Imprimatur Jan. 20. 1678. Guil. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã sacris domesticis THE LEGACY OF THE Right Reverend Father in GOD HERBERT Lord Bishop of Hereford To his DIOCESS OR A SHORT Determination of all Controversies We have with the PAPISTS By Gods Holy Word JOHN xvii 17. Thy Word is Truth LONDON Printed for Charles Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1679. To All within my Diocess especially those of the City of HEREFORD Dearly Beloved in the Lord T IS now a year and half since in my Cathedral I told you my sad apprehensions of Popish designs to destroy both us and our Religion for though no particular discovery could then be made yet the discourse and actings of several Papists in these parts did plainly shew they were then preparing that which is now discovered for they were then providing Horse and Arms they posted about day and night they threatned many that they must ere long turn or burn and some told their friends that if it came to cutting of throats they should be saved which made it evident that not only they had some bloody design but thought themselves also sure to effect it Whereupon I besought you to arm your selves for the day of Tryal and preached a Sermon to that effect and afterwards the better to strengthen you against the incursion of Popish Superstitious Doctrines I preached several Sermons how you were to stick close to the Scriptures Gods Holy Word which was our only Rule of Faith and not knowing what kind of Pastor you might have after my death whether a Protestant Pastor not well verst in such matters or a Popish Pastor wholly devoted to them I resolved at my decease to leave you these Sermons as a Legacy for my great age of seventy five years past assuring me according to 2. Pet. 1. 14 15. That shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things alwaies in remembrance But now I have a new and farther reason to hasten this my Legacy to you because I hear my bloody Enemies the Jesuitical Priests are resolved as soon as they can find opportunity to hasten my death This hath made me speed these Sermons to the Press lest I and they fall into their hands who will give the same speedy end to both And the truth of what I now deliver to you I trust by Gods assisting grace to seal with my blood if he call me to it for then I know he will enable me for it And though I am a weak carnal worm of my self not able to do any thing yet by Gods powerful grace I may and I hope I shall be enabled to do all things for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And therefore I most humbly and most readily commit the keeping of my Soul to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator His will be done Amen TO THE Christian Reader THere being so many Books of our Controversies with the Papists both learned and unlearned already printed this may seem both useless and vain yet I hope it may prove otherwise because I humbly conceive you may find some useful things here not uttered before and if but one yet considering the great concern of the matter in hand our right faith and our salvation thereon depending no conscientious man will repent the spending five or six hours time in that short space the whole may be perused in the pursuit of it and I heartily wish more hours were not spent in things as useless sometimes even by good and learned men But put the case there be not one good thing here but what hath formerly been better set forth yet this little Book may be useful Experience shews man to be so affected with novelty as soon to grow weary of the best things and for variety take up worse and so this meaner discourse may have better effect by being new And if I may any way contribute to the establishing my Diocess and others in the true primitive Catholick Religion I shall not repent my labour though you do yours Considering with my self that the greater part of men are illiterate and can reap but little benefit by learned Treatises and of the more literate some not so zealous in Religion as willingly to spend much time in the search of truth I resolved on such a plain and compendious way as might satisfie and settle the greater part of men not troubling their heads with many or scarce any quotations out of several Authors which pardon me if I say can be useful but to very few men For such small scantlings as are there set down can give little or no assurance of the sence of the Author We see that Christian Writers taking here and there pieces of heathen Virgil make him speak Christianity so taking small parcels of any Orthodox Father you may make him speak Popery Wherefore such short quotations can serve only as Indexes to guide men to the Tracts from whence they are taken and before you can have the clear meaning of the Author you must observe the main business in hand and the scope he drives at you must also know his usual way of expression whether allegorical or plain literal rhetorical or concise with several other circumstances and it will be often necessary to compare one place with another of the same Author all which not one man of a thousand hath ability leisure and will to perform and he that hath and doth so yet after all his labour he hath but human assurance in a matter of his salvation which is no better than a bank of sand to build his eternal ill or welfare on which sure no wise man will do but only on that Rock Christ Jesus and his Holy Gospel hold fast to that and be sure to observe our Saviours way of encountring the Devil and his deluding ministers with a Scriptum est thus and thus it is written you will be sure to drive them away and overcome them But if you once quit the Word of God and hearken to the doctrines of men your unstable heart like a wave of the sea will be tossed to and fro with diversity of doctrines For you will find one Father say this another that yea the same Father say diversly in divers places St. Austin wrote a whole Tract of Recantations with great piety and ingenuity acknowledging his former Errors had he dyed before he wrote those Recantations then all those Errors by the rule of the Papists had past with great Authority for Truths I heartily wish the other great Doctors of the Church had seriously reviewed in their riper Age what they wrote in their Youth as St. Austin did doubtless some of them would have found things to recant as well as he Whoever hath a mind to see more of this let him read Daillee of the true use of the
the poor to the despised of the world to every creature ever so mean ever so contemptible be sure you preach it to them Thus much for the Gospel Then follow the Acts written to Theophilus one of the Laity And so the Epistles of the Apostles That to the Romans is directed all that are at Rome to all That to the Corinthians to all that call upon the name of the Lord Iesus to all in every place and so the rest And 't is observable that there is no mention made of the Clergy in any of his Epistles but in that one to the Philippians where he expresses the Bishops and Deacons and yet even there he puts them in the last place first to all the Saints that are at Philippi and then adds with the Bishops and Deacons so that this Epistle is primarily directed to all the Saints But perchance some ignorant people may stumble at the word Church in some of his Epistles as if those Epistles directed to the Church were intended to Church-men as we call them meaning thereby the Clergy the Ministers of the Church But Beloved this word in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated by us Church doth not at all signifie Church-men but the Laity assembled together which we properly call the congregation of the faithful and so in Scripture the Church of such a town the Church in such a house that is the faithful or the Saints of that town or in that house those that use there to assemble together for the worship of God But we use the word Church by corrupt custom promiscuously sometimes for the Congregation sometimes for the house wherein they meet sometimes for the body of Church-men and so we say the Canons of the Church that is the Canons composed by Church-men But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture is never so placed but only for the Congregation of the faithful This is more expresly declared Rev. ii 1. where the Bishop is called the Angel and the Congregation distinct from the Minister is called the Church The Angel of the Church that is the Bishop the Pastor or chief Minister of the Congregation And therefore St. Pauls Epistles directed to the Church of such a place is just the same as to the Congregation to the faithful or to the Saints of such a place which consisted of the Laity and not only of men but Women also and Children they were likewise to read the Scriptures And according to this he gives it as a great commendation to Timothy that of a Child he had learned the Scriptures And we know that this was the practice of the Primitive Christian Church many Ages For St. Hierome one of the four eminent Doctors and Fathers of the Church who lived 400 years after Christ in his Epistle to Laeta a Roman Matron sets down a method for her to teach her little Girl the Scriptures what books she should read first and what next first the book of Psalms then the Proverbs then Ecclesiastes and after other books named in the Old Testament he concludes Ad Evangelia transeat nunquam ea depositura de manibus Acta Apostolorum Epistolas tota cordis imbibat voluntate Let her then pass over to the Gospels and never let them go out of her hands And as for the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles let her apply her heart to learn them with all diligence And St. Gregory another of the four eminent Doctors who was the last of them and lived 600 years after Christ and was Bishop of Rome who for his great sanctity and learning was called Gregory the Great he in his book of Morals written for the instruction of all gives this Rule Divinas Scripturas saepiùs lege imo nunquam de manibus tuis sacra lectio deponatur Read often the divine Scriptures yea rather let them never go out of your hands And in another place he tells us Dictis obscurioribus fortes exercet parvulis humili sermone blanditur There you will find obscure sayings to exercise strong men and lowly sayings for little ones Here you have the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church for many Ages And yet the Romanists will most impudently affirm that we are the deserters of Antiquity and they only follow the practice of the Primitive Church But let us return to St. Paul who as I have shewed you directs his Epistles to the whole Congregation of the faithful And as St. Paul so St. Iames to the twelve Tribes who were the faithful So St. Peter the first Epist. to all the Elect the second to all the faithful So St. Iohn St. Iude all written to the faithful in general And I pray you observe what a strict charge St. Paul gives at the end of his Epistles to the Colossians and the Thessalonians I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Holy Brethren to all It were very superfluous to add more for this business But notwithstanding all this the Governours of the Roman Church shut up the Scripture from the people and with very great reason they teaching the people so many things clean contrary to Scripture The Scripture severely forbids the worship of images the Governours of the Roman Church teach the people to worship them The Scripture commands exact performance of all vows made unto God the Pope takes upon him to dispense with the most solemn vows that can be made even though the blessed Sacrament be received upon them The Scripture commands obedience to Kings and all that are in Authority the Pope dispenses with all obedience and oaths made unto their Kings and often commands them to rebel make war and murther them yea the Son to rebel against his own Father as the Son of Henry the fourth Emperour The Scripture forbids marrying with many near Relations the Pope dispenses with all The Scripture commands the Service of the Church to be in the known language of the people the Pope commands it to be in a language the people understands not at all The Scripture tells us God only can forgive sins the Pope says he also can and if you will give him largely he will forgive you largely The Scripture tells us there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus the Roman Church teaches there are thousands of Saints and Angels and pray unto them and the blessed Virgin much more than to Christ or God the Father ten Ave Mary's for one Pater Noster Good reason then have the Romanists to add unto these contradictions of Scripture and many more that grand iniquity of shutting up the Scripture from the people lest they should discover these contradictions They do wisely in their Generations But now that some Protestants who teach none of these things should think it fit to shut up Scripture from the people is wonderful and the reason they give for it is as bad as the thing because forsooth ignorant people
reading the Scripture it causes them to fall into very extravagant Opinions and Heresies How horrid a thing is it to affirm this Really it appears no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost whereof our Saviour pronounc'd that dreadful Sentence That it should never be forgiven neither in this world neither in the world to come For to say the reading of Scripture causes the people to fall into Heresie is the same in effect as to say the Holy Ghost is the Author of sin for I have most clearly proved unto you that the Scripture dictated by the Holy Ghost commands all to read the Scripture But I hope they intend no such matter as blasphemy but think they have some colour for what they say from 2 Pet. iii. 16. where St. Peter speaks of the unlearned and unstable wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction But I pray you mark how St. Peter joyns unstable with unlearned the want of stability is the main cause of their wresting the Scriptures For I shall shew you by and by that they who abound in learning yet wanting stability wrest the Scriptures as well I should say as ill as the unlearned But first I desire my pretending wise men to advise a little with St. Paul Rom. vii 10. where he tells us that the Commandment which was ordained unto life he found unto death did he therefore lay aside the Commandment God forbid the Commandment was Good and Holy how then came it to pass He tells us vers 8. that sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in him all manner of concupiscence And again vers 11. Sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived him and by it slew him Thus Beloved you see 't was not the Commandment that wrought death in St. Paul but sin that is concupiscence the corruption of nature that was in him this caused all the evil And just so it is in our case 'T is not the Scripture which causes Heresies Schisms and Divisions amongst us God forbid we should say so but sin taking occasion by the Scripture works all these the corruption of mens natures blinds and deceives them the pride and wilfulness of their heart the conceit of their own holiness and godly understanding sets them forward in opposition to the common received Doctrine and to affect singularity and applause by teaching some new thing Then they tumble over the Scripture to find out Texts that carry some colour for it as they fondly conceive and having found such they presently blaze abroad their new Doctrine which the giddy unconstant people always fond of new things presently catch at and follow This puffs up the Teachers and sets them agog and makes them ready to suffer any thing in that behalf for this increases the reputation of their Sanctity as suffering imprisonment and the like for the truth and at length by large Contributions this comes to increase the wealth of their purse also and then there 's no reducing them to obedience and order Now as St. Paul saith 'T is not the Scripture which causeth all this but sin the Spiritual pride of their heart takes occasion by the Scripture to work in them Divisions and Heresies And though the Scripture were wholly shut up from them yet the same sin their Spiritual pride of heart would cause the same Divisions and Heresies Do not we see this daily happen to them who reject the Scripture and walk by their new inward lights which they pretend God infuses into them This makes it most manifest that all our Divisions as St. Paul saith proceed from sin that is in us And doth not St. Iames agree with St. Paul in this when he saith From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members So from whence come these Divisions and Contentions come they not hence even of their lusts that war in their Members Now I beseech you to consider were it not as sensless as wicked to shut up the Scripture the word of life from the whole Congregation of the faithful because the sin and corruption of some turn it to their death But as Iob xi saith Vain man would be wise though a man be born like a wild asses colt Yea he would be wiser than God who well foresaw these Heresies and Divisions and forewarns us by St. Paul 1 Cor. xi 18 c. not only that they would come but also must come for the tryal of the Elect Our Saviour also tells us that he came not to bring peace on earth but a sword to set a man at variance against his Father and the Daughter against her Mother Matt. x. 34 c. And doth vain man think by his wisdom to frustrate the Divine Decree yea to stop our Saviours mouth from preaching the Gospel and say I beseech you Sir hold your peace you set men at variance even Father and Son Mother and Daughter one against another What think you Beloved were this wisdom or desperate sinful folly It is just the same or indeed far worse than to desire God to withdraw the Sun from shining on the earth because it causes evil weeds to grow up in evil ground Wherefore my Beloved I beseech you let us hearken to the true wisdom of God and not to the vain deceivable wisdom of man born as ignorant as the wild asses colt Yet he will be so wise as for the preventing of Errors and Divisions to shut up the Holy Scripture from the people which God hath commanded to be delivered to the people But I shall shew you yet farther the perverseness of these pretending wise men Is it not well known to all men verst in the writings of antiquity that the most dangerous spreading Heresies which infested the Church for several Ages and whereof some continue to this very day sprang not from the people but from learned eminent men Priests and Bishops Monks and Abbots and divers others famous for learning as the Arian the Nestorian the Eutychian the Pelagian the Macedonian the Manichean Heresies and several others which have mightily disturbed the Christian Church in all Nations East West North and South And then by the rule of our rare wise men the Scripture must be shut up from these also Bishops and Priests as well as people from all Seal it up and bury it in a Cave till the Resurrection of the dead and before that time all Religion may be dead and buried also and in the mean time we may take the Alcoran for our meditation or Ovid de Fastibus and so all become Turks or Heathens and the Kingdom of Satan set up instead of the Kingdom of Christ. Satan himself could not have found out a better exploit to do his work And really my beloved I must in all seriousness tell you that the Christian world was very far degenerated and declining into Heathenism by shutting up the Scriptures in later Ages before it pleased God in his great
of God to confirm their Doctrine for we have no other assurance of the Doctrine delivered by the Apostles but the miracles which they wrought in confirmation of it Excuse me for herein you are foully mistaken we have our Saviours command given them to preach the Gospel to all the world and we have his promise made to them that he would send the Holy Ghost unto them to lead them into all truth which we are assured did descend upon them working miraculously in divers and sundry manners Wherefore to speak properly we say That we do not believe in the Apostles but we believe in God the Holy Ghost speaking to us by the Apostles And which is yet more our Saviour himself which was both God and man yet he doth not require us to believe in him as man but as God assuring us so Ioh. viii 28. I do nothing of my self but as my father hath taught me I speak these things And again xii 49. I have not spoken of my self but the father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak By which we are fully instructed that we are not to believe in any man living but only in God speaking to us by man and therefore we are not to give Divine Faith to the Doctrine of any man the greatest Saint that ever was unless we are as fully assured that he hath God the Holy Ghost speaking in him as we are that he spake to us by the Apostles And certainly we have no such assurance of any man since the Apostles no special command given by Christ to preach any new Gospel no promise of the Holy Ghost to lead them into all truth no visible descension of the Holy Ghost in after Ages no gift of tongues nor prophesie But it may be you think that at the end of St. Matthews Gospel where Christ sends the Apostles to preach and says Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world this promise must be intended to the Apostles Successors also the Fathers of the Church that Christ would be with them unto the end of the world for the Apostles themselves were not to continue unto the end of the world but their Successors All this I grant that Christ will be with the Fathers of the Church the Successors of the Apostles to the end of the world who succeed the Apostles in their Doctrine as well as in Office Christ will bless them and prosper that Doctrine unto the end of the world Wherefore I pray you consider the whole context of that place Vers. 19 20. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world So long as you teach the things I have commanded you so long I am with you even to the end of the world The promise then of being with them to the end of the world is conditional viz. If they teach the things that Christ hath commanded either by himself or by his Apostles who were guided by his Spirit all which commands of Christ and his Apostles are delivered unto us in the Scriptures On this condition the promise was made in teaching the things commanded and not otherwise What is this to teaching of new Doctrine not commanded by Christ not contained in Scripture Not one tittle of promise made for that nor any commission given to teach new Doctrines but rather a curse for the person teaching any other Gospel than what was already preached be he man on earth or Angel from Heaven Gal. i. 8. Why because the Doctrine preacht by Christ and his Apostles was compleat for our Salvation And therefore we do not find that any one of the antient Holy Fathers doth pretend to any such infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost and thereby require submission and obedience to his Doctrine but rather declares quite contrary as I have newly mentioned unto you out of St. Austine one of the four principal Doctors of the Church who gives us a general rule Not to give any assured belief to any the most learned and most Holy Fathers farther than they can prove their Doctrine by Scriptures that is our compleat rule of faith Is it not then a strange disobedient wilful blind submission to their Doctrine expresly contrary to the rule of faith given by themselves And great reason had St. Austin to give us this rule when he had found as he expresses in another place that St. Cyprian a preceding Father of the Church most eminent for learning and sanctity who laid down his life for the faith this great Doctor Saint and Martyr taught and maintained an error even unto death which error of his was condemned afterwards by the whole Christian Church And not only St. Cyprian but all the great Bishops of Affrica joyned with him in this error And long before St. Cyprian Papias Bishop of Hierapolis whom that famous Bishop of Lyons Irenaeus affirms to have been a Disciple of St. Iohn the Evangelist and very probably he might be so for St. Iohn dyed in the hundred and second year of our Lord and Papias was then a Pastor of the Church He taught if not began as most antient Writers conceive the error of the Chiliasts That Christ should come again to reign here on earth a thousand years Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons mentioned before learnt this error of him and did propagate it farther till at length it infected most Writers of that Age. And this Irenaeus himself was the Disciple of St. Polycarpus and Polycarpus the Disciple of St. Iohn and therefore 't was no wonder that this error was taken up by many Doctors of the Church having two such famous men the Authors of it Yet this error was not long after rejected by the whole Christian Church Good reason then had St. Austin to give us that rule not to subscribe to any Doctrine of the Fathers but such as they proved by Holy Scriptures And it was a seasonable caution to future Ages against his own Doctrine for he himself taught the error that it was necessary to administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to Infants and this was an opinion generally believed in the Christian Church for many years though afterwards and to this day concluded a gross error And I beg leave to say this as true as free That whoever reads the Doctors and Fathers of the Church writings of the erroneous customs generally practised in their times but afterwards rejected by the whole Christian Church as well by the Papists as others shall find these Fathers as zealously maintaining by forced arguments and wrested Scriptures those their erroneous customs as the soundest truths God is my record I say not this out of any reproach to them whereof many have been great Champions for the fundamental truths and
beseech you tell me from whence sprang this mighty Headship of the Pope to be Lord of the whole World Successors as Successors can challenge no more Authority than their Predecessors had If the present Bishop of Salisbury hath no Authority over the Bishop of Lincoln certainly Salisburies Successor can have none over Lincolns Successor And so Saint Peter having no Lordship over S. Iohn nor any other Apostle Peter's Successor can have none over their Successors this is clear How then Did Christ ever come again upon Earth to establish this Headship or Did an Angel come from Heaven to do it Though I must tell you should an Angel come from Heaven and preach any other Doctrine than what is in Scripture we are fully warranted not to receive it But if neither Christ nor Angel nor any one Scripture declare this Headship is it not a most unreasonable thing to require us to believe this as a matter absolutely necessary to Salvation and to believe it with as full assurance as we believe Christ was born of the Virgin or that Christ was Crucified and that he rose from the dead Let them shew us then in such plain Scripture words that the Pope is to be Head of the Church that the Church of Rome shall be Infallible unto the worlds end that we are to receive all her Doctrines as the Oracles of God or that in the Church of Rome we have Eternal Life Let them but shew us some promise some command plain like this and we shall readily submit really we should be heartily glad to see it it would save us much trouble But beloved you all know there is nothing like this in all the Scripture How then dare any man venture the eternal salvation of his Soul and in obedience to the Church of Rome practise things so apparently contrary to Gods Commands as to worship Images pray unto Saints receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in one kind and such like as I mentioned formerly I know there are in the writings of several Fathers many expressions which highly magnifie the Authority of the Church in general and some for the Church of Rome in particular all which signifie very little if you consider the circumstances and motives for their so speaking When the Church was infested with Heresies the Orthodox Fathers disputing with them used all the Arguments they could to reduce them to the Truth but perverse men not hearkening to their reasons their last and pressing Argument was the Authority of the Church which they set forth with great lustre to make the Argument more powerful and force their submission unto it And because the generality of the Church in those days by Gods blessing was not yet infected with errors they urged the Authority and true belief of the Universal Church to reclaim the particular Heretical Churches from their Error and the most general Language being then Greek they used the word Catholick which in that Language signifies Universal and hence arose the phrase of the Catholick Church Moreover it pleased God to preserve the Roman Church in the true Faith with great Zeal and Piety for many years their Bishops being successively Martyr'd by the Heathen Emperors and their Officers at Rome And their true Faith being celebrated also in Scripture by S. Paul it was magnified by the true believing Fathers of other Churches as Antioch Ephesus Constantinople Alexandria c. that it might the more move the Heretical Members of their Churches to conform unto it telling them how S. Peter and S. Paul the two great Pillars of the Church were Martyr'd there and therefore they ought to believe no Error could enter that Church which was so sanctified with the blood of those two great Apostles and divers other famous Martyrs All which they uttered with great zeal that they might make the unbelievers to reverence it the more and submit unto it As when two of our Lawyers differ in opinion he that hath the Lord Chief Justice Coke on his side will magnifie him as such an Oracle of the Law that could not err and say all that his wit can invent to set it forth it doth not therefore follow that he seriously thinks Coke to have been infallible no more do these sayings of the Fathers conclude the Roman Church to be infallible as I shall now shew you by one Example sufficient to satisfie any man without farther trouble S. Cyprian was a Bishop and Martyr of the true Catholick Church as famous for Learning and Sanctity as for his Faith and Martyrdom he wrote a zealous Tract for the unity of the Church wherein he uttered those sayings which the Papists have so frequently in their mouths Habere non potest Deum Patrem qui Ecclesiam non habet Matrem he cannot have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his Mother And As no man was saved out of Noah ' s Ark so no man can be saved out of the Church Which being spoken by so great a man seem to carry great Authority with them But if I might freely speak my mind I would say of them that they are fine flourishing sentences sounding handsomely to the ear but cannot much satisfie a mans reason unless he had clearly exprest what he means by the word Ecclesia Church I know full well what the Papists mean by it they mean the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy and all those that are of his Faith and Communion and believe that no man can be saved that is not in that Communion And this is with them the Mother Church and Noah's Ark. But I shall now plainly shew that S. Cyprian meant no such thing for in the beginning of this Tract he declares that St. Peter whom the Papists would needs have to be the Founder of their Church had no Authority over the rest of the Apostles and Churches founded by them but that all the Apostles were of equal honour and authority Pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis Which saying he fully confirmed by his practice which is the clearest exposition of a mans meaning for a great dispute arising between him and Stephen the Bishop of Rome about Rebaptizing those which were Christned in Heretical Churches S. Cyprian declared his Judgment was for Rebaptizing Stephen declares the contrary and both parties adhering stifly to their own opinions the dispute grew so high that Cyprian held a Council of all the African Bishops and there Decreed that they ought to be Rebaptized for there being but one Baptism which was to be had only in the true Church the Heretical Baptism being done out of the true Church was no Baptism Here 't is plain S. Cyprian meant by the word Church his Church and all that were in Communion with him Stephen on the other side calls a Council at Rome and there Decrees that the Heretical Baptism being performed in due manner though the Priest Baptizing were an Heretick out of the Church yet the Baptism
being in the form of the true Church was a true Baptism But Cyprian notwithstanding the Decree of Stephen with his Bishops persisting in their opinion of Rebaptizing them Stephen Excommunicates them which S. Cyprian valued not a straw but called Stephen his obstinate Brother and a favourer of Hereticks Marcion Valentine Apelles and other Blasphemers against God as is set forth in his Epistle to Pompeius writing of this business And Firmilianus another Bishop of the African Church writing to S. Cyprian of the same matter says that the Roman Church vainly pretend the Authority of their Apostles meaning St. Peter and St. Paul seeing that they did not observe those things which were delivered them from the beginning by their Founders Eos autem qui Romae sunt non ea in omnibus observare quae sint ab origine tradita frustrà Apostolorum authoritatem praetendere And a little before expresly affirms that as the Hereticks are persons condemned of themselves so the Romanists favouring and approving their Baptism did adjudge and make themselves partakers of their damnable Heresies By all which it is most evident that S. Cyprian and the other Bishops of Africa did not mean the Roman Church for the Mother Church and Noah's Ark out of whose Communion there was no Salvation for though they were Excommunicated by the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy persisted in their Opinion and slighted very much his Excommunication and esteemed their own Church to be that Mother Church and Noah's Ark out of which there was no Salvation And in like manner I conceive all other Fathers who so magnifie the Churches Authority mean that Church who are of the same Faith and Communion with themselves supposing still their own to be the right though ever so wrong So that before you can with reason submit your self to the Faith and put your self into the Communion of any Church it is requisite for you to be assured which Church hath the true Faith and saving Communion which must be found out by that only safe Rule of Scripture by which all Churches ought to be examined and tried And now I shall proceed a little farther with the Papists and here challenge them to bring me any one sentence from any one antient Father of the Church who with all his magnifying the Authority of the Church of Rome or the whole Church in general doth yet ascribe unto it power to propose any new Article of Faith by their own Authority without Scripture-proof much less to countermand any one Scripture-precept And unless the Papists can shew this they shew nothing for their belief and practice of those many things I have formerly mentioned and for which they have not one tittle of Scripture proof And this I have said for the fuller confutation of the Papists for we take the Scripture for our only rule of faith and conceive our selves bound to believe nothing more than what is there declared as I hope I have fully proved The conclusion then of all must be That we can have no infallible assurance for our faith to rest upon but the Scriptures the word of God and not of man In the Scriptures we have Eternal Life and therefore are commanded to search them for it and there we shall find all necessary saving truth plainly set forth as I shewed you The humble searcher and fervent Prayer cannot fail of it He that thus seeks hath our Saviours never-failing promise to find And thus the beginning and ending of our discourse must be one and the same Search the Scriptures for in them ye have Eternal Life Having at length finished the several parts of my Text I shall now in as few words as may be declare unto you my motive end why I undertook this work No man is such a stranger in our Ierusalem as not to know what is daily discoursed in all places Many timerous Zelots cannot hold in their fears many insulting Papists cannot hold in their hopes that Popery will again bear rule in this Nation For my own part weighing things according to reason I mean such a measure of reason as God hath given me I cannot see any great probability of it for the great goodness of God hath given us so gracious a King and so averse to Popery as that when it would have been a very great advantage to him he could not by any means be brought to embrace it We may be then assured he will not hearken to it now when in all probability it will dangerously shake if not overturn also the very foundations of Regal Government in this Nation Besides the Sunshine of the Gospel for ever blessed be God for it hath so long appeared in our Church and so discovered the grossness of Popish errors in matters of faith such foppish superstitions in their practice as that men women and children plainly see and deride them So that Scripture and Reason being so prevalent against Popery and the Universal genius of the Nation so averse to it in reason I should think we are pretty safe from it But when I consider our course of life is so contrary to Reason and so bestial so contrary to Religion and so atheistical so contrary to Gospel light and such deeds of darkness daily committed it seems too probable we may soon become of any or no faith who are already become such beasts and devils in practice Have we not then great cause of fear that God after so many and so great blessings to draw our hearts unto him with cords of love and these failing of effect after so many chastising judgments to fright us from our sins by smarting Rods and all these also rendred vain and God daily provoked more and more by our loud crying sins for vengeance Have we not great cause of fear that God will bring upon us that sinal and severe judgment as to take from us the light of his Holy Gospel which we have so desperately abused and profaned and leave us to our own blindness to work out our present confusion and future damnation Hence and hence only arises all my fear This makes the whole head sick and the whol heart 〈◊〉 Isa. i. 5. For this cause I did resolve to advise you That whilest you have the light you would walk as Children of the light and whilst you have the Scriptures before you you would search into them and arm your selves against the assaults of the world and the flesh against the powers of darkness and cunning craftiness of those that lie in wait to deceive What God pleases to do with us he only can tell I will never cease to hope in his infinite mercy nor can I cease to fear our own wickedness almost infinite certainly never so excessive in this Nation Whether God for this hath determined to bring upon us the evil day I know not but this I know that if he hath so determined now is the time to prepare for it before hand and not when 't
of Truth and the way of Error the way of Godliness and the way of Iniquity the way of Life and the way of Death I most humbly and most earnestly beseech our most Gracious God for his Son Christ Iesus's sake to give you a right understanding in all things and to preserve you continually in the way of Truth Holiness Righteousness and Life Everlasting Amen THE END A SUPPLEMENT To the PRECEDING SERMONS TOGETHER WITH A TRACT concerning the Holy Sacrament OF THE Lords Supper Promised in the PREFACE By the Right Reverend Father in God HERBERT Lord Bishop of HEREFORD London Printed for Charles Harper 1679. A SUPPLEMENT To the Preceding SERMONS IN the Preceding Sermons I have proved these six things 1. That by God's special appointment all persons are to read and learn the Scriptures for their Edification in Faith and good Life and therefore 't is both foolish and impious for vain Man to take upon him to give reasons why the People should not read them 2. The reason of this because that in the Scriptures we have eternal life as our Saviour tells us which St. Paul explicates more particularly saying That they make us wise unto salvation that is they teach us all things necessary for our belief and they throughly furnish us unto all good works that is they teach us all things requisite for good life And these things the Scriptures compleatly contain in themselves without any Humane Doctrines so that if there were no other Writings nor Instructions in the World but the Scriptures alone yet we should not want any thing necessary to eternal life 3. That we are not to believe any thing with Divine Faith but what is clearly contained in Scripture for such a belief is a Duty belonging to God alone and 't is the greatest and most acceptable Duty and Sacrifice we can perform unto God to captivate our understandings in Obedience to Faith in God and therefore to give this principal Divine Service unto Man is high Idolatry and consequently to believe in the Apostles themselves had been great Idolatry had not Christ fully assured us That they should have the Holy Ghost to guide them into all Truth So that to speak properly we do not believe in the Apostles and Prophets but in God the Holy Ghost speaking in them And for this reason we find St. Paul very wary in distinguishing and declaring to the people what he delivered as from the Lord and what he delivered as from himself though he was perswaded he had the Spirit of the Lord even in that But yet no clear and full assurance that it was spoken directly by the Lord. Nay our blessed Saviour himself though God and Man yet would not have us believe in him as Man and therefore assures us That the words he spake were not his but the Father's speaking by him 4. I have proved that we have not any clear and full assurance from God That any Assembly of Men or Church since the Apostles are infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost into all Truth and therefore to believe in any Assembly of Men or Church without this full assurance of the Holy Ghost's speaking in them is Idolatry also for by such a belief you pay them the greatest Divine Worship 5. Though we should grant That some promise of Infallibility were made in Scripture to the Church yet this must include the Laity as well as the Clergy for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Church is always set in Scripture for the Congregation of the Faithful and is not once set for the Clergy distinct from the Laity But there is no such thing as Infallibility granted to any neither Priests nor People nor both together 6. Grant yet farther that the word Church in Scripture should signifie the Clergy and a promise of Infallibility made to them as Successors to the Apostles yet the same Promise being made and the same Authority given to all the Apostles alike the Successor of St. Peter and his Clergy cannot from hence challenge any more Infallibility than the Successors of the other Apostles with their Clergy and Church But the Papists deny this Infallibility to other Churches Certainly then other Churches may as well deny it to them All these things I have proved But now for a fuller conviction of the Papists and perchance for better satisfaction to some others I have a mind to grant yet farther That Christ made some particular Promise to St. Peter above the other Apostles yea and to St. Peter's Successors also 't is impossible from Scripture to prove either of these but let it pass so let us now see how the Papists can from hence fix this Infallibility to the Bishop of Rome and his Churches For I have shewed you from Scripture which doubtless is of better Authority than any Writings the Papists can bring for St. Peter that Rome was comprised in St. Paul's Jurisdiction and that he lived and preached and suffered there But we will pass over this also and yield to St. Peter's Jurisdiction over the whole World What then Then St. Peter was Bishop of Rome and setled his Successor there And how do the Papists prove this They answer that many authentick Historians tell them so is this all their Proof Humane Testimony from History is this a sufficient foundation for a prime Article of Faith on which depends the Salvation of all Christian Souls Is this a sure Rock or rather a bank of Sand to build their Infallibility upon Do not the same Historians relate that St. Peter was Bishop of Antioch and we have more reason to believe History for this because the Scripture tells us he was there but not one tittle of his ever being at Rome but strong Presumptions to the contrary St. Luke in the Acts speaking so much of St. Paul's going thither hath not one word of St. Peter's who being as the Papists believe so eminent an Apostle above all the rest seems somewhat neglected by St. Luke which makes me suspect St. Luke was not of their Opinion And shall we accuse St. Paul also for want of charity or civility never to mention St. Peter in all those his particular and numerous Salutations to and from others in his Epistles we must not think that their quarrel at Antioch where St. Paul withstood St. Peter stuck so long in his mind as to omit all Salutation to him in several Epistles We ought rather in charity to St. Paul to believe St. Peter was not at Rome And truly methinks the Papists themselves who pretend so much to honour St. Peter do him no small dishonour in affirming him to be at Rome when St. Paul answered for himself before Nero the first time St. Paul complaining that no man stood with him but all forsook him And if those Historians which the Papists rely on for St. Peter's being Bishop of Rome speak true in the circumstance of time then he was at Rome when St. Paul first answered
As for example If one of their Priests should pronounce the words of Consecration in the Lord's Supper and not intend to consecrate the Bread then 't is no Sacrament but the Bread remains bare Bread still because he did not intend to consecrate it I pray you remember this for I shall have occasion to mention it again hereafter So when any Bishop says the words for ordaining a Priest and doth not intend really to ordain they say he is no Priest So when an Archbishop seeming to consecrate another Bishop says the words but doth not intend his Consecration then they believe this Man is not hereby really made Bishop the words without the intention having no effect From hence 't is evident That if the Bishop that consecrated the Pope did not intend to make him Bishop he is none or if the Bishop that consecrated that Bishop that consecrated the Pope did not intend it then he was no Bishop and consequently could not consecrate a Bishop he being none himself So that going back from Bishop to Bishop if one of a hundred in process of time hath failed of intention then there can be no assurance that this Man is really a Bishop and Pope Now considering how many devilish wicked Bishops have been among them 't is more than probable some one of them hath minded the business of his Consecration no more than a Horse nay perchance in the wickedness of his heart hath laughed at that thing as a meer foppery as that blasphemous devilish Pope laughing said O quantum nobis profuit haec Fabula Christi What mighty advantage hath that Fable of Christ brought unto us But whether he really intended Consecration or no that being in the secret of his own heart alone is impossible to be known by another 'T is then most evident we cannot possibly have any assurance that such a Mâ—n is a Priest Bishop Pope and St. Peter's Successor and if he be not St. Peter's Successor then his Determinations signifie nothing as the Papists confess Where then is their assurance of any Pope's â—nfallibility having no assurance that he is Pope Bishop or Priest Can any Man think Gods infinite Goodness and Providence would leave hiâ— Church in so great distraction as the Papist s belief of their Pope's Infallibility embroils us in No certainly but God hath left us a short and safe way his holy Scripture in searching of which with sincerity and humility we shall be sure to find eternal life for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble I have a desire to go yet a little farther And let us suppose there were Infallibility settled in the Church of Rome I desire to know particularly where 't is to be found Here we shall find the Papists at a great stand Some say 'T is in the Pope alone some in a General Council alone some say in Pope and Council together Nay some will farther tell you That whether Pope or Council or both together decree any thing yet that Decree is not obligatory in any National Church as for example in the Church of France unless the Church of France have approved and received that Council You see at what a loss we are still for Infallibility they themselves are not agreed where 't is to be found But certainly of these three several Opinions I pass over the fourth it is most rational and coherent to their first Principle That the Infallibility is fixed in the Pope whom they all grant to be St. Peter's Successor for this Infallibility being originally granted to St. Peter 't is most coherent to this that it should descend to his Successor Besides they that would have it in the Pope and Council together say That the Pope only hath the power to call General Councils and to confirm the Decrees of the Councils so that if he doth not both call and confirm all the Decrees they are of no force nor any obliged to submit to them And thus in effect this Infallibility determines in the Pope alone the Council signifying nothing without him And then if this Infallibility be residing in the Pope I pray you remember what I told you but now the impossibility of assurance of any man's being rightly Pope which requires so many assuring Circumstances But now after all these innumerable difficulties and perplexities to find out where this Infallibility lies I meet with another grand difficulty yea as great as all these put together For if we consider what strange horrid wicked Creatures have been Popes since the Creation of the World there have not been persons more abominably and devillishly wicked what possible assurance then can be found sufficient to make us believe the Infallible Spirit of the Holy Ghost inhabits in such Dens of uncleanness and cruelty as the Breasts of such detestable Monsters of Iniquity To believe the high incomprehensible mystery of our Saviour s incarnation That the Omnipotent Divine Nature and the weak Nature of Man are united in one Person of Christ is sure a thing of very hard belief and requires the express Word of God to make us to submit and captivate our understandings in obedience to it What then can be sufficient to make us believe this so extreamly contrary to all reason That the All-glorious and All-holy Spirit of God and the spirit of the Devil should be united in the heart of such abominable Popes What can captivate our hearts to this belief I confess we are to submit to God's Word though it seem ever so contrary to reason I dare not say otherwise But then I beg leave to say That I may require to see the Word of God for this as plainly and as expresly as we see the Sun in a clear Sky at Noon Gideon as it is set forth Iudg. vi after that God had plainly declared unto him by an Angel That he should conquer the Midianites and had confirmed his Word by that miracle of Fire rising out of the Rock and consuming the Sacrifice yet presumed to require of God a farther assurance by a Miracle of Dew filling a Fleece of Wool yea and after that a third Miracle of having the Fleece dry and all the ground wet round about it and the great goodness of God hearkened to him in all I hope then the infinite goodness of God would not be angry if I should desire one two or three evident assurances to make me believe a thing to humane reason far more impossible than his conquering the Midianites God was graciously pleased to assure us by his beloved Disciple St. Iohn of the Incarnation of his Eternal Son that he had heard and 〈◊〉 â—nd looked upon the Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies consideringly to observe yea and his hands had handled the Word of Life all which put together is as compleat an assurance as can be imagined and all this to assure us of the Union of the two Natures Divine and Humane in one Person as I
which they themselves take in a figurative sence And our Saviour's own comment upon this matter Ioh. vi declares it ought to be taken spiritually and figuratively But notwithstanding all this put the case that we were mistaken and they were in the right as to this yet certainly our case is far safer than theirs for they cannot deny that we have great probability of Scripture for us nothing directly against us so that we have a fair plea to God for our belief though erroneous whereas they have no plea not one tittle of Scripture or Reason for their erroneous Sacrilegious dismembring this Holy Sacrament flatly against Christ's Institution and Command reiterated again by St. Paul Their case then is apparently damnable If they answer They have the Command of their Pope and Church I reply That if their Pope and Church have power to reverse any one part of Scripture the same power may reverse another and another and in sum All. This is such high Phanaticism as it were as great madness in us as in them to discourse longer with them But I hope they are not all so mad and therefore I shall proceed farther to gain such and knowing that they are great admirers of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church especially the more ancient though our Faith is built wholly on Scripture without them and therefore I did not intend to make use of their Authority at all yet I shall here produce enough to give any moderate Papist full satisfaction That their Transubstantiation is against the belief of the Ancient Fathers of the true Catholick Church First then I lay this ground Their Transubstantiation plainly and necessarily infers Christ's Body to be really and corporally present in many thousand places at once in all Parts of the World where they celebrate Mass. Now if I can bring clear proof from any one eminent Father of the true Catholick Church that Christ's Body cannot be in many distinct places at once this Father clearly proves Transubstantiation cannot be St. Austin an eminent Bishop and Father was always held not only Orthodox but of great authority in the Church cited frequently in the Papists Schools to this very day And his great Piety and Modesty was a great cause of his great Authority for he bore a singular Reverence and Submission to Scripture still captivating his understanding to that nor was ever known to begin or countenance Novelty but always reverenced the Doctrine of the Primitive Church and therefore most worthy to be hearkened to This famous Bishop and Doctor of the Church in his 57 Epistle to Dardanus discourseth at large of this point An quia ubique Deus sit hominem quoque illum qui in Deo sit ubique diffusum dicere possumus Whether or no we may affirm that God being every where so the Man Christ being in God is also every where or confin'd to a certain place So that the Man Christ cannot be affirm'd to be both in Heaven and on Earth at the same time And in the discussion of this matter he sets down this for a rule Cavendum est nè ita divinitatem adstruamus hominis ut veritatem corporis auferamus We must take heed that we do not so establish the Divinity of the Man Christ as to destroy the truth and reality of his Body which cannot be in several places at once nor so much as in two places at once in Paradise and on Earth though his Divinity fill all places at once and is every where and therefore concludes thus Christum ubique totum praesentem esse non dubites tanquam Deum in loco aliquo coeli propter veri corporis modum Doubt not but that Christ is wholly present every where as God but yet is in some certain place in Heaven by reason of the reality of his Body And as Saint Austin denies that the Body of Christ being a real humane Body can be in several places at once so doth he affirm that the Body of Christ must possess a place suitable to the largeness and dimensions of the Body with length and breadth in proportion to every limb Cum corpus sit aliqua substantia quantitas ejus est in magnitudine molis ejus distantibus partibus quae simul esse non possunt quoniam suum quaeque spatium locorum tenent minores minora majores majora A Body being a substance with quantity this quantity consists in the bulk of it with parts distant one from the other and not confusedly all together but each one possesseth a proper place to it self the lesser parts a lesser space the greater a greater because amplior est quantitas in amplioribus partibus brevior in brevioribus in nulla parte tanta quanta per totum Because the quantity of the longer parts is longer of the shorter parts shorter so that the bigness of the whole must needs exceed the bigness of any part and consequently the space which the whole Body possesseth must needs be greater than the space of any one part Spatia locorum tolle corporibus nusquam erunt quae nusquam erunt nec erunt The proportion and bigness of space is so necessary to the proportion and bigness of a Body with its parts that if you take away this just space from Bodies they cannot be said to be in any place and to say a Body is not in any place is in effect to say it is not at all Now you must understand that all this discourse of Saint Austin in this place is concerning immortal Bodies and even Christ's Body now glorious in Heaven For the Question which Dardanus made and to which Saint Austin answers was concerning the being of Christ's Body now immortal Whether that could be in several places at once or is confin'd to one certain place And to shew that Saint Austin thus understands this Question his words declare saying Nam ipsum immortale corpus minus est in parte quà m in toto c. For that immortal Body is less in a part than in the whole c. and gives his reason Cùm corpus sit aliqua substantia c. as before I shall endeavour to make all this a little plainer to lower Capacities The difference between a Body and a Spirit is this A Body possesses a space according to the quantity and bigness of the Body each part of the Body filling a space sutable to the proportion of it A Body of five foot long and a foot broad takes up the room of five foot in length and a foot in breadth and cannot be contain'd in a less space each limb of this Body filling its proper place the Head in one place the Arm in another the Leg in another and so the rest so that two Bodies can't be in the same place nor two parts of the same Body in one place But a Body having many hollow parts in it as the Belly and the Head and in the most fleshy parts
Ceremonies were to be quite abolished not to be re-built again on Christ as the Romanists do yea and re-build on Christ some of the old Roman Heathen Superstitions also as I formerly shewed you for in the fiery-Trial at the Judgment-day the Fire should try every Man's work that is every Man should give a severe account of what he had built what Doctrine he had preached if pure spiritual Doctrine that like Gold Silver precious Stones would endure the fiery-Trial of that day remain and be rewarded But if Superstitious ceremonial Doctrine that like Wood Hay Stubble would not endure the fiery-Trial but would be burnt and the Builder thereof would lose his labour and reward but because he kept the Foundation Christ and was sound in the principal parts of the Faith he should be saved yet so As by Fire he should pass a severe examination and check for building such gross carnal stuff upon so pure and spiritual a foundation Which little particle As like a small spark sets on fire and burns down to the ground all that stubble-building of Papal Purgatory for no man is so ignorant but knows that this Particle As always denotes a similitude a likeness to the thing named and how absurd were it to say Fire is like Fire St. Peter in his first Epist. Ch. 4. v. 12. writes Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery-triall which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you Had they taken this as the Papists do for real Fire they would have thought it strange indeed This Phrase of fiery-Trial is so familiar in Scripture that no man can without wilfulness mistake it especially here where the whole discourse all along is figurative Is not Foundation Building Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble all figurative not one of them literally spoken Yet forsooth this one word Fire alone must be taken literally I pray you then take Wood Hay Stubble also literally along with you into your Purgatory-Fire it will make such a blaze about your ears as that the Pope with all his Holy Water and Agnus Dei's will not be able to quench it Really these are strange Men that will thus abuse Scripture to delude poor silly people unless they repent they will doubtless meet with a far worse Fire than that their invented Purgatory-Fire not As Fire but a real and eternal Fire from which Good Lord deliver them In like manner they abuse another text in St. Iames Ch. 5. v. 14. where he speaks of one of the miraculous gifts given to the Elders of the Church and Preachers of the Gospel in those days to anoint the Sick with oyl and so cure them This the Papists obtrude to poor ignorant Souls for their extream Unction which they administer to Sick persons not for their Recovery but when they are past all hopes of Recovery as a Sacrament to confer the grace of Faith and to strengthen them then for their departure out of this world as different from the Scripture meaning as the Sun-rising from Sun-setting Life from Death And just so they abuse v. 16 Confess your faults one to another for their Auricular Confession to their Priests which is a meer Exhortation to mutual and charitable Reconciliation of all Christians one to another by the Offenders confessing and acknowledging the wrong they have done to their Neighbour and then both Parties praying for one another as all good Christians ought to do for doubtless all men are bound in Conscience as well to acknowledge and confess their faults to the party injured as to pray for him And this St. Iames exhorts all Christians to do You see now what strange deluding Persons these Popish Priests are who if they find but one word in Scripture that agrees with one word of their superstitious practice they pop this into the ears of silly people and drive it in with a Mallet yet quite contrary to the meaning of that text from whence they took it which they cannot be so ignorant but to see To whom therefore I cannot but say as the Angel did to Satan The Lord rebuke them Yet I shall not cease to pray to the Lord also for their Conversion for which while there is life there is hope I conclude then as blessed St. Stephen did for his Persecutors Lord lay not this Sin to their charge Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace Good will towards Men. Amen FINIS Three Books written by the Right Reverend Father in God Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford 1. A Sermon Preached before the King at Whitehall 2. A Letter written to a Friend concerning Popish Idolatry c. 3. A Second Call to a farther Humiliation being a Sermon Preached at the Cathedral Church in Hereford the 24th of November 1678. All three Printed for Charles Harper at the Flower de luce over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street