in and by the Church of Rome especially since Trent-Council assembled and ended above your hundred years ago is inconsistent with and destructive of this individual Headship true Faith and Church-constitution being nothing else but an Anti-christian miscellany and compound oppositum in apposito of God and the Creature God-man and meer-man in the most material points and principles of Christianity the Persons of both in point of Worship the Power and Authority of both in matters of Faith the Righteousness and Merit of both in point of Satisfaction and Justification the Wills of both in the act of Conversion the Intercession of both in the great office of Mediation yea an universal co-equivalency or equal concurrence of Worth Vertue and Efficacy from both throughout the whole business of Redemption and Salvation especially from Christ and the Virgin Mary constituted therein Corredemptress with her Son and Saviouress a latere as if her Brests as well as his Sides had been no less then sacramental and the Mothers Milk and the Son's Blood equally saving Moreover to prosecute this Religious medley God and the Creature in the Decalogue Christ and the Church in the Creed Scripture and Tradition in the Canon Pater-Noster and Ave-Maria in the Litany Sacrament and Sacrifice in the Supper c. all so many Riddles in the Mystery of Iniquity A Religion consisting of such Trent-Forge-Principles and Practices as these viz. In point of Doctrine Papal Supremacy and Authotity Church Infallibility unwritten Traditions equall'd in authority with the Holy Scriptures the doctrine of Man's free-Will in opposition to God's Free-Grace the Doctrine of Perfection of Merits Pardons and Indulgences redounding from a surplusage of Works of super-erogation and satisfaction as they are termed as if any meer Man could fullfill in obedience beyond what the Law requires and satisfy in penance beyond what Sin deserves a rare Religion the doctrine of Purgatory and Souls Departed the doctrine of Mass-service and Transubstantiation the Consecrating Priestling turning a petty Creator as is supposed converting sacramental Forms into real Substance and Commemoration into Expiation celebrating Christ's Death with his death as well as with his own in destroying instead of discerning the Lord's Body yea both Saviour and Sacrament at once the doctrine of Ministration in an unknown Tongue by means whereof they do most sacrilegiously robb the Children of their Bread in the Scriptures as they do of the Cup in the Supper and many more such like Doctrines not of men onely but of Divels which I list not to dwell upon the Subject being so Frightful In point of Worship Idolatry and Imagery Superstition Saint-Worship c. In point of Polity absolute Tyranny the Keys turned into a Sword sufficiently exercised and dearly experienced throughout the World upon Princes-Crowns their Subjects-Consciences and Protestant-Blood in sanguinary Lawes a bloody Inquisition direful Anathemaes execrable Massacres rageing Persecutions c. the violent Calentures of that Torrid Zone The Religion in fine of that Church which is in Doctrine damnably Heretical in Worship grossely Idolatrous in Polity and Government intollerably Tyrannical in all palpably Antichristian opposite to and virtually destructive of Christs fundamentality and headship in his Person or Natures in his Offices in all their parts in his States in his vertues merits graces priviledges Institutions and ordinances c. in one or more or all of those and consequently destruction of the Catholick Faith and Religion by Himself and his Apostles and the whole successive series of Christians throughout the World professed and practised and finally of the truth of a Christian Church his Body all in effect nullified thereby yea and a false head other foundation and another name being substituted in opposition to the true the Religion I say professed and practised in the Church of Rome and that Church her self especially since Trent-Council being such as is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 described it followeth by necessary consequence that the separation of the Church of England both primitive in her first Reformers and present in their Successours persisting in that happy divorce from her and embodyed into a contradistinct but true Church under Christ the onely true Head in a Joynt profession of his Faith the true Religion is so far from being Schismatical this being ever a causeless and groundless separation in or from matter of true Religion in a true Church that on the contrary it is righteous and Justifyable yea absolutely necessary by the authority of that Law whereby we are strictly commanded to renounce and abjure her society upon peril of sharing in her Plagues from which Good Lord deliver us Sir if in this short defence of our Reformation which it is like may seem a kind of morose Tragedy to an airy Mercurius but that I aim at a further goal you think I have falsified or misrepresented any principle of the Romish Church charge me with it and spare not and if I do not Justify what I have asserted brand me for as great a slanderer as your self Again Sir True Religion being that onely of which the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth is the Author the Holy Scriptures the Word of Truth is the Rule and the Holy Church whereof our Church of England is part the Pillar and Ground of Truth is the publick Trustee Keeper and Conservatory as Pillars or Tables are of affix'd Papers and Proclamations to wit modo forensi non architectonico derived and delivered as is above-said to her from the Apostles and to them by Christ from God himself And the Reformed Religion Faith Doctrine and substantial Worship professed and practised in and by the Church of England being such as may appear from her publick tests and monuments especially the three Creeds Apostolick Nicene and Athanasian and her doctrinal Articles unanimously agreed upon in two several Convocations viz An. Dom. 1562 and 1604 c. compared with the Sacred Canon whose test and trial in the Case she is willing to undergo It follows that the Reformed and onely reforming Religion professed and practised in and by the Church of England is the onely true Religion which when you assault with Argument as now you undermine by Stratagem you shall be dealt withall Moreover Sir The Church of England is no less satisfied in her Clergy then in her Religion that as God hath by a Law of as long duration as that of Sun and Moon in the ordinary course of his Providence appointed to publish and propagate his Truth and instruct his Church by a constant series and succession of persons of holy Order and Office authorised and qualified thereunto so her Clergy is such having derived their orders together with their Religion ex traduce Apostolica from the original Seminary Founders of Christianity in England who are recorded in History the monumental Memory and best Intelligencer in such cases to have been Apostles or Men Apostolical whether Philip or Joseph of Arimathea sent by him as Tertullian
God and his Will contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament as they are approved and received throughout the Reformed Churches is that one only Revelation which is thus both inspired and also by eternal sanction instituted and appointed of God for the all-sufficient and absolutely perfect Canon of his Church and that both as touching the Doctrine therein contained and its accessary mode of scription it being wholly committed to writing by God's Holy Prophets Apostles and Evangelists being all by the Holy Ghost as his immediate Actuaries extraordinarily qualified for irresistibly incited to and infallibly guided and actéd in the work commenced by Moses the first and finally concluded and perfected by St. John the last of Canonical Writers may be very rationally evicted and that to an utter exclusion not only of the Jewish Talmud the Turkish Alchoran Popish Traditions Enthsiastick Fancies c. from having part or lot in the Sacred Canon but of matters of a higher predicament namely all vocal Revelation such as was that whereby God instructed his Church for the first two thousand Yeares and upwards and the many Sermons of Christ and his Apostles not recorded though equally inspired of God with the Scriptural as also several Prophecies as those of Gad Nathan Iddo and others which were not only equally inspired but likewise recorded yet irrecoverably lost as being only accommodated pro tunc to some particular state condition exigency of the Church which once satisfied they were judged unnecessary to be incorporated into the universal Canon Where I advertise the Reader that the sufficiency of the Scriptures is evicted in their authority for it being once agreed upon that the Revelation contained therein is of a truth the Word of God we cannot more question its sufficiency then its testimony whereof this is a signal part namely that It is as inspired of God so as his Sacred Institutes profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction c. sufficient to perfect every individual Man and the whole Church of God That whatsoever things were written were written for our Learning c. That this word must be indeclinably observed without turning to the right hand or to the left That nothing must be added to this Word or diminished from it upon peril of accumulative misery denounced by St. John the last and longest liver of Canonical Writers as hath been said in the very last of his writings namely the very close of the Canon by way of penal sanction and ratification of the whole So that the very crisis of this weighty concern of stating and setling our Faith obedience in and to the Holy Scriptures lyeth in the evidence of the Divine Authority thereof after this discursive method That which is the Word of God ought necessarily to be believed and obeyed But the Revelation contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New-Testament is the Word of God Therefore this Revelation ought necessarily to be believed and obeyed The major or first proposition is a conclusion of natural Reason founded and following upon God's essential veracity and supremacy as hath been said the dictates of the very Light and Law of Nature as well as that of a Deity it self The minor or assumption namely that the Revelation contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament is the very Word of God is apparent upon a threefold testimony namely that of the Church that of the Scriptures themselves and that of the Holy Ghost of which the two former onely are argumentative the one as Humane and Ministerial the other as Divine and Canonical as for that of the Holy Ghost He being the efficient cause of our Faith and obedience his testimony indeed is most certainly perswasive to a person 's own Conscience but this testimony being private and internal like the Hidden Manna which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it and the truth or divinity hereof being with all opponents equally questionable with that of the Word it self it can be no wayes convictive to others Well then to urge only the two former and that very briefly As touching the first of those namely the testimony of the Church which I here consider and observe it Sir not under the notion of a Church for as such it is onely knowable by the Scriptures not they by it but as a collective Body or society of prudent and honest faithful Witnesses professing and attesting the Holy Scriptures and the Religion therein prescribed so that the Argument standeth thus That Revelation which is by a society of prudent honest and faithful Witnesses who are neither deceived themselves nor deceivers of others professed and attested to be the Word of God in all rational construction and evidence is such But the Revelation contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament is by such a society of prudent honest and faithful Witnesses c. professed and attested to be the Word of God Ergo c. The major or first proposition Sir I reckon unquestionable with all Atheists and Infidels throughout the world for certainly as essential infallibility in God by vertue whereof in genere entis he can neither deceive nor be deceived is the ground of an infallible assurance in matters of Divine testimony so a rational infallibility in a society of prudent honest and faithful men who therefore cannot be suspected to be in genere moris either deceived in themselves or deceivers of others is a sufficient ground of rational assurance in matter of humane testimony as is that in question viz a humane testimony of a divine Revelation for what more can be required in the case As for the roof of the minor or assumtion all that is required hereunto is the eviction of the prudence honesty and faithfulness of those Witnesses or the rational infallibility of themselves and and their testimony namely that they are such as can neither be suspected of being deceived in themselves nor yet of any imposture or intent of deceiving others where I understand as to our immediate concern in the case the present Testifiers especially without a perplexing recourse had to the first being that the credit of the preceeding is still successively secured in the subsequent Churches thus being once perswaded of the prudence and honesty of the present Church namely that she is so wise and prudent as not to have been deceived by the next preceeding from whom she received the Scriptures and so honest and ingenuous as not to deceive the Reader or my self or the next ensuing we are accordingly assured of the same both prudence and honesty and consequently rational infallibility in the former and so in the next to that and so on to the very Apostles and first witnesses Now then Let the intellectuals and morals the wisdom prudence and discretion the honesty fidelity and integrity of the present Witnesses of the Divinity of the Scriptures be impartially scann'd and all compared with the multitude of
Dignity pre-engaged be perfected and ripened into a firm perswasion by the concurrent certificative Testimony of the Holy Ghost as the efficient cause thereof exerted in if distinct from the admirable efficacy of the Doctrine it self upon the mind and judgment the heart will and affections c. namely that the Revelation that is the doctrine confirmed by miracles both co-attested canonically in the Scriptures and ministerially by the Church contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament as they are approved and received throughout the Reformed Churches is of a truth the Word of God c. There be several other Secondary and Collateral arguments of the Divinity of of the Scriptures as the cessation of Gentile-Oracles the subversion of Pagan-Idols by vertue hereof like the fall of Dagon before the Ark the implacable Malice rage and fury of Satan and his accomplices against them the Divine Judgements upon their inveterate Opponents the invincible courage constancy and resolution of their Confessors and Martyrs the quality of the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists their first Publishers and Writers the admirable preservation of them against all opposition the confession of Adversaries Jews Gentiles Sibylls Phylosophers Heathens and Hereticks c. touching the divine truth thereof And also several other Internal markes and cognizances of Divinity as antiquity consent of parts efficacy of doctrine and the like But the former being only known to us by humane Testimony it is plain that the prudence and discretion the honesty and integrity of the present Witnesses of the Divinity of the scriptures as persons Rationally Infallible or such as cannot in reason be suspected of any either active or passive deceit imposture in the case is must to any considerate person appear to be equivalent to all the rest and a more sure and compendious argument for fixing and setling of our belief in the particular The latter I have omitted as not so argumentative or convictive to natural-Conscience which I have here more especially addressed my endeavour to as the others above urged But that none may wonder why I urge not here the argument of miracles which others of the greatest Fame lay such a main stress upon I will give you and the world this brief account of it Miracles are considerable in reference to the case in hand but two ways namely as either matter of Divine testimony co-attested together with the doctrine by them confirmed canonically in the Scriptures or else as matter of humane testimony co-attested together with the said doctrine ministerially in by the Church as hath been preasserted Now in short Sir under neither consideration are Miracles or can they rationally be supposed to be the argument of our Faith but only the partial Object thereof as matter of Divine testimony as hath been said in the Scriptures and matter of Humane testimony in the Church and therefore requiring a correspondent assent to both Where for a further account of my self I crave leave to Remonstrate against a very Eminent and worthy Divine of the quorum of the Clergy by you contemned now living who in a Book as noted as himself holds this of Miracles for the main convictive Argument of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures as though best now because such of old which is a meer fallacy a non causa pro causa partly and partly ab accidente for First to argue ab absurdo from his own Hypothesis namely this That which Christ himself in his time used as the best argument to prove the Divine Authority of his doctrine is the best still to which I subsume But so it is that that of visible miracles was the best argument which Christ used to prove the Divine authority of his doctrine making the Ear-witnesses of the one Eye-witnesses of the other as infallibly demonstrative signs and seals of Divinity and then the conclusion followeth full of absurdity viz. that that of visible miracles obvious to our Eyes as those were which he wrought in the dayes of his flesh to his then-proselytes is the best argument that can be used still to prove the Divinity of his doctrine the scriptures or which is all one Christ must re-descend into the world and work New miracles visible as his first before he can have New converts Absurd Again If that which Christ himself used as the best Argument to prove the Divinity of his Doctrine which is known to have been visible miracles be the best still then are we under an unavoidable necessity of incurring the same guilt to wit non-conviction and positive unbelief or in the same Authors opinion which I do not here dispute the sin against the Holy Ghost with those reprobated Infidels in the dayes of Christ through our being destitute of the same provisions against it namely visible miracles Nay more we are under a necessity of incurring sin without possibility of remedy a necessity of sinning through want of the preventive visible miracles without possibility of remedy because the positive unbelief mentioned and sin against the Holy Ghost if those be distinct are known by scripture-verdict to be unpardonable this gross absurdity followeth by necessary consequence how injurious nay blasphemous against the Wisdome Goodness Holiness and Justice of God the asserting of such a thing were is easy to determine Thirdly Dilemmatically that Reverend Author must necessarily consider miracles either as Recorded in the Scriptures or as Reported by the Church for as visible they were peculiar to Christ's Contemporaries and Eye-witnesses If as Recorded in the Scriptures as such they being part of the Divine testimony which is this complex the Doctrine of Christ confirmed by Miracles they are not the Argument but the Object of our Faith and we believe not the Scriptures for the Miracles but the Miracles for the Scriptures as part of the sacred narrative and together with the Doctrine by them confirmed and joyntly with them therein Recorded the Collateral Object of our belief If again as Reported by the Church then by my Authors Divinity the testimony of the Church is the main or best Argument that can be used to prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures A train of Absurdities and if we abstract from the testimony of both Scriptures and Church let any tell me what significancy Miracles are of in the case The Author I assure you is a person approved for Eminent both Learning and Piety and indemnified from your two extenuative Characters of which in their due place but personal respects must vail to the interest of the truth I can easily declare with him that I believe that Doctrine to be of God which is confirmed by undeniable Miracles I can as easily declare that I believe all true Miracles to be of God because they exceed all created power but the critical Query in the case by him omitted is how shall one be assured that such Miracles were ever wrought as Christ's turning of Water into Wine for instance his Raising of