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A66432
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A vindication of the answer to the popish address presented to the ministers of the Church of England in reply to a pamphlet abusively intituled, A clear proof of the certainty and usefulness of the Protestant rule of faith, &c.
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Williams, John, 1636?-1709.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing W2739; ESTC R10348
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38,271
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45
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the Lord's day was instituted and which in the order of the Answer was first prov'd the Sabbath must in reason surrender to it 3. I shewed it from Col. 2. 16. where the Sabbath is said to be a shadow of things to come and so was to cease by the coming of Christ as the rest of the same kind He saith of this there is as little reason as Scripture but if there be as much reason as Scripture he had no cause to complain But he first takes care to leave out the Scripture and then to exclaim not one Word of Scripture Well! what has he to say to that little Reason that there is He saith The Sabboth did appertain to the Law of Nature and was not a Shadow only of a thing to come but a Memory he would say a Memorial of the Creation But did it otherwise appertain to the Law of Nature than as it was of Divine Institution Or was it then so a Memorial of what was past as not to be a Shadow of somewhat to come Let him see how the Apostle applies it Heb. 4. 9 10. But suppose that it was a Memorial of the Creation as it was and a Shadow to the Jews as he owns then being both were but one and the same day how could the Observation of the Sabbath be abrogated as a Shadow and not also as a Memorial since the same Day that was for the one was also for the other Thus we find there was a Patriarchal Circumcision and a Mosaical as our Saviour shews John 7. 22. And the question then is Whether the Abrogation of the Mosaical was not also the Abrogation of the Patriarchal Circumcision And whether what holds in the one doth not hold in the other 2 d Branch What Text of Scripture exacts of us the keeping the Sunday holy Or what Scripture have we for the Divine Institution of it As to this by way of Preparation I. 1. Gave a general Reason which our Author for a little Advantage has set last and very unworthily abused I shall set them one against the other before the Reader Answer There is as much in the reason of the thing for this peculiar day to be observed in the Christian Church as there was for the Sabbath in the Patriarchal and Jewish Church for what the Moral Sabbath was to Man upon his Creation and the Ceremonial Sabbath was to the Jews upon their deliverance out of Egypt that is the first day of the Week or the Lord's day to Christians upon our Redemption by Christ which was accomplished and testified in his Resurrection on that day Clear Proof The Moral Sabbath in the Patriarchal Church and the Ceremonial in the Jewish Church were on the days following the Creation and Deliverance from Egypt Therefore 't is not to be kept by Christians on the day in which Christ rested after he had accomplished our Redemption on the Cross by a Solemn Consummatum est and his precious Death Not on Saturday And then he Triumphs What can be I will not say more dull but spoken more directly in spight of Sense and Reason And I will add what can be more false than what he here puts upon the Answerer and that is somewhat a worse Charge than Dulness when in spight of honesty he shall thus manifestly pervert that which lay clear before him into ridiculous Nonsense It 's manifest he has here nothing to say unless he will say there is not as much reason in the nature of the thing for the Observation of one day in seven in memory of our Redemption as there was for it in the Creation or the Deliverance out of Egypt 2. I particularly proved it from the Mark of Divine Institution set upon it in the Name the Lord's day Rev. 1. 10. it being usual in Scripture to have the Name of the Lord applied to Times Places Persons and Things when set apart by Divine Institution To this he Replies The Question is What day of the Week that was in the Revelation Or was it only some peculiar day of the year as Easter-day or Good-Friday To which I Answer 1. If the Name of the Lord be not without a reason applied to a Day then it 's evident that no day of the Week has any Colour or Pretence to it but the First day 2. It cannot be reasonably supposed to be some peculiar day of the year as Easter-day or Good-Friday 1. Because we are certain that the first day of the Week was observed in Apostolical times as I shewed from Scripture but we are not certain of these there being not one word of Scripture that looks that way And when St. Austin saith of the Anniversary Observation of the days of Christ's Passion Resurrection Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost that they were observed in the whole World he adds it 's to be belived such things so observed were commanded and appointed by the Apostles or General Councils He saith it 's to be believed they were appointed by one or the other not being able to determine which but we know that there was no General Council till above 300 years after Christ 2. Easter-day which has the nearest pretence both in Reason and Antiquity cannot be the Lord's day because they were distinguished So St. Austin We saith he solemnly celebrate the Lord's day and Easter And the Eastern Churches particularly that of Ephesus where St. John more especally was did observe Easter according to the Moon and not the day of the Week and that so early as An. 197. when Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus and a Council of Bishops concurring with him wrote to Victor Bishop of Rome who threatned to Excommunicate them for it that they feared him not for it was better to obey God than Man. As for Good-Friday's being the Lord's day that I believe is a Nostrum of our Author's as well as the Question put by him is What day of the Week the Lords day is on 2. He answers I find forty Texts that call the day of general Judgment or that of each man's death the Lords day but not one that mentions Sunday under that name What follows Therefore the Lord's day St. John was in the Spirit upon was the day of Judgment or death and not Sunday But he will say this is a little too much for the use he makes of this Observation is to shew that that day whatever it was might be called the Lord's day and yet not be of Divine Institution Very well but yet I find the day of Judgment for indeed the day of death is not as far as I remember call'd the Lord's day in Scripture to be of Divine Ordination So Matth. 24. 36. and Acts 17. 31. He hath appointed a day and is therefore a confirmation of what he would confute by it 3. I offer'd further in proof of a Divine Institution That that day was consecrated by the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon it But to this
Whether we may be infallibly certain out of the Church or how we can find out the Church infallibly if the Church alone be infallible and that we cannot be infallibly certain till we come into the Church Q. 9. Where is the Seat of Infallibility in the Church whether in every particular Person or the Supreme Pastor or a General Council And whether they all agree in this matter Q. 10. Whether what they disagree in can be the Sentiment of the whole Church or that we are hound to believe what they cannot agree in Q. 11. Whether we are any more bound to believe the Infallibility of their Church which they thus disagree in than the Address would perswade us we are not obliged to believe the Trinity because the Arians tho Christians deny it Q. 12. How one at a vast distance of Time or Place can be infallibly assured of the Certainty of those Decrees which are said to proceed from an Infallible Power or that he can be any more certain of the Truth Certainty and Sense of these than he can be of the Truth Authority and Sense of Scripture Q. 13. Whether our Saviour has not spoken as plainly and intelligibly in Scripture as his pretended Vicar or their Councils have done in their Decrees and Canons Q. 14. Whether when the Persons that publish or give the Sense of those Decrees and Canons are Fallible a Person can be infallibly certain that these are the very Decrees or that the true Sense of them Or whether a Person in these Circumstances can be any more certain tho a Member of an Infallible Church than another may be that is a Member of a Fallible Church Q. 15. Whether for example we can be any more certain that there ever was such a Pope as Pope Pius or that ever there was such a Creed drawn up by him or that this or that is an Article or the Sense of it than we are that the Scriptures are the Word of God and that the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation are clearly contained in them These are the Questions in the Answer and which I have drawn out in order I hope they shew themselves to be Sense it remains to the Prover to shew they have no difficulty to be resolved All well-meaning Protestants finding that Scripture interpreted the Protestant-way is so far from being an easie and clear Rule of Faith that a Protestant in the Answer to an Address made to the Ministets of the Church of England approved by a Chaplain to the highest Ecclesiastical Authority under the King cannot as much as teach by it the first Principles of Christian Religion will seek a better method of using that Divine Rule and not be hereafter so easily imposed upon by those Guides who give them but their own private fancies under the Veil and Name of the Word of God. I was I confess surprized to find Guil. Needham c. approving this Answer but God and Truth are of our side Et inimici nostri sunt Judices the weakness of our Opposers Arguments bear a proof to it Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam I may now leave the case to all well-meaning Protestants for who that is of that number or indeed is impartial but may soon discern who they are that make the Scripture a Rule of Faith Whether those that resolve all Necessaries to Salvation wholly into it or those that join Tradition with it in Esteem and Authority They may again as soon discern Whether the Scripture be Easie and Clear and best understood in the Protestant Method when it 's Translated for Vulgar use in the Mother Tongue and the People are allowed and exhorted to read it or in the Popish Method when it 's kept in an unknown Tongue or if Translated not permitted to be read by them Whether again They feed them with their own private Fancies that teach the people nothing but what both Teacher and Hearer learn from Scripture or they that make things necessary to be believed and done which are not contained in Scripture I find our Author surpriz'd to find Guil. Needham a Chaplain to the highest Eeclesiastical Authority under the King we know who they are that set up an Ecclesiastical Authority above the King to approve the Answer But why so surprized When it 's likely G. N. was as confident as the Prover could be on his own that God and Truth are on the Answerer's side and perhaps might have a good opinion of his Performance though I grant it 's likely not as good as our Author hath of his own Clear Proof Here I should have ended but it seems the poor Answer has met with another Adversary one as he himself tells us that at a full mixed Assembly in the City so laid it open that most of the Protestants there ashamed of it found no better Salvo than to disown the Answerer as an Ignorant Scribler who had betrayed his Cause I wish this successful Undertaker had but given us a Breviate of the Case as he propounded it to that Assembly for if he managed it in the same way as his Friend the Prover has done or as he himself has answered the Preservative sometimes omitting sometimes mangling and at all times Misrepresenting his Adversaries Arguments I will for once excuse my Friends the Protestants if they then thought the Answerer worthy of no better a Character than is here related who I hope for the future they will have less reason to believe an Adversary and use that kind of liberty which the Church of Rome so much envies them and belongs to them as Men and as Christians and judg for themselves by seeing with their own eyes whether the Cause is maintained or betrayed But after all I know not whether I may not have as little reason to believe him concerning these Protestants as they had to believe him concerning the Answer FINIS Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 4 o. Mr Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto published in his True Account his True and Full Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he calls Dr. T 's Rule of Faith. By Th. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of Transubstantiation Being a sufficient Confutation of Consensus Veterum Nubes Testium and other late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 4 o. An Answer to the Representer's Reflections upon the State and View of the Controversy With a Reply to the Vindicator's Full Answer shewing that the Vindicator has utterly ruin'd the New Design of Expounding and Representing Popery 4 o. An Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4 o. An Abridgment of the Prerogatives of St. Ann Mother of the Mother of God with the Approbations of the Doctors of Paris thence done into English with a PREFACE concernining the Original of the Story The Primitive Fathers no Papists in Answer to the Nubes Testium to which is added a Discourse concerning Invocation of Saints in Answer to the Challenge of F. Sabran the Jesuit wherein is shewn that Invocation of Saints was so far from being the Practice that it was expresly against the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers 4 o. An Answer to a Discourse concerning the Celibacy of the Clergy lately Printed at Oxford 4 o. The Virgin Mary Misrepresented by the Roman Church In the Traditions of that Church concerning her Life and Glory and in the Devotions paid to her as the Mother of God. Both shewed out of the Offices of that Church the Lessons on her Festivals and from their allowed Authors Dr. Tenisons Sermon of Discretion in giving Alms. 12 o. A Discourse concering the Merits of Good Works The Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome demonstrated in some Observations upon the Life of Ignatius Loyola Founder of the Order of Jesus A Vindication of the Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4 o. Reflections upon the Books of the Holy Scripture in order to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion in 3 Parts 8 vo In the Press The Texts which the Papists cite out of the Bible for Proof of the Points of their Religion Examin'd and shew'd to be alledged without Ground In several distinct Discourses Five whereof are published viz. Popery not founded in Scripture The Introduction Texts concerning the Obscurity of Holy Scripture Of the Insufficiency of Scripture and Necessity of Tradition Of the Supremacy of St. Peter and the Pope over the whole Church In Two Parts Of Infallibility The Rest will follow Weekly in their Order Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof De Praesc Ep. 7. Vindication De verbo non Scripto l. 4. c. 12. SS dico secundo Script Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof De Doctr. Ch. l. 2. c. 9. Vindication Contr. Liter Petiliani l. 3. c. 6. Clear Proof Vindication De Verbo l. 4. c. 10. ss Respondeo ad primum De Verbo l. 4. c. 10. ss Neque Ut supra C. 12. ss Respondeo ad C. 11. ss Septimo Clear Proof 1 Tim. 6. 20. 2 Tim. 1. 13. Vindication Cap. 10. 8. Quod autem Clear Proof Luc. 10. 25. Luc. 16. 29. Vindication Clear proof Mat. 7. 15. In Jo. l. 1. c. 4. L. 4. de Bapt. cont Don c. 16. L 2 con Gaud. In Dim H. Vindication De Verbo l. 4. c. 4. ss septimo De Unit. Eccles c. 18. C 19. Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof Vindication De Christo l. 1. c. 4 c. De Christo l. 1. c. 4. ss Quod autem De Christo l. 1. c. 6. ss Secundo probo Clear Proof Vindication Epist Imper. Theod. n. 6. Concil Tom. 4. Ad Monach. Aegypt ss 12. Clear Proof Gen. 2. 3. Vindication Epist 118. Contr. Adimant c. 16. Nova Collectio Concil Baluz p. 10. Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof Cc. 2. in Psal 30. De Vnit Eccl. l 4. c. 8. Gal. 5. Vindication De Pastore c. 14. Clear Proof Vindication Clear Proof Vindication An Answer to Dr. Sherlock's Preservative