To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
Consider now the state and condi∣tion of other Sectaries in point of san∣ctity: First, they have no means to acquire it, whilest they remain as they are: They deny that Priests have power to forgive sins, and consequent∣ly make no use of that Sacrament; their Communion they grant is but bare bread, and consequently it can∣not sanctifie them; for publick wor∣ship,
there is none now in any sect in England: a Psalm is all that is now ex∣tant of publick service amongst them, and that rejected by most; and for private prayer, certainly they spend little time in it, at least they do no∣thing thats comparable to what the RomanCatholicks generally perform; much lesse will they pretend to come neer these in Fasting: In brief, their doctrine is exclusive of works of su∣pererogation, Merit, Mortification, and Satisfaction; how then can it be but destructive of true Sanctity; yea, and salvation: in fine, all the means they pretend to get sanctity by, is faith alone: this medium of faith, the Ro∣man Catholicks have; and besides it, all the other comfortable helps menti∣oned before: Who can now but be afraid of the ones condition, and ad∣mire the other.
Consider secondly, what Saints they have; they will not now surely own that Calender of John for any more; since Father Parsons examination proves it a ridiculous false thing; the chief of their forefathers were Luther,
Calvin, Beza and such like; what lives led they? Scandalous, and exorbitant∣ly bad. Luther himself, ingeniously confesseth, that when he was a Papist, he said Maffe, and that devoutly for many years; that he lived in his Monastery (for he was once an Augu∣stine Friar) punishing his body with Watching, Fasting, and Prayer; by which he followed the counsell and example of our Saviour; that he kept Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience; and that he honour'd the Pope out of meer Conscience: Well, at length, he be∣gun a new Sect; did this make him continue his former piety? Did he in∣crease it? Did he become a Saint? Be∣hold what he did; he casheer'd Fasting, Prayer, Watching, his Vows, his Mo∣nastery and the Pope; and instead of these took a Nun (called Catherine Bore) for his Concubine; and gave himself wholly to Lust, Gluttony, drinking of Wine, and sensuality: What he writ, was conformable to the temper, which these Vices put him in to; and so he persisted to his dying day. Calvin was not onely given to
lust, but to lust against nature, to wit, Sodomy; for which his Shoulder was burnt with a mark of a Lilly at Noyon in France. Beza kept not onely a Con∣cubine, but a Boy also to satisfie his lust; with both which he was so tran∣sported, that he could not forbeare to expresse the same in wanton and scan∣dalous Verses, which are extant a∣mongst his other Works: As for these mens followers and adherents; Lu∣ther himself fayes (upon the Gospel for the first Sunday in Advent) of his; that they were become worser livers, than they were whilest they remained Pa∣pists. Erasmus, in his Epistle to Vultu rius Neocomus, gives the same character of them; and Jacobus Andraeus, a famous Lutheran, in his 4. Sermon upon the 21. of S. Luke, sayes, To the end that all the world may know that they are no Pa∣pists, nor attribute any thing to good works, they do no good works at all; and indeed experience teacheth, that those, who turn from being Papists, do not be∣come Saints, but Sensualists.
Note.