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A61526 An answer to some papers lately printed concerning the authority of the Catholick Church in matters of faith, and the reformation of the Church of England Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. 1686 (1686) Wing S5562; ESTC R14199 24,213 73

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which tends to that end and none can be sufficient against it But why may not others set up for the Change as to other Opinions upon the same Grounds as well as this Great Person does as to the Change from our Church to the Church of Rome And we have no Pretenders to Enthusiasm among us but do as solemnly ascribe the Blessing wholly to Almighty God and look on it as the Effect of such Prayers as she made to him in France and Flanders But I wonder a Person who owed her Change so wholly to Almighty God should need the Direction of an Infallible Church since the utmost they can pretend to is no more than to have such an Immediat Conduct and the least that can be meant by it is that she had no Assistance from any other Persons Which may not exclude her own Endeavours but supposing them to be employed and an Account to be here given of them yet there is no Connexion between any of the Premisses and the Conclusion she drew from them and therefore it must be Immediate Impulse or some concealed Motive which determin'd her Choice The Conclusion was That she would never have changed if she could have saved her Soul otherwise If this were true she had good Reason for her Change if it were not true she had none as it is most certain it was not Now let us examine how she came to this Conclusion and I will suppose it to have been just in the Method she sets it down in First she saith She never had any Scruples till the November before and then they began upon reading Dr. Heylin's History of the Reformation which was commended to her as a Book to settle her and there she found such abominable Sacriledg upon Henry the 8th's Divorce King Edward's Minority and Queen Elizabeth's Succession that she could not believe the Holy Ghost could ever be in such Counsels This was none of the best Advices given to such a Person to read Dr. Heylin's History for her Satisfaction For there are two distinct Parts in the History of our Reformation the one Ecclesiastical the other Political the former was built on Scripture and Antiquity and the Rights of particular Churches the other on such Maxims which are common to Statesmen at all Times and in all Churches who labour to turn all Revolutions and Changes to their own Advantage And it is strange to me that a Person of so great Understanding should not distinguish these two Whether Hen. 8. were a good Man or not Whether the D. of Somerset raised his Estate out of the Church Lands doth not concern our present Enquiry which is Whether there was not sufficient Cause for a Reformation in the Church And if there was Whether our Church had not sufficient Authority to reform it self And if so Whether the Proceedings of our Reformation were not Justifiable by the Rules of Scripture and the Ancient Church These were the proper Points for her to have considered and not the particular Faults of Princes or the Miscarriages of Ministers of State Were not the Vices of Alexander the 6th and many other Heads of the Church of Rome for a whole Age together by the Confession of their own greatest Writers as great at least as those of Henry the 8th And were these not thought sufficient to keep her from the Church of Rome and yet the others were sufficient to make her think of leaving our Church But Henry the Eighth's Church was in Truth the Church of Rome under a Political Head much as the Church of Sicily is under the King of Spain All the difference is Henry the 8th took it as his own Right the King of Spain pretends to have it from the Pope by such Concessions which the Popes deny And suppose the King of Spain's Pretence were unlawful to that Jurisdiction which he challengeth in the Kingdom of Sicily were this a sufficient Ground to justify the thoughts of Separation from the Church of Rome But the Duke of Somerset raised his Estate out of Church-Lands and so did many Courtiers in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Are there not Miscarriages of the like nature in the Church of Rome What is the Popes making great Estates out of the Church-Lands for their Nephews to be Princes and Dukes a thing not unheard of in our Age. And is it not so much worse to be done by the Head of the Church These she confesses were but Scruples but such as occasioned her examining the Points in difference by the Holy Scripture Now she was in the right way for Satisfaction provided she made use of the best Helps and Means for understanding it and took in the Assistance of her Spiritual Guides But it seems contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome she found some things so easy there that she wondered she had been so long without finding them out And what were these No less than the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament the Infallibility of the Church Confession and Praying for the Dead These were great Discoveries to be made so easily considering how those of the Church of Rome who have been most vers'd in these Matters have found it so difficult to make them out from thence 1. As to the Real Presence as it is in the Dispute between us and the Church of Rome it implies the Real and Substantial Change of the Elements into the Body and Blood of Christ. But where do our Saviour's words in calling the Sacrament his Body and Blood imply any such thing The wisest Persons of the Church of Rome have confessed that the bare words of our Saviour can never prove it but there needs the Authority of the Church to interpret them in that sense How then could she so easily find out that which their most Learned Men could not But there is nothing goes so far in such Discoveries as a willing Mind 2. As to Confession No doubt the Word is often used in Scripture and therefore easily found But the Question between us is not about the Usefulness or Advantage of Confession in particular Cases but the Necessity of it in all Cases in order to Remission of Sins And I can hardly believe any Bishop of our Church would ever say to her that Confession in this sense was ever commanded by God For then he must be damned himself if he did not confess every known Sin to a Priest But some general Expressions might be used that Confession of Sin was commanded by God Confess your Sins one to another But here is nothing of a particular Confession to a Priest necessary in order to Forgiveness of Sin 3. As to praying for the Dead It is hard to find any place of Scripture which seems to have any tendency that way unless it be with respect to the Day of Iudgment and that very doubtfully But how came this Great Person to think it not possible to be saved in our Church unless we prayed for the Dead How