days as their Posterity and Successors for ever They tell us that the Apostle pointeth to their Church as to the Mother Church of the whole world and that he extolleth their Faith as that which all other Churches were to look upon and mind and observe as their Rule that they were to account Her not their Sister but their Mother and Superintendent that they were from thenceforth to say after Her and to seek for the Law of Christ at Her mouth and in every particular to follow Her Directions so that whosoever in process of time should not be of Her Communion he ought not to be look'd upon as a Catholick or a Christian but as a Foreigner and an Alien to the Covenant of Grace Can any thing be Higher than this and yet what a slight Pedestal is it which this Tower of Babel stands upon Indeed St. Paul had reason to Praise the Church of Rome in His time because its Faith was Pure Entire and Uncorrupted then and so continued for a considerable time after Let it be granted too because the words of Hegesippus Euseb Hist Eccles lib. 4. c. 22. seem to argue it that the Bishops of Rome were in His days of the same true Faith with the Bishops of other Churches Let it be allowed too that even in Iraeneus's time that Church kept the Apostles Iren. adv Haeres lib 3. c. 3. Tradition meaning that Doctrine which the Apostles had once for all delivered unto the Saints Nay I see no danger if we go further yet and allow that those Commendations which St. Cyprian Cyp. Ep. 55. Hier. Apol. 3. adv Ruffin Jerome and others of the fourth Century gave of that Church were not meer Complements but that she was so Faithful in the main that she could not easily or would not willingly be guilty of Persidiousness especially in cases of moment I say Let us suppose all this that for some Ages the Church of Rome continued a Virgin not deflowr'd by any Hereticks yet it will by no means follow that she did not prostitute her Chastity in after Ages or that it was not Possible for her ever to turn Harlot There is no reason for that Fancy that if men be once in a good State they shall be so always much less reason is there for that conceit that a Church which is once Pure shall never be defiled and yet this is the thing which many unwary Romanists now take for granted that since the Faith of their Church was once right and sound which St. Paul doth here intimate and confess she neither did nor could Adulterate and Corrupt it and so that it is as Sincere Pure now as ever it was in the Apostles dayes And according to this rate Cornelius à Lapide the Jesuite doth reckon in his notes upon my Text That the Faith of the Roman Church was sound in St. Paul 's time amd so down to St. Jerome's time and so by necessary consequence unto this time for never hitherto saith he hath any Heresie tainted Rome as it hath other Cities This is a Point necessary to be Examined or rather a Fallacy that highly deserves to be Detected for the good of such Souls as are willing to be instructed And therefore I shall take occasion from the Text and the Day to shew you these following things in Order 1. What that Faith was which St. Paul here commendeth 2. That it was possible for this their Faith to be altered and corrupted in After-ages 3. That the Ancient Faith of the Church of Rome hath been de facto Actually corrupted 4. That a Reformation of those Corruptions was on our side Justifiable And so in the last place we will leave it to the impartial world to consider whether those violent Methods are justifiable which the Romanists have used since the Reformation for the Re-establishment of those Corruptions And of these as briefly as I can 1. What the Faith was which the Apostle here commendeth the Church of Rome for and which he saith was spoken of throughout the whole World It is certain in the general that the Faith of the Church of Rome was not different from the Faith of other Churches for as there was but One Lord so there was but One Faith over the whole Christian World Ephes 4. 5. And the Reason why St. Paul with Thankfulness takes notice of the Romans Faith was not because it was Other or more Excellent than that which was received in other places but because Rome being the great Imperial City whereunto the world was necessitated to have recourse the Christian Faith was likely thence to Disseminate it self every where over all the parts of the Empire in a very short time Now if we enquire particularly what that Faith was we shall find it to have been this viz. A Confession of the Necessary and Important Doctrines of Christianity A Belief of those Main and Fundamental Truths touching the Divine Nature and Authority of our Blessed Saviour touching the things which he did and suffered for the Salvation of the world and touching those inestimable Blessings which wereconsequent hereunto as the Sanctification of our hearts by the Holy Spirit the Remission of our Sins and the Hope of an Happy Resurrection to Eternal Life for Christ his sake These are the Grand Articles of the Christian Faith and they are summed up in that short Collection of Christian Verities which we call the Apostles Creed because whether they themselves compiled that Collection or no it contains those main Points and Doctrines which the Apostles preached at Rome and in all places beside as the only Credenda or matters of Faith that were absolutely Necessary to Salvation Of this we have Testimonies abundant for when St. Paul preached at Athens they were the Fundamental Substantial Doctrines of Christianity which he taught viz. Jesus and the Resurrection as St. Luke tells us Act. 17. 18. And when the great Apostle wrote to the Corinthian Church he told them what that Gospel was which he had received himself and which he had delivered unto them and by which they were to be saved And what was that Gospel why a Collection still of these Necessary matters of Faith how that Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3 4. Nay writing to That Church of Rome whose Ancient Faith we are now considering he declares what that was which he and the rest of the Apostles made the common subject of their discourses to the Romans and to all other people and still it was of the necessary and prime matters of Faith for This saith he is the word of Faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 8 9. Now can any thing be plainer than this That
the Faith which all the Apostles preach'd which all Christian Churches receiv'd and for which the Roman Church is here commended was made up of those principal Doctrines which at this day we find in our Creed To these were it necessary to add the Testimonies Tert de veland Virgin de prascrip Atkanas in initio fine Symbol of Church-writers I might instance in Tertullian Athanasius and divers more who speaking of the Creed own'd it to have been the One only immoveable and sufficient Rule which all Christians went by the Catholick Faith and the Faith of all Churches in the world which whosoever believed was a right Catholick and sound Believer But to avoid prolixity I shall only take notice of what we meet with in Irenaeus who lived in the Iren. adv Haer. lib. 1. c. 2 3. 4. very next age to the Apostles for rehearsing the Articles of the Creed he tells us that That was the Faith which the whole Church over the whole world had received from the Apostles and their Disciples that every Church held taught and kept with all diligence and care and that the Churches in Germany in Spain in France in the Eastern parts of Egypt in Africk and in the mid-land parts of the world which takes in Rome too did in His dayes believe no other Doctrines than what were contained in the Apostles Creed and that the Universal Church was One because the Faith of every Church in the world was one and the same and that none either taught more or believed less than that One Faith did amount unto Alas in those dayes the Creed of all Christians was a plain easie and short one for they thought themselves obliged to this only to believe the Essentials of Christianity and to lead good lives and it had been well for Christendom had after-ages taken no other care but by multiplying Articles some have multiplyed Errors too and as Seneca observed of the old World that while men lived upon a Simple and Natural sort of Diet they were very healthful and strong but multos morbos multa fercula fecerunt when they came to be Nice and Luxurious and would have variety of costly Dishes served up at their Tables many diseases followed so it is observable in this Case as long as Christians contented themselves with a Simple Religion and a plain short Creed so long the Faith continued in a good state but when they came to be wanton and would needs have this and that Point set out according to their Gusto Religion became Sickly and men Unsound and by abusing their Learning they were the less Virtuous and the less Orthodox but yet the more Techy and Imperious 2. But to come to our next Point I know the Church of Rome will by no means hear of this that She has play'd any Tricks with the Ancient Faith either by Adding to it or by Taking from it or by Embasing it with any Novel Mixtures nor indeed that it was Possible for Her to do it considering that Singular Prerogative of an Un-erring Judgement which she pretendeth to have above all Churches beside But this is a most vain and ridiculous conceit for because she was faithful once it will no more follow that she hath been so ever since then it will follow that because the Husbandman soweth Wheat in his Field it shall bring forth no Tares or that because a Child is Innocent upon his Baptism he shall never grow up to be a Man of Sin or that because a Virgin is yet unspotted she will never turn Whore or that because a man is yet in Health he shall never be crazy or that because a Town is yet free from the Plague it shall never be visited with it or that we shall not be mortal because our Climate is Temperate our Air good our Physicians skilful and our Food at present is wholsome A long Tract of Time produceth many and great Alterations for one Generation passeth away and another comes and many times we see that the Posterities of men are not half so good as their Predecessors were and that Religion which was sprightly and visible in One Age may be almost Lost in another Anciently the Faith of the Church of Rome was Right and her Bishops were Wise and Holy men but because she had this Honour in the Primitive times was it impossible for her ever to lose it Was it Impossible either for the Sheep in the fold to catch the Bane or for the Shepherds to fall asleep or for Wolves to creep in unawares or be encouraged and invited to come in at Noon-day Why look ye now This is as great a piece of Non-sence as if you should believe that because the City of London is now well stockt with a Knowing and Honest Clergy it may not be as ill stockt with a pack of Illiterate and ill men should Times alter and our Laws and Government be subverted 'T is true Christ promised his Church That the Gates of Hell should not prevail against her But this promise belongs not to any One particular National Church but to the Church in General 'T is true also that Christ said Lo I am with you alwayes even to the end of the world but 't was spoken to All the Apostles and to all their Successors for ever 'T is true likewise that Christ prayed That Peter 's Faith should not fail but this was a Personal respect to Peter himself but no security for those that came after him and we may well wonder how it should come into the head of any Papist to dream from that Text that because Peter himself did not utterly forsake the Faith ergo it was impossible for Marcellinus to become an Idolator or for Eleutherius to turn Montanist or for Liberius to fall off to the Arians or for Honorius to be a Monothelite or for Anastasius to turn Nestorian or for Pope John the 23d of that name to teach That there is no Future state of Happiness nor any Resurrection of the dead And yet we have proved it upon them that these things were done and taught and that the Faith of these and other Bishops of Rome hath actually failed either in whole or in a very great part When St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome gave her this warning Be not high minded but fear Rom. 11. 20. and when he besought them to mark such as caused divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which they had learned Rom. 16. 17. either the Church of Rome was then in danger of being tainted with Scandalous Principles and of Apostatizing from the Truth and of Falling from the favour of God or else the Apostle was an Impertinent man and ill adviz'd to give them such Needless admonitions and to tell them of danger when there was none 3. But not to argue any longer at this rate If it be made appear that the Primitive Faith of the Church of Rome is Actually corrupted and
alter'd that will undeniably prove the Possibility of that thing And because this is the main point in debate which if proved will at once take away all their pleas of an Infallible Spirit all their pretences to Antiquity all their Arguments against our Reformation and all those Insinuations whereby they beguile Ignorant and Unwary men I must desire your patience while I insist somewhat largely and particularly upon it And for proof hereof I might take notice of one Modern Principle in the Church of Rome which doth plainly Intimate and Argue a Confession out of their own mouths that they have alter'd the Old Faith for the Principle is this That it lies in the power of their Church not only to Declare New Articles of Faith but to Make and Constitute New Creeds and to Impose them as necessary to Salvation The most Learned Bishop Taylor hath shewed this against them in his Excellent Disswasive from Popery wherein he observes too that when Pope Leo the Tenth issued out his Bull against Martin Luther and condemned him he condemned him for teaching this among other things That it is not in the power of the Church or Pope to make Articles of Faith Now saith my Learned and Judicious Author rightly It is not Credible they would publish such Invidious and Ill-sounding Doctrine to no purpose and to serve no End therefore it may without further Evidence be believed by all Discerning persons that they have Need of this Doctrine or it would not have been taught and that consequently without more ado it may be concluded that some of their Articles are parts of this New faith But I shall wave this for Brevity-sake and so I shall wave also many Testimonies of some of the Ancients which are usually and with good Reason brought to prove the plain Innovations in Religion which are now Taught and Practised in the Roman Church I am willing to take a shorter course and that which will bring me very home to them to demonstrate that they have alter'd and adulterated the Primitive Faith even of their own Church and this I shall shew by men of their own and by using some Testimonies out of and by making some Remarks upon some of the most considerable men whom they own to have been Bishops of their Church in the Primitive ages 1. First then St. Peter and St. Paul are believed by them to have founded and built their Church Nor can it well be denied but they were both of them at Rome and we may suppose the One to have been the Apostle of the Jewish the other of the gentile-Gentile-Church there But now when the One calls the Scripture a sure word of Prophecy and requires us to take heed thereunto 2 Pet. 1. 19. and when the other tells us that The whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine 2 Tim. 3. 17. for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be Perfect throughly furnisht unto all good works How can we reconcile this with the late pretended Authority and Necessity of Tradition When St. Peter requires us To be ready alwayes 1 Pet. 3. 15. to give an answer to every man that asketh us a Reason of the Hope that is in us and when St Paul's manner was To Reason with men out of the Scriptures Act. 17. 3. opening and expounding the meaning of them How can we reconcile this with those Doctrines touching the Necessity of Hiding the Scriptures from the Vulgar and the Excellence of a Blind and Implicite Faith When St. Peter affirms That there is no Salvation Act. 4. 12. in any other but in Christ only and no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved and when St. Paul tells us That Christ was by his sufferings consecrated to be our High Priest that He intercedeth for us and is the One onely Mediator how can we reconcile this with that Doctrine touching the Invocation of and trusting in the Intercession and merits of Saints When St. Peter tells us That Christ Suffered Once 1 Pet. 3. 18. Heb. 7. 27. c. 9. 28. 10. 10. for Sins and St. Paul agrees to it That Christ offered up himself a Sacrifice Once that he was Once offered and that That offering of his body was once for All How can we reconcile this with the Doctrine touching the daily Sacrificing of Christ in the Mass When St. Peter taught That through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved and St. Paul argued in this very Epistle to the Church of Act. 5. 11. Rom. 11. 5. Rome That if by Grace then it is no more of works How can we reconcile this with that Doctrine about Earning and Meriting Heaven by the intrinsick value of our performances When St. Peter would have us to call upon the Father and St. Paul would have us Pray with the Spirit and with the understanding also How can we reconcile this with that Doctrine of Praying in an Unknown Tongue A thing so directly repugnant to the Apostles order as if it were done out of meer spight against 1 Cor. 14. When One Apostle tells us That we are redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold How can it consist with that Doctrine about redeeming Souls out of pain by Eight-penny Offerings and a Lusty Legacy as if our Saviour's Vae were to be removed and the Gospel were to run thus Wo unto you that are Poor And when the other Apostle so often calls the Solid Element in the Sacrament Bread how can it be Natural and Real Flesh and when he commands all men to eat of that Bread and to drink of that Cup how can we reconcile it with the Doctrine of Half-Communion which they themselves have confest to be contrary to the Institution Licet Christus post coenam instituerit suis discipulis administraverit sub utraque specie panis vini hoc venerabile sacramentum tamen hoc non obstante c. Concil Constant Sess 13. Et similiter licet in Primitiva Ecclesia hujusmodi Sacramentum reciperetur à fidelibus sub utraque specie tamen c. ibid. of Christ and against the practice of the Primitive Church Briesly when St. Peter teacheth That the King is Supream is it not New Doctrine that He hath a Superior yet this is a Popish Principle whosoever they be that believe it that the King hath any above him whether it be Pope or People And when we hear both these Great Apostles preaching up the Necessity of Obedience to the Government the one peremptorily requiring us to Honour the King and to submit our selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake and the other pressing this very home particularly to the Romans as if he had foreseen that in after-ages men of the Romish Faith would prove Traytors and to prevent it if it were possible we find him charging Every soul no
Priest or Bishop or any other excepted to be subject to the higher powers and that not only for wrath but for conscience sake I say when these Doctrines are so Plain before us may we not think that they who have Sanctified Treason and taught the world to be Base did wholly over-look their Bibles or had a greater veneration for a Cursed Hildebrand or an Ignatius Loyola than for that noble pair of Apostles who were the Founders of the Church of Rome To be sure we may as soon make the Artick and Antartick Poles to meet as ever reconcile the Apostolick Faith with the Faith of our Romanists though it be not Theirs onely whereby it is made lawful forsooth to depose and destroy Princes to absolve Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance or to Interpret Oaths in a sense that will serve their own Turn to raise Rebellions to blow up Parliaments to murder Magistrates whom they call Heretical and Bishops whom they call Malignant or Prerogative-men and for the advantage of a wretched cause to do such other Barbarities as render Nero Domitian and Dioclesian kind and good-natur'd Cut-throats in comparison I do not wonder that the Papists care no more to look into the Scriptures than a Monkey cares to look into a Glass so very ugly is the Picture in it But the Fathers they say are all on their side and they say so the rather because their Writings are in Latine or Greek which common people cannot understand and which every knowing man hath not time to read Now though to confute this pretence enough has been said in the many Apologies and Appeals for the Reformed Religion yet let us Examine the Truth of this a little and setting aside all other Ancient Writers let us see whether the Old Bishops of Rome themselves that succeeded the Apostles will do them any good 2. Now St. Clement is supposed immediately to have succeeded St. Peter as Bishop of the Jewish Hammond Dissert 5. Church at Rome and we have extant two Epistles which go under his name one whereof is confessedly genuine and it was written upon this occasion There had hapned in the Corinthian Church sad Controversies and Schisms such as are now in the Church of England about thlngs not appertaining to Salvation Yet these small matters occasioned a huge breach for the healing whereof Clement wrote them a most Excellent Epistle yet not as their Primate or Bishop but as a charitable good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 71. Neighbour for he exprest his desires touching the Criminals at Corinth that they would yield or be in Subjection not to Us saith He but to the will of God This makes it clear that he claimed no Primacy or Jurisdiction over any Churches but his Own and the whole Epistle is written not in a Magisterial style savouring of any pretence of Dominion over the Corinthians but is full of Gentleness Meekness Intreaties Prayers Exhortations and Arguments from the Word of God all which had been needless had He had any Superintending Power and Authority over them for then he might and we may well think would have presently past a Definitive Sentence and determin'd the Controversie without any more ado But he sends them to the Holy Scriptures as to the Rule which they were to judge things by commends their knowledg of the Scriptures wishes them diligently Pag. 68. to look into the Scriptures and particularly Pag. 58. he recommends to them the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians He tells them That we are justified Pag. 61. not of our selves nor by our wisdome or knowledg Pag. 41. or piety or works though we do them with simplicity and purity of heart but by faith and by the will and good pleasure of God He exhorteth them to submit to their own Pastors and Governors and Pag 63. tells them that the Greater a man is either for Knowledg or Goodness the more Humble he ought to be And in his other Epistle which seems to be as genuine as the former he admires the goodness V. Bevereg Cod. vindicat l. 2. c. 9. of God to them that they did no longer worship Stones and Wood and Gold and Silver and Brass the works of mens hands and so intreats Pag. 1. them to Repent while they had Time to Repent and while they had an opportunity of being healed For saith he after we are once gone out of This world we cannot make confession of our Sins or Pag. 5. Repent of them so as to be saved Here then let the world judge whether they that make the Bishop of Rome to be the Universal Pastour of all Churches in the world that suppress the use of the Holy Bible that teach Blind Obedience that talk of Salvation by their own Deserts that adore Images and Pictures that preach the Doctrine of Purgatory and pretend to shew us a Trick how we may be saved and how we may be delivered out of Torments after Death though we die in Sin Judge I say whether these men have not corrupted the Faith and changed it to another thing from what it was in the dayes of St. Clement 3. Another of the old Popes of Rome was Anicetus in whose dayes that Controversie arose when the Lent Fast should conclude and Easter be kept some arguing that it ought to be kept on the day of the Jews Passeover which was the Custome in Asia others that it should be kept on the Resurrection-day which was the Custome at Rome and in other Churches Upon this Polycarp St. John's Scholar goes to Rome and disputes with Anicetus about this and other matters but neither party convinced the other and so after some little heats they parted good friends and in perfect charity both of them having received the Holy Communion Now can any man in his Euseb Eccles Hist l. 5. c. 24. Wits believe that in those dayes the Popes Judgment was thought Infallible or that Anicetus himself thought it so when he neither Presumed to determine the Controversie nor could do it nor was able to satisfie any of the Eastern Bishops 4. Within a while after Him succeeded Eleutherius in whose days the Doctrines of Montanus made a filthy stir and to stifle the spreading of that Plague the Gallican Church wrote Letters into Asia and another they sent to the Pope himself admonishing him to follow the things which made for Peace For Tertullian is witness that the Pope Tertul adv Prax. in initio was infected with Montanism But yet so it was that through Fear on the One hand and through the solicitations of Praxeas on the other he was fain to Reject Montanus and his followers And can we imagine that the world then counted Eleutherius's Judgment Infallible when they found him to have been Haeretical or that Eleutherius himself thought he could not Err when he Condemned Montanism which before he had Embraced 5. Pope Victor was the next and of him I
and Wine is not abolisht in the Sacrament for ' tisfrom that Principle that received and common Principle that he argues against those deceivers So that if We are Hereticks for denying the doctrine of Transubstantiation Pope Gelasius himself was an Heretick also for Teaching that which is the Faith of all Protestants But indeed neither was he nor are we to be blamed for it was the Faith not of Pope Gelasius alone but of all the Primitive Catholicks 10. Should I now tell you that the same Gelasius condemned the administration Comperimus autem quod quidam sumpta tantummodo corporis sacri portione à Calice Sacri cruoris abstineani Qui proculdubio quoniam nescio quâ superstitione docentur obstringi aut Integra Sacramenta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur quia divisio unus ejusdemque mysterii sine Grandi Sacrilegio non potest provenire Papa Gelas. in Gratiani Decret de Consecrat distinct 2. c. 12. of the Sacrament in one kind only as contrary to the usage of the Church of Rome it self in his time that Leo the first condemned all Adoration of any Creature that St. Gregory disclaimed the worshiping of Images and Pictures and overthrew the Doctrine of Purgatory and so go on searching into the times of old and making such other Collections as 't is no very hard matter to Leo ser 2. in Nativit make I should soon return more than a Full Jury of the Primitive Bishops of Rome and those good Greg or Ep. ad Seren. men and true in comparison to try and clear this grand point that the Errors of the modern Romanists Et in 7 Job l. 8. c. 8. which we have rejected are such as are not to be reconciled with the Primitive Faith of the very Roman Church which was the third thing I undertook to show 4. But we will forbear to walk further among the Monuments of the dead Instead of that we will in the next place take a short view of the vanity of their Pretences who charge us with Noveltie Heresie and Schisme for imbracing and sticking to that Reformation which by the wonderful good Providence of God hath been wrought in many parts of the Christian world and more especially here in this Realm Had we broached any Doctrines which are really New we had been guilty of Innovation Had we violated the integrity of the Apostles Creed we had been guilty of Heresie or had we bid defiance to the Communion of the Catholick and Apostolick Church we had been guilty of Schism and our condition would be sad But the old Sages of the Church and our own Consciences do bear us witness that in every of these respects we are not only Innocent but Righteous for our Faith beareth the same date with Christianity and we have forsaken the Church of Rome in no material point but where she hath for saken the Ancient Church and indeed her own Primitive self And how are we to blame if we have done this tho it be against her humour Is it not very hard that the Governours of a Family shall not be permitted to cleanse their own house from filth and cobwebs because the next Neighbour will chuse to let his habitation ly like a Dunghill or is it not unreasonable that one Church must not be allowed to be a cleanly Matron because another is resolved to be a dirty Slut why thus stands the case between us and our Imperious and Unconscionable Neighbours Our Bishops as to their just Authority stand upon the same Level with the Bishops of Rome and so do all the Bishops in the world beside And this is according to the 34th Apostolick Canon Now if he will not suffer a Beesome to come near his door the fault is not ours and much good may his stye do him so he do but ly in it quietly but neither ought it to be an offence to him if our Prelates have taken the first and fairest opportunity they could take to sweep our Church and set it to rights as all the Churches of God were of old They commonly ask us where our Faith was before Luther and we say 't was in the Creed which our Ancestors before Luther's time believed as well as we do Now and as far as they believed that so far they were Christians and Catholicks and so far we allow our Adversaries to be Christians and Catholicks too For this is the necessary and common Faith of all Christians But before the Reformation many Errors did bear this Faith company and made the Table fowl wherein the Creed was written and when we took it down to cleanse it we only brusht off the dust from it so that still our Faith was and is the same though our Errors in other matters are thrown out of doors They ask us where our Church was before King Hen. the 8th and we tell 'em 't was here in England where it is still But before King Henry's time 't was abused and fill'd with superstition and Legends and a great deal of Trumpery and unlawfull Stuff which either the ignorance or the knavery and secular designes of some Priests hadfoisted in and which we hope God in mercy did pardon to our fore-fathers who did not know the unlawfullness of those Wares And when in King Henry's dayes a Reformation was begun and after was compleated we did not pull down the Church over our heads but only flung out of it such things as had been amiss in it so that our Church is the same still only then it was Nasty and now it is Neat We neither destroyed the old fabrick nor built a New one but we cleansed that which was and purged the Sanctuary from its Pollutions letting the Pillars and the Walls the Creed the Commandements and the Pater Noster and what else was necessary or fitting for God's Worship to stand still as they did and indeed better Now if this was a Crime truly it might have been laid to our Saviour's own charge when he went about to Reform those abuses and innovations which had crept into the Jewish Church by the Artifice of the Pharisees as these did into our Church by the help of the Priests Did he not tell them that from the beginning it was not so and did he not thereby direct them to Primitive practice as the Rule of Reformation and would it have been a good plea against him should the Jews have said Thus we have formerly believed and done from the days of yore therefore to teach otherwise is to be guilty of Novelty and Schism and to set up another Church or would it have been a sufficient plea against his Disciples those great Reformers of the world should the Pharisees have demanded of them where was your Church before Christ is it not a Mushrome of yesterday and had not the answer been easie that they had brought Religion to that purity which God anciently intended why this is our case that we have Restor'd
the Catholic Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints and have laid aside that Hay and Stuble and Trash which had been piled upon this Foundation and if the Purifying of the Antient Faith be Heresie if the cleansing of our Church from Litter be Innovation and if the professing and practising of those things that were in the Apostolick Ages be Schism then we must own our selves guilty but own too that Christ and his Apostles were our Precedents only they had Miracles to speak on their side we have beside the Cannon of H. Scripture the Books of the Old Fathers to speak on our behalf and the credit of the Old Roman Church it self to testifie for us and to those Testimonies we Appeal 5. Lastly what would not the Romanists give could they at half such an easie rate be able to justify those evil methods whereby they have exprest their implacable enmity against Us for no other reason but because We have told them the truth and will not be perswaded to shake hands with them in their Impieties if the spirit of Love and Goodness be the spirit of Christ If the calling for Fire from Heaven or the fetching of it from Hell be utterly inconsistent with the temper of a Christian If our Holy o Lords Kingdom be not of this world If the weapons of our warfare be not Carnal and if that be the only true wisdom from above which is Pure Peaceable and Gentle Then they have reason to blush and hide their faces but that Impudenoe is the Daughter of Lewdness and Apostacy who talk so much of their Catholick Faith which hath nothing to support it but their Catholick Villanies Even as to this point too if we look into the Antient Faith of the Roman Church we shall find it to have been exprest by self-denial by bearing the Cross by Subjection unto Princes and suffering Persecutions to that degree that a great number of their primitive Bishops were successively made so many glorious Martyrs And how comes it to pass that whereas Loyalty and Love was once a great part of that Churches Honour at last the lawfulness of Treason and Rebellion and Cruelty should get in to be part of her Creed For are not these her Doctrines That she can divest Princes of their Regalities that she can without Sinning expose and Sacrifice their very lives that she can free her Children from all the most Sacred tyes of subjection that all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them are hers and that she can give them to whomsoever she pleaseth as if she had been trucking for a bargin with the Divel himself That men by being Hereticks in her account do ipso facto forfeit all their Rights Sacred and Civil and that to Kill and Butcher such Hereticks is an act highly Meritorious of Salvation let her deny these Doctrines if she can or Disclaim them if she dare but you shall never find her so Honest because she is Conscious to her self that did she not hallow these and the like Principles to keep the world in awe her Court would soon want Attendants and her cause an Advocate And is there not a most perfect Harmony between her lewd Faith and her villanous Practice whereby she hath rowled her Garments not in her own but in the blood of Peers Prelates Princes an unaccountable Host of Martyrs whose blood she hath abundantly shed over the whole Christian and Reformed world witness the streams drawn in the upper and lower Germany and in the neighbouring Countries witness the former Massacrees in France and the Fresh Persecution there now which is likely enough in a little while to end in Blood too Witness the Barbarous Executions in Ireland which are not quite lost out of our own memories And witness the continual Diabolical attempts which have been made against This Kingdom in every age since the beginning of the Reformation as the Troubles under King Hen. the 8th the Insurrections under King Edward the 6th the huge Sacrifices and Offerings by fire under Q. Mary the Spanish Invasion and Domestick Conspiracies under Q. Elizabeth and which we commemorate our deliverance from THIS DAY the Powder-Plot under King James when nothing would satisfie those Sanguinary Catholicks but the destruction of the whole Race Royal and of the Representatives and Flower of the whole Realm And to say no more witness that Hellish and damnable Conspiracy which hath been lately Levelled against the Gentlest and Kindest of Princes against our Laws Goverment Religion and the Common safety of us all But blessed be God that hath Providentially and Marvellously brought to light the hidden things of darkness Blessed be God for the Miraculous Deliverance which his own Goodness and Immediate hand wrought for us This Day And for ever blessed be his name that since that Time he hath kept us all along out of the hands of all our enemies that he hath delivered us yet and we hope will deliver us yet still And God of his mercy grant that as our Faith is Pure Primitive and Holy so we may study not only to Contend for it but to Adorn it too by the Simplicity of our hearts by the Unity of our Affections by a perfectly Honest and Peaceable deportment and by all the Necessary and Laudable instances of a Godly and Righteous Conversation that Our Faith also may be spoken of and renowned throughout the whole world and that the God of mercy and compassion may Protect and bless us for evermore Amen FINIS
observe these two things First That whereas it was provided by an Old Canon of the Church That every Nation should acknowledg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can. Apost 34. their Own Primate and count him their Head and do nothing without bis Order Pope Victor own'd the Authority of this Canon and claimed no Primacy over Polycrates the Metropolitan of the Proconsular Asia when he wrote to him about calling a Synod to consider of the Paschal Controversie For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquit Polycrates ad Vict. Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 24. though the Popes now challenge a power of Summoning all Councils by virtue of their pretended Primacy over all Churches yet it was not so in Pope Victor's dayes for he did entreat and beseech Polycrates that He would call a Synod of Bishops himself Secondly That when Victor purposed to Anathematize the Asiatick Churches for not complying with his Humour Irenaus and many other Bishops dealt very roundly and roughly with him so that he was forced to Alter his purpose Whence it appears that the Popes in those dayes were so far from conceiving themselves to be Supream or free from a possibility of Erring that they stood in awe of their Fellow-Bishops that could upon occasion Ruffle with them and make them keep the Peace and bind them to their good behaviour 6. I might shew too how St. Cyprian rated both those Popes in his time Cornelius and Stephen but I forbear to gather any more instances of that nature because it is so well known that for near 600 years after Christ the Bishops of Rome never had the Title of Universal Pastors of the Church till the dayes of Boniface the Third and he gat it basely and by the grant of that Bloody wretch Phocas who had murder'd the Emperor Mauritius and all his Children and had no way to secure himself but by giving the Pope a Title that pleased him and ever since our Bishops of Rome have pretended to be the Landlords of all God's Vineyard instead of being Labourers in it or rather have been Wolves instead of Shepherds and it is observable that the Donor of this title was a Bloody Tyrant and Traytor and you may guess at the Father by the Child for generally since the Love of Bloodshed and Treason hath run along in the veins of the Donees 7. To which I shall only add the Testimony of one Pope more not that he is the next in Order but because 't is most pertinent to this point and 't is the Testimony of Gregory the Great who speaking of the Title of Universal Bishop of the Church doth up and down in his Epistles call it a Title of Novelty Error Blasphemy Impiety full of poison contrary to the Ancient Canons to the Holy Gospel and to god himself and the fore-runner of Antichrist 8. And as touching the point of Infallibility Pope Adrian the Sixth did plainly assert and Bellarmine owns it that the Pope might be guilty of down-right Heresy and the Cardinal doth confess that for above 1400 years his judgment was not esteemed Infallible and the plain truth is he was never complemented under that notion till he got the Empire over Princes and the Preferments of the Church into his clutches Aeneas Sylvius who himself was a Pope gave this reason why the Clergy made him Infallible above all Councils because he could reward 'em well with fat promotions which Councils could not and had he sued for this Title in farma Pauperis and without a good Fee in his hand either his Cause would not have been pleaded at all or by the Verdict of all the Fathers he would have been presently Cast but in the Church of Rome 't is Money that doth all I have been the longer upon these points because they are some of the main and most material points that are in controversie between us which if they would but part with many other conceits if not all would soon fall to the ground which are now held up chiefly by the usurped Authority of the Church 9. I will not except the conceit of Transubstantiation Gelas de duabus naturis in Christo which if it were Ruin'd would like the Dragons tail sweep down a great many other admired Fancies with it For as touching our Faith in this particular we appeal to another of the Primitive Bishops of Rome Gelasius by name who wrote an excellent Book which is yet extant and he wrote it upon this occasion The Heretick Eutiches and his followers did believe that though at first Christ had two distinct Natures yet upon the Union of 'em the Humane nature was wholly converted into the Divine so that his Humanity ceased and was absorpt and turn'd into the substance of his Divinity just as our Adversaries pretend that the Bread in the H. Eucharist ceaseth and is turn'd into the substance of Christ's Flesh Pope Gelasius undertook the maintenance of the Catholic Faith against these Hereticks and which is well to be observed to prove the real existence of our Saviour's Humane nature he draws an Argument from the then received Doctrine concerning the nature of the Elements in the Eucharist And his words I render thus Verily the Sacraments of Christs Body and Blood which we receive are a Divine thing because by means thereof we are made partakers of the divine Nature and yet the substance or Nature of the Bread and Wine doth not cease to be And indeed it is the Image and Similitude of Christs Body and Blood which is represented in this Mysterious action It is evident enough therefore that we must think the same of our Lord himself which we profess celebrate and take in the Image of him that as these Elements by the operation of the Holy Spirit do pass into this that is a Divine condition still nevertheless remaining in the propriety So I conceive the words of Gelasius should be read Sic illud ipsum est mysterium principale cujus nobis efficientiam virtutemque veraciter repraesentant Scil. Sacramenta ex quibus constat propriè permanentibus quia Vnum Christum integrum verumque permanere demonstrant of their own nature so is the Principal mystery it self the efficiency and virtue whereof is truly represented unto us by the Elements which truly and properly remaining still the same it is manifest that they shew one entire and true Christ to remain in the union of both natures From these words of Gelasius it is clear that the real union of both Christs natures is the Principal mystery which is here represented and that this is represented by the Sacramental union between the Bread and the Wine and the Body and Blood of Christ And hence he concludes that the Nature of Christs Humanity doth still remain because the Nature of the Elements doth still remain But this would not have been Argumentative or Conclusive at all had not the Church then believed that the nature of the Bread