Primitive times Besides the Holy Scriptures or written word of God as I remarked before call upon us to search and study and meditate in them nay to believe and obey or Live according to them and Promise Eternal Happiness and Salvation to all that do these things but they make no mention of the word of God not written do not Command any to enquire or search after or trouble their Heads about any such thing as the Unwritten word of God 'T is true indeed St. Paul praises the Obedient Members of the Church of Corinth that kept 1 Cor. 11. 2. the Traditions or Ordinances which he deliver'd to them But these were no part of the word of God either written or not written but things in their own nature Indifferent That the Men should Pray in publick with their Heads uncover'd and the Women with their Heads cover'd Verses 4th and 5th He gives this charge also to Timothy hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of 2 Tim. 1. 13. me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Which form of sound words was either the Creed which the Apostles agreed upon as a summary of the Chief things that were to be believed and profess'd by all Christians or else the whole Doctrine of Christ containing all things to be done as well as believed to Salvation which if not then were before the Apostles left the World intirely written for the Instruction of all that should Imbrace the Christian Religion But doth not Christ tell his Apostles I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now By which saith the St. John 16. 12. Church of Rome it appears That Christ spoke many things that were not written and it is not credible that the Apostles would not deliver these by word of mouth to the Church To which a Reverend Bishop of ours gives this Satisfactory Answer that Christ doth not say Bishop Davenane de judice norma fidei page 18. Multa habeo quae non potestis in posterum scribere I have many things to say unto you which you cannot hereafter write but which you cannot now bear Postea autem Spiritu sancto illuminati portare ea potuerunt praedicare mundo ac demum scriptis toti Ecclesiae Commendare but afterwards being inlightned by the Holy Ghost they could both bear them themselves and Preach them to the World and at last in their writings Commend and Transmit them to the whole Church But let us grant saith he that these things were such as are not written yet who is so impudent and rash as to dare to specifie or assign what those things were This is such Transcendent Presumption that none but the Church of Rome dares venture on which takes the boldness to Father all her Dreams Fables and Errours upon God calling them his Traditional or Unwritten word As for those words of St. John which they insist so much upon There are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be Chap. 21. 25. written every one I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books that should be written These neither prove the necessity nor Authority of their Traditional or Unwritten word of God Fatemue enim multa esse quae fecit Jesus quae tamen ab Evangelistis scripta non fuerunt for we Page 18. confess saith that Learned Authour that there were many things which Jesus did that are not written by the Evangelists but these many things were not Doctrines necessary to Salvation but Miracles or sayings which we may be ignorant of without any detriment to Religion or Salvation so St. John himself tells us And many other Signs truly did Jesus in the Chap. 20. 30. 31. presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life through his Name Which utterly destroys the necessity of their Unwritten word of God for if what is written be enough to perswade Men to believe in Christ and that believing be sufficient to save or bring them to Eternal life that do it then no more can be necessary but St. John affirms both these therefore the Romish Traditional or Unwritten word of God is at best a needless or superfluous thing Besides it is and must be with all thinking Men a mighty Objection against this Unwritten word of God as they call it that the Church of Rome hath the sole Custody or keeping of it the Primitive Church after the Canon of the Scriptures was compleated says nothing at all of it for all the Fathers cry up and maintain the Perfection and Sufficiency of the written word of God and all the Reformed Churches adhere to this in Opposition to that Unwritten Word How then came Rome by it Is God so partial such a Respecter of Persons as to Communicate it to that Church and not to others Or is it a Cheat or Artifice of the nequam ingeniosi the witty or Crafty Deceivers to help at a dead lift This is the very Truth Many of their Doctrines and Practices they plainly perceiv'd did openly clash with and contradict the Holy Scriptures or written word of God and therefore there was no way to defend them to acquit their Church from Errour and Impiety but to cry up Tradition and make it of equal Authority with the Scriptures But this will not do it for doth God use to contradict himself There are that say he hath two Wills the one secret the other reveal'd and that the one is contrary to the other which is neither better nor worse than downright Blasphemy the Church of Rome with equal Blasphemy affirms that God hath two Laws or Words the one contained in the Scriptures the other transmitted by Oral Tradition and they plead this in Defence of those Doctrines which are contrary to that being beaten from the Scriptures and having no shelter or protection for their Errours there they Fly for refuge to Tradition as if that could bear them out or support their Cause and so they make the infinitely Wise and Righteous God contradict himself which he must needs do if he hath declared his will to Mankind two several ways that is by Scritpure and Oral Tradition and this affirms things which that deny's and gainsays They had rather if they could do it prove the points in controversy by the Scriptures as the most satisfactory and convincing proof but not being able to do that they are constrained either to confess their Errours or to pretend Tradition to vouch and countenance them That they will not do because it is against their Worldly Interest inconsistent with their Honour and Profit This they had better not do because the Cheat is so Evident that none but weak Persons will be gull'd and deluded by it for we know that must
the Preacher out And as Preaching cannot unless they be forced to hear and the just Correction of the Laws drive them from their Conventicles to our Assemblies so Writing hath done no good upon them all the excellent Books that have been written both formerly and of late Years by the excellent Divines of our Church in which all their exceptions against it have been fully answer'd all their scruples satisfi'd all their Pleas and Apologies for their Separation throughly confuted and the Authors of them put to all the shame and silence Men of their Confidence are capable of yet they are never the better but persist stubbornly in their wicked Schism and prove to all the World that they are such as hate to be Reformed the crafty seducers tell their Credulous followers that such are Lewd and ungodly Books and that frights them so that they dare not upon any Terms give them the Reading all that their guides think fit to do in the case is to imploy some Pragmatical Fellow to write an Answer which how silly or impertinent soever is admired and applauded by the whole Faction as an Incomparable piece and the Author hugd and caress'd by the Brethren and Holy Sisters as a very precious Man Nor can any better success be reasonably expected from the other way that of Conference because if they will not hear our Clergy Preach nor Read the excellent Books they have writ in defence of the Church they will be as averse especially when they have their Liberty to private Conference be with great difficulty brought to admit the Charitable Person that comes to undeceive them or if they do they are generally so ignorant and so conceited that it is very hard to make them understand the nature of the things disputed what Schism is and how exceeding Sinful and if this be done they are so highly conceited of their own Gifts and Godliness as to think themselves Wiser and Holyer than he that offers them Instruction Besides they are such Slaves to so wholly at the Command of their own Guides and Teachers that if they tell them their separate Meetings are Innocent and Holy Assemblies and those of the Church so impure or defiled with Popish Prayers Ceremonies and other Humane Inventions that it is not safe for them to venture their precious Souls in them they believe such lying words as firmly as if they were Divine Truths and adhere to them in spight of all the Scripture and Reason that can be brought against them These therefore and all other vain projects laid aside the Government if it will be safe and happy must with great and earnest care endeavour to reduce them to the Church which can be effected no other way but by a strict Executing the Laws upon all Dissenters an unwearied persisting in it letting them see that if they dare be so impudent as to Affront Transgress the Laws and defie Authority that both will and dares do Justice upon such bold Offendors This in time will make them leave their Fooling to give it no worse Title Teach the People to shun the Meeting-Houses with the same caution and waryness as they do the Dreadful and Disconsolate Places where Misery and Ruin dwell This will put them upon serious Thoughts and Considerations Oblige them strictly to Examine the Cause for which they Suffer prompt them to ask themselves such questions as these what harm or venom is there in the Ceremonies of the Church that we should be so affraid of them as to run from the Communion of it Do not our own Guides and Teachers confess the Doctrine of it to be pure or agreeable to the Scriptures Are there not abundance of Learned Pious and Holy Men that Live and Dye in the Communion of it and can we think that such Men are not Saved And if they be Why will not the same Faith the same Doctrine the same Prayers and Holyness carry us to Heaven Are not the Doctrine Government and Worship the same that were Taught exercis'd and used by those brave and Holy Men that with such admirable zeal and courage suffer'd Martyrdom in the Reign of Queen Mary How can that be Popery now which was practic'd by them who would rather burn at a Stake then turn Papist and are we Wiser or more Conscientious than they The Wise Merciful Correction of the Laws will by degrees bring the Offendors to a sight and abhorring of their Errours and produce in them such good Thoughts as these and consequently ingage them to return from whence they are fallen I mean to our Holy and Excellent Church which will put an Happy end to all our Schisms and Divisions and the People by coming constantly to our Pious Loyal Assemblies will in a little time Learn to Fear God and the King and meddle no more with them that are given to change But if this great means of reducing them be waved or neglected or coldly prosecuted such a Blessed and desirable Revolution can never be attained but our fewds and contentions will be Immortal and we shall be as the scorn of so the most Miserable and Distracted Nation in the World Without this nothing can reduce them but in Conjunction with and Subordination to it there are other things that will contribute very much to it as the Exemplary Piety and strict Conformity of the Clergy and the putting them into such a Condition that they may not depend upon the Benevolence of the People for their Maintenance Their Exemplary Piety that none be suffer'd to Dishonour our most pure and holy Church by their Evil and unsuitable Lives for though 't is certain we have the most Learned Pious Unblamable and therefore Excellent Clergy in the World yet if there be any irregular Persons amongst them as 't is possible there may in such a great Body of Men be here and there one that forgets himself that care be taken and means used to Reform them that they give no Offence Minister no Occasion to any to Reproach the Church or to speak Evil of our most Holy and Undefiled Religion We see how cautious and careful the Schismatical Preachers are to seem Holy that they may gain the Esteem and Veneration of the People and lead them by the Noses whether and to what they please and if the shadow in them to be sure the Substance of Holiness a Vertuous and unblamable Life in all our Clergy will gain them great Authority with the People and convince them that must needs be an Holy Church that hath so Pious Regular and Excellent a Clergy The next is their strict Conformity that all of them be compell'd to observe all the Orders and Constitutions of the Church Unless this be done the People can never be drawn off from their prejudices against and misperswasions concerning them but will think them unlawful Impositions because some of the Clergy do not observe them and they will admire applaud and follow those that do not observe them as
needs be an Abominable Cheat which they call the Unwritten word of God because by this they evacuate or make the other voy'd and of no Effect Command what in the Scripture God forbids and forbid what he Commands condemn what he allows allow what he condemns make that necessary which he leaves Arbitrary or Indifferent and that Indifferent which he makes necessary using the Scriptures as one Procustes a Theevish Inn-keeper in Germany is said to have Treated his Guests who having but one Bed for all Comers if he that was to lye in it was too long for the Bed he would cut off his Feet or Legs till he had made him of an equal length for it if too short he would rack and stretch him out till he had made him of a fit size for it Thus doth Rome by her Traditions inlarge and alter add to and take from pervert and wrest the Scriptures to her own and the Destruction of Multitudes of those that give up themselves to her Conduct For I desire it may be considered what an horrid injury and affront it is to the Laws of God to those Sacred Books that contain so Choice and most Precious a Treasure as the Words of Eternal Life which they propound to us must needs be to use them thus Nay what abominable insolence and contempt of God it is to accuse them of Inperfection to affirm they do not give Men sufficient Instruction to Salvation which they say they do Is there any thing that Princes do more highly resent or more severely Punish than the contempt of their Laws and Royal Edicts when instead of paying a ready and cheereful Obedience to them any Persons censure and carp at them Falsly call them obscure and defective Institutions that do not reach the ends or designs they were made for and take upon them to forge new ones to put out Counterfeit Edicts and Mandates in the Princes name which he knew nothing of and gave no consent to Just thus doth the Church of Rome treat the Great Lord and Ruler of all the World accuses his Laws contained in the Scriptures of Imperfection say's they are obscure and defective dark and unintelligible Institutions in themselves and forges new ones which it calls his Traditional or Unwriten Laws and is Fonder of or Prefers them before the other which must needs provoke his Anger and bring down his most fearful Judgments upon it even all the Woes Plagues and Curses denounc'd in Scripture against them that commit so Insolent and Hainous a Wickedness And as they affront and dishonour the Scriptures by receiving Traditions with equal reverence and devotion so in defiance to them they have Inlarged the Faith Multiply'd the Sacraments Chang'd all the Principal parts of Religion which they propound to the Christian Church They neither Believe nor Worship God according to the Scriptures but to the Faith once delivered to the Saints they have added new and false Propositions and instead of the Pure and Holy Worship God requires disgrace and provoke him with their Images and leaving the old Paths and the good way of his appointing they have invented new means and conditions of Salvation For all the points Controverted between Them Us are plainly and evidently Repugnant to the Scriptures as would appear by a particular Examination of them But this is not proper to the Subject I have in hand and hath been so fully and Unanswerably proved by many Eminent Divines of our Church Famous in their Generations Men of Renown the excellent Bishop Jewel Dr. Feild the two Whites the Arch-deacon in his way to the true Church and his Brother the Bishop of Ely in his Defence of it By Arch-Bishop Laud in his admirable Book against Fisher by the Reverend Bishop of Down in the Defence of his Disswasive from Popery to the Learned and Excellent labours of which worthy Men I refer the Reader that it is needless for me to do it again But if any of the Church of Rome think I wrong their Mother by charging her with forsaking the Scriptures I am ready to make it good when they require it of me and will prove the points in Debate between the Church of England and theirs to be contrary to Scripture and therefore most dangerous Errours and Innovations And if they depart from the Scriptures as t is certain they do which only are able to make Men wise unto Salvation and by which all Christians shall be judged at the last and great Assize of the World there must needs as all the Reformed Churches truly believe and teach be great peril of Damnation in the Communion of that Church They are out of the way which God commands all Men to walk in that would obtain the Immortal Glories and Felicities of his Heavenly Kingdom and therefore if they be Saved it must be by extraordinary ways or means 'T is possible that God whose Mercies are Infinite may save the Ignorant and well meaning People amongst them that follow the Romish Guides in the Dr. Potter Answer to Charity mistaken page 78 79. Simplicity of their Hearts Who either have not as a learned Person of our Church observes sufficient means to find the truth or else after the use of the best means they can have find not Sufficient motives to convince their Conscience that they are in Errour 'T is possible also that they who lived all their days in the Communion of the Church of Rome may repent at their Death humbly beseech God to pardon all their Sins and Errours known and unknown and so find Mercy from him who is not extreme to mark what is done amiss But if that Ignorance or this Repentance do not help them though we take not on us to pass the Dreadful doom upon them yet our Charity to their Souls obliges us to tell them their Condition is exceeding Dangerous 'T is therefore great Uncharitableness to himself for any Man that Considers what a Blessed and Desirable thing Eternal Happiness is that thinks what it is to live with God his Angels and Saints in Glory unconceivable in joys unspeakable and endless to venture his Soul in the Romish Communion where there is the greatest hazard of losing it and at most but a poor Possibility of saving it A Church which I cannot better describe than in the Words of the Person I last mentioned who was a learned and a moderate Man She brings forth Children unto God by their Baptism but then Poysons them in their Breeding Dr. Potter pages 14 15 16. When they ask for Bread she gives them a Stone and Serpents instead of Fishes To the Word of God she adds and equalls her own Traditions she reads unto them that Word but in an unknown Tongue teaches them to Pray but in Latin which they understand not directs them to call upon God but withal upon Saints and Angels to Worship God but also dumb Blocks and Images She sends them to Legends and Pictures for much
and increase their party to gain every Day new and numerous Converts and Prosselites the ignorant People being exceeding fond of and greatly delighted with their impudent and Enthusiastical way of Praying and Preaching and when the Terrour of the Laws doth not restrain run after them with as much an eagerness as they do the most pleasing pastimes and entertainments till they grow strong enough to overmaster and depose the Prince and therefore they that advise him to grant them Toleration do neither better nor worse then perswade him to be Felo de se to Ruin and Destroy himself But the Mischiefs and Dangers of Toleration are so fully proved by the excellent Author of the late Eccesiastical Dr. parker Polity that I need say no more against it but only desire all that Love the King and have any Authority under him and wish the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation to Read that Learned Eloquent and most Rational Discourse which will convince them if Reason can do it that the Government cannot stand if these People be Tolerated As for those kind and good humour'd Gentlemen that propose Terms of Accomodation and would Unite or bring them to us by removing some of those things which they dislike in our Church This I must tell them is rash and erring Charity for they do not consider the surly peevish and insolent temper of the Dissenters nor mind what their Designs and Perswasions are For is it probable they who believe their Discipline to be the Scepter of Jesus Christ and say all the Kings and Rulers of the Earth must and ought to Obey and Submit to it and if they do not are the Enemies of the Lord Jesus and will not let him Rule over them And that their way of Worship only is agreeable to the Purity and simplicity of the Gospel and are so stiff and peremptory in the belief of these things that no Arguments not all the Reason in the World can perswade them from it Is it probable I may say possible that Men who believe these things with such immovable Resolution will ever be gain'd to our Church which explodes and condemns them as impudent Errours and Lying Pretences by removing a Ceremony Abolishing suppose the use of the Sign of the Cross after Baptism kneeling at the receiving of the Lords Supper the Surplice or any other harmless Rite which the Grandees of the separation are convinc'd to be Innocent things No no this will not do the work they are for a through Reformation the Common Prayer is an Idol an Abominable Idol The Order of Bishops not only a Superfluous or needless thing not only an unprofitable burthen of the Earth but Antichristian and an unlawful Government in the Church which they have solemnly Covenanted or Sworn to Abolish and extirpate and will the shaking off a few Leaves casting away two or three harmless Ceremonies either satisfie or divert them that have laid the Axe to the Root of the Tree because they think it Cumbers the Ground They have the same thoughts of our Church Government as that Famous Scotch Presbyter Mr. Andrew Melvill had of theirs who affirmed That Arch Bishop Spots His Church of Scotland pa. 275. the Corruptions crept into the State of Bishops were so great that unless the same were removed it could not go well with the Church nor could Religion be long preserved in Purity And therefore amongst other things which the Presbyters of that Nation proposed to the Bishops for Reforming the Corruptions of their Order they urged according to their wonted Modesty That the Bishops should be content to be Pastors or Ministers of a Idem pa 303. Flock that is of one particular Congregation and that they should not Empire over Presbyters but be Subject to the same Very good this is it they would have either no Bishops for to confine them to one Congregation is to make them not Bishops but Parish Priests or if any such as will truckle be Subjects and Underlings to them A Blessed Reformation indeed to make the Fathers Submit or be Subject to their Sons them that stand in the Place of St. Paul and possess the degree of St. Peter are that is the undoubted Successors of the Apostles do homage to them that succeed the Seventy Disciples Which is to invert or turn the Ordinance of our Lord upside down You are deceiv'd ye Charitable Souls that think to bring the Dissenters into the Church by casting the Ceremonies they except against out of it 't is not that but the Preheminence and Superiority they contend for they would be uppermost Rule all both in Church and State this is the point they would gain for this they whine and wrangle stir up strife and Sedition Plot Treason from Age to Age from Generation to Generation for this they make Schisms and set up new Churches and scare the People from the Old by declaiming against the Ceremonies and crying cut of Popish Prayers Vestments Rites and Bishops and bawling upon every Occasion as if they would tear their Throats Popery Popery 'T is not Conscience but Interest that puts them upon these extravagant courses they are not so silly I mean the leading Men amongst them as to believe it a Sin to Communicate with our Church in all the parts of its Worship though they are such Knaves as to tell the People so that they may draw them from it and having got a party strong enough destroy the Church and with it the Monarchy that they may Reign as Kings and injoy their so much courted Empire and Soveraignity Wipe off the Paint and Varnish the Colours and pretences with which they endeavour to cover and conceal it till a fit Opportunity and every Eye that is willing to see may discern this to be the great Design they are Ingaged in Another Expedient I find tender'd by a Charitable hand for reducing the straglers to the Church is Instruction that they be shew'd the Innocent and Lawfulness of the things they scruple in our Church and that they be fully Explicated as also the Sinfulness of their Schism or Separation from it together with the mischievous and dangerous consequences of it This is a good way indeed but then the question is how it shall be put in Practice I know but these three ways Preaching Writing and Conferences Preaching cannot do it because they will not hear our Clergy 't is a rare thing to see any of the Dissenters come to our Parish Churches when they may safely go to their own Meeting Houses or if any of them be pleas'd at any time to come if the Sermon tend to justifie the Constitutions of the Church to refute the Cavils and Objections that are made against them to reprove though with all Gentleness and the softest words the Sin and Errour of those that separate from it they are sad nay angry at such sayings go away highly provoked and offended and will not be so civil as to hear