he presumeth the Church also to be a thing altogether Holy and such as neither hath Erred nor can Err for should he question this he must question the whole of his Religion it self opposite to which Character we shall now consider The Character of a Protestant But the Protestant Church on the other hand having separated from the Church of Rome not only upon the Supposition that she hath actually Erred but that she hath been grosly corrupted as well in Manners as in Faith And the Protestant Church having for the better Justification of her own Practice both in the matter of Worship and in all things relating to Doctrine and Faith SET UP The Scriptures as the Sole and Soveraign Rule of Gods Mind and Will to his Church As she cannot challenge the Exercise of any Authority therefore that is beyond that of the Scripture or any that is not subordinate to the said Scripture it self So it is expected that all the Duties which she requires and all those Articles or Points of Faith which she at any time recommends to such as are the Members of her should always be enforced from those Arguments properly and only which are drawn from the Scripture Because it is this which she her self hath appealed unto and this only which she challengeth to justifie her A Protestant then that understands the Grounds of his Religion or that hath been at all instructed in the Rise or Principles of the Reformation taking this for the very first Article of his Faith That a Church may Err and may have Corruption in it and may in its Worship possibly swerve and depart from the pure Mind Word and Wisdom of God And laying that no less firmly as the Foundation of his Belief on the other hand viz. That the Scripture cannot Err nor can be other than the unalterable and incorruptible Rule of Gods Law and of his Will and Mind to his People he cannot possibly hold the Authority of the Church to be Divine any further or otherwise than as it appears to be clearly grounded upon the Scriptures as the Word of God And therefore the Tye or Obligation which he hath to obey the Church so far as it relates to the Conscience and binds the Conscience ariseth out of no other Ground than from the Conformity which he seeth or is perswaded that the said Church hath in her Laws Orders and Doctrines to the said Word and if this Conformity doth or shall once cease in the said Church a Protestant as a Protestant cannot but judge his Tye or Obligation to her as a Church ought to cease also with it And this being the true State of that Radical or Essential Difference that is between the Principles of a Protestant and the Principles of a Papist as a Papist It will hence follow That if a Church that professeth her self to be Protestant or the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church shall not much consider or regard the justifying of what Laws and Orders she makes by the Consonancy they expresly have to the Law or Mind of God in his Word which is his Rule to the Church nor shall much concern it self to clear and inforce the Faith and Doctrine which she holds by the Evidence of its Truth or by the Authority of it as sufficiently grounded upon that Word that is absolutely Divine But shall on the contrary in whatever she Commands or in the things she Teacheth constrain or exact an Obedience from her Members to her self and to her own Authority as absolute and as unsubordinate to the Word of God and therefore to her Authority as it is a distinct thing from the said Word That Church or the Clergy rather that are the Rulers of it so far as she doth this in any Doctrine or in any Law that she makes indispensable doth so far cease in her Principles and Practice to be Protestant and doth so far disclaim not only a main and chief Ground of her Separation from the Church of Rome but the very Principle it self upon which she pretends to guide her self in her Reformation For it cannot be denyed that these were the great and the main Causes of our Separation from the Church of Rome viz. First Because she had made her self Absolute and had set up an Authority in the matters of Worship and Faith above that of the Scriptures as the only Word of God And Secondly Because she did not barely excommunicate men but did also persecute them and did deprive them both of their Estates Liberties and Lives upon a Principle as contrary to humane Reason as it was contrary to humane Society and Quiet viz. not for any evil in their Conversations in their Morals or in their Lives But meerly for obeying what they sincerely judged to be the Law Mind and Will of God And meerly for believing that his whole Law Will and Mind to his Church as a Church especially relating to the Worship of himself was contained in his Word Thirdly Because by this persecution as it was extended to the extreme Punishment of Persons both in their Liberties and Goods and sometimes in their Lives by stinking Prisons and want of Necessaries she did unavoidably draw upon her self the Guilt of mens Apostacy Hypocrsie and Dissimulation who durst not but obey and comply with her Commands meerly out of fear And did as unavoidably draw upon her the Guilt of all that Suffering Cruelty and Blood whatever it were she spilt and did inflict upon those persons who withstood her Commands and who were otherwise in all things blameless both as to their Morals Lives and Conversations I say if it be matter of Fact and that which cannot be denyed that these three things were some of the Main and Principal Causes for which we separated from the Church of Rome and for which our first Reformers themselves called her Antichristian and sometimes Bloody and sometimes the Scarlet Whore And if these three things when at any time mentioned with reference to the Church of Rome are still acknowledged to be evil and so stiled to this day so far as it concerns her Yea if these three things are at this very present in our Controversies with that Church not only charged upon her but cast in her teeth among many other things by way of reproach and to set forth the just ground that we even as the Church of England as well as other Churches have both of exception against and hatred of her MUST NOT these three things be MUCH MORE EVIL in a Protestant Church who after she hath condemned all these things not only as evil but as Antichristian in the Church of Rome and after she hath pretended to separate from the said Church for them doth nevertheless give her self leave to practise them without condemning her self at all in them And MUST NOT This Practice cast a manifest Blemish and Reproach upon on her own Reformation and evidence to the world that she doth not either believe the Principles
Heart smote him And some things he was about to do for the prevention of which he gave solemn thanks to God For we find that Davids Heart smote him after he had numbered the people and after he had but cut off the Skirt of Sauls Garment 2 Sam. 24.10 and 1 Sam. 24.5 And he gives solemn Thanks for Abigails being an Instrument to prevent him from shedding Blood 1 Sam. 25.32 For if the Church of Rome do punish others really and indeed upon the Principle of Disobeying her Authority though she dare not pretend this openly lest her Cruelty and Blood-Guiltiness being for no other Cause should be so manifest that it would never be able to admit of a competent Apology Colour or Excuse And therefore leaving this she insists upon the Ground of Her Persecution as it is for Herefie only But if we on the other hand punish others not only with loss of Goods but with loss of Liberty Banishment and perpetual Imprisonment which is far more Cruelty than Immediate Death it self and would be more willingly chosen by most men and do all this for a Non-conformity and Disobedience to the Orders and Rites of the Church without so much as a pretence to any Guilt of Heresie Then Where is the difference between these two sorts of Persecutors unless the Ruling Clergy of our Church have done it more daringly and more Broad-facedly than the Church of Rome doth But which is more to be considered and laid to heart If the Church of Rome do not punish those that acknowledge her to be a True Church but those only that condemn her as a false Church and who do under this Notion professedly separate from her as from that Babylon mentioned in the Revelations And if we on the other hand punish those that own not only the same Faith and Doctrine But the very same Principles of Reformation with our selves and who therefore give no just Provocation nor use any such reproachful Language to our Church as the Protestant Churches generally do to the Church of Rome Where then is the difference unless it be that she renders evil to her professed Enemies who cannot but openly own a Hatred and Contempt for her We inflict all manner of Evil upon our Brethren that supplicate for Peace with us and would be glad not to separate from us and which of these two then is the more ingenious But which is yet more If we as we are Protestants cannot but grant that there is to be a Subordination of the Church not only immediately to the Lord Jesus Christ himself but to HIS Word and that we utterly deny that he hath any such One as a Vicar upon the Earth and utterly deny that any man whatever hath any power to dispence with the Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ so far as they appear to be clear to us from his Word wherefore if we notwithstanding we make these things to be the very Profession of our Faith yet shall never punish any But such as keep exactly to all and every of these Principles and shall observe them conscientiously and strictly Whereas the Popish Clergy on the contrary punish none but such only who deny or oppose wholly the things which their Church affirms Where then is the Reasonableness of our Punishment and the Unreasonableness of theirs and which of these two hath the greater Resemblance of Hypocrisie even in our own Judgment whether our Punishment or theirs seeing we punish men for following the Principles we allow They never punish any but for following those Principles that they totally disallow But the evil of this Persecution further appears thus for if we as Protestants say we have separated from the Church of Rome out of Conscience First because she imposed those things that were Inscriptural upon us And secondly because she was guilty of Blood and that the Characters of a false Church did for both these Reasons lye upon her and therefore that we cannot but give thanks solemnly unto God for our Deliverance out of her power And if the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church have nevertheless not spared to persecute unto Blood even those that have not only out of the same two Motives separated with us But by persisting constantly in the said Motives do daily justifie us How comes our Blood and Persecution to be less sinful than hers and why should it be less crying unto God for had we never so intently studied how we might have put the greatest stumbling-Block we could before our Adversaries or how we might have brought the greatest Blemish Scandal and Reproach that was possible upon our Reformation or how we might have opened the Complaints and Exclamations of men most against us What Course could possibly have been taken to all these ends that could have been more effectual than this For how can he that is thus persecuted by the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church give Thanks unto God solemnly for his Deliverance out of the Church of Rome's Thraldom when the very same Persons that pretend to be delivered with him Imposeth nevertheless the like Thraldom upon him Or how shall he that is thus persecuted be any way able to imagine and much less to believe that the Church which persecutes him is serious in her Profession of Thanks unto God for her own freedom when she is no sooner freed her self but she brings others into the same Hardship and Servitude that she her self did but a little while since greatly complain of and groan under But leaving these things to be most seriously considered by all Protestant Churches in these three Kingdoms and elsewhere even by all whomsoever they Concern I shall now proceed to give in this place A Description of the Absurd Ridiculous and Contemptible Grounds and Foundations on which the Papists Build Though nothing is more Evident than this that the Thraldom or Bondage of the Church of Rome doth principally consist in the disagreeableness of her Doctrines to the Rule of the Scripture yet nevertheless it is Matter of Fact That the Church of Rome doth not in plain and express Terms deny the Truth or deny the Authority of the Scripture or deny the end of them as they are appointed for the Church And if we cannot for this Cause justly charge her with any of these things Then we must necessarily grant that the said Doctrines so far as they are corrupt and have a real Inconsistency with the Scripture it self could have their Rise at first no otherwise Than by vertue of her Authority as a Church And consequently that as they had thus their Rise at first so they have had their whole Maintenance and Support ever since no otherwise than as this Authority being Absolute and Arbitrary hath defended them against whatever might be said from the Authority of the Scripture in opposition to them And therefore here we shall lay open her Shame and Nakedness and her great Absurdity that lyeth in the Manner and Method and
equally and with as good warrant be alledged Secondly she discerns that if she should allow the Grammar of the Scripture to be Authoritative at all she should never be able to prevent the pretences that others would have even among the Laity it self to be as competent Judges of the said Grammar as her self Thirdly besides these two extreme Inconveniences which by her are not to be endured she evidently also seeth that the Words of Scripture themselves will not of themselves by any literal Construction or Exposition of them be sufficient to prove any such Authority as she claims and that should the words of the Scripture be urged therefore no further than according to the express Tenor of them or according to the sence that the Grammar it self would bear of them she should be so far from gaining the Power and Commission which she pretends to have a Warrant for that instead of it she should expose her Authority to a manifest hazard even not only to be sifted ventilated and discussed by others but as freely censured by such as should observe the nature of her Inferences and how weakly and infirmly they are deduced with respect to the genuine Force or Construction of the words themselves And therefore as for all these Reasons she apparently discerns that the Grammar of the Scripture is an Adversary absolutely to her so she doth as smartly and dexterously perceive that the Scripture it self were the Authority of it allowed to be in the Grammar would be as great an Enemy every way to her as even the literal and Grammatical Sence of it is For in as much as these three things are at once both equally and necessarily Incumbent upon her and such as cannot any of them possibly be dispensed with by her viz. First to prove the peculiarity of her Authority above any other Church beside her whatever And Secondly to justifie the Incorruption of her Doctrine And Thirdly to preserve the pretence that she hath by this consequently to Infallibility And seeing these three do so much concern her that it is a thing very plain and very easie to perceive that unless they can all be maintained upheld and defended in some measure rationally by her she can no way keep up her temporal Power nor any way avoid a lyableness to a Reformation Wherefore having upon a due and serious survey of the Letter and Grammar of the Holy Scripture sufficiently found and clearly observed that the Scripture as thus strictly considered in the Order Disposition and Construction of its Letter will never be serviceable to her in any one of these three Respects but will on the contrary expresly oppose her As she is hereby expresly convinced then that there can be no cause why she should magnifie the express word of it and much less any cause why she should trust in it or appeal to it so lest that others should be carried away with a rational Opinion of it and should for this cause be induced to urge and press several things against her from it She saw it but necessary that she should come to a deliberate Resolution with her self To weaken the Credit of the Scripture wholly and not only to deny all Authority and even all Divinity it self to be in the Word Letter and Grammar of the Scripture strictly considered by it self but to deny also that any Sence is capable to be certainly had from it or any truth that is infallible which how hold a thing soever it might seem to be yet she saw it no way avoidable by her because she had no way besides this to secure her self against all that Inconveniency that she knew the Scripture would and must otherwise cast upon her necessarily by vertue of the expressness and Authority of its Letter Having then taken up this Resolution in the first place considering nevertheless maturely with her self that if she should cast off all her Relation to the Scripture wholly and entirely she could not maintain the very Authority of the Church it self and much less should be able to defend either the Divinity or the Infallibility of those things that are sought by her She therefore cometh to a second Resolution which she judgeth no less necessary and expedient for her than the former viz. To maintain the Divinity and set up the Authority absolutely of the Scripture though not in the express Letter of it nor in the Sence proper to it yet as we have said already in another Sence that she sets up instead of it That is according to such a Sence which she judges convenient that she her self should as a Church put upon it and put upon it in such manner also and with such a Construction and Exposition as might be most sutable to her own end and most answerable to her own particular Interest which Sence she therefore stiles by the specious Name or Appellation of the Catholick Sence or of the Sence of the Universal Church in distinction at least from and for the better avoiding of that Sence which is truly literal and is properly Constructive and Grammatical And as it is this Sence alone therefore as Catholick that she confines both the Authority and Divinity of the Scripture to and that also entirely So she doth this in her own more than ordinary Judgment and Prudence In regard she is sure that this Sence will never fail her but will always be ready to abett whatever shall upon any occasion be determined by her Because this Sence requires no deeper Reason nor any firmer Bottom or Ground at any time for it Than what resolves it self at length into the meer arbitrary Will and Pleasure of her self And so she can never be accountable further for it than barely to declare it or affirm it to be the Catholick Sence because she saith it is the Sence of the Universal Church And is not this rare Policy And therefore to justifie this medly Sence which if what she saith be true is both the Sence of the Scripture and is not And which must necessarily be the Sence of the Scripture because the Church will so have it and not because it is a Sence really properly or radically inherent in it To justifie also her Rightful throwing off the Authority of the Grammar it self and to justifie her transferring the whole Divinity of the Scripture from the natural Order and Construction of its Words to a Sence altogether forreign to its Letter and to the expressness of it I say to justifie ALL THIS she pleads her own Authority not only as Divine but as absolute and infallible and consequently as that which ought to be submitted unto by every one and that readily as to the very Ordinance and Appointment of God himself Which being the very Question it self that was in dispute and that very thing therefore that was first of all necessary to be proved by her she is constrained by this means whether she will or no to run round in a Circle viz. To
prove her proper Authority by the Catholick Sence of the Scripture And To prove the Catholick Sence of the Scripture by vertue of her proper Authority And at length not only without all ground but without all shame or sence of Justice to beg the whole Argument it self in Controversie between us Than which we say there can be nothing whatever that is either more unreasonable or more impudent and base And having gotten her Authority therefore in this manner not only or not so much by shuffling as by plain snatching it and being conscious to her self that it would be a very vain thing for her to suppose she should be able to defend the said Authority by any better Argument than that very Stratagem she made use of it to prove it she concludes it to be most safe to maintain it therefore in the same manner as she got it which is by force and therefore resolves to punish all men with Death that will be so hardy as to deny it so far at least as her Power or Mediation can any way extend to do it And yet lest the Quarrel should by this means look as if it were too personal and too private and that such Princes as were less concerned at it should not be much disposed to ingage with her in it She as if she were Pious in the very Execution of her Malice pretends this shedding the Blood of men though it may seem indeed to be very severe yet is absolutely necessary not so much because they disobey her as because they disobey and oppose the Catholick Sence of the Holy Scripture In which Catholick Sence all the Authority and Divinity of it if you will believe her is properly placed and that by opposing of this they oppose by Consequence not only the Catholick Faith of the Church but the consent of all Christianity it self In the unquestionableness of which the Security and Salvation of men can only and alone rest which pretext is another part as well of her Absurdity as of her Violence and Fraud That notwithstanding she neither hath nor can prove any Obligation that men in Conscience can have to her Authority or to rely upon the Determination of it And though she cannot otherwise require the belief of it from any but as it is a thing meerly precarious yet she puts all to death that yield not to this absolute Usurpation of her Power The Use of this last preceding Discourse From this brief Scheme or summary Prospect of the Nature of this new and peculiar Policy of the Church of Rome We may easily make a measure of her Wisdom as well as of her Truth for by this short State or Account that we now have of these Motives which did mainly induce the said Church intirely to lay aside the express Letter and Grammar of the Scriptures at least as to the Certainty Truth or Infallibility of it we may easily have a view of several horrible Absurdities Contradictions and indeed Impieties that she is by this means forced and necessitated to fall into of which we shall now mention a few Particulars For first as it is Matter of Fact which is the most infallible Evidence in the World that all the Doctrines of the Church of Rome do depend solely upon The Authority of the said Church So it is Matter of Fact equally That both the said Doctrines and the said Authority it self which upholds the said Doctrines do depend upon the Catholick Sence of the Scripture For the same Reason therefore it is even from the strictness of the Connexion and mutual Dependance of these three one upon another That as the Doctrines of the Church of Rome must necessarily be all of them True and all of them Divine If the Authority of the said Church is altogether True and altogether Divine So also the Authority of the Church of Rome must be unquestionably Divine If the Catholick Sence of the Scripture upon which it is alone built be absolutely Divine and free from all possibility of Error And consequently then as the surest proof that we can possibly have of the Divinity of all the Doctrines of the said Church doth lye in the proof the divine Authority of the said Church and in the sureness of it So the surest proof of this doth lye in the proof of the Catholick Sence of the Scripture viz. in the Proof that this Catholick Sence is both divine and infallible and free from all manner of Error imaginable For it is this Sence alone that gives being to the said Authority In as much then as it is strongly alledged that the Catholick Sence cannot possibly but be Divine Infallible and free from all manner of Error The Authority of the said Church therefore must necessarily be Divine Infallible and free from all manner of Error and therefore it is impossible but the Doctrines which are taught by the said Church must be such also that is They must be Divine Infallible and free from all Error So then these three are and must be all of them Divine alike viz The Doctrines of the Church of Rome and the Authority of the said Church and The Catholick Sence of the Scripture And consequently the Sence of the Universal Church must be as Divine as any of these three Because the Catholick Sence of the Scripture and the Sence of the Universal Church is but one and the same Et quae in eodem Tertio conveniunt inter se conveniunt wherefore seeing of all these The Catholick Sence of the Scripture is The main and sure Basis of all the rest and that upon the Divinity certainty and infallibility of This ALL the Divinity Authority and Infallibility of the Church of Rome with its whole Doctrine doth and must wholly and intirely depend The absolute and unquestionable Certainty or Divinity of this therefore is first to be cleared seeing this as we said is of all others the most strongly alledged To one that is an apt Schollar to understand and receive whatsoever the Church of Rome teacheth we shall here shew how this is by her cleared To evidence then the truth of the Catholick Sence of the Scripture how Infallible and Unquestionable it is and to manifest not only the necessity but the absoluteness of its Divinity We need not much more than one Reason because this doth of it self upon the matter amount to a Demonstration which is That there is nothing more clear or more certain than that the said Catholick Sence neither really is the Sence of the Scripture nor really is not nor any thing more certain than that the said Catholick Sence is Both That is to say both it is and it is not the Sence of the Scripture And that we may be yet the more fully and distinctly instructed in the nature of this Mistery and of the strangeness of it we are to know That the extraordinary wonderful and peculiar Power of this Catholick Sence lyeth in the singular Relation which it hath
to the Universal Church and to the Scripture as it is the Sence of neither of them properly and entirely and yet is the Sence of both of them at one and the same time For though this Catholick Sence cannot be had without the Scripture and though it is and must necessarily be given therefore to the said Church by the Scripture Because it is the Scripture only that the said Church doth always refer to when it doth at any time cite or alledge the said Sence as it is Divine And consequently though without the said Scripture it had been wholly impossible that the said Church should either have Challenged or laid Claim to any Truth that had been Authoritative or Divine Notwithstanding this The said Catholick Sence both is given and must necessarily be given to the Scripture by the said Church because without the said Church it would be impossible that this Sence should ever be found out in the Scripture it self in regard nothing is more certain than that the Scripture hath of it self properly no Sence at all at least none that is True Certain and Infallible but as this is by the Universal Church and by the Prudent Care and Foresight of it bestowed upon it And so we must unavoidably grant that though the Catholick Sence be but One yet this One Sence is both created by the Church for the Scripture and created by the Scripture for the Church Which is a very rare and unusual sort of Production And therefore it will follow also that if we regard the Truth Certainty and Infallibility of this Catholick Sence it is wholly and entirely from the Church because neither the Authority properly of it nor its Divinity doth consist in its Truth or in its Certainty If we regard the Divinity and Authority of this Catholick Sence it is not only originally but entirely from the Scripture because it may be Divine though it have neither Certainty nor Infallibility in it at least as the Church of Rome tells us And consequently the said Catholick Sence considered as it is strictly in the Scriptures hath indeed both Authority absolutely in it and Divinity but it neither hath Truth Certainty nor Infallibility But considered as it is strictly in the Church it hath both Truth Certainty and Infallibility absolutely in it But it hath not for all this any thing of Divinity or Authority for this it must borrow from the name of the Scripture So that it is plain That the said Catholick Sence is neither the Sence of the Church properly and entirely nor the Sence of the Scripture properly and entirely and yet that it is the Sence of both of them entirely And the Reason for this is also plain viz. Because according to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Divinity of the Catholick Sence is one thing its Truth and Infallibility is quite another for though the Church can give to the Catholick Sence its Truth and Infallibility entirely yet she cannot give any part of its Divinity And though the Scripture can give to the Catholick Sence its whole Divinity and consequently its Authority entirely yet it cannot of it self give it any thing of truth or any thing of Infallibility but this it must have from the Church So mystically is this Catholick Sence parted and divided between both By which partition of the Catholick Sence which is strange we come to know another thing also which is as strange and which otherwise we should never have been able to have found out viz. That though the end of giving the Scripture was unquestionably for the enlightening Ruling and Governing the Church yet the end of setting up the Church was equally also for the enlightening Ruling and Governing of the Scriptures Which as it is a Consequence that can no way be avoided by the Rules of the Church of Rome so it is as manifestly absurd as all the rest Secondly The Divinity of the Catholick sence with the necessity absolutely of it will appear also yet the more clearly if we shall consider that unless we do admit the Church in the first place to be holy infallible and free from all manner of Error imaginable it will and must be impossible that the Catholick sence of the Scripture should be absolutely True Holy Infallible and free from all Error Because the sence of the Scripture becomes thus Catholick Holy Infallible and True only as it is the sence of the Catholick Church first and as it is by this means derived to the Scripture it self And for any to seek a sence in the Scripture therefore that is Holy True Infallible and free from all Error alone by the Scripture it self without the Direction and Assistance of the said Catholick or Universal Church is manifestly absurd Both because the Scripture hath properly of it self no sence at all that is certain and because it is the immediate Authority of the Church only upon which the sence of the Scripture so far as it is properly Catholick Infallible and absolutely True is wholly and entirely built And yet on the contrary in regard it must be confessed that the Church could not possibly have so much as either Name or Being were it not for the Scripture it self and much less that it could have those Privileges or that Authority placed in it which it challengeth above all others for being Holy True Infallible and free from all manner of Error Unless we admit therefore the Scripture in the first place to be originally True Holy and Divine and therefore to contain all Authority and Truth prmitively in it self that is Holy Absolute and Divine and that by reason of this its primitive Sanctity Divinity and Truth it hath a power simply and properly of its self to confer a Divine Right Authority and Infallibility to the Church it will and must be impossible that the said Church should be any way impowered or enabled either to teach such Doctrines as are Certain True Holy and Divine and without any fallibility whatever or that it should be able to declare what that sence of the Scripture is which is absolutely Holy True Infallible and free from all manner of Error Because if the whole being of the Church is entirely from the Scripture then not only all the Holiness Truth and Infallibility of the said Church with the truth of whatever it teacheth but all the Authority also which it hath or challengeth by reason of any of these extraordinary Properties is and must unavoidably be built upon the Scripture also and upon the primitive Truth Authority and Sanctity of it Both which things now being admitted it must necessarily follow that if we will fully comprehend the Divinity of the Catholick sence and come to be convinced of the necessity and absoluteness of its Infallibility Authority and Truth we must grant that the Truth Holiness Infallibleness and Authority of the Church was and could not but be before the Truth Holiness and Infallibility of the Scripture sence And
must also grant that the Truth Sanctity and Authority of the holy Scripture was and could not but necessarily be before any Truth Holiness Infallibility and Authority was or could possibly be in the Church and consequently we must grant that these were both first and so both of them were one before another respectively In like manner we must grant that as there is an absolute necessity that the Church and its Authority as infallible should be built upon the Scripture entirely and upon the Original Authority of it so there is as great a necessity that the Sence of the Scripture with the truth of it wherein its Authority doth properly and principally consist should be built upon the Church and upon the Authority of it and therefore a necessity that both these should be built each upon the other mutually and respectively and therefore a necessity that the Church should be the Foundation of all the Scriptures truth and that the Scripture should be the Foundation of all the Church its Truth and therefore that each of these should be the respective Basis or Ground of the other of these mutually The Clearness Consonancy Coherence and manifest Consistency of all which things whoever doth not understand and doth not also fully and unquestionably believe is neither a Schollar that is quick enough nor a schollar that is qualified enough for the sufficient and substantial comprehending of the Divinity of the Catholick sence And therefore upon the consideration of the whole we may conclude that if all these things now mentioned are substantially true and capable to be clearly understood by rational Persons and that they are consistent really one with another Then it must be certain that the Church of Rome is both a true Church and its Doctrines are all certainly and unquestionably true and all its followers must be true Christians also and free from all Error for these things must be all of them true and certain alike But if these several things above mentioned are manifestly contradictory and absurd and such therefore as are no way possible to be rationally understood or capable to be consistent any way one with another then these things can never be true viz. Either that the Church of Rome should be a true Church or that its Doctrines should be all of them true or that its followers should be such true Christians as to be free from all Error Seeing none of these three things can be otherwise true or certain than as the several things above mentioned are true or certain which are manifestly absurd and utterly false The horrible Wickedness of the Church of Rome further manifested The Impiety and Wickedness as well as Absurdity of the Church of Rome in this invention of the Catholick Sence and in her setting up of it will be evident also to any that will consider that even while she goeth about not only to corrupt but to defeat the Scripture of its proper Authority as a Divine Writing by her denying that any Sence is capable to be had from it but what the Church only doth give it and by denying therefore that the Litteral or Grammatical Sence or Construction of the Scripture is in any place certain or at least not so certain as it may be said of its self to be simply absolutely or infallibly true or so certain that it is in any place sufficient to give an infallibility of truth to us she doth no other than discover by all this what her drift is throughout all this Device For she would never run her self upon so many Rocks to maintain things so manifestly gross and absurd as this Invention puts her upon were it not that her aim by all this is To spoyl and deprive the Scripture utterly not only of all power and Authority but of all Right immediately and absolutely of its self to bind and oblige the Consciences of men to it even though the sence of it should from the plain and genuine Construction of its words appear never so strong clear or coherent to them which Scope or Design of the Church of Rome for withdrawing our Obedience and Subjection wholly from the Scripture it self even in things that are plain and can be no way doubted by us as we are rational Persons and understand well enough what the Nature and Import of Sence is I say this scope or design of withdrawing our Obedience from the Scripture it self and from the plain and genuine fence of it is no other than openly to withdraw us from the plain and express Mind of God the Scripture being his Word which is not only to offer an Injury to the Authority and Councel of God but to his very Grace also in giving his Word to us And yet that this is the Chief and Principal Aim of the Church of Rome in her contending for the Catholick Sence and in her disallowing all other Sence whatever to the Scripture is the more clear because it is matter of Fact that wheresoever she can or doth exercise any Dominion either by her self or by her delegates there she will suffer none even not of her own Clergy to depend upon the Scripture strictly But will have all men at all times to submit all their Judgments and all their Consciences absolutely to her particular Determinations in all things relating to Faith whether the things she doth determine be agreeable or not agreeable to the Word or Rule of Faith it self And if all her own Natives are treated with this Severity and Arbitrariness by her is is easie then to imagine what Strangers may expect from her especially if we consider that for the more effectual preventing the Laity also to shew any manner of Duty immediately to the Scripture and lest they should be convinced even by the very sight of it or should hold themselves obliged to the things plainly and expresly commanded by it she doth throughout all places where she hath any Power utterly forbid all use of the Scripture to them and will not suffer the Scripture so much as to be read or heard by them in a Vulgar or known Tongue By which Instances it may sufficiently appear seeing these things are matters of Fact that the Indeavour used by the Church of Rome to lessen the Credit of the Scriptures Letter Grammar or Word as if there were no certainty of sence in it is not really grounded upon any thing which may justly be attributed to the Scripture it self * But is a thing absolutely plotted Contrived formed or purposely Designed by the said Church for no other end but that men might not rely upon the Scripture or trust to the truth of those things that may be plainly and expresly founded in the very Letter of it and so might be moved to give Obedience to the Authority of it and to be led by it NOR for any other end but that Men might not be able to plead the said Word with the expressness of it against her or have a