THE GRAND APOSTASY OF The Church of Rome, From her Primitive Purity and Integrity.  
WITH A VINDICATION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, In her SEPARATION from Her, AND The hazard of Salvation in Communion with Her.  
Discoursed in a SERMON Preached at St. Marry le Bow, London, On Sunday the 28th of December, 1679.  
By JOHN HILL, Rector of St. Mabyn in the County of Cornwall.  
LONDON: Printed for Samuel Heyrick, at Greys-Inne-gate in Holborn. 1680.   
Rev. 18. vers. 4. 
Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, etc.  
I Am not ignorant how much revelation is necessary to understand this book of the Revelation, and that Interpreters themselves need interpretation. It was the modest and ingenuous Confession of the learned 
* In Praefatione in Apocalypsin.  Arias Montanus, That after thirty years studying the Scriptures, with the help of the most Judicious Expositors, yet he understood only two or three Chapters of this Book; and hence was wont to say; That the Expositors were as difficult to be understood as the Text, there being many Comments that may be more properly termed Obscurities, than Expositions, on the Revelation. Yet though some things are laid down mystically in abstruse terms, to exercise the Judgement of the wisest; yet others are more familiarly expressed, to succour the infirmity of the weakest. Some indeed are such Depths, wherein Elephants may swim; but there are others such Shallows, wherein Lambs may wade. My Text is one of those through which an ordinary Ingenuity may wade; neither are the words clothed with those difficulties which are originally incident to other places of this book.  
The preceding Chapter gives you a description of that Mother of Fornications, the Whore of Babylon, as she was represented to the Apostle in a Vision. In the 16th verse, he foretells her ruin, and propounds the method of God's severity therein, in the certainty, suddenness, and inevitability of her destruction: And in my Text, cautions all God's people to avoid her sins, lest they smart by her punishment; to come out of her idolatries, lest they be wrapped up in her destruction.  
In the words, you have two things considerable.  

1. A Command, Come out of her (i. e.) out of Babylon.  
2. The ground and reason thereof, and that is twofold, 

(1.) lest ye be partakers of her sins,  
(2.) of her plagues.     
The words need not much explication; and I love not to make Truths, plain in themselves, difficult by my obscure handling of them. It was the unhappiness of the Schoolmen, to ravel and ensnarl the plainest truths of the Gospel, with their nice distinctions, and perplexed abstruse notions; (wherein, as Quintilian Orators, Multa loquuntur, sed nihil dicunt;) which otherwise might be wound off by an ordinary Understanding. But what Explication they need, you shall have in this short Paraphrase.  
Come out of her,] Exite ex illâ, mi popule. 'Tis not to be so much understood of a bodily departure, in regard of a cohabitation and Presence, as of a spiritual separation, in respect of Faith and Religion. Come out of her Judgement and Doctrine, her Faith and Worship. The words seem to be taken out of Jer. 51.6. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity. And, Jer. 50.8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth. And, Isai. 48.20. Go forth of Babylon: flee from her, (i. e.) depart from her Communion: 
In locum.  Recedite, recedite, as Junius and Tremellius read the words; depart quickly; come not near this Pesthouse, as you would avoid Infection.  
My people] i.e. By singular care, respect, and affection; my people, by special favour and covenant; you that have owned my Name, professed Religion in the power and purity of it, O go out of her; defile not your garments by Babylon's Idolatries; for if you touch her, you will pollute yourselves.  
Out of her] (i. e.) Babylon. We find particular mention of three Babylon's in History.  

1. Babylon of Assyria, standing on the River Euphrates, where was the confusion of Languages, and where the Jews were in Captivity; which place is taxed in Scripture for Idolatry, and other Heaven-daring Iniquities.  
2. Babylon in Egypt, standing on the River Nilus, and for distinction called Babylon Aegyptiorum; thought to be aimed at by St. Peter, 1 Epist. 5.13. verse. Out of the ruins of this, arose that great City Cayr.  
3. Babylon mystical, whereof Babylon of Assyria was a type; and this is Rome, which (though the great Favourers of that corrupt Church have endeavoured to cast all obscurities imaginable on this Interpretation, yet) without the least shadow of scruple, is here to be understood; and the Whore of Babylon is (by all circumstances) that State or Regiment of a People that were then the Inhabitants of Rome, or did belong thereto. But of this, more anon.   
That ye be not partakers of her sins.] Contract not her guilt; which you may do by contriving for her, complying with, or conniving at her Idolatries: Though you act not with them, yet if you like, love, and approve of her Villainies, 'tis enough to make you partakers with her.  
That you receive not of her plagues,] Ne in eâdem involvemini ruinâ, lest you be involved in the same destruction. For there are three things in every sin: 

(1.) There is actus, qui transit.  
(2.) Macula, quae manet. And,  
(3.) Poena, quae debetur. The act is transient, but yet reflects guilt, and guilt binds over to punishment. And hence, in the Original, sin and punishment have one and the same name; to note to us, that where sin is in the Premises, there destruction will be in the Conclusion.    
From the words thus explained, there result these four Doctrinal Conclusions.  

1. That Christians must be very careful lest they communicate with idolatrous persons.  
2. That those persons, of all others, who have owned and professed the Name of God, asserted his Cause, and born testimony to his Truth, should be most careful of defiling themselves with idolatrous practices.  
3. That the Idolatry practised in the Church of Rome, is a sufficient ground for our separation from her.  
4. That to partake of a people's fin, is to be involved in that people's ruin.   
I shall wrap up all these in this one Proposition:  
That it must be the great care of all Christians, who would not run the hazard of their Eternal Salvation, to come out of Babylon, to separate themselves from the Faith and Religion of the present Church of Rome.  
In the prosecution whereof, I shall do these three things.  

1. I shall show that Babylon here is meant of Rome.  
2. What defection this mystical Babylon hath made from her Primitive Purity and Integrity.  
3. The Grounds of our Separation, together with the impossibility of a Reconciliation.   
For the first, that Babylon here is meant of Rome, is most excellently done to my hand, both by Ancient and Modern Writers: So that to say any thing after them, were but to light a Candle to the Sun when she appears in her Meridian glory. If you do but cast your eye on the former Chapter, you will find enough, and I shall need no more to prove it. Then,  
1. The Woman, that is, the Whore of Babylon, is said to be a City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth; and this was only the Roman Monarchy at that time, there being no other City in the world but this, that had such a Jurisdiction.  
And so it is expounded not only by some Greek Authors, but by most Latin Writers; as Iraeneus, Tertullian, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, 
Prosper de prem. & praed. cap. 7.  and others. Prosper, also a Latin Writer, saith, Who cannot understand what City it is that carrieth a cup full of Abominations, of Uncleanness, and fornication of the whole Earth, when that is called Eternal which is but Temporal? Verily, it is a name of Blasphemy, when mortal men are called Divi, Gods, and their Suppliants say unto them, To your divine Power, to your Altars, and to your Eternity. This the Learned know to be the City of Rome, which was called Vrbs AEterna, and wherein the Emperors were called Gods; and the People flattered them with Altars, and Titles of divine Power and Eternity, as now they do their Popes with the like Antichristian terms of The most Holy, and Your Holiness: Who have also as blasphemous tokens of Divinity, as any of the heathen Emperors had in their Triple-Crowns, riding on men's shoulders, their being attended on by Kings and Emperors; their Thrones in Churches, higher than Altars; and suchlike magnificent Pomps of Heathenish and Antichristian pride.  
Ambrose Ansbertus, a Latin Writer also, 
Comment. in Apocalypsin, cap. 14. v. 8. & in cap. 17, etc.  850 years since, calls Rome the second Babylon, who sitting aloft on her seven Hills, rules the Sceptre of the whole world: and in the name of that City, is figured the power of the whole earthly Dominions. Hence,  
II. In the seventh verse, she is said to sit on a beast having seven heads and ten horns; which seven heads be 
* Coelius Aventinus, Exquilinus, Tarpeius, Capitolinus, Viminalis, Palatinus, Quirinalis.  seven hills whereon the woman sitteth. Now 'tis well known not only to learned Christians, but to Heathens themselves, that Rome alone is a City builton seven hills.  
This is thought to be a very silly Argument by that Renegado Sanders and others, by the seven hills to prove the See of Antichrist to be at Rome, because the City is now gone from the Hills, and standeth in the Plain of Campus Martius; and the Pope sitteth on the other side of the River. To which it is well answered, That though the greatest part of the City be not now on the seven Hills, and his Unholiness his Palace of Pleasure be on the other side the River, yet on these hills stand Churches, 
D. F. in Rhem. Test. p. 892.  Abbeys, and Monasteries, where the Papal Authority is put in execution; and there is never an one of those hills whereon the present Religion of Rome is not practised. Being galled with this, they make two Rome's; Rome Pagan, and Rome Christian. The Whore spoken of, is, they say, Heathenish Rome, which was ruled by those Monsters of mankind, Nero, Domitian, Calignla, etc. who writ their Laws, and rolled their Garments in the blood of Christians: but the Christian Rome is not here meant. Whereas 'tis obvious to every one that hath but common rational notions alive within him, whose Conscience is not quite vitiated, and Mind putrified with noisome Lusts, but must see, that the present Rome, in respect of State, Princely Dominion, and Cruelty in persecuting the Saints of God, is all one with the Heathenish Empire; the See of the Bishop being turned into the Court of the Emperor, and Shambles of the Butcher.  
To avoid this, 
Chap. 17.6.11.8.  they farther say, That Babylon is drunk with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs, shed not in Rome, but in Jerusalem, where the Lord was crucified; and the two Prophets being slain, lie there in the streets.  
This is excellently answered by St. Hierome, who saith, That it is not meant of Jerusalem, but of Rome; and Christ is said to be crucified there, either, 

1. Because the Authority whereby he was crucified was from the Roman Empire; or,  
2. Because Christ in his Members was, and is daily there crucified, though locally in his own person he was crucified at Jerusalem. But besides the Authority of Scripture in this case, it were easy to add, (in the third place,)  
3. The favour and defence which this Exposition hath received from a multitude of Ancient and Modern learned men. Hence St. Bernard saith, That the Beast spoken of in the Apocalypse, to which a mouth is given to speak blasphemies, and to make war with the Saints, is now gotten into St. Peter's Chair, as a Lion prepared for his Prey. And in another place, speaking of the Romish Priesthood, They are called (saith he) the Ministers of Christ; yet serve Antichrist. And Petrarch saith, Once Rome, but now Babylon. And Joachim Abbas, Antichrist was long since born in Rome, and now strives every moment to get higher and higher.  
4. And lastly, I answer, That it was such a Babylon, that for a while God's people were lawfully in her; but when her Corruptions did increase, they were commanded to depart; which cannot be affirmed of Rome Pagan, but of Rome Papal: and therefore, Come out of her, my people.    
This brings me to the second thing, viz. the great defection this Church hath made from her Primitive Purity and Integrity.  
The Spouse is now become an Harlot, and the chaste Virgin a Mother of Fornications: her Apostasy is now as infamous as ever her Faith was glorious. Some things she is confessed to hold right; as, a true God in three Persons; true Scripture, though with additions; a true Christ, though mangled with foul and erroneous consequences; true Baptism, though shamefully deformed with rotten Traditions: and if you compare Rome Christian with Rome Roman, you will see her defection in these five grand instances thereof.  
1. In the unlimited Jurisdiction of the Triple-Crown. The Councils of Basil and Constance decreed, that a general Council was of greater Authority than the Pope, and that he ought to be subject to it.  
The Council of Nice appointed him his bounds and limits; and the Council of Chalcedon made the Bishop of Constantinople equal with him in Authority and Jurisdiction. And Gregory himself, who sat in the Papal Chair, writes, That whoever styles himself Universal Bishop, or desires to be called so, is the forerunner of Antichrist; and many learned Papists believed this to be true. But since that time the case is much altered: for the Councils of Lateran and Trent have determined the contrary; insomuch that he whose Primitive stile was Servant of servants, doth now exalt himself above all that is called God. The beginning of this Supremacy over other Bishops, was in Boniface the third's time; who, with great ado, obtained of Phocas (a fit Master to prefer such a Servant) to be made Ecumenical Bishop: Which Authority his Successors have enlarged; and now his Janissaries, the Jesuits, tell us he is that Statue in Daniel, which shall crush in pieces all the Kings and Kingdoms of the Earth. He may, as Bosius saith, depose Kings for just causes, and without any cause also. It belongs to him (saith Sunders) to pronounce Kings Heretics, to declare their Subjects exempt from Allegiance, and that they ought to be deposed, if they will not Blade it for Christ; that is, for the Pope's Tyranny and Lust. And this is not only matter of their Faith, but Fact.  
2. Not only in the Supremacy, but also in the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper; for at first the people received it under both kinds, for the space of a thousand years. And (saith Myraldus) The Roman Order commanded the Wine to be conserated, that the People might fully communicate. And the ancient Liturgies of their own Church do tell us, that the People received the Wine as well as the Bread. Nay, Cajetan (as eminent a Member as ever their Church boasted of) confesseth, that the Custom endured a long time in the Church, even until their so-much-admired Council of Constance forbade it; and then the Romanists altered their mind.  
3. Her defection hath been most notorious in that monstrous Tenet of Transubstantiation; a Doctrine lately brought in, and made matter of Faith by Innocent the third, in the Lateran Council, within these four hundred years: before which time no man was obliged to believe it, but all men were left to their own liberties; whereas now 'tis accounted Heresy to deny it, and worthy of Bonds, the Inquisition, a Stake, and Hell.  
4. In the Worship of Images; for at first that Church admitted of no Image at all, either painted or carved; no not the Image of Christ himself (saith Erasmus) to be set up in Churches: And when they began to be used, the Church of Rome herself forbade any Worship to be given to them, as appears by Gregory's Epistles to Severus. And Polydore (a great admirer of the Romish Church) confesseth, that all the Fathers condemned the Worship of Images, for fear of Idolatry: And when the Nicene Council brought them in for ornament, even than they denied them Worship.  
5. In the great Article of Justification, the most eminent Pillars of their Church having denied Justification by Works, (as Thomas Aquinas, and others) yet the Council of Trent varied from them, and thrust in man's inherent Righteousness as the formal cause of his Justification.  
Now a Church that hath made these Defections, and hath introduced such horrid Errors, should be separated from; Come out of her, my people: which leads me to the consideration of the various Causes of this Apostasy; which may be referred either to,  
1. Her Pride and Ambition. 'Tis well known what arrogance that Church became guilty of, when Tertullian in his time complained de Insolentia Cleri Romani. And Luther calls them Silk and Satin Divines, to whose proud Spirits the poor and contemptible way of Christ could not comport. In that Assertion of theirs, how do they extol their Priesthood! Creatura paruit Joshuae, at Presbyteris Creator; Sol illi, at his Deus quotiescunque verba sacra pronuntiat: The Creature obeyed Joshua, but the Creator doth the Priests; the Sun yielded to him, but to these as often as they pronounce the words of Consecration, doth God yield. On this conceit it is, that they degrade all Temporal Princes (those Vmbratiles Dii) making them stand barefoot at their great Bishop's gate, hold his Stirrup, yea their own Crowns at his courtesy; exempting all their Ecclesiastical Subjects from their Jurisdiction, and all the rest from their Allegiance.  
2. Fraud and Perfidiousness the Romanists had fully learned, that Regnandi Causa, all Oaths were to be violated. How grossly were the Pope and his Adherents taken in forging some Canons of the Council of Nice for their preheminent Dignity. And being conscious of their own falsehood, still continue to deprave all Authors that might give in Evidence against them; outfacing all ancient Truths, and foisting in Gibeonish witnesses of their own forging; and leave nothing unattempted against Heaven or Earth, that might advance their Faction. Take a view of her carriage to those that diffent from her. How hath she abused all that opposed her! charging. Wickliff with Blasphemy, Luther to have had his Advice from the Devil. Queen Elizabeth's Episcopal Jurisdiction, and secret Fruitfulness; our Bishops to have been consecrated in Taverns; owned casting the Crust of the Sacramental Bread to Dogs: With a thousand more of this nature, maliciously raised and defended against Knowledge and Conscience, for the disgrace of those that diffent from them.  
3. Covetousness: For if you look on all their Opinions about Indulgences, Private Masses, Auricular Confession, you will find love to Money the cause of them all. Hence the humour of that Church was well hinted to us, in the answer of a 
* M. P. Nar.  Priest to his Friend, who ask him why he would not Absolve a Penitent without a great sum of Money, replied, They get Heaven by us, and we must get Money by them.  
4. Neglect of Scripture: And this hath see open a floodgate, whereby all the world was drowned in Errors: For take the Eyes out of the Body, the Sun out of the Firmament, the Compass from the Ship, and what can follow but darkness, blackness, and confusion? Therefore they wish that there had never been Scripture; and say, That the Church could have done well enough with Traditions only. They call the Bible that Book which hath made all the stirs in the world; and say, That all the Faith a man can have by it, is merely humane, and no more. O! the great patience of God, that bears such Blasphemies from these Monsters of Men!  
5. Nourishing of sin: Of which this Church hath been guilty two several ways. 

(1.) By her common practice of encouraging those who had been censured in the Eastern Churches for foul Miscarriages, to appeal to her, and she would Absolve them; and whenever she did inflict Ecclesiastical Censures, they were in a great part Pecuniary, and merely to the macerating of the Body, no ways to the saving of the Soul: which occasioned us to tell them, that peccata raduntur, non eradicantur, and Heathen-like they did vitia abscondere, non abscindere: by this Penance there was something done about sin, nothing done against sin; it being like Sampsons' Hair, cut off, yet because the Roots remained, they sprung up to their full strength again.  
2. By the suitableness of her Doctrine to the carnal and sensual part of man.   Particularly,  

1. That Doctrine of extenuating original sin, making motions to sin unconsented to, no sin at all: That a man hath power to keep the Commandments: That to love God, binds only at some times: That actual inadvertency in holy Duties, doth not hinder the Fruit of them: That Prayers said in Latin, though we do not understand them, are very acceptable unto God, etc.  
2. That Doctrine of advancing the pride of Nature; which tells her, that she can merit her own Glory, without being much beholding to God's Mercy; that she can fulfil the Royal Law, and so brave God in the face, as if she needed no pardon from his hands. O how sweet a Lesson is this to flesh and blood, even enough to make her run mad of Self-conceit!  
3. That of commending Ignorance as the Mother of Devotion: And thus when they had taken away the Scriptures, they set up Pictures in their room. All their Religion is no other than a pack of Compliments, merely outward and sensible, adapted to the humour of their ignorant and sensual Votaries: for, homo est magis sensus quam intellectus; to worship God in Spirit and Truth, can no more be understood by them, than an Eye can see Spirit. How ridiculous are their superstitious Customs. Yet not to do what Fathers and Grandfathers have done, is to profane their Canonised dust: And indeed, had not the Scripture foretold what an Eclipse would be upon the whole Church we should think it impossible that such ridiculous things should be taken up. Because Christ is the Light, therefore they have Light at Noonday: and because Christ said, We must be like little Children, therefore the Monks wear Cowls like children's Swadling-clouts: And one Pope made a serious Motion in the Conclave, That he and his Cardinals might ride in a solemn day on Asses, in imitation of Christ's humility; but the Conclave thought that the As too much road the Pope already. And thus you have had the several Instances and Causes of Rome Defection from her Primitive Purity and Integrity. I now proceed to the third thing proposed to be shown, viz.   
III. The grounds of our Separation from, and the impossibility of Reconciliation to that Church.  
This I will consider, 

1. More generally,  
2. More particularly.   More generally, and that by asserting these three things.  

1. The lawfulness of the Church of England's Separation from the Church of Rome.  
2. That this Separation the Romanists themselves cannot justly charge as Schismatical.  
3. That our Compliance with that Church is dangerous, and borders on Ruin and Destruction.   
I. The lawfulness of the Church of England's Separation from the Church of Rome.  
The Church of Rome is confessed to be ancient, but not her Errors; neither do we in any thing differ from her, wherein she hath not departed from herself. Here consider these two things.  
1. That the Church of Rome was never a Mother to our Church; and we never had such dependence on her, as the Romanists pretend we had. Our Christian Faith came not from the seven Hills, neither was it derived from Austin the Monk, or Pope Gregory. Britain had a worthy Church, 
Nicephorus. Eusebius. Ecclesiast. Hist. Isaac's. Chron.  before either of them looked into the world built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles: And the account that Historians give of it, is thus; viz. That Christianity was propagated here immediately after the death of that Proto-Martyr St. Steven. Which appears by divers passages out of Origen and Tertullian. Gildas the Historian of our own Nation (called Sapiens) affimeth, That in the time of Tiberius (who died thirty seven years after Christ was crucified) this Island of Britain received the Faith. 
Theodoret. Sophronius.  Some there are (and not improbably) who conjecture, that St. Paul himself preached the Gospel here after his first Imprisonment at Rome; which was quinto Neronis. This is confirmed by a Passage of Venantius Honorius, viz.  
Transit & oceanum, vel qua fuit Insula pontum, Quasque Britannus habet Terras, atque ultima Thule.  
Beronius himself (one of their own Authors) cells us, That he found it in a Manuscript in the Vatican Library, that the Gospel was first preached in this Nation by Simon Zelotes, and Joseph of Arimathea.  
In what state Christianity stood afterwards, appears not in any footstep of History, till King Luoius time, 
Anno 177.  who is said to send to Eleutherius the then Bishop of Rome for some Pastors to instruct his People in the Christian Religion. Fugatius and Damianus were the persons sent over with his Letters to the King; which acquainted him, That as Christ's Vicar, he might settle matters for Religion (a thing which his Successors will not now allow) within his own Dominions And thus Christianity flourished for several hundred years here: And notwithstanding all the affrightments of Pensecution that was then on the Church, and the Heathen Princes spilt the blood of the Christians like water, yet those sanguine showers have ever since made the Church the more fruitful. And in the Borders of this Island the Primitive Christian Religion had public encouragement and profession, even to the time of Austin the Monk, who found here at his entrance one Archbishop seven Bishops, and a Monastery at Bangor with twenty one hundred Monks in it: So that several hundred years did intervene between the first planting of Christianity, and Austin's coming hither. I should not be so large in 〈◊〉 Historical Narrative, but that I know 'tis objected to us by the Romanists, That we had our Religion from them, and the Conversion of the English Nation was by Rome and her Agents. We own that the Ancient Roman Church was Sister to ours, but no Mother; there was near Kindred, but no Dependence. But,  
2. Though we should grant them such a Dependence, yet still we assert our Separation lawful, because they have separated and departed from their first Purity. We hold with the Ancients, from whom they are departed; and we hold with them, as far as they hold with Christ. This will evidence itself, if you consider these four things.  

1. That the Modern Papists maintain sundry Articles opposite to that which hath been formerly believed by the most eminent Doctors of the Roman Church; as that of the merit of Condignity, opposed by St. Bernard and Anselm, and now defended by the Modern Jesuits. Images at first were only motivum objectum, an inducing means to move people to adore the Sampler; and no material Object of adoration; which now is opposed by their present Church.  
2. Sundry Popish Assertions, now obtruded, are manifestly repugnant to the Teners of the Primitive Church; as, That the Pope's Judgement is infallible: That he is Lord over the whole World: That public Service doth boast edify in an unknown Language: That Laymen must not read Scriptures, etc.  
3. Many of their Opinions are improbable, unreasonable, and absurd; as, That the Scripture hath no greater authority to bind or lose the Faithful, than the Church will: That the definition of the Pope is as authemtiek as the facred Scripture: That Fornication in the Clergy, is a smaller offence than Marriage: That to worship Images, is meritorions. With innumerable other suchlike Absurdities.  
4. Some of our Adversaries, more ingenuous than their fellows, confess, That we believe and hold the fundamental Truths of the Gospel, the main and vital matter of Religion: And if we do thus, who is to be faulted, the Church of Rome, or the Church of England? But herein she discovers herself to be that body of which Antichrist is the Head, 
Rev. 17.8.  and that Whore and Mother of Abominations. Thus in these two things you see our Separation lawful.   
II. Now secondly, I assert this Separation to be so lawful, that the Romanists themselves cannot justly charge it as Schismatical.  
I say justly (though Stapleton, Sanders, Bellarmine, and other Romanists, brand our Separation from them, with the odious name of Donatism and Schism) because it is evident out of St. Augustine, that as the Donatists never objected any thing against, nor could blame any thing in the Church from which they separated, either for Faith or Worship: So they of the Church of Rome cannot justly blamo us for departing from them, if we consider these two things.  

1. The manner how we separated.  
2. The ground for which we separated.   
1. The manner: This was not uncharitable, rash, heady, and ●…advised, not before all means were used for the cure of the Romanists, by the discovery of their errors, notwithstanding which, they still persist in them. Our famous and learned Reformers would have healed Babylon, but she would not be healed. Many skilful Physicians have had her in hand, but she grew so much the worse; and instead of being reclaimed by them, hath anathematised them with the most dreadful Curses, excommunicated, murdered, and destroyed multitudes of them: Nay more, they were denied civil and religious Communion with her, unless they received the beasts mark in their hands or foreheads. All which considered, we might safely forsake her; nay, could not safely do otherwise: therefore, Come out of her, my people.  
2. Consider the ground and cause, as well as the manner of the Separation; which was not for some slight and tolerable Errors, but damnable Heresies, and gross Idolatries: the Heresies fundamental, and the Idolatries such, as those who hold Communion with her, cannot but partake of her sins. If then to thrust Jesus Christ out of the Chair, and place the Pope as infallible Doctor of the Church, in it; if to reject the Scriptures, and set up Traditions; if to take off Jesus Christ from being sole Mediator, and thrust in Saints and Angels; if to raze the second Commandment, and introduce Image-worship, be damnable Heresies, and gross Idolatries; then the Church of Rome is gullty of them; and our Communion, on this very account, is expressly forbidden: See 2 Cor. 6.14.17. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? etc. vers. 17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate. Our Adversaries themselves grant, That in whatever Church any of these depravations are found, Communion with it is to be broken off, as dangerous and damnable; which brings me to the third thing asserted, viz.  
III. That our Compliance with this Church is dangerous, and borders upon eternal Ruin.  
This will appear, if you consider this Church under these destructive circumstances.  
1. In her gross Idolatry; and no 
1 Cor. 6.9.  Idolater shall ever enter into the kingdom of heaven: look on her Image-worship, Invocation of Saints, Adoration of the Host! what is all this but plain Idolatry? The second Commandment not only prohibits this sin, but threatens a severe punishment to such sinners. The wiser sort of the Heathens condemned the Worship of God by Images, as incongruous to the divine nature, and an horrid reflection on the Deity. The old Romans (as Varro tells us) had no Images for a hundred and seventy years, in their Divine Worship. The Primitive Christians would rather die, 
Clem. Alex. Strom.  than defile themselves with Images. Antisthenes' condemns the use of them for Instruction, because there is so great dissimilitude between God and any visible representation of him, that no man can learn any thing of God from an Image. And as for their common distinction of not worshipping them ●erminativè, but relatiuè, it's vain and ridiculous. And pray observe this, viz. that their worshipping of Images, came in with the decay of their Piety.  
2. In that Enmity and Opposition the Romanists have to the sacred Scriptures, (those lively Oracles of the living God:) and so consider, 

1. How they complain against them, as not containing all things needful for Salvation; that the best part of Religion is left out of them, and only made known to us by their unwritten Traditions.  
2. They forbid the people to read them, and will not have them translated in the Mother-tongue of any Nation: And if once (as some of them boast) they could get us out of Scriptures into Councils and Fathers, they should do well enough with us.  
3. They make the Pope Judge over the sense of Scripture, and forbid all other Interpretations but what agree with the Church and Pope of Rome.  
4. Their Mouths have been open against, them, and have belched forth bitter and blasphemous Invectives against them: How often do they call the Scripture, dead Ink and a dumb Judge; that it is not Regula regulans, but Regula regulata, not made to rule our Faith, but our Faith to rule it; that it is not simply necessary, and it receives all the Authority it hath from the Church and from Tradition, without which it is of no credit at all?    
What horrid Blasphemy is this? Doth not God command us to consult his Oracles? to apply ourselves unto the Law, and to the Testimony? Isa. 8.19, 20. and makes it a renunciation of our Allegiance to him, to go any where else for Counsel or Direction, than to the written Word. But we know wherein the insufficiency of the Scripture lies; they are sufficient enough for God's ends, but not for the Pope's ends; they are able to furnish every Christian in the world with Wisdom enough how he should save his Soul, but they are not so useful to the Pope's triple Crown; this Armoury furnisheth him with no Artillery to defend the Lordly Power and Godlike Infallibility that he claims; and this is the only defect he charges them with. To supply which, the rabble-rout of Traditions is brought into the Church; this way their fine Wits, with the Devils help, have taken, that the Scripture may be declared as insufficient, and uncertain, minima particula revelatae veritatis, (as one of them impudently writes;) and so it needs the patchery of their Traditions to make it perfect. Just as Andronicus served the Emperor Alexius, who gave out that he was weak, and insufficient to govern alone, and so first got a joint power with him, and at last an absolute power over him to dethrone him. And whether their Traditions have dealt better with the Scriptures, let the world judge; when These go up, the Scriptures go down. That we may say to them as Christ said to the Pharisees, Mat. 15.6. You have made void the Commandments of God by your Traditions; you have unlorded (as the Septuagint renders it) and supplanted its authority in the minds of men, who leave God's Word to hearken to your Traditions.  
3. Consider farther, that most parts of Popery are directly absurd, and offer violence to common Sense, and the very light of Nature: For who can rationally conceive, That it should be the Pope's right to Lord it over Scriptures, Fathers, Councils, Church, and all the World? What possibility is there, that the Kingdoms of the world should be subject unto him? What probability, that Images should be worshipped? Our Works merit Heaven? That the body of Christ should be in a thousand places at one time? That the Priest hath Judicial Power to forgive sins? That the Saints in Heaven should be Mediators for us to God? He that will but indifferently compare these, shall find them manifestly repugnant not only to the Principles of Religion, but offer violence to the Law of Nature.  
4. Consider farther, that in this Church the most horrid Cruelties are not only tolerated and approved, but rewarded, and accounted meritorious. It teacheth Equivocation, to murder Kings, to undermine States, and to blow up Parliaments; it dispenseth with Murder, Incest, Sodomy, and all this accounted Licitum & Solenne. From hence proceeds such Conspiracies against our King, such Plots. against our Church and State; 'tis not Religion they strive for, but Sovereignty, and this they will have, or they will make all Protestant Nations their Shambles, and swim to it through Oceans of Blood; and they will this way (if others fail) reduce the Consciences of Subjects, and the Crowns and Sceptres of Princes, to their Devotion. This brands them with the Indelible Characters of the Ministers of Antichrist, who being but Priests, and confined to their Books, having no other Commission than to go and preach the Gospel, should thus creep into Thrones, filling the world with Anarchy and Confusion; and those whose Souls they should win to God, by ministering the Word and Sacraments, their Blood they sacrifice to the Devil, by stirring them up to Treason and Rebellion; persuading them, that they shall be Canonised at Rome, though they be hanged at Tyburn; and be glorious Saints in Heaven, though they died great Rogues and Rebels on Earth.  
These things duly considered in general, will tell you that there is hazard, not only of Temporal Safety, but of Eternal Salvation, in our Communion with such a Church: and therefore, Come out of her, etc.  
This will the better appear, if you consider, secondly, and more particularly, this one Argument, drawn from the Religion itself practised in that Church; And this I will consider two ways.  

1. As the Jesuits have painted and adorned it.  
2. As 'tis stripped naked of all those adventitious Ornaments.   
First, As they have painted it, and thereby recommended it to the view of their ignorant admirers. We read of strange things of certain Painters, how admirably they cast and shadowed their works; but the skilfullest Painters that ever were, are the Jesuits and Schoolmen, the workmen of the Church of Rome; not the famous Zeuxis, or ancient Polignotus, or Phidias, did ever bestow such pains on their Images, as these have done on their Idol the Papacy: They have made choice of the most exquisite devices that all the Heresies in the world could afford, to put the same into their Religion. No Policy in Machiavelli, no Sophistry in Aristotle, or Eloquence in Tully, but they have contrived it into their Image: and, save Truth and Sincerity, there is nothing wanting.  
The Evangelical Prophet, Isai. 44.11, etc. sets down a lively description of this matter; whereby (deriding the folly of the Gentiles) he fitly shows us the Idolatry of Rome, and the manner how the Idol-Religion thereof was framed and set on foot: For at the first (you see) it was but a rude Block, roughhewn by bungling Workmen that were not their Crafts-masters, till the Smith, Carpenter, and Painter came, every one in his place, and showed his skill. This is ingeniously applied by a very learned man of our own, 
Dr. W. in his Preface to the way of the true Church.  to the Church of Rome.  
1. The Canonists, like Black-smiths, blew with the Bellows of their Decrees, and heated and hammered it in the Coals of the Pope's Constitutions. These were Gratian, Pope John, Gregory, and Boniface, with their Apprentices that served them; Hostiensis, Innocent, Panormitane, and others of that black and smutty Profession.  
Secondly, The Carpenters that took it in hand, were the Friars and Schoolmen: These stretched their line of Method over it, planed it with Distinctions where it was rough; and by their Logic and Philosophy, brought it into better shape and form: These were T. Aquinas, Scotus, Bonaventure, Alexander Hales, and others.  
Having thus gotten an handsome shape and fashion, the Council of Lateran polished it over again, gave it Joints to stand upon: The Councils of Constance and Basil altered the fashion of it in some particular parts; for Senensis and Cusanus thought the head stood too high above the shoulders, and would have it bowed down a little lower. At last they brought it to Trent, to the hands of their best Workmen, who moulded it à capite ad calcem, and set it up again, when the worms had well-nigh consumed it: Since which, came in the third sort of Workmen, viz.  
Thirdly, The Painters (i. e.) the Jesuits; and there is no colour which they have not tried, to render it beautiful. Some with Varnish and Plaster, stop up the cracks; and Bellarmine was happily born to do them this service. Others, as Baronius and Surius, cast a shadow over it with other colours. Sextus Senensis, and Possevine, brag of the Workmanship, flatter the Workmen, and extol the Idol. And thus at last they have polished their Lord's Ark: And by this means they have attracted the eyes and hearts of their deluded followers, insomuch that all that worship not this Image, must into the fiery Furnace, and be offered as a Sacrifice to the fury of their Romish Moloch. Now that which they are so fond of in this Religion, is its suitableness to their sensual interests and affections; the greatest part of which, easeth them from taking any pains in spiritual things. As for Example: They must serve God, but there be ways to dispense and turn the Spiritual Service into a Corporal, which is much easier. Sinners must have God's pardon, or they cannot be saved, but the dispensation hereof is committed, with the Keys, to Christ's Vicar, who hath power to release them by the Sacraments of the Altar and Penance. Hence the Pope hath men's Consciences at his devotion; into which he slides, under the pretence of being St. Peter's Successor; then blinds their eyes, by taking away the Scriptures; and stops their ears, by persuading them to hear none but himself: And hereby thousands are betrayed into the hands of Eternal Ruin. This is the first thing shown, viz. that part of their Religion as set forth with Romish Glosses and Varnishes.  
I am next to show it you in its native Complexion, as stripped naked of all adventitious Ornaments; and than you will easily perceive it to be the most monstrous and ridiculous, the most bloody and blasphemous Religion in the whole world.  

1. Ridiculous in itself.  
2. Blasphemous towards God and Christ.  
3. Bloody to all that have and do oppose her.   
I. The most ridiculous Religion, as 'tis in itself. I need go no farther than their Book of holy Ceremonies for this; which tells us not only what their rude Ignorants do, but what their holy Fathers have done. This teacheth them to put confidence in Beads, Medals, and Roses, hallowed Swords, and Spells of the Gospel, Agnus Dei's, and suchlike idle Babbles; ascribing to them divine Virtue, yea, so much as is due to the Son of God himself, and his precious Blood. Pope Vrban the fifth sent three Agnus Dei's to the Emperor, with these Verses: 
Balsamus & munda Cera, cum Chrismatis unda,  
Conficiunt Agnum, quod munus do tibi magnum,  
— Fulgura de Coelo, etc.  Balsam, pure Wax, and Chrysms liquor clear, Make up this precious Lamb I send thee here. All Lightning it expels, and each ill Spirit, Remedies Sin, and makes the Heart contrite. And so he goes on in his Blasphemy, Even as the Blood of Christ for us shed, etc. And lest you may imagine this to be the Conceit of some fantastical Pope, hear out of the same Book of holy Ceremonies, the very words that every Pope doth use to pray, in their blessing the water which serves for that Agnus Dei, viz.  
That thou wouldst vouchsafe, O Lord, to bless these things, which we are now about to pour into this vessel of water, prepared to thy glory; so as by the worship and honour of them, we may have our sins done away our blemishes wiped off, and thereby may obtain pardon, and receive grace, so that with thy Saints and elect children, we may merit everlasting life. Amen.  
Can there be greater Superstition, Magic, or Blasphemy? and all this practised by the very Heads of that Church. Hence the poor Laity are hoodwinked in a forced Ignorance; who live no less without Scripture, than if there were none at all. They forbid Spiritual food as Poison, fetch God Book into the Inquisition, and thereby cheat the Vulgar with nothing but shows of Holiness; in Pilgrimages, Processions. Offerings, Holy Water, Latin Service, Images, Tapers, Vestments, Altars, Crosses, and a thousand such like, fit only for children and fools; robbing them in the mean time of the sound and plain helps of Piety and Devotion. More particularly, consider it under these Circumstances.  
1. That it hath made wicked men Saints, and Saints Gods; nay, the modern Canonization hath made those saints, that were scarce men: And we have their own Confessions, That the most notorious sinners have leapt into their Calendar: and once Sainted, they have the honour of Altars, Temples, Invocations, and some of them in a stile fit only for their Maker.  
2. A Religion that professeth to be a Bawd to Sin, whilst in practice it tolerates open Stews, and prefers Fornication, in some ●ise●, before honourable Matrimony; and gently blancheth over the breaches of the Commandments with the name of Venials, and favourable titles of Dimmution, daring to affirm, That venial sins are no hindrance to a man's Integrity and Perfection.  
3. A Religion that indeed deserves not the name of Religion; the Ape and Mimic of it; a very outside of Christianity; at best, a mere formality of Devotion: all whose Prayers, Fast, Pilgrimages, etc. are no other than a going to Hell in more pomp and state. For look into their Churches, there you will see idle Apishness in the most solemn works. The poor Laity in the mean while returning empty of all sound Edification, and only full of confused intentions; yet are they taught to think this Sacrifice of Fools to be meritorious. From thence look into their houses and closerts, there you will see such a trade of careless and lazy Holiness, that there is but little difference between the Image and the Suppliant; Piety itself being lulled asleep with their heartless and sleepy Vespers. And if you step a little farther, and cast your eyes into the melancholy Cells of some austere, Recluses, there you may find, perhaps, an Hair-cloath, a Whip, an Hurdle, or the Rope about the waste; But where in all this is true Mortification? A pious Protestant takes more pains with his Heart in a day than a superstitious Papist doth with his Skin in a year: the one indeed whips himself, but the other denies himself; the draws Blood from his Flesh, the other from his Lusts. And therefore if you look into the whole Course of the Roman Catholic life, you shall find the Commandments of God professedly broken, besides the ordinary practice of Idolatry, and frequency of Oaths: Men whose sinful rebellions are ever and anon smoking against Heaven, dare meet God in his loudest Thunder, and venture on Damnation in its most terrible form; so that God can no where display the Ensigns of his Power, but these audacious wretches hang out their Flags of defiance.  
And this brings me to the second thing, how blasphemous a Religion this is, in respect of God and Christ.  
Of God: and that as (1.) it teacheth men to worship Stocks and Stones with the same honour that is due to their Creator. Hence they worship God under the Image of an Old man, Christ under the Image of a Lamb, the Holy Ghost under the resemblance of a Dove. And Cajeran doth confess, That they draw the Images by the Trinity not only to show, but to adore and worship them. Now lest this should appear to her simple Clients how palpably opposite it is to the second Commandment, they have cunningly left it out, as a needless Illustration, in all their Catechisms, and Prayer-books of the Vulgar  
2. As it asserts the Priests Judicial Power in pardoning sins, and absolving sinners, and openly allows and tolerates the buying of Pardons and Indulgences from them. So that now Purgatory can have no rich men in it, but fools and friendless: Devils are tormented here, yet men can command Devils, and Money can command men.  
3. As it advandeth Nature to a co-partnership with God in our Justification and Salvation, and idly puffs her up into a conceit of her ability to keep more Laws than ever God made. And for this, requires no other Faith than may be sound in the Devils themselves, who besides a confused apprehension, can assent unto the truth of God revealed: And Popery requires no more.  
4. As it relies on the Infallibility of those whom they grant to have been, and may be, monstrous in their lives and dispositions; most of their Pope's having been the most monstrous notorious wretches that ever the Earth groaned under; (O that it were rid of the burdened ‑) How many of these Heirs of St. Peter (if their own Records deceive us not) have by Bribes Whores, and Devils, dimbed into that Chair | yet for any to say, that those men (who are confessed to have given their Souls to the Devil that they might be Popes) can err, whilst they are such, is Heresy worthy a Stake and Hell. Thus of its Blasphemy, in respect of God.  
II. In respect of Christ; and that these four ways.  

1. In overthrowing the Perfection of Christ's Humanity, while they give unto it so many Places at one time, and yet no Place, Flesh, and no Flesh, several Members without distinction, a substance without quantity, and other accidents or substance and accidents, that cannot be seen, felt, or perceived: So that they make their saviour either a Monster, or Nothing.  
2. In overthrowing the Perfection of Christ's Satisfaction; for if all be not paid, how hath Christ satisfied. If temporal punishments in Hell be yet due, how is all paid? And if these be paid by us, how are they satisfied by Christ?  
3. In presumptuously mangling Christ's sacred Institution; by which they sacrilegiously rob his people of one half of that heavenly Provision, which he left as his last and dearest Legacy to his Church: As if Christ's Ordinance were superfluous, or any shaveling Priest could be wiser than his Redeemer.  
4. In imposing heavier burdens than ever Christ designed. Hence the conscience of their Proselytes are overladen with infinite unnecessary Traditions, far more than ever Moses, commented on by the Jewish Rabbis; they imposing them with no less Authority, and exacting them with far more Rigour, than any of the Royal Laws of their Maker. And this brings me to the third thing considerable, viz. As,   
III. It is a bloody and cruel Religion to all that have, and do oppose her. Even since Cain set the Knife to Abet's throat, the Church's Veins have bled. Rome, was first of all founded in Blood and still endeavours to erect its self by the same method of Serpentine Designs, and Dragonlike Rage and Gruelty. This will clearly appear unto you, by taking a view of her, either in her Principles or Practices. First, her Principles, in these seven things.  
1. In asserting the Power of the Pope over all Temporal Princes and Kingdoms; for he (like his Father the Devil) will show all the glory of a Kingdom, and give it to some Creature of his own, if he will fall down and worship him, They account it not only lawful, but meritorlous, to murder a Protestant Prince (whom they call heretical) hereby to introduce a Popish Successor, and advance the interest of their own Cause throughout the world.  
2. That an Heretic, (for Heresies sake, and in point of Conscience, though he troubles not the State) ought to be put to death. This also causeth the effusion of much Blood; and when the Pope hath anathematised a Nation or Person (nè brut a essent fulmine) they inflame Kings, and provoke them to destroy all with Fire and Faggot. And these we have sadly found to be their Arguments both to enlighten our Understandings and inform our Judgements in the Popish Religion. For, as one ingeniously observed, They convince by a Dagger, and enlighten by a Faggot. Hence they call an utter Desolation a Restauration and the subversion of three Kingdoms, no other than the conversion of them. How much Protestant Blood this Doctrine hath shed in France and Germany, and how many English throats have bled by this Knife, is not easy to judge.  
3. That no public Faith is to be kept with Heretics; as if Christiana Fides and Punica, were all one. The Heathens, by the Rush-candle of Nature, could perceive, that Truth in men's words and promises, is the best Ligament in a body politic; and the very joints and nerves of all Civil Constitutions. How much admired is that Roman, who kept his Faith with Carthage, though he knew it would be his very ruin! But Johannes a Roman Priest could say, That in the destruction of the Lutherans, Judges were not bound to follow either Law, Promise, or Reason. How sad is it, that Romana Fides might be depended on when Rome was Heathenish, but not now it is become Christian | and that the moral Honesty of the poor blind Heathens, should so much exceed the Piety of these Catholic Pretenders!  
4. That mental Reservations and Equivocations, are lawful. This must needs overthrow Civil Constitutions, were they almost Adamantine: For what delusions of Magistrates, what evasions of righteous Judgements, what ensnaring of innocent men, what doubting in Oaths will there be by this means? How can an Oath be the end of Strife and Controversy, if this be allowed? O ye holy Martyrs! lay aside your glorious Robes of Immortality! You died like fools, and were guilty of your own Blood; whenas you might have denied and forsworn all, by mental Reservations and Equivocations.  
5. A fifth bloody Position of theirs, is, An absolute necessity of concealing all things revealed in Auricular Confession. This Doctrine hath been a private backway to let in the most horrible Conspiracies and Murders. Hence 'tis a received Maxim amongst them, That, Nullum lantum malum esse potest, cujus vitandi causa Confessionem prodere liceat: That Confession is not to be revealed, whatever punishment be endured. Bellarmine praiseth Garnet the Jesuit, that would not reveal the Gunpowder-Treason, because (as he saith) Confession is Jure Divino; and Temporal Authority, Jure Humano. And Casanbon tells us, That it was a Jesuits Speech to him, De Jure humano, leviori damno Reges omnes quot-quot sunt occiderentur, quam vel una Confessio revelaretur: That it was a far less Offence to destroy many Princes, than to reveal one Confession.  
I wonder whether they would hide it, if there were a Conspiracy against the life of their Triple-crowned Monarch. But there was one that escaped well in this matter of Confession, viz. Father Aubigney; who in the bloody fact of Ravilliack being called in question, and demanded what was revealed to him in Confession, he replied, That God had given him this grace: That whatsoever was revealed to him in Confession, he presently by a miracle forgot it, and for all the world, could not remember it again. I think if this Answer saved him, it was the best Grace that ever God bestowed on him.  
6. That the Clergy are exempted from subjection, and so cannot be guilty of treasonable practices. Clerici rebellio in Regem non est Crimen b●●sae Majestatis, quia non est Subditus Regi; The rebellion of a Priest against his Prince is not Treason, because he is not his Subject: for they are by her affirmed to be so the Inheritance and Portion of God, that they are exampt from all Temporal Jurisdiction to Civil Princes and States. If so, what wickedness may not be committed by such men? How doth the Pope herein oppose the Apostle; Rom. 13.1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. And it is a known Explication of Chrysostom's, Every Soul, though he be a Monk, a Priest, though he be never so Spiritual (as they call it) is here understood, and cannot draw his shoulder from the yoke of Allegiance.  
7. That blind obedience unto Governors, is necessary. And let in this once upon a People, and you let in the Trojan Horse, full of armed Enemies in his bowels: For whatever the Pope and his Officers shall command to be done (be it to destroy a whole Kingdom, nay, subvert three Kingdoms at one time) must not be disputed, but obeyed. Thus what Seneca complained of as a great weakness among the Vulgar, (that homines malunt credere quam judicare; and that they do receive all worship of their Gods, tanquam legihus jussum, rather than Diis gratum,) will be made a Virtue in their Votaries; yea, that they merit gloriously, by believing thus stupidly: and when once these Philistims have put out men's eyes, they will make them drudge in what Mills they please.  
8. That (that Monster of men, and Heir of all Mischief) the Pope, may dispense with all Vows, Promises, and Obligations. 'tis this that would lately have made England like Egypt, all the Waters thereof to be turned into Blood: For the Papists being absolved from all Oaths, etc. to their Prince, were thereby the more encouraged to Treason and Rebellion against him. And how can we trust their Oaths and Protestations, when the Pope absolves them from them? Well therefore is that Antichrist set forth by the 
* Rev. 12.  Dragon in the Revelation, who is both subtle and bloody; and his Jesuits like those heathen Priests, that have Snakes in one hand, and Firebrands in the other. That which St. Bern. said of the Devil in tempting men's Souls, the same may we say of the Pope, in reference to Body and Soul, Estate and all: Vereor magis Serpentem gliscentent, quam Leonem rugientem: That we fear him more, as he is a shining glittering Serpent, than as a roaring raging Lion.  
9 That to slay their Enemies, it is lawful to kill their Friends, if as much good will come by the one, as hurt by the other. This was proposed as a Case of Conscience to Garnet in the Gunpowder-Plot, (that Contrivance worthy only of Hell and a Jesuit) Whether it were lawful at that time to blow up the Innocent with the Nocent; who answered it in the Affirmative, That it was lawful to kill Friends in the destruction of Enemies, if so much good would arise as might recompense the slaughter of the Innocent. Somewhat like this, is that story of a Popish Duke, | who when he was asked by his Soldiers, Whether they should kill their Friends in the destruction of their Enemies, returned them this answer, Yes: Deus enim novit qui ejus sunt: God will know well enough at the day of Judgement who are bis. How cruel and bloody then must they needs be, who will kill their own, to destroy others lives, and at last will praise and defend those who have died their bands in Blood; voting inhuman Conspirators, to have been glorious Martyrs? And thus, by what hath been said, you see how all these Assertions are written in Blood.  
But if from the Root of those Principles I should acquaint you | with the Branches of its several bloody practices, you would find no corner of the world wherein the Pope and his Agents have had to do, but all hath ended in Blood. Among many thousand particular Instances, take these few.  
1. Concerning the Waldenses and poor Albingenses. Although we have no certainty of their Opinions, (they being for the most part delivered us by Popish Authors) yet of the Cruelty used against them, we have many sad Witnesses. It would make your hair stand upright with horror, to consider how many thousands of them have been murdered in a day; and not content with their innocent blood, they did wafte all the Trees and Forests, as if they had run into the wild conceit of the Manichees, who thought the Trees to have a rational life, and that to cut down a Tree, had been Homicidium, as they fancied.  
2. In the American Islands, as Hispaniola, Jamaica, and others, what barbarous usages had the poor Savages from those Catholic Christians? such actions (if Historians do not deceive us) as were not fit for Men or Christians, but Bruits and Devils. For it had been better (as they observe) that those Islands had been given to the Devils, than to the Spaniards, who spared neither Sex nor Age, Women with Child, or such as lay in Childbed; insomuch that that one Island of Jamaica, with that of Portico Rico, lost in few years Sixty thousand Souls by Popish Cruelties; and they were such as not only raged upon the Men, but destroyed Posterity. The Women here and elsewhere, so abominating their sad conditions, that they strangled their Children in the birth, to the end that they might not live to serve such a cruel People.  
3. In France. What an ocean of Blood hath been shed there, sometimes by open and hostile ways, otherwhiles by private Plots, Conspiracies, and Massacres! wherein Brother butchered Brother, Sons their Fathers, and Daughters their Mothers? As in the Parisian Massacre, wherein one would think it impossible (as one observes) That a Race of People adoring one God, fellow-subjects to one Prince, born in one Country, breathing the same Air; nay, a Christian People, trusiing in the same God, redeemed by the same Blood, governed by the same holy Laws, should prove such Monsters each to other. Thuanus, Precedent of the Parliament at Paris, abhors the very memory of it, applying most appositely those Verses of the Poet to it, and crying out, 
Excidat illa dies, aevo nec Postera credant  
Saecula, nos certè taceamus, & obruta multa  
Nocte legi propriae, Patiamur crimine gentis.  Let that black day be razed out of our Calendar for ever, that it may die with us, and never come to the knowledge of our Posterity.  
4. In Ireland. Whose heart hath not been affected with the doleful Tragedies acted on that Stage? How have they cruelly devoured, and spared no more than Tigers and Wolves? O what a loud Cry has gone to Heaven from the Blood spilt there! Every drop hath a voice, which cries aloud in the ears of God for Vengeance on them.  
5. In their Attempts on England ever since the Reformation. That at this very day, King and Kingdom, Liberty and Estate, Life and Religion, are designed for Sacrifices to Popish Cruelty. Think, O Lucifer, and imagine, O Prince of Darkness, a more hellish design, if thou canst! What darkness would cover our Land, when our Sun and Moon (the great Ones of the State) should be turned into Blood? What would become of us, if these Philistims had taken our Ark? How soon would our Ministers be turned into corners, or sent to Heaven in fiery Chariots? Our Bible's turned into Pictures, our Tables to Altars, and our Heaven immediately into a Hell? O innocent Catiline and Verres, to these men! Livy tells us of a design to dispatch the whole Senate of Rome in an hour; And at Carthage there was a Project set on foot to cut off at once the Noblest and Loyalest Families in the State. But had not this been abortive (which God grant it may ever be) it would have proved the Funeral of all our Sanctuaries, the Grave of all our Religion, the Doomsday of all our Liberties, the Ruin of King and Kingdom; a Treason made up of such monstrous complicated Circumstances, that all others seemed to be drowned and lose their name in this. Thus much as to the Doctrinal part.  
From what hath been said, may naturally be inferred,  
I. The impossibility of Reconciliation to such an Apostatised Church. I know there are some who think that there is little difference between the two Churches of England and Rome, and undertake to show us the several Advances the one hath made towards the other; and these are either, 

1. Some Politic Romanists, who hereby would extenuate the foulness of Popery; or,  
2. Some ignorant and loose Protestants, who live void of the knowledge and conscience of all Religion; men who live tanquam poeniterent non pecudes natos, as if they repented they were not made Beasts; whose Reason is their burden, and light of mind their offence; who are so given up to their sensual Appetites, as if they were all flesh, and had no Spirit; who rake up (those heavenly Sparks) their Souls in ashes, never considering their original capacity and end, or that Viaticum Aeternitatis, provision that is to be made for them unto Eternity. These men are moulded for Heathenish as well as Popish Impressions.    
But if we rightly consider the Purity of our own Church, and the Apostasy and Corruptions of the Church of Rome, you will find an impossibility of Reconciliation: For (rebus sic stantibus) as the case is, that Church must put off itself, and cease to be what it is, ere it can begin to be once again what it was; for Substance, Credit, Fame, Virtue, and Honour have at once forsaken her, and by long disuse have left her worse than naught. Neither can we see how these houses can be repaired, but they must be pulled down to the very foundations, and then built from the ground: But if there be any possibility, it must come either from herself or others; not from herself, because she obstinately defends her Errors not only with Tongue and Pen, but with Fire and Sword, and will not yield so much as that she can err; refusing to amend those notorious Abuses which by the moderate Verdict of her elect Cardinals are condemned, and by the palpable Flatteries of her last and worst Parasites (the Jesuits) is grown not only secure, but more proud and arrogant than ever she was. Can it be then from others? How oft hath this been endeavoured to no purpose? Rome may be sacked and battered (as it hath often been) by Military Forces, but purged by Admonitions, Convictions, and Censures, it will never be. Now the impossibility of our Reconciliation (besides these things I have already named) ariseth from the pride and usurpation of the Head of their Church, being armed with that Position, That he cannot Err. This, without hope of Reconciliation, divideth Christendom; and many other Doctrinal Controversies are subtly kept on foot, to be a Stalking-horse for this.  
Add to this, their hatred against our Religion above all others: Jews and Grecians are tolerated in Rome itself; their Ceremonies, Synagogues, Services, yea, and Circumcision itself administered to the dead as well as to the living; by which the Romanists declare themselves to be better friends to the Turks and Jews than to the Protestants: not to insist on that detestable Virulence of their Tongues, and Gall in their Ink, against our first Reformers; which hath not stayed there, but broken out into their most barbarous Butcheries and cruel Bloud-sheddings.  
They oblige the Consciences of Catholics to a Separation from all our Ecclesiastical Assemblies, are afraid that any of our Books (especially our Translations of the Bible) should be read in any of their Dominions; and where they cannot turn, will be sure to burn Protestants. O the many miserable Massacres, Canibal-like Conspiracies, and tragical Murders, that they have been guilty of! Who are ignorant what Fierceness, Fears, and Fires were raised to consume the innocent bodies of the Saints living and dead; and that in such sort, as every corner of the Land seemed as hot as Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace, even seven times hotter than it used to be; wherein were to be cast whosoever would not fall down and worship the Image which that Romish Nabuchadnezzar had erected.  
Now what Arguments can be used to persuade us of their Reconciliation to us, either in the whole or in part of our Religion, since they deem it no other than a peccant humour necessary to be purged out every few years, either by Murder, if it prevail in the Head, or by Massacre, if in the Body of any Nation? And rather than it should not, they will not stick with Blassius (at the Commandment of their great Gracchus) to set on fire the Capitol itself, to lay hands on sacred Majesty, and to imbrue them in his Royal blood; to subvert Religion, to sacrifice our Lives, Liberties, and all, to their ambitious Lusts and Revenge. When then you are willing that your Souls shall be damned, and Bodies destroyed, then think of Reconciliation.  
II. Let us now see our duty; which is, first, to hate and oppose the Popish, and to embrace and keep close to the Protestant Religion.  
First, Hate and oppose the Popish Religion. Let the high praises of God be in our mouths, and a two-edged sword in our hands, to be avenged on that Scarlet Whore, that Mother of Fornications, that hath made herself drunk with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus. They must be punished by us, or we shall be so by them. Let's make no friendship with angry men, much less with bloody men: 'Tis the greatest honour that can be put upon us, to be Instruments of their destruction. This duty respects us in whatever relations we are, be we either Magistrates, Ministers, or private Christians.  
The Magistrates, by repressing those Perverters of our Faith, and encouraging Protestant Principles and Practices. 'Tis not Reason of State, but Ruin of State, to gratify those men who would rejoice to see our Glory in the dust.  
Ministers, by preaching up the excellency of this way, preserving the pattern of wholesome words, and speaking the things which become sound Doctrine; to take heed of their own mixtures, and not adulterate the Doctrine of Faith to please men. The beauty of heavenly Truths wants not the paint either of Humane or Heretical Additions. The Babes of Christ must be fed with sincere Milk; and the soreness of men's eyes must not hinder the Lights of the Church from shining. And next by confuting Gain-sayers, not only have a voice to call their Sheep, but to drive away Wolves; one to establish Truth, and another to oppose Error; one of their hands must work, the other hold the weapon. Their breasts should be Storehouses of Spiritual Armour, be furnished with skill in Scripture, in which they should be mighty; and in the writings of men, even of Heretics themselves, to beat them with their own weapons, to kill Goliath with his own sword. Are we in the lower Orb of private Christians? We must oppose this many-headed Monster, and that, 

1. By confuting the debauched Romanists with the Language of our heavenly lives.  
2. By an holy and stout confession of the Faith: a dumb Faith is not a divine Faith, but the Faith of Devils; 'tis not enough to confess Christ in times of encouragement, but in times of contradiction. This is the only boldness, and cursed be that modesty which makes us ashamed of our Master.  
3. By suffering for it: if God calls us to it follow our Captain, who was made perfect by suffering; and seal Protestant Truths with our dearest Bloods. He that saveth his Life, and forsaketh his Faith, never liveth comfortably; yet thousands that have lost their Lives, and kept their Faith, have died joyfully; they could welcome the Cross of Christ, and Everlasting Life.    
Now in this opposition we are to act resolutely and valiantly: Dangers must be despised, Difficulties adventured on, Terrors contemned, vigorously and fervently, Zeal being the beauty of Christian Undertake, unanimously, and with one consent: For how easily will Error prevail, when the Protestant Champions are divided among themselves? And how can they venture their lives one for another in War, who will not do so much as love one another in Peace? Let's observe the Apostles counsel, and stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel, Phil. 1.27. Can there be greater encouragements to this, than our present Fears and Dangers? And O that now we did all appear as one Man against this common Enemy! O that Babyton's Towers were humbled, her Pillars and Foundations razed, her Vaults digged up, her Monuments defaced, and her Altars sacrificed to Desolation! In a word, That all her Buildings were demolished, and not a Stone left upon a Stone, but in rude and ruinous heaps, to tell us, that here once Babylon stood.  
Secondly, Embrace and keep close to the Principles and Practices of the Protestant Religion. 'Tis observed by an eminent Prelate of our own, 
B.N. in his Epistles.  that (among many others that go under that name) there are five Religions on Earth which stand in competition for Truth, viz. Jewish, Turkish, Greekish, Popish, and Reform; whereof each pleads for itself, with disgrace of each other.  
1. The Jewish Religion. These men have very little to say for themselves, but impudent denials of Jesus Christ; whose very refusal of him, proves him strongly to be the Messiah. And were there no other Arguments, yet God himself hath so strongly confuted them by the voice of his Judgements, that the whole world doth hiss at their Conviction, their fin being written in capital Letters in their desolation and contempt.  
2. The Turkish Religion (if it deserves that name amongst Christians) and this stands upon barbarous Ignorance, and palpable Imposture; yet lo here a subtle Devil in a gross Religion: for when he saw that he could not by single twists of Heresy, put down the well-built Walls of the Church, he winds them all up into one Cable, to try if his Cord of so many folds might prevail. As with Sabellius, to deny the distinction of persons in the Trinity; with Arius, Christ's Divinity; with Macedonius, the Deity of the Holy Ghost; with Sergius, two Wills in Christ; with Martion, Christ's Sufferings: And these Policies seconded with Violence and Cruelty. O damnable mixture (as one observes) miserably successful! Their Koran, a Fardel of foolish Impossibilities; their whole Religion, a mongrel Issue of an Arian, Jew, Nestorian, and Arabian; a Monster of many Seeds, and all accursed: Nature hath light enough to condemn a Turk as the worst of Pagans.  
3. The Greekish Church puts in the next claim, but with little better success; who are become the basest Drogs of all Christians, being little superior to the Turks in knowledge; more idolatrous than Heathens, and superstitious than Papists: the very Name of them is Confutation enough. From thence I descend to the main Rival of Truth, viz.  
4. The Religion (or rather Faction) of the Papacy. Now whereto tends this, but to make Nature vainly proud, or carelessly wanton? 

(1) Vainly proud, by telling her, She hath free will to do good, can go of herself, morit Heaven, and pay God satisfaction.  
(2) Carelessly wanton, in that it teacheth, That Christ died effectually for all: That men may save the labour of trying and examining themselves, and believe only as the Church believes: That the sacrifice of the Mass, in the very work wrought, avails to obtain pardon, not in this life only, but when they lie frying in Purgatory: That Alms given, merit Heaven: That abstinence from some Meats and Drinks, is meritorious: That one man may deliver another's Soul out of purging Torments; so that he that wants not both Money and Friends, need not fear the smart of his sins. O Religion! sweet to the Wealthy, but sad to the Poor! Who will now care how lazy his Devotions, or how lewd his Life be, that knows these Refuges to fly to?    
5. Next comes in the Religion I persuade you to stick close to viz. the Reformed Protestant Religion; which you may see in opposition to all these.  
To the Jewish, in acknowledging Jesus Christ come into the world, and depending on him alone for Life and Salvation.  
To the Mahometan, in casting aside all her Blasphemies and ridiculous Fopperies.  
To the Greekish, in pitying her Ignorance, and lamenting her Ruin.  
To the Popish, first, in depretiating Nature; secondly, in advancing Grace.  
1. She depretiates Nature, kneads her in the Dust, spoils her of her proud Rags, loads her with Reproaches, and gives Glory to him who says he will not give his Glory to another; acknowledging her best Actions to be faulty, her Satisfactions Debts, and her Deserts Damnation.  
2. In advancing Grace: 
* Eph. 2.8.  By this we are saved, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Every step in our ascent to Mount Zion, is Freestone; and the golden Chain of man's Salvation, is richly enameled with free Grace. This lays the foundation and top-stone of Glory; this is the Religion we must stick to in its Principles and Practices. We must not be Protestants in the Bark, and Papists in the Core; Lambs and Doves without, and Lions and Bears within. This is the Religion we must be saved by, and in this of all others is the surest Path to Everlasting Happiness. Let me persuade you then, in the words of the Apostle, 2 Tim. 1.13. to hold fast the form of sound words, which you have heard in faith and love.  
In faith towards God, and Love towards man; or Faith in Christ, and Love to Christ; or Faith, as comprehending the Credenda, and Love the Facienda of every Christian. These are the two hands with which you must hold fast the Protestant Religion.  
First, Paith; and that three ways.  

1. As it secures our standing; this is an holdfast Grace. Unbelief is the root of Apostasy, but Faith is the spring of Perseverance. This will keep us close to Protestant Principles.  
2. As it doth realize all the truths of the Gospel: So that though the petty notions and fooleries in Popery may gratify your fancies, yet can they have no influence on your Consciences. By this we can both live upon the Truth, and (when God calls) die for it.  
3. As it helps to fetch strength from Christ, to do and suffer, to live and die for him. This invests the Soul with a kind of Omnipotency, insomuch that other men's Impossibilities are Faith's Triumphs.   
Secondly, Love: Your love will hold fast the Truth, when (happily) your learning may let it go. 
Fox Acts & Monum.  You may not (with the Martyr) be able to dispute for the Truth; but if you love it, you will die for it, Learning lies in the head, but Love lies in the heart. This will make you say to the Protestant Interest, as she to her Mother-in-law, Ruth 1.16, 17. Whither thou goest. I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part me and thee. 'Tis for want of this, that God gives men over to believe a lie, 
2 Tim. 3.6.  to be led captive by divers lusts and pleasures, 
2 Pet. 1.16.  to follow cunningly devised fables, and to hold the truth in unrighteousness.  
Let us now love the Protestant Truth both in the Purity and in the Professors of it: And truly if ever there were a time for our Union, this is it. May we not fear that the neglect of Protestant, Unity will make way for Popish Unity? That Party cannot be strong, but by our weakness; nor armed, but by our nakedness, or come in amongst us, but by that lane of our own divisions. O that we might consider these things; that by so much the greater her subtleties are to divide us, we may the more firmly be united in our Prayers to God, and in concord between ourselves; that we may not expose our Persons, Estates, Lives, Posterities, Religion and all, to the crafty and Bloody advantages of these Enemies of the Protestant Church! Shall Joseph and Benjamin, Moses and Aaron; Abrahani and Lot fall out, especially, when the Canaanites are in the land? Shall Gebal, Ammon, and Amaleck, and the Philistims at Tyre, agree; And shall Lambs and Doves rend, tear, and scratch one another? O let it not be spoken in Gath, nor published in the streets of Askelon? Let us now endeavour to keep the nuity of the spirit in the bond of peace. It will be our Duty and Honour, as well as Happiness and Safety, to love one another, and appear as one man against the common Enemy. O that now we might beging, Go on, and prosper! 'tis not the Contention, but Constancy, that sets the Grown on the Christians head. It will be an unanswerable Dilemma, If the Protestant Religion were had, why did you profess it? if good, why did you desert it? To confirm you the more in the constant Profession of it, consider that, 

1. We have the Scriptures on our side, in most places free from ambiguiry: we live under the cleareft dispensations of the Gospel-covenant, and the Light thereof is not yet eclipsed (and we hope never, will) with lewish Mifts, or Popish Fogs.  
2. We have the Principles of Religion, which directly lead to every point of our Faith, and instructs us in our way to Salvation.  
3. We have the ancient Fathers, the Majesty of elden times, and reverend countenanor of the first Antiquity; so that all their glory therein, hath (by our Reformers) been turned into their shame.  
4. And lastly, which may persuade any man (not drunk with prejudice) we have had the mercies of God to plead for us, whereby our Church hath been miraculously upheld. When Rome and Hell threatened us, than God defended us; when our Neck hath even been on the block, and the instruments of death prepared to cut off our lives and hopes together, then God disappointed them, and rescued us. What remains now? but that we break off our Iniquities by Repentance, put a Bill of Divorce into the hands of our dearest Lusts, run them thorough with the sacrificing Knife of Mortification; that we no longer turn Grace into Wantonness, nor these miraculous Preservations into ingrateful Apostasies.    
By this way only it is, that we can be true to our own happiness, be lasting Monuments of Mercy unto Posterity, and erect Trophies of Victory over all Antichristianism amongst us. Then would the several Foundations of the Kingdom be settled in a sound and flourishing Constitution: For then Piety would be the Pillar to every Profession; Learning adorned with Piety, Law administered with Piety, and Councils managed with Piety; then would Religion flourish, Peace settle, and the Gospel ring in the Ears of the Generations unborn. How quickly would our Darkness be dispelled, our Shades flee away, our Distractions be removed, and an happy Calinness and Serenity cover the face of the whole Nation? Which that it may, the Lord of his infinite mercy grant: To whom with the Father, etc.  
FINIS.