Even were it conceded that the stories of Titus Gates were altogether unworthy of credit, it was no groundless panic that now agitated the nation. Charles, however desti- tute of any fixed principles, had betrayed leanings in the direction of Rome. He was under the influence of the French monarch, who was doing his utmost at the time, by means of an atrocious persecution, to fulfil his marriage-contract with the Infanta of Sjiain, in which it Avas stipulated that the Huguenots should be rooted out of France. A great multitude, as we learn from the following pamphlet, influenced by the court or by the reigning fashion of the day, had passed into the communion of the Romish Church. The Duke of Yoi'k was publicly committed to the interests of the Papacy ; and it was natural to expect, from the bigoted obstinacy of his character, that he would stake even his crown itself in an effort to make his creed again the religion of the State.
Accoi'dingly, both in the Established Church and among the Nonconformists, every exertion was made to rouse a spirit adequate to the emergency, by exposing the eiTors of Popery, and fostering a healthful antipathy to its despotism and superstition. Seve- ral treatises appeared, marked by the brief-spoken earnestness of men in actual conflict. The divines of the Church of England contributed to the discussion in works which leave nothing to be desired in close logic and vigorous statement. Most of these works ran to no great length, and were chiefly such tracts and pamphlets as Pishoi) Gibson has ti'casured up in his " Preservative against Popery." There was'no time to indite such bulky treatises as " Barrow on the Supremacy of the Pope." There would have been less time to read them. The vessel was boarded, and, quitting the heavier ordnance, the crew had to fight hand to hand for the possession of the deck.
The Nonconformists delivered and published their "Morning Exercises against Popery." Their leading divines all took part in the controversy, in productions not so remarkable for the acumen, clearness, and vivacity which adorn the pages of such writers as Stillingfleet,Tillotson, and Tenison; — equal, however, in the resources of learn- ing, real strength of argument, and knowledge of human nature, and superior perhaps in the skill with which divine truth was made to bear on the conscience.
Dr Owen in this crisis wrote several sermons and treatises. In the tract which fol- lows, his aim is to show that the Church of Rome is no safe guide to the enjoyment of implicit certainty in religious convictions ; and that the Scriptui'es, with the promised aid of the Holy Spirit, furnish the sole guidance upon which the awakened soul, in its pursuit of trutli and salvation, must depend. He assigns as a reason for discussing the pre- tended infallibility of Rome, that its wary advocates, accounting this dogma their strong- hold, " declined all particular controversies, and betook themselves to this alone." He reviews the causes by which Popery gains accessions to its ranks : — ignorance of spiritual religion, loose morals, secular interest, strong delusion sent on men that they should believe a lie, and the terrors of persecution. The main part of the treatise is occupied witli nine different grounds on account of which the guidance of the Church of Rome is to be dis- trusted and rejected. All of them deserve serious consideration. • A peculiar shrewdness distingviishes the treatise, occasionally the diction rises into an animation rare with our author, and everywhere the spiritual sagacity is apparent, which gives a crowning value to his views on such a topic as he now handles. — Ed.
PREFACE.
The ensuing discourse was the subject and substance of two sermons preached unto a private congregation. Tlie author of tliem had no design or purpose ever to have made them pubKc. The importunity of many, who judged they might be of use unto others, because they found them so unto themselves, gave occasion unto this publication of them; — yet had they not so prevailed, but that he judged it was neither unmeet for him nor unseasonable for others. " In publico discri- mine omnis homo miles est;" — no man is to be forbidden to bring his bucket to lielp to allay the flames of a raging fire. And it is the pretence of the church of Rome to be the only guide of all Christians in religion which is here examined, — a work which a concurrence of all sorts of circumstances renders seasonable. For as this pretence is the sole foundation of the whole Papacy, with all the power and secular advantages that it hath obtained unto itself, so it is that alone which gives countenance and warranty unto the factors and agents of that church to design and perpetrate such things as are destructive of all that is praiseworthy or desir- able among mankind, and unspeakably scandalous unto Christian religion. Remove the sand or rubbish hereof, and the whole fiibric will dissolve of itself and fall to the ground. This small discourse is an attempt unto that end, whose success is humbly recommended unto the care of God over his church. If there seem to be any severities of expression used towards some of the church of Rome, the reader is to consider that hard things cannot well be represented in soft and pliant words. And if there be nothing of this nature found, but what hath the appearance of severity from the things themselves which are expressed, there is no blamaljle excess. However, the author is one who heartily desires and prays for the out- ward peace and tranquillity of all men in this world, whose princijjles will allow them to live peaceably with others.