35 !i{ 'a I '. 1.+ Of the Neceffity of good Works. Vol.II. the two great points ofhis Chriftianity were to bring the Britains to a conformi- ty with the Church of Rome in the time of Eater, and in the tonfure and shaving ofthe Priefts, after the manner of St. Peter as they pretended, upon the Crowd of thehead, and not ofSt. Paul, which was by shaving or cutting clofe the hair ofthe whble Head, as from fume vain and foolifh tradition he pretended to have learned: The promoting of thefe two Cuftoms was his great errand and bufinefs, and the zeal of his preaching was fpent upon thefe two fundamental points; in which, after very barbarous and bloody doings, he atlait prevailed. And this is theconversion ofEngland, fo muchboastedof by theChurchofRoine, and for which this .d(fine is magnified for fo great a Saint ; when it is very evident from the Hi- story of thofe times, that he was a proud, ignorant, turbulent, and cruel Man, who inftead of first converting the Nation to the faith of Chrift, confounded the purity and simplicity of theChriftian Religion, which had been planted and efla- blifh'd among us long before. In latter Ages, when theman offin was grown up to hisfull stature, the great bufinefs of Religion was the Pope's abfolute and univerfal Authority over all. Christians, even Kings and Princes, in order to fpiritual matters ; Ecclefiaftical li- berties and immunities ; and the exemptionof the Clergy, and all matters below, ing to them, from the cognizance of the fecular Power ; the great points which Tho. aBecket contended fo earneftly for, calling it the Cause of Chr, and in the maintenance whereof he perfifted to the death, and was canonized as a Saint and a Martyr. And among the People, their Piety confifted in the promoting of Monkery, and founding and endowing Monasteries; in infinite Superstition, foo- lith Do&rines, and more abfurd Miracles to confirm them ; in purchafing Indul- gences with Money, and hearing of Maffes for the redemption of Souls out of Purgatory ; in the idolatrous worship of Saints and their Relicks and Images, and efpecially of the bleffed Virgin, which at lafl grew to that height, as to make up the greateft part of their worship and devotion both publick andprivate. And in- deed they have brought matters to that abfurd pafs, that one may truly fay, that the whole bufinefs of their Devotion is to teach Men to worship Images, and Ima- ges to worship God. For to be prefent at Divine Service and Prayers celebrated in an unknown tongue, is not the worship of Men and reafonable Creatures, but ofStatues and Images, which tho' they be prefent in the place where this fervice is performed, yet they bear no part in it, being void of all fenfe and underftanding ofwhat is done. And indeed in their whole Religion, fuch as it is, they drive fo flri& a bargain with God, and treat him in fo arrogant a manner, by their info- lent Doctrineof the merit of good works, as if God were as much beholden to them for their Service andObedience, as they are to him for the reward of it, which they challenge as of right and justice belonging to them. Nay, fo high have they carried this Do&rine, as to pretend not only to merit eternal life for theinfelves, but to do a great deal more in works of fupererrogation, for the bene- fit and advantage of others ; that is, when they have done as much as in ftrid Duty they are obliged to, and thereby paid down a valuable confideration for Hea- ven, and as much as in equal justice between God and Man it is worth, the fur- plufage of their good works theyput as a debt upon God, and as fo many bills of credit laid up in the Treafury of the Church, which the Pope by his Pardons and Indulgences may difpenfe and place to whofe account he pleafeth. And thus by one device or other they have enervated the Chriftian Religion to that degree, that it hath quite loft its virtue andefficacy upon the Hearts and Lives of Men and inftead of the Fruitsof real Goodnefs and Righteoufnefs, it produceth little elfe but fuperflition and folly ; or if it bring forth any Fruits of Charity, it is either fo mifplaced upon the Chimeras (as hiring of Priefts to fay fomany Maf- fes for thedead, to redeem their Souls out of Purgatory) that it fignifies nothing; or elfe the Virtue of it is fpoil'd by the arrogant pretence of meriting by it. So apt have Men always been to deceive themfelves by an affeted mistake of any thing for Religion, but that which really and in truth is fo. And this is that which theApoftle St.Paul foretold would be the great mifcarriage of the 141 tires,
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