in this kind ought not to move us when their Pretence to Infallibility is destitute of the proper Proof and Evidence of it which is a Power of Miracles and when their Doctrines and Practices have neither the evidence of Reason or Scripture on their side For instance That the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches which is one of the new Articles of Pope Pius the IVth's Creed and yet there is not one syllable in Scripture tending to this purpose And in Reason it cannot be that any but that which was the First Christian Church should be the Mother of all Churches and that the Church of Rome certainly was not and the Church of Jerusalem undoubtedly was And then that the Bishop of Rome as Successor of St. Peter there is the Supreme and Vniversal Pastor of Christ's Church by Divine appointment as he assumes to himself and that it is necessary to Salvation for every humane Creature to be subject to the Bishop of Rome as is declared in their Canon-Law by a Constitution of Pope Boniface the VIIIth which Constitution is confirmed in the last Lateran Council of all which there is not the least mention in Scripture nor any divine Appointment to that purpose to be found there And it is against Reason that all the World should be obliged to trudge to Rome for the Decision of Causes and Differences which in many and the most weighty Matters are reserved to the Decision of that See and can be determin'd no-where else And against Reason likewise it is to found this universal Supremacy in his being Successor of St. Peter and to fix it in the Bishop of Rome rather than at Antioch when it is certain and granted by themselves that St. Peter was first Bishop of Antioch and out of all question that he was Bishop of Antioch but not so that he was Bishop of Rome Nor is there any thing in Scripture for the Deliverance of Souls out of Purgatory by the Prayers and Masses of the Living The whole Thing is groundless and not agreeable to the constant Suppositions of Scripture concerning a future State Nor is there any Reason for it besides that which is not fit to be given the Wealth and Profit which it brings in The Invocation and Worship of the Blessed Virgin and of all the Saints departed is destitute of all Scripture-warrant or Example and confessed by themselves not to have been owned or practised in the Three first Ages of the Church because it looked too like the Heathen Idolatry which deserves to be well considered by those who pretend to derive their whole Religion from Christ and his Apostles by a continued and uninterrupted Succession And this practice is likewise destitute of all colour of Reason unless we be assured that they hear our Prayers in all places which we cannot be unless they be present in all places which they themselves do not believe or that God doth some way or other reveal and make known to them the Prayers which are made to them which we cannot possibly be assured of but by some Revelation of God to that purpose which we no-where find nor doth the Church of Rome pretend to it But I proceed to the 2 d Thing namely That we should much more hold fast the Profession of our Faith and Religion against the Confidence of Men contrary to Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind For these are the chief grounds of Certainty which we can have for or against any thing and if these be clearly on our side we ought not to be much moved by the Confidence of Men concerning any Doctrines or Practices of Religion which are plainly contrary to these If in Points wherein we have this advantage on our side we do not hold fast the Profession of our Religion our Error and Folly are capable of no excuse And this advantage we plainly have in several Points and Controversies betwixt us and the Church of Rome As in the Worship of Images which is as expresly and clearly forbidden in the Second Commandment and that without any Distinction as any other thing is forbidden in the whole Bible And that it is so forbidden in this Commandment and that this Commandment is still in force among Christians was the Universal Sense of the ancient Christian Church Prayers and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue are directly contrary to the very Nature and End of religious Worship which ought to be a Reasonable Service which it cannot be if it be not directed by our Understandings and accompanied with our Hearts and Affections But if it be performed in an unknown Tongue our Understanding can have no part in it and if we do not understand it it cannot move our Affections And this likewise is plainly contrary to Scripture namely to a large Discourse of St. Paul's almost throughout a whole Chapter where he purp sely sets himself to shew the Unprofitableness and gross Absurdity of Praying or Celebrating any other Part of Religious Worship in an unknown Tongue If any part of Our Religion had been half so clearly condemned in Scripture as this is which yet is the constant and general Practice of the Church of Rome we must have lain down in our shame and confusion would have covered us and we must either have rejected the Authority of the Bible or have renounced that Point of our Religion what-ever it had been Though it had been dear to us as our right Hand and our right Eye we must upon such plain Evidence of Scripture against it have cut it off and plucked it out and cast it from us The like may be said of Locking up the Scriptures from the people in an unknown Tongue contrary to the Command of the Scriptures themselves and to the great End and Design of Almighty God in the Writing and Publishing of them and contrary to the perpetual Exhortations and Counsels of all the Ancient Fathers of the Christian Church for a great many Ages not one excepted They are hardly more frequent and copious and earnest in any Argument than in perswading People of all Ranks and Conditions to the constant and careful Reaing of the Holy Scriptures And contrary to the Common Reason and Sense of Mankind For what should Men be perswaded to be acquainted withal if not with That which is the great Instrument of our Salvation That Book which was written on purpose to reveal and convey to Men the Knowledge of God and of his Will and their Duty What should Men be allowed to know if not That which is the best and most effectual Means to direct and bring them to Heaven or turn them from Sin and to preserve them from Eternal Misery When our Saviour would represent the best and most effectual Means of bringing Men to Happiness and saving them from the Eternal Torments of Hell in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus He brings in Abraham giving the best Advice he
will not be proved without so much Trouble and Difficulty that it is better to let them alone and by the confident Assertion of them by Importunity and by any other fair means to get them believed without Proof of this stubborn sort of Propositions which will admit of no Proof This is one That a Part is the Whole or which is all one Thâ—â— the Roman Church is the Catholick Church For that it is but a Part of the Christian Church and not the best Part neither but perhaps the very worst and most corrupt of all the rest is no difficult matter to prove and hath been often done But now to prove the Church of Rome to be the Catholick Church that is the whole Society of all True Christians in the World these following Particulars ought to be clearly shewn and made out 1. A plain Constitution of our Saviour whereby St. Peter and his Successors at Rome are made the Supream Head and Pastors of the whole Christian Church For St. Peter first Can they shew any such Constitution in the Gospel or can they produce the least Proof and Evidence out of the History of the Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles that St. Peter was acknowledg'd for such by the rest of the Apostles Nay is there not clear evidence there to the contrary that in the first Council of the Christian Church at Jerusalem St. James the Bishop of Jerusalem was if not Superior at least equal to him Does St. Paul acknowledg any Superiority of St. Peter over him Nay does he not upon several occasions declare himself equal to the chiefest Apostles even to St. Peter himself And is this Consistent with a plain Constitution of our Lord's makeing St. Peter Supream Head and Pastor of the Christian Church But suppose this to have been so where doth it appear by any Constitution of our Saviour that this Authority was derived to his Successors And if it were why to his Successors at Rome rather than at Antioch where he was first and unquestionably Bishop They must acknowledg that when he was Bishop of Antioch he was the Supream Head and Pastor of the whole Christian Church and then the Style must have been the Antiochian Catholick Church as it is now the Roman Catholick But do they find any footsteps of such a Style in Ecclesiastical History 2. To make good this Proposition That the Roman Church is the Catholick Church they are in consequence obliged to affirm and believe That the Churches of Asia which were Excommunicated by the Bishops of Rome for not keeping Easter as They did and the Churches of Asia and Africa who were Excommunicated by the same Bishop upon the Point of Rebaptizing Hereticks that all these by being turn'd out of the Communion of the Roman Church were also Cut off from the Catholick Church and from a possibility of Salvation This the Church of Rome themselves will not affirm and yet if to be cast out of the Communion of the Roman and the Catholick Church be all one they must affirm it 3. In consequence of this Proposition That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church they ought to hold that all Baptism out of the Communion of Their Church is void and of none effect For if it be good then it makes the Persons baptized Members of the Catholick Church and then those that are out of the Communion of the Roman Church may be true Members of the Catholic Church and then the Roman and the Catholick Church are not all one But the Church of Rome holds the Baptism of Hereticks and of those that are out of the Communion of Their Church to be good which is a Demonstration that the Roman Church neither is the Catholick Church nor if she believe consistently can she think her self to be so 4. In consequence of this Proposition all the Christians in the World which do not yield Subjection to the Bishop of Rome and acknowledg his Supremacy are no true parts of the Catholick Church nor in a possibility of Salvation And this does not only exclude those of the Reform'd Religion from being Members of the Catholick Church but the Greeks and the Eastern Churches i. e. Four of the Five Patriarchal Churches of the Christian World which taken together are really greater than those in Communion with the Church of Rome And this the Church of Rome does affirm concerning all those Churches and Christians which refuse Subjection to the Bishop of Rome that they are out of the Communion of the Catholick Church and a capacity of Salvation But surely it is not possible that the True Catholick Church of Christ can have so little Charity as this comes to and to a wise Man there needs no other Demonstration than this That the Church of Rome is so far from being the Whole Christian Church that it 's a very Arrogant and Uncharitable Part of it Fifthly and Lastly In consequence of the Truth of this Proposition and of the Importance of it to the Salvation of Souls and to the Peace and Unity of the Christian Church they ought to produce express Mention of the Roman Catholick Church in the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church For if this Proposition That the Roman Church is the Catholick be true it was always so and always of the greatest Importance to the Salvation of Men and the Peace and Unity of the Christian Church and if it were so and always believed to be so by the Christian Church as they pretend What reason can be imagin'd why the Ancient Christian Church should never say so nor put an Article of such Consequence and Importance in express Words in their Creeds nor why they should not have used the Style of Roman Catholick as familiarly then as they do now in the Roman Church A plain Evidence that this is a new Style which they use when they give themselves the Title of the Roman Catholick Church and that the Ancient Christian Church knew better than to call one Part of the Catholick Church the Whole I am sure that AEneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope Pius the Second says that before the Council of Nice little respect was had to the Roman Church But how does this consist with their present Pretence that the Roman Church is and always hath been the Catholick Church and that the Bishop of Rome is by Christ's appointment the Supream Pastor and Visible Head of the whole Christian Church Is it possible that this should be believed in the Christian Church before the Council of Nice and yet little respect to be had at that time to the Roman Church This indeed was said by AEneas Sylvius before he sate in the Infallible Chair but is never the less true for that 5ly The next step of their Method is That the Roman Church is Infallible and by this means They have a certain remedy against Heresie and a Judge of Controversies from which there is no Appeal which We want in Our
rather because they are different from That which they presume to be the only true Religion ought to be condemned at all adventures without any farther enquiry This I say is fond Partiality because every Religion and every Church may for ought that appears to any man that is not permitted to examine things impartially say the same for themselves and with as much Reason and if so then either every Religion ought to permit it self to be examined or else no man ought to examine his own Religion whatever it be and consequently Jews and Turks and Heathens and Hereticks ought all to continue as they are and none of them to change because they cannot reasonably change without examining both that Religion which they leave and that which they embrace instead of it 2. Admitting this Pretence were true that They are the true Church and have the true Religion This is so far from being a Reason why they should not permit it to be examined that on the contrary it is one of the best Reasons in the World why they should allow it to be examined and why they may safely suffer it to be so They should permit it to be tryed that men may upon good Reason be satisfied that it is the true Religion And they may safely suffer it to be done because if They be sure that the Grounds of their Religion be firm and good I am sure they will be never the worse for being examined and look'd into But I appeal to every Man's Reason whether it be not an ill Sign that they are not so sure that the Grounds of their Religion are solid and firm and such as will abide the Tryal that they are so very loth to have them searcht into and examined This cannot but tempt a wise Man to suspect that their Church is not founded upon a Rock and that they themselves know something that is amiss in their Religion which makes them so loth to have it try'd and brought to the Touch. 3. It is certain among all Christians that the Doctrine preached by the Apostles was the true Faith of Christ and yet they never forbad the Christians to examine whether it were so or not Nay on the contrary they frequently exhort them to try and examine their Religion and whether that Doctrine which they had delivered to them was the true Faith of Christ. So St. Paul 2 Corinth 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves And again 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good intimating to us that in order to the holding fast the Profession of our Faith it is requisite to prove and try it And so likewise St. John's Ep. 1. 4. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world And he gives a very notable mark whereby we may know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Spirit of Error carries on a worldly Interest and Design and the Doctrines of it tend to Secular Power and Greatness vers 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them Acts 17. 11. St. Luke commends it as an argument of a more noble and generous Spirit in the Beroeans that they examined the Doctrine which the Apostles preacht whether it were agreeable to the Scriptures and this without Disparagement to their Infallibility These saith he were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so They were ready to receive the Word but not blindly and with an implicit Faith but using due Care to examine the Doctrines which they were taught and to see if they were agreeable to that Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures which they had before received It seems they were not willing to admit and swallow Contradictions in their Faith And we desire no more of the Church of Rome than that they would encourage the people to search the Scriptures daily and to examine whether their Doctrines be according to them We would be glad to hear the Pope and a General Council commend to the People the searching of the Scriptures and to try their Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Worship by that Rule to see whether what they have defined and decreed to be believed and practised be agreeable to it their Worship of Images their solemn Invocation of Angels and of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints departed the Sacrament under one kind only the publick Prayers and Service of God in an unknown Tongue the frequent Repetition of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood in the Mass. Had the Beroeans been at the Council of Trent and pleaded their Right to search the Scriptures whether these things were so I doubt they would have been thought very troublesome and impertinent and would not have been praised by the Pope and Council for their pains as they are by St. Luke You see then upon the whole matter that it is a very groundless and suspicious Pretence of the Church of Rome that because They are Infallibly in the right and Theirs is the true Religion therefore their people must not be permitted to examine it The Doctrine of the Apostles was undoubtedly the true Faith of Christ and yet they not only permitted the people to examine it but exhorted and encouraged them so to do and commended them for it And any Man that hath the Spirit of a Man must abhor to submit to this Slavery not to be allowed to examine his Religion and to enquire freely into the Grounds and Reasons of it and would break with any Church in the World upon this single Point and would tell them plainly if your Religion be too good to be Examined I doubt it is too bad to be Believed If it be said that the allowing of this Liberty is the way to make people perpetually doubting and unsettled I do utterly deny this and do on the contrary with good Reason affirm that it is apt to have the contrary effect There being in reason no better way to establish any man in the belief of any thing than to let him see that there are very good Grounds and Reasons for what he believes which no man can ever see that is not permitted to examine whether there be such Reasons or not So that besides the Reasonablness of the thing it is of great benefit and advantage to us And that upon these Accounts 1. To arm us against Seducers He that hath examined his Religion and tryed the Grounds of it is most able to maintain them and make them good against all Assaults that may be made upon us to move us from our Stedfastness Whereas he that hath not examined and consequently does not understand the Reasons of his Religion is liable to be tossed to and fro and to
only upon the sincere Resolution of the Penitent And surely nothing can be more absurd and contrary to Reason than that when Men have performed all the Conditions which the Gospel requires yet they should notwithstanding this be deprived of all the Blessings and Benefits which God hath promised and intends to confer upon them because the Priest hath not the same Intention So that when a Man hath done all he can to work out his own Salvation he shall be never the nearer only for want of That which is wholly out of his Power the right Intention of the Priest Besides that after all their Boasts of the safe Condition of Men in Their Church and the most certain and infallible means of Salvation to be had in it this one Principle that the Intention of the Priest is necessary to the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments puts the Salvation of Men upon the greatest Hazard and Uncertainty and such as it is impossible for any Man either to discover or prevent unless he had some certain way to know the Heart and Intention of the Priest For upon these terms who can know whether any Man be a Priest and really ordained or not Nay whether he be a Christian and have been truly baptized or not and consequently whether any of his Admistrations be valid and we have any Benefit and Advantage by them Because all this depends upon the knowledge of that which we neither do nor can know So that when a Man hath conscientiously done all that God requires of any Man to make him capable of Salvation yet without any Fault of his the want of Intention in an idle-minded Man may frustrate all And though the Man have been baptized and do truly believe the Gospel and hath sincerely repented of his sins and lived a most Holy Life yet all this may signifie nothing and after all he may be no Christian because his Baptism was invalid And all the Promises of God to the means of Salvation which his Goodness and Wisdom hath prescribed may be of no Efficacy if the Priest do not intend in the Administration of the Sacraments to do that which God and the Church intend Now if this be true there is certainly no Church in the World in which the Salvation of Men runs so many hazards and yet all this hazard and uncertainty has its rise from a Scholastical Point which is directly contrary to all the Notions of Mankind concerning the Goodness of God and to the clear Reason of the thing and to the constant Tenor of the Gospel and which was never asserted by any of the ancient Fathers much less defined by any Council before that of Trent So that it is a Doctrine new and needless and in the necessary consequences of it unreasonable and absurd to the utmost degree The last Instance I shall mention is their Rule of Faith The Rule of Faith universally received and acknowledged by the Christian Church in all Ages before the Council of Trent was the Word of God contained in the Canonical Books of Holy Scripture which were therefore by the Church called Canonical because they were the Rule of Faith and Manners of the Doctrines to be believed and the Duties to be practised by all Christians But when the Errours and Corruptions of the Romish Church were grown to the highth and the Pope and his Council at Trent were resolved not to Retrench and Reform them they saw it necessary to enlarge and lengthen out their Rule because the ancient Rule of the Holy Scriptures would by no means reach several of the Doctrines and Practices of that Church which they were resolved to maintain and make good by one means or other As namely the Doctrine of Transubstantiation of Purgatory and of the Seven Sacracraments and the practice of the Worship of Saints and Images of the Scriptures and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue of Indulgences and the Communion in one kind and several other superstitious Practices in use among them Now to enlarge their Rule to the best advantage for the Justification of these Doctrines and Practices they took these two ways 1. They have added to the Canonical Books of the Old Testament which were received by the Jewish Church to whom were committed the Oracles of God I say to these they have added several Apocryphal Books not warranted by Divine Inspiration because they were written after Prophecy and Divine Inspiration was ceased in the Jewish Church Malachi being the last of their Prophets according to the general Tradition of that Church But because the addition of these Books did not make a Rule of Faith and Practice large enough for their purpose in imitation of the Jews in the time of the greatest Confusion and Degeneracy of that Church they added in the Second Place to their Books of Scripture which they call the written Word an unwritten Word which they call Oral Tradition from Christ and his Apostles which they declare to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures themselves and that it ought to be received with the same Pious Veneration and Affection Of which Traditions They being the Keepers and Judges they may extend them to what they please and having them in their own Breasts they may declare whatever they have a mind to to have been a constant and universal Tradition of their Church tho it is evident to common Sense that nothing can be more uncertain and more liable to Alteration and Mistake than Tradition at the distance of so many Ages brought down by word of mouth without writing and passing through so many hands He that can think these to be of equal Certainty and Authority with what is delivered by Writing and brought down by Books undertakes the defence of a strange Paradox viz. That general Rumour and Report of Things said and done 1500 Years ago is of equal Authority and Credit with a Record and a written History By which proceeding of the Council of Trent concerning the Rule of Faith and Practice it is very evident that they had no mind to bring their Faith to the Ancient Rule the Holy Scriptures That they knew could not be done and therefore they were resolved to fit their Rule to their Faith And this Foundation being laid in their first Decree all the rest would afterwards go on very smoothly For do but give Men the making of their Rule and they can make good any thing by it And accordingly the Council of Trent having thus fixt and fitted a Rule to their own purpose in the Conclusion of that Decree they give the World fair warning upon what Grounds and in what Ways they intend to proceed in their following Decrees of Practice and Definitions of Faith Omnes itaque intelligant quo ordine via ipsa Synodus post jactum fidei confessionis fundamentum sit progressura c. Be it known therefore to all men in what Order and Way the Synod after having laid this
of the Priest is necessary to the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments then there is no Religion in the World that runs the Salvation of Men upon more and greater Hazards and Uncertainties and such as by no Care and Diligence of Man in working out his own Salvation are to be avoided and prevented As for the easier Terms of Salvation which they offer to Men they signifie nothing if they be not able to make them good which no Man can reasonably believe they can do that hath read the Bible and doth in any good measure understand the Nature of God and the Design of Religion For Instance That after the long Course of a most lewd and flagitious Life a Man may be reconciled to God and have his Sins forgiven at the last Gasp upon Confession of them to the Priest with that imperfect degree of Contrition for them which they call Attrition together with the Absolution of the Priest Now Attrition is a Trouble for Sin meerly for fear of the Punishment of it And this together with Confession and the Absolution of the Priest without any Hatred of Sin for the Evil and Contrariety of it to the holy Nature and Law of God and without the least Spark of Love to God will do the Sinner's business and put him into a state of Grace and Salvation without any other Grace or Disposition for Salvation but only the Fear of Hell and Damnation This I confess is easie but the great Difficulty is to believe it to be true And certainly no man that ever seriously considered the Nature of God and Religion can ever be persuaded to build the Hopes of his Salvation upon such a Quick-sand The Absolution of all the Priests in the World will not procure the Forgiveness of God for any Man that is not disposed for his Mercy by such a Repentance as the Gospel requires which I am sure is very different from that which is required by the Council of Trent They that offer Heaven to Men upon so very large and loose Terms give great Cause to suspect that they will never make good their Offer the Terms are so unreasonably cheap and easie that there must be some Fraud and False Dealing And on the other hand nothing ought to recommend our Religion more to a wise and considerate Man than that the Terms of Salvation which we propose to Men viz. Faith and Repentance and a sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel manifested in the Tenure of a Holy and Virtuous Life are not only perfectly agreeable to the plain and constant Declaration of Holy Scripture but do likewise naturally tend to engage Men most effectually to a good Life and thereby to make them meet to be made partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And therefore every body ought to be afraid of a Religion which makes such lavish Offers of Salvation and to take heed how he ventures his Soul upon them For if after all the Hopes that are given of Salvation upon such and such Terms the Sinner do really miscarry and miss of Heaven it is but very ill Comfort to him to be put into a Fools Paradise for a Minute or two before he leaves the World and the next Moment after to find himself in the place of Torments I proceed to the 5. And Last Particular I mentioned as implied in the Exhortation here in the Text viz. That we hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose Design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to gain Proselytes to their Party and Faction To this purpose there are several Cautions given by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles Matth. 24. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my Name and shall deceive many Eph. 4. 14. That ye henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine by the slight of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word signifies the Cunning of Gamesters at Dice by the slight of Men and the cunning Craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive And Chap. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain Words Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit that is by Sophistry and vain Reasoning under a pretence of Philosophy Heb. 13. 9. Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines 2 Pet. 3. 17. Beware lest you also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness And this Caution is enforc'd by an express Prediction of a great Apostasie which should happen in the Christian Church by which many should be seduced by pretence of Miracles and by several Arts of Deceit and Falshood This Apostasie St. Paul expresly foretels 2 Thess. 2. 1 2 3. We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit that is by pretence to Inspiration nor by Word or Message nor by Letter as from us as that the Day of Christ is at hand Let no man deceive you by any means for that Day shall not come except there come a falling away and that Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition And after a particular Description of him he adds v. 9. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders and in all deceitfulness of Vnrighteousness in them that perish From all which he concludes v. 15. Therefore Brethren stand fast The particular nature and kind of this Apostasie the same Apostle describes more fully 1 Tim 4. 1 2 3. Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lies in Hypocrisie i. e. under a great Pretence of Sanctity spreading their pernicious Errours forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats This is a very lively and pat Description of that great Apostasie in the Christian Church which began in the Western Part of it and hath spread it self far and wide For there the Spirit of Error and Falshood has prevailed under an Hypocritical Pretence of their being the only True Church and True Christians in the World There Marriage and several sorts of Meat are forbidden to several Ranks and Orders of Men. All the Difficulty is what is here meant by Doctrines of Devils and these certainly can be no other than Doctrines tending to Idolatry which the Scripture every where doth in a particular manner ascribe to the Devil as the Inventer and great Promoter of it And this is very much confirmed by what we find added in some ancient Greek Copies in this Text which runs thus In the latter times some shall apostatize from the Faith for they shall worship the Dead as some also in Israel worshiped And then it follows
giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils So that the particular kind of Idolatry into which some part of the Christian Church should apostatize is here pointed at That they should worship Souls departed or the Spirits of dead Men which was part of the Heathen Idolatry into which the People of Israel did frequently relapse So that the Spirit of God doth here foretel such an Apostasie in some part of the Christian Church as the People of Israel were guilty of in falling into the Heathen Idolatry They shall be Worshipers of the Dead as the Israelites also were And this is the great and dangerous Seduction which the Christians are so much cautioned against in the New Testament and charged to hold fast the profession of the Faith against the cunning Arts and Insinuations of seducing Spirits not but as I said before that we are always to have an Ear open to Reason and to be ready to hearken and to yield to That whenever it is fairly proposed But to be over-reached and rooked out of one's Religion by little Sophistical Arts and Tricks is Childish and silly After we are upon due Trial and Examination of the Grounds of our Religion settled and established in it we ought not to suffer our selves to be removed from it by the groundless Pretences of Confident People to Infallibility and to be practised upon by Cunning Men who lie at catch to make Proselytes to their Party This is to be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine And we ought to be the more careful of our selves because there never was any time wherein seducing Spirits were more bold and busie to pervert Men from the Truth Against These we should hold fast our Religion as a Man would do his Money in a Crowd It passeth in the World for a great Mark of Folly when a Man and his Money are soon parted But it is a sign of much greater Folly for a Man easily to quit his Religion especially to be caught by some such gross Methods as the Seducers I am speaking of commonly use and which lie so very open to Suspicion such as ill-designing Men are wont to practise upon a young Heir when they have insinuated themselves into his Company to make a Prey of him They charge him to tell no body in what Company he hath been not to ask the Counsel and Advice of his Friends concerning what they have been persuading him to because they for their own Interest will be sure to disswade him from it Just thus do these Seducers practise upon weak People They charge them not to acquaint their Minister with whom they have been nor what Discourse they have had about Religion nor what Books have been put into their Hands because then all their kind Design and Intention towards them will be defeated But above all they must be sure to read no Books on the other side because they are no competent Judges of Points of Faith and this reading on both sides will rather confound than clear their Understandings They tell them that they have stated the matter truly and would not for all the World deceive them and they may easily perceive by their earnest Application to them that nothing but Charity and a passionate desire of the Salvation of their Souls makes them take all these Pains with them But this is so gross a way of proceeding that any Man of common understanding must needs discern by this kind Treatment that these Men can have no honest Design upon them To come then to a more particular Consideration of the Arts and Methods which they use I mean particularly those of the Church of Rome in making Proselytes to their Religion As 1. In allowing them to be very competent and sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Church and Religion that is which is the True Church and Religion in which alone Salvation is to be had and yet telling them at the same time that they are utterly incapable of judging of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith and Practice but for these they must rely upon the Judgment of an Infallible Church when they are in it otherwise they will certainly run into damnable Errors and Mistakes about these things And they must of necessity allow them to be sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Religion as will be evident by considering in what Method they proceed with their intended Proselyte They propose to him to change his Church and his Religion because he is in the wrong and they will shew him a better and such a one as is the only True one and in which alone Salvation is to be had To perswade him hereto they offer him some Reasons and Arguments or give him Books to read containing Arguments to move him to make this Change to satisfie him of the Reasonableness and to convince him of the Necessity of it Now by this way of proceeding and they can take no other they do whether they will or no make the Person whom they are endeavouring to convert a Judge for himself which Church and Religion is best that which they would have him embrace and come over to or that which they would perswade him to forsake For to what end else do they offer him Reasons and Arguments to perswade him to leave our Church and to come over to theirs but that he may consider the Force and Weight of them and having considered them may judge whether they be of force sufficient to over-rule him to make this Change So that as unwilling as they are to make particular Persons judge for themselves about Points of Faith and about the Sense of Scripture confirming those Points because this is to leave every Man to his own private Spirit and Fancy and giddy Brain yet they are compelled by Necessity and against their own Principles to allow a Man in this case of chusing his Religion to be a Judge of the Reasons and Arguments which they offer to induce him thereto So that whether they will or no they must permit him to be a Judge for himself for this once but not to make a Practice of it or to pretend this Priviledge ever after For in acknowledgment of this great Favour of being permitted to judge for himself this once which they do unwillingly grant him and upon meer Necessity he is for ever after to resign up his Judgment to the Church And tho this Liberty be allowed pro hâc vice and properly to serve a turn i. e. in order to the changing of his Religion yet he is to understand that he is no fit and competent Judge of particular Points of Faith these he must all learn from the True Church when he is in it and take them upon her Authority and in so doing he shall do very prudently because She is infallible and cannot be deceived but He may But is there any Sense in all this that
of the Infallibility of their Church of their Seven Sacraments Instituted by Christ and of the Intention of the Priest being necessary to the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments and then several of their Practices as of the Worship of Images of the Invocation of Angels and Saints of the Service of God and the Scriptures in an Vnknown Tongue and the Communion in one Kind and several other things so plainly contrary to the Scriptures and the Practice and Usage of the Primitive Church that almost the meanest Capacity may easily be made sensible and convinced of it These are sore places which they desire not to have touched and therefore they use all possible Artifice to keep Men at a distance from them partly because the particular discussion of them is tedious and it requires more than ordinary Skill to say any thing that is tenable for them and so to paint and varnish them over as to hide the Corruptions and Deformities of them but chiefly because they are conscious to themselves that as in all these Points they are upon the Defensive so they are also upon very great Disadvantages and therefore to avoid if it be possible being troubled with them they have devised this shorter and easier and more convenient way of making Proselytes Not that they are always able to keep themselves thus within their Trenches but are sometimes whether they will or no drawn out to Encounter some of these Objections but they rid themselves of them as soon and as dexterously as they can by telling those that make them that they will hereafter give them full Satisfaction to all these Matters when they are gotten over the first and main Enquiry Which is the true Church For if they can keep them to this Point and gain them to it they can deal with them more easily in the rest for when they can once swallow this Principle That the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church and consequently as they have told them all along Infallible this Infallibility of the Church once entertained will cover a multitude of particular Errors and Mistakes and it will very much help to cure the weakness and defects of some particular Doctrines and Practices and at least to silence and over-rule all Objections against them So that the benefit and advantage of this Method is visibly and at first sight very great and therefore no wonder they are so steady and constant to it and do so obstinately insist upon it But how convenient soever it be to them it is I am sure very unreasonable in it self and that upon these Accounts 1. Because the True Church doth not constitute and make the True Christian Faith and Doctrine but it is the True Christian Faith and Doctrine the Profession whereof makes the True Church and therefore in Reason and Order of Nature the first Enquiry must be What is the True Faith and Doctrine of Christ which by him was delivered to the Apostles and by them publish'd and made known to the World and by their Writings Transmitted and Conveyed down to us And this being found every Society of Christians which holds this Doctrine is a True Part of the Catholick Church and all the Christians throughout the World that agree in this Doctrine are the One True Catholick Church 2. The Enquiry about the True Church can have no Issue even according to their own way of proceeding without a due Examination of the particular Doctrines and Practices of that Church the Communion whereof they would perswade a Man to embrace We will admit at present this to be the first Enquiry Which is the True Church Let us now see in what way they manage this to gain Men over to their Church They tell them that the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church of Christ. The truth of this Assertion we will particularly examine afterwards when we come to consider the next step of their Method in dealing with their Converts At present I shall only take notice in the General what way they take to prove this Assertion namely That the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church and that is by the Notes and Marks of the True Church which they call their Motives of Credibility because by these they design to perswade them that the Church of Rome is the One True Catholick Church I shall not now reckon up all the Notes and Marks which they give of the True Church but only observe that one of their Principal Marks of the True Church is this That the Faith and Doctrine of it be agreeable to the Doctrine of the Primitive and Apostolick Church i. e. to the Doctrine delivered by our Saviour and his Apostles And this Bellarmine makes one of the Marks of the True Church And they must unavoidably make it so because the True Faith and Doctrine of Christ is that which indeed Constitutes the True Church But if this be an Essential Mark of the True Church then no Man can possibly know the Church of Rome to be the True Church till he have examin'd the particular Doctrines and Practices of it and the Agreement of them with the Primitive Doctrine and Practice of Christianity and this necessarily draws on and engages them in a dispute of the particular Points and Differences betwixt us which is the very thing they would avoid by this Method and which I have now plainly shewed they cannot do because they cannot possibly prove their Church to be the True Church without shewing the Conformity of their Doctrines and Practices to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive and Apostolick Church and this will give them work enough and will whether they will or no draw them out of their Hold and Fastness which is to amuse People with a general Enquiry Which is the true Church without descending to the Examination of their particular Doctrines and Practices But this they must of necessity come to before they can prove by the Notes and Marks of the True Church that theirs is the True Church And this is a Demonstration that their Method of Satisfaction as it is Unnatural and Unreasonable so it cannot serve the purpose they aim at by it which is to divert Men from the Examination of the particular Points in Difference between the Church of Rome and Us and to gain them over to them by a wile and trick because the very Method they take to prove themselves to be the True Catholick Church will enforce them to justifie all their particular Doctrines and Practices before they can finish this Proof And here we fix our foot That the single Question and Point upon which they would put the whole Issue of the Matter cannot possibly be brought to any reasonable Issue without a particular Discussion and Examination of the Points in Difference betwixt Their Church and Ours and when they can make out these to be agreeable to the Primitive Doctrine and Practice of the Christian Church
we have reason to be satisfied that the Church of Rome is a Church in the Communion whereof a Man may be safe But till that be made out they have done nothing to perswade any Man that understands himself that it is safe much less necessary to be of their Communion But if particular Points must be discussed and cleared before a Man can be satisfied in the Enquiry after the True Church then they must allow their intended Convert to be a Judge likewise of particular Points and if he be sufficient for that too before he comes into their Church I do not see of what use the Infallibility of the Church will be to him when he is in it A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised I Have already made a considerable Progress in my Discourse upon these Words in which I told you there is an Exhortation to hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and an Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is faithful that promised I am yet upon the First of these the Exhortation to hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering by which I told you the Apostle doth not intend that those who are capable of examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should not have the Liberty to do it nor that when upon due Enquiry they are as they verily believe established in the true Faith and Religion they should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason that is fairly offered against their present Persuasion And then I proceeded to shew positively First What it is that we are here exhorted to hold fast viz. The Confession or Profession of our Faith the ancient Christian Faith of which every Christian makes Profession in his Baptism For it is of that the Apostle here speaks as appears plainly by the Context Secondly How we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith And of this I gave Account in these following Particulars 1. We should hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and the common Sense of Mankind of which I gave you particular Instances 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrors of the World 4. Against all vain Promises of being put into a safer Condition and groundless Hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier Terms in some other Church and Religion I am now upon the 5. And Last Particular I mentioned namely That we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose Design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to make Proselytes to their Party and Faction I have already mentioned some of the Arts which they use I mean particularly them of the Church of Rome in making Proselytes to their Religion and I have shewn the Absurdity and Unreasonableness of them As First In allowing Men to be very competent and sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Religion i. e. which is the True Church and Religion in which alone Salvation is to be had and yet telling them at the same time that they are utterly incapable of judging of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith As for these they must rely upon the Judgment of an Infallible Church and if they do not they will certainly run into damnable Errors and Mistakes And they must of necessity allow them the first a sufficient Ability to judge for themselves in the Choice of their Religion Otherwise in vain do they offer them Arguments to perswade them to Theirs if they cannot judge of the Force of them But now after this to deny them all Ability to judge of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith is a very absurd and inconsistent Pretence Secondly Another Art they use in order to their making a right Choice of their Religion is earnestly to perswade them to hear and read only the Arguments and Books on Their side Which is just as if one should go about to persuade a Judge in order to the better understanding and clearer Decision of a Cause to hear only the Council on one side Thirdly They tell them that the only thing they are to enquire into is which is the True Church the one Catholick Church mentioned in the Creed out of which there is no Salvation and when they have found that they are to rely upon the Authority of that Church which is Infallible for all other things And this Method they wisely take to avoid particular Disputes about the Innovations and Errors which we charge them withal But I have shewn at large that this cannot be the First Enquiry Because it is not the true Church that makes the true Christian Faith and Doctrine but the Profession of the true Christian Faith and Doctrine which makes the true Church Besides their way of proving Their Church to be the only true Church being by the Marks and Properties of the true Church of which the Chief is The Conformity of their Doctrines and Practices with the Primitive and Apostolical Church this unavoidably draws on an Examination of their particular Doctrines and Practices whether they be conformable to those of the Primitive and Apostolical Church before their great Enquiry Which is the True Church can be brought to any Issue which it is plain it can never be without entring into the Ocean of particular Disputes which they desire above all things to avoid So that they are never the nearer by this Method they can neither shorten their Work by it nor keep off the Examination of their particular Errors and Corruptions which are a very sore place and they cannot endure we should touch it I shall now proceed to discover some other Arts and Methods which they use in seducing People to Their Church and Religion and shall be as brief in them as I can Fourthly They pretend that the Roman Church is the Catholick Church i. e. the Visible Society of all Christians united to the Bishop of Rome as the Supream Pastor and Visible Head of Christ's Church upon Earth from whence it clearly follows That it is necessary to all Christians to joyn themselves to the Communion of the Roman Church otherwise they cannot be Members of the Catholick Church of Christ out of which there is no Salvation We grant the Consequence That if the Roman Church be the Catholick Church it is necessary to be of that Communion because out of the Catholick Church there is ordinarily no Salvation to be had But how do they prove that the Roman Church is the Catholick Church They would fain have us so civil as to take this for granted because if we do not they do not well know how to go about to prove it And indeed some things are obstinate and
Church And this is a Glorious Priviledge indeed if they could prove that they had it and that it would be so certain a remedy against Heresie and give a final Decision to all Controversies But there is not one tittle of all this of which they are able to give any tenable Proof For 1. All the pretence for their Infallibility relyes upon the truth of the former Proposition That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church and That they say is Infallible And I have already shewn that That Proposition is not only destitute of any good Proof but is as evidently false as that a Part of a thing is the Whole 2. But supposing it were true That the Roman Church were the Catholick Church yet it is neither evident in it self nor can be proved by them that the Catholick Church of every Age is Infallible in deciding all Controversies of Religion It is granted by all Christians that our Saviour and his Apostles were Infallible in the delivery of the Christian Doctrine and they proved their Infallibility by Miracles and this was necessary at first for the Security of our Faith but this Doctrine being once Delivered and Transmitted down to us in the Holy Scriptures Written by the Evangelists and Apostles who were Infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost we have now a certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice which with the assistance and instruction of those Guides and Pastors which Christ hath appointed in his Church is sufficiently plain in all things necessary And as there is no evidence of the Continuance of Infallibility in the Guides and Pastors of the Church in the Ages which followed the Apostles because Miracles are long since ceased so there is no need of the Continuance of it for the Preservation of the True Faith and Religion because God hath sufficiently provided for that by that Infallible Rule of Faith and Manners which he hath left to his Church in the Holy Scriptures which are every way sufficient and able to make both Pastors and People wise unto Salvation 3. As for a certain Remedy against Heresie it is certain God never intended there should be any no more than he hath provided a certain Remedy against Sin and Vice which surely is every whit as contrary to the Christian Religion and therefore as fit to be provided against as Heresie But it is certain in Experience that God hath provided no certain and effectual Remedy against Sin and Vice for which I can give no other reason but that God does that which He thinks best and fittest and not what We are apt to think to be so Besides that Infallibility is not a certain Remedy against Heresie The Apostles were certainly Infallible and yet they could neither prevent nor extinguish Heresie which never more abounded than in the Apostles Times And Saint Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 1. 19. That there must be Heresies that they which are approved may be made manifest And St. Peter the 2 Epist. 2. 1. That there should be false Teachers among Christians who should privily bring in damnable Heresies and that many should follow their pernicious ways But now if there must be Heresies either the Church must not be Infallible or Infallibility in the Church is no certain Remedy against them I proceed to the next Step they make viz. 6ly That Christ hath always a Visible Church upon Earth and that They can shew a Church which from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always made a Visible Profession of the same Doctrines and Practices which are now believed and practised in the Church of Rome but that We can shew no Visible Church that from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always opposed the Church of Rome in those Doctrines and Practices which we now revile and find fault with in their Church That Christ hath always had and ever shall have to the end of the World a Visible Church Professing and Practising his True Faith and Religion is agreed on both sides But We say that he hath no where promised that This shall be free from all Errors and Corruptions in Faith and Practice This the Churches Planted by the Apostles themselves were not even in Their times and during Their abode amongst them and yet they were true parts of the Christian Catholick Church In the following Ages Errors and Corruptions and Superstitions did by degrees creep in and grow up in several parts of the Church as St. Austin and others of the Fathers complain of their Times Since that several Famous Parts of the Christian Church both in Asia and Africa have not only been greatly corrupted but have Apostatiz'd from the Faith so that in many Places there are hardly any Footsteps of Christianity among them But yet still Christ hath had in all these Ages a Visible Church upon Earth tho' perhaps no Part of it at all times free from some Errors and Corruptions and in several Parts of it great Corruptions both in Faith and Practice and in none I think more and longer than in the Church of Rome for all she boasts her self like Old Babylon Isa. 47. 7 8. That she is a Lady for ever and says in her heart I am and none else besides me And like the Church of Laodicea Revel 3. 17. which said I am rich and increased with Goods and have need of nothing When the Spirit of God saith that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and knew it not Thus the Church of Rome boasts that She hath in all Ages been the True Visible Church of Christ and none besides her free from all Errors in Doctrine and Corruptions in Practice and that from the Age of Christ and his Apostles she hath always professed the same Doctrines and Practices which she does at this day Can any thing be more shameless than this Did they always believe Transubstantiation Let their Pope Gelasius speak for them who expresly denies that in the Sacrament there is any Substantial change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Was this always an Article of their Faith and necessary to be believed by all Christians Let Scotus and several other of their Schoolmen and Learned Writers speak for them Was Purgatory always believed in the Roman Church as it is now defined in the Council of Trent Let several of their Learned Men speak In what Father in what Council before that of Trent do they find Christ to have Instituted just Seven Sacraments neither more nor less And for Practices in their Religion they themselves will not say that in the Ancient Christian Church the Scriptures were with-held from the People and lockt up in an Unknown Tongue and that the Publick Service of God the Prayers and Lessons were Read and the Sacraments Celebrated in an Unknown Tongue and that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was given to the People only in one Kind Where do they find in Holy
Scripture or in the Doctrine and Practice of the Ancient Christian Church any Command or Example for the Worship of Images for the Invocation of Saints and Angels and the Blessed Virgin which do now make a great part of their Religion Nay is not the Doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Ancient Fathers plainly against all these Practices With what face then can it be said That the Church of Rome hath made a constant Visible Profession of the same Faith and Practice in all Ages from the time of Christ and his Apostles Or would the primitive Church of Rome if it should now visit the Earth again own the present Church of Rome to be the same in all Matters of Faith and practice that it was when they left it And whereas they demand of Us to shew a Visible Church from the time of Christ and his Apostles that hath always opposed the Church of Rome in those points of Doctrine and Practice which we Object to them what can be more impertinent than this Demand When they know that in all these Points we charge them with Innovations in Matters of Faith and Practice and say that those things came in by degrees several Ages after the Apostles time some sooner some later as we are able to make good and have done it And would they have us shew them a Visible Church that opposed these Errors and Corruptions in their Church before ever they appeared This we do not pretend to shew And supposing they had not been at all opposed when they appeared nor a long time after not till the Reformation yet if they be Errors and Corruptions of the Christian Doctrine and contrary to the Holy Scriptures and to the Faith and Practice of the Primitive Church there is no Prescription against Truth 'T is never too late for any Church to reject those Errors and Corruptions and to reform it self from them The bottom of all this Matter is they would have us to shew them a Society of Christians that in all Ages hath preserved it self free from all such Errors and Corruptions as we charge them withall or else we deny the Perpetual Visibility of the Catholick Church No such matter We say the Church of Christ hath always been Visible in every Age since Christ's time and that the several Societies of Christians professing the Christian Doctrine and Laws of Christ have made up the Catholick Church some parts whereof have in several Ages fallen into great Errors and Corruptions and no part of the Catholick into more and greater than the Church of Rome So that it requires the utmost of our Charity to think that they are a true tho a very unsound and corrupt Part of the Catholick Church of Christ. We acknowledge likewise that We were once involved in the like Degeneracy but by the mercy of God and pious care and prudence of those that were in Authority are happily rescued out of it and tho' we were not out of the Catholick Church before yet since our Reformation from the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome we are in it upon better Terms and are a much sounder Part of it and I hope by the Mercy and Goodness of God we shall for ever continue so So that to the Perpetual Visibility of Christ's Church it is not necessary that the whole Christian Church or indeed that any Part of it should be free from all Errors and Corruptions Even the Churches planted by the Apostles in the Primitive Times were not so St. Paul reproves several Doctrines and Practices in the Church of Corinth and of Colosse and of Galatia and the Spirit of God several Things in the Seven Churches of Asia and yet all these were true Parts and Members of the Catholick Church of Christ notwithstanding these Faults and Errors because they all agreed in the Main and Essential Doctrines of Christianity And when more and greater Corruptions grew upon the Church or any part of it the greater reason and need there was of a Reformation And as every particular Person hath a right to reform any thing that he finds amiss in himself so far as concerns himself so much more every National Church hath a Power within it self to reform it self from all Errors and Corruptions and by the Sanction of the Catholick Authority to confirm that Reformation which is our Case here in England And whatever part of the Church how great and eminent soever excludes from her Communion such a National Church for reforming her self from plain Errors and Corruptions clearly condemned by the Word of God and by the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christian Church is undoubtedly Guilty of Schism And this is the Truth of the Case between us and the Church of Rome And no blind talk about a Perpetual Visible Church can render Us guilty of Schism for making a Real Reformation or acquit Them of it for casting us out of their Communion for that Cause 7. And Lastly to mention no more they pretend that we delude the People by laying too much stress upon Scripture and making it the only Rule of Faith and Manners whereas Scripture and Tradition together make up the entire Rule of Faith and not Scripture Interpreted by every Mans private Fancy but by Tradition carefully preserved in the Church So that it ought to be no wonder if several of their Doctrines and Practices cannot be so clearly made out by Scripture or perhaps seem contrary to it as it may be expounded by a private Spirit but not as Interpreted by the Tradition of the Church which can only give the true Sense of Scripture And therefore they are to understand that several of those Doctrines and Practices which we Object against are most clearly proved by the Tradition of their Church which is of equal Authority with Scripture In this Objection of theirs which they design for the Cover of all their Errors and Corruptions there are several things distinctly to be considered which I shall do as briefly as I can First Whereas it is suggested That We delude the People by laying too much stress upon the Scriptures which certainly we cannot well do if it be the Word of God it ought to be considered whether They do not delude and abuse them infinitely more in keeping the Scriptures from them and not suffering them to see That which they cannot deny to be at least a considerable Part of the Rule of Christian Doctrine and Practice Doth it not by this dealing of theirs appear very suspicious that they are extreamly afraid that the People should examine their Doctrine and Practice by this Rule For what other Reason can they have to conceal it from them Secondly Whereas they affirm that Scripture alone is not the Rule of Christian Faith and Practice but that Scripture and Oral Tradition preserved in the Church and delivered down from hand to hand makes up the entire Rule I would fain know whence they learn'd this new Doctrine
Priledges are omitted by plain Fact and Evidence of things themselves their Supremacy in that the far greatest part of the Christian Church neither is at this day nor can be shewn by the Records of any Age ever to have been subject to the Bishop of Rome or to have acknowledged his Authority and Jurisdiction over them and the Infallibility of the Pope whether with or without a General Council about which they still differ though Infallibility was devised on purpose to determine all differences I say this Infallibility where-ever it is pretended to be is plainly confuted by the contradictory Definitions of several Popes and Councils for if they have contradicted one another as is plain beyond all contradiction in several instances then there must of necessity be an Error on one side and there can be no so certain demonstration that any one is infallible as evident Error and Mistake is of the contrary Next their concealing both the Rule of Religion and the Practice of it in the Worship and Service of God from the People in an unknown Tongue and their administring the Communion to the People in one kind only contrary to clear Scripture and the plain Institution of our Blessed Saviour and then their Worship of Images and Invocation of Angels and Saints and the Blessed Virgin in the same Solemn manner and for the same Blessings and Benefits which we beg of God himself contrary to the express Word of God which commands us to Worship the Lord our God and to serve him only and which declares that as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus but one Mediator not only of Redemption but of Intercession too for the Apostle there speaks of a Mediator of Intercession by whom only we are to offer up our Prayers which are to be put up to God only and which expresly forbids Men to worship any Image or likeness And the Learned Men of their own Church acknowledge that there is neither Precept nor Example for these Practices in Scripture and that they were not used in the Christian Church for several Ages and this acknowledgment we think very considerable since so great a part of their Religion especially as it is practised among the People is contained in these points for the Service of God in an Unknown Tongue and withholding the Scriptures from the People they do not pretend so much as One Testimony of any Father for the first 600 Years and nothing certainly can be more unreasonable in it self than to deny People the best means of knowing the Will of God and not to permit them to understand what is done in the publick Worship of God and what Prayers are put up to him in the Church The two great Doctrines of Transubstantiation and Purgatory are acknowledged by many of their own Learned Writers to have no certain Foundation in Scripture and that there are seven Sacraments of the Christian Religion tho' it be now made an Article of Faith by the Council of Trent is a thing which cannot be shewn in any Council or Father for above a Thousand Years after Christ. And we find no mention of this Number of the Sacraments till the Age of Peter Lombard the Father of the Schoolmen That the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches tho' that also be one of the new Articles of Pope Pius the IV. his Creed which their Priests are by a Solemn Oath obliged to believe and teach yet is it most evidently false That she is not the Mother of all Churches is plain because Jerusalem was certainly so for there certainly was the first Christian Church and from thence all the Christian Churches in the World derive themselves that she is not tho' she fain would be the Mistress of all Churches is as evident because the greatest part of the Christian Church does at this day and always did deny that she hath any Authority or Supremacy over them Now these are the principal matters in difference betwixt us and if these Points and a few more be pared off from Popery that which remains of their Religion is the same with ours that is the true Ancient Christianity III. I shall shew that our Religion hath many clear advantages of theirs not only very considerable in themselves but very obvious and discernable to an ordinary capacity upon the very first proposal of them as 1. That our Religion agrees perfectly with the Scriptures and all points both of our Belief and Practice esteemed by us as necessary to Salvation are there contained even our Enemies themselves being Judges We Worship the Lord our God and him only do we serve We do not fall down before Images and Worship them we address all our Prayers to God alone by the only Mediation and Intercession of his Son Jesus Christ as he himself hath given us Commandment and as St. Paul doth plainly direct giving us this plain and Substantial Reason for it Because as there is but one God so there is but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus The publick Worship and Service of God is perform'd by us in a Language which we understand according to St. Paul's express Order and Direction and the universal Practice of the ancient Church and the Nature and Reason of the thing it self We administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both kinds according to our Saviour's Example and plain Institution and the continual Practice of all the Christian Churches in the World for above a Thousand Years 2. We believe nothing as necessary to Salvation but what hath been owned in all Ages to be the Christian Doctrine and is acknowleged so to be by the Church of Rome it self and we receive the whole Faith of the Primitive Christian Church viz. What ever is contained in the Apostles Creed and in the Explications of that in the Creeds of the Four first General Councills By which it plainly appears that all points of Faith in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are meer Innovations and plain Additions to the ancient Christian Faith But all that we believe is acknowledged by them to be undoubtedly the ancient Christian Faith 3. There is nothing wanting in our Church and Religion whether in Matter of Faith or Practice which either the Scripture makes necessary to Salvation or was so esteem'd by the Christian Church for the first Five Hundred Years and we trust that what was sufficient for the Salvation of Christians in the best Ages of Christianity for Five Hundred Years together may be so still and we are very well content to venture our Salvation upon the same terms that they did 4. Our Religion is not only free from all Idolatrous Worship but even from all Suspicion and probable Charge of any such thing but this the Church of Rome is not as is acknowledged by her most Learned Champions and as no Man of Ingenuity can deny And
the Reason which the Learned Men give why the Worship of Images and the Invocation of Angels and Saints departed were not practised in the Primitive Church for the first Three Hundred Years is a plain acknowledgment that these Practices are very liable to the Suspicion of Idolatry for they say that the Christians did then forbear those Practices because they seem'd to come too near to the Pagan Idolatry and lest the Heathen should have taken occasion to have justified themselves if these things had been practised among Christians and they cannot now be Ignorant what Scandal they give by these Practices both to the Jews and Turks and how much they alienate them from Christianity by this Scandal nor can they chuse but be sensible upon how great disadvantage they are in defending these Practices from the Charge of Idolatry and that by all their blind Distinctions with which they raise such a Cloud and Dust they can hardly make any plausible and tollerable Defence of themselves from this Charge Insomuch that to secure their own People from discerning their Guilt in this Matter they have been put upon that shameful shift of leaving out the Second Commandment in their common Catechisms and Manuals lest the People seeing so plain a Law of God against so common a Practice of their Church should upon that Discovery have broken off from them 5. Nor is our Religion incumbered with such an endless number of superstitious and troublesom Observances as theirs infiintely is even beyond the Number of the Jewish Ceremonies to the great Burden and Scandal of the Christian Religion and the diverting of Mens Minds from the spiritual part of Religion and the more weighty and necessary Duties of the Christian Life so that in truth a devout Pastor is so taken up with the external Rites and little Observances of his Religion that he hath little or no time to make himself a good Man and to cultivate and improve his Mind in true Piety and Virtue 6. Our Religion is evidently more Charitable to all Christians that differ from us and particularly to them who by their Uncharitableness to us have done as much as is possible to discharge and damp our Charity towards them And Charity as it is one of the most essential Marks of a true Christian so it is likewise the best Mark and Ornament of a true Church and of all things that can be thought of methinks the want of Charity in any Church should be a Motive to no Man to fall in love with it and to be fond of its Communion 7. Our Religion doth not clash and interfere with any of the great Moral Duties to which all Mankind stand obliged by the Law and Light of Nature as Fidelity Mercy and Truth We do not teach Men to break Faith with Hereticks or Infidels nor to destroy and extirpate those who differ from us with Fire and Sword No such thing as Equivocation or Mental Reservation or any other Artificial way of Falshood is either taught or maintain'd either by the Doctrine or by the Casuists of our Church 8. Our Religion and all the Doctrines of it are perfectly consistent with the Peace of Civil Government and the Welfare of Humane Society We neither exempt the Clergy from Subjection to the Civil Powers nor absolve Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever from allegiance to their Princes both which Points the necessity of the one and the lawfulness of the other have been taught and stifly maintain'd in the Church of Rome not only by private Doctors but by Popes and General Councils 9. The Doctrines of our Religion are perfectly free from all Suspicion of a Worldly Interest and Design whereas the greatest part of the erroneous Doctrines with which we charge the Church of Rome are plainly calculated to promote the end of Worldly Greatness and Dominion The Pope's Kingdom is plainly of this World and the Doctrines and Maximes of it like so many Servants are ready upon all occasion to fight for him For most of them do plainly tend either to the Establishment and Enlargment of his Authority or to the Magnifying of the Priests and the giving them a perfect power over the Conscienees of the People and the keeping them in a slavish subjection and blind obedience to them And to this purpose do plainly tend the Doctrines of exempting the Clergy from the Secular Power and Jurisdiction the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for it must needs make the Priest a great Man in the Opinion of the People to believe that he can make God as they love to express it without all Reason and Reverence Of the like tendency is the Communicating of the Laity only in one kind thereby making it the sole Priviledge of the Priest to receive the Sacrament in both The with-holding the Scripture from the People and celebrating the Service of God in an unknown Tongue The Doctrine of an implicite Faith and absolute Resignation of their Judgments to their Teachers These do all directly tend to keep the People in ignorance and to bring them to a blind Obedience to the dictates of their Teachers So likewise the Necessity of the intention of the Priests to the saving Virtue and Efficacy of the Sacraments by which Doctrine the People do upon the matter depend as much upon the good will of the Priest as upon the Mercy of God for their Salvation but above all their Doctrine of the Necessity of Auricular and private Confession of all Mortal Sins commited after Baptism with all the Circumstances of them to the Priest and this not only for the ease and direction of their Consciences but as a necessary condition of having their Sins pardoned and forgiven by God By which means they make themselves Masters of all the Secrets of the People and keep them in awe by the knowledge of their faults Scire volunt secreta Domus atque inde timeri Or else their Doctrines tend to filthy lucre and the enriching of their Church As their Doctrines of Purgatory and Indulgences and their Prayers and Masses for the dead and many more Doctrines and Practices of the like kind plainly do 10. Our Religion is free from all disingenuous and dishonest Arts of maintaining and supporting it self such are clipping of ancient Authors nay and even the Authors and Writers of their own Church when they speak too freely of any Point as may be seen in their Indices Expurgatorii which much against their wills have been brought to light To which I shall only add these Three gross Forgeries which lie all at their doors and they cannot deny them to be so 1. The pretended Canon of the Council of Nice in the case of Appeals between the Church of Rome and the African Church Upon which they insisted a great while very confidently till at last they were convinced by Authentick Copies of the Canons of that Council 2. Constantine's Donation to the Pope which they kept a great stir with till the Forgery of it
to turn them into jest and raillery this is not only a Renouncing of Christianity the Religion which God hath revealed but even of the Religion which is born with us and the Principles and Notions which God hath planted in every Man's Mind this is an Impiety of the First Magnitude and not to be mentioned without grief and horror and this it is to be feared hath had a great hand in those great Calamities which our eyes have seen and I pray God it do not draw down still more and greater Judgments upon this Nation But I hope there are none here that need to be cautioned against this horrible impiety and highest degree of Apostasie from the living God that which People are much more in danger of is Apostasie from the Purity of the Christian Doctrine and Worship so happily recovered by a regular Reformation and establisht amongst us by all the Authority that Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil can give it and which in Truth is no other than the Ancient and Primitive Christianity I say a defection from this to those gross Errors and Superstitions which the Reformation had paired off and freed us from I do not say that this is a total Apostasie from Christianity but it is a partial Apostasie and Defection and a very dangerous one and that those who after they have received the knowledge of the truth fall off from it into those Errors and Corruptions are highely guilty before God and their condition certainly worse and more dangerous than of those who where brought up in those Errors and Superstitions and never knew better for there are terrible threatnings in Scripture against those who fall away from the Truth which they once embraced and were convinced of If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth c. and if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him God considers every Man's Advantages and Opportunities of Knowledge and their Disadvantages likewise and makes all reasonable Allowances for them and for Men to continue in the Errors they have been always brought up in or which comes much to one in Errors which they were led into by Principles early infused into them before they were in any measure competent Judges of those matters I say for such Persons to continue in these Errors and to oppose and reject the contrary Truths against which by their Education they have received so strong and violent a Prejudice this may be in a great degree excusable and find Pardon with God upon a general Repentance for all Sins both known and unknown and cannot be reasonably charged with the Guilt of this great Sin of Apostasie But not to abide in the Truth after we have entertain'd and profess'd it having sufficient Means and Advantages of knowing it hath no Excuse I would not be rash in condemning Particular Persons of any Society or Communion of Christians provided they be sincerely devout and just and sober to the best of their Knowledge I had much rather leave them to God whose mercies are great than to pass an uncharitable Censure upon them as to their Eternal State and Condition But the Case is far otherwise where the Oportunities of Knowledge are afforded to Men and men love darkness rather than light for they who have the Means and Advantages of knowing their Master's will are answerable to God as if they had known it because if they had not been grosly negligent and wanting to themselves they might have known it And this I fear is the Case of the generality of those who have been bred up to years of Consideration and Choice in the Reformed Religion and forsake it because they do it without sufficient Reason and there are invincible Objections against it They do it without sufficient Reason because every one amongst us knows or may know upon very little Enquiry that we hold all the Articles of the Faith which are contained in the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church and into which all Christians are baptized that we inculcate upon Men the Necessity of a Good Life and of sincere Repentance and perfect Contrition for our Sins such as is follow'd with real Reformation and Amendment of our Lives and that without this no Man can be saved by any Device whatsoever Now what Reason can any Man have to question whether he may be saved in that Faith which saved the first Christians and by believing the Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed tho he cannot swallow the Twelve Articles which are added to it in the Creed of Pope Pius IV. every one of which besides many and great Corruptions and Superstitions in Worship are so many and invincible Objections against the Communion of the Roman Church as I could particularly shew if it had not been already done in so many learned Treatises upon this Argument What is there then that should move any reasonable Man to forsake the Communion of our Church and to quit the Reformed Religion There are Three things chiefly with which they endeavour to amuse and affright weaker Minds 1. A great Noise of Infallibility which they tell us is so excellent a means to determine and put an end to all Differences To which I shall at present only object this Prejudice That there are not wider and hotter Differences among us about any thing whatsoever than are amongst them about this admirable means of ending all Differences as where this Infallibility is feated that Men may know how to have recourse to it for the ending of Differences 2. They endeavour to fright Men with the danger of Schism But every Man knows that the Guilt of Schism lies at their Door who impose sinful Articles of Communion and not upon them who for fear of sinning against God cannot submit to those Articles which we have done and are still ready to make good to be the Case betwixt us and the Church of Rome But 3. The terrible Engine of all is their positive and confident damning of all that live and die out of the Communion of their Church This I have fully spoken to upon another Occasion and therefore shall only say at present that every Man ought to have better Thoughts of God than to believe that he who delighteh not in the death of sinners and would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth will confirm the Sentence of such uncharitable Men as take upon them to condemn Men for those things for which our Saviour in his Gospel condemns no Man And of all things in the World one would think that the Uncharitableness of any Church should be an Argument to no Man to run into its Communion I shall conclude with the Apostle's Exhortation ver 23. of this Chapter Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and provoke one another to charity and good works and so much the more because the Day approacheth in which God will judge the faith