to subscribe to every expression of his and do freely acknowledge that the making a rent in a Church that is pure both in Doctrine and Worship upon any particular or personal account is a sin that cannot be sufficiently detested and condemned I shall not enter into a particular discussion of every passage of S. Austin's but if in some he seems to go too far for the authority of the Church I shall only offer two general considerations concerning these The first is That it is a Maxime with Lawyers That general words in Laws are to be restricted to the preambles and chief design of these Laws And if this is true of Laws that are commonly penned with more coldness and upon greater deliberation it is much more applicable to warm discourses where the heat of Contradiction and the Zeal of a Writer makes that things are ofâ—en aggravated and carried too far but still all those expressions are to â—e molliâ—ied and restricted to that which was the subject matter of the debate therefore those expressions of S. Austin's supposing that the Church was still sound in her Doctrine and Worship are to be governed by that Hypothesis The second is That many of those who urge these passages on us do not deny but S. Aâ—stin in the disputes about Grace and Original Sin was carried too far though those were the subjects on which he employed his latest years with the greatest application If then it is confessed that he wrote too warmly against the Pelagians and in that heat advanced some propositions that need a fair construction is it unreasonable for us to say that he might have done the same writing against the Donatists 5. As for Tertullian he that might have conversed with many that could have known S. Polâ—carp who was both instructed and ordained by the Apostles so that he might have been the third person in the conveyance of the sense of what the Apostles had left in Writing could reasonably argue as he did against the Hereticks but certainly no man that considers the distance we live at from those ages and the many accidents that have so often changed the face of the Church can think it reasonable to argue upon that ground now And yet it were easie to bring many citatious out of that very Book of Tertullians to shew that he grounded his Faith only on the Doctrine of Christ delivered in the Scriptures how much soever he might argue from other Topicks against the Hereticks of his time who indeed were bringing in a New Gospel into the World We willingly receive the Characters that Vincentius Lyrinensis gives of Tradition that what the Church has at all times and in all places received is to be believed and are ready to joyn issue upon this and when they can prove that the Church at all times and in all places has taught the Worshipping of Images the Invocation of Saints and Angels the adoring the Sacrament and the dividing of it with many more particulars we will yield the whole cause and confess that we have made a Schism in the Church The Seventh Method IS to let them see that those who at first pretended to Reform the Church in which they were amongst us neither had nor could have any Mission either Ordinary or Extraordinary to bring us any other Doctrine but that which was then taught and that by Consequence none ought to believe them since they had no authority to Preach as they did How can they Preach if they are not sent This is the ordinary Method that puts the Ministers to the necessity of proving their Mission which is a thing that they can never do This cuts off all disputes and is one of the Methods of Cardinal Richelieu Remarks 1. IF the first Reformers had delivered a new Doctrine which was never formerly taught it had been necessary for them to have had a very extraordinary Mission and to have confirmed it by very extraordinary signs but when they grounded all â—hey said upon that very Book which was and is still received as the unalterable Law of all Christians then if every man is bound to take care of his own Salvation and is in Charity obliged to let others see that same light that guides himself then I say an extraordinary Mission was not necessary when the thing in dispute was not a new Doctrine but the true meaning of those Writings which were on all hands acknowledged to be Divine 2. If notwithstanding the necessity of not raising War in Civil Government without an express Commission from the Prince or Supream Authority yet in a General Rebellion when the ways of intercourse with the Prince are cut off if it be not only a lawful but a commendable action for any subject even without a Commission to raise what force he can for the service of the Prince Then if it be true that the Western Churches had generally revolted from the rules of the Gospel that was a sufficient warrant for any person to endeavour a Reformation 3. The nature of the Christian Religion is to be well considered in which all Christians are a Royal Priesthood And though it be highly necessary for all the ends of Religion to maintain peace and Order and to convey down an authority for sacred administrations in such a way as tends most to advance those ends yet this cannot be lookt on as indispensable and absolutely necessary Among the Iews as there were many services in which none but Priests and Levites could officiate so the Succession went in the natural course of Descent But in the Christian Church there are no positive Laws so appropriated and therefore in cases of extream and unavoidable necessity every Christian may make use of that dormant priviledge of being a Royal Priest and so this difficulty must be resolved by examining the merits of the whole cause for if the necessity was not extream and unavoidable we acknowledge it had been a Sacrilegious presumption for any that was not called in the ordinary manner to meddle in Holy things 4. It is but a small part of the Reformed Churches that is concerned in this Here in England our Reformers had the ordinary Mission and in most places beyond Sea the first Preachers had been ordained Priests And it will not be easie to prove that Lay-men yea and Women may baptize in cases of necessity when that is often but an imaginary necessity and that yet Priests in a case of real necessity may not ordain other Priests For all the Rules of Order are superseded by extraordinary cases and in Moral as well as in Natural things every Individual has a Right to propagate its kind and though it may be reasonable to regulate that yet it can never be wholly cut off The Eighth Method IS to tell them You do not know that such or such a Book of the Scripture is the Word of God but by the Church in which you were before your Schism So that you cannot know
that threatening clause of forfeiture used by those of Constance in their Decree for a General Council And at Trent it was declared That if any Prince did suffer a Duel to be fought in his Dominions he was thereupon to forfeit that place in which it was fought Now by the same authority that they could declare a forfeiture of any one place they could decâ—are a forâ—eiture of a Princes whole Dominion for both those Sentences flow from the same Superiour Jurisdiction And thus we see seven of those Councils which they esteem general have either decreed confirmed or assumed this right of Deposing Kings for Heresie or indeed for breaking their Orders and Writs 4. The fourth mark oâ— Tradition is â—hat which has been of late so famous by Mr. Arnauld's endeavours to prove from thence that the belief of the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament is a Doctrine derived down from the Aposâ—les days which is this If any one Age has universally received an opinion as an Article of Faith it must be concluded that that Age had it from the former and that from the preceding till we arrive at the Apostles days And this he thinks must hold the stronger if the point so received wâ—s a thing obvious to all men in which every one was concerned and to which the nature of man was inclined to make a powerful opposition I shall not examine how true this is in general nor how applicable in fact it is to the Doctrine of the Corporal Presence but shall only say that allowing all these marks to be the sure Indications of Apostolical Tradition the Doctrine of Deposing Princes for favouring Heresie has them all much more indisputably than the other has Take any one Age from the eleventh Century to the sixteenth and it will appear that not only the Popes the Bishops and all the Ecclesiastical Order received it but that all the Laity likewise embraced it Though this was a matter obvious to sense in which many were much concerned It might have been hoped that Princes upon their own account for fear of an ill Precedent would have protected the â—eposed Prince But on the contrary they either entred into the Croisades themselves or at least gave way to them vast Armies were gathered together to execute those Sentences and the injured Princes had no way to keep their people firm to them but by assuring them they were not guilty of the matters objected to them which shewed that had their people believed them guilty they had forsaken them And yet as it was the terrour of a Croisade was such and the Popes authority to depose Princes was so firmly believed that they were for the most part forced to save themselves by an absolute submission to the Popes pleasure and to what Conditions or Penances a haughty Pope would impose on them So certain it is that this Doctrine was universally received in those ages And thus it appears that all the Characters by which it can be pretended that an Apostolicâ—l Tradition can be known agree to this Doctrine in so full and uncontestable a manner that they cannot bring such Evidence for the points in dispute between them and us So that the Assembly General by condemning this Doctrine have departed from the Tradition of their own Church more apparently than it can be pretended that either Luther and Calvin did in any of those Doctrines which they rejected and therefore they ought not any more to complain of us for throwing off such things as they found on Tradition when they have set us such an Example From which I shall only infer this That they themselves must know how weak a foundation Oral Tradition is for Divine Faith to build upon and that it must be established upon surer grounds FINIS ERRATVM Page 85. line 21. for First read Second Books Printed for and Sold by RICHARD CHISWELL FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2. Vol. Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time Wanley's Wonders of the little World or Hist. of Man Sir Tho. Herbert's Travels into Persia c. Holyoak's large Dictionary Latine and English Sir Rich. Baker's Chronicle of England Wilson's Compleat Christian Dictionary B. Wilkin's real Character or Philosophical Language Pharmacopoeia Regalis Collegii Medicorum Londinensis Judge Iones's Reports in Common Law Cave Tabulae Ecclesiasticorum Scriptorum Hobbs's Leviathan Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning Sir Will. Dugdale's Baronage of England in two Vol. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Winch's Book of Entries Isaac Ambrose's Works Guillim's Display of Heraldry with large additions Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2. Vol. Account of the Confessions and Prayers of the Murtherers of Esquire Thynn Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion Herodoti Historia Gr. Lat. cum variis Lect. Rushworth's Historical Collections the 2 d. Part in 2. vol. Large account of the Tryal of the Earl of Strafford with all the circumstances relating thereunto Bishop Sanderson's Sermons with his Life Fowlis's History of Romish Conspir Treas Usurpat Dalton's Office of Sheriffs with Additions Office of a Justice of Peace with additions Keeble's Collection of Statutes Lord Cook 's Reports in English Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World Edmunds on Caesars Commentaries Sir Iohn Davis's Reports Judge Yelverton's Reports The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuites Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and resolutions of the Iudges with other Observations thereupon by Will. Cawley Esq William's impartial consideration of the Speeches of the five Jesuits executed for Treason 1680. Iosephus's Antiquities and Wars of the Jews with Fig. QVARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Latine and English Bishop Nicholson on the Church Catechism The Compleat Clerk Precedents of all sorts History of the late Wars of New-England Dr. Outram de Sacrificiis Bishop Taylor 's Disswasive from Popery Spanhemii Dubia Evangelica 2 Vol. Dr. Gibbs's Sermons Parkeri Disputationes de Deo History of the future state of Europe Dr. Fowler 's Defence of the Design of Christianity against Iohn Bunnyan Dr. Sherlock's Visitation-Sermon at Warrington Dr. West's Assize Sermon at Dorchester 1671. Lord Hollis's Relation of the Unjust Accusation of certain French Gentlemen charged with aRobbery 1671. The Magistrates Authority asserted in a Sermon By Iames Paston Cole's Latine and English Dictionary Mr. Iames Brome's two Fast-Sermons Dr. Iane's Fast-Sermon before the Commons 1679. Mr. Iohn Iames's Visitation Sermon April 9. 1671. Mr. Iohn Cave's Fast-Sermon on 30. of Ian. 1679. Assize Sermon at Leicester Iuly 31. 1679. Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authority of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion Mr. William's Sermon before the Lord Mayor 1679. History of the Powder Treason with a vindication of the proceedings relating thereunto from the Exceptions made against it by the Catholick Apologist and others and a Parallel betwixt that and the
to which the Council of Chalcedon assented is an entire contexture of authorities drawn from Scripture without so much as any one citation of any Father It is true there is added to the end of that Letter a Collection of some sayings of six Fathers Hilary Ambrose Nazianzene Chrysostome Austin and Cyril who had all except one lived within sixty years or a little more of that time So it is certain they founded their Faith only on the Scripture and not on Tradition otherwise they had taken more pains to have made it out and had not been so easily satisfied with what a few late Writers had said And thus it may be presumed that all the end for which they cited them was only to shew that they did not broach new and unheard of opinions And S. Austin could noâ— think that S. Cyprian's opinion alâ—ne was a sufficient proof of the Doctrine of the first three Centuries for Original Sin and yet he citeâ— no other that lived in those Ages Noâ— could S. Ambrose and Nazianzene that had lived in his own time be cited tâ— prove the Tradition of former Ages And whereas it is insinuated that he cited others one would expect to finâ— a Catalogue of many other Fatherâ— wrapt up in this plural whereas alâ— resolves into Hilary alone And we have a more evident Indication of S. Austin's sense as to the laâ—t resort in matters of Controversie than this they offer in that celebrated saying of his when he was writing against Maximinus the Arian Bishop But neither may I make use of the Nicene Council nor you that of Arimini as that which ought to pre-judge us in this matter for neither am I held by the authority of the one nor you by the authority of the other Let the one side and cause and their reasons be brought against the other from the authorities of the Scriptures that do not belong to either side but are Witnesses common to both The Fourth Method IS to tell them that their Ministers can never do this nor shew in the Scriptures any of their Articles that are controverted and this is very true For example they can never bring any formal Text to prove that Original Sin remains as to the guilt of it after Baptism that we receive the Body of Iesus Christ only by Faith that after the Consecration the Sacrament is still Bread that there is no Purgatory and that we do not merit any thing by our good works And to this it may be added that among all those passages that are on the Margent of their Confession there is not one that says that which they cite it for either in express or equivalent terms or in the same sense This is the Method of Mr. Veron which he took from S. Austin who says to the Manichaeans Shew me that that is in the Scripture and in another place Let him shew me that that is to be found in the Holy Scripture We must then boldly tell them That they cannot prove any of their Articles that are in dispute nor dispute against any of ours by any passages of Scripture neither in express terms nor by sufficient consequences so as to make their Doctrine be received as the Faith and ours pass for Errour Remarks THe first part of this Article proceeds upon Veron's Method of putting us to prove our Doctrines by express words of Scripture but some more cautious person has added in the conclusion a Salvo for good consequences drawn from them upon which we yield that this is a very good Method and are ready to joyn issue upon it If they intend still to build upon that notion of express words we desire it may be considered that the true meaning of all passages is not to be taken only from the bare words but from the contexture of the Discourse and the design upon which they are made use of and that Rule of Logick being infallibly true That what things soever agree in any third thing they do also agree among themselves it is certain that a true consequence is as good a proof as a formal passage Thus did our Saviour prove the Resurrection from the Scriptures by a very remote consequence since God was said to be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and was the God of the Living and not of the Dead So did the Apostles prove Christ's being the promised Messias and the obligation to observe the Mosaical Ceremonies to have ceased upon his coming by many consequences but not by the express words of Scripture All the arguings of the Fathers against the Heretiâ—ks run on Consequences drawn from Scripture as may appear in all their Synodical Letters more particularly in that formerly cited of Pope Leo to Flavian to which the Fourth General Council assented This Plea does very ill become men that pretend such reverence to Antiquity since it was that upon which all the Ancient Hereticks set up their strength as the most plausible pretence by which they thought they could cover themselves So the Arians at Arimini give this reason for rejecting the word Consubstantial because it was not in the Scriptures The Macedonians laid hold of the same pretence Nestorâ—us gives this as his chief reason for denying the Virgin to be the Mother of God And Eutyches covered himself also with this question In what Scripture were the two Natures of Christ to be found And his followers did afterwards insist so much on this Plea that Theodoret wrote two large Discourses on purpose to shew the weakness of this pretence So that after all the noise they make about the Primitive Church they follow the same tract in which the Hereticks that were condemned by the first four General Councils went and they put us to do the same thing that the Hereticks then put on the Orthodox But we make the same answer to it which the Fathers did That the sense of the Scriptures is to be considered more than the words So that what is according to the true sense is as much proved by Scripture as if it were contained in it in so many express words And yet this Plea had a much greater strength in it as it was managed by those Hereticks for those contests being concerning mysteries which exceed our apprehensions it was not an unreasonable thing at first view to say that in such things which we cannot perfectly comprehend it is not safe to proceed by deductions or consequences and therefore it seemed safer to hold strictly to Scripture Phrases but in other points into which our understandings can carry us further it is much more absurd to exact of us express words of Scripture 2. Most of the points about which we dispute with the Church of Româ— are additions made by them to the simplicity of the Christian Religion So much as we own of the Christian Religion they own likewise In the other particulars our Doctrine with relation to them is made up of Negatives
man to forsake that Communion The Twelfth Method IS both very short and very easie It is to catch them in this Dilemma Before Wickliff Luther and Calvin and one may say as much of the Waldenses that lived in the Twelâ—â—h Century the Church of those of the P R. Religion was either made up of a little number of the Faithful or was not at all in being If it was not at all in being then theirs is a False Church since it is not perpetual as the True Church ought to be according to the promise of Iesus Christ The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her and I am with you even to the end of the World If their Church was in being it must have been according to their own principles Corrupted and Impious Because they cannot shew that little number of the pretended Faithful who before the Reformation did condemn as they now do all the Assemblies of the Popish Churches as over-run with Idolatry and Superstition They behaved themselves at least as to outward appearance as others did And thus their Church which was composed of that small unknown flock was not Holy and by consequence was not the True Church Remarks 1. TO the greatest part of this answer has been already given We acknowledge the Church of Rome was a True Church and had in it the means of Salvation though it was over-run with Errours and Christ is truly with his Church as long as those means of Salvation do remain in it So was the Iewish Church a True Church after she was in many points corrupted in her Doctrine 2. In those dark Ages many might have kept themselves free from the defilements of their Worship though no account is given of them in story So seven thousand had not bowed their knees to Baal in Elijah's time who were not so much as known to that Prophet though it might have been expected that they would all have willingly discovered themselves to him And since he knew nothing of them it is very probable they concealed themselves with great care from all others 3. All good men have not all the degrees of Illumination for there might have been great numbers that saw the corruptions of their Church but were so restrained by other opinions concerning the Unity of the Church that they thought it enough to infuse their notions into some few Disciples in whom they confided and on some perhaps that which Elisha said to Naaman the Syrian being wrong understood by them had great influence Others observing that the Apostles continued to worship at the Temple and offer Sacrifices which S. Paul and those with him that purified themselves must have done might have from that inferred that one might comply in a Worship though they disliked many things in it which if I am not much misinformed is a Maxime that governs many in the Roman Communion to this day I do not excuse this compliance but it is not so criminal as at first view it may appear to be If it is truly founded on a mistake of the mind and not on a baseness in the will or a rejecting of the Cross of Christ especially in men that had so faint a twilight as that was which they were guided by in those blind times 4. But to make the worst of this that can be and should we grant that through fear they had complied against their Consciences this only must make the conclusion terrible to them if they did not repent of it But God might have ordered the conveyance of truth to be handed down by such defiled hands and their not being personally holy must not be urged too far to prove that they could not be the true Church This will come too near the Doctrines of the Donatists and many of S. Austin's sayings which they unreasonably object to us may be turned upon them And it will very ill become a Church that acknowledges the Succession of the Bishop of Rome to have been the chief conveyance of Tradition which is a much greater matter in their principles than it is in ours to urge the Holiness of the Members to be essential to the being of a Church when it is acknowledged what a sort of men the Heads of their Church have been for diverse Ages The Thirteenth Method IS taken from the nature of Schism which one ought never to make what reasons soever may be pretended for it for according to the Minister â—hemselves no other reason can be given for their Separation but the Errours which they pretend had crept into the Church But those who were in it as well as thâ—y were did strongly assert as we do to this day that these were no Errours at all but Truths And it is certain that of opinions which are so different the one must be the true Doctrine and the other must be Errour and falshood and by consequence the one must be the good grain and the other must be the Tares Now it does not belong to particular persons by their private authority to pluck up that which they pretend to be Tares There is none but God who is the true Father of the Family that has this authority and can communicate it to others It is he who appoints the Reapers that is the Pope and the Bishops who are represented by the Angels to separate the Cockle from the Wheat and to pluck out the one without touching the other till the time of Harvest that is in a Council or by the common consent of the whole Church and in that case a Council is not necessary Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said Nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them let both grow together until the Harvest Therefore one ought never to sâ—parate upon what pretence soever it be but he must bear with that which he thinks is an abuse and errour and stay till the Church plucks up the Cockle This is one of the Methods of S. Austin in his Treatises against the Donatists in which he shews from the Examples of Moses Aaron Samuel David Isaiah Jeremy S. Paul who tolerated even the false Apostles that we ought never to separate from our Brethren before the solemn condemnation of the Church He says pursâ—ant to this that the Donatists were intolerably wicked for having made a Schism for having erected an Altaâ— against an Altar and for having separated themselves from the Inheritance of Jesus Christ which is stretched ouâ— over all the Earth according to the promise that was made to it He addâ— that if they thought that was but a smâ—â— matter they had nothing to do but to sâ— what the Scripture teaches us by the examples we find in it of the punishment of sâ— great a crime for says he Those that made an Idol of the Golden Calf were only punished by the Sword whereas those who made the Schism were swallowed
up by the Earth So that by this diversity of the punishments one may know that Schism is a greater crime than Idolatry We may likewise see how upon the same subject he exhorts the Donatists to renounce their wicked Schism in his â—71 Epistle in which among other things he has those excellent words Why will you tear the Lords garments and why will you not with the rest of the World leave that Coat of Charity entire that is all woven of one Thread which even his Persecutors themselves would not rend And a little after this You pretend that you would avoid that Cockle that as you alledge is mixt among us and that before the time of Harvest whereas indeed it is you your selves that are this Cockle for if you were the good grain you would bear with it and would not separate your selves from the Corn of Jesus Christ. We need only change the name Donatists into Calvinists This is it that shews to what degree the Church ever was and ever must be acknowledged to be Infallible since we must submit to its Decisions and the Fathers have established this so strongly that one ought never to separate from her and that one is by so much the more obliged to continue united to her because she never refuses to hear the Remonstrances made to her by her Children Remarks 1. IT was observed before how unreasonable it was to build much on â—n Allegory but on this occasion the Allegory is so clearly forced that it gives just cause of Suspicion that the cause is weak that must be supported by such Arguments For our Saviour makes it so plain that the Harvest is the end of the World that the Reapers are Angels and that upon his last coming they shall gather together the wicked and cast them into Hell and that the Righteous shall shine in Heaven That the applying this to a General Council in which Heresie shall be condemned is such a fetch that it must be confessed they have as easie Consciences as they have warm Fancies that are wrought on by it 2. As for that which S. Austin drew from this against the Donatists who justified their Separation on the account of the sins of those who were in the Communion of the Church it was as pertinent as this is strained for the ground of the Schism being only the mixture of the Cockle with the Wheat nothing could be more strongly urged against them But it is quite out of the present Controversie between them and us who do not separate for this mixture but finding the Wheat it self so much corrupted took care to cleanse it 3. We freely acknowledge the great sin of Schism and the severe punishment due to it but for all the severity of the punishment inflicted on Corah and his Partners we do not doubt but when the Temple was so defiled by Idolatry under the Kings that polluted the Altar and the Courts of the Lords House with Idols it was not only no sin but a commendable piece of Religion in such cases to have withdrawn from so impious a Worship This is our present case and if what we object to their Worship is true then our Separation from it is as necessary a Duty as is the preserving of our lives from Poysons or Infectious Diseases 4. The true scope of that Parable seems to be a reproof to the Violence of such Church-men as are too apt to condemn and pluck up every thing that they think to be Cockle and when the declaring what is Cockle is lodged with them they will be sure to count every thing such that does not please them And then that same heat that makes them judge those opinions to be Cockle sets them on to root them out with such violence that much good Wheat is in danger to be pluckt up Therefore to repress this our Saviour commands them under that figure to let both grow till the end of the World that is not to proceed to extremities and to rigorous Methods but to leave that to God who will judge all at the last day If this were well considered it would put an effectual stop to that Spirit of Persecution which ferments so violently in that Church The language of which is always this Let uâ— go and pluck up the Tares or that of the two Disciples who would have called for Fire from Heaven and because Heaven will not answer such bloody demands they try to raise such Fires on Earth as may burn up those whom they call the Tares Not knowing what the true Spirit of Christianity is and that the Son of Man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And forget that our Saviour commanded them to let the Tares grow till the Harvest But this is one of the mischiefs that follows the humour of expounding the Scriptures fancifully That the plain meaning of clear Texts is neglected while forced and Allegorical expositions are pursued 5. When it is clearly proved that the majority of the Pastors of the Church is Infallible then we shall acknowledge that all Separation from them is simply unlawful But till that is done we can no more think it a sin when in obedience to the Rules of the Gospel we withdraw from such false Teachers as corrupt it Then it were for Common Subjects to refuse to obey the Subordinate Magistrates when they clearly perceive that they have revolted from their duty to their Supream Authority And since we are warned to beware of false Teachers we know no other way to judge of them but the comparing their Doctrine with that which is delivered to us in Scripture The Fourteenth Method IS for the Confirmation of the former In order to which we must ask the Calvinists upon all their Articles that which S. Austin asked of the Donatists when the Church reconciled to her self Hereticks that were penitent without re-baptizing them For Example Whether was the Church still a True Church or not when before the Schism was made Iesus Christ was adored in the Holy Eucharist If she was the true Church then none ought to have separated from her for any practice that was authorized by her If she was not the true Church from whence came Calvin out of what soil did he grow or out of what Sea was he cast or from which of the Heavens did he fall From whence are these Reformers come From whom have they received their Doctrine and the authority to Preach it Let those who follow them consider well where they are since they can mount no higher than to those for their Original For us we are secure in the Communion of that Church in which that is to this day universally practised that was also practised before Agripinus 's time and also in the interval between Cyprian and Agripinus And afterwards he subjoyns these excellent words that are Decisive But neither did Agripinus nor Cyprian nor those that have followed them though they
had opinions different from others separate themselves from them but remained in the Communion and Unity of the same Church with those from whom they differed That is to say they waited till the Church should have decided the difference and after he had resumed a little of what he had formerly said he concludes thus If then the Church was lost for holding that the Baptism of Hereticks was good they cannot shew the Original of their Communion But if the true Church did still subsist they cannot justifie their Separation nor the Schism that they have made One may say all this against the Waldenses the Lutherans the Calvinists and the other Hereticks who cannot mount higher than to Waldo to Luther to Calvin or their other Heads This Method of S. Austin's is most excellent But if our Brethren the pretended Reformed will defend themselves by saying as in effect they do say in some of their Books That it was not they who made the Separation but rather that it came from us and that we have cut them off from our Communion To this it must be answered That there are two sorts of Sâ—paration the one is Criminal the other is Iudicial In the first one separates himself from his Pastor by a manifest Disobedience in the second the Pastor separates him from the Flock who is making a party and refuses to submit to the Orders of the Church The one is a Sin and the other is the Punishment The one is a voluntary departure the other is the being cut off by a Sâ—ntence even as the Iudge pronounces a Sentence of Condemnation against one that has killed himself The proof of those two different Separations is to be found in the Thirty eighth Letter of S. Cyprians where he speaks of one Augendus who had gone over to the party of Felicissimus the Deacon and it appears that that great Saint had suspended and excommunicated him for having withdrawn himself from his Obedience and for having engaged others in the same Separation Let every one says he that has folfollowed his Opinions and Faction know that he shall communicate no more with us in the Church since of his own accord he has chosen to be separated from the Church In his Seventy sixth Epistle he says the same thing of Novatian and those who had joyned with him in his Revolt Because they leaving the Church by their Rebellion and breaking the Peace and Unity of Jesus Christ have endeavoured to establish their authority and to assume a Supreme Jurisdiction to themselves and to usurp power to Baptize and to offer Sacrifice This Distinction is also clearly stated in the fourth Action of the Council of Chalcedon where those two Ancient Canons of the Council of Antioch that were drawn out of Canons of the Apostles were cited The first is concerning those that were separated the other is concerning those who of their own accord did separate themselves The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was thought proper for this purpose to transcribe here those two Canons which are the fundamental Laws of the practice of the Church with regard to Hereticks and Schismaticks whom she throws out of her bosome and who have separated themselves from her These Canons are the Fourth and Fifth of the Council of Antioch and the Twenty seventh and Thirtieth of the Apostolick Canons and the pretended Reformed cannot reject their Authority since they observe among themselves the same Discipline when any particular persons whether Ministers or others of their Communion will not submit to the Decisions of their Synods Remarks 1. FOr the first branch of this Method the Reformed are not at all concerned in it for they do not deny the Church of Rome to be still a True Church and that her Baptism and Ordinations are valid and that they are not to be repeated and therefore though it was very pertinent to urge the Donatists as S. Austin did who held that the Sacraments in an ill mans hands had no vertue at all and that the Church had every where failed so that there was no Church but that which was among them Yet all this is foreign to the state of the Controversie between us and the Church of Rome and we do freely acknowledge that in such a matter as the Re-baptizing Hereticks it had been a very great sin to have broken Communion with the rest of the Church 2. Yet upon this very head P. Sâ—ephen did excommunicate S. Cyprian who yet for all that did not depart from his former opinion or practice So here was such a Schism as they object to us S. Cyprian thought the Rebaptizing Hereticks was well grounded Stephen thought otherwise and did excommunicate him If upon that a lasting Schism had followed in the Church S. Cyprian might have been held the fountain of it by those who condemned his opinion but if his opinion was true he could be no Schismatick So we desire the grounds of our Separation may be examined if they will not bear such a Superstructure we confess we deserve the severest censures possible but if they are solid then the guilt of the rent that is in the Church must lie somewhere else than on us 3. We do not deny but there are two sorts of Separation which are here very well distinguished and without seeking for any proof in so clear a matter We confess that when any separates himself from the Church upon any unjustifiable account those Canons and the highest severities of Church-censures ought to be applied â—o them but all this is upon supposition that the departure is ill grounded and therefore all those Rules that have been â—aid down in general against Heresie and Schism must still suppose the Church to â—e pure and uncorrupted 4. It is plain by these very Canons how much that power of the Church may be and was abused The Council of Antioch being composed of the favourers of Arius deposed Athanasius and resolved to silence him and such other Church-men as receiv'd the Nicene Doctrine in such a manner that they should be no more able to withstand their designs And therefore they made those Canons according to former customes which in the stile of that Age was called the Canon or Rule for none that has considered things will believe that the Canons that are called Apostolical were made by the Apostles and their chief design was levelled against Athanasius and the Orthodox party But at that same time as the Orthodox in the East did not submit to this so neiâ—her did the Bishops 〈◊〉 the West take any notice of it anâ— Chrysostome who was bred up at Aâ—tioch and so could not but know in what esteem those Canons were held did not look on himself as bound by them anâ— made no account of them when they were objected to him Thus though iâ— general these are gooâ— Rules and such aâ— ought to be obeyed where the Synod or the Bishop do not abuse their power yet
Inâ—allibility was not so obstinately lodged with them that a company of lewd and wickeâ— Prieâ—ts could not mis-leaâ— the people aâ— they did in the Doctrine concerning the Messias From all which it may be well inferred that how large soever the meaning of those disputed passages that relate to the authority of the Church may be supposed to be yet a tacite condition must be still implyed in them That while Church-men continue pure and sincere and seek the truth in the methods prescribed by the Gospel they shall not err in any point of Salvation And it is not reasonable to expect that our Saviour should have left a more effectual provision against Errour than he has done against Sin since the latter is certainly more pernicious and destructive of those ends for which he came into the World So that as he has only left sufficient means for those who use them well to keep themselves from Sin in such a manner that they shall not perish in it so has he likewise provided a sufficient security against Errour when such means of Instruction are offered that every one who applies himseâ—f to the due use of them shall not err damnably 4. Another foundation on which they build is Oral Tradition which â—hey reckon was handed down in every Age since the Apostles days This some explain so as to make it only the conveyance of the Exposition of the Scriptures though others stretch it further as if it might carry down Truths not mentioned in Scripture And for finding this out two Methods are given The one is Presumptive when from the Doctrine of the Church in any one age it is presumed from thence that those of that age had it from the former and the former from those who went before them till we run it up to the Apostles days The other Method is of particular proof when the â—onveyance in every age appears from the chief Writers in it I shall not here run out to shew upon either of these hypotheses the unfitness of this way of conveying Doctrines nor the easie door it opens to fraud and imposture but shall only shew that they cannot prove they have a competent Evidence of Oral Tradition among them And first it is certain that we have not handed down to us a general exposition of the Scriptures and that almost all the Ancient Expositors run after Allegories according to the way of the Greek Philosophers For some whole ages we have not above two or three Writers and those lived very remote and what they say chiefly in the passages that are made use of in the later Disputes fall in oft on the by and seem rather to have dropt from them than to have been intended by them so that this cannot be thought decisive And when it is likewise confessed that in their Disputes with the Hereticks of their days they have not argued so critically from those places of Scripture which they considered more narrowly It will not be reasonable to conclude too positively upon those things that rather fell in their way occasionally than were the designed subjects of their enquiries So that it is not possible to prove an Oral Tradition by the Instances of particular Writers in all the ages and corneâ—s of the Church For almost an age and a half we have not one copious Latine Writer but Tertullian and Cyprian that both lived in Carthage And it is not very clear of what persuasion the former was when he wrote the greatest part of his Treatises That he was a Heretick when he wrote some of them is past dispute Now can one think â—hat if God had intended that the Faith should have passed down by such a conveyance there would have been such uncertain prints left us by which we might trace it out As for the other Method of Presumption or Prescription it is certainly a false one for if in any one particular it can be made appear that the Doctrine of the Latin Church has been in these latter ages contradictory to that of the primitive times then this of Prescription is never to be any more alledged and of this I shall give two Instances that seem demonstrative The first is about the worshipping departed Saints or Martyrs which has been the practice of the Lâ—tin Church for several ages And yet in the second Century we have the greatest evidence possible that it was not the Doctrine of that age and that not in any occasional word let fall by some single Writer but in a Letter writ by the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of their late Biship S. Polycarp In which there appears that warm affection for his person and honour for his memory that we cannot think they would have been wanting in any sort of respect that waâ— due to the ashes of so great a Saint And what they say to this purpose is deliberately brought out for it being suggested by the Iew that had set on the Heathens against that Martyr that it was necessary to destroy his Body lest the Christians should worship him They reject that imputation in these words They being Ignorant say they that we can never forsake Christ who died for the salvation of the World nor worship any other for we adore him as the Son of God But for the Martyrs we do worthily love them as the Disciples and Followers of our Lord for their unconqâ—ered love to their King and Master and therefore dâ—sâ—re to be their Partneâ—s and Disciples To this I shall add another Instance that is no lesâ— evident which is concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament The Tradition of the Church can be best gathered from the Liturgies which are the publickest the most united and most solemn way in which she expresses her self In S. Ambrosâ—'s time or whosoever else was the Author of the Book of the Sacraments that goes under his name we find that the Prayer of Consecrations as it is cited by him differs in a very essential point from that which is now in the Canon of the Mass In the former they called the Sacrifice that they offered up in it the figure of the Body and Blood of Christ but since that time they have changed that phrase and instead of it they pray that It may be to us the Body and Blood of Christ. We cannot tell in what age this change was made but we may certainly conclude that the Latin Church in S. Ambrose's time had a very different opinion concerning the presence of Christ from that which is now received among them and that then she only believed a Figurative Presence And thus it is certain that the Presumptive Method for finding out Oral Tradition is a false one and that the particular proof of Tradition by enquiring into the Doctrine of every age is impossible to be made 5. I shall enlarge a little further upon one particular Instance which is concerning one of those propositions lately condemned by the Assembly
Gâ—neral In which I intend to shew that they have departed from the Tradition of the Church much more evidently than they can pretend that we have done And this is concerning the Popes power oâ— Deposing Kings which they who live under so mighty a Monarch have very prudently renounced But whether they have not more plainly contradicted the Tradition of the Church than the Reformers did shall appear by the sequel of this Discourse In order to which I shall lay down two grounds that seem undeniable in their own principles The one is That the Tradition of any Age or Ages of the Church when it is universal and undisputed is of the same authority with the Tradition of any other Age whatsoever For the promises made to the Church last continually and have the same force at all times And therefore a Tradition for these last six hundred years is of as strong an authority as was that of the first six Ages The second is That a Tradition concerning the measures of mens Obedience and actions is of the same authority with a Tradition concerning the measures of their Belief The one sort are practical and the other are speculative points and as more are concerned in a practical truth than in a speculative point so it has greater effects and more influence on the World therefore it is as necessary that these be certainly handed down as the other And by consequence a Tradition concerning any Rule of Life is as much to be received as that concerning any point of Belief for the Creed and the Ten Commandments being the two Ingredients of the positive part of our Baptismal Vow it is as necessary that we be certainly directed in the one as in the other and if there were any preference to be admitted here certainly it must be for that which is more practical and of greater extent Upon these two grounds I subsume that all the Characters of Oral Tradition by which they can pretend to find it out in any one particular agree to this Doctrine of the Popes power of deposing Princes that are either Hereticks or favourers of them The way sof searching for Tradition are these four First what the Writers and Doctors of the Church have delivered down from one age to another The second is what the Popes have taught and pronounced ex Cathedrâ which to a great part of that Communion is Decisive their authority being held Infallible and to the rest it is at least a great Indication of the Tradition of such an Age. The third is what such Councils as are esteemed and received as Oecumenical Councils have decreed as General Rules The fourth is the late famous Method of Prescription when from the received Doctrine of any one Age we run a back-scent up to the Apostles upon this supposition that the Doctrine of the Church chiefly in a visible and sensible thing could not be changed These are all the ways imaginable to find out the Tradition of past Ages and they do all agree to this Doctrine All the Writers for five or six Ages both Commentators on Scripture the School-men the Casuists and Canonists agreed in it so that Cardinal Perron had reason to challenge those of the contrary persuasion to shew any one Writer before Calvin's time that had been of another mind We do not cite this as a proof because Cardinal Perron said so but because the thing in it self cannot be disproved and in the Contests that fell in between the Popes and those Princes against whom they thundred no Civilian nor Canonist ever denied the Popes power of deposing in the case of Heresie It is true when the Popes pretended to a Temporal Dominion and that all Princes were their Vassals some were found to write against that other Princes contended about the particulars laid to their charge and denied that they were either Hereticks or favourers of Hereticks But none ever disputed this position in general that in a manifest case of Heresie the Pope might not depose Princes and it is too well known what both the Sorbonne determined in the case of Henry the Third and likewise how the body of the Clergy adhered to Cardinal Perron in the opposition he made to the condemnation of that opinion The next mark of Tradition is the Popes pronouncing an opinion ex Cathedrâ that is in a solemn Judiciary way founding it on Scripture and Tradition If Popes had only brutally made War upon some Princes and violently thrust them out of their Dominions this indeed were no mark by which we could judge of a Tradition But when we find Gregory the Seventh and many Popes since his time found this authority on passages of Scripture as that of the Keys being given to S. Peter Jeremiah the Prophet's being set over Kingdomes to root out to pluck up and destroy and that all power in Heaven and Earth was given to Chrâ—st and his bidding his Disciples to buy a Sword we must look on this as the declaring the Tradition of the Church So that it must eitâ—er be confessed that they are not faithful conveyers of it or that this is truly the Tradition of the Church And this has been done so often these last six hundred years that it were a needless imposing on the Readers patience to go about the proving it The Third Indication of Tradition is the Declaration made by Synods but chiefly by General Councils I need not here mention the many Roman Synods that have concurred with the Popes in the Depositions which they thundered out against Kings or Emperours since we have greater authorities confirming it The Third Council of Lateran declared that all Princes that favoured Heresie fell from their Dominions and they granted a Plenary Indulgence to all that fought against them The Fourth Council of the Lateran vested the Pope with the power of giving away their Dominions if they continued for a year obstinate in that their merciful disposition of not extirpating Hereticks The first Council of Lions concurred with the Pope in the deposition of the Emperour Frederick the Second which is grounded in the preamble on the power of binding and loosing given to S. Peter After these came the Council of Constance and they reckoning themselves superiour to the Pope lookt on this as a power inherent in the Church and so assumed it to themselves and therefore put this Sanction in many of their Decrees particularly in that for maintaining the Rights of the Church and in the Passports they granted which had been often added in the Bulls that confirmed the foundations of Monasteries that if any whether he were Emperour King or of what Dignity soever he might be opposed their Order he should thereby forfeit his Dignity The Council of Sienna confirmed all Decrees against Hereticks and the favourers of them that had been made in any former Councils and by consequence those of the Third and Fourth Councils in the Lateran The Council of Basil put
THE LETTER Writ by the last Assembly General OF THE Clergy of France TO THE PROTESTANTS Inviting them to return to their Communion TOGETHER With the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction Translated into English and Examined By GILBERT BURNET D. D. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard M DC LXXXIII THE PREFACE THE fate of most that Answer any particular Book or Treatise is such that one may be justly discouraged from undertaking it For besides the great trouble the Answerer is put to in following his Author in all his Digressions and perhaps Impertinences and the small game he is often engaged in about some ill-sounding expression or some misunderstood period the issue of the whole business in matters of Controversies comes at best to this That it may be confest his Adversary has been too unwary in some assertions or unconcluding in some of his Arguments But still men retain their old perswasions And if one whom they had set up for their Champion should happen to be baffled they will only say that they mistook their man and be being made quit the Stage another is set in his room So that at most their engagement proves to be of the nature of a single Combate in the issue of which only two Individuals and not two Parties are concerned But when a whole Body speaks in one Voice here the undertaking of a single person in opposition to them may be thought indeed too hardy and bold but yet the debate becomes of more consequence at least to the one side because the Credit of those against whom he writes is so well established that a satisfactory Answer to what they offer as the strength of their cause must needs have great effect on these who examine those matters Critically and judge of them Impartially The World hath been filled with the noise of the Conversions lately made in France but it has been generally given out that the violences of Monsieur de Marilliac and the Souldiers and the Payments dispensed by Monsieur Pellisson have been the most prevailing Arguments hitherto made use of That Great King has indeed interposed in this matter with a Zeal that if it were well directed might well become one who reckons these to be his most esteemed Titles that he is the Most Christian King and the Eldest Son of the Church But amidst all this noise of Conversions we have heard more of the Temporal than Spiritual Sword and except in the violences and out-rages of some of the Clergy we have not heard much of any share they have had in this matter It is true the Celebrated Explication of their Faith written some years ago by the then Bishop of Condom now of Meaâ—x has made a great shew and most of the Conversions are esteemed the effects of that Book And the eminent Vertues of the Author joined with that great gentleness by which he insinuates himself much into the Hearts of all those that come near him have perhaps really wrought much on some whose Consciences were by other motives disposed to be very easily perswaded Soft words and good periods have also had some weight with superficial Enquirers But that Explication of his which may be well called a good Plea managed with much Skill and great Eloquence for a bad cause has been so often and so judiciously answered that I am confident such as have considered these Answers are no more in danger of being blinded with that dust which he has so ingeniously raised For it must be confessed That his Book deserves all the commendations that can be given it for every thing except the sincerity of it which I am sorry to say it is not of a piece with the other excellent qualities of that great Prelate But now we have before us a work of much more importance in which we may reasonably conclude the strength of the Roman cause is to be found Since it is the unanimous voice of the most learned and soundest part of that Communion For while the Spaniards have chiefly amused themselves mith the Metaphysical subtilties of School-Divinity and when the Italians have added to that the study of the Canon Law as the best way for prefermâ—nt the French have now for above an Age been set on a more solid and generous pursuit of tâ—ue Learning They have laboured in the publishing of the Fathers Works with great diligence and more sincerity than could be expected in any other part of that Church where the watchful Eyes of Inquisitors might have prevented that Fidelity which they have observed in publishing those Records of Antiquity So that the state of the former Ages of the Church is better understood there than in any other Nation of that Communion Nor has the Secular Clergy or Laity only laboured with great faithfulness in those enquiries such as Albaspine De Marca Godeau Launnoy Huetius Rigaltius Valesius and Balusius to name no more but even that Order which is not so much admired over the World for great scrupulosity of Conscience has produced there several great Men that are never to be named but with Honour such as Fronto Ducaeus and Petavius but above all Sirmondus through whose Writings there runs such a tincture of Candour and Probity that in matters of fact Protestants are generally more enclined to acquiesce in his authority than those of his own perswasion are which made them afraid at Rome to give him free access to their Manuscripts Nor is the Learning of the Gallican Church that for which they are chiefly to be esteemed It must also be acknowledged that from the study of the Ancient Fathers many of them seem to have derived a great measure of their Spirit which has engaged diverse among them to set forward as great a Reformation as the Constitution of their Church can admit of They have endeavoured not only to discover the corruptions in Morality and Casuistical Divinity and many other abuses in the Government of the Church but have also infused in their Clergy a greater Reverence for the Scriptures a deeper sense of the Pastoral Care and a higher value for Holy Orders than had appeared among them for divers Ages before Some of their Bishops have set their Clergy great Examples and a disposition of Reforming mens Lives and of restoring the Government of the Church according to the Primitive Rules hath been such that even those who are better Reformed both as to their Doctrine and Worship must yet acknowledge that there are many things among them highly Imitable and by which they are a great reproach to others who have not studied to copy after these patterns they have set them The World will be for ever bound to Honour the Names of Godeau Paschall Arnauld and the Author of the Essays of Morality and those thoughts which they have set on foot are so just and true that though their excellent Bishops are now almost all gone off the Stage and
becomes both to their Characters and Qualities and to whom I know better what is due than to presume to say any thing in contradiction to them if I were not led to it by that which I owe to Truth and to the God of Truth After I have examined both their Letter and the Methods added to it I will venture further and offer on the other hand such Considerations as are just and lawful prejudices against that Communion and are such as ought at least to put all men in doubt that things are not right among them and to dispose them to believe that matters in Controversie between them and us ought to be examined more exactly and impartially and that upon a general view the prejudices lie much stronger in our favours than against us The Letter writ by the Assembly of the Clergy to the Calvinists in France The Arch-Bishops Bishops and the whole Gallican Clergy assembled at Paris by the Kings authority wish to their Brethren of the Calvinist Sect Amendment and a return to the Church and an Agreement with it Brethren THE whole Church of Christ does now of a great while groan and your Mother being filled with holy and sincere tenderness for you does with regret see you rent from her Belly her Breasts and her Bosome by a voluntary Separation and continue still to stray in the Desart For how can a Mother forget the Children of her Womb or the Church be unmindful of her love to you that are still her Children though you have forgot your duty to her The Infection of Errour and the violence of the Calvinistical Separation having drawn you away from the Catholick Truth and the purity of the Ancient Faith and separated you from the head of the Christian Unity From hence is it Brethren that she groans and complains most grievously but yet most lovingly that her bowels are torn She seeks for her Sons that are lost she calls as a Partridge as a Hen she would gather them together as an Eagle she provokes them to fly and being again in the pangs of travel she desires to bear you a second time ye little Children that so Christ may be again formed in you according to Truth in the way of the Catholick Church Therefore we the whole Gallican Clergy whom the Holy Ghost has set to govern that Church in which you were born and who by an uninterrupted Inheritance hold the same Faith as well as the same Chairs which those Holy Bishops held who first brought the Christian Religion into France do now call on you and as the Embassadors of Christ we ask you as if God did beseech you by us Why have you made Separation from us For indeed whether you will or not such are your circumstances that you are our Brethren whom all our Common Father did long ago receive into the adoption of Children and whom our common Mother the Church did likewise receive into the hope of our Eternal Inheritance And even he himself who first bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth of the Gospel the Standard-bearer of your profession did at first live amongst us as a Brother in all things of the same mind with us Were we not all of the same houshold Did we not all eat of the same Spiritual meat And did not he perform among us the mutual Offices of Brotherly Charity See if you can find any excuse either to your Father your Mother or your Brethren to take off the Infamy of so wicked so sudden and so rash a flight of this dividing of Christ the renting the Sacraments of Christ an impious War against the members of Christ the accusing the Spouse of Christ and the denial of the Promises of Christ Excuse and wash off these things if you can But since you cannot do it then confess that you are fallen under that charge of the Prophet An evil Son calls himself righteous but he cannot wash off his departure Wherefore then Brethren have you not continued in the root with the whole World Why did you break the Vows and the Wishes of the Faithful with the Altars on which they were offered Why did you intercept the course of Prayer from the Altars from whence was the ascent to God Why did you then with Sacrilegious hands endeavour to remove the Ladder that came down to those Stones that so Prayers might not be made to God after the customary manner Other Sectaries hitherto have indeed attempted that not that they might overthrow the Altar of Christ but that they might raise up their own Altar such as it was against the Altar of Christ. But you as if you had designed to destroy the Christian Sacrifice have dared to commit a crime unheard of before these times You have destroyed the Altars of the Lord of Hosts in which the Sparrow Christ had chosen to himself an House and the Turtle the Church a Nest where she might lay her young It was this Schismatical fury that brought forth these things and allhat has followed since either of Wars against the Church or of Errours against the Ancient Doctrine Nor would we have those things ascribed so much to your Inclinations as to the nature of Schism But this is that upon which we expostulate with you in particular and which we ask of you without ceasing Why have you made the Schism And unless you answer this how well soever you may speak or write of other things it is all to no purpose We do not doubt but in answer to this you will make use of that old and common defence of all Schismaticks and that you who upon trial know that it is not possible to shake the Doctrines believed by us will begin to inveigh against the Morals of our men as if holier persons who love severer Laws could not hold it creditable for their reputation or safe to their Consciences to live with such men These are the things forsooth Brethren for which the Unity of Christ is rent by you the Inheritance of your Brethren is blasphemed and the Vertue and Truth of the Sacraments of the Church are despised Consider how far you have departed from the Gospel in this These things that you object were less considerable both for number and weight or perhaps unknown and may be not at all true But if they had been true and acknowledged and worse than they were yet those Tares ought to have been spared by Christians for the sake of the Wheat for the vices of the bad are to be endured because of the mixture of the good Moses endured thousands that murmured against God Samuel endured both Eli's Sons and his own that acted perversly Christ himself our Lord endured Iudâ—s that was his Accuser and a Thief and also his Betrayer The Apostles endured false Brethren and false Apostleâ— that opposed them and their Doctrine And S. Paul who did not seek his owâ— things but the things of Jesus Christ conversed with great patience among
from that which animated the Church in the former and best ages The Reverend Prelates say in their Letter That they hold the same Faith with their Predecessors If this were true in all points it were indeed very hard to write an Apology for those that have separated from them I shall not engage in a long discussion of the sentiments of the Ancient Bishops of the Gallican Church yet that the Reader may not be too much wrought on by the confidence and plausibleness of this expressionâ— I shall only give a taste of the Faith of the first of all the Gallican Clergy whose works are yet preserved and that is Irenaeus I shall instance it in two particulars the one is the hinge upon which all our other Controversies turn that is whether the Scriptures or Oral Tradition is to be appealed to for determining matters of Controversie The other is the most material point in difference among us concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament whether in it we really receive the substance of Bread and Wine or only the Accidents As to the first he directly appeals to the Scriptures which he says were the Pillar â—nd ground of Truth and adds that the Valentinians did appeal to Oral Tradition from which he â—urns to that Tradition that was come from the Apostles on which he insists very copiously and puts all the authority of Tradition in this That it was derived from the Apostles And therefore says that if the Apostles had delivered nothing in Writing we must then have followed the Order of Tradition And after he has shewed that the Tradition to which the Valentinians pretended was really against them and that the Orthodox had it derived down from the Apostles on their side he returns to that upon which he had set up the strength of his cause to prove the truth from the Scriptures Now the Scriptures being the foundation on which the Protestants build and Oral Tradition together with the authority of the Church being that on which the Church of Rome builds it will be easie to every one that considers those Chapters referred to in Irenaeus to gather upon which of those he grounded his belief As for the other particular he plainly calls the Sacrament that Bread over which thanks have been given and says our flesh is nourished by the body and blood of Christ and concludes that our flesh by the Sacrament has an assurance of its Resurrection and Incorruptibility More particularly he says Our blood is encreased by the blood of Christ and that he encreases our body by that bread which he has confirmed to be his body and that by these the substance of our body is encreased and from thence he argues that our bodies receive an encrease not by any internal or invisible way but in the natural way of nourishment and so concludes that our bodies being nourished by the Eucharist shall therefore rise again Every one that considers the force of these words must conclude that he believed our bodies received in the Sacrament a real substance which nourished them and not bare Accidents If then upon this essay it appears that the first Writer of all Gallican Bishops does agree with the Protestants both in that which is the foundation upon which they build their whole cause and also in that particular opinion which is believed to be of the greatest importance then the Reader has no reason to believe that the present Bishops of France hold the same Faith which their Predecessors taught who first preached the Christian Religion in that Kingdom But now I come to answer the main Question which is indeed the whole substance of the Letter Why have they made the Schism If such a Letter with such a demand in it had come from the Abassin or Armenian Churches or perhaps from the Greek Churches whose distance from us is such and the oppressions they groan under are so extreme that they have little heart and few opportunities to enquire into the affairs or opinions of others it could not have been thought strange but to hear it from these among whom those live who have so often both in Writings and Discourses answered this question so copiously is really somewhat unaccountable Yet this is not all but it is added That the Protestants upon trial finding they could not shake their Doctrine have charged them only for their ill lives as if that were the ground of the Separation This it must be confessed had better become the affected Eloquence of a Maimbourg than the sincerity of so many eminent men of whom the mildest censure that can be past in this particular is That some aspiring Priest being appointed to pen this Letter that was better accustomed to the figures of a clamorous Rhetorick than the strict measures of Truth gave it this turn hoping to recommend himself by it and that the Bishops signed it in haste without considering it well Who of all the Protestants have made that Experiment and found that the Faith of the Church of Rome was not to be attackt and that she can only be accused for the ill lives of some in her Communion If this were all we had to object we do not deny but that all that the Fathers retorted on the Schismaticks particularly the Donatists did very justly fall on us and that we could neither answer it to God to the World nor our own Consciences if we had separated from their Church on no other account And this is indeed so weak a Plea that the Penner of the Letter shewed his skill at least if he was wanting in his sincerity to set up a pretence which he knew he could easily overthrow though the reasons he brings to overthrow it are not all pertinent nor convincing But this in conclusion is so managed as to draw an occasion from it to complement the present Pope some way to make an amends for their taking part with their King against him All that is to be said on this Head is That Protestants are not so unjust as to deny the Pope that now reigns his due praises of whose vertue and strictness of life they hear such accounts that they heartily wish all the Assembly of the Clergy from the President down to the Secretaries would imitate that excellent Pattern that he sets them A Zeal for converting Hereticks does not very well become those whose course of life has not been so exemplary that this can be imputed to an inward sense of Religion and to the motives of Divine Charity But in this point of the corruption of mens lives we may add two things more material The one is if a Church teaches ill Morals or at least connives at such Casuistical Doctrines as must certainly root out all the principles of moral vertue and common goodness out of the minds of men then their ill Morals may be improved to be a good argument for a Separation from them How much the Casuistical Doctrine of those
they are still continued among them we must conclude that the honour due to the Creator is offered to the Creature I need not bring Instances of these they are so well known 3. In â—The many Consecrations that are used among â—hem of Images Crosses Habits Water Salt Oyl Candles Bells Vessels Agnus Dei's and Grains with a vast deal more by which those things are so consecrated as to have a vertue in them for driving away Devils for being a security both to Soul and Body and a remedy against all Temporal and Spiritual evils This way of Incantations was one of the grossest pieces of Heathenism and is now by them brought into the Christian Religion And the opinion that upon these Consecrations a Vertue is conveyed to those things is infused into the people by their authorized offices In which if in any thing it is not to be believed that the Church lies and deceives her Children This is plainly to consider God as the Heathens did their Idols and to fetch down Divine Vertues by charms as they did And 4. Their worshipping with Divine Honour that which by all the Indications that we can have of things we know is no other than what it appears to be even Bread and Wine in its substance and nature Thus Divine Adoration is offered to those Elements contrary to the universal practice of the Christian Church for 1200 years and this passes among them as the most important piece of their Worship which has almost swallowed up all the rest Thus the true Ideas of God and the chief design of the Christian Religion is overthrown in that Communion and what can we think of a Church that in the most important of her Offices adds this Prayer to the absolution of Sinners The passion of our Lord Iesus Christ the merits of the blessed Virgin and all the Saints and whatever good thou hast done and whatever evil thou hast suffered be to thee for the pardon of sin the increase of Grace and the reward of eternal life where we see clearly what things they joyn in the same breath and in order to the same ends with the passion of Christ. When they have cleansed their Churches of these objects of Idolatry and Superstition and their Offices of those Impious Addresses to Saints and that infinite number of Enchantments then they may upon some more advantage ask Why have we made the Schism It is because they have corrupted the Doctrine of Christ and the Gospel and if those things upon which the Separation subsists were removed it could no more subsist than Accidents can do without a Subject The next thing upon which we ground our Separation is That not only the Church of Rome would hearken to no Addresses nor Remonstrances that were made to her for reforming those abuses but that by Anathema's and the highest censures possible all are obliged to believe as she believes in those very particulars and are bound to joyn in a Worship in which those things which we condemn are made indispensable parts of our publick Devotions So that we must either mock God by concurring in a Worship which we believe Impious and Superstitious or we must separate from them None can be admitted to Benefices of Cure or preferment without swearâ—ng most of these Opinions which we think are false Nor can any Eminent Heretick be received among them without swearing that he in all things receives the Doctrines of the Church of Rome and that he thinks all that do not receive them worthy of an Anathema If the Errours of the Church of Rome had been only speculative opinions or things of less moment we could have better born with them or if they had only held to their own customes without imposing them on us we could have held in several things a sisterly Communion with them as we do with the Greek Churches but when they have not only brought in and obstinately maintained those corruptions but have so Tyrannically imposed them on the World it is somewhat strange to see men make such grimaces and an appearance of seriousness while they ask this question of which they know so well how to have resolved themselves One thing is likewise to be considered that in the examination of the corruptioâ—s of that Communion it is not sufficient to say somewhat to sweeten every one of them in particular but it is the complication of all together that we chiefly insist on since by all these set together we have another view of them than by every one of them taken asunder This then is our answer to the question so often repeated We have not made the Schism from the Church of Christ as it was setled by the Apostles and continued for many ages after them but they have departed from that and have refused to return to it On the contrary they have condemned and cursed us for doing it Upon this all that they objâ—ct against the first Reformers as having been once of their Communion falls to the ground For if these things which we object to them are true then since no man is bound to continue in Errours because he was bred up in them this is no just prejudice against those men All the flourishes raised upon this ground are but slight things and favour more of a monastick and affectate Eloquence than of the weight and solidity of so renowned a Body What is said of pulling down the Altars and of that elegant figure of Christs being the Sparrow and the Churches being the Turtle that loved to make their Nests in them is really very hard to be answered not for the strength that is in it but for another reason that in Reverence to that Assembly I shall not name The Sacrifice of the death of Christ we acknowledge as that only by which we come to God and in a general sense of that term the commemoration of it may be also called a Sacrifice and the Communion Table an Altar and such we still retain and for any thing further either of Altar or Sacrifice till they give a better authority for it than a fanciful allusion â—o an ill-understood Verse of a â—salm we shall not be much concerned in it If Wars and Confusions have followed in some places upon the reforming those abuses they were the effects of the Rage and Cruelty of those Church-men that seemed never like to be satiated with the blood of those that had departed from them And if the specious pretence of Edicts Princes of the Blood the preserving the House of Bourbon the defending France from Foreigners joyning with that natural appetite that is in all men to preserve themselves engaged some in Wars under the minority of their Kings it is nothing but what is natural to man and these who condemn it most yet ought to pity those whom their Predecessors in whose steps they now go constrained to do all that they did And the Rebellions in England and Ireland in King Henry the Eighth Edward
guilty of which is to worship that as a God which we do believe is only a piece of Bread 2. In this very Article it is plain that our Opinion is the surer side For as to the Spiritual efficacy of the Sacrament and due preparation for it which is all that we hold concerning it by their own Confession there can be no sin in that whereas if their opinion is false they are guilty of a most horrid Idolatry So there is no danger in any thing we do whereas there may be great danger on their side all the danger that is possible to be on our side is that we do not adore Christ if he is present which may be thought to be want of Reverence But that cannot be reasonably urged since we at the same time adore him believing him to be in Heaven and if this objection against us had any force then the Primitive Church for twelve hundred years must have been in a state of damnation for none of them adored the Consecrated Elements nor has the Greek Church ever done it 3. It is clear this general Maxime of taking the surer sidâ— is against them There is no sin in not worshipping Images whereas there may be a sin in doing it They confess it is not necessary to invocate the Saints and we believe it is sinful They do not hold that it is necessary to say Masses for redeeming Souls out of Purgatory and we believe that it is an impious profanation of the Sacrament They do not hold it is necessary to take away the Cup in the Sacrament we think it Sacrilegious They do not think those Consecrations by which Divine Vertues are derived into such a variety of things to be necessary we look on them as gross Superstitions They do not think the Worship in an unknown tongue necessary whereas we think it a disgrace to Religion So in all these and many more particulars it is clear that we are of the surer side 4. We own that Maxime That nothing is necessary to Salvation but what is plainly set down in the Scriptures but this is not to be carried so far as that it should be impossible by sophistry or the equivocal use of words to fasten some other sense to such passages in Scripture for then nothing can be said to be plain in any Book whatsoever But we understand this of the genuine meaning of the Scriptures such as a plain well-disposed man will find out if his mind is not strongly prepossessed or biassed with false and wrong measures 5. The Confidence with which any party proposes their opinions cannot be a true Standart to judge of them otherwise the Receipts of Mountebanks will be always preferred to those prescribed by good Physicians and indeed the modesty of one side and the confidence of the other ought rather to give us a biass for the one against the other especially if it is visible that Interest is very prevalent in the confident party The Third Method IS to confer amicably with them and to shew them our Articles in the Scriptures and Tradition as the Fathers of tbe first Ages understood both the one and the other without engaging in reasonings or the drawing out of Consequences by Syllogisms as Cardinal Bellarmin and Perron and Gretser and the other Writers of Controversie have done which ordinarily beget endless disputes It was in this manner that the General Councils did proceed and thus did S. Austin prove Original sin against Julian To this end says he O Julian that I may overthrow thy Engines and Artifices by the opinions of those Bishops who have interpreted the Scripture with so much glory After which he cites the passages of the Scripture as they were understood by S. Ambrose S. Cyprian S. Gregory Nazianzene and others Remarks 1. WE do not deny but amicable Conferences in which matters are proposed without the wranglings of Dispute are the likeliest ways to convince people And whenever they shew us their doctrines directly in the Scripture and Tradition we will be very unreasonable if we do not yield upon that Evidence When they give us good authorities from Scripture and Tradition for the Worship of Images and Saints for adoring the Host for dividing the Sacrament for redeeming Souls out of Purgatory for denying the people the free use of the Scriptures for obliging them to worship God in a Tongue not understood by them we will confess our selves very obstinate men if we resist such Conviction 2. The shewing barely some passages without considering the whole scope of them with the sense in which such words were used in such ages and by such Fathers will certainly misguide us therefore all these must be also taken in for making this Enquiry exactly Allowances also must be made for the heats of Eloquence in Sermons or warm Discourses since one passage strictly and philosophically expressed is stronger than a hundred in which the heat of Zeal and the Figures of Rhetorick transport the Writer And thus if the Fathers disputing against those who said that the Humane Nature of Christ was swallowed up by his Divine Nature urge this to prove that the Humane Nature did still subsist that in the Sacrament after the Consecration in which there is an Union between the Elements and the Body and Blood of Christ they do still retain their proper nature and substance such expressions used on such a design leâ—d us more infallibly to know what they thought in this matter than any thing that they said with design only to beget Reverence and Devotion can do 3. The Ancient Councils were not so sollicitous as this Paper would insinuate to prove a Tradition from the Fathers of the first Ages They took great care to prove the truth which they decreed by many arguments from Scripture but for the Tradition they thought it enough to shew that they did innovate in nothing and that some Fathers before them had taught what they decreed We have not the acts of the two first General Councils but we may very probably gather upon what grounds those at Nice proceeded by what S. Athanasius wrote as an Apology for their Symbol in particular for the word Consubstantial which he proves by many consequences drawn from Scripture but for the Tradition of it he only cites four Fathers and none of those were very ancient They are Theognistus Denis of Alexandria Denis of Rome and Origen and yet both that Father Hilary and S. Basil acknowledge that Denis of Alexandria wavered much in that matter and it is well known what advantages were taken from many of Origen's expressions So here we have only two undisputed Fathers that conveyed this Tradition We have the Acts of the third General Council yet preserved and in them we find a Tradition indeed alledged but except S. Cyprian and S. Peter of Alexandria they cite none but those that had lived after the Council of Nice and Pope Leo's Letter to Flavian
and theirs is the affirmative and since all Negatives especially in matters of Religion prove themselves it falls to their share to prove those Additions which they have made to our Faith and to the Doctrine contained in the Scriptures 3. Though this is a sure Maxime yet our Plea is stronger for there are many things taught by them against the express words of Scripture as their worshipping Images their noâ— drinking all of the Cup their worshipping of Angels their not worshipping God in a tongue which the unlearned understand and to which they can say Amen their setting up more Mediatoâ—â— between God and us than one Whereas S. Paul exhorting us to make Prayerâ— to God tells us there is one Mâ—diâ—tor which shews that he spake there his single Intercession with God on our behalf 4. We do not only build our Doctrine upon some few passages of the Scripture in which perhaps a Critical Writer might easily raise much dust but upon that in which we cannot be so easily mistaken which is the main scope of the whole New Testament and the design of Christianity which we believe is reversed in their Church by the Idolatry and Superstition that is in it 5. As for the particulars which they call on us to prove as they are very few so scarce any of them is of the greatest consequence The first is a speculative point about which we would never have broke Communion with them For the second that we receive Christ only by Faith if the third is true that the Sacrament is still Bread then that must be also true Now S. Paul calls it so four several times as also our Saviour calls the Cup the Fruit of the Vine As for our denying Purgatory it is a Negative and they must prove it Nor should we have broken Communion for their opinion concerning it if they had not added to that the redeeming Souls out of it with Masses by which the Worship is corrupted contrary to the institution of the Sacrament And for the last in the sense in which many of them assert it we do not raise any Controversie about it for we know that God rewards our good works or rather crowns his own Grace in us The fifth Method IS the Peaceable Method and without dispute founded on the Synod of Dort which all the pretended Reformed Churches of France have received and which has defined according to the Holy Scripture that when there is a dispute concerning any Controverted Article between two parties that are both within the true Church it is necessary to refer it to the judgement of the Synod and that he who refuses to submit himself becomes guilty of Heresiâ— and Schism Now if we will run back to the time in which the dispute began concerning any Article for instance that of the Real Presence both the parties in thâ— debate as well the Ancestors of those of the P. R. Religion as ours were in thâ— same Church which was the true Church for there was no other before the Sâ—paration which was not then made Then their Ancestors who would not submit to the Iudgement of the Church and have separated from her on no other account but because she had condemned their sentiments were Schismaticks and Hereticks And those who at this day succeed them are in the same manner guilty since they follow their opinions And to this they can make no other Answer but that which the Hereticks that have been condemned in all Ages might have made This Method is proved in all its parts in the little Treatise that has been made about it Remarks IT is not unwisely done to call this a Method that is to pass without dispute for it will not bear one And 1. There is this difference between the principles of Protestants and those of the Church of Rome that whereas the latter are bound to justifie whatever has been decreed in a General Council as a rule either of Faith or Manners the sormer are not so tied and much less are they bound by the decision of a National Council though never so solemn It is natural for all Judicatories to raise their own authority as high as they can and so if any Synod has made any such Declaration it lies on them to justifie it but the rest of those who have separated from the corruptions of the Church of Rome are not concerned in it 2. The principle of Protestants with relation to the majority even in a General Council is That when any Doctrines are established or condemned upon the Authorities of the Scriptures those who differ from them and do think â—hat the Council misunderstood the Scriptures are bound to suspect themselves a little and to review the matter with greater application and not to adhere to their former opinions out of pride or obstinacy They are also bound to consider well of their opinions though they appear still to be true yet if â—hey are of that importance that the publishing them is necessary to Salvation for unless it is so the Peace of the Church is not to be rent by them Yet if they are required to profess that they believe opinions which they think false if tâ—ey were never so inconsiderable no man ought to go against his Conscience But if a man after his strictest enquiries is still persuaded that a Council has decreed against the true meaning of the Scriptures in a point necessary to Salvation then he must prefer God to Man and follow the sounder though it should prove to be the much lesser party And if any Company or Synod of Protestants have decreed any thing contrary to this in so far they have departed from the Protestant principles 3. Difference is to be made also between Heresie and Schism in a Legal and a Vulgar sense and what is truly such in the sight of God The Sentence of a Supream Court from which there lies no Appeal makes one legally a Criminal But if he is innocent he is not the less innocent because a hard Sentence is past against him So Heresie and â—chism may take their denominations from the Sentence of a National or General Council But in that which is the sense of those words that makes them Criminal Heresie is nothing but an obstinate persisting in errours contrary to Divine Revelation after one has had a sufficient means of Inâ—truction and Schism is an ill grounded Separation from the Body of the Church So it must be the Divine Revelation and not the authority of a Synod that can prove one who holds contrary opinions to be an Heretick and the grounds of the Separation must be likewise examined before one can be concluded a Schismatick 4. Though the Conclusions and Definitions made by the Synod of Dort are perhaps generally received in France yet that does not bind them up to subscribe every thing that was asserted in that Synod Nor do they found their assent to those opinions on the authority of that Synod but upon the
Evidence of those places of Scripture from which they deduced them 5. Since those of that Communion object a National Synod to the Protestants this may be turned back on them with greater advantage in some points established by Councils which they esteem not only General but Infallible In the Third Council of the Lateran it was decreed That all Princes who favoured Hereticks did forfeit their Rights and a Plenary Indulgence was granted to all that fought against them In the Fourth Council at the same place it was decreed That the Pope might not only declare this forfeiture but absolve the Subjects from their Oaths of Obedience and transfer their Dominions upon others In the First Council at Lions they joyned with the Pope in thundring the Sentence of Deposition against the Emperour Frederick the First which in the preamble is grounded on some places of Scripture of which if they were the Infallible Expositors then this power is an Article of Faith And in the last pâ—ace the Council of Constance decreed That the Faith of a Safe-Conduct was not to be kept to an Heretick that had come to the place of Judgement relying on it even though he would not have come without it When Crueltâ— Rebellion and Treachery were thus decreed in Courts which among them are of so sacred an authority It is visible how much greâ—ter advantages we have of them in this point than any they can pretend against us 6. For the Synod of Dort I will not undertake the Apology neither for their Decrees nor for their Assertions and will not stick to say that how true soever many of their Conclusions may be yet the defining such mysterious matters as the order of the Divine Decrees and the Influences of Gods Grace on the wills of men in so positive a manner and the imposing their Assertions on all the Ministers of their Communion was that which many as sincere Protestants as any are have ever disliked and condemned as a weakening the Union of the Protestant Church and an assuming too much of that authority which we condemn in the Church of Rome For though they supposed that they made their definitions upon the grounds of Scripture so that in this sense the authority of the Synod was meerly Declarative yet the question will still recur Whether they understood the passages which they built on right or not And if they understood them wrong then according to Protestant principles their Decrees had no such binding authority that the receding from them could make one guilty either of Heresie or Schism The Sixth Method IS to shew them that the Roman Church or that Church which acknowledges the Pope or the Bishop of Rome the Successor of S. Peter to be her Head all the World over is the true Church Because there is no other besides her that has that undoubted mark which is a perpetâ—al Visibility without Interruption since Christ's time to this day This is a Method common to all the Catholicks and is very well and briefly set forth in the little Treatise of the true Church joyned to that of the Peaceable Method This is that of which S. Austin makes most frequent use against the Donatists and chiefly in his Book of the Vnity of the Church and in his Epistles of which the most remarkable passages relating to this matter are gathered together by the late Arch-bishop of Rouen in the first Book of his Apology for the Gospel in which he handles this matter excellently well One may add to this Method the Maxims of which Tertullian makes use in his Treatise of Prescriptions against the Hereticks and also Vincentius Lyrinensis in his Advices It is enough to say on this occasion that those two Treatises may satisfie any that will read them without prepossession in order to their forming a just Iudgement of the true Church of Iesus Christ and of all those Societies that would usurp that name Remarks THis Method is so common that there was no reason in any sort to give Mr. Maimbourg the honour of it unless it was that the Assembly intended to do him this publick honour to ballance his disgrace at Rome But let us examine it 1. This asserts that no other Church has a perpetual Succession without interruption but that which derives it from Rome which is so contrary to what every one knows that Mr. Maimbourg was certainly inspired with the Spirit of his Order when he writ it Do not all the Greek Churches and all the Churches that have their Ordination from them all from the Northern Empire of Muscovy to the Southern of the Abassines together with all those in the East derive from the Apostles by an uninterrupted series For till the Authority of the Church of Rome is proved which is the thing in question their being declared Schismaticks or Hereticks by it does not interrupt this Succession 2. The Church of England has the same Succession that the Church of Rome had in Gregory the Great 's time to wave the more ancient pretensions of the Brittish Churches and the Bishops of this Church being bound by one of their Sponsions made at their Consecration according to the Roman Pontifical to instruct their flock in the true Faith according to the Scriptures they were obliged to make good this promise Nor can it be pretended that they have thereupon forfeited their Orders and by consequence their Succession 3. The Succession of the Church of Rome cannot be said to be uninterrupted if either Heresie or Schism can cut it off It is well known that Felix Liberius and Honorius to name no more were Hereticks and if Ordinations by Schismaticks or unlawful Usurpers be to be annulled which was judged in the case of Photius and was often practised at Rome then the many Schisms and unjust usurpations that have been in that See will make the Succession of their Orders the most disputable thing that can be especially during that Schism that lasted almost forty years all the Churches of that Communion having derived their Orders from one or other of the Popes and if the Popes at Avignon were the Usurpers then let the Gallican Churches see how they can justifie the series of their Ordinations To all which may be added the impossibility of proving a true Succession in Orders if the Vertue of the Sacraments depends on the Intention of him who officiates since secret Intentions are only known to God 4. The ground on which the Donatists separated from the Orthodox Churches being at first founded on a matter of Fact which was of the pretended Irregularity of those who ordained Cecilian which they afterwards defended upon this that the Church could be only composed of good men and that the Sacraments were of no Vertue when dispensed by ill hands all that S. Austin says is to be governed by this Hypothesis against which he argues And it being once granted that the Church was not corrupted neither in Doctrine nor Worship we are very ready
what is the true sense of those passages that are in dispute but by that same Church which conveys it to you This is S. Austin's method in many places but above all in his Book De utilitate Credendi and in his Book Contra Epistolam fundamenti In which he says I would not believe the Gospel if the authority of the Church did not oblige me to it This Method is handsomely managed in the Treatise of the true Word of God joyned to the Peaceable Method Remarks 1. GReat difference is to be made between the conveyance of Books and an Oral Tradition of Doctrine It is very easie to carry down the one in a way that is Morally Infallible An exact copying being all that is necessary for that Whereas it is morally impossible to prevent frauds and impostures in the other in a course of some Ages especially in times of Ignorance and Corruption in which the Credulity of unthinking people has made an easie game to the Craft and Industry of covetous and aspiring Priests Few were then at the pains to examine any thing but took all upon Trust and became so ready of belief that the more incredible a thing seemed to be they swallowed it down the more willingly 2. If this way of reasoning will hold good it was as strong in the mouths of the Iews in our Saviours time for the High Priest and Sanhedrim might have as reasonably pretended that since they had conveyed down the Books in which the Prophecies of the Messiah were contained they hâ—d likewise the right to expound those Prophecies 3. A Witness that hands a thing down without Additions is very different from a Judge that delivers things on his own Authority We freely own the Church to be such a Witness that there is no colour of reason to disbelieve the Tradition of the Books but we see great cause to question the credit of her decisions 4. In this Tradition of Books we have not barely the Tradition of the Church for it We find in all ages since the Books of the New Testament were written several Authors have cited many and large passages out of them We find they were very quickly translated into many other Languages and diverse of those are conveyed down to us There were also so many Copies of these Books every where that though one had resolved on so Sacrilegious an attempt as the corrupting them had been he could not have succeeded in it to any great degree Some additions might have been made in some Copies and so from those they might have been derived to others but these could not have bâ—en considerable otherwise they had been discovered and complained of and when we find the Church engaged in contests with Hereticks and Schismaticks we see both sides appealed to the Scriptures and neither of them reproached the other for violating that Sacred Trust. And the noise we find of the small change of a Letter in the Aâ—ian Controversie shews us how exact they were in preserving these Records As for the Errours of Transcribers that is incident to the Nature of Man and though some Errours have crept into some Copies yet all these put together do not alter any one point of our Religion so that they are not of great consequence Thus it appears how much reason we have to receive the Scriptures upon the credit of such a Tradition But for Oral Tradition it is visible how it might have been so managed as quickly to change the whole Nature of Religion Natural Religion was soon corrupted when it passed down in this Conveyance even during the long lives of the Ancient Patriarchs who had thereby an advantage to keep this pure that after ages in which the life of Man is so shortned cannot pretend to We also see to what a degree the Iewish Tradition became corrupted in our Saviours time particularly in one point which may be called the most essential part of their Religion to wit concerning their Messias what the nature of his Person and Kingdome were to be So that they all expected a Great Conquerour a second Moses or a David so ineffectual a mean is Oral Tradition for conveying down any Doctrine pure or uncorrupted The Ninth Method IS to tell them the Church in which they were before they made the Separation was the true Church because it was the only Church so that they could not Reform the Doctrine without making another Church For then she must have fallen into Errour and by consequence the Gates of Hell must have prevailed against her which is directly contrary to the Promise of Iesus Christ that cannot fail The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her Remarks 1. A Church may be a True Church and yet be corrupted by many Errours for a â—rue Church is a Society of men among whom are the certain means of Salvation and such was the Iewish Church in our Saviours time For their Sacrifices had still an Expiatory Vertue and the Covenant made with that people stood still and yet they were over-run with many Errours chiefly in their notions of the Messias And thus as long as the Church of Rome acknowledges the Expiation made by the Death of Christ and applied to all that truly believe and amend their lives so long she is a True Church So that those of that Communion who adhere truly to that which is the great fundamental of the Christian Religion may be saved But when so many things were added to this that it was very hard to preserve this fundamental truth pure and entire then it was necessary for those who were better enlightned to call on others to correct the abuses that had crept in 2. It is hard to build a great super-structure on a figurative expression of which it is not easie to find out the true and full sense And in this that is cited there are but three terms and about every one of them great and just grounds of doubting do appear 1. It is not certain what is meant by the Gates of Hell which is an odd figure for an assailant If by Gates we mean Councils because the Magistrates and Courts among the Iews sate in the Gates then the meaning will be that the Craft of Hell shall not prevail against the Church that is shall not root out Christianity or if by Gates of Hell or the Grave according to a common Greek Phrase Death be to be understood it being the Gate through which we pass to the Grave then the meaning is this that the Church shall never die or be extinguished Nor is there less difficulty to be made about the signification of the word Church Whether it is to be meant in general of the body of Christians or of the Pastors of the Church and of the majority of them The Context seems to carry it for the Body of Christians and then the meaning will be only this That there shall still be a Body of Christians in the World And
it cannot be proved that any thing else is to be understood by the word Church in that place A third difficulty may be also raised upon the extent of the word Prevail whether a total overthrow or any single advantage is to be understood by it or whether this prevailing is to be restrained only to the fundamentals of Christianity or is to be extended to all sorts of truth or whether it is to be understood of corrupting the Doctrine or of vitiating the Morals of Christians Thus it is apparent how many difficulties may be started concerning the meaning of those words So that at best the sense of them is doubtful and therefore it will be a strange and rash adventure to determine any thing in matters of great moment upon the authority of such a figurative expression 3. Though the Roman Church had been corrupted that will not infer that the Gates of Hell had prevailed against the Church for that being but the Center of the Union of some of the Western Nations a corruption in it does not prove that the whole Church was corrupted for there were many other Churches in other parts of the World besides those of that Communion The Tenth Method IS that of the Bishop of Meaux lately of Condom in his Book entituled The exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church In which he does in every Article distinguish between that which is precisely of Faith and that which is not so and shews that there is nothing in our belief that may give distast to a reasonable Spirit unless they will look on the abuses of some particular persons which we condemn as our belief or impute Errours to us falsely or charge us with the explications of some Doctors that are neither received nor authorized by the Church This method is taken from S. Hilary in his Book of Synods Let us says he altogether condemn false Interpretations but let us not destroy the certainty of the Faith The Word Consubstantial may be ill understood but let it be established in a sense in which it may be well understood The right state of the Faith may be established among us so as we may neither reverse that which has been well establishedpunc nor cut off those things that have been ill understood Remarks SOmewhat was said in the Preface with relation to this which shall not be here repeated It is not to be denied but in the management of Controversies the heat of Dispute has carried many too far and some have studied to raise many Imaginary Controversies which subsist only upon some misunderstood terms and expressions of the contrary party And things have been on all hands aggravated in many particulars out of measure So that they have deserved well of the Church that have brought matters as near a Reconciliation as may be But after all this it were a strange imposition on this and the preceding age to persuade the World that notwithstanding all the differences of Religion and the unhappy effects that have followed upon them that they really were all the while of the same mind but were not so happy as to find it out till that excellent Prelate helpt them to it by letting them see how near the concessions of both sides are to one another so that a little conversation and dexterity iâ— putting the softest construction that may be on the contrary persuasion might bring them to be of the same mind But if in order to this the sense of both sides is so far stretched that neither party can own it for a true account of their sentiments then this must be concluded to be only the Ingenious Essay of a very witty man who would take advantage of some expressions to perswade people that they have opinions which really they have not I shall not enter into a particular disquisition of those things which have been already so fully examined but refer the Reader to the Answers that have been given to that famous Book 2. The received and authorized Offices of the Church of Rome and the Language in which they do daily make their Addresses to Heaven is that on whiâ—h the most unanswerable and the strongest part of our Plea for our Separation is founded and it is not an ingenuous way of writing to affix some forced senses to those plain expressions because they being so gross as they are all wise or learned men are ashamed to defend them and yet know not how to get them to be reformed or thrown out Therefore it is that they set their Wits on work to put some better construction on them But this is a clear violence to the plain sense of those Offices extorted by the evidence and force of Truth and gives us this advantage that it is plain those that so qualifie them are convinced that their Church is in the wrong and yet for other ends or perhaps from a mistaken notion of Unity and Peace they think fit to continue in it 3. It is to be hoped that those who have cited this passage out of S. Hilary will consider those other passages cited out of him against Persecution though a great Errour made in the Translation of this citation makes me fear that they who rendred it had read him very cursorily The Eleventh Method IS drawn from those General Arguments which Divines call the Motives of Credibility It is that made use of by Tertullian in his Book of Prescriptions and by S. Austin who reckons up the Motives that held him in the Catholick Church Remarks 1. AS for the Case of Tertullian and S. Austin a great deal was said formerly to shew the difference between the Age they lived in and the grounds they went on and the present state of the Western Church 2. When it is considered that a course of many Ages which by the Confession of all were times of Ignorance and Superstition has made a great change in the World that the gross Scandals and wonderful Ignorance of those that have governed the See of Rome that the Dissolution of all the Rules of Ecclesiastical Order and Discipline both among Clergy and Laity that the Interest the Priests particularly the Popes and the begging Orders that depended on them had to promote those was so great and undisputâ—d that it is notorious all the worst methods of forgeries both of Writings to authorize them and of Miracles and Legends to support them were made use of When I say all these things are so plain to every one that has lookt a little into the History of former ages it is no wonder if the Church of Rome is so much changed from what it was formerly That the motives made use of by Tertullian and S. Austin do not at all belong to the present state of the Churches of that Communion But on the contrary instead of motives to perswade one to continue in it there appear upon a general view a great many just and well-grounded prejudices to dispose a
when the power of the Church is used not to Edification but to Destruction then the obligation to obedience is not to be too far extended And as in Laws that oblige Subjects to obey Inferiour Magistrates a tacite exception is to be supposed in case they should become guilty of Treason so there must be supposed likewise in this case the like exception in case a Synod deposes a Bishop or a Bishop censures his Clergy for asserting the true Faith And as a Separation from an uncorrupted Church is a very great wickedness so the separating from a corrupted Church in whose Communion we cannot continue without being polluted in it is but a part of that care which we ought to have of our own Salvation The Fifteenth Method TO all the former Methods a Fifteenth may be added by letting our P. Reformed see that many Articles are to be found in their Confession of Faith in their Catechisms in the Articles of their Discipline in the Decisions of their Synods and in the Books of their Chief Ministers who have writ upon the Controversies from which Arguments may be drawn against them to prove the truth of our belief even by their own Confession For Example Their Discipline allows the Communion in one kind only to such as cannot drink Wine From which one may infer that the Communion under both kinds is not an Article of necessity and that they are in the wrong to alledge that as they do to be a lawful ground for their Separation The Minister Dailée and many others confess that in the time of S. Gregory Nazianzene S. Chrysostome and S. Jerome the Invocation of Saints was received in the Church John Forbes adds to this That the Tradition of the Church was uniform concerning Prayer for the Dead And since he denies that the Books of the Maccabees are Canonical he says the Scripture speaks nothing of it But without engaging into the difficulty concerning the Books of the Maccabees in which they have no more reason on their side than in the rest It is easie to conclude from their own principles that it was no ways to be allowed to separate themselves for matters that according to themselves were established by so great an authority and so constant an union of all Ages Remarks 1. IT is not an equal way of proceeding to object to the Protestants what some particular Writers have said or to strain Inferences too far at a time when the Celebrated Book of the Bishop of Meaux is in such high esteem The chief design oâ— which is to set aside all the Indiscretions of particular Writers and to put the best colours on things that is possible Now Tradition being of such authority among them whatsoever passes down through many of their approved Writers has a much greater strength against them than it can be pretended to have against us And therefore though particular Writers or whole Synods should have written or decreed any thing against the common Doctrines of the Reformed they ought not to object that to us If they will allow us the same Liberties that they assume to themselves 2. It is not a consequence becoming so great an Assembly to infer that because in some few extraordinary cases the general rule of Gods desiring Mercy and not Sacrifice is carried so far as to give weak persons so much of the Sacrament as they can receive and not to deny that to them because a natural aversion mâ—kes them incapable of receiving the Wine That therefore a Church may in opposition to Christs express command Drink you all of it and the constant practice of Thirteen Centuries take this away It is not of necessity for Salvation that every one drinks the Cup but it is of necessity to the purity of a Church that she should observe our Saviour's Precepts 3. It is confessed that some Fathers used the Invocation of Saints yet that being but a matter of fact it is of no consequence for the Decision of any point of Doctrine For we found our Doctrine only on the Word of God and â—ot on the practices of Men how eminent soever they might otherwise be But in relation to these Fathers these things are to be observed 1. They lived in the end of the Fourth Century So this is no competent proof for an Oral Tradition or conveyance of this Doctrine down from the Apostles days 2. Figures and bold Discourses in Panegyricks are rather to be considered as raptures and flights of warm affections than as composed and serious devotions Therefore such Addresses as occur in their Funeral Orations are rather high strains of a daring Rhetorick than Instructions for others since in their expositions on Scripture or other Treatises of Devotion they do not handle these things by way of Direction or Advice Iohn Forbes is mis-cited for William Forbes Bishop of Edenburgh Iohn was not of such yielding Principles It is true William though he was a man Eminently Learned and of a most Exemplary Life yet he was possessed with that same weakness under which Grotius and some other great men have laboured of thinking that a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome might be obtained by an accommodation on both sides and this flowing in him from an excellent temper of Soul he is to be excused if that carried him in many things too far But he is a Writer that has been taxed by all men as one that had particular Notions And we may object Erasmus to those of the Church of Rome as well as they may argue against us from Bishop Forbes 5. If the Church of Rome used only a General Commemoration of the Dead with wishes for the compleating their happiness by a speedy resurrection and went no further we might perhaps differ in opinion with them about the fitness of this but we would not break Communion with them for it But when they have set up such a Merchandize in the House of God for Redeeming Souls out of Purgatory and saying Masses for them this is that we except to as a disgracing of the Christian Religion and as a high profanation of the Holy Sacrament And it is plain that the Fathers considered the Commemoration of the Dead rather as a respect done to their Memory and an honourable remembrance of them than as a thing that was any way useful to them in the other state which may appear by this single Instance S. Cyprian was so much offended at a Presbyter when it appeared after his death that he had left another Presbyter Guardian of his Children that he gave order that no mention should be made of him in the Commemoration of the Dead that was used in the Holy Eucharist because by the Roman Law such as were left Guardians were under some obligations to undertake the trust And that Saint thought such a trust might prove so great a distraction to a man that was dedicated to the Holy Ministry that no Honour ought to be done to the Memory
if their Absolution is thought to have any other Vertue in it than a giving the Peace of the Church with a Declaration of the terms upon which God pardons Sinners If the Vertue of the Sacraments upon which so much depends according to their principles is so entirely in the Priests power that he can defeat it when he pleases with a cross intention so that all mens hopes of another state shall depend on the Priests good disposition to them by which every man must know how necessary it is to purchase their favour at any rate If likewise they pretend to an Immunity from the Secular Judge and do all enter into Oaths which center in him whom they acknowledge their Common Head whose authority they have advanced above all the powers on Earth so that he can depose Princes and give away his Dominions to others It must be confessed that all these have such Characters of Interest and Ambition on them and are so little like the true Spirit of Christianity or indeed the Common Principles of Natâ—ral Reason and Religion that a man is very partial who does not think it reasonable to suspect such proceedings and a Church that holds such Doctrines 3. It is likewise reasonable to suspect any Church that holds many opinions that tend much to a vast encrease of their Wealth and to bring the greatest Treasures of the World into their hands The power of redeeming Souls out of Purgatory has brought more Wealth into the Church of Rome than the discovery of the Indies has done to the Crown of Spain Such also was the power of Pardoning and of exchanging Penances for Money by which the World knew the price of Sins and the rates at which they were to be compounded for The Popes power of granting Indulgences the vertue of Pilgrimages the communication of the merits of Orders to such as put on their Habits and in a word the whole authority that the Câ—â—râ— of Rome has assumed in these latter ages that tend so much to the encrease of their Revenue are all such evident Indications of particular ends and private designs that he must be very much wedded to his first impressions that does not upon this suspect that matters have not been so fairly carried among them that nothing ought to be doubted which is defined by them 4. It is a very just cause of suspecting every thing that is managed by a company of Priests if they have for several Ages carried on their designs by the foulest methods of Forgery and Imposture of which they themselves are now both convinced and ashamed When the Popes authority was built on a pretended Collection of the Letters which the Popes of the first ages after Christ were said to have writ and their assumed Jurisdiction was justified by those precedents which are now by themselves acknowledged to be forgeries When the Popes Temporal Dominion was grounded on the Donations of Constantine of Charles the Great and his Son Lewis the Good which appear now to be notorious forgeries When an infinite number of Saints of Miracles Visions and other wonderful things were not only read and preached to the people but likewise were put into the Collects and Hymns used on their Festivals which wrought much on the simplicity and superstition of the vulgar many of which are now proved to be such gross impostures that they are forced to dash them out of their Offices and others against which there lyes not such positive proof yet depend on the credit only of some Legend writ by some Monks When many Books past over the World as the Writings of the most Ancient Fathers which were but lately writ and many of their genuine Writings were grossly vitiated When all those things are become so evident that the most Learned Writers amongst themselves particularly in the Gallican Church have not only yielded to the proofs brought by Protestant Writers in many of these particulars but have with a very Commendable Zeal and Sincerity made discoveries themselves in several particulars into which the others had not such advantages to penetrate There is upon all these grounds good cause given to mistrust them in other things and it is very reasonable to examine the assertions of that Church with the severest rigour since an Imposture once discovered ought to bring a suspicion on all concerned in it even as to all other things 5. There is likewise great reason to suspect all that are extream fierce and violent that cannot endure the least contradiction but endeavour the ruine of all that oppose them Truth makes men both confident of its force and merciful towards such as do not yet receive it Whereas Errour is Jealous and Cruel If then a Church has decreed that all Hereticks that is such as do not submit to all her decisions are to be extirpated if she has bound all her Bishops by Oath at their Ordinations to Persecute them to the utmost of their power If Princes that do not extirpate them are first to be excommunicated by their Bishops and after a years Contumacy are to be deposed by the Popes and their Kingdomes to be given away If all Hereticks upon Obstinacy or Relapse are to be burnt and if they endeavour in all places as much as they can to erect Courts of Inquisition with an absolute authority in which Church-men forgetting their Character have vied in Inventions of Torture and Cruelty with the bloodiest Tyrants that have ever been Then it must be confessed that all these set together present the Church that authorizes and practises them with so dreadful an aspect so contrary to those bowels and tendernesses that are in the nature of man Not to mention the merciful Idea's of God and the wonderful meekness of the Author of our Holy Religion that we must conclude that under what form soever of Religion such things are set on foot in the World such a Doctrine is so far from improving and exalting the nature of man that really it makes him worse than he would otherwise be if he were left to the softness of his own nature And certainly it were better there were no revealed Religion in the World than that mankind should become worse more cruel and more barbarous by its means than it would be if it were governed by Nature or a little Philosophy Upon all these grounds laid together it is no unreasonable thing to conclude that a Church liable to such imputations ought justly to be suspected and that every one in it ought to examine well on what grounds he continues in the Communion of a society of men against which such strong prejudices lie so fairly without the least straining or aggravating matters too much I proceed now to the second part of my undertaking which is to shew that the grounds upon which that Church builds are certainly weak if not false And 1. They boast much of a Constant Succession as the only infallible mark to judge of a Church and