A Dissertation Concerning the Rise and Progress of Popery

Summary

The sermon explores the historical rise and development of Popery, emphasizing its origins before the term was coined and its early establishment as a tyrannical hierarchy and system of anti-Christian doctrines. It discusses the claims of the Roman bishops to supremacy, the evolution of church offices, and the introduction of practices such as monasticism, celibacy, and veneration of saints. The sermon also highlights prophetic warnings from Scripture about apostasy, including doctrines forbidding marriage and promoting abstinence from certain foods, linking these to the growth of Popery.