z z Church-Hory of bops and 'Zs z. Were there Popes and Bifhops Men of fuch wifdom, as'were fit to hereticate Difnters as they did ? 3 Do we not fee heie what forne Councils were , and did in thofe times ? u. q,. Do we not fee what Hérefie fignified at Rome, and how little heed there was to betaken of their outcry againft fomeHerefies ? . g. Whether was all theWorld, or all theWeft bound to avoid Corn- munion after with 1 irgilius'? . 6. Do we not fee here of what Infallibility the Pope is, in judging of matters of Faith, and how happy theWorld is tohave filch a Judge, and of ,what credit his Heretications and Excommunications are ? u. 7. Do we not fee how Religion bath been depraved and difhonoured by the Pope and his Clergy, calling Good Evil, and the molt certainTruths by the name of [ Perverfe and unpifi Dottrines, again$ the Lord, and Mens own Seuls? ] What heed to take of thefe Mens words, when they Teem zea lous againft Sin and Error ? 4 16. Perhaps youwill ask, How could any but . Idiots be fo ignorant ? Whither did they think the Setting-Sunwent ? Or what did they think the Earth floodupon? Anfw. The eafieft things are ftrange to Men that never learnt them ; it's pity that it fhould be true, that Lattantiaas and other Ancients, yea , Auftin himfelf ware ignorant of the Antipodes; but yet they bad more Modefty than to hereticate and excommunicate them that affirmed it. Few Bithops had much Philofophy then. Origen and Apollinaris that were moft Philofò- phical, had been hereticated and difgraced ít. Clemens and Twangs fped not much better. Councils had forbid Bifhops to read the Books. of Hea- thens. Auftin had a truly Philofophical head, being the Father of School- Divinity; but he was äo1ad'íd41 -, and had little from Teachers. You may fee in a great Hereticater Philaftrius, what they thought then of the courfe of the Sun, by what he faith of the Stars.: As it was one Herefie to call the Stars by the names of living Creatures, fo it was another to deny that the Stars were Luminaries arbitrarily moved,that by Angels wtre fit cut at night to light the World, and at morning retired inwards, or were taken into . theirplace again, as Men fit out lights ti theflreet at night, and take them in again. I confers that no General Council declared this, (as theyhave done worfe things;) but you fee what kind of Men were hereticated by Pope Zachary, St..Boniface, and St. Philaftrius, and fuchBifhops; and how little it fignifieth in fuchWriters, whether you read a Man called a Saint, or a Sin- ner; anOrthodox Catholick, or Ngeandigimus Heereticus, as they ufe to fpeak : I (peak it only of filch Men. § i 7. F'or,Reader,I mufffill remember thee, that this Folly, Pride, and almoft-Fury, was not- theGenius or Charac`ler of the true fpiritual Miniffers and Church of Chriff, but of a worldly, ignorant, domineering fort ofMen, that made it their bufinefi to getPreferment, and have their wills. God had all
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