Damnation even by Gods Ordination to be of that Religion which their Supream Temporal Magistrate will have them And so where such a Supream Magistrate is a Catholick that is a Papist according to the Stile and Language of Protestants his Subjects are bound to be Papists if so be he will have it Where he is a Lutheran they are bound to be Lutherans where he is a Calvinist they are bound to be Calvinists where he is an Anabaptist Quaker Arrian or Nestorian they are bound to be of the same Profession if their Prince will have it so and that even by Gods Ordination if those Protestants say true who will have every Temporal Prince to be within his own Dominions Supream Director Leader and Guide in matters of Faith and Religion even by the Ordination of God than the which what can be more Absurd yea more Impious and Blasphemous for this doth make God far worse than the Devil in regard that the Devil can but only intice and solicite People to follow false Religions but here God is made to tye and oblige them even under pain of Damnation to imbrace and practise false and Heretical Religions when seduced Princes or Supream Temporal Magistrates will have it so Where note by the way The late hard and harsh Dealing of some English Protestants toward their Catholick Neighbours whom they termed Traytors often vex'd and afflicted and esteemed worthy of all Punishments because they would not believe and practise that Faith and Religion for True and Divine which it hath pleased this Commonwealth to Frame not out of the Holy Scriptures Antient Fathers General Councils and Perpetual Tradition of the Church but out of the Doctrine of Luther Melancthon Suinglius Peter Martyr Calvin and the like who in their Rising Calling Proceeding were as like Arius Pelagius Nestorius and other former Hereticks as one Egg is like another which I say it hath pleased this Commonwealth to frame and to propose though Catholicks cannot so do without incurring the high Offence of God and certain Peril of their own Souls because they are perswaded in their own Consciences that to imbrace or profess the Protestant Religion is a damnable Sin in regard that the Profession thereof is the Profession of a False Religion which is ever damnable to the Conscious Professor and the denial of the True that is of the only Right and Saving Faith of Christ which Catholicks hold to be no other than the Antient and commonly received Faith of the Christian World not rashly and upon slight but after serious Consideration and upon firm and sure Grounds as every judicious man may easily perceive at least in part out of that which this little Treatise doth present him Hard then and much to be pity'd was the late Condition of English Catholicks who either truly and really must have been Traytors to Christ and ruine their own Souls or else they must have exposed themselves to be reputed by their Mis-inform'd Neighbours Refractory Disobedient Unsure and Trecherous to their Prince a thing to all good Catholicks most Hateful most Detestable and must have run the Hazard to loose their Goods and Liberties and have laid open to the Malice of Spiteful Neighbours to the Spleen of Furious Protestants to the Railing of Slanderous Predicants to the base Vexation of Pursevants and to the Depilations of Promoters and of other Under Officers To these Miseries I say Innocent Catholicks have been exposed till it hath pleased God to raise up a good Josiah our Gracious Soveraign James the Second to Protect them and to extend his bountiful Favour toward them But to spin out the Thread begun if it be contrary both to Scripture and Reason so to enslave Religion to the Check of Temporal Lords that Subjects must believe as it shall please them to appoint We must admit that Supream Power to Guide and Direct in Matters of Faith doth immediately reside in certain Spiritual Rulers Prelates and Magistrates even by the peculiar Ordination of God. Which being so I demand of Protestants whether this Power by Gods Ordination resideth in one or many This I say I demand of Protestants in regard that of the right knowledge of this Point doth depend the right knowledge of the True Gospel and Religion of Christ which we cannot learn but of those Doctors and Pastors whom God doth send and Authorise to Teach What then will Protestants answer to this Question what will they answer Much no doubt but not much to the purpose because they are not yet agreed among themselves about this Point for the Lutherans will have this Power to reside in their Teachers but the Calvinists in theirs The Anabaptists will have it reside in their Congregation but the Quakers in theirs The English Protestants will have it reside in their Bishops and Parliaments but the Puritans will have it to be in their Consistorian Elders And so none of these can make a satisfying Answer to my Question all of them disagreeing as they do and no one Sect of them having better Grounds out of Gods Word than the rest For I demand First In whom did this Power reside the last five hundred years before Luther If it were then in any Protestant Doctors let them be named and let it be shewed out of good Records whether they were Lutherans or Calvinists But if no such Doctors can de named as certainly they cannot because there were none such and that this Power did then reside in other Teachers how came any sort of Protestant Doctors to have this Power afterwards here nothing can be said for Protestants that may not as rightfully be said for Arians Nestorians or any other Hereticks whatsoever Secondly I demand Whether this Power reside in one or in many If in one who this one among Protestants is If in many who these many are and whether they have any visible Head among them or no to whom all the rest are bound to stoop and to submit their Judgements in the Decision of Controversies about Faith and Religion If they have no such Head what Hope of Vnity in Faith and of Vniformity is there in the Service and Worship of God certainly none at all as evident Experience doth teach by the Example of the Lutherans and Calvinists and of other Protestants And so while Protestants refuse one Supream Spiritual Head authorised and enabled by the continual Assistance of the Holy Ghost clearly promised in the Word of God to direct them in Faith and in the right Worship of God without danger of mis-leading and deluding them they refuse in very Deed not only Unity in Faith and Conformity in the Service of God but the true means of Salvation also which Christ our Saviour hath ordained for them within the Communion of his Catholick Church Out of whose happy Communion they will not acknowledge themselves to be nor see the Danger they are in till it be too late Because willing without searching seriously into the matter they repute
Controversies about Faith and Religion now in question amongst Christian People which few I know have leisure or means fewer Capacity to look throughly unto or ability to distinguish always Light from Darkness Truth from Falsehood in them But my Endeavour is to stir you up to a serious consideration of certain general Heads and undenyable Truths which this little Treatise doth present unto you easie to be conceiv'd yet powerful to lay open even to mean Understandings the assured Light of the True Gospel of Christ and the absolute necessity of admitting some sure and un-erring Interpreter of God's Word by him ordained and enabled to deliver the right meaning thereof unto us in all Ages but especially when Controversies about Faith and Religion are raised which Interpreter being once admitted of and agreed upon all other Controversies about points of Belief will quickly be at an end Peace will be restored again to Christians and nothing will remain for the securing of Souls conjoin'd together in the Communion of Saints but a studious care to decline from Evil and to do Good and Industriously to imitate the Blessed Life of Christ But further yet to facilitate this affair be pleased to distinguish in the Belief of Catholicks whom I often call Papists to condescend to the Style of Protestants so terming them for adhering in Religion to the Pope in Latine Papa this word signifying Father as the common Spiritual Father of Christians and supreme Pastor of the Flock of Christ be pleased I say to distinguish in the Belief of Catholicks Divine Faith from Humane Their Articles of Faith from Humane Stories which many distinguishing not and thereupon perswading themselves that Catholicks with equal certainty and obligation believe the one and the other that is their Articles of Faith and the Humane Stories which relate the Lives Actions and Miracles of certain Saints and finding some of these to be very strange and to savour in their conceit of fraudulent Fictions take this to be a sufficient Warrant for them to contemn Papistry as a foolish ungrounded and fabulous Religion and to repute Papists indiscreetly credulous and plainly to be led in darkness and blindness But these do much mistake for the truth is that although all Catholicks be strictly bound to believe those points of Doctrine which their Church doth propose for Articles of Faith contained in the written word of God or in the perpetual Tradition of the Church or deduced by General Councils or by the Pastors of the Church out of God's Word when Heresies are condemned yet they are not bound to believe the Relations of particular Authors concerning the Actions and Miracles of Saints or other like things farther then discreet Prudence and Christian Piety doth lead them every Man being at liberty to weigh the worth and honesty of the Relator and the probability of the thing related and then to believe or not to believe as Reason and Piety shall dictate unto him Yet not forgetting that God is admirable in his Saints That His Wisdom Power Justice Mercy and Sweetness in Governing the World and in contriving and ordering the Affairs of Man's Salvation is far above the reach of our weak Understanding That frequently there is less danger in believing too much than in believing too little and that there are some as strange things related in the Holy Scriptures at which Atheists do stumble as are in the approved Histories of the Church Neither do Catholicks believe these Stories and their Articles of Faith with one and the same certainty for these Stories they believe meerly with Humane Faith for the Authority of the Relators who may Err mistake or deceive But their Articles of Faith they believe with Divine Faith for God's Authority speaking in his Word and by the ordinary Doctors and Pastors of his Church being bound under pain of forfeiting the Name of Catholicks and of incurring damnable Sin not to disbelieve wittingly any one of these Articles all of them being Divine Verities warranted for Truth by the Holy Ghost who continually guideth and directeth the Church in her Doctrine of Faith as is hereafter shewed out of Gods Word And so by disbelieving stubbornly the Articles of Faith which the Church professeth Heresie is incurred which is not incurred by disbelieving her Stories Furthermore if hereafter I affirm not for want of Charity but forced by unanswerable Arguments drawn from the word of God that the Followers of the Protestant Religion so dying are not sav'd take me to speak of those who culpably prefer this Religion before the Catholick or culpably dye therein being thereby destitute of that Faith and Charity which is of necessity required to Salvation and not of those who being truly Baptiz'd and brought up among Protestants have excusable Ignorance of the Catholick Faith and Church by reason either of their tender Years or of their weak Capacities or else of their mean and rude Education for such are secret Members of the Catholick Church and therefore if they depart this Life cloathed with those Garments of Christ with which he adorned them in the Sacrament of Baptism not having fallen into mortal Sin they shall certainly inherit the Kingdom of Heaven In which happiness none shall be Sharers that pass out of this Life destitute of Divine Faith which is the Gift of God of which more hereafter or defiled with Mortal Sin which is so called because it destroys the supernatural life of the Soul received by Regeneration in Baptism consisting in Divine Faith and other Celestial Virtues but especially in Sanctifying Grace and divine Charity without which Divine Charity nothing doth avail to Salvation as the Apostle teaches 1 Cor. 1. 13. Lastly because divers Protestant Teachers endeavour to make their Followers believe That the Fathers of the Primitive Church were Protestants seeking thereby to Illustrate the Protestant Religion that the greatness and boldness of this Imposture pardon the Word for I know not how otherwise to express truly the dealing of these Men may clearly appear I humbly intreat all understanding Protestants which know it not to take notice That those ancient Worthies and Lights of the Church of Christ were either Monks or Founders of Monastical Discipline or at least Approvers and Praisers of the same St. Anthony was a Monk and St. Athanasius his Praiser St. Basil the Great a Monk and the Founder of a Monastical Institute which in the Eastern part of the World is yet practised St. Gregory the Divine was a Monk St. Chrysostom a Monk St. Hierom a Monk the Great St. Augustine the Founder of a Monastical course of Life St. Martin a Monk St. Benedict a Monk and Founder of the Famous Order of Benedictine Monks which does yet flourish in the Western Church St. Gregory the Great was a Monk and by the Labours of Fourty Monks did first plant Christianity amongst the English Let any Man judge how likely or how true it is that these men were Protestants Secondly take notice that
which the Nations of the Earth were made Blessed But then I demand 1st With what Spectacles do these men who thus Answer see this Invisible Religion Or how do they know there was any such in the World What Text of the Bible what History makes mention thereof 2ly Who were the Preachers of this Invisible Religion Who the Followers What Nations receiv'd it What Sacraments had it What Divine Service or Worship of God In what Churches was it practic'd or Caves or Desarts How did the Followers thereof know one another What Candles did they use at their Meetings all being Invisible amongst them 3ly What Foolish Heretick may not by thus Answering maintain that his Devises were ever extant though Invisibly and that the Nations of the Earth by them have been Blessed yet Invisibly This Answer then being too too Absurd and Ridiculous Will other Protestants hope to evade by saying That although the Faith of the Roman Church grew by degrees to be full of Errors and Superstitions yet the Nations of the Earth were Sav'd thereby and thereby were made truly Blessed in Jesus But then I demand first whether the Faith of the Roman Church be truly Holy truly pleasing to God and profitable to Man or no If it be not how could God draw Men by his Heavenly Grace to believe it But if it be why did Protestants at the first revolt from it Or how durst they lately Persecute it May they securely Persecute and seek to ruine that Religion by which for so many hundred years the Nations of the Earth have been made Blessed in Jesus I believe not Secondly I demand by what Text of Scripture or light of Reason will Protestants maintain that God by his Grace and special operation can draw men to believe a false and Superstitious Religion A Religion that had so great need of Reforming that the World was to be turn'd up-side down and Infinite Tumults and Bloody Broils to be set a foot rather than not to undertake it If God can draw men by his Grace can move and stir them up to imbrace and believe Errors and Superstitions or Religions that are Erronious and Superstitious how is he not in this respect as bad as the Devil Or upon what firm ground can we maintain that the Religion of Moses the Religion of Jesus was Pure and Holy By saying and proving that God was the Author of these Religions That proves nothing if God by his Grace can draw men to believe Errors and Superstitions Thirdly I demand If Jesus was the true Messias and that God did intend to draw the Nations of the Earth to believe in him and to make them Blessed by him was he not able to provide himself of a True Holy and Divine Religion to which with his Honour he might draw them But must he needs make use of a False Blind Superstitious one to the extream Disgrace of himself These Answers then being Absurd and far from satisfying Prudent men To maintain that Jesus is the True Messias and that the Promises of God made to the Patriarchs have been really fulfill'd in him Will considerate Protestants grant and acknowledge that he hath ever had in all Ages a Divine Religion wholly True and truly Saving spread over the World to bring to the Nations thereof the promis'd Blessing If this they will do they shall do like Good Christians But then they must name a Divine Pure and Illustrious Religion different and distinct from Papistry which hath Converted the Nations of the Earth to Jesus and in all Ages hath made them Blessed in him Which is impossible for them to do Or else they must acknowledge and grant that Papistry is a Divine Religion is wholly true is the True Light of the Gospel of Christ is his only Saving Faith and abundantly apt and able to bring to the Nations of the Earth the Promis'd Blessing all which is most true as I hope they will grant rather then deny that Jesus was the True Messias and Saviour of the World as some Protestants have done to the assured damnation of their Souls Being by this Argument choak'd and not able to find any satisying Answer thereunto unless they would yield that Papistry is a Holy and Saving Religion and the true Light of the Gospel of Christ Which they being unwilling to yield unto either for shame or for their extream hatred thereof turn'd either Jews Turks or Atheists and so made sure their Eternal Damnation But our Protestants I hope will be Wiser and will rather return to the Faith of their Noble Progenitors in which they may assuredly be Sav'd than run into so great madness and thereby perish Eternally Question XI Did the Church of Christ err heretofore because Christ could not preserve her from erring or because he would not MY Eleventh Demand of Protestants is if the Church of Christ hath err'd as they say in her Doctrine of Faith from whence proceeded this her erring Did this happen because Christ could not keep her from erring or because he would not If he could not how is he God How is he Omnipotent How is it True that he had All Power given him both in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28. 18. If Christ could enable his Apostles to Preach his Religion over the World without danger of erring and of deluding the Nations of the Earth why could he not also Enable their Successors the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of his Church to Teach and continue the same Religion in all succeeding Ages without danger of erring and of misleading his People If God could direct men to write his Holy Scriptures without danger of erring why can he not direct men to explicate the same Holy Scriptures in all Ages without danger of erring in matters of Faith Well then Protestants must say that Christ could have preserv'd his Church in all Ages from danger of erring in her Doctrine of Faith but would not But why would he not Did the Increase of his own Credit and Glory move him to this neglect or the good of Mankind Not the Increase of his own Credit For what Credit Honour Glory could acrew and arise to him by the erring of his Church Doth this commend his Workmanship in Founding her His Wisdom Goodness Power in Governing her I think not Nay could it become the Wisdom of a Discreet man to take so great Pains and to suffer so Painful and Ignominious a Death as Christ did for the Founding of an Erring Church which should Delude and Mislead the World Would any Honest Protestant if he had the like Power that Christ had have Founded so miserable a Church as they esteem Christ to have Founded I believe not Was it then the good of Mankind that invited Christ to Constitute an erring Church Truly no. For no good can come to men by such a Church but rather much harm yea infinite mischief As endless Discord Broils Contentions Bloody Encounters uncertainty in matters of Faith contempt of all Religion
Church and saving Faith of Christ Following New Inventions in Religion tending to Liberty Of which they can never be groundedly secure that they are sufficient to Salvation as this little Treatise doth make too too manifest Some Protestants perchance being loath to grant that their Church and Religion had no Being at all upon Earth for the last five hundred years before Luther And yet not able to nominate with any colour of Truth where their Church then was and where their Religion was believ'd and practis'd there being no Record or foot-step of these things extant in the World will affirm that for many Ages before â—â—ther their Church lay hidden under Papistry But how do they know this Doth the word of God teach any such thing If the Papists which then liv'd did not know of any such thing or that there was any such Church How do the Protestants that now live know it Certainly this saying is too too Childish and fitter for Idiots or Mad-men to make then for men of Judgement For thereby Anabaptists Quakers new Arrians or any other foolish Hereticks whatsoever may pretend that their Churches and Religions were ever extant in all former Ages and ever in practice in the World even since the times of the Apostles Than the which what can be more ridiculous My first Question then cannot be so Answer'd by Protestants as may satisfy the Consciences of Prudent men But let us pass to the next Question II. If Luther was not the first Teacher of the Protestant Religion to whom did he immediately succeed in the Office of Teaching the same Where also is treated of the Mission of the Protestant Teachers IF Luther was not the first Teacher of the Protestant Religion to whom did he immediately succeed in the Office of Teaching the same If in this Office he did not succeed to any other Doctor who had the same before as most certainly he did not for no such former Teacher of the Protestant Religion can be nam'd then clear it is that Luther was the first Teacher of the Protestant Faith and Religion Further then I demand Who set him a work to Teach as he did God Or the Enemy of God and Man Not God most certainly 1. Because nothing can be said to justify the new Teaching of Luther which may not be said to justify the new Teaching of Arius or of Nestorius or of the Anabaptists and Quakers or of any other false Prophet and Heretick that ever was Let Tryal be made and this will be found to be most true For by the self-same ways by which Luther can prove himself to come from God any Heretick may prove himself to come from God. Will Luther say that he had a private Instinct from God That he saw there was great need to Reform the Doctrine of the Church That the People and Princes who follow'd him gave him Calling and the like The self-same might Arius have said the self-same may the Quakers and Anabaptists say and the self-same may any False Teacher say that can get People to follow him 2. Because it is certain that Luther had no Calling or Mission from God at all Without Calling and Mission from whom no man may take upon him the Office of Preaching and of Pasturing the People of God as is clear out of his Holy Word Rom. 10. 15. Heb. 5. 4. For he came not from God either by Ordinary or by Extraordinary Mission And so he had no sending from him at all For God doth use no other sorts of sending because no other are fit to distinguish the True Preachers of God from the False Prophets of the Devil For Calling and Mission from Temporal Magistrates from the Common People or pretended from private Instincts are agreeable and common to False Prophets and Heretical Teachers And some of these for want of better when they are urg'd they ever pretend But Ordinary or Extraordinary Mission they are never able to shew Extraordinary Mission God doth use when he sendeth any one to make notable Mutation about Religion But then to assure the World that those whom He doth so send do come indeed from him he doth ever furnish them with the Gift of Heavenly Miracles Which Gift is as it were His Broad-Seal set to their Commission Whereby they are easily distinguish'd from False Prophets and Heretical Teachers By this manner of Mission God sent Moses and Aaron and Christ and his Apostles to make those Mutations and Additions about Religion which they made furnishing them with the Gift of Miracles as is plain out of his Sacred Word Which Gift was so necessary even to the Blessed Son of God himself notwithstanding the great Sanctity of his Life and Excellency of his Doctrine The plain Predictions of the Holy Prophets and the weighty Testimony of St. John the Baptist that he affirmeth John 15. 24. That if he had not done amongst the Jews Works that no other had done they should not have sinned In refusing Him for their Messias Must Luther then his Life and Doctrine being such as it was be receiv'd as sent from God by Extraordinary Mission to make so great a change in Religion as he did without any Miracles at all Who will think so but inconsiderate blind or mad-men But Note here by the way a thing worth the observing That those whom God doth send by Extraordinary Mission do never exclaim against the Church of God and the Ordinary Pastors thereof which were before their time as though they had err'd in matters of Faith and abus'd and mis-led the People of God as appears by the 23 d. of St. Matthew But this is ever the Property of Heretical Teachers rais'd up by the Devil to seduce Souls who always pretend to Teach the Church and People of God better than they were taught before And thereupon they cry out that the Church and her Pastors had Grievously Err'd Till they forsooth came and discover'd the True Light of the Gospel But how False and Fond the proceeding of such men is will appear by that which follows in the sequel of this Treatise By Ordinary Mission God doth send those who immediately or in the time of Succession mediately succeed by due Consecration and Authorizing in the Office of governing in things Spiritual and Pasturing the People of God to them who were sent from him by Extraordinary Mission In this manner the Priests of the Law of Moses succeeding Aaron by Generation Consecration and Authorizing had Ordinary Mission from God during the time that That Law was in force And in like manner the Pastors and Doctors of the Law of Grace succeeding to the Apostles by due Consecration and Authorizing have Ordinary Mission from God during the time that this Law is to be in force Which is even till the Day of Judgement Which succeed I say to the Apostles by due Consecration and Authorizing that is by that Consecration and Authorizing which Christ ordain'd to confer Divine and Spiritual Power to
the Holy Ghost should Abide with his Apostles for ever That is with them and their Successors the Doctors and Pastors of his Church For they were not in their own Persons to abide for ever with the Church to Teach and Guide her And John 16. 13. He says That the same Divine Spirit should Teach them all Truth In respect of whose continual abode with the Church to Teach her in matters of Faith and Religion All Truth St. Paul stiles her 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Pillar and ground of Truth But Protestant Teachers say that the Church of Christ Hath been Corrupted That the Gates of Hell that is the Devil and his Instruments Have prevail'd against her and have fill'd her with Pernicious Errors and Superstitions for above these thousand years That the Holy Ghost hath not taught her All Truth but hath given place to the Devil permitting him to replenish her with Errors and Superstitions to the ruine and loss of Infinite Christian Souls That She is not the Pillar and ground of Truth But the receptacle and sink of falshood And thus they directly contradict the Word of God about this prime and most important Article of the Truth and Incorruption of the Church of Christ in matters of Faith and Religion And yet Protestants rather believe Them than the clear Word of God so much doth draw and blind the Love of Novelty and Liberty But they will say we leave not the Word of God to follow the Teaching of Men But to follow the right meaning of the Word of God deliver'd unto Us by our Teachers I answer First Have you just cause to think that these your Teachers who have neither Unity nor Sanctity nor Antiquity nor the Gift of Miracles nor any true Calling and sending from God do rather deliver unto you the right meaning of the Word of God than the Antient Fathers General Councils and ever Visible Church of Christ guided by the Holy Ghost I believe not I Answer Secondly That you are mistaken For you leave the Word of God to follow the Interpretation of your Teachers Which Interpretation is not Gods Word but their Word their Conceit their Doctrine and Explication of Gods Word To follow which you leave as I have shew'd the express Word of God. And therefore most true it is that you leave the Word of God to follow the Doctrines of Men If your Teachers be men Thirdly I answer That if Affection did not make your Judgements miscarry you might easily see that the Doctrine of your Teachers being so directly contrary to the VVord of God cannot be the meaning thereof For God in his Sacred VVord Ordain'd to instruct and not to delude us and in his profound Mysteries doth not use to speak one thing and to mean the clean contrary To say that the Eucharist is his Body and to mean That it is not his Body but a Figure of it To say that men are justify'd by Works and not by Faith only And to mean that they are not justify'd by Works but by Faith only For this manner of dealing is fitter for a Jugler than for God And if the same be once allow'd of what foolish wicked damnable Heresie can there be that may not be thus defended by Scripture Or what Articles of the Christian Faith may be firmly prov'd out of the Word of God if wilfull head-strong Presumptions Teachers may in this sort Explicate Delude and Contradict the clear plain and Literal Sense thereof If any one desire to see more places of Gods word contradicted in this manner by Protestant Teachers let him look in the Industrious Collation of Doctor Smith formerly Bishop of Calcedon and he shall there find demonstrated to his Eye that these men by their new Doctrine do oppose the express VVord of God in above two hundred Points of Religion now Controverted betwixt the Catholicks and them So far off they are from Teaching the Pure VVord of God as they make their Credulous Followers believe And so wide their Doctrine is from being the True Light of the Gospel as they usually stile it VVhereas in very deed it is only their own new Interpretation of the Gospel not the Gospel it self As is evident by the multitude of Sects which are amongst them Some being Lutherans others Swinglians others Anabaptists others Calvinists others new Arians others Quakers some Puritans some Arminians some Parliamentary Protestants and the like VVhich could not happen if all their Teachers indeed did follow the VVord of God that being but one and not their several Explications and Interpretations of it VVhence it doth clearly appear that the state of Protestants is most dangerous Because in those Points of Doctrine in which they differ from the Old Religion instead of following the VVord of God they meerly follow the VVord of Men. Question VI. Whether God hath left to Christian People any sure Rule of Faith any certain Guide in matters of Religion any Infallible Interpreter of his Word TO discover to Protestants the true Root of their Division into so many Sects I demand of them whether they have any certain Rule of Faith or no That is whether they have any sure and un-erring Guide to Direct them in matters of Faith to the right meaning of the VVord of God Any Infallible Proposer of their Articles of Faith Any un-erring Director in the profound Mysteries of the Christian Religion and in the practice of the Worship of God If they have none of these How can their Faith be certain If it be uncertain doubtful wavering as indeed it is for want of a sure Rule to guide it by With what Prudence may Christian People hazard their Souls therein If Protestants have any certain Rule of Faith why do not the Learned of their Churches make use thereof to agree and attone the Controversies which are among them That they are divided into such several Branches as I a little before nam'd cannot be deny'd That they jar and contend about weighty Points of Religion is manifest For they differ about Predestination the Cause of Sin the Redemption of Christ his Descending into Hell his Ascension up to Heaven and sitting at the Right-hand of God his Equality with his Father the Baptizing of Infants the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist Church Government Ceremonies and like Which to be weighty matters and such as wring the Conscience beside the Nature it self of these things is clearly shew'd by the Reluctation of our English Non-conformists But to avoid the Disgrace of uncertainty in Matters of Faith some Protestants will say that they want not a Sure Rule to square out their Faith by For the Scripture to them is a certain and Infallible Guide But to manifest how defective this Answer is I demand whether the Scripture of it self or Interpreted be a sure Rule of Faith If of it self without the help of an Interpreter it be such a Rule Why have not all that read it
Divine Faith that is the Gift of God no Man can be saved according to the settled Ordination and Providence of God as I before have clearly shewed out of his Word Out of this Doctrine which is most True doth appear First The Reason of the Doctrine of Christ deliver'd Matt. 7. where he declares That false Prophets that is false Expounders of the Word of God in Matters of Faith do destroy Souls like as Wolves do destroy Sheep and that it is as impossible that thei Followers should acquire by their Teaching Divine Faith and True Sanctity as it is impossible that Thorns should bring out Grapes or Thistles Figgs The same Doctrine is taught by the Apostle who affirms That Hereticks are Subverted Tit. 3. And Subvert the Faith of others 2 Tim. 2. 18. That they make Shipwrack about Faith 1 Tim. 1. 19. That they depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. 1. That they are Reprobate about Faith 2 Tim. 3. 8. and the like Which mischief they fall into themselves and bring upon their Followers though they Err but in one Article of Faith as Himenaeus and Philetus did 2 Tim. 2. 18. And as Arius did at the first denying the Equality of the Father and the Son. But Note here That the Apostle in the places cited doth not mean that Heretical Teachers do so Subvert and Ruine the Faith of their Followers that they leave them no Faith at all but that they Subvert their Divine Faith which is the Gift of God wholly overthrowing that though they leave them store of Humane Faith to which seduced People firmly sticking yea sometimes even to Fetters and Death do reap thereby nothing at all but Temporal Commodities and Vain-glory purchased with the Eternal loss of their Souls Secondly Doth appear out of the same Doctrine the great Obligation that Christian People have to keep themselves within the Bosom of the True and Catholick Church of Christ Because that this Church being continually assisted by Christ himself Matth. 28. 20. And taught all Truth by the Holy Ghost John 16. 13. doth propose unto her Followers in her Doctrine of Faith nothing but Truth whereby their Faith doth easily come to be Divine and the Gift of God his Heavenly Grace Co-operating with them It doth also appear how deeply they are obliged to take heed of and to shun and avoid False Prophets False and Heretical Expounders of God's Word which run of their own accord not being sent authorized or allowed of by the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of the Ever Visible and Catholick Church of Christ And how wary they ought to be not to have itching Ears after new Masters 2 Tim. 4. 3. Or greedily to hearken to their Novelties in Matters of Faith which upon the reckoning will be found to be no better than Fables that is than the Fictitious and Self-inventions of Mens Brains Though these busie Teachers palliate them with specious terms and bear their Hearers in Hand That these their new devices are the Pure Light of the Gospel For by forsaking the Doctrine of the Church the Spiritual Mother and Mistress of all Nations and as the Apostle terms her 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Pillar and Ground of Truth and following such New Teachers they make Shipwrack of their Divine Faith and run themselves assuredly upon the Rock of Perdition Thirdly It appears how dangerously those are deceived who think they have Faith enough to Salvation if they believe those Points of the Christian Religion about which both Catholicks and Protestants agree esteeming themselves not obliged to believe any of those Articles about which the Learned of these two Religions do differ and contend As though Christian People were not obliged under pain of Damnation to beware of False Prophets Matth. 7. To shun Heretical Teachers Tit. 3. To obey their Lawful Prelates and to be subject unto them in Matters of Faith and Religion Heb. 13. To hear those Teachers whom Christ doth send Luk. 10. To hear and obey the Voice of his Church if they will not be held to be in as ill Case as Publicans and Ethnicks are Matth. 18. Or as though they were not bound to know the right means by which they are to be Justified cleansed from Sin and Saved to Believe rightly and to Receive worthily the great Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 11. Joh. 6. And as though they were not obliged under the same Penalty to believe and profess the True Gospel the True Faith and Religion of Christ and to Serve and Worship God rightly Seeing those which believe not his Gospel that is the whole Summ of Divine Doctrine taught by his Apostles Apostles and by their Successors the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of his Church are to be Damned Mark 16. As those also are Which deny Christ before Men Matth. 10. 33. Which Crime all commit who deny themselves to be of the True Religion as is manifest by the Example of St. Peter who denying only that he was a Follower of Christ and of his Company was reputed to deny Christ even as those will be who culpably profess a False Religion For such by their very Fact deny the True and themselves to be of the Communion thereof and of the Company and Society of the True Followers Disciples and Servants of Christ whereby at his Judgement-seat they will be reputed to have forsaken and denied him But to open this Point a little more because many even of the better sort are brought thereby into no small danger of Perdition this their Conceit is not grounded upon any clear Text of Gods Word or upon the Authority of any Vnerring Church but meerly upon a Mistake of their own by which out of one or two Truths they infer a pernicious Falshood upon which while they trust they trust to a broken Staff which at their last Leap will let them fall into the deep Ditch of Perdition if before their Death they cast it not away The first Truth is that the Illiterate Simple Unlearned of the True and Catholick Church of Christ are not bound to know and expresly believe that is with Faith explicit as Divines speak all the Articles of Faith which the Learned Doctors and Pastors of this Church do know and believe But such do satisfie the Precept of Faith if they believe with Faith explicit the prime and more celebrated Articles and Misteries of the Christian Religion contained in the Creed or solemnized by the Church which appertain to the right knowledge of the Trinity Incarnation Passion and Resurrection of Christ and which concern the Redemption Justification Sanctification and Glorification of Man so that they believe the rest with Faith implicit that is so that they believe as the Church believes being ever ready in Heart and Affection to submit their Judgements in matters of Faith and Religion to the Judgement of the Church and to believe as She shall teach But yet although such are not bound to believe expresly and in
particular all the Articles of Faith which the Learned Pastors of the Church believe yet they are bound under the Penalty of Eternal Damnation not to deny wittingly any one of them nor to doubt stubbornly of the truth of them nor to believe wittingly the contrary for he that so doth falleth thereby into the damning Crime of Heresie Which ever includes an Election or Culling out of certain Articles out of the Doctrine of the Church which are imbraced for true and a Rejection of the rest as Doubtful False or Erronious Which presumptuous discarding of Divine Verities revealed by Christ to his Apostles for the direction of Mankind to Eternal Happiness and by them laid up in the Treasury of the Church as a Sacred Depositum 1 Tim. 6. 20. under the sure Custody of the Holy Ghost is no less than High-Treason against Christ our Saviour in regard that it raises a most pernicious Rebellion in his Spiritual Kingdom bringing part thereof again under the Tyranny of the Devil It frustrates the full Operation of his Passion extinguishes the true and right Worship of God despoils Christian People of Divine Faith and thereby of the true means of Salvation It deprives the Saints of due Honour defrauds the Faithful departed of necessary Relief It robbs Heaven of Souls and inriches Hell with innumerable unwary and most unhappy People For which respects it is rightly stiled one of the greatest Sins and of the loudest crying Crimes that is Although I say the Unlearned of the Church are not bound to believe explicitly all Her Sacred Verities yet they are bound not to deny any one of them wittingly even as they are not bound to know all that is in the Sacred Scripture yet they are bound not to deny any thing therein contain'd though it be never so small a thing because all is warranted by the Authority of God which is of equal Force and Worth of equal Truth both in great and in small things which therefore are of equal Certainty it being as far from God to lie and deceive in small things as in great And therefore prudent Men in Matters of Faith and Religion seek no farther than whether this or that be warranted by Gods Authority or no which they learn by the Teaching of the Church guided by the Holy Ghost for there is no other sure and infallible Means on Earth to direct us in the obscure Misteries of Faith about which anew God now reveals nothing but leaves us to the Teaching of his Church guided as I said by the Holy Ghost which makes all Discreet Christians to submit so humbly their Judgements to the Church and to relie so securely upon her Authority God himself assuring them that She is the Pillar and Ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Second Truth is That the Subjects of the Church of Christ are not bound either to know or believe certain disputable Points of Divinity not defin'd by the Church which are controverted among the Learned The pernicious Falshood inferred out of these Truths is That Christian People who are not Learned are not bound under hazard of their Souls to believe those Articles of Faith taught by the the True and Catholick Church of Christ which false Prophets which Heretical Men reputed Learned do question deny and dispute against As though the Bad Proud Rebellious and Ungodly proceeding of these Men were a sufficient Warrant unto others to doubt of the Truth of Gods revealed Verities to mangle and believe by halves his Sacred Religion to disobey their Lawful Prelates to deprive their Souls of the fruitful use of Christs Divine Sacraments to contemn the Doctrine and to forsake the Communion of the Church Which is manifestly absurd and untrue being contrary both to Reason and Scripture as I have shewed Which teach that Christian People in the profound Mysteries of the Christian Religion are bound to be guided by those Doctors and Pastors Act. 20. which God hath placed in his Church and authorised to Teach Direct and Guide them And that they are likewise most deeply obliged to beware of and to shun false Prophets and Heretical Teachers and not to heap to themselves new Masters with itching Ears leaving the Truth of the Pillar of Truth the Church of the Living God and turning to Fables that is either to their own Self-conceits or to the Self-conceits of others which in the Mysteries of the Christian Religion when they swerve from the Doctrine of the Church are no truer than Fables though they be gilded over with the fair Title of the true Light of the Gospel and therefore the Faith of those who are guided by such Conceiters is never Divine never the Gift of God never available to Salvation For the clear understanding of which Assertion Note First That most true it is that God hath revealed many profound Misteries and Divine Verities for Men to believe to be thereby directed fittingly what to hold and to practise for the obtaining of ever-during Happiness Note Secondly That it is also most true that Man of himself without the Aid of Coelestial Grace is not able to believe these Verities fittingly and suitably to his Supernatural End. Note Thirdly That God cannot stir up and draw men by this his Heavenly Grace to believe these Verities unless they be proposed to be believ'd without all mixture of Falshood for if any Falshood be packt in among them and proposed with them for a Divine Truth revealed by God he cannot draw men by his Grace to believe them thus mingled and proposed with Falshood as is manifest because he cannot induce men to believe any Falshood at all And therefore whosoever doth thrust in among some Divine Verities any false Doctrine contrary to that which God hath revealed proposing the same to be believed as a Divine Truth and therein stubbornly contradicting the Teaching of the Church he debars God from co-opperating with his Grace and from drawing People to believe with Divine Faith the Doctrine so mixt and proposed Note Fourthly That Gods revealed Verities will fall out to be of no utility at all to Mankind but rather a Trap to ruine them unless there be some sure un-erring and infallible Proposer of them who doth propose them to Gods People without any mixture of Falshood at all in such sort that he doth not propose any thing as an Article revealed by God which is not so or which is false and contrary to that which God hath indeed reveal'd And therefore that God may draw men by the special aid of his Grace to believe with Divine Faith his revealed Misteries and Verities he must cause them to be proposed to men sincerely and without all mixture of Falshood He I say must cause them to be so proposed because no man of himself without the continual guidance and assistance of the Holy Ghost is able always so to propose them All then that will have Divine Faith must be guided by Gods Proposer of Divine Doctrine and
believe as he doth teach For if they follow any contrary Proposer who does mingle Truth with Falshood contrary to the Doctrine of the right Proposer their Faith cannot be Divine nor avail them to Salvation If any one ask who is Gods un-erring Proposer of Divine Verities I answer now as I answer'd before no other but the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of the ever visible and Catholick Church of Christ which Doctors and Pastors among other things propose as a Divine and certain Truth that out of the Communion of the True and Catholick Church no Salvation can be had out of whose Communion those most certainly do live who are separated from the Chair of St. Peter and profess Riligions by it condemned And therefore those which esteem themselves secure by believing only those general Points of the Christian Religion which are not controverted betwixt the Learned of the Protestant and of the Roman Church are greatly deceived they being not only destitute of Divine Faith but also very far off from performing the Duty of good Christians as may sufficiently appear by what is said And therefore this their Conceit serves to little else but to bring them to Hell with a quiet and unfrighted Conscience Fourthly Out of the Grounds laid a sufficient Reason doth appear of the Doctrine of the Ancient Fathers who constantly taught that out of the Catholick Church there is no Salvation which Catholick Church they esteemed to be no other than that which is joyned in Communion with the Chair of St. Peter Hear a word or two out of those ancient Worthies St. Athanasius in his Creed approved of and received by the whole Church speaketh thus Whosoever will be saved before all things it is needful that he hold the Catholick Faith the which unless one keep entire and inviolate without all doubt he shall perish eternally St. Cyprian De Simpl. Prelat And St. Augustin De Simbol l. 4. c. 10. saith If any one be found without the Church he shall be an Alien from the Children of God neither shall he have God for his Father who would not have the Church for his Mother The same St. Augustin speaking of Emeritus a Donatist and a Bishop saith Serm. de gestis cum Emerito He cannot have Salvation but in the Catholick Church out of the Church he may have all but Salvation He may have Honour he may have the Sacrament he may sing Alleluja he may answer Amen he may hold the Gospel he may both have and preach Faith in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but Salvation he can no where have saving in the Catholick Church Where note that Bishop Emeritus being a Donatist was not so much separated from the Roman Church as Protestants are And yet this Learned Father and great Light of Gods Church esteemed him to be out of the Catholick Church and out of the State of Salvation In vain then do Protestants confide that they are within the Catholick Church they being farther separated from the same than this Bishop was St. Fulgentius De Fid. ad Pet. c. 39. saith Most firmly hold and in no sort doubt that each Heretick or Schismatick Baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost if he be not restored to the Catholick Church how great Alms soever he give yea though he should shed his Blood for the Name of Christ yet he cannot be saved Thus these Holy and Learned Fathers with whom in this Point agree the rest Fifthly It appears by the Grounds aforesaid that there can be but only one saving Faith and Religion in the World because there can be but only one Doctrine of Faith that is wholly true and free from all mixture of Falshood for all other Doctrines of Faith must of necessity be mixed and stain'd with some Falshood more or less according as they do more or less differ from and contradict that one Divine Doctrine of Faith which is wholly true as is manifest And therefore God cannot draw men to believe any of them with Divine Faith required of necessity to Salvation And so no Religion whose Doctrine of Faith is mixed with Falshood is truly and really a saving Religion how much soever it be adorned by the seducing Teachers or the seduced Followers thereof with the gay Title of the pure Light of the Gospel Sixthly It appears how just cause all Protestants have to return with speed to the Roman Church in which they may assuredly be saved even by the Judgement of the most Learned among them as hereafter shall appear because it is more than probable that the Protestant Profession is not a saving Religion in regard that the Doctrine of Faith which it imbraceth is not nor cannot be wholly true but really and certainly is mixed with much Falshood 1. Because in divers weighty Points of Faith it directly contradicts the express Word of God as I before have shewed 2. Because this Doctrine of Faith is not directed by any sure Rule of Faith by any Infallible Interpreter of the Scriptures by any Un-erring Judge of Controversies nor proposed by any sure and Infallible Proposer 3. Because Protestants are divided into several Branches or Sects which greatly differ and are contrary one to another in divers weighty Points of Faith as I before have noted And 4. Because Protestants hold that all Churches are subject to erring yea and have erred in their Doctrine of Faith. What assurance then have they that Theirs doth not err none at all But to come now to the principal Point intended in this Question I affirm that out of the Grounds laid which Christianly cannot be deny'd it clearly follows that according to the main Tenet and Ground of the Protestant Religion Jesus the Son of the Virgin Mary was not the true Messias promised in the Old Testament nor the true Saviour of the World. This monstrous Falshood and detestable Blasphemy I say doth clearly and inevitably follow out of the chief and Fundamental Ground of the Protestant Religion For if the Church which Jesus founded came to erre in her Doctrine of Faith in the Ages after the Apostles and to be corrupted with many pernicious Falshoods and Superstitions as Protestant Teachers affirm the Promises of God concerning the Messias made so seriously to the Patriarchs of the Old Testament cannot possibly be verified of Jesus and consequently he was not the true Messias the true Christ and Saviour of the World for of the true Messias these Promises must be verified most certainly in regard that God cannot be false of his Word Thus then he promised to Abraham Gen. 12. 3. In thee shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be blessed Gen. 18 18. In him Abraham are to be blessed all the Nations of the Earth To Isaac Gen. 26. 4. In thy Seed shall be blessed all the Nations of the Earth To Jacob Gen. 28. 14. In thee and in thy Seed all the Tribes of the
Earth shall be blessed That is in Christ in the true Messias as the Apostle does interpret Gal. 3. 6. Of whom also the Royal Prophet sang Psal 17. 7. All the Tribes of the Earth shall be blessed in him all Nations shall magnifie him Now then out of these places of Holy Writ it seems clear First That according to Gods often re-iterated Promise all the Nations of the Earth are truly to be Blessed in the Messias the Hopeful Seed of the Patriarchs Secondly It seems clear that this so Solemnly Promis'd Blessing was not chiefly to consist in Earthly Temporal Transitory Riches and Happiness but in Heavenly Spiritual Eternal Thirdly It seems clear that the Nations of the Earth are to obtain this Blessing by Receiving Believing Practising that Religion and Worship of God which the Messias was to institute and to introduce amongst them by the Teaching of his Doctors and Pastors See Ephes 4. 12. Fourthly It seems clear that the Religion of the True Messias is not to be introduc'd amongst the Nations of the Earth in one Year or in one Age But by degrees and by the Labours and Charitable Endeavours of many Ages Because the same is not to be brought in by Force but by Fair Means Not by the Soldiers Sword but by the Teachers Word Not by Violent Compulsion but by Gentle Perswasion such as the Apostles and Apostolical Teachers have ever us'd Going saith our Sweet Saviour Teach all Nations Matth. 28. And therefore this must needs be a work of long continuance the Nations of the Earth being so many as they are so dispers'd over the whole World and dis-joyn'd one from another by Mountains and Seas so Barbarous so Drench'd in Sin inur'd to Carnal and Brutish Customs And the Religion of the Messias being so Holy and Profound as Gods Religion must be Yea this Divine Work of notifying the Messias to all the Nations of the Earth and of Converting them or at least part of each of them to him is to endure and last even till the end of the World as is manifest out of our Saviours Words before alleadg'd out of the 24 of Matth. See the place and weigh it well Fifthly It is certain out of the grounds before laid that the Nations of the Earth cannot believe the Religion of the Messias availably to Salvation and gain thereby the Promis'd Blessing without the help of Divine Grace That is unless by the special working and Aid of God they be effectually mov'd stir'd up and drawn to forsake their Old and Blind Traditions their False and Idolatrous Worships their Beastly and Abominable Manners to imbrace and practice Religiously the Holy Difficil and deep Religion of the Messias believing the same with such and so Divine a Faith as really is the Gift of God without which no man can be Sav'd Sixthly It is also certain out of the same grounds that God by his Grace and special Aid cannot stir up and effectually draw the Nations of the Earth to Receive Believe and and Practice the Religion of the Messias unless it be wholly true Unless I say it be wholly True wholly Pure from Errors and Superstitions For if with such stuff it be mix'd corrupted defil'd and made displeasing to God and hurtful to the Soul of Man it is impossible that God by his Aid and Grace should induce and draw Men to Believe it As the very Light of Reason doth Teach Note This well And therefore as the Work of the Conversion of Nations to the Messias that they may be made Blessed in him must continue in all Ages even till the end of the World So most certainly the True Messias must ever preserve in the World even till the end thereof a Holy and Divine Religion a Doctrine of Faith intirely and wholly True intirely and wholly Pure from Errours and Superstitions that so the Blessed Majesty of Heaven by his Divine and Powerful Grace may draw the Nations of the Earth to Believe this his Religion and to practice it Religiously that thereby they may become Blessed in Him. All this is clear and manifest out of the Word of God the Light of Reason and the grounds laid But Jesus for above these thousand twelve hundred or fourteen hundred years hath not had any Religion spread over the World among the Nations of the Earth and Preach'd unto them to make them Blessed in Him which hath been wholly True and Pure from Errors and Superstitions if Protestant Teachers say true and do not most dangerously mistake to the Perdition of themselves and their Followers Ergo Jesus is not the true Messias the True Christ and Saviour of the World according to the General Tenet of all Protestant Teachers and the main ground of the Protestant Religion For the True Messias must of necessity have such a Religion in all Ages that thereby the Nations of the Earth may be Blessed in him As I have clearly deduc'd and shew'd But Jesus according to the Doctrine of Protestants hath not had such a Religion scarcely since the Apostles times And therefore the Nations of the Earth have not been Blessed in Him And consequently if their Divinity be good he is not the True Messias The Nations of the Earth I say for above these twelve hundred years have not been Blessed in Jesus by believing in him for want of a True Religion though very many of them within this space of time have been Converted to him by the Roman Church by the Labours and Industry of Papists both in Europe Asia Africa and the New-found World Neither are they ever likely to be Blessed in Him For if already he hath not taken order to preserve a True Divine and Pure Religion among them to bring unto them the Promis'd Blessing that is to Sanctify and Save them He is never likely to do it For he is not likely to be wiser or better or more Powerful hereafter than he hath been heretofore Neither is he likely to come into the World again to found a new Church and Religion and to establish it better then He did his first for the Salvation of Mankind Out of all which it follows clearly and manifestly that according to the Doctrine and fundamental ground of the Protestant Religion which is that the Church of Jesus for many hundred years hath shamefully and perniciously err'd in her Doctrine of Faith and in the True Worship of God it follows I say out of this Assertion clearly and manifestly that Jesus was not nor is not the True Messias the True Christ and Saviour of the World. Behold here the true depth of the Protestant Religion and whether it directly leads if it 's search'd to the bottom And doubt not but that the Bird is naught that lays so bad an Egg. What will Protestants answer here to struggle out of these narrow straits Will they say that although Jesus had not for so many hundred years any Visible True Religion yet he had an Invisible True Religion by
certain it is that God hath ever preserv'd in the World a True Divine and Illustrious Religion in which Men may be Sav'd if they will. For Christ did not Light up a Candle to put it under a Bushel Mat. 5. And so certain it is that the Protestant Religion which is Erected upon so bad a Foundation as the Erring of the Church is is neither good nor sufficient to Salvation Question XIII If the Church of Christ did Err from the True Light of the Gospel for so many Ages could be find none fit in so many hundred years to restore the same till Luther falling out with the Pope and breaking his Vow of Chastity began to Teach a New Religion tending to Liberty and Looseness TO make way for my next demand I must again repeat that Protestants Believe and Teach that the Church of Christ quickly fell from that Purity of Doctrine which he and his Apostles deliver'd unto her And that shortly after their times her Pastors and Doctors by Humane Inventions and Traditions Obscur'd the true and sincere Light of the Gospel And obtruded upon their Followers many gross Errors about Faith many vain and hurtful Superstitions in the practice of Religion and about the Worship of God. In which she continu'd still increasing them for 1400 1200. or at least a thousand years And from which she ought long ago to have been cleans'd but was not through the Ambition Negligence or gross Ignorance of her Pastors Who living in Blindness themselves lead their Followers in Blindness as Protestants imagine Who therefore call this long tract of time in which they esteem the Church to have Err'd the time of Blindness But how Blindly may partly appear by that which I have already said partly by this That those Articles of the Old Religion which these men account Errors are the prime parts of the Religion of Christ which tend to good Life to nourish Piety and to inflame Devotion and which he ordain'd to Animate Help Curb and Cure our sluggish weak and frail Nature and to bring his People to live in the Fear of God to walk in his Holy Commandments to live according to Conscience to abstain from Evil and to do Good To Crucifie the Flesh and the bad Desires thereof Gal. 5. 24. And in a Word to imitate studiously his own Blessed Life and the Lives and Actions of his Holy Apostles and other prime Saints who Forsook all to follow him Mat. 19. 27. Such are those Articles of the Old Religion which bind under pain of Damnation to the necessity of keeping the Commandments of God by abstaining from Mortal Sins such as are Murder Fornication Theft in a notable quantity Perjury and the like by which property they are broken to the necessity of Fasting as the Church Commands Of Confessing all grievous sins Sacramentally to a Lawful and Authoriz'd Priest Of doing Pennance for them in this Life or of Suffering severe Punishment in the next Of restoring other mens Goods unlawfully gotten or possess'd and to the necessity of obeying the Church and all other Lawful Superiours in things appertaining to their Power Such also are those Articles which Teach the merit of good Works proceeding of Grace and done in the state of Grace and the excellency of the Evangelical Councils of Christ of perpetual Poverty Chastity and Obedience practic'd in the Church of Christ even since the Apostles times by innumerable Holy Men and Women All which Articles and divers others connex'd with these are the things which Protestant Teachers repute Errors and dislike in the Old Religion as restraining too much from the Liberty of the Gospel that is to speak plain English from the Liberty of the Flesh from Venus and Bacchus Which Liberty is chiefly intrench'd upon by the Roman Church in that she will not admit any to the high and Heavenly Function of Priesthood who will not Voluntarily Geld themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19. 12. By Vowing perpetual Chastity which point indeed doth chiefly sting many Protestant Teachers and doth incite them to rage so furiously and to stand out so Rebelliously as they do against this their True and Antient Mother though divers of the more Learned amongst them do it with some Reluctation of Conscience which tells them that Chastity is a Decent dignifying and excellent Ornament of Christian Priests and which therefore not Obscurely foretells them that the short solace which a Wife in this Life affords them is likely to cost them in the next the Eternal loss of their Souls But to come to the matter and question here intended If the Church of Christ did Err from the true Light of his Gospel so many Ages and imbrace so many gross and dangerous Superstitions as She is accus'd to have done I demand of Prudent and Considerate Protestants how it could become the Wisdom Goodness and Mercy of God first to drive off and defer the Cleansing and Reforming of his Church so many hundred years to the great Dishonour of Himself and of his Blessed Son and to the loss of Infinite Souls and then after so long a tract of time to make choice of such Instruments as Protestants imagine he did to restore again to the World the true Light of his Gospel Could he find none fit to take in hand and to bring to effect this Needful Merciful and Holy Reformation till Martin Luther a Cholerick and Bold Austine-Fryer Incens'd with Anger because the Preaching of certain Indulgences granted by the Pope was committed to the Dominican-Fryers and not to his Order fell out with the Pope cast away his Religious Weed brake his Vow of Chastity which he had long kept Married a Nun Consecrated to God and plung'd himself into a Carnal course of Life Could God I say find none fit neither amongst the Fathers of the Primitive Church nor amongst the Saints and Sages of the next thousand years to be the Actors of so Needful a Reformation till the Love of Carnal Liberty made Luther and his Brood shew themselves to the World There liv'd in those times St. Basil the Great St. Hierome St. Ambrose St. Augustine St. Gregory the Great Venerable Bode St. Bernard St. Anselme St. Thomas of Aquin St. Bonaventure beside Innumerable others all excellent Men for Learning Wisdom Sanctity and all so Devoted to God that He had them all at his command And yet among all these could he find none so fit to be his Instruments in the Divine Work of Reforming his Church and of restoring again to the World the true Light of his Gospel as Luther and his Associates Who dares Pawn his Soul hereon Especially if he consider that these Men were not only destitute of Excellent Sanctity of Life which those usually have who are Gods peculiar Instruments in the effecting of any such kind of work but were also branded with all the Marks of False Prophets of Perfidious Hereticks as Learned Protestants cannot but know Insomuch that it is not possible
THE APPENDIX Whether the Apostles were Protestants or no. PRotestants generally conceive and believe that Jesus Christ and his Apostles Preached and planted in the World the Protestant Religion even the very self-same that Protestants now believe and practice and that they were really Protestants not in Name but in their Belief and Practice And that they instituted their Disciples and Followers that is the first Christians in the self-same Liberty of Gospel which Protestants now follow and charged them that with all Care and Diligence they should deliver this sweet and easie Religion which is so pleasing to Flesh and Blood to those who were to succeed them that so for ever it might be continued in the World for the Salvation of Mankind Thus I say do Protestants generally conceive and upon the Truth of this Conceipt they hazard their Souls notwithstanding that they are not agreed nor cannot yet agree among themselves which makes the matter very strange and the conceipt wholly improbable whether the Apostles in their Belief and Practice of Religion were Lutherans or Anabaptists or Swinglians or Calvinists or New Arians or Quakers or Arminians or Parliamentary Pretestants for each of these sorts or Branches of Protestants lay Claim to the Apostles and the Learned of each sort do bear their Followers in hand That the Doctrine which they Teach is the pure Light of the Gospel even the self-same that the Blessed Apostles Believed Taught and practised and of this they are all certain alike And so the conceipt of Saxony Denmark Sweden is that the Apostles were Lutherans The Conceipt of some of the Cantons of Switzerland is that they were Swinglians The Conceipt of many in Moravia and in Holland is that they were Anabaptists The Conceipt of Geneva of Scotland of Puritans of England and of some parts of Germany is that they were Calvinists The Conceipt of divers in England and Holland is that they were Quakers And the Conceipt of the Protestant Church of England is that the Apostles were of the same Belief and practised the same Worship of God that by Act of Parliament is here settled and established But to speak the Truth as it is impossible that the Apostles should be of all these Beliefs so it is more than probable that they were of none of them but rather that all these Beliefs are meer conjectural Conceipts of new Teachers who are wholly uncertain of what Belief the Apostles were For if they were certain that the Apostles were of some one of these Beliefs they would all doubtless be of the same But the Learned of the Protestants being indeed altogether uncertain and really ignorant of the Faith and Practise of the Apostles by guessing thereat so near as they can they have divided themselves into so many Branches and into so many contrary Faiths and practises each of them having nothing but his own conjecture to lead him to the true Light of the Gospel and to the right Religion of the Apostles But notwithstanding that Protestants do thus differ about Religion and are uncertain of the Faith and practice of the Apostles Yet they will not forsooth have it deny'd but that the Apostles were Protestants and that they planted in the World the Protestant Religion And so it must be supposed that they Taught That we are justified by Faith only That we have not Free-will in the works of Grace That our best Works are impure and stained with Sin That we do not merit by them either Increase of Grace or Glory That by Faith in Christ we are freed from the Yoke of the Law which is such as no man can keep and therefore Christ having fulfilled it for us our breach thereof doth neither wound the Conscience nor endanger the Soul. Moreover according to this supposed Doctrine of the Apostles we are not bound to confess our Sins to the Priests of God's Church or to do pennance for them no Works of ours being truly satisfactory Neither is Sin punished any where after this Life but in Hell and therefore we need not fear any purging Flames Christ having paid for all Furthermore we are not bound in Conscience to Fast or to abstain from Flesh upon certain days according as the Church doth appoint this being contrary to the Liberty of the Gospel It is likewise vain foolish superstitious to endeavour to gain Heaven by Prayer Fasting Alms-deeds by a Holy and mortified Life or to Vow Poverty Chastity and Obedience or to esteem perpetual Virginity Consecrated to God better more noble and more pleasing to God than Marriage Again according to the same supposed Apostolical Doctrine the Church of Christ is subject to Erring in her Doctrine of Faith and therefore we are not tyed to believe as she Teaches further than we esteem her Doctrine to agree with the written Word for to be so tyed is against the Liberty of the Gospel Against which Liberty also it is that Bishops and Priests should be tyed to live Chaste and Single Lives Lastly all sorts of Protestants saving Lutherans esteem the Apostles to have believed and taught that the Eucharist is not the true Body and Blood of Christ but a Figure or Remembrance thereof And so they consequently hold that Christ left no true and proper Sacrifice to be daily offered in his Church nor no true Priest-hood which cannot subsist without a true Sacrifice This is the Conceipt of Protestants in general real or pretended Real it may be of the ignorant and simple but pretended only I believe by the Understanding and Learned For these cannot but know that if the Apostles indeed had been Protestants and really had Preached spread and settled amongst the Nations of the Earth to which they Preached in Asia Europe and Africa the Protestant Religion which is so easie and so pleasing to Flesh and Blood that the same had continued infallibly at least for some while in the following Ages and that it could not possibly morally speaking so upon the sudden have been cast aside and extinguished in all places at once but that there would have remained illustrious Memory thereof at least in some of the primordial Churches in some of the Countries Provinces or Cities where the Apostles Preached This I think no understanding man will deny 1. Because the first Christians were zealous Followers and Imitators of the Doctrine and manners of the Apostles of whom they had a high esteem as also of their Doctrine which they knew the Apostles had confirmed by many true and Divine Miracles 2. Because they were very careful of their own Salvation as is evident by their admirable Constancy in suffering Losses Tribulations Torments yea terrible Deaths in the cruel and bloody Persecutions raised against them by the Roman Emperours for the space almost of Three Hundred Years How then is it likely if thus they suffer'd to save their Souls that they would wilfully cast them away by forsaking the true Religion of Christ which his Blessed Apostles had planted and so firmly