in their judgement From hence we see St. Paul had great reason to appeal from the High Priest and Elders to the Law and the Prophets because they were subject to errour and mistake but these are not 2. Because the Law and the Prophets are less liable to partiality than a living Judge or the Authority of the present Church I have oft-times wondered to hear men speak so advantageously of a living Judge before an Infallible Rule in order to the end of Controversies If all they mean be only that an end be put to them no matter how I confess a living Judge in that case hath much the advantage but so would any other way that persons would agree upon as the judgement of the next person we met with or Lottery or any such thing but if we would have things fairly examined and heard and a judgement given according to the merits of the cause the case will be found very different here from what it is in civil causes For here the Judge must be a party concerned when his own Authority and interest is questioned and lyable to all those passions which men are subject to in their own cases Which will be notoriously evident in the case before us between the High Priest and Elders on one side and St. Paul on the other They pleaded that if any difficulty arose about the sense of the Law it belonged to them to judge of it St. Paul declines their judgement and appeals only to the Law and the Prophets had it been reasonable in this case for Felix to have referred the judgement to them who were the parties so deeply concerned A living Judge may have a great advantage over a bare Rule to put an end to controversies but then we must suppose impartiality in him freedom from prejudice an excellent judgement diligence and patience in hearing all the evidence and at last delivering sentence according to the sense of the Law if any of these be wanting the controversie may soon be ended but on the wrong side I suppose none of those who would have controversies in Religion ended by a living Judge will for shame say they would have them ended right or wrong but if they would have Truth determined they must give us assurance that these Judges shall lay aside all partiality to their own interests all prejudice against their Adversaries shall diligently search and examine and weigh the evidence on both sides and then shall determine according to the true sense of the Law How likely this is will appear by the living Judges in our Saviours time Was there ever greater partiality seen than was in them or more obstinate prejudice or more wilful errors or a more malicious sentence than came from them in the cause of our Lord and Saviour They would not believe his Miracles though told them by those that saw them when they saw them they would not believe they came from God but attributed them to the Devil they would not so much as enquire the true place of his Nativity but ran on still with that wilful mistake that he was born in Galilee and by this they thought to confound Nicodemus presently Search and look for out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet If they had searched and looked themselves they would have found that Christ was born in Bethlehem and not in Galilee But where men are strongly prejudiced any thing serves for evidence and demonstration whereas all the arguments on the other side shall be despised and contemned How captious were they on all occasions towards our Saviour lying in wait to entrap him with questions to pervert his words and draw blasphemy out of the most innocent expressions And when none of all these things could do they use all the wayes of fraud malice and injustice to destroy the Saviour of the world as a Malefactor and Blasphemer Was not here now a mighty advantage which the Authority of the present Church among the Jews of that time had above the guidance of the Law and the Prophets And the knowledge St. Paul had of the same temper being in them still might justly make him decline their judgement and appeal only to the Law and the Prophets for the ground and Rule of his faith 2. For the object of his worship he appeals to the best Antiquity I worship the God of my Fathers i. e. I bring no new Religion among you but the very same in substance with that which all the Jews have owned so some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deo Patrio the God whom all my Brethren acknowledge but he rather understands it of the same God that was worshipped by Abraham and Isaac and Jacob quem majores nostri coluerunt so St. Peter in his preaching to the people concerning the resurrection of Christ to avoid the imputation of Novelty saith the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our Fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus and again to the Sanhedrin he saith the God of our Fathers raised up Jesus and St. Paul the God of our Fathers hath chosen thee in the use of which expressions they purposely declare that they had no thoughts of bringing in any new Religion among them contrary to what God had of old declared to the Patriarchs The main things in which the Jews objected innovation to them did either concern the bringing in some new doctrine or the reformation of corruptions among them 1. For their doctrine that either concerned the Messias or a future state For the doctrine of the Messias it was as antient as the records of any revelation from God were It was the great promise made to the Patriarchs long before the Law of Moses and even Moses himself speaks of him as St. Steven proves to them and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Micah and Malachi as the Apostles at large prove in their writings Why should this then be accounted any new doctrine which they all believed and received If the Question be only whether Christ were that Messias or no for that they desire nothing more than the testimony of the Law and the Prophets and the Miracles wrought by him but they had no reason to quarrel with them upon their belief for such an alteration of the state of things which themselves believed must be when the Messias came for in him not only the Nation of the Jews but all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed which was inconsistent with supposing the Ceremonial Law to continue in its force and obligation being particularly suited to one people lying within such a compass as they might three times a year attend upon the service in the Temple at Hierusalem If their quarrel was concerning a future state as though that were a new doctrine St. Paul adds in the next Verse that themselves also allow that there shall be aresurrection of the dead both of the just and the unjust And
he did against St. Paul they charge us with bringing in new Sects under the pretence of Reformation or with rejecting the Authority of the present Church which we were bound to obey and thereby laying the Foundation of Faction â—nd Schism These are heavy charges but they are no other than those the High Priest and the Elders made against St. Paul and thanks be to God his Defence and Vindication is ours too for we appeal to Scripture and the best and purest Antiquity and desire to be judged according to these These three things therefore I shall speak to before I conclude 1. That the same reasons which they produce against the Reformation would have held against the spreading of Christianity at first 2. That the same Defence which St. Paul made for Christianity will justifie the Reformation 3. That we have all reason to follow the courage of St. Paul in owning and defending our Religion not with standing the imputations which are cast upon it 1. That the same reasons which they produce against the Reformation would have held against Christianity at first What have all the clamours of our Adversaries for above a hundred years come to but the very same which I have already mentioned as the Jews Objections against Christianity viz. Novelty and Faction Where was your Church before the Reformation produce your succession in all Ages of persons who agreed in all things with you Where were those distinct bodies of men who found fault with those corruptions that you pretend to reform Our Church hath had a constant and glorious succession of Bishops and Martyrs and Consessors and Religious Orders of Men Virgins and Widows But supposing such a distinct succession were not necessary yet shew how it was possible for so many errors and corruptions to come into the Church and no one take notice of them and discover them Where was the watchfull eye of Providence over the Church all this while What all the Pastors asleep at once or all conspiring together to deceive their posterity Besides how can the Protestants ever answer their rejecting the Authority of the present Church which they lived under and to whom God had promised his infallible Spirit how can they clear themselves from faction and disturbing the peace of the Christian world which lived in so great unity and peace before This is the summ of their Objections against the Reformation which are the very same we have mention'd before as produced by the Jews against Christianity If the arguments are good now they were so then if they were good then for all that I can see the High Priest and Elders were in the right and St. Paul in the wrong if they were not good then but are now some remarkable disparity must be shewed between their case and ours and that must lye in shewing these three things 1. That the Christian Church hath greater infallibility promised than the Jewish had 2. That the first Christians had greater reason to reject the Authority of that Church than the Reformers had as to the Church of Rome 3 That the Causes of corruptions in the Jewish Church could not hold in the Christian But if none of these can be made good then the case will appear to be the very same 1. It cannot be proved that the Christian Church hath greater infallibility promised than the Jewish had Of which we have this plain evidence that one of the strongest arguments produced for the infallibility of the Christian Church is taken from the Promises made to the Jewish How often hath Deut. 17. 8 9 10. been made Use of to prove infallibility in the Christian Church If they had any better arguments in the New Testament would they ever run so far back to a Command that most evidently relates to the Jewish constitution Where hath ever God promised that he would dwell in St. Peters at Rome as he did that he would dwell in his Temple at Hierusalem What boastings and triumphs would there have been if any such words had been in the Gospel concerning Rome as there were of old concerning Hierusalem viz. that God had sanctified it that his Name might be there for ever and his eyes and his heart should be there perpetually What pittiful proofs in comparison of this are all those brought out of the New Testament for the Authority and Infallibility of the Roman Church What are all the promises of the Spirit made to the Apostles and remarkably accomplished in them to this plain promise of Gods particular presence in that place for ever Suppose St. Peter had priviledges above the rest of the Apostles how comes the entail to be made to all his successors and only at Rome and no where else Where are the Deeds kept that contain this gift Why are they not produced during all this contest And yet we see in the Jewish Church where such a promise was made to a particular place no such thing as Infallibility was implyed in it 2. It cannot be shewed that the first Christians had greater reason to reject the Authority of the Jewish Church than our Reformers had to reject that of the Church of Rome I know here it will be presently said That the Apostles saw the Miracles of Christ and wrought many themselves and received an immediate Commission from Jesus Christ in whom the Churches Infallibility was then seated All which I grant to be true in it self but cannot be pleaded by them who contend for absolute obedience to the present Churches Authority as infallible My reason is because upon this principle they could not believe Christ to be the true Messias for his being the true Messias depended upon two things viz. the fulfilling of Prophecies and the truth of his Miracles now according to their principles no man could be certain of either of these without the Authority of the Church for the fulfilling of Prophecies depended upon the sense of many obscure places of Scripture about which they say there is a necessity of an infallible Judge and for Miracles they tell us that there is no certain way of judging true and false but by the Authority of the Church Now if these things be so what ground could the first Christians have to believe Christ to be the true Messias when in both these they must oppose the Authority of the present Church 3. They can never prove that the same causes of corruptions do not hold as to the Christian which did as to the Jewish Church For the Christian Church in those Ages which we charge with introducing the corruptions was degenerated into greater Ignorance Barbarism Luxury and Superstition than the Jewish Church in the time of its darkness from the cessation of Prophecy till the coming of Christ. Our Adversaries themselves confess that for a long time there was nothing either of Learning or Humanity among them nothing but ease and luxury and ambition and all manner of Wickedness among the Chief Rulers among them nay
even at Rome there was a succession of fifty of their High Priests so remarkable for their wickedness that Annas and Caiaphas setting only aside their condemning Christ were Saints in comparison of them And is it now any wonder that such errors and corruptions should come into that Church as those we charge them with Nay rather the greatest Wonder seems to be that any thing of Christianity should be preserved among them But besides the sottishness of those times we have many other causes to assign of the corruptions introduced among them as a Complyance with Gentilism in many of their Customs and Superstitions Affectation of new Modes of Devotion among indiscreet Zealots Ambition and constant endeavour to advance the Authority and Interests of the Priesthood above all Secular Power and when for a long time these had been gathering the rude materials together then the Moorish Philosophy happening to creep in among them the Monks began to busie themselves therein and by the help of that a little better to digest that Mass and heap of corruptions and to spend the wit they had to defend and improve them 2. But against all these we stand upon the same defence that St. Paul did we appeal to Scripture and the best and purest Antiquity We pretend to bring in no new Doctrines and therefore no Miracles can be required of us which the Apostles wrought to confirm Christs being the true Messias who was to alter that State which God himself had once appointed All that we plead for is that the Religion established by Christ may serve our turn and that which is recorded by the Apostles and Evangelists to these we make our constant appeal and have the same reason to decline the Authority of the Roman Church that St. Paul had as to the High Priest and Elders when he appealed to the Law and the Prophets Nay we have somewhat more reason because God had once appointed the High Priests and Rulers of the People among them but the Supremacy of the Roman Church was a meer Usurpation begun by Ambition advanced by Forgery and defended by Cruelty But we do not only believe all that is written in the Law and the Prophets but we worship the God of our Fathers of the Fathers of the first and purest Ages of the Christian Church we are not only content to make use of their Authority in these matters but we make our appeal to them and have begged our Adversaries ever since the Reformation to prove the points in difference between us by the testimony of the first six hundred years but from that time to this they are as far from proving any one point as ever they were 3. What then follows from all this but that we should imitate St. Pauls courage in owning and defending our Religion notwithstanding all the false imputations which are cast upon it What a shame would it be for us meanly and basely to betray that Cause for which our Ancestors sacrificed their lives Is the Romish Religion any thing better than it was then What error in Doctrine or corruption in Practice have they ever reformed Nay have they not rather established and confirmed them more Are they any thing kinder to us than they have been No. Notwithstanding all their late pleadings for Evangelical Peace and Charity they can at the same time tell us That the Statutes against Hereticks are still in force against us as condemned Hereticks and we are not so dull not to apprehend the meaning of that viz. that were it in their power they could lawfully burn us to morrow And is not this the height of Evangelical Love and Sweetness Who can but admire the perswasiveness of such arguments to Gospel-meekness and melt at the tenderness and bowels of an Inquisition Let us not deceive our selves it is not the mean complyance of any in going half way towards them will serve their turn there is no chewing their Pills all must be swallowed together or as good in their opinion to have none at all For not only plain Hereticks but the favourers and suspected of Heresie are solemnly excommunicated every year in the famous Bull of Coena Domini and Lindwood their English Canonist tells us whom they account suspected of Heresie viz. All that shew common civility to Hereticks or give Alms to them or that once hear their Sermons This last indeed hath been mitigated by a considerable party among them for notwithstanding the opposition of the Jesuits in this matter and seven Briev's obtained by their means from several Popes forbidding all Roman-Catholicks to come to our Churches yet the Secular Priests have contended for it as a thing lawful for them not only to come to our Prayers and hear our Sermons but to partake of our Sacraments too Which they may allow while they hope to carry on their interest better that way but if once which God forbid the Tide should turn with them then the old Laws of their Church must prevail and nothing will be thought so wholsome as an Inquisition Which it is strange their Advocates for Liberty of Conscience should call only Laws in Catholick Countreys against Hereticks and not Laws of the Church when there are extant above a hundred Bulls and Briev's of Popes establishing confirming and enlarging the Inquisition Since then no favour is to be expected from their Church for whatever they pretend all the severity comes from thence all the favour and mitigation from the clemency and Wisdom of Princes let us endeavour to strengthen our selves by a hearty zeal for our Religion and using the best means to confirm and uphold it And since the Children of this world are in their Generation wiser than the Children of light there are some things practised among them which may deserve our imitation and those are 1. A mighty Industry and Zeal in promoting their Cause they have learn'd of their Predecessors to compass Sea and Land to gain one Proselyte They insinuate themselves into all companies stick at no pains accommodate themselves to all humours and are provided one way or other to gratifie persons of all inclinations for they have retirement for the melancholy business for the active idleness for the lazy honour for the ambitious splendour for the vain severities for the sowre and hardy and a good dose of pleasures for the soft and voluptuous It is not their Way but their Zeal and Industry I propound to our imitation I know not how it comes to pass but so it often happens that they who are most secure of truth on their side are most apt to be remiss and careless and to comfort themselves with some good old sayings as God will provide and Truth will prevail though they lye still and do nothing towards it but certainly such negligence is inexcusable where the matter is of so great importance the Adversaries so many and an account must be given shortly in another world of what men have done