Joh. 5. 39. for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me I find that St. Luke writing his Gospel gives his Theophilus this good reason for it That thou mightst know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed Luk. 1. 4. The things which are most surely believed among us v. 1. all things of which himself had perfect understanding from the very first v. 3. I find St. Iohn who wrote last of all the Apostles affirming that tho Iesus did many other Signs which are not written in that Book of his yet these are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have Life through his Name Joh. 20. 30 31. And finally I find St. Paul asserting the Perfection of the Holy Scripture as fully and plainly as any Man can speak 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. saying That the Holy Scripture is able to make a Man wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Iesus That all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works Now what more can we desire than to be made wise unto Salvation And we are here plainly told that the holy Scripture is able to make us so What more can be needful to direct us in the Way to Salvation than what we may learn from the Scriptare It is profitable for our Information and Establishment in the Truth for the Confutation of Error and Heresy for the Correction of Vice and Wickedness for our Instruction in Righteousness It is so profitable for all these purposes that thereby the Man of God the Pastor and Teacher may be made compleat and well furnish'd for all the branches of his Office all the works of his holy Calling In short it is able to bring us to Faith in Christ Iesus And whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life Joh. 3. 16. Furthermore from the same Scripture I also learn that Unwritten or Oral Tradition hath ever been found too deceitful a thing to be relied on for so great a matter as Salvation I find that before the Flood notwithstanding the long Lives of Men the few Principles of Natural Religion and the easiness of learning and remembring things so agreeable to humane Nature yet all Flesh had soon corrupted his Way upon the Earth Gen. 6. 12. and every Imagination of the Thoughts of Man's Heart was only evil continually v. 5. And after the Flood the whole World was quickly over-run with Idolatry So ill was the Doctrine which had been preach'd by Noah and his Sons preserved by Oral Tradition Nay I find that after God was pleas'd to give the Iews his Will in Writing their Teachers had so corrupted the Doctrine of God with their Traditions that it was a great part of our blessed Saviour's business to rescue it from those Traditional Corruptions He reproves the Scribes and Pharisees for transgressing the Commandments of God by their Traditions Mat. 15. 3. shewing them how they had made it of none effect by the same v. 6. And that in vain they worshipp'd God teachiag for Doctrines the Commandments of Men v. 9. And St. Paul warns the Colossians to beware of being deceived through Philosophy and vain Deceit after the Tradition of Men after the Rudiments of the World and not after Christ Col. 2. 6. And the special occasion of writing most of the Epistles yea and the Gospels too seems to be the Danger that Christians were in of being seduced by false Teachers from the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles under the pretence of Tradition Such were the Wolves in Sheeps cloathing Mat. 7. 15 False Apostles deceitful Workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11. 13. Pretending to another Gospel Gal. 3. 6. Men of Sleight and cunning Craftiness lying in wait to deceive Eph. 4. 14. From what I find in the Scripture I must needs conclude till I be better inform'd that it is a sufficient Rule for us to go by and that so long as we hold us to it alone in our Faith and Practice there can be no necessity of resorting to the Church of Rome for that unto which our Bibles at home can direct us The Scripture is the Word of God and sure Rule of Faith saith the Infallible Church of Rome if Bellarmine may be believ'd This holy Scripture is able to make us wise unto Salvation saith the this Infallible Scripture and we take no other but this Holy and Infallible Scripture for the Rule of our Faith and Religious Practice say we Protestants What now should hinder me to infer from hence that if the Scripture be the Word of God we Protestants are very well as we are for we have the Word of the Infallible God and if it may stand us in any stead the Word of the Infallible Church as she will needs be accounted to assure us that adhering to the holy Scripture we are in the ready and sure way to Salvation Farther yet as I am a Protestant of the Church of England I do declare in the words of our VIIIth Article That the three Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be received and believ'd for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture Seeing then we receive and throughly believe the same Creeds and no other which the Church of Rome her self professeth to believe and which were thought by the Catholick Church of Christ for above 400 Years after the first planting of Christianity to contain all Points of Faith necessary for the Salvation of Christians I think I have hence gather'd this farther Confirmation of my Assurance that we Protestants are in the direct Way to Salvation that we are of the very same Religion and no other in all the necessary Points of Christian Faith whereof the Catholick Church evidently was in the first and purest Ages of it In the four first General Councils no other Articles of Faith were held needful to be believed by Christians but those of these Creeds which we entirely own and believe Either then it is true That these three Creeds contain all necessary Points of Christian Faith or it is not If it be true we are safe enough and can with no colour of Reason be said to err in Faith or to deserve the Name of Hereticks If it be not true then were all those Primitive Christians as much Hereticks as we are and knew no more than we do what belong'd to the Salvation of Christians And strangely partial is the Church of Rome in approving the Faith of those Councils which one of their most famous Popes and Saints is said to have reverenced as the four Gospels and yet to condemn ours tho in all
Responses The learnedst of the Romish Church are not yet well agreed about it and if the English Representer or French Expounder have had the luck to hit it I am sure that many heretofore who thought themselves as wise as either of them have strangely miss'd it Or else that Council and the Religion call'd Popery hath several Faces for several Times and Countries and in one place and time shall look like it self and in another shall be made to look as like the Protestant Religion as the Artificial Painter dares make it But that which here put us to a stand in this That as the Pope at first taught that Council to speak so hath he reserved the Interpretation of its Decrees to the See Apostolick or himself only and He is not always pleas'd in plain terms to let us know his Mind and if he should for once speak out plainly it will be a little hard for him to assure us that none of his Successors shall hereafter contradict him unless he can satisfy us that he has as well the Gift of Prophesying as that of defining and interpreting However it is for not believing the new Articles of Trent that we are accounted Hereticks and out of the way to Heaven And the reason is because these Articles are supposed to be as firmly grounded on the Word of God as any of those old ones which we believe For the Word of God saith the Council of Trent is partly contain'd in the Books of Scripture and partly in Traditions unwritten these are to be received with the same affection of Piety and Reverence and therefore he that disbelieves any Article grounded upon unwritten Tradition is no less a Heretick than he that disbelieves what is written in the Books of Scripture If I knew how to be satisfied concerning the Authority of this Council I could easily tell what Credit I should give to this which it so confidently affirms But so long as I cannot discern the reason of it's pretended Authority I am a little apt to suspect that it was not the clearness of this Principle that moved it to make so many either unscriptural or antiscriptural Decrees but rather the desire it had of vindicating its unscriptural Doctrines and Practices that made it necessary to espouse such a Principle And indeed when I well consider it I am not a little comforted by it that this equalling unwritten Tradition with Scripture which is the very Basis of the Romish Religion is one of the most incredible things in the World of it self and as destitute of any tolerable Evidence whence it may gain any Credit to it self It must needs seem very strange to any considering Man That the wise God should leave us a Rule in writing on purpose to direct us how to honour Him and attain to Salvation and give it this Commendation that it is able to make wise unto Salvation and yet omit a great many things altogether as necessary to those ends as those that are written and without the Belief and Practice whereof those that are written can no whit avail us and yet never so much as once tell us in all that Writing whither we should go to seek and learn them Nay that he should omit therein the principal Point of all and without which all that is either written or unwritten can signify nothing that is to tell us That the Roman Church is the only true Church the only sure and Infallible Interpreter of all that is written and the only faithful Keeper of all that is unwritten from the Mouth whereof we must receive all saving Truth This I think is a thing that must needs be very hard for any one to believe that believes the Infinite Wisdom Goodness and Veracity of God. And how it can ever be made evident that there are such necessary unwritten Traditions or that these which the Church of Rome holds are they I think no Man living can imagine I am sure if the Papists way of reasoning be good it 's safer not to believe this For all Sides consent that the Scripture which we have is the certain Word of God but all Sides are not agreed that unwritten Traditions are the Word of God therefore it is safer to believe the Scripture only to be the Word of God and not Traditions We hold us to Scripture and the Papists grant that to be the safest Rule their greatest strength lies in unwritten or as they are wont to speak Oral and Practical Traditions which in plain English is no more but Report and Custom and whether there can reasonably be thought any certainty in these equal to that of the written Word of God given by Divine Inspiration can be no hard matter for a very weak Understanding to determine That which makes these unwritten Traditions of the less Credit with me is the assurance I have that a pretence to them and a vain confidence in them hath produced much Error and Division in the Church 'T is well known how far and how long the Errors of the Millenaries and of administring the Eucharist to Infants to mention no more prevail'd on this account And the early Schisms betwixt the Roman and Asian Churches about the keeping of Easter and the hot Contests between the Roman and African Churches about rebaptizing Hereticks were occasion'd and upheld by Pretences on all hands to Tradition This was the only Refuge of old for Hereticks when they were confounded by the Scripture to take shelter under Tradition whence Tertullian call'd them Lucifugas Scripturarum Men who shunn'd the Light of the Scriptures Again saith he They confess indeed that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing and differed not among themselves in their preaching but they will not have it that they revealed all things to all for some things they deliver'd openly to all some things secretly and to a few and that because St. Paul useth this saying to Timothy O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust And again that good thing which is committed to thee keep Irenaeus also makes mention of Hereticks who affirm'd That out of the Scriptures the Truth could not be found out by them who understood not Tradition because it was not deliver'd by Writing but by living Voice for which cause also St. Paul said we speak Wisdom among them that are perfect St. Augustine in his 97th Tract upon Iohn saith that all the most foolish Hereticks who desire to be accounted Christians used to colour their audacious Fictions with a pretence from that Sentence of the Gospel Joh. 16. 10. I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Thus did the Hereticks of old both plead Tradition and sought to strengthen their Plea by such places of Scripture as these which are the very same that the Papists produce to the same purpose as may be seen in Bellarmine and others But I find that the Orthodox Fathers of the Church were of another Mind The
have the least Zeal for God's Honour I am verily oerswaded that the good Language they bestow upon the Scripture hath kept more out of their Church than ever their Arguments yet won I will not now take notice of those too well known Encomiums bestow'd upon it by some of their Communion calling it a Nose of Wax a Leaden Rule a dead Letter unsens'd Characters and I am ashamed to say what more I shall only observe what is ordinarily taught us and endeavour'd with much Art to be prov'd by their best most modest and generally approved Authors as That the Scripture is not Necessary that it hath no Authority as to us but from the Church that it is an imperfect an insufficient Rule that it is an obscure Book and finally a very dangerous one to be read by the People I know very well That the Representer and others of them tell us That the Papist believes it damnable in any one to think speak or to do any thing irreverently towards the Scripture and that he holds it in the highest Veneration of all Men living I know also that most of them even whilst they are industriously proving all that I but now said do yet labour to mollify and sweeten their own harsh Expressions which they know must needs grate the Ears of all pious Persons I am also verily perswaded that many Papists have a very venerable esteem for the Scripture and are not a little troubled to hear it reproachfully used And yet I cannot see that highest Veneration for it or that they speak not very irreverently of it who speak no worse of it than the Representer himself hath taught them viz. That it is not fit to be read generally of all without License tho he gives this very good reason for it Lest they should no longer acknowledg the Authority of the Roman Church or in his own words No Authority left by Christ to which they are to submit As tho Men might be taught by the Scripture to be disobedient to any Authority which Christ hath set up in his Church I cannot see any great Veneration he hath to the Scripture in saying They allow a restraint upon the reading of the Scriptures for the preventing of a blind ignorant Presumption or the casting of the Holy to Dogs or Pearls to Swine such too is his respect for Christians That he hath no other assurance that they are the Word of God but by the Authority and Canon of the Church That almost every Text of the Bible and even those that concern the most essential and fundamental Points of the Christian Religion may be interpreted several ways and made to signify things contrary to one another That it is altogether silent without discovering which of all those Senses is that intended by the Holy Ghost and leading to Truth and which are erroneous and Antichristian That a Man may frame as many Creeds as he pleases and make Christ and his Apostles speak what shall be most agreeable to his Humour and suit best with his Interest and find plain Proofs for all That it alone can be no Rule of Faith to any private or particular Person Certainly they who talk of the Scripture at this rate have not the highest Veneration for it of all Men living They that say and labour to prove that the Scripture is not necessary may well be supposed to think that the Church of God might do well enough without it And tho to lessen the Odiousness of this Assertion they are forced to confess it is a Lie without the help of some such mental Reservation as this So that God could not if he pleas'd preserve his Truth among Men some other way than by writing it yet doth not this speak in them the like Veneration for the Scripture as Protestants have who down-rightly affirm it to be necessary And it must needs sound ill to say That the All-wise God hath been very careful to leave and preserve in his Church an unnecessary thing Yea 't is altogether as absurd to say the Scripture is not necessary because God could if it had seem'd good to him have preserv'd his Church and Faith without it As it would be to say that Plowing and Sowing or Eating and Drinking are not necessary because God could if he pleas'd make the Ground bring forth without the one and preserve Man's Life without the other Nor can it be imagin'd that any Man upon this account only would venture to say and attempt to prove the Scripture not to be necessary in a sense wherein no Man ever affirm'd it if he were not so zealously bent upon lessening the Esteem which we have for it that he will chuse rather to say nothing to the purpose and dispute against no Body than to be silent and say nothing that sounds ill of it and that he thinks it needful for the ends of his Church so to do In like manner when they contend that the Authority of the Scripture is from the Church which is the thing whereof at every turn they are forward enough to mind us they are forced again to make some Abatements to make it seem a Truth 'T is true they say that consider'd in it self alone it hath its Authority from God whereby they can mean no more but that God is the Author of it but in relation to us it hath its Authority from the Church Now I would fain know what any Man can understand properly by the Authority of the Scripture but its relation to us or the Power it hath to command our Faith in it and Obedience to it as the Word of God. And if it have all this Power from the Church as is confidently affirm'd then tho it self be of God yet all its Authority is from the Church and it must needs be true which was said by one of them That it is of no more Authority than Livy or Aesop ' s Fables without the Churches Declaration Thus is the Authority of God's Word made to depend upon the Authority of Men and all our Faith is no more but humane Faith resting upon humane Testimony And if the Authority which it hath to oblige us be from the Church I would know by what Authority it doth oblige the Church it is not sure by any Authority from Her for then I see no reason why the Church may not chuse whether she will receive it or no whilst yet I think that it is only by the Authority of the Scripture that she can pretend to be a Church and to have any Authority at all However this I am sure of that they who say the Scripture is to be receiv'd for the Churches Sake have not so high a Veneration either for it or the Author of it as they who say it is to be receiv'd for God's Sake And in the next place whether we who say the Scripture is a perfect and sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners containing all things necessary to Salvation or they
who say 't is but a partial and imperfect Rule We who say 't is plain and easy to be understood in all things necessary or They who say 't is dark and obscure unable to inform and resolve Learners Doubters and Inquirers and that even in Essentials and Fundamentals of Religion Finally Whether We who say it ought to be read and studied of all Men Or They who say it is not needful yea dangerous to be read of all have the higher Veneration for the Holy Scripture is no hard matter to determine if to commend a thing may be said to be more Honour to it than to disparage it And tho here again they use some Art and Colour to set off such ill-favour'd Sayings as well as they can yet serves this to no other end in my Mind but to make them more Ugly and Odious They deny not for all this they say the Perfection Sufficiency or Plainness of the Scripture nor that it may be read by the People What then is it they say They affirm that it contains all necessary Truths either Explicitly or at least Virtually for some Truths it declares expresly and yet so as the Church alone must give the Sense and for all the rest it plainly if the same Church may here also give the Sense sends us to the Church to learn them Now I cannot for my Heart imagine what all this can signify but only a desire to lessen the Scripture's Authority as plausibly as they can To me it seems very plain that they make the Scripture just nothing and the Church all in all I think it here again well deserves my Consideration That the SCRIPTURE is very copious in declaring and repeating too over and over again many necessary Points of Faith and Duty and not only necessary things but many other things also it largely teacheth which are by all granted to be of less moment and necessity to the Salvation of Men and all this it doth in as plain Words and Phrases as can be used And hence I find it very hard for me to believe that the HOLY GHOST by whose Inspiration it was Written should do all this for our Instruction and that in a Book written on purpose to make us wise unto Salvation and by himself declared able so to do and yet omit many things of greatest necessity to that end never so much as once no not in any obscure manner pointing out to us that Church to whose Authority we must resort and submit This were to leave us a Treasure closely lock'd up and not to tell us where we may find the Key that can let us in to it and so we are neither the Wiser nor the Richer for it Whatsoever the PAPISTS are pleas'd to alledg for their speaking thus of the Word of the Blessed God I confess I cannot think any better of their Religion for it Let us say what we will in Commendation of holy SCRIPTURE they will be sure to find something to say against it lest I suppose it should be thought we can at any time speak Truth And when we charge them for speaking dishonourably of the SCRIPTURE they so interpret their Words as they seem to say the same that we did and which they blamed us for What can be their meaning in this but either to make the World believe that we are in an Error tho when they come to Apologize for themselves they are forced to confess it a Truth or that their Religion necessarily requires it of them in its Vindication to vilify the SCRIPTURE tho by saying such things of it as they acknowledge cannot be true unless interpreted so as to speak our Sense They must therefore in this deal either very disingenuously with us or very injuriously with the holy SCRIPTURE For my part I cannot believe that Men professing the Christian Faith and owning the SCRIPTURE to be the Word of GOD could ever be persuaded to speak so as but seemingly to vilify or disparage it if their Doctrines could be any other way defended Their Religion I say must need it or they too little consult the Honour of their Religion in needlesly uttering such Speeches as stand in need of a very great measure of Charity to think them less than Blasphemy Fourthly If any PROTESTANT dares venture thus far towards the Church of ROME the next thing he has to do is to resolve not to believe one Word that GOD speaks without that Church's leave I am confident that there are not many of our Lay-PAPISTS that think themselves to be under this Obligation and that if they were sensible of it they would make haste to break loose from it But for my own part I see not how I can enter into their Communion but I must draw it upon my self And this I think would be to advance the ROMAN Church to as great a height in my esteem as they in her who are most zealous for her Infallibility can desire What more would they have than that GOD himself where they confess he speaks should stand to their Church's Courtesy whether or no he should be believed I know it will be said They never disallow'd any man to believe GOD. But because all men cannot understand GOD speaking in the SCRIPTURE the Church is appointed by Him to be his Interpreter This I hear and to me it sounds not well That GOD should speak to Men things necessary for all to know and which he commands all to learn and believe upon pain of eternal Damnation and yet not speak so intelligibly as they may understand Him. Certainly he that made the Tongue and gave man Understanding can speak if he please as Intelligibly as the Church which cannot Speak or Understand at all without his Help and Teaching And considering his Infinite Goodness and Impartiality till he shall tell me so himself I know not how to believe that he hath so much more respect to the Honour of the ROMAN Church than to the Salvation of Mankind that he would so deliver things belonging to Salvation that no Man can be able to understand and be the better for them but he that resorts to that Church as God's sole Interpreter And if indeed she be so it must follow that we cannot believe one Word that God speaks without her leave For therefore is she made God's Interpreter because otherwise we cannot understand his Word and I am sure what we cannot understand we cannot believe 'T is the Sense they say and not the Letter is God's Word and this Sense is in the Church's Breast and of Her alone we must learn it and therefore till She give us leave we cannot believe it no not so much as that JESUS is the CHRIST altho till we believe this we cannot believe that he hath a Church and therefore cannot believe She is His Interpreter I will not now inquire into the Reasons Why this Church which is God's sole Interpreter takes so excellent a Course to make her
I know not how to serve God without it Yet if I should dare to venture thus far may I now have leave to take my rest here If my dimsighted Reason help me to stumble into my Mother's lap may I yet think my self safe there Not till I have learn'd her Charity too as well as her Faith which the REPRESENTER tells us She learn'd of Christ and his Apostles Therefore Lastly I must believe that all other Christians but PAPISTS are in a state of Damnation The Decree of P. BONIFACE the VIIIth as now it stands in the common Extravagants is well known to be this We declare say define and pronounce That it is altogether of necessity to SALVATION that every Creature be subject to the POPE of ROME P. PIUS the II. in his Bull of Retractation tho he was not altogether of the same mind as it seems before whilst he was Aeneas Sylvius saith He cannot be saved that doth not hold the Unity of the ROMAN Church If so lusly a Decree and so preremptory a Declaration of two POPES be too little there is abundance more to this purpose to be met with by him that has a mind to search for it I only take notice at this time that P. LEO the X th in his Lateran Council and his Bull therein read and pass'd saith We do renew and approve that same Constitution viz. of P. BONIFACE but now mentioned the present Sacred Council also approving it And Lastly P. PIUS the IV th in his Bull wherein he confirms the Council of TRENT imposeth an Oath upon Ecclesiastical Persons wherein they swear That the HOLY CATHOLICK and APOSTOLICK ROMAN Church is the MOTHER and MISTRESS of all Churches and that this is the true CATHOLICK FAITH without which no man can be SAVED Here 's enough in all Conscience for us PROTESTANTS to hear and too much a great deal as I think for any man to believe I think my self bound in Charity to have the best Opinion I can of all men and therefore I dare not think that all they who are called ROMAN CATHOLICKS have throughly learn'd this Doctrine There seems to me to be so much of Ill-nature in it that I should think my self the worst natur'd man in the World if I could believe that any considerable numbers of them besides the Priests are guilty of it Many piously disposed Souls are not so happy as to have always the clearest Understandings or the sincerest Teachers but have better Hearts than either Heads or Guides Their Zeal is too great for both their opportunities of Learning and Patience to consider their earnestness of SALVATION a thing very laudable in them puts them into too much haste to deliberate long and gives an advantage to some who watch for it to abuse them Either a cunning JESUIT or a canting FANATICK will hope to make an easy Prey of such Persons for it matters not greatly of which sort the Tempter be whilst the Temptation is the same The Fish minds not the Fisher but the Bait Every Argument from either is edged with a mighty Zeal and Importunity and sharpned with the sinest and most penetrating Expressions of a most tender Compassion for perishing Souls SALVATION is as confidently promised as earnestly desired and whether it be to be had in the ROMANISTS Infallible Church or in the SEPARATISTS purg'd and unmix'd Congregation all 's a case when once the man is made to think it cannot be had in the Church of ENGLAND If they who are so easily Proselyted either way would take time to look before they leap and could but see into the consequents of those very Arguments which most prevail with them and are made the Traps to catch them in they would stand off a little and ask a few Questions more for their better Satisfaction before they could endure to think of entring into a Communion which would oblige them as ever they hope to be saved themselves to believe that CHRIST hath no faithful Followers upon Earth but a few Subjects of the POPE of Rome I can easily perceive by divers Books written by them who call themselves Converts that the main Motive of their going over to the ROMAN Church was this That they could not hope to be saved in any other And I find that most Arguments of late used to persuade us to that Religion look the very same way And it is this Doctrine alone that hath put me upon this Enquiry for my own Satisfaction For I must needs confess that this Doctrine which some acount so powerful a Persuasive to Popery has always with me had the quite contrary effect to what I find it hath in them and has been and is at this present to me as strong a Dissuasive from it If I can never be a PAPIST till I can believe it I am very confident I shall never be one I would leave the Church of ENGLAND the next Minute should she require of me to believe that all out of her Communion were in a state of Damnation and truly I think that most PROTESTANTS are of my mind When therefore I found the REPRESENTER in good earnest to vindicate his Church in this one Point I presently concluded that he had writ his whole Book to no purpose for let him spend all his Oyl and Colours in painting POPERY to the best advantage so long as this one Spot appears in her Face she may possibly seem in her new Dress less terrible but not one jot more lovely Having told us That no one can arrive to the true knowledg of the Catholick Faith but by receiving it as proposed and believed by the Church of CHRIST and that the ROMAN CATHOLICK is the only true Church that whosoever denies any Article of her Faith denies so much of CHRIST's Doctrine That whosoever hears Her hears CHRIST and whosoever obstinately and wilfully is separated from Her is in the same distance separated from CHRIST himself and finally That God addeth to this Church daily such as shall be saved He hath told us enough to persuade us that no PROTESTANT in the World could have done that Church a greater diskindness than he hath done nor by any Misrepresentation of her have worse Represented her When the PAPISTS are pleas'd to ask us that unanswerable Question as they account it Where was your Religion before LUTHER They wish us withal to take into our Serious Consideration the state of our Forefathers who lived and died in the Religion of the Church of ROME asking us if we dare think that they were all damn'd We need not trouble our heads with shaping an Answer to so frivolous a Question because we durst never yet be so hardy as to affirm that all are damn'd who live and die in the Communion of the Church of ROME but do openly declare to the World that tho we think our own Religion the safest yet many of that Communion have been heretofore and many also are at this day under such