Divine Truth and therein stubbornly contradicting the Teaching of the Church he debars God from co-operating with his Grace and from drawing people to believe with Divine Faith the Doctrine so mixt and proposed It appears how just cause all Protestants have to return with speed to the Roman Church in which they may assuredly be saved even by the Judgement of the most Learned among them because it is more than probable that the Protestant Profession is not a saving Religion in regard that the Doctrine of Faith which it imbraceth is not nor cannot be wholly true but really and certainly is mixed with much Falshood 1. Because in divers weighty Points of Faith it directly contradicts the express Word of God as I before have shewed 2. Because this Doctrine of Faith is not directed by any sure Rule of Faith by any Infallible Interpreter of the Scriptures by and Un-erring Judge of Controversies nor proposed by any sure and Infallible Proposer 3. Because Protestants are divided into several Branches or Sects which greatly differ and are contrary one to another in divers weighty Points of Faith as I have before Noted And 4. Because Protestants hold that all Churches are subject to erring yea and have erred in their Doctrine of Faith. What assurance then have they that theirs doth not err none at all The Religion of the True Messias is not to be introduc'd amongst the Nations of the Earth or in one Year or in one Age But by degrees and by the Labours and Charitable Endeavours of many Ages Because the same is not to be brought in by Force but by Fair Means Not by the Souldiers Sword but by the Teachers Word Not by Violent Compulsion but by Gentle Perswasion such as the Apostles and Apostolical Teachers have ever us'd Going saith our sweet Saviour Teach all Nations Matth. 28. And therefore this must needs be a work of long continuance the Nations of the Earth being so many as they are so dispers'd over the whole World and dis-joyn'd one from another by Mountains and Seas so Barbarous so Drench'd in Sin inur'd to Carnal and Brutish Customs And the Religion of the Messias being so Holy and Profound as Gods Religion must be Yea this Divine Work of notifying the Messias to all the Nations of the Earth and of Converting them or at least part of each of them to him is to endure and last even till the end of the World as is manifest out of our Saviours words before alleadg'd out of the 24 of Matth. See the place and weigh it well The Nations of the Earth I say for above these twelve hundred years have not been Blessed in Jesus by believing in him for want of a True Religion though very many of them within the space of time have been Converted to him by the Roman Church by the Labours and Industry of Papists both in Europe Asia Africa and the New-found World Neither are they ever likely to be Blessed in Him For if already he hath not taken order to preserve a True Divine and Pure Religion among them to bring unto them the Promis'd Blessing that is to Sanctify and Save them He is never likely to do it For he is not likely to be wiser or better or more powerful hereafter than he hath been heretofore Neither is he likely to come into the World again to found a new Church and Religion and to establish it better than He did his first for the Salvation of Mankind I demand of Protestants if the Church of Christ hath err'd as they say in her Doctrine of Faith from whence proceeded this her erring Did this happen because Christ could not keep her from erring or because he would not If he could not how is he God How is he Omnipotent How is it True that he had All Power given him in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 If Christ could enable his Apostles to Preach his Religion over the World without danger of erring and of deluding the Nations of the Earth why could not he also enable their Successors the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of his Church to Teach and continue the same Religion in all succeeding Ages without danger of erring and of misleading his People If God could direct men to write his Holy Scriptures without danger of erring why can he not direct men to explicate the same Holy Scriptures in all Ages without danger of erring in matters of Faith Well then Protestants must say that Christ could have preserv'd his Church in all Ages from danger of erring in her Doctrine of Faith but would not But why would he not Did the Increase of his own Credit and Glory move him to this neglect or the good of Mankind not the Increase of his own Credit For what Credit Honour Glory could acrew and rise to him by the erring of his Church Doth this commend his Workmanship in Founding her His Wisdom Goodness Power in Governing her I think not Nay could it become the Wisdom of a Discreet man to take so great Pains and to suffer so Painful and Ignominious a Death as Christ did for the Founding of an Erring Church which should delude and mislead the World Would any Honest Protestant if he had the like Power that Christ had have Founded so miserable a Church as they esteem Christ to have Founded I believe not Was it then the good of Mankind that invited Christ to Constitute an erring Church Truly no. For no good can come to men by such a Church but rather much harm yea infinite mischief As endless Discord Broils Contentions Bloody Encounters uncertainty in matters of Faith happen as amongst the Reformers contempt of all Religion and the ruine and destruction of Infinite Souls For the Devil would never go about to seduce the Church and to Pollute her Doctrine with Errours and Superstitions but to do Mischief and to bring Souls to Perdition Wherefore seeing that it could not redound either to the Glory of God or the good of Men that Christ should Found an Erring Church it is very gross Errour to hold that he did And those who so think do greatly mistake and exceedingly wrong the Wisdom and Goodness of our Saviour as will more clearly appear in the ensuing Discourse If it be true that the Church of Christ for so many Ages hath Err'd in her Doctrine of Faith Imbracing as it were with both her Arms and instilling into her Followers many Pernicious Errors many gross Superstitions Notwithstanding that Christ her Spouse and Saviour Promis'd Matth. 16. That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against her That the Holy Ghost should Abide with her Pastors for ever St. John cap. 14. and should Teach them all Truth Joh. 16. That he himself would be with them All days even till the end of the World Mat. 28. And notwithstanding that God Promis'd that His Spirit and Word should never depart from this Church Isaias 59. That she should Stand for ever Daniel 2. And should Never be
6. c. 45. Writing to Novatian saith A Man ought rather to endure all things than to consent to the Division of the Church of God since that Martyrdom to which men expose themselves to hinder the Dismembring of the Church is no less Glorious then what a man suffers for refusing to Sacrifice to Idols nay in my Opinion this seems of the two the more Glorious Martyrdom for in the other cause he that suffers is a Martyr upon his own account but in this he is a Martyr for no less than the Body of CHRIST the Church 8. Also St. Cyprian lib. Deunitat Eccles Do they think saith he that Christ is among them when they are Assembled I speak of those which make Assemblies out of the Church of Christ no although they were drawn to Torments and Execution for the Confession of the Name of Christ yet this pollution is not washed away no not with their Blood. This inexpiable and inexcusable crime of Schism is not purged away even by Death it self That a man cannot be a Martyr that is not in the Church 9. And Again he saith He cannot have God for his Father that has not the Church for his Mother 10. So likewise St. Pacianus in one of his Epistles Epistle 2. ad Sempr. Although that Novatian saith he hath been put to Death for Christ yet he has not received a Crown and why because he was separated from the peace of the Church from Concord from that Mother of whom whosoever will be a Martyr must be a Portion To the same purpose also these words of Lactantius are very remarkable It is the Catholick Church only that keeps the true Worship of God. This is the Fountain of Truth this is the House of Faith this is the Temple of God into which if a man enter not or from which if any man goes out he is an Alian and Stranger from the hope of Everlasting Life and Salvation No man must by obstinate Contention flatter himself for it stands upon Life and Salvation St. Cyprian 55. ad Cornel. Num. 3. says The Church never departs from that which she once hath known and St. Irenaus lib. 1. cap. 3. That the Apostles have laid up in the Church as a rich Treasury all Truth It were an infinite labour to recite all that the Fathers say of this matter all counting it a most Pernicious Absurdity to affirm That the Church of Christ may err in Doctrine of Faith. For example How could God glory in the multitude of such as follow his Church if by so doing they should be led into Errour And yet Isaias 2. God seems to Glory in the multitude of those who confidently resort to the Church as to a Mistress of assured Truth to be instructed by her saying v. 3. Let us go up to the Mountain of our Lord and he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his Paths and he shall judge among the Nations Behold Christ Erecting a Court or Tribunal in his Church to judge among Nations and deside all their Controversies which must needs suppose Obedience to be yielded to this Judgement Yea the same Prophet adds Ch. 54. v. 17. That no Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every Tongue resisting thee in judgement thou shalt condemn And the Prophet there from the beginning manifestly speaks of Christ's Church Thirdly Isaiah Ch. 60. 12. The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish Under pain of perishing the Church must be obeyed Whence Fourthly Ezek. ch 44. v. 23. They that is the Priest shall teach the people what is between a Holy thing and a thing Polluted and the difference between clean and unclean They shall shew them and when there shall be Controversie they shall stand in Judgments This being their Office the peoples Office must needs be not to Judge them but Obey them Fifthly Christ Matth. 18.17 commands to Obey the Church under pain of being held here on Earth as Publicans and Heathens and of having this sentence ratified in Heaven ' Tell the Church saith he And if he will not hear the Church let him be unto thee a Heathen and a Publican and I say unto you whomsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you shall loose upon Earth shall be loosed also in Heaven Here you see obedience to be yielded under pain of being held as a Publican or an Heathen and this Sentence to be ratified in Heaven Now if the Church could Err in teaching for Example that Christ is truly present in the Sacrament and hence obliged all to Adore him therein as much as they Adore him in Heaven and could oblidge them to this under pain of being held as Publicans and Heathens and held so as well in Heaven as upon Earth surely this cannot be an Errour for then in Heaven this Sentence would never be ratified St. Aug. Cont. Epist Fundam c. 5. I would not believe the Gospel unless the Authority of the Church moved me What ways the Church has made use of to settle mens minds in the Doctrin of the Sacrament of the Eucharist or the Lord's Last Supper TO make this appear more fully I will give you a brief Relation of the past Proceedings of the Church in the Decision of the Disputes concerning the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and in the Substantial Conversion of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. This Real Presence and Substantial Conversion Berengarius and some Followers of his long ago denied Who being complained of two Councils were called one after another at Rome and Verseilis Anno Domini 1050 Berengarius Summoned and he not appearing his Heterodox Opinions were condemned He according to the new Protestant Grounds thinking his a Doctrine of great consequence and the Decrees of the two Councils a manifest Error and that himself had manifest Scripture and Demonstration against it judged himself freed from the obedience of silence or noncontradiction of these Councils And so he and his Followers publickly justified his Tenet desiring a reversion by some new Council of the former sentence against it Upon this revived Disturbance of the Church another Council five years after is Assembled at Tours Anno 1055. not far distant from Angiers where he was Archdeacon Here himself with others of his Party were present his Cause pleaded his Demonstrations considered and after all his Opinion again condemned himself also Recanting it The Council dismissed he finds yet other new Reasons and a greater strength in his former and falls again to the abetting maintaining and spreading abroad his old Doctrin A Fourth Council upon these new Troubles of the Church Anno 1059. Four years after the last was called at Rome where himself also was present Some say long Disputation there had his new Plea for it was found too light and rejected And his Opinion opposing Substantial Conversion again condemned both by himself and
be proposed but much more how they ever came to be received in the World For what can be more ignorantly Blasphemous than to say God raised up Men to restore his Church who yet could by no means Agree among themselves in matters of Faith as hereafter will appear and whose Followers do at this day pursue each other with Excommunications and Anathema's If Calvin was the Messenger of God then was Luther a Sacrilegious Impostor if the Church of England be Orthodox then were Luther and Calvin both Impostors and if any other of the Reformers were in the right the Church of England is in the wrong Which then of the Dissenting Protestants Doctrin shall we say was the belief of the Primitive Church Were all these at once the Primitive Faith. or was some one Denomination of Protestants the primitive Believers and those of all other Denominations in the wrong It being impossible as I have proved that the True Faith should ever be Invisble at any time if therefore Protestancy had ever been professed it could never have been totally extinguish'd Though most certain it is that no footsteeps of any of the Reformers Principles were known for almost 1500 years in the Christian World except in some Heresies condemned in several Ages of the Church which do indeed much resemble the Innovations of our Modern Reformers as their Doctrine of the Sacrament in the Heresie of Berengarius of Invocation of Saints in the Heresie of Vigilantius of Prayer for the Dead in Aerius of Images in Xenias and the Iconaclasts of Confession in the Novatianus their practice of no mingled Chalice in the Heresie of the Armenians and of Priests Marriages in Jovinian as Luthers Marrying a Nun borrowed from Marcions corrupting a Virgin and to add no more their Famous Naggshead Consecration copied from Novatus that was made a Bishop in a Tavern and deposed by Cornelius And now for the Church of England she must ever stand or fall on her own Bottom having so notoriously condemned all other parts of the Reformation That the Lutherans are condemn'd by the Church of England every body knows and that the Calvinists are so too I will in one word plainly shew A Protestant Parson that comes from France from Holland or Geneva to be Beneficed in England cannot be admitted to Preach nor Administer the Sacraments after the Rites of the English Church till he has renounced that Mission he had before and taken new Orders according to the form of the Church of England which to all Men of sense implies that the Church of England does assuredly believe the Calvinist Teachers are false Imposters that they have no Mission no Authority no Ordination and by consequence no Sacraments being in their conceits purely Lay-men From hence I take the liberty to ask the Doctors of the English Church how they can in honour and conscience call them their Brethren as they do of the Reformation from whom they have seperated at so great a distance as to reject all their Ordinations at once as null and void and how they can suffer the French and Dutch Hugonots to have Churches and free exercise of their Religion here and some of them also the Church of Englands Liturgy at the same time as they believe them neither to have Priesthood nor Sacraments and by consequence no such thing as a Church at all Seeing then the Church of England look on themselves as the only Church of the Refonmation it follows that she must accordingly prove her self the true Church and shew how that Sum of Christian Doctrin which she now holds has been constantly held in all past Ages of the Church which I am sure all the English Doctors in the World will not make out nay I think they do not so much as pretend to For to end all Controversies let them shew but one Service-Book in all the 1500 years before Luther in any one vulgar Tongue which agreeth with their Service Book and for that one Book sake we will submit the cause no they say contrariwise that for about 1000 years Popish Superstition was the only Religion known in the World Which Superstition as they call it I shall now endeavour to prove to be that true Religion which has been from our Saviours time and which must Infallibly last to the end of the World. The Arguments by which I have briefly and I hope evidently shewn that the Protestant Church neither single nor aggregate can be the true Church do at the same time as evidently prove the Church of Rome to be so For as the Protestant Churches want of Antiquity their not having been from the beginning of Christianity nor Visible till within 200 years proves them not to be the Catholick Church so the Antiquity of the Church of Rome her having been from the beginning and continuing still Visible by propagating the Gospel and Administring the Sacraments in all Ages since Christ does as plainly evince her to be the only true Church the spouse of Christ and Pillar of Truth I demand has not this Church in all Ages had a visible Succession of Bishops a settled Government with a visible Head from St. Peter to this very day Has not this been the only Church that has duly planted the Faith and as duly suppressed Heresie and Schism Is not this the Church that has held all General Councils and has not the Bishop of Rome Presided in the four First seemingly allowed of by the Church of England Is not this the only Church that has sent Apostles and Missionaries out to plant the Gospel in all the Infidel corners of the Earth and from whence England first received the Christian Faith Is there any other Church that can pretend to have been assisted by God Almighty in the working of Miracles and in the Conversion of Nations What other Church can shew an Army of Martyrs and Confessors a number of Men that lead most Holy and Austere Lives forsaking the World to follow Christ What other Church in the World can pretend either to Unity or Universality to be every where the same and to have all her Children at perfect Agreement in matters of Faith and Doctrine for the disputes of Catholicks are about matters not defin'd and so controvertable but never about a Doctrine that has been once determined in a General Council These are the Marks and essential ones of the true Church but these agree to no other Church but that of Rome the Church of Rome is therefore the only Church Whatever the Grecian or the Abyssine Churches have to say in answer to this which does not much concern us sure I am the Church of England has nothing plausible to excuse her Schism and Rebellion against her Mother Church and under whose subjection she has been bred and maintained for many Ages in the World. Every one knows and no Church of England Man can deny that this National Church was in all Ages subject to and a part of the Western
assured and persuade your selves that you have not sufficient Authority to make her Highness Supream Head of the Church of Christ here in this Realm The Second Point of Spiritual Government is gathered out of these words of our Saviour Christ spoken to St. Peter in the 20th Chapter of St. John's Gospel Pasce Pasce Pasce That is Feed my Lambs feed my Lambs feed my Sheep Now whether your Honours have Authority by this Court of Parliament to say unto our Sovereign Lady Pasce Pasce c. That is to say Feed you the flock of Christ you must shew your Warrant and Commission for it An further it is evident that Her Majesty being a Woman by Birth and Nature is not qualified by Gods word to feed the Flock of Christ appears most plainly by St. Paul in this wise Taceant Mulieres in Ecclesus sicut lex dicit Let Women be silent in the Church for it is not Lawful for them to speak but to be in subjection as the Law saith And it followeth in the same place Turpe est enim Mulieris loqui in Ecclesiâ that is for that it is not seemly for a Woman to speak in the Church And in his Second Epistle to Timothy Dominari in virum sed esse silentes that is to say I allow not that a Woman be a Teacher or to be above her Husband but to keep her self in silence Therefore it appears likewise as your Honours have not Authority to give her Highness this second Point of Spiritual Government to feed the Flock of Christ So by St. Pauls Doctrine her Higness may not intermeddle her self with the same And therefore She cannot be Supream Head of the Church here in England The Third chief Point of Spiritual Government is gathered out of those words of our Saviour Christ spoken to St. Peter in the 22th Chapter of St. Lukes Gospel Ego rogavi pro To ut non deficiat fides Tua Tu aliquando conversus confirma fratres Tuos That is I Prayed for Thee that thy Faith shall not fail and thou being converted Confirm thy Brethren and ratifie them in wholesome Doctrine and Administration of the Sacraments which are the Holy Instruments of God so Instituted and Ordained for our Sanctification that without them his Grace is not to be received But to Preach or to administer the Sacraments a Woman may not be admitted to do neither may she be Supream of Christ's Church The Fourth and Last chief point of Spiritual Government which I promised to Note unto you doth consist in Excommunication and Spiritual Punishment of all such as shall approve themselves not to be the Obedient Children of Christ's Church Of which Authority our Saviour Christ speaks in St. Matthew's Gospel in the 18th Chapter saying If your Brother offending will not hear your charitable admonition whether secretly at first or yet before one or two Witnesses then we must complain of him to the Church and If he will not hear the Church let him be taken as an Heathen or Publican So the Apostle did Excommunicate the notorious Fornicator that was amongst the Corinthians and by the Authority of his Apostleship unto which Apostles Christ Ascending into Heaven did leave the whole Spiritual Government of his Church as it appears by those plain words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4th saying Ipse dedit Ecclesiae suae c. He hath given to his Church some to be Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors for consummation of the Saints to the work of the Ministry for edifying of the Body of Christ But a Woman in the degrees of the Church is not called to be an Apostle nor Evangelist nor to be a Pastor as much to say a Shepheard nor a Doctor or a Preacher Therefore she cannot be Supream Head of Christ's Militant Church nor yet of any part thereof For this high Government God hath appointed only to the Bishops and Pastors of his People as St. Paul plainly witnesseth in these words in the 20th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles saying Attendite vohis universo gregi c. And thus much I have here said right Honourable and my very good Lords against this Act of Supremacy for the discharge of my poor Conscience and for the Love and Fear and Dread that I chiefly owe unto God to my Sovereign Lord and Lady the Queens Majesties Highness and to your Honors All. Where otherwise without mature consideration of all these Premises your Honors shall never be able to shew your faces before your enemies in this matter being so strange a spectacle and example in Christ's Church as in this Realm is only to be found and in no other Christan Realm Thus humbly beseeching your Honors to take in good part this my rude and plain Speech which here I have used out of much Zeal and fervent good will And now I shall not trouble your Honors any longer Thus at to this Speech But notwithstanding this Speech or whatever else could be said against it the Act passed and this Supremacy was granted to the Queen A further Prosecution of the Settlement of this Change of Religion Established by Parliament and of the Opposition of the Catholick Clergy against this strange Innovation By which my dear Country-men may see as is prov'd by their own Histories how you are seduced into Erronious Religions endangering thereby no less than their Salvation Dr. Heylyn pag. 108. NOw for the better exercising and enjoying the Jurisdiction thus acknowledged in the Crown there was this Clause put into the Act That it should be Lawfull for the Queen to give Power to such as she thought fit to exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and to vist reform redress order correct and amend all kind of Errors Heresies Schisms c. With this Proviso notwithstanding that nothing should from henceforth be accounted Heresie but what was so adjudged the Holy Scripture or in one of the four four General Councils or in any other National or Provincial Council determining according to the word of God or finally which should be adjudg'd for the time to come by the Court of Parliament This was the first Foundation of the High-Commission Court And from hence issued that commission by which the Queens ministers proceeded in that visitation in the first year of her Reign for rectifying all such things as they found amiss There also pass'd another Act for recommending and imposing the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments according to such Alterations and Corrections as were made therein by those that were appointed to review it In performance of which service there was great care taken to expunge out of all such passages in it as might give an Scandal or Offence to the Papists or be urg'd by them in excuse for their not coming to Church In the Litany first made and published by King Henry the Eighth and afterwards continued in the two
Jesus Christ the Son of God who establisht the Church that this is the Doctrine of our Reformation is apparent for it is Scripture as Interpreted by Ochinius a Man of sound judgement whom all Italy could not match says Calvin In whose presence England was happy and unhappy in his absence says B. Bale Ochinus speaks thus a In Prefat Dialog Considering how the Church was establisht by Christ and washt with his Blood and considering again how it was utterly overthrown by the Papacy I concluded that he who establisht it could not be Christ the Son of God because he wanted providence and upon this reflection he renounced Christ and became a Jew And no man can say but that he acted and behaved himself like a true Child of the Reformation in so doing for he followed Scripture as he understood it and as he was a true Reformed Child in forsaking Popery because he understood by Scripture that the Reformation was better so since he understood by reading Scripture more that Judaism was better than the Reformation he acted like a good Reformer in chusing that which he understood by Scripture to be best this is the Reformers Rule of Faith. And if one chuse to believe that there is a Church establisht of Earth by Christ you must beware never to persuade your self we are bound to believe her Doctrine or live in her if you do not judge by Scripture that she teaches the Doctrine of Christ This is the most essential point of Popery an obligation of submitting our judgements to the Church and believing her Doctrine without any more examining and in this the Church of England is much like the Popish Church which by Acts of Parliaments and other severities would oblige all men to believe her Doctrine Rites and Ceremonies No God has given us Scripture for our Rule of Faith as we forsook the Popish Church because we discovered by Scripture her many errours in Doctrine so we are not bound to believe the Doctrine of any other Church but as we find by Scripture her Doctrine is true Do and speak as Luther to 1. Edit Jen. in result I will be free and will not submit to the Authority of Councils Popes Church or University to the contrary I will confidently teach whatever I judge to be true whether it be the Catholick Doctrin or Heretical condemned or approved Must I own and believe that the Doctrin of Jesus Christ delivered to his Apostles and the Church is true Doctrine The Reformation teaches it is and you may safely believe it You may as safely believe it is not after the principles of the Reformation because it teaches the Christ err'd in Doctrin and Manners Verè Pharisaei erant viri valdè boni says Luther b Serm de 50 Artic. in summa summarum Christus minimè debuit eos taxare and Calvin says c In Harm super Luc c. 8. it 's a folly to think he was not ignorant in many things lastly David George d Epitom Cent. 16. par 2. a man of God and of a holy life says Osiander writes If the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles had been true and perfect the Church which they planted had continued but now it is manifest that Antichrist hath subverted it as it is evident in the Papacy therefore it was false and imperfect See these words quoted in the History of David George Printed by the Divines of Basil at Antwerp Anno 1668. both Doctrines are Scripture as Interpreted by Men of sound judgement and so a Child of the Reformation may believe which he will Zninglius e Tom. 2. cont catabapt fol. 10. one of the greatest Oracles of our Church says It 's a great ignorance to believe any Infallinble Authority in the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles Beza not inferiour to Zuinglius blotted out of St. John the History of the Woman Adultress judging it a Fable Clebitius affirms that Luke's relation of Christ's passion is not true because it does not agree with that of Matthew and Mark and more credit is to be given to two than to one g In cap. 2. ad Gal. Calvin says Peter consented to and added to the Schism of the Church to the overthrow of Christian liberty and Christ's Grace h de Eccles cont Bellarm cont 2. q. 4. Whitaker says f Victoria verit arg 5. It 's evident that after the Descent of the Holy Ghost the whole Church even the Apostles erred and Peter erred in Doctrin and Manners i To. 5. Wettem an 1554. in Epist ad Gal. c. 1. Luther says Peter liued and taught extra Verbum Dei and Brentius k In Apol Cof c. de Concil his Disciples say that Peter and Barnabas together with the Church of Jerusalem erred after receiving the Holy Ghost If our Rule of Faith be Scripture as each person of sound judgement understands it undoubtedly this must be the Doctrin of the Reformation and may be believed by and any Reformed since it is Scripture interpreted by such renowned men As to the true Canonical Books of Scripture The Reformation teaches and you may believe with the Church of England that St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews those of James and Jude the 2 of St. Peter the 2. and 3 of St. John are true Canonical Scripture the Reformation also teaches they are not Canonical because Lutherans deny them believe which you like best But if you 'll live in peace and out of strife with Protestants Lutherans and others who dispute whether that of this or that Church be Canonical Scripture your readiest way will be to say there 's no true Canonical Scripture Scripture is no more to be regarded than other pious Books if you say this is not the Doctrine of the Reformation read de expresso Verbo Dei lib. de Har. where he relates this to be the Doctrine of the Swinckfeldians as good Reformers as the best of us they say that we are not to regard any Instruction from Man or Book but Gods immediate inspiration which speaks secretly to our hearts for which they alledge those comfortable words of the Prophet I will hear what my Lord my God will speak in me for say they the Book which we call Scripture is a Creature and we must not seek for light and instruction from any Creature but from God the Father of Lights This is Scripture as interpreted by men of sound judgement any Child of the Reformation may believe it It is the doctrine of the Reformation that you cannot because God has forbid it add to and take away from his Word It is also the doctrine of the Reformation and the practice of our best Reformers when the Text does not speak clear enough that to refute Popery and establish our doctrine we may add or diminish a word or two which is not to change the Word of God but to make it speak more expresly as when Luther had a mind