The Protestant Religion Truly State and Justified, Part 4
The Sixth Point accuſed.
That St. Peters Faith hath failed.
Anſ. Who could more ignorantly have ſtated a Controverſie?
1. Proteſtants are further from the Opinion that Peters Faith failed, than the greateſt Papiſt Doctors: Some Proteſtants hold that no Man that hath true ſaving Faith, doth ever totally loſe it; much leſs Peter. Others hold, that no Elect Perſon that hath true Faith, doth totally loſe it: And ſo thought Auguſtine: Others add, that though ſome, as Calvin ſpeaks, qualecunque ſemen ſidei perderint, having no more immutable Grace than Adam had in Innocency, yet all that have a Confirmed Radicated Habit, perſevere. And as to Peters Faith, all ſave thoſe called Arminians agree, (as far as I know,) that his Faith was not totally loſt, nor Peter relapſed into a State of Damnation: But will all the Jeſuits ſay as much?
We commonly hold that the Habit of Peters Faith, muſt be diſtinguiſhed from the Acts, and the Act of Aſſent from the Act that exciteth Confeſſion and conquereth Oppoſition. And that Peters Faith did not totally fail as to the Habit, nor the Aſſent, that Chriſt was the Meſſiah: But that it actually failed as to the latter Act, that ſhould conquer Fear: Chriſt ſaid to him and the reſt before that, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little Faith: Little Faith, is Faith failing in Degree. This is our Victory over the World, even our Faith, ſaith St. John. And did not Peters Faith fail as to part of that Victory, when he Curſt and Swore that he knew not the Man?
But by Peters Faith, this Deceiver meaneth the Popes Faith: And he inſtanceth in the Scribes and Phariſees, that were to be heard becauſe they Sate in Moſe's Chair, and in Cajaphas the High-Prieſt. Reader, ſee what Chriſtians theſe Slaves of Chriſts pretended Vicar are: Doth he not plainly infer, that the people did well that believed the Prieſts, and the Scribes, and Phariſees, that Chriſt was a Deceiver and workt Miracles by the Devil; and was a Blaſphemer and a Traytor, and deſerved Death; and that cryed Away with him: Crucifie him? And what wonder if they obey their High Prieſt, when he Commandeth them to Murther Thouſands and Hundred Thouſands Saints Nicknamed Hereticks, when they juſtifie them that killed Chriſt and the Apoſtles, becauſe the Church Commanded it, (unleſs they will renounce their own plain Conſequence?)
And muſt we indeed believe, that the Popes Faith never failed, becauſe Peters did not? Then we muſt believe that General Councils that are their Church, have been very falſe and ſlanderous. Reader, I will give thee but an Account of one or two, (when their own moſt flattering Hiſtorians have written of many a long time, that they were rather Apoſtatict, than Apoſtolici, and named but to keep the Account of time.)
The great General Council at Conſtance, (that Burnt John Hus and Jerome of Prague, for Truth and Honeſty,) finding three Popes Heading three Churches called Roman Catholicks, had no way to return to Unity, but by putting down all three: With much adoe they got down two of them: But Pope John at Rome had the faſteſt hold, and they had more adoe to get him down; and had not the Emperour reſolved to back them, they had been foiled. Hereupon he is accuſed in the Council, Firſt, by Fifty Four Articles, of ſuch Monſtrous Villanies, as one would think humane Nature were uncapable of. Afterward many more are added, of Poyſoning Pope Alexander, of Inceſt with his Brothers Wife, and the Holy Nuns, and Raviſhing Maids, and Adultery with Men's Wives, and much more; and of Simony, almoſt incredible: And amongſt the reſt, (which I forbear to recite, leſt I tire the Reader,) they ſay and prove, that he was a notorious Simoniack, and a portinacious Heretick; That oft before divers Prelates, and other Honeſt Men, by the Devils perſwaſion he pertinaciouſly ſaid, aſſerted, dogmatized, and maintained, that there is no Life Eternal, nor any after this: And he ſaid and pertinaciouſly believed, that Man's Soul dieth with the Body, and is extinct, as are the Bruits: And he ſaid, that the Dead riſe not, contrary to the Articles of the Reſurrection, &c.
Theſe Articles being ſhewed to the Pope, he confeſt his Sin, and conſented to be Depoſed, and begged Mercy, but all in Hypocriſie, while he ſought to get out of their Hands and Power.
And now Reader, doſt thou think that it is the mark of a Heretick, and deſerveth Burning and Damnation, for a Man to think that this Popes Faith failed? Were it not for tiring you, I would repeat ſuch Articles againſt many others of them, as would make you think, that not only the Heathen Philoſophers, but even Mahomet was a Saint in compariſon of theſe Swiniſh and Diabolical Popes.
After this, the Great Council at Baſil accuſed Eugenius the 4th. of Hereſie and multitudes of horrid Crimes, and depoſed him: But he outfaced them, and ſtanding it out to the laſt, got the better, and the Succeſſion is ever ſince continued from this Pope, that was depoſed by a grand General Council.
Before theſe, Pope John the 12th. was depoſed by a Council at Rome, called by Otho the Emperour, for ſuch horrid Villanies, as no Pagans that we read of ever matcht. Read them but in Baronius, and Binnius: Drinking Healths in Wine to the Devil, and calling at Dice upon Jupiter and Venus, beſides Murders, Simony, Inceſt and all Wickedneſs, are all conſiſtent with Papal Faith: And if this be no failing, I ſhall grant that the Popes Faith (nor the Devils,) can never fail.