of so grosse ignorance and non-sense as this No verily But perchance the matter is this you say that Protestants to whome the Roman Religion appeareth though but probably the safer cannot continue Protestants except they continue fooles Now Protestants by this confession of D. Potter cannot but see apparently the Roman Religion to be the safer Wherfore that this notwithstanding they may continue still Protestants you would make them such fooles as to belieue that though ioyned with a verbe in the Present Tense doth import onely an imaginary not a reall supposition Wherefore if you should say as in effect you do say though the Religion of Protestants be false and damnable yet I will do my best to defend it Protestāts must be such fooles as to take this not as a positiue assertion that their Religion is false damnable in your iudgment but as a Rhetoricall Concession as if you had said Imagine or put case the Religion of Protestants be false and damnable I hope Protestants will be wiser then to be made such fooles by you as to continue in a Religion which cannot be maintayned but by such fopperies as these Your Vanity in contemning the foresayd Argument §. 4. 9. You many times seeme to contemne and scorne the Argument drawne from the confession of Protestants and the former testimony of D. Potter You say we rely vpon his priuate Opinion vpon his vncertaine Charitable hope that his thinking so is no reason we should thinke so except we thinke him infallible that whosoeuer is moued with his argument is so simple c. Wherin you may seeme which happens very seldome to agree with D. Potter who doth much sleight our arguing from the Confession of our Aduersaries page 81. If they haue no better ground of their beleefe then their Aduersaries Charitable iudgment of their errours they will be so farre from conuincing their Aduersaries of lacke of wisedome that themselues cannot escape the imputation of folly 10. Thus the Doctour endeauours to lay the imputation of folly vpon vs for vrging our aduersaries fauourable iudgement of our errours as a good argument that may moue men to imbrace our Religion But in this charging vs with folly his owne lacke of wisedome and consideration may be conuinced by what he writeth some few pages before against zelots for these he condemneth not onely of want of charity but also of lacke of wisedome for iudging so seuerely of our errours as to cut vs of from hope of Saluation Pag. 76. The Roman Churches communion sayth he we forsake not no more then the Body of Christ whereof we acknowledge the Church of Rome a member though corrupted And this cleeres vs from the imputation of Schisme whose property it is to cut of from the Body of Christ and hope of Saluation the Church from which it separates And if any Zelots amongst vs haue proceeded to heauier censures their zeale may be excused but their Charity and Wisedome cannot be iustifyed Thus he From which words I conclude a double truth the one against you the other against D. Potter himselfe The first that this Charitable iudgement about the Saluation of Roman Catholiques because their errours are small and not in themselues damnable is not the priuate opinion of D. Potter but the censure and doome of the whole Protestant english Church condistinct from zelots or Puritans For how can this whole Church be iustified and cleered from the imputation of Schisme by reason of her Charitable iudgement of our errours if this be not the Charitable iudgement of this whole Church but only the opinion of D. Potter and of some other few priuate Protestants Secondly I gather that this iudgement is not onely according to Christian Charity but also according to Christian Wisedome and floweth from the rules and Principles of them both Otherwise what cause or reason hath D. Potter to charge Zelots who iudge not fauourably of our errours with want not only of Charity but also of wisedome Their Charity saith he and Wisedome cannot be iustified If the iudgment of Protestants so fauorable about our errours be of meere Charity not wise not prudent not solidely grounded on truth why may not the wisedome of Zelots who will not consent thereunto be iustified On the other side if the iudgment of Protestants be conforme to Christian wisedome and Diuine truth what wisedome is it in D. Potter to charge vs with folly and want of wisedome for building and relying theron 11. Besides this iugdment of Protestants that we may be saued in our Religion our errours not being damnable if it be voyde of wisdome and not solidly grounded on truth how is it charitable that is how can it proceed from true Christian Charity If fond loue and affection to the saluation of Creatures not guided by the rules of Christian truth be Christian charity then the iudgment of Origen were ful of Christian Charity who extended saluation euen vnto Diuells Wherfore your iudgment that we may be saued because our errours are not damnable cannot be charitable vnlesse it be conforme to the rules and principles of Christian truth and wisdome on which if it be grounded why may we not build and rely theron Why may we not without imputation of folly make this one pillar of our comfort and constancy in the Roman Communion and Fayth 12. Adde hereunto that it is euen ridiculous in D. Potter and other Protestantes of his stampe to brag and boast as they doe that forsooth it is excesse of their Charity and good will to the Roman Church which makes them to iudge so kindly and fauourably of her errours For by their wordes and writings they shew themselues to be voyd of all loue and Charity and to be full of bitter zeale and passion towardes her so farre that though in their conscience they iudge her free from damnable errours yet in their passion they hate abhorre rate and reuile her as if she were the vildest Religion in the world These speaches of D. Potter against her she hath many wayes played the Harlot and in that regard deserued a bill of diuorce from Christ and the detestation of Christians the proud and curst Dame of Rome which takes vpon her to reuell in the house of God Popery is the contagion and plague of the Church These speaches I say euery man will presently perceiue that they are voyd of Charity wordes of contumely and reproach proceeding not from cleere and calme iudgment but from the fuming fornace of passion you produce them as if D. Potter by them did ouerthrow what we haue proued to be his iudgment that our errors be not damnable But in very truth they be only passionate speaches vttered without iudgment reason or discretion yea against his owne iudgment tokens of his mortall auersion from that Church in whome he can finde no mortall or damnable errour It is not then Charity or kind affection or any good will to Roman Catholiks
THE TOTALL SVMME OR No danger of Damnation vnto Roman Catholiques for any Errour in Faith Nor any hope of Saluation for any Sectary vvhatsoeuer that doth knovvingly oppose the Doctrine of the Roman Church This is proued by the Confessions and Sayings of M. William Chillingvvorth his Booke Summa est quae conficitur ex Confessis Aug. princ dialect cap. 3. Vnum est necessarium Luc. 10. v. 42. Permissu Superiorum 1639. The Preface THIS Discourse was intended at first as the Conclusion and closing vp of the Treatise I termed The Church Conquerant ouer human VVit but being when I wrote it in great doubt that the sayd Treatise was lost in the transporting therof from one place to another which often happens in Countries which are infested with warre I resolued to make this Discourse more large by the discouery of many other Contradictions in this our Aduersary and with the Refutation of such tergiuersations as Cauillers might deuise to stay piously disposed Protestants from yielding prompt and assured assent to this most important Verity And as they who make Bills of Account whē they haue set downe distinctly for their discharge the particular Summes of expences are accustomed in the end in few Cyphers to abbreuiate the Totall Summe so this Treatise comming after the former as the Conclusion thereof I haue giuen it the name of Totall Summe the Argument handled therein being worthy of that stile For what is the finall marke the Totall the All in all of our pious endeauours labours cares sollicitudes in this mortall life but only to find out the true Religion wherein one shall be sure of his Saluation if simply and constantly he belieue the Doctrines and liue according to the lawes thereof Verily this is the pith the marrow the Summe the quintessence of all Controuersies ventilated betwixt Protestants and vs and in particular it was the sole scope of that short substantiall Treatise Charity mistaken by Protetestants which being by D. Potter in his VVant of Charity impugned was defended and confirmed by the learned labours and elucubrations of Charity maintayned For the maine Cōtrouersy debated in these three bookes is whether Roman Catholiques Protestants may both be saued in their seuerall Religions or which comes to the same issue seing Protestants grant we may be saued in our Religion because our Errours are not Fundamentall and damnable whether it is not want of Charity in vs that we will not requite them with the like mild gentle and comfortable doome but constantly maintayne that Saluation cannot be had in any course of Separation and Opposition against Doctrine proposed by the Roman Church as matter of faith And though this our Catholique determination hath beene in the before named Treatise demonstrated especially in the two last Chapters thereof which shew all Sects Diuisioners all Protesters and Opposers against the Church of Rome to be guilty of the two most heynous crimes Schisme Heresy yet I haue thought fit conuenient to hādle this Totall of Controuersies in a particular short Treatise wherin omitting the former two heads of proofe I haue vrged peculiar and proper Arguments grounded vpon euident Truths confessed approued confirmed euen by this our Aduersary whose Booke Protestants so much esteeme as they stand thereon against the cleere demonstrations for the Catholique Church brought by Charity maintayned If in this very Booke in which they so much confide which beareth the title The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Saluation the happy security of Roman Catholiques and togeather the vnauoydable danger of their Opposers be proued and proclamed if no safe path to Saluation for English Protestants be shewed in his Treatise but they be forced to goe the broad way wherein the most damned Heretiques that liue vnder the cope of Heauen not onely Anabaptists and Arians but also the new Samosatenians or Socinians may be saued aswell as they this being shewed our Protestants will be compassed about on euery side with the light and euidence of this eternally importing Truth No hope of saluation out of the Catholique Roman Church And then God forbid they should not yield vnto so cleere Euictions but fall into the extreme misery of peeuish obstinacy whereof S. Augustine sayth Nihil infelicius homine qui non vult cedere veritati quâ ita concluditur vt exitum inuenire non possit Nothing more vnhappy and wretched then the man that will not yield vnto that truth wherwith he is so concluded and inclosed as he knowes not which way to get out THE TOTALL SVMME OR The assured Saluation of Roman Catholiques c. An Aduertisement IN this treatise as in the other I haue beene exact and euen scrupulous to rehearse fully and largely our Aduersaries formall words many times also though they were cited before repeating them agayne for the Readers greater ease and to make this poynt whereon the Totall of our Eternity doth so much depend cleere and plaine In the text I cite the Page Number and Line or whē there is no number in the page or when the place cited comes before any number only page and line I haue also in the margent quoted the Chapter and number whereby the Reader may find the wordes in the second edition of London The first Conuiction 1. THis is drawne from the concession of Protestants that Roman Catholiques may be saued in their Religion because their errours are but litle on s not Fundamentall or in themselues damnable wheras Roman Catholiques neyther do nor can by the principles of their Religion grant the same warrant to any whatsoeuer that continues vnto death an opposer of the Church of Rome An argument often vrged by Charity maintayned grounded on a testimony of D. Potter which you say he buildeth on in almost fourty yea more then in an hundred places of his booke and you as often at least striue and struggle with this Argument labouring to remoue the pressing difficulties thereof with the same progresse successe as Sifiphus is said to make who to aduance a huge stone vp-hill striueth eternally in vaine Your euasions and shiftes I will particularly refute and lay open their falshood and vanity wherby it shal be made apparent that both the booke of Charity maintayned resteth hitherto vnanswered and that this Argument drawne from the confession of Protestants is altogether vnanswerable I shall first propose our Argument strenthened with D. Potters suffrage Secondly discouer how impudently you deny D. Potters text Thirdly how at last you acknowledge it giue an explication therof full of grosse ignorance Fourthly how weakly and in vayne you would seeme to contemne this Argument as poore and seely Fiftly I will declare the force of this Argument and shew the reason why Protestants that be wise and not distempered with furious zeale dare not condemne the Roman Religion Communion as damnable of it selfe Finally that not only Roman Catholikes but that you your selues dare not
which moueth D. Potter such other Ministers to maintaine the errours of the Roman Church to be but littleones and not damnable but because they dare not hold the contrary in regard of the vnchristian absurdities which they perceiue to be consequent theron as by the next Section will appeare All Christians of former ages damned if the errours of the Roman Church be damnable of themselues §. 5. 13. CAn any absurdity be more vast and vnchristian then this contained in the title of this paragraph What wonder if Protestants that be moderate and not carried away with precipitous zeale through horrour to be forced vnto this immanity dare not affirme that our errours are in themselues damnable though otherwise their little loue towardes vs considered they could do it with all their heart To proue this vast absurdity to be consequent vpon the said proposition we must suppose what no man doth or can deny that for many ages before Luther all the famous men for learning and sanctity who by heroicall actes of Charity and other Christian vertues and working of Miracles maintained the credit of the Christian name held the doctrines of the Roman Church which Protestants contend to be erroneous The fame is also euident concerning the Fathers of the more Primitiue times and is confessed by Protestantes namly D. Whitgift late Archbishop of Canterbury Almost all the Bishops and Writers of the Greeke Church and of the Latin also for the most part were spotted with the doctrines of free-will of Merit of Inuocation of Saintes and such like So that if the Doctrines of the Roman Church which Protestantes traduce as erroneous be damnable of themselues it is consequent that the most famous Bishops Doctours and Saints in so many former Christian ages were guilty of errours in themselues and of themselues damnable which being so they should be all certainly damned without any hope of their Saluation 14. This consequence I proue by what you by write pag. 403. lin 30. They that haue vnderstanding and meanes to discouer their errours and neglect to vse them we dare not flatter with so easy a censure as to giue them hope of Saluation But the eminent Fathers and Christian Saintes of so many ages before Luther had sufficient vnderstanding and meanes to discouer their errours and yet neuer made vse of them They had excellent vnderstandings they were verst in all manner of sciences they had the holy Scripture which you say is the only meanes to know all necessary truth and to discouer all damnable errours a meanes not only sufficient but also in your iudgment most playne and easy so that men not only may but also cannot but therin discouer which be damnable errours except they wilfully shut their eyes against the light Therefore there is no hope of the saluation of the Ancient Fathers and Saintes of former Christian ages if your Proposition be true they who had sufficient vnderstanding and meanes to discouer their errours and neglected to vse them there is for them no hope of Saluation Moreouer pag. 279. num 64. lin 8. you say that which is in it selfe damnable will actually bring damnation vpon them that keep themselues in it by their owne voluntary and auoydable fault But the Ancient Fathers and holy Saints in the ages before Luther held the doctrines of the Roman Church which you account damnable full of great impiety and Idolatry they kept thēselues in them according to your groūds by their owne voluntary and auoydable fault for they had sufficient meanes to discouer their errours to wit they had the holy Scripture wherin as you say these errours are discouered not onely with sufficient but also with abundant clarity that there cannot possibly be greater you must therefore of necessity grant that these damnable and impious errours if they be such as you say they are brought actually damnation vpon the Fathers and Saints of former ages Agayne page 290. lin 2. of liuing in the Communion of the Roman Church and approuing her doctrines and practises you say Though we hope it was pardonable in them who had no meanes to know their errour yet of its owne nature and to them who did or might haue knowne their errour it was certainely damnable Now the holy Fathers and Christian Saints of former ages might haue knowne our errours if they be errours because they had the holy Scriptures in which you say such errours are discouered their damnable falshood so plainly as nothing can be more If then you say true that the Roman Religion is full of great impiety and damnable doctrines it is euidently consequent by your principles that all holy Bishops Doctours and Saints who are confessed to haue held the sayd doctrines are certainly damned for euer no hope remaining of their saluation Wherfore the reason why Protestants hold our Religion safe and a sure way to Heauen as being free from damnable errour is not Charity and excesse of good will they beare to our persons as they pretend but feare of the vast absurdity which they see consequent thereupon that so many former ages and worldes of holy Bishops Doctours Conuerters of Nations workers of Miracles and admirable Saints are certainly damned 15. There be many Protestant Ministers that could find in their hearts to grant this dismall position of the damnation of the ancient euer esteemed Saints if the same would stand them in steed to maintaine the diuision from the Roman Church yet they dare not venture cleerly to auerre so much for feare that this would produce the contrary effect and moue many of their followers to recoyle back from them For in the separation made by Luther from the Roman Church there be many piously inclined mindes carefull of their future eternity either of weale or woe cordially desirous to be secure of the happines of the one and mighty fearefull to fall into the misery of the other Should Protestant Ministers cleerly deliuer their mindes that the Roman Religion is damnable euen of it selfe a direct way to Hell and that such as walke or haue walked therein are certainely damded these piously disposed and timerous Soules would feele horrour to be of the Protestant Religion which cannot be the way of saluation except the Roman Christianity so great so glorious so continued from Christ and his Apostles contayning within her bosome so many worlds of holy Bishops learned and pious Pastours and of admirable Saints be damned at least all the intelligent Professors therof The apprehension of this dreadfull and dangerous state amazed euen the stout and curst heart of Luther whē he saw himselfe engaged in a course out of which he could not issue with saluation except so many former ages of Saints were damned How often sayth he did my heart tremble and pant within my breast obiecting against me that most stronge argument Art thou onely wise Did so many Christian worldes in former ages all erre What if perhaps
that some Protestants leauing the Roman Church haue fallen away by degrees euen from the Fundamentals of Christianity You answer p. 168. lin 9. What if some forsaking the Church of Rome haue forsaken fundamental truths Was this because they forsooke the Church of Rome No sure this is non causa pro causa For else all that haue forsaken that Church should haue done so which we say they haue not but because they went too farre from her The golden meane the narrow way is hard to be found hard to be kept hard but not impossible hard but yet you must not please your selues out of it though you erre on the right hand though you offend on the milder part for this is the only way that leades to life and few there be that find it It is true if we said there were no danger in being of the Roman Church and there were danger in leauing it it were MADNESSE to persuade any man to leaue it Thus you Before I come to the principall intent let me note and put you in mind of two thinges First that here as euery where also commonly you argue fondly that the cause why some forsaking the Roman Church forsook also the fundamentals of Christianity was not their forsaking the Roman Church For els say you all that haue forsaken her should haue done so An argument fond and full of ignorance Otherwise we might say that Couetousnesse was not the cause that Iudas betrayed his Maister for else all couetous seruants should betray their maisters which we know is not so we may say that zeale of Puritanisme was not the cause that Enoch ap euan murthered his Brother and Mother because many zealous Puritans do not murther their Brothers and mothers that oppose them These instances and a thousand more which might be brought lay open your ignorance that you do not distinguish betwixt naturall necessary causes whose force cannot be resisted and morall causes which freely incline the will leauing it liberty to resist which is the reason they are effectuall in some and not in others 7. Secondly I note that you also heere keepe your wont of contradicting your selfe What you heere say that the narrow and onely way to life and saluation is hard to be found hard to be kept without erring on the right hand or on the left how doth it agree with or how doth it not directly destroy what you teach pag. 221. lin 20. about your Protestant safeway· This is a way so plaine that fooles except they will cannot erre from it because in this way not being free from errour but indeauouring to be free is the onely condition of Saluation How is not being free from errour but endeauouring to be free in your way the onely condition of Saluation if keeping the golden meane and the narrow way without erring eyther on the right hand or left be in your doctrine the sole meanes of Saluation How is the way so plaine that euen fooles vnlesse they will cannot erre from it if it be hard to be kept without erring on the right hand or left And pag. 290. n. 87. whereas the Maintayner sayth that Protestants should not haue left the Roman Church for errours vn-fundamētall seing they were not sure by their departure to auoyd this kind of mischiefe yea they were sure they could not auoyd it you say Protestants are so farre from acknowledging that they haue no hope to auoyd this mischiefe of errours vn-fundamentall that they proclayme to all the world that it is most prone and easy to do so to all those that feare God and loue truth and hardly possibly for them to do otherwise without supine negligence and extreme impiety How do these sayings hange together The golden meane of sauing truth the only way to life is hard difficile and only not impossible to be kept without erring from it eyther on the left hand Fundamentally or one the right vn-fundamentally The way of sauing truth is most prone and easy to be kept without erring so much as vn-fundamentally yea it is hardly possible to erre from it on eyther side without supine negligence and extreme impiety 8. But now to the Principall intent by this your confession it is euident that it is madnes for any man to to leaue the Roman Church and that your writing to perswade them to leaue it was a fit of distemper in your brayne For you confesse that if you sayd there were no danger in being of the Roman Church and there were danger in leauing it is were madnesse to persuade any man to leaue it Now I assume But you say both that there is no danger in the Roman Church and that there is extreme danger in leauing it That you say the first I proue because you say that he who belieues all Fundamentall truth cannot be damned for any errour in fayth And pag. 376. n. 57. he that belieues all necessary truth if his life be answerable to his fayth how is it possible he should fayle of Saluaton But you affirme that the Roman Church retaynes all fundamentall and necessary truth in that you onely charge her of going from the Golden meane of exact truth on the right hand on the surer part Wherfore in the Roman Church men may safely expect Saluation there is no danger yea there is no possibility of damnation for errours in faith with in her Communiō That you say the second that there is extreme dāger in leauing the Roman Church I shew euē by this testimony For you say the Roman Church erreth on the right hand on the milder part so that they who leaue her must of necessity depart so farre from her on the left hand that is into the direfull gulfe of fundamentall errours except they keepe themselues in the golden meane in the narrow way But the golden meane the narrow way is as you professe hard to be found hard and onely not impossible to be kept Ergo in leauing the Roman Church there is danger and exceeding great danger which can hardly be auoyded of falling into errours fundamentall remedilessely and fatally damnable These being your Cōfessions and otherwise of themselues manifest truths you must acknowledge it is euen madnesse and fury for any man to forsake the Roman Church and that your writing to diuert men from her Communion was a fit of phrensy That Protestants can neuer be sure that they belieue all fundamentall and necessary Truth §. 3. 9. IT being indispensably necessary vnto Saluation to know distinctly and in particular all Fundamental essentiall truthes how can Christian soules that be pious carefull of their eternity fearfull to fall into damnation euerlasting rest quiet or calme in conscience till they know an exact Catalogue of these Fundamentals that so they may be sure they know and belieue them distinctly and in particular Now Protestants neither do nor can agree vpon an exact Catalogue of their Fundamētals nor wil tel their followers distinctly
Church in errour yet excommunicate those that belieue your owne supposition What found vanity is this To say Our Aduersaries do vntruly suppose there be corruptions in our Church is this a courteous supposall and not rather a constant deniall that she doth erre and a charge of falshood vpon them that so suppose Is the vntrue supposition of our Aduersaries our owne supposition I was euen amazed at your inconsideration when I read these words in your Booke pag. 280. n. 95. lin 8. Why I pray may not a man of iudgement continue in the communion of a Church confessedly corrupted aswell as in a Church supposed to be corrupted A strange assertion A man may aswell imbrace the cōmunion of a Church corrupted confessedly by the concession of her friends as of a Church vntruly supposed by her Aduersaries to be corrupt So that with you for a Christian to say S. Ioseph was the Father of Christ and the Blessed Virgin corrupt according to the vntrue supposition of the Iewes is all one as to say S. Ioseph was the Father of Christ and the Blessed Virgin corrupt confessedly euen by the concession of Christians Wherfore if it be damnable to neglect Heresies not Fundamentall as without question it is this proueth Protestants damnable who thinke it not against Saluation to hold errours in fayth and heresies against the definition of the whole Church if such heresies be about matters profitable onely and not simply necessary The eight Conuiction 1. YOu inscribe the pages of your last Chapter with this title The Religion of Protestants a safer Way to Saluation then the Religion of Papists For which assertion besides bare and bold affirmations earnest verball expressions manifest tokens as you say of a weake cause you haue one Argument which is this pag. 393. n. 9. If the safer way for auoyding sinne be also the safer way for auoyding damnation then certainly the way of Protestants must be more secure and the Roman way more dangerous Take into your consideration these ensuing controuersies Whether it be lawfull to worship Pictures To picture the Trinity To inuocate Saints and Angels To deny laymen the Cup in the Sacrament To prohibite certayne Orders of men and women to mary To celebrate the publique seruice of God in a language the assistants generally vnderstand not and you will not choose but confesse that in all these you are on the more dangerous side for the committing of sinne and we on that which is more secure For in all these things if we say true you do that which is impious On the other side if you were in the right yet we might be secure inough for we should onely not do something which you confesse not necessary to be done We pretend and are ready to iustify out of Principles agreed vpon betweene vs that in all these things you violate the manifest Commandements of God and alleage such texts of Scripture against you as if you would weigh them with any indifferēcy would put the matter out of question but certainely you cannot with any modesty deny but that at least they make it questionable This argument I haue set downe at large because it is the best in your booke and yet vaine and weake as I now demonstrate The ground of your Safety onely false suppositions and foolish braggs §. 1. 2. FIrst it is false that if Protestants say true we do that which is impious For Protestants against Zelots maintayne that our practises though erroneous in their iudgement yet are not impious and in themselues damnable and that they who in sincerity of heart professe them shall this notwithstanding without doubt be saued 3. Secondly it is false that if we be in the right yet you may be secure inough in your refusing to vse these our practises because they be not necessary For though it be no sinne of it selfe purely to omit pious practises and profitable deuotions yet to omit them out of proud cōtempt and much more out of an Hereticall persuasion that they be impious is vndoubtedly an heynous and damnable crime It is not necessary that you marry a wife you may be saued if you lead a chast single life but if you omit mariage out of an opinion that it is a thing impure or out of contempt of that doctrine that Mariage is a great Sacrament in Christ and his Church you will except you repent certainly be damned In like manner if we be in the right and that these be pious Christian practises of voluntary deuotion you who relinquish them out of contempt and Hereticall persuasion that they are impious cannot escape damnation without a dereliction of your errour 4. Thirdly it is false that if we be in the right yet you only do not something which we confesse not necessary to be done For we do not say of all these practises that they be not necessary to be done yea we say it is necessary to Saluation to receaue the B. Sacrament and in receauing to adore it Besides we say that you not only omit to do what is not necessary to be done but also condemne the vniuersall practises of Gods Church and definitions of her Generall Councells which is not only not necessary to be done but also execrable impious hereticall to be done 5. Fourthly it is a foolish bragge that you can alleadge such cleere texts of Scripture against these our practises For if you can alleade them why do you conceale them Why are you ashamed to bring them to light Why haue you not stored your booke with such allegations as are able to put the matter out of question Some very few you haue produced and those which you tearme the playnest that possibly may be I haue shewed to be darke obscure yea by you falsifyed in the text 6. Fiftly it is also a foolish bragge that your texts of Scripture be certainly such as make the matter questionable which you proue very grauely because we cannot with any modesty deny it Verily had you any modesty or shame you would blush to dispute so poorely miserably seelily in a Controuersy of such moment which concernes the eternal damnation of your Country I adde though it were true as it is most false that your texts make the matter questionable yet your abandoning the Roman Church is damnable For Arguments which make the matter questionable be not necessary nor euident But it is damnable to forsake the Church of Rome and the definition of General Councels without reasons necessary and euident as both you and D. Potter affirme as hath beene often noted These doctrines and practises are proued by manifest and plaine Scripture §. 2. ON the other side Roman Catholiques do not boast ridiculously as you do of their texts of Scripture but by manifest euiction shew euen these of the impiety of which you seeme most cōfident to be Christian and pious and consequently that your damning of them is damnable and impious 7. For
to perferme it yea you say the Church is not only able to performe the office of guide but also that alwayes in fact she doth exercise the same in teaching all necessary truth But you say pag. 163. lin 9. A Church of one denomination distinguished from all others by adhering to such a Bishop such a determinate Church alone can performe the office of Guide and Directour And Pag. 105. n. 239. lin 30. No Church can possibly be fit to be a guide but only a Church of some certaine denomination as the Greeke the Roman the Ahissine Wherefore the Visible Catholique Church being fit and able to performe the office of Guide and Directour as you grant she is and that it is essentially necessary that she be so she is and of necessity must be a Church of one denomination subiect to one certaine supreme Guide and Bishop 4. From these most certaine truthes by you granted approued and proued it is necessarily and euidently consequent that the Roman Church is the Visible Catholique Church of God an infallible Teacher of all fundamentall and necessary truth yea infallible in all thinges she proposes as matter of fayth This I say is cleerely consequent of the former grants For the visible Church being the Guide Teacher and Directour of men is on the one side a Church of one denomination else she could not performe that office of guide which she doth as you confesse alwayes actually performe On the other side being the Catholique that is the Vniuersall Church she must be spread ouer the face of the earth as the Roman is in Europe Africa Asia America and in many of the particular Kingdomes and Prouinces of these foure quarters of the world So that the wordes of S. Paul to the Romans come to be verified no lesse now then at that time your fayth is renowned and published in the whole world Which vniuersality or vniuersal Vnity agrees to no other Church of one denomination as is manifest Wherefore the Roman Church is the Holy Catholique Church the infallible guide of men in the way of Saluation 5. Hence is concluded the security of Roman Catholiques that they cannot possibly erre about matters of fayth so long as they follow the dogmatical directions and definitions of the Roman Church Contrariwise they who oppose what they know to be proposed by her as matter of fayth erre Heretically damnably and cannot possibly be saued without expresse repentance of their errours The Conclusion 6. THis argument of the assured Saluation of Roman Catholiques and of the assured damnation of all the knowing opposers of their Religion and Church being thus euidently demonstrated for Conclusion I could wish an Ocean of teares of bloud endued with the quality of mollifying hearts as hard as the Adamant for so I might condignely and fruitefully deplore the pittifull state the commiserable condition the vnfortunate thraldome in Errour of many millions in our deare Country caused by mortall auersion from the true Catholique Church which is instilled into their mindes by Heretical education 7. They grant conuicted by the euidence of Gods word that the Catholique Church is the ground and rocke of Truth wheron men may securely rest and rely an infallible Guide and teacher of all Fundamentals consequently of all euen profitable truth about Diuine matters They further acknowledge conuicted by experience and reason that the Church cannot be fit orable to performe the office of guide Directour except it be of one denomination of one obedience subiect to one determinate Bishop as her supreme Pastour and Gouernour They cannot but see with their eyes there is no Church Catholique or vniuersally diffused of one Fayth of one Obedience of one Denomination subiect to one Pastour acknowledged of all of that Religion but the Roman Consequently that there is no Church besides the Roman fit or able to performe the office of Guide and Directour to men that are saued as the true Catholique Church is bound to do and alwayes actually doth These thinges they confesse or see and yet so inflexible is the obstinacy the passion pride against the Roman Church wherwith Education like Medusa's head hath dulled stupifyed and instoned their soules as they contemne her Direction forsakes her Communion hate her Authority scorne her Motherly care of their Saluation running to perdition in the way of their owne fallible and palpably false conceytes fancied to be Scripture 8. Why did our Sauiour make his Church the pillar and ground of truth that is an infallible Teacher of the doctrine of Saluation but that he would haue men to make vse of her teaching As knowing that through a world of errours which carry with them a faire shew of truth they could not attayne to eternal Happinesse without a Visible infallible Guide No doubt when he gaue her the office of Mother he bound vs as we would be his Children and Heyres to loue honour and reuerence Her and to liue alwayes in the lap of her Communion When he gaue her the office of Guide he bound vs to follow her directions as we desire to speed in our iourney to him and to come to see for euer his Blessed face When he gaue her the office of Rocke he obliged vs to build our fayth and hope of Saluation on her Teaching assuring vs that no sublimity of wit vnderstanding no height of perfection be it in our conceite neuer so eleuate can reach to Heauen which is not grounded on the neuer-fayling fortitude of this Rocke 9. They then that haue disioyned themselues from the wombe and lap of this Mother can neuer be so in Gods fauour as to be his Children the Heyres of his glory the fellow heyres with Christ They that follow not the Directions of this euer vn-erring Guide be not in the way towardes him that is Truth and Life but wander in a wildernesse of Errour the issue wherof is eternall Death· They that haue not setled the feete of their Fayth and Affection on this Rocke the sole Rocke of safety in this vast Ocean of dangers what are they but wauing and wauering Babes floating in a sea of vncertainties tossed this way and that way with euery gust of erroneous doctrine 10. For a man not to belieue that our Sauiour did institute his Church to continue for euer the Teacher of all sauing truth the Rocke of Saluation against which the gates of Hell shall neuer preuayle what is this but to stop his eares against the cleer and plaine voyce of his word For a man to say that he gaue the office of Guide to a confused multitude and Chaos of different Religions and Obediences and not to a Church of one denomination which alone is able to performe that office what is it but to open his mouth into blasphemies against his Diuine Wisedome For a man not to see that there is no vniuersally diffused Church in the world of one fayth and obedience all the Professours thereof adhering