it Where R. E. hath read of a visible Church with two heads I know not and to take it for infallible I intend not and where is Peter called a visible Rock and the chief Pastor among the Apostles doth not this contradict Scripture doth not Christ say the Gentiles exercise Dominion one over another but it shall not be so amongest you he that will be greatest among you let him be your servant and he that will be chief let him be your Minister and as for thy visible and militant Church we read no such words in the Scriptures of truth we read of a Church of God and of the first born whereof Christ was the Rock and the foundation and another foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 11. and Paul saith in the 10. ver as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation I hope R. E. will not be so impudent as to say he had laid Peter or that he had preached up Peter to believe in for the remission of sins nor for the foundation of faith for that had been contrary to the Apostles commission and their Doctrine for saith the Apostle We have not preached our selves but Christ the Lord and our selves your servants for his sake And I may say to thee R. E. as Paul said to the Corinthians when they were striving about Men 1 Cor. 3. 21. therefore let no man glory in men for all things are yours or as he saith in the 1 chap. 13. ver was Paul crucified for you or were you baptised in the name of Paul were they not carnal that so gloried was Peter crucified for us or were we baptised in the name of Peter is not your visible Church carnal who thus judges that Christ intended Peter to be the foundation of his Church for what was he or the rest of the Apostles but Ministers by which many believed and if thou had been present it is very like would have instructed Christ what to have said and bidden him have spoken after the Grammer Rule and Construction upon that Rock I will build my Church for Peters faith in Christ is to mediate it seems and his confession too remote and anticedent to be the Rock meant in the 16. of Mat. 18. and therefore Peter must be imediate and the Rock upon which Christ hath doth and will build his Church but as imediate as he was and a sure a Rock as he was when he began to rebuke Christ he turned him about ver 23. and said unto Peter Get the behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savours not the things of God and so say I to R. E. and his Catholicks they savour not the things of God but it is thy private spirit and your own Interpretations and not the mind of Christ and how far anticedent is Peter's Confession of Christ the Son of the Living God is it not in the 16. ver and wherein was Peter blessed but in this that it was revealed to him that Christ was the Son of the Living God the Rock of Ages and the foundation of his Church and as for thy visible Church with its two heads indipendent head and dependent head which sure must have two bodies where they can be found but that I shall leave to R. E. and I hope from the grounds that thou hast here laid which did appear so clear to thee that none will be afraid not judge that such a visible Church with two heads is to be rule and guide to all to whom all is to submit under pain of Damnation which is to have Peter for its Rock which if he had been living he would have denyed you all as seters up of Men and â—leighters of Jesus Christ the Rock of Ages the Foundation of the Church the Head of the Body the Rule of Life the Judge of quick and the dead the Law-giver directer instructer and preserver of his Church for ever but R. E. goes on and saith it only remains that we consider which among all these congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ for having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted with the Holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an error we shall no more dispute the verity of her Doctrines then we would have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the holy Apostles or the words of Christ himself wherefore if this Church this infallible guide shall teach us that Infants ought to be Baptised and that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of them that are alive and that the body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Alter or any other article of Faith we shall no more doubt it then the first Christians did the verity of what the Apostles taught them Among all those Congregations on Earth that looks upon themselves to be this Church and spouse of Christ there is one if thy eye could behold or if thou could discern it but before thou can there is an eye in thee must be put out and there is a wisdom in thee that must be confounded and turned into foolishness before thou can discern it in its glory as it is but however that is it undoubtedly which is begotten into the faith through the publication of the immortal word of Life who are translated from death unto life who have received the power and spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and meets in his name and power and doth witness his presence among them and have received a measure of that infallible Spirit of truth which leadeth into all truth and out of the pollutions of the World and are dead unto the World and baptised into the sufferings of Christ and are crucified with him who keep unviolated his Statutes and commands without adding to or diminishing from who walk in the order of the Gospel and are not conformable to the world nor to that which fallen men sets up but to the power of God which worketh in the hearts of all that believe to the framing of them a meet habitation for God to dwel in and abideth in the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and are sayers and doers speakes the truth and doth the truth and holds the truth in Righteousness and the faith once delivered to the Saints in a pure heart and a pure Conscience who prayes in the spirit and with understanding who publisheth the truth and declares it in the spirit reaching to the Consciences and to the witness of God in all that hears who rejoyce only in Christ Jesus the great power of God and the wisdom of God and hath no confidence in the flesh nor fleshly performances whose faith stands not in words but in the mighty power of God which she hath received according unto the promise of God this Congregation or Congregations
The True RULE JUDGE and GUIDE Of the true Church of God Discovered And borne Testimony unto what it is and wherein it consisteth In Opposition To the pretended Catholick Church of ROME her Rule Foundation Guide and Judge Being returned in Answer to Captain Robert Everrard his Book titled An Epistle to all the Nonconformists wherein his main Reasons Grounds and Alligations laid down in his Book are examined and discoursed with wherein the faith once delivered unto the Saints is vindicated and the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Against the pretended faith and false Doctrines which hath been held forth by the Church of Rome among Christians as infallible By a suffering Member of that Church which fled into the Wilderness when mistery Babylon sat as a Queen upon the Waters Francis Howgill Printed in the Year 1665. The true Rule Judge and guide of the true Church of God discovered and born Testimony unto what it is and wherein it consisteth c. AFter various reports and upbraidings and insultings of divers men in my hearing of a certain great pillar and a leading man among the Nonconformists who it was said had relinquished his errors and had conformed and also written and published a Book for the convincement of all others to Uniformity and Conformity also the Weekly Intelligencer willing to take advantage sometime when there is little or no occasion doth signifie to the whole Nation in his Newes-book of the Conversion of a great Nonconformist for the strengthening and supporting of those desires only in People who is willing to make shipwrack of all Faith Hope Religion and whatsoever also that is of the greatest moment for a little ease and liberty in the flesh and the imbracement of this present World is willing to joyne with that which is the uppermost and to sail with wind and tide not minding the Harbour nor the way which they are passing but only present enjoyment and such whose faith is builded upon men and not upon God and chuses rather to run with the multitude to do evil then with a few despised and afflicted who keep faith and a good Conscience such flashes and airy ungrounded rumours staggr'd their mind and makes them afraid and troubled when there 's no cause At last this great and magnificent piece of Conversion came published in the Newes-book boasted on by the Clergy and divers other great Mountains of Earth came to my hand providentially unlooked for unsought for or desired which is titled An Epistle to the several Congregations of the Non-formists subscribed by Captain Robert Everard as he stiled himself a Member of the Catholick Church which Book hath been spread up and down the Counties it seems as some rare weighty and great matter to induce others to be of the same mind But why the Members of the Church of England should extoll this and rejoyce in this great Convert I know not except they have a a mind to shake hands with the Roman Church and to receive their Catholick faith so called and unquestionable but Deceit loves to sport it self and to make merry and triumph over any who do but relinquish the seeming appearance of truth to turit into the common road of darkness they hug such a one for a while and sets him out as an ensign to glory in and over against others After the said Book came to my hand amongst divers others I was willing to take a survey and to make inspection into those things contained in it and to see what demonstrative grounds and solid and weighty matter was contained in it which I have diligently weighed and without a prejudiced spirit read finding the matter in it chiefly to set up a Council of men to be absolute Judge of all matters of Faith and Doctrine though never so repugnant unto the Doctrine and practice once delivered and received and walked in by the Saints seting up this both above the holy Spirit of God which is the only and sole trier of all Spirits but also above the Scripture wherein I have taken notice his own eye being blinded he would captivate all others and make them blind also and lay wast the Spirit of God and its office the Scriptures and their translation making them as uncertain as much as in him lies as the Turkish Alcbaron and all solid and weighty arguments and reasons that hath been produced this many years by many godly and moderate Dissenters in divers Ages from the Church of Rome this he strikes over all by whole sail labouring to set all a jarr and to make every thing look with a face contrary way to represent them uncomely and at last he hath concluded that the Catholick visible Church is the absolute judge and director both in matters of Faith and Doctrine without distinguishing of their abiding in the faith or falling from it as though the promise of God had been intailed to a certain place as Rome or to a certain sort of men that may call themselves Peters Successors and Ministers of Christ though they walk as far wide both in Doctrine and practice as Heaven is from Earth from Peter and would assume the title of name and office for honour and profits sake but do none of Peters work feeds not the Flock of Christ but worries them and kills them that Christ feeds and sheares off the Wool from off their backs and pulls off the skin too and instead of saving have destroyed hundreds of mens lives in Europe and America some under the name of Hereticks and some under the name of Infidels have been most mercilessly and cruelly destroyed by the power of this holy visible Church as R. E. calls it as the true Chronologies of Ages past doth testifie so that the Nations have been made like Akeldoma by that mystery Babylon which hath drunk the blood of the Saints and slain the Prophets and Martyrs under the name of Hereticks quite out of the Doctrine of Christ and erred from his infallible Spirit who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and to save people from their sins But this false visible Church hath destroyed their lives under the name of Heresie and so hath destroyed them in their sins if they count that Heresie be a sin But of this something more afterwards may be said if God permit But it is a great piece of confidence in R. E. that after fifteen Hundred years as he saith this Church hath continued as a Judge and a Director unto which all Christians are to submit page 20th that he that is but a man of yesterday should be so stout a Champion as to make a flourish and seem to over-ride all the weighty things that hath been spoken by the blessed Martyrs and sufferers for Christ and Righteous dissenters from this Roman Church at one clap and again to exalt his own feeble things that he hath brought forth and exhibit them so confidently to all Nonconformists as unanswerable matter or how he judged
a man to be no man because he is not so tall as another but I see R. E. and his Catholick would have all Shoos made by their Last though they will not fit every mans feet Faith is the gift of God there are divers degrees and measures according to the mind and good pleasure of the giver so that he that hath received any measure or degree must not be excluded as having no faith though he attain not to that degree that some do enjoy and the Apostles Doctrine was that every one should be perswaded in his own mind and if any was otherwise minded they were to be let alone till God revealed it to them And whatsoever people or Church though they claim infallibility that teaches a contrary Doctrine unto this we have good reason to suspect it to be that hasty driving and overdriving spirit that would force a faith where God hath not given it not to be the infallible spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ of which the Church of Rome hath given a vehement cause of suspition by their cruelty and tortors they have exercised towards them who could not receive their Principles and own their Judgment in all things But R. E. the Lay-Gentleman blinded thy eye when he made thee call into question the truth of Scripture and that it proceeded from the infallible Testimony of Gods spirit and if thou had a certain feeling of the same in thy self and in thy own Conscience to let this go and make this void as an insufficient ground to receive Christianity upon to lean to a prop without thee and to be judged by men who have been as fallible and changable in their Judgments as the Moon which have assumed the name of Catholick Church whose Testimony thy Instructer I perceive told thee ought to be received concerning what as is pretended to be revealed or not revealed by God yet all must be obliged to stand to their Judgment though never so repugnant to the Doctrine of Christ and practice of the Church of Christ in the first Primitive times truly so called yet it is granted that the Church of Christ are the dispersed Members through the World though not of it agreeing in one faith being in the power of God and being led and guided by the Holy Ghost their Judgments ought to be received which cannot as lead by the Spirit fail in giving true Judgment in matters of faith which pertains to Salvation but as men they may fail and as erring from the spirit they may fail and infallibility is not intailed to the persons of any men but as they continue in the grace of God and walk in the spirit and bring forth the fruits thereof nor to any place or City but as they continue in Covenant with God for the promise of God was to Jerusalem and Mount Zion and to many other places and people in divers Cities where the glory of God once appeared but now through their Apostacy and unbelief and disobedience they are desolate as to the presence and power of God and their Sun is set and they are covered as with the shadow of a Cloud but this true Church whereof I have spoken was seen to fly into the Wilderness for time times and a half and that since the Apostles days and then was she not so visible and universal as she had been before and the man child was caught up unto God now if thou reckon the Roman Church to be this true Church shew the time times and half a time wherein she fled into the Wilderness and how long she hath been there and when was the time of her return and if ever she was there how that will hang together with your assertion that she hath been visible and so universal this fiften hundred years and if this could be proved that Rome hath been so whether doth it not rather demonstrate her to be the Whore that sat upon the many waters which waters are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and what Church instance if thou can doth lay claim to the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to be yours and to rule over so many Kings of the Earth as you lay claim to be universally of your faith and of your Church which gives us a shrewd character to believe that indeed you are mystery Babylon besides the blood of the Saints that have been shed under the name of Hereticks by this visible Catholick Church among the Nations this twelve 100. years doth give clear evidence that it can be reckoned or imputed unto none but you But I would not grate too hard upon thee being but a new convert but when thy instructer had made thee doubt of thy own state and question the foundation whereupon thou hadst received christianity the next thing he labours to make void is the Spirit of God its Testimony which thou did lay claim too but I feel had little portion in what thou said at last he makes thee doubt of the infallibility of this spirit which thou had spoke on might for ought thou knew be the spirit of error and thou not able to distinguish betwixt the spirit of God in thy self which is infallible and the spirit of error nor to distinguish betwixt their opperations he perswaded thee that all was uncertain and therefore no confidence to be given to any spirit or faith in ones own particular which is the most absurd and ridiculous thing in the world so to judge For if there be no certainty or assurance given to any man or means to every man wherein he may be assured of the certainty of Gods will then whither should any go or upon whom should any lean seeing that no credit can be given to any thing that any man believes and this were but tossing up and down men from mountain to hill that they might never have rest for their souls And as for Jer. 17. and Eccles. 9. Rev. 3. The heart of man is deceitful c. No man knows love or hatred c. And because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing c. These Scriptures was brought unto thee to make thee more blind the first is spoken of the degenerated estate where deceit bears rule and not truth the second is spoken of visible enjoyments which are common to all and the third was spoken to one who had erred from the spirit and was exalted in pride because of external performances but having lost the power was miserable c. But what of all this doth this any whit at all detract from the certainty and assurance of the Spirit of God in them that hath it what shall we reason thus because some have been led aside and are deceived by their own hearts lusts that therefore all may be deceived even them that have the spirit of God God forbid and we have some what more to answer an Arian a Jew or a Turk if they should urge the like knowledg and feeling
Consciences whatsoever they say though never so contradictory to the Primitive Doctrine delivered in Christ and the Apostles days yet all must be received upon pain of Damnation as R. E. saith and this he calls the Visible Church and the infallible Judge and Rule and Directer and hath laid wast the Office of Christ and turned the spirit out of doors and made it ineffectual and would perswade all others to look to this from the true Foundation and so is a Deceiver and an Antichrist Again we have this to say he that teaches a contrary Doctrine then that which was once delivered unto the Saints is a Deceiver and deceived and this was Christs Doctrine once deliverud unto the Saints Swear not at all and love your enemies pray for them that persecute you do good to them that hate you And many more precepts which this visible Guide to wit the Roman Church holds not but hath made void First it teacheth its Members to swear and again gives absolutions to remit them of their Oath if she think fit and both must be reckoned infallible and them that are your enemies instead of praying for them you curse them and instead of doing good to them you hate them and stirs up all your strength against them to destroy them instead of convincing of them in love and sound judgment Instance the days of King John and divers other Princes which felt your fury and wrath and also Frederick the Emperour after he was Interdicted was made to go to Rome to before the Popes Palace and to stand bare foot and bare leg with his Wife and Child two or three days in Winter waiting for Peters Successor his Absolution But it may be thou wilt say this was in love to them and in charity to their souls but let all unbyassed spirits judge and whether have not you when you have been the strongest party made force violence and success your greatest engine and plea to plead with all Nations and whatsoever people that dissented from you either in matter or form instance Germany Bohemia Moravia and divers other Kingdoms and Provinces besides the Indians in America which you destroyed chiefly for their Gold and Treasure under this pretence that they were Infidels and forced a faith upon some and a belief by the violence of your cruelty and swords which made the Noble Man of India say he had rather go to Hell with the Infidels of America as you called them then to Heaven with the Spaniards so cruel a people members of your Catholick Church what might I speak of the King of Castile against the poor Moors of Grandia who were put to cruel torments by force and violence which is a reproach upon this sort of Christianity unto this day and what persecution was raised against the Peddamount Christians by the force of this infallible Judg falsly so called and what Massacres in France and also in Ireland in latter years propagated by the Popes Nuncio a chief Embassadour from the Roman Sea to carry on that design to root out the Hereticks what destruction of people in a most barbarous inhumane preposterous and prodigeous cruelty some killed in the their beds some knocked in the head like Oxen some stripped naked in cold winter and bereaved of all their enjoyments and driven as sheep naked to the shambles and at last driven by scores into Lakes and Rivers and drowned some burned alive in their Houses some tender women strangled in Childbed and their tender Infants taken from their Mothers breasts and tossed upon Spears points and to my knowledg license and pardons given and sent from Rome to divers of their Emissaries there that it should be lawful for any servant or Catholick bondman to steal wast and purloyn their Masters Goods if Hereticks for the weakening and disenabling of them to resist the Roman enterprise begun these things and many more are legable in bloody Characters which I hope this Generation will not easily blot out of their memories so as to commit all faith all hope all religion and all infallibility and judgment to such a degenerated Generation as R. E. would have us do and with such audaciousness is not ashamed to blow his trumpet as in the head of an host to animate and encourage all to come to this black Standard for protection and direction judgment certainty and infallibility under no less then pain of Damnation and why but because Peter was sometime Bishop of Rome as they say and had given unto him the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever he bound on Earth was bound in Heaven and whatsoever he loosed on Earth was loosed in Heaven and because Christ said giving answer to Peters faith upon this Rock I will build my Church therefore all the Bishops and Popes as heires apparent succeeds him in laying claim to headship and doth none of his office nor none of his work and this foolish foppery and private interpretation hath been put off at a very great rate for Catholick Doctrine which brings to my mind a pleasant story I have sometime read of a certain poor Man meeting a certain Bishop at a certain time in great pomp and glory which the poor Man beholding took up a Laughter and being enquired of by the Bishop wherefore he laughed said he that Peter should be such a fool as to live such a poor miserable life as he did and persecuted in the world and to leave his Successors so rich to inherit such pomp and glory with that the Bishop replyed and said Thou fool I am not in this glory as I am Bishop of such a place but as I am Duke of such a place at that the Man smiled again and said When the Duke was in Hell for his pride where then would the Bishop be But to let this pass I am sure them that layes claim to be Peters Successors as to Patrimony and Riches which he was never endowed with for sometime he said Silver or Gold have I none but doth little of his work in converting of souls or feeding of the flock of Christ and doth lay claim unto his privilege and power but will not come near him in Doctrine labour and suffering for his Members and therefore I say to thee in thy own words lay aside thy folly with the consequences of it as destructive to the Church of God to hang all their faith upon such uncertainties but even to humane societies which I have mentioned and might instance more but that I would not be tedious to the Reader Lastly Yes some have some other Testimony by which spirits are tryed and may be tryed to be of God otherwise then by force carnal sword a strong party or success that 's thy own and not ours we have the holy Unction which is poured forth whereby the Saints knew all things and tryed the spirits whether they were of God or no and he that confesses not Christ come in the flesh is Antichrist and he
understanding of it and they that are without this are like to kill one another about words and names and sounds and titles and jotas but still wants the key that opens and gives an entrance into the knowledg of the things of God which alone is the Spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures Last of all R. E. after he saith the three former props which is the basis of the whole foundation and glided over as sleightily as he possible could although he hath never stated the matter right indeed as to remove all things out of his way which might hinder him in his cause which he drives so hard on in to wit to set up a certain company or multitude of men visible and universal as he saith to be the only infallible Judge to convey Faith to the World and to be the certain and infallible Judge in all matters that either pertaines to the Worship of God and to be believed under pain of Damnation as his term is all along without questioning at all either their Doctrine or Principles or comparing them with the Doctrine of Christ or Primitive Christians whether they be true or false whether they be with or against but all is to be received by an implisite faith hand over head and by whole sail for it will admit of no examination nor doubt but all must be received of necessity as infallible and upon so great a necessity to as R. E. saith if you will believe him would make it so that all forfeits eternal Salvation for not receiving all the Doctrines of this Church and consequently procures eternal damnation unto themselves who refuse it so that if I should say no more but even lay down his assertions which are scattered up and down his Book called an Epistle to all Nonconformists it were answer enough I hope to many whose mouthes I hope would be filled with arguments and sound and grounded ones too or at least with faith in their hearts to oppugn and not receive all these bold assertions without examination or trial only upon the account of infallibility from the Universal Church of Rome falsly so called but R. E. having removed away all the stumbling blocks which is in his way as he judges the private spirit he hath concluded not to be this rule and judge which I judge he hath no opposers in though he have spent much paper and time in his scribling humour which hath been his manner in former days as he confesseth page the first neither reason nor the Scriptures are this rule and judge but he hath concluded the Catholick Church is but all along he hath waved that which indeed is the only and alone rule and judge infallible viz. the Spirit of God but either calls it the private spirit or concludes it is intailed upon the Church so that she cannot erre page the 54. which I shall say something further unto That there hath been a Church of God and a peculiar people whom God hath singled out as to be objects of his love which feared him in their hearts and bore a Testimony of him and worshipped him according to the manifestation of his Spirit unto them whether by word or revelation which was certain and infallible unto them that received it is granted and this was alwaies but little in comparison of the multitude of the fallen Sons of Adam and the rest of the Nations and people that served and worshipped strange Gods and never made such a boast of universality and visibility as this supposed Catholick Church hath done since the Apostacy entered in which the Apostles foresaw and prophesied off before their departure out of this Tabernacle and since many have believed in Christ and the Worship of the Jewes extinguished and a fatal overthrow of their Civil Government and Kingdom are two main reasons of extinguishing their Worship and hath been no invitation to any to turn Jewes or holden in their worship seeing they have lost their Government and Dominion and are as scattered people without privilege and is no inducement for the World to joyne to them therefore seeing the face of that Government was demolished and their Worship ended but only as to themselves who remained in their unbelief and seeing that the Doctrine of Christ did so far prevail as to extingush it and put out the Glory thereof in the Apostles dayes and sometime afterwards and also the Gentiles Worship and their false Gods and dumb Idols which they were led after the power of God prevailing through the Apostles the Ministers of Righteousness by whom many were converted unto the Faith of Christ the summe and substance of all shadowes many being converted to the Faith did hold forth a publick Testimony and it became in some reputation and many preached him of envy contention and strife and for filthy lucre covetousness and self-ends and many followed their pernicious wayes and yet held the name of Christ and Christianity and thus began the mystery of Iniquity to work and the Devil to turn so far Christian in name only because it was in vain among many to hold forth the Jewes Worship or the Gentiles Worship because they had an inclination another way after Christianity that came into more repute with the World and therefore suffered the name or many to profess it and under this name and under this Cover to bring forth his works of darkness and the fruits of the flesh and the nature of Christ wanting and here was the beginning and rise of your universal visible Church Secondly For the first two thousand years before the Scriptures were written R. E. saith the Church of God was this rule and judge and infallible director which might to some indifferent man have been granted but that I see which way his course bends viz. to the setting up of Men as judge and rule and guide and detracts from the Spirit and power of God in which the ability and power of the Church of God stood and from which alone they received this proper power right because their understandings were enlightened and their judgments informed to declare the mind of God freely according as it was revealed and to give true judgment why is not this attributed rather to the spirit and power of God that was manifest in them rather then to persons seeing their ability stood and their power only as they kept in Covenant with God and as any erred from that in any age or fell from that they came to be blind guides and to give false judgment as some such there were in all ages Thirdly R. E. saith that after the Scripture was written the Church of the Jewes was rule and judge unto the Jewes cites Deu. 17. 8. Thou shalt come to the Priests Levites unto the Iudge and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment and according to that which they shall tell thee thou shall do And likewise he quotes Mat. 23. 2 3. The Scribes
which is one and doth hold the one head by which all the members of Christ are knit together in the one faith by which they overcome the world this undoubtedly is the Church of Christ and the spouse of Christ. But whether R. E. will not dispute against the verity of her Doctrine I question notwithstanding all his submission in words and if this Church should teach that Infants are to be baptised with Cream and Spittle and signed with the Cross as absolutely necessary to Salvation or that it is the duty of the Saints alive to pray to the Saints departed this world or to teach that Christs body which was broken for us and hanged upon the tree at Mount Calvary that this should now be in a morsel of bread and a sup of wine and conveyed thither by the Priest and this to be really the body of Christ if this Church should teach any such Doctrine there were good and weighty reason to question seeing that R. E. before hath said that they cannot be infallible who contradict one another and teach two contrary Doctrines and yet say they are both infallibly directed so to teach I hope R. E. will grant that the Church in Christs time and the Apostles was infallible and it taught no such Doctrine but to the contrary therefore that Church which pretends infallibility and yet teacheth such Doctrines as before mentioned contrary unto Christ and the Apostles cannot be infallible neither led by the infallible Spirit and all hath good reason to question the verity of these things more then what the Apostles taught seeing they are contradictory to Christ and the Apostles teaching and contrary to Scripture and contrary to the witness of God in all Consciences and as I said before this Church of God whereof I have spoken now though not denominated by any other name then the Church of God is and hath been assisted so by the Holy Ghost as she hath not erred when she only hearkened to its instruction and direction but when the wisdom of the flesh and the worldly part and States and Governments and Policies and Princes have been minded more then the Spirit of God then error hath been taught and the greater part in a Council have overswayed the rest and established error by decree and hath enjoyned it under penalties to be received as sacred and holy and infallible of which we find the Church of Rome exceeding guilty and therefore do conclude notwithstanding the promise of God to his Church that kept in Covenant with him that this Church of Rome have erred and do err both in faith doctrine and practice of the infallible Church in the Apostles days and therefore their Doctrine is more to be questioned then the Apostles and they not fit to be this rule and guide and directer unto which R. E saith all is to submit under pain of Damnation Scar-Crows will hardly affright men of understanding but unreasonable Creatures it may And last of all R. E. he saith he will conclude his whole proof with an argument from Heaven and of the highest nature and makes it evident that the Roman Church must be this guide and judge which God hath appointed because of the gift of Miracles and cites the 15. of John and 24. If I had not done among them the works that no other man did they had not had sin and now I say that the Roman Church hath done works and Miracles such as no other Church hath done therefore if we refuse to believe her we shall have sin and shew our selves haters of God and he instances St. Ber. St. Mal. St. Dom. St. Fra. which wrought Miracles and of Austin the Monk which taught Christian Faith first in England and his fellow Monkes which was then confirmed by wonderful Miracles from Heaven not in confirmation of those points and articles of faith which you hold with us but of those which you call Popish and superstitious as the Sacrifice of the Mass and about respect and veneration which is given to Saints Relicks and Images and about the Doctrine of Purgatory and payment of Tythes and R. E. concludes if we will not believe what you have not seen you destroy faith which is an evidence of things not seen Although R. E. make a great boast of the Miracles of the Church of Rome which no other Church hath wrought the like and therefore concludes that the is this rule and guide unto which all is to give ear unto under pain of Damnation and these Miracles he saith is argument from Heaven and proof of the highest nature believe him who can if time would but permit and the Reader have patience to read most or many if not all the Miracles he so much crys up might be declared to his and their shame the very report and relation thereof cannot but be reckoned as fabulous and fained stories and proceeds from that lying spirit which was in the false prophet which wrought Miracles before the Beast and deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image which must be taken alive and cast into the lake of fire Revelation 19. 20. It is an a dulterous Generation that seeks a signe And yet did not believe when they had Miracles wrought by the finger of God amongst them yet they said it was by Belzebub the Scribes and Pharisees said if he be the King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and we will believe but the power of Christ was not to be shewed at the blind will of the Pharisees neither would they have believed if he had come down though Miracles have been wrought by the power of God and is according to his Heavenly will and is not limited either to men time or place yet it is not so sufficient an argument from Heaven as R. E. saith to prove the Church of Rome this true Church seeing that the Devil and Satan and Antichrist shall come with signes and lying wonders and if it were possible deceive the elect and Janes and Jambres withstood Moses in working lying Miracles before Pharoah to the hardning of his heart and Chrysistome in his Hom upon Mat. 49. saith in the end of time power shall be given to the Devil to work signes and Miracles so that the Ministers of Christs cannot be known by working of Miracles but by working none at all and Augustine saith though some said Prayers at the Tombs of the Dead and obtained their desires as they said saith away with these things they be either juglings and mockeries of deceitful men or else delusions of lying spirits Chrys. in his Hom. upon Matth. 49. in old times it was known by Miracle who were the true Christians and who the false but now Miracles is rather among them that are false Christians and as for your great Miracles which thou saith the Chronologies and Histories speak of J. L. as Bed and Holm Sheads Stows and others we look upon them
largly of by other hands and pens so that I need not say much But Miracles be not evermore undoubted proofes of a true Doctrine nor such absolute signes of a true Church nor such infallible arguments as from Heaven as R. E. saith his is and so I shall conclude with that which Austin said unto Faustus the Manicha Ye work no Miracles and yet if ye wrought any at your hands we would take heed of them and Jer. 23. saith the false Prophets have deceived my people by their lies and by their lightness and by their dreams and Miracles And so hath this false fained pretended Catholick Church done deceived The Nations and bewitched them with such lying fabulous stories and false and ridiculous miracles and sorceries and inchantments as is above mentioned and many more of the like nature might be mentioned but that I would not be tedious to the Reader which if they were summed up all would hardly make up a Heavenly argument and proof as R. E. saith it doth that their Church is the only true Church and fit to be the rule and judge of all matters of faith and now Reader view over their Miracles before mentioned and see if thou can receive them because the Church of Rome saith they are true and must not be questioned for if thou do thou art like to come under a hard censure by the verdict of R. E. and his Catholick Church first to be reckoned as an unbeliever secondly to be a hater of God and thirdly in not believing these Miracles or whatsoever else shall be declared unto thee by the said Church or else thou comes under no les penalty then eternal damnation as R. E. saith in the 80. page of his Epistle but it is a small thing to be judged by man and especially such a man who hath gaded abroad and changed his way so osft so that he hath forgotten the true path of Righteousness to walk in or else never knew it and hath turned and wheeled about and now at last doth as the poor Indian doth with his Deer skin hangs it upon one shoulder and so upon the other shoulder to shelter him from the wind and tempest that comes of that side But the day is dawned and mens spirits are discovered beyond their words and all the turnings and wheelings of things upside down is but as the Potters Clay for God measures every man not by his words but by his heart and spirit and works and will judge every one in Righteousness according to their deeds And R. E. goes on as confident that his arguments and reasons laid down hath prevailed and almost takes it for granted that it must needs be evident to all that the Roman Church is the true Church and saith he knows but one single point between the Catholicks and them that stand devided from them and that is saith he that we follow a several rule to guide and judge in the great affaires of faith for all sides are bound to believe all truths sufficiently propounded to them to be revealed of God and therefore if the presence of Christ in the Sacrament Purgatory worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints and prayer to the Dead and for the Dead if these or any other point of faith be sufficiently propounded by denying them Gods varassaty is denyed and God thereby made a lyer The difference stands betwixt you and them that are devided from you in more particulars then thou art aware of or ever will be able sufficiently to propound them to be revealed of God though it is true some are but devided from you in Circumstantials and Ceremonies and some others in some points of Faith and Worship yet some deny you in the very ground though 't is true the different rule by which each party are directed is a great and a main thing thou saith this Church Catholick is the rule but I say and am not alone that Christ is the way to the Father and the way to the Kingdom and the rule and means by which his Church is governed and he is the Lawgiver and the judge and all Judgment is committed to the Son and it is he alone that propounds truth sufficiently and they that are in him are new Creatures and that which is the new Creatures rule guide and judge is the rule guide and judge of the Church of God and Christ is the author of faith and it is nothing that availes any thing with God but the new Creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace is to them Gal. 3. 16. and Christ hath not left his people without guide for he said lo I am with you to the end of the world So as to commit the guidance thereof to fallible men who may assume authority without his power and to fasten those things upon God as to be revealed from him when the Lord hath spoken nothing and we are so far from looking that the main grounds that thou lays down to prove your Church to be this rule and guide and the many Doctrines propounded by you are not sufficiently propounded to be revealed of God but rather they are the imaginations of your own brain and things packt up since the Apostles days by different Popes and different mutations and alterations in your Church for filthy Lucres sake and so to deny them is not to deny Gods varassaty neither to make God a lyer as thou falsly saith but thou and you are the lyers as to propound those things to be revealed from God and to be received by all under pain of damnation when God hath revealed no such thing but the contrary and so thy own words at last shall turn to be thy burden because thou saith the Lord saith and hath revealed and sufficiently preposed the real presence of Christ in your Sacrament of the Alter as a devine Revelation worshipping of Images Prayer to the Dead and for the Dead and all the foolish imagination which you have brought in and intruded and thrust upon people by force and these are sufficiently propounded as thou saith as devine Revelations and the Father Son and Holy Ghost or the Incarnation of Christ silence deceit and for shame blush so to say the Prophets who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and prophesied of things to come they declared of the Father Son and Holy Ghost all and prophesied long before that a Virgin should bring forth a Son whose name should be called Emanuel God with us and the Government should be upon his shoulders this the Pope hath usurped and you put it upon his Shoulders but your invented Doctrines aforesaid are meerly the imaginations of your own brain which neither the Prophets nor Apostles bore witness unto but against and therefore it is thy and your great presumption to make God Christ and Apostles the foundation of all this rubbish straw and stuble which thou would put off as devine revelation and as sufficiently preposed as the
Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles was nay blush for shame they brought in the Prophets for the peoples sake to prove that they had testified of the same before and had declared the coming of the just one besides they commended themselves to the witness of God in every mans conscience and upon waiting upon the Lord and in the measure of his spirit they found the things even so and by searching the Scripture as the Bareans did and found the things even so as had been declared of but upon due consideration we find not these foresaid Doctrines so propounded as to have the Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles neither doth your Doctrine and worship answer the Witness of God in every Man's Conscience and so to deny you is not to make God a lyer but God true the Prophets and Apostles and the witness of God true and you lyers who contradicts them and their Testimony and the power of God and would assume it to your selves though you be erred from the spirit and would put all under the name of infallibility and by such heavenly arguments as R. E. calls them to wit the Miracles aforesaid by which you have deceived the Nations and blinded the eyes of the people but the time is come and Light and Life is broken forth that the skirts of the Whore must be discovered and her nakedness must appear and her fornications and adulteries shall be manifest unto all so that you shall not proceed much further And I hope by this time in E's words it will appear evident to all whose eyes God in any measure hath opened that this Catholick Church so called is manifest in what hath been said to R. E. not to be the Church of Christ neither their Doctrines and practice devinely propounded neither she taken from henceforth as the only infallible judge rule and directer in all matters of faith which all are to receive upon pain of damnation as R. E. saith though she sit as a Queen and hath known no sorrow but on the contrary she to be a blind guide that hath bewitched the Kings of the Earth and the Nations which are waters which is the universality R.E. boasts of with her inchantments and sorceries which from henceforth shall not be taken as infallible but fallible and as that Church that hath not conveyed the true faith which was once delivered to the Saints but rather hath spread abroad error and false Doctrine and the traditions and inventions of Men instead of the Doctrine of Christ and would put off all this under the name of Authority and power from God and sufficiently propounded and infallibility and under the penalty of the highest curse upon not receiving it but the Sun is risen which hath discovered all your deceit lay down your carnal weapons Cain's weapons and your humane power by which you have prevailed more by force and cruelty upon the Nations then by found Doctrine or that plea of being Peters successors I say come forth with your spiritual weapons which the Church of God had in the Primitive times and prevail as far as you can but oh you want these and therefore you are necessitated to take up force and violence the Dragons power to compell all to come to your Church Further R. E. in his Postscript hath been confident of what he hath declared that it is of such force what he hath said for the Roman Catholick Church so called that he believes what he hath said cannot be answered and he saith his confidence doth not misbecome him and that it is improbable to be answered and that he hath not yet done his All neither in his first nor second Edition but hath somewhat more yet of great moment to speak as to prove the Church of Rome this only and infallible guide Unto whom I say it had been good not to have boasted when he put on his armor but when he puts it off and methinks having been so unstable and unsetled as he hath been formerly he should not have been so confident in opposition to Wisdom as to give such a challenge and make such a vapour of as that it is improbable to be answered and it is more then any of you or all of you can answer as his own words are page the 89. these words are not becoming a man indeed who saith he hath learned meekness and humility of heart and hath such great bowels of Charity as he professeth he hath page the 86. The substance of what he hath said or written which he reckons so profound and unanswerable and to be more then any or all the Nonconformists can answer they have been answered over and over again before R. E. was born by many Learned sufficient and good Men whose Reasons and weighty Arguments about the Premisses have not been made void unto this day but hath prevailed with many not only to the convincing but also to the turning of many from that usurped Authority of the Roman Church and hath discovered the errors false Doctrine and evil practices notwithstanding their pretended infallibility which R. E. will not be able to answer if particulars should be descended unto and though R. E. may reckon the reasons that he hath laid down which he hath the most what taken at the gainest and reckon them as impregnable yet I hope they will not appear so to an understanding eye which is enlightened by the spirit of the Lord nor to them who are of a sound Judgment what others have done to answer his bold Challenge I know not because I am shut up in a corner for the Testimony of Jesus and for the word of God but methinks them that are concerned should not let such boasts go unreproved neither such false Doctrine nor false suggestions as R. E. hath made to villifie and debase and set at nought all things and every thing that seems contrary unto the judgment of this pretended Catholick Church and seeing that he shuts out all Nonconformists as to be Members of the Church of God and to be without all Rule all Order all Government and to come under the great penalty of damnation by not submitting unto whatsoever this pretended Catholick Church doth impose how repugnant soever it be unto the Doctrine of Christ and how contrary soever it be unto the Spirit of God yet all must be received without question though it be that which the Spirit of God sometimes called the Doctrine of Devils but now it must become holy and of divine authority and sufficiently propounded and so received because as R. E. saith this Church cannot err I say unto him and unto all men and to the witness of God in every man either the Church in the Apostles days did err and teach false Doctrine or this pretended Catholick Church because they teach contrary one to the other and do walk by a contrary rule and as R. E. saith infallibility cannot contradict it self and he hath granted that the Apostles and Primitive Christians had an infallible spirit and did not err then let R. E. and all take a view of the Roman Doctrine and compare it with theirs and they shall find it as far wide one from the other as the Heavens is from Earth or light from darkness so that for the truths sake and for the Doctrine and faith sake that was once delivered among the Saints and for the Nonconformists sake who cannot bow their knee to Baal neither snbmit to the injunctions of changable men instead of the Doctrines of Christ. I could not do less then give Answer unto the substance of R. E. his Epistle which he boasted of to be more then any could answer and to reprove his false Doctrine and error which he would perswade all unto and not to question because the Church of Rome hath propounded it as infallible most of all those Doctrines are denyed and I cannot but give my Testimony against them as to be false and that which leads people into error and let R. E. when he brings forth his all prove to us that Infallibility as intailed to the Pope by succession and Prayer for the Dead worshipping of Angels worshipping Relicts worshipping Images Transubstantiation Purgatory sprinkling of Infants prove to us from the Scripture in thy next that these were Apostolical and Infallible Doctrines delivered and taught by the Church of Christ in the Apostles time or in the first hundred years after Christ and thou will not only gain me but many more to receive and imbrace the Catholick Church of Rome for an absolute rule and guide unto which all on earth ought to be subject unto which if thou do not we will take it for granted thou dare not least thou ingage thy self in such a Controversie as thou never ingaged in yet by which thy and your folly will more and more appear unto all I shall not trouble neither my self nor the Reader any further in traducing R. E. in his multiplicity of words although the main and weighty Arguments and reasons as R. E. looks upon them is answered which I commend unto thee and to the witness of God in every Man's Conscience to try and search out where the difference and weight lies and the truth and as the measure of Gods Spirit in every Man's Conscience doth close with or against if it can what I have said about R. E. his Epistle for unto that I dare stand to the judgment of and in it as every one believes and walks I bid my Reader Farewell F. H. Westmerland this 18. of the Fifth Moneth 1665. THE END Faults that have escaped the Press through the negligence of the Printer the Friendly Reader is desired to pass by or correct Some of which are these PAge first line 28 29. for Nonformists read Nonconformists p. 2. l. 3. for and read as l. 7. the point or stop should be after over p 3. l. 16. the point should be after the word Director and not after unto l. 37. for fanedness read fainedness p. 6. l. 34. for Christian read Christians p. 19. l. 24 for minds read mind p. 31 l. 35. for legable read legible p. 44. l. 35. for habitants read habitations p. 57. l. 28. for 9th read nine
hath not received the spirit nor the power which the Scriptures declare of such wrangles and contends with the words and opposes the life and the power the Jews had the Scriptures and knew by them where Christ should be born and knew by them what his works should be when he was manifest and yet rejected him unto whom all the Prophets bore witness from Moses to Samuel and from him to John and they were never intended by God as to be set up as Judge and Guide to wit the words without the power and Spirit of God yet notwithstanding though I cannot set them up in the place of God and Christ and the Spirit nor contend ignorantly as some have done that they are the author of true faith and that they are the eternal word of God which the world was made by that they are the light and the way the truth and the life and that they are the desider of all Controversies and sole and absolute and only Judge of all matters of faith and of all matters that ever hath been or ever shall be in controversie to the end of the World without the spirit of God neither am I of that ignorant mind as some are that the Letter and the Spirit is unseparable as that whosoever hath the Scripture must needs have the Spirit or whosoever hath the Scripture must needs be infallible without the Spirit all that are of the aforesaid Judgment are but wranglers for the most part about words and contenders against the power of God and godliness and brings the words to oppose the life and them that have the spirit and walk in it for a Natural man may read the Scriptures and yet not perceive the things of God neither perceive the mind of the spirit but wrest to their own destruction as Peter saith because they are unlearned untaught by the spirits teaching though otherwise learned enough in Languages Tongues and Speeches Secondly Yet I cannot detract from them neither undervalue them or disesteem them as uncertain or of no use or of little use but what ever themselves declare themselves to be that I own them to be to wit the Words of God the words of Christ the words of the holy Prophets and Patriarkes and Apostles who were endued with the Holy Ghost and spake forth the Scripture as they were moved thereby in several ages of several things and unto several states and conditions as they were led thereunto by the holy Spirit and they are a certain declaration of things that were done and believed and practised by the Jewes under the first Covenant and by the Apostles and Primitive Christians in the New Covenant and contain many precious and holy precepts and commands doctrines examples exhortations admonisions reproofs and instructions and are as lively examples and holy patterns for all the Saints in light to follow by which we are given to understand what Faith what Hope what Patience what Love what mercy what long sufferings what consolation and what vertue and what inheritance the Saints in light were made pertakers of through faith in Christ Jesus Likewise what Doctrines were held forth and what practice they used in the Primitive times when they walked in the order of the Gospel and had fellowship with God the Father and the Son and one with another in the light of the Gospel which is the power of God through which they witnessed Salvation and remission of sins and published it unto others that they might believe Thirdly The Scriptures testifies of Christ and were written that they might be believed and received and read that there by every one that believed might be made wise to Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. and instructed in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished with all good works and whosoever doth teach any Doctrines contrary unto the holy Men of God who spake as they were moved by the spirit of God which dwelt in them the Scriptures are witnesses against such that they have not the Spirit of God but are led by another spirit which brings forth contrary Doctrine and another faith then once was delivered among the Saints and whosoever brings in sets up other precepts constitutions orders and practices in point of Worships in opposition and contrary unto those practices which were held forth in the Primitive times and would set up other Traditions then the Apostles delivered either by word or writing such are manifest to have the spirit of error and are innovaters and bringers in of other things as necessary in point of Worship among Christians which the Apostles and Ministers of Christ did not see necessary then and yet they wanted no part of the Councel of God for Paul said he had declared the whole Councel of God and further more they said we have the mind of Christ and Christs mind is not variable Fourthly Though divers of the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles be lost doubtless as is evident by divers places of Scripture yet blessed be God that there are those preserved which do bear witness of the one thing absolutely necessary unto Salvation and of the Ministrations that were appointed of the Lord for the Church of God to observe both in the first and second Covenants so that Christians of this last age are not left without example and president which all ought to have an eye unto and a diligent regard and though there be divers Coppies of that which is called the Original Tongues and divers Translations yet he unto whom the Spirit of God is given and waiteth in the measure of Christs Light shall receive it doth see and shall see the mind and will of God in every age and the mind and intent of the spirit in them that spoke forth the Scripture and can receive the matter therein contained as though they had heard them speak that spoke it at the first and though the Translaters were Men yet I have such an honourable esteem of their labour that I believe they have not varied wittingly and willingly from the best Coppies that was extant in their age neither that they were altogether void of the Spirit of God in such a good work which conduced to the benefit of Mankind but were assisted by it for so good a work and there be many figures and trophes improprieties of speech mysteries and difficulties yet all these comes to be made easie and plain to them that are witnesses of the same spirit that gave them forth and though there be deversity of judgments and professions of Religion one clashing again another and thwarting another and contradicting another and all will seem to bring the Scripture for their proofe which yet canuot maintain and prove every thing good especially when their Doctrines contradict one another This is granted it is only their private interpretation and not the Scripture and for want of that Spirit that gave it forth for that alone gives the true
And as for all thy Collections out of the Prophets of the promise of God to his Church Isaiah 54. and 56. and of its indowments and glory and excellency and of his puting his spirit in them and of his word in their mouthes and that it should not depart from the seed nor the seeds seed for ever this is granted and the promise is not to Men as Men but to the seed which is not many but one but Israel was this true Church then in the time of this Prophesie though it have relation to future ages also and if R. E. looks that this promise should be to Israel after the flesh the Church then visible and in being he mistakes himself and he egragiously errs and contradicts the Scripture in sundry places which saith your house is left unto you desolate their Sacrifices ceased the Glory of God departed from them their Prophets prophesied a divination of their own brain and their visions were as visions of the night and the Lord spake not to the most of them yet they said falsly thus saith the Lord in their revolted estate for they were erred from the spirit and gone from the seed and joyned to another seed and their holy flesh was departed from them though as men they had the same flesh still go learn what that means and yet notwithstanding all this the promise of God was not violated neither unfulfilled on Gods part for the promise was not then neither now is to Natural Generations or that which is born after the flesh or to men as men and Creatures but as they are the seed and as they are Men of God and as they are born again and new Creatures and if thou will have an intailing here it is intailed which cannot be cut off for the Covenant stands not to Men in such a place that carries the name of Office or Authority but as they are led by the Spirit the infallible Judge rule or guide as they walk by this and in this they cannot err and they erring from this they are subject to be deceived and to be mistaken in all things and every thing of which there is evident examples in the Scriptures of truth in divers ages of them that professed themselves members of the Church of God and so visible as R. E. speaks of yea and the greater part too that have erred and their paths hath been reckoned by the Lord as crooked and perverse and their Habitants full of cruelty and this is given for an instance the visible Church of the Jewes did err and go aside notwithstanding all the promise of God to them and as they looked that it still belonged to them because they were invisible profession though they had turned their backs upon the Lord and their hearts too and violated his Covenant yet still as I said the promise of God and the Covenant of God is not made of none effect nor broken on Gods part but stands with the seed for ever who are circumcised in heart and who worshipes God in spirit and truth and in uprightness of heart and hath no confidence in the flesh nor fleshly privileges nor external performances but only trusts unto the gift of Righteousness manifest in them by which Justification comes upon all that believes and the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ and the fulness of the promise of God but these things I know though they be holy faithful and true are a sealed Book and hid from all eyes living in the flesh who hath not been baptised into the death and suffering of Christ. Fourthly That Christ by his own mouth and the mouthes of the Apostles did promise that there should be a Church which the Gates of Hell should not prevail against and this Church was established upon the Everlasting Foundation and the Rock of Ages and was indued with power from an high and with a great measure of the spirit of God according unto Christ's promise which more plentifully was poured forth after Christs departure and after his Ascension and great gifts were given unto them the word of Knowledge the word of Wisdom the Interpretation of Tongues the gift of Tongues the gift of Prophesie the gift of discerning Spirits healing the sick working of Miracles c. and all these foresaid gifts were given for the work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and unto a perfect man and to the measure and stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. And all these were instrumental through the Spirit of God which was with them and in them the only means to bear witness unto those things that they had learned and believed and to publish the word of faith abroad unto the World and for all these aforesaid ends above mentioned which though R. E. and his Catholicks will need lay claim to the succession by way of office yet by their Doctrine denies in part the very end wherefore such gifts were given to wit the Doctrine of Purgatory for if they did perfect the Saints or were brought up to the knowledge of the Son of God and to perfect men in Christ Jesus and to be without sin what need had there been of raising up this damnable Doctrine out of the pit to purge from sin after they be dead seeing they were to be perfect men while they were alive and the Ministry was given for this end but yours it seems cannot have these effects on this side of the Grave and therefore they must perfect them in the grave and so be Ministers in another World And this Church thus gathered and endued before mentioned with the infallible Spirit of God if any that did sometime believe and were joyned unto it did walk disorderly as not becoming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ they were to be admonished and exhorted and if they persisted in their disorder it was to be told to the Church or the whole body and if such a one would not hear the Church he was to be reckoned as a Publican or a Heathen and to be denyed as to have any fellowship with him till manifest repentance was shewn but we never read that this Church did shed any mans blood or burn any or give consent to destroy any instance if thou can though obstinate and Hereticks too and in this amongst many other things the spirit of your Church is seen to be contrary to the Primitive Church and you out of Christs Doctrine but R. E. argues further and saith but if Christ by his Spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error instead of truth I may receive such errors as may damn me unto which I say Christ by his spirit doth preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error if they continue in the guidance thereof and err not
with the like confidence to prove they were in the truth and Christianity a delusion and thy instructer said what would you reply to them We have more to reply in such Cases then time will permit now or the state of the case require seeing it is but a supposition and we take no thought what to answer the gain-sayers of truth withall but relyes upon the promise of the Father and of his Son Jesus Christ who said to his Disciples take no thought for it shall be given you what to answer in that day which promise all that are true Disciples shall find true to the end of the World but somewhat more we have to say it may be then thou said when thou suffered thy self to be made blind and carried captive with another Mans Judgment and neglected the measure of Gods spirit in thy self at home through which alone the secret things of God is revealed and in which true certainty and infallibility is witnessed and not in Men who is fallible and changable If an Arian Jew or Turk should urge their own interpretation of Scriptures which is of no private interpretation contrary to the mind of him that gave it forth I would say he perverted the words of the Scripture which is in harmony and unity one with another as to the states and conditions they were spoken to and are plain and are only read by that spirit that gave them forth except it be in some Historicall or Chronology or Genealogy of Names and Generations which might he some gathered from other hands and different hands taking notice of them as to record them there might be some variation yet the substance of the report is true but what is Calculation of yeares or dayes or reckoning up of Genealogies as to the matter of Salvation and what if we had never had them no more then we have other Histories and things that fell out among the Jewes but if there be any contradiction for ought I know we may blame the Church of Rome the most of any who will needs affirm they received all or most of the things from the Apostles and if the translations differ or be somewhat uncertain what have they been doing this fifteen hundred yeares with their infallible spirit that they could not have rectified them according to their first original and if any of the foresaid Sects should pretend the certainty of the spirit and yet not have it I should answer the spirit is known by its fruits and the fruits of the spirit are manifest and they that pretend to it and bring forth contrary fruites are manifest to be deceivers and deceived but their states are different and therefore requires different answers which time will not now permit to insist upon but over and beside all other arguments to perswade any man to or from any thing the witness of God in the party unto whom he speaketh is to be reached and that is beyond the understanding of man and greater then it and more convincing then any arguments that can be used without and he that cannot speak to this is not skilful in the word of righteousness That Christ was an infallible guide who is the way the truth and the life is granted by all Christians and that the Apostles received the promise of the Father and the infallible spirit of God which led them into all truth and this infallible assurance the Christians had that lived in the Apostles time this is granted and the Apostles were infallible guides not as Men meerly but as Men full of the holy Ghost and as Men who were filled with the spirit of God and therefore the Apostles said be followers of us as we are followers of Christ and if any controversie did arise as some there did and doutes among the then Christians the Apostles and Elders meeting together in the power of the holy Ghost did write their mindes and Letters to the Christians to pacify all and good reason that they that had believed through their word should submit unto the Holy Ghost and unto them by whom they were begotten unto God by the word of Life for the ending of strife about wordes and shadowes and outward things and they whose mindes were outward then in ages since and now ran into contention about outward things and such for the most part do erre from the spirit of God in themselves but I would have thee to take notice of this and all you Catholick Members so called the Apostles of Christ only did exhort and did not force their Decrees by penal Statutes and to be observed under the penalty of loosing life or limbes as since their pretended successors have done who have erred from the spirit and have got the Saints words and turned against the life and power but the Decrees as you call them are not many nor burdensome which the Apostles wrote at Jerusalem as the many Counsels since have made they are so endless and numberless and burdensome and so contradictory one to another in divers things who will but look into the Decrees of the Counsels since the Apostles dayes that we can find little certainty in any of their Decrees but rather as thy Instructer saith the Sword of the flesh and not the spirit hath been the rule and law to Christianity but the Masters of great wit and power and Interest have framed and made parties unto themselves and hath not Warres been raised among your selves about deciding your controversies hath not the Pope Warred against the Emperour and the Emperour against the Pope was not Wars raised about the Decrees when Pope Eujenius was deposed as a Heretick by the Counsel of Bazill and one while the Pope must be infallible as Peter's Successor and above all Counsels and Churches another while the Counsell is above the Pope excommunicates him as a Heretick and excludes his Infallibility and now where is the certainty and whether should one go or appeal for true judgment so though the Church of Rome boast of unity yet how hath one Nation made War against another and yet professing the same faith at divers times and in sundry ages And to tell thee plainly and to speak the naked truth according to the Apostles prophesie after their departure there was a great Apostacy and a great falling away from the faith and a giving heed to lying seducing spirits and doctrine of Devils and many were subverted from the faith by them that spake lies in hypocrisie and took up the Priests office for filthy lucre and they went out into the world and the world wondered after them and they had the form and the sheeps cloathing and the Saints words but were enemies to the Cross of Christ and to the power of Godliness and the Kings of the Earth were bewitched with their Sorceries and then forced all and compelled all to receive and believe such Decrees and such Articles as was then set forth by a pack of those Hirelings who minded their
own profit and their own bellies who mingled their own Inventions and traditions with the Doctrine of Christ and brought the Scripture for a Cloak and the Apostles practice for a president and could say falsly as the Apostles said in the truth It seems good to us and the Holy Ghost that these our Decrees be observed for God hath placed us as Judges and directers as them that are appointed of God himself To which all Christians are to submit and none to question and if any do question or will not obey it is the Kings and Princes duty in every Country to cause all to submit to these our Decrees and orders or else to be punished as Hereticks with death for we are the Apostles successors and we are the elders of the Church and we have the infallible Spirit and though we make Decrees contrary to what the Apostles made in their day yet none is to question that the Church was but in its Infancy then as unwasht and unswadled and in Persecution but now she is grown up to a greater stature and power and indowed with greater privilege and that may be necessary now that was not necessary then and last of all called themselves the Clergie which signifies the Heritage of God and so excluded all others but themselves And these things are true and certain and have been made good by many sufferers for Christ and this kind of Clergie or Heritage made the Heritage of God indeed to fly into the Wilderness who had the infallible spirit and the witnesses to prophesie in sackcloath and then Mystery Babylon began to sit a Queen and to gild her Cup and to fill it full of abomination and brought in Judaisme and the practise of the Apostles and their own Inventions and patched up an endless kind of worship and service consisting of out-side things in a great part in postures and gestures and meates and drinks and dayes and times and vestures and Bonnets and Caps and Coules and such other like trumpery which they made the Nations drunk with and greedy after and if any scrupled at any of those things or any other the Holy Catholick Church hath decreed it and she cannot erre for she is infallible though the errors thereof cannot be numbered and this R. E. thou rests satisfied in as thy only rule and judge and director and thou hangs all thy faith here and saith thou shall not scruple to believe what authority teacheth thee to be revealed by God no more then if thou heard God himself speaking I say unto thee as the Apostle said the Serpent hath beguiled thee as it beguiled Eve and further say as the Prophet said thou must arise and get thee hence for this is not the rest for thou wilt see thy self plunged into such a layborinth of uncertainties as thou never was before if the Lord ever open thy eye And R. E. gives an account that after his reading of some contravertal Books hath made some Collections as to himself and also declares that all dissenting judgments grants there must be a way and a rule appointed to teach us to deside all doubts to judge of all matters and to teach us the true way to Heaven with certainty but who this rule or judge is is not agreed upon by all which he hath collected into four heads First some sets up the spirit to direct them and to be this means Secondly another will have every mans own natural reason to be this rule and judg Thirdly others will set up sole Scripture and the fourth assignes the Holy Catholick Church to be that Judge and Directer Other then these he saith he never heard of any for he saith he always esteemed the Quakers Light to be either the Spirit or Natural reason but which R. E. doth not know and all the four before mentioned he saith he hath examined and treateth largely upon them all wherein he goeth about and giveth grounds and divers reason and divers Iuterpretations of Scriptures he layes wast all the former three and establisheth as he thinks the fourth as to be that way and rule and Judge and governing power to deside all doubts as that whereby all are obliged to submit unto as to Christ himself and this was that question which he was to gain satisfaction in and therefore he saith he ceased to enquire of their Doctrine or this or that article of faith and hang altogether upon this point before mentioned Answ. 'T is true it is granted by all that there must be a way and a rule as the means appointed of God to answer all doubts and to give satisfaction to every man of the certainty of that which he believes and who this way and judge and rule is every one ought to be satisfied and the four heads into which thou hath collected the whole Controversie of all dissenting Judgments in Christianity takes up the whole as to this particular which have ordinarily been holden forth among Christians But I judge thou dealt not wisely in thy Inquisition and search for satisfaction to hing all on this pin but rather to have examined further as concerning matter of Doctrine and matters of Faith held forth most especially of this party to whom thou was so much inclined and see how thou could have swallowed down that Doctrine of Purgatory and sacrifice for the Dead and Justification by a Man 's own works and of Bread and Wine after the words of Consecration by the Priest is Transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ and becomes whole God their Saviour and Redeemer for these are principal things either greatly necessary to Salvation or greatly unnecessary and when thou had tryed and found these to be so repugnant unto the Doctrine and faith once delivered among the Saints in the first Plantation of the Gospel this might have put a stop unto thee that thou could not so easily close with their judgment and pretended infallibility who pretends to be only guids and yet leads into the greatest errors in matters of greatest moment But as to the four particulars mentioned I shall not stand to trouble either my self or the Reader as to speak much what of that which is no part of my faith or judgment but only to vindicate the truth against the many false conceptions of changable men And first of all R. E. begins to treat of the spirit and perverts the Scripture at his first on-set and saith as touching the spirit bearing witness in secret with our spirits or as he saith in plainer terms the private spirit this saith R. E. I considered could not be the means to convey faith unto the World nor the rule guide or judge which I enquired after nor indeed the true spirit of God which he promised to his Apostles Secondly Those who pretend this guidance do not believe God but themselves only and their own perswasions which tell them they have the spirit of God but they can give no other account but they
not at all as Material in this thing seeing they have had the reports from other hands and Pens of certain Monkish stories which they have found scattered here and there published themselves and left their fables upon record to deceive poor people withal for their own advantage and most of the Miracles that we hear of is either wrought about your Tombes and Sepulchres and your holy Mass and your Relicks and Images I have heard of indeed how that from the skirt of an Image of yours one in a Bloody Flux did but touch and immediately vertue came from it and water and blood issued forth wherby the party was made whole by washing therin also I have heard of the Image of the Virgin Mary first honored by Christians in Nazareth afterwards translated into Slavonia when Images began to be villified there and disesteemed it removed it self from place to place as discontent did arise in it it seems at the place and people where it was situated sometimes and at last it removed a whole Island with it nearer Rome now call'd Lorreta and commonly known by the name of our Lady of Laretta to which all the Pilgrims and Monks commonly and frequently go to confess their sins and to receive Absolutions before they came to Rome and so continues to this day I cannot forget indeed the notable Miracle wrought by Austin the Monk of which R. E. glories so in wrought at Cometon in Oxfordshire touching the Doctrine of due payment of Tythes a profitable Doctrine to Austin and his Monks the first Bishop of Canterhury confirmed by a Miracle and such as it is you shall have it About the year 600. as it is said Austin comes to preach at Cometon in Oxfordshire the Priest of the place complains to him how that the Lord of the Manner would not pay his Tythes Austin questioning the Lord about the fault in his Devotion be stoutly answered that the tenth sheaf doubtless was his that had the Intrest in the 9th and therefore would pay none presently Austin denounces him excommunicate and turning to the Alter to say Mass publickly forbad that any excommunicated person should be present there suddenly a dead Corps that had been buried at Church door arose and went out of the Church and stood while the Mass continued which ended Austin comes to this living or dead whether you will and charges him in the name of God to declare who he was he tells him that in the time of the Brittish state hujus villi Patteronus and although he had often urged by the Doctrine of the Priest to pay his Tythes yet he never could be brought to it for the which after be was dead he saith was carried to Hell Austin desired to know where the Priest that excommunicated him was baried this dead shewed him the place where he makes an Invocation of the dead Priest and bids him arise because they wanted his help the Priest rises Austin asks him if he knew that other that was risen he tells him yes but wishes he had never known him for saith he he was in all things ever adverse to the â—hurch and a detainer of his Tythes a great sinner to his death and therefore I excommunicated him But Austin declares that it was fit mercy should be used towards him and that he had suffered long in Hell for his offence you must suppose the Author meant Purgatory wherefore he gives him an Absolution sends him to his grave where he fell again to dust and ashes he gone the Prist new risen tells that his Corpes had lyen there about 170. years and Austin would gladly have had him to have continued on earth again for instruction of souls but could not thereto intreat him so he also returns to his former lodging the Lord of the Town standing by all this while and trembling was now demanded if he would pay his Tythes but he presently fell down at Austin's feet weeping and confessing his offence and submits to pay Tythes and receives pardon and became all his life time a follower of Austin Besides the common Legend of our Saints it is in some Volumes put alone for a most observable Miracle and it is found to be bound up at the end of the Ms. Life of Tho. Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury written by John Degrandesono and it remains in the pvblick Library of Oxford there also it is related in Johannes Anglicus his History Aurea besides Selden in his History of Tythes makes mention of it and in the 274. page of his Book And as concerning the Miracles which is reported by certain Jesuits which was done in the West-Indies by them of that Society after they had converted to the Christian faith as they call it in confirmation of their Doctrine they write of great Miracles that was wrought by them how that with holy water they had calmed the Sea in great tempests and with holy water they had driven Mice out of the Country and how that by holy water they had made barren Women to bear Children See Copes Dialogve the first page the 18. And many devised and fained Miracles is storied among you and kept up to deceive and blind the people withal dead Images have been forced to sweat to weep to laugh and to shift themselves from place to place and as among the Pamins and Infidels the Image of Jupiter was able by art to cry aloud let all Christians be banished the Country Euseb. lib. 8. Even so among the false Christians Images have been able to speak whatsoever his Keeper or Sexton listeth and the Image of our Lady hath been able to attend her own Candle and other Images hath been able to heal all Diseases believe it who can Nicholaus saith in the Church of God the Priests often times deceive the people with fained Miracles for Lucres sake and thus the World hath been borne in hand that Images were not only bare Images but had some secret devine power hidden within them but I shall conclude and say as Hirome saith the truth of Christ shall devour and consume the falshood of Antichrist and all his fained Miracles and lying wonders and inchantments and sorceries with which he hath deceived the Nations Alexander Hales saith p. 4. qua 53. men the 4. in the Sacrament it self there appears flesh sometime by the conveyance of men and sometime by the working of the Devil And hath not R. E. heard or read of a certain Catholick of theirs and no Lay-man neither not many ages ago that did penance at Pauls Cross and made a publick confession of his dissimulation when he pricked his finger and made it bleed when he gave that which youcall your Eucharist or sacrament of the Alter as you call it unto the people to delude them making them believe that as the phrase is Christ by Miracle had conveyed his blood into the bread after the words of Consecration but enough of this hath been said by others and written