of the Old Testament giving testimony to the Gospell being inspired by God are very profitable not entirely of themselves sufficient for teaching arguing reproving instructing in righteousnesse And that by them the man of God even a Christian Bishop may be made perfect or enabled to every good worke that is as he expresseth the same sence in the former verse wise unto Salvation but upon condition that they be joyned with the Faith or Gospell of Christ Iesus and perseverance therein This to my understanding seems to be the proper naturall importance of this Text of S. Paul so far from evincing what the Protestants would collect from it that it confirmes the quite contrary 4. But let it be supposed which is impossible to be evinced that the Apostle speakes here by way of Prophecy of Evangelicall Scriptures not yet written but with respect to the time when they should be perfectly compleated he sayes onely they are profitable not sufficient to produce the mentioned effects and end He excludes not the Church interpreting them in a word He referres expresly to orall Tradition And by consequence he is far from saying any thing that may warrant the Protestants upon pretence from these words to relinquish the way which all ancient Christians and Fathers of the Church walked in and to walke in that which as hath been shewed by irrefragable testimonies has beene traced by all and onely Heretiques So far is he from saying or giving warrant to any to say Reject all things that you finde not expresly conteined in Scriptures though the whole world upon whose only testimony you receive Scriptures affirme that they received other things from the same authority Keep your selves close to that sence of Scriptures which your own fancies or interests shall suggest unto you and admit neither fathers nor Church to interpret them to you believe your own understandings onely which you may call the inspirations of the Holy Ghost if you please And content not your selves with deceiving your selves alone with such fancies take authority upon your selves to destroy all publique authority and toâ— obtrude per sas nefas your interpretations and glosses upon the consciences of others This S. Paul ought to have said if he had purposed to justifie the grounds of Protestantisme But this I could not conceive to be his meaning and therefore I tooke it to be my best course to be misled by Fathers Councells and the whole Catholique Church 5. A second proofe for the sufficiency of Scripture alone to be an entire Rule of Faith and of great moment among many Protestants is that speech in the end of the Revelation Rev. c. 22. v. 18. 19. Contestor enim omni audienti c. I doe protest to every one that hears the words of the Prophecy of this book If any one shall adde unto these God shall adde unto him the plagues written in this booke And if any one shall diminish from the words of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the Holy City and out of those things which are written in this book The weight of this Text is much more pressing in their opinion by reason of the situation of it in the close of the whole body of Evangelicall writings and likewise by the advantage of a Parallel place in the end of Moyses his law 6. Hereto it is answered that this Text is so far from obliging us to understand it in generall of Evangelicall doctrines that expresly and in terminis terminantibus it restreines it selfe onely to the Prophecies conteined in this particular booke for bidding any one to presume to make any change in it either by addition and interpolation of other Prophecies pretended to be written by the same Divine Author a thing practised by Heretiques in other Evangelicall writings when this booke was published or by razing out any Prophecies herein conteined as some Heretiques likewise had done in other Apostolicall bookes So that this author is so farre from forbidding any other revelations of divine doctrines besides those already published that notwithstanding any thing here said Agabus and Saint Philips daughters might if they had pleased have set forth their Prophecies so they had done it without injury or disparagement to the Apocalypse Even as Moyses by such like words signified that in his writings were conteined the summe of that law delivered by God on Mount Sinai at least as much of it as was fit to communicate for the present to the people and therefore forbad any man to change his writings any way Yet notwithstanding it is apparent that not onely the Jewes but likewise the Ancient Fathers believed that besides this written law Moyses himselfe delivered to the Preists and Sanedrim many unwritten Traditions relating to the law it selfe some of which are mentioned in Evangelicall Scripture as the institution of the order of Exorcists the mingling of water with the blood of the Testament wherewith Moyses sprinckled the people Skarlet wooll and hyssope to be used in all aspertions the sprinkling the booke of the Covenant with blood The names of Jannes and Mambres the antagonists of Moyses and the combat betweene an Angell and the Devill about Moyses his body c. Besides many Holy men published bookes among the Jewes acknowledged of divine authority wherein were many Mysteries of Faith not onely more expresly but de novo conteined and not at all declared by Moyses many writings of devotion Precepts of Piety and manners c. Onely Moyses his bookes have beene received to this day under the notion of the fundamentall law of the Jewish Common-wealth a title that other writings never challenged 7. As concerning the advantage taken from the position of the forementioned Text in the close of the Evangelicall writings it will be of no force at all to any man that shall consider how it came to passe that the severall bookes were placed in the order as wee at this day finde them viz. That certaine men unknown to us now but followed by a tacit agreement of the Church when after the decease of the Apostles they had sought out all the writings that remained and had beene occasionally published by them compiled them in one volumne in this order They begun with the Gospels or history of our Saviours life and death as reason was placing them it may be in the order as they were written however assigning the first place to S. Mathew because he having written his Gospel in Hebrew for the use of the Jewes and Jewish Christians to whom Christ commanded his Gospel should first be preached and upon their refusall to the Gentiles even for that reason alone his Gospel might be thought to have deserved the first place the rest following in the order as they were written Then followes the Story of the Apostles especially S. Paul written by his companion S. Luke and continued till their separation by S. Pauls voyage to Rome After bookes of
latter CHAP. XIII An answer to Mr. Chillingworth's discourse and reasonings premised before his proofes out of Scripture 1. BUt to come at last to Mr. Chillingworth's reasons and quotations out of Scripture to prove that all things necessary to salvation are not onely sufficiently conteined in the bookes of Scripture in generall but even in any one of the Gospells mentioned before cap. 26. And first for the examination of that which he layes as a ground of his enforcing the said quotations viz. That no man ought to be obliged upon paine of Excommunication to believe any thing but what God hath revealed to be necessary to eternall salvation which is the substance of the New Covenant made by God in Christ conteining points of necessary beliefe and precepts of necessary Evangelicall obedience His reasons being Why should any errour or ignorance exclude him from the Churches Communion which will not deprive him of eternall salvatio Why should men be more rigid then God c. 2. In stead of answering to this I acknowledge the foundation to be very substantiall and the Reasons very concluding Onely I must take leave to explaine one phrase in this discourse viz. Things which are of the substance of the New Covenant For if his meaning be that onely those things are necessary to be believed explicitely which are essentiall substantiall parts of the New Covenant and that directly and of their owne nature I must then deny it and so does himselfe elsewhere although in this place that which followes in consequence to this foundation does seeme to require such a sence of the words And to prove the reasonablenesse of my denyall he being now unfortunately dead I desire any Protestant to resolve these questions To believe that our Lord was descended according to the flesh from Abraham or David is it of the substance of the New Covenant directly and of its own Nature We shall both of us answer No. Nor by consequence is it necessary to salvation to know or believe it I aske then further But suppose a man finde that proposition expresly in Scriptures sufficiently proposed to him and acknowledged to be the word of God is it not then necessary to salvation to believe it I will answer againe as both of us should doe Yes without any question the reason being evident because though to believe Christ to be the Son of Abraham be not in it selfe of the essence of the Covenant yet to believe that whatsoever God sayes is true is and by consequence an accessory may by some circumstances be made essentiall and a man may come to be damned for not believing that which without any the least prejudice to him he might never have known or heard of So likewise for any one who believes that the Church is the depositary of divine Revelation and that she is endued with authority from Christ to command things though in themselves not necessary yet such as she thinkes helpfull to piety for such a man I say to refuse to believe the unlawfulnesse of Rebaptization for example acknowledged by the whole Church both in her universall practise and profession that it was a Tradition unwritten which came from the Apostles and confirm'd by the authority of a lawfull Councell or againe to refuse to absteine and fast in Lent Fridayes Quatuor-Temporibus c. the Church commanding him both these refusalls though the former be of a doctrine of it selfe not of the essence of the New Covenant and the later of an action little more then circumstantiall are mortall sinnes and the Church may justly excommunicate and by consequence God will assureedly condemne such as persist obstinately in such refusalls And this for a reason more effectuall then the former because namely obedience to the Chnrch is not onely commanded expresly in Scripture as in the former case but commanded under this very penalty of Excommunication which the former was not for saith our Lord If any one heare not the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen and a Publican 3. But to proceede Mr. Chillingworth to prove that this New Covenant is entirely conteined not onely in the whole Scripture but also in the foure Gospells yea sufficiently even in any one of the foure he first alledges these reasons Because saith he the Evangelist's having a purpose to write the Gospell of Christ or new Covenant no reason can be imagined that they who have set downe many passages unnecessary should neglect any necessary for what a negligence must this needs be such an one surely as no man in these dayes undertaking the same designe would commit Besides with what truth could they stile their bookes the Gospell of Christ if they were onely a part of it 4. Hereto I answer that if by the Gospell of Christ he had meant the story of the life acts discourses sufferings death Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour as I mentioned in my preparatory grounds I should willingly grant that the foure Evangelists joyntly have written the Gospell of Christ entirely not omitting any passage thereof necessary or very requisite to be known I say the foure Evangelists joyntly for of each severally I cannot say so For for example S. Marke either because S. Mathew had done it sufficiently before or for what other reason I will not trouble my selfe to divine but S. Marke omitting the Incarnation of our Lord of a pure Virgin his birth and all things that followed till he was thirty yeares old begins his Gospell with S. Iohn Baptists mission to preach now I suppose these Mysteries omitted by S. Marke are at least in a high degree requisite to be known and believed generally yea I will adde necessary since they are expressed in the Apostles Creed as short as it is yet not necessary absolutely and indispensably to every person in what state soever but only to those that live in the Church much more to persons of ability and parts yet more to Teachers and most of all to Congregations and Churches and if so then that which Master Chillingworth would conclude from hence cannot be satisfactory in this controversie among such persons and Sects and at this time as I shewed before So likewise the Evangelist S. John besides almost all the miracles Sermons and parables mentioned by other Evangelists omitt's the Blessed Sacrament and the Story of our Saviours Ascension Now I desire any Protestant to say whether what ever would become of some particular person ignorant of these things by an excuse of an impossibility of instruction a man living as now in sufficient light and much more one obliged to be a teacher of others could be saved with ignorance of these things omitted by S. John I further desire him to say whether a society of men desiring to be joyned and ordered so as to be made a Christian Church if they had onely S. Johns Gospell for their Rule and patterne yea though they had all the foure Evangelists yea all the Evangelicall writings whether
say confidently it is all to be found comprised sufficiently in the little Catechisme made for Infants others would add the Common-Prayer book others the book of Homilyes others would yet thrust in the book of Ordination others the 39. Articles and Canons others besides would have the four first Generall Councells not to be forgotten and lastly some few of those who are pure Protestants indeed would say the whole Canon Law in as much as concerns doctrine especially and as far as it is not revoked by Acts of Parliament All this with all that went before is the entire Rule of English-Catholique Doctrine And all those for their severall answers would produce English Fathers and Doctors whose books have been received and approved without contradiction in the Church of England 4. To save the blushing of an English Protestant I would not suffer Mr. Chillingworth nor my Lord Falkland to put in their votes for they would have renounced all these and protested that neither the Catechisme nor Common-prayer-Book nor Homilies c. nor all these together contain that doctrine of the Church of England to which all are obliged to submit but only the Bible the Bible and nothing but the Bible and this not interpreted by any Bishop or Synod of Divines but by every good mans reason let him shift as he can An answer which it admitted not only totally destroyes the spirituall Jurisdiction of the English Clergy but all authority whatsoever even of the civill Magistrate in matters of Religion yet to shew the great impartiality of English Protestants towards Catholike Faith because they fancied that by such a position Catholiques might receive some damage they not only admitted this position of M. Chillingworths and saw it approved by their Doctor of the Chair but triumphed in it as the great Master-piece of the wit of this Age whereas if they had but half an eye open they might have seen in it the inevitable ruine of their whole Fabrick So that J. P. did not well consider what poor service he ha's done and what small refreshment he ha's given or rather what a dishonorable Epitaph he ha's fixed upon the monument of his deceased Church by giving his Testimony of applause to this Treatise of my Lo. Falklands as one of the great Defenders of the Doctrine of the English Church which is more ruinous to it then all the spitefull writings and plots of Cartwright Knox Henderson or all the rabble oâ— Geneva joyn'd with them But to return 5. A Supposition being made of the foresaid answer and it being granted that all these answers have been published or without contradiction or censure admitted in the church of England should not that man be very negligent of his souls good that being to examine the truth of its doctrine should trouble himself any further then with the little Catechism of half a sheet of paper as plainly and as simply written as is possible as if the children that are to learne it had composed it since all say it is at least part of the Rule of the English Faith and some without censure of others say it is all what a while must the poore mans soul be held in suspense if he were to stay till he had search'd into the common-prayer-Common-prayer-Book Homilies Canons Acts of Parliament Proclamations of the King Antient Councels Canon-Law c. his soul perhaps might be disposed by death God knows where before he had examined the hundredth part of what was necessary 6. Now to apply this to the present subject it is agreed by all Catholiques that the church is an infallible witness and guide Protestants profess that if this could be made evidently appear they would hold out in no controversie at all for they would never dispute perpetually with them whom onely to hear were to be satisfied this therefore is to be made evident unto Protestants yea more evident then that any particular decisions of the Church do seem to them evidently contradictory to Scripture This is the task of Catholicks especially Catholick Missionaries Now though when it is said The Church is infallible This be commonly understood of all the whole Church in general yet when we say She is an infallible Guide it is most ordinarily understood of the Church speaking by some authorised person or persons representing the whole body 7. About this Representative there is diversity of opinions among Catholicks some say the Pope alone does sufficiently represent the Church as a Guide infallible Others a Generall Councell though without the Pope Others a Generall Councell convoked presided in and confirmed by the Pope And lastly others as learned Fa Bacon acknowledges add further this condition that the decision of such a Councell bee accepted and submitted to by the whole Church All that hold any of these opinions are universally esteemed good Catholiques and I would to God all Protestants had so much humility as to subdue their own private Reason to the largest of them and for Catholiques this I may confidently say That they who without betraying the Truth make the way to the Church easiest and plainest have most charity and Faith enough the others may have more Faith I would they had more Charity too Truly to my understanding there is some inhumanity in urging Protestants to more then Catholiques will be obliged to or to think that to Protestants prepossessed with passion and partiality that can be made evident which is so far from being evident to some Catholiques that they renounce it Since all changes therefore proceed by degrees in the name of God let it not be expected from Protestants that they should with one leap mount to the utmost verge and extent of all Doctrines held by Catholiques That they should at one gulpe swallow both all Catholique Doctrines and all Theologicall Dogmes Be it granted therefore that it is true that the Pope is infallible I will beleeve it as a Theological truth but since neither the Church nor the Pope himself has told us so I cannot if I would beleeve it as a Catholick Doctrine what therefore have I to do to dispute of it to Protestants whom my duty is onely to perswade to the belief of the Churches Doctrine What pitty is it that they must be delayed and as it were kept out of the Church till all objections that they can make and be furnished even from Catholicks themselves to make against this position be answered or all advantages that they can advise against any Bulls or Decretals be cleared to their satisfaction 8. Therefore I being ingaged to make good to I. P. That the Church speaking by a Representative is an infallible Guide would fain choose that Representative which is qualified with all the conditions allowed by any uncensured Catholicks to make it most easie and most acceptable to Protestants which is a general Councel Confirmed c. by the Pope and accepted by the Church But yet I wil abstract from this last clause of being acâ—epted
Story follow doctrinall writings namely Epistles conteining particular doctrinall controversies and precepts of manners written upon occasion when false Teachers had sowne tares of particular Heresies in the Churches founded by the Apostles Among these Epistles those of S. Paul both for the number importance and length of them obtained the first place but disposed not according to the order and dates of time that they were written but according to the priviledges and advantages of the Churches and Citties to which they were sent the Romans having obteined as reason was the first place then the Corinthians c. and after all such followed his particular Epistles to particular persons as Timothy Titus c. In the last place the whole volume was concluded with this single booke of Prophecies as being last written most difficult and lesse necessary These things being apparent let all reasonable men judge what just advantage can be taken by Protestants thus to build their maine foundation of difference from the Catholique Church upon so inconsiderable so casuall a thing as the order wherein the bookos of the New Testament have been ranged no man knowes by whom CHAP. VII Rnasons and Texts produced by Mr. Chillingworth to prove onely Scripture to be the Rule of Faith 1. BEsides these two so much by many Protestants magnifyed proofes of the Scriptures pretended sufficiency to determine all controversies of Religion with exclusion of unwritten Traditions There are other arguments which had greater force with me produced by Mr. Chillingworth and which that he might more advantagiously enforce he laies this first for a ground viz That no man ought to be obliged upon paine of Excommunication to believe any thing but what God hath revealed to be necessary to eternall salvation which is the substance of the New Covenant made by God in Christ conteining points of necessary beleife and precepts of necessary Evangelicall Obedience For saies he why should any errour or ignorance exclude him from the Churches Communion which will not deprive him of eternall salvation Why should men be more rigid then God 2. These grounds thus laid and supposed unquestionable In the next place to prove that this Covenant is entirely conteined not only in the whole Scripture but also in the lower Gospels yea sufficiently in any one of the former he first alledges these reasons Because the Evangelists having as they professe a purpose to write the Gospell of Christ or New Covenant no reason can be imagined why they who have set downe many passages unnecessary should neglect any necessary For what supine negligence and indiscretion must that needs bee such verily as no man in these dayes undertaking the same designe would commit Againe with what truth could they stile their bookes the Gospell of Christ being but a part of it 3. After such discourses he brings in his opinion two evident and unanswerable Texts out of the Gospells to prove that whatsoever is necessary for a Christian to beleive or practise is conteined in every one of them severally The first Text is the conclusion of S. Johns Gospell cap. 21 Many other signes also did Iesus in the sight of his Disciples which are not written in this booke But these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name For the enforcing of which quotation he addes By these words these are written may be understood either These things are written or These signes are written Take it which way you will this conclusion will certainly follow That either all that which S. Iohn wrote in his Gospell or lesse then all and therefore all much more was sufficient to make them believe that which being believed with lively faith would certainly bring them to eternall life 4. The second proofe is from those words in the Preface of S. Lukes Gospell cap. 1. Forasmuch us many have taken in hand to set forth in order a Declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us even as they delivered unto us which from the beginning were eye witnesses and Ministers of the word It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of things from the first to write to thee in order most excellent Theophilus that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed To this quotation he addes a parallell passage of the same S. Luke in his entrance to his History of the Acts of the Apostles Chap. 1. viz The former treatise have I made O Theophilus of all that Iesus began both to doe and teach untill the day that he was taken up c. Lastly he adjoynes twelve questions serving to enforce to the uttermost the strength and energy of these Texâ—s Which Questions after I have first prepared a way by consideration of a few principall termes in this controversie to a satisfaction what is here concluded from these Texts quoted by Mr. Chillingworth I will likewise set downe adjoyning to each of them its answer CHAP. VIII Preparatory grounds for the answering of these reasons and Quotations That Christian Religion was setled in the Church by Tradition especially The advantage of that way beyond writing 1. THe whole weight of this Controversie concerning the Rule of Faith viz. Whether all truths and precepts c. of Christianity necessary to Salvation be to be sought for in Scripture alone or any one or more of the Gospels as expresly conteined in them as Protestants affirme or likewise in the Tradition of the Catholique Church as Catholiques maintaine relying upon the true understanding of these three things especially viz. 1. The way whereby Christianity was setled in the Church which will appeare to have beene by Orall Tradition and externall uniforme practise as being more secure from errour and mistakes than writing 2. The occasion of the writing of the Gospels and other bookes of the New Testament and the benefit which the Church reapes by them 3. The meaning of this Phrase things necessary to salvation and the freeing of it from ambiguities and misapplications I conceived it therefore necessary to meditate seriously and as exactly as I was capable to informe my selfe distinctly of these particulars to the end that I might be able to judge whether these difficulties and objections alledged by Mr. Chillingworth would approve themselves as unanswerable as at my leaving of England I supposed them Here therefore I will set down in order the effect of my enquiry 2. To begin therefore with the first particular to be premised namely the way whereby Christian Religion was setled and continued in the Church By diligent reading of the writings of severall Fathers especially and ancient Ecclesiasticall Historians it manifestly appeared at least to mine own full satisfaction that it was not the purpose of Christ to deliver his new law as Moyses had done his in Tables or written characters but in Orall Tradition or to write it indeede but as Eusebius
neglect or forgetfulnesse it is rather probable that that Apostolique Person who taught Christianity first in those quarters brought the Creed with that small defect for the very first Creed of all seems to have been much shorter then that now current as conteining only a profession of Faith in the three Persons in the Blessed Trinity in whose names only Baptisme was administredâ— to which the Apostles or Apostolique persons might afterward adjoyn the other Articles following which addition being made successively it is possible some persons might carry away in their voyages into Africa the breifer Câ—eeâ—s before they were so inlarged 3 In the next place concerning the Occasion and end for which the books of the New Testament were written we ought to consider the books of History apart from the others of Doctrine and Prophecy as being distinguishable both in their occasion and end For the Gospells therefore the whole subject of them is a narration of severall passages of our Saviours Life Death Resurrection and Ascension likewise some of the most considerable miracles which he wrought a sum of the principall points of his Doctrine both morall and mysterious in parables concerning his Church c. Now though the memory of all these excepting perhaps only the severall miracles prophecies c. as much as was suficient for particular persons might and actually was in substance preserved by practicall Tradition as 1. the Mysterious and to us most usefull passages of his Life c. in the publique solemnities appointed from all antiquity in the solemne Fasts administration of Sacraments 2. Morall duties in the publique Confessions and most ancient Penitentiall Canons Love-Feasts c. Yea some of them receiving force almost only from Tradition as not being at all in Scripture at least not so expressely as Mr. Chillingworth requires to points of necessity as unlawfulnesse of Polygamy incestuous marriages in some particular degrees c. Notwithstanding it could not but be infinitely acceptable and satisfactory to all good Christians to be informed as particularly as might be in any thing that concerned so Blessed a Master and Saviour and therefore were these divine books received with all imaginable reverence and joy and preserved with all possible care so farre as thousands willingly exposed themselves to Martyrdome rather then deliver them up to the fire they were read in Churches discoursed on in Sermons illustrated by Commentaries in a word esteemed divine and infallible by all Christians But yet no generall Tradition has come to us that all that is necessary for all persons of all degrees whether single or in Society to bring them to heaven is conteined expresly in these Gospells Which is a certaine proof that the ancient Church did not thinke so or however that they did not think it necessary to thinke so for no one thing generally thought necessary to salvation but has been conveyed under that notion by Tradition orall as well as writing Besides it is clear there is nothing expresse for assembling Synods ordeining severall degrees of Ministers no formes or directions for publike service no unquestionable prohibition of Polygamy incest c. So that although no doubt to some persons in some suddaine desperate circumstances there is in the Gospels to be found enough yea more then enough of meere necessity yea in any one of them yea in two or three verses of any one of them Yet therefore to deduce a generall conclusion that all things simply necessary are conteined in the Gospels is surely very unreasonable and much more thence to inferre a generall Conclusion so as to make it the fundamentall ground of all Sects of Religion and a sufficient excuse for that which if that Conclusion be not oâ—ely not true but not so evident as that there can be no shew of contradiction is a most horrible sinne namely Schisme or Haeresie this to me seemed to be somewhat that deserved a name beyond unreasonablenesse it selfe and that joyned with infinite danger in a point of the highest consequence imaginable 4. Now the same inconveniences will follow though the bookes of the Acts Epistles and Apocalyse were added to the Gospels to make them altogether to be an entire perspicuous Rule of Faith without any need of an authoritative interpreter For first for the Apocalyse it is a meere obscure Prophecy and can contribute little or nothing to the instruction or discipline of the Church Then the booke of the Acts though it relate some particulars of our Saviour after his Ascension as his Sending the Holy Ghost c. together with a very few passages concerning any of the Apostles excepting some few yeares of Saint Pauls travells yet it will prove but a very imperfect modell for setling of the Church in such a posture and with such qualifications both for doctrine and practise as unquestionable antiquity represents unto us the Primitive Apostolique Church And laâ—â—ly for the Epistles of S. Paul c. it is confessed by all and the Text it selfe justifies it that those Epistles were never intended to be written as institutions or Catechismes conteining an abridgement of the whole body of Christian Faith for the whole Church For 1. They were written only to some particular congregations yea many of them to single persons and no order is given to communicate them to the whole Church I am sure no necessity appeares that they should be so divulgâ—d 2. They were written meerely occasionally namely by reason that some particular False teachers sowed certaine false doctrines in some particular Churches founded by the Apostles in the confutation of which Haeresies all the doctrinall parts of those Epistles are generally employed So that if those Heretiques had not chanced to have broached those particular opinions those Epistles had never beene written 3. These Epistles especially of Saint Paul the most and the largest are written in a stile so obscure such intricacy of arguing with such digessions interwoven the Logicall Analysis is so extremely difficult that that gift of interpreting was in those dayes a necessary attendant of the Apostles preaching and I am confident that if an hundred men and those generally of the same Sect and opinions were oppointed to resolve the order and method of S. Paul's arguing there would not three of them agree for three verses together Now upon these grounds how improper such writings are to serve for the onely Rule of Faith which even in Mr. Chillingworth's opinion must be so cleare and evident in points necessary that there can be no rationall possibility of diversity of opinions and by cosequence no need of an authoritative interpreter let him that can believe it and let him that dare put it to the tryall when his soules eternall estate depends upon it CHAP. XI The third preparatory ground viz. the clearing of the ambiguity of these words necessary to salvation 1. THese words necessary to salvation being applyed to severall objects and subjects admit of great variety in the application and use
therefore before they be affirmed or denyed of any thing or to any person he that intends to expresse his mind distinctly and to the purpose must necessarily and expresly before hand declare in what sence to what degree in respect of whom and for what end such things are or are not necessary 2. Therefore first for sorts of necessity There is necessitas medii when a thing is of it selfe necessry to salvation and necessitas praecâ—pti when it is only therefore necessary because it is commanded Againe necessitas fidei specialis that is of things to be believed expresly and distinctly as the Articles of the Creed and necessitas fidei generalis of things which some persons are onely to believe Againe necessitas actus that is of things to be performed by all as Confession of Christs name pardoning of offences restitution c. and necessitas approbationis or non contradictionis when men are at least obliged not to condemne certaine things as vow of Virginity Voluntary poverty c. 3. Then with respect unto objects or things necessary to salvation some are so absolutely that is so as no circumstance of person time or place no ignorance no defect how irremediable soever can excuse the absence of such things other things on the contrary are necessary only conditionally which in some cases to some persons may be excusable Of the former sort there are but extreamely few things necessary For for example if a Heathen at the point of death upon an effectuall exhortation of a Christian should embrace in generall the Religion of Christ not being able to attend particular instruction nor perhaps actuall Baptisme it is very probable that the onely believing of Christ to be the Saviour of the world and relying upon him for the pardon of his sinnes and profession of his resolution to obey whatsoever should appeare to him to have been Cbrists will though death should cut him off from a particular information in other doctrines of Faith the Sacraments particular duties of Christian morality c. would be sufficient to such a man to salvation Of the later sort viz things necessary conditionally it is impossible to tell how many or how few they are till all conditions and circumstances be expressed 4. In regard of persons that is necessary to one which is not to another as more to a teacher than a Disciple to a Governour then to a person subordinate Againe that is necessary to a Congregation which is not to a single person to the setling of a Church in good order which is not to every Congregation to the well-being of a Church which is not to its simple being some persons are obliged to know many things explicitely which others are onely not to dis believe it being sufficient if they oppose them not not necessary that they know them 5. Having considered such an ambiguity and variety of things necessary to which many other distinctions might yet be added I presently judged that whatsoever was the reason that Mr. Chillingworth thought it not necessary to make a distinct application of these severall kindes of necessity according to the exigence of the objects and persons whether it was neglect or want of memory or whether intending onely to repell his adversaries present objections he thought fit to say no more then he was for that purpose necessarily obliged What ever was the cause I am sure that for want of such a distinct application whatsoever he has said to confirme his maine position is little to the satisfaction of any third person as I thinke shall presently be demonstrated CHAP. XII After what manner I judged it necessary for my purpose to examine Mr. Chillingworth's reasonings and arguments 1. THâ—se preparatory grounds being thus premised way was made for the nearer approach to the examination of Mr. Chillingworth's reasons and proofs before alleged for the maintaining of the maine foundation of all Schisme viz. That the Scripture yea any one Gospell conteines in it expresly all things necessary to salvation either for belief or practise In the examination whereof as likewise of other Protestants grounds which follow and are set downe and prosecured more clearely more subtily and I am sure more to the satisfaction of English Protestants by Mr. Chillingworth then by any other I must professe that my intention is not to consider Mr. Chillingworth's discourses as precisely opposed to his adversaries for I have neither the vanity to beleive that so learned and practis'd a Catholique-controvertist should be willing to accept of any one and much lesse of such an ignorant Neophyte as my selfe to defend his excellent booke neither have I the impudence without leave from him to undertake such a taske But since upon mine owne knowledge Mr. Chillingworth believed that his booke as concerning the Positive grounds conteined as much as any Protestant could reasonably say so for the destructive part that it was an unanswerable conviction not onely of what his adversary in particular had said but of what any Catholique could alledge concerning either the Rule of Faith or Judge of Conteoversies Seeing likewise I found it not onely very reasonable in it selfe but absolutely necessary for me considering the condition in which I then was for finding repose unto my mind to inform my selfe not what some particular learned Catholiques taught to be their sense of the Churches beliefe in these points for that would have been a labour insupportable to me who was much pressed with a desire to be no longer alone without any Church to joyne withall but to enquire what the Roman Church her selfe believed and in what language and with what latitude She her self expressed her thoughts and beliefe Upon these grounds I conceived it requisite to exact and apply M. Chillingworth's positions and arguments to the simple doctrines and decisions of the Catholique-Church Resolving that if I found that what She said and in the latitude that She expresseth her self was just and reasonable and withall able to stand firme notwithstanding any of Mr. Chillingworth's oppositions to rest contented therewith For for the present it would be happiness enough for me to get onely within the precincts of a Church though no farther then the door-keepers place I might afterwards if need were at leisure make choice there of what ranke or company I would range my selfe unto 2. Coming therefore to the consideration of M. Chillingworth's conclusion together with the reasons and proofes of it which he beleived of force sufficient to destroy the doctrine necessarily to be believed by all Roman-Catholiques I must needes say that this his Conclusion The Scripture conteines all necessary points of beliefe and practise and the Creed all necessary points of beliefe is so expressed that in severall respects it may and ought to be assented to by any Catholique For as I shewed before if the word necessary in respect of the object relate to necssity absolute and in respect of the subject to any person though
I believe necessary to be believed and I do not begin to believe so now I was taught so when I lived in England CHAP. XVI The second Conclusion out of the Fathers concerning a Iudge of Controversies The Authours confession of his willingnes that his opinion against the Churches infallibility might appeare to have been groundlesse II. Conclusion The second Conclusion out of the Fathers c. was this viz. That it belongs alone to the Catholique Church which is the onely depositary of Divine Revelations authoritatively and with obligation to propose those revelations to all Christians c. to interpret the Holy Scriptures and to determine all emergent Controversies and this to the end of the world in as much as the Church by vertue of Christs promises and assistance is not onely indefectible but continually preserved in all truth 1. IN this conclusion there are severall parts as 1. That the Catholique Church is the depositary of all Divine Revelations written and unwritten 2. By consequence that it belongs to her to propound them to all persons 3. That she has authority and that such as requires submission from all not only to propound but also to expound these Revelations and finally to determine all emergent controversies And 4. That this authority is sufficiently grounded upon the great promises of our Saviour made unto his Church Now of these severall Propositions the two former not being questioned by me when I was in England I conceived it not suitable to my designe which was a narration especially of mine owne doubts and resolution with as much brevity as possibly I could to fill paper with quotations of Fathers or other proofes to resolve that of which I was resolved before My only scruple was concerning the third and fourth Propositions Or to speake properly it was not a scruple for I was on the contrary fully resolved and to my thinking satisfied that there was not upon earth any visible authority that could so interpret Scriptures or determine Controversies is that all men should be obliged necessarily to embrace her interpretations and determinations And therefore my purpose is to insist principally upon his Architectonirall controversie not neglecting in the meane time to examine likewise the other propositions but briefly and quasi aliud agens 2. It may be believed and since this treatise is intended by mee for an Exomologesis or publique Confession I will not forbeare to confess it that when the progress of my enquiry after a Church led me at last to take into debate even those grounds of which before I had not the least scruple at all namely Whether as the Roman Church professed there were extant in the world visible any such authority I could not free my selfe from so much partiality against my owne understanding as to wish that it could be made appeare unto me that there were to be found any tribunall whose decisions I might believe my selfe obliged to follow without any scruple or â—ergiversation For then I should not onely in a moment be free from all scruples and doubts in particular points proposed by that authority in which they would all be swallowed up but likewise from a world of inconveniencies inevitably attending upon my position viz. That in doubts of Religion we had onely a Rule of it selfe indeed infallible but challenged by all Sects and no Judge to apply that Rule when necessity required every man being left to his own reason at his own perill to take heed that he wrested not that Rule according to his owne interests or prejudices CHAP. XVII The Calvinists c. presumtuous renouncing of the Churches authority even in proposing of Scripture And pretending to an immediate Revelation 1. BUt before I proceed further to shew how and upon what grounds I found satisfaction in this point of the Churches authority after which I could not long remaine unsatisfyed in all other points beside I have somewhat though not much to say concerning the first part of this Conclusion namely of the Churches being depositary of divine Revelation I do not remember that the Church of England hath said any thing of it more then what may be inferred from those words in the 6. Article In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonicall bookes of the Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church By which expression She seemes to make the Churches authority the onely ground that may ordinarily be relyed upon for the discerning which books are Canonicall and which not And this Mr. Chillingworth acknowledges in severall passages of his booke 2. But as for the Calvinist Churches in France whether the Lutherans agree with them or no I had not meanes to informe my selfe I could not without both indignation and shame read how they have declared their mindes touching this Point in their publique Confession of Faith Where after the premising what particular bookes of Scripture they received as Canonicall they adde these words Nous recognoissons c. that is We acknowledge these books to be Canonicall and a most certaine Rule of Faith not so much for the commune agreement and consent of the Church as for the Testimony and inward perswasion of the Holy Spirit which makes us able to discerne them from the other Ecclesiasticall books upon which although they be profitable cannot be grounded an Article of Faith By which expression they do clearly tell the world that their meaning is not to ascribe to the assistance of the Holy Spirit this their beliefe for generally all Christians doe acknowledge a necessity of such an influence upon the soule whereby the understanding is perswaded to captivate it selfe to the beliefe and the will inclined to the love and acceptation of all divine revelations proposed by the Church But that they have a new immediate distinct revelation and testimony of the Holy Ghost inwardly informing them what bookes are Canonicall and what not And this not only more certaine then the testimony of the present Church but likewise contrary thereto inasmuch as thereby they renounce severall books which the Church proposes as divine and Canonicall 3. Was it possible that reasonable men could write such things and ever hope to finde any other men foolish enough to believe them There seems to have been many persons conspiring to the writing or at least the signing of this Confession Had all these this testimony of Gods Spirit revealing to them and so enabling them to judge and discerne which particular writings are Canonicall and which not And does this testimony which certainly if not falsely pretended to is infallible extend to all the particular passages and Texts in these books without which the believing of the books in grosse would be uselesse VVell since they may say what they please without feare of being silenced and so may all their Off-spring For what other way is left to silence him that sayes he has the Spirit but only Exorcismes Yet for
of which together with others pertinent thereto I will here as in their proper and naturall place orderly set down 2. In the first place therefore since all information of things past before our age can no other way be had excepting only extraordinary or divine inspiration not to be expected or relyed upon if pretended unlesse it be attested by miracles but by Tradition from the times when such things hapned yet arriving at us by the testimony of the present times and persons living with us By consequence I had no difficulty but that in the present hypothesis of Christian revelations the only immediate witnesse of them was the present church and this either by orall profession that thus she had received by information and practise of the precedent age Or by writings of antiene times continued and daily transcribed but all preserved and conveyed to us by the present church 3. In the second place I considered that these divine Revelations and doctrines of Christian Religion being of such a particular nature as that besides the believing them to have been we are obliged to assent unto and embrace them as the only necessary means of avoiding eternall misery and attaining to eternall happinesse Hereupon it is that the present church our only witnesse of them represents them to us not only as the present age does the actions of Caesar or books of Cicero that is with so much assurance that we cannot be reasonable men and doubt of them yet by doubting or disbelieving them there is no losse to be feared but only of our reputation But she proposeth them to us as necessarily to be submitted to and her self as an authorised witnesse having received commission from the divine Author to oblige all men to believe her as a proponent Which double capacity of the church viz. 1. Simply a proponent 2. As an authorised proponent I conceived it very requisite for me to distinguish and at least in my understanding to separate the one from the other For though Catholiques who from their infancy have been brought up in acknowledging the grounded authority of the church have no need to distinguish this double capacity for themselves yet in disputation with those Sects which accept of Tradition simply at least for books of Scripture but deny such an obliging authority and especially in explaining the manner of Resolution of Faith I conceived and found as to my self great profit in this distinction 4. In the third place for simple Tradition I enquired whether and upon what grounds it could be made to appear to be certain and absolutely convincing And upon mature consideration I was satisfied that they were extremely mistaken who thought that there was no absolute certainty in any knowledge excepting only such as we receive either immediately by our senses or by evident discourse and demonstration of reason For on the contrary I found that knowledge from report of Tradition might in some cases be as truly certain as that from sense or demonstration So for example before I saw the City of Rome I was most assured that there was such a place and the reason was because it was impossible that such a world of writings and persons all which could not be led by interest to frame a lye should conspire to witnesse such a thing and not one person be found that contradicted them The like may be said of Tradition or report of things past when a whole age agrees universally to acknowledge a Tradition under that notion neither friends nor enemies contradicting it is impossible that such a report should be false Yea I may add further when there are in the same age two Traditions of two considerable parties directly contradicting the one the other it may fall out yea sometimes it may be most assured that both of them must in some respect be true As for example the whole Nation of the Jewes dispersed all the world over do agree that they have received as a most sure Tradition that our Saviour was an Impostor and wrought all his pretended miracles by Magick and help of the Divell on the contrary all Christians through the whole world agree that they have received a Tradition that our Saviour was the true Messiah promised and that he wrought all those true miracles by the power of God and for confirmation of his divine doctrine In this case these two Traditions being in respect of the partyes respectively universall must necessarily be true though in some sort contradicting yet not in that wherein they contradict For it is as certain that the Jewes received and have continually propagated such a Tradition though false in the root as that the Christians have received the contrary Notwithstanding reason may judge infallibly between them concerning the root of these Traditions namely by demonstrating that such miracles acknowledged by both sides to have been wrought were many of them of such a nature as that they did exceed all created power and that the doctrine was so divine so destructive to the divell as that he was obliged in interest to endeavour the annibilation of it and lastly that nothing was either done or taught by our Saviour but what was agreeable to the antient Prophecies received by the Jews concerning the Messiah c. upon which grounds it will evidenly appear that the Jews who first received such a Tradition were abused by the malice and perfidiousnesse of their ancestours c. And this is the only proper way of determining and deciding the controversie between these two Traditions But of this more hereafter 5. In generall therefore I found that a full unquestionable certitude might be had of some Traditious as to give one example more that there was such a man as William Duke of Normandy who conquered England is most certain not any Englishman or other that ever heard of it but believes it and would impute frenzy to any man that should call it in question Now the reason why this is so certain to every one is this because all men living at this time who either are inquisitive into times past or câ—pable of information do agree that this particular was told them by their Predecessors as a thing come to them by Tradition and so the men of the former age of that before them thus ascending till we come to the age wherein he lived and was personally known and seen by his Subjects Now it is impossible that all men of any age should both agree together and actually effect that complot to deceive their children with a lye under the notion of Tradition Add to this that the present age affords us books and Records descending from hand to hand and written in severall ages between that time and us which testifie the same thing As likewise there are in the generall practise of England Lawes Customes Priviledges c. all which are acknowledged to have had their Originall from the same Author This is an example of one of the highest degrees
present age that so the former ages delivered to her What shall we say then when to the evident testimony of the present age for Catholike verities may be added a world of testimonies both of Scripture and antient writers beyond all comparison far more then for her enemies contradictory assertions even those enemies themselves being judges as will appeare undeniably to any man that will consult that one book of Brercley's Apology of Protestants for the Catholique church CHAP. II. Of the Reall Presence and Transubstantiation Of the Adoration of Christ in the Sacrament and of Communion under one Species 1. THe six speciall controversies which I shall briefly consider shall be 1. Concerning the Eucharist and therein of the Reall Presence of Christs body by way of Transubstantiation as likewise Of the Adoration of our Lord present in the Sacrament and communion under one Species 2. Of Invocation of Saints 3. Of Veneration of Images 4. Of Prayer for the Dead and Purgatory 5. Of Indulgences 6. Of the Publike Service in Latin The reason why I make choice of these is both because these are the especiall controversies wherein there is a reall and manifest difference between Catholiques and Protestants who make these points the principall causes of their separation For as concerning the debates about Grace and Free-will Predestination and Justification as likewise the merits of good works though ignorant-popular-preaching Protestants make a great clamour about them yet I was most assured that there was indeed a reall agreement when they came to explaine themselves sensibly about them As for the controversie concerning the Pope I have spoken sufficiently in the 52. chapter at the latter end of the fourth conclusion 2. First therefore concerning the Reall presence of Christs body in the Eucharist and that by way of Transubstantiation In discoursing upon which because my designe is not to write the controversie in generall but only in reference to the doctrine which following the church of England I was taught there it will be sufficient for me to signifie that by that church I was taught that in the blessed Sacrament the body and bloud of our Lord were really present exhibited and received by the Communicants really I say not onely as the objects of Faith or not onely as really exhibiting the effects of Christs suffering but as truly and properly as the Roman church professeth onely I was forbidden to say that there was any reall change made in the bread and Wine which remained after Consecration as they were before In a word I was taught to say what neither I nor any other was able to expresse save onely that the Romish doctrine was false which taught that that presence was made by a presence of Christs body under the Species which only remained of the visible elements 3. Now when I say that I was taught to expresse my belief thus by the church of England my intention is not that that church obligeth every one to believe thus For the truth is so a man will but renounce the two words of Transubstantion and Consubstantiation he may preserving the terme really interpret himself as if really signified only figuratively or as the object of the understanding as we see a world of writers allowed there to have expressed themselves Yea in the 28. and 29. Articles of that Church there are certain clauses which require only a figurative sense to be understood as when it is said The body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the supper only after an heavenly and spirituall manner and the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the supper is Faith And again The wicked c. are in no wise partakers of Christ but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the sign or Sacrament of so great a thing Which clauses being allowed those Articles do admit yea require not only the Calvinistical but even the Zuinglian sense concerning that point Yet notwithstanding this whether the Calvinisticall party there had with their usuall importunity extorted the inserting of those clauses into the Articles I know not yet those that followed the Prelaticall Governing Faction never considered those expressions but without any Calvinisticall hypscrisie professed that they believed the Reall Presence as truly and really and properly as the Catholiques did And so King James commanded Monsieur Casaubon to signifie his sense to Cardinall Perron in the words of Doctor Andrews then Bishop of Ely 4. Now what other reason can be imagined should move the most learned and prudent part of the English Clergy to expresse themselves so neer the Catholique sense but only a conviction that besides the formall words of Scripture the Ecclesiasticall Tradition and generall doctrine of the Fathers enforced such a sense But by what mystery it came to passe that they should dispense with themselves for following Tradition no further but that under a pretence that the Sacrament was a mystery inexplicable they should forsake the same Tradition and Fathers who generally professe that that presence is made by a reall transmutation of the visible elements into the very Body and Blood of Christ this I confesse I could never comprehend 5. Now that such was the Traditionary doctrine of the Catholique church besides the testimony of the present age which will be of infinite weight to any one that duly considers it and to omit a world of quotations out of Councells and Fathers wherein expressions to prove the same are as full yea perhaps more rigid then the Decision of the Councell of Trent it selfe I became convinced from these considerations viz. 1. Because in all the antient Liturgies that ever I saw there are expresse mention of the verity and reality of this change and not any the least intimation of a figurative sense there are expresse prayers that God would by his omnipotent power cause the Bread and Wine to become the Body and Bloud of our Lord and not the least intimation that the way of communicating of these mysteries should be only by Faith or by the operation of the understanding 2. Because in the form of communicating both in the Easterne and Westerne churches which form or Canon S. Chrysostome S. Ambrose S. Augustine S. Basile c. attribute to the Apostles themselves as authors there was required from the communicants a confession of their beliefe of the reality of this change or to expresse it in S. Ambrose his language de Sacr. l. 4. c. 3. The Priest viz. presenting to thee that which before consecration was bread saith unto thee This is the body of Christ and thou answerest Amen that is to say it is true That which the tongue confesseth let the heart believe 3. Because generally the Fathers when they speak of this argument have recourse to the omnipotence of the Word of Christ and to wonderfull operations exalted above all humane credibility as the cause of this change thereby leaving no doubt that they understood a
be doubtful that he is wrong A Guide that the Scripture never mentioned and the Church never heard of but supposed by being called a Chruch that it never should be hearkned to so that whether Scripture or Tradition or Church or all of them be followed such a Guide ought to be deserted and renounced A Guide that two persons cannot possibly follow together because no two persons that ever followed any other Guide beside Authority did or could think all things to be reasonable that any other thought so And lastly by consequence such a Guide that as long as he continues in the office there cannot possibly be any Church any where And is not this an infallible Eviction that this is an imaginary seducing Guide since it is impossible that that should be a Guide appointed for any Christian which neither Christ nor his Apostles nor any of their followers ever mentioned yea which does formally destroy one of our twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam 12. And yet when all this is said even this is a less unreasonable and less unsafe Guide then any divided particular Church can be For this hood-wink'd Guide inquiring into Scripture and searching after Tradition may possibly stumble upon the way to Unity and Truth that is the true Catholick Church for private Reason professes the exclusion of partiallity and will not refuse to take into consideration whether it self ought not to be renounced and Authority submitted to and if it chance to finde Reason for Authority it will resign its Office and cease to be a Guide any longer or private Reason any longer whereas particular Churches being founded upon the renouncing of Universal Authority in practise and yet usurping that Authority which they renounce doe not onely mis-lead their followers but having seised on them do chain and fasten them in that Dunge on CHAP. VII A concluding Exhortation wherein all are invited to Catholique UNITY 1. FOR a farewell to I. P. and all his Brethren and to all my dear mislead Countrymen of what Religion Sect or Faction soever but principally the Protestants Presbyterians and Independents I beseech them all to suffer a word of Exhortation made by St Paul to the Philippians Phil. 2. Si quae ergo consolatio in Christo si quod solatium c. If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Charity if any society of the spirit if any bâ—â—els of Compassion fulfill the joy of St Paul and all Saints that you be of the same Judgement having the same charity being of one mind thinking the same thing That is Think Catholique Unity a desirable thing and pursue the ways to attain it 2. Now the Sun shines not clearer at Noon then this Truth That there is no possible Unity without Authority nor no Christian Unity without an Infallible Authority all other Authority is meer Faction and Rebellion an Authority that reaches to the outward appearance or that bindes onely the purse If there were any true Spiritual Authority lately in England or now at Geneva c. it would engage the consciences of those that are under it and that not as English men or French but as Christians And by consequence all Christians should be obliged to submit to it a thing that themselves do not so much as pretend to Therefore by all those passionate exhortations of St. Paul I conjure you be no longer averse from Catholick Unity and Catholick Authority for be assured without such Unity and Authority submitted to you will finde no consolation no not in Christ himself no comfort in the charity of the Father nor society with the â—â— Spirit c. 3. Do not according to your mistaken custom account us uncharitable in professing that salvation cannot belong to any that are estranged from our Catholick Communion we could not be Catholicks if we said not so Thereby we approve our selves to be the lawful children of the Ancient Saints Martyrs Confessors c. all which out of their burning charity not pride or malice protested damnation to all out of their Communion For how could they or we be the true Church unless we excluded false Churches St. Augustin was the benignest humblest charitablest soul in his Age yet who thunders so loudly and so terribly against Schismaticks as he And his enemies the Donatists pretending to be the Catholick Church to the end to justifie seemingly their false plea were forced to denounce damnation to all from whom they were divided otherwise they would not have had so much as the shew of Catholicks 4. More particularly addressing my self to my most dear friends the English Protestants of whose communion I once was a seduced Member consider I beseech you that that which at the first composing of this Book I onely suspected might possibly happen is now abundantly effected God has in part visited on you the persecution and injustice you laid upon us Now do you not see that your Church was the meer creature of State-Policy If it had had the power of Religion the decay of your Ecclestical estates or imprisonment of your Bishops would not have destroyed Authority among you The censures of a captive Pope or Excommunication of a Synod meeting in a Grot were as terrible to irregular disobedient Catholicks as if they had thundred from the Capitol or the Emperial Pallace in Constantinople Where are the proofs now of your Spiritual Power Why do not you thunder out your Excommunications against the Subverters of your Religion or against your own daily revolting subjects Alas who would be frighted with such Anathema's Or what subjects have you now after the loss of your temporal Lordships And which way shall those Lordships be regained that you may become a Church again Those that were once content you should enjoy them will not adventure their own estates to recover them for you the Lutherans are too far off and the Calvinists too neer you may comfort your selves with your Liturgy and perhaps your Surplices worne in private Conventicles But as for a succession of Priests or Bishops that is not to be hoped much less a restauration of your Religion which is now quite out of date 5. To what Church will you now apply your selves To the Scotish Kirk or your own Presbyterians the first incendiaries of all these troubles the Idumaeans that cried Exinanite Exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea Or to their successors of a thousand names and shapes and all of them frighrful What is it that holds you from returning to Catholick Communion What other injuries have we done you except that we have forced you to blush to see how patiently we suffred your injustices oppressions and persecutions But the Truth is you were not so much our Persecutors as that poysonous generation of Calvinists among you they were those who instill'd fury into our Kings and Parliaments and poison into the laws against us Which very lawes are still kept in force against Catholicks