Members
in Ignorance, and to bar them the study of the Holy Scriptures
which being the Revelation of the whole Counsel of Gcd, and
written by plain and simple Men, and at first directed to the use
of the rude illiterate Vulgar, for teaching them the Mysteries of
Godliness, and the Path of Lise j it is a shrewd indication, that
if any studied to hide this Light under a Candlestick, and to
keep it in an unknown Tongue, or forbid the Body of Christians
the useof it, (though its native tendency be to enlighten the Un
derstanding, andtoenflametheWill, it being given out by God
for that end) that those must be conscious to themselves of great
deformity to that Rule, and apprehend, that if it were more
known, their Doctrin would be less believed, especially since the
hardest part of the Scriptures are the Writings of the Old Testa
ment : And yet these were communicated to all of that Dispen
sation, who were commanded by Christ to search them, and who
did educate their Children in them, continuing that Holy care to
a high degree, even to this Day. Now except it be said, that it
is fitter all be kept under Darkness in the new Dispensation,
than was in the Old, no account can be given, for the Zeal is used
in any Church, to keep1 their Child renin such ignora nee ; and yet
this is a part of the distinguishing Characters of the new Dis
pensation from the Old, that Light hath appeared in it. Now ail
( )
may know how guilty those of Rome are in this : What pains
are taken to detract from the Authority of the Scriptures ? how
they quarrel t sometimes its Darkness, sometimes its Ambiguousness, sometimes the genuineness of its Originals, and always com
plain of its being too much perused, and therefore let as little of
it be put in vulgar Tongues as can be ; read it publickly in an un
known Tongue,and permit no private Person the use of it, with
out allowance from his Confessor : Of which, tho in some places
the Reformation hath made them more liberal, yet where there is
no hard of that, they betray their aversion for the Scriptures
too palpably in all their Writings and Discourses.
But now to pursue my Design more closely, 1 must call to mind
the first Branch of the Christian Religion, which teacheth how
God is to be worshipped in a pure and spiritual Way , and see
how far this is contradicted. And here I must consider the Ido
latry of the Gentiles, which was of two kinds ; The one was,
when the True God was worshipped in a false manner : The other
was, when Divine Adoration was offered to those who were no
Gods. Of the first I shall reckon two kinds ', the first was, when
an Image or Figure was erected for representing the Deity to the
Senses, and adoration ofsered to God through it : In which cafe,
though perhaps the Herd did formally worship the Image, yet
their Philosophers declared, they meant these only for exciting
the Senses and Imagination, and not for being worshipped ; much
less that the Deity should be conceived like unto them, as we
find both in Celfus, Julian, and Maximus Tyrias. Now thi, form
of Adoration, is contrary both to the Divine Essence and Com
mand : For God must either be conceived like such an Image, or
not : If like to it, then a great indignity is done the Divine Na
ture ; greater than if a Toad or Worm were set out as the Image
of a King, to have civil Reverence paid to it ; since he is of bis
own Essence Incomprehensible, and Invisible, and so hath no
Shape or Figure. In a word, it abases our thoughts of God,
when we figure him to our selves. But if we conceive God nor
like such an Image, then why is it used, except to be a Snare to
the Vulgar, who will be ready to think God like unto it ? And
c ertain it is, that whatever the more refined or abstracted Wits
may conceive of these Images, yet the Vulgar offer up their Adorations directly to them, and conceive- God to be like unto
them.
B 2
This
( 12 )
This Worship is also contrary to the Divine Precept, who made
it one of the Ten Commandments, which himself delivered to
his People ; Exod.20.4. that no graven Image, nor Likeness, Jbou/J
be made to be worshipped. And the reason given, (hews the Law
was perpetual, for God it ever jealous of the Glory due to him. Now
what kindness those of Rome have to this Command, may be
guessed by their striking it out of their Catechisms, as if it were
only an Appendix of the first : But if we read the whole Old
Testament, it will furnish us with large discoveries of God's
Displeasure at this kind of Worship, to which the Jews #ere so
inclinable ; but God would not give his Praise to graven Images, Isa.
42. 8. Now here it is to be remembred, that the Jewish Dispen
sation was low and carnal, when compared to that to which we
are called : If then this Worship was not allowed of to them, it
is much less to be allowed of among Christians.
Another part of the false Worship of the Heathens was, that
they believed the Deity and Divine Power was by mystical and
magical ways affixed to some Bodies, as the Sun or Stars are; or
to some Temples, and to some Ancilia and Palladia, which they
believed came down from Heaven, Ails 19.35- to which they
held God to be present and adherent, and therefore worshipped
them. And of kin to this was the Israelites their worsiripping ' the Calf
in the Wilderness, Exod. 32. for it is clear, they looked on it as
their God, who had brought them out of Egypt, therefore could
not possibly be adoring the Egyptian God that was an Ox ; but the
Feast that was to Jehovah, and the Psalm 106. vers. 20. that
fays, they changed their Glory into the similitude of an Ox, do shew
that they worshipped the True God, though in a false manner.
Neither is it to be imagined, that Aaron the Prophet and Saint of
the Lord, though very guilty in this Matter, could for all that be
so criminal, as to make a false God : But the most satisfying ac
count of his Fault is, that when he saw God in the Mount, Exod,
24. 10. God appeared in that Figure that was afterwards in the
most Holy Place, which was to be framed after the Pattern seen
in the Mount. And if so, then God appeared between the Cherubims : now the Figure of a Cherub, was the fame with that of
a Calf in its hinder parts, Ezek^ 1. 7. And if we compare vers.
10. of that Chap, with Ezek. 10. 14. what in the first place is
caUed the Fate of an Ox, is in the second called the Face os a
Cherub,
Cherub, which tells us clearly what was the Figure of the Che
rub. And therefore Aaron seeing the People desired a sensible
Symbol of God's Presence among them, he made choice of that
he had seen in the Mount about the Divine Glory , and yet all
that did not excuse his Fault in the sight of God.
In like manner, after the Tabernacle and Temple were set up,
wherein were the Cherubims, when Jeroboam revolted, he set up
Calves, i King. 12. 28, 29. as is probable upon the fame ac
count, but no doubt continued in all Points the Worship of the
True God, as it was at Jerusalem, as might be proved from
many Particulars; but the Sin wherewith he made Israel to fin,
was the worshipping of the True God by a false Symbol. The
like account is to be given of the Idolatry of Gideons Ephod,
Judg. 8. 27. And of the worshipping the Brazen Serpent,
2 King. 18.4. where certainly the True God was adored, and
yet the People went a whoring from him in that Worship.
And here the Title of Whoredom, given to Idolatry so often
in the Old Testament, is to be considered ; the importance
whereof is, that God by covenanting with his People, is mar
ried to them, to be their God , and the conjugal Duty they
owe him, is Adoration : When therefore other Creatures have
any share of that bestowed on them, spiritual Whoredom is com
mitted.
Now how fad the Application of this to the Christian Churchr
must be, all may judg, who know how great a part of Chri
stendom worship God by Images ; and how the adored and in
comprehensible Trinity is painted as an Old Man with a Child in
his Arms, and a Dove over the Chila"s Head i rho no Man hath seen
the I'other at anytime, John 6. 46. And the Son as God, can no
more be represented by an Image, than the Father ; and the Ho
ly Ghost, though once appearing in the symbolical representa
tion of a Dove, cannot, without Idolatry, be represented and
worshipped under that Figure. Neither can any Apology be of
fered for this, which could not with the lame Reason have clea
red both Jews and Gentiles of Idolatry* And whatever more ab
stracted Minds may think of these Images, yet none that consi
ders the simplicity of the Vulgar, the frailty of Man, and his
sensible, can doubt but that
inclination to apprehend all thin;
the Rabble do really conceive of God as like these Figures, and
do plainly worship them. It is farther to be considered, that
though
-
( 14}
though the Son of God was Man, yet as Man he is not to be wor
shipped , and therefore the setting out of Figures and Statuesfor
his Humane Nature ( which on the way are no real Adumbrati
ons, but only the Fancies of Painters) and worshipping these as
the Images of the Son of God, is no less Idolatry, than to wor
ship the Father as an Old Man.
And further, the Worship of the Mass is Idolatry, as evidently
as any piece of Gentilism ever was : For if it be certain that
Christ is not in the Holtie, which shall be afterwards made out,
then to adore him as there, must be Idolatrous. Neither will it
serve for excuse, to fay, that Christ is truly worfljipped as pre
sent ; and if he be not there, it is only a mistake about the Pre
sence, but no Idolatry can be committed, the Worship being of
sered to a proper Object, who is God. But if this Apology
free them of Idolatry, it will also clear those Heathens, who
worshipped some Statues or Creatures, in which they conceived
God was present ; so that they might have pleaded, it was the
Great and True God they adored, believing him there present, as
their Fathers had formerly believed. But he were very gentle to
Idolaters, who upon such a Plea would clear them of that Crime.
What then is to be said of that Church, that hoids it the greatest
piece of her Religion, to adore the Bread with the same devotion
they would pay to Christ, were he visibly present; who call the
Bread God, carry it about in Processions, and worship it with
all the Solemnity imaginable. And finally, the Worship they
give the Cross, is likewise an adoring of God under a Symbol
and Representation. And thus we have seen the TarMid of RomeHeathen, and Rome-Christian, runs but too too just.
But the next kind of the Heathens Idolatry, was their wor
shipping of others beside God ; whom they held of two ranks :
Some that were so pure, that they never dwelt in Bodies . Others
they judged to be the Souls of deceased Men, after their Death
acknowledged and honoured with Divine Honour.
And this
kind of Idolatry was first begun at Babylon, where Ninas made
the Statue of his Father Belus be set up, and worshipped it : And
from him all these lesser Gods were called Belim, or Baalim. Now
concerning these, the Heathens believed that they were certain
intermedial Powers that went betwixt God and Men, by whom
all good things were conveyed to Mortals, by whom also all our
Services were offered to the Gods. Thus the Nations had Gods
many,
('5 )
many, and Lords many, i Cor. 8.5. And these lesser Deitiet, or
Damons, they adored, by erecting Statues to them about their
burial Places^ where they built Temples for them, and worship
ped them. And from this Hint of Babylon's being the Mother of
this kind of Idolatry, we may guess why the Apostacy of that
City, which in St. John's days, did reign over the Kingdoms of the
Earth, Rev. 17.18. is shadowed forth under the Name of Babylot ; to hold out, that the Corruption it was to fall into, was to
be of a kind with that begun in Babylon , and the Character of
the Whore doth likewise agree well with this.
Now if we compare with this the worlhip of Angels and Saints
in the Roman Church, we ssiall find the parity just and exact. For
after the Conversion of the Roman Empire, it is not to be de
nied, but that in order to the gaining of the Heathen World to a
complyance with Christianity, the Christians did, as near as was
possible, accommodate themselves to the Heathenish Customs :
And therefore in stead of their Gods, they set up the Damon and
Baal-Worflup, to the Apostles and other Saints and Martyrs ,
which. Theodoret doth most ingenuously acknowkdg to have been
set in the stead of their Gods. They became afterwards so exact
in the parallel, that 2s the Heathens had of these lesler Gods for
every Nation, so there w2s a Saint appointed for every Nation :
St. Andrew for Scotland, St. George for England, St. Patrick for Ire
land, and many more for other Nations : And as every House
among the Heathens had their houshold God, so every Person was
taught to have a tutelar Saint and Angel. And as among the Hea
then there were Gods for all Trades,for all Sicknefles,and for every
Vertue ; so in Antichristianism there were Saints for every Dis
ease, for every Prosession, and for all the Graces. And as the
Heathens built Temples for them, so did also Babylonijh Rome,
And here an odd Remark is in my way of this conformity, that
the Pantheon at Rome dedicated in Augustus his time to Cybele the
Mother of the Gods, and to all the Gods, was afterwards consecrated
to the Virgin and all the Saints. And as the Heathens offered Pray
ers, made Vows, observed Days, brought Presents, used Pro
cessions in honour to these lesser Gods, and worshipped their Sta
tues and Images ., so all this by degrees crept into Rome.Chrisli- .
an, as might be branched out in more particulars than the nature
of so short a Discourse will allow of. It is true, the Worship
of Images came not in before the eighth Century ; but after that
lime
(i6)
time it engaged all that received it into a high degree of mad
ness, for ad vancing that Heathenish piece of Worlhip. And /ball
1 here tell what is known to all who have seen the forms of thac
Church ? how you shall find their Churches all over dressed up
with Images and Statues, gorgeously apparelled, and well ador
ned ., where the poor vulgar are lying prostrate before them, fay
ing their Devotions, and perhaps wafliing the feet of their Shrines
with their Tears, and with great affection kissing the Hem of
the'ir Garments : And if through the tri ksôf the Priest, the
Image seem to nod or smile on them, ( which is not unfrequeni )
with what joy dp they go away as if some Angel had saluted
them from Heaven. Ard here it were too long to reckon up the
Abominations of this Saint-worship which ai e oil red ro the firgin, with the Blasphemous Titles given her, and Pnyers made
to her ; m if foe were more merciful and gentle to Sinners, thin oer
blessed Son. What shall 1 teSof the whole Psalms turned to her f I he
words of Goddess and Lady, being put hi the place of God an&
Lord -- And that from the eleventh Century, in whkh the form of
the numbering their Prayers by Beads was bessnn, ten go to the
Virgin, for one to God. How many more worfiip her, than do
her Son ? How many more Churches are buile co her, than to
her Son ? And how many Pilgrimages are made to ner Shrines and
Reliques? And thus I think little doubting will remain, that the
Worship of the Baalim begun at Babylon, is now set up in the
Christian Rome.
Now how contrary this is to the Divine Nature, common rea
son may suggest ? as also to the exaltation of the Person of Christ,
//^.42.8. God is a jealous God, and will not give his G lory to another.
We have but one Lord Jesus ChriSl, 1 Cor. 8. 6. who by his most
precious Blood shed for us, purchased the Honour of being Me
diator betwixt God and Man : And therefore Chnliians ought
only to make mention of his Name. Belide, the great Evil of
Idolatry is, that it debases the Soul of the profane Worshipper,
for like them are all they that trust in them, Psal. 1 15. 8. It leads
away the Mind from that inward, free, and spiritual Converse
and Fellowship with God, to which the Guspcl invites us, and
carries it out into an external, sensible, and dead Religion :
It stifles the Power of true Piety, making it die out in formal
and stupifying Superstition : And the Plagues which Heaven
pours out on those ungodly Worshippers, are heavy and great.
(in
A Mack Roll of them in thr ead of the first Chaf. to the Romans,
which were the Consectaries on their not glorifying os' God, as
God, which is branched out into the two Kinds I have discoursed
of. The first is, v. 23. They changed the Glory of the incorruptible
God, into an Image made like to corruptible Man, &c. And the se
cond is, v. 2, 5. Who worshipsed and served the Creature more than
( or besides ) the Creator. And it would raise horror in sober
Minds to tell how much the Sin of the Flesh, particularly the Sin
of Sodom, which is first reckoned in that dismal Catalogue, abounds with these of this Spiritual Babylon.
And will the poor distinctions of Dulia and Latria save them
from this Guilt ? Alas ! these are parts of the Mystery by which
they would vail their Abominations ; but their Nakedness is not
hid with this thin Vail. For we see how limply all religions
Worship offered to Creatures displeased God :, Neither did the
Prophets tell the Israelites that a kind of Worship called Dulia, or
Sfrw',might be payed to Creatures, but the Latria, or Adoration,
was only proper to God , indeed they dreamed not of this subtilty \
And when St. John offered to fall down before the Angel, he warns hint
not to do it, a, being not only his Fe/low-creature, but his Fellow-servant,
Revel. 1 9. 1 o. by which all that Prostration for Worship is decla
red unlawful , And what can be called Adoration, if to offer
Prayers, to make Vows, to sing Hymns, to observe Days, and to
build Churches, be not such ? These nice Distinctions which the
Schoolmen have devised, wilt serve in no stead in the great Day,
noured him, by this profane worshipping of Creatures. And ic
is certain, that however some speculative People may have di
stinct Notions of these kinds of Worship, yet the Vulgar, in their.
Practice, make no difserence at all, but place all their trust in them,,
fly to them in their troubles as to their refuge and strong hold .r
whereby that Fahh and Confidence which is only due to God and
his Son is abated, so much of it being bestowed on Creatures.
And what a baseness of Mind doth it discover, for Men, to whom,
God hath revealed so much of the Riches of his Grace, and hath
allowed constant and free access to his Throne, with the largest
encouragements and assurances of being heard and accepted by
him*, and who hath given Mankind a Mediator, who in the likeness of our Flesh did express the greatest and freest Love ima*
ginable
C
( i8 )
finable, dying for us, and being now onr Advocate and Interceflbr with his Father j that instead of conversing immediate/?
with God and Christ in the Exercises of Devotion, we should be
take oar selves to a dead and liseless invocating of those, ofwhose
hearing us we can hare no assurance, and in which there can be no
comfort nor true joy found.
So much of the Object of Worship, the Manner of it is next
to be considered : We observed before, that God called us in
the Gospel to a lively and spiritual Worship ', and this was first
in opposition to the Sorceries of the Gentile Worship, and next
to the heavy Yoke of the Jewish Bondage. How much of Sorce
ry and Enchantments w^s used in Heathenism, every one that
gives accouDt oftheir Forms do mention ; bnt indeed all they used
was nothing, if compared to the Enchantments of the Roman
Church ; and first of all, Can any thing look liker a Charm,
than the worshipping God in an unknown Tongue ? in which
the Worshipper is capable of no converse with God by these
parts of Worship, which he doth not understand. Next, the
muttering so large portions of the Worship, chieBy in the Of
fice of the Mass, what doth it look like but the mumbling of
Charm ? But shall I here tell of the charming of Water, of Sale,
of Wax-Candles, for driving away of Devils i Shall I next tell
of the christening of Bells, the haSoxnng of Oil, the touching of
Beads, the touching of little Pebbles ; which shall have a virtue
against Sickness of all kinds, Thunders and Lightnings, and
Tentations of the Devil ? Shall 1 next tell of the consecrating
Roses, Agnus DePs, Medals, and the like ? Or, stall J tell of
their Exorcisms and Charms for driving out Devils, with all the
strange Actions used in them ? Shall I mention the Re/ques, and
and all the Virtues believed to be in them, yea, and derived
from them ? Shall I mention their priviledgsd Altars, their Ju
bilees, the Prayers upon which Indulgences are granted, their
solemn Processions, together with all the small Tricks are used in
every part of their Worftip ? All this would be endless. These
Things cannot but eat out the Power of Religion, and introduce
a dry and empty S^ttiton of enchanted Actions, instead of that
lively Image of God, which the Christian Religion designs to re
store in us.
In
(19)
In a wond, shall 1 test how the Sacramental Actions are pol
luted by the supersetation of so many new Rites, whereby
they are wholly changed from their original Simplicity.
In Baptism, instead of washing with [Voter, in the Name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
how have they added so many
adulterated Rites ? the Child must be thrice blown upon,
then a Charm used for turning the Devil out of him, he must
be anointed with holy Oil, and hallowed Salt must be put in his
Mouth, sanctified Garments also must be put on him, and a holy
Wax-candle in his Hand, and the Priest's Spittle must be gently
stroaked upon him. Whether doth all this look like the Sim
plicity of the Spouse of Christ, or the Attire of the Har
lot ?
And in the other Sacrament, a great deal more ado is made ,
so that any indifserent Spectator, who were not warned of it,
would swear it were a solemn piece of Pageantry , the Priest must
come in cloathed with rich embroidered Vestments, then he goes
to the Altar, sometimes reads on the one fide, then he turns to the
other v Often he bows, and kisses, and crosses, sometimes single,
sometimes thrice repeated crosses : Most of the Office he mutters,
though what he fays is all alike understood, being in an unknown
Tongue , Sometimes he turns to the People, and gives them a
short Barbarian Benediction; Then he goes on till he comes to
the five wonder-working Words And then instead of the Bread,
which the force of these words hath driven to nothing, behold
a God, to be worshipped by the Spectators, And after the Ado
ration, the God is to be devoured by the Priest i which made
the Arabian fay, He never saw a Se8 of Religion so foolish as the
Christians were, who with their Teeth devoured the God they had
adored.
Certainly all this looks so like apiece of Extravagance, espe
cially if the simplicity of the first Institution be considered,
that many will doubt if it be possible that such Worship can be
received in any corner of the Christian World. And by these
Hints, though an hundred more might be instanced, let it be
guessed what is become of the simplicity of the Christian Reli
gion, when it is so vitiated in all the Parts and Branches of it :
And whether that genuine sincere spirituality appear in it, which
the Gospel holds forth to the World ? These things having a
native tendency for leading away the Soul from attending upon
C 2
God,
( 20 )
God, in her Acts of Worship-, which is the only thing for
which external Worship b to be continued in, that in it we may
jointly concur to converse with onr Maker. If from this I should
reckon up all the Tricks are used in secreter Worship, what Sto
ries should I tell of the pattering over the Beads, of the multi
plying little unintelligible Prayers, the using of Penances, some
whereof are ridiculous for their gentleness, and others of them
are as formidable for their horror, and fitter for the Priests of
Baal, or the worshippers of Diana Tattrica, then for those that
worship the living God with joy and gladness of Heart ? Now
by the performance of these, the simple deluded People imagine
themselves reconciled to God, and secured from his Wrath : And
so go about them meerly in the opinion of a Charm.
But I must next shew how the multiplicity of the Jewish Rites
was also brought in upon Christendom -, though Christ came to
set us at liberty from that Pedagogy, which was made up of Or
dinances and lifeless Precepts, that could not make the doer thereof
perfed ' nothing being enjoined in the Christian Religion, but
that which was of it self easy and proper for the great Design of
purifying our Souls. Now such as have brought in a Yoke of Or
dinances, that have no tendency to the cleansing of outSoulsjbut
oppress us with their tyrannical burdensomness, being both hea
vy, and numerous, must be looked on as the introducers of a new
Judaism, for oppressing the Christian World j What a heap of
new superadded Forms have the High-Priests of Rome brought
upon these who stoop to their Tyranny r And how much Sanctity
do they place in them , enjoining severer Censures on the violatilion of these, than onXhe greatest Transgressions against either
the Moral or Positive Laws of God ? How many Holy Days have
they instituted ? How much distinction of Meats, of Fasting,and
Abstinence ? And how like are their Jubilees and Pilgrimages to
the Jubilees and yearly trotting up to Jerusalem, which was
among the Jews? In a word, there is not a piece of Wor
ship aboot which there is not a greater appendage of vain, pom
pous, and withall burdensom Ceremonies, than were among the
Jews.
Shall I here mention the five superadded Sacraments, to the
two instituted by Christ, with all the Rites belonging to each of
them, or recount all the Rites in their multifarious Ordinations ?
Shall
(21 )
Shall I tell of the laying up the Bodies when dead, and of the
forms of their Burials ? The burning of Lamps in the clearest
Day, together with the Incense that perfumes the Worsliip,which
are clear pieces of antiquated Judaism. In a word, no part of
the parallel holds more exactly, than that they are zealous of
the Traditions of their Fathers, whereby the Commandments of
God are made of none effeft ; and that they honour God with their
Lips, when their Hearts are far from him: And worship him in
vain, teaching for DoQrins the Commandments of Men, Matth.
i 5. 8, 9.
And hitherto I have discoursed upon the first limb of Antkhri'stianism, and have discovered too evident Indications of the Con
tradictions is in it, to the first branch of the Design of Christiani
ty $ whereby the Worship of God is partly adulterate, and part*
ly smothered by a heavy and trouble-some Load of useless and
lifeless Performances ; which must needs lead out the Soul from
an inward attending on God, or free converse wkh him.
The secofld Branch of Christianity is, the holding forth that
Mysterious Contrivance of the Wisdom and Goodness of God,
for reconciling the Worldto himself by hit dear Son ; whom he govt
to the Death for w, and also raised up, making him both Lord, and
Christ : Whose Glory and dignity is vulgarly branched out in these
his three Offices, of Frophet, Priest, and King.
By the first of which,, he revealed the Father, and his whole
Counsel to Mankind, in plain and simple Discourses, afterwards
committed to writing by the faithful Eye and Ear-witnefles of his
Majesty. His Prophetick Office therefore is chiefly acknowledged,
in our grateful receiving these Discoveries, and our studying to
adjust both our Faith and Practice to that unerring Rule. But can
any thing be more contradictory to this, than to keep the knowledg of these Writings from Christians, to accuse their Darkness
and Defects, and to apprehend great danger from their diligent
perusal, to vilify that sacred Study, preserring the lame and
liseless Discourses of Men, to the Words of eternal Wisdom ?
For we must consider, that our study of the Gospel, is of the
seme nature with a personal following of Christ when on Earth,
to see his Miracles, and hear his Doctrin.; the fame is also to be
said of the Act* and Epistles of the Apostles. Now to bar the
Vulgar from this, is to hinder them to hear and see Christ and his
Apostles
(22)
Apostles, as if that were a Privikdge restricted to Church-men:
What shall be then said of these, who call the Scriftwres * Nose os
Wax, the Sourse of all Heresies, a Book written not on Design, bxt
uson farticular Emergents ; and do aflert its incompleatness, unless
made up by the Traditions of the Church ? Is not this to add to
the Words of that Book, and to accuse the faithful Witness of Un
faithfulness ? But worse than all this is held by these, who will
have all the Authority of the Scriptures to depend on the Church,
which must be believed in the first place.
But here a great difserence is to be made betwixt the Testimo
ny of ^.Witness, and the Authority of a Judg ; the former is not
denied to the Church, and so the Jews had the Oracles of God
committed to them but that doth not prove the Authority of
their Sanhedrim infallible, or superior to Scripture ; and in this
case more cannot be ascribed to the Christian Church, than was
proper to the Jewish in our Saviour's Time. But further, if the
Scripture be to be believed on the Testimony of the Church,
then upon what account is the Church first believed ? It cannot
be said, because of any testimony in Scripture, for ifit give Au
thority to the Scriptures, it cannot receive its Authority from
their Testimony. How then shall it be proved that the Church
must be believed ? or must it be taken from their own word ? and
yet no other Reason can be given to prove the Church Infallible.
For to say that they have continued in a Succession of Bishops
from the Apostles days, concludes nothing, unless it be first pro
ved that the Doctrine of the Apostles was of God ; otherwise,
the Mahometan Religion is as much to be believed, since for many
Ages a Succession of Priests have believed it. Further, the Greek
Churches drive up the Series of their Bishops to the Apoftles
Days, as well as the Roman ; why then sliould not their Autho
rity be likewise acknowledged infallible.? In fine, must the Vul
gar go and examine the Successions of the Bishops, and judg about all the dubious Elections, whether the Conveyance have
been interrupted or not ? Certainly were this to be done, it were
an impossible Achievement, and harder than the study of the
Originals of both Testaments : Therefore the Vulgar must sim
ply believe the Authority of the Church on her own Testimony ;
which is the most absurd thing imaginable, and this to every In
dividual, will resolve into the Testimony of their Priest. Be
hold then a goodly Foundation for building our Faith upon !
Christ's
Christ's Prophctick Office is also invaded, by. pretence" of the

Churches Infallibility in expounding Scriptures : for if this be
granted, the whole Authority will T>e devolved on the Church,
for by this Doctrine Ihe may teach what she will * and were the
Scripture-Evidence never so full to the contrary, yet whatever
wrested Exposition Ihe ofsers, though visibly contrary to the
plain meaning of the words, must be believed. .But with whom
this Power and Authority is lodged, is not agreed to among
themselves ; some yielding it to the High-Priest of the Church,
when in his Chair , others to the great Sanhedrim of Christendom
in a General Council ; others to both jointly : but all this is asserted
without proof, for that of Christ's, of telling the Church, Matth.
18. 1 7. 10 often repeated by them, is meant of particular Ofsen
ces, and so is restricted to the Case of Difserences among Bre
thren, and relates not to Points of Doctrine. Besides, the Con
text of these Words doth clearly shew them applicable to every.
Parochial Church, and yet their Infallibility cannot be asserted..
So it is clear, that Christ doth only speak of a Jurisdiction for
the Brethren.
quieting of Difserences
That of the Gates of Hell their not prevailing against the Churchy
Mat. \6. 18. proves not the Pretence of Infallibility. And in
deed the Translation of that place deserves Amendment, and
instead of Hell, that word is to be rendred Grave ; so that the
meaning of the Phrase is, Death (which is the Mouth and Gate
through which we pass into the Gfavey and is so used by Greek
Writers) shall never prevail against the Churchy that is, the
Chnrch shall never die.
Neither will that of the Spirit of Truth leading out into all Truths
JOhn 16. 13. advance the Cause a whit, since that Promise relates
to all Believers , and it is a part of the happiness of the new Dis
pensation, that all in it shall be taught of God. And the Pro
mise of founding the Church on St. Peter, Matth. 16. faith as lit
tle \ for suppose the Rock on whom the Church were to be built,
were St. Peter himself, which I shall not much controvert ; that
is not peculiar nnto him, since we are all built on the Foundation
of the Apostles and Prophets , and on the twelve Foundations of the
New Jerusalem, are mitten the Names ofthe twelve Apostles of
the Lamb. But what will that prove for a Series of the Bi
shops of Rom f
Aft
( 24)
And finally, fis
f 4* Kingdom of He^yev, Mat 16.
19. their being given to St. Peter, that faith no more, but that
be was to open the Gospel, which is usually called, the Kingdom
of God, or, of Heaven in the New Testament. Now the use of
Keys being to open the Door, this was peculiar St. Petcr\ Ho
nour, who did first'publish the Gospel both to Jews and Gentiles,
and in particular did first receive the Gentiles into the New Di
spensation. But this hath no relation to the Bishops of Rome, nor
to the pretended Infallibility of that See.
That which hath the fairest appearance of reason is, that if
there be no absolute unerring Court on Earth, for deciding of
Controversies, there shall be no end of them \ but every private
Man may, upon the pretence of some ill-understood place of
Scripture, break the Unity of the Church, and so the Peace of
the Church is in hazard of being irrecoverably lost. But how
specious soever this may appear, it hath no weight in it : For it
is certain, that Vice, as well as Errour, is destructive of Religi
on, and it will be no imputation on our Religion, that the one be
no more guarded against, than the other is-, if then there be no
Authority for repressing Vice, but the outward discipline of the
Church ; it i? not incongruous these is no other Authority for
suppressing of Error , but that same of the Discipline of the
Church. It is certainly a piece of Humility, for a Man to sus
pect his own Thoughts, when they lye cross to the Sentiments of
the Guides and Leaders of the Church : But withal, a Man ought
to be in all he does, fully perfwadedin bis own Mind ; and we are
commanded to try the Spirits, andnot to believe every Spirit, 1 Job.
4. 1. Now Reason being the chief excellency of Man, and that
wherein the Divine Image doth , mainly consist, it were very ab
surd to deny Man a rational judging and discerning of these
things wherein his eternal Interest is most concerned. Besides the
Nature of Religion, it being a thing sutable to the Powers of
the Soul, shews that a Man must have a conviction of the truth of
it on his Mind, and that he cannot be bound in contradiction to
his own apprehensions, to receive any Opinions meerly upon the
testimony of others. ^ .
If to confirm all this, I should add all can be brought from Hi
story for proving General Councils to have erred in Matters of
Faith j or that Popes have been Hereticks, or that they have
been
C 25 )
been anathematized as such, by other Popes and General Coun
cils, I should be too tedious. But in end, how (hall the Vulgar
know the Definitions of Councils, or the Decrees of Popes ? Ox
must they be blindly determined by the Priest's Aflertion ? Cer
tainly, this were to expose them to the greatest Hazards, since
they are not sufsered to found their Faith upon the Scriptures :
Nor doth the Church reveal her Doctrines to them, so that their
Faith must be resolved upon the bare Testimony of a Priest, who
is perhaps both ignorant and licentious. And by this we may
judg to what a pass the Souls of the People are brought by this
Doctrine.
In a word, We arc not the Servants of Men, nor bound to their
Authority , for none can be a Judg, but where he hath Power
both to try and to coerce. Now none but God can either search
our Hearts, or change them ; for as no Humane Power can know
our Thoughts, so neither can it turn them, which are not in our
own Power, much less in the Power of others , therefore our
Consciences can, and must only fall within God's Jurisdiction :
And since the renovation of the Image of God consists in Knowledg, and Religion designs an union of our Souls to Divine
Truth, that we may freely converse with it, it will follow, that
all these Pretences of absolute Authority and Infallibility in
. Teaching, are contrary to Christ's Prophetick Office, who came
to reveal the father to us.
The second of Jesus Christ's Offices, was the Priestly, with
out which the former had never been efsectual ; for had we
known never so perfectly the Will of God, without a method
had been laid down for reconciling Sinners to him, it was in vain
to think of Religion, since nothing Sinners could do, was able to
appease God, or expiate Sin , but this was fully done by the Sa
crifice of that Lamb of God, Who became Sin for us, and bare our
Sins in hit own Body ; in whom we have Redemption, even forgiveness
as Sin through his Blood, 2 Cor. 5. 21 . 1 Pet. 2. 24. Ephes. t. 7,
If then any have derogated from the value of this Satisfaction,
they have ofsered the utmost indignity to the highest Love, and
committed the Crime of the greatest Ingratitude imaginable ; wbo
would requite the most inconceivable Love with such a Sacrile
gious attempt : But, how guilty are they of this, who would
set the Merits and Works of Men, in an equality with the Blood
D
of
( 26 ) .
of God ? as if by these we were justified, or owed our Title to
Glory, to our own performances, whereas we are taught by the
Oracles of Cod, that by Grace we are saved, that God only bath
made the difference betwixt us and others j and that he hath freely cho
sen us in his Son Christ Jesus, Ephef. 2. 5. 1 Cor. 4. 7. And alas !
what are we, or what is all we do, that it can pretend to the
lowest degree of God's Acceptance, without he freely, both help
us in it, and accept of us for it? so that when he rewards us
for our Services with Eternal Lise, he freely crowns his own free
Gifts to u... For when we consider how great a disproportion
there is betwixt our best Services and Eternal Glory, when we
also remember how all our good Actions flow from the Principles
of Divine Grace freely given, but withal, reflect on the great
Desects and Impersections that hang about our best Performances,
we will not be able to entertain any thoughts of our meriting
ought at the Hands of God. And certainly, the deeper Impres
sions we have, either of the Evil of Sin, or the Goodness of
God \ we will be further from a capacity of swelling big in our
own Thoughts, or of claiming any thing on the pretensions of
Justice or Debt. It is true, this Doctrine of Merit is ib ex
plained by some of that Church, that there remains no ground
of quarrelling it , except for the Terms fake, which is indeed
odious and improper, ( though early used by the Ancients in an
innocent sense). But many of that Church acknowledg, there
there can be no Obligation on God by our Works, but that
which his own Promise binds upon him , which none, who be
lieve the Truth of the Promises of the Gospel, can question :
yet still we must remember that we owe all to the Love of Jesus,
and nothing to ourselves : which as it is the Matter of the Hal
lelujahs of -glorified Saints, so should be the Subject of our da'dy
Acknowledgments \ wherefore, we must abominate every thing
that may seem to detract from this. But alas I were all this
Zeal, many of that Communion own for Merits and good
Works, meant for the advancing a Holy and Spiritual Lise, it
would carry a good Apology with it, and its noble Design would
very much qualify the severity of its Censure , but when these
good Works, which for so many Ages were highly magnified,
"were the building of Churches, the enriching of Abbeys, Pilgri
mages, and other trifling and voluntary pieces of Will-worship,
advanced for the Secular Interests of the Church 1 what wall be
said
( 27 )
said of all that pains was used by the Monks for advancing them,
but that they were willing to sell the value of the Blood and Me
rits of Christ, for advancing their own secular Interests, and de
vised Practices ? Alas ! how far are these from that Holiness and
Sanctity, which must qualify us for the Kingdom of God, and
the Inheritance of the Saints.
And to end this Matter, let me add one thing, which is most
evident to all who have observed the Methods of the Directors
of Consciences in that Church, that with whatever Distinctions
this Matter be varnished over among them, yet the Vulgar do
really imagine they buy and fell with Almighty God, by their
undergoing these Laws of the Church, and Penances imposed
by their Consessor : Which as it nouritheth the Lise of Pride and
Self-love, so it detracts from the value they ought to set on
the Blood of Christ, as their only Title to Heaven and
Glory.
And to this, I must add that distinction of the temporary and
eternal Punishments Sin deserves : The latter whereof they acknowledg are removed by the Blood of Christ ; but the former
must be expiated by our selves, either by Sufserings in this Lise,
or those we must endure in Purgatory, unless by the Pope's Cha
rity we be delivered from them. Now, how contrary this is to
the Value we are taught to set on the Blood of Christ, all may
judg. Ephes.2. 1 5. & 5.2,7. ByChrifl Peace is made, we are reconciled
to God ; be represents us to the Father without spot or wrinkle. And
much more of this Nature meeting us in Scripture, declares how
plenary his Satisfaction was ; nothing being left undone by him,
for removing the Guilt and Demerit of Sin. And what com
fortless Doctrine this is, we may soon apprehend how it takes
away that Joy in God, at the approches of Death, since there
is such hazard of direful Miseries following. Now, this was no
small part of the Mystery, by which the World was brought un
der their Dominion ; and therefore great pains was taken for
rooting the belief of it deep in all Mens Heart?, many Visions
and Apparitions were vouched for its Proof, and all the Live? of
the Saints, that were written for divers Ages,were,full of such fa
bulous Narrations , some Souls were said to be seen standing m
burning Brimstone to the Knees, some to theMiddle, some to the\
Chin , others swimming in Caldrons of melted Metal, and Devils
pouring the Metal down their Throats ; with many such afrighting Stories.
D 2
But
( *8 )
But for all this, the Proof from Scripturewas only drawmfrom
one wrested place of the Apostle Paul, i Cor. 3. 12, 13, t4> 15;
who faith, That in the Day of the Lord, such as built Mson the Foun
dation of Christ, superstructures of Wood, Hay, and Stubble, should
be saved, because they kept the Foundation, yet fa as by Fire. But
this was only a proverbial form of Speech, to express the risque
they run to be such, as of one that escapes out of a Fire ; such
proverbial Speeches being usual in Scripture, as that of the%Pro.
phet, Zech. 3. 2. Is not this a Brand plucked out of the Fire ? Or of
the Apostle, Jude 23. Some save with fear, pulling them out of the
Fire. And any considering Person wist, at first view, see how
(lender a Foundation this was for the Superstructure built upon
it.
But the way was contrived for preserving Souls from, or re
scuing them out of Purg3tory, will discover what were the In
ducements of advancing the belief of it with such Zeal, which
was thus framed : It is believed by that Church, that beside the
Commands that necessarily oblige all Christians, there are many
Counsels in the Gospeli, in order to the attaining a higher pitch
of Persection, such as the Counsels of Poverty, and Chastity, or
the like j and they teach, that such as did not obey these, cannot
be said to have sinned ; but on the other hand, those who have*
obeyed them, shah" not want a Reward, by their so fupererrogating beyond what was strictly bound upon them, and the Reward
of them is their meriting both for themselves and othecs, an ex
emption from the Pains of Purgatory. And of all these Merits,
there is a common Treasure of the Church, wherein for good man
ners fake the Merit of Christ is the chief Stock ; and this is com
mitted to the Successors of St. Peter, to. whom the Keys of the.
Kingdom of Heaven are believed to be given, who can. commu
nicate of that SpiritualTreasure as they will, either for preser
ving Souls from Purgatory, or for delivering them out of it.
This could not but work wonders for the exaltation of the Pa
pal Dignity, when he was conceited to be honoured of God with
se. high a Trust. This was also made an Engin for advancing all
the Papal Designs, for upon any Quarrel he had with any
Prince, the Pope* proclaimed a Croifade, promisng exemption
from Purgatory to all who hazarded their Lives for the Service
of the Holy Church. And the contrivance of Purgatory being
universally believed, this could not fail to draw great cumbers
about
(29)
about his Standards. And by this means he brought most. Prin
ces into that servile subjection to him, under which they groaned
for many Age?.
Another practice yet more base and sordid was, the selling of
Indulgences and Pardons for Mony. Certainly here was Simerts
Crime committed by the pretended Successors of him, who had
of old accused him, that thought the Gift of God migjgt be purchased
with Mony, and thereupon did cast him out of the Church/ It
were endless to tell the base Arts, and blasphemous Discourses of
the Monks who were sent through the World to sell these Indul
gences, which in the end proved fatal to.that Church, since the
excessive magnifying of them did first provoke Luther to examine
their Corruptions. It is true, they will not hear of the harsh word"
of felling Indulgences^vx. disguise it with their giving them to such
as will ofser Alms to the Church ; but really, this whole Contri
vance is so base,so carnal,and so unlike the Spirit of Christianity,
that to repeat it, is to refute it. Here was a brave Device for en
riching the Church, when the making great Donations to it,
was judged so effectual for delivering, out of Purgatory. Who.
would not out of love to his Friend's Soul, if he believed him
frying in these Flames, give liberally of his Goods , but much
rather would a Man give all that he had for his own Security,
especially when on his Death-bed he were beset with Persons who.
were confounding him with dismal Apprehensions, and thus traf
ficking with him for the exchange of hu Soul. Hence sprung the
enriching of Abbeys and Churches , for every Religious Order
hath its own peculiar Merits, which they can communicate to
one of their Fraternity : If then a dying Man had gained their
favour so much, that he was received into their Order, and died
wrapped in one of their Frocks, then was his Soul secure from
the grim Tormentors below. And what an endless heap of Fables
had they, of Souls being on the brink, ob in the midst of the
Flames, and of a sudden snatched out !
But now all this Trade hath quite failed them, therefore In
dulgences are fallen in their Ratesr and in stead of them, there
are Prayers to be used, and especially to be said before friviledg- .
ed Altars^ or at such Times, or before such Reliques, that it ia
ao hard work for any among them to ranfome the Souk of others? .
or to preserve their own. In a word, doth not all this debase
the Spirit of true Religion, and expose it to the jealousy of
Atheists
( JO )
Atheists, as if it were a Contrivance for advancing base and se
cular Designs. And doth it not eat out the Sense of true
Piety, when the Vulgar see the Guides of Souls making such
shameful Merchandise of them, and doing it with such respect of
Persons, that if a Man be rich enough, he is secure . , thereby our
LorSi's bltjjing of the Poor, and faffing a Woe on the Rtch, is reversed.
But above all,#what indignity is by this done to the Blood of the
Son of God ? And how are the People carried from their dependanceonHim, and their value of His Sufferings, by these Pra
ctices !
Another Art not very remote from this, for detracting from
the value of Christ's Death, and the confidence we should have
in it, is, the Priestly Absolution, wherein after the Sinner hath
gone over his Sins, without any sign of remorse, and told them
to the Priest, he enjoins a Penance, the doing whereof, is called
a satisfaction ; and the Vulgar do really imagine, that the under
going the Penance, doth fully serve for appeasing God's Wrath
against Sin ; but as soon as the Priest hath enjoined his Penance,
without waiting that they obey it, he lays his Hand on their
Head, and lays, / absolve thee ; and after this, they judg them
selves fully cleansed of Sin, and that they may receive the Sa
crament, had their former Lise been never so bad. It is true, the
practice of the Priests in their slight Penances, and hasted Abso
lutions, and promiscuous allowing of all the Holy Sacrament, is
condemned by many in that Church, who complain of these
Abuses with much honest Zeal ; but these Complaints are so little
regarded, that their Writings are condemned,and the Corruption
continues unreformed. Now what can take off more from the
value of the Death of Christ, than to believe it in the Power of
a Priest to absolve from Sin ? All the Power of the Church being
cither Ministerially to declare the Absolution ofsered in the Go
spel upon the Conditions in it, or to absolve from the scandal
which any publick Trespass hath given. It was counted Blas
phemy in Christ, When he said, Thy Sins are forgiven thee. Mar.
2. 5, 10. of which he cleared himself, from the Power w.u commit
ted to the Sort' of Man on Earth, to forgive Sins % which shews it
to be Blasphemy in ail others to pretend to absolve from Sin, it
being an Invasion of his Prerogative.
{ l..: - J
.. ' .V u .. ; .'
.
To this I might add the Scorn put on Religion by many of the

Penances enjoined for Sin, such as the abstaining from Flesh for so
many Days, the pattering over so many Prayers, the repeating
the penitential Psalms, the going to such Churches, and such Al
tars; with other ridiculous Observances like these, which cannot
but kill the Vitals of true Religion, and lead away Souls from these
earnest Applications to Jesus Christ for Pardon and Renovation.
And who can have any fad Apprehensions of Sin, who is taught
such an easy way of escaping Punishment?
I consess in this, as in all other parts of Religion, the Masters
of that Church have so contrived things, that their Doctrines
might, according to the Fable of the Manna, taste pleasant in every
Man's relisti : for if any be grave and melancholy, then silence,
solitude, and retirement are enjoined them ; if their Tem
pers be more fiery and sullen, severe corporal Mortifications
and Disciplines are tasked on them, such as cruel and perhaps
publick Whipping, or other unspeakable Austerities, with
which the Lives of the modern Saints are full , but if one be of a
more jolly temper, who desires Heaven at an easy rate, then some
trifling Penance shall serve turn. These are a sew of their Arts
for diverting Souls from flying unto Jesus, as to the sure and safe
Refuge from the Father's Wrath, in whom only we can find san
ctuary, and whom the Father hath sent into the World to seek
and save lost Sinners. Now whether the Priests in the injunction
of easy Penances, and giving Absolution, do not violate the Pre
rogative of Jesus, and insensibly debauch Souls from that afsectio
nate and grateful Duty they owe their Redeemer, into their tri
fling Methods and Appointments, I reser it to all who know
them.
Another Opposition made to the Priestly Office of Christ is,
their Conceit of the Sacrifice of the Mass, which they believe is a
formal Expiation of Sins, both for the Living and Dead, who
are in Purgatory : Christ once ofsered himself up for taking awaySin, which he did by that one Sacrifice, and this is by the
apostle fiated amongst the Differences which are betwixt the Sacrifices
of Moses, which were to be daily and yearly renewed and repeated,
whereas Christ offered one Sacrifice in the end of the 1Vorld,fo that there
was no need of more, Heb. 10.1,2,3,12,14. Now, to imagine
that the Priests going through the Office of the Mass, and his re
ceiving
(**>
cciving the consecrated Elements, can have a virtue to expiate die
Sins of others, especially of the Dead, is a thing so contrary to
the most common impressions, that it will puzzle a Man's Belief
to think any can credit it. And yet this is one of the Master
pieces of the Religion of that Church. It is true, in a right
lense, that Sacrament may be called a Sacrifice, as it was by the
Ancients, either in general, as Prayers, Praises, and Almsiieeds
are called so in Scripture ; or as it u a Commemoration of the
Sacrifice of Christ ; but to imagine the Action hath an expiatory
force in it, is a visible derogation from the value of Christ's
Death , and all the value is in any outward Sacramental Action,
can only be derived into the Soul of the Receiver, but it is ab
surd to think one Man's Action can be derived to another ^ and
it clearly appears from the institution of the Lord's Supper, that
its end was the joint communicating of Believers, which is per
verted manisestly by the practice pf these Priests, who commu
nicate in name of the Spectators.
Finally, What a derogation is it from the Priestly Office of
Christ ; one Branch whereof is his Intercession, to join Saints or
Angels with him in that Work, nay, and preser them to him ?
Which will be found too true, if the Office of the Virgin, and
the Prayers offered to her, be compared with those offered to her
Son. Did Christ by the Merits of his Passion acquire this Honour
at so dear a rate ? and shall we for whom he suffered, rob him so
injuriousiy and sacrilegiously of his Honour, and bestow it on
these who are our Fellow-servants ?
But having touched this in the former part of my Discourse, I
advance my Enquiry to the Opposition given the Regal Office of
Christ : And first, how contrary is it to the Glory wherewith
even his Humane Nature and Body is refulgent in Heaven, to be
lieve, that five words, muttered out by the Priest, shall hive the
virtue to produce his real and glorified Body, instead of the anni
hilated Elements of Bread and Wine, and yet under their Acci
dents and Appearances ? This is a new and strange kind of Hu
miliation, if true, by which he who is now cloathed with Glory,
must be every day exposed under so thick, so dark, and so con
temptible a covering, as are the resemblances of Bread and Wine.
What low thoughts of his Person must it breed in such Minds as
are capable of believing this Contrivance ?
Again,
Again, he, as King of the Church, hath given her Laws ar*,
Precepts, to whose Obedience she is obliged $ to which none can
add, without they acknowledg another Head, and whose Obliga
tion none can untie or dispense with ^ for Christ's Dominion con
sists in this Authority he hath over our Consciences, which he
hath vindicated into Liberty, by delivering us from the Bondage
of Corruption. If then any pretend a Power jof obtruding
new Articles on our Belief, or Obligations on our Consciences,
these must be consessed to be injurious to the Dignity wherewith
Christ is vested. What then shall be said of him, who pretends
an Authority of dispensing with, and dissolving the Obligation of
Oaths, ofdissolving the Wedlock-bond, of allowing the Marriage
in the forbidden Degrees ? And a5 for their Additions to the Laws
of Christ, they are innumerable. And here what I mentioned last,
calls me to mind of a pretty Device, to multiply the forbidden
Degrees of Marriage, yea, and add the Degreesof Spiritual Kin
dred, that is, of Kindred with our God-fathers or God-mothers
in Baptism, which is done upon no other design, but to draw in
more to {he Treasure of the Church, by frequent Dispenses. If I
should here reckon up all the Additions which by the Authority of
that Church are made to the Laws of Christ, I should, resume ah"
that I have hitherto alledged, they being visible Additions to the
Doctrine and Rules of the Gospel, and imposed with such unmer
ciful Cruelty, that an Anathema is the mildest of the Spiritual
Censures they thunder against such as comply not with their Ty
ranny ; and a Faggot would be its civil Sanction, were the Secular
Powers at their Devotion. I do not deny but there is an Autho
rity, both in the Civil and Ecclesiastkk Powers, of enjoining
things indifserent, but no Authority beside Christ's can reach the
Conscience. Besides, if these indifferent things swell so in their
number, be vain, pompous, and useless, and be imposed without
all regard to the tender Scruples of weak Consciences,they become
tyrannical , and such as do so impose them, discover their affecting
a tyrannical and Lordly Dominion over Consciences ^ and that
they preser their own Devices to the simpler Methods of Christ,
and the plainer and easier Rules of his Gospel.
But one Instance of their abrogating the Laws of Christ is mote
signal, in their violating the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ;
wherein, tho he instituted it under both kinds, and did Ib di
stribute it, with the express Command that all should drinks es it ;
E
yet
( ?4 )
yet they presumed, notwithstanding of that, and tho the Frimitive
Church distributed it in both Kinds, which is confessed in their Canon,
to snatch the Cup from the Laity, and engross it to the Clergy.'
Now it is to be considered, that the value of the Sacramental
Actions flowing only from their Institution, the first Appoint
ment should be most religiously observed in them : Besides, the
universal extent of Christ's Word, Drink, ye all of it, which was
not used in the distribution of the Bread, hath a particular My
stery in it, to guard against the foreseen Corruption of that part
of it , and the reason given in the distribution of the Cup, shews,
it must reach to all that need the Blood of Christ for the remission
of Sins j which not being restrained to the Priests, shews, that
the Cup, without a direct opposition to the Mind and Command
of Christ, ought not to be taken from the People ; and any that
will read the goodly Reasons given for this Sacriledg, will fee
what a low account they have of the Commands of Christ, when
upon such trifling Pretences they will violate them. And with
how much cruelty they backed this Invasion of Christ's Autho
rity, the History will declare, they beginning it with a perfidious
burning of two Witnesses who opposed it at Constance / And oc
casioning so much War and Blood-shed against those who adhered
to the Rule of the Gospel in this Matter, and refused to stoop to
their Tyranny.
But I advance to another Invasion of Christ's Regal Authority,
committed by him who pretends to be the Universal Bijhof of the
Church, and to have Authority over all Church-men ; whom he
makes swear Obedience to him, and looks on them but as his De
legates : It was unluckily done of Gregory the Great, to be so se
vere on this Head, as to condemn the Title of "Universal Bijhop,
as Antichristian : But little dream'd he in how sew Years his Suc
cessor would aspire to that height of Ambition. Now by this
pretence, all these Officers whom Christ hath appointed to Rule
and Feed his Church, are turned out of their Authority, and
made subject to him : Ar.d with how much pride he treads on his
Fellow- Bishops, the Histories of many Ages do declare. It is
true, at first, as being Bishop of the Imperial City, the Bishops
of Rome were highly esteemed, but Pride and Ambition, began
soon to leaven them ; yet they were for the first four Ages,
looked upon, by the other Bishops, but as their Fellow-Bishops,
and by the Decrees of two General Councils, the Bishops of ]
Constm- j
C 35 )
ConstantinopU were in all things, except the Precedency, made
eqnal to them : And by the Decree of the Council of Nice,
other Metropolitans are levelled with them. And here I must
tell of a shameful Forgery of three Bishops of Rome, who, one af
ter another, would have obtruded on the African churches, a Decree^
allowing of Appeals from them, to the Roman See, as if it had been
made at Nice : Which. they eÂfrick rejected, and upon tryal, found
it to be none of the Appointments at Nice, but a Dscree of the Coun
cil of Sardice.
But by degrees the Bishops of that City got up to the height
they are now at ; and not content with their usurping over
their Brethren and Fellow-Church-men , their next attempt
was upon Princes, who deriving their Authority from Jesus
Christ, the King of Kings, by whom Kings do reign ; it was an In
vasion of his Power to attempt against his Vice-Gerents on
Earth. But the Popes made no Bones of this, for being now
held ChrisTs Vicars on Earth, with other blasphemous Ti
tles, mVwe-God, yea, and LordGod, they thought their Power
was limited, as long as Kings and Emperors were not even in
Temporals subject to them. And therefore from the days of
Pope Gregory the Seventh, they pretended to a Power of depo
sing Princes, disposing of their Dominions to others, and dis
pensing with the Oaths of Fidelity their Subjects had sworn to
them ; and it was easy for them to make Crowns change their
Masters as they pleased : For there were always other ambi
tious Princes ready, for their own Ends, to invade the Domi
nions of these deposed Kings, upon the Pope's Warrant , and.
the generality of the People were so possefled with the Pope's
Power of releasing Souls from Purgatory, and from the Pu
nishments due to Sin, that they were easily prevailed upon to fol
low his Thunders: And by that time the Popes had swarms of
Emissaries of the begging Orders, who under shews of austere
Piety, gained much reverence and esteem in the World j and so
got all subjected to the Papal Tyranny. Now, should I in
stance this in Particulars, I should transgress the limits of a
short Discourse by a long History , but the Lives of Gregory the
Seventh, Alexander the Third, Boniface the Eighth, and Julius
the Second j to mention no more, will sufficiently convince any
who will be at the pains to read them,as they are written by these
who lived in that Communion. And Matthew of Paris will at
E 2
length
( 16 )
length inform bis Reader, how much, and how often England
smarted under this Tyranny.
And ali this is so far from being denied, that it is desended avowedly by not a sew of the Canonists and Jesuits, and is a
Doctrine dearly entertained in the Court of Rome to this day -t
as appeared from the late Attempt of Pope Pad the Fifth upon
Venice : But the World is now a little wiser, than to be carried
away by these Arts, and therefore that Pretence is laid to sleep,
till haply the Beast: be healed of the Wund was given it at
the Reformation^
But I cannot leave this Particular, without my fad Regrates,
that too deep a tincture of this Spirit of Antichristianifm is among many, who pretend much aversion to it, since the Do
ctrine of resisting Magistrates, upon colours of Religion, is so
stiffly maintained, and adhered to by many, who pretend to be
highly reformed, tho this be one of the Characters of the scarlctcoloHredWhore. But thus far have we gone through the second.
part of Antichrist's Character, and have discovered too clear in
dications of a diftbrmity to the Spirit, and Truth of the Christi
an Religion, in all the Branches of the Honour and Wor/hip due
to Jesus tlqe only Mediator of the New Covenant.
From this I proceed to the third part of my Enquiry, which
is, the Opposition made to the great Design of Christian Reli
gion, for elevating tfte Souls of Men into a participation of the
Divine Nature, whereby the Soul being inwardly purified, and
the outward Conversation regulated, the World may be restored
Co its Primitive Innocence :And Men admitted to an inward and in
timate sellowship with their Maker. The siist step of this Reno
vation, is, Repentance ; for God commands Men eveiy where to re
sent ; and Re[ent'ance and Remission of Sins are always united :
And this being an horrour at Sin upon the sense of its native defor
mity, aud contrariety to the Law of God, which makes the Soul ap
prehend the hazard it hath incurred by it ; so, as to study by all means
possible to avoid it in all tune coming ; nothing doth prepare the
mind more for Faith in Christ, and the study of a new Lise, than
Repentance , wf&h must reeds be previous to these. But what
Devices re fourd to t nervate this ? Sins must be divided into
Vernal nnd Mortal ? the former deserving only some temporal Ponislunent, and being eauly expiated by some trifling piece of
seeming
(37 )
seeming Devotion, and hereby many Sins are struck out of the
Penitents consideration : For who can have a great apprehension
of that which is so slightly expiated ? And this may be extended
to the easy Pardons, given for acknowledged mortal Sins : For
he who thinks that God can be appeased for them, with the say
ing by rote so many Prayers, cannot possibly have deep appre
hensions of their being either so displeasing to God, or so odious
in themselves. But shall I to this add their asserting, that a sim
ple attrition, which is a sorrow flowing from the consideration of any
temporal Evil, God hath brought upon the Sinner, without any regard
had, either to the vilensss of the Sin, or the Ojscnce done to God by it ; .
that is (I fay) can suffice for justifying Sinners, and qualifying
them for the Sacrament, whereby the necessity of Contrition, and
Sorrow flowing from the Principle of the Love of God, is made
only a high degree of Persection, but not indifpensibly neceflary. In the next place all these Severities they enjoin for Penan
ces, do but tend to nourish the Lise of Sin, when Sinners see a
Trade set up by which they can buy themselves off from the
Wrath of God. To this is to be added the Doctrine of Indul
gences, which is so direct an opposition to Evangelical Repen
tance, as if it had been contrived for difpofleffing the World of
the sense of it.
That which is next pressed in the Gospel for uniting the souls
of Mankind to God, is that noble ternary of Graces, Faith, Hope^
and Love, by which theSiul refls in God by a holy affiance in him^ v
believing the Truth of his Gospel, expecting the accomplishment of his
Promises, waiting for the full fruition of him, and delighting in his
glorious Pc'sections, and Excellencies. Now how much all this is
shaken by these carnal and gross Conceptions, the Roman Do
ctrine offers of God in their Image and Mass-worship, and by
their Idolatry to Saints, is apparent ? Are they not taught to con- .
find more in the Virgin, er their tutelar Saints*, than in the
Holiest of all ? Doth not the sear of Purgatory damp the hopes
of future blessed n.efs ? And finally, what impious Doctrine hath
been publickly licensed and printed in that Church of the degrees .
of the love we owe to God ? Some blasphemously teaching, that
we are not at aU bound to love him, others mincing it so, as if they
were afraid of his being too, much beloved.
In a word, there is an impiety in the Morals of some of that
Church, particularly among the Disciples, of Loyola, beyond what
was
was ever taught amongst the worst of the Heathen. Philosophers,

which hath been fully discovered by some of the honester and
more zealous of that Communion. And though these Corrup
tions have not been avowed by the Head of that Church, yet by
their being publickly vented, by the deaf Ear he gives to all the
Complaints against them, and by the constant Carefles and Priviledges he heaps upon that Order which teacheth them, he dis
covers either his great satisfaction in that corrupt Doctrine;or that
upon the account of other interests,he is content to betray the Souls
of Christians.into the corruption of such impious and ungodly
Leaders, since the Order that hath owned all these Corruptions is
yet possessed of the Consciences of the greater part of them that
own that Communion, they being the universal Consessors. And
since they license the publick venting of so much corrupt Doctrine
in printed Writings, what reason have we to suspect their base
compliance with Sins in their more secret and unknown Prastifings,
with such poor deluded Souls as trust to their Conduct, of which
many Proofs are brought by others of that fame Church ?
But I pursue my enquiry into the other traces of theAntichristian Corruption, of the Purity and Power of our most Holy
Faith : Solemn Worship, and secret Devotion, are the great
means of uniting Souls to God, and of deriving the assistance
of his Spirit and Grace to us ; but when these are performed in
an unknown Tongue, How uncapable are they of reaching that
End ? And the Doctrine of the efficacy of the Sacraments, for
conveying of Grace by the Work wrought, looks like a design against all serious preparation for the worthy receiving of them ;
since by that Doctrine, a Man, be he never so ill prepared, yet
is sure of their efficacy -, for if his Priest absolve him, and he
have a simple Attrition for Sin, without any thing of the Love
of God, he is by their Doctrine and Conduct qualified for re
ceiving worthily, were his Heart never so much united to Sin,
or averse from all Devotion, or Application to Divine Matters.
And what Complaints shall be here made of these who teach,
that the sure way of gaining the Favour of God, which they
phrase by the Keys of Paradise, is to say the Ave, to hid the hitsfed Virgin good-morrow every day, or to fend our Angel Guardian to
salute her ? or finally, to wear a Meddal or Rosary in devotion to her,
though from the first time we begin to wear it, we never again think
of her ; Doth not all this look like a conspiracy against the Pow
er of Godliness ?
'
But
(39)
But shall we next consider the Moral Law, which though Christ:
said he came not to dissolve , but to fulfil, Matth. 5. 17. Yet they
have found out Distinctions and Doctrines to destroy it. It is
true, what may be said here, cannot so directly, as to every
particular, be charged on the Roman Church, since, it hath
not been decreed by Pope, or Council ; but when prophane Casuijis have printed Doctrines, which tend to the subversion of
the most common Principles of Vertue and Morality, and these
are licensed according to the Rule of that Church : And for as
publick as they are, and for all the Censures and Complaints
others have pasted upon them, yet they continue without any
censure from the Chair of Rome, it is a shrewd presumption that
they are not unwelcome to that See : Though for good Mannerssake they have given them no other owning, but a connivance,
joined with an extraordinary cherishing of that School which
vents them.
Two general Doctrines they have, which at two stroaks dis
solve all the bonds of Vertue. The one is, the Doctrine if Pro
bability , the other, of good Intention.
By the first, they teach, that if any approved Doctor of the
Church have held an Opinion about any practical thing, as pro
bable any Christian may with a safe Conscience follow it, were it
never so much condemned by others ; and did it appear with the
blackest Visage : And by this it is, that scarce there is a Sin which
may not be sasely hazarded on, since there have been of the ap
proved Doctors of that Church, who have made a shift, by di
stinctions, to represent the worst Actions, not only as probable,
but as really Good.
The next Doctrine is, of good Intention, whereby they teach a
Man to commit the grossest Legerdemain with God and his own Con
science imaginable ; by which he may rut any Sin he will, provided he
intend not that, but some other good Design or Motive : And any
that will read the Provincial Letters, or the Mystery of Jesuitism,
and compare their Citations with the Authors, whence they
take them, will soon be satisfied of the truth of this.
We have already seen how that Church violates the two first
Commandments, by her Idolatry : Whereby in opposition to the
first, she worships Saints and Angels, with those acts and ex
pressions of Adoration only due to God. "The second is also
palpably
(4)
palpably violated by their Image-worship , and adoring God
under sensible and external representations. The third is made
void by the Pope's pretending to dispence with Oaths, and
to annul their Obligation, as also by their Doctrines of Equivo
cation and mental Reservations, in all Oaths, both aflertory, and
proitiiflory
besides the impious Doctrines of some Casuists,
that justify the frophaning of GodPs Sacred Name in rash and common
swearing. Their contempt of the fourth Precept is not denied,
it being usually among them a Day of mercating, dancing, and
foolish jollity : Many among them teaching, that to hear Mass
that day, doth fusty answerSthe Obligation for its observanceTheir contempt of the fifth follows, upon the Doctrine of the
Pope's Power, of deposing Princes, and freeing the Subjects from
their Obligation to them , by which they are taught to rebel,
and resist the Ordinance of God. Besides, their .Casuists allow
it as lawful to desire rbe Parents Death, provided it be not out of ma
lice to him, but out of a desire of goid ,to themselves; that they may
enjoy their Inheritance, or be rid of 'their Trouble. Yea, some of
their impious Casuists fay, that Children may loafutty intend the kil
ling of their Parents, and may disown them, and Marry without their
consent.
For the sixth Command, their Casuists do generally allow, to
kill in .defence of Honour, Life, or Goods, even though the hazard
of losing them be not near and evident, but afar off and un
certain : And they teach, that a Man is not bound to stay till another smite him ; butif he threaten him, or if he ofsend with
his Words, or if one know that he hath a design upon his Ho
nour, Lise, or Goods, he may, with a good Conscience, pre
vent, and kill him. And this th;y extend to all sort*-ef Per
sons, both Secular and Religious ; allowing it to Sons against
their Fathers. And they leave it free to them to execute this by
whatever means they judg most proper, whether by force, or
surprize, or by the Service of others, if they dare not attempt
4o kill by their own Hands ; which they stretch to the cafe of
one who knows another guilty of a Crime, and intends to
pursue him for it i and they allow the Guilty Person, if he know
no other way of escape, to kill him who intends his Accusation,
that he may thereby preserve his Lise ; in order to which they
also allow it lawful to kill the Witnesses that may prove the
Crime.
As
C 4* )
As for the seventh Command, modesty cannot name their pol
luted Doctrines about it : They barred the Clergy the lawful use
of Marriage, but did allow them Concubinate \ and the publick
Licenses given to base Houses in the Popes Dominions, prove that See
a Mother of Fornications, even in the Letter ; the Religious Houses
being likewise full of Irreligious Intanglemenrs in:o a course of
Use, which many times they are not able to bear; but being re
strained from the homurable Ordinance of God, many of these
Houses have proved either Nests of Filthiness, or of secret Im
purities ; which it seems by the rules of Consession, and the que
stions their Confessors puts to them, are known to abound among
them. And any that have read these, will consess, that it defiles
a Chast Mind to read them j but what tr ust it be to ask them ,
especially at those of a different Sex ? Shall I also here mention
the frequent dispensing with Marriages within degrees forbidden,
and their as frequent dissolving of that Sacred Knot, though ( as
if they had resolved on a contradiBion to all the Rules of the Gospel )
they refuse to dsjolve the Bond on the account of Adultery, which
Christ hath made the only ground that can juftifie the dissolution of it ?
Bur (hall I add to this, the base Impieties, of which not only these
of purple and scarlet Livery among them have been notoriously
guilty, but even the Villanies of some that have worn the Triple
Crown ? As I should grow too tedious, so I must needs tell things,
which to a pure mind were both nauseating to write and to read.
Those that have been in that Spiritual Babylon, know, that is
a Sodom, even in the letter, none being more guilty of that crying
Wickedness, than those that bear the character of Religious or
Sacred Orders. And what (hall we think of the Scarlet Frater
nity, that produced a Monger that attempted Heaven it self, by
writing in defeflce of that Impiety, which it avenged by Fire and
Brimstone, and yet had no Censure passed on him for it ? Where
as for the least tincture of Calvinism or Lutheranism, he had been
condemned to the Fagot. Some of them do also teach, that For
nication is not forbidden by the Laws of Nature, and only by
positive Precepts, so that it may be dispensed with.
For the eighth Command, those profane Casuists have made
such shifts for it, that none needs to be guilty of Theft ; for they
teach it to he no fin to take th:,t from another which he made no use
of, but may well want ; and that in such a case,mht who steals, is net
obliged to restitution : Others of them teach, That he who stole a
F
great
C 40
great Sum, is not obliged to the restitution of the wholet but cnlj efft
much as may make the theft not notable : But they teach, that small
thefts, even though often reseated, are but Vernal fins, which it an
excellent Doctrine for warranting Servants insensibly to par/o/n
their Masters goods : They also teach Arts of escaping just Debts,
beyond all the subtilties of false Lawyers ; which the Jesuits
themselves have often put in practice, and have found out Ans
for justifying oppressive Usury, defrauding of Creditors, ruining
of Commerce , and making Havock of our Neighbours Goods
without Injustice.
.,
For the ninth Command, though it be so contrary to Nature ,
that the worst of men count it a reproach to be charged with
Falshood, and Lying , yet they have favoured it avowedly: For
by-their Doctrines of Equivocating and using Mental Reservations,
the greatest Falsities in the World may be averred and sworn
without fin : And the value they set on a strict observance of Pro
mises, and candor in them, appeared at Constance, where a
whole Council required Siîfmund the Emperor , to burn John
Hufs, and Jerom of Prague, though he had given them his sase
Conduct; for they taMght him, that Faith was not to be kept fa
Hereticks. Another such like trip of one of the Popes, pro-ved
fatal both to Ladislaus, and the Kingdom of Hungary, at Varna ;
where they breaking the Truce they had sworn to the Turk, upon the
Topes Warrant, wefe fignally punished for their treachery. The Do
ctors of the forementioned School do also teach, that he who
hath born false Witness in a matter that may cost another his
Life, is not bound to retract it, if that retractation may bring
great evils upon him. They also propose methods for suborning
Witnesses, and falsifying of Writs and Records, without any sin ;
and that all this may be done to defame a person with some horrid
imputation, who is led as a Witness to prove any thing agauist
one, that thereby he may be cast from witnessing.
And as for the tenth Cr mmand, they have struck out al\ the first
-motions of the mind to Evil, from being accounted Sins ; and by
their division of sins into Venial, and Mortal, they make sure
enough work of this Command, that it shall not be broken mor
tally. It were an endless work to go and make out all these
particulars, of their dissolving the Moral Law, by clear proofs :
but he who desires satisfaction in that, will find it in the Previa
cial Lttters) or the Morals of the Jesuits.
But
C 43 )
But if we pass from the Law, to the Gospel, we (hall find they
have made no less bones of ir. We are all over the Gospel called
to be heavenly-minded, to despise the World, and to set our af
fections on things above ; and particularly, Church-men are
taught not to seek the riches, splendor and vanities of a present
World ; 'which was most vigorously enforced by the Example of
Christ and his holy Apostles. But how contrary to this is that
Religion, whose great design is, the enriching and aggrandizing
of the Teachers and Pastors of it, chiefly of him who pretends to
be the supreme and sole Pastor ? I need not here re-mind the Rea
der, of the Trade of Indulgences, by which that Church rose
to its riches and porop ; nor need I tell what a value they set on
outward actions of piety, the chief of these being the enriching
of Churches, and Abbies ; and how these were commended to
the World as the sure means of attaining eternal life. Shall I add
to this, the visible and gross secularity and grandeur, in which
the Head, and other Prelates of that Church do live ? The Head
of it being in all things a temporal Prince, perpetually busied in
intrigues of State, and ballancing the Princes of Europe , and
chiefly of Italy; and what base and Stmoniacal practices abound
in that Court, all who have writren of it with any degrees of In
genuity, do acknowledg, all things are venal there: Money
being able to raise the basest and unworthiest to the highest promotions ; the Cardinals are also named either upon the Interests of
Princes, and chiefly of the two great Crowns ; or to make the
Popes Nephews have a greater stroke in the next Conclaves or upon
some such carnal account. And perhaps, for good manners fake,
a Scholar, or a person famous for devotion, may get a red Hat,
but such are always the least esteemed in the College ; all af
fairs being governed by the Popes Nephews, or the Protectors of the
Crowns. And who shall expect that such a company of secular,
ignorant , ( I mean in matters of Religion ) and oftentimes li
centious men, should be the great Sanhedrim, by whose advice
all that belongs to Religion must be managed? These mulfoe
likewise the Electors of the Pope, when the See is vacant ', whom
they chuse out of their own number, who is always elected by
the prevailing Interests of one of the Crowns, or by the Faction
of the former Popes Nephews. And what Caballings, what be
speaking of Suffrages, and what impudent ambitus is commonly
practised in the Elections of Popes, is well enough known, ncr
F % '
can
C 44 )
can it be denied. Now, what man of common sense, can ima
gine, that a Pope thus elected by Simoniacal-Arts, and carnal
Interests, can be Chrtfli Vicar on Earth, or, have the Holy Ghcfi 'as-j
ways affixed to his Chair, that he (hall never err in any of hit De
crees ? Truly, he that can' believe this, may believe any thing
that is gross and absurd, lsnot the whole frame andcont-rivance
of that Court turned so entirely Secular, that not a ve/rige of
the Character of a Church, or of Church men, remains? And
ro this, shall I add all the. splendor of their Apparel, the state of
their Processions', and the Ceremonies of their Coronation, and
how they wear a Triple Crown ? which being so well known to
all whoe-'er were at Rome, need not be descanted on by me. Eut
the mention of the Crown calls me to mind of the literal accom
plishment of that, of Mystery, being on theforehead of theWhort\
since the word Myst<ry, was for a great while, the Inscription on
the front of their Triple Crown , though it be now altered j
which being proved by others, I may not stay to make it good.
From this I should descend to the Cardinals, Bishops, and Abbots,
and shew how secular they are become ; all their design being to
engross the Power, and monopolize all Riches : which contagi
on is also derived into the Inferiour Orders of the Clergy, who by
the magnifying of their Images, Saints, and Reliques, use aft. the
Arts they can devise for enriching of themselves and their friends.
And even those Orders that pretend to mortification, and aban
doning the world, and talk of nothing but their poor and au
stere manjpr of Life, yet have possessed themselves of no small
part of the Riches and glory of the World. It is true, there is
a young Brotherhood among them, which though the youngest,
yet hath outstripped the elder, and made them stbqp to it, and
serve it. And what base and sordid ways that Society hath pur*
sued, for arriving at the highest pitch of greatness, and riches,
and how successfully they have managed their. designs, is Aufficiently cleared, what through the Zeal of some of the honester
of that Communion, what through the envy of other emula
ting Orders : All these things do fullv prove how unlike that
Church is to the poor and pure simplicity of Christ and his Apo
stles, and of the first Ages of the Church.
If we further examine the Characters of Evangelical purity,
we have them from the mouth of our Saviour, when he com
mands us to learn of him, for he was meek and lowly m heart j and
he
c
he made it the distinguishing bg.4ge..of, bis Disciples, .that they
kveJonc another. Now for hMulilityTh is true tb.pe Head of that
Chu.rch calls himself th,e servant os tin servants' of God; but
how.far such humility is from his Design, his aspiring pretences do
loudly ,declare. All the World mult stoop to him ; not only
must his sellow- Bishops swear obedience to him, and become h s
Vassals, but the Kings of. the, Earth must be his footstool, and
aTl'must pay him that servile homage of "kissing his.fooc;' an am
bition as insolent as, extravagant. His power must be magnified
with the most blasphemous Titles of his being Go J, our Lord God
on Earth Omnipotent ; with a great deal more of such servile Adu
lations, offered to him from the Parasites of thac Court. In a
Word, a great part, of that Religion, when rigtufy considered,
will be found on design contrived and abetted, for exalting' him
to the highest degrees of insolence : But so many proofs of this
were already upon other occasions hinted, that it is needless to go
over them again -, and that fame leven levens the whole lump of
their Clergy; who all pretend, that by their Ecclesiastical cha
racter they are only subject to their Head, and so enjoy an immu
nity from the Civil Authority, be. their crimes what they may be.
And an in-road on this pretence of late, from the State of Venice,
when they seized two Churchmen that were highly guilty, drew
out so much of their most holy Fathers indignation , that he
thundred against them, and finding the weakness of the spiritual
sword, resolved to try the edge of his temporal one upon them, in
patrociny, partly of these Villains, and partly of the covetousness i
of the Clergy, to which the Senate had set a small limit, by a
Decree ; but finding they were like to prove too hard for him,
he was willing to put up his sword, rather than to kill and tat, as
one of his Cardinals advised him.
Shall I with this also tell the instances of the ambition of Car
dinals, who from their first original of being Presbyters of Rome,,
Have risen up to the height of counting themselves the compani
ons of Kings, and in their habits affect a Princely splendor, hut
have unluckily chosen the Livertes of the where ; for. they wear Scar
let as the Bishops do Purple, the foretold colours of the Whores Garments. Shall I next shcw.to what a height of pride the exaltation
of the Priestly dignity among !,them^ hath risen? as. if. ic were
equal , nay , preserrable to tbf;" conditiqn of Princes. The
Priest giving absolution, is a sure device to make his power
be
*
C40
be much accounted of, since he can forgive sin. The gorgeous
and rich apparel they wear in worship, serves also to set off their
Dignity. And what a goodly device is it, that their spittle must
make one of the sacred Rites in Baptism ? Certainly that must be
esteemed a marvellous holy creature, whcfe very excrements are so
<red. Their engrossing the Cup to themselves from the people,
was another trick, for raising of their esteem : But above all
things, their power of transmuting the substance of the Bread
and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, by uttering five
words, was a marvellous device, to make all the World admire
them, who can so easily, and every day work a miracle, com
pared to which, ail the miracles of the Gospel may paft for ordi
nary actions. What a great piece of wonder must such a man
be held to be, who can thus exercise his authority over the very
person of Jesus Christ.not withstanding of all the glory to which he
is now exalted ? And it was no contemptible Engine for that fame
design, to possess the people with a belief of the Priests offering in
the Mass an expiatory Sacrifice, for the sins both of the dead and
living ; which proved a Stock for them to trade on, both for their
ambition and covetousness, and from these evidences we may inser, how little of the humility of Christ appears in tee Churcb,
from the highest to the lowest.
The next branch of the Evangelical spirit , is Meekness and
Charity, which leads me unto the consideration of the fourth
Design of the Christian Religion, which was the uniting of Man
kind under one Head, and into one Body ; and this it designed to
effectuate, not only by these sublime Precepts of the highest love,
and the utmost extent of the pardoning of injuries, and of re
turning them with the best offices of love and prayer, wbieft the
blessed Author of our Faith did enact ; but by the associating of
the Faithful into one Society, called the Church, which was to be
united with the closest bonds of brothely love and charity ', and
was to be governed by Pastors and Teachers, who should feed
tie flock with the fincere milk of the Word ; and was also to be ce
mented together by the Ligaments of the holy Sacraments, by
.which, os by joynts and bands they are both united to thetr Head, and
knit together. Now we are from these things to.consider what
opposition that Church we are now considering , gives to this
branch of the end of Christianity.
t
And
(47 >
And first, whereas the Gospel fromuneetb us free, and that we
are no mtre the servants of men, but of God., if any attempt Upon'
that liberty wherewith C hrist hath made usfree, he changeth the
authority of the Church into a tyrannical yoke ; much more, if
all the new articles of belief, and rules for practice, be imposed
under the severest certificates. But here we are to consider, that
all these things which that Church hath imposed on all of her com
munion, for which we withdrew from her, are additions to our
faith ; for in this we mainly differ from that Church, that what
ever we acknowledfj, they acknowledg likewise, but with a great
many additions. We believe the Scriptures are a rule for Chri
stians, and they believe the fame ; but they add Traditions, and
the authority of the Church to the Scriptures. We believe that
God is to be worshipped spiritually, they believe the same ; but
add, that he may be worshipped by Images and sensible Figures.
We believe Christ to be the Mediator betwixt God and Man, they
believe the fame; but add to this the intercession of Saints. We
hold thacGod and Christ are to be worshipped,they hold the same;
but add Saints and Angels to their worship. We believe Heaven
and Hell to be the several States of the future life, they believe the
fame; but add Purgatory betwixt them.to the day of Judgment.We
believe Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the Sacraments of the
new Covenant ; they believe the fame, but add five more. We be
lieve Christ is spiritually and really present in the Lords Supper ;
this they believe, but add the unconceivable Tenent of his cor
poral presence. In a word, it might be instanced in many other
particulars, how they have driven us from their Communion, by
their additions to the truth and sincerity of the Gospel, which
they have adulterated by their Inventions ; and not only have
they imposed all these things, but thundered out Anathemas on
all that question them ; and have so wreathed all their fopperies
with that main and fundamental article of their belief, of the in
fallibility of their Church, that it is impossible to hope for their
recovery, till they renounce that Principle which is so dear to
them. For if their Church be infallible, then in no matter of
faith or practice can the decree amiss; and therefore the lawful
ness and sanctity of all her Decrees must be maintained with an
equal vigor and zeal ; for if in one of them (he step aside, her
infallibility is for ever gone. And by this we may see to how little
purpose it is to treat of accomodating matters with that Church,
since
(48)
since there is no possibility of our Union with them, without we
turn over entirely to them : For they cannot part with one of
their errors, without they first renounce that which is the dearest
of them all, to wit, the unerring authority of their Church.
How cruel then is that Church, which addeth the severe sanction
of an Anathema to all her decrees, even about the most tri
fling matters i and about things that are by their Conseli:on, of
their own natures indifferent ? And a consectary to this is, that
cruel opinion they hold , that none can be saved cut of their
Communion; pretending there is no Salvation without the true
Church, which they restrict to those who are under the obedi
ence of the Roman Bishop; and this is what they usualfy frighten
all with.
But it is to be considered what the true notion of the Church is,
that so we may see through this frightful Vizar. The Church
then is, a Society of Christians united in the fame faith, for worship
ping of God jointly. And another definition of a Church cannot
be proved from Scripture ; for the Church being called the Body
of Christ, its union with him as its Head, is held forth by the Apo
stle in these words, Col.%. 19. The head Christ, from .whom the
whole body by joints and bonds, having nourishment ministred and.
knit together , increafetb with the increase of God. From which
words we see what constitutes a man a member of the true
Church ; which is,. first, his union to Christ as bis head, together
with a dependanceon him for growth and nutriture., and next,
his being knit to all others who are thus united to Christ. which
is first, the inward union of divine charity, by which he loves all
who cleave to Christ as their Head; and next, his associating
himself with them inoutwardVisible acts of worship, which every
Christian is bound to do, with all that worship God in Spirir and
Truth. But if a Society of Christians do visibly swerve from
Christ in many great and signal contradictions to the honour due
to his Person, and to the obedience due to his Laws, and do grosly
adulterate the worship, so that communion cannot be had with
that Ghurch, without departing from the Head Christ, then it can
be no departing from the Church, to adhere to Christ and his true
worship, and to separate from the corruptions which are brought
in upon the Christian Religion. If then it appear, that the Church
of Rome hath departed from the truth and simplicity .of the Go
spel, in so many great and main points, those who attempted the
re
(49)
reforming her to her first Purity, and finding that not to behoped
for, did unite among themselves for serving and worshipping
God aright, cannot be charged with separation from the true
Church.
But by that cruel Tenent of theirs, they breed up all their
Children in the greatest uncharitablenefs imaginable, condemn
ing all who cannot believe their strange Doctrines, or concur in
their unhallowed worship. Thus they are the Schifinaticks who
have departed from the true Church, and who force from their
Communion all who adhere to it : but this cruelty rests not in un
charitable censures, but hath extended it self to as much bloody
and barbarous rage, as ever sprung from Hell \ for all the cruelty
of the heathen Persecutors, cannot match the practises of that
Whore that hath been so often drunk with the blood of the Saints,
and of the Martyrs of Jesus. What enraged cruelty appeared
against the poor fValdenses, for the separating from their Corrup
tions ? How many of all Sexes and Ages, were cruelly butchered
down by the procurement of the Rulers of that Church ? and
because the Albigenfes lived under the protection of Princes that
favoured them, how did the Popes depose their Princes, and in
stigate other ambitious invaders to seize on their dominions i
Which to efsectuate, a Croiffade was proclaimed, that had been
formerly practised against the Enemies of the Christian Faith, and
Heaven was promised to such as went against these poor innocents,
whereupon they were killed by thousands, without all mercy.
Never was there any who had the zeal or honesty in these dark
ages to witness against theapostacyof the Church, but the Pope
and Clergy used all means to get bis zeal rewarded with a Fag
got. And when the time of Reformation came, with what rage
and spite did the Pope, by his Letters and Legates instigate all
the Princes of Europe to cruelty against them ! But as these
things were not done in corners, so they are still so fresh in our
remembrance, by the copious accounts we have of them, that I
need not tell what Arts the Popes and other Ecclesiasticks used,
to set all Germany on fire upon this account: Nor need I tell the
cruelty was exercised in the Netherlands m Charles the Fifth his
time, in which more than an hundred thousand are said by Grotius to have been butchered on the account of Religion. And in
his Son PmUfs time, the D.of Jlvad\d in a short time cut down
Thirty six thousand. Nor need'l tell the cruelties were practised
G
in
C 50 )
in France for about fourty years together , ncrof that treacher
ous Massacre, wherein there was an equal mixture of peifidy and
cruelty, which for all that, was entertained at Rcme with great
joy and applauses. It will be also needless to tell cf their cruelty
in England in Queen Mary't days, which was chiefly managed by
the Churchmen. And many are yet alive, who remember what
enraged cruelty appeared in our Neighbour-Island against all of
our Religion, which did not only flow from the fury os an op
pressed People, but they were trained, encouraged, and war
ranted to it, by their Priests, and the Nuntio who came after
wards among them, discovered who was the spring of all their
motions, Shall I to this add all the private assassinations commit
ted on that account, which were not only practised, but justifi
ed ? 1 might here congest many instances , Brother murdering
Brother on the account of Religion. Neither is Ckment aDcminican,h,s murdering Henry the third, nor Chastlets attcmft^nor Ravillac'sfacl on Henry the fcurth,fcrgcttc.QEkzabeihs life u full ofthese
a'.temfts,and the blackest of them all wasjhs Gunpowder Treason : All
which are to be charged on that Church, because the Doctrine of
murdering Heretick Princes vwas taughtjicensed.printed, and yet
not condemned in it. From these hints , we may guess how
much of the lowly, meek, and charitable Spirit is to be sound
with them, But should 1 to this add the horrid cruelties exercised
in these Massacres, I should be almost past belief, had 1 not un
deniable Historjans for verifying it ; but the mildest cf them be
ing to be burned alive, we may guess what the more savage have
done by their tortures and lingering Deaths. Next, shall I men
tion their Courts of Inqmsitiop which have been among them in the
hands of Churchmen , from the days of their pretended Saint
Dominick, whose Order have been the great Instruments of she
cruelties of that Church, and whose procedure being tied to no
forms of equity, or justice, is as unjust as unmerciful, persons
being haled to their black Courts, upon bare suspitions, or secret
Informations , without leading of proofs against them, are by
Torture examined, not only of their own opinions, but of all
that are known to them ; whose Testimony, "tho drawn from
them by cruel Torture, will bring the fame Tortures on all they
delate ; neither is there any mercy for any whom this Court de
clares Heretick, but the Civil Magistrate must condemn them to
the fire. Now what man that considers the meekness of Christ,
and
C si )
and the Evangelical Spirit, can think that Church the Spouse of
Christ, that hath rioted it with such savage rage, against thou
sands of persons, for no other crime, but because they adhered
firmly to the Gisoel of Jesus Christ, and would not consent or
concar with these signal and palpable corruptions with which they
have adulterated it.
But as from the constitution of their Church, we see their de
formity from the Gospel.rule so we will next consider their
Church-men, and we shall find how far they have strayed from
the first Original. Church men ought to be the Guides and Pa
stors of Souls. Now, how little of this there is among phem,
we will soon be resolved in. What do the Popes about the seeding
of Souls? When do they preach the Gospel ? or dispense the Sa
craments ? Alas ! it were below the height of his Holiness to stoop
to such mean Offices. Does any vestige of a Church.man remain
in that Court? and do they not directly rule in the Spirit of the
Lords of the Gentiles ? And in this the Cardinals , Bishops, and
Abbots, do, to their proportion, imitate their most Holy Father,
abandoning wholly the work of the Gospel, as if they bore an
empty title, or at most, were only bound to fay Mass on some
greater Holy-days ; but in all other things do avowedly cast cfF
the care of their Flocks. Shall 1 here tell of the relaxation of all
the ancient rules, about the offices and duty of Church-men,
which these latter ages have invented, and mention how children
are made Bishops, how they allow of Pluralities, Non-reftdencies,
Unions, Commendams, Gratia expeffativa's, with a great many
more corruptions, which are every day authorised and granted
at Rome ? and so zealous were they for these, that they strugu i
hard against the honest attempts of some at Trent, who won I
have had residence declared of Divine right, and got it, tho wit )
much ado to be laid aside. And thus it is that the Bishops and Ab
bots among them do for most part relinquish their Charges, to
live at the Courts of Princes, and insinuate themselves upon all
affairs and offices; And swarms of them go to Rome, gaping for
preserment there. I deny not but even these late ages have pro
duced great men among them, who seem to have designed the
reviving of the|Ancient Diseipline.both among the Clergy and the
People; but as these instances are rare, so they were hated and
persecuted at Rome for their Zeal. Witness the condemning of
Arnolds Book of frequent Communion, and the severity Janfenius,
G x
and
and the Abbot of Sr. Cjran, with their followers, have met with :
And thus whatever individuals that Church may have produced,
yet the corruptions I have hinted , are notoriously, publickiy,
and generally practised in it, and no where so avowedly, as ac
the Court of R 1me. But to compence this desect of the Superior
Clergy , they have swarms of the inserior ranks every where,
both secular and regular, who seem to mind the care of souls ve
ry seriously. But not ro reflect again upon any thing hath been
hitherto laid of tbeir bad conduct of fouls, I {hall now only take
norice of the Authority they pretend to , as if the People were
bound blindly to follow their Consessors direction, as the voice of
God, which clearly makes them the servants of men, and subjects
them to the heaviest yoke, which is most directly contrary to the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made tis free: And what a rack to
souls have they made Consession? and what an Engine to get into
the secrets of all the World, and to bring mankind under their
subjection, u obvious enough to any that considers ir: And ro en
force it the more, as they teach it simply necessary to Salvation,
so the authority they made the World believe tiic Priests were
vested with for pardoning sin, together with their easie Pardons,
and slight Penances , did root it deep in the hearts of all of that
Communion.
But Igo next to examine the Sacraments, of which so much
being said already, little remains to be added. By their dividing
the Cup from the Bread, they destroy Christs Institution, and so
make it no Sacrament ; and the hearing of Mass without commu
nicating, tho it make up the greatest part of their worsliip, yet is
purely a service of their own devising , without warrant from
Christs Institution, who said, take eat, this is my body ; thereby
shewing, he intended the virtue and benefit of that Ordinance,
only for those who received it. And in a word, let any read
and compare the Institution of the Lords Supper, as it is in the
three Gospels, and the Epistle to the Corinthians, together with the
whole office of the Mass, as it is in the Roman Church, and then
let him on his Conscience pass his verdict, whether they have ad
hered to, or departed from Christ's Institution in that piece of
their worship. Finally, one great end of all solemn worship,
being the Communion of Saints, in their joint adorations, and
mutual concurrence in divine services , What union can they
have with God ? Or what communion can they hold one with
ano
C n )
ther, who perform all their Worstiip in an unknown Tongue,
which is the rule and constant practice of that Church beyond
Sea ; tho for the better venting of their sophisticated stuff among
ns, they give the people Books of devotion in their vulgar Lan
guage, yet continue to fay the Office of the Mass in Latin.
And thus far I have run a round that great Circle 1 proposed
to my self in the beginning of this Discourse : And have examined
the chief Designs of the Christian Religion, and have found the
great and evident contradictions, given to them in all their
branches, by the established and authorised Doctrines and Pra
ctises of that Church ; in which I have fully justified the wise
mans observation, that be who increaseh knowledge, increases!) sor
row ; and have said enough to evince to all rational and consider
ing miods, how unsase \t 'u for any that would keep a good Con
science, to hold Communion wish them. But / have not finished
my design, till I likewise examine the Characters of the Christian
Religion, and compare them with these that are to be found in
the Synagogue of Rome.
The first Character of our Faith is, That it was delivered to the
world by men sent of God, and divinely inspired, who proved
thejr Mission by Miracles. Now these Doctrines about which we
difser from that Church, can pretend to no such divine original :
Let them tell us what inspired man did first teach the worship of
Images, of the Mass, of Angels and Saints, and of Reliques ;
Whatman sent of God was the first Author of the belief of the
Corporal Presence, of the Sacrifice of the Mass, of the Pope's
Supremacy, of Puagatory, of Indulgences, and of all these in
numerable Superstitions, of which the Scripture is absolutely si
lent ; for if these Doctrines were not the off-spring of Revelati
ons, they are none of the Oracles of God, nor can we be obli
ged to believe them as such. It is true, they vouch Scriptures for
proof to f>me of these, but these are (b far stretched, that their
sure Retreat is in the Sanctuary of the Churches Traditions; but
till a clear Warrant be produced for proving it was impossible
that any Falshood could have that way crept into the World, we
must be excused from believing these. Neither is it possible to
know what Traditions came from the Apostles, for as the Vulgar
are not capable of pursuing the Enquiry, so the loss of most of
the Writinge of the first two Ages, makes it impossible to know
what Traditions came from the Apostles.
*
But
C S4 )
But this I fay not, that we need sear the Trial ; for the silence
of the first and purest Ages, about these things which are conrro.
verted among us, is evidence enough that they were not known
to them; especially, since in their Apologies which they wrote to
the Heathens for their Religion and worship, wherein they give
an abstract; of their Doctrines, and a Rubrick of their Worship,
they never once mention these great Evils, for which we now ac
cuse that Church. It is true, a late ingenious Writer, whose sin
cere zeal and candor had much ofsended the Roman Court, and
drawn censures on himself and his Book, took a way to repair
his Reputation by a new Method of proving the truth of the Opi
nions held in the Roman Church ; which was, that since the pre
sent Church held them, that (hews that they had them so from
their Ancestors, and they from theirs, till you run backwards to
the days of the Apostles i alledging, that a change in the wor
ship was unpracticable, since it could not be done in a corner, but
in the view of all the World, who it is not to be imagined were
capable of sufsering any great or considerable change to be made
in that which was daily in their view, and much in their esteem ;
therefore he concludes, that every Generation adhered to that
belief in which they weie born, and so no change in any great
substantial and visible part, of worship could be made, kistrue,
he applies this only to the belief of the corporal Presence, which
he attempts to prove could never have been introduced into the
Church, had it not been conveyed down from the Apostles. He
hath indeed set off this with all the beauties of wit, and elegan
cies of stile, and much profound reading. Hut with how great
and eminent advantages, both of reason and learning, this pre
tence Jiath been baffled, 1 leave it to. the judgment of all who
have been so happy as to read Mr. Claud his incomparable Wri
tings. And the common sense of mankind will prove this but an
Imposture, how fairly soever adorned , for if we find it certain,
that any Doctrines, or main parts of Worship are now-received
into thas Church, and if from the undeniable Evidences of Hi
story, and Writings of Ancients, it appear, that these things
were not received in the ancient Church, then it is certain there
hath been a change made from what was then, to what is now ,
though an ingenious Invention may mak,e it appear very difficult
to imagine how and when the change came in; especially when
it was insensibly, and by pieces advanced. If then it.be proved,
t
that
C 55 )
that the Fathers believed the Elements in the Sacrament were
really Bread and Wine, and not changed from their own nature,
but only Types and Figures of the Body of Christ, then we are
sure a change must have been made, though the ignorance of
some Ages makes it a hard task to clear all particulars about it.
It is true, the Fathers did highly magnifie this Sacrament, with
many Expressions, which (though the vehemence of Divine Rhetorick can well justifie, yet) will not bear a Logical Exam,n,
but when they speak in a cooler stile, nothing can be more clear,
than that they believed not the corporal Presence. But may not
that reasoning of the impossibility of a change in a worship, be
as well applied to the taking the Chalice from the People, who in
reason should be imagined so tenacious of so great a Priviledge,
that no consideration should have obliged them to part with it ?
And yet we know, nor do they deny, how it was wrung from
them about xô years ago. What may seem less credible than
for the People to consent, to have their worship in an unknown
Tongue, and yet we know that all once worshipped in their
Mother Tongue; but that aster (by the overthrow of the Roman
Empire) the Latin Tongue decayed, the barbarous worship was
obtruded on the world ? And what pieceof worship is both more
visible, and more contrary to the clearest Evidence of Scriptures,
especially to the Commandments, in which the people were al
ways instructed, than the worshipping of Images ? And though
we know well enough that for the first seven Centuries the Chri
stian World abhorred them, yet within a hundred years after
that , we find a great part of it bewitched with them. And
what can be thought more uneasie for the world to have received,
than the Popes absolute Authority over all the Churches and
States of the world ? One should think that though Religion
and Reason had lien out of the way, yet Interest and Ambition
had withstood this : Yet we see clearly by what steps they crept
up, from being Bishops of the Imperial City, in an equality of
power with their neighbouring Bishops, into that culminating
height, to which they have now mounted. In a word, we refuse
not to appeal to the first four Ages of the Church , in these mat
ters that we quarrel the Roman Church for ; We deny not but
humane infirmity began soon to appear in the Church, and a care
to gain on the Heathens, made them quickly fall upon some Rites,
and use some terms, which after-ages corrupted. But the ruin of
Religion
C 56 )
Religion was, when the Roman Empire being overturned by the
incursion of the Northern Nation?, in the beginning of the fifth
Century, both Piety and Religion being laid to sleep , instead of
the Primitive simplicity of the fahh and worship of the Christians,
they turned all their zeal to the adorning of the outwards of Re
ligion, and hence the corruptions of the Church took their rise.
But I had almost forgot to name some Revelations which that
Church pretends to, even for some of her most doubtful opinions :
Which are the Visions and extraordinary Inspirations of some of
their Saints, from which they vouch a divine confirmation to their
Doctrines ; I consess there is a great deal of extraordinary Visions,
Rapts and Extasies to be met with among the lives of their Saints ;
and I sear a great deal more than truth : For really whoso will
but read these writings, he must consess they are so far from being
probable, or well contrived , that they speak out their forgery.
Alas ! whereas St. Paul being put to glory, of Visions and Revela
tions, was to run back fourteen years for one ; their Saints are
found in them every day. Are they not very credible Stories they
will tell of Christ's appearing to some of their She Saints, and kis
sing them, giving them Rings, being married to them, and cele
brating nuptial Rites, making them drink out of his side, and lea
ving on them the prints of his wounds, with many other such like
apparitions of the Virgin, and other Saints, which were either for
geries, dreams, or the effects of melancholly, or histerical distem
pers ., and yet these extravagant Fables are given out to the peo
ple, as sacred pieces of Divine Revelations.
But the inspiration of the holy Writers, on which we found our
Faith, was proved by their Miracles which they wrought publickly
in the sight of many, and in the presence of their Adversaries, ma
ny of whom were convinced by them ; and it is certain, that who
soever offers any thing to anothers belief, pretending be comes to
him in the Name of God, must have some evident proof of his Di
vine Mission, since none are bound to believe him bare/y on his own
testimony, otherwise there stiould be no end of Impostures, if every
pretender to Divine Inspiration were to be believed without proosi
Now the way it must be proved is, by some evidence of God's ex
traordinary assisting such a p?rson, which appeared always either
in Prophesies or Miracles, but chiefly in Miracles under the NewTestament ; and therefore both Christ and his Apostles appeal to
the mighty works they wrought, as the great confirmation of
" C S7")
their Doctrine. If then there be new Doctrines brought into the
Church, they must have the like confirmation , otherwise they
are not to be believed.
But here those of that Church think they triumph ; for Mira
cles they have in abundance ; not a Relique they have, but hath
wrought mighty wonders ; nor a Countrey-Saint, but the Cu
rate of the place can gravely tell a great many deeds of his Puis
sance; nor want the Images their marvellous Atcbievements ,
but wondroufly wondrous are the Feats the Hosty hath perform
ed. Here I am upon a fad subject of that trade of lies and ficti
ons, wherewith the Merchants of that Babylon have so long traffiejiied, of which the sinccrer among themselves are ashamed.
How ridiculous are many of their miraculous Narrations ? Was
it a worthy piece of the Angelical Ministration, for Angels to go
trotting over Sea and Land with a Load of Timber and Stones
of the Virgins House, till at length they set it down at Loretto, that
great Devotions might be shown to it ? It is a goodly story for to
tell of a Saint that walked so far after his Head was cutoff, with
it in his Arms, resting in some places to draw breath ; yet he will
pass for an Infidel that should doubt of this at Sr. Denis-Church
VVho can look on the Lives of the late Saints of that Church with
out nausea ? Gregortes Dialogues begun this trade, which indeed.
hath thriven well since. The Miracles of the Christian Faith
were grave and solemn actions ; but what ridiculous scenical
stones, not to fay blasphemous ones, meet us about the Miracles
of tbeir Saints ? He that would know this, may read the Lives
of St. Francis, and St. Dominic , St. BriJgit, and the two St.
Catherines, and he will be satisfied to a surseit. The Miracles also
of Christ and his Apostles were acted publickly, in the view of
all ; but most of these Narrations of their Wonders were trans
acted in corners, none being witnesses but. persons concerned to
own the Cheat : And the Doctrine of Equivocating was a good
Cordial for the ease of their Consciences, though they swore
what they knew false, according to the natural sense of the
words which they uttered. Thus we have many Fables bfCfsrists
appearing in the Hosty, sometimes as a Child , and sometimes'
as crucified, when but a very sew of the whole company pre
sent, were honoured with that amazing sight.
Further, The Miracles of the Christiart Faith Werfc written ^
me times in which they were acted, that Ib enquiries might have1"
H
been
( 58 )
been made into their Falfhood ; and the Powers that then go
verned, being enemies to the Faith , it was sase for its opposers to
have proved and discovered their Forgery, had any such been.
But many of the Miracles of Rome are not heard of, till some
Ages, at least Year*, be past, whereby they are secure from the
after game of a discovery ; and he were a stout man that would
adventure to question the verity of these pretences at Rome, where
it is the interest of that Church to have them all believed, without
once questioning them. But how comes it, that in Heretical
Countries (as they call them ) where there is more r.eed of those
Miracles, and where they might be more irrefragably proved, if
true , since the Examiners of them were not to be suspected, yet
none of these mighty .works do ficw themselves forth ? Certainly,
that they are to this day so rise in Italy and Spain, and so scant in
Britain , is a shrewd ground to apprehend Legerdemain, and for
gery , in the accounts we get of their later : aints. And indeed
the Contrivers of these Stories have not managed their design by
half, so well as need was ; for they have bestowed as many of
them on one person, as might have Sainted the half of an Order*
But the gain that is made by new Saints , and new Reliques, is
well enough known ; not to speak of the general advantage that
Church pretends to draw from it.
In end , tho some things among them did seem to surpass the
known powers of Nature, these ought not to prevail upon us for de
parting from the truth ; since though an Angelfrom Heaven Preached
another Gospel, he is to be accursed, Gal. i. 8. If then they have so chan
ged the Christian Doctrine by their Additions and Inventions, that it
is become thereby as another Gospel ; none of the seemingly Seraphical Appearances they may have among them, tho true, ought to
reconcile us to it ; and that the rather , since we were exprefly
guarded against this Imposture, by St. Paul, who gave it as an Indi
cation of the Son of Perdition, that his coming was after the sower
of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders , and with all
deceivablenefs of unrighteousness, % Theft. X. 9, 10. And it is a part
of their curse, that they are given up to strong delusions, to be
lieve lies : the Beast also that appeared to St John , Rev.i 3.1 3. did
great wonders, so that he made Fire come down from Heaven, in the
sight of men, and deceived many that dwelt on the Earth , by these
Miracles which he had power to do. But to conclude this, my grea
test quarrel at these forgeries of Miracles is, that the People being
*
taught
C 59 )
taught to believe them, and the Miracles of the Gospel, with an equal certainty, since they have the Testimony of the Church for
both i and they seeing such evident Characters of fraud and for
gery on these supposed Mirac'es, whereby they are convinced of
their falshood, are thereby in danger of suspecting all the Miracles
of the Gospel . as the trxks of subdolous and crafty men i whereby
they run heau-long to an Atheistical disbelieving the truth of all
alike. And thus far we have found how opposite that Church is, to
the S.,ouse of Christ , since her Doctrines are so ill founded , and
look so like cunningly devised Fables, without the authority of Di
vine Inspiration, or the proof of true Miracles.
The next Character of our Faith is, its perspicuity, and simpli
city, all being called to the clear light os the day in it, and every
part of it being so genuine, that it is apparent, it was not the con
trivance of designing men,that by the belief of it they might obtain
the power , and possess the riches of the World : And therefore
there are no secret Doctrines in our Faith, which must be kept up
from the Vulgar, whereby the Pastors of Christendom may have
dominion over their Souls. But what must we conclude of them,
who by all means study to keep all of their Communion ignorant,
as if Devotion were thereby nourished ; and allow them not the
use of the Scriptures in their Mother. tongue, nor a worship which
they can understand, whereby it is , that they who occupy the room
of unlearned, cannot say Amen , at the giving of thanks , since they
understand not what is said. To this might be added their implicite Faith, to all the Doctrines of the Church, without further in
quiries i and their blind obedience to the Confejfarius^ be he never
so ignorant and carnal. These are certainly darkening opinions and
practises, and far d fferent from the methods of the Apostles , in
preaching the Gospel , who withheld from the People nothing of
the Counsel of God , and studied the enlightening their under
standings, as well as the enlivening of their wills.
But further, how much of interest appears in the Doctrines of
Rome, which tend to the exalting or enriching the Papacy, and inferiour Clergy ; for it is visible what a trade they drive by them,
and all the contrivances, all the projectors in Europe ever sell up
on for enriching their Master's Treasury, falls short of the projects
of Purgatory, the Tre1asure of the Church, Indulgences, and the
Pope's absolute authority, in making, abrogating, and dispensing
with all Positive Laws. Neither is there more of design to be found
H 2
in
C <fo)
in the Alcoran, than in the Mysteries of that Caliph of the Spiritual
Babylon. And we may guess of their concerned ness in these mat
ters, since a gentler censure may be hoped for upon the violation
of the greatest of the Laws of God , than upon the least con
tradiction to their idolized Interest. The one is the constant subjest of their Studies, and Sermons , whereas the other is seldom
minded.
The third Character of our Faith, is, that it is rational and
suitable to our Souls, God having fitted it, and framed them so
harmonioufly, that they are congenial one to another. It is true,
the Mysteries about God and Christ are exalted above the reach of
our faculties, but even reason it self teacbeth that it must be so,
since if there be a God, he must be infinite and incomprehensible;
and therefore it is not to be wondered, if the Scriptures cffer some
Mysteries to us about God and Christ, which choak and stifle the
impressions we are apt to take of things. But in these, it is visible,
that the Object is so disproportioned to our faculties, that it is im
possible we can reach or comprehend it ; but as for the other parts
of Religion, they are all so distinctly plain, that the reasonableness,
as well as the authority of them, serve to commend them to us ;
but how void are they of this , who have made one of the chief
Articles of their Faith, and the greatest matter of their Worstiip,
that which is, not only beyond, but contrary to, the most com
mon impressions of Nature, which teacheth us to believe our
Senses when under no lesion, and duly applied to a proper object.
For indeed , in that case , we cannot really doubt but things are
as they appear to us ; for we cannot believe it mid-night, when we
clearly see the Sun in the Mer'.diani nay.and our Faith rests on the
evidences our Senses give, since we believe, because Miracles were
clearly seen by these who first received the Faith : And, Christ said9
believe me, for the very work, fake, John 1 4. II. And so sheir sight
of these Works was a certain ground for their belief, therefore the
Senses unvitiated, fixing on a proper object, through a due mean,
are infallible ; therefore what our sight, our taste, and our touch,
tell us, is Bread and Wine, must be so still, and cannot be imagi
ned to have changed its substance , upon the recital of the five
words. Shall I add to this, that throng of absurdities which croud
about this opinion ? For if it be true, then a body may be in more
places at once, triumphing in glory in one, and sacrificed in a
thousand other places : And a large body may be crouded into
t
the narrow space of a th\n Waser, they holding it to be not only

wholly in the whole Wafer,but also intirely itrevery crumb of it: A
body can be without dimensions, and accidents without a subject ;
these must be consessed to be among the highest of unconceivables ; and yet these Miracles must be believed to be produced
every day, in above a hundred thousand places. Certainly, he
hath a sturdy belief, who can swallow over all these absurdities
without choaking on them.
It is little less unconceivable to imagine , that a man of no
eximious sanctity ( nay, perhaps of noted impiety ) nor extraor
dinarily knowing (nay, perhaps grofly ignorant) in Theologi
cal Matters, (hall have the Holy Ghost so absolutely at his com
mand, that whatever he decrees, must be the Dictates of the Spirit.
And what an unconceivable mystery is the Treasure of the
Church, and the Popes Authority to dispence it as he will ? No
less conceivable is the efficacy of the Sacraments, by the work
wrought ; nor is any thing more affronting to reason, than the
barbarous worship. And of a piece with this is the blind sub
jection pleaded for the Confejsariut his Injunctions, and their opi
nions of expiating their fins by a company of little trifling pe
nances, which tend not to the cleansing the Soul, nor killing of
the lise of Sin, much less can be able to appease God, either of
their own inbred worth, or by reason of any value God is pleased
to set on them, either by Command or Promise. But should I
reckon up every thing is among them that choaks reason, I
(hould dwell too long on this, and reckon over most of the things
have been through the whole Discourse hinted, which seem to
stand in the most diametrical opposition to the clearest impressions
of all mens reasons.
But to bring my Enquiry to an issue, Easiness and gentleness
are by Christ applied to his yoke, laws, and burden ; and what
ever opposition or trouble they may give to the carnal man, by
mortifying his lusts, and contradicting all his inordinate and un
limited desires, yet by the rational faculties and powers they are
both easily understood and practised. Indeed Religion lies in sew
things, and its chief work is the reforming and purifying the in
ward man, where it mainly dwells and exerts its force and vir
tue ; but these who have added so much, both to be believed and
done, beyond what our Lord prescribed, as they accuse his un
faithfulness, so bring unsupportable burdens on the Consciences
C 6x )
of Christians : These therefore who lead out the mind, by pre
senting a great many foreign objects to it, do introduce superan
nuated Judaism, instead of that liberty Christ brought with him
unto the World. But shall I number up" here all the Impositions
of that Church, whose numbers are great as well as their na
ture grievous i for it is a study to know them aH : But what a
pain must it be to perform them? It is a work which will take up
a great deal of time to understand the Rubricks of their Mijffalt,
Breviaries, Rituals, and Pontificals. In a word, they have left
the purity and simplicity os Religion, and set up instead of it a
liseless heap of Ordinances, which must oppress, but cannot re
lieve the Consciences of their Disciples.
Shall I add to this, the severity of some of their Orders, into
which by unalterable Vows they are engaged their whole lives ?
Now whatever fitness might be in such Discipline, upon occasions,
for beating down the body, or humbling of the mind.yet ic must be
very tyrannical to bind the perpetual observance of these on any
by an Oath ; for thereby all the rest of their lives may become insupportably bitter to them, wherein they stand obliged, under
perjury, to the perpetual observance of some severe Discipline i
which, tho at first in a novitious servour, might have had its
good effects on them; yet that drying up, it will afterwards have
no other effect but the constant dejecting of the foul, and so their
lise will be a rack to them by their perpetual toil in these austeri
ties. This I speak of those who seem the chief Ornaments of
that Church, whose Devotion doth for most part turn to out
wards, and rests in the strict observance os their rules, not with
out voluntary assumed mortifications, which they add to them,
but wherein they for most part glory, and so the lise of pride
and self-love (the fubtillest ofall our enemies) is sed and nourished
by them : Neither can we think that these, whose exercises are
so much external, can be so recollected for the inward and se
rene breathings of the Mind after God and Christ, without which
all externals, tho they seem to make a fair jliew in the fltjb, yet
are but a skelet of liseless and insipid things. But indeed they
have studied to remove this objection of the uneasiness of their
Religion, by accommodating it so, that the worst of men may
be secure of Heaven, and enjoy their lusts both, according to the
corrupt conduct of some of their spiritual Fathers: But what I
have hinted of the" uneasiness of their Religion, is taken from
the
the Nature of their Devotions, in their highest altitude and ele

vation.
And thus far I have pursued my Design, in the tract whereof
I have not been void of a great deal of pain and sorrow h For
what pleasure can any find by discovering so much wickedness,
and so many errors in the Chriiiened Regions of the World ; and
see the holy and beautiful Places, wherein the former Ages wor
shipped God in the Spirit, turned to be habitations of Idols and
graven Images, by which God is provoked to jealoufie. God is
my witness, how these thoughts have entertained me with horror
and regret all the while I have considered them : And that I am
so far from being glad that I have found so much corruption in
the Roman Church , that it is not without the greatest antipathy
to my nature, imaginable, that I have payed this duty to truth,
by asserting it with the discovery of so many Impostures, which
have so long abused the Christian world ; and if any heat or
warmth hath flipped from my Pen, I must protest sincerely, it is
not the effect of anger or passion, but of a tender and zealous
compassion, for those souls who are either already blinded with
these delusions, or do incline towards those paths which lead to the
chambers of death.
I am none of those who justify rage or bitterness against those
in errors ; for if we had the the Spirit of Christ in us, we should
mourn over, and lament their misery, who lie under so much
darkness. And this is a sure character to judge if our zeal for
God and his truth be Divine and Evangelical, if it make us pour
out Rivers of tears for those that have gone out of the way, ra
ther than streams of fire against them. That Zeal which raiseth
melting sorrow, tender compassion, and servent prayers for those
we see erring, is iGhrist.like , and worthy of that meek and cha
ritable spirit which the Gospel so much recommends : Where
as that which boils out in rage and loam against such as err, and
designs their ruin and mischief, and studies how to persecute,
rather than convert them, and kindles in men a bitter aversion
to their persons, together with rude harshness in their behaviour to
them, is all Antichristian and carnal. My design therefore in this
discourse is to provoke pity rather than wrath, and tears more
than flames, towards those deceived multitudes, that we may
pray for them, rather than rail at tb.era.
But
C *4 )
But ray chief aim is to persuade all who love their souls, to
consider the danger of continuing in the Communion of a Church,
that hath not only fallen from her first love and purity, but bath
in so many great and essential points corrupted our most holy
Faith, and adulterated the pure sincerity of our worship.
I shall not here search into the depths of the Mercies of God,
how far they may reach any of that Communion, nor examine
how far they hold the Foundation Christ, notwithstanding of all
the base superstructures they have reared upon it i nor (hall I
consider how far invincible ignorance may excuse the guilt of an
Error, nor how applicable this may be to them ; nor shall 1 discuss
how far the private differing from these Errors may in many
things secure some of the individuals of that Communion from
the general guilt that lies over them ; upon all these particulars
many things may be said, and none alive is more willing to stretch
his Invention, for finding out grounds to fix his Charity on, than
my self. But all I can devise falls short of a full and satisfying
excuse for those who being educated in the knowledge of the
truth and sincerity of the Gospel, do fall away into the Errors
and Superstitions of that Church; nor can I imagine what their
temptations should be to it, except one of two : The first is, that
they desire a sensible Religion, and therefore loath the simplicity
and spirituality of the Gospel, and love to have some glorious
objects in Worship to strike on, and affect their senses : But how
ever this may make impressions on the grosser Rabble, yet cer
tainly, any that considers that the persection of man lies in his
Reason, and not in his outward senses, and that the exaltation of
Reason is Religion ; he must consess that the less it dwell in the
senses, and the more inward it become on the reason, it is the
more suitable both to the Nature of God, of Religion, and of
the rational Faculties. But the other consideration that may
draw many to that Religion, is yet worse, which is, because in
it a great allowance is given to all manner of sin, by the treache
rous conduct of some Consessors , who persuade men of Hea
ven, on terms very easie and pleasing to Flesh and Blood. And
hence it is that we see very sew who have expressed any affection
to a devout lise, abandoning us to go over to the Reman Com
munion, most of those who do so (except it be one of a thou
sands being as void of vertue, as ignorant of the nature of true
Religion ; that we may fay, Job. 2. 19. They went cut from ta, but
C
)
they ivere not ofm ; for if they had been of us, they had not gone out
from us.
These being the only visible tetitations to entice any from out
Communion to theirs, it is hard to preserve any great degrees of
Charity for them : For a third rentation being that only which
can work on a devout mind, takes with so sew among us, that
I need scarce mine ir, which is the sol.tary and retired houses
among them for leading ,\ devout and strict lise, and the excellent
Books of Devotion have been published by many of that Commu
nion. This 1 know wrought migLtily cn one, and made him ma
ny times wifli that he cou'.d wirh a good Conscience throw himself
into one of these Religious Hou'es ., but the consideration of these
great Corruptions lay so in his way, that without the doing the
greatest force on his Conscience im .ginable, and thereby securing
damnation to himself by complying with things he judged so dam
nable, he durst not doit. Yet for his further satisfaction, be went
among them, to see if their Worship appeared more amiable in
practise, than it did in Writings ; but 1 have heard him often de
clare, that though his mind was as free of prepossessions, as per
haps ever man's was , yet all he conceived of them , even from
the Writings of their Adversaries , was nothing compared to the
impressions which the fight of their Worship left upon him ,
it appearing so Histrionical in all its circumstances , and so idola
trous in its substance , especially as he saw the vulgar practise ir.
And for their Religious Houses, he was among a great many of all
Orders, but was far from meeting with that spirit of devotion he
had hoped to find among them, for they always magnified their
Order, and the little external Austerities and Devotions of it ; but
for genuine humility , a delight in God, and Christ, abstraction
from the World , ( for all their frocks and retirements ) sincere
heavenly-mindedness, and servent Charity to the Brethren, he regrated he had met with little of it among them. And that he
found the several Orders full of emulation and envy at other Or
ders, and of heats among themselves, which made him see, that
he who meant to lead a devout lise, must chuse another Sanctuary
than any of these he saw in that Communion.
I deny not, that it is the greatest desect of the Reforma tion, that
there are not in it such encouragements to a devout lise ; though
the intanglements of Vows to things without our power, is a ma
nisest invasion of the Christian liberty ; and to languish out ones
1
lise
( 66 )
lise in a tract of lazy Devotion, without studying to serve God in
our Generation, seems contrary to the intendment of Religion, a
great many of its Precepts being about those Duties we owe our
Neighbours : Yet for all this, it is not to be denied to be a great
desect that we want recluseHouses.for a stricter training up of those
who design to lead a spiritual lise, and to serve in the Gospel, that
their minds being rightly formed before their first setting our, they
may be well qualified and furnished for their work. Such Houses
might also be retreating places for old Persons , after they had
served their Generation, and were no more able to undergo toil
and fatigue ; they might be also Sanctuaries for devout Persons,
in times of their greater afflictions or devotions. But for all this
want, it fixeth no imputation on our Church, her Doctrine, or
Worship, that she is so poor, as not to be able to maintain such
Seminaries. But on the way, it is no great character of the Pie
ty of their Church, that she abounds so with great and rich do
nations , when we consider the Arts they used for acquiring
them, by making People believe themselves secure of Heaven by
such donations: Indeed, had we got our People befooled into.
such persuasions, the cheat might have prospered as we/J in our
hands ; but we are not of those, .who handle the Word of God de
ceitfully , nor will we draw the People even to do good with a
crafty guile, or lye for God.
But now, as a conclusion to this Discourse, I must consider, if
all things among us be so sound and well grounded, that with
a quiet Mind and good Conscience every one may hold Commu
nion with our Church, and hope for Salvation in it, I shall there
fore briefly run over the Nature and Characters of the Christian
Faith, to see if any contradiction to them, or any part of tbem,
be found among us. And first of all, we worship God in Spirit,
as a Spiritual Being, with suitable Adorations, which we direct
to no Image nor Symbol of the Divine Presence, but teach,, that
we ought not to figure God to any corporeal being, no not in
our thoughts ; neither do we worship any, beside God the Fa
ther, Son, and Spirit : We also worship Christ, but as he is God,
and hath the fulness of the God-head dwelling in him bodily :
Angels indeed we honour, but knowing tbem to be our fellowservants, we cannot pray to them, or fall down before them :
We count the holy Virgin bltflcd among women, but dare give her
no share of the glory due to her Son : All the Saints we reve.j .
rence
C *7 )
rence and love, but knowing God to be a jealous God, we cannot
divide that honour among them, which is only due to him, and
therefore do neither worship them , their Images , nor their Reliques. We desire also to ofser up to God such Sacrifices as we
know are well. pleasing to him, Prayers, Praises , broken and con
trite Hearts, and our Souls and Bodies , but reject all Charms and
Enchantments from our Worship, as contrary to the reasonable
service which is acceptable to God, and do retain the genuine sim
plicity of the Gospel worship, in a plain and intelligible stile and
form , without any mixtures drawn from Judaism or Gentilism :
And thus there is nothing among us contrary to the first design of
Religion.
And as little will be found against the second, which is the ho
nour due to Christ in all his Offices : We teach our People to stu
dy the Scriptures, and to examine all we fay by them , and ex
hort them to depend on God, who by his Spirit will teach them
as well as us ; neither do we pretend to an authority over their
Consciences, but acknowledg our selves men of like infirmities
with the People, who are all called to be a Royal Priesthood , and
thus we honour Christ's Prophetical Office, by founding our Faith
only on the Divine Authority of the Scriptures. We also believe,
there is no Name given under Heaven by which we can be saved,
but the Name os Christ, who laid down his Life a ransm for our Souls,
that by his Cross we mi^ht be reconciled to God ; and it is to that one
Sacrifice , that we teach all to fly for obtaining remission of sins,
and the savour of God , trusting only to it, and to nothing we
have done or can do ; knowing that when we have done all we
can do, we are but unprofitable servants ; much less do we hope
for any thing from any of our Fellow creatures : We apply our
Souls to no Intercessor but Christ, and trust to no Satisfaction but
his, and we acknowledg him the only King of his Church, whose
Laws must bind it to the end of the World. Neither do we ac
knowledg any other Authority, but his, over our Consciences. It
is true, in things indifserent, he hath left a power with his Church
to determine in those Matters, which may tend to advance order,
edification, peace and decency ; but as the Church cannot add
to our Faith?, so neither can it institute new pieces of Worship,
which shall commend us to God , or bind any load upon our
Souls. We own a Ministerial Authority in all the Pastors of the
Church, which they derive from Jesus Christ, and not from any
I 2
visible
C 68 )
visible Head on Egrib, and therefore they are only subject to
Christ. We also bold, that the Civil Powers are of Christ, whose
Gospel binds the duty of obedience to them more closely on us i
and therefore if they do wrong, we leave them to Christ's Tribu.
nal, who sec them up, but prerend to no power from his Gospel
to coerce or resist them ; and thus we honour Christ in all his Of
fices, and so are conform to the second branch of the design of
our Fa'uh.
We also receive the third with the same fidelity j and whatever
the practices of roo too many among us be, yet there is no
ground to quarrel our Doctrine , we preach repentance to all ,
and study to convince them of their misery, and lost estate, that
they may mourn for their sins, and turn to God by a new course
of lise ; we preach Faith through Christ in God , as that which
Unites cur souls to him, by which we are in ( hrist, and Christ is
in us. We stir Up our people to love the Lird their God with all
thtir heart, strength , foul and mind, and to wait for his Son Christ
Jesus, who is the hope of' glory , and shall change our vile hod/es into
vhe likeness of his glorious Body. And from this great motive do we
press our people to the study of holiness, without which they stmll ne
ver fee Go K We send them to the ten Commandments for the
rule of their lives, whose exposition we chiefly take frim Christ's
Sermon on the Mount ; neither can we be charged for having
taught the People , to break one of the least of these Command
ments. We exhort all our hearers to make the lise of Christ the
pattern of theirs, and to learn of him who was meek and lowly
in heart ; neither can our Church be accused of having taught
any Carnal Doctrines, for gratifying the base Interests of the flesh,
or for ingrossing the power or treasure os the World, the subsi
stence of our Church men being but a livelyhood , and not a
treasure. In a word, we preach thnfi and him Ckructfied, and all
the rules of his Gospel, for ordering the conversation arighs, with
out adding, or taking from if, and thus our conformity to the
third branch of Christianity appears.
We teach also according to the fourth branch of Christianity,
the Doctrines of Charity , neither do we condemn any uho hold
the foundation, though in some lesser matters they .d tier from
us i but hope they may be saved as well as we. We abhor the
Doctrine of cruel persecuting of nny for their Consciences : The
outmost we allow of, or desire of that nature, being the preserva
C *9)
tion of oar own Societies pure from the contagion of other Traffiqtiers, and the driving, from us those who do so disturb us. All
tbe authority we give the Church, is Paternal, and not Tyranni
cal ; our Church men we hold to be tbe Pastors, but not the Lords
of the Flock, who are obliged to seed them sincerely, both by
their Doctrine, Labours, and whole Conversation ; but we pretend
to no blind obedience due to their directions; and count them no
ble Christians, who search and try all they sey by that l est of the
Scriptures : We send the People to confess their sins to God, from
whom only we teach them to expect their pardon; and pretend
to no other keys , but Ministerial ones , over publick and known
Scandals. In our Worship, as all do understand it, so every one
may joyn in it. And in the number, use, and simplicity of oor
Sacraments, we have religiously adhered to the Rules of the Gos
pel, we holding them to be solemn federal Rites of our Stipulation
with God ; in which, if we do worthily partake of them, we are
assured of the Presence of the Divine Spirit and Grace, for uniting
our Souls more intirely to God, and advancing us in all the ways
of the Spirit of Lise ; and if the Institution of them in the Gospel,
be compared with our Administration of them, it will appear how
close we have kepr to cur Rule.
And thus we see how exactly conform the Doctrine of our
Church is to the whole Branches of the Christian Design ; upon
which it is not to be doubted, but the Characters of the Christian
Religion will also si ours : We found our Fîth only on the Scrip
tures; and though we pay a great deal of venerable esteem to the
Churches of God during their purity, which continued above four
Centuries, and so be very willing to be determined in Rituals and
Matters that are external and indifferent, by their Opinions and
Practices-; yet our Faith settles only on the Word of God, and not
on the Traditions of Men . neither do we believe every Spirit
that pretends to Rapts and Visions, but try the Spirits, whether
they be of God or not ; and though an Angel fhuU preach to us ano
ther Gofptlt we would ho'i him accursed. I he Miracles we trust to,
as the Proofs of the Truth of that Revelation which we believe,
are only those contained in the scriptures; and though we believe
there was a wonder working power continued lor some time in
the Church, yet we make a gre.it difference betwixt what we hi
storically credit, and what we religiously believe ; neither will we,
for supporting our Interest or Authority , have recourse to that
base
C 70 )
base trade of forging lying Wonders, but we rest satisfied with
the Miracles Christ and his Apostles wrought for the proof of the
Religion we own; since whaf we believe, is no other than what
they taught j and therefore we leave the trade of forging new
Miracles, to them who have forged a new Religion.
And for the plain genuines of the Gospel, we have not depart
ed a step from it , since we call upon our People by all the mo
tives we can devise, and with all the earnestness we are Masters
of, to receive full and cleai Instruction in all the Matters of our
Religion, which we distinctly lay open to them. And nothing
of Interest or Design can be charged on us, who pretend to no
thing but to be the Stewards of the Mysteries of God ; nor have we
offered to sophisticate rhe simplicity of our Worship by any addi
tions to.it ; for tbe determining about some particular forms is no
addition to Worship, but only the following forth of these Pre
cepts of doing all things to edification, peace, and order: But
an addition to Worship is, when any new piece of Divine Service
is invented, with a pretence of our being more acceptable to
God thereby, or of our receiving Grace by that conveyance ;
and therefore anv Rites we have, as they are not without some
hints from scripture, so we pretend not to become any way ac
ceptable to God by them.
Further, We teach no irrational nor unconceivable Doctrine :
It is true there are Mysteries in our Faith, and even reason it self
teacheth, that these must be unconceivable; but for all our other
persuasions, they are such as may be well made out to the ratio
nal faculties of Man i therefore we do not betake our selves to
that Sanctuary, that we must be believed, assert what we please ;
but we assert nothing but what we offer to evince by the clearest
proofs. And in fine, we add nothing to the burdensomness of
the Laws of Christ, but teach and propose them as we bave
them from his Gospel, without adding, changing, or altering a
tittle from the first Institution.
And so far have I considered the Doctrine and Worship of our
Church ; wherein if I could justify all our Practices, as well as I
can do our Principles, there were no grounds to sear hurt from
all the Cavils of Mortals. But for bad practices, whatsoever
matter of regrate they may furnish us with, they afford none for
separation : Therefore there is no ground that can justify a sepa
ration from our Church, much less warrant the turning over
t
from
C 7i )
from u to the Communion of Rome : And thus far have I pursued
my designed Enquiry, which was, if with a sase Conscience any
might adjoin themselves to the Popish Religion, or if Communi
on with our Church was to be kept and continued in ; and have
found great grounds to assert the evident hazards of the former,
so that no man to whom his salvation and welfare is dear, can,
or ought to joyn himself to that Church ; on the other hand,
without renting the Body os Christ, none can, or ought to de
part from our Churches: But I leave the perusal and considering
of these things to the serious Reader, to whom I hope they
may give some satisfaction, if he bring with him to the Enquiry
an attentive, serious, and unbyassed mind. And I leave the suc
cess of this, and every other attempt of this nature, for the
clearing of Divine truth, with him who is the only Fountain of
Blessings, who is over all, God blessed for evermore. Amen.
FINIS.
BOOKS
Printed for Joseph Watn.
Slire and Honest Means for the Conversion of all Hereticks, and
Wholesome Advice and Expedients for the Reformation of
the Church. Writ by one of the Communion of the Church of
Rome, with a Preface by a Divine of the Church of England. qt.
Dialogues between Vhilerene and Yhilaletbt, concerning the
Popes Supremacy. The first Part. \to.
A T reatise of the Corruption of Scripture, Councils and Fa
thers, by the Prelates, Pastors and Pillars of the Church of Romt,
for maintenance of Popery ; by Thomas James, Library-keeper
of Oxford. In five Parts, tvo.
The True Nature of the Divine-Law, and of Disobedience
thereunto ; in Nine Discourses, tending to shew in the one a Love
liness, in the other a Deformity : By Samuel Dugard sometime
fellow of Trinity College in Oxon, now Rector of Horton \n Staf
fordshire. 8m
Reform'd Devotions, in Meditations, Hymns and Petitions for
every day in the Week, and every Holiday in the Year, in two
parts. Second Edition. 12$.
An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
with Devotions &c. By Joseph Glanvil, Chaplain in Ordinary
*o his Late Majesty. The Seventh Edition, with Additions.
A Compleat Discourse of the Nature, Use, and Right-ma
naging of that Wonderful Instrument the Baroscope, or Quick
silver weather- glass, in Four parts ; by John Smyth, C. M To
which is added the true Equation of Natural Days ; drawn up
for the use of the Gentry, in order to their more true adjusting,
and right managing of Pendulum Clocks and Watches.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
"hi
JUU
3 9015 06436 7900
B1;" TNI} :
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Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus,

A Preservative againU Topery, &C.

The First PART.

*Hile so many Learned Tens are employed

A Preservative against POP EKT.

Mow Protestants may prevent Disputing with

A Preservative agamU POPER.T.

A Preservative againft P 0 PE RY.

A Preservative againU PO PER. Y.

A Preservative against P 0 P E RT.

A Preservative againU POPERT.

A Preservative againU POP EKT.

A Preservative againtt POPEKT.

A Preservative againft P OPERT.

A Preservative againU POFEKT.

A Preservative against POPEKY'.

A Preservative againU PO PERT.

A Preservative againU P 0 P E RT.

But for the better understanding of this, [ have two

A Preservative againU POPERY.

A Preservative agai& POPERY.

A Preservative agaM PO PERT.

A Preservative againU POPERY.

A Preservative againU POPERY.

A Preservative againU POPERT.

A Preservative againU POPERT.

A Preservative againU PO PERT.

A Preservative againtt POPEKT.

A Preservative againU FOFEKT.

Concerning the several Topicks of Dispute.

Concerning Argumentsfrom Reason.

x. '~|*"kHe next Direction relates to the Topicks from

A Preservative againU POPERY.

A Preservative againU P 0 P E RY.