is clear from all Histories and they themâ—elves cannot deny it that they are descendâ—â—d from Hagar yet as if they were the Children of Sarah the free Woman the Wife of Abraham they will needs for the Name and Race sake be call'd Saracens 21. SO the false Prophets in all times who â—pposed themselves to the true Prophets of God to Isaiah to Jeremias to Christ and â—is Apostles boasted of nothing so much as â—f the Name of the Church Nor did they so â—ercely persecute them and call them Doâ—erters and Apostles upon any other account 〈◊〉 much as because they departed from their Society and would not observe the Customs of their Ancestors And if we be obliged to submit to the Judgment of those Men who then governed the Church and will regard neither God nor his Word nor any thing else it cannot be denied but that the Apostles made Defection from the High Priests and Priests that is from the Catholicâ— Church and without and against theiâ— Wills innovated in many things which pertained to Religion and consequently werâ— rightly condemned according to the Lawâ— And so as they say Antaeus was to be lifteâ— by Hercules from the Earth his Mother beforâ— he could be conquered by him So our Aâ—â—versaries are to be lifted up from that Motheâ— of theirs the vain Pretence and Shadow 〈◊〉 the Church or else they will never yield 〈◊〉 the Word of God So as Jeremiah saith 〈◊〉 not so much boast that you have the Tempâ— of God with you that Conâ—idence is Vainâ—â— for these are saith he lying Words And thâ— Angel in the Apocalyps they say that they 〈◊〉 Jews but they are the Synagogue of Sathan Aâ— when the Pharisees boasted that they were 〈◊〉 the Stock and Blood of Abraham Chrâ—â— told them they were of the Devil their Fathâ—â— for you do not resemble Abraham your 〈◊〉 as if he should have said you are 〈◊〉 what you so much desire to be call'd 〈◊〉 impose upon the People by vain Titles anâ— abuse the Name of the Church to the Ruiâ— of the Church and therefore they ought 〈◊〉 the first place to prove this truly and plainâ— to us viz. that the Church of Rome as it 〈◊〉 now managed by them is the true and Oâ—â—thodox Church of God and that it agrees with the Primitive Church of Christ and his Apostles and of the Holy Fathers which Primitive Church we doubt not was the Catholick Church We indeed will readily grant that there is no cause why we should forsake their Society if we could once perswade our selves that Ignorance Error Superstition the Worship of Idols the Inventions of Men and they very often quite contrary to the Holy Scriptures did either please God or sufficiently promote our Salvation or if we could once believe that the Word of God were only written for some years and after that were to be abrogated or that the Words and Laws of God were intirely to be submitted to the Wills of Men so as whatever he saith or commandeth except the Bishop of Rome wills and commands the same too it were to be esteemed void and not spoken But in that we have departed from a Church whose Errors are attested and manifest and which has apparently departed from the Word of God and whereas we have not so much departed from her as from her Errors and that not turbulently and injuriously but quietly and modestly in all this we say we have done nothing contrary to Christ and his Apostles For the Church of God is not of that nature that it cannot possibly be darkned with any Spots or sometimes not need a Reformation for if it were so what need were there of all those Councils and great Meetings without which as Aegidius saith the Christian Faith cannot stand for saith he as often as Councils are intermitted so often is the Church left by Christ Or if there be no danger that the Church can take dammage what need is there of the insignificant as they have ordered the Matter Name of Bishops Why are they call'd Pastors if there be no Sheep that can go astray Why are they call'd Watch-men if there be no City that can be betrayed Why Pillars if there be nothing that can sink down into Ruine when not supported by them In the very beginning of the World the Church of God was begun and she was then instructed by a heavenly Word which God sent out of his own Mouth She was furnished with Ceremonies taught by thâ— Spirit of God by the Patriarchs and Prophets and so she was preserved and brought down to those times in which Christ shewed himself in the Flesh 22. BUT O immortal God! How ofteâ— was She in the mean time and how horrible darkned and diminished For where wâ—â— She when all Flesh had corrupted their waâ— upon the Earth Where was She when then was only eight Persons and not all those neither Chast and Pious whom God was pleaâ—ed to rescue out of a common Ruine and preserve alive in a general Destruction Wheâ— Elijah so bitterly and mournfully complain'd that he only was left of all the Earth whâ— did truly and rightly worship God Wheâ— Isaiah said the Silver of the People of God that is the Church was become Dross and the once Faithful City was become an Harlâ—â— and that in her from the Head to the Sole 〈◊〉 the Foot there was no soundness in her wholâ— Body or when Christ said that the House of God was by the Scribes and Pharisees turn'd into a Den of Thieves for the Church of Christ like a Corn-field if it be not ploughed and broken tilled and dressed instead of Wheat it will bring forth Thistles Darnel and Nettles And therefore God from time to time sent Prophets and Messengers and at last Christ himself to reduce the People into the right way and to restore the sinking Church to her former Strength and Beauty And now let no man say these things could only happen under the Law when the Church was under the Shadow and in her Infancy when Truth was covered with Figures and Ceremonies and nothing was yet brought to perfection when the Law was not written on the Hearts of Men but on Tables of Stone tho this Pretence is very ridiculous for there was then the same God the same Christ the same Spirit the same Doctrine the same Faith the same Hope the same Inheritance the same Covenant and the same efficacy in the Word of God And Eusebius faith that all the Faithful from Adam were indeed Christians tho they were not so call'd Let no man I say speak thus for St. Paul the Apostle found the same Errors and Defects under the Gospel in the highest Perfection and the greatest Light so that he was forced to write thus to the Galatians whom he had just before setled I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain and that you have to no purpose
tho we are silent they may be pleased to hear their own St. Bernard Those Bishops saith he to whom the Church of God is now committed are not Teachers but Seducers not Pastors but Impostors not Prelates but Pilates Thus St. Bernard wrote then of him that call'd himself the Great Pontiff and of the Bishops who then sate at the Helm He was no Heretick he was no Lutheran he never forsook their Church and yet he never stuck at calling those Bishops they then had Seducers Impostors Pilates And now when the People were openly seduced and Christians imposed upon and Pilate mounted the Tribunal and adjudged Christ and his Members to the Fire and Sword O good God! in what condition was the Church then And now of so many and such gross Errors what one Error have they reformed to this day yea what one Error have they at any time acknowledged and confessed 26. BUT now whereas they pretend to be in Possession of the whole Catholick Church and call us Hereticks because we do not agree with them Let us see what Mark that Church hath of the Church of God Nor is the Church of God very difficult to be found if you seriously and diligently seek for it for it is placed in an high and illustrious Place and built on the top of a Mountain and the Foundations of it are laid upon the Apostles and Prophets There saith St. Augustin let us seek the Church there let us try our Cause and in another place he saith the Church is to be shown cut of the sacred Scriptures and whatever Society cannot derive it self from them is not the Church And yet I know not whence it proceeds whether from Reverence or Conscience or a despair of Victory that these men always dread and shun the Word of God as much as a Thief does the Gallows and in truth it is no Wonder for as they say a Beetle is presently extinguished in Opobalsam altho it is a most fragrant Oyntment So they see their Cause is suffocated and ruined when ever it comes near the Scriptures which are a sort of deadly Poyson to it Therefore they accustom themselves to call the Holy Scriptures which our Saviour Jesus Christ did not only cite on all occasions but at the last sealed them with his Blood that they may drive the People from them as if they were dangerous and destructive with the greater facility these very Scriptures I say they call a cold uncertain unprofitable dumb killing dead Letter which seems to us to be the same thing as if they should wholly deny them to be the Word of God And besides all this they commonly add a no very proper Simile too They are say they a Nose of Wax and may be form'd and set all manner of ways and be made to serve all manner of Purposes Does the Pope not know that that these things are said by his Followers Does he not understand what kind of Patrons he has 27. LET the Pope then be pleased to hear how piously and how holily Hosius a certain Polander and a Bishop as he saith himself certainly an eloquent and not unlearned man and a sharp and violent defender of his Interest writes concerning the Scriptures I believe he will admire a pious man could possibly entertain such impious Thoughts or write so contemptuously of those very words which he knew proceeded from the Mouth of God and above all that he should seem to desire that it might not pass for his Sense alone but the common Opinion of the whole Popish Party We saith he have bid adieu to the Scriptures having seen so many not only different but contrary Interpretations given of them let us then rather hear God himself speak then apply our selves and trust our Salvation to those jejune Elements There is no need of being Skilful in the Law and Scriptures but of being taught by God That Labour is ill imployed that is bestowed on the Scriptures for the Scripture is a Creature and a poor kind of Element Thus far Hosius in his Book of the express Word of God in this place craftily under the Person of another Man tho he speaks the same thing in several other places in the same Book as his own Opinion without any disguise which is said with the same Spirit and Affection as the like things were heretofore by Montanus and Marcion who are reported frequently to have said when they contemptuously rejected the Holy Scriptures that they knew more and better things than either Christ or his Apostles ever knew What then shall I say on this Occasion O ye Pillars of Religion O ye Presidents of the Church of Christ is this the Reverence ye pay to the Word of God Do ye bid an Adieu to the Sacred Scriptures which St. Paul saith are divinely inspir'd which the Holy God hath illustrated by so many Miracles in which the certain Footsteps of Jesus Christ are imprinted which were cited as Testimonies by all the Holy Fathers by the Apostles by Christ himself the Son of God when occasion requir'd it do ye I say bid adieu to these as if they were not worthy of your regard that is do ye impose silence upon God who it is that speaks clearly to you in the Scriptures Or will you call that Word a poor and a dead Element by which only as St. Paul saith we are reconcil'd to God and which as the Prophet David saith is Holy and Pure and shall endure for ever Or will you say that all the Pains we spend in that which Christ commanded us to search diligently and to have ever in our Eye is lost and that Christ and the Apostles when they exhorted the People to a careful Perusal of the Scriptures that they might thereby abound in all Knowledge and Wisdom designed only to delude and abuse Men It is no wonder that these men despise us and our Writings who thus undervalue God himself and his Oracles but it was a most foolish Action to offer so great an Affront to the Word of God that they might do us a small mischief 28. AND now as if all this were too little they commit the Holy Scriptures to the Fire as the wicked King Jehojakim and as Antiochus and Maximinus two Heathen Persesecutors did calling them the Books of Hereticks and they seem altogether disposed to imitate Herod the Great in what he did for the establishing of his Power for he being an Idumaean of another Race and Blood then the Jews were and desiring to be thought a Jews that so he might the better settle that his Kingdom over them which he had obtained from Augustus Caesar he commanded all their Genealogies which they kept in their Publick Register and were carefully preserved from Abrahams times by which without any Error it was easie to find of which Tribe any person was descended to be burnt and abolished that there might be nothing to be found for the
Arts. 12. NOW if we make it appear and that not obseurely and craftily but bona fide before God truly ingeniously clearly and perspicuously that we teach the most holy Gospel of God and that the antient Fathers and the whole Primitive Church are on our side and that we have not without just cause left them and return'd to the Apostles and the antient Catholick Fathers and if they who so much detest our Doctrine and pride themselves in the name of Catholicks shall apparently see that all those Pretences of Antiquity of which they so immoderately glory belong not to them and that there is more strength in our Cause than they thought there was then we hope that none of them will be so careless of his Salvation but he will at some time or other bethink himself which side he ought to joyn with Certainly if a man be not of an hard and obdurate Heart and resolved not to hear he can never repent the having once considered our Defence and the attending what is said by us and whether it be agreeable or no to the Christian Religion 13. FOR whereas they call us Hereticks that is so dreadful a Crime that except it be apparently seen except it be palpable and as it were to be felt with our Hands and Fingers it ought not to be easily believed that a Christian is or can be guilty of it for Heresie is a Renunciation of our Salvation a Rejection of the Grace of God and a departure from the Body and Spirit of Christ But this was ever the Custom and Usage of them and of their Fore-fathers that if any presumed to complain of their Errors and desired the Reformation of Religion they condemn'd them forthwith for Hereticks as Innovators and factious men Christ himself was call'd a Samaritan for no other cause but for that they thought he had made a defection to a new Religion or Heresie And St. Paul the Apostle being call'd in question was accused of Heresie to which he replied After the Way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets 14. In short all that Religion which we Christians now profess in the beginning of Christianity was by the Pagans call'd a Sect or Heresie with these words they fill'd the ears of Princes that when out of prejudice they had once possessed their minds with an Aversion for us and that they were perswaded that whatever we said was Factious and Heretical they might be diverted from reflecting upon the thing it self or ever hearing or considering the Cause but by how much the greater and more grievous this Crime is so much the rather ought it to be proved by clear and strong Arguments especially at this time because men begin now adays a little to distrust the Fidelity of their Oracles and to inquire into their Doctrine with much greater industry than has heretofore been imployed for the People of God in this Age are quite of another Disposition than they were heretofore when all the Responses and Dictates of the Popes of Rome were taken for Gospel and all Religion depended upon their Authority the Holy Scriptures and the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets are every where now to be had out of which all the true and Catholick Doctrine may be proved and all Heresies may be refuted 15. BUT seeing they can produce nothing out of the Scriptures against us it is very injurious and cruel to call us Hereticks who have not revolted from Christ nor from the Apostles nor from the Prophets By the Sword of Scripture Christ overcame the Devil when he was Tempted by him with these Weapons every high thing that exalteth it self against God is to be brought down and dispersed for all Scripture saith St. Paul is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good Works and accordingly the Holy Fathers have never fought against Hereticks with any other Arms than what the Scriptures have afforded them St. Augustin when he disputed against Petilianus a Donatist Heretick useth these words Let not saith he these words be heard I say or thou sayest but rather let us say thus saith the Lord let us seek the Church there let us judge of our Cause by that And St. Jerom saith Let whatever is pretended to be delivered by the Apostles and cannot be proved by the Testimony of the writen Word be struck with the Sword of God And St. Ambrose to the Emperor Gratian Let the Scriptures saith he let the Apostles let the Prophets let Christ be interrogated The Catholick Fathers and Bishops of those times did not doubt but our Religion might be sufficiently proved by Scripture nor durst they esteem any man an Heretick whose Error they could not perspicuously and clearly prove such by Scripture And as to us we may truly reply with St. Paul After the way which they call HERESIE so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets or the Writings of the Apostles 16. IF therefore we be Hereticks and they as they desire to be call'd be Catholicks why do they not do what they see the Fathers and all other Catholicks have done why do they not convince us out of the Holy Scriptures why do they not try us by them why do they not shew that we have made a defection from Christ from the Prophets from the Apostles and from the Holy Fathers Why do they stand Why do they draw back It is the Cause of God Why then should they fear to commit it to the Arbitriment of the Word of God But if we are Hereticks who submit all ouâ— Controversies to the Holy Scriptures and appeal to those very Words which we know were consigned to writing by God himself and prefer them before all other things which can possibly be excogitated by the Wit of Man what are they or by what Name shall they be call'd who fear and shun the Sentence of the Scriptures that is the Judgment of God himself and prefer their own Dreams and silly Inventions before them and have for some Ages violated the Institutions of Christ and his Apostles for the sake of their Traditions There is a Story of Sophocles the Tragedian that when he was very old he was accused before the Judges by his own Sons for a childish and a silly Person as one that had wasted his Estate by ill managery and stood in need of a Guardian in his old Age to take care of him and it the old Man appeared in Court and instead of a Deâ—ence recied a Tragedy which he had very elaborately and elegantly written just in that time the Suit was depending and thereupon asked the Judges if that Poem were the Work of a childish person 16.
speaâ— their minds truly and freely they themselve cannot deny but that all things are purly and reverently administred and as far as we can possibly according to the Example and Manner of the ancient times Let them compare their Church and ours together and they will soon see that they have most basely departed from the Apostles and we have most justly and reasonably departed from them for we with Christ and the Apostles and Primitive Fathers give the intire and whole Eucharist to the People but they contrary to the Practice of all the Fathers and Apostles and of Christ himself divide that Sacrament with an high Sacrilege as Gelasius expresseth it and deprive the People of one half of it 2. We have recalled the Lords Supper to its first Institution and have made it common to as many as was possible that it might be as it is called a Communion But they contrary to the Institution of Christ of a Holy Communion have made it a private Mass and so we give the People the Lords Supper they entertain them with a vain Show 3. We affirm with the ancient Fathers that the Body of Christ is eaten by none but Holy and Faithful Men who are endowed with the Spirit of Christ but they say that the very Body of Christ may be truly and indeed or as they express it really and substantially eaten not only by impious and unbelieving Men but which is abominable to be spoken by Mice and Dogs 4. We pray so in our Churches that according to St. Paul's Admonition the People may know what is prayed and understandingly answer Amen to the common Prayers They like tinkling Brass pour out in the Church unknown and strange Words without Understanding Sense or Meaning and take all the care they can that the People may understand nothing 5. And that we may not mention all the differences because they are almost infinite we have turned the Holy Scriptures into all Languages and they will scarce allow them to be extant in any Tongue We invite the People to read and hear the Word of God they drive them away from it We desire the Cause in Controversie should be understood by all but they fly from Judgment We trust to Knowledge they to Ignorance We trust to the Light and they to Darkness We venerate as it is fit we should the Words of the Apostles and Prophets they burn them Lastly in the Cause of God we desire to stand or fall by the Judgment of God alone and they would stand only by their own Now therefore if they would consider all these things with a sedate and quiet mind well disposed to hear and learn they would not only approve our design who having left their Errors have applyed our selves to follow Christ and his Apostles but they would likewise fall off from themselves and certainly unite with us in our way CHAP. VI. Of the Great Value we have for Councils and of the little regard the Papists have for them BUT in the next place they pretend that it is altogether unlawful to attempt any of these things without the consent of a General Council because in that is lodged all the Power of the Church and Christ hath promised that there he will never fail to be present But as I said they have violated the Commandments of God the Decrees of the Apostles and almost all the Institutions and Doctrines of the Primitive Church without ever expecting any such Sacred Council 2. AND whereas they pretend that it is not Lawful for any Church to change any thing without a General Council who imposed these Laws upon us or from whence had they this Edict That King acted very ridiculously who when he was assured by an Oracle of the Will and Pleasure of Jupiter the Great Heathen God referred the thing again to Apollo that he might see whether he were of the same mind with his Father Jupiter But we should act much more imprudently if when we have heard God himself speaking to us in the Scriptures and thereby know his Will and Pleasure as if all this were nothing we should after all refer the thing to a Council which is nothing better than to try whether God and Man are both of one mind and whether Men will please to approve and enforce the Laws of God by their Authority For what shall not truth be truth except a Council is pleased to will and require it Or shall not God be God without their consent If Christ at the beginning would have acted thus and would neither have taught nor spoken any thing without the consent of the High Priests and if he had referred his whole Doctrine to Annas and Caiphas where had the Christian Faith been now Or who had ever heard of the Gospel And St. Peter whom the Pope mentions more frequently and with greater Elogies than he doth Jesus Christ himself confidently withstood the Sacred Council and replied it is better to obey God than Man And St. Paul when he had once throughly imbibed the Gospel and that neither from man nor by man but only by the Will of God deliberated not with Flesh and Blood nor did he refer the thing to his Kinsmen and Brethren but straight way went into Arabia that he might there publish the Divine Mysteries which he had learned of God himself 3. WE do not despise Councils nor the Meetings and Consultations of Bishops and learned Men nor have we done what we have done without Bishops and a Council the thing was debated along time in a full Assembly of the States But what we may expect from that Council which is now pretended to be held by Pope Pius the IV. in which men are with such facility condemn'd uncall'd unheard and unseen is not mighty difficult to conjecture When Nazianzen in his times saw men in these Meetings so blind and obstinate that they were wholly lead by their Affections and that they sought Victory more than Truth he confidently said that he never saw a good end put to any of the Councils What would he now say if he were living and understood their Transactions for then altho there was some Faction and Partiality yet Causes were heard and considered and manifest apparent Errors were taken away by their united Suffrages But our Adversaries will not so much as suffer the Cause to be freely debated nor will they suffer any one of the many Errors that are crept into the Church to be changed for they are wont frequently and impudently to boast that their Church cannot Err that there is not the least fault in it that nothing was to be yielded to us or that if any thing were granted it was to be at the Discretion of the Bishops and Abbots that they were the sole Moderators of Affairs and that they were the Church of God Aristotle saith that Bastards cannot make a Civil Society or State and they may consider whether they be any better
Holy Fathers the Prophets the Apostles against St. Peter St. Paul and even against Christ himself 7. BUT now if they are so ambitious of the Honour of being thought polite and eloquent Slanderers it does so much the less befit us to be mute and careless in the Defence of our most excellent Cause for it is certainly the part only of dissolute Men who can securely and wickedly shut their Eyes when the Divine Majesty is injured to be wholly unconcern'd what is tho' falsly and unjustly said of them and their Cause especially when it is of that Nature that the Glory of God and the Affairs of Religion are at the same time violated for although other and those often very great Injuries may be born and dissembl'd by a modest Christian yet He saith Ruffinus who shall patiently put up the Name of an Heretick does not deserve to be called a Christian Permit us then to do that which all Laws and the very Voice of Nature commands us that which Christ himself did when he was in a like Case assaulted with Reproaches that is suffer us to repel their Defamations and with Modesty and Truth to defend our Cause and Innocence for Christ himself when the Pharisees charged him with Conjuration as if he had entered a Combination with impure Spirits and by their Assistance wrought many Wonders replied I have not a Devil but I honour my Father and ye do dishonour me and St. Paul when he was undervalued by Festus the Proconsul as a Mad-man answered I am not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the Words of Truth and Soberness And the Primitive Christians when they were traduced to the People as Murtherers Adulterers Incestuous Persons and Disturbers of the Government and saw that the Excellence of their Religion might be call'd in question especially if they held their Peace and by their Silence seemed to confess the truth of these Accusations and so the Course of the Gospel might be hindered they thereupon made publick Orations wrote supplicant Books and discoursed before Emperors and Princes in the publick defence of themselves and the Chruch 8. BUT we perhaps may seem not to need any Defence so many thousands of our Brethren in the last twenty years having born testimony to the Truth amidst the most exquisite Tortures and Princes in endeavouring to put a stop to the Progress of the Gospel and to that purpose using several Methods having yet in the end been able to effect nothing and the whole World now beginning to open their Eyes and to see the Light and therefore it may seem as I said that enough hath been spoken and that our Case is sufficiently defended the thing speaking for it self for if the Popes themselves would or indeed if they could consider with themselves the Beginning and Progress of our Religion how theirs without any Resistance without any humane Force hath fallen and in the interim ours hath increased and by degrees been propagated into all Countries and hath been entertained in the Courts of Kings and the Palaces of Princes even whilst it was opposed from the beginning by Emperors by Kings by Popes and almost by all others these things I say are clear Indications that God himself sights for us and doth from Heaven deride and scorn their Projects and Endeavours and that the Power of Truth is so great that no humane Force nor the very Gates of Hell shall ever be able to prevail against it for so many free Cities so many Princes cannot be supposed mad as at this day have fallen from the See of Rome and chosen rather to joyn themselves to the Gospel 9. FOR although Popes have not as yet at any time been at leisure to think attentively and seriously of these things or although other Thoughts may now hinder and distract them or they may think these things light and beneath the Dignity of the Popedom is our Cause therefore to be thought ever the worse or if perhaps they will pretend not to see what indeed they do see and that they choose rather to oppose the Truth even then when they are convinced of it are we therefore presently to be reputed Hereticks because we cannot comply with their Wills If Pope Pius the IIII. had been such a Person as his Name speaks him and as he so much desires to be thought nay indeed if he had but been so good a man as to have esteem'd us as his Brethren or as MEN certainly he would diligently have considered our Reasons and what could have been alledged for and against us and not with so rash and blindfold a precipitancy have condemned without hearing our cause or allowing the Liberty of a Defence so considerable a part of the World so many learned so many Religious men so many Common-wealths so many Kings and so many Princes as he has sentenced in his Bull concerning his late pretended Council 10. BUT now because We are so publickly in this unjust manner noted by him left by our silence we should seem to confess the Crimes charged upon us and the rather because we could in no manner be heard in any publick Council where he would suffer none to have any Suffrage or propose his Judgment who was not first sworn to him and intirely addicted to his Interest for of this we had too great an experience in the last Council of Trent when the Ambassadors and Divines of the Princes and free Cities of Germany were totally excluded out of the Council nor can we forgot that Julius the III. above ten years since took a mighty care by his Rescript that none of our Men might be heard in the Council except it were one that was disposed to recant and change his Opinion For these causes I say we have thought fit by this Book to give an account of our Faith and to answer truly and publickly what hath been publickly objected against us that the whole World may see the Parts and Reasons of that Faith which so many good men have valued above their Lives and that all Mankind may understand what kind of men they are and what they think of God and Religion whom the Bishop of Rome has inconsiderately enough before they had made their Defence without Example and without Law condemn'd for Hereticks upon a bare report that they differed from him and his in some points of Religion 11. AND though St. Jerome will allow no man to be patient under the Suspicion of Heresie yet we will not behave our selves neither sowerly nor irreverently nor angerly tho' he ought not to be esteemed either sharp or abusive who speaks nothing but the truth no we will leave that sort of Oratory to our Adversaries who think whatsoever they speak although it be never so sharp and reproachful modest and apposite when it is applied to us and they are as little concern'd whether it be true or false but we who defend nothing but the Truth have no need of such base
ancient Councils and the Scriptures They have not O good God! they have not on their sides what they pretend to have they have neither Antiquity nor Universality nor the consent of either all times or all Nations And of this they are not ignorant themselves tho they craftily dissemble their Knowledge Yea at times they will not obscurely confess it and therefore sometimes they will alledge that the Sanctions of the ancient Councils and Fathers are such as may lawfully be changed for different Decrees say they will best suit the different State of the Church in different times And so they hide themselves under the name of the Church and by a wretched sham delude Mankind And in truth it is a great wonder that Men should be so blind as not to see these things or if they do see them so patient as to bear and indure them with that stupidity and unconcernment they seem to have 9. BUT tho they have abrogated the Canons of the ancient Councils as too old and overworn yet perhaps they have settled neâ— and more useful Rules in their place for they have the confidence to say that if Christ himself or his Apostles should arise from the Dead they could not administer the Affairs of the Church of God better or more piously than it is now administered by them Indeed they have put others in the place of the former but as Jeremias saith Chaff instead of Wheat or as Isaiah saith What God never required at their Hands for they have stopped up all the veins of Living Waters and have hewen for the People of God broken and polluted Cisterns being full of mud and dregs which neither have in them any pure Water nor can hold it if it were put into them They have torn from the People the Holy Communion the word of God from which all true Comfort could only be expected the true Worship of God the right use of the Sacraments and Prayers of the Church and they have given us to please our selves withall in the mean time of their own pure invention consecrated Salts Waters Oyls Spittle Palmes Bulls Jubiles Indulgences Crosses Censings and an infinite number of Ceremonies And as Plautus calls others of the like nature Ludos Ludificabiles Shews and Pageants that are very divertising and good for nothing else In these things they have made all Religion to consist and they have taught the People that by these things God is rightly appeased and that by these things Devils are put to flight and the Consciences of Men quieted and confirmed For these are the Paints and Perfumes of Christianity these are the grateful and acceptable things to the All-seeing God these are to be had in honour that Christ's and his Apostles Institutions may be taken away And as heretofore the wicked King Jeroboam when he had taken away the true Service of God and perswaded the People instead of it to accept the Golden Calves for fear they might change their minds and fall from him and return to the Temple of God at Jerusalem made a long Oration to them exhorting them to Constancy saying to them These are thy Gods O Israel thus did your God command you to worship him But it would be very grievous and troublesome for you to take so long a Journey and to go up every year to worship and adore God at Jerusalem Even so our Adversaries when they had once by their Traditions quash'd the Laws of God lest the People should afterwards open their Eyes and fall off from them and seek a better way of assuring their Salvation O how often have they exclaimed that this is the true Worship of God which he is pleased with and hath required of us and by which he will be appeased when he is angry and that it is grievous and troublesome to the People to have recourse to Christ and the Apostles and Fathers and to attend perpetually what they require of them Is this their way of bringing the People of God off from the weak Elements of the World from the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees and from humane Traditions Are the Commandments of Christ and his Apostles to be taken away that these goodly things may succeed them O most righteous Cause why should an old Doctrine which hath been approved for many Ages be antiquated and a new Form of Religion be brought into the Church of God! Ay but say they be it what it will nothing ought to be changed the minds of Men are wonderous well satisfied with these things the Church of Rome has so decreed and she cannot err for Sylvester Prierias saith That the Church of Rome is the Rule and Model of Truth and that the Holy Scriptures have received from her all their Faith and Authority The Doctrine saith he again of the Church of Rome is the infallible Rule of Faith from whence the Holy Scriptures have all their strength For Indulgences were not made known to us by the Authority of Scriptures but they were made known by the Authority of the Church and Popes of Rome which is greater than the Scriptures Pighius doth not fear to say that without the command of the Church of Rome we are not to believe the most clear place of Scripture Which is just as if one of those who cannot speak good and pure Latin and yet by use and custom has got the faculty readily and fluently to blunder on in the Lawyer 's Latin should therefore stand stoutly to it that all others are bound to speak it after the same manner that was many years since in use with Mammetrectus and the Catholicon which they still use in their Pleadings because by that means men might very easily be understood and their Humours might be gratified but on the other side that it were ridiculous to trouble the World now with a new way of speaking and to reduce into practice again the old Purity and Eloquence of the Latin Tongue used in the times of Cicero and Caesar 10. SO much are they indebted to the Ignorance and blindness of the former times that as one saith Many things are often had in great esteem because they were once dedicated to the Service of the Gods So now we see many things are magnified and applauded by them not because they judge them worthy of this Esteem but only because by Custom they were once received and thereby in a sort dedicated to the Service of God But they pretend that their Church cannot Err. I suppose they speak this in the same sense as the Lacedemonians were wont to say there was no such thing as Adultery in their Common-wealth when in truth they were all Adulterers and used an uncertain sort of Marriages and had their Wives in common Or as the Hungry Canonists now say of the Pope that he being Lord of all Benefices altho he sells Bishopricks Monasteries and Livings and suffers nothing to go from him without Money yet because he claims all
these as his own tho he would yet he cannot commit Simony But then how well or rationally this is spoken we poor Men cannot see or understand except as the ancient Romans served Victory so they have served Truth for when she once came flying to them they clipt her Wings that she might no more sly from them But what if Jeremias should tell them as we have observed above that these are lying Words And what again if he should say That many Pastors who ought to have dressed have destroyed my Vineyard What if Christ should say that those who should have taken the greatest care of the Temple have made the House of God a Dâ—n of Thieves For if the Church of Rome cannot Err she is more beholding to her own good Fortune than to their Prudence or Care for such are their Lives Doctrines and Diligence that if we are to take our Measures from thence this Church is not only in danger of falling into â—rror but of a total Ruine and Destruction And certainly if that Church can err which hath departed from the Word of God the Commandments of Christ the Institutions of the Apostles the Examples of the Primitive Church and from the Canons and Sanctions of the ancient Fathers and Councils yea and from her own too which will be obliged by neither old nor new Laws by neither her own nor any others by neither Divine nor Humane Laws I say if all this be to err then it is certain that the Church of Rome not only may err but that she hath most wickedly and lewdly erred 11. BUT they say we were once of their Communion but now we are Apostates and have departed from them indeed we have departed from them and we bless the Great and Holy God for it and please our selves mightily in it but then we have not departed from the Primitive Church from the Apostles from Christ we were educated indeed with them in darkness and ignorance of God as Moses was in the Discipline and bosom of the Egyptians We were of your Number saith Tertullian and I confess it but what wonder is there in that Men are made and not born Christians But then I may as well ask them why they have descended from the seven Hills on which the ancient City of Rome stood to dwell in the Plains in the Martian Field to which perhaps they would reply that the Aquaeducts without which they could not conveniently dwell on those Hills have failed Let them then but grant the same liberty in relation to the Waters of Life which they expect we should afford them in regard of the common Family-water The Springs did now fail with them The Elders saith Jeremiah sent their little ones to the Waters they came to the Pits and found no Water they returned with their Vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads Or as Isaiah saith The Poor and the Needy seek Water and there is none and their Tongue faileth for thirst They had broken all their Conduits and Water-courses they had stopped up all the Springs and covered the Fountain of Living Waters with mire and mud and as Caligula by shutting up all the publick Granaries enjoyned the People of Rome to fast so they by stopping up the Fountains of the Word of God had enjoyned the People to undergo the Miseries of a destructive Thirst they have as the Prophet Amos saith brought upon the World a Famine Not a Famine of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Words of the Lord. Miserable Men went searching about for a small spark of Divine Light to chear their Consciences but they were all gone out and they could find none this was the miserable Condition and State of their Church men lived wretchedly in it with out the Gospel and without Light or Conslation 12. AND therefore how afflictive soever our departure from them may seem to them yet they ought at the same time to consider how just the cause of it was for if they say in general it is not lawful to leave that Society in which thou wert educated this were in our Persons to condemn the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself for why is it not as reasonable to blame Lot for leaving Sodom Abraham for leaving Chaldea the Hebrews for leaving Egypt Christ for leaving the Jews and St. Paul for leaving the Pharisees For except it be granted that there may be a just cause of departure we can see no cause why these may not in the same manner as we are be accused of Faction and Sedition But if we are to be thought Hereticks because we will not obey all their unjust commands what are they Who or what are they to be thought who have contemned the Commands of Christ and his Apostles If we are Schifmaticks who have forsaken them by what name shall we call them who have forsaken the Greeks from whom they first received the Christian Faith the Primitive Church Christ and the Apostles who were their Spiritual Parents For the Greek Church who at this day profess the Religion and Name of Christ altho they have in many things contaminated it yet they still retain a great part of those things which they received from the Apostles And so they have no private Masses no maimed Sacraments no Purgatory nor Indulgences And as to the Papal Titles and magnificent Names they have this esteem of them that whoever calls himself the universal Bishop and the Head of the whole Church is a proud Man and injurious to all the other Bishops who are his Brethren nor will they scruple on this single account to call him Heretick 13. BUT now seeing it is apparent and cannot be denied that they have made a defection from them from whom they received the Gospel the Christian Faith and Religion yea and the very being of a Church what cause is there to be given why they should not return back to them as to their Original Why should they so much dread the times of the Fathers and Apostles as if they had seen nothing Why do they see more or love the Church better than they who delivered what they have to them for as for us we have forsaken a Church in which we could neither hear the pure Word of God nor administer the Sacraments nor invoke the Name of God as we ought which they themselves acknowledge to be faulty in many things and in which there was nothing to retain a prudent Man who thought seriously of his Salvation Lastly We have departed from a Church which is not now what anciently she was and so we have departed as Daniel did out of the Den of Lyons as the three Children did out of the fiery Furnace or to speak more properly we have not so much departed from them as been cast out by them with Execrations and Curses 14. BUT then we have united our selve to that Church in which if they would
against King John another of our Princes the Bishops and Monks and some part of the Nobility and absolved all his Subjects from that Oath of Allegiance they had taken to him and at last by the highest Impiety not only deprived him of his Kingdom but his Life and they wounded Henry the VIII a most noble Prince with their Curses and Excommunications and stir'd up against him sometimes the Emperor and sometimes the King of France and as much as in them lay exposed our Kingdom to be a Prey and a Booty to them like a company of silly men as they were to think so great a Prince would be frighted with Vizors and Rattles or that so great a Kingdom could be devoured at one mouthful and as if all this had not been enough they would needs make England a tributary Province and yearly most unjustly exacted a considerable Revenue out of it so much has the Friendship of the City of Rome cost us Now if they extorted these great Advantages from us by Impostures and ill Arts there is no reason why we should not by good Methods and Laws recover them back again but if on the other side our Kings induced by an Opinion of their simulated Holiness in the darkness of those times freely bestowed these things on them upon the account of Religion there is now very good reason that our latter Kings having discovered the Error of their Ancestors should take them away again they being possess'd of the same Power with the former Kings for every Donation becomes void when it is no longer approved by the Will of the Giver but it can never seem a Will which is clouded and impeded by Error The Conclusion THUS I have acquainted thee my Reader that it is no new or strange thing to see the Christian Religion in these days upon its Restitution and Revival in the World entertain'd with Slanders and Reproaches for the same things happened to Christ himself and his Apostles And yet least thou shouldest be misled and imposed upon by these Clamors of our Adversaries we have represented to thee what the whole manner of our Religion is what we believe concerning God the Father concerning his only Son Jesus Christ and concerning the Holy Ghost what our Opinion is concerning the Church the Sacraments the Ministry the Holy Scriptures the Ceremonies of the Church and all the other parts of the Christian Religon We have declared also that we detest as pernicious to the Souls of Men and plagues all those Ancient Heresies that have been condemn'd by the old Councils and Holy Scriptures That we have reduced into practise again as much as we can possibly the Ecclesiastical Discipline which our Adversaries had much weakned and that we punish all Licentious Courses of Life and Debauchery in Manners by our ancient and established Laws and that with as much 〈◊〉 as is fit and possible That we pâ—â—serve all Kingdoms in the same State we found them without any Diminution or Mutation and preserve the Majesty of our Princes intire as much as we can possibly That we have departed from that Church which they had made a Den of Thieves in which they had left nothing sound or like a Church and which they themselves confessed to have erred in many things as Lot left Sodom or Abraham Chaldea not out of Contention but out of Obedience to God and have sought the certain way of Religion out of the sacred Scriptures which we know cannot deceive us and have return'd to the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles that is to the beginning and first Rise of the Church as to the proper Fountain 2. THAT we have not indeed expected the Authority or consent of the Council of Trent in which we saw nothing was manag'd well and regularly where all that entered took an Oath to one Man where the Ambassadors of our Princes were despised and ill treated where none of our Divines could be heard where Partiality and Ambition openly carried all things and according to the Practice of the Holy Fathers and the Customs of our own Ancestors we have reformed our Churches in a Provincial Synod and according to our Duty we have cast off the Yoke and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome who had no just Authority over us nor was like either Christ or St. Peter or the Apostles or indeed like a Bishop in any thing Lastly we do all agree amongst ourselves in all the Doctrines and Points of the Christian Religion and do with one Spirit and one Mouth worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. WHEREFORE O Christian and Pious Reader now thou feest the Reasons and Causes of the Reformation of Religion with us and of our Departure from them thou oughtest not to wonder that we should rather choose to obey our Saviour than Men. St. Paul hath admonished us that we should not be carried away with every Wind of false Doctrine and especially that we should mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple Their Impostures accordingly like Batts and Owls do now sometime since begin to flie and steal away before the rising Sun and cannot indure the Light of the Gospel and altho they were in some sense built and heaped almost up to Heaven yet they sink down into Ruins of their own accord For thou oughtest not to think that those things happened accidentally or by chance It was certainly the Will of God that in these times the Gospel of Jesus Christ should in defiance of all opposition be spread abroad in the World and therefore men being moved by the Word of God freely betook themselves to the Doctrine of Christ and as for us we sought neither Riches nor Pleasure nor case by this Change for our Adversaries abound in all these and we had a much larger Share of them whilst we continued with them 4. NOR do we decline Concord and Peace with Men neither but yet we will not continue in a State of War God that we might have Peace with Men. The Name of Peace saith St. Hilary is Pleasant but then Peace and Servitude are not the same thing for if according to their desire the Name of Christ should be supprest the Truth of the Gospel betrayed their wicked Errors be dissembled the Eyes of Christian Men be deluded and a plain and apparent Conspiracy be carried on against God himself this is not saith that great Man Peace but the conditions of a most base Slavery There is saith Nazianzen an unprofitable Peace and there is an useful sort of Discord for we must pursue Peace with Conditions as far as 〈◊〉 lawful and in us lyeth and unless these Limitations may attend it Christ himself came not to bring Peace into the World
to me by Letters or by Messengers I will discover to man to his Damage I will be a Helper to defend the Papacy of the Church of Rome and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and to retain them against all men Of old when the Priests of Apollo Pythius spoke plainly in favour of Philip King of Macedonia there were some who facetiously said that Apollo began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Philippize And now we see plainly that nothing is decreed in the Council but by the Will and Consent of the Pope why may we not say that the Oracles of the Councils do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Papize that is speak nothing but what the Pope please Verres of old acted wisely of whom it is reported that being plainly guilty of many Crimes he would not commit his Reputation and Fame to any but confiding men of his own Flock and Party But yet the Pope is many degrees wiser for he will not have any Judges but such as he knows will not determine any thing against his Will because they have the same Interest he hath and esteem all things by the relation they have to their Pleasures and Bellies and yet if they would they could not do otherwise because they are bound to him by an Oath too indeed they place the Bible in the midst of the Council because they would seem not to act any thing against the Prescription thereof and yet they only look upon it at a good distance but never read one word of it in truth they bring with them a prejudicated Sentence and never attend what Christ saith or determine any thing but as it best pleaseth them 24. AND thus is all that Liberty which ought to be in all Consultations and especially in those which concern holy things and which doth best befit the holy Spirit and the Modesty of Christian Men wholly taken away St. Paul saith that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace but these men command him to be forthwith taken and hurried to Prison and burnt who shall but mutter any thing to the contrary as the cruel Death of the two holy and stout men John of Hus and Jerome of Prague is an excellent Witness against them which two men they murthered contrary to the publick Faith and were thereby false both to God and Man So the false Prophet Zedechias when he had made himself a pair of iron Horns smote Micaiah the Prophet of the Lord and said hath the Spirit of the Lord left me and come to thee thus having now excluded all others they reign in Councils alone and have the sole Right of Suffrages and so make and divulge such Laws as the Ephesians did of old Let no man said they who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiser than the rest presume to live here upon pain of Banishment and Transportation for these men will hear none of us About ten years since in the late Council at Trent the Ambassadors of the Princes of Germany and of the free Towns who came thither that they might be heard were excluded out of the Assembly and denied the Liberty of Speech for the Bishops and Abbots said they would suffer no free Debate of the Cause nor would they determine the Controversies by the Word of God and that those of our Side were not to be heard except they would recant which if they refused they were to expect no other terms in the Council but to be condem'd for Julius the III. in his Brief by which he call'd that Council publickly declared that if they did not change their Minds they should be condemned for Hereticks without ever hearing their Cause And Pius the IV. who hath now resolved to call again that Council hath by the prejudice of his own single Judgment commanded all those who have made defection from the Authority of the Church of Rome that is the greatest part of Christendom without ever seeing or hearing them to be taken and reputed Hereticks They are wont to say and that upon all occasions that all things are well and that they will not suffer the least part of their Doctrine and Religion to be altered Albertus Pighius saith that without the Command of the Church of Rome the most plain place of Scripture is not to be believed Now is this their way to restore the Church to her Integrity Is this their seeking Truth Is this the Liberty and Moderation which beâ—its a Council 25. AND altho these things are most unjust and most contrary to the Practice of the ancient Councils and the Usage of modest and good Men in their Deliberations yet it is much more unreasonable that whereas the whole World complains of the Ambition and Tyranny of the Pope of Rome and is perswaded that until he is reduced to a better Order all their Labours for the Reformation of the Church of God will be in vain and nothing will be done yet at last all things are referred to him alone as to the most equal Arbiter and Judge But O good God! to what Man I will not now say any of these things against him that he is an Enemy of the Truth an Ambitious Covetous Proud Man who is already become intolerable to his own But I say that it is the utmost pitch of Folly and Injustice to make him the sole Judge of all Religion who commands all his Dictates to be had in the self same Honour and Esteem as the Words of St. Peter are and saith that in case he should Mislead a thousand Souls and carry them with himself to Hell yet no man ought to reprehend him for it Who saith he can make Injustice to become Justice Whom Camotensis confesseth to have corrupted the Scriptures that he might have a Plenitude of Power And why should I use more words whom his own Companions and Ministers Joachimus Abbas Petrarcha Marsilius Patavinus Laurentius Valla and Hieronymus Savanarola have not obscurly hinted to be the Antichrist To the Judgment and Will I say of this one Man are all things submitted that this very Criminal may be both the Party accused and the Judge of his own very Case that this guilty man may sit aloft upon a Throne and his Accusers stand beneath whilst he gives Sentence for himself for Pope Julius had given us these just and reasonable Laws There is saith he no Council which is valid nor ever shall be unless supported by the Authority of the Church of Rome And Bonifacius the VIII saith that every Creature ought to be subject to the Church of Rome and that as they tender their Salvation And Pope Pascal useth this Expression as if any Councils had given Laws to the Church of Rome when in truth all the Councils have been held and received their Force from the Authority of the Church of Rome and in all their Statutes the Authority of the Pope of Rome is plainly and apparently excepted And another saith
whatever the Pope approves or disapproves we ought also to approve or disapprove and what the Pope allows no other man may disallow And another Flatterer who has lost all Modesty saith that altho the whole World should contradict the Opinion of the Pope in any thing yet it seems but reasonable to stand to the Iudgment of the Pope And another no less impudently saith it would be a sort of Sacriledge to dispute concerning an Action of the Pope who tho he is not a good man is yet ever presumed to be such And another more impudently The Pope saith he hath a Heavenly Will and therefore in those things which he wills his Will is instead of a Reason to him nor is there any man who may say to him why dost then act thus And that I may pass by many other things which might be alledged here because they are without number and at length come to a Conclusion Pope Innocentius the IX more impudently than any other useth these words This Judge the Pope may neither be judged by the Emperor nor by Kings nor by the while Chrgy nor yet by all the people O immortal God! how little is wanting of the Pride of Luciser I will ascend above the North and I will be like the most highest If all these things are true and the Popes have not belyed the World what need is there of a Council or if they will hold a sincere and free Council let all these things be condemn'd as dishonest and insolent Lyes and let them not only be laid aside as to the court and use of them but be razed out of all Books that the sum of Affairs may never more be left to the Will and Lust of one man and he too for many most just causes suspected But now on the contrary the Popes say they cannot err and that the Word of God is to be regulated according to their Prescription and besides all this before they enter upon their Papal Dignity they take an Oath that they will maintain the Faith of many late Councils in which all things are most fearfully depraved and they promise most religiously that they will not change any thing and therefore what wonder is it that no good is done by Councils that Errors and Abuses are not taken away that the Ambassadors of Princes are to no purpose call'd together from such distant places out of all Lands and yet I hear that there are some good men at this time who not well considering what they say tho they condemn the Pride of the Pope and his Persian State and Magnificence and his Epicurean Contempt of all Religion yet they would preserve for all that his Authority safe and intire and tho sometimes they confess him to be Antichrist yet for all that as soon as he ascends that Chair they do not question but he is the universal Bishop and the Head of the universal Church of Christ and here they please themselves as if the Holy Ghost were necessarily fixed to the Pope Court in the Adrian Mole but there is a Proverb that the Place doth not sanctifie the Man but the Man the Place And St. Jerome as he is cited by them saith they are not the Children of the Saints who hold their Places but those who imitate their good Actions for otherwise as Christ said the Scribes and Pharisees sate in Moses his Chair and he commanded his Disciples to acknowledge and submit to their Authority so far as they answered out of the Word of God What saith St. Augustin hath Christ said more here than that the Voice of the Shepherd was heard out of the Mouth of a mercenary Servant for sitting in that Chair they teach the Law of God therefore God teacheth by them but if they will teach their own things do not hear them do not do them for St. Paul saith Antichrist the Man of Sin shall sit in the Holy Place and therefore St. Jerome doth well admonish us thou dost attend St. Peter but then consider Judas thou submitest to Stephen but cast an Eye towards Nicholas as the same time Church Dignity doth not make a Christian Thus St. Jerome and certainly it is said that Marcellinus the Pope did sacrifice to Idols Pope Liberius was an Arrian Pope John the XXII was a Heretick in the point of the immortality of the Soul Pope John the VIII was a Woman and in her Popedom by a lewd Lust committed Adultery and in a Procession in the midst of the Pomp before the Eyes of the Bishops and Cardinals she brought forth a Child and Liranus saith that many Roman Popes apostized from the Faith of Christ and therefore we must not trust too much to Places Successions and vain Titles of Dignity The impious Nero was descended from Metellus the Pious and Annas and Caiaphas succeeded to Aaron and an Idol hath often been put in the place of God 26. BUT Sir I beseech you what is that vast Power and Authority that they so very insolently boast of Or from whence had they it from Heaven or from Men Christ say they said to Peter upon this Rock will I build my Church in these words the Papal Power is confirm'd for the Church of Christ is placed upon Peter as upon its Foundation but Christ in these words gave nothing to St. Peter apart from the rest of the Apostles neither did he here make any mention of the Pope or City of Rome Christ is that Rock Christ is that Foundation No man saith St. Paul can lay another Foundation than that which is already laid which is Jesus Christ 27. And St. Augustin upon this Rock saith he I will build my Church by the Words upon this Rock saith he is understood the Confession made by Peter saying thou art Christ the Son of the living God for saith he it is not said thou art a Rock but thou art Peter but the Rock was Christ And St. Basil upon these words upon this Rock that is saith he upon this Faith I will build my Church And the most ancient Father Origen the Rock saith he is every Disciple of Christ after he hath drunk of the Spiritual Rock which follows and upon every such Rock is all the Churches Doctrine built Now Sir if you will suppose that the whole Church is built only upon Peter what will you say of John the Son of Thunder and all the rest of the Apostles Or shall we dare to say that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against Peter only but against the rest of the Apostles and Heads of the Church those Gates may prevail or rather is that Saying that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail to be understood of all and every one of them of whom it was spoken and so is that other Expression to be taken too upon this Rock will I build my Church And are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given only to Peter by Christ or was no other of the blessed Apostles to