the great work of our Salvation ought to depend upon such a Sandy Foundation as this Upon this Proposal of the king's he runs out into an airy Excursion against the Church of Rome under a pretence of a new Faith hatch'd in the Council of Trent which being an assertion as voluntary as 't is Sandy it leaves the Church unattack't and still standing upon a Rock But I appeal says he to any ingenious Man whether he doth not as much build upon his own Judgment who chooseth the Church as he who chooseth the Scripture for his Rule The answer is easy for certainly a Man hath more reason to rely upon his own Judgment in finding out the Church than the Scripture since the one is a Noon-day Light and may be discovered by every one the other is in the dark and so might continue if not discovered by the Light of the Church He advances for the Church can never be a Rule without the Scriptures but the Scriptures may without the Church It seems this Gentleman has forgot there was a Church before the Scriptures were written and consequently a Rule nay some Ages passed before a Collection of the Books of Scripture was made and owned by the Catholic Church for certainly the Apostles and Apostolick Men did not when they went to convert the World by Preaching bring about Waggons laden with Bibles to every Parish and even in St. Irenaeus his time there were many barbarous Nations Converted that could neither Write nor Read the Church then was the only Rule without the Scripture but without light from the Church there could be no certainty of Scripture either as to the Book it self or to the Copy or the Translation or Sence of it He pushes farther it is no such easy matter to find the Churches Infallibillity in the Scripture I answer there is no absolute necessity of finding it in the Scripture since the Church was found out before the new Testament was in Being and if God's special good Providence had not given us the Scriptures to our great Comfort yet the Church notwithstanding would have still been visible to the World's End and therefore when we cite those texts of Scripture about Christ's being with his Church to the end of the World about the Power to forgive Sins about God's Labourers Husbandry and the like t is only ad abundantiam and to shew the advantages the Church hath over her Enemies even at their own Weapons But in his opinion these Texts of Scripture do as effectually prove the infallibility of the Church of England as of the Church of Rome But I beseech him how can a Church but of yesterday and whose Negative Articles of Faith were lately Coined dure from Christ to the World's end The last thing the King charges upon those who resist the truth and will not submit to this Church is that they draw their arguments from implications and far fetch'd interpretation at the same time that they deny plain and positive words which is so great a disingenuity that 't is not almost to be thought that they can believe themselves This I perceive touches to the quick but truth though she cuts must still be amiable Is it says the Answerer to deny truth to argue from implications and to deny plain and positive words of Scripture to say we must not worship Images we must make God alone the Object of holy Worship I reply it is for nothing of this is to be found in Scripture and if the word Image had been in the Commandments as it is not the Original signifying a graven thing yet it would be an implication or far-fetch'd interpretation because it is singled out and snatch't from the context which gives life to the words importing Divine Worship Nor is it any where expressed That God alone is the Object of holy Worship Though it may be deduced thence that worship to holy things is refer'd to God alone as the only final Object of all such Worship Again to say that Christ's Institution of the Eucharist in both kinds is a Command to the Lay-people to receive it in both kinds is an implication confounding Institution with a Command which are very different For Matrimony was Instituted by God yet I know no Man by virtue of the Institution commanded to Marry Lastly The discourse of St. Paul touching the understanding of our Prayers meddles not with the publick or settled Liturgy of the Church as may be evinced from the Chapter it self So that for any of those Examples there is neither plain nor positive words of Scripture on their side Let us now change sides and see how it squares with the Catholic Party They affirm Bread to be changed into the Body of Christ because of these plain and positive words This is my Body this is true because the words are so plain that they import no implication of Impossibility or Absurdity a Rule observed by the Fathers in the understanding of Scriptures literally but against this there lyes an Objection That it is as plain and positive in Scripture that God has Eyes Ears Hands and Feet My reply is That there is an Implication of Impossibility which appears not in the plain Sense of these words This is my Body He presses to know the difference betwixt these two Propositions A Rock is Christ and This is my Body I answer That had it been thus Bread is my Body there had been none for then both Propositions would have imply'd an Impossibility But the words being This is my Body the words are plain as to their Sense that they inferr neither Impossibility nor Absurdity since by these omnipotent words the Bread is changed into the Body of Christ which neither is impossible to God nor absurd to do and therefore in those places where Christ is said to be Bread 't is always with some Emphasis as the Bread of Life this Bread or the Bread which clearly imports an Analogy The Conclusion of this Royal Paper is That if the Civil Magistrate pleases he may turn the Protestant Church either to Presbytery or Independency or indeed to what he pleases for this was the way of our pretended Reformation in England and by the same Rule c. This he tells the King is an unkind requital to the Church of England for her Zeal in asserting his Majesties power against a foreign Jurisdiction But Truth methinks when uttered with design of publick good ought never to be taken unkindly especially from the Pen of a King and if it seems an ill requital I am sure it is a worse complement to palliate one Errour with another The King's reason is to the purpose for as our Princes lately notwithstanding all Laws Divine and Humane did by their Regal Power cancel a Religion which came into this Nation with Christianity and was Established by more strong and forcing Laws than ever gave Being or Preservation to the Church of England For besides a thousand years Prescription and the
A REPLY TO THE ANSWER Made upon the Three Royal PAPERS Published by Authority LONDON Printed for Matthew Turner at the Lamb in High-Holborn MDCLXXXVI THE PREFACE ENtring upon the Answer to the Three Royal Papers whereof the two first were of CHARLES the Second of ever blessed memory and the last of her Royal Highness the Dutchess of York I met with a Gentleman of so frank a Temper that could his Will bribe his Understanding and he believe as he pleased he tells us he had not fail'd of that Satisfaction in the KINGS first Paper of which for the want of Reason to convince him he was now disappointed This condescending Humour is a fair step made to the Inquest by a second Examen of those excellent Truths illustrated by the pregnant Pens and Sense of those Royal Converts Royal Papers I confess as to their Value may be examined as well as Royal Coin even by a private Subject But as the Royal Stamp in Coin may under that fair Pretence by a private Subject be counterfeited clipt or otherwise disguised so Royal Papers especially of Controversy are no less obnoxious to the same Fate and in this they only differ that no such Alteration in the KING'S Coin can be made by a private Subject but he is look't upon as an ill Man and acting with an ill Design Whereas in the KING' 's Controversial Papers the change either of Sense or Word may be made and that by a well-designing Person from misunderstanding inadvertency or other inculpable Surprize Now as to this Gentleman to determine any thing would be a piece of Injustice for I am ignorant both of his Merits and his Person What Mist hath overcast his sight I know not but if he please to look back by a new Survey on the three Papers he may still see in them Reason and Truth so well fixed that to any thing yet opposed they stand unconcerned and as they bear in their Front the Royal Names and Superscription so their Weight will render them immoveable THE FIRST Royal Paper VINDICATED FOrgers and Clippers of Royal Coin seek their safety in places of all the most obscure and Disguisers and Clippers of Royal Sense hide themselves in the shades of Equivocation the King availing himself in his first Paper upon this supposed Concession That Christ can have but one Church here upon Earth makes this other step and I believe that it is as Visible as that Scripture is in print that none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholic Church Now if the King may be allowed to be the best expounder of his own words and if the whole and sole design of this first Paper be to evince this truth That all Controversial Points of Faith either about holy Scripture or other subjects do fall under the judgment and decision of the Church as is manifest it is then the import of the King's words must be thus that whatever motives render it visible that a Book in print is Scripture that is the Word of God the same or other motives are as powerful to render this other truth as visible That none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholic Church This is the genuine Sense of the King and to this the Examinant of the Royal Papers gives this answer If particular Controuersies about matters of Faith could be ended by a principle as visible as that Scripture is in print all Men of Sense would soon give over Disputing for none who dare believe what they see can call that in question Not to contest with him about the impropriety of the phrase to believe what one sees Luther was a bold Man and yet in the phrase of this Gentleman did not dare to believe what he saw for the Epistle of St. James was in print before his Eyes he perused it and yet cast it out of the Canon of Scripture Catholics and Protestants are both Men of Sense they have the Books of Machabees and others in print they see them they handle them the Catholic gives them their place in the Canon the Protestants do not only question them but seem resolv'd to dispute that point to the end clearly then this principle that the Scripture is in print is not so unquestionable or indisputable as the Gentleman pretends and his miscarriage rests in this That the visibility which in the sense of the King springs from the motives inducing to believe that such or such a Book in print is the holy Scripture he assigns to a bare print of the Book But what if the Church whose Authority 't is said they must submit to will not allow them to believe what they see My first reply is That here is a confusion of Notions for belief is properly of things that are not seen as the Apostle describes it argumentum non apparentium and hath Authority for motive whereas sight or seeing is an inspection into the thing seen and creates a knowledge of it Secondly not to recede from his mode of Speech I am a stranger to such a Church and think it impossible to impose upon any Man a command not to believe what he sees For though it may and doth often fall out that a Man believes what he sees not yet in true Philosophy it can never happen that a Man may not believe what he sees and therefore such a command is ranged amongst the impossibles I well know where his scruple is and what he would be at 't is the Adorable Mystery of the conversion of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of our Redeemer where he hopes to evince this assertion but in vain for what is seen are only the forms shapes and figures of Bread and Wine and that we believe to be there consequently the Church lays upon us no command not to believe what we see For instance I will press upon him the two noted passages of holy Scripture the first is of two Angels appearing to Lot and conversing with him in the figure and shapes of Men the second is of the Holy Ghosts descent in the form of a Dove with all let us suppose that God had revealed to Lot this truth that what he did see were not Men but Angels in Mens Shape as he did to the Apostles that what appeared was not a Dove but the Holy Ghost in the Shape of a Dove I now put this question to him was this Revelation a Command upon Lot or the Apostles not to believe what they did see I believe his Answer will be Negative for if there were neither Men nor Dove neither could be seen If then God at any time should reveal to us by his Church that what is in the Holy Sacrament is not Bread nor Wine but the Body and Blood of Christ under those Shapes and Forms why must this revelation be deemed a Command not to believe what we see or where lies the Disparity Evidently then there neither is nor
that this Gentleman would force his Modesty to such a Degree as to give the Lye to a Lady of her transcendent Quality especially who had been so well bred up in the Principles of the Church of England I shall rather favour him with this Construction that tho' she thought what she said was true yet in reality it was not But how came she to make this Declaration she tells us she never had any scruple till the November before and then they began upon reading Doctor Heylin's History of the Reformation which was commended to her as a Book to settle her and there she found such abominable Sacriledge upon Henry the Eighth's Divorce King Edward's Minority and Queen Elizabeth's Succession that she could not believe the Holy Ghost could ever be in such Councills And because Doctor Heylin's History wrought her Conversion he seems to be displeased at the Author of that Advice but I must needs dissent from him for it being a History of the Reformation it wasmore fit to put that into her hands to settle her in her Religion if the Reformation had been from God being within her Sphere than any Book of Controversy wherein she might have been plunged into difficulties insuperable the Objection oftentimes out-weighing the Solution And tho' in the History of Reformation he tells us there are two distinct parts The one built on Scripture and Antiquity the other upon Maxims of State yet the one being visible and the other invisible had she been a Person of greater Understanding than she was how could she possibly discern both what he requires to have been the Subject of her Consideration was so far beyond her Reach that more Speculative Persons than her Condition would permit her to be come short of that Performance and therefore no better way could be than to be conversant with such Objects or motives as were of her own size One of which was that where the Foundations of a Pretended Reformation were Sacriledge Rapine and Lust She could not believe the Holy Ghost could ever be in such Councills He replies thus were not the Vices of Alexander the Sixth and of many other Popes as great at least as those of Henry the Eighth Be it so and suppose them greater therefore neither she nor any Body else in Prudence can believe that God ever chose Alexander the Sixth or such as he points at by vitiously acting to be the Reformers of his Church or to give Being to a Reformation As to the Invasion upon the Rights and Lands of the Church he replies to by Retaliation Are there not Miscarriages of the like Nature in the Church of Rome It may be so but if by such Miscarriages one should think to reform the Church I shall as freely declare with this great Lady that I cannot believe the Holy Ghost can ever be in such Councils From her scruples which the reading of Dr. Heylin's History of the Reformation had put into her mind she came to the Examen of points in difference by the Holy Scriptures where it seems says he contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome she found some things so easie that she wondered she had been so long without finding them out That some things may easily be met with in Holy Scripture makes not against the Doctrine of the Church of Rome nay standing to the bare Letter without the assistance of Tradition experience has made it manifest that her Champions have fought against all sorts of Enemies with that success even at their own weapon that partiality it self cannot deny her the Victory Nor is it any great wonder that a Lady of her great endowments being but yet a seeker of Truth and not acquainted with the Catholic Rules of Expounding Scriptures and having no other interest but her Soul's safety should easily find what she did not formerly when she thought her self secure and was not concern'd nay what great Doctors do pass slightly over when thousands of lesser Talents than she have done the like What discoveries then hath she made First of the Real Presence then of the Infallibility of Confession and praying for the Dead As to the Real Presence importing a Real and Substantial change of the Elements into the Body and Blood of Christ. He demands In what words of Christ is it to be found I answer in these This is my Body And whereas he adds That the wisest Persons of the Church of Rome have confessed that the bare words of our Saviour can never prove it I answer 'T is hard for him to determine who are the wisest but he knows well that they generally teach that those words cannot be verify'd without that change Confession of Sins as ever commanded is no harder to meet withal than confess your sins to one another And if the Apostles and in them their Successors had power to forgive and retain sins there must be an Obligation in others to confess them otherwise that power had been useless Praying for the Dead is also frequently grounded upon Scripture and though her Royal Highness seems to have been somewhat confirmed in the belief of it by the concession of the two Bishops yet she no where affirm'd that to be the sole Motive to change her Religion but only that it added more to her desire of being a Catholic The Places usually cited for the Infallibility of the Church he would perswade us may as well be apply'd to other Churches as to the Roman but because I have already proved the Roman to be that one Catholic Church I shall supersede from any further trouble at the present From Christ's promise of being with the Church to the end of the World and she now believing no other Church to be that Church but that which is called the Roman she makes this inference That our Saviour would not permit the Church to give the Laity the Communion in one kind if it were not lawful so to do This Illation is evident for otherwise he would not be with his Church to the end of the world From this excellentDiscourse of her Royal Highness 't is an invincible Truth that all the force of Sense and Reason do center in this conclusion that she did not think it possible to save her Soul otherwise than in the Roman Church and by her Paper the world may see the pregnant Power of Truth which forced those two great Lights of England's Church to a private concession of what in publick they were unwilling to own Magna est veritas prâ—valebit FINIS A Catalogue of Books Sold by Matthew Turner at the Lamb in High-Holbourn ACTS of the Clergy of France The second Edition To which is added a necessary advice how to read Books of Controversie Quarto A Discourse of the necessity of Church Guides Quarto The Guide in Controversies Four Parts Quarto A True Narrative of the pretended Popish Plot with Figures A Papist Mis-represented and Represented Quarto Why are you a Catholic And Why are you a Protestant Quarto Bishop Condom's Discourse of Universal History Octavo Digitus Dei against Nullifidians Octavo The MASS Triumphing Octavo The MASS Vindicated Octavo Veron's Rule of Faith Octavo Bishop Condom's Exposition of Catholic Doctrine Twelves His Treatise of Communion in both Species Twelves The Touch-stone of the Reformed Gospel Twelves Turbervil's Manual of Controversies Twelves Abridgment of Christian Doctrine Eighteens Vane's Lost Sheep Return'd home Twelves Counsels of Wisdom or the Maxims of Solomon Twelves The Catechism of Penance Eighteens Four Maxims of Eternity Eighteens Christian Thoughts for every Day Twentyfours St. Francis de Sales Introduction to a Devout Life Twelves Thomas of Kempis Following of Christ. In Twelves and Twentyfours THE END