though that which the Clergy subscribeth bee as it ought to bee a wholsome Doctrine to wit if soundly understood yet that by which Christian people are saved ought to bee that which the Offices of the Church and the instruction which it proposeth contain CHAP. X. Why Justifying Faith is not trust in God through Christ Of Justification according to the Council of Trent Of justification according to Socinus Wherein his Hieresie consisteth How the misunderstanding of Satisfaction and Imputation occasioned it Vpon what grounds hee is to bee refuted The helps of Grace granted in consideration of Christs obedience And therefore they infer Original Sin by the fall of Adam Wherein the Covenant of Grace consisteth That the state of Grace is forfeited by hainous sin The danger of the contrary Position according to the ground of it NOw I confess there is another opinion of justifying Faith Why justifying Faith is not trust in God through Christ in which I find nothing of any consequence that is destructive of Christianity Namely that which placeth justifying faith in trust and confidence of Gods mercy through Christ For this opinion necessarily supposeth Repentance to go before justifying Faith And Repentance understanding it to bee the Repentance of one that turns from all sin to all Righteousness such as is the Repentance of him that first turneth Christian signifies as much as the undertaking of Christianity Only it signifies this resolution in the way not in the end not made but in making in fieri not in facto esse But understanding the Repentence of a Christian turning from some particular sin to God according to the obligation of his Christianity his being justified of that sin or from that sin will of necessity require and presuppose his Repentance of that sin Notwithstanding because this opinion expresseth onely the inward act of Faith to bee the condition that qualifieth a Christian for the promises of the Gospel though it doth not exclude the profession of the outward man I have laid it aside not only as not true for the reasons that I have gsven already but as not sufficiently expressing the condition of the Covenant of Grace For it is therefore the means to continue those everlasting Disputes about Justification by Faith alone which the very mention of the outward act of profession limited for the manner of it to the Sacrament of Baptisme utterly extinguisheth As for the Decree of the Council of Trent seeming to confine Of Justification according to the Council of Trent the justification of a Christian to the infusion of habitual righteousness into that soul which being truly contrite for the sense of sin and the offense of God by it resolves for the love of God above all to live as a Christian for the future professing so much by being baptized It is liable to a two-fold challenge First for excluding the positive act of Gods Law which the Gospel enacteth by accepting the righteousness of a Christian as a condition sufficiently qualifying for the Promises of the Gospel by Gods original justice Secondly for excluding the imputation of Christs obedience from the consideration in which a Christian is justified and saved and in a word intitled to the Promises of the Gospel A thing which that Council need not have done For it is manifest that Pighius Gropper Cardinal Contarine Cassander and many others the best studied in Luthers controversies of all that communion had owned and embraced it for the Doctrine of St. Bernard and divers other highly approved Authors Besides that including the Sacrament of Baptisme that is the outward act of professing Christianity in the condition upon which a Christian is justified it is not possible to exclude either the act of Gods positive will to which the Gospel engageth him or the consideration of Christs obedience from the same And including the consideration of them the justification of a Christian will of necessity consist in the gracious account of God accepting of him that is chargeable with sin for righteous though it presupposes in him that habituall righteousness whereby he resolves to live and dye a good Christian And therefore they also not excluding expresly that which they do not expresly include the worse Divines they would bee as to this opinion the better Christians they are that is the less they depart from the right Rule of Faith And indeed the Haeresie of Socinus which hath appeared Of justification according to Socinus since that Council gives cause to believe that the imputation of Christs righteousness to the justifying of a Christian which the Reformation for good reasons insisted upon was not distinctly understood between the parties as it ought to have been Hee maketh the belief of Christianity to bee that Faith which alone justifieth in this regard because hee that beleeves it to bee true must needs find himself obliged for his salvation to live and dye a good Christian Which had been a very good reason why justification should not be ascribed to Faith alone For if a man bee saved by living and dying a good Christian indeed not by finding himself obliged so to do then is hee justified by undertaking to profess Christsanity and not by beleeving it though by beleeving it hee is obliged so to do But as for the profession of Christianity I do not marvel that hee who intended to bring in a new Christianity should make no reckoning of it in the condition upon which a Christian is saved For it is the Christianity of the Catholick Church which he that will be saved must profess if hee mean to bee saved by professing true Christianity And therefore the profession of one Catholick Church is a part of it And therefore hee hath found the true consequence of his own position when hee makes no more of Baptisme then of an indifferent ceremony which the Church may use or not at pleasure For how should any man make any more of Baptisme that allows salvation before it and therefore without it Otherwise Socinus is free enough in ascribing the effect of justifying not to the worth of that Faith which beleeveth or of that Christianity to which it resolveth But to the meer grace of God of his own free goodness sending by Christ salvation to mankind overtaken in sin upon the condition of their Christianity for the future The venim of his Haeresie lies in excluding the consideration Wherein his Haeresic consisteth of the obedience and sufferings of Christ either from the reason for which God Grants the grace that makes men good Christians or for which hee rewards their Christianity with the life of the world to come The Decree of the Council of Trent fully acknowledgeth the consideration of Christs merits in the helps of grace without which wee are not good Christians But in as much as it maketh Christians righteous before God by their habitual righteousness insomuch and so far must it needs exclude the consideration thereof from the condition
man to believe that hee is predestinate to life and that Christ died for him is that faith which alone justifieth a Christian Whether of these opinions is the better or the worse or what is the difference between them let the parties dispute This I say that allowing the merits and satisfaction of Christ to the Elect for remission of sins and a title to everlasting life in no consideration but of their persons it is more reasonable to say that they can never become guilty of sin then that the remission of their sins and their right to life should depend upon the knowledge of their predestination revealed by Faith For nothing is true because it is believed but believed because it is true And therefore I say that both of these opinions are destructive to that foundation of faith which the Church of England teacheth when in the Office of Baptisme and the beginning of the Catechisme it requireth all that are baptized not only to profess the Faith of Christ but to renounce the flesh the world and the devil and to fight with them till death for the keeping of Gods Commandments assuring them hereupon that they are regenerate and adopted Gods children by his Grace in Christ For hee that is saved by undertaking and persevering in this cannot bee saved by believing that hee is absolutely predestinate to life without it For I must say that it is one thing to bee absolutely predestinate to life another thing to bee predestinate to life by being absolutely predestinate to persevere till death For hee that is predestinate to life by being absolutely predestinate to persevere in the Covenant of Grace till death is predestinate to life in consideration of the Covenant of Grace in which hee is predestinate to persevere And whether a man can bee absolutely predestinate to presevere in it of his own free choise or not is that which remains in dispute among Divines which I suppose not here to bee either true or false But to say that a man is absolutely predestinate to life and to say that hee is predestinate to life in consideration of the Covenant of Grace which must bee the act of his own free choice is to say express contradictions And to say that a man is predestinate to life without consideration of the Covenant of Grace is to destroy the Covenant of Grace and the hope of salvation which is meerly imaginary if not grounded upon it Seeing then that the trial upon which these Commissioners proceed is their marks of predestination whether they bee true or false not supposing the Covenant of Grace the undertaking of it and persevering in it I say that you are no way secured by these Laws that the Triers themselves much less those whom they shall send you are not complices of this damnable Haeresie I must not forget to advise you that Dell one so far of this Haeresie that he is thought to have written the Book called the Doctrine of Baptismes against Baptisme it self is now and is acknowledged by these Commissioners Master of a Colledge in the University whereof several fellows have been notorious Preachers of this Haeresie who cannot bee acknowledged a member of the Church by any good Christian The like I allege in regard of the Sect of the Anabaptists In which point I must suppose two things First that the Christian Faith supposeth Original sin Secondly that without Baptisme there is no cure for it And this depends upon the premises that there is no absolute predestination without consideration of the Covenant of Grace which Baptisme executing cureth it For whatsoever our Lord meant when hee said unless ye bee born again of water it is manifest that though no man can become a true Christian without the operation of the Holy Ghost yet the habitual gift and indowment of the Holy Ghost dwelling in a man is not granted but in consideration of his entring into the said Covenant and that this gift is the only cure of Original sin There is then no necessity of shewing an express precept in Scripture that all Infants bee baptized or that the Church from the Apostles time did Baptize all while they were Infants If the Christian Faith suppose Original sin if no cure for that but by the Covenant of Grace if no execution of that Covenant but the Baptisme of the Church unless where the outward act is prevented by inevitable necessity after the inward desire thereof was sufficiently resolved and declared then is this necessity a constraining precept and hath been so reputed by the Church ever since the Apostles Which always hath taken order not that all should bee baptized Infants but that no Infant should die unbaptized For the diligent watch over all occasions that might carry Infants out of the world unbaptized observed by the Church from the beginning though neglected since demonstrateth no legal assurance of the salvation of such as should die unbaptized Whatsoever might bee presumed of Gods goodness over and above what hee declareth But as for those that shall become obliged and engaged to the Covenant of Grace by being consecrated to God through the act of the Church thereby obliging it self to shew them the truth of Christianity which obligeth all to whom it is shewed the necessity aforesaid together with the practise of the Church is a legal presumption of the cure of Original sin and the opening of Paradise which it only shutteth If therefore our Anabaptists do not believe Original sin they are Pelagian Haereticks If believing it they believe notwithstanding that it is cured by Predestination without the Covenant of Grace they fall into the Haeresie premised And voiding the Baptisme which they received of the Church they seem to renounce the Christianity which it inacteth but manifestly they render their own Baptisme void of effect towards God For they who rebaptize upon a ground that allows Salvation by Gods Predestination revealed by Faith without undertaking and persevering in the Covenant of Grace cannot pretend to baptize into the Covenant of Grace that is into the profession of the true Faith and of fighting against sin until death under the same Seeing then that the necessity of Baptisme cannot bee denied but upon such a ground as voideth the Covenant of Grace and seeing the Triers are either Anabaptists themselves or complices in the same Commission with Anabaptists whereof there are divers in these Commissions it is evident that by these Laws you are no ways secured of having Anabaptists for your Pastors who are expressly Schismaticks forsaking the Church for that which the Church always did and by consequence of the premised reasons Haereticks As the Baptisme of those men whom they pretend to send you for Pastors is by this reason void of effect So the Eucharist which they may pretend to celebrate will bee void of the effect of a Sacrament toward you but not void of the crime of Sacrilege towards God The reasons are two The first because those who
Whole Church that renders any thing Infallible Now it is true every Christian hath the Judgment of discretion in the choice of Religion in point of fact That is to say supposing the division or rather the divisions that are on foot in the Church But in point of Right it ought to bee otherwise God having provided the Unity of the Church on purpose that simple Christians might not bee put to so hard a choice For when the Catholick Church was so Visibly distinct from all Sects that a Sectary would have been laughed at had hee called his own Church the Catholick Church of that City Willfully must hee perish that should forsake that Church which hee could not mistake But in our case what avails it to allege the Title of Catholick while the ground of the Title remains disputable Especially the division between the Greek and Latine Church having rendred it almost insignificant afore And the number of Protestants as I said of Nestorians rendring it questionable where the signification will light Seeing therefore that the malice of man by dividing the The duty of all estates for the re-uniting of Schisme Church rendreth it Invisible as hard to bee seen though not Invisible as not possible to bee seen What remaineth but that all publick persons and whosoever is interessed in the divisions of the Church understand and consider what account they owe for the Souls that must needs miscarry by the divisions which they maintain wheu they need not For how shall hee bee clear that professes not a desire of condescending to all that which truth will allow on either side for the advantage of peace on both sides And seeing neither side can make peace without the consent of both but either may have truth alone What remaineth but that all Reformation bee confined within those bounds which the Faith and the Law of the Catholick Church fixeth For though they that profess and intend to Reforme by that Rule may fail in applying their Rule to some matters Though seeing what the Rule requires they may bee fain to abate of it because the Body which they intend to regulate is not capable of the strict Rule Yet it is a reasonable ground of confidence for a single heart that the right Rule is expresly professed to bee intended For though in all divisions the parties acknowledging One Visible Church must needs hold the one the other Schismaticks unless they will bear the blame of the division themselves Yet is there no appearance in reason that God will take them for Schismaticks that follow so fair a profession in general though it may not come to effect in some particular And this is the only way to provide a clear discharge for the The ground and extent of Secular Power in Church maters Secular Power that is Sovereign in establishing such a Reformation by Law to the people of it and enacting the same with such priviledges and penalties as Christianity either alloweth or requireth For it is manifest from the premises that the Church by Gods Law is Judge in the matter of all Lawes according to which Religion is to be enacted by any Sovereign Yet is the Sovereign Power Judge also of their Judgment as not only it self a Member of the Whole Church and Heir to all right which the Unity thereof intitleth any Christian to but as Protector of the Church and of the Faith and Lawes of it That is as Protector of all Subjects within the Church of the respective Dominions in all right which the Law of the Church in the Dominion thereof setleth And therefore bound to judge whether that which the Church either of the respective Dominion or united with the same shall determine bee such as the Uuity of the Whole Church either alloweth or requireth or not For it is onely the Sovereign Power that can enact it for a Law upon all the Subjects thereof to the effect of Secular priviledges or penalties And seeing the Faith and Communion of the Church is the inheritance of the Secular Power that is Christian It is manifest that hee is trusted for his Subjects in matter of Religion to no purpose if hee bee to trust the Church at large in the matter of his Office And yet Gods Law having provided the Church to limit all matters questionable upon the constitution of the Church It is also manifest that all Secular Power is to suppose the Faith of the Church as always the same from the beginning And the Lawes in being as acts of the same authority which was founded by God in the Whole Church from the beginning before any Secular Power was Christian Which if it protect not why is it Christian I say it is bound to acceâ—t them for such in case it appear not by the Faith and the Lawes of the Whole Church that they are otherwise And in that case though the Secular Power be Judge for it self yet the Church and the Law of the Church is the Rule by which it is to judge As for that which present necessity requireth â—o be restored or setled a new for the Church respective to every Sovereignty It is also maniâ—est that the Secular Power both may and ought to see the Church under it to do their Office Knowing that it is their Office as to preserve the Faith which is always the same So to maintain Unity by suiting the Laws which are to be with those which have been from the beginning Whereof common reason in all publick Powers is a competent Judge I need say nothing that Secular Powers may and are to see that under pretense of Ecclesiastical Power or Jurisdiction their own rights bee not invaded having said That the power of the Church produceth no Secular effect But as the enacting of the Church Lawes with Secular priviledges and penalties is onely the effect of Secular Power So is it accountable to God alone for the use of it And as the Unity of the whole Church must needs bee concerned How the Conscience of Sovâ—reign Power 〈…〉 in the Lawes of the Church respective to this or that Sovereignty So is it not possible that any Sovereign should bee Judge in the concernments of those that are not his Subjects The divisions of Christendome which I alleged afore make full evidence for this For what need further dispute about Religion were Subjects as Subjects by Gods Law bound to stand to the will of their Sovereigns in that which concerns them as Christians This shews how much Sovereigns are concerned for their discharge to God to seek the peace of Christendome For if as at present it cannot bee had upon just terms it is not the opinion of this or that Divine It is not the opinion of any person whatsoever not acting in a quality capable by the constitution of the Church to oblige the Church respective to the Sovereign Much less is it his personal skill in matters of Religion though as great as any mans that
will bee condemned for it There is therefore a third signification of Faith in holy Scripture comprizing the outward act of professing as well as the inward act of beleeving And supposing this outward act of profession limited by the positive Law of the Gospel to the Sacrament of Baptism According to which signification the antient Church counted not Christians Fideles faithful or beleevers till they were baptized This is in the middle between the other two For as belief goes before it so it is the ground of the trust and confidence of a Christian And this therefore is that which all those Scriptures that ascribe the promises of the Gospel to Faith make properly justifying Faith For according to the use and custom of all Languages they are ascribed to belief bya Metonymy of the cause going before to trust and confidence by a Metonymy of the effect following upon it But this will not hold till we pitch upon that which comes between both as that which qualifieth a Christian for those premises When therefore the belief of Christs Gospel causes a man to take up Christs Cross in Baptisme then hath he that Faith which justifieth though that which prepares to it and that which insues upon it are honoured with the same attribute for being so neer of kindred to it But the consideration of the question which St. Paul disputeth So doth the State of that question which St. Paul disputeth visible in the writings of the Apostles suffereth no doubt of his meaning when hee argueth that Faith alone justifieth It is as clear as the Sun at noon that all his Dispute is with those Christians who having submitted to the Gospel could not conceive that the Law had no hand in justifying them whom they saw live according to the Law And that by the direction of that Apostles themselves for the gaining of the Jews A thing which they dispensed with for a long time till St. Paul was constrained to declare against it as rooting up the necessity of Christianity and salvation by it alone That this is the state of the Question all the New Testament after the Gospels is witness And therefore to be justified by Faith alone is with St. Paul to bee justified by Christianity alone And whereas they were all assured that salvation was to bee had under the Law he shews every where that the Fathers who were justified before or under the Law were not justified by the Law but by the Gospel that was vailed under it notas Jews but as Christians And therefore that the Gentiles which turned Christians were saved by the same Grace as beleeving Jews For as no works which they were able to do by the light and strength of Nature were able to bring those that were without the Law to the state of Gods Grace no more could the outward observation of Moses Law by those works which meer nature was able to produce as tending no further then the temporal reward of the Laws of Canaan expresly promised by Moses Law render men acceptable to God for the reward which Christians expect in the world to come But by Hegâ—sippus in Eusebius wee understand that the Gnosticks teaching that the bare profession of Christianity without bearing the Cross for the performing of it was enough to save those that should attain to the secrets which they taught debauched and deflowred the Church of Jerusalem as soon as St. James was dead And therefore seeing that could not bee done in a moment wee have cause to think that they went to work in his life time The consideration whereof shews that St. James in arguing that a Christian is justified by works and not by Faith alone intended to teach that the profession of Christianity justifieth not when it is not performed And therefore St. Paul intended the same in arguing that a Christian is justified by Faith alone without the works of the Law To wit that hee is justified by professing Christianity so cordially and with so good a conscience as to perform it And for this sense of the Scriptures there is as current and as The consent of the Church herein with the ground of it general a consent of all the whole Church as for Christianity it self the life and soul whereof standeth in it Shew me any Author approved in the Church that ever allowed salvation without Baptisme when it could bee had when it could not the profession of him that desiveth it is as clear as if his flesh were cleansed that compriseth not the taking up of Christs Cross by professing Christianity in the nature and virtue of justifying Faith that opposeth that Faith which alone justifieth to any other works then those of Moses Law But there is no such thing to bee shewed This is every where to bee shewed in all writings any way allowed by the Church that the justification of a Christian dependeth upon the performance of that which hee professeth And the Promises of the Gospel which hee attaineth by undertaking to live as a Christian upon the good works whereby hee performeth the same And the honour of Christianity cannot stand otherwise There is no sin which it cleanseth not The reason is because there is no righteousness to which it obligeth not Hee who beleeveth that our Lord Christ tendereth salvation upon condition of beleeving and living as a Christian cannot expect that which hee tendereth without returning that which hee requireth But hee that is overtaken in sin by this Faith can do no more for the present then undertake so to beleeve and so to live for the future Thereby hee undertakes all righteousness for the future And by undertaking â—â— is translated from the state of damnation for sin to the state of salvation by grace Which if hee attain without undertaking if hee retain without performing then doth not Gods glory appeaâ— by his Gospel But there is no thing so particular to this purpose as those sayings whereby the Fathers declare that a Christian is justified by Faith alone in case he dye upon his Baptisme If he survive then that hee is justified by the works whereby his profession is performed Of which sayings having produced a considerable number I am by them to measure the meaning of all the rest of their writings The Articles of this Church setting forth justification by The sense of this Church Faith alone for a most wholsome Doctrine and full of comfort for the sense of it refer us to the Homily upon that subject I will not say that my Position is laid down in that Homily For there are many Passages of it which shew them that penned it no way clear in that point Yet there are divers sentences of the Fathers alleged in it which cannot bee understood to other purpose and other passages well agreeing with it But in the Church Catechisme and in the Office of Baptisme it is so clearly laid down as will serve for ever to silence any other sense And
with judgement as well as with truth and righteousness Wee have this evidence for that which I say that the authorities of those Divines of this Church that have declared the sense of the Oath of Supremacy with publick allowance are now alleged by the Papists themselves to infer that the mater of it is lawful as capable of the sense which they declare Now the bounds of Reformation being visible by the Faith The extent of Secular Power in Reforming the Church and the Laws of the Catholique Church the extent of Secular power in Ecclesiastical maters and over Ecclesiastical persons and therefore in the reforming of them preserving Ecclesiastical power in persons that have it by the founding of the Church from God cannot remain invisible For in the first place there can bee no question That the Sovereign as a Sovereign is to maintain his own Rights by such means as hee finds meet against all Usurpations under pretense of the Church and the authority of it For the common Christianity assureth him that all such Usurpations are contrary to it And besides as a Christian Sovereign it is his Inheritance to bee a Member of the Church and a Protector of all his Subjects in the same right Therefore all Christian Sovereigns are born Advocates and Patrons of the Faith and of the Rights of the Whole Church And if by lapse of time they bee gone to decay if by any express Act they have been infringed it lyes in them to restore their Subjects and themselves to those Rights being brought into evidence by the authority and crâ—dit of the whole Church But seeing the determining of the mater of Ecclesiastical Law as well as of Controversies of Faith belongs to those that have authority in the Church by the foundation of it Of necessity the fitting of the present Laws of every Church to those which the whole Church hath been ruled by from the beginning as the difference which may appear in the State of those bodies to which they were given shall require will by vertue of Gods Law belong to those that have such authority by the Foundation of the Church And upon these terms the right of Secular power in Church maters is accumulative and not destructive to the Rights of the Church And upon these terms only the Sovereign is justifiable at the great Day of Judgment in things that may bee done amiss in reforming the Church CHAP. XXI The pretense of Infallibility makes the breach unreconcileable So doth the pretense of perspicuity in the Scripture The Trial must suppose the Catholick Church The Fanatickes further from the truth of Christianity then the Church of Rome The consequence of their principle worse then that of Infallibility The point of Truth in the middle between both How salvation is concerned in the mater of Free Will and Grace Salvation concerned in the Sacraments upon the same terms The abuses of the Church of Rome in the five Sacraments The Grace of Ordination The Reformation pretended no less abuse on the other side The point of Reformation in the mean between both The Superstitions of the Church of Rome The Superstitions of the Puritans Why the Pope cannot bee Antichrist How it is just to Reform without the See of Rome ANd upon Supposition of the premises for which I conceive The pretense of Infallibility makes the breach unreconcileable I have produced competent evidence I proceed to take the Balance in hand and to put the Extreams into the Scales that I may put it to the conscience of all that are resolved to prefer truth before Faction or prejudice where the point of Reformation lyes upon terms of right And how neer the publique Powers of this Kingdom are bound to come to it in this Case when an Uniformity in Religion is to bee setled by Law for the Church of England In the first place then the Infallibility of the present Church is to bee held â—or an Errour of pernicious consequence in the Church of Rome For it submits all the parts of Christianity to the passion and interest of persons that shall bee for the present in power to sway those maters wherein the whole Church is concerned It is a thing manifest in the world that though that which concerns all in point of Religion is to bee treated by all yet that which is treated by all is concluded always by the authority of a few So things passed when Councils were frequented The Freedom of Councils being interrupted and the present Church accepted for Infallible the See of Rome will of necessity bee the present Church And the passions and interests thereof will have as much power in maters of Religion as those passions and interests can allow and stand with What the effect thereof may bee I need not argue to those that profess the Reformation upon that account Only thus far they may seem excusable that there is no Act with force of Law tying all of that profession to maintain it Infallibility may bee claimed for the whole Church And that is true And it may bee claimed for the present Church which is false They that pretend to reduce us to the Church of Rome would spoil their own market if they should distinguish thus Therefore they plead Infallibility without distinguishing On the other side there is as much difference between the So doth the pretense of perspicuity in the Scripture sufficiency of the Scripture for the salvation of all and the clear evidence of all that is necessary to bee known for the salvation of all to all in the Scriptures The one is as true and the other as false as the Infallibility of the present Church is false and the Infallibility of the whole Church is true And to appeal to the Scriptures alone when the sense of them only is questionable is to declare that wee will submit to no other trial but our own sense As they who declare the present Church infallible can never depart from any thing which once it hath declared For it is manifest that they who appeal to the Scriptures The Trial must suppose the Catholick Church alone having before this appeal declared themselves in the points of difference between the Reformation and the Church of Rome do declare themselves tyed in conscience to stand to that sense of the Scripture upon which they ground their opinion in the maters of difference What means then can remain to bring that to a Trial which causes division upon these terms but to acknowledge one Catholick Church which our Creed professeth And by consequence to submit our sense of all Scripture that remains in question all difference in Doctrine all Laws of the Church to bee determined according to the sense and practice of the whole Church that is within the bounds of it For to proceed to divide the Church still into more and more parties and Communions till wee have lost the sense of any obligation to hold communion with
same to enable them to perform it To which purpose it must needs bee requisite that this tender bee attributed not to the Faith of him that receives though the tender must needs become frustrate without it but to the Faith of the Church and the act of that Faith in executing the order of our Lord and deputing the Elements to bee the body and blood of Christ by Consecration before the receiving of them This who so holds shall neither bee engaged either to Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation nor yet to hold either of both destructive to the Salvation of them that are bred in them holding that which is necessary to Salvation Namely the renewing of the Covenant of Baptism in and by Communion in the holy Eucharist As for them who abhorring Transubstantiation communicate with Consubstantiation It is enough that I say as afore that they weigh not by their own weights nor mete by their own measures For how is it more destructive to the Grace of the Sacrament that the body and blood of Christ is thought from the Consecration the subject of the accidents of those Elements that once were then that they should possess the same dimensions which the substance of the Elements filleth And that not by virtue of the Consecration but of the Hypostatical Union of the flesh and blood of Christ with his God-head But the errour of the Sacramentaries taking this Sacrament for a meeâ— sign to confirm a mans Faith leaving it indifferent whether consecrated or not leaves it also indifferent whether used or not though the Socinians only owne the consequence But if the Faith which it confirmeth bee thought to bee the assurance of a mans Praedestination then involveth in the Haeresie of the Fanaticks The abuses of the Church of Rome in Confirmation As for the rest of those Ordinances which the Church of Rome counteth Sacraments as well as Baptism and the Eucharist though not to the like effect It is manifest that they tend all of them to a wholesome Communion in the Holy Eucharist Confirmation was for many hundred years given after Baptism before receiving the Eucharist which was to bee received by those that were baptized upon their Baptism If the Bishop himself baptized them as usually hee did baptize those that were baptized in the Mother-Church at the usual times of Easter and Whitsontide then did hee Confirm them immediately If they were baptized in their Parishes which fetched Chrisme from the Mother-Church on Maundy Thursday in token of the license to baptize which they had from the Bishop they were brought to the Mother-Church to bee Confirmed A manifest sign of that which I said That Confirmation is reserved to the Bishop because his authority it is that must allow the baptized to bee of the number of the Church For whereas the Gift of the Holy Ghost promised in Baptism depends never the less upon the continuing of the Baptized Members of Gods Church Is it strange that the Holy Ghost which Baptism promiseth a Christian as a Christian should bee given him again by Confirmation as a Member of Gods Church when hee that believes and lives as a Christian otherwise cannot have the Holy Ghost unless hee continue in the Church over and above Now that all are baptized Infants how necessary it is that Confirmation should pass upon them before they come to receive the Eucharist I need not dispute Boâ—h sides acknowledging that as well the tryal of their knowledge as the exacting of their profession in Christianity is a thing due unto them from the Church And therefore in the Church of Rome where this substance of the Office is not provided for it is little more then a shadow Professing Unity with the Church by seeking the Bishops blessing but neglecting the reason for which the Unity of the Church is provided by God for the Salvation of a Christian to wit the exacting and allowing of his Christianity All Ordination tends to the Celebration and Communion of In the other fâ—ur Offices the Eucharist As well that of Bishops to the intent that they may Ordain the other Orders And that of Deacons that they may wait upon the Celebration of it As that of Priests that receiving the Power of the Keyes to warrant the effect of it they may therefore have power to celebrate it Whereby it may appear how great an abuse it is to this Ordinance in the Church of Rome that a Priest is Ordained to sacrifice for quick and dead Understanding for the dead to deliver their Souls from Purgatory pains to the sight of Gods face But for the lâ—ving That all that assist or assist not so the Priest intend them though they mind not what is done much less understand or assist it with their devotions by virtue of the work done have the Sacrifice of Christs Cross applyed to them to such effect as the Priest shall intend Whereas the celebrating of Ordination with the Communion of the Eucharist signifieth plain enough That the Grace of ministring aright the Office which they receive depends upon the Christianity which they profess to receive it with by communicating in the Eucharist As well as the effect of it upon the Christianity of those to whom they shall minister the same As for the ministring of the Keyes of the Church in Penance whether publick in notorious sins or private for the assuring of those which are not notorious that they have right to the Eucharist you see it tends still to Communion in it And you may as easily see how great is the abuse of this Ordinance in the Church of Rome when it is taught That submitting to the Keyes of the Church by Confession turneth imperfect sorrow for sin or as some say sorrow for the guilt of punishment not for the offense of God which they call attrition into contriâ—iâ—n which is that sorrow which intitleth to forgiveness Whereas the power of the Keyes is ordained to procure this sorrow by barring a sinner from the Communion till it appears that hee hath it not that submitting to the Keyes ipso facto hee hath it And upon this abuse there hangs a second that when the sinner undertaking the Penance enjoyned to make his conversion appear is thereupon admitted to the Communion before the performing of it for which there may bee many reasonable occasions though not according to the Primitive Rule the performing of it is thought and said not to pretend the qualifying of him for pardon but the redeeming of temporal pains remaining due after â—in is pardoned and therefore to be paid in Purgatory if not satisfied here Things whereof there is no mark in the Faith and Practise of the Catholick Church The Unction of the sick I have shewed to bee only an appendage of the Ministry of the Keyes in that estate tending to the recovery of bodily health And therefore called extream Vnction by abuse in the Church of Rome as if the intent of it were to prepare
authorize them as ever they were to that which they have destroyed to introduce this shadow of a Church If it bee objected that your Estates will bee liable to penalties that may bee enacted against those that withdraw from the exercise of the Religion publickly held forth To this I have no answer but that wee are to obey God rather then man to prefer the next world before this and to bear Christs Cross if wee expect his kingdom Only thus much I must observe that these Laws proceed from a profession that it is not lawful to force mens Consciences in matter of Religion by penalties And therefore though the Praelatical party are not protected in the exercise of their Religion yet cannot they bee punished for it but by denying that which is declared upon the publick Faith Besides acknowledging the Christian Religion contained in the Scriptures and professing-professing-faith in God by Jesus Christ they are as much qualified for protection as those that are protected by the Act of Establishment And not to allow the exercise of that Religion the profession whereof is not disallowed seems to bee to forbid men to bee Christians who are not forbidden to bee such Christians and to expose them to popular tumult contrary to the publick peace whom no Law punishes If the Papists continue nevertheless liable to former penalties perhaps it is because they are reputed Idolaters But because these laws and the profession from whenâ— they proceed may change I must confess you cannot follow my advise but that your estate may become questionable Neither would I give it could I assure you of the kingdom of heaven otherwise If you demand what means I can shew you to exercise your Religion withdrawing from the means which these Acts provide I answer that there are hitherto every where of the Clergie that adhere to the Church who will find it their duty to see your infants Christned your children Catechised the Eucharist communicated to all that shall withdraw from Churches forcibly possessed by them whom you own not for Pastors And if they cannot continually minister to you so dispersed the ordinary Offices of Gods Service you have the Service of God according to the Order of the Church you have the Scriptures to read for part of it you have store of Sermons manifestly allowed by the Church to read you have Prayers prescribed for all your own necessities and the necessities of the Church To serve God with these in private with such as depend upon you and are of the same judgement with you leaving out what belongs to the Priests Office to say I do to the best of my judgement believe an acceptable sacrifice to God which you cannot offer at the Church in such case And though I censure not my brethren of the Clergie that think fit to complie with the power which wee are under in holding or coming by their Benefices I suppose in respect to their flocks rather then to their fruits yet if they believe themselves and their flocks to bee members of the Church of England they must needs believe those flocks that acknowledge such Pastors to bee members of no Church and therefore acknowledge you and own your departure and declare themselves to their own flocks and instruct them to do the like when the like case falls out And so the refusing to hear the voice of strangers will unite us to make a flock under those whom wee acknowledge our lawful Pastors I have found my self pressed to Print Copies hereof for mine own use thereby to declare thus much of my judgement to you and to the rest of my friends because the consequence of owning such men for your Pastors will bee to make us members of several Churches Which must disable me to do any office of a Clergie man towards you unless it bee the prosecuting of this by shewing you further reasons to justifie what I say here and to reduce you to it Though it shall alwaies bee my studie faithfully to serve my friends in all Offices of civility And I hope they will consider what appearance there is that any thing should move me to make my self liable to so much harm as the publick declaring of this opinion will make me liable to but the discharge of my conscience to God and them as the case shall require me to discharge it The due Way of composing the differences on Foot preserving the Church According to the Opinion of HERBERT THORNDIKE I Have found my self obliged by that horrible confusion in Religion which the late War had introduced to declare the utmost of mine opinion concerning the whole point of Religion upon which the Western Church stands divided into so many parties And now finding no cause to repent me of doing it can find no cause why I should not declare the consequence of it in setling of that which remains of our differences For middle waies to so good an end are now acceptable meerly as middle waies and tending to drive a bargain without pretending that they ought to bee admitted How much more an expedient pretending necessity from reasons extant in publick and not contradicted The chief ground that I suppose here because I have proved it at large is the meaning of that Article of our Creed which professeth one Catholick Church For either it signifies nothing or it signifies that God hath founded one Visible Church that is that he hath obliged all Churches and all Christians of whom all Churches consist to hold visible communion with the Whole Church in the visible offices of Gods publick service And therefore I am satisfied that the differences upon which wee are divided cannot bee justly setled upon any terms which any part of the Whole Church shall have just cause to refuse as inconsistent with the unity of the Whole Church For in that case wee must needs become Schismaticks by setling our selves upon such Laws under which any Church may refuse to communicate with us because it is bound to communicate with the Whole Church True it is that the foundation of the Church upon these terms will presuppose the intire profession of Christianity whether concerning Faith or Manners For otherwise how should those Offices in which all the Church is to communicate bee counted the service of God according to Christianity And this profession is the condition upon the undergoing whereof all men by being baptized and made Christians are also admitted to communion with the Church as members of it But nothing can make it visible to the common reason of all men what communion they are to resort unto for their Salvation but the visible Communion of all parts of the Church which having been maintained for divers ages of the Church is now visibly interrupted by the Reformation and before by the breach between the Greek and Latin Church And therefore though it bee visible to reason rightly informed what communion a man is to imbrace for his Salvation yet it is not now