may justly be supposed to have kept the publick Notaries from asserting things notoriously false In these Registers I say it will be found what succession our first Protestant Bishops had how Arch-Bishop Parker the first Arch-Bishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizbeth to go no higher was consecrated December 17. 1559 by four persons then actually Bishops and who had formerly been Ordained by Bishops of the Church of ROME Viz. William Barlow in Henry the 8th dayes Bishop of St. Davids under Edward the 6th Bishop of Bath and Wells under Queen Mary driven into Exile and returned under Queen Elizabeth John Scory formerly Bishop of Chichester Miles Coverdale formerly Bishop of Exeter and John Hodgkins Bishop Suffragan of Bedford not to mention that the Queens Letters Patents in case any of the other should be sick or forced to be absent were directed to three Bishops more that had formerly been Popish Bishops and were turned Protestants Viz. Anthony Bishop of Laudaff John Bishop Suffâ—agan of Thedford and John Bale Bishop of Oâ—â—ery But all this hath bâ—en sâ—â—learly demonstrated out of 〈◊〉 â—ublick Records first by Mr. Mason and â—nce by Arâ—â—-Bishop Brambal that hâ— that writes of it can onely transcribe out of them and those that deny these Records must be men of strange Foreheads and of the greatest disingenuity From these men that had their Priesthood from the Church of Rome our Priesthood is lineally derived so that if our Priesthood be not valid theirs cannot be and if Heresie doth not make the Episcopal office void nor disable a man from conferring Episcopal order on other men as is evident from the second Councel of Nice with your Church an Oecumenical Counsel which received Bishop Anatolius tho consecrated by Dioscorus a Heretical Bishop if i say Heresie doth not make the Episcopal order void then suppose We were Hereticks our Priesthood which is derived from Popish Bishop that turned Protestants must be a true Priesthood still and to thiâ— purpose I remember one oâ— your Church said lately once a Priest for ever a Priest Madam if your desire to know the truth be honest and sincere you should Act like a person that hath a mind to be satisfied and search the Publick Records and tilâ— then believe not every Talâ— that 's told you the Common Plea of your Priests that ouâ— Records are sophisticated and that we have put in what we please argues only boldness and ignorance when they can shew neither where nor when nor by whom they they were corrupted Those that talk so seem neither to understand what a publick solemne thing the Consecration of a Bishop is in England nor to reflect how difficult it is to fill a publick Register with falsities as to matters of fact when there are so many hundered men that know what is done at such a time and View the Records and would most certainly speak of it if they found a flaw in the Relation But if we should deal thus with the Church of ROME question all their Registers in the Vatican and say which we might do with far greater reason thaâ— they are things packed and invented by men that have a mind to keep up a faction â— know what Language we should meet withal But will you boast say you oâ— having derived your orders from the Chuch of ROME when you believe the Church of ROME to be an Idolatrous Chuch Madam It is not the Office of a Bishop in youâ— Church we find fault withal but the abuses of it A Church that 's guilty of very great corruption both in Doctrine and manners may have something that 's good and allowable and he that retains that is not therefore guilty of her corruption nor espouses her Errours Your Idolatry is one thing and your Orders are another The Jews did take many good things from the Heathens and the Christians many commendable things from the Jewes but that neither made the Jewes approve of the Heathenish Worship nor the Christians allow of the Jewish Errours We are not so disingenious as to make the breach between you and Us wider then needs So far as you go with Scripture and true Antiquity we hold with you where you contradict both We cannot with a safe Conscience bear you Company He that sees a Pearl lye among a great deal of Trash if he take the Pearl is not therefore obliged to take the Rubbish too and if we have derived our Orders from you that inferrs no necessity that we must therefore consent to your Notorious depravations of the ancient simplicity of the Gospel The Christians heretofore that approved of the Baptism of the Donatists did not therefore presently acknowledge the truth of their opinions and he that should take a good custome from the Turks cannot be therefore said to approve of all things that are in the Alcoran Madam there is nothing more easie than to cavil at the most prudent Action in the World especially where People take a slight survey of things and do not with seriousness and deliberation weigh the circumstances of the fact and do not examine the inside as well as the outside and I must confess upon the best examination of your actions and proceedings in this Revolt to the Church of ROME you never took the Right way to be satisfied for instead of pondering the Arguments and Motives of Our departure from the Church of ROME and of the reasons we alledge for our Church and Doctrine you made it your chief imployment to read their Books and believed what they said to be Oracles for no other reason but because they talked with greater arrogance and confidence If you say that you could not judge of Arguments having never been bred a Schollar I would but ask you how you durst change your Religion then Did you change it without reason and without ground and if you are not able to Weigh the strength of Arguments how can you be sure that you are in the true Church at this time It is not talk but Arguments that must demonstrate the truth of a Religion and if you have not sufficiently weighed the Arguments of both sides It is a thousand to one you may still be in the wrong way and you know not but you may be as much out now as you were formerly Mâ—dam so great a thing as the change of your Religion upon which no less then Eternity depends might justly have challenged some years study before you had resolved upon it To do a thing of this nature upon so slight a Survey Consider whether it doth not argue rashness and weakness rather than Piety and Devotion To leave a Religion you have been bred and born in a Religion founded upon the Word of GOD and which you had Liberty to Examine by the Scripture upon reading a Popish Book or two without diving to the Bottom of the several controversies without reflecting on the importance of the points in question without studying a considerable time which Religion
comes nearest to Scripture and which goes farthest off is such an Argument of impatience that you only seem to have yeilded to a dangerous temptation of the Devil If the Controversies between the Church of ROME and us are so intricate as you say and above your capacity to dive into them you have then run over to that Church in the dark and have as little reason to be satisfied with your proceedings as you believe you have with our way of Worship You plead that you have been sitting up whole nights and weeping and praying that God would discover to you which is the true way to Salvation and from that time forward you found inclinations to go over to that Church and is this a sufficient argument to justifie your forwardness when you had already begun to doubt whither our Church were a true Church or no because you found not that satisfaction in it your sickly desires wanted it was then an easie matter to give ear to confident People that magisterially and peremptorily assured you that you would find satifaction in their church and being fed with this hope your inclinations to that church grew stronger every day as Our Mother Eve the hopes of being like GOD suggested to her by the Serpent did egg and spur her on to eat of the fatal Tree We do not forbid people to pray to GOD to lead or direct them into the right way though sometimes it may be a perfect tempting of GOD when People are in the right way to desire GOD to discover to to them by a Sign of their own choice whether they are in it or no. But then if we pray to GOD to direct us we must not neglect the means GOD hath appointed in order to our satisfaction but must compare Scripture with Scripture and Books with Books and Arguments with Arguments and search which Religion agrees most with the Doctrines and Practices of Christ and his Apostles and as the noble Berrheans did examine all the Doctrines obtruded to our beleif by the Scripture and doing thus and continuing this search and these prayers together no doubt but GOD in his own good time will answer us and Direct us But to pray to GOD to direct Us and not to use the means in the use of which he hath promised to direct Us We do in a manner mock him or desire him to work a Miracle for Us or to vouchsafe Us some extroardinary Revelation when we have Moses and the Prophets and may hear them And I am confident had you joyned this way with your Prayer examined the Doctrines of the Church of ROME and compared them with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ seen whether there be any thing like it in the Bible and seâ—â—ched whether Christ and his Apostles ever taught such Doctrines and done all this not slightly but seriously and solidly It s impossible you could ever have turned Papist for if our Gospel be true that Religion can never be true for there is nothing in the World can run more counter to the Gospel than the Doctrines of that Church wherein we differ from them and they had need put the Bible among proâ—â—bited Books for should the people have Liberty freely to peruse it the Church of ROME would grow very thin and despicable I am sensible your Priests find fault with our Translation of the Bible and Cry out that there are great defects in it but when they talk so they had need talk to Women not to men of Learning and that understand Greek and Hebrew the Languages in which the Word was Originally written The Honesty of our Translators appears sufficiently from hence because if any sentence in the Bible be capable of a double sense they express the one in the Text and the other in the Margin and where they do but in the least vary from the Original they either discover it by the Italick Character or give you notice of it in the Margin then which there can be nothing more honest And let any Papist of you all shew Us wherein any thing in our Bibles is ill Translated out of malice or design or expressed in words which the Original will not bear If We examine Translations by the Original then sure I am there is few translations go further from it than the Vulgar Latine or the Rhemist Testament as were an easie matter to prove if I intended more than a Letter You are much taken with their Mortifications and Pennances which you say we have not in our Church But it 's a signe Madam you did not rightly understand our Religion We are so far from condemning Mortification and severity of life that we do commend it provided it be in order to subdue the body of Sin and to raise our selves to a greater pitch of Vertue Provided these severities be sepaâ—ated from all opinion of merit and from an opinion of their being satisfactory and expiatory and used only as helps to work in us a perfect detestation of Sin And I will assure you there are more in the Church of England that use severities in this humble holy way than you are aware of We indeed do not ordinarily inflict them on all persons because we know not their constitution nor what their nâ—ture will bear nor have we any command for it in the word of GOD but these things we leave to every mans discretion Urging that where Sins require stronger remedies there men ought to make use of them and if their corruptions will not be gone by reasonings and Arguments that there they must inflict mulcts and penalties on themselves to drive the Unclean Spirit out Though I must say still that Religious severities and austerities are not certain signs of a true Religion for Heathens do use them as much as Christians nay more than Christians Witness the Brahmanes in the Indies and the religious Pagans dispersed through all the Eastern parts and if you conclude that therefore the Church of ROME must be in the right because they inflict great pennances and severities and make daily use of them I am afraid you only forbear turning Turk or Heathen because you never saw their far greater severities in Religion than the Church of ROME can boast of But still the Protestant Church hath not the real Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Sacrament which the Church of ROME hath And are you sure the Church of ROME hath it I am perswaded you did never tast it nor see it nor feel it nor Smell it and how do you know it what because the Priests of that Church do tell you so No say you It is because Christ saith in express termes this is my Body And here I confess I stand amazed that men with learning and reason about them can sink into an opinion so contradictory that if all the consequences of it be considered there is nothing in nature can be more absurd or irrational and the Church of ROME had need oblige
the World and whose design was to advance our Rational Souls by Contemplation and Meditation O Madam you are too Young to know the Tricks of that Church you live in they are more politick Heads than yours is that had the contriving of it Bold Men that had Learnt not to Blush at a Lye and then thought it their interest to Hector the World into a belief of it We that can Read Books as well as they and know the History of the Church as well as they can see through all these devices which they perceiving are angry with Us for discovering the Cheat. What was it Madam that you wanted in our Church to carry you to Heaven Did you want that which the Apostles and the Primitive Christians never wanted I mean did you want more Articles of Faith than they subscribed and believed If you wanted that we Confess we could not supply you for we dare say nothing and believe nothing with Divine Faith but what Moses and the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles have taught us If the Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation then we teach all that If the Church of ROME knows more Articles than Christ or his Apostles knew of we will admire her insolence but cannot satisfie her unreasonable desire Did you want strictness of Life in our Church If all the Commands of the Gospel can make you Holy We teach them all and press them upon the People and I presume you do not aim to be Holier than Christ and his Apostles would have you to be Hath the Church of ROME another Gospel to teach you than we did instruct you in if they have much good it may do them We are not fond of the Apostle's Curse should an Angel from Heaven bring another Gospel to you let him be accursed I know your common Plea that We Protestants cannot rightly interpret the Scripture because We pretend to no infalliblity And do you blame Us for not being so impudent as the Church of ROME There is no Protestant but would be glad there were an infallible Interpreter of Scripture instituted by God and recommended to Mankind But where shall we find him Who is it that God hath imparted this Honour to If you say the Fathers you know not what you say for the Fathers differ many times as much in interpretation of the Scripture and are as contrary to one another as any Men. If you say the Church that 's a hard Word if you mean Christs Universal Church dispersed all the World over you must tell us where it is that this Church hath left an infallible Comment upon the Bible and how it is possible for a man that will be resolved in a point to go to all Christian People in the World If you say the Church of ROME you must first shew Us her commission for this infallible interpretation Secondly you must prove She hath infallibly interpreted the Scriptures and that those interpretations are infallible in all places Thirdly you must agree among your selves what part of your Church is infallible whether the Pope or an Universal Councel or all Christian People or whether all these together To say that this Infallibility lies in the Church though you know not where is to say a Needle lies in a Bottle of Hay and he hath good luck that finds it Nay I think the Church of ROME hath been so modest that notwithstanding all her pretences to infallibility She never hath dared to obtrude a comment on the Bible as infallible nor did I ever see any Interpretation of the Bible made either by Pope or councel which hath pretended tâ— Infallibility If that Churcâ— be infallible why do not theiâ— own Divines agree in Interpretation of Scripture iâ— there be an infallible Sense oâ— the Scriptures in that Church then the Members of thaâ— Church are mad not to keep tâ— that infallible Sense especially if they know where tâ— fetch it and they offer greaâ— injuries and affronts to theiâ— Church in differing so mucâ— about interpretation of Scripture when their Churâ—â— can give them an Infallibâ—â— sense of it For that Churcâ— having as they pretend thâ— Holy Ghost to guide them in all things I suppose that Spirit assists her in Interpretation of one place of Scripture as well as in another if they say it doth infallibly assist them in some places and not in all they destroy their own Principle and how shall a man be sure that just in those Points that are in dispute between Us and them they are Infallible Is the Spirit divided Or is he not alwaies the same Or doth not he exert his power upon all occasions Madam who so blind as those that will not see Who sees not that the pretence of Infallibillity is nothing but a juggle a device to maintain a triple Crown and an Engine to carry on a temporal Authority God indeed hath promised that his Church dispersed through the World shall last to the World's end and that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against heâ— but that promise differs very much from a promise of Infallibility and suppose it did infer an Infallibility how comes the particular Church of ROME to ingross it to her self that is at the best but a Member and a very unsound one of Christ's Universal Church It is one thing to be secured against being destroyed and another to be free from all possibility of Errour There is no doubt but a sober rational man that prays earnestly for illumination and reads the Scripture much and considers the Circumstances the Holy Writers were in when they writ and the Occasions of their writing and hath the advantage of Learning of Languages and History may give a very true Interpretation of Scriptures such an Interpretation as no man can rationally contradict though he hath not recourse to a Visible inâ—allible guide and though himself be not infallible Things may be very certain though they are not infallibly so and he that can make things out so that a prudent man cannot but give consent to them and hath no just cause to doubt of their truth may justly challenge beleif from other men But I will not insist upon this point because I never heard you speak much of it I will come a little closer to those reasons that moved you to goe over to the Roman Church whereof the principal was this that you were troubled in mind upon the account of your Sins and could get no satisfaction in Our Church though you sought it like Esau with teares whereas you did no sooner confess to a Roman Priest and receive absolution but you presently found unspeakable comfort And are you sure Madam that the peace and satisfaction you found in that Church was not delusion you tremble at that word But le ts consider the Nature of your peace When you were in our Church either you did truly repent of all your Sins or you did not If you did not most certainly you could
peace sake lay aside such Doctrines which neither themselves nor any creature understands If Heaven and Hell are sufficient motives to a Holy life why will not they for quietness sake renounce their Doctrine of purgatory which by their own confession hath no ground in Scripture Madam I have that charitable opinion of you that if you had but taken a view of the Worship of the Church of ROME as it is practic'd beyond Sea in places where there is no fear of contradiction from any Hereticks where they may freely and securely act according to their principles had you seen the mode of Worshipping the Virgin Mary at ROME or in Spain or Italy the sight of it would have certainly discourag'd you from embracing that Religion which now you seem to be mainly delighted with for indeed the Religion of the Church of ROME at this time if a man were to guess from that which hath the greatest outward Veneration is little else then a Worship of the Virgin Mary The very beggers beyond-Sea in begging of alms beg more for the Virgin Marie's sake then for Christ's sake This Madam I know to be true who am no stranger to forreign parts and I will assure you that in those Cities or Towns where both Papists and Protestants have the free exercise of their Religion you shall live Twenty years in a Town before you hear that any Protestant is turned Papist so few charms are there in the Exercise of their Religion beyond Sea but you shall not be above a year or two in such a Town before you hear that several Papists are turn'd Protestants such a force hath truth The Religion of the Church of ROME as it is practis'd in England lookes harmless Now and then upon some great festival they shew you a Picture of the Virgin Mary or of some other Saint and the honest Priest qualifies every Doctrine makes the Errours soft and plausible and they dare not living in a Protestant Country serve the Host of Heaven I mean Saints and Angels with all their appertenances as they do in places where there are no Protestants to watch them Here their Religion seems to be without a sting and is clad in the fleece of Sheep but if you could but make a Voyage into Spain or Italy I doubt not but you would see the Venome of it and avoid it and the only way not to be of the Church of ROME would be to go to ROME provided you do not gâ— wâ—thout your â—ible In good truth that Church hath turn'd Christianity into a meer outward pomp and splendor which ravishes the eye but can never content a mans reason The glistering Gold in their Temples the curious Images of Saints and Angels the numerous and Stately Altars the mighty Silver Statues the rich and glorious vestments you see up and down in their Churches strike the senses into a kind of ectasie and it must be sense only for a considerate mind that searches the inside of things as well as the outside cannot be so easily gull'd and deceiv'd and this outward pomp they make not the least sign of the truth of their Church not remembring that if this be a good signe the Idolatrous people in Japan and China whose Temples are infinitely more shining and glorious will have a better Title to the true Church than they I must confess that in policy and worldly craft and cunning the Church of ROME exceeds ours for they have not only turn'd the Spiritual Worship of the Gospel into a sensual service into outward Religious formalities a thing strangely pleasing to flesh and blood but they have shooes that will fit all sorts of feet great and small and have remedies for all distempers and you may go to Heaven in that Church either through the straight way or through the broad which you please they can fit the Melancholly person and the Jovial they have Monasteries and Nunneries and severities to content the one and know how to allow greater liberty to the other they can either send a man to happiness through a tedious task of mortification if he likes that method best or help him thither by a quicker dispatch by confession attrition and absolution upon a death bed when the man can hold Sin and the world no longer Live or die you cannot do amiss in that Church for living you may be forgiven and after Death you may be pray'd out of Purgatory sooner or later according as you will spend mony upon Masses for gold doth strangely quicken these supplications Such a Church Madam you have espoused and divorced your self from one that prefers the Wisdom of GOD and of the Gospel before the Wisdom of the flesh and glories in dealing plainly and honestly with all men that keeps close to the Scriptures and yet is not against those Pious customes of antiquity which are not contradictory to the Scriptures that generously maintains the prerogative of GOD and gives no other Honour to Saints and Angels but what may consist with the glory of her Creator that hath made no new Articles of Faith but keeps to the old and thinks it Rebellion against GOD to enjoyn things as necessary to Salvation which GOD never made so that urges the strictest life and encourages nothing but what may promote true piety and devotion that hath no more Ceremonies but what are decent and labours to free Religion at once from slovenliness and superstition that secures the Right of Soveraign Princes and Teaches her Children to live like good subjects and good Christians and though it be her misfortune that too many of her pretended members live like Enemies of Christianity yet that 's not long of her Doctrines and Constitutions but long of the stubborness of men who will not be reform'd by her Precepts As no man blames Christ or his Apostles because Judas was a Hypocrite or because Simon Magus profess'd their Religion so they betray great Ignorance and simplicity that for the Monstrous impieties of many that profess themselves members of our Assemblies despise and slight our Church which in her principles is most averse from all such practices a Church which as for mine own particular I have deliberately and premeditately embraced and chosen so I hope I shall never be so much forsaken of GOD or of my reason as to quit it to become a Papist I have not been altogether a careless observer of the several Christian Churches dispers'd through the world Desire of mine own Salvation hath made me take particular notice what corruption there is in them and what affinity they have with the Primitive Professors of Christianity And I must freely confess upon a serious Examination of the Scripture and the Fathers of the three first Centuries after Christ that from my heart I think there is no Church this day in all the Christian world be it Eastern or Western that in her principles and constitutions bears so much of the Image of the truly Primitive Church or comes so near it as the Church of England a Church which as your fore-Fathers had courage to burn for so I verily beleive that he understands not her Innocent designes and excellent rules that dares not dy a Martyr in her cause Once more your Faithful Friend to serve You. N. N. FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by James Collins at his shop in the Temple passage in Essex street without Temple-bar THe Art of War by the most Honorable George Late Duke of Albemarle Fol. Seven Sermons Preached at White Hall by Seth Lord Bishop of Sarum His Sermon at the Funeral of George Duke of Albemarle His Sermon Entituled Jorams case before the Peers the 30 of January Quarto An Exact table to Sir John Davis Reports fol. The Voice of the light unto the people called Quakers in relation to Tithes 8 o. A Discourse of Truth by the Late Reverend Dr. Rust Bishop of Dromore in Ireland together with a discourse of the way to Happiness by Jos. Glanvil Chaplain in ordinary to the King Twelves A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Dorothy St. John by Anthony Horneck Preacher at the Savoy A private Conference twixt a poor country Vicar and a rich Alderman by Dr. Pettis Pia Philosophia or the Religious Tendency of Experimental Philosophy by Joseph Glanvil Dr. Parkers answer to Mr. Andrew Marvels book called the Rehearsel Transpros'd Bishop Bramhals confutation of Mr. Baxters Grotian Religion with Dr. Parkers preface annexed 80. Bishop Sandersons seven Cases of Conscience in Oct. Dr. Fords Blessedness of being bountifull 8 The Capucin Fryer exactly described in all his wayes and practices 80. ADVERTISEMENT There is A Library in the hands of the said James Collins to be Sold consisting cheifly of History Philosophy and Politicks c. in divers Languages and a Set of Magick formerly the books of the famous Riolanus in divers Languages FINIS ERRATA Pag. 25. lin 18. read eighth's p. 38. l. 4. r. Bishops p. 65. l. 7 r. or to conclude that p. 66 l. 9. r. Sacrament p. 69. l 19. r. and that they are p. 158. l. 18. r. that are p. 163. l. 17. r Scripture p 170. l. 9. r. numerous Other litteral faults and mistoppings the Reader is desired to correct at his leisure