of Truth and the way of Error the way of Godliness and the way of Iniquity the way of Life and the way of Death I most humbly and most earnestly beseech our most Gracious God for his Son Christ Iesus's sake to give you a right understanding in all things and to preserve you continually in the way of Truth Holiness Righteousness and Life Everlasting Amen THE END A SUPPLEMENT To the PRECEDING SERMONS TOGETHER WITH A TRACT concerning the Holy Sacrament OF THE Lords Supper Promised in the PREFACE By the Right Reverend Father in God HERBERT Lord Bishop of HEREFORD London Printed for Charles Harper 1679. A SUPPLEMENT To the Preceding SERMONS IN the Preceding Sermons I have proved these six things 1. That by God's special appointment all persons are to read and learn the Scriptures for their Edification in Faith and good Life and therefore 't is both foolish and impious for vain Man to take upon him to give reasons why the People should not read them 2. The reason of this because that in the Scriptures we have eternal life as our Saviour tells us which St. Paul explicates more particularly saying That they make us wise unto salvation that is they teach us all things necessary for our belief and they throughly furnish us unto all good works that is they teach us all things requisite for good life And these things the Scriptures compleatly contain in themselves without any Humane Doctrines so that if there were no other Writings nor Instructions in the World but the Scriptures alone yet we should not want any thing necessary to eternal life 3. That we are not to believe any thing with Divine Faith but what is clearly contained in Scripture for such a belief is a Duty belonging to God alone and 't is the greatest and most acceptable Duty and Sacrifice we can perform unto God to captivate our understandings in Obedience to Faith in God and therefore to give this principal Divine Service unto Man is high Idolatry and consequently to believe in the Apostles themselves had been great Idolatry had not Christ fully assured us That they should have the Holy Ghost to guide them into all Truth So that to speak properly we do not believe in the Apostles and Prophets but in God the Holy Ghost speaking in them And for this reason we find St. Paul very wary in distinguishing and declaring to the people what he delivered as from the Lord and what he delivered as from himself though he was perswaded he had the Spirit of the Lord even in that But yet no clear and full assurance that it was spoken directly by the Lord. Nay our blessed Saviour himself though God and Man yet would not have us believe in him as Man and therefore assures us That the words he spake were not his but the Father's speaking by him 4. I have proved that we have not any clear and full assurance from God That any Assembly of Men or Church since the Apostles are infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost into all Truth and therefore to believe in any Assembly of Men or Church without this full assurance of the Holy Ghost's speaking in them is Idolatry also for by such a belief you pay them the greatest Divine Worship 5. Though we should grant That some promise of Infallibility were made in Scripture to the Church yet this must include the Laity as well as the Clergy for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Church is always set in Scripture for the Congregation of the Faithful and is not once set for the Clergy distinct from the Laity But there is no such thing as Infallibility granted to any neither Priests nor People nor both together 6. Grant yet farther that the word Church in Scripture should signifie the Clergy and a promise of Infallibility made to them as Successors to the Apostles yet the same Promise being made and the same Authority given to all the Apostles alike the Successor of St. Peter and his Clergy cannot from hence challenge any more Infallibility than the Successors of the other Apostles with their Clergy and Church But the Papists deny this Infallibility to other Churches Certainly then other Churches may as well deny it to them All these things I have proved But now for a fuller conviction of the Papists and perchance for better satisfaction to some others I have a mind to grant yet farther That Christ made some particular Promise to St. Peter above the other Apostles yea and to St. Peter's Successors also 't is impossible from Scripture to prove either of these but let it pass so let us now see how the Papists can from hence fix this Infallibility to the Bishop of Rome and his Churches For I have shewed you from Scripture which doubtless is of better Authority than any Writings the Papists can bring for St. Peter that Rome was comprised in St. Paul's Jurisdiction and that he lived and preached and suffered there But we will pass over this also and yield to St. Peter's Jurisdiction over the whole World What then Then St. Peter was Bishop of Rome and setled his Successor there And how do the Papists prove this They answer that many authentick Historians tell them so is this all their Proof Humane Testimony from History is this a sufficient foundation for a prime Article of Faith on which depends the Salvation of all Christian Souls Is this a sure Rock or rather a bank of Sand to build their Infallibility upon Do not the same Historians relate that St. Peter was Bishop of Antioch and we have more reason to believe History for this because the Scripture tells us he was there but not one tittle of his ever being at Rome but strong Presumptions to the contrary St. Luke in the Acts speaking so much of St. Paul's going thither hath not one word of St. Peter's who being as the Papists believe so eminent an Apostle above all the rest seems somewhat neglected by St. Luke which makes me suspect St. Luke was not of their Opinion And shall we accuse St. Paul also for want of charity or civility never to mention St. Peter in all those his particular and numerous Salutations to and from others in his Epistles we must not think that their quarrel at Antioch where St. Paul withstood St. Peter stuck so long in his mind as to omit all Salutation to him in several Epistles We ought rather in charity to St. Paul to believe St. Peter was not at Rome And truly methinks the Papists themselves who pretend so much to honour St. Peter do him no small dishonour in affirming him to be at Rome when St. Paul answered for himself before Nero the first time St. Paul complaining that no man stood with him but all forsook him And if those Historians which the Papists rely on for St. Peter's being Bishop of Rome speak true in the circumstance of time then he was at Rome when St. Paul first answered
the Church to countenance and protect the Orthodox Teachers They are likewise to read daily in Gods Holy Word for the very same ends that their hearts also be not lifted up above their brethren that they do not multiply to themselves silver nor gold which all in Authority are by nature prone unto and inferiours probably more than Kings themselves for Kings being born to great dignity power and revenue are not so transported with it as persons who from a low condition are exalted unto them commonly their minds also are exalted And so we see on the contrary part men who are tumbled down from dignity power and wealth are far more dejected with it than those who are born and bred in low and poor estate these are as contented and chearful in that condition and commonly more than great ones in theirs and just so born Princes commonly are less arrogant and less covetous than those risen to great dignity Now reading daily in Gods Holy Word especially in the Gospel doth very much abate all exorbitancy in these matters when there we contemplate the poverty the humiliation the meekness the affability of the King of eternal glory Yet this hindered him not in shewing his Authority when it was needful for he sharply rebuked the vices of the Iews and with a scourge whipt out of the Temple the money-changers and other Mechanicks that prophaned it The severity of justice mingled with meekness and affability in due time and place hath a wonderful commanding authority over the hearts of all and makes Government both beloved and feared Besides reading the Scriptures hath another great effect conducing very much to Government for 't is very powerful in operation making great impressions of all vertues in the minds of men the practice whereof in the Magistrate gains him great reverence to his Authority and is also a great inducement to the people to follow him in the way of vertue and then the Government will be so easie to him as he may lead them with a twine thread as commonly we say to whatsoever he pleases Vertuous persons never resist Authority knowing 't is the Ordinance of God but will rather defend it with their lives whereas all vitious persons hate Government as a restraint to their licentious appetites and a curb to their covetous and injurious oppressions of others and are therefore ready on all occasions to mutiny and rebel against Authority but then the Magistrate having by his just and vertuous proceedings possest himself of the hearts of all good men and increased the number of them by his pious example shall be sure to have all their hands ready to assist and protect him in the due execution of his Office No laws in the world can preserve Government long without the operation of Gods Laws on the consciences of men for when evil men have conceived and nourished up wicked designs in their hearts their passions will be so blown up and enflamed by mutual discourse and animating one another and their reason so blinded by their passions that they will venture on the most irrational and desperate attempts and proceed to some sudden mischief though it be to their own ruin and loss of life But the Laws of God principiis obstant give a check to the first motions of wickedness the all-seeing eye of God and his severe avenging hand with eternal flames strikes a terror in the heart and there suppresses all evil designs before they go farther securing the Government in continual peace and safety And thus I have shewed you the obligation that lies on Princes and all Magistrates that are under them to be studious in reading the Scripture and in acting according to Gods Holy Laws considering how advantagious it will be to the ease and happiness of their Government There remains now to treat of the third rank of men the People and to shew you that they also are included in this command of our Saviour to search the Scriptures And this I shall prove unto you by the whole current of the Bible I begin with the Old Testament the Books of Moses and the Prophets Did not Moses deliver all his Laws and Ordinances to the people and that by Gods express command as you may see Exod. xix and several Chapters following where 't is often repeated Call all the people Tell the people c. twenty times over and more And so again in Deut. vi 7. and again xi 18. When Moses repeated unto the people all the Ordinances of God he called all the people together all Israel and commanded them to teach their Children all the words of the Law and to expound to them the meaning thereof and farther that they should write them on the posts and gates of their houses that they might have them always before their eyes and to wear them as frontlets on their foreheads and on their arms as bracelets for perpetual remembrance and to talk of them to their children when they sate in their houses when they were in the field and when they walked by the way All this you have set down at large in those Chapters mentioned I beseech you now can any thing be more earnestly required more strictly commanded And then again for the Prophets as you will find almost in every Chapter Go to my people Speak in the ears of all this people Cry unto this people and say I have sent unto you all my servants the Prophets rising up early and sending Sure I have said enough and enough for the Old Testament Now for the New from the very beginning to the end Were not the very first glad tidings of the Gospel declared unto the people the meanest of the people Shepherds and by them to others of like condition and when Iohn the Baptist came out of the Wilderness to preach Was it not to the people And when Christ himself went forth to preach Was it not to the people and those of the lowest degree And he gave it unto the Disciples of St. Iohn as a special sign of his being the Christ That the poor had the Gospel preached unto them as if it were chiefly intended to them And accordingly St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. i. 26. Ye see your calling Brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called And as our Saviour himself preached unto all and for the most part to those of the lowest degree so when he was to leave this world he gave the like charge to his Disciples That they should preach the Gospel to every creature as you may see in the last Chapter of St. Mark to every creature that is to every humane Creature which expression of our Saviour carries great energy as if he had said In the preaching of the Gospel do not go the way of the world and make your application to the great to the rich to the powerful no but to those of low degree as I have done to
great examples and leaders to piety and godly life but I say it only to prevent our being led into errors by their Authority who though they were very learned and godly men yet still were men and being men were subject to error and for this cause no assurance can be had in the word of man alone but of him only who was God and man for God only is truth And as for the miracles pretended to be wrought by the Fathers of the Church in confirmation of their Doctrine I answer First We find in no authentick Author any miracles wrought by the prime and principal Fathers of the Church in confirmation of any Doctrine taught by them St. Cyprian St. Ambrose St. Ierome St. Austine St. Chrysostome St. Gregory Nazianzen and such like Secondly For the pretended Fathers of the Church in later Ages and Mothers also it is sufficiently known what gross and ridiculous impostures have been in later Ages noised abroad for great miracles Our learned Dr. Stillingfleet hath sufficiently set them forth in their proper colours These fine devices began about the six hundredth year after Christ and in a few years after they grew as familiar as jugling feats especially in the female sex of whom I find none that wrought them in the Apostles days when true miracles were frequent among men and when there were women certainly as holy as any whatsoever in future Ages We do not find that the blessed Virgin her self ever wrought any miracle though now the Papists will tell you of a thousand wrought daily by several images of hers But this we know that in the later days lying wonders shall be wrought to deceive if it were possible the very Elect and we also know that whatever seeming miracle is wrought contrary to the word of God is a lying wonder for Gods word is truth and all liars that speak against that But these miracles which they pretend to be wrought at the images of the blessed Virgin and other Saints are apparently contrary to the word of God which commands us not to bow down to nor worship any images and consequently these must needs be lying wonders wrought to deceive the people who are thereby induced to worship those images and do daily visit them and prostrate themselves before them with as much reverence and devotion as if Christ himself were there present This is fully known to every man that hath travelled those parts But the Popish Priests here surely ashamed of their own Devotions will boldly deny it and finding us too strongly fortified with Scripture truth to be seduced by their supposititious Saints with their lying wonders and too quick-sighted to be catched with such stauking horses they come upon us with a whole Army of the Church Militant the Universal Catholick Church meaning the Romish Church falsly so called yea and back'd with Scripture too and so fight us at our own weapon and thence thunder out irresistable Cannon Shot He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publicane Matt. xviii 17. Beloved my time would fail me should I now engage in a fresh battel I shall therefore refer this to another time and for the present add only a few words of direction for those who take comfort in reading the Scripture and desire to improve their knowledge therein but meet with many obscure and difficult places which exceed their capacity in which they would gladly be farther instructed To this I answer first That I conceive it fit to advise with some learned orthodox sober and godly Divine if they have any such in their Neighbourhood for give me leave to say men so compleatly qualified are not every where to be found in these unfortunate days But if they can find any such let them desire his assistance and if this godly person can by other plain places of Scripture and clear reason make the sense of that doubtful place evident to his understanding then he may well conclude that to be the true meaning of the Holy Ghost But if this godly Counsellor makes use of any human Authority that is any one or many Fathers of the Church or Councils or the like to make good his exposition and cannot do it by clear places of Scripture or such circumstances as make that doubtful place clear to your understanding but require you to submit meerly to their Authority then you are to afford him no more than a human belief which helps you nothing forward to your salvation for that wholly depends on divine faith and belief in God not in man as I have shewed you And as for the doubtful places pass them over as doubtful and the clear knowledge thereof not necessary to your salvation God requires of no man beyond the talent which he hath given him and in his infinite goodness hath so provided that all things necessary for salvation may be understood of all What can be more plainly set forth to common understanding than it is in Scripture That there is one God Creator of Heaven and Earth one Saviour Iesus Christ the Son of God who dyed for all men rose again the third day ascended into Heaven and shall come again at the last day to judge and reward every man according to his deeds And then for the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper and such like necessary things they are also plainly set forth in Scripture even to vulgar understandings And lastly for our course of life what can be more plainly prohibited than fornication adultery all lasciviousness murther striking railing cousening What can be more plainly commanded than to do justice shew mercy charity c. and in sum to do unto all men as we would have them do unto us Now whosoever shall believe and practise all these plain things my Soul for his he shall never miss of his Salvation though he miss the understanding of a hundred places of Scripture many whereof the most learned understand very little better though they can talk more of them When our Saviour represents unto us the great Judgment day Mat. XXV He doth not call any to his right hand because they understood these and these dark places in Scripture nor curse any on his left hand because they understood them not but the whole Judgment depends on doing or not doing Come ye blessed for ye have fed the hungry cloathed the naked c. and go ye cursed for ye have not done so Wherefore the question in the Gospel is Good Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life and our Saviour's Answer is This do and thou shalt live And S. Paul tells us though we understood all Mysteries yet this profiteth not without Charity Charity and the deeds thereof with a firm belief of so much of Scripture as God enables us to understand would undoubtedly bring us to Christ's right hand in that great day Were but our practice according to the measure of our knowledge it
beseech you tell me from whence sprang this mighty Headship of the Pope to be Lord of the whole World Successors as Successors can challenge no more Authority than their Predecessors had If the present Bishop of Salisbury hath no Authority over the Bishop of Lincoln certainly Salisburies Successor can have none over Lincolns Successor And so Saint Peter having no Lordship over S. Iohn nor any other Apostle Peter's Successor can have none over their Successors this is clear How then Did Christ ever come again upon Earth to establish this Headship or Did an Angel come from Heaven to do it Though I must tell you should an Angel come from Heaven and preach any other Doctrine than what is in Scripture we are fully warranted not to receive it But if neither Christ nor Angel nor any one Scripture declare this Headship is it not a most unreasonable thing to require us to believe this as a matter absolutely necessary to Salvation and to believe it with as full assurance as we believe Christ was born of the Virgin or that Christ was Crucified and that he rose from the dead Let them shew us then in such plain Scripture words that the Pope is to be Head of the Church that the Church of Rome shall be Infallible unto the worlds end that we are to receive all her Doctrines as the Oracles of God or that in the Church of Rome we have Eternal Life Let them but shew us some promise some command plain like this and we shall readily submit really we should be heartily glad to see it it would save us much trouble But beloved you all know there is nothing like this in all the Scripture How then dare any man venture the eternal salvation of his Soul and in obedience to the Church of Rome practise things so apparently contrary to Gods Commands as to worship Images pray unto Saints receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in one kind and such like as I mentioned formerly I know there are in the writings of several Fathers many expressions which highly magnifie the Authority of the Church in general and some for the Church of Rome in particular all which signifie very little if you consider the circumstances and motives for their so speaking When the Church was infested with Heresies the Orthodox Fathers disputing with them used all the Arguments they could to reduce them to the Truth but perverse men not hearkening to their reasons their last and pressing Argument was the Authority of the Church which they set forth with great lustre to make the Argument more powerful and force their submission unto it And because the generality of the Church in those days by Gods blessing was not yet infected with errors they urged the Authority and true belief of the Universal Church to reclaim the particular Heretical Churches from their Error and the most general Language being then Greek they used the word Catholick which in that Language signifies Universal and hence arose the phrase of the Catholick Church Moreover it pleased God to preserve the Roman Church in the true Faith with great Zeal and Piety for many years their Bishops being successively Martyr'd by the Heathen Emperors and their Officers at Rome And their true Faith being celebrated also in Scripture by S. Paul it was magnified by the true believing Fathers of other Churches as Antioch Ephesus Constantinople Alexandria c. that it might the more move the Heretical Members of their Churches to conform unto it telling them how S. Peter and S. Paul the two great Pillars of the Church were Martyr'd there and therefore they ought to believe no Error could enter that Church which was so sanctified with the blood of those two great Apostles and divers other famous Martyrs All which they uttered with great zeal that they might make the unbelievers to reverence it the more and submit unto it As when two of our Lawyers differ in opinion he that hath the Lord Chief Justice Coke on his side will magnifie him as such an Oracle of the Law that could not err and say all that his wit can invent to set it forth it doth not therefore follow that he seriously thinks Coke to have been infallible no more do these sayings of the Fathers conclude the Roman Church to be infallible as I shall now shew you by one Example sufficient to satisfie any man without farther trouble S. Cyprian was a Bishop and Martyr of the true Catholick Church as famous for Learning and Sanctity as for his Faith and Martyrdom he wrote a zealous Tract for the unity of the Church wherein he uttered those sayings which the Papists have so frequently in their mouths Habere non potest Deum Patrem qui Ecclesiam non habet Matrem he cannot have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his Mother And As no man was saved out of Noah ' s Ark so no man can be saved out of the Church Which being spoken by so great a man seem to carry great Authority with them But if I might freely speak my mind I would say of them that they are fine flourishing sentences sounding handsomely to the ear but cannot much satisfie a mans reason unless he had clearly exprest what he means by the word Ecclesia Church I know full well what the Papists mean by it they mean the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy and all those that are of his Faith and Communion and believe that no man can be saved that is not in that Communion And this is with them the Mother Church and Noah's Ark. But I shall now plainly shew that S. Cyprian meant no such thing for in the beginning of this Tract he declares that St. Peter whom the Papists would needs have to be the Founder of their Church had no Authority over the rest of the Apostles and Churches founded by them but that all the Apostles were of equal honour and authority Pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis Which saying he fully confirmed by his practice which is the clearest exposition of a mans meaning for a great dispute arising between him and Stephen the Bishop of Rome about Rebaptizing those which were Christned in Heretical Churches S. Cyprian declared his Judgment was for Rebaptizing Stephen declares the contrary and both parties adhering stifly to their own opinions the dispute grew so high that Cyprian held a Council of all the African Bishops and there Decreed that they ought to be Rebaptized for there being but one Baptism which was to be had only in the true Church the Heretical Baptism being done out of the true Church was no Baptism Here 't is plain S. Cyprian meant by the word Church his Church and all that were in Communion with him Stephen on the other side calls a Council at Rome and there Decrees that the Heretical Baptism being performed in due manner though the Priest Baptizing were an Heretick out of the Church yet the Baptism
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
before Nero And who would not rather distrust these Historians than believe St. Peter forsook St. Paul when he answered before Nero. Certainly whoever considers well all these weighty circumstances from Scripture may think them more ponderous than the Relation of Historians for his being Bishop there so many years In which Matter if the first Historian was mistaken others that wrote after perchance to save themselves the trouble of confuting him and not fore-seeing any evil consequence arising thence followed that track and so the Error ran on too far to be corrected For my own part though I will not gainsay the Historians yet I must needs gainsay the Papists That History-Relation cannot be a sufficient ground for so principal an Article of Faith especially seeing the Scripture-Circumstances are so much against it And they that will give full credit to Historians in this must consequently believe the same Historians affirming That St. Peter was first Bishop at Antioch that zealous City which first took up that glorious but then dangerous Name of Christians And is it not a disparagement to St. Peter that he like old doting Lovers should so much prefer his second Wife before his first as to bequeath this his inestimable Jewel of Infallibility to her May not St. Peter be accused as Ephesus was Rev. 2. 4. to have left his first Love Truly I will not so rashly accuse St. Peter neither will I so rashly yield unto the Romanists this Infallibility damning us all that will not sacrifice our Souls and idolize it I think I comply fairly in yielding that St. Peter had some pre-eminence above other Apostles and that he was Bishop of Rome but that he gave all that he had to his second Wife and nothing to his first so great partiality I will never yield to but require them to prove it by producing St. Peter's Will which I never yet could see nor ever yet fully understood whom St. Peter appointed his first Successor at Rome to whom he bequeathed this inestimable Legacy The Papists themselves cannot agree upon it some say Clemens some Linus some Cletus Are we not then at a rare pass for St. Peter's infallible Successor when they cannot assure us who was the first to whom St. Peter gave this Infallibility For ought I know this Jewel might be lost in the scuffle and so none of them had it Moreover finding the Papists so uncertain in so prime a Matter makes me to doubt other things also And therefore I farther require to see the form of St. Peter's establishment for his Successors For this is a clear Case That in the election of any Officer if the fundamental Rules of Election be not observed the Election is void Let us then see the form of St. Peter's establishment for the election of his Successors The principal Authors that relate St. Peter Bishop of Rome affirm That he nominated Clemens for his Successor And it seems this Story ran for truth for they who will needs have Linus to be the first Successor are forc'd to salve up their Story by saying That Clemens out of modesty would not accept of it and so Linus was put up and after Linus's death Clemens came in So that we are not only ignorant who was St. Peter's Successor but by what Authority also he succeeded for it seems St. Peter's Authority was not obeyed but another came in and how he came in is also uncertain and which way soever he came in I would know who gave them Authority that did put him in If St. Peter gave it not as it seems he did not but named his own Successor who gave it Or were they violent Intruders without Authority And if they were no lawful Electors sure he was no lawful Successor and so for ought I can see the Church of Rome is at a great loss for infallible Successor to St. Peter But which way soever this Business was carried at first 't is evident that t is carried clean otherwise now For at first either St. Peter named his Successor as most probable in Reason and by History also or he was chosen by the Clergy alone as many think for that Custom seems to have continued a while in the Church the People being but few and bearing wonderful Reverence to their Pastors were wholly governed by them in all things Or he was chosen by the Clergy and People both for after the People were grown numerous they grew also factious and would not receive such Pastors as the Clergy elected unless they also approved them taking upon themselves a share in the Election And this was so generally practised in all Churches that at length he was not allowed a lawful Pastor that was not thus chosen Now which way of all these St. Peter's Successor was chosen at first and afterwards for hundreds of years this is evident That the Election now is quite otherwise than it was for many hundred years for now he is chosen by a select company of Cardinals an Order of Clergy never heard of in former Ages all created by Popes some in Favour to their Kindred some in Faction to keep up their Party in Rome some in Policy to get interest with foreign Princes creating their Relations as fit for Clergy-men as St. Peter was for a Courtier and these are the gallant Men that must chuse us an infallible Successor to St. Peter whereas doubtless St. Peter would abhor such spruce delicate effeminate Clergy I will say no worse of them though the World talks loud things of another-guess nature But let these Men be what they will in their Lives I look upon them to be in no Authority for Election not being instituted by St. Peter nor conformed to the primitive practice the Election being then as before related either by all the Clergy no Bishop being excluded as now or by all the Clergy and People both Moreover put the case these Cardinals should be divided in their Election and set up several Popes as they have done who remained so several years therefore may many more whose Infallibility then must we rely on If you tell me this may happen how-ever he be chosen pardon me not if he be chosen and nominated by his Predecessor as in all probability and best of History St. Peters Successor was But it may be again replied That the Predecessor may die a sudden death and then we are to seek or if other Bishops chuse him they may be divided or if Clergy and People are to make the Election they also may be dis-joynted and divided and thus we are to seek as well as in the Cardinal's Division All this is true and for all these probable confusions I cannot think God left his Church in this confused manner so as doubting Souls cannot tell to whom to make their address to be resolved in Matters of Salvation Again their Council of Florence determined and declared That the intention of the Minister is requisite to the effect of every Sacrament
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
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
Loosing the same that is said here to Peter is said to all the Apostles Matt. xviii 18. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And again Ioh. xx 23. Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained And what a silly childish noise do they make with those words said to Peter unto thee will I give the keys of heaven for the whole sence of those words is fully contained in those Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained For 't is sin that shuts us out of Heaven and when sin is remitted Heaven-Gate is again opened Whoever then hath power to remit and retain sin he hath the keys of Heaven to all intents and purposes Where is then I pray you S. Peter's preheminence over any other Apostle for the Church was built on all the Apostles as well as on Peter and they all had the keys of Heaven given unto them But now mark what goes before in Iohn xx 21. As my Father hath sent me even so send I you This cuts off all manner of pretence to the least precedency of power given to Peter before the rest of the Apostles for our Saviour here saith unto them all As my Father sent me even so send I you Even so in the self same manner And sure the Papists are not so desperate as to say St. Peter had a higher and more powerful Commission than Christ himself and as you see Christ here gives all the Apostles Commission equal with himself As my Father sent me even so send I you So that 't is impossible Peter could have a greater Is it not then a strange presumption for the Papists to boast of such a transcendent power and preheminence given to Peter above the rest of the Apostles as to make him Lord and Master over them which doubtless would have raised no small indignation in the rest of the Apostles We see when Iames and Iohn desired only the precedency before the rest no Lordship but only to sit the one on his right hand the other on his left they were greatly offended at it Wherefore to make Peter their Lord and Master must needs offend them far more yet we find not the least murmuring at it because they found no precedency at all given him And do not we see how St. Paul though a late born Apostle out of time took the boldness to resist him to the face when he walked not uprightly which you may be sure St. Paul would not have done had he taken St. Peter for Christ's High Priest Lord over all for St. Paul repented for having too severely reproved the High Priest of the Iews though he did it unwittingly and for his cruel injustice Certainly whoever reads the two first Chapters of S. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians if he be not much possest with S. Peter's preheminence before hand must needs see that S. Paul gives him no such thing but rather the contrary mark I pray you S. Paul's design there 't is to shew that he received not the knowledg of the Gospel nor the Commission to preach it from man but from Christ only And therefore as soon as Christ had revealed himself to him and sent him to preach Immediately I conferred not says he with flesh and blood neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were Apostles before me but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days But other of the Apostles saw I none As if the seeing the other Apostles Iames and Iohn whom in the next Chapter he calls Pillars had carried more appearance of his receiving Commission from man than his seeing Peter and tarrying with him fifteen days Now had Peter been as the Papists would have it Head of the Church Lord over all the seeing of Peter Head of the Church and tarrying with him so long had signified far more towards his receiving Commission from man than had he seen all the other Apostles and tarried with them fifteen months for Peter being Head he and not the other Apostles was to give him Commission And then again when he names the great Pillars of the Church who seemed to be somewhat more than the rest he puts Iames in the first place But though they seemed to be somewhat yet whatever they were S. Paul tells us it maketh no matter to him he gave them not any subjection how not any subjection no not for an hour for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to him but contrariwise mark I pray you contrary to all subjection they gave unto him yea and unto Barnabas also the right hand of fellowship far from any Lordship over Paul or over Barnabas either though he were none of the twelve for he and they were all fellows in preaching the Gospel dividing the work betwixt them Paul and Barnabas to preach unto the Heathen and they unto the Circumcision Is it not then most evident by all this that S. Peter was no Lord nor Head over the rest of the Apostles nor did he outlive all the rest and so become Head of the Church by survivancy S. Iohn that great and beloved Apostle outlived him long and 't is thought all the rest and then by survivancy he should be Head and consequently his Successor Head of the Church not S. Peter's Successor for S. Peter himself was not Head And then I pray you tell me when S. Peter was dead and S. Iohn remained Who was then Head of the Church Was S. Peter's Successor whoever he was Linus or Clemens was he Head and Lord over S. Iohn or S. Iohn over him Speak I beseech you No your modesty will not suffer you to say that your Pope Linus was Head and Lord over S. Iohn the beloved of our Lord. I dare venture my life on it Linus never assumed any such Lordship to himself for Eusebius tells us that when Polycarpus a Successor of S. Iohn came to Rome to treat with Anicetus a Successor of S. Peter about the time of celebrating the Feast of Easter which was then much disputed the Church of Asia holding it at one time and the Church of Rome at another Anicetus S. Peter's Successor did not assume any Lordship over Polycarpus nor require him to submit unto the Roman Custome No he was so far from it that he gave the honour to Polycarpus and the precedency to celebrate the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper in his own Church at Rome This was a mark of great honour and precedency for in those days the Chief did always celebrate If then your Church had no Headship over the Asian Church in the time of S. Iohn nor in the time of Polycarpus many years after I