A faithful Portrait of Popery: By which it is feen to be The Reverje ^/"Christianity; As it is the Deftrudlion of Morality* Piety, and Civil Liberty. A SERMON Preach'd at St. James's Church, Weftminfter* B Y WILLIAM WARBURTON, M. A Chaplain to his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales. LONDON, Printed for J. and P. Knapton in Ludgate-Strest, MDCCXLV. kPrice Six-Pence] * [ 3 3 uJ/ takes, from thence, Occafion of inftructing them in the Nature of that Chriitian Building which they are to erect on this Foundation ; and, as his laft Labour of Love, brings together, and lays in, all the various Materials proper for fo neceffary a Work. But we (hall have a very wrong, and much too low, Conception of our Apoftle's Skill, if we confider thefe but as Materials rudely thrown together without Art or Choice -, and ftand- A 2 ing 891393 4] ing in need of other Hands to range them in that Architectonic Order wherein they are to be employed. For on a careful Survey it will lie found, that no other than that Spirit which directed the Workmen of the Old Tabernacle could give fo artful a Difpoiition to the Ma- terials of this new Building not made with Hands } ivhofe Maker and Builder is God. He hath marked out the Foundation, ftrengthened the Balis, proportioned the Mem- bers, adorned the Superitru&ure, and crowned the Whole with the richeft of Materials ; and all this with fuch Juflice of Science, Subli- mity of Thought, and Force of Genius, that every foregoing Virtue gives Stability to the following; and every following imparts Per- fection to that which went before: Where the three Orders of this heavenly Ai chite&ure, the Human, the JDivine, and Social Virtues, are fo exquifitely difpofed, that the Human and Social have their proper Strengths and Graces heightened and fupported by the com- mon Connexion of the Divine : Where every thing, in fhort, concurs, in its proper Station, for the perfecting of the Saints, jor the edifying ^ of the Body ofChrift. In Conformity to the Practice of human Inftructors, who deliver it as a Principle to their Difciples, that no considerable Advance is to be made in Science without much La- bour, our Holy Artift introduces his Precepts with this Preliminary .giving all dili- gence. gence. And if this be neceffary in civil Matters, where nothing oppofes the Progrefs towards Perfection but the Length of Art and the Shortnefs of Life ; with how great Reafon are we here enjoined Diligence, where, befides thofe Difcouragements, we have numerous Enemies within us under the Difguife of Friends, the confederated Paffions, to retard our Progrefs ; and Devils, and evil Men without, to flop us as we prefs forward in the Career of Virtue? But the NecefTity of this Diligence will be better feen in the Sequel of this Difcourle, where we fliew the Care and Circumfpeclion required in the Cultivation of every Chriftian Virtue, here recommended, to prevent its languiihing by Defect, or luxuriating by Excefs. Our Apoftle, as a wife Mafer- Builder, chufes for his Foundation that Rock on which his Lord had promifed him to build bis Church j Add to your faith . as di reeled by the fame Divine Spirit with his Fellow-Labourer St. Paul, who bids every Man take heed how he bmldeth ; for other Foun- dation can no Man lay than that is laid, which is fefits Chrijl. But the Simplicity and Clearnefs of the DoBrine of Faith could not fecure it, even in the apoflolic Times, from being perverted to counte- [*] countenance the moil fatal Error concerning its Nature and Efficacy j While it was miftaken to be alone fufficient to make Man acceptable to his Maker, and, without good Works^ to en- title him to the Rewards of the Gofpel-Cove- nant. To explain the original and fundamen- tal Caufes of this Error, and to fhew how the perfect Novelty of the Doctrine of Faith the Method the Holy Spirit directed the Apo- ftles to ufe in the Propagation of the Gofpel tnd the illuftrious Marks of that Spirit, which then accompanied the Profefiion of the Faith, - to {hew, I fay, how all thefe accidentally contributed to fupport this Error, is befide the Bounds and Purppfe of the prefent Dif- courfe. It fhall fuffice to obferve, that this danger- ous Extravagance, which hath continued more or lefs, to infect all Ages of the Chriftian Church, fpread immediately fo fwift and wide, ander Cover of that Divine Truth, that a Man is jujlified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law, that the Apoftolic Writers found it necefiary frequently and formally to op- pofe and confute it. And on this Account St. Peters firft Precept enjoins us to add or build our Virtue upon Faith. Add to your Faith virtue. From henceforth Faith, which, while it was flngle and folitary, remained dead, as the facred Writers exprefs it, being thus cloathed upon I>3 upon by Virtue, becomes animated, and pro- ductive of the Fruits of Immortality. A reciprocal Advantage Virtue receives from Faith, on which Virtue is thus built: For we fhall find thefe Advantages to be all the way reciprocal. The Weaknefi of unguided Reafon, and the Violence of ill-balanced Pac- tions, had reduced moral Virtue, in the Pagan World, to fo fTiadowy and precarious an. Ex- istence, that the wifeft Teachers of it could not forbear lamenting its helplefs Condition, and owning that nothing but a Revelation from fJeaven could realize and fopport it. They miftook the true Foundation of Mo- rality; fome placing it in the native Excel- lence of Virtue, others in the exterior Benefits, of whjch it is productive. They were left deftitute, and expofed to the free Rage of un- governed Paflfons, without Aid, and with un- certain Profpect of Reward. But it was the Difpenfation of Faith, which discovered that the true Foundation of Mo- rality was Compliance to the Will of our Crca^ tor and Sovereign Lord. It was Faith which enabled us to furmount all the Oppoiition- of the Appetites, by holding out to us an in- finite Reward, which the Afliftance of the Holy Spirit has placed within our Reach. Thus, to ufe the Words of the Apoftle Jude, Building up our/elves on our mojl holy Faith, praying in the Holy Gho/l, keeping our/ehes in the [8] the Love of God, we may look for the Mercy of our Lord J ejus Chri/l unto eternal Life. But though Virtue be here enjoined, and in all the Preachings of our blefTed Saviour, and in all the Writings of his Apoitles, inceflantly repeated and inforced ; yet, if we expect to find in them any regular or methodick Body of Morality, we mail be much miftaken with regard to this. The New Teflament, all along, refers us to another Guide. For God having before revealed the whole Doctrine of Mora- lity by the Religion of Nature, and none of God's Difpenfations contradicting another, it was enough for the firfr. Teachers of Chrifti- anity, when they preached up Virtue, to re- fer their Followers for Particulars, to what natural Religion taught concerning it. This being fo, and that the great Pandect of the Law of Nature is to be fearched and ftu- died, in order to attain a perfect Knowledge of moral Duty, there is need of much Pains and Exercife of Mind to learn that Virtue we are here enjoined to build upon Faith. For though Nature hath ftamped fo itrongly the firfl Prin- ciples of moral Duty in the Breafts of all Men, that even a kind of friendly Inftinct will not fuffer us to be totally ignorant of them} yet the numerous Deductions, from thofe firft Principles, of what is fit and right, in every Circumftance of Life, being to be collected by the fetting together, comparing, and forting our Ideas, through all the various Combi- Combinations of moral Complexities, k re- quires, even with the Afiiitance of Holy Writ, much Reflexion and Habitude ; and without that Afliftance, is a Ta(k utterly unfurmount- able, as the Experience of all Ages hath [hewn us. Scripture then conftantly referring to the Law oi Nature, to one much a Stranger to that Law what can refult from his Study of the Scriptures, if modeft, but Doubt and Un- certainty ; if vain and preluming, and if, at the fame time, (which has too often happened) a Teacher of others by ProfefTion, but Mif- takes and Errors, the fatal Errors of Superfti- tion and Fanaticifm ? or doubtlefs to an Ig- norance of natural Religion muft be afcribed the Extravagancies to which fo many Sedts and Parties have, in their feveral Turns, been obnoxious. But much of thefe Mifchiefs had been avoided, had Men duly attended to the Words of our Apolile : Who with this Defign gave us the next Precept of my Text. Add, fays he, tO VirtUC K N OWL EDGE ; or that Wifdom, which is the Refult of the Study of Nature in the Purfuit of Truth. I. And that you may fee with how prophetic, as well as juft, a Spirit St. Peter was here directed, I fliall flop a Moment to hold you B out [ <>] out a Picture of Virtue unattended with that Knowledge ; copied from no obfcure or difcre- dited Originals ; 'but from fuch whole Lives are preached up for Examples, and their Deaths commemorated with divine Honours ; fuch as have Shrines and Altars dedicated to their Worfhip ; and Vows and Petitions offered up to their Divinity j in one Word, Popish Saints. To underfland this Matter right, we muft confider, that Virtue confifts in acting agree- ably to thofe Relations, in which we ftand to our common Humanity, our Fellow- Creatures, and our Creator. For as Religion, in the Iargeft Senfe of the Word, includes the Duty we owe ourfelf and Neighbour; fo Morality, in its larger Senfe, includes the Obfervance of that Relation we {land in towards God. And when the Practice refpects Man, it is called Virtue ; when it refpects God, it is Piety. Thefe Relations are commonly diiiinguifhed into the human, the foetal, and the divine Virtues : The End and Delign of all which is to perfect Man's Nature, 1. By retraining, regulating, and directing the private and feUiih Appetites, accord- ing to the Dictates of Reafon. 2. By cultivating, improving, and enlarg- ing the focial Pailions and Affections, and em- ploying them in the Service of our Species, according to the Di elates of Charity. 3- % [] 3 By exercifing our Underftandings in the Contemplation of the firft Caufe, and by own- ing our Relation to him in fuitable Acts of rational Worfhip, in order to unite us to our fupreme Good, according to the Dictates of Grace. Now when, in the Church of Rome, Know- ledge came to be eiteemed of no Ule to im- prove or direct Virtue > but that Ignorance was thought as well the Mother of all other Virtues, as of Devotion : When the Law of Nature came to be fhunned as a dangerous and fallacious Guide - y and Faith, traditional, not fcnptural, had ufurped its Province of interpreting Gojpel-righteoujhel's ; then it was, that thefe bright Examples of a new kind of Virtue appeared amongft them, in a barbarous Rabble of Saints j who under the common Name of Religious, and on Pretence of a more fublime and elevated Virtue, than Natu- ral Religion taught, ran into the molt horrid Excefles of Fanaticism and Superftition. For i. Jnftead of regulating the felbm Appe- tites they laboured all they could to eradicate and deftroy them, as Tilings, even in their Nature, vicious , as the gracelefs Furniture of the old Man with his Affections and Lujls. All was difmal and dark about them : Inordinate Watchings, excruciating Difciplines, attenu- ating Labours : Thefe, aggravated by Hunger, Thirft, and Nakednefs, were the befl Means thefe poor millaken Followers of him, who B 2 laid [ "I ] faid his Yoke was eafy and his Burthen light \ could think or to regulate the ielfifh Paflions. 'Till the Body, deprived of every kind of Good, which the gracious Hand of Provi- dence hath lb largely poured out for the Solace of its Creatures, gave way and yielded to the Fury of this fanatic Penitence ; while he was efteemed the greateft Saint who was the moil expeditious Suicide. 2. In (lead of improving and enlarging the focial AfFeelions, thefe Saints fled into Caves and Defarts, or (hut themfelves up for Life in the Duft and Silence of a Cloifter. Where, to unfit them for ferving their Friends and Families, they diverted themfelves of their PofTeiiions, to give to pious U/es; that is. to fupport the Sloth of lazy Mendicants, or the Luxury of debauched Churchmen : To unfit themfelves for Submiffion to the Civil Magi- ftrate, they entered into treafonable Engage- ments of unlimited Obedience to their fpiritual Superiors : To unfit themfelves for ferving their Country or Mankind, they took Vows of voluntary Poverty, and renounced all fecular Employments : And laftly, as much as in them lay, to make War againfr. the very Being of their Species, they unnaturally devoted them- felves to a fingle Life, in blafphemous Opposi- tion to that firfr. great Command and Blefling, increafe and multiply. 3. Laftly, inftead of ufing Reafon in the Offices q[ Devotion, to attain the fupreme Good C 3] Good, an Union with the Deity ; by crediting the Imagination, they have often thrown them- felves, with extatic Tranfports, into the Arms of the Demon. While, in the Place of inter- nal Acts of lober Meditation, nothing was (ecn but Trances, Raptures, and Vifions ; nothing heard but Predictions, Prophecies, and Reve- lations: in the Place of external Acts of rational Wor(hip, they celebrated the Holy Offices with gay and childiih Oi naments, with barbarous and fuperftitious Rites, and with bale and iervile Proftrations. And the fa- vourite ObjeBs of their Worfhip were in all refpects agreeable to the Form, either the ido- latrous Adoration of a confecrated Wafer, or of thofj vet Ids fubftantial Divinities, which have their Exigence only in a lying Le- gend. You have here a faithful Picture of Popilh Virtue ftript of Knowledge. From whence you may collect: how miferable a Creature Man grows, when he throws alide his Rea/on, the frft great Gift of Heaven, in order to follow the falle Lights, that Cuftom, Fancy, or the Pallions have ftuck up in his Bread ; and how equally miferable that State mult be, which fupports a Religion, where fonorance kith divcftc d Virtue of ail its Charms, poiioiKd all ks Health, and mule it as de- flructive to Societv, as barefaced open Vice. J lence [ i4] Hence have you feen, by a terrible Example, the Mifchiefs done by Ignorance to Virtue ; of how much Service Knowledge is to it, may be concluded by yourfelves. We now proceed to (hew the reciprocal Ser- vice Virtue does to Knowledge. Knowledge is the Attainment and Perception of Truth ; and uj'ejul Knowledge the Attainment and Percepuon of thofe Truths, which tend to f hc perfecting our Nature. But the inordinate PafTions, operating averfely to fuch Truths, cloud and d ken the Understanding, fo as to miflead us even from thofe of the moil eafy Difcovery, and of the highefl: Importance to be known. Again, to acquire a competent Share of Know- ledge we muft, as I have faid, give all Dili- gence in the Purfuit of Truth throughout her Receffes: But it is only the Plcafure of the Purch'afe, which can heartily engage us in the Chafe : And that Pleafure can arife from no- thing but the Lovelinefs of the Object. Now while Vice ufurps the Heart, Truth, her moral Enemy, will be a neglected Guelt. But when Virtue has affumed her Seat, the Clouds of Error will difperfe, and a PafTion for Truth brighten and inflame the Underffanding. For Truth and Virtue are twin-born Sillers j and, with a Name of Diftinction, participate of one common Nature, Truth being fpeculative Vir- tue, and Virtue only practical Truth. And now the Understanding makes a free Pro'jreis in Knowledge, as having no headflrong Ap- petites .[ If ] petites to miflead it, or earthly Paffions to damp its Affection. From henceforth, the only Danger is from the Quarter oppofite ; that is, left the Mind's ardent Love of Truth fhould engage it in Ab- ftractions, and carry it beyond the Limits of thofe Truths, which are here given us for our Contemplation. In order to apprehend this Danger, we are to take notice, that, of the immenfe intel- lectual Syftem, an extremely fmall Portion lies really within our Reach; the infinitely larger Part refiding near the Throne of the Al- mighty, wrapp'd up in awful and tremendous Darknefs. The Reafon why fo much is kept out of Sight, or fet above the Mind's Compre- henfion, which by the unwearied Vigour of its Operations feems naturally capable of a much wider Grafp, appears to be, left, in this earthly Condition, the Mind's Intention fhould become diftracted by too great Variety of Ideas ; or that it fhould make a wrong Choice, and puriue Truths of Ids prefent Im- portance too far, to the Neglect of thofe more neceifary for its Improvement in this proba- tionary Station. This Reafon is much fupported by ob- ferving, that in the enlightened Part of the in- tellectual World, nay even in thofe cleareit and b.iujiteifc Portions of it, where lull Science is to be ha.il, Speculations, pufhed bey olid [ I] beyond a certain Point, that Point, where Ufe is reasonably fuppofed to end, and mere Curiofity to begin, conclude in Darknels, Extravagance, and Contradiction. The not attending to this Reafon feems to have been the very thing, which has given Birth, and fo long Continuance, to Scepti- cism. For Men feeing this to be the IrTue of the cleared Principles, when purfued to an intemperate Length, concluded, againff, their Senfes, that the Fountain was no purer than the remoteff. Streams. When both Reafon and Experience might have taught them, that the Progrefs from Light to Darknefs was not the natural Condition of Tilings, but the ar- bitrary Decree of infinite VVifdom and Mercy, which impofed this Barrier to the Extrava- gances of its giddy, lawlefs Creature. But however this be, certain it is that Men, railed and heated in the Purfuit of Knowledge, have been always apt to run into the boundicis Regions of Chimera's. Where, tho' loft and bewildet'd, yet, if of warm Imaginations, in- flamed with the Ambition of Inventors, they have taken more Delight in thole obfeure and fhadowy Paths, than any fober follower of Truth, within the Limies of open Day and Nature. Now thefe Extravagancies, fo taking in themielves, and (o miiehievous in their Con- fcqueivcs, proceeding from a Want of Mo- dcity, and due Coniciouincis of the narrow Limits t I7 J Limits of the human Under (landing, St. PrtVr, in his next Precept, with admirable Skill, reltrains. Add, fays he, to Knowledge, temperance; that is, Sobriety, Moderation, Continence, in the Purfait of Truth. For as Virtue, without Knowledge, falls into all kind of Fanatici/m in Practice; fo Knowledge, without Temperance^ leads to all kind of Herefy in Opinion. St. Paul obferved, even in his Time, the Seeds of intemperate Knowledge begin to fpring up and ipread arb'dhgfl his Converts, and there- fore cautions them agrdnft vdin Pbilo/bphy and a Knowledge that pvffetb up. But this fo de- formed and laid waite the Chriftian Church in After-time?, tihat the new Earth feem'd, for many Ages, to be under a fecond Curje of bringing forth nothing but Thorns and Thijlles ; fo much more fevere than the firjl, that thefe Delicacies were not to be produced without much Labour, and Sweat of the Brow. II. Here again the Roman Church affords us a fad Example of the Mifchiefs of intempe- rate Knowledge: For tho', as we obferved before, there was great Scarcity of true Know- ledge to direct their Virtue, they abounded in J of j e Knowledge to corrupt their Faith: Tho' they refilled to make the Religion of Nature the Interpreter of Gofpel-righteoitfnefs , they C fandli- [ ' ] fanctified the vain philosophy of the Greeks a to explain juftijying Faith. We have feen what fort of Saints the Church of Rome adores : Let us now fee what kind of Doctors (he pins her Faith upon. As their Devout retired to their Cloifters to deform Virtue, fo their Learned affembled in their Schools to corrupt Faith. Where mif- taking Theology, which is a Science of Prac- tice, for a Science of Speculation, Knowledge, which is only the Means, they took to be the End of Religion j and as that, which is the End of any thing, cannot be too much cul- tivated, they purfued Knowledge with fuch /- temperate Rage, that, as if Religion was only a Trial of Skill, and the Rewards of it to be adjudged to the beffc Difputant, they fpent their whole Lives in agitating and lubtilizing Queftions of Faith: Abundantly happy if, with all their Toil, they could at length ob- tain the never-fading Titles of Doctors profound, irrejragable, Juki/, and Jeraphic. Theie, un- der the reverend Name of School- men, long monopolifed the Manufactory of Faith; and wove their Cobwebs thin and dark for the Hangings of the Sanctuary. To fuch then, you will eafily believe, the Apojlle's Creed foon became too clear and um- ple. They wanted one that would afford eter- nal Matter for Difpute and Wrangle. So, a The Philofophy of A:\f..:L being the Foundation of School Pivinty. from [ '?] from the Article of Mary the Virgin, they in- vented one of Mary the Godde/s : From the Article of Chrijl once offered on the Crofs for our Redemption, they fpun out a daily Sacrifice \ and the portentous Idea of a Tranfubjlantiation : From his Defcent into Hell they deduced the Fable of Purgatory : From Beliej in the Holy Catholic Church, the blafphemous Tenet of the Pope's Infallibility : From the Communion of Saints, the idolatrous WorflAp of dead Men : And from the Forgivenefs of Sins, the gainful Trade of auricular Confefjion, and human Ab- folution. But none of thefe itrange Dofbines being to be found in Scripture, they were forced to call in the Aid of 'Tradition to flrengthen the feeble Arguments of School-fubtilties. And Tradition drawing at its Heels a thoufand other beggarly Errors, which were now all to be fupported and maintained j this gave Life to an After-birth of Herefies, and frefli Employ- ment for the Fofter- fathers of the Schools. So that at length the true Foundation, the fimple Faith in Jesus the Messiah was loft and forgotten, and lay, for many Ages, buried un- der two deformed Heaps of Rr.bbim, school- divinity and tradition ; over each of which, like the /Ediles in ancient ROME, a venerable Magiflrate prefided, 'That called the Majicr of the Sums, and This of the Sentences '. '? Ihoma: Jjuinas, and Peter Lombmt. C 2 [.-IP]- At laft, in God's good Time, this Precept pf adding Temperance to Knowledge began to operate on honeit Minds; and the Truth, which flamed out from the well-regulated La- bours of fuch, foon burnt up and confumed this precious Superllru&ure of Wood, Hay, and Stubbie. When the true Faith, like tried Sil- ver, appeared again in its native Purity and Candour. In this Condition we received it from our Fathers. So iacred a Depofite let us religioufly preferve, and with the fame pious Care trunfmit to our Pofterity : Having always in Mind that we are built upon the Foundation of the Apoftles and Prophets, (not the Ma/ters of the Sums and Sentences, or their Succefjors) Jefus (ukrijl him/elf being the chief Co-ncr-ftone. The avoiding thefe Evils -hen is the Ad- vantage which Knew/edge teccives from tem- perance. A reciproctii Ad van ^;e 'Temperance receives from Knowledge : For temperance b- :;g nothing bat Abftinence from all vilioiiuiy P r- fuits, and all rafh Judgment, out of a Senfe and Conviction of the Weukncfs of human Underftanding, was *'/ no: ton n Jed upon Knowledge, would be in Diinger oi d ^cue- rating into a (lothful Scepticiifn, a to'-.l Un- certainty of all things, from a fi*ru - : ; Exa- mination of the moil obvious ; a fat; 1 cp in concluding that Truth was not to b I at all, from being too foon weary of J:e S. arch. A Condition which, we experience, has be- fallen, and mult, unavoidably, befal thofe, whofe [ i 3 whofe Temperance is not founded on Knowledge. But being thus fecured, 'Temperance preferves. a vigorous, as well as fober Courfe: For the regular Reftraint, that it impofes on the Mind, hinders not the Mind from the moil: active Exercife of its Faculties, but only confines it to the Objects fitted for its Contemplation. We have obferved, that the Reafonablenefs of the Practice of Temperance arifes from our Senfe of the Weaknefs of human Understand- ing. But this Senfe mould not only difpofe us to be moderate in our own Opinions, but to be candid and charitable with regard to thofe of others: And till Temperance hath done this, it's per feci IVork, it is un uniform and partial. To render it therefore compleat, St. Peter, in his next Precept, injoins us to add to^ Temperance , patience; that is, Long- filtering, and bearing with the Contradiction of others". This is indeed the natural Coniequence of a perfect Temperance. For having experienced, in our own Cafe, how infeniibly Errors infmuate themfelves into a T'he Original is .'ttvx t,ia, v hch may feeni to he the nioie proper Word for the Senfe f give to Patience, appears to me to lie this The Church, at the Time of writing this Epiflit, ua, in a fubjeft and dittrefied Condition, not in a flou- rifhing rnd governing one. And (:-./?, i the Patience of thofe in Subjeftion, a? fixxri$vu.'v if the Patience oftho.e in Authority, Bef'c!?i. t'-ro >cri in the Nenv Te/i anient g<- n. rally ligniriesa Patience attended with Mope a-u. Expectation c: belter. And that Senfe 1 make to be required here. the [ 3 the Mind 3 how plaufibly they afiume the Air of Truth, when called to account j how ob- ftinately they maintain their Ground, when now become fufpected ; and what Labour is required to difpoffefs them, even after they are laid open and expofed ; having experienced, I fay, all this, we fhall be well inclined to bear with Patience the Contradiction of our erring Brother. We (hall then preferve for him the fame fraternal Kindnefs, we had before he went aftray ; and (hall not fufFer his being of another Church, or Seel:, or Party, or any thing but an unchriftian Life, to leifen that Affection ; but with Temperance and Patience wait the fecond Coming of the Mefliah toy?- par ate the Tares from the Wheat. III. The Want of which Virtues, amongft thofe, who yet dare to call themfelves the Followers of the Lamb, hath brought more Defolation on the Chriitian Church, than all the Perfe- ctions of Pagan Emperors, or the Eruptions of Northern Barbarians: Lefs Pagan, and lefs. Barbarian, than the Author of the Principle of Intolerance, who pretending to lit in the Chair of him, who here enjoins us to add Patience to Temperance, and calling himfclf the Vicar of Chr'ift, hath not been afhamed to make him the Pattern of his Conduct, who was an Jlccufer of his Brethren, and a Murderer from the Beginning. The [ *3 1 The Chriftian Church, in its Infancy, breath-, ed nothing but Concord, Lovej and Charity. It had then a Spirit as pure, and innocent, as the State of Childhood itfelf. The holy Bre- thren were, in Malice ', Children \ howbeit, in Under/landing, that is, in rational Faith, in vigorous Virtue, and in fober Knowledge, they were Men. And thus was the new Jerufalem built like a City, that is at Unity in itjelf. No Difputes, no Strife, no Emulation, but who fhould moil excel in Works of Charity and Piety. But, alas ! this glorious rifing of the Gofpel, which came with Healing in its Wings , and promifed the Arrival of that long-wifhed-for Day of everla fling Peace, was of afudden over- caft, and nothing but Tempefts and Storms fucceeded. For our evil Genius, the Prince cf the Air, was early at work to obfeure and deface the promifed Triumphs of the Sun of Righteoujnejs. Nor was the Engine he em- ployed to defeat Man's Reflcration, different from that, with which he procured his Fall: It was, full, Knowledge without its Regulator, Temperance. For when now the Schools, by obtruding on the World a Syftem of Abfurdities under the Name of Religion, had produced Schifms and DifTentions; and the Cloister?, by per- fecting their Saints in a four Inhumanity and holy Pride, had railed a Spirit impatient of Contradiction (and the Papal Hiftory informs c *4 i us that their learned ft Doctors Were the mod unintelligible, and their holieil Saints the leaft forbearing^) then it was that their Church, impregnated with theie Mifchiefs, brought forth the Fury, Persecution. Of all the Myjleries of Iniquity the Science of Perfecution is the fooneft learnt and eafieit reduced to Practice : On which account it has had its Proficients, that were fit for nothing elfe, in every Sect and Party : But it is no where fo compendioufly taught as in the Roman Breviary. And when that Church had got a proper Subject: whereon to practice, we ice how fpeedily it brought this Science to Perfection* For no fooner was there found a People who refufld to receive the Mark of the Beafly that is, to own the Pope for an infallible Judge, but they felt him to their Colt an infallible Executioner. For now the Church and Schools had besot between them that Mafterpiece of their Ecclefiaf Heal Policy, the I n qjlj isition, an infernal Butchery under the Name of the holy Ojfice, where the Procefs is as directly oppofite to the Law of Nations, as the horrid Sentence that follows, is to all the Precepts of the Gofpel. But, (Holy Jefus!) mould I relate the Tricks, the Treacheries, the Frauds, the Ra- pines, the Delays, the Horrors of Imprison- ment, the Tortures of the Rack, the Bloodfhed, the Murders practifed there, Murders committed with fo exquifite a Malice, that Body, Soul, and and Reputation are intended to fall a Sacrifice at once, mould I, I fay, but reprefent thefe Things to yon in their native Colours, I am afraid that your Indignation would endanger that Heaven-born Charity, which it is my Aim to recommend to you even here, and here chiefly, where I am pointing out the enormous Evils that are occafioned by the Exclusion of her blefTed Influence. For though I have ex- prefTed myfelf with the free Refcntment of a Man who regards Popery as not only the Cor- ruption of tnie Religion, but an Infult on the Sen/e, and an Invaiion on the Liberties of Man- kind ; yet would I carefully endeavour to keep within the Bounds of that Truth and Charity which conllitute the Character of a Minifter of the Gofpel. I (hall therefore draw a Veil over this un- happy Scene, that gives fo fatal a Wound to the Integrity of the ChrifKan Name, and in- fixes fo Lilting a Difgrace even on our common Nature. Content to have given you one gene- ral View of the Papal Religion, which, under the Name of a Religion, h indeed no other than an impious Farce. I have fhewn you, in their Order, the three slcls of which it confiib: The fa ft. played by their Saints, and their Subject, Fanatic Virtue : The fecond by their DocJors, and their unintelligible Faith : The third by their Priejls, and the antichrif- tian Difcipline of Racks and Gibbets. I have (hewn you like wife the Connexion thefe D three [ ^ ] three farts have on one another, and the na- tural Tendency of the two nrft to produce the dreadful Cataflrophe of the third. Where Vir- tue ftript of Humanity, and Faith forfook of Reafcn, turn Charity into bitter Zeal, and Piety into Perfecution. Such a View {hould teach us to fet a juft Value on our own happy Conftitution, where Go/pel- light and Civil Liberty go Hand in Hand. And be you well allured that thefe two BlefT- ings muff (land or 11 together : That Civil Slavery will make room for Popifh Cruelty j and that Popifh Supcrftition will fupport a Tyrant in trampling on our Laws. For the Politician knows that the fureft Way of fixing Slavery is to tie it on the Confciences of Men : And the Pried has experienced, that the Mind is never fo tame and lervile, to fubmifs in fwallowing Contradictions, as when the Body is already broke and humbled by the Stroke of Tyranny. Thus hath the Apoftle (hewn us that the Security againif. the Evils of DifTention and In- tolerance are temperance and Patience ; which teach us to feel our own Weaknefs, and to bear with that of others. But here again the Infirmity of our common Nature betrays itfelf, and Tern- perance and Patience % excellent and divine as they are, become fubject to the general Fate of human Virtues, grow degenerate and de- praved. Thus too often Moderation and To- lerance fink into Careleflneis and Indifference, a fatal { 27 ] a fatal Indifference for all Truth and all Reli-r gion. That Men, and even Churches are but too apt to fall into that remifs and lukewarm State, for which, the holy Spirit denounced fo fevere a Judgement on the Laodiceans, we have melancholy Proof. Nor is fuch a Dege- neracy hard to be conceived. For when the corrofive Ferment of bitter Zeal, which defo- Jates Mankind under a pretended Concern for the Glory of God, has, by the Infufion of the cool and heavenly Dew of Moderation, been brought to a gentle Temperature ; the Mind, become tired and ailiamed of its late tumultu- ous Diforders, is apt to fink into the other Ex- treme, and grow languid and unactive. To provide therefore againft this Defect is the De- fign of our Apoflle's next Precept, which bids us add to Patience, Godliness. And then at the fame time that we preferve the greateft Moderation towards others, we fhall keep alive the holy Fire of fpotlefs Zeal in ourfclves. For by Gcd/ine/s is meant the warm and affectionate Difcharge of all the Ducies of Divine Adoration, whether in pub- lic Oliices, or private Meditation. With exquifite Skill likewife hath our A- poftle railed thisfecond Order of Chriftian Ar- chitecture, Godlinefs, or the divine Virtue, on the former, namely, the human. For, by this Means, Godline/s cannot degenerate, as it did in the Chur.ch of Rome, from not obferr- D 2 J5S ANGELES