292, Of thegreat Error, Sin and Danger fore follow peacewith all, Heb. io. r4. At leaft make Confcier calumniating and flandering the worft. 5. And as to the texts that you referr to, I'tvifî you better to lady them, and you will find that theywere not fpoken of the Papifs then, but of the Hereracks or Sectaries of that age : It was the lvicblaitans and fuchothers that are likened to fezehel, as the text Iheweth you : And it was filch as they, called Carpocratians, and Gnoflicks thatdenyed or fubvërted the faith which Chriftians were earneftly to contend for : Andwe would have ydt zealoufly defend Chrifianity, without Lukewarmnefs : but not to abufe theworld fo much, as to feign all your dreams or Opinions to be Chriftia_ nityor the faith. And fo I fill fay that though Popery muff be faithfully rejeéted, yet your over-doing and mifaking way of oppofition to it, endangereth the peoples fouls, by tempting them into faétious wrath and unrighteous ca- lumny, and defiroying thatLove and common juftice which is due to Papifts themfelves, and much more to thole Proteftants whom you ignorantly ca- lumniate. 7. Yea I add, that hereby you make falle glaffes for the people to fee their own facesin, and cheat poor fouls, with a carnal fort of Religion and zeal, as if it werethat whichis true and faving. Men are loth to know thatthey areindeed unholy : and therefore will be pretending to fome kind of Religion to cherifh their prefumption, for want offounder comfort : And O howmany thoufandsare there that think that they are Godlyperfons, be- caufe they can rife upin thedark with confident reproach againft this or that opinion or practice as coming too near to Popery ! O that theyhated all that cometh too near toa llefhly, worldly mind and life I or to ièlfifhnefs and pride and overvaluing an ignorant underfanding ! It's pittiful to hear how many learned Preachers in Germany among the Lutherans, live indrunken- nefs, and worldlinefs, and how little of the fpirit of holinefs appeareth in their Sermons or lives, and how they make up all by a fervent preaching againft the Papifts and the Calvinifs. Were it as Salle to get faith, hope and Love, as to talk againft other"mens opinions, orto call that Popery which is contrary to your raw conceits, how happy were it for loch men ! But you little think that they that have a Religious zeal for forms and ceremo- nies, and they that areaszealous againft them, may be of the fame fpirit and temperof Religions, being both but Formalifts, though ones formality work for, and the others againft fuch kind of things. And you are not aware that If you arewifer than thofe that you talk againft, you mull thew it byyour works andmeeknefs of wifdom, and that the envious wifdom and zeal which is not from above, but is earthly, fenfual and diabolical, may work as well by crying down other mensopinions as Popifh andAntichrifti- an as inother wayes. 8. And under pretenceofzeal againft Popery, you turn thepeoplesminds from the great matters of their falvation, whichneed their daily and moli diligent Rudy, and their moli intenfe affehions and regard : And fo you f}arve out and defroy true piety, by calling off the peoples minds to Con- troverfie: Andwhen they fhouldbe edifying one another in the comforta- blehopes of another world, theyarebackbiting oneanother with accufati- ons of Popery. 9. YeaPreaching it felf is thus corrupted : And that which is appointed of God to be the means of mens edification in Love and holinefs, (Eph. 4. 14, 15, 16. is turned to be the bellows of keeping hot the furnace of wrath and injury. áo. Yea
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