A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL The 24 th of Novemb. 1678. BY WILLIAM LLOYD D. D. Dean of Bangor And Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Published by His Majesties Command LONDON Printed by M. C. for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-End of St. Pauls 1678. A SERMON ON ACTS ii 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and in Prayer THey of whom this is said were that Multitude of People whom the Apostles first converted to the Christian Faith All together in one word they are called the Church in the last verse of this Chapter Which being observed it will soon appear what we are to learn from these words They teach us First What the Church of Christ was in the Apostles days Secondly What Church is now a true Member or Branch of it Thirdly That having such a Church it is our duty to continue in it Accordingly in my discourse on these words I shall endeavour to shew you First a description of that Original Church by all it's Tokens and Characters which are described in my Text to have been First the Apostles Doctrin Secondly their Fellowship Thirdly their Sacraments Breaking of Bread Fourthly their Worship of God and Prayers Secondâ—y I shall consider what Church in our days hath those Characters of the Original Church I shall shew they are very confused in that Church which will own them in no other They are through Gods blessing in great Purity and Perfection in our Church Lastly I shall shew that it is the Duty of every Christian to continue stedfastly first in the Church that hath these Characters and secondly in these things that are the Characters of the Church and thirdly to live sutably to them in his whole Conversation First beâ—â—re I speak of the Characters of a true Church I ought to shew in few words what it is that is to be known by them The Church Ecclesia among Christians in the largest use of the word is the whole Multitude of Believers joyned together in one Body or Society under one Head Iesus Christ. In the Nicene Creed it is called the Catholic Apostolic Church Apostolic because it was planted at first by the Apostles and still retains the Characters of their Original Church Catholic that is Universal for that is the plainer English word because it is made up of all those Particular Churches of which every one hath these Characters in my Text and is therefore a true part of the Catholic or Universal For the word Catholic as fond of it as they are now in the Roman Church If any Christian of Rome for some ages after Christ had heard any one say I am a Catholic he would not have been able to have guest what Religion he had meant But when the Greeks had used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their language First to distinguish the Christian Church as extending to all Nations from the Jewish which was confined to one Nation in particular Afterwards to distinguish the Common Christianity which was in all parts of the World from that of a Sect which sprang up in some particular Country After this the word Catholic was taken up by them of the Roman Church And in process of time they came to distinguish themselves by it from the Greeks and from those of the other Eastern Churches that first used it It could not but seem very strange to the Greeks to see them of the Roman Church whose Communion extended no farther at that time than only to the West part of Europe that they should call the Roman Church the Catholic or Universal in Opposition to the Greeks and to all other Christians that then possest not only all the rest of this Europe but all that was Christian in Afric and Asia besides But this is not strange to any one that considers how natural it is for men of any Sect to make a great Business about Words As they are apt to bestow the worst words they can find upon their Adversaries so with the same Partiality they are ready to appropriate the good ones to themselves Thus the Jews will have none but themselves to be the children of Abraham The Turks will have none but themselves to be called Musulmans Believers The Arrian Heretics in their Day would allow none but themselves to be Catholics If they of the Roman Communion will be the only Catholics now who can help it But we shall not allow it them till they can prove all other Christians to be Schismatics and us in particular Which will be tried in the issue of this Discourse The mean while to give the word its Original use the Catholic Church as I have shewn signifies the Universal And by the Universal Church we mean that which from this Head in my Text came to disperse it self into all parts of the inhabited World The Original of this Church Universal was that Church which the Apostles planted first at Ierusalem Therein following the Command of our Saviour who bade them Go preach to all Nations beginning at Ierusalem The Body of this Universal Church consists of all those whether National or Less that are called Particular Churches Which were either derived from that Original Church in that age such as were those seven Churches of Asia and the rest which are mentioned in Scripture or that have been deriâ—ed from thâ—m by any after Conversion in whatsoever Country or Age. These Particular Churches are many as the parts of the Body are many And as all those parts together are one Body so all these Particular Churches make up one Universal One I say in both respects both as being derived from one source that Original Church at Ierusalem And also One as being united together in those Common Characters by which that Original Church is described in this Text. Those Characters are four which I come now to consider particularly The Apostles Doctrin and Fellowship and Sacraments and Prayers The first is the Apostles Doctrin the Doctrin of Faith and not the Inward Belief but the Outward Profession of it The Inward Belief is required to make us true Christians but the Outward Profession makes us Members of a true Church And as it can be no true Church that has not a Public Profession of the Apostles Doctrin so it can be no sound Church that embraces any other for the Doctrin of Faith then what was received from the Apostles Now their Doctrin at this time referred to in my Text was no other than what they preached as the Faith of Iesus Christ. But considering how long ago it was that they preached how many ages have past since and especially what ages they have been many ages together of Darkness and gross Ignorance as they cannot but know that are any thing acquainted with History I say after so many extreme ignorant Ages it is impossible we should have known what was preached by the
live in the Fellowship of the Apostles which is the Second Character in my Text. The third is the Participation of the same Sacraments One only is mentioned in my Text that is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper For being already baptized they had no more occasion for Baptism But that being spoken of before ver 41. I therefore mention both these Sacraments The use of both these in the Apostles times was a Character and Token of the Christian Church Thus St. Paul 1 Cor. xii 13. mentions both these Sacraments as the Instruments and Means by which we are united to Christ. By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and we have all been made to drink into one Spirit Both these Sacraments they received of Christs own Institution who required them to be used in all Ages of the Church to be administred to all it's Members by every Church And that in the same manner as they were instituted by Christ I mean as to all the Essential parts of the Sacraments However Ceremonies or Rites may be varied yet in their Essential parts they are of perpetual Obligation For Baptism when it was instituted by our Saviour for the Admission of Members into his Church he said thus to his Apostles Go make Disciples that is Christians of all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And thus doing Lo I am with you till the end of the World And for the Lords Supper he â—dministred it himself to his Disciples who were then not in Orders for it was before his Death and he did not ordain them till after his Resurrection And administring the Sacrament to them who were not in Orders He took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to them saying Take eat this is my Body and what follows He gave them the Cup in like manner saying Drink ye all of it This is my Blood or this Cup is the New Testament in my Blood Accordingly it was done in the Church in the Apostles times The Apostle calls it the Bread and the Cup which they received in the Sacrament never otherwise though Spiritually and Sacramentally the Body and Blood of Christ yet Bread and Wine in its Natural and Bodily substance He says The Cup which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ No doubt we have the Mind of Christ in these words It is properly the Communion of His Body and Blood which we receive in this Sacrament And according to his Law they are conveyed to us under the Elements of Bread and Wine For so the Apostle tells us that even after Consecration It is Bread which we break it is Bread which we partake It is Bread that we eat in this Sacrament Which last thing he says three times together in three Verses In like manner it was properly Wine which remained in the Cup even after Consecration So it was called by our Saviour the fruit of the Vine and this Fruit even the same of which he had said This is my Blood And as he said to his Apostles being Laymen Drink ye all of it and as St. Mark observes They all drank of it so did all other in those times as well Laity as Clergy 1 Cor. xii 13. We are all made to drink into one Spirit 'T is observable the whole Sacrament there is called drinking as here the whole Sacrament is called Breaking of Bread And the Sacrament being thus instituted by Christ being thus administred by his Apostles and being thus received in his Church was to continue till Christs coming again So the Apostle saith expresly 1 Cor. xi 26. So that here 's a third Character of an Apostolic Church to continue the use of those Sacraments which they used and that in all the Essentials of them according to Christ's own Institution A fourth Character in this Text is Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Plural Number that is not one or two but many and oft And it appears they were publick Prayers by what follows ver 46. They continued daily with one accord in the Temple There the Apostles used to meet after Christ's Ascension into Heaven They were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God They were constantly there in the times of Devotion as may appear from Acts iii. 1. and other places They continued this Practice as long as the Iews would suffer them till they drove them away from their Temple and Synagogues After which these first Christians had Assemblies elsewhere as we read Acts xviii 17. In which Assemblies what they prayed and what they did besides praying we have no particular account in Holy Scripture But we have in those Writers that lived within the Age of the Apostles That is in an Epistle of the Younger Pliny to Trajan and in St. Iustin Martyr's second Apology There we find in Pliny that they did Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum in vicem They spoke Verses answering one another by turns as we speak the Reading Psalms I know not how he could better express it And saith Iustin Martyr they read Lessons out of the Apostles and out of the Prophets And when the Reader had done the Bishop Preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either the Bishop or the chief Minister Then they rose up all together and prayed They had saith Iustin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Common Prayers Those are his Words In which they prayed for themselves and for their Princes and for all others that were living with them They prayed only to God saith Iustin Martyr twice This together with the Administration of the Sacraments and their gatherings for the poor is all the Account they give us of their Meetings Which account being given much within fifty years of the Apostles times we may reasonably conclude it was the manner of their Prayers the use whereof was the fourth Character in our Description of the Apostolick Church Besides these you see my Text hath given us no other and therefore whosoever would make sure of such a Church he may do well to judg of it by these Characters being all that the Apostles have given us But if these were the Notes of a true Church in the Apostles times what mean they of the Now Roman Church to require any other Or what would they have that cannot content themselves with these Sure their hearts misgive them that these are not for their turn Either they have them not or others have them as well as they And therefore they choose rather to insist upon those which they can hope to appropriate to their own Faction It is not worth the while in this Place to reckon up the fifteen Notes of a true Church which Bellarmin gives us All which are
either common to other Societies as well as a true Church or if they are proper to such a Church they are elsewhere no less nay much more in some others than in theirs As for the Essential Properties here in my Text they are but four and those are from an Infallible Authority The like whereof cannot be shewed for any other Therefore our Church desires nothing more than to be tried by these Tokens If the same way of Tryal does not please them so well in the Roman Church we cannot wonder at it for these make no way for them but against them in every Particular I shall make a short Proof of it trying their Catholic Church as they call it by these Characters of the Primitive Apostolick Church And first for the Doctrine of the Apostles If the Publick Profession of that without any other be required of any true Church and if the Scriptures contain all the Doctrine of the Apostles as it was firmly believed by the Fathers in the Primitive Church How come they of the Roman Church to find out so many Doctrines of which there is no mention in the Scripture nor in any of the Primitive Fathers In what place were they kept to be made known in after-times that were not known to them that lived in or near the Apostles times But they have I know not how many such Doctrines and they are properly Doctrines of their Church They are declared by their Councils with most dreadful Anathemas to all those that shall presume to deny them We see they Unchurch us we know what they have done more and may guess what they would do more to us for denying them But they have them in their Creed the Creed that is sworn by all their Clergy They swear first the old Nicen and add to that the new Roman Creed They conclude it in these terms Hanc esse veram Catholicam Fidem extra quam nemo salvus esse potest That this is the true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved What a horrible thing is this to couple together I believe in God and in our Lord Iesus Christ with I believe the Doctrines of Transubstantiation Auricular Confession Image-Worship Purgatory Indulgences and what not some of which things some of themselves do confess are not so much as once mentioned in Scripture and none of them is mentioned there in plain words not in any words that were understood so by the Fathers for many Ages after Christ. For the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Besides that we find nothing for it but many things against it in the Ancients so many that we are sure it could not be the Tradition of those Times We see at its first birth it was declared to be a Novelty and a Falshood by Rabanus Arch-Bishop of Mentz and by other of the learnedst men that lived eight or nine hundred years after Christ. We find at that time and for two hundred years after it was a rude lump which askt much licking over to perfect it And then having both Shape and a Name it was defined to be of Faith by Pope Innocent in his Lateran-Council above twelve hundred years after Christ. For Confession to a Priest the necessity of it was unknown to the Fathers of the Primitive Church Nay above a thousand years after Christ it was held disputable in the Roman Church And though the Practice of it was imposed by Pope Innocent in his Council of Lateran yet even then it remained disputable as to the Doctrine till it was made to be of Faith by the Trent Council For their Doctrine of Image-Worship than which nothing can be more contrary to the Scriptures as they were understood by the Primitive Fathers we know it was established by the second Nicen Council and we know what a Council that was But it was condemned in the same Age by two as numerous Councils that of Constantinople a little before it and that of Frankfort immediately after it And the matter was held in debate all that Age in both the Eastern and Western Church till at last it was setled in the East according to the Nicen Council which they have so much out done in the Roman Church that even the Greeks charge them with Idolatry And they are not wholy excused from it by many of their own Communion For their Doctrin of Purgatory it doth not appear that any one of the Ancients hit upon it among all the different Opinions that they had concerning separated Souls till St. Austins time and yet then we are as sure it was no Catholic Tradition as we can be of any thing of that Age. After near two hundred years more it was believed by one of great Name from whose fabulous writings it got Credit And so crept by Degrees into the Faith of the Roman Church But it is received by no other Christians For their Doctrin of Indulgences It is so confessedly new It was at first so ill grounded and so wickedly designed that God seemed to have suffered them to run on into this to shew the World as afterward he did by this Example what Stuff the Lusts of men left to themselves would bring into the Christian Religion It were easie to shew the like in all their new Articles of Faith Most of them I shall consider as they come under the other Heads of my Discourse The mean while these may pass for a sample of the rest They all sprung up in late corrupt Times and went at first as Private Opinions only but being found to make well for the Interests of the Clergy they were concerned to bring them in credit with the People And they took a way for it that could not fail in such an Age by forging New Revelations and Miracles when by these means worthy of their Doctrines they had brought them into the Christian Faith then beside the Interest that first brought them in there was another reason to continue them It was necessary for the Credit of the Infallibility of the Roman Church Touch that and you shake the whole building of Popery even to the Foundation that is the Papacy it self To secure that they are brought under this miserable necessity of holding all for Catholic Faith that is once received in the Roman Church Whatsoever she bringeth forth must be fathered on the Apostles though there is not the least Colour for it in their Writings But to shew how little trust they have in the Apostles writings there needs no other instance than this that their Church hath forbid her Laity to read them and hath taken a course that if they read they cannot well understand them The Scripture was writ by the Apostles in the most vulgar language of their times the Greek which was the mother tongue of most and well
known in all Countrys where the Scripture was written And they writ it for every one to read as it appears in plain words in their writings And the Ancient Fathers required all men to read it all the Laity even the meanest of the Laity they Condemned the neglect of it they commended them that read it day and night There is nothing more frequent in the writings of the Ancient Fathers Yet now it is found out that the Laity may hurt themselves with reading it How so It will make them Hereitics One would little expect it that had read what the Fathers say of this matter But now it is Heresie to disbelieve the Roman Church And no doubt to read the Scripture will bring men to this But whose fault is it Surely theirs that instead of reforming their Church have rather chosen to silence the Scriptures Which being done in favour of their Doctrines it appears that they themselves I mean the governours of their Church have been sensible that some at least of their Doctrines are not the Doctrines of the Apostles In the next place for the Apostles Fellowship which I have interpreted to be Union under lawful Pastors and Governors They can by no means allow this Character to our Church or to any that submits not to their Universal Pastor Which title they appropriate to the Bishop of Rome and him they swear in their forementioned profession of Faith to be the Vicar of Christ and the successor of St. Peter the Apostle And to shew how far they dare go against evidence they swear also that his Roman Church is not only Mistress but also the Mother of all Churches Not to say in how many things he that will be Supream Pastor invades the just rights of other Pastors who are all in the judgment of Primitive times the Successors of the Apostles of Christ Or how little he hath to shew for his claim to a succession in that Power from St. Peter either in Scripture Story or in the writings of the Primitive Church I shall only desire you to consider these beginnings of Christianity in my Text. When the whole Church was comprehended in three or four thousand believers and they were all together with the Apostles at this time in Ierusalem It is certain that then there was no Bishop nor no Christian at Rome So that then for the Bishop or Church of Rome to be any thing which they swear they are in those Articles of their Faith was surely no part of the Apostles Doctrine Nor did the Fellowship of the Apostles consist in subjection to St. Peter Though he was the first in Order yet that he had Authority over the rest there is no ground to assert There is much evidence against it as I have shewn from sundry places of Scripture Nor granting this to St. Peter which they can never prove can they bring down a title from him to the Roman Bishop He hath a better pretence to succeed the Roman Emperors in Monarchy than he hath to succeed any of the Apostles And indeed that was the design as they know that are skild in the writers of antient times Rome seemed a place designd for Empire and when the Emperors faild then the Bishops set up in their stead What the Emperors could not hold by Arms the Bishops would fetch in by Religion And so they obtrude upon all Christians in truth a Secular Monarchy instead of that which my Text calls the Fellowship of the Apostles Thirdly for the two Sacraments of the Apostles they tell us of seven which were instituted by our Lord Iesus Christ. In this Chapter we read of Baptism p. 41. and we read of breaking of Bread in my Text. Here are two but where are the other five They were not thought of at that time for ought that appears to us in Scripture Nay it doth not appear in a thousand years after It was eleven hundred years after when Peter Lombard wrote his Book of the Sentences before which they cannot find the least mention of that number of Sacraments But to speak of no more than that mentioned in my Text. Where is the breaking of bread As they receive it in the Roman Church there is neither breaking nor bread in their Sacrament Where is the Communion of Christs Body and Blood Their daily Worship is the Mass. But their Mass is no Communion The Priest only Consecrates and eats while all the people stand by and adore Was there ever such a thing heard of in the Primitive times In those times none were suffered to be present but only such as received And if any were present they were punishable if they did not receive What could they have thought of such a Sacrament as is now the daily Worship of the Roman Church Sure enough in the Apostles Church as oft as they met to Worship God they All did eat of that one bread 1 Cor. x. 17. And they All were made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. xii 13. And whereas of this last our Saviour having said to his Disciples who were then Lay-men Drink ye all of it St. Mark takes particular notice that they all drank of it which practice we see was followed in the Apostolic Church The Roman Church will let her Laity drink none of it None of the Cup of blessing which we bless But the Cup of Unblessed Wine the Ablution as they call it A trick which they brought up in those corrupt ignorant times I know not why if not on purpose to deceive the people that they may not miss the Wine though they have none of the Blessing So far they are removed from the Original Church in her Sacraments Lastly for the Worship of God here called the Apostles Prayers There are many things in the Roman Church whereof some were forbidden by the Apostles and others cannot consist with their Doctrine The chief part of her Worship is the Sacrifice of the Mass and that is declared in the Creed before-mentioned to be a true proper propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead This horrible affront of Christs Sacrifice and abuse of his Sacrament together was brought in upon the back of that Doctrine of the Corporeal Presence When according to that Doctrine the Priest hath made Christ Next he is to kill him or do somthing as bad for they pretend to sacrifice him to God How this is done the Divines of that Church are not yet agreed It were well if at least they could tell Why they do it For they had need for such a Sacrifice to have a clear Institution from God But they cannot pretend to that There is nothing clearly for it in all the Texts that they bring out of Scripture This they were told aloud at the Council of Trent and others since have acknowledged it They
pretend indeed that it is clear in the Tradition of the Fathers But for the Fathers that received the Scripture from the Apostles it is evident that they could not find any such thing in it Nor could any of them that lived in the first six hundred years Nay they were to seek for it that lived above a thousand years after the Apostles times Some indeed of the Antients have spoke of an unbloody Sacrifice and that offered by every Christian as well without the Sacrament as with it But as they alway denied any more Bloody Sacrifice So little did they think of an unbloody to take away sin and that such as none could offer but the Priest How much less that Chirst himself must be that Sacrifice nay must come from heaven both to offer and to be offered and that upon such pitiful small or needless occasions The most common pretence not to mention any worse is to fetch a soul out of Purgatory Which the Priest is to do for a small piece of Silver But they have other devices to do the same thing Therefore why must Christ come from Heaven to earn this mony And be sent on these errands ten thousand times a day And every time suffer as much as it cost him to Redeem all mankind This horrible Mystery unknown to former Ages was kept for times worthy of such a discovery Those dark dismal times that brought in the Grossest errors of Popery Other things in their Worship are new and bad Enough though they do not come up to the Monstrousness of this Namely their prayer to Angels and to Saints departed this life and their prayer for Souls in Purgatory which things together make up a great part of their Offices in the Roman Church For the first of these Prayer to Angels We cannot say that there was no such thing in the Apostles times For an Apostle by mistake was like to have used it but was forbid by the Angel to whom he offered worship And another Apostle writ purposely against it as being a Superstition that some would then have brought into the Church But those instances sufficiently shew that it could be no part of the Apostles Prayers For Prayer to Saints as the Apostles have left no Example so they could have none before them according to the Doctrine of the now Roman Church Nor is there any colour for it in Scripture nor in the Tradition of the Apostles Age. There are many things in both to the contrary But after some hundreds of years when Christianity was the Established Religion and Heathens came by droves into the Church It is no wonder that they who in their Gentilism Prayed to Deified men more than to God were apt to run into this Superstition They were still for a Religion that would affect the sense And they found matter for it at the Memories of the Martyrs where from the Miracles that were wrought for the Testimony of their Faith They took occasion to treat the Saints as before they had done their Heathen Gods and to address themselves to them for those Temporal benefits which they took to be conferred by their means It may seem strange that some of the Fathers of the Church should give countenance to this popular Error But however they complied with the weakness of the people in hope to promote their Zeal to Religion and perhaps they might have some other Hypotheses of their own yet they writ things which could not consist with this worship And some of the Fathers writ directly against it They asserted to God the whole duty of Worship They owned no other Mediator but Christ. This they all acknowledged to be the sense of the Catholic Church But the darker times grew the more that Error prevailed The people led their Guides and tolled them on with worldly advantage who repaied them with lying Wonders and Visions to confirm them in their Error At last by Poetry it got into the Offices of the Church And yet then they had no Doctrine sufficient to bear it A thousand years after Christ they were not sure that the Saints heard their Prayer or that the Saints are in Heaven which is the very Foundation of their worship Their very Prayers e taught them the contrary And therefore they that came after altered them in some places But yet still there is enough left in the Mass Book f to shew them how far they are removed from the Old Roman Church The Prayers for Souls in Purgatory could be no antienter than the Doctrine of Purgatory was And therefore having shewn that the Apostles had no such Doctrine I need not prove that these were none of their Prayers But if they prayed for the dead on any other account it doth not concern the now Roman Church For she pretends not to pray for any dead but for them that are in Purgatory And yet to do her Right she hath not one prayer expresly for them in all her Offices for the dead The Reason is because those Offices were made before that Fiction was generally believed The Offices were fitted to those Doctrines which were Then in the Roman Church Which as I have shewn were much different from what she hath now So where their Doctrines were doubtful there the Prayers are in ambiguous terms But they are plain enough in that which is of Faith that is where they pray as we do for a blessed Resurrection But because that is assured to all that die in Christ whether in a Perfect or Imperfect estate and men will not buy Prayers for that which will come without asking Therefore to get their mony there was no better way than to persuade them that their friends might be fetched out of Purgatory or might be eased in it by such Prayers as were then used in the Church There might have been new Prayers made for the purpose But as bad as times were in that darkness of Popery some would have declared against such a gross Innovation Therefore it was thought enough to keep the old Prayers and get the Church to interpret them as she hath done sufficiently to shew her own Novelty in this matter For the other parts of their Worship we read that the Ptimitive Christians that lived next the Apostles times had their Lessons from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament So they have some likewise in the Roman Church But for every such Lesson they have Two Lessons out of other Books And no small part of them I say no more than I can prove are as arrant Fables as any that are in the Heathen Poets For the Language of their Prayers and Offices in their Church it is all in Latin and that is an Unknown tongue It is a chance if any there understands it And
their Church is not concerned that they should understand it But St. Paul was as we read 1 Cor. xiv 14. If I pray saith he in an Unknown tongue my Spirit prays but my Understanding is unfruitful But I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also Again verse 16. How shall he that stands in the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he Understands not what thou sayest Again verse 9. In the Church I had rather speak five words with my Understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an Unknown tongue These are plain Texts of Scripture which the Roman Church evidently transgressing does wisely no doubt to keep the Scriptures from the Reading or Understanding of her people For otherwise it could be no great comfort to them to find how directly she goes against as well the Precepts as the Practice of the Apostles I shave shewn that she doth it not only in One or a few Instances But in Many and those of the greatest note In all the Notes that the Apostles have given us of a true Christian Church Having given this account of her that calls her self the Catholic Church Having shewn how far she is removed from this Church in my Text I shall not pass any judgment upon her as she peremptorily doth upon others damning all that are not of her Communion Better leave that to God and they will find so at the last day Only being as she is I think we have all reason to beware of her to thank God that we are at this distance from her to bless her for her curses that have caused that distance to Pray for her and her Children that they may be purged from their Errors And till then to Watch and Pray for our selves and to put it at least in our Private Litany it shall alway be in mine from Popery good Lord deliver us Let us next consider our own Church and when I say our own I know you all understand me that I speak of the Church of England in the first place and proportionably of all other Reformed Churches And this I say If any Church which holds the same Doctrine which retains the same Government which partakes the same Sacraments and the same Worship of God as they did in the Apostles times be a true Apostolical Church We are bound to bless God who hath placed us where we are who hath made us Members of such a Church which hath all those Characters so entire and so visible in it First for Doctrine we profess to believe the Holy Scriptures which I have shewn have been antiently thought to contain the whole Doctrine of the Apostles We acknowledg for Canonical Scriptures neither less nor more than all those Books whose Authority is undoubted in the Church We profess the same Faith and no more than all Christians have professed in all Ages namely that which is briefly comprized in the Apostles Creed explained in the Creeds called the Nicen and that of Athanasius and proved in every Article or Point by the Holy Scriptures taken in that sense which is both most evident in the words and which hath been approved by the consent of the Universal Church Secondly for the Government of our Church as to the Constitution of it it is according to the Scripture rules and Primitive patterns And for the Exercise of it It goes as far as the looseness of the Age will bear If this hath weakened the Discipline of our Church we know the same looseness hath the same effect elsewhere even in those Churches of the Roman Communion And it had no less in the Church of Corinth in the Apostles times For the persons that are emploied in the Ministery They are such as are lawfully called to it they are Consecrated and Ordained for that purpose and that according to the Scripture and Canons of the Universal Church They are such as wholly attend on this very thing in the Apostles words And for our Church of England I may add without prejudice to any other we can derive the Succession of our Bishops from the Apostles as high as most Churches can even of them in the Roman Communion Thirdly for our Sacraments we use the same and no other than those which Christ expresly left to his Church I mean which he both Instituted and Commanded us to use Which can be said of no other than only Baptism and the Lords Supper Lastly For our Public Worship we have cause to bless God that has given us such a Liturgy in which according to all the measures we have of the Apostles we can see nothing but what as to the Substance is Theirs And our most malicious Enemies can tell us of no other ill they see in it but only this that the Words of it are Ours The Ministration of this Worship and of these Sacraments is in a Language understood by all those that are concerned in them They can all say Amen to their Prayers It is performed with such Rites as are not against the word of God but are agreeable to it being only for order and decency And we use them not as necessary in themselves but in obedience to the Authority which every Church hath over its own Members We do according to Saint Cyprians rule condemn or judg no other Church We separate from none any otherwise than by purging our selves from those things which we believe to be Corruptions and Errors to which end several of those Articles were framed to be subscribed by our own Clergy without imposing them on any other In all these respects our Church holds a Communion or hath done nothing to break it with any other National Church no not with those of the Roman Communion and is not only what they deny a true Member but what they are not a Sound member of that one Holy Catholic Church which was from the beginning and which will be to the end of the world The last thing is having proved we have a true Church to persuade you First to continue in it stedfastly And Secondly in the Belief and Practice of those things by which it appears to be a true Church And Lastly to profit by them and so to adorn our Holy Religion with a Holy and good Conversation First to persuade you to continue stedfastly in this Church it is enough if you are convinced that you cannot mend your selves by any Change Who would not desire to continue where he is well Who would not stick to that which is the best he can chuse Who would needlesly run the danger of any loss Especially of losing himself which is the greatest loss that is possible and yet That we have reason to expect from the just indignation of God if we shall reject the great
benefit that he hath given us to be born in the womb and bred up in the bosom of such a Church No doubt you hear for who does not on every side the voices of them that would allure you or would threaten you out of it But whatsoever they say remember what the Philosopher made the first part of wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not believe all that is said Remember how our Saviour forewarned if any tell you Christ is here or Christ is there believe him not If Antiquity be pretended on the one hand if large boasts of Purity on the other many fine things are said believe them not And if many have been seduced by these means let them answer for themselves you had best to look before you follow them If many have fallen off from our Church so did many from Christ. But some were wiser and considered what they should get by it They said whither should we go Thou hast the words of eternal life If our Church has but that whatever she wants else it will be our wisest way to continue in it But then secondly you are to continue in those Characters by which it appears to be a true Church And to exercise your Communion in all the Acts that belong to these Characters namely in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in the Sacraments and in Prayers First for Doctrine Hold fast the form of sound words which you have received Contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints Seek it not in muddy Streams but in the living Fountains of Scripture All Scripture is given by inspiration from God and is enough to make the man of God perfect and throughly furnisht to every good work It is sufficient to make us wise to salvation So that if we mind only that we have no need of any other and yet we would refuse no other that could be made out as this is to be the Doctrine of the Apostles of Christ. Secondly as to the Apostles Fellowship we have heard it is continued in the Bishops their Successors Therefore we ought to take heed how we break Communion with them We are both to acknowledg and make use of their Ministery to obey them in spiritual things as being those that must give account for our souls Thirdly for the Sacraments and Worship of God forsake not the assembling of your selves together nor run into separate Meetings as the manner of some is Some will alway be stragling we cannot help what they do and what they do among themselves we do not enquire They that are of the Catholic and Apostolic Church will be only for the Catholic and Apostolic Sacraments Namely for those which Christ himself instituted in his Church Baptism by which we are planted into Christs death and the Lords Supper in which we keep up the remembrance of it till he comes We have also the same worship of God which was in the Apostles times and which hath been ever since in the Church They who are now Saints in Heaven while they were upon earth prayed to no other but God only If we pray not to them they will excuse us we do as they did And we do it in assurance that the same worship which they used will bring us as it did them to be Saints in Heaven too if we continue in it Lastly continuing in the Church and in all the Characters of it our business is to profit by all these to grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord Iesus Christ. It concerns us not only to be in a true Church but to see that we our selves are true Christians and that can no otherwise appear than in the likeness of Christ in Righteousness and Holiness of life Without this though you be of a true Church you will not be so long or you will be so to no purpose A wicked life will in time eat out all the sense of Religion or the more sense one hath he will find the less comfort in Ours Our Religion hath no comfort for him that is and will be Wicked Our Religion hath no Purgatory to keep him from Hell Our Religion can make him no penny-worths of Heaven Our Religion hath no pardon for sin but on Repentance No Repentance but on real amendment of Life He that cannot come to that Alas what does he in our Religion As it cannot if he knows it but be uneasie to him so he will make himself unworthy of it He will provoke God to deprive him of the benefit And it is all one which way he deprives him whether by letting him now run out of the Church or whether by shutting him out of Heaven at the last For that it will come to when all is done without holiness there is no coming thither Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. None shall If you want that not you in particular and then what will your Religion signifie Though your Church hath all that the Apostles Church had What good will this do you if you perish in it Though your Ship will go its Voyage what is that to you if you die of a surfeit by the way Though you have the True Doctrine Communion Sacraments and Prayers what comfort will all this give you in that terrible day Yea what Horror will it be that being placed well by God you are fallen from it You have lost you have thrown away that great Blessing that he had given you Beloved we hope better things of you and things that accompany Salvation though we thus speak I Hope and therefore Pray that all that hear me this day may be the better for being of such a Church God intended we should He has dealt exceeding graciously with us But yet he expects that we should do something for our selves That considering the Opportunity that is put in our hands Seeing how near God has brought us to the Kingdom of Heaven Seeing nothing but our own sins between us and it should that sight make us fly out and seek other ways ways that God never made nor will bless Nay rather we should break through our sins and go the way that he calls us in his Word there can be no better there is no other than this So performing his design pursuing the ends of our Calling living suitably to our excellent Religion We are indeed the followers of the Apostles in this life and shall be with them hereafter in the blessedness of Life Everlasting FINIS a Lucifer 〈…〉 1568. p. 79. 328. Prosper Chr. 〈…〉 b Iren. adv har l. 3. c. 3. cals it tâ—e Church from which every Church had its beginning Luke xxiv 47. a V. Card. Baron Annal Eccl. Anno 900. c. b 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. i. 21. c 2 Tim. iii. 15. d Joh. xx a Chrysost. in 2 Cor. Hom. 13. Edit Savil. Tom. III. p. 624. 43. b Idem in 2