thou thy selfe be in errour and draw an infinite number of Souls after thee into errour to be damned eternally with thee 16. You say that your Saluation doth not depend on ours that you might be saued though we were Turkes and Pagans this I well belieue But now that the Roman Church is not Turcisme nor Iudaisme but a Kingdome of Christ diffused ouer the earth the onely Christian Catholique Religion in the world which is come from our Sauiour by conspicuous linage and line of succession by the Apostles what Christian will not tremble to be in a state wherein he must expect Saluation from Christ by damning that Religion which is so notoriously descended from him 17. The innated instinct of Godlinesse the sparkes of Piety which nature hath hidden within the bowels of euery reasonable soule moue men to acknowledge and reuerence that Religion as being of God which they see marked and adorned with diuine and supernaturall workes aboue the course and forces of nature Which Maiesty of miracles shining so gloriously in the Roman Church can any man that is Religious fearfull of God iudge the same damnable and venture his soule on the damnation thereof Wherefore not Loue not Charity not Goodwill to the Roman Catholiques is that which moueth Protestants to pronunce her Religion safe and free from damnable errour but the horrour of damning togeather with vs innumerable millions of holy and heauenly men of former Christian worlds 18. Finally Protestants vnder pretence of fauouring and comforting vs seeke their owne comfort solace that they may find some shelter of hope of saluation vnder the wings of the Roman Religion who in their opposition against her find none or only poore meagre and miserable hopes For laying for ground this truth that our Religion is safe then assuming this falshood that theirs is the same with ours for substance and in all necessary points they cheere vp many drooping hearts that can feele no comfort in hoping to be saued by damning the Roman Church so that care of their owne Sparta desire to stay the wiser sort of their followers in their course of Diuision from the Roman Church this I say is one of the reasons which maketh Ministers to preach the certainty of Saluation in our Church and to maske themselues with a vizard of Charity and Friendship towards vs. That Protestant Religion is not safe euen in your iudgment §. 6. 19. YOu say in your Preface n. 39. that you haue not vndertaken the peculiar defence of the doctrine of the Church of England nor of any other particular Protestant Church but the common cause of all Protestants to maintayne the doctrine of them all not that it is absolutely true for that is impossible seing they hold contradictions but that it is free from all impiety and damnable errour This drift pretended and professed so gloriously in the Title and Preface of your booke you crosse and contradict in the bosome and heart thereof condemning Protestants of errours euen in themselues damnable as I shall make good and cleere by the foure ensuing testimonies First Pag. 218. lin 34. I would not be mistaken as though I thought the errours of some Protestants inconsiderable thinges and matters of no moment for the. Truth is I am very fearfull that some of their opinions either as they are or as they are apt to be mistaken though not of themselues so damnable but that iust and holy men may be saued with them yet are frequent occasions of remisnes and not seldome of security in sinning c. Behold you who in your Preface made all Protestants secure of their Saluation because free from errours in themselues damnable now are very fearfull of them and dare not acquit them of errours considerable of moment in themselues damnable though not so damnable but iust and holy men may be saued with them Which qualification of your errours doth not so temper or allay their malignity as to make them lesse damnable then those you impute to the Roman Church seing you often acknowledge that with them and in them good holy soules may be saued 20. Secondly Pag. 21. lin 39. you write more cleerely to make Protestants euen millions of them guilty of damnable errours If any Protestant or Papist be betrayed into or kept in errour by any sinne of his will as it is to be feared many millions are such errour is as the cause of it sinfull and damnable yet not exclusiue of all hope of Saluation but pardonable if discouered vpon a particular and explicite repentance if not discouered vpon a generall and implicite repentance c. Thus you directly accuse Protestants of sinfull and damnable errours of errours pardonable and consequently damnable in themselues For you say pag. 16. n. 21. lin 15. the very saying they were pardonable implies they needed pardon and therefore were in themselues damnable This being so how haue you cleered the Doctrine of all Protestant Sects though not from all falshood yet from all errour in it selfe damnable How do they all of them goe a safe way to saluation if millions of them walke in damnable errours which you say will bring damnation vpon all them that continue in them by their voluntary fault What reason can you bring why your Booke might not be inscribed The Religion of Papists a safe way to Saluation aswell as the Religion of Protestants For you say Protestants erre damnably aswell as we Millions of them aswell as millions of ours their errours are damnable in themselues aswell as ours Ours pardonable by Gods great mercy aswel as theirs they cannot be saued without repentance no more then we and we may be saued in our errors by a generall repentance aswell as they How then is not our Religion a safe way to Saluation aswell as theirs euen by your Booke of purpose written to saue them and damne vs. 21. Thirdly Pag. 280. n. 95. lin 19. Though Protestants haue some Errours yet seing they are neyther so great as yours nor imposed with such tyranny nor maintayned with such obstinacy he that conceaues c. In these wordes you suppose that Protestants haue errours and great errours imposed with tyranny maintayned with obstinacy How then is their Religion a safe way of Saluation Can saluation stand with impious errours imposed vpon others with tiranny and maintayned with obstinacy vntill death But their errours are not you say so great as ours nor imposed with such tiranny nor maintayned with such obstinacy Were this true it would not proue Protestancy to be a good and safe way to Saluation not in it selfe damnable but only that ours is more damnable and a worse way Besides that our errours be greater then theirs is said by you many times but not proued so much as once And seing our errours though as you say damnable in themselues yet be pardonable by Gods great mercy how be the greater then yours which are also damnable in themselues and only
Church in errour yet excommunicate those that belieue your owne supposition What found vanity is this To say Our Aduersaries do vntruly suppose there be corruptions in our Church is this a courteous supposall and not rather a constant deniall that she doth erre and a charge of falshood vpon them that so suppose Is the vntrue supposition of our Aduersaries our owne supposition I was euen amazed at your inconsideration when I read these words in your Booke pag. 280. n. 95. lin 8. Why I pray may not a man of iudgement continue in the communion of a Church confessedly corrupted aswell as in a Church supposed to be corrupted A strange assertion A man may aswell imbrace the cōmunion of a Church corrupted confessedly by the concession of her friends as of a Church vntruly supposed by her Aduersaries to be corrupt So that with you for a Christian to say S. Ioseph was the Father of Christ and the Blessed Virgin corrupt according to the vntrue supposition of the Iewes is all one as to say S. Ioseph was the Father of Christ and the Blessed Virgin corrupt confessedly euen by the concession of Christians Wherfore if it be damnable to neglect Heresies not Fundamentall as without question it is this proueth Protestants damnable who thinke it not against Saluation to hold errours in fayth and heresies against the definition of the whole Church if such heresies be about matters profitable onely and not simply necessary The eight Conuiction 1. YOu inscribe the pages of your last Chapter with this title The Religion of Protestants a safer Way to Saluation then the Religion of Papists For which assertion besides bare and bold affirmations earnest verball expressions manifest tokens as you say of a weake cause you haue one Argument which is this pag. 393. n. 9. If the safer way for auoyding sinne be also the safer way for auoyding damnation then certainly the way of Protestants must be more secure and the Roman way more dangerous Take into your consideration these ensuing controuersies Whether it be lawfull to worship Pictures To picture the Trinity To inuocate Saints and Angels To deny laymen the Cup in the Sacrament To prohibite certayne Orders of men and women to mary To celebrate the publique seruice of God in a language the assistants generally vnderstand not and you will not choose but confesse that in all these you are on the more dangerous side for the committing of sinne and we on that which is more secure For in all these things if we say true you do that which is impious On the other side if you were in the right yet we might be secure inough for we should onely not do something which you confesse not necessary to be done We pretend and are ready to iustify out of Principles agreed vpon betweene vs that in all these things you violate the manifest Commandements of God and alleage such texts of Scripture against you as if you would weigh them with any indifferēcy would put the matter out of question but certainely you cannot with any modesty deny but that at least they make it questionable This argument I haue set downe at large because it is the best in your booke and yet vaine and weake as I now demonstrate The ground of your Safety onely false suppositions and foolish braggs §. 1. 2. FIrst it is false that if Protestants say true we do that which is impious For Protestants against Zelots maintayne that our practises though erroneous in their iudgement yet are not impious and in themselues damnable and that they who in sincerity of heart professe them shall this notwithstanding without doubt be saued 3. Secondly it is false that if we be in the right yet you may be secure inough in your refusing to vse these our practises because they be not necessary For though it be no sinne of it selfe purely to omit pious practises and profitable deuotions yet to omit them out of proud cōtempt and much more out of an Hereticall persuasion that they be impious is vndoubtedly an heynous and damnable crime It is not necessary that you marry a wife you may be saued if you lead a chast single life but if you omit mariage out of an opinion that it is a thing impure or out of contempt of that doctrine that Mariage is a great Sacrament in Christ and his Church you will except you repent certainly be damned In like manner if we be in the right and that these be pious Christian practises of voluntary deuotion you who relinquish them out of contempt and Hereticall persuasion that they are impious cannot escape damnation without a dereliction of your errour 4. Thirdly it is false that if we be in the right yet you only do not something which we confesse not necessary to be done For we do not say of all these practises that they be not necessary to be done yea we say it is necessary to Saluation to receaue the B. Sacrament and in receauing to adore it Besides we say that you not only omit to do what is not necessary to be done but also condemne the vniuersall practises of Gods Church and definitions of her Generall Councells which is not only not necessary to be done but also execrable impious hereticall to be done 5. Fourthly it is a foolish bragge that you can alleadge such cleere texts of Scripture against these our practises For if you can alleade them why do you conceale them Why are you ashamed to bring them to light Why haue you not stored your booke with such allegations as are able to put the matter out of question Some very few you haue produced and those which you tearme the playnest that possibly may be I haue shewed to be darke obscure yea by you falsifyed in the text 6. Fiftly it is also a foolish bragge that your texts of Scripture be certainly such as make the matter questionable which you proue very grauely because we cannot with any modesty deny it Verily had you any modesty or shame you would blush to dispute so poorely miserably seelily in a Controuersy of such moment which concernes the eternal damnation of your Country I adde though it were true as it is most false that your texts make the matter questionable yet your abandoning the Roman Church is damnable For Arguments which make the matter questionable be not necessary nor euident But it is damnable to forsake the Church of Rome and the definition of General Councels without reasons necessary and euident as both you and D. Potter affirme as hath beene often noted These doctrines and practises are proued by manifest and plaine Scripture §. 2. ON the other side Roman Catholiques do not boast ridiculously as you do of their texts of Scripture but by manifest euiction shew euen these of the impiety of which you seeme most cōfident to be Christian and pious and consequently that your damning of them is damnable and impious 7. For
THE TOTALL SVMME OR No danger of Damnation vnto Roman Catholiques for any Errour in Faith Nor any hope of Saluation for any Sectary vvhatsoeuer that doth knovvingly oppose the Doctrine of the Roman Church This is proued by the Confessions and Sayings of M. William Chillingvvorth his Booke Summa est quae conficitur ex Confessis Aug. princ dialect cap. 3. Vnum est necessarium Luc. 10. v. 42. Permissu Superiorum 1639. The Preface THIS Discourse was intended at first as the Conclusion and closing vp of the Treatise I termed The Church Conquerant ouer human VVit but being when I wrote it in great doubt that the sayd Treatise was lost in the transporting therof from one place to another which often happens in Countries which are infested with warre I resolued to make this Discourse more large by the discouery of many other Contradictions in this our Aduersary and with the Refutation of such tergiuersations as Cauillers might deuise to stay piously disposed Protestants from yielding prompt and assured assent to this most important Verity And as they who make Bills of Account whē they haue set downe distinctly for their discharge the particular Summes of expences are accustomed in the end in few Cyphers to abbreuiate the Totall Summe so this Treatise comming after the former as the Conclusion thereof I haue giuen it the name of Totall Summe the Argument handled therein being worthy of that stile For what is the finall marke the Totall the All in all of our pious endeauours labours cares sollicitudes in this mortall life but only to find out the true Religion wherein one shall be sure of his Saluation if simply and constantly he belieue the Doctrines and liue according to the lawes thereof Verily this is the pith the marrow the Summe the quintessence of all Controuersies ventilated betwixt Protestants and vs and in particular it was the sole scope of that short substantiall Treatise Charity mistaken by Protetestants which being by D. Potter in his VVant of Charity impugned was defended and confirmed by the learned labours and elucubrations of Charity maintayned For the maine Cōtrouersy debated in these three bookes is whether Roman Catholiques Protestants may both be saued in their seuerall Religions or which comes to the same issue seing Protestants grant we may be saued in our Religion because our Errours are not Fundamentall and damnable whether it is not want of Charity in vs that we will not requite them with the like mild gentle and comfortable doome but constantly maintayne that Saluation cannot be had in any course of Separation and Opposition against Doctrine proposed by the Roman Church as matter of faith And though this our Catholique determination hath beene in the before named Treatise demonstrated especially in the two last Chapters thereof which shew all Sects Diuisioners all Protesters and Opposers against the Church of Rome to be guilty of the two most heynous crimes Schisme Heresy yet I haue thought fit conuenient to hādle this Totall of Controuersies in a particular short Treatise wherin omitting the former two heads of proofe I haue vrged peculiar and proper Arguments grounded vpon euident Truths confessed approued confirmed euen by this our Aduersary whose Booke Protestants so much esteeme as they stand thereon against the cleere demonstrations for the Catholique Church brought by Charity maintayned If in this very Booke in which they so much confide which beareth the title The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Saluation the happy security of Roman Catholiques and togeather the vnauoydable danger of their Opposers be proued and proclamed if no safe path to Saluation for English Protestants be shewed in his Treatise but they be forced to goe the broad way wherein the most damned Heretiques that liue vnder the cope of Heauen not onely Anabaptists and Arians but also the new Samosatenians or Socinians may be saued aswell as they this being shewed our Protestants will be compassed about on euery side with the light and euidence of this eternally importing Truth No hope of saluation out of the Catholique Roman Church And then God forbid they should not yield vnto so cleere Euictions but fall into the extreme misery of peeuish obstinacy whereof S. Augustine sayth Nihil infelicius homine qui non vult cedere veritati quâ ita concluditur vt exitum inuenire non possit Nothing more vnhappy and wretched then the man that will not yield vnto that truth wherwith he is so concluded and inclosed as he knowes not which way to get out THE TOTALL SVMME OR The assured Saluation of Roman Catholiques c. An Aduertisement IN this treatise as in the other I haue beene exact and euen scrupulous to rehearse fully and largely our Aduersaries formall words many times also though they were cited before repeating them agayne for the Readers greater ease and to make this poynt whereon the Totall of our Eternity doth so much depend cleere and plaine In the text I cite the Page Number and Line or whē there is no number in the page or when the place cited comes before any number only page and line I haue also in the margent quoted the Chapter and number whereby the Reader may find the wordes in the second edition of London The first Conuiction 1. THis is drawne from the concession of Protestants that Roman Catholiques may be saued in their Religion because their errours are but litle on s not Fundamentall or in themselues damnable wheras Roman Catholiques neyther do nor can by the principles of their Religion grant the same warrant to any whatsoeuer that continues vnto death an opposer of the Church of Rome An argument often vrged by Charity maintayned grounded on a testimony of D. Potter which you say he buildeth on in almost fourty yea more then in an hundred places of his booke and you as often at least striue and struggle with this Argument labouring to remoue the pressing difficulties thereof with the same progresse successe as Sifiphus is said to make who to aduance a huge stone vp-hill striueth eternally in vaine Your euasions and shiftes I will particularly refute and lay open their falshood and vanity wherby it shal be made apparent that both the booke of Charity maintayned resteth hitherto vnanswered and that this Argument drawne from the confession of Protestants is altogether vnanswerable I shall first propose our Argument strenthened with D. Potters suffrage Secondly discouer how impudently you deny D. Potters text Thirdly how at last you acknowledge it giue an explication therof full of grosse ignorance Fourthly how weakly and in vayne you would seeme to contemne this Argument as poore and seely Fiftly I will declare the force of this Argument and shew the reason why Protestants that be wise and not distempered with furious zeale dare not condemne the Roman Religion Communion as damnable of it selfe Finally that not only Roman Catholikes but that you your selues dare not
maintaine that the Religion of Protestants is a safe way to saluation yea you grant the same not to be free from errours damnable of themselues The Argument propounded §. 1. 2. THe Argument I set downe in this manner No man shal be or can be damned eternally for errours which be not damnable of themselues This is cleere Because God being iust who renders to euery one according to their deserts cannot punish men more then their offences do of themselues deserue but rather somewhat vnder their merit But the errours pretended to be found in the Roman Church cannot of thēselues deserue eternall damnation being but veniall but little ones not damnable of themselues as Protestants grant This Assumption needs no proofe being notorious ouer all England For what more dayly and vsuall what more frequent and familiar then for Protestants to reproach vs with want of Charity because we will not yield their errours not to be damnable nor destructiue of saluation as they grant ours to be This is cōfirmed by the often reiterated confession of D. Potter specially pa. 77. where he hath these words To forsake the errours of the Roman Church and not to ioyne with her in those practises we account erroneous we are forced of necessity For though in themselues they be not damnanable to them which belieue as they professe yet for vs to profese what we belieue not were without question damnable And they with their errours by the grace of God might go to Heauen when we for our hypocrisy and dissimulation without repentance should certainly be condemned to Hell And agayne To him who in simplicity of heart belieues and professeth them withall feareth God and worketh righteousnesse to him they shall proue veniall such a one shall by the mercy of God be deliuered from them or be saued with them But he that against Fayth and Conscience shall go along with the streame to professe practise them because they are but little-ones his Case is dangerous and without repentance desperate And againe pag. 19. We belieue the Roman Religion safe that is not damnable to some such as belieue what they professe but we belieue it not safe but very dangerous if not certainly damnable to such as professe it when they belieue the contrary Your impudent deniall of the text §. 2. 3. YOu acknowledge that Charity maintayned vrgeth this testimony of D. Potter builds his discourse theron often which you say he doth fraudulētly as an egregious Sophister impudently without conscience or modesty outfacing the truth For Protestants you say neither do or euer did acknowledge that our errours are not damnable and that you for your part though you were on the rack should not confesse it As for D. Potter you deny that he sayd of the errours he imputeth to the Roman Church though in themselues they be not damnable yea you contest that his words are though in themselues they be damnable Pag. 275. lin 4. D. Potter confesseth no such matter but only that he hopes that your errours though in themselues sufficiently damnable yet by accident did not damne all that held them such he meanes and sayes as were excusably ignorant of the truth And pag. 263. n. 26. Where doth D. Potter say any such thing as you pretend c. He sayth indeed that though your errours were in themselues damnable and full of great impiety yet he hopes those amongst you who were inuincibly ignorant of the truth might by Gods great mercy haue their errours pardoned Thus you And you repeate it almost in the same wordes in an hundred passages of your Booke still noting these wordes though in themselues damnable in a distinct character as D. Potters formall text which yet is no where found in any part of his Treatise 4. And in this denial of the text in this contestation that D. Potter said of our Errours though in themselues they be damnable you with great shew of confidēce persist till almost the very finishing of your Booke Then being but three leaues from the end as Theeues when they are ready to be cast of the ladder make true confessions strucken with remorse of conscience you vtter this deposition against your selfe Cap. 7. n. 29. Indeed D. Potter sayes of your errours though in themselues they be not damnable to them which belieue as they professe yet for vs to professe what we belieue not were without question damnable Is this true Doth D. Potter say of our errous though in themselues they be not damnable Hath he these very words indeed See thē whether the reproach which you cast vnworthily on Charity maintayned the reproach of outfacing the truth without conscience or modestie do not fall heauily on your owne head For now vpon the ending of your Booke you confesse that D. Potter indeed sayes of our Errours though in themselues they be not damnable whereas before you said and repeated it againe and againe with deepe protestation and insolent insultation against your Aduersary that D. Potter said no such thinge yea that his wordes were the plaine contradiction to wit though in themselues they be damnable and full of great impiety How this can be excused from the crime of forgery I do not see 5. More cunningly in shew not so enormously but indeed no lesse fraudulently maliciously do you change the pointing of D. Potters text and so turne his assertion into the plaine contrary He pag. 79. in the name of English Protestants sayth of the Roman Religion We belieue it safe that is by Gods great mercy not damnable to some such as belieue what they professe Thus he and he maketh a Comma between some and such to deuide them and to shew that such is vsed not to limit the some that are not damned but to declare who they be to wit all such as cordially belieue our Roman Religion and professe it You reciting his words leaue out the Comma and ioyne some and such togeather making the Doctour say We belieue her Religion safe that is by Gods great mercy not damnable to some such as belieue as they professe As who should say D. Potter grants our Religion safe and not damnable to some who in simplicity of heart belieue and professe it not to all such but some such only Against his expresse Tenet and text yea further you vrge this text corrupted by your dispunction thereof as an Argument that D. Potter holdes our errours damnable in themselues Pag. 306. lin 1. It is remarkable that he confesses your errours to some men not damnable which cleerely importes that according to his iudgment they were damnable of themselues though by accident to them who liued and dyed in inuincible ignorance they might proue not damnable Thus you argue vpon your owne corruption of D. Potters text For in truth he confesses the errours imputed vnto vs not to be damnable and our Religion to be safe not to some such only but to all
auouch that he is lodged in Hell For we are not alwayes acquainted with what sufficiency of meanes he was furnished for instruction we do not penetrate his capacity to vnderstand his Catechist we haue no reuelation what light might haue cleered his errours or Contrition retracted his sinnes in the last moment before death Here our Maintayner requires sufficient meanes of instruction that a man be bound to belieue but he sayth not as you make him say that this instruction must conuince his conscience that his owne Religion is false and the Roman true If a Protestant be thus farre instructed as to perceaue that the Roman Religion is by the full consent of former Christian ages and by the definition of Generall Councels deliuered as the doctrine of Christ Iesus and his Apostles if I say any Protestant be thus farre instructed he is so sufficiently instructed that if he refuse to belieue he is certainly damned Do not you professe that to forsake any Church without necessary causes is as much as a mans saluation is worth Doth not D. Potter auouch that it is not lawfull to goe against the definition of Generall Councels without euident reasons Wherefore Protestants that haue abandoned the Roman Church are by your principles conuinced to be in a damnable state if they know the Roman Religion to be the Christian tradition of their Ancestours the definition of Catholique Councels Nor is it necessary that they be conuinced in conscience that the Roman Religion is true it sufficeth they haue no conuictiue demonstrations against it Wherefore it is extreme want of conscience in you to say that our Maintayner and the most rigide Aduersaries of Protestancy affirme that no Protestant shall be damned for any errour whatsoeuer he holdes against the Roman Church except he be conuicted in conscience that his owne Religion is false and the Roman true 11. And yet not content to haue brought this falshood as a Corollary from his wordes you make it his formal saying and set it downe in a distinct Character as his verball and formall assertion Pag. 31. n. 4. lin 6. Charity mistaken affirmed vniuersally and without any limitation that Protestants that dye in the beliefe of their Religion without particular repentance cannot be saued But this presumption of his you qualify by SAYING that this sentence cannot be pronounced truly and therefore not charitably neyther of those Protestants that want meanes sufficient to conuince them of the truth of your Religion and falshood of their owne nor of those who though they haue neglected the meanes they might haue had dyed with Contrition that is with a sorrow for all their sinnes proceeding from the loue of God Thus you shewing the Adamantinall hardnes of your Socinian for head and Samosatenian conscience For this long sentence which you set downe charactered as the saying of Charity Maintayned with a direct affirmation that it is his saying is forged and feigned by your selfe from the first to the last syllable thereof not only against his meaning in that place but also the whole drift of his Treatise For what is the drift thereof but only to shew that the Roman is the true Church and that her proposing of a doctrine to be belieued is sufficient to bind men to belieue it without any other Conuiction besides the authority of her infallible word 12. Also the second assertion you impute to him That nothing hinders but that a Protestant dying a Protestant may dye with contrition for all his sinnes is an impudent vntruth no such acknowledgment in all his book You seeke to gather it from these wordes We haue no reuelation what light may haue cleered his errours or Contrition haue retracted his sinnes This reason say you or contrition haue retracted his sinnes being distinct from the former and deuided from it by the disiunctiue particle or insinuates that though no light did cleere the errours of a dying Protestant yet Contrition might for ought you know retract his sinnes This is a fond voluntary inference for the clause or contrition retracted his sinnes was not added to signify that a Protestant may haue contrition of all his sinnes though his vnderstanding be not cleered from his errours but to declare that though his vnderstanding be cleered from errours yet this will not suffice that he be saued except after the abiuration of his errours he do further conceaue hearty sorow Contrition for the deadly and damnable sinnes of affection and action he may haue committed 13. For that a Protestant cannot be truly penitēt of all his sinnes vntill his vnderstanding be cleered or at least his zeale allayed that he become remisse in his Religion and doubtfull this reason doth inuincibly conclude It is impossible that a man should repent of a thinge at that time when he is in actual or habitual heat of affection vnto it But Protestants so long as they are Protestants and their Vnderstandings not cleered from their errours or their zeale allayed with cold doubtfulnes are alwayes either actually or habitually in the heat of condemning the Roman Church for Impieties and Idolatries in the heat of presumptuous Pride whereby they preferre their seely conceits about the sense of Scripture before the iudgement of the Church and her Generall Councels Ergo it is impossible that a Protestant persisting stiffely in his Religion should be penitent of all his sinnes knowne and vnknowne The third Conuiction IN this Conuiction I am to proue three things first that Roman Catholiques hold all fundamētall truth and so are secure from damnation Secondly that it is madnesse to persuade any man to leaue the Roman Church Thirdly that it is impossible that Protestants should be sure they belieue all Fundamentall truths That Roman Catholiques are free from all Fundamentall Errours and your Contradictions herein §. 1. 1. HE that belieues all Fundamentals cannot be damned for any errour in fayth though he belieue more or lesse to be Fundamentall then is so This is your formall assertion in so many wordes pag. 207. n. 34. which supposed I assume But Roman Catholiques belieue all Fundamentals that is all necessary truth Ergo they cannot be damned for any errour in fayth The assumption of this argument might be proued by many testimonies from your Booke I will insist vpon two the one in this Section the other in the next Pag. 16. lin 8. We grant the Roman Church was a part of the whole Church And if she were a true part of the Church she retayned those truths which were simply necessary to saluation For this is precisely necessary to constitute any man or Church a member of the Church Catholique In our sense therefore of the word Fundamentall we hope she erred not fundamentally Thus you who pag. 280. n. 95. say the playne contrary that our errours are fundamentall And pag. 289. nu 86. that our Church not onely might but also did fall into substantiall errours 2. I know that to salue
that these Bookes be the word of God resteth finally not vpō the credit of human Tradition but vpon the Scripture onely which shewes it selfe with euident certitude to be diuine and supernaturall truth and so reuealed of God Euen as light is seene by its owne brightnesse and hony is proued to be sweet by the very tast thereof But this point of Protestancy you reiect as fond vaine ridiculous pag. 371. n. 51. and proue it to be such Because if the Bookes of Scripture were euidently certayne if they did with euident certitude demonstrate themselues to be Diuine truth then all men that haue vnderstanding and capacity to apprehend the right sense and sentence of Scripture would belieue them to be true which experience sheweth be otherwise If Protestants answere that such as haue their tast distempered to them hony is bitter so Infidels through preiudice and distemper of passions do not perceaue and tast the Diuinity of the Doctrines of the Scripture Against this the reply is ready and conuincing For they who through distemper of their palate iudge hony to be bitter do not apprehend the true tast of hony but a tast contrary to the true tast thereof which being in their palate they conceaue it to be in the meate But Infidels by their vnderstanding do rightly apprehend and conceaue the true senses of Scripture and the mysteries of fayth deliuered therein more cleerely then many Christians of meane capacity do and yet they do not iudge them to be Diuine truth or truth at all Ergo the very true sense and sentence of Scripture doth not with euident certainty shew it selfe to be Supernaturall truth such as could not be reuealed but of God 6. Finally if the Protestants beliefe of Scripture be grounded vpon sight of the truth thereof this their beliefe is not sauing fayth for Fayth by which men are saued as hath beene sayd is that wherby they submit by voluntary obedience their vnderstanding to Gods word belieuing firmely and assuredly vpon the Authority thereof things in themselues incredible and aboue the reach of human reason But Protestants do not belieue the doctrine of Scripture because it is the word of God but because as they say they see it to be Diuine truth and consequētly the word of God Ergo they haue not the fayth of humble submission to Gods word which is the onely fayth that pleaseth God and by which men are saued 7. The third Argument Protestants haue not fayth of infallible adherence that is fayth worthy of God about the sense and interpretation of Scripture For holding the Churches interpretation to be fallible they pretend to be sure by this rule that what they belieue to them seemes plainely cleerely euidently reuealed and proposed in the Scripture But this rule of assurance is not infallible but very fallible and deceytfull For euen Protestants thēselues contend that many texts and places of Scripture which seeme plaine and cleere are to be vnderstood figuratiuely against the plaine proper and literall sense For example the words of our Lord about the chiefe Sacrament mystery of fayth THIS is My Body This is My BLOVD in their plaine proper and literall sense deliuer and establish Transubstantiation as Protestants grant Hence Protestants that are resolued not to belieue a mystery so high aboue reason seemingly repugnant to sense will by no meanes allow these wordes to be true in their proper and literal sense they will not yield to the plain euidence of the Diuine text Whereupon it is euidently consequent that they cannot be sure about any mystery of fayth by vertue of the sole seeming euidence of the sacred Text. For instance take the most fundamental text of Scripture about the most fundamētal mystery of Christian Religion to wit the Incarnation of the Sonne of God The Word was made flesh How doth this text euidently conuince that the Eternal Word and Sonne of God was made Man truely substantially personally What Protestants say of the word of Christ This is my Body why may not Nestorians affirme about this text The Word was made ffesh that it is not true in a proper plaine and literal sense but metaphorically figuratiuely that God and Man were made one in Christ by affectual vnion as two great friendes are said to be one How can Protestants be themselues assured or how can they proue by the sole euidence of the text that this Nestorian interpretation is false And if their beliefe of the mystery of the Incarnation be not solide and firme grounded on a rule of interpretation infallibly certaine how can they be saued 8. Learned and iudicious Readers may find in your booke a world of laughter about your answering the arguments of Charity Maintayned you do it so vnscholler-like so okerly and vntowardly Let your answere to this argument serue for a patterne Our Maintayner vrgeth D. Potter that if the Church may erre in points of fayth not fundamentall you can neuer be sure of any such point For as you erre about some deceyued by the seeming euidence of the Scripture so you cannot be sure you do not erre about other You answere Pag. 117. n. 160. A pretty Sophisme depending vpon this principle that whosoeuer possibly may erre he can neuer be certaine that he doth not erre A Iudge may possibly erre in iudgment can he therefore neuer be sure he hath iudged aright A Traualler may possibly mistake his way must I therefore be doubtfull whether I am in the right way from my Hall to my chamber Or can our London-Carrier haue no certainty in the middle of the day when he is sober and in his wits that he is in the way to London And a litle after nu 161. whereas our Mayntainer argueth that you cannot be sure it is an errour to make the Church Iudge of Controuersies because you pretend to be sure by the seeming euidence of Scripture but this rule is not infallible so you cānot be sure by the warrant thereof The ground of this Sophisme say you is very like the former viz. that we can be certaine of the falshood of no proposition but those only that are damnable errours But I pray good Sir giue me your opinion of these The snow is balcke the fire is cold M. Knot is Arch-Bishop of Toledo the whole is not greater then a part of the whole that twise two make not foure in your opinion good Sir are these damnable heresies Or because they are not so haue we no certainty of the falshood of them I beseech you Sir consider seriously with what strāge captions you haue gone about to delude your King and your Country if you be conuinced they are so giue glory to God and let the world know it by your deserting that Religion which standes vpon such deceytfull foundations This you write which you could neuer haue written had you been with your London Carrier sober and in your wits You haue proued Gusman de
Alfarache his saying that the Fooles Hospital is of large extent to be most true He can range and reuell within the compasse thereof in a world of sottish extrauagances from hoat to cold from snow to fire from Oxford to London from London to Toledo from Toledo backe againe to King and Country and then fetch a new carriere ouer the whole Vniuerse and euery part thereof to be sure that no part is greater then the whole What is impertinentcy what is deserting the matter and argument in hand if this be not Good Syr be pleased to vnderstand that the Controuersy betwixt D. Potter and our Maintayner is not about all Kind of propositions nor whether snow be blacke or fire cold nor about your not being Arch-Bishop of Canterbury nor about the way from your Hall to your Chamber but about propositions pertayning to Christian faith not euident to sense but only to be knowne by reuelation from heauen Our Maintayner auoucheth that these Diuine truths cannot be knowne assuredly but by the teaching of Gods Church infallible in all her proposals This he proueth not as you feigne by this principle He that may possibly erre can neuer be sure he doth not erre but by this He that may erre and hath some times erred by following some certaine Rule can neuer be sure he doth not erre by following the same rule If a Iudge condemne a man to death wrongfully vpon euidence giuen against him by two witnesses how can he be sure that he doth not condemne another man vniustly if he haue no greater assurance then the deposition of two witnesses not knowne to be of better credit conscience A traueller hath been misguided out of his way by inquiring of the first man he met trusting his direction how can he be sure he is not out of his way by crediting the word of another directour equally vnknowne vnto him This then is the Argument of Charity Maintayned which you durst not encounter but ran about the world in the wild-goose chase to auoyd the force thereof No man can be sure he doth not erre by following a rule which is fallible and deceitfull But to iudge of the sense of the Scripture by the sole seeming euidence of the text is a rule fallible which often fayleth and deceaueth them who rely thereon because many places are not taken in their plain proper literall sense and many texts considered by themselues seeme cleere and plaine which conferred with other texts that seeme to say the contrary become darke and obscure Therefore to discerne the true sense and meaning of Scripture by the sole seeming euidence of some text thereof is a rule fallible Protestāts by the sole direction therof can neuer be sure or infallibly certain about any mystery of faith 10. And I pray you good Sir leaue your wild vagaries come home to the litle closet of your wits hold them close to the matter and then tell vs A Protestant who denyes the wordes of Christ This is my Body to be true in their plain proper and literall sense how can he be sure himselfe or how can he assure others that this text The word was made flesh is to be taken and true in the plain proper and literal sense Do not tell vs that you know the way from your Hall to your chamber that snow is white fyre hoat M. Knot is not Arch-Bishop of Toledo but giue vs an assured rule whereby to know that this text The word was made flesh is literally to be vnderstood in the plain substantial sense the text This is my body ought to be figuratiuely interpreted so that the Body of Christ be taken for but a peece of Bread The meane while I conclude that Protestants seing they haue not any infallible rule to assure them of the sense of Scripture cannot firmely belieue the Mysteries reuealed therein and so they haue not such a persuasion of the truth of Gods word as is worthy of God and pleasing to him nor will they euer obtayne sauing fayth till they ioyne with Roman Catholiques to acknowledge the infallible authority of the visible Catholike Church The seauenth Conuiction BEcause you cannot damne Roman Catholiques for any want of necessary and fundamentall truth you endeauour to procure their damnation and plead earnestly for it in regard they do not endeauour to know all profitable truth In which discourse you prodigiously contradict other assertions of your Booke By the discouery of which damnation will be seene to fall a way from vs vpon your owne head togeather with the cause meritorious thereof the not caring to auoyd vnfundamentall heresies 1. First you contradict your selfe in the same sentence wherby you make your Way plaine and yet impossible to be gone Pag. 221 lin 19. This is a way so plaine as fooles cannot except they will erre from it Because not knowing absolutely all truth nay not all profitable truth not being free from errour but endeuoring to know the truth and obey it and to be free from errour is by this Way made the onely condition of Saluation It is strange you should say that fooles cannot erre from your Way vnlesse they will whereas your selfe being so wise a man haue erred so mightily from your Way no doubt against your will as you are gone a contrary way In the first part of your saying you pronounce your Way to be so plaine as fooles except they will cannot misse of being saued therein but in the second you require so much and so hard conditions of Saluation as you make the same wholy impossible for fooles and ignorant persons and morally impossible euen to the learned'st leaders of your flocke For you require to Saluation that men know not onely all necessary truth but also that they endeauour to know all profitable truth yea absolutely all truth For by vertue of your speach they are bound to endeauour for the knowledge of that truth which in this sentence you say they are not bound to know But the truth you say in this sentence they are not bound to know is not all necessary truth but all profitable truth yea absolutely all truth Ergo your followers are bound as they will be saued though not to know yet to labour endeauour study to know all profitable truth yea absolutely all truth about Diuine matters Which is as much as to say that none can be saued in your way but such as haue studied Diuinity and haue not omitted so much as one question thereof not only about profitable points of that Science but also about vnnecessary and vnprofitable quirks absolutely all What can be imagined more vaine fond and absurd then to bind all men as they will be saued to study and endeauour for the knowledg of all Diuinity and Diuine truth And yet such is your desire to damne vs as you will do it vpon any condition though your selfe and all other Protetestants be damned in our company 2. Secondly you grossely