A27058:120
The true history of councils enlarged and defended against the deceits of a pretended…
The true history of councils enlarged and defended against the deceits of a pretended vindicator of the primitive church, but indeed of the tympanite & tyranny of some prelates many hundred years after Christ, with a detection of the false history of Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross in Ireland ... and a preface abbreviating much of Ludolphus's History of Habassta : written to show their dangerous error, who think that a general council, or college of bishops, is a supreme governor of all the Christian world ... / by Richard Baxter ... ; to which is added by another hand, a defence of a book, entitled, No evidence for diocesan churches ...The true history of councils enlarged and defended against the deceits of a pretended vindicator of the primitive church, but indeed of the tympanite & tyranny of some prelates many hundred years after Christ, with a detection of the false history of Edward Lord Bishop of Corke and Rosse in Ireland ... and a preface abbreviating much of Ludolphus's History of Habassta : written to shew their dangerous errour, who think that a general council, or colledge of bishops, is a supream governour of all the Christian world ... / by Richard Baxter ... ; to which is added by another hand, a defence of a book, entituled, No evidence for diocesan churches ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1682
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Papists condemn the rest: The Greeks, Arminians, and almost all the rest accuse each other.
9. I considered what Popery is, that is, Clergy-Power in its height, and what it hath done in the World. And I found 1. A woeful description of the lives of multitudes of Popes, recorded by their own most credited Historians. And 2. I found multitudes of vicious Canons obtruded by them as Laws on the Universal Church. 3. I found most doleful Histories of the Wars and Rebellions that they have caused from Age to Age. 4. I found that they have corrupted the Doctrine of Christ in abundance of particulars. 5. And that they have locked up the Sacred Scriptures from the Vulgar, as they have not done their Canons. 6. And that they have turned God's Spiritual Worship into a multitude of Superstitious Rites, and scenical Ceremonies and Shows. 7. And that they have turned Spiritual Church-Discipline into a secular sort of Tyranny. 8. And that they have most schismatically unchurched the rest of the Churches, because they are not Subjects of the Pope. 9. And that they have branded the soundest Churches with the name of Heretics, while they are the grand Heresy of the World. 10. And that they have been and are the greatest Silencers of sound Preachers, and hinderers of true Piety and Reformation in the Church. 11. And that they have woefully vitiated the People that are their Subjects, so that odious wickedness fed by Ignorance, abounds among them; and it is their Votaries that are called Religious, and a few Canonized persons Saints; as if Religion and Sanctity were rarities, or any could be saved without them. 12. Lastly, I find that they have lived upon Blood, like Leeches, and have been the cruellest Persecutors of holy men, on pretence of killing Heretics: And that it is this to which they trust.
9. I considered what Popery is, that is, Clergy-Power in its height, and what it hath done in the World. And I found 1. A woful description of the lives of multitudes of Popes, recorded by their own most credited Historians. And 2. I found multitudes of vicious Canons obtruded by them as Laws on the Universal Church. 3. I found most doleful Histories of the Wars and Rebellions that they have caused from Age to Age. 4. I found that they have corrupted the Doctrine of Christ in abundance of particulars. 5. And that they have lockt up the Sacred Scriptures from the Vulgar, as they have not done their Canons. 6. And that they have turned God's Spiritual Worship into a multitude of Superstitious Rites, and scenical Ceremonies and Shews. 7. And that they have turned Spiritual Church-Discipline into a secular sort of Tyranny. 8. And that they have most schismatically unchurched the rest of the Churches, because they are not Subjects of the Pope. 9. And that they have branded the soundest Churches with the name of Hereticks, while they are the grand Heresie of the World. 10. And that they have been and are the greatest Silencers of sound Preachers, and hinderers of true Piety and Reformation in the Church. 11. And that they have wofully vitiated the People that are their Subjects, so that odious wickedness fed by Ignorance, abounds among them; and it is their Votaries that are called Religious, and a few Canonized persons Saints; as if Religion and Sanctity were rarities, or any could be saved without them. 12. Lastly, I find that they have lived upon Blood, like Leeches, and have been the cruellest Persecutors of holy men, on pretence of killing Hereticks: And that it is this to which they trust.