2. Abhor popery, for it is a bloody religion. Rev. xvii. 6. *' And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and *' with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." The pope writes his law in blood, wherever he erects his throne ; he is the son of per- dition in an active, as well as in a passive sense. Poor England hath had experience of popish cruelty, and so hath Ireland too. In one of whose provinces I'^iO^OQO protestants were massacred by them in the late rebellion. Popish cruelty spares none, pities none ; how have protestants been compelled, by tortures, to discover their dearest relations ! wives (being first defiled) have been forced to give the death's wound to their dear husbands, bloody villains put- ting the sword into their hands, and guiding them in the execu- tion ; godly Christians compelled to carry faggots, to burn their own faithful pastors : Children of eight years old whipt to death for religion : Yea, such hath been tiieir rage against the sincere professors of the truth, that beyond all example of malice, {iov pas^ eitur in vivos Uvo?', post fata qulescit,) they have not only hunted after the living, but violated the graves, and burnt the bones of dead saints: Thus they dealt with Bucer, Fagius, WicklifFe, &c. O England ! what cause hast thou to bless the Lord, for so long a respite from popish cruelty ! Thine own histories may sufficiently inform thee what rivers of precious blood have streamed through thee. What flames of martyrdom have raged within thy cities and villages, when these ravenous wolves, and bloody tygers, were let loose to ravage in all thy borders ? And what cause hast thou to tremble at the first approaches of these trusculent foes, whose rage is boiled up to a greater height than ever ! And should they return upon thee again, (which heaven prevent) they would exceed all former examples of cruelty. Poor England ! those knives which lately providence put in thine hands, were intended to be sheathed in thy bowels. Art thou able to endure such another bout as the last age did.? Hear how one of these faithful watchmen* (now out of their reach) expostulated upon the same account with thee.
' Can you (saith he) endure to see a stranger to lord it in your
* habitations, and your dwellings ? To cast you out ? For your
* pleasant and well-tilled fields to be made a prey ? For you to sow,
* and another to reap "^ Impias has segetas^ &c. For the delicate
^ woman, upon wliom tlic wind must not blow, tliat scarce dare ' venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for tendcr- ' ness, to be exposed to the lusts and cruelty of an enemy ; to be ' glad to fly away naked, to prolong a miserable life, which would ' gladly be parted with for death, were it not lor fear of the ex- ' change? For the tender mother to look upon the child of her ^ womb, and consider. Must this child, in whom I have placed
* the hopes of mine age, (for omnis in Ascanio chari .stat cnra paren^ ' tis^) he that hath been so tenderly bred up, must he fall into the
* rough hands of a bloody soldier, skilful to destroy ? It had been ' well for me, if God had given me a miscarrying womb, and dry ' breasts, rather than to bring forth children unto murderers. Or ' if you could be safe, how could you endure to see the evil that *■ shall come upon your people, and the destruction of your kin- ' dred ? I do not rhetorize and fawn to draw affection, your bre-» ' thren are a sad comment upon what I have spoken, and Ireland ' the stage upon which you may see this tragedy acted before your ' eyes."*
3. O hate popery : for it is not only a bloody, but a blasphe- mous religion. If we be Christians indeed, the dishonour of God's name should affect us more than the shedding of the warmest blood in our veins ; this scarlet whore is " full of the names of " blasphemy,'"* Rev. xvii. 3. Popery is a mere rhapsody of blas^ phemies : Luther * hath gathered several of their blasphemous doctrines out of their own canons to our hands, of which let a few suffice: (1.) Papa est sui, <SfC. (i. e.) The pope and his are not bound to be subject and obedient to the commands of God. (2.) Sole significari, S^-c. (i. e.) By the sun is signified the papal, and by the moori the imperial or secular power in the Christian commoiu wealth. (^3.) Papam habere in scrinio pectoris sni^ S^c. (i. e.) That all laws are in the coffer of the pope's breast ; and full power over all laws. (4.) Si papa suce, (^c. (i. e.) If the pope be so negligent of his own salvation, so negligent and remiss in office, that he should draw innumerable multitudes to hell with him, to be there ever tormented ; yet may no mortal man reprove him of any fault in so doing. (5.) Papam habere protestatem, ^c. (i. e.) The pope hath power to commute and dissolve vows made to God, and then if any man defer to pay his vows according to God's command, he is not held guilty, (o.) Quod non Papa a Scriptura &,-£. (i. e.) That the pope hath not his authority from the scriptures, but the scriptures from the pope. (7.) Summa summarum^ 4'6'. (i. e.) The sum of all their canonical law is this, that the pope is a god in the earth, superior to all coelestial, terrestrial, spiritual and secular per-
* 2 Tom, Over. Luth. Lat. p. 125.
580 TIDINGS FRGM ROME ; 01^
sons ; that all things are his, and none may say unto him, What dost thou ? I am loth to oiFend Christian ears with more of their blasphemous tenets ; this is enough to turn the stomachs of Chris- tians with indignation against them.
4. It is a most uncomfortable religion ; it is impossible to get or keep true peace of conscience in that way, Rev. ix. 5, 6. " And " their toraient was as the torment of a scorpion when he sraiteth *^ a man ; and in those days shall men seek death, and shall not " find it, but death shall flee from them ;'' that is, (saith a wor- thy divine) the consciences of poor sinners being stung with guilt and horror of sin, and finding no satisfaction nor remedy in their way, shall be endlessly perplexed and tortured w^ith inward trou- bles of spirit, which are like the stinging of a scorpion ; so that they shall cliuse death rather than life : For do but consider, (1.) They are enemies to free grace and all gospel preaching. Gardi- ner w^ould not have tltis gap of free grace opened to the people, ^ee (saith * Contzen a Jesuit) the fruit of protestantism, and their gos^ 2)el-preaching. (2.) Tliey deprive the people of the scriptures, where- in are treasured up all the cordials and soul-reviving comforts of a poor distressed sinner : " If thy law (saith David) had not been my '' delight, I should have perished in my affliction ;""' and again, '' This is my comfort in my affliction, thy word hath quickened '' me," Psal. cxix. (3.) They lay the stress of their hopes of sal- vation (as you have heard) upon their own merits, and the merits of others like themselves ; so that all the comforts they build upon that foundation must needs be loose and delusory things : Debile