precede the Faithful themselves and if the Faithful then must it have Preheminence before the Church it self which is nothing else but the Congregation of the Faithful Thus the Church of Rome will evidently fall short of that Prerogative she so presumptuously arrogates of being both Before and Above the Scripture Again a Rule consisting in Indivisibili as we say i. e. being of that Nature that it is not to be inlarged or diminished how guilty are they who either make Additions to or Substractions from it Both which the Roman Church practiseth as de facio will be manifest in the Sequele of this small Tract In Fine they hold the Word of God written to be that one infallible entire Rule whereby all men Learned and Unlearned may in all necessary and fundamental Points of Faith and Manners be sufficiently instructed what is to be embraced for True and Good That it is a Rule most Certain Plain Universal Impartial not addicted to one Side more than another which neither Pope Conclave nor Councel can so much as pretend to of Power and Authority able to convince the Consciences of such as use it and from which there can be no Appeal And the only Cause why any miss of the True Faith is because they do not sincerely seek and find out this infallible Rule or having found it will not with an obedient Mind captivate their Understanding but have Access to it with Pride Curiosity Prejudice or some other unmortifyed Lust or Impediment More especially the Church of England besides that high Veneration that she her self hath for these sacred Books labours to confirm and root the same in the Hearts of her obedient Children by her Devout Practice For to omit the Frequent Laborious and Judicious Preaching and Expounding of them in this Church she hath so prudently disposed of her publick Liturgy that every day some Part and Portion of both Testaments is appointed to be read The whole Book of Psalms is gone through once a Moneth the Old Testament once and the New thrice every year with other most excellent Exercises of Piety at which even the Romanists themselves can take no just Exception and a very great Author affirms that a modern Pope would have approved the whole service-Service-Book had his Authority but been acknowledged which discreet Course cannot but afford much heavenly Instruction and Consolation to the constant Attenders on such Blessed Opportunities But what saith the Church of Rome all this while in this Business In her Tridentine Council Sess. 4. Can. 1. She expresly Decrees that unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the written Word that they are to be received with the same Reverence and Affection And Cardinal Hosius who was one who in the Popes Name presided at that Council defends that most Blasphemous Speech of Wolfangus Hermannus that the Scripture is of no more Authority than Esop's Fables but for the Churches and Popes Approbation lib. 3. de Authorit Script The Council of Basil would fain perswade us that the Churches Acts and Customs must be to us instead of the Scriptures Instar habeant Sacrarum Scripturarum for that the Scripture and Churches Customs both require the same Affection and Respect Indeed I find the Romish Doctors in nothing more fluent than in degrading and vilifying the Scriptures Our Country man Dr. Stapleton positively affirms that the Church hath Authority to put into the Number of Books of Scripture and to make Canonical the Writings of Hermes and Constitutions of Clemens two famous Counterfeits and that then they would have the same Authority which other Books have canonized by the Apostles themselves Some call them a Nose of Wax to be wrested any way Cardinal Cusanus blushes not to write that the Scriptures are fitted to the time and variously understood the sense thereof being one while this and another while that according as it pleases the Church to change her Judgment Some teach that the Scripture is not simply necessary that God gave it not to the People but to the Doctors and Pastors and that we must live more according to the Dictates of the Church than the Scripture Eckius the great Antagonist of Luther would make us believe that Christ never gave any Command to his Apostles to write any thing Which yet seems very odd when such an express Injunction was lay'd on S. John to write that mystical Book of the Apocalypse which certainly is not more conducing to the Churches Edification than our B. Saviour's Sermon on the Mount and the many other practical Discourses both of himself and his Disciples In a word the most ingenuous and civil among their Writers think they have pay'd all due Respect to Holy writ when they term it a Dumb Judge Dead Ink or Ink shaped into various Forms and Characters Notwithstanding which I humbly conceive that let an Indifferent Person open the Bible and the Canons of the Council of Trent together and he will receive at least as clear and full Satisfaction from the Bible as from the other unless we will impiously deny Almighty God the Faculty of expressing his holy Will and Pleasure as intelligibly as frail Men can theirs or without any shew of Reason affirm with a late Divine that Religion it self was never fully setled till that upstart Conventicle Conformable to the Sentiments are the Practices of that Church in keeping the Bible lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue from the Use of the Vulgar Clement the Eighth very strictly orders all Vulgar Translations to be put into the Index of Prohibited Books And in Italy and Spain and wherever the Inquisition hath the least Jurisdiction the very keeping of them is a Crime no less than Capital It is true where the Reformation hath got any footing Faculties are sometimes granted to read a Translation but clog'd with so many Proviso's and various Cautions and their Spiritual Guides give so small Encouragement to it that it seems rather a Trick to stop the Mouthes of their Adversaries when they Object the Prohibition of Reading Scripture than any real Intention of Promoting so Pious an Exercise among their Devotes Besides their other Forms of Devotion Rosaries or saying over the Beads after divers Methods our Ladies Office Prayers for the Dead Manuals the long Litanies of Saints hearing of Masses reading of Legends c. are in so great Vogue and take up so considerable a Time that I scarce see how any can be allotted for that contemned Employment of studying Gods Word which ought to be the Meditation of every good Christian Day and Night Indeed this neglect to say no worse of Holy Scripture is so notorious among and so peculiar to those of that Way and the Ignorance not only of the Laity but of divers of the Clergy in that kind of Learning especially is so gross that it would be a Work of Supererogation to attempt the proof of it Their Doctors generally pretending Translations of Scripture to be the cause of all Heresies
Several Weighty CONSIDERATIONS Humbly Recommended To the Serious Perusal of ALL but more especially To the Roman Catholicks OF ENGLAND To which is prefix'd An Epistle from one who was lately of that Communion to Dr. Stillingfleet Dean of St Pauls Declaring the Occasion of the following Discourse He is not joyned to the Church who is departed from the Gospel S. Cypr. de Lapsis Am I therefore become your Enemy because I tell you the Truth Galat. 4. 16. Yet I will very gladly spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved 2 Cor. 12. 15. LONDON Printed for and to be sold by John Holford in the Pall-Mall over against St. Albans-street and John Harding at the Bible and Anchor in St. Pauls Church-yard 1679. Mart. 12. 1678 9. IMPRIMATUR Guil. Sill R. P. D. Henr. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Dom. TO THE Right Reverend and Honourable HENRY LORD BISHOP of LONDON Dean of His Majesties Chapel and one of his most Honourable Privy Council My Lord I Have some Years since met with a Prophecy and many talk of such things at this Time which may yield a little Comfort in this Day of our Visitation The Original it self I have not seen but it is taken out of Telesphorus de Tribulat and thus cited by Dr. John White Antichristus non poterit subjugare Venetias nec Parisios nec Civitatem Regalem Angliae The Memorable Baffle that the Venetians gave to Paul the Fifth the frequent Picqueering of the Sorbon with the same See may in part Justifie But the Wonderful Preservations both Antient and Modern of this Kingdom and Metropolis from the Restless Attempts of many of that Faction will I hope Evince its Probability How Instrumental your Lordship hath been towards that Security and Happiness we yet Enjoy how Indefatigable your Pains how Undaunted your Courage in the most Critical Conjunctures is with Gratitude and Applause proclaimed to the World not only by your own Large and Numerous Flock but by the Loud Acclamations of the Whole Nation And though I never was so fortunate as to be an Eye-witness of those Heroick Vertues which daily Influence Your Charge rendring You so Amiable to the Churches Friends and at the same time so Formidable to her Enemies yet that Universal Character which is every where given of You engages me to look on you as no less than a Person in whom Concentre those Requisites which some Criticks in Morality how justly I dispute not have exacted to make up a Compleat Christian. They are these The Orthodox Faith and Loyalty of a true English Protestant the Zeal and Good Works of a Roman-Catholick the Gratious Words and Painful Preaching of a Puritan And all these Inculcated by your Life as well as Injunctions on your most Learned and Religious Clergy But I must remember my self at the Judges Barr and not at the Heralds Office and that this Paper attends You as a Petition and not as a Panegyrick Your most Gracious Approbation of my Desires intimated to you by the Reverend Dean of St. Pauls Invites the one as Your undoubted Worth and Honour Extorts the other Vouchsafe then my Lord to Accept into the Arms of your Noble Charity what is penn'd purely with a Spirit of Charity They are such Reflexions as Reclaimed my self and may with Gods blessing contribute to the Reducing of some others as unwarily mis-led as I was To which purpose I endeavour Brevity and Perspicuity designing this Discourse for the Vulgar the Learned have richer Mines to recurr to and therefore waving that Accurateness of Method and Expression which Your Lordships Judicious Eye may expect but neither my Intent the present Affliction I lye under the unsettledness of my Affairs nor Absence from my Books all which afford not that Tranquillum Scribentis otia will admit However when all Athens was Busie and in Motion the Cynick for Company would needs rowl about his Tub. And if so obscure a Person as my self intrude into the Crowd of those Many Able Contenders for the Faith once delivered to the Saints which daily almost appear upon the Stage I have St. Augustines Advice for my Apology De Trinit l. 3. c. 3. In places infected with Heresie all men should write that have any faculty therein though it were the same thing in other words that all sorts of People among many Books might light upon some and the Enemy in all places might find one or other to encounter him Besides I thought this the best Expedient Publickly to testifie my Sincere Re-union to that Church in which I received my Baptism and Education and how faithfully I am and resolve by Gods Grace to continue My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Obedient Servant T. S. AN EPISTLE From a Late Roman Catholick To the Very Reverend Dr. EDWARD STILLINGFLEET Dean of St. Pauls c. Very Reverend and Honoured Sir THough I am not altogether Ignorant of your Person yet my chief Acquaintance is with those Learned Works of Yours the best Representative wherewith you have enriched this Age obliged the Church of England and I speak it experimentally given the greatest Satisfaction to ingenious Minds that sober and unaffected Reason I do not mean such stuff as Mr. White 's and Mr. Serjeant's Demonstrations can possibly perform And thus Sir I have been your most intimate Friend and Servant these seven or eight years All which space I have been a very attentive Spectator of your famous Encounters and to my Comfort seen single Truth and modest Reason combate with whole Troops of Old Subtle Confident Cholerick and I may add Malicious Adversaries And I hope I shall have Cause to bless God to all Eternity and thank you for so Glorious a Sight But before I return my full Acknowledgments to you I must crave Leave to give you a Short but True Narrative only be pleased not to believe it as you style Mr. Cressey's a Legend of my self I had my Education in one of the chiefest Free-Schooles in London under the Care of a very able Instructor and by him was sitted for the University But about a year before my advancing thither it happen'd that an ancient Gentleman came frequently to divert himself in a Walk that was near the School and so took Occasion to discourse with divers of the Lads I being the Head of the School at that time he pretended a particular Complacency though I know not why in my self He never conferred about any Point in Religion but still entertained me with speaking Latin which he did very fluently and politely and his constant Discourse was about the rare Method of Education used beyond Sea the great Number of their Students the Diligence of their Tutors the Exactness of their Discipline and much more to the like Effect What this Conversation would have produced at last I know not But the chief Master of the School perceiving me often with him at last forbad me his Company
or Benefice whether Ecclesiastical or Secular It is true with much Importunity and Danger Gerson procured a Decree in this council that No Subject should Murder his Prince But that Practice was only condemned in such as did it without waiting the Sentence of any Judge whatsoever So that if Sentence be past by the Spiritual Judge notwithstanding this Decree a Prince may be Assassinated But there is a further Mystery in it For a King once declared to be no more such i. e. being Deposed He then becomes a Rebel and an Usurper according to their Principles and then it is lawful to kill him The Council of Siena confirms all the former Decrees made against Hereticks and the Favourers of Heresie are declared liable to all Pains and Censures of Hereticks and consequently to the Greatest of them viz. Deposition The Council at Basil ratiâ—â—s the Decree of Constance by which Emperours and Kings that presumed to hinder any from coming to the Council are subjected to excommunication Interdicts and other Punishments Spiritual and Temporal Finally the Council of Trent though the world was then much changed and they durst not trample on Crowned Heads as formerly yet they would still be nibling at this sweet Morsel as near as they could and still endeavoured though covertly to continue the Claim to this Deposing Authority For in the Decree against Dâ—els Sess. 25. c. 19. they declare If any Emperours and Kings c. did assign a field for a Combate they did thereby lose their Right to that place and the City Castle or other places about it If Councils then as surely they are be fit deliverers of the Churches sence we have here no less than seven General Councils to prove this to be the Churche's Doctrine For my own part I can see no ways they can extricate themselves but either by Confessing their Church hath erred or by obstinately going on in a most wretched Justification of such Damnable Tenents and Practices There is nothing more to do in this business but by way of surplusage to give a General Touch at these following particulars By the Book of the Sacred Ceremonies which is Authentick and of great Esteem with the Church of Rome the Emperour as soon as he sees the Pope must bare-headed bow till his knee touch the Ground and worship the Pope coming nearer he must bow again and when he comes to the Pope he must bow a third Time and devoutly kiss the Pope's Toe The same book informs us that the Pope never gives any Reverence to any Mortal either by rising up or uncovering or bowing his head That the Emperour must hold the Pope's stirrup till he gets on horseback and then lead the Horse for some paces And some mean spirited Emperors have de facto performed these slavish offices The Emperour must swear Fealty to the Pope and be his Hector to maintain all his Rights and Honours That horrid Extravagant of Boniface VIII makes it absolutely necessary to Salvation that all Christians be subject to the Pope who hath both the Swords and Judgeth all Men and is Judged of None And the Gloss upon that Extravagant dares to say our Saviour had not done discreetly unless he had left such a Vicar behind him Bzâ—vius an approved and applauded Author in that Communion tells us the Pope is Monarch of All Christians Supreme over All Mortals there lyes no Appeal from him He is the great Arbitrator of the World Istodorus Mâ—scomus Vicar General to the Arch-Bishop of Bononia and a great Lawyer terms the Pope the Universal Judge King of Kings Lord of Lords and saies that God's Tribunal and the Pope's are one and the same that they have the same Consistory and therefore all other powers are his Subjects that the Pope is judged of none but God not of the Emperour Kings Clergy or Laity Pope Innocent the Third Extra de Major gives this description of the Papal power that it is as much greater than the Imperial as the Sun is than the Moon And the Gloss saies that is 47 times greater but the note in the Margin puts 57 times nay there is an Author that adds 7744 times This Decrâ—tal of Innocent the III. and the forecited Extravagant of Boniface VIII are both put into the body of the Canon Law It would be endless to enumerate the Romish Authors that defend this prodigious power of deposing Kings Bellarmin Suarez Sa Mariana maintain and prove this Doctrine Nor do I know one Jesuit that teaches the contrary And it is very well worth our notice what an odd kind of answer Mr. Fisher gave to King James who demanded of him what he thought Subjects ought to do in the case of the Pope's deposing a Prince The Jesuit gives this sly return I will pray for Peace and Tranquillity between both Parties I will exhort all to do good offices conducing thereto and will rather dye than any wayes be accessory to your Majestie 's death And no more could be got from him but this Compliment But else where he told the King more plainly that he disclaimed any singular opinion of his own or more than the Definitions of Councils and Consent of Divines did force him to hold And what those are we have pretty well discovered The Canonists Casuists and Schoolmen are Generally if not Universally of this opinion some teach that it is evident to all that Emperors are to be Deprived and Deposed by the Pope not onely for things pertaining to Faith but for Manners Others that the Secular Power is subject to the Spiritual and that it is no Usurpation if the Spiritual judge the Secular and that the Pope hath Supreme Power over Christian Kings and Princes and may Correct Depose and put others in their places that he may deprive a King of Royal Dignity for Heresie Schisme or any intolerable Crime Negligence or Lazyness if in great matters he break his Oath or oppress the Church and several other Cases and that the Pope himself is sole Judge both of the Crime and of the Condemnation And Bzovius de Pontifice Rom. c. 46. p. 611. gives us a Catalogue of above 30 Kings and Princes who have de facto been Deposed or by Anathema's damn'd by the Pope They count them Martyrs that dye for the maintaining this Power which cannot be unless they Esteem it an Article of Faith And we have a late Instance of F. Paul Magdalen alias Henry Heath a Learned and in his way Pious Franciscan who was put to death by the Long Parliament about the year 1643. Who just before his Execution being desired to give his Judgment of the Oath of Allegiance which chiefly concerns our present purpose declared it absolutely unlawful and that he would as soon lay down his Life for the Refusal of it as for any Article of the Roman Belief Eman. Sa is not ashamed to publish that if a Clergy Man rebell against his King it is no Treason because Clergy men are not the Kings
they brag was President of their Council was sent shut up in Carriers Budgets who a thing worthy to be laugh'd at when the Waters were up as it falls out many times was fain to stay till they were down again before he could repair to the Council By this means it came to pass that the Spirit was not carried on the Waters as in Genesis but along besides the Waters c. Nothing is more talk'd of than the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and this I know to be a most tempting Bait to get Proselytes especially amidst those Many Dissentions in the Christian World at this Day But because this Pretext hath been utterly destroyed by the Lord Falkland Mr. Chillingworth and other most Learned Pens I will only Recommend this Single Consideration to All Judicious Roman Catholicks who would not be chouced out of their Wits Estates and Liberties by a Gang of Ecclesiastical Mountebanks viz. That this Huge Swelling Prerogative of Infallibility is so Sensless a Thing so Ungrounded that no Romanist according to his own Principles can have so much as a probable Moral Assurance of that wherein he thinks himself Infallible And unless every one in particular be Infallible it is to little purpose to boast of an Infallible Judge For a Man may as well mistake the Meaning of his Sentence as the Sentence of one who proceeds only upon prudent Moral Assurance and we see that thousands do erre in the Interpretation of those acknowledged Infallible Oracles the Holy Scriptures The Consideration I recommend is this That after All the Stirr that is made about Infallibility the Learnedest amongst them knows not where to meet with it nor in what cases it is annexed to that Chair in what it forsakes it Some as the Jesuits generally will have it in the Pope but then whether with his Cardinals or by Himself is controverted very briskly Others will have it in a General Council and this Opinion is backt by no less Authority than the Councils of Basil and Constance But then the Church hath been very long without it and possibly may never injoy it by means of a General Council to the End of the World That wherein they fix it with most plausibility is both the Pope and a Council together But even here we are at a great many losses For as to the Pope no man can be assured of his being a true Pope considering the various defects that may render him otherwise as a fundamental Error in his Election Simoniacal Induction the female Sex Want of true Baptism and Holy Orders both which depend upon the Intention and Validity of those from whom he receives them and theirs upon the like Qualifications in their Predecessor c. Occult Heresie and Many others And then as to a Council which consists chiefly of Bishops tho the Popes for some ends best known to themselves have now pack'd in Cardinals Abbots Generals of Orders c. besides that the Validity of a Council depends upon the uncertainty of the Pope's being truly Qualified the very same Difficulties occur in every particular Member as did in respect of the Pope himself The like uncertainty appears in every Sacrament administred in that Church some whereof are absolutely necessary both Necessitate Medii Praecepti v. g. in Baptism Absolution Consecration of the Host which if it be not duly performed Idolatry is committed by the People in adoring it even by their own Concessions Azorius the Jesuit Enchirid. c. 8. openly proclaims That it is a more tolerable Error in them who worship Golden and Silver Statues as the Gentiles did their Gods nay a piece of red Cloth on the top of a Spear as the Laplanders are reported to do than in those who adore a piece of Bread And now I would fain know of a Lay-Roman-Catholick what is become of his Infallibility where it is and to what purpose it serves him No where is it to be found as I know of but in the bold Assertion of every pragmatical Confessor Who bids you be sure to look to your Faith who are the Solifidians now to believe as the Church believes and then all is safe for the breach of the Ten Commandments there are Merits and Indulgences enough in the Church which being mixt with a little Attrition and Confession will do the work Though in the mean while He himself can neither tell where this Infallible Church is nor what she certainly believes Methinks S. Paul spoke as much like a Prophet as an Apostle as if he foresaw the Haughtiness of the Members of that Church to which he wrote And therefore to curb them and banish from their Minds all such vain conceits of Infallibility he tells the Church of Rome she stood on no firmer grounds than her Neighbours His words are these worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance by All Roman-Catholicks Rom. 11. 18 19 Boast not against the Branches c. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and Thou standest by Faith Be not high-minded but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not Thee Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God on them which seli Severity but towards Thee Goodness if Thou continue in his Goodness otherwise Thou also shalt be cut off Which words need rather your Practice than my Paraphrase How much Safer and more Satisfactory is it to rely on the Holy Scriptures themselves which by all Sides are acknowledged Infallible For as much as they were divinely Inspired by that great Infallible Truth which neither can be deceived nor deceive his Creatures which can make you wise enough to Salvation and who hath promised to every humble Petitioner and devout Practiser a sufficient Competency of Knowledge in what is necessary for his present Condition and Eternal Happiness Now all this you will find abundantly provided for in the Doctrine and Constitutions of the Church of England Here is the Word of God faithfully Translated and exactly as far as the Idiomes of Languages will permit compared with the Originals and All those Books received of whose Authority there was never any doubt made in the Church Some others called Apocryphal are read indeed but as Ruffinus in Exposit. Symboli speaks non ad Fidem firmandam sed ad Mores Instruendos Not for confirming Faith but for direction of Manners And they are excluded from the Canon upon very weighty Reasons For that they were never committed as of Divine Authority to the Jews to whom the Oracles of God were intrusted Rom. 3. 2. Nor are they to be found in the Hebrew Canon They are never found cited by Christ or his Apostles and in some places they contain things manifestly false contradictory both to themselves the other Genuine Prophetical Writers You have here the three Creeds the Apostles that of the Nicene Council and that of S. Athanasius together with the four first General Councils which represent to us the Sincere
Saints and Angels is here looked upon as at least very Dangerous and not having any President in the Old or New Testament S. Paul hath imparted his mind to us in this matter Coloss. 2. 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen The Doctrines of Merit Indulgences Purgatory c. are presumptuous at best and full of Abuses contrived more for the Priests profit than the Penitents comfort All which considered together with the small grounds for the belief of them they are worthily disowned by the Church of England Nor was Bellarmin when out of the heat of School Disputes of a Different Judgment l. 5. de Justif. c. 7. Propter incertitudinem c. By reason of the Uncertainty of our own Justice and the Danger of Vain Glory Tutissimum est c. It is the safest course to repose all our Confidence in the alone Mercy and Benignity of God In short you will find that the Church of England in her Reformation which was most Regular and by the Supreme Authority of the Whole Nation retains all the Essentials of Christianity and onely Rectified such things as She found and the whole World complained were some Ridiculous some Impious Others Sensual and Cruel Such are the Innumerable Crossings Repetitions of Names Kissings of the Pax and Images Offering up of Incense and Candles Impertinent Pilgrimages c. and a Thousand the like absurdities Such as teach men to put their Confidence in Bless'd Beads and Medals Counterfeit Relicks Confraternities Sodalities to trust to Mundayes Prayers for the Dead and our Ladie 's Litanies and Ascribe to pieces of Wax called Agnus Dei's Divine power and Efficacy even as much as is due only to the Pretious Blood of the Son of God Nor is this the belief and practice onely of a few Old Wives but the Authentick Book of the Sacred Ceremonies of the Roman Church tells us how Urban V. sent three Agnus Dei's to the Greek Emperor with most Blasphemous Rythmes annexed concerning their Virtue Amongst others this is Verbatim set down Peccatum frangit ut Christi sanguis et angit that it Destroys Sin as the Blood of Christ doth And this was not the Practice of one Phantastical Pope alone but according to the foresaid Book l. 1. Every Pope in blessing these Agnus Dei's uses this Prayer That it would please thee O God to bless these things which we purpose to pour into this Vessel of Water prepared for thy Name so as by the Worship and Honour of them we thy Servants may have our heinous offences done away the blemishes of our Sins wiped off and thereby we may obtain pardon c. No Meaner a Person than the Angelical Doctor S. Thomas Aquinas attributes the same Virtue of taking away Venial Sins to Holy Water And likewise 3. qu. 25. a. 3. in c. most Orthodoxly defends That Stocks and Stones I mean Images are to be worshipped with Latria the same Honour that is due to the Creator Suarez and Vasquez teach the same To Conclude this Discourse In the Church of England You will meet with all that is Good and Warrantable in the Church of Rome what ever is Necessary to Salvation and that by the Confession of the Learnedest Romans Let Bellarmin speak for all l. 4. de Verbo Dei c. 11. The Apostles themselves never used to Preach openly to the people much less propounded as Articles of Faith other things than the Articles of the Apostles Creed the Ten Commandments and some few of the Sacraments because saies he These are simply Necessary and Profitable for All Men the Rest besides are Such as that a Man may be Saved without them This made Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalatto even at his Return to Rome to acknowledg the English Church to be a True Apostolical Church And Father Fulgentio the Venetian Companion to Father Paul the Famous Compiler of the History of the Council of Trent had a most High value and Tender Respect for this Church as having in it all the Requisites for Faith Manners and Discipline And that Incomparable Man Hugo Grotius had so Venerable an Affection for her above all other Reformed Churches that he told our Embassador in France That he Intended after his Return from Swedland whither he was designed Embassador from the States General to transport himself with his whole Family hither on purpose to dye in the Bosome of the English Church In such Repute is She even with Foreigners And to speak one word to the Roman Catholicks of England even in their own Language By their own Concessions the Church of England is safer to Communicate with than that of Rome For To Believe onely what is in the Scripture is as much as is necessary as Bellarmin Confesses To worship God without an Image is acknowledged by all both safe and acceptable To pray immediately to God and use the Lord's Prayer without Repeating so many Ave Maria's to perform the best works we can and not stand on the point of Merit c. and so of the other matters in Controversie is by both Sides granted secure Whereas the other Things in debate are strongly disputed by very Learned and Pious Men. Now what would a Man require more than what all acknowledge to be in the Church of England viz. Means effectually conducing and sufficient to Believe Well to Pray Well to Live Well and to Dye Well It remains onely that the Truly Devout and Loyal Persons in our Nation that are of the Roman Persuasion will but vouchsafe to take the Courage and Pains following Our Blessed Saviour's Advice John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures and S. Paul's 1 Thess. 5. 21. Prove all things 2 Cor. 13. 5. And examine your selves whether you be in the Faith A POST-SCRIPT To the Roman Catholicks of my Acquaintance Ever Honoured and still Respected Friends HAving thus fairly and ingènuously unbosomed to you the very thoughts of my Heart I beseech You not to take with the Left Hand what I offer with the Right Many of You I know to be Truly Vertuous Noble and Loyal to Many I have most Endearing Obligations and I think none can contradict me if I affirm That my Converse among You was repay'd with Love and Esteem and I take Heaven and Earth to witness that I still value you as tenderly as I do my own Soul God onely knowes how many Throes and Struglings I had to part with those whom I so Earnestly affected But Truth at least as it seems to me is Great and will prevail My Request to You All is That You would not let us break in point of Charity though our Opinions are not altogether Coincident That You would for the removing any scruples that may arise believe me as I shall answer at the Last Tribunal That I was not onely Sincere but Zealous while I remained among You and that whatever I performed was with the perfect Intention of and Compliance with the Roman Church and as Validly done as any Actions of that nature are capable of admitting Lastly I desire for God's Religion's and Your own sake that we may refrain from All Contumelious Reflexions on one another In that Long Converse and Great Familiarity I had with you it is impossible but Failings and Imperfections must be discovered on both sides Let All be concealed Under the Mantle of that Charity which hides a multitude of Sins still think of me as you ever found One that sought not Yours but You an honest plain down-right meaning Person And as for my present Proceedings Leave me to stand or fall to that Great Judge to whose and his Churche's Censure I with the most profound Obedience Submit whatever I Write or Do. And Once more I recommend to your most impartial and serious Consideration this Important Quaery Whether it be not Sufficient Ground to withdraw from the Communion of a Church when She is convinced publickly to Teach Practise and Command Treason and Rebellion to its Members Sicut Reputari cupiunt Haberi Fideles as the Lateran Council Thunders it out as they desire to be Accounted and Treated as Christians As to the Traiterous and Monstrous Plot now in Question What Mr. Oats and Mr. Bedlow with the rest of the Informers Evidences are I know not nor am I much Inquisitive His Sacred Majesty and his Great Council are Judges of that But of this I am as sure as I can be of any humane Transaction That the Roman Church Teaches and Commands such Practices That they have been frequently put in Execution abroad and especially at Home And that consequece to such Doctrines Mr. Colemâ—â— by his own Confession and Letters which he did not deny was very Busie in attempting to Dissolve the Parliament and in procuring Assistance from the French King by the interposition of Monsieur le Chese the Jesuit who was that King's Confessor to use his own words To Carry on the Mighty Work in their hands no less than the Conversion of Three Kingdoms and the Utter Subduing of a Pestilential Heresie which hath Domineer'd over a great part of this Northern World a long time and that there never was such hopes of success since the days of their Q. Mury as now in These days And I am sure that a most Worthy Justice of Peace was Barbarously Murder'd who took the Examinations upon that occasion and that many other Insolent Actions were committed by that Party Nor can it be any satisfaction to the Nation for well-minded Persons to say they Disclaim and Detest such Actions unless they Kenounce the Principles and Disown the Authority which have promoted and still are ready to prompt men to such Desperate Practices God Almighty grant Us All his Grace to Consider in This Our Day the Things that Belong to Our Peace before they be Hid from Our Eyes Amen FINIS