nor uncircumcision availed any thing and that in the new Creature there was neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision but Christ was all in all and that one God did both justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith from all which it is evident that those of the Circumcision might be saved and by consequence that their Religion was a true Religion and yet that their doctrine of Circumcision was an error can be disputed by none who read the Epistles of S. Paul And it is no less clear that they held it an Article of Faith delivered to Abraham by God So here it is plain that S. Paul in one breath both condemns this Opinion as erroneous and yet allows Salvation to such as believed it With how many errors doth S. Iohn charge some of the seven Churches yet they were still the Churches of Christ. The Church in the second Century did generally believe the Millennium as a thing revealed by God which the Roman Church now calls an error yet I hope I. K. will not condemn that Church as holding a false Religion The African Churches held it necessary for Infants to receive the Eucharist from these words Except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man you have no life in you and this was approved by P. Innocent and was continued many Ages in the Roman Church as appears from the Ordo Romanus and yet that Church has declared that not to be necessary by which the Opinion the former Ages had of its necessity is declared an error But it were a strange thing from that to condemn these as holding a false Religion The Franciscans and Dominicans had hot contests about the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin and both pretended Divine authority and Revelations so that one of those must have held an error The Dominicans and Iansenists believe Predestination and Grace efficacious of it self this the Molinists deny both vouch Scriptures and the definitions of the Church The Canonists Courtiers of Rome and Iesuits have asserted the Popes Infallibility from Scripture and Councils the Sorbon hath always rejected this Now of all these different Opinions the one must be true and the other false since they stand in the terms of a contradiction and they have all vouched God and Scriptures for them therefore those who hold the false side of the contradiction according to I. K's reasoning must be of a false Religion which I believe when he considers more maturely he will find he mistook his measures in this And in fine his Argument will also hold as strong to prove that every Individual of a true Religion must be exempt from all errors in every Opinion whereof he takes God to be the Author For I. K's Argument will be as strong for every thing whereof God is believed the Author as for Articles of Faith So that every mistaken sense of Scripture will turn one to be of a false Religion since every mistaken exposition is an error and yet that being thought the meaning of the place God is believed the author of that meaning and by I. K's consequence of the error it self From all which I may I hope even by I. K's leave infer the necessary distinction between things that are believed to be errors and those that are believed to be Truths For the former to vouch God the Author of what we know to be an error and corruption is certainly so criminal that none of the true Religion can be guilty of it But there be many things which though errors yet any one may very innocently mistake for truths I do not say the mistake does quite excuse the error if the error be fundamental the mistake must be so too But if the error be in a lesser matter it is a lesser error and it will never be made out That if one apprehending an Opinion true embrace it as come from God and as an Article of Faith if he is mistaken in that he strikes at the divine veracity for among men who thinks that any wronged his veracity if another mistook his meaning and understood his words in a different sense from what he intended and expressed Certainly he who so mistakes after the true meaning is cleared cannot be understood to have fastned any reproach upon the Candor of him whose words he mistook all the blame being to be cast only on his want of right understanding This were indeed a hard case if all our mistakings of divine Revelations did infer a charging God with error or corruption But the thing is so clear that I am afraid I have spent too many words about it and this Argument of I. K's cannot but upon first reading appear to all that are accustomed to weigh and examine truth to be a piece of crude ill digested and ill palliated Sophistry Thus far have I followed I. K. through those six points he imagines he has demonstrated and have shewed how true the first four were but how little reason there was to account them such for any thing he said for their proof and how false the other two are And I suppose he will acknowledge that if what is already set down hold true and be founded on good reason I need not follow him through the rest of his Book it being only a direction to his gentle courteous Reader how to manage this method of arguing so as to convince all persons that dissent from the true Religion which he thinks is a Mathematical and sure way of proceeding and such as no man can decline or avoid and in end must be either convinced by it or be forced to confess himself no better than an Ass or a block which concludes him a mad man I will not follow this with a railery that is as obvious as severe but I love not to mix matters of sport with such serious purposes therefore I follow I. K. no more through the rest of his Book But come next to consider the great support of that cause which he manages both in his Preface and through the rest of his Book that there can be no certainty neither about the true books of Scripture the Decrees of Councils or writings of Fathers without there be a true Church and Religion agreed on which shall both declare to us what Books are true and what not and shall deliver their true meaning to us otherwise endless confusions must follow which plainly appears in the many divisions of the Protestants and the uncertainties they are in about all Controverted points From which the necessity of a true Church appears as much as in a well ordered State there is not only a necessity of clear and good Laws but of Judges to expound them CHAP. VII Of the supposed Inconveniencies J. K. imagines in the want of a true Church to Iudge Infallibly and of the right methods of finding Truth THere is nothing about which those of the Roman Church make more noise than the necessity of
persons of Eminence and Authority But this hath not been the method of the Roman Conversions which begun in a kind of Alliance with the Prince who being convinced of his advantage in the Change did upon that oblige his subjects to it not without severely punishing sometimes such as refused it so far were they from being persecuted for it If any one were by a fury or tumult killed that does not alter the case nor make it a persecution And thus it is apparent that for all the noise the Roman Church makes of their Conversions they have managed them in a method very different from the way of the primitive Christians How basely and barbarously it hath been carried on in the West Indies the Bishop of Guatimala did inform the world and the Bishop of Angelopolis did within these few years inform the Pope how wretchedly the Jesuits continue to manage it to this day And though we have little reason to believe the accounts given us from the Indies since we see those who publish them are guilty of such Impostures in things nearer us and easily discovered that we have no reason to credit them in things at so great a distance where the forgeries of their account cannot be found out yet even from these a great many of the observations made upon the methods of the Emissaries of the Roman Church may be proved But as for Austin the Monk I. K. cannot sure be so ignorant as to think we owe our Conversion to him for whatever truth may be in the story of Glastenbury it is undoubted we received the Faith at farthest in the second Century and that it did overrun our Island farther than the Roman Conquest Tertullian witnesses The Rites of our observing Easter do also prove we had not the Christian Faith by any sent from Rome so that long before the time of Avstin the Monk this Island was converted And that famed story of the Monks of Bangor as it proves what footing Christianity had then so it shews how proud and insolently cruel that pretended Apostle was And it is apparent he was a man of an Ambitious temper his great design on those of Bangor being to engage them to a subjection to the Pope and to comply with their Rites in the observation of Easter But if what is delivered by ancient Historians of his setting on the King of the Northumberlands to destroy these Monks be true he is to be looked on as an Emissary of Hell rather than an Apostle of Christ. Besides the King of Kent to whom he came was so favourable to the Christian Faith that as he had married a Christian Queen so he allowed the Christians a Church near Canterbury And so it is no wonder if a Prince so prepared was soon prevailed on But Austins first coming to him with all that pomp of Crosses carried before him has nothing primitive in it and the fabulous Legends of the Monks are little to be credited Thus far I have examined I. K's proofs for the truth of the Roman Religion and I doubt not upon a sober review of what hath been said he himself will acknowledge he must see for other and better Arguments before he can oblige any to believe the Roman Religion to be the true Catholick and Apostolical Religion CHAP VI. It is considered if J. K. proves convincingly that every thing the Roman Church teaches as an Article of Faith must be true J. K. advances to his last attempt which is the finishing of the whole contrivance to perswade the belief of every thing the Roman Church delivers as an Article of Faith for if that Religion be a true Religion then it is free from all fundamental errors and does erre against no fundamental point of Religion and if that be acknowledged then it does not erre against this point that God is not the Author of any error or corruption whatsoever that being unquestionably a fundamentâ—l point Now if the Roman Religion does not eâ—re against this it does not teach that God is the Author of any error or corruption and if it do not that then it teaches nothing as an Article of Faith which is either error or corruption for whatever it teaches as an Article of Faith is teaches as that which hath been delivered by God This then may be applied to every particular Article of Faith which the Roman Church teacheth for if that be either error or corruption it teaching God to be the Author of it makes him to be the Author of error or corruption which is to erre against a fundamental point and by consequence that Religion shall be no true Religion If by true Religion I. K. understands a Religion that has no mixture of error or corruption in it then it is needless to prove that if the Roman Religion be true it hath neither error or corruption in it for the proving it a true Religion must carry the other along with it But if by true Religion be only meant a Religion that holds all the fundamentals of Christianity so that Salvation may be had in its Communion then it is a most wretched Inference that it must be true in all itâ— definitions of Faith And to confute this I shall for once turn the Tables on I. K. and become an Advocate for the Roman Church to shew they may be still a true Church and a true Religion though they have a large mixture of errors and corruptions And this I do not so much out of love to them but from a general principle of charity to overthrow this unmerciful Opinion that damns all men as erring fundamentally for believing any error in a matter of Faith And let me first ask I. K. whether he takes the Church of Corinth to have had a true Religion when S. Paul wrote to it This sure he cannot deny if he read but S. Pauls first salutation and yet in that Church there were various parties some for Cephas some for Apollo some for Paul and some for Christ and great difference of opinion there was whether Moses Law did oblige or not Now these questions concerning Circumcision and the Law were matters of Faith and in all contradictory opinions one must be true another false those therefore that were of the false side must by I. K's doctrine be all irrecoverably lost as being in a fundamental error for each side believed his Opinion was of God But S. Paul taught another doctrine that whoso builds on the foundation Jesus Christ shall be saved though he build upon it wood hay and stubble And the distinction he there makes between those who build Gold Silver and precious stones and wood hay and stubble can only relate to sound and unsound Doctors the one building good and useful Superstructures upon the foundation the other teaching trifling Doctrines that will not bear the Tryal and yet that both may be saved is a plain demonstration against I. K. The same Apostle also tells us that neither Circumcision
left out to maintain the Fight and as some after the greatest defeats have impudence enough to pretend a Victory so that art was not omitted by them but loud acclamations of Victory were made when all free discerners saw they were quite routed and the rudeness they had learned in their Cells was brought out with them for they managed their disputes with all the roughness of expression the most petulant insultings and the most barbarous railings Nor does this charge fall only on one side of Christendom though one Church be most notoriously guilty but the Disputants of all sides have for the greatest part managed their debates with that acrimony of stile those severe invectives and the catching up some escapes of inconsiderate Pens as if they were more concerned for Glory than for Truth Besides that every one swallows down an entire system of that party to which he hath offered up himself and all must be defended without that ingenuity which becomes inquirers into divine truth Nor do most men take their opinions from the sacred Oracles but from their Educations and the Catechisms and Confessions they have been accustomed to and being thus prepossessed go to the Scriptures to seek proofs for their opinions being resolved before-hand to defend them and to make the Scriptures serve their turns which if they will not do easily they will so stretch them upon the rack by their forced Criticisms or consequences as to make them confess any thing though never so plainly contrary to the clear meaning of the words And it is evident that men thus blown up with pride are resolved to justifie all they have ever said though to the cost of throwing off all candid and fair dealing saying things that no man of common sense would say if he were not strangely byassed And indeed we dayly see things brought for the proof of many opinions which are so visibly weak and unconcluding that it is scarce possible to think those believed them that said them but that being resolved to stand to what they once asserted some mist must be raised for keeping up their reputation and imposing on weaker and more credulous Disciples And thus it must continue as long as men are led by their pride to be stubborn in all their reasonings about Religion Another great abuse of Reason is a needless curiosity about things that either are of no great importance or are wrapped in mysterious darkness into which if men will penetrate their Conjectures and Discourses must turn to impertinent Cantings and Nonsense Thus the Philosophers disputing about the nature of the Deity and of the Soul do fall into unintelligible niceties and Cabalistical conceits of Numbers of which no account can be given but that they would seem to say somewhat where they could say nothing And this curious subtilising carried along another mischief with it that they rejected every thing of which they could not give a distinct account and therefore called S. Paul a babler when he told them of the Resurrection But when some of the Philosophers became Converts to Christianity both these effects of this curiosity did appear some studying to make out the high Mysteries of the Faith from their Metaphysicks and to reconcile them to the Platonical Notions in which any discerning Reader will see a great deal of needless and very ill proved and worse applyed curiosity This appearing both too curious and ill grounded to others was no small occasion of their rejecting those Mysteries or at least framing them so as to agree with their Conceptions of things and both seem to have had too laâ—gâ— a share of this oversearching humour and of not believing any thing but what was made out to their Reasons the one party pretending they did understand the Mysteries and the other denying them because they could not understand them What subtleties were used in explaining those incomprehensible doctrines any that hath conversed in those writings must needs know and how they were opposed with the like subtleties Whereas had all sides adored the divine Revelations without engaging into these discantings they had held the simplicity of the Gospel and acted more like true Christian Philosophers since it agrees with the strictest reason to acknowledge our faculties are limited and so not fit to comprehend the divine Nature nor the operations or the communications of that Supream being and therefore we must believe with all humility what himself hath been pleased to reveal to us concerning himself without either doubting the truth because we understand not what is so far above us or engaging into over curious searching into that which it appears from our limited understandings and the general terms of Revelation God intended should be still a Mystery to us But indeed the Schoolmen have thought it below the height of their â—ouring minds and great Learnings to stick at the explaining all Mysteries and as far as hard words and unconceivable niceties will go they have given us a very satisfying account of all Mysteries by which we know neither more nor less than we do without them Whether this may not have led many over curioâ—s enquirers into the contrary extream I shall not determine but this is plainly an abuse of Reason on both hands The humour of enquiring into all subtleties did quickly bring into the Church a superfetation of unconceivable Mysteries For every bold conceit that any who had so much authority as to be well followed took up was presently given out for a Mystery and then it was sacred and must not be touched and if any did offer to examine it he was scared with the bugbear of a Mystery So that Transubstantiation the treasure of the Church the way of the Popes Infallibility together with a thousand devised Mysteries in all the pieces of Divine Worship were cramm'd down the throats of all Christians and many being justly provoked by these pretended Mysteries and seeing the other great Mysteries made the engines of obtruding these on the world were thereupon by an unjustifiable and an immoderate use of the Counterpoise led to the other extream of denying all And with how great nicety of Argument have even the Reformed managed many high mysterious points as the derivation of Adam's sin the Order o the Divine decrees with the nature of the aids and assistances of Grace which have been canvassed with a very searching curiosity and as dark as these must be confessed to be yet they are delivered with as much dictating and imperious authority as if these Authors had been caught up to the third Heavens Many other niceties are also found out to exercise their curiosity yet if it rested there the hazard were not so great but these are all made Articles of Faith and all who are not satisfied about them are barred the Communion of the Church and so no wonder there be endless heats and debates The occasion of this curiosity and itch of disputing may be perhaps not unjustly derived from the contentions