certain it is that God hath ever preserv'd in the World a True Divine and Illustrious Religion in which Men may be Sav'd if they will. For Christ did not Light up a Candle to put it under a Bushel Mat. 5. And so certain it is that the Protestant Religion which is Erected upon so bad a Foundation as the Erring of the Church is is neither good nor sufficient to Salvation Question XIII If the Church of Christ did Err from the True Light of the Gospel for so many Ages could be find none fit in so many hundred years to restore the same till Luther falling out with the Pope and breaking his Vow of Chastity began to Teach a New Religion tending to Liberty and Looseness TO make way for my next demand I must again repeat that Protestants Believe and Teach that the Church of Christ quickly fell from that Purity of Doctrine which he and his Apostles deliver'd unto her And that shortly after their times her Pastors and Doctors by Humane Inventions and Traditions Obscur'd the true and sincere Light of the Gospel And obtruded upon their Followers many gross Errors about Faith many vain and hurtful Superstitions in the practice of Religion and about the Worship of God. In which she continu'd still increasing them for 1400 1200. or at least a thousand years And from which she ought long ago to have been cleans'd but was not through the Ambition Negligence or gross Ignorance of her Pastors Who living in Blindness themselves lead their Followers in Blindness as Protestants imagine Who therefore call this long tract of time in which they esteem the Church to have Err'd the time of Blindness But how Blindly may partly appear by that which I have already said partly by this That those Articles of the Old Religion which these men account Errors are the prime parts of the Religion of Christ which tend to good Life to nourish Piety and to inflame Devotion and which he ordain'd to Animate Help Curb and Cure our sluggish weak and frail Nature and to bring his People to live in the Fear of God to walk in his Holy Commandments to live according to Conscience to abstain from Evil and to do Good To Crucifie the Flesh and the bad Desires thereof Gal. 5. 24. And in a Word to imitate studiously his own Blessed Life and the Lives and Actions of his Holy Apostles and other prime Saints who Forsook all to follow him Mat. 19. 27. Such are those Articles of the Old Religion which bind under pain of Damnation to the necessity of keeping the Commandments of God by abstaining from Mortal Sins such as are Murder Fornication Theft in a notable quantity Perjury and the like by which property they are broken to the necessity of Fasting as the Church Commands Of Confessing all grievous sins Sacramentally to a Lawful and Authoriz'd Priest Of doing Pennance for them in this Life or of Suffering severe Punishment in the next Of restoring other mens Goods unlawfully gotten or possess'd and to the necessity of obeying the Church and all other Lawful Superiours in things appertaining to their Power Such also are those Articles which Teach the merit of good Works proceeding of Grace and done in the state of Grace and the excellency of the Evangelical Councils of Christ of perpetual Poverty Chastity and Obedience practic'd in the Church of Christ even since the Apostles times by innumerable Holy Men and Women All which Articles and divers others connex'd with these are the things which Protestant Teachers repute Errors and dislike in the Old Religion as restraining too much from the Liberty of the Gospel that is to speak plain English from the Liberty of the Flesh from Venus and Bacchus Which Liberty is chiefly intrench'd upon by the Roman Church in that she will not admit any to the high and Heavenly Function of Priesthood who will not Voluntarily Geld themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19. 12. By Vowing perpetual Chastity which point indeed doth chiefly sting many Protestant Teachers and doth incite them to rage so furiously and to stand out so Rebelliously as they do against this their True and Antient Mother though divers of the more Learned amongst them do it with some Reluctation of Conscience which tells them that Chastity is a Decent dignifying and excellent Ornament of Christian Priests and which therefore not Obscurely foretells them that the short solace which a Wife in this Life affords them is likely to cost them in the next the Eternal loss of their Souls But to come to the matter and question here intended If the Church of Christ did Err from the true Light of his Gospel so many Ages and imbrace so many gross and dangerous Superstitions as She is accus'd to have done I demand of Prudent and Considerate Protestants how it could become the Wisdom Goodness and Mercy of God first to drive off and defer the Cleansing and Reforming of his Church so many hundred years to the great Dishonour of Himself and of his Blessed Son and to the loss of Infinite Souls and then after so long a tract of time to make choice of such Instruments as Protestants imagine he did to restore again to the World the true Light of his Gospel Could he find none fit to take in hand and to bring to effect this Needful Merciful and Holy Reformation till Martin Luther a Cholerick and Bold Austine-Fryer Incens'd with Anger because the Preaching of certain Indulgences granted by the Pope was committed to the Dominican-Fryers and not to his Order fell out with the Pope cast away his Religious Weed brake his Vow of Chastity which he had long kept Married a Nun Consecrated to God and plung'd himself into a Carnal course of Life Could God I say find none fit neither amongst the Fathers of the Primitive Church nor amongst the Saints and Sages of the next thousand years to be the Actors of so Needful a Reformation till the Love of Carnal Liberty made Luther and his Brood shew themselves to the World There liv'd in those times St. Basil the Great St. Hierome St. Ambrose St. Augustine St. Gregory the Great Venerable Bode St. Bernard St. Anselme St. Thomas of Aquin St. Bonaventure beside Innumerable others all excellent Men for Learning Wisdom Sanctity and all so Devoted to God that He had them all at his command And yet among all these could he find none so fit to be his Instruments in the Divine Work of Reforming his Church and of restoring again to the World the true Light of his Gospel as Luther and his Associates Who dares Pawn his Soul hereon Especially if he consider that these Men were not only destitute of Excellent Sanctity of Life which those usually have who are Gods peculiar Instruments in the effecting of any such kind of work but were also branded with all the Marks of False Prophets of Perfidious Hereticks as Learned Protestants cannot but know Insomuch that it is not possible
Controversies about Faith and Religion now in question amongst Christian People which few I know have leisure or means fewer Capacity to look throughly unto or ability to distinguish always Light from Darkness Truth from Falsehood in them But my Endeavour is to stir you up to a serious consideration of certain general Heads and undenyable Truths which this little Treatise doth present unto you easie to be conceiv'd yet powerful to lay open even to mean Understandings the assured Light of the True Gospel of Christ and the absolute necessity of admitting some sure and un-erring Interpreter of God's Word by him ordained and enabled to deliver the right meaning thereof unto us in all Ages but especially when Controversies about Faith and Religion are raised which Interpreter being once admitted of and agreed upon all other Controversies about points of Belief will quickly be at an end Peace will be restored again to Christians and nothing will remain for the securing of Souls conjoin'd together in the Communion of Saints but a studious care to decline from Evil and to do Good and Industriously to imitate the Blessed Life of Christ But further yet to facilitate this affair be pleased to distinguish in the Belief of Catholicks whom I often call Papists to condescend to the Style of Protestants so terming them for adhering in Religion to the Pope in Latine Papa this word signifying Father as the common Spiritual Father of Christians and supreme Pastor of the Flock of Christ be pleased I say to distinguish in the Belief of Catholicks Divine Faith from Humane Their Articles of Faith from Humane Stories which many distinguishing not and thereupon perswading themselves that Catholicks with equal certainty and obligation believe the one and the other that is their Articles of Faith and the Humane Stories which relate the Lives Actions and Miracles of certain Saints and finding some of these to be very strange and to savour in their conceit of fraudulent Fictions take this to be a sufficient Warrant for them to contemn Papistry as a foolish ungrounded and fabulous Religion and to repute Papists indiscreetly credulous and plainly to be led in darkness and blindness But these do much mistake for the truth is that although all Catholicks be strictly bound to believe those points of Doctrine which their Church doth propose for Articles of Faith contained in the written word of God or in the perpetual Tradition of the Church or deduced by General Councils or by the Pastors of the Church out of God's Word when Heresies are condemned yet they are not bound to believe the Relations of particular Authors concerning the Actions and Miracles of Saints or other like things farther then discreet Prudence and Christian Piety doth lead them every Man being at liberty to weigh the worth and honesty of the Relator and the probability of the thing related and then to believe or not to believe as Reason and Piety shall dictate unto him Yet not forgetting that God is admirable in his Saints That His Wisdom Power Justice Mercy and Sweetness in Governing the World and in contriving and ordering the Affairs of Man's Salvation is far above the reach of our weak Understanding That frequently there is less danger in believing too much than in believing too little and that there are some as strange things related in the Holy Scriptures at which Atheists do stumble as are in the approved Histories of the Church Neither do Catholicks believe these Stories and their Articles of Faith with one and the same certainty for these Stories they believe meerly with Humane Faith for the Authority of the Relators who may Err mistake or deceive But their Articles of Faith they believe with Divine Faith for God's Authority speaking in his Word and by the ordinary Doctors and Pastors of his Church being bound under pain of forfeiting the Name of Catholicks and of incurring damnable Sin not to disbelieve wittingly any one of these Articles all of them being Divine Verities warranted for Truth by the Holy Ghost who continually guideth and directeth the Church in her Doctrine of Faith as is hereafter shewed out of Gods Word And so by disbelieving stubbornly the Articles of Faith which the Church professeth Heresie is incurred which is not incurred by disbelieving her Stories Furthermore if hereafter I affirm not for want of Charity but forced by unanswerable Arguments drawn from the word of God that the Followers of the Protestant Religion so dying are not sav'd take me to speak of those who culpably prefer this Religion before the Catholick or culpably dye therein being thereby destitute of that Faith and Charity which is of necessity required to Salvation and not of those who being truly Baptiz'd and brought up among Protestants have excusable Ignorance of the Catholick Faith and Church by reason either of their tender Years or of their weak Capacities or else of their mean and rude Education for such are secret Members of the Catholick Church and therefore if they depart this Life cloathed with those Garments of Christ with which he adorned them in the Sacrament of Baptism not having fallen into mortal Sin they shall certainly inherit the Kingdom of Heaven In which happiness none shall be Sharers that pass out of this Life destitute of Divine Faith which is the Gift of God of which more hereafter or defiled with Mortal Sin which is so called because it destroys the supernatural life of the Soul received by Regeneration in Baptism consisting in Divine Faith and other Celestial Virtues but especially in Sanctifying Grace and divine Charity without which Divine Charity nothing doth avail to Salvation as the Apostle teaches 1 Cor. 1. 13. Lastly because divers Protestant Teachers endeavour to make their Followers believe That the Fathers of the Primitive Church were Protestants seeking thereby to Illustrate the Protestant Religion that the greatness and boldness of this Imposture pardon the Word for I know not how otherwise to express truly the dealing of these Men may clearly appear I humbly intreat all understanding Protestants which know it not to take notice That those ancient Worthies and Lights of the Church of Christ were either Monks or Founders of Monastical Discipline or at least Approvers and Praisers of the same St. Anthony was a Monk and St. Athanasius his Praiser St. Basil the Great a Monk and the Founder of a Monastical Institute which in the Eastern part of the World is yet practised St. Gregory the Divine was a Monk St. Chrysostom a Monk St. Hierom a Monk the Great St. Augustine the Founder of a Monastical course of Life St. Martin a Monk St. Benedict a Monk and Founder of the Famous Order of Benedictine Monks which does yet flourish in the Western Church St. Gregory the Great was a Monk and by the Labours of Fourty Monks did first plant Christianity amongst the English Let any Man judge how likely or how true it is that these men were Protestants Secondly take notice that
they might have true Faith in him Which they could not have but by Believing the Word of God The Apostle saying Rom. 10. Faith is by Hearing and Hearing is by the Word of Christ Whilst such then Heard and Believ'd The Doctrine of the Church that is the Teaching of the Doctors and Pastors of the Church they Heard and Believ'd the Word of God The same do Papists now Futhermore it cannot be doubted but that the Gospel and Voice of Christ is the Word of God and that those which hear these hear the Word of God. But the Preaching and Teaching of the Doctors and Pastors of the Church of Christ is the Gospel and Voice of Christ Ergo c. This is clear out of Matth. 24. where Christ says This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be Preach'd in the whole World for a Testimony to all Nations and then shall come the Consummation For who do Preach this Gospel in all Ages till the end of the World but the Doctors and Pastors of the Church Their Preaching then is the Gospel of Christ and consequently the Word of God. Christ likewise says John 10. speaking of his Sheep which he is to gather out of the Gentiles even till the end of the World Other Sheep I have which are not of this Fold that is of the Flock of the Jews Them also I must bring and they shall hear my Voice Christ did not nor doth not Preach to the Gentiles to gather his Sheep from amongst them in all Ages by his own Corporal Voice But by the Voice and Teaching of the Pastors of his Church Their Voice then is his Voice and consequently the Word of God. Which is yet further shew'd out of Luke 10. where Christ says to his Pastors and Teachers He that heareth you heareth me Wherefore while Papists do hear the Teaching of the Doctors and Pastors of the Church lineally succeeding the Apostles they hear the Word of God the Gospel of Christ the Voice of Christ yea Christ himself And therefore they cannot be justly said to believe in matters of Faith the Doctrines of men Or to hazard their Souls upon the Doctrines of men But upon the Authority of God speaking in and by that Church which his continual assistance maketh to be The Pillar and ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3. But the Case is not so with Protestants For they do not only rely and hazard their Souls upon the Doctrines of Men But they also prefer the Doctrines of men before the express Word of God. For in divers most weighty Points of Religion they leave not only the Antient Fathers the General Councils and the ever visible and Catholick Church of Christ but even the Word of God it self to follow the Teaching of their new Masters This will seem at first a strange or rather a very Injurious and Contumelious Imputation But let us make it plain by some examples The Word of God says James 2. 24. Do you see that a man is justify'd by Works and not by Faith only But Protestant Teachers say that a man is justify'd Not by Works but by Faith only Mark how directly they contradict the Word of God. For that says By Works and not by Faith only And these do Protestants believe rather than the express Word of God in the weighty point of Justification On which their Salvation depends which is not obtain'd but by the true manner of Justification Secondly The Word of God says Luke 1. 6. That the Parents of John the Baptist Were both Just before God walking in all the Commandments and Justifications of our Lord without blame Whence it clearly follows that this Holy Couple kept all Gods Commandments For he that breaks them doth not Walk in them without blame The Word of God likewise says 1 John 5. 3. This is the Charity of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not heavy But Protestant Teachers generally affirm that the Commandments of God are Impossible are such as no man can keep are Insupportable And confequently they must say that no man is bound to keep them For no man is bound to do more than he is able By which Doctrine they do not only loose the Bridle to all Vice and make God more Indiscreet and more Tyrannical than any other Commander in the World But They also flatly contradict the word of God Which not only shews that some men have kept the Commandments but also expresly affirms that they are not Heavy And yet Protestants rather believe these than the Word of God in this most weighty point But Note well what follows against these Teachers out of the Word of God 1 John 2. 4. Which there says He who saith he knows God and does not keep his Commandments is a Lyer and the Truth is not in him But Protestant Teachers affirm that they rightly know God but do not nor cannot keep his Commandments Ergo They are Lyars Our Saviour Instituting the Holy Eucharist says Luke 22. 19. This is my Body which is given for you But English Ministers generally say That the Eucharist is not Christ's Body which was given for us that is his True Body But a Figure or remembrance of it Christ says My Body which is given for you That is my True Body For his True Body was given for Us suffer'd for Us and not a Figure or Remembrance thereof But these new Teachers say Not his True Body not that which was given for Vs that suffer'd for Vs But a Figure of it which the Word of God no where Teaches And thus they flatly contradict the Word of God in this most important Article of Faith On the right Belief and Use of which Salvations depends as is manifest out of the 6 St. Joh. and out of the 11. of the 1 of Corinthians And yet These our English Protestants believe rather than the Word of God though it expresly says That the Eucharist is the Body of Christ The Flesh of Christ He himself saying John 6. 51. The Bread which I will give is my Flesh for the Life of the World. 4ly Daniâ—l 2. 44. The VVord of God says In the days of those Kingdoms the God of Heaven will raise up a Kingdom that is the Church of Christ that shall not be dissipated for ever And his Kingdom shall not be deliver'd to another people And it shall break in pieces and shall consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Of which Church of Christ speaking again c. 7. He saith His Power is an Eternal Power that shall not be taken away and his Kingdom that shall not be corrupted Conformable to which clear Prophecy of Daniel concerning the Perpetuity and Incorruption of the Kingdom and Church of the Messias Christ speaking of his Church Matth. 16. says And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her That is The Power of the Devil and false Doctrines by which men are seduc'd and brought to Hell. John 14. 16. He says That
Church and saving Faith of Christ Following New Inventions in Religion tending to Liberty Of which they can never be groundedly secure that they are sufficient to Salvation as this little Treatise doth make too too manifest Some Protestants perchance being loath to grant that their Church and Religion had no Being at all upon Earth for the last five hundred years before Luther And yet not able to nominate with any colour of Truth where their Church then was and where their Religion was believ'd and practis'd there being no Record or foot-step of these things extant in the World will affirm that for many Ages before â—â—ther their Church lay hidden under Papistry But how do they know this Doth the word of God teach any such thing If the Papists which then liv'd did not know of any such thing or that there was any such Church How do the Protestants that now live know it Certainly this saying is too too Childish and fitter for Idiots or Mad-men to make then for men of Judgement For thereby Anabaptists Quakers new Arrians or any other foolish Hereticks whatsoever may pretend that their Churches and Religions were ever extant in all former Ages and ever in practice in the World even since the times of the Apostles Than the which what can be more ridiculous My first Question then cannot be so Answer'd by Protestants as may satisfy the Consciences of Prudent men But let us pass to the next Question II. If Luther was not the first Teacher of the Protestant Religion to whom did he immediately succeed in the Office of Teaching the same Where also is treated of the Mission of the Protestant Teachers IF Luther was not the first Teacher of the Protestant Religion to whom did he immediately succeed in the Office of Teaching the same If in this Office he did not succeed to any other Doctor who had the same before as most certainly he did not for no such former Teacher of the Protestant Religion can be nam'd then clear it is that Luther was the first Teacher of the Protestant Faith and Religion Further then I demand Who set him a work to Teach as he did God Or the Enemy of God and Man Not God most certainly 1. Because nothing can be said to justify the new Teaching of Luther which may not be said to justify the new Teaching of Arius or of Nestorius or of the Anabaptists and Quakers or of any other false Prophet and Heretick that ever was Let Tryal be made and this will be found to be most true For by the self-same ways by which Luther can prove himself to come from God any Heretick may prove himself to come from God. Will Luther say that he had a private Instinct from God That he saw there was great need to Reform the Doctrine of the Church That the People and Princes who follow'd him gave him Calling and the like The self-same might Arius have said the self-same may the Quakers and Anabaptists say and the self-same may any False Teacher say that can get People to follow him 2. Because it is certain that Luther had no Calling or Mission from God at all Without Calling and Mission from whom no man may take upon him the Office of Preaching and of Pasturing the People of God as is clear out of his Holy Word Rom. 10. 15. Heb. 5. 4. For he came not from God either by Ordinary or by Extraordinary Mission And so he had no sending from him at all For God doth use no other sorts of sending because no other are fit to distinguish the True Preachers of God from the False Prophets of the Devil For Calling and Mission from Temporal Magistrates from the Common People or pretended from private Instincts are agreeable and common to False Prophets and Heretical Teachers And some of these for want of better when they are urg'd they ever pretend But Ordinary or Extraordinary Mission they are never able to shew Extraordinary Mission God doth use when he sendeth any one to make notable Mutation about Religion But then to assure the World that those whom He doth so send do come indeed from him he doth ever furnish them with the Gift of Heavenly Miracles Which Gift is as it were His Broad-Seal set to their Commission Whereby they are easily distinguish'd from False Prophets and Heretical Teachers By this manner of Mission God sent Moses and Aaron and Christ and his Apostles to make those Mutations and Additions about Religion which they made furnishing them with the Gift of Miracles as is plain out of his Sacred Word Which Gift was so necessary even to the Blessed Son of God himself notwithstanding the great Sanctity of his Life and Excellency of his Doctrine The plain Predictions of the Holy Prophets and the weighty Testimony of St. John the Baptist that he affirmeth John 15. 24. That if he had not done amongst the Jews Works that no other had done they should not have sinned In refusing Him for their Messias Must Luther then his Life and Doctrine being such as it was be receiv'd as sent from God by Extraordinary Mission to make so great a change in Religion as he did without any Miracles at all Who will think so but inconsiderate blind or mad-men But Note here by the way a thing worth the observing That those whom God doth send by Extraordinary Mission do never exclaim against the Church of God and the Ordinary Pastors thereof which were before their time as though they had err'd in matters of Faith and abus'd and mis-led the People of God as appears by the 23 d. of St. Matthew But this is ever the Property of Heretical Teachers rais'd up by the Devil to seduce Souls who always pretend to Teach the Church and People of God better than they were taught before And thereupon they cry out that the Church and her Pastors had Grievously Err'd Till they forsooth came and discover'd the True Light of the Gospel But how False and Fond the proceeding of such men is will appear by that which follows in the sequel of this Treatise By Ordinary Mission God doth send those who immediately or in the time of Succession mediately succeed by due Consecration and Authorizing in the Office of governing in things Spiritual and Pasturing the People of God to them who were sent from him by Extraordinary Mission In this manner the Priests of the Law of Moses succeeding Aaron by Generation Consecration and Authorizing had Ordinary Mission from God during the time that That Law was in force And in like manner the Pastors and Doctors of the Law of Grace succeeding to the Apostles by due Consecration and Authorizing have Ordinary Mission from God during the time that this Law is to be in force Which is even till the Day of Judgement Which succeed I say to the Apostles by due Consecration and Authorizing that is by that Consecration and Authorizing which Christ ordain'd to confer Divine and Spiritual Power to
the Old Religion to be such so Vile Absurd and Superstitious as the false Tongues and Pens of divers of their Teachers who like to those of Isaias 28. 15. make Lying their Hope and are protected with Lying depaint it to be that so with more tranquility of mind they may enjoy the Liberty of their New Religion esteeming the Absurdities reported of the Old to warrant them sufficiently not only not to look after the same but also utterly to hate and detest it Yet in a Business of so great importance as is the Salvation or Damnation of their Souls they might remember that one Tale is good till another be heard and the rather for respect to their Noble Progenitors and to the numerous Troops of Blessed Souls now reigning with Christ in Glory which have liv'd and dy'd in the Old Religion But seeing that neither the Wisdom and Sanctity of these nor the earnest Cries of Catholicks now living who continually avouch that Protestants are mis-informed mistake mis-construe mis-understand the Tenets and Practises of the Catholick Religion can move them to make a serious Scarch into Religion Catholicks must comfort themselves to think that howsoever their Religion is here dis-esteem'd yet the Haters Impugners and Oppressors thereof will be of another mind at the Judgement Seat of Christ when their great Account must be made when Pleasures Riches Honours will be past when Obedience to Christ and his Church when a Holy and Mortify'd Life will be priz'd and when the Glorious Troops of Holy Doctors and Pastors and of innumerable other blessed Men and Women will stand up in Judgement with great constancy against all that have neglected vilified contemned derided their Authority Teaching Practice Examples as many of the New Gospellers usually do Question IX Whether the Way to Salvation be narrow or no IN the Ninth Place I demand of Considerate Protestants whether the Way to Salvation be narrow or no If this happy Tract be not indeed a narrow Way Why did Christ with a kind of Admiration say Math. 7. 14. How narrow is the Gate and straight the Way that leadeth to Life and how few there are that find it Was he deceived or did he intend to deceive us if neither because in very Truth this Way to Flesh and Blood is narrow and not to be kept and travelled without much Labour great Difficulty and frequent Mortification both of the Body by crucifying the Flesh and the Concupiscences thereof Gal. 5. 24. and also of the Mind by subjecting the Will to the Laws of Charity 1 Cor. 13. and by bringing the Understanding into Captivity for Obedience to Christ in believing as the Apostles and their Successors do teach 2 Cor. 10. 5. without suffering much for the Love of God for the Practice of Virtue for the avoiding of sin and for the Profession of our Faith if a storm of Persecution arise If I say for These and such like respects the Tract of Salvation be indeed a narrow way as the Blessed Son of God affirms who best knew this matter How may any Protestant Prudently perswade himself that the Protestant Religion is really this hard and narrow way seeing that it is one of the easiest Religions in the World one of the widest and broadest ways For what greater ease and freedom in Religion can there be than to be ty'd to no sharpness and Mortification of Body And to be at liberty in Mind to believe in matters of Religion what we think best our selves VVhich liberty most certainly all Protestants have by the very Tenets and Principles of their Religion which freeth them from being bound in their own Conceit to Believe as the Church Teaches And takes from them in the same manner the yoke of Fasting of Confession of Pennance Freeth them from all necessity of doing good VVorks to be Sav'd Yea and of keeping the Commandments of God as most Protestants hold And Teacheth them to esteem themselves justify'd from Sin and secur'd from all pain in the next Life and sure of Salvation by only Faith by Believing only and stedfastly that the Lord hath dy'd for them and pay'd the shot of their Sins That this is so not only their express Doctrine but even also the Lives of Protestants especially of their Teachers and Ring-leaders do evidently convince And therefore seeing that no doubt can be made but that the Protestant is a most easie Religion and exceedingly pleasing to Flesh and Blood There can no doubt also be made but that it is not that narrow way of which our Saviour did speak which leadeth to Salvation But rather the broad way which leadeth to ever-lasting Perdition VVhat satisfying Answer to this Protestants may make I see not And therefore such of them as truly desire to secure their Souls and to avoid everlasting misery may do well and wisely to return whilst they have time to that Religion wherein their Fore-fathers for the space almost of a thousand years were Sav'd And wherein also they may be Sav'd if they will even by the grant of their own Learned men as hereafter shall appear which Religion if they will practice exactly they shall find it indeed to be a Narrow-way to Flesh and Blood Yet sweet and easie to Minds elevated by Grace and inflam'd with the Love of Heaven Question X. How it can be defended that Jesus was the True Messiah promis'd in the Old Testament if the Church which he Founded err'd so many Ages in her Doctrine of Faith. IT is a certain undoubted and undenyable Truth and not to be question'd amongst Christians that Jesus the Son of the Virgin Mary is the true Messias the True Christ promis'd in the Old Testament the Omnipotent Son of God Truly God Truly Man and the true and sole Redeemer of the World. This I say is a most certain Truth and not doubted of by any but wicked Miscreants Yet to discover the Nature of the Protestant Religion and to shew clearly to my Dear Countrymen whether it tendeth that thereby if they will they may receive the less hurt by it I must crave leave to demand how this prime and Fundamental Truth of Christianity can be defended and maintain'd against Atheists Turks and Jews if we admit for a Truth that That Church which Jesus founded and which his Apostles planted in the World hath grievously and perniciously err'd in her Doctrine of Faith and in the practice of the Worship of God for many Hundred years Yea almost even since the times of the Apostles That the Church of Jesus hath so Erred is the Main Prime and Fundamental Ground of the Protestant Religion as is well * The Homily against the Perils of Idolatry p. 57. known For upon This as upon a sure Foundation Protestant Teachers have raised all their New Buildings Upon this as upon a sufficient Cause they have forsaken the Old Religion of the Christian World pretending it to be Erroneous Superstitious Idolatrous and have undertaken their various and discordant
and the ruine and destruction of Infinite Souls For the Devil would never go about to seduce the Church and to Pollute her Doctrine with Errours and Superstitions but to do Mischief and to bring Souls to Perdition Wherefore seeing that it could not redound either to the Glory of God or the good of Men that Christ should Found an Erring Church it is a very gross Errour to hold that he did And those who so think do greatly mistake and exceedingly wrong the Wisdom and Goodness of our Saviour as will more clearly appear by the next Question Question XII If the Church of Christ did Err for so many Ages How can it be Defended that God is Truly good and doth Truly desire the Salvation of Mankind TWelfthly If it be true that the Church of Christ for so many Ages hath Err'd in her Doctrine of Faith Imbracing as it were with both her Arms and instilling into her Followers many Pernicious Errors many gross Superstitions Notwithstanding that Christ her Spouse and Saviour Promis'd Math. 16. That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against her That the Holy Ghost should Abide with her Pastors for ever St. John cap. 14. and should Teach them all Truth Joh. 16. That he himself would be with them All days even till the End of the World Mat. 28. And notwithstanding that God Promis'd that His Spirit and Word should never depart from this Church Isaias 59. That she should Stand for ever Daniel 2. And should Never be Corrupted Daniel 7. Being indeed the Pillar and ground of Truth As the Apostle affirms 1 Tim. 3. If I say the Doctrine of Protestant Teachers about the Erring of the Church of Christ being so contrary to the Word of God as it is be true I demand of Prudent and Understanding Protestants how it can be defended that God is truly Good hath a Fatherly care of Men doth truly Love them and tender their Spiritual good and hath a true desire of their Eternal Salvation Seeing that whereas he doth freely permit the Devil to fill the World with False and Wicked Religions with Abominable and Detestable Worships to bring Men assuredly to everlasting Damnation He himself though he could most easily do it doth not continue maintain and uphold in the World in all Ages so much as one True Religion so much as one Holy and Divine Worship to bring them to Salvation No not after that his Blessed Son made Man by Infinite Humility by Innumerable Labours undergone for his sake by shedding his most Precious Blood had endeavour'd to appease his Indignation to mitigate his Wrath and to Molify his Heart and to gain and purchase Love and Mercy for them What Christian Breast can believe so monstrous a thing as this Or who can Harbour so base a Thought of the the Wisdom Goodness Sweetness and Mercy of God Or how come Discreet and Understanding Protestants to swallow so gtoss an Absurdity as this If the Tenet of Protestant Teachers touching the Erring of the Church be true how is that true which Christ says John 3. 16. That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that every one that believeth in him perish not but may have Life everlasting For God sent not his Son to judge that is to Damn the World but that the World may be Sav'd by him Or that which St. Paul says 1 Tim. 2. 4. God will have all men Sav'd and come to the knowledge of the Truth How I say are these Divine Assertions true if to bring Men to Salvation God doth not ever preserve a True Religion in the World Doth not ever uphold the Truth of his Gospel For by False Religions no man can be Saved in regard that the Devil and not God is the Author and Suggestor of False Religions by which he intends the Damnation of Men and not their Salvation as is manifest Yea he neither can neither will induce men to invent a Religion able and fit to Save men in Mark this well and also Note that our Saviour in the Sentence alleadg'd by the word World doth not mean that only Age in which He and his Apostles liv'd nor those Men only which then liv'd But all following Ages and all that were to live even till the day of Doom All which God would have to come to the knowledge of the Truth namely of his Divine Gospel And to save them all he sent his Blessed Son into the World. And therefore we must of necessity grant that he provideth the People of all Ages of a True and Illustrious Religion by which they may be Sav'd And that he ever preserves in all Ages the Truth of his Gospel of which the Apostle speaks in the Sentence alleadg'd that so men may come to the knowledge thereof For if the true Gospel of Christ be not extant in all Ages how hath God a true Will and desire that the People of all Ages should come to the knowledge thereof Neither is it sufficient that it be extant in the BIBLE for all to come to the knowledge thereof For all cannot read the Bible neither can those which are skill'd in Reading thence pick out the true Gospel without the help of a True Interpreter as I before have shew'd But it must be ever extant in the Doctrine and Teaching of the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of the Church whom others are bound to Hear and Obey Luke 10. Heb. 13. And of whom they are to learn Divine Faith which is gotten by Hearing Rom. 10. which is clear out of Matth. 24. where Christ expresly foretells that his True Gospel viz. the same that he Taught should be Preached to all Nations even till the end of the World as I have before Noted And therefore the True Gospel must not lurk in the Bible but be ever extant in the Preaching of the Church Out of that which hath been spoken in this Question who doth not see that the Prime and Fundamental Article of the Protestant Religion doth not only extreamly Disgrace the Wisdom Goodness and Mercy of God and extenuate the Merits of Christ but doth also tend to the Denial of all Christianity to the utter neglect of God Yea and to plain Atheism it self For who will think that the Son of God really Dy'd for Mankind if he gain'd so little for them Or that there is a God that doth truly Love Men and tender their Good if he be so mindless of them and of their Eternal Happiness and Salvation The tending then of the Protestant Religion so much to the Disgrace of Christ and of God doth clearly shew who was the first suggestor of it Wherefore how certain it is that there is a God who is Infinitely Wise Good and Merciful and who doth truly Love Mankind and tender their Eternal Good And how certain it is that Christ the Son of God Died for us took a most Provident course for our Salvation and that his Merits are of inestimable worth So
THE APPENDIX Whether the Apostles were Protestants or no. PRotestants generally conceive and believe that Jesus Christ and his Apostles Preached and planted in the World the Protestant Religion even the very self-same that Protestants now believe and practice and that they were really Protestants not in Name but in their Belief and Practice And that they instituted their Disciples and Followers that is the first Christians in the self-same Liberty of Gospel which Protestants now follow and charged them that with all Care and Diligence they should deliver this sweet and easie Religion which is so pleasing to Flesh and Blood to those who were to succeed them that so for ever it might be continued in the World for the Salvation of Mankind Thus I say do Protestants generally conceive and upon the Truth of this Conceipt they hazard their Souls notwithstanding that they are not agreed nor cannot yet agree among themselves which makes the matter very strange and the conceipt wholly improbable whether the Apostles in their Belief and Practice of Religion were Lutherans or Anabaptists or Swinglians or Calvinists or New Arians or Quakers or Arminians or Parliamentary Pretestants for each of these sorts or Branches of Protestants lay Claim to the Apostles and the Learned of each sort do bear their Followers in hand That the Doctrine which they Teach is the pure Light of the Gospel even the self-same that the Blessed Apostles Believed Taught and practised and of this they are all certain alike And so the conceipt of Saxony Denmark Sweden is that the Apostles were Lutherans The Conceipt of some of the Cantons of Switzerland is that they were Swinglians The Conceipt of many in Moravia and in Holland is that they were Anabaptists The Conceipt of Geneva of Scotland of Puritans of England and of some parts of Germany is that they were Calvinists The Conceipt of divers in England and Holland is that they were Quakers And the Conceipt of the Protestant Church of England is that the Apostles were of the same Belief and practised the same Worship of God that by Act of Parliament is here settled and established But to speak the Truth as it is impossible that the Apostles should be of all these Beliefs so it is more than probable that they were of none of them but rather that all these Beliefs are meer conjectural Conceipts of new Teachers who are wholly uncertain of what Belief the Apostles were For if they were certain that the Apostles were of some one of these Beliefs they would all doubtless be of the same But the Learned of the Protestants being indeed altogether uncertain and really ignorant of the Faith and Practise of the Apostles by guessing thereat so near as they can they have divided themselves into so many Branches and into so many contrary Faiths and practises each of them having nothing but his own conjecture to lead him to the true Light of the Gospel and to the right Religion of the Apostles But notwithstanding that Protestants do thus differ about Religion and are uncertain of the Faith and practice of the Apostles Yet they will not forsooth have it deny'd but that the Apostles were Protestants and that they planted in the World the Protestant Religion And so it must be supposed that they Taught That we are justified by Faith only That we have not Free-will in the works of Grace That our best Works are impure and stained with Sin That we do not merit by them either Increase of Grace or Glory That by Faith in Christ we are freed from the Yoke of the Law which is such as no man can keep and therefore Christ having fulfilled it for us our breach thereof doth neither wound the Conscience nor endanger the Soul. Moreover according to this supposed Doctrine of the Apostles we are not bound to confess our Sins to the Priests of God's Church or to do pennance for them no Works of ours being truly satisfactory Neither is Sin punished any where after this Life but in Hell and therefore we need not fear any purging Flames Christ having paid for all Furthermore we are not bound in Conscience to Fast or to abstain from Flesh upon certain days according as the Church doth appoint this being contrary to the Liberty of the Gospel It is likewise vain foolish superstitious to endeavour to gain Heaven by Prayer Fasting Alms-deeds by a Holy and mortified Life or to Vow Poverty Chastity and Obedience or to esteem perpetual Virginity Consecrated to God better more noble and more pleasing to God than Marriage Again according to the same supposed Apostolical Doctrine the Church of Christ is subject to Erring in her Doctrine of Faith and therefore we are not tyed to believe as she Teaches further than we esteem her Doctrine to agree with the written Word for to be so tyed is against the Liberty of the Gospel Against which Liberty also it is that Bishops and Priests should be tyed to live Chaste and Single Lives Lastly all sorts of Protestants saving Lutherans esteem the Apostles to have believed and taught that the Eucharist is not the true Body and Blood of Christ but a Figure or Remembrance thereof And so they consequently hold that Christ left no true and proper Sacrifice to be daily offered in his Church nor no true Priest-hood which cannot subsist without a true Sacrifice This is the Conceipt of Protestants in general real or pretended Real it may be of the ignorant and simple but pretended only I believe by the Understanding and Learned For these cannot but know that if the Apostles indeed had been Protestants and really had Preached spread and settled amongst the Nations of the Earth to which they Preached in Asia Europe and Africa the Protestant Religion which is so easie and so pleasing to Flesh and Blood that the same had continued infallibly at least for some while in the following Ages and that it could not possibly morally speaking so upon the sudden have been cast aside and extinguished in all places at once but that there would have remained illustrious Memory thereof at least in some of the primordial Churches in some of the Countries Provinces or Cities where the Apostles Preached This I think no understanding man will deny 1. Because the first Christians were zealous Followers and Imitators of the Doctrine and manners of the Apostles of whom they had a high esteem as also of their Doctrine which they knew the Apostles had confirmed by many true and Divine Miracles 2. Because they were very careful of their own Salvation as is evident by their admirable Constancy in suffering Losses Tribulations Torments yea terrible Deaths in the cruel and bloody Persecutions raised against them by the Roman Emperours for the space almost of Three Hundred Years How then is it likely if thus they suffer'd to save their Souls that they would wilfully cast them away by forsaking the true Religion of Christ which his Blessed Apostles had planted and so firmly
settled amongst them to follow another of their own inventing Especially seeing that living so near the time of our Saviour and of his Apostles they could not be ignorant what Religion He and They had Taught and Planted Did they more esteem of the Religion of Christ than of all their Worldly Contents and prefer the Profession thereof before their own Lives and yet did they wittingly and willingly abandon and forsake it not for the good and safety but even to the certain perdition of their Souls Who will so judge but mis-led and blinded Souls 3. Because such a change as this in the Religion of Christ which is the Heart and Marrow of his Church is directly contrary to the predictions of the Prophets and Promises of Christ himself For Daniel foretold cap. 2. and cap. 7. That the Kingdom that is the Church of Christ should stand for ever and should never be corrupted Isaias foretold cap. 59. that the Word and Spirit of God should never depart from the mouth that is from the teaching of the Church Christ promised Mat. 16. that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against his Church that the Holy Ghost should abide with his Apostles for ever that is with them and their Successors even to the end of the World Joh. cap. 14. and should teach them all truth John cap. 16. All which had been false if the Protestant Religion planted by Christ and his Apostles by the Folly and Wickedness of the Successors of the same Apostles had been rejected and abandoned as Protestants imagine and Papistry brought in instead thereof 5. The impossibility of such a change is clearly shewed and plainly convinced out of the natural Inclination and common custom of all Societies of men which is as evident experience doth teach rather to descend then ascend rather to fall than to rise rather to slide to looseness and to more liberty than to aspire to more strictness and to greater Sanctity unless the special Grace of God do stay them and incite and stir them up which must not be here admitted of because God by his Grace doth not use to draw men from the pure Light of the Gospel to embrace false and erroneous Doctrine and to follow superstitious and Idolatrous practises as Protestants imagine Christians to have been drawn in the primitive Church And therefore it cannot be deny'd with any colour of Truth but that good Discipline Conscientious Dealing virtuous courses strictness of Life and the practice of Godly Actions do rather decay by tract of time than get ground and increase in all Communities and Societies of Men And on the contrary Liberty Ease Idleness Sensuality do ever rather increase than decay and vanish away of themselves as evident experience doth teach For as the Poet saith tendimus in vetitum semper cupimusque negata We tend toward things forbidden still and covet things denyed This is manifest First by the decay of good Order of honest and upright dealing in Commonwealths which hath caused so many new Laws so many new Orders and Statutes to have been made Decreed and Enacted by Supream Authority to repress the bad and vicious Inclinations of men 2. By the decay of Ecclesiastical Discipline from time to time in the Church of Christ which hath occasioned the Pious Endeavours of so many Zealous and Apostolical Preachers of so many Holy Biships of so many Godly Emperours Kings and Princes to reform and restore the same by the help of General of National of Provincial Councils 3. By that which hath happened to most of the Religious Orders of the Catholick Church For although these Holy Congregations have ever begun with great Zeal and Fervour and have been furnished with special Helps to continue the same yet through Humane Frailty by tract of time they have so fallen off that Reformation hath often been needful 4. In Cities in Colledges in particular Families Reformation is often and vigilancy of Superiours is ever needful Yea who is it though never so Saintly though never so well inclin'd and accustomed to Virtue that finds not that his Inclinations have ever need of repressing and his Manners often of Refining 5. The same appeareth evidently in all the Nations of the Earth which hitherto have been Converted to Christ which ever by degrees fall from their first Fervour Zeal and Devotion of which we have a clear example in the Word of God Rev. 2. 4. I have against thee saith Christ to the Bishop and Church of Ephesus a few things because thou hast left thy first charity Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen and do pennance and do thy first Works c. If Pennance was needful so quickly if even in the times of the Apostles Charity Zeal Fervour Sanctity decayed among Christian people how much more afterwards in the Ages following How then is it so much as probable yea rather how is it not altogether improbable and even incredible that the Christians of the Primitive Church through all the World of themselves of their own accord without any Warrant from Christ and his Apostles but rather contrary to His and their Doctrine and Practice without any good to themselves yea even contrary to the Eternal Good and safety of their Souls did cast aside fall from abandon the easie belly-pleasing and sweet liberty of the Protestant Gospel to embrace and practice the hard harsh austere and mortifying Discipline of Papistry In such sort that neglecting the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and the example of their Lives yet fresh in memory amongst them they fell to believe contrary thereunto as Protestants imagine that we are justifyed not by Faith only but by Faith Hope Charity and other Divine Virtues that we have Free-will in the Works of Grace that Works of Grace done in the state of Grace do truly merit the increase of Grace and of Glory That we are bound under pain of Damnation to keep the Commandments of God by abstaining from all great and mortal Sins such as are the Profession of false Religions the denyal of the Truth Perjury Murder Fornication Theft in a notable quantity Cousenage Vsury and the like that we are able to keep them by the help of Divine Grace of which God for the merits of our Saviour doth measure to every Man a sufficient quantity That we are bound under pain of Damnation to Confess all our mortal Sins so far forth as with reasonable Diligence we can call to mind to some lawful Priest or other That we are bound under the same Penalty to restore all Goods and Lands unlawfully gotten to Fast and to abstain from Flesh as the Church appointeth and commandeth That ordinarily when our Sins are forgiven God doth reserve some Temporal Pain or Punishment for which if we get it not released in this Life by Prayer Fasting Alms-deeds and other holy laborious and penitential works we shall suffer terribly in the purging Fire of the next That to Vow perpetual Poverty Chastity
and Obedience is very meritorious and pleasing to God That Virginity vow'd and Consecrated to God is better than Matrimony That Bishops and Priests ought to live chaste and single Lives That the Body and Blood of Christ is truly and really in the Blessed Sacrament which Sacrament is also truly and properly a Sacrifice Christ therein being truly offered to his Heavenly Father in an unbloody manner under the forms of Bread and Wine which Sacrifice doth not only represent the Sacrifice of the Cross but it doth also copiously apply the same to those for whom it is Offered both as it is impetratory and also as it is satisfactory That it is not lawful to interpret the Scriptures contrary to the Interpretation of the Church or to reject any parts thereof by Her approved But in this and in all other things appertaining to Faith and Religion we are bound under pain of Damnation to submit our Judgements to the Teaching of the Church and to believe as She doth direct us These and the like Points professed now in the Roman Church were in practice amongst the Primitive Christians which lived presently after the Apostles as is manifest not only by the Records of Antiquity but also by their Practice which clearly sheweth their Faith For Fasting the keeping of Lent the abstaining from Flesh on Fridays the Vowing of Virginity of perpetual Chastity Monastical Discipline the wearing of Hair-cloth and other like Austerities the single Life of the Clergy and the like were in use and did wonderfully flourish amongst them Insomuch that Sebastianus Francus a Learned Anabaptist searching most curiously among the Writers of former Ages after the Protestant Religion and finding no Footsteps thereof in all Antiquity even up to the Apostles times he freely and boldly affirmeth in his Epistle of abrogating all Ecclesiastical Statutes That presently after the Apostles times all things were turned upside down c. and that for certain through the work of Antichrist the External Church together with the Faith and Sacraments vanished away presently after the Apostles departure Into which Blasphemy this Learned Protestant would never have fallen if he could have found any certain signs of the Protestant Religion among the Primitive Christians which lived presently after the Apostles or could have inclined his Conscience to outface the matter with stout lying as many of his Fellows do to conceal the Truth in this point from the Eyes of well-meaning People The same in effect is affirmed by Coelius Secundus Curio a Learned Protestant also in his Book of the Amplitude of the Kingdom of God Lib. I. pag. 43. Are we ignorant saith he in how great Darkness and Blindness the World hath continued almost from the Apostles Age to these our times in which beyond all expectation the Lord hath begun to manifest himself The Protestant Author of the Book Entituled Antichristus or Prognostica finis mundi pag. 13. affirms likewise That from the Apostles times till Luther the Gospel had never open passage To that there can no doubt be made but that the first Christians who lived presently after the Apostles did forsake and abandon the easie pleasing and sweet Liberty of the Protestant Religion if ever they were taught it by the Apostles and fell of themselves through all the world to believe and practice the hard and harsh Discipline of Papistry contrary to the custom of Mankind The which how improbable yea how impossible it is Who is so senseless that he doth not see Which improbability and moral impossibility will appear yet much more clearly if we take into our consideration that not only a few ignorant People must be thought thus to have neglected and abandoned the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ and of his Apostles if that indeed was such as is now believed and practised by Protestants and to have preferred without any necessity without any Utility yea with manifest peril of their Souls Fasting before Feasting Pennance before Pleasure Labour before Ease course Dyet before Dainties hard Couches before Beds of Down rough Hair-cloth before soft cloathing a mortified chaste and single Life before the delights of Wedlock seeking foolishly as Protestants imagine to curb and bring under the Appetites of the Flesh and to rid themselves of the molesting temptations thereof rather by severe harsh and cruel usage of their Bodies than by the pleasing remedy of a Female Consort as Protestant Ministers use to do Not only I say the ignorant and vulgar sort must be thought thus to have neglected the sweet liberty of the Protestant Gospel if ever the Apostles had settled them in it and to have embraced foolishly and madly the hard and severe Discipline of Papistry but the better sort also even the Learned and Holy Fathers of the primitive Church such as were Dionisius Ignatius Cyprian Athanasius Basil the Great Gregory the Divine Chrysostome Hierom Ambrose Augustine and others the chief and principal Lights after the Apostles of the Church of Christ All which were either real Practisers or Praisers of Monastical Discipline of the chaste and single life of vowed Virginity and the like which they would never have done most certainly if these things had been contrary to the Doctrine and practice of Christ and of the Apostles and against the true liberty of his Divine Gospel of which they could not be ignorant being so excellently skilled in the Scriptures as they were and living so near the times of those Blessed Founders of the Christian Religion as they did And so the Doctrine and Discipline of the Ancient Fathers and of the Christians of the primitive Church which really was the same in substance that is now in use in the Roman Church do evidently convince that the Apostles were not Protestants neither in Doctrine nor in Practice but rather that truly and really they were Papists in regard that they were strict Practisers and Teachers of those many points in Papistry which so clearly shined in their Disciples and Successors the Pastors and People of the primitive Church which is so certain out of the Doctrine of the Antient Fathers and other Records of Antiquity that it cannot be denyed with any colour of Truth And therefore the Conceipt of those Protestants who imagine that the Apostles practised and taught the easie Discipline and Belly-pleasing liberty of their new Gospel is but a meer fancy a vain and empty Dream there being no colourable ground thereof at all neither in the Word of God nor in the Records of Antiquity Out of which Records how little may be expected to prove that the Apostles were Protestants doth sufficiently appear by that which hath been said For if by them it doth appear as most certainly it doth that much Fasting great austerity of life Monastical Discipline the vowing of Virginity of perpetual chastity and single life in the Clergy did greatly flourish among the first Christians what Hop can there be to gather from thence that the Apostles were Protestants certainly none
at all And as for the Scriptures as from thence we may easily gather that the Apostles were Papists So we find not there the least Sign that they were Protestants For if as Reason dictates we will judge of their Faith by their practice we cannot admit that in Faith they were like the Protestants seeing that in their practice they were plainly Papists For they lived perpetually Chaste yea and if ever any other they also Guelded themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven by a Vow of perpetual chastity according to the Counsel of our Saviour given Matth. 19. 12. They forsook all to follow Christ and to attain to perfection according also to the Counsel of Christ given Matth. 19. 21. as Saint Peter doth confidently profess Matth. 19. 27. whereby they practised both Poverty and Obedience Poverty in forsaking all Obedience in following Christ wherein they were so exact that they doubted not at his appointment to leave both Country and Friends and to expose both themselves and their Lives to infinite Labours and Hazards while they enterprized the Conversion of the Gentiles from their carnal and inveterate Idolatry to the Holy and Divine Religion of Christ And therefore we may truly say that the Apostles were Religious Men even such as are in the Catholick Church practising Poverty Chastity and Obedience and imitating thereby in an excellent manner their Blessed Master who was so poor that he had not whereon to repose his Head Luke 9. 58. So Chaste and so great a Friend of Chastity that even he would be born of a Virgin and so Obedient as he was Man to his Heavenly Father that he gave his Life at his appointment for the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind Philip. 2. 8. By the practices of which excellent Virtues this Blessed Lord laid the Foundation of the Regular or Religious Life consisting chiefly in the profession and due observance of perpetual Poverty Chastity and Obedience so much practiced afterwards in his Church For from him as from the Original Fountain the same hath hitherto flowed and doth yet flow with so full a Stream in his true and Catholick Church For the Vowing of these things had never been of so high esteem and of so frequent use among the Ancient and Learned Fathers and the choicest pieces of Christian Sanctity had it not been the nearest imitation of the Holy and mortified Life of Christ and of the practice of the Apostles of John the Baptist of Elias To which practice of the Apostles if we add their frequent Praying Act. 2. 42. Act. 12. 5. Act. 10. 9. and their often Watching and much Fasting Act. 14. 22. 2 Cor. 6. 5. 2 Cor. 11. 27. it will manifestly appear that they were as far from being Protestants as Monks and Fryers now are These things being wholly out of use amongst Protestants and not only contrary to the Liberty of their new Gospel but even fruitless vain superstious toys according to the Tenets and Principles thereof By all which it seems to be manifestly Convinced that the Apostles of our Saviour were not Protestants but rather truly and really Papists both in their Belief and practice their outward practice shewing their inward Belief according to that of our Saviour Out of the abundance of the Heart the mouth speaketh Mat. 12. 34. But if any Protestants will be yet so wilful that he will maintain against manifest Reason that the Protestant Religion was in the times of the Apostles though afterwards it appeared not in the World till Luther reviv'd it I must tell him that this doth not only prove that the Protestant Religion is not the true Religion of Christ which must ever be extant in the World for the Salvation of Souls but further also it shews that it is a very vile and naughty Religion seeing the whole Christian World did so soon forsake and cast it aside notwithstanding that it is so easie and so pleasing to the Carnal Appetites of men And so Protestants cannot reap much true comfort by imagining that their Religion was in the times of the Apostles seeing all the Antient Saints and Learned Fathers yea even the whole Christian World thought it not worth the regarding Books Printed and sold by Nathaniel Thompson at the Entrance into the Old Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross A Manual of Controversies clearly demonstrating the Truth of Catholick Religion By Texts of Holy Scripture Councils of all Ages Fathers of the first 500 years Common Sense and Reason And fully Answering the principal Objections of Protestants and all other Sectaries Price bound 1. s. 6. d. 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