4th For all the pretences of Infallibility in the Church of Rome they cannot decide the Controversies that are among their own Members 5th Both Popes and General Councils have contradicted one another and therefore neither of them can be infallible 6th The pretence of Infallibility in the Church of Rome is nothing but a device to uphold their Temporal Grandeur and Dominion Quest. 21. Why do you think the Church of Rome is in an Error in forbidding the reading of the Bible to the Common People Answ. 1. Because Christ commands all sorts of Men to read the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. 2. The Berrhaeans are commended for searching the Scriptures Acts 17. 11. 3. The Fathers in the Primitive Church exhorted the People to the frequent reading of the Scriptures 4. St. Paul charges the Thessalonians to take care that his Epistle be read to all the holy Brethren 1 Thess. 5. 27. 5. In the Jewish Church every Family was to have the Law in their Houses and to teach it their Children diligently Deut. 6. 7. 6. The pretence of the Obscurity of the Scripture in many places is insignificant since the Scripture is plain enough in things necessary to Salvation 7. The Church of Rome in forbidding the Bible to the Laity discovers her fear and the weakness of her Cause least the People should see her Errors and forsake her Quest. 22. UUhy do not you believe that the Books call'd Apocrypha are Canonical Scripture Answ. 1. Because the Oracles of the Old Testament were delivered to the Jewish Church Rom. 3. 2. and these were not 2. The Christian Church receiv'd from the Jews no other Books of Canonical Scripture but what are own'd as such by the Church of England 3. The Apocrypha were not written by Men inspired by the Holy Ghost and what is Scripture must be by Inspiration 2 Tim. 3. 16. 4. Some of the Authors beg the Readers pardon for their Mistakes which is not the Language of the Holy Ghost 5. The Antient Councils have rejected these Apocrypha as not Canonical particularly the Council of Laodicea 6. In the Primitive Churches they read these Apocrypha only for the Instruction of Mens Manners but did not resolve their Faith into them no more do we Quest. 23. UUhy do you find fault with the Church of Rome for asserting that the Church of England once a Member of her Communion had no power to reform her self Answ. 1. Because every Church hath a natural right to shake off the Abuses and Corruptions which are contrary to the Word of God 2. It is God's Command to private Men not to suffer themselves to be deluded by the slight of Men and cunning Craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive and therefore much more is a National Church concern'd to do so 3. In vain was any Reformation hoped for from the Bishop and Clergy of the Roman Church 4. It 's the proper Office of the Bishops of a National Church to take notice what Errors creep into their Churches and oppose them 5. And that they have right to do so appears from the Examples the Church of Judah had in the times of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah or Josiah 6. In throwing off the power of the Pope of Rome we did not throw off Obedience to a lawful Soveraign but Subjection to an Usurper 7. We did no more than what the Orthodox Churches did after the Arian Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia in setting up the Nicene Faith again which those powerful Councils had banish'd 8. We made no new Religion but restor'd the old and built no new House but only swept out of the old the Rubbish which made it unwholesom and uninhabitable The End An Account of the Conference betwixt a Jesuit of the Savoy and my Self the 2d of January Present Mr. Stephens on my side Mrs. Chamberlain and Mr. Chamberlain and the Book-binder about whom the Conference was held he having been six years of the Church of Rome but somewhat unsatisfied and Mr. Lamb. About Seven of the Clock at Night THE first thing Discoursed was about the Doctrine of Calvinists which the Jesuit said made God the Author of Sin I told him that there are several Expressions which if a favourable Construction be put upon them will appear to be otherwise Next he fell upon Luther who should say that no Man could be damned if he would but for his Infidelity I said it was true that God condemned no Man that professed himself a Christian but for his Infidelity The Jesuit asked whether if a Man committed Theft he may be call'd an Infidel I said he acted like an Infidel and in that Act was so because he acted contrary to his Belief Mr. Chamberlain putting in something about that place 1 Tim. 2. about one Mediator The Jesuit argued he wonderd we should talk of one Mediator when every Man that pray'd for the other was a Mediator I told him in a large Sense he might be called so but in the Controversie before us were meant Mediators which are religiously worshipped Here happened a great rambling Discourse about Faith As distinguished from all good Works but I told them that by Faith I did not mean the bare Assent to the Doctrine but a practical Belief as it takes in the whole Word of God and living according to it The Book-binder was gone to call Mrs. Chamberlain and coming again by this time The Jesuit said they were come to satisfie Persons under some Doubts and therefore must fall upon some more material Points and since we Protestants sent people to the Scripture it was necessary we should begin to talk of the Rule of Faith and therefore he desired to know how we knew the Scripture to be the Word of God and from whom we had received our Bible I told him we had received it from the Catholick Church whose Testimony was very considerable in this Case He ask'd hereupon when we went off from the Church From what Church we did immediately receive it I answered him both from the Western or Roman and from the Churches of the East However I told him I would fairly grant him that we had received it immediately from the Church of Rome and I desired him to make the best of it Here he asked how we could receive the true Bible from a corrupt Church I asked him whether I might not receive a Pearl from a Chimney Sweeper He said we looked upon them for Rogues and Rascals Whereupon I told him we give them no such Language However sinc he used these Names whether a Man might not receive a 100 l. in very good Money from Rogues and Rascals He then argued That we look'd upon the Church of Rome as a corrupt Church and how can we be sure that we have the true Bible since we cannot be sure that a corrupt Church had not corrupted it I told him that they confessed themselves they had not corrupted it and besides they could not corrupt it for the Cheat
would have been found out by the comparing of ancient and modern Copies He then asked again what we counted the Rule of Faith I told him the Scripture He asked whether with a true Interpretation or without it I told him the Scripture with true Interpretation He then replied how we should know the true Interpretation I told him things necessary to Salvation needed no great Interpretation and the words are deliver'd so plainly that any one that runs may Read it He then asked whether every Man was a true Interpreter of Scripture I said every Man had a Judgment of Discretion but there was no Question there were several Persons that might mis-interpret it but if a Man went this way to work read the Scripture pray for Illumination and go to it with a pure Intention he might understand things necessary and he could not err damnably and in things more difficult consult by his Guides He said this would establish every Man in his Religion and a Mahometan ought to be directed by his Guide and why must we follow the Guides of our Church and not the Guides of the Roman Church I told him that People bred and born and baptized in this Church had greater reason to consult their own Guides than others because they had greater Obligations to them Still he urged no Man could be ascertain'd of the true Interpretation of the Scripture without some Judge I desired him to name that Judge over and over but could not bring him to it I know not how the Discourse came in here about different Interpretations and I said the Writers of their Church differ'd in their Interpretation He said none of their Writers differ'd from one another in the Interpretation of places relating to Articles of Faith I asked him what he thought of Extreme Unction He said it was an Article of Faith Very well said I then I 'll prove that Cajetan interprets that place of St. James of another Unction and saith contrary to the Council of Trent that Extreme Unction cannot be proved from that place He said the Council of Trent did not denounce Anathema to him that should interpret that place of St. James of another Unction I then fetcht him down out of my Study the Council of Trent and shew'd him that Sess. 14. it did denounce Anathema to them that should not believe So then he said they laid not the strain upon that place but St. Peter and St. Paul had spoken of it too I challeng'd him to shew me any place in St. Paul or Peter that had spoken of this Unction He then turn'd it off and said he did not mean it of any express mention but only that the Apostles did not use to contradict themselves After this either the Jesuit or Mr. Stephens moved it that there might be another Meeting and that we should write down all I told him I agreed to it and accordingly we appointed Wednesday next the 4 th of January at Four a Clock in the Afternoon and so they departed the Jesuit and Mr. Lamb The Bookbinder and Mr. Chamberlain and his Mother and another young Woman And the Bookbinder and Mr. Stephens and my self and Chamb. and his Mother staid a while when I fell in discourse about Invocation of Saints and fetcht him down the Office of the Virgin Mary The Contempt of the Glories of the Virgin Mary and shew'd him that they did not only pray to Saints to pray for them but begg'd the same Blessings of them they did of God The Bookbinder said the Contemplations of the Glory of the Blessed Virgin was not allow'd of in their Church He said if they did more than pray to Saints to pray for them he did not righly understand his Church The End A DISSWASIVE FROM POPERY BEING A LETTER TO A LADY TO Preserve her from Apostacy from the Communion of the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for W. Hinchman S. Keble and D. Brown 1697. A DISSWASIVE from Popery being a Letter to a Lady to preserve her from Apostacy from the Communion of the Church of England Madam AND are you indeed got into the only Catholick Church And are you sure the Men you have lately believed have not deceived you as you fancy we have done for tho' you may be so charitable as to think that we have not intentionally cozened you yet since you cannot suppose us to be both in the Right you must necessarily conclude that we have at least ignorantly abused and imposed upon you and did you ever rightly consider what a truly Catholick Church does mean Men of Sense and Reason always believed that a Church which holds the truly Catholick Faith is a true and sound Member of the Catholick Church and dares Malice it self say that we do not hold the Apostles the Nicene and Athanasius's Creed The Church of Rome her self confesses that these Creeds contain the truly Catholick Faith And most certainly when the Nicene Council was celebrated and in Athanasius's time that Church was counted a sound Member of the Catholick Church that held that Catholick Faith which is expressed in those Creeds and do we not hold that Faith Do we not stand up at it to express our Readiness to defend it And what have we done that we must not be counted a Catholick Church Is it because we will not receive things which the Church of Rome hath since added to the Catholick Faith Is it because we will not admit of the Doctrines which that Church was first induced to believe by the Darkness and Ignorance of the Ages it lived in and at last loath to part withal for fear they should be thought to have been so long in an Error Is it because we will not yield to things which we apprehend to be directly against the Word of God and destructive to that Catholick Faith the Christian World hath professed in all Ages Is it because we will not deceive the People of the Cup in the Blessed Sacrament which Christ intended as a mighty comfort to them Is it because we will not believe the Miracle of Transubstantiation against four of our Senses and Reason and Scripture to boot Is it because we will not suffer the Worship of God or that which is very like it to be given to Creatures because of the very appearance of the evil of Idolatry which we are commanded to shun as much as Idolatry it self Is it because we will not believe a Purgatory Fire which cleanseth little but Peoples Purses of their Money Is it because we will not indulge the Pride and Arrogance of a Man at Rome who having first wheedled the Christian Princes out of their Means and Power hath at last made that Power and Riches hereditary to his Successors under a pretence of a Legacy from Christ Is it because we will not believe contrary to the Apostles Rule that publick Prayers which are intended for the benefit and understanding of the Multitude must be said in a Tongue unknown to the
Fury and reviling Language And being kept within these bounds I find no fault with this Anger But this is not the Anger my Text speaks of and against which Christ levells his Commination here for that 's anger without sufficient cause even Anger because our worldly Interest is not promoted as we expected or because our Honour and Reputation is touch'd or because something which gratifies our Lusts is with-held from us or because our vain Desires are not cocker'd and flatter'd or because such a Person hath not given us the Title and Respect we look'd for or because we cannot digest a Reproof or because we are cross'd in our Designs or because such a Man is not of our Opinion or because he will not conform to our Humour These are the things which commonly provoke to Passion and this Anger the farther it goes the worse it grows if from thoughts and secret grudges it proceeds to contumelious reproachful and reviling Language to calling the party ill Names Fool and Rogue and Villain and Rascal and Knave and Cheat and Hypocrite and such other Titles as modesty will not suffer us to name it becomes greater and if from Words and Expressions it goes farther yet even to Actions of Revenge and settles in Hatred in Rancour and inveterate Malice it then shuts out the righteousness of God and lets in the Devil and invites evil Spirits to come and Lodge in that house and the last Estate of that Man grows worse than the first And is not this the Case of abundance of you Do not you see something in this Glass that 's very like you and resembles your Temper And do but consider what weakness what impotency of Reason and Spirit you betray and discover by such doings Is not this an inlet to confusion and every evil work Jam. III 16. Is this the Christian Spirit is this to know what manner of Spirit you are of Is this treading in your Masters steps Is this following his Example Who when he was reviled reviled not again Dare you appear before the Son of Man in the last day with such a Disposition of Soul never yet seriously repented of Is this to resist the Devil Is this to purifie your Hearts Have you so learned Christ Is this to be Children in Malice as you are bound to be by your Profession Is this to crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts upon the least Provocation presently to be in a huff presently to let your Tongues loose and to break forth against your Brethren in Language fitter for Turks and Indians than for Christians Is this to be meek as Doves Is this to Love one another with a pure Heart fervently Is Hell-fire nothing but painted Flames Hath our great Master threatned it and do we make light of it Can you seriously reflect upon this Commination and be unconcerned And is not this threatning a Call to Repentance What a mercy is it that God will accept of a sincere Repentance after such Provocations But how can you repent of your Passion if you do not mortifie it How can you mortifie it if you do not conquer it How can you conquer it if you do not strive How can you strive if ye do not use the proper means and weapons God hath appointed in the Gospel How can you profess sorrow for this Sin when you fall willfully into the same Sin again Do you call a mock Repentance godly Sorrow Or do you take that to be Repentance which is separated from actual Reformation Ecclesiastical History tells us of two Bishops that fell out and proceeded even to reviling Language and so parted toward night one of them sent the other word Brother the Sun is going down with that the angry Man remembred St. Pauls saying Let not the sun go down upon your wrath and made haste and found out his offended Brother and fell on his Neck and kissed him The Pythagoreans though Heathens did the like for if they had quarrell'd one with another in the day time they would not go angry to Bed but shak'd hands before Sun-set Did Heathens do so and shall Christians be strangers to this Practice Flatter not your selves with this that you kill no body in your Anger so did the Pharisees but must ye therefore act against the Law of Reason and Religion because you do not run stark Mad Do you own your selves Disciples of the Lord Jesus and will not you believe what he saith in the Text Hath he peremptorily forbid you all Bitterness and Wrath and speaking evil one of another and will not you obey him Doth he assure you that it renders you obnoxious to Hell-fire and do not you think what if I should fall into that Fire in my anger Are you sure you shall not Hath God told you that he will not strike you dead in a Fit Do not you express all that 's terrible by Hell-fire and is not the possibility of falling into it a sufficient Defence against this inordinate Passion Do you hope for Christ's Rewards and will you deprive your selves of them by your willful disobedience Did you go about mortifying that bitterness of Spirit like Men in good earnest how could ye fail of Success Did ye pray fervently against it watch against it chide your selves frequently for it shun the occasions of it check it when ye find it rising set before you the danger and believe it Call to mind the meekness of your great Master and the wonderful Patience of the Holy Apostles in their private Injuries how could your undertakings miscarry Doth anger according to Solomon's Verdict rest in the bosom of Fools and do you take your selves to be wise Men for it O be better advised and if the Mercy the Patience the Clemency the Compassion of God toward you cannot melt down your angry your wrathful Constitution stand in awe however of your Ruin of your everlasting Ruin and remember who it is that said and protested and will Act according to his Protestation Whosoever shall be angry with his Brother without a Cause c. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CONCERNING The Two Religions VIZ. That of the CHURCH of ENGLAND And the other of the CHURCH of ROME Intended for the Use and Benefit of the Younger Sort of People LONDON Printed in the Year 1697. Questions and Answers concerning the Two Religions c. Quest. 1. HOW doth the Church of England differ from the Church of Rome Answ. The Church of England keeps close to the Antient Creeds commonly call'd the Apostles the Nicene and that of Athanasius The Church of Rome hath added new Articles of Faith to these Antient Creeds which we reject Quest. 2. When did the Church of Rome add these new Articles Answ. In the Council of Trent not much above a hundred years ago for it began in the year 1545 and ended in the year 1563. Quest. 3. What 's the reason the Church of England doth not receive those new Articles of Faith Answ. 1.
used as a means to get Money 5. By these Indulgences men are hindred from a true Repentance for they pretend to release Men by them both from Sin and Punishment at least the People are suffer'd to think so if they do but say so many Prayers or go in Pilgrimage to such a place or fast so many days from some kinds of Meats or give a large sum of Money for the building of a Church or go to War against Infidels c. Quest. 15. Why do not you think Auricular Confession to a Priest necessary to Salvation Here you must Note That we are not against Confession in the Church of England nay our Church presses it both publick and private to God and Confession to a pious and able Minister if the Conscience be burden'd and upon a Death-bed but we dare not say as they do in the Church of Rome that a Man cannot be pardon'd or saved except he Confesses to a Priest 1. We allow not of it in the sense of the Church of Rome Because there is nothing in the Word of God that makes the neglect of it Damnable 2. The Confession used in the Primitive Church was made by scandalous Sinners publickly in the Congregation and therefore is not the same with that practis'd in the Church of Rome which commands the Confessing all mortal Sins with their Circumstances into the ear of a Priest at set times and before the receiving of the Sacrament 3. Since it is not of Divine but Ecclesiastical Institution it cannot be absolutely necessary to Salvation 4. It cannot be a Sacrament as they make it in the Chuch of Rome because it wants Christ's Institution 5. This Confession to a Priest as it is managed in the Church of Rome is no Check but rather an Encouragement to Sin Quest. 16. UUhy do not you believe that the Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church and the Mistriss of all other Churches Answ. I can never believe that the Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church 1. Because there are vast multitudes of Christians in the World which are not in actual Communion with the Church of Rome and yet are Members of the Catholick or which is the same of Christ's universal Church dispersed all the World over 2. To say That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church is to say That a part is the whole or that a House is a whole City or that one Member is the whole Body 3. The Primitive Christians did not take the Church of Rome for the only Catholick Church 4. God hath no where in Scripture declared so much 5. To say the Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church is a most uncharitable Doctrine and to Damn the greater part of the Christian World 6. All Churches that do hold the ancient Faith contain'd in the three Creeds are Members of the Catholick Church 7. The Church of Rome is so far from being the only Catholick Church that her strange Doctrines make her at the best but a very unsound Member of the Catholick Church I do not believe That the Church of Rome is the Mistress of all other Churches in the World 1. Because there is no such Authority given her in the word of God 2. The Superiority she Claims is nothing but Usurpation 3. The Asian and African Churches heretofore rejected her Authority 4. The Eastern Churches at this day despise her Pride and pretended Authority 5. The Church of England was a free Church from the beginning and therefore justly maintains her Freedom and how should that Church be Mistress of all other Churches that takes Liberty to change Christ's Institutions and Commands and contradicts the Word of God Quest. 17. Doth the Church of Rome differ from the Church of England in any other Points Answ. Yes for she holds 1. That Extreme Unction is a Sacrament necessary to Salvation 2. That it is unlawful for Priests to Marry 3. That she is infallible 4. That the Scripture is not to be read in a vulgar Language by the common People 5. That the Books call'd Apocrypha are Canonical Scripture 6. That the Church of England had no Power to Reform her self All which we deny as contrary to Scripture and Reason Quest. 18. Why do not you believe that Extreme Unction is a Sacrament necessary to Salvation Ans. 1. Because that Unction or anointing sick Persons Jam. 5. 14 15. was a miraculous Gift and therefore not necessary to be continued 2. Christ did never institute this miraculous Unction as a Sacrament 3. The Unction they use in the Church of Rome hath no miraculous effects 4. The Apostles an̄ointed sick Persons that they might recover In the Church of Rome they anoint dying Persons who are past Recovery 5. In that place of St. James the saving of the sick Person is ascribed to the Prayer of Faith not to the anointing 6. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is sufficient to comfort the dying Man Quest. 19. Why do you look upon their forbidding Priests to marry as unlawful Answ. 1. Because St. Paul permits a Bishop and indeed all Clergy-men to marry 1 Tim. 3. 2. 8. 11. Tit. 1. 6. 2. The same Apostle saith to all Men in general It is better to marry than to burn 1 Cor. 7. 9. 3. The same Apostle calls forbidding to marry a Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. 3. 4. St. Peter himself an Apostle and a Priest was a married Man 5. Several of the Bishops in the Primitive Church were married Men such as Spiridion Chaereman Phileas Gregory Nyssen Gregory Nazianzen both Father and Son Hilary and others 6. It was Pope Hildebrand or Gregory VII the same that first presumed to depose Soveraign Princes that made the Clergy renounce their Wives contrary to Scripture a Man guilty of the greatest Crimes imaginable Quest. 20. Why do not you believe the Church of Rome infallible Answ. 1. Because it is only a Pretence founded neither in Scripture nor Antiquity 2. It is a Church that hath err'd both in Doctrine and the Worship of God most notoriously 3. God hath no where promis'd to make any one Church infallible 4. Themselves are not agreed where this Infallibility lies whether in the Pope or in a general Council or in the diffusive body of Christians 5. The Word of God is the only infallible Rule to walk by 6. There is no need of a visible infallible Judge for deciding of Controversies For 1st Controversies may be decided without such a Judge as they were in the Primitive Church the Bishops meeting in Council and arguing against Hereticks from the Word of God 2d A meek humble peaceable and charitable Temper would decide Controversies better than all the pretended infallible Judges in the World 3d. We do not find that when there were infallible Judges here on Earth such as Christ and his Apostles that all Controversies did cease Notwithstanding their presence there were Schisms and Heresies even among the Christians 1 Cor. 11. 19.
will to confess to this man of Wonders you naturally fell into a fancy that so much Formality and Ceremony different from that you had been used to in our Church had more charms in it than our plain and honest way and then laid the stress of your pardon upon the new Priests absolution in that formal manner wherewith your fancy being impregnated it soon diffused a cheerful air in your countenance and raised some gladness in your heart because you had now done something more than ordinary as an Antidote against your Sin And from hence arose your pretended peace and satisfaction or delusion rather because you laid the stress of your pardon upon the absolution of that Roman Priest and not upon the sincerity of your repentance If a Priest could forgive Sin 's whether men Repent or no Then indeed you might have laid the stress of your Pardon on that forgiveness of the Priest but since by your own Confession that absolution of the Priest signifies nothing except people truly repent for you to build your comfort on that Absolution when it should have been founded upon your sincere Repentance cannot but be a false fire and a counterfeit comfort if you say you did not fetch your Peace from that Absolution but from the sincerity of your Repentance you catch your self for if your true Repentance must be the foundation of it then you might have taken the same comfort in our Church If you still reply you could not you only mean you would not for true Repentance is true Repentance in any Church and if true Repentance causes true comfort it would have caused true comfort in our Church as well as in the Roman and therefore there must be some cheat in this comfort The fancy you have since taken up that the reason why you found comfort in the Church of Rome upon your Confession and Absolution and none in ours must needs be because the Priests of that Church are true Priests and those of ours are not is as solid as your Peace If we have no true Priests in the Church of England then most certainly the Church of Rome hath none The Bishops which in the beginning of our Reformation did ordain Bishops Priests and Deacons among us were ordained by Bishops of that Church and if the Character of Orders by their own confession be indelible then it was not all the Thunders and Lightnings of Excommunication at Rome could annul it It 's true your ghostly Father very confidently tells you a Quality incident to that sort of Men That our first Protestant Bishops never received Orders from Bishops of the Church of Rome but one would admire what Spirit doth possess these Men that they dare contradict all the publick authentick Records we have of their being consecrated by Bishops of the Church of Rome they might as well deny that there were no such Kings of England as Henry VII and Henry VIII for we have nothing but publick Records to shew for it as deny that the Bishops of the Reformation were never consecrated by Bishops of the Roman Perswasion I am perswaded that if any Papist should come into trouble about the title of an Estate he hath and did but know that the name of his Ancestors the manner of the Conveyance and his just Title were in some publick Record or Register he would soon make use of it alledge it as a sufficient proof and thank God for preserving a Record that is so much for his advantage I know not what can be a better Testimony in matters of fact next to Revelation than publick Records and Registers and we dare venture our Reputation upon it that in the Authentick Registers of the respective Arch-bishops of Canterbury where fear of being counted Knaves and Fools for putting in things contrary to what was publickly known may justly be supposed to have kept the publick Notaries from asserting things notoriously false In these Registers I say it will be found what Succession our first Protestant Bishops had how Arch-bishop Parker the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth to go no higher was consecrated December 17. 1559. by four persons then actually Bishops and who had formerly been Ordained by Bishops of the Church of Rome viz. William Barlow in Henry the Eighth's days Bishop of St. Davids under Edward the sixth Bishop of Bath and Wells under Queen Mary driven into Exile and returned under Queen Elizabeth John Story formerly Bishop of Chichester Miles Coverdale formerly Bishop of Exeter and John Hodgkins Bishop Suffragan of Bedford Not to mention that the Queen's Letters Patents in case any of the other should be sick or forced to be absent were directed to three Bishops more that had formerly been Popish Bishops and were turned Protestants viz. Anthony Bishop of Landaff John Bishop Suffragan of Thedford and John Bale Bishop of Ossery But all this hath been so clearly demonstrated out of the publick Records first by Mr. Mason and since by Arch-bishop Bramhal that he that writes of it can only transcribe out of them and those that deny these Records must be Men of strange Foreheads and of the greatest Disingenuity From these Men that had their Priesthood from the Church of Rome our Priesthood is lineally derived so that if our Priesthood be not valid theirs cannot be and if Heresie doth not make the Episcopal Office void nor disable a Man from conferring Episcopal Order on other Men as is evident from the second Council of Nice with your Church an Oecumenical Council which received Bishop Anatolius though consecrated by Dioscorus a Heretical Bishop if I say Heresie doth not make the Episcopal Order void then suppose we were Hereticks our Priesthood which is derived from Popish Bishops that turned Protestants must be a true Priesthood still and to this purpose I remember one of your Church said lately Once a Priest for ever a Priest Madam if you desire to know the Truth be honest and sincere you should act like a Person that hath a mind to be satisfied and search the publick Records and till then believe not every Tale that 's told you The common plea of your Priests that our Records are sophisticated and that we have put in what we please argues only Boldness and Ignorance when they can shew neither where nor when nor by whom they were corrupted Those that talk so seem neither to understand what a publick solemn thing the Consecration of a Bishop is in England nor to reflect how difficult it is to fill a publick Register with Falsities as to matters of fact when there are so many hundred Men that know what is done at such a time and view the Records and would most certainly speak of it if they found a flaw in the Relation But if we should deal thus with the Church of Rome question all their Registers in the Vatican and say which we might do with far greater reason that they are things packed and invented by Men that
have a mind to keep up a Faction I know what Language we should meet withal But will you boast say you of having derived your Orders from the Church of Rome when you believe the Church of Rome to be an idolatrous Church Madam it is not the Office of a Bishop in your Church we find fault withal but the Abuses of it A Church that 's guilty of very great corruption both in Doctrine and Manners may have something that 's good and allowable and he that retains that is not therefore guilty of her corruption nor espouses her Errors Your Idolatry is one thing and your Orders are another The Jews did take many good things from the Heathens and the Christians many commendable things from the Jews but that neither made the Jews approve of the Heathenish Worship nor the Christians allow of the Jewish Errors We are not so disingenious as to make the breach between you and us wider than needs So far as you go with Scripture and true Antiquity we hold with you where you contradict both we cannot with a safe Conscience bear you company He that sees a Pearl lye among a great deal of Trash if he take the Pearl is not therefore obliged to take the Rubbish too and if we have derived our Orders from you that infers no necessity that we must therefore consent to your Notorious Deprivations of the antient Simplicity of the Gospel The Christians heretofore that approved of the Baptism of the Donatists did not therefore presently acknowledge the Truth of their Opinions and he that should take a good custom from the Turks cannot be therefore said to approve of all things that are in the Alcoran Madam There is nothing more easie than to cavil at the most prudent Action in the World especially where People take a slight survey of things and do not with Seriousness and Deliberation weigh the Circumstances of the Fact and do not examine the inside as well as the outside and I must confess upon the best Examination of your Actions and Proceedings in this Revolt to the Church of Rome you never took the right way to be satisfied for instead of pondering the Arguments and Motives of our Departure from the Church of Rome and of the Reasons we alledge for our Church and Doctrine you made it your chief Imployment to read their Books and believed what they said to be Oracles for no other Reason but because they talked with greater Arrogance and Confidence If you say that you could not judge of Arguments having never been bred a Scholar I would but ask you how you durst change your Religion then Did you change it without reason and without ground and if you are not able to weigh the strength of Arguments how can you be sure that you are in the true Church at this time It is not talk but Arguments that must demonstrate the Truth of a Religion and if you have not sufficiently weighed the Arguments of both sides it is a thousand to one you may still be in the wrong way and you know not but you may be as much out now as you were formerly Madam so great a thing as the change of your Religion upon which no less than Eternity depends might justly have challenged some years study before you had resolved upon it To do a thing of this nature upon so slight a Survey consider whether it doth not argue Rashness and Weakness rather than Piety and Devotion To leave a Religion you have been bred and born in a Religion founded upon the Word of God and which you had liberty to examine by the Scripture upon reading a Popish Book or two without diving to the bottom of the several Controversies without reflecting on the Importance of the Points in question without studying a considerable time which Religion comes nearest to Scripture and which goes farthest off is such an Argument of Impatience that you only seem to have yielded to a dangerous Temptation of the Devil If the Controversies between the Church of Rome and us are so intricate as you say and above your capacity to dive into them you have then run over to that Church in the dark and have as little reason to be satisfied with your Proceedings as you believe you have with our way of Worship You plead that you have been sitting up whole Nights and weeping and praying that God would discover to you which is the true way to Salvation and from that time forward you found Inclinations to go over to that Church and is this a sufficient Argument to justifie your Forwardness When you had already begun to doubt whether our Church were a true Church or no because you found not that Satisfaction in it your sickly Desires wanted it was then an easie matter to give ear to confident People that magisterially and peremptorily assured you that you would find Satisfaction in their Church and being fed with this hope your Inclinations to that Church grew stronger every day as our Mother Eve the hopes of being like God suggested to her by the Serpent did egg and spur her on to eat of the fatal Tree We do not forbid People to pray to God to lead or direct them into the right way though sometimes it may be a perfect tempting of God when People are in the right way to desire God to discover to them by a sign of their own choice whether they are in it or no. But them if we pray to God to direct us we must not neglect the means God hath appointed in order to our Satisfaction but must compare Scripture with Scripture and Books with Books and Arguments with Arguments and search which Religion agrees most with the Doctrines and Practices of Christ and his Apostles and as the Noble Berrheans did examine all the Doctrines obtruded to our Belief by the Scripture and doing thus and continuing this search and these Prayers together no doubt but God in his own good time will answer us and direct us But to pray to God to direct us and not to use the means in the use of which he hath promised to direct us we do in a manner mock him or desire him to work a Miracle for us or to vouchsafe us some extraordinary Revelation when we have Moses and the Prophets and may hear them And I am confident had you joyned this way with your Prayer examined the Doctrines of the Church of Rome and compared them with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ seen whether there be any thing like it in the Bible and searched whether Christ and his Apostles ever taught such Doctrines and done all this not slightly but seriously and solidly it 's impossible you could ever have turned Papist for if our Gospel be true that Religion can never be true for there is nothing in the World can run more counter to the Gospel than the Doctrines of that Church wherein we differ from them and they had need put the
ingenuous Men of the Church of Rome confess that this praying to Saints or Angels was not heard of or used in the Christian Church for the first Three hundred years after Christ. And if the Christian Church for the first Three hundred years did not think it useful at all it is a strange Degeneration from their Principles to press it now as useful Certainly if God had thought this Invocation so useful as your Church pretends it is He would not have so peremptorily commanded Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal. 50. 15. and it 's probable the Apostles in prescribing so many useful things of far less concern would not have left us in the dark as to the mighty usefulness of this Invocation especially when they had occasion to mention the Spirits of men made perfect and did so often converse with Angels The Angel Revel 22. 8 9. thought it a very useless thing and would not admit of so much as a Religious prostration of the Evangelist before him because it look'd like Sacriledge and robbing God of his due But since your Church in this Adoration takes Pattern so much by the Courts of Princes give me leave to suggest to you how you think a Soveraign Prince would take it if a Subject should give any of his Servants the the Title of Majesty or any other Title which properly belongs to him There are few Titles that God hath and inspired Men have given to him but you give them to the Blessed Virgin and though when you are charg'd with it you fall to Distinctions and turn and wind your selves to get out yet that shews only a bad cause because it requires so much artifice and cunning to defend it But alas it must be Children that are perswaded and coaxed to believe that the Church of Rome only counts it useful not necessary when it is well known that the generality of that Communion pray to Saints more than to God which in the Scripture phrase is honouring the Creature more than the Creator and they never leave that Person that goes over to them till they have brought him to that Worship of Saints and Angels It s pretty to hear these Men talk that it is only recommended as useful when the Bishops and Preachers of that Church are injoyned and take their Oath upon 't to commend this Invocation to the People as profitable and the People are obliged to hearken to their Priests in all things so that though a Man at first may think this Invocation not necessary upon the account of its being only useful yet from that other Obligation he hath to obey the Priest in all spiritual things it becomes necessary But from this scruple we are delivered Madam by the Confession of Faith which the Roman Catechism doth prescribe for there it is that it is not only useful but that we ought to pray unto Saints and indeed should any Man live in that Communion and omit it he would soon be looked upon as prophane and but a half Convert to their Church they would soon let him know their Displeasure and either fright or flatter him into Conformity And is this the Worship Madam which Christ and his Apostles have injoyned the World Are not you afraid of doing things that do so nearly border upon robbing God of his honour and glory Idolatry is a frightful word and you do not love to hear it and therefore I will trouble you with it as little as I can But when God hath commanded you to come to him directly without mentioning the Intercession of Saints and Angels how dares your Church of her own head bring in a Worship so dangerous who should prescribe the way how God is to be worshipped but God himself And if God requires you to address your self to him without any other Mediator but Christ Jesus Have not you just reason to be afraid that God will reject your Prayers which are addressed to Saints as Mediators contrary to his order and injunction What Kings suffer here on Earth in letting their Subjects address themselves by their Servants to them can be no example here for God as he intends not to regulate his Court by the Court of Princes so we know it is against his Order to go to his Servants when we are commanded to come directly to him and it is such a voluntary humility as deprives us of our Reward as the Apostles expresly tells us Coloss. 2. 18. God knew well enough if men addressed themselves to his Servants to have access to him something of the Worship due to him would stick by the way and rest upon his Servants to his Dishonour and Disparagement and therefore he mentioned nothing of this mediate Address It s true we desire our Neighbours here on Earth to pray for us but for that we have a Command for the Invocation of Saints departed we have none and in vain do they worship me saith God teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men Mat. 15. 9. But besides when you desire your living Neighbours to pray for you I hope you do not fall down upon your knees to them nor use the same Zeal and Devotion to them as you do to God and for whole hours together as you do to Saints departed But why will you blind your self in a thing which your own Practice contradicts you in you know you do not only pray to Saints departed to pray for you but you do many times without making any mention of their Prayers for you beg of them with the same reverence and prostrations you use to God to deliver you from all evil and consequently you beg the same Blessings of them you beg of God And it is but a weak excuse to say that you intend by those Prayers nothing else but that by their Intercession they may get those Blessings for you for you go contrary to the nature of things and whereas words ordinarily are Interpreters of the mind you make your minds Interpreters of your Words and Actions which is a strange evasion and if such a thing be intended why do you lay a snare before the Common sort of People who being ordered to pray to Saints for such and such Blessings know nothing to the contrary but that they are able to dispence those Blessings to them and thus commit Idolatry by your willful connivance whose Blood will certainly be required at your Church-mens hands one day Examine but your Prayers to the Virgin Mary in your own Manuels when you have prayed to her and begged of her all that you can pray of God for you add a word or two of her Intercession which in good truth is nothing but a blind that you may not be said to commit down right Idolatry You know those Prayers to the Virgin Mary which in the Latine and I think in the English Manual too are ordered to be said to the Virgin Morning and Evening The