being in the form of the true Church was a true Baptism But Cyprian notwithstanding the Decree of Stephen with his Bishops persisting in their opinion of Rebaptizing them Stephen Excommunicates them which S. Cyprian valued not a straw but called Stephen his obstinate Brother and a favourer of Hereticks Marcion Valentine Apelles and other Blasphemers against God as is set forth in his Epistle to Pompeius writing of this business And Firmilianus another Bishop of the African Church writing to S. Cyprian of the same matter says that the Roman Church vainly pretend the Authority of their Apostles meaning St. Peter and St. Paul seeing that they did not observe those things which were delivered them from the beginning by their Founders Eos autem qui Romae sunt non ea in omnibus observare quae sint ab origine tradita frustrà Apostolorum authoritatem praetendere And a little before expresly affirms that as the Hereticks are persons condemned of themselves so the Romanists favouring and approving their Baptism did adjudge and make themselves partakers of their damnable Heresies By all which it is most evident that S. Cyprian and the other Bishops of Africa did not mean the Roman Church for the Mother Church and Noah's Ark out of whose Communion there was no Salvation for though they were Excommunicated by the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy persisted in their Opinion and slighted very much his Excommunication and esteemed their own Church to be that Mother Church and Noah's Ark out of which there was no Salvation And in like manner I conceive all other Fathers who so magnifie the Churches Authority mean that Church who are of the same Faith and Communion with themselves supposing still their own to be the right though ever so wrong So that before you can with reason submit your self to the Faith and put your self into the Communion of any Church it is requisite for you to be assured which Church hath the true Faith and saving Communion which must be found out by that only safe Rule of Scripture by which all Churches ought to be examined and tried And now I shall proceed a little farther with the Papists and here challenge them to bring me any one sentence from any one antient Father of the Church who with all his magnifying the Authority of the Church of Rome or the whole Church in general doth yet ascribe unto it power to propose any new Article of Faith by their own Authority without Scripture-proof much less to countermand any one Scripture-precept And unless the Papists can shew this they shew nothing for their belief and practice of those many things I have formerly mentioned and for which they have not one tittle of Scripture proof And this I have said for the fuller confutation of the Papists for we take the Scripture for our only rule of faith and conceive our selves bound to believe nothing more than what is there declared as I hope I have fully proved The conclusion then of all must be That we can have no infallible assurance for our faith to rest upon but the Scriptures the word of God and not of man In the Scriptures we have Eternal Life and therefore are commanded to search them for it and there we shall find all necessary saving truth plainly set forth as I shewed you The humble searcher and fervent Prayer cannot fail of it He that thus seeks hath our Saviours never-failing promise to find And thus the beginning and ending of our discourse must be one and the same Search the Scriptures for in them ye have Eternal Life Having at length finished the several parts of my Text I shall now in as few words as may be declare unto you my motive end why I undertook this work No man is such a stranger in our Ierusalem as not to know what is daily discoursed in all places Many timerous Zelots cannot hold in their fears many insulting Papists cannot hold in their hopes that Popery will again bear rule in this Nation For my own part weighing things according to reason I mean such a measure of reason as God hath given me I cannot see any great probability of it for the great goodness of God hath given us so gracious a King and so averse to Popery as that when it would have been a very great advantage to him he could not by any means be brought to embrace it We may be then assured he will not hearken to it now when in all probability it will dangerously shake if not overturn also the very foundations of Regal Government in this Nation Besides the Sunshine of the Gospel for ever blessed be God for it hath so long appeared in our Church and so discovered the grossness of Popish errors in matters of faith such foppish superstitions in their practice as that men women and children plainly see and deride them So that Scripture and Reason being so prevalent against Popery and the Universal genius of the Nation so averse to it in reason I should think we are pretty safe from it But when I consider our course of life is so contrary to Reason and so bestial so contrary to Religion and so atheistical so contrary to Gospel light and such deeds of darkness daily committed it seems too probable we may soon become of any or no faith who are already become such beasts and devils in practice Have we not then great cause of fear that God after so many and so great blessings to draw our hearts unto him with cords of love and these failing of effect after so many chastising judgments to fright us from our sins by smarting Rods and all these also rendred vain and God daily provoked more and more by our loud crying sins for vengeance Have we not great cause of fear that God will bring upon us that sinal and severe judgment as to take from us the light of his Holy Gospel which we have so desperately abused and profaned and leave us to our own blindness to work out our present confusion and future damnation Hence and hence only arises all my fear This makes the whole head sick and the whol heart 〈◊〉 Isa. i. 5. For this cause I did resolve to advise you That whilest you have the light you would walk as Children of the light and whilst you have the Scriptures before you you would search into them and arm your selves against the assaults of the world and the flesh against the powers of darkness and cunning craftiness of those that lie in wait to deceive What God pleases to do with us he only can tell I will never cease to hope in his infinite mercy nor can I cease to fear our own wickedness almost infinite certainly never so excessive in this Nation Whether God for this hath determined to bring upon us the evil day I know not but this I know that if he hath so determined now is the time to prepare for it before hand and not when 't
which they themselves take in a figurative sence And our Saviour's own comment upon this matter Ioh. vi declares it ought to be taken spiritually and figuratively But notwithstanding all this put the case that we were mistaken and they were in the right as to this yet certainly our case is far safer than theirs for they cannot deny that we have great probability of Scripture for us nothing directly against us so that we have a fair plea to God for our belief though erroneous whereas they have no plea not one tittle of Scripture or Reason for their erroneous Sacrilegious dismembring this Holy Sacrament flatly against Christ's Institution and Command reiterated again by St. Paul Their case then is apparently damnable If they answer They have the Command of their Pope and Church I reply That if their Pope and Church have power to reverse any one part of Scripture the same power may reverse another and another and in sum All. This is such high Phanaticism as it were as great madness in us as in them to discourse longer with them But I hope they are not all so mad and therefore I shall proceed farther to gain such and knowing that they are great admirers of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church especially the more ancient though our Faith is built wholly on Scripture without them and therefore I did not intend to make use of their Authority at all yet I shall here produce enough to give any moderate Papist full satisfaction That their Transubstantiation is against the belief of the Ancient Fathers of the true Catholick Church First then I lay this ground Their Transubstantiation plainly and necessarily infers Christ's Body to be really and corporally present in many thousand places at once in all Parts of the World where they celebrate Mass. Now if I can bring clear proof from any one eminent Father of the true Catholick Church that Christ's Body cannot be in many distinct places at once this Father clearly proves Transubstantiation cannot be St. Austin an eminent Bishop and Father was always held not only Orthodox but of great authority in the Church cited frequently in the Papists Schools to this very day And his great Piety and Modesty was a great cause of his great Authority for he bore a singular Reverence and Submission to Scripture still captivating his understanding to that nor was ever known to begin or countenance Novelty but always reverenced the Doctrine of the Primitive Church and therefore most worthy to be hearkened to This famous Bishop and Doctor of the Church in his 57 Epistle to Dardanus discourseth at large of this point An quia ubique Deus sit hominem quoque illum qui in Deo sit ubique diffusum dicere possumus Whether or no we may affirm that God being every where so the Man Christ being in God is also every where or confin'd to a certain place So that the Man Christ cannot be affirm'd to be both in Heaven and on Earth at the same time And in the discussion of this matter he sets down this for a rule Cavendum est nè ita divinitatem adstruamus hominis ut veritatem corporis auferamus We must take heed that we do not so establish the Divinity of the Man Christ as to destroy the truth and reality of his Body which cannot be in several places at once nor so much as in two places at once in Paradise and on Earth though his Divinity fill all places at once and is every where and therefore concludes thus Christum ubique totum praesentem esse non dubites tanquam Deum in loco aliquo coeli propter veri corporis modum Doubt not but that Christ is wholly present every where as God but yet is in some certain place in Heaven by reason of the reality of his Body And as Saint Austin denies that the Body of Christ being a real humane Body can be in several places at once so doth he affirm that the Body of Christ must possess a place suitable to the largeness and dimensions of the Body with length and breadth in proportion to every limb Cum corpus sit aliqua substantia quantitas ejus est in magnitudine molis ejus distantibus partibus quae simul esse non possunt quoniam suum quaeque spatium locorum tenent minores minora majores majora A Body being a substance with quantity this quantity consists in the bulk of it with parts distant one from the other and not confusedly all together but each one possesseth a proper place to it self the lesser parts a lesser space the greater a greater because amplior est quantitas in amplioribus partibus brevior in brevioribus in nulla parte tanta quanta per totum Because the quantity of the longer parts is longer of the shorter parts shorter so that the bigness of the whole must needs exceed the bigness of any part and consequently the space which the whole Body possesseth must needs be greater than the space of any one part Spatia locorum tolle corporibus nusquam erunt quae nusquam erunt nec erunt The proportion and bigness of space is so necessary to the proportion and bigness of a Body with its parts that if you take away this just space from Bodies they cannot be said to be in any place and to say a Body is not in any place is in effect to say it is not at all Now you must understand that all this discourse of Saint Austin in this place is concerning immortal Bodies and even Christ's Body now glorious in Heaven For the Question which Dardanus made and to which Saint Austin answers was concerning the being of Christ's Body now immortal Whether that could be in several places at once or is confin'd to one certain place And to shew that Saint Austin thus understands this Question his words declare saying Nam ipsum immortale corpus minus est in parte quà m in toto c. For that immortal Body is less in a part than in the whole c. and gives his reason Cùm corpus sit aliqua substantia c. as before I shall endeavour to make all this a little plainer to lower Capacities The difference between a Body and a Spirit is this A Body possesses a space according to the quantity and bigness of the Body each part of the Body filling a space sutable to the proportion of it A Body of five foot long and a foot broad takes up the room of five foot in length and a foot in breadth and cannot be contain'd in a less space each limb of this Body filling its proper place the Head in one place the Arm in another the Leg in another and so the rest so that two Bodies can't be in the same place nor two parts of the same Body in one place But a Body having many hollow parts in it as the Belly and the Head and in the most fleshy parts
the poor to the despised of the world to every creature ever so mean ever so contemptible be sure you preach it to them Thus much for the Gospel Then follow the Acts written to Theophilus one of the Laity And so the Epistles of the Apostles That to the Romans is directed all that are at Rome to all That to the Corinthians to all that call upon the name of the Lord Iesus to all in every place and so the rest And 't is observable that there is no mention made of the Clergy in any of his Epistles but in that one to the Philippians where he expresses the Bishops and Deacons and yet even there he puts them in the last place first to all the Saints that are at Philippi and then adds with the Bishops and Deacons so that this Epistle is primarily directed to all the Saints But perchance some ignorant people may stumble at the word Church in some of his Epistles as if those Epistles directed to the Church were intended to Church-men as we call them meaning thereby the Clergy the Ministers of the Church But Beloved this word in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated by us Church doth not at all signifie Church-men but the Laity assembled together which we properly call the congregation of the faithful and so in Scripture the Church of such a town the Church in such a house that is the faithful or the Saints of that town or in that house those that use there to assemble together for the worship of God But we use the word Church by corrupt custom promiscuously sometimes for the Congregation sometimes for the house wherein they meet sometimes for the body of Church-men and so we say the Canons of the Church that is the Canons composed by Church-men But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture is never so placed but only for the Congregation of the faithful This is more expresly declared Rev. ii 1. where the Bishop is called the Angel and the Congregation distinct from the Minister is called the Church The Angel of the Church that is the Bishop the Pastor or chief Minister of the Congregation And therefore St. Pauls Epistles directed to the Church of such a place is just the same as to the Congregation to the faithful or to the Saints of such a place which consisted of the Laity and not only of men but Women also and Children they were likewise to read the Scriptures And according to this he gives it as a great commendation to Timothy that of a Child he had learned the Scriptures And we know that this was the practice of the Primitive Christian Church many Ages For St. Hierome one of the four eminent Doctors and Fathers of the Church who lived 400 years after Christ in his Epistle to Laeta a Roman Matron sets down a method for her to teach her little Girl the Scriptures what books she should read first and what next first the book of Psalms then the Proverbs then Ecclesiastes and after other books named in the Old Testament he concludes Ad Evangelia transeat nunquam ea depositura de manibus Acta Apostolorum Epistolas tota cordis imbibat voluntate Let her then pass over to the Gospels and never let them go out of her hands And as for the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles let her apply her heart to learn them with all diligence And St. Gregory another of the four eminent Doctors who was the last of them and lived 600 years after Christ and was Bishop of Rome who for his great sanctity and learning was called Gregory the Great he in his book of Morals written for the instruction of all gives this Rule Divinas Scripturas saepiùs lege imo nunquam de manibus tuis sacra lectio deponatur Read often the divine Scriptures yea rather let them never go out of your hands And in another place he tells us Dictis obscurioribus fortes exercet parvulis humili sermone blanditur There you will find obscure sayings to exercise strong men and lowly sayings for little ones Here you have the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church for many Ages And yet the Romanists will most impudently affirm that we are the deserters of Antiquity and they only follow the practice of the Primitive Church But let us return to St. Paul who as I have shewed you directs his Epistles to the whole Congregation of the faithful And as St. Paul so St. Iames to the twelve Tribes who were the faithful So St. Peter the first Epist. to all the Elect the second to all the faithful So St. Iohn St. Iude all written to the faithful in general And I pray you observe what a strict charge St. Paul gives at the end of his Epistles to the Colossians and the Thessalonians I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Holy Brethren to all It were very superfluous to add more for this business But notwithstanding all this the Governours of the Roman Church shut up the Scripture from the people and with very great reason they teaching the people so many things clean contrary to Scripture The Scripture severely forbids the worship of images the Governours of the Roman Church teach the people to worship them The Scripture commands exact performance of all vows made unto God the Pope takes upon him to dispense with the most solemn vows that can be made even though the blessed Sacrament be received upon them The Scripture commands obedience to Kings and all that are in Authority the Pope dispenses with all obedience and oaths made unto their Kings and often commands them to rebel make war and murther them yea the Son to rebel against his own Father as the Son of Henry the fourth Emperour The Scripture forbids marrying with many near Relations the Pope dispenses with all The Scripture commands the Service of the Church to be in the known language of the people the Pope commands it to be in a language the people understands not at all The Scripture tells us God only can forgive sins the Pope says he also can and if you will give him largely he will forgive you largely The Scripture tells us there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus the Roman Church teaches there are thousands of Saints and Angels and pray unto them and the blessed Virgin much more than to Christ or God the Father ten Ave Mary's for one Pater Noster Good reason then have the Romanists to add unto these contradictions of Scripture and many more that grand iniquity of shutting up the Scripture from the people lest they should discover these contradictions They do wisely in their Generations But now that some Protestants who teach none of these things should think it fit to shut up Scripture from the people is wonderful and the reason they give for it is as bad as the thing because forsooth ignorant people
said before and yet the Divine and Humane Natures are not so extreamly opposite as the Spirit of God and the spirit of the Devil May we not then in all humility desire to hea to see narrowly observe yea and handle with our hands some fiâ—m Evidence of this Union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of the Devil in the heart of Pope Alexander the sixth guilty of Rapine Murther Incest and all other Abominatiâ—ns imaginable Let then the Papists shew us from St. Iohn or some other Apostle some such full Evidence as this of St. Iohn for this incredible Union and I shall submit but certainly never till I hear see and handle it let them believe what they please Having thus as I suppose given you sufficient reasons to take you off from so long a Journey as to Rome to consult his infallible Holiness the Pope Perchance you will ask me to whom then you are to make your address for the determination of such doubts and disputes as may arise in matters of Religion Hath God left his Church without any Head to guide and govern it No certainly we have a Head and Guide Infallible Christ Jesus our Lord. But he is in Heaven we cannot ascend thither nor must we expect miraculous Voices from thence to answer us I grant it for there is no need Hearken to St. Paul Rom. x. 6 7 8 9. Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thine heart That God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved You have Christ s Word at hand God be blessed for it 't is daily before you If thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe with thy heart what is there plainly set forth thou shalt be saved You have God's Word for it in several places as I have shewed you and that there is nothing more necessary to be believed and if you will not believe God's Word in this you will not believe though one rose from the dead nor though an Angel descended from Heaven And as for doubts and disputes there is no need lay them by nay there is hurt in them for they gender strife of words from whence cometh envy railings evil surmisings 1 Tim. vi 4. I have often told you What is necessary is plain without dispâ—te But you will say The common people do not understand half no◠〈◊〉 quarter of the Scripture as it there lies What then Then 't is necessary to instruct them further In the Name of God do so make them understond as much as you can of Scripture the more the better though not necessary And I dare affirm That whoever believes explicitely as much as he understands of Scripture though it be not the hundredth part of it and believes all the rest implicitly that is believes all the rest to be true because God spake it and also practises according to that he doth understand that man shall be saved And this I will undertake to make good against all the Wise and Disputers of the World But if any man will be contentious we have no such custom nor the Churches of God 1 Cor. xi 16. T is probable you may Object It often happens that Disputes do arise both among the People and among the Priests also and though the things disputed be not necessary yet 't is necessary to have some of Authority to determine and compose them otherwise great Disorders and Tumults may follow No doubt but restless and perversespirited men will raise Disputes and Troubles where there is no ground for them yet there will be no need to determine the truth on either side but rather to compel both Parties to peace and quiet that neither cause disturbance to Church or State and this belongs to the Civil Magistrate and his Authority For 't is not the determination of Priests or Pope will keep such busie-bodies quiet they will as readily dispute their determination Was it not so in the Arian dispute which was determined by that famous Council of Nice yea and confirmed also by the Emperor's Decree yet all without effect the Arians stifly maintaining their Opinion hundreds of years after We see then that Determinations are as fruitless as needless But in the first three hundred years of Christianity there was no 〈…〉 of Faith but the Scripture alone neither did any Man or any Assembly of Men after the Apostles take upon them to determine any new matter of Faith though there were several Heresies started in those days The Pastors of the Church only preached the Scripture and required Men's Obedience to that they that refused were excluded the Congregation and Society of the Faithful and they proceeded no farther If it be answered That all the Princes of the World were then Heathens by reason whereof no General Councils could be called to determine more though ever so requisite I answer let us then see when that great General Council of Nice was called under Constantine a Christian Emperor what they determined The Church then had three hundred years experience to find out what was wanting and composed another Creed for all the World yet added no new Article of Faith to that called the Apostles Creed but only explained some things in that more fully and whoever believed and subscribed to that Creed passed for an Orthodox a true believing Christian. Doubtless so many Learned and Godly Bishops would not omit any thing necessary to Man's Salvation Let us then hold fast to that for now I hope all was compleated The Bishop of Rome as well as other Bishops approved and subscribed to this We all profess that Nicene Creed and if that Creed was sufficient to save all Christians then sure it will save all Christians now Why then do they require us now to believe more Purgatory praying to Saints and a thousand other things whereof there is no mention in the Nicene Creed or Council The Papists will answer Because many oppose them now but nobody opposed them before the Council of Nice They answer most truly no man opposed them before and why because no man professed them before These are new matters of a later hatching no man in these days so much as dream't of such things But 't is not at all to our purpose whether any then professed them or any opposed them for be they true or be they false there is no necessity to believe them This is true or else all the Bishops of that Council were fowly to blame in not putting them into their Creed from whence 't is evident they thought them not necessary then and so may we safely think now But the