IX. CHAP is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord. for the body." 10. Therefore the Protestants, in refusing nothing that tended to gratify their fleshly lusts, rejected the cross of Christ altogether, and pretended to sanctify by their word of God and their prayers that which in its very core was evil and corrupt; which was only an addition to their hypocrisy, and gave the creature of God the utmost occasion to groan under bondage, and in the utmost extremity to travail for redemption from this deepest sink of corruption. 11. Nor have the Protestants any reason to reflect on the Papists, about their high and superstitious titles conferred on the bishop of Rome; for the reformers left nothing behind on that score. Besides the common titles that appear in their creeds and confessions, such as Lord-Sovereign Lord-Dread Sovereign Lord, they need but look into their bibles, to find a title as presumptuous as ever the pope sustained. To the Most High and Mighty Prince James, &c. Higher than the Most High cannot be. 12. The queen's majesty hath the chief power in this realm of England, and other her dominions, 'unto whom the chief government of all estates of 'the realm, whether they be ecclesiastical or civil 'doth appertain." This is a part of their reformed creed, which included England, France and Ireland; and had the bishop of Rome ever greater authority in his dominions? 13. The Protestants glory over the Papists, in being able to bring their dark abominations to light; but surely they ought to be ashamed to exhibit those very same, and greater abominations, in the open light, by their own practice. 14. When the protestant supremacy was established, and the law respecting marriage reformed, there remained but one point more to reform, that was of any great consequence to the priesthood; and that was, as their first book of discipline expresses it, that "the whole rents of the Kirk, abused in papistry, pline, ch-shall be referred again to the Kirk-That tithes, the uppermost cloth, the clerk mail, the pasch-offerings, tithe-ale; all friaries, nunneries, chantries, chaplain 1 Book of Disci 1. IX. 'ries, annual rents, &c. be reduced to the help of the CHAP. 'Kirk-the deacons disponing them to the minis'try-And moreover that, merchants and craftsmen in Burg, should contribute to the support of the 'Kirk." 15. Thus they turned the whole current of revenue, which, as they say, had been lavished upon a profuse pontiff, and the various monastic orders, into a regular channel of salary to support the luxury of the new kirk-guides. 16. As to the great change which the reformed priesthood boast of, in respect to supplying the common people with bibles, this great exploit loses much of its importance when we consider that it was only that sense or meaning which they fixed for the scriptures, and established by civil authority, that the people were allowed to adopt. 17. Into this Catholic sense of the scriptures, they were either drawn by eloquence, driven by civil authority, or frighted by the hideous din of eternal destruction against free-thinkers, free-willers, and all such reprobate heretics as would dare to think differently from the established system. Conf. Ch. 18. Their charging the Papists, with idolatry, such as the worship of images, relicks, &c. was but a further mark of their hypocrisy, while they only reformed the practice of idolatry into another shape. They say, "The true God may not be worshipped accord- Amer. ing to the imaginations or devices of nien-under any i visible representation," yet they will use consecrated Cat. q.92 water, wine and bread in their worship, and affirm that Christ, (who is true God,) is thereby represented, sealed and applied to believers. 19. And what have they but the imaginations and devices of men, for their songs, their long sermons, and pharisaical prayers? They acknowledge that Origen was the first who introduced the practice of sermonizing upon the scriptures; that the oldest psalmody they have, was introduced into the church, in the reign of Constantine; and their own scriptures prove, that their standing and praying, to be seen of men, is the undeniable mark of a hypocrite; and yet such are the principle parts of their reformed worship. Shorter 20. And what are their steeple houses but Pagan temples reformed, and ornamented with pictures, pulpits, bells, and instruments of musick? And can any thing manifest greater blindness than to call this work, built by their own hands, the Church, and Christ's Church, or St. Paul's Church, and St. Peter's Church? Can Christ or St. Paul and St. Peter have any fellowship or union with such churches? 21. Protestants pretend to abhor relics, and images; but what mean their costly marbles, and epitaphs that ornament their burying grounds, and the images of their great ones, with which their coin, their furniture, and their houses have been replete ? 22. They abhor popish titles: but after forming and re-forming, from the most mighty, down the long list of Lords, Knights, Barons, Counts and Earls, with their corresponding priestly titles, it remains, even to this day, that the most humble grade of the clergy, must be distinguished by the title of Rever end, or Reverend Sir, and the very lowest class of their church members, must be all gentlemen and tadies; each a Sir, a Mr. a Madam, or a Miss. 23. And if the more enterprising among the reformers, occasionally introduce the use of common names, or scriptural-titles, and teach the same to others, the lesson is soon forgotten, and their natural love of worldly honour insensibly leads them back to the vain ceremony of pompous titles and flattering compliments: so that whatever the world is, the same in substance is the Protestant Reformed Church, with only the superior advantages of a false religion, and the most refined arts of deception. 24. Virtue never needed the varnish of supersti tious ceremonies, and atoning rites. It was always vice and corruption that required long prayers, and sermons, and sacraments, and outward shows of sanctity, to change their native appearance, and ward off deserved condemnation. Therefore the great work of reforming these outward things, was a strong evidence of the increasing depravity of the reformers. 25. It is written, The testimony of two men is true. The reformed church beareth witness of herself, and her mother also beareth witness of her, and they both agree in one-That with all her outward changes, and reformations, she only promoted a greater inAcrease of wickedness: and now, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall this fact be established. СНАР. IX. 26. In the Grounds of the Catholic Doctrine,* it is *p. 56. testified, that "The fruits of the Reformation were 'such as could not spring from a good tree. 1. An 'innumerable spawn of heresies. 2. Endless dissen'sions. 3. A perpetual itch of changing, and incon'stancy in their doctrine.-In fine, a visible change of 'manners for the worse, as many of their own writers 'freely acknowledge. And old ERASMUS long ago 'objected to them, Ep. ad vultur. where he defies 'them to shew him one who had been reclaimed from 'vice by going over to their religion; and he declares 'he never yet met with one who did not seem chang'ed for the worse." vol. 27. With regard to the Lutherans, Dr. Mosheim, a Eccl.His member of that branch of the Protestant church, tory, yo states, that," the terror of excommunication lost its 283. 'force; and ecclesiastical discipline' was reduced to 'such a shadow, that, in most places, there are scarcely any remains, any traces of it to be seen at this " day." 6 28. "This change may be attributed partly to the 'corrupt propensities of mankind, who are naturally 'desirous of destroying the influence of every institu'tion that is designed to curb their licentious pas'sions. This relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline (adds the writer) removed one of the most powerful restraints upon iniquity." 29. "When this is duly considered, it will not ap'pear surprising that the manners of the Lutherans ' are so remarkably depraved, and that in a church 'that is deprived almost of all authority and disci'pline, multitudes affront the public by their auda'cious irregularities, and transgress with a frontless impudence, through the prospect of impunity." So far concerning the reformed church of Luther. 30. What respects the Calvinistic church may be seen at large in the Westminster Confession of 1 Faith, under the title of, A solemn confession of public sins, from which the following is but a small ex tract. CHAP. 2 Tim. iii. are, upon their own pointed confession, unto every good work reprobate. 42. By professing to be the followers of Jesus Christ, and observers of the word of God, they most evidently speak lies in hypocrisy, when in reality they are, lovers of their own selves, coveteous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, truce-breakers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Thus the second beast, under his lamblike form, exercised all the power of the first beast before him. Excl. His CHAPTER X. The Persecuting Spirit of the Protestant Reformers. Hool however corrupt the source from [OWEVER abominable the doctrine of compul- whence this principle flowed; yet the Protestant reformers retained it in its fullest extent. This is manifest in their delivering over people of different sentiments to be oppressed and punished by the civil powers. 2. The persecutions of the Priscillianists, by the ecclesiastics of Spain, in the fourth century, were at that time, regarded with abhorance by the bishops of Gaul and Italy," for Christians [i. e. Catholics] had 'not yet learned, (says Mosheim,) that giving over heretics to be punished by the magistrates, was either an act of piety or justice." 3. "No: (says his translator,) this abominable docory, oktrine was reserved for those times, when religion ip. 416. was to become an instrument of despotism, or a pretext for the exercise of malevolence, vengeance, and 'pride." 4. And it is evident from all the histories of those reforming times, as well as from their own avowed creeds, that the protestant Reformers not only retain |