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CHAP. I.

Of the true Religion professed in the Church of England; with a short Account of the Opposition the Truth and true Religion have met with in all Ages.

Ir is an old complaint, derived down to us from the very times of the patriarchs and prophets, and confirmed by the evidence of all histories, and the testimonies of all ages, that Truth is a stranger upon earth, and doth too easily find enemies and defamers, because she is not known; and although this may seem perhaps incredible to those who have not attentively reflected on it, because mankind, by the instinct of nature, without any teacher, doth spontaneously breathe after Truth, and Christ himself our Saviour, whilst he conversed with man, chose to be called THE TRUTH, as if that name did aptly express all the power and force of his divine nature; yet we, who are acquainted with the holy Scriptures, and have read and considered what hath happened to pious men in almost all ages, what befel the prophets, the apostles, the holy martyrs, and Christ himself; with what slanders, curses, and injuries they were vexed whilst they lived, only for the sake of Truth; we (I say) see by this that it is no new thing, but usual, and the custom of all ages.

Indeed it would appear much more wonderful and incredible, if the father of lies, the devil, that enemy of all truth, should now of a sudden change his mind, and entertain any other hopes of oppressing the Truth than by lies; or should now begin to establish his kingdom by other arts than those he hath hitherto employed. For in all ages we shall scarce find any period of time in which religion increased,

established itself, or was reformed; but that at the same time truth and innocence were most unworthily and most injuriously treated by men; for the devil knows very well, that if Truth doth flourish in safety, his affairs can neither be safe nor prosperous.. 2. For, to speak nothing of the ancient patriarchs and prophets, no part of whose lives (as I said) was free from reproaches and slanders ; we know that of old there were some who averred and publicly told the world, that the ancient Jews, who we doubt not worshipped the only true God, performed their religious rites to a swine or an ass, and that all that religion was a mere sacrilege, and a contempt of all deities. We know that the Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, whilst he taught the truth, was reputed an impostor, an enchanter, a Samaritan, a Beelzebub, a deluder of the people, a wine-bibber, and a glutton. Who knows not what was said of St. Paul, that powerful preacher and assertor of Truth: sometimes he was a seditious man, and listed soldiers, and designed a rebellion; and at other times, that he was an heretic, a madman; that, out of a contentious and perverse disposition, he was a blasphemer against the law of God, and a despiser of the customs of the fathers?

Who knows not, that so soon as ever St. Stephen had admitted the Truth, and suffered it to take possession of his soul, and thereupon (as he ought) began freely and stoutly to preach and own it, he was immediately called in question for his life, as one that had spoken blasphemy against the law, against Moses, against the temple and God? or knows not that the holy Scriptures have been accused of vanity and folly, upon pretence that they contained things contrary and repugnant one to another, and that all the apostles of Jesus Christ disagreed amongst themselves, and that St. Paul differed from all the rest?

And that I may not trouble you with all the instances of this nature, which are upon record (for they are infinite), who knows not what slanders were of old raised against our forefathers, who first embraced and professed the name of Christ; that they conspired amongst themselves against the government, and, for that purpose, met very early, whilst it was yet dark; that they murdered male infants, gorged themselves with man's flesh, and in a barbarous manner drank human blood, and, at last, putting out the candles, perpetrated incests and adulteries; and that brothers lay with their sisters, and sons with their mothers, without any reverence to their bloods and families, without difference or modesty; that they were impious, destitute of all religion, atheists, the enemies of all mankind, and unworthy of the light or life?

3. These things were spoken against the Jews, the people of God, against Christ Jesus, against St. Paul, St. Stephen, and against all those who in the first ages embraced the truth of the Gospel, and were called Christians, a name then hated by the many. And although none of these things were true, yet the devil thought it sufficient to his purpose if they were believed true; that so the Christians might incur the public hatred, and be pursued by all to ruin and destruction.

And thus kings and princes being deceived, slew all the Prophets of God to a man; they condemned Isaiah to the saw, Jeremiah to be stoned, Daniel to the lions, Amos to the iron bar, Paul to the sword, and Christ to the cross, and all Christians to prisons, to racks, to crosses, to rocks and precipices, to wild beasts and fires, and burnt whole piles of their living bodies for nocturnal lights, and by way of sport and recreation and never esteemed them better than the most vile filth of the earth, the offscourings and scorn

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of the world thus the first authors and professors of the Truth were ever treated."

4. Wherefore all we who have now undertaken the profession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, ought to bear it with the less disturbance of mind, if in the same cause we are treated after the same manner; and as heretofore our fathers, so we in this age are persecuted also with reproaches, slanders, and lies, only because we teach and profess the Truth.

5. They roar out in all places, 1. That we are heretics,. that we have forsaken the true faith, and broken the union of the church with new opinions and impious doctrines. 2. That we fetch from hell, and revive the old and long since condemned heresies, and sow the seeds of new sects and unheard-of broils; that we are already divided into contrary factions and opinions, and we would never yet in any manner agree amongst ourselves. 3. That we are wicked men, and, like the giants of old, have entered into a rebellion against God himself, and live without the least regard to the Deity, and without any religious worship. 4. That we despise all good actions; that we do not use any virtuous discipline; that we regard neither laws, nor good manners, nor right, nor justice, nor equity, nor order; that we let loose the rein, and suffer all sorts of villainies, and even provoke the people to all the licentiousness and luxury that is possible. 5. That our business and great design is the subverting monarchies and kingdoms, that all states may be reduced under the dominion of the ignorant multitude and the indiscreet populace. 6. That we have made a tumultuous defection from the Catholic church, and have shaken the peace of the world, and disturbed the quiet of the church, by a detestable schism: and that, as heretofore Dathan and Abiram rose up against Moses and Aaron; so we, without any just cause, have revolted from the

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