see Christ and his Apostles as if that were a Priviledge restricted to Church-men What shall be then said of these who call the Scriptures a Nose of Wax the Sourse of all Heresies a Book written not on Design but upon particular Emergents and do assert its incompleatness unless made up by the Traditions of the Church Is not this to add to the Words of that Book and to accuse the faithful Witness of Unfaithfulness But worse than all this is held by these who will have all the Authority of the Scriptures to depend on the Church which must be believed in the first place But here a great difference is to be made betwixt the Testimony of a Witness and the Authority of a Judg the former is not denied to the Church and so the Jews had the Oracles of God committed to them but that doth not prove the Authority of their Sanhedrim infallible or superior to Scripture and in this case more cannot be ascribed to the Christian Church than was proper to the Jewish in our Saviour's Time. But further if the Scripture be to be believed on the Testimony of the Church then upon what account is the Church first believed It cannot be said because of any testimony in Scripture for if it give Authority to the Scriptures it cannot receive its Authority from their Testimony How then shall it be proved that the Church must be believed or must it be taken from their own word and yet no other Reason can be given to prove the Church Infallible For to say that they have continued in a Succession of Bishops from the Apostles days concludes nothing unless it be first proved that the Doctrine of the Apostles was of God otherwise the Mahometan Religion is as much to be believed since for many Ages a Succession of Priests have believed it Further the Greek Churches drive up the Series of their Bishops to the Apostles Days as well as the Roman why then should not their Authority be likewise acknowledged infallible In fine must the Vulgar go and examine the Successions of the Bishops and judg about all the dubious Elections whether the Conveyance have been interrupted or not Certainly were this to be done it were an impossible Atchievement and harder than the study of the Originals of both Testaments Therefore the Vulgar must simply believe the Authority of the Church on her own Testimony which is the most absurd thing imaginable and this to every Individual will resolve into the Testimony of their Priest Behold then a goodly Foundation for building our Faith upon Christ's Prophetick Office is also invaded by pretence of the Churches Infallibility in expounding Scriptures for if this be granted the whole Authority will be devolved on the Church for by this Doctrine she may teach what she will and were the Scripture-Evidence never so full to the contrary yet whatever wrested Exposition she offers though visibly contrary to the plain meaning of the words must be believed But with whom this Power and Authority is lodged is not agreed to among themselves some yielding it to the High-Priest of the Church when in his Chair others to the great Sanhedrim of Christendom in a General Council others to both jointly but all this is asserted without proof for that of Christ's of telling the Church Matth. 18.17 so often repeated by them is meant of particular Offences and so is restricted to the Case of Differences among Brethren and relates not to Points of Doctrine Besides the Context of these Words doth clearly shew them applicable to every Parochial Church and yet their Infallibility cannot be asserted So it is clear that Christ doth only speak of a Jurisdiction for quieting of Differences among the Brethren That of the Gates of Hell their not prevailing against the Church Mat. 16.18 proves not the Pretence of Infallibility And indeed the Translation of that place deserves Amendment and instead of Hell that word is to be rendred Grave so that the meaning of the Phrase is Death which is the Mouth and Gate through which we pass into the Grave and is so used by Greek Writers shall never prevail against the Church that is the Church shall never die Neither will that of the Spirit of Truth leading out into all Truth John 16.13 advance the Cause a whit since that Promise relates to all Believers and it is a part of the happiness of the new Dispensation that all in it shall be taught of God. And the Promise of founding the Church on St. Peter Matth. 16. saith as little for suppose the Rock on whom the Church were to be built were St. Peter himself which I shall not much controvert that is not peculiar unto him since we are all built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and on the twelve Foundations of the New Jerusalem are written the Names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. But what will that prove for a Series of the Bishops of Rome And finally for the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16.19 their being given to St. Peter that saith no more but that he was to open the Gospel which is usually called the Kingdom of God or of Heaven in the New Testament Now the use of Keys being to open the Door this was peculiar St. Peter's Honour who did first publish the Gospel both to Jews and Gentiles and in particular did first receive the Gentiles into the New Dispensation But this hath no relation to the Bishops of Rome nor to the pretended Infallibility of that See. That which hath the fairest appearance of reason is that if there be no absolute unerring Court on Earth for deciding of Controversies there shall be no end of them but every private Man may upon the pretence of some ill-understood place of Scripture break the Unity of the Church and so the Peace of the Church is in hazard of being irrecoverably lost But how specious soever this may appear it hath no weight in it For it is certain that Vice as well as Errour is destructive of Religion and it will be no imputation on our Religion that the one be no more guarded against than the other is if then there be no Authority for repressing Vice but the outward discipline of the Church it is not incongruous there is no other Authority for suppressing of Error but that same of the Discipline of the Church It is certainly a piece of Humility for a Man to suspect his own Thoughts when they lye cross to the Sentiments of the Guides and Leaders of the Church But withal a Man ought to be in all he does fully perswaded in his own Mind and we are commanded to try the Spirits and not to believe every Spirit 1 Joh. 4.1 Now Reason being the chief excellency of Man and that wherein the Divine Image doth mainly consist it were very absurd to deny Man a rational judging and discerning of these things wherein his eternal Interest is most concerned Besides
the Nature of Religion it being a thing sutable to the Powers of the Soul shews that a Man must have a conviction of the truth of it on his Mind and that he cannot be bound in contradiction to his own apprehensions to receive any Opinions meerly upon the testimony of others If to confirm all this I should add all can be brought from History for proving General Councils to have erred in Matters of Faith or that Popes have been Hereticks or that they have been anathematized as such by other Popes and General Councils I should be too tedious But in end how shall the Vulgar know the Definitions of Councils or the Decrees of Popes Or must they be blindly determined by the Priest's Assertion Certainly this were to expose them to the greatest Hazards since they are not suffered to found their Faith upon the Scriptures Nor doth the Church reveal her Doctrines to them so that their Faith must be resolved upon the bare Testimony of a Priest who is perhaps both ignorant and licentious And by this we may judg to what a pass the Souls of the People are brought by this Doctrine In a word We are not the Servants of Men nor bound to their Authority for none can be a Judg but where he hath Power both to try and to coerce Now none but God can either search our Hearts or change them for as no Humane Power can know our Thoughts so neither can it turn them which are not in our own Power much less in the Power of others therefore our Consciences can and must only fall within God's Jurisdiction And since the renovation of the Image of God consists in Knowledg and Religion designs an union of our Souls to Divine Truth that we may freely converse with it it will follow that all these Pretences of absolute Authority and Infallibility in Teaching are contrary to Christ's Prophetick Office who came to reveal the Father to us The second of Jesus Christ's Offices was the Priestly without which the former had never been effectual for had we known never so perfectly the Will of God without a method had been laid down for reconciling Sinners to him it was in vain to think of Religion since nothing Sinners could do was able to appease God or expiate Sin but this was fully done by the Sacrifice of that Lamb of God Who became Sin for us and bare our Sins in his own Body in whom we have Redemption even forgiveness of Sin through his Blood 2 Cor. 5.21 1 Pet. 2.24 Ephes 1.7 If then any have derogated from the value of this Satisfaction they have offered the utmost indignity to the highest Love and committed the Crime of the greatest Ingratitude imaginable who would requite the most inconceivable Love with such a Sacrilegious attempt But how guilty are they of this who would set the Merits and Works of Men in an equality with the Blood of God as if by these we were justified or owed our Title to Glory to our own performances whereas we are taught by the Oracles of God that by Grace we are saved that God only hath made the difference betwixt us and others and that he hath freely chosen us in his Son Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 1 Cor. 4.7 And alas what are we or what is all we do that it can pretend to the lowest degree of God's Acceptance without he freely both help us in it and accept of us for it so that when he rewards us for our Services with Eternal Life he freely crowns his own free Gifts to us For when we consider how great a disproportion there is betwixt our best Services and Eternal Glory when we also remember how all our good Actions flow from the Principles of Divine Grace freely given but withal reflect on the great Defects and Imperfections that hang about our best Performances we will not be able to entertain any thoughts of our meriting ought at the Hands of God. And certainly the deeper Impressions we have either of the Evil of Sin or the Goodness of God we will be further from a capacity of swelling big in our own Thoughts or of claiming any thing on the pretensions of Justice or Debt It is true this Doctrine of Merit is so explained by some of that Church that there remains no ground of quarrelling it except for the Terms sake which is indeed odious and improper though early used by the Ancients in an innocent sense But many of that Church acknowledg there there can be no Obligation on God by our Works but that which his own Promise binds upon him which none who believe the Truth of the Promises of the Gospel can question yet still we must remember that we owe all to the Love of Jesus and nothing to our selves which as it is the Matter of the Hallelujahs of glorified Saints so should be the Subject of our daily Acknowledgments wherefore we must abominate every thing that may seem to detract from this But alas were all this Zeal many of that Communion own for Merits and good Works meant for the advancing a Holy and Spiritual Life it would carry a good Apology with it and its noble Design would very much qualify the severity of its Censure but when these good Works which for so many Ages were highly magnified were the building of Churches the enriching of Abbeys Pilgrimages and other trifling and voluntary pieces of Will-worship advanced for the Secular Interests of the Church what shall be said of all that pains was used by the Monks for advancing them but that they were willing to sell the value of the Blood and Merits of Christ for advancing their own secular Interests and devised Practices Alas how far are these from that Holiness and Sanctity which must qualify us for the Kingdom of God and the Inheritance of the Saints And to end this Matter let me add one thing which is most evident to all who have observed the Methods of the Directors of Consciences in that Church that with whatever Distinctions this Matter be varnished over among them yet the Vulgar do really imagine they buy and sell with Almighty God by their undergoing these Laws of the Church and Penances imposed by their Confessor Which as it nourisheth the Life of Pride and Self-love so it detracts from the value they ought to set on the Blood of Christ as their only Title to Heaven and Glory And to this I must add that distinction of the temporary and eternal Punishments Sin deserves The latter whereof they acknowledg are removed by the Blood of Christ but the former must be expiated by our selves either by Sufferings in this Life or those we must endure in Purgatory unless by the Pope's Charity we be delivered from them Now how contrary this is to the Value we are taught to set on the Blood of Christ all may judg Ephes 2.15 5.27 By Christ Peace is made we are reconciled to God he represents us to the Father without
of Oaths of dissolving the Wedlock-bond of allowing the Marriage in the forbidden Degrees And as for their Additions to the Laws of Christ they are innumerable And here what I mentioned last calls me to mind of a pretty Device to multiply the forbidden Degrees of Marriage yea and add the Degrees of Spiritual Kindred that is of Kindred with our God-fathers or God-mothers in Baptism which is done upon no other design but to draw in more to the Treasure of the Church by frequent Dispenses If I should here reckon up all the Additions which by the Authority of that Church are made to the Laws of Christ I should resume all that I have hitherto alledged they being visible Additions to the Doctrine and Rules of the Gospel and imposed with such unmerciful Cruelty that an Anathema is the mildest of the Spiritual Censures they thunder against such as comply not with their Tyranny and a Faggot would be its civil Sanction were the Secular Powers at their Devotion I do not deny but there is an Authority both in the Civil and Ecclesiastick Powers of enjoining things indifferent but no Authority beside Christ's can reach the Conscience Besides if these indifferent things swell so in their number be vain pompous and useless and be imposed without all regard to the tender Scruples of weak Consciences they become tyrannical and such as do so impose them discover their affecting a tyrannical and Lordly Dominion over Consciences and that they prefer their own Devices to the simpler Methods of Christ and the plainer and easier Rules of his Gospel But one Instance of their abrogating the Laws of Christ is more signal in their violating the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper wherein tho he instituted it under both kinds and did so distribute it with the express Command that all should drink of it yet they presumed notwithstanding of that and tho the Primitive Church distributed it in both Kinds which is confessed in their Canon to snatch the Cup from the Laity and engross it to the Clergy Now it is to be considered that the value of the Sacramental Actions flowing only from their Institution the first Appointment should be most religiously observed in them Besides the universal extent of Christ's Word Drink ye all of it which was not used in the distribution of the Bread hath a particular Mystery in it to guard against the foreseen Corruption of that part of it and the reason given in the distribution of the Cup shews it must reach to all that need the Blood of Christ for the remission of Sins which not being restrained to the Priests shews that the Cup without a direct opposition to the Mind and Command of Christ ought not to be taken from the People and any that will read the goodly Reasons given for this Sacriledg will see what a low account they have of the Commands of Christ when upon such trifling Pretences they will violate them And with how much cruelty they backed this Invasion of Christ's Authority the History will declare they beginning it with a perfidious burning of two Witnesses who opposed it at Constance And occasioning so much War and Blood-shed against those who adhered to the Rule of the Gospel in the Matter and refused to stoop to their Tyranny But I advance to another Invasion of Christ's Regal Authority committed by him who pretends to be the Vniversal Bishop of the Church and to have Authority over all Church-men whom he makes swear Obedience to him and looks on them but as his Delegates It was unluckily done of Gregory the Great to be so severe on this Head as to condemn the Title of Vniversal Bishop as Antichristian But little dream'd he in how few Years his Successor would aspire to that height of Ambition Now by this pretence all these Officers whom Christ hath appointed to Rule and Feed his Church are turned out of their Authority and made subject to him And with how much pride he treads on his Fellow-Bishops the Histories of many Ages do declare It is true at first as being Bishop of the Imperial City the Bishops of Rome were highly esteemed but Pride and Ambition began soon to leaven them yet they were for the first four Ages looked upon by the other Bishops but as their Fellow-Bishops and by the Decrees of two General Councils the Bishops of Constantinople were in all things except the Precedency made equal to them And by the Decree of the Council of Nice other Metropolitans are levelled with them And here I must tell of a shameful Forgery of three Bishops of Rome who one after another would have obtruded on the African Churches a Decree allowing of Appeals from them to the Roman See as if it had been made at Nice Which they of Africk rejected and upon Tryal found it to be none of the Appointments at Nice but a Decree of the Council of Sardice But by degrees the Bishops of that City got up to the height they are now at and not content with their usurping over their Brethren and Fellow-Church-men their next attempt was upon Princes who deriving their Authority from Jesus Christ the King of Kings by whom Kings do reign it was an Invasion of his Power to attempt against his Vice-Gerents on Earth But the Popes made no Bones of this for being now held Christ's Vicars on Earth with other blasphemous Titles as Vice-God yea and Lord God they thought their Power was limited as long as Kings and Emperors were not even in Temporals subject to them And therefore from the days of Pope Gregory the Seventh they pretended to a Power of deposing Princes disposing of their Dominions to others and dispensing with the Oaths of Fidelity their Subjects had sworn to them and it was easy for them to make Crowns change their Masters as they pleased For there were always other ambitious Princes ready for their own Ends to invade the Dominions of these deposed Kings upon the Pope's Warrant and the generality of the People were so possessed with the Pope's Power of releasing Souls from Purgatory and from the punishments due to Sin that they were easily prevailed upon to follow his Thunders And by that time the Popes had swarms of Emissaries of the begging Orders who under shew of austere Piety gained much reverence and esteem in the World and so got all subjected to the Papal Tyranny Now should I instance this in Particulars I should transgress the limits of a short Discourse by a long History but the Lives of Gregory the Seventh Alexander the Third Boniface the Eighth and Julius the Second to mention no more will sufficiently convince any who will be at the pains to read them as they are written by these who lived in that Communion And Matthew of Paris will at length inform his Reader how much and how often England smarted under this Tyranny And all this is so far from being denied that it is defended avowedly by not a few of the Canonists
Paradise is to say the Ave to bid the blessed Virgin Good-morrow every day or to send our Angel Guardian to salute her or finally to wear a Medal or Rosary in devotion to her though from the first time we begin to wear it we never again think of her Doth not all this look like a conspiracy against the Power of Godliness But shall we next consider the Moral Law which though Christ said he came not to dissolve but to fulfil Matth. 5.17 Yet they have found out Distinctions and Doctrines to destroy it It is true what may be said here cannot so directly as to every particular be charged upon the Roman Church since it hath not been decreed by Pope or Council but when prophane Casuists have printed Doctrines which tend to the subversion of the most common principles of Vertue and Morality and these are licensed according to the Rule of that Church And for as publick as they are and for all the Censures and Complaints others have passed upon them yet they continue without any censure from the Chair of Rome it is a shrewd presumption that they are not unwelcome to that See Though for good Manners-sake they have given them no other owning but a connivance joined with an extraordinary cherishing of that School which vents them Two general Doctrines they have which at two stroaks dissolve all the bonds of Vertue The one is the Doctrine of Probability the other of good Intention By the first they teach that if any approved Doctor of the Church have held an Opinion about any practical thing as probable any Christian may with a safe Conscience follow it were it never so much condemned by others and did it appear with the blackest Visage And by this it is that scarce there is a Sin which may not be safely hazarded on since there have been of the approved Doctors of that Church who have made a shift by distinctions to represent the worst Actions not only as probable but as really Good. The next Doctrine is of good Intention whereby they teach a Man to commit the grossest Legerdemain with God and his own Conscience imaginable by which he may act any Sin he will provided he intend not that but some other good Design or Motive And any that will read the Provincial Letters or the Mystery of Jesuitism and compare their Citations with the Authors whence they take them will soon be satisfied of the truth of this We have already seen how that Church violates the two first Commandments by her Idolatry Whereby in opposition to the first she worships Saints and Angels with those acts and expressions of Adoration only due to God. The second is also palpably violated by their Image-worship and adoring God under sensible and external representations The third is made void by the Pope's pretending to dispence with Oaths and to annul their Obligation as also by their Doctrines of Equivocation and mental Reservations in all Oaths both assertory and promissory besides the impious Doctrines of some Casuists that justify the prophaning of God's Sacred Name in rash and common swearing Their contempt of the fourth Precept is not denied it being usually among them a Day of mercating dancing and foolish jollity Many among them teaching that to hear Mass that day doth fully answer the Obligation for its observance Their contempt of the fifth follows upon the Doctrine of the Pope's Power of deposing Princes and freeing the Subjects from their Obligation to them by which they are taught to rebel and resist the Ordinance of God. Besides their Casuists allow it as lawful to desire rhe Parents Death provided it be not out of malice to him but out of a desire of good to themselves that they may enjoy their Inheritance or be rid of their Trouble Yea some of their impious Casuists say that Children may lawfully intend the killing of their Parents and may disown them and Marry without their consent For the sixth Command their Casuists do generally allow to kill in defence of Honour Life or Goods even though the hazard of losing them be not near and evident but afar off and uncertain And they teach that a Man is not bound to stay till another smite him but if he threaten him or if he offend with his Words or if one know that he hath a design upon his Honour Life or Goods he may with a good Conscience prevent and kill him And this they extend to all sorts of Persons both Secular and Religious allowing it to Sons against their Fathers And they leave it free to them to execute this by whatever means they judg most proper whether by force or surprize or by the Service of others if they dare not attempt to kill by their own Hands which they stretch to the case of one who knows another guilty of a Crime and intends to pursue him for it and they allow the Guilty Person if he know no other way of escape to kill him who intends his Accusation that he may thereby preserve his Life in order to which they also allow it lawful to kill the Witnesses that may prove the Crime As for the seventh Command modesty cannot name their polluted Doctrines about it They barred the Clergy the lawful use of Marriage but did allow them Concubinate and the publick Licenses given to base Houses in the Popes Dominions prove that See a Mother of Fornications even in the Letter the Religious Houses being likewise full of Irreligious Intanglements into a course of life which many times they are not able to bear but being restrained from the honourable Ordinance of God many of these Houses have proved either Nests of Filthiness or of secret Impurities which it seems by the rules of Confession and the questions their Confessors puts to them are known to abound among them And any that have read these will confess that it defiles a Chast Mind to read them but what must it be to ask them especially at those of a different Sex Shall I also here mention the frequent dispensing with Marriages within degrees forbidden and their as frequent dissolving of that Sacred Knot though as if they had resolved on a contradiction to all the Rules of the Gospel they refuse to dissolve the Bond on the account of Adultery which Christ hath made the only ground that can justifie the dissolution of it But shall I add to this the base Impieties of which not only these of purple and scarlet Livery among them have been notoriously guilty but even the Villanies of some that have worn the Triple Crown As I should grow too tedious so I must needs tell things which to a pure mind were both nauseating to write and to read Those that have been in that Spiritual Babylon know that is a Sodom even in the letter none being more guilty of that crying Wickedness than those that bear the character of Religious or Sacred Orders And what shall we think of the Scarlet Fraternity
which we withdrew from her are additions to our faith for in this we mainly differ from that Church that whatever we acknowled they acknowledg likewise but with a great many additions We believe the Scriptures are a rule for Christians and they believe the same but they add Traditions and the authority of the Church to the Scriptures We believe that God is to be worshipped spiritually they believe the same but add that he may be worshipped by images and sensible Figures We believe Christ to be the Mediator betwixt God and Man they believe the same but add to this the intercession of Saints We hold that God and Christ are to be worshipped they hold the same but add Saints and Angels to their worship We believe Heaven and Hell to be the several States of the future life they believe the same but add Purgatory betwixt them to the day of Judgment We believe Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the Sacraments of the new Covenant they believe the same but add five more We believe Christ is spiritually and really present in the Lords Supper this they believe but add the unconceivable Tenent of his corporal presence In a word it might be instanced in many other particulars how they have driven us from their Communion by their additions to the truth and sincerity of the Gospel which they have adulterated by their Inventions and not only have they imposed all these things but thundered out Anathema's on all that question them and have so wreathed all their fopperies with that main and fundamental article of their belief of the infallibility of their Church that it is impossible to hope for their recovery till they renounce that Principle which is so dear to them For if their Church be infallible then in no matter of faith or practice can she decree amiss and therefore the lawfulness and sanctity of all her Decrees must be maintained with an equal vigor and zeal for if in one of them she step aside her infallibility is for ever gone And by this we may see to how little purpose it is to treat of accomodating matters with that Church since there is no possibility of our Union with them without we turn over entirely to them For they cannot part with one of their errors without they first renounce that which is the dearest of them all to wit the unerring authority of their Church How cruel then is that Church which addeth the severe sanction of an Anathema to all her decrees even about the most trifling matters and about things that are by their Confession of their own natures indifferent And a consectary to this is that cruel opinion they hold that none can be saved out of their Communion pretending there is no Salvation without the true Church which they restrict to those who are under the obedience of the Roman Bishop and this is what they usually frighten all with But it is to be considered what the true notion of the Church is that so we may see through this frightful Vizar The Church then is a Society of Christians united in the same faith for worshipping of God jointly And another definition of a Church cannot be proved from Scripture for the Church being called the Body of Christ its union with him as its Head is held forth by the Apostle in these words Col. 2.19 The head Christ from whom the whole body by joints and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God. From which words we see what constitutes a man a member of the true Church which is first his union to Christ as his head together with a dependance on him for growth and nutriture and next his being knit to all others who are thus united to Christ which is first the inward union of divine charity by which he loves all who cleave to Christ as their Head and next his associating himself with them in outward visible acts of worship which every Christian is bound to do with all that worship God in Spirit and Truth But if a Society of Christians do visibly swerve from Christ in many great and signal contradictions to the honour due to his Person and to the obedience due to his Laws and do grosly adulterate the worship so that communion cannot be had with that Church without departing from the Head Christ then it can be no departing from the Church to adhere to Christ and his true worship and to separate from the corruptions which are brought in upon the Christian Religion If then it appear that the Church of Rome hath departed from the truth and simplicity of the Gospel in so many great and main points those who attempted the reforming her to her first Purity and finding that not to be hoped for did unite among themselves for serving and worshipping God aright cannot be charged with separation from the true Church But by that cruel Tenent of theirs they breed up all their Children in the greatest uncharitableness imaginable condemning all who cannot believe their strange Doctrines or concur in their unhallowed worsh p. Thus they are the Schismaticks who have departed from the true Church and who force from their Communion all who adhere to it but this cruelty rests not in uncharitable censures but hath extended it self to as much bloody and barbarous rage as ever sprung from Hell for all the cruelty of the heathen Persecutors cannot match the practises of that Whore that hath been so often drunk with the blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus What enraged cruelty appeared against the poor Waldenses for the separating from their Corruptions How many of all Sexes and Ages were cruelly butchered down by the procurement of the Rulers of that Church and because the Albigenses lived under the protection of Princes that favoured them how did the Popes depose their Princes and instigate other ambitious invaders to seize on their dominions Which to effectuate a Croissade was proclaimed that had been formerly practised against the Enemies of the Christian Faith and Heaven was promised to such as went against these poor innocents whereupon they were killed by thousands without all mercy Never was there any who had the zeal or honesty in these dark ages to witness against the apostacy of the Church but the Pope and Clergy used all means to get his zeal rewarded with a Faggot And when the time of Reformation came with what rage and spite did the Pope by his Letters and Legates instigate all the Princes of Europe to cruelty against them But as these things were not done in corners so they are still so fresh in our remembrance by the copious accounts we have of them that I need not tell what Arts the Popes and other Ecclesiasticks used to set all Germany on fire upon this account Nor need I tell the cruelty was exercised in the Netherlands in Charles the Fifth his time in which more than an hundred thousand are
other Traffiquers and the driving from us those who do so disturb us All the authority we give the Church is Paternal and not Tyrannical our Church-men we hold to be the Pastors but not the Lords of the Flock who are obliged to feed them sincerely both by their Doctrine Labours and whole Conversation but we pretend to no blind obedience due to their directions and count them noble Christians who search and try all they say by that Test of the Scriptures We send the People to confess their sins to God from whom only we teach them to expect their pardon and pretend to no other keys but Ministerial ones over publick and known Scandals In our Worship as all do understand it so every one may joyn in it And in the number use and simplicity of our Sacraments we have religiously adhered to the Rules of the Gospel we holding them to be solemn federal Rites of our Stipulation with God in which if we do worthily partake of them we are assured of the Presence of the Divine Spirit and Grace for uniting our Souls more intirely to God and advancing us in all the ways of the Spirit of Life and if the Institution of them in the Gospel be compared with our Administration of them it will appear how close we have kept to our Rule And thus we see how exactly conform the Doctrine of our Church is to the whole Branches of the Christian Design upon which it is not to be doubted but the Characters of the Christian Religion will also fit ours We found our Faith only on the Scriptures and though we pay a great deal of venerable esteem to the Churches of God during their purity which continued above four Centuries and so be very willing to be determined in Rituals and Matters that are external and indifferent by their Opinions and Practices yet our Faith settles only on the Word of God and not on the Traditions of Men neither do we believe every Spirit that pretends to Rapts and Visions but try the Spirits whether they be of God or not and though an Angel should preach to us another Gospel we would ho d him accursed The Miracles we trust to as the Proofs of the Truth of that Revelation which we believe are only those contained in the Scriptures and though we believe there was a wonder working power continued for some time in the Church yet we make a great difference betwixt what we historically credit and what we religiously believe neither will we for supporting our Interest or Authority have recourse to that base trade of forging lying Wonders but we rest satisfied with the Miracles Christ and his Apostles wrought for the proof of the Religion we own since what we believe is no other than what they taught and therefore we leave the trade of forging new Miracles to them who have forged a new Religion And for the plain genuines of the Gospel we have not departed a step from it since we call upon our People by all the motives we can devise and with all the earnestness we are Masters of to receive full and clear Instruction in all the Matters of our Religion which we distinctly lay open to them And nothing of Interest or Design can be charged on us who pretend to nothing but to be the Stewards of the Mysteries of God nor have we offered to sophisticate the simplicity of our Worship by any additions to it for the determining about some particular forms is no addition to Worship but only the following forth of these Precepts of doing all things to edification peace and order But an addition to Worship is when any new piece of Divine Service is invented with a pretence of our being more acceptable to God thereby or of our receiving Grace by that conveyance and therefore any Rites we have as they are not without some hints from Scripture so we pretend not to become any way acceptable to God by them Further We teach no irrational nor unconceivable Doctrine It is true there are Mysteries in our Faith and even reason it self teacheth that these must be unconceivable but for all our other persuasions they are such as may be well made out to the rational faculties of Man therefore we do not betake our selves to that Sanctuary that we must be believed assert what we please but we assert nothing but what we offer to evince by the clearest proofs And in fine we add nothing to the burdensomness of the Laws of Christ but teach and propose them as we have them from his Gospel without adding changing or altering a tittle from the first Institution And so far have I considered the Doctrine and Worship of our Church wherein if I could justify all our Practices as well as I can do our Principles there were no grounds to fear hurt from all the Cavils of Mortals But for bad practices whatsoever matter of regrate they may furnish us with they afford none for separation Therefore there is no ground that can justify a separation from our Church much less warrant the turning over from us to the Communion of Rome And thus far have I pursued my designed Enquiry which was if with a safe Conscience any might adjoin themselves to the Popish Religion or if Communion with our Church was to be kept and continued in and have found great grounds to assert the evident hazards of the former so that no man to whom his salvation and welfare is dear can or ought to joyn himself to that Church on the other hand without renting the Body of Christ none can or ought to depart from our Churches But I leave the perusal and considering of these things to the serious Reader to whom I hope they may give some satisfaction if he bring with him to the Enquiry an attentive serious and unbyassed mind And I leave the success of this and every other attempt of this nature for the clearing of Divine truth with him who is the only Fountain of Blessings who is over all God blessed for evermore Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Joseph Watts SUre and Honest Means for the Conversion of all Hereticks and Wholesome Advice and Expedients for the Reformation of the Church Writ by one of the Communion of the Church of Rome with a Preface by a Divine of the Church of England 4 to Dialogues between Philerene and Philalethe concerning the Popes Supremacy The first Part. 4 to A Treatise of the Corruption of Scripture Councils and Fathers by the Prelates Pastors and Pillars of the Church of Rome for maintenance of Popery by Thomas James Library-keeper of Oxford In five Parts 8 vo The True Nature of the Divine-Law and of Disobedience thereunto in Nine Discourses tending to shew in the one a Loveliness in the other a Deformity By Samuel Dugard sometime fellow of Trinity College in Oxon now Rector of Horton in Staffordshire 8 vo Reform'd Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year in two parts Second Edition 12 s. An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with Devotions c. By Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Late Majesty The Seventh Edition with Additions A Compleat Discourse of the Nature Use and Right-managing of that Wonderful Instrument the Baroscope or Quicksilver Weather-glass in Four parts by John Smyth C. M. To which is added the true Equation of Natural Days drawn up for the use of the Gentry in order to their more true adjusting and right managing of Pendulum Clocks and Watches