precede the Faithful themselves and if the Faithful then must it have Preheminence before the Church it self which is nothing else but the Congregation of the Faithful Thus the Church of Rome will evidently fall short of that Prerogative she so presumptuously arrogates of being both Before and Above the Scripture Again a Rule consisting in Indivisibili as we say i. e. being of that Nature that it is not to be inlarged or diminished how guilty are they who either make Additions to or Substractions from it Both which the Roman Church practiseth as de facio will be manifest in the Sequele of this small Tract In Fine they hold the Word of God written to be that one infallible entire Rule whereby all men Learned and Unlearned may in all necessary and fundamental Points of Faith and Manners be sufficiently instructed what is to be embraced for True and Good That it is a Rule most Certain Plain Universal Impartial not addicted to one Side more than another which neither Pope Conclave nor Councel can so much as pretend to of Power and Authority able to convince the Consciences of such as use it and from which there can be no Appeal And the only Cause why any miss of the True Faith is because they do not sincerely seek and find out this infallible Rule or having found it will not with an obedient Mind captivate their Understanding but have Access to it with Pride Curiosity Prejudice or some other unmortifyed Lust or Impediment More especially the Church of England besides that high Veneration that she her self hath for these sacred Books labours to confirm and root the same in the Hearts of her obedient Children by her Devout Practice For to omit the Frequent Laborious and Judicious Preaching and Expounding of them in this Church she hath so prudently disposed of her publick Liturgy that every day some Part and Portion of both Testaments is appointed to be read The whole Book of Psalms is gone through once a Moneth the Old Testament once and the New thrice every year with other most excellent Exercises of Piety at which even the Romanists themselves can take no just Exception and a very great Author affirms that a modern Pope would have approved the whole Service-Book had his Authority but been acknowledged which discreet Course cannot but afford much heavenly Instruction and Consolation to the constant Attenders on such Blessed Opportunities But what saith the Church of Rome all this while in this Business In her Tridentine Council Sess. 4. Can. 1. She expresly Decrees that unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the written Word that they are to be received with the same Reverence and Affection And Cardinal Hosius who was one who in the Popes Name presided at that Council defends that most Blasphemous Speech of Wolfangus Hermannus that the Scripture is of no more Authority than Esop's Fables but for the Churches and Popes Approbation lib. 3. de Authorit Script The Council of Basil would fain perswade us that the Churches Acts and Customs must be to us instead of the Scriptures Instar habeant Sacrarum Scripturarum for that the Scripture and Churches Customs both require the same Affection and Respect Indeed I find the Romish Doctors in nothing more fluent than in degrading and vilifying the Scriptures Our Country man Dr. Stapleton positively affirms that the Church hath Authority to put into the Number of Books of Scripture and to make Canonical the Writings of Hermes and Constitutions of Clemens two famous Counterfeits and that then they would have the same Authority which other Books have canonized by the Apostles themselves Some call them a Nose of Wax to be wrested any way Cardinal Cusanus blushes not to write that the Scriptures are fitted to the time and variously understood the sense thereof being one while this and another while that according as it pleases the Church to change her Judgment Some teach that the Scripture is not simply necessary that God gave it not to the People but to the Doctors and Pastors and that we must live more according to the Dictates of the Church than the Scripture Eckius the great Antagonist of Luther would make us believe that Christ never gave any Command to his Apostles to write any thing Which yet seems very odd when such an express Injunction was lay'd on S. John to write that mystical Book of the Apocalypse which certainly is not more conducing to the Churches Edification than our B. Saviour's Sermon on the Mount and the many other practical Discourses both of himself and his Disciples In a word the most ingenuous and civil among their Writers think they have pay'd all due Respect to Holy writ when they term it a Dumb Judge Dead Ink or Ink shaped into various Forms and Characters Notwithstanding which I humbly conceive that let an Indifferent Person open the Bible and the Canons of the Council of Trent together and he will receive at least as clear and full Satisfaction from the Bible as from the other unless we will impiously deny Almighty God the Faculty of expressing his holy Will and Pleasure as intelligibly as frail Men can theirs or without any shew of Reason affirm with a late Divine that Religion it self was never fully setled till that upstart Conventicle Conformable to the Sentiments are the Practices of that Church in keeping the Bible lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue from the Use of the Vulgar Clement the Eighth very strictly orders all Vulgar Translations to be put into the Index of Prohibited Books And in Italy and Spain and wherever the Inquisition hath the least Jurisdiction the very keeping of them is a Crime no less than Capital It is true where the Reformation hath got any footing Faculties are sometimes granted to read a Translation but clog'd with so many Proviso's and various Cautions and their Spiritual Guides give so small Encouragement to it that it seems rather a Trick to stop the Mouthes of their Adversaries when they Object the Prohibition of Reading Scripture than any real Intention of Promoting so Pious an Exercise among their Devotes Besides their other Forms of Devotion Rosaries or saying over the Beads after divers Methods our Ladies Office Prayers for the Dead Manuals the long Litanies of Saints hearing of Masses reading of Legends c. are in so great Vogue and take up so considerable a Time that I scarce see how any can be allotted for that contemned Employment of studying Gods Word which ought to be the Meditation of every good Christian Day and Night Indeed this neglect to say no worse of Holy Scripture is so notorious among and so peculiar to those of that Way and the Ignorance not only of the Laity but of divers of the Clergy in that kind of Learning especially is so gross that it would be a Work of Supererogation to attempt the proof of it Their Doctors generally pretending Translations of Scripture to be the cause of all Heresies
same Holy Law in having the same Faith Hope and Charity the same Heavenly Example one worship in Spirit and in Truth one Communion or Communication of the Members which is the Unity of that Church which includes all the Faithful from the beginning of the World to the end c. In short such an Unity as the Holy Scriptures require in being derived from one beginning which is the Holy Ghost who as one Soul quickens and moves all the Parts in having one Head which is Jesus Christ and in being but one Body partaking the same Doctrine Sacraments and Worship of God This Unity by God's Grace all true Protestants breath after as may apparently be evinced by the Harmony of their Confessions although in points of smaller importance there may be some little differences and most of their Dissentions are rather Verbal then Real As to the Sanctity of that Church let but the Lives of the Roman Bishops be perused written by their own Authors a noysomer Sink and Kennel of Abomination can never be raked up in all Antiquity some Atheists some Conjurers some Adulterers Murderers Incestuous Sodomites Simâ—niacks and what not the manners and conversation of their Clergy Religious Men and Women so heinously tax'd and inveigh'd against by those Famous Writers of their own side S. Bernard Nic. Clemangis Alvar Pelagius Claud. Espencaeus c. and at least they will have little cause so boldly to challenge and appropriate it to themselves above all their Neighbours These things are sufficiently known to any that have viewed their Doctors or conversed even with their Modern practices though themselves are very much amended since the Reformation But I love not to tell stories out of the School and I promised at first to refrain from personal Reflections There are Books enough on this Subject and the World talks sufficiently loud of it If all the precedent Prerogatives signifie nothing at last we must be over-born by whole Legions of Innumerable Miracles that are obtruded upon our Credit But so spurious so ridiculous so impious many of them that the more modest and discreet among themselves dare not own them Their best Writers affirm That Miracles are not necessary for the Being of a Church but onely for the Begetting of a new Faith or an Extraordinary Mission Nay I may add not for an Extraordinary Mission neither as we may see in many of the Prophets of the Old Testament of whose Miracles not one word is mentioned Nor are they at all to be expected from or by the Protestants who neither profess a new Faith nor an Extraordinary Mission The Miracles of our Saviour his Apostles and the first Age of the Church are sufficient Seals to the Doctrine they own And as for those so importunately urged by the Romanists they are but too often convinced to be meer juggles contrivances for filthy Lucre Sleights to uphold some gainful Doctrine or to advance the reputation of some particular place or Religious Order done in a Corner of a far different Nature from those of our B. Saviour and rather of the same stamp with those the Apostle speaks of 2 Thess. 2. 9. belonging to him who comes with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders and Revel 13. 13. who doth great Wonders so that he makes fire come down from Heaven on Earth in the Sight of Men. A man that duly ponders the most palpable Cheats and Impostures of this kind daily practised in the Church of Rome for these By-Respects would almost be of Mr. Chillingworth's mind that it cannot be sufficiently made out that ever so much as a Lame Horse was cured by way of Miracle in confirmation of any Popish Tenet Some insist much on the Outward Prosperity Pomp Splendour and Magnificence of their Church To this the Wise Man hath given an answer Eccles. 9. 1. Our Works are in the hand of God and no man knows either Love or Hatred by all that is before him Nay our Saviour puts it down as a Mark of the false Church Joh. 16. 20. Verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce It remains then that the onely Certain and Evident marks of a True Apostolical Church are The Sincere Preaching of God's Word and a Due Administration of the Sacraments To which may be annexed Ecclesiastical Discipline but this is reducible to the other two These are All that the Holy Scriptures afford us Matth. 28. 19. Go and Teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you Act. 2. 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and Prayers Having thus survey'd the Roman Church in general it will hardly be thought Good Manners if we neglect his Holiness the Pope in particular or as some are pleased to flatter him The Church Virtual For what ever stirâ— and bastle they make about the Church their Mother the plain English of their meaning is nothing but the Pope their Father It is the express Doctrin of S. Thomas Aquinas and his Doctrin in that Church is little less than Canonized 2. 2. q. 1. a. 10. that the making of a true Creed belongs to the Pope as all other things do which belong to the Whole Church and that the Whole Authority of the Universal Church abides in him 2. 2. q. 12. a. 2. Thus as they take all Authority and Sufficiency from the Scripture and give it to the Church so all the Churche's Authority they attribute to the Pope Gregorius de Valentia one of the Learnedst Jesuits tells us plainly That by the Church they mean Its Head that is to say the Roman Bishop in whom resides the full Authority of the Church when he pleases to Determin matters of Faith whether he d th it with a Council or without Bellarmine teaches that the Pope himself without any Council may decree matters of Faith Bannes affirms that the Authority of the Universal Church the Authority of a Council and the Authority of the Pope are one and the same thing The Canon Law in Sext. Extrav Johan 22. c. Cum inter in Gloss. speaks thus It is Heresie to think Our Lord God the Pope may not Decree as he doth And Distinct. 19. in Canon His Rescripts and Decretal Epistles are Canonical Scripture All which passages clearly convince us what is the meaning of those perpetual Braggs of the Catholick Church His Holyness must excuse me if being no Courtier I address not my self to him in the phrase of the Roman Inscription to Paul the V. yet to be seen in that City saluting him as a Vice-God and the Stout Assertor of the Pontifical Omnipotency or as the Gloss of the Canon Law in their last and best Editions viz. the Roman 1580 and Parisian 1612. Our Lord God the Pope Waving therefore these Ceremonies I shall summarily consider his
Subjects Aphorism Confess verbo Clericus Others though I will not say this is so generally taught that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks And if my Memory fail not the Famous Navar hath written a whole Tract in Defence of Equivocation and Mental Reservation and takes upon him the Defence of the Noble Society of Jesus as he calls them for Universally teaching it and to my knowledge practising it It were very Easy to collect these Corollaries out of the Canon Law and the Decretal of Boniface the VIII That Emperors and Kings are the Popes Subjects that they may be Deposed for Heresie and any great Sin that the Pope hath power over the whole World in Spirituals and Temporals and that he hath this Temporal power in a more worthy Superior and perfect manner than Temporal Princes that Statutes made by Lay Men do not bind the Clergy that it is necessary to Salvation to be subject to the Pope and he who affirms the contrary is no Christian without any hope or possibility of Salvation A most Pious and Charitable Rhapsody of Canonical Theology Now you must understand that this Canon Law is approved received and obeyed in that Church as The Rule of Justice in All their Courts and Consistories In this we further learn that the Holy Church by her frequent Authority absolves Subjects from their Oaths to Superiors and it exemplifies in Pope Zachary who deposed the King of France not so much for his Iniquity as for his Unprofitableness And Cardinal Turrecremata in his Comment on this Canon proves that Subjects if they have the Popes Consent may Depose their Kings The Bulls os many Popes against the Princes both of our own and other Nations are too well known and may at any time be seen in the Roman Bullary To draw to a Conclusion in this Odious Matter Our Country Man Creswell the Jesuite in his Philopater sect 2. affirms That it is the Opinion of All Catholicks that Subjects are bound to Depose an Heretical King that they are obliged by the Law of God by the most strick bonds of Conscience and utmost peril of their Souls to do this Bellarmine de Rom. Pontif. l. 5. c. 7. assures us it is the Consent of All Roman Catholicks that Heretical Princes May and Ought to be Deprived of their Dominions And the English Cardinal Allen speaking how S. Thomas defended this Position and how Cardinal Tolet expounds him adds these words of his own in his Answer to the Book of English Justice Thus doth this Notable School-man write Neither do we know any Catholick Divine of any Age to say the contrary If now the Testimonies of their Own most eminent Writers their established Laws and Canons their Authentick Papal Bulls and Decretal Constitutions the Decrees and Canons of their own General Councils the confess'd Representatives of their whole Church seconded by Actual Deposing of Emperours c. be not undeniable Evidence that this Seditious Desperate and Pernicious Doctrine is the Doctrine of the Roman Church I must humbly crave Pardon for my Ignorance in their Faith and must so far disown my self from ever having Embraced that I never understood their Doctrine and consequently never was a Roman Catholick But how Repugnant are these Positions to the Doctrine and Example of our Humble Meek Jesus and his Apostles Learn of me for I am Meek and Lowly The Son of man came not to be Ministred to but to Minister My Kingdom is not of this World Man who made me a Judge or Divider over you Luk. 12. 14. If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet c. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's And He himself paid Tribute to Caesar and made S. Peter do so too He submitted to the Power and Jurisdiction of Pilate who was Caesar's Deputy And this not quia deerant Vires because he wanted power to resist as Bellarmine fondly affirms of the Primitive Christians for He could have called for more than 12 Legions of Angels Nay so far was He from granting the Two Swords so much boasted of to S. Peter that he severely checks him for making Use of one And the Two Princes of the Apostles as they are styled S. Peter and Paul were perfectly of their Master's temper in this point The former would not permit a Common Centurion to fall down at his feet Act. 10. 25. and his Doctrine was far different from his Successors at Rome 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake Whether it be to the King as Supreme c. Fear God Honour the King S. Paul preaches the very same Rom. 13 1. c. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers c. For he bears not the Sword in vain Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake And in matter of Jurisdiction he expresly Appeals to the Judgment Seat of Nero the Emperour And till the Mystery of Iniquity had gained Head the Roman Popes themselves spake in a different Dialect from what they now use We were in hopes says Pope Leo Ep. 44. to the Emperour Marcianus that your Clemency would have condescended so far as to have deferred the Council but since You resolve it should be kept I have sent thither Paschasme Pope Stephen speaks thus to another Emperour Hath not the Roman Church sent her Legats to the Council when you Commanded it We offer these things to your Piety says Pope Hadrian to the Emperour Basilius with all Humility veluti praesentes Genibus Adv lâ—â—i as if we were present before you on our Knees Having thus as briefly as the matter would permit dispatched what was chiefly in my Design of penning this Discourse and what had the greatest Insluence on the satisfying my own mind I shall make much shorter work with what follows General Councils when truly so are highly venerated by Protestants and the Four first so much honoured by S. Gregory the Great are better observ'd by the Church of England than by that of Rome Nor are we so severe as S. Gregory Nazian Ep. 42. ad Procâ—p Who professes he had never seen any good or Happy Issue of any of them but look'd on them as the Increase rather than Remedy of the Churche's Evils Which Censure is certainly true of those Conventions which have been for diverse Ages last past No we desire nothing more than a Free General Council to conclude differences in Religion and are most ready to submit to the Determinations of it and yield the same Authority to it which the Antient Church in the days of Constantine the Great Theodosius c. and which S. Augustine did And that we may not be slandered as being our own Judges We only desire it may be Qualified according to Cardinal Câ—sanus his Doctrine Concord Cath. l. 2. Where he declares that a Compleat General Council consists of All the Patriarchs and Principal Governours of the Universal
Church That a Council kept by the Roman Bishop and those only who are subject to him excluding others is but a particular Council That a General Council may be celebrated though the Pope refuse to concurr by his Presence and Consent That All that meet in Councils ought to have free Liberty orderly to declare and Determin Maters in question That whatever must oblige as Divine ought to be confirmed by the Authority of Holy Scripture That no Councils are Legitimate where private Respects are managed under pretext of Faith and Religion That the Roman Bishop hath not that power which many flatterers attribute to him viz. That he alone is to Determine and Others only to Consult and Advise That a General Council is Superiour to the rest of the Patriarchs and also to the Roman Bishop That a General Council may be deficient and that de facto Councils lawfully assembled have erred And since they have failed and have contradicted one another as appears in the Second Council of Nice and that of Constance among many others the one Decreeing the Worship of Images the other prohibiting Communion in both Kinds against the express words of Scripture the Councils of Lateran in Deposing Kings the Council of Frankfort opposite to that of Nice in the Business of Images the Council of Florence against those of Basil and Constance in the point of the Pope's Superiority over a Council It is certain that Councils are to be Regulated and Examined by God's Word and to be Received or Rejected as Conformable to or Disagreeing from that And for this we have the Authority of the Great S. Augustin contra Maxim Arian l. 3. c. 14. Nec ego Nicenum c. Neither ought I to produce the Nicen nor Thou the Ariminum Council as having already prejudged or absolutely Determined the Cause beyond all Appeal For I am not bound up by the Authority of this nor Thou by the Decree of that but let us regard the Authority of the Holy Scripture witnesses not partial or appropriated to either party but common to both A speech worthy the Gravity Learning and Piety of S. Augustin As for the Councils of the Later Centuries they neither have been General nor hath either their Assimbling or Proceeding been Lawful and they have most Industriously thwarted the Canons of the most Pure and Antient Councils Their Assembling hath not been Legal in that the Modern Popes have Usurped the whole Right and Authority of Convocating Councils contrary to the Primitive Custom and Practice of the Church The first Nicene Council was called by Constantine the Great the first Constantinopolitan which is the second General Council by Theodosius that of Ephesus by Theodosius Junior that of Chalcedon by Martianus the fifth by Justinian c. All which are such evident Proofs that the Cardinals Cusanus Jacobatius and Zabarella confess that in the first Ages of the Church the Right of Calling Councils belonged to the Emperour Nor are Their Proceedings any better For the Popes admit no Assessours or Judges in Councils but their own Faction Men beforehand enslaved by a Solemn Oath which all Bishops of that Communion take at their Consecration to maintain the Regalia Petri all the Usurpations of that See The Pope is the only Authentick Judge in All matters Approving and Refusing whatever He pleases Their own Histories afford us Examples enough to confirm this I shall instance but in the Sleights and Wiles of the Late so much cryed up Trent-Council Wherein to make sure work on the Pope's side there were more Italian Bishops than of all the World beside And most ridiculously to dazle the eyes of the People some of these subscribe themselves Eastern Patriarchs as of Jerusalem c. and Others as if they were Greek Prelates Some had the Titles of Archbishops who had neither Church nor Diocess as Upsalensis and Armachanus who were Created on purpose to fill up the Number And when the Pope on a certain Occasion wanted Voices to sway the cause He sent a fresh supply of 40 Bishops newly made And this was part of that Leigerdemain which an Eminent French Bishop Claud Espenc one of those vvho sat in the Council calls the Great Helena which of late Ruled All at Trent in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. All the Oriental and Greek Patriarchs and Bishops were Excluded None out of England Scotland Ireland Danemark Swedland few out of France and Spain fewer out of Germany it self were admitted When the Protestants required Audience they could not be hearken'd to upon any tolerable terms It was long before they could get a Safe-Conduct and when it was procured it was clogg'd with this Clause That it should belong to none but such as would Repent and Return to the Bosom of the Roman Church This Partiality and Jugling when the Princes of Europe saw they sent their Protestations against the Council as being Insufficient to Resorm Religion In Trying and Deciding Controversies they adhered more to Tradition than Scripture and pass'd nothing till the Pope with his Consistory had seen it at home and approved it and then he transmitted it to his Legats So that as One said the Holy Ghost was continually posted in Cloakbags between Rome and Trent Though by the way their own Doctors teach that the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is a personal Privilege and cannot be Delegated While the Divines were formally Disputing at Trent the Pope was as busie in Ingrossing Canons at Rome and sending them to the Council to be published Thus they proceeded sometimes by a wrong Rule sometimes by none at all In the 4th Session they Decree That none should give any other Exposition of Scripture than such as might agree with the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And yet this very Doctrine was the Thing questioned and the Scriptures were to have been the Touchstone to try it by Take this whole Affair in the Words of Andraeas Dudithius a Bishop in the Roman Church and an Eminent Member of this Council He thus writes in an Epistle to the Emperour Maximilian the 2d what good could be done in that Council where voices were taken by Number and not by Weight The Pope was able to set an 100 of his against every one of ours and if an 100 were not sufficient he could on a sudden have created a thousand to succour those that were ready to faint We might every day see hungry and needy Bishops and those for the most part Beardless Youngsters come in Flocks to Trent hired to give their Voice according to the Pope's humour unlearned indeed and foolish but of good Use to him for their Audaciousness and Impudency The Holy Ghost had nothing to do with that Conventicle All things were carried by Humane Policy which was wholly employed in Maintaining the Immoderate and indeed most Shameless Lordship and Domineering of the Pope From thence were Answers waited for as from the Oracles of Delphos or Dodona From thence the Holy Ghost who as
having Fellowship with any of those horrid Works of Darkness whereof many of its Professors and the Religion it self are accused And this may serve for my old Friends Now as for your self and all other candid disinterested Persons I know it will be satisfactory to put you in mind that to impute my Proceedings to the frowning of the Times on that Party is Fallacia non Causae pro Causa a Mistake of the Adjunct or Circumstance of Time for the Principal Motive The Conversion of a Sinner is the Work of Omnipoteuce who as he is most free in all his Actions ad Extra so especially in the reclaiming of a strayed Sheep He is no wayes tied up to the Circumstances of Whom How Where or When. Nescit tarda Molimina Spiritûs Sancti Gratia sayes S. Bernard And if he were graciously pleased more effectually to touch my Heart now than at any other time and times of Affliction are his especial Seasons Afflictio dat Intellectum Cum Occideret eos c. I know no other Account can be given of it than that of our B. Saviour Even so Father for so it seemed Good in thy Sight Nay I have before demonstrated that these Thoughts have been long hovering in my Mind though perhaps they had not been altogether so suddenly declared but out of a deep Resentment of the Dangers of any further neglecting the Divine Call and a seasonable Desire to Testifie to the World my perfect Abhorrence of such desperate Practices and Principles which I am convinced are pernicious both to Publick Polity and Civil Society And I hope none can reasonably be angry that I have gained more Experience now I am thirty six years old than I had when I was but twenty These are the Principal Matters I thought worth your Knowledge at present wherein I protest before God and Man that I have no other Design but the Quiet of my Conscience and the Salvation of my Soul And when I have given a publick Tolerable Account of this Affair I will take my leave of this Noble Science of Controversie as Mr. Serjeant calls it having alwayes been more addicted to Ascetick Theology and sit down with Divine Anselm's Resolution Quid restat per Totam Vitam meam nisi ut Defleam Totam Vitam meam Crosses and Afflictions are no more than I except and deserve having hitherto been so little acquainted with them The Wise man hath read my Doom to me Fili accedens ad servitutem Dei praepara Animum tuum ad Tentationem As for the sincerity of my Resolutions I can but Appeal to that Great Searcher of Hearts and Tryer of Reins And though some Folk talk of Dispensations from Rome for the taking All Oaths and Complying with All Externals and no meaner a Person than the Author of the Difference between the Church and Court of Rome out of Arch-Bishop Spotswood's History mentions some such like thing practised in Scotland yet with submission to the Learned Author I conceive there is no such matter since the Pope himself could never be induced to Approve even the single Oath of Allegiance but expresly condemned it and severely prohibited the taking of it as containing saith he divers Points contrary to Salvation And moreover put case any thing of that nature were in Being I here solemnly Avow that I disown all such Pretended Authority One Circumstance not very Material I confess but I would not too much swerve from the Accurate Exactness of Writers of Epistles Apologetical though Mr. Cressey observe it in the Beginning and I in the Conclusion must not be forgotten and thus it is To you above all Persons living I have an Obligation to recurr in Spiritual Concerns for I am your Parishioner Holborn having been the place of my Nativity I have nothing more but with all Respect and Gratitude to assure you I am December 15. 1678. Reverend and Honoured Sir Your most obliged and Humble Servant T. S. Several Weighty CONSIDERATIONS Humbly Recommended To the Serious Perusal of ALL especially the Roman Catholicks of England IT is a very good Rule prescribed by some Spiritual Writers That in Converse we should rather discourse of Things than Persons And I intend as much as the Matter will permit to observe it in this subsequent Treatise carefully avoiding all personal Reflections especially upon such as are living and shall only bring some Doctrines and Practices to the Test which though they pass for currant with many will yet be found adulterate and contrary to Holy Scripture the best Genuine Antiquity and Right Reason highly scandalous to the Christian Religion in General destructive of Civil Government fatal to Humane Society and very pernicious both to the Spiritual and Temporal Concerns of the Practisers even in their private Capacity In short I shall very plainly and briefly endeavour to make good two Assertions 1. That there is no sufficient Ground for any one to forsake the Communion of the Church of England and incorporate with that of Rome 2. That there is all Reason imaginable both for such as have been educated in the Roman Communion to Reform and for such as have unwarily ingaged with her to Return This was the happy Result of these following Considerations upon my own Heart And it shall be my Prayer that they may have the same Blessed Effect in the impartial Perusers of them The sacred Oracles of the Holy Scriptures deservedly Command our first Inquiry We have Cardinal Bellarmine's own Concession that in the grand Question of the Church the Scripture is better known than the Church Consequently then not only her Authority but her very Being must be subordinate to it And therefore in the first place let us see what Sentiments the Church of England hath of these Heavenly Records and whether Hers or those of the Roman Church be more Consonant to Pure Antiquity Reason and Holy Writ it self All Protestants and particularly the Church of England Artic. 6. look upon the Holy Scriptures to contain all things necessary to Salvation so that whatever is not read in them or cannot be proved from them is not to be Imposed on any to be received as an Article of Faith or a Necessary Requisite to Salvation Whence it appears that they take Them to be the Onely Complete and Adequate Rule both of Faith and Life sufficiently intelligible and easie in matters that concern what is simply necessary to make us Good and Happy They consequently hold that since Holy Scripture is the Rule of our Faith it must have an exact Proportion to that whereof it is a Rule So that Matters of Faith are not to be extended beyond this Rule nor can any unwritten Traditions any way be pretended to appertain to the Substance of Faith Moreover the Rule being the Idea Model and great Exemplar of what is regulated by it it is in order of Nature before the thing so regulated And if the word of God be antecedent to Faith it self it must likewise
For either S. Peter named his Successor or he was chosen by the Clergy alone or else by the Clergy and People and then confirmed by the Emperour But now he is chosen by a pack of Cardinals a sort of Clergy altogether unheard of in primitive Ages all created by Popes themselves some in Favour to their Kindred others in Faction and to curry Kindness with some Christian Princes especially those of France and the House of Austria who alwayes have their Creatures very busie in the Conclave most of them as fit for Clergy-men as S. Peter was for a Courtier as my Lord of Hereford speaks in his Legacy a Spruce Delicate Effeminate Clergy and the World talks far worse things of them very fit persons for the Choice of S. Peters infallible Successor The truth is this boasted succession is so weak a support to the Roman Cause that their most confident Champions could never so much as pretend the very shadow of Divine Authority for it Alphonsus à Castro and others very frankly acknowledge it is not De fide a matter of Faith that this or that or the present Pope is S. Peter's Successor But of this more by and by Nor is there the least agreement in Ecclesiastical History concerning the Immediate Successor of S. Peter Some put Linus next some Clemens some Cletus And it is a most miserable Shift that Bellarmin is put to and below his great Wit to affirm the business may be thus Composed That S. Peter left his Episcopal Seat to Clement but Clement when S. Peter was dead out of his Humility would not ascend the Chair as long as Linus and Cletus were living who had been the Coadjuters of S. Peter in his Episcopal Function so Linus succeeded S. Peter Cletus to Linus and Clemens to Cletus But if S. Peter left his Chair to Clement how comes this Apostolical constitution to be abolished and why do not the Popes now design their Successors but leave a matter of so high Consequence to the factious Canvassing of the Haughty Ambitious Cardinals How durst Clement refuse the Charge intrusted to him by so great an Apostle and that only out of a Compliment A Man that duly ponders this Circumstance might very well conclude it to be a most remarkable Providence of God and intended for the humbling of that proud Church that when they come to make good their claim to that Exorbitant unlimited Authority they at this day Exercise in the Christian World they should stumble at the very Threshold as we say and fail in the very first name of their Vaunted Catalogue In a Word all things here are dark and in a Riddle and afford not sufficient matter even to ground an Implicit Faith upon But what shall we think of those long and frequent Vacations in that See for some years together and Schisms for 30 nay 70 years Which was a long Vacation indeed for it is Bellarmin's Rule An uncertain Pope is accounted for none at all Nay many and great Authors have put a Woman into the Succession many of their Bishops have been Hereticks and this makes another Interruption even Occult Heresie rendering the Pope ipso sacto none Let Cardinal Baronius a Man of undoubted Authority with them serve instead of a thousand Witnesses He treating of the year of our Lord 912 thus represents the wretched deformed Face of that Church How filthy a time was it when Whores bare all the sway at Rome At their pleasure Sees were changed Bishopricks disposed of and which is most horrible and scarce to be uttered their Gallants were thrust into the Seat of Peter We find no where any mention of Clergy choosing or giving Consent all Canons were put to silence the Pontifical Decrees were choaked Antient Traditions proscribed and all Sacred Rites extinguished Thus had Lust gotten every thing into its own hand Where did this Uninterrupted Succession sleep all this While Well near 200 years together saies the same Annalist did these monstrous abuses continue Certainly if Discontinuance of Time or Illegal Entry can marr a succession this of the Romish Church is sufficiently spoiled Benedict the 9th was a Boy of 10 years old John the 13th a Hectoring Lad not above 18. John the 11th was set up by that Infamous Strumpet Theodora and her Daughter Marozia by force of Arms deposed him John the 12th was Bastard to Sergius by Marozia and was violently intruded into the Popedome by his Mother It is not so much the wickedness of these Popes Lives as the manner of their Creation that we urge to invalidate the Succession Above 50 Popes were thus installed successively for those 200 years besides many other occasions frequently occurring in History wherein this applauded Succession hath been very notably disturbed To which if we adjoin the 30 Schisms wherein 2 and 3 Popes have been set up in opposition to one another the matter will be out of all Controversie One of these Schisms viz. that between Clement and Urban lasted for 70 years till the Duke of Savoy was Elected Pope by the Council of Basil to put a period to that fatal Tragedy And many of these Competitors had such Learned Advocates and Patrons that Bellarmin cannot assign which was the true Pope pudet haec opprobria vobis Et dici potuisse et non potuisse reselli Their Unity is no less bragg'd of than their Universality and Succession and with as little Justice for Unity without Truth and sincere Charity is but a Conspiracy or Confederation I find Revel 17. 13. that in the Kingdome of Anti-Christ they are of one mind and make War with the Lamb. And the Devils themselves in the possess'd person could unite into a Legion And if we a little better consider this pretended Roman Unity it will soon be discovered to be purely slavish and enforced an Unity of Fear more than of Affection a product of the Inquisition rather than of Charity Bellarmin seems to intimate as much They cannot think otherwise saith he because they have subjugated their sence to the sence of another meaning the Pope Nor yet is this their Unity let the Quality of it be what it will so compleat as they would make us believe How do the Jansenists and Jesuits at this day hug one another The large Order of the Dominicans look upon the Jesuits as no better then Semi-Pelagians in the Doctrine of Grace and Free Will and the Jesuits to requite them call them Calvinists The Seculars and Regulars how Unanimous they are appears by their continual Clashing And those who are throughly acquainted with their Customs may easily perceive that there are as many Sects and Factions in point of Opinion as there are Religious Orders in that Church and in point of Charity and Affection as many parties as there are Religious Houses But as for that real Unity which according to Dominie Bannes in 2. 2. q. 1. a. 10. consists in having one God and Christ for our King in being governed by the
deny S. Peter a Primacy of Authority and Spiritual Jurisdiction over the Church as an Apostle or in respect of his Fellow Apostles a Primacy of Order Calling Graces Gifts Courage c. or that he was a Ministerial Rock But since the Rock and the Keys signifie the same thing to wit the power of Binding and Loosing which Matth. 18. 18. is expresly promised to all the Apostles and the same words of Binding and Loosing are there used which were before to S. Peter and after the Resurrection John 20. 21. the same power was amply bestowed on all the Apostles equally and their Successors He breathed on his Disciples saying As my Father sent me even so send I you Receive you the Holy Ghost Whose sins you retain they are retained and whose sins you remit they are remitted so that no mans Jurisdiction came from Peter to him but every one had it alike and equally from our Savióur who sent him and since S. Paul assures us Ephes. 2. 20. That we are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles in general and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner-stone and S. Anselm well comments on S. Mâ—th 16. This power was not given alone to Peter but as Peter answered oâ—â—â—â—â—â— all so in Peter he gave this Power to all This Text will not evince S. Pâ—ter to have been Constituted the Universal Monarch of Christs Church Nor in the whole Series of Divine History do we meet with any Monarch-like Action of his Recorded â—â—t â—n the contrary we read that He was sent as a Messenger by the rest of the Apostles Act. 8. 14. That he gave the Right Hand to S. Paul and Barâ—â—â—â— Galat. 2. 9. That he was accused to the other Disciples pleaded his â—â—â—â— before them and submitted to their Judgment Acts. 11. 1. c. And that S. Paul withstood him to his face finding that he walk'd not uprightly â—â—â—â—rding to the truth of the Gospel Galat. 2. 11 14. Thus far they think this Soveraignty was only promised In S. Joh. 21. 17. where Christ said to Peter Feed my sheep they teach that this power was absolutely delivered and confirmed But neither was this charge so lay'd on S. Peter that the rest were excluded For they gâ—â—nt that no more was here Given than what was Promised Mâ—th 16. where the Keys are mentioned Now we have evidently proved that all the Apostles were equal in the power of the Keys and that those worâ—s concern S Peter no more than the other Disciples In Scripture phrase the word Feed when it is accommodated to Ecclesiastical Functions is the same as to Teach They shall Feed them with knowledge and understanding saies the Prophet Jeremy And then we shall find the same Command and Commission given to all the Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go and Teach all Nations c. Bâ—sidâ—s since All the Apostles had before been sent as Shepherds to Feed the Flock Muth 9. 36. 10. 6. and were afterwards furnished with more full Instructions and Abilities to the same end Muth 28. John 20. which they executed most diligently and Couragiously as appears by their Acts and Epistles no man can reasonably deny but that pasâ—e Oves Feed my sheep belong'd to them as well as to S. Peter and they themselves gave the same Duty in Charge to other Pastors Act. 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Neither would S. Peter ingross this privilege to himself but communicated it to others 1 Pet. 5. 2. Feed the Flock of God that is among you S. Cyprian de Unit. Ecclis speaks home They are all Pasters but the Flock is one which by one consent is fed by all the Apostles And S. Chrysostom l. 2. de Sacerdotio Our Saviour at that time intended to teach both Peter and Us how dear his Church is to him c. This is a True Short and Plain Account of S. Peter's Authority both what was given him by our Saviour and what was exercised by himself But alas this is too scant for his pretended Successour as we shall now manifest And I shall be a little more exact in this Seasonable Argument because that I know many of our English Roman Catholicks will not believe that this Vast Unlimited Power is owned by their Church but is onely the product of the Flattery of private Doctors and the Pope's particular Parasites I will onely mention how the Usurpings Innovations and Incroachments of the Roman Bishops have been constantly opposed by the Greatest part of Christendom in all Ages In the first General Council of Nice he was consined to his own particular District as the Patriarch of Alexandria and others were to theirs In the first General Councils of Constantinople and Ephesus the Provinces of the World were distinguished and the Patriarchs restrained to their own Circuits and He of Constantinople is by name made Equal to Him of Rome in all Ecclesiastical Matters He of Rome had indeed the Chief Honour but that consisted not in Jurisdiction but in sitting in the first place and such like Tiâ—les The Council of Chalcedon confirms the same Decrees and adds withal Our Fathers gave the Privileges to the Seat of Elder Rome because that City had the Empire and the 150 Bishops assembled at the Council of Constantinople moved with the same reason gave the same Privilege to the most Sacred Throne of New Rome thinking it reasonable that the City which is honoured with the Empire and Senate should also have Equal Privileges with Elder Rome and in Ecclesiastical Matters be advanced alike with her Another Council at Constantinople Enacted the same But the Council of Carthage Anno 418. consisting of 217 Bishops is most Worthy of our Remark In this Council when Sozymus Bishop of Rome claimed a Right to receive Appeals from all parts of the World and pretended a Canon of the Nicene Council that should give it him the Bishops strongly debated the Matter and having searched the Original Copies of the Nicene Council whereby the Untruth of his Claim was discovered they wrote sharply to him not to meddle any more with their Provinces nor admit into his Fellowship such as they had Excommunicated Telling him he had nothing to do in their Causes either to bring them to Rome or to send legats to hear them at home and that this pretence of his was expresly against the Nicene Council The Evidence of this Great Testimony stands to this day unanswerable by the Roman Party It is abundantly known how Pope Stephen was sleighted by S. Cyprian and Victor by the Bishops of the East But this is an Infinite Theme and I must not forget my promised Brevity I shall onely Request the Gentlemen of the Roman-Catholick Persuasion seriously to lay to heart what Trivial Grounds this Grand Article of their Church the Pope's Supremacy even in
Ecclesiastical Affairs is founded upon and to consider how many Difficulties must be cleared to make it a probable Tale. 1. That S. Peter was Bishop of Rome 2. That he dyed at Rome by the special Command of Christ. 3. That he dyed Invested with such a Supremacy as is now Exercised in that Church 4. That his so dying there is sufficient without a new Revelation from God to make the Succession of the Bishop of Rome of Divine Authority We shall now take a View of that Grand Machine of the Pope's power over Temporal Princes and make it most evident that it is an Article and Doctrin of the Roman Church and being so that this alone were a sufficient Motive to forsake her Communion since She Teaches Justifies and strictly Commands even under the penalty of being accounted no Christians Treason and Rebellion The present Lord Bishop of Lincoln hath written a Learned and Satisfactory Treatise on this Subject and I find his Lordship very faithful in his Citations Wherefore I may be the more sparing However because I heartily desire that Honoured Pious and Loyal Persons may not unwarily ingage their Liberties Estates and Lives for the Maintainance of so Extravagant and Tyrannical a Power which hath in all Ages caused so many disinal Tragedies in the Christian World and is in it self Fatal and Destructive to all Civil Government I shall briefly treat of this Matter to undeceive others especially since I was herein miserably seduced my self till I had Maturely and Exactly Examined the whole Business I shall begin with General Councils whose Decrees if they will not admit I confess I as yet understand not what the Doctrin of the Roman Church is nor do I know where to find it The Third Council of Lateran c. 27. after it had Condemned and Excommunicated many Hereticks and you must know that All Protestants are both accounted so and as such are once every year solemnly accursed by His Holyness in Person on Maundy Thursday It Absolves All that had sworn Fidelity or Homage to them from those Oaths and we know who they are to whom Fidelity and Homage strictly speaking is due and they are required in Order to the Remission of their Sins to fight against them And those who dye doing Penance in that manner may undoubtedly expect Indulgence for their Sins with Eternal Rewards Then by the Authority of S. Peter and Paul the Council remits to all who shall rise and fight against them two years penance Here a General Council uses all its Industry to poyson people with Rebellious Doctrin and calls Treason Doing of Penance Not long after Pope Celestin Predecessor to Innocent the Third with more than Luciferian Arrogance sets the Crown on the Head of the Emperour Henry the 6th with his two feet and then kicks it off again And the fact is produced by no meaner a Person than Cardinal Baronius to shew that it is in the Pope's power to Give and Take away Empires But to as much purpose as He produced that Text Rise Peter Kill and Eat to incense Paul the 5th against the Venetians The second Evidence shall be the Fourth Great and as they call it Most General Council of Lateran wherein were assembled 1200 of one sort or other These C. 3. make a Decree That the Aid of Secular Princes should be required for the Rooting out of Hereticks i. e All that are not of the Roman Communion and that when the Temporal Lord required and admonished by the Church shall neglect to purge his Territory from Heretical Wickedness He shall be Excommunicated by the Metropolitan and his Suffragans And if he persist in neglecting to give satisfaction for the space of a year let him be signified to the Pope that he from thenceforth may pronounce his Subjects discharged from their Obedience and expose his Territory to be seized on by Catholicks who having exterminated the Hereticks shall possess it without Contradiction and preserve it in the Purity of the Faith So as no Injury be done to the Right of the Supreme Lord where there is such provided He do not any ways oppose himself And the Law is to take place in them who have no Superiour Lord. Which Last Clause perfectly comprehends Soveraign Princes and so anticipates that Reply which some make That the Decree was only made for Feudatory and Subordinate Princes And whereas some few deny it to be a General Council and that it made any Canons it is a most Impudent Cavil For both the Council and Canons have been and are Universally received by the Roman Church the Council as General and Approved so by Innocent the III. and the Canons as Authentick All their Writers concerning Councils put this down among the General ones â—â—â—â— commonly call it the Great General Council of Lateran and Joverius says he cannot see with what face a Man dare deny it They always put it among those Councils that are Approved by the Church for you must know that some are Reprobated some are partly Approbated and partly Reprobated Their Canon Law so esteems of it The Council of Constance puts it among those General Councils to the Observation whereof the Popes were to swear at their Installment The Council of Trent which I hope none will boggle at Sess 24. C. 5. in express terms calls it a General Council and Confirms one of its Canons To which I may add because it concerns us a Synod at Oxford where this Council was received for England And though some Princes that were deposed out of the Pope's meer Spite and Malice got some Advocates to write for them and Synods of Bishops to Protest against the Pope's Proceedings yet in the case of Pretended Heresie which neerly touches Protestant Princes not one Writer or Bishop appears in Vindication of the Temporal Power A shrewd Sign that this Deposing Heretical Magistrates is in General the Romish Doctrine The General Council of Lions is next It was summoned by Innocent the 4th against the Emperour Frederick the 2d Here the Pope having consulted with the Council Declares the Emperour deprived by God of his Dominions and thereupon they Actually Depose him and Absolve All from their Oaths of Fidelity to him strictly charging All persons to acknowledge him no more for Emperour and denouncing All that did otherwise Excommunicated Ipso facto So we have another whole General Council concurring with the Pope in asserting this Deposing Power and with Candles burning in their hands thundering out Sentence against the poor Emperour In the Council of Constance Sess. 19. we often meet with this Clause That All Breakers of their Privileges whether Emperours Kings or any other Degree were thereby Ipso facto subjected to the Banns Punishments and Censures in the Council of Lateran and Sess. 17. in the Pass they gave to the King of Arragon they decree That whatsoever Person either King Cardinal c. hinder him in his Journey he is Ipso sacto deprived of all Honour Dignity Office
they brag was President of their Council was sent shut up in Carriers Budgets who a thing worthy to be laugh'd at when the Waters were up as it falls out many times was fain to stay till they were down again before he could repair to the Council By this means it came to pass that the Spirit was not carried on the Waters as in Genesis but along besides the Waters c. Nothing is more talk'd of than the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and this I know to be a most tempting Bait to get Proselytes especially amidst those Many Dissentions in the Christian World at this Day But because this Pretext hath been utterly destroyed by the Lord Falkland Mr. Chillingworth and other most Learned Pens I will only Recommend this Single Consideration to All Judicious Roman Catholicks who would not be chouced out of their Wits Estates and Liberties by a Gang of Ecclesiastical Mountebanks viz. That this Huge Swelling Prerogative of Infallibility is so Sensless a Thing so Ungrounded that no Romanist according to his own Principles can have so much as a probable Moral Assurance of that wherein he thinks himself Infallible And unless every one in particular be Infallible it is to little purpose to boast of an Infallible Judge For a Man may as well mistake the Meaning of his Sentence as the Sentence of one who proceeds only upon prudent Moral Assurance and we see that thousands do erre in the Interpretation of those acknowledged Infallible Oracles the Holy Scriptures The Consideration I recommend is this That after All the Stirr that is made about Infallibility the Learnedest amongst them knows not where to meet with it nor in what cases it is annexed to that Chair in what it forsakes it Some as the Jesuits generally will have it in the Pope but then whether with his Cardinals or by Himself is controverted very briskly Others will have it in a General Council and this Opinion is backt by no less Authority than the Councils of Basil and Constance But then the Church hath been very long without it and possibly may never injoy it by means of a General Council to the End of the World That wherein they fix it with most plausibility is both the Pope and a Council together But even here we are at a great many losses For as to the Pope no man can be assured of his being a true Pope considering the various defects that may render him otherwise as a fundamental Error in his Election Simoniacal Induction the female Sex Want of true Baptism and Holy Orders both which depend upon the Intention and Validity of those from whom he receives them and theirs upon the like Qualifications in their Predecessor c. Occult Heresie and Many others And then as to a Council which consists chiefly of Bishops tho the Popes for some ends best known to themselves have now pack'd in Cardinals Abbots Generals of Orders c. besides that the Validity of a Council depends upon the uncertainty of the Pope's being truly Qualified the very same Difficulties occur in every particular Member as did in respect of the Pope himself The like uncertainty appears in every Sacrament administred in that Church some whereof are absolutely necessary both Necessitate Medii Praecepti v. g. in Baptism Absolution Consecration of the Host which if it be not duly performed Idolatry is committed by the People in adoring it even by their own Concessions Azorius the Jesuit Enchirid. c. 8. openly proclaims That it is a more tolerable Error in them who worship Golden and Silver Statues as the Gentiles did their Gods nay a piece of red Cloth on the top of a Spear as the Laplanders are reported to do than in those who adore a piece of Bread And now I would fain know of a Lay-Roman-Catholick what is become of his Infallibility where it is and to what purpose it serves him No where is it to be found as I know of but in the bold Assertion of every pragmatical Confessor Who bids you be sure to look to your Faith who are the Solifidians now to believe as the Church believes and then all is safe for the breach of the Ten Commandments there are Merits and Indulgences enough in the Church which being mixt with a little Attrition and Confession will do the work Though in the mean while He himself can neither tell where this Infallible Church is nor what she certainly believes Methinks S. Paul spoke as much like a Prophet as an Apostle as if he foresaw the Haughtiness of the Members of that Church to which he wrote And therefore to curb them and banish from their Minds all such vain conceits of Infallibility he tells the Church of Rome she stood on no firmer grounds than her Neighbours His words are these worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance by All Roman-Catholicks Rom. 11. 18 19 Boast not against the Branches c. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and Thou standest by Faith Be not high-minded but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not Thee Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God on them which seli Severity but towards Thee Goodness if Thou continue in his Goodness otherwise Thou also shalt be cut off Which words need rather your Practice than my Paraphrase How much Safer and more Satisfactory is it to rely on the Holy Scriptures themselves which by all Sides are acknowledged Infallible For as much as they were divinely Inspired by that great Infallible Truth which neither can be deceived nor deceive his Creatures which can make you wise enough to Salvation and who hath promised to every humble Petitioner and devout Practiser a sufficient Competency of Knowledge in what is necessary for his present Condition and Eternal Happiness Now all this you will find abundantly provided for in the Doctrine and Constitutions of the Church of England Here is the Word of God faithfully Translated and exactly as far as the Idiomes of Languages will permit compared with the Originals and All those Books received of whose Authority there was never any doubt made in the Church Some others called Apocryphal are read indeed but as Ruffinus in Exposit. Symboli speaks non ad Fidem firmandam sed ad Mores Instruendos Not for confirming Faith but for direction of Manners And they are excluded from the Canon upon very weighty Reasons For that they were never committed as of Divine Authority to the Jews to whom the Oracles of God were intrusted Rom. 3. 2. Nor are they to be found in the Hebrew Canon They are never found cited by Christ or his Apostles and in some places they contain things manifestly false contradictory both to themselves the other Genuine Prophetical Writers You have here the three Creeds the Apostles that of the Nicene Council and that of S. Athanasius together with the four first General Councils which represent to us the Sincere
Scheme of Apostolical Primitive Doctrine and Discipline You have here good works Recommended Preach'd and Practiced as the Fruits of Faith and Evidences of our Justification and though not as Expiatory for our Sins yet as in Obedience to the Divine commands and as a Sacrifice acceptable to God And even in this Degenerate Age of Christianity it might be made to appear that as many Acts and Monuments of Real Charity have been exhibited since the Reformation as were in many Ages before But for those Works of Suprerecogation as they are called whereby we are presumed to perform more than is our Duty this Church worthily disowns them as savouring of too much Pride and self Conceitedness in us who at the best are but unprofitable Servants You have here a just and Competent Authority allowed to the Church of appointing Decent Rites and Ceremonies and of determining Controversies in Religion provided she decide nothing Repugnant to the Holy Scripture And the Apostles themselves challenged no more Witness S. Paul Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. You have here a Lawful Call to and Succession in the Ministerial Function and this Succession if need were may be shewn to be more Sincere and less Interrupted than that in the Roman Church As likewise those Three most Antient degrees of Bishops Priests and Deacons and the manner of their Ordination most conformable to God's Word and Primitive Constitutions and Practice You have here all the Divine Services and Administration of the Sacraments performed in the known Vulgar Tongue of the Country to the Edification of the People and according to Divine Precept On which Subject S. Paul hath written a whole Chapter 1 Cor. 14. no ways reconcilable to the Practice of the Roman Church which herein is confessed to disagree with Antiquity by the most Learned of our Adversaries and many of them wish that the Custome were abolished Nor doth their Common Plea avail that God understands any Language for many parts of their Service are addressed to the People and not to God as the Instructions out of the Epistles and Gospels Orate Fratres c. and many Occurrencies in the Administration of the Sacraments Here you will find the two great Sacraments of the New Law Baptism and the Sacred Eucharist The first never so much as questioned by our Adversaries as to its Validity And the other Administred in the due Matter and Form of Divine Institution and that intirely without committing that Grand Sacrilege of taking away the Cup from the Layity And if the Church of England Embrace all that is Really conveyed to us in those High Mysteries viz. The Application of those Ineffable Benefits and Advantages of the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ it is as much as every Good Christian can desire and enough if duly received to make him Happy And as for that Wonderful Doctrin of Transubstantiation we have the Romanists own Acknowledgment that it was not believed in that Church till the Councel of Lateran which likewise Decreed the Deposing of Kings and I am sure the Church of England hath Scripture Antiquity Reason and the concurring Testimony of all our Senses when she acknowledges a Real Presence to the True Believer without Annihilating the Substance of the Elements I am sure our Blessed Saviour at the Institution calls the whole Action a Commemoration and in the Consecration of the Cup he most apparently uses a double Figure both in the Cup used for what is in it and the Testament for what is conveyed by it He himself calls it the Fruit of the Vine And S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 26. 27 28. in 3 verses together expresly calls it Bread even after the Consecration Whoever shall eat this Bread c. As often as ye eat this Bread c. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this Bread And whereas our Saviour saies This is my Body to omit the multitude of Authorities that might be produced let the great S. Augustin speak the sence of All Antiquity Christ did not stick to say This is my Body when he gave the Sign of his Body in Psalm 98. and de Doctrin Christian. l. 3 c. 10. he lays down this notable Rule If you find a Commandment that forbids a Crime or injoins any good Action then its sense is not Figurative but it is otherwise when it seems to command a Crime and prohibit a good Action Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you saies Christ. That word seems to command a Crime it is therefore a Figure which bids us Communicate in the passion of our Lord and call into our Memories with sweetness and benefit that his Flesh hath been wounded and nailed on the Cross for us Thus doth S. Augustin teach And indeed nothing is more frequent in Holy Writ than such manner of Speech This is the Lord 's Passover I am the true Vine c. But to examine this business fully would require a just Volume and it is already done by very able Pens The 5 other Sacraments in use in the Roman Church are solemnly used by the Church of England though not under that notion excepting the Ceremony of Anoynting which was a Miraculous guift of Healing peculiar to the Apostles In the Church of England you may injoy the true use and Advantage of Confession and Absolution in a far more serious and less suspicious manner than in the Roman Church And as for Absolution even the Form of it is as full and Compleat as theirs I will set it down here as it is found in the Service for the Visitation of the Sick Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to Absolve all Sinners who truly Repent and Believe in him of his Great Mercy forgive thee thy offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Her Churches are decently kept and adorned at least it is her desire they should be so though not crowded with Images the Historical use of which she rejects not but the Adoration of them she worthily esteems most Dangerous and Detestable And truly for my own part I think that Dr. Stillingfleet now the Reverend Dean of S. Pauls hath little less than Demonstrated it to be Idolatry Let any but impartially examin the general practice of the Church of Rome especially on Good-Friday in creeping to the Cross and he will find an undeniable proof of their Adoring Images The Priest by degrees uncovers the Crucifix lists it upto be Adored with these words Ecce Lignum Crucis c. Behold the Wood of the Cross come let us Adore it Then first he himself then all that are present with three Prostrations of the Body even to the Kissing of the very Earth approach to it and with all Reverence Imaginable Adore it The Worship and Invocation of
Saints and Angels is here looked upon as at least very Dangerous and not having any President in the Old or New Testament S. Paul hath imparted his mind to us in this matter Coloss. 2. 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen The Doctrines of Merit Indulgences Purgatory c. are presumptuous at best and full of Abuses contrived more for the Priests profit than the Penitents comfort All which considered together with the small grounds for the belief of them they are worthily disowned by the Church of England Nor was Bellarmin when out of the heat of School Disputes of a Different Judgment l. 5. de Justif. c. 7. Propter incertitudinem c. By reason of the Uncertainty of our own Justice and the Danger of Vain Glory Tutissimum est c. It is the safest course to repose all our Confidence in the alone Mercy and Benignity of God In short you will find that the Church of England in her Reformation which was most Regular and by the Supreme Authority of the Whole Nation retains all the Essentials of Christianity and onely Rectified such things as She found and the whole World complained were some Ridiculous some Impious Others Sensual and Cruel Such are the Innumerable Crossings Repetitions of Names Kissings of the Pax and Images Offering up of Incense and Candles Impertinent Pilgrimages c. and a Thousand the like absurdities Such as teach men to put their Confidence in Bless'd Beads and Medals Counterfeit Relicks Confraternities Sodalities to trust to Mundayes Prayers for the Dead and our Ladie 's Litanies and Ascribe to pieces of Wax called Agnus Dei's Divine power and Efficacy even as much as is due only to the Pretious Blood of the Son of God Nor is this the belief and practice onely of a few Old Wives but the Authentick Book of the Sacred Ceremonies of the Roman Church tells us how Urban V. sent three Agnus Dei's to the Greek Emperor with most Blasphemous Rythmes annexed concerning their Virtue Amongst others this is Verbatim set down Peccatum frangit ut Christi sanguis et angit that it Destroys Sin as the Blood of Christ doth And this was not the Practice of one Phantastical Pope alone but according to the foresaid Book l. 1. Every Pope in blessing these Agnus Dei's uses this Prayer That it would please thee O God to bless these things which we purpose to pour into this Vessel of Water prepared for thy Name so as by the Worship and Honour of them we thy Servants may have our heinous offences done away the blemishes of our Sins wiped off and thereby we may obtain pardon c. No Meaner a Person than the Angelical Doctor S. Thomas Aquinas attributes the same Virtue of taking away Venial Sins to Holy Water And likewise 3. qu. 25. a. 3. in c. most Orthodoxly defends That Stocks and Stones I mean Images are to be worshipped with Latria the same Honour that is due to the Creator Suarez and Vasquez teach the same To Conclude this Discourse In the Church of England You will meet with all that is Good and Warrantable in the Church of Rome what ever is Necessary to Salvation and that by the Confession of the Learnedest Romans Let Bellarmin speak for all l. 4. de Verbo Dei c. 11. The Apostles themselves never used to Preach openly to the people much less propounded as Articles of Faith other things than the Articles of the Apostles Creed the Ten Commandments and some few of the Sacraments because saies he These are simply Necessary and Profitable for All Men the Rest besides are Such as that a Man may be Saved without them This made Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalatto even at his Return to Rome to acknowledg the English Church to be a True Apostolical Church And Father Fulgentio the Venetian Companion to Father Paul the Famous Compiler of the History of the Council of Trent had a most High value and Tender Respect for this Church as having in it all the Requisites for Faith Manners and Discipline And that Incomparable Man Hugo Grotius had so Venerable an Affection for her above all other Reformed Churches that he told our Embassador in France That he Intended after his Return from Swedland whither he was designed Embassador from the States General to transport himself with his whole Family hither on purpose to dye in the Bosome of the English Church In such Repute is She even with Foreigners And to speak one word to the Roman Catholicks of England even in their own Language By their own Concessions the Church of England is safer to Communicate with than that of Rome For To Believe onely what is in the Scripture is as much as is necessary as Bellarmin Confesses To worship God without an Image is acknowledged by all both safe and acceptable To pray immediately to God and use the Lord's Prayer without Repeating so many Ave Maria's to perform the best works we can and not stand on the point of Merit c. and so of the other matters in Controversie is by both Sides granted secure Whereas the other Things in debate are strongly disputed by very Learned and Pious Men. Now what would a Man require more than what all acknowledge to be in the Church of England viz. Means effectually conducing and sufficient to Believe Well to Pray Well to Live Well and to Dye Well It remains onely that the Truly Devout and Loyal Persons in our Nation that are of the Roman Persuasion will but vouchsafe to take the Courage and Pains following Our Blessed Saviour's Advice John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures and S. Paul's 1 Thess. 5. 21. Prove all things 2 Cor. 13. 5. And examine your selves whether you be in the Faith A POST-SCRIPT To the Roman Catholicks of my Acquaintance Ever Honoured and still Respected Friends HAving thus fairly and ingènuously unbosomed to you the very thoughts of my Heart I beseech You not to take with the Left Hand what I offer with the Right Many of You I know to be Truly Vertuous Noble and Loyal to Many I have most Endearing Obligations and I think none can contradict me if I affirm That my Converse among You was repay'd with Love and Esteem and I take Heaven and Earth to witness that I still value you as tenderly as I do my own Soul God onely knowes how many Throes and Struglings I had to part with those whom I so Earnestly affected But Truth at least as it seems to me is Great and will prevail My Request to You All is That You would not let us break in point of Charity though our Opinions are not altogether Coincident That You would for the removing any scruples that may arise believe me as I shall answer at the Last Tribunal That I was not onely Sincere but Zealous while I remained among You and that whatever I performed was with the perfect Intention of and Compliance with the Roman Church and as Validly done as any Actions of that nature are capable of admitting Lastly I desire for God's Religion's and Your own sake that we may refrain from All Contumelious Reflexions on one another In that Long Converse and Great Familiarity I had with you it is impossible but Failings and Imperfections must be discovered on both sides Let All be concealed Under the Mantle of that Charity which hides a multitude of Sins still think of me as you ever found One that sought not Yours but You an honest plain down-right meaning Person And as for my present Proceedings Leave me to stand or fall to that Great Judge to whose and his Churche's Censure I with the most profound Obedience Submit whatever I Write or Do. And Once more I recommend to your most impartial and serious Consideration this Important Quaery Whether it be not Sufficient Ground to withdraw from the Communion of a Church when She is convinced publickly to Teach Practise and Command Treason and Rebellion to its Members Sicut Reputari cupiunt Haberi Fideles as the Lateran Council Thunders it out as they desire to be Accounted and Treated as Christians As to the Traiterous and Monstrous Plot now in Question What Mr. Oats and Mr. Bedlow with the rest of the Informers Evidences are I know not nor am I much Inquisitive His Sacred Majesty and his Great Council are Judges of that But of this I am as sure as I can be of any humane Transaction That the Roman Church Teaches and Commands such Practices That they have been frequently put in Execution abroad and especially at Home And that consequece to such Doctrines Mr. Colemâ—â— by his own Confession and Letters which he did not deny was very Busie in attempting to Dissolve the Parliament and in procuring Assistance from the French King by the interposition of Monsieur le Chese the Jesuit who was that King's Confessor to use his own words To Carry on the Mighty Work in their hands no less than the Conversion of Three Kingdoms and the Utter Subduing of a Pestilential Heresie which hath Domineer'd over a great part of this Northern World a long time and that there never was such hopes of success since the days of their Q. Mury as now in These days And I am sure that a most Worthy Justice of Peace was Barbarously Murder'd who took the Examinations upon that occasion and that many other Insolent Actions were committed by that Party Nor can it be any satisfaction to the Nation for well-minded Persons to say they Disclaim and Detest such Actions unless they Kenounce the Principles and Disown the Authority which have promoted and still are ready to prompt men to such Desperate Practices God Almighty grant Us All his Grace to Consider in This Our Day the Things that Belong to Our Peace before they be Hid from Our Eyes Amen FINIS