A VINDICATION OF THE True Christian RELIGION, In Opposition to the Abominations of POPERY; IN A SERMON Upon Ezek. 21. 24, 25, 26, 27. Being the Text appointed by the Pope for Master Whitebread, one of the Popish Conspirators, to preach upon the accomplishing of their Wicked Design, for taking away the Life of his Most Sacred Majesty: Wherein the King, the Church, together with his Majesty's Laws, Constitutions, and true Protestant Subjects of England, are clearly Justified; and the Pope, the Church, and Popish Faction of Rome, are justly charged to be guilty of the like Dreadful Curse in the New, as hath been denounced against Revolted Israel in the Old Testament. By J. Thomas Rect. of S. Nicholas; Preached at Cardiff, Before the Bailiffs and Aldermen there. Feb. 2. 1678/ 9 London, Printed for Isaac Cleave, at the Star next to Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-Lane. 1679. Imprimatur, W. JANE. EZEK. XXI. 24, 25, 26, 27. 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord, because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions be discovered, so that in all your do your sins do appear; because I say that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 25. And thou profane wicked Prince of Israel, whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end. 26. Thus saith the Lord God, remove the Diadem, and take away the Crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it him. I Thought it not unseasonable (being desired) to explain this Text, which (as it is credibly reported) was intended by the Popish Faction to Consummate and Cloak the horrible malice of their Bloody Conspiracy against the Life of his most Sacred Majesty; but conceived it useful and necessary, to apply it to whom most properly it appertains, as well for the justifying of his Royal Person, and Satisfaction of all honest Protestants, as also for the Reproof and Conviction of our Adversaries. I shall proceed to handle this Text with all humility of mind, faithful love to Truth, and due regard to the Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, with the sense of the first General Councils, and the Doctrine of the Fathers in the first five or six hundred years after Christ; whereby you may evidently perceive, and be fully satisfied, that the King, and Church of England, who hold the true Apostolic Faith, and bind themselves by Mutual Oaths to uphold and maintain the same, are not sentenced with the dreadful Curse of God, as was denounced against Judah and Jerusalem, but that the Antichristian Pope of Rome, that Man of Sin, now of a long time revealed, with all his bloody and Idolatrous Train; the Ignatian Tribe have their Judgement denounced in the New Testament, which lingreth not, and their Damnation slumbereth not. I observe with S. Augustine, not the Monk; that all Holy Writ is so tempered by the Holy Ghost, that quod alibi obscurius, alibi clarius explicitur, one portion of Scripture explains another; and that is acknowledged by all the Orthodox to be the most certain and undoubted Exposition. Wherefore that this Text may be rightly understood, the Matter therein contained must, for it requires it, be consulted of in our Bibles in the following particulars. I. The Time when this Prophecy was declared. II. The Causes wherefore this Prophecy was declared. III. The Event, being a dreadful Curse denounced. Wherein observe, 1. The Authority, Thus saith the Lord. 2. The Charge, Thou wicked and profane. 3. The Parties, Prince and People. 4. The Confusion, I'll overturn, etc. 5. The Duration, Until he comes. iv The Promise annexed. Wherein observe, 1. The Kingdom of Christ promised, He comes. 2. His Claim, Whose right it is. 3. Divine Institution, I will give it him. Of all these in order, by God's assistance, with Inferences from, and Application to the whole matter, I shall conclude with the uses proper for ourselves to make of it. And first, of the Time when. 1. The Time when this Prophecy was made, is easily known, when we look upon Ezek. 1. 1, 2, 3. where the Prophet gives the World to understand expressly the Year, the Month, and the Day, the Word of the Lord came unto him; Now, saith he, it came to pass, etc. in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiakin's Captivity, the Word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel the Priest, in the Land of the Chaldeans, etc. Compare this with 2 Kin. 24. 15, 16, & 17. verses, and there you shall find that this King Jehoiakin, the King of Judah, was carried away to Babylon in the eighth year of his Reign, and the King of Babylon made Mattaniah his Father's Brother King in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah: insomuch that by these places of Scripture it evidently appears, that Ezekiel began to prophecy much upon the midst of King Zedekiah's Reign, for he reigned eleven years. For by that you see, that the fifth of Jehoiakin's Captivity must be the fifth of Zedekiah's Reign. The Text calls this time, Iniquitas Termini, by an Enallage, for Terminus Iniquitatis, when Iniquity shall have an end; that is, now is the time come that all the revolt, and back-slidings of Judah and Jerusalem by Idolatry, Bloodshed, and Profaneness, is come to remembrance, and it shall now end in Zedekiah's days, who shall with the people be carried Captive unto Babylon. 2. The Causes wherefore this Sentence was denounced are twofold; the first, is the provocations of the people moving and incensing Gods wrath against them; and to this relates the first verse of the Text, which saith, you have made your iniquity to be remembered: and in the 23. verse next before the Text, it is said, But he will call to remembrance the iniquity; which according to the Original may be well translated, Hereby you call to remembrance, that is, by this contempt and disdain which you cast upon my Word in the mouth of my Prophet, which seemeth to you as a false divination, ver. 23. you do provoke me to call to remembrance all your wickedness, and the iniquity of your forefathers, for this obduration of heart against my Messenger, and breach of Allegiance to the King of Babylon, shows what you are: ver. 24. So that in all your do your sins do appear, because, I say, that you are come to remembrance; that is, by this your hardness of heart, and contempt of the Prophet's Doctrine, you force me, saith the Lord, to remember your Idolatry, Bloodshed, Profaneness, and Apostasies in all kinds; all which the Prophet sets down in the next Chapter, Ezek. 22. 2. The second Cause here mentioned is God provoked, and expressed in these words, Ye shall be taken with the hand; which seems, as if it were, the Instrumental Cause, but indeed the King of Babylon was the Instrumental Cause of their Captivity, to whose hands God delivered them up: In the 23. ver. it is, Ye shall be taken with the hand; and in the 11th ver. before the Text, it is called, The Hand of the Slayer; and in the 9th and 10th verses it is set forth with much fierceness, A Sword, a Sword is sharpened, and also furbished, it is furbished to make a sore slaughter: by this Sword sharpened and furbished, being an evident sign of God's Wrath, is signified, that he was incensed to a very great height of fierceness against them; and that appears by the effects and influence it had upon them, in the 7th ver. Every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall be faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. Alas! alas! when the point of God's Sword is set against the Gates, what hearts can endure, or hands be strong to deal with it, or in any way be able to resist it? Thus we see what's the sad and dreadful cause of men's Confusions, even Gods severe anger, so highly provoked with repeated contempts, and hardness of heart against his Messengers and Messages, sent so sedulously to instruct them; and by the Instrumental Cause of this people's calamity, the King of Babylon, we also see, that it often comes to pass, through the anger of the Lord against his own chosen people, he maketh use of, and stirreth up against them the hands and hearts of Heathen and profane people. 3. The third thing to be considered in the Text is the Event; i. e. the Sentence of Destruction denounced, wherein we must observe these particulars. 1. The Authority of it in ver. 20. Thus saith the Lord. What I say and denounce against this Prince, I have Gods Warrant for it, saith the Prophet, and that's the reason why he omits all terms of honour to this Prince; and I think he might have enlarged thus, and say, I know the Commandment of God in the Law concerning Princes, Ex. 22. 8. Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor curse the Rulers of thy people, for by God Kings do reign, and Princes do decree Justice: And that Solomon had taught, saying, Curse not the King, no not in thy thought, for his unsearchable heart is in the hand of the Lord. And Kings are the Lords Anointed, ordained for our Nursing Fathers, and therefore not to be touched with any violence: But I am commanded by the Hand of God upon me, and the Inspiration of his Spirit within me, Thus saith the Lord: as Saul told Samuel, and Elijah told Ahab before this time Kings of Israel, so I by the Word of the Lord, or the Lord by me, and my mouth prophesieth, and saith thus against this Prince and People. 2. The Charge in this Sentence is observable, Thou profane, wicked. You shall see these words explained in Jer. 52. 1, 2, 3. where Zedekiah is said to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakin had done: and Jehoiakin's Charge you will find in Jer. 22. 17. he was taxed for Idolatry, and shedding of Innocent blood, by offering up Children unto Moloch, for oppression and violence, covetousness, and profaning holy things. And this was not spoken of him alone, but of all the people, and of the former Ages, since the revolt of Rehoboam, and Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, in the 4th Chap. of Ezek. 4, 5. ver. the Prophet was to bear the iniquity of the people for 390 days, representing all the years, a day for a year, down from Jeroboam; which time is computed by the Learned to be 390 years to the Captivity under Zedekiah. 3. The Parties charged, Prince and People; the Prince was Zedekiah, whose name had been Mattaniah, as is showed before, who now rebels against the King of Babylon, that had showed kindness, and made him King instead of Jehoiakin: the People are also concerned here; for when it is said, Remove the Diadem, and take away the Crown; by the Diadem and Crown is meant the Government and Kingdom, the whole Nation; the Cidarin and Corona are Royal Ornaments; and by the signs Synechdochically, is meant the things signified, amove, tolle, i. e. Prophecy that the King and People shall be removed, and carried captive into Babylon; Haec non haec, this shall not be the same; i. e. this shall remain no more such a glorious Nation. 4. The Confusion or Destruction denounced is to be considered, which is set forth in several expressions in the Text; as first, Exalt him that is low, that is, Jehoiakin who is now low in Captivity at Babylon, he shall be exalted; which came to pass in the 37th year of his Captivity; 2 King. 25. 27, 28. etc. you may read how Evilmerodach, King of Babylon, lifted up his head, and spoke kindly unto him, and gave him an allowance a daily rate, for every day all the days of his life. Abase him that is high; that is, Zedekiah that is highminded, and through the pride of his heart, and God's anger, rebelleth against the King of Babylon, shall be abased: this ungrateful, undutiful, and disloyal Prince, requites the kindness, favours, and great honours conferred upon him by the King of Babylon, with Conspiracies, Plots, and Rebellion, 2 Kin. 24. ult. therefore abase him, cast him off: I have rejected him, saith the Lord; which came to pass you see in 2 Kin. 25. The City was besieged to the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, and the City was broken up, and all the Men of War fled by night, etc. and Zedekiah was taken, and brought to the King of Babylon to Riblah, and he gave Judgement upon him, and bound him in Fetters of Brass, and slew his Sons before his eyes, and put out his own eyes, and brought him to Babylon. The next words declaring this great Confusion, are, I will overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more; that is, with repeated Calamities and Judgements will I destroy it, with Sword, Famine, and Pestilence; my accustomed and usually sent Judgements, I will bring it once, twice, and the third time, to make a full end of it, and it shall be no more; that is, not such a great, terrible, and glorious people any more. This was fulfilled, you shall see that Nebuzaradan, Captain of the Guard, a Servant of the King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, and burned the House of the Lord, and the House of the King, and all the Houses of Jerusalem, and every Great Man's House burned he with fire, and broke the Walls of Jerusalem round about, and carried the rest of the people away. And although by the Edict of Cyrus they had Laws after the City and the Temple was rebuilt, yet all was but slender and unstable, as by the History of Nehemiah and Esrah doth appear; and since Christ came, whom they crucified at Jerusalem, by the just Judgement of God upon them, they were utterly abolished by Titus Vespasianus, and now are become the most distressed and despicable people, and Nation in the World. 5. The Duration of this Judgement and Confusion, until he comes: Here is a comfort promised them by the coming of Christ, which although that blindness, as S. Paul calls it, hath happened unto them for a time that they could not receive the Messiah when he came, yet there's a time and a promise for their Restoration; upon this Promise, and other-like Prophecies of Scripture, do they to this day depend, and look for the coming of the Messiah to deliver them: and herein they are more happy than Antichrist under the Gospel, for there's not one syllable of promise made for his restoring to the Truth which he hath forsaken, but he is to be consumed for ever by the Spirit of God's Mouth, and utterly destroyed by the brightness of his coming. 4. The fourth particular, observable in the Text, is the promise of Christ's coming; He comes, whose right it is, and I will give it him: Here's meant no Temporal Prince, but the coming of the same that was a long time before spoken of by the Kingly Prophet, Thou hast made him little lower than the Angels, and hast crowned him with Glory and Honour, thou hast made him have Dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet; and to the same Prince and persons coming doth Malachy speak: He cometh suddenly to his Temple; Behold he shall come, saith the Lord, and who may abide his coming? therefore it is said by S. Paul, he was appointed Heir of all things: He comes, saith the Text, whose right it is Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. This right of Ruling and Power, the Lord Jesus saith of himself in Mat. 28. 18. All power is given me of my Father in Heaven, and in Earth; therefore it is said in the Text I will give it him. The whole Text thus opened, and the circumstances thereof considered, there do arise these several Inferences. The first Inference is from the Time, etc. When the Wicked plot against the Just, and combine in rebellious Conspiracies, then doth approach the appointed ruin of the Plotters. This Sin of Witchcraft carries men blindfolded to destruction, and that is the reason, I think, why it is so called; men are bewitched to lay Snares that their own feet may be taken. Non est Lex aequior ulla, quam necit artifices arte perire suae. A juster Law can no man make, nor wish, Than Plotters of Death should for Plotting perish. Therefore did the Psalmist sing, The Heathen are sunk in the Pit that they have made, in the Net which they have hid, are their own feet taken: And from this time of Zedekiah's Rebellion, when he conspired against the King of Babylon, and brought upon himself by his Plotting a total Ruin, we may very well observe, that Conspiring and Plotting Times are but the Fore-noons to the Evenings of executing Rebels: I have a very sure word of testimony for it, Psal. 37. 12, 13. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth against him with his teeth, but the Lord laugheth at him to scorn, for he knoweth that his day is coming. The Lord laugheth to scorn at the wicked Plots and Conspiracies of bewitched minds, and though men do not perceive their approaching Ruin, God knoweth that his day is coming: In the Net which every bloody Traitor hath made, may his own foot be first taken. And do not we now see whose days are come, and whose iniquity will have an end? is it not the days of such as devise Rebellion? and who hath not a full sense of these unquiet and restless Spirits, who never cease to plot against the just, yea a most just, tender, and gracious Sovereign; and who are those, and how many of all hands do we daily see, that gnash their teeth against him, and against his Protestant Church and Kingdom of England. The Ignatian Tribe, the Brood of lame Loyolah, falsely called Jesuits; for indeed they are aes avitae, saith one, spend all their time and wits to bring the Kings of the Earth to the Battle of the great day of the Lord, that is, to sow Sedition and Rebellion in the whole World; witness their late Dismal Plot of Gunpowder, and this now discovered of no less danger, as 'tis credibly reported: Dr. Hall in his Epistle to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, observes the time of this plotting Confederacy, with their adored Idol the Pope, to be approaching, saying, All the World knows how that pretended Chair of Peter tottered and cracked, threatens a speedy ruin to her Usurper: how is it that it still stands? This rebellious Zedekiah (Jer. 52. 1, 2, 3. and 2 King. 24. 18, 19, 20. which two places of Scripture, are the same word by word) felt the revengeful stroke of God's hand of Justice, in a short time, after his ungrateful and undutiful opposing of the King of Babylon. And the Holy Ghost speaking of Antichrist (who indeed is a Rebel against Christ, professing the name of a Christian, but opposing him in Doctrine and Practice) tells us, his destruction is swift, and his judgement lingereth not. And to conclude this point, see how free from this witchcraft of Rebellion all the true Sons of the Church of England, Princes and People are, and ever have been accounted, insomuch that their perfect Loyalty, and true observance of their Kings, is born as a mark in their Forehead, and is become a Proverb, No Bishop, no King; no King, no Bishop. 2. Inference from the Provocation. When obdurate hearts contemn the words of God, admonishing and threatening by his Messengers, they aggravate their former sins, and exasperate Divine Indignation against them. In the verse before the Text, Hoc revocatis, i. e. hereby ye call to remembrance, that is, by disdaining my Prophets and Prophecies, which in your sight is as a false Divination, through the hardness of your hearts against me, saith the Lord, you provoke me to call to mind the wickedness, profaneness, idolatries, bloodshed, oppression, and blasphemies that is amongst you, and all the Apostasy of your Forefathers this 380 years and upwards. You have transgressed very much, 2 Chron. 36. 14, 15. after all the abomination of the Heathen, and polluted the House of the Lord; and I sent unto you my Messengers, rising up betimes, and sending, because I had compassion on you, saith the Lord. But this is it that imbittered me against you more than any thing, you have mocked my Messengers, and despised my words, till my wruth risen against you, till there was no remedy. Pro. 29. 1. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall be suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy. This was the case of Ely's Children, who disdaining the voice of their Father, persisted in their pollutions, till God in his wrath slew them: This hardening of the heart, is nothing else but the contempt of God's Word; and the contempt of God's Word, is the provoking of God to his face. When the people invited to the Wedding, in the Parable of the Marriage-Supper, made light of their call, etc. and the King heard thereof, he was wroth, and sent forth his Armies, and destroyed those Murderers, and burnt up their City. It is strange to see with what a scornful state the proud ambitious Usurper of the Chair of Peter would trample upon the Necks of all his Brethren, and how he looks from aloft upon the honest Protestants reproving him, he looks upon them far below him, and with supercilious looks despiseth them; for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies. Thus he, and all his Train of the Scarlet Conclave, the Cardinals, with the sly Jesuit (thinking themselves righteous, despising others, as the Spirit of God rebuketh them, Luc. 18. 9) do aggravate their former Revolt and Apostasy this thousand years standing, and call all to remembrance, that at last they shall, through the fire of God's wrath, hereby incensed, be taken with the hand, as the Text speaks. But as for the meekness and humility of the Church of England, and our readiness to condescend and submit to the Truth, let the World be our Witness, as learned Bishop Jewel declares it; If any learned man of our Adversaries, or of all the learned that be alive, be able to bring any one sufficient Sentence, or Testimony, out of any old Doctor, or Father, or out of any old General Council, or out of the holy Scriptures of God, or any one Example of the Primitive Church, whereby it may be clearly and plainly proved, that there was any private Mass, or that the Bishop of Rome was delegated for Universal and Supreme Head of the Catholic Church, with Invocation upon Saints, worshipping of Images, and buying of Indulgences and Pardons; or that the Roman Church was accounted and called the Universal and Catholic Church, or any thing owned as Transubstantiation, at that time, for the space of six hundred years after Christ, we are content to yield, and to subscribe, otherwise we hold ourselves strictly obliged to retain the Religion and Faith of Christ which we do now profess, and as it is now by our Laws established. Inference the third, from God provoked, Ye shall be taken with the hand. Idolatry, Bloodshed, Oppression, Profaneness and Blasphemy, are the crying sins that provoke God safest, and hasten his unavoidable Judgements soon. In Ezek. 22. 3. The City maketh Idols against herself, to defile herself. Idolatry is an open defiance to the Deity, therefore abhorred of God above other sins, and called by God's Spirit, the Abomination; and therefore it is said in the Text, v. 24. Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered; this was so odious, that it was the cause that made other sins to be remembered; and for Bloodshed and Idolatry, being put together, it is expressly declared by the Prophet, Chap. 22. 4. that they have hastened their destruction: And thou hast become, saith he, guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed, and hast defiled thyself with thine Idols which thou hast made, and thou hast caused thy days to draw near. And as to their oppression, profaneness and blasphemy, it is declared in Ezek. 22. to be so notorious and palpable, that God blew the fire of his wrath to consume them: Their sins did testify against them, the way of peace they knew not, truth was fallen in their streets, and equity could not enter; and Esay cries out, that he wondered there was no Intercessor, Es. 59 16. Esay, Jeremy, and Ezekiel, spend their breath and their books in declaring the falling away of these people from God, and his worship; insomuch that at last you see the fierce anger, wrath and indignation of God fell upon them, in this King Zedekiah's time. 4. Inference from the Charge, Thou wicked and profane Prince, is this: It is such as revolt from the Faith, despising holy things, and fall to the practices of the Heathen World, that the Scriptures call wicked and profane, and never charge any so that keep the true Faith and Worship of God. These people were justly charged, and their Prince also, as wicked and profane, and that for these Reasons: (1.) They had forsaken the Lord and his Law, which is declared by good King Josiah in 2 King. 22. 13. Our Fathers harkened not unto the words of this Book, (meaning the Book of the Law found by Hilkiah in the House of the Lord) to do according to all that is written concerning us. And this falling away from God's Law, the Scripture calls Fornication, comparing these people of Israel to sordid men, Ezek. 16. 15. Thou playedst the Harlot, and pourest out thy fornications on every one that passed by. (2.) They despised the holy things of the Lord: Manasseh built Altars for Baal in the House of the Lord, and set a graven Image, of the Grove which he had made, in the House, of which the Lord had said, In this House will I put my Name for ever: Therefore doth Ezek. Chap. 22. 8. cry out against them, Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. And ver. 26. Her Priests have violated my Law, and profaned my holy things: I am profaned among them. (3.) These people were justly called wicked and profane, for they followed the Idolatrous practices of the Heathen World; Zedekiah did as Jehoiakin had done, and Jehoiakin as Jehoiakin his Predecessor, and he did as Jehoahaz, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his Fathers Manasseh and Ahab had done. Now Manasseh built up the High-places, reared up Altars for Baal, made a Grove, and worshipped the Sun, and the Moon, and the Planets, and all the Host of Heaven. (4.) They delivered their Children to pass through the fire to Moloch at Topheth, and shed Innocent blood: And behold, saith the Prophet, the Princes of Israel every one were in thee to their power to shed innocent blood, like ravening Wolves to destroy Souls for dishonest gain, Ezek. 22. 27. These Abominations were grounds enough to charge them, as the Prophet doth here, Thou wicked and profane: And besides all these, there did Oppression and Usury, Lewdness and Uncleanness, reign in the highest degree amongst them. Now having seen who the Scriptures call wicked, etc. in the Old Testament, it lies upon us to know who are so charged also in the New Testament, and for what; and that appears plainly, 2 Thes. 2. 7, 8, 10. S. Paul tells you, He who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed, i. e. He that letteth and opposeth Christ's Doctrine and Kingdom, is that wicked one, which in his appointed time shall be revealed, and in the 10th verse he gives the reason why he calls him wicked, Because they received not the love of the Truth. This is much like that of Queen Esther spoken concerning Haman, who had conspired to destroy all the Inheritance of God, the Generation of the Jews. This Adversary and Enemy is that wicked Haman: So in Eph. 6. 12. we find that the Church of Christ under the New Testament, wrestless against Powers and Principalities, that is, men exercising Authority, which he calls spiritual wickedness in high places. Again, in the 16th verse he tells you, that you are to take the Shield of Faith, which is able to quench all the fiery darts of the Wicked; whereby you must understand; that that wicked one hath fiery Darts with him to throw at the faithful, and by fiery Darts you can think of nothing else but bloody Persecutions. And lastly, you may know that wicked party by his blasphemy, profaneness, and coming after the working of Satan, with all Powers, and Signs, and lying Wonders, who opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So that in every particular, when these are compared with the former Prince and People, they are guilty of the same wickedness and profaneness: As thus. Under the Old Testament. 1. Those forsook the Law of the Lord. 2. Those despised holy things. 3. Those followed the Idolatrous Practices of the Heathen World. 4. Those delivered their Children to Maloch, and shed Innocent Blood. To Zedekiah and Israel, in the Text it is said, Thou profane, wicked. Under the New Testament 1. These received not the love of the Truth. 2. These sitting in the Temple of God, show himself that he is God. 3. These exalt above God, with signs and lying wonders, after the working of Satan. 4. These shoot Fiery Darts of Persecution. To Antichrist and his Kingdom in the New Testament, Thou man of sin, and wicked, 2 Thes. 2. 3. 8. Now I will show you how the Pope of Rome, and the Roman Church resemble revolted Israel, in their Apostasy and wickedness; and will also declare how clear and free the King and Church of England are from this Charge. Polanus saith, That the Popish Canons and Decretals, with the Lives and Practices of the Popes, do expressly declare them to be Antichrist; and Antichrist is defined to be a Man exercising Authority, Head of the Universal Apostasy, and Desertion of the Faith, professing the Name of Christ, yet opposing himself to Christ and his Doctrine. That he is a Man exercising Authority no Man denys, that he is Head of Universal Apostasy, and opposeth Christ and his Doctrine, I will plainly show in my Application. We are obliged to regard his Person as a Prince and a Prelate by the Laws of God and Nature, i. e. to give honour to whom honour is due; but it is his Vices and Corruption we cry out against, and what the Scripture and judicious Divines, ancient and modern, of reformed Protestants have declared concerning him, we may without malice, or hatred speak of him; and omitting all terms of honour, he is an Idolater, a Hippocras, a Blasphemer, ambitious, proud, lawless, and forbidding to marry, covetous, vain, a Liar, a cruel Tyrant, a Persecutor, and Murderer of the Saints, despising holy things, and sitting in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The Idolatry of the Church of Rome, in worshipping the Pope as Supreme Head of the Universal Church, and Images, with the Relics of Saints, and their Invocations upon the Virgin Mary, with the lifting up of the Host are as directly against the I. and II. Commandment, as Blood shed is against the VI and as palpable as it was with Israel who worshipped the Sun, Moon, and Planets; He must have a good Hide, saith Dr. Hall, that can worship Martin' s Boots, George ' s Scabbard, Crispin' s Pareing-Knife, Thomases her , and Joseph's Breeches; to equalise these Fopperies with the Son of God in point of worship, as those do who fall before them, and call upon them, as Eraesmus complains, is abominable Idolatry, and horrible Impiety. The Bloodshed of Rome is so sensibly known through all the Christian World that every Country can bear witness to it, and no marvel the Holy Ghost compare her to a Woman clothed in Scarlet, and drunk with the Blood of Saints. The fiery Darts of this wicked-one have been so prevalent in Italy, that at one time was condemned 16000 Protestants, where 18 had their Throats and jugular Veins cut with a Butchers-Knife, the Butcher putting it between his Teeth whilst he did rid his Hand of one and take the other. In Queen Mary's days were several hundreds, here in England, burnt, in the space of the two last years of her Reign, 13 sometimes together, 12. 10. 6. 5. and other numbers, Bishops, Preachers, Gentlemen, Tradesmen, old and blind Men, Cripples, and poor Maids; no sort of Christians could escape the fury of these bloody Persecutions. And to speak of their Covetousness, Oppression, Profaneness, and Blasphemies which are so common, will be too tedious for me to hint here in the corner of a Sermon; therefore, in a word, I leave this point concerning the charge, and say it may be well said, Thou wicked and profane Pope of Rome, whose Day is come, and thy Iniquity shall have an end; remove the Diadem, take away the Crown; I will exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high; I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he comes, etc. Inference the fifth, from the Confusion of Judah and Jerusalem. Crowns and Kingdoms cannot stand, when God Almighty hath denounced their fall: Witness the fall of all the mighty Monarches of the World, and therefore this Prophet expostulateth pathetically, Can thy Heart endure, or will thy Hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee; I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more; and who can say to God, What dost thou: The Beast with seven Heads and ten Crowns must fall and tumble down, when God is pleased to toss them. Whom the Lord shall destroy with the Spirit of his Mouth, and consume with the brightness of his coming. But as for the King and Church of England, being free from the Charge, they may be also concluded to be free from the Judgement, in the sense of all charitable minds. And that they are free from the Charge, let every sober-minded Man weigh these Particulars. 1. The King and the Church of England protest to maintain, nor suffer for no other Faith, but that which was once by Apostolical Tradition delivered to the Saints: This Profession do both Prince and People, by a mutual Oath and Covenant, bind themselves to assert, keep, and uphold, to the honour and glory of God; as good King Josiah and his People, in their days. His Majesty, (as other Kings his Predecessors, of blessed memory, at their Coronation) first promiseth (being asked by the Arch-Bishops) to keep, and afterwards by Oath confirms, the Laws and Customs of England; namely, the Laws, Customs, and Franchises, granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward his Predecessor, according to the Laws of God, the true Profession of the Gospel, and according to the Prerogatives of the Kings thereof, and defend and uphold the same to the honour of God, as much as in him lieth. The Oath. The things that I have here promised, I shall perform and keep, so help me God, and the Contents of this Book. This Oath is published in King Charles the Martyr's Answer to a Remonstrance, etc. of the 26th of May 1642. The same Oath, for matter, you may find in an old Manuscript, containing the Form of Coronation, etc. in the public Library at Oxon. Is not this as firm, and as great a Covenant as blessed King Josiah made, who stood by a Pillar, and made a Covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his Commandments, and his Testimonies, and his Statutes, with all their hearts, etc. and all the People stood to the Covenant, 2 King. 23. 3. So all the People of England, and all his Majesty's Subjects, bind themselves strictly by two Oaths, called the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, to obey the King's Laws in all true Faith and Allegiance, renouncing all Foreign Powers, and declaring the King's Majesty Supreme Head and Governor in all matters, as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal, next under Christ, in all these His Majesty's Dominions: Thus do both Prince and People most unanimously, and faithfully, protest to stick to the Profession of the Protestant Religion as it is by Law established, being no other than the same as christ and his Apostles taught, and the pure Times of the Primitive Church maintained in the first Centuries after Christ. 2. For the purity, justness, and reasonableness of His Majesty's Laws whereby we are Governed, the Common, Civil, and Ecclesiastical; all the malice of our Adversaries cannot impeach them of the least savour of Idolatry, or Impiety, Profaneness, or Blasphemies, as those of rebellious Israel under the Old did, and of the Roman Papists under the New Testament do: The Common-Law being certain reasonable Customs refined by succeeding Ages, and gathered out of Divine, Natural, and Moral Principles; our Civil and Canon-Laws, being all grounded upon the Word of God, and the Decrees of General Councils, and the Sense of the Fathers in the first sixhundred years after Christ; and in this it is as clear as the Sun at Noonday, that neither His Majesty, nor his People can be charged for wickedness, nor profaneness, in their Profession, nor Laws. 3. For the Doctrine which we reach it is briefly contained in the Creed, called the Apostles Creed, the Lords-Prayer, and Ten Commandments, and explained throughout the whole Bible: we believe nothing, we pray for nothing, and we practise nothing as necessary to Salvation, but what is plainly proved by evident Scriptures. And as for the Government, Discipline, and Worship of our Church, it is acknowledged by all Judicious Protestants to be the best constituted Church this day in the whole World, and that in the main, the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship, being so decently and excellently framed for edification, that it makes all Men that duly observe it, truly and soberly religious, securing them (as a Reverend Divine saith) on the one side from the wild Freaks of Enthusiasm, and on the other from the gross Follies of Superstition. 4. As for any violence and cruelty, we thank God, the World is our Witness, we can wash our Hands in Innocence; none condemned to death for bare persuasions in point of Conscience, or different Opinions in matters of Religion. It is Felons and Traitors, because they have not the fear of God before their Eyes, by the King's Law do die. His most Sacred Majesty being of that gracious and Lamblike Disposition, that he laboureth rather through tenderness to regain, than through severity to compel Dissenters, to Unity of Spirit and Uniformity in Religion. 5. And lastly, weigh our Practices, I mean the Lives and Conversations of those that are true Sons, and Observers of the Church: we ingenuously confess, that through our carelessness, and want of more strictness, in many things we do offend all; but withal, at our daily and public, as well as private Devotion, we pray for true repentance, and forgiveness; and there's not a Christian Man that hath a little Grain of Charity in him, that will deny, but that we through a certain (though not so Universal as wished) Obedience, receive, and submit to the Truth, Will, Law, and Gospel of Jesus Christ. To these things, if I had time to amplify, I would, nor do, desire no more Credit than shall be due to the fair Evidence of clear Scripture, and sound Reason, the two Master Pillars of a good Cause. Now upon these and other like grounds, is founded the unmovable settled ends of our fixed hopes through Faith in our dear Saviour, that we are not Sentenced with Idolatrous Israel under the Law, are not, nor shall be condemned with Antichristian Popery under the Gospel: And I conclude this Point with that of our Saviour, in Joh. 14. 27. Confiding that it is appertaining to us, as much as to any other particular Church in the World; for some have called the English Church, the Primogenita of the Catholic, and for certain it is a Member of the true Catholic, and therefore may expect her Share in the Legacy of Christ; Peace I leave with you, Peace I give unto you, not as the World gives give I unto you, therefore let not your Heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And this leads me to the next Inference. Sixthly, The sixth Inference is from Christ's coming. The Lord's goodness is so far extended to his beloved Spouse, the true Church Catholic, and to every Member thereof, that in the greatest distress and confusions in the World, Christ and his comforts will attend the faithful; Job 5. 19, 20, 21, etc. He will deliver thee in six troubles, and in seven there shall no evil touch thee; in Famine he shall redeem thee from Death, and in War from the power of the Sword; thou shalt be hid from the Scourge of the Tongue, neither shalt thou be afraid of Destruction when it cometh. What unspeakable comforts, satisfaction, and rejoicing all the holy Martyrs of Jesus have ever had in their sufferings, will be too long to relate here: He comes whose right it is, and I will give it him. I think you do evidently perceive, and are fully satisfied, by these things already said, concerning this Text, that there needs no further discourse to make all Men apprehend, how free, and plainly unspotted, with the Charge and Curse here denounced against Jerusalem, the present State of England stands. The City of Jerusalem and Israel were cursed, mark, as you have heard, for breach of their Oath and Allegiance, and further Rebellion (to the King of Babylon, though a Pagan King) together with their Contempt of God's Word, Idolatrous, and Profane Practices; but the English Protestants are hated, censured, accused, and persecuted by the Popish Faction, for no other cause, more than for bearing true Allegiance to the rightful and lawful King of their Realm, and maintaining, as by Oath they are bound, that the Pope hath no power to depose the King, or to dispose of his Kingdoms; his present Majesty, Charles the II. being the 26th that successively in the right Line from the Conqueror have reigned absolute Kings of England, etc. Now I will show you, by way of Application, who have fallen off from the Faith under the New Testament, and that plainly and particularly in what points, and then you may judge whether the like Curse, as was so dreadfully denounced against Israel, may not be also hanging over their heads, and pointing at their doors, being palpably guilty of the lille Charge. The Church of Rome, Canonising, as de fide, a new Doctrine, contrary to the Catholic Faith, for the first five or six hundred years after Christ, is become a false Church (or the Church of Antichrist, which is no part of the true Church of Christ) but an Imposthume, or a bad humour in the body, and no part of the body, I mean the true Spiritual and Mystical Body of Christ: And as the ten Tribes of Israel fell off from the Worship of God, and adored the Golden Calves made by Jeroboam, and turned Bethel, the House of God, into Bethaven, a House of Iniquity, so have Papists turned the Roman Church, which was once a pure flourishing Church, to a corrupt Den of Thiefs. And yet it is granted by judicious Protestants, that some may possibly be saved, though with great hazard, that are in Communion with her, and groan under the lewd and Antichristian Doctrines and Practices (imposed by her as necessary to Salvation) which overthrow the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith, (although held by themselves) and are contrary point-blank to the Catholic Faith once delivered to the Saints; particularly these following. 1. The Church of Rome hold and affirm the Pope to be Universal and Supreme Head of the Catholic Church, Caput totius Ecclesiae Militantis; Universal Father of the Church, the only Dispenser of Apostolic Benedictions; thus dignified, he Lords it over all the Clergy upon Earth. Our Creed, composed by the Apostles, teacheth us to believe first in God the Father, etc. and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: and the Nicene Creed explains it, I believe in one God, etc. and in one Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture explains this plainly, in the 4th of Eph. 15. Speaking the truth in love, grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: By which it appears we have no Universal Head for the Church Militant, but our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. The Church of Rome is held by them to be the Catholic Church, contrary to our Belief in our Creed, which saith, I believe in the holy Catholic Church; and explained in the Nicene Creed, I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church: All the Elect of God that ever have been, now are, or ever shall be in the world, comprehending all particular Churches which were before the Roman Church, and were in the same time that she flourished, in other Provinces in Asia and Europe, and now are separated from her, making up one Catholic Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. 3. The Doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility, that he cannot Err, and that his Authority confirmed by Councils, is greater and more certain than the Scriptures, doth fly in the face of all the Foundation of our Faith; for we take, as the holy Catholic Church hath ever done, the holy Scriptures for the only certain Rule of our Faith and Practice, from which we own no higher Authority to appeal unto, no, though an Angel did preach things contrary to the Scriptures, they are to us an Anathema; he, the Pope, can dispense, they say, against Paul and Peter; that is, control and wrest the sense of the Scriptures written by Paul and Peter, yea against the Old and New Testament he can, plenitudine potestatis, as much as God. This Doctrine you will find often boasted of in their Canons and Decretals. 4. The Church of Rome doth plainly and point-blank oppose and overthrow the Catholic Faith, concerning the Remission of sins: The Apostles in the Creed, as all the New Testament most amply and largely explaineth, teach us to believe the forgiveness of sins; and the Roman Church doth set it up on quite other terms, by proposing that gift, I mean, the forgiveness of sins, to be sold by the Pope, and his Priests, if any will be so fond blind as to buy in the vile Market of Indulgences; so, in a word, the Catholic Faith is to believe the forgiveness of sins, and the Doctrine of Popery is to sell and buy it. 5. The Popish Faction overthrow and utterly confound by their new Doctrine and Practice, the Faith and Practice of the Catholic Church in Prayer: Our Saviour Christ himself taught us to pray after this manner, etc. directing our Petitions to God the Father, by the help of the Holy Ghost, in the Name and by the Mediation of God the Son; so are all Prayers made in the Old and New Testament: But the Papists call upon Saints and Angels, and because they believe it, for it is a prevailing Argument with them, that the Kingdom of Heaven is divided into two parts, the Kingdom of Mercy to the blessed Virgin, etc. but the Kingdom of Justice to Christ; they pray more for mercy unto Mary, than unto God through Christ. 6. They contradict and oppose the Christian Faith in the first six hundred years, by the most unreasonable Point to be imposed for matter of belief as ever any man can hear of, Transubstantiation, come out of the Council of Lateran under Pope Innocentius the III He who contended with John King of England: They believe that the Bread and the Wine in the Lord's Supper, after Consecration, is substantially and materially changed, contrary to our Natural Sense, Seeing, Tasting, and Feeling; and we believe it, that they are Signs and Symbols of a Spiritual Food, and refection which our Souls receive from Christ's Body and Blood which was given for us. These things being considered, every Christian man will say, that it was piously done of all the Reformers, Luther in Germany, Jerome in Prague, Valdus in France, Wickliff, Bilney and Tindal in England, to separate from this Apostate Church, lest they should be partakers of her sins, and afterwards receive of her Plagues, Rev. 18. 4. Hos. 4. 15. 1 Cor. 10. 14. whose judgement now of a long time lingreth not, and her damnation slumbereth not. Rev. 13. Let him that understandeth count the number of the Beast. There's a set time appointed for his Judgement, mentioned in 2 Thes. 2. 7. until he be taken out of the way; as it is in the Text, until he comes. Let any serious, unbyass'd spirited man weigh these Points and Scriptures before-recited, and he will soon resolve himself how tottering the See of Rome is, and how miserable the honour of the Ignatian Tribe is, who brag if they had not been, Rome had not been; the Angel had long since said, It is fallen, it is fallen. Use 1. Now the Use that every true Protestant is to make of this, is to render unto God his unfeigned thanks for our most Religious King, and Church of England, who vow and assert, and protest to stick to the true Christian Faith once delivered to the Saints, which Faith hath been received in this Island of Britain 1640. and upwards; i. e. ever since the latter years of Tiberius his Reign, who died in the 27th year of Christ, as Baronius reckons it. Joseph of Arimathea, and Simon Zelotes were the first Planters here; and some say that Paul preached here also: King Lucius in the year of Christ, 169. was baptised, and settled three Primates and Metropolitans: one in London, another in York, and the third in Caerlion in Monmouthshire, and ever since we have had successively Archbishops, and Bishops in our Church of England; whereupon this Church became to be called of some Anglicana, filia Primogenita, Ecclesie Catholica. The Reformed Christian Professors of Christ's Faith were called Protestants first in Germany, when the Doctrine of Christ, by the industry of Melancthon, Luther, and Zuinglius prevailed so with the Princes, and Dukes there, that they have unanimously agreed and protested to stick to the Reformation against superstitious Popery, to their Lives and Fortunes: And this Protestant Religion, much upon the same time, or shortly after, was professed and established in England by King Edward the Sixth of blessed memory, revived by Queen Elizabeth, continued by King James and King Charles the First, all of blessed memory, and now maintained and defended by our most gracious Sovereign Charles the Second, whom we hearty are bound to pray for, may he go on and prosper, and may his Royal Heart be still in God's good hand for it, to dispose it his own good way: May his Royal Person, both at his going out, and at his coming in, be now and evermore, as safe, Body and Soul, as all the holy Angels can make him safe, from all pernicious Counsels, and from Counsels of falsehood and wrong. Use 2. To strengthen and establish us in this Religion, yea though it be to the hazard and loss of Properties, and Liberties, Fortunes, and Life itself; Mat. Fear not him that kills the body, but rather fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell; put on your Spiritual Armour, fight the good fight of Faith, and finish the good Religious course that ye have begun: Consider your Case and Quarrel you contend for, the Testimony of Jesus Christ, Rev. 12. 17. Run, I say, therefore the Race with patience, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of your Faith. Did Scipio suffer Death for vindicating the City, and Aristides Banishment for his love to Equity, and was Demosthenes destroyed for his care of his Country? and shall we sink under the weight of some light afflictions, which can endure but a moment, for so great a Case? 3. And lastly, because our Enemies are watchful to take advantage, and rejoice at our miscarriages, they are like Ravens and Vultures, gathering to, and picking at our infirmities and failings, Laetetur, certe priamus, priamoque Creati. Therefore ought we to be very cautious in all our ways, and circumspect in all our actions; Be wise as Serpents, and harmless as Doves. It is excellently observed of Plutarch, that such living Creatures as have strong and firm Bodies and Stomaches, can devour and digest Serpents and Frogs; let us then, quitting ourselves like men of wholesome Minds, strong Faith, sound Principles, and blameless Practices, slight and digest with patience the Scandals and false Accusations of the Serpent's Seed, the Evil Spirits proceeding out of the Mouth of the Dragon; Let us bless them that curse us, and pray for them that spitefully use us. And to conclude the whole matter of what hath been said, as you would escape the imminent danger of the dreadful Curse of God, with pernicious Confusions in this and the World to come, be watchful and active against the prevailing of Popery, which with the utmost rage of Persecution is unavoidably destructive to Prince and Properties, Religion and Laws, Liberties and Countries, Families and Lives, yea Souls too, if we subscribe to it: And as we tender the love and peace of God, the integrity of the true Christian Faith, professed publicly, as once delivered to the Saints, and the continuance of Pious Government by just Laws, and have a due regard for the safety of his Majesty, and for the strength and preservation of the Kingdom from Foreign Innovations, let us without wavering stick to the Protestant Religion, in which we have been bred and born; and God out of his abundant Grace grant we may be able (with courage and comfort in the Holy Ghost) to die in the same, in which (if we continue, through Faith in Christ) we shall assuredly find Salvation. FINIS. Page 15. Line 23. for provoke God safest, read provoke God fastest. BOOKS Printed and Sold by Isaac Cleave, at the Star next to Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-lane. THe Church of Rome unmasked, or her false Principles briefly detected, with some Reasons of so many retaining or returning to Communion with her, and the great danger of everlasting destruction that such do run themselves upon: Written by a Learned Divine, by way of Letter to a Friend in the Country. The Book of Rates, now used in the Sin-Custom-House of the Church and Court of Rome, containing Bulls, Dispensations, and Pardons for all manner of Villainies and Wickednesses, with the several sums of Money to be paid for them: To which is added the new Creed of the Church of Rome, containing the Articles of their Faith; by Anthony Egane, B. D. late Confessor of the Kingdom of Ireland, but now of the Reformed Religion. England's Improvement Revived in a Treatise of (all manner of Husbandry and Trade by Land and Sea; plainly discovering the several ways of improving all sorts of waste and barren Ground, and enriching all Earth's, with the Natural Quality of all Lands, and the several Seeds and Plants which most naturally thrive therein, Together with the manner of Planting all sorts of Trees, with Directions to make Walks, Groves, Orchards, Gardens: Also the way for ordering of , etc. By Jo. Smith.