Palaestinians Egyptians Thebaeans Libyans Mesopotamians a Persiaâ— a Socrat. â— Hâ—l c. 8. p. 19. Scythian Bishop and many others from other Countries But there was but one Bishop for Africa one for Spain one for Gaul two Priests as Deputies of the infirm and Aged Bishop of Rome Whilst for Instance sake there were seventeen Bishops for the small Province of * V. Concil Labb Tom. 2. p. 50. c. Isauria yet such Councils are very useful such we reverence but God did not set them up as the only and the infallible Guides of Faith If there were such Guides what Guided the Church which was before them By what rule was Ebion judged before the Council of Nice How can we be infallibly Guided by them in Controversies of Faith not determined by them nay not brought before them nay scarce moved till these latter dayes Such for the purpose are the Controversies about the vertue of the Sacrifice of Christ and of Justification by the Faith of meere recumbence upon his Merits Or how shall a private Man who erres in the Faith be delivered from his Heresy seing he may die some years ere a Council can assemble or being assembled can form its decrees Arius vented his Heresie about ten years before the Council of Nice was called for the suppressing of it And soon after he had given vent to it it spread throughout Egypt and Lybia and the upper Thebes as Socrates †has reported And in a short time many other Provinces and Cities were Socr. Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 6. p. 9. infected with the contagion of it And in the pretended Council of Trent no less then five Popes were successively concerned and it lasted in several places longer then two legal lives of a Man * From A. 1545. to A. 1563. There was indeed a Canon in the Western Church †V. Council Const sess 39. for the holding of a Council once in the space of each ten years But that Canon has not been hitherto obeyed and as affairs stand in the Church it is impracticable For the Pope will exclude all the Greek and Reformed Bishops He will crowd the Assembly with Bishops of his own Creation and with Abbots also he will not admit of former Councils unless they serve his purpose not so much as that of Nice it self * V. Greg. magn Ep. 6. 31. Leo. 1. Ep. 53. Gelas 1. Ep. 13. He will be the Judge though about his own Supremacy He will multiply Italians and others who upon Oath †Concil Labb Tom. 10. p. 23. 379. Pontific Roman owe their votes to him He will not hold a Council upon the terms approved by all Romish Princes Nor did they agree at their last Council the Emperour would noâ— send his Bishops to Bologna nor the French King his to Tren ' And though the French Church believed the Doctrines of that Synod yet they did not receive them from the Authority of it but they embraced them as the former Doctrines of the Roman Church And the Parisian ' Faculty a A. D. 1542 in coll Soâ—b See Richer H. conc general vol. 4. p. 162 163. c. prepared the way to the Articles of Trent Notwithstanding all this we firmly believe that at least the first four general Councils did not err in Faith and it is pious to think that God would not suffer so great a temptation in the Church on Earth Yet still we believe those Councils not to be infallible in their constitution but so far as they followed an infallible rule For the greaâ—est Truth is not alwayes with the greatest number And great numbers may appear on contrary sides The Council of Constantinople under Constantine Copronymus consisting of three hundred thirty eight Bishops decreed against the use of Images in Churches Yet the 2d Synod of Nice consisting of about three hundred and fifty Bishops determin'd for it And a while after in the West the council of Frankford consisting of about three hundred Bishops reversed that decree And after that the council of Trent did re-establish it though there the voting Persons were not fifty With such uncertain doubts of belief must they move who follow a Guide in Religion without reference to a farther rule But here there is offered to us by the Guide in Controversiâ—â— * an Objection of which this is the sum The fifth Canon of the Church of England does declare Object R. H. Annot. on D. Stil Answer p. 82 83. that the thirty nine Articles were agreed upon for the avoidance of the diversities of opinions and the establishing of consent touching true Religion Consent touching true Religion is consent in Matters of Faith Establishing of consent relateth both to Layety and Clergy The third and fourth Canons of 1640. Decree the Excommunication of those who will not-abjure their holding Popery and Socinianism The Reformed Churches in France teach the like Doctrine threatning to cut them off from the Church who acquiesce not in the resolution of a National Synod ‡ Art 31. ch 5 du consisâ—â—ire si un ou plusieurs c. The same course was taken with the Remonstrants in the Synod of Dort * Syn. Dord sess 138. Wherefore Protestants ought not to detract from the Authority of general Councils whilst they assume to themselves so great a Power in their particular Synods The force of this Objection is thus removed Answer Every Church hath Power of admitting or excluding Members else it hath not means sufficient to its end the order and concord of its Body Every particular Church ought to believe that it does not erre in its deflnitions for it ought not to impose any known error upon its Members But though it believes it does not erre it does not believe it upon this reason because God hath made it an infallible Guide but rather for this because it hath sincerely and with Gods assistance followeth a rule which is infallible And upon this supposition it imposeth Doctrines and excludeth such as with coâ—umacy dissent from them a See Artic. 20. 21 22. 4. This Guide is not the present Church declaring to particular Christians the sense of the church of former Ages How can this declaration be made seing Churches differ and each Church calls it self the true one and pretendeth to the Primitive pattern The Church of Rome hath on her side the suffrages of all the Councils and Fathers the first the middle the last if Campiain the Jesuite may be believed b camp Rat. 3. p. 180. Rat. 5. p. 185. On the other hand Monsieur Larroque hath Written a Book of the confirmity of the Protestant churches in France with the Discipline of the Christian Ancient church taking it for granted that their Doctrine was catholick And we likewise pretend both to the Doctrine and Discipline of it All of us cannot be in the right The Roman church without any proof calleth her self the church catholick and she pretendeth to
plain a case as Heresie if our Church thinketh a private Man may without an infallible Guide on Earth judge aright of it it does but believe as Pope Adrian believed as he professed in a Synod of Rome of which profession report is made in the 2d Synod of Nice †Syn. Nic. 2. art 7 sec vers Anastasii Licet enim Honorio post mortem anathema sit dictum ab Orientalibus sciendum tamen est quia fuerat super haeresi accusatus propter quam solam licitum est minoribus majorum suorum moribus resistendi vel pravos sensus libere respuendi c. For speaking of the Sentence against Pope Honorius he excuseth it in point of good behaviour because it was given in the case of Heresie For in that case and that case alone he allowed Inferiors so he was pleased to call the Oriental Bishops to reject the corrupt sense of those who are superiour to them I will hasten to the next Proposition after I have added one thing more which relates to the guidance of Ecclesiastical Authority And it is this Those of the unlearned Laity who are Members of the Church of England have much more of the just guidance of Ecclesiastical Authority than the like order of Men in the Church of Rome For the Authentick Books of that Church being all written in the Latin Tongue the illiterate People resolve their Faith into the ability and honesty of their Confessor or Parish Priest They take it upon his word that this is the Doctrine this the Discipline this the Worship of their Church Whereas each Minister in our Church can direct the People to the Holy Bible to the Books of Homilies Articles Canons Common-Prayer Ordination as set forth in their native Tongue by publick Authority Of this they may be assured by their own Eyes as many as can but competently read They do not only take this from the mouth of a Priest but from the Church it self Where the Laws of the Church and the Statutes of the Civil Government are written in an unknown Tongue there the Unlearned depend more upon private than publick Authority for they receive the Law from particular Priests or Judges Though Ecclesiastical Authority be a help to our Prop. VI. Faith yet the Holy Scripture is the only infallible Rule of it and by this Rule and the Ministeral Aids of the Christian Church we have sufficient means without Submission to papal Infallability to attain to certainty in that Faith which is generally necessary to Salvation I do not mean that by believing the whole Canon of the Scripture in the gross we thereby believe all the necessary Articles of the Faith because they are therein contained That looks too like a fallacy and it giveth countenance to an useless Faith For he that believes on this manner hath as it were swallow'd a Creed in the lump only whereas it is necessary for a Christian to know each particular Article and the general Nature Tendency of it Otherwise his Faith will not have a distinct influence upon his Christian behaviour to which if it were not useful it were not necessary To believe in general as the Scripture believes is with the Blind and Flexible Faith of a Romanist to believe at adventure He believes as his Church believes but he knows not what is the belief of his Church and therefore is not instructed by that Faith to behave himself as a Member of it The Scripture is that rule of Faith which giveth us all the particular Articles which are necessary to eternal Life By this rule the Primitive Fathers govern'd themselves and this they commended to the Churches And Clemens Alexandrinus a Cl. Alex. Strom. 2. Kanon Ekklesiastikos he Synodia c. Strom. 7 Alethon kai pseudon kriterion does in terms call the Consent of the Old and New Testament the Ecclesiastical Canon and the Touch-stone of true and false I will not multiply Testimonies enough of them are already collected b V. Davenant de Judice normā fidei c. 12. p. 53. c. D. Till Rule of Faith part 4. sect 2. p. 320. c. I will rather pursue the Argument before me in these three Assertions First a Protestant without the submission of his Judgement to the Roman Church may be certainly directed to the Canonical Books of Holy Scripture Secondly He may without such submission sufficiently understand the Rule of Faith and find out the Sense of such places in those Canonical Books as is necessary to the belief of a true Christian Thirdly This rule of Faith is the principal means of Union in Faith in the Christian Church First a Protestant without the submission of his Assert I. Judgement to the Roman Church may be certainly directed to the Holy Scriptures It is commonly said by Men of the Roman perswasion but injudiciously enough that we may as well receive our Creed from them as we do our Bible The Scribes and Pharisees might have said the like to the People of the Jews But with the good Text they conveighed down to them a very false gloss and misinterpreted the Prophesies as meant of a pompous temporal Messiah But for the Reformed they have received neither Creed nor Bible from the Church of Rome The first enumeration of those Books they find in the Apostolical Canons and in those of the Council of Laodecea no Westren writings They have received the Scriptures from the Universal Church of all Ages and Places the Copies of them having been as widely dispersed as the Christians themselves And they receive them not from the infallibility of any particular Church but upon the validity of this sure principle that all the Christian World so widely dispersed could not possibly conspire in the imposing of false Books upon them For particular Churches we may of all others suspect the Roman in reference to the Scriptures For what sincerity of dealing may we hope for from such a Cabal of Men as has forged decrees of Councils and Popes obtruded upon the World Apocryphal Books as Books Canonical purged out of the writings of the Fathers such places as were contrary to their Innovations depressed the Originals under an imperfect Latin Copy and left on purpose in that Copy some places uncorrected for the serving of turns For example sake they have not either in the Bible of Sintus or in that of Clement both which though in War against each other are made their Canon changed the word She in the third of Genesis a Gen. 3. 15. for That or He. But contrary to the Hebrew Text to the Translation of the Seventy to the Readings of the Fathers They persist in rendring of it after this manner She shall break thy Head They believe this Reading tendeth most to the Honour of the blessed Virgin whom they are too much inclined to exalt in the Quality of a Mother above her Son The English Translation of Doway hath followed this plain
or Papists but yet heartily desire to do good to them both But there is a more mischievous suggestion then this that the design of such Papers is only to raise a new cry and noise about Popery and to alarm the People and disturb the Government with new Fears and Jealousies Truly if I thought this would be the effect of it I would burn my Papers presently for I am sure the church of England will get nothing by a Tumultuary and clamorous Zeal against the Church of Rome and I had much rather suffer under Popery then contribute any thing towards raising a Popular Fury to keep it out We profess our selves as irreconcilable Enemies to Popery as we are to Phanaticism and desire that all the World may know iâ— but we will never Rebell nor countenance any Rebellion against our lawful Soveraign to keep out either we leave such Principles and Practices to Papists and Phanaticks But when we find our People Assaulted by the Agents of Rome and do not think our selves secure from Popish Designs we think it our Duty to give them the best Instructions we can to preserve them from such Errors as we believe will destroy their Souls and cannot but wonder that any men who are as much concerned to take care of Souls as we are should think this a needless or a scandalous undertaking I wish such men would speak out and tell us plainly what they think of Popery themselves If they think this Design not well managed by those who undertake it it would more become them to commend the Design and do it better themselves I know no man but would very gladly be excused as having other work enough to imploy his time but yet I had rather spend my vacant minutes this way then in censuring the good that other men do while I do none my self The Words of the Paper which was sent to me are these IT is my Opinion that the infinite Goodness of our Legislator has left to us a means of knowing the true sense and meaning of the Holy Scriptures which is the Church Now J judge this Church must be known to be the true Church by its continual visible Succession from Christ till our Dayes But I doubt whither or no the Protestant Church can make out this continual visible Succession and desire to be informed ANSWER THAT Christ has lest a means of knowing the true sense and meaning of the Holy Scriptures I readily grant or else it had been to no purpose to have left us the Scriptures But the latter Clause is very ambiguous for the meaning may either be that we may understand by the Scriptures which is the Church or that the Church is the means whereby we must understand the true sense and meaning of the Scripture The first is a true Protestant Principle and therefore I presume not intended by this Objector For how we should know that there is any Church without the Information we receive by the Scripture I cannot Divine and yet we may as easily know that there is a Church as we can know which is the true Church without the Scripture For there is no other means of knowing either that there is a Church or what this Church is or what are the Properties of a True and Sound and Orthodox Church but by Revelation and we have no other Revelation of this but what is contained in the Holy Scriptures As for the Second That the Church is the means of knowing the true sense and meaning of the Scriptures it is in some sense very true in some sense very false 1. It is in some sense true and acknowledged by all sober Protestants As 1. If by the Church we understand the Universal Church of all Ages as we receive the Scriptures themselves handed down by them to our time so what ever Doctrines of Faith have been universally received by them is one of the best means to find out the true sense of Scripture For the nearer they were to the times of the Apostles the more likely they were to understand the true sense of their Writings being instructed by the Apostles themselves in the meaning of them And thus we have a certain Rule to secure us from all dangerous Errors in expounding Scripture For the great and fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion are as plainly contained in the Writings of the first Fathers of the Church and as unanimously asserted by them as the Authority of the Scriptures themselves and therefore though we have not a Traditionary Exposition of every particular Text of Scripture yet we have of the great and fundamental Doctrines of Faith and therefore must never expound Scripture so as to contradict the known and avowed sense of the Catholick Church And this course the Church of England takes she receives the Definitions of the four first General Councils and requires her Bishops and Clorgy to Expound the Scriptures according to the profest Doctrines of those first and purest Ages of the Church 2. We ought to pay great deference to and not lightly and want only oppose the Judgement and Authority of the Particular Church wherein we live when her Expositions of Scripture do not evidently and notoriously contradict the sense of the Catholick church especially of the first and best Ages of it For it does not become private men to oppose their Sentiments and Opinions to the Judgement of the church unless in such plain cases as every honest man may be presumed a very competent Judge in the matter and no church nor all the churches in the World have such Authority that we must renounce our senses and deny the first principles of Reason to follow them with a blind and implicite Faith And thus the church that is the sense and Judgment of the catholick church is a means for the finding out the true sense of Scripture and though we may mistake the sense of some particular Texts which the Romanists themselves will not deny but that even infallible councils may do who tho' they are infallible in their conclusions yet are not alwayes so in the Arguments or Mediums whither drawn from Scripture or Reason whereby they prove them yet it is Morally impossible we should be guilty of any dangerous mistake while we make the catholick Doctrine of the church our Rule and in other matters follow the Judgment and submit to the Authority of the church wherein we live which is as absolutely necessary as Peace and Order and good Goverment in the church 2. But then this is very false if we mean that the church is the only means of finding out the true sense of the Scriptures on if by the church we understand any particular church as I suppose this Person does the Roman Catholick that is the particular universal church of Rome or if we mean the church of the present Age or by Means understand such a Decretory sentence as must determine our Faith and command out Assent that we must seek
Governed by Apostolical Men when we cannot reasonably suspect any Deviation from the Primitive Practice and this is the Rule which the Church of England owns in such matters and by which she rejects and confutes both the Innovations and corruptions of the Church of Rome and the wild pretences of Phanaticism So that we do in the most proper sense own the Belief and Practice of the Primitive Church to be the best means for Expounding Scripture We do not leave every man to Expound Scripture by a private Spirit as our Adversaries of the Church of Rome reproach us we adhere to the ancient Catholick Church which the Church of Rome on one side and the Phanaticks on the other have forsaken And though we reject the new invention of an infallible Judge yet we are no Friends at all to Scepticism but can give a more Rational account of our Faith then the Church of Rome can Had we no other way of understanding the sense of Scripture but by Propriety of the Language and the Grammatical construction of the Words and the scope and design of the Texts their connexion and Dependence on what goes before and what follows and such like means as we use for the understanding any other Books of humane composition I doubt not but honest and diligent Inquirers might discover the true meaning of Scripture in all the great Articles of our Faith but yet this alone is a more uncertain way and lyable to the Abuses of Hereticks and Impostors The Socinians are a famous Example what Wit and Criticism will do to pervert the plainst Text and some other Sectaries are as plain a demonstration what wâ—rk Dullness and Stupidity and Enthusiasm will make with Scripture but when we have the practice of the Catholick Church and an ancient and venerable summary of the Christian Faith which has been the common Faith of Christians in all Ages to be our Rule in Expounding Scripture though we may after all mistake the sense of some particular Texts yet we cannot be guilty of any great and dangerous mistakes This use the Church of England makes of the Catholick Church in Expounding Scripture that she Religiously maintains the ancient Catholick Faith and will not suffer any man to Expound Scriptures in opposition to the ancient Faith and Practice of the Catholick Church But though the Belief and Practice of the Catholick Church be the best means of understanding the true sense of Scripture yet we cannot affirm this of any particular Church or of the Church of any particular Age excepting the Apostolick Age or those Ages which immediately succeeded the Apostles Notwithstanding this the Church of Rome may be no good Expositor of Scripture for the Church of Rome though she usurp the name of the Catholick Church as presuming her self to be the Head and Fountain of catholick Unity yet she is but a part of the catholick Church as the Church of England and the Churches of France aind Holland are and has no more right to impose her Expositions of Scripture upon other Churches then they have to impose upon her If there happen any controversie between them it is not the Authority of either Church can decide it but this must be done by an appeal to Scripture and the sense of the Catholick Church in the first and purest Ages of it For when we say that the belief and Practice of the Catholick Church is the best means to find out the true sense of Scripture we do not mean that the Church is the Soveraign and absolute Judge of the sense of Scripture but the meaning is that those Churches which were founded by the Apostles and received the Faith immediately from them and were afterwards sor some Ages governed by Apostolical men or those who were taught by them and convers'd with them are the best Witnesses what the Doctrine of the Apostles was and therefore as far as we can be certain what the Faith of these Primitive Churches was they are the best Guides for the Expounding Scripture So that the Authority of the Church in Expounding Scripture being only the Authority of Witnesses it can reach no farther then those Ages which may reasonably be presumed to be Authentick and credible Witnesses of the Doctrines of the Apostles and therefore if we extend it to the four first general councils it is as far as we can do it with any pretence of Reason and thus far the Church of England owns the Authority of the Church and commands her Ministers to Expound the Scriptures according to the Catholick Faith owned and profess'd in those days but as for the later Ages of the church which were removed too far from the Apostles dayes to be Witnesses of their Doctrine they have no more Authority in this matter then we have at this day nor has one church any more Authority then another 3. And therefore if by the church being the means of knowing the sense and meaning of the Holy Scriptures be understood the Judgment and Sentence and Decree of the church that we must seek no farther for the reason of our Faith then the infallible Authority of the church in Expounding Scripture this also is absolutely false and absurd This is more then Christ and his Apostles assumed to themselves while they were on Earth they were indeed infallible Interpreters of Scripture but yet they never bore down their Hearers meerly with their Authority but Expounded the Scriptures and applied ancient Prophesies to their Events and took the vail off of Moses's Face and shewed them the Gospel state concealed under those Types and Figures they confirmed their Expositions of Scripture by the force of Reason and appealed to the Judgments and consciences of their Hearers whither these things were not so Christ commands the Jews nor meerly to take his own word and to rely on his Authority for the truth of what he said but to study the Scriptures themselves and the Bereans are commended for this generous temper of mind that they were more noble then those of Thessalonica for they daily search'd the Scriptures to see whither the Doctrine the Apostles preach'd were to be found there or not Now I think no Church can pretend to be more infallible then Christ and his Apostles and therefore certainly ought not to assume more to themselves then they did and if the Church of Rome or any other Church will convince us of the truth of their Expositions of Scripture as Christ and his Apostles convinc'd their Hearers that is by enlightning our Understandings and convincing our Judgments by proper Arguments we will gladly learn of them This course the Primitive Christians took as is evident in all the Writings of the ancient Fathers against Jews and Hereticks they argue from the Scriptures themselves to prove what the sense of Scripture iâ— they appeal indeed sometimes to the sense of the Catholick Church not as an infallible Judge of Scripture but as the best Witnesses of the Apostolical Doctrine Thus
found there as the Churches infallibility is But however that be after all this boast of infallibility a Papist has no more infallible Foundation for his Faith then a Protestant has nor half so much We believe the Articles of the Christian Faith because we find them plainly taught in Scripture and universally received as the sense of Scripture by the Catholick church in the best and purest Ages of it A Papist believes the Church to be Infallible because he thinks he finds it in Scripture though the Catholick church for many Ages never found it there and the greatest part of the Christian church to this day cannot find it there Now if they will but allow that a Protestant though a poor fallible Creature may reason about the sense of Scripture as well as a Papist and that the Evidence of reason is the same to both then we Protestants stand upon as firm ground as the Papists here and are at least as certain of all those Doctrines of Faith which we find in the Scripture and are ready to prove by it as they are of their Churches infallibility but then we have an additional Security that we Expound the Scriptures right which they want and that is the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church which confirms all the Articles of our Faith and Rules of Worship and Discipline but gives not the least intimation that the Pope or Church of Rome was thought infallible by them and if the Primitive Church was ignorant of this which is the best witness of Apostolical Tradition it is most probable that no such thing is contained in Scripture though some mercenary Flatterers of the Pope have endeavoured to perswade the World that they found it there So that we have a greater assurance of all the Articles of our Religion from Scripture and Catholick Tradition then a Papist can have of the Churches Infallibility and yet he can have no greater assurance of any other Doctrines of Religion which he believes upon the Churches Infallibility then he has of Infallibility it self So that in the last Resolution of Faith the Protestant has much the advantage of the Papist for the Protestant resolves his Faith into the Authority of the Scriptures Expounded by the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church the Papist resolves his into the Infallibility of the Church which he finds out only by Expounding Scripture by a private Spirit without the Authority of any church but that whose Authority is under dispute And as the Doctrine of Infallibility is of no use in the last Resolution of Faith so it is wholly useless in disputing with such Hereticks as we are who deny Infallibility for it is a vain thing to attempt to impose any absurd or groundless and uncatholick Doctrines upon us by the Churches infallible Authority who believe there is no such infallible Judge but are resolved to trust our own Eyes and to adhere to Scripture and the Catholick Faith of the Primitive Church in these matters And therefore the great Advocats for the Church of Rome are forced to take the same course in confuting Heresies as they call them that we do They alledge the Authority of Scripture the Authority of Fathers and Councils to justifie their Innovations and here we willingl joyn issue with them and are ready to prove that Scripture and all true Antiquity is on our side and this has been often and unanswerably proved by the learned Patrons of the Reformation But there are some very material things to be observed from hence for our present purpose For either they think this a good way to prove what they intend and to convince Gain-sayers the Authority of Scripture and Primitive Antiquity or they do not If they do not think this a good way to what purpose are there so many Volumes of Controversie written Why do they produce Scripture and Fathers and Councils to justifie the Usâ—â—pations of their Church and those new Additions they have made to the Christian Faith and Worship If this be not a good way to convince a Heretick why do they give themselves and us such an impertinent trouble If this be a good way then we are in a good way already we take that very way for our satisfaction which by their own Confession and Practice is a very proper means for the conviction of Hereticks and to discover the Truth and after the most diligent inquiries we can make we are satisfied that the Truth is on our side If the Authority of Scripture signifie any thing in this matter then it seems Hereticks who reject â—he Authority of an Infallible Judge may understand Scripâ—ure without an Infallible Interpreter by the Exercise of Reason and Judgment in studying of them otherwise why do they pretend to expound Scripture to us and to convince us by Reason and Argument what the true sense of Scripture is If the Authority of the Primitive Church and first Christian Writers be considerable as they acknowledge it is by their appeals to them then at least the present Pope or Church is not the sole infallible Judge of controversies unless they will say that we must not Judge of the Doctrine or Practice of the Primitive Church by ancient records and then Baronius his Annals are worth nothing but by the Judgement and Practice of the present Church The sum is this There is great reason to suspect that the Church of Rome her self does not believe her own Infallibility no more than we Protestants do for if she does she ought not to suffer her Doctors to dispute with Hereticks from any other Topick but her own Authority when they vie Reasons and Arâ—uments with us and dispute from Scripture and Antiquity they appeal from the infallibility of the present church to every mans private Reason and Judgment as much as any Protestant does and if the Articles of the Christian Faith may be establish'd by Scripture and Antiquity without an infallible Judge as they suppose they may be by their frequent attempts to do it this plainly overthrows the necessity of an infallible Judge In a word not to take notice now how weak and groundless this pretence of Infallibility is it is evident that it is a very useless Doctrine for those who believe the churches Infallibility have no greater assurance of their Faith then we have who do not believe it and those who do not believe the churches Infallibility can never be confuted by it So that it can neither establish any mans Faith nor confute any Heresies that is it is of no use at all The Church of England Reverences the Authority of the Primitive Church as the best witness of the Apostolical Faith and practice but yet resolves her Faith at last into the Authority of the Scriptures She receives nothing for an Article of Faith which she does not find plainly enough taught in Scripture but it is a great confirmation of her interpretation of Scripture that the Primitive church owned the
Saints mentioned by St. Jude is not intirely delivered in the Scripture but we must seek for the rest in the Traditions of the Church Which Traditions say they are to be received as a part of the Rule of Faith with the same Religious Reverence that we do the Holy Scripture Now though this is not really the bottom of their heart as will appear before I have done but they finally rest for their satisfaction in matters of Faith somewhere else yet this being plausibly pretended by them in their own Justification that they follow Tradition and in their Accusations of us that we foresake Tradition I shall briefly let all our People see who are not willing to be deceived what they are to judge and say in this business of Tradition About which a great noise is made as if we durst not stand to it and as if they of the Roman Church stedfastly kept it without any variation neither of which is true I shall plainly shew in this short Discourse The meaning of the Word Which for clearness sake shall begin with the meaning of the word TRADITION which in English is no more than delivering unto another and by a Figure signifies the matter which is delivered and among Christians the Doctrine of our Religion delivered to us And there being two wayes of delivering Doctrines to us either by writing or by word of mouth it signifies either of them indifferently the Scriptures as you shall see presently being Traditions But custom hath determined this word to the last of these wayes and distinguished Tradition from Scriptures or writings at least from the Holy Writings and made it signifie that which is not delivered in the Holy Scriptures or Writings For though the Scripture be Tradition also and the very first Tradition and the Fountain of all true and legitimate Antiquity yet in common Language Traditions now are such ancient Doctrines as are conveyed to us some other way whither by word of mouth as some will have it from one Generation to another or by humane Writings which are not of the same authority with the Holy Scriptures How to judge of them Now there is no better way to judge aright of such Traditions then by considering these four things First The Authors of them whence they come Secondly the matter of them Thirdly Their Authority Fourthly The means by which we come to know they derive themselves from such Authors as they pretend unto and consequently have any authority to demand admission into our belief 1. For the first of these every body knows and confesses that all Traditions suppose some Author from whom they originally come and who is the diliverer of those Doctrines to Christian people who being told by the present Church or any person in it that such and such Doctrines are to be received though not contained in the Holy Scriptures because they are Traditions ought in Conscience to inquire from whom those Traditions come or who first delivered them By which means they will be able to judge what credit is to be given to them when it is once cleared to them from what Authors they really come Now whatsoever is delivered to us in Christianity comes either from Christ or from his Apostles or from the Church either in General or in part or from private Doctors in the Church There is nothing now called a Tradition in the Christian World but proceeds from one or from all of these four Originals 2. And the mater which they deliver to us which is next to be considered is either concerning that Faith and godly life which is necessary to Salvation or concerning Opinions Rites Ceremonies Customs and things belonging to Order Both which as I said may be conveyed either by writing or without writing by the Divine Writings or by Humane Writings though these two wayes are not alike certain 3. Now it is evident to every understanding that things of both sorts which are delivered to us have their Authority from the credit of the Author from whence they first come If that be Divine their Authority is Divine if it be onely Humane their Authority can be no more And among Humane Authors if their Credit be great the Authority of what they deliver it great if it be little its Authority is little and accordingly must be accepted with greater or lesser Reverence Upon which score whatsoever can be made appear to come from Christ it hath the highest authority and ought to be received with absolute submission to it because he is the Son of God And likewise whatsoever appears to have been delivered by the Apostles in his Name hath the same Authority they being his Ministers sent by Him as He was by God the Father and indued with a Divine Power which attested unto them In like manner whatsoever is delivered by the Church hath the same Authority which the Church hath which though it be not equal to the foregoing the Church having no such Divine Power nor infallible Judgement as the Apostles had yet is of such weight and moment that it ought to be reverenced next to theirs I mean the sense of the whole Church which must be acknowledged also to be of greater or lesser Authority as it was nearer or farther off from the times of the Apostles What was delivered by their immediate Followers ought to weigh so much with us as to have the greatest Humane Authority and to be looked upon as little less then Divine The Universal consent of the next Generation is an Authority approaching as near to the former As the Ages do one to another But what is delivered in latter times hath less humane Authority though pretending to come but without proof from more early dayes and hath no Authority at all if it contradict the sense of the Church when it was capable to be better acquainted with the mind of Christ and of his Apostles As for particular Churches their Authority ought to be reverenced by every Member of them when they profess to deliver sincerely the sense of the Church Universal and when they determine as they have power to do Controversies of Faith or decree Rites and Ceremonies not contrary to GOD's Word in which every one ought to acquiesce But we cannot say the same of that which comes from any private Doctor in the Church Modern or Ancient which can have no greater Authority than he himself was of but is more or less credible according as he was more or less diligent knowing and strictly religious 4. But to all this it is necessary that it do sufficiently appear that such Doctrines do really come from those Authours whose Traditions they pretend to be This is the great and the only thing about which there is any question among sober and judicious persons How to be sufficiently assured that any thing which is not delivered unto us in the Scriptures doth certainly come for instance from CHRIST or his holy Apostles For in this all Christians are
to this effect That Tradition which was of so much use in the Primitive Church was not unwritten Traditions or Customs commended or ratified by the supposed infallibility of any visible Church but did especially consist in the Confessions or Registers of particular Churches And the unanimous consent of so many several Churches as exhibited their Consessions to the Nicene Council out of such Forms as had been framed and taught before this Controversie arose about the Divinity of CHRIST and that voluntaâ—ily and freely these Churches being not dependent one upon another nor overswayed by any Authority over them nor misled by Faction to frame their Confessions of Faith by imitation or according to some patern set them was a pregnant argument that this Faith wherein they all agreed had been delivered to them by the Apostles and their Followers and was he true meaning of the holy Writings in this great Article and evidently proved that Arius did obtrude such interprerations of Scripture as had not been heard of before or were but the sense of some private persons in the Church and not of the generality of Believers In short the unanimous consent of so many distinct visible Churches as exhibited their several Consessions Catechisms or Testimonies of their own Forefathers Faith unto the Council of Nice was an argument of the same force and efficacy against Arius and his Partakers as the general consent and practice of all Nations in worshipping a Divine Power in all Ages is against Atheists Nothing but the ingrafted notion of a Deity could have induced so many several Nations so much different in natural disposition in civil Discipline and Education to effect or practise the duty of Adoration And nothing but the evidence of the ingrafied word as St. James calls the Gospel delivered by CHRIST and his Apostles in the holy Scriptures could have kept so many several Churches as communicated their Confessions unto that Council in the unity of the same Faith The like may be said of the rest of the four first General Councils whose Decrees are a great confirmation of our belief because they deliver to us the consent of the Churches of CHRIST in those great Truths which they assert out of the holy Scriptures And could there any Traditive Interpretation of the whole Scripture be produced upon the Authority of such Original Tradition as that now named we would most thankfully and joyfully receive it But there never was any such pretended no not by the Roman Church whose Doctors differ among themselves about the meaning of hundreds of places in the Bible Which they would not do sure nor spend their time unprofiâ—ably in making the best conjectures they are able if they knew of any exposition of those places in which all Christian Doctors had agreed from the beginning V. But more then this we allow that Tradition gives us a considerable assistance in such points as are not in so many letters and syllables contained in the Scriptures but may be gathered from thence by good and manifest reasoning Or in plainer words perhaps whatsoever Tradition justifies any Doctrine that may be proved by the Scriptures though not found in express terms there we acknowledge to be of great use and readily receive and follow it as serving very much to establish us more firmly in that Truth when we see all Christians have adhered to it This may be called a confirming Tradition of which we have an instance in the Doctrine of Infant-Baptism which some ancient Fathers call an Apostolical Tradition Not that it cannot be proved by any place of Scripture no such matter for though we do not find it written in so many words that Infants are to be baptised or that the Apostles baptised Infants yet it may be proved out of the Scriptures and the Fathers themselves who call it an Apostolical Tradition do alledge testimonies of the Scriptures to make it good And therefore we may be sure they comprehend the Scriptures within the name of Apostolical Tradition and believed that this Doctrine was gathered out of the Scriptures though not expresly treated of there In like manner we in this Church assert the authority of Bishops above Presbyters by a Divine right as appears by the Book of Consecration of Bishops where the persons to be ordained to this Office expresses his belief That he is truly called to this Ministration according to the will of our LORD JESVS CHRIST Now this we are perswaded may be plainly enough proved to any man that is ingenuous and will fairly consider things out of the holy Scriptures without the help of Tradition but we also take in the assistance of this for the conviction of gain-sayers and by the perpetual practice and Tradition of the Church from the beginning confirm our Scripture proofs so strongly that he seems to us very obstinate or extreamly prejudiced that yields not to them And therefore to make our Doctrine in this point the more authentick our Church hath put both these Proofs together in the Preface to the Form of giving Orders which begins in these words It is evident unto all men diligently reading the holy Scripture and ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been three Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church Bishops Priests and Deacons I hope no body among us is so weak as to imagine when he reads this that by admitting Tradition to be of such use and force as I have mentioned we yield too much to the Popish Cause which supports it self by this pretence But if any one shall suggest his to any of our people let them reply That it is but the pretence and only by the Name of Tradition that the Romish Church supports it self For true Tradition is as great a proof against Popery as it is for Episcopacy The very foundation of the Popes Empire which is his succession in St. Peters Supremacy is uâ—terly subverted by this the constant Tradition of the Church being evidently against it And therefore let us not lose this Advantage we have against them by ignorantly refusing to receive true and constant Tradition which will be so far from leading us into their Church that it will never suffer us to think of being of it while it remains so opposite to that which is truely Apostolical I conclude this with the Direction which our Church gives to Preachers in the Books of Canons 1â—71 in the Title Concionatores That no man shall teach the people any thing to be held and believed by them religiously but what is consentaneous to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament and what the Catholick Fathers and Ancient Bishops have gathered out of that very Doctrine This is our Rule whereby we are to guide our selves which was set us on purpose to preserve our Preachers from broaching any idle novel or popish Doctrines as appears by the conclusion of that Injunction Vain and old Wives Opinions and Heresies and Popish Errours abhorring from the Doctrine and
pretends to be a part of GOD's Word were delivered to us by as universal uncontroulled Tradition as the Scripture is we should receive it as we do the Scripture But it appears plainly that such things were at first but private Opinions which now are become the Doctrines of that particular Church who would impose her Decrees upon us under the Venerable Name of Apostolical Universal Tradition which I have shewn you hath been an ancient Cheat and that we ought not to be so easie as to be deceived by it But to be very wary and afraid of trusting the Traditions of such a Church as hath not only perverted some abolished others and pretended them where there hath been none but been a very unfaithful preserver of them and that in matters of great moment where there were some and lastly warrants those which it pretends to have kept by nothing but its own infallibility For which there is no Tradition but much against it even in the Orignal Tradition the holy Scriptures which plainly suppose the Roman Church may not only erre but utterly fall and be cut off from the Body of Christ as they that please may read who will consult the Eleventh Chapter to the Romans v. 20 21 22. Of which they are in the greater danger because they proudly claim so high a Prerogative as that now mentioned directly contrary to the Apostolical Admonition in that place Be not high minded but fear CONCLUSION I Shall end this Discourse with a brief Admonition relating to our Christian Practice And what is there more proper or more seasonable then this While we reject all spurious Traditions let us be sure to keep close to the genuine and true Let us hold them fast and not let them go Let us not not dispute our selves out of all Religion while we condemn that which is false nor break all Christian Discipline and Order because we cannot submit to all humane Impositions In plain words let us not throw off Episcopacy together with the Papal Tyranny We ought to be the more careful in observing the Divine Tradition delivered to us in the Scripture and according to the Scripture because we are not bound to other While we contend against the half Communion let us make a conscience to receive the whole frequently It looks like Faction rather then Religion to be earnest for that which we mean not to use In like manner while we look upon additions to the Scripture as vain let us not neglect to read and ponder those holy Writtings When we reject Purgatory as a Fable let us really dread Hell-fire And while we do not tye our selves to all usages that have been in the Church let us be carful to observe first all the substantial Duties of Righteousness Charity Sobriety and Godliness which are unquestionably delivered to us by our LORD himself and his holy Apostles and secondlie all the Ordinances of the Church wherein we live which are not contrary to the Word of GOD. For so hath the same Divine Authority delivered that the people should obey those that are their Guides and Governours submitting themselves to their authority and avoiding all contention with them as most undecent in it self and pernicious to Religion which suffers extreamly when neither Ecclesiastical Authority nor Ecclesiastical Custom can end disputes about Rites and Ceremonies Read 1 Thess 5. 12. Heb. 13. 17. 1 Cor. 11. 16. and read such places as you ought to do all the other Scriptures till your hearts be deeply affected with them For be admonished in the last place of this which is of general use and must never be forgotten because we shall lose the benefit of that Coelestial Doctrine which is delivered unto us if we do not strictly observe itâ— That as this Evangelical Doctrine is delivered down to us so we must be delivered up to it Thus St. Paul teaches us to speak in 6. Rom. 17. where he thanks GOD that they who formerly had been servants of sin did now obey from the heart that form of Doctrine unto which they were delivered So the words run in the Greek as the Margin of our Bibles inform you cis bon paredothnie This is the Tradition which we must be sure to retain and hold fast above all other as that without which all our belief will be ineffectual This is the very end for which all Divine Truth is delivered unto us that we may be delivered and make a surrender of our selves unto it Observe the force of the Apostles words which tell us first that there was a certain form of Christian Doctrine which the Apostles taught compared here to a mould so the word Typos form may be translated into which Mettal or such-like matter is cast that it may receive the figure and shape of that mould 2. Now he compares the Roman Christians to such ductile pliable matter they being so delivered or cast into this form or mould of Christian Doctrine that they were intirely framed and fashioned according to it and had all the lineaments as I may say of it expressed upon their souls 3. And having so received it they were obedient to it for without this all the impressions which by knowledge of Faith were made upon their souls were but an imperfect draught of what was intended in the Christian Tradition 4. And it was hearty obedience sincere compliance with the Divine Will such obedience as became those who understood their Religion to be a great deliverance and liberty from the slavery of sin before spoken of into the happy freedom of the service of God 5. All which lastly he ascribes to the grace of God which had both delivered to them that Doctrine and drawn them to deliver up themselves to it made their hearts soft and ductile to be cast into that mould and quickned them to Christian Obedience and given them a willing mind to obey chearfully All this was from God's grace and not their merits and therefore the thanks was to be ascribed to him who succeeds and blesses all pious endeavours Now according to this pattern let us frame our selves who blessed be God have a form of Doctrine delivered to us in this Church exactly agreeable to the holy Scriptures which lie open before us and we are exhorted not onely to look into them but we feel that grace which hath brought them to us clearly demonstrating that we ought to be formed according to the holy Doctrine therein delivered by the delivery of our selves to it By the delivery of our mind that is to think of God and our selves and of our duty in every point just as this instructs us And by the delivery of our wils and affections to be governed and regulated according to its directions And when we have consented to this we find the Divine grace representing to us the necessity of an hearty obedience to what we know and believe and have embraced as the very Truth of God To this we are continually drawn
hold a Vulgar Tongue necessary in Divine Service and doth both absolutely forbid their own Missal to be so translated and persecute those that have so used it And yet they cannot dare not say it is unlawful in it self For it is better to have it in the Vulgar then not at all saith one It is matter of Discipline saith a second It hath been granted in some cases is acknowledged by others And it is most expedient to have it in the Vulgar saith a fourth And if so why this diligent Cassander de off pii viri p. 86â— care to prevent and suppress it Why this out-cry against it Why this Severity What need of such Decrees and Anathema's of Councils What need such Commands of the Popes for Princes to oppose it with all their force as that of Gregory VII to Vladislaus of Bohemia what reason is there for a general Convention of the Clergy of a Kingdom to proceed against a translation of their Missal When if we consult the ends for which the publick Service was inâ—â—itutâ—d iâ— we consult the reason of the thing if we consult Scripture or â—athâ—rs or the practice of the Church for about seven hundred Years together we shall find that it is not only expedient but necessary to have it in a Tongue understood of the people and that the Church of Rome that is so forward in its Anathema is under a precedent and greater oâ—â— even that of the Apostle Whosoever shall preach any other Gospel let him be Anatâ—emâ— So that which is most to be respected the Anathema of Heaven or that of the Council the command of God or a Decree of a Pope the Church of God in its best times or the particular Church of Rome in latter Ages whither the edification of the Church of God or the will and interest of a corrupted Church is not difficult to conceive And therefore we may end as we began with the Church Art 24. of England It is a thing plainly repuguant to the Word of God and the 〈◊〉 of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayers â—â— the Church or to minister the Sacraments in a Tongue not understâ—â—d of the people FINIS A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE DEVOTIONS OF THE Church of Rome Especially as compared with those of the CHURCH of ENGLAND In which it is shewn That whatever the Romanists pretend there is not so true Devotion among them nor such rational Provision for it nor Encouragement to it as in the Church established by Law among us EDINBURGH Re Printed by John Reid Anno DOM. 1686. A DISCOURSE Concerning the DEVOTIONS Of the Church of Rome IT is certain one of the greatest Commendations that can be given of any Church or body of Christians that a man can with Truth afirm of it that the Doctrines which they profess the Rules and Orders under which they live that the frame and constitution of the Church tendeth directly to make men more pious and devout more peâ—â—tent and mortified more heavenly minded and every way of better Lives then the way and profession of other Christians For to work men up to this holy frame and disposition was one of the main designs of the Gospel of Christ which intends to govern mens Actions and reform their Temper as well as to inform their Understandings and direct their belief And in this particular it differs much from all the Ethicks of the learned Heathen For whereas they design'd especially to exalt the passions and to raise up the Mind above it self by commending the high and pompous Vertues thereby to stir men up to great designs and to appear bold and braving in the affairs of this Life the Gospel is most frequent in commendation of the humble lowly and mortifying Vertues which would reduce the Mind to it self and keep Men within due bounds and teach them how to behave themselves towards God and to live in a due regard to another Life Now there is scarcely any thing which the Church of Rome doth more often urge for her self or with greater confidence pretend to excel the Church of England in then by endeavouring to perswade that the Frame of their Church is more fitted for the exciting of Devotion and a good Life then ours is And so they will boast of their severe Rules and Orders the Austerities of their Fasts and Penances the strict and mortifyed Lives the constancy and incessancy of Devotions used among them and would thence inferre that that mâ—st needs be the best Religion or way of serving God in which these practices are enjoyn'd and observed That the Tree must needs be good by such excellent Fruitâ— and that if all other Argument fail yet they say they have this to show for themselves that in their Communion there is at least somewhat more like that great Self-denial and Morâ—â—fication so often made necessary under the Gospel then is to be found in the Reformed Churches or particularly in the Church of England Now laying aside all Disputes concerning Points of Doctrine in controversie between them and us in which it hath been abundantly shewn that they err in matters of Faith and that in what they differ from us they differ also from the Scripture and the true Church of Christ in all the best Ages I 'll confine my self to examine their Preâ—â—â—ce to Devotion where I doubt not but it will sufficiently appear that they are as much deficient also in Regularity of Practice that there is not that true Foundation laid for such Devotion as God accepts nor that strict Provision made for it nor that real Practice of it which they would make us believe but that even the best which they pretend to is such as doth by no means befit a truly Christian spirit I 'll discourse in this Method 1. I 'll instance in the several Expressions of Devotion the Motives to it or Assistance of it whâ—ch the Church of Rome pretends to and on which she is used to magnifie her self 2. I will alledge the just Exceptions which we have against such their Pretences 3. And then shew that they are so far from encouraging true Devotion that many things both in their Doctrine and Discipline directly tend to the Destruction of it 4. I 'll shew what excellent Provision is made in the Church of England for the due exercise of all the parts of Devotion and what Stress is laid on it and on a good Life among us First Though Devotion is properly and chiefly in the mind a due sense of God and Religion yet it is not sufficient if it stop there For there are certain outward Acts which are either in themselves natural and proper Expressions or else are strictly required of us by God as Duties of Religion and Evidences of the devout temper of our Minds and these are called Acts of Devotion And all the Commendation that can be given of any Church on Account of Devotion must be either that there is a true Foundation
them as to the Succession of their Popes even since the Reformation began For the Election of Sixtus V Was most notoriously Simoniacal and yet one that comes by Simony into the Popedom is by their own Canon Law by the Bull or Constitution of Julius II. approved in the Council of Lateran An. 1513. To be looked on as a Magician Heathen Publican Septimi Decretal Lib. 1. Tit. 3. and Arch Heretick and his Election can never be made valid by any after act and yet several of the Popes since were either made Cardinals by this Sixius V. Or received that Dignity from those that received it from him which is the very case of this present Pope Innocent Eleventh As for their Vnity it is plain that they have more divisions among themselves then they can charge us with For they have not only such as openly dissent and seperate from them but great and violent dissentions among their own Members and such as live in the Communion of their Church one against another and each party pleads the Doctrine of the Church and Decisions of its Councils And yet the Pope himself notwithstanding his Infallibility and Authority either cannot or darr not determine which is in the Right or which Opininion is True So that what ever Power and Authority their Church hath it hath no effect to such ends and purposes to which Church-Power is designed to serve the encouragment of Holines and Vertue and the discountenancing of vice the Preservation of the Doctrine in Purity and of the Members at peace one with another It is true they are more able to see the Laws of their Church Duly executed but it is to their disparagement to have so much Power and yet to do so little good wâ—th it As for us we had rather deserve more then we have then that it should be said that we have more power then we deserve And whatever Power our Church wants and whatever loss Religion suffers by this means we justly Charge the Church of Rome with the guilt of it who have made all Princes jealous and affraid of all Church-Power by their invading their temporal Rights under pretence of a Spiritual Jurisdiction In short though somewhat may be said for the worst thing and a very bade Cause may have a great deal pleaded in its Vindication as we have seen in all the foregoing Helps and Instances of Devotion which the church of Rome boasts of yet if we consider them they all in some respect or other come short of what they pretend to several of them being very improper many plainly Nonsensical and Ridiculous they proceed from bad principles are done in an undue Manner and Measure or to serve some bad end or design or some such other way offend even the most severe practices which most resemble true Self-denial are countenanced or enjoyned rather to make a shew or to gratifie some tempers then to advance Devotion for excesses and over-actings are often Infirmities and the effects of Weakness steddiness being the most certain sign of Strength as the shaking palsy is a Disease and sign of weakness as well as the Dead one 3. I now come to consider such things in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of Rome as tend directly to promote Debauchery of Manners and Carelesness in Devotion I 'll insist only on these few among very many First The unlimited Power which they ascribe to the Church or to the Pope as Head or Monarch of it For the people are taught that he can make null Duties that were made necessary by God and make necessary what was not so before The consequence of which Doctrine is plainly this that a Man may safely disobey and neglect the serving of God if he pay but his due respects to the Pope And yet their Casuists have defined that the Pope can dispense with Sins or give leave to do things forbidden by the law of God as well as pardon them when committed as in the Dispensations with unlawful Marriages And on the other side he can excuse them from doing what they are by their Duty to God bound to do as in his Dispensations with Vows though made never so solemnly to God himself That is he can Bind where God hath left us loose and he can loose where God has bound us Nay a Superiour can give a Dispensation even when he doubteth whither it be lawful or no because in a doubtful case the milder side is to be taken And if the Reason ceaseth for which the Dispensation was given yet the Dispensation doth not cease Nay a Dispensation may be granted where there is no Reason or Cause for it and yet the Dispensation is valide notwithstanding And not the People only but every Bishop and Priest hath his Share of this Power only there are some reserved and more profitable Cases which his Holiness only can dispense in And though I cannot tell what they think yet I am sure their Casuists are very shy of saying that theâ—e is any Case in which there may not be a Dispensation granted for the doing of it or a Pardon for it when it is done And all Indulgences are directly designed to hinder Devotion for they are given to free Men from Necessity of Mortification frequent Alms and Prayers c. Which else would have been enjoyned as Penance and yet we know that these are the chiefest parts of Devotion And as their general Doctrine concerning the validity of Pardons and Indulgences is very destructive of all true Piety and Religion So Secondly Their constant Practice of giving Absolution before Penance is in a more especial manner influential to that purpose For the People are taught to believe that by the Priests saying I absolve thee c. the sin is actually pardoned by God And though indeed their Guides of Confessors advise that Absolution should not be given till Penance be imposed and accepted yet when the Confessor thinks that the Penitent will acept of the Penance he may absolve him first That is the Person may be absolved before he accept the Penance or even promise to perform it but it is their constant Method to absolve him before Penance be actually perform'd Now if their Absolution be of force the Person is free from his sin and sure enough of Heaven whither he perform any penance or no Which Practice gives all imaginable Encouragement and License to Sin the fear of penance being the only restraint from Sin which they pretend to for if the sin be fully pardoned before Penance be accepted or performed I see not why a man should trouble himself much for the performance of his Penance he sees plainly that it is only an Appendix that is used to be annex'd to Absolution but is neither necessary in it self nor for Absolution the Sin is pardon'd already and at the worst there is only some temporal punishment to be satisfied for which he may get rid of several other wayes Nay indeed
Credulity is certainly a fault as well as Infidelity And he who said blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed hath no where said blessed are they that have seen and yet have not believed much less blessed are they that believe directly contrary to what they see To conclude this Discourse By what hath been said upon this Argument it will appear with how little truth and reason and regard to the interest of our common Christianity it is so often said by our Adversaries that there are as good arguments for the belief of Transubstantiation as of the Doctrine of the Trinity When they themselves do acknowledge with us that the Doctrine of the Trinity is grounded upon the Scriptures and that according to the interpretation of them by the consent of the ancient Fathers But their Doctrine of Transubstantiation I have plainly shewn to have no such ground and that this is acknowledged by very many learned men of their own Church And this Doctrine of theirs being first plainly proved by us to be destitute of all Divine Warrant and Authority our Objections against it from the manifold contradictions of it to Reason and sense are so many Demonstrations of the falsehood of it Against all which they have nothing to put in the opposite Scale but the Infallibility of their Church for which there is even less colour of proof from Scripture then for Transubstantiation it self But so fond are they of their own Innovations and Errours that rather then the Dictates of their Church how groundless and absurd soever should be call'd in question rather then not have their will of us in imposing upon us what they please they will owerthrow any Article of the Christian Faith and shake the very foundations of our common Religion A clear evidence that this Church of Rome is not the true Mother since she can be so well contented that Christianity should be destroyed rather then the Point in question should be decided against her FINIS A DISCOURSE Concerning the ADORATION OF THE HOST As it is Taught and Practiced in the CHURCH of ROME Wherein an Answer is given to T. G. oâ— that Subject And to Monsieut Boileau's late book De Adoratione Eucharistiae Paris 1685. EDINEVRGH Re-printed by John Reid Anno DOM 1686. A DISCOURSE OF THE ADORATION Of the HOST c. IDolatry is so great a Blot in any Church what ever other glorious Marks it may pretend to that it is not to be wondred that the Church of Rome is very angry to be charged with it as it has alwayes been by all the Reform'd who have given in this among many others as a just and necessary Reason of their Reformation and it must be confessed to be so if it be fully and clearly made good against it and if it be not it must be owned to be great Uncharitableness on the other side which is no good Note of a Church neither as grievous Slander and most uncharitable Calumny which will fall especially upon all the Clergy of the Church of England who by their Consent and Subscription to its Articles and to the Doctrine of its Homilies and to the Book of Common Prayer do expresly join in it For it is not the private Opinion only of some particular and forward men in their Zeal and Heat against Popery thus to accuse it of Idolatry but it is the deliberate and sober and downright Charge of the Church of England of which no honest man can be a Member and Minister who does not make and believe it I might give several Instances to shew this but shall only mention one wherein I have undertaken to defend our Church in its charge of Idolatry upon the Papists in their Adoration of the Host which is in its Declaration about Kneeling at the Sacrament after the Office of the Communion in which are these remarkeable words It is hereby declared that no Adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any corporal presence of Christs natural Flesh and Blood for the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians Here it most plainly declares its mind against that which is the Ground and Foundation of their Worshipping the Host That the Elements do not remain in their natural Substances after Consecration if they do remain as we and all Protestants hold even the Lutherians then in Worshipping the consecrated Elements they worship meer Creatures and are by their own Confession guilty of Idolatry as I shall shew by and by and if Christs natural Flesh and Blood â—e not corporally present there neither with the Substance nor Signs of the Elements then the Adoring what there is most be the Adoring some things else then Christs body and if Bread only be there and they adore that which is there they must surely adore the Bread it self in the opinion of our Church but I shall afterwards state the Controversie more exactly between us Our Church has here taken notice of the true Issue of it and declared that to be false and that it is both Unfit and Idolatrous too to Worship the Elements upon any account after Consecration and it continued of the same mind and exprest iâ— is particularly and directly in the Canons of 1640. where it sayes a Canon 7. 1640. about placing the Communion Table under this head A Declaration about some Rites and Ceremonis That for the cause of the Idolatry committed in the Mass all Popish Altars were demolish'd so that none can more fully charge them with Idolatry in this point then our Church has done It recommends at the same time but with great Temper and Moderation the religious Gesture of bowing towards the Altar both before and out of the time of Celebration of the Holy Eucharist and in it and in neither a Ib. can 7. 1â—40 Vpon any opinion of a corporal presence of Christ on the Holy Table or in the mystical Elements but only to give outward and bodily as well as inward worship to the Divine Majesty and it commands all Persons to receive the Sacrament Kneeling b Rubric at Communion in a posture of Adoration as the Primitive Church used to do with the greatest Expression of Reverence and Humility tropo proskynesios kai sebasmatos St. Cyrill of Hierusalem speaks c Cyril Hierosolym Catech. Mystag 5. and as I shall shew is the meaning of the greatest Authorities they produce out of the Ancients for Adoration not to but at the Sacrament so far are we from any unbecoming or irreverent usage of that Mystery as Bellarmine d Controv. de Eucharist when he is angry with those who will not Worship it tells them out of Optatus that the Donatists gave it to Dogs and out of Victor Vticencis that the Arriaâ—s trod it under their Feet
much to her Honour to be singular where there was so much Prudence and Piety to have inclined her to Uniformity However this is gained which is my point that the Church of Rome is noâ— countenanced in her practice of private and clancular confessions by the general usage of the Church as they pretend 3. I observe concerning this Office of Penitentiary that as it was erected upon prudential considerations so it was upon the same grounds abolished by the same Authority of the church which first instituted it and that after about Two hundred years continuance in the time of Nectarius as we have seen and therein he was followed saith Sozomen by almost all the Bishops and Churches in the World this therefore was far from being thought either a Divine or Apostolical constitution Petavius would here perswade us that it was only publick confession and not private which was upon this occasion so generally laid aside as we have seen but this is done by him more out of tenderness of Auricular Confession then upon good reason and Valesius goes beyond him and will needs perswade us that neither publick nor privat Confession were put down in this juncture but only that the lately erected Officer of Penetentiary was cashier'd but I must crave leave to say there is no sufficient reason for either of these conjectures but on the contrary plain Evidence against them for Socrates who is the first and principal relater of this whole story saith he was personally acquainted with this Presbyter Eudaemon who gave the advice to Nectarius to make this change in the Discipline of the Church and that he had the aforesaid relation of it from his own Mouth and expostulated with him about it giving his reasons to the contrary and suggested his suspicions that the state of Piety would be much endamaged by this change and in plain words tells him that he had now â—erest men of assistance in the conduct of their Consciences and hindred the great benefit men have or might have one of another by priâ—â—â— advice and correption Now this fear of his had been the absurd est thing in the World if upon this counsel and advice of his only one certain Man in the Office of publick Confessioner had been laid aside but both the use of publick and privat Confessions had been kept up and retained But after all for ought appears the Church of Rome kept her old Mumpsimus she tenacious of her own customs especially of such as may advance her Interest and Authority complies not with this Innovation or Reformation be it for better or worse but her Priests go on with their Confessions and turn all Religion almost into Clancular Transactions in despight of the example of other Churches It may be she met with opposition sometimes but she was forced to disemble it till the Heriock Age of the School-Men and then those lusty Champions with their Fustian-stuff of vidâ—t ur quod sic probatur quod non make good all her pretensions After them in the year 1215 comes the Fourth Lateran Council and that decrees Auricular Confession to be made by every body once a year at the least and last of all comes the Council of Trent and declares it to be of Divine Institution necessary to Salvation and the constant and universal custom of the Christian Church And so we have the Pedegree of the Romish Auricular Confession Sect. 4. I come now to the third and last Stage of my undertaking which is to shew that Secret or Auricular Confession as it is now prescribed and practised in and by the Church of Rome is not only unnecessary and burdensome in it self but also very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion For the former part of this charge if it be not evident enough already it will be easily made out from the Premises for they cannot deny that they make this kind of Confession necessary to Salvation at least as necessary as Baptism it self is supposing a Man hath sinned after Baptism now if it be neither made so by Divine Institution nor acknowledged to be so by the constant Opinion of the Church what an horrible imposition is here upon the Consciences of Men when in the highest and worst sense that can be they teach for Doctrines the commandements of Men and make Salvation harder then GOD hath made it and suspend mens hopes upon other terms then he hath done if it was prescribed by the present Church as a matter of Order and Discipline only or of convenience and expediency we should never boggle at it upon this account or dispute the point with them or if it was only declared necessary pro hic nunc upon extraordinary emergency by the peculiar condition of the Penitent his weakness of Jugdment the perplexity of his Conscience his horrible guilt or extreme Agonies we would not differ with them upon that neither but when it is made necessary universally and declared the indispensable duty of all men whatsoever who have sinned after Baptism when GOD hath required no such â—hing but declares himself â—atisfied with true contrition and hearty remorse for what is past and sincere Reformation for the time to come this I say is an intolerable Tyranny and usurpation upon the consciences of Men. And that is not all neither for besides its burdensomness in the general it particularly aggravates and increases a Mans other burdens for insteed of relieving perplexed consciences which is the true and principal use of confessions to men this Priestly confession as it is prescribed by the Council intangles and afflicts them more for that enjoyns that the Penitent lay open all his sins even the most secret although but in thought or desire only such as against the Ninth or Tenth commandement according to their Division of the Decalogue now this is many times difficult enough but that 's not all he must also recount all the circumstances of these sins which may increase or diminish the guilt especially such as alter the species and kind of sin Now what sad work is here for a Melancholy Man All the circumstances are innumerable and how can he tell which are they that change the species of the Act unless he be as great a School-man as his Confessor Besides all his it may be he is not very skilful in the distinction between Venial and Mortal sins and if he omit one Mortal sin he is undonâ— therefore it is necessary for him by consequence to confess all Venial sins too and then where shall the poor Man begin or when shall he make an end Such a Carnificina such a rack and torture in a word such an holy Inquisition is this business of Auricular confession become And that eminent Divine of Strasburgh of whom Beatus Rhenanus speaks seems very well to have understood both himself and this matter who pronounces that Scotus and Thomas had with their tricks and subâ—ilties so perplexed this plain
Rule whereby our Church is reformed and to which we appeal There are but three things necessary to be understood by Christians either the Articles of Faith or the Rules of Life or the external Order and Discipline of the Church and Administration of Religious Offices 1. As for the Rules of Life all those Duties which we owe to GOD and Men they are so plainly contained in the Holy Scriptures that no honest man can mistake them I suppose the church of Rome her self will not pretend that there is any need of an infallible Interpreter to teach men what is mean'd by Loving GOD with all our Heart and our Neighbour as our selves 2. As for the Articles of Faith those which are fundamental to the christian Religion and which every Christian ought to believe are so plain in Scripture that every honest and unprejudiced man may understand them but however as I observed before we govern our selves in these things by the received Doctrine of the catholick church of the first and purest Ages and if this be not a safe Rule we can be certain of nothing And what the catholick Faith was we learn from those short summaries of Faith which were universally owned by all catholick churches For what we now call the Apostles creed was very anciently received in all churches with some little variety indeed of Words and Phrase but without any difference of sense and the catholick Faith was not only preserved in such short Summaries and creeds which were as liable to be perverted by Hereticks as the Scriptures themselves but was more largely explained in the Writings of the ancient Fathers and though this will not enable us to understand every Phrase and Expression of Scripture but we must use other means to do that as Skill in the Original Languages a knowledge of ancient customs and ancient Disputes to which the Apostles frequently aflude a consideration of the Scope and Design of the place c. Yet the catholick Faith received and owned by the Primitive Church is so far a Rule as it directs us to Expound Scripture to a true catholick sense As St. Paul commands the Romans that those who prophesie should Prophesie according to the proportion of Faith Rom. 12. 6. Kat ' analogian pisteos according to the Analogie of Faith That is that in the interpreting the Scriptures of the Old Testament they should expound them to a christian sense according to those Doctrines of the christian Faith which he had taught them and this was a safe Rule for expounding the Old Testament which contained the Types and Figures and Prophesies of the Gospel-State And thus in expounding the new Testament now it is committed to writting we must Prohpesie according to the Analogie of Faith or as he commands Timothy in his Preaching Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard from me 2. Tim. 1. 13. It seems the Apostle had given him a form of sound words according to which he was to direct his Preaching whither this refers to a short summary of Faith such as our Creed is I cannot say though it is not improbable it may but it is plain we have a form of sound words delivered to us by the Catholick Church which contains the true Catholick Faith and therefore ought to be so far a Rule to us in expounding Scripture as never to contradict any thing which is contained in it for that is to contradict the Faith of the Catholick Church And when one great Article of this Faith concerning the Eternal God-head of Christ the Son of God was corrupted by Arius a Presbyter of the Church of Alexandria it gave an occasion for a full Declaration of the sense of the Catholick Church about it And though the effects of that Controversie were very fatal to the Church yet it was very happy that it broke out in such an Age when it could be determined with greater certainty and greater Authority then it could have been in any succeeding Age of the Church by men who were venerable for their Age for their Wisdom for their Piety for their undaunted Confessions under Heathen and Persecuring Emperours who knew what the sense of the Catholick Church was before this Controversie broke out and before External Prosperity had through ease and wantonness corrupted the Faith as well as the Manners of Christians 3. As for matters of External Order Discipline and Government the Universall Practice of the Catholick Church is the best and safest Comment on these General Rules and Directions we have laid down in Scripture There is no doubt at all but the Apostles did appoint Governours and Rules of Order and Discipline in the Churches planted by them what these were the Christians of those dayes saw with their eyes â— in the dayly practice of the Church and therefore the Apostles in those Epistles which they wrote to their several Churches did not give them so punctual and particular an account of those matters which they so well knew before but as occasion served make only some accidental mention of these things and that in such general terms as were well enough understood by them who knew the practice of the Church in that Age but it may be cannot meerly by the force of the words which may be capable of several Senses be so certainly and demonstratively determined to any one sense by us who did not see what was done in those dayes as to avoid all possible Cavils of contentious men This has occasioned those disputes concerning Infant Baptism the several Orders and Degrees of Church Governours the Rites and ceremonies of Religious Worship and the like Those who lived in those dayes and saw what the Apostles did in these matters could not doubt of these things thought it were not in express words said that infants should be baptized with their Parents or that Bishops are a Superiour Order to Presbyters and Presbyters to Deacons or that it is lawful for the Governours of the Church to institute and appoint some significant Rites and ceremonies for the more decent and orderly Administration of Religious Offices But because there is not a precise and punctual account given of these matters in the Writings of the Apostles which there was no need of then when these things were obvious to their very Senses some perverse and unreasonable Disputers who obstinately reject all other Evidence will judge of these things just as they please themselves and alter their Opinions and Fancies as often as they please But now if there be any certain way to know what the practice of the Apostles was in these cases this is the best comment we can possibly have on such Texts as are not sufficiently plain and express without it Now me thinks any reasonable man must acknowledge that the best way to understand the Practice of the Apostles is from the Practice of the Catholick Church in succeeding Ages especially while the memory of the Apostles was fresh and the Church
the holy Scriptures into the hands of the Pagans were look'd upon by Christians as men that were content to part with their Religion For which there could be no reason but that they thought Christian Religion to be therein contained and to be betrayed by those who delivered them to be burnt By which I have proved more then I intended in this part of my Discourse that in the holy Scriptures the whole Will of God concerning our Salvation is contained Which is the true Question between us and the Church of Romeâ— Not whither the Scripture be delivered to us as the Word of GOD or no in this our People ought to tell them we are all agreed but whither they have been delivered to us as the whole Will of GOD. And from that Argument now mentioned and many more we conclude that Universal Tradition having directed us unto these Books and no other they direct us sufficiently without any other Doctrines unto GOD and to our everlasting rest And if they urge you farther and say that the very Credit of the Scripture depends upon Tradition tell them that it is a Speech not to be endured if they mean thereby that it gives the Scripture its authority and if they mean less we are agreed as hath been already said for it is to say that Man gives authority to GOD's Word Whereas in truth the holy Scriptures are not therefore of Divine Authority because the Church hath delivered them so to be but the Church hath delivered them so to be because it knew them to be of such authority And if the Church should have conceived or taught otherwise of these Writings then as of the undoubted Oracles of GOD she would have erred damnably in such a Tradition I shall sum up what hath been said in this second particular in a few words Christ and his Apostles at first taught the Church by word of mouth but afterward that which they preach'd was by the commandment of GOD commited to writing and delivered unto the Church to be the ground of our Faith Which is no more then Irenaeus hath said in express words L. 3. C. 1. speaking of them by whom the Gospel came unto all Nations Which they then preached but afterward by the Will of GOD delivered unto us in the Scriptures to be in time to come the Foundation and Pillar of our Faith III. And farther we likewise acknowledge that the sum and substance of the Christian Religion contained in the Scriptures hath been delivered down to us even from the Apostles dayes in other wayes or forms besides the Scriptures For instance in the Baptismal Vow in the Creed in the Prayers and Hymns of the Church Which we may call Traditions if we please but they bring down to us no new Doctrine but only deliver in an abridgment the same Christianity which we find in the Scriptures Upon this there is no need that I should enlarge but I proceed farther to affirm IV. That we reverently receive also the unanimous Tradition or Doctrine of the Church in all Ages which determines the meaning of the holy Scripture and makes it more clear and unquestionable in any point of Faith wherein we can find it hath declared its sense For we look upon this Tradition as nothing else but the Scripture unfolded not a new thing which is not in the Scripture but the Scripture explained and made more evident And thus some part of the Nicene Creed may be called a Tradition as it hath expresly delivered unto us the sense of the Church of GOD concerning that great Article of our Faith That JESUS CHRIST is the Son of GOD. Which they teach us was alwayes thus understood the Son of GOD begotten of his Father before all worlds and of the same substance with the Father But this Tradition supposes the Scripture for its ground and delivers nothing but what the Fathers assembled at Nice believed to be contained there and was first fetch'd from thence For we find in Theodoret L. 1. C. 6. that the famous Emperour Constantine admonished those Fathers in all their Questions and Debates to consult only with these heavenly inspired Writings Because the Evangelical and Apostolical Books and the Oracles of the old Prophets do evidently instruct us what to thiâ—k in Divine matters This is so clear a Testimony that in those dayes they made this compleat Rule of their Faith whereby they ended Controversies which was the reason that in several other Synods we find they were wont to lay the Bible before them and that there is nothing in the Nicene Creed but what is to be found in the Bible that Cardinal Bellarmine hath nothing to reply to it but this Constantine was indeed a great Emperour but no great Doctor Which is rather a Scoff than an Answer and casts a scorn not only upon him but upon the great Council who as the same Theodoret witnesseth assented unto that speech of Constantine So it there follows in these words That most of the Synod were obedient to what he had discoursed and embraced both mutual Concord and sound Doctrine And accordingly St. Hilary a little after extols his Son Constantius for this that he adhered to the Scriptures and blames him only for not attending to the true Catholick sense of them His words are these in his little Book which he delivered to Constantius I truly admire thee O Lord Constantius the Emperour who desirest a Faith according to what is writen They pretended to no other in those dayes but as he speaks a little after look'd upon him that refused this as Antichrist It was only required that they should receive their Faith out of God's Books not merely according to the words of them but according to their true meaning because many spake Scripture without Scripture and pretended to Faith without Faith as his words are and herein Catholick and constant Tradition was to guide them For whatsoever was contrary to what the whole Church had received and held from the beginning could not in reason be thought to be the meaning of that Scripture which was alledged to prove it And on the other side the Church pretended to no more then to be a Witness of the received sense of the Scriptures which were the bottom upon which they built this Faith Thus I observe Hegesippus saith in Euseb his History L. 4. C. 22. that when he was at Rome he met with a great many Bishops and that he received the very same Doctrine from them all And then a little after tells us what that was and whence they derived it saying That in every succession of Bishops and iâ— every City so they held as the Law preached and as the Prophets and as the Lord. That is according to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament I shall conclude this particular with a pregnant passage which I remember in a famous Divine of our Church Dr. Jacksons in his Treatise of the Catholick Church Chap. 22. who writes
all the rest suffer with it and if one rejoyce all rejoyce with it Having an intimate Fellow-â—elling of all the Good or Evil which befals any joyn'd in so near a Relation beyond the compassion of ordinary Humanity whereby we are bound not only to pray for but by all offices of kindness and most intimate Affection especially to assist and relieve each other in the same Houshold of Faith So that by our Personal Consecration all our Labours and Estates are in some measure devoted to the Honour of GOD the Service of his Church and the Necessities of any of its Members 3. In the Unity of Worship whereby we are oblidged not only to offer up the same Worship for substance but also in the outward Act to joyn and communicate with each other therein to present the same Prayers and Praises to celebrate together the same Sacraments to hear the same Instructions to frequent the same Religious Assemblies as much as possible that we may with one mind and with one mouth glorifie GOD even the Father of our Lord JESVS CHRIST Rom. 15. 6. For as the Command of GOD the Honour of his Religion the Edification of his Church the Propagation of his Truth and the peculiar Promise of his Presence and Blessing require a solemn publick exercise of all Religious Worship in united Congregations so hereby we most sensibly prove and secure our unity therein b S. Austin adv literas Petiliani T. 7. p. 124. Huic Ecclesiae quae per totam terram diffunditur quisquis non communicat vides cui non communicat Idem Ep. 50. ad Bonifacium T. 2. p. 230. Ecclesia Catholica sola est corpus CHRISTI cujus ille caput est Salvator corporis sui Extra hoc corpus neminem vivificat Spiritus Sanctus quia sicut ipse dicit Apostolus charitas DEI diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum qui datus est nobis non est autem particeps Divinae charitatis qui hostis est unitatis Et de Bapt. adv Donatist l. 3. c. 16. T. 7. p. 409. Ipsa est enim charitas quam non habent qui ab Ecclesiae Catholicae communione praecisi sunt c. Non habet DEI charitatem qui non diligit Ecclesiae unitatem S. Cyprian de Unitate Ecclesiae p. 113. Inexpiabilis gravis culpa discordiae nec passione purgatur Esse Martyr non potest qui in Ecclesia non est ad regnum pervenire non potest qui eam quae regnatura est derelinquit Whoever then needlesly separates himself from this Church or refuses to joyn in Communion with its Members so far as it is in his power where he may without violence to any Doctrine or Precept of CHRIST such an one divides himself from his Body and so from all the Promises that we know of the Sacred and comfortable Influences of that one Head and one Spirit 4. In the Vnity of Discipline a Tertullian Apolog. c. 39. corpus sumus de conscientiâ religionis disciplinae unitate spei foedere Clerus ad D Cyprian Ep. 30 Ox. Ed. p. 56. Idem enim omnes credimur operati in quo deprehendimur eadem omnes censurae disciplinae consensione sociati Ita etiam argumentatur idem clerus Rom. adv Marcionem excommunicatum à Patre suo ab iis non receptum in S. Epiphanio Haer. 42. l. 1. T. 3. p. 303. Par. Edit Ou dynametha aneu tes epitropes tu Patros su tuto poiesai mia garâ—estin he pistis kai mia he homonoia c. Synesius Epist 58. p. 203. de censura in Andronicum Thoantem eorum consortes Eide tis hos micropolitin aposkybalisei ten Ecclesian kai dexetai tous apokeryctous autes isto schisas ten Ecclesian hen mian ho Christos einai bouletai whereby every Act of any particular Church conformable to the Institutions of our Saviour and the universally received practice of his Church stands confirmed as an Act of the whole Church Particularly whoever is admitted into it accordingly by Baptism in one place is to be accounted a Member of the Church Catholick and received into its Communion where-ever he comes if no evidence appear of his exclusion by any after regular censure Likewise into whatever Office or Ministration any are orderly admitted in one part thereof in the same are they to be acknowledged in all others though without that particular Jurisdiction which they had in their own But whosoever lies under any censure in one Church he is to be supposed under the same in all others and not to be received into communion till the Sentence be reversed by the same power or a stile higher and greater Authority according to the Fifth Canon of the Council of Nice and the design of their form'd and communicatory Letters without which none were to pass from one Church to another Thus every Church is accountable to its Neighbour Churches and so to the whole Church for its Actions that one may not do what the other undoes without any regard to this Unity which would lead to the confusion and distraction of all Wherefore to put an end to such differences when risen or obviate any growing mischief thereby and to receive Appeals from persons who think themselves aggrieved or injured by their own Bishop or Church a Council of all Bishops in each Province is appointed twice in the year by the same Canon and in many others But there was no mention then of any farther or higher Appeal b S. Cyprian ad Antonianum p. 112. Ox. Ed. Cum sit à Christo una Ecclesia per totum mundum in multa membra divisa item Episcopatus unus Episcoporum muâ—torum concordi numerositate diffusus Et Ep. 3. p. 71. Omnes enim nos decet pro corpore totius Ecclesiae cujus per varias quasque provincias membra digesia sunt excubare S. August de unitate Ecclesiae c. 12. T. 7. p. 534. Neque enim quia in orbe terrarum plerumque Regna dividuntur ideo Christiana unitas dividitur cum in utraque parte Catholica inveniatur Ecclesia Thus an amicable correspondence and intimate communication was maintained between the Neighbour Churches and their Governours and by them with others removed at a greater distance throughout the World These need no long proof but may be taken as generally grantted the main dispute will lie in the particular application of the two last Now to prevent as much as may be all difficulties about them it may be added to the third of Vnity of Worship that it will be very convenient if not absolutely necessary in any settled established Church that there be some set Forms of publick Ministrations without which it is hard for any to know before hand what they joyn with especially for strangers But then these forms should be as plain and simple as possible with as little pretence as can be of any danger to
not been wanting in her endeavours towards it which have reduced many and it is no little time nor easie task to repair the the Ruines of such long confusions and Desolations 5. We owe a great part of these calamities to the same persons who now charge them upon us for beside the influence with their Agents Principles and Examples had his contriving and promoting those unnatural Commotions and Rebellions in the State which I am not now concerned to examine let matter of fact determine that as it hath been found more or less plain Thus far we have abundant evidence that several of their Emissaries have herded with the Chief of our Dissenters and if some of the grossest Sects were not framed among them first as seems very probable yet most of them have been oft found acting their parts under that disguise and have imployed on all occasions their interest to shelter and protect them according to the known maxime of their Policy that the readiest way of effecting our ruine was by increasing and fomenting our Divisions here they have found their greatest harvest For when Mens minds are unsettled and they grown giddy with being long turned about by every new wind of Doctrine and are weary of tumbling and tossing from one Party to another they will easily catch hold of any fancied support and be sooner betrayed to yield themselves captives to the delusory hopes of rest and settlement amongst them 6. To all which may be added much of that irreverence and contempt of Persons and things Sacred which have made way for the forementioned sad calamities amongst us are mostly due to their Oppressions Insolencies or Delusions When the Pâ—ople had so long groaned under their tyrannical yoke and intolerable burdens and found themselves so oft cheated by their manifest impostures no marvel if they be over-fearful of what they had suffered so much from and afterwards too suspicious of being deluded again and be soon tempted to transgress due measure in the use of their liberty being just recovered from extreme slavery though so many years have passed since as will hardly admit of a tolerable excuse Yet better experience and longer consideration we hope in time may teach them to distinguish between the certain Interests of true Religion and the hypocritical wiles of worldly Craft and Policy and so to think a due respect and Obsequiousness to those who sincerely manage the former necessary to preserve them from being imposed on by the latter and prevent their falling into the like miscarriages which they observe in others And that Apostolical Government good Order wholsome Discipline sound Doctrine and Uniform Devotion may no longer suffer under the false but most odious charge of Popery and that they who have under GOD been most instrumental in reforming and defending the church from the real and gross corruptions thereof may not still be oppressed with the unreasonable clamour of a meer invidious name which they that use most know very little what they mean by it only that it denotes somewhat favoured by them of whom they have deservedly an ill opinion The case hath been too like exemplified in another Instance especially of late years in which many Hypocrites have so scandalously abused the most solemn pretences to Sanctity and Devotion for a covering or continuance to the most horrid Opressions Schisms and Rebellions that they have emboldned profane men to scorn and send out open Defiances against the very appearance of Religion and possibly tempted others serious and hearty lovers of its cause to be too modest and shamefaced in its defence yet we hope unfeigned Piety will be alwayes justified of its Children Sutably truly Catholick principles and Observances may vindicate themselves though gross Errors and Impostures have long passed under that disguise Notwithstanding ordinary People not alwayes the best distinguishers and who are often hurried from one extreme to another do not readily discern one from the other but having found themselves once cheated be a long time over jealous of a like design upon them VI. From the Premisses duly considered will I hope in the close be inferred the strongest motive and Obligation upon all among us heartily to embrace and stedily to persevere in the Communion of our Church to share in those happy Advantages and Blessings which all who rightly improve it may promise themselves therein She desires by all means possible to convince their Consciences and incline their Affections to a willing compliance with their indispensable Duty and highest Priviledge rather then over-aw their persons by severe Censures or the following condign punishments Nay if necessity force uponany the execution of the last when they wil not harken to the former she pleads the same Charity for the Principle of both not only to prevent others from being seduced by the same Errours But also thus to deter them from more dismal Ruine here and hereafter which hangs over them persisting still in the same obstinacy a S. Augustin adv Epist Petiliani l. 2. T. 7. p. 101. Non vos occidimus sed ipsivosmet vera morteocciditis cum vos ab anitatis viva radice praeciditis Of all she hath the tenderest compassion though making a difference but without partiality Some must be saved with Fear and almost violently pulled out of the Fire Men may make a noise with the odious name of Persecution yet our Adversaries of both extremes have little reason to object that of which they themselves stand so deeply chargeable when in their power But we relie not on that Plea which however it offend them would not clear us No settled Government Civil or Sacred was ever or is more gentle and compassionate in its inflictions then ours If when this Tenderness was required with new and greather Insolence and more obstinate Contempt Authority begin to put on a more harsh and severe Countenance and make use of the rod of its power to correct the peevishness of some or restrain the extravagancies of others it is to be hoped they will in the end find it for their edification and not for their destruction and may see cause to bless God and thank their Governours for those benign Penalties which almost forceably opened their eyes to discern that evidence which pertinacious obstinacy had shut them against in all other Perswasives as b S. Aug. Epist 48. ad Vinceâ—â—â—um T. 2. p. 167. 174. S. Auguststin declares several of the Donatists had professed to him and therefore saw great reason to recal and recant the many clamours they had raised on this ocsion I hope we are not without many sensible Instances of the good effect hereof among our selves though it be very different in some from what it is in others but the tendency of it is certainly to what is good in all Experience and farther consideration may have made all prudent and sober Friends to true Piety Vertue and good Order ashamed of the popular Plea of Liberty or that men
endeavour to add to a Stock of Merit which is already infinite as some have thought And indeed it had need be infinite else it is to be feared it is almost if not quite spent especially considering the vast Expence of these Merits in frequent Jubilees and other Indulgences the Multitude of Sinners and the little extraordinary Vertue and Piety found among them at this day to add to their Store So that methinks it may justly be question'd whither they are not bankrupt before now their Disbursemâ—nt so much exceeding their Receipts and the Credit of their Bank seems to depend wholly on their Old flock of Merit which the Ancients laid up for them and yet they grant that this was rather casual then out of Design or good Nature For the Saints design'd only to make sure doing enough for themselves and it seems that less served their turns then they thought of and the rest was laid by for the use of such rich Sinners as the Church would sell it to So that all the Stock of Merit which the Church of Rome hath so great occasion for and of which there is made so prodigious an Expence is at the best but a Chance and spare-heap which they cannot tell how they came by for every Bishop hath the same Title to such Treasure trove that the Bishop of Rome hath nay they have reason to fear there was never any such Treasure For I doubt not but the Saints in heaven will thankfully own that they have received more from GOD then they deserved or could challenge to be sure they knew not how much there was ever laid up nor whither the Stock be spent and yet they spend as freely now as if they had been only laying up till this time and that the Treasure were now first opened Many other such Absurdities and unanswerable Difficulties there are in their Doctrine of Merits to the use of others And is it not a dismal thing that the Priests of the Church of Rome should teach men to trust in and as to Salvation depend assuredly on these of which they themselves have no manner of assurance nor Ground to hope Is not this to play with Men's souls and eternal Salvation And especially can this be urged as an encouragement of Devotion when if it were as true as it is false it tends directly to make Men vicious and to neglect Devotion For so a man will think if there be such a Stock in the Church why should not he have a Share of it as well as another And if one can merit for another why should not he depend on others as well as they on his Merits And seeing Merits may be bought as the Roman Casuists have adjudged he may think it very reasonable that others Merits should be given him in exchange for his Money So the Result of all is this according to this Doctrine and the supposed Church-flock only one thing is needful and that is Money and this will fully make up all lack of Piety and Devotion 10. And the belief of Purgatory and of the validity of Prayers for the dead is no proper Encouragement of true Devotion For true Devotion is such as we perform to God agreeably to his Will when we know what we do and for what ends and have a promise or hope of Success but when a man prayes to God to deliver a Soul out of Purgatory he must suppose as true several things which are either false or at least very uncertain so that he can never pray in Faith or without great perplexitie and distraction of mind for he knows not whither there by any such place or state as Purgatory For Scripture sayes nothing of it nor the Fathers of the three or four first Centuries He knows not whither the Soul that he prayes for be in Purgatory if there should be such a place for it may be in Heaven or in Hell for ought he can tell And if the Soul be in Purgatory he knows not whither it be Usefull or Lawful to pray for it for God hath given us neither Command nor Encouragement nor Liberty so to do Nay there are several particulars which they themselves cannot agree on concerning Purgatory viz. What Sins are punished there How the Soul without its Body can be tormented there with a material Fire Who are Gods Instruments in punishing the Souls there For the Devils are not and how the Pope by his Indulgences can applie the Satisfactions of Christ and of the Saints so as to deliver any Soul out of Purgatory And if there be such a place the Pope himself by his Example doth enough to dishearten all Men from endeavouring to deliver the Souls of their Friends from thence For it is not doubted but he can deliver all out of Purgatory he having the Command of the Treasure of the Church And it must needs be a wonderful Discouragement to a Devout Mind that among so many hundred Popes their should not be one found so Charitable as to release so many thousands of poor Soul that lye under intolerable pains and so must lye till the last day or till the debâ— of their temporal punishment be paid If the Pope can do so much with so little Charge or Trouble to himself and yet will not do it surely I have less Reason to do any thing Nor doth it follow that because it is a part of acceptable Devotion for one Man to pray for another whilst living here on Earth that therefore it is as pleasing to God for us to pray for Souls departed For our Prayers for others on Earth are either for Temporal Blessings or â—or the means of Grace We pretend not to desire God to reverse his own Laws and save such a Man let him be as bad as he will but to make him Holy first and then to make him Happy And to pray any otherwise for another Man naturally tâ—nds to represent it aâ— feasible to reconcile a wicked Life with the hopes of Heaven but when a Man is dead he can Work no more nor make any use of the means of Grace and therefore there is no room for this Prayer to God for him he is not capable of Repentance and Glory and Amendment and of being made fit for Heaven Lastly if they boast of the validity of the Orders of their Bishops and Priests as an Encouragement to Devotion the validity of the Sacraments depending so much on the Legality of the Minstry We answer that we have a Clergy as properly and truly of Christ's sending as any Church in the World against whose Ordination and Mission nothing can be objected We deriving the Succession of our bishops not only from their own Austin but from the British bishops before his time which is the only Regular way of Mission that we know of except that of an extraordinary Commission from Heaven as St. Paul had And I would not that there were that to be objected against us that is justly objected against
people and are so desperately fond of this Device of keeping the people ignorant of what is prayed for that their Casuists have defined that a Man may say his Office privately in other Languages besides the Latin as in Hebrew or Greek but not in the Vulgar Language at the same time keeping the people in Ignorance and discouraging them in their devotions and exercising their Authority over them in the most dangerous manner that can be 6. Their ascribing spiritual Effects to several things which are purely of their own Invention is much to the discouragement of true devotion towards God And yet they have very many things of this Nature As Holy Water by the being sprinkled with which they believe rhe Devil shall have less power over them Agnus Dei's Swords and Medals which they wear to preserve them from dangers which being consecrated according to the Rules of their Church have through the devotion of the persons and the power of the Church a wonderful good effect though indeed God never promised any such thing To this Head I may refer also their Rosary which is nothing else but an odd combination of Pater nosters and Ave Mary's Several short prayers to the saying of which thousands of years of pardon of Sins are annex'd Their carrying the Image of St. Genovefa in procession at Paris and other Images in other places to obtain Rain c. And innumerable other such like practices on which Men are taught to relie and to expect great good by though they have neither any natural force or efficacy that way nor any assurance from God that such effects shall follow Nay even the Sacraments themselves according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome are only such a kind of charms for they are supposed to work effectually on the person without any devotion or Vertuous disposition being required of him in order to it Now whatever effect they promise above what the natural efficacy of the thing is apt and able to produce they must have express Authority from God or else they sadly delude and cheat those poor souls that depend upon them And at the best they are supposed only a shorter cut to Heaven an easier way of pleasing God and getting his Blessing and are invented only to ease a Man of the fatigue and trouble of the common and ordinary road of serving him by a constancy and regularity of Devotions Seventhly Their Manuals and books of Devotion which they give their People to read instead of the Scripture which they forbid to be used though they may design them as Helps yet I must range them among the Hindrances of Devotion For the best of them are so full of Tautologies and vain Repetitions that they must needs come uuder the censure of our blessed Saviour Matth. 6. though they use his own holy Name For so in the Jesus Psalter at the end of the Manuals of Prayers and Litanies printed at Paris in English An. 1682. In a Litany of fifteen Petitions the Name Jesu is repeated over above 130 times And in the same book in the Litany of the blessed Virgin they pray to her by 40 several Names being only so many distinct praises of her And the like is observable in all their books of Devotion which I ever saw Now their saying the same thing so often over is not contrived to help and Assist Attention or prevent Distraction or as a Repetition of what is more then ordinarly important or for any other good and prudent Reason but out of pure vanity and Ostentation or as it were even to flatter our blessed Saviour or the Saint which they pray to But most of the books and Legends which they put into the hands of their People to excite their Devotion and by which the People take an estimate of the Christian Religion are such wretched plain Forgeries and so pitifullie contrived Fables as can never be believed by Men of sense and if they could be believed are proper indeed to make Men Mad and Enthusiastical but not to advance true Devotion and he that reads only such books is qualified indeed to tell Stories and to believe Lies but no serious truth will stick to him or be valued by him So that such books as these are so far from doing good that they do much harm to Religion for they Imprint a wrong Notion of Religion on Mens Minds would make a Man believe that God is like a child pleased with Trifles that Religion and the Method of our Salvation is only a Charm and Trick which the Priests have gotten the receit of but that there is nothing in Christianity fiâ— to make a man wise and manly in his Worship of God or in the management of himself and practice of Devotion Nay the stories which are told in the Lives of their Saints and believed by the common people are enough even to deprave the natural Sentiments of Mankind concerning God and Religion so that perhaps it were much better to leave Men to the natural effluxes of their own minds then to pretend to assist them with such Helps as these That a little Water or a consecrated Bell should scare the devil or St Francis's rope charm and bind him would make a man have little fear of such an Enemy or a prodigious Veneration for such a Saint but how it should render a Man more piously affected toward GOD more relying on his Providence or more Religiously Carefull over himself I see not And these Stories though so apparently false yet being affirmed with such Confidence strike at the very Foundation of our Religion For it is apt to make Men believe that Christianity it self was at first propagated among a sad dull stupid and credulous Generation of Men when as really it first appeared in an Age as sharp-sighted as any Age before or since which is much for its Vindication It would tempt a Man to dispise a Religion in which such Men are Saints and such Practices commended and will set Christianity but on the same level with modern Judaism and Mahumetanism For the Jews have just as much to say for their Cabbala and the Turks for their incredible Fables for they are reported on the same Credit are just so credible in themselves and just as edifying of the People that attend to them The Miracles which they relate being often Just so useful as that pretended to be wrought in the Temple of Apollo when a Man coming out of the Temple it was observed that his body did not cast any shadow by which thing however strange in it self the Man was not much the better nor the World wiser But many of their Books of Devotion are worse then ridiculous for there are frequently such passages and prayers as I cannot tell how to vindicate from Blasphemy and Idolatry Saint Bonaventur's Psalter both in Latin and Italian I mentioned before in which there are I believe a thousand such Prayers to her or Expressions concerning her which I
matter of them they are such as God himself hath required to be served by are significant of that disposition of Mind which we know God accepts and have an aptnesâ— to the producing of that temper in us which God intends to work us up to by them We use all the Instances of Devotion which they of the Church of Rome use if they be either necessary or fit though indeed often to other and better purpose We pray constantlie but only for the living for we look on the Dead as past the means of Grace and consequentlie past the benefit of our Prayers We praise God for his Excellencies in himself and thank him for his Goodness to others as well as to our selves We practise Confession of Sins to God in publick and in private and advise it to be made also to the Ministers of Gods Word when it is necessary for Ghostly Council and Advice for the satisfying of their Consciences and the removal of Scruple and Doubtfulness but we cannot say it is necessary to be made to Men in order to the Pardon of God We reckon it rather as a priviledge or advantage then a Duty And if Men will not make use of this priviledge as often as there is Occasion unless we tell a lye to advance the credit of it we cannot help that We enjoyn Fastings and disallow not of Penances but advise People to take an holy revenge on themselves when they have sinned but not as the Papists do to satisfie for their sins or merit at Gods hand but to shew the sincerity of their Repentance and to strengthen their Resolutions of amendement for it is our amendement and not our punishment which God is pleased with And we take care that all these things be performed in a due measure proportionably to the strength of the Person and the Nature and Design of the Duty but are afraid of straining them too high lest men should be altogether deterred from them or acquiesce only in the outward Action or render our selves and our Cause ridiculous by an imprudent management We have the Sacraments duly administred as our Saviour commanded them we reckon our Baptism with Water perfect without Oyl or Spittle We grutch not the cup to the Laity nor celebrate solitary Communions nor admire whispering to God in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ but as we have received from Christ so we teach and administer without Addition or Diminution of any thing essential or material In short in the holy Offices themselves and the behaviour which our Church requires they be celebrated with there is alwayes a great propriety observable agreeable to the command of God in Scripture and the practice of the Apostles and first Ages of the Church proper to the several parts of divine Worship expressive of our Sense consonant to Reason and the use of the World especial respect being alwayes had to the exciting of Piety and Devotion in the minds and carriage of our fully afforded and pressed on Men. For we not only have all our Service in a Language which the meanest People understand but have it so contrived by frequent Responses that every Person bears a part in that Worship which he is so much concerned in and doth not only hear the Priest speak to God Almighty but prayes for himself and is required to joyn his assent to every short Prayer by a distinct Amen With us the same Service and Rules of Life are enjoyned to all all Men having the same Concern in another Life however different their Circumstances and Concerns are in this Life We have constant Prayers in every Parish weekly at least in many dayly with the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ frequently administred nay every Sunday not only in Cathedrals but in â—everal Colledges and private Parish Churches And we appeal to all Men whither there be any where more practical Sermons fitted to the Cases of Men without Vanity and Superâ—â—ition then among us Whither good and free Learning be any where more encouraged or where better care is taken foâ— the due instruction of the People The Scriptures being in every oneâ—s hands with us and other excellent Books made according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures instead of Legends and Lives of Saiâ—â—â— St. Bonaventure's Psalter and other such Books which are really Libels against Christianity and yet are the principal books which the Priests of the Church of Rome commend to their People For as for the Bible if any one of them hath happened to read in it who is not licensed to that purpose he must own it as sin to his Priest at his next Confession And as there are such blessed Opportunities afforded so constantly and such Prudent provision made for all Cases Ordinary and Extraordinary so I thank God we can say that our people are generally very diligent in the use of these Means and would be more so were it not for the Division which they of the Church of Rome especially raise among us For they may easily perceive that we urge no more on them then their own good and the commands of God require of them â— though our church knows her Power very well yet she makes use of it only to ensorce the Laws of God to explain illustrate and apply them to particular Cases but never to set up her own commands in Opposition to them as the Church of Rome doth and therefore though we teach our People to dread an Excommunication it being sammum futâ—ri Judicii Praejudicium as Tertullian calls it a foretast or forestalling of the last Judgment and not for a World to lye under it though it were inflicted only for contempt yet we warn them in the first place to avoid the Cause and Occaâ—ion of Excommunication and therefore not to value what Censures of the Church of Rome we are under they being so very unjust and Groundless Fourthly and lastly as only the true Object of Devotion is here worshipped only proper Expressions allowed all usefull Helps afforded so also the greatest stresâ— is laâ—d on the practice of it agreeable to the true Nature End and design of it The principal ends of Devotion are to pay a Homage to God our great Creatâ—â— and Benefactor to get his Blessing and to work our selves up to a better temper of â—â—indâ— And to this end we are in our service importâ—â—ate without Vanity or Impertinency long without Tediousness or Idle Repetitions Only we use the Lord's Prayer often that no part of our service may be without that perfect form and also in Consideration of the great Comprehensiveness of it and of the Distraction of Men's Minds which seldom can attend to the full sense of it all at one time And we teach our People that every Man must work for himself for he that prayes only by a proxy it is very just that he should be rewarded only by a Proxy too we put our People in mind that
time to tell us that the matter so pretended to be instituted is no less then absosolutely necessary to the Salvation of Sinners 2. The second of these will easily be resolved by considering what we observed before from the Sess 14. C. 3. Council of Trent viz. that this Sacrament of Penance consists of Matter and Form the Form is the Priests Absolution but the Matter or Materials of this Sacrament are Contrition Confession to a Priest and Satisfaction or Performance of the Penance enjoyn'd by him now it is evident that not only Auricular Confession of which we have spoken hitherto but also Contrition and Satisfaction are wholly omitted and past over in silence by the Evangelist in this passage of Scripture from whence they fetch their Sacrament of Penance and is it not a wonderfully strange thing that our Savionr should be supposed to institut a Sacrament without any Materials of it at all Surely therefore this must be either a very Spiritual Sacrament or none at all Let us guess at the probability of this in proportion to either of the other undoubted Sacraments Suppose our Saviour instead of that accurat form in which he instituted the Eucharist had only said I would have you my Disciples and all that shall believe on my Name to keep a Memorial of me when I am gone Or suppose he said onely as he doth John 6. 55. My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed would any one have concluded here that our Saviour in so saying had appointed Bread and Wine to be consecrated to be received in such a manner and in a word that he had without more ado instituted such a Sacrament as we usually celebrate No certainly and therefore we see our Saviour is the most express and particular therein that can be for he takes Bread blesses it breakes it gives it to them saying Take eat this is my Body c. and after Supper he takes the Cup blesses it gives it to them saying Drink ye all of this for this is the New Testament in my Blood c. and then adds Do this in remembrance of Me. Now who is there that observes this accuracy of our Saviour in the Eucharist can imagine that he should intend to institute a Sacrament of Penance and that as necessary to Salvation in the Opinion of the Romanists as the other only with this Form of words Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted c. and without the least mention of Confession Contrition or any other Material or necessary Part or Circumstance of it 2. But in the third and last place let us suppose that our Saviour had in the Text before us instituted Penance and had appointed particularly all those things which they call the Material parts of it as it is evident he hath not yet even then and upon that Supposition Penance would not have proved to be a Sacrament properly so called I confess according to a loose acceptation of the word Sacrament something may be said for it for so there are many things have had the name of Sacrament applyed to them Tertullian somewhere calls Elisha's Ax the Sacrament of Wood and in his Book against Marcion he stiles the whole Christian Religion a Sacrament St. Austin in several places calls Bread Fish the Rock and the Mystery of Number Sacraments for he hath given us a general Rule in his Fifth Epistle viz. That all signs when they belong to divine things are called Sacramentâ— And in consideration hereof it is acknowledged by Cassander that the Number of Sacraments was indefinite in the Church of Rome it self until the times of Peter Lombard But all this notwithstanding and properly speaking this Rite of Penance taking it altogether and even supposing whatsoever the Romanists can suppose to belong to it cannot be reputed a Sacrament according to the allowed definitions of a Sacrament delivered by their own Divines Some of them define a Sacrament thus a Hugo de S. Vict. lib. de Sacram. Sacramentum est corporale elementum foris sensibiliter propositum ex similitudine repraesentans ex institutione significans ex Sanctificatione continens invisibilem gratiam And the b Magist Sent. lib. 4. dist 1. Master of the sentences himself describes it somewhat more brieflie but to the same effect in these words Sacramentum est invisibilis gratiae visibilis forma ejusdem gratiae imaginem gerens causa existens both which definitions are acknowledged and applauded by the Jesuite c Becanus Tract 2. de Sacramentis Becanus And the plain truth is a Sacrament cannot be better exprest in so few words then it is by St. d Aug. c. Faust Lib. 19. c. 16. Austin when he calls it verbum visibile a visible Word or Gospel For it pleased the Divine Wisdom and Goodness by this institution of Sacraments to condescend to our weakness and thereby to give us sensible Tokens or Pleges of what he had promised in his Written word to the intent that our dulness might be relieved and our Faith assisted forasmuch as herein our Eyes and other senses as well as our Ears are made Witnesses of his gracious intentions Thus by Baptismal washâ—ng he gives us a sensible token and representation of our regeneration and the washing away of our sins by the Blood of Christ and by the participation of Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper we have a Token and Symbol of our Union with Christ our Friendship with God and communion with each other But now it is manifest there is no such thing as this in their Sacrament of Penance as even Bellarmine himself confesses For they do not say or mean that the Absolution of the Priest is a Token or Emblem of God's forgiveness but that the Priest actually pardons in God's stead by Vertue of a Power delegated to him So that according to them here must be a Sacrament not only without any material parts instituted but also without any thing Figurative Symbolical or Significative which seems to be as expresly contrary to their own Doctrine in the aforesaid definitions as to the truth it self Nay farther to evince the difference of this Rite of Penance from all other proper Sacraments it deserves observation that whereas in those other acknowledged Sacraments the Priest in God's Name delivers to us the Pledges and Symbols of Divine Grace Here in this of Penance we must bring all the material parts and Pledges our selves and present them to God or to the Priest in his stead My meaning is that whereas for instance in Baptism the Priest applies to us the Symbol of Water and in the Eucharist delivers to us the consecrated Elements in token of the Divine Grace contrary-wise here in Penance we must on our parts bring with us contrition confession and satisfaction too in which respect we may be rather said to give Pledges to God then he to us which is widely different from the Nature of other