IMPRIMATUR Sept. 5. 1687. Jo. Battely AN ANSWER To a BOOK Entituled Reason and Authority OR THE MOTIVES OF A Late Protestant's Reconciliation TO THE Catholick Church TOGETHER With a brief Account of Augustine the Monk and Conversion of the English In a Letter to a Friend LONDON Printed by J. H. for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1687. AN ANSWER To a BOOK Entituled Reason Authority c. SIR I Have just now read over a late Book entituled Reason and Authority I read it with an excess of pleasure being surprized and amazed to find Reason so baffled and a monstrous Authority advanced against all reason Non-sense I perceive is in fashion and if I and You have as little sense and are as impertinent as others I may be a Writer and You a Reader I perceive by that Book P. 2 3. that a certain Man has left our Church without reason He was advised to take reason and make the best use of it in the choice of his Religion and the setling of his life and practice in order to salvation but he could find no reason to serve him P. 4 5. He narrowly escaped being an Atheist with reason and had almost denyed the Being of a God or at least his Providence with reason and something that looked like to a demonstration against the immortality of the Soul had so confounded him that he was up head and ears in the water all soused and plunged in the doubt and whether he is yet out of it we know not The Man goes on and considers the grounds of Religion the Jewish and the Christian and finds little reason to think that the five Books commonly ascribed to Moses P. 5. were ever written by him he finds so many mistakes and so many errours in the beginning of Genesis that he gives you to guess his meaning though he will not speak it to be that the Jewish Religion is little else than a forgery and that it has but small evidence of a Revelation from God Almighty Thus leaving the Jewish Religion the Man in all haste goes to the Christian P. 6. and considers the New Testament as the Book which all Christians in all Ages have owned to be the Records of the Christian Doctrine He does not say by whom they were written but at the reading of the first Chapter of St. Matthew he was hair'd out of his wits He met with such difficulties that his reason could not answer if he brought any with him to the reading of it for it is to be suspected that he used none because a little reason in such a case as this would at this time have lead him to have consulted his Authority For if he whom this Man calls God's Vicegerent and the great Elias that is supposed to solve all doubts can say no more to this difficulty than he himself could he might have kept his Reason still as bad as it was and have been content to be ignorant with Reason as well as under Authority But Dear Friend look about you now Thus far our Authour booted and spurr'd and whipping on has gone without reason just now reason comes in a most unlucky time I think for no other purpose but to fool the Man and set him to combate with an Adversary that will certainly be too strong for him for instead of fighting us he now attacks Christianity it self and does all the mischief he can to that Common Faith which he and we profess To this end he revives old Controversies and starts new ones and makes Schemes of Christian Doctrine and that to shew to the World that Christianity has as weak a Foundation as the Jewish Religion was declared before to have To this end I suppose he tells us the three next things 1. P. 7. That some of the Orthodox did not receive into the Canon of the Scripture some of the Books that are now in it P. 7. for near 200 years after the death of our Saviour 2. That every Christian is not able by reading of the Scripture to compose such a Creed as that of Athanasius 3. P. 7. That there are some obscure Doctrines hard to be understood amongst Christians and here he sets down the Trinity Consubstantiality Transubstantiation Predestination and Freewill every one of these are altogether impertinent to this Man's purpose they may be of some use to an Atheist and serve him that is resolv'd to give a secret wound to Christianity but they signify nothing to a Roman Catholick or to him that would plead for Authority to determine Controversies in Christianity in opposition to Reason For first All the Churches in the World are now agreed about the Books of the New Testament and when the Orthodox in ancient times concurr'd in the acceptance of the Books that are now in the Canon they came to this conclusion merely by the reason of the case without the least interposition of any Authority of Pope or Council the last Book doubted of was the Revelations and the reasons for receiving of that Euseb lib. 7. cap. 27. any man may reade in Eusebius lib. 7. cap. 27. as he sets them down in the words of Dionysius of Alexandria Now I cannot imagine to what purpose this Gentleman puts us in mind of this old Controversie if he has Authority for what he does it may be something for his own satisfaction I am sure he has no reason to offer in the case that can be allowed by any man else for the Church of Rome is as zealous to preserve every one of these Books in their esteem and reverence as Ours is I guess that possibly he may be tempted to shew his skill in Controversie and therefore he sets down with an appearance of accuracy that such Books were not received into the Canon by the Orthodox for near 200 years after the death of our Saviour But here the Man's skill fails him for it is certain that Irenaeus quotes the Revelations in several places Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 37. as a Book of like Authority with the rest of the New Testament and he himself tells us that he wrote in the time of Eleutherius and Bellarmine sets him down as a Writer in the Year 180. after our Saviour's birth and that will lessen the time mentioned of 200. after his death by fifty This mistake is not worth the noting if it did not give us to see how ready some men are to lay aside not onely Reason but the Sacred Records of the Christian Faith not considering the true consequences of their own Action since it is most certain that if a full Authority be not allowed to the Books of the New Testament there can be no pretence to any either in Pope or Council or in any thing that is called Church But our Authour goes on to a second thing and proceeds with more than ordinary caution and seems as wise as
Pope's Supremacy In charity I was bound to pity him and tell him something which he did not know and thereby if possible to move him to take more care if ever he writes again I pitied the World too to see it in danger to be abused by such impertinencies at this time of day Onely allow me the favour to acquaint you that Petrus de Marca speaking of those Sardican Canons lib. 7. Petrus de Marca de concord Imper. Sacerdot cap. 15. par 4 5. expresly asserts that they were unknown in Africa and other Provinces till Zosimus his days and withall he shews how the Africans at last came to submit to them and that was upon many and those not commendable reasons the first of which is this Cessere tandem ob pertinaciam sedis Apostolicae Pontificum qui nihil remittere voluerunt ex jure sibi legitimè quaesito in Concilio Generali Occidentis Sardicensi nimirum praesertim cùm possessioni eorum consensissent Africani Episcopi qui ad certum tempus morem gesserant defideriis Summorum Pontificum And the last is from the difficulties which the incursions of the Vandals brought upon them who being Arians made it necessary for the Churches of Africa at any rate to purchase the savour and assistence of the Romans incursio Vandalorum Ariani erant in Africa dominabantur Africanos necessitate adigebat ad arctissimam unionem cum Ecclesia Romanâ It seems then that the Popes after long contests prevailed not by the merits of their Cause but by their stiffness or pertinacious insisting upon demands right or wrong And by making advantages of the necessities of others when Vandals and those too Arian Hereticks had master'd them and lay hard upon them for then those Orthodox Christians were forced to yield up their rights to the Popes before they could obtain necessary reliefs from them Thus said that wise and learned Roman Catholick And he himself in the writing of this gives us cause to believe the truth of this remark for he then found in his own experience the same stiffness and pertinacity and therefore puts in words to please them quite contrary to the design of his Discourse For he shews plainly that they had no right and yet was forced to say they had ex jure legitimè quaesito He shews that the Sardican Fathers who made this Canon after the secessionof the others could not make up any shew of a general Council yet says that right was obtained in Concilio generali Sardicensi nimirum Now Sir if you can think that the Roman Bishops have proceeded in these methods I hope you will hereafter less puzzle your self and your Friends with your Queries concerning the prodigious Power of the Papacy how it could get up at first by such slender pretences and how it could hand with such weak props how men could be so bold as to challenge in behalf of the Roman Bishops so illustrious a Supremacy so unlimited Authority so glorious a Vicegerency as the Vicariatship of Christ himself must speak All these will be much easier to you when you have considered these two things first the mighty effects of a pertinacious stiffness in demands right or wrong and secondly what it is to take all advantages upon the necessities of others especially at such a time when those barbarous People Goths and Vandals and Huns and Saxons had overrun so many parts of the World 2. A second point of Controversie between the Church of Rome and the Church of England which according to our Authour was determined by ancient Councils is that about the Apocryphal Books P. 20. which he says were taken into the Canon of the Old Testament in the Third Council of Carthage signed by St. Augustine Baruch onely not named Canon 47. Now to this it is sufficient to say that the Subject is exhausted and there is nothing left for another Writer to add to it The Learned Dr. Cosens in his Discourse of the Canon of the Scripture parag 82. has said more than enough for the satisfaction of any learned Roman Catholick as well as Protestant and if our Authour would presume to reply it will cost him more pains than the writing of a dozen such Books as these But some small return may be expected He shall therefore have this That the Canon he quotes out of the Council of Carthage Canon 47. apud Binnum Canon 27. in Synodico Bevereg does not provide for the taking of Books into the Canon of Scripture but for throwing of Books out of the Church It says at first that no Books should be read in Churches but these and then it says in the close that they had received from the Fathers that these were there to be read Now our Authour knows that though we call these Books Apocryphal yet we reade them in our Churches and that as much and more than they do in the Church of Rome and that all of them except the two Books of the Maccabees Now as to these Dr. Cosin 's Scholast Hist p. 112 113. they are nt mentioned in any of the Greek Copies of this Canon nor yet in Cresconius his Collection of the African Canons and how they came to be inserted we must remit him to Dionysius Exiguus for his satisfaction But if our Authour had any material doubt concerning the Church of England's Doctrine about Canonical and Apocryphal Books he would have done well to have considered the sentiments of the Doctours of the Roman Church before he had concluded against us Now I believe that Cardinal Cajetan where he endeavours to reconcile the Council of Carthage with Saint Augustine would have given him reason enough never to have used this objection against the Church of England He says indeed against Protestants but not those of the English Communion in fine Commentariorum ad Hist V. N. T. Ne turberis Novitie si alicubi reperias libros istos inter Canonicos supputatos vel in sacris Conciliis vel in sacris Doctoribus libri isti non sunt Canonici ad confirmanda ea quae sunt fidei possunt tamen dici Canonici ad aedificationem fidelium ut pote in Canone Biblii ad hoc recepti autorati Cum hâc distinctione discernere poteris scripta Augustini scripta in provinciali Synodo Carthaginensi Now this agrees well enough with the Doctrine in the Articles and practice prescribed in the Rubrick of the Church of England And besides Can. Apostol 85. this distinction has its foundation in a very venerable Authority for the Apostolick Canons make a great deal of difference and that upon the same ground between some and other Books calling some of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerable and holy but then of the Book called the Wisedom of Solomon or the Son of Sirach and that most certainly is the best of the Apocrypha say it is to be learnt by the Young Men or the Catechumens for
the good rules and instructions that are in it and for this end it is read in the Church of England It is something more and to be hinted here Concil Laod. Can. 60. that the Laodicaean Council expresly requires that no Books be read in the Church but those that we accompt in strict sense Canonical Can. 60. And in the Canon 59. of that Council it is absolutely forbidden that any private Hymns or Psalms that is such as have been made by private Persons since the consignation of the Canon of Scripture should be used in Churches Now if our Authour knows his Breviary and allows any Authority to these Councils He may have more reason to object against the Church of Rome for having so many private Hymns in their Service than against the Church of England for having so few Books in that which is properly called the Canonical Scriptures This bye-consideration might have given some stop to a man that was not resolved to run too fast from his Church 3. But he mentions a third Doctrine determined in ancient Councils against us P. 20. and that is concerning the unbloudy Sacrifice now this is for want of matter to give words it is certain that the Church of England at the end of the Communion-service in the last Collect teaches us to pray to God that he would accept this our Sacrifice and our Authour knows that it never owned any Sacrifice but an unbloudy Sacrifice to be offered there I wish our Authour had told us whether the Sacrifice which the Church of Rome pretends to offer be bloudy or unbloudy They tell us ordinarily that there is bloud on the Patten and bloud in the Cup bloud with the Body concomitanter for the benefit of the Laity and bloud in the Cup to the satisfaction of the Priest I think both these are offered up according to their Doctrine as a Sacrifice propitiatory for the dead and the living They that believe Transubstantiation must believe that one part of the Sacrifice is really bloud and nothing else but bloud and they may be concern'd to call it a bloudy Sacrifice but not at all to call it unbloudy Pope Vrban the Fourth seems to have been of this mind when he instituted the great Feast of the Body of Christ commonly called Festum Corporis Christi For he did it upon this occasion that a certain Host being broken by the Priest either bled or shed drops of bloud they say miraculously but how or whether true or no we know not Now this I presume may be call'd a bloudy Host or Sacrifice Brietius Ann. 1264. in these words tells us the story Vrbanus quartus ex occasione miraculi de Eucharistia Briet Annal. in An. 1264. Hostiâ à Sacerdote fractâ reddente sanguinem Festum Corporis Christi instituit The institution of this Feast was to give honour to the Host and that not as unbloudy but as bloudy and it was to insinuate this Doctrine that all the other Hosts have bloud with them as well as this though the bloud does not always appear But as they say then it did and if so it came in seasonably to confirm the Doctrine of the Lateran Council about Transubstantiation and that which soon follow'd after it the communicating of the Laity in one Species So happy was the Church of Rome then to have a Miracle or the story of a Miracle to come in at the nick of time to patronage that which old Councils and old Fathers and sense and reason and all that is in man must have disclaim'd and oppos'd But now after all this our Authour is most unlucky to put us in mind of the true ancient Catholick Doctrine and to summon up old Councils in the defence of a word which we accept and use with submission and that most properly we believe the holy Eucharist to be a Sacrifice and that in plain and strict sense an unbloudy Sacrifice and so as the ancient Councils and Fathers did we call it And though the Doctours of the Church of Rome use the same word yet when they reflect upon the Doctrine of their own Church they must explain themselves by a much harder figure than we use when we interpret the words of our Saviour's Institution But yet our Authour will have the Councils against us and he tells us of a Council at Constantinople which he says was a thousand years agoe and that it seems used these words and so do we those old Councils are better Friends to the Protestant Doctrines than he is aware of for the Protestants studied them and learnt of them and took their rules and measures in the Reformation as near as they could after the holy Scriptures from them Then he cites the ninth Council of the Apostles now I wish he had told us whether this was a thousand or fifteen hundred or two thousand years agoe I thought at first he meant the 15th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles But our Authour has declar'd so much against the Scriptures that we can never hope to find his sense there it is possible he means the ninth of the Apostolick Canons And that is as little to his purpose as the ninth Council of the Apostles to be sure it speaks nothing against the interest of the Church of England and nothing to the advantage of the Church of Rome Thus it is and will be as often as men adventure to write Books without skill 4. P. 20. The fourth point our Authour gives us as determined in Councils is that of the veneration and worship of Saints Relicks as also of Martyrs and holy Images which he says was according to Apostolical Tradition established in the second Council of Nice with the general concurrences of ancient Fathers This Council indeed speaks to the point for which it is alledged but because our Authour is pleas'd to fortify it with concurrences I 'll give him account of some other Councils that as to time do almost concur with this they treat upon the same subject and determine as resolutely and when he has ballanced all the concurrences together perhaps he may find as little pleasure in this allegation as in all the rest The first Council that ever determined any thing about the worship of Images was at Constantinople Anno 754. * See the Acts of the second Nicene Council in Binnius p. 621. Col. Edit Ann. 1618. This called it self the seventh general Council and so it was esteemed for thirty years after This condemned the worship of Images and declared that it was abominable that Images were Idols and the Worshippers of them Idolaters and that all and every Image was to be thrown out of Christian Churches and they spake as high in this way as any have done since the Reformation †See Binnius his Collection as before and Balsamus and Zonaras on the 7th and 9th Canons of the second Nicene Council This appears by the Acts and Canons of the second
our Saviour and how he scoffed at his sacred Image and then how impudently he pierced it and then how that very bloud came from it the People could not but believe the story and believing that they could not but have a high opinion of their Images and a great readiness to receive the Doctrine and Practice of giving worship to them This Miracle happening in Irene's time or as Sigebert says a little before but yet after the Constantinopolitan Council that had condemned Image-worship came in as seasonably to the assistence of Images and Image-worshippers as heart could wish if it had been contrived with craft and sleight it could not have happened in a more convenient time This may be said to be good luck most certainly this Miracle or story of a Miracle did great service to the second Nicene Council it was a most powerfull mover to gain credit and authority for it 2. But secondly there was Art used to give credit to this Council and that much more than it had or could deserve and yet not more than it wanted For seeing that in the West the illustrious names of Charles the Great and Lewis the Pious were openly alledged and every-where known against it And the name of Irene after her Deposition would rather have blemished than honoured it And no Emperour for a good while after her could be named a friend or favourer of it therefore Justinian was fetched from his grave to ratify it Within less than a hundred years after this Council a notorious piece of forgery was contrived to cheat them that were not unwilling to be couzened Justinian's Novel wherein he confirmed the first four General Councils was sent abroad inlarged with the additions of three Councils more whereof this was the last and it was done for the sake of this But now though this was a very impudent cheat for Justinian was dead two hundred years before this Council yet Photius and Balsamon whether willingly or unwillingly who knows were catched with it See Dr. Beveredge's Notes upon the first Canon of the second Nicene Council where this trick is discovered and a broad intimation given that many more like unto it might be added Now such Arts as these with success attending them and so great as to deceive such men as Photius and Balsamon may easily be thought able enough to support the worst Cause in the World and we need not wonder to see the second Nicene Council in credit and authority since it had such mighty forces Miracles and Forgery to fight for it And both these unaccountably successfull the one in amazing the Vulgar and the other in blundering Men of the best skill All the effect which I know that such a Story as this can have upon an indifferent Person and such as hath not totally laid aside his Bible is to move him to reade twice or thrice that Passage of St. Paul 2 Thess 2.9 10. 3. A third advantage that the second Nicene Council has had is Face Now perhaps our Authour may at first be at a little puzzle to find this word here and willing to spell the meaning of it but he may soon ease himself of farther thought if he reflects but on himself and his own carriage in this Book towards the Reverend Fathers of our Church How he heads and beards them and talks saucily to them and seems to triumph in a conquest over them when he has neither Sense nor Reason nor Scripture nor Council for him It 's well he has Face for if he had not that all things else would sail him to that he must owe all the agreeable effects of this Book if perchance he finds any But yet it must be said that the same steps our Authour takes others have trodden before him For what Petrus de Marca says of the receiving of the Sardican Canons Tom. 2. lib. 7. cap. 15. parag 5. that it was done Ob pertinaciam sedis Apostolicae Pontificum qui nihil remittere voluerunt is likewise true in this case The Council was condemned and all the Acts of it nulled and cassated with full authority in two Councils so far as Image-worship was allowed and approved in it And then as to the matter of it the worship of Images no man has yet taught any considerable good or expediency that can come to Christians by it The Objections against it are pressing and strong a danger at least of a great Sin and that Sin suspected to be Idolatry and so alledged to be by the Councils at Constantinople and Paris All the seeming Answers made to those Objections were retorted and fully replyed to with briskness and smartness by Claudius Taurinensis in Ludovicus Pius his times And the rejoinder of Jonas Aurelianensis does not satisfy Bellarmine himself Vide Appendicem figur 1. And nothing has appeared since in the World but the same things over and over again or a hasty rallying up of the broken and shattered remains of those Ancient Controvertists This I think is enough to persuade an indifferent Byestander that Face or Confidence or Pertinacity has had a great influence in giving that Authority to the Second Nicene Council which is challenged for it at this day I beg pardon for this digression it may seem impertinent to some and not altogether so to others It may perhaps give occasion to the more Learned to examine more strictly the Authority that is commonly allowed with no very good reason to some other Councils I will onely add this one thing for the consideration of my Countrey-men that when the Decree of this Council was first brought into Britain it gave infinite displeasure and discontent to our Predecessours the old Britains The Learned Dr. Beveregii Annotat in Canones Concil Nicen secundi p. 163. Beveredge gives us this in his Notes upon this Council Quantâ offensione quantoque odio Ecclesia nostra Britannica Decretum praesentis Synodi de adorandis imaginibus tunc temporis excipiebat Historici nostri Rogerus Hovedenus Simeon Dunelmensis aliique ubertim tradiderunt 5. P. 20. The next thing that our Authour gives us as determined in Ancient Councils is that of Communion under one Kind which he says was determined to be sufficient by the Council of Constance Now here I will dispatch in short by telling this one thing to our Authour That in my opinion he might as well have told me of a Council of Jews met together to condemn our Saviour as of a Council of Christians that have presumed to alter and change the most sacred Institution of our Lord. The blessed Sacrament is most venerable as it came from him It receives its being nature virtue grace from his good-will and pleasure from his institution Without this institution it is nothing For there is no reason for Christians to communicate in the Lord's Supper to eat his Body and to drink his Bloud but onely this that it pleased the Lord to give that Rule and Order to them Had
and will give full satisfaction in that Point if he were but capable of receiving it And I presume I have given him more than he can answer in the Reflexions upon the Lateran Council I. The Authority and Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church P. 21. This he undertakes to consider how far it may bear and appear reasonable to an impartial Reader These words are not worth the notice but that they tempt out a little suspicion that they are here set for a reserve in case of opposition for if it be said as most truly it may that there is not one plain proof either of the supreme Authority or Infallibility of the Roman Church in all this Discourse Our Authour may reply that he never undertook to give it All that he engaged for was appearances P. 23. and that he has performed by using the words oft tumbling and tossing them as Hay-makers do their mown Grass one while Authority is uppermost and soon after Infallibility Authority must lead in Infallibility and Infallibility must vindicate Authority but where either of these is to be found the Man neither proves nor knows and plainly says that he is not concerned whether there be any such thing as Infallibility or no p. 24. he says Were there no Infallibility as I believe there is I would still submit my Reason and regulate my Conscience P. 24. according to the Decrees of the supreme lawfull Ecclesiastical Authority This is my belief pray blame me not All this is nothing else but appearances for neither is the Church of England nor the Church of Rome concerned in his belief or his fancy or his opinion for these may be wise or may be foolish may be well or may be ill grounded But yet it is admirable to see what great command he has over his Reason and his Conscience that he can make them turn which way he pleases and if he does but suppose a Supreme lawfull Authority to be in Ebion or Cerinthus Nailor or Muggleton or the Church of Rome He can be a Convert to any of them to day to this and to morrow to the quite contrary and that with as much reason and as good conscience to the one as to the other For which way soever he turns he may still say this is my belief pray blame me not His last Conversion was to the Church of Rome and he intimates that he changed upon this belief that there was a Supreme lawfull Ecclesiastical Authority to be found there but he has not the least reason to prove it though it must be confest that he has some appearances which I will impartially consider in their order 1. He gives us some Citations from Protestants Pag. 22 23. from Luther one and from Melancthon another whom he calls the Phoenix of Learning a fine word I wonder from whence he borrowed it another from Somaisius or Salmasius Another he would give from Grotius but what it is he has forgot he thinks it is somewhere in his Annotations upon the New Testament And then to make weight he throws in the Names of Jacob Cartwright Huss and Beza P. 23. And from hence he argues in these words These eminent Protestants were men of great learning and they had searcht and understood Scripture and History and if my judgment concurs with theirs in this point as I profess it doth then have I found that lawfull Supreme Authority Now these are dangerous words from the mouth of a new Convert it is well for him that he is not now in Spain for if he should make such a declaration there That his judgment concurs with the judgment of Luther Melancthon Huss and Beza in the Point of the Pope's Supremacy or the Supremacy of the Church of Rome he might perhaps be in danger of the Inquisition All the World knows the judgment of those men in this point and if he were before the Fathers of the Inquisition they would not be put off with a small Citation found they know not where and perhaps inserted by they know not whom He had done much better to have mistrusted his Copy than to depend upon such an Allegation Sure I am that if he made any use of those mens judgments or laid any great stress upon the words which he cites under their Names in his search or presumed discovery of a Supreme Authority of the Church of Rome he used both his Reason and his Conscience very hardly It is certain that Luther did speak variously of the Pope's Power sometimes higher and sometimes lower as appears to any one that reads either his Works or Cassander's Citations from him And as to Melancthon the Phoenix of Learning I am not concerned to search what he wrote to the Cardinal Belay And it may be I am civil in doing it He was a Wit that once charged it as an incivility upon his Acquaintance that he should take so much pains to prove him a Lyar. It is certain that Melancthon in his Loci Communes where he treats professedly upon this Subject declares fully and roundly against all this that is cited from him And therefore I presume that his judgment does not concur with Melancthon's for if it does he is no new Convert for he has found nothing that can call for a submission of Reason and Conscience nothing like to that Authority and Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church which a new Convert is bound to defend But because our Authour in desence of the Authority and Infallibility of the Roman Church has given such Citations from Protestants I 'll indeavour to requite him by one from a very good Roman Catholick and that is Cassander He in his Book de Officio pii hominis speaks to this purpose That there are some who because they see yet remaining amongst them not a few things that have descended down from Antiquity or the first Christians will keep up the present state of the Church just as it is though it be corrupt and foully stained by abuses that have crept in by little and little Nor will they suffer any thing to be alter'd though it may be done agreeable enough to the Decrees or Canons of the Ancients Pontificem verò Romanum quem Papam dicimus tant um non Deum faciunt ejusque Autoritatem non modò supra totam Ecclesiam sed supra ipsam Scripturam Divinam efferunt sententiam ejus Divinis Oraculis parem imo infallibilem fidei regulam constituunt hos non video cur minus Pseudocatholicos Papistas appellare possis The Roman Bishop whom we call Pope they make little less than God They set up his Authority not onely over the whole Church but over the holy Scripture it self and make his determination equal to the Divine Oracles and no less than an infallible rule of faith I see no cause but that you may give to these the name of false Catholicks and Papists Thus said that good man concerning the
by General Councils and so by the Catholick Church and they have been in peaceable possession of it for many hundred of years P. 16 17. and now they cannot be divested of it neither by themselves nor by others neither in whole nor in part All these things he sets down I suppose as his own opinations and sentiments and would have his Friends to judge him by them as Orthodox and a true Convert He is not concerned whether they be true or false for he knows or may know that every one of these pretences has been proved by Dr. Barrow to be gross falsities and that almost to the evidence of Demonstration and yet our Authour brings not the least proof for any one of them from any Old Authour Indeed he tells us that we have the Succession of Bishops of Rome delivered to us by St. Augustine and that is true P. 15. but he was unlucky to put us in mind of that passage and much more because he never read it himself for had he seen the 165. Epistle of St. Augustine where that Succession is mentioned and the very next to it he might have found in that great Father a full contradiction to all his thoughts concerning the Scriptures and concerning Authority and then perhaps he would have imployed his time to better purposes than in writing this Book St. Austine in that Epistle sets down the succession of the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter and that for no other purpose but to shew that none of all those Bishops was a Donatist Augustinus Epist 165. And that because a Donatist had set down the succession of their Bishops before not that he thought any one of them after St. Peter was a Sovereign Guide or had unerring authority in him for he himself presently adds to this that if any of them had been a Donatist or worse yet the Christian Doctrine would not have suffered the least by it In illum ordinem Episcoporum qui ducitur ab ipso Petro usque ad Anastasium qui nunc super eandem Cathedram sedet etiamsi quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepsisset nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae innocentibus Christianis This I suppose our Authour is not willing to think because he depends so much upon Authority and so little upon the Scriptures but St. Augustine did because he relyed upon the Scriptures to teach us that Doctrine which Jesus Christ and his Apostles had revealed to the World and therefore in the same Epistle he slights all his other Arguments and fixes intirely upon the Scriptures as those alone which could give us a full and solid evidence for the truth of a Christian Doctrine Augustinus Epist 165. these are his words Quanquam nos non tam de istis documentis praesumamus quà m de Scripturis sanctis and then he cites a Text. But in the next Epistle and that against the Donatists after some other velitations and general topicks whereof Councils was one as appears by those words Faciant mille concilia Episcopi he comes to the holy Scriptures and triumphs in his Arguments and doubts not to defeat his adversaries by the force of them He begins with words frequent in his writings Augustinus Epist 166. In Scripturis didicimus Christum in Scripturis didicimus Ecclesiam has Scripturas communiter habemus quare non in eis Christum Ecclesiam communiter retinemus Then he throws out near twenty Texts one after another comments in short upon them and never doubts but that he and his Adversaries did sufficiently understand them without the assistance of a Sovereign Guide or an unerring Authority if our Authour had considered this it might have done him good but because he is pleased to find the Succession of Roman Bishops in St. Augustine I will shew him what he seems not to know two very considerable uses which that great Father made of that topick the First was to conciliate a most profound veneration to the Holy Scriptures thus therefore he writes August contra Faust Manich lib. 11. cap. 5. contra Faustum Manichaeum lib. 11. cap. 5. Distincta est à posteriorum libris excellentia canonicae Authoritatis veteris novi Testamenti quae Apostolorum confirmata temporibus per successiones Episcoporum propagationes Ecclesiarum tanquam in sede quâdam sublimiter constituta est cui serviat omnis fidelis pius intellectus A Second use that he made of this consideration of the Succession of Bishops in their Sees was in case of a dispute about a Text to evidence what was the first and so the true Christian Doctrine To this end he very frequently in his disputes with the Donatists requires them to search what was taught in the Churches of Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philippi Thessalonica all the Churches that had the honour to receive Apostolical Epistles Now if all these having several Successions of Bishops should agree in any one point that was controverted St. Augustine took their consent to be a good Argument that such a Doctrine was original and true he sends them indeed to Rome too but upon no other accompt and no higher reason than he does to those other Apostolical Churches Now I think I may presume in kindness to our Authour to give him one advice and that is this to have a care when he refers to St. Augustine that he knows his mind and that St. Augustine did write what he cites him for for I can tell him that a certain person who was of his opinion concerning a Soveraign Guide and unerring Authority to be sound in the Church of Rome came at length to believe and that consequentially to his opinion that the decretal Epistles of the Popes were of the same Authority with and to be reckoned amongst the Canonical Scriptures and to confirm his opinion he cited St. Augustine for it and this his citation had got into Gratians Decretum but the last Roman-Correctours of Gratian found it to be either gross forgery or a gross mistake and they have done St. Augustine right and a favour to such Persons as our Authour is to let them know that St. Augustine is no great friend to such fond and absurd opinions You may see Gratiani Decreti prim part Distin 19. Cap. 6. But because it may be some trouble to consult that Authour I will give you the truth and the forgery together St. Augustine in his Book De Doctrina Christiana lib. 2. cap. 8. had given us these words In Canonicis Scripturis Ecclesiarum Catholicarum quam plurium authoritatem sequatur inter quas sane illae sunt quae Apostolicas sedes habere Epistolas accipere meruerunt c. Now this was plain and good advice in the examination of Books that might be alledged to be Canonical Scriptures to give a preference to the testimony of those Churches that were called Apostolical Seats and such as had the honour to receive Epistles from the Apostles as Rome Corinth
of his friend St. Augustine in a like case The Romans challenged to have a command from St. Peter for keeping the Saturday-Fast and those of the Eastern Churches quite contrarily asserted that they were expresly forbidden and that by St. John to fast upon that day A Presbyter of the Church of Rome writes to his friend and most earnestly exhorts him to do as they did and pleads thus Petrus Apostolorum caput coeli Janitor Ecclesiae fundamentum id ipsum Romanos edocuit Now St. Augustine being consulted in the case slights all that flaunting Plea of the Romans allows the allegation of the Easterns to be as good as those of the West and concludes thus that the Apostles St. Peter and St. John did not vary If they gave any rule it was the same every where And seeing there is a present difference it must be said that either the Eastern Church hath varied from the rule of St. John or else the Roman Church has varied from the rule of St. Peter Now which of these was the truth St. Augustine knew not He himself gives his sense in these words Epistola 86 Casulano Augustinus Ep. 86. Casulano After the Plea for Rome E contrario refertur occidentis potiùs aliqualoca in quibus Roma est non servasse quod Apostoli tradiderunt orientis verò terras unde coepit ipsum Evangelium ipsum praedicari in eo quod ab omnibus simul cum ipso Petro Apostolis traditum est ne Sabbato jejunetur sine aliqua varietate mansisse Upon this he concludes thus interminabilis est ista contentio generans lites non finiens quaestiones Had this great Father known any thing of a Soveraign Guide and unerring Authority seated at Rome he could never have doted so far as to have made this any matter of question But he knew nothing of that or of Peter commanding and John onely tolerating either in the one or the other case And I will presume for once that he knew a great deal more than our Authour does But the second skip our Authour takes is to Conversions and here he says he perceives P. 18. that according to the command and institution of our Saviour his Vicegerent did send out his Disciples Here I want our Authour's Spectacles for I can perceive nothing I see no Vicegerent of our Blessed Lord nor do I see any command that he ever gave to such a Person nor do I know whether he means the Disciples of the Vicegerent or the Disciples of our Lord. It is certain our Lord gave a command to the Apostles to teach all Nations and they and their Successours the Bishops have acted according to that command And if Gregory Bishop of Rome or any other have been industrious in that work we heartily thank and commend them But yet I wonder that our Authour has of a sudden grown so extremely blind as not to see that conversions may be made to what is bad as well as to what is good Pagans and Mahometans have been industrious to make converts So have all Hereticks his friends Ebion and Cerinthus Nailor and Muggleton Nay this if he had not despised and too long laid aside the Holy Scriptures he might have learn'd without the assistence of his unerring Authority from one saying of our Blessed Lord Math. 23.15 Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees c. After this gross piece of ignorance P. 19. which he is pleased to shew to advantage with flourishes of his pen comparing his reason with that of our Reverend Bishops he may excuse me from telling him how the great Privileges and Prerogatives of the Church of Rome could be forfeited untill he hath shown me in particular what they were that he insists upon For until he has proved that Rome did really enjoy such Prerogatives as he challenges on her behalf I will not undertake to shew when and how Rome forfeited that which Rome never had Our Authour may be a Sophister and how far he is beyond that himself best knows and so he may think no farther in this Paragraph than the old trite Cavil quod non perdidisti habes And his friends at Rome will con him but few thanks for that And now our Authour begins to whip our Bishops and wo be to them He tells them what he had been told that there were some late Doctrines introduced into the Church and such as were not imposed upon the faithfull before the Council of Trent This he says he could answer by alledging that the protesting against those Doctrines was in the same time But this he waves and chooseth rather to shew that the Doctrines we oppose were establisht by Councils before And here he begins with 1. The Pope's Supremacy P. 20. which he saith was confirmed in the Council of Chalcedon one of the first four general Councils owned by Protestants above 1200 years since 630 Fathers present Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu As for my part I wonder who either licensed or allowed this Book to be printed Will any man of skill think to advance a Plea for the Pope's Supremacy from the Council of Chalcedon It is certain that nothing was done there that might have any reference to this Point which was not disclaimed by the Legates of the Pope upon the place and afterwards highly resented by Leo the I. who was then Pope It is true that Anatolius then Patriarch of Constantinople carried on a design to advance his Seat and because he was Bishop of New Rome would have the next place after the Bishop of the Old and so would have the Pre-eminence of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch Du Pin de antiaua Eccl. Discip p. 53. In order to this in the absence of the Pope's Legates Anatolius and his friends got the 28 Canon of that Council to pass which gives to the Patriarch of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as a learned Roman Catholick comments eadem aequalia privilegia tribuunt Episcopo novae Romae ac veteris Romae Episcopo Now assoon as the Legates of the Pope had heard of this they declared against it and obtained another Session wherein they might produce their Plea against the validity of this Canon both as to the form and matter But their objections were answered and the Canon passed against their minds though Lucentius one of the Pope's Legates protested against it and desired that his Protestation might be entred into the Acts of the Council And when Leo the Great who was then Pope heard of this he declared against it and wrote against it with a great deal of vehemence and indignation as any one may see who will consult these Epistles of his the 56 57 58 63 66. And Leo could never be brought to confirm that very Canon which our Authour tells us did confirm his Supremacy Now in this case I will presume that Pope to be a better guide and to have more
he pleased he might have given us the Bread without the Cup or the Cup without the Bread and if he had pleased he might have omitted both But since he has given the same order for both Christians are under the same obligation and have the same right to both as to one and that all Christians as well Laity as Priests for there is but one order given and a Council may as well debar the Priests from the Cup as the Laity and they may as well null the whole Sacrament as halve it But since our Authour has mentioned the Council of Constance I will presume to recommend unto him a late ingenious and discreet Discourse published by a Person of quality of the Authority of Councils and Rule of Faith He may there find some remarks concerning this Council of Constance that may doe him more good than all the Councils that ever he read 6. The next thing our Authour mentions is Purgatory P. 21. and the Council of Florence establishing the truth of the Doctrine concerning it Now as to this enough has been written already I 'll be kind to our Authour and for his sake say nothing against it And that because I know not what profit or advantage to himself a New Convert may expect from it For it is the trade of Indulgences and Masses that keeps up the talk of it as it is a point of speculation Rome is no more concerned to defend it than we The Doctrine derives from Heathens especially the Poets and it may give fine entertain to Wits and idle Persons He that has nothing to doe may transcribe half a score Legends which may possibly make our Authour blush and be wiser than to alledge Councils in defence of Purgatory 7. P. 21. The last Point which our Authour gives us is the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which he says was confirmed in the great Council of Lateran in which near thirteen hundred Fathers assisted and in seven or eight other Councils before that of Trent and all the controverted Points particularly and by name declared by some of your selves to have been brought into England by Augustine the Monk above a thousand years since Here our Authour is unhappy in every thing he says First He calls the Lateran Council Great He means General for that is the name which must guide its Authority and make it considerable and so some have called it but with the meanest appearance of reason that ever was offered For the Saracens then gave too much business to the Eastern Bishops for them to leave their Houses and their Flocks to come to Rome to make Speeches in Councils there And then secondly He says there were near thirteen hundred Fathers assisting in this Council now if he had looked upon Binnius or Labbè he would have found not above four hundred Bishops there and they are the onely Persons that were ever reckoned for Fathers in a Council Thirdly To the end of this he tacks a Story of Augustine the Monk as if he thought or would perswade others that he brought into England the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Decree of the Lateran Council for it Now Transubstantiation name and thing can derive no higher than this Lateran Council and this Council was not in being for more than six hundred years after the Death of Augustine Bede tells us Lib. 2. cap. 5. that he was dead before the year 613. and this Council met not till the year 1215. Thus miserably unhappy is our Authour in his impertinent Sallies But he must hear more of Augustine hereafter At present our Authour's business is to gain credit and belief to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation from the Authority of the fourth Lateran Council under Innocent the Third Now to this I answer First That no Lateran Council can be presumed to have any considerable Authority in it especially not that which is challenged in the behalf of Great or General Councils which is a submission of Judgment and an intire resignation of Faith to the Decrees of it Secondly This particular fourth Lateran Council is liable to more Objections than all the rest and some of them such as are so sharp and pungent to the sense of an English-man that he can scarce hear them without disgust and hatred and therefore it may be presumed that whatever credit and authority that Council can give to Transubstantiation abroad yet it can give little or none to it in England I. No Lateran Council can be presumed to have any considerable Authority in it and that for these reasons 1. Because these Lateran Councils come too near to the indoctum seculum that is to an Age wherein good Learning was hushed asleep and Ignorance and Darkness had overspread the World This Romanists Bellarm. in Chronologia in An. 970. as well as Protestants complain of and tell us that neither Learned Man nor Writer was known to have lived in it Now before Learning was got up and dressed Ambition and Interest had done a great deal of business in the World and when it is known that they have been acting all Men usually are so suspicious as not to be over ready to give any great credit 2. Those Lateran Councils came too thick for we have five of them in less than one hundred years Since that under Paschal the Second generally omitted is certainly a Lateran Council as Baluzius in the Edition of Petrus de Marca has evidently shown Tom. 2. pag. 431. To these might be added at least three more and all alike Oecumenical for all the distinction that Labbè makes without any reason is but to salve the credit of the former Collectours 3. The matter of some of them was of no great concern this may be presumed because the best Copies of their Acts and Canons lay by the walls so long For they were not well understood till the curiosity and industry of Baluzius and some others lately brought them to light Petrus de Marca de concordia Sacerdotii imperii Tom. 2. p. 431 435 437. this appears by Baluzius in the Book of Petrus de Marca and by comparing of Binnius his Councils with those of Labbè 4. Most of them were convened for ill purposes to advance the Papal Power and to lessen the rights of Princes To this end convened or at least aimed the Councils under Paschal II. Callistus II. Alexander III. and that under Innocent III. But the last is our business where the Second thing is to be spoken to I say therefore II. This Lateran Council under Innocent III. is liable to so many objections that no man especially an Englishman can have any great regard for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon the Authority of it This will appear if we consider 1. That the 70 Acts or Canons of this Council were never heard of for full three hundred years after the Council and they were first brought to light by Cochlaeus Luther's Adversary who about 20 years
forward to give any extraordinary Authority to such a Lateran Council intirely governed by such a Man as Pope Innocent III. especially in such a Doctrine which it self durst scarcely speak out but imposeth upon you in it by giving you onely one Word and that a barbarous one in all the presumed Acts of it And that comes in as it were by surprize and most amazing without any deliberation or consultation but you have it there before you in the reading of it can be aware and perhaps too before the Fathers who were convened in that Council themselves could be These Considerations I think sufficient to persuade any man to think himself under no great obligation to believe Transubstantiation by virtue of the Authority of this Council and I presume it will least of all affect the Faith of an English-man I shall onely add one thing more concerning this Lateran Council which some perhaps may think worthy of a remark and that is this This Lateran Council was not onely famous for new Doctrine Addit ad Concil Later quartum Edit Labb but new Doctours For here we find not onely Transubstantiation but St. Dominick He was at this Council And he and that Doctrine were in one and the same condition there in a like obscurity something perhaps but not much taken notice of but he and that went on from thence to be most conspicuous and remarkable They for some time after gave the great noise and talk to the World whereever Transubstantiation came the Fathers of the Inquisition who were the Order of Dominicans soon followed after and those Persons that were not subdued under the power of that Doctrine were sufficiently awed by the Terrour of these Fathers For whereas the Senses of Men were obstinate and refractary against their espoused Doctrine those Men made use of one Sense to oppose all the rest for by Rods and Scourges and Burnings they so affected the Sense of feeling that this in a most compendious way stilled and silenced all the others Thus Transubstantiation grew great And he that would argue for it from the Authority of the Lateran Council does but trifle it is and must and can be no otherwise prevalent than by the Authority of these Dominican Fathers The Order of these was confirmed the year after this Lateran Council and that by Innocent III. Thus effectually did this Pope doe his business when he made a new Doctrine and a new Law he provided a new Order of Men and a new Office to promote it and it is no wonder if by so doing he brought a new face of Christianity into the World Briet Annales in An. 1216. This Monsieur Briet says in his Annals in his remark upon the Order of Dominicans and the Franciscans An. 1216. Aliam Christianitati faciem induxit And I easily believe him that the Christianity which began to appear and was most visible in the World soon after this Lateran Council was as different from the Primitive Christianity as St. Dominick was distant in time from St. Peter or as his Rules were different from those in St. Peter's Epistles Now I have done with our Authour's Allegations from Councils And here according to fashion I might be tempted to talk a little of victory and tell my Reader what I think I have done But here I am stopped for our Authour has possest himself of this Post He has given us in the next Paragraph p. 21. such a Jargon of words that are designed to speak a victory but most certainly shew an intolerable vanity that I cannot imitate him For after he had reflected upon his doughty performances How he had found the Pope's Supremacy in the Council of Chalcedon and the Books called Apocrypha put into a higher rank than we place them as he thought by the Council of Carthage And the unbloudy Sacrifice decreed by the ninth Council of the Apostles And the adoration of Images established in the second Council at Nice with the general concurrences of Ancient Fathers And Transubstantiation owned and confirmed by 1300 Fathers in the great Lateran Council and he might as well have said 13000 and all to like purpose whilst never a man amongst them spake one word either to prove or disprove or approve that or any other Doctrine in the Council as far as it appears And after that he had remarked that all these Doctrines and I presume he means the Lateran Council too were brought into England by Augustine the Monk which Council was not in being till more than six hundred years were past after the death of Augustine When I say our Authour had seen that he had done all this he smiled and cockt his Beaver and admired his Atchievements and then forthwith speaks his glories in these words which I will set down here in perpetuam rei memoriam that all such Conquerors as he is may never want words wherein to express their glories or their follies Thus he says Indeed P. 21. Fathers when I had diligently examin'd this truth and found it most evident beyond the possibility of any just or reasonable contradiction I was much scandaliz'd at the disingenuity of your Writers who whilst they accuse others of fallacy imposture and impudence dare advance so great and demonstrable a falshood in matter of fact that nothing but ignorance can excuse them so they expose themselves to the greatest censure of rashness and indiscretion as uncharitable and unjust to those whom they call their Enemies as also unsafe and abusing the credulity of their Friends I admired to see these words in this place and am yet puzzled to think what could just now inspire him with all this puffiness He knew that he had never read one of these Councils and that he had transcribed from others without skill or care and he could not but know that some of his Allegations are most trite and common and answer'd most sully and largely by numberless numbers Why then does he seem here thus to admire his Acts and put down such an extravagant rant I cannot but think that the spirit of his old Friends Nailor and Muggleton came in to his assistence at the Writing of this Perhaps it is a Flower borrowed from some of that sort of Persons to adorn and imbellish a Book It is here I am sure out of its place altogether groundless and senseless and gives us one Argument more of the mighty powers of Face and what great expectances there are from it I do much believe that our Authour may hope for more success from that one Paragraph than from all his Allegations out of Councils Our Authour in the next Paragraph tells us he designs to be brief and therefore laying aside other Controversies he will insist onely upon two and they are these I. P. 22. The Authority and Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church II. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation The First of these I shall consider and leave the Second to others who both have
Sticklers for Roman Authority and Infallibility and that in a time when he contended most earnestly to bring in peace and good temper amongst Christians and had endeavoured passionately to persuade men to lay aside ill Language and odious Names such as one Party threw at another all which he says were cast up out of Hell such as these Papists Antichristians Ministers of Satan and on the other side Hereticks Schismaticks Apostates Though he heartily wish'd these Names out of the World yet he could be content that two or three of them were always ready to be thrown in the teeth of such Persons as our Authour would seem to be This remark I give to shew our Authour that I do not set down the Sayings and Opinions of others without considering first what weight and stress is to be laid upon them For I must consess that it is to me a scandal and matter of offence to find this Set of Authorities which our Authour uses in the same order and in the same words in another late Book intitled Pax vobis this seems to speak that the Authours of both these transcribed and never considered what force was in their Citations Is this fair dealing with a Man 's own Conscience or with his Readers when he is weighing of Religions and offering motives of Reconciliation either to himself or to others to act thus supinely This is worse than to take a journey to Edinburgh upon the next Hackney and never consider whether he be a Jade or no. A journey to Heaven is long to be sure of greatest importance He that takes up a new Religion to carry him thither had need use eyes and ears and heart and head too St. Paul had reason when he advised us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling but all men will not doe this they are in too much haste They that take satisfaction without reason and in spite of reason change their Religion cannot act with that caution which the great Apostle requires If I am not much out in my guess which I must leave to the Reader 's judgment when he has compared this Set of Citations with those in Pax vobis Pag. 70 71. we have here one of the most wretched Pleas that ever was used by a Writer It is not more than this I have met with some sayings of Men whom I care not for when or where or to what end they were spoken I never considered nor yet whether upon second thoughts they did not retract them my judgment concurs with them therefore I have found that lawfull Supreme Authority I searched for and where this Authority is there is Infallibility That is the first Motive to persuade that the Roman Catholick Church has Supreme Authority over all and Infallibility in the exercise of it He should now proceed to a second But instead of that we have Pag. 24 25 26 27. a discourse upon a new Subject so far is our Authour from making these Doctrines to appear reasonable that for so long together he 'll e'en let them shift for themselves his present business is to talk and talk he will of Separation or how the Church of Rome can be said to have separated either from her self or from the Catholick Church either whole or part and where that whole or part remained from whence the Church of Rome separated and then again where she remained and where she may be found and here he is urgent and importunate and will have an answer and that from the Bishops themselves for he comes up closely to the beards of them and tells them In good faith Fathers my Salvation is highly concern'd in this question and I must be satisfied He prevents them from giving such and such answers and swaggers it bravely out in these words I 'll sooner suffer my self to be knockt down with a true Protestant Flayl than with such a Protestant Answer and at last he adds from this reasonable and important request you shall never beat me whilst I live The Man grows warm and it is well for some that they are out of his way who knows what he may doe The occasion of all this noise and clamour he gives us in the 24th Page in these words You had often told me that She the Church of Rome had fallen from her primitive purity and separated her self from the one holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Answer to Protestant Queries p. 10. declared also to be Antichristian and the true Church latent and invisible by that famous Napper to King James Brocard Fulk Sebast Francus Hospinian and many others Now what is all this to the Bishops of the Church of England must they answer for every thing that has been said by Fulk and Brocard and Napper or as you call him that famous Napper I pray how famous is he has any of the Bishops of England cited him these forty years does any of this Church reade him or depend upon him if your studies have been upon such Authours the Church of Rome have no great prize of you and these Motives as bad as they are were good enough to make you a Convert But yet there remains one Expression cited out of a little Book which it may be few of the Bishops of England ever saw but yet they must give an accompt of it and all the consequences he can gather from it for he says p. 26. his Salvation is highly concerned in it And it is a reasonable and important request And must the Bishops of England be accomptable for every little writing which they know nothing of would the Bishops of Rome think it fair that all the impertinences of our Authour should be charged upon them certainly no. But he argues that if the Church of Rome was once a pure and uncorrupted Church she remains so still for she can neither separate from her self nor from the Catholick Church Now if this Argument be good he himself is bound to answer for all the consequences that can come from a presumed separation either from it self or from the Catholick Church for we have oft proved and are always ready to prove that the Church of Rome is not the same as to purity and incorruption which it was It is changed it is altered multitudes of Innovations have overspread it and great numbers of Errours by little and little as Cassander says have crept in and prevailed over it But yet for all that we own and assert that there is a Church of Rome as well as a Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch and that though this as well as they have erred not onely in their living and manner of Ceremonies but also in matters of Faith So speaks the Church of England in her 19th Article And if she be a Church she must be a Member of the Catholick Church for every part must be contained in the whole None of us doubt but that the Church of Rome receives all the Canonical Scriptures that we