which ni4ny fall into on pretence if 1," a 4diig Popery. 793 O. Yea Prayer which Mould be moli holy is thus.älfo-corrupted and pro -_ phaned by too many ; while they boldly belpeak dre.holy and dreadful God againft oneanother, and againft thofe things, which their ignorance, miÇre- prefenteth to thcmfelves. And foGods ordinances are madea fnare to fouls,;which arcappointed for, their falvation : and the man that can kindle in his hearers a transporting pallion againft the or that opinion or formas Popifls, is cryed up for an ex cellent preacher, and feemeth toedifie the pepplewhile he deftroycdi them. r r._ And by this meansyou feem to Xi* the Papifts 'yes. and calumnies againft the Protestants, by doingas they do : Theybelye Lather, Zzinglius; calvin, Beza, &c. with juft fuch intentionsand fuels a kind of zeal, as force over-doing Sectaries bclyc them. And is it bad in them and good inyou r aa. You teach the people a dangerous and perverfe way of reafoning minùs notás, which will let in almofl any errours : From a dark text in the Revelations, or Daniel, or from the fuppofition that the Pope is the Anti chrift, and all Papifts havereceived the markof -the beaft, yougather. con- clufions againft the notorious duties of Love andpeace, which the light of naturedoda commend to all : Not that l amperfwadingyou, that the Pope is not Antichrifl ; but that all things be receivedbut according to theirpro per degreeof evidence. S. Now you openyour felf indeed: Allthat revolt to Popery begin there',' with qoe ftioning whether the Popebe the Antichrift, and telling men of the darknefs of the Bookof Revelations. P. I tell you I will abateno certainty that you have, but increafe my owrs and yours if I could : but I would not have any falfly topretend that they are certainer of any thing than they are : And no certainty can go beyond the afcertaining evidence : And if all Scriptures he equally plain, St. Peter was deceived, that tellsus ofmany things hard to be underilood, which the unlearned wreft as other Scriptures to their own deftrudtion. And if the Revelations be not oneof the hardeft, I crave your anfwer to . there quefti- ons: t. Why are five Expofitorsufuallyof four opinions in the expounding of itt when it is thofe that have fpent much of their lives in ftudying is (as Napier, Brightman, &c.) who arethe Expofitors r 2. Why will none . of you that find it fo eafie at lair writeone certainCommentary which may allùre which of all the former (if any one of them) was in the right 3. Why did Calvin take it tobe toohard for him, and durst not venture to expound it r ç. And if you take it to be fo neceffary as you pretend, tell me whether it was fo neceffary, and fo taken, by all thofe Churches, that for a long time received it not as Canonical Scripture t Surely they were faved without believing it. Though no doubt but the book of Revelation is a greatmercy to the Church, and all men Mould underftand as much of it as theycan. But all that Ì blame you for here, is theperverting of the or- der ofproof, in arguing à minús notis. t 3. And thereover-doers that run things into thecontrary extreams, dó moil injurioufly weaken the Prote/Iant caufe, by difabling themfelves and all men of their principlesto defend it, and arming the Papifts againft itby their errors. When it cometh toan open difpute by Word or Writing, one of there mens errors is like a wound that lets out blood and fpirits, and puts words of triumph into the adverfaries mouth : A cunning Papist will pre- fently drive the ignorant difputantto refolve his caufe into his miftake, and then will open the fallhood of that, and thence inferr the falfhoodof all the rest : And what an injury is that to thefouls of the auditors, who may be betrayed by it, and to the caufe it felf r For instance, If one of our over- doers hold that we arc reputed tohave keptall the Law of Ínnocency and Pp 3 merited
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